#some of the clan including her sister and mother survive

[thebookworm0001]

Oh that’s. That’s something to chew on okay.

Veilguard spoilers in the tags

[aonungslvr]

he’s…what?

pairing ; jealous! ao’nung x f!sully! reader

taggings ; 🪽⭐️🐚

summary ; ao’nung quickly falls for the sully sister after she arrives in his village, but who is this boy she keeps talking about?

3.1k words

when you and your family had first arrived in awa’atlu you hated it. the sound of ilu’s chirping and waves thrashing against the sand wasn’t normal. the smell of salt was disgusting. there were no trees to shield you from the suns rays or give you coverage when you wanted to be alone. no grass or cool dirt to dig your feet into.

this wasn’t your home; you belong in the forest. you had been chased out of your home after having a knife held to your throat by sky demons; obviously you weren’t happy to be here.

your nerves certainly were not eased when the tsahík of the metkayina, ronal, had grabbed your four-fingered hand to show the crowd. you were instantly met with hisses and snarls from the lighter blue clan. you gently trembled at her touch, less from fear and more from annoyance, and continued staring into the sand, trying to dig your feet into it like dirt. it was too hot; this wasn’t your dirt. your mother intervened, seeing your discomfort, and held you to her; raising her fangs towards the tsahìk. your father entered himself in hopes of calming the situation down, showing the clan his own 4 fingered hand.

when ronal had moved on and the attention focused on the leaders of the metkayina, you glanced up, seeing the ocean clan more clearly this time. you had noticed a girl and two boys closer to your family than the others; they looked around your age. the female was eyeing your youngest brother before her vision shifted towards you. she offered you a warm smile along with a small wave. you looked her up and down before giving her your own smile and wave, though you lowered your hand as you could tell she was now focused on your extra finger.

you looked beside her to see a taller boy with a bun, he had been the one to make fun of your brothers thin tails, the tail you all shared. you sighed and continued staring at the teen, for some reason you couldn’t stop. that was proved false when the boy looked your way, you diverted your eyes back to the sand as fast as you could. you hadn’t been able to see it, but the teal na’vi eyed you up and down silently. his shorter friend slapped his arm and laughed at him, whispering something you couldn’t quite pick up.

apparently whatever your parents and the leaders were talking about had been concluded. you heard the olo’keytans stern and loud voice speak out among the crowd, before he faced your family directly and spoke a bit softer.

“my son ao’nung, and my daughter tsireya will show you our ways.”

ao’nung and tsireya. the boy you had stared at spoke up in disagreement, leading you to his name being ao’nung, as well as him being the chiefs son. the kind girl had also made herself to be tsireya when she guided your family to your new home.

you walked among kiri, trailing shortly behind her. you followed tsireya and ao’nung had followed from behind you all, paired with his little friend.

“i do not like it here kiri.” you spoke as you looked up to face her.

she scoffed in return, “yeah me neither.”

“these are ilu, if you want to live here, you have to ride.”

you and your siblings were all hip length deep in the sea, surrounded by multiple swimming animals, they were called ilu. they reminded you of your ikran.

the ocean siblings had been tasked with training you all to learn how to survive within their clan, and it was time to tame your animal.

tsireya first helped lo’ak, you already knew why. it was quite obvious. he had settled onto the creatures back and held onto the saddle. he made tsaheylu with the marine animal and she took off. you watched as your brother had tried to hold on as best he could but was ripped off due to the speed and pressure that being underwater included.

he had failed miserably and tsireya continued to guide him, but you couldn’t all wait for him. (you’d be there for years.)

ao’nung had invited you over a few feet to show you how to get your own ilu. he explained the process just as tsireya had. you mounted the animal and waited for instruction.

“hold here, when you make the bond, you need to think with her. not against her. let her guide you.”

after seeing what happened with lo’ak, you figured that was a load of bullshit and you would be swept away too. you gripped on the saddle with one hand and grabbed your braid with the other.

“your position is wrong.”

the blue teen pushed your back down and shifted your legs. the feeling was different, the extra skin on his arms were odd. your heartbeat quickened for a moment and the ilu beneath you flapped her fins.

“there. remember, bond gentle.”

you connected your kuru with the creature, and took off. you panicked for a little until you were reminded with how dramatic lo’ak is. he had made this look like such a hard task, it really wasn’t too bad. the water pressure threatened you but you were able to manage. you tightened your grip and squeezed your eyes shut. as you felt the tide flow with you, you slowly opened your eyes. you instructed your ilu to slow it down, which she listened too.

the sea wasn’t horrible. there were so many new creatures you had never even known about. you looked among the fish and corals as you smiled at the sight. feeling your chest begin to tighten, you and your ilu went back up to the surface, swimming closer to where you had left the others.

tuk was the first to congratulate her big sister, “that was so cool (y/n)!”

“yeah way better then lo’ak”, laughed your eldest brother, neteyam.

“ok bro, who invited toruk makto?” your youngest brother was always the jokester, and you laughed at the reference.

looking back at your mentor, you noticed ao’nung hadn’t held any malice or laughter towards you, you took that as a good sign.

throughout the training of your family, you had sectioned off into unofficial groups. tsireya tended to assist lo’ak and tuk, while ao’nung helped neteyam, kiri, and you. ao’nung had tried selling you off to tsireya because he was upset he had to deal with three sully’s while his sister only had two. she had argued that having tuk was basically like having two in one, and she stood with her statement.

with annoyance, he taught you what you all needed to know to adjust to the ocean. most of his lessons were filled with sighs and reprimands when someone would do something wrong, but that had started to fade lately.

“what do you mean ao’nung is nicer? no he isn’t? he still makes fun of us during training…”

oh.

it had only began to fade for you.

well this was fine, neteyam was probably just exaggerating. after all, he was certainly a charmer yesterday.

. . .

“you are not breathing right.”

you and ao’nung sat on a jagged rock in the middle of the reef, he was giving you a private lesson on holding your breath because apparently you were falling behind. (not true.)

you looked at him as he demonstrated how to intake the air and hold it, but it just looked like normal breathing. you tried to repeat what he did but it still wasn’t good enough for him.

“what are you even doing? are you even breathing?”

you rolled your eyes and looked away from the teal teenager, he was so dramatic.

“pay attention to me forest girl,” he redirected your face back towards his.

he placed one of his wide hands on your smaller diaphragm and the other where your heart layed.

you panicked at the sudden contact and prayed he couldn’t feel your heartbeat pick up beneath his touch.

“eywa please i never ask for anyth-“

“your heartbeat is fast. that’s why you cannot breathe.”

thanks great mother.

despite the metkayina’s teasing, he had genuinely seemed to adjust to you. you two spent more one on one training together and even hung out when it wasn’t time to train.

it was nearing eclipse when ao’nung had come to your families marui, unfortunately, your father had noticed him first.

“what are ya’ doin’ here boy.”

the shorter navi hesitated for a moment until he was able to speak up,

“i’m- i’m here for (y/n.) sir.”

your father looked him up and down with a stern look on his face. ao’nung was convinced he would be thrown outside by toruk makto himself. jake grunted and leaded down into your new friends face.

“she’s back by 10 before eclipse. a second after and i’ll cut your tail off. she comes back with even a hint of your touch on her i’ll drag you deep into the ocean by your braid and leave you there. understood?”

“yeah- got it.”

“i said understood.”

“uh-understood sir!”

your dad sighed before finally alerting you of the conversation,

“(y/n!) visitor!”

you showed up at the door as your father was walking away, and was greeted with the sight of ao’nung shaking in the sand.

“hey ao’nung! you alright?”

he eyed the exit, indicating you to leave with him. once you step out he grabbed your thinner arm and ran towards the shore, looking back for the deadly gaze of jake sully.

“oh my god (y/n) why didn’t you tell me your dad is fucking terrifying.”

you giggled and brought your hand to your lips, trying to conceal it.

“whatever, no big deal, follow me.”

despite his ego being damaged, he led you along the shore, pointing out some shells he though you would like on the way. you two eventually made it to the more foresty part of his island, farther from the clan.

you were unaware this area existed and instantly fell in love. it had been months since you had seen a tree. the sight reminded you of your home and it brought you so much happiness. you glanced at the back of ao’nungs head as you continued to follow him where he led. you two made it to a part of the small forest that opened out into the beach. you could see the sunset and water clashing onto the sand all from behind a tree.

“ao’nung! this is so beautiful, it’s just like the forest!”

“well yeah, that’s what i was hoping for..”

he was hiding his flushed face but you could hear the smile he was trying to hold back.

“come!”

you grabbed his arm towards a tree you deemed was tall and had enough branches. effortlessly, you climbed up the tree. you jumped and stood on branches, easily making it to the high thin branch you wanted. you had planted your left leg and arms on the branch as your right leg hung down.

the lighter blue na’vi watched you and his mouth dropped open. he had made fun of your family for being poor divers, but god you were good at climbing. him and his friends would break the branches if they were to ever try that.

“get up here!”

“yeah…i don’t think so.”

you quickly remembered you were among the sea people now, and their bodies simply weren’t built for climbing like you were.

“ah right.”

you hopped down onto a lower branch then the ground, the teen boy staring in aw yet again. you ran up to him and pulled him into a hug while giggling.

“thank you ao’nung, really. this was great”

he scoffed in embarrassment and rubbed his neck,

“yeah, we’ll there’s actually one more thing. i was just wondering if you’d l-“

you cut him off before he could finish his question.

“this is just like what txäol would show me!”

what.

ever since the first mention of this “txäol” they kept coming.

no matter how many times ao’nung tried to get you to like him more, it always ended up as a talk about txäol.

“ao’nung this necklace is so pretty! it looks like the one txäol gave me!”

“txäol used to say that! he’s super funny.”

“oh eywa this shell would look great next to the flowers txäol gave me!”

you were beyond oblivious at the way ao’nungs eye would twitch when you brought up your best friend from back in the forest.

it was a comment on the gifts he’s given you, or the stories he used to tell you, or sometimes you would show the metkayina boy some things the omatikayan gave you before you left the forest.

ao’nung raised his concerns with tsireya first. she was pretty close to you, so he thought she might have some intel.

. . .

tsireya automatically burst out laughing when her brother questioned her.

“your-your joking right? sweet eywa, your so funny! your helpless brother- truly!”

“what- tsireya what are you talking about?! who is txäol?!”

“oh-oh my eywa i cant-“ she continued laughing.

“is he her boyfriend?!”

this just caused tsireya to start laughing again. she gripped her stomach and bent over, unable to stop the giggles that flowed out of her.

