#like back then i shipped sun and moon at some times but also saw them as brothers at other times

[snowe-zolynn-rogers]

I just wanted to apologize got the solar x moon marriage "jump scare"

I didn't know people were going to hate it.

I don't see any of them as family except bloodmoon and his twin.

Cause they're the same code.

DNA isn't a thing for the bots, plus as far as I know two guy bots can't have kids.

Besides I didn't see the relationship as a physical one. Just platonic.

Also as a asexual and aromatic, you can be in a relationship. Just a heads up.

🩸🌙

To me, it's all good. I myself see them as besties and cousins in canon, but to each their own opinion. I don't see the point in arguing or trying to change how others see the relation of two fictional characters.

[stubz]

Pollix lazed on the beanbag in the reading area. The passing sun shining just so perfectly on the young tighalax. He rolled onto his stomach and kneaded the carpet below when he spotted something or rather someone.

Nova. The ship Captain's daughter and fellow tighalax is currently stalking something.

'It's like watching a newborn cub walking for the first time. She'd be the runt of any tighalax pack in the galaxy.'

Pollix really had nothing against the smaller cub but he just couldn't help himself from teasing and poking fun at her every now and then.

'She's 6 moons older than me but half my size! She's like one of those stuffies we have in the toy bin.' he giggled to himself.

Intrigued by what she was doing he looks to see what her target is.

His ears perk as does his posture.

Kim. One of their human caretakers/teachers. Currently cleaning up some blocks on the ground. Completely unaware of the small feline-like creature.

She pounces. The prey is caught. Sent tumbling to it's side, shrieking with laughter.

A successful hunt shrieks Athea also watching the "hunt".

'A successful hunt? Pfft, I get that they're comrades but how could Athea call that a hunt?' for Nova's hunt was something to be expected of when one was a fresh cub. To celebrate a hunt like this when you were 7 summers old? Unheard of.

But runts do take longer since they're often too weak for some summers to do this type of thing, he concluded.

Still, at their age they should be hunting prey that's much bigger than Kim. Something around Max's size.

"Pollix! I caught Kim, did you see?"

"I saw...you were very quiet. But remember to use what's around you. Like you could have hide behind the bookshelf to get even closer."

"Oh. That's so smart! Thanks Pollix, I'm going to practice on Kim again."

"Mmmm." he curled back onto the bean bag.

"Not impressed?"

"Your blocking the sun Athea," he whined looking up at the orc. "But no not really. I mean Kim is strong I guess but she's a human."

"What. Humans are strong, sometimes stronger than other apex species like us." Pollix scoffs

"Yeah but I knocked her down like a million times when we wrestled! So Nova's probably going to be able to knock her over at least once, or maybe Kim just let her." he finished as an afterthought.

"...Okay so maybe she let Nova knock her over but what if she also let you knock her over?"

<If there's one thing many know about Tighalaxes it's that they are very prideful of their hunts and wins. And to diminish said hunts and wins is to question their skills as a hunter. The fastest and easiest way to tick them off>

The cub puffs his fur and flicks his tail around angrily.

"Nu-uh."

"Yu-huh."

"No. I knocked her over because I'm stronger than her!"

"And so did Nova. So I guess Nova is also strong." she stares at him.

<Now for Orcs, what they're known for is their undying loyalty. Should you belittle or badmouth an Orc's friend within earshot of them be prepared for an argument or a swift blow to the face. Depends on the situation>

The young orc straightens to her full height while keeping her gaze with the tighalax cub. Who in return get's up and rises to his full height as well.

Standing at 5 feet tall both are easily larger than most other youngling species their age. Only 5 inches shy of their teacher Kim.

Only at the age 6.

"Why don't you try to tackle her?"

Startled they stop sizing each other up and turn to the human who managed sneak up on them.

Jasper. A human child their age. Almost a foot smaller than them.

"I do it all the time. It's fun and I get to see how strong I am by how much I can make Kim move!" he exclaims, "One time I managed to make her take a step."

"That could work."

"Huh?"

"If you can tackle Kim then I'll apologize and take it back. If you can't then that means that Nova is strong too."

"Alright. But I'm doing it the proper way. Not when she's crouched down. That'd be too easy."

"Whatever."

..

'A real hunter should rely on their strength and instincts. Not just hiding and sneak attacks.'

He stalks towards Kim who's standing in the middle of the room doing a head count.

He picks up the pace. Her back is still to him.

He's broken into a run now. Normally he should wait till he's closer but he's just trying to tackle her so it's fine. She hears him.

He's at full speed and mere seconds away. Athea will be saying sorry to him very soon. She turns sideways and widens her feet.

He lunges. She's smiling.

To Athea and everyone else watching it was like watching a bouncy ball hit a wall. The cub made impact only to bounce off the human onto the floor.

"OH SHOOT!" Kim picks him and sets him on his back paws. "Are you okay? I'm sorry I didn't think you'd bounce like that."

"..." could she always pick him up that easily?

"You look okay, Pollix are you hurt anywhere?" he shakes his head.

"Well that's good. Sorry about that buddy," she chuckles. "I thought since your a lot bigger than Jasper and Nova that you'd be fine. Here, let me go get you a starburst for the great effort."

"Wow Pollix! You made her actually get ready for it. I never did that. You really are strong." exclaims Nova. Eyes sparkling with awe.

"I, I just bounced off her. Like a bug."

"Yep." Athea pats her friend on the shoulder.

"...Nova you did a great job with your hunt. It was awesome."

"Aw, thanks Pol."

"I wonder if I could tackle her? I am heavier than you."

"Yeah you are pretty fat."

"Fat so I can crush you."

"You two are weird friends." sighs Nova.

[llamaisllama777]

LAES,TSAMS,EAPS WEEKLY*/*DAILY REVIEW SHOW!!!!!

Okay, we had a lot of really good episodes today, so let's hurry up and talk about them!

First up, FAMILY MOMENTS! I love this thumbnail so much, especially Moon's face.. I .. I just love it!

I love how we get to learn about everyone's movie preferences. It's interesting learning these little random tidbits about them. It's fun. Also Sun...

SPY KIDS 3 IS GREAT, AND I WILL NOT HEAR OTHERWISE!!! 😡

Also, Prince of Egypt is a really good movie. You all should go watch it. Even if you aren't religious, it's really good and has some awesome animation and music. Seriously, if you haven't watched, please do. I think it's on YouTube for free???

This episode was cute.... ONTO THE TRAUMA!

Bout time, I was wondering when Nexus would try to kidnap Sun. Took longer than I expected... I wonder why? 🤔

This episode I think confirmed a theory I had...

New Moon/Nexus never cared.

I had this thought in the back of my head that Nexus never really cared about them. He never thought of them as family. He just saw them as people he was told to call family. They were NEVER his family. He never really cared. He just cared about Solar, but Solar never saw him as a brother. OOOFFFFF!

That hurts!

But I'm glad we know because DANG! The angst there!

Also, Sun is stronger than Nexus' chain ability (That ability where he forces people to the floor. I like to imagine purple chains form around the person when he uses that move)

Nexus was so close to kidnapping Sun....

BUT MONTY CAME IN STINKIN' CLUTCH!!!!!!

Monty FINALLY got to use the shotgun! He nearly killed Nexus there! Thank you, Nebula, for the starshells! The Astrals are starting to grow on me.

(Okay... maybe a was a little rash on the whole "Down with the Astrals" "Viva la revolution" thing!) Sorry, Astrals. Still don't really trust Taurus or Leo tho.

Things are getting serious! October is in like two weeks! The creator is still out there! Rez and Cetus are out there! And Dark Sun still has a stinkin' dragon! This is gonna be an exciting October! I'm so excited!

Also, thank you, Davis and Reed, for this picture of Monty with a shotty.

And lastly...

Okay, Eclipse looks like that one guy from the office that conspiracy theory guy. And Puppet just looks depressed.

Puppet really wants to catch the killer. It's really affecting her. It's the MCI incident all over again. And she clearly doesn't want anyone or herself to go through that again. Eclipse still won't watch movies with anyone. It's only a matter of time, though. The moment he says yes and joins them is the moment his redemption arc is complete for me!

So, Eclipse and Puppet have narrowed down the killer to 4 suspects. All employees of Fazbear.

1. Vincent

2. Some lady named Margo

3. A teenage intern who works in the daycare named Josh

4. And the repair man whose name I forget.

I don't think it's any of these guys. But I have a few theories on who the killer could be..

1. Michael Afton of this world. Eclipse did mention in one of the early episodes of the EAPS that the Michael of this world was/still is an employee of Fazbears.

2. Henry Emily. Just cause the angst that it would cause Puppet.

3. The Charlie of this world. Just cause again the angst it would cause Puppet being the killer of this world!

There is no way it's Wanda(the William of this world)

And I highly doubt it's Vincent or some rando employee.

It has to be someone important.

These episodes were amazing!

Davis, Reed, Kat, Valentine, you guys did amazing on these episodes again!

12/10!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Extra point cause WOW!

Also shout out to this commentor for having the funniest comment on there.

Nebula, you are starting to become my favorite Astral!

Also, Patchnotes is a ship I really hope happens now!

[dana-chan-the-control-brain]

Wish there were more people like you who were open to exploring dynamics between two characters in an alternate universe where they are not bound by familial relationship/title or whatever it's called. I get it tsams/tlaes have a lot of family things going on and a-specs things but eh what do I expect from a fandom that started the hate on sunxmoon shippers? I'll continue shipping sunxmoon, eclipsexsun, solarxmoon and solarxearth(thanks to that one anon from before for introducing me to this) not as family related, and the fandom can suck it

Honestly.

Like one person told me "Moon and Solar are brothers" once.

And?..

They're not.

That's like saying Ink and Dream or something from the Undertale Au verse are brothers cause they're alternate realities of eachother and people ship them all the time???

"but they have the same face"

So???

So does Lolbit and Funtime Foxy. They're a couple in SBshow verse.

Mickey and Minnie mouse have the same face and no one raises stink about the most classic example of same face syndrome.

They're robots and I think physical appearance matters very little to them in the grand scheme of things. But that might just be my demisexual ass talking.

On a side note, I know the VA for Earth, Aka: Kat has been very "ship and let ship" with the fandom. And I think that's why in the Solar therapy session, she clarified that she knows Solar isn't biologically related. Technically none of them are, she just wants to consider him part of the family.

I remember awhile back the fandom was so hostile to people who saw Lunar as an adult and would draw him in adult situations. (Like taxes/half joking you know what I mean)

And I believe that was the last big drama the actors like Davis was directly involved in before he took a step back from that and told the fandom to sort it out themselves. And I really don't blame him. There are people who are crazy and just feel entitled to things.

And in more recent episodes, Lunar has stated more frequently that he is an adult animatronic of sound mind who can make his own decisions, so that they can put that issue to bed with the discourse.

(I personally think that gen1/2 Lunar was very much a kid psychology and through the course of the course of the show, and due to his experiences and truama he grows up in two years and he's a young adult now. This reflects in every time he has a model change or appearance.)

See this is what I mean when I say they are robots. Robots can grow up from 13 to 24 (approximately) in the span of two years. Robots can change their mind about family dynamics and say "you know what I think that i don't feel like a cousin, as what I feel for Moon is more intense then familiar bonds. So I change my mind." And this is allowed. This is allowed. Like I would not think this way about human characters.

People in the transformers fandom are really familiar with this concept as well. At least the few people I talk to from an outsider perspective. The transformers robots change their relationships in canon to eachother all the time from what I hear.

And yes. I know tsams is focused on themes of family and found family and togetherness. Like I'm not media illiterate. I know what one of the themes are. For some reason, people think I don't know tsams is about family.

Like bruh.

This whole show took two years for them to build the family and support network they all have with eachother when before the show was a toxic family relationship with Sun and Moon only. And I think it's beautiful how it evolved and how many characters there are and how big the family is now!

It's great!

And I do separate in my brain what's going on in canon and what's going on in my shipping brain.

This doesn't mean I can have fun on the side. With silly speculations and silly headcanons.

Giggling to myself and twirling my hair about the "what ifs" and aus

Staying out of the main tags and talking to my own friends with my own company.

While also analyzing the show and leaving tsams lots of long lovely YouTube comments about what the show is actually about.

Also. Consider this.

Since the multiverse is canon in tsams, in definition, by their own rules, there is a universe where everything in tsams is the same, except your ship is canon.

Evil!Sun even said that Sun and Moon being brothers is more rare across dimensions then we initially assumed.

So they're either enemies, strangers, they killed eachother, or something else.

They only are brothers after their canon event of separating and agreeing to work together. So there are some universes where that never happened.

Meaning most likely that our Moon's portal runs on a central finite curve.

So take that as you will.

[myluvrrhea]

Can I pls have Dominik Mysterio x Fem reader with the prompts “I trust you” + ➻ “May I kiss you?” where the reader goes to his room and not only tells him her feelings but also how he's helped her with her inner demons?

