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skykidsam · 4 months ago

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Shard Memory: Shattering (and lots of unhinged rambling about lore implications)

Long read ahead - some Sky: The Two Embers spoilers in the block of text toward the end.

I really wanted to get more shots but I literally clipped into Tsadi's cape and couldn't escape ;-;

Anyway, here we go:

From left to right: Sa, Mekh, Lamed, Teth, Daleth, Tsadi (barely visible in the darkness on the bottom right), Ayin, and floating in the center above everyone else and directly above the shattering stone, the upside-down mask and fading silhouette of King Resh.

I got this closer shot of the mask. I should have gotten a screenshot while I was actually on it because the details don't translate from far away. The best description I can give is this: it seemed like mostly just the mask, no real substance to the head or body; the mask was two stars stacked on top of one another, the bigger being a four-pointed star with the longest point being the top (but in this case, with it being upside-down, the bottom), and the smaller star having many more points and resting directly on top of the bigger star. And in the eye of both stars is a single spot (a diamond, if I remember correctly), that looks like a small darkstone.

I find it really interesting that all of the elders were present for the Shattering. I can only assume they were there to stop it - but I wonder how much they were aware of. Darkness was already spreading through the realms for some time. The King had been corrupted. Was the Storm on the horizon? Was the stone already glowing red and showing its cracks? Could they tell what a monstrous catastrophe they were on the brink of experiencing? Or were they there simply to intervene and stop the King?

And then these guys. I know we still don't fully know what Winged Lights even are. But with the new extended preview of Sky: The Two Embers out, there's one scene in particular that this makes me think of. (I'll save hard spoilers for the end and will give warning beforehand.)

So, my take?

I think we're seeing the moment Resh sacrificed himself to save everyone. We're also seeing that it was too late.

We also know from devs that Elder cutscenes exist in a place outside space and time, but that they still have an effect on the world. I think we're seeing why. The moment this stone shattered, all those present were killed, but were also locked in their own limbo, living out their most notable moments over and over again across probably infinite dimensions (like watching the same scene over and over in the reflections bouncing off shards of broken glass... or crystal). They're stuck. Not here in Sky, not in Orbit, not with The Light - but somewhere In Between. Purgatory.

But... why? How?

Well, the path to Orbit was still blocked - both by the shattered crystal itself, and by the now-demolished castle infrastructure that was previously seated on and above the mountain peak. Even aside from that, most, if not all of the Elders had already been corrupted; aka, depleted of their natural light and/or filled with darkness - who knows if they even had enough internal light left to participate in the natural light/life cycle, even if they had survived.

What about the King?

We also now have confirmation in the art book that, "The Ruler would sacrifice themselves to share light back into the skies, and the light souls would then return as Descendants."

With that information, I have a few theories. He was certainly corrupted, and very likely the most corrupted of all the Elders. So, my first question is, what was his act of sacrifice?

We clearly see him upside-down, seemingly disintegrating or dissolving, with nothing but his (presumably darkstone-imbued) mask remaining.

Was his sacrifice the thing that destroyed the crystal? Had it absorbed too much light, started glowing red and attracting Darkness and Storm to it, and so the crystal is what needed to be stopped?

Or was the shattering itself the cause of the Storm?

Three things we know for certain:

There was already war, darkness, corruption, and pollution before the stone shattered.

The shattering itself caused immense structural damage.

The stone was harnessing light/souls directly from the sacred migration to The Light.

So my theories are:

A) The stone itself had been corrupted and had become volatile, so the King sacrificed himself to shatter the stone and make way for light to enter back into the light/life cycle.

B) The sheer density of light/souls was too much for the stone, causing deterioration over time that eventually allowed darkness to manifest, and that structural deterioration led to the Shattering. The King sacrificed himself to try to contain it/minimize the damage.

In either case, the Elders and King would probably be able to see visual cues that warn them things are about to get bad. In situation A, it would be a change of color from blue to vibrant, violent red. In situation B, it would be the progressive chips and cracks in the stone that would probably let them know when it's close to exploding. In either case, the Elders and King are likely gathering to decide how to handle it, when the King decides that it's ultimately his mess, so he ought to be the one to deal with it. He uses the last of his power to try to destroy or contain it (in whatever way he can), and then it shatters.

And then what happened?

Well, we know that unnatural deaths leave remains, as seen in Forest, Wasteland, and Vault. There are no remains.

Natural deaths mean your light gets recycled back into the soul cycle and you cease to exist as you once did, but that's not quite right either. This certainly wasn't a natural death. We also still see the Elders - not as memory projections like the mantas in Vault and not like the Spirits of our Ancestors - but as actual, tangible Memories, just like the Shattering Memories. When we meditate at their shrines, they still visit us and give us their warnings - the same warnings - time after time.

Like I said earlier, they're stuck somewhere Between, living out those key moments over and over for the rest of eternity.

They even both take place in seemingly the same type of greyed out void space. I hesitate to call it "a void" because Void could very well be its own entity. But also, there's a real possibility this is that entity. (Something like "The Empty" from Supernatural.)

And the King?

Again, I have more than one theory.

He could be trapped in the stone. This isn't my theory, I don't know where it came from, but even this theory has two sub-theories. 1a being that his consciousness is trapped in the Eden crystal, forever shattering and killing the Descendants who attempt to free the souls trapped in the cycle; 1b being that he's the Season of Shattering crystal, that he's reliving those memories and sharing them with us in a similar limbo as the Elders. (My thought, if this is true, is that it's both. I believe the Season of Shattering stone would be the largest piece of the King's consciousness, still capable of memory, and perhaps thought, but not much else - but that that stone is still stuck in the center of the ever-shattering crystal in Eden, simultaneously experiencing the Memories and the Shattering indefinitely.)

He sacrificed himself and returned what was left of his light, and that light became the Descendants. (Also not my theory, the idea that we're fragments of the King has been around a while, I'm sure.)

HOWEVER, upon re-reading the quote, some phrasing stands out.

"The Ruler would sacrifice themselves to share light back into the skies, and the light souls would then return as Descendants."

So... who did the Ruler sacrifice? Does "themselves" refer to both parts of the Ruler (Prince Alef/King Resh)? Or does it refer to himself and the Elders, who were all conveniently present? That theory gets dark fast.

If it's the Ruler sacrificing their own "selves", it may explain the two hugging WL on top of the crystal. Two halves of a whole, re-uniting in a post-mortem act of forgiveness. But that leaves the clip from recent leaks a mystery.

Regardless, I read that hug on top of the stone as a heart-wrenching "I forgive you" moment.

Another theory that I don't know how to neatly fit into all of this text:

The quote explicitly states that the Ruler sacrifices themselves to share light back into the skies.

It does not say whose light. If it was the King's light, you'd think they would have specified that (unless they intended for it to be vague, which would also make sense.)

We know the King and Elders hoarded light. One place we know they hoarded light was the powerstones/darkstones, so it's not a stretch to consider that by sacrificing himself to shatter the massive stone, he was then sharing the light (from within the stone) back into the skies and that light became Descendants.

Another place they could have potentially hoarded light is within themselves. (What if that's the reason they're so tall compared to all other Ancestors?) Especially if they were corrupted, their bodies may act a lot like Dark Creatures in the sense that they have an insatiable hunger for light. In this case, maybe it makes sense for the King to try to sacrifice himself and all of the elders. (Then the question becomes... did they know they'd be sacrificed? Honestly, probably. I suspect they understood their role in the way events were unfolding by that point. It's another question entirely whether they all went willingly.)

And FINALLY, what about those two hugging Winged Lights??

Well, I'm sure it won't surprise you that I have more than one theory. Both include at least one of the kids being the King's "soul."

Theory 1 is that both of the kids are the king, like I alluded to earlier. Two halves of a whole, reuniting and hugging in an act of self-forgiveness. Simple. Sweet. Only a little confusing.

- Hard Spoiler Territory -

The second is based solely on The Two Embers and the scene in Orbit, where a dark child that looks like Alef hugs a golden child that looks like Hopeful Steward.

Another moment of forgiveness, but between friends who shared a common interest. They both wanted life, light, and prosperity for their world - but they had different visions. One sought prosperity through community; the other sought prosperity through power and greed. Ultimately, they both paid the price.

But why is Alef dark in the video if, in this memory, he is light?

Well, it depends.

If the first scenario is true, where it's his own two halves becoming whole again, my assumption is that his light/soul was returned from the crystal once it was shattered. If this is the case, his soul likely returned to the soul cycle and we are all little fragments of him. (Which leaves me a little salty about the fates of the Elders, I can't lie.)

That scenario may explain the split between Alef (Prince) and Resh (King). Perhaps his childish innocence and sense of self was absorbed into the stone at some point, only to be freed in the Shattering.

If it's the second scenario, a forgiveness between friends, I believe the Hopeful Steward was the one to return his light - mirroring the scene of skykids in Orbit.

And if THAT'S the case, where is the King now?

I guess we'll just have to find out. Maybe he and the Hopeful Steward merged and were reborn as the first Descendent? Or maybe his soul stayed to contain the ever-shattering crystal, while Steward's soul went on to guide Descendants in their journey.

One thing we can say for certain is that they all die. Lovely. (But we already knew that.)

And we can also see that the Steward somehow found (or made?) Aviary, that they have some authority over/relationship to the Descendants, and that other Ancestors regard Steward with a lot of respect.

I know most of this will be answered in time, but I can't help it, my mind is still reeling with all the possibilities 💭

#sky spoilers #sky lore #sky cotl photography #sky children of the light #skyblr #that sky game #sky children of light #sky game #sky cotl #sky: the two embers #I'm being so normal about this #I swear

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yznerpoo · 5 months ago

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Hey Everyone.

I'm gonna talk about something serious and political and I don't want to trigger anyone in this, I just want to speak up about it. this is the only platform that i could use to express it, since TikTok is having a heated fight about this.. for sure I wouldn't be attacked here.. for now

So... Most of y'all don't know, there's been issues going on between China and the Philippines (aka my country), and it's about China trying to take the West Philippines sea (WPS). I have a feeling that China might take some drastic measures on us such as War after finding out that we got a spy in our country (not sure but it said in fb)

As a filipino and an Lmk fan, I am Conflicted and worried. As someone who lives in luzon, we might get dragged into this war.

