#a really good example is Bree

[mcybree]

Ok ok ok I'm not Tryna start discourse but bluestars prophecy was my first ever warriors book and bluestar will always be my favourite so I'm gonna make some counterpoints to you about her being a Smajor character

bluestar has always been led by an intense loyalty and dedication to those she loves and cares for - this includes her mum, her sister, her clan, eventually Firepaw when he joins the clan, and she has a VERY strong moral compass when it comes to doing the right thing - when she sees thistleclaw teaching tigerpaw to hurt a then baby scourge she very much discourages it and is against it

Afaik scott is Not like that, he doesn't have an emotional or love-driven moral code, he does things because they're smart decisions in the long term or because he wants to. Granted I havent seen a ton of his stuff but I have seen his limited life and 3rd life perspectives and he is very much a singular team player there, there to look after himself and well if people align with him that's great he's got allies (jimmy and Martyn) but he won't go out of his way to care for them

Bluestars defiance of starclan in the first series is BECAUSE she gave herself to them and what the warrior code demanded so much - yes she broke clan rules by having kids with crookedstar but she did everything in her power to make sure they'd have a happy life and felt terrible that thrushpelt was willing to say they were his to save her reputation. She didn't do it out of a selfish want, she only ever wanted to help her clan and those she loved, and her becoming clan leader is emblematic of that want. When she rejects starclan so wholeheartedly in the first series it's because THINGS KEEP GOING WRONG WHEN SHES TRIED SO HARD TO STOP THEM FROM DOING THAT - starclan has never cared about the sacrifices she made to keep her loved ones and clan safe, she lost her mother, her sister, her kits, her mate, literally everything, and things STILL KEEP GETTING WORSE. it's not a demand that she deserves to have everything good, it's a cry for help that shouldn't something go right after she's tried so hard???

C!Scott isn't like that. He puts himself above others and inherently believes he will get the best if he just plays his cards right, and he is good at it, he's very competent at lasting a long time in life series and getting what he wants - the ruthlessness of gem driven by desperation kills him in secret life, Martyn's complete fucking about face kills him in limited life, and I'm pretty sure it's etho who gets him out in 3rd life by luck. He doesn't plan to look after the ones he cares about, because he cares about himself first and foremost. Yeah you can argue when he doesn't get what he wants he gets annoyed, but his is less of a 'why don't I get this don't I deserve it' and more of a 'oh fuck this didn't work. Ok new plan double down on getting what I want by appeasing to people cos they're easy to read and therefore account for'

I don't doubt Scott would make a bluestar adjacent character if he made a warrior cats oc BUT his character would honestly be closer to darktail or ashfur than bluestar and that's that on that.

(sorry you activated 13 year old me's unskippable cutscene sjdjsjsjja this isnt meant to be a serious argument I just love bluestar a lot and love talking about her)

OKAY 1. this is fucking awesome thank you 2. i am going to do something new and exciting (advocate for scott instead of beating him to death with sticks) because unfortunately this bluestar info has only made me believe she is a smajor character even more.

As a general note when I talk about smajor characters as a collective here I’m referring to characters more in the realm of esmp/traffic/rats/pirates/etc, less vampire scott or necromancer scott who are intended to be villainous.

Scott characters tend to operate under a “If I am not a Good Person I may as well die” rule, and consequently abide by a strict moral code to keep themselves feeling clean. For instance: traffic Scott will never go back on his word, he will avoid dishonesty, and he won’t take from others unless he is sure that he can repay them. He will never betray his seasonal primary ally (even when they betray him first), and will often give people things just because they asked him nicely. He stakes a lot of his own identity on this, because it is through being a “good person” that he justifies his superiority (and, by extension, his own existence); in his mind he deserves the best and *is* the best because he is such a good person. When things don’t go his way, he thinks he doesn’t deserve it because he has been nothing but good, so he tries to place a reason. He often assumes that somebody must “have a vendetta” against him, even if this somebody is the world (see: him asking if limlife episode 1 boogeyman is some kind of joke played on him for not giving in to the boogey curse in Last Life.) which is very Bluestar to me, convinced that her misfortunes are a divine punishment.

This is all to say that Scott does have a strict moral code and deep sense of loyalty. Being a “good person” and devoted partner in the ways he understands it are so ingrained into what he is that I think he definitely has the capacity to be a Bluestar if he were raised being taught clan values, even if his internal systems are often built around never letting gross emotions be fully felt rather than what those emotions compel him to do.

[insipid-drivel]

Warhorses: Which horses are actually good candidates, anyway?

This post is in honor of @warrioreowynofrohan, who asked the question in the comments under my guide, "Horses: Since There Seems To Be A Knowledge Gap". Their question, "Given what you said about too much weight breaking a horse’s spine, how did that work with knights in plate armour?" is one I'm going to try to answer here, since the answer can be very nuanced depending on where and when you're talking about.

Also, while I was a stable hand for years as well as a rider, I never had the opportunity to directly learn more ancient styles of tacking, horse training, and combat, so I don't have any direct experience to draw from with regard to horses used for military purposes. I'm still gonna do my best here with what I know, and research what I don't.

As I've covered in the past, large horses (draft horses) make less-than-ideal warhorses, and so do carriage horses like the elegant and dramatic Friesians.

Let's begin by addressing this from the perspective of creative writing. For you writers and content creators out there, an essential part to the continuity of any historically-themed work you do involving horses will be depicting breeds of horses that didn't exist before a certain time in history. I'm going to approach this question from the stance of, "Medieval-type era warhorses". Horses were used in warfare as late was World War II, but actual horses you ride into battle with knights and archers and bannermen? We actually have to drop the subject of specific modern breeds altogether aside from using them for comparisons.

When discussing warhorses, various cultures have approached them differently. Some cultures will value a specific type of horse above all others, such as the Mongolian Steppe Horse or the American Mustang. Other cultures, which may be from biomes and territories where multiple types of horses are needed for different forms of warfare and tactics, value whichever horses can get their jobs done without their riders getting killed.

Carrying vs. Pulling:

Horses have been used in warfare since as far back as 4000 BC, but their first applications were more as chariot horses. Humans have been riding and working with horses since before we even had stirrups to more easily ride them with! As archaeologists and anthropologists make more discoveries, the more we learn that we humans have been working closely with horses since before we had specialized tools to ride them with. The very first warhorses pulled chariots or carts, which is much easier for a horse's anatomy to handle compared to carrying a heavy weight like an armored rider on their backs, which puts stress directly on their spines where they have very little supporting muscle for supporting a lot of heavy downward weight.

Warhorse Size Categories:

Really, any breed of horse can apply to a niche in warfare if it's needed enough. Even very small, delicate horses have had their place in the history of human combat! Before I continue, it's important to know that there's a unique unit of measuring a horse's height. Rather than measuring a horse's height in centimeters or inches, they're measured in units called "hands". A single "hand" = ~4 inches/10.16cm, and a horse's height is measured based upon the distance between the bottom of their hoof to the tallest part of their shoulders, just at the base of the back of their necks. We don't actually include neck length/head height in a horse's measurements with traditional measuring.

Another rule of thumb: The average horse cannot safely carry anything heavier than about 30% of their total body weight. This is a serious factor to take into mind when deciding on a type of or breed of horse for a mounted warrior of any kind: You need to factor in the OC's starting body weight, and then add on the weight of armor, weapons, and any armor the horse itself may wear along with the weight of its tack.

Light-Weight Horses:

A few examples of lightweight horse breeds whose ancestors have historically been used in combat are Arabians, Barber Horses, and the magnificent Akhal-Teke. Lightweight and delicately-boned horses like those are best applied for military maneuvers that require precision, speed, and endurance, and the rider themselves should specialize in some form of combat or reconnaissance that doesn't require them to wear heavy metal or laminated armors. Archers are good candidates for riding smaller horses, or lightly-armored swordsmen like an Ottoman Janissary.

Central-Asian and North African horses also benefit from having a higher tolerance for hot climates. They can absolutely suffer from heatstroke and cardiac arrest from being forced to run and work in extreme temperatures and should always be provided with the same protective measures in a heatwave as any other horse, but they have a little bit of an edge over horses descended from freezing and temperate climates.

Medium-Weight Horses:

Medium-weight horses started showing up in the archaeological record around about the Iron Age, where chariot warfare was becoming an increasingly utilized form of mobile combat, and people needed bigger, stronger horses capable of pulling heavier loads - such as a chariot with two passengers rather than just one. As cultures began to develop heavier-duty armors made of metals and laminated materials, it also became important to breed horses that were tall and stocky (muscular and with relatively short spines compared to their height), and therefore more capable of carrying riders in increasingly heavy armor. Medium-weight horses were also essential at the dawn of the gunpowder age when the cannon came into use in siege warfare for pulling the heavy, iron cannons into position.

Medium-weight horses are really where we see the beginnings of knights and other warrior classes on horseback come into the forefront of warfare. When you have a horse that's big and strong enough to carry heavier armor and heavier weapons along with a rider wielding them, you have a much deadlier force at your disposal. Strikes from a sword or spear from the back of a galloping horse basically results in a sword capable of cutting through enemy soldiers like a hot knife through butter.

Important Note: Traditionally, cavalrymen wield blunt swords when attacking from a charging horse's back. When a horse is charging at full speed, the sharpness of a blade becomes less important than the blade's ability to stay in one piece when it impacts hard armor and bone. A blunted edge basically turns a cavalryman's sword into a thin club that's better at holding up against smashing through multiple layers of armor and bone compared to a thinner, more delicate sharpened edge that can shatter from a high-speed impact.

Heavy-Weight Horses:

The direct ancestors of modern draft horses, such as the Shire Horse, only began to appear around about the beginning of the European Medieval Era, and were far and away not even close to the enormous sizes of the draft horses we have today. Any horse counts as a "Heavy-weight" classed horse if its weight exceeds 1500lbs/680kgs.

Heavy-weight horses were really more bred for pulling enormous weights rather than carrying knights. While yeah, there is some evidence that suggests that heavy-weight horses were used by heavily-armored knights, historians argue a lot about whether it was a rule or an exception (such as with Henry VIII, who continued to ride well after he had begun to weigh more than 350lbs/158kgs, and even went to war in France in his final years on horseback). Generally speaking, medium-weight horses tend to be the right balance of agile and strong for carrying someone that's going to actively be fighting. Heavy-weight horses were bred to be a lot more tolerant to the chaos and frightening stimulation of the sounds of battle, but medium-weighted horses generally tended to be more suited to moving efficiently through dense packs of soldiers and weaving around other horses.

