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undertheopensky · 1 year ago

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We Are But Children 3

Whumptober Day 21: Restraints

Characters: Time, Legend, lil bit of Hyrule and Warriors

Trigger warnings: Violence to a child, mild body horror, minor character death, don’t worry it’s no one you care about, I was going to say it’s not graphic but SOMEONE had other ideas

Read on Ao3!

Late to the party? Read Part 1 and Part 2!

-----

Blinking, the newly-babyfied Time glances around. “Well this is inconvenient.”

Everyone’s tense, almost too afraid to breathe. Four had panicked and cried; Legend had panicked and grabbed a weapon. No one wants to know what Time will do - or accidentally scare him into doing it.

It’s Wars who approaches him. Calm, and smiling, and visibly praying he’ll be recognised. “Hey, bud. Nothing fazes you, huh?”

“Why would it? I’m used to portals and weird wizzrobes at this point.” Baby!Time squints at his own hands. “I admit it’s been a while, though.”

“Okay,” says Warriors. “What’s the last thing you remember, Mask?”

Baby-fine hairs glimmer in the firelight as the child raises one eyebrow. “Been a long time since you’ve called me that, Wars.”

Warriors’ face screws up, losing the steady gentleness that was making Legend’s hair stand on end. “What?”

“I’m fine, Wars, I didn’t lose anything. Weird wizzrobe, not the first time, I’m going to be very short for the next three days.” Adult!Time’s amusement at their bafflement looks creepy as fuck on Baby!Time’s face.

“Wait,” Legend demands, “why the hell does he get to retain his memories while I spent three days embarrassing myself?”

“I am the Hero of Time, you know,” says Baby!Time, with unbearable smugness for such a tiny child.

Legend makes an outraged noise. “Excuse you, I have definitely fucked around enough with the Harp of Ages to –”

Exactly what he was going to say is drowned out by Warriors squawking “LANGUAGE!” and clapping his hands over Baby!Time’s ears.

“He is thirty –”

“Ah-t-t-t! I don’t care! He is like seven and you will watch your language!”

Legend fumes silently but has to drop the argument.

Baby!Time wrestles Warriors’ hands away from his head. “I dunno why you bother, I already learned all the good curses from the soldiers.”

“I’m trying not to make that problem any worse, thank you.” Still, Warriors lets him go. “Now - you sure you’re okay? You’re not sore, or dizzy? You still remember everyone?”

“It’s strange.” Time spreads his arms like a bird. “I still have all my adult memories, and sensations, but they’re less… relevant, somehow. Not as close to the surface.” He takes a few steps, without so much as a wobble. “I don’t feel off balance, or anything.”

“That’s interesting, actually,” says Hyrule, wide-eyed. “When people go through growth spurts they’re often really clumsy until they get used to their new height or reach – I would have thought it would happen in reverse, too.”

Baby!Time nods thoughtfully. “It’s not, though. Maybe all the adult stuff is being held down by the magic too?”

“You’re taking this pretty well,” Sky observes.

Baby!Time shrugs. “I did say I’m used to it.”

“I’m not,” says Warriors. He keeps rubbing at his eyes like they’re bothering him. “My brain is not coping with Baby!Time.”

“You could just go back to calling me Mask.”

“You wouldn’t mind?”

“I mean, if it makes you feel better,” Baby!Time says. “A nickname’s a nickname. You all call me ‘old man’ half the time, anyway.”

“Ohhhh, that’s so weird,” Twilight mutters, looking vaguely horrified.

Legend snorts. “All in favour of calling him ‘Mask’ for the next three days?”

“Aye,” comes the chorus.

“Well if that’s settled, can we maybe make a plan on what to do next?” asks Wild. “Because I definitely saw some of the moblins making a run for it while we were distracted with the wizzrobe.”

“Can’t leave those running around,” Wars agrees with a sigh. “Twi, see if you can fetch Wolfie, we’ll need him for tracking - wait, fuck. Mask. Twilight can you introduce Mask to Wolfie while you’re at it? I know he’s great but he’s a wild animal and I do not want any mistakes.”

“Sure thing,” says Twilight, with an impressive lack of inflection. “C’mon, kiddo.”

Baby!Time - Mask - shrugs, and runs after him.

They don’t catch up with the monsters that day, despite Wolfie’s best efforts, and make camp deep in the woods when they lose the light. Wolfie could have kept leading them - he’s not following visible sign, after all - but no one wants to wander blindly into an ambush.

In the morning, Legend rouses to the not-unfamiliar dulcet tones of Warriors cursing. “Why are you allowed to swear and I’m not?” he says.

Warriors makes a strangled noise of surprise. Legend grins, still without opening his eyes. “Because until three seconds ago I thought I was the only one awake!” he hisses. “Goddess above, Ledge!”

“Not my fault you have shitty situational awareness,” says Legend, and sits up. “What’re you swearing at?”

Warriors gestures angrily with the flopping leather in his hand. “My boots don’t fit!”

“They can’t possibly have shrunk overnight, and I doubt your feet have swelled that much, they’re not your head.” Still, Legend leans over to take a look. They… definitely look too small. And too short, actually. Wars has fully fitted calf-length boots with buckles for plates to be strapped on; these would barely cover his ankles even if they were the right size. What the hell?

While they puzzle over this the rest of the camp has started to wake up. Twilight - always up with the sun - is gently shaking Wild, while the champion mumbles a constant litany of ‘five more minutes’. Sky is yawning and stretching. Hyrule, last on watch, is packing away all his gear and making sure Sky doesn’t fall asleep again.

“What are you guys doing?”

They both look up. Wind’s standing over them, trying to look stern and managing something closer to ‘delightedly baffled’. “Where’d you get those shoes, Wars? Why? They’re never gonna fit you! Do you have a kid we don’t know about?”

“What?! No!” Warriors makes a garbled noise, caught between embarrassment and indignance. “Why would you even -? No, they’re not mine! I don’t even know where they came from!”

Wind huffs. “Then whose are they?”

“I suspect they’re mine,” says Four, stumping over in boots that are clearly about six sizes too large.

“How the fuck did that happen?” says Wars. They’d been sleeping on opposite sides of camp, for Nayru’s sake. There’s no way their boots could have gotten mixed up in the dark.

“I don’t know and I don’t care, just gimme my shoes.” Four kicks off Wars’s boots and grabs his own, sitting down to put them on properly and adding, “You better not have split any of the stitching with your massive clodhoppers.”

“I stopped trying when I couldn’t even get my toes in!”

The bickering would probably have gone on a lot longer if Hyrule hadn’t started making anxious noises about getting a move on. It’s not safe to stay in one place for too long in this area, he tells them. And he is the expert, so they get a move on. Wild hands out rice balls. It’s not the first time they’ve had breakfast on the go.

It sends a bit of a jolt down Legend’s spine, every time he glances up the line of heroes and doesn’t see Time’s broad frame near the front. It’s disconcerting.

Mask doesn’t have the same movement patterns, either. Besides the obvious, not being Time, he also doesn’t lead the pack. He follows at Warriors’ heels, or sticks close behind Twilight, or walks so near to Hyrule it’s a miracle he doesn’t get stepped on.

Then Sky turns around to ask Wind a question, spots Mask, and nearly trips over himself with a shriek.

The whole party stumbles to a halt.

“I’m sorry, I thought you knew I was there!” Mask says, while Sky frantically tries to apologise for almost stepping on him. “I’ll be more careful, I’m sorry.”

The thing is, it keeps happening.

Legend wonders about that. Mask had said his adult memories were less relevant, somehow. Does he feel more vulnerable, as a child? Like he needs to be closer to the adults to be safe?

Whatever the case, it’s fucking annoying. Four startles badly whenever Mask’s shadow falls on him – towered over by even the literal child. Warriors jumps about a foot in the air when the wind briefly tangles his scarf around Mask and he feels it tug. Wind offers to give him a piggyback ride, since that’s clearly what he wants if he’s standing so close, which lasts a hilarious but short five minutes before Wind admits defeat. Mask is small, but there’s a lot of muscle under his tunic.

Finally, after Wild does an awkward somersault to keep from landing on the boy, Twilight comes up and plops him on Epona instead. Mask seems happy enough with this arrangement. Legend just breathes a sigh of relief that he doesn’t have to worry about the kid stepping on his shoes anymore.

They make good enough time that by evening, they don’t need Wolfie dropping in and out to keep them on the right track; the trail left by the fleeing monsters is enough for any Hylian eye to follow. At this point, though, they’re even more suspicious of an ambush.

“Everyone okay with stopping for the night?” Warriors calls, as the sky fades to duller shades of orange.

“I’m hardly going to complain,” Sky says, slumping almost on the spot. He’s nearly grey under the flush of exertion. Their pace has been a little much for him, though he hasn’t said a word of complaint. Legend marks that, and hopes they catch up tomorrow.

Wind also collapses more or less where he stands, and starts pulling his boots off. “I hate walking,” he complains, not for the first time. Unlike Sky, he will gleefully inform the world at large of every small discomfort. “Give me a boat any day. Ugh! I have blisters!”

“Were you wearing socks?”

“No! They’re itchy!”

“For the love of Nayru, sailor…”

While Wars patches him up and scolds him over foot care, the rest of them set up camp. “No fire tonight,” Wild tells them, “smoke’s too much of a risk.”

Legend makes a face - cold dinner tonight - but no one argues. It’s at least not cold cold out here. Their bedrolls will be warm enough without the need for a fire to keep from freezing to death.

As Twilight hauls his bedroll down from Epona, he staggers a bit under its weight. And it’s bulky, for sure, but not heavy, not to someone who slings goats around for a living. He must be tired from running back and forth all day long. Legend keeps an eye on him to make sure he doesn’t collapse or something, but Twilight’s just frowning as he lays out the thick padding, struggling with it more than usual. Then, he flips open the top layer.

His bedroll is full of rocks.

Twilight stares. So does everyone else. “What the hell?”

It’s not easy to read Adult!Time - he nearly always looks placidly amused.

Mask’s poker face isn’t nearly as good. Despite having all Time’s control and experience, the softness of his face gives him away. His eyes crinkle at the corners and his lips go tight trying not to smile.

Twilight spots it immediately. His eyes narrow. As he turns to flee, Mask starts laughing, which both gives him away and makes escaping impossible. Twilight catches him with ease.

“You little gremlin!” Twilight shouts over Mask’s laughter. He shakes him, gently, where he’s dangling him upside down by his ankles.

