#i’ll be honest i’m really getting into the in-world history of the game of thrones and this is mostly inspired by my hatred of the seven

[pseudosaprophyte]

i think i’ve realized a niche archetype i really enjoy is character with religious trauma from a made-up religion. i think a character being like “i was raised christian and it fucked me up” is way less interesting to me because i’ve seen that a thousand times and i have my own preconceived biases and opinions about it, but a character being like “i was raised in this institutional and powerful religion where we worship blogar the blowjob god and it fucked me up” is SO INTERESTING! like, who are the people in charge of blogarism? what are they trying to accomplish by using this religion to their advantage? what are their rules and codes of conduct and what are they based in? why blowjobs?

[bonny-kookoo]

Bad Girl (JJK x Reader) 🎀💜☁️🔞

Pairing: Jeon Jungkook x Reader

Genre: Good Girl AU, slight angst, fluff and romance, smut, oh god there’s so much filth

Warnings: DD/LG themes, it’s actually a major part in this so if you’re uncomfy you can skip this chapter thanks, GG is scared to talk to Koo about it, Koo thinks the worst, life lesson to learn from this: talk about shit, cockwarming, Dom!Jungkook, like he’s actually pretty demanding this time, Sub!Reader, non-sexual spanking, Bratty!Reader, toy usage, more to be added if I get carried away writing again

Summary: Jungkook has gotten so used to you being the sweet angel you are all the time, that he’s actually a bit confused when you’re not. Are you unhappy with him? Or do you only need to be put back into your place again?

Good Girl || Sweet Girl || Smart Girl || Brave Girl || Pretty Girl || Charming Girl || Enticing Girl || Bad Girl || ???

Taglist: @sweetenedcooky @ggukkieland @btsismybias22 @darkgvk @daddypkj @flowerprincess24 @crazylittlemay @zeharilisharaban @teresaisla @tangledsparkles @dammit-jjk

Well, this was certainly new.

For hours, Jungkook had been immersed into the screen of his PC- yet he wasn't playing any video game at all. He was desperately trying to come up with ideas, new inspiration, as his mind was seemingly clogged up with random thoughts that didn't fit what he wanted.

Time to get his mind off of things?

Maybe, but Jungkook had ignored you almost the entire day already, the clock now nearing 4 in the evening. You promptly walked over to him, ignoring his attempts to tell you he did not have time right now, but simply seating yourself ontop of his thighs, taking your rightful place on your throne which was his lap. He bit his tongue as he closed his eyes for a second, refraining from saying anything you could take wrongly. "Baby, I have to finish this-" He started, voice growing a bit whiny at the end as his head fall backwards, chuckle escaping him at your struggle to open his fly while he was sitting. "As much as I love the idea I can't fuck you right now princess-" He said, but you shook your head.

"I'll wait then, I can be good." You stated, making his pupils widen at the way you said that. You pulled him out of the warmth inside his underwear, hands moving over the skin of his length as he slowly grew more firm inside your palms. You moved a bit, Jungkook helping you by holding your waist to make sure you couldn't slip off as he watched you curiously, pulling the fabric of your panties to the side as you began to lower yourself. He held you still before you could move.

"No no no wait, condom-" He said hurriedly, but you simply giggled, shaking your head. "Baby no, we talked about that-" He began again, but you looked at him with an innocent face.

"But we're not gonna do anything!" You said, and it dawned on him what you were trying to do.

Cockwarming?

He'd heard of it, Taehyung having told him once that he'd tried but failed, unable to sit still for so long. Yet for Jungkook this could be a challenge for himself to try and keep himself in check, to train his own will by simply leaving himself inside you. This would be the first time going bare, and he didn't want to mess it up. So he nodded, letting you lower yourself down on him, his member enterin you slowly, entirely new feeling as he noticed the way your walls welcomed him inside, warmth comforting in a way he could not describe. This was.. actually not that bad.

"Hm.. you're comfy baby?" He asked, and you nodded, resting your head on the inside of his shoulder as he held you, pulling his chair closer to his Screen again, mind now a bit more calm as he began to collect sketches and ideas more orderly, finally able to catch a decent train of thought. Sometimes you really had great ideas.

Again you'd bee searching for ways to tell Jungkook about things that had been bothering you. No, bothering wasn't the right word.. it was weighing you down, prohibiting you any kind of full forced happiness, because it always crept into the back of your mind, corrupting your thoughts with harsh visions of him calling you weird or even going as far as to leave entirely. After all, it was quite.. weird.

It wasn't like you were regressing into a full forced baby, no. You'd learned to take care of yourself even when you were falling into your headspace, knowing how to make yourself comfortable without any help of someone to watch over you. However, just like everyone else in this world, regardless of who, you craved to share these moments of full on vulnerability with someone you loved and trusted.

Jungkook.

It wasn't like you didn't trust him, but he was someone who'd put his own needs and interests behind just for you, and you didn't want that to happen. As selfish as it sounded, you wanted him to care for you because he wanted to, not because he felt as if he needed to do it in order to keep you happy. You could let go of it just to stay with him, if that was what it would take for you and him to stay together.

"Baby, I was gonna go to the store real quick, you need some..thing.?" His voice got a bit slower and died down eventually as you shut your laptop with quite the amount of force from being startled by him, making him furrow his brows a bit. "Everything alright?" He asked, now a bit more serious in tone as he could sense something off about you.

"Yeah! Sure, eh.. could you pick up some Milk? We're out of it almost so, uh.. yeah.." You said, smiling, yet without true intentions. Jungkook nodded, telling you goodbye as he put on his shoes, grim look on his face not diminishing at all as he thought about your behavior lately. It was quite worrying, how you now began to pick up on the habit of locking your phone with a passcode, not leaving your laptop open anymore, or how nervous you became every time he caught you on either of these devices.

What else was he supposed to think?

Weren't you happy with him? Had he done something wrong? He tried to think of something, anything that would explain you putting distance between you two so suddenly, yet he could not come up with something that would sound rational. And even with all the signs pointing towards it, he could not make himself belief you would genuinely go out and meet someone else behind his back; you were not like that at all. So what was really going on?

He almost dropped the milk carton in his hand as his phone buzzed, the message something that made his stomach drop.

'We need to talk.'

This was planned way better than executed.

Having Jungkook sit in front of you on the bed was making it even harder to just come out and say it. Every time your brain attempted to send the proper signals to your tongue, trying to open your lips to form words, they just wouldn't come out. It was as if you tried to drive a car with the breaks still pressed; it didn't work at all.

Yet you couldn't seem to loosen your breaks.

Jungkook sighed, running a hand over his face, as he took your hand into his, worried look on his face. "Look.." He began, and you watched him as his thumb gently drew circles on the back of your hand, his eyes averting your gaze. "If you want to break up-"

"NO!" You immediately said, loudly, startling both of you as you sat up straighter, grabbing his hand with both of yours, holding onto it as if it would disappear if you didn't. He looked at you with wide eyes, genuinely confused. That.. wasn't it? Then what had you so secretive and skittish lately? "I mean, except if you want to-" He smiled a bit, scooting forwards to have you closer, legs now on either side of his hips as you sat on his thighs.

"No, never. I thought you wanted to." He said, interlacing his fingers behind your back to keep you close, as he looked at you more calmly now. "But I know there's something you want to tell me." He hummed, trying to coax you out of your shell with a gentle tone of voice. It seemed to work as you visibly began to think. "It's alright, you can tell me anythi-" He started, but you cut him off.

"Do you know what.. uh.. you know, dd-lg means.?" You carefully asked, and his eyes widened for the nth time that day, looking at you with wonder. That.. that was what you were so worried about?

He simply nodded. "I know about it. Why?" He asked, even though now he had a hunch of what was actually the issue. It did explain a lot for him as he thought about all the instances you'd hinted at it in the past, never having the courage to actually say it out loud. "You're a little, is that it?" He wondered, and you nodded, looking down as he smiled gently, lifting your chin up. "Hey no, it's alright, really. I already suspected something like that, to be honest." He said, and your gaze finally found his.

"You did?" Weren't you secretive enough about it? Maybe he'd seen your search history, but then again, you were always so careful to only ever use incognito tabs and to always keep your phone and laptop close so he wouldn't accidentally stumble upon anything weird. Yet he proved again that you could hide basically nothing from him, as he smiled, absolutely not unnerved by any of it.

"Hmhm." He hummed as he visibly relaxed. "I mean it. It's okay." He said, and you fiddled with your fingers. "But that's not all there is, isn't it?" He asked, knowing what you wanted to ask, yet choosing not to take that burden from you. You needed to talk openly to him.

"I just.." You started, before looking at him. "So, you're like.. okay with it?" You asked, and he still smiled, while nodding to confirm your answer silently. "Would you.. like, you know.. take care of me, when I'm like this..?" You mumbled, and again confirmed, before verbally answering.

"I'll admit, I'm kinda.. uncomfortable with you calling me daddy though, if that makes sense, but I guess I'll eventually grow into it." He said, as you shook your head.

"you don't have to." You said, hugging him tightly as you began to rest your head onto his chest. "You'll just stay my 'Koo.." You hummed, as he chuckled, holding you close to him.

Yeah, he could definitely grow fond of that.

"No baby, we can't just order takeout all the time. It's not healthy." He argued, as you sat on the couch, pouting at him as you were getting ready to call back, just to have him turn around. "Don't even start young lady, No means no." He said sternly, making you deflate as you simply rested your chin on the back of the couch, shutting your mouth. Ever since you'd both agreed on the dynamic you now practiced, Jungkook had been slowly setting up more and more rules for you, some being more strict than others. You loved that, you were happy he was feeling comfortable with it, and deep down you knew it was in your best interest, yet you also only now realized how much freedom you'd had before. Yet even though you could feel the need to test your boundaries, you'd stayed compliant and a good girl until now.

Even though you were curious what he'd choose as punishments.

Jungkook had informed himself after your talk, silently learning more about what he should and shouldn't do. He was growing more and more into the role of an actual caregiver, having agreed to simply test things out instead of using someone else's rules or punishments as yours. Communication was key for you, and honesty as well; you were always free to tell him that you were feeling big, in which case your rules did not apply and you were free to do as you pleased. He trusted you to never use that as an advantage, simply believing in himself and his ability to spot lies on your face as soon as they'd leave your lips.

Something crinkling caught his attention.

"Y/n." He simply said, making you halter all movements as you cringed, caught in the act as you'd tried to open a pack of oreos on the couch, hidden from his sight. He'd heard you, however, and the way he called your actual name meant that he was everything but amused by your actions. "I believe we talked about having sweets before a meal as well." He said, feet stepping closer before he leaned over the couch, inked hand easily taking the sweet treats from your hands as you looked down your lap. Yet your toes wiggled in tension. Had you finally reached the end of his patience?

"Go and wait inside the bedroom until I call you out for dinner. No Laptop, and your phone stays here as well." He said, tone not leaving any room for arguments against his statement. Your lips turned downwards, yet you slowly complied, pulling out your phone and placing it on the coffee table in front of the couch, before walking inside your shared bedroom, attempting to close the door. "No, leave it open so I can still hear you." He said, and you sighed, before flopping down onto the bed.

Yet you also smiled.

He slowly learned more and more about what was right, and what wasn't.

For example, whenever you were feeling small, you were absolutely oblivious to anything of a sexual nature, which made him come to the conclusion that your littlespace and subspace actually were two different things. It made sense to him, the way your gaze would change as soon as you'd switch mindsets was a clear sign of what he could and could not do.

Sure, there have been awkward moments as well, and you had been crying a few times from too harsh punishments such as time outs as well- but that was part of the learning experience for both of you. You'd told him that you genuinely never had an actual caregiver in that sense, which only stroked his ego even more as he realized this was another first he'd claimed as his. Even if it was without actually knowing.

He felt proud.

"Koo?" You asked, eyes wide open and watching him from the doorway as he read through an article about a convention nearby showcasing some of the best airbrush artworks the town had to offer. He turned around in his chair, patting his thighs.

"You're feeling small?" He asked, and you nodded, walking towards him as you sat down on his lap, hugging his middle the best you could as you tried to read whatever he was reading. Something caught your attention as you called out his name again, pointing at the screen where his name was actually written. "Yeah, that's me." He confirmed, smiling at you.

"Why?" You asked cursiously, genuinely wanting to know, yet your mind was hazy, making it hard for you to form proper sentences. He didn't mind.

"Koo 's gonna be there and show his work to others." He said, and your eyes looked at him in awe, happy that he'd actually been chosen to be able to show his talent. You wanted to congratulate him, yet the only thing you truly got to do was hug him tighter, mumbling something that sounded like the word 'proud' into his sweater as he grinned, running a hand over your back. "Thank you princess, I'm pretty proud of myself too." He hummed, before closing the tab, picking you up and letting both of you fall onto his bed, tired from the last days of work, trying to perfect what he would be showcasing the upcoming week. You giggled before moving closer, laying flat on top of him as he sighed happily, eyes closing as you both drifted off.

“Huh, so now you wanna be a good girl?” He grunts our as he pushes your wrists back onto the bed, denying you any physical contact you desire to have with him. He decides what you get, and you look at him with wide eyes as his dark ones stare into yours. “Well that’s not how it works sweetheart.” He mumbled, flipping you over so you were on your stomach, pulling your legs towards him to lift your lower body onto your knees, center exposed to him in a for you humiliating position. “You can’t just pull stunts like that and then try to wiggle yourself out of it just by batting your pretty eyes at me.” He said, voice dangerously low and steady. He seemed so calm that it showed how well he fit the role of the dynamic you’d discussed earlier. This was him, through and through. “What was that?” He asked as you mumbled something into the pillow below. He brought his hand down onto your bottom as you still didn’t speak clearly enough, making you Yelp.

“Said ‘m sorry!” You whined out, and his palm flattened out, soothing the still tingling flesh of your behind as if to apologize. He hummed, hands wandering until you could feel his fingers spread your lower lips apart, admiring your glistening center. You moved your hips a bit, only earning his hands on either side of them, holding you still.

“I don’t think you understand yet..” he said, as he unplugged the charging cable from the toy next to him on the bed, the device now charged. “You’ll have to do better than that.” He whispered, as he pushed the toy inside you excruciatingly slow, making you whine. He simply chuckled at that.

“Or don’t you want to be my good girl again?” He mused, turning it on as you squeaked, hands gripping the sheets underneath you as you gasped.

So how did you end up in this mess?

Well, it actually wasn't your fault at all. Jungkook had just been on edge that day, that was it, not the fact that you'd sneaked sweets into the bedroom to brighten up your punishments, how you'd 'accidentally' put one of his white shirts into the same wash your red underwear and dresses were in, or how you'd been throwing a small tantrum when he'd told you to stay seated and finish your meal. Peas were gross and he knew you hated them. You didn't get why he wanted you to eat them anyways.

So yeah, maybe you had felt particularly bratty today, but when you were little, he never punished you sexually at all- it was an unwritten rule not to take any sort of advantage of you while in that absolutely oblivious headspace. So how come this was happening?

Well, Jungkook was too observant for your own good, you'd realized.

Because in the midst of your impish tactics to rile him up, he'd noticed your demeanor change. Whenever you were little, he knew that you would eventually get tired more easily; you'd simply get boosts of energy before taking naps between them. You were also not that interested in being disobedient at all, only thriving from his praise and smile, never enjoying punishments at all. He knew something was off when you'd started to giggle every time he snapped at you, and his suspicions were confirmed when he'd spanked you in the middle of the hallway- earning a very different kind of gasp from you.

In subspace, things were quite different. You were completely sure of what you both were doing, knowingly and fully consciously giving your control up to him while being aware of what may happened. This was a different kind of headspace, where he was free to use and ruin you to every extend he deemed fitting.

And oh how he craved to put you into your place this time.

"I don't think I ever said anything about you touching yourself." He growled, free hand grabbing your wrists back yet again, holding them tightly above your head as you whined, craving a different kind of touch to a different part of you. He knew this, was very well aware of the fact that you could generally only reach an orgasm if you were being stimulated instead of penetrated, but that was his plan. This wasn't about you; this was a punishment, and about his own fun.

"hm, you think I could try and make you cum like this?" He sang almost, changing the settings of the toy still inside you to a higher one, making your hips stutter as you shook your head, trying to tell him not to, as he simply chuckled leaning back on his knees as he watched you squirm. "Huh, that wasn't a question baby." He said, beginning to move the toy before stopping, as he clicked his tongue when you tried to reach for it again. Three time's the charm, you guessed. He however was not amused, pulling the toy out completely as you gasped from the sudden feeling of emptiness as he flipped you over, pulling on your thighs to have your behind facing him, hand falling down onto it with force, making the skin sting and turn pink. "You really love testing me, don't you?" He gritted out, hitting again and again as you moaned into the sheets below, making him scoff. "I can feel you leaking on my thigh, dirty girl." He mumbled close to your ear as he moved you yet again, positioning you on your knees to present your center towards him embarrassingly, making you whine. "Oh you don't get to complain baby. You wanted this, right?" He said with fake sympathy as his fingers moved over your pearl, pace without any form of gentleness as your voice failed, simply breathing heavily as your hands curled into fists, holding onto the cotton sheets as if your life depended on it. The sounds made by his hand on your exposed cunt were absolutely obscene, making the tips of your ears turn red as he continued his pace, inked hand working on your most vulnerable muscle without any mercy.

Not even when you came.

You cried out, trying to reach him but failing due to his positioning, sobbing without tears as you felt something within yourself snap, Jungkook groaning out loud as he noticed the clear liquid bursting out, making his length ache as his free hand grabbed onto it, moving it leisurely at the scene in front of him. "There you go!" He exclaimed, letting you fall down as he turned you over, spreading your legs as you caught a glimpse of him, toned abdominal muscles glistening with your release as he pumped his length, condom already wrapped over it.See?" He said as he chuckled darkly. "You can be a good girl after all." He praised, making you smile a bit as your core clenched around nothing, still sensitive to anything that came close to it. His predatory grin told you however, that this was not over yet. Pushing inside you, you mewled at the sensitivity, as he hushed you, pulling you close by your legs as he began to thrust forwards, rhythmic pace easily found as his hand moved over your breasts, kneading them before his hands wandered lower, holding your waist as he continued, breathing heavily as he growled, head dipping down to bite and mouth at your neck, leaving your skin red on his way, those marks soon to blossom into heavenly shades of purples as he let himself go, mouth finally finding yours, stealing every breath as he kissed you with need, want, as if he wasn't close enough to you already. "Hah you're so sweet-" He moaned, kissing you again before letting your lungs fill with oxygen again. "I love you, I love you so much" He whispered, picking up his pace as he bit his lip, thrusts hard and shaking your body, the sound of skin against skin echoing inside the room with wet noises, yet both of you didn't care as he finally let out a breathy sound, head falling back as he came, before lowering himself again, catching his breath as he still moved lazily, riding out his high as you moved a bit underneath him, making him laugh without sound. "My good girl getting greedy?" He hummed, pushing himself inside of you and staying there, hand reaching between your bodies to find your sensitive bud, fingers drawing circles over it in well practiced motions that made you suddenly cry out, your walls clenching around his cock still nestled inside you, making him humm in oversensitivity.

"Thats okay.." He whispered, moving again as he huffed, sweat running down his temples as he felt himself overcome the almost painful feeling of his most recent orgasm, picking up his speed as a small laugh mixed in between his desperate tries to even out his breathing. His hair was getting curly from the moisture, falling over his eyes and giving him the sheer visuals of the devil himself, making you sob as you desperately tried to keep your hands away from him. "It's alright, you're so good to me, you can touch me, yeah?" He chanted, and you immediately took the invitation, hands reaching for his arms, holding onto them as if your life depended on it. He smiled at the sight, at the simply view of your tears dying down as soon as your hands got in contact with him again, mind now at ease again with his presence confirmed to your closed eyes. "Such a good girl, taking it all so well, so good.." He said, voice low and rumbling as he went faster, now feeling himself tense again, to his surprise. "Can you cum again for me? Just one more?" He asked, and you shook your head, although a bit unsure. "You can do it, I know you can, just one baby.." He pressed out between gritted teeth, breathing hard against your neck as his thrusts began to dwindle, growing more and more unsteady as he suddenly began to pick up his face, mouth opening before he bit down his lip, breath coming out of his nose as his forehead fell into the crook of your neck, hand desperately trying to reach your center, sloppily rubbing over it as you snapped yet again, hot white pleasure painting the inside of your eyelids it seemed as you mewled, holding onto him for dear life as he felt himself cum without spilling, your release however coating his thighs again, if not as much as the first time.

