#and animal companion number three

[namelessgakusei]

EP. 1.1 IGNITION

Devil May Cry x Reader insert

Warnings: It's DMC. Based on the New Netflix Series. Spoiler warnings for the actual show. Not proofread.

EP. 0 (masterlist)

EP. 1.2 COMBUSTION (cont.)

Synopsis: After a botched demon hunting, you and Dante hoped for some reprieve in Fredy's diner, only to come face to face with Dante's long dead twin brother.

It was the usual busy night. Streets are filled with people going on about their lives, narrowly avoiding each other as the sidewalk remains packed despite the time. A baby coos from her stroller as her mum navigates the crowd, innocently unaware to the stress her mother has on her face after bumping to strangers too many times. One of them even spat that she should excuse herself instead after colliding to her too hard that her bag fell to the ground.

"Asshole." She calls while gathering her things, oblivious to what happened to her daughter in the small moment she let her eyes off of her. Now changed to a husk of a mimic, the "baby" cries for her dropped rattle that rolled off to an alley. "Goddamn it Ellie, what now?" Despite the suspicious and unnatural way the toy moved away, the woman only sighed to herself as she went to pick it up.

Shadows cut her train of thought as they moved past, right behind her. Frozen in place, she could only slowly looked back as gurgling noises started to be heard. Something lunged at her and the woman screamed.

The woman struggled in the chokehold that the demons manifesting from the shadows have on her. With animal skulls for faces, they laughed at her pleas to spare her daughter, but before they can get a bite, the one holding her got shot at the face.

"Hey look! The Three Stooges came out to play!" A white haired young man clad in a red long coat came out of the darkness and shot at the demons who lunged at him, easily dodging their claws with the twist and kept raining his bullets on them. A demon tried to sneak up an attack from behind, only to get a barrel shoved to its throat, exploding from the number of bullets it released; while the other got bombarded with lead on the stomach. The remaining demon tried shooting sharp, skeletal limbs to his direction to impale, but he maneuvered just as easily as he jumped from a wall, getting a clear shot of the demon's head.

Despite the demon using the woman as a shield, the young man grinned, "Jackpot!" and shot, with the bullet breaking through her earring and straight to the center of the demon's skull, killing it.

The woman coughed and heaved for breath, crawling away in fear when she saw the demon disintegrating, and coming face to face with her savior. The man stood smugly as he looked down on her terrified state. But silence ensued.

"Eh, the way this usually goes is, I do that then drop a killer one-liner." He breaks the pause with an awkward groan, scratching his head as he looks away. "But I'm drawing a complete blank, right now."

"This never happened to me, I swear." The woman looked dumbfounded at his actions, and soon her fear turned into mild annoyance, only flinching when he suddenly turned to her direction with a grin, saying that he got one. "Pretend I just shot that guy."

"Man, Skeletor did not hold up since the '80s." The woman sighs wearily, making him backtrack with a nervous assurance.

"Dante. Dante. Stop, that's embarrassing." A voice called out from the fire exit staircase. Clad in a white coat similar to Dante, this individual looked more level headed that their companion, although they're visibly cringing at his expense.

Sighing softly, you jumped down the emergency exit, holding quite a large briefcase, and slowly made your way towards the woman, kneeling to her eye level as to not scare her any further. "Are you alright?" You smiled and offered her a hand.

Reciprocating your smile, she took your help and stood up. "I don't know how to thank you. You saved our lives." But then her eyes trailed towards Dante and her expression fell into confusion. "That is why you're here, right? To save us?"

"More or les— Augh!" Your partner glared and pouted when you jabbed his side and cut him off. "Yes, ma'am."

"There have been other attacks in the area. Our client hired us to look into it." You flashed your signature smile, a sure way to placate any stressed civilians that had unfortunately got tangled in your line of work. Though the implication of your work seem to interest her, making her inquire what really is the two of you are up to. Dante smirks and answers instead.

"Demon hunting."

This information seemed to scare her more, as she visibly backed away, trying to make sense of what's happening. "You're telling me that they were actually—"

The presence of something nonhuman made you spin behind, certain that a demon is close, only to see a baby tucked in a stroller. Dante seemed to notice your apprehension, cutting his conversation short with the mother to examine the source of your frown. "Cute kid." He grins.

Your brows furrowed. "We really should be getting home now." The mother says while picking up her scattered things. That baby doesn't feel human. "Shouldn't we, Ellie? Say goodbye to the nice people." Before you can say something, the said "baby" transformed into a demon and lunged at Dante.

"Dante!" You pushed him out of the way, only to get your arm caught. His instincts kicked in upon the sight as he draws his gun, alerting the mother as she pleads for her daughter's safety. The demon reverted from being a child but before you could explain, the mother threw her bag at your faces, temporarily stunning you as she runs away.

Dante chased after her, but she already disappeared into the crowd. "Damn it."

The opening of Fredy Diner was the reprieve that the two of you have after that botched demon hunting. At the hour it opens, Dante opened the door, with you trailing behind. There weren't many patrons around, just four, including the both of you. At least the waitress seemed particularly happy after hearing your arrival, already serving Dante's usual dessert and your morning coffee.

You grimaced at his sugary confection, commenting on how he can stomach it in the early hours of the day, only for him to jab at your coffee tasting so bad you can't help but wake up. An extra napkin was served alongside his ice cream, making you two look at each other in confusion. But upon seeing that the waitress' number and kiss mark was on it, Dante shrugged and used it to wipe his mouth, much to your dismay. "Poor lass..."

The worn down television buzzed in a faint volume as you two basked in the peaceful ambience. The show suddenly stopped in favor of a breaking news, showcasing the events of last night within Vatican City. "This is the first image released from last night's Vatican City bombings that have shocked and horrified the entire world." You narrowed your eyes as you sip your coffee, immediately recognizing the suspect to be a demon before the newscaster can give any more information. They usually lay low around the dark areas of the world, this is the first you've seen of them actively make an appearance. "—The suspect appears to have two strange protrusions on his back that are shaped almost like wings." Just as you were about to comment on it to Dante, you froze.

You noticed it before him. No, he noticed the way your eyes slightly faltered when you turned your chair around. Without a word, the two of you moved fast, with him grabbing the civilians, and you jumping behind the counter as a truck of gasoline was thrown at your direction, blowing up the diner.

Everything was a mess, but at least you got into shelter before everything blew off. Dante pushed the debris that landed on top of you all with a grunt while you barked at the civilians to flee, opening your suitcase to provide your partner the weapons he need.

"Dante."

Your voice overlapped with another when you handed him a gun, eyes darting to his figure. You never saw Dante tense up, much less look horrified.

"Leaving so soon?" A silhouette emerged from the flames, slowly making their way towards the two of you.

"We have much to catch up on, brother."

Brother? Dante's brother?

"No. You're..." Dante turned around with wide eyes as memories of that night flashed in his mind.

"...dead."

A man who looks exactly like your partner stood in the middle of the carnage.

[dami-anne-damn]

Ancient Cookie’s Date Head-Cannons!

Pure Vanilla Cookie Addition! (A.k.a Pt. 1)

Have you ever wondered what a date might look like with one of the Ancient Hero’s? Then you’ve come to the right place!

You’ve caught their attention, and now they’re doing their best to court you~! Starting with everyone’s friend:

Pure Vanilla Cookie:

Starting with the first date! Now this first pick may be a bit on the nose for his character, but I truly do believe that he would do this. Pure Vanilla Cookie would invite you to a beautiful tea party in the castle gardens!

He’d have an array of fragrant teas/coffees and small savory/sweet delights for you both to indulge in! He’d have this picnic late in the afternoon (probably after all his work helping the kingdom is done—) so as the two of you get lost in conversation and the sun finally starts to set, you’d be able to bask in it’s fading yet radiant light together.

Moving onto the second date! Pure Vanilla Cookie would plan a nice day trip to the market with you! Traveling from stall to stall window shopping, buying tasty treats, learning about each other’s interests and talking to the merchants about their wears! Pure Vanilla, being the ever caring cookie he is, ends up buying you the flowers he saw you fancying! If you also end up buying him a small trinket or bouquet in return, he would be so very delighted and attempt to modestly hide the blush that comes to his cheeks.

Time for date number three! Do you like animals? Then you’re in luck! Bluebirds in the trees and cream sheep as far as the eye can see, on date number three Pure Vanilla would take you to meet all of his animal companions in the castle stables! I can see him introducing each and every animal to you like they’re their own cookie, with their own unique names and personal backstories.

An example said backstories being: “This is Whipped Irish Cream Sheep the III, much like his parents before him as a newborn he was very clumsy due to his long legs, but as you see he’s grown into them well!” (He remarks with a smile as said Cream Sheep is nuzzles him lovingly.) And as you snuggle with his animals, his eyes will grow softer, fonder. After all, animals are the best judge of character and if they liked you then…

Alrighty date number four, and Pure Vanilla would like to take you out for dinner! With your relationship more established now, I think he’s finally ready to properly show the public and have you meet more of his personal friends! (Even though he may no longer be king, people still have certain expectations of him that aren’t as easy to shirk as one might think.)

He’d take you to the Crows Nest Inn for some genuine Vanillian food and Raisin Jellies! There you’ll meet people like Black Raisin Cookie and a lot of the Raisin Villagers whom you get along with very well! If you look over at Pure Vanilla’s face, it will be one full of pure adoration as you joke and laugh with his fellow friends.