As for my fellow lmk fans that are Chinese, please don't hate or go against us. We're only trying to protect our sea, it's where we essentially get our natural source. We already have problems with the economy, we don't want to lose our natural supplies. I'm sorry.

I tried to talk to one in tiktok and they called us monkeys. (That's straight up racism if you ask me)

For the others, I need your support to Spread awareness such as Reblog this or make a post about this put tags like "no to war" "West Philippines sea" rather. Whatever you can do.

I'm not ready to witness or face a war. I still have dreams to achieve. I never want this to happen.

So please guys. I need your help.

(gif for attention)

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umbran6 · 3 months ago

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An Error In Divine Bureaucracy

It all starts when Odin's scheme backfires. There are disadvantages to going incognito, after all. Taking the role of 'X' (which personally speaking, sounds foul considering Twitter's still trying to fall into that brand) means that although the King of the Gods can view the workings of Hotel Valhalla, he cannot influence how his hotel is run. Sometimes, that makes the battles a bit too bloody. Sometimes, the thanes decide to overreach their authority. And there was one time they all decided to break convention and make a mock high-school Prom (to the death).

One of these slip-ups is more unconventional: Gunilla decides to patrol Long Island when rumors of a deadly conflict behind the shadows spread to Hotel Valhalla. If Odin was, well, Odin, he could've stopped it. However, Odin, acting as X, cannot keep his lone eye on his Valkyrie Captain.

Thanatos is overworked. He needs to catch up on hunting down all the souls that escaped the Greek Underworld. So, despite his best efforts to keep all the Giants and monsters dead, he can't be perfect. He can't be there when Leo is burning to ashes as he and Festus soar ever higher.

Octavian is a bit slower and more hesitant. Maybe Will's words get to the legacy's head for a few precious seconds, or maybe Nico's aura of death puts fear inside his soul before he steels his nerves. So when he fires himself at Leo and Gaea, it is far too late. Leo has enough time to finish the job.

So when Gunilla spots a boy with flames so bright they mimic a second sun riding a bronze dragon and fighting a monstrous earthly hag, Gunilla doesn't hesitate. The second Leo's body crumbles to ashes, she flies his soul to Hotel Valhalla with Festus as both his luggage and the weapon he died holding. Olympus doesn't catch on to what's happening, which is for the better.

Leo, of course, is extremely bewildered. He's heard Percy and Annabeth's story of how they went to the Underworld—the lines of dead waiting to be judged, Cerberus waiting to chew any and all trespassers into his next meal, and Charon's desire for garish Italian suits. He did not expect to be handed a rune stone, given a mini-bar key, and shuffled into a luxury suite that would make his section of the Argo II look like a shady motel room while his body suddenly looked fit AF. If it weren't for the fact that he had read up on some Norse mythology during his time in the streets, he would've been completely clueless. For fun and convenience's sake, I'll put him on Floor 19.

Like Magnus, Leo thinks he's hallucinating. His room is like a mix of Bunker Nine, Charles Beckendorf's room in the Hephaestus Cabin, and his old room in the apartment he and his mom lived in, all smashed together. For a second, he grounds himself in the familiar — playing with the inventions in his tool belt, petting Festus, and cooking himself some food. Only when he inspects Festus and finds the physician's cure fully intact does he realize something has gone horribly wrong.

Odin, of course, is aware of Leo's arrival at Hotel Valhalla. He only really understands the nature of the hotel's newest guest once Leo's heroic feat is displayed in front of everyone. The thanes, Helgi, and Valhalla's warriors cheer Leo's name. Only the Norns and Odin are silent, both realizing just how exactly things have gone FUBAR.

See, here's the thing about pantheons worldwide when they interact with their divine neighbors: They don't. We're talking about beings functioning under several different rules of reality and their own brands of magic and godly firepower that could tear apart continents and perhaps even the world if they get too sloppy. Syncretism and divine fist-fights have sprouted either differing degrees of bad blood and conflict. If a pantheon chooses to mess with another's favorites, you can be assured the rest of the divine mafia will be out to get them.

Though Leo did the feat with support, he single-handedly masterminded the death of a primordial being. In the Greek Pantheon's view, he should enjoy a peaceful life in Elysium or even join the ranks of Olympus. Leo being chosen as an einherjar is like your favorite athlete getting kidnapped and pressed into military service by another country. Though Leo is getting physical upgrades, the Olympians would see this as an attempt to subvert their sovereignty by kidnapping a hero under their noses. And Odin knows that he and the rest of the Norse gods will need as much einherjar as they can get- losing them in a possible war between pantheons would thin out their numbers.

So Odin decides to break the masquerade, albeit in a limited fashion. Using his ravens to summon Leo and Gunilla, he sheds the disguise of X and reveals why he hid himself from Hotel Valhalla and just how exactly things were screwed up. He apologizes to Leo for essentially kidnapping him, explains to Gunilla just why Leo's recruitment shouldn't have happened, and that touching another pantheon's demigods was a tremendous faux pas.

So he proposes two different possibilities - they can send Leo back to the mortal world and pretend nothing is wrong, or he can stay in Hotel Valhalla until they find a way to spin things so Olympus isn't sending out its best and brightest to do their best to merk the rest of Asgard.

And, well, Leo accepts the second choice. Mainly because he has a bit of an agenda. First, he knows he can't precisely break Calypso out of Ogygia in the state he's in. His master plan to simultaneously kill Gaea and help her relied on the fact that he was dead while Festus brought his body to Ogygia's airspace. He knows it's too much of a stretch, but perhaps the Norse pantheon will have a solution to bypass the magic surrounding Ogygia and allow him to free her.

Aside from that, Leo just wants some peace. He worked himself to the bone, building the Argo II and then maintaining it during the entire month and half-voyage. Most of it had been a thankless job with several near-death experiences. The least he could do was treat himself to a vacation despite the constant TO THE DEATH! experiences Hotel Valhalla had to offer. Heck, maybe he could make some friends here.

Thus begins Leo's stay at Hotel Valhalla. Of course, such a start involves him being impaled several times after the rest of the hotel's guests gang up on him after they make it through Festus during battle training. But he gets used to the constant bloodshed and conflict throughout the hotel, using it to sharpen himself in the ways of combat that Camp Half-Blood didn't entirely teach him. He also learns of the runes, which leads to him scheming. If he can learn how to wield the power of the runes, he can begin conjuring a magical solution to circumvent Ogygia's barriers.

So, for the months Leo is in Hotel Valhalla, he learns. He picks up knives as his primary weapon, second to the hammers; he refines his inventions and upgrades Festus. He low-key (lol) pesters Odin in his X form to teach him the runes. Odin, of course, is having none of it. He would have been willing to teach a knowledge seeker a few tricks in a different situation. But he knows that different pantheon's magics either work beautifully or have disastrous results. One need only look at the Serapis Incident.

Of course, he also makes his own friendships within Hotel Valhalla. We learn another side of Gunilla as Leo tries to get along with the Valkyrie Captain (which is expected because of all the pranks he pulls). He makes friends with TJ and Mallory while trying to get on Odin's good side by showing that he can keep up with the Valhallians (I'm punching myself for that pun).

Then, Sword of Summer comes along, and things get interesting because Mimir tells Odin about Magnus's role. He knows that Magnus will need all the help he can get, and though Blitz and Hearthstone are servants that Mimir trusts, he wants to reinforce any and all chances of winning. He can't help directly since he still wants to maintain the façade of X. However, Leo can. An einherjar demigod who has experience in fighting threats larger than him? Already saved the world once? Seems like the perfect candidate to help stop Ragnarok.

So he sends Leo in—of course, it's not without a price tag. Although Odin may be the king of the gods in Valhalla, he's still ordering a demigod from another pantheon to essentially act as his hand. One that could quickly turn tail if things went to crap or become a turncoat if someone tried to give him a strong enough bribe. Or, you know, alerting Olympus the second he steps on Midgard. Odin knows what Leo wants but not why he seeks it. So, he reluctantly offers to teach the demigod how to wield the runes if he aids Magnus Chase.

Leo is more than happy to accept the task, not only because of what he gets out of it but also because Odin is offering him a deal. He's not going about this like the prophecies that demanded attendance or the apocalypse would come about. He even gets a guaranteed reward once the mission is completed.

So Leo, with help from Gunilla, enters Midgard. He easily fits into the clique of homeless people Magnus is a part of—Leo lived on the streets for most of his life when he wasn't in the foster home system, after all. Festus is with him in his suitcase form, slyly hinting to Hearth and Blitz that he is in the know. Leo is essentially turned by Odin into his divine 007 if 007 lived on the streets as a homeless guy.

He does his best to gain Magnus's trust. He befriends him, proving himself reliable without betraying his awareness of the mystical cloaks and daggers behind the scenes. And, well, he connects with Magnus more than he expected. Maybe it's because he understands Magnus's bitterness and cynical outlook on the world - he went through the same thing when he was younger. Leo just hides it better with a smile. Part of him just wants to protect Magnus.

In the meantime, Magnus is a bit shocked that beyond Blitz and Hearth, another guy his age is willing to look out for him and be his friend. This is most likely something Magnus has never had since his mother died. The first thing that we notice is that during the beginning chapters of Sword of Summer, Magnus is alone. Hearth and Blitz have a few moments in which they show up, but Magnus himself has no one close to his age that he can connect with. This means that despite Leo being the one to do the attaching, Magnus is quite happy that they're attached to the hip.

You guys can probably guess the direction I want to take their relationship. I've read The Homeless Demigod Club. It's one of those fics that lowkey made me realize that crossover ships can be magnificent if you are willing to put in the work to make it work and show how two characters can connect. I would've added this as a spiritual successor to that fic. I will link it here so everyone can read it. (Link)

And then the promised day arrives. Annabeth Chase and her father set foot in Boston, and Leo does his best to hide from their presence while helping Magnus. He discourages Magnus from breaking into his uncle's house but is still willing to do so either way. He follows Magnus's decision because he believes that Magnus has been jerked around so many times that he deserves his own sense of agency. So when Magnus decides to follow Randolph, Leo follows Randolph even though the guy has enough red flags to rival the CCP.

