#nor a footnote in an ending like AM

[randomnameless]

The zombie ask made me remember a thought I had for SS's final chapter where anyone who got blood directly from Rhea would have been resurrected to protect her (their vision is like that horror game blurry where they can see enough to spot you but can't see you from across the map). Jerry and Willy are mini-bosses near Rhea to make the area around her dangerous. Jerry and Billy having a talk where Jerry says anything he wished he could've said in life‚ and Willy having convos with empire (1/3)

(2/3) and nabatean units. Like Willy saying to Seteth‚ "Cichol! How long has it been? About the shield-" and Seteth wondering if the Willy talking to him is actually there or it's Rhea perception of Willy talking. Willy's empire convos would lean towards Willy himself is talking‚ with him saying to Ferdinand‚ "I never thought I'd see the day that anyone related to Aegir would join Nemesis." Him mistaking Bernie for Indech. And Billy's would be Willy thinking they're Nemesis (3/3) "Despite my vision‚ I know that's you Nemesis. I don't know how you're alive but this time you're staying dead!"‚ and anyone related to the elites as "After Seiros sparred you all‚ you dare turn your blade against her?! Do you even know what your 'relic' is made from?" TL;DR: I wanted more WoH content despite Nopes giving some‚ and thinking about how can I jam in as much as I can with the subtlety of a sledgehammer. Sorry for the long ask‚ wanted to get these thoughts out of my system.

No pbs anon!

I guess we all didn't like at all how the game bothered to bring back zombies but never wrote battle quotes against them (tfw Seteth'n'Flayn have no battle quote against Nemesis...)

I was going to hype zombie!Ionius, but he never got her blood directly, so he wouldn't have been resurrected :(

(let's be real, if zombie!Ionius was real and brought back in his prime, he would fold those Faerghian barbarians and those foreigners with his pinky, because he'd be that much of an awesome unit)

However, instead of them being "mistaken" because their resurrection failed about what's happening, I'd say let them get full awareness (as much as they can muster) about who they're fighting against!

I'd see a Jerry-Billy convo being a lot of apologies, especially since Billy accepted to take Rhea's mantle and was/is truly happy in the Monastery, something Jerry obviously wrote off when he ran away all those years, maybe we could have Jerry muse that it's weird how he was "brought back" to protect a Rhea who lost her mind know, and how ironic it is, when he should have stayed and maybe if he didn't ran away all those years ago, Billy would have led a happier life, and whatever Rhea's having right now wouldn't have happened. Billy ultimately putting his grievances to rest, saying that despite everything, they are still happy Jerry's their dad, and maybe ends with some "thank you Father" instead of calling them Jerry (in an AU where Billy is voiced, of course!).

Maybe a convo with Leonie too, where Jerry tries to goad her into killing him, saying she never got what it "takes" to be a merc, because she is a nice kid and isn't able to put her morals aside for a bag of money.

And with Alois, Jerry could encourage him, for the "first and last time", saying he'll make a fine Captain of the Knights, and to please not end up like him, mocking the wishes of his wife and not doing everything he could for the kid.

---

Emperor Willy himself wondering where the fuck he is, but if Seiros is in this form, then he has to protect her - and it this is the post Lycaon death AU* Willy isn't surprised at seeing Adrestia turn its blade against Seiros, because Adrestia is a failure and he lost faith in the world.

Against Cichol, Willy could open the convo with the shield, noticing how Cichol took "his" shield, Seteth tries to reply but it's useless, and asks him to stand aside, Willy says he cannot, even for him, his "brother" because Seiros is his priority, and if in that state she'll bring ruin to the world, then so be it, Seteth sighs, apologises (and rekts him).

I suppose Flayn would ask him to get the fuck out of the way, and Willy will refuse, but also apologise for what happened to her, and her mother too (and her cousin!), but crusts this world and its inhabitants are to blame.

Willy against Billy... well, Willy will think they're one of Nemesis's scion even if he thought the guy died childless- despite their hair color, he knows better after all! - and reveals he was on Macuil's side, and told Seiros mercy would be wasted on the likes of them (the Elites' families and, I suppose, Nemesis's potential fam?), but she didn't listen to him.

Willy against the Empire peeps would be hilarious though, because in the AU* Willy ditched it after Lycaon's death, so he'd be pretty pissed that the same Empire now tries to kill Seiros. Maybe he'd call Ferdie a scion of traitor, referring to Derrick, who pledged his loyalty to an usurper (Empress Hildegarde, who took the throne after Lycaon's death), raving about how he descends from a line of traitors, and he will put an end to this farce himself (with his stats? lol).

Willy'd also be pissed seeing Bernie, digusted at what Adrestia became if Bernie, as a noble, is what Adrestia's finest has to offer (maybe insert a fire joke or two) - Bernie could find the courage to fight back against this rando who insults her and tell him to shut up, because she wants to fight to protect people now.

Lin would maybe comment on Willy being, well, Willy, and wondering why the fuck is he fighting against the Empire, maybe with Willy telling him this is what he should have down instead, cutting off his own "blood"* for the sake of Fodlan, but he will correct this mistake right now.

Caspar would be interested in fighting this "strong warrior" from ancient times, if the fate of Fodlan wasn't at stake, Willy'd swore he came from an Elite family with a mindset like this, but only be digusted.

As for Petra, maybe we could get an ancient exemple of Adrestian assholery, like Willy saying he thought the people of "Eyvel" wouldn't be mindless allies of the Empire, and how mistaken he was, they're "savages" after all - only for Petra to reply with some "who are you? Get out of my way plz" (and she crits him and he dies).

And for Doro... I guess their convo would be the most important "lore wise", Doro immediately recognises him and wonder if he is here to avenge Edie - Willy immediately cuts her off, asking why he should even care about that person when no one avenged his son when he was murdered by his "bastard" siblings (confirming that Supreme Leader is not part lizard!).

*The AU I'm talking about is the AU I came up with, aka Lycaon being a half lizard, being named heir, murdered by his "human" half-siblings/nephews - Willy learns it and immediately bails out of Adrestia, having lost faith in Fodlan, humanity and well, most likely everything. After 80 years of chronic depression (while Rhea is now obsessed with bringing back Sothis, because she will make the world go round, and be safe anew for Nabateans living and the ones that would be brought back, humans, and even Lycaon who will obviously return - Willy doesn't believe it) he passes away after having found some sort of renewed faith in the world (seeing all those people coming to the Monastery and tending to their daily lives, looking after orphans, etc etc). So obviously, when he's brought back at the end of SS and sees Adrestia, targeting Seiros/Rhea, he loses it and becomes an extra kind of asshole (a tru hresvelg).

I agree with you though, maybe add a bit of "savages" and "ungrateful barbarians" here and there, but I don't think Willy is even going to listen to reason or even try to listen at all (like a tru hresvelg) anyone who descends from an Elite.

Maybe after those two mini-bosses, Seteth would say that those "persons" were not the ones they were in life, and how the Crest (crusts are to blame!) warped their personalities, only for Flayn to follow with a meaningful "..." - opening a lot redshit threads for fans to "give their own version" lol

---

And for extra useless completionist stuff, like, if you picked the "Nabatean" option in the Sothis paralogue when Supreme Leader asks you who was lived in the Red Canyon, got a C+ support with Supreme Leader and went to her coronation, fought her using Billy and the Nabateans (with the famous "your ears are pointy you cannot rule over humans"), have both Billy and the Nabateans fight against Thales and Billy had a A support with all Nabateans, after Jerry and Willy's death, Berserk!Rhea would unleash a large scripted AoE on the map, empty husk!Lycaon could appear on the map, maybe as a white beast like creature on steroids, but who looks more like the IO than a regular White Beast (he has arms and wings?), who starts on the opposite side of the map and goes in your direction, but unlike the other white beasts, damaged dealt on Rhea won't be reflected on him.

Obviously, if the party kills him, Berserk!Rhea suddenly gains "Wrath" - but if you stall too much, empty!husk Lycaon has stats to ruin your party (unlike Willy!). Also if he dies then A support or no A support Rhea doesn't survive.

(And maybe if you accidently kill him, Billy gets "!" box popping up, with a new use of "Divine Pulse" coming out from nowhere, as it's Sothis' way to ask them to find a way not to kill him)

Billy will reveal what that unit is, idk, maybe they're closing their eyes and say that they are only a body animated by idk, the resonating power of the IO's Crest - but their true spirit has been long gone, now only remains a body and the rage it had before passing away. Then Billy opens their eyes, and says they would have wanted to meet him under other circumstances (but who is talking? Billy? or Sothis?)

Flayn despairs seeing her "cousin" (confirming her ties to Rhea!) in this situation, apologises for not having been able to be there for him, idk, like she promised too, but this time, she will.

Seteth too is saddened and while he wonders how many members of his family he will have to kill today, he tells Lycaon that this is final lesson, so he better remember it.

Ah, and in this revamped SS finale (since we're in AU land!), Relics work like Devil Weapon against Rhea and Lycaon - damage isn't dealt to the foe, but to your unit instead! And if your unit survives, the Relic insta-breaks (as a gameplay mechanic like 0 uses left).

