#stealing her egg after her death only for it to hatch and for the baby dragon to tear them apart and eat their heart and leave them

[quietwingsinthesky]

remembering that i made a minecraft OC once and that their main traits were 1) cult leader and 2) in an endless homoerotic cycle of death, amnesia, murder, and rebirth with the enderdragon

[navree]

When Rhaena told Jaehaerys that she always thought she was a Visenya and Alysanne was a Rhaenys, what did she meant? That’s an interesting parallel, given that she said it in a bad way (sadly) for herself.

(Beyond my personal view that Visenya was a lesbian and that Rhaena is also a lesbian in canon?)

There's the fact that a lot of Targaryens all throughout history have been trying to recreate the dynamic of the Conquerors and their concept of the dragon having three heads, and that this is a dynamic everyone in the family is hyper aware of and is always looking to repeat to see if they can match that sort of greatness, similar to the way good kings are always compared to Jaehaerys himself. There are also some parallels in the situations, such as birth order, with Rhaena being the eldest sister (and eldest child), Jaehaerys being the middle one and her only little brother following the deaths of Aegon and Viserys, and Alysanne being the youngest and the baby. There's also the fact that Jaehaerys is obviously married to Alysanne and had a productive and mostly happy marriage with her, and the generally accepted fact in Westeros that Aegon was only ever in love with Rhaenys and the dynamics of the Conquerors' relationship paralleling Rhaena and Jaehaerys and Alysanne in the vein of "one sister with her two little siblings, and then those youngers as two romantic/sexual partners".

I think it's important to remember the context that these words are said in. It's just after Elissa Farman stole the three dragon eggs (heavily implied to be the three that eventually end up in Dany's possession in the narrative proper) from Dragonstone and absconded to Essos, something that Jaehaerys is very mad about and more importantly, puts some blame on Rhaena for.

“What do you mean to do?” his sister Rhaena asked him. “What I must. What YOU must. Do not think to wash your hands of this, sweet sister. You wanted Dragonstone and I gave it to you, and you brought this woman there. This thief.”

So already, while he's primarily angered at Elissa for actually stealing the eggs, he also puts some of the onus on Rhaena for having put them in the position where this was possible (not entirely unwarranted tbf), and he's willing to take her to task over it even while discussing the primary goal of trying to get the eggs back. And it's when they're discussing that goal, and how Jaehaerys and Rhaena will fly to Essos to reclaim the eggs themselves if they have to, even if by force, that Rhaena says that line.

“No hatchlings can hope to stand against Vermithor and Dreamfyre.” “And Silverwing?” asked Rhaena. “Our sister—” “—had no part in this. I will not put her at risk.” The Queen in the East smiled then. “She is Rhaenys, and I am Visenya. I have never thought otherwise.”

The context here is that Rhaena points out the more logical choice, that they have three grand dragonriders in their family and that Alysanne could very easily participate in taking back any dragon eggs or newly hatched dragons from whatever Essosi noble Elissa sold them to. And before she's even done speaking, Jaehaerys cuts her off and explicitly says that he's not going to risk Alysanne's life for this, and implicitly prioritizing her safety over Rhaena's. Just as Aegon is remembered as having prioritized Rhaenys and his relationship with her over Visenya, to the point where his relationship with Visenya got actively worse when Rhaenys was out of the picture, Rhaena now sees Jaehaerys as prioritizing Alysanne over her, her safety over Rhaena's safety and her ability to live long over Rhaena actively flying into battle to fix a mistake that, while maybe somewhat her fault, is certainly not entirely her fault. And given the commonly accepted history, isn't that very-Aegon like, prioritizing the sister he loves over the sister who is only a sister (ignoring, of course, that both Rhaenys and Visenya flew into battle and fought in the air with their dragons and that Aegon certainly didn't treat Rhaenys as a princess in the tower but an active ruler alongside him and a worthy battle commander in both the Conquest and the First Dornish War before she died)?

And it's also important to note that the past as prologue is a significant factor in this. Out of all of Aenys's still living children, Rhaena's probably the one who has heard Rhaenys talked about the most. She was Aenys's first child and the one who had the most face time with Aegon, and it's explicitly stated in the text that Aegon spent a lot of time with her not just because she was his granddaughter but also because of who she reminded him of.

“It was written that King Aegon himself wept the first time his granddaughter was placed in his arms, and thereafter doted upon the child…mayhaps in some part because she reminded him of his lost queen, Rhaenys, in whose memory she had been named.”

Jaehaerys and Alysanne were both toddlers when Aegon died, but Rhaena was fourteen, and she spent a lot of time with Aegon. It's not impossible to imagine that she heard a lot about her namesake, both out of her own curious questioning and Aegon likely reminiscing. She's the only person living at this time who has likely heard firsthand just how much her grandparents loved each other and how devoted Aegon was to his younger sister, how much he missed her after she was dead. So looking at Jaehaerys's immediate dismissal of putting Alysanne in any danger, even if it put his other sister in more danger, out of his love and care for his wife, might have reminded Rhaena specifically of Aegon and how he'd talked about Rhaenys to Rhaena herself.

Rhaena's also got a lot of bias in the situation. She's just been, in her view, very cruelly betrayed by a woman she loves, after already having had to deal with a fair amount of tragedies in her life and is rapidly losing a lot of personal connections (again, Elissa betrayed her, she was never close with Androw and that's only gotten worse, Rhaella is a septa and therefore not close to her and certainly not living with her, Aerea practically straight up hates her at this point, Jaehaerys is putting blame on her for the entire dragon egg situation and thus pulling away as well). It's not unreasonable to assume that Rhaena felt unloved, as unloved as people hypothesize Visenya was, given how people assume that neither of her siblings ever felt any affection for her and also her son was kind of a monstrous psychopath. Rhaena comparing herself to Visenya isn't just her viewing the situation through a historical lens and going "ooh parallels", but also just her feeling alone and isolated in a dynamic with her siblings and comparing it to the one other dynamic that she could, casting herself in the negative role due to her own issues and her own burgeoning detachment from people. Alysanne is loved by the commons, loved by Jaehaerys, protected and considered precious and adored by her family, satisfied romantically and sexually and with a family; much like Rhaenys. Rhaena is alone and isolated and the odd one out in her remaining siblings, considered aloof and cold and austere, doesn't have a good relationship with the people and an increasingly negative reputation; much like Visenya. It's Rhaena's issues about herself and her circumstances bubbling up in this moment and being tacked onto an already existing relationship type that she's heard the most about, and is already incredibly famous.

In short, Rhaena isn't just looking at the objective parallels between them, but also adding on her own views, in a situation that was already emotionally fraught for her, and was doing so negatively due to her own problems with herself and the problems others are starting to have with her.

[angelynmoon]

Ellie and Effie find Theron boring, he can't change between forms like they can and so he has to grow up like a Human, at least for the first few years.

Morgana, however, loves Theron, she loves helping Merlin with him, even though the toddler can't do much, but she'll hold him on her lap as she holds a bottle filled with Merlin's magic, her tiny face set in concentration while Leon stand nearby on guard duty.

It's cute and Arthur loves it when Merlin let's Theron out of sight long enough that it's Arthur's rooms where the three children migrate to for the youngest one's feeding, sometimes Morgana will even sit on Arthur's lap to feed the baby.

Arthur likes holding Theron, there's something about holding a baby that fills him with warmth, it's a similar feeling that he got hen he first held a tiny Morgana when Merlin thrust her at him.

So, he's been waiting for Gwen to bring it up, wanting a baby, because while Arthur wants a child, wants to give Morgana her own baby brother so she'll stop stealing Ellie and Effie's, he knows better than to be the one to make demands of his wife's body, that way lead to death and grief, and Arthur would not be like his Father in this, he would wait for her to bring it up.

"Mummy." Morgana said as Gwen entered the room.

"Yes, my sweet?" Gwen answered as she always did, sweeping across the room to give Morgana a kiss to the forehead before granting Arthur a kiss to his lips.

"When do I get my own little brother?" Morgana asked.

Or Morgana could bring it up, that worked too.

Gwen looked startled for a moment then looked at Arthur, who shrugged helplessly.

"Well, it's something Mummy and Daddy have to talk about, but even after that it may take awhile for it to happen." Gwen explained.

"But why? Can't you hatch one like Uncle Merlin does?" Leon asked suddenly as he came closer.

"Well...," Gwen looked at Arthur.

"You know that Uncle Merlin is Magic, right?" Arthur askedn making both children nod, "Well, that means he goes around having Babies differently than a Mummy and Daddy do. It means he can hatch one that's ready to be born. When it's a Mummy and Daddy they need to..." Arthur trailed off, unsure how to continue.

Gwen looked just as unsure.

"When it's a Mummy amd Daddy they need to make a special potion that the Mummy drinks so she can keep the baby safe inside her while it grows." Gwaine said, amusement in his voice as he entered Arthur's rooms to collect Leon, "Sometimes the potion doesn't work so they have to try again, but eventually the Mummy has to be alone with her best friend so she can hatch her baby." Gwaine finished as he lifted Leon onto his hip.

Leon frowned and asked "Can only a Mummy drink the potion?"

Gwaine's eyes widened.

"Yes." Arthur answered, "Only a Mummy can drink the potion."

"Right." Gwaine nodded, thankful Arthur answered, "Only a Mummy."

"Oh." Leon said, disappointed, "But I want a baby brother too."

Lancelot snorted from the door, having arrived with Gwaine but letting them flounder.

"Well, being a Dragonlord means he can Hatch the next egg we find." Lancelot said as he collected Theron.

"Yay." Leon shouted.

"I'm a what now?" Gwaine asked as he looked at Lancelot.

"A Dragonlord, it's why you can still understand the Dragontongue, you might even learn to speak it." Lancelot said, "But you might want to talk to Percival, he might even let you give a Mummy a potion to drink so you can raise a future Dragonlord." Lancelot teased before he left.

Gwaine sputtered.

Arthur groaned.

Gwen giggled, "We're never living this down, are we?"

"Not once he tells Merlin, Elyan, and Percival." Arthur said.

"Mummy, can you take the potion now, so I can have a little brother soon?" Morgana asked, "Uncle Merlin can make it for you."

Arthur looked at his wife who stared back.

"Never living this down." They agreed.

--

A/n: So, it's been a week since I wrote on this, and I was going to to mark it complete and then, of course, a chapter appeared.

I know toddlers don't always speak so clearly but I was not in the mood to make toddler speak today.

I hope the baby explaination was okay and not too out there.

[saburo-kyoto]

@springfallendeer I started world-building and this is what I have so far. This is my first time world-building so I hope it's good so far.

Harpies live on craggy outcroppings; newborn harpies can fly shortly after hatching so there is no risk of one falling to its death. Depending on where the fledgling is born it effects its colors and hunting routine.

Harpies born near the top get more light, so they tend to have very bright yellow/orange colors. Harpies born near the bottom have darker black/blue colors. Very rarely is a harpy born in perfect conditions to be born in both light levels.

Harpies are often hunted for their feathers which are believed to have healing properties. Harpies do not eat humans, preferring fish or small rodents. They will not hesitate to hurt/maim/or even kill any human that poses a threat to them or their fledgling.