Ponies:

While actually being the smallest class of warhorse, ponies were essential when it came to carrying cargo and working as pack-horses. In certain forms of terrain, such as mountains, large horses pulling big carts full of supplies or soldiers could often be extremely impractical. In situations where an army needed to move on foot and form a narrow line in order to travel, ponies were able to traverse much narrower and rougher terrain while carrying smaller loads to their destination, when heavier horses would struggle more under their own weight and dexterity.

Europe-Specific Terminologies:

If you're a writer reading this and writing a piece set in the European Medieval age, there are specific terms used for the different classes I listed of warhorses above that I'm gonna list:

Destriers: The Destrier was a universal term for the iconic knight-carrying, jousting horse. They were also sometimes referred to as "Great Horses" due to their reputations in combat settings. Destriers could have just about any appearance, but were rarely taller than 15.2 hands, or 62inches/157cm. They were capable of carrying heavily-armored knights (although knights in full plate mail rarely rode into battle and stayed on the horse the entire time - they tended to specialize at grouping up and killing a lot of footsoldiers swarming them at once and preventing breaks in defenses from being overwhelmed by an oncoming army; in the case of Edward the Black Prince, we have substantial evidence in the form of his surviving brigandine that a mounted soldier or knight was more likely to wear chainmail and brigandine with a tabard on their body with their arms, feet, and heads the most heavily armored in plate when they intended to fight on horseback, making them a little lighter and more maneuverable, but I may be waaay off base there because I'm thinking of more of Italian soldiers who used full plate and how they applied it in battle more than any other example) and wearing armor themselves.

Interestingly, the sex of a destrier was often chosen strategically. Stallions (horses that haven't been neutered) are more aggressive, and could both act as combatants on their own if their knight was dismounted or killed, but could give away an army's location if they were attempting to move stealthily. Stallions whinny and shriek a lot when they're horny or arguing with each other, which is most of the time.

Mares were often chosen by Muslim armies for being much less vocal, and therefore much more capable of stealth. Geldings (neutered males) were the preferred mounts of the Teutonic Knights, a Catholic military group, since they couldn't be stolen and used to breed more horses for the enemy army.

Coursers:

Coursers were the most common Medieval European warhorse. It's important to remember that in Medieval Europe, most armies were almost entirely comprised of common men - serfs subject to the will of their landlords, not far removed from slaves in many ways - who couldn't afford the highly-prized and expensive Destriers. Coursers were usually a bit lighter than Destriers, but were still strong enough to carry someone wearing armor. Coursers were also a little more utilitarian, because they were also sometimes used in hunting as well as warfare, so they had a valuable use outside of warfare that the owner could benefit from.

Rouncey:

A rouncey was an all-purpose horse that could be used for leisure and travel-riding as well as be trained for war. They were a lot more likely to be found on the farm of a serf or independent farmer of some kind, as they could fill a lot of different roles depending on what they were needed for. Their sizes weren't really important as much as their ability to get the job done.

It's also critical to remember that, when talking about warhorses, we're usually talking about eras long past. In general, thanks to resource availability and incredible advances in medicine, modern humans are significantly taller, and therefore heavier, than people from the European Medieval era and prior. While fatness was valued in many cultures for its suggestion of wealth, most working-class and serf-class people worked intensely physically-demanding daily lives just to maintain their own homes. They were a few inches shorter on average than we are today, had greater fluctuations in body fat distribution depending on how harsh or bountiful the harvest season had been and the season in which a war was taking place (the average person's weight would swing by 30lbs or more on average every year prior to the industrial era), and cavalry were usually chosen based upon skill in the saddle as well as physical size when considering the application of medium or heavy armor being placed on the horse's back and body.

[otiksimr]

Hello hello hello I have returned once again, this time to ask for:

The name pronunciations!

Xerxees, would it sound like Zerzees? Zurksees? Kserksees? Would Ebrietas be Eh-brī-uh-tuhs, Eh-bree-eh-tuhs, something else? How would you even pronounce Rahuul and Yhtraah? Just all of them.

Also, if Abyss Children would be really interested in humans, how often do they actually come down to Earth? You said they're worshipped, so at least once, but do they ever just pop up looking somewhat non-human and just hang out?

Speaking of looking somewhat non-human, does anyone ever question Bob [Bob Beloved] about, like, his general lack of face? Or the fact that, in their eyes, he would seemingly never age? And was Bob [Bob Beloved] ever depicted in like, insanely old murals or anything? Could archeologists in Otiksimr lore find Bob [Bob Beloved] cave paintings?

And if Abyss Children "latch onto" whatever helped them, the ones that were pulled out I mean, does that mean there's even more creatures? And how would a creature help an Abyss Child out in the first place?

Also, when I asked about World Eater relations to other species, you mentioned B A T S that have to do with another character 👀 I am now curious about that as well

Ehem. Anyway. That was my daily question. (More like an interrogation atp but either way)

Tytytytyty

Also this is awesome. Anyway-

Yipe! Questions!

Whenever I pronounce names… I don’t have a real way of doing it. It’s more or less just pronounce it how it looked. Xerxees is Zurk-sees. Ebrietas is Eh-bree-eh-tahs. Rahuul is Rah-ool. For Yhtraah the ‘t’ is silent. So it’d be Yuh-Kraa. That’s the most odd the pronunciation gets though. Don’ worry about it for the most part.

Abyss Children aren’t big wanderers, if they find a place they like they just settle down there. There are two kinds, ones that just wander space (typically young ones who’ve yet to find a role model or older ones who do not take on a form), and ones that stay rooted to a live planet (like Earth). They just stay there, lol. For the most part, just for ease, they can all look relatively human if they want to. Just a majority of them don’t. (Ones who do present themselves as mainly human are Haruna, Yoru, and Zynath but they also interact with humans the most out of all of them). 

They have their own territories in the planets they choose to reside in. And those territories are heavily affected by their presence (for example if one of them was Winter Incarnate then the area they mainly reside would be under a constant blizzard :]). Their interaction with humans is based on if people ever wander into their territory knowingly or not. Just I mainly talk about the oddballs (The babysitters and sister twins) so that may not be very apparent. Lol.

Bob has a face. He can look like a completely normal person. I just never draw him as such because I don’t want to. That’s my fault. And Bob is good at making sure he didn’t get caught while he’s a worm (Correction, Rahuul is very good at making sure Bob isn’t seen at all when he’s worm). So you wont be seeing any ancient murals of Bobby worm. Sad.

There are a lot of critters. That I have in concept. Just none of them I give names because I am bad with names and I know I wont remember them so theres no point to it. I make it sound like Abyss Child ‘births’ are a very frequent thing. It isn’t. Maybe like. Once a million years on average, and that’s just how often it happens not how successful it is. (Success rating I’d say a solid 1% make it). And the chances that another being is around to notice it let alone do anything about it is very slim. I made a lil’ diagram to help show it, since it’s really hard to explain. Lol.

Alright! The bats! They’re relevant to a character because of his [L O R E]. Woo, spooky. So, you know how oarfish are also known as ‘doomsday fish’ because they surface during earthquakes? The bats are like that! But they are are way more specific, scarily so even! They sense disaster (just think of Absol the pokemon), and a week or so before the disaster actually strikes they all scatter and relocate in massive hoards, and after the disaster strikes they go back to their original home. (For example, a flood or forest fire. One flock will leave, a few days past, another flock will leave, and eventually the entire hoard is gone.) 

Thus people who live on this [specific island] that the bats are only located on build their residents near the areas that the bats are native to. As they are an extremely accurate forewarning. Basically, when the bats start leaving you gotta pack up and MOVE. When the hoard is gone ya gotta book it out of there fella! Heh heh. They got a long ass name that I don’t feel like repeating here, but yeah :). I think it was Yan Hyra or something like that. Don’t ask what it means because it ain’t mean shit. That’s just the naming system, ha.

Very glad to add to your brain eating amoebas! And brain worms ! ! :]

Please… my mice… ask about my characters… I must infect the rest of you as well.

[rafeysvenicebitch]

🔪017 masterlist

CW: talk about pregnancy, cussing

You were curled up on the couch, wrapped in a blanket, half-watching Desperate Housewives when Lena stormed into the room.

Without a word, she slammed a small box into your hands.

Plan B.

You blinked up at her. “Lena—”

“Take it,” she snapped, arms crossed. “Now.”

You sighed, setting the box on the coffee table. “The test was negative.”

“And?” She shot you a pointed look. “I don’t trust that psycho not to try again.”

“Rafe wouldn’t—”

Lena scoffed. “Wouldn’t he? You really think he wouldn’t love to trap you?” She shook her head, pacing. “Jesus, Y/N. You’re so naïve about him.”

You didn’t respond. You just turned back to the TV, eyes unfocused as Bree Van de Kamp rearranged flowers with that perfect, Stepford-wife precision.

Lena exhaled sharply. “I’m just saying,” she muttered, sitting beside you. “You’re lucky this was just a scare.”

You swallowed, shifting uncomfortably. “What if it wasn’t?”

Her head snapped toward you. “What?”

You shrugged, still avoiding her gaze. “I mean… what if it actually happened?”

Lena stared at you like you had just confessed to murder. “Are you serious?”

You didn’t answer.

Lena groaned, rubbing her temples. “You can’t seriously be considering having a child with him.”

You wrapped your arms around yourself. “Not now,” you murmured. “But… in the future, maybe.”

Lena let out a bitter laugh. “God help you, Y/N.”

—

Later that night, Rafe found you sitting on the windowsill of his apartment, legs curled beneath you. He handed you a glass of wine before settling beside you.

You took a sip, staring out at the city lights. “Lena thinks you’re trying to get me pregnant on purpose.”

Rafe chuckled, stretching his arm along the back of the seat. “Am I that obvious?”

You shot him a look, and he smirked. “Kidding, angel.”

A beat of silence passed before you finally asked, “Do you want kids?”

Rafe hesitated. You watched as he turned his glass between his fingers, his jaw tightening.

“I don’t know,” he admitted. “I don’t think I’d be a good father.”

You frowned. “Why?”

He let out a humorless laugh. “Come on, Y/N. You’ve seen the shit I’ve done. You know what I am.” He shook his head. “I’d just end up screwing them up.”

You rested your head on his shoulder. “I don’t know if I’d be a good mother.”

Rafe turned toward you, brows furrowing. “Why not?”

