#proven wildly incorrect

[hisokas-toybox]

It's Christmas eve... And because I love you all I have not one, but two treats to share for all my lovely hxh friends/followers (esp my fellow Illumi and Hisoka simps)

This is not one of the treats I've promised, but the gif just reminded me of this, so STORY TIME.

The first time I watched the Greed Island arc, based on the intro sequence alone, I fully believed that the plot was going to be as follows: Bisky (who I thought was a fellow child/tween) would befriend Gon and it would be obvious to us as the viewers that Gon would develop a crush on her.

Killua meanwhile would become increasingly jealous/insecure thinking he's been replaced as Gon's best friend. I thought the arc would be about Gon and Killua learning how to navigate this new hurdle in their friendship.

Based on the above gif, I also believed that, HISOKA of all people would be one to explain to the boys that what Gon felt for Bisky was a crush and not a friendship and it didn't have to impact his friendship with Killua...

I mean, I'm glad we got the arc we did, especially the dodgeball scene. And I'm super glad that Bisky ended up being a wayyy more interesting and plot relevant character than I first presumed. But, I do feel a little bit cheated that we didn't get agony aunt Hisoka... I think about this terrible misunderstanding every time I use/see this gif.

[charlesabramsscarminetits]

something profoundly fascinating about ward is how frequently victoria will say something that is just wrong. like taylor regularly is incorrect about her own motivations or plans or desires and frequently tunnel visions into unreasonable justifications for her own actions but up until speck her view of the universe is basically accurate. victoria will say something like. powers don't go to the disabled. and we know this is wrong. or she'll talk about how tattletale was the mastermind behind brockton bay. or how taylor killed alexandria right when everyone needed her. or more immediately she'll talk about how dangerous and concerning ashley is or go off on long tangents about the mentality of her foes that are immediately proven totally wildly incorrect. or go on a long spiel about trigger psychology and its relation to a cape who turns out to be from cauldron.

the weird thing about this is how much of it ends up being right for inexplicable reasons.

[silversiren1101]

Hello! Would like to know your thoughts on Regill's personality. Do you think he has high self-esteem? (Used a translator, sorry!)

Hello Anon! Thank you for the question - I love to talk about Regill <3

Do I think Regill has high self-esteem? I do! But in a way I think is different from what those words usually imply.

Regill would be the first to argue that he has no ego, and that he only operates on the most logical and correct course of action rather than one driven by his pride as a commander. His dialogue when he says that "Regill Derenge is the first on his list" when it comes to scrutiny and that he strives to be an emotionless construct conveys what he thinks about himself... but what he thinks is wrong. He is incorrect in his assessments about himself, because trusting so much in your judgement and saying that it is the most logical and correct means that he thinks very, very highly of his reasoning and capabilities, and thus himself.

He might argue it is because he is so experienced and has lived through so many encounters and seen them first hand that he trusts himself so much, but there is more to it than that. There are some instances in the game where he questions his judgement and accepts he was wrong, and to me that suggests a high level of self-esteem. It's usually sensitive and low self-esteem people that get offended and defensive when proven wrong, as they see it as an attack on their character, capabilities, and worth. Regill does not get defensive in these situations. He is willing to accept new information and change his reasoning and opinions based on this information, suggesting he is confident in himself as a person and leader. He is willing to extend a hand in cooperation with people he dislikes and has disagreements with, and is more than willing to share his counsel and give advice (Sosiel, Seelah, Lann, etc) just as he is willing to accept critique and act upon it (Lann). This is not how someone with low self-esteem would act.

However, I would also say that he is not egotistical. He has an ego and he has pride, but he is not egotistical as he is not self-serving or conceited. His ego and pride go toward whatever cause he has devoted himself to, whether that be the grander cause of the Hellknights or something more immediate and "right now". An egotistical man would not sacrifice his entire life's career and reputation for the sake of someone else's success (his Act 5 quest and trial), but also, a man with no ego and no self-esteem would not consider the sacrifice of his career and reputation enough to make the Knight Commander beyond reproach. He strikes me as a man that very much knows his worth and is assured in it, yet also consciously views it as yet another tool to leverage. He is proud of his capabilities and successes not for personal reasons, but because he is proud to serve and advance his causes. If he is a cog in a machine, he is happy to be one of the central-most ones, as it means the machine runs better and more efficiently as a whole unit.

His personality is a complicated one and a simple one at the same time. I personally describe him as someone that feels very deeply, but has little to zero emotional intelligence. Someone that does not care passionately about order would not become a Hellknight, much less one so wildly successful as to reach the rank of Paralictor. He does not hesitate to proclaim himself a being of order and reason, and condemns actions driven by emotion, and yet most of his own actions are very much that: emotional. He just doesn't realize it, or, abjectly refuses to acknowledge it. He leaps to conclusions and makes bold calls to action immediately when events challenge his worldview or cause, often to an extreme degree. He cares deeply, very deeply, and feels things very strongly, but because of what he wants to be (an emotionless construct) and what he values, he has not developed an emotional intelligence and refuses to do so.

Someone that does not care would not offer to take in that Sarenite order with the words "No longer will you feel like helpless prey in the talons of a hawk." Someone that does not care would not have a hidden flag that gives you bonuses to your trust score with him the nicer you have been to Yaker, even challenging Regill himself when he goes too hard on the lad. Someone that does not care would not sacrifice his career and reputation for the sake of the Knight Commander's victory. Someone that does not care would not be willing to give Sosiel and Seelah combat advice (and compliments! which he does in various camp banter!) and work with them to build a more cohesive unit. And someone that does not care would not offer Greybor a referral to the Order of the Scar, the most respected and smallest of the Hellknight Orders.

I could go on, but I think I've conveyed enough :) Hopefully the translator is able to work with this!

Regill is prideful and arrogant (at times), but not egotistical. He is rather selfless, and his pride does not stop him from cooperating with people at odds with his beliefs. He feels deeply and is very passionate about what he believes in, but not emotionally intelligent enough to be fully conscious of how hypocritical he is. He is very hypocritical, and I love that about him <3

[shoeboxgoblin]

Types of history museum guests, in no particular order:

- "this (object) is old. Do you want it?" (Doesn't want to fill out provenance paperwork, just wants to get rid of junk)

- "my grandma donated something here 30 years ago why isn't it on display?" (We only display a very small fraction of our collection at a given time)

- related to that, "what do you mean you don't display everything, isn't that what you're for?" (No)

- "where is (exhibit that closed several years ago)? It's my favorite!" (Will be disappointed when I tell them it's gone)

- person making a wildly incorrect assumption about an object on display and then confidently relaying that assumption to their group. Every object we have on display is clearly labeled and described btw. People just don't like to read.