Mask seems unconcerned by this. He’s still laughing, gleeful and unrepentant in the face of Twilight’s brotherly wrath. “Your face! That was the best, I’m so glad I didn’t do it to Wars he’s so boring about people messing with his bed -”

“What gets me to sleep faster, freaking out about it or fixing the problem?” says Warriors, without looking up.

“See?” Mask complains, giggling as Twilight shakes him again.

“You little gremlin,” Twilight repeats. “I can’t believe you. Come on, then, you’re helping me get all the rocks out.” He flips Mask the right way up and scrubs a rough but friendly hand through his hair.

“‘Kay,” says Mask cheerfully.

It’s not a difficult task - all they really need to do is upend the bedroll and shake it out. Mask hadn’t used any stones smaller than a thumbnail so there was no worry about things getting caught in the corners, and they were all too smooth to damage the fabric. The bedroll is clean and ready to go in less than five minutes. Twilight sighs in relief. “Alright, menace, I’ll let you off the hook - but don’t do it again, y’hear?”

Mask blows a raspberry at him. “It’s no fun doing the same thing twice!”

Then he runs off, jumping on an unsuspecting Wind with a war cry.

Ignoring the wrestling match that breaks out, Twilight asks, “Was he always such a hellion?”

“I think he was actually worse,” says Wars.

-----

This time Legend comes to with a massive fucking headache. Also, the floor is moving, which he does not appreciate at all. It’s making his stomach feel so much worse. He groans in protest, and hears an answering groan from nearby. Fuck, that means he needs to wake up more and be functional.

What had happened? The expected ambush hadn’t been challenging. The moblins were black-blooded, yes, and smart enough to set up shop in the least defensible spot in the region so the Chain had no cover when they attacked, and wound up split off into smaller groups. But between his ice rod and Hyrule’s Thunder spell they’d cleared out the moblins, and the out-of-time lizalfos that showed up to investigate, and he, Hyrule, and Mask had been headed for the last place they’d seen the others when -

Nothing.

So something probably happened in that nothing.

Goddess, his head hurts.

Thinking about it isn’t getting him anywhere, so Legend braces himself to crack open his eyes.

Fortunately, it’s dark, so his head doesn’t do more than thump briefly about the new stimulus before settling down to sulk. Hyrule is the first thing his eyes catch on.

Even in the dark it looks bad. He’s an awkward tangle of limbs in unconsciousness, blood all through his hair and tunic torn over an untreated wound, stirring vaguely when Legend calls his name. Through the gloom, Legend can tell his eyes aren’t quite in focus. Damn. “C’mon, Rulie,” he coaxes, “talk to me.”

Hyrule groans again. “M’head…”

Yeah, that’s fair. Legend looks again at the blood, reminds himself that Hyrule’s at least mostly conscious, and tries to shake off the nausea. Though maybe that’s from the rocking floor. Hopefully Mask at least had gotten away -

“What hit me?” Mask grumbles from behind him, and there goes that hope.

“Fuck this shit,” Legend says, or slurs, rather, and fuck, Rulie’s not the only one with a concussion. No wonder his head is killing him. He tries to roll over - and realises his hands are trapped behind his back, hard-cold-biting-edges pinning his wrists together. His blood goes to ice.

The darkness – the moving floor – the restraints –

It all adds up to captured.

Hyrule’s in the middle of the same realisation – foggy eyes going wide with panic. He thrashes, fighting whatever has his arms pinned, booted feet thumping against the wooden wall.

It’s instinct to lunge forward. Legend discovers too late that his manacles are actually hooked to something, brought up short by the yank in his shoulders. He curses instead, and tries to calm him with words alone. “Easy, easy Rulie, it’ll be okay, we’ll get out of this -”

Hyrule kicks the wall again.

“Please Rulie you’ll hurt yourself -”

The floor jolts to a stop.

Hyrule gasps. Legend’s stomach lurches – partly from the rolling motion ceasing, partly from anxiety at whatever was about to happen. The manacles dig in painfully as he leans back on his arms to roll into a sit. (And ignores the way his vision goes white, then black, then slow, spotty grey, as the pain crests and fades back.)

Footsteps, muffled; crunching on gravel, coming around to the door of the carriage. There’s a long moment of rattling metal. Keys in a lock. Then the door swings wide.

Legend doesn’t let the blinding, nauseating light stop him from barking, “What the fuck d’you think you’re doing?”

Shackled to a wall, concussed and listing, he doesn’t make for a very threatening picture. He only gets laughter in response.

“Whad’you even want with us?” he demands, all too aware of the two behind him. Just as trapped, just as helpless. He’s the oldest, here, the veteran hero; it’s up to him to find a way out.

The bandit grins at him, silhouetted in the doorway.

“Knew we’d get a good haul outta you, didn’t we? At first we was just gonna take your magic stuff. One good quality fire rod can go for thousands to the right buyer. Then we saw ya throwin’ lightnin’ around, an’ realised - just how much more would we get, for real live magical creatures? Ones pretendin’ t’be Hylian, walkin’ among civilised folks? We ain’t dealt in live cargo in a while, but we still got the stuff for it.”

Legend’s only half-listening. As he adjusts to the glare outside he’s scanning and assessing, and does not like what he sees.

A least eight people visible, all in the same sort of hard wearing, mismatched clothing. More surrounding the cart; he can hear muttering and laughter from out of view. Everyone’s hard-eyed and alert, and everyone’s armed. Not with the usual rusty shit bandits tend to scrounge up, either. There’s quality steel on some of those backs. Not good.

“You should let Mask go, then,” Legend argues. “He’s just a kid - he’s got no talent for magic.”

The bandit snorts. “Anyone who can keep up with things like you two’ll be worth somethin’. And those marks? If ‘e ain’t fae-touched, then I’m a chuchu.

“We’ve got a long ways to go yet, so just sit back an’ enjoy the ride. An’ quit kickin’ the walls – ain’t no one out here to hear you, an’ I don’t want you damagin’ the merchandise.”

With one last black grin, the door to the carriage slams closed.

“Well that sounds like bullshit.” Mask sits up, and Legend sees that he’d been bound in rope rather than iron. He hopes, vaguely, that that means these fuckers don’t usually capture children-sized people, and so had to improvise. Whatever the case, it meant a flexible, squirmy child was able to wriggle free, before the carriage even lurches back into motion. “Obviously we’re not gonna stick around here, so what’s the plan?”

“I want my shit back,” says Legend, doing his best not to slur the words. “An’ I’d rather not go through the black market for it.”

“We probably shouldn’t leave these guys to steal things and sell people, either.” Mask makes a face. “No offence, though, you two look like shit. You’re in no condition for a fight.”

Legend growls, but can’t really argue. His headache has not been improved by the rising stress of the situation. If he tried to stand up right now, he’d probably fall, and maybe pass out into the bargain. Hyrule has blood running down his face from the blow that knocked him out, and Legend suspects his successor feels even worse than he does right now. The kid’s barely even following the conversation. “So, what? Think you can jump out of here and find the others in time? Don’t even know where we are.”

“Nah, I’ve got a better idea.” Mask frowns, then, chewing his lip in a way that Warriors would definitely have scolded him for, before saying, “Don’t freak out, okay? Wars always does, but it’s not as bad as it sounds.”

“That is the most concerning thing you could possibly have said,” says Legend, but no one can reach to stop him as he shoves a hand down his own tunic to reveal –

A carved wooden mask.

That’s hardly surprising - Adult!Time has quite the collection, after all. Though why Baby!Time had opted to stash one in his tunic is anyone’s guess. It’s also not one Legend’s seen before. Shaggy white hair, the angles of a Hylian face marked with bright colour, and dark voids where the eyes should be.

A chill runs over him. “Mask - what is that thing?”

Mask hesitates. “Don’t freak out,” he repeats, lifting the wood to his face.

“Mask stop!”

Too late. Mask curls in on himself and keens, high and strangled. There’s a crunching sound like bones underfoot, the squelch of raw meat tearing.

Legend’s shouting. Hyrule’s struggling against the shackles to come and help. But they can’t reach him. Mask is alone, as the sickening noises stop, and his stifled cries go quiet.

“Mask?” Legend calls, suddenly and terribly afraid. “Time?”

Slowly, he turns, and Legend tries not to be visibly alarmed. He’s – too tall to be Mask, and too short to be Adult!Time; he looks Legend’s age, despite the shock white hair. But it’s not that, or the hair, or even the newly-mirrored markings on his face that make his stomach turn. It’s the eyes – pure white, and strangely reflective, like polished porcelain.

They’re empty.

The – being – Legend’s not confident calling them ‘Time’ anymore – glances around the carriage as if taking it in. Their head tilts. Considering. Then, they put one hand over their shoulder to grasp at the air like they’re grasping for a sword. And suddenly there is a sword, nearly as long as he is tall, with two blades intertwined in a strange spiral pattern.

Legend breaks out in a cold sweat.

Fortunately, the being’s not even looking at him. All the intensity of their focus is on the door, contemplating it like a complex dungeon puzzle. Legend’s almost too afraid to breathe, lest it draw the looming mountain of their attention.

Their other hand goes up to the hilt, and they draw.

Legend can’t help it - he scrabbles back, feet slipping on the cool wood. The being doesn’t so much as glance his way. They lift the blade, studying its smooth curves, with no sign of the effort it should take to lift its bulk, and their head tilts again.

Then the sword flashes, and wood explodes outward.

Bandits scream in surprise. Legend can’t see; between the blinding light and the splintered remains of the door his view’s restricted to a sliver, but the being is no longer in the carriage with them and there’s all the sounds of a fight outside. He curses and struggles with his manacles again. Legend hates feeling useless, but here and now, all he can do is listen to the screech of metal on metal, the shouts and curses of the gang, and strange, wet-sounding thumps as heavy things hit the ground and don’t get back up.

Something strikes the cart with enough force to set it rocking. It’s followed by the distinctive sound of a blade thrust into flesh, a boot sucking free of deep mud. Hyrule jolts at the noise, and squints across the wagon at Legend to check him for injury. Legend would laugh if he wasn’t wound so tight.

Eventually, things go quiet, except for the nervous stomping of the carthorse. Legend’s heart is thundering in his ears. He feels like he was the one fighting, the way his breath comes in short, trembling huffs. And with the shouting gone there’s no way to tell what’s happening -

There’s a noise of irritation. Then there’s a crunch, and what’s left of the door wrenches free, letting sunlight stream in unimpeded. Legend squints, but doesn’t turn away. (Hyrule does, burying his face in the floor. Kid must have one hell of a headache.)

The being with Time’s face appears. They are, not unexpectedly, doused in blood. More unexpectedly, the flat expression has relaxed into something not quite like a smile.