You sighed. “Because… I don’t even know what being a good mother means.” You played with the hem of your sleeve. “I don’t think I’ve ever had a real example.”

Rafe studied you for a moment before tilting your chin up, forcing you to meet his gaze. “You would be a good mother,” he murmured.

You swallowed hard. “How do you know?”

“Because you have a heart.” His thumb brushed over your cheek. “And I trust you to make up for the parts I lack.”

Your eyes softened. “And I trust you.”

Rafe leaned in, pressing a slow kiss against your lips. “Maybe one day,” he whispered. “When we’re ready.”

Your heart fluttered. Maybe one day.

Taglist: @strawberries-and-lots-of-kisses @memoirofasparklemuff1n @rafesbabygirlx @susanhill @slut4you @sarahsangelicdoll-recs @sarahsangelicdoll-recs @moneybaby07 @iluvblue-blog1 @hnelizzie @st4rgirlmar1e @skel-skell

[lesbiansforboromir]

I am sorry, but LOTRO is...like a LOTR game? The plot is good? It has which characters?

HAH you know that's such a good question, didn't even think to explain it properly.

LOTRO is an MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role playing game), think World of Warcraft-esque. It's about 15 years old so it's a little on the dated side graphics wise and it's gameplay is essentially landscape exploration and combat, with group content that goes from three-person dungeons to full 12-person raids.

BEING a 15 year old game the plot is... enormous. Like its hard to even talk about a 'plot' at this point, since there are about 30 different individual storylines for each zone strewn throughout a multitude of quests that see you talking to every character imaginable. Like 'which characters does it have'? all of them, LOTRO has all characters from lotr in it. LOTRO has characters you don't even remember in it. In LOTRO you get major questlines from Denethor's two unnamed elder sisters. In LOTRO they make you care about the men named amongst the dead in the song of lament after the pelennor fields, people you never speak too in the books.

You create a character and choose your race and begin to journey from the furthest west (Ered Luin, the Shire, Bree or Cardolan depending on choices) to the furthest east and act as a side character to the main plot of lotr. You cross paths with the fellowship at various points and develop relationships with all of them, up to and past the death of sauron (currently the game has expanded into Umbar, months after Sauron's defeat in game canon.) All of the game's story is told through quest dialogue, which you have to read, it's a hell of a lot of reading, whether thats reading what people are saying to you when you accept a quest or reading what NPC's are saying to you within quest instances and 'cutscenes'.

So there is an overarching plot, called 'epic book quests', which will take you on this journey, but it is dwarfed by the sheer number of surrounding tales going within each area you visit. Dunland is an excellent example, you have to travel through it to get to Rohan but what you're doing whilst you're there is investing yourself in the struggles, politics, dangers and cultures of the people who live in Dunland. And that is true for every area you visit, which inevitably makes LOTRO a massive worldbuilding and expanding project for middle earth. Like it's really hard to put into words quite how much 'plot' there is in this game. Some of it is good, some of it is not so good, some of it is so good it makes me want to bite the game, some of it is so bad it makes me want to bite the game, you will find 30 favourite plots and 30 hated plots and 100+ more in the middle.

Of course, this means LOTRO also creates it's own characters to fit into the world and get attached too, many of whom I now love and care for just as much as original canon characters. Like fucking Ayorzen. Oh my god. I love Ayorzen. You only meet him at level 110 in mordor and it takes you real life months of questing to reach that point. Not anything repetetive either, you do not grind exp in this game unless you actually want too, there are just that many quests and storylines between you and mordor that it takes you months to finish them all. Are some of the epic book quests kinda superfluous and make you run around way too much? Yes. I don't care about them, the point of lotro is in the smaller stories you find along the way. The game is about being able to walk, by yourself, no loading screens, from the Shire to Mordor and beyond and experience the minutae of middle-earth living whilst you do it. Hope that somehow answers your questions!

Oh it's also a dress up game, forgot to mention that, the lotro devs will disagree but this is a dress up game except you're dressing up TO journey through middle earth and you can unlock multiple outfit slots to customise that you can change your character into whenever you like, no restrictions on what you can put on your outfits regardless of levels or classes so long as you have wardrobe space. Unfortunately the game's armours are ugly as sin until level 50, though happily that's a shorter trip than it sounds, early game goes by much faster than the post-50 stuff.

[thecoolerliauditore]

THE SHEPSCAPADES COMIC! That was to me (and from my perspective to the fandom) the turning point of “ok, im not imagining this”. It doesn’t change any dialogue or anything, it just gives the characters facial expressions and yet it’s almost impossible to interpret the interaction in any way other than the relationship not being good.

The dl era, to me, was a lot of trying to ignore the implication of ranchers fanon lore being that, for once, someone is being nice to Jimmy. People could see the difference in their interactions, which made the abusive behaviour all the more difficult to ignore, and yet acknowledging this directly would be labelled shipping discourse and no one wants to be THAT fan, right? But the tension growing was palpable.

I also would like to add that once I decided to scroll through anti-toxic fh blogs to try and understand why they think like that and… a lot of it was just “well it makes me feel gross”? And I get it. Cannibalism and mass murder are, to most of us, a very distant concept, so it’s more comfortable to engage with than the horrors of the mundane, especially when applied to a queer character. But that doesn’t mean it’s any better than talking about domestic abuse.

The last paragraph is phrased weird but i don’t know how to write it better so i hope it’s understandable.

That comic was patient zero in "oh my god other people see it too" for so many of us, I think. And yeah like you said it sticks very close to what happened taking into account tone of voice and everything. Adaptations of that sequence are like an almost surefire test to figure out what someone's interpretation of FH's relationship is and I think that's wonderful.

Big agree on the ranchers lore and I would argue Pearl's POV also has a similar effect where it forces you to acknowledge Scott not being the best ever. Funnily enough I watched the ranchers pov before the FH pov and didn't really see any of the post-FH horrors until I watched FH. I just kind of assumed when people said Tango was the first person who treated Jimmy as an equal they were putting "and Scott too but that was a season ago" in footnotes. But no they meant full-time and they'd be right lmao

My favourite example of Jimmy expecting the worst is this interaction he has with Bdubs where he essentially gets a bucket for free when the ranchers were struggling for iron and tells him to not tell Tango because he's scared he'll get yelled at. Like there is literally nothing Jimmy has done here that would be remotely considered reasonable to yell at him for but he's so afraid of having agency and making his own decisions at this point he just defaults to assuming his partner will be upset at him. (FYI I think this is more a result of how everyone treats him - Southlanders certainly did not help - but getting mad at Jimmy for doing literally anything except sit still was something Scott was especially privy to)

Don't worry I think your point was clear enough on that last paragraph, I kind of roll my eyes when people try to use distance as an excuse to justify why some dark topics are okay but others aren't, but I can't talk too much about this because I find it annoying and will probably end up saying something that feels mean lol.

Redirecting this once again to Bree's post about how hostile the language people use when talking about this discourse is to abuse victims e.g. "why can't you be NORMAL and write about NORMAL relationships and let them be NORMAL" which I think partially comes as a direct result of refusing to engage in abuse storylines and thus not being sympathetic to these portrayals or the people who write them.

And aside from that it's not even like. abuse and toxic relationships themselves are the issue sometimes. Obviously generalizing here a bit but I see a lot of the same people who find toxic fh "gross" gas up interpretations where Jimmy cheats on Scott or otherwise treats Scott horribly. Not to mention Pearl and her storyline getting turned into "girl who is mad gay man won't date her".

It just uh. sometimes feels as though the "grossness" is coming from a need to defend Scott's honour than a need to disengage with these themes entirely, which rubs me the wrong way.

(not to mention that I do think calling abuse storylines "gross" in of itself might have some unfun implications attached but I've said enough)

[probablyintensemuses]

INCOMING: A DESPERATE COLLEGE STUDENTS OATHBOUND PREDICTIONS!!!!

CC @mageofspace__ on IG

TRACY!! I JUST FELL TO MY KNEES IN THE MIDDLE OF WALMART! THE WHOLE GANG!! I’m so happy to see Valec, Alice, Will, & Mariah in the flesh like wtf! But while we are here, I want to talk about some of my Oathbound predictions…because I can. ❤️⚔️💙

P.S. IF YOU HAVEN’T READ LB OR BM I SUGGEST YOU DO NOT CONTINUE! Spoilers ahead!

• Okay first, I truly believe that Bree has had her squire and kingsmage all along, Nick and Sel. I mean just with the relationships between those three, there is no way it goes any other way.

also, Alice will wake from her coma and have somehow inherited powers from Will as she was LITERALLY breathing his aether signature in. Like I’m not 100% sure how that would work, but we’ve seen it in media before, take Monica Rambeau and Wanda’s hex for an example! Maybe that interaction with magic will awaken Alice's own unique magic too, or maybe it's closely related to Bree again how the Mesmer did too in LB.

Regardless, when she awakens I think bby girl will be given an even more important role in the finale of this series. Maybe like being Will's squire...

• it’s going to come out that not only is shadow daddy, IYKYK not spoiling for potential new readers who have no sense of self-preservation and are reading this anyways, is not only Sel's father but VALECHEZ’s! Like not only would that be pure comedy considering how they were at each other's NECKS in BM, but it makes sense as to why Sel was succumbing to his demonia so fast, faster than others, maybe because a little more demon than others…

•I think this new magic system that Tracy is cooking up is going to tap into Natasia and Faye’s relationship a bit more and even Sel and Bree’s.

I also think it’s going to be the solution to not only Sel’s demonia, but Bree’s bloodmark, and even abatement and all these fucking legendborn oaths. I mean think about the word OATH, practically meaning something one HAS to abide by. Vera took an oath of sorts with the blood mark “one daughter at a time for all time.” The legend born and their oath of service and all this, as I call it, greedy magic which shortens their life spans, the Merlins too! What if, just what if, Faye and Natasia found a way to combine both their forms of magic (root + aether + blood craft) and created something entirely new? Something so potent and powerful, defying these “oaths” or what you could call them, curses, to cure all these things…and what if since Bree is from Faye’s lineage, sel from Natasia, what if they can do it together too.

• I think we will learn more about the Morgaine. More on Nick….hmm. A lot of LB fans keep calling him boring, but with his mom's disappearance, and the fact that Tracy is too good of an author to simply leave his arc hanging, I don't trust it. Maybe he will even go rogue, I'm not too sure ATP, but don't sleep on Nick!