[9w1ft]

That anon about the keyhole arch reminded me of a point you often make that seems to be very difficult for some people to grasp (I’m not talking about anon, it just reminded me of the concept.)

When we think Taylor (and Karlie) are giving hints, it very often isn’t an EXACT copy of the original thing she’s referencing. Whether it’s clothes, or a flower, or a location, or even an eye, it’s usually just something that’s reminiscent without being undeniable. So the keyhole arch not actually being the one at Pfeiffer Big Sur beach doesn’t mean it’s not supposed to remind us of that. Heck, the Vogue photoshoot wasn’t even done in Big Sur (it was Malibu.) Similarly, a shirt that isn’t exactly the same but is the same color, or a similar style, an archway or a checker board pattern, or the colors of a certain flag, etc etc etc, in our world view it’s just a fun hint, it’s not supposed to be some sort of irrefutable proof, and I think you’re either confident in your beliefs, and understand that, or you’re a doubter who’s looking for reassurance, but always sees holes in the evidence. Not that we all aren’t both of these from time to time, it’s not black and white.

And we don’t always all agree that something means something, and we sometimes think someone is reaching too far with what they see as a hint, but we still have this understanding that this is what’s happening and we’re going to see it and we’re going to enjoy it, even if they didn’t mean to do it or we are being delusional occasionally. It doesn’t really matter if one individual thing is meaningful, it’s the whole grand game that we’re playing for years now that is fun and can feel very meaningful.

I appreciate how you are always able to do this and enjoy things.

↑ yeah this part right here this is it

you worded this all very masterfully, thank you!

one thing i wanted to add is that i think a lot of the ‘reach’ and ‘proof’ conversation comes more naturally when you are not there yet with kaylor and/or you engage a lot or are active a lot on places where the people around you are actively out there to disprove kaylor and you end up in a position of defending or wanting to defend yourself

once you sort of realize, or have fallen completely into the orbit of kaylor and aren’t thrown off orbit by things anymore, and you let go of a want to prove kaylor to people who willfully don’t want to see it, and you no longer are holding out for vindication, then it just becomes more fun and easy and casual to think about and engage with the language of symbolism and optics that have proven themselves over a period of years.

this is why i often say that our blogs don’t exist for the purpose of proving kaylor to others. a lot of the more skeptical newcomers come here with an attitude of wanting to be told and expecting it.

but if you really really believe in kaylor all the way, when you really get there, you kind of become protective of the best parts, or, more open to letting go of correcting all the wildly incorrect things other parts of the fandom literally make up, and accusations of reaching for a lot of stuff don’t hurt anymore because it shouldn’t be smoking gun stuff or like me personally i like that a lot of stuff that i say about the eye theory sounds bonkers because, well, sometimes tempering one’s credibility from time to time is a good thing!

[delusion-of-negation]

pop psychology fans be like: *asserts the most nonsensical and incorrect ideas about the human mind as proven facts*

"the brain is fully developed at 25" - brains never "fully develop", literally making memories means adding cells, all that happens around 25ish (varying wildly between people) is in one area cells begin dying about as fast as they can be created. you don't fully develop, and there's certainly not some mythical point where all people's brains reach the platonic ideal cell count for making an educated decision, in fact the size of it will vary between people, while there's literally no evidence it directly and simplistically is perfectly predictive of your ability to make decisions, in fact any number of internal or external factors can affect that even more.

"all faces in dreams are strangers you saw, the brain can't make people's faces up" - this is the real life version of magic can't do romantic love from scratch for some reason, and it's not true, it makes literally no sense and has no evidence. you really think an ability to perfectly remember thousands of faces you briefly saw seems easier than just making them up? when we know we can imagine things far more complex from scratch? idek how to say everything wrong and backwards about this nonsensical theory.

"your thoughts can't change volume" - yes, they can. maybe you haven't experienced that, but thoughts getting louder is a major common symptom in a panic attack, this is an established fact. absolutely not unique to panic attacks either, it happens often.

"a figment of your mind can't be confused by what your mind is doing, because it's literally part of your mind" - I heard someone make this claim to dispute people who said a character in a film simply existed in his head (something explicitly stated in it), and instead claim she had to exist externally, but again it's disputed literally by symptoms of mental health issues (like DID, OCD, or MaDD), something the film was absolutely aiming to convey. it's genuinely weird to imagine how somebody can think your brain cannot confuse itself or parts of itself, at least for me, the mind absolutely isn't some mysterious magical singular force, it's just what we call the activity carried out by this squishy ball of meat.

[anamnaesis]

THE PLANET ILIYON PRIME AND THE ILIYONITES

found in the andromeda galaxy, iliyon prime (or just iliyon for simplicity) is home to a wide variety of extraterrestrials . approximately the size of jupiter , its atmosphere is toxic to humans (and honestly it’s just not inhabitable by the slowly evolving beings of the skydom), but are still conducive enough to organic life and its harsh conditions have caused the organisms that inhabit the planet to be capable of rapid and conscious evolution by molecular reconstruction . this trait of the iliyonites allows them to come to the skydom without straight up perishing war of the worlds style. they often take forms that suit their environment and needs. the iliyonites can only use the amount of mass their bodies have to reconstitute, making their weights often unexpected for their size (but this gets complex considering iliyonites can also consume other living organisms to add to their own mass ???). tyrias’ original body is a testament to the harsh conditions of iliyon, as that body is made to withstand any of the harsh changes in the planet’s weather patterns or entire ecosystem.  

the organic beings of iliyon do qualify as intelligent life, as proven by their ability to communicate with the people of various skydoms. however, much of their acquisition of knowledge involves ... devouring an organism that they wish to learn from, so that’s un-fun. they are capable of altering the structure of other organic beings by a transfer of their own genetics (a phenomenon leading to the hybrid situation). 

survival of the fittest is basically how iliyonites think, which is why dr. rashomon and other researchers believe the iliyonites are 1 abominations 2 incapable of love . the latter being INCREDIBLY INCORRECT, iliyonites DO have emotions and higher thought, and would be WILDLY OFFENDED to know they were thought of as mindless (and actually they were and still are mad about it). 

