#iau wind

[skyward-floored]

For iau requests, Legend or Twi being emotional support animals when one of their brothers is sick or injured?

Wind and Legend are a little younger here, just for reference. This is set a bit before Hyrule comes along :)

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Wind had been driving Legend crazy.

Legend didn’t know what his problem had been lately, but it seemed like every time they’d crossed paths they’d ended up in some kind of stupid argument or fight. And Legend knew Wind hadn't started all of them, Legend had begun at least some of the fights, but it wasn’t his fault Wind was being so infuriating.

Which was why he’d decided to just avoid Wind today.

It had actually been weirdly easy, even though it was Saturday and there was no school. Wind was usually clingy and annoying as could be, especially lately, but Legend had barely seen him all day. And if Legend heard Wind coming, he just hid under the closest piece of furniture as a rabbit, and Wind never saw him. It was nearly dinnertime now and Legend had had a perfectly Wind-free day, and he’d enjoyed every second of it.

Legend trotted happily down the hall, wondering if he could keep his streak up after dinner and maybe even into tomorrow, when he heard an ugly coughing sound.

Legend paused, and poked his head into the bedroom he’d been walking past. His mom was sitting on one of the beds, a pinch to her brow, and there was a lump of blankets next to her, messy blond hair poking out of it.

Legend scowled when he noticed it was Wind, but before he could keep going, more of the ugly coughing rang out, and Legend realized it was coming from Wind. He looked miserable, and Malon hummed worriedly.

“Well you don’t feel warm, but that’s a nasty cough you’ve picked up, sweetheart. How are you feeling?” she asked, and Wind pressed his face into his pillow.

“My throat hurts,” he rasped, words barely legible as they crackled from his throat. Legend winced. His voice sounded terrible.

“Goodness honey, don’t talk if it hurts then,” Malon said worriedly, smoothing Wind’s hair out of his face. “I’ll get you some water, then I’ll take a look, okay?”

Wind nodded, looking miserable, and their mom stood and walked out of the room. Legend hesitated as she walked past, then poked his head in the room, and Wind groaned, pulling his pillow over his head.

“G’way Ledge,” Wind croaked, but Legend ignored him and came closer, looking around.

“I’m just here for my book,” Legend said huffily, and Wind didn’t reply, only burrowed himself more deeply under his pillow.

Legend rolled his eyes, and kept looking around. He really had left a book in here he wanted. It still counted as avoiding Wind, this was just a small break.

Wind let out a raspy whimper, shifting in his blankets, and Legend’s steps faltered, a tiny little worm of guilt wriggling in his chest. So what if Wind was sick? Apparently that had been why it had been so easy to avoid him today. Legend didn’t care. It made his job easier.

Wind coughed again, the sound rattly and dry, and Legend paused, flicking his eyes over to the bed. Wind made another miserable-sounding noise, and Legend stepped a little closer, studying him.

A single blue-green eye peered at him from under the blankets, and Legend pointedly didn’t meet it, going back to searching. He looked around and under the bed for his book, crouching down and searching all around it. He finally found it wedged between the bed and the dresser, and he straightened, hesitating as Wind kept watching him. He really did look pretty miserable.

“Ledge?” Wind rasped, and Legend crossed his arms.

“What?”

Wind hesitated, watching Legend in silence, and then he rolled over and curled up into a ball.

“...Never mind,” he whispered.

Legend stayed stuck in his spot, wincing as Wind coughed again, and he looked down at the book in his hands, considering.

Then he sighed, setting it on the bed, then jumped up and turned into a rabbit in the same movement.

Wind peered at him in surprise, and Legend settled himself in next to his brother, pulling his book over so he could read while he was here.

“You’re staying?” Wind croaked hopefully, and Legend huffed, opening to the first page.

“The lighting in here is best. That’s the only reason,” he grumbled, ignoring how Wind rolled closer so he was snuggled against him. A hand snaked out to pet him, and Legend pretended not to notice, focused on finding his place in the book.

“Thanks,” Wind whispered, fingers trailing through Legend’s fur.

Legend sighed, but wiggled closer to him anyways. “Whatever. Stop talking, you’re gonna wreck your throat.”

Wind nodded and didn’t say another word, staying quiet as he petted Legend. Legend grumbled to himself, but he couldn’t help relaxing into the pets as he read his book.

He could go back to ignoring Wind tomorrow.

[milkyplier]

For your letter ask game: Y

Y - IAU Legend Gets Stabbed but Different

This one is clearly set in @skyward-floored’s Incredibles AU XD it was one of many attempts at writing a gift (which is still in the works) for her. It was an attempt at a sequel to her Febuwhump Day 14, Bloodstained Tiles, in which Legend gets stabbed after sneaking out and Wild and Wind help him. I tried this approach more than once before deciding it wasn’t going to work out XD a few other letters have been assigned to some of these other attempts :)

I also just thought this wasn’t very well written, hence I abandoned it. I struggle to continue things I perceive as done badly. Here’s the entirety of this snippet:

When Malon wakes up in the morning, Legend has caught whatever Hyrule had, and Hyrule was worse than he was yesterday. At least, that’s what it seemed like. But a cold did not really account for how weak and shaky Legend was when he got up. It was also strange that it seemed to have come out of nowhere, with no sore throat, no sniffles or coughs or reluctance to eat. In fact, Legend was starving, and thirsty. Oddly enough, she also finds several of her towels in the drier, and the bathroom has a just-cleaned shine. Four, Wild and Wind all have circles under their eyes. She asks them all what happened, and they claim Hyrule was really sick last night. Like, super sick, and he threw up a lot and they didn’t want to bother her or Time and just cleaned it up themselves. Malon is inclined to believe it, especially when Hyrule seems to get similarly sick later that same day. So she brushes it off, and forgets about it—an easy feat in a house of eight people. For a while, at least.

- some years later -

A nightmare wakes Malon. She tries, to no avail, to fall back asleep for perhaps twenty minutes before she acknowledges the lingering anxiety from the dream and decides a cup of chamomile tea will settle her nerves and help her get back to sleep.

Careful not to jostle her husband too much (though it hardly mattered, the man slept like a rock), she slipped out of bed, wrapped herself in her silky robe and tucked her feet into her worn slippers before shuffling quietly into the kitchen.

The house is silent, a fact which in itself makes Malon feel better. Once upon a time, such silence unnerved her, but nowadays, she knows it means all her boys are asleep, safe and warm in their beds and there is something comforting to her about that. She doesn’t quite know why, but she doesn’t complain and keeps going towards the kitchen. When she gets to the kitchen, however, she’s surprised to see someone already there.

She thinks one of her sons must have gotten a snack—Wild is known to get the munchies at night—but the figure’s build doesn’t match Wild’s. On top of that, Wild’s midnight snacks usually consist of whatever ancient, long-lost things he finds in the pantry. When she finds him in the kitchen at night, he’s haunched over an expired bag of animal crackers. Not haunched over the sink, murmuring to himself and apparently playing in the water by the light of his phone’s flashlight.

A bad feeling rises in Malon’s stomach. She doesn’t know why.

“Legend…?” She says softly, able to recognize her son even in the terrible, low light. He freezes, glances over his shoulder at his mom.

“Mom! Hi,” his voice is slightly strained. “What are you doing awake at this hour? Are you alright?”

She frowns. She knows that tone, the inflection. He’s amping up the concern, trying to distract her from him by acting extra sweet. It’s something all her boys do when they don’t want her noticing something. It has worked very few times without her allowing it to. This won’t be one of them.

“I could ask the same of you,” she says. She keeps her words firm, but light, so he knows he won’t be getting out of this but she isn’t angry.

“Uhh…” he hands shift nervously in the sink water. He doesn’t say anything.

She approaches him, flicking on the kitchen lights. She looks into the sink and sees his super suit, submerged in cloudy reddish water. Legend’s arms are covered in cuts and bruises, and he won’t look at her.

“Legend. Look at me.”

His shoulders are tense. After a second, he turns his face to look down into the sink water, rather than at her. It’s enough to get a visual on what she wanted—a blossoming black eye, split lip and other minor nicks on his face.

“You went out, didn’t you.”

His silence is answer enough.

“Legend…” Malon struggles to find the words, caught between worry and anger born of worry. “Legend…I—“

“I know the risks.” Legend cuts in. “I know. I know what you and dad said. I’m not stupid, or deaf. People need help. And I can help them.”

“…That’s not—“

“I do help them, in fact, I saved a dozen lives tonight. And I didn’t die, I can hold my own. I don’t need to be babied or anything, I can handle my own consequences.”

[magicandotherstuffienjoy]

Why Explore the Planets of the Solar System?

As often happens, I find myself collecting visual references on Pinterest, and it’s these aesthetic inspirations that eventually guide my thematic explorations. One of the aesthetics that particularly fascinates me is that of celestial bodies and stars. Their mystery, distant beauty, and constant presence in the sky evoke something deeply moving. Naturally, I decided to explore a topic that has long inspired me: the planets.

These worlds, both close and inaccessible, each possess a unique visual identity and environment. Imagining what a day on a planet other than Earth might be is a way to escape and contemplate the infinite possibilities that the universe offers.

What is a Planet?

Before diving into the planets of the solar system, it’s important to understand what defines a planet. According to the definition established by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) in 2006, a celestial object must meet three key criteria to be classified as a planet:

It orbits a star – in our case, the Sun.

It has enough mass that its gravity allows it to assume a nearly spherical shape.

It has cleared its orbit of other debris or bodies of comparable size, meaning it dominates gravitationally within its orbital zone.

The planets of our solar system are divided into two major categories:

Terrestrial planets: Rocky planets like Earth, Mars, Venus, and Mercury.

Giant planets: Larger planets primarily composed of gas or ice, such as Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.

The Solar System

The solar system is composed of eight main planets that orbit the Sun. These planets are generally classified based on their distance from the Sun, from Mercury, the closest, to Neptune, the farthest.

credit: Michael Camarra

Mercury

Mercury, the smallest planet in the solar system, is a rocky world whose surface is scarred by countless craters. Its proximity to the Sun creates extreme temperature fluctuations. During the day, surface temperatures can reach up to 430°C, while at night, they plunge to -180°C due to the near absence of an atmosphere to retain heat. Mercury completes an orbit around the Sun in just 88 Earth days, but a single day on Mercury lasts 59 Earth days.

Mercury: A Kingdom of Silence

If you woke up one morning on Mercury, you’d be immediately struck by the total absence of sound. Without an atmosphere to carry noise, this world is plunged into absolute silence, even under the Sun’s intense glare. The Sun, much larger than it appears on Earth, dominates the horizon with such power that you’d need full protection not to burn under its scorching rays. Yet, despite the relentless light, the sky remains black, scattered with stars, as there is no atmosphere to obscure their glow.