Apocolypse

When your all alone , I will reach for you

Pairings - Bsf!Dominik Mysterio x Wrestler/Bsf! Reader

Warnings - Fear of unrequited feelings , Just fluff rlly!!

Word Count - 0.7k , Gif Creds

You and Dominik had been the dynamic duo of The Judgment day. You would always spend time with him. He was like the sun to your moon. You always saw edits either, praising the friendship you two or, shipping you two together. You and Dominik would make fun of the edits and react to them , but little did he know how much you wished you two could be together. And the edits just fueled your need for him more. So today you decided you wanted to tell him the feelings you and hidden for a while. You felt scared telling him about it , but you didnt tell him , he would never know. 

You asked him to meet at a nearby beach at 5:00pm. The sun should be setting at that time , you thought. Checking your phone it was already 4:45. You grabbed your keys and purse as you looked into the mirror next to the door. It’s time to set your plan into action you thought, as you sighed.

You arrived to the beach as you sww Dominik sitting with his knees to his face looking at the sunset. You tapped his shoulder feeling your hands sweat up at the thought of what you were about to do. You saw Dominik turn to you , a smile forming on his face when he saw you.

“Hey mariposa, did you need me here for?” He asked.

“Hey I was wondering.. could we talk for a bit, its kinda important,” you asked as you sat down next to him.. Why were you feeling so nervous all of a sudden? You felt confident just a moment again where did it go? You thought to yourself.

Dominik looked straight ahead, feeling the breeze of the wind hit his hair. He looked so , beautiful. Almost unreal you thought as you looked into his eyes. You took a deep breath before you turned pulled dominik by his hand to look at you.

“You trust me right? This wont ruin what he have? “You whispered to him. You saw his face switch from a smile , to a worried expression.

“Of course, mi vida , I trust you know that right?,” he replies back.

Before you knew it , your faces were closer than you had imagined. You saw Dominik’s gaze linger on your lips and then back to your eyes.

“Dom what are you do-“ but he cut you off before you could continue.

“May I kiss you?” he asked. His question was soon answered as your lips met him in an heated kiss. 

You felt Dom smile into the kiss as your lips left his. You could still feel the linger that his lips left behind. And you loved it. 

“Is that what you wanted to talk about?” He asked as smirk painting his face.

You looked back at the sunset ad you opened your mouth to speak. Feeling his gaze linger on you.

“I just wanted to tell you how much you’ve helped me through out my career. Ive been having a hard time adjusting to the judgment day lifestyle, especially with these changes— its just been hard for me. And at some point I’ve thought about quitting,” you saw Dominiks face change to worry again as you spoke.

“But you helped me through these things Withought knowing. And I love that about you Dom.” You turned to look at him , seeing his smile match yours as his face turned a brighter shade of pink.

He grabbed your hand a bubbly smile on his lips as he began to speak.

“Im happy to be that person for you, and I want you to know how much I care… even if I might not show it you’re always on my mind,” you smiled as you turned to look away , trying to hide your face getting warmer. But instead of letting you, he kept you in his touch , pulling your face closer to his chest. Making you lay down on him. You and Dominik watched the sun set , as you rested on his chest. He took glances at you from time to time, but no words were exchanged. Just the love for each other , lingering in your hearts.

A/N- I hope You like this lovley!! Thank you all for the support on my fics it means alot!! 💕

[theinstagrahame]

One of the best things about Crowdfunding is, stuff arrives even when you're cutting way back on spending. A *ton* of stuff arrived in the last month and a bit. Got a bunch of really neat projects in, and it's time to get hype about it!

Why these games rule, under the cut

The Revenant Society: Banana Chan is one of those names that immediately catches my attention when she's on a project. Actually, looking at the list again, the team for this game was stacked, it was a real All-Star Cast. But like, even without the powerhouse designers on the case, this just gets all the things I want in a game: Time loops, murder mysteries, trapped on the Underground. A PbtA game where you solve your own murder is, y'know, a pitch that'll attract my attention.

Hellwhalers: I saw this game coming up through design phases in the Plus One Exp Discord, and it sounded incredible. Using tokens and an old ship betting game, you're part of a whaling crew chasing Moby Dick into actual hell. Maybe Ahab wasn't crazy after all, and maybe we won't survive.

Xenolanguage: I might own everything Thorny Games makes now, because they make games about language. Folks who may not know me might not know that I *love* linquistics. Honestly, if I could repeat college, I'd put more of my time into Linguistics. But due to the linear nature of time, I'll settle for playing games about decoding alien language in a first contact situation. Sorta like that movie Contact. Which, I loved.

Mothership and Desert Moons of Karth: I read through the original version of Mothership a couple of years ago, and it's one I wanted to get more into. When I saw that there was a chance to pick up the full 1e boxset on KS, I jumped. I've also seen tons of people talk about Karth as a really awesome sandbox module for the system, so when I had a little cash on DTRPG from selling books, it was an easy pickup.

Inscrutable Cities: Possum Creek Games told me to back this, so I did (this is a joke, but I do love PCG a whole lot). In reality, I saw Inscrutable Cities on Itch a while ago, and the pitch grabbed me. I love reading solo journaling games (I still haven't found a way I like to play them, if I'm completely honest, but they're really neat reads). Walking through an impossible city is something I'd love to do, so, I have the book for it now.

Reap: Spencer Cambell makes bangers, and bangers only. I'm not *not* on a mission to collect all of his work, but Necromancers? Solo tactical board games, built on Rune? Sure. I'm in.

Luna: Spencer Campbell makes bangers, and bangers only. I also picked up another of his books this month. The Nova universe? Moon cultists trying to destroy the sun? Sure, I'm in.

3 Moonlight on Roseville Beach zines: I played Moonlight on Roseville Beach on my now-defunct podcast, and it's a game that I honestly think about a lot. The dice system was complicated, but in a really neat way that gave the players a ton of really interesting decisions with every roll. What part of my action succeeds? What kinds of complications am I opening myself to?

Anyway, R. Rook put together some characters, mysteries, and monsters for the game, and I really wanted to explore more.

Hiria, In the Margins, A Visit to San Sibilia: I mentioned earlier that I like the notion of exploring weird cities, right? Well, here's two games about that, and a cool bookmark RPG for reading. I listened to San Sibilia played in an episode of Friends at the Table, and it really captured my attention. The questions were fascinating, and they let the players flesh out a city we'd only heard of, but not seen prior to that game. It was a cool coda on a really fantastic and weird season, Sangfielle.

Grandmothership: The title alone had me, but Armanda Haller is a creator I keep an eye on, because she makes really rad stuff. This caught my attention because solving mysteries in a weird, Mothership-esque sci-fi setting, as nosy grandmothers, really just, gets me. I want to do that. I want to live that.

Holdfast Station: I've been watching Stonetop develop through its email updates. It's another PbtA game, but with a robust city-building and city development core loop that, is 100% my jam. (Low-key, one of my favorite games is Dragon Quest Builders 2.) This game takes that concept to space, which is 1000% my jam, in fact.

Spectres of Brocken: Aaron Lim is a designer I got into early on in my foray into games, and I do love Mech Anime. I am eager to see his take on Mech Anime, and I am really intrigued by the way this game handles playsets and worldbuilding as part of the game itself. Really can't wait to dive into this.

Lay on Hands: This is another of those games I've heard about, but never actually checked out. I know Alfred Valley better by reputation than by direct experience, but this is one of those games I hear people constantly telling people to check out. So, I'm gonna!

Penumbra City: Maybe 5 years ago, I read a novella by Margaret Killjoy about anarchists living in an abandoned city, and beset by assholes within their community, and supernatural horrors from without. The world kinda stuck with me, so when I saw she was working on an RPG not in the same world), I was curious to see what that would look like. I haven't cracked Penumbra City open yet, but I'm jazzed to do so.

These two fell off the pile for the big photo, so I forgot:

Deathmatch Island: I enjoyed the Hunger Games and Battle Royale movies a pretty moderate amount, but what really caught my attention here was the promise that players could also break the Reality TV Parody. The use of the Paragon system also caught my attention. After hearing one AP of Agon, I really wanted to see how that would translate into this, and it didn't take me too long reading it to go "Oh, okay, this rules."

Our God is Dead: What if you were a paladin or priest of a faith, and you found out your god was dead? What if you also had like, a bunch of people who really needed that god not to be dead, like this weekend? This sounds hilarious, and I am going to insert it into conversation often to see if people want to play it. Apologies to people who know me.

Eagle eyed viewers may have noticed a second Mothership box. What's that about?

It's a storage box for all my Mothership Zines so far... Except the two that are just slightly too big!

And, some fun comics/graphic novels:

Good Boy Paws: A friend of mine in comics put this together, and it looked extremely cute. A sweet tale of a good boi.

Wine Ghost Goes to Hell: Picked this up because the creator had contributed to Bugsnax, which is a game I enjoyed, and the concept seemed fun. Will have to check it out and report back!

[blacklegsanjiii]

Your thoughts about Marco x Sora are so good omgggg (<- the anon who asked you about them)

I can't stop thinking about Sora being a pirate after some time, because she's already living on the Moby Dick and married with the First Commander, so why not? (Marco loves loves loves see her fight, actually)

And if the acesan happens would be very funny, and the StrawHats reaction about this?!

Welcome back and I'm glad you like it, truly i am obsessed with Sanji having good parental figures and Sora getting the love she properly deserves. Sora became a pirate in NBL so I don't see why she wouldn't here. Even if she played a more behind the scenes roll there.

Also we didn't really set a time frame for them? So like Sanji could be eight when they join the Shirohige. Sora and Sanji both freaked out by Marco flying them in his talons but they need to make a quick escape from the Navy and animal brain went 'mine' when he saw them. Marco's only explanation is to quite literally look at White Beard and go 'my bird brain went "oo shiny" so i had to bring them' which makes the man laugh so hard the Earth shakes. Vista starts calling him a crow and Marco sets him on fire with a singular look. Marco is so thankful Sanji and Sora are in the infirmary so they didn't see that.

Marco explaining his fruit to them and his place and job in the Shirohige fleet. How his fruit helps because it allows him to treat more than one person at a time or give enough time for back up to come. It doesn't always work. Marco uses it on Sora a lot first mostly because the poison is still affecting her and it's like a god send almost because his fire over time basically cures her. They also use the time to get to know each other and start "dating" because it's really hard to date as a pirate, or a doctor, or a fleet commander. All of which Marco is. They tell Sanji first and he approves of Marco and Sora and Sanji have already joined the crew so ya know, they just gotta tell the crew. The party is extravagant.

Sora makes a comment that she wants to be able to help defend the fleet and the family and Marco agrees and says they'll talk to Jozu and some others about training for her. Sanji is probably already training his kicks and everything because Thatch insists on protecting the kids hands and Jozu has been doing well with him. So them taking on Sora to train is nothing and Vista finds she does very well with a sword and his eyes light up as he looks at Marco and damns him for getting to her first. Marco says he better watch it and they scuffle.

Sanji has to set himself on fire at like thirteen. Marco is watching him and Sora train with Jozu and Vista only to then see his kid set his legs on fire and be thrown into the ocean. He flies out to collect his son and then laughs his ass off at Sora wailing on Vista and Jozu screaming about the dangers of throwing a child off a ship. Marco says she has that covered and checks Sanji over and yep, that's his over abundant(sensitive) haki. Marco says Sanji might be a good candidate for learning to sky walk which is like flying but not really. Sanji is fucking excited. Marco is also so thankful all the god damn time that he and Sora have their own room and they sound proofed it because Marco fully believes Sora hung the moon and the stars and pulls the sun up each morning. Sora has it just as bad back and thinks Marco makes the waves and sea foam. THEY ARE SO GROSS I LOVE THEM OMG

Also could you imagine Ace rocking up to kill the old man and is then held hostage and thinks that blondie around his age is super cute? Too bad he's in the shirohige and Ace fully plans to demolish the fleet until he's forcefully adopted with love and care. Like Ace has no clue what's going on at first because he looks at Marco and then the woman he knows is the guy's wife and just how draped over her he is, like they have to make everyone sick all the fucking time. They have some the highest bounties in the New World. Ace starts flirting with Sanji without a clue to who his parents are and Sanji just gives him that "oh darling" small smile while he leans on the railing and smokes.

During one of these flirting sessions Marco strolls up and is like 'Hey, Thatch said you're in charge of shopping this time, you can head to the island if you want' and Sanji nods and sky walks to the land mass. Marco laughs at that and takes Sanji's spot and gives Ace a smile. When he asks Ace what his intentions are with his son Ace goes pale and sinks to the deck as Marco fucking loses it. Marco pats his shoulder and says he takes after his mom just like Sanji takes after Sora and they approve of the relationship.