iliyonites are categorized into four internal structure shapes, as there’s no real way to classify their outward appearances since they can change those whenever they feel they need to. all ilyionites share the same internal traits of: more than one stomach, more than one heart, more than 2 distinct lobes of the brain 

the iliyonite marva falls into the first category — iliyonites with this internal structure are noted to have 2 stomachs and four hearts. their brains are divided into four distinct lobes (compared to right and left in humans etc). 

the iliyonite bucon falls into the second category — iliyonites with this structure have two stomachs and two hearts and have five distinct lobes of their brains. they also have a higher carbon concentration and are incredibly durable. they lack reproductive organs and instead divide much like cells. 

the iliyonite derme falls into the third category — iliyonites with this structure have three stomachs and five hearts and brains divided into 3 distinct lobes. much like snakes, they’re mostly spinal cord and muscle, allowing for flexibility in any form they take. they also have a “bile sac” where they store bile or venom to spit at other beings. 

tyrias falls into the fourth category — iliyonites with this structure have four stomachs and six hearts. they also have six distinct lobes of their brains. most of these iliyonites are also MASSIVE in base size, so often when they take smaller forms, they are REALLY HEAVY. while there's no real way to back up the claim, some skyfaring researchers (like rashomon) believe that these "high tier" iliyonites are actually singularities and simply exist as a sole constant across realities (and for some, this is in fact true, but that's for a later post!) 

there’s more to come about funky aliens but for now take this thanks for coming to my tedtalk .

[full-pockets]

Okay so you know how like Fatui Harbingers have Delusions? Signora has a Cyro Vision but a Pyro Delusion, Childe has a Hydro Vision but an Electro Delusion. We're gonna ignore Scaramouche for this theory.

I know not everyone can weild a Delusion, but like, what's stopping someone like Pierre, who's supposed to be the most powerful of the Fatui Harbingers, to be able to use MULTIPLE DELUSIONS alongside his Vision or any other power he has (possible K'harniah however you spell it decent or actually from there?)

Like, maybe he uses his Vision, for shits and giggles lets say its Cyro, but he can use a Pyro and Anemo and Hydro Delusion. Like imagine how powerful that could be.

Imagine if the Fatui could somehow create someone or somethin capable of using all elements of Delusions.

[fakesies-acc]

Ok, I’m going to freak out about this art just a little bit (I’m going absolutely feral). The authors use of body language in this is incredible.

In the first image, there’s a clear sense of defeat and submission. It feels as though dream!narinder is toying with lambert, and the lamb is aware but can’t bring themselves to make him stop. This is obviously shown in their expressions, as lambert is crying while dream!narinder is numb or even disdainful. But what’s interesting is their body language. dream!narinder holds the lamb in a mimicry of affection, but there is no genuine care there. He’s just toying with them. The lamb seems to notice this, but allows it to happen without complaint because as @bamsara has mentioned, lambert doesn’t feel narinder cares for them at all but rather views them as a tool to be used, and dream!narinder mirrors this belief even in his affections.

The second image is even more fascinating because it completely contradicts the previous image. Narinder holds dream!lamb like a treasure. He holds them as he cries, and when lambert enters his dream (or when he enters theirs) they cling onto him as well.

These depictions of the dream world tell us something about both the characters. A. They both have wildly incorrect assumptions about each other, from narinder thinking the lamb does not return is affections, to lambert believing narinder is only pretending to care about them. This is shown to be wildly incorrect, as proven by the end of the slideshow when lambert finds themself in narinders arms, then hugs him back. B, if narilamb were truly seeing each other in their dreams, they would be pleasant because what they want more than anything is the affection and acceptance the other is willing to give.

TLDR: this art holds so many subtle emotions and I absolutely love it. BamSara has outdone themself, and I want hugs now.

I think I forgot to post these ages ago. Anyway

[angeloncewas]

I've seen a lot of good posts, but I think the important thing to remember for Wilbur's speech is that L'manberg was built on the sentiment that wars are won through words.

And they lost.

The thing that won them their revolution was technically diplomacy, as Tommy traded his discs for freedom, but it followed a bow duel, and the destruction of their nation, and a death for all of L'manberg's people, powerless in a blackstone box.

Wilbur saw violence win out, saw power be the most coveted thing, saw his ideas of armor-less discussion and freedom be crushed under the weight of netherite.

If you really want to help people you’re going to need power Quackity.

They’ll cheer for you in the streets but you will change nothing. If you have a revolution, everyone will hate you, you will sacrifice everything and you will lose everything you’ve ever had.

Wilbur suggested L'manberg hold an election as a proper, centralized show of power. His administration was increasingly unpopular and he wanted to know that his people would choose him, albeit in a convoluted way; he needed to know that he was still the one calling the shots. That's why his name was meant to be the only one on the ballot.

All of this is very consistent to the Wilbur we know, complexity and all. We also what happens next, but in a way, Wilbur does too.

Quackity says Wilbur and him are unalike in that he believes in the inherent goodness of people. If you just focus on what Wilbur says about power, Quackity doesn't seem wrong, but Wilbur also says:

When I look at you, as a fellow outsider, you’re not ready for that.

Wilbur doesn't see Quackity's mindset as fundamentally wrong or incorrect - in fact, he implies that it's a characteristic they share - he just believes that it doesn't hold up in the world they live in. Experience has proven that to him; it is pre-Manberg, but things already have spiralled wildly out of his control and he's trying to keep up.

If you think that makes him "evil all along," I don't know what to tell you.

[little-mad]

Downsides of Thievery Pt. 4

~ Previous Part ~ Next Part ~

After the scolding he issued, Rael felt fairly confident that he would be hearing no more disturbances from his human prisoner. Despite Gavin Stone seeming to have gained a bit of confidence recently, Rael still remembered the way he had trembled and squirmed in his hand. Surely that fear would be easily re-instilled by Rael’s sharp warning.

Unfortunately, Rael’s prediction proved incorrect, an occurrence that was quite unusual and quite hated. “Hey, how are you speaking our language?” Rael’s jaw tightened as he heard the human’s words. When he glanced down he could see the man looking up expectantly through the bars of the cage.

The answer to the human’s question was relatively simple. Rael, along with everyone that worked in or around the palace, had been required to learn several human languages. The idea was that if a human visitor ever somehow got lost in the palace, any staff member they may stumble across would be able to assist them.

The process of studying languages was made much easier by imbibing potions that aided in quick learning, which explained how Rael had managed to become fluent in four human languages in a matter of weeks. Not that he really wanted the ability to communicate with humans. Perhaps his prisoner wouldn’t be pestering him so much if they couldn’t understand one another.