As the day progresses, the heat becomes unbearable. The ground beneath your feet reaches over 400°C, and though the air is almost non-existent, it offers no relief. On Mercury, a day lasts 59 Earth days, and the Sun doesn't set quickly. You remain under its blistering rays for weeks on end.

Surrounding you, the landscape is marked by deep craters, remnants of countless asteroid impacts, and steep cliffs, scars from past tectonic shifts. This world resembles the Moon, but much larger and more hostile. As the Sun slowly continues its course, you notice something strange: it appears to slow down, then briefly move backward in the sky before resuming its path. This retrograde motion is due to Mercury’s eccentric orbit, enhancing the strangeness of this silent realm.

Finally, after days spent under this oppressive heat, the Sun disappears beyond the horizon. Instantly, the temperature plummets. In just a few hours, you go from blistering heat to the icy cold of a Mercurian night, where the ground quickly cools to -180°C. The silence endures, and the stars shine as brightly as ever in the pitch-black sky.

The night, as endless as the day, takes hold. There’s no wind or movement, only a cold that seems eternal and an overwhelming silence. Mercury is a kingdom where time stretches out in extreme contrasts, between burning light and freezing darkness, a world suspended in the void and silence.

credit: totorrl

Venus

Venus, often called the "morning star" for its brightness in the sky, is the “twin sister” of Earth, due to its similar size and composition. With a diameter of approximately 12,000 km, it’s only slightly smaller than Earth. However, the comparison ends there, as Venus is an infernal world.

Its volcanic surface, dotted with mountains and plains of solidified lava, is hidden beneath a thick atmosphere of carbon dioxide, trapping heat in a runaway greenhouse effect. The result is a scorching surface temperature of 465°C, making Venus the hottest planet in the solar system. Sulfuric acid clouds cover the planet, producing acid rains that evaporate before they reach the surface. The pressure at its surface is 92 times that of Earth, comparable to being crushed beneath 900 meters of water.

A day on Venus lasts 243 Earth days, but its year is shorter, at 225 Earth days. Furthermore, the planet spins in the opposite direction to most others, causing the Sun to rise in the West and set in the East.

A Day on Venus: Eternal Hell

If you could spend a day on Venus, the experience would be nothing short of hellish. From the moment you woke up, you’d be plunged into an oppressive, toxic atmosphere, with no hope of seeing the Sun rise in the east as it does on Earth. Here, the Sun rises in the west and sets in the east because Venus spins in the opposite direction of most planets. However, you’d likely never have the patience to witness this sunrise: a day on Venus lasts 243 Earth days.

Looking up, you’d find yourself beneath a thick, opaque sky, completely hidden by clouds of sulfuric acid. There’s no blue sky or twinkling stars—just a constant orange glow bathing the planet. The air is thick with carbon dioxide, and any sulfuric acid rain evaporates before it ever hits the surface.

All around you, the landscape is barren and rocky, formed from solidified lava plains and towering volcanoes, some still active, belching toxic gases. At the surface, the heat is unbearable, reaching 465°C, hot enough to melt lead. This intense heat never relents: even when the Sun sets on the horizon, the temperature remains unchanged. Venus knows no respite, not even during its long night, which lasts more than 100 Earth days.

The atmospheric pressure is even more crushing. At 92 times that of Earth, it would instantly flatten any unprotected human, comparable to being submerged 900 meters underwater. Without advanced technology, you’d have no hope of surviving in this crushing inferno.

The silence is almost deafening. On Venus, there is no wind, no sound, as the dense atmosphere doesn’t carry sound as it does on Earth. You’d live in absolute, oppressive silence, on a planet where nothing familiar could survive.

Time would seem to drag endlessly. With days stretching out over months, you’d feel trapped in a world where the temperature never changes, and the daylight remains trapped beneath thick clouds, never fully illuminating the planet.

credit: Tpiola

Earth

Earth, our home planet, is the only one known to support life. It’s a terrestrial planet, just like Venus, with a solid surface made up of multiple layers: a crust, a semi-solid mantle, and an inner core of iron and nickel, surrounded by a liquid outer core. Its atmosphere, composed mainly of 78% nitrogen and 21% oxygen, is thick enough to protect the planet from cosmic radiation and maintain a temperature suitable for life.

One of Earth's most unique features is the presence of liquid water oceans, which cover approximately 70% of its surface, earning it the nickname "the blue planet." This water plays a crucial role in sustaining life and regulating the climate. Earth rotates on its axis every 24 hours and orbits the Sun in 365.25 days, creating the alternation of seasons and day-night cycles that foster biological diversity.

credit: JasonChanArt

Mars

Mars, the fourth planet from the Sun, is about half the size of Earth, with a diameter of 6,000 km. It’s a terrestrial planet with a crust, mantle, and core rich in iron and nickel. Its surface, composed mainly of rock and dust, gives it its characteristic reddish hue due to iron oxide (rust).

Mars’ thin atmosphere, primarily composed of carbon dioxide, doesn’t retain heat well, so temperatures can range from 20°C during the day to -125°C at night in the polar regions. Mars is home to geological giants like Olympus Mons, the tallest volcano in the solar system (22 km high), and Valles Marineris, a canyon over 4,000 km long.

Though there’s no liquid water on the surface due to low atmospheric pressure, there’s significant evidence that water once flowed through rivers and oceans in the past. Today, water is mostly found as ice, particularly at the poles. A day on Mars lasts about 24.6 hours, while a Martian year spans 687 Earth days. Like Earth, Mars experiences seasons as well.

Credit : Artem Chebokha

Jupiter

Jupiter, the largest planet in the solar system, is a gas giant primarily composed of hydrogen and helium. With a diameter of 143,000 km, Jupiter is so massive that it contains more than twice the mass of all the other planets combined. One of Jupiter’s most famous features is the Great Red Spot, a massive storm that has been raging for centuries. Unlike the rocky planets, Jupiter doesn’t have a solid surface; its thick atmosphere transitions into liquid as you go deeper, eventually reaching a dense core. A day on Jupiter is incredibly short, lasting just 10 Earth hours, but it takes about 12 Earth years to complete an orbit around the Sun.

Jupiter: Eternal Storms

Floating in Jupiter’s atmosphere would be an incomparable experience. Underneath swirling cloud bands, you would witness a spectacle of permanent storms sweeping across the planet at breakneck speeds. The most impressive, the Great Red Spot, is a storm so vast it could swallow two Earths whole. Jupiter’s gravity is immense: 2.5 times that of Earth. Due to the planet’s rapid rotation, the day would fly by in just 10 hours, yet those fleeting moments would be filled with powerful winds and giant lightning bolts, giving Jupiter its formidable and awe-inspiring character.

Credit: soulstorm brew

Saturn

Saturn, the second-largest planet in the solar system, is best known for its spectacular rings. Made mostly of hydrogen and helium, Saturn has a diameter of 120,000 km. Its iconic rings, composed of ice and rock, span hundreds of thousands of kilometers, yet they are remarkably thin. Like Jupiter, Saturn is a gas giant with no solid surface. A day on Saturn lasts 10.7 Earth hours, and the planet takes about 29.5 Earth years to orbit the Sun.

Saturn: Beneath Majestic Rings

If you could spend a day on Saturn, your gaze would constantly be drawn to its majestic rings, circling the planet like suspended jewels in space. These rings shimmer under the Sun’s faint light, offering a unique visual spectacle. The day would be brief, lasting just 10.7 hours, but every minute would be marked by strong air currents sweeping across the gas atmosphere. Although Saturn appears calm from a distance, its atmosphere is anything but peaceful, with massive storms occasionally erupting, reminding us that this giant is not as tranquil as it seems.

credit: hetti

Uranus

Uranus is an ice giant with a diameter of 51,000 km, best known for its unusual tilt: the planet is tipped over by 98 degrees, making it seem as though it “rolls” along its orbit. This extreme tilt means that each pole experiences 42 years of continuous daylight followed by 42 years of darkness. Uranus is composed of hydrogen, helium, and icy elements like water, ammonia, and methane, which give it its signature blue-green color. A day on Uranus lasts 17.25 hours, while a full orbit takes 84 Earth years.

Uranus: A Topsy-Turvy World

On Uranus, you would encounter a tilted world, where the Sun lingers perpetually over the horizon in certain regions, never setting for decades. The blue-green sky would cast a cold and diffuse light, while the average temperature of -224°C makes Uranus the coldest planet in the solar system. Strong winds exceeding 900 km/h would whip through methane clouds, adding to the surreal experience of this distant, cold planet. The stark contrast between its extreme tilt and frigid winds would make Uranus a world like no other.

credit: Ouroridae

Neptune

Neptune, the eighth and farthest planet from the Sun, is another ice giant, slightly smaller than Uranus, with a diameter of 49,000 km. Neptune is famous for its deep blue color, caused by methane in its atmosphere. The planet is home to the fastest winds in the solar system, reaching speeds of over 2,100 km/h. A day on Neptune lasts about 16 Earth hours, and its orbit around the Sun takes approximately 165 Earth years.

Neptune: The Realm of Winds

Spending a day on Neptune would mean experiencing violent winds and massive storms. The deep blue sky would create an environment that’s both mesmerizing and menacing, with whirling clouds spinning at unmatched speeds. The Sun, viewed from Neptune, would be just a distant point of light, barely warming the icy planet, where temperatures plunge to -214°C. With massive storms like the Great Dark Spot swirling around, you’d be surrounded by howling winds in a realm ruled by tempests.

Conclusion

Each planet in the solar system offers a unique and fascinating experience, from Mercury's kingdom of silence to Jupiter’s eternal storms, Saturn’s majestic rings, and Neptune’s realm of winds. Though these worlds are inhospitable to life as we know it, they are jewels of the cosmos, each offering a different perspective on the diversity and wonders of our solar system.

[skyward-floored]

Thanks for the tags @hero-of-the-wolf and @seaotter-17! I have... so many wips ;-;

IAU oneshots/ideas

IAU Sky missing fic

IAU movie scenes 1

IAU movies scenes 2

Brethren in a cradle

Castletown wedding

Whumptober continue Leg&Time

Up in arms

Downfall iau

Twilight turns/true form

Power swap IAU

Berry Link/assorted Link oc stuff

Kitty wind

Pup sequel(s)

Hdw au

Assorted whump/random fics

Botw Dark Link au

Lost stuff

Wars & Hyrule fic

True form/lu mix

Tfh oneshots/backstory/other guys

courage of ages main

Coa random

I’m just gonna... let anyone hop on who wants to lol

Rules: post the names of all the files in your WIP folder regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous.  Let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them, and then post a little snippet of it or tell them something about it!  And then tag as many people as you have WIPs.

i was tagged by @starwolfie! thank you!

my wiplist as of 30/8/24:

the cursebreaker

the primordials

strawberry

sing me to sleep

fruit bats (series)

lu hunger games au (series)

yestermorrow (name pending)

RIV DONT ASK ABOUT THIS ONE

stationary point

darkling i listen

out in the woods we rot

peter parker on reddit

200 hyoi pears

sepfember (yay!)

fan joy july (sadly i dont think it will ever be finished)

before the rain stops

cursebreaker!spirit

uhhhhh.... those are all my wips i guess..... hit me up if you wanna chat about them xx. i might have to be cryptic for some because of spoilers though... im gonna go grab some breakfast now and then get back to working on ch20 of cursebreaker hohohoho. love you guys 💞💞

and now for tagging time! the fun part! i can't remember who has already done this or not, so! no pressure to respond! @rosehipandroots @crazylittlejester @noorahqar @savimatteo2810 @jellyfishvibes @not-freyja @musical-chan @zarvasace @tashacee @a-manicured-lawn @artemistorm @serbii @nancyheart11 @across-violet-skies @needfantasticstories @elle-rosewater @anime-obsessed @hotcheetohatredwastaken .... if any of you are working on some juicy wips right now, please consider me SUPER interested 👀👀👀

[fragilefangirl]

Nomad (lost and found, what’s new?)