“whatever- your never any help! i’ll just ask her!”

and so that’s what he did.

the teal teenager approached you while you were mounting your ilu, getting ready to go hunting.

“(y/n)!”

you turned your head to the sound of your name and saw ao’nung riding his own ilu towards you.

“oh- hey! did you need anything? i was just about to head out.

he had been torturing himself over this question for so long he just cut to the point.

“is txäol your boyfriend?!”

you paused and had no words. your ilu had picked up on your shock and had even dropped her own jaw.

“t-txäol? h-“

you were cut off by the reef na’vi.

“if he is- just tell me. i understand if you have a lover back home that you can’t forget about. all i’m asking is you let me know!”

“he’s n-“ you tried to speak before you were interrupted again.

“i just can’t deal with the not knowing! i see you, (y/n), and i need to know if you see me too! you talk about this txäol guy all the time, so if your in love with him instead, tell me! i won’t be an-“

“he’s gay!”

oh.

bonus!!

the sky people had finally returned back to their planet, and wouldn’t be coming back this time. this meant your people were safe. you could go back to the forest! back to the forest…

when you first arrived at the reef, all you could think about was going home, and how happy you would be. but now that home was right in front of you, you just couldn’t. not without ao’nung.

you two had recently began courting each other, and had plans of mating once you both completed your rite of passages. you couldn’t leave him behind now. so if you couldn’t leave him behind..why not take him with you!

. . .

you yipped for your ikran, calling her down to the sandy shores.

“seyä! hi girl!” you rubbed her nose and cleaned off some sand off her head.

you mounted seyä and invited ao’nung to do the same.

“no fucking way.”

“she doesn’t bite!”

“yes the fuck she do? look at her!”

“aww you poor thing..is he being mean to you?”

you rubbed your ikrans head and made tsaheylu. she flapped her wings and screeched, scaring the hell out of ao’nung.

“yeah there’s no way i’m going anywhere near that th-“

he was cut off as seyä picked him up under his arms using her claws, flying up in the air. you giggled and grabbed ao’nungs hands, pulling him up behind you on the saddle.

“that wasn’t so bad- right?” you could swore you saw a tear running down his face, but he denies it.

. . .

the fly had taken a few days and you were exhausted, ao’nung had given you company and made sure to hold you extra tight when you were getting tired. if it wasn’t for him stopping you to make you sleep, you probably would’ve flown while sleeping.

after what felt like years, you finally arrived back at the forest. you flew over the trees until you saw the omatikaya people, your people. your smile had began hurting your jaw as you landed your ikran on a tree, hopping off and landing on the branches. you would just jumped right down but you had to help the metkayina.

“here- just..place this foot here. and then this arm right here.”

it took awhile (32 minutes) to get him down around 7 branches. it usually took you a few seconds, but who were you to judge.

he mainly just trailed behind you as you greeted so many friends you had missed. he felt like the outsider now, surrounded by darker blue people with thin limbs. he stayed back until he heard someone scream your name. a boy scream your name.

“(y/n)! oh my eywa- your back!” he ran up to you and embraced you in the tightest hug out of everyone else.

ao’nung looked this guy up and down and frowned at him, about to step in and announce himself as your boyfriend until you spoke up.

“txäol! oh i missed you so much-!”

oh. him. the metkayinas anger was reduced, but still present. this boy was all over you! how could he not be upset? he stepped up closer to you and wrapped his hands around your waist, hugging you from behind.

“oh- txäol meet ao’nung, ao’nung meet txäol!”

txäol raised his nonexistent eyebrows at how the boy hugged you and eyed you. he would definitely need you to tell him about everything he missed.

“i’m txäol, (y/n)’s best friend!”

“ao’nung. her mate.”

you kicked ao’nungs knee, trying to get him to be nicer. he was still jealous and god did it show.

“speaking of mates..” txäol started.

you stared and him and gasped. “your lying.”

“(y/n) meet ityea, my boyfriend.”

a shorter omatikayan male entered from the forest and held txäol’s hand. you screeched. like loud. ikran loud.

“txäol oh my eywa i can’t even- you guys are so cute!!” you hugged your best friend and spun around.

“right?! but no- you guys too! i can’t believe you found someone in another clan- you guys are adorable!!”

ao’nung backed up and grounded himself. right. he was gay.

[velvet4510]

I’ve read some criticisms that Beren doesn’t listen to Lúthien and keeps trying to leave her behind even when she’s proven herself capable … and I’m like … are you even aware of Beren’s life story?

This man has lost everything he’s ever loved.

He had to part ways with his mother and sister for their safety, and then came back from a hunt to find his entire clan brutally murdered, including his father. He tracked down those responsible to take revenge and get his father’s ring back, because what else could he do? What purpose did he have without his family and his comrades? What was the use when the enemy was hunting him down 24/7? While his survival instincts won out, he was still a man who had no hope, afraid of love and attachment after what he’d lost, completely alone and isolated for years.

Then he met Lúthien. And she made him want to live. She gave him something to fight for: her. He found a new purpose, a new dream: he could be her husband, he could give her love and a family, happiness and freedom, everything she deserves.

He invoked Finrod’s promise to his father just so he could achieve his new goal…and how did that turn out? His entire group of helpers got captured and killed, because of him, including his dear friend. Every time he gets attached to someone in the heat of danger, he loses them. Every time. The poor guy must feel like he’s cursed.

And suddenly here’s Lúthien, in the middle of Sauron’s fortress, targeted by the sons of Fëanor, vowing to follow him into the lion’s mouth to end all lion’s mouths that is Angband.

And Beren just…can’t bear it. She is his hope, his light, his love, his Tinúviel…he can’t let that “curse” on him affect her. He can’t drag her into further danger when that has spelled doom for everyone else he’s loved. Not when the enemy has proven time and again that he can and will conquer everyone Beren cares for, no matter how strong.

He pushes her away not because he doesn’t respect her, but because he does.

He insists that she go back to Doriath and he go on alone, NOT because he thinks she can’t handle herself - he knows her far too well to believe that - but because he can’t lose her too.

[cienie-isengardu]

Bi-Han and Kuai Liang through the timelines, p.1

>> MORTAL KOMBAT II (1993)

Sub-Zero (Kuai Liang)'s BIO

"Thought to have been killed in the Shaolin Tournament, Sub-Zero mysteriously returns. It is believed he traveled into the Outworld to again attempt to assassinate Shang Tsung. To do so he must fight his way through Shao Kahn's tournament."

Sub-Zero (Kuai Liang)'s ENDING

"When Sub-Zero failed to return from the Shaolin tournament and rumor of Shang Tsung's survival reached the Lin Kuei clan, they immediately sent another assassin to complete the task. This new warrior is actually the younger brother of the original Sub-Zero. He enters the Outworld contest and accomplishes his task. He learns of Scorpion's foul vendetta against his brother, but will never know why his life was spared. Perhaps a third tournament is in his future?"

>> MORTAL KOMBAT II COLLECTOR'S EDITION COMIC BOOK (199?)

Liu Kang: You are not Sub-Zero. I saw him die. Murdered by Specter called Scorpion. Kuai Liang: Yes, we all have our ghosts. The Sub-Zero you saw killed was my older brother. He was stubborn in many ways. Refused to utilize modern technology on his missions. A shame, really. He was among the Lin Kuei's finest -- although fast becoming obsolete. I am taking his place -- and as I am slowly discovering, inheriting some of his ghosts. [...]

Scorpion (to Reptile): The Lin Kuei's life is not yours for the taking. Only I, Scorpion, will dictate when his life is over. For I am a warrior not of this Earth -- but from the very depths of its hell. My life was taken my Lin Kuei known as Sub-Zero. I killed my murderer, thus my journey for revenge is complete. This is not the same Sub-Zero. But I return with a new mission. I have taken a lifee -- now I must devote myself to protecting one. Kuai Liang: If this is my brother's assassin shouldn't I strike him down?

>> MORTAL KOMBAT: TOURNAMENT EDITION - “A COLD DAY IN HELL” (1995)

For the context: the main story of comics is about two teams, representing Outworld and Earthrealm that compete in Shao Kahn's game. "Bi-Han" took part in it as one of good guys and won the challenge for Earthrealm. However he paid for that victory with his life due to confrontation with Scorpion (Hanzo Hasashi). In the epilogue of comics, Lin Kuei ninjas are seen in Japan two months after "Bi-Han"'s death looking for "Kuai Liang":

Kuai Liang: Treachery and deceit were not part of the Lin Kuei Order when my brother was a part of it. I denounce this clan as being unworthy. Unworthy of the continued services of Sub-Zero.

>> MYTHOLOGIES: SUB-ZERO (1997)

From Game Official Site:

Somewhere in the northern most parts of Asia, there exists a secret clan of assassins and thieves known as the Lin Kuei. This group has existed for centuries and thrives on the evil intention of the people who pay for their services. Its warriors are chosen at birth to be raised apart from the workings of day to day civilization and are stripped of their former lives. Only the clan knows their existence. Each of them posses certain skills and abilities that set them apart from normal men. These abilities are passed on from generation to generation and honed throughout the experiences of life. Born in America, Sub-Zero was the oldest of three children, which included a brother and sister. Their mother wanted a normal life for her sons, who had already been chosen by the Lin Kuei to become warriors for the clan. She tried in vein to hide them from their father whose own life in America was only a cover for his true identity and purpose. Eventually they were found and their father returned with them to his homeland. Their mother and sister were never seen or heard from again. Sub-Zero learned of his ability as a young adult. It was passed on to him by his father, a fourth generation Lin Kuei warrior himself. The ability to harness the element of cold is one that takes years of practice. It's full potential realized only by those who've mastered it at the latest stages of life. Sub-Zero's skills have the ability to develop much faster than those of the other Lin Kuei. This was realized by the Lin Kuei Grandmasters who picked the young warrior to take his deceased father's place as the next Sub-Zero.

>> MORTAL KOMBAT 4 Limited Edition Comics (1997)

Narrator box: Several days later on Earth, Sub-Zero returns to China, to the ancient Temple of the Elements. The Temple's location is secret, but Sub-Zero learned how to find it from his older brother, the original Sub-Zero. *Flashback* Kuai Liang: What is the Temple of the Elements? Bi-Han: The Temple of the Elements exists to protect Shinnok's sacred amulet. The Amulet that keeps him trapped in the Netherrealm. It's protected by the four Elements -- Wind, Earth, Water and Fire. As long as the amulet remains on Earth, Shinnok cannot escape the Netherrealm. *End of flashback* Kuai Liang *holding his Sub-Zero's mask*: What has happened here brother? I came here to make peace with the gods of the Elements that you fought. But they're all gone. The Temple is unguarded.