It is not reassuring.

The being hauls themselves up into the wagon. Hyrule grunts at the vibration of their boots hitting the floor - now that Legend’s looking, they’re wearing half armour, plates over the chest and legs and heavy armoured boots, completely unlike the child’s tunic Mask had changed into.

“Time?” he tests, deliberately rocking up onto his knees.

As planned, the being’s eyes shift from Hyrule to his movement. “I am not the Hero of Time.” Their head tilts, identical to the way they’d looked at the door, seconds before it turned to matchsticks. Somehow, though, Legend’s not afraid. The sense of constrained energy that had set his teeth on edge just… isn’t there, anymore. “You are bound. I will release you.”

Using the massive sword as a cutting tool seems like overkill, but it gets the job done. There’s a shriek and a crack, and some of the pressure on Legend’s hands releases. When he pulls them around, the band of metal holding the manacles together is cut through.

“If you’re not Time, or - Mask, then - where is he? He better be okay.” The last part comes out forlorn instead of aggressive, which pisses him off.

“The Hero of Time is asleep, young one,” the being tells him. Hyrule’s restraints get the same treatment, letting the dazed hero sit up properly without the chains caught up around their mooring pole. “He will not wake until my task is done.”

“And what is your task, exactly?” Legend moves to check on Hyrule - he’s been way too quiet, even after riding out a panic attack.

“To fight until the fighting is done. That is always my task: to fight the battles the Hero of Time cannot win.”

“Wait, so if he’s had you in reserve this whole time, why hasn’t he ever used you before now?”

The thing wearing Time’s face smiles, slow and cruel.

“He knows better than to call on me for such paltry matters. The cost would be far too high.”

Legend’s heart freezes. “Cost?”

“I am a god of war. And war always takes its price. Where it gets it is of no concern.”

“What kind of cost? If you’ve hurt him -”

“The Hero of Time has always been very aware of the price some things demand. For that reason alone, he would have been one of my favoured.” The being sighs, still smiling that terrifying smile. “But… my work is done, and the penance is paid. Farewell for now, heroes.” They lift one hand to their familiar-alien face.

The change back is quicker, somehow. A rush of air and magic power draining away, and suddenly it’s Mask’s hands holding the carved wooden face, smiling up at Legend. He looks tired, but not wrecked, as Legend had feared when he’d heard the enchantment boiling to life through his bones. “So, was he nice to you? He better have been. I yelled at him the last time he scared Wars.”

“I don’t think ‘nice’ is the right word to use,” says Legend, still a little stunned.

Mask groans. “Did he at least solve our bandit problem?” He hops back out of the wagon to check. Legend, after taking a moment to collect the still-unsteady Hyrule, follows.

Outside is sheer carnage. It’s less ‘bodies’ than ‘pieces’, and Legend has to look away and swallow hard. He’s not used to this kind of aftermath - doesn’t usually fight people, just manifestations of hatred that can’t hold corporeal form once killed.

There’s so much blood.

Mask ignores it with an ease that Legend’s going to find upsetting later. He leads them around to the front of the cart, where the carnage is less; the bandits had all rushed to the main source of the fight, not hung around waiting for it to come to them. The bay mare hooked up to the wagon snorts at them, eyes and nostrils wide.

“He left the horse alive,” Legend says blankly. He’d heard it, even after the sounds of battle faded, but somehow hadn’t quite conceptualised it.

“Well sure. It’s not her fault she was owned by assholes.” Mask steadies the mare with a few gentle words and a firm hand on the bridle. “Besides - she can carry us a lot further and a lot faster than we can go on foot. Now c’mon, help me search this thing for our bags, ‘cause if they dumped them somewhere it’s gonna make our lives so much harder.”

Legend does in fact find their packs, in a poorly-hidden compartment under the driver’s bench. Which is great, because now he doesn’t have to go hunting his gear down. It’s even better because there’s still half a red potion in here somewhere with Hyrule’s name on it.

Hyrule’s eyes clear as the potion does its work, though there’s still a visible knot above his ear. “Legend, what - you okay?”

“He’s fine, I’m fine, we’re all fine except the bad guys,” Mask interrupts. “More importantly: how are we gonna get back to the others?”

“I say we head back the way we came and make a decision when there’s a split in the road,” says Legend. He really just wants to be done with this day. Sleep sounds fantastic right now, so it’s a pity he’s got long hours piecing together the bandits’ route ahead of him. He hates backtracking. Backtracking on other people’s bullshit is even worse.

The horse doesn’t care about backtracking; the horse is all too eager to leave the blood-soaked stretch of road behind them, once they get her turned around. In hindsight, Legend’s really glad she didn’t take off when people started dying loudly and messily nearby. He wouldn’t have blamed her, but he also doesn’t fancy being chained up in the back of a runaway cart.

Miracle of miracles, they’ve been on the road less than half an hour when they start seeing flashes of colour through the trees. Hyrule squints. “Is that Four?”

“Aaand Wolfie,” says Mask with a sigh, as frantic barking becomes audible.

“Thank Nayru, Din and Farore,” says Four, flinging himself off Wolfie when the canine skids to a halt. “We were so worried, are you all alright, are those manacles - fuck, Ledge, you’re bleeding -”

“What, still?” says Legend blankly, touching fingers to scalp.

Wolfie glances up from where he’d been sniffing noses with the carthorse and gives a disapproving ‘boof’.

“Shut up, there was more important shit to deal with,” Legend tells him.

Four makes short work of the manacles - someday Legend’s going to ask just how he manages to keep a mini-forge on his person at all times - and he’s just pulling off the last one when the rest of the group comes jogging up.

“Goddesses, Mask, what happened?!” Wild exclaims. “You’ve got -” he gestures to his face - “all over!”

“Oh yeah, I forgot he does that when I’m little.” Mask runs an absent-minded finger over one blood-marked cheek. “The markings are protective. In places where they’re known, bad guys won’t risk touching me. Even Ghirahim thought twice, and he was a grade-A creeper. Sorry, Sky.”

“Why are you apologising, you’re right,” Sky protests. “Also what’s this about you dealing with Ghirahim, oh my god-”

Honestly, Legend hadn’t even noticed that when the being faded away to leave Mask in their place, the facial markings had stayed, instead of the half-version he was used to seeing on Time. He touches his head again with a frown.

“Legend needs a potion!” Hyrule calls.

“Hyrule needs another one!” Legend shoots back.

Warriors rolls his eyes and hands them both a bottle. “Things must have been pretty dire if he had to use the Fierce Deity, and to be honest you both look like hell.”

“Fuck you too,” Legend grumbles. In truth, the potion is working wonders on the stabbing pain behind his eyes. He hadn’t even realised how sore his neck and back were until it all starts to fade, leaving him wrung-out and tired. It’s almost worth the horrible bitter taste, not at all hidden by the wildberries Wild had tried adding.

While they were getting medic-ed the conversation had gone on without them, which means Legend is treated to the hilarious and context-free picture of ten-year-old Mask being toted around on Sky’s hip like a four-year-old. Mask is clearly resigned to this, if not exactly pleased.

He’s even less pleased when Warriors starts questioning him. “So what’s this I hear about letting Fierce Deity out to play without a minder?”

“Oh come on, he’s fine!”

Legend thinks back to waiting chained up in near-darkness, wet gurgles and the choked cries of the dying outside with no way to know if they would be next, and has to hold back a shudder.

-----

Inspired by this amazing piece of art!

#whumptober 2023 #linked universe #lu time #lu mask #lu legend #lu hyrule #lu warriors #just a bit #skies writes #as usual not supposed to get this long #i stg NO ONE wanted to shut up #this took FOREVER.#i am not entirely happy with this but i also very much am sick of looking at it #day 22 my beloved here we come!

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alienwritestoo · 1 year ago

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Legend Reborn

Technoblade is a legend on the QSMP. His deeds are ballads sung in the festive streets of the favela, chronicle of dedication inspiring the monumental stretch of potatoes growing on the wall and tales of hard-won battles uplifting the fight against the worst government known yet.

Sometimes, an unusually large Cucurucho can be found at the shrine dedicated to his memory, fingering a singular emerald earring.

The crown before him gleamed with familiar, unfulfilled purpose.

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

Technoblade left the DSMP when he deemed Dream’s oppressive server free from the tyranny of governments, forever meant to be more than the sums of suppressive never meant to bes and unfinished symphonies. The tundra that once shielded armies of dogs and withers soon swarmed with the metaphorical winds of adventure, melting the cold heart he developed to survive on this server with its dangerous consequences, urging him onward to his next quest.

The piglin hybrid felt comfortable moving on, like his older brother had, towards an inexplicable future. He trusted his old man Philza to look after anyone who still stayed on the server, especially those who would no longer accept his help.

Philza stood with Steve at the gate to see him off, waving softly while his eyes burned with pride and unshed tears. The older warrior promised himself that he would make the old immortal never worry about one of his sons ever again, the only remaining to make it through the harrowing experience of DSMP mostly unscathed. His father surely trusted him, and only him, to survive despite all the world could throw at him. He would not let him down.

His fur prickled as he followed the warm breeze to warmer climates, ripping away government after government in his path onwards to an unknown ultimate prize. The governments there quickly realized he was coming, hastily setting up assassinations and armies to disway him. Yet Techno persisted, striding unceremoniously into rebellious camps who quickly accepted his tutelage to overthrow sure tyranny. It was a walk in the park after the annoyance it had been L’Manberg, that had been backed by an mask-cladded Admin until it miraculously switched to his side.And besides, even if Tubbo had been a weak president, the sting of Tommy betraying him stung like nothing else.

The king of Antarctica wasn’t meant to get so close to the desert, but Technoblade would make the world realize otherwise. His quest lay south, and then someday he could retire to own a farm.

In his uncomfortable state, he didn’t see it coming that he would be cowardly captured on an assuming night in a desert village near the sea. The anarchist had no time to react, huffing with outraged growls towards an unseeing assailant who didn’t react to a single hit from him as his humble lodgings wavered in his vision. Another Admin had taken interest in him, not even bothering to show its face as it continued to invisibly rain down potions of harming with impassioned precision. He continued to struggle for agonizing minutes with blood pouring out of his mouth and staining his tusks.

Technoblade’s face paled at the predicament he was in as he finally collapsed, lumbering form falling to his knees as his kidnapper removed the crown from his head like they were taking a toy from a toddler.

The piglin hybrid later woke to a cell of stark, lifeless quartz, with nothing but an orange jumpsuit to his name. Soon after, he lost himself to a haze of interrogations and treatments that turned him into something else, a creature with red eyes that eventually passed all the tests except-

He could never manage to speak, in support nor against the federation. It was the only rebellion he had left, as a duck creature handed him a clipboard and gave him his first task.