Sanji ends up joining the Straw Hat crew on the hunt for Teach and absolutely flirts with Ace in Alabasta who flirts back way harder. Like they are the remix of Sora and Marco and clingy flirting and draping okay? Marco said that's a Roger thing and White Beard 100% agreed with that assessment and said Marco is a bird that mated for life and Marco couldn't argue because his fruit some times overwrites his human nature.

Back on track: Ace and Sanji flirt so fucking hard no one on the ship can believe it. Despite the fact they've been dating for a while, Sanji probably never mentioned he had a boyfriend(or parents) to the crew and just went along with whatever they thought. When they meet Rayleigh he and Shakky look Sanji over with a very high interest because he looks like that one brat's wife. Sanji is like 'yeah, Marco took me and mom to the fleet and we joined and they're married and he's the man I consider my father' which makes Rayleigh blink because why the fuck is he in the Straw Hat crew? He's a White Beard brat? Sanji just shrugs and is like 'idk seemed fun, bonding with my bf's little bro' which makes the Strawhats fucking lose it. They are sent to another plain of existence except Luffy who is like 'cool, we're brothers'.

Then like Marineford happens and Luffy is there, Sanji isn't, Ace is about to be fucking merced and then Sora and Marco are there like 'can't kill the son in law fuckers' and like yeah, White Beard dies but Ace doesn't. That wound is a mortal wound and so is Luffy's but Marco is a bird brained doctor and he has absolutely 'oo shiny''d his son's bf so like he's in the family in the family, ya know? It's fine if not and we can go deeper in that later need be.

Also could you imagine Marco coming up as an Emperor in this? Like the battle against Black Beard is more a draw than anything else so they are both brought to the status of Emperor and damn those bounties are fucking HIGH. Of course parental sin bullshit means Sanji and Ace's bounties also fucking go astronomical, more so than before. Like holy shit the straw hat crew is looking at Ace and Sanji post ts and how fucking gross they are but they are still two of the most wanted men in the new generation and should be feared.

Would you guys believe I got a normal amount of sleep?

[sashisuse]

okay last one monsieur sabé ,,, but a long one !!! 🪛

shoko setsuko ;; royal au, 🤝, 🌙, 🦅 !!!

suguru setsuko ;; cosmic deity au, 🤝, 🌹, 🥀 !!!

satoru setsuko ;; arranged marriage au, 🐱, 🧸, 🕊 !!!

sashisuse ;; 🧸, 🕊, 🌑, 🌹 !!!

whew… 🪛 anon… thank you but i’m going a bit crazy over here. OKAY. LAST ROUND. LET’S KNOCK EM OUT.

shotsuko

royal au; setsuko is the princess and she’s in love with the royal doctor. NEXT 🗣

🤝; how did they meet in the first place? what was their first impression of each other?

on the first day of school at jujutsu tech! formal greetings and whatnot. setsuko thinks shoko is one of the prettiest people ever and is so thrilled about the concept of her being a healer. shoko is hella intimidated by setsuko because she’s so damn pretty 😭 shoko i know what you are…….. also intimidated because setsuko’s technique is TERRIFYING.

🌙; who has to force the other into having healthy sleeping habits? how well does that go for em?

um both of them technically but it’s mostly setsuko forcing shoko to sleep. setsuko traps her in an iron grip and forces her to stay in the bed and sleep. laugh out loud. they’re so cute 😭

🦅; okay in the au where it’s JUST shotsuko… suguru, first off, is the BIGGEST hype man in this case. he’s so excited for his best friend and her ginormous crush on shoko. he pushes them together. satoru is a little oblivious but once he catches on he’s also on the shotsuko train!!

sugutsuko

cosmic deity au; oh setsuko is the sun, suguru is the moon. forever loving from afar but never being able to fully love each other. (going to eat drywall.)

🤝; AGHDHDJKDKFKFJF!!! here’s the excerpt

The day they moved in, Setsuko spotted a gloomy looking boy her age next door, watching her. She mustered a smile and waved at him. He seemed shocked at first, but he smiled and waved back. She doesn't think she would ever regret waving at him, no matter where they ended up twenty years from then. He was the first friend she ever made, and the only one she ever made in that chilly town. Setsuko met him again for the second time as she worked to clean the windows around the house. She saw him and smiled again. "Hello. I'm Tsuyuri Setsuko."

"Geto Suguru," the boy said. He stared at her for a moment then asked, "Would you like to have some tea?"

🌹; is their relationship healthy, or more unhealthy/complicated?

you know. it’s actually really healthy all things considered. it’s complicated for sure. but definitely healthy!

🥀; favorite thing about your ship?

how, no matter the universe, suguru and setsuko love each other so deeply, wholly, and completely. no matter if it’s platonic or romantic. it doesn’t matter. they love each other.

satotsuko

arranged marriage au; I HAVE A WHOLE THING BASED OFF OF THIS ACTUALLY!! crown prince satoru is about to become king. he’s arranged to a marriage with princess setsuko from a country across the ocean. they have their first meeting as a replica from the garden scene in queen charlotte when she meets george for the first time.

“i am a lady in distress 🤨 you will not help a lady in distress????” “not when she’s trying to climb over the garden wall to avoid marrying me” “😦😦😦”

🐱; do they have pet names for each other, if so what are they? how does their partner feel about their pet name?

satoru has an obscene amount of pet names for setsuko, it’s kind of ridiculous. she does not mind. she also has a few.

satoru calls her: sweets, sweetheart, cookie (she hit him over that one), lovey, babe, baby, sweet girl, honey, honey pie (she pinched him), honey bear, honey bee, sweetie pie, my sweets, pretty girl, pretty love, pretty baby, tsu-tsu, the list goes ON.

setsuko calls him: my love, honey, dear, toru, baby.

🧸; would they want to have kids together? if so what are their kid(s) like? how are they as parents?

oh well technically they already are parents. but also more like parentified big siblings…???? they raised salma, megumi, and tsumiki together. they’re great at it. setsuko more so than satoru. she mothers very hard. they would also have biological children given the chance, but they’re not super huge on that considering they’re both like. weapons of the state 😭 they would have a bunch of daughters though. i’m sure of this.

🕊; give just a general domestic tidbit for em (things they like about each other, routines, habits, and just overall sweet stuff)

aww okay omg. setsuko loves the moments of vulnerability she gets from satoru. she’s a firm believer of wanting him to just be satoru around her. not the strongest. satoru loves that setsuko loves him for him, not because of what he can do.

sashisuse!!

🧸; would they want to have kids together? if so what are their kid(s) like? how are they as parents?

okay my absolute favorite au is where it’s sashisuse and their five kids — tsumiki, nanako, mimiko, salma, and megumi (in order of oldest to youngest!) they’re all parents. they all love their kids. they’re the best. TRUST!!!

🕊; give just a general domestic tidbit for em (things they like about each other, routines, habits, and just overall sweet stuff)

see above for satotsuko dynamic. setsuko loves her closeness with suguru and how he knows her better than she knows herself. suguru loves that setsuko can basically read his every thought and always knows what he needs. setsuko loves how carefree she can be with shoko. shoko loves how she’s allowed to have the weight lifted off her shoulders with setsuko.

🌑; what was the canon character’s first impression of them, and what do they think of them now?

suguru: thought setsuko was very intriguing as his new next door neighbor. thought she was very sweet and kind. now he loves her so dearly. so wholly and completely and RRRGHHH

shoko: see above. was intimidated at first but grew to love setsuko and her silliness as a teen. loves her dearly to this day.

satoru: oh my god they annoyed each other so bad. satoru thought she was kinda dumb. and then she wore a digimon shirt and he was like ‘oh you like digimon??? tell me the ENTIRE LORE YOU FAKE FAN’ now loves setsuko dearly. unsurprising. she is basically the only person who can rein him in.

🌹; is their relationship healthy, or more unhealthy/complicated?

the healthiest and most loving dynamic you’ve ever seen.

[silliemop]

watched The Sea Beast again like two days ago and couldnt help but think of a new au SOOOOOOO

Y/N would be a hunter of the sea monsters. They’d be either the captain or someone else important on the ship.

When Y/N was younger, they met the also young Sun and Moon. Sun and Moon were pretty small when they were younger. Y/N met them when they looked over the edge of the ship and saw them down below just scratching at the sides. (they wanted food sooo Y/N gave them some food)

A bunch of years later, Y/N thought the interaction was just their imagination.

Y/N’s crew finds Sun and Moon(also known as the Celestial Reapers??maybbbee). The sun is setting around this time. They get into a battle. The crew firing their canons and throwing their spears. Sun and Moon are huge btw and are attacking the ship. Y/N accidentally fell off the ship. The ship was badly damaged so they sailed away quickly and didn’t hear Y/N calling out for them.

It was night by now. Y/N was able to rest on a piece of wood. They kept staring at themselves in the water till they closed their eyes due to exhaustion but before they slept they barely noticed the pair of eyes staring up at them in the depth of the water.

Y/N wakes up and is immediately met with a huge yellow sea beast right in front of them. They obviously freak out and panic while Sun just stares. Then Sun picks them up and Y/N is flailing around(giving weak punches which doesn’t harm Sun at all).

Sun and Moon remember who they are from all those years ago and get excited, taking Y/N to that monster island. Y/N is terrified because they have no idea what’s happening or where they’re going.

There would just be a bunch of shenanigans of Y/N trying to run away while Sun and Moon are trying to hang out with them.

Later on when Y/N is comfortable, they go for swims where Y/N would be on one of their backs. They’d also be shown other sea beasts on the island and see that most are good.

THENNNNN there would be that conflict of during a long swim they see a ship about to attack them and so maybeee Sun and Moon get more aggressive than usual to defend Y/N. Y/N would be like “nooo guys noooooo! dont killll!! just swim awayyyy!!!!” But Sun and Moon would attack the ship(it got away just barely) and Y/N would be left wondering how they could convince people to stop attacking sea beasts.

There would also be a moment way later on probably when Y/N would meet again with their crew but during an attack against Sun and Moon. Y/N would be yelling at them to stop attacking. The crew would try to force Y/N to come back making Sun and Moon become more aggressive to get Y/N back (maybbeee Y/N would get taken and Sun and Moon would be too wounded to follow hmmm)

Another idea would be that Sun and Moon come back very wounded one day and Y/N gets super worried for them and tries to care for them(like pulling out the spears from their body)

anywayyy I did some quick doodles of this so hereeee u go

JUST IN TIME FOR THE FIRST DAY OF MERMAYY YAYYY

[luka-couffaine-ship-tournament]

Round 1 Side A - Pair 1

CAMPAIGN

Luka Couffaine/Marinette Dupain-Cheng

-They‘re just so good for each other. Luka is such a calming presence in Marinette‘s chaotic life and helps her relax when she feels anxious and unsure of herself, always willing to be there for her and offer a helping hand during tough times. Marinette has a deep appreciation not only for Luka‘s ability to play music but also hear heart songs, as if she understood immediately what he meant after listening to him play for the first time. They feed off each other‘s creative energy and are just generally so wholesome together. I could talk about them forever, they make me so happy!!

-Luka is the best boy, and deserves love from the girl he adores

-I just woke up and am too lazy to think of words for my favorite couple so here's some gifs as propaganda

Gif de gifs-misc

Gif de bizarrelovesquare

Gif de notasiren21

Gif de ouiladybug

Gif de kochengnoir

Gif de jeldraximo14

Gif de notasiren21

Luka Couffaine/Sabrina Raincomprix

-Listen, Sabrina needs someone who treats her well, she needs someone who considers her an equal and someone to show her what real love is like. And I truly and honestly think that she would try her best to understand and appreciate Luka but who he really is (if she can see the good in Chloe she is capable of seeing a God when she meets one)

-Vote lukabrina people. We cant lose this!

-This is just unfair we need to help our girl out!

I'll start!

Item Number One: Viperhound Is S Tier

This is the fucking duo right here, this is endlessly clever and positive tag team action, this is a pair who will NOT fail the mission alright?

They are designed so interestingly parallel and then put right next to each other in this sweeping shot of the new miraculous squad???

Like, am I supposed to not assume something about it??

Item Number Two: opposites contrast

Orange and Blue, extremely Sun and Moon energy, but I don't think that would make this ship sail smoothly. See, Luka likes being a moon. He is happy to support and enjoys being someone's shining beacon in the endless dark of night, and no one needs that kind of anchor to hold onto more than Sabrina right now. Sabrina cut ties with her best and only friend and while we see her hanging out with other classmates just fine, we don't really know how she is with being actual friends with people. I don't think anyone has tries to reach out to her since evillustrator and we saw in that episode how she approaches new potential connections. Overwhelmingly cheerful and warm and oppressively clingy, like a ray of sunlight that won't leave your eyesight on the hottest day of the year. She means well but, boy, she can be a lot. And more importantly, she needs to be the one helping because, what kind of friend is she if she isn't? Who is she if she's not doing everything for everybody else? It would, amusingly and annoyingly and endearingly, put her into conflict with Luka, who is similarly always pushing his own problems aside to help people with theirs. This would lead them into a loving rivalry of "take care of yourself" "no u" that goes both ways, a back and forth that ends with them reluctantly letting the other help them. And after so many years as someone's shadow, Sabrina deserves to have someone in her orbit, someone she shines a light on when he needs to be seen.