Liu Kang: Sub-Zero! Kuai Liang: Liu's right. Shinnok is evil incarnate. I think my brother, the original Sub-Zero, had some sort of an encounter with Shinnok. Iy may be what caused the whole thing. It's up to us to put an end to this.

Side note: In Mythologies: Sub-Zero, Bi-Han said he had never heard about Shinnok or Netherrealm before:

Rayden: Do you realize what you've done?? Sub-Zero: I was just earning my living. Rayden: Your clan's ignorance and greed will cost this entire realm. You must now set things straight. Sub-Zero: Quan Chi could simply be a lunatic sorcerer. I've never heard of an elder god named Shinnok or of a place called the Netherealm. Rayden: Well, you'd better start believing in both, because you're going to the Netherealm and you're going to bring the amulet back. We must act quickly. I have no dominion in the Netherealm... You are reality's only hope. Sub-Zero: I'll do it, Thunder God... but only because I have no choice.

If Bi-Han, the "most cunning assassin and thief" according to Lin Kuei Grandmaster, had no idea of Netherrealm or threat of Shinnok, thus it is safe to assume Kuai Liang had no such knowledge either. Kuai Liang learning from his brother about Shinnok is mentioned in MK4 Sub-Zero's BIO (seen below).

(Mythologies: Sub-Zero's dialogues copied from here)

>> MORTAL KOMBAT 4 (1997)

Sub-Zero (Kuai Liang)'s BIO:

"After Shao Kahn's defeat at the hands of Earth's fighters, Sub-Zero's warrior clan known as the Lin Kuei is disbanded. But with the new threat brought on by Quan Chi, the ice warrior once again dons the familiar costume once worn by his brother, the original Sub-Zero. He also holds secrets passed onto him from his sibling... secrets that could hold the key to stopping Shinnok."

Kuai Liang's Ending:

Sub-Zero: The battle is finished! Your quest for vengeance is over, Scorpion! Scorpion: You cannot kill a dead man! You have defeated my physical form, but my soul is eternal. You will pay for the massacre of my clan and family! (Quan Chi sneaks up on Sub-Zero and knocks him down) Quan Chi: Well done, Sub-Zero. Like your brother before you, you have served my purposes well. Sub-Zero: I serve no one! Not the Lin Kuei, and not you! (Quan Chi stomps him) AAAUGH!!! Quan Chi: Scorpion agreed to fight for us in exchange for freedom from the Netherrealm. A deal I had no intention of fulfilling. By killing him, you saved us the trouble. Both you and Scorpion were pawns for Shinnok... (Scorpion stands up and uses his powers to make Quan Chi levitate) Scorpion!!! NOOOO- (Scorpion releases an energy sphere that destroys Quan Chi) Scorpion: Our battle is finished. You are now freed from my curse. Live well, Lin Kuei warrior.

(script copied from MK wiki)

Scorpion (Hanzo Hasashi)'s ending:

Scorpion: By defeating you, Sub-Zero, I have avenged the death of my family and clan. Now my soul can finally rest. Sub-Zero: Your soul will never rest, Scorpion. The Lin Kuei may have been responsible for your murder... But your family's true killer still remains free... Scorpion: If you are not the murderer, then who is? Quan Chi: (comes in) I am the one you seek. To defeat my nemesis Sub-Zero, I needed the power of a spectre. You've done my bidding well, Scorpion. But now, I must return you to the Netherrealm. (Quan Chi performs a spell that starts engulfing Scorpion, intending to take him to the Netherrealm) Scorpion: NEVER!!! (runs towards Quan Chi and tackles him before disappearing. Both reappear in the Netherrealm) Quan Chi: NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

(script copied from MK wiki)

>> SHAOLIN MONKS (2004)

Sub-Zero (Kuai Liang)'s BIO:

"With his mastery of cold, Sub-Zero freezes his opponent into submission. Though his loyalties lie firmly with his clan, the Lin Kuei, his purpose in Outworld is known only to him."

Story Mode:

Kuai Liang: The man you saw die was my brother. And I am not even certain he is truly dead. I came here to avenge him and believe that he may still yet live in one form or another. I've been told that if I can find some vestige of his power... I may find him.

and

Kuai Liang: Don't take another step, or I'll stop you myself! Liu Kang: Sub-Zero... Kung Lao: What happened to Scorpion? I thought you were after him. Kuai Liang: I was. Scorpion is still here, but I will not allow you to face Noob Saibot. Liu Kang: Noob Saibot? Kung Lao (to Liu Kang): For all we know, this could be Shang Tsung. He's trying to stop us from getting the key to save Earth. Kuai Liang: Do not worry. He does not serve Shang Tsung. He is possessed by one of the Elder Gods. There is more than just Shang Tsung's attempt to invade Earthrealm. The gods are involved. Liu Kang: How do you know Noob Saibot is not a part of this? Kuai Liang: Because, I... I think he is my brother. If you want to defeat Shang Tsung, defeat Scorpion. [...] Liu Kang: If your brother is possessed, how can you help him? He'll most likely try to kill you again. Kuai Liang: I will find a way to free him. Kung Lao: That could take a long time. Kuai Liang: As long as it takes. Finding Scorpion should not be as hard. He wants to kill you.

[ails-of-ardor-au]

The three potential powers sound something sorta to what a leaders “lives” are… so what if, left alone and reeling for some sort of safety, Leafpool takes her heavily pregnant self to the Moonpool? She had a rough kitting in canon so maybe she was dying to. Pleading that maybe in some way the stars she always put over everything else would save her this once. She’d always follow them she swears- as she slides into their holy pool.

Adds another line to the kits having a sort of forbidden birth. Not only from another clan but also only ever breathing because the stars saved them. Some once it’s revealed in whatever way may scream that they weren’t even supposed to be born- others bow and beg for mercy from these miracle children. Idk how to word it but something about the water of the womb instead being of stars sacrifice, the kits breathe and sustain off the “magic” (radioactivity) of the pool. Tho I am now realizing this throws a huge wrench in with Dovewing cuz she’s not of that original litter. Maybe explain Holly’s lack of powers due to her having been delivered before her mother went in. Oh but maybe if some of the clan cats saw the three as great saviors of sorts, when the one disappears presumed dead, they take the actively in labor queen and put her in the pool, hoping it’ll save whatever prophecy they believe they’re going to be doomed by. Dovekit is born this way, giving her powers in an incredibly scary way, but also harming her just as the other two of the three are hurt.

Idk if this works in universe but a possible idea :D

This is a really cool idea… But I’m not sure how much I could work it into the plot… I’ll keep it in mind 👀

OKAY RAMBLINGS:

For starters, the idea of Leafpool’s litter being forbidden not only because of their halfClan status, but also due to the fact that their mother trespassed into holy grounds in a desperate attempt to keep herself and her children alive… So good, so so tasty…

My ideas for how to spread this “magic” amongst the “chosen”, which will not be limited just to The Three, but will likely include a cat from each Clan:

Leafpool and Sol hook up. Sol, shortly after Leafpool discovers her pregnancy, is labeled a criminal and a danger to the Clans’ very way of life…

Leafpool’s pregnancy is long and hard. Expectant queens will sometimes slip off to be by themselves (an irl cat behavior, feeling restless and trying to find the perfect safe space), so when Leafpool disappears, ThunderClan isn’t especially worried. But Squirrelflight, driven by concern for her sister, chases after her and finds her in labor and losing far too much blood near the path of the moonpool; Leafpool had been aiming for the lands beyond, because she was desperate for Sol’s presence and comfort, and her pain was blinding her rationale.

Squirrelflight drags her sister to the moonpool, despite knowing full well what a massive invasion and crime this is. But Squirrelflight would much rather put the lives of her loved ones over the warrior code. Leafpool survives her kitting, and has a litter of three… but rejects most of them, partially due to the power (radiation) of the moonpool within her.

Somehow, Squirrelflight manages to hand two of the kits to two of Leafpool’s (or maybe Squirrelflight’s own, as a final favor) old flames: Mothwing and Crowfeather. Hollykit goes to WindClan, and Lionkit goes to RiverClan; where Hollykit is in such close proximity to the also newborn and very weak Breezekit, some of the moonpool’s power latches onto him in turn.

Meanwhile, in ShadowClan, a pair of kits are born secretly of their leader — and the Clan’s concerns about a leader’s blood carrying magic to taint their kin come true. (Dove and Ivy, OR, Dawn, Flame, and Tiger tho I’m thinking of nixing Tiger entirely)

And then uhhh…… Some outsider also with magic. I’m thinking maybe Darktail possibly being born into SkyClan though...

Depending on the status of BloodClan at the time, I’m also thinking that they follow the other Clans to the lake, so we could get a BloodClan protagonist as well…

But anyway, there’s going to be multiple “blessed” kids running around the lake, but only four of them (one from each of the original Clans) will actually be uhhhh “important” for a lack of a better word; their powers will pose a direct wall against a new, grand threat that rises against the Clans: i.e., the Dark Forest (though I’m still figuring out their whole deal… I mentioned beforehand that I wanted ghosts to stick around, both for the sake of this event as well for the Sisters, so I’m thinking maybe like.. mass possession dealie. The dead unable to come to terms with staying dead, so they haunt and “infect” the living to tear the Clans down from the inside)…

[shinobirain24]

Sunsprite Arc

Full name: Sunsprite Summer Rose Arc

Nicknames: Lady Arc, Lieutenant Arc, Sunny (by her parents)

Hair color: Blonde

Eye color: Silver

Occupation: Leader of the Knights of Arc, Second-in-command pf Vale's military, Member of the Resistance, huntress

Affiliation: Clan Arc, Knights of Arc, The Resistance, Vale's military

Semblance: Aura Amp, Rose Manifest

Weapon: Crocea Mors (upgraded into a scythe)

Family: Ruby Rose (mother), Jaune Arc (father), Yang Xiao Long (maternal aunt), Taiyang Xiao Long (maternal grandfather), Summer Rose (maternal grandmother, deceased), Qrow Branwen (honorary great-uncle), Jaden Arc (Paternal grandfather, deceased), unnamed paternal grandmother, Saphron Arc (Paternal Aunt), Terra Cotta-Arc (Paternal aunt), Adrian Arc (paternal cousin), Unnamed 6 paternal aunts, Unnamed paternal great-grandfather, Unnamed great-great grandfather, Mirak Arc (great-great-great grandfather, deceased)

Biography:

Sunsprite was born to Ruby Rose and Jaune Arc. Named after a yellow rose that represents to feel positive and hope, and the promise of a new beginning. Like her mother, Ruby, Sunsprite is born with silver eyes.