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

Philza knew there were multiple Cucuruchos. The immortal had seen Chayanne slink back into the bunker from “night school” enough times, and glimpsed more than one of the white-furred creatures poking into the islanders’ business. Not the career path he would’ve encouraged for his adventurous egg, but the once-famed Angel of Death knew they had little choice in the matter.

Other than the times he saw Cucurucho-Chayanne, there was just one other that bothered him deep down.

One of the newer Cucuruchos was especially odd in comparison to the rest. The creature appeared when Luzu logged on with his binary code messages that oozed of sudden warnings, lumbering behind a pair of regular Cucuruchos with glinting red eyes. It towered over its cousins with muscle, wielding axes and crossbows rather than the classic gun. Tubbo, who was newer to the island but had managed to typically outmaneuver the creatures, had frozen inexplicably at the fireworks lining the crossbows it handled with ease.

Etoiles had gaped when the creature had joined the battle with an arsenal of old school vanilla weapons against three fake eggs, and carried.

“What the fuck?” Cellbit exclaimed as he examined the photo Pomme had taken of the newer creature. The detective looked like he wanted to drink vodka at its looming presence in PVP, only calming with Roier’s reassuring palm on his shoulder.

“No mames!” Roier shook his head in agreement. “This fucking sucks, man.”

“Why are there more of them?” Baghera questioned with a frown. “Why would they need one so big? Is it an intimidation tactic?”

Philza let the conversations wash over him as the order deliberated over what the new creature’s presence meant. The crow hybrid held a photograph in his hand, fingering the emerald earring it wore on its ear. It was the same exact style to his, a piece of jewelry that had been a mystery to him since his arrival to the island.

The old immortal remembered much of his past in comparison to the rest of the islanders. He was the only one to willingly volunteer, able to bargain with the foreboding federation to retain most of his memories.

Philza didn’t remember what he gave up, but he had his suspicions when his memories tried to tell him he never had any family. His heart pulsed with a heart thrumming with power his soul knew had been gifted, making him never age as long as he didn't die in combat. When he first joined the island, the man found a bag of blue dye tied together with a fancy ribbon and a note saying “calm yourself, have some blue”. None of these items had an explanation, especially the emerald earring that swung on his ear-

Until now.

“Does he want to die?” Etoiles inserted as the group gravitated around the corpse of one of the codes, pulling Philza out of his thoughts. “I can give it the gift death if Cucurucho doesn’t want to live anymore?”

His throat hissed automatically, eyes flashing as his mind keys in on the emerald the large creature wore somehow just right.

Multiple pairs of eyes whip over to him. “Woah there, what was that Philza?” Badboyhalo asked.

Philza blinked when he realized he had reacted instinctively to a threat against flock. He swallowed uselessly to calm himself down, angry clicks echoing up into the air instead. Unable to speak, he jerked his head towards the photograph and pointed a sharped clawed hand towards the creature.

“Oh shit guys.” Jaiden spoke up, a fellow bird hybrid. “Philza’s bird instincts think that the new Cucurucho is a part of his flock. Better not hurt the guy until we actually know he’s bad, if we don’t want the case of an angry crow hybrid on our hands.”

“If that’s the case, Maybe we shouldn’t attempt to attack or harm this Cucurucho until we know more about him.” Maximus concluded, looking at Cellbit who looked very tense but gave a reluctant nod.

The group eventually decided to only observe the new federation creature. The crow hybrid’s hackles raised when he noticed Cellbit, Etoiles, and Baghera didn’t explicitly agree to not harm it, but life soon went back to normal for a few weeks when nothing unusual happened.

They noticed the creature had an weirdly normal and routine schedule, easily trackable in how it simply sparred in the middle of the battle dome every morning and built for the Federation in the afternoons following a checklist it regularly squinted at. Philza had to shove down the urge to hand it a pair of glasses when he occasionally approached on Cellbit's behalf to see its tasklist. It never tried to spy or speak to them, content to swing its archaic sword at practice dummies and occasionally amuse the eager Etoiles.

“It's the best monster I’ve ever fought, Philza!” Etolies praised highly one day as they ran into each other at the front of what used to be Las Sacapuntas. “Battling with him is more interesting than anything else on the island except spending time with Pomme because she is my daughter and therefore automatically makes her the best thing to ever happen to anyone and I will kill anyone who says otherwise.” The French player grinned with teeth.

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Philza laughed genuinely at his friend's strange humor, watching the warrior leave as quickly as he came with a fond shake to his head before he teleported to his own base on top of the wall.

That evening, Philza blinked when he spotted the creature outside of schedule by Techno’s shrine, wiping the dirt from his eyes as he stood up from his potato farm.

The hulking Cucurucho looked up from his vigil, turning away from where a crown sat in display on an armor stand. The creature's eyes glinted with a dark red color that strangely made him feel calm and collected.

“Hey mate.” Philza greeted him, wiping the dirt from his hands with spider silk. “Do you know who that is?”

The creature nodded curtly, not speaking nor turning to write in a book.

“He was one of my best friends.” The crow hybrid stipulated as he approached. “A great warrior, much like yourself.” He stood next to the creature. “Mostly I just know him as Techno, and as one of the most compassionate people I ever knew." He craned his head up, gauging the creature's interest in their conversation. "You know why?”

The hulking mass cocked his head, grunting. Philza took that as encouragement to continue.

“Hypixel skyblock was terribly going through a famine before Techno made the potato war happen. You see Cucurucho, even though they're the top server and could've simply asked for help, not many people knew Hypixel actually had food shortages because the number one server doesn’t like people knowing they fucked up." He snorts. "So naturally, my friend took it upon himself to solve the food problem for them. Techno never liked people starving, my so-” He choked, panicking at the unconscious wording. “...Friend.”

The creature reaches towards Philza’s emerald earring with a strange chuff. The old man’s mind translates it reflexively to mean question, curiosity.

“I don’t know what it is, mate.” Philza admitted. “Do you know where you got yours?” For a split second he wonders if the creature stole it, but the idea drains away as the creature shakes his head with an air of confusion.

Cucurucho took a few steps back. He looked at the shrine with an unreadable expression, but his red eyes were so expressive.

“I know this is weird to ask, since you're a federation worker and all but… do I know you?” Philza couldn’t help himself. Why does his instincts see this Cucurucho, out of all of them wandering the server, as his son?

Cucurucho huffed, turning away from him unceremoniously before hopping off the edge of the wall.

Philza leaned back on his hoe in the potato farm for support, stopping himself from following with a panic similar to one of his eggs in danger. The old immortal wanted to talk to it again soon, chest winding up with longing to connect to this unknown creature.

“Dinner’s ready!” Missa called in the distance from the house, likely serving something Chayanne cooked up for his family of four. Philza blinked back unexpected tears when he realized it was potato night, the memories of inexplicable pink fur and comforting chuffs raw against his chest, before collecting himself to have a quiet evening with his anticipating two eggs and husband.

#qsmp fanfiction #qsmp #technoblade #philza #emerald duo #mcyt fanfiction #unfridging fanonQ!Techno respectfully #sbi fanfic #sbi au

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horizon-verizon · 7 months ago

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I adore you drives into house Martell/Dorne and they not being poc. As a fanfiction writter and a woman who studies in college the medieval history of the iberian peninsula I try to Stay Away from writting house Martell fics because I do not believe they are poc the way fandom describes them (especially not as dark skinned) but I fear the backlash.

But I add my two cents to it because I feel the need to say it. (Sorry you'll be the one getting it)

I think the smallfolk around certain parts of Dorne are poc. Not the nobility. Nymeria and her descendents intermarried with the Andals many times. And if all dorne nobility is poc... How is Aegon V (grandson of Myriah Martell and son of Dyanna Dayne) isn't? Or his siblings. We meet all the men - no sign of a different "Race" in any of them.

I'm a little confused by this ask, ngl. You lost me here:

I think the smallfolk around certain parts of Dorne are poc. Not the nobility. Nymeria and her descendents intermarried with the Andals many times.

If the peasants, as you say, are PoC bc the Rhoynar female soldiers intermarried w/Andal-First Men Dornish people...are you saying they did with both Dornish peasant men AND nobles? Or they only did with peasants? If the latter, that wouldn't make much sense bc the petty nobles around or those "vassals"/oathed to the Martells at the time Nymeria arrived wouldn't go umarried to any of her soldiers, therefore we'd be forced to say that yes some nobles are PoC...and only if we assume that the Martells have become as PoC as them since Nymeria married Mors.

So it sounds like you're just saying that they, the nobility, are PoC.

from GRRM's blog:

GRRM doesn't distinguish b/t peasants and nobility when it comes him saying that he imagined them as more Mediterranean than African in appearance (and he's talking the white Med, not North Africans or Middle Easterners).

This is amok's Oberyn:

And this is the Magali Villeneuve's Arianne Martell:

If you're implying that there were still a few Rhoynar female soldier who married the smaller number of male Rhoynar male soldiers while the others married the Andal Dornish nobles (whether they be petty lords or the "high" lords), yeah it's possible some peasants--and a few here and there to this current time period of the main series--are what we'd call "PoC" if they lived amongst us.

But Dornish people, peasant or noble, are still monolithic to the people we'd call "white"/"BR/Germanic/NorthWestern European" white--the nonDornish Westerosi. Even they cannot be said to be PoC within the relationship of the Dornish to the Westerosi I described and discussed HERE.

Not all soldiers or warriors were peasants; some were/would be petty nobles, we simply don't have the details. A few of those female Dornish women could have married actually peasant soldiers and in the U.S. system of race, those kids' be considered "PoC", and so on so on. But this isn't the U.S.

🎨: NUTCHAPOL THITINUNTHAKO

Even if you are a Salty Dornish [3] (the Martells), a Stony Dornish [1] (the paler ones closest to the border b/t Dorne and the rest/the Dornish Marches), or a Sandy Dornish [2], the nonDornish people actively think of them all as "Dornish" and are xenophobic to all of them. We have seen no canon different behavior towards the paler stony Dornish.

We also don't know where exactly in Dorne Sylvenna Sand (a peasant) was from or what she looked like, but she was known as Dornish and the "laws" that Gaemon Palehair/his mother Essie laid out in KL are thought to have come from Sylvenna's background and closeness influencing those laws to protect women. Those Gyldayn calls "outrageous":

Skin color is definitely something these nonDornish make to orientalize or fetishize some Dornish people or to identify them bc you do find the darkest kind tones more in Dorne than anywhere else. But again, some Dornish people (and I mean entire populations) are pale, have the accents, may even practice male primogeniture but are still subject to xenophobia from nonDornish people in text.