Ok, date number five! For this one I think he’d like to share one of his favorite hobbies with you, gardening! Using your favorite flowers (which he found out were your favorite, thanks to one of your previous dates~!) you and him would weed, dig, plant and water them together.

Creating a permanent flower bed within his garden, a forever statement within a place he loves, with a person he loves. He’ll then take your hand into his own, promising to care for this patch of flowers much like how he wishes to care for you in the future. Finally, underneath the shining sun he would ask if you would do him the honor of being his lover.

———————————————————————————

“I think that about does it.”

Pure Vanilla Cookie exhales, gently wiping away the sugar sweat on his forehead. Little does he know he just smeared dirt all over his face. You can’t help but snicker and look away, as he turned to face you.

“What is it that has you laughing, my friend..?”

The Hero inquires innocently as he slips off his gardening gloves a little too late. You point to his forehead, barely hold back another giggle. Pure Vanilla Cookie gently turns his staff towards his face as his eyes widen ever so slightly.

“Oh..dear…”

You had started laughing again, not mockingly of course! You just found that look on his face to be too dang adorable, you couldn’t help yourself!

Seeing your bright smile and hearing your equally as brilliant laughter, Pure Vanilla couldn’t help but join in! Soon the both of you were giggling as the Hero takes your hands into his own.

Your laughter slowly fades as you meet his eyes, open pools of yellow and blue shimmer with a deep fondness that makes your face warm with its sincerity.

“My friend, these last few weeks with you have been an extraordinary experience. I feel ever so grateful to have you in my life, and these flowers we’ve planted together—“

He glances over with that same glimmering fondness on his face towards the small flower meadow.

“—will forever remind me of our time spent together. I promise you that I will care for these flowers much in the same way I wish to care for you.”

You felt your face flush as he turns back to face you once more.

“My friend, would you do me the honor of being my love?”

You can’t help but smile as you nodded enthusiastically, making Pure Vanilla Cookie’s smile widen in return.

You just made a certain cookie very happy.

Fin, thank you for reading. :)

———————————————————————————

[dukeofriven]

So often alt-Earth worldbuilding falls apart under the slightest bit of pressure: what if every human on earth from birth had a sentient, speech-capable, physical manifestation of their soul that could shape shift and eventually settled on a form that revealed some inner truth about your person would that not radically alter the course of human history? To which the answer, apparently, was 'not in any meaningful way, no.'

Live theater in the His Dark Materials universe must be wild. Surely an actor's daemon also has lines to recite, so their daemon's form probably also factors into casting decisions. Maybe some plays have vague character descriptions for daemons, but I bet other plays have really specific or central daemon characters. And sure, big-budget theaters can afford to hire a separate actor with a particular daemon to stand backstage while their daemon plays its part onstage, but community theaters don't have those kinds of resources.

Like if you're casting for Julius Caesar, surely the real historical Caesar had a pretty iconic daemon, right? Are you going to cast an actor with a pigeon daemon as Caesar and just have everyone suspend their disbelief that it's Caesar's lioness, ἁμαρτία?

[seraphinitegames]

Hey, Mishka!!!

I've been replaying TWC over the last couple of months, and must say, it's been an entirely rejuvenating experience for me. Like, I was reading it the first time, although I've replayed the series quite too many (worrying number) of times already. And it still manages to amaze me, EVERY SINGLE TIME.

I've repeated this in the past, and I'll repeat it again. The Wayhaven Chronicles is a blessing for me and I'm sincerely thankful to have come across it when I did. And I'm grateful to you for making this lovely world a reality (and of course, the four beautiful vamps)! Really eager for Book 4 and have already player the demo; can say it's gonna be worth the wait. It every time is.

Replaying the series in the last few months, I had a certain uncontrollable urge to drop and ask a few questions to you. Apologize in advance for the long ask and message, but it had been bottling up inside of me for SOOOOOO LONG.

1. In Book 1, when we're to lead the investigation in one of the three directions, is there any way to get success in any direction without Bobby making a big joke out of our investigation in the newspaper?

2. In Book 2, when Nicole and Max Salinas come to report their incident, can Tina actually find out anything unusual? If so, what is actually needed to explain that?

3. In Book 3, I noticed if we choose to go the final mission alone, depending on the route chosen, Boddy/Doug will end up tagging along as well, jeopardizing everything. Is there still a way to complete the mission successfully and rescuing everyone like it happens when we go along with Rebecca?

4. Less of a question, but more of a plea. Please tell me we can get a pet anytime in the series. I was just curious if we can get one.

5. How powerful is the big baddie in Book 4 compared to Unit Bravo? You don't need to answer if this verges on spoiler-y territory.

Really sorry to overwhelm you with this, but it's just months and months of joy, happiness, and sheer ecstasy making me blabber on about this world like this. Thanks once again, for making this truly beautiful story, world, and the vampires a reality.

Have a good day!!!! Lots of love from India!!

You can never play a game you love too many times (I keep telling myself that as I gradually burn a hole into my poor old console playing Dragon Age over and over, lol!)! If it brings you happiness, then that's what is important! :D

Ok, let's see about the questions...it's been a whole since I've gone through the older games without being in editing mode, hehe!

I don't think so...Bobby is, well, Bobby. And that scene was there very much to establish their character and show the player what type of person they are.

I don't think so, again. If there's anything unusual or odd, then I usually like to let the MC find that instead of it happening 'off-screen' so it's more impactful for the player—unless it's Verda discovering stuff, because that needs to happen for…reasons.

Iirc, in the Bobby/Doug routes, you get the auction scene, so a lot of that branch involves focusing on saving yourself! But the other team that joins Unit Bravo will help in saving a lot of the captives in that version.

I would love that being a massive animal companion fan myself, hehe! But likely not, just because the MC is away a lot from home, and that's unfair on the pet, even a fictional one, lol. I was tempted to give the MC a supernatural pet that hung around at the facility—that was definitely a strong idea at one point just so I could write a pet in the series for those that wanted it (me, I was the one who wanted it, hehe!) :D

**BOOK FOUR DEMO SPOILERS AHEAD** It's not just that Book Four's villain is terrifyingly powerful (or will be. They are, thankfully for the MC and UB, in a weakened state for a while due to what's happened to them and what happened in Chapter Two) but it's a lot to do with the fact that their power specifically counteracts and weakens Unit Bravo's. So that's a double whammy!

Thank you SO incredibly much for the amazing message! It means more than you can know <3

[cl0wncakez]

Say whatever you want about the black and white anime, but the one thing i will always stand by is that IRIS AND CILAN WERE NEVER PART OF THE PROBLEM!!!!

i did a full watch of the bw series a few weeks back, and the main 2 complaints i had about it were ash’s pokemon (he caught too many and most of them didn’t get enough screentime as a result) and team rocket (they were like barely there and didn’t even do the blasting off gag until the last season i think)

but for me the best parts of it were iris and cilan!!! i was kinda expecting them to be annoying cuz of all the hate they got, but i was pleasantly surprised at how enjoyable they were.

first off, i am the number 1 iris defender. all the posts i see that complain about her say the same thing everytime: “all iris does is say that ash is a little kid!”

well, as someone who’s binged the entire unova anime in like a week and a half, i can say that there is so much more to her. but for one, she doesn’t even say that ash is a kid as often as you might think. she mostly says it in the first few episodes when she first met ash. for the rest of the series, she’ll occasionally say it in passing, but it is not her one defining trait. while there are a few instances where i thought that it wasn’t warranted, there are plenty more times where ash was being big dummy and deserved it.

what people seem to forget about iris is that at the start of ash’s unova journey, iris is practically a new trainer. her axew is at most only a few weeks old, and her excadrill, while strong, hasn’t battled for who knows how long after being brutally defeated by drayden’s haxorous, leaving it in a state of shock. so obviously, she isn’t going to be the most experienced trainer out there.

iris grew up in the village of dragons, which as the name suggests, is a village inhabited by various dragon type pokemon. having spent her whole life surrounded by dragon types, iris has made it her dream to become a dragon type master. while at the beginning of her journey, she’s just with her axew, she over time has several encounters with dragon type pokemon, all of which help her better understand how to communicate with dragon types.

in one episode, she helped a druddigon out from a trap set by team rocket, while everyone else assumed it was rampaging out of anger. in another, the gang were helping out at a pokemon daycare, and in it was a deino, who was extremely shy. it’s trainer hadn’t returned for days after they said they would (the trainer ended up getting lost in a cave) and it was beginning to refuse to eat due to its anxiety. and what did iris do? she stayed with the deino the whole night, helping it relax in a place it wasn’t familiar with. it’s episodes like these that show that she’s not a one dimensional character, and like the rest of ash’s companions, she has character development.

but what helped fully flesh out her arc was when she caught her dragonite.

unlike axew, who was by her side from the beginning, she and dragonite did not get along immediately. dragonite was stubborn, wouldn’t listen to iris, and had its own way of battling. in order to become a dragon master, she would first have to understand dragonite. the trust that was built happened really slowly, but she did get there. by understanding a pokemon as troubled as her dragonite, iris would then be able to reach out and soothe her excadrill, making it confident enough to battle again, and help axew evolve after her journey with ash ended. and i think that was a solid way to end her arc until pokemon journeys, where offscreen, she fulfilled her dream as a dragon master and became the champion of unova.

now onto cilan.

