#garm

[candyswirls]

Garm Pt 4

Previous - Next - Master Post

Summary: Rogue traders visit. Garm is baby and doesn’t like frilly clothes but they do like playing.

Had to go through and make sure I only used they/then pronouns for Garm. Their gender reveal party isn’t until next chapter! Jk

Leman rubbed his temples.

Several times now, Garm had come in, having climbed out of their bed and refusing to sleep. Insisting that they stayed up.

The Primarch was getting irritated.

The door slid open and Leman was about to snap for Garm to go to bed. Then he softened.

Garm was teary eyed and sniffed in the doorway.

“Krůtt,” he said gently as he opened his arms and knelt.

Garm went running to his embrace and let out a sob as he picked them up.

They wrapped their arms around his neck and buried their head into his shoulder. He patted their back, soothing them.

“There, there sweet puppy,” he whispered. “I’ve got you. No need to shed tears.”

Garm nestled against his neck and under his beard. Sniffling and whimpering. Sometimes he needed a reminder that Garm was just little.

“Do you want to come meet the Rogue Traders with me?” He asked.

Garm let out a squeak and nodded.

He set them down and offered his hand. They took it and rubbed their eyes with their other hand.

Garm was surprisingly calm when they arrived for the meeting. They sat patiently on Leman’s lap. The two rogue traders they made contact with had brought gifts back with them. Those they deemed worthy of a Primarch and now the child of one.

The first presented their gift.

“Made from the finest materials from various luxury worlds and crafted upon Terra itself,” he announced. “This has been modeled after current imperium high fashion and real diamonds used as beading. Something eye catching and beautiful for your daughter.”

Leman raised a brow, “Who said Garm was a daughter?”

The rogue trader stammered, “Forgive me my lord, I shouldn’t have assumed. I can have it tailored in male fashion for your son.”

“They’re not a son either.”

He hid his smirk as the rogue trader grew confused.

“Not even I know the gender of my child,” Leman said. “For now they are gender neutral.”

“Pardon my bluntness,” the other trader piped up. “A good tale piques my interest. Might I know how you do not have this knowledge?”

“They’re covered in fluffy fur, never stop moving, and do not like being manhandled,” Leman explained. “I have been unable to check.”

The first jumped back in, “Nevertheless I believe they will find this most valuable garment to their liking.”

The sheet over the box was removed to reveal a soft orange dress. Diamond beads created patterns on the skirt and brightly colored lace puffed it out. To a trained eye or one who dabbled in fashion it could be seen that the most delicate and upmost precision was used to hand stitch the one of a kind garment. The ruffles shimmered in the slightest breeze and multiple tiers of fine tailoring had been done. It was a dress worthy of a princess.

Garm wasn’t paying attention to it, gnawing on a strip of leather from their father’s armor.

“My Noble Garm,” the trader insisted. “Won’t you come take a look at it? I’ve been assured it’s quite comfortable.”

Garm glanced at him then looked back at Leman. He motioned they could investigate.

The toddler climbed down and walked up to the dress.

The trader nearly stepped back, not realizing that while a toddler, the child of a Primarch would be big. They stood as high as a very short baseline.

Garm ran forward and pushed the box over.

The trader and his entourage gaped at the rejection. The other trader burst out laughing at the display.

Leman grinned as Garm ran back to him.

“I’m afraid Garm is not fond of… fashion,” he said. “With their day to day life and dislike of even wearing clothes we tend to choose a breathable cut, sturdy but soft fabric, and one that can either take rough scrubbing or stains and dirt blend into.”

He ruffled Garm’s head.

“They are also a toddler and most toddlers care not for clothes.”

“R-right,” the Rogue trader stammered.

The other rogue trader managed to catch her breath.

“My apologies, my Lord,” she chuckled. “I appreciate their honesty. Hopefully my gift is well received. This is a common toy upon my father’s home world and comes from an ancient Terran culture. I ensured the strongest materials had been used. It is embroidered with bright colors and has a bell within it. It should hold up for many years of rough play. I even brought two for good measure.”