And if all dorne nobility is poc... How is Aegon V (grandson of Myriah Martell and son of Dyanna Dayne) isn't? Or his siblings. We meet all the men - no sign of a different "Race" in any of them.

The Daynes are the paler "stony" Dornish.

Aegon was also never going to be considered PoC or Dornish or Dornish adjacent bc he came out with pale skin, violet eyes, and silverish-goldish hair.

And he is not a Dornish-raised person, but was born and raised outside of Dorne in the royal family.

So yeah.

#asoiaf asks to me #asoiaf race #dorne #the martells #westerosi society #nymeria #westerosi history #dornish ethnicities

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brujitaadinbo · 11 months ago

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I continue with this segment that I started weeks ago; enemies then lovers. The cliché resource that has been used to give a lot of power to romances and that if you know how to use it; It gives you a spectacular romance within the material you are handling (films, writings, series)

Taking Din and Bo Katan's parallels with iconic couples within this dynamic, there is one in particular that I think has a lot of similarities. I'm not a fan of kdramas, but there is some very good Korean visual material.

If you have the opportunity to see this kdrama that is so good, so realistic and so sad at the same time, I promise you that you will love it but hey, try not to get attached to the characters. "Mr. Sunshine" can be found on Netflix. It touches on topics about Korea in its most difficult moment, when they were a country at war, occupied by Japan, suffering the inclemencies of these conflicts and how they had to survive and seek the independence of their country.

The main couple behave like the typical "enemies then lovers" Eugene and Ae Shine, being an exile from his country, mistreated by everyone and taking refuge in the United States, growing up in an unknown country, being adopted by a priest and being part of the army American to earn a place and be able to avenge his parents murdered in Korea because of a wealthy family.

Ae shin is a girl from a wealthy family, forced to behave like a society lady, who is outraged with the situation in her country, with what her people are living. He secretly joins rebellion groups, against the invaders and in search of independence. This is where the parallel between Din and Bo begins.

Eugene is a hurt man, alone, destroyed by the world, he believes that his life only has meaning for revenge, until this conflict makes him return to his land, where he meets Ae Shin and the causes of his people, the search for freedom, to recover his country, that is when he marries these ideas and when he understands Ae Shin's way of acting, when he begins to look for her, take care of her, hide her and give her support, until he falls in love with her and gives his life for Ae Shin if necessary (spoiler…if it happens) He understands that his purpose in life is greater than just hating.

We have a cold and methodical Din Djarin, a lonely man locked in his own rules, who when he understands that life is not just about "surviving"… that green boy arrives to change his destiny and begins to understand that loneliness It is not her path, then more allies come, then friends, then a woman comes to offer a greater purpose, take back your planet, give a new life to your people, find a decent way to live, that is when it becomes your center , He admires her. . he protects her, takes care of her and somehow marries Bo Katan's ideas to fulfill that purpose.

Then mutual feelings begin to play out and the bonds already created are strengthened. Love comes out and despite being in a war; They let themselves be carried away by it. The problem is that in this kdrama, everyone is destined to sacrifice themselves and the ending is very sad.

At least in Star Wars there is minimal hope for everyone.

Ae shin is a tough girl, she knows what she wants and she is a woman of action. But her heart begins to fall into Eugene's hands, so she begins to feel the need to have him close, as more than an ally, and she dreams of him, living a normal life.

Bo katan is a born warrior; a woman wounded by the war, with frustrations, lost in her own path to help her people, desperate and with all those burdens and regrets. But when she meets that man in the silver beskar and his green child, she begins to feel at home, she begins to know that part of herself that she didn't know. She begins to protect them, she begins to walk a different path that takes her to better places, she is part of a new clan and understands that perhaps this path is the right one. Despite war and conflict, she feels supported.

This is when I actually say; the one that uses "conflict or wars" as a way to separate the characters; it's ridiculous. In this life, every day is a problem and a war even against yourself. We live in constant conflict all the time and what people need most now is a home, it is a refuge, it is prudence; What we need most is love. And not as a false flag of cheap romanticism; if not as a way to love freely without having to fall into clichés, just as these characters need it. This is the way…

#the mandalorian #dinbo #bo katan kryze #bo katan x din #din djarin #star wars #this is the way #bokadin #clandetres #din x bo #lucasfilm #mr. sunshine #kdrama #eugenexaeshin

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esther-dot · 2 years ago

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Hot take but Asha bores me. She’s another one of GRRM’s action girls where he can’t be bothered to give them flaws (unlikable, fatal flaws). She’s not at all some brand new and revolutionary character the way fandom hypes her up to be. She exhibits almost all the tropes you’d expect her to and is a pretty conventional character all things considered.

If she were truly any better than the other Ironborn in any kind of conventionally moral sense, none of them would have respected her. She’s clearly fine leading the Ironmen to rape, invade, and pillage up and down the coasts of Westeros. She completely absorbed the Ironborn lifestyle and loves it. She was complicit with the culture for years. It’s expected (justly and with good reason) for Theon to grapple with the horror and immorality of reaving, and his own role in it. But Asha kind of gets away with it. She contemplates its prudence and sustainability, but readers are never fully faced with the reality of what she does, and are arguably invited to see her as Supercool Kickass Feminist Warrior instead.

Me: my anons are clearly working as a group to get me kicked out of the fandom

Also me: Outrageous. I’ll be damned if I’m the slacker in this group project! 😂

I wasn't aware that Asha was that hyped! She seemed to be Martin's attempt to have someone of the culture be a little more reasonable/not as bloodthirsty

"And if I shout your name?" Harmund demanded. "What then?"

"Peace," said Asha. "Land. Victory. I'll give you Sea Dragon Point and the Stony Shore, black earth and tall trees and stones enough for every younger son to build a hall. We'll have the northmen too . . . as friends, to stand with us against the Iron Throne. Your choice is simple. Crown me, for peace and victory. Or crown my nuncle, for more war and more defeat." She sheathed her dirk again. "What will you have, ironmen?"

"VICTORY!" shouted Rodrik the Reader, his hands cupped about his mouth. "Victory, and Asha!" (AFFC, The Drowned Man)

so I think she's meant to be a nuance within the framework of the Ironborn, but I see what you're saying. Pointing out the practicality of something is not commentary on morality or a sign that she would be able to completely change things. You’re probably right that the kind of fantasy tropes she hits help her go uncriticized.

Now that I think about it though, the trope may be old, but she is written in an interesting way within the context of ASOIAF. Asha would pursue a practical peace where Dany can't quite manage, Asha has ambition that Sansa totally lacks, she does not have the romantic nature that both Sansa and Dany have, and she is certainly not as evil as Cersei, but some of her lines comment on sexism in a similar way. So she is potentially a way to round out the female POVs if we read it generously. She will never go as far as Dany or Cersei, she will never be as compassionate as Sansa.

I suppose more importantly, Asha has one of those lines that seem significant as far as understanding the war v peace struggle and where a character falls:

A throwing axe was in her hand. She tossed it in the air and caught it deftly. "Here is my husband, Nuncle. Any man who wants me should take it up with him." (AFFC, The Iron Captain)

Some time ago I wrote about this moment for Robb:

Again the shouting began. Catelyn sat despairing. She had come so close, she thought. They had almost listened, almost … but the moment was gone. There would be no peace, no chance to heal, no safety. She looked at her son, watched him as he listened to the lords debate, frowning, troubled, yet wedded to his war. He had pledged himself to marry a daughter of Walder Frey, but she saw his true bride plain before her now: the sword he had laid on the table." (AGOT Catelyn, XI)

Robb was undone by a series of choices, his own and others, but I think Martin is consistent and insistent on his anti war stance, and it is this moment that Robb's fate was sealed, the moment he chose the sword.

As sympathetic as we are to Robb's cause, we're clearly meant to have realized that Cat was right. (link)

and we have all pointed to Dany's "bride of fire" as a worrying sign. However, Bran is wed to the trees, so it is possible there will be later opportunities for each of the remaining characters to choose a path, and perhaps that will be the moment where Asha fully becomes aware of what they've been doing.

I was gonna just leave this ask there, but I skimmed some of her chapters again because I couldn’t remember them that well, and Robb is actually mentioned to support her plan for peace, so she’s an interesting blend of what Robb chose and Cat’s good instinct. This part also strikes me. She isn’t obsessed with the title, she wants power to achieve a certain end, one that’s presented as a good option compared to the others

So, even if she isn’t reformed, we’re meant to see value in her stance. She also does have this moment which may be pointing to a change in her thinking, it at least indicates a certain awareness of what they’ve done

and I thought this was a rather poignant moment that Martin could play forward.

So, I agree with you that she’s presented as a sexy badass, and I’ll take your word for it that fandom doesn’t fully register her complicity in the crimes of the Ironborn, but there is, or at the very least, is the potential, for her story to grow in an interesting direction.

I understand your frustration though. It’s tiring to have every flaw of Sansa’s exaggerated until half the fandom is convinced she’s a murderess while the characters who do worse things are celebrated as feminist queens. 😐

#dot chat #asha greyjoy #anti asoiaf fandom

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lyricalchrysanthemum · 1 year ago

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sorry 2 hear ur not feeling good, hope u feel better soon! as for asks! EITHER what are the pokemashe b2w2 guys’ relationship dynamics w each other AND/OR….say anything u want to about a mausoleum for two……thinking abt them. pondering

HI SORRY FOR THE LATE REPLY. I got started this Wednesday Night but I stopped. Mostly because I got kind of unsure about Nate's characterization. And I am gonna be answering this with his current characterization in mind, but this might be subject to change.

THE ASPERTIAS START OUT COMPLETELY HATING EACH OTHER. Like they’re horrible. Rosa is insecure and judgmental, Hugh is rude and antisocial, and Nate’s mischievous and obnoxious. They’re like three different flavors of horrible highschoolers.

And these personality differences make all three of them completely unable to get along. And like. Sure. There’s a weird triangle where

Hugh: Prefers Rosa’s presence.

Nate: Prefers Hugh’s presence.

Rosa: Prefers Nate’s presence.

But overall they just can’t get along.

Personality differences aside too, the way they treat the team plasma incident makes them find each other completely unbearable. Nate spreads misinformation about it, Rosa seems to treat it as a spectacle, and Hugh hates how people don’t treat it as seriously enough. And because the team plasma incident basically shook up the entire region, the way all three handle it basically makes them incompatible.