• Lastly for my final predictions…more like a pipe dream. I really, for the life of me, need Bree to pull a Wanda from episodes 8-9 of WandaVision with Shadow Daddy.

We know Bree is smart and clever, this ain’t new! So, I need her to take what she has learned from shadow daddy, and then pull a clean uno reverse, and get out of there! EXPEDITIOUSLY!

Then from there, I need her to find Sel and Nastia (preferably in some cute cabin in the woods, and Natasia needs to be a MILF) this revelation of Bree's survival prompts Natasia to discuss the above ^^^ She and Bree get to work! Sel is now cured and they can get these oaths removed!!! Once these oaths are removed, the REGENTS ARE TOAST, TOR TOO! Then we get to work on Camlann in book 4! Cuz that’s how tf Tracy does it! Period!!

THESE ARE JUST MY PREDICTIONS, NONE OF THESE ARE CANON!! All I have to say is I'm fucking so excited about this book and even though it's still two years out I'm trusting Tracy's expertise to bring us something DE-LI-CIOUS! Also is it too much to ask that if this is adapted for television to have it animated, we know how much Tracy loves and takes influence from anime... it's only fair, and I feel can make for a more accurate and dynamic visual medium.

That's all for now. PEACE.

[rorirevolutions]

World Building Pt.4: Actual 'world' building

So obviously we know that most of the towns and cities in the shows don’t really exist. However, some of them have stated specific regions and states where they are set such as Mighty Med taking place in Philadelphia, PA. As for the others such as Swellview I did a little sleuthing to figure out roughly where each of these take place based on little things mentioned in canon and weather patterns.

The Lab Rats home of Mission Creek is another easy one because they at one point it is stated that it’s in California. I’m not stopping there though, personally I believe it takes place in SoCal near Orange County. Which given the climate it would make sense that the Bionic Island is just off the coast in Baja California. This would also mean that Tasha and Leo, assuming they arn’t transplants, would use SoCal slang. However, I don’t believe the trio would necessarily have Cali accents. Maybe Bree would to fit in more, but after living so long detached from society I believe that Adam having only really heard Donald for the longest time would share his accent for the most part and Chase probably dosen’t have a definable accent. He has a computer in his brain and access to every bit of slang/inflection that has ever been recorded. So he probably dosen’t speak with much of one. He might have picked up more Cali slang and gestures from his time with Leo, but I doubt he uses them unless specifically talking to Tasha or Leo. 

It isn’t ever brought up were Centium City resides, but based on the fact that it appears a lot colder and is the home town of both the Davenport brothers and Principle Perry. I believe that Centium City is in the state New Jersey. Perry has a lot of stereotypical qualities(I apologize to anyone from NJ, I’ve never been and all I have is media for examples) that kinda makes me think that she would be from there. Also could you please imagine Perry, Donald, and Douglas with Jersey accents. Incredible. I think that the brothers have probably lost a good bit of there accents from time away, but whenever they are near each other or are particularly emotional the accents come out in full force. Otherwise Donald probably dosen’t have a  very definable accent due to all his traveling and working with a wide array of people, and Douglas probably has nothing but different bits of mixed up slang due to his colorful environment.

Henry Danger/Danger Force were a bit difficult until I rewatched the Game Shakers x Henry Danger crossover special. While discussing places to go Kenzie brings up Swellview and states that its in ‘The Heart of America’. While many states can try to claim that they are the heart of the country, the only one that is usually agreed upon is Kansas. Climate wise it also makes sense as swellview has shown to be rather windy and Kansas in right within Tornado Alley. This means that Swellviews hilariously named neighboring towns also take place in Kansas. All the characters (with the exception of Schwoz) would also use more Kansan slang as all of them have stated to have lived in the area their whole lives. Which leads me to bring up Dystopia where the original Danger Crew moved to after S5. All we know about Dystopia is that its really dangerous and kinda nearby as Henry seems willing to get there without the use of Miles’s powers. Now for this I looked up where the most dangerous cities in America were and I’m so sorry Missouri but you guys have several cities in the top 10 list. It is also right next-door to Kansas. 

Like HD/DF the Thundermans home of Hiddenville doesn’t have a named state. It also appears to have a fairly neutral environment. Initially I was thinking of Tennessee but all things considered there’s a distinct lack of countryisms (I know not all Tennessee is county music and farm life but it still dosen’t quit fit). Then I was thinking Washington due to the ‘Land of 1,000 parks’ bit(According to google Seattle, WA has 874 parks), but theres a lack of mountain ranges. However, it’s the closest I’ve got to a real answer so I’m sticking to it until I find more evidence. Even if Hiddenville is in Washington, I don’t think any of the Thundermans(with maybe the exception of Chloe) would have any slang or dialect from there. The family transplanted more than likely from a different state to go into hiding. Given that Metroberg is basically the Capitol of all USA Supers, I think it would probably also be in Virginia nearby D.C. Meaning the family would have similar accents and mannerisms to Virginians. At least in the beginning, later on the kids probably adopt the slang of those nearby.

Finally Villains of Valley View. It’s already mentioned in the show that Valley View is in Texas, but like the Thundermans the Madden family is also transplanted and on the run/in hiding. While it’s never truly stated where they came from we can infer from some details. Eva has a very noticeable British accent so she probably moved to the US as a young adult. I don’t know what it is but for some reason Vic gives me NorCal vibes specifically Sacramento, CA. I have no clue why but he does. I imagine that after they unofficially wed(they couldn’t legally get married as wanted criminals) Vic and Eva moved to the Bay Area where they did some villainy and started their family. I don’t have a name for the town/city where they grew up yet, but I am absolutely accepting suggestions.

[horizon-verizon]

I've got some things to say abt the latest episode of Tell Me Lies, as well as some fans of the show.

Firstly, I just want to say that Stephen IS Shakespeare's Iago.

1) I really hope Bree finds out Lucy was the girl Evan cheated on her with in the future storyline, bc this group of friends needs to just never be together anymore.

2) Oliver was always an opp, from day one, no matter how hot his actor is (and trust I have been both side eyeing and involuntarily gushing at their scenes for a while). "Boys" are the worst at any age; he's a prime example of that but Bree doesn't know that yet. 45x19 is never the move, esp when the older's married.

The reason why Bree keeps telling people abt Oliver is bc she doesn't want to feel guilty or under a moral pressure abt it when she's in the affair to feel like she is desirable/worthy of attention when her friends barely do anything to really know/care for her & she felt her relationship w/Evan didn't have enough reciprocated emotional investment. Which is ironic bc Oliver is certainly not giving that despite how she feels he sorta "picks" her over Marianne by choosing to spend time w/her, validating her feelings abt Evan/her friends. Despite him saying he won't leave his marriage for her.

He's playing a push-pull game to keep her wanting more: the ring, "why wouldn't we?", etc. HE travels to some NE "village" for Thanksgiving with rich white folks and she lives in the dorms. He is still using her, this is and never will be an "equal" relationship.

3) idgaf abt the possibility that Diana is trying to swerve Steven by lashing at Lucy, it will always be an amoral, unnecessary, unethical move when Steven PUBLICLY & VISIBLY in front of both their friends was & HAS BEEN trying to rile Lucy/Leo up.

4) Diana thus 100% deserved that slap, esp when Lucy was the one who put her onto to the Steven-Macy and *she* didn't believe Lucy at first. Lucy is the one who's enabled Diana--IF she is trying to get away from Steven now--to plan in the 1st place, & she goes & does this?

Nah, let's hold Diana accountable for her actions as you (a lot of people) have been holding Lucy accountable for hers! She was a coward bc even if she is doing this to get away from Steven and she is as smart as people say she is, if she is actually pretty good at social manipulation, it's still amoral to tell the victim he was the real problem and invited abuse (a girl younger than Diana [20-22] herself, who also took Steven back when he cheated on her and put her down for months and is currently still doing so), is not the NECESSARY move when we see the same dude publicly try to harass Leo and Lucy in front of the friends who will not check Steven.

5) This is also the same reason why I am annoyed & disappointed w/Pippa even though he was the only one to at least say something abt & TO Steven in the situation. How are you going to stand there, witness Steven try to get Leo to go wild on him not once but TWICE, hear Lucy tell you abt Steven getting to her, hear him say she "embarrassed" herself at that lunch table (Steven had been trying to break them up for ages!), see Lucy stay away from Steve the best she could until not only he but his sister criticize her for being "psycho" (against Steven, not her behavior towards others, Sadie thought Lucy was being "crazy" on Steven),...see Diana wrongly assign all the fault on Lucy...then say you can't "believe" Lucy slapped her?

Not only do we know & you saw Steven be emotionally abusive to Diana (& I am sure she wouldn't say the same if Diana slapped another girl saying that), you slapped Steven yourself?!!! Under the guise of a game, but everyone understood what you did! Leo fist-pumped you for it?! All bc you have a crush on Diana, you're willing to ignore how Diana is literally victim-blaming while she herself "makes it easy" for Steven to hurt her time and time again.

6) And I'm red in rage over the Lucy getting blamed and this idea of victimhood or victimlessness bc it's all abt the principle of the thing: yes there are many women who will sacrifice their dignity for male validation (like Diana, not just Steven but her dad), & Lucy was one of them when she had been dating Steven...but this is the point of the show! MANY women are like Lucy and Diana and Pippa. MOST women have at one point in their prepubescence to dating lives have sold other women/girls out, blamed other girls, to believed or vilified women trying to defend themselves in a sea of men-protectors, etc. bc out world has made it very clear that, for a time, these actions will at least move negative male predation away from them or get them social "favors" for it, or some sort of validation the same society denies young girls and women. Gain back what is lost.

It's still women's jobs to reflect and stop that behavior in ourselves as we grow. At least Future!pool-Lucy is not throwing another girl under the bus as she tries to get back at Steven for his wedding speech, even as she is choosing to react to more of his bullshit at the age of 25-27! We hold Future!Lucy accountable for not taking the opp to protect her own peace...but not Diana when she's actively making Lucy out to be the bad guy in a situation where she definitely wasn't?! Making her out to be the "crazy" ex and weaponizing her slapping her against her for her own needs?

This goes to show that our society/the internet still will approve male violence in any form--even encourage it, with Leo vs Steven (this instance is kinda valid, but you should know what I'm getting at)--before they ever let a woman REFLEXIVELY lose some bit of restraint and react/defend herself.