A serf presented a box covered with a cloth.

The rogue trader removed said cloth to reveal two patterned balls. They removed them and bounced them on the floor, each producing a jingle from their bells.

Garm perked up, staring at the bouncing toys. Bright colors flashing.

“They’re called Temari,” The Trader announced. “The same name they had on Terra. I hope they provide ample play.”

The rogue trader smiled at Garm then threw one of the Temari across the room. Each bounce jingling.

Garm went chasing after it, trying to leap and catch it. It bounced off a wall and Garm slid to a stop, trying to correct themselves. A standing Astartes caught it and bounced it again. The Rogue Trader offered her fellow trader to the throw the other. He nodded gratefully and threw the other Temari.

Garm’s excitement grew at the prospect of two flying around them. Wispy giggles game from Garm as they chased the two toys. Catching one and bouncing it again.

Leman beamed, “They will be well loved. Thank you for your kindness. Well thought out gifts. Maybe one day Garm will try in the dress. They do like comfort.”

Both traders nodded, the first trying to swallow his pride and hide his embarrassment.

Garm squealed with laughter as they chased both Temari at the same time.

“Let us head to my council room to further discuss safe trade routes for you,” Leman said.

As they discussed, Garm ran around the room, having any nearby Astartes throw the Temari for them to chase.

“Hopefully this will tire them out,” the lady trader said.

Leman chuckled, “I’m afraid they’re like a power pack. Never ending energy. I’ve never seen them tired out before. But I am hopeful.”

They bid him goodbye.

Leman watched a while as Garm played. Catching and throwing the Temari when it came near him.

“Alright,” he said while standing. “Time for bed.”

Garm stopped and pouted.

“I’ll go to bed with you,” he assured.

They softened at that and grabbed both Temari.

“Do you want to try on the dress?” He offered, seeing if they’d do it at the chance of staying up later.

Garm furrowed their brow and dropped the Temari to sign.

No. Ugly. Stupid.

Leman laughed, “That’s my pup. Never liked those frilly outfits. Come on.”

Garm grabbed the temari again and walked next to Leman.

“You like your new toys?”

Garm nodded, smiling up at the Wolf King. He reached down and caressed their cheek. They leaned into the touch.

He never knew how great of a feeling it was to have one who did not fear or disdain you, was not intimidated by your presence, or looked upon you as a divine being.

Garm only saw their father and loved him for that.

Back in his room they climbed onto the bed. He pulled back layers of pelts and blankets, allowing them to dive in.

He removed his cloak and laid his mother wolf pet atop of Garm. He climbed in and stroked their head. He whispered in Fenrisian the tale of him defeating the Kraken. Garm nestled close, arms around both temari.

As he spoke, he began undoing to simple braid of their hair and running his fingers through peachy blond locks.

“Good night, my puppy,” he whispered as he pressed a kiss to their forehead.

He went silent, knowing that all sound must be gone before his child would fall asleep.

Often times he wondered during moments like this what it would be like to introduce Garm to one of his brothers. Have them meet his Father.

How he’d gloat. That he’d made a child while they had not. He just wasn’t sure how to explain how he did it or got them. But they were definitely his.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

“Brand safety” killed Jezebel

I'll be at the Studio City branch of the LA Public Library this Monday, November 13 at 1830hPT to launch my new novel, The Lost Cause. There'll be a reading, a talk, a surprise guest (!!) and a signing, with books on sale. Tell your friends! Come on down!

Progressives: if you want to lose to conservatives, all you need to do is reflexively praise and support everything conservatives turn into a culture-war issue, without considering whether they might be right. Because sometimes…they're right.