Item Number Three: YOU HAD YOUR CHANCE

Look I'm SORRY okay, but I have to say this even tho I also think their ship got done dirty by the show, I still think they wouldn't have lasted. I think Marinette and Luka being "too easy" is exactly their problem, as even if they didn't have everything else to worry about Marinette needs complexity or she starts to lose her mind overthinking things and goes looking for it. The simple nature of her relationship with Luka is what 13 year old Marinette needed, the Marinette who wasn't Ladybug yet, who hadn't stood up to Chloe and maybe even just had her heart broken in a mean prank. It makes sense she'd fall in love with and gravitate towards this living embodiment of all the comfort and security she wished she had, she had desperately needed at that time. But that's just it, she needed it then. And now she can rely on herself a lot better, she has a whole support system to fall back on, and what she needs from a romantic partner is something else. But Sabrina? She's done horrible things in the name of her friendship with Chloe and even enjoyed some of them, but had finally hit her limit of how much abuse she can both dish out and take herself. Sabrina can definitely recognize that Luka is a good person, but more importantly Luka would have to actually try to sympathize with a person, rather than just immedietely like them. Lest we forget, Sabrina is the one who locked Juleka in the bathroom on picture day. Chloe told her to but Sabrina physically did it. Being confronted with someone who hurt his sister but is, herself, hurting, and is determined to help everyone but herself will be a lot of conflicting emotions for Luka, and Sabrina would need to get used to being the center of someone else's attention in a way not entirely dissimilar to how Chloe was for her, although significantly less codependent.

What makes Lukabrina interesting isn't that they're perfect for each other or that it's immedietly easy.

It's awkward and messy and they clash, they push each other out of their comfort zones and find a new one to settle in together.

It isn't instant or love at first sight, but by resolving their issues with each other through communication, honesty and trust, they are able to become a happy and wholesome couple.

Don't fucking tell me the odds lol, I know they're probably not winning but they deserve a fighting chance. So please feel free to add your own Lukabrina Viperhound propaganda!

TAG:

Luka/Marinette - @mikoriin

Luka - Twitter @Karma_sensei_

@lukacouffaineappreciation

[zvtara-was-never-canon]

Of all the zvtara favorite stuff “the Sun and the Moon” trope seems pretty harmless compared to the other bullshit, yet it enrages me very much.

Like, try to retell the book 1 finale, except you are not allowed to mention that Yue sacrificed herself to save the Moon Spirit and became one herself. Actually, I would like to suggest this a challenge to all the shippers who likes this trope. You cannot mention Yue becoming the Moon Spirit in any way if you think that Katara is the Moon. Does the narrative still make sense?

If it does not, and if you are okay with that, then, apparently, one Zuko’s “now I have an upper hand in our battle and not you” line outweighs the whole damn actual plot of the show for you. And it sucks.

It’s not “just aesthetics”. It’s straight up telling you actually don’t care about the show without explicitly saying that you don’t care about the show. And I fucking hate this.

Fuck, poor Yue is not even a threat to this ship, my god…

To be fair, the point of that quote is not that they are the actual sun and moon. It is about who has the higher ground at that moment in the battle - Katara, as a waterbender, had the advantage during the nightime, but once the sun came out, Zuko, like any firebender, had the advantage.

And THAT is what kinda baffles me about zutarians acting like this is some crazy foreshadowing/romantic set up for their OTP. It's exclusively about battle, doesn't apply solely to these two characters, and it only comes back on the day of the eclipse, with ALL the heroes using that as a way to try and gain the upper hand against the Fire Nation.

Even the two times we saw Zuko and Katara working as a team, this never became factor - probably because this quote actually means that they are more useful APART, with one acting during the day and the other at night. Sure, in the context of the Gaang it is still team work, but it still highlights that these two are NOT a duo. They wouldn't really get in each other's way, but in the context of battle it means that, unless their group is in a situation in which they need to use every resource they have, making them work SEPARATELY, in a "day shift, night shift" way, would be the ideal, since they'd be saving up energy to go all out when they have the advantage and end a conflict more easily.

Not only is this too impersonal to be special and too "practical/militaristic" to be romantic, it also shows that they are more useful acting alone, or being paired up with other people, than they are playing off of each other. I genuinely don't get how this is a win for Zutara.

Sure, a battle tactic says nothing about how good or bad of a match they'd be romantically, but since the shippers constantly conflate "Awesome battle duo" and "literal soulmates/opposites attract" it is crazy to think that their "evidence" for it is a quote that literally means "Pairing these two up is a waste."

[mothwitch-arcanum]

Reverse 1999 x MLP AU Idea!

So! I said I had this in my drafts for a while but I just realized it was weirdly formatted so I'm redoing everything.

everything here was inspired by this post/fanart and the characters will be mostly based on them! with a few extra mixed in.

First off, Context! While this is more based on Gen 4 (Friendship is Magic), it does feel a bit of a Gen 5 derivative in that it's supposed to be future Equestria.

The Alicorn Princesses and the Element of Harmony are long gone, simply a distant memory in the minds of many of today's ponies. Equestria since then have not had any one or two princesses to rule, however remnants of the old kingdom still persist. The Twilight Foundation as well as The School for the Primary Defence of Ponykind (SPDP) were founded by old members of Princess Twilight's court and Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns respectively, and made as a response to a prophecy which was uncovered that said on the last day of the 2nd millennium since Princess Luna's banishment, a great calamity will befall upon Equestria which will turn the land of ponies back to how it once was. And so on the last day of the year 1999, time stood still and started reversing everything. Nopony was safe from it's effects... except for one. Her name was Invert Tempo. The Timekeeper, of the Twilight Foundation.

(characters and more under the cut)

Characters! (Ponified edition!)

(These are just names I personally came up with. If a better suggestion comes for any of them then I shall consider changing it)

Invert Tempo - Vertin (Earth pony) I saw a post once that said Vertin was just an anagram of Invert and I really wanted to incorporate that. Tempo was the suggestion of a friend, which relates to her musical inclination. or a shortened for of temporal which... y'know... fits very well

Sonnet "Sonetto" Moon - Sonetto (Unicorn) Honestly Sonetto is already a good pony name, but I wanted to give her a name akin to Twilight (There's a few parallels with those two not just in the post above), hence Sonnet Moon with Sonetto being a nickname.

"Captain R3G" Applecore - Regulus (Earth Pony) Applecore was actually the first name I came up with out of anything here because Regulus definately feels like she could be part of the Apple Family, maybe not directly Applejack's lineage though. I actually had a harder time with her nickname (Heavily inspired by Vinyl aka DJ Pon3)

Mistilteinn - Druvis III (Unicorn) She holds a bouquet of mistletoe, mistilteinn is literally just mistletoe... I could not NOT have her named after it. Also that can give her the nickname Mistil which sounds cute and cool!

Southern Breeze - Sotheby (Pegasus) Honestly I mostly picked this cause it was close sounding to Sotheby. Like you could also argue Sotheby could be a nickname because So(u)the(rn) B(r)ee(ze).

Morning Lillies - Lilya (Pegasus) This one also didn't have much thought put into it, just that Yellow = Sun = Morning and Lilya = Lillies and Morning Lillies sounded pony enough.

Bonus characters!

Dikke (who was featured in the post) is Silver Scale (unicorn)

Mr. APPLe is still the same as canon

Mr. Karson is Mr. Carton Box (earth pony) cause it sounds close

Schneider is Orange Blossom (Half Pony Half Changeling(I'll touch on this in a bit!))

Matilda (unicorn) I have no name for yet as well as Madam Z (kirin) and Constantine (maybe Pegasus) (suggestions welcome!)

Arcana is either a Draconequus or Changeling Queen and Forget-me-not is an Earth Pony

Headcanons!

Because of magic shenaniganry after the alicorns disappeared, earth ponies and pegasi can now use magic much like unicorns, but only a few of them. Some unicorns also lost their magic because of this hence a divide in "Normal" ponies and Arcanist ponies.

Applecore is a part of the very large Apple Family and runs Radio APPLe on her ship much like in canon. She also doesn't like people calling her by her real name so she goes Captain, Reg, or Reggy most of the time.

Mr. APPLe is a result of one of Applecore's experimentation in alchemy.

Orange Blossom is the filly of someone from the Orange Family and a Changeling, making her a half pony half changeling hybrid which also gives her minor shape shifting abilities.

being part of the Orange family also means technically Orange Blossom is distantly related to Applecore.

perhaps later on I shall add more but for now this is basically the gist of my ideas. Their cutie marks especially cause I wanna brainstorm what those could be like.

[moonlit-dreamers]

Top 5 favourite TSAMS characters?

youve opened pandoras box btw i hope u know that

starting with numbah one is sun. hes so good for whump. i love torturing him hes so pathetic i wanna see him sobbing and i find so much joy in it. but i also like shipping him with everyone and putting him in sickeningly fluffy scenarios that also break him tho more emotionally and due to being flustered but eh same thing as getting ur leg ripped off ig/j

numbah 2 is eclipse. i actually used to hate him up until we saw like the "origin story" or wutever and i was like "oh shit he just like me fr" (im a fictive in a system so i FULLY understand wut its like waking up in an unknown place and being trapped and unable to go back to ur home). hes also good for whump with a nice mix of having him being the whumper and the whumpee depending on my mood. i also like shipping him tho not nearly as much as sun. but eclipse is the one i project onto THE MOST (loveless aroace eclipse beloved <3🙏) also love writing him

numbah 3 is solar obviously. i feel like they couldve done his character better but its okay bc i traumatize him in ways they never could <3 hes also good for ships but, again, not as good as sun. solars just so fun to poke and prod and put in Situations

obligatory 4 is sunvant. he’s too good for whump he’s better than everyone else. he’s just such a lil guy he’s so pathetic

if i’m allowed to do this (which i say i can bc this is my blog) then 5 would be og lunar before he died. listen man he was such a lil shit with such altruistic reasonings behind everything. he was Just there to have a good time it didn’t matter how he got it. literally the only reason y he joined sun n moon wasn’t bc he cared about hurting them (he only showed remorse later on) but bc moon let him play flappy bird. i do kinda wish he kept some of that character tbh. specifically him doing things for the “wrong reasons” bc i love that being shown in characters (it’s very me fr)

[worstdisastermaster]

Why is Freyr a solar god?

Author’s note or whatever:

So, a while back, I was curious. (Which honestly sounds like the reason i could claim for all my issues lol) Im an Apollo stan, right? So,, I kept seeing things hinting to Freyr and his connection with the sun. So, ofc, I was confused. Sol’s a thing- I know that myth. Sooo, why is freyr connected to the sun??? Naturally, I decided to do research about it instead of my homework at the time, meaning my notes for the class were mixed with my unfiltered thoughts about what I was learning about Freyr. (Honestly it was pretty hilarious going through it) I absorbed the knowledge and continued on with my life, never clearing up the notes or even trying to source where it all came from. You know, like an idiot.

Welll, i have been asked by an amazing person to share my thoughts, so you can imagine me scuttling away and click-clacking on my school computer to dig through old notes and try to find both old sources and new and throw this together. (I like to talk about things im interested in lol. Im so happy to share XD and infodump.) I apologize if this doesn't make sense or anything- I’ve never really done anything like this before lol, though im excited to start :D aaand the intro is far too long already. Okay MOVING ON.

Disclaimer: I cannot tell you the exact facts about the worship the Norse had for the heavens originally, because no one knows. All of this is speculations from people much smarter than i that i’m trying to piece together and condense. Take this all with an entire freaking pillar of salt XD

So. Want to know how many deities I’ve pieced together, as being associated with the sun/moon (seriously associated lol)? I’m sure you do, because im going to go over all of them. Lol.

six. Six entire deities. (... maybe even seven, or 9, or MORE)

Sol and Mani, of course. Freya and Freyr, the whole point of this. Baldr and Nanna. Probably more I forgot. And a gajillion other things associated- boars and horses and ships and shields and birds and- Loads and loads of different things.

SO. I’m going to explain them individually and then walk you all through what I understand about it all.

(also please note that this is all like. Paraphrased from the websites and organized and stuff. I dont want yall to read this then look at the sources and think ‘why r these so similar’ XD its ‘cause they are. This is more like my research + commentary then me being an expert or anything lol)

Sol and Mani

Like all the others I’m going to go over, there are a variety of versions about this- I’m only going to do some of them. Lol.