Then Magnus calls forth Sumarbrander, Surt appears, and everything happens. Blitz and Hearth try to intervene and are just as quickly curbstomped like canon. Leo watches, forcing himself to stop and examine each action Surt takes. Then, when Surt entirely focuses on Magnus does he step up.

Magnus POV

"You know, Mr. Volcano, I thought you'd just go for the head. I wonder why you're wasting so much time." Leo stepped forward, suitcase in hand.

"Leo, go away. Get in there and get Hearth, but you don't need to get involved." I protested.

For a second, I was wondering just what all of my homeless friends were smoking because they were suddenly getting all these courageous ideas. Hearth had shot his arrows, Blitz had swung his watch out for ducklings sign. Now Leo - stick thin and somehow not fainting because of the heat - was apparently willing to go mano-a-mano with a guy who was taller than he was.

"Blitz was right, though. It was their mission to protect you. As for me, it's my duty." Leo dropped the suitcase.

I expected it to melt like the cars nearby and the asphalt beneath our feet. But then it grew. Parts started to jut out, panels began to unfold, and Leo's luggage grew despite the laws of physics that were screaming this shouldn't be happening. At first, it was a pure mess, but then a pair of wings sprouted out. A reptilian head somehow appeared from the chaos. Before I knew it, what was once a suitcase my friend dragged around was a bronze dragon that was as tall and wide as a semi truck.

It let out a roar into the sky that made the entire bridge vibrate. Right beneath it, Leo pulled out a pair of knives from that blasted tool belt with an ease that told me he'd done this before. Those brown eyes scanned the entire bridge, and I could feel the air near me dropping a few degrees. If anything, the area around Leo started to blur as if he was absorbing all the heat the 'Black One' radiated.

Surt's gaze turned severe as if satan had dissed one of his takes on fashion. "What are you?"

"You could say I'm a bit like Maggie here — a demigod from a slightly different brand." I was a bit too shocked at the fact that my friend had a mecha dragon to even snark at that.

Leo smiled, but the killing intent it radiated made me want to flinch. "But if you want my full name, you can have it."

Leo beckoned Surt with one of his knives. "I am Leo Valdez. You messed with my friend. Prepare to die."

End POV

The conflict nearly destroys the entire bridge. Leo and Festus's time in Hotel Valhalla has yielded fruit. Though it can be laconically described as a Jujutsu Kaisen-level gang-up, the demigod and his mechanical mount are in sync to the point they can rarely be matched. While Festus is physically stronger than Leo, Leo is faster and has more variety in his attacks, which combine to keep the King of Muspelheim off balance.

However, Leo is still a demigod. No matter the power upgrade being an einherjar and the combat experience he's earned at Hotel Valhalla, he doesn't have the physical might to permanently disable Surt, even with Festus. And although the Jotunn can't burn Leo, Leo can't overcome Surt's own fire and make it non-vice-versa. It is a stalemate until Leo cannot keep up, and Magnus can see that. He awakens Sumarbrander and intervenes, still cutting off Surt's nose. Surt still seizes the chance to kill Magnus, impaling the unknowing son of Freyr with his scimitar. It is only Leo's own reaction that prevents Surt from seizing the sword.

History repeats. Samirah chooses Magnus and brings him to Hotel Valhalla. Blitz and Hearth confer with Mimir on what to do next, while Gunilla returns Leo to the hotel so they can scheme with Odin. When Magnus is fully resurrected, Leo is the familiar face amongst a crowd of strangers, one Magnus can still rely on. Magnus's body is still recovered. Everything seems perfectly in line with canon.

Until it isn't.

Annabeth POV

I've seen my fair share of mortal panic. There was that time at the Gateway Arch during my first quest with Percy (and boy, did part of me want to go back to those days). Then there was the time Kronos and Morpheus broke the chronological sleep bubble that covered all of New York, leading to a human stampede.

So when Dad (I was still getting used to calling him that) got a call from the BPD stating that they found my uncle Randolph in a rabid panic close to ground zero of an explosion, I defied all convenient laws of mortal logic and ran toward the sirens. And the fire truck engines. And probably all emergency services that are known to man.

I will admit that part of me had a raging hatred for my uncle at the moment. It was bad enough that whatever he did had apparently led to the entire mortal side of my family imploding into what was described by my Dad as essentially a nuclear meltdown, with us being split into chunks. Then there was the fact that he somehow hid the death of the only aunt I liked and that the only cousin I trusted was now homeless for two years. And last but not least, the disgraced professor of Harvard called us at midnight saying Magnus was in danger, leading to us getting the closest red-eye flight to Boston.

When we arrived at the scene, I did my best not to pay attention to the people who were hurt. The best I could describe them was that everyone was burnt—some easily mistaken for sunburns, others who would probably need a visit to the hospital. Medics nearby were doing their best to triage the scene while cops were doing their best to get statements out of people who were clearly still shell-shocked from what their eyes may have witnessed.

I quickly spotted Randolph and marched through the chaos, vaguely hearing Dad follow me. He looked physically spared, though a bit shaken up. Which part of me noted was bizarre since, according to Dad, BPD told him a couple of weirdly dressed homeless dudes had dragged him from the epicenter of the explosion.

I had no sympathy, so I got right down to business. "What happened?"

He kept rambling to himself, and I could barely hear his hushed words - sword, black, beast, machine, giant - before I grabbed his shoulder and pinched in a way Chiron taught me would make anyone scream.

"Focus. What the T-" My mind flipped into a Tartarus flashback before I caught myself. "Hell happened?"

Thankfully, Randolph didn't scream, which meant he was either brave or still drunk on adrenaline. But something must have happened because the man's wrinkled face focused on me. "I found Magnus in my home accompanied by another boy. I was bringing him over to you when the meteor struck the bridge-"

My mind was already poking several holes in his discussion - he could've called Dad if he had already found Magnus and the bridge where the explosion took place was farther away from us. Still, I pretended to follow along and nodded.

"What happened to Magnus?" I asked, and Randolph turned pale.

"He - he fell out of the bridge. The meteor hit us head-on. I somehow got lucky, but Magnus got launched out of my car and - "

"Randolph." My father's voice turned deadly serious. "I saw your car in a twenty-minute parking lot. Already ticketed. So if I may speak so frankly, let's cut the bullshit and tell us the truth."

I winced at that. Mainly because my father rarely cursed - he had been giving off an air of wholesomeness when I stayed with him. The fact that he was willing to start cursing showed just how far things had gone wrong.

Randolph surrendered at that and started talking — about Aunt Natalie's death and its supernatural causes and how he thought Magnus was the next in line to die. How he believed Magnus was the son of a Norse god and that his birthright was apparently an all-powerful sword. Then he stated he found Magnus in the Chase mansion with the other boy and how the boy had insisted on sticking with Magnus. He told us how he urged Magnus to claim his birthright and that my cousin had succeeded before a man claiming to be Surt appeared.

Then, I learned how some of Magnus's homeless friends had tried to defend him before the other boy stepped up. "Wait. This guy claimed to be a demigod?"

Randolph nodded at that. "Yes. I didn't believe it either - the kid was so thin I could've folded him into my drawers and still have space for my clothes."

"But he still stood up. He and that blasted suitcase-monster of his. He matched Surt, if only for a while. Then Magnus got involved and he was - and he was -"

Randolph shed a few tears, and I almost had to recoil at his words. Still, I soldiered on. Death had always been part of a demigod's life, whether they were victims, witnesses, or causes. I would have time to mourn for the cousin that my family had failed.

"Can you describe what this guy looked like? He may be able to tell us about his relationship with Magnus. And what he knows about the truth." I asked, doing my best to keep the conversation going.

Randolph vibrated, clearly still shaken up. Yet he kept talking. "Of course. Give me a second. Frederick?"

My dad pulled out a few tissues from the pocket of his suit jacket, which Randolph blew into so strongly it reminded me of an elephant. Disposing the tissues into a nearby trashcan, my uncle looked at us.

"Yes. Very recognizable fellow. He disabled all of the electronic alarms I put in there. Thin, of course. Kind of looked like - what do teenagers call pretty boys these days? Never mind. He looked like one of those. Light brown skin. Curly black hair, brown eyes. Magnus probably had a crush on him, considering how he looked at the boy."

I rolled my eyes. "Clothes?"

"Yes, yes. White shirt with a bit of a collar. A green jacket that was too big for him - probably a woman's? Blue jeans. He also had a tool belt."

Suddenly, I felt like I had taken a dip in the Boston River. I had been willing to dismiss the initial description because anybody could've had a similar face and hair. I would've ruined the search if I just looked for the most likely person. But the tool belt was too much out of left field to ignore.

I seized his jacket lapels, almost tempted to lift him up. I could do it, too. Because there was no way the person Randolph was describing to me could've been in Boston, much less alive.

"What was his name?" I whispered out.

"Pardon?"

"What was his name," I repeated myself, tempted to pull out my knife.

"Oh yes. Thankfully, he was upfront about it. Who the hell quotes The Princess Bride?" Randolph gave a small laugh about it before he looked at me straight in the eyes and flipped my world upside down. "His name was Leo Valdez."

End POV.

The Sword of Summer is also flipped upside down because it is no longer just a mission to stop Fenris Wolf from being unleashed upon the nine worlds. With Annabeth finding the truth about Leo's location, nearly all the members of the Argo II crew (Frank and Hazel can't drop their posts in New Rome after all) do their best to get to Boston ASAP. They had never heard any whispers or truths about Leo's circumstances - you know, because Odin needed to keep everything in the DL. Finding out a guy that they believed was dead for six months was actually chilling with homeless dudes in Boston is a recipe to make your friends both pissed and worried at the same time.

Unfortunately, this also puts a kibosh on any plans to follow canon because Leo is now being hunted by his friends in a situation where staying incognito is vital. Of course, they can't break into Asgard or Valhalla because they don't know how to get there. Any attempts at Iris-Messaging Leo go horribly wrong because Iris needs a cross-dimensional roaming plan for her services to work in this situation. When Leo returns to Midgard to help Magnus, the gloves come off on the search.

Leo's involvement doesn't just add spice; it force-feeds the plot enough Carolina reaper peppers to set its mouth on fire and cause diarrhea that needs its own fallout zone. The crew of the Argo II chases him down when Annabeth meets Magnus, leading them to accidentally stumble across the Nine Realms when Percy tracks Magnus and Sam after their encounter with Jormungand. They each end up getting scattered across the Nine Realms - Jason into Jotunnheim, Piper into Svartalfheim, Annabeth falling into Folkvanger, while Percy gets the short end of the stick and is stuck in Midgard.

