#ow: orly

[greengremlingreen]

it's stated in one of the gidget's convos that iggy has only ever really come out to them (sorry, i don't have a screenshot), but then in the orlam route, orlam says this:

and it's so goddamn funny to me to imagine orlam just knowing, like he just knows (wich is so in character for him lmao, also iggy's closet is kind of a glass closet), but it's even funnier to imagine him just googling like a maniac (after one of their conversations, because something clicks in his brain about iggy) stuff about asexuality and signs of asexuality, because as much as he enjoys teasing iggy, he wouldn't want to cross a hard boundary, so google it is lol

(i have no idea where i was going with this post as you can tell and probably i'm just overthinking stuff, but it's a fun type of overthinking sooo)

[sailingseals]

They so eepy

[ashersbraincell]

[lookingviewer]

I couldn't resist... but they really look alike ✨

[just-a-carrot]

does orlam only like iggy in certain arcs or is it the whole game that he likes him how long has orlam liked iggy these are questions that need answers

that's a good question LOL

tbh i find it hard to describe the way that orlam "likes" people in general. i think that perhaps more than "liking" people he is instead just attracted to people and will sometimes develop stronger bonds with certain people over others (e.g., a feeling of wanting to be around that person a lot, a feeling of comfort around them, in addition to being attracted to them)

i think orlam's feelings towards iggy have been mostly those of fasciation throughout most of his life because he's never really understood iggy that well except that he knows iggy is quite different from him. and though i think a part of orlam is attracted to iggy, this lack of understanding has mostly kept him at a distance (especially when coupled when orlam's current mental health and lack of confidence issues). it's only during the moments where he feels some sort of proactive companionship coming from iggy's side (which there have been a few times throughout their lives) that the bond between them grows a bit, making him start to feel more secure and comfortable around him

(with arc 3 being like, all of this coming to a peak, with the moment they have coming right before orlam goes to wonderland and thus being at the forefront of his mind all throughout the time he's descending into depravity lol regaining his lost confidence)

that's kinda how i see him in the main OW timeline at least

i think an orlam that didn't lack that confidence originally and was in a very good place would probably be more assertive and more actively seek to learn more about iggy, half simply for his own amusement (he marvels at how different they are), and half because of that base attraction he does have for him (leading him to wanting them to have a stronger bond)

i feel like this answer came out very strangely worded LKDFAJSDFA i was having a hard time trying to put into words some of my vague nebulous thoughts around their relationship lol

[axciea]

Chibis your boys

[mariacallous]

Qatar, the small emirate on the Persian Gulf, has long enjoyed unmatched influence over Hamas, the ruling power in Gaza. It is now threatening to withdraw its services as a mediator between Hamas and Israel unless Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ceases what Doha considers to be a smear campaign against it. The fate of the remaining Israeli hostages in Gaza could now hang in the balance of this new diplomatic dispute.

Last week, Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said that the mediation process had been abused for “narrow political interests,” and that Qatar will make “the appropriate decision at the right time.” It was a message intended for Netanyahu, according to an Arab official who spoke to Foreign Policy.

Qatari officials reportedly believe that Netanyahu is deliberately delaying a possible release of hostages to prolong the war and stay in power. By threatening to walk away from the negotiations, they believe they can pressure Netanyahu into clarifying whether negotiating a hostage release is a priority for him at all. “We only negotiate when both sides want us to,” said a Qatari official who spoke to Foreign Policy on the condition of anonymity considering the sensitivity of the matter.

Netanyahu knows Qatar is necessary to the negotiations owing to the leverage that it gained over Hamas in the years prior to the current war. Qatar sent $1.3 billion in aid to Gaza between 2012 and 2021, at a time when Israel had otherwise largely cut off the territory, and it lent Hamas international credibility by giving its representatives airtime on Al Jazeera.

Qatar is well aware of its unique diplomatic position and is enjoying the limelight on the global stage. And yet there have been valid questions around Qatar’s intentions. There is strong suspicion in Israel and in parts of the U.S. government that it is biased in Hamas’s favor and pushing for its agenda. Doha, they say, could more effectively compel Hamas if it threatened those of its leaders who have taken residence in Qatar with expulsion, or with extradition to a country that lists Hamas as a terrorist organization.

Qatar started to host Hamas in 2012 after the group ran afoul of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and claims to have opened its doors at the behest of then-U.S. President Barack Obama. But Foreign Policy has learned from the aforementioned Arab official who is aware of the negotiations that despite bipartisan pressure from both Democratic and Republican lawmakers, Qatar has not yet asked Hamas to relocate.