Sol and Mani are siblings. In one version, they were created with the cosmos, and had literally no purpose or anything. The gods saw, and created the different parts of the day and year and phases of the moon, then placed them under Sol and Mani’s care. And thus, Sol and Mani rode through the sky on chariots, and fled the wolves Skoll (Mockery) and Hati (Hate), which is the reason for their speed, and why they move across the sky at all. When ragnarok begins and everything goes to Hela in a handbasket, (...thats an absurd image XD) the wolves will finally manage to catch up to them and eat them, as they've literally always wanted to do. (Honestly, what dedication tho-)

In some versions of the above, there’s a guy named Svalinn who protects Midgard (earth) from the might of the sun with a shield. Which is great, since both land and sea would catch on fire and everything and everyone would die if he didn’t. (Everyone, say ‘thanks, Svalinn’!)

In another version, both Sol and Mani are children of a mortal man named Mundilferi. (His name might mean “The one moving according to particular times” which, yah know, vaguely implies the movement of celestial bodies in the sky. Then there's the thought that Mundil is derived from Mund, which means “period of time”- which may be a kenning [kind of a funny word I’ll explain again later. It references a thing thats like, a cross between an allusion and an epithet and metaphor and references and a whole bunch of other things. Basically, it means they say one thing but mean another- they just said the first because it sounded fancy. And you would be expected to puzzle it together because you already knew what they were referencing and everything] for the moon. Which is kind of interesting if we take it literally, since its another instance of the moon being male and the sun being female, which isnt as common as one might think. [norway’s also different in that they imagine the moon being born before the sun- so the day begins from the night, like the year from winter. Kudos to ancient norway for being original]) Etymology aside, this guy has two kids. Basically, they’re so wonderful and beautiful that he named them after the moon and sun, and gave Sol to be wedded to a guy named Glenr (which means ‘opening in the clouds’).

In this version, the sun came from a sperk in Muspelheim and was pulled through the sky in a driverless chariot. Unfortunately, the gods took the names personally, and were like, “Oh, you named your kids ‘sun’ and ‘moon’? Don’t worry, thats cool, they can be the sun and moon then! Wouldn’t that be nice? We’ll make sure their names are accurate, dont you worry your stupid little mortal ‘brain’” ‘cause they were offended or whatever. So, as punishment, they are stuck being the moon/sun forever- until Fenrir eats Sol (and mani, presumably) during ragnarok, that is. Then her daughter will take her place, which is funny since everyone will be dead, so noooot sure how that works, but I digress. Im not sure about mani’s heir- forgot to find a source for that lol XD I do know that he either kidnapped or adopted, depending on the variation, two kids to help him out.

Ive also heard of versions where the sun and moon are actually the very wolves chasing sol and mani, and they simply lead the wolves across the sky in an eternal loop. (that ones my favorite, because d o g g o)

Lots and lots of different versions of sol and mani- more than i’m putting here. This is enough to give you the general gist, though, and since this isn’t focused on them, weeeeee’re moving on.

Baldr and Nanna

These two are quite interesting to me. For one, I’m not actually certain if Nanna is, in fact, considered a moon deity- half of the sources on her say yes, at least kind of, and half dont mention it at all. She’s pretty mysterious- not much is known about her except that she’s baldr’s wife. Even her name has a ton of possible meanings- none of the sources i looked up in my half-hearted search had the same idea for her etymology. (read: i didnt look that hard lol) Her heritage is equally debatable. She’s maybe a daughter of Nepr, who might be Odin’s son- or she she’s possibly the daughter of mani (hmm)- or the sister to sygn, or- she’s not the focus, so i moved on lol.

Baldr, on the other hand…

He’s not always the sun, or even sunshine, but he is always light. And everyone loves him, and its not a huge secret that he’s basically Jesus-ified all throughout the myths we know.

He’s absolutely perfect in literally every single conceivable way- unlike his brother, who’s the god of darkness to his light, and grumpy and rude and generally unlikable, and possibly the freaking embodiment of sin according to some sources. Oh and, he’s also blind. (Love the way ancient representation worked 9-9) He basically exists to make Baldr look better, from what i understand, which is hardly cool at all. Especially ‘cause of how ableist that is. But I digress.

So, Baldr, who’s ‘white as a daisy’ (lol) with a ‘snowy’ brow that im assuming just means that he’s extremely white (its also continuously described as shining… im just gonna make a leap and say its probably not the ancients saying he’s just really greasy…), and has golden locks likened to sunshine. He’s innocence and beauty and light and purity and all that jazz.

Even though he’s so popular, he’s most known for his death, which is kiiiiiinda twisted if you think about it for a sec. Anyway, blah blah blah not the point of this blah blah blah, basically he was prophesied to die but eeeeeveryone loved him so much that frigga (his mom and queen of the gods- and possibly another form of Freya, or- aaand im sidetracked again XD) got literally every single thing to swear to never harm Baldr- except, of course, one tiny little plant. (some say she forgot, others that she thought the plant too young, etc) Loki was jealous of Baldr and, one way or another, found out about the plant- mistletoe, it was. Sooo, while everyone was chucking random things at baldr because they thought it was funny, he decided to be ‘helpful’ to Hodur (baldr’s twin mentioned above) and basically made Hodur kill Baldr- which didnt do what loki thought it would, ‘cause there was no doubt it was actually loki’s fault, not Hodur. (Wow, imagine being hated and mistrusted more than the actual [possible] embodiment of sin himself… snorri really has it out for this guy, doesnt he) Whoopee, Loki’s punished in a variety of different ways depending on the version. Yay.

I’ll be getting further in depth on that later, so thats all on baldr for now.

Freya and Freyr

Now, these two are (obviously_ where i spent the majority of my time looking, since they are, yah know, the entire point of this post. Get ready for a lot of vague things that point fingers at their connection to the sun and moon, because im about to condense a lot of sources on the mystery of their connection into this one.

So, in basic mythology, Freya and Freyr are the insanely beautiful of Njordr- and they’re sometimes twins. (and sometimes lovers, as in some versions Njordr got with his sister to have the two of them. How… interesting. [sometimes their mother is nerthus, sometimes skadi, possibly others, not the focus XD]) Freyr is a big freaking deal (and so is his sister). “He rules over the rain and the shining of the sun, and therewithal the fruit of the earth; and it is good to call on him for fruitful seasons and peace. He governs also the prosperity of men,” is Freyr according to one source. Frankly, they were leaving out quite a bit.

Freyr’s home was considered to be Alfheim, which was the home of the elves. (“The elves were collective gods who were also associated with burial mounds and the ancestors”. You’ll see why this is so interesting a detail in a bit- though its also interesting for a pretty blatant reason. Freya and Freyr are both considered the leaders of the light elves. Yah know, the light elves.) He had a ship that has a name that reminds me of a keyboard smash (because i dont speak norse, not because it is random letters obviously lol, im not funny) that was built by dwarves.

Now, this ship is pretty cool, since it sails on both land and sea, always has a tailwind, and on top of that it can be folded like a piece of cloth and tucked in a pocket. It also connects him with his dad. (Yes, this ship is important, and yes, i will get to it later, lolll) he also has this amazing boar (Gullinborsti) attached to his cart that also doesn’t discriminate between land and air and sea- he travels ‘em all. This boar illuminates everything with its golden bristles- almost like the sun, ahahaha. (The boar is also often depicted on warriors’ shields- and shields are also connected to the sun, as i’ll explain in a bit.) He also has a servant named ‘the bright one’.

“Freyr, like his sister and father, belonged to the vanir race, but lived with the aesir as a peace hostage after the war between the two groups of gods. The fact that his dwelling is also called alfheim suggests a connection between the vanir and the elves; both are also associated with fertility (which, btw, both freya and freyr are considered deities of). Just like odin and thor, Freyr was quite popular with the ancient norse cults. (pOpULar wiTH tHe LaDiEs-) Freyr is destroyed by the giant Surt during ragnarok with his flaming sword.” he’s constantly described as handsome, beautiful, powerful, kind, and all sorts of other nice things. He’s also, interestingly enough, called the ‘world god’ by snorri. (nah, that doesnt connect to anything in this, i literally just thought it was cool lol) He rules the weather and growth of the year, with the rain and sunshine for the crops of the field. He was the go-to god for people who wanted a good future, peace, prosperity, and progress. He was the god of habits (apparently? Kinda cool, that) and the god of years and the giver of wealth. (this is because, according to some, Freyr was originally a mortal king. His reign was so wonderful that he was worshiped beyond his death, and continued to watch over his people as a god. This is very much not true in all versions, however lol) He’s also got horses devoted to him, which is fun.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. He’s the god of lots of very important things and hes very cool and we should all love him lots, is basically the moral of the story lol.

So, why should he (and his sister) be connected to the sun?

Surface level answer is because Freya is considered as beautiful as the sun, and so is her necklace. Freyr is, because of his association with seasonal change and fertility and crops, and his boar.

Except, thats only the surface level. Buckle in guys, ‘cause we’re about to get real. (and real speculative. lol.)

First, we’re gonna look at what the sun even is, before we touch on who and why it has anything to do with Freyr and Freya.

So, the sun chariot is a pretty common thing in norse mythology- and others besides. It isn’t always, however. According to some sources, the sun is on a wagon during the day and on a ship below the sea at night- which might also relate to death and the underworld. (im coming back to that later, too) as one source says, “in prehistoric scandinavia, images of the sun being held by humans, set on a ship or wagon, appear on slabs inside graves, sun-like shields, (which is another huge association btw- the sun and war, specifically) belt plates and the famous 1400 BCE trundholm sun-chariot, where it is depicted as drawn by a horse on its eternal journey, both set on wheels suggesting a continuous motion”

Now, there’s also the connection between the sun and the underworld. There’s carvings with chariots and bird shapes put in graves- most likely to guide or protect the dead. (The sun and freya both were the protecter of dead people in prehistoric scandinavia_ the horse also was important, as it was considered a means of both communication and transportation between the two worlds- which ties back into the sun being drawn by horses. Horses connect earth and sky, life and death, and pull the sun- you know, the sun, which represents life and death in equal measure. (you can even look at it this way- the death of the sun and the rebirth of the day, caused by the sun)

The bird shapes and bird-shaped women are thought to be the valkyries taking one half of the dead warriors to valhalla, and the other half to- oh, how interesting, to freya’s hall. (*intense eyebrow wriggles*) which- odin is also known to shapeshift into an eagle, so theres that connection too- and he’s in charge of valhalla. Similarly, freya has a cloak that turns its wearer into a falcon, letting her fly. The shapes are also regarded by scholars as representation of the eagle, and are connected with battle and war- but also as a symbol of the sun. just like the wheels, the birds refer to the swift flight of the sun. (this is extra interesting, when we consider freya’s connection to the strife and death and etc- wherats freyr is the fruit of the earth and peace and fertile seasons, considered the guy that ‘makes love rather than war’ [ in reference to him giving away his sword for love {he also gave away his horse, which was known for being able to jump over the ‘ring of fire’ and protect the rider from it- or, the sun. curious, isn’t it? Especially if we continue on with the idea that surt is the personification of all things we dont want the sun to be- and freyr’s horse protects against that, and was given away. That, and his sword is summer… which is implied to be the very sword surt will wield to kill freyr} both he and his sister are worshiped as gods of marriage and love, albeit differently] and etc… almost like they are the dual natures of the sun personified…)

Back on the sun=ship thing, “the other image popular in the bronze age, that of the sun on ship, can easily parallel traditions elsewhere, such as the egyptian sun god ra or Apollo (!!!) from greek mythology who gave protection in navigation. This image is used to describe shields” in snorri’s poetic teachings the shield can be a ‘skipsol’, literally a ship-sun, or a hlyrtungl, prow-moon”

(Curiously, Freyr’s ship has been depicted with an image of the sun on it. See what im putting down, here?

…and if not, you will.)

(Also, njord and freyr and freya are all connected to ships and maritime, which is in turn connected to the sun.)

At the end of the world, freyr will battle the giant surt, which possibly means more than we think at first glance. Surt can be interpreted as the destructive side of the sun- which makes sense. The peaceful, gently, nurturing side of the sun in freyr, being defeated by the wantonly destructive side at the end of the world- which makes it extra interesting that surt kills freyr, and not sol.

In addition, there’s also evidence of someone named ‘Sunna’ who’s referenced in the context of invoking the gods to heal a foal’s foot. Which, if you look at Freyr’s association with healing, and horses… perhaps they are connected, perhaps not, but its interesting all the same.

(And again, horses are also connected to the underworld- like ships, and freya, and- basically, its kind of convoluted, but by association one could suggest that freyr has a cthonic connection- just like the sun might. Then, of course, with his association with life, he’s gonna have association with death- and harvest, and the changing of seasons, and rebirth, and- yeah, see what i mean?)

Switching topics!!!!! (Because now im focusing mostly on a specific source- my absolute favorite of the bunch, because of how much information is concisely stated. All the others are mashing together- this ones special)

I referenced njord and skadi and nerthus, right? Wellll, njord and nerthus and freya and freyr have some… interesting connections.