He fell down next to you after pulling out his now softening length, breathing heavily as he closed his eyes, chest rising and falling at a rapid pace, both of you utterly and thoroughly spent. He wanted to take care of you, but all he could really do was tie a knot at the end of the condom after pulling it off of himself, tossing it into the bin, before pulling you close. He could do that after he'd taken a short nap. Right now his bones felt like rubber, his muscles aching in the most pleasing ways as he decided the cleanup could wait after recharging.

You noticed that you were being carried, before you slowly opened your eyes. The scent of laundry detergent filled your senses as you instinctively tried to curl closer to the soft material of Jungkooks sweatshirt, making him chuckle. "Baby you gotta let go, I have to change the sheets." He cooed gently, placing you on the couch as you simply nodded, fists uncurling as you simply stayed where you were, noticing the oversized sweater you were dressed in.

He did this generally after sex. He loved whenever you put on his clothes, yet after being close like this, it held a special meaning towards him, making him feel as if he'd claimed you.

You loved it.

Balling up the sheets in his arms, he began to throw them into the washing machine,open window letting fresh air inside the stuffy room as miri followed him, making him watch his steps as to not accidentally hurt her. He sometimes stopped to pet her head, grinning when her little tail began to wag excitedly. "Come on, lets go cuddle our sleeping beauty, yeah?" He whispered with mimicked excitement, making the dog bark as he hushed her, speedwalking towards the couch as the small poodle ran after him, yapping at your hands as he suddenly threw himself over you, careful not to crush you under his weight as he held himself up on his knees and elbows pressed into the soft cushions underneath, his nose tickling yours as you giggled.

The way he could go from an absolute demon to the softest young man alive gave you whiplash, but you wouldn't have it any other way with him.

"Jungkookie.."

"What is it?"

"Can you carry me to McDonalds?"

"First of all its been two days, second of all, get on my back."

[another-rogue-trevelyan]

If you liked Dragon Age Masterlist

If you’re anything like me, you’re into niche market, high fantasy, single player RPGs, preferably with a historical setting and romance options. So if you’re looking for a new game, here I am with some suggestions!

Sorted by studio:

Bethesda:

Oblivion (2006)

“In the shadow of evil, a hero will rise from the ashes of a fallen empire. The gates have been opened, and the battle has begun. Only one thing can save the world from Mehrunes Dagon and the demonic hordes of Oblivion. The true heir of the Septim line must be found and restored to the Imperial throne. The fate of the world rests in the hands of one. Find him, and shut the jaws of Oblivion.”

The Elder Scrolls series were my gateway into RPGs and hold a special place in my heart. Oblivion features a wide open world, immersive combat, and the ability to customize race, class, and gender.

Skyrim (2011)

“The Empire of Tamriel is on the edge. The High King of Skyrim has been murdered. Alliances form as claims to the throne are made. In the midst of this conflict, a far more dangerous, ancient evil is awakened. Dragons, long lost to the passages of the Elder Scrolls, have returned to Tamriel. The future of Skyrim, even the Empire itself, hangs in the balance as they wait for the prophesized Dragonborn to come; a hero born with the power of The Voice, and the only one who can stand amongst the dragons.”

I have sunk so many hours into this game and still have not experienced all there is to experience. Just like Oblivion, Skyrim offers the ability to customize your character and find a play style that suits you. A huge open world offers tons of opportunity for exploration and questing. You could play this game many, many hours and not even touch the main quest if you wanted to.

BioWare:

Mass Effect Legendary Edition (2021)

Just do it. Just fucking do it I’m still sobbing I’ve never had a game wreck me in this way. I might possibly like it more than Dragon Age which feels sacrilegious to say but it was so good. You follow Commander Shepard (customizable) for three whole games and the choices have serious consequences. Also, romance. Truthfully this might be the most well written storyline I’ve ever seen in a video game. Also, same studio as Dragon Age.

CD Projekt:

The Witcher III: Wild Hunt (2015)

I’ll let the website description speak for itself, but Witcher III was good enough that I didn’t mind being forced to play as a man (those who know me know that I exclusively prefer to play women and often dislike games where I can’t do so)! The characters that make up this story are captivating and suck you into their world, leaving you with some tough choices to make. Also, bonus points for romance! (Yen is one of my all time favorite characters, Triss never stood a chance for me. Sorry Triss fans 😂)

Larian:

Divinity Original Sin 2 (2017)

“The Divine is dead. The Void approaches. And the powers lying dormant within you are soon to awaken. Choose your role in a BAFTA-winning story, and explore a world that reacts to who you are, and the choices you make. With five races to choose from, and an adventure playable solo or as a party of up to four, lay waste to an oppressive order in a world afraid of magic. Become the God the world so desperately needs.”

Full disclosure, I have not finished playing this one yet and will update when I do, but what I’ve played so far has been great! A classic, turn-based RPG that allows you a wide range of character customization. I find this game incredibly satisfying to be a rogue (my preferred class) because it lets me live my dream of throwing knives at people. Also, romance!

Baldur’s Gate III beta (2020)

“An ancient evil has returned to Baldur's Gate, intent on devouring it from the inside out. The fate of Faerûn lies in your hands. Alone, you may resist. But together, you can overcome. Gather your party.”

Fair warning, as of my most recent update to this post (March 30th, 2021) this game is still in a beta phase, which means it is NOT complete and has aspects that are missing, glitchy, or subject to change. With that being said, I’m so obsessed. It’s so, so good already and is only getting better. Another wide open world to explore with a group of companions with strong and sometimes clashing personalities, choices are abundant in this game and will affect how your party members think of you. This game so far gives me the feeling that choices are complicated and aren’t always easy to tell which is morally right, which I personally love. Also, I can be a sarcastic ass with a good heart, which is always fun. Astarion basically owns me now, but if you can resist him there are plentiful other romance choices as well! Customization is already a wider range than I’ve seen in most RPGs and they haven’t even finished the character creator yet, which has me SO excited for the finished product. Also - good hair?!??!! I love it!

Lionhead:

Fable III (2010)

“Lead a revolution to take control of Albion, fight alongside your people, and experience love and loss while preparing to defend the kingdom against a looming threat. Your choices as ruler will lead to consequences felt across the entire land.”

I’ll be honest, this one isn’t my favorite on the list, but was good enough to still make it! This game allows you to choose between playing as the prince or the princess on a quest to save your kingdom from itself, and then a greater threat as well. The game takes place in a kingdom loosely modeled after industrial England, and what did score it some major points were (SPOILER WARNING - skip the purple if you don’t want to know!) that the last act of the game lets you play as the monarch, where you are forced to make some tough decisions in order to save your kingdom. It is very easy to back yourself into a corner, pinch pennies in order to fund the army and save the kingdom, but make your citizens hate you because of it. You’re gonna have to be very, very careful, which is something I did really enjoy about this game. (I’ve heard Fable II was better, and that’s also on my list to try, will update in the future!)

Nintendo:

Fire Emblem Three Houses (2019)

“War is coming to the continent of Fódlan. Here, order is maintained by the Church of Seiros, which hosts the prestigious Officer’s Academy within its headquarters. You are invited to teach one of its three mighty houses, each comprised of students brimming with personality and represented by a royal from one of three territories. As their professor, you must lead your students in their academic lives and in turn-based, tactical RPG battles wrought with strategic, new twists to overcome. Which house, and which path, will you choose?”

Currently playing this one and I’m so addicted! This one is slightly outside of my usual taste but it has made me interested in playing more games like it. The player controls Byleth (you can rename them if you wish), who becomes a professor of combat and battle tactics despite their young age at a monastery and finds themself in charge of a house of students. Battles are tactics and strategy based and classes are highly customizable. I sunk like 30 hours into this game in the last three days. I won’t say more about the plot to avoid spoilers, but it’s been a ton of fun and also has slow burn romance

Spiders:

Greedfall (2019)

This game destroyed my soul in the best way and when I finished it I immediately started a new game to play it again. You play as Lady or Lord De Sardet, Legate of the Congregation of Merchants and effectively the right hand of your cousin, who has been appointed governor of your new colony on the island. While I enjoy the combat in this game, which allows you the choice between one handed, two handed, magic, and pistols or rifles (save that ammo for when you really need it!), this game focuses heavily on diplomacy and relations. Be careful what information you give to whom and how you treat every decision. The enemies you make early on might be people you need on your side later. I also love that choices aren’t always clearly right or wrong, and often are more complicated than they first appear. Even the best intentions can sometimes go awry.

Ubisoft:

Assassin’s Creed, Syndicate (2015)

“London, 1868. In the heart of the Industrial Revolution, lead your underworld organization and grow your influence to fight those who exploit the less privileged in the name of progress”

Another one that I’ll admit, I haven’t finished, and is definitely the odd one out on the list because it’s set in Victorian England, but I was having fun with what I had played so far before Greedfall distracted me. In this game, you alternate between controlling twins Jacob and Evie Frye as you explore and liberate London while meeting famous historical figures and running a gang on the side.

Assassin’s Creed, Origins (2017)

“Ancient Egypt, a land of majesty and intrigue, is disappearing in a ruthless fight for power. Unveil dark secrets and forgotten myths as you go back to the one founding moment: The Origins of the Assassin’s Brotherhood.”

In the spirit of honesty, I haven’t started this one yet, but I am so confident that I’m gonna love it when I do that it’s here anyway. I’ve purchased it, and will get to it soon, I swear! In the meantime, I wanted to put it here because I’m confident some of you will enjoy it. Will come back with a review once I know more.

Assassin’s Creed, Odyssey (2018)

“Write your own epic odyssey and become a legendary Spartan hero in Assassin’s Creed® Odyssey, an inspiring adventure where you must forge your destiny and define your own path in a world on the brink of tearing itself apart. Influence how history unfolds as you experience a rich and ever-changing world shaped by your decisions.”

Y’all this game owned my soul for a while. I’ve sunk so many hours into it. You have a choice to play as either Kassandra or Alexios and navigate the wonders of Ancient Greece. The world is stunning, the choices are important, and this game took a big step for the assassins creed series in becoming a true RPG. I can’t recommend this one enough, you should absolutely go for it!

Assassin’s Creed, Valhalla (2020)

“Become Eivor, a legendary Viking warrior. Explore England's Dark Ages as you raid your enemies, grow your settlement, and build your political power in the quest to earn a place among the gods in Valhalla.”

This game is brand new, hot off the press, and has already been a massive hit. I have only JUST started playing it and am about an hour in, but so far so good! It’s here on my recommendations list because of its wild popularity and because I’ve already enjoyed other games in this series, so I feel confident that some of my fellow dragon age fans will enjoy it. Will update again once I get further in.

Other games on my To Be Played list (otherwise known as things I don’t want to recommend because I know almost nothing about them but will update here after I know more)

-Pillars of Eternity 1 and 2

-Horizon Zero Dawn

-Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag

-Fable 1 and 2

-Kingdoms of Amalur

-Breath of the Wild

-Crimson Desert (not out yet but I’m intrigued)

[savsfm]

madelaine petsch, twenty-three, cisfemale, she/her. —  SAVANNAH WALSH was just spotted out and about in los angeles with their signature VINTAGE DENIM OVERALLS. the paparazzi tried to be subtle, but the ACTRESS caught them snapping pictures and DARTED INTO THE NEAREST SHOP. they jetted off to A SECLUDED, PRIVATE BEACHFRONT before getting asked about HER UPCOMING SERIES FINALE this time, which kinda coincides with their notorious WARY attitude towards fame, doesn’t it? 

HELLO hello , i’m bay & this is my sweet lil savannah ! actress , sports fanatic , dog lover , confirmed adhd ball of energy ( as far as you know ) . if she had a label , it’d be the benevolent , and . . . well , let’s just get right into this ! 

·   ☆     .    𝚝𝚑𝚎  𝚋𝚊𝚜𝚒𝚌𝚜  !

full  legal  name :  savannah raine walsh . –– her mother had a hand in her middle name , and boy was that woman a hippie . age :   twenty  three  .   gender :   cis-female . nicknames : sav , savvy , little walsh ( when in context with her older brother )   pronouns : (  she/her  ) occupation : actress ; sophie turner career claim . inspiration : listen . . . there’s a reason i chose sophie . also jane sloane . details : growing up with just her father and her brother , for the most part , sav was very much the tomboy type , and despite her father’s history in the mlb , the walsh kids often spent time away from him and lived a relatively normal life . this made sav’s climb to fame a bit more of an adjustment , but people seem to love the down - to - earth way she has about her . after wrapping an iconic fantasy series ( think game of thrones ) and starring in a blockbuster ( think dark phoenix ) , everyone seems to be wondering what’s next for america’s favorite sweetheart .

·   ☆     .    𝚋𝚊𝚌𝚔𝚐𝚛𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚍  !

micah “mickey” walsh came from nothing . he was a natural born athlete with the drive of a kid who had nothing to lose and everything to gain , and he could’ve stepped right out of high school and onto a minor league baseball diamond , but his parents –– loony as they seemed –– insisted he go to college first , and he spent four years playing for vanderbilt , where he met his wife marnie . they fell in love , hard and fast , and by their senior year , they were throwing together a shotgun wedding in order to say their vows before her baby bump began to show . 

the first few years were a whirlwind with mickey never giving up his dreams of having a family and having a professional baseball career. two years in , he was called up to the big leagues , and thus began the ICONIC career of mickey walsh , second baseman and a monster at bat . after three years in the mlb , the walsh family grew , and when SAVANNAH RAINE was born in chicago , illinois , wrigley field filled to capacity celebrated . 

three years later , mickey was traded to the boston red sox , and the walsh family moved again . for some time , things were well , and they appeared to be living the dream . mickey loved boston , and boston loved the walshes , so much so , that contract after contract was renewed at fenway . when savannah was five , however , tragedy struck and her mother fell ILL . by the time sav was six , she’d succumbed entirely to her illness , leaving her and her brother , luke , to grow up without a mother .

the walsh family was devastated , mickey taking indefinite time off from his career to be with his children . his parents moved to boston shortly there after to help out with things around the house . mickey tried to keep a happy way about him , but after a season out , everyone could tell he was itching to get back , if only for the DISTRACTION of the game . . . so luke & sav grew up darting around fenway park . they attended every home game , stayed up to watch all of the away games , and they genuinely loved it . babysitters chased after them in exhaustion , and their grandparents did the most they could to raise them right .

savannah was always a FIERY little thing , and it had nothing to do with the red locks she’d inherited from her mother . she was joyful and playful , kind and a lot for any one person to handful . she asked too many questions and had QUITE a knack for theatrics . most of all , though , from a young age , she was simply good . . . and she really never expected to get into acting .

all of that energy had to go somewhere , though , and seeing as she was dramatic as is . . . she was enrolled in dance classes and school theatre projects . she took a liking to acting , starring in school plays and toying around writing her own short films . in high school , savannah was everywhere . . . spread far too thin . but hey ! keeping busy is what this girl lives for ! 

at sixteen , she enrolled at an acting camp during the summer in los angeles , and this is when she found out that her family and friends weren’t simply full of shit ,  like she’d assumed .  she had talent , and she could make a career of acting . . . and unlike others , her rise was a bit too quick . she spent the summer going to auditions , and her BREAKOUT role was one of her first . . . v much a sansa on game of thrones type of deal .

sav finished off high school through a personal tutor and online schooling , but NOT going to college , for either of the walsh kids , was never an option . so she wagered a gap year from her father ,  so she could film seasons 2 & 3 of her show . other seasons were filmed during summer months , on breaks , and on long weekends . she SPED through her degree at new york university , and graduated in 3 , freeing up time to act full time .

there’s a GENUINE way about her that just . . . captures people , when she isn’t in character . in interviews , on talk shows , on red carpets . . . she’s just blatantly very soft , very sweet . skeptics think it’s an act , but anyone who KNOWS savannah knows that the only thing she fronts for the camera is constant energy . ya girl is tired . . . all the time , but will never admit to it ! 

after one of the most watched television series finales of all time and a franchise film –– along the lines of x-men/marvel –– stunning the box office , savannah is taking a moment to SLOW DOWN , because she’s never exactly done so . . . right now ,  she’s trying to figure out where to take her career next with a pile of scripts sitting at home and the world of the silver screen at her fingertips . 

·   ☆     .    𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚘𝚗𝚊𝚕𝚒𝚝𝚢 & 𝚏𝚊𝚌𝚝𝚜  !

like i said , miss savannah is very outgoing , very bubbly . she’s good with people . . . but let it be known that she’s an introvert at heart . my girl is queen of leaving parties early . 

definitely the lost-in-a-daydream type , and she’s always been a bit of a QUIET hopeless romantic . less grand gestures and magnificent romantic adventures , more of just . . . a genuine believer in love . which . . . CERTAINLY lines up with the way her life threw her for a loop , just after nineteen , and one (1) nate carpenter absolutely turned her world upside down . it took all of one chance meeting , and sav was completely smitten . despite the fact that their dads kind of sort of ?? hate each other , they are happily planning on spending the rest of their lives together , dipping out of Famous People Things by 9:30pm at the latest .

painfully honest . . . maybe a little too honest. if she’s not careful ,  she can occasionally say too much and put her foot in her mouth . no amount of media training can REALLY rein it in . . . so her publicist is well paid and honestly . . . she has a hell of a time keeping spoilers to herself , so a lot of interviews regarding big plot lines are often with castmates aksdjfha

has a dog named hercules ! not named after the greek hero . . . or the disney movie . . . but rather named after the massive beast in the sandlot . her hercules is a mutt she rescued as a pup . they’re not really sure what he is . . . only that he’s kinda big and definitely has some german shepherd in him . 

sports fanatic af . her dad played professional baseball , and now he coaches for the new york yankees . her brother is a household name for hockey fans . . . and , well , catch her in a bright blue dodgers jersey with the name carpenter on the back , every baseball season !! 

she hasn’t TOTALLY grown out of her tomboy-ness . she still wakes up early to go surfing , still does far better in beat up converse than she does in HEELS , insists on the thrill of doing her own stunts , curses like a damn sailor , and loves a good worn in denim . queen ! of ! rocking ! overalls ! 

thinks about her mom a lot , but tries not to do to the fact that it just fuckin . . . makes her sad and anxious . the grief , she can handle , but the nerves ? her mother died of breast cancer , and savannah STUBBORNLY refuses to get tested to see if she’s got the genetic marker for it .

still visits her grandparents in boston often 

has a very .. . strange relationship with fame . she knows it’s fleeting , and she doesn’t really care for her private life being prodded into . in fact , that’s the worst part of it all . it’s taken a toll on her self - esteem , here and there , but for the most part. . . . she tries not to let it get to her . if she could do the acting thing without the fame , she honestly would . 

ok that is . . . my girl savannah . i hope y’all love her as much as i do bc i am vERY EXCITED ok !!  HIT ME WITH A LIKE & I’LL COME SWOOPING IN FOR PLOTTING !! 

[nemobookaholic]

What if ...

Loki where a 21st century woman?

Part 2

Scene 8

Back at home, we enter a room where Kevin and Loki are sitting face to face. As Kevin had said, an hour a day - now we know he meant it. Yet, just because he looks like an Irish leprechaun, it doesn’t mean he has the same wit. Indeed we can assume that he has inherited more but the ginger hair. Loki seems like she’d figured it out already, according to her staring. It’s like the game we all played as kids. A staring contest, losers gonna look away first. Both of them want to be at the winning side. We start to wonder what kind of therapeutic use this game shall have, as Kevin breaks the silence, not looking away of course.

‘You really think that you are Loki of Asgard?’

‘I do not think so. I know who I am!’

Not the best opening line for a therapist. Here we see the trainee.

‘Good… had you ever the desire to — well, use the boy’s bathroom, or play with cars instead of dolls?’

We move our angle, so we can see what Kevin writes down on his notepad.

‘Seriously? That is what you want to know? — To be honest I was thought to play with knives and illusions, as well as with my brothers foolishness. Trust me, gender never was a big deal for me. I can be whatever I want to,’ Lokis boasts.