Harpies can only have one egg a year, children take up to nine months to reach sexual maturity, during which time they will learn how to hunt from their parents.

Parents will teach maturing harpies how to court and will even pair children with other harpies to teach them about intercourse. If the pairing works the harpy children will stay together as mates.

Harpies mate for life, it is not unusual to see a harem of harpies consisting of both males and females. Sometimes a male will have up to three females that he will hunt for while they raise the children, if the male dies one of the females will take over hunting.

If a harpy’s mate has passed, once their children are fully grown, they usually refuse food and starve themselves to death. Rarely, they will take a new mate once their current child leaves the nest. This new mate will remove all feathers of the previous mate and plant their own.

Harpy eggs need to be kept warm almost constantly. They can take up to a month to hatch, the first hour is always the most dangerous as the baby cannot hear or see. Once the eyes and ears open after an hour, they will run around flapping their wings to gain strength. Once they are strong enough, harpy babies will leap off the ledge or the parents will carry them into the air and drop them. If the fledgling cannot fly at first the parents will catch them before they hit the water and drop them again and again until the child flies. It usually only takes two tries but some children need up to four before their wings are strong enough to hold them.

Some harpies can take the form of an old man/woman, they will take the discarded feathers and sell them in the human town. They will purchase items to make life easier like bowls, forks, spoon, and pots to cook food in.

While Harpies can get raw fish, they prefer cooking them. If they can get their hands on spices, either buying or stealing them, they will use it to add flavor.

Some humans have gained harpies trust, these humans bring things like spices, utensils and dishes made of stone or wood. Some humans will bring fruit, which is a rare treat, or other food items to the harpies.

These humans are protected, if anyone harms them, they will find themselves having bad luck. Some hunters may even follow or even threaten the human to find the harpies location. This has made trusted humans wary of telling others and oftentimes outright hiding the fact they know the harpies.

Any human friend of the harpies who betrays them will be forbidden from returning and will be treated as a threat if they return, no number of gifts will ever gain their trust back.

Sun, Moon, and Eclipse

Sun was born near the top so his feathers are a golden yellow. When the light hits his feathers just right, they cast a rainbow onto the ground. His father was killed protecting his pregnant mother from hunters and his mother gave up her life shortly after birth. Sun was raised by Eclipse who found him crying over his mother’s body. Had Sun been born on the lower slopes his egg likely wouldn’t have hatched. It was only because of the sunlight that he hatched.

Moon was born on the bottom near the water so his feathers are a dark blue. He has thicker feathers to combat the cold, but that means he has trouble diving for food as his feathers drag him down. Eclipse saved Moon when he had tried to grab a fish and misjudged how deep it was. When Moon was unable to get out, he panicked, Eclipse heard him while teaching Sun how to hunt and scooped Moon out of the water. Moon and Sun grew close as Moon stayed to recover from his near drowning experience. Due to this, Sun has taken it upon himself to hunt for Moon who is afraid of deep water. Eclipse doesn’t interfere and even encourages them to spend time together, hoping that they will become mates someday. Moon was raised by his grandfather Artemis after both his parents were killed by hunters. Moon’s egg went unnoticed because it had been covered with seaweed. Artemis heard the commotion and killed the hunters before hatching Moon’s egg himself, nearly starving in the process.

Eclipse is one in a thousand as he was born in between light levels giving him a beautiful red color that shifts between dark and light. He has two mothers who raised him after his father disappeared. He is able to dive deeper than other harpies because of his excellent night vision, so he can catch the best fish. Eclipse has no mate, as other harpies see his color as a bad omen. When Eclipse found Sun, he immediately brought the tiny fledgling to his mothers, he had them watch the tiny harpy so he could hunt for it. Eclipse named them Sun because of the bright yellow color of his feathers. Sun sees Eclipse as his father and Eclipse’s mothers as his grandmothers. Eclipse never told Sun what happened to his mother, he is afraid of Sun hating him like all the others. When he saved Moon, Eclipse encouraged Sun to court the other harpy, teaching him how to and watching in amusement when Sun messed up. He hopes Sun and Moon will pair and raise their own child someday.

EDIT: Forgot to mention that harpy feathers are not toxic to humans but they also contain no beneficial properties. They can however be ground up into a pretty powder that some use to decorate clothing with.

[theramseyloft]

7/23/21 Loft Notes

Feeling much better today.

Not 100%, yet, but closer to it than yesterday.

Cleaned Ankhou's feeding station.

Dove palace is clean.

Patron: "so I'm a little confused why some birds aren't allowed to breed?"

Patron: "health issues generally, or waiting to be shipped"

Patron: "Some portion of health issues aren't heritable, like broken wings and stuff though?"

Patron: "It might not be healthy for the bird to take care of babies or lay eggs,, it takes a lot out of them"

Most of my birds aren't allowed to breed.

Only 8 pair are on the breeding roster at any given time.  

Not necessarily because of anything wrong with anyone else, but because no responsible breeder breeds out of every single animal they produce or acquire.  

I'm very selective about who is allowed to contribute to the breeding program.  Who ever is allowed has to: 1. be physically fit enough that the strain of laying eggs and rearing peeps to weaning poses no known potential risk. 2. Have specific heritable traits the project needs.

For example, Alex and Dodger were allowed to stay and breed to incorporate the absolutely insane immune system feral pigeons develop by necessity into the Therapy bird project.  

Even when those conditions are met, not every clutch is allowed to hatch.  

If I allow a clutch to hatch, it's either because I need a baby from that pair for developmental observation, or because there are still people on my wait list waiting for their peep.  

Pairs that are retired are hatch controlled until they go to their new homes. Leonard and Elliot, for example, both have homes lined up, so the egg she laid yesterday was swapped for a fake.  

Passenger looks great now, but she barely survived.  

Eggs take a LOT of resources to produce! Each is larger than her head, and needs enough calcium from her to make not just the shell, but form the skeleton of an entire baby bird AND make all of the ridiculous chemical pathways and reactions that calcium is involved in.

The building blocks to make two entire baby birds and the encapsulated external wombs they will grow in comes directly from the tissue of the hen.  

After that, she's going to spend four weeks so devoted to keeping them fed that, between her weight loss and the rapid weight gain of the peeps, they will out weigh her when they wean.

That's hard on a fit hen.

To allow a hen that barely escaped death by malnutrition to go through that would not be acting in her best interest.

Clutch rearing is a lot less hard on the cock because the only tissue he's losing is a drop of semen.  Not exactly physiology expensive.   He'll put as much time and physical effort into incubating the eggs and feeding the peeps as she will, but he will not have provided all of the physical building materials to make the eggs and peeps.

Hospital cages are clean.

Cherub and Tandy seem to have accepted my solution to their dilemma.

Tandy laid an egg next to their not-quite-3-week-old, but couldn't actually set it because the peep was in the way.

I made a second nest box, intending it to be for the egg. But Tandy had shuffled a cup into the gross used nest, and that was the one she wanted to brood in.

So I removed the poop, preserved the cup to the best of my ability, returned the egg, and put the nestling in the clean nest.

Cherub is on the egg in the photo.

Mesh and bricks hosed yesterday brought in.

Window, mirror, swing, and weight stones brought out and washed.

Pigeons really seem to like their new diet. These are the roundest, most neatly compacted poos I've seen in a while!

Well shit.

My loft's doorknob has fallen apart in my hand.

Well, fuck...

Fixed it!

Required several minutes of standing in the hateful ga sun, but I fixed it.

Needles finally got here!

Nettle tread Hoss.

Swing, clean mats, and clean bricks replaced.

Compost emptied.

Back third nest boxes mucked.

Mesh laid out.

Birds watered, supplemented, and fed.

Nests mucked.

Need to take a break.

Starting to develop heat exhaustion.

Caught myself early, drank cold water, and sat with my foot on the AC vent.

Heading out to finish up.

Center third finished.

Just the front third and photos left.

Ginger's simpin' pretty hard for Lucy.

Keeps trying to interrupt Pippin treading her to get in there himself.

Maybe he's who sired her older peep with pied markings on his beak.

None of Pippin's kids have ever been pied. He doesn't cary any.

I'm done with the manual aspect of loft work.

Nettle is 5 months old, and so busy driving Hoss that I can't get a fucking shot of him.

Jesus Christ, Nobu has nestlings and was easier to get.

The camera struggles to focus on Komodore's white face because it doesn't like the contrast with her shiny black neck, and she was easier to get!

Fucking Suki, who has nestlings and a horny husband and hates me was easier to get photos of!

Bell, who reacts to the camera like it will steal her soul, posed like a model.

Nettle is still chasing Hoss.

Buddy. We're gonna lose the light

Can you take literally a thirty second break, so I can get updates of you?

God damn fucking teenage boy hormones.

I had to put her on the porch. He's been so intent on chasing her that he's gullar fluttering like he's gonna faint.

Patron: "Nettle jfc"

"Keep it in your pants for a second"

And now Couture is trying to drive everything that moves, and won't fucking let Nettle cool off.

Nevermind, Nettle won't let himself.

Starting shit with literally everyone is not going to help you cool off, Nettle.

Neither is yelling about this nest box belonging to you between panting.

There you go.

Drinking water actually will.

[weareallstardustfallen]

empires recap - week of sept 25

the videos released from saturday, september 25 to friday, october 1 were:

-lizzie’s episode 16: she works on her tunnel, and trades with pixl

-fwhip’s episode 23: he finishes the interior of the forge, agrees to attend pearl and sausage’s arena, and takes gem’s sword to upgrade

-scott’s episode 20: he burns the arena invite and takes jimmy on a date to solidify an alliance and thank him for rescuing him

-pixl’s episode 24: he starts work on a turtle sanctuary, is blown up by sausage’s prank, and works on recovering his items

-katherine’s episode 21: she builds a babytown, shows scott and gem around, and decorates her section of lizzie’s tunnel

-sausage’s episode 33: he succumbs fully to the corruption during the arena fight, fights and loses against gem, and travels through the spirit realm to return to mythland uncorrupted

-gem’s episode 14: she attends the arena fights, fights and kills sausage, and meets with him after his return

-jimmy’s episode 16: he discusses his prograss and plans for the wall, meets with scott, and goes with joel to help perform his disstrack

-scott’s episode 21: he builds a more permanent place for his stag, successfully uncorrupts the crystals, and visits katherine’s babytown

-katherine’s episode 22: she attends the arena fights and starts work on a megabase

-joel’s episode 22: he attends the arena fights and builds a super-smelter

detailed recaps under the cut!

lizzie 16:

-lizzie continues construction on the tunnel, starting with a dungeon-themed section and trading with pixlriffs so that she can get pointed dripstone for a dripstone-themed section, which she also tries and fails to catch a bat for -after the dripstone section, she makes a deepslate-themed section, an end-themed section, an end city-themed section, a crimson nether-themed section, a warped nether-themed section, a snow section, and leaves the last section for katherine to decorate -she runs into katherine, and discovers that the tunnel doesn’t work two ways -she sets up an alert system, composed of a constantly-ringing bell near the entrance to the tunnel, on both sides -she notes that the eye of xornoth has disappeared

fwhip 23:

-fwhip discusses his new computer, and mentions that while he hasn’t been able to record as he’s been setting up the new pc he was gathering resources -he goes to collect ice in order to make a basalt generator, also powered by xornoth crystal lava -he goes to expand the sugar cane paddy, and starts a road from the grimlands to shubble’s empire in hopes of setting up an alliance between them -he goes to visit her, and they commiserate about their shared distaste for joey while he leads her to the road; she agrees to finish the road to her empire -he completes the interior of the forge and goes ancient debris mining to get a block of netherite -pearl and sausage arrive to invite him to their newly-built arena; he and sausage shoot each other several times, but he agrees -he uses the completed forge to create a new powerful bow, and heads over to convince gem to let him upgrade her sword -while he’s there, he places deepslate redstone ore around the dragon egg in order to keep it warm, despite her objections -fwhip: “insert happy egg noises here” -he brings her to the forge and shows her around; she notes that he’s gotten weirder -though not without protest, she allows him to take her sword and one of her crystals to upgrade it -he works on his librarian villagers and replenishes his rocket supplies; afterwards, joel and jimmy arrive to perform a diss track -he takes down all of the xornoth crystals and stores the lava; afterwards, he works on plotting the next section of the megabase

scott 20:

-scott plans to pay jimmy back for saving him from sausage and joey’s kidnapping, and decides the best way to do so is take him on a date, which he plans to make a “love cave ride thing” for, and solidify an alliance with him -he sees the arena invite from pearl and sausage, and burns it -with it thus taken care of, he returns to his planning for his and jimmy’s date, and starts excavating a cave -he terraforms and decorates the cave, with foliage, a blanket in their colors, their banners, cod named things that are significant to him and jimmy, the pufferish of peace, and then builds the actual rail -he builds a heart-shaped tunnel which he hides in case the first portion doesn’t go well, and a balcony -he puts on a flower crown and goes to find jimmy to ask if he wants to go on the date; jimmy says yes, and he gives jimmy a poppy upon arriving in rivendell -he shows jimmy the cave, including the cake, which prompts jimmy to run around to lose hunger; when he asks scott to do the same he briefly drowns to lose hunger -“i’m drowning for you!” -jimmy asks him to keep it secret, to which scott agrees; jimmy asks if they’re becoming allies, and scott says if he wants to -he shows jimmy the heart-shaped tunnel and the balcony; scott says he built it just for jimmy, and jimmy again asks him to keep it between them -jimmy asks to take the poppies, and destroys the flowerpots not realizing he can right click to get them -jimmy leaves, and scott says it went well

pixl 24:

-pixl shows that the tentacles have recovered and multiplied, and hypothesizes that he’ll have to join forces with the other empires to actually defeat them -he reads the letter from joel, and agrees to give him what copper he has -he meets with lizzie, and trades her some pointed dripstone for two turtle eggs so he can populate the river with them; she suggests bringing axolotls to take care of the salmon in the river -he starts work on a turtle sanctuary, with a small cave so the eggs can hatch without being harmed, and decorates the area around it -he describes his plans for a residential area inside something akin to an anthill to the north, and shows a block palette for it -he sees the arena invite from sausage and pearl, and plans on attending -he shows the newly-hatched turtle, and helps it grow up with seagrass -he meets with joel to give him copper, and doesn’t currently have as much as he needs; he provides him all of the copper in his ender chest and aging farm -joel mentions the mythland embassy, which pixl was unaware of; after they finish collecting the copper they go to see it, and find out it has a perpetual bell-ringing device. pixl says it’s probably a trap, but enters anyway; when he opens the door, several tnt minecarts fall from the door, which he hits with his sword, detonating them and blowing up almost all of his items -pixl says it was a prank he can respect, but says he’s still going to ruin sausage’s life for it -he adds candles to the vigil for himself and katherine, whose death showed up in chat, and notes that he has no idea if the count is still accurate -afterwards, he works on getting his items back, and goes to fwhip for help in getting his armor and sword recovered before the arena fight, hoping to use his forge, and pays him in calcite for the netherite

katherine 21:

-katherine shows the eyeball, corruption, and crystals, saying that her land is overrun, though she finds the crystals pretty; she gets rid of the corrupted trees -katherine plans to create a baby town for people to stay in if they need; she steals some of the other empires’ blocks in order to build them -she starts with a tower of her own kingdom, and builds miniature versions of all of the empires before she works on paths, terraforming, and general detailing -she leaves something specific to each empire in the corresponding building along with a chest and bed, including corruption in joey’s -she puts her list of official allies in her own tower, which includes all but three people -she builds a baby town sign and shows off all of the building -scott and gem visit, and she shows them around; they comment on how many allies she has, and point out that she’s allies with the people who kidnapped them; they remove sausage’s sign -they are unenthusiastic about joey and sausage’s mini builds -scott mentions he un-corrupted the gems, and points out that they’re above key locations in everyone’s empires, which katherine had not noticed -she shows off lizzie’s secret tunnel, and builds a section of the tunnel themed after lizzie’s empire; she sends a bunch of purpur to test it -she notes that the eye is gone

sausage 33:

-sausage begins by reading his will, explaining that he’s sorry he wasn’t strong enough to resist the corruption and dictating how his belongings should be split up -it transitions into possessed sausage, who is deriding the sappiness -sausage says that it all ends tonight, and everyone will be coming to the arena; he’ll go full corrupted and sacrifice every other emperor -he explains that everything is in order and things will be fine without him, regardless of whether or not he comes back; he says that at least a zombie villager still has hope of being cured, but he doesn’t, as only a more powerful being could even stop him and there’s none other than xornoth -he mentions the mythland embassy in pixandria, and talks about pixandrian spies who tried to warn pixl, but it was too late; he cuts back to when he was building it and the trap he laid, and footage of pixl’s death via his ravens -he says that after the arena fights, “you’ll never see your king again” -they welcome the others to the arena, and accost fwhip for trying to sell things on their land without a permit -they proceed into the arena fights, beginning with joel and pearl vs fwhip and pixl; the gunpowder boys win via fwhip burning to death a few seconds after joel -pearl and pixl fight with just axes and shields; pearl wins -joel and pearl fight with axes and shields; it ends in a double kill -they introduce xornoth, and pearl immediately challenges him as the others start to panic; it spawns pillagers, ravagers, zoglins, and vexes, among other mobs, which the emperors defeat; he introduces his champion, who turns out to be sausage, and he starts hunting down the others, able to kill them in one or a few hits -xornoth directs him to kill them all, and he does so -afterwards, sausage notes that gem got away, and goes to the crystal cliffs to find gem and potentially pick up the dragon egg -he comments on the artifact in his inventory, not recognizing it -gem comes to confront him, and tells him to stay away from the egg; when he threatens to take it and burn it, she says she will protect it with her life, and they start to fight -they engage in a chase and fight both through the air and on the ground, traveling between gem’s towers; she retains the upper hand for most of the time -they end up in her largest tower, which is the place she’s most powerful; suddenly, he switches to his possessed voice, and says he’s sorry. he gives her the staff and begs her to kill him, which she does -he wakes up unpossessed in the spirit realm, which is a room with a table and several gateways with void behind them, one of which is a lit nether portal -there are five unlit portals on the sides, one lit one, and a central unlit portal; there’s also several broken portals -he finds a book on the table, which details that he must travel back to past lives in alternate realities via the portal, and bring back what he loves most to activate the central portal and either be returned to life if the gods deem him worthy or sent to the next plane of existence if they don’t -he goes through the portals, and ends up in his hardcore world, where he correctly guesses that the thing he cares about most is bubbles, since sir carlos said she would guide him back; he retrieves that world’s bubbles, and notes that she’s not the same bubbles as he summoned to empires -he returns to the spirit realm through a portal decorated with cyan candles and warped nether blocks; he repeats the process with his oneblock skyblock world, sourceblock smp, his hardcore season 1 world, legacy smp season 1, and his singleplayer world in the season 3 area -the final world is in mythland colors, and provides him armor and elytra when the other ones did not; he comments on it, but since the final portal is open he ignores that and the broken portals and says goodbye to the council of bubbles before he goes through -he ends up on the bridge in mythland, where gem finds him; she says that she’s missed him, and he says that he’s missing memories; when she shows him the staff she took from him, he says he wants nothing to do with magic, and drinks the potion she gives him -he asks if they can be in an alliance again, and she says they’ll have to talk to fwhip; they agree he should go sleep for now, and she tells him not to use the leftover sleeping potions. on his way to bed he asks her to deal with the demon cats and says he might be xornoth’s target now, and that he’ll say how to defeat xornoth when he wakes up

gem 14:

-gem tries to think of what she can do to make the egg hatch, but is interrupted by fwhip putting deepslate redstone around the edge; he says it’s to keep it warm -he shows her the grimlands forge and asks to upgrade her sword; reluctantly, she agrees, and provides a crystal to use for it -she finds a build request from jimmy to build custom swamp trees, and says it’d be fun; however, she’s interrupted by seeing some pillagers, who she puts in boats and names loon, viktor, and aries, making them her first citizens -she goes to the codlands and builds four custom trees -she works on pacifying the pillagers, and successfully has each one break their crossbow; she says she’ll make buildings for them soon -she finds the arena invite, and says she’ll go to make sure everyone stays safe, since she warned pearl about sausage -she spectates the arena fights, and shoots katherine after joel dares her to; when xornoth arrives, she helps fight the mobs, but drinks an invisibility potion and flees when sausage begins hunting the other emperors -she ends up back in her tower, and sees sausage approaching the dragon egg; she confronts him, and tells him to leave the egg alone -they start to fight, and she chases him, declaring that he’s in her mountains, and they fight in her towers, ending in the largest of them; she tells him that she’s most powerful there, and he gives her his staff and begs her (in his normal voice) to kill him, which she does, getting the “serious dedication” achievement from his scythe -she goes to mythland to look for him, and finds him on the bridge, unpossessed; she tells him she’s missed him, and he asks if he killed people at the arena, since he doesn’t remember -he reacts violently to the sight of his staff, and returns her crystals, saying he doesn’t want anything to do with magic; she agrees, and gives him a potion to drink -she encourages him to go to bed, and he does -she returns to the crystal cliffs, and checks on the hat, which says that she can take it now; she does, and works on fortifying the crystal cliffs by taking down the original gatehouse and replacing it with a larger redesign, and puts her grumpy panda in the gatehouse in a boat -she catches some more pillagers, and adds one to the tower of the gatehouse -she says she’ll study ways to stop xornoth, and ends the video with some behind-the-scenes and bloopers clips

jimmy 16:

-jimmy shows the two new pieces for the fanart shack and his cat, norman -he shows off the custom trees which gem built, and the back wall of his megabase which he built -he shows the area where the next wall will be, and explains that he had to remove a mountain which was in his way, so fwhip helped blow it up in return for an iou, which fwhip used to make him carry a salmon; jimmy hid it under one of the tentacles, refusing to carry it around, although he can’t destroy it -he says that he’s going to put the wall in and fwhip will terraform the crater by next episode -he says that he accidentally deleted his footage from his and scott’s meeting, but scott sent his footage, which he’s using -scott leads him into a cave decorated with foliage and various significant things to the both of them, including a cake; jimmy runs around to try and lose hunger so he can eat it; scott drowns to do the same -jimmy asks if they’re becoming allies; scott says if he wants, to which jimmy agrees -scott leads him down the “tunnel of love equivalent” and to the balcony; jimmy attempts to take the poppies but doesn’t realize he can take them without breaking the flowerpots -he says he has something from katherine that he needs to see, but before that joel arrives to deliver his diss track to fwhip; it actually ends on a compliment -joel and fwhip decide to fight scott together, and jimmy says he can’t because he and scott solidified an alliance -jimmy specifies that he didn’t know they were going to go after scott, and finds katherine’s message, so he goes to go see the baby town she’s built; he finds it overwhelmingly cute, and wonders why xornoth doesn’t have a build

scott 21:

-scott plans to make a space for jimmy to build an embassy, relocate his stag, and research the crystals, since they’re copied off of the one in his enchanting tower and there might be a way to reverse their corruption -he starts with the stag, and decides to build him a cave, but before he can he notices the eye of xornoth in the background; he tells it to go away, and decides to keep his voice down when he talks about defeating the corruption -he goes back to dig out the cave, and decorates it with plant life and gold to mimic the cave he was found in and protect him, and moves the stag in -he goes to study the crystals in the library, hoping to find some way to fix them; he discovers that he could be able to turn them back using something to channel his magic and things from the other empires, so he collects things from each of the embassies, some gold, and alinar’s antlers to channel with -he says he hopes he was some kind of witch in a past life, and combines the items in a cauldron; they turn into a set of splash potions which he uses on the crystals. there’s no immediate change but when he goes to sleep and wakes up they’ve changed to cyan, yellow, and white, with gold inside, and the eye is gone -he puts away the antlers and says that his citizens will be glad he’s finally doing something -afterwards, he and gem go to katherine’s baby town, where she shows them around, including her list of allies; he points out that it’s most of the server, and gem accuses her of having no loyalty -katherine says she likes xornoth’s crystals, and he explains what he did to them, and points out that they’re above key locations; katherine hadn’t noticed

katherine 22:

-katherine says she’s really never done a megabase, so she wants to do one; she doesn’t have much space in the flower fields, so it’s going to be in the air -she finds the arena invite and says she’s interested, so she plans to spectate -since she has some new heads, she drops off the duplicates and adds a new floor to her head collection -she attends the arena fight to spectate; gem shoots her on a dare from joel -xornoth arrives, and she asks to receive any heads people get from the mobs it spawns; when xornoth directs sausage to kill them all, she tries to run, and is killed multiple times; however, she manages to obtain more mob heads -she decides that the crystals are pretty but it seems like a good idea to remove the lava, and does so; afterwards, she works on planning for her megabase, and collects wool from her sheep and from scott before she builds a large grass platform and the wool framework for the building

joel 22:

-he plans on working on both the interior and the outside of the megabase; for the interior, he intends to light it up and also work on building a super-smelter -he notices a weird shadow, which is probably a texture glitch -he works on lighting up the palace, though he has some problems with creepers exploding and damaging the palace; he leaves the holes for the meantime though he says he will leave it -the palace isn’t entirely spawnproofed, but he decides to move on anyway -he finds the arena invite, and decides to go -“you know me, i love hurting people” -he removes xornoth’s banner, saying he doesn’t know what it is, and puts it in a corner; he also teams up with pearl to fight fwhip and pixl, and loses by burning to death a few seconds before fwhip does -he dares gem to shoot katherine, which she does, killing her -he fights pearl using an axe and shield, ending in a double kill -xornoth arrives, but joel actually can’t hear him, and asks gem and fwhip why pearl is talking to herself; when sausage starts attacking people, he drinks an invisibility potion he was given by fwhip and leaves -he goes back to working on the interior, and gets to work on the super-smelter; he pauses to kill some horses to fill up his horse head room, and gathers some wood for chests before he works on the super-smelter, which takes multiple tries as he continually notices pieces of redstone that he’s missing. however, he eventually manages to get it working -he builds a room around the super-smelter and works on filling in the missing copper, then builds the two missing walls and places some of the moss in the center

[ga-yuu]

Hi! So, I've been interested in your ikegen post. Especially, Yoshitsune. I love yandere guys especially if they're handsome like him. You mentioned his yandere tendencies is not limited to Yoshino, but also extends to his friends. Can you give us some details? Hehehe. Like in his pov?

It's not psychotic in any way. Like he doesn't pull out a knife when his friends start to show affection towards someone else. It's much more like, for example, when your mom starts giving more attention to another kid like your cousins for a certain amount of time and you feel lonely....yeah, it's like that. Yoshitsune is of course possessive about Yoshino, there's no doubt about that. But when it comes to other male leads:

Yoritomo (Before he killed him)

Before when Yori and Yoshi were together, Yoritomo saw Yoshitsune like a baby chick that just hatched from an egg and called the first person he saw, 'mom'. When Yoritomo called out to Yoshitsune to help him in the Genpei War, Yoshitsune immediately rushed to help Yoritomo without thinking twice and with whatever manpower he had. This was because, Yoshitsune, after living a life of hell and loneliness finally became happy because he found out he has a brother, a family, and a place where he can belong to.

Although Yoritomo found his expressionless face and his recklessness a pain in the ass, he genuinely loved Yoshitsune as well. There are scenes in the 'Chronicles' series where he gives head pats to Yoshitsune.

Yoshitsune on the other hand loves Yoritomo too. But when Yoritomo gives attention to someone else *coughs Kagetoki coughs* he can get a little jealous. There was this line in a story sale they released in his pov, which I didn't buy. It went like this:

"My brother is giving more attention to Kagetoki these days. Does he like him more than me?"

I'm not 100% accurate about the line but about 90% sure it was something like that.

Kurama

Kurama is an important person to Yoshitsune. A very special friend, teacher, and also like father figure. In Yoshitsune's route, when Kurama started to show interest in Yoshino, Yoshitsune specifically states in his letter to Yoshino that:

"I'm happy that these days, Kurama is warming up to you. Kurama is a very special friend to me, but I want to be the only one in this world who protects you."

This clearly shows that he's slightly jealous of Kurama as well. But this doesn't end here.

In Kurama's route, Yoshitsune says something like this:

"I want to get to know Yoshino more. I'm a little jealous of her when I started seeing Kurama warming up to her."

Yes! He's jealous of Yoshino for stealing his grumpy Kurama and his exquisite soft wings.

Again, in the same route, when Yoshitsune sees Kurama badly injured by Ibuki, he gives his ultimate yandere death glare to Ibuki saying:

"We finally meet Shuten Doji, Ibuki. I'm not happy to find out you were treating my friend this well."

Yoichi

In Yoichi's route, when Yoshino and Yoichi get separated from the others after downing into the ocean, Yoshitsune decided to make a temporary truce with Yoritomo saying that, he won't continue the war until Yoichi comes back to him safely. This is another scene, where it shows that each and every member of the Rebel family are his family member even if they are his servants.

That's how it! But to be honest, I think he'll surely pull out his sword if he sees someone mistreating his friends.

[platonic-prompts]

Creatures from Folklore: Slavic Region A-D

You ever need different creatures to base things off of, or just want some legends for a setting? Or heck, you ever just want to chuck a creature at someone and say you’ll figure it out? Well, do I have the posts for you. This one will focus on the Slavic Region but I’ll make more at a later date

Ala are considered to be demons of bad weather in several folklore, including that of Bulgarians, Macedonians, and Serbs. Their main purpose is to lead thunderclouds that produce hail towards fields, vineyards, or orchards to either destroy the crops or to loot and take them. They are very voracious and really like to eat children. Though one shouldn’t assume they limit their tastes to Earth, no. They sometimes try to devour the sun and moon which lead to eclipses and if they succeed it means the end of the world. People who encounter one may find their mental and physical health as well as their lives at risk. It is, however, possibly to gain her favor by approaching with trust and respect. These good relationships can be very beneficial since she (the ala) can make those with her favor wealthy and save their lives if they are in danger. Ala can take on many different forms: black wind, giant creatures with no distinct form, a monster either humanlike or snake like witha  huge mouth, a female dragon, a raven, various human and animal shapes. Ala can also possess people’s bodies. They live in the clouds or in lakes, springs, hidden remote places as well as caves, inhospitable mountains, forests, or even a huge tree. Usually hostile towards humans, they have powerful enemies capable of defeating them like the dragons.

Alkanost have an incredible voice, capable of making anyone who hears her song might forget everything in their search for paradise. A creature of good who resides in the garden of the gods or whatever version of heaven required, the alkanost has the head and bust of a woman and the rest of the body is that of a bird. Sometimes this creature lays eggs which assist in the changing of winter to spring. Basically she wouldn’t sit on her eggs just dump them into the Ocean-Sea and when they reached the bottom the weather would turn fair. Though i think that takes her out of the running for parenting awards.

Anchutka is a small malevolent spirit, residing most often in water or a swamp. Even without wings, it is capable of flight. One of its nicknames is the one without heels. This is a common theme to look for, as oftentimes evil forces have a limp. Though in some storied this spirit has lost their heels because they got bitten off by a wolf. This spirit is often a sidekick to a water spirit called Vodyanoy, and as such you should never say its name aloud since it will always show up.

Aspid, a type of dragon with a beak and other birdlike elements, resides primarily in the mountains, preferring solitude. When it invades a region, nearly always it caused universal devastation.

Baba Yaga: I’m pretty sure a lot of people know about Baba Yaga, the witch who lives in a hut with chicken legs and goes around in a mortar and pestle. She does carry a broom though, but she only uses it to sweep away her tracks.

Bannik is a spirit who rarely does any good for anyone. A mischievous spirit that has the appearance of an old man with long claws, he’s a spirit that inhabits the banya (steamhouse). Whenever people bathed in the banya, they would always leave on the third or fourth session to let Bannik have his privacy. They would leave him offerings of soup and regularly thank him. Bannik had the power to tell the future and if asked a question he would softly touch the askers back if it was a good future or flay it if it was a not so good future. Oh and Bannik, when angry, would claw off the skin of those who annoyed him. The banya was also the place of Russian childbirth, so there were measures taken to keep him from interfering. Part of the midwife’s job was to keep him away. And with good reason. Legends say that he ate or flayed children. So therefore the midwife would dip stones in the water and throw them in the corner to distract the steamhouse spirit.

Bauk hide in dark places and holes and abandoned houses. There they wait to grab, take away, and devour their victims. They have a clumsy gait and can be scared away by light and noise.

Babay, possibly the same thing as the bubak, isn’t often described so children will come up with what is most terrible for them. But despite this, Baby has been described as a black and crooked old man. When he is descibed he tends to have some traits such as muteness, lacking arms, or walking with a limp. He carries with him a bag and a cane. Baby lives in a forest or a swamp or a garden only to come out at night to walk the streets and scoop up the children he meets. He will walk close to windows and watched the children sleep. If they aren’t he’ll scare them with noises. Or sometimes he even hides under kids beds to take them away if they get up.