cilan doesn’t get hated on nearly as much as iris, he’s more or less just forgotten about. so while i was expecting to hate iris when i first started watching, i had zero expectations on cilan. and tbh, i think he’s my favorite traveling companion?? if not than at least top 3.

cilan is the oldest of three siblings, and he first met ash and iris when ash came to battle at the triplet’s restaurant/gym. usually, the challenger only battles one of them, but ash was the first person to want to challenge all 3 brothers. when it was cilan’s turn to battle, he assumed that he would win due to him having the type advantage (ash choosing to battle with oshawott against cilan’s pansage)

well, ash won. and a few episodes later, cilan asked if he could join ash on his journey. the reason cilan wanted to come along was because he saw a new side to pokemon battling that he wanted to better understand.

something about cilan is that while he is a gym leader, he doubles as a pokemon connoisseur. a connoisseur is someone who makes critical judgements in fine arts or matters of taste. for cilan, he analyzes the bond between trainer and pokemon. and during his battle with ash, he evaluated his and oshawotts bond based on their battle. and he dug INTO ash, almost outright insulting his capabilities as a trainer, due to his assumptions from ash using a water type against a pansage.

but the thing is, cilan was wrong. in the end, oshawott ended up winning with ash’s strategy and support.

he fully expected to win, and was given an entirely new perspective of battling after seeing ash pull through. like cooking, pokemon battles aren’t just about type advantage and throwing moves out. it’s about thinking outside the box and trusting your pokemon, which ash accomplished by having oshawott use its scallchop to deflect a bullet seed attack. wanting to become a better trainer and connoisseur, cilan tagged along to gain a new understanding between trainer and pokemon.

and outside of his arc, cilan is just a genuinely fun character!!! did you know that along with being a pokemon connoisseur, this man is also a fishing, cooking, detective, judge, and film connoisseur??? and he can cook!! (EDIT: people are mentioning that he is also a train connoisseur!!! sorry :( i forgor)

cilan is shown to be more composed with his emotions than the previous traveling partners ash had. he also plays a mediator role whenever ash and iris bicker. and remember, cilan is the oldest sibling of 3 triplets, so he’s likely had to play mediator countless times if his brothers ever argued. ash and iris also seem to have a sibling-like bond, so their clashing was probably similar to what cilan faced before with cress and chili.

as i said, cilan is much more patient and gentleman-like. so the few moments where he genuinely loses his shit leaves a stronger impact.

the most notable example was with skyla, who instead of fulfilling her gym duties, played out battles in her head, and made her own judgements on if she could win a battle or not. this lead to challengers either being pushed away without a chance to battle, or given a gym badge without deserving it.

now cilan, who is a gym leader, sees this as a disgrace. it goes against everything a gym leader is supposed to do. skyla was lazy, arrogant, and wouldn’t do her job, which set him off. while he did lose against skyla, it was a big character moment to try and defend his honor as a gym leader.

overall, cilan is soooooo cool you guys don’t get him the way i do!!! i am the number 1 cilan fan!!!!

i think the reason people complain about iris and cilan more than any other companions ash had is because they were different.

iris had a completely different goal than everyone before her, it was a complete 180. she had zero interest in contests or performing, her dragon master dream was brand new in the anime. additionally, her relationship with ash was more like siblings than best friends, which likely made some viewers think their bickering was annoying.

and cilan. poor guy didn’t even have a chance from the start. not after brock was around for like a billion seasons.

overall, the black and white anime does have its problems, as does every pokemon anime. but leave iris and cilan out of it THEY ARE INNOCENT PARTIES :(

[voidmetal-alloy]

I finally, FINALLY managed to design a dress I like on her.

Roll Light

Construction Purpose: Roll was built to be Doctor Light's nurse while he was recovering from his injuries. Now that he's healthy and adjusted to his new life, she's taken over Rock's jobs as housekeeper and lab assistant. Despite her job change, she still takes the health of everyone around her very seriously.

Biggest Strength: Roll is very good at reading people, and knows exactly when she needs to intervene and help out.

Biggest Flaw: She has trouble knowing when people actually want her help, and tends to accidentally overstep the boundaries of her friends and family often.

Weaknesses: After the first Wily takeover, Roll was injured and left with a fault in her systems that make her prone to dizzy spells and fainting.

Battle Role: Roll stays far away from actual danger, guiding Rock through stages from the lab, leaving Doctor Light free to work on upgrades for him without having to worry about his son being left alone.

Misc Notes:

Her hobbies include karaoke, sewing and surfing.

Roll was built with knowledge about how to care for humans, but dedicates a significant amount of time to learning how to repair and care for robots as well.

Roll attends high school three days a week. She doesn't need to, but enjoys the socialisation aspect. She even has her own friend group.

When she isn't with her friends, she's usually hanging out with Ice Man.

She collects a specific brand of animal figurines.

She has a two hour long hair routine.

She loves her brother more than anything, but she can't help but feel a little bit mad that she now gets called "Mega Man's sister" more than her own name.

She used to wear red, but it seemed to make Doctor Light uneasy.

Her favourite music genre is metal.

----

Beat Notes:

He's a budgie

He can turn into a hover craft that Roll can use to get around the city quicker.

His serial number stands for Cossack Companion Number.

[mah-o-daryaa]

Avatar Cycle Trivia

Avatar Wan

Wan's name translates to "ten thousand" in Mandarin Chinese, as he lived ten thousand years before Avatar Korra. His name is also a pun on "one", as in Avatar number one.

Wan wore the colour of each of the four nations during his battle against Vaatu. His robes were yellow and orange (air), his armbands were green (earth), his sash was blue (water), and his scarf was red (fire).

In addition to becoming the first Avatar, Wan is also the first true firebender, as he was the first person to learn firebending from a dragon.

By fusing with Raava during Harmonic Convergence, Wan is technically the oldest Avatar to be identified, being 21 at the time.

The Earth Kingdom battlefield where Wan died is the same field that Zuko visits millennia later in Zuko Alone (Book 2: Episode 7). Interestingly, Wan first appeared in Beginnings, Part 1, which was the seventh episode of Legend of Korra, Book 2: Spirits.

Avatar Yangchen

Yangchen is the only known Avatar to have a sibling (Jetsun).

Yangchen is technically the first Avatar to have an established Team Avatar (not counting Wan and Raava).

Yangchen had split-personality disorder with her past lives, where she essentially suffered from nightmares of her past lives bleeding into her present self.

Yangchen's companion Kavik is the first person ever seen get chi-blocked.

Yangchen did not like the idea of people creating statues of herself in the future. Ironically, she was greatly revered in the Four Nations, and a statue each was built in both the Eastern and Western Air Temples.

Avatar Kuruk

Kuruk is currently the only known Avatar whose predecessor and successor were both women (Yangchen and Kyoshi respectively).

Kuruk had more lovers in 3 decades than Kyoshi did in over 2 centuries (the true story is more tragic).

Kuruk had a habit of challenging random people to feats of strength, which makes him the only known Avatar in history to have participated in an Agni Kai.

Kuruk was the best hunter and tracker in the history of the Four Nations. It's said there was nothing he couldn't hunt or track down (that includes spirits).

Kuruk is the only known Avatar to enter the Spirit World after death. Considering that only people with a special connection to the Spirit World can enter at death (such as Iroh and Yue), this means Kuruk must have had a spiritual connection rivalling that of most Air Nomad monks or nuns.

Avatar Kyoshi

Kyoshi is the only known Avatar known to be of mixed nationality; her father was from the Earth Kingdom, while her mother was a renegade Air Nomad.

Kyoshi had a rare condition with her earthbending where she could move large objects with ease but had difficulty in moving smaller objects (Suffering From Success).

Kyoshi has witnessed more passings of Sozin's Comet than anyone else, with three (not counting Lao Ge).

Kyoshi learned the secret to immortality from Lao Ge, which led her to have the longest lifespan of any Avatar.

Kyoshi has threatened both the Earth King and the Firelord.

Avatar Roku

Roku and Firelord Sozin share the same birthday.

Roku has been featured in the introduction sequences of both Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra.

Roku is the only known Avatar to appear old when he was called upon by the current Avatar.

When Roku entered the Avatar State for the first time, he destroyed the Fire Sage Temple.

Roku's dragon Fang is the only animal companion ever seen in the Spirit World.

Avatar Aang

It took Aang longer than any Avatar in history to become fully realized, being over a century old.

Aang has a scar on his back and on his foot, because of how electricity works.

Aang choosing four toys out of thousands – to identify him as the Avatar as these four toys were the same ones that past Avatars had chosen for generations when they were children – was the same procedure used by the Tibetan Buddhist monks to recognize the next reincarnation of the Tulku Lama.

Aang has met the original source of every bending art: a flying bison for air, the Moon Spirit for water, badgermoles for earth, and two dragons for fire.

Aang is the first Avatar to have his picture taken.

Avatar Korra

At four years old, Korra is the youngest Avatar in history to be identified.

Korra is the first Avatar to learn spiritbending.

Korra is the only Avatar to break out of bloodbending without the use of the Avatar State (sorry, Aang).

Korra is the only Avatar to have killed a member of her own family (Unalaq).

Korra is the first known person to ever tame a polar bear-dog (Naga).

Miscellaneous

Wan and Roku are the only two Avatars to die in combat.

Roku and Aang are the only two Avatars to fight a volcano. Aang was successful, while Roku died.