° narcissism

° dissociative identity disorder

° a lot of anger/rage

Is what we can read by now. Dr. Freud might had added hysteria.

‘Tell me about your brother,’ is Kevins next question.

‘I would not know why,’ Loki appeals stubborn.

‘We have a deal, remember?’

‘I don’t see any sense in it, as you obviously don’t believe me, but here you go. Thor, god of thunder. Not the brightest glowing candle. Likes his hammer… a lot. Future king of Asgard, if you’d ask him. Has a soft spot for Midgard. I came here to say hello,’ she’s checking on her fingernails while speaking.

‘To me it sounds like there is a rivalry between you and your brother?’ for a second we catch discomfort in Lokis eyes.

‘He’s not my real brother. It’s not that long ago when I was told, I am adopted.’

‘Who told you so?’

‘My fa…, Odin. He promised me a throne! Just to tell me, that I was nothing more than a hostage.’

°daddy issues

Kevins pen is wandering on the paper.

‘Tell me about your mum.’

‘She’s kind an loving. I’m afraid, I might never see her again, only in my dreams.’

‘Why do you think so?’

‘Never mind! There is witchcraft, even in dreams. You would not understand. — By the way, how come this reality is blocking out almost every magic?’ Loki’s time for questions.

‘Honestly? As you really seem to believe it, I have some bad news for you: There is no magic, and no gods or stuff like that. Most of us, including me, don’t believe in sorcery or different realms. I’m sorry to disappoint you.’

We don’t fail to notice how Kevin is struggling, to take the topic serious. Meanwhile Loki has an enlightening moment.

‘That must be part of the problem! People don’t believe…,’ she mumbles to herself. Aloud she says, ‘tell me about your world, please. I know a bit from Barton but me seems this one is unlike his. What is the history of this country for instance?’ Lokis eyes are glowing.

‘Are you kidding me? — You don’t know?’ Kevin looks puzzled.

‘Would I ask otherwise?’ annoyance is speaking out of her voice.

Kevin starts a lesson in english history. Loki is rather interested in the war of the roses and the Tudor King. We start to get a bad feeling, that this might won’t end well; with her question, ‘you are saying, England has never grown out of monarchy and is ruled by a Queen until today?!’

‘Yes and a King, - people always seem to forget about him, poor guy,’ Kevin sights.

‘Tell me everything about them!’ there is a lot of motivation in Loki’s behaviour now.

‘I think that’s enough for today. I’m not that interested into royal gossip, - if you want to know more, you can look it up on the internet, or go to the library,’ he sounds tired.

We suspect that this session didn’t proceed as planed. He has our empathy, cause he doesn’t know who he’s dealing with. Or at least he doesn’t believe it. Not all of us would, but we have the benefit of knowing Loki, and we are just observer. We should feel sorry for Kevin, as he doesn’t realise what Loki’s mind is wandering of to. We remember well, how much Loki desires a throne. Not that she didn’t mention it while talking about Odin.

‘The leprechaun showed me how to use this thing called internet. I’m impressed! I had known that it could be a useful weapon, yet I had no clue how much. It’s like an addiction, all those informations. Makes it a pushover to take over this kingdom! Ehehehehe. I read on, a plan is growing, I like how it sparkles. The discovery of the actual age, of the monarchs, makes it even better. Their son isn’t that much younger. To my satisfaction, there are two princes next in row, to follow the crown. Not the baddest idea to become a woman. Nothing is going to stop me!

‘Helloho! I’m talking to you, freak. Stop that creepy laughing and help me to cook dinner, would you?! If you want to share our home, you can do something for it. Maybe Kevin is alright with you behaving like the Queen of England, well I’ll tell you something, I ain’t!’ the warrior has her hands pressed to her hips and usually I wouldn’t give much about her complaining, but for the sake of learning from them, I follow her into the kitchen.’

Scene 9

Picturing Loki and Beatrix in the kitchen, we feel a little smile stealing onto our faces. The idea, of Loki doing the cooking, is hilarious. Beatrix commanding her, comes close to a catastrophe and is a test for Loki’s self-control.

Let’s get a bit closer and listen to their conversation, shall we?

‘Did you never cut a tomato?’ we hear Bea.

‘Not with a dull knife. If you would have let me use my dagger, I would have been faster!’ Loki mutters.

‘Yeah, as if this dirty piece, wherever you hide it, was made to cut vegetables with. I don’t like to imagine your family dinners,’ Bea folds her arms, waiting for Loki to get the veggies ready.

‘Sure, the are awkward. I have to approve, you are right. The dagger was made to cut into meat,’ Loki let the knife run through her fingers, staring at Bea in disgust.

‘Sorry to disappoint you missy, but one of our rules is: No meat for dinner, nor in this kitchen. I am vegan and no dead animals will cross our door!’ Bea turns around to light the gas of the stove.

‘Who said I was talking about animals?!’ Loki mutters to herself.

‘What?’ Bea turns around with a pan in her hand, pointing it at the other girl.

‘Nothing. I’m done with the vegetables, what’s next?’ Loki grins, swirling the knife again.

‘Would you please stop?!’ she points a finger at Lokis hand, ‘it’s a bit dangerous, don’t you think?’

‘What, the knife?’ she looks at it impenitently, ‘not really, unless I decide it should.’ Loki grins again. Annoying Bea, gives her satisfaction.

The girl, almost done with her nerves by now, tries to take away the sharp object from her reckless flatmate. Unfortunately, Loki is a lot taller and has enough strength back, to use her magic pockets. What makes the knife disappear every time Bea comes close.

‘What are you, David Copperfield for the poor? Hand me the bloody knife, or I swear I’ll…,’ she doesn’t come any further as Kevin enters the room, in the exact moment things almost escalated.

‘I see you start to get along a bit better?’ he smiles naively. We start to wonder how he will ever be a psychologist? Maybe he just picked the wrong job?

From Lokis face we capture a innocent, but satisfied look into Kevins direction, as Beatrix let go of her to roast the vegetables.

‘Veggies again, … what are you cooking love?’ Kevin steps closer to see what is in the pan.

‘Rice with tomato, carrots and peas,’ Bea lists the ingredients.

‘Delicious, can’t wait for it,’ he rolls his eyes behind her back, ‘I’ll cook something proper when she has her night out,’ he whispers into Lokis ear, while handing her a towel. For a second she stands there holding it, not sure what Kevin wants. Soon enough she figures, he wants to do the dishes while Bea is busy at the stove. We might make a guess, that Kevin is frightened of his friend, when she’s in such a mood. Or maybe we have to admit, that he is more cunning than anyone could tell.

‘The food that the warrior princess has cooked, isn’t as bad as I’d expected. Not that I would tell her. She’s a ghastly person. I’ll have to tolerate it, until I’ve found a way into Buckingham palace. For now I can have my fun with both of them. Nonetheless I’ll have to keep an eye on Kevin. He hasn’t shown all his cards yet, I can sense it. Plus I’m unsure if I can trust him.

Anyway, it’s exhausting with them.

Maybe it’s because I haven’t had enough rest, but I’m dead tired. All I want to do, is to lie down and think of a plan, to infiltrate the royal family. To my disappointment, we have to do the dishes — again! For the warrior has done the cooking. Not enough that she forced me to help her with it.

‘Are we done now? I’m tired,’ I tell the leprechaun after the last, clean fork.

‘Sure, but don’t you want to join us? We have our movie night. Could be a good chance to get to know each other better,’ he shows me those puppy eyes. Something in them beg me to join, I can’t help myself.

‘Fine. If it’s that important to you,’ I sigh.

Plans can wait until tomorrow, I guess. Let’s see what kind of pleasures a movie night might bring.

‘Yay! I’ll make popcorn and get everything ready. Do you want to take a shower in the meantime?’

That’s a good idea. It has been a long time since water has seen my body. A short sniff approves my misgiving. I smell.

The ginger almost pushes me into the bathroom, while explaining everything. He hands me fresh clothes and faster than I can soak in all informations, he has left. I’m alone in the middle of the tiny room. The only space, to place my wardrobe, is the toilet seat or optional, the ground. I have to make a sacrifice, fresh clothes onto the toilet, the stuff I’m wearing onto the ground. I can’t wait to feel the water refreshing me. The only thing that keeps me away from it, is the bloody bra! What kind of sadistic person has invented this fastener?

Probably one of the torturers from Hel.

The quiet ‘plop’ as it opens, couldn’t be more satisfying. I almost jump into the shower and turn the water on. A mistake as it turns out. The water is cooking. It burns my freed breasts.

Who the fuck takes a shower this hot?!

The water becomes a moderate temperature, as I soap myself with a strange smelling piece, I’ve found on the tray in the corner.

Afterwards my hair is nearly impossible to comb — should I have used those bottles instead? Probably would have thought about it, if I had not been that distracted by my new body.

Anyway, time to get dressed and see what kind of night lies ahead.

I stop after entering the living room, not sure what is expected of me.

The two mortals are sitting on a sofa, cuddling.

‘Ah, there you are. Come, sit! We have waited for you,’ Kevin says.

‘Like forever. What have you done in there?’ the warrior is still grumpy, but not as much as during dinner.

I take the offered seat, on the edge of the sofa, cause the leprechaun is looking at me in expectancy, ignoring the comment of the veggie queen.

‘Come a little closer, or do you want to fall over? Allow yourself some comfort,’ he hands me a bowl with ‘Popcorn’ as he calls it, and I’m surprised by it’s buttery, salty taste. I like it!

I almost start to get comfortable but the strange behaviour of my seat mate destroys that feeling. Why is he sniffing at me?

My gaze must have made him aware of his doing. He stops, turning red.

‘I’m sorry! It’s just… which bottle of shampoo did you use?’ he wants to know.

‘None of them. Didn’t trust their substances. I’m all for the old-fashioned way in showering! I took the soap.’

The burst out of laughter from the girl disturb me, ‘what have I done wrong?’

‘Oh well — that was Hina’s special soap, against rash. We try to avoid it, because of this strong smell of marigold -‘

‘Now you smell like a granny!’ Bea’s giggles interrupt Kevin.

‘- you must know, sometimes it makes your skin burn or become itchy, if you use it without the need to ease your rash,’ he adds.

‘Great! Thanks for the warning.’ I almost yell at him.

‘Calm down. Here, have a nice glass of wine and a blanked, you must be cold.’

I suppose he never heard of Frostgiants, anyway, I take the blanked and if it’s only to cover this ugly thing that doesn‘t deserve the name pyjamas. A big sip of wine, helps me over the fact that the warrior is still laughing. I swear by Odin, I’m going to cut her throat , in her sleep, if she doesn’t stop soon.

‘ ‘kay ladies, enough silliness for now. Let’s get to the movie. Are you ready?’ Kevin asks, while he presses a button on the remote control.

The movie starts while Kevin explains to me that it is called ‘Star Wars’. After a few minutes I lose interest in it. This species has no clue what is going on in the universe. Not to mention the horrible special effects and this stupid emperor in a mask, calling himself Vader … they should meet Thanos!

At some point I decide to enjoy the food and the wine to let my thoughts wander. To correct the movie was fun, until they got angry with me because of the steady interruptions.

All those delicious details I’ve learned today!

The grandson of the Queen, Edmund, has been in the newspapers a lot, for his excessive party live. Would be stupid if I didn’t use it to make my way into the palace. The only problem will be my lack of patience. Every detail has to be perfect, so this croutons won’t realise how I infiltrate them. Maybe I should have ‘sight-seeing’ around Buckingham Palace tomorrow… ?’

As always, I’m happy about constructive feedback. Tell me what you think about it, if you’ve read until the end. And I’m sorry for the pic,.. next time I’ll draw a better one 🙈 it’s not that easy to transform him,...

[theshipsfirstmate]

Game of Thrones Fic: Please Speak Well of Me (part 1/2)

Post-finale jonsa angst/feelings, with some gendrya in the background. (Honestly, I just want them all to be happy.)

About a year later, Arya ventures to Castle Black with some news.

“The lone wolf dies, Jon.” Ned Stark’s words have rung in his ears a few times in the last year, but they sound more dire coming from his daughter’s mouth. “You need your pack.”

A/N: To be perfectly honest, I’m new to this fandom and still kinda coming to terms with this ship and my feelings about it. But I opened a doc and this just came flying out. Hoping it will be a few chapters, but I’m not really sure how far I’ll be able to take things. This is a good intro, right? Please don’t leave.

Title & chapters from “Please Speak Well of Me,” by The Weepies.

Please Speak Well of Me

Part 1: You Did What You Did, and That Was That (AO3 - wc: 6959)

“Your sister’s at Castle Black.”

The words from Tormund hang in the icy air for a long moment, and as they make their way into Jon’s consciousness, he wonders if it’s the first thing he’s actually heard in over a year.

The winds blow so strongly up here, in the true North. He had nearly forgotten, the way the frosty howls could deafen you for hours at a time. He sometimes goes days without speaking, without hearing, without any sound around him other than the roar of a winter that would take more than a Valyrian steel dagger to kill. It’s a very different life than the one he thought he’d be living all those moons ago.

Not that he's been doing much living at all. He spends some of his time with the Free Folk, but their merriment starts to ring shrill and false in his ears after too long, and he’ll venture out on his own, riding a straight line in one direction until his horse can’t any longer, half-hoping the snowy gusts will sweep him away into nothingness.

“Cousin,” he corrects Tormund automatically. The bigger man just shrugs, and Jon realizes he's already saddling his horse for him, expecting him to venture south at the news.

He should, Jon knows it, but he can’t seem to make himself move from his spot by the dwindling fire. His heart is pounding in his chest, a two-beat to the sound of a name that fills every second of silence in his mind these days. He's afraid to ask, but he knows he must.

“Which one?”

“The scary one.” Jon bites back a smile despite the way disappointment flashes through him, sharp and shameful. For some, that wouldn't be enough of an answer, but he knows Tormund well enough to understand.

Arya . The chorus in his head quiets for a moment at the thought of her, how he's longed to see her as well. He’s longed for all of them, all the characters in the book of his tragic history that he left on a shelf somewhere south of the Wall. Arya, Bran, Sam, Davos…

When he pauses, the other name returns to fill the silence once again.

“She's brought the Lord of Storm’s End with her, too.” Tormund interrupts his reverie, and when Jon glances up at him, his brow is furrowed. “Still jus’ looks like a smith to me, though.”

Something kindles in Jon’s heart at that news, a surge of emotion he’d thought long gone, like a limb lost to frostbite. He wonders what it means -- if Arya’s back for good, if she and Gendry have run off together, if the six kingdoms have already turned on each other and they're looking to join his life of exile beyond the Wall.

Or, Jon realizes horribly, belatedly, perhaps it means something truly awful has happened.

He moves then, mounting the horse with barely a word of thanks to Tormund, riding faster then he has in too long to remember. Urgency is something that feels foreign after all this time roaming, and he tells himself that’s why his heart is hammering at the backsides of his ribs until it hurts to breathe.

After days or maybe hours, he passes through the gate at Castle Black and there she is -- forever the smallest and mightiest presence in a crowd of lesser men. She smiles when she sees him, though, and his panic abates, something inside him threatening to thaw.

It’s been a long time, but it was longer last time, he remembers. Even still, Arya leaps into his arms, and he catches her, just like he used to when they were children. Jon holds her tight for a long moment, wishing hopelessly for the time before they had scars on their faces and swords on their hips

“ Arya .” He smiles as her name scratches from his throat, and she returns it for a half-second before her face twists back like she’s smelling something foul.

“You look like pure shit.”

It only makes him smile wider. “It's good to see you, too.”

The gash above her eye has faded slightly, but he sees the angry pink pucker of a new one on the right underside of her jaw and fights a brotherly urge to hook a finger beneath her chin and tut at her for whatever it is she’s gotten into this time.

But when he looks over Arya’s shoulder to see Gendry standing proudly, he knows he’s not the only one looking out for her. It’s more comfort than he’s used to, and it feels odd in his chest. Still, he turns his smile on the other man, reaching out to clap a friendly hand to his arm.

“Good to see you too, my Lord.” Gendry rolls his eyes at the title. Jon remembers the feeling.

“So,” he asks, turning back to Arya, “did you find out what’s west of Westeros?”

She nods, with another grin. This one, though, flickers away too quickly for his liking. “Some of it, anyway.”

“And?”

“It’s...interesting.” Her eyes dart to the space behind her and back again, and Gendry stands up a little straighter. “But it doesn’t really hold a candle to what’s here.”

It’s not quite an answer, but it may be the best he can hope to get. It's sweet, to see her that sentimental, and more than that, Jon’s as happy as he’s been in years to have her safely back in the North.

“No candles to you, though. I’m afraid you’d catch.” Arya wrinkles her nose at him again. “What in seven hells have you been doing up here?”

“Haven’t been here, really,” he admits. “Mostly been up beyond the Wall.”

“I can see that,” she sneers, like he's somehow missed the other hints about his unkempt appearance. “You’re a true wildling now, are you? King of the Free Folk?”

“I’m not King of anything,” he bites back. “I don’t know what I am anymore.”

She glances around the yard then, letting the truth in his admission return things to a simmer. “What happened to Ghost?”

“Haven't seen him in a few moons.” Truthfully, Jon’s started to worry a little -- it’s the longest his wolf has ventured away since they returned to the Wall. So his next assurance may be as much for himself as it is for her. “He always makes his way back to where he needs to be.”

Arya quirks an eyebrow at that, and then gives him a sad look he assumes is either for him or Nymeria, wherever she may be.

“The lone wolf dies, Jon.” Ned Stark’s words have rung in his ears a few times in the last year, but they sound more dire coming from his daughter’s mouth. “You need your pack.”

“Yes, the lone wolf dies,” he agrees, and the spite and conflict inside him call back a different warning -- one he heard years ago at this very castle, “and a Targaryen alone in the world is a terrible thing.”

What’s left of the Castle Black kitchen does their best to throw something together for the Night Kingslayer and the Lord of Storm’s End come suppertime, and the both of them look expectedly embarrassed at even the attempt at ceremony in their honor. They’re a good match, Jon notices, not for the first time, and it makes him wish for another life where they had found each other in happiness, rather than whatever this is.

But his sullen brain betrays him then, wondering if this is the way it always had to be. Perhaps even the old gods saw it coming -- fire and ice and whatever’s left when the ash and snow had settled.

The evening’s mood lifts significantly when Tormund arrives with a small traveling party and a few large horns of ale and fermented goat’s milk to share, and the meager feast becomes a celebration with the lively raucousness of the Free Folk. It doesn’t grate at Jon the way it normally does, and he’s glad for it. He even catches himself smiling, more than once, and knows Tormund spots it too.  

As the night’s dancing begins in earnest, he glances over to see Gendry and Arya deep in conversation. The young lord is nodding his encouragement and placing a comforting hand on top of where hers rests on the table between them, and it warms Jon’s heart even further. But when Arya stands and gathers herself before heading in his direction, dread creeps like ice back into his gut.

“Is there somewhere more private we can speak?” He nods dumbly, and leads the way.

Jon had protested for hours when they presented him with the Lord Commander’s chambers, but none of the men would hear it. He's even more embarrassed now, when they enter his solar and find it just as empty as he did all those moons ago. At least there’s a fire going -- he makes a mental note to thank the stewards for their forethought.

“We’re headed back to Winterfell in the morning.” He didn’t expect her to tiptoe around things, but still, Jon’s heart lurches at Arya’s abrupt announcement. He stops by the window, and doesn’t fully turn back to face her. “You’re coming with us.”

“You know I can’t.” He glances to his near-empty desk and back before he can remember to school his features, but it’s enough for her to follow. Arya crosses quickly, and picks up one of the twelve identical scrolls that sit in a neat line at the top corner of the otherwise empty surface.

“Seven hells, Jon,” she sighs when she unrolls one and then two, realizing what they are. “Are these really the only things you have in this whole bleak chamber?”

He shrugs. It might be sheepish, if that’s something his features can remember. Arya just rolls her eyes again, then narrows them at him.