Błędnica is a forest demoness, who leads people astray before leaving her victims alone in the midst of the forest to die of starvation or be eaten by animals. She is usually described as a young and pretty girl. The only way to chase her away is to use strong spells or to sacrifice something at home or during your hunt.

Blud is a fairy in Slavic mythology. An evil deity who causes disorientation and leads a person around and around aimlessly.

Bukavac lives in lakes and pools, coming out at night to make a loud noise. A six-legged monster with gnarled horns, it would jump people and animals and strangle them.

Bubak is often represented as a scarecrow with a skeleton as frame, which is connected with darkness, it is a type of boogeymen used to scare children. The skeleton often is describes as wearing a heavy black coat where it hides the children it steals.

Cikavac, a mythical creature from Serbian mythology and it kinda feels like a basilisk but way weirder. This thing is a bird that has a long beak and a pelican-like sack. You can acquire one at the low low price of your sanity and clear face. For you see, in order to get one, you need to take an egg from a black hen which a woman now needs to carry under her armpit for 40 days ( is now a good time to note that chicken eggs hatch after 21 days or so) and one cannot confess, cut nails, wash their face, or pray. After that the cikavac would suck the honey from other people’s beehives and suck milk from other peoples cows and then bring it back to their owner. It would fulfill its owner’s wishes and it would allow its owner to understand the animal language.

Chort, a demon or a humanlike spirit in Slavic folk tradition.  They are not exactly evil characters. Yes they try to trick people into selling them their souls in exchange for useless gifts. Yes those people are carried off into hell. But they are sometimes tricked into doing such things as building castle walls in a day. Sometimes is depicted as trying to bring evil characters to hell. A small, hairy man with a tail, horns, and one or two hooves. But due to shapeshifting abilities, the chort is able to appear in nicer forms and tries to trick people while in them. Though these transformations aren’t and can’t be complete, so there’s a way to know if one is dealing with a chort whether it be by small horns in curly black hair or a hoofed leg hidden within high boots. Though they share similarities, a chort is not the devil.

Čuma, aka kuga, is a personification of the plague in Serbo-Croation myths. Typically appears as an old woman wearing white, though in some cases has been depicted as a young woman. Direct mention of them were avoided and were usually referred to by godmother or aunty. According to belief, they lived in a far away land where they came from to infect people. Due to their hatred of dirtiness, if they found a dirty household they would be eager to infect it. Due to this, if a plague appeared,every house and its occupants must be thoroughly cleansed. In addition one could make offerings to of food, clean water, basil, and a comb.

Domovoi are household protectors, generally seen as kind spirits though they would harass the family they protect if said family was rude or unclean. This usually took the form of pulling small pranks until the family corrected their behavior. While domovoi are shape shifters, most depictions show them as small, bearded masculine creatures which are reminiscent of hobgoblins. In order to complete his chores and to fulfill his duty of protecting the house, the domovoi would assume the shape of the head of the household, sometimes working in the yard while the real head of household was asleep. (Guess spirits don’t have to worry about identity theft charges). They were also capable of turning into animals, rarely taking the form of a dog or a cat. Another facet of the domovoi was their ability to act as an oracle. Predictions are as follows

Dancing and laughing= Good fortune would come

Rubbed the bristles of a comb= a wedding would happen soon

Extinguished candles= Misfortune would fall upon the household.

Dziwożona, a type of female swamp demon from Slavic mythology, sometimes called Mamuna or Bognika, who lived in the thickets near rivers and streams and lakes. Thought to appear with foul weather around trees and swamps, they are known for being malicious and dangerous, and usually were previously living humans. Several types of people would be at risk of turning into one after death, such as: midwives, old maids, unmarried mothers, pregnant women who die before giving birth, and abandoned children who were born out of wedlock. Some depictions include an ugly, old woman who had a hairy body, long straight hair, and I quote “breasts so huge she uses them to wash her clothes”. I don’t know what that actually means and I don’t want to find out. She also wore a red hat with a fern twig attached. In case she wasn’t weird enough, she’d watch women with their little children.  Just chilling around making the kid sick and making schemes to get the mother away from the kid when she’d replace the kid with one of her own, a foundling/changeling.

[jaskier-cult]

Witcher / Eragon

A Jaskier-centric Eragon AU with Jaskier as the first dragon rider in centuries. Witcher still exist, and Geralt is just trying to get this stupid bard he met (and who someone hatched a dragon egg on fucking accident) to Kaer Morhen before King Stregobor finds out that there’s another Rider to challenge his reign. 

I got this idea from this fanart, by the lovely @polarisss

In this au, dragons are not equal in mental prowess to a human; they’re sentient and respond well to their riders, and can communicate their emotions through mental links, but they cannot speak or act like humans. They’re kind of like really intelligent dogs or horses. And they’re magical. 

So, I was violently hit with the idea of this crossover / au, and I had to write the bare bones of it or I swear I would die. Enjoy or don’t, lol 

Dragons were sentient and far more intelligent than most, but not of equal intellect with elves, and so when the elves arrived on the Continent, they viewed them as mere animals. One elf made the mistake of hunting and killing a dragon for sport and presented it to their monarch as a trophy. This angered the dragons, when they found one of their pack dead and their hide being toted around by the two-legged foreigners in their land. The elf was hunted down by the pack of the dragon killed, but more elves continued to hunt down smaller dragons, to prove their strength and power. Surviving a dragon’s revenge became noteworthy and a great tale to tell around the dinner table.

Over time, though, the dragons started to encroach on the territory the elves had claimed, the further they went for revenge. Then one day, a whole band of elves killed the alpha of a dragon pack, unaware of just who they killed, and the whole pack of dragons attacked without mercy. 

Unable to communicate with the dragons or draw a peace treaty, because the dragons could not utilize language or complex thinking the same way as them, the elves were forced to defend themselves.

This started a bloody war, called The Dragon War, between the elves and the dragons. The elves were smart and fast and could utilize magic, but the dragons were big and strong and merciless, and unknown to the elves, could also wield powerful ancient magic, drawn straight from the land. Dragons lived in packs, but they could communicate among each other, and most dragons became aggressive.

It wasn’t until one day, when an elf called Buttercup came across a lone dragon egg. It had been abandoned in a ruined nest, most likely a victim of a battle between dragons and the elves that had attacked the nest (for elves had taken to trying to wipe out the dragon species at this point).

The elf, in awe with the bright white egg, couldn’t bring himself to kill the dragon inside.

He brought it back to his village in secret, and he nursed the egg for months on end, hoping that the cracked little egg could still hatch despite the trauma it had received in the battle.

To his delight, the egg broke on a full moon, and out popped a baby dragon.

Buttercup named it Vaeta, the word for “hope” in the Ancient Language.

The dragon was small – barely the size of a house cat – and was weak and vulnerable. It bore no scales, couldn’t breathe the elements like the adults of its kind, and had tiny razor baby teeth. Buttercup had no idea how fast dragons grew, and he quickly found out just that – they grew like weeds. Within a week the baby dragon was the size of a sheep dog and was beginning to form beautiful scales. Its appetite was ravenous, and it learned to hunt easily. Buttercup learned that Vaeta was a girl.

Despite its instincts obviously forming, the baby dragon stuck close to Buttercup, and would whine like a dog when left for copious amounts of time.

Vaeta also protected Buttercup from things she deemed as “threats” and would curl up in bed with her elf at night. Buttercup kept her well hidden, until his small village was attacked by other dragons, and Vaeta, far smaller than the other dragons attacking, reared up in the air for the first time and scared off the foreign dragons that were hurting her elf.

The rest of the village was wary of trusting Vaeta, and Buttercup bore the brunt of the blame; should she do anything to harm elves, it was his head on a pike, draped with her hide.

Nonetheless, Buttercup soon found a new purpose in life – to stop the Dragon War.

He figured if they could raise elves and dragons together, they could stop the aggression. The more the wild dragons saw the elves making nice with their dragon kind, the less they would attack. After all, dragon packs didn’t attack other dragon packs.

So, slowly, using Vaeta as a go-between, Buttercup was able to tame smaller dragons.

Vaeta soon fell pregnant and laid a clutch of nine eggs within ten months. The elves had no way of knowing if this was a normal pregnancy for dragons, or if the clutch was healthy or large.

The eggs all hatched, in varying shades of silver and black. Out of nine four were female, called Jasny, Niebo, Pływ, and Magia; five were male, called Srebro, Drzazga, Noc, Palić, and Stal. The elves were quick to try and tame them, only to find out the hard way that they weren’t like dogs and cats. They were even more intelligent than their horses, too. Buttercup ended up helping his dragon, Vaeta, raise her hatchlings with other nursing elves, and then Buttercup set off across the Continent with his dragon to try to stop wild dragons from attacking.

For years, Buttercup studied dragons and took notes and realized the hierarchy they held, their social groups, their intelligence – he was astounded. But then he made the discovery of a lifetime; the dragons, though they lived in individual packs, much like wolves, had a reigning monarch above all. They had a queen. And if he could appease the queen dragon, making the other dragons friendly would be child’s play from there.

Eventually, it came to Vaeta challenging the dragon queen for Buttercup.

Unfortunately, she died a bloody death.

The queen of dragons, impressed with the ferocity of the foreign dragon who clung to an elf like he was her mate, spared Buttercup’s life. She admired the loyalty of the dragon, though unguided it was to a two-legged hunter who hurt their kind. The queen also mourned, for she never wanted to kill one of her own kind for an elf. In grief, also watching a grieving and crying elf, she drew upon the land’s magic and nosed Buttercup with her giant scaled snout. The resulting magic was huge.

It was bonding magic. A treaty to be recognized by all parties; no more blood was to be shed between the scaled and the soft, or shall they suffer tenfold the torture they inflicted. This magic treaty also entailed the queen dragon stepping down, so no dragons’ packs would dare.

The elves took this magic and added structure to it, binding all the new dragon eggs to a counterpart.

This was how the Dragon Riders (Shur’tugal in the Ancient Language, or Argetlam meaning “silver hand”) were created.

The Dragon Riders were a coalition of elves and dragons formed at the end of the Dragon War to forge peace and order between the two races. The Riders were created because treaties between the two races would prove useless to stop fighting; a signed piece of paper meant nothing to a dragon. So, an irrevocable bond was wrought by the elves and the dragons: the elves provided the structure of the spell and the dragons provided the strength, thus creating the Dragon Riders.

When a fleet of humans sailed across the sea thousands of year later, they too were added to the elite order of the Dragon Riders. The role of the Riders became more than uniting the elves and dragons; they became keepers of the peace and fighters of monsters throughout the Continent (previously called Alagaësia by the dwarves who lived there first) and were respected and honoured by the people they served.

Unfortunately, Stregobor happened.

Born in the ancient province Inzilbêth, and one of several siblings (Aleksander, Szymon, Edyth, Casimir, Ozella, Sylwia, [Stregobor], Valerie), Stregobor was accepted into the ranks of the Dragon Riders at the young age of ten, after being traditionally tested for great potential. He quickly excelled in all areas of combat and spellcasting, which filled him with pride, arrogance, and vanity.

Although some of his fellow Riders were wary of his swift rise to power, the majority of the order neglected caution, ultimately leading to their downfall.