Allow me to lay the groundwork.

“Nerthus travels on her wagon and brings peace and good seasons to people, while njordr, the male counterpart of nerthus, was worshiped as the protector of maritime. Both of these two features could have been derived from the course of the sun through the sky during the day on the sun-chariot, and through the underworld at night, maybe on a ship, which can also be interpreted as a metaphor of the regeneration of plants and crops, and even connected with the journey from this world to the other world.

“As for freya and freyr, who are probably derived from nerthus-njordr (which in another part of this paper, is explained. I wont get into details, but nerthus and njordr can be argued as the same person- and freya and freyrs names mean ‘lord’ and ‘lady’, and can easily be implicated as simply being epithets for the above- which in simpler terms, means that njordr might have came first, then nerthus came from him [or vice-versa] and then the gods freya and freyr came from him/them over time, as they slowly began to be seen as separate deities instead of epithets. That, or nerthus came first, and then njord, and then freya took nerthus’ place while freyr shared njord’s as son and father), they share more similarities with the sun, which may allow them to be identified as nordic solar gods. For example, freya’s wagon is pulled by cats, which are worshiped by ancient egyptians as the representation of the sun (im also going to point out the metaphor of the sun as odin’s eye, and gesture broadly at all the myths referencing ra’s eye in association to the sun. in addition, the ancient egyptians called the sun “the cat” as “the pupil of the cat’s eye grows larger with the advance of day” as the sun does. They imagined a great cat standing behind the sun, as the sun is the pupil of the cat’s eye. Female cats belonged to bast [or bubastis] while male cats- which are the ones that draw freya’s charit- symbolize ra, the sun-god) (At this point, consider this- norse mythology: starring guest mythologies, from such wondrous places as egypt and greece!!!!!!) at the same time, her wagon associated her with both the sun and nerthus. Compared with freya, freyrs role as a solar god is more obvious, as he is the ruler of rains and shining in the sun.

“The similarities of functions between the sun, and freya-freyr, might indicate that the fertile functions represented by the sun in the bronze age, was first inherited by nerthus in the iron age, and then by freya and freyr in the viking and middle ages, even though the sun itself was no longer the key symbol of fertility in viking and medieval north.”

This is another interesting thing- originally, in fertility worship, there are artifacts with images of the sun on them- in all of the forms mentioned above. However, after 500 BC, the sun itself is replaced with freyr and freya- possibly as the personified sun.

In addition, the movement of the sun across the sky was treated as a symbol of seasonal changing and vegetation growing. “The sun comes back after the darkness of the winter, brings back not only the brightness, but also the fertility of earth and vegetation.” That’s interesting, since Freyr is kind of in charge of the changing of seasons and growing of vegetation and fertility and brightness. Funny, that.

Similarly, want to know the difference between the sun-wagon and the sun-ship? Wagons were connected with females, while ships are more connected with males. Hence Freya and Nerthus both owning a chariot, while freyr owns the golden ship ‘Skidbladnir’- and Njord is obviously connected to ships. This implies that there are two aspects of the sun- one connected with females, and the other with males. However, this also isn’t a hard and fast rule- remember Freyr’s boar, that pulls his wagon? Freya also just so happens to own a ship. (and a very similar boar!) So even though there is association with genders and wagons and ships, it’s not a hard and fast rule. Although, if Freyr and Freya are both connected to Nerthus, it might make sense that Freyr has a wagon. (Similarly, Thor has a connection with a wagon- but he also has dressed as Freya)

Nerthus also is known to travel around on her wagon in order to bring peace to her people and fertility to crops- just as Freyr does. (And Freya is also connected to good seasons and harvest!) Interestingly enough, Nerthus’ wagon can be considered to have been drawn by female cattle instead of horses. This is interesting because the sun’s rays are described as cow’s milk- and as us greek nerds know, the sun-cattle is definitely a thing in greek mythology.

(In a similar vein, the tale of Njord and Skadi has been compared to the myths of Hades and Persephone, and the story of Freya’s searching for her husband to Isis and Osiris- underworld and fertility and growth connections, again)

And then, there’s this. “In the thought of these early ages the sun was the child of night or darkness, the dawn came before he was born, and died as he rose in the heavens. He strangled the serpents of the night, (gonna point at egyptian mythology real quick- and also Python from greek mythology, because why not), he went forth like a bridegroom out of his chamber, and like a giant to run his course. He had to do battle with clouds and storms, sometimes his light grew dim under their gloomy veil, and the children of men shuddered at the wrath of the hidden sun. His course might be brilliant and beneficent, or gloomy, sullen, and capricious. He might be a warrior, a friend, or a destroyer. The rays of the sun were changed into golden hair, into spears and lances, and robes of light.” How many of the above points have been referenced in that?! Quite a few.

Then, (with the speakers of the conversation taken out ‘cause their unnecessary,) “The sun fares swiftly, and almost as if she were afraid: she could not hasten her course any more if she feared her destruction. It is no marvel that she hastens furiously: Close cometh he that seeks her and she has no escape save to run away. Who is he that causes her disquiet? It is two wolves; and he that runs after her is called Skoll; she fears him, and he shall take her. But he that leaps before her is called Hati Hrodvitnisson. He is eager to seize the moon; and so it must be.”

This obviously references Sol and Mani- and brings us back to the idea that the sun (and moon) are very, very fast.

Another fun little fact? There’s a few different names for the sun- and it’s associated with quite a few things, like gold and fire, which is shown in several things like freya’s gold necklace being named after the sun- and her tears. Gold is called ‘the shining’, which is often connected with the sun- but so are the names Sol, as ‘sun’, and sunna, as ‘sunshine’, ‘everglow’, ‘the lovely wheel’, ‘all-shining’, etc. In addition, I’m going to bring Freyr’s servant back to your memory- as his name means ‘the shining one’. (Speaking of- did you remember where you’ve seen ‘sunna’ before?) Gold is very much associated with Freya- even in the names of her daughters. She also is called “shining one over the sea”, which plays on this and her oceanic connections.

Who is Snorri and why should we care?

Aaaaaaand here is the reason I said to take all of the above with a grain of salt. All because of this guy named Snorri. If we have collective beef with the roman poets that are responsible for the majority of the ‘greek’ myths we know, i dont even know what we have with this guy.

Why? We have no idea how many myths he made up on the spot. He is single handedly responsible for the majority of norse mythology as we know it- which are quite different then how it was originally.

By the time he’d gotten his dirty fingers all over the myths, they’d already been quite tampered with- thanks to christians who had no patience for paganism, but enjoyed sharing gossip about ‘heathens’ anyway. (thanks, us. Really had to go and screw with history) So they were already moving away from the original myths. (hence Baldr being so blatantly symbolic of Christ) Then Snorri happened, and the original myths fled like they were being chased by some kinda giant, rabid wolf. (See what I did there? …Geeze, okay, fine, I’ll see myself out, calm down-)

(*please note that the majority of my griping is done with relative fondness. I do enjoy norse myths as they are, and I am in fact christian lol. I simply am whining because I want to know the truth, gosh darn it!!!!*)

So what, exactly, did Snorri do?

Allow me to set the scene. Snorri was both Icelandic and Christian, and he was absolutely obsessed with viking poetry. Like, seriously. Snorri was so obsessed with them he decided he wanted to be the king’s Skald- which was often Icelandic. (A skald was a highly honored post- it was a cross between chief counselor and court jester, and was an extremely influential position, with the freedom they had to even scold the king without consequences. [Skald=scold]) He was a 40 year old poet with big dreams. And he was a good poet too- he knew he was.

Unfortunately for him, the king wasn’t interested.

The issue? The king was a 14 year old boy who was much more interested in learning about King Arthur and the knights of the round table than his own history- which was kind of personally offensive to Snorry. The king thought that Snorri was terribly dry and boring- just like viking poetry.

Now, the main reason it was so dry and boring and confusing was the kennings I mentioned earlier- which might have even been named that by Snorri himself. Kennings are a mix between a riddle and a trivia quiz, as one source explains it. “No poet writing in Old Norse before about 1300 would say ‘mead’ when he or she could say ‘waves of honey,’ or ‘ship’ instead of ‘otter of the ocean,’ or ‘sword’ instead of ‘fire of the spear clash’. And those are the easy kennings to figure out. The harder ones refer to Norse myths. For example, what did a Viking poet mean by saying ‘Aegir’s fire,’ or ‘freya’s tears,’ or ‘sif’s hair’? The norse gods Aegir and Freya and Sif hadn’t been worshiped for over 200 years in Norway or Iceland. Few people remembered the old stories of gods and dwarfs and giants, and so the old poems hardly made sense.” So, of course the boy-king wasn’t interested in the poems, and sent him home.

Snorri took this as a challenge.

He had first, in 1220, wrote an elaborate poem in praise of the king and his regent. Said poem was 102 stanzas long, in 100 different styles- which was unprecedented. Snorri was literally amazing.

It wasn’t the best place to start, however.

Luckily for Snorri, he realized this and didn’t send it. Instead, he took the time to write a section explaining how skaldic poems worked- including kennings. Then he began to write myths that would explain the kennings- myths that he’d heard, stories he’d pierced together from old poems, and others that he himself simply made up- which is a great deal of the reason why the characters rarely gave the impression that they needed to be feared and worshiped. Like Thor- he’s quite the idiot in the myths that Snorri wrote. Snorri didn’t fear or worship these gods- he just liked poetry, man. (Thor was nowhere near the idiot Snorri portrayed him as- he was the favorite god. Everything was named after Thor- nothing was of Odin. In fact, Odin is rarely mentioned- and is, from what i understand, the least norse of the gods- only belatedly one of them at all. However, Odin was Snorri’s favorite- and thor was demoted to comic relief.)

Thats also likely the reason for alllllll the mentions of sex, and the insane results- like Sleipnir, or Jormungand. He was trying to keep a 14 year old boy interested- of course he’s going to fall back on dirty humor. Loki was often a main feature of his stories, and often the mischievous antagonist.

Heck, the tale of where poetry even came from can be blamed on- i mean claimed by Snorri. He really, really liked both mead and he liked poetry, and he was trying to convince the boy-king to get interested in Snorri and hire him, and to scold him at the same time. (Its also said that the myth perverts an ancient ceremony- from celtic sources) It says more about Snorri than it does genuine myths.

Snorri also had a mild obsession with connecting the gods to troy and each other and people in weird ways. Like how he was constantly making couples be ‘married’, when originally they were only lovers- maybe even one time lovers.

Like Odin and Skadi.

Or Freyr and Gerdr. Its said that Freyr fell in love with the giantess Gerdr and sent his servant to get her by whatever means necessary. “She refuses at first, but when Skirnir threatens her and curses her, she gives in, and agrees to meet the god, nine nights hence.”

However, according to snorri, they get married- which is never stated in the poem. He also made up an oc- i mean, gave them a son. (Why? Swedish kings claimed descent from Freyr and his son. He also said that Swedish kings were descended from Odin.) He also showed Freyr as lovesick and weakened by his love for Gerdr- and how Freyr gave up his magical sword to win the giantess, which meant that the giants had it. The original poem only said that he gave his servant the sword and horse for the journey- it didn’t say anything about them being gifts.

Thats a pretty mild example, but you can imagine how much worse the others are.

For instance, the beginning of the world. First, he claims the world begins in a volcanic eruption before freezing into ice. That can’t be an ancient myth, because Norway- and the rest of the scandinavian homelands- are not volcanic. Only Iceland was ‘geologically active’, as was discovered when Norse paganism already began to wane. Then, the idea that the world is created by the dismembered body of a giant can be attributed to the idea floating around philosophical treatises of the time, based on Plato. Even the cow can probably be attributed to Snorri, as no other source mentions a giant cow. “A cow, to Snorri, would have been the obvious source of monstrous sustenance. Like all wealthy Icelanders, Snorri was a dairyman. He was also, as I’ve said, a Christian. It fits with his wry sense of humor for the first pagan god to be born from a salt lick.” (Which, when said like that, is objectively hilarious)

Heck, the idea that Odin was the “All-father” who gave men immortal souls and welcomes the righteous to the halls of the dead is very christian-like. It would make it more… welcoming, perhaps, to a young christian king who’d been raised by bishops.

Heck, the valkyries- before Snorri, they were monstrous troll women of gigantic size who rode wolves and poured blood over the battlefield. They rowed a boat (hah!) across the sky, trailing a rain of blood. They were known for their ‘evil smell’ and put me in mind of evil vulture-harpies. Snorri, however, created the iconic valkyries we know and love today- beautiful, powerful warrioresses, who serve valiant men mead.

Now, I promised to go over the Baldr myth before I ended my self-debunk session.

You know the basics of the myth- i can go over it if someone wants me to, but rn the word count is already too high,, so we’re just gonna go over the FiShY parts.