They’re the only items of value he’s acquired in this last year, the only things he’s found himself with a need to keep. Once a moon, a raven arrives from Winterfell, with a pardon in his name from the Queen in the North. A young, sharp-faced man he keeps accidentally calling Edd used to save them for him, to hand-deliver when he returned from beyond the Wall. After a few turns, though, the lad seemed to realize they wouldn’t be heeded, and began to simply leave the new ones with the old for Jon to find upon his increasingly infrequent returns.

He knows he only saved them because she wrote them herself.

“You’re coming with us, anyway,” Arya repeats. He notices she’s not been posing it as a question. “Special occasion. There’s to be a fancy royal wedding, and you’re invited.”

The name that usually fills his spaces returns then -- only now, instead of a whisper, it’s a roar.

Sansa .

Sansa’s getting married. Sansa’s made herself a proper royal match. Sansa’s going to take another husband, and he’s meant to go and watch it happen.

Jon's not certain when she became the echo in his brain, not certain when his heart had turned, like leaves changing in the fall. But it has.

He’s thought often of all of them, the surviving Starks, but they each mean something different, each occupying a different place within him. Bran is his vision, a reminder to keep more than his eyes open as he travels the wild lands. Arya’s his compass, forever angling towards true North.

And Sansa, she's his heartbeat.

At the start of his exile, the ache in Jon's chest was an unknowable black -- like the charred remains of a fallen city, the scales of a lost dragon or the widening eye of a queen gone mad. Now it’s red -- the last embers of a dying blaze, a pool of blood on an icy stone floor, hair kissed by fire sat beneath an iron crown. Black to red. Perhaps he's more of a Targaryen than he ever thought possible.

The only thing he is sure of anymore is what he sees in his mind’s eye when he thinks of the word “forgiveness.” It’s come to him not infrequently over the past year, and it’s always Sansa, on the dock in King’s Landing, asking if he had any left for her.

He hadn’t given her an answer then, still too stupefied by the way his world kept upending itself and yet somehow, never landing him on his feet. He wishes he could have told her that he forgave her the moment Tyrion had told him what she’d done, before he knew if he'd ever see her face again. He wishes he could have stood in the Great Hall when the North crowned her their rightful leader. He wishes he could have mustered the courage to send just one raven back to Winterfell.

It might take him a full minute to realize Arya’s still speaking.

“Jon.” She sounds exasperated. It’s a tone he remembers well, despite everything. Perhaps it was even longer than a minute. “It’s my wedding. Gendry and I, we’re getting married.”

The sudden relief is so strong he can taste it, sliding thick and intoxicating across his tongue. It renders him stupid with his words -- or in his case, even more so. In the time it takes him to cobble together half a sentence, Arya makes her way through twenty or so different expressions, from exhaustion to disbelief to something that almost looks like mischief, and back again.

“What?” he stammers. “Why did you--”

“I needed to see your face,” she answers in that way of hers that only poses more questions.

He swallows heavily, telling himself it’s not a gulp. “Thought you were done with all that.”

“I don’t wear faces anymore,” she half-explains, quirking one side of her mouth up. “Can’t help studying them, though.”

He can only imagine what she’s learned from looking at his just now -- gods, she probably understands more than even he does. A change of subject is his futile attempt to distract them both. “Last I heard, you turned down his offer.”

Arya gives him that look, the one that says she knows he’s being purposefully stupid.

“I'm not the same person that I was a year ago, Jon.” Her tone is obvious, but softer than he expects. “None of us are.”

Nothing's ever been truer than that, has it? A year ago, he was a traitor, a kinslayer, a man whom even death couldn't keep from lining up at the start of each new war. Now he’s not sure if he’s anything more than a lone wolf beyond the Wall.

And Arya, brave and bold, she’s something else now, too.

“You’re going to be a Lady,” he says with a smirk. She doesn’t match it.

“I’m going to be myself. Always. I came back home for what I want, and what I want is to be with Gendry.” This is a practiced speech, one she’s given before. Maybe to Sansa, he thinks idly. “Who’s anyone to say what that has to mean?”

Jon holds a hand up in defense. “I just can’t believe you’re actually marrying.” She sighs again.

“I don't believe that the world owes me anything.” He almost laughs at how wrong she is. Westeros as it still stands owes her everything it has to give. “But change is slow, and our time isn't promised. I'm going to take the life I want, and I’m going to fight anyone who tries to stop me.”

It’s hard not to believe in her. He can picture it, Arya sparring with her troops during the day and wrestling her gaggle of wild babes in the evenings. A kingdom led by love and cunning and the strategy of survival. A castle where the Lady carries the sword and the Lord forges it for her.

“There isn’t time enough to stand still, Jon,” Arya adds, softening again. “Or, ride around in circles, or whatever it is you've been doing up here.”

She turns to leave, but he's mulling all of her words over and it takes a while for things to come back into focus. When he does meet her eyes, she’s watching him closely again, and he wants to ask what it is people keep seeing in his expression that gives him away.

“Arya--”

“We’re headed home first thing tomorrow. The three of us.” Then she does smile, finally. “And I'll be expecting a proper congratulations in the morning, you absolute dolt.”

She’s through the door before Jon has the chance to stammer an apology, or his belated well wishes.

He doesn’t sleep that night. He barely even tries, laying down for just a few heartbeats before accepting how futile it will be. Winterfell. Sansa. Home . For a brief moment, it’s too much, and he thinks of running, of saddling up and fleeing back through the Wall before Arya can realize he’s gone.

But the feeling passes, quicker than he expects, and a familiar memory returns to take its place.

On his last day in the Red Keep, the Hand of the King had paid a final visit to his cell as he was preparing himself for the journey North. Tyrion didn’t look any happier than he had on the day he handed down the sentence, but his voice was stronger, and his words of advice rang clearer in Jon’s muddled mind.

“The most heroic thing we can do now is look the truth in the face.” Sansa had said that, Tyrion told him, before pulling a dagger from her cloak and preparing to fight the risen dead in the Winterfell crypts. The image had burned itself on Jon’s brain immediately, but it’s her words that have come back to him time and again as he’s served his time in the far North.

“They’ll call you a traitor, Jon Snow, and you may find your only comfort in the knowledge that you are also a hero.” Tyrion had spoken with his usual confident calm, though Jon found it brought him little more comfort than it did when they first met. “That will be your armor now.”

They had parted ways then, with a familiar nod. Jon didn’t bother mentioning that he was hoping for a life, or even just a few moments, where he didn’t need an iron plate to protect what little was left beating in his chest.

Look the truth in the face. Maybe Arya’s right. Maybe it’s time now.

Newly revitalized, Jon spends the few remaining hours preparing for the trip, as best he can. He takes a proper bath, trims his hair and his beard, freshens up his furs, and packs what he can salvage from the Castle’s meager stores.

When the light of morning finally breaks, he returns to his empty solar and throws eleven of the scrolls into the dying embers of the fire, lingering only to watch them catch. The one he saves -- tucked into his breast pocket as he descends to prepare the horses -- had come a few moons back, with three extra words scrawled at the bottom of the standard pardon.

They were still in Sansa's hand, but scratched slightly sideways -- hasty or frantic or fraught with something else he couldn’t understand. He remembers spending a few selfish moments tracing them over with his finger, as if somehow he’d be able to touch her through the parchment. Now, he presses them close to his heart for the journey back to Winterfell.

Please come home.

He waits until they're a few hours in the ride -- long enough that he won't be able to convince himself to turn back -- before he dares to ask. “Does she know you came?”

“No,” Arya admits. “I’m hoping she’ll be too busy planning to be angry.”

“Angry?” Jon's already beginning to panic at how readily he’d agreed to make the journey, and looks back now to try and catch a glimpse of the Wall, like a comfort. “She’s the one who's been sending me pardons.”

“And still you stayed away.” There’s so much that remains unspoken in that accusation, but it’s nothing Jon hasn’t already leveled at himself.

“I didn’t--” He starts to stammer out an apology that he knows will need some work before they reach Winterfell, but Arya heads him off.

“Jon, you should know. She’s… different now.”

He watches his breath catch in the frosty air, and waits for her to continue. Of course Sansa’s different now. Arya had said it herself, they all are. But he hears the uncertainty in her voice, and knows there’s more she’s trying to tell him.

“She’s a good queen. And she’s still Sansa, in there somewhere. But she’s been all alone for a year. And before that, too. She’s changed.”

Alone. For all Jon has thought about Sansa in the last year, he's never pictured her alone. He’s imagined the Northmen raising their swords to celebrate her reign, pictured her days full of meetings with advisors and lackeys she'd manage with smart precision. But he never saw her at night, never allowed himself to think about her retiring to her chambers, and so he never considered what happens when the Queen in the North becomes Sansa Stark again, for a few hours in front of a private hearth.

He hopes she has people she can trust, people who know her when the crown comes off. But deep down, he realizes that Arya likely speaks the truth. It unsettles him, the thought that she's been just as isolated as he's felt amongst the Free Folk -- surrounded by life and still so very alone.

“When she sees you,” Arya continues carefully, “she might not--”

“No, I don’t expect she will,” Jon cuts her off before she's even finished her thought, but his bitterness can only be directed inward. He’s spent a year atoning for his sins, but Tyrion had suggested ten -- and even that seemed meager, compared to what he's done. Whatever it is he's seeking at Winterfell, he knows enough at least to understand he doesn’t deserve it.

“It’s not all to do with you, Jon,” Arya fairly snaps, cutting through his brooding. “Are you listening? She's not the same since we left her behind.”

And they did, didn’t they? After those dark, horrific weeks of war, Sansa went home, but no one went with her. She gave everything for her people, and lost what was left of her family in the process.

“Is she alright?”

“I don’t know,” Arya admits, and that might scare him most of all. “I don’t know what it is, exactly. But she's...”

“Some of the smallfolk have taken to calling her ‘Old Stone Jenny,’” Gendry offers.

“And I’ve boxed the ears of anyone I’ve heard say it,” Arya answers fiercely, shooting a glare at her betrothed. “Don’t think I can’t get you, too, even on horseback.”

“Old Stone Jenny?” Jon’s mind feels slushy as he turns over Arya’s warning, looking for clues like worms beneath river rocks, not certain he wants to find them.

“Like the song,” Arya reminds him. Jon only recalls bits and pieces. The ones who’ve been gone for so very long, she couldn’t remember their names. “They say she’s made of iron and ice -- still as a statue and surrounded by ghosts.”

“Probably don't help that she spent most of her first year rebuilding the crypts,” Gendry chimes in again, and this time, the look Arya gives him is simple and sad. Jon’s stomach turns over at the thought of Sansa being tasked with laying generations of Starks back to rest -- and building new tombs for the ones who had loved her the most.

He barely knew her as a girl, and so many of his early memories are shrouded now in a thick fog of mortality and blood magic. All of Jon’s thoughts of Sansa are newer ones, from after her escape and his rebirth, when they found each other at the Wall. But it must be even more jarring for Arya, to see how the evils of the world and the pressures of power have forged her a sister so different than the one she knew.

“We stayed for almost a moon before we came to get you, and she had barely started to thaw by then,” she says sadly, looking off into the distance like it pains her to recall. “Even for me.”

Jon doesn’t have to imagine, there’s still so much he can picture like it’s happening in front of his eyes. “I remember how she was after Ramsey,” he offers as a comfort, though it sends a chill up his spine just to think of it.

He call still see the way Sansa would jump every time one of the doors in Castle Black latched too loudly, remembers the way she’d cower at a stray shout from the yard. When they returned to Winterfell, he would watch her spine go straight when anyone leaned in too close, saw her dig her fingernails into her soft palms when an over-familiar lord would bend to kiss her hand.

“She steels herself, but still she flinches,” he says, almost to himself. Past Arya, he sees Gendry nod in recognition.

“I tried to hug her,” he admits with a shrug. “When we told her about the betrothal.” He doesn’t finish the story. He doesn’t need to.

Jon wonders if there’s a space in the crypts now for everyone who left her. He wonders if there's one for him.

He turns back to Arya, who still seems lost in her thoughts, and decides to leave her be for a while. But after an hour or two more of riding, his curiosity gets the best of him.

“Why did you need to see my face?” He knows she’ll understand what he’s asking. But she just gives him that look like he's being stupid again.

“The last night we were there, she finally started talking,” she tells him, even so. “And then it was like she couldn’t stop. She talked about the past -- about Mother and Father, Robb and Rickon. She talked about how strange it felt to have Bran gone -- even when it used to feel like he wasn’t really there at all.”

The ache in Jon's heart has a name now too, the same one that's been echoing in his mind all this time. How selfish he’s been, to think that he was the one suffering the most.

“She even talked about the future,” Arya keeps on. “She's got a new idea in her head now about heirs for Winterfell, though gods know how that’ll even be possible.”

It's Jon’s turn to flinch at that, and when he glances at Arya, she has a shameful grimace on her face, like she hadn't meant to say that part aloud. Sansa never spoke of it, not to him at least, but another thing he’s never forgotten is the look in her eyes when she told him she wouldn't go back to Ramsey alive.

“Of course, any children Gendry and I have will be Baratheons, not Starks. So, no help there,” Arya spits out, moving past the uncomfortable moment, but her ire is reserved for the lob she aims in Jon’s direction. “A parting gift from your queen.”

To his credit, he barely flinches at the mention of Daenerys. “She’s not anybody’s queen anymore.”

Arya’s eyes narrow at him then. He should have been expecting this, at least. “Yes, and you never told me what changed your mind about that.”

“Something Tyrion said.” It’s all Jon offers. He doesn’t tell Arya that it was she, and not the Hand, who had been the first to make him realize where Dany would set her sights next. He doesn't know how to say it without giving away a truth he’s never looked in the face. “It wasn’t ever going to stop.”

“Sansa knew that.”

He doesn’t need the reminder, but accepts it as part of his penance. “Aye. I should have listened.”

“She never talked about you after we said our goodbyes that day,” Arya picks back up, like she half-knows all of his secrets anyway. “Not then, and not now. It’s like she can’t, or won’t. I thought maybe if you--”

“If I what , Arya?” Jon interrupts, suddenly incensed by the uncertainty of what’s facing him at the end of this ride. He can't save anyone, he never could. All of his efforts seem to end in failure and flames. He starts to say as much, but Arya won't hear it.

“You’ve been up there torturing yourself, and she’s been doing the same down here. The world’s moving on in peacetime, and somehow, the two smartest people I know are still stuck in the war.”

Jon just sighs. There’s little relief in her insight, not when it seems like her solution lies on the other side of his most daunting battle yet.

“I knew I had to bring you back to her,” Arya adds, softly. “I’m just not sure what’s going to happen when I do.”

It’s the most straightforward she’s been with him about anything. As the gates of Winterfell come into view, Jon only wishes it came as more of a comfort.

He hears Sansa’s voice before he sees her.

She’s in the Great Hall, discussing logistics of the upcoming celebrations with one lord or another, when they arrive. Jon's grateful for Arya’s plan to sneak in and avoid the fanfare of an official entrance, because it affords him a few moments to take her in candidly, as the Queen in the North.

He sneaks in the servants’ entrance in the back, down the narrow hallway he and Robb used to duck into to sneak nips of wine during feasts, several lifetimes ago.

Jon can't make out the words at first, but even just the overtones of her cadence echoing against the familiar granite soothe him in a way that shouldn’t be possible. He’s longed for that voice, he realizes just how strongly as it washes over him once again.

And then he sees her.

She’s as beautiful as he remembers, and so much more, red hair cascading across her Stark grey dress with a black wolf draped over her shoulder. She wears a crown like she was born for it -- she was , his stupid brain whispers -- and sits in the direwolf throne like it’s the only place she’s ever truly belonged. The rightness of it all brings Jon a sense of peace he’s never felt before.

She looks like everything he’s been yearning for and nothing he was expecting. She looks like the kind of queen they’ve already started writing songs about.

She looks so beautiful, Jon almost forgets to hate himself for thinking so much of it.

He tries to be as stealthy as possible -- no one else in the hall seems to notice his arrival -- but as soon as Sansa concludes her business with the lord, sending him away with a beatific but fleeting smile, her eyes turn to lock on his.

“Jon.” She says his name softly, but it rings in his ears, and then there’s nothing left for him to do but present himself officially. He walks on shaky legs to stand before her, ignoring the mumbles that start to fill the hall as the Northmen recognize his presence.

He means to call her “Your Grace” or “My Lady.” Even just her name would have been better. But the new honorific rolls off his tongue, like something he’s been waiting to say his whole life.

“My Queen.”

He knows he’s watching too closely, because he catches the ways her blue eyes widen a little. But she doesn't say another word until he moves to drop to his knee.

“Don’t-- ”

It's so soft, he wonders if he imagined it, but when he glances up to meet her eyes, Sansa looks almost pained. It only lasts a second, though, before she’s straightening her shoulders and sharpening her voice to a command. “Please, stand.”

Jon has no idea what's happened, and the rest of the hall seems equally frozen in confusion as he rights himself before their queen. Is she going to throw him out? Tear up his pardon and send him back to the Wall? Is she truly that unhappy that he's come?

Or, Jon wonders, meeting Sansa’s eyes again as a flash of something hot curls in his belly, is it that she can't stand to see him on the ground before her without thinking of the last queen for whom he bent the knee?

He only realizes the silence between them has stretched on too long when it’s broken by a flash of white fur that brushes right past her side before bounding down to where Jon stands awkwardly.

“Ghost!” Jon crouches down to pet him, glancing to his left to seek out Arya, who gives him a knowing look that nearly makes him scowl in return. But he’s too glad to see his companion alive and well to mind much that her question at Castle Black had been some kind of test. “I should have known this is where you’d be.”

The wolf’s ear has healed nicely, and the patches left over from the Battle of Winterfell have filled in as best they can. Jon glances up from greeting him and catches Sansa very nearly smiling at them, but it doesn’t last.

“He’s been here for a few moons.” Her eyebrows furrow and she comes as close to a frown as he thinks she’ll allow herself. “I thought--”

She doesn’t allow herself to finish the idea out loud, but Jon understands all the same. She’d thought he sent him. She’d thought the wolf was his way of being with her when he couldn’t.

Gods, he’d give anything in the world to be able to tell her she was right.

“No.” Awe and regret flood him in equal measure as he shakes his head at the beast, who looks positively docile as he returns to sit at the queen’s right-hand side. “But it seems like he knew where he needed to be.”

In the past, Jon likes to think, something like that would have broken through the ice between them. But Sansa sits stoic and still, looking almost through him. The only evidence that she's not a statue from the song is her hand reaching up to card calmly through Ghost’s fur.

For a moment, she seems so much to him like Lady Catelyn -- or perhaps it's just that he feels that same nagging sense of failure that had always followed the Bastard of Winterfell around this very hall. Iron and ice, Arya had said.

“Will you be staying though the wedding?” the Queen in the North asks him then, casually, as though she doesn't care either way. Her voice that has crystallized back to the formal. It's impossible to remember how he believed he wasn't going to ruin this

“Of course.” Jon almost smiles, looking over at where Arya stands, Gendry positioned just behind her. But they’re both watching Sansa, with expressions that betray more worry than he thinks they would probably want.

All she gives any of them is the slightest of nods, turning back to Jon with that same fake smile she gave the lord before him. He feels ill with how wrong this has gone so quickly, but she allows no time to fix it. “I’ll have someone show you to your chambers. Winterfell welcomes you.”

And that's that.

The corridors of the Great Keep seem colder than he remembers, and the servant, whom he doesn’t recognize, won’t look him in the eye as she walks him towards his old chamber. There’s barely more than a bed, a chair, a set of drawers, and the sound of his rattled breath echoing around the room, but it still feels more like home than the quarters he left behind at Castle Black.

That’s a dangerous thought, and Jon shoves it away with the others. He tells himself it’s exhaustion and delusion that has him smelling lemon and lavender -- there would be no reason for her to have been here -- and presses his fists to his eyes, suddenly and utterly drained by the journey and the loss of a hope he didn't even realize he was still carrying.

Just as he moves to close and latch the door and the day behind him, though, he hears a rustle in the corridor and then, gods , his name in that voice again.

“Jon .” There’s a flush to Sansa’s cheeks as she materializes before him. But she couldn't have rushed after him -- that wouldn’t befit a queen.

He clutches at the door frame as he takes her in, like it’s the only thing keeping him upright. “Your Gr--”

“Jon, please,” she whispers before he can finish, and suddenly he's back to being the man who can deny her nothing, from his mug of ale to a battle fought in their family's name.