The Seven think that Magnus and Co. are holding their friend against his will. Magnus believes it's people from Leo's past who want him dead. Leo can't get a single word about the truth as things erupt too easily into conflict, and Odin's mandate for secrecy stops him from giving the full story. Regardless, he tries to keep the peace as he, Magnus, and the rest of the crew run into each other through the realms.

It all accumulates at Lyngvi. Surt arrives. Fenris Wolf tries to break free. The warriors of Floor 19, alongside the Valkyries, actually join up with Magnus and co because Gunilla has been briefed by Odin as to what exactly is going on. And the crew of the Argo II makes landfall right in the middle of the fight. They're all quick to realize that the fire giants are their opponents, and the tide of battle is turned with the sudden influx of reinforcements, no matter their origin.

Having an additional four out of seven heroes who also had a hand in saving the world? One of them, you know, having powers over the ocean in the middle of a freaking island? That's no longer a battle; that's the opposing side being Amazon-delivered to the closest morgue with same-day shipping.

When things are settled, and everyone is tired from simultaneously kicking Surt to the curb and imprisoning Fenris Wolf, things finally get cleared up. Odin reveals himself early to explain to the Seven what happened to Leo on August 1. Of course, Odin does his best to spin things in the best possible light for the Norse Pantheon and portray himself as doing his best to help Leo recover from the post-death experience. Leo is always welcome to stay at Hotel Valhalla or return to Camp Half-Blood, but he urges the rest of the Seven that they will have to keep their experience secret.

The Seven think Leo will go back to Camp Half-Blood. After all, in their eyes, Camp is the place that Leo is most familiar with. It's the place that he should belong. This is his chance to take a clean break from his stay at Hotel Valhalla and return to Camp Half-Blood. Only Odin knows differently, while everyone on the 19th Floor, alongside Magnus and Co., is wondering if Leo really is going to drop them like a flaming bag of turd.

And Leo declines. In another lifetime, in another set of circumstances, he may have joined the Seven and returned to Camp Half-Blood. But now? Well... he would admit, he has grown to love Hotel Valhalla. Though he gets bodied daily, he feels included compared to the months he spent in Bunker Nine hammering away at the Argo II. He has friends with which he can actually be friends, compared to his time being the only person in a sea of couples. And maybe he's gotten attached to Magnus, but they didn't need to know that.

He doesn't say goodbye. With enough time, they can genuinely be friends instead of the coworker dynamic he always felt he had with the rest of the Argo II crew. So, instead, he hands Piper the last invention he made before his world was once again dominated by a quest to save the world. For a second, she thinks it's a remote. And in a way, it is. His name is written on it in ancient Greek. But it only has a single button, with a single rune.

ᛗ

Mannaz (For those more knowledgeable, please excuse me if I'm wrong and correct me) is the rune of humanity as a concept—of society, friendships, individuality, and a person's willingness to help one's fellow human. The intention is clear—he's always a button press away if they ever need help.

With that, the two pantheons go their separate ways. And hopefully, things should be at peace now. Right? Right? ... Right?

But as everyone knows, they aren't. The sun hasn't reached its final verse, Ragnarok still has many triggers, and people scheme to bring everything down behind the shadows. Peace is still a long way off. And Ragnarok will eventually eradicate the world. All everyone is doing is staving off the inevitable.

But then again, isn't that just part of being a demigod?

FIN

P.S. @pjowasmy1stfandom- I've cooked. Hope you enjoy the meal.

#leo valdez #heroes of olympus #pjo #pjo hoo toa #hoo #percy jackson #rick riordan #toa #percy jackson and the olympians #annabeth chase #magnus chase and the gods of asgard #magnus chase #jason grace #piper mclean #norse runes #crossover #possible au #maybe?

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riordanverserpdatabase · 4 months ago

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So, you want to make an RP Blog. Where the heck do you even start???

Hello, future User!! We're so excited you're considering joining us here in the Riordanverse RP community!!! First and foremost, we want to say that everyone is welcome here, no matter your location, your reading experience, or the amount of blogs you already have!! We want you here, and we're more than happy to invite you in!

Many of our new prospective users have been asking us how to even begin, and we know this can be a scary thing to deal with, especially if you've never done an RP blog before. Never Fear, this is the step-by-step guide you've been looking for!

So, Let's get started!!! ◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈━◈

Part 1: Creating/Choosing your Character

Step 1: OC or Cannon?

To begin, of course, we have to decide who we want to play! Do you want to portray a character that already exists, or would you like to create one that is entirely yours? There are no wrong answers!

A Cannon Character is a character from the books. We have a good spread of them here on the database, and please don't be intimidated by the duplicates! It's bound to happen, and it's more than okay! Just choose a character you like and think about how you want to portray them.

An OC or Original Character is a character that is made up, but still fits into the lore of the universe they are being portrayed in. This is not specific to the Riordanverse, but we'll stay focused on Riordanverse OCs for this post. (If you are not part of the Riordanverse and you're using this post to make a blog, just disregard the specific details!!!)

Step 1A: OC Basics

If you settled on making an OC, you'll need to decide a couple things to start you off! For us here, you'll decide the following (roughly): What is their name? What are their Pronouns/gender? Who will their parents be? We'll decide what they look like next! Don't worry!

Step 2: Character Portrayal

Now that you've decided who you're playing, we can get into the fun stuff, like what your character looks like and what abilities they have! You will need an icon of your character for your blog.

Icon Options

If you're portraying a cannon character, the Read Riordan website has the official art for most of the Cannon characters. These are always a safe bet for Icons. If you choose to use other art, please be sure to Credit the Artist, either in your Bio or your pinned post, and always ask for permission. If you can't give credit and get permission, you can't use the art!!!

If you decided to make an OC, thats amazing!!! The most common place our OC users get their portrayals is from Picrew, a website that allows you to make character icons that look like anything you can imagine! They have a TON of options, so give them a try!

Another option is to search Pinterest for a real life Face Claim, but if you choose to use a real person, please be sure to credit that person in your bio or pinned post.

Character Bio

Once you have your Icon, you'll need to collect some more information to put into your Character's Bio. The best place to look for this information is the Riordanverse Fandom Wiki. It has a list of cabin pages, each of which has lists of abilities, personality traits, and other such things for the children of each god that can help you build your character. Now that we're going more in-depth, let's answer a few more questions:

What powers does your character possess?

What do they fight with?

Do they have any special talents or quirks?

What is their personality like?

Now that you have all the essentials down, we can get to the fun part! Making the blog!!!!

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Part 2: Creating your Blog

Step 1: Side Blog or Main

To begin, decide if you want this blog to be a side blog, meaning a blog that is attached to an account you already have, or a Main, which would be its own blog. Be aware that only your main blog can send asks!!! This means that if you want to send an ask in-character from a side blog, you will have to send it on anonymous and include your @, like the ask pictured below.

If you are making a side blog, simply select your blog title, and then "Create a New Blog" from the dropdown menu on mobile.

On desktop, the new side blog option is listed on the sidebar of your home page, under "account".

Spend some time thinking about your URL (your @) since it's what everyone is going to call you, and you're going to have to type it a lot!! Here's some of our favorites to help you brainstorm:

@likeapriceless-wine, a Son of Dionysus @itsprobablydean, a Child of Hermes @sweetxloverxx, a Daughter of Aphrodite @glee-of-ares-wrath-of-aphrodite, a Minor God account @basically-a-god, a Daughter of Hermes

Step 2: Designing your Pinned Post

A Pinned Post is a post that stays at the top of your blog, and gives everyone who visits your blog some basic information about your character. This is the place where you can really get creative, but to help you out, we'll provide a basic outline for you to use. Feel free to add or remove details as you wish!

Basic Pinned Post Outline:

Name: Age: Gender: Sexuality: Parentage: Some Personality Traits: Some of their Skills/Abilities:

Once you have filled out the outline, put it in a post, then click the three dots on the top corner of the post and select "Pin Post" to attach it to the top of your blog.

You can continue to edit the pinned post after it's added. If you want, you can visit blogs like @saradika-graphics and @animatedglittergraphics-n-more to find things to decorate your post and the rest of your blog with! Make it pretty!! Do what you love!!!

When you make a new blog, the Ask Box will be closed by default. Make sure you open it before you start reaching out to people. They will want to send you asks back!!!

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Part 3: Reaching Out

Now that your blog is up and running, it's time to start reaching out to the community!!! Here are some options for you to start talking to people:

Send a random ask

users are always nervous to do this, even with experience, but we promise it is always more than welcome! This is what the database was created for!! Click around, find your cabin mates or your fellow gods, and send a few messages! There's no better way to get started!!

Submit a User Spotlight

This blog provides a promotion for users called a User Spotlight. This is a small post sent out to the whole community with information about your character, provided by you! Guidelines for this process can be found at this link. It's a good way to get seen!

Let the Database know you're here

Once you've set up your blog, come tell us about it! We'll post your ask and add you to our lists to make it easier for people to find you!!!

Talk to our RP IT group

If you've made it this far and you're still confused, never fear! There is a group of kindhearted, talented RPers here on the database who want to help you! Come say hello to them here, and let them help you out!!

We hope this helped!!! Happy RPing, users!!!!!!

#riordanverse rp #pjo #hoo #toa #mcga #rp resources

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orange-orchard-system · 2 years ago

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Small Annoyances as a Polyfragmented System

There are certain patterns and events that we see in our life (mainly in system spaces) that get under our skin as a polyfrag system that smaller systems don't seem to be able to relate to. In an attempt to spread information on what it's like to be a polyfrag system – because goodness knows it's hard to find that – we've created this list of those annoyances, along with examples and explanations of why we find them annoying. Although, this turned into a vent post by the end, so... you have been warned!

Disclaimer: this post mainly applies to our personal experiences. We're sure that other polyfrag systems (and probably other large systems) may be able to relate to some of the things here, but you don't have to relate to any or all of them to be a real polyfrag system.