End of the fight, Rhea survives (?), there is some ending blurb about every White Beast who wasn't defeated vanished "as if they were finally put to rest", that S support is revamped to have Rhea more or less say she has to move on now and cannot be stuck in the past, and has to let the past "rest in peace" to finally move forward - both for her and the one shes so dearly misses (ending line would be Billy in brackets musing how rare it is to see Sothis smile).

Ultimate bonus if this is the last route you play (or finished all the other routes), and if you got this ending, you'd have a special scene at the end, of Rhea and Billy waving hands at an assembly composed of all BE students (some of them waving back! even Bernie!), members of staff/knights, some randoms, but also, 11 randos with green hair and pointy ears, idk, wearing tunics with their emblems to know who they are, Willy (back to his bright and stupid self) carrying kid!Lycaon (with his pointy ears!) on his shoulders, some other random woman next to Flayn with a matching haircut, Manu pulling at Seteth's pointy ear (if they got their A+ support, else he frowns like usual), ghost!Jerry and ghost!Sitri waving too, and adult!Sothis (all the ghosts are transparent like, save for adult!Sothis - again, it would have been made on purpose by the devs who wondered if that would have created fanwank about Sothis' state, dead or alive?).

Not to say ghosts are real in Fodlan, but it would be some sort of representation that both dead and living people are happy to see a world where both humans and Nabateans can live together - even if they're dead, their dreams live on, or some stuff like that.

But of course, to get this ending, you'd have to get the most out of Supreme Leader's beliefs and the general intolerance that permeated Fodlan since, well, the Red Canyon, but even before (the first agarthan war?).

[maream-zaream]

Don’t know if this is still going on, but here’s a (kinda) quick drawing of Ink in that one haori in that post by @letsatomicbanana !

Additional notes under the cut (be warned though it’s a lot lol):

So when I saw the post I ended up reverse image searching the photo in order to see in what context this haori and hakama would’ve been worn in (though it didn't really matter in the end, as I just ended up drawing Ink painting on their sleeve). Just to like get an idea of what kinda thing I wanted to draw Ink doing in it and stuff, as well as just to get a better idea of how it’s supposed to look when worn. Now, for this specific one I’m not entirely sure, as since it seems to have been reposted on like a bajillion different websites, with many of the ones listed in the search not being in English. So needless to say, no clue where this thing came from!

However! My search wasn’t for naught! From the list of suggested links from the Google search, one was for a haori and hakama set from a rental clothing company called “Keio” (I think… keep in mind I’ve still been using google translate since the website was in Japanese lol). The specific outfit in question was this:

Now, this looks very similar to the one Banana posted, so I’m going with the assumption that the two outfits were probably made for similar purposes. Especially since not many adult haoris are made this these kinds of intricate designs (at least none that I could find). Anyways, this ensemble was listed under clothing one could rent for their child to wear for the Shichi-go-san (literally “seven-five-three” in English) Festival.

((Now quick disclaimer for the following: I am not Japanese nor any sort of expert on Japanese culture and history! As such, take the following with a grain of salt and I very much encourage you to look more into this festival on your own, as learning about this holiday was quite fun and informative and I would be 110% be happy being corrected for any misinfo, whether that be in the tags, reblogs, or any other method most preferred! Also, I've listed the websites I used here at the end of this post for y'all to check out after reading, apologies though for no footnotes.))

Continuing: During Shichi-go-san, parents bring their children of ages three, five, and seven to visit a Shinto shrine to celebrate the children’s growth and to wish or pray for good fortune. Why these ages? Glad you asked! It’s because three, five, and seven are considered auspicious ages in East Asian numerology, with this also making the date this festival is held— the 15th of November— especially lucky! It’s also interesting to note how the festival was originally exclusively done by the aristocracy and samurai families, though the tradition spread to the common people by the Edo period (1603-1868), though how the festival is currently held evolved from the Meiji era (1868-1912).

Now for the actual visit itself, traditionally five year old boys wear hakama and haori like the one pictured above (as traditionally this was the age that first allowed them to wear hakama in public), with seven year old girls going wearing a kimino with an obi (similar reasoning to the aforementioned boys; seven was the age where girls would traditionally begin wearing obi). For the three year olds? Girls may wear a hifu (a type of padded vest) and both genders seem to be able to wear hakama kimonos (take the three year olds dress stuff with a grain of salt though, not 100% sure on it lol). Also interesting to note is how in the past the age of three was the last year that parents kept their kid’s head shaved before allowing it to begin growing out more, though this practice of hair shaving seems to have fallen out of fashion around the 1800s.

In more modern times, many of these aspects are still upheld (except obviously the aforementioned hair shaving) during the Shichi-go-san festival, of now of course though with the modern addition of parents taking this opportunity to get lots of photos of their kids in formal attire lol. Additionally, parents also often get their kids some chitose-ame (longevity candy)—a type of sweet hard candy—after the shrine visit!

Slightly unrelated, here’s a quick sketch I drew of Ink eating this candy cause I thought it’d be funny:

He is NOT getting his rental deposit back (…is that a thing? Idk I’ve never rented clothes before lol)

ANYWAYS, I just wanted to put this stuff down cause I found learning about this festival really interesting and thought it to be relevant with the whole Japanese-attire thing lol. And again, don’t be afraid to correct me on anything and/or add your own additions to the info written above!

List of sources:

Tsukihana

Kids Web Japan: Shichi-go-san

Japan America Society of Greater Philadelphia

Wikipedia page for Shichi-Go-San

Have a great rest of your day/night if you got this far!

[9lives2mics]

Do you have any thoughts about the new teaser for S3? I didn’t like it 😢

Hello, dear anon. My initial thought when I saw the teaser was:

“Bet on hope? Why exactly?”

The teaser is completely focused on Daryl’s story, which is solidified by the title at the end that only features Daryl’s name. Daryl is still talking about the “friend” he’d known for a few weeks who told him to bet on hope, while Carol is shipbaited with someone she just met. The teaser made it clear that they ignored us. Daryl gets to do a lot of “badass” stuff while Carol appears briefly in a few scenes. She is sprinkled through the teaser to calm us down with no real drive. Reminds me too much of previous seasons in the flagship show. 

From a marketing perspective, this feels completely unbalanced. A teaser is supposed to put your best foot forward and give a snapshot into what the show will be about while amplifying the tension to get people excited. This just riled me up, not in an “I’ll hate-watch it” way or “I guess I’ll check it out to see where it goes” way, but in a “thanks for confirming my fears, I’m done” way.

If the showrunner is focusing so much on ship baiting and mindless violence, it's probably because that’s the only part they believe will elicit reactions, and it doesn’t seem to matter to them what kind of reactions. 

I made the mistake long ago with S1 and S2 to wait until we learned more. I gave the show the benefit of the doubt, but I have enough proof with S1 and S2 to come up with a conclusion now. You decide how you feel about it, but I don’t like what I’m seeing, and I will not show up for Caryl crumbs because just maybe someday the guy in charge will change his mind about them, even though Zabel has explicitly told us multiple times through written articles that he won’t.

I know Melissa will make magic with what she has, but they turned Carol into a footnote in the season with her name in the subtitle. What will they do in the season that doesn’t even feature her name? The current leadership is comfortable because they hope for free publicity. They’re hoping fans will take the crumbs and be happy so they can continue ship-baiting our favourite characters with new characters. So when we get angry for their treatment of us and the characters, our excitement is thrown in our face by calling us hysterical and telling us “they don’t write for us.” 

I refuse to fall into the trap of “be a good fan and don’t defy us” thing the current leadership has got going on. For me, being a fan means being able to criticize the show and the leadership when they mess up. Ultimately, this direction is costing them ROI because the showrunner keeps alienating the audience. In this scenario, continuing to support this means they will assume I am okay with Carol not being equally represented on her own show. I'm not okay with it. I don’t like the show's trajectory or where this PR narrative is headed. I’m not falling for that line of marketing, nor giving them a dime. 

I think it’s also important to reiterate something I mentioned in a post earlier:

We need to be careful about using the word "willingly" when power dynamics are at play. Women don't willingly stay in toxic work environments. Women don't willingly ask for poor treatment. Women don't willingly accept degrading storylines. Women don't willingly ask for less. Women don't willingly stay small.  The term "willingly" is PR speak to build a narrative that supports the power hierarchy (in this case, the male EPs). A show of willingness during the PR circuit protects EPs — and gives them cover for controversial choices — while holding the female talent as a shield. If they're praised, they can show how "progressive" they are by doing the bare minimum of letting a woman speak uninterrupted, and if there is backlash then she faces the brunt of it.  Majority of the times the options are to do it "willingly" or get labelled as "difficult to work with" and risk your career and reputation. The only form of protest is absence or silence unless it is also overridden by someone in power. In this particular case, the male EPs have done everything I mentioned here and more. Vile is an understatement.