Read on AO3

When Xialing first ran away, she brought nothing but the things she wore on herself and the rolled up Dance-Dance Revolution carpet, slung on her shoulders.

It was a daring escape, considering their hilltop fortress of a home; there were many guards, many traps, many weapons ready to impale anybody going in or out unauthorized. Xialing spent months just mapping the inner-maze of the house, and some more learning the sewer system, since that was a sure path down below, somewhere with civilizations. 

Gege definitely had it easier, she thought to herself as her nose wrinkled due to the smell, knees deep in murky and questionable water, at least he got a free ride out of this godforsaken mountain.

She knew she had to be quick, she had to be agile, she had to be unseen; Baba had eyes everywhere, had ears everywhere, had hands everywhere. Xialing didn’t want anything of hers reaching him. 

(She wanted to, once upon a time; yearned for it, when she thought that his eyes could still be filled with brightness and his hands were still warm and his ears would still perk up at her voice. She wanted to be seen, to be heard, to be ruffled by the head the way it used to. 

But 6 years passed, and it took Xialing that much time to realize that a dying man could only do so much, so little.) 

When she finally reached somewhere that was not a forest, asking for a ride to the city from a passing truck, the driver asked what she could give him, eyeing the carpet on her shoulder. “Is that the 2007 DDR mat for PlayStation 2?” He asked. “I liked to play it in my cousin’s house back then—always wanted to get it.” 

Xialing tightened her grip to the binding rope, nodding stiffly. “Yes.” She said, curtly. Then when they arrived at the nearest metropolitan, she unlatched her bracelet—pure gold and adorned with rare, beautiful green jade, one of the things Baba gave her on the birthdays after, in lieu of his affection—and gave it to him. “Sell this to a jeweller.” She said, giving the wide-eyed man the accessory. “The money from it should be enough for you to start a trucking company of your own.” She paused, “and even buy your own mat.” 

The driver stuttered, but Xialing had already stepped down from the platform, running into the early dawn, blending herself among the crowd, finally, finally free. 

***

“Meimei,” 

Xialing looked up to see Gege, face obscured by the shadowy silhouette of the living room as he approached her. “What are you doing?” Asked her brother, tone careful. 

She paused from unrolling the DDR mat and setting the TV, looking at Gege like he just asked something stupid. “It’s Saturday, Gege.” She said, matter-of-factly, “Family game night, remember?” 

Because they all seemed to forget; Xialing had done this for weeks now, recharging the karaoke mic, setting the dance game, picking a movie. She’d waited on the sofa until she fell asleep and Saturday turned to Sunday and she was moved to her room instead of the sofa, but nobody showed up. 

Nobody ever seemed to show up, these days—Gege was always training at some corner of the house since the ungodly hours of the morning until the ungodly hours of the night, and Baba…

…well, Xialing didn’t really know where Baba was. 

Gege moved forward, and Xialing could see his face now; bruised, with blue and purple blooming here and there. There was a black circle over his eyes, and his lip was split—he looked like he was one of those fighters in the combat games he used to play in their PlayStation so much, the one he didn’t let her borrow. 

She gasped, rising from her seat on the floor and reaching out to him, trying to examine him,

(the way mama used to—)

Xialing blinked, throat suddenly feeling suspiciously dry as her eyes grew suspiciously wet. 

“Lingling,” Said Gege as he leaned over to her touch, eyes drooping somberly as he looked at her. “I don’t think we’re going to have family game nights tonight.” 

Narrowing her eyes, Xialing frowned. “But it’s cus-to-ma-ry.” She said, struggling to say the last word. “Mama said that means we have to play it every weekend, unless we’re doing something even more fun!” 

Gege gave her a pained smile, and tucked her under his right side, wincing a little as he did so. His eyes blinked a bit when Xialing mentioned the word ‘mama’, and his gaze drifted to the corner of the room, where there was a newly-built shrine with lightened incense and fresh tangerines. “A-Ling.” He said instead, tone weary and sad and did her older brother aged more than the years that passed through him? “Let’s just sleep, okay?” He looked down on her, offering her a tired smile. “It’s been a long day.” 

For him, Xialing couldn’t help but to think, intrusive thoughts rebutting so quickly she was surprised herself. On her end, days blur to weeks on end, making her feel smaller every single time she wakes up unseen, unheard, unspoken. 

“…okay.” She said, after mulling about it in a long silence. “Gege sleeps with me?”

This time, Gege’s smile was a little bit more genuine. “Sure, Meimei.” He said, ruffling her head. “You sleep on my right side, okay? My left side… hurts.” He winced just mentioning it, free hand tracing his torso. 

Nodding, Xialing snuggled closer as they walked away from the living room, Gege’s longer hands barely able to reach the lightswitch to turn it off. Xialing herself had to use a chair just to get it every time. He paused as they were finally out in the hallway, turning to slowly close the sliding door. 

“Gege.” 

“Hm?” 

“When…” Xialing hesitated. “When do you think we’ll play at family game night again?” 

Her older brother paused, hands still holding the door handles. “…maybe not for a while.” He said, finally, back still facing her.

“Oh.” Xialing’s hopeful face fell. “Okay.” 

Gege led her off, away from the living room, but he didn’t shut the sliding door completely, and from the gap Xialing could see mama’s shrine, lightened by the moonlight from the window. 

She swore mama’s gaze looked so sad.

(The day after, Baba locked the Living Room. 

A week later, they moved into the mountains.) 

***

“Aiya, these beggars!”

Xialing arrived at Macau after three days of truck hopping and self-smuggling herself into unbelievable vehicles. It helped that she was on the smaller side and had nothing with her—but it also meant that she arrived with no destination and no place to live.

She arrived at a packed apartment complex in Iau Hon, paying the receptionist with some of the money she acquired from selling another bracelet of hers earlier in the Mainland, only to be told that there were no longer rooms for the night and she had to queue on the waiting list just to get a piss-poor excuse of a housing. 

“Give my money back, then!” She protested, face red with anger. 

The receptionist counted the bills, unblinking. “Sorry, no refund.” 

She growled, “wáng bā dàn.” 

The receptionist paused, glaring at Xialing. She knew she could take him out on a fight right then and there if he tested her further. “Careful with your words, now, girl—a child your age shouldn’t be cussing to their kind elders.” 

“Fucker,” she muttered under her breath in English as she walked away, out of the complex. It was the last of her cash, too, after a series of expenses involving buying food, paying the smuggler who helped her through immigration, and compensating the truck drivers she rode with openly upfront and hidden on the back. She had to find another pawnshop to trade her remaining jewels if she wanted to acquire more money to survive. But it was nearing midnight, and all of the shops were closed.

So on her first night in, she lumped herself out with people on the back alleys, away from the main streets. There were homeless people there, huddled up together in worn carpets and makeshift tent. Macau was cold at night, and Xialing’s clothes were worn, too thin to block out the wind. 

That night, she rolled out the DDR mat and slept on it; curled up like a cat because she was growing taller than the mat’s length, staving away the cold. She put herself at the back corner, near the trash can, so she wouldn’t be seen. 

(Because she could not be seen—Xialing told herself that she needed to blend in, to disappear into the crowd, because Baba must be sending men out there, snooping, searching; he must be looking for her, the only child he had left, the last child he let slip through his fingers.

Baba must be looking for her.

Right?) 

The tacky design of the mat was her only company, and she fell asleep tracing the arrows—left, left, right, up, down, left again—while humming on a long-forgotten song. She fell asleep trying to remember a warmer night and a warmer night. She fell asleep yearning to wake up to warm laughter. 

“Mama, Gege,” she muttered, barely conscious, “Baba.” 

The cold wind blew her hair, gentle and mournful. 

***

“Mama.” Xialing said, fifteen and sitting at the shrine Baba had built in their new home, head leaning onto the altar. “I hate you so much.” 

The smell of jasmine incense surrounded the room, and Xialing buried herself further into her own arms, warm in all the way except what mattered. She knew silence would greet her, and yet still she paused, hoping for some of the magic mama used to tell her back then would come back, would make their family whole again. 

“I hate Gege too for leaving.” She said, one eye peeking into the picture of her mother, smiling behind the glass, forever immortalized on paper. “And I hate Baba for—“ 

She paused, unsure on what word should she use to describe that living husk of a man, more than eager to track down the lowly goons of his enemies but barely willing to look her in the eye during dinner. She shook her head, letting the silence complete the sentence. 

“But I hate you for dying the most.” She whispered, a quiet confession. “I hate you because now Gege’s gone, and Baba’s never around, and I feel like—“ she choked up, clutching her chest as she gulped. “I feel like one of these days I’m gonna disappear too, with the way nobody here acknowledges my existence.” 

The smoke from the incense danced, and Xialing sobbed, not for the first time and not for the last, a desperate attempt to be acknowledged by someone, by anyone—even the dead.

“Why didn’t you just hide in the room with us?” She asked, voice thick. “Why did you have to fucking fight those goons like a goddamn hero? Why didn’t you—I don’t know—wait for Baba to come home?” 

Again, silence greeted her, and Xialing sighed out of frustration. “If you were still here, I’d still go to my old school and actually have friends and—and family game night would still exist.” She chuckled, darkly. “Gege wouldn’t leave me, and,” She said, “Baba would still look at me.” 

The way he used to, when they were a heap of exhausted laughter after a particularly hard song to dance at. The way he used to, when Xialing whined because he kept repeating old opera songs none of them knew for the karaoke. The way he used to, when Saturday dinner was served and she and Gege fought over the last piece of guotie. 

“My tutors said I should dream big,” She lamented to herself, “But how can I do that when I feel far smaller now than when I was four?” 

The silence was suffocating her now, but it was better here than anywhere else in the house. 

“Tell me what to do, mama.” She said, voice faltering and tired. “Please tell me what to do.” 

The smoke from the incense rose up, up, up, carried by the wind into the windows, drifting away into the night, freed from the five walls surrounding the shrine. 