Polyfragmented Annoyances:

Most system tips do not work with our system because they're based in having a small member count. Anything that starts with "Have every system member..." is a no-go, because it is impossible for us to include every system member in system activities. There's a bunch of people in dormancy, whole sidesystems that we've barely explored, and even counting only the members we know could potentially participate, that's still hundreds of people to go through. It's not gonna work out. "Every system member" is not an achievable goal.

Blurring and other identity confusion happens a lot more often than you'd think, since a lot of us are fragments or otherwise not "full" headmates. When you don't check all the boxes to be a fully independent system member and constantly need at least one other member around to get even basic stuff done, it can be easy to lose track of where the line between you and another system member is.

On that note, co-fronting is a necessity and people outside the system (whether system or singlet) don't seem to understand that very often. We need to have multiple people in front – our system is not designed to have only one person alone controlling the body and aware of what's going on. Whereas most other systems experience negative side effects if they have too many headmates fronting, we more often experience negative side effects if not enough headmates front, and that can create a lot of estrangement when the former is usually the only example of fronting arrangement issues you can find. In addition, people outside the system (mostly singlets, but some systems too) don't seem to understand the implications of "We usually/almost always have a crowded front." Any interactions you have with one of us are going to be overseen, filtered through, and influenced by everyone else in front; if you're building a relationship* with one of us, you're probably building a relationship with several others, too.

Having to do so much more work to keep track of everyone. Organizing headmates by sidesystem, subsystem, etc can be a hassle, and system mapping becomes a lot more difficult when you've got a lot of people to include in your map. You not only have to frequently register new members in things such as Pluralkit and SimplyPlural, but you have to update that data as they learn more about themselves and the system develops, so we end up taking hours to just sit down and go through as many headmates as we can. Simply put, keeping any records of our system is so much more complicated because we're polyfragmented, even if it's just something basic like writing down everyone's names.

Introjects often face a name struggle that they wouldn't if we were a smaller system. Because of how often we get multiple introjects of the same character or person, every introject is expected to take up some kind of nickname so they can be more easily identified and identity issues aren't too frequent, which is its own troublesome process. Especially when we see small systems who don't need to do this... it can make us a bit jealous at times.

It's difficult to find anything about systems of our size. Most systems on platforms like TikTok and YouTube are small, so it's hard to find videos about larger systems. Most systems in fiction, whether they're positive representation or the usual stock-horror serial killer stereotype, have a small number of members so audiences don't get lost or confused. Even within the system community in settings like on Tumblr, it can be hard to find other large systems talking about their own experiences and how they differ from smaller systems – in fact, the experiences of small systems are seen as the "right" experiences in some cases, so if a large system goes outside of that, they are seen as "faking," "promoting unhealthy behavior," etc. We just want to find posts about us that go beyond one-sentence shout-outs, c'mon.

Related to that second-to-last bit, common polyfrag experiences are treated as automatic signs of "faking." Oh, you have a lot of headmates? Faker! You have more than one introject of or from the same source? Faker! You gain new members easily? Faker! Your headmates have highly specific roles? Faker! Some headmates don't have roles because others already handle those jobs? Faker! You often have multiple people in co-front or co-con? Faker! JFC, why is my existence automatically seen as a lie?! A lot of these fakeclaimers supposedly "support" polyfrag systems, too, but then the second a polyfrag system is, y'know, polyfrag, oooohhhh noooo, time to write a call-out about how they're "obviously faking it."

*"Relationship" is used as a general term here and does not refer solely to romantic relationships.

In conclusion, being polyfragmented comes with a lot of small annoyances that aren't helped by how, even in system spaces, we're often misunderstood, mocked, and fakeclaimed. It'd be nice to find more content or resources about/for polyfrag systems, but I'm not holding my breath.

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parlerenfleurs · 3 months ago

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About MDZS and who is its narrator

It just occurred to me why there might be a wide-spread confusion in the fandom about who narrates Mo Dao Zu Shi.

Astute readers have been banging pots and pans from the roofs telling everyone that it is told in a 3rd person omniscient POV, with many instances where we're being made aware of the thoughts and feelings of other characters, and happenings for which Wei WuXian was absent.

Yet, the confusion persists (in large part because this is how Internet works, the posts repeating that confusion and analysing the text from this postulate get more notes, are seen by more people) and I think I know why.

The thing is, a 3rd person omniscient POV might evoke a narrator whose voice is clearly felt, is firmly outside of the narrative, and should take us through multiple points of views most of the time, I guess? But MDZS's narrator is very discreet, understated. Hence people can more easily miss that they're being addressed by it and not hearing about some character's thoughts. Moreover, it might confuse people, I suppose, that a 3rd person omniscient narrator could still have a limited POV. Here, the narrator does choose to focus on Wei WuXian most of the time, and deliberately leaves out key POVs like Lan WangJi's, in order to draw the reader in, maintain suspense, unfold the story and events a certain way, and afford us the occasion of reading many things between the lines.

I reckon that's where the confusion stems from. It's not because it is omniscient that it won't be deliberately narrow. That's the only way to tell a compelling story, by following a key character most of the time, and only telling us what we need to know for maximum impact upon reveals. And since Wei WuXian is uniquely focused on Lan WangJi (me too, to be honest), and Lan WangJi's is the most guarded POV of the story because this is a romance, and he's the love interest, I guess this contributes to the overall impression that we are only in Wei WuXian's head.

But we aren't, and a lot of the times we are also left to infer Wei WuXian's feelings as well.

One of the lines that I find funniest in the book that illustrate this, is when we follow Jiang Cheng going up the Burial Mounds (and we do follow him, we're not with Wei WuXian waiting for him at the top), and A-Yuan clings to his leg and we're told the child is very loveable, but "unfortunately, Jiang Cheng had no love in him at all" (quoting from memory). That's the narrator adressing us, not what Wei WuXian thinks, and certainly not how Jiang Cheng would frame himself in his own mind.

We do follow Lan WangJi sometimes, like during the Lotus pods extra and when he encounters Wei WuXian in Yunmeng and is being given flowers by his ghost girls. But if I'm not mistaken, even then we're not privy to his thoughts. This boy is too cute! He's so shy and reserved! I find it delightful that we can read him between the lines in this way.

#mdzs #mdzs meta #we learn all this in school normally but sure most people don't go on getting litterature degrees and might forget #but the thing is it's crucial to keep this knowledge in mind in order to have any chance of properly understanding ANY text at all #and even spoken speech like politician discourses and so on #but I digress

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selfproclaimedunicorn · 8 months ago

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Who's Gonna Love You In The Middle Of The Night

Just a little side thing that happens between some forthcoming chapters of my HOTD fic: Sins Of The Father. We're not really gonna see any of the stuff surrounding this in-text because it's side characters that don't have the most to do with the main plot (not atm, anyway, & not in a way we'll ever see their POVs in the main fic), but I talk about Ser Yarwyck Royce & Cassana Strong a lot with @emilykaldwen, & we're both incredibly soft for them. So enjoy some Caswyck because I needed to write Them™️. Main Fic [ship context] | Fic Art | Projects Page With Other Links | Title Song

Cassana startled when the door opened again, Yarwyck pushed unceremoniously through by the throng of Valewomen who had half stripped him during the procession to his apartments. Their apartments. She had a room adjoining his now instead of the private rooms afforded her as the only young woman in The Hand's tower.

Ser Yarwyck’s short ringlets were disheveled, and his belt and white, dagged bliaut with bronze studs had been pilfered by the grabbing hands of the procession. The pale gray tunic he'd worn underneath clung tight to his broad chest, and it falling down to his knees was probably the only reason his trousers were still on. Their close quarters, Ser Yarwyck’s objective handsomeness, and the lingering specter of the giggling women who'd brought him here made Cassana self conscious. Everything made her uncomfortably aware of her own body; of its undoubted (and exploitable) inadequacies, of its limited assets that only counted to some.

She crossed her arms over her middle, then frowned when that made it look like she was propping her breasts up, and uncrossed her arms. Cassana twisted her hands in her skirts. The white and bronze gown fit strangely now, no longer holding her up and in due to the lacings at the back of her dress and holding her puffed sleeves to the low, scoop-necked bodice having been tugged loose. The dress was only still tied enough to hang on her because Ser Robert Tyrell noticed her discomfort and put a stop to the other men's revelry.

Cassana and Ser Yarwyck both opened their mouths to speak, words stumbling over each other before they stopped short. They were silent for a moment and the air felt thick between them, or at least it did for Cassana.

“You can go first.”

She tried to smile so Ser Yarwyck would know she was grateful, but the expression would not form. Cassana looked down so he would not see. “We do not have to do anything if you do not want to. I am under no illusions of being everyone’s taste.”

“Who told you to take my line?”

“Who’s taste would you not be?” her brows were furrowed over a disbelieving gaze when she looked back up at him, “There is nothing wrong with you.”

“I meant about not having to actually have sex if you do not want to, it is not like we’ve had some sort of desire for each other beforehand…right?” Ser Yarwyck looked suddenly unsure, as if the possible incorrectness of his words had only just occurred to him. Given he had spent nearly a full year in Essos with Lady Ella without even sparing a single letter to Cassana, they probably hadn’t. She wasn’t offended, he was right, but it was nice knowing that he cared enough to notice things now at least.

“We have not, but I have not had to want you since we met to notice what you look like.” She sat on the edge of the bed, toying with the clasp of her white under dress: a small brooch depicting the branching rivers of House Strong’s sigil.

A satisfied grin spread across his face, it was easy and charming and made his eyes half-lidded. Cassana snorted, it was an expression she’d seen on her eldest brother’s face more times than she could count.

“Do not get too smug. You had very little to do with how handsome you are.”

“Still nice of you to notice.” He replied nonchalantly before grabbing the collar of his tunic from behind his head and pulling the garment up and over till it slid down his arms and dropped on the floor. Heat flooded Cassana’s cheeks, and she glanced down at her lap. She had not seen a man this intimately since that night over three years ago, it was exciting and shameful and it made her heart race.

“So I take it you do not, since you said something about it first,” there was a soft thunk from one of his boots coming off, “that is fine by me. I’ve heard girls can be nervous the first time.” Another thunk.

“I am not nervous.” Not about something that had already happened.

“So you just assumed that I don’t want to have sex with you?”