Aang and Korra are the only two Avatars to ever be defeated in the Avatar State.

Aang and Kyoshi are the only two Avatars to ever get hit by lightning. Ironically, when Kyoshi was hit by lightning, her chakras were opened and she gained the ability to enter the Avatar State; conversely, Aang's chakras were blocked and he was unable to enter the Avatar State.

Kuruk and Roku are the only two Avatars to have been identified the "traditional" way in their respective nations at 16; Wan fused with Raava at 21, Kyoshi was identified at 16 when she recited Kuruk's poem, and Yangchen, Aang and Korra were identified at younger ages.

Yangchen, Aang, and Korra are the only Avatars to have been identified at younger ages than 16.

Wan, Aang, and Korra are the only Avatars who are modeled after real-life people. Wan is modeled after co-creator Bryan Konietzko (but with cooler hair); young Aang is modeled after Arjuna, Sifu Kisu's son (but Aang is bald), while adult Aang is modeled after co-creator Mike DiMartino; and Korra is modeled after various female MMA fighters, most notably Gina Carrano.

Roku and Korra are the only two Avatars who have worn an outfit from each of the four nations on-screen.

Roku and Korra are the only two Avatars to have connections to royalty. Firelord Zuko, and thus every following Firelord, are descendants of both Roku and Sozin, whereas Korra's father was a member of the Northern Water Tribe's royal family, and was later elected as the chief of the newly independent Southern Water Tribe.

When Kyoshi first met Yangchen, she (Kyoshi) mistook Yangchen for her own mother.

When Kyoshi first met Kuruk, she almost drowned her physical body trying to communicate with him.

Roku and Yangchen are the only two Avatars to have hugged the current Avatar at the time (Aang and Kyoshi respectively).

Wan, Korra, and Kuruk are the only Avatars to refer to Raava by name, although the latter (Kuruk) had never met Raava.

Yangchen, Kuruk, and Aang are the only Avatars to have invented an airbending technique. By extension, Kuruk is the only person outside of the Air Nomads to invent an airbending technique (he didn't get his mastery tattoos, what a shame).

Aang and Korra are the only two Avatars to learn energybending.

Kyoshi, Roku, and Aang are the only Avatars to use bending after their respective deaths.

Kyoshi, Roku, and Aang are also the only Avatars to have descendants (but let's be realistic, so did Kuruk).

Aang and Korra both learned their native element from a companion of the previous Avatar, and their final element from a descendant of the previous Avatar. Aang learned airbending from Monk Gyatso, a companion of Roku, and learned firebending from Zuko, Roku's great-grandson. Korra learned waterbending from Katara, Aang's wife, and learned airbending from Tenzin, Aang and Katara's youngest son.

That's all the fun facts I could find.

[the-mortuary-witch]

AMPHITRITE

WHO IS SHE?

Amphitrite is the goddess of the sea and Queen of the sea in Greek mythology, and one of the 50 (or 100) daughters (the Nereids) of Nereus and Doris (the daughter of Oceanus). She is also the wife of the god of the sea, Poseidon. Amphitrite is a powerful and revered goddess associated with the sea and ocean, and is often depicted as a beautiful woman with long hair and a dress made of seashells or sea plants. She is known for her gentle and nurturing nature, and is believed to have the ability to calm the seas and bring peace and tranquility to those who seek her help.

BASIC INFO: 

Appearance: Amphitrite was depicted in Greek vase painting as a young woman, often raising her hand in a pinching gesture. Sometimes she was shown holding a trident or fish. In mosaic art the goddess usually rides beside her husband in a chariot drawn by fish-tailed horses or hippokampoi. Sometimes her hair is enclosed with a net and her brow adorned with a pair of crab-claw "horns".

Personality: it is difficult to know for certain what Amphitrite's personality was like with her devotees, as she is not as well-known as some of the other Greek gods and goddesses. However, based on the myths and legends, she is often described as a calm, regal, and dignified figure, who is both beautiful and powerful. She is also known for her loyalty and devotion to her husband, Poseidon, and is said to be protective of the sea and its creatures. It is possible that Amphitrite was also seen as a nurturing and caring deity, who would watch over and protect her devotees.

Symbols: trident, dolphin, the sea, crabs, fish, and seal

Goddess of: the sea and Queen of the sea 

Culture: Greek

Plants: seaweed, kelp, sea grass, algae, and sargassum

Crystals: aquamarine, pearl, quartz, ocean jasper, amber, opal, larimar, petoskey stone, cuprite, frosterly marble, and coral

Animals: dolphin, seal, fish, crab, shark, turtle, shellfish, and any other sea or water related animals

Incense: frankincense, myrrh, and ocean scented incense

Practices: water divination, healing, ocean themed spells, cleansing, protection, fertility, and abundance

Colours: gold, white, blue, cyan, green, and purple

Numbers: N/A

Zodiac: Aquarius 

Tarot: The Empress

Planet: N/A

Day: N/A

Parents: Nereus and Doris

Siblings: Nerites, the Nereids (or the river gods), and the Oceanids

Partner: Poseidon (married)

Children: Triton, Rhode, Kymopoleia, Benthesikyme (also seals, dolphins, fish, and shellfish)

MISC:

Dolphins: they are often associated with Amphitrite because she is the goddess of the sea, and she is said to be the mother of many seas creatures, especially dolphins. Dolphins were seen as playful and intelligent sea creatures, and they are associated with fertility and were seen as companions to fishermen and sailors, guiding them to safe harbours and warding off storm and sea monsters.

The sea: Amphitrite is associated with the sea because she is the goddess of the sea in Greek mythology. She is the wife of Poseidon and the daughter of Nereus and Doris, who were both sea nymphs or sea deities. According to myth, Amphitrite was the Queen of the sea and the ruler of the sea nymphs. She was also known as the wife of Poseidon, the god of the sea, and the mother of several sea creatures, including the nymphs of saltwater and fresh water.

Trident: in Greek mythology, the trident is associated with Amphitrite because it is the weapon of her and Poseidon’s choice. The trident is a three-pronged weapon that is said to have been given to Poseidon by the sea god Nereus, and it is said to have been used by Poseidon to control the sea and command the sea creatures. The trident is also associated with power, royalty, and oceanic authority.

Fish: they are associated with Amphitrite because she was the goddess of the sea and all marine life, including fish. She was known for her control and power over the sea, and was also believed to be the mother of many sea creatures, including fish. They are also seen as a symbol of fertility and abundance, as the sea was considered to be the source of life and creation.

FACTS ABOUT AMPHITRITE:

When Poseidon first sought Amphitrite's hand in marriage, she fled his advances, and hid herself away near Atlas in the Ocean stream at the far ends of the earth. The dolphin-god Delphin eventually tracked her down and persuaded her to return to wed the sea-king.

She was said to be the mother of seals, dolphins, fish, and shellfish.

The story of Amphitrite marrying Poseidon is also the story of the constellation Delphinus. As thanks, Poseidon placed the dolphin up in the sky as the constellation. 

Her name is probably derived from the Greek words amphis and tris, "the surrounding third." Her son, Triton, was similarly named "of the third." Clearly "the third" is the sea, although the reason for the term is obscure. Amphitrite was essentially the same as the primordial sea-goddess Thalassa. Her Roman equivalent was Salacia whose name means "the salty one."

It is said that her voice alone can calm Poseidon in his most vicious fits of rage.

Amphitrite may be a calming and kind deity, but don't test her patients and please don't oppose as a threat to her. Disrespecting this goddess can end up with your life being flipped upside down as she holds quite a lot of power.

It’s stated in myths that Amphitrite’s voice is the only thing that can calm her husband’s mightiest rages and lull him to a deep slumber so the ocean could be back at peace.

Asteroid 29 Amphitrite was named after her. 

HOW TO INVOKE AMPHITRITE:

To invoke Amphitrite, you can set up an altar or sacred space dedicated to her, using symbols and items associated with the sea and the ocean. You can light a gold, blue, or green candle and use seashells, sea glass, or other items collected from the beach as offerings to her. You can use sea salt in your ritual space and incorporate the sound of waves or ocean sounds into your invocation. Some people also find it helpful to focus on the image of Amphitrite as they enter into a trance or meditative state to connect with her energy.

PRAYER FOR AMPHITRITE:

Amphitrite, great and sovereign goddess, bride of Poseidon, mighty sea-queen,

Daughter of Nereus, long of beard, and Doris whose gift of the ocean’s bounty provides for the children of the humankind. 

Amphitrite, eldest of the Nereids, fairest of those fabled maids,

Amphitrite who sits enthroned on the ocean floor, mother of all sea-creatures, of all who dwell in your briny realm,

Friend of the sailor and the fisher-folk, yours is the power to grant a smooth sail, or to pull a ship down beneath storm-driven waves. 

Amphitrite, unrivalled, unyielding,

I pray to you. 

SIGNS THAT AMPHITRITE IS CALLING YOU:

A strong desire or connection to the sea or the ocean.

Increased sense of calm and peace when you are near the sea.

A feeling of being drawn to the ocean or the sea, or finding yourself drawn to the sound of waves or the smell of salt water.

Experiencing a sense of creativity or inspiration related to the sea and its symbolism.

A desire to learn more about the sea and its mysteries.

Seeing/finding pictures or figures of dolphins and seals unexpectedly. 