She's right in front of him now, not up on some untouchable throne, and it's easier and harder all at the same time. He can see the uncertainty written across her face, the way her pulse flutters at the slope of her neck. Her hair is different that he's ever seen it, straight and smooth, but still stunning in his eyes, and he takes in a painful breath when he notices the direwolf detailing on her crown. Muddled as she makes him, though, his lips know just what to call her.

“Sansa .” Her eyes well up as he says her name, and his grow misty as well. He wants to pull her into his arms, to bury his face in the fur that drapes across her shoulders, but Arya's warnings are clear in his mind and so he leaves his arms at his sides, hands balling into fists.

“I’m sorry,” she says then, and he assuages her worry in an instant, though he hasn't the faintest idea what she's apologizing for.

“It’s alright.”

“I didn’t even know what to call you in there.” She sounds baffled by what was barely a blunder. He wonders if it’s the first she’d made in a year on the throne. It wouldn’t surprise him in the least. “I was surprised, I didn't meant to--”

“Sansa, it’s alright,” he says again, unable to stop saying her name after such a drought and unable to keep a smile from his face she steps past him into the room. “I’ve had about enough of titles to last me a lifetime. It’s good to be nobody once again.”

She turns on him, pursing her lips at that, and he tries not to stare at them for too long. But then her hand comes up to cup his cheek and Jon’s breathing stutters to a stop. He can’t remember if she was wearing gloves in the hall, but if she was, they're gone now. He tries and fails to suppress a shiver at the feel of her skin on his, from the slight chill of her fingertips to the warmth of her palm.

“You’re not .” His eyes slide open to meet hers at the fierce words. He hadn't realized that he'd closed them. “You’re not nobody, you never were.”

Here she is, the women he remembers. Not the queen on the throne, but the last Stark in Winterfell -- the best of all of them. She’s fierce like Arya, brave like Robb, wise like Bran and wild like Rickon. She’s everything, and she just gives it away like this.

“It’s good to see you, Sansa.” Jon knows he can’t give her much, but he can give her the truth. “I--”

He pauses and she draws in a breath, leaving the air too thin between them. There's a million things to say here, and he can't find one, suddenly lost in the familiar blue of her gaze.

“It’s just very good to see you,” he repeats, and he sees the smile in her eyes before it touches her lips, but he’s still not ready for the way it makes his entire chest seize up.

The hand on his cheek snakes around his neck and then she’s hugging him, fully and fiercely. He follows her lead, banding his arms around her back, trying not to notice how a sound that might be a sob escapes from where there once was space between them. The hunger and fatigue and anxiousness of his journey fade away in her embrace. Every question he has about past, present and future can wait. Holding her is the only thing there is.

They’re wrong about Sansa, they all are. Jon was sure of it the moment Arya tried to tell him, and he's even more certain now. There’s nothing stone in the soft curves under his hands, no ice in the hot breath that puffs against his neck. There are no ghosts in this keep tonight, there's only life in the words she presses into his cloak as their arms pull each other tighter.

“I'm so glad you're home.”

READ MORE: PART 2 - SANSA POV

[ravenquote]

OoC: Favorite Characters

I decided to focus on villains or anti-heroes, it’s hard picking just favorites in a general sense.

1. Harleen Quinzel A.K.A Harley Quin - DC Comic Universe I have been in love with this woman since September 1992 when she first aired in the Batman Animated series, Joker’s favor. Due to her brilliant creators of Paul Dini and Bruce Tim, led with the voice talents of Arleen Sorkin. She was born from her own raw desire to help people in her own best way possible, using her talents of understanding, reading and in many sense controlling people. Sadly, like Alice in wonderland, she fell into a realm of madness and uncertainty. She has been one of the most complex characters in animated history with large backstory and many turns and takes. Extremely popular on various forms and has made many appearances over the years even scoring some of her own comics and shows and now movies. When she was first created, she was merely a fill in and not meant to take and yet here she stands, a triumphant beauty whose overcome Abuse, trauma and degradation.

2. Azula - Avatar the last air bender animated television show + comics What can i say about Azula? In many retrospects she’s fierce, powerful, driven and just intelligent! I think a lot of people forget something pretty important about her: SHE WAS FOURTEEN! This young teenage, overthrew governments, taking whole cities and was the closest to killing the Avatar compared to anyone else. Not to mention her pure intelligence! People compare to playing a game of chess when it comes to moving people or controlling their actions. No, to this woman it was checkers. I truly believe if she didn’t become as over-confident as she did, the war would have ended with her taking the world. With the right nurturing, she would have become the most feared overlord the world would ever see.

3. Loghain Mac Tir - Dragon age book (The Stolen Throne by: David Gaider) and Dragon age Origins the Video game. Yeah, there’s a theme so far i am guessing you are seeing. I can’t help but appreciate sheer intelligence. Loghain is sort of obvious in the video games, it’s clear his intents. At the same time, there is far far more than what is merely on the surface with this man. An obvious villain, almost to the point of it being boring. Yet, why in the games are so many people hesitant and trusting of him? This man had proved himself, over and over, that he had his country in his heart and would do anything to protect it and keep it from the true monsters of the world. People. He was never shy about the routes he’d take, the lengths he’d go, he was brass, courageous, and deceptive. He called things out, forced people to seeing the bigger picture, he didn’t need to control or lie to people about things. He got what he wanted in the most unique ways possible, not his title, not his money, not his charisma but by being true in what had to be done. 

4. Sylvanas Windrunner - Blizzard Entertainment Video games I don’t see her as a Villain, an Anti-hero, yes. Look, we all know Blizz can’t seem to understand women or know how to write them on a large scale. I seriously feel bad for both, Piera Coppola and Patty Mattson as they have to watch this poor woman get brutally torn to pieces. I will always, always have a soft spot for her and remember the days where in many respects was like Illidain, and (above) Loghain. A woman who saw the bigger picture and would sacrifice anything to save everything she cared for. I wont drag on for her, simply because i know the most people who are doing this and following are from the Blizzard franchise and i know we have all heard many many layers to this continued argument about this particular character. If ya wanna PM about it or rant at me, bring it. I’m an Alliance player at heart, but i only got into w.o.w because of this woman. Both sides are shit. *drops mic*

5. Aaravos - Dragon Prince, Netflix television animated show. Okay, seriously, if you haven’t seen the show yet: DO IT! Just as with this theme, INTELLIGENCE, INTELLIGENCE, INTELLIGENCE! Tactful, charming, knowledgeable, i mean...look at that face! He is hands down perfect. Sadly, we still know very little of him but goshdamnit! Love! Love! Love! I can not wait to know more of him and see more of him. 

6. Maleficent - Fairy Tale story / Disney The jist of her, from stories and movies, is general: She was snubbed or insulted by the royal court and took her revenge on the child they were all celebrating. I’m sorry, but this has always been fantastic to me. What is more painful and hard to deal with then your own child being cursed? Claim petty if you want, but no, oh no my dear friend, this is a brilliant revenge. A normal person would blame the man in charge and curse him, but meh, whatever. Kings wont remember how they snubbed others, this is proven time and time again in many stories. Will this act ever be forgotten? Will the generations always remember not to snub a powerful faerie? You better believe it! She made a ever lasting mark, an impression that has lasted since the 13th century! Throughout the years no one has changed these facts: Maleficent was powerful, she was disrespected and she took her revenge onto a child. Normal stories like these over the years have changed both villains and heroes, or even circumstances. This classic has even seen the beautiful creation, directed by Robert Stromberg from a screenplay by Linda Woolverton, and still they honour the root of what was and with a focus on the villain and her origins.  How many villains get this?

7. Narberal Gamma - Overlord Anime/ Manga series Who doesn’t love a maid? Not to mention a Battle maid. Narberal is...mm, i don’t even know how to express her. She’s just generally cool, powerful, intelligent, loyal and honest with everything around her, just a demeanor of a refined perfection. She’s enjoyable to watch. Another thing i enjoy, she’s not the main villain. The show itself has many “villains”, i say in such way because it’s never really clear or obvious what you can count as villain or hero in a lot of ways. Yes, some are obvious but even then in many cases showed within it’s all about circumstances, who you are following, why you are following them. I enjoy the not so cut and dry of “good and evil”. This character also helps continue that ploy, helping and yet also killing people.

8. Carmilla - Castlevania Netflix series I’m a huge vampire fan, been so since middle school. I’m not as quick whipped as i use to be about the lore, history and so on when it comes to many Vampires and their origins. With such said, damn she made me bring out the books again, especially because she was one of my favorites to read about. I mean, Lesbian vampire. Do i need to say more? For now, i’ll only focus on the more recent adaption of her. So, yeah theme? We get it, intelligence. The world truly is a chess board for her, however she does not expect people to just flip the board on her. God, Jaime Murray, thank you so much for that wtf moment cause you expressed her sheer just horror at watching everything fall around her with perfection. Throughout the points we see Carmilla we see her truly be the tact master, stirring the pot and also showing her prowess in form. There is also a lot of restraint i don’t think people will give her credit for. We see how she expresses her emotions in violence, but i also think we are seeing it in a very, very pulled back way. I look forward to seeing how she changes her circumstances and sets things back into her own order in the coming season.

9. Akasha - Book series: The Queen of the Damned by Anne rice and movie: The Queen of the damned. Ah yes, the books that helped start the joys of vampires and how could i not fall in love with someone toying into the very beginning and trying to draw into the beginnings of a creature known throughout the world and time. Why do i choose Akasha considering i already touched base on vampires? Simple, she will always deserve a spot on any favorite list of anything. She gave so little cares about anything and only wanted the world to die and feel her wrath. Not to mention Aaliyah played this part so beautifully well it deserves every recognition it can get. I know she doesn’t seem to quite fit with the rest, but this is partly why she is so low on the list.

10. Callisto - Xena television series Last but certainly not least, we can’t forgot about this one. Good? Bad? Surely just pure chaos! She does what she wants and cares little about the consequences. It’s been ages since i’ve last seen the show i will admit, so my bases on her is a bit rusty. However, i will always remember her out of the many other villainous people we meet in the Xena universe. Fun, witty, combatant, you never knew what she was really going to do. As soon as she popped into a episode, i would recall fondly sitting at the edge of my seat just wondering how or why she did the things she did. There is my list of favorites, i’m sure you can see the themes between them all as many of them have common traits, inspirations and personalities. Hope you all enjoyed! Tagged by: @olivia-lovecraft​ tagging: *boops* you!

[where-theres-smoak-2]

GOT 8X06 THEORIES

Usually I don’t post my theories until the day before the episode airs so that I have the week to mull it over and think it all through but @lamesaucerylee asked what they were on my ep 5 post so I figured I’d just do them now and if I think of anything else later in the week I can do another post. 

So these are my theories for what I think may happen in the last ever episode of GOT. Now I’ve said in most of my review and theory posts that Game of thrones likes parallels and history repeating itself and circles and all that jazz. So I feel like we will have a lot of parallels and throwbacks in this episode as it is the last one. The rest is below the cut. 

1) I think the episode will open on several of our characters walking through the city taking in all the destruction until it will lead us to that shot of Dany walking out to where all her Unsullied are gathered. She’ll then make a speech will contain something that will worry our Characters and make it obvious that there’s no turning back for Dany. 

2) I said in my last theory post that I thought we’d get a coronation scene for Dany that mirrored Cersei’s and that’s how the episode ends as we didn’t I think its possible we’ll get it early on in this episode. 

3) The first thing Dany is going to do as Queen is summon all the lords to come and pay her fealty, this will include Sansa and Gendry. 

4) Jon obviously wasn’t impressed with Dany’s actions so I suspect he’ll start gathering his forces to unthrone Dany. This will include him sending a message to Gendry who I reckon has gone to Storm’s End asking for his support. Naturally Gendry will side with the Starks. 

5) Tyrion will be arrested and will face a trial. 

6) Sansa will refuse to swear fealty to Dany and will demand the release of Tyrion (her husband). When Dany refuses Sansa will gather the last remaining northmen and march them South. Now this one I think might happen because of all the reminder’s we’ve had about them being married, It might be that we’ll find out they weren’t granted a divorce after all and that Littlefinger lied about it. But also because as I said throwbacks and parallels. If Sansa does this then it will mirror Catelyn’s storyline. 

7) I’m not sure what’s going to happen to Tyrion, I’ll be honest I’m very worried about him. Especially as I said above about mirroring Catelyn’s journey of marching south to free a husband, well in that version her husband is executed before she gets there so they might go that route. But I also always believed that at least one person from each of the 4 main houses (Stark, Lannister, Targaryen and Baratheon) would survive. Tyrion is the last of the Lannisters. If there is one way out of it for Tyrion its him demanding a trial by combat. I actually think this is highly likely to happen for a couple of reasons. 1) He’ll ask Bronn to be his champion as Bronn will know he won’t get his castle if Tyrion dies. This will be a throwback to the first trail by combat at the eyrie. Also another thing Game of thrones likes is the number 3. If Tyrion asks for a trial by combat then that will be three bringing the set to a complete. 

8) There will be a standoff between Jon’s forces and Dany’s. It will look like its going in Dany’s favor when the Baratheon host will arrive and turn the tide just like the Knights of the Vale in the Battle of the Bastards. 

9) The North, The Baratheon forces, The Vale and what’s left of the Lannister forces will join together to take down Dany just as they did during Robert’s Rebellion, again history repeating itself. 

10) Yara will show up at some point. I’m not sure who’s side she’ll be on as she has got that deal with Dany where if she supports her then the Iron Islands get their independence with Yara as Queen. So if I gave it my best guess I’ll porbably go with she’ll start out on Dany’s side but will turn half way through when she sees how far off the deep end Dany has gone and as a way of honouring Theon by choosing to support her brothers family instead. But I’m not all that sure on this one.

11) Drogon will be killed by a mob of people. This will mirror the Storming of The Dragonpit from Targaryen history. There is going to be alot of anti-dragon feelings going on in the next episode.  

12) After the stand off becomes even again the two opposing sides with come to a stand still with neither one having an advantage. So Jon will ask to meet and treat with Dany to which she will agree. When Jon sees that Dany is lost to her madness he realises he has no choice but to kill her. 

13) Jon will be offered the crown but will refuse it and will instead go back up North to live with the Wildlings beyond the wall. I think he’s just so traumatised at this point that he’s going to try and find whatever peace he can. This will be a bittersweet ending for him because he’s lost so much but it’ll have that touch of hope that he can find some happiness out in the wilderness. 

14) Gendry will become King. Bringing everything full circle. We started this series with a Baratheon King on the throne and I think we will end it the same way. I think he’ll marry Arya finally uniting House Baratheon and Stark. And they will rule together. Arya will show everyone that you can be a Lady/ Queen and still be a complete badass jsut like Nymeria did in Dorne and like Visenya and Rhaenys did. After all those are her heroes. Either Davos or Tyrion will be hand of the king, Brienne will be in the Kingsguard. Bronn will get his castle. 

15) Sansa might become Queen in the North if Gendry gives the North its independence. In which case I think Tyrion will become Hand of the Queen (with Davos as Hand of the King). This could have been foreshadowed by Sansa’s comment of ‘depending on the Queen I suppose’ back in episode 1. If she doesn’t end up as QITN then she will end up as the Warden of the North. 

16) Tyrion will be granted Casterly Rock. 

17) Sam and Gilly will get Bear Island and raise their family there. Her baby will be a boy and they will call it Jon. They’ll go on to have many more children.

18) Bran will keep on being Bran living in the past and staring at people wierdly. He might have a place on the council. 

19) If we don’t find out Sansa and Tyrion are still married (and he does surivive) then I think they will get remarried. I do think we’ll get a montage of all our remaining characters at the end. 

20) I joked that the very last scene of the episode will be focussing in on Dragon eggs all around the world showing that the last of the Dragons aren’t truly gone. At the time I was joking about it but now I actually think it might be a possibilty. 

So those are my best guesses for the next episode. I think the thing I’m most worried about is Tyrion because he’s one of my favourite characters so I really don’t want him to die, but he’s definitely in some hot water after letting Jaime go last episode and Dany isn’t in the greatest frame of mind. 

Who I think will die.

1) Dany (she’ll be killed by Jon) 

2) Grey Worm (In the trial by Combat killed by Bronn) 

3) Drogon (by a mob) 

4) Possible Tyrion (executed by Dany) But I really really hope not. 

[demigodkass]

Opinion of Judgement of Atlantis

Yes, this is super super late and I’ve been mostly inactive, I’m truly sorry - I’ve been busy. BUT regardless, here are my honest opinions of Judgement of Atlantis, and for the most part Fate of Atlantis as a whole. Naturally spoilers ahead.

So I’ve found since I’ve finished it that the most interesting scene was the very first one where we officially get introduced to Atlantis / Poseidon. And that’s not me being snarky, perhaps it was the hype or what have you but I found I was ravished by the opener but it got progressively more emotionless as time went on.

And with that comes the fact that: Judgement of Atlantis was emotionless. Sure there’s the kid whose parents we helped save but we didn’t get to know him, no cute scenes, nothing really. Just me laughing that this kid loved my speech about banging as many girls as Queen Kass could. I mean I’ll give it to Ubisoft, they did a good job at portraying how tired Kass was, BUT JESUS Ubisoft she has another two thousand years to go and then you went and TOOK AWAY ATLANTIS FROM HER. Okay back track.

The war that was brewing between Isu and humans were nothing more than a half developed plot. We had quests on it, it was a huge human traffiking story, all of that. But nothing at all came out of it. It felt like a completely unfinished story. It would’ve been 1000x more satisfying if a truly brewing WAR was the reason Atlantis had to be destroyed forever OR you had to make the massive decision of choosing between humans or isu and fighting with or against isu / Poseidon, and by also having to choose wether Atlantis goes into another cycle (without you) or get destroyed (naturally without you) both climatic ends would’ve resulted in the same ending of Kass being spit back out into the throne room. If you wanted to keep up the appearance that Atlantis was destroy you could’ve made it on the insight pieces that choosing another cycle just delays the inevitable, which truthfully *does* leave some loose ends, I understand. I still stand by my opinion that we should’ve been able to choose a side of war to pick and our war waging and fighting degraded Atlantis to the point where regardless of if you took Atlantis from Poseidon by force or if you joined him you would have to destroy Atlantis.

I also think the Juno and Aita’s storyline was rushed and they were like mosquitos okay. They were less than a threat, and you knew it all along. The Hekatonchires should’ve appeared in the big war if anything, as a rogue isu experiment that Kass had to kill to save all of Atlantis, when she saw the hekatonchires that’s when she decides “yep Atlantis is getting destroyed, I’ve had enough”. But the big point of making is that it should’ve appeared in the middle of the crazy Atlantic human vs isu war instead of just running down into a room. I want a story of Kass leading 300 humans like she’s truly Leonidas reincarnate and THATS a part of her human mortal history. And she wields that spear like it’s fate itself she’s slicing around. But nah. We get mosquitos.

If we couldn’t pick sides I would’ve liked Kass to lead her 300 humans against the isu, destroy the Hekatonchires, Poseidon either surrenders or you fight him depending on dialogue choices, you destroy Atlantis while the humans run, and when you meet Aletheia - and Kass is initially hostile for a second before collecting herself - Aletheia then explains her part in all of this and why Atlantis had to be destroyed. It would’ve fallen in line with the fact Aletheia sympathized with humans and in theory might’ve fought for them, just as she said that the simulations were a part of her memories. Kass then officially is granted full powers of the staff as she has proved that she can handle tremendous burden and makes the right decisions that Aletheia approves of.

ALSO UBI WHY ON EARTH DID WE NOT GET A POST ODYSSEY TIMELINE OF KASS’S HISTORICAL ADVENTURES OVER 2000 YEARS. I wanted a damn voiceover like in lotfb.

Atlantis was beautiful, the people we met were nice and the developing the isu persona was cool. But Judgement of Atlantis left me feeling empty, not only because the whole story is “over” but because it was left brutally unfinished, with so many loose ends and half developed stories.