She was born during the time of the 2nd Great War in Vale. As an infant, it was the only time Sunsprite sees her mother, but Ruby feared Salem will come after Sunsprite (due to the fact that she has silver eyes). To lure Salem away from her daughter, Ruby resolves to leave. But not before telling Jaune, and asked him to give Sunsprite a letter when she turns 17.

After Ruby left, Jaune was left to raise his daughter on his own, with the help of his older sister, Saphron, and Ruby's older sister, Yang. This way, Sunsprite will still be surrounded by love and family, even during the hard times in the 2nd Great War.

As Sunsrpite grew up, her aunt Yang would not only spoil her and spend some time with her, but also taught her niece hand-to-hand combat. Then Jaune would teach her swordsmanship, but she prefers to fight without a shield in order to excel in her speed.

Later, she would meet her honorary great-uncle, Qrow Branwen, one of the surviving huntsmen that has been watching over Sunsprite from a distance until now. And the one who taught Sunsprite's mother the ways of the scythe. Qrow then taught her on her to use a scythe.

When Sunsprite is ready, Jaunes passed her his own weapon, Crocea Mors, which has been in the family for generations. With this, Sunsprite would readjust the family sword so that it can also turn into a scythe. Jaune doesn't mind this, since he acknowledged her creativity and strategy.

After she turns 17, Jaune finally gives Sunsprite the letter. On the letter, Ruby explains her reason for leaving for the fear of her safety. But encourages her to fight for what she believes in. It also includes a journal that tells her stories about her friends, her time in Beacon Academy, and her journey for the four relics.

During one of her missions, she is helping evacuating the civilians in the town of Sunset Island, when the Grimm got too closer to the crowd, Sunsprite wasted no time to fend off the protect the citizens. It also unlocks the semblance of Rose Manifest (which turns her into Rose pedals to switch from one to to another).

Personality:

Since then, Sunsprite has become the leader of the Knights of Arc. A group of hunters that serve as protectors of the weak and aiding the Resisatnce. Because of this, Sunsprite unlocked her father's semblance, Aura Amp. Which is surprising, cause never before a huntsman and/or huntress can unlock two semblance, and she is the first to do so.

And because of her dedication for the rebellion, Sunsprite became known as "the Silver-eyed Knight of Remnant."

Sunsprite is similar to her mother, Ruby, intelligent of strategy, and filled with dreams despite being involved in the 2nd Great War. And filled with nostalgia when hearing fairy tales as a child. She tried her best to remain positive throughout her battles. Like Ruby, she also has a sweet-tooth for sweets such as cookies, or other baked goods. And would make them from her grandmother's recipe.

She would refer to her father, Jaune as a "Super Dad," who told her fairy tales in Ruby's absence and spending time with her when not fighting in war. For that, she is close to her father, even if he is absent for busy reasons. Which Sunsprite doesn't mind.

Sunsprite dreams of writing her stories, and would write down her journal previous events, so that if the war is won, she can convert them into a book. Writing down her journal, Sunsprite longed to meet her mother since she left. And was curious about what caused her to leave.

[the-owl-tree]

I’m gonna try and make my point again but on anon bc worried of harassment if Certain People don’t agree.

the christofascist themes in warriors I’ve only been able to notice because they align pretty well with patterns I’ve noticed in my own life. clan life (and starclan) HAS to be the only way for cats. it has to be accepted willingly, or forced upon the “lesser” groups (see, atheist or simply non christian) or they will be destroyed in some way. chased off their own land, killed, assimilated, etc. the clan cats are colonists just like eropean christians. see, squirrelflight’s hope. why does no one challenge the clan’s ideas that they are entitled to land, any land, that would benefit them? even if other cats live there? because they aren’t christia- I mean clan cats so they’re lesser and their lives are expendable. see again, squirrel flight’s hope.

I know the conflict of that book that everyone remembers (other than the abuse apologists and kids who don’t understand) is bramblestar abusing squirrelflight for 464 pages (and then getting her sister killed but he’s a man so it’s okay), but the glaring problem is the author’s bias on people different from them. there was absolutely no reason the only cat loudly protesting the slaughter of expecting mothers and children was the protagonist. and she was treated as though she were in the wrong, and punished over and over again in this book alone. remember they hate squirrelstar and her ideals. heinous, genuinely. and there wasn’t even a good resolution to that! moonlight died! the sisters had to leave! and then helped them in the next arc! what the fuck! anyway

one will note how christians are known to refer to non christians as “wicked” “evil” “dark” “lost” or other terms to make it pretty clear they think less of you for not sharing their faith. the clans the same. even through uncontrollable circumstances such as birth you are shamed in this society and downright humiliated on a good day, attempted murder on a bad one (stormpaw, featherpaw and stonefur)

and the victim mentality the clans have along with the paranoia that they are constantly at risk of being wiped out despite there being like 30 cats in their fucking colonies at all times. there is always a war on christianity. there is always a fight the clans have to win to survive. they always have to kill someone else, lately someone minding their business, to survive. they have to impose themselves on other cultures because they are the True way of life and they never have to be confronted with the idea that they are just as flawed if not more than their counterparts. and if they are, conveniently their opposition is killed off or written to submit later on proving them right. I will not include bloodclan and the kin in this because they were legitimate threats, even if in a way they were also caused by clan culture.

the most glaringly obvious example of why I believe warriors and christofascism overlap outside of the need to force themselves on everyone, is the inability to question anything without severe punishment. you cannot question god without threat of eternal damnation or being ostracized from peers and even attacked. you cannot question starclan without threat of eternal damnation and the same. even when there is no logical solution but to admit that they’re wrong and cruel and just as petty and dangerous as the dark forest, in the end the lesson is that you should listen to starclan, never doubt, never question, or you will be punished. and there is no hope for redemption even if you offer yourself to be used.

that is the issue I have. and it’s a very obvious one that I’m sure I’m not the only one who says something about it, but depending on where you live, I live in southern america, it’s not hard to see parallels. do I think it will ever escalate to the severity of reality? no. probably not ever. but the fact that I can see it is what worries me.

again not very well written, and I even got anxious towards the end so my apologies if it’s hard to follow or too sloppy! just wanted to share my thoughts even if people don’t agree.

This is really interesting, thanks for sharing!! I thought it was pretty illuminating, as I'm someone who's never heard of the term Christofascism. I don't know enough about Christian discourses or the subject at hand to commentate too much unfortunately, but I really appreciate your taking the time to write this out for me. If you're interested in expanding this further, I'd actually recommend looking into some texts on decolonization, as a lot of what you wrote hit on points similar to that (in my opinion of course).

I'm not really the best person to asks for texts like that so I'm gonna link you to communistkenobi's reading recommendations on the subject.

edit: missed it so thank you to cicadaclan for pointing this out but i'd argue against the separation of bloodclan and the kin in this. bloodclan are literally written to be godless outsiders who hate families. the kin are the continuation of the evil outsider intent on destroying the clans. the kin, whether or not they were a threat, still fall into the evil outsider trope.

[hisokas-toybox]

My silliest Byakuya Kuchiki (Bleach) headcanon yet?

So... We all love Byakuya.

We all know his tragic backstory.

And many of us (myself included) like to write fanfics/speculate on the possibility of him ever meeting someone new/falling in love again after all these years. We love all that angst and inner conflict.

But

What if it wasn't like that at all. What if someday we just get a complete plot twist.

Picture the scene.

Some future arc, there's a new mystery to be solved and a new villain to fight.

All our faves are there for the storyline, except Byakuya who is mostly absent. His absence from the storyline is shrugged off early on as 'he's busy with other noble family stuff' or 'he's staying behind in the soul society to keep things running as normal there' (and let's face it, he already gets criminally little screen time during most arcs so his absence this time round is really not questioned). The final battle arrives and just as we're in the middle/end stages of the fight he appears saving some key character (Rukia... It's always Rukia) in some dramatic flourish.

After the battle, Ichigo turns to Byakuya and makes a sarky quip like: Nice of you to finally join us. Asks where he's been this whole time, pointing out they could have used his help much earlier.

Rukia and Renji who are nearby are also kind of listening in, partly out of curiousity, partly preparing to intervene if this turns into a fight seeing as Ichigo isn't exactly being polite.

And then.

In the most dead calm, totally nonchalant, almost disinterested tone (one only Byakuya is capable of) Byakuya answers Ichigo's question. "My apologies. There was a conflict in schedules. I had to take care of my children."

There's a beat of dead silence.

Then chaos.

"Your what?!" (Ichigo)

"You have a kid?" (Renji who was holding an injured Rukia suddenly drops her).

"Are you joking?"

"Since when?" "What??? How?!"

Somewhere in between the shocked, confused interrogation as Renji and Ichigo yell questions over each other, Rukia starts yelling at Renji for dropping her, and it really is just several minutes of chaos, which Byakuya just watches in silence.

Eventually the trio calm down enough for Ichigo to demand Byakuya explain.

Which he does, again in that same almost bored tone.

Around 20 years after his first wife passed away, it was decided among the clan and the Central 46 that Byakuya must remarry. That as head of the Kuchiki clan, and sole surviving heir (Sorry Rukia, but you were adopted) it was his duty to carry on the noble bloodline. Byakuya didn't want to remarry, and refused to choose a new bride. He instead consented to arranged marriage with a 'suitable' woman from another noble clan and 'did his duty.'

He shrugs as though it's no big deal.

Ichigo and Renji are just... reeling.

They ask why, in all these years, he's never mentioned any of that? They then turn to Rukia, demanding to know why she never mentioned it either.

Rukia very quietly admits she also had no idea staring absolutely dumbfounded at her brother.

He is asked again why he's never said anything.

Byakuya shrugs. "It wasn't relevant."

More absolute chaos.

The following details emerge somewhere in the carnage.

He has multiple children (I headcanon 3 personally)

All his previous absences from plotlines to this point have been because he was busy parenting (alongside his other Captain and Noble duties)

He's not in love with his current wife - he doubts he'll ever love again the way he did with Hisana - but he does have a deep respect for her. She is his wife and the mother of his children after all.

Byakuya only really interacts with the main cast in work situations. Talking about his family when he should be working would clearly (evidenced by the reaction he's getting right now) be a distraction from that and therefore, a waste of time.

The only reason he never told Rukia was out of fear that she'd be upset he'd moved on from her sister (which he hasn't). He didn't want her to hate him.