Here are some additional signs that Amphitrite may be calling on you:

Dreams and/or visions of the sea or the ocean, particularly if they feature Amphitrite or other sea creatures.

A sense of being protected or nurtured by a benevolent and calming presence when you are near the sea or the ocean.

Finding seashells or other ocean-related items unexpectedly. 

OFFERINGS:

Recycled materials. 

Shark or megalodon teeth. 

Food and drinks: seafood (please ask her first), water, dried seaweed, salted caramel, dark chocolate, red wine, olive oil, fruit, honey, milk, salt water, cucumber, pineapple, mango, blueberries, lime, and coconuts. 

Gold, white, blue, cyan, green, and purple candles. 

Seashells. 

Ocean scented candles or incense. 

Fish scales. 

Opal jewelry. 

Anything with sea salt. 

Sea, moon, storm, or rain water. 

Crystals: aquamarine, pearl, quartz, ocean jasper, amber, opal, larimar, petoskey stone, cuprite, frosterly marble, and coral. 

Images of things she is associated with. 

Photos of the sea. 

Any gems or stones associated with the water element, such as sea glass. 

Sand. 

Art or statues relating to the sea and its creatures.

DEVOTIONAL ACTS:

Picking up litter along waterways of rivers, oceans, lakes, streams, etc. 

Staying hydrated. 

Caring for your fish, turtle, axolotl, etc. 

Using metal straws. 

Start a compost bin. 

Honouring Her, her husband, Poseidon, and her children. 

Wearing anything with the colours gold, white, blue, cyan, green, and purple. 

Beach combing. 

Visit aquariums. 

Donating to climate change/ocean clean up and protection organizations. 

Collecting sea water. 

Read or write her poetry. 

Meditating near the beach or a body of water encircled with calming sounds to connect with Amphirite on a deeper level.

Recycling. 

Swim in Her honour, or teach someone else how to swim.

Wearing flowy clothing. 

Visit your local river, beach, streams, lakes, etc if you're not close to the ocean. 

Dedicate a swimsuit to her. 

Incorporate Amphitrite into your crafts (ask first). 

Ocean related bath rituals. 

[zeehasablog]

Slower Stitching: longer to complete projects

A companion to my Slower Knitting mod  - this mod slows the time it takes to complete cross-stitch projects.

One of the best parts of Cottage Living is the ability to cross stitch. I am a stitcher myself, so every Sims home I have, I get some llamas, and give them all the treats for coloured wool!!!

I don't know why someone would want to cross-stitch faster? It can take me ages to complete things myself, so why shouldn't it be the same in The Sims? 

The time coding is a little different to the knitting one, so I referred to a mod to make stitching faster, and made a change before testing.

I am unsure as to whether the number corresponds to sim minutes, or something else - there's only one value, as opposed to a big or small project, which is interesting considering you can stitch something in three different sizes!

For this mod, I have:

reduced the speed value from 10 to 1, which increases the time it takes to complete a project (I believe this is 10 project minutes per 1 sim minute; now 1 to 1)

In conjunction with this mod, I recommend:

Using MC Command Centre to make skills more difficult, which will slow progress of level

Downloading @janesimsten's functional spinning wheel - you can then use this to spin wool from your animals, to make yarn for knitting, or thread for cross-stitch

Downloading @janesimsten's extra cross-stitch patterns - these include some really lovely historical patterns for your sims to stitch!

This mod requires the "Cottage Living" Expansion Pack, but you also need the XML Injector in your mods folder, in order for it to to inject my coding.

I have edited the following coding: - loot_CrossStitch_CraftingProgress_Gain.xml Anything else that modifies this may cause a conflict.

Download now, for free, via Curseforge!!

 ~~ Terms Of Use ~~ 

[lynnuvo]

𝑀𝓎 𝒮𝓌𝑒𝑒𝓉-𝑀𝒶𝓎𝒷𝑒-𝒯𝑜𝑜-𝒮𝓌𝑒𝑒𝓉 𝒢𝒾𝓇𝓁

Characters: Toga Himiko x Female (Y/N)

You and Toga Himiko were not only friends but classmates back in middle school. She had a fair amount of companions, but you were her best friend--the one person she felt she could go to about everything. After all, you were the first person she invited for a sleepover and her last.

One day, she gathered the courage to share her family troubles with you. She shared her quirk and thus, her strange interest in harming animals, including the one where her parents caught her sucking the life out of bird when she was a child. Although it unsettled you at first, you collected yourself and thanked her for entrusting you with her history. You sympathized with her wish to be "normal." Your response to her confessions opened a door. With others around, she was her usual, well-behaved, cheery Toga. But when you two were alone, her cheeriness doubled, and the topics you two would discuss sometimes turned from everyday things to "would-you-rathers?", "wouldn't it be better if?", and deep desires. She asked you a LOT of questions. You were worried that if she kept going, you might have to spill every single thought about you. Thankfully, her questioning spurts would only last for a short while.

It wasn't long before your friend group noticed how much closer the two of you had gotten over the past three months. You were dubbed "Toga's Best Friend," and you didn't mind it. In fact, you loved it. You loved Toga. Just not enough to sweep her off her feet and kiss her.

Luckily, this allowed you to encourage Toga to confess to the boy she developed a crush on. It was sudden, and you were sure there had to be more to the boy than just him taking the time to talk to her about birds in the library during study hall (she forgot to do her homework and met him there). But there wasn't.

You picked at the rice you packed for lunch. The echoes of chatter in the cafeteria felt like white noise to the headache forming in your head. Not an actual headache, of course. But your situation sure felt like you needed one. "What's so special about him?"

"He's cute. Adorable. I'm in lovee~" Toga Himiko said as she stared dreamily at his figure three tables across. Her pupils may as well have been hearts. "I like him a lot."

"Then why don't you just tell him?"

"I don't know. He probably won't like me. He barely knows me."

You scoffed. "And you barely know him. What if he's actually a bad person?"

Toga leaned closer. "Do you know something about him?"

"No, but..." Your lips pursed before you shoved a spoonful of food in your mouth. "We don't even know his name."

"We'll find out."

"Come on, Toga. You can find someone else--someone you actually know."

Toga leaned even closer with a cheeky smile spread across her face. "Are you insinuating I should be with you instead?"

"Wha-No! You know that's not what I meant!" Some gradient of pink and red spread across your face. "Just--Forgot about it!"

"You're so cute, (Y/N)-chan!"

Conversation similar to this would continue for days, then weeks. It wasn't a lot, but no matter how many times you both talked about it, Toga never approached him for a conversation, and the few times he approached her to converse, they didn't get to a point where they exchanged numbers. You honestly felt sorry for her, but no amount of advice would be convincing enough T for something to actually happen. She would even invite you over to her house to conjure up a plan (and have fun), but it was all for naught. You didn't think she'd confess anytime soon.

--

But then she did confess.

In the worst way possible.

The news that Toga Himiko, your best friend, attacked her crush at graduation spread like wildfire. At this time, it was a week after graduation, and you holed yourself in your room beating yourself up for ever letting Toga leave your side. After the actual ceremony, you left to join your parents but couldn't find Toga for some reason. Even after you messaged her repeatedly to meet up before you went to have a celebratory dinner, she didn't appear. Even to this day, you sent her messages, but she didn't reply.

"(Y/N)," your mother called from the doorway. Her worrisome gaze fell on you fidgeting with your phone. "You should probably stop messaging her if she's not answering now."

You turned to her. You knew how tempted she was to wash your face and chide you on your dark circles like she had the first day you broke down crying, but she knew better with the way you lashed out. "Why? She might answer."

"Honey." Your mother walked inside and sat down on the floor beside you. She brushed a hair from your face and took your phone away gently. You didn't feel like fighting back. "I spoke with her parents. They gave her phone to the police a while ago."

"What?!" Your eyes began to well. "How could...this is so...."

The following week was miserable. You barely ate and slept for most of the day. Some of you and Toga's mutual friends messaged you throughout the week to check up on you--and on the case. They were all encouraging but also skeptical about Toga's true nature. They couldn't believe this behavior would come from her. But you did. You didn't predict her to act this irrationally, but you did expect the pressure to be "normal" to get the best of her at some point.

When the next week began, your mother urged you to buy groceries from the store. It was her way of saying you needed a breath of fresh air. Luckily, you were more willing to accept help. You retrieved the grocery list from her hand and set on your way, mind still on the girl. You were halfway there when you heard your name.

"(Y/N)..."

Your body freeze. You spun around to see a girl in a black hoodie and black pants. She wore a white mask. Despite the clothing, you instantly recognized the girl from her glowing yellow eyes.

You ran into her arms; she embraced you right back. "Toga! It's really you! Where have you--mmph?!"

Your breath left you as Toga threw your body into the alley beside you. Your exposed shoulder scraped the sidewalk, making you yelp in pain. Toga hurried over to hush you. Out of the corner of your eye, you barely made out the silhouette of a tall figure before your vision went completely dark. Someone must've put something over your head--and body. Like a potato sack. You felt a prick at your ankle; adrenaline surged through your body. You just started to scream when an arm forced its way into your mouth from outside of the bag. You bit down as hard as you can, and the person groaned—a male. You tried to bite down more but pull away real quick. The texture and taste of the potato sack was awful, and you felt things in your mouth. You spat them out. Hopefully, they weren't splinters.

"Be gentle with her!" Toga chided as you were thrown onto someone's shoulder.