Elysium was beautiful and developed with rich rebellion dynamic and interpersonal relationship. The underworld hit you right in the gut from all its serious themes (the suicide forest and the cradle of the underworld anyone?), and meeting those who have died throughout the story. The first two episodes were heavy with content and world building but I feel Atlantis was underdeveloped and rushed. It was superficial and unsatisfying. We were made to believe Kass would make it her home but it never really felt like home. I love JOA for the first scene and the first walk down from the palace (as such) but once I got into the game I was disappointed by extremely undeveloped plots, side stories, and characters. I’d say the most developed story / character was the werewolf girl, and even that I would’ve liked a bit more on.

Right, so I’m very sorry that this came out so negative, but I really do believe that Ubisoft could’ve developed the final episode waaaay more than what they did, the story needed more time than what it got, what we are left with from the rush is a sadly ambiguous story and a ridiculously vague ending for Kass ):

But hopefully you guys agree with some of my points! I’d love to hear your opinions too!

[lordgeebsdom]

2019, a year in review: Superlative Edition

-Gareth Bill

Athlete of the year:  Lamar Jackson - QB Baltimore Ravens.  HM: Kawhi Leonard - SF Toronto/LA

Lamar Jackson came out of nowhere to light the league on fire in 2019 breaking Michael Vick’s all-time record for rushing yards by a Quarterback and redefining the position in the process.  From his five touchdown performance in Miami to being the assumed MVP, there wasn’t a week where Lamar Jackson didn’t dominate headlines and he continues to show superiority as Baltimore has secured the Number 1 seed in the AFC.  Honorable mention goes to Kawhi Leonard for producing the first ever buzzer beater in a game 7 in NBA history and for also bringing Canada their first NBA title.  Even against a Kevin Durant-less Golden State Warriors team, Leonard stepped up and delivered when it counted most.

Song of the year: Lost Lately- San Holo.  HM: Daemon Veil - EPROM & G Jones

Sander van Dijck, better known by his stage name “San Holo” surprised us with “Lost Lately” in June of this year.  A melancholic and melodic ballad of discovery and feeling “lost in aftermath of a breakup” spoke to feelings of insecurity and extends a friendly hand to those in need.  From an endearing marketing campaign featuring “lost” posters where fans could call a “helpline” to hear an exclusive sample of the song, to a music video taken straight from EDC: Bitbird executed an almost perfect build and drop for “Lost Lately.”  Great followup work to last years “Album1” and I definitely am excited about his future projects for 2020.  Honorable mention goes to the IDM monster “Daemon Veil” by EPROM and G Jones.  Plain and simple, I loved this ear worm.  There’s so much going on from the initial baseline drop to the stuttering minefield of drops and turns that follows before a calming conclusion.  Every time I hear this track, I see it too: the flying snares, the zips, zooms and wubs, the story it tells me….its captivating and satisfying.  While it isn’t as friendly for casual listening like my 2018 song of the year “Time” (also by G Jones), Daemon Veil is an IDM banger that I’ll continue to blast well into 2020 and beyond.

Album of the year: Good Faith- Madeon.  HM: Hollywood’s Bleeding - Post Malone

This was a tough call for me, there was a lot of great albums that came to us in 2019 but Madeon’s “Good Faith” stands tall above the rest.  From the initial singles of “All My Friends,” and “Dream, Dream, Dream,” to the unexpected bangers of “Miracle,” and “No Fear, No More,”: “Good Faith” makes a solid argument not just for album of the year but possibly even for the decade and I simply cannot recommend it enough.  Honorable Mention goes to “Hollywood’s Bleeding” by Post Malone.  Like many, I have thoroughly enjoyed the evolution of Post Malone from SoundCloud sensation to certified super-star, and “Hollywood’s Bleeding” continues to show us that this artist is just getting started.  I loved “Goodbyes,” “Circles,” “Sunflower,” and many other tracks on that album, and I’m confident many others did as well. Rapper, Rockstar, Soul-singer and bro: best of luck in 2020 and beyond Post, we’re all eagerly watching.

Movie of the year: Its a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood.  HM: Avengers: Endgame

Easily the most contested category of the year and the hardest decision made in these superlatives.  2019 produced some awesome films but Tom Hanks’s take on Fred Rogers gave me chills that I hadn’t felt since seeing Christopher Reeve’s Superman as a child.  Like Superman, his presence among adults and children alike would universally cause awe and calm, almost god-like tranquility through security. In a year that was defined by division, unrest, cruelty, and anger: Fred Rogers reminds us that there’s still a great deal of hope for humanity, and it all starts with being a good neighbor.  Young, old and everyone in between can learn something from this deeply affecting story about humanity and connection.  Honorable mention goes to Avengers: Endgame for managing to be the only major franchise ending this year (Game of Thrones, Avengers, Star Wars) that managed to do it with a consensus BANG!  It was a 3 hour film that somehow felt like an hour and half, and when Captain America held Mjornir with every Avenger ever at his back and said “Avengers, Assemble!”, I couldn’t help but fist pump with a grin from ear to ear.  Tony Stark’s dying words of “I am Iron-Man,” gave me goosebumps and Black Widow’s death made me feel genuine loss: The Marvel Cinematic Universe managed to execute a singular plan and vision over 23 films and that is truly exceptional. 

Actor/Actress of the year: Joaquin Phoenix as Arthur/Joker.  HM: Florence Pugh - Midsommar

Joaquin Phoenix’s long anticipated and controversial performance as Joker was the best singular work I saw this year.  Authentic, gut-wrenching, thought-provoking, and anything but boring: Joker gave us the next step in comic book cinema and a new cultural icon in the process.  Arthur Fleck is a poster child for mental illness, something that currently is at the forefront of our society and gave the general public a poster child for such conditions.  Phoenix’s Joker will one day be recognized in the same light as we currently see Che: an underdog figure of resistance and revolution standing against a seemingly unstoppable status quo and inspiring the unseen masses in the process.  Honorable mention has to go to one of my new favorites in Florence Pugh and her performance as Dani in “Midsommar”.  Her pain, confusion, and ultimate triumph that unravels throughout a trip to a small village in Europe during their mid-summer festival is the stuff of “slow-burn horror” wet-dreams.  There’s a scene early on where her character has to convey immense grief after suffering a personal tragedy and I can still hear that crying in the most haunting way.  Pugh’s performance stuck with me in a year full of great ones, and I’m very excited to see her future work including “Black Widow” in May.  

Television show of the year: Watchmen- HBO.   HM: Good Omens - Amazon Prime

Watchmen blew my mind, and I the less I say about it, the better.  A continuation of the story told in my favorite book of all-time, “Watchmen” managed to tie together many loose plot threads from that story while also moving the universe forward in new and exciting ways that matched the tone of the graphic novel.  Regina King’s ���Sister Night” was a complex, likable, and tragic protagonist uniquely qualified to walk us through this new chapter, and without spoiling things anymore than I already may have: YOU NEED TO WATCH THIS.  Honorable Mention goes to Good Omens on Amazon Prime.  To any familiar with the story or Neil Gaiman’s work in general, you know what to expect: deep stories, complex and likable characters, and witty dialogue that will make you pause and think or laugh feverishly in equal measure.  Its only 5 episodes, so there’s really no excuse to not dive into this one and see how the world ends…..or rather was supposed to…

Game of the year: Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice - PS4/XboxOne/PC. HM: Apex Legends - PS4/PC/XboxOne

From Softwares’ “Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice” stands tall in a year that finally saw long awaited projects like Obsidian’s “Outer Worlds” and Kojima’s “Death Stranding” get long-awaited releases.  An exciting and more stealthy evolution of the Dark Souls combat system made me feel like a real Ninja for the first time since Ninja Gaiden Black on my original Xbox.  The demanding, but fair gameplay combined with a variation of environments including haunted Japanese forests, Sengoku Temples, Palaces and gory battlefields came together to give the most complete package I played in 2019. Just don’t be too surprised if the final boss gives you problems because that f***er can almost made me break a controller.  Honorable mention goes to the game that managed to dethrone “Fortnite” as the most popular game for like a whole two months.  Respawn entertainment developed the awesome Titanfall series that I personally enjoyed and rumors had been circulating for quite awhile that they were looking to expand Titanfall into the booming genre of BR or Battle Royale.  Apex Legends is the answer to those prayers and still continues to push out new skins, content and weapons at a regular rate.  Did I mention it is also completely free to play? 

Story of the year: President Trump becomes the third President to ever be impeached 12/19

HM: Henry Nobrega wins the fucking BVN Football Fantasy Football title. 11/19

To be perfectly honest, this is the first category that really could have gone either way for me.  President Trump becoming the third President in US history to be impeached for abuse of power and obstruction of congress was massive; regardless of how you feel about President Orangutan.  His tenure as President has produced a number of newsworthy moments but this story stood out among the others for sheer importance and international embarrassment.  Speaking of embarrassment, that’s essentially what my good friend Henry’s fantasy football team has managed to be every year that I’ve played with him.  A perennial basement dweller that typically auto drafts due to some BS excuse, and a resident near the bottom of our power rankings but this year he flipped that script on its head.  He managed to draft my Athlete of the year, Lamar Jackson, and the last great white running back in Christian McCaffrey.  Not only did Henry surpass his preseason ranking of bottom, he managed to win both regular season and postseason titles and beat a solid team by Graham Heck in the process.  I got love for you bro, but I’m still perplexed on how your season managed to be as dominant as it was.  Sorry Greta Thunberg, but these stories had my jaw on the floor, maybe next year lil’ Queen.

Meme of the year: Baby Yoda of the Disney+ show “The Mandolorian” 

Was there every really a doubt here?  Baby Yoda or “The Child” as he’s known on the show is the biggest pop culture icon born on the internet in 2019.  The gap between Baby Yoda and what I considered to be an honorable mention was so wide that he will officially stand alone in this category.  Baby Yoda’s cuteness managed to melt even my stone cold heart this year and that is absolutely an achievement.  What made this creature so endearing was the universal applicability though music, sports, culture, and food: Baby Yoda was everywhere and the internet found common ground and shared meaning through sharing little graphics everywhere prominently featuring him as the centerpiece.  Well played Jon Favreau, we love this little guy and everyone thanks you for creating him.  

[nicoleknows-nothing]

Pucks Deep (Mark Scheifele Fan Fiction - CHAPTER TWO)

CONFUSED? START HERE, READER >> INTRO & CHAPTER ONE

Mark Scheifele, #55 of the Winnipeg Jets. Born in Kitchener, Ontario, drafted back in 2011 and signed an eight-year deal with the Jets in 2016. He plays centre, serves as an alternate captain, and shoots with his right hand. He also played for team Canada in the 2012 World Juniors and team North America in the 2016 World Cup of Hockey. Last season, he played sixty games in the regular season, scored twenty-three goals and assisted in thirty-seven for a total of sixty points. His six-foot-three, 207-pound frame is the perfect bulk for winning battles--

“When are you going to stop Googling him?” Ruby walked into the kitchen, heading straight to the Keurig machine to make a cup of coffee.

I turned away from my laptop, adjusting my glasses from falling off of my face.

“Until I know his whole life story.” I protested, taking a sip of my cold earl grey tea.

I had been up since six in the morning, as well as sitting at my laptop for most of the day before, researching everything I could about Mark Scheifele. I've been on Wikipedia, the NHL website, Instagram, Tumblr, Reddit, YouTube; I found so much information already, I could start writing an autobiography for him.

“I have an idea.” Ruby sat down beside me at the kitchen table, the smell of her hot hazelnut coffee filled my nose, giving me a boost of energy. “Why don't you text him instead of being an internet stalker?”

“I'm not ready yet.” I bluntly answered, tapping away at my keyboard.

“It's been 48 hours.”

“I just--” I sighed. “What if he doesn't answer back? Or he pretends that he doesn't know who I am? Or he does text back and says that giving me his number was a mistake?”

“He’s not going to do that, Neens! If he didn’t want to give you his number, he wouldn’t have done it in the first place,” Ruby tried to assure me. I ignored it and started to look in my internet history to find a page I found earlier about Mark’s past relationships. I showed it to Ruby. “His ex-girlfriend is a freestyle skier. She won a gold medal in Sochi! How do I compete with that?!”

Ruby slammed my laptop shut.

“Okay, listen to me.” She grabbed my shoulders and forced me to look her straight in the eye. “First of all, You’re doing that thing when you over analyze situations in your head and you psych yourself out. You need to stop, it's not healthy.”

“Second of all, forget all of the other girls. He wants to talk to you, he wants to get to know YOU. Gold Medal Girl who? She's got nothing on you! You are talented in so many other ways that can easily impress him! You just need to get out of your own head and you need to text him!”

Ruby is the perfect hype-woman, and she was right. Before I knew who Mark really was, he was just the really cute guy at the bar. He was nice and out of all of the women in the room, he gave me a chance. Now, I just know a little bit more about him...maybe I know a bit too much but I shouldn't let it cloud my judgement. However, there was one thing I was having trouble with.

“What do I even say?” I asked, twirling my cell phone around in my hand.

“You could start with 'Hey, it's Nina?’” Ruby suggested.

I stopped playing around with my phone and laid it on the kitchen table, concentrating my gaze on it. I stared at it for so long that I was hoping I could send the text with my mind because my fingers were an anxious, shaking mess.

“It's not too early is it?” I looked around the kitchen for the time, even though I know there isn't a clock in the kitchen.

“It's 9:30 AM, he's probably up by now.” She grabbed my phone and put it back in my hands. “Do it.”

I unlocked it and opened the draft I had been sitting on for the last two days. All you have to do is say hi, and then the rest will follow…

Hey, it's Nina :) ...and send!

“There. Done.” I put my phone back down on the table and took another sip of my tea. I felt a mild sense of relief but was still apprehensive of the text I would get back.

Within moments, my phone was ringing. I checked the caller ID and choked on my tea.

“It's Mark!” I coughed through the liquid stuck in my throat, which was followed by instant panic. “What do I do? I'm not ready for this! TALKING IS HARD! WHAT DO I DO!?”

“ANSWER THE PHONE!” Ruby picked up my phone, swiped the green icon, and shoved it in my face.

“H-h-hello?” I stammered.

“Hey Nina, it's Mark!” He could hear me coughing up a lung in the background. “Are you okay? Is this a bad time?”

“No, not at all!” I finally cleared my throat and got up from my chair to pace around the kitchen. “I'm surprised you called me, and so quick.”

“I’m driving at the moment and didn’t want to make you think I was ignoring you.” He explained. On the phone, his voice sounds sweet but gravelly at the same time.  “To be honest I was excited you messaged me, it's already made my day.”

I went blank, my brain didn’t want to construct sentences. What was the English language? My response consisted of saying ‘uhh,’ ‘cool,’ and ‘yeah’ in between girlish giggles for what felt like a century. Then finally I managed to spit some words out.

“Well, it's a pretty cool number, I couldn't wait to call it...” Ruby looked at me perplexed, even my mouth was questioning what kind of word vomit was that.

“Thanks! I've never gotten a compliment about my phone number before.” Mark laughed on the other end. “So, what are you up to today?”

“Nothing too exciting, just chilling out with the roommates.” More like isolating myself in my bedroom, eating leftover Vietnamese takeout, and playing ranked matches on Rocket League. “What about you?”

“Well, I’m on my way to the Iceplex for practice. It's open to the public today if you and your roommates are interested in coming.”

“Uhhh…” I looked over at Ruby who was hopping in place with a big smile on her face and giving two thumbs up. “Yeah, sounds like fun. We'll be there.”

“Great! I can't wait!”

We said our goodbyes and as soon as I got off the phone Ruby and I were bouncing around the kitchen,

“See? That wasn't so bad!” She reassured. “He even said he was excited to hear from you!”

“I said weird things but it’s okay because he still wants to see me!” I cheered. Heather came into the kitchen and stared at the two of us screaming like teenagers who were about to see One Direction on their reunion tour.

“What are you guys so excited about?” Heather croaked while making herself a cup of tea. I stopped jumping around to notice the redness around her nose, pale skin, and bags under her eyes.

“We just got invited to go watch gorgeous guys play hockey!” Ruby squealed, ignoring the state of our friend.

“Ugh, no thanks.” Heather sniffled. “Cold rink. Cold weather. I’m staying in bed, drinking an entire bottle of Nyquil and binge watching Game of Thrones.”

“I’ll help you back to bed.” I offered, walking with Heather back to her room and tucking her into bed. “Feel better, okay? And if you need anything, text me.”

By the time I put the first episode on for her, she was passed out. I walked back into the kitchen to see Ruby getting off of the phone.

“What are you doing? Why are you not dressed yet?” She asked, pushing me into my bedroom and digging into my dresser. “You need to get all dolled up for your sexy hockey man!”

“I could ask you the same thing. Who were you on the phone with?” I overturned her question. Ruby was holding up shirts to my chest and throwing clothing all over the place.

“Our third…” She quickly changed the subject, looking at my burgundy crew neck sweatshirt. “Oooh, this is cute! Wear this!”

Who is ‘our third?’

---

“I'm so happy you guys invited me!” Simon locked his lifted Dodge Ram 1500 with his fob key. “Do you think Big Buff will sign my Jets hat?”

The ride to the Bell MTS Iceplex was an event all in itself. I was scared for those driving around us because Simon almost got us into THREE accidents, including narrowly missing a family crossing the street in the Unicity area. I never sunk so low in a seat as Simon got berated by the father for driving irresponsibly. Probably didn't help that he was blasting heavy metal the entire way down Portage Avenue, as well as looking at his phone to see if a girl he gave his number to at Cowboy's answered him back. He also decided that it would be a fun idea to quickly do donuts in the empty parking lot by Assiniboine Downs, adding nausea to my already crippling anxiety. As soon as he had his truck parked at the Iceplex, I beelined it for the door, distancing myself as far as I could from Simon and Ruby.

I instantly regretted my decision to split from Simon and Ruby. The Iceplex was crowded, a sea of dark blue and white jerseys covered the first floor of the building and continued up the staircase to the second floor. It was worse right by the entrance; groups of eager kids pushing by eager adults to make their way into the Canadian Tire arena where the practice was being held. I could feel myself getting antsy waiting for those two slowpokes to get in here. Finally, Ruby and Simon walked in and I pulled them to the side to avoid the large crowd of fans.

“How are we going to get into the arena?” I asked, my breath short from feeling claustrophobic.

“There are bleachers in the balcony. Usually, people like to be by the rink so they can get stuff signed.” Simon explained, grabbing mine and Ruby’s hands and pulling us forward. “Follow me!”

We bulldozed through the crowd, getting dragged to the second floor to the entrance of the balcony. I watched as Simon pushed his way down to the front row of bleachers and found seats right in the middle, receiving dirty looks from every single person he blew by.

“Any time now, girls!” He waved us over. I started to feel a bit grateful that Simon tagged along. I could never be as adamant or pushy as he is. He could care less.

We sat down as the team was about to start doing drills. I sat there quietly, observing which way the puck was going and trying to figure out why the players were wearing either a red, blue, or white jersey. This was already confusing to me. I asked Simon what the deal was.

“The red jerseys are the defensemen. And the white and blue jersey are the forwards.” He explained.

“But why white AND blue? Why not just two colours?”

“Well, the different lines can be split by colour. Or if they're practicing in their special teams, the power play line is one colour and the penalty killing line is the other.”

I tried to let the information sink in…”I don't get it.”

“Haha it's okay, don't worry about it right now.” Simon shifted my head towards the northern part of the rink. “Just watch your dude go!”

My eyes immediately found Mark on the ice. He was wearing a white jersey and talking to one of the red jersey guys by the boards. A whistle blew and he made his way to the middle of the ice with a few other players. I watched in awe as the whistle blew again and his feet glided across the icy surface with quick precision. The puck was passed to him; the control he had was flawless, manoeuvring around and keeping it away from the other players. He gave the puck away to another white jersey on the other side of the ice and advanced closer to the goal. The puck was sent back to him again; it barely touched the blade of his stick when he took his shot. The puck went in, flying over the goalie’s shoulder and into the top left corner of the net. Applause erupted in the small arena. I clapped as well, blending into the crowd because I wasn’t the type of person to make a big deal about a practice goal...but Ruby was.

“WHOO! LET’S GO #55!” She shouted, her arms straight in the air while jumping from her seat and standing on the bleachers. Oh my god…

“Ruby! Get down!” I grabbed her by the bottom of her black zip-up hoodie and pulled her down.