She doesn't hate him. Though she is absolutely exasperated that he kept all this a secret from her. They're family after all, she's delighted to be an aunt and is happy Byakuya isn't completely alone.

From there

Either the gag carries on and we just never see or hear anything more about Byakuya's family.

OR

We see them once to prove they are real. His children are all perfect miniature copies of him (looking at him standing beside his kids is like looking at a set of russian dolls).

Anyway, that was my silly thought.

Byakuya with an entire family that he just... Never mentioned to anyone simply because they weren't relevant to his work.

[bonefall]

Bonefall RiverClan Family Tree: Draft 1.2

Subtitle: The whole hog. It's EVERYTHING folks. I did it all the way back up to Darkstar's Commandment. Nearly 8 generations of cats. This has taken several days and meticulous work and I DID IT.

[Update 1.2: Swapped the birthing parent between Sedgecreek and Greenflower to Sedgecreek with the honor sire being Duckfur, made a note of Harelight being an honor title.]

Caveats as usual:

Check out my Info for Family Tree Reworks, including my 3 Strict Rules and general guidelines.

This tree is still subject to change, especially for modern RiverClan.

I made some doodles this time lmao I hope you enjoy them

If you want to check out my diagnosis and see the canon family tree, it's over here!

Under the cut: Renamings, removals, and changelog

RENAMINGS: Format: Old Name (Origin) -> New Name (Reason)

Molewhisker (CotC) -> Moletooth (conflict)

Snaketooth (CotC) -> Snakestream (conflict)

Oatpaw (CotC) -> Oatbelly (save)

Sloefur (FQ) -> Sloefall (conflict)

Perchpaw (MV) -> Perchshine (save)

Magpie (CP) -> Magpiesky (repurposed)

Swankit (TPB) -> Swansong (save)

Copperpaw (Po3) -> Copperwing (save)

Wavepaw (AVoS) -> Waveshine (save)

Shimmerpelt (BS) -> Shimmerbright (conflict)

Shadepelt (AVoS) -> Shademuzzle (conflict)

Mintfur (Po3) -> Mintflower (conflict)

Rushtail (OotS) -> Rushfish (conflict)

Carpkit (Missing Kits) -> Carpwhisker (save)

Bluefur (the one and only) -> Bluemoon (better)

Emberdawn (LH) -> Emberdusk (conflict)

Duckkit (Missing Kits) -> Duckfur (save)

Dragonflykit (Missing Kits) -> Dragonclaw (save)

Heronwing (AVoS) -> Heronflight (conflict)

REMOVALS: These may be shuffled to another litter at a later time, but for now, are effectively cut.

Grasspelt, because I would like Grasswhisker to be an old lady who was friends with Briarlight.

Nightsky and Breezeheart are currently dead as kits to further torment Icewing about losing Beetlewhisker in the Dark Forest. Like StarClan's mad at her.

Robinwing had a conflict name anyway so I just killed them as an apprentice because I want more young deaths.

Lizardtail. Being effectively replaced by Hollowflight, but may have been Hollow's original name before earning an honor title. (the honor title is for betraying the dark forest and running a marathon across the lake to fetch help during the Great Battle-- the name would become Hallowflight.)

The drowned kits of Mosspelt and Frogleap, Robinkit and Woodkit, are gone. I may use them at some point.

Pikepaw from Battles of the Clans. Holding onto them in case they're needed.

Gorseclaw. It is more tragic for Harelight to be the only surviving sibling, plus there was a name conflict anyway.

I completely missed the following cats and it's the only reason they weren't used, and I'm making a note of them here for my own reference should I ever need them;

COTC: Brindleclaw, Graywing, Foxwhisker, Foxclaw, Hayberry and kits Minnowkit and Wildkit, Sunspots, Fernleaf, Blackbee, Kinktail

Lightningpaw and Lilyflower gave Crookedstar a life

THERE WILL PROBABLY BE MORE.

CHANGELOG: I tell you why I did the things

Code and the Clans and Darkstar's Commandment

There's a lot of weird quirks around Code of the Clans, namely that there are two Darkstars associated with two different commandments in two different Clans. If that weren't weird enough, one of those Darkstars is very similar to the MAPLESHADE'S VENGEANCE Darkstar, but these are canonically three different people???

In my rewrite, no lol there's Darkstar of RiverClan, known for Darkstar's Commandment/The Queen's Rights, and Dalestar who created the "don't question your leader" commandment in response to Ripplestar's Rot.

I also snatched a bunch of the cats out of the CotC story to explain the confusion!

Aspentail (the magic spirit who assists the battle) was Darkstar's sister, and Perchpaw's mother. She is going to have a small but emotionally important role as part of StarClan in Darkstar's Commandment.

Splashheart was Perchpaw's father, and Splashfoot was named after him.

Moletooth, Nettlepad, Lightningpelt, Oatberry, and Meadowpelt are all repurposed from another CotC story, conflict-renamed when necessary.

I was going to allow Darkstar's lineage to peter out since Perchshine is going to go live at the barn, but Mudthorn had a mate slot open and I had a stroke of whimsy realizing I could have a kitten join RiverClan from the barn.

Magpiesky is Magpie from Crookedstar's Promise, now a sibling of Fleck and Mitzi instead of a child of Mitzi.

"Magsky" is now the one who brings young Stormpaw to the barn; Domino was her mother but she tries not to talk about her outsider heritage too much because... Clan Culture, y'know.

She was able to join because Volestar was gracious, citing her Darkstar blood.

Appledusk and Reedshine's children, only named in authorial statements, have been broken up and reworked. Willownose and Shyheart belong to other cats and only Applefrost remains; Duskwater has been made into an AppleReed kitten.

I really like how it's two kits, named for both parts of Appledusk.

Duskwater's mate Oatbelly was a victim of Mapleshade.

Rainflower is now the Appledusk descendant, not Shellheart. Her mom was killed in the same storm she gave birth in.

Greenflower

Greenflower's sibling was Duckfur, previously a Missing Kit described as her dead child. Needed more fodder.

I am probably going to make her mother Dragonflykit, the other Missing Kit described as a dead child. I need a good name though. Dragonflyclaw? I kinda want to drop the 'fly' suffix and make the name Dragonclaw because that's cool as hell

MAN what if Clan Culture has a concept of 'dragons' but it's actually a large dragonfly that flies like a hawk, bites like a snake, and swims like a pike...

1.1 UPDATE: Added Dragonclaw as Whitefang's mate and Greenflower's mother.

Greenflower and Sedgecreek were not capable of having biokittens, Duckfur was the honor-sire and Sedgecreek gave birth to the kits.

Greenflower loudly announces this during TigerClan to display their loyalty to the Code, Sedgecreek feels extremely uncomfortable having their personal information aired like that.

Swallowtail fell in love with Rainwhisker on the Great Journey, and became pregnant shortly before his death in the WindClan Rebellion!

The kits are Rainstorm and Rippletail.

Swallow named a son after her forbidden mate. It was BOLD, because Rainstorm is practically Rainwhisker's reflection.

Sedgecreek tries to forgive Greenflower and make amends, but Greenflower turning on their daughter Swallowtail when Ripple and Rain were born was the last straw.

Mudfur and Brightsky

I needed Mudfur's genes because as you can see things get pretty tight, since there's less named characters the further back you go

Say hello to Carpwhisker! She's a sweetheart. Previously a Missing Kit, I picked her over Waterkit or Oatkit.

Voletooth is named after their famous ancestor.

Volestar actually gave the family their spots, and they are all quite large like she was.

Brightsky is not actually dead. She left to become a kittypet, and only Hailstar and Mudfur know this. It was kept secret.

The other two kittens stayed with her.

Sunfish's Bloodline

Frogleap doesn't need kits. Society has progressed past the need for Frogleap kits.

Sunfish's lineage is continued through Grasswhisker. I am fond of Grasswhisker for like no reason. I just think she's Neat.

Her sister Vixenleap actually dies in Mudclaw's Rebellion

Dapplepaw is going to get eaten by a fish in Po3

Grasswhisker can't catch a break and that's how I like it

I made Lakeheart older because I like the idea that she was named after their new home and that effect kinda lessens if she isn't one of the first RiverClan births here.

Harelight and Tragedy

Like I mentioned before, Gorseclaw's getting cut completely. It fits Harelight's story a LOT more for him to tragically lose all of his siblings in TBC.

Denied the ability to mourn his sister Softpelt, being forced to bury Dappletuft like a rogue, Harelight is becoming a Light in the Mist next to Misty. He has a bone to pick with the Impostor.

He's kinda becoming a blorbo ngl.

I imagine he's very polite and a bit silly, but more astute than people give him credit for.

Based on ABSOLUTELY nothing he keeps reminding me of Donnel from Fire Emblem. I have NO idea why I keep thinking of him.

Me trying to reference a greek tragedy about simple mourning rights being the ironic downfall of a tyrant but all I can hear in my head is "YEEEEHAW"

Anyway

I am probably going to cut more warriors, too, to make way for some of the more interesting warriors to stick around. No one cares about Brackenpelt.

UPDATE 1.2: Harelight's first name was Harefur! Mistystar likes to 'match' the names of siblings according to a theme; SoftPELT, DappleTUFT, and HareFUR were all hair-related!

Harelight is an honor title because he is now a Light in the Mist, alongside Mistystar herself.

Graymist and Pouncetail, Mallownose and Sneezecloud

In-canon Shadepelt was acting like an elder when she was barely 2 years old. Lol. Lmao, even.

She is the mom of Pouncetail and Graymist now. I think this is a very funny idea. They are very silly as siblings.

Mallow is Pounce's son and Sneeze is Gray's son.

Mallownose and Sneezecloud are no longer siblings; but they are cousins who were really close growing up because they both lost their littermate!

Mallow lost Robin, and Sneeze lost Duck.

I made them more distantly related because I KNOW there's going to be some kind of romantic drama between Frostpaw and Splashtail in-canon and I want that to be less weird.

Sure, they're far enough in-canon to not break my Three Strict Rules, but still, I wanted to fix it really hard in advance.

1.1 UPDATE: Father of Sneeze has been changed from Voletooth to Beechfur. This may change again.

Copperpaw has evolved into Copperwing

He's called Copperwing because I was planning to have him replace Robinwing, and then I ended up using Robinpaw anyway as a kill… but the name remains.

Got hit with sudden inspiration to make him REALLY shiny and I leaned into it. Him and his kits are sparkly even for RiverClan cats, lmao.

Waveshine and Shimmerbright are pretty evocative of that, I hope! I'm glad I was able to use the -bright suffix at least once.