A low, masculine voice sounded real close to your head. "Why do I have to do this little side-quest for you? We haven't even made it to the base yet, and we're gonna be introduced with this random hostage. We're not gonna get in like this."

"Yes we will! She promised she'd be with me no matter what!"

A promise? Oh. That must have been something you made while you two talked about her family issues. You don't remember making this promise, but it must be because your head is so clouded from how despondent you've been recently.

"You realize that's before you became a murderer, right?"

"Yeah, but (Y/N)-chan is my favorite girl. I can't leave her behind~!"

"Her family is going to suspect you had something to do with this."

"Either that or she ran away to find me. I'll make it worth her while!"

Your heart fell. You loved Toga, but you loved your family as well. Even if you wanted to be by Toga's side, you didn't want to leave everything behind.

And Toga? A murderer? She hasn't even graduated high school yet and she's already a villain?!

Tears streamed down your face. You knew you should fight back--kick the man who held you--but if Toga could kill people and still be so cheery, what would she do to you? Her sharing this information must mean the man with her is some kind of villain or accomplice or someone who doesn't care about such things, which is still pretty scary.

When you couldn't hold back a hiccup, you heard Toga's footsteps fall. Her soft voice sounded to your right. "Don't worry, (Y/N)-chan. You'll be able to rest once the dose sets in. We can talk about everything once you wake up in our new home."

You cried for a good moment. The man muttered something about getting his shirt wet. Sometime after your eyes ran dry of tears, weariness began to kick in. You closed your eyes. The last thing you could remember thinking about before you knocked out was the hypothetic situation if you had just made her fall in love with you instead.

[strangebiology]

Storytelling environmental issues through photography

I've been talking with my photo mentor (JenGuyton on IG) to help me get better at photography in the hopes of making a photo book companion to my written book, Carcass.

So I'm trying to learn visual storytelling a little better and considering these three images for my portfolio, but none of them are perfect.

The first shows a field of dead sheep, but the issue is you can only see a few in the foreground and some of the ones in the background if you zoom in. The story is striking, 51 dead sheep in a field, and the experience was striking, but I think I failed to capture an image that demonstrated the scale of the deaths.

The second image is more clearly a sheep. There is black plastic in the sheep's stomach but you can't see until you zoom in.

The third image shows the black plastic better but we're back to a less-readable image. By itself, you probably can't immediately tell what's happening.

I love this image of a dead bird filled with plastic which BBC calls "The Photo that Made the Plastics Crisis Personal." Plastic in a stomach tells a story. My mentor says a photographer doesn't want to rely on a caption to tell a story, the photo should get a lot across. I totally get that, as even though I'm a writer first, I know darn well that images capture attention a lot faster than text.

However, I don't think that there is a good way to show the viewer what likely happened to these sheep, and maybe some stories don't lend themselves visually as well as others. I don't know how to use an image to communicate what I think happened to the sheep because it's so contextual. In short, I think it was a harsh winter. Maybe the one who ate the plastic couldn't get to food and ate plastic instead, however, I don't know how often sheep do that, and I did not investigate all of their stomachs (the pictured one was just that way when I found it.) Based on the conversations I've had with sheep herders and the presence of hay and feces in this field, I think the sheep gathered there to eat supplemental feed, died in higher numbers than usual due to the cold and/or snow covering the grass, and thawed at the same time as the snow melted. Perhaps I should return next winter to photograph carcasses covered in snow (if it's another bad one?). But I think captioning is important as well, as I can't get an interview in a photo, and the meaning of the hay and feces isn't super apparent even if you can see it.

So, it's interesting that the issue of animals eating plastic might get more attention than issues of climate disasters because the plastic in the stomach is easier to communicate photographically.

[kingsmoot]

i feel like talking about my house bolton oc so let's word vomit some stuff about her and her supporting cast. content warnings for animal death, mild gore, corpse mutilation, age gap, recreational surgery 🫀🗡

her name is helicent bolton which i'm not super attached to but i have found naming her incredibly difficult and this was the option i hated least. she is the eldest daughter of lord beron bolton, from a fictionalized historical incarnation of house bolton that requires me to learn exactly nothing of what goes on in awoiaf or in fire and blood. her mother, lady hela bolton, was beron's first wife. she had multiple difficult pregnancies and stillbirths before nearly dying in childbirth while delivering helicent. her not-all-too aggrieved father gave her an h-name in honor of her mother and her disappointing miracle baby.

helicent is tall and kind of boney. she has her father's sharp cheekbones and long downturned nose, and her eyes are a pale, washed out grey. not entirely colorless, but dull and flat and downturned. her black hair falls past her knees and she wears it braided in a tight crown wrapped around her head.

hela never recovered from helicent's birth, remaining waifish and sickly for all of helicent's lonely childhood. beron had myriad concerns outside of his dour immediate family, and took no youths to foster, so helicent's childhood companions were all adults as she showed no interest in mingling with the household's lower born children. she had a sharp head for numbers and from a very young age was interested in the practical drudgery of running a household (sums and accounting, harvest and production, the minutia of keeping a staff) but not in any of the courtesies a lady of the house would be expected to display. she was a reserved and serious child, with a dull flat affect. she loved arithmetic and history and didn't care for music or embroidery.

hela died just before helicent turned ten, and beron took a second wife (the same age as hela was when they were first wed seventeen years ago 😒) who promptly delivered him three healthy and hale sons: helman (that one stung), luton, and ondrew. the boys were close in age and close to one another. they didn't feel any particular way about helicent and she didn't feel any particular way about them, as she was a naturally cagey, solitary person and found avoiding them both easy and preferable. she felt, as soon as she was told of helman's birth and given name, that she had been put far from her father's mind. she was no longer his concern, now that he had heirs to spare.

this didn't bother her overmuch, as her childhood to that point had been largely free from her father's influence. between her permissive solitude and the company of the dreadfort's household staff helicent had developed an …anatomist's temperament.

she has no interest in inflicting or enduring pain, but a rapt fascination in observing it as it occured in others. she began killing animals as soon as she found the strength to do so swiftly, pulling and prodding at their inert little corpses and finding tools to assist in her amateur dissection. she was fascinated by the inner workings of the bodies that served as her playthings, and would hound the household maester (maester oskirk) for medical texts and lessons. as a very young girl she entertained the notion that she would grow up to be a maester one day and study human anatomy at the citadel, but she was dissuaded of this very quickly. the killing of animals crests at the sudden and inexplicable death of her father's favorite horse. the whole of the dreadfort's staff is questioned and multiple people give solid alibis for thirteen year old helicent but beron, distant and uninterested as he was, was not a blind fool. he told her she was to be married off and cast out of his sight.

she spends the next three years scaring off prospective young northern would-be lords, all second and third sons. she isn't purposeful in spurning their offers just sort of openly and unabashedly demented. at some point a stableboy turns up dead in the snow, with his tongue, genitals, and nipples removed. the mutilation was done to his body after he was killed and the trophies are never recovered. suspicion for the murder and the butchery immediately falls on helicent but there is a large amount of doubt. she's tall but slight, and not physically strong enough to have overpowered the boy, taller than her by a head and significantly stronger. the working theory becomes that someone else killed him and helicent defiled the body. beron announces that she will be shipped off to the silent sisters and may the southron gods dole out whatever punishments they wish for what she does to the bodies left in her care.

the "someone" that it is suspected to have killed the stableboy -- who had struck up a one-sided friendship with helicent, following her around like a lovesick little kid and finding excuses to spend time near and around her regardless of how little she interacted with him -- is the captain of the dreadfort's household guard. a man i have a deep and abiding affection for but who i have not successfully named. i am bad at naming ocs. i'm the worst at it. i made the mistake of mentally referring to him as steelshanks once and it's fucked me completely for finding an actual name for him that isn't just a canon placeholder. no relation to walton steelshanks from the main series they just occupy the same position about a hundred years apart. for ease of this post i'm going to call him rodwell which is on a list of possible names i've been juggling for him and also a dumb dick joke.

rodwell and helicent are of a height - she, tall for a woman, and he, short for a man - but where she is young and slight he is old and broad. he is barrel chested, well muscled, heftier in his old age than he ever was in his youth and not as fast as he was then, but strong as an ox and keen. he wears his once-dark hair down past his shoulders and is lax about shaving his face, so his jowls and chins are usually covered in stubble. he and beron are of an age, and he's been captain of the dreadfort's guard since before helicent was born.

their relationship began as a genuine and fatherly affection for an odd, neglected child and grew quickly into an inappropriate closeness. rodwell dogs after helicent and helicent indulges his attention for everything he can give her in return. namely, after a few years of sitting in his lap, kissing his stubbly cheeks, reading to him at night because his eyes are "old and weak", she asks if she can cut him open. he agrees.

he's soon covered in faint surface scars from her amateur surgical exploration. after the first year or so she wants to go deeper and he won't let her unless the maester is involved, so helicent ropes maester oskirk into it. the pair sort of come at it sideways though rodwell's like absolutely not you cannot go deeper into the muscle unless oskirk is here to make sure i don't bleed out. and helicent' like ok and stabs straight through into his guts and well. then they gotta go get the maester anyway. oskirk doesn't take a lot of convincing he's sort of been worn down by helicent's antics over the years. frog boil effect.