Over the course of the journey do eventually find similarities and their journey together helps them start to actually fully enjoy each other’s presence. Especially as they start to understand themselves and their relationships to their truth and their ideals, they relate to each other befriending Keldeo (Rosa) Meloetta (Nate) and Victini (Hugh), and they become the three to carry on Hilbert’s will and make Hilbert’s final wish come true. Almost having a warrior’s bond. And because they understand themselves, they’re able to understand the others.

They never truly get along afterwards, even as the three start to grow up and be healthier individuals. Always seen close to arguing or starting a fist fight, sometimes doing things to piss the others off (mainly Nate), but it’s no different than a normal friendship between average highschool relationships. They're just a trio misfits.

For more in-depth relationships-

Rosa wears several masks to get along with people at school, but Nate and Hugh see through those masks of hers and recognizes her as someone who is extremely hypocritical. Especially with her black or white, right or wrong, with no in between thinking. They call her out a lot, asking what she really thinks, and she hates that. But because they’re the ones who ask her what she wants, her genuine thoughts, she’s ultimately able to act more like herself around them and have genuine conversations where she can speak her mind without fearing about fitting in. Especially since Nate and Hugh themselves are outcasts.

Nate lies a lot for the sake of clout. He’s very much outrageous for the sake of it. But Rosa and Hugh aren't afraid calling him out on his bullshit, and are the most firm about calling him out for telling his lies. Generally, whenever he starts to be a little shady, they're right their behind him to get him to tell the truth. And because they're both stubborn, they don't give up on Nate in the way his other peers too. And he genuinely appreciates it. Like yeah he'll call them buzzkills but because, despite them clearly not having his bullshit, they still hang around him and don't act any... different around him, he finds himself being drawn to the group and continuing to hang out with them. They treat him like anyone else.

Hugh is very standoffish, he's kind of irritable, lashes out, and drives people away naturally. He doesn't mean to, he's just kind of just like this. But because he drives people away, he doesn't have a proper support system, especially given his relationship to the Team Plasma vs Battle Subway incident. Rosa and Nate, while again, they don't quite get along with him, they end up being able to support him in his quest to find his sister's purrloin. And with them, while he still is firm on finding the purrloin, he stops lashing out so easily and so much on normal passerby.

A note about Nate and Hugh in particular is that they go kind of way back. They never were friends but they grew up together regardless and have known each other for a very long time.

I need to think about Hugh's character arc more though. But he's kind of supposed to be the middle point between Rosa and Nate if that makes sense. Rosa is about learning to reach out for her ideals vs Nate learning to reach out for the truth. Both, while not quite giving up truth and ideals respectively, its moreso them coming to the conclusion to let truth and ideals coexist.

So if Rosa and Nate are aligned with one faction thematically, then Hugh gets to be the centrist. But I need to iron out Hugh's arc more. Sorry Hugh I promise you are one of my favorite rivals I will treat you better I promise.

ANYWAYS sorry I wrote paragraphs about B2W2 gang. I was gonna write about Rosa and Nate's full relationship to Cheren and Bianca specifically. BUT. That's another five paragraphs and I'm already embarrassed for writing so much.

WHICH LEADS ME INTO

A MAUSOLEUM FOR TWO

I keep thinking about their dynamic a lot. How they're both doomed by the narrative no matter what they do. In particular I'm so obsessed with the whole Sword of Damocles moment.

They like. Know they can't trust anyone. They're the enemy of the public. And while Piper assures he has control here (ignoring his constant paranoia about his own people), especially compared to Kurosawa, they're both puppets to higher powers (Team Plasma).

But. They both have tried to kill each other so much to the point where they're in a routine. They attempt, it fails, and they continue on so much so that it doesn't happen. And they can rely on each other to protect them from the many who want their head. No one else can kill them except the other. So they almost find comfort in the routine between even if it involves them trying to stick a knife in the other's back. When it's time for tea, they'll drink each other's poison with a smile.

I think there's like an unspoken promise between the two of them to protect the other. Going as far as to probably die for the sake of the other, just so the vow of only being able to kill the other continues to exist. A sort of, "If I die before you, I will haunt you beyond the grave, and through my haunting I will kill you." But the other simply won't let them die here, because it's supposed to be them who kills them.

THERE'S ALSO THE SORT OF. ALL EYES ON THEM THING THEY HAVE GOING. I'M KIND OF OBSESSED WITH. While the eyes motif could lean on Piper's paranoia and fear that everyone has it out for him (rightfully so) and it could lean on Kurosawa's mind control and how every move he makes is being observed by the person who's controlling. But also everyone in the region is watching them literally. Waiting to see who will die first, as it is expected of them. This story has a due end. And the entire region is waiting with baited breath.

I've been associating this AU a lot with the color red too. It's like. Yeah haha blood. Yeah red is a major part of their color palettes in their normal designs. But also like. Red is a color associated with royalty. But also it's associated with fate. And I think the concept of fate is very interesting in terms of the AU, with their fates being so intertwined. And I think the red string of fate might be an interesting motif for them. The red string of fate may twine and tangle, but it will never break. And I think, with their fates being so connected, how when one dies the other will shortly follow, their string will never break.

I want to make a playlist sometime. For this AU. I think it'd be funny. Anyways my final note is I've been listening to vocaloid songs about fucked up and evil royalty (Selfish Princess and Daughter of Evil mainly) thinking about Piper being like that and going. Yeah that's a him moment.

#pokemashe #nate torta #rosa contreras-alba #hugh halliste #THIS TURNED OUT SO LONG IM SO SORRY NEELA #I have a lot to say sometimes :pensive:

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antclan-blogs · 1 year ago

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MOON 27

Berryspot and Hushstep have a huge argument.

This moon’s story under the cut!

“I thought I asked you to gather horsetail today.” Hushstep mewed tersely as he nosed through the remaining herbs.

“Oh, did you? Sorry, I’ll get some tomorrow.” Berryspot mewed vaguely from his nest, where he lay comfortably. Hushstep let out a strained sigh.

“You know, it wouldn’t kill you to help every once in a while.” He reminded his former apprentice.

“I do help!” Berryspot protested. “I fetched the juniper yesterday, didn’t I? And I picked fleas out of Chaffinchbounce’s fur today!”

Hushstep rolled his eyes. “Congratulations.” He muttered sullenly, stalking across the den. Berryspot let out a hiss of outrage and got to his paws.

“What’s wrong with you? You’ve been nothing but rude all day!” Berryspot asked the white tom.

Hushstep scoffed. “And you’ve been nothing but unhelpful! The past few days, it’s like all you ever do is lie in that nest. You’re not an apprentice anymore, and yet I’m still pulling half your weight on top of mine!”

Berryspot looked enraged. “You’ve got some nerve saying that! I try my hardest to be a good medicine cat—“

“Clearly not, if I’m so tired I can barely feel my own paws!” Hushstep interrupted, turning to face the dark grey tom head on. “Face the facts, Berryspot. You’re lazy, and selfish, and you don’t care about your job.”

“Well, at least I’m not a skinny, flea-infested kittypet who has no life other than stinking herbs!” Berryspot spat, eyes blazing.

Hushstep drew in a sharp breath. “How dare you? I taught you everything you know! I was your mentor, and you treat me like dung on the pad of your paw!” He growled.

“Well, you’re not so pleasant yourself. Try being polite or patient for a change.” Berryspot suggested, seething. “You complain non-stop about what I do and don’t do, it’s like you think you’re clan leader! Well, here’s some news for you—you’re not. So stop acting like it!”

With that, Berryspot stormed out of the den, tail whipping angrily. Hushstep watched him leave, panting with rage. “Get some horsetail while you’re out sulking!” He yowled at Berryspot’s retreating back.

Sitting down in the middle of the den, Hushstep fought back tears. It felt like yesterday Berryspot had been an excitable kit, scampering around the medicine den and struggling to remember the names of herbs. Now everything was different, and somewhere along the line the two medicine cats had grown to resent each other.

“You alright?” Rivernose mewed, wandering into the den. “Heard Berryspot screeching like a bird.”

Hushstep looked up at the old tom and sighed. “Yeah, m’alright. Just an argument, really.”

Rivernose plonked himself down in the dust next to Hushstep. “You seem to be having a lot of those lately.” He observed.

“Yeah. He’s getting older. It’s natural for cats to want to rebel, right?” Hushstep mumbled. “Just thought that phase would be over by now…”

“Maybe it comes with being a medicine apprentice.” Rivernose suggested. “Working in such close quarters all the time, constantly feeling like he’s in your shadow. Perhaps it’s nothing personal.”

Hushstep shrugged. “I wouldn’t know.”

Rivernose chuckled. “Neither would I, kid.” He agreed. The pair sat in silence for a moment before Rivernose heaved himself to his paws. “Don’t let it get you down. Berryspot is a complicated fellow. I’m sure you’ll work it out in the end.”

Hushstep nodded his thanks to the senior warrior as he bumbled away, murmuring to himself. Maybe Rivernose was right, but that didn’t stop his feud with Berryspot from hurting.

Maybe they just weren’t compatible cats. It wasn’t unusual for clanmates to disagree, but Hushstep had always thought that Berryspot and him would be good friends.