***

Jiang Er-Gege—“Just Jon-Jon, please. Or Mister Manager,” he insisted for the umpteenth time, unrelenting in this clearly losing battle, “and am I not older than your actual brother?” But Xialing is nothing if not stubborn—whistled at her new apartment. 

“Sweet!” He said, grinning, hair bobbing around as he turned at Xialing’s direction, who was still unwrapping her hand from the bindings, wincing a bit every once in a while due to the aftermath sting from tonight’s fights. “You got yourself a pretty nice crib, A-Ling!” 

“Thanks.” She said, giving him a small smile as she discarded the wrappings to the waste bin and took off her shoes, finally coming in. “Not that bad, isn’t it?” 

“For a seventeen-year-old street fighter? Psh. Not bad at all.” Er-Gege waved a hand, his hair—currently blue now, which reminded Xialing of the Sonic the Hedgehog poster hanging at her Gege’s old bedroom door, well, before—flowing and flailing with each of his enthusiastic movements. “Did it come fully furnished?” 

“Yes.” She said, throwing herself to the sofa, closing her eyes. Dawn was breaking, and most people would rise from their beds, starting their day—but Xialing wasn’t most people, and all she wanted to do was curl up in her bed and sleep. She was sure that if she insisted on taking a shower, she’d fall asleep under the streaming water, and that would just be wasteful. 

(“And we can’t have that, Baobei,” a deep, gentle voice softly told her, as larger hands guided her on how to soap all the wet plates together first. “Water is scarce in many places in the world in this day and age, and we must show our gratitude by not wasting it so easily.” Xialing felt a light pat on her hair, a slight ruffle, “can you do that?” 

She nodded, enthusiastic as she scrubbed the grimes a little harder, trying to detach the remnants of oil and spices from the porcelains so that the water would rinse the objects more thoroughly. “Mmhm!” She hummed, offering a bright toothy grin up, “Lingling will do as Ba—“)

“—Ling?” 

She snapped awake, blinking rapidly to regain full consciousness. “Sorry, I was pretty out of it.” She said groggily as she straightened herself up—fix your posture, Baobei, don’t slouch—looking at Er-Gege with slowly focusing eyes. “You were saying?” 

Er-Gege raised his eyebrows, but he shrugged and waved a hand at the direction of the TV. “That DDR Carpet looks a little… out, compared to your other furnitures.” 

Xialing snorted, throwing Er-Gege a ‘tell-me-what-I-don’t-know’ look. “That’s vintage.” She said, cupping her face with her hands, leaning over to the coffee table. 

“To whom?” 

Sighing in annoyance, Xialing couldn’t help but to feel a little defensive about the old mat; it might be ragged and old, it might be worn and torn at its sides, nibbled by the sneaky rat at Xialing’s old loft, but, “It’s the thing I slept on, my first night here.” She said, “It’s a reminder.” 

Er-Gege’s judgy expression softened, as he fully turned at her with his arms crossed. “A reminder?” he echoed, curiously inquiring. There was no malice in his tone, only an invitation to open up in a way that eerily reminded her of Gege, “of what?” 

Xialing looked at the worn arrows and recalled laughter; scanned the tacky colors and remembered warmth; eyed the frayed edges and missed three pairs of eyes, looking at her like she was someone, her own person, not a walking remnant of someone else, not a ghost before she even died—

“Of good times.” She smiled, small and bitter and yearning. 

Er-Gege nodded, glancing at her one last time before moving on, letting it go. He made a comment about her kitchen counter, how it was too Americanized and needed a revamp, but Xialing was very sleepy, suddenly. 

(Baobei—

Meimei—)

She sighed, laying herself to the armrests of the sofa, and closed her eyes, dreaming of nothing. 

When she woke up, it was noon, there was a steaming porridge on her coffee table, and there was Er-Gege, fumbling over her TV. “What—” she stretched, cracked her joints. “What time is it?” 

Turning at her in surprise, Er-Gege grinned almost immediately. “Look who finally woke up.” He said, tone light and teasing. “I bought the porridge from that Auntie’s restaurant you like so much—go eat it first.” 

Xialing straightened herself, gingerly taking her first spoonful, letting the warmth of the meal melt away the weariness in her bones. “Thanks,” she said, smiling at the bowl, feeling like she was truly her age for the first time in a very long while. “And what are you doing to my TV?” 

“Oh, this?” he jabbed a finger to the screen, which was displaying the HDMI menu. “I’m plugging in a PS2.” he said, shrugging before he dove again, lifting a black bulku box that looked just like the one they used to have at home. “I got this baby at a second-hand electronic shop, and they apparently sold old DDR game disks!” He grinned, before returning the device and returned to his work, this time to the mat’s underside, seemingly searching for its wirings. 

Xialing blinked, spoon suspended mid-way to her mouth, warm meals suddenly forgotten. “...why?” She asked, something simultaneously familiar and foreign slowly easing their way into her chest, squeezing it with something sharp but not painful. 

Er-Gege watched her oddly, like she was asking something stupid. “To play, of course.” he said, as if the answer itself was obvious. “This bad boy seemed like it hadn’t been used to its purpose for years, and I’ve never seen you dance before.” He grinned mischievously. 

Her throat constricted into something tight and heavy, and Xialing looked further down. “I—” she mumbled, “I don’t really remember how to.” 

She heard a snort and looked up, nearly fearfully, to see Er-Gege looking at her with something akin to mirth. “So what? We can always re-learn!” He said, waving a hand at the carpet, “it literally has arrows to tell you where to go; if you can kick people’s ass ordinately, you can definitely play this.” He grinned. 

It was true, but something about the familiarity of all this made Xialing feel like she should run away, like she should protect herself because what if she was happy and then it was taken from her again— “I don’t think we should,” she said, voice still so uncharacteristically small and vulnerable and fuck she missed Gege’s uncoordinated legs stepping into her and mama and she missed Baba cheating to win and she missed mama, she missed mama so much it hurt—

“Hey, Xu Xialing,” Er-Gege’s voice snapped her out of her spiral, softer tone breaking her reverie. “You said it reminds you of good times.” he rose from his squat, hand reaching out to touch her hair—always a perfect bob—and ruffle it lightly. “Far as I know, good times should be experienced, not just reminisced.”

She blinked, and for a split second she saw two other faces, grinning at her in a smile she’d yearned to see for so long. 

“Okay.” She said, nodding slowly, “Okay.” 

They ended up missing the night’s match, and the manager of the ring-fight yelled at Er-Gege for not bringing his best Champion to the arena, but as they laughed late into the night, teasing each other’s stiff moves and calling out their horrible attempts at cheating against each other, Xialing felt like she was home for the first in a very long time. 

***

“Baba?” 

She peeped at the door, loose hair falling, curtaining over her face. She was eleven now, spending her birthday with an array of nannies and tutors, gifted jewelleries and served the best dishes on an empty dinner table, singing happy birthday to herself. 

Baba’s work room was always dark, only luminized by the reading lamps, and sometimes those damned rings. He didn’t look up from his papers, but Xialing had trained herself in reading the miniscule when she realized that she would never be given something visible again, and she saw how his shoulders stiffened, how his eyes blinked rapidly, how his ears perked, slightly. 

He said nothing to acknowledge her existence, but he also didn’t shoo her away, so Xialing took what she could get. “It’s my birthday today.” She said, voice small, always feeling small, too small in this big room, this big house, “and I was wondering if—if we could spend it together? Just—” she shrugged, helplessly, already compromising her own wishes if it meant a nod from Baba, an affirmation, anything, “I don’t know, watch a movie or something…” 

Her eyes glanced at their new living room behind her, barely inspiring those inside it to live; it was cold and spartan, so unlike the Living Room back Home, where everything was warm and alive. In her old home, everything was strewn haphazardly, dance mats kicked several meters away from the front of the TV and karaoke mics on the couch. Here, the TV was never on, and all the mics and mats and cassettes were locked into the top shelf, the unspoken instructions clear; do not touch. Do not take. Do not open. 

Do not Relive. 

Baba moved, straightening himself, and in the silence that passed Xialing blinked, letting her hopes go up—

“I’m quite busy right now, Xialing.” He said, tone detached and performative, not even looking up to her as he spoke. “Maybe later.”  

Definitely never. 

“Oh.” Xialing deflated, looking down, slowly retreating. “Okay.” she whispered, mostly to herself as she pulled the door close once more. “Goodnight, Baba.” 

She was replied with only a hum, and she dared not to look up lest she saw him still focused on that damn paper, refusing to look at her, to see her even when it was her birthday because in his eyes she was not A-Ling anymore, not Baobei, not Meimei, just some personification of his fucking dead wife and—

Xialing fell asleep waiting for him on the couch anyway, despite everything, waiting for that later despite knowing that it was a lie. 

She woke up in her room, alone, always alone. 

It had been like this for a long while, now, but with Gege not returning home and her being the only child he had left in the compound, she had hoped—

Well. she had hoped.

That was her first mistake. 

***

“You know, for a compound this big, I thought your dad would have more stuff.” Said Katy as the three of them cleaned up the main house. With Baba cremated and his ashes placed on the same altar as Mama, they only needed to clean his place.

Which apparently didn’t require that much effort, given how little of him existed there. 

Somewhere deep within her, she recognized that it was heartbreaking to live like this, but that part was buried layers below anger and pettiness at how that exact way of life had sacrificed her. 

“He’s so… spartan.” Commented Gege as he observed the high shelves, trying to find a more personal belonging to salvage. “There’s barely anything here.” 

“You can use big words? Shocking.” Replied Xialing, tone flat and sarcastic as she took what she thought was valuable; the Lucky Cat figurine they brought from their old Home, family photos that were pushed into the far back, some sick-looking swords… “I thought the US’ horrible education system had stripped out all of your intelligence.” 

“I liked you better when you were smaller and less sarcastic.” Grumbled Gege as he threw her a look. Xialing snorted. 

“And I liked you better when you were smaller and not abandoning me,” jabbed Xialing, to which Gege replied by pinching her on her arm, not much to hurt so she knew it was in good nature. “Besides, you only do not like me because I’m cooler than you.” 

“Now on that front, she’s definitely right.” Katy piped up, and Gege groaned, grumbling something about all the women in his life ganging up against him. “Face it, Shaun, you’re a little lame compared to the rest of your family.” 

“I was laying low!” He protested to Katy, to which Xialing snorted. “And besides, you’re working in the same field as I am, receiving the same pay. If I’m lame, you’re lame too.”   

“Oh, I know.” Katy said, not missing a beat. “But my family is a bunch of immigrant workers, not some thousand-year-old warlord and a magical guardian of the mystiques. I have excuses, Shaun—you don’t.” 

“I can see why you keep her.” Xialing said, in-between her chuckles. “Keep it up, Jiejie.” She raised a thumb up to Katy with her free hand, and Katy—did Katy blush? 