I looked back at the ice and there was Mark, looking up at us as he skated by. His crystal blue eyes instantly found mine in a crowd of hundreds, the connection creating an electric current inside of me. My face felt flush as I smirked meekly and waved at him from above. He winked, his guard hanging out of the corner of his mouth.

As strange as it sounds, him chewing on a dental appliance was really attractive. I don’t know why or how, but the image somehow flicked a switch in my brain that made the conclusive decision; it was hot, like mucho caliente.

Once practice was over, the team spent an hour interacting with the fans; answering questions, taking pictures, and signing anything a person had on them. I overheard one guy say he had the whole team sign his chest and was heading to Living Canvas right after to get their names tattooed. I decided to sit outside of the arena by myself around the concession area, staying away from the frenzy. Simon was busy getting autographs on his snapback and Ruby wanted to wander around the facility.

Twenty minutes after the crowd died down, I got a text from Mark.

Hey! Are you still here?

I replied. Yup! Sitting at the concession.

Cool! Be out there soon.

I quickly tapped on the camera of my phone and checked my makeup and hair. Everything looked good, that was until Ruby came up behind me and threw a grey knitted toque on my head.

“Ta-da! Your first piece of Jets merch!” She beamed. “All you need is your man’s jersey and you’re set!”

“Thanks, Ruby!” I adjusted the toque on my head and stood up from my chair to strike a pose. “How does it look?”

Before she could say a word, a voice behind me spoke up.

“It looks good on you.”

I turned around and saw Mark, standing tall despite being active on the ice for the last two hours. His fingers ran through his damp, cool brown hair, swooping it to the side before placing his hands in the pockets of his charcoal sweatpants. His hockey bag slung over his right shoulder, the strap pulling at the sleeve of his cobalt blue Nike sweater.

“Hi.” he grinned.

“Hi…” We stood in silence for a moment, admiring each other. Ruby instantly got uncomfortable.

“Well, I’m gonna leave you two alone and go find Simon.” She was about to walk away when Mark was snapped out of his trance.

“Speaking of your friend Simon, he actually got escorted out of the building a while ago.” He told the two of us.

Ruby’s eyebrows went up in confusion, I deeply sighed in disappointment.

“What did he do?” We asked in unison.

“He snuck into the dressing room pretending he was from the Free Press, but today wasn’t a media day so everybody was kind of confused as to why he was there,” Mark explained, laughing about the situation. “He’s okay though, he told me he was gonna wait by his truck.”

“Okay then, I will meet you at the truck.” Ruby decided.

“Actually, if it’s okay with you…” Mark interjected. “I can drive Nina home later. I was thinking we could grab a bite to eat because I am starving.”

“Yeah, I’m okay with that.” I agreed. The combination of anxiety bubbles and butterflies in the pit of my stomach was starting to make me hungry.

“As long as she is home at a decent time, then it is fine with me.” Ruby wagged her finger at the two of us like an overprotective mother. “And no funny business!”

We parted ways with Ruby as we left the Iceplex. I watched her make kissy faces from outside the truck while Simon wrapped his arms around his body and proceeded to make out with himself. Those two...

“I'm parked over here.” Mark pointed towards the west side of the building.

Was this really happening? Am I actually on a 'sort-of’ date with a professional hockey player right now? Did I brush my teeth this morning? How bad is my breath? How red is my face? I don't know if it's from the cold temperature in the rink or from me blushing so much. I think i'm sweating, do I smell okay? Will he noticed if I take a quick whiff of my armpit?

He's looking at me. My god, he's pretty. His strong jawline, the subtle stubble of his goatee, his long eyelashes... Have I been staring for too long? How long have I been silent? I'm over analyzing again, say something for the love of God!

“Wooooords…” I said that out loud… Where's the nearest hole?

“What was that?” He asked, chuckling. I stayed silent, fearing that I would say something stupid again.

We stopped in front of a sleek silver SUV. I have watched way too many David Dobrik videos to immediately recognize the make of the car.

“You have a Tesla Model X!?” My mouth dropped open and eyes wide in wonder. Mark double clicked on the back of his key fob and the trunk opened.

“Pretty neat, huh?” He threw his hockey bag in the trunk and clicked another button. The side doors lifted up over my head and floated back down moments later. “I like opening the falcon doors for fun sometimes.”

“Cool!!” I marvelled. Mark came to the passenger side of the car and open the door for me.

“Your chariot awaits…”  

[korinsu-t-blog]

May 20 // Shibuya + Meiji Shrine

Got up super early again today, the jet lag is still strong but at least it’s not as bad later in the day. After lounging around all morning until 10 (I did cook some pasta on a tiny little burner, which was fun), we set out for two places: the Shibuya shopping district, and then a shrine to the Meiji Emperor, the man who almost singlehandedly ushered in the modernization of Japan within a single thirty-year reign. There was a lot of walking involved, but all in all it was pretty cool.

First, Shibuya. We got off the metro after a lengthy ride to find a statue of a famous dog, whose story you’ve probably read somewhere. It’s the one that would come to the station and wait for its owner every day, even after its owner passed away. I guess that dog sets the bar for getting a statue in your honor.

Shibuya was absolutely packed, but honestly I’m sorta getting used to defining new levels of crazy-jam-packed. You’ve got the subway packed, which is close but not uncomfortable. You’ve got the Shibuya packed, where it’s wide open and there’s a lot of people milling around but you can still make your own way. Then there’s the urban market hell that is Harajuku, where the alleys are tiny, the crowds are shoulder to shoulder, and it’s mass chaos.

After following Mr. Smith around Shibuya to a famous manga store (which didn’t open until noon), me and another guy named Austin split off on our own to do some looking around in a less conspicuous group. There’s still a lot of people staring at us, but they’re pretty good at hiding it. It’s very rare that you’ll actually turn around or catch someone’s eye and see them looking at you directly, but the other guys have noticed it a lot too. People always look right away though, it’s interesting. Anyways, Shibuya. We ended up on the fourth floor of a department store that was selling $8K suits and noped right out of there, then eventually found our way to a Uniqlo store that had some great shirts, all really inexpensive. Uniqlo is great, but it’s primarily JPN based and it’s hard to find their good stuff in america. After that, we wandered around a bit and decided to look for food. We happened to pass by a place roasting meat on a spinner like a gyro shop, and the rest was history- it was suuuuper good.

Portion sizes are very small here, but people make up for it by snacking a lot. If you move here though you’d get to a normal weight pretty fast, just cause it’s hard to find big portions and everything more or less just tops you off instead of making you super bloaty-full.

After Shibuya, we went on a twenty minute walk to a shrine to the Meiji Emperor. This was a Shinto shrine (Shintoism is the native religion of Japan, unlike the imported Buddhism) and after his death, the Meiji was deified, and got a cool temple to boot. This park is absolutely massive- 170 acres of forests and temple- despite being in Tokyo, the most stacked and demanding real estate market on the globe. Just goes to show you how important the work this guy did was to the people. It’s hard to describe what the forest is like, but it’s surreal how big it is. Everything is usually tight and homey, but then you get to the forest and the canopy is like five stories above you, everything is suddenly quiet, and it seems so massive in comparison to everywhere else. The Edo Museum was the only other time I’ve felt it, it’s really like stepping into an alternate slice of the world.

We saw an improv street performance as we were coming out of the forest, it was a lot of fun. A small four man group doing acrobatic tricks, it was a neat little ten minute show and a good break. After that, we walked to Harajuku, the ostensible home of youth culture and fashion of Japan. I don’t know how much I believed that, because it was more like market hell, if I’m being honest. Crazy packed, not too much stuff aimed at guys, and just not that great, especially to end the day. Maybe we went to the wrong part? I dunno.

Me and Austin ended up catching an early ride on the trains back to the apartments, but I think everyone is grouping up tonight to eat in and watch the game of thrones finale. Should be fun.

[The Shibuya mass crossing. The pedestrians have their own turn where all cars have to stop (it’s like a 9-way intersection) and people can cross and go whatever way they want. Also, that Starbucks used to be the largest in the world before one in China beat it. Starbucks is pretty big here, too.]

[Yes dad, I did find an outback. I’m pretty sure I’ll never see something like this again, because it was all the way off on a side street behind the 109 in Shibuya.]

[A cat cafe. I thought the poster was really cute. These are cafe’s with a bunch of cats roaming around in them, it’s a bit of a novelty here.]

[We passed by the 1964 Olympic Arena on our way from Shibuya to the Meiji shrine. Apparently it was once quite the marvel of engineering.]

[This is Austin. He’s a 4th-year Japanese / Psych dual major. I’m going to post at least one dumb picture of each person in the group by the end.]

[A shot of the inside of the shrine to the Meiji emperor. It’s hard to really get a feel for the size of this place, it’s so wide open and spacious compared to the rest of Tokyo that it feels like its own little corner of the world.]

-------

Reading analysis and stuff

So we had two readings, one on the Japanese explosion of soft power and the other on the modernization spurred on by the Meiji emperor.

The modernization one was pretty obvious- the emperor, reinstated by one of the clans after the Shogunate (dictatorship) was destroyed when its weakness against Western power became apparent, did massive work in writing charters and helping turn Japan into a Constitutional Monarchy. He honestly did a ton of work, and it’s fitting that they immortalized him with this forest and shrine right smack in the middle of Tokyo. He earned it.

Much more interesting though, was the reading on Japan’s rising influence in the modern world by means of soft power. You’ve probably heard of the term before. It’s not power in ships, armies, and weapons- it’s the power of setting trends that other people want to follow, making things other people want to consume, and- in part- determining the course of various aspects of global culture. For America, by far the most dominant source of soft power in the world, this comes from industries like film (Hollywood). Japan in particular has seen a huge rise in their soft power, primarily through projecting and cultivating their unique forms of media (manga, anime) and becoming the trendsetting culture of fashion in youth and young adults. Much like how the soft power of the west made the Japanese conform to their ideals of clothing, architecture, etc. under the Meiji emperor, so to has the cycle reversed and many countries are following the trends in clothing and media put forth by Japan. Their soft power, the ability to set trends and have others want to follow them, really is a marvel; and you can see many slices of how the country cultivates its power in the varieties of shopping districts and their brands that have a global, trendsetting presence. Japan has commoditized and weaponized its global appearance of “cute” factor, and it’s made their passive influence on global culture one of the few non-American sources that continues to grow, even to the point of setting trends for some parts of American and Western culture.

[fantroll-purgatory]

World: Alternia

Name: Eunoma Lesedi

(The Greek goddess of law and legislation, name translates to good order/governance according to good laws + the word for light in South African)

Age: 9.5 sweeps

Theme/Story: Law/Politics/Mutation? I think I just thought it was a cool idea for a mutation and liked the backstory I came up with for her

She is a rare fuchsia with an even rarer mutation, which would under normal circumstances entitle her to a culling. That is had she not been taken pity on by her mother. She had no idea why she showed her such kindness. It was probably a combination of the similarity of her look to that of the rainbow drinker and the opportunity for the mother to insure a proper ruler was raised for a change. She was raised in the caverns by her jade guardian with other jades acting as sisters but now that she is old enough to take care of herself she has been sent off to live in an old abandoned desert hive which long ago belonged to a jadeblood who raised a virgin mother grub like Kanaya. It is deep enough in that sandy deathtrap that she doesn’t have to worry about anyone finding her. It gets pretty lonely and she misses her mom and sisters but it also allows her to focus on her work and studies. (There is A L  O T going on in this backstory, but I think it’s kind of workable? I think there needs to be considerable intent in why she was saved, however. This isn’t the kind of thing a Jade (especially not many of them) would do lightly. Eunoma might not learn why yet, but there has to be a motivation, a goal they’re trying to achieve. Perhaps the Fuschia blood is part of it? Maybe they’re some Jades who wanna stage a full on rebellion and want to use her as a figurehead? An albino Fuschia taking down the Condesce would be a potent political symbol.)

Goals: One of my ancient OCs I wanted to fix up but turns out I need some help! So a general overview/everything (Alright, here we go!) (As a heads up, I took pity on you and am not deleting the other trolls you submitted in rapid succession, but for future reference- please don’t do that.)

Strife Specibus: 3dentkind

(Uses a trident she made herself with the help of her mother) (I’m really getting “Raised to be a political symbol” out of this. Why would she be raised to be just like an Heiress if there wasn’t a purpose behind it? Logically she’d otherwise be raised to be more Jade than anything.)

Fetch Modus: Idk honestly

Blood Color: Fuchsia

Symbol and Meaning: Pira, Sing of the Visionary

Handle: luminousJurist

Quirk: Ta|k in a ca|m yet cønfident vøice. (Proper punctuation, replaces L with | and O with ø) (Like this. Simple is often the way to go.)

Special Abilities: Her mutation, which would best be described as form of albinism that mimics rainbow drinker looks and abilities (meaning she can stay out in the sun) (hmmmmHMMMM I am unsure how exactly this would work- Kanaya could just go out in the sun before she was a Rainbowdrinker. I guess you can just handwave it as “unlocking dormant parts of the Fuschia genome” or something. Trolls have a tenuous link to biology as it is.)

Lusus/Guardian: Raised by a jadeblood in the caverns with other jades acting as her sisters before she left, mainly because she was always presented as a mutant jadeblood (which is also why she is hiding her sign, wearing it as a necklace under her shirt) by her mother in order to have her be more accepted (My main gripe with this is that it’s very unlikely, unless she never really interacted with the other Jades, that they wouldn’t know she’s not a Jade. Troll tears are tinted, and wrigglers are highly pigmented. Also all it would take is a slight cut and the jig is up. I think you’ve got to make them more complicit in the hiding and raising if this backstory is gonna come off as plausible.)

Interests: The crime, mystery and legal drama genres, whether it be books, movies, shows or games. She is also fascinated by law and the legal system and she loves studying about it, writing reforms and planning how to bring justice and order into Alternia when she claims the throne. Calligraphy is also something she finds fun to do while brainstorming. Her only non work related hobby is collecting plushies. (I like this a lot. I bet she reads about Redglare and gets mad all the time. Maybe she’s a big Summoner fangirl? He was a mutant who raised a rebellion against the culling system.) (I’d ordinarily recommend having more hobbies that aren’t “work” related, but given your character’s history, it makes a lot more sense for her to be fixated on it, even if she doesn’t realize that quite yet.)

Personality: Eunoma is obsessed over making the right decision and being a fair and just ruler. She has first hand seen and felt the cruelty of Alternia and while she is honest to a fault and rather blunt, she does this not to hurt feelings but because she feels it is the right thing to do. She is pushing herself into indifference and molding herself into the perfect middle man, erasing any opinion which might sway her judgement. Still she is disciplined and harsh, mainly on herself but also others, a strict believer in following rules to the letter and always scrutinizing her own actions. She thinks she can always do better, a perfectionist to whom nothing will probably ever be enough. She is uptight and antisocial, awful at working and even just talking with other trolls, as social cues tend to go over her head and even her own emotions very much confuse her, not to mention those of others. But on the other hand lies and motivations are something she understands and sees through all too well. She is good at predicting what people will do and spotting a liar or faker from a mile away. (We got a Mind player here! I’ll talk more about this later but you’ve got a solid character written in here. But I think you’ve got something mixed up in here: You open saying that she’s opinionated and blunt, but latter say she’s indifferent and grey-aligned?) (I think you meant “impartial” as in, “having no bias”, though. Which would make a lot more sense. Obsessed with being equal- having a character flaw of not quite getting the difference between Equal and Fair would help flesh her out, especially given that she’s right at the age where she’d be viscerally learning that difference.) (I think “follows the rules to the letter” is a little... odd? For someone who’s only course of action on the current law system would be to die messily. I think her having her own code of ethics that she strictly follows would be much better (especially with her classpect) than being a blind rules follower. She’s a path-maker, not a path-walker!)

Lunar Sway: Prospit (I think an interest in that “genetic destiny” thing that Trolls love would do her some good with this. Get her a little more going with the flow, taking threads of the past and weaving them into changes today. Seeing herself a bit in The Sufferer and The Summoner and other ancient rebellions would do her a lot of good, I think. Give her some motivation.)

Title: Mage of Mind

(She suffers form being an overly logical outcast and needs to learn to not only let loose but also let people in, she is way too defensive from having to hide her whole life and needs to learn to open up and allow herself to feel emotions) (I do think Mage is the way to go with her. The Active Knower, the Leader and Shepherd as opposed to Seer, the Teller and Teacher. She’s someone who NEEDS to get up on her soapbox and tell the world that this isn’t how it has to be, that we can make other choices, and she’s making those choices right now.) (Pathwise, I think she needs a bit more spirit of her own. Her Dolorosa-stand in needs a firmer hand in her development if she is to grow as well. There needs to be an interplay of “I know you THINK you know what’s right, Mother, but I KNOW what needs to be done, and I’m going to DO IT my way” by the end of her arc.)

Land: Land of Forums and Debate

(The Denizen has devided the people of her land and pinned them against each other. With corrupt politicians, censorship and high tension in the air, this whole place is one wrong word away from a civil war. It is her job to fix the corrupt system, unify the people of the land again and open up constructive discussion.) (She’s gotta win the arguments and lead the people! A pale girl in a world of fountains and marble! It’s pretty classic, but it fits her development as already-being-half-there on her Classpect, but needing the extra push to really do it.) (This was a much easier review than I expected, my comments are mostly for guiding this vision of her to completion as opposed to full overhauls. You’re most of the way there!) -SA

[thenameofaslan]

Hey, The Name of Aslan followers! 

Currently we stand at 7 members, and to keep things unique, instead of using existing character names, we will be going by Narnia-inspired names we created ourselves! Our names are Veriele, Ailora, Gianah, Astriella, Haaven, Lailenah, and Elledia. Allow us to introduce ourselves! Below we will be sharing some facts about ourselves & our interest in Narnia. 

Hello! I’m Veriele!

Favourite book:

My favourite book tends to change a lot. Of course The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe is a classic, and in and of itself it’s possibly the most magical story of the 7. However, I also love The Magician’s Nephew for the beautiful creation of Narnia it shows us. Then The Horse and His Boy really stands out from the other books, and I love the characters and their growth so much. But I think when it comes down to it, The Last Battle holds the most special place in my heart. The ending chapters are so full of life and beauty. The parade of returning characters in Aslan’s Country is stunning and hits my nostalgic heart hard. And those final lines just fill my heart with joy! It’s a hard choice, as the entire series is absolutely lovely, but I do think The Last Battle stands out to me most of all.

Favourite Aslan quote:

I love a lot of Aslan’s lines, but I think my top 3 are “Courage, dear heart,” “Do not dare not to dare,” and “Now you are a lioness.”

Favourite Bible verse:

In the entire Bible it’s hard to choose just one, but Revelation 21:5a fills me with a special kind of joy. “He who was seated on the throne said, ‘I am making everything new!’”

Songs that remind me of Narnia:

A lot of songs remind me of Narnia, but to name a few: Hear You Me by Jimmy Eat World, North by Sleeping At Last, and Long Live by Taylor Swift.

What kind of content or art I make/enjoy:

I make edits, analytical posts, and I write the occasional fic!

Hi everyone, I’m Ailora!

Favorite book:

For the Christian themes, my favorite will always be The Last Battle. The ending few chapters make me cry. I also love the atmosphere of Voyage of the Dawn Treader, especially the ending.

Favorite Aslan scene:

It’s so hard to choose just one. I guess I’d have to say the scene where Aslan appears and walks beside Cor on the mountain pass in HAHB. I love Aslan’s gentleness with Cor, but also the sense of wonder when he starts to reveal himself and how he’s been acting in Cor’s story. I love that during the entire scene, Aslan is walking beside Cor to protect him from falling off the mountain, and also that he is guiding Cor to exactly the place he needs to be. I love Cor’s response to seeing Aslan, and I love that Aslan leaves him a footprint-full of cold water at the end. It’s just a beautiful picture of God’s provision and love and kindness and knowledge of us.

Favorite Bible verse:

Again, hard to choose. But for now I’ll say Ephesians 3:17-19: “That you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”

Hi, I’m Gianah.

How I got interested in Narnia:

I got interested in Narnia when my friend forced me to watch The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. I immediately bought the collection of all seven books, joined tumblr and then got even more obsessed with it. Once I found out other people actually really liked the series, I started to be more invested. The rest is history.