Remember early in the Trump presidency, when conservatives all woke up and discovered that America's spy agencies – excuse me, "the intelligence community" – were dirty-tricking psychos who run amok, lawlessly sabotaging democracy? Progressives have been shouting this ever since Hoover's FBI tried to blackmail MLK into killing himself:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FBI%E2%80%93King_suicide_letter

But millions of progressives forgot about COINTELPRO, CIA dirty tricks and CIA mass spying when this "intelligence community" temporarily set out to wrong-foot Trump. Remember James Comey votive candles?

https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2019/08/30/james-comey-fbi-memo-leaks-trump-inspector-general-report-column/2157705001/

Anthropologists have a name for this phenomenon, in which one side reverses its positions because their sworn enemies have done so. It's called schizmogenesis, and it goes like this: "If they hate it, we love it":

https://pluralistic.net/2021/12/18/schizmogenesis/

Schizmogenesis is an equal-opportunity delusion. Within living memory, white evangelicals supported abortion, because their sworn enemies – Catholics – opposed it. Some of those white Boomer women who voted Trump because abortion was literally the only issue they cared about held the opposite position on abortion not so long ago – and completely forgot about it:

https://text.npr.org/734303135

The main purpose of the culture war isn't immiserating marginalized people – that's its effect, but its purpose is to distract low-information turkeys (working people) so they'll vote for Christmas (the ongoing seizure of power by American oligarchs). For the funders of conservative movement politics, the cruelty isn't the point, it's merely the tactic. The point is power:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/03/09/turkeys-voting-for-christmas/#culture-wars

Which brings me to "woke capitalism." Conservative string-pullers have whipped up their base about the threat of companies embracing social causes. They (erroneously) claim that corporations have progressive values, and that big business is thumbing the scales for causes they despise. The purpose here isn't to sow distrust of capitalism per se. Rather, it's to stampede talk-radio-addled supporters into backing the oligarchy's agenda. Remember when culture war leaders told their base to support being gouged on credit-card junk fees "to own the libs?"

https://pluralistic.net/2023/08/04/owning-the-libs/#swiper-no-swiping

That's schizmogenesis working against the conservative rank-and-file, tricking them into taking the side of a cartel of wildly profitable payment processors who are making billions by picking their pockets (credit card fees are up 40% since the covid lockdowns), because (checks notes), Target pays these profiteers a lot to process its payments, and Target sells Pride merch (no, really):

https://pluralistic.net/2023/08/04/owning-the-libs/#swiper-no-swiping

It's easy to point and laugh at conservative dopes when they're tricked into shooting themselves in the balls to own the libs. This is not a hypothetical example:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/05/28/holographic-nano-layer-catalyser/#musketfuckers

But progressives do it, too, particularly when they embrace monopolies as a force for positive social change. Remember 2019, when people got excited about playing loud pop music at Nazi rallies in the hopes that the monopoly video platforms' copyright filters would make any video from that rally impossible to post?

https://memex.craphound.com/2019/07/23/clever-hack-that-will-end-badly-playing-copyrighted-music-during-nazis-rallies-so-they-cant-be-posted-to-youtube/

I warned then that if this tactic worked, it would be used by cops to prevent you from recording them when they're macing you or splitting your skull with a billyclub, and yup, within a couple years, cops were blaring Taylor Swift music in hopes of preventing the public from posting videos of their illegal conduct:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/04/07/moral-hazard-of-filternets/#dmas

Conservatives are (partially) right about woke capitalism. It is a threat to democracy. Concentrating the power to decide who gets to speak and what they get to say into the hands of five or six corporations, mostly run by mediocre billionaires, is bad for society. The moderation decisions of giant platforms are a form of (commercial) censorship, even these don't violate the First Amendment:

https://locusmag.com/2020/01/cory-doctorow-inaction-is-a-form-of-action/

(The progressive delusion that censorship only occurs when the First Amendment is violated is a wild own-goal, one that excuses, for example, the decision by school book-fair monopolist Scholastic to remove books about queers and Black and brown people from its offerings as a purely private matter without consequences for free speech):

https://www.themarysue.com/scholastic-response-to-authors-and-illustrators-on-diverse-books/