Now Rael needed to decide whether to answer Gavin Stone’s question or ignore it. Obviously, he didn’t know the human well enough to know which option would be most effective in getting him to shut up.

He sighed, deciding to go with a third option. “That is not crucial and therefore does not warrant a response,” Rael said in the most formal and rigid tone he could manage. He would behave as unapproachable and unfriendly as possible to deter any future interaction from the human.

“Come on, it’s boring just sitting in this cage,” the human complained, sounding far more like a child than the adult he was meant to be.

A mischievous thought popped into Rael’s mind. Ordinarily, he would ignore these kinds of thoughts while he was working. Rael was never one to fool around on the job. However, there were no alteons around, meaning there was no one to judge him or get him into any kind of trouble. The only witness was the human prisoner, who had no voice among alteon society.

After coming to an abrupt stop, Rael reached down towards his hips and unattached the small cage from his belt. “Hey, what are you--” The human’s words were cut off and replaced with a startled yelp as Rael swiftly pulled the cage, along with its occupant, up into the air.

Rael held the cage mere inches from his own face. The proximity was so close that he could see the miniscule details of Gavin Stone’s face, like the fact that the man had a little freckle near his jaw.

“If you would like some excitement, I could always remove you from your cage and carry you in my hands instead,” Rael offered smoothly, a sly smirk tugging at the corners of his lips. “Although, I can’t guarantee I’ll be particularly gentle. People always say I have a firm grip.”

The way the human’s hazel eyes went wide as he sat sprawled out in the middle of the cage brought Rael a sense of satisfaction. The little man’s recent actions had proven him to be nothing but trouble, if the fact that he stole from a diplomat wasn’t evidence enough. Rael was more than happy to set the human straight.

-

For the second time in a day, Gavin found himself being held directly in front of an alteon’s face. And man, did he not like it. Being so comparatively small, trapped in the gaze of such a massive person--it was unbelievably intimidating. It made him feel like he was a specimen under a microscope or something.

The fact that Gavin had iron bars separating him from his captor didn’t really make him feel any safer, especially considering the threat Rael had just made. The alteon’s words had sent an icy chill down his spine, and the smirk on the giant face hovering in front of him did not help him feel any better.

It was startling how Rael had gone from irritated, but mostly indifferent, to intentionally intimidating. Gavin had had the guy pegged for a tight laced no nonsense type, but apparently he had a roguish side to him. Were Gavin’s heart not hammering wildly from adrenaline and fear, he might have been able to appreciate the fact that the alteon had a hidden, less boring side to him.

“Uh--that’s not really what I had in mind,” Gavin awkwardly responded as he clambered up to his feet. “I kind of just wanted to talk…” he trailed off with an uncomfortable laugh. It was nigh on impossible to maintain any composure while a jumbo elf guy stared at you so intensely.

Rael lifted a single dark eyebrow. “Oh? But I’m quite certain you wouldn’t be so bored if I carried you in my hands.” A shiver ran across Gavin’s skin at the memory of being trapped in the giant’s hand. As much as he didn’t like to be stuck in the cage, he’d choose that over a fist anyday. At least the iron bars of the cage couldn’t spontaneously contract around him and squeeze his poor, fragile body--or at least, he hoped they couldn’t.

“No, that’s okay. I...I’ll stay here,” Gavin replied.

A smug look took form on Rael’s face. “Very well then. There should be no need for further interruptions then,” he stated.

With no warning, the hand holding the cage moved down towards Rael’s belt. Of course, Gavin was once again thrown to the floor. “Would it kill him to at least give me a little heads up?” he griped internally.

In a matter of moments, Gavin’s cage was reattached to his captor’s belt and they were on their way again. Gavin resumed his previous “withstand the giant leg bumping into you” position and, for the moment, he remained silent.

It wasn’t as though Gavin was planning on doing what Rael wanted. The giant man may have essentially threatened him and effectively scared the shit out of him, but that didn’t mean he was ready to fold. Now that he knew Rael had this whole other side to him, it made Gavin want to push him even more.

And while there was no doubt that Rael could easily crush him if he wanted to, Gavin had a feeling that doing so would get him in big trouble with his boss. Of course, the alteon could always make Gavin’s trip to the palace more uncomfortable, as he had threatened. However, that was something Gavin was willing to risk if it meant he could satisfy his inexplicable need to disobey orders.

Gavin granted the alteon a couple minutes of quiet, almost as if to lull him into a false sense of security. During this downtime, Gavin pondered what exactly he should say next. As he was thinking, he noticed his bladder beginning to complain. He was suddenly keenly aware of the fact that he hadn’t gone to the bathroom since the morning. Honestly it was a miracle he hadn’t wet himself from fear yet.

“Hey, Rael? How much longer till we get there?” Gavin asked. He looked upward to carefully watch for the alteon’s reaction.

Even from the awkward angle Gavin was looking from, he could tell that Rael’s nostrils flared, and his lips pressed into a thin, angry line. Unsurprisingly, he appeared to be displeased with Gavin’s outburst.

“Unfortunately, we still have around half an hour left,” Rael said through clenched teeth.

“That’s too loooong,” Gavin’s mind whined. There was no way he was going to make it that long without his bladder exploding. Plus, who even knew if there would be somewhere he could go to the bathroom at the palace. “Do they even have indoor plumbing here???”

“Uh--do you think we could maybe take a little pit stop?” Gavin asked hopefully. Honestly, he wasn’t even purposefully trying to be annoying this time. He was just genuinely in need of a bathroom break.

“‘Pit stop’?” Rael inquired. Apparently his fluency in English didn’t cover all of the little phrases.

“Allow me to rephrase,” Gavin said. “Can we stop so I can go pee in a bush?” Being so blunt about the subject felt strange when talking to the likes of Rael. The guy spoke so formally that Gavin had to wonder whether he’d wound his sensibilities with this kind of talk.

Sure enough, Rael’s eyes widened slightly at Gavin’s request. The fact that he was taken aback by something Gavin had done was more than a little satisfying. Ruffling those carefully arranged metaphorical feathers of his always counted as a win to Gavin.

After recovering from the initial surprise, Rael’s expression returned to its usual annoyed glower. “Can you not hold it?” he questioned, a tightness in his voice.

Gavin shook his head, though after remembering Rael probably wouldn’t catch the movement, he said, “Not likely.” The constant bouncing movement of his cage would make it all the more difficult to keep his bladder under control.

A long, growly sigh sounded from above. Gavin looked up to see Rael wearing a dark scowl on his face. “Fine,” the alteon relented as his walking came to an abrupt stop.