To end this long answer, anon - I am sorry you didn’t like the teaser. I’m sorry we’re here. I’m sad that it’s been years of this, and it won’t let up. I’m sorry that we don’t have a better showrunner who cares about the characters and the audience. You decide what to do next, where this season is concerned, but I’m not betting on hope.  – Shalaka

[neverenoughmarauders]

Hey hey!

How is part two coming along? :D

Hello!!

It's coming along well, I think? Got about 35K words written, which for some is about as much as they write in a year and for @livelaughlovetoread is about a chapter. So who knows...

We've got 9 chapters so far, some with multiple POVs, some with the normal single POV per chapter set up. We've got the attack that was hinted at at the end of part 1 having played out.

I've written my favourite chapter so far: Anyone who met her (based on this quote: “Liked her?” said Slughorn, his eyes brimming with tears once more. “I don’t imagine��anyone who met her wouldn’t have liked her. ... Very brave ... Very funny ...It was the most horrible thing. ...”). This deals with Lily having half her friends experience some sort of crisis during the Christmas break, and tries to showcase her exceptional kindness, but in a way that I hope feels real. She isn't aware of the effect she's having on people, or how much she's helping them. Like... at all.

I am hoping to start posting some time late spring. But before then, here's a taster with half of chapter 1:

Chapter 1 - The attack

It has never been easy to determine exactly when a war starts. There are all these small events that slowly push humans—muggles and wizards alike—towards a period of suffering, destruction and death. Does a war begin when the first victim falls? Or even earlier, when cross words are exchanged, fists or wands are drawn, punches thrown and spells fired, but death is not yet the outcome. Maybe a war starts only when the word itself is uttered, when the newspapers print the three letters that unmistakably spell out a new reality, one in which suffering is the norm, happiness only rediscovered in fleeting moments and safety is torn away.

The First Wizarding War—it has later been agreed—started in 1970, when Lord Voldemort, formerly known as Tom Marvolo Riddle, came back to the United Kingdom after an extended period abroad. However, today we know that Lord Voldemort's war against muggles and those that opposed him started much before that, with some of his earliest victims being the likes of young Amy Benson and Dennis Bishop. Further still, he had yet to leave school when he committed the murders that would start the death count belonging to a war decades later.

At Hogwarts, some of the first to fall, four muggle-borns who disappeared between 1968 and 1970, would similarly only survive as a footnote, not worthy of further notice. It was another date that would forever be recalled as the day the war arrived at the doorsteps of the castle. A reminder that while the school would remain one of the safest places in Wizarding Britain during the war, it was by no means secure. It was perhaps better to be muggle-born under Dumbledore's protection than relying solely on the Ministry of Magic to look out for you; it was perhaps less dangerous to share your opinions on your way to Charms than in the Leaky Cauldron, but no war has ever spared a corner of the countries it affected. Not in the muggle-world, nor in the wizarding world. The students at the castle would learn this first hand on December 14, 1972. 

The morning of that fateful day was as ordinary as any day at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry could be. Lily Evans was watching as Gemma Dawlish and Elizabeth Vane were ransacking everyone's drawers in their dormitory.

'I don't understand,' Gemma said frantically. 

'And I don't understand how you can have the nerve to suggest we've somehow taken them?' said Mary Macdonald, crossing her arms and scowling as Lizzie was throwing all her magazines on the floor.

'For Merlin's sake,' Maeve Ryan agreed. 'Will ye give it a rest?'

'No!' Gemma nearly shrieked. 'Look at my nails! If I can't remove the polish soon they'll look horrid. Here - it's already worn off at the edge.'

Lily peered at her nail. True there was the tiniest of dents in the otherwise perfect scarlet coating. 

'I am sure there is a spell for that,' Lily offered kindly. 'Or you can ask one of the older girls?' 

'I understand the issue,' Mary continued, her voice cold. 'But to claim we've got anything to do with it...'

Lizzie looked up, her eyebrows furrowed in confusion: 'Nobody said anything -'

She stopped as Mary's eyes fell on her school books in Lizzie's hand. Really? Mary's eyebrows asked.  

'I know what it looks like,' Lizzie sighed, looking a little guilty now, 'we're just trying to search the whole room.'

'Aye, but don't ye think it's possible Peeves took it? Ye won't find yer nailpolish set here, that's my bet.'

Gemma groaned: 'Lord, you're right.' She turned to her friend looking more panic-stricken than Lily felt the situation merited: 'Liz, what if it is Peeves?'

'I wouldn't ask him,' warned Lily, 'that only invites trouble. Just get one of the older girls to help you with your nail, and order a new set.'

'Right, if this is settled, I am heading down for breakfast,' said Mary as she jumped down from her bed. 

'We'll come too,' said Maeve.

'Absolutely,' agreed Lily, 'I assume you two will join after you've tidied this mess up?'

Gemma and Lizzie looked like they were about to argue, but Maeve cut them off: 'Great, thanks!'

The three grabbed their bags and hurried out.

'Alright, who did it?' Lily asked as soon as they had crawled through the portrait hole.

'Don't look at me,' Maeve raised her hands, 'I might have prayed they'd shut up about that damn nailpolish, but I never touched it.'

Mary grinned: 'Nah, but I did.'

'You didn't!' Maeve looked impressed. 

''Course I did.'

'And decided to hide it in my bag?' Lily raised her eyebrows at her friend.

'Oh come on, Lily, I knew you'd be quick on your feet should it be necessary.'

'You've not got your period yet, have you?' Maeve asked nervously. 

'No,' Lily admitted, but she suspected Petunia had, and that had given her the idea. 'So what do we do with this then?' Lily held out the pouch she'd hidden the set in. 

'D'ye think Ellie and Georgie would like some nailpolish? Kinda like their thing, isn't it?'

'Oh, I bet they would,' Mary agreed. 

'Hey, what d'ye reckon to a bit o'duelin' practice later? After dinner, though, got Quidditch practice first—can't miss that.'

Lily had agreed to meet Severus that evening but she could cancel, or she could see if he was free earlier that day. Duelling was fun, now that they'd gotten the hang of the basics. Besides, they were seeing Alice tomorrow, and it would be good to show her they were taking this seriously. 

'Oh absolutely,' said Lily, and Mary nodded just as eagerly.

/

Meanwhile in the boy's dormitory, Remus was subject to another round of morning interrogation. It had more or less become a routine after last Friday. 

'Welsh, huh?' Sirius asked, exchanging a quick look with James.

'I never meant to hide that fact,' Remus offered with a small smile. 

'I suspect we just jumped to conclusions, after Pete visited you this summer,' James admitted. Peter nodded in agreement. 

James was aware that Remus didn't love these sessions, but it was important to understand everything. Otherwise, how could they possibly find a way to help him? Not that Remus had any faith in them: 'there's nothing you can do,' he'd had the nerve to say on Sunday. That was utter dragon dung. For one, they could do a lot more in way of assistance around the full moon, now they knew.

'It's an easy assumption to make,' Remus agreed.

'Why did you move?' Peter asked.

'We've moved a lot,' Remus sighed as he grabbed his school bag. James supposed it was time to leave for breakfast. He grabbed his own bag as Remus continued: 'We could never stay too long in one place, people got suspicious.'

'Fancy that,' Sirius smirked.

'Bet you wish you could have moved house here,' said Peter.

'Not really...' It seemed like Remus had never even considered this idea. 'I thought about leaving altogether, sometimes.'

'But you're still here,' James offered, 'and we know. See Remus, things are going to be a lot easier from here, I promise.'

'I don't doubt it,' said Remus kindly, though perhaps lacking a little in conviction. 

James wasn't too worried; they'd prove Remus wrong soon enough. 

'Jim, just one sec,' Sirius muttered as Remus and Peter left the dormitory. 

''Course.'

Once the door was closed, Sirius said: 'I think we should start the potion tonight, after your practice.' 

'So you're in?' 

'Poisoning myself to stay at Hogwarts? What d'you think,' Sirius grinned. 'Can't imagine a better way to spend Christmas.'

Professor McGonagall had recently been around taking the names of students who would stay over for the Christmas break. Peter had immediately signed his name, and so had James. Though there were moments, usually late at night, when James questioned his decision. If only he could have Sirius stay at his house. He'd miss Carl and Sarah, and his mum and dad. His mum made the most wicked Christmas pudding. Truly, James didn't fully understand how there could be Christmas without that pudding. And without his parents. 

But Sirius had to come first. Come summer, James would see his family. Sirius had not put his name down, having no choice but to leave. Or rather, having no choice but to pretend to be planning to spend the break at home. With their new plan, it looked like they would all be spending Christmas at Hogwarts. Except Remus. That was another good thing, it would give them time to brainstorm how they could help him.

'Christmas in the hospital wing and library - we sure know how to have fun,' James deadpanned. Meeting Sirius' grey eyes, he nevertheless felt nothing but excitement, and a grin spread across his face: 'I can't wait!'

/

However, this story ought to start with Gideon Prewett, and the choices he would make that day. The actions he would take, without the benefit of hindsight, would nevertheless be more consequential than he could possibly have imagined. 