“Okay, back to cleaning up!” Gege’s bellowing voice cut the both of them, only slightly annoyed. “A-Ling, what did you get?” She showed him her reapings, to which ke gestured her to place it on the open suitcase at the couch. 

“All these books were dusty, unopened from their wrappings…” Katy said as she scanned the bookshelves, “and is the TV wiring corroded? Shaun, did your father never watch TV?” 

Xialing and Gege exchanged glances, shrugging. The image of Baba doing anything fun after mama had died was so … foreign to them. “I guess he’s too consumed by his work.” Gege said, though she knew he doubted his own words as much as she did, for the Ten Rings had barely done anything for the past ten years. 

Katy shook her head in disbelief as she scanned more of the cupboards. “Books, jewels, antique swords—what are even these weapons?—oh! Here’s a fun rack!” Her steps stopped, “now there’s more personality; PS2, karaoke mic, a bunch of game discs, and—” she snorted, “A fucking DDR mat? Hey, Shaun, did your dad really play DDR?” 

Xialing paused, head turning to Katy abruptly. “A DDR mat?” She echoed, straightening herself and walking to Katy’s side, interest piqued. 

“Yeah!” Katy affirmed, pulling the rolled up mat down from the storage, unbinding it with one pull. “Looks old and worn, too.” She snorted, “What I really would give to see your scary dad dancing to this…” 

But Xialing wasn’t listening. She felt like everything around her was buzzing.

“...Lingling?” Someone’s hand was on her shoulder, and she snapped, looking up to see Gege looking down on her, frowning as his grip on her tightened. “Meimei, you okay?” 

Xialing wanted to say something, anything, because that wasn’t just some mat; she recognized it—had danced to it countless times when she was young, had brought it with her when she ran away, had slept on it on her first night in Macau, had—

“I threw that away.” She said, not quite recognizing her own voice as she reached to the frayed edges. “In Macau, when I moved to a better apartment—I threw that away.” 

I had it with me, was unspoken, he wasn’t supposed to—

And suddenly she was reminded on that night in her Club, Baba standing in front of her and Gege, offering them his smile, and she thought she’d been dreaming then, a childish delusion resurfacing after seeing a familiar face for so long, but—

“I always know,” he had smiled, and there was something there, something not quite cold, not the way he usually was after, something akin to the expression Xialing saw at the mirror in the morning when she had a particularly bad day and all she wanted was Baba’s guotie and mama’s soup— “where my children are.” 

***

CODA.

Opening her bedroom door with his elbow, Xu Wenwu made soft, careful movements so as to not wake his youngest from his arms. 

She was deep in her sleep when he found her sprawled on the couch at the wee hours of midnight, leaning her head on one side of the armchairs. When he lifted her up, she felt like she weighed far lighter than she should have—he frowned, he’d have to talk with the chef about that—and she only grumbled lightly, before snuggling her face to the crook of his neck, seeking comfort. 

Gently, he placed her onto the bed, adjusting the pillows and tucking in the blankets. She was eleven years old but she still looked like she was a baby when she was asleep like this—his baby, his Baobei. 

Xialing harrumphed when he slowly released her, one hand unconsciously clutching to his white shirt. Wenwu paused, freezing, fearing that he’d got caught. 

(Fearing what?

He didn’t know.)

Wenwu let her fingers clutch the fabric until they relaxed on its own, before slowly extricating her grip away from his clothing. He tucked her hand inside the blanket with the rest of her, and swpt her unruly bangs, looking at her face. 

Like this, she looked just like Ying Li. 

Something caught in his throat, heavy and shuddering, and Wenwu looked away. A thousand years, he thought bitterly, and his undoing is just some little girl’s face. 

He shook his head, swallowing the emotions away, letting it be buried deep once more. He knew he had sinned, knew he wronged his children to a fault, but he just—

Not for the first time that night, he wished his wife was still here, telling him what to do, telling him she loved him, telling him how to love. 

But she wasn’t, and their daughter was turning eleven, and he was sitting there at the edge of her bed, wishing more than anything for some magic to come and unbreak this broken family the way Ying Li had to his cold, greedy heart all those years ago in the forest. 

Xialing—His A-Ling, his Baobei, his child—stirred in her sleep, and Wenwu could see tear tracks on her cheeks, crusty and fading. 

He leaned over, forehead to hers, and whispered, softly, “Happy birthday, Baobei.”

Baba is sorry, he thought, hoping the unsaid would reach her anyways, even if he didn’t dare to say it out loud. 

The night was clear, the windows closed, but the wind tousled his hair lightly, gentle and mournful. 

[andrawmedae]

A fireplace tale

The fireplace had always been Rowena’s favorite place to think. To fantasize, to ruminate, to bounce some ideas back and forth, even if, let’s be honest, she always ended up hurting herself with some gloomy thoughts.

At the edge of the tall pines, tremendous blazings had given way to dying embers, and the traveling companions divided the watch quarters among themselves.

As she stirred her spoon in the hot broth Sindri brewed, turnips and pine nuts along with some leftover bread, the young dwarf replayed in her head the events of the last days.

The party had been on the road for a few days, and the young bard was feeling a bit agitated, to say the least. How can one think about such trivial things when children are missing? How can one feel so jaunty and cheerful when talking to a special someone when some moments ago, people were murdered in front of one’s eyes? How can one(/cut)..

Sindri: … your soup?

Rowena: Sorry cousin, what?

Sindri: You need to eat a bit more Rowena, I think the night won’t be a quiet one, the woods are teeming with life, and I’m not sure it’s the affable kind.

Rowena: I… yes, yes I’ll eat up.

The two dwarves were sitting side by side on a heavy branch, by the fire where a cauldron was quietly bubbling. A few meters away, three makeshift tents stood tall, right on the fringe of some ominous pines. The warmth of the flames was welcome as the cool midnight breeze was beginning to pierce through the layers of adventurers' cloth.

Sindri: You don’t seem as chipper as usual, is something on your mind?

Rowena (not very convincing): Well yes of course I mean, the children are still lost, we don’t yet know what awaits us beyond these cursed woods, and the nights to come are not going to help me calm my mind.

Sindri: Rowena, I have roamed these lands for 200 years longer than you, and yet you honestly seem to think I can’t see when you are hiding something from me?

Rowena: Oh come on cousin, don’t play that old trick on me, truly it’s nothing in particular

Sindri (amused): Oooh I see I see. You know, it is my mind who is surely playing tricks on me, because I was quite confident it was related to yesterday. You know, the fact that when we decided to break the buddy system for last night’s vigil, and that you would have loooved finishing your conversation with Iaus(/cut)

Rowena (quick, afraid): Oy shut up, shut up they’ll hear us, you don’t know if everybody is asleep Sindri!

Sindri (joyful): Aha, perceptive as always your good Cousin Sindri, Heh? Rowena, you can’t fool me, it's not because my beard is whiter than yours that I no longer perceive the flicker, that flicker, in people's eyes.

Rowena: It’s not what you think, or not exactly, not all, I mean I (stumbles) (pause)

Sindri: What is it cousin? (pause) I’m sorry for teasing you a bit, I could not help myself. But it was so tempting, you know? I promise, you can tell me if you want to, you know I won’t judge you.

Rowena: Yes, yes I know, it’s just that I’m a bit embarrassed talking about that with you. I mean all I know about, you know, your love life, is that you have been married to Pia for quite some time now, which is wonderful of course, but that’s it! I don’t know all the foolishness from your younger years, the silly things you won’t tell without one or two tankards full of ale. So well it’s… weird I guess, for me, talking about that, because well, you don’t know much about me either, and a vigil doesn’t scream “Comfy and safe time for coming out to your long lost cousin”

Sindri: Coming out you say? Wait, I thought it was about Iaus?

Rowena: Well, yeah it kinda is? But at the same time it’s a little more complicated than that, and I feel a little uneasy about it. I’m 80 but I still feel like such a child! I mean (whispering) having a crush in these peculiar circumstances would already be a bit challenging to deal with… but having several, on people who know each other and work together it’s ooooh- I would love burying my head in the earth and disappearing.

Sindri: You know what little cousin? I think it’s time for me to tell you more about my -how did you put it, oh Pelor give me strength, - my love life, while you drink your soup.

Rowena: ...

Sindri: Well to begin with the part that you know(/cut)

Rowena (intrigued): The part that I know?

Sindri (amused): Rowena, it would be easier for me to tell you about that time if you drank your soup peacefully. Now, as I was saying, you know I’m happily married to Pia. Back in the day, it was as wanted the tradition, but our union was also beneficial to not only our two families, but a lot of other people. Some trades and arrangements were made, contracts and apprenticeships, we knew our clans would have some steady years as a result of our families becoming one. The part that you don’t know, and where I’ll be glad if you take a generous gulp right… (Rowena takes a spoonful) oh, thank you dear. I am so much more than Pia’s husband, and she’s so much more than Sindri’s wife. Because hmm, you know, when, you know when we met, well. There were a lot of people in the Crag you know? And… (silent)

Slowly, gently, Rowena swallowed her mouthful before sitting on the ground, in front of Sindri. She held his hand as she said quietly

Rowena: Were you in love with someone else?

Sindri (smiling, quietly): Well, as a matter of fact, I still am! Rowena, I have been in love with two wonderful people for over 100 years, who know each other and that I love both of them : my dearest Pia, who gives me love and strength everyday, and who gave me adorable children, and Amonak, who also gives me love and strength everyday.

Rowena (loudly): Oh my gooood that’s amazing!

Iaus (alerted/groggy/from afar): What? Are we being ambushed?

Rowena: (Oh shit, laughing) Sorry, no, all fine, you can go back to sleep! (lower, but very fast) Tell me more about Amonak, about everything!

Sindri: Hahaha, I’m glad to see your ardor, it warms my heart a little, being able to talk about both of them to my charming cousin, and to feel elated and relieved about it. I wish to tell you about the time where we met, because I assume you are experiencing quite a similar phase right now. I met Amonak before meeting Pia. He was about (/cut)my age

Rowena (bursting with joy but trying to keep her voice down): He? Amonak is a man?

Sindri (amused, lighthearted): Shhh, finish your soup first, you can grill me later! Yes, Amonak is a man, a dwarf from the FrostIron Moun(/cut)… (thinking) has anyone told you that the FrostIron Mountains folks are positively… open minded with who one should love? It is a sacred sentiment after all, a blessing, and when one lucky person falls in love with another, it is always celebrated fondly. When I met him, all I could see was a young dwarf radiating with such a calming but firm presence, so much aching but so much joy, and all I wanted to do was listening to him explaining passionately how one could smith a well-balanced axe, or how to cure a bad beer induced hangover. Yes, I may have experienced the last one while being cared for said hangover.