Last week, U.S. Rep. Steny Hoyer accused Qatar of blocking negotiations, essentially abusing its role as a mediator. He was the fifth lawmaker to urge Congress to scrap Qatar’s status as a major non-NATO ally granted to the Arab nation in 2022 for supporting evacuations from Afghanistan. Any such demotion would not only be a global embarrassment for Qatar but would relegate it below Egypt and other competitors in the neighborhood who also hold the same designation.

“Qatar needs to make it clear to Hamas that there will be repercussions,” Hoyer said in a statement. Earlier this month, Republican Sens. Ted Budd, Joni Ernst, and Rick Scott introduced a bill that would require the United States to conduct a review to “terminate the designation” if Qatar didn’t expel or extradite Hamas’s leadership, “including Ismail Haniyeh, Khalil al-Hayya, Khaled Mashal,” its biggest leaders.

Orly Gilboa—the mother of 19-year-old Daniella Gilboa, who has been held hostage by Hamas since Oct. 7, 2023—said that the United States’ pressure on Qatar could work. “Qatar supports Hamas, but they want good relations with the U.S., so they will do what the U.S. wants them to do,” she told Foreign Policy over Zoom.

But some U.S. lawmakers said the move to scrap the status was premature and unwarranted. That has encouraged Doha to stay the course. But the Arab official believes that those who asked to strip Qatar of the designation are perhaps pro-Netanyahu lawmakers and do not speak for the Oval Office.

Budd’s legislation argues that if Hamas is refusing “reasonable” negotiations, then there is no reason for Qatar to continue hosting Hamas’s political office or members, parroting the viewpoint of many in Israel’s security community. But “reasonable” is being defined differently by the various parties concerned.

While Israel expects Qatar to convince Hamas to release hostages and then intends to resume the war to eliminate the group entirely from Gaza, Qatar finds merit in Hamas’s demand of a permanent cease-fire. This is the crux of the disagreement between Qatar and Israel.

“I don’t think it’s an unreasonable request,” said an Arab official familiar with the negotiations. “If they release all hostages, they want an end to the war.”

However, the Israeli security community suspects that’s not all Hamas wants. They argue it could have achieved an end to the war had it agreed to disarm and leave Gaza. Israelis fear that Hamas wants to return to Gaza, victorious, and carry out more attacks that match the cruelty of Oct. 7.

“We can’t hand Hamas a victory,” said Eran Lerman, a former Israeli deputy national security advisor. “After what they have done, we refuse to live with Hamas as our neighbors. And it’s not just Netanyahu, but there is wide support for the policy to eradicate Hamas.” Israel is ready to offer only a temporary truce until Hamas has been vanquished.

Doha makes the case that since the war has limited its ability to send aid to Gaza, it simply doesn’t have the kind of leverage it once did over Hamas’s leaders holding the hostages inside Gaza.

“Sinwar will rather die inside Gaza than agree to a deal to leave,” said an Arab official aware of the negotiations, referring to Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas leader within Gaza who was behind the Oct. 7 attack. “This is the mistake—this is what Israelis are not understanding.”

He said that threatening to kick out Hamas’s political leaders from Qatar will not bring the desired pressure on Hamas. Sinwar, who is making the final decisions about the hostage negotiations, doesn’t care about his group’s political representatives or where they live, “whether in Qatar, Turkey, Oman, or Iran.”

Israel also doesn’t care where Hamas’s leaders reside and has already declared that it will hunt them down wherever they may choose to hide. But Israeli leaders say that in the short term, they are focused on bringing back the hostages and eliminating Hamas.

Lerman said that Egypt has already been partly involved in negotiations, noting that it could become a single point of communication with Hamas if Qatar doesn’t succeed in mediating the release of the hostages in exchange for a temporary truce not a permanent cease-fire. “It’s not like we won’t be left with a channel of communication,” he said. “If Qatar cannot live up to its claim, that it has leverage over Hamas, then what’s the point?”

Some in the Israeli security community believe that once the long-expected Rafah operation has been successfully carried out and all of Gaza brought under Israeli occupation, Hamas’s leaders and members would be in for a run for their lives and more inclined to accept a deal on Israeli terms.

“Hamas will feel a very different kind of threat than they feel now—that will change their minds,” Lerman said.

It’s a tricky gamble. If Qatar walks out, Israel risks losing a mediator with more influence over Hamas than any other Arab state, and if Doha fails in ensuring safe hostage release, it may damage its ties with the United States. Thus far, neither side is willing to concede, and negotiations will likely go down the wire, further procrastinating the homecoming of the more than 130 Israelis believed to remain in Gaza.