Past!Lucy was not even horrible to Diana nor Steven before epi 6; she was trying to stay away & live her life w/Leo & the others. Yeah, she's emotionally immature before and after Steven, but:

a) she is actually "worse" AFTER Steven and if he didn't exist or had approached her with all his damn negging, she likely could have done better for herself as she grew in this college environment when, once more, bc Steven was so horrible to her she developed a hyperawareness towards possible psychological threats from intimate partners or other kinds...esp with how her mother tried to make her to be the wrong party, talking abt "your dad would be so upset with you" when she slept with his best friend as he died and way before that! Lucy was kinds set up for more ish bc her mother created the expectations for that.

b) Past! & Future!Steven goes/went out of his way, unprovoked, to make her feel she was always the one doing wrong when he creates most of all his own issues: Macy, inviting the freshmen girls he hunted for in the first place, cheating on Diana, telling his gfs their hormones & periods make them insufferable, manipulating Wrigley AND his brother Iago-style , etc.

Steven is out here literally trying to ruin people's day bc he has never had one himself. How is Lucy mean to be so perfectly composed 100% of the time?!!! No, things will always give, plus she is 19/was 18.

7) Which is why I don't fuck w/Max even though Leo also cites how Lucy uses people's worst things against them (which, again, is her doing reactive mistreatment bc she, form Steven, now reflexively anticipates people using/lying/manipulating her).

Leo at least HAS to stay away from toxicity bc of his own anger issues & abusive past form his dad & his reliance on the only thing that made him relatively safe...ironically, very similar to Lucy. I wish he had clocked both this AND how Lucy is more reacting in the face of having not much support form the peanut gallery, but I get it, it simply isn't their time. I loved them together, and despite him not telling Lucy about his ex cheating w/Steven when he knows she is so triggered and afraid of any scenario like manipulation, saying that its "unimportant" I also think there is a chance that they could have tackled it with how good they were communicating otherwise. How good he was at that aside form this thing.

Max, however, has no background to be telling Lucy to "forget" Steven kiking up with him in the 4th or 5th episode, I forget. Esp when she herself asked him why he is doing said kiking knowing what she told him abt Steven...talking abt "people changed". Also we have seen no real consideration of what I have described all along: that Steven is the issue, and that maybe instead of "forgiving" him and giving him a pass, just suggest she stay away from him and not engage with Steven yourself for her to be able to actually "forget" him, as YOU say!

No, we don't dismiss our partner's upset bc we're upset they haven't "forgiven & forgot"; that in itself is not very "mature".

And no, I don't think that her FUTURE/present!pool-move licenses Past!Steven, present/future!Max, whoever, to give her past-self flack.

Yes, at the older age you must realize that sometimes you've got to be the one to make an end of things or have built up some thicker skin to generate some peace as you're not even in the same spaces anymore like you were in college when the guy truly was making life hell enough for you to drop a class.

Yes, the pool scene shows she has little progress than she should. That in no way negates how Steven hasn't either, he's just now even better at hiding his crazy...I mean that damn speech?

Yes, we the audience know that Steven is slighting both Lucy & Diana with his whole "find the right one to do the work for"; but people like Max don't. People who don't bother to internalize and observe people beyond the surface and at their own convenience.

Steven also says he was the idiot (notice how he makes it abt him), there is enough for some inattentive, inexperienced, distracted, or ignorant people to take it as if he's being self-effacing...but no, he *ended* his speech w/that dig. This and the sales comment abt her "as long as you're happy" (when we already heard him say to Diana that he basically thinks working in sales is "beneath" him). HE hasn't changed, not one bit. He will always try to get his lick in, as present/future!Pippa says he will and has not ever "changed".

Again, I can't exactly "hate" Lucy for the pool scene even as I am exasperated with her for it. I hate discrepancies like these where one ends up "hating" the wrong person the most, makes me misanthropic (not just misandirist).

Last Notes...

So, real life-wise, yeah, Future!Lucy, stop, just remove yourself from those group of so-called "friends" AND Max and get some therapy. Otherwise, you're just choosing to be toxic. Yes, the letter about Drew was much, but that is more misguided defending a dead girl who shouldn't have died. The way she went about it was concerning, but not unfoundly malicious. Yeah, her telling Steven abt Lydia's personal shit was terrible of her and maybe it's bc she had many experiences from Lydia actually doing as she did with that stupid poop comment to embarrass her. That was shitty, but I am also not going to remove the described possibility abt Lydia when we know Lydia is perhaps the biggest pick-me to ever pick me in this entire cast and is def jealous of Lucy. I think it's important to note that Lucy one time punched Lydia's ex when he basically cheated on her publicly or something along those lines. And, as Lucy says, she was trying to take care of Steven the way she thought she was (as some people will say Diana might be trying to while getting back at Lucy).

Perhaps Lucy and Steven are a pair who drag everyone around them, with Lucy sending that letter (Wrigley's accident, Drew's mental dive) and also having slept w/Evan & that also having lead to Bree getting w/Oliver. However, Bree wasn't forced to sleep w/Oliver even as she searches for validation form him she's missing from Evan and her friends. And Wrigley having allowed his mates to harass Pippa, having joined other boys/men in inviting only freshmen girls who he later says are a "curse", when he's the one who suggested this stupid ass game for this group of people (we don't nearly give enough flack for this when this basically set up the entire evening along w/Steven's bullshit, but apparently we will give Lucy flack for the pool scene above all else). Evan not only cheating but making Bree feel she's crazy for questioning his overcompensation, then getting mad when she wouldn't give him the time of day when she's really just distracted, then him stringing along the girl I don't remember the name of. All of these people are quite capable of creating their own drama and hurting each other without Lucy, esp with how they refuse to let Steven go or pay attention and hold him accountable, go ALL the way with him.

I think that a present popular audience feeling that Lucy is somehow "close" to Steven's level and type of toxicity are themselves serving to protect mal predation and bad acting. Something these "friends" are doing, ironically.

So I will always have the most smoke for Stephen & the other men....THE MOST. As I also ream Lydia Pippa, Bree, Diana....not just Lucy, as it appears people have and continue to do. Stephen is the un"fix"able provoker, Lucy may almost always respond or seek out to compete but that is more because she is highly, immaturely lost. Stephen is not and never was lost in her impulsivity that is discouraged more often than Stephen is simply bc of expectations of girls over males. There is no grace I can afford to Stephen who CHOOSES AND STRATEGIZES to be an active menace to everyone around him, god awful mother or not. Lucy needs someone to level with her without being a complete hypocrite or uncognizant of abuse and misogyny themselves so they can remain as observant as possible. Stephen needs jail or exile. Lucy's problems stem from an extreme sense of low self worth; Stephen is insistent on destroying others to make room for himself. They are not the same and do not have the potential for the same, esp separated and Lucy somehow forced to look inward. Remember, IAGO, and unlike Othello, Lucy's story isn't done yet, if the writers continue to write well.

I love this damn show so much. i wouldn't be friends or even acquaintances with any of them, yes inclu Lucy & Wrigley.

[sqebu]

also. when you draw nat and ravi with blood splatters on them sometimes. is that a story element or —

Well. Consensual yet Questionable Adult Activities. But also relevant to part of what I want to explore with Natalie.

Nat's attractions and how she perceives relationships is not really normal, which is something she's settled into at her current stage in life. She's done 0 healing, she just no longer worries about it.

(Nat's Natural Desires, jokingly presented)

It's a mix of her "natural desires" in their purest form, her various fascinations with human beings, the way she understands social situations (analysis based only on power dynamics...it's bad), and the way she's noticed that other people respond to her.

I wrote so much more here, especially about how Bree shaped her, but I actually want to just make comics about it so I might do that ftftf. Alongside her childhood experiences which didn't set a good example.

What it boils down to is that she finds herself in a self-fulfilled prophetic role of Violence and Aggression out of fear and what she believes is expected of her.

(Unfinished comics, slightly relevant)

The thing she has with Ravi is different from Bree because he just lacks the same self-respect and boundaries due to his own problems. Could that end well? Does Natalie secretly desire tenderness? Stay tuned! Maybe! I don't know!

[panlight]

Hi I couldn't help but notice from the Bree Tanner book that Diego and Bree seem to have similar interests to Edward and Bella (music and reading). I don't know if this is intentional to parallel their characters but it does make me wonder, had they both survived and lived happily either with the Cullens, Fred, or even with the Denalis in Alaska, if they could have had different interests or hobbies from the other characters?

Bree DOES feel a lot like Bella. I think SM even said that Bree is better than the average newborn at controlling herself, just not as amazing as Bella. So even there Bree isn't really a good example of a newborn, and SM couldn't quite bring herself to actual write that experience. Which, I mean, fine. Whatever. It's her story. It's just weird that she goes out of her way to tell us how wild and out of control newborns are, and then the two narrators who actually experience it are . . . unusually controlled. I get that Bree is supposed to be a "mirror" to Bella (literally the name of the chapter) but at the same time it's frustrating that the only two examples we get of newborn narrators are outside the norm. We never get a look at the average experience.

I could definitely have seen Bree being into music in a different way than Edward and Bella. Edward is composer and pianist, and both he and Bella seem to be kind of casual fans of music. But maybe Bree could be more like the average teen. Just her fangirling over her favorite bands, and I guess back in 2005 maybe still buying the albums or at least downloading them. Magazines with interviews, music videos, etc. We could also embrace the Spider-man and secret ninja club stuff and let her be into comic books rather than Bella's classics. She would have missed out on the Marvel Cinematic Universe because those came later, but there were other superhero movies.

Diego is harder, I feel like we didn't get to know him as much, since he and Bree just fell into insta-love. He was only a little bit older than her, but he had dreamed of going to college and getting and education. Fred is the scientist, of course, but maybe Diego would have some other academic interest. Maybe he's really good with math and puzzles, or loves to write. That would be pretty cute with Bree who loves to read. He could write stories or draw comics that she would love, and she would in turn encourage him.

Like, just let them be teens, right? They aren't like the Cullen kids who have been teens for decades. They are just ACTUAL TEENS who have only been vampires for a few months. They both had difficult home lives and now that they are free of that, let them have some fun and be teens for awhile.

[winterillustrates]

Hello!! I super enjoyed your ask, so I want to ask you the same!

How would your OCs spend Valentine's? Would they go on dates? Make chocolate? Would they get gifts/letters from other students? Are they popular during Valentines/do they get a lot of chocolates?

Wait!! That's a lot of questions. Let me organize my thoughts.

Do they get a lot of chocolates/gifts during Valentines?

Who do they spend Valentine's with?