“I am not worth such attentions, Ser Yarwyck! Not meaningfully, not romantically.” The words came louder than she meant them to, ringing out into the silence of his chambers as tears pricked at her eyes. Ser Androw Selmy had made sure she knew that when she’d had to threaten him with her brother to keep him from spilling inside her, when he’d left her uncared for, when he’d stopped being kind to her once he'd gotten what he wanted.

The bed dipped as he sat next to her, and he gently bumped her with his elbow. Cassana looked at him from the corner of her eyes, and his smile was softer now; warm and friendly and a bit crooked. “Who said that?”

“No one said it…”

“I’ll fight him.”

“I said no one–”

“Cassana, you would not come to these conclusions on your own. I’ll fight whoever made you think so poorly of yourself.”

“Why?”

He blinked at her, slow and a bit confused. “I know I was rubbish at sending letters to you, I was rubbish about it with everyone, but we were at least friendly at the hunt and at Yorick’s wedding. You know, until that mess happened and everything got called off…”

“You do not need to trouble yourself.” She mumbled, going back to fiddling with the brooch.

“I like troubling myself with my friends.” The bed shifted again, and Cassana fully turned her head to look at Ser Yarwyck now. He was leaned back with his weight on his hands, and his pale blue eyes were fixed on her face. She did smile this time, and a chuckle soft as a breath left her.

“As your friend, I am asking you for the favor of not troubling yourself.”

“Alright,” he sighed, resigned to accepting her request. Her smile brightened, and she dropped her hands to her sides, resting them on the bed as her fingers spread out over the soft linens.

“So, do I get to fuck a pretty girl tonight, or not?”

Cassana’s face felt even warmer, and she was sure she was red as a beet. She wanted to say something, but all she could manage was pointing at herself and mouthing “me,” obvious unsurety hanging between them.

“Who else would I be talking about?”

Lady Ella, or any number of the women who'd half undressed him. “You think I'm pretty?”

“You said yourself that I don't have to have wanted you from the first moment for my eyes to work properly.”

Cassana smiled, giddy and anxious, before standing up and fully loosing her sleeves and pulling them down to drop onto the floor with Ser Yarwyck’s tunic and boots. She stiffened when she felt his fingers on her upper back, arching away from him as a tickle ran down her spine. She glanced over her shoulder to see him up on his knees on the bed, tugging the final laces of her gown undone before sliding it off her shoulders to pool around her feet. Cassana stepped out of the dress, and shot him another nervous, excited glance before she unpinned the brooch from her under dress and placed it on a table near the bed. She shed her final layers, and her heart hammered in her chest now that all of her pale, ample flesh was bared.

“Come here,” Yarwyck’s voice was low as he took her soft waist in his hands and pulled her back onto the bed. She squeaked as she was brought flush against his chest, and his laugh filled her ears as he rested his chin on her shoulder.

“Do not laugh at me!”

“Don't squeak, then.” He teased, wrapping an arm around her as he did.

“I will not squeak if you kiss me.”

He brushed his lips against hers, teasingly light until, giggling, Cassana tangled her fingers in the curls at the back of his head and pressed her own mouth more firmly against his. Her lips moved easily against Yarwyck’s, and she hummed into his mouth as his free hand came to one of her breasts, his calloused fingers toying with the nipple. Cassana shifted against him as heat pooled in her belly, and he groaned when her backside brushed against his cock.

“Hold still,” Yarwyck grumbled as he adjusted how he sat, “this isn't about me yet.” She looked at him, confused and flushed. When she did not say anything, he continued.

“If I cannot fight whoever made my friend view herself so badly, then I will have to make her feel better about herself by taking care of her how she truly deserves.” His fingers trailed down from her breast and across her soft stomach, making Cassana giggle as gooseflesh rose on her arms. As his fingers dipped below her navel, she parted her legs, and his hand came to her thigh.

“A little more, Cassana.” He gently moved her leg further, hooking it over his. She swallowed and adjusted a bit to get her other leg over his. With her now fully exposed to the dimly lit, empty room, Yarwyck’s hand went between her thighs, and she gasped when his fingers swiped through her folds. His movements were slow and deliberate, and he pressed a kiss to her freckled cheek as her teeth sank into her bottom lip.

Cassana whimpered as his fingers circled the sensitive bud at the apex of her thighs, her hips bucking up in search of more. Yarwyck kissed her shoulder, and everything was soft and wonderful and much more fun than the first time had been. Her hand flew to her mouth when he pressed one of his thick fingers fully into her, and she moaned into her palm.

His arm came from around her middle and he gently took her wrist, pulling her hand away from her mouth. “Don't do that.”

“What-what if someone hears?”

“Why should it matter? We are married.”

That was right. Nothing needed to be kept from her parents or her brothers; this was his bed and his home and Cassana shared them now. There was nothing wicked about what they were doing and no one would get in trouble for anything.

She let herself moan and whimper as the need came, unmuffled by her hands and unexpectedly loud when Yarwyck slipped a second finger inside her. The tension coming up from the heat in her belly grew, a rope being cut that was barely hanging on by its final few fibers. Cassana’s breathing was erratic, and her hips moved in time with his fingers inside of her until the tension finally snapped. She arched away from him as her toes curled and she cried out in wordless ecstasy. Slowly, Ser Yarwyck withdrew his fingers from her cunt, and she leaned her head back on his shoulder as she panted.

“Feeling better?”

She nodded, and closed her eyes when he gently brushed his lips against hers again.

“You can keep going if you want to.” Cassana’s voice was breathy.

“Do you?”

“I think it'd be fun.” She trusted him much more than Ser Androw. Yarwyck had actually cared for her, and had only said nice things.

“Alright, let me get up then.”

Cassana moved from her spot between his legs and laid down on the bed. She rubbed the backs of her fingers over the pillow as he stood back up. Was this the side he slept on? Would she have to move later?

When Ser Yarwyck’s trousers hit the floor, she propped herself up on her elbows to watch him turn back around towards her. He was thicker than Ser Androw had been, and curved. Cassana's dark eyes were wide and her lips were parted slightly as she regarded him, she had assumed all cocks were going to be more similar than they apparently were.

“You ready?”

Her gaze darted back up to his face, and she brought her lips together again. Cassana smiled up at him as she nodded. A mischievous grin spread across Yarwyck’s face, and he dragged her closer by her ankles. She shrieked, before descending into a fit of giggles as he crawled on top of her, laughing himself before quickly kissing her scrunched nose.

#my writing #sotf extras #fic: sins of the father #nat come get your juice

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maxbegone · 4 months ago

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Do you have any tips on handling election stress? I'm 18 this year and completely and utterly terrified about the idea of trump getting elected. It's not something I'm dealing with very well to say the least

And I know I can vote and it'll still be making a difference but when the time rolls around to do so I don't know if I can even get to a polling place which is adding to the stress

Sorry for asking this and I completely understand if it goes unanswered! I hope you have a good day and if not, that it gets better <3

hi anon! while i can't give you a cure-all here, i'll do my best to ease the stress.

first and foremost, and this is an understatement, i'm sure: you're not alone in how you're feeling about this. fear is valid. look to your left, look to your right, look at your friend groups — everyone's worried right now. a presidential election is a stressful thing, especially with who our two candidates are. i personally think the recent debate is yet another blatant example of how we should put a cap on how old a president or presidential candidate should be before they're unable to run. if you have to be 35 in order to run for president, why shouldn't there be a cap? i hope that makes sense.

we're settling this year for biden, sure, but remind yourself that you're not voting for a person, you're voting for an administration. project 2025 was never going to appear silently, someone was always going to make it known.

i'm someone who deals with a lot of existential dread and has gone through phases of "this isn't going to happen," and then it does. spiraling isn't good, but sometimes it isn't something you can help. still, don't let it all fester; let it out, talk to someone about it, and if you don't like how a conversation is going, you have the power to step away. and if anyone pressures you, just remember you are not obligated to tell anyone who you're voting for or what you might be registered as.

politics, in general, is a tough topic to talk about. sometimes you really have to dig in order to find people you trust enough will have the same morals as you in order to really feel some relief that the ways you think the world should change are worth fighting for. and try not to let older adults' opinions get to you — this is something i deal with constantly, and while i'm vocal here on this platform, i can't find it in myself to be vocal within my own family for fear of being talked over and told, "You don't know how the world works yet. You don't know what you're talking about. You're too woke." if no one has told you yet and you need to hear it: you're smarter than you're giving yourself credit for, and your compassion is so, so important.

what's so wonderful about this generation, which i've said before, is that we are very, very aware. gen z and millennials are constantly researching and spreading awareness, and we do have social media to thank for that, despite all its faults. allow yourself to be scared, because that means you care and that you will take action. being complicit won't help anyone.

remember that you're curating your own experience here. if you want to follow along on social media, make sure the accounts you're following are credible, informative, and offer reliable information. you don't want constantly see things that will bring your mood down and cause you to doom scroll. make sure whoever you follow is uplifting, inspiring, and shows you that there is hope.

and you said it yourself; voting will make a difference. is it stressful? absolutely. is there a lot of information to absorb? of course. but in the wake of the incoming election season, try and take things in bits and pieces.

if you're too overwhelmed with what you're seeing online, log off, delete the app you're using, whatever works for you. step away. we're not made to constantly have our fingers on the pulse. everyone's fighting, a lot of times with each other, but remember that there is always something to fight for. find hobbies and activities that you can do regularly that will ease your mind, or even find something new to try. you don't want to exhaust yourself.