Stregobor was chosen by a dragon and became a Rider in his early years.

His dragon Smokwia (derived from Polish “smok” for dragon and “kwiat” for flower), was killed by urgals some years later in a careless accident, when she was not yet full grown.

Stregobor was mad with grief and hatred, and he asked the Dragon Rider council to grant him another dragon. But that wasn’t how it worked – the dragon chose the Rider, only hatched for the person destined for them – and forcing that had consequences. The council refused, sensing his mental instability, cut him from the Dragon Rider ranks, and sent him away.

With his request denied, Stregobor took it upon himself to steal another dragon egg.

He convinced another Dragon Rider named Morzan to leave the gates open to the place where the eggs were stored. Stregobor stole a dragon egg. Then, he forced this dragon, whom he named Zwieraln (derived from Polish “zwierzę” for animal and “idealny” for perfect), to hatched and serve him by dark magic.

He formed the Forsworn, a group of thirteen dragon riders and their dragons loyal to only him, and he killed all the other dragons and riders in existence through ambush, propaganda against Riders, and years of spies and long-fought battles. He made sure to smash all the eggs he could find, so that no one else could ever rise above him in power – or so he thought (for there were those who risked neck and tail to save and hide the last few dragon eggs).

Stregobor proceeded to create a kingdom of his own that most of all the Continent’s people called The Empire of Nilfgaard, through which he ruled most of the Continent (with few exceptions of other strong kingdoms, like Cintra).

With the Dragon Riders wiped out, there was suddenly an influx in monsters that no mortal man could battle, and so people set out for a new form of protection against magic and monsters (because obviously Stregobor wasn’t doing that). That’s how witchers came into creation, when those with too much power and those too desperate came together to create the Order of Witchers and Trial of Grasses, to form perfect monster-fighting machines, and whom would not wield as much power as a Rider so that the humans wouldn’t have to fear being oppressed (for many still believed Stregobor’s propaganda against Riders; they thought the Forsworn were the only “untainted” Riders).

Geralt, at a young age, was abandoned in Carvahall to be raised as a nobody and farmhand by his mother Visena, who was a druid and magician in affiliation with Stregobor in the Nilfgaard Empire. He was eventually adopted by Vesemir when the old witcher realized who he was, and the ties he had; also, Vesemir realized he was Geralt’s real father, an old Rider from the time before Stregobor’s reign turned into a witcher.

Vesemir had no idea that Visenna was pregnant, let alone that she gave birth to a son, and promptly took Geralt in under the pretense of him being a Child Surprise.

The older witcher never wanted his son to become a witcher like himself, but he couldn’t stop the school from taking his boy and training him, preparing him for the Trial of Grasses. At least the young boy was able to befriend Eskel, another boy already at the keep.

They went in to take the Trial of Grasses together.

Both came out a little worse for wear, but alive.

Cat-like eyes, Geralt with white hair.

Lambert was later found almost dead at the edge of Carvahall, a real Child Surprise this time, and was also taken in to be trained into a witcher. He also survived the Trial of Grasses.

Then the witcher schools were burned and raided because people were worried about the “mutants,” because another king with too much power decided they weren’t needed anymore, and they were almost all wiped out like Dragon Riders.

Vesemir mourned the loss of another of his families but was beyond glad for the ones who survived because they were still out on The Path; he was the only witcher to survive the sackings.

Vesemir also still mourned his dragon he had lost so long ago in the raids, one that was grey and silver, a male called Jaciel (derived from Polish “przyjaciel” which means “friend”).

Queue the scene in Posada, with Jaskier approaching Geralt out of interest and eventually recognizes him as “The Butcher of Blaviken.” (The same events transpired in Blaviken, except Stregobor had sent others to kill Renfri because she was a threat to his crown, and also boasted about carrying dragon eggs, which she claimed would hatch only for those against the king of Nilfgaard [which wasn’t true, she didn’t have any eggs]; he used the excuse of her being born under the Black Sun, sent assassins, was going to capture her and torture and experiment on her for her magic and questionable birth, and Geralt coming by and murdering her whole gang and her included was just a happy little accident that meant he didn’t have to fight off any accusations on his part). Anyway, Geralt is known to oppose Stregobor, but isn’t actively trying to usurp him, so he is free to go around and do his witcher duties, but he is heavily hated for opposing the, “oh so gracious and powerful king, and murdering innocents in droves.”

So, Jaskier recognizes him, and being a young half-elf noble (being the son of the queen of elves, and the son of a high-ranking human noble), is yearning for adventure, and follows this guy to the end of the Continent because, “oops, I fell in love with him.”

But the two of them are captured on a contract by a group of rogue elves outside of Ellesméra (the “forest of elves,” and while there is one united queen, there are several noble families and different elven territories), reduced to few in numbers because of racist humans, and they don’t recognize who Jaskier is (as Julian Alfred Pankratz [human name], Julek Dìoiasaeil of Ellesméra [elven name], child and heir to Queen of the elves, Meira Banrighflùr of Ellesméra).

[Quick side note, Jaskier knows he’s half elf, and personally knows his mother, but does not know she’s elven royalty? Like, he knows her as “Meira” and “mother,” and only knows enough elven heritage to know about his roots and biology, but that’s it. He grew up as a human with his viscount father].

And the rogue elves reveal that the reason they left Ellesméra and set out on their own was because when Stregobor was toppling the Dragon Riders and smashing the eggs, they [as a highly ranked noble elven family, Filavandrel being the head of the family] were entrusted to protect and hide one of the last clutches of dragon eggs from the Forsworn; unfortunately, they were not successful, and in their escape they were only able to recover one cracked egg, and even then they weren’t sure it would hatch because of the trauma, or if the dragon inside was still alive.

Jaskier was struck with grief from their story (because he grew up under the Nilfgaard Empire, left to study at Oxenfurt in another kingdom, and didn’t know of Stregobor’s evil).

So, the elves gift Jaskier a magical lute and ask for him to sing of their demise so the king may never come looking for them, and in return for Geralt’s help and coin, give Geralt the last known dragon egg in existence, hoping it would find a safe home at Kaer Morhen, away from Stregobor.

Only, Jaskier cradles the egg one night at camp, and in the middle of the night the witcher and bard wake to it fucking hatching for him.

Of course, right?

Suddenly they have a new objective; get to Kaer Morhen as fast as fucking possible, or so god help me Jaskier, someone will see your bright fucking dragon and then we’re all dead.

This au is also staring Yennefer, taking the place of the mysterious Angela with a werecat, who I’m choosing to make half-elf like Jaskier, and who also likes to spread chaos everywhere she goes (and she’ll have less magic, but is just as badass, and is a genius with potions and knows the Ancient Language).

Jaskier’s dragon is blue and beautiful and is a male he names Dandelion, or some shit like that.

Also, this would be a geraskier (Geralt x Jaskier) fic, because obviously.

Anyone who feels like writing a fic, I’m WAYY too lazy, and I also might post more headcanons if anyone wants more??

[stupid-stew]

My Obsession With Character Names Pays Off Right Here Right Now

I have literally never posted here but I decided that since I spent today writing about the the name of the characters in The Owl House instead of prepping for finals, someone should see it. Included are Lilith, Eda, Luz, King, Gus, Willow, Amity, Alador, Odalia, Emira, Edric, Belos, Adegast, Kikimora, last names Blight, Noceda, Clawthorne, Park, Porter, and Bump, and briefly Hooty, Owlbert, Hieronymus, and Boscha.

FIRST NAME

LILITH

Ok so because I'm lilith’s bitch we are gonna start with her because her name is so cool and I love her and we should be besties Lilith hmu. Anyways as most people know Lilith is a pre existing mythological character which makes this very much good because that means it’s all outlined. Most people know her as a demonic figure, which I very much dig but similar to our lovely queen of curses out here, that's not all she is. There isn’t going to be a chronological explanation of similarities and conclusions, cope. The basic gist is that Lilith was this chick with fiery red hair (this is important iykyk) who refused to be beneath or below adam, more specifically to subjugate to him, funny because of the tapestry with belos what says subjugation on it, probably a coincidence but I do not believe in coincidence right now. Anyways basically she runs off and becomes this chick who like snatches children and will make them sick if they don’t have an amulet with the names Senoy, Sansenoy, or Semangelof on them, thats a different story but what I find interesting is this one passage,

“(12) Her nobles shall be no more, nor shall kings be proclaimed there; all her princes are gone. (13) Her castles shall be overgrown with thorns, her fortresses with thistles and briers. She shall become an abode for jackals and a haunt for ostriches. (14) Wildcats shall meet with desert beasts, satyrs shall call to one another; There shall the Lilith repose, and find for herself a place to rest. (15) There the hoot owl shall nest and lay eggs, hatch them out and gather them in her shadow; There shall the kites assemble, none shall be missing its mate. (16) Look in the book of the LORD and read: No one of these shall be lacking, For the mouth of the LORD has ordered it, and His spirit shall gather them there. (17) It is He who casts the lot for them, and with His hands He marks off their shares of her; They shall possess her forever, and dwell there from generation to generation.”

And there are separate part of this that I find relevant, especially the description of the location, i’m not all that familiar with symbolism of animals in religious texts, so i’m gonna take it at face value and say that this is more or less a description that could be given to the physical owl house itself, sort of a place for people who don’t fit in, its a little messy and I guess one could say overgrown, but it’s a place for anyone, a place to rest now hopefully for Lilith away from the coven, there shall the Lilith repose. On top of that we see the “the hoot owl…” and you’re probably thinking what that so crazy wacko because like why are they referring to Lilith as the hoot owl isn't Eda the owl lady, yes she is. That’s why the actual meanings of lilith’s name that come from her mythological depiction as a demon lady are so important. We have night monster, night owl, night spectre, vampires, night hag, night creature, nightjar (which is another kind of bird), and night bird, all of these seem to fit lilith’s dark aesthetic very nicely which is very good for her, but there are two other ones, hot owl and screech owl, which draw her closer to Edaand away from the coven and her depiction in the mid-later episodes of the show as a monster for cursing eda, but also the name night monster could come into play if while sharing the curse Lilith acquired some of its traits, similar to Edaas the owl beast. Ultimately, we have this little red head girl who eventually fights back against the men who are attempting to get her to be under them, for the character that is belos, for the other Lilith that is adam, god, and his angels, and now hopefully both of them will find solace and repose among the owls in a place they never thought they’d belong. All this talk of owls and god brings us into the other clawthorne baddie:

EDA

For this I'm going to use her full name edalyn, because you know like that’s just how it be it is her name. There isn’t a wiki page for her name like there is for Lilith which makes this a little bit harder but the general consensus seems to be that it means something along the lines of “gift of god”, which I find very interesting. If you are going to name a child gift of god i’m assuming that you are referring to the child themselves, but I don’t think that really applies to eda. I’m not religious, but its my impression that someone who lies cheats pranks and steals their way to the top and isn’t exactly the most responsible witch on the isles might not be the best gift god could give. I do really love Eda though, her character flaws are still a part of her character, but I think this refers to her powers. Eda considers herself to be the boiling isles gift to magic, which I mean like, have you seen the woman. In agony of a witch we see her at what probably 30% of her power with how much the curse was already tolling on her and how much magic she was probably using to fight it off, and like goddamn. She was almost beating lilith, definitely beating the shit out of her, but she was almost defeating Lilith who was at her full power, and that is just a fraction of what she used to be able to do. Her powers were a gift of god, and I think that the loss of them will greatly affect her. She’s already admitted that she doesn’t know how to do much without her magic, and I think going straight from the second most powerful witch on this isles to having no power at all is going to be incredibly taxing on her, physically and mentally.