Berryspot re-entered the den slowly, as if he didn’t want to be there. As he brushed past, Hushstep opened his mouth to say something—but there was nothing to say.

no my babies are supposed to get along!! 10 points to rivernose for being number one supportive granddad tho

#clangen #warrior cats #antclan #clan generator #warriors

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joylinda-hawks · 10 months ago

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Brother, let me handle this fight. WOH, episode 33, part 3. Everyone gathered is surprised by the sudden appearance of WKX. Someone in the crowd asks where he came from. ZJ looks on with disbelief on his face. The crowd whispers that he is dead. The WKX stands majestically on a wooden cover. Someone asks if he fell off a cliff. There are more questions about what is happening here. WKX tells a surprised ZZS to let him handle the fight, then jumps down to the stage where ZZS and ZJ are standing. ZZS still can't believe what he sees. The crowd's next question is whether this is Wan Ke Xing, the leader of the Ghost Valley. WKX walks past ZZS, looks at him and, standing in front of the sect leaders, begins to speak. He explains that his name is indeed WKX, but he is from Siji Manor. He shares a surname with the other WKX and accuses those gathered of mistaking him for someone else. ZJ interrupts WKX and says he thinks they are idiots and talking nonsense. ZJ shouts that no one should believe WKX's lies because he is the leader of Ghost Valley. SS confirms this, saying that they saw everything, his portrait is on the ghost list. WKX responds that the ghost list was prepared by ZJ, who is disloyal and untrustworthy. WKX says he may have framed him on purpose. SS says it's ridiculous and doesn't judge it based on the discussion. He adds that they have three men who betrayed Ghost Valley and they can find out the truth from them. The SS orders them to be brought back. The guards bring in three ghosts of former WKX subordinates. The Scorpion King introduces all three of them: the Shifting Ghost, the Black Reaper, and the Chuckling Ghost, all of whom have crossed over to the side of the light. The Scorpion King tells them to look at WKX and asks if this is their leader. The ghosts look closely at WKX and vehemently deny knowing the man standing before them. WKX says the leader of Ghost Valley died on Bailu Cliff and his body is still at Five Lakes Alliance Manor. WKX asks if it's possible that ZJ deceived all of Jianghu's heroes. ZJ begins to understand that he has been betrayed by the Scorpion King, who gestures to send the ghosts away and does not look at ZJ. WKX says loud and clear that he is a disciple of Siji Manor and his master was QHZ, the great warrior of Qin. Then he looks at ZZS and adds that it is his older brother and talks about his parents. At this point, WKX stops, turns to ZZS and, coming closer, asks him to borrow ZZS's sword. The silent ZZS looks at WKX with an angry face. WKX, with his hand outstretched and his eyes pleading, quietly tells ZZS that he will explain it later. ZZS hands over the sword to WKX without a word. A scene that must have surprised and outraged ZZS. From the moment he came face to face with ZJ, ZZS was convinced that WKX was dead. He saw with his own eyes how he fell off a cliff and set his body on fire. He shows no surprise, unlike ZJ who thinks he will easily expose WKX. The appearance of ghosts confirming WKX's identity surprises ZZS, who begins to fear for WKX. However, the ghosts' reaction allows us to understand that it is a trap for ZJ. ZZS remains silent, but does not hesitate to glare at WKX. ZZH has a very expressive face, just like GJ. Their appearance in this scene says more than 1000 words.

#zhang zhehan #zhou zishu #word of honor #wenzhou #wen kexing #gong jun

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defira85 · 2 years ago

Note

What would you recommend to someone thinking about starting with swtor in this day and age?

Huh that's actually a really good question, and it probably doesn't help that I've not been active for the last two years (they made some fairly substantial gameplay changes to the combat that I didn't like the sound of on paper, I have no personal experience with how it's played out and whether folks think it worked out well in the long term)

I'll put this under a cut to spare people's dashes, and if any friends have their own recommendations based on current gameplay and gearing PLEASE feel free to chip in:

The game has free to play options, and in theory it's entirely possible to play up to the fourth (fifth?) expansion without paying a cent. I don't necessarily think it's particularly as fun as it could be on F2P, because obviously they make things just that little bit more frustrating to try and coax you into spending money, but it's not bad. Just a little slower to progress. And really, if you're not sure if you want to invest in the game (time or money wise), downloading the F2P is a good trial move, because the base game is hands down superior to most of the expansions

There are 8 possible origin stories to choose from - four Republic aligned, and four Imperial aligned. Despite stylistically being the same 4 classes, the story telling has always been the strength of the game and the 8 original classes are all fantastic in their own ways. Admittedly, ask 8 people what they think the best or worse class story is and you'll get 8 different answers. I personally rank the Smuggler (a Han Solo-esqye self insert) as my least favourite, but I've got plenty of friends who think it's the best story. I would die for my Jedi Knight but I think the writing from the story is pretty outrageously bad in places. The Sith Warrior class story changed my life. So did the Imperial Agent, but again, I know people who think they're overrated. Just go with your heart and see what appeals to you when it introduces the class options

There are nine packs that I would consider expansions (more if you include mini gameplay expacs that introduced things like starfighter combat, they always have little brief story quests to explain their origin):

Rise of the Hutt Cartel (adds planet Makeb)

The Dread War (adds planet Oricon, technically a continuation of RotHC but different enough in scope that I would count it as separate)

Shadow of Revan (adds two planets, Rishi and Yavin 4)

Rise of the Emperor (adds planet Ziost, technically a continuation of SoR like TDW was for RotHC)

Knights of the Fallen Empire

Knights of the Eternal Throne

Fractured Alliances (technically a continuation of the last two, but adds Iokath as a playable area)

Onslaught (adds three planets Ossus, Onderon, Mek'Sha)

Legacy of the Sith (have not played so not sure!)

KotFE and KotET moved away from planetary expansions and did chaptered missions, so you couldn't visit the areas of the story unless you replayed the chapter, which was a pain if you enjoyed just running around exploring. Technically we got new planets Zakuul, Odessen and Iokath in those expansions, and Iokath did eventually introduce daily missions and explorable areas, but it wasn't the most popular addition to the canon

I personally enjoy KotFE and KotET because of the amount of time I invested in telling my character's stories in that time period, but I think that Shadow of Revan/Rise of the Emperor had the more compelling storytelling and gameplay. Rishi is for sure my favourite planet in the game, although Onderon comes close and I'm sure Zakuul would've won if we got more ability to just run around and explore

Basic gameplay is pretty straight forward if you've ever played an RPG or MMO before. It's entirely possible to play the vanilla stories without ever needing to play any group content, and you can just treat it like a solo player game with some extra fidgety NPCs in the background of your scenes and pretend they aren't other players. The group content - flashpoints (4 players) and operations (8 or 16 players)- are for the most part pretty great, and a lot of their stories bring more clarity to the main game. As the game gets into the expansions, they start introducing solo player flashpoints which then become the chaptered mission when you get to KotFE.

You also get access to companions right from your first planet, which is great! Every class starts with 5 companions, and that number grows as you get into the expansions. Some of the companions can be romanced, although unfortunately everyone was straight-gated up until Shadow of Revan. After that, earlier companions have occasionally been rewritten to be available to all genders, but not all of them which is frustrating at times. The relationships you build with the companions - whether it's romance or friendship or intense loathing - is genuinely such a great feature of the game, and it's something the later expansions have suffered from, not having your core team around you anymore.

SPEAKING OF, I WILL WARN YOU UP FRONT, SHAE IS NOT A ROMANCE OPTION :P I just don't happen to believe in being restricted to canon when it comes to these sorts of things. She's an NPC, and you can flirt with her now and then in the later expacs, but she's not smoochable.

I can't comment on the current combat system, or the current gearing system, as I've been out of active play for the last few years (ESO got me good) but I hear they've worked out some of the kinks from the revamp. I wasn't overly thrilled with it, as I've played fairly consistently since launch and this was going to be about the fifth complete overhaul of the combat and gearing since launch and after going to the trouble of getting all your characters the best gear multiple times only to be told you have to start from scratch AGAIN wears a little thin after awhile. But! If you're not planning on hardcore raiding, gearing changes shouldn't be that much of an issue

The housing system is fun but there's no real way to decorate well without pumping a lot of your own money into the game which is shitty. I've seen the light in ESO's crafting and being able to craft my own furniture is game-changing

Space combat is a nightmare. My spatial awareness becomes non-existent once I have to steer in a three dimensional space. I have one friend who loves it and used to play constantly but I couldn't ever get used to it

PVP is eh. I've had more fun in PVP in other games, but it's not bad.

The crafting system is fun, but unless you're making your own healing packs or dyes, its not really worth much. Sending your companions off on crafting missions can be fun though, as they come with teensy little snippets of lore and some of them are funny or intriguing. It can get expensive real fast though

The only thing I would caution against is that they've made some fairly unpopular changes just in the last month regarding the cost of quick travel to try and rein in the bloated in-game economy and it seems to have been implemented poorly and unfairly effects low to mid tier players as opposed to the high end players

If you have any questions after all of that, let me know! AND GOOD LUCK!!!

#swtor #The Old Republic

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travellingheist · 1 year ago

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Israel loss of life ascends to 600 after Hamas assaults. Hamas blindsides Israel with most serious assault in an age

Israel was shocked by the most aggressive activity Hamas has at any point sent off from Gaza.

The size of what's been occurring is uncommon. Hamas penetrated the wire that isolates Gaza from Israel in various spots in the most serious crossline assault Israel has looked in excess of an age.

It came a day after the 50th commemoration of the unexpected assault by Egypt and Syria in 1973 that began a significant Center East conflict. The meaning of the date won't have been lost on the Hamas authority. Israel's State head Benjamin Netanyahu says his nation is at war and will correct a weighty value from its foes.

Recordings and photographs of dead Israelis, regular folks as well as warriors, are all over virtual entertainment Different recordings of outfitted men from Hamas pulling troopers and regular people into bondage in Gaza have irritated and frightened Israelis. Inside the space of hours Israel was answering with air strikes into Gaza, killing numerous Palestinians. Its commanders will design a ground activity next. The presence of Israeli prisoners there implies it will be much more muddled than past attacks. For quite a long time, it has been evident that there was a developing gamble of a blast between Palestinian furnished gatherings and Israel. How and where it happened was a complete shock, outside the outfitted wing of Hamas.

Israelis and Palestinians have been zeroing in on the West Bank, the domain among Jerusalem and the Jordanian boundary that Israel has involved starting around 1967, where there has been practically nonstop showdown and viciousness over time. Equipped Palestinians, particularly those working out of the West Bank towns of Jenin and Nablus, have gone after Israeli troopers and Jewish pilgrims.

The Israeli armed force has mounted many attacks. Furnished pioneers have gone rogue, with retaliations against Palestinian towns. Outrageous strict patriots inside Israel's conservative government have rehashed their case that the involved regions, completely, are Jewish land. Nobody anticipated that Hamas should imagine and fastidiously plan such an intricate and composed activity out of Gaza.

Recriminations have previously begun in Israel about the disappointment of its knowledge administrations to see what was coming. Israelis expect that a broad organization of sources, specialists and super advanced observation will take care of its business.

Eventually, Israeli knowledge was sucker punched by the Hamas activity, which came when Israelis were unwinding or supplicating during the few days of a strict occasion.

Hamas has said it acted in light of dangers to Jerusalem's mosques. During the last week, a few Jews have implored inside the Aqsa Mosque compound, the third holiest spot for Muslims after Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia.

A similar region is likewise revered by Jews, as it was the site of the scriptural Jewish sanctuary. Petition by strict Jews on what they call the Sanctuary Mount probably won't seem like a lot, however it is restricted by Israel as Palestinians consider it profoundly provocative.

All things considered, by the principles of Jerusalem, consistently a tinderbox of public and strict clash, it was not outstandingly tense.

The intricacy of the Hamas activity shows that it had been arranged over months. It was anything but a rushed reaction to occasions in Jerusalem somewhat recently or somewhere in the vicinity.