For once, Gavin was actually prepared for the massive movements of his giant captor. He clung tightly onto the iron bars as Rael unhooked the cage from his belt and carried it into the air.

A flurry of disorienting motion later and Rael was sitting on a log with Gavin’s cage resting on one of his legs. As Gavin looked up at the alteon, he couldn’t help but notice he was basically in the giant man’s lap. “Oh god, it’s like I’m his little pet,” Gavin’s brain moaned as his face began to heat up slightly.

Seemingly oblivious to Gavin’s embarrassment, Rael looked down on his captive sternly. “I will let you out of this cage and you can...do your business,” the alteon stated, a bit of awkwardness tinging his voice at the end of the sentence. He cleared his throat, as if to regain his composure, and continued. “If you make any attempt to flee, I can assure you that recapturing you will be nearly effortless.” Yeah, he’d proven that when Gavin had tried to run from him on the roof.

Pushing down the intimidation, Gavin waved a dismissive hand. “Yeah, yeah, I got it.” As if running away would do him any good at this point. He had nowhere to go in this dimension. And as much of a hardass as Rael was, he’d much rather take his chances with him than risk an encounter with some random alteon.

Rael narrowed his eyes as he scrutinized Gavin for a moment. Then, after he was apparently satisfied, he took a hold of the cage and relocated it to the ground in front of his feet.

Gavin watched as Rael’s large fingers easily managed the latch on the cage that no human would ever be able to handle. As soon as the door was unlocked, Rael pulled away and sat back up straight.

Tentatively, Gavin approached the now open cage door. Ever since arriving in the alteon dimension, he had been enclosed in his little prison. It had almost become like a little safety bubble. A shitty, no fun safety bubble, but still a safety bubble.

A part of Gavin didn’t want to leave the cage, as crazy as that seemed. Being completely exposed to the giant world of the alteon dimension was...freaky as hell. “What if a bird grabs me? Or a stiff wind just blows me away?” Gavin’s mind was racing through potential hazards he could face. But then he felt his bladder clench as the need to relieve himself grew ever more urgent.

When nature called, you had to pick up. And so, Gavin walked forward and took his first steps onto alteon soil.

[youhavethewrong]

assumption: you like strawberry flavoured things

DAMN, YOU GOT ME!

I do! I really do, I love pink and sweet stuff, so I always go for strawberry flavours~ It fuels my femininity* 🥰

*this claim has not been scientifically proven and should be regarded as wildly incorrect

[qqueenofhades]

First of all thanks so much for all your TOG history posts! I have a question specifically about the one where you explained the continuity errors with Nicky being a priest. I like your "second son of a nobleman" Nicky that you use in your fics a lot. But I also really like the idea of a lower-class Nicky; TOG already has wealthy merchant scion Joe and literal queen Andy--i love the idea that Nicky comes from humbler origins. Is there any way to make that make sense in a historical context?

I mean, pretty much anything is possible in history? If it can happen, it probably has happened at some point, and even the broad categories and generalizations that historians apply to things are never always right in all cases, even if they represent the major trends. I obviously don’t want to shoot down people’s headcanons or ideas, even and indeed especially from my soapbox of “cranky historian complains about things on the internet.” I have personally tweaked some aspects of Joe and Nicky’s backstories that I use in my fics, since I came up with DVLA before I knew anything about the comics or any bonus content that had been released about the characters. My feeling is that since a) it’s film-verse, not comics, and b) their backstories haven’t been shown on screen and may be subject to change in adaptation, I can, while engaging in transformative fanworks, create them to suit myself. I obviously keep the broad parameters of what canon establishes, but within that space, I do occasionally nip and tuck and move things around. For example in my new AU fic, I DID make Nicky a priest as in graphic-novel canon, but that’s long since changed by the time he arrives in Jerusalem. For the fics I write for them in canon-verse, I tend to use the backstory I established in DVLA, just because... well, I like it a lot, obviously, and that was what I wrote it for. This is just because I am the aforementioned cranky historian and I rearrange the toys when I am playing with them, but my interpretations don’t necessarily have to be everyone else’s.

On that note, since you did ask for some historical context/plausibility for this headcanon, it depends (again) on how much extra story you want to invent for Nicky and how many gaps you want to fill in. Which is totally fine either way! I talked in this ask about the People’s Crusade of 1096, the involvement of unarmed/unskilled commoners in the crusades more generally, and how that would have impacted on Nicky if he didn’t have any previous training in arms. Once again, as with him being a priest, him being a low-class peasant/freeman of humble status runs into some (not insurmountable, but still extant) problems with where he would have learned how to use a sword and weapons more generally. I also obviously approve of the idea of bringing some class diversity into our historical immortals, but the son of a very poor bondsman (the stereotypical peasant in a cottage or a serf working a lord’s land) is, alas, going to have gotten into trouble in his community if he is training with a sword. (Or at least definitely raised some eyebrows, as well as questions about where he got it and how he paid for it.) As I’ve mentioned, the sword is a knight’s weapon, so if Nicky has been using it at all, he has at least enough status to qualify for that.

Happily, however, there are plenty of ways to make him not be from a rich family. As late as the end of the 11th century, aka around the time of the First Crusade, knights could still be distinguished as “free” or “not free,” and since this was before the rise of chivalry as a major social force, knights and men-at-arms were often (and indeed could be throughout the medieval era) from humble families, minor gentry, or even the working class. Chivalry made knighthood into an especial aspiration for the nobility, but not every man on a battlefield was a nobleman -- far from it. Indeed, the nobleman would call up the families who owed allegiance to him, and they could call up the families who owed allegiance to them, and so on. The definition of “knight” in the pre-chivalry landscape is a little muddy; does it convey prestige or social status, or just that someone was trained in arms? Is there a difference between that and just “man at arms” or “armed man?” For instance, at the battle of Hastings in 1066, the English army under King Harold II was composed of fyrdmen, aka regular working stiffs who had been summoned from the land (and indeed, we know they were of humble status because they had to go back and help their families with the harvest after William the soon-to-be-Conqueror had still not arrived in September), and housecarls, the professional/lifelong soldiers who served in the army as a career and were paid for their service. But we don’t always have the luxury of clear terminology for the many, many kinds of armed men who existed in various social strata in the Middle Ages.