Luckily for her the name edalyn also means patience, another thing about her name is that it not only means gift of god, but also similar things like gifted by the gods or even goddess, and this draws a connection to Lilith who is named after a demonic figure, casted out for having defied god, they are quite literally polar opposites on the name spectrum, and we see that a lot in the show, they are completely different people, I mean have you looked at them they don’t even look related, but the funnier thing is that their personalities do the same thing. You’d expect Edain her youth to be a gift from the devil, just ask principal bump, and Lilith seemed to be a goody two shoes who worked her ass off, their names could be switched based off their characters alone.

A random baby name site I found said that :

“Persons with the name edalyn are usually highly flexible and well equipped to making and accepting change throughout their life. They always seek excitement and are sometimes a bit of a risk taker. They are imaginative, and often, through their unconventional way of thinking, are naturally able to solve complex problems with ease. They are quick thinkers and observers who are clever, analytical and versatile”

Which I mean like very much applies to eda, she takes change like a champ, either genuinely or by pretending she’s ok with everything, and is always seeking excitement. Like literally all of the time. Always. I think she takes felonies as a compliment, and one of the biggest changes in her life that she genuinely was able to adapt to and appreciate was

LUZ

Ok I think at this point everyone knows that at this point the name Luz means light, and if you didn't, oopsies now you do. The character Luz was named and designed after a real life person the miss dana terrace knew at the time she was starting to really think about the show, Luz ’s personalty comes more from dana herself and we love that, but the character has really started to grow into her name. This is made most obvious when the first spell Luz learns is the light glyph, not only coming into her own as a witch, but also starting to live up to her name, which along with light also has to do with “Our Lady of Light”, which is the virgin mary, fitting her right in with the other biblical names we got going on here. I really want to stress that I know next to zero about religion, and all of the connections I am making come from wikipedia, so bare with me here. But most of the time mary seems to be this pure, saint like figure, which I think is what a lot of people see Luz as, especially on the isles. I’m going to flat out say that this is in no way meant to pass off Luz as simple minded, pure, or oblivious, because we have seen what that girl is willing to do, she faced death and poked him in the with an ice cicle. In terms of life on the isles, however, she is more or less pure and sheltered, she’s completely new to the world she’s in, but she does quickly adapt, and shows more of her strong side, and remains a good person throughout all of it, taking losses as they come, and not letting them remain losses at the same time.

Back to the whole light thing, we already touched on the whole literal bit of her and the light spell, but can you think of a better way to describe Luz ? She literally brings light everywhere she goes, even Eda admits that she’s changed things for the better, for everyone around her too. Willow got a new friend, probably the first friend she’s had in a long time, and even got to begin repairing her relationship with amity, and got placed in the plant track so she could do the things she loves, all because of Luz . Edagot to grow as a person and a mentor, and finally got someone willing to accept all her eda-ness, unconditionally, someone to really care about that really cares about her back, all because of Luz . Amity got a friend who cares about her, not just her family name and money, someone who supports her and will do anything for her because she is her friend, and a bit of self discovery along the way for amity, all because of Luz . Not a single person on the isles who has had more than 2 minutes of interaction with Luz hasn’t had their lives improved, even belos got his portal, and the thing is that even characters who people might not even consider changed have been, characters such as

KING

The name king itself is obvious, he is royalty, the king of demoNS HIMSELF ASMODEUS hahahaha pulled a sneaky on you now accept my ideas as your own. I am on a mythological name kick, deal with it. The most important thing here is in the bible, asmodeus poses himself as a false god, which I know is something we have all considered with king, that he might be a full on liar, not be a king of anything and is just your ordinary street demon, it’s even come up in the show with him calling himself the king of artists and Luz asking him if he was just making it up at this point. It’s a good theory, I can see it, and this could be used as proof. There is also another legend that paints him as a good natured dude, who eventually banishes the king by literally throwing him, and then he loses his powers and is banished, but this is also the same legend where he marries Lilith and that is not something I am down for. There is another text in which he tells the king (the same one he threw in the other one) that his kingdom will one day be divided and the king does not believe him, and this is the same text where he admits to hating water and birds because they remind him of god. Lets think class, who has the god name and is related to birds here? King’s name by itself holds true to his character, who (regardless of if it is truthful or not) holds himself as if he is a king, and he isn't the only one with a name like that, there is also

WILLOW

Ok I know we all thought it, willow, the plant girl, how fiendishly clever. This also happens to be the only descriptor for her name I could find, which is totally fine because I think it’s a very cute name and willow is also very cute. This means we get to go into the symbolism of the willow tree wwwooooOOOOO aren’t you so very excited I know I am. Its kind of interesting, willow trees seem to match the character, understanding, warm, a safe space really, but most of all the ability to let go of pain and suffering, sometimes outright ignore it, and move on. Willow does always say out of sight out of mind does she not? She is willing to ignore, even excuse people bullying her, be it bosha or even amity, and the moment she got the chance her inner willow decided to try and literally burn the painful memories she had, willing to cause damage just to forget. Willow as a character is very willing to move on like nothing happened most of the time, key word most because another thing about willows is the ability to grow from the pain. Before understanding willow, we never really saw willow stand up for herself until she really had to, but hy the end of the episode she is willing to tell amity that she isn’t willing to fully forgive her, but she’s willing to grow and try. Heck, we see this over the entire first season, we see this little girl who can barely pull it together long enough to stand up for herself grow into this amazing character willing to publicly oppose the emperor and break into his castle for her friend, she tried to full out attack Lilith when 19 episodes earlier she wasn’t able to stand up to amity for bullying her. And I am in no way calling willow weak, she never was, she just needed to find the ability to show everyone that she’s strong, god I love willow so much, you wanna know who else loves willow?

GUS

Gus, my main man, love you but for this we are gonna have to use the full on augustus sorry babes. The name augustus means majestic, or venerable, which while I must say that the illusion of kiki doing the worm was probably one of the most majestic things I have ever seen, I’m going to focus on venerable a bit more here. Venerable is a big word, it means “accorded a great deal of respect, especially because of age, wisdom, or character.”, which for gus the age part might play a smaller part here, but he is good as what he does, Luz and willow both respect him, Eda Respects him, he’s this little dude who is younger than everyone and has to rely on his ability to succeed, not inly with his power but with his personality.Gus seems to be confident in himself, communicating with everyone regardless of who they are or what power they hold, similarly to willow he was willing to do anything to help Luz , leading into the second description of venerable, “heroic in nature”. Now, you might be wondering, bestie where ever did you get that description, it totally wasn’t from a religious page okyesitwas but that's fine because being pronounced venerable guarantees a spot in heaven so get it bestie. Overall, the general meaning for augustus is that they are strong, respectable, and powerful, which takes us right into the

ASSORTED BLIGHTS

The blight first names bring me joy so I am putting amity last because I think its really funny, starting off with alador, the name alador evokes diplomacy, correctness, and confidence. We know zilch about alador, but if the vibes of the blight family have anything to say it’s definitely something along those lines. The name odalia means wealth, which I mean like have you seeeen blight manor? Also back at it again with the fact that it’s a variant of the name odilia, like the saint olilia which I don't have ties for you right now because again, we know nothing about her. Edric also means wealth, fortune, riches, powerful, you get the vibes, same thing with emira which means commander, or prince, princess, leader, or star. So you know like we have all these super powerful names happening, and then, oh boy and then we get to little miss perfect herself, amity blight. It means friendship, or harmony. If I was her I would be so mad at my parents like yall have these mad powerful names and I got stuck with friendship? Hand me the emancipation papers. You know what they say, friendship is the real magic (even if no longer taught in schools due to budget constraints). I hope that this leads more into season 2 with amity working on her friendships and ultimately her relationships in general, which we got a bit of already with her working on repairing her relationship with willow, and making the moves to cut off old toxic friendships and moving into more genuine ones with willow, Luz , and gus. I guess you could say that the only thing ALL the blights have in common with each other is their

LAST NAME

BLIGHT

The word blight by itself means a plant disease which boy oh boy can you believe how nicely that fits into amity bullying willow because I sure can. Outside of just the plant bit it overall just means like something that damages another thing, and this works beautifully for each member of the family. The parents are damaging their children, the twins just causing general damage, and amity and her goddamn relationships, but fortunately that whole plant thing brings us into the next couple of last names

CLAWTHORNE

The last name clawthorne means “cold or exposed thorn tree” which had me kind of like what the heck so I went off and had some fun and got you some presents that I think are funny, so there was this guy right, his name was joseph clawthorne, and he created the term whiffenpoof, which is the name for a wildly fictitious animal, things like a jackalope, or even a griffin with spider breath, though I guess that would be the work of a

NOCEDA

Back again with the trees good lord, it means field of nut trees, so again I went into prominent people an found this guy named jorge noceda sanchez, he was a painter and some of his works are kinda baller actually it seems like something that would fit in on the isles, but also not all of the names have a deeper meanings, names like

PORTER

Ok I am like pretty sure this was just meant to be a play on the fact that gus’ dad’s name is perry and is a reporter, get it, perry porter, perry porter, reporter, but nonetheless I did some digging because why the heck not, it means doorkeeper, or gate keeper, someone who guards something like an important building, which honestly I think this would be a good last name for hooty if he ever gets one, but again not all of these are important names at the moment, or maybe they won't ever be at all, names like

PARK

At first I was kinda like l m a o willow park plant girl hahahahah plants in the park parks have trees willow is a tree but then I remembered that someone pointed out that park is a traditionally korean surname and then like a week later disney posted about it for aisian pacific american heritage month which kind of confirmed it, and I don’t know if the whole intention behind it was to establish willow as representation or not, but the surname park by itself means gourd and willow I am so sorry that is so unfortunate LMAOSIFN

BUMP

To be honest I was not expecting bump to have a last name that meant anything but it means swift walker and I think thats funny so you have to know it now

MISCELLANEOUS

BELOS

BIIIITCH LISTEN UPPPP there is a butt tone of mythology surrounding his name and its mostly a different form of it, belus, that is referenced, but same thing different shape. Most of his depiction is as a great king or ruler, in babylonian mythology being the equivalent of zeus of jupiter, which liiikkkkkeeeoajolnjojnkjakjavnjfvdfkjf but its fine everything is great its all ok most importantly, he is recognized as the god or ruler of war, and in that same mythology he lived in babylon, which “... was originally water, and called a sea. But Belus put an end to this, and assigned a district to each, and surrounded Babylon with a wall; and at the appointed time he disappeared.” and idk about you but the smell of him assigning a divide and disappearing smells sour like funky to me babes

HIERONYMUS AND BOSCHA

I am only putting this here because the fact that it’s totally a play on hieronymus bosch makes me cackle and you all have to know it thank you

ADEGAST

B-but brevyn he was only there for like one episode, yeah ok and? Radegast is the slavic god of hospitality, and there is no host like a host that pretends to take you on a mythical quest and then tries to eat you and your mentor and her deranged cat demon, ok? His name translates to “dear guest” or “welcomed guest” and I mean I think if my host tried to suck me into some fantasy would delusion i’d feel pretty welcomed

HOOTY

He is an owl

OWLBERT

He is also an owl

KIKIMORA

First and foremost, she is a little night gremlin who hates children and I think that really fits her, but she is also a little house demon, who is very difficult to get to leave, have we seen her outside the castle? Will she be a spy along with the mask next season? She also has a name that means nightmare or night demon, similar to a certain other night creature we might have heard of a while ago. She tried to strangle children and I love that for her,and she is described as a little old ugly messy haired lady and I feel like her current character has the personality of one so i’ll take it, but what really gets me is her villain origin story, which is that she "grows up with a magician in the mountains. From dawn to sunset the magician’s cat regales Kikimora with fantastic tales of ancient times and faraway places, as Kikimora rocks in a cradle made of crystal. It takes her seven years to reach maturity, by which time her head is no larger than a thimble and her body no wider than a strand of straw. Kikimora spins flax from dusk and to dawn, with evil intentions for the world.”