[lairofdragonagelore]

I'm sorry if you've already been asked but I've only just come across you and my love for the DA lore is hurting me thanks to the last farce of a game we got. If I could ask, if you can heal me lol, for your thoughts about the ancient elves? Evanuris and Solas included. I don't even know what I'm asking. Just reassure me they wouldn't be like that, Solas isn't that stupid, Ghilly and Elgy aren't cardboard cutouts. I've my lost my faith and need to hear rich lore from before. 🥹🥹

XD

You made me laugh, wounded fellow.

I have something in store that may work for that hurt. I've been working in the last weeks in an attempt to do my personal "black codex" [to keep things clear for my fic too], trying to make it look a bit like those codices we had during our exploration of the shattered library in tresspasser. It's not a fic per se, it's a series of "crafted codices", combining all the info we had from previous codices such as Evanuris , The Lost Temple of Dirthamen , Temple of Mythal , and Vir Dirthara. I also combine the unreliable tales of the Dalish, trying to capture one side or one details from them in order to say “look, this is the grain of Truth that the Dalish managed to kept in their romanticed tales” that Solas always talked about.

The motivation of these codices are basically, a spirit of Archivist, same as the one we found in Tresspasser, trying to gather “the truth of the History of the Elvhenan”.

Of course, it’s crafted lore, and it will have personal interpretation written confidently, but it’s not canon even though I based it heavily on it. In fact, the text has many footnotes in order to show these connections. So you can read it like a piece of reinterpretation of the lore [including in your reading the footnotes] or just as a text similar to those Trespasser codices and you interpret what you want [which is always cool to see and share what thar may end up connecting].

This crafted codex, which is a combination of many that, together, narrate a story in similar fashion to the “Enigma of Kirkwall”, incorporates the Great Dragons into this lore, following my old especulation “Attempt to rebuild Ancient Elvhenan History”.

Once it’s done, I will add it to my “dreadwolf lore-crafted posts”. The set of crafted codices, combined, ended up making a text of 10k words, so… It’s quite long. I will publish it on AO3.

I mourn with you the oversimplification of Solas [I still see in my mind his ending as he shouts “I AM A GOD”, when he always said [and he repeated it so many times] that neither him nor the evanuris were gods in DAI], the marvellization of Ghilan’nain and Elgar’nan, and the absolute oblivion of Mythal [among so many other hurtful things]. They hated DA lore, and nothing proves that better than destroying the History of your complex fantasy world.

[jelepermets]

Les Mis Letters: 1.1.8

Okay, this chapter is fascinating for a couple of reasons. Warning though: I will be going full red string corkboard in this post.

One because it's so obviously Hugo in active conversation with his time. The questions this senator is asking, his philosophy of self-interest is a conversation and debate pulled directly from the Enlightenment, the Revolution, the Restoration, and beyond. Hugo isn't just speaking to the audience in a metaphorical sense. He's actively engaging in contemporary discussion.

Two because of this footnote: "Thénardier a les mêmes lectures." [Thenardier has the same speeches]. Indeed, the senator's self interest is very similar to Thenardier. But, and not to bring up my darling favorite character months and hundreds of pages before he shows up buttt... the rhetoric of the senator is not thattt different from some later speeches given by Grantaire.

Did I exist before my birth? No. Shall I exist after death? No. What am I? A little dust collected in an organism. What am I to do on this earth? The choice rests with me: suffer or enjoy.

This? This is exactly the sort of thing Grantaire would say. So what makes him different from the senator, from Thenardier? Why do we have these characters giving these nihilistic speeches to vastly different effects in the novel?

Well, part of the reason to me is what M Myriel says in response:

You great lords have, so you say, a philosophy of your own, and for yourselves, which is exquisite, refined, accessible to the rich alone, good for all sauces, and which seasons the voluptuousness of life admirably.

In the case of the senator, the biggest detraction from this speech is that he has no real sense of the suffering of humanity. He condemns God because he has no need for Him, for any comfort from the divine. He does not need to contemplate "the grief which fixes its gaze upon a star." He has no true empathy for the downtrodden, nor wish to understand or mix with them. He sees his philosophy as the correct one and the poor as worthy of ridicule and contempt.

In this way he resembles Thenardier a lot more than Grantaire. For while the senator and Thenardier turn their ire outward onto others, Grantaire takes his nihilism and plants it firmly inwards. Thenardier's life is more miserable than Grantaire's, but Thenardier looks around and commits all matter of unspeakable evil. In this way he is like the senator - selfish and individualistic. Grantaire is not, not selfish or individualistic in a manner of speaking. But, as we shall see with his relationship with the ABC (and, y'know...), his selfishness has a boundary. In the end he has much more contact with the populace and willingness to talk (or play dominoes) with them than either the senator or Thenardier.

And thus a single philosophy can have a hundred variations in ricochets

[jacksgreysays]

Gardens Shikako & A Softer World #62 ??? (aka transmigration quote that eats my brain) When we die we come back different, like, with greener eyes, or as some far off star.

I also love that softer world quote, anon! (There’s actually an @asofterdreaming comic that uses it)

I think, though, what makes it especially brain eating is that its--footnote? subtitle? Post title? Secret, parenthetical style whisper at the end?—is “you’ll be someone you wouldn’t understand.”

In total I think this quote doesn’t actually apply to Gardens!Shikako as straightforwardly as it may seem from the outset for several reasons:

1) Gardens!Shikako seems to not actually die so much as she gets thrown into different universes that don’t have their own “Shikako” 2) She arrives in each universe as herself—not a new body or even a “reset” version—as, presumably, she activates the Gelel jump. Which includes her stats but also her techniques and access to her hammerspace 3) In a lot of gardens fic, Shikako is so OP (which I love and am guilty of myself) that she’s very rarely confused? If anything, she seems to have perfect information or, at least, very often appears omniscient to the other characters she encounters

Overall, not a quote that applies to a “standard” Gardens!Shikako per se…

… but we could change some things :D

And I’m going to be honest, my first thought of how to, essentially, break all three of the above listed rules would be to just… okay, I am laughing at this, and it IS funny but it IS also incredibly lazy of me… (which honestly is VERY Nara of me of you think about it)

She is still Shikako… but instead of Shikamaru’s twin sister, she’s Shikadai’s twin sister.

AND I STILL HOLD THAT I HAVE NOT CONSUMED ANY BORUTO, NOR AM I LIKELY TO EVER DO SO!

BUT!

IT HITS ALL THE POINTS OF THE A SOFTER WORLD QUOTE!

If this is a world that HAD a Shikako—Shikamaru’s twin sister at some point—then this is a world where a Shikako DID die and then CAME BACK. Perhaps even with greener eyes. And she is someone she wouldn’t understand because presumably that SQ soul ALSO HASN’T CONSUMED ANY BORUTO and so none of the usual omniscience applies.

And, like, if this is a world where Shikako—as Shikamaru’s twin sister—had died or disappeared after the Jashin incident and thus was presumed dead after a decade or so, WOULDN’T Shikamaru name his firstborn daughter after his long lost sister? ESPECIALLY if she’s also a twin to Shikadai.

AND LIKE. IMAGINE BOTH HOW SAD AND FUNNY THINGS ARE IN THIS WORLD.

Like, WHAT IF THIS IS HER ACTUAL ORIGINAL UNIVERSE? She truly cannot go back home. But she is home. She’s literally as home as she can be, but she’s not herself but she is herself but not really.

It’s not “came back wrong” and it’s not “you can never come home” but a secret, stupid third thing: “I’m my own niece.”

THIS IS GOING TO LIVE IN MY BRAIN FOR A WHILE, ANON. I MAY COME BACK TO THIS. BUT ALSO I WOULD LOVE TO KNOW WHAT OTHER PEOPLE THINK OF THIS.

[immediatebreakfast]

"God grant that we may be guided aright, and that He will deign to watch over my husband and those dear to us both, and who are in such deadly peril. As for me, I am not worthy in His sight. Alas! I am unclean to His eyes, and shall be until He may deign to let me stand forth in His sight as one of those who have not incurred His wrath."

Mina...

Mina what the fuck are you talking about?

God doesn't deserve you Mina. It doesn't.

God doesn't deserve to dangle the promise of eternal peace to you. All righteous fearing woman capable of running towards ancient evil to save your dear friend. Insessant, and intelligent fiend who is all kind towards her love, and loved him with all of her might when he was not himself.

Don't blame yourself for the assault, and never think that you are guilty for not having the means to stop it. Mina can't tell herself "if I had been better" she can't. How many times must she torture herself with thoughts of hellfire that are so close in her mind, yet far in reality.

Mina tells that she is not worthy of His sight when god should grovel at her feet for forgiveness. How dare He to make her suffer like this. Mina is not a Martyr nor a Saint. She is not Saint Inés calling for the sword to fall so she can be freed, nor Saint Águeda screaming in joy as she finally died.

Mina's suffering is not holy, it's human. It's so human that it hurts to read. How were her ambitions in life greedy to incur god's wrath upon her? Why must she become another footnote on Dracula's horrible quest for power? (Why was Lucy not saved? Why?)