Favourite Bible Verse:

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” ‭‭Jeremiah‬ 29:11

Kinds of art or content I enjoy/make:

I love both writing and painting/ drawing. I love making analysis texts so much, and also narrative texts.

Hey everyone! I'm Astriella :)

How I got into Narnia:

I've loved Narnia since I was about twelve, when I was first allowed to read the books (I think I burned through all 7 in about a month!). Even then I loved finding “hidden meanings” in stuff and Narnia is a treasure trove of allegory and allusion!

My favourite non-human character:

My favorite has to be Jewel the Unicorn.  Both because unicorns are amazing and majestic and all, but because of his loyalty for Tirian, his sacrificial love, and his gentle gentility.

My favorite Aslan moment: 

It has to be from VotDT, from the Dark Island where nightmares come true.  Lucy, up in the crow’s-nest, looks down on the havoc and chaos on deck as the sailors panic in terror, and whispers to Aslan, begging for help. And help comes in the form of an albatross, which circles the crow’s-nest before leading the ship to safety; but in that moment Lucy hears Aslan’s voice whisper to her, “Courage, dear heart.” That scene means a lot to me because anxiety always provides plenty of possible nightmares, but I know my God will lead me to safety and He gives me courage.

Hello! I’m Haaven!

How I got interested in Narnia:

 I literally cannot remember a time when I wasn’t. I grew up on the series. My true obsession with it, however, would have begun in about 4th grade when I found the entire series in the school library and read them all for the first time.

When/how I became a Christian?

 I could talk for a very long time on this, but I’ll try to keep in short(ish). I grew up in a Christian home so I always kind of knew  that I needed Jesus, but I didn’t know how to go about it. I was also the most shy person you would ever meet, so I wasn’t about to ask anyone how, either. But then when I was ten, I went to church camp for one week during the summer for the first time. (I wasn’t sure I really wanted to go, but my mom convinced me with, “Well, your sister will be there, so you’ll be fine!” haha.) And, I guess you could say, the rest is history (since this is the short version, haha). :P

Favorite Narnia-esque songs:

 I have so many, but I will limit myself to three: All the King’s Horses by Karmina (totally an Edmund/ movie!PC!Peter/ Eustace song!), Up All Night by David Archuleta (okay, yes, I know this is a love song, but if you think about it as Lucy and Aslan especially in LWW… It’s adorable, okay?!?), and Beautifully Broken by Plumb (sort of a post-Last Battle Susan song).

Hi! My name is Lailenah.

Favorite non-human Narnia character:

This is a tough question, because the majority of my faves aren’t human! Hwin and Bree, Mr. Tumnus, Reepicheep, the centaurs, and then of course Aslan in his completely own category...But I’m going to have to go with Puddleglum because I LOVE him. Many heroes tend to be optimistic, hopeful, and outgoing people, but Puddleglum’s the opposite. And yet he’s still a very caring, courageous, and loyal individual; he stays true to his faith and encourages the others to do the same, especially in the scene where the Green Witch tries to enchant them so they deny that the world above and Aslan exist. And when everything is at its most hopeless point, he’s the one to offer hope in the form of, “We’re just four babies making up a game, if you’re right. But four babies playing a game can make a play world that licks your world hollow. That’s why I’m on Aslan’s side, even if there’s no Aslan to lead it.” He’s not a ray of sunshine, but he can be a gleam in the darkest places, when it’s most needed. And sometimes I feel like as a Christian, some people expect that you must always be “joyful” (aka wear a cheerful smile, be optimistic, and act outgoing) to be a good witness and influential for Christ. But Puddleglum reminds me that I can be real, I can be honest, and I can be an encouragement to others even when I am at a low point (in fact, being with others during their low points because I understand how it feels might be when I am most needed!). My faith and my effectiveness to others as a Christian is not less because I am not an extrovert. It is not less because I struggle mentally and feel exhausted because of anxious or depressed thoughts. No. I was created the way I am for a reason. I have the challenges I have for a reason. We all do, and that’s okay. No matter our differences, we’re not less than anyone else in God’s loving eyes, and He has a unique time and place for each of us to serve as His light as Puddleglum did.

Favorite Narnia book:

It’s always been the Last Battle. I love how intense it gets in this book, how the evil is overwhelming, the stakes are high, and the battle between right and wrong is at its climax. It feels like the good guys are losing as their already sparse armies dwindle, and the main characters are being forced into the stable. Sometimes that sense of being overwhelmed mirrors how I feel when I look at all the scary, sad, and bad things happening in the world today, but I’m encouraged by the characters who still are soldiers for Aslan’s cause, who keep going and trusting in what’s right in spite of that and in spite of the fact that can’t see what’s coming next. And then, of course, Aslan’s country. I love seeing all the familiar faces from throughout the series and the joy and rest they find in eternity with Aslan and their loved one. It shows that it truly is worth it all.

What kind of content or art I make/enjoy:

I have always loved to write!  So fanfiction and meta are definitely my favorite ways to participate. Bet you couldn’t tell that I tend to drone on. ;)  (I also make mood boards on occasion.)

Hi, Elledia here!

Favourite book: 

A Horse and His Boy or Silver Chair

What age we got interested in Narnia: 

I SAY 7, but I grew up watching the BBC miniseries, so I don’t know for sure.

Favourite Aslan quote:

 “And I was the Lion you do not remember who pushed the boat in which you lay, a child near death, so that it came to shore where a man sat, wakeful at midnight, to receive you.”

When/how I became a Christian:

 Raised in the church/missionary brat. I decided when I was around eight that I wanted to be baptized and though there’ve been some bumps along the way, I’m growing in Christ as best as I can.

Narnia-esque songs: 

“If You Want Me To” by Ginny Owens reminds me a lot of Narnia, for some reason.

Kinds of art or content I enjoy/make:

 I write, so fanfic and metas are my thing, but I enjoy all kinds of art.

Anyways, it’s great to meet you all! We hope to interact with you all more in the future, and as we begin creating original posts for this blog. Our ask box is open, should you have any questions! Thanks for following us! <3

[haroldgross]

New Post has been published on Harold Gross: The 5a.m. Critic

New Post has been published on http://literaryends.com/hgblog/babylon-5-rewatch-n/

Babylon 5 (rewatch n)

[5 stars]

TL;DR: If you’ve not rewatched Babylon 5 recently, you should. If you’ve never seen it, make the time. Forgive its faults and revel in its incredibly intricate and intentional plotting that no one other than Dark has even come close to in the intervening years since its release. And gawk at its unexpected relevance 30 years after its original airing.

And, yes, I started this effort before the recent reboot announcement: https://deadline.com/2021/09/babylon-5-series-reboot-j-michael-straczynski-development-cw-1234845022/

There are some genre shows I come back to on a regular basis. No matter how many times I rewatch them, I find new moments or surprises…or simply enjoy certain stories so much I never get bored with them. Buffy, Angel, Firefly, Stargate SG-1, Star Trek (OS, TNG, DS9)…and Babylon 5 which is probably the least widely appreciated of that list, but which had a most outsized influence on the genre and all that followed.

I am more than willing to admit that some of the writing and directing of B5 is painful at times. But the fact that it remains rewatchable despite that and, more importantly, still relevant and impressive all these years later is a testament to what it was. B5 changed the landscape of genre TV. By creating a pre-planned 5-year arc J. Michael Straczynski (Sense8) was able to thread through clues and foreshadowing with intent rather than retconning them into plots conceived down the road. Not that the latter can’t be done well; Buffy and Angel did it all the time, as did Game of Thrones. But no one has come close to the beautiful construction of B5 through its first four seasons. And no show has purposely evolved in style, focus, and design from season to season the way B5 did. Only The Expanse comes close, and possible Farscape before it.

The simple truth is that if B5 had been birthed in the streaming world it would have been a smash. Its huge gamble was to have an ongoing tale rather than reset, episodic adventures. They kept losing audience and weren’t able to easily pick up new viewers since the earlier shows weren’t available. Joe was ahead of his time…but his influence reshaped entertainment and set a high bar.

But what is amazing to me is how relevant the story remains. Presented in the early 90s, I was glued to the TV every week watching the story reflect the world of politics and society…with a lot of grand adventure, humor, and action to boot. Decades later I was somewhat worried it would have gone threadbare. But no, the mirror still works for today, even with its faults (let’s face it, Joe really didn’t write women well, though he tried).

In fact, the first season or two are disturbingly accurate for today. Politics, in the era of 45, are even closer to the horror story B5 lays out. There are pandemics, which once reflected the AIDS crisis but today are a perfect extrapolation of COVID. Stories of media suppression and control in the age of Fox news and Murdoch. Endless wars and generational hate have moved from the Soviet Union to the Middle and Far East, but still echo in our reality. Honestly, you’d think it was written recently.

Up through most of season 3 and into the start of 4, Babylon is one of the most beautifully, tightly constructed shows ever put to screen. It would have been even better if they weren’t forced into 21 episode seasons; some of the pointless stand-alones could have been dropped. But if you’ve seen it more than once, you start noticing phrases and moments that wouldn’t originally pay off for, literally, years in air-time. The level of conviction and trust involved in that is breathtaking. Because of the history of the show (it wasn’t going to be renewed for broadcast and then had a last minute save for its final season on cable) the fourth season is a bit rushed at the end. And then the fifth season had its own struggles with budget and cast changes…and the fact that Joe did his fans a favor and gave us finale ahead of what he’d planned in case the fifth season never came.

The result is that the fourth season becomes more about falling dominos as the intricate clockwork of the plots spins down. Which isn’t to say that the fourth and fifth season don’t have their moments, but it is more about action and result and less interesting as a modern mirror. But it is still a great ride to the multiple conclusions of threads, revelations about moments we’d been promised and had misinterpreted for years, and harsh and honest commentary on world politics, religion, war, but most of all: humanity.

The real question now, after a recent announcement, is whether the story can be retold better than the original? I wasn’t expecting this when I started my rewatch. Will Joe and the studio allow more writers to be involved and more up-to-date world views (particularly around gender) to have traction? Is the CW really the best home for a show that is this adult? Frankly, I would have looked at streamer like Amazon, HBO Max, or Netflix where the grittier aspects would have been welcome, and where people could have jumped in at any time and started from the beginning. And I’d have pitched it more as an update and rethink than a reboot. But, regardless, I’ll certainly be there to find out if it can fly. If nothing else, perhaps we’ll finally get an HD version of this story since some idiot at Fox deleted all the digital originals to save disk space (no, I’m not kidding).

[nymini]

A list of lines & other things in ASOIAF that break my heart

…because I just finished adwd and I’m trying to cope

“And afterward, we'll ride north to see the Wall. We won't even tell Jon we're coming, we'll just be there one day, you and me. It will be an adventure." "An adventure," Bran repeated wistfully. He heard his brother sob. The room was so dark he could not see the tears on Robb's face, so he reached out and found his hand. Their fingers twined together.

Distressed baby Rickon not quite knowing where his family is and what’s going on. (“You leave him. You leave him be. He’s coming home now, like he promised. He’s coming home.”)

“The common people pray for rain, healthy children, and a summer that never ends," Ser Jorah told her. "It is no matter to them if the high lords play their game of thrones, so long as they are left in peace." He gave a shrug. "They never are.”

Promise me, Ned.

 “How then did you save me? I saw my god's house burn, where I had healed good men beyond counting. My home they burned as well, and in the street I saw piles of heads. I saw the head of a baker who made my bread. I saw the head of a boy I had saved from deadeye fever, only three moons past. I heard children crying as the riders drove them off with their whips. Tell me again what you saved." “Your life." Mirri Maz Duur laughed cruelly. “Look to your khal and see what life is worth, when all the rest is gone."

“Dimly, as if from far away, she heard a … a noise … a soft sighing sound, as if a million people had let out their breath at once.”

The tragedy that is the story of Jeyne Poole

PROUDWING

The Starklings remembering Robb with snow melting in his hair.

"Rhaenys was a child too. Prince Rhaegar's daughter. A precious little thing, younger than your girls. She had a small black kitten she called Balerion, did you know? I always wondered what happened to him. Rhaenys liked to pretend he was the true Balerion, the Black Dread of old, but I imagine the Lannisters taught her the difference between a kitten and a dragon quick enough, the day they broke down her door."

Mycah & Lady’s deaths

Barra & her mother

Alayaya

Arya held her breath and kissed the mud on the floor of the tunnel and cried. For who, she could not say.

Run Weasel, run as far as you can, run and hide and never come back.

“It’s always summer in the songs. In the songs all knights are gallant, all maids are beautiful, and the sun is always shining.”

The fate of the people in the Riverlands, Hardhome, Astapor & Saltpans.

When they took his head off, they killed me too.

But if we are winning, why am I so afraid?

Davos pretty much having to watch half of his children die at the Blackwater

Sansa singing the mother’s song to Sandor before he leaves King’s Landing

It was not dead, just broken. Like me, he thought. I’m not dead either.

“When the sun has set, no candle can replace it.”

Sansa pitied them. Sansa envied them.

“Gods be good, why would any man ever want to be king?”

But the wolf’s dead and the young one’s gone south to play the game of thrones, and all that’s left us is the ghosts.

“She was,” said Meera, “but that’s a sadder story.”

We look up at the same stars and see such different things.

“I have won every battle, yet somehow I’m losing the war.”

“The singers make much of kings who die valiantly in battle, but your life is worth more than a song. To me at least, who gave it to you.”

Jaime, he thought, my name is Jaime.

The training of the Unsullied

“Could you bring back a man without a head? Just the once, not six times. Could you?”

“And if we die, we die. All men must die, Jon Snow. But first we’ll live.”

In this light, she could almost be a beauty. In this light she could almost be a knight.

“We’re all just songs in the end. If we are lucky.”

“No, don’t, don’t cut my hair, Ned loves my hair.”

Let him grow taller, she asked the gods. Let him know sixteen, and twenty, and fifty. Let him grow as tall as his father, and hold his own son in his arms. Please, please, please.

“D’you remember that cave? We should have stayed in that cave.”

Back in Winterfell, Sansa told him, that the demons of the dark couldn’t touch him if he hid beneath his blanket.

I have a hole where my heart should be, she thought, and nowhere else to go.

The story of the dying archer Sandor and Arya come across after the RW.

"You remember where the heart is?"

Arya took the doll away from her, ripped it open, and pulled the rag stuffing out of its belly with a finger. “Now he really looks like a soldier!”

The boy had wanted to be Ser Arthur Dayne, but someplace along the way he had become the Smiling Knight instead.

“I’d win in the end, yes, but you’d bleed me, and my people have bled enough.”

Joffrey was dead, but if Robb was dead too, what did it matter?

I thought my song was beginning that day, but it was almost done.

A pure world, Sansa thought. I do not belong here.

What do I want with snowballs? She looked at her sad little arsenal. There’s no one here to throw them at. She let the one she was making drop from her hand.

“I was a man grown when they were playing in these pools. Yet here I sit, and they are gone.”

“And pull your hood up. The snowflakes are melting in your hair.”

Arya never seemed to find the places she set out to reach.

“I’m his squire,” he repeated, as the rain ran down his face, “but he left me.”

“I prefer my history dead. Dead history is writ in ink, the living sort in blood.”

“My sister Elia had a little girl as well. Her name was Rhaenys. She was a princess too.”

The knights of summer. And now it was autumn and they were falling like leaves…

It was not the scorn of the many that left her confused and vulnerable, but the kindness of the few.

“Egg? Egg, I dreamed that I was old.”

Gilly having to leave her baby behind

“We are sworn to protect her as well,” Jaime had finally been driven to say. “We are,” Darry allowed, “but not from him.”

“I’m sorry I never trusted you. I don’t know how to do that anymore.”

“It’s just a sword,” she said, aloud this time… but it wasn’t. […] the Many-Faced God can have the rest, she thought, but he can’t have this.

“I used to have a dog when I was little. I called him Hero.” “Was he?” “Was he what?” “A hero.” “No. He was a good dog, though. He died.” (oh Podrick…)

The Broken Men speech

Jaime’s dream about Joanna

“The war of the Ninepenny Kings?” asked Hyle Hunt. “So they called it, though I never saw a king, nor earned a penny. It was a war though. That it was.”

“Egg? It’s dark. Why is it so dark?”

“I am the only child the gods let him keep. The freakish one, not fit to be a son or daughter.”

“Death should hold no fear for a man as old as me, but it does. Isn’t that silly?”

“[…] I was never afraid, when he was throwing me. I knew he would always be there to catch me. Then one day he wasn’t.”

“It were the black one,” the man said, in a Ghiscari growl, “the winged shadow. He come down from the sky and… and…”

Jon remembered Ygritte, crying. I am the last of the giants.

Pia being genuinely confused when Jaime has her rapist executed. Those poor people are seriously not used to actually getting some justice.

Penny and her brother

“He taught me how to climb a tree when we were little. He could catch fish with his hands. Once I found him sleeping in our garden with a hundred butterflies crawling over him. He looked so beautiful that morning, this one… I mean, I loved him.”

Her name had been Hazzea. She was four years old.

One day when the war is done and King Stannis sits the Iron Throne and has no more need of onion knights. I'll take Devan with me. Steff and Stanny too if they're old enough. We'll see these dragons and all the wonders of the world.

“I’m no slave.” “Every man ever taken by slavers sings that same sad song.”

“Should you reach your queen, give her a message from the slaves of Old Volantis. Tell her we are waiting. Tell her to come soon.”

I am so sorry Marya, I have loved you. Please forgive the wrongs I did you.

“Who is Eroeh?” “A girl I thought I’d saved from rape and torment. All I did was make it worse for her in the end. And all I did in Astapor was make ten thousand Eroehs.”

The story of the Mountain and the Hound

What if I don’t want to remain when you are gone? he almost asked, but he swallowed the words unspoken.

“That was in the dawn of days, when our sun was rising. Now it sinks, and this is our long dwindling. The giants are almost gone as well, they who were our bane and our brothers. The great lions of the western hills have been slain, the unicorns are all but gone, the mammoths down to a few hundred. The direwolves will outlast us all, but their time will come as well. In the world that men have made, there is no room for them, or us…“

I was going to be a knight, Bran remembered. I used to run and climb and fight. It seemed a thousand years ago. What was he now?

Bran did not want to be married to a tree… but who else would wed a broken boy like him?

Bless me, Dany thought bitterly. Your city is gone to ash and bone, your people are dying all around you. I have no shelter for you, no medicine, no hope. Only stale bread and wormy meat, hard cheese, a little milk. Bless me, bless me.

“I saw your father die. Here is his killer. Can I take a skull to bed with me, to give me comfort in the night? Will it make me laugh, write me songs, care for me when I am old and sick?”

It is an easy thing for a prince to call the spears, but in the end the children pay the price.

“Thousands of enemies. Thousands of wildlings.” Thousands of people, Jon thought.

An honest kiss, a little kindness, everyone deserves that much, however big, or small.

It was my home, though. Not a true home, but the best I ever knew.

“Naath. Butterflies and brothers. Tell me of the things that make you happy, the things that make you giggle, all your sweetest memories. Remind me that there is still good in the world.”

Where was I? I should have died with him.

Perhaps I cannot make my people good, she told herself, but I should at least try to make them a little less bad.

Her song is sad and pretty. What happened to her wasn’t.

Men’s lives have meaning, not their deaths.

I rose too high, loved too hard, dared too much. I tried to grasp a star, overreached, and fell.

“Sister. See. This time I knew you.”

“Theon,” he repeated. “My name is Theon. You have to know your name.”

A thousand years ago, she had known a girl who loved lemon cakes.

Quentyn did not want to die at all.

"I want to go back to Yronwood and kiss both of your sisters, marry Gwyneth Yronwood, watch her flower into beauty, have a child by her. I want to ride in tourneys, hawk and hunt, visit my mother in Norvos, read some of those books my father sends me. I want Cletus and Will and Maester Kedry to be alive again..."

They know nothing, Ygritte. And worse, they will not learn.

Stick them with the pointy end.

“Drogon killed a little girl. Her name was… her name was…” Dany could not recall the child’s name. That made her so sad that she would have cried if all her tears had not been burned away.

“I was tired, Jorah. I was weary of war. I wanted to rest, to laugh, to plant trees and see them grow. I am only a young girl.”

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