That means, therefore, that Nicky can very easily be a poor knight, a man-at-arms of humble status who has just his sword and his armor and is subject to the vassal-of-a-vassal-of-a-vassal-of-a-lord, or other armed man of unclear rank who definitely doesn’t have money or come from a rich family. Despite the unavoidably classist nature of many medieval history chronicles, the ranks of society weren’t only king, duke, earl, and nobleman. It was a patron-and-client society, and while the king was the ultimate patron, plenty of lords of middling rank or lower would have vassals who owed allegiance to them, and vassals who owed allegiance to those vassals in turn. The word feudal, which has been so misused and turned into an (incorrect) shorthand for constant petty territorial violence, basically just means this hierarchical society of mutual rights and obligations, where (unless you were the king) you both owed fealty to someone higher in rank than you and had people lower in rank who owed fealty to you. That would only end with the serf/bondsman, who wasn’t patron to anyone. But within that, there is plenty of wiggle room to make Nicky non-noble.

This would raise the question, however, of how he was going to pay for his journey to Jerusalem. Crusade financing was a perennial problem even for kings and lords with deep pockets, and the cost of a journey to the Middle East was far, far beyond most ordinary people’s ability to cover, which is why the commoners’ crusades kept ending in disaster. (That and obviously the fact that they weren’t trained in war.) When you are traveling for months and months and have to provide all your own food, shelter, arms and armor, transportation, upkeep, etc., you would either have to have a wealthy lord paying your maintenance, have substantial private financing of your own, have sold most of your property to go (which then implies that you had property to sell), made good with a religious house who had advanced you the cash, etc. We can really go down a rabbit hole here about Duke Hugh of Burgundy making a deal with Genoa in 1192 to provision King Philip and the French army on the Third Crusade. (This is helpful since it deals with Genoa, i.e. Nicky, even if not for the First Crusade.) This covered 650 French knights and their squires and came out to nine marks a knight, which is about £6, for an overall bill of 5,850 marks.

To give you an idea of how much this is in comparative terms: in 1380, a poll tax of twelve pence per person was considered so extortionate that it helped kick off the 1381 Peasants’ Revolt. And this was two hundred years later, when wages had risen and exchange rates had increased. One pound was worth 240 pence, so if twelve pence was an exaction for your average laborer, you can see that they’d get nowhere close even to one pound. A gift of £4 to William the Conqueror in 1066 was also considered a wildly high sum. And this was all on the extremely cheap end of crusading ventures. Frederick Barbarossa, who went on the Third Crusade at the same time as Philip and the French, had expenses coming close to 100,000 marks. Crusading, in other words, was wildly expensive (often ruinously so), and either Nicky would have a wealthy patron (meaning that he was somewhat closer to the top of the heap, even if below the first rank of noblemen) or money of his own or some way to finance his journey. Which again means that he has to have some kind of background that enables him to do it. The issue with the ordinary people who went on crusade (and they absolutely did, despite various attempts to forbid them as not militarily useful) is that, as noted, they weren’t trained in arms and they didn’t have money, and when you’re trying to travel from Europe to the Holy Land under 11th-century conditions, that becomes a big problem.

So yes. Basically: you can absolutely make Nicky a person of lower rank, down to a humble man-at-arms, who doesn’t have a rich family and doesn’t come from money. But if he’s going on crusade all the way to Jerusalem -- and if he’s successful at it, i.e. we’re assuming he didn’t get killed until Joe did it the first time -- then he has to have at least enough social status that he is the direct vassal of a wealthy lord or can make some financial arrangements on his own, has been able to train with a sword, knows what he’s doing with it, etc. You are obviously welcome to invent whatever details or backstory you want for him, but alas, crusading was often the provenance of knights, noblemen, and kings for brutally practical reasons, whether economic, social, military, or pragmatic. So the further you go down the social rankings, the more logistical details you’ll have to think up for him (at least if you want to be historically nitpicky, and it’s fantasy, so you frankly don’t even have to, but hey, what do you people come to me for if not historical nitpicking?) as to how he would have trained in arms, paid for his journey, been able to go on crusade in the first place, etc. So yes.

Thanks so much for this question! It was a lot of fun.

[ming-sik]

@xenodogz ok replying is getting unwieldy im gonna go by your arguments point by point:

we do fundamentally disagree, i think that if someone sees something about "discourse" it is in fact their responsibility to find out what the discourse actually is before posting a long wildly incorrect theory about it being unprompted prejudice. personally if i hear that someone's mad at me i do usually try to find out why before i form my opinion on the situation and i don't think that's too much to ask! if someone can't be bothered to form an informed opinion why bother forming an opinion at all?

you've continued to not respond to the original point of the original discussion: it was literally framed as a test. the reason the screenshot was provided on its own was to test whether or not the reader can recognize this specific red flag by picking up on context clues, which are available in the original post. people don't always have signs on their head that say "i'm going to emotionally exploit you" so it's important to at least be able to recognize that something is suspicious and question a potential partner to make sure you're not putting yourself in a vulnerable position and they're being honest with you. you and a lot of other people failed the test, which doesn't mean you're stupid, but doubling down and blaming the tester for not giving you the answer kinda is. also can you decide if people were just saying The Guy was maybe aromantic OR if nobody was defending him OR if he wasn't relevant at all OR if the situation seemed fine without the context. it kind of seems like whether The Guy was defensible/relevant or not hinges entirely on which option bolsters your individual points. also what do you MEAN the origin of the discourse wasn't relevant. what? of course it's relevant that people originally misinterpreted the situation to use cishet aro dudes as a shield for a misogynist!

"nobody was saying it was arophobic to be upset at the guy" yes they were that was, again, the origin of the discourse. like defending him by saying "well maybe he's just aro and wants to be exclusive fwb for STD safety" w/o mentioning the presenting romantic relationships are more serious and feeling entitled to exclusivity when hes not taking it seriously, and doubling down when the people who recognized the red flags were proven right, is using cishet aro guys as a shield for misogyny which is my sticking point.

how is it not hurting cishet aro guys to, again, be used as a gotcha for people complaining about misogynists? that was the original problem. cishet aro men were not originally being attacked, so by responding to criticism of misogyny with "leave cishet aro guys alone" anyone who came into the discussion without a strong familiarity with the differences between cishet aro guys and misogynists who use 'relationship' as code for 'respect' would get the impression that if That Guy "might be aromantic" that this is standard behavior for cishet aro guys, which i would say is much more damaging than people complaining about that first thing.

yeah i saw the other poll i mentioned it in my first post. as someone who was following the original discussion i maintain that it's extremely bad faith to characterize things as them attacking cishet aro men without the context "after people defended a misogynist because he might be cishet aro".