Rowena: Oh you need to tell me the secret recipe for that, Cousin

Sindri (light laughter): Aging 100 years should help you greatly! Being close to Amonak felt like floating in the clouds, bathing in the sunlight without suffering from the heat, feeling strong as Moradin, but as light as the wind too. The Crag was still the Crag of course, but thanks to him, the hardship seemed less terrible to endure. I won’t bore you with all the petty details, but we spent days discovering each other slowly and gently, then months sharing and caring for each other. A few years later, Pia and some others arrived in the Crag. She too made me feel like a ray of sunshine was brushing my ski, gently painting my cheeks pink each time she spoke to me. Some other newcomers were also fascinating people, I know for a fact that Amonak did bind with some of them. After all those years talking with the same company, It felt for both of us like a breath of fresh winter air… I could have convinced myself that I was 50 years old again. I took advantage of every stolen moment with Pia to get to know her, then the discussions got longer and longer, whether they were just between the two of us, with Amonak or the other newcomers. I was falling in love with her too. And it was such a delightful feeling, such a special blessing that I wanted to talk to Amonak as soon as I understood it.

Rowena: And you did? Were you not afraid of breaking his heart?

Sindri: Well to be honest, I don’t see one’s heart as a breakable thing. For instance, a mighty tree could be a beautiful picture to represent that strong force of nature, but I think it rather is closer to… well, water? It can bend, it won’t break. And yes, sometimes it can freeze, but with a little warmth, a soft conversation or a prayer it can easily melt back to an impetuous torrent, full of life and joy, full of light and love. I was not afraid of breaking Amonak’s heart. I knew that even if it froze for a bit, I could easily help my beloved unthaw it, making him feel unique and adored. But the beauty of this moment was slightly different that you could have guessed, because well, Amonak fell in love with one of the newcomers too!

Rowena: Nooooo, for real?

Sindri (amused): Yes, yes, “for real”. I don’t know if Pelor blessed us, or if I am one of the luckiest dwarves that ever lived, but since that day, my heart is held not by two, but by four hands, and it never felt cold anymore.

Rowena: Sindri, that’s so beautiful, thank you for sharing such a cherished memory, it makes me wanna burst into song.

Sindri: It would be an honor, but I don’t think our new friends would feel the same that late in the night!

Rowena: Haha, you are right. (pensive) Does it make this journey harder for you? I mean, I know for a fact that you did not see Pia for a long time, is it the same with Amonak?

Sindri: Well, sadly yes. I had to protect them both. But I’m gonna let you in on a little secret. When Pia and I got married, we enchanted our rings so that they could communicate with each other. It's not much, we can't have a conversation, but thanks to that, I can know if Pia is in good shape, if she is happy, and to know that it fills me with joy and serenity. And do you see that locket holding my cape? Everyone thinks that's a sigil for Pelor, a sun with a sunflower, that would be totally appropriate. But the truth is quite different as you will have already guessed.

Rowena: Amonak have the same sigil?

Sindri: Well not quite identical, Amonak is a cleric of Moradin, his own sigil has an anvil with a sunflower. Here let me show you. As Sindri places a hand on his locket, as to warm it a bit, he says with a gentle voice Sindri: Hello sunbeam, I hope you are alright.

Then, putting his hand on his knee, the sun began to revolve on itself, while the sunflower above it began to rotate in the opposite direction. A few moments later, two eyelid-like shapes opened, and a calm metallic voice responded. The Locket Warm. Love. Safe. Time

Rowena: Did he? It? Who?

Sindri: Amonak seems to be fine according to our lockets, and he misses me. ó elskan mín.

Rowena: That’s so… magnificent! Can you teach me how to do that? I could enchant my own harp and… well I have other instruments who can..

Sindri: In time I could show you that my dear, but I think you ought to yourself to have some heartfelt conversations with some other people over there, before saying Hey, this magical harmonica will tell me if you are alive and well, and by the way I have a crush on you

Soren: Oh, you have a crush on who?

[sallowhillshq]

plot drop 002: summer nights

sallow hills looks forward to summer, just as any town would.  kids run free amongst the streets, the sun actually comes out to say hi, and everything just seems a bit lighter.  as well, residents look forward to their annual carnival down on the pier!  

y carnifal iau

through most of june, the pier was restricted to business use only as townsfolk prepared for their biggest celebration of the year.  though still small, since there are only so many hands in sallow hills, everyone pitches in to make y carnifal iau as amazing as possible.  then, as soon as july hits, everyone holds their breath for the opening.

it’s beautiful.  tents line the beach filled with local businesses and crafters selling their wares.  some even offer workshops for those who pass by, to teach them how to knit, sew, make candles, read tarot.  while no rides populate the pier, as they might in bigger cities, the pier is filled with games for those of all ages to play.  ring tosses, balloon pops, skee-ball - any classic carnival game you can imagine!  and the prizes?  from cheap stuffed animals to free dinners at rhian y dafydd’s.  

and every day at sunset, the families gather around to watch the sun dip behind the horizon and to awe at the fireworks that are let off.  then, they all go home.  because no one stays for the carnival at night.

nothing bad has happened at the carnival at night.  it just feels odd.  the way the wind whips at the tent flaps, the way the carnival music echoes and turns into something odd.  the way the clown statues seem to stare at you and the merrows seem to eye the beach a little more curiously.  teenagers often go through it on a dare, though none of them stay for long.  because something is just off about a carnival at night

okay y’all time for our second ever plot drop!  reminder - plot drops are for you to use at your will.  you can completely ignore this, or you can focus all your threads on it.  it’s up to you!  a little tldr:  every july sallow hills hosts a carnival on the pier and surrounding beach.  during the day it’s full of life, though something feels just a bit off at night

this plot drop will last for the whole of july!  from july 1st to july 31st.  have fun with it!  win some free things, or have your characters helping out at a booth at the carnival.  or maybe your characters are brave enough to explore at night.  

if you have any questions, let us know in the discord!

[skyward-floored]

Oooh wow that’s a hefty list of wips! I don’t think I have quite that many lol. Here are mine (hopefully I didn’t miss any):

Downfall iau

Hdw

Lost au

Various scraps (possible whumptober??)

True form (twilight turns)

Incredibles au oneshots

Incredibles au (movie scenes)

Kitty wind

Berry Link

Ember’s parents

Botw dark link au

Pup sequel(s)

Swapped

Brethren in a cradle

Castletown wedding

Up in arms

IAU Sky fic

Warriors is Hyrule’s [redacted]

Whumptober continuation

Eveni in war of ages

Tri force heroes origin

Tri force heroes oneshots

Courage of ages

No pressure tagging: @adrift-in-thyme @smilesrobotlover @telemna-hyelle @skyloftian-nutcase @silvrash-797 and anyone who’d like to hop on :)

WIP Challenge!

Rules: post the names of all the files in your WIP folder regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous.  Let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them, and then post a little snippet of it or tell them something about it!  And then tag as many people as you have WIPs.  I have deemed that this isn’t just for writing either.  Sketch titles?  Comics?  DnD campaigns?  If you have an unfinished project, it counts!!  

Hi everyone! In honor of fanfic writer appreciation day, bringing this back!

My insane taglist under the cut, but if you see this in the wild feel free to jump on!!

tagging people from nwod and fic fest! ignore the ping if you didn't want it sorry dfkjlgh but i find these fun and thought some of you might, too :D

@only-lonely-stars @rosiehunterwolf @silvermags @starlightaxolotl @guplia @stars-brownies-n-metaphors @bananaplayzz @boba-pearl @caycubone @weekend-whip @pandemonium-kidz @aroninshonour @zebaji @kumoriwrites @spinbitchzu @tirednapentity @taddymason @psychologicalwarclaire @finn-m-corvex @knowledgequeenabc @tinywriterfairy @graceful-not @jays-supersonic-dynamo @artqueen02 @basicallyjaywalker @fruit-colored-ninja @summerf0x @nocturnal-nexu @riseleon @indigosky101 @miqotepotatoe @randomcrapstories @lightning-chicken @crikkit-kitterton @colesstar @lloydenthusiast @senseigrace @the-painted-siren @ataraxixx @parateuthis @curiositythecryptid @elemom @mikewheelerfan2022 @mcfanely @rainbow-flavoured-skittles @a-big-chicken-nerd @collectiveclams @stealingyourbones @abunnsburrow @survivalshipping @gravyhoney @officercooks @laziarteest @nin-jay-go @themilosquid @fandomsareforlife @goldenavenger02 @localguy2 @blu3cl0v3rs @ghostwalloper @cboffshore @bookworm-dork-fish @raven6229

HUGE BREATH HELLO

[babzilla]

WIP Sampler Basket

I wanted to do this again just to keep track of what the hell I’m doing.

🌟

A meme for people with too many a lot of WIPs!

Rules: post the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Send me an ask with the title that most intrigues you and interests you and I’ll post a little snippet of it or tell you something about it!

My totally willing sacrifices: @blackkatmagic @vandrell @primarybufferpanel

———

In no specific order:

Late Night Holo Dramas on Skinemax

Lover’s Skin Notes

binary system

Mummy au

achilles come down

Alpha-17 & Obi-Wan Kenobi: Republic Negotiators

7 - Love Like Me, Love Like You

on this, my last day

grow tall, watered by love and happiness

6 - Falling, Everywhere Falling (or No Greater Mercy)

A Single Blistering Star (working title)

like thunder under earth chapter 2

coda: in the howling wind (are you free now?)

Did You Find Love (In The Knick of Time)

Morning Will Come (Do What’s Right)

Close Your Eyes (So You Don’t See)

something from calgary?? idk

For a Hundred Thousand Tears (or Years? working title)

Rescuing Princes (For Fun and Profit) - Masterpost

5 - A Brand New Enterprise

Funny Like That (or If Ye Be Mighty? working title)

DRIVE, ANAKIN!

landing, from a great height

Connected Like Constellations

Coruscant Vice ORIGINS

Sky on Fire (don’t ask for this one I have NOTHING for it yet)

IAU - 3 - Don’t You Feel the Power (Here In The Dark)

IAU - 2 - Lay Down Your Heart (In These Final Hours)

IAU - 4 - Did You Find Love Darling

IAU - 1 - Turn Down The Lights (Tell Me No Lies)

You Remind Me of the Babe

The Babe With The Power

A Goblin Babe!

Same Old Song

Once Upon a Time on the Rishi Moon

2 - For The Promise of Rain

4 - Something In You, Always Searching

a half remembered daydream

1 - Storm Chasing In The Desert

Coruscant Vice chapter 2

with the flood

Bright Blood

Falling Down The Mountain

A Trinket (DON’T ask for this one eitherrrrrrr idk what I’m doing anymore)

[skyward-floored]

So merry Christmas I meant to write something but stuff has been happening and I forgot. But I did draw another Incredibles au thing, it’s that scene in the Incredibles where they’re all on the island (so sadly no Four 😔) and they all hug :]

[astro-no-my-foot]

Constellation of the Week (more like Month): Orion

So I thought I might want to delay talking about this one to avoid becoming a cliche, but one can only hold off from their greatest desires for so long: so here it is, our SECOND constellation of the blog, the Greek hunter, Orion!