Conservatives are only partially right about woke capitalism, though. Here's what they're wrong about: corporations don't have values. Target isn't selling Pride tees because they support progressive causes, they're selling them because it seems like a good way to increase returns to their shareholders. Individuals – even top executives – at Target might endorse the cause, but the company will only durably support the cause if that endorsement is profitable, which means that when it stops being profitable, the company will stop supporting the cause:

https://www.cnn.com/2023/05/23/business/target-lgbtq-merchandise/index.html

The idea that corporations have values isn't merely stupid, it's very dangerous. The Hobby Lobby decision – which allows corporations to deny basic health-care expenses for women on the basis that a Bronze Age mystic wouldn't approve of an IUD – rests on the ideological foundation that corporate personhood includes corporate values:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burwell_v._Hobby_Lobby_Stores,_Inc.

Citizens United – the idea that corporations should be allowed to funnel unlimited funds to politicians who'll sell out the public good in favor of investor profits – also depends on a form of corporate personhood that includes values:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens_United_v._FEC

There are undeniably instances in which corporate monopoly power benefits progressive causes, but these are side-effects of corporate power's main purpose, namely: taking money and power away from working people and giving it to rich people. That is what monopoly power is for.

Which brings me to ad-tech, "brand safety," and the demise of Jezebel, the 16 year old feminist website whose shuttering was just announced by its latest owner, G/O Media:

https://www.metafilter.com/201349/This-is-the-end-of-Jezebel-and-that-feels-really-really-bad

Jezebel's demise is the direct result of monopoly power. Jezebel writes about current affairs – sex, politics, abortion, and other important issues of great moment and significance. When we talk about journalism as a public good, necessary for a healthy civic life, this is what we mean. But unfortunately for Jezebel – and any other news outlet covering current events – there are vast, invisible forces that exist solely to starve this kind of coverage of advertising revenue.

Writing for the independent news site 404 Media, reporter Emanuel Maiberg and former Motherboard editor-in-chief Jason Koebler go deep on the "brand safety" industry, whose mission is to assist corporations in blocking their ads from showing up alongside real news:

https://www.404media.co/advertisers-dont-want-sites-like-jezebel-to-exist/

Maiberg and Koebler explain how industry associations like the World Federation of Marketers' Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM) promulgate "frameworks" to help advertisers automatically detect and exclude real news from consideration when their ads are placed:

https://www.peer39.com/blog/garm-standards

This boycott makes use of scammy "AI" technology like "sentiment and emotional analysis" to determine whether an article is suitable for monetization. These parameters are then fed to the ad-tech duopoly's ad auction system, so Google and Meta (who control the vast majority of online advertising) can ensure that real news is starved of cash.

But reality is not brand-safe, and high quality, reputable journalistic outlets are concerned with reality, which means that the "brand safe" outlets that attract the most revenue are garbage websites that haven't yet been blacklisted by the ad-safety cartel, leading to major brands' ads showing up alongside notorious internet gross-out images like "goatse":

https://www.404media.co/sqword-game-dev-sneaks-goatse-onto-a-dozen-sites-that-stole-his-game/

More than a fifth of "brand safe" ad placements end up on "made for advertising" sites, which 404 Media describe as "trash websites that plagiarize content, are literally spam, pay for fake traffic, or are autogenerated websites that serve no other purpose than capturing ad dollars":

https://www.ana.net/miccontent/show/id/rr-2023-06-ana-programmatic-transparency-first-look

Despite all this, many progressives have become cheerleaders for "brand safety," as a countervailing force to the drawdown of trust and safety at online platforms, which led to the re-platforming of Nazis, QAnon conspiratorialists, TERFs, and other overt elements of the reactionary movement's vanguard on Twitter and Facebook. Articles about ads for major brands showing up alongside Nazi content on Twitter are now a staple of progressive reporting, presented as evidence of Elon Musk's lack of business acumen. The message of these stories is "Musk is bad at business because he's allowing Nazis on his platform, which will send advertisers bolting for the exits to avoid brand-safety crises."