Families of hostages have said that they want their loved ones released “despite the difficult price,” but they also don’t want Hamas to live next door, preferably.

“I prefer if there is a solution,” Gilboa said. “Maybe Hamas’s leaders can move to Qatar and live there.”

[iggy-behaviour]

my computer broke and i lost my yan sim (i dont support yandev, downloading the game doesnt pay him) and my OW files SOB

mY ORLY AND GENZY FILES WAHHHH

[luckydragon10]

P&P Chapters 52 and 53

(Chapters 50 and 51)

Sentimeter check:

Darcy is at -5. Still. Not moving. Because he isn't in the book. The Darcy is a lie.

Lizzy rose to +15.

~~~

Chapter 52

Holy shit, looks like this chapter is 50% letter. Okay then.

(Mrs. Gardiner's letter) "He (Darcy) came to tell Mr. Gardiner that he had found out where your sister and Mr. Wickham were, and that he had seen and talked with them both; Wickham repeatedly, Lydia once."

Of course he did. This is his heroic opportunity.

(Mrs. Gardiner's letter) "The motive professed was his conviction of its being owing to himself that Wickham’s worthlessness had not been so well known as to make it impossible for any young woman of character to love or confide in him."

Actually, I'm sure that is PART of the motive, and I think it's somewhat reasonable, too. Not that he was responsible for Wicky's behavior, but it was a bit like ignoring a recently fed fox among the chickens. Eventually the fox is going to get hungry.

(Mrs. Gardiner's letter) "If he had another motive, I am sure it would never disgrace him."

Mrs. Gardiner might be my favorite.

(Mrs. Gardiner's letter) "But at last your uncle was forced to yield, and instead of being allowed to be of use to his niece, was forced to put up with only having the probable credit of it, which went sorely against the grain; and I really believe your letter this morning gave him great pleasure, because it required an explanation that would rob him of his borrowed feathers, and give the praise where it was due."

Mr. Gardiner might be my other favorite.

(Mrs. Gardiner's letter) "His (Darcy's) understanding and opinions all please me; he wants nothing but a little more liveliness, and that, if he marry prudently, his wife may teach him."

Mrs. Gardiner is the captain of this ship.

(Mrs. Gardiner's letter) "I thought him very sly;—he hardly ever mentioned your name. But slyness seems the fashion."

Yup, favorite.

Okay. So. After reading the letter, I'm going to give Darcy +5 points for handling the whole thing, not because he's doing it out of love, but because I honestly believe that if the same thing happened to anyone else, he'd still do it just because it's the right thing. He doesn't have to do this, but that's what makes it even better.

And that means Darcy is finally at 0 points once again since the start of the story. 🤣

(Lizzy) She was roused from her seat, and her reflections, by some one’s approach; and before she could strike into another path, she was overtaken by Wickham.

HISSSSSSS.

~~~

Chapter 53

Lydia: “As often as I can. But you know married women have never much time for writing. My sisters may write to me. They will have nothing else to do.”

I want all of her behavior to be intentional. VERY intentional. I want it so badly.

Let Lydia Be a Raging Bitch 2022

“Well, well, and so Mr. Bingley is coming down, sister,” (for Mrs. Phillips first brought her the news). 

👀 ORLY? I'm listening.

But on the third morning after his arrival in Hertfordshire, she (Mrs. Bennet) saw him (Bingley), from her dressing-room window, enter the paddock and ride towards the house. Her daughters were eagerly called to partake of her joy. 

Read: Mrs. Bennet screamed.

Jane resolutely kept her place at the table; but Elizabeth, to satisfy her mother, went to the window—she looked,—she saw Mr. Darcy with him, and sat down again by her sister.

Lizzy's brain: Oh fuck oh shit oh fuck oh shit oh fuck oh shit.

Mrs. Bennet: "Well, any friend of Mr. Bingley’s will always be welcome here, to be sure; but else I must say that I hate the very sight of him.”

Pffft, the dramatic irony here is delicious.

She sat intently at work, striving to be composed, and without daring to lift up her eyes, till anxious curiosity carried them to the face of her sister as the servant was approaching the door. Jane looked a little paler than usual, but more sedate than Elizabeth had expected. 

I want to see this played with the utmost visual humor, Lizzy and Jane both fucking failing at composure, trying to help each other being composed, and making it worse.

And as the scene goes on, Mrs. Bennet is busy making Elizabeth and Jane want to melt into the ground. I really just want to visually enjoy that. I'll look forward to this scene in a live action.