Orion is not only one of the most iconic constellations visible in the Northern Hemisphere during the winter (summer in the Southern Hemisphere), it is highly conspicuous and houses some of the more important stars visible in the night sky. Prominent stars include Betelguese (which I will talk about in a future post) or Alpha Orionis, Rigel or Beta Orionis and Bellatrix (Potterheads out there, I hear you). The twenty-eighth largest constellation out of the IAU 88, it is most easily cognizable due to its “belt” of three stars arranged in a diagonal line with a quadrilateral bottom and pentagonal torso through which extend the archer’s bow and crude mace held over his head. Even a relatively amateurish and untrained eye can easily make it out. 

The myth of Orion stems from Greek mythology, as do most of the constellations. Orion was a skilled hunter with a moral code, which attracted Artemis, the goddess of the hunt and chastity, to his company. Her protective brother, Apollo, caught wind of their increasingly close companionship and in order to safeguard his sister’s oath of abstinence, he tricked her through boasts and challenges into shooting at her own friend’s skull, killing him instantly. Disturbed by her reckless action, she appealed to their father, Zeus, who gave in and immortalized Orion in the form of a constellation. Other variants of the myth say that the Mother Goddess, Gaia, sent a huge scorpion to end his life, which now accompanies Orion in the heavens as the constellation of Scorpio. 

An interesting story and easy observation are what make this constellation a fan-favourite and, as I said before, a cliche.

Anyways, I wish I didn’t have to go to school tomorrow, but I can’t miss a day this week because I plan to bunk on Friday anyways. Oh well.

My next post should be either about neutrinos or a surface look at black holes. Until then, toodles!

-Riri

[skyward-floored]

Thank you @wickedcriminal :)

I still have way too many wips 😭

IAU oneshots

Courses of love

Botw Dark Link au

Castletown wedding

IAU main fic

Wild&Four fic

True form au

Brethren in a cradle

Kitty Wind fic

COA main fic

Up in arms

Whumptober continuation

Sky & Hyrule spider fic

Warriors is Hyrule’s [redacted] fic

Unfinished Warriors angst/bunny legend thing/more downfall Time

Ember’s parents

True form x Lu/Eveni in the war of ages

Tri force heroes aftermath doppel stuff

Lost’s story

Tri force heroes oneshots

Various COA aus

No pressure tags: @adrift-in-thyme @telemna-hyelle @skyloftian-nutcase @smilesrobotlover and @ anyone else who’d like to :)

WIP GAME

RULES: post the names of all the files in your WIP list, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Let people send an ask with the title that most intrigues them and then post a little snippet or tell them something about it. And then tag as many people as you have WIPS!

tagged by @reallyprofoundkryptonite

• The Little Menace And His Lizard

• Viggo's Everyday Life as a Full Time Lycanwing

• Neo Bud

• I'm not mad at you

• Identical bar one small detail chapter i forgor

• Rauthr's Cure Chapter 8

• VLAU Chapter 13

• untitled

• The Rushwest Children

• The Horrors I Saw That Night

• The Accident

• This Episode of Bluey is called 'New Girl'

tagging: @mdoodlerfandomart @wickedcriminal @illustrious-rocket @fictionalnormalcy @gogogoats @krattgirl124 @lumiidragon @bayalexison @aoife-asturmaux

[claroquequiza]

well i guess i have to unstan you now have a good day pluto-hater

that last ask was a joke just to clarify ill still stan you - from the plutolover

LOOOL, I suspected as much, but I was going to marvel that my second-ever piece of anon hate (and I’ve been on Tumblr since 2012!) was from being a Pluto-hater–I have been extraordinarily lucky when it comes to internet hate.

But let me clarify my position a little anyway. I don’t mean to hate on Pluto–it’s an amazing place, and I was as excited as anyone when New Horizons flew by–but its planetary status was due almost entirely to a series of accidents!

It’s a long complicated story, though, so it’s under a read-more. RIP, mobile users!

First and foremost: Planet X. Most people know that Pluto was first discovered during the hunt for a mysterious Planet X that was supposedly tugging on Neptune. Neptune itself was discovered because after astronomers found Uranus and computed its orbit, after a few years Uranus was in the wrong place! Alexis Bouvard concluded another unseen planet was affecting Uranus, and Urbain Le Verrier calculated where it must be, and Johann Galle found Neptune right where he said it was.

So when Neptune seemed to be doing the same thing, it was natural to suspect yet another planet.

As the story goes, they looked for Planet X, found Pluto, and though it turned out to be too small to be Planet X, it was accepted into the planetary club.

But what most people don’t know is that when Pluto was first discovered, they guesstimated its size based on how big they thought Planet X should be. They basically said, “So, for it to affect Neptune it must have seven times the mass of the Earth. So that’s how big it is.” So for a year or so, they thought Pluto was at least seven times the mass of Earth.

And it’s been downhill ever since.

A year later, even the most powerful telescopes couldn’t see Pluto as a disk–thus it couldn’t be so big because it always appeared like a starlike point. Even if Pluto was exceptionally dark-colored (and they thought it was exceptionally dark for decades to explain why they couldn’t see much of it), it couldn’t possibly be seven times the size of Earth. So they downgraded Pluto to “only” the size of Earth. This already made it doubtful that it was Planet X, but it was still a planet, right? And it remained “Earth-sized” for seventeen years. 

By then better telescopes still couldn’t see it very well, so it couldn’t be bigger than Mars.

But! Still a planet!

And this is saying nothing of its orbit, which people knew was weird almost as soon as they discovered it. No planet is inclined more than 6º from the Earth’s orbit, but Pluto’s is inclined 17º, which means we should never have spotted it! Or at least, should not have spotted it for a few decades. They expected to find Planet X close to the same angle as Earth’s orbit (the ecliptic), and they happened to find Pluto right when it was crossing it, which happens only twice every 248 years on opposite sides of its orbit! If it had been anywhere else, it would have been too high above or too low beneath the ecliptic to be found, and indeed, they have pictures of Pluto from 1907, twenty-three years before it was discovered, that weren’t recognized as a planet because that’s not where planets are.

But hey! Mars is definitely a planet, so Pluto was, too, and Pluto was the size of Mars for another twenty-eight years.

And then.

With even better telescopes they finally worked out that Pluto is covered in methane ice, and methane ice is super, super bright because it reflects almost all the light that hits it. For all that time Pluto had to be dark to be so “big” yet so hard to see, but as it turns out it was actually exceptionally bright–and if it was exceptionally bright yet still so hard to see, it had to be small. Super small. Only 1/100 the mass of Earth at most, which is one-fifth that of Mercury. Pluto was suddenly the smallest planet in the Solar System by a wide, wide margin.

And then it turns out it was actually more than four times smaller than that.

They discovered Charon, Pluto’s biggest moon, and so it turns out that around a quarter of the light that astronomers thought was coming from Pluto alone was actually coming from Charon. Whoops! So it’s altogether 1/459 the mass of Earth, about one-twentieth of Mercury. Super, super, super small.

But Hey! Still A Planet! This Definitely Isn’t Another Ceres!

What is Ceres, you ask? Ceres was the original eighth planet! Discovered in 1801, it was found because people thought there was a pattern to the planets’ orbits which was interrupted by a void between Mars and Jupiter. In reality they were completely wrong, but since it made people point their telescopes in that region, they soon found Ceres, a small, starlike point that nevertheless orbited the Sun, and since it orbited the sun it was proclaimed a planet even though it was so small it had no disk and its orbit was a little weird–inclined by 10° to the ecliptic.

Sound familiar?

After Ceres was discovered, more “planets” followed that orbited in the same region: Pallas, Juno, Vesta, then dozens, thousands, and tens of thousands more. Before it became more a dozen, though, it was recognized that these objects were different because they were small, they often had high inclinations to the ecliptic, and there were tons of them, so they were renamed asteroids, which turned out to be a good thing because if asteroids were still planets then there would be more than a million planets in the Solar System.

But that doesn’t concern Pluto. Yeah, it was small, but it’s fourteen times bigger than Ceres, and while it wasn’t anything like the other eight planets, at least it was the only one of its kind, right?

Right?

Enter Mike Brown, @plutokiller on Twitter. With telescopes getting better and better, he and his team felt it was time to start searching the so-called “Kuiper Belt”, a region of space full of small, icy worlds. Pluto’s discovery actually kicked off the theories that the Kuiper Belt might exist, and the idea was further refined as the decades passed until it seemed likely that a) the Kuiper Belt almost definitely existed and b) it was likely larger and had way more stuff in it than the asteroid belt. In 1992 the first Kuiper Belt object since Pluto was discovered, 15760 Albion, which is a tiny chunk of ice just a little bit further out than Pluto, though much smaller.

But it meant Pluto wasn’t alone.

And it meant that telescopes were finally good enough to find more.

And Mike Brown and his team were determined to find them. Their unofficial goal was to find an object bigger than Pluto–if the Kuiper Belt had so much stuff in it, then it was possible and even likely. And they found dozens of objects out there, ranging in size from a hundred kilometers across to bigger than Ceres.

So as it turns out, there’s tons of stuff out there. If Pluto hadn’t been accidentally discovered by the search for Planet X, there’s no guarantee that it would have been the first Kuiper Belt object discovered. It still might have been–Pluto is the biggest Kuiper Belt object we know of, even if it’s only the second-most massive.

The most massive is, of course, Eris, the little almost-planet that killed Pluto.

When Mike Brown and his team first discovered it, predictably they thought it was bigger than it really was–bigger than Pluto. You can’t blame them though–it’s twice as far as Pluto most of the time, and it turns out it’s only a little bit smaller than Pluto–only fifty kilometers’ difference. But that wasn’t the point, really. The point is that there was lots of stuff out there, and some of it was as big as Pluto. As telescopes get even better, we’re likely to find more objects around the size of Eris and Pluto–maybe even dozens, the same way we discovered dozens more asteroids.

So Pluto wasn’t big and it wasn’t unique. It has more in common with dozens and likely thousands of small objects orbiting beyond Neptune than with any of the planets.

And speaking of Neptune, in 1989 when Voyager 2 flew past the planet, its mass was recalculated, and it turns out astronomers thought Neptune was hiding an extra Mars-sized bit of mass that wasn’t there.

So as it turns out that Neptune’s orbit is exactly as it should be, so the hunt for Planet X should never have taken place, so Pluto should not have been discovered decades ahead of schedule right when it was crossing the ecliptic where real planets are, and it should not have been overestimated for half-a-century based on the fictional planet’s non-existent characteristics, and it should not have been considered unique for another two decades after that.