[kedreeva]

Do you have any idea whose chicks are whose? Or does that even matter? With all the random laying, egg and baby stealing, and a turkey and a chicken are raising half of them... And just curious, would you ever let Artemis raise someone else's babies? (I mean ones that are neither hers or Stan's)

That answer is complicated.

I’m 99% sure that Aris has chicks from eggs she laid. I can, to some degree, tell whose EGGS are whose, since they all lay ones that look different to some degree. Minor lays teeny tiny eggs for a pea. Aurora has ones with a heavy pink-tan bloom around the crown of them. Eclipse lays small eggs, but not as small as minor, and they’re usually very even in color. Aris, on the other hand, lays these giant white monstrosities. I know this because I have caught most of them at one point or another in the act of laying, and when I collect eggs there are ones that consistently look the same.

In her original nest, there were 8 eggs, 4 from her and 4 from Eclipse (which I know because there were 2 sets of 4 eggs that looked similar to the others in their set, and I had caught both Aris and Eclipse laying there, and the others were laying across the coop), and when I decreased the eggs she had to 4 (because she was REALLY bad at siting on all 8, she kept leaving ones out), I left only Aris’ eggs. 

I put Eclipse’s 4 eggs under Joslin (but they are now being sat on by Major and Eclipse), and added 4 more so they had 8 total. They crushed three of them this past weekend (I actually think Tanner was breaking them, which is part of why I kicked his ass out to the all-chicken pen, and the deaths stopped, so he’s not allowed near nesting moms again), and two of them hatched overnight last night. Eclipse is sitting on the remaining eggs, but they are a mix of hers and Major’s eggs.

Joslin is sitting on, iirc, minor and eclipse’s eggs, but she might have a couple of Aurora’s eggs. After consideration of history with Aurora, and given Aris’ behaviors and color patterns, I believe Aris may be out of Aurora, and it’s possible that her poor conformation, while potentially still genetic to some degree may have been a result of her care whens he was young, before I knew what I know now. I took generally-accepted advice about care back then from folks online that I thought knew better, and have since learned (possibly alongside of the community at large as we all become better keepers and better feeds for gamefowl specifically became available) to do better. So, I’m willing to test a few of Aurora’s eggs this year (Aurora is sitting on 3 of her own and 1 of Minor’s.

To answer your question, I can SORT OF tell whose chicks belong to who, approximately. I know that any blue babies had to have come from Aurora or Aris. I know that any BS babies had to have come from Eclipse, Major, or Minor. I know that any silver pied babies had to have come from Eclipse. Beyond that, if I had not seen the eggs, it would be very difficult to say who came from who. BUT it doesn’t really MATTER that much, because I am looking for specific genetics out of them, all of them visual in the phenotype, so I can pick from the grow-outs without worrying too much about parentage.

That being said, if Artemis did try to set on a nest, and she was in a pen where she could raise them without being picked on during or after, and I had enough eggs available to swap hers for someone else’s eggs, I see no reason why she couldn’t raise chicks. I might let her, someday.

[multiverseforger]

The young Devil Dinosaur was nearly burned to death by a tribe of Killer-Folk, hostile beings native to his planet, but was rescued by Moon-Boy, a young member of a rival tribe, the Small-Folk. Exposure to the Killer-Folk's fire activated a mutation in the dinosaur which gave him powers greater than others of his species and turned his skin from olive green to flame red.[10] Devil's early adventures on his home world include encounters with extraterrestrials and a brief teleportation to modern day Earth.[11]

Later, Godzilla rampages through the Marvel Universe (Earth-616). In an attempt to stop the monster, S.H.I.E.L.D. shrinks Godzilla with Pym Particles and attempts to teleport him via a time machine to the prehistoric past. However, Godzilla's radiation apparently distorts the time machine so that he is transported to the alternative universe of Dinosaur World instead. While there, he briefly unites with Moon-Boy and Devil against a common foe before being pulled back to the main Marvel continuity.[12]

Member of the Fallen AngelsEdit

After Ariel, an extraterrestrial mutant with teleportation powers, teleports the Fallen Angels to Dinosaur World, the group convinces Devil and Moon-Boy to join their team and return with them to Earth-616. During his time with the Fallen Angels, Devil Dinosaur accidentally kills "Don", the super-intelligent mutant lobster on the team by stepping on him. Devil and Moon-Boy return to their own universe when the Fallen Angels eventually disband.[13]

Dinosaur World againEdit

After their stint with the Fallen Angels, the duo's life back on Dinosaur World is interrupted numerous times by events occurring in the main Marvel continuity:

During a conflict between Slapstick and his time manipulating foe, Doctor Yesterday, Devil and Moon-Boy are briefly teleported to Earth-616.[14]

In the midst of a tussle between the Technet and Lockheed inside Excalibur's lighthouse, Devil is once again briefly transported to Earth-616.[15]

Young Celestials transport the Hulk back in time to combat Devil.[16]

A renegade Skrull flees to Devil's planet and uses his shape shifting abilities to impersonate the late leader of the Killer-Folk, Seven Scars.[17]

Due to the manipulations of the interdimensional traveler Access, Devil Dinosaur's world briefly merges with the DC Comics Universe where he encounters Anthro, a Cro-Magnon man.[18]

In the midst of a battle with a Kraken, Hulkpool and his unwitting companions accidentally time travel to Dinosaur World where Devil Dinosaur, Moon-Boy and the Small-Folk help destroy the kraken. During Hulkpool's effort to return to his own time, Devil and Moon-Boy are briefly teleported to the American Old West in the year 1873. While there, Devil attempts to eat a cowboy's horse.[19]

Stranded on Earth 616 in modern timesEdit

New York CityEdit

Some time later, the sorceress Jennifer Kale, in an attempt to return Howard the Duck to his homeworld, inadvertently teleports Devil Dinosaur and Moon-Boy into her New York apartment. The disoriented dinosaur rampages through the city before being subdued by Ghost Rider.[20] Stranded in modern-day Earth-616 after their teleportation there by Kale, the pair is hypnotized into joining the Circus of Crime. After being rescued by Spider-Man, Devil and Moon-Boy are relocated to the Savage Land.[21]

The Savage LandEdit

The Heroes for Hire mercenaries go on a mission to retrieve Moon-Boy from the Savage Land and encounter Devil Dinosaur in the process. Devil is found fiercely guarding a nest containing a clutch of eggs that apparently he himself has laid and the dinosaur abandons Moon-Boy to ensure their safety. The discrepancy between this development and his previously presumed male sex is noted by the mercenaries, who can only speculate as to the cause of the change.[22] After returning to the U.S. the Heroes for Hire disband and group member Paladin leaves alone with Moon-Boy to collect the reward from the S.H.I.E.L.D. scientists who hired the mercenaries.[23]

Devil and Moon-Boy SeparatedEdit

Moon-Boy would remain under the custody of S.H.I.E.L.D. for some time, which drove Devil Dinosaur into a sort of saurian depression. Refusing to eat, or defend himself, he was in danger of dying. However, Stegron, the dinosaur man, became worried about the survival of the Devil-Beast due to it being the last known of its species. Leaving the Savage Land without the permission of Ka-Zar and building an army of reanimated dinosaurs, Stegron marched across the U.S. attacking S.H.I.E.L.D. base after base, until he was eventually stopped by the Fifty State Initiative. However, the group discovered the motive behind Stegron's plan and, though he was arrested all the same, the Initiative recruit Reptil smuggled Moon-Boy back to the Savage Land, where he was reunited with his companion.[24]

Reunited in the Savage LandEdit

Reunited in the Savage Land, the companions' adventures continued:

When the Roxxon Energy Corporation attempts to extract vibranium from the Savage Land, the inhabitants of the Savage Land including Ka-Zar, Devil Dinosaur and Moon-Boy enter into battle to save their home. Roxxon's forces are soon subdued.[25]

Devil Dinosaur meets the Pet Avengers when they are accidentally transported to the Savage Land. Out of shock and anger, Devil attacks the group. Eventually, the group of animalian Avengers are able to return to their own world.[26]

An ancient entity attempts to conquer first the Savage Land, then the world. Moon Boy and Devil Dinosaur fight to defend innocent Savage Land citizens endangered by the entity. They are joined by many other heroes, some lost in time. The entity is killed by Zabu.[27]

The Savage Land Mutate, Brainchild, creates an army of cybernetic dinosaurs and steals Devil Dinosaur's eggs in order to experiment on them. Spider-Man arrives and helps Devil and Moon-Boy defeat the cybernetic dinosaurs and rescue the eggs. At the end of the adventure, one of the eggs hatches revealing a red baby Tyrannosaurus.[28]

Adventures with Moon GirlEdit

In the Savage Land, a group of Killer Folk got their hands on the sacred Nightstone. Moon Boy and Devil Dinosaur fought to reclaim it, but Moon Boy died as the Killer Folk were sucked into a vortex through time with the Nightstone. Moon Boy's dying wish was for Devil Dinosaur to reclaim the Nightstone and to avenge him.[29]

Going through the portal, Devil Dinosaur ended up in New York City. The Nightstone had fallen into the hands of Lunella Lafayette - a genius 9-year-old - who deduced the Nightstone was actually a Kree Omni-Wave Projector. Lunella had identified the Inhuman gene within her own DNA and feared being transformed into a monster due to the changes brought about by Terrigen Mist. Due to several Terrigen clouds that had been drifting around the city following the Inhumans' detonation of a Terrigen bomb, she took drastic action and intended to use the Nightstone to find a way to remove the Inhuman DNA. With Lunella refusing to give up the Nightstone, Devil Dinosaur was forced to bring her on his rampage through the city as he searched for the Killer Folk. Although Devil Dinosaur fought the Killer Folk, they managed to escape with the Nightstone.[30]

Lunella ended up harboring Devil