This isn't wrong. Musk is a bad businessman (he's a good scam artist, though). Twitter is hemorrhaging advertisers, notwithstanding the desperate (and easily debunked) stats-juking its "CEO," Linda Yaccarino, floats onstage at tech conferences:

https://www.techdirt.com/2023/10/11/math-problem-for-linda-yaccarino-if-90-of-the-top-advertisers-have-come-back-but-are-only-spending-10-of-what-they-used-to-how-screwed-are-you/

But progressives are out of their minds if they think the primary effect of the brand safety industry is punishing Elon Musk for secretly loving Nazis. The primary effect of brand safety is killing reality-based coverage of the news of the day, and since reality has a well-known anti-conservative bias, anything that works against the reality-based community is ultimately good for oligarchy:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reality-based_community

We can't afford to let schizmogenesis stampede us into loving things just because conservative culture warriors have been momentarily tricked into hating them as part of oligarchs' turkeys-voting-for-Christmas project. "Swivel-eyed loons hate it, so it must be good," is a worse-than-useless heuristic for navigating complex issues:

https://locusmag.com/2023/05/commentary-cory-doctorow-the-swivel-eyed-loons-have-a-point/

A much better rule of thumb is "If oligarchs love something, it's probably bad." Almost without exception, things that are good for oligarchs are bad for the rest of us. I mean, this whole shuttering of Jezebel starts with an oligarch imposing his will on millions of other people. Jezebel began life as a Gawker Media site, beloved of millions of readers, destroyed when FBI informant Peter Thiel secretly funded Hulk Hogan's lawsuit against the publisher in a successful bid to put them out of business to retaliate for their unfavorable coverage of Thiel:

https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2018/02/hogan-thiel-gawker-trial/554132/

This, in turn, put Jezebel under the ownership of G/O Media, who are unwilling to pay for a human salesforce that would – for example – sell advertising space on Jezebel to sex-toy companies or pro-abortion groups. G/O has been on a killing spree, shuttering beloved news outlets like Deadspin:

https://deadspin.com/this-is-how-things-work-now-at-g-o-media-1836908201

G/O's top exec, an oligarch named Jim Spanfeller who answers to the private equity looters at Great Hill Partners, is bent on ending reality-based coverage in favor of "letting robots shit out brand safe AI-assisted articles about generic topics":

https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/ai-articles-disinformation-future-g-o-media-rcna95944

Three quarters of a century ago, Orwell coined a term to describe this kind of news: duckspeak,

It was not the man’s brain that was speaking it was his larynx. The stuff that was coming out of him consisted of words but it was not speech in true sense: it was a noise uttered in unconsciousness like the quacking of a duck.

When investors and analysts speak of "content" (rather than, say, "journalism"), this is what they mean – a warm slurry of platitudes, purged of any jagged-edged fragments to render it a perfectly suitable carrier for commercial messages targeted based on surveillance data about the "consumer" whose eyeballs are upon it.

This aversion to reality has been present among corporate decisionmakers since the earliest days, but the consolidation of power among large firms – ad-tech firms, online platforms, and "brands" themselves – makes corporate realityphobia much easier to turn into, well, reality, giving advertisers the fine-grained power to put Jezebel and every site like it out of business.

As Koebler and Maiberg's headliine so aptly puts it, "Advertisers Don’t Want Sites Like Jezebel to Exist."

The reason to deplore Nazis on Twitter is because they are Nazis, not because their content isn't brand-safe. The short-term wins progressives gain by legitimizing a corporate veto over what we see online are vastly overshadowed by the most important consequence of brand safety: the mass extinction of reality-based reporting. Reality isn't brand safe. If you're in the reality based community, brand safety should be your sworn enemy, even if they help you temporarily get a couple of Nazis kicked off Twitter.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/11/11/ad-jacency/#brand-safety

[pimsri]

Animals of the Apocalypse

[frootertooter]

When your previously deceased wolf overtakes the soul of some giant demon dog from hell, and is revived as a massive dimension hopping mythical puppy with big teef

Fenrir my beloved big puppyy ;v;

[redundantz]

Garm

[spaghettibastard]

WOLVES IN THE TRENCHES

Hessian Stoßtruppen vs The GARM (Anti-Fenrir) Virus

[fir890]

doodle compilation

[ankakkka]

Garmadon is so dad coded. I feel like he would be the type of dad who wouldn't want a dog (any animal) but would then kill half the city for it.