in general i'm concerned about the current state of discussion in the aro & ace communities due to the same things you're presenting as counterarguments. i dislike seeing the only things in the aro tag being banal positivity or people weighing in on conversations through a game of endless telephone. this climate makes us extremely vulnerable to bad actors who can frame harmful things as an attack on aro people under the knowledge that most people won't challenge that, and forms a loop where people are incentivized not to get better at theory, ultimately making the community a worse place to be in. if the aro community had a healthy discussion scene the original people misinterpreting the situation either would've passed the test because they'd be educated about this type of abuse from the aro position of people who have to deal with potential partners who think no relationship =/= no respect, or would've been in a mindset to re-evaluate when they turned out to have failed to pick up on the signs being discussed. instead a bunch of people willfully misinterpreted an unrelated thing and then the entire aro tag for a week was people furthering the game of telephone. there's a third option beyond "nuclear wasteland of unproductive arguments" and "uncritical refusal to engage with anything except positivity".

in conclusion,

honestly it's just frustrating. you have people finding misogynistic cishet dudes and defending their emotional neglect of their sexual partners because it superficially resembles aromanticism even when the men themselves do not identify as aromantic and are often neglecting their sexual partners specifically because they view a girlfriend as the only type of woman who deserves any type of effort and so if the chick they're fucking isn't their girlfriend they can treat her like dirt. and then when people are rightly like "hey fuck you for defending a misogynist" the same people who claimed the cishet guy who never at any point claimed to be aromantic was aromantic and therefore criticizing his misogyny is arophobia go into the aro tags to despair at how many people HATE aromantics so they can whip a bunch of bystanders into a frenzy because they've heard that people are discrediting aromanticism, and therefore are encouraged to read the original unrelated posts or people getting pissed at someone defending emotional abuse by calling it aromanticism in bad faith or not at all, and so you get a mountain of people theorizing that the attack on cishet aro men was manufactured by TERFs instead of people who think that girls who date guys deserve dudes who don't see them as a freelance contractor they can expect sex from without having to treat them with the bare minimum respect they feel a girlfriend is owed.

[bladekindeyewear]

There's been speculation that the background colors on page 214 signify each Candy kid's aspect, making Harry heart, Vrissy mind, and Tavros breath. What do you think of that?

I have to admit it’s possible.  Harry was already a lock for Heart, there were too many hats.  (Plus other evidence besides. :p )  And Vrissy’s relentless concern for her outward appearance and self-serving deceptiveness could pretty easily be Mind player traits instead of just Thief of Light traits.  (Tavros, so far, hasn’t done anything particularly Breathy besides being the one with the hovercar.)

However, it would certainly be odd to have the completely-genetically-different “spiritual successor” to Tavros be a Breath player like the original, but have the almost-genetically-identical and so-personality-similar Vrissy have such a different Aspect focus.  Granted, Vrissy is only almost genetically identical, and was never proven to be exactly the same as Vriska biologically.

It’s possible that IF Vrissy is a Mind player, it’s meant to tie into them not being genetically identical... BUT, it’s also possible they’re going to say she’s a Mind player AND genetically identical, and that this is HS2 sending a message that that’s possible.  Conventional bladekindeyewear classpect wisdom (whatever THAT bullshit is worth!) says that your hero title reflects your true potential and the way you would most effectively operate to affect reality around you... this has always been held to mean theoretically the same titles for any genetically-identical people, as that “potential” would lump in every manner and environment you could have possibly been raised in.  And for what it’s worth, the pre-Scratch and post-Scratch Trolls kept their effective hero titles from all signs despite their wildly different growing-up circumstances, beyond some purely thematic allusions to their new descendants’ titles that never lined up as well with their actions as their original titles.

However, those could easily have been kept consistent on both sides of the Scratch through circumstantial-thematic means because these were the same people across tightly-linked game sessions, even if your title COULD be different if you were raised elsewhere.  It was never a 100% hard line, just an assumption we made based on available evidence, and something some members of the fandom always imagined could be fudged (although usually by saying the pre- and post-scratch guardians and ancestors could have had different titles, which I always viewed as incorrect -- their cross-universe titles were clearly the same in Homestuck proper).  A whole lot more divides Vriska and this coincidental “clone” of hers than was possible in the original Homestuck, given how far they’ve travelled outside the bounds of Paradox Space before Vrissy was born.  As similar as they are, and perhaps even genetically identical, I could imagine Vrissy and Vriska MIGHT not share a Heart -- that if either Vrissy or Vriska ascended to their Ultimate Self, they might not share each others’ lives in their memories.  Would THAT be enough to make the true Hero Titles emblematic to their individuality different?  Wouldn’t it be?

I guess we’ll wait and see.

[dragon-fics]

HA: Ch. 12 Discovery

Chapter summary: Heather (finally) begins her study of magic, practicing with Aaravos. All the while, she'd discovering more about herself.

Prologue, Pt. 1, Pt. 2, Pt. 3 , Pt. 4, Pt. 5, Pt. 6 , Pt. 7, Pt. 8, Pt. 9, Pt. 10, Pt. 11

“Now say; crescere,” Aaravos instructed as his lime green rune made the tiny stem in his mini mountain of dirt grow in his hand, blooming into a fiery orange flower.

Heather glanced at her own pile of soil and sad little stem. “Crescere,” she echoed in a quieter voice than Aaravos. Her stem grew stronger and higher, its leaf rising towards the blue sky. A bubble of joy inflated inside of her as a bud formed and bloomed into a tiny blue flower, no bigger than the pad of her thumb. But then her bubble popped and the blue flower withered, fading to grey. Its leaves crumpled up, and they drifted to the grassy forest floor with the petals.

Heather sighed, her ears drooping. She brushed the dirt off of her hand and looked at her crossed legs.

Aaravos placed his hand on her shoulder. “Don’t worry about it, Heather. It was only a first try,” he reassured.

Though Heather didn’t find it very reassuring. She felt so bad about the death of a tiny flower; it almost made her feel silly. But inside she felt as if that plant had been part of her, like a child—that thought was repulsive; she hated children. Yet she felt so fond of it.

“Why didn’t it work?” she asked, looking at Aaravos. She had been practising her Draconic with Khonsu diligently, building up her vocabulary and grammar, not to mention how hard she’d been studying the books of the arcana Aaravos had given her, and all the meditation she’d been doing. Heather was so sure it would work, so confident that her work had paid off.

This was why she hated magic. Unlike fighting, it required so much knowledge about so many things she didn’t deem practical, and meditation, and understanding. And even after all that, it didn’t work.