First, the part where Baldr is killed by mistletoe. Snorri had no idea what mistletoe was, since it didn't grow in iceland and was rare in norway. Mistletoe is a parasitic vine found at the top of an oak tree- its not a tree itself. “The ‘golden bough’ of folklore, it was gathered in some cultures at the summer solstice; picking it caused the days to shorten. Originally, it seems, the death of Baldr was a drama of the agricultural year. Snorri did not see it that way. In his mythology, time is not cyclical. Baldr does not die off and come back each year like summer. Instead, Baldr’s death causes Ragnarok, in which the old gods are killed and the old earth destroyed in a fiery cataclysm.”

Mistletoe was, in fact, Baldrs bane- but not in the way Baldr interpreted it. He dramatized it because mistletoe was called ‘mistilsteinn’. Other icelandic words ending in ‘teinn’ referred to swords, and mist is the name of a valkyrie. Surely a plant named ‘valkyrie’s sword’ must be highly symbolic, and deadly.

No where before Snorri is there a version of the myth where Frigga forces an oath out of everything on earth to keep Baldr safe. It doesn’t say that Loki discovered the secret of mistletoe’s being overlooked and guiding Hod’s hand. In fact, Loki’s not mentioned in this context at all.

And only snorri continues the tale with Baldr being retrieved from Hel- in exchange for a ransom, brought by a volunteer named Hermod- who is a god in no other story. (You and your ocs, Snorri)

Theres the whole scene of Baldr’s funeral thats almost absurdly comical, including the gods’ strength being stolen by their grief until they had to get a giantess who rode a wilf with vipers as reins to launch the ship he was to be sent to the sea in, so fast that the earth quaked and fire spurted in its wake. Then, of course, Thor was personally offended that the giantess was stronger than him (??? why snorri) and wanted to bash out the giantess’ brains- and would have tried if the other gods hadnt stopped him. Baldr’s wife, Nanna, drops dead of grief and gets chucked onto the pyre with Baldr- which doesnt exsist in any other known version. Then, of course, they murdered Baldr’s horse, and after teh pyre was consecrated and all that crap and set aflame, thor trips over a dwarf. He kicked at the guy and then literally threw him into the fire of the pyre and he was burned. (???! wHy snorri)

Then we go to hel, and see how things are progressing. The journey itself is quite christian- based off of ‘Christ’s Harrowing of Hell’ from the Gospel of Nicodemus that was popular in iceland at the time. For example, Christ rode a great white horse into hell- so Hermod rode Sleipnir, who was also white. (And eight-legged, but thats neither here nor there) The journey continues, and Hermod finds Baldr sitting in the seat of honor, and Hermod stays the night. In the morning, he tells Hela that everyone was really upset and asks her to let Hermod take Baldr home. (Baldrs horse, burned on the pyre, was safe in Hel’s stables)

Hela was curious, so she set it all to a test. ‘“If all things in the world, alice or dead, weep for him,” she decreed, “Then he shall go back.” If anything refuses to weep, he stays in hel.’

So the gods sent messages everywhere to tell people they needed to cry for Baldr- and so does everyone and everything. (Which includes a fun little explanation for condensation- its merely objects weeping for Baldr, of course) Except, of course, a supremely ugly giantess that Snorri claims is Loki- which of course, isnt insinuated in other versions.

“With baldr’s death, chaos is unleashed. The gods have lost their luck, the end of the world is nigh: Ragnarok, when Loki and his horrible children, the wold Fenrir and the Midgard Serpent, will join forces with the giants to destroy the gods.”

And thats it. No rebirth or anything.

First, why was Baldr in Hel if he was so wonderful?? He definitely should not have been there. Furthermore- why is his horse in Hel, and not the dwarf, who was clearly viewed in an unfavorable light? And where is Baldr’s wife? Is she with him, and just wasn’t important enough to be mentioned? Did she go to one of the hall’s for warriors? (Though i never got the feeling that she was a warrior herself) Plot holes galore.

Honestly though, even though he messed up a crap ton of stuff, he’s kinda funny, and I genuinely love the idea of him in itself- in fact, I’m planning on using him as inspiration in my original novel lol. I mean, the idea of a poet, all vain and puffed up and convinced hes the absolute best, who deserved this incredibly high position in another country, throwing down his best work with extreme pride, only to be rejected out of hand by a literal child who had no desire to learn his own history? And then the poet, out of freaking spite, goes home and writes a crap ton of poetry ‘for dummies’, targeted specifically to be interesting to a child, and warping the stories any way he could to do so, that then become the most well-known source of the myths?

H i l a r i o u s.

A great inspiration to us all. Thanks, Snorri.

(Heh, he also was the inspiration for some Big writers- like Tolkein, who i love, and neil gaiman, who im less familiar with- lol. So i hate him but i also love him ig)

What the heck does this even mean, Regina??? (In other words: way too freaking long, shut up and just gimme the nutshell)

Basically? Believe what you want to believe! We’re going off of the scraps of relics we can’t hope to ever truly understand- assuming that the people who made them even put that much thought in them (‘cause I know I rarely do when im art-ing)- and the fanfictions- i mean, creative interpretations and fantastic retellings of a dude with a pretty clear agenda.

Every single one of these deities could have been a solar deity at one point in time- maybe even multiple times, with multiple combinations. Maybe different eras marked different interpretations of the sun(/moon), maybe it was just by area or personal choice. Maybe none of them were, and we have yet to discover the truth- if we ever will. And im certainly no expert. This all came from me doing a google search and spiraling down deeper and deeper- as im sure you all understand lol.

Either way, it literally cannot be argued that Freyr has zero(0) connection to the sun, so its entirely plausible that he’d show up to a multi-pantheon meeting of sun gods lol.

And bear in mind that I’ve barely scratched the surface here- every single thing ive touched on has sooooooooo much more than I put here XD And some of it remains on the websites of my sources, which imma list for y’all. Theres plenty more beyond those, however.

None of this really, truly matters in reference to how you take inspiration from norse myths. Play with it, have fun- pick and choose pieces you like and discard the rest. Its just here because I think its cool lol

Now, how I personally rationalized this all into the riordanverse previously? (Which you guys are totally welcome to take inspiration from- you dont have to ask if you dont want to! I only want to see your work, whatever it is, because its gonna be amazing and no way im gonna miss out on it lollllllll)

Way back when, when the universe came to be, so did Sol and Mani. Unfortunately, the two were never quite finished- and so they never woke up. Fast forward, and Njord and Nerthus are in charge of both the sun and the moon, with njord having made a fiery chariot from the light of the fire giants’ realm. Over time, they moved on, and Frey and Freya took over, having helped their father and mother and/or aunt for the entirety of their lives. By this time, they adopted 2 wolves, who they loved very very much. Freya and Freyr took the job equally, changing every day, their wolf-helpers changing with them. The wolves just so happened to be the actual sun/moon- far brighter than the earlier chariot. Eventually, Freyr and Freya were chosen to keep the peace between the aesir and vanir, with their dad so he could take care of his little godlings. Freya takes half of the underworld for heroes from Odin, which she had often visited in the ship that toted the sun when the moon rose into the sky (when it was her turn). She had taken great joy in bringing sunshine, light, and happiness to the dead, and eagerly accepted the chance to do so officially. This means that Freyr is now in charge of both chariots and wolves- which is kind of difficult, but he managed.

Then the giant came to build the wall for the gods, as the stories say, and he desired both Freya and Freyr- Freyr as both moon and sun. (I went on and on about how that was such a power move in my original notes, which was kinda hilarious to read XD not sure why i was so impressed with that lol) Afterwards, Loki gives Freyr a new, fancy-er boat, which Freyr uses to send the sun below the sea and into the underworld, visiting his sister and bringing the sun to the dead. He then would raise the moon while Freya took care of the sun, and then vice versa. (He raised them with the chariot and wolves, and lowered them with the ship) Freyr began to be worshiped for a great many things- few of which he had time for. (I never got the impression that norse gods had that ability lol) This was quite distressing, and concerning.

Meanwhile, Sol and Mani had been discovered by a mortal man. Its quite evident that they are gods- judging by their swift grow to intelligence, even if emotional maturity is at a normal pace, and physical growth somewhere in between. (yeah no sources for that dont question it) Beyond that, they were also very much divinely beautiful, and they also maybe kind of glowed sometimes. He was a greedy man, and took great pleasure in the knowledge that he had such clearly important gods for his obedient ‘children’. In his pride, he named them after the sun and moon- the greatest treasures of the heavens, that he has hidden away in his arms. In this time, he gave sol to her husband, and i figure its actually a fine relationship? Havent looked much into it lol.

In any case, the gods discover them, and punish the man and rescue the twins. And its wonderful, and they are all so happy- except that they have no role. Now, Freyr was pretty gosh darn tired by this point, and wanting to move on from sole command of the sun and moon both. He’d had Baldr helping him- such a good, helpful lad- but Baldr had his own responsibilities as well, and so did his wife, when she stepped in. He looked at their glowing skin and made some swift decisions. “Look,” he said. “They glow, just as their namesakes do- just as they should. Clearly, they are to take care of the moon and sun- and i will not contest them for it.” And so it was. Freyr focused on helping Sol, while Baldr (and Nanna) trained Mani. This is why Baldr and his wife were both connected to light- the moon in particular, although the sun as well. This is also why Freyr still has such control over the sunlight and how it effects earth. (Btw, the two wolves are still visited by Freyr and Freya, of course, but they are brought out every day/night by the twins, who take care of them and play with them. Neither wolf has plans to eat the twins- they are merely playing a game when they chase them.)

Then Baldr and Nanna are killed and the moon is suddenly so much weaker. Mani just cant keep up- until he adopts two kids, who take the jobs. Unfortunately, since they are/were mortals, they tire- and this is why the moon waxes and wanes.

(theres also the dude who holds the shield to protect the earth from the sun’s burning rays [thanks to surt being furious ab the light stolen from his realm]- maybe something to do with Freyr, or Sol’s husband??)

To start ragnarok, as it is in some versions, it is fenrir who will swallow the sun and the moon, rather than the adorable puppies- i mean, fierce and determined workers. Their children will take the role after, while Freyr fights Surt.

The end. ~Thank you and goodnight~

Aaaand thats a wrap, my lovelies!!!!! Im really tired and its past 10 here and i still need to do my math homework (also, ironically, im doing THIS instead of my ACTUAL mythology homework… tho tbf, im not sure if thats actually due tomorrow or not) and at least listen to the songs im going to be performing tomorrow, since im like. A veteran in our choir now, and i kinda hate it bc ewww responsibilityy. sO, if theres any plot holes or anything confusing in this, please please please please PLEASE lemme know. In case u cant tell, i love talking, im terrible at explaining things.

I really hope this answered your question, my friend XD

(I also have, like, a lot of things to post on tumblr XD and snippets of stories to wrap up and publish on ao3 and see if i can do more for the monthly prompts lollllll. And to catch up on discord XDXXDXDXD especially since my best friend has now joined, and i havent even hopped on 😅busy, busy, busy lol)

(Also does anyone know if there's a way to make things u copy and paste into tumblr to stay underlined, italicized, whatever????)

Love y’all soooooooooooooooooo much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! <3<3<3

Sources (*note that i read a ton of others, these are just the ones i took enough from to credit them*):

https://www.duo.uio.no/bitstream/handle/10852/57994/Lan-Wang-thesis.pdf?sequence=1

https://www.worldhistory.org/article/1911/the-sun--the-moon-in-norse-myth/

https://norsespirit.com/blogs/mythology/freyr?srsltid=AfmBOop02PnTHoKx0QTZ93g_m5h637-_6P8PJJWngUnxjOnyl3mozpjz

https://web.archive.org/web/20100401223136/http://northvegr.org/lore/prose/037040.php

https://earthandstarryheaven.com/2015/06/17/politics-myth/b

https://odsmal.org/sol-sun-and-nanna-mani-baldur/

https://ydalir.ca/norsegods/nanna/

https://www.gutenberg.org/files/28497/28497-h/28497-h.htm#ch21 https://reactormag.com/seven-norse-myths-we-wouldnt-have-without-snorri/

https://medium.com/@nyxshadowhawk/how-christian-is-norse-mythology-b9e0a6a1a029

[moonsquaremars]

I've had an extremely turbulant emotional life, which I can attribute to many different astrological aspects + placements I have.

It's been strange coming to discover as I get older how much of my world is inside my head, though. How many times I've assumed something, had meltdowns, only to later find out 90% of it was in my own head.

Moon square mars, like my blog suggests. My other blog was sunsextilemoon, but after tumblr flagged my account for adult content, I figured it was best to start over so I could still have reach.

Moon square mars makes one passionate and headstrong. I read that it is similar to the relationship between Cancer and Aries. Cancer, the emotionally nurturing, sensitive, going head to head with the impulsive and self expressive Aries. Aries was always one of my least favorite signs. My sun is in cancer, and moon in virgo. I've always been surrounded by Saggitarius, that's my favorite sign. But I always saw aries as childish and insensitive. I had a roommate, coworker, and someone who has become a best friend who is an aries. So my aries prejudice has been tamed a bit.