But it was.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

So that’s my long-winded explanation of my unpopular opinion. This isn’t to say that you should stop loving Pluto–it’s an absolutely fascinating world, and New Horizons revealed a surprising active and ever-changing surface, so if anything Pluto not being unique means the Kuiper Belt and beyond is an exciting place with tons of neat surprises in store–

–but Pluto the planet was a series of mistakes that were finally corrected by the IAU.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[catgriosaich]

Mae Hiraeth Yn Fy Nghalon - Geiriau

This is my attempt at a very rough translation. I am not a poet, nor am I a fluent Welsh speaker, I’m just a beginner trying to get the meaning across as clearly as possible to help myself learn.

Mae hiraeth yn fy nghalon am y ddoe na ddaw yn ôl

Mae tristwch yn f’enaid am y fu

Mae dagrau yn fy lligaid ar ol y rhai sydd wedi mynd

A’r atgof sydd yn bwrw cysgod du

There is a longing in my heart for the yesterday that will not return

There is a sorrow in my soul for what was

There are tears in my eyes for those that have gone

And the memory casts a black shadow

Af i chwilio yn y mynydd

Af i chwilio yn y glyn

Af i chwilio am orffennol teg fy ngwlad

Gwrandawaf ar yr afon a

Syllaf ar y llyn

A disgwl, disgwl gweled fy nhreftad

I will go looking* in the mountains

I will go looking in the glen

I will go looking for the fair past of my land

I will listen to the river and

I will gaze upon the lake

And wait, wait to see my heritage

Mae’r awel yn y brigau yn dweud am y dyddiau blin

Pan roedd gormes landlordiaid yn y tir

A’r hesg yn dweud yn ddistaw am fuchedd gwerin dlawd

Aberth bywydau byr a’r dyddiau hir

The breeze in the treetops* tells of the wearisome days

When the tyranny of the landlords was in the land

And the sedge tells silently the legends* of the poor folk

Offerings of brief lives and tedious days

Ond dywed nant y mynydd am lawenydd ac am hwyl

A’m balchder a gorfoledd dan yr iau

A dywed llif yr afon am i fethiant gormes Sais

I dorri calon ddewr y bur hoff bau

But the mountain streams tell of joy and of mirth

Of pride and celebration despite the yoke*

And the flow of the river tells of the failure of English tyranny

To break the valiant heart of the pure beloved country

NOTES:

The -af endings are the first person conjugation of simple future tense, which is now more commonly used in literary Welsh than in conversation. So he sings “syllaf” for “I will gaze”, but in conversation, you probably say “bydda i’n syllu” (”I will be gazing”).

Brig means top, peak, crest. I initially translated this as “the wind in the peaks”, but given that awel specifically means breeze, not howling wind, I think treetops make more sense than mountains.

Buchedd just means life or way of living, but it isn’t used as often as bywyd, and one of its main uses is the phrase buchedd sant: hagiography. I used “legend” to try and maintain the religious connotations.

One version of these lyrics I found translated “dan yr iau” as “of the young”. Iau the adjective means young, but iau the noun means yoke, and dan means under (so literally “under the yoke”, but with “despite” implied?) I think my version is probably right, but I’m not entirely sure.

VOCABULARY LIST:

VERBS:

Bwrw: To hit, to throw, to cast

Chwilio: To search, to seek

Gwrando: To listen

Syllu: To look, to gaze

Disgwl / Disgwyl: To wait, to anticipate

Gweled: To see

Dywed / Dweud: To tell

*

ADJECTIVES:

Blin: Wearisome, woeful, galling

Distaw: Quiet, silent, mute

Tlawd: Poor

Byr: Short, brief

Hir: Long, lengthy, tedious

Dewr: Brave

Pur: Pure

Hoff: Dear, fond, favourite

*

NOUNS:

Calon (-nau): Heart (f)

Tristwch (no pl): Sorrow, wistfulness (m)

Enaid (-iau): Soul (m)

Deigryn (dagrau): Tear (m)

Llygad (llygaid): Eye (m)

Cysgod (-ion): Shadow (m)

*

Mynydd (-oedd): Mountain (m)

Glyn (-noedd): Glen, valley (m)

Afon (-ydd): River (f)

Nant (nentydd): Stream (f)

Llif (-oedd): Flow, flood, stream (m)

Gwlad (gweldydd): Land, country (f)

Tir (-oedd): Land, earth (m)

Hesgen (hesg): Sedge (f)

Awel (-on): Breeze, current (f)

Brig (-au): Top, peak, crest (m)

*

Treftad (no pl): Heritage, inheritance, patrimony (f)

Gorffennol (no pl): Past (m)

Atgof (-ion): Remembrance, reminiscence, memory (m)

Methiant (methiannau): Failure, downfall, breakdown (m)

Gormes (no pl): Tyranny, oppression (f)

Gwerin (-oedd): People, folk (m or f)

Iau (ieuau): Yoke (f)

Pau (peuoedd): Country (f) (rare)

Bywyd (-au): Life, lifetime (m)

Buchedd (-au): Life, lifestyle (f) (rare)

Aberth (ebyrth): Sacrifice, offering (m or f)

Llawenydd (no pl): Joy, glee, euphoria (m)

Hwyl (-iau): Fun, mirth, merriment (f)

Gorfoledd (no pl): Joy, rejoicing, triumph (m)

Balchder (no pl): Pride, glory, vanity (m)

*

Sources: Geiriadur Bangor; Geiriadur Pyfysgol Cymru, this lyric video (weirdly the only place I could find the Welsh lyrics. It also has an English translation but I promise I didn’t cheat lmao)

[skyward-floored]

Oh boy, um. Get ready for a not-short list 😅

In no particular order—

- IAU oneshots

- Courses of love

- Botw Dark Link au

- Castletown wedding

- IAU main fic

- Wild&Four fic

- True form au

- Brethren in a cradle

- Kitty Wind fic

- COA main fic

- Up in arms

- Whumptober continuation

- Sky & Hyrule spider fic

- Warriors and Hyrule [redacted] fic

- Unfinished Warriors angst/bunny legend thing

- Ember’s parents

- True form x Lu/Eveni in the war of ages

- Tri force heroes aftermath

- Lost’s story

- Various COA aus

- Tri force heroes oneshots

I think that’s it... don’t really have the spoons to tag so if somebody else wants to hop on they can :)

WIP Game

@tavina-writes thanks for the tag!!! 💖

RULES: post the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them, and then post a little snippet or tell them something about it! and then tag as many people as you have WIPs.

Limiting this to the active ones because I have so many just... laying dormant...

What The Fuck Hannah

gowtt

not gonna get too far but that's okay

it's jest a flesh wound

the religion one but for real this time

Oh no

Wind's Beard

FJFJFJ the titles are more jokey and less organized bc I have everything foldered up by fandom haha. So I let myself do wacky titles. Feel free to ask about any of them lol.

Tagging @yellowocaballero @ellie-tarts @zarvasace @lieutenantbiscute @runaway-ramblings @jasontoddiefor @dottie-wan-kenobi (and anyone who wants to do this) (only if you want to though!)

[tanadrin]

The province map for the Mars mod so far, about 40% done. The shaded part over Acidalia Planitia is the current working area.

Deducing a logic of political geography is a challenge here: EU4, and other Paradox GSGs, normally have the advantage of having history as a guide--even if you were doing a fantasy total conversion, the logic of terrain in a fantasy world is usually roughly the same as in the real world. Not so here! Here we have massive outflow channels instead of rivers, huge shield volcanoes or chaos terrain instead of mountain ranges, and huge, flat basins instead of seas.

I am trying to make the province layout follow approximately the pattern of human settlement in this setting, which began with the establishment of the posthuman enclaves in the depths of the Noctis Labyrinthus. They came to Mars to pursue their own esoteric ends, away from the influence of Earthbound factions and politics, and established the planetwide terraforming network to begin making Mars habitable. Later, additional human migration occurred with the posthumans’ help and consent; human habitation has found the most purchase in the deep valles and craters, where subsurface water and minerals can more easily be tapped, and where shelter can be had from fierce Martian dust storms (made more fierce by the gradually increasing density of the atmosphere). Ancient highland regions like Noachis Terra, Arabia Terra, and Aonia Terra are much more sparsely populated--almost no one lives there, infrastructure is sparse if it exists at all, and the only organized polities found are migratory bands that occasionally raid settled civilization for supplies. These aren’t the steppe nomads of Asia, either. Though sometimes warlike, they cannot support a large population, nor livestock; they’re mostly confined to what they can grow in their large, mobile bases. Think Sandcrawlers, or colony pods from Alpha Centauri.

The more broken terrain of Margaritifer Terra, the Argyre rim, and the great valles systems like Mariner and Kasei are home to large, settled states, so province density is much greater. Some of the northern lowlands support similar states--Chryse Planitia and southern Acidalia Planitia for instance--but other regions are rather barren for reasons similar to the uplands. The far south and far north (Vastitas Borealis and the Planum Australe) are unpeopled. Both receive poor insolation in the winter, making solar panels (a major source of energy for anything too small to fit a nuclear reactor) useless. The Planum Australe is also racked by extreme katabatic winds because of its geography, and a long winter exacerbated by Mars’s orbital eccentricity. (And, of course, EU4 only supports cylindrical maps.)

I’m gerrymandering things a little bit too--I have a bias towards denser provinces where there are more existing place-names to work with. This isn’t absolute, but as it stands with nearly 2,000 provinces drawn so far, I have preexisting names for less than a third of them. Where provinces logically overlap with named geographical features, I tend to draw them that way, and if the province contains any points of interest, even minor craters, I’ll name it after one of those; but at some point I’m going to have to figure out a consistent naming scheme for all the rest that 1) fits in with the Aesthetic I’m going for, and 2) is clearly enough differentiated from the IAU names that you can tell them apart at a glance.

There is going to be another major “axis” of dense provinces running roughly from northeast Hellas to southeast Isidis--sort of a counterpart to the China/India/SE Asia region of EU4′s map, another dense area of interest. The two regions are certainly in contact with one another, but travel between them is difficult. Although Mars has been terraformed, it has been terraformed only partially. The temperature only occasionally approaches freezing in the warmest weather, and what plant life there is is genetically-engineered moss, lichen, and algae, adapted for the cold weather and poor soil. The air pressure in the highlands is about what you’d experience on Mount Everest, or higher, and the atmosphere is mostly carbon dioxide, the native atmosphere plus the product of the industrial processes used to create a layer of greenhouse gases around the planet. And it’s worth noting, although it won’t be relevant until I get around to actually making the gameplay part of the mod (who knows when that will be), that although the future is bright for now, ultimately this is a civilization in decline. The posthumans long ago retreated behind the walls of their enclaves, and nothing has been heard from them since; those who approach those gates are met only with impassive, silent machine sentinels. For reasons unknown, the terraforming network is beginning to break down, and the AIs who are supposed to be operating it have likewise become unresponsive. If it collapses completely, dust storms will become much more frequent (as they were before humans set foot on Mars) and the tentative ecology that has been established will be put in grave peril. The only hope might be to try to escape--but Earth is very far away, and nothing has been heard from them from a long, long time.