[whenitearnsme]

hc that garm is the way it is now because of odins fuckery and it used to be just a regular pupper (also Týr's doge)

[thebladeblaster]

This chapter so sweet that it could give you diabetes

Finally, they have been reunited with their son. They’re so happy. Opera’s tail constantly wagging is so funny.

I’m so happy to see the Boku Alliance reunited

He deserves all of the happiness. I love this second image so much. His little wavy smile is adorable.

Purson lol

His face is so funny

Iruma got so caught up in helping the Many Ears that he forgot the Scala🤣

Iruma and Kerori look so concerned

This detail is so funny

Their little straps are cat paws👀. Opera is always ready to attend to the smol. S tier butler. These pajamas are amazing and I want them.

Despite the wholesomeness I suddenly have a bad feeling. Like everything is almost going too well and something horrible will happen soon. It feels like a last fun moment with everyone before a storm. Human deportation act👀.

[candyswirls]

Garm Pt 5

Previous - Next - Master Post

Summary: Leman knows something is up. His instincts say so. He goes out to check and hears screams that ignite his parental instincts.

I posted a chapter yesterday too if you missed it.

It’s Garm’s gender reveal party(jk)! They still will use they/them pronouns interchangeably.

TW: injury, broken bone, blood, scared and hurt child, disregard for servitors

“We need to reach out to the other chapters,” Leman said. “We’ll absorb them into the space wolves. If they wish to keep current markings then it will be a company related item. This is the best course of action but all my sons will be with me. Just as it was during the crusade. I need all then wolves I can get.”

He glanced around.

“Where is Garm?” He asked.

“Taking a nap my lord,” one wolf answered. “The serfs and some guards are outside their door.”

Leman hummed.

“The Mooneaters are the ones closest and are currently on their way,” Grimnar informed his Primarch.

“Good,” the Primarch muttered as he lifted his mug. He didn’t take a drink though. He wasn’t really… feeling it.

“Everything alright my Lord?” Arjac asked.

Leman stared forward, slowly sloshing the drink.

Within the ranks of the Space Wolves you trusted your instincts over logic.

“Something is wrong,” he said alloud.

He stood tall, looking around, smelling the air. What was bothering him so much??

“Arjac,” he ordered. “Go check on Garm. Make sure no one enters or leaves the room.”

The champion nodded and left quickly, a few others joining him.

Leman left the hall looking for… he wasn’t sure. He let his instincts guide him throughout the ship till he was in the loading bay.

Servitors followed their duties and ships were ready for departure at any notice.

Why was he so on edge? What was worrying him? Was it the fact that Garm wasn’t with him? They were always together. Perhaps that was it?

His council had followed him.

“What are you thinking of my Russ?” Grimnar inquired.

Leman sighed and tried to shake off the feeling.

He began,”I fear it is just parental anxiety since-“

Across the bay frantic screaming started up.

His blood turned ice cold and he felt his soul leave himself. He watched his body operate on full adrenaline fueled instinct. His mind refused to believe what was happening but it also refused to allow it be a reality.

He trampled servitors and a few admech as he raced towards the terrified and pain filled shrieks.

He was on the other side of the loading bay in a matter of seconds. Ad mech and serfs who had rushed towards the screaming jumped out of the way of the Primarch.

He slid to where a tank named after him, parked near the corner and saw behind it.

His hearts stopped as tore the tank away, throwing it into a ship. He did not care. He dove next to Garm who continued screaming and crying. A hydraulic maintenance claw had clamped around their arm with full strength.

He didn’t think, he just acted, grabbing it with his teeth and hands. Tearing it and pulling it apart.