@hagface gave me some great advice, which is to get off your phone and remember that world doesn't exist in your pocket. there's more out there than just politics, no matter how looming the whole thing may feel.

as for finding your polling place or getting a ride there, good news: you have a lot of time to figure that out! often times rideshares will give free rides to the polls. for instance, lyft just announced a voting access program for 2024 that will give you free or discounted rides to your polling place on november 5th (i have not been able to find anything on uber doing the same, but we have some time i suppose). and hey, if rideshares don't work, see if you can carpool with friends! not only will it guarantee you're able to vote, but your friends who are eligible will, too! and when you're done, don't stare too long at when the numbers start rolling in; try and take a step back for the day and do something enjoyable. it'll be hard to ignore, of course, but just know that once you've voted, you've done your job.

vote.org has all the information you need from who's on the ballot, to voting by mail with an absentee ballot, and even checking to see if you're registered or not! it also shows how many days until the next election, and can help you get information for the specific state you live in, just scroll all the way down on the home page (absentee ballot due dates, registration deadlines, etc).

additionally, while not a federal law, some states have laws which require your employer to give you time to vote or even provide paid time off in order to do so. this article gives you all of that information. you have the right to vote. if your employer gives you a hard time about letting you do so, this article gives you some pretty good tips on how to deal with that. my advice is to always go to the polls as early as possible, but i know that isn't always feasible.

something else you might hear from time-to-time is to "vote down the ballot." what does that mean? it means filling out the entirety of the ballot, from president and national officials at the top, to local governments toward the bottom. for instance, a lot of people will "vote down" the ballot for candidates who are all in the same party. here's some info.

this next part might sound silly, but there's some truth in it. there are MAGA extremists out there, groups of people who love to parade around with memorabilia and be loud about their beliefs. to put it lightly: they're bullies, they're dangerous. if you happen to get caught in one of those parades like i did while driving back in 2020, try your best to keep a wide berth.

it's all a lot to absorb and very scary, but again, you're not alone. you have time before november to gather information on the policies that are in threat of being protected, of who these candidates really are, and who they want to bring into the cabinet with them.

one final thing: congratulations on your first time voting. i know it's not the most exciting thing in the world, especially with this election year, but deciding to vote and doing so means you're doing a great job. remember, you're one person, but one vote can still make a difference.

i hope this helped some ♥️

#answered #anonymous #us politics #election 2024

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crmsnmth · 7 months ago

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That Old Dysphoric Waltz

Some days I hate my teeth I somehow become aware they're in my mouth and I can't stop running my tongue along the edges learning the mountain range of molars And they begin to hurt Because a look in the mirror says they are far to close togethor Clumped into one big coffee stained clump I want to pull them out Tie each one off with fishing line and finding someone to slam the door. Dentures seem like a great idea, but I don't have dental on state funded healthcare I can feel my gums throb from the toothbrush Sometimes spitting more blood then not into the sink clockwise down the drain

Some days I hate the clothes I wear I hate the way they sit on my body, folding over, sleeves riding up, I can feel the tag and I scratch at them and readjust spending far too much time fixing the clothes I have chosen to wear I want to burn them all and start over in a whole new style one that isn't monochrome and something a high school metal kid would wear Looking like I never learned how to grow up Without horror movie shirts and black jeans bandannas and scarves Still a teen with an aged body

Some days I hate the very skin I'm in Seeing all it's flaws and tears and scars Hating the contours made by sharp edges and spikes Despising the ink I thought so hard about before I committed it to flesh I get sickened by seeing the emancipated skin that's tight over visible bones and muscles that are much too small to provide any use Just the strings to an out of tune guitar With a bent neck, so the screws can't be fixed At least not with knowledge I have of such things So I'll just ignore each ache and pain I feel Until they go away, abandonment by ligaments Fingers much too long for praying Eyes half tilted and far away I never look as if I'm paying attention not that I am

Some days I hate the gender that I am the mirror lies to us every chance it gets I hate the shape of my body not seeing the movements felt staying behind doors, learning how to hide any fact like this we just don't talk about unless it's made in jest and in hate So keep your mouth shut and hate in silence Ridicule is avoided by anyone with heart And the confusion only makes things worth Hating your friends because they unknowingly hate part of you It's a pretty messed up way to go about your day Smile and wave, pretend the joke is just a joke And that secretly, everyone around isn't laughing anymore And the joke eventually becomes fear becomes isolation becomes alienation becomes annihilation Small town words spread like a fire in a dry pine forest

Some days I hate my brain Not making any sense And making thoughts that have no view The awkward panic and fear of rejection the need for abandonment and depression Living with chemicals rebuilt from time capsules from 1948 and whatever sedative we can find It's better than gray clothing and frosted glass I never really like a trilogy anyway And I've been on this hate before Letting the conflict of my right vs left battle Figure out what we're going to do today Fatty deposit of electricity That is constantly working to constantly Sabotage and end itself with bad ideas and even worse impulse control I couldn't tell you how to do better

Most days I love everything I am Everything I've stood for Everything I've done Even if I die right now, I have on hell of a story to share And I'll gladly whisper it to the worms Eternity won't be bad speaking to decay Death will wave his hand along my being And I'll talk his fucking ear off about all of my memories I love the face I wear, coffee stained teeth in all And every morning after a shower, I pick my favorite shirts and my comfortable jeans, proud of the hockey mask graphic I see my body and I'm happy it's still here, after all it's been And I see my gender right where it should be, even if the feelings towards my so-called friends don't But that just means my mind has morals and principles And is able to think through complex thought Finding logic and thought and emotion all ripping through it It's downright amazing to think about. It's okay to have bad days It gets better. It will always get better.

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ghostofacrow · 10 months ago

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Crow plays Gubat Banwa part 3: Together

I originally wanted to write the next post right away, but the reason I haven't is that I actually got to play with other people for a bit. My regular tabletop groups all got cancelled over the holidays, so I spend the days around new years introducing some of them to Gubat Banwa by putting them into the fucked up meatgrinder fight from my last post. Originally I just wanted to explain the rules while we had some more free time then usually, but we had so much fun we've since started the Sword Devil module - which I'm not going to talk about as much on here because it involves other people and spoilers for the intro module.

I was curious how the same battle was going to play out with a normal 1 gm 3 players setup and a different party composition (Murderglave, Heavenspear and Bladeweaver) and they did way better then I did, despite me controlling the enemies normally. The thunderbolts did really matter and the Murderglave in particular did surprisingly well while being outnumbered, but they still got saved by me forgetting about some of the demon mechanics. Also the 1.6 Patch 1 Update happened inbetween the tutorial battle and us starting the Sword Devil game.

We're trying to play the Sword Devil gmless, which is a bit awkward and weird because we're still following the book, so there is some weird suboptimal friction where we are still following a guided scenario, but we're all aware of all the hidden information at all times because we're reading through the book together, but it's been a fun experience regardless. I'm reusing Haraw for the game, and despite her being meant for a different game originally and none of us coordinating our characters at all, rolling for complications for our group led to us coming up with a whole previous adventure our characters went on together.

Similarly, coming up with the battle maps together led to a great feedback loop of "yes and"ing ideas that I don't usually see in tactics games. On the combat side of things, the update cut everyone's POS in half, so we were really surprised by how quickly the fight ended, our Murderglave and my Flower Balyan both got screwed by the fight only lasting for 2 resounds, even after we spend gaba to add more enemies. Because the Murderglave had to spend most of their first riff crossing a river and I couldn't play off my poison spreading and fields as much as I'd like. Weird opposite problem to what the first fight had, but I'm sure we can figure out how to balance the encounters over time.

But that's enough about what I've been up to, let's see how our Kadungganan are doing since I left them. I'll write the following scene in prose, if there's square brackets in the text, that means I did a Divination roll, the format is [Character Skill Result]. I'm leaning into the random elements more then I usually do here since I don't have anyone else to play off of, but I'll keep the mechanics discussion aside from noting the rolls out of the text.

The blood on Dranreb's hands was drying, clumping his fur together in dark, uncomfortable spikes. The river was right there and it would be do easy to wash it off, but the thought of leaving the shadow of the tree and wading into the water or turning his back to the forest made his skin crawl after what they just went through. He looked at the stranger lying before him. He had barely managed to still their bleeding after they had passed out, but they were still unconscious.

The leaves above him rustled as the other stranger shifted their position. They had climbed up into the tree when the demons attacked and had stayed up there since, and didn't respond to any of his questions. When Dranreb introduced himself and asked the stranger for their name in kind, they had stared down at him in silence before answering "You don't need to know.", and that had been the extend of their conversation. Sometimes he could hear whispers coming from the treetop, but he had soon realized that they weren't meant for him, but the stranger's gun. [Nasirakna Observation Even Succcess]

It had gotten dark before he could figure out a way to transport the unconscious Kawayanon, and Dranreb was about to drift off to sleep, when a gunshot woke him right back up, a jarring, violent intrusion between the sounds of the nighttime forest. "What are you doing?", he hissed up the tree. "Another demon.", the stranger simply replied, their voice flat like nothing out of the ordinary happened. Their eyes were fixed on something in the distance that Dranreb couldn't see from the ground. "I scared it off.", they concluded.

"We need to do something about them, we can't just let them run around the forest like this.", Dranreb said out loud, not expecting an answer.

A choked laugh came out of the tree. "And what are you going to do? You saw what happened when we tried to fight them."

"Yes, we won."

"Look at them." They pointed the butt of their weapon at the bleeding Kawayanon. "They're dying, I wouldn't consider that a victory."

"You don't know that.", he said, but still stopped to check their breath. Still stable. "Where do the demons even come from? There's so many of them suddenly."

"I have some ideas.", the witch answered. Dranreb stayed quiet, waiting for them to explain their ideas, but the follow-up never came.

The ensuing silence bothered him, as unpleasant as the conversation was, it at least kept his mind occupied. So he started talking again. "I still need to bring them to safety so they can heal."

"You mean die in peace."

"Stop it!", he yelled this time. "I don't care what you think, I'm not giving up this easily."

They discussed plans for a while. The path to the coast and Alimpulos wasn't that far, but they couldn't swim through the river with an unconscious, bleeding body, and the forest was more dangerous then usually. There was the Virbanwan battalion was camped out somewhere closer, but he wasn't keen on returning there, and the witch seemed even more put off by the idea. The witch scoffed when he suggested following the river to the next crossing downstream, where it fanned out and became flat enough to wade through. "You can leave if saving someone's life bothers you so much."

The witch took a moment to answer. "I'd like to pretend otherwise, but sticking together does make it easier to get to Alimpulos alive." Dranreb didn't notice that he drifted off to sleep until he found himself in bright sunlight, with a gun barrel poking into his side. "Wake up.", the witch said, standing before him. He scrambled to his feet.

[Haraw Toughness Even Failure]

The stranger was still unconscious, but their bandages hadn't bled through, a good sign that there injuries were less bad then they had seemed at night. Now he had to find a way to carry them. "I can't count on your help here, can I?", he asked the witch while lifting the body over his shoulder. "Listen.", the witch answered, "I accept that I can't prevent you from dragging dead weight around, but at least one of us should keep their eyes open and their hands on their weapon."