Mina is losing hope in herself when she is the most strong. She can't let herself become comfortable at the idea of a violent end if it means to be seen in god's light again. Mina can't become suicidal to beg and pray to the being that abandoned her in her most traumatic moments.

Mina may think that she doesn't deserve god, but it's god that doesn't deserve Mina.

[probatiostudies]

Analyzing which egg children each team is likely to save!

Welcome to an ongoing project of 3+ hours! This document has now been updated to honor the elimination of Team Green Gay Ninjas at the end of Purgatory Week 1, and the absorption of their members into the other two teams.

Color legend and footnotes can be seen by clicking to expand the post (keep reading), as well as some additional notes!

I've seen a few people talk about this, making predictions, so if you read a point you've also posted about, then thank you! I most likely stumbled across your thoughts <3

I made this document to sort out this part of the lore, what the Purgatory Eye meant by being able to save some of the children. It hasn't been confirmed yet, how many can be saved if this winning situation occurs, and we've all been assuming and hoping that some concurs it'll be more than one.

More Notes:

This doesn't consider the lore and theory about the cursed team losing/winning and all the eggs being saved/dying, nor the possibility that the Purgatory Eye doesn't have any say over the eggs at all!

I often uninstall the bird app, and am unable to watch every POV, so some of this information may be off! Since this is in a document format, I am definitely open to making fixes, so feel free to share what you'd like!

You may also have to click on the photos, actually open them, for better clarity thanks to Tumblr's habits with image resolution.

Thanks for reading y'all, and happy watching QSMP Purgatory!

[omgcatboi]

Are you a “eat until death” type of person? I know you want to get fatter, but 800 pounds is a lot…

Answer below the cut (:

I'm not sure how to read the intentions behind this anon, rather they be good or bad. But I'm going to answer anyways because I do get asked this from time to time.

( disclaimer because I can already hear people trying to argue with me, but my aunt who was 700 pounds lived until her 60's and she was fat her entire life, so no, she didn't die immediately from gaining weight. Nor will I. )

Am I an ' eat until death ' type of person;

I absolutely am, but I limit my ' death feedism ' posting here ( as well as tag it ) and am thinking of making another side blog to remove that posting from here entirely for the comfort of my followers. I'm not eating with intention to end myself, I just feel like life is what you make of it and anything can happen at any point to cut us a short deal. Also, my cultural beliefs are that the entire purpose of life is to experience it. So that's what I want to do. Death isn't the end goal, and I do eat many healthy foods ( and encourage it often on my blog so that other feedees can gain weight more healthily. ) I just know I wanna get as big as possible, and that may bring along a good handful of complications that can result in death.

TW ; talk of fascism and American imperialism as well as transphobia / legislation enforcing bigotry.

Also, not to get all doom and gloom but look at the state of this world. Look at the dying planet we have limited time on. Each day a new fascist bill gets passed here in America alone. If death takes me out this hellscape then it's doing me a hell of a favor, because there IS no other way out. Not without a ton of money for a passport and applying for citizenship overseas as well as paying American taxes AFTER moving out. And even then, America IS the empire of our age. It influences the rest of the world. And it has already been invading other countries and enforcing fascist dictatorships either directly or indirectly for MANY years now. So even if I COULD hypothetically move out, I'd still be at risk of being under Americas extreme rule anyway. Or worse, I'd end up in a situation like P/lestinian just like Vi/tnam was.

I know what I'm saying is dark and depressing, as well as anxiety inducing, but I'm showing that I've put plenty of thought behind this decision. Just like I did before starting HRT even tho I ALWAYS knew I am trans. And I don't need anyone trying to talk me out of the lifestyle I am living. Besides, with my genetics, I'm going to keep gaining regardless. It happened to my aunt who was roughly 700 pounds, and even then, she was near her 60's when she passed. I'm only gaining faster, not less. ( And she wasn't gaining intentionally, she just didn't care about fitting into other people's idea of what she should be and what she should do. )

In her 60's

60'S

I don't want to be old and wrinkly ( no hate tho those who are ) I don't want to live that damn long ( like 70's and older ) just. Nah. I'm good.

I'm just enjoying my time while I have it.

( this next part is not about people with triggers who are triggered by death feedism or very fat bodies. So if that is you, stop exposing yourself to this bc I tagged it and talked about it plenty before getting to this point of the post. )

And as a footnote to anyone who may be reading this, if you have an issue with people getting ' too big ' 1) you need to check that way of thinking because you ARE in the feedism / fat kink community. And that INCLUDES people who are, gasp, suprise, FAT. And 2) you should spend some time reflecting on what lead you to harboring that way of thinking.

Not saying this anon holds these views at all, I'm just mentioning it because it is my blog and we are on the topic. ( Plus I'm Knipping everything in the bud now as far as the group of people who will try and spew any level of fatphobia at me for this. In which case I'm not even going to read what y'all say, I'm just going to block you lol. )

One love and allat 😌

[cherryys]

Very unsettled that Gégé ended Megumi's subplot if not knowing what happened to his dad like this

I was always of the belief that this plot point was set up badly to begin with. There would be no way for Megumi to have any clarity or closure without knowing the full picture of why Toji did those things, and the problem is that the intentions and context of what Toji did only exist in his thoughts, not his actions. thoughts no one knows. so the only way for this plot point to have ever settled is if he got the full story from Toji, but he's dead, so this is what we're stuck with.

I see many people saying that gojo should've told megumi toji's Last words to give him the full story, but I respectfully disagree. even if he was told those last words, it wouldn't change anything, because Toji had made those decisions that ruined his life anyway, and Megumi is someone who cares about actions, not empty platitudes and "intentions". and those last words of "do whatever you want" would confuse Megumi even more. We the audience know what he meant, but to Megumi who only had a bad Impression of Toji to begin with, he wouldn't come up with a favorable conclusion, and I personally think it would've been worse. the words seem flippant, almost disregarding without context. megumi would sooner believe his father did it out of guilt, or of the fact he just then remembered his son, or that maybe he just couldn't stand letting the zenin clan have their hands on such a powerful technique— that's the problem. without full clarity of every thought toji had then, megumi would never get closure from his father.

and sure, maybe gojo should've told him that toji died almost 11 years ago, since megumi's entire core belief is built on the fact that his father, who is a bad person, is out there living Scott-free, living a good life he doesn't deserve, but again, knowing he's dead wouldn't change what toji did BEFORE he died, which is selling and abandoning him. like, his dad has been dead since he was 3, so, what? he still left him ditched him back then instead of loving and caring for him.

Megumi doesn't have an emotional stake in finding out who his dad actually is. yes, he's irrevocably affected by his decisions, and his father leaving him had profoundly affected him, but knowing anything about him wouldn't give him any sort of catharsis. i personally believe that he was lying when he was 6 and said he didn't care about where he is or what he's doing, but now too much time passed for any answer to try to heal the damage toji's done, or for him to care about any clarity or closure knowing about toji now would give. he's gone through too much in the Shinjuku Showdown and lost the family member that ACTUALLY cared about him and stuck around, Toji is basically a footnote for him at this point lol

I am kind of underwhelmed about how it was handled, believe me, but realistically, this plot point and this intrigue of "I hope megumi finds out about his dad" was never interesting nor relevant after Shibuya, because him finding out wouldn't have changed anything.

[tc-doherty]

The Hildspel of Athelhyrst | Chapter One

I don't know what else I would do with this if not share it here, so here is Chapter 1, the culmination of an entire year's worth of work!

I don't know how easy it will be to read both because, well, it's a language that doesn't exist and also because I can't exactly do footnotes. But you're more than welcome to try! I did put notes for things that may not have needed them because some of them are still words we have but either we use them very rarely or use them in a different way than they would have been. And some things were executive decisions or me explaining world building I can't get to yet. I figured it was better safe than sorry.

I'm genuinely very proud of not only the fact that I wrote this whole chapter, but of some of the sentences in particular. I think it still manages to have a little flair! Also before you say "but isn't this familiar…" yes, it is sort of me filing the serial numbers off of my Binding Blade fanfiction. But only kind of. I am going to be taking the plot and story in a very different direction, because in the end my fanfiction didn't really resemble the original plot that much anymore anyway.

Edit: I'm in the process of updating this to have a glossary instead so my notes will be disappearing. I will link the glossary below.

Tagging the people I know or think are interested, even if you just want to look at it.

@almedha @thegoddesswater @emilyoracle @magefaery @outpost51 @sam-glade @did-i-do-this-write

2,226 words.

Anglish Wordbook

Cynefrith stood next to her father, gazing out over the heathfield. Under the bright sun she could wellsee the witherwin heer, their swords gleaming with witting evil. The sight chilled her, although she knew that to them, her own shire's heer must look the same.

"Why would they set here?" She asked him.

The witherwin's motherland, Hyllworth Rich, was all highlands - full of barrows and firrows. Their heer fought afoot, horses not being behooveful in such a land, and so a flat lowland field was far from a wise kir. A gouth like this could only be won with fullbore work and hardship. Cynefrith may be young and seldom acosted, but she knew that their king was said to be cunning, and this was not.