anyway this post is getting unwieldy. at this point my timeline gets real wonky because i'm still pulling at this like a big tangle of yarn but eventually we get to a point where beron is dead (under suspicious circumstances…) and helman is the very-young-but-not-a-child lord of house bolton whose big sister is in charge of all the practical day to day realities of managing a household. helman and helicent are cordial with one another. he leaves her alone because she wants to be left alone. he is in reality doing her a great kindness by not forcing her out of his house and also not forcing her to marry, but neither of them really see it that way. she's his weird attic-crawling mostly-quiet big sister and no threat to his own inheritance. they are peaceable. they speak to one another like awkward coworkers who do really well on assignment and then turn into stiff edgy deer in headlights if they ever cross paths in the hallway god forbid.

this relative peace doesn't last terribly long as helman is murdered by second-son luton (can't be proven but widely understood to be true) and he wants helicent out of his keep and his life. he arranges a marriage for her to the forty-something lord of a minor house far beneath her station. the lord in question (i also haven't named him i'm sorry i'm so bad at this please believe me i am trying my best) has two mysteriously (not very mysterious, though, is it?) dead wives so far and is the last possible choice for a woman of helicent's station. but she's old now (about twenty seven) and unwed with a weird reputation. turns out being like super efficient at medieval household management doesn't make serial surgical experimentation and murder any easier for anyone to tolerate. surprisingly, these two get on like a house on fire. big hammer horror's countess dracula vibe.

at some point rodwell ends up making the journey down (the minor house is called blyght (pronounced blight) (their sigil is a brown sprig of stinging nettle on an ochre field) and is at the northernmost edge of the riverlands/the southronmost edge of the north) to come see his girl with every intention of rescuing her from her brutish beneath-her-station husband and is shocked to find her well kept and well entertained. the next piece of the yarn tangle is how helicent convinces lord blyght to let him stay with them. they end up sort of being this reluctant duo of graverobber/murderers supplying their lady with fresh corpses for her… experimentation.

🫀🗡️

[bullet-prooflove]

Hello! Could I please request some angst/fluff for OA Zidan? With the prompt "I pick up every time that you call" thanks! Love your writing, I've read literally everything you have since I found your page 😅 xo

Tagging: @kmc1989 @trublu2u @rosaliedepp @anime-weeb-4-life @daydreaming-belle

Companion piece to:

Delaware - Things change for you and OA when you discover your father is sick.

Worth It - OA tells Maggie about the break up.

Hairbrush - Finding your hairbrush unlocks a memory for OA.

If there’s one thing you can count on, it’s that Omar will always pick up your call. There were times you needed to vent because of the way a case turned out and Omar, he was always there to listen.

You think about calling him now as you sit in an empty house in Delaware.

It’s been three years since you’ve laid eyes on each other, not since he dropped you off at the airport, pressing his lips to your forehead and wishing you safe travels. You’d both known the relationship couldn’t sustain that distance, not with his job and your responsibilities. The kindest thing had been to end it before it became more of a struggle than it already was.

Your thumb hovers over Omar’s number and you sigh before dialling it. You hope that you’ll get voice mail, that the sound of his voice will be enough to give you that little bit of strength that you need right now.

He picks up on the second ring, the same way he always used to when you called. His voice is drowsy as if you’ve just woken him from a deep sleep. You’re eyes stray to the clock in the kitchen and you realise it’s one in the morning. Grief does funny things to a person’s mind. Some days seem to stretch for weeks and others disappear in the blink in of an eye.

“Hanna?” He asks more alert, his voice filled with concern and it takes you a moment to realise you haven’t spoken. “Are you ok?”

“My dad…” You find yourself whispering as something inside of you starts to unravel. “…he died.”

Love Omar? Don’t miss any of his stories by joining the taglist here.

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Like My Work? - Why Not Buy Me A Coffee

[zero-257]

A lil more fleshing out of the components for those who asked 🫶

A lot of the time I associate the word “new” with experimental and as a result (kinda compounded by the fact the guy literally blows up at the end of the workshop 😭) I see 83 Electra as a kind of experiment into electric fuelling. At his inception there are literally no other trains like him so after a while that starts to grate on him.

He has a vague understanding of other trains, as well as the fact that he was created by someone. So he starts attempting to essentially replicate himself with any material he can salvage from scrap yards and wherever else. As well as this, he uses his own power in order to keep them alive, so with each component he creates the more zombie-like he becomes.

Krupp- His first component, with evidentially the most to work with. A lot of Krupp was made with leftover paint and parts from Electra’s own creation. He had a lot of passion going into making Krupp, basically determined to make the “perfect” companion. Though when he brought Krupp to “life” and realised he isn’t really alive but just carrying out what Electra tells him to or mimicking him, he becomes frustrated and starts to take less interest in him.

Volta- She was Electra’s attempt to remedy where he went wrong with Krupp. However she has essentially the same problems as him, she is not really “alive” neither does she understand or care why Electra is irritated with her. But, she has a key role in keeping Electra stable (again going back to him exploding lol). As the “freezer truck” she is interconnected with Electra’s cooling system which alerts her if he is overheating/unstable. (Credit to dissl3xia for the idea) As he starts to give more of himself to create more components this instability worsens.

Purse- By component number three Electra is starting to become genuinely aggravated. Purse isn’t made with the same passion he had for the previous two and it leaves him without much of a purpose. He is Electra first real “experiment” and is really built with whatever parts he can possibly scavenge. Purse is also where the components start to look less “human” and take a turn towards just a vague human shape.

Wrench- Unlike Purse, Wrench was built with a legitimate purpose in mind. As Electra loses more and more power he requires more than just Volta to keep him from imploding. Wrench is an amalgamation of anything he was able to salvage, she only has to do her job and not much else. He has basically given up on creating the components with emotions or any personality by this point.

Joule- She is the product of two scrapped trucks Electra happened across. For the dynamite truck her bottom half was completely unsalvageable, and the animal truck was ruined from the waist up. She renewed hope in Electra, thinking that reanimating a truck who was previously alive would fix the issue of the components only following programming. This was not the case, and although there are some moments where Joule seems “aware” they are few and far between.

Killerwatt- The final component. Electra is drained to the point of appearing in his mostly zombie-like state, this has somewhat subdued his personality and has brought him back to feeling lonely. He created Killerwatt from literally anything with very little of it being train parts. He often talks to him in a friendly manner he never uses for the other components although he cannot respond. Killerwatt is essentially a statue, a work of art that Electra has poured a lot of time and energy into and in some ways he represents what Electra wanted all along - a friend.

Half of this makes about zero sense but these trains occupy about 99% of my brain at all times and this has come of it.

[nohara-rin-dot-mp3]

Nohara Rin characterization guide part 1

Have you ever wished that Rin had a personality beyond "dead girl" so that you could write more fleshed out interactions between her and the rest of team Minato? Have you ever wished you could care about her, but struggled to figure out where to start, since there's so little there? Are you interested in creating complex characters out of the crumbs provided from canon? You're in luck! I've dedicated the past 2 years of my life to studying Rin (not as much of an exaggeration as it should be) and I've put together a "rinterpretation," so to speak, of her that I think is pretty neat, and today I'm here to explain some of that to you.

This is the first post of a two-part series; in it, I will be going over what we canonically know about Rin. In the second one, I will explain how I have connected all of that into a cohesive character, and further explore how the themes and imagery in canon reflect this character. Edit: here's a link to the second one!

To begin with, we have her two databook pages. Let's go over them one at a time.

There's not much of note on this page from the fourth databook. It tells us repeatedly that she's kind, a mednin, and a balancing force between Kakashi and Obito. It emphasizes the fact that she died, and that Obito and Kakashi are sad about this because they cared for her. We do get some interesting rinmages (images with Rin). Front and center on this page is the classic closed eye smile pose. There is significance to this to me. That's about it, though.

I don't have an English version of this page, sorry. I do have a translation, though- let's take a look!

Rin Village: Konohagakure Rank: Chuunin Ninja Registration Number: 010885 Birthday: November 15 (? years old, Scorpio) Height: ? cm Weight: ? kg Blood Type: A Personality: Gentle, intellectual, devoted Favourite food: Strawberries Least favourite food: Tsukudani (Seaweed/fish boiled down with soy) Speciality Jutsu: Medical Ninjutsu Favorite word: Friendship Interests: Collecting shells Graduated from the Ninja Academy at age 9 Promoted to chuunin at age 11 Mission Experience D-rank: ? C-rank: ? B-rank: ? A-rank: ? S-rank: ? Statistics Ninjutsu: 3.5 Taijutsu: 1.5 Genjutsu: 2.5 Intelligence: 4 Strength: 1 Speed: 2 Stamina: 2.5 Hand Seals: 4 “Heey…quit it, both of you!” Carefree smiling face – Kindness along with strength. Rin is an impressive warm, calm face. But when her injured companions are before her, she shows no weakness or tears, and executes her duty accurately. On the battlefield, this medical ability always kindly cares for her companions. As a celebration of his promotion to Jounin, she gave Kakashi a special medical pack. This was a symbol of Rin’s medical talent and her affection. She demonstrates her medical talent when her companions are injured. She is completely serious.

This is from the second databook- and there's some really interesting stuff here. Although most of the information given contributes to the image of a perfect, selfless girl who exists only to support Kakashi and Obito, there are some hints of person beyond that. She's describe as "serious" and "showing no weakness or tears." It seems that she's not all that emotional- and that's actually backed up by the manga, at least! (I wouldn't know about the anime, I haven't watched it in a while, lol.) I'll get back to that point once we start going over manga pages.