(Chapters 54 and 55)

[c-is-for-circinate]

Several interesting options if things go sideways next episode

A NOTE TO THE UNIVERSE: THESE ARE AU IDEAS ONLY.  I DO NOT WANT TO SEE ANY OF THIS ACTUALLY HAPPEN.  AU ONLY!!!!!

I do not actually have an encyclopedic knowledge of the M9′s inventories, which means that while I’m pretty sure they have 2-3 diamonds, I might be off.  Furthermore, I don’t know how much the diamonds they have are worth, and they do have two people to bring back from the dead.  (It is very very important that Orly gets brought back from the dead, damnit.)

So: supposing that Revivify works on Orly, but the dice roll is too low for Fjord and it turns out to need a proper Raise Dead.  This is absolutely not a deal-breaker, especially since the party can and will buff themselves to hell and back to make the ritual offerings and lower the DC.  Supposing, additionally, that my lower estimate is correct and the team only has two diamonds on them, and spends them both raising Orly and Fjord, there are some really interesting possibilities for what the team could do next.

(These possibilities are only interesting because of my absolute certainty that the team would march to the Nine Hells themselves, at level 11, to bring Fjord back to life.  He’s going to be fine.  They love him too much for any other option.  I SPEAK THIS TRUTH INTO THE UNIVERSE DAMNIT.)

The M9 attempt very carefully locate and purchase a diamond from another ship in the armada on the way to peace talks.  They have to do this without their high-charisma face, without any apparent captain, and without letting on to this entire, extremely touchy, extremely-well-armed armada full of ships that they used to be pirates, they’re marked for death by a sea serpent demigod, or, y’know, literally anything else about themselves.  Slightly hysterical tense hilarity ensues.

Essek fucking owes them.  They call it in.  He is going to teleport somewhere to buy the biggest fucking diamond he can get, and he is going to teleport back to the Ball Eater to give it to them as soon as motherfucking possible.  There’s some really fascinating role-reversal in the burden of debt involved in this taxi service, Essek shows some actual emotion about Fjord’s death, and a whole lot of intrigue revolves around trying not to let on to anybody else that Essek is doing this or why.

Fuck it: Essek can’t or won’t help, there are no diamonds to be had, Jester is hysterical and Beau has checked out completely, they’re done.  Fuck the peace talks.  Fjord is more important.  The entire M9 teleport away, leaving the Ball Eater and also the entire continent to its own fate.  World peace matters.  Their friend matters more.

Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck: their friend matters so much, but world peace matters more.  Caduceus casts Gentle Repose immediately, obsessively, twice as frequently as the spell requires.  Everybody shrinks down to the tightest, tensest versions of themselves.  They will save the motherfucking world because that is their job, and then they will go the fuck back to Nicodranas or Rosohna or anywhere in the goddamn world on dry land and they will fix this.

It’s impossible to pick between saving Fjord and saving the peace talks, so they do the unthinkable and split the party.  One of the clerics and two people with something to offer a resurrection ritual bamf off for diamonds and desperation.  The other cleric stays with the ship and the other half of the party, grim and determined, trail along with the armada trying to keep up face and protect this fragile peace with only three people.  (Literally any division here is fascinating.  Jester, Caleb, and Nott trying to resurrect while Beau stays to first-mate the ship and Yasha stays to keep them safe and Caduceus stays to keep them alive?  Both Empire Siblings stick to the peace mission and send Nott and Yasha off drag Fjord back?  So many options, so much awesome.)

The M9 are shit at moderation and not great at long-term plans, but they sure are good at doubling down, so they’re going to do both: take Fjord back to land to bring him back to life, and make it to the peace talks in time.  The Ball Eater’s faster than most of this fleet.  They attempt to hightail it back to Nicodranas and then catch back up.  U’kotoa tries to raid the ship twice more before they hit the coast and then three more times on their way back to the armada before they finally kill him themselves.  They do not actually make it to the talks in the end.

[zombeesknees]

#and as always - bloom's eyebrow work doing most of the actorly heavy lifting for him  #bless his little socks

[greengremlingreen]

orly being real on my tomodachi life island makes me so happy lmao

[sailingseals]

he squishy squishy

[ashersbraincell]

[princessamericachavez]

Can’t forget what you can’t get back

The fight is over but the storm is still roaring around them. Jester feels far away, like she’s walking through a dream —a nightmare, actually—, as she moves across the deck. Caduceus, with one hand spread towards Fjord and one towards Orly casts a quiet spell. 