As soon as it broke and Garm was free he caught them. They still shrieked in pain, a steady flow of tears. Their arm was covered in blood and bent at an odd angle.

Russ snarled at those who tried to approach. He leapt up and sprinted to the apothecarium. Anyone in the hallways had better hope and pray they heard him coming and had the common sense to get out of the way because he was not stopping.

He didn’t wait for the door to open, he bashed it down and yelled.

“Priests!” He barked. “Help now!!”

The priests rushed forward to assist with Garm who hadn’t stopped wailing. They writhed and tried to bite or kick anyone who touched them.

He felt frozen as they were suddenly taken from his arms and his sons were pulling him back. He resisted, staring at his pup.

His pup! His sweet little puppy! His Garm! So young and little! He should have been with them! He needed to stay near!

He snarled as Garm screamed louder and the wolf priests tried to hold them down.

More of his sons restrained him as he tried to charge forward.

Grimnar was suddenly in front of him.

“My Lord!” He called. “They will help them! Please!”

Leman froze as Garm stopped screaming and started to go silent and limp.

“GARM!!!”

None of his sons could hold him back any longer, he was next to the toddler in an instant. Their eyes drooped and they grew weak.

“Stay with me!” He begged.

“They’re sedated!” One priest said quickly. “They’re fine. Just a light sedative to help with the process. Keep them calmer.”

Leman could breathe again and ran his fingers down the sides of Garms face.

They whimpered and he pressed a kiss to their forehead.

“It’s okay,” he soothed. “I’m right here. We’ll get you all better.”

Garm tried to squirm as more tears spilled down their cheeks then they began hiccuping.

“There, there,” the priest assured. “Just need to scan this.”

Leman sighed, “I’m so sorry I let this happen, Garm. I’m so sorry, puppy.”

Anger boiled over in his chest.

He turned to Grimnar, “Find out what happened. I want to know how this came to pass, why they were alone, and why no one followed them when they woke or informed me.”

Grimnar nodded and began delegating tasks.

“Hold them down,” the priest ordered. “Need to test the pain threshold.”

Leman laid his arms across Garm and the other priests assisted.

Garm yelped, growled, and tried to bite. More tears followed till the priest was done.

“We’ll have to have them unconscious,” The Priest deduced. “Bone was shattered but they’re healing fast. We need to ensure it sets properly then put it in a cast.”

Leman nodded, “Do what you must.”

As the priest pulled more equipment over, Garm sleepily looked up at their father, scared. They cried more especially as an oxygen mask was placed over them.

“I will be right here with you,” he whispered. “You’ll fall asleep and wake up good as new. Then you can eat all the food on the feast table and we’ll play chase.”

Their lip trembled but they didn’t notice the extra dose of sedative, the IVs, or the anesthesia.

At first they panicked at the sudden feeling but soon relaxed and closed their eyes.

“Sleep well, Garm,” Leman told them.

He stayed right there the entire procedure, running fingers through their hair. They didn’t stir at all. Not even at the sounds of the medical tools.

The priests finished the cast and began cleaning up. The main surgeon came forward.

“They’ll be fine,” he said. “No doubt they’ll make a full recovery. They’re strong.”

Leman nodded, not looking up from his child.

“There is some good news to this” the priest said as he began to remove bloody clothes. “They’ve never been this still and they will not wake up at being moved which means we can finally check their gender.”

Leman let out a chuckle, “By the wolf mother. Light scent so warp creatures could not hunt them; fluffy fur to keep them warm, and never ending energy to keep up. Each something to aid them but it has hidden a part of their identity from me. All these years of not knowing and it takes them getting severely hurt to find out. Sometimes I wondered if I wanted to know. Fearful it would change my perception of them somehow. But Garm will still be Garm. They will not act any different.”

“SHE will not act any different,” the apothecary corrected with a smile as he tucked a blanket around Garm and took their bloody clothes away.