What do they do during Valentines? Or do they treat it like any normal day?

Okay!! That's all!! Feel free to answer as many or as little questions as you want!!

TYY for the ask! I love it! I'll answer it as best as I can, bsince I never really thought of something for the rest of my ocs. I've just been spoiling Riddle, Indicolite (yuusona) and Adeuce w/ art.

I'll use ocs I like the most, because I've got too many of them!

Do they get a lot of chocolates/gifts during Valentines?

Well, Bree, Celine, Casaleena and Snezhana do! How they all react to it is vastly different, though.

Celine Quintonia is always counting down the days before Valentines, mainly because she gets a lot of free food (doesn't gaf abt the letters) so she practically expects a desk filled with chocolates. Gifts are even better! She’ll give it to her ‘siblings’ back in Scalding Sands or maybe Ruggie or just pawn them off (doesn’t like it, cause he’s a bit jealous, so he mostly pawns them off after a week). Maybe if they match her aesthetic she MIGHT keep them.

Bree Rogers is flattered, yes, but she doesn't get the appeal. Will try writing back to almost everyone who wrote their names on their letters, because she feels she needs to set an example of 'good form'. Bree collects a lot of things, so I think she’d keep most of the gifts and give the others to her crew and Sandra.

Casaleena Espinosa gets fan mail all the time. She mostly just uses magic to carry them back into her room and sort through all of them. She burns ones that she deems too inappropriate or ones that are obviously trying to climb the social ladder through her. She prefers close friends giving her cards or letters to her face, though. Gets like 20 Valentine gifts from twst!Rapunzel all the time, though. She keeps gifts, forgets them and regifts them during emergency gifting events.

Snezhana Kagamikku gets the most anonymous ones. People don’t want to anger her, so they avoid putting their names. She doesn’t mind much and is not particularly a foodie (she lies, she LOVES sweets), so she mostly gives it to her close friends. If it’s gifts, though, she will use and/or treasure them.

2. Who do they spend Valentine's with?

Well, I’m going to use the most obvious ocs for that question. Hedena, Zula, Mauve, Ranadi and Ahissha.

Hedena Ivanna Crewel spends Valentines shopping with her Uncle. Divus spoils her with dresses and new outfits and one of them ends up crying by the end. I think during her 2nd year, she’d tearfully tell a crying Divus that she’s old enough to spend Valentine’s with her boyfriend (Epel).

Zula Parvenu-Gates spends half the day with Leona on a ‘romantic’ date their family plans. It consists of playful, but calculative bantering about how they just want to go home and play chess against each other (or sleep). The first half (preparation half) is spent with her siblings trying to make her look as presentable as she can while smothering her with love.

Mauve Ashengretto spends the day singing for her father’s business. She pulls a few strings and gets the First Year gang to come and cheer her on. She swears they mess up her dressing room, but she refuses them to wait for her anywhere else. She usually comes back to Deuce, Jack and Sebek trying to clean up a fight between Ace and Grim/Nessa/Epel/Yuu/Hedena (no one likes him/jk) while Ortho and whoever wasn’t involved is trying to look innocent. She sometimes sneaks off to exchange gifts with a nervous Deuce. If she’s feeling particularly nice, she might sing at the Monstro Lounge that night for her brother.

Ranadi Thanuris usually follows Kalim around, doing whatever he wants to, for the day. Roller coaster ride? She thinks they’re stupid, but why not? Throw a huge party? She’d prefer peace and quiet, but she’ll push through. Kalim surprises her when their arranged engagement turned into an actual relationship, though. He just wants to take long walks (could be quiet, too, but Ranadi understands no one is perfect) and MAYBE cuddle together.

Ahissha Sirina spends the day with her master, Prince Jonah, trying to bring chaos to the Valentine’s Ball their kingdom holds every year, mainly out of Jonah’s spite that he is not king. After her arc, though, she refuses him and he sort of? respects that. (Jonah stalks her as she’s off on a date or something with Jamil).

3. What do they do during Valentines? Or do they treat it like any normal day?

And last but not least, Alohi and Yasmin, because they don’t do much during Valentines.

Alohi Papainui forgets the day. It’s usually Cater to remind her with a cringey Valentine’s morning text or a joke on how she should be one of her 20 valentines. She just goes “oh” and continues on with her day. If she’s dating Cater then (off and on relationship), she’ll run to the store to get him something and will not gaf abt the rest of the day.

Yasmin Huchuy is disgusted by the day. She doesn’t even mention it. It really irritates her. Even more that her grumpy Housewarden, Kesari (which surprises even Kesari). Yasmin just rejects people with grace and poise. Can often be seen with a certain Noble Bell sickly looking a** sh*t talking all the couples, without realizing THEY look like a couple.

TY so much for the ask!! Sry I’m late! School is crap!

[spacemonkeysalsa]

Her Embrace, Her Tears

Multi-chaptered, fluff, angst, eventually smut

Lae'zel probably didn't need a good excuse, or further motivation, to go to war with Shar. But, she is about to get it anyway.

Five years post game, Dark Justiciar/Mother Superior/Chosen of Shar Shadowheart and (with a few notable exceptions) everyone got their bad endings, in that everyone is still alive, but shitty. Lae'zel is thriving though, aside from her relationship.

Read Chapter One on Ao3

or read Chapter Twelve below the cut

Silver Spark was cool in Shadowheart’s grip when she first took it, still sheathed, and wrapped her hands around it under the protection of her piwafwi and her cloak. By the time her mantle reached the limits of its threshold, it felt hot even under her own touch. The Sharran Mother Superior stood close enough to the fountain in the square that she could feel its cooling mist. The sound of the chiming waters might have overwhelmed the whispers,  if they were really audible, rather than being collected exclusively inside her own mind.

It wasn't ideal to operate this way. But, she had no spies in Lae'zel's circles. Foolish.

She had taken their alliance for granted. For all intents and purposes, Lae’zel was her network on the astral. She never should have relied on such a passive system.

Githyanki were uncommon. Conspicuous. Someone would have seen them. She had already traced their movements from Wyrm’s Rock back into the lower city. They had been busy. On the move. They had to rest somewhere.

The square was crowded enough that it would have been easy to exhaust herself detecting the thoughts of those around her, and still learn nothing pertinent. But she had faith that The Dark Lady’s guidance would lead her true, and she would find their trail. It wasn't long before she caught a whisper of them, a vendor still marveling at the rare sight of a githyanki mother and child who had stopped into the local tavern for some food. Typical ignorance of githyanki society aside, Shadowheart had a heading. The man had been thinking of a specific tavern, Elfsong. Shadowheart knew that she had stayed there before, even had some remaining memories of the place, though they were spare. It wasn’t out of the question that Lae’zel might rent rooms there again during her stay. When they’d been reunited, just days before, Shadowheart hadn’t enquired about where Lae’zel was staying. She couldn’t stay at the enclave, it wouldn’t set a good example for the acolytes, far too indulgent. Before all of the treachery had come to light, Shadowheart might’ve made arrangements to stay wherever Lae’zel was, but something had interrupted those plans, even before the need to rescue and secure the gith child took priority.

Unable to remember what that was, Shadowheart had to assume it didn’t matter.

“Come. Elfsong,” she indicated the way ahead with the point of her chin. Her acolytes obeyed wordlessly. She hadn’t given them details about the mission. She didn’t need to, because they didn’t need to know. She’d only told them they were going to retrieve a new member of the enclave and that they should prepare for a fight. Her backup included a broad-shouldered paladin who spoke pleasingly little named Clint, a half-elven novice and cleric who worked well with Clint in particular named Bree and probably her most valuable young follower, Orla. The girl was human, like Clint, but only just. Somewhere in the long lineage at her back was something more remarkable. She was a rather talented sorcerer, though largely untrained, she was coming along. Shadowheart was thinking ahead already. She would be able to school the gith child in the ways of Shar, and in his role within her church, but he would need specific instruction in magic, and she would enlist help for that.

Like a lot of her most useful younger charges, Orla had come to Shadowheart in the wake of some tragedy, a follower of Oghma, but curious about other gods, and with a heavy heart came the inevitable realization that Lady Shar was owed her due. Considering how common it was for people to mistrust Sharrans, Shadowheart always got particular pleasure from confessions by those who did not strive to spread her Lady’s dark beauty that they had in fact prayed to her before, even without the temptation to turn to her right away. She was primordial and eternal, after all, as was absence itself.

The sorcerer was not the kind to simply rest on their talents, and initially that had worried Shadowheart because she thought it hinted of some selfish ambition that might interfere with her capacity for humility. But, Orla lacked confidence in her immense abilities and insisted on consistent work and study to hone her skills, convinced she was less than average without such attentions.

Though not yet twenty years old, the human was already performing spells that Shadowheart had only learned in the last few years. Some of that had to do with her nature as a sorcerer, but much of it was raw hard work.

Her paladin and cleric duo were not as integral nor as remarkable as the sorcerer, but they followed directions, and with Shadowheart herself on the mission with them, surely, their talents would be adequate.

As long as they didn’t have to confront Lae’zel directly.

The goal was not to confront Lae’zel directly.

Shadowheart was a formidable force in her own right, but even back before Lae’zel began to gather the power and secrets of the astral and hone her own prowess and expertise to unfathomable levels, she had been a chillingly effective warrior. Her reflexes alone could be called supernatural. With an unbidden wave of warmth, Shadowheart recalled her final moments of consciousness, when Astarion was choking her. She didn’t know precisely what had happened, but could guess that Lae’zel had done something to handle both of them, and it probably had barely troubled her.

Her love was formidable indeed.

Her former love.

Clint and Bree were whispering to one another, taking up the rear of the group. Shadowheart let them, though she felt some pang of annoyance. She was fairly certain that some part of her remembered being chastised for similar behavior on missions, but maybe the fault was her own for bringing two people who she knew shared any kind of affection for one another. Shadowheart was far too tolerant, too soft-hearted. But, she was also very distracted at the moment. She could reevaluate her own leniency towards her acolytes later.

But then, she noted Bree break forward a few steps to convey something to Orla, and wasn’t surprised when just outside the tavern, Orla caught her eye, a hint of worry there. “Mother Superior?”she asked, eyes averted, at the least. “Is it true what they say about githyanki? Should we not have more blades in the shadows to aid us?”

“If all goes according to design, we won’t need any blades,” Shadowheart pointed out. “And it will be by design. Our Mistress is with us. Our will is her will.”

Orla seemed reassured by that, though there was a little redness in her cheeks that she nodded away.