I approached my renamings with Mistystar in mind; I like to think she tries to give cats "thematic" names. For example, Rushfish is named after his dead brother. Heronflight, Perchwing, and Sneezecloud are sky-related. She even gave Lake and Otter the same -heart suffix.

The SwanMoss Family

Swansong, a surviving child of Graypool x Rippleclaw and the adopted brother of Mistyfoot and Stonefur, is replacing Frogleap. SWANSWEEP.

For a LOOONG while I was planning to make Willowshine the oldest child of Dawnflower, but now that I've definitively worked out the specifics of my tree, I can say with confidence that she works best as a Mosspelt kitten.

Because, y'know, unlike canon Mosspelt's mate isn't dead.

I put Troutstream in here because I feel like she looks like Swansong, who looks like Rippleclaw.

I kinda like her as a family outlier, she's a huge jerk... but she is a PRETTY jerk.

I think Mossyfoot was badly influenced, and her death made Trout grow up.

Icewing and Mintflower, Dark Forest 'curse'

Mintfur is now Mintflower because there needs to be more boys with the -flower suffix.

Also he is an ex-tribecat. He had to take refuge in ThunderClan when the Clan got dangerous during Stormfur and Brook's exile, but Mistystar invited him back when she gained power.

I'm killing Icewing and Mintflower's second litter. I think it's a lot more tragic for Icewing to feel like StarClan is punishing her by not letting her have more kittens.

The fact she trained in the Dark Forest and brought her son Beetlewhisker in with her is haunting.

On that note, Petalfur... either needs more to happen with her, or I'm replacing her on the Beaver Quest. Rippletail dies on it, the other RiverClan cat really needs to have some amount of importance in OotS and possibly beyond.

Other things

Havenpelt is an ex-rogue who used to cause problems, but eventually was badly injured and RiverClan took her in for healing.

I am not fond of Lizardtail because he's boring, in spite of having really interesting kids. He is either going to be combined with Hollowflight or axed completely; more DF Trainees need to survive.

If it's an honor title, it's going to become Hallowflight. The title will come because he defects from the Dark Forest Attackers and runs a very long distance to get help/warn the others before collapsing from exhaustion. A sacred marathon of sorts.

Mousewhisker x Minnowtail REAL. Mousewhisker joins RiverClan after TBC, so we'll have to wait for ASC to be completed before I can give any details. But this is set in stone.

[brekkie-e]

I love your inquisitor so much! May I ask what happened to her left ear though?

Great question, I would love to tell you. (Also I’m sorry this took 10 years to answer. I really wanted provide visuals because this was already a topic I had planned to post about, and unfortunately I’ve been in a complete art block since January ish.) There is a TLDR at the end if needed.

To understand what happened to my darling little Nira’s ear a few things about her family need to be explained. Now, Nira is Dalish™️. But her mother was not born so. She grew up in Antiva city, and only joined the clan when she was about 19/20. Eloped with a dashing craftsmen, it was very romantic. She left family behind in the city, and Nira grew up visiting them on a semi-regular basis. My personal clan Lavellan is a really large one that has kind of commercialized itself to survive. They’ve found success setting up outside human residential areas and putting on shows and fairs where they sell “novelty” items as a way to make ends meet. So it wasn’t uncommon for them to be in the vicinity of the city, and it afforded them unusual freedom in trading with it’s inhabitants.

Nira also had a few cousin’s that lived in the city. And despite the exorbitant amount of siblings I have given this character, her dearest friends during her childhood were her cousins, Tara and Islene. Fraternal twins. And being girls from the mother’s side of the family, still descendent from the Ghilan’nain priestess who received the magical bloodline trait. Due to this, Islene was born a mage like most women in her family. (Luckily the city elf side had for the most part been able to keep this under the radar of templars.)

Much of Ama’nira’s story is defined by this trio and their overall narrative.

For all that Nira was allowed to visit her cousins in her childhood, most of the time was spent almost exclusively with the clan because the Keeper and her mother did not want to tempt fate by letting a young child gifted with magic run amok in the city without intense supervision. Also she was notoriously fussy as a child due to sensory needs and having pretty strong preferences about food and things like that. Her mom even early on liked to keep a close watch over her because of this. But after a few years of begging, Nira was finally allowed to spend the night at her aunt and uncle’s house during a visit when she was about seven.

Everything started out okay, normal fun childhood sleepover type stuff. Nira was sent with some hearth cakes to bring for dessert. They played cards as a family. It was a lovely evening.

But as bed time drew near things started to veer off course. The girls were tucked in and put to sleep like normal. But shortly after the parents went to bed, Tara popped her head up and said they should go to the vhenadahl. “Maybe it will work if all three of us try it, and not just two.”

Nira had no idea what they were on about, but she was excited to be included as her sisters often left her out (they were much older than her.) So the little group make their way out of the house and down to the alienage center where the tree of the people is. The girls explain to Nira that according to legend, a spirit of Love lives in the tree and if someone manages to run around the it 3 times while only one moon is covered by a cloud and the other isn’t, the spirit will bless them. They tell her how they’ve tried and tried a thousand times, but no matter what they do they can’t get it to appear.

Naturally, the girls start giving it their all. They run around the tree dozens of times, tripping more than once because they were staring up at the moon while doing so. Giggling and squealing as they ran into eachother. This was not an uncommon thing for children to attempt in the alienage, so at this point most people tended to ignore them. It was basically a childhood rite.

However, most children that tried this weren’t also mages. Now, seeing as how there never was a spirit in the tree to begin with, luckily no demon summoning happened. That didn’t stop Tara from suggesting her two mage friends should try to “touch the fade” so it knew they were there. So for a few laps, Nira and Islene ran with their arms in the air, reaching out with their magic in whatever way they could to see if they could do what Tara was saying. As they had no idea what “touching” the fade even meant. Of course, this was a very ill advised thing to do, but they’re babies. And babies do dumb things.

No spirits were there to listen, but Templars on city watch were and arrived at the scene shortly after. The magical night that the girls were having crashed down around them as they turned to see the knights. Tara, being the scrappier one of the bunch, shouted at them to run. And they did. But Nira tripped on one of the cobblestones, and was nearly over taken. Islene seeing this turned back for her cousin and pulled her off the ground, pushing her forward. In the process, she was grabbed instead. Nira ran with everything she had.

The templars upon realizing that a frenzied, terrified, and untrained mage was fleeing into the city, and they were about to lose her made the call to attempt to “neutralize” her as a last ditch effort to ensure she could not become an abomination before they found her again. So arrows were loosed as she ran, and one pierced right through her ear. Nira, in a state of complete panic and terror, grabbed it and ripped it off- causing the missing chunk that she bears to this day.

Tara was able to make it home without being caught and in a state of shock explained to her parents what had happened. Her father left immediately to try and get Islene back from the Templars, but was beaten terribly and returned home empty handed. They ran to the clan and told them of what happened as soon as possible, and search parties were sent out for Ama’nira whilst also packing for an emergency move because they did not want the Templars to turn on the clan in their hunt for the young girl. They were forced to leave before finding her.

Nira meanwhile ran blindly through the city, stopping only when there was nowhere left to run. Which happened to be the docks. She found a barrel underneath a pier and hid in it for two days in a state of complete shock, not even noticing how much time went by. When her senses eventually came back to her, she managed to sneak her way around the city before hitchhiking in the back of a wagon and sneaking out the gates. She was too terrified to go back to the alienage as that was where it all happened. Unfortunately, the poor thing had no idea how to actually get to where the clan had camped, and to begin with they weren’t there anymore. So when she eventually saw some woods, she jumped out of the wagon and started wandering. In a complete stroke of luck, one of her brothers who had not given up the search had been heading back to the city and was able to find her and bring her home.

To wrap this up, the event left Nira deeply traumatized and she would continue to struggle with using magic for many years afterwards. She only truly is able to break through her barriers with it once befriending Dorian. It left Islene in the circle, and she is made tranquil only a few years after. And it would lead Tara to grow up in what would quickly become a broken home, her mother leaving to prevent the templars from discovering her magic and her father descending into alcoholism to cope with what had become of his family. Few people foster as much hatred towards Templars as Tara, she blames them for everything bad that’s ever happened to her and her loved ones.

Nira and Tara actually start Inquisition as a pair, with Tara becoming her pseudo enforcer during the course of the game. When Ama’nira was chosen by her keeper to attend the Conclave, a decision aimed at allowing Nira to find closure and give her the opportunity to grow outside of her mother’s influence, Tara decided to go with her as a guide/protection. The pair hoped to find Islene at the Temple and discover what had happened to her.

TLDR: Her ear was injured during an altercation with templars in her childhood where cousin was taken to the Antivan Circle. It is the foundational event that ties Nira’s story with her cousins which is very important to the overall arc of my canon Inquisition plot.

[mathlann]

Iocanthos + Cas Culture/Lore Dump

(the top two just because I don't think I've differentiated them before)

Warbands are the main political entities on Iocanthos. They are led by a Vai, and can be made up of millions of people. Each warband is different and has its own relationship with the Imperium and its culture.

The Ashleen Clans are the cultural groups that are native to Iocanthos before the Drusian conquest of the planet. They are semi-nomadic, speak an archaic dialect of High Gothic, and usually have their own lands where they traditionally reside. Every clan is part of a warband by founding, alliance, or conquest, but not every warband is Ashleen. How each clan participates in their warband also varies, but contributing a regular tithe of people to the larger warband is common.

Casimira and her older siblings were tithed, but her younger two sisters were allowed to stay on clan lands. Many older warriors who survive to see "old" age, like Cas' mother, often can retire back to Clan lands once they start to slow down.

Minor Daemons were a lot more common on Iocanthos before the Imperium came, and often a lot of local taboos and folklore come from methods of avoiding or entreating these creatures. Some of the indirect heresy of Cas' tattoos comes from this, although much of the methodology is obscure enough that she's not really at risk of accidentally summoning any surprise friends with a wrong movement.

Cas' warband (Skull's Band) has a much more favorable relationship with their (illegal) psykers than most other warbands, which goes hand in hand with their general disdain for the Faith. Skull the Magnificent himself may have been a psyker, and in his heyday his retinue included a diviner named Gurgerin who helped predict his battles. By Casimira's day, Skull (I) and Gurgerin are mostly legend, but this is part of the reason she doesn't bat an eye at Idira's role on the ship and why she has a better grasp of what the Farseers are and mean to the Asuryani.

By that same measure, if any particular child of the clan rises to prominence, the whole clan rises in prestige by association. Being "the aunt that raised a future Vai" is just as important as being that Vai's parent in terms of potential future benefits. Having multiple family members in positions of power is the ultimate goal, and so families staying close and connected helps place their members in roles where they'll rise best they can.