Leman laughed and nodded as tears pricked his eyes. He leaned over his child. His daughter. He had a daughter. Ten thousand years of sons and he now had a daughter. A daughter! First granddaughter of the emperor. Figured he’d be the first of his brothers not only to produce a child, granted there were mysteries with that, but he’d be the first to have a girl. How jealous would his brothers be to learn he had a daughter. They all had sons, plenty of them, but only he had a girl.

He smiled, “Acts like a proper wolf princess. Like she owns the place. Listens to no one and does her own thing. Just like her grandmother.”

He pulled the pelt of his wolf mother off and laid it over her.

He rubbed Garm’s stomach as they rested.

“I cannot imagine her in any of those… lavish and pompous dresses those high ladies wear,” he commented.

“Couldn’t imagine her in what the high lords wear either,” the apothecary laughed. “Her current opinion on clothes says she doesn’t care for them at all. They’re just another toy.”

Leman snorted, “She’ll be a great warrior. They’re very headstrong. My abdomen and groin have had to deal with full force tackling from her. You’re lucky you’re all wearing full armor all the time. Especially as they run without regard for anyone.”

He took bits of her hair and began braiding it.

“I never had an inkling of if they were a boy or a girl but girl suits them,” he commented. “Probably because she is one but I can’t imagine them any other way. They’re still Garm.”

He paused as he pondered the revelation.

“There are idiots like that rogue trader in this galaxy,” he muttered. “Didn’t even know Garm and tried to get them THAT atrocity upon the eyes. There are those that foolishly judge one upon genetic identities. They’ll judge her for being a she. Already Garm will deal with being the child of a Primarch.”

He rubbed his thumbs across their cheeks.

“I want a new order,” he finally said. “We already have the order that knowledge of Garm is to be limited. Them being a girl is to be limited even more so. We’ll continue to refer to them as they/them. Few will know. She can decide what is to be known when they’re old enough.”

The apothecaries and remaining council members nodded.

Leman added, “Also I don’t think she’ll care. Once they wake up they’ll want food. Have a serf bring their pajamas.”

[curtvilescomic]

Hel & Garm by Johan Egerkrans

[transfreyr]

everyone: who in their right mind freed the hound of hel?

atreus:

[4seasonsofart]

[fornasedensgudar]

He looks angry but Garm is really just a good lil pup, dont be afraid and just walk up to him and give him a good bellyrub and he let you pass.

[riagraie]

Hear me out. Ninjago Theory.

Dragons Rising season 2 part 2 and Crystalized Spoiler warning, even though it's past I'm still marking it as a spoiler bc some haven't seen it yet(LOSERSSSSSS /j)

So in s16 or Crystalized, we learn there's this guy, Cornish the Elder who made prophecies, the one of importance being the one about the Dragon Forms Kai, Zane, Cole, and Jay were able to transform into in the last episode, or smth like the last one.

Wu says Cornish was a nut job basically and all of his prophecies were a bunch of horseshit. Garmadon, when he's training Lloyd with the Oni Form, questions Wu when he goes to the library of Domu to look at the prophecy about the Dragon form. Garmadon basically echos what Wu said about Cornish being a wacko.

Well, in the last episode(again smth like that) when Kai, Jay, Cole, and Zane do the Dragon Form, Wu says smth about Cornish not being a complete idiot after all.

This is my theory.

Wu, in the beginning of Dragons Rising has Lloyd running around getting various scrolls n stuff about the later named Merge, then called the Coalescence I think is what it was called. Hear me out, what if the reason why Wu didn't get enough time to properly research and learn how to stop the Merge was because the person who prophicised it was Cornish?

We already know he was considered crazy by basically anyone who knew he existed, so most likely, no one took his prophecies or theories seriously, potentially not even reading them. So, what if the First Spinjitzu Master, I think, informed Wu the Coalescence was real and then Wu finally realized Cornish had a prophecy about it.

And Wu could've prevented it if he took Cornish's prophecies more seriously.

WHAT IF????

But, that's just a theory. A NINJAGO THEORY! thanks for watching.

I miss Matpat :(