“Take up a post where you can see the stairs, and wait for my signal.” Shadowheart broke from her acolytes at that point, and once under the shade of the elfsong, slipped into a corner. Orla extended a spell of invisibility over her, and she was off.

It was so noisy on the ground floor of the tavern that Shadowheart didn’t need to worry about keeping her breathing or footsteps light. No one would hear anything. Once upstairs, however, the air was more subdued and she started to search the rooms with a little more caution and a lighter touch. If she found any sign that they were staying in the tavern, then the plan was to go back downstairs, make the signal and meet her acolytes on the street outside where they could make a more concrete plan for the dead of night. If she found no sign of them, then she would make the signal, but instead of leaving to solidify plans, she’d use the same trick that had led them here from the town square and see if she couldn’t pick up on any residual signs of where they’d gone from here.

In some ways, subterfuge like this was the perfect foil to someone like Lae’zel, who was so relentlessly straightforward. She often expected others to deal in the same way. The real strength that was required for more clandestine activities was patience, and trust in a process that sometimes felt like a waste of time.

Usually, Shadowheart didn’t feel quite so concerned about her odds of failure, but in spite of her words, today, a little hint of impatience had her by the nose. Lae’zel was bound for the astral. She’d take the child with her, and then getting him back would take on a new level of complexity that Shadowheart didn’t want to deal with.

A flutter of old memories came to her, well enough that she thought she could successfully identify their old rooms. What were the chances that upon her return, Lae’zel had asked the bartender to stay in a familiar space? Shadowheart checked the keyhole first. The room was occupied, but she didn’t see any githyanki. This group appeared to be a somber bunch, humanoid, though there was something odd about their pallor. In any case, Shadowheart corrected her previous notions. In all likelihood, Lae’zel wasn’t traveling with a large group this time, and wouldn’t need so much space.

Shadowheart backed away from the keyhole and veered instead towards one of the smaller chambers. The small glimpse of the interior that she got wasn’t enough to see for certain, but it seemed a more likely prospect. The room was clearly occupied, by the way the curtains were thrown back to let the light in and the glint of something silver on top of the bed, but it was spartan. Such minimalism might easily suggest someone like Lae’zel. She couldn’t see anyone, or properly hear anything beyond muffled whispers, but that just meant the occupants were far enough away from the door, that if Shadowheart was very quiet, they wouldn’t hear it open.

With deft fingers, she worked the lock until it’s soft click, and opened the door without even a whisper of a creak. 

The first thing she noticed was that the glint of silver on the bed was clearly the ornate silver harness that Scratch wore. With a little grim satisfaction she realized her search was over. She knew where they were. She turned to leave immediately before she could be caught, but then a sharp knock at the door she was about to open startled her badly enough that she froze a moment. A voice on the other side of the door said, “So sorry to disturb you, miss! It’ll just be a moment.”

Lae’zel came into the room from the balcony doors, a little figure just behind her. Shadowheart carefully moved, so as not to be between anyone and their destination, and stayed very still and quiet. For an eternity of seconds, Lae’zel brushed right passed. She looked well. Her eyes were bright, their gorgeous amber color set off with gold accents in the natural light of the early evening, her skin soft and clear. It had only been a few hours, but with a petty jab to her jaw, Shadowheart realized she’d rather been hoping that Lae’zel was worse off after their confrontation. Suffering. She looked perfectly sound and serene, not even stressed.

“There’s someone down in the bar who wishes to speak to you,” the barmaid said, still sounding very apologetic. “I told him I didn’t know how he knew you and that he’d best get going, but he offered me such a huge pile of coin to just tell you that he’s here,” the poor girl shrugged, clearly unsure still if she was doing the right thing. “Said you’d either be curious or you wouldn’t, but that he’d know if I lied about telling you. I figured you’re better off knowing someone like that was looking for you in any case?”

“What does this man look like?” Lae’zel asked over crossed arms.

“Like a wizard.”

“Old, young? Tall, short? Race?”

“Human, taller than you—just what I picture when I picture a wizard.”

“Alright, I’ll follow,” Lae’zel sounded reluctant, she turned to the gith child, “stay vigilant while I’m gone. Keep that conduit within reach and remember what we talked about.”

And, hardly able to believe her luck, Shadowheart found herself alone and entirely invisible in the tavern chambers with the gith child. She began to augment her plan. Patient offense was one thing, but seizing an opportunity was another. She might only have minutes, depending on how interesting Lae’zel’s mysterious meeting might turn out to be.

The second he thought he was alone, the gith child waddled over to the bed and collapsed on top of it heavily, emptying his lungs. He picked up Scratch’s harness to examine it more closely. Shadowheart covered her own movements in the little sounds he was making and headed to the balcony to check her options. The drop wasn’t too bad, but with the weight of the child, they might both get hurt. She had an invisibility potion that she could give him, and then they’d both become visible again around the same time—probably many blocks away. But how to get him to cooperate with her? Perhaps a sleeping potion as well? Did she even have one on her?

If she went out the way she’d come in and forgot about the balcony, then she could still give her signal and gather her acolytes as planned, which would be more convenient and give them a little more protection right away. While she was trying to improvise a new plan, the door opened again, and the gith child shot up, hand clenched around the harness.

Into the chamber stepped a couple of humans, wearing the robes and colored with the same pallor she’d noticed through the other keyhole. Now that she could see them up close, she was fairly certain she knew what was wrong with them.  Or at least with the ones standing the closest to her. There was a familiar scent, something she’d come to know so very well a few years ago. Death. Undeath.

And, as the barmaid had pointed out, there was something easy to spot about wizards. Her mind snapped back to that morning, and some offhanded comments about Thayans. Red wizards.

Young though he was, it seemed that the gith child had a healthy caution already. He didn’t wait for an explanation, but bolted up from the bed the instant that the red wizards entered the room. For a moment, Shadowheart appreciated how the facsimile she’d chased had so accurately imitated the actual child.

Both wizards lunged, and one had him by the arm with one hand, the other clamping over his mouth to keep him from making noise. Shadowheart prepared a command spell for two, just as a third wizard entered the room, but before she could act, the harness in the gith child’s grip undulated with light and exploded in a burst of white fur. She heard Scratch’s growl and the wizard’s muffled shriek as the dog appeared, seemingly from thin air, wearing his harness and immediately clamped his jaws down on the wizard’s face. The gith child sprinted to the balcony, but would have been caught by the second red wizard if Shadowheart hadn’t stepped between them. “Detono,” she roared to the room at large, unsure just how many red wizards were entering, but happy to see them all go flying back several feet as the gith child successfully sprinted past them all, and out the balcony railing for a springing vault.

She didn’t see him land, but hoped he knew enough to roll. He was young, and probably still made of rubber, but that fall would have murdered her ankles. Would murder her ankles. She took the moment of delay that she’d engineered for the red wizards and followed after the child, barely glancing over the edge to simply make sure that she didn’t land on top of him.

The gith child probably had rolled when he hit the ground, given his position and the heap he was in on his back. Shadowheart straightened up before he managed to get back up to his feet, stumbling. Scratch pounced down beside them a moment later, growling, his ears back. He spared the gith child a glance before bolting back around to the front of the tavern. With an internal sigh, Shadowheart realized he was running to alert Lae’zel. Smart dog. She probably only had seconds to keep this confrontation from escalating into something dangerous for all of them.

She’d never found the sleeping potion in her bag, but this would be just as effective, and he was so small, she probably wouldn’t need to save the spell. “Sleep.”

The gith child sank again, at the exact moment he’d managed to get back up to his feet. Shadowheart caught him, and slipped them both into a state of invisibility, just as the first of the Thayans came over the balcony. They would have seen her vanish with them, which wasn’t ideal.

But there wasn’t anything they could do about it. They’d lost them, and she felt their disappointment raging as they split up to search, and continued to lose them into the chaos of the crowded city.

[gabumonisbestdigimon]

Finally got around to watching Z-O-M-B-I-E-S and the first two aren't masterpieces but are a fun watch especially for the music. I'm not going to lie the third I think is genuinely one of the worst movies I've ever seen.

Rant below.

I'm going to start off with that the music and choreography are the best in the franchise I really enjoyed all the songs in this movie.

Zed is once again a likable character and is my favorite character in the movie.

The first movie is about segregation and I've heard others say disabilities as well. The second is colonization and not losing who you are to fit in. The third is about immigration, climate change, "identity politics", and other messages I think just rewrite the lessons of the previous movies.

One of my favorite parts of these movies is when Addison puts on the necklace to become a wolf and doesn't. Which upsets her because she wants a place to "fit in" and Bree tell her she's beautiful, that she's always been beautiful and even if she's not a wolf she's Addison, someone who is deeply loved and amazing the way she is.

I loved this messaging that the second movie portrays of being comfortable in your own skin. That Zed doesn't need to be more human and that he can embrace that he is a zombie. That is the lesson Zed and Addison are supposed to learn in this movie. Except in the third movie Addison throws all of her dreams, family, and friends away when she finds out she's an alien. Like being Addison isn't good enough that she has to fully be an alien, like that's what's going to make her feel better about herself. It's like someone finding out they're 1/16 Cherokee and begin enrolling in the tribe, dressing in traditional native dress, and marking native on their job applications. It's nice to know your ancestry, but your genetics don't make up your personality.

Also the reason two works is because the werewolves are likable. I found the aliens to be unlikeable and whiny.

I found Addison in the first two movies to be whiny as well. Constantly talking about not fitting in and her white hair. Like she's not the mayor and police chief's daughter, a cheerleader that's super loved and popular, and has a good boyfriend and friend group. Like Zed, Eliza, and Bonzo aren't segregated from the rest of society, treated like monsters, and aren't allowed common decency in the first movie.

But I was able to overlook this because it's a kids movie and the rest of the characters carried the movies. The third movie just cranks Addison's unlikability to 10. She doesn't correct A'spen on what's socially acceptable to say, you know not hitting on Zed while he's there and it makes him extremely uncomfortable as just one example.

The fact the her grandma chose Seabrook as utopia even though at the time it was still segregated and hateful. The aliens should have chosen Seabrook that even if it is imperfect the still decide to call it home.

Also not every character should be in a relationship. Bree and Bonzo as a secondary couple is cute, but while I think Wyatt and Eliza could have a good dynamic they don't really interact in the second movie and by the third Wyatt's just magically in love. I understand that it's been a few years since two, but you should at least rely on onscreen chemistry which you can't have because Eliza isn't physically there for the whole movie. Willa and A'spen don't even make sense.