Aaravos glanced at her hands. “If I could have a guess, it’s that you haven’t built up enough magic to hold the spell and project enough into the plant to keep it alive.”

Heather sighed. It was logical at least, but it just made her feel angry that magic was like fighting. She’d thought of them as completely different; one you were born with, the other you worked for. And the more she went into her training, the more incorrect her idea became.

What troubled her was why she disliked magic so much; it had never harmed her, not to mention Khonsu—a battlemage—was her best friend. Yet she always disliked it, thinking it was something mages inherited. Not trained on—simply thinking they were just ‘born lucky’ with an immense skill that just grew as they did, never having to work on it. But as her lessons went on, she realised it was very different. So much work went into studying the language and learning the runes and building up the endurance to use the magic in the way she needed to use it—just like fighting.

Fighting required knowledge of the many forms to fight with many weapons and building up the strength, agility, and endurance to use the forms in the way she needed to use them.

So why did she still dislike magic?

Heather had lay awake the past few nights thinking about it. The only plausible reason she could come up with was that she, for some reason, associated magic with elves—beings who had brought her nothing but misery throughout her life. And she had to get out of that way of thinking because there was dragon magic, often referred to a mimicking—using the elements in what way they needed—fire for light and warmth, water for healing, earth for building and movement, and air for enhanced flying; and all could be used for fighting.

She shook her thoughts away and glanced around at the tall trees and lush undergrowth in the clearing. How much energy had they needed to grow? She could feel their primal energy all around her; a calm current of life that circled her, Aaravos, and Khonsu in this clearing under the pale morning sun.

Heather held her head in her hands, frustrated. Why did this have to be so difficult? She didn’t even want this power, so why should she have to work so hard to make it work.

She flopped onto the ground and huffed. “Why me?” she whispered, looking up at the sun. Its rays beamed warm energy down onto her, as it always had, but now it seemed to be easier to gain—by strengthening her understanding, she had strengthened her connection with one of her original primal sources.

Out of the corner of her eye, Heather saw Khonsu shift guiltily. She pushed herself up, meeting his eyes.

“I didn’t mean it like that, Su,” she said, sidling closer to him. “I’m angry at myself, not you.”

Khonsu looked down, his bangs falling forward, blocking her from meeting his eyes. Seeing him like this made her heart ache. She had hurt her closest—and only—friend, and she felt awful.

“I’ll give you two a moment,” Aaravos said, gathering his book and cloak and disappearing into the trees.

Heather placed her hand on his back, assuring him as best as she could. He looked up at her, and she gave him a soft smile.

“I’m sorry all this happened,” he started. “I know you’ve never liked magic, and you probably hate me. And I get it. I’d hate me too.” He sighed. “But I really am sorry.”

She smiled, moving her hand to his shoulder. “I’ve never hated you, Khonsu,” she said. “You’re my best friend and I couldn’t ask for anyone better.” She smiled. “I just hate what’s happening and I wish I could control it or reverse it.”

She looked up. “But I guess now, I understand what it’s like to be a mage and that it really isn’t something you’re just born good at.” She took his hand in hers, wrapped her five fingers around his four. “Just please don’t tell anyone I’m bad at it,” she whispered, looking away sheepishly.

Khonsu smiled and chuckled quietly. “Sure, I’ll keep it to myself.”

*-*-*-*

Heather’s ears dropped, and a scowl formed on her face. “Why won’t anyone realise that she just got lucky?” she muttered angrily. Up ahead—far ahead—with all the soldiers, Dragonguard and not, was Rayla, chatting and joking away as if she had been among them all for years; which she hadn’t.

Réalta snorted angrily, shaking his head and folding back his glowing orange ears as Heather’s raging emotion flowed through him.

After all her training and fighting and proving herself worthy of being a Dragonguard, someone who happened to get lucky, with her top skill of hesitation, was sliding right into her spot—which Heather had earned!—and acting like she was worthy of wearing their sash. Heather had tried looking past her history with Rayla—she really had—and mostly, she succeeded. But Rayla hadn’t even taken the Dragonguard test, or trained as a soldier, or anything! Now she was angry at her for how easy it was for her to get on the most elite team in all of Zubeia’s army.

Heather grumbled and bundled her hand into a fist. She hated this! The ‘getting lucky’ part especially.

From the corner of her eye, she saw Aaravos glance at Khonsu in a way she didn’t like. “What is it, Sparkles?” she hissed, straightening up.

Aaravos rode forward beside her on his primal stead—who had re-joined with him shortly after he was free from Stella Carcerem. “I thought you said you were done with your rivalry with Rayla,” he said. She could see the faintest hint of a smirk on his face.

“You will not corrupt me, Sparkles,” she said, keeping a proud stance. Though she was thinking back to all she had shared with him, wondering if he had already planted his seeds of corruption. “Besides, it wasn’t a rivalry, it was a grudge,” she corrected, calming herself, though she really wanted to go over there and shove Rayla out of the group.

“Still, I thought you were done with it.”

“I’m done with the grudge—though I haven’t forgiven her, she has my respect—” she watched as Rayla laughed wildly at one of Haco’s jokes. She leaned forward and drooped her ears with a scowl “—for now.”

“Jealous, I see,” Aaravos observed.

Heather sat up again. She would not tell him he was right; she knew she was jealous, and she was alright with it. “So? She got lucky. She didn’t even kill the Dark Mage; I’ve killed six—”

“Eight, if Tiadrin and Lain hadn’t finished off the other two,” Khonsu interjected.

Heather nodded, surprised a little by his defence—but that was what he was like, loyal and caring and quiet.

Aaravos glanced aside. “Remind me not to get you angry or to make an enemy of you.”

“Good idea,” Khonsu commented.

Heather chuckled. “Do you think she’ll get caught out?” she asked, gesturing her head to Rayla.

“With her parents training her?” Khonsu mused. “I don’t think so; they were assassins turned Dragonguards, they’ll have a good idea how to train her.”

“If she can stop hesitating,” Aaravos mused.”

Heather nodded. “Nice to know you guys see it too.” She rummaged through Réalta’s saddlebag, pulling out her notebook and opening on the page that had My Traits scribbled at the top. She read over what she had already written; Likes to be in control; focused; frustrated easily; conservative. She pulled out her piece of lead sandwiched by two thin pieces of wood and wrote, proud, at the end of the list.

Heather glanced up at the group of soldiers ahead of them and added, respectful when proven honourable. She read over the list again and closed the book. She was one step closer to getting out of this never-ending maze of self-discovering.