Lord Wulfric, frea of Lindingham and highfrea of all the Weared Shires, laughed. "My beloved daughter," he said, "they know we would never bestir our heer to meet a foe cowering amongst the barrows of their motherland."

"But-"

He held up a hand to forestall her. "Yet just as true, such mistrust is the burden of a highfrea. Sunngifu!"

At his call, a harwickner hied to his side from a gathering of ferdmen standing afar. Sunngifu was a tall woman of middling years, a stern demeanor, and seldom seen skill with spear and bow. She dropped to one knee in front of them. "Yea, my lord?"

Lord Wulfric kept looking at the field in front of them. "This land should have been well sifted, is this true?"

"Down to every blade of grass, my lord. High harwickne Osgar saw to it."

"And is aught amiss?"

"Nothing, 'tis but a field."

"Mayhaps King Lanzo is not so clever as he thinks. That is as it is with most men." He ruffled Cynefrith's hair, as he had been wont to do all her life. "Still my lass, keep your wit about you. Lo! Sunngifu, I entrust you, also, to keep my daughter hearty and hale."

“As you say, my lord.”

"Father!" Cynefrith said. "Don't bid such a needless thing! Who will wield Sunngifu's horse?"

It was needless indeed to her. Sunngifu belonged where all of the harwickners belonged - on the heathfield. Cynefrith on the other hand was a dry, and her stead was to be afar, helping the ferdmen with her drycraft. There was little plee to her life, nor was she so frough as to need unyielding warding. To bangle away Sunngifu's time with such a behest was truly hyeless.

But in this she and her father were unthwear.

"As erfward to the highseld of highfrea, you are always a worthwhile target. Any ferdman would be happy to put a witherwin harfrea to the sword. Never forget this. And your anlet, my daughter, is well known to them."

Indeed she could not withsake this soothquid. More than being Lady of Lindingham, more than being the next highfrea of the Weared Shires, she was known because of her mother. The wedlock of a frea to a sellsword would alone be tidings. But that sellsword also happened to be from the eastern eltheed of Skulata. Cynefrith shared some of her mother's outlander looks, being smaller of build and lighter of skin and hair than oftseen. Yea, she was known everywhere. Anyone who saw a girl of Skulatan look outfitted in high Lindingham godweb would know it was her.

Sunngifu broke in. "My underwickner will stand-in to wield my horse for me. There is no hitch in this."

"Yea, I understand."

Wulfric laughed again. "My clever daughter! But look there, they begin to stir. It is time for me to speak to the men." He strode away back to the main body of the heer, leaving Cynefrith and Sunngifu alone.

Lord Wulfric spoke to his men from atop his horse, cutting a truly helethish ansen outfitted as he was in thick gouthhedden fratowed with markings in hues of dark hewn and whelkred, bright iron cloth peeking from beneath, a hackle slung about his shoulders, his great poleaxe at his side.

She did not stop to listen to his speech but went to stand with the other dry who stood aside from the main body of the heer. Drycraft needed clear sightlines, it would not do for them to be fanged by the dwolm of a gouth in full swing. Sunngifu followed after her.

She would not be the only ward standing by the dry that day, indeed not, for dry were often main targets. Why not, when they fought so well from afar, full farlen of even the strongest, swiftest arrows. Some dry were also arade in healcraft and could undo even the most dreadful of heathglembs.

She was not one of them. Indeed, how could she be? Cynefrith was the child of gouthrink on both sides of her blood. Her drycraft was never that of frith, but that of the dwolm of the heathfield.

There were not many dry, only some few handfuls. Many of them were known to her, if only by anlet. She nipped her head to them the barest whit – she was, after all, the daughter of a frea. Those who saw byed in anqueath.

Cynefrith watched her father and looked over the heer. It was not small. She knew that over half the heer of the Weared Shires came from Lindingham alone. Lord Wulfric wielded five high harwickners, each of whom wielded three harwickners.

She misliked it, this happening. She asked of Sunngifu, "King Lanzo's heer was sifted, yea?"

"Yea, my lady."

"How many men does he wield?"

"To my knowledge, nigh on twelve thousand."

Twelve thousand, to abide a witherwin of nigh on fifteen thousand. Cynefrith misliked it. King Lanzo was wise, and sarecrafty, of this he was namecouth. But his deeds now were hyeless. To strike a bigger heer, on land they well knew, in weather which could only give them the upperhand? It must have shown on her anlet, because Sunngifu spoke.

"Lord Wulfric is oft accosted on the heathfield."

"Of this I am aware. But to my kin, overmood is no comeling. It fells great men and lackwits alike. Indeed, more of the latter, as all men are lackwits under its yoke."

"Shall you speak to your father again?"

Her hands clenched the woof of her rooc, rimpling it, but she shook her head. "Much may it misqueme me, I have spoken and he has not heeded. To do more is not yet my bailiwick."

Her father had stopped speaking, and now shied his horse to stand forward from his men. She could see him watching the foe, seemingly at eath. He was hewed in fire and iron, the winner of a thousand heathfields alike to this one.

Overmood, Cynefrith thought to herself sourly. She could not wile the days to come, nor could anyone. But there was a trap here, she knew it. Something was wrong, and there was nothing that she could do about it.

The lift wended then, in the way it does before a storm breaks. It was neither leven nor thunder but the long, low call of a horn. Both heer bestirred, alike nothing so much as two great wilders from the folktales, roaring to seethe their alderdom.

It was not her father who stirred first, but when the men of Hyllworth overflowed from their barrows thwarst the plain like so many ants, his own horn sang out sweet the call to take up weaponing.

The horses' great hooves shook the ground as they raced forward, making Cynefrith's heart bever in her chest. She did her best not to heed, her craft needed as much mindfulness as that of any swordsman, mayhap more. A swordsman may see his weapon as a stitch of himself, and wield it as such. A dry could call upon all the might of the earth and sky, but it was ever itself - its true hearsomeness never was to man.

Of all the world's many showings, leven most eathfully came to her hand, and it was this she now called. On a day with a hoder sky, leven seemed made wholly for this end.

It came willingly this day, prancing about her in the wary wise of all half-tame wild things – throwing off sparks from her hands as it did so. It would not bide long, nor would she ask it to.

She set her sights on a seemingly worthwhile man – one with a loth of bright goldbloom about his shoulders, a great sword at his hip, and a rooc of iron cloth. The leven saw him too and flew to his side, sword and iron cloth both made an outstanding roost for it to land upon.

She could not hear him scream, but she saw him jerk and fall, bringing about a fit of groor in his horse. That would spread, as would the leven – leaping from copper to iron to brass, anything that would hold it. It may hit fere as well as foe were they near, but such was a plee of drycraft. At least she could say leven did not outlast its welcome as did some. Leven would soon tire of this game she set and flee, unlike hungry fire, who could always find more to eat.

She went to her wicken with a willing heart, but it was not long before she once again felt something was amiss.

On the heathfield beneath her the heers were stirring – both wending towards the barrows afar. As they did, her father and his men drew further and further from their starting set – far enough that her drycraft could no longer reach.

When first her spell did not land, she felt a hard lump of dread make in her a home, though she could not give steven to why. But then she heard once more the mournful call of a horn which seemed to her a roop from death itself, so unalike was it to the horns up until that brightomwhile.

At first nothing happened.

But then, from behind those sharp fangs of the earth they rose – drakes in sere score, with riders weaponed for gouth.

"Nay!" She did not underyet her reard until it throughwent her lips, but she knew – lo, how well she knew – that her father's heer was not reacon of withstanding drakes.

How had Hyllworth Rich gotten them? They did not live there, they were from – as her mother had been – far eastern Skulata.

In truth it did not dow. The drakes were here, and making for her father and his heer at speed.

"My lady." It was Sunngifu, who grabbed her arm and fanded for her to heed.

Cynefrith shook her off.

"We must leave."

"I cannot! My father-" Cynefrith took a few steps and fanded to raise a strong wind. Wind did not care for her ofttimes, but to-day it came, to no freem. They were too far. They were too far, and she was not strong enough. Was she or was she not the daughter of Lord Wulfric, of the namecouth sellsword Arite? Was she or was she not the afterbear of a hundred or more gouthrink?

She fanded anew, to the same outcome.

"My lady," Sunngifu said again. Her reard was frithful, but her grip was not as she hent once again Cynefrith's arm and began to pull her away.

"I cannot, I beseech you, let go!"

Sunngifu was stronger by far, and drycraft was not behooveful so near lest she wish to hit also herself. Cynefrith had naught but her words – which fell on deaf ears.

"Your father may yet live, but you cannot fall here, my lady. It was his behest of me. We must eftcome to Lindingham Borough."

Arrows and spells flew and the drakes swooped low as Sunngifu both pulled and shoved Cynefrith to where their horses stood.

"Unhand me at once!" Cynefrith yelled as Sunngifu lifted her into the saddle.

"Nay, my lady. For now I still must follow your father's hests."

She swung with eath into the saddle and, upon grabbing the leads of both horses, gave hers a mighty kick which sent them both leaping away in the bearing of home.