We also learn that her favorite food is strawberries, her least favorite food is tsukudani, and that she likes to collect seashells. Those are really interesting and important tidbits of information. Building off of these can help us create a more three-dimensional Rin.

The picture of her they chose to center on this page is also quite funny to me, because she kind of looks like she's about to kill someone, but maybe that's just me.

Let's move onto the manga. Rin appears, by my count, in a total of 278 panels. A significant chunk of these are just flashbacks of the same few static images of her. The sections she actually gives us something to work with are the kanabi bridge mission chapters, the chapters where she dies, and the Obito flashback sections. I'm not going to go over every single panel- I'll just focus on moments that can be used to further a good rinterpretation, and sweeping generalizations we can make.

Let's start with kanabi bridge.

The first few chapters don't really reveal much about Rin. She does seem very competent, both in healing and in strategy, but she also gets kidnapped and used as material by which to move the plot forward, yada yada yada.

Rin being serious and smart.

Things start getting interesting once Obito gets crushed by that bolder. To start with, Rin is able to transplant a fucking sharingan into Kakashi's head with seemingly no issues very, very quickly. We've been told that she's a pretty good mednin, but she's far from a prodigy. I feel like it's fairly obvious that the Uchiha wouldn't have let anyone learn anything that might let them perform an operation like this- so how did Rin learn this?

It's up to you how you answer the question. Maybe she's a better mednin than we've been led to believe. Maybe she's an implant on the team from Root, trained specifically to implant sharingans. Maybe Kishimoto just doesn't care about the logistics of surgery. There's a lot to unpack here if you choose to examine it from an in-universe perspective, though, so I'd encourage you to look at this from a Watsonian angle.

Rin also confesses to Kakashi in the next sccne. This is... an interesting decision, both in terms of writing and whatever the hell Rin is thinking. However you choose to explain it, and whether you think she was ever really crushing on Kakashi, I think it warrants some though. Time and place, Rin. Time and place.

Finally, I'd like to look at this beautiful panel:

I love the ambiguity here. We don't know what Rin is thinking- but this panel signals to us that she is experiencing some kind of emotion that we are not privy to. Every other character spells out their feelings through dialogue. This panel confirms that Rin is a person with interority- we're just not allowed to see it, or what it is. That's how I read it, anyways .

From here on out, every Rin appearance we go over will be taking place in a flashback which means that they are, to a certain degree, unreliable. Don't disregard them completely- there's some really important characterization here. Just keep the fact that Kakashi and Obito aren't completely reliable narrators in mind.

In my opinion, there's not much to be found in the Obito flashback chapters. Most of them are focused on establishing the Team Minato love triangle of Obito loving Rin, and Rin loving Kakashi. But mostly the Obito loving Rin part.

This was really dead wife coded of her.

I'm not going to go over them in depth. There's stuff you can read into if you're reaching, but I'm trying to keep this as canon and vanilla as possible, so let's move on for now.

Although the chapters in which Rin dies/is dead are mostly focused on Obito's reaction and subsequent evilness, they're also very revealing in terms of Rinformation. Why? Well, let's go over what we learn.

Rin has been turned into a bomb. She is very close with two of the world's greatest sealmasters, but she seemingly does not suggest going to them to fix the problem. We know that Madara used a genjutsu to make her unable to directly kill herself, but we also know that there's quite a bit of wiggle room in regards to how she had to follow this compulsion, seeing as she's able to outright jump in front of Kakashi's chidori, and I'd argue that jumping in front of a train is a pretty direct method of committing suicide.

So, this raises a few questions. One: why is Rin so set on dying? Two: Why does she choose to die in the way that she does? Three: Why does she kill herself on Kakashi when any of the enemy shinobi would have worked just as well, and been less traumatizing towards the guy she allegedly cares so much about?

It's up to you how you choose to answer these questions- whether it was just a result of her not thinking straight because of the situation she was in, or if the answer lies in something more deeply rooted that we never really get to see. Answering these questions is important to creating a good rinterpretation, though. Examining this moment outside of the impact it has on Kakashi and Obito helps us understand Rin a lot more.

Other interesting detail: it seems as though Rin isn't crying here. Earlier, it looks like there's tears running down her face, but then the camera moves back and we see that it's just the rain. Both Kakashi and Obito cry in this scene. Rin, though? Well. we know that she's serious, and shows no weakness or tears...

The final moments I'd like to go over are the ones where Rin appears to Obito (and Kakashi, in one panel). Fair warning: these are a even more dubious, because in my opinion, it's completely up to interpretation whether Rin is actually there or not. I'm still going to go over them, and what they'd mean for her character, but keep in mind that you don't have to rope these into your Rin characterization. They're kind of like optional seasoning you can add for flavor if you feel like it.

So: let's go over why these Rin scenes are really fucking wild.

First, we've got the classic team 7 parallels panel!

It's just... in context... she's dragging them into the path of Kaguya's chakra bullets. Can we talk about that? She's dragging them into this weird self-sacrifice. Naruto's weird about self-sacrifice, yeah- but we don't have to be. We can step back and say that if this is Rin's spirit coming down from the afterlife to tell Kakashi and Obito to fucking kill themselves then that's kind of weird, right?

There's also this moment, where Rin tells Obito that he didn't do anything wrong (???). That raises a lot of questions for me, personally. This entire sequence actually kind of reads like horror to me, but maybe I'm just too deep in the Rin sause. I'm not sure. Either way, it's a really weird moment.

One last thing before you go: Rin's eyes are kind of weird. Please take a look at some other people's eyes as compared to her's. Please consider that they were so weird and unsettling that in the anime, they changed how they looked. Like literally why the fuck did he draw he like that. This isn't like, a solid characterization moment, but just like. Think about the fact that she looks dead inside when you write her. It'll make things a lot more fun.

Glowup?!?!

That's about all for now. You can read part 2 of this or just move on, but I hope that you consider some of these moments when writing Rin. It's really easy to fall into the girlboss/mom friend trap when writing for female characters without much canon personality, but I think it's nice to strive for something beyond that! Hopefully this will help you decide where to start when building a complex rinterpretation- or, if you want to hear about how I see her, you could read part two of this post. Or just scroll through my blog for 5 seconds I'm always yelling about her lmao. Anyways thanks for reading!

[whencyclopedia]

The Frog Princess

The Frog Princess is a Slavic folktale focusing on the importance of recognizing someone’s inner beauty, regardless of their outward appearance, as well as the possibility of redemption after failure. The tale has many variants and appears in Czech, Hungarian, Italian, and Russian folk works as well as many others.

In the most popular version of the tale, from Russia, a prince who has married a frog discovers she is a beautiful and magical maiden but betrays her trust, forcing her to leave him. He must then embark on a quest to prove himself and win her back. The frog princess in this version is known as the fairy Vasilissa the Wise, but the heroine is not the same character as Vasilissa the Beautiful from the folktale of the same name featuring the witch Baba Yaga.

The Russian version is well-known for the dramatic twist it puts on the character of Baba Yaga who is seen here as a helpful entity, rather than as an evil, child-devouring hag, whose mystical powers are symbolized by the number three as there are three baba yagas, each of whom progress the plot. The tale is representative of the animal bride and offended supernatural wife motif, which appears in several legends from different cultures. The Slavic tale has nothing to do with the modern-day novel The Frog Princess by E. D. Baker which formed the basis for the 2009 Disney animated film of the same name.

Origin & Motif

The form of the story derives from one of the most ancient, the animal tale, made famous through Aesop’s Fables but first appearing in Mesopotamia. An animal tale uses animals as characters either to explain something (e.g. how the dog got its tail) or to impress some moral on an audience (as in the well-known Aesop tale, The Fox and the Grapes). Scholars Maria Leach and Jerome Fried comment:

The line between the literary and folk fable is not easy to determine, since tales from collections like that attributed to Aesop have had wide popular circulation and have been taken from and gone back into oral traditions of large groups of people. However, the area of contact between the didactic, moralizing fable and folklore is slight, for the animal tale proper is meant essentially to entertain. The hearer is required to suspend belief and see the animal speaking, thinking, and acting like a human being. (61-62)

In the tale of The Fox and the Grapes, for example, the fox behaves like a petulant child when he cannot reach the overhanging grapes and finally walks away saying they were probably sour anyway (inspiring the phrase "sour grapes" referring to someone who rationalizes a failure to get what they want). For the tale to be effective, an audience must accept the world of the tale in which foxes can speak, reason, and rationalize. In this same way, The Frog Princess relies on the suspension of disbelief at a talking frog who is able to perform transformational magic.

The tale is similar in many ways to the better-known The Frog Prince (also known as The Frog King) in which the youngest of three princesses drops her gold ball into a well by accident and it is retrieved by a frog after she promises she will be his companion. Once the frog returns her ball to her, however, she breaks her word and runs away. The frog then follows to force her to keep her promise. The princess only accepts the frog once she finds out he is actually a handsome prince and, according to different versions, she is either rewarded for her kindness or punished for being shallow and selfish.

The Frog Princess also has the main character show kindness to the creature but later betray its trust and also uses the device of the youngest of three as this was a popular motif in folktales. The youngest son would usually receive no inheritance, and the youngest daughter was married last and so might have the poorest dowry. Folktales balanced this perceived injustice by frequently featuring the youngest of the family as the hero or heroine.

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