This was a good point, which made him more frustrated, but the Kawayanon, in their haze, at least managed to meekly grab onto him, and after he tried and failed to grab his spear and shield while holding onto them, the witch wordlessly picked up his gear. As they started walking, they'd occasionally mumble something that he couldn't understand. The Kawayanon was short of stature, but so was Dranreb, which made them difficult to carry, but he quickly found that he hated stopping more. The witch walked ahead of him and occasionally signaled him to stop, climbed into another tree and kept her sight on demons he could only sometimes see as dark spots in the distance. When this happened, he carefully placed the Kawayanon on the ground, picked up his weapon, hid between the undergrowth and listened to his breath, waiting for the witch to open fire. But the gunshot he was anticipating never happened. The demons passed them in the distance, his unpleasant companion climbed back down and they carried on.

The river became wider and wider, until the finally reached the crossing. Dranreb steeled himself for wading through the rushing water, but the witch put a hand on his chest and held him back. "Not so fast, look."

Confused, he looked out across the water, and noticed the spots were the waves broke. "Fish? They are large for river fish..." He furrowed his brows, noticing their rattling teeth and the steam clouding the other shore. "Yawa?", he asked.

The witch nodded. "We can't wait to cross the river much longer, unless you're prepared to spend another night out here."

What Dranreb had mistaken for fish from the distance were the demons, jumping and dancing in the waves. The river boiled where it touched their skin, their shapes obscures by the steam, only their cackling laughter reaching the shore.

#crow plays gubat banwa #gubat banwa

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a-frog-in-a-bog · 1 year ago

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https://www.stonewall.org.uk/resources/ace-report

I politely suggest you read it before you make the assumption that is aros and aces don't have problems to face.

If you don't believe us after reading the whole thing, fine, but remember that bigots don't care about our specific identities as to them we are all worth hurting; We all have the same face of hate against us, so whether you like it or not, we're fighting together

Just, give it a read; I promise it'll be worth it.

first i'd like to thank you for being polite and linking an actual source, it's the first time in all my years on tumblr that someone hasn't just plugged their ears and screamed "everyone is valid!!!" so genuinely, thank you. second, the point i was making was that aces and aros don't face systemic oppression, not that they don't have any problems. i'm gonna add and respond to some excerpts i found interesting for anyone who cares / doesn't have time to read the report themselves:

i would've liked to see a further clarifying question on this study about what kind of negative reaction the respondents feared. the only examples given were the above and similar, but we don't know what kind of negative reactions LGBT people anticipated. was it also just intrusive questions, or did they consider negative reactions to be physical violence, being fired, being killed, or being kicked out of their home? would a lesbian respondent consider "so which one of you is the man?" to be a negative reaction or an ignorant one? we have no way of knowing if ace and LGBT respondents had the same criteria for what constitutes a negative reaction

this is wildly unprofessional and would also make me (and i'm betting plenty other people) uncomfortable! not sure why this is presented as a micro-aggression against ace people when it's just inappropriate in general?

another one i would've liked a follow-up question to. is this because ace people are uncomfortable coming out at work or because there just hasn't been a reason to bring up lack of sexual attraction at work?

yeah! i agree! although i'm not sure why this is presented as what an ace-inclusive workplace would look like instead of what a... normal workplace should look like?

this is literally just misogyny. the same shit happens to gay and straight women (also as an aside, pain during pap smears is entirely dependent on personal pain tolerance and anxiety, it's different for everyone and has nothing to do with whether or not you've had sex before. just like how tight or loose a vagina is has nothing to do with how much sex you have. not trying to discredit the woman here, just didn't want to spread misinformation)

this is horrible, and obviously asexuality needs to be taught alongside hypoactive sexual desire disorder in med school so healthcare professionals can tell the difference between the two, as it seems most if not all of these examples stem from doctors and therapists either not knowing the difference or being confused about what asexuality is (since this study is from the UK i'm interested to know if ace people in other countries have had similar experiences, and if asexuality is taught in med school in other places)

again, thank you for sharing! it was very informative and i'll admit i wasn't aware that some ace people face medical discrimination, so i learned something new :) as i've said before, the LGBT and ace communities are a venn diagram, especially where LGBT ace folk are concerned. they're not completely overlapping but not completely separate. most marginalized communities overlap in some way. i know i said this at the start of my reply but it bears repeating-- while everything asexuals faced listed in this report ranged from mildly annoying to downright traumatizing, it's still not an organized legal attempt to criminalize, well, not feeling sexual attraction... and there weren't any hate crimes against aces... do you see what i'm getting at

#mine #id in alt text #lgbt #asexual #aromantic

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gatheringfiki · 10 months ago

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GatheringFiKi Interest Survey 2023 - Results

Hi folks,

First of all, huge thank you to those who took the time to fill in our recent survey. We have now reviewed the results and have a couple of points we’d like to share.

1) The Headcount:

The first, biggest and most welcome surprise from the Survey is that there are so MANY of you! And most of you are new faces, which I think is just wonderful! Welcome, welcome, one and all!

The total of 23 people took part in the Survey (admittedly some of whom I have never seen take part in any events, but I have high hopes).

When I was leaving for my travels in September 2022, a similar Interest Survey presented a bleak picture, very different to today, with a number of people having clearly moved on (though not all!). Personally, I think it was the right call to accept and acknowledge that, re-subscribe those truly interested today, and re-focus my efforts and events targetting where it's actually wanted.

Please remember that if you ARE interested in taking part in our events, you can always ask to have personal notifications delivered to you whenever one is running - just message @linane-art

Of course, I am fully aware and very grateful that, apart from the folks taking part, there are also quite a few of you who consume the new content, read, watch, like, comment, reblog or just silently marvel and enjoy their (guilty?) pleasure. I love and appreciate you all.

2) Your Favourite Existing Events:

12 Days of Christmas - 18 votes

FiKi Week - 14 votes

Trick or Treat - 12 votes

Drabble Challenges - 11 votes

Durin's Day Gift Exchange - 11 votes

Kink Bingo - 9 votes

H/C Bingo - 8 votes

AUpocalypse - 7 votes

Fandom Raffle Exchange - 5 votes

Show Some Love - 5 votes

Fic of a Fic - 4 votes

Fanfic Rec Bingo - 2 votes

Secret Admirers - 1 vote

Round Robins - 0 votes

No surprises near the top: 12 Days has just ran and is beloved by everyone and FiKi Week is like THE Gatheringfiki event.

Trick or Treat also ran recently, but I think you also have a particular penchant for everything spooky/autumny.

Drabble Challenges are quick and easy, and I think a natural choice for a 'top up' event next to the big ones. I wonder if those of you who haven't experienced the speed and the 'write off all your other weekend plans'-ness of this event will think of it. :D

DDGE surprises a little, because it's a big commitment of an event, but I guess maybe because we're not running the Raffle regularly any more, and it's a similar enough thing? Or like a Big Bang? And there's nothing else that promotes actual collaborations. Intriguing.

The Bingos - always heat up the temperature in the room. I think those of you who want them, want them like burning. I also think (looking at hit counts), that there are also many more of you who, ah, enjoy the fruits of our labours, but like... anonymously and silently :D So long as those are not ran too often, I think they're a blast, and it's been 2 years.

AUpocalypse juuuust about makes it, but I think it has a special place, as it's the one event where artists can participate easily and have a fully free reign of what they create.

Please remember that if you are an artist and you're not sure how you can take part, we have this here handy guide for you.

Raffle is probably too big for the headcount we have, rec-type-events have not been popular for a few years now, Secret Admirers still out of favour (why???) and nobody liked Round Robins - fair enough.

3) Other Comments we got / possible New Events:

'A Dead Dove Event' - what is it, I've never comes accross it? Please message me on priv ;)

'Bring-A-Friend Event' - The incest thing will make some people uncomfortable, and those that check us out 'as a courtesy' are unlikely to actually get hooked. I think, by all means, spread the word if you know folks who might enjoy our fandom, but mostly it needs to be discovered on your own. Awareness of GF is the key.

'FiKi Bingo' - We already run 2 bingo-type events and a FiKi Week. I think that ticks both the desired format and desired content boxes.

'Valentine's Day Event' - there is nothing like that per se, but it is no coincidence that the Kink and H/C Bingos usually run around the time when everyone is feeling loved-up ;)

'I don't feel comfortable sharing my own content' - that is perfectly okay and your own choice. Nobody is going to try and push you. But I will say that if you have a supportive fandom, feedback can do wonders for your self-esteem and practice makes perfect. Otherwise, thank you just as much for your silent support.

'Discord Server' - I thought about it, but I think it'll be more of a problem than help. I don't know how to set it up, don't have the capacity to moderate it, only some people would be interested and many people will resist change. We've always said that Tumblr is our native platform and on Tumblr we will remain - don't want to dilute the fandom accorss multiple platforms, sorry.

'October Advent Calendar' - I'm sorry, I don't quite see how it would be different/better than Trick or Treat, except longer? Plus, 12 Days, which runs right after, has that element of 'something new to discover' every day ;)

'FiKi Mad Libs and Frankenstory' - see: Round Robins Event. And it scored 0 points, the poor thing :(

'Visual / phrase / poem / porny inspiration' - visual is addressed by 12 Days. Phrase/poem will be addressed by FiKi Week ;) Porny will be blocked by Tumblr :(

'Reblog-focussed Events' - Yes, agreed, but in the competition for calendar availability, all our rec-type events consistently lose out to out content-creating events. So we resort to caveating all our summary posts with pleas for reblogging and commenting. :/

I also wanted to take this opportunity to thank everyone for the wonderful and humbling words of encouragement I’ve received. I do what I do because of the people in this fandom and I will continue doing so for as long as there is interest in it. It’s what being in a fandom means to me, and hopefully it inspires some of you too :)

A Calendar of Events for 2024 will follow in a separate post.

Wishing you all a cracking New Year, filled with inspiration, joy, passion and feels, hopefully all whipped up by those problematic 2 little a$$holes...

~gatheringfiki

#Fili/Kili #FiKi #Durincest #the Hobbit #Mitchers #Britchell #DarkHawk #GatheringFiKi #Interest Survey

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