Cynefrith could only watch as the drakes – now quickly growing small – began to land.

[mystic-insightss]

Oooo hey gravity falls fan!

Do you have any headcanons about any characters? I would love to know!

i am in fact a gravity falls fan!! i don’t have much art for them up on here but i do have a good few drawings on my instagram!

i made a headcanons note maybe a year ago that i never actually shared anywhere, so here’s that :)

stanley pines

- aromantic

- pronouns: he/him

- hates french people (is it a joke? we don’t know)

- has periodic nightmares

- has adhd

- prefers dogs

- atheist. bc of the trauma

- very dangerous driver. in addition to breaking like every law ever he has horrible tunnel vision. very bad at paying attention to his surroundings and often spaces out on the most insignificant objects and ends up almost crashing (or actually crashing)

- like mabel, he used to always lose to stanford in logic based games like checkers and chess. unlike mabel, he always beat stanford at ping pong and feels very happy for himself for it. (part of this is because stanford’s motor skills as a child/teenager were awful.)

stanford pines

- gay asexual

- pronouns: he/him

- has periodic nightmares

- is autistic

- played piano as a child

- struggled with self-harm as a teenager

- forgets basic life functions (e.g. sleeping and eating)

- prefers cats

- ngl ford gives asthma vibes LMAO like my man has horrible lungs

- nervous breakdowns. fiddleford calms him down by taking ford’s wrists in his hands

- agnostic only because the idea of punching god in the face gives him catharsis. still celebrates jewish holidays with stan & the kids

- even worse driver than stan. somehow. every bit of unexpressed anger he has gets expressed when he drives. wants every other car on the road to drop off the face of the earth. unhinged man that then turns around and says “what. i’m not a bad driver.” during the portal years fiddleford demands control of the car during trips.

- yeah he gets bullied as a kid for his fingers but he also gets bullied for EVERY autistic trait/symptom/display he has. it’s true he told me so

fiddleford mcgucket (1982)

- biromantic heterosexual* (see footnote. please.)

- pronouns: any

- likes to grow plants - idea credit to the fic ‘not one to forget’ on ao3! read it if u haven’t, you will have no regrets

- prefers neither dogs nor cats, likes other random animals better (cough. raccoons. cough)

- has to remind stanford to perform his basic life functions

- my mcgucket backupsmore headcanon is that he was shooting for a scholarship (or something similar to what stanford was going for) for a slightly less prestigious school than WCT and then when he showed his project to the scout people and it like blew up and hit one of them in the face and so needless to say they did not accept him

- he hates being called stupid more than anything

- he has anxiety. and yes that’s also pre-and-during-portal-years. the guy is nervous about everything. he nervous stims. chews his nails pulls at his hair shaking hands and legs the whole deal

- he doesn’t really talk about it either. he marinates. he marinates and ford developed a sense for it

- raised christian, really not that into it. has more important things to do

mabel pines

- sexuality: pansexual, or omnisexual. haven’t made up my mind yet but she’s definitely mspec!

- pronouns: she/her

- is she cis or trans?? who knows i can’t decide

- absolutely was into loom bracelets when they were popular

- also silly bandz

- 5’8” when she’s grown up. dipper is 5’7”.

- she collects squishmallows and/or beanie babies. they all have names. they take up half of her bed.

i have like nothing for dipper besides the classic transhet headcanon & him being shorter than mabel 😭 mystery trio phase hit me real hard ok

* don’t use this post for discourse. “bUt ThE SpLiT aTtRaCtIOn mOdEL iS onLy FoR aSpEc PeOpLe” too bad. i’m aroace and i say it’s *fine* who *cares*

[loathsome-little-creature]

Some Notes on Food Prices in Occupied Palestine.

Depending on how closely you have been watching the news out of Palestine lately, you might have heard that food has gotten a lot more scarce and expensive than it was earlier in the war. My friend Mohammed Haboub told me that his parents needed money for food recently, so I decided to make this post compiling what he has told me about food costs along with some additional information that I was able to gather. If this information is useful to you, I would encourage you to make a donation to Mohammed’s fundraiser, (link) if you are able.

Sources will be listed at the end with footnotes, for example (1) or (2), etc. Prices will be listed by the kilogram unless stated otherwise. The prices will be listed in US dollars. This post is current as of November 16, 2024. It should also be noted that the information provided here may not be accurate for north Gaza.

The goal of this post is NOT to calculate the cost of living in Gaza, nor is it an attempt to speak over actual Palestinians. If you are told something that contradicts this post by someone actually living in Gaza, you should absolutely believe them and not me, as it is nearly certain that prices will change rapidly. I am simply compiling information from a few sources.

I am not going to cover international aid in this post because I simply don’t think I have enough information to accurately say anything about it.

Tomatoes have experienced the most extreme jump in price of any vegetable for which I have information, costing about $1 per kg before the war and increasing to $20 USD per kg at time of writing. Tomatoes are closely followed in price by potatoes, which now cost $18 per kg up from $1.5, and rice which has gone up to $22 per kg from a prewar price of $4 per kg.(1)

Animal protein is exceptionally hard to come by, with eggs being the only source that I have been able to get a definitive price for. Eggs have gone up from $5 per carton to $3 per individual egg, meaning that the price of a single egg in present day Gaza could have purchased three full kilograms of tomatoes before the war.(2)

Clean drinking water is an absolute necessity, as a healthy adult can only survive without water for three days, and can only remain able to do physical activities for about one day without water. While water bottles are one of the less expensive items on this list, at $2 per bottle up from 50 cents before the war(3) the constant need for drinking water means this cost will add up very quickly.

Wheat flour, one of the most important foodstuffs on this list, is extremely difficult to come by, with a 25KG bag costing approximately between 70 USD(3) to $150 USD(4)

As you can probably imagine, the cost of keeping a family fed and in good health is astronomical in daily life, making fundraising for things like medical expenses and evacuation all the more difficult and uncertain. I hope this post has helped shed a little light on the practical realities of life in Gaza, and I hope more than anything that it helps convince some of you to help materially support Gazans in their struggle for survival.

Footnotes under the cut

Footnotes

(1) all of these prices were kindly provided by Mohammed Haboub. Link to his blog

(2) the price of eggs was also given to me by Mohammed.

(3) this price is according to Hani Alanqar link to his blog

(4) Al Jazeera link. Al Jazeera does not provide a clear source for this number however it seems reasonable for an upper estimate

[msclaritea]

1 SELF SUFFICIENT ME: FARMERS UNDER ATTACK

2 GARDENING IN CANADA: ATTACK ON GARDENS

3 REDACTED: HANG ON, NOW BILL GATES IS COMING FOR YOUR GARDEN

Check out Jojo Mehta, founder of Stop Ecoside Now, actually talking with a straight face, about punishing people for farming. Another one wants people to adjust to Artificial Intelligence Food. All of this shite and very, very likely, billionaire-backed studies, slanted against independent food production. This is all coming from the same plague, that JUST unleashed Paganistic beliefs about Gender and sprayed the whole planet with those dangerous beliefs: the World Economic Forum. Davos. Israel. I will remind people that besides being a shady pervert, Bill Gates ' father was a lawyer for the MOSSAD.

"I call bullshit. I think this "story" is about corporate influence, control, and the continuing war on freedom, privacy, autonomy, self sufficiency and entrepreneurship. Homegrown food is just one of the examples of things that lunatics like Klaus Schwab and Bill Gates, hate." Twitter

Wednesday, January 24, 2024

Hello, Nice to Meet Control You

Hello, Nice to Meet Control You: Introduction

Control. Control of others in one form or another has pervaded human history. Control has been exercised by individuals and groups over other individuals and groups. Thank you captain obvious.

This is a cursory look at various forms of control exercised over people. Both actual and possible forms are discussed. I do not pretend to be knowledgeable in the subject and are simply writing my thoughts. The footnotes and end notes are similar to references that I remember reading but not the actual reference. But I assume you know how to use a search engine. Also any typos and misspellings are due to my new gaming keyboard (not really but I need something to blame for my inability to type). Also I am using Libre Office to write this document and it has some issues with footnotes and endnotes or I just can’t use it as well as I use MS Word.

Humans have basic needs which are food, water, livelihood, and shelter. Control any one of these and you control the person. A newer and more effective route for control of others is media. Each of these topics will be discussed in turn. Additionally, the secondary means for controlling these needs will be examined.

I am not an expert in any field related to the topics nor am I any sort of revolutionary for pointing out these areas of control. I am exactly the opposite by discussing them I bring them to light so that they aren’t a problem.

The topics in this document are quickly developing. It may be obsolete before it is finished. I am not a writer. I am more verbally oriented.

Hello, Nice to Meet Control You: Food

We all eat food, all 8 billion of us. Think about that 8 billion people to feed. Most people do not realize that food distribution centers in major cities only have about three days of supply. The food supply is an attack surface for anyone wanting to control a populace. We have seen how easily the supply, among non-food things like TP, is disrupted by the Covid “pandemic”. As an example, the price of eggs rose to $5 per dozen from about $1.30.