Within the cluster of clans that make up Skull's band, family structures are more fluid than they would be in Port Suffering or other places with more standard Imperium cultural values. People die young and often, and those that don't can be away from home for years at a time. Children are raised communally and trust in one's family members is vital. A person should be able to leave their child with an aunt or cousin, and expect that child to have the same standard of care as that relative's own children.

Because the Warband has such a strict and brutal way of operating, it's still harder to fail upwards through family connections even if your clan is favored. Helping out one's family is valuable, but that also relies on being a skilled and competent group as a whole because one failson or cousin can end up bringing much worse consequences on more than just themselves.

Intra-family scheming is also heavily disdained. Only so many people survive to adulthood, much less become successful, so why shorten that number among your own clan just for petty personal gain? Usually some form of arbitration exists to settle disputes between family members should a conflict arise.

Kinslaying is especially taboo, and unless the person involved was doing something that was in some way a crime against the clan as a whole, killing a member of one's own group is reason enough for exile or death. The lack of kinslaying taboo is one of the few things about Commorrite culture that Casimira refuses to wrap her head around, even if Marazhai eventually had a legitimate excuse.

[girlactionfigure]

Jan Kasper Klein was a Dutch gym teacher who hid seventeen Jews in his small home during the German occupation of Holland. 

Jan was born in the picturesque town of Delft, Holland in 1912 to a Christian family. Naturally athletic, Jan excelled in multiple sports as a child and as he grew older began to coach. After he completed his schooling, Jan became a high school gym teacher and gymnastics coach. He was longtime friends with Bob Denneboom, a Jewish diver who became Dutch champion of platform diving from the three meter springboard.

As Bob settled into Jan’s humble cottage, the Nazi deportation of Dutch Jews intensified. Bob had a large extended family who were in imminent danger of arrest. Despite the small size of Jan’s home, he invited Bob’s entire family to take refuge there. The Denneboom clan included Jan’s parents, sister and brother-in-law, and various cousins, fifteen people in all. Including Bob and Mischa, Jan was harboring seventeen Jews in a very quiet neighborhood where everybody knew everybody else’s business. He managed to prevent his neighbors from finding out what was going on by making sure his Jewish guests maintained complete silence. Some of them huddled in the house behind drawn curtains; others stayed in the attic and an additional secret hiding spot underneath the roof. The one giveaway was the large amount of bread people saw Jan carrying, so he told his neighbors that he was starting a breadcrumb business.

It was exceedingly difficult for eighteen people to live together in the small cottage, and Jan’s mother offered her home in a bombed-out section of the Hague as a second sanctuary. Several of the Jews traveled there in the dead of night and Mrs. Klein fed them and provided for their needs, as did Jan for the Jews he was hiding in Amsterdam. Jan forged relationships with members of the Dutch Resistance movement, and was able to obtain extra food ration cards to feed all the people in his care. 

Somehow, the Germans found out about the Dutch mother and son who were secretly sheltering Jews. On February 16, 1944, the Gestapo raided both Klein households. They arrested all seventeen Jews, as well as Jan and Mrs. Klein. In the chaos of the raid Bob Denneboom managed to escape, perhaps using his exceptional physical prowess to outrun the Nazis. Everybody else was taken to concentration camps. 

Bob’s parents, sister and brother-in-law, and other relatives were murdered in Auschwitz. Jan Klein was sent to Dachau, and his 65 year old mother went to a work camp in Vught, Holland. Thankfully, both Jan and his mother survived the war and returned to their homes. Of the seventeen Jews who were hidden by the Kleins, only three came back alive, including Roza Vos-Rijksman, who later married Bob Denneboom.

After the war, Jan went back to his quiet life as a gym teacher, and didn’t talk much about his heroic actions during the Nazi occupation. Bob and the other Jews saved by Jan told everyone they met about the generous Dutchman who opened his home and his heart to seventeen Jews, most of whom had been complete strangers to him before they moved into his small cottage. 

Jan Kasper Klein was honored as Righteous Among the Nations by Israeli Holocaust Memorial Yad Vashem in 1974.

For hiding seventeen Jews, at great personal sacrifice, we honor Jan Kasper Klein – and his mother – as this week’s Thursday Heroes.

[yuriko-mukami]

My Different Fandom OCs

…and their species

First of all, I have to say that most of my OCs are fandomless unless you count my own books as fandoms. So, I have tons of OCs but not too many fandom OCs, and even fewer I have actually roleplayed. 

Tagged by: @lucidesunderstander

Tagging: @nalia-tsukino @mermaid--bride @hanakohanabe @strawberry--bride

Pictures: Picrew, Pinterest, and my drawings (some of them rather old)

My Diabolik OCs

I have a full family of kitsune OCs for this fandom but I’m going to list only the ones I actively roleplay.

Tsukino Yuriko / Mukami Yuriko

Species: Kitsune 

Yuriko is my main RP character and also my comfort character. She is shipped with Mukami Ruki. But honestly, you all already knew that. You can read her canon story here.

Tsukino Yuuto

Species: Kitsune 

Yuuto is Yuriko’s big brother. He has his own blog (@yuuto-tsukino) on Tumblr, but I mostly RP as him privately. He is shipped with Tsukino Nalia (@nalia-tsukino), who is my friend’s OC.

Kitsui Himiko

Species: Kitsune 

Himiko is a distant relative of Yuriko and Yuuto but doesn’t know anything about them. I only RP as her privately. She is shipped with Homura Shinji who is my friend’s OC.

Minor DL OCs I roleplay occasionally

Kozima Mineko

Kozima Kenjo

Kozima Toshi

Kozima Toru

Species: Kitsune 

Inari

Species: Kami

My OCs in the Other Fandoms

All of them are human. I don’t roleplay as them anymore.

Ana May Minth

Fandom: Pirates of the Caribbean

I honestly can’t remember much about her. She is a fiery waitress from Tortuga and got caught in the pirate business. She has a situationship with Captain Jack Sparrow.

Jane Sparrow

Fandom: Pirates of the Caribbean

Jack Sparrow's little sister from a different mother. She is a supporting character in a fan fiction story I wrote (The Hot Winds of the Caribbean), but I also included her in the same RP as Ana. She has no ship, but she wants one, meaning a boat kind of ship.

Aikiwa Yume

Fandom: Naruto

A young woman who didn’t know about her origins. She started as a self-insert (Afi) but grew as her own character, and I gave her another name.

Akatsuki ordered Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame to kidnap Yume without telling them the reason. Later, it was revealed she had been brought out of Konoha before Itachi had slaughtered his whole clan, so she is actually an Uchiha, too.

Yume is shipped with Itachi, and I wrote a 150 000 word story “The Red Dawn” based on that roleplay. The RP story is an AU where Itachi survives but becomes blind after his fight with Sasuke. Yume has twins with him at the end of the story.

[leahspassionproject]

Characters, Description , and the Actors

For my passion project I will be focusing on the main characters and the characters I genuinely like and enjoy seeing in the movie!

Jake Sully played by Sam Worthington (my favorite)

Sam Worthington repeats his role of disabled ex-marine turned forest-dwelling Na’vi Jake Sully that he was in the first Avatar movie production in 2009, only this time as a father of four — two sons and two daughters. Protecting his family defines Jake now, as it does most fathers, but when the Sky People return to get revenge on Jake and to make Earth the new hone humanity it makes Jake realize he is also responsible for the forest nation that took him in as the clan leader. so he makes some difficult decisions for their overall well-being and protection as well.

Neytiri played by Zoe Saldana

Neytiri is the native Na’vi love of Jake’s life. The story of their relationship is documented and can be foundin the first “Avatar” film, in which Neytiri fell in love with Jake despite him being an outsider and not one of the people. Neytiri feels torn between her love for the people and her love, but since she has started a new family with Jake, she ultimately devotes her energy to them and Jake.

Neteyam played by James Flatters

Neteyan, first born son of Jake and Neytiri, often gets sucked into trouble by his younger siblings especially the adventurous Lo'ak. His father puts a lot of pressure on him as the oldest son to set an example and to watch over his siblings.

Lo'ak played by Britain Dalton

Lo’ak is the embodiment of the classic mischievous younger brother type. Neteyan tries to shield Lo'ak from their ex-military father’s wrath. Lo’ak often lives more on the edge, highly interested in battle and going hunting beyond the reef even though he barely learned for most of the Metkayinas ways, also to mention he isn't allowed. He bonds with tulkun that is outcasted Payakan, who saves his life from a smaller sharklike creature when the reef boys abandon him outside the contained borders of their clan.

Kiri played by Sigourney Weaver

Kiri’s conception inside the Avatar body of the late scientist and researcher Grace (Sigourney Weaver played in the first Avatar film in 2009) is a big mystery, but kiri, daughter of the lover of the Na’vi people has a lot of her mothers traits. This includes her captivation with the creatures of Pandora and how the whole system of the planet connects. Kiri is adopted by Jake and Neytiri, but she still feels like an outsider because shes different. She has the extraordinary ability to bond with the creatures of Pandora, even the plants and control them or get them to help her when shes in danger.

Tuk played by Trinity Jo-li Bliss

Tuk is the youngest child of Jake and Neytiri. She always wants to tag along on whatever adventure her brothers and sister is on but, she can be inconvenient when the kids have to flee all kinds of threats.

Spider played by Jack Champion

Spider was left behind on Pandora when the marine forces trying to colonize it were forced out after Jake killed Colonel Quaritch, Spider’s father. He grew up to be energetic and lively young man who roams around the forest with Jake’s children, despite the the fact that he is not Na’vi. Out of all of Jakes and Neytiris kids he gets along with Kiri the most.

Quaritch played by Stephan Lang

Stephen Lang returns to Pandora in a reincarnation of sorts of his character from the first film: Colonel Miles Quaritch. Though Jake killed Quaritch’s human form and body on Pandora in the first“Avatar” film in (2009), scientists had prepared for this to happen by his memories and DNA on a backup hard drive to use for an Avatar body they inserted him into on Earth. Quaritch returns to Pandora with a vengeance and need for revenge. He targets Jake Sully for derailing the military efforts of colonizing Pandora in order to prepare it for humans since Earth’s survival is declining.

Tsireya played by Bailey Bass

Tsireya, daughter of her parents Ronal and Tonowari, helps Jake’s kids get used of the land and ocean when they first arrive at the Reef People’s island. Lo'ak and her seem to have a thing for each other as well, its evident when she first comes out of the water to greet them and Lo'ak looks at her.