This movie has so many problems and just leaves a sour taste in my mouth. I have so many more things I want to say about this movie, but if you're still here you might not want to hear it.

[apocalypticavolition]

Let's (re)Read The Eye of the World! Chapter 16: The Wisdom

Spoliers here! Get your spoilers here! This is a reread and I've read every book in the series except the ones that came out after it was over and I will tell you every detail that ever happened out of spite if you don't take this opportunity to protect yourself now! Run away!

We get yet another new chapter icon as we move into this chapter. Three leaves on a vine, and boy does it symbolize a lot. For this chapter it represents Nynaeve and her crashing the party. As we go forward it will refer to Tinkers, Ogier (particularly Loial) and the Waygates built for them, and even the Green Man.

“We don’t have time for that, boy,” Thom said gruffly. Min gave the white-haired gleeman a sharp look. “Go juggle something,” she snapped, drawing Rand further away from the others.

I can't tell what's better, Thom assuming that Rand's ducking out of the meeting to make out with a random woman, or Min telling Thom to go play with his balls. It's a strong showing though!

You’re all in more danger today than yesterday. Since she came.

Min, I'm going to be honest with you: you are the worst person in the world when it comes to interpreting your visions. There are assholes who grew up literally on your hometown's antipode with more skill than you. Right now, you're making Rand think that the danger is supposed to be Nynaeve, and that's crazy talk. Everyone is in more danger right now than they were a little while ago when you tormented Rand last because he's gone off and antagonized two sets of people.

Also, I forgot to mention last night, but all of Rand's actions are the equivalent of Frodo accidentally putting on the One Ring in the inn in Bree. I guess that makes Nynaeve Strider, which is awesome but of course nonsense because Lan is Strider. Thank goodness it's not one-to-one. Really I'd say every member of the nine EotW crew (counting Loial) has equivalences with two or more members of the Fellowship. Nynaeve's other half is Sam, for example.

Moiraine and Nynaeve sat at opposite ends of the table, neither taking her eyes from the other. All the other chairs were empty. Moiraine’s hands rested on the table, as still as her face. Nynaeve’s braid was thrown over her shoulder, the end gripped in one fist; she kept giving it little tugs the way she did when she was being even more stubborn than usual with the Village Council. Perrin was right. Despite the fire it seemed freezing cold, and all coming from the two women at the table.

I don't have anything to say here, I just really like it.

“You . . . followed our trail?” Lan said, truly surprised for the first time that Rand could remember. “I must be getting careless.”

This is the exact moment that Lan realizes what love is, and unlike so many of the romances in this series I'm quite happy with this one because as minimal as their reasons are they're perfectly good ones. Nynaeve is talented enough to best Lan and he's awestruck. Good.

“If you can follow a trail I have tried to hide, he taught you well. Few can do that, even in the Borderlands.” Abruptly Nynaeve buried her face in her cup. Rand’s eyes widened. She was blushing.

And this is the exact moment that Nynaeve falls in love, because Lan doesn't give her shit, he doesn't dismiss her for being too young, he just tells her she's as incredible as she knows she is.

They’d swarm over this inn like murderous ants on a rumor, a whisper. Their hate is that strong, their desire to kill or take any like these two.

Also Thom, Rand royally pissed them off earlier. You all should probably know that. It's a real shame none of you know that.

“We can’t,” Rand said, and was glad that his friends all spoke up at the same time. That way Nynaeve’s glare had to be spread around; she spared no one as it was. But he had spoken first, and they all fell silent, looking at him. Even Moiraine sat back in her chair, watching him over steepled fingers.

I mean she's way more moral about all of this but she is technically part of a cabal trying to bring about the fulfillment of prophecy to usher in a new age of humankind, and the reluctant teenage boy is finally promising to get in the robotgo to Tar Valon.

The Light knows how your . . . Mistress Alys”—she invested the name with a wagonload of scorn— “managed to make him believe; he has a mite of sense, usually, more than most men.

She didn't even talk to him, amusingly.

He’s afraid you’ll try your tricks with outlanders and get your head thumped.

Well, Mat's dad is right about one of those things already.

Egwene sat back so she was shielded by Perrin. “I left a note,” she said faintly. She tugged at the hood of her cloak as if she was afraid her unbound hair showed. “I explained everything.” Nynaeve’s face darkened.

What so many people miss in their support of one character over another is that Egwene is just as stupid and immature as Rand, Mat, and Perrin: she just shows it differently. If I were in Nynaeve's shoes and hearing this shit, Moiraine couldn't have interrupted my rant about "A note!" if she'd balefired me.

Even those poor men who find themselves wielding the Power for a short time gain that much, though sometimes touching saidin protects, and sometimes the taint makes them more vulnerable. 

For somebody who's supposedly pretty impatient and pissed, she sure is infodumping. Moiraine's such a nerd.

Egwene bounced to her feet, her desire to be dignified obviously warring with her desire to avoid a confrontation with the Wisdom over her unbraided hair. She had no difficulty gathering up everyone by eye, though. Mat and Perrin scraped back their chairs hurriedly, making polite murmurs while trying not to actually run on their way out. Even Lan started for the door at a signal from Moiraine, drawing Thom with him.

Again, there's not much to say, just the joy of the sheer intensity that is Moiraine and Nynaeve in the same room while innocent bystanders look on in horror. Shame it's over.

She turned toward Rand, and for the first time he realized the others had all quietly disappeared.

Poor Rand, too nosy to escape quickly, too thick to realize that Nynaeve's nervous around Lan because she's afraid that she'll jump his bones.

“Something happened,” he insisted. “Why do you want us to go back if you think there’s even a chance we are right? And why you, at all? As soon send the Mayor himself as the Wisdom.” “You have grown.” She smiled, and for a moment her amusement had him shifting his feet.

Again, Rand's actually really adept at political matters, he just doesn't realize it. Tam must have been prepping him for the Council his whole life.

Either way, though, almost every man wanted to be one of the party. Tam, and Bran al’Vere, with the scales of office around his neck, and Haral Luhhan, till Alsbet made him sit down. Even Cenn Buie. The Light save me from men who think with the hair on their chests. Though I don’t know as there are any other kind.

Note the double hypocrisy, in that Nynaeve is criticizing everyone for thinking they should be the ones to go get the kids when she thought the same thing about herself, and for criticizing people for thinking with their hair when her braid is how she gets her own neurons firing.

“Are you all right?” Nynaeve asked. “He said . . . said I . . . wasn’t his son. When he was delirious . . . with the fever. He said he found me. I thought it was just. . . .” His throat began to burn, and he had to stop. “Oh, Rand.” She stopped and took his face in both hands. She had to reach up to do it. “People say strange things in a fever. Twisted things. Things that are not true, or real. Listen to me. Tam al’Thor ran away seeking adventure when he was a boy no older than you. I can just remember when he came back to Emond’s Field, a grown man with a red-haired, outlander wife and a babe in swaddling clothes. I remember Kari al’Thor cradling that child in her arms with as much love given and delight taken as I have ever seen from any woman with a babe. Her child, Rand. You. Now you straighten up and stop this foolishness.”

It is both incredibly sweet that she notices something is wrong with Rand immediately and cares enough to ask and try and reassure him when she's pissed at how stupid she thinks he is and incredibly silly that the reassurance she gives - of a time when she was four or five years old and would have had nothing but a few fleeting encounters with the foreigner and baby who live out of town even when they do come home - is going to reassure anyone who isn't actively trying to drown in denial.

“No, it isn’t your business,” Nynaeve agreed. “It might not mean anything. She could just be searching blindly for a reason, any reason, why those things are after you. After all of you.”

This, though also wrong, is a much more reasonable sort of guess. That said, it's something Nynaeve wants to be true, so she doesn't think about the obvious connections either.

Sadly, that's it for this chapter. Next time we return to the Lord of the Rings inspiration when they have to leave the inn early due to an invasion of black-cloaked riders who serve supernatural evil.

[mariyahdenise]

Blog #5

After watching the movies and doing the readings, I found 3 movies that inspired me to want to create a short film: The Wake by Bree Newsome, Tales from the Hood, and Eve’s Bayou. Each movie inspired me in different ways. For example, I really loved The Wake, and I got really in tune with the movie when Charmaine watched her father die and kind of used him to get a man in her life. When that scene happened, it made me have so many thoughts. So when I was thinking about Charmaine's part in the film, how she conjured a lady and gave the lady something in exchange for her father, I thought of twisting that part of the film I wanted to do for my final project. Instead, I want to have a character who, when the woman is getting cheated on by her boyfriend and after she finds out about his betrayal, tries to conjure someone or do something that involves voodoo. So that is what inspired that part of my film.

Next is Tales from the Hood. My favorite part of that movie is the story with the little boy, Walter. In the movie, Walter would go to school with bruises on his face and would be disturbed at night by the “monster.” But as the movie progresses, in reality, the monster he keeps referring to in the movie is his stepfather, Carl. At the end of the story, Walter uses a drawing of the monster that he drew on a piece of paper and folds it in different ways, which stops the monster from being violent and folds up Carl like Walter folded the paper. I really like how Walter used hoodoo in a good way instead of bad use. So this inspired me to put my own little twist for my own film. Once my character finds out her boyfriend is cheating, I want to have her do some type of hoodoo as revenge for her boyfriend’s betrayal. So something that I have in mind is I want to print out some pictures of his face and have the character stick needles in it as some form of hoodoo.

Lastly, Eve’s Bayou was inspiring because of the family secrets that were taking place in the family household. So, in my film, the boyfriend's secrets will be the price he has to pay, and at the end of the film, the boyfriend’s death will be a direct result of the hoodoo performed by the character. After carrying out the ritual as a form of revenge for his betrayal, the boyfriend begins to experience the negative effects of the magic. Slowly, his life unravels as his health deteriorates and everything he holds dear falls apart. The character watches it all unfold with satisfaction and a sense of power, feeling justified in her actions. She doesn’t feel any guilt—only a deep sense of victory, knowing that her revenge has been successful and that he has paid for his betrayal.

The main message I want the film to have is how betrayal can lead to bad results when someone seeks revenge. The horror comes from the main character’s lack of guilt, showing how wanting revenge can turn a person cold and emotionless. It warns against using dark magic like hoodoo to hurt others, as it destroys both the victim and the person seeking revenge. In the end, the film shows that revenge may feel good at first, but it causes lasting damage.