This leads me to believe the food supply is a very frail and effective attack surface. Certainly anyone wishing to control a populations only need control the food supply chain.

The first obvious link in the food supply chain is production. Control how much food is produced and any condition from plentiful to famine can be realized. We have seen the direct attack on farmers using the specter of climate change. First in the Netherlands1 and subsequently in Germany2. The US isn’t safe from the assault on food as several animal rights and climate activist organizations have used climate change to to bolster their cause3. Claims of animal farming as being harmful to the environment is aiding the development of plant based “meat” produced in factories. This removes the production from a method that anyone could employ to one that is controlled completely by industry. The control of production is then complete once the end of animal farming is accomplished4. It is interesting that some of the very rich are buying farmland. I assume it is to provide raw materials to the food factories. Next stop distribution.

The dress rehearsal called the Covid-19 epidemic caused major disruptions in distribution of food and other comsumable products produced out side the US5. The most notable shortage was of paper products such as toilet paper. While it is true there were major supply chain issues the ultimate cause was a demand fueled by fear of shortage. In this way shortages are self fulfilling prophecies.

Controlling the food supply is a way to control the population. You can’t protest or fight back if you’re starving. Such bad behavior will be yield no food whereas good behavior will be rewarded with just enough to keep you alive.

Countermeasures

Grow some of your own food.

Eat nutritionally dense food if it is available. So that you require less food.

Source your food locally.

Counter-counter Measures

It will be made illegal to grow your own food. The argument will be the small farms produce too much greenhouse gases. Now we all know this is silly as home gardens do not require the burning of thousands of gallons of diesel fuel. You will also be accused of being selfish and an enemy of society. And someone named Greta will come to your house and punch you in the nuts (just checking to see if you’re actually reading this).

Doug Williamson Blogspot

1https://www.euronews.com/green/2023/11/30/dutch-farmers-could-be-paid-to-close-their-livestock-farms-under-new-scheme

2https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/01/15/germany-farmers-protests-berlin/

3https://worldanimalnews.com/250-groups-urge-the-usda-to-address-the-reduction-of-meat-dairy-to-reduce-greenhouse-gas-emissions/

4Interesting that no one is complaining about Mark Zuckerberg’s herd. He feeds his cattle beer.Yet fermentation produces a lot of CO2. https://nypost.com/2024/01/11/news/mark-zuckerberg-to-raise-cows-on-beer-and-macadamia-nuts-on-hawaii-ranch/

5https://www.freightwaves.com/news/disrupted-supply-chains-strain-trade-among-us-mexico-and-canada

1https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/01/22/carbon-footprint-homegrown-food-allotment-increase

The Netherlands will be the center for global food innovation with the Global Coordinating Secretariat (GCS)

On January 27, 2021, the Government of the Netherlands, the World Economic Forum (WEF) and several public and private sector partners launched Food Innovation Hubs at the Davos Agenda 2021 meeting. The Food Innovation Hubs will be a key multistakeholder platform that will leverage technology and broader innovations to strengthen local innovation ecosystems for food systems transformation. Supported by multi-year funding from the Government of Netherlands, the initiative will feature a Global Coordinating Secretariat (GCS) based in the Netherlands.

https://investinholland.com/news/the-netherlands-and-the-world-economic-forum-launch-food-innovation-hubs-initiative/The Netherlands and the World Economic Forum Launch Food Innovation Hubs Initiative

“Global food insecurity has been rising again. This stresses the need to redesign how we produce and consume food. The Netherlands is committed to forming partnerships that will catalyze the innovations that are needed to address the food system challenges. I am therefore proud to announce that the Netherlands will host the Global Coordinating Secretariat of the Food Innovation Hubs,” said Mark Rutte, Prime Minister of the Netherlands.

With the arrival of the GCS, the Netherlands will leverage its innovation-driven economy to help advance global food security. Boasting an extensive ecosystem of companies and knowledge institutions in agrifood, horticulture, breeding, high-tech and ICT, the Dutch are ideally positioned to play a leading role in shaping our planet’s food system.

The Food Innovation Hubs will be a flagship initiative of WEF’s Food Action Alliance leading to the UN Food Systems Summit 2021, and beyond. The role of the GCS will be to coordinate the efforts of the regional Hubs as well as align with global processes and initiatives such as the UN Food Systems Summit.

Global center for food innovation comes to the Netherlands

The Food Innovation Hubs initiative places the Netherlands at the center of global food innovation and sustainability. Located in Wageningen at the heart of the Dutch agrifood ecosystem, the GCS will direct the further development of global regional Food Innovation Hubs from the Netherlands. The work of these regional Hubs is already underway, with more than 20 organizations leading the initiative across Africa, ASEAN, Colombia, India and the European hub in Foodvalley Wageningen. Oost NL, a regional partner in the Invest in Holland Network, will support the GCS in starting this work.

“Food sustains life and is at the heart of our planet. But if we are to feed 10 billion people by 2050 within planetary boundaries, the way the world produces and consumes food needs to change. Innovation is critical in enabling this systemic transformation,” said Dominic Waughray, Managing Director of WEF.

“As progress is accelerated towards meeting the Sustainable Development Goals, the World Economic Forum is committed to supporting collective action and promoting country led agendas through the Food Innovation Hubs in this pivotal year for food systems,” added Waughray.

With country-led approaches, the Hubs will drive both high-end and low-cost grassroots and other innovations that could have scalable impact, as well as innovations encompassing supply chains, partnerships and business models that can enable systemic change.

Source: World Economic Forum

28 January 2021

[happyk44]

[ID: Collection of quotes and pictures.

1: Text reads: I wrote a poem about it, and then threw it away, because that's the last thing I need right now: More words dedicated to people who will never dedicate a single thing to me.

2: Text reads: I desire violently and I wait.

3: Text reads: I want so obviously, so desperately to be loved, and to be capable of love.

4: Text reads:

I made you my temple, my mural, my sky

Now I'm beginn' for footnotes in the story of

your life

Drawin' hearts in the byline

Always takin' up too much space or time

5: Text reads:

Someone, somewhere,

can you understand me a little,

love me a little?

6: Text reads: I want to love! I want love!

7: Tumblr post from @/treebloods: I have to bear this pain of being unloved. It's okay. I have so much love in my heart. It's okay. I have so much love between my hands. It's okay but I don't know where to put it. It's okay I don't want it to vanish. It's okay I want to be loved by you but I have to bear the pain. I have to give love and wait for nothing in return. It's okay I just want to hand you this love. It's okay you don't have to reach and take it.

8: Picture of a brown baby deer with spots curled up on a wood floor. The caption beneath the deer reads, "I just want to be loved the way I love."

9: Painting of a person sitting on the sand, overlooking the ocean. The waves are dark and rough, crashing against each other and frothing. The sky is a light blue-gray. The caption over the person reads, "Maybe one day I'll relate to the poems about being in love and being loved back. And not the ones about longing for it like it's something distant and unattainable for me."

10: Tumblr post from @/onlyanothermundane: You don't love me. Not really. You love what you want me to be. What you want me to give you. You don't see me for who I am, nor do you appreciate what I am ready to give. You don't love me. Not at all.

11: Text reads: I don't want to beg. I know you can feel it, my longing, the aching, my need for love. I don't want to beg. But oh god-Oh god, please. Please. Love me. Love me.

12: Text reads:

I often asked myself

do I want love

or do I want proof that I am loveable?

13: Text reads:

Please

I've been on my knees

Change the prophecy

Don't want money

Just someone who wants my company

Let it once be me

Who do I have to speak to

About if they can redo

The prophecy?

14: Text reads: "This probably sounds stupid, I know I'm still young and there's a lot of time for things to happen, but sometimes I think there is something about me that's wrong, that I'm not the kind of person anyone can fall in love with, and that I'll just always be alone. But I think if I knew someone was going to fall in love with me when I'm fifty-three or something, I think I could wait. Maybe. If I knew it would at least happen."

15: Text reads: I have no news. I live quietly, I love you and I wait.

16: Text reads in all caps:

I WANTED TO BE LOVED SO DESPERATELY

THAT MY FINGERS SHOOK WITH IT

I AM NOT BEAUTIFUL

BUT I COULD BE

/end ID]

Who will come into my kitchen and be hungry for me?

you say you don’t want a boyfriend, but you know that’s not true - Charlotte Green/the voice - Anaïs Nin/the unabridged journals of Sylvia Plath - Sylvia Plath/tolerate it - Taylor Swift/the unabridged journals of sylvia plath - Sylvia Plath/the unexpurgated diary of anaïs nin - Anaïs Nin/ @treebloods/@lovebeing-a-girl/@ sanwtch on instagram/ @onlyanothermundane/@tullispink/I am an observer, but not by choice - @fatimaamerbilal/the prophecy - Taylor Swift/criss cross - Lynne Rae Perkins/Vladimir Mayakovsky in a letter to Lili Brik/what I could never confess without some bravado - Emily Palermo/little weirds - Jenny Slate

requested here