The motivations behind why Hamas and Israel are indeed at war run a lot further. The contention among Israelis and Palestinians has been warming up in any event, when it is a long way from the titles of global news associations.

All things considered, it has been to a great extent disregarded by nations that still formally call for harmony through a two-state arrangement, shorthand for a free Palestine close by Israel. For some time, during the Oslo harmony interaction of the 1990s, the possibility of two states was a genuine expectation. Presently it is a vacant motto.

The Palestinian-Israeli clash has not been fundamentally important for President Joe Biden's organization in Washington DC. It has been attempting to figure out how to give security certifications to Saudi Arabia as a tradeoff for a rapprochement with Israel.

The last American endeavor to relaunch a harmony interaction bombed 10 years prior, during the organization of President Barack Obama.

At the core of the difficulty is the recalcitrant and unsettled very long-term struggle among Middle Easterners and Jews for control of the land between the Mediterranean Ocean and the stream Jordan. These quickly raising occasions demonstrate indeed that the contention can't just be made do. At the point when it is passed on to rot, brutality and gore are ensured.

#palestinian #israel #free palestine #gaza #hamas #jerusalem

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wandering-the-fae-wyldes · 1 year ago

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Jacwyn's First Fight

The two Yuan-ti look at him for a moment, as if waiting for him to say more. Finally they laugh. They grab one another's shoulder to help them stay up, Jacwyn sits there blushing furiously as he's mocked. His fists squeeze together, until finally he can take it no longer.

Jacwyn: "Enough! This isn't funny! I'm not joking, either help me or risk the wrath of House Silverquill!"

The two Yuan-ti stop laughing at his outburst, the shaman nodding to the other.

Warrior: "You're not in any position to make demands, elf."

He slithers forward, his tongue flickering out as Jacwyn instinctively begins to back away from him.

Warrior: "Our mistress has been expecting you, now you can come with us like a good pet, or we can take you as our hostage. It's your choice."

Without another word Jacwyn turns to run, using one of the few spells he's been able to master in his life, Haste. With magic under his heels, driving him onward he quickly begins to outpace his pursuers. From behind he soon hears the sounds of outrage from the two Yuanp-ti, on instinct he dodges left just in time to see a Ray of Frost fire past him.

Shaman: "Damn it! Don't just sit there like a log! Catch her!"

Along with his two pursuers he soon hears two more voices from right next to him.

Dew: "Umm, Tink? She's running, what should we do?"

Tink: "Ugh! Isn't it obvious? We can't let those two lizard brains turn him in! Then where would that leave us? Come on, help me slow them down!"

With that he hears the sound of moving wood and an angry yell from the warrior, despite this Jacwyn doesn't dare to slow down. It isn't for another twenty minutes before Jacwyn finally stops. Gasping for breath he falls down under a massive tree, with its canopy shading him from the sky, and its roots rising from the ground blocking him from view, Jacwyn exhausted closes his eyes to rest. Unsure of just what he's gotten himself into here.

#fantasy #fiction #oc #main canon

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grumpyoldsnake · 1 year ago

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I have read Some of these and am taking the rest of your list as recommendations 👀

I also have recommendations to offer in return!

I read Frankenstein by Mary Shelley around the same time as The Left Hand of Darkness, and while the writing styles are v different the themes seemed to have some thought-provoking synergy. I can somewhat recommend it, even if I didn’t enjoy the book (I was too busy being outraged at Frankenstein 😂).

I also HIGHLY recommend the disability rights essay/speech “Don’t Mourn For Us” by Jim Sinclair, which is important in its own right and is also v good for adding further thoughts to Frankenstein. It isn’t too long, and the transcript can be found here! If the colors bother, I recommend copy/pasting to somewhere easier to read, hah.

I’m not sure if it’s a specific subject you’re interested in, but you seem to read nonfiction and Stamped From the Beginning by Ibram X. Kendi is an excellent combination of history and anti-racism theory.

The Broken Earth Trilogy by N. K. Jemisin is intense and uncomfortable and ABSOLUTELY not to many people’s taste (not least because the framing narrative in the prologues and interstices is in second-person narration), but personally I loved it. It has some of the tragedy-with-twisted-hope, pain-and-devotion-and-hatred-and-love, this-world-would-not-let-us-exist-peacefully-as-ourselves-and-so-by-God-we’re-going-to-break-it explorations that I got from The Radiant Emperor.

I recommend The Vorkosigan Saga by Lois McMaster Bujold to anyone who’s willing to listen. 😅 I can’t say as it’s closely similar in vibe to any of your books (that I’ve read) here, aside from being scifi written by a woman? But if the notion of a disabled protagonist who, upon finding himself in a hole, just keeps digging in increasingly unhinged clever ways until he manages to convince onlookers that Everything Is Going According To Plan (it is not) appeals in any way, you might enjoy The Warrior’s Apprentice!

(If you happen to like older protagonists who continue to have meaningful character journeys, Bujold is excellent at those. The Vorkosigan Saga gets there. Her fantasy books The Curse of Chalion and Paladin of Souls are also pretty good on this front, though they’re much slower-paced!)

This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone wasn’t much to my own tastes, but a lot of people love it and certain aspects of it remind me of both The Radiant Emperor and The Locked Tomb.

If you haven’t read Discworld by Terry Pratchett, based on what themes you seem to like I might suggest The Wee Free Men and the rest of the Tiffany Aching books, or perhaps Feet of Clay (though the latter is not a generally-recommended starting point). Or, if the persuasive-protagonist-in-a-hole pitch from the Vorkosigan Saga appealed, you might like Going Postal! (And if older protagonists appeal, the Witches subseries and the Night Watch subseries are good bets.)

That’s all that comes to mind for now!

Books of 2023

the list nobody asked for <3

My reading habits had gone a bit stagnant in the past couple of years so this year i made the effort to engage in reading again and wow books really are good!! who would have thought! Sharing this year's book log with the small reviews i did while reading yeah i am That kind of list lover if u feel like being nosy, (and maybe even help mi crowdsource reading recs based on my likes 👀🤲?)

The left Hand of Darkness - Ursula K. Le Guin Ursula i Need to know your thoughts on omegaver- [gunshot] THAT ASIDE yeah. mrs Le Guin you've done it again. I can see why everyone got their brain chemistry altered by this book.

The Membranes - Chi Ta-Wei another brain chemistry altering book. would love to discuss it with a gender studies major lmao

Satanic Verses - Salman Rushdie its a v atmospheric and poignant story, I know I would have loved it more if I was familiar with the rich religious/cultural background it draws from

The Masquerade Series - Seth Dickinson Crazy insane in the membrane about this series. one of the most compelling worldbuildings I've ever seen, and most importantly it features one of the most crazy wet pathetic scrunkly meow meow protagonists i've ever had the pleasure of reading about.

Middlesex - Jeffrey Eugenides i liked the writing style of this book a lot! idk how well it holds up re: intersexuality topic, but its a very engaging read.

Dead Blondes and Bad Mothers: Monstrosity, Patriarchy, and the Fear of Female Power - Jude Ellison, Sady Doyle The title says it all honestly, its a beautiful, thought provoking and engaging essay, spanning eras, pop culture phenomenons, and real life events on the topic of women and horror.

The cat who saved books - Sōsuke Natsukawa this was so cute and heartfelt, it will really make you go Ah Yes, this is Why we Love Books <333

The Locked Tomb Series - Tamsyn Muir now when people say there is a girl who is the cursed sacrifice of 2000 infants who falls in love with the sleeping embodiment of the soul of the Earth (barbie) and also another girl who is the only survivor of the aforementioned sacrifice and is. a Jesus metaphor? and also the two girls become one at some point. and every book is a different genre. and god is bisexual. and memes survived the nuclear apocalypse. I can just nod and say so true.

The Area X Trilogy - Jeff VanderMeer Rotating this series in the microwave of my mind at the speed of light it's soSO GOOD!! the movie doesn't even come close honestly u NEED to read the books. and then go touch grass and be aware of every strand in a completely new way.

The Dawn of Yangchen - F. C. Yee nice read! I was more invested in the worldbuilding crumbs than in the actual story lmao, I will forever think about the HEATED airball rivalry between the air temples and about the swt greetings / bethrotal armbands.

Inuit Stories of Being and Rebirth: Gender, Shamanism, and the Third Sex - Bernard Saladin d'Anglure starting w a disclaimer bc I feel like the topic of native colonization was ignored when it should have been way more prominent when talking about the context of where and when these testimonies were collected?? That aside it was very interesting and well put together, with first account testimonies of Inuit elders about their myths, lifestyles and beliefs.

Pachinko - Min Jin Lee i read the book after having seen the tv series (which i also rlly recommend). Very moving story about a family and its generations, from Korea under Japanese colonization to modern day America.

Her body and other parties - Carmen Maria Marchado sometimes I go about my day then I remember this book exists and stare at the wall for 30 minutes.

Dictionnaire de l'impossible - Didier Van Cauwelaert big miss. this collection of articles about "strange impossible phenomenons" sounded so quirky and interesting but i sure would have loved if the author hadnt so clearly picked a side. and also way too much church for my tastes.

He who Drowned the World - Shelley Parker Chan Im not even gonna speak about this one if you've followed me since july you know what pits of insanity and despair i'm in

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow - Gabrielle Zevin Sometimes!! the book with pretty covers put in the "famous on socials" bookstore section!! are good!! It's about being othered it's about connection it's about diaspora it's about love and friendship and most of all it's about viddy games.

Station Eleven - Emily St. John Mandel reading this post-covid and learning it was written in 2017 was A TRIP. Psychic damage at every page. still feeling very normla.

The Mask of Apollo - Mary Renault Ugh i desperately wanted to like this book because the setup is so interesting and full of potential, but the end result was just. flat. flat story flat characters the plot focusing on the wrong things at the wrong times i was so DONE when i reached the end otz.

Babel - R. F. Kuang LOVED the worldbuilding in this, the "lost in translation" system of magic is one of the most interesting things ive ever read. I think theres something about the writing in general that didn't win me over completely?? but all in all a very good

Red Ocean - Han Song This sure is a Book. That i've Read. its so profundly strange and unlike anything ive come across that i dont even know what to feel about it. i think 90% of my confusion comes from Not Getting Cultural References so if someone has a "red ocean explained" essay plz send it my way bc i couldnt find one.

#book recs #to read #my reading #the vorkosigan saga #discworld #frankenstein #the left hand of darkness #the radiant emperor #he who drowned the sun #in conversation with the internet

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