I would attribute my intense anger problems to my moon square mars. I don't struggle with it so much anymore, but as a kid, if somebody accidentally hurt me, I would come back at them twice as hard. Like ruthless. I also constantly struggle, on a day to day basis, with this inner conflict between what I 'feel' like I need to do, vs what I want to do. I usually let want win. Sometimes I can get too lost in my feelings, I guess because of my 12th house sun.

Moon Square Pluto.

This aspect I think gets me in a lot of trouble. It's not intentional, of course. But I definitely feel the emotional block. I will be fine, things will be going alright, then out of nowhere, a wave will come and completely knock me off balance. I'll get so overwhelmed and almost hysterical. Sometimes just super moody. and then when it's over, I'm like, what the hell happened? there doesn't seem to be a concrete cause or trigger. It just happens. I'm 27 and it still just happens.

The 12th house placement I think is a blessing and a curse. I sense the strangest of things, and have spiritual gifts. but I've been to the psych ward more times than I can count, and my daddy a crackhead who is also a 12th house sun. I love him of course, but the 12th house energy is obvious. His house has a feeling of being a hut on a deserted island, yet it's in the middle of a subdivision surrounded by other houses. He just gives me tom hanks castaway vibes, even when he's surrounded by society.

I take various drugs and medications to help tame my turbulant emotions and achieve my goals. I do weed often, because it helps with my temper. I'm also extremely impatient. I feel like weed puts me in touch with my moon. You'd think that'd be a good thing, but when your moon squares your mars and your pluto, it can cause some problems.

I also have Sun Square Saturn, which quite honestly, is a PAINFUL placement.

I've had terrible, terrible, terrible depression for most of my life. Completely sucks the life out of me. Apparently saturn can deplete the energy of the sun, and I get depleted baby.

I went to a church service on time, and the preacher said something about "misery being a ship that needs to set sail, instead of being avoided" and that really healed me. I feel like I got so scared of my depression, my own mind and thoughts, I would run around manicly just doing WHATEVER I could so I would not feel that way anymore. I was so scared of it. But sometimes you just have to sit with yourself and your emotions, and grit your teeth.

In all I feel like my sun sextile my moon really saves me. It gives a balanced personality, since the ego and the emotional nature are in such harmony. It's funny because my dad, close friends, and boyfriends almost always have sun trine moon. My little sister also has sun sextile moon. If it weren't for this, I'd probably be much worse off...

[justsome-di]

The Fairest of All Stars: Chapter 8

Andy didn’t mean to become a pirate captain, but after killing the captain of her ship, she finds herself thrust into the role. Years after the incident, she is fierce and feared and recovering from a tropical fever that wiped out half her crew.

Just as they’re about to dock, they find an injured siren left behind by her choir. Andy, drawn to her, pulls her onto the ship and decides to keep her there until she recovers. But with the Navy hunting for both pirates and sirens, Andy has just made her ship an even bigger target for an iniquitous captain looking for revenge.

Warning for suicidal thoughts and violence. Will contain mature scenes.

Also available for free on Patreon (paid members are five installments ahead and will get exclusive bonus stories) and on AO3. If you enjoy reading Stars please consider leaving a comment on AO3, Patreon, or reblogging these chapters! Follow for more updates!

Despite her apparent disdain for Andy, Syan followed her around like a lost puppy every moment of the day and slept in her room at night.

Andy was becoming pretty fond of her, asking her again and again about the little things about sirens. The novelty of being one of the only humans to speak to a siren only grew with each day. Every time Andy noticed her extra-broad shoulders or the unsettling size of her palms or the way her eyes reflected silver in the dark, Andy remembered how that was a monster. Something that belonged to myths and horror stories told on dark nights—cautionary tales passed from father to child.

“How would I know how to read? Do you think we have books in the ocean?”

“I don’t know! That’s why I’m fucking asking.”

But then Syan also started showing her curiosity.

“What are they doing?”

“They’re telling ghost stories. It’s a new moon tradition. We can join them if you want.”

“How do you shoot a gun?”

“You aim and pull a trigger.”

“And handling a sword?”

Another week passed, and by then, no one turned their heads or batted an eye at Syan being on board. She didn’t take up many of their food rations which were dwindling pathetically low. She didn’t need to drink any of their rum or wine—she was perfectly capable of drinking sea water pulled up onto the ship in a bucket on a rope.

It left Tobi with little to complain about, though he still found excuses to lament the danger of keeping a siren roaming around the ship. The rest of the crew had seemed to accept her as one of them. And why shouldn’t they? They were all drifters. Many of them were left in similar situations than Syan had been on that islet. Why mistrust her once she proved that she couldn’t be bothered to kill any of them?

And that was another thing. Outside of Andy, Syan was almost entirely uninterested in everything and everyone. There was just one other person she regularly talked to.

Pinkey would strike up a conversation with Syan whenever he was around, and Andy surprised herself by not cringing every time she had to overhear him detailing his weapons, the ship’s cannons, his favorite flowers when he got the chance to see them on land. Syan never offered her own interests back to him, but she stayed put when Pinkey talked.

Pinkey and Syan grew so close—as close as two can grow on a pirate ship—that Andy found them together one week in the lower cabin that was designated as the practice space by Pinkey. Though most of the crew preferred to spar above deck in the sun, Pinkey had created an incredible training room with empty barrels as targets and an open floor for practicing footwork. He encouraged crew to come down often, but it was almost always just him alone, running through the motions of well-rehearsed fights and some type of fighting style of the East that Andy had never witnessed before.

That was where Andy saw Pinkey standing behind Syan, his arm wrapped around to her hand where he helped her hold a sword. Syan’s back was pressed against Pinkey’s front. Their shoulders met one another’s.

Syan wielded the saber awkwardly, her long fingers and broad palm not exactly certain how to place themselves around the hilt. There was no confidence in her stance as if she still wasn’t that sturdy on her feet or if she just wasn’t used to being on them in the first place.

“You’ve nearly got it,” Pinkey said.

He used a much more gentle tone than he usually did with the rest of the crew. With those men, he would yell and condescend to them. They were pirates, after all. They should know their shit.

“Everything is so much heavier out of water,” Syan said.

She rotated her shoulder, trying to ease some ache in her arm.

“But you have all this muscle from swimming,” Pinkey said. “Your arms are in good shape. You have a great core. Use that to your advantage.”

Pinkey’s hand shifted to Syan’s waist. He squared her hips with her feet. And seeing his hand touch her delicate waist, the inverted triangle of it, Andy felt a pang of jealousy.

She wasn’t sure why.

Sure, she had been hitting on Syan and had been captivated by her beauty for weeks, but none of it was any genuine romantic feelings. She just didn’t do that. Relationships were never worth the work—any of them. It was safer to be a loner, to do everything on her own and never have expectations to lug someone else around.

Her teasing Syan was no different than when Andy slipped into ports and found women to spend the night with. Andy liked pretty women and never felt anything other than lust for them. It had suited her fine for years. She never felt like she needed anything she didn’t already get.

“Would you like to try dueling with the captain?” Pinkey asked.

He looked over his shoulder and gave Andy a mischievous smile. Syan looked over as well, her face turned down in her usual gloomy look.

“Sure,” Syan said. “If she accepts.”

“It’d be dishonorable to say no,” Andy said.

Syan sighed. “That supposed honor again.”

Pinkey pulled his hand away from Syan’s waist. Andy’s eyes lingered on where he had held her. She wondered how warm Syan’s skin was. She wondered if the heat could be felt from over her shirt.

“Remember what I showed you,” Pinkey whispered to Syan.

Always quick to anger, Andy felt a stab to her ego that hemorrhaged into something furious.

Who did Pinkey think he was teaching Andy so much? Who put him in charge of looking after her? And why did Syan accept all of it when she always put up a fuss in front of Andy?

Why did Syan even begin this mini-lesson? Both she and Pinkey had gone behind her back to do this. It’s not like Syan needed it. She should have had badass siren skills that could kill a ship. She didn’t need private tutoring to learn how to hold a sword.

Andy took a practice sword off the wall, its blade blunt. She waved it around her body, testing out her joints. She felt more mobile than she had in a long while. Her muscles didn’t protest much. The feverish aches that had plagued her for so long had finally let go of her.

The saber felt good in her hands. It had been too long since she had had a good sparring session. She longed for the sweat of a good workout and the satisfying burn that would settle in her muscles hours later.

Andy held up her saber. Syan matched, their blades perpendicular.

Her strength still hadn’t totally returned, but she had no issue overpowering Syan whose movements were clumsy and hesitant from the second she started.

Andy slammed her blade into Syan’s, knocking Syan’s entire arm to the side. Syan almost perfectly hid a wince as her shoulder was nearly knocked out of its socket by the impact.

Andy didn’t give her more than a second to recover. She slammed her blade down again into Syan’s sword and then again and again. As soon as Syan managed to raise it back up, Andy knocked it back down.

Syan began taking steps back just to try to buy herself more time. She was just barely blocking Andy’s hits that were getting closer and closer to actually striking her body.

It was easy enough for Andy. It didn’t feel like a true workout. She was barely sweating, and her heart had only begun to pump a little harder. It was nothing like the usual session against Pinkey who could hold his own.

Andy struck harder, putting her whole strength into hitting Syan’s sword.

Syan’s wobbly legs finally misstepped. Distracted with regaining her footing, she dropped her sword a bit too low. Andy threw her sword down on it, hard. Syan gasped in surprise, in pain when her wrist was forced to turn down.

Totally defenseless, Andy sliced her sword against Syan’s shoulder. The one that held the sword. It wasn’t able to cut through her skin, but her breath was taken away and her grip was weakened. Andy had been hit by the practice swords plenty of times. With enough force behind them, it was enough to numb a limb if they hit just right.

With a clatter, Syan’s sword fell to the ground.

Syan looked up to glare, hand grabbing her shoulder. Andy didn’t let up. She used the hilt of her sword to punch—not as hard as she knew she could have—Syan’s chest. Knocked off balance again, Syan teetered back.

Andy kicked her legs out from under her.

Syan collapsed to the floor in a heap. Still grabbing her shoulder and curled around her chest, she fell hard, flat, on her back.

Andy stood over her and placed the dull tip of her sword to her throat.

“Surrender?” Andy asked.

Syan pushed herself up to her elbows. Her hair fell into her face. She breathed hard, teeth bared. Andy could see how her teeth were just slightly sharper than a human’s, and it looked almost like they were getting sharper by the second. Her pupils had turned to pinpricks.

She looked feral.

Finally, a monster was before Andy.

It felt good for Andy to see Syan like this. Knocked down a peg, her pride hurt. There was a rush of satisfaction through Andy when she thought about Syan’s cocky attitude taking a blow.

“What the fuck is your problem?” Syan asked.

“You said you wanted a duel. That’s a fucking duel. No wonder you were so easily caught in a fishing net. You’re pretty weak.”

Except Andy knew that she wasn’t all that weak. To be able to remain standing for so long in a first duel was impressive on its own.

Syan knocked the sword blade away from her throat. With a feral cry, she lunged forward at Andy.

The women fell to the ground together. Syan’s knees hit Andy’s crotch and stomach. Her hands—so strong and talented—wrapped around Andy’s arms and very nearly pinned her down.

It was thrilling. Andy couldn’t stop herself from thinking, as she wiggled under Syan, if her throat was about to get torn out. If those slightly-pointy teeth were going to dig down into her flesh, cut through her arteries, and rip the meat of her body apart.

Pinkey grabbed Syan with one arm and pushed Andy away with the other.

“Stop it!” he scolded. “Knock it off!”

They were parted, finally. Andy could feel fresh bruises blossoming under her clothes. Her heart was racing. Sweat had broken out along her brow.

“Not during my training session!” Pinkey said. “Not in my practice space!”

My fucking ship, Andy thought. She should have been allowed to do whatever she wanted.

She pulled away from Pinkey and got to her feet.

“Do me a favor,” she said, “if shit goes down while you’re here, stay far away from it.”

Syan sneered. She tried finding her balance on her legs, but she struggled to stay upright even with Pinkey’s support.

“I’m not letting what I have left of this crew die because you fucked us all over and caused distractions,” Andy said.

And then she couldn’t place Syan’s expression. Her sneer fell a fraction, and she yanked her arm away from Pinkey.

Syan stormed out of the room, her legs wobbly and ruining any impression of confidence and anger.

Pinkey rubbed the back of his neck and looked at Andy. She wouldn’t let herself feel guilty. Syan shouldn’t have been playing with swords in the first place, only mastering false confidence with Pinkey’s enabling.

“I’m not apologizing,” Andy said.

“I didn’t say anything, sir.”

Andy kicked one of the practice swords to the side. She wouldn’t apologize. She never apologized.