Sources: https://www.thewrap.com/avatar-the-way-of-water-cast-characters/

[abyssalwhim]

What is a Hearth

The Huntress had chosen to leave a comfortable, if tension-filled, life in the North Shroud with her clan and now wandered Thanalan, alone. She’d earned a limited amount of respect from the locals, Merchants, guardsmen, and refugees alike recognized her as a frequent, if nameless, trading partner. As a hunter, she’d traded skins and claws and teeth for better weapons and gear to ensure she’d survive this land. Meat had even prove profitable at times, though she’d had few opportunities to trade it before it spoiled.

She had used the earnings from her labors for stronger arrowheads of bronze and iron, and to buy clothing better suited to the climate. A cotton shirt, padded leather breeches with leather scraps sewn on top of the fabric, sturdy but lightweight boots, a better visor to help her Keeper’s eyes adjust to the harshness of the desert sun’s light. Her skin had once burned but was now tanned where it was not covered by clothing. And during her time with traveling merchant caravans, she’d traded her patched tent for a bolt of plain cotton canvas she could use for shelter in storms of sand and rain alike.

There had been times where she wished for companionship, true companionship. She had a sister and a mother in the Shroud, but they’d been as set in their ways as the Wildwoods, and she had left in anger. In this dry, hostile place, her options for companionship were few and far between. The Brass Blades were amusing but she saw how they treated the refugees. She also saw the bribes the merchants paid to get illicit goods through checkpoints. Townsfolk could be decent for a conversation, but seven times out of ten she’d choose a bedroll under the stars over a bed in an inn, just to make sure she had no unwanted visitors following her into a room.

Outside of guards and merchants, the only other option was the refugees. Weathered skin and desolate eyes, gruff manners and a bad reputation, that’s all they were to most of the born locals. But the Huntress had seen a mother smacking a child on the arm with a spoon, young men sparring with each other and playing at being rebel fighters or monks, and old folk tanning leather to make a few Gil. People are people.

A time eventually came when she found a good enough reason to approach the little encampment in the cave. A sandstorm had blown in and no one wanted to sit outside to cook a haunch of ziz, least of all her, so she recited her pitch for the woman who always tended the central cook fire and prayed to Menphina her nervousness would not show.

They ignored her, of course. Just another outsider, likely to cause some harm or accuse someone of something they didn’t do and didn’t even have any interest in doing. When they went to trade, whether it be the merchant caravans or travelers or the simpering Dunesfolk merchant near the Aetheryte, they were either cheated or dismissed. She’d seen it often. It had been easy to figure out why the refugees all looked careworn.

“I have a haunch here and need it to be cooked. It’s fairly fresh and I’ll share it.”

Most of the inhabitants who heard her looked askance and continued on with their own tasks. The exceptions included a woman at the central cookfire and a young man between the cookfire and the Huntress.

“Share it, will ye?” The young man said, suspicious, then looked over at the woman at the cookfire. “And what’s yer price? Nothing that’s shared is free.”

She almost smiled. “A strong trading relationship. I hunt, maybe do shopping and trading for you, and I get to bring meat to your cook fire, maybe some other things besides.” She saw she had not only the young man’s attention, but the woman at the cook fire was also watching her. “A warm, dry, safe place to sleep every now and again, too. Where no one steals from me or bothers me or overcharges me.”

The woman finally spoke. “There’s those that think we’ll steal if they give us a way into their lives. You wouldn’t be here if you thought that way. Besides, knowing you’ve traded arrowheads with us helps yer cause.” She was lean and had a dark complexion, with graying hair and a lightly wrinkled face that suggested beauty in her youth. “We can accommodate your ask, give me that—gods, is that ziz meat? Slew it yerself?”

The Huntress sat across from the older woman and watched as the meat was cut into pieces, quickly roasted on stained wooden skewers, and added to a pot set over the fire. There were pieces of what looked to be popoto and onion swirling inside. Once the stew was bubbling, the woman used a ladle to serve it in fired clay bowls. While the Huntress ate, others came to the cook fire for their own bowls of stew, including the young man who first spoke to her. They shared their names, but the young man said to call him Burrow and the older woman said she just went by Cook these days. The huntress smiled as she swallowed a bit of popoto and then introduced herself by name, but said they might as well call her Huntress, since all she did was hunt. The younger folk, those around her age, laughed a bit at that, but not the Cook, nor most of the other refugees.

As the bowls were collected by a couple of the older children for washing, the Cook gave her a long look. “Names carry pain. It’s why I don’t use mine. Who was I, before we left the Peaks of Ala Mhigo? I don’t know that woman, she’s a stranger to me.”

The Huntress understood this. She’d been the eldest daughter of a respected clan leader, a clan which prided itself on assimilation to Gridanian standards. Now, she was a step below the bribe-taking Brass Blades, though not morally. She didn’t think she was inferior, just more disposable, less important, an outsider.

When the Huntress returned to the moment, she found that the Cook had been watching her. The older woman pointed to a blanket folded on the ground. “You can lay that somewhere and sleep on it. If you need more cushion, yer welcome to bring a soft fur or more blankets. It’d be best if you slept around here, it’s where I and the lad you spoke with sleep.”

“Is he your son? Or grandson?”

The woman looked at her with narrowed eyes and a tightness to her mouth. “No. Just a lad with too few people left is all.”

A comfortable but heavy silence stretched on. There were unasked questions but understanding had settled into place between them.

As the sun began to set, the Huntress spread the blanket the woman had pointed to on the ground near a cave wall and laid on her side, eyes half-closed. The older children brought the bowls back and picked up the pot to clean it downstream, outside of the cave system. After they left, the woman brought out a basket of sewing to work on the fraying hem of a shirt. These people had few clothing items and even fewer ways to obtain new garments. It made sense to the Huntress that those who were not occupied with other tasks would work on mending. Her own hands were idle, though.

“May I help with anything? I am no weaver, but I can patch a garment or add leather for additional protection.”

“No, the terms of our agreement were clear. And we’ll have things for you to sell for us soon enough.”

“I’ll have to go away from here to sell things. Trading leather or wood carvings will raise few questions, but selling something like arrowheads for food or clothing or tools will lead to questions I’d rather not answer.” The Cook responded with a grunt of agreement as she passed needle and thread through worn cloth.

Darkness swept into the cave and the woman stopped her work. A brazier was set up nearby, and she rose to light it. Then the Cook advised she was going to visit a friend and check on Burrow.

The brazier was made to provide warmth, and the sun had set, but there was still light enough to prepare for a restful first night’s sleep in the cave. After making water and then rinsing her feet and hands in the shallow stream flowing through the cave, and splashing her face, the Huntress removed her turban and visor and quickly changed into a loose fitting cotton tunic. She was cross-legged on her blanket and braiding her hair for sleep when the Cook returned, a bit flush from whatever drink the Ala Mhigans made.

The older woman shook out a blanket that had been next to some cooking things and spread it on the ground only a few fulms from the Huntress. “You remind me of a girl I once knew. She was a friend of my daughter, they’d braid each other’s hair, but she was also a Keeper.”

There were no Keeper families she knew of from Ala Mhigo, though she supposed the western region was close enough to the Shroud for it to make sense. Since leaving the Shroud, she’s met no other Keepers. Too curious to resist, she asked, “Are there any Keepers here?”

“No.” A hesitant pause. “Neither is my daughter. They both died.”

“I’m sorry for your loss.”

“Why? We all, everyone here, have lost someone. To the war, to the journey here, to sickness or hunger or a thief’s death. Everyone loses someone, it’s what you do after, how you move on while remembering them, that matters.”

Another fleck of understanding passed between them, and the Huntress turned over to sleep with a sense of peace and safety she had not felt in a long time.

[the-firebird69]

This kid and his wife are important to our future the Mac proper have a game they want to play it with them if we don't play along we don't survive we can be part of miscellaneous that's dingleberry top guys and others who want to stick around here's the game it's very intense I figured it out once not necessarily.

--he handled money at work and he helps procure work and he got us jobs and he did it by making technology very weird but he was getting jobs from massive massive changes in the paradigm and in how we do things email internet included massive changes and his brother and the clans were involved but they plan on taking the money he was handling that was associated with those advances and they hand it back to him and he takes over the companies that we were working with and owned at the companies that we had him at so in essence it's like this weird repeating parallel he's building things for us in companies that we owned that he started and he's just a builder running around making places to put it in and it's a very lowly job for what he actually did and eventually he will be sitting in the seat and controlling companies that he started to satiate him and keep him occupied and to try and find his people a lot of people are going to be fired and quit and he's supposed to take over and that's how it's going they know their system and it's wicked they know a little of it he says and it is wicked and that he admits it's massively scary and they're around him and he knows about it and they don't talk and they're deadly and there's other things too and his mother and father are deadly people we understand what we're messing with is dangerous but this puts it in perspective and the cash that's his investments where what infused into the company huge investments massive amounts of money from his investments are now there and they inspire people to invest in those companies and those companies will still be around and they're going to be the biggest and not the only companies he has children and they're going to be invited to the table and they have to and we know why or there's no economy and no people and he's going to have to float us it's a different story than JC and Mary no it's like a clan so they're kind of repeating that and they had them do it and that they did it some of the inventing most of the engineering and they built the companies buildings a lot of Mac proper did so they're saying that they will turn around and take it over in the end that's how it goes and this money is important to them very important and he touched on it saying some things to entice you like your children and it works this might be something that takes a while for you to understand

Mac Daddy

You said something like that before and I didn't get it but he gets it now you get it and now it's starting to make a lot of sense and infusing the money is really making sense to me it makes a ton of sense and he does have investments already and there's one that I can tie on to for goober Meister and it would become huge and he says that Hera can invest directly into it and I didn't get that but I do understand it and she has a way of doing it and you won't know he says until it's done and the people will check and see that it's her afterwards and she's showing an image of Katya with their huge sunglasses what you thought were fascinating and she laughs and says it's probably my sisters and we're supposed to get mad about it and make our own and he says I don't know what the deal is I'll have to copy the style anyways and she says what's coming out of him right now is bothering me and really out of his mouth but he wasn't saying it and he's saying I get a jump in it on them and a head start and I made the retiree glasses type of thing that goes over your glasses for people who are four eyes now she's upset she says don't say four eyes say it's people who wear spectacles like Ken. And yeah spectacle Island okay that didn't have to do with that no. It's getting me back no it's just making it up she says that's Hera and we are saying this is how it's going to happen and it is very big we're going to print some people get it.

It was Trump on top switched into us

Thor Freya

Olympus