“Wha- what are you doing?” She squeaks, terrified that he’ll turn Fjord’s body into musk, decompose him before she can get to him. 

“Buying us time,” he replies. His usually gentle voice is tainted by something hard and cold. “You need to bring both of them back. I don’t have the spell prepared.”

She should feel relieved, but there’s still that numbness spreading through her limbs. Caduceus turns to her, glowering, and urges her, “go, Jester!”

Nodding, she turns around and hurries the rest of the way to Fjord’s... body. She freezes at the sight. It’s not the deep messy wound on his chest that hits her the hardest: it’s his face, the way his mouth hangs open, like he’s gasping for air, and his half-open eyes, unseeing, lifeless after she’s seen them filled with so much joy. He’s gone.

“Fjord,” her voice cracks, choked by the pain that stabs her through the gut.

She kneels next to him as her nervous hands search for the diamond in her haversack. The rock is big, beautiful and cold in her hands. She places it carefully over his chest. 

“Traveler!” She screams loudly over the raging winds. “Traveler, please!”

Her eyes fill with tears.

“Wildmother? Someone, please.”

Jester breaths in tries to find the magic inside her, magic that was never powered by a true God, magic that was faith in someone who was lying to her, magic that she’s too shaken to find inside her anymore. She can hear the others shift around her, waiting. She looks down at the lifeless corpse before her.

You need to do this. Fjord needs you. Fjord trusts you to look after him. You promised. 

A firm hand presses over her shoulder. She feels Caduceus’s magic spreading through her, calming and guiding her. Jester carefully brushes Fjord’s bangs away from his face.

“Please come back to me, Fjord. Please,” she whispers. 

A flash of green in front of her startles her friends. Jester raises her eyes to find The Traveler, Artagan, kneeling before her on the other side of Fjord. He looks unusually winded, like he ran all the way here, with his red hair messy and damp. His green eyes are intense and they meet hers, heavy with an unspoken apology, with the weight of responsibility, with familiar reassurance.

“I am here,” he says, firmly, and places his hands around hers.

That’s all she needs. He’s here; she’s not alone; she’s never been. That’s where her magic has been all along: in love. Being loved and loving her oldest friend, her new friends, her mother, the world, the light and happiness in it. It’s love. She looks down at Fjord. She has love to spare for him.

The diamond explodes into a million pieces between her fingers, turned into shiny dust that expands across the ship deck, like a constellation of stars frozen in time between raindrops. In the shimmering reflection of the gem dust, Jester recognizes a familiar face, kind and motherly. Life and death hang in the air for a magical instant, before the particles regroup under her hands and fill the gap in Fjord’s chest with stardust.

The Traveler looks exhausted as he disappears.

Fjord gasps for air.

His eyes shine bright with life once more as he sits up, expecting a fight.

“Wha- where- who-”

As he focuses on her, confused and rattled and wonderfully alive, whatever had been holding Jester together cracks. Overwhelmed with relief, she chuckles, but the joy turns into a sob in her throat. All the fear and sadness of the past minute smash against her like a wave. She hugs Fjord tightly against her, weeping against his shoulder.

“Ow-” He complains. “Jester, what- What happened? Are you alright?” He sounds so concerned for her.

She nods, sobbing. “You came back.”

“Came back? From whe- oh.” 

Fjord stiffens against her. She assumes it’s realization settling in, the memory of the battle, the weight of its consequences. She feels one of his arms wrap around her waist. His hold is tight, giving and looking for comfort at the same time.

She could stay here forever, feeling his body recover warmth, feeling the steady rise and fall of his chest as her hands press healing spells into his back.

“Jester,” someone said. “Jester, Orly.”

It takes all of her strength to let go of him, to push off from him —nightdress soaked in water and blood— and stand up. Her friends’ faces are tearful, relieved, shaken still. Fjord, too, looks like he has been crying and isn’t trying to hide it. Despite it, he sends her a shaky smile. Neither finds the words they seem to be looking for.

She runs off towards Orly’s body, pulling out the other diamond. 

“One more, Traveler. We can do one more. Together.”

As she passes by, Caduceus pats her in the back. The tension in his shoulders hasn’t quite dissipated, she can see anger simmering under the surface but, despite it, his eyes are kind. 

“You did good,” he murmurs, “but it isn’t over.”

He’s not talking about their other dear friend that still must be brought back from the dead. No, when he speaks he’s looking at the dark stormy sea. Jester feels the storm inside her. She nods. If they are really going to save Fjord, they’ve got some sea snake hunting to do.

[just-a-carrot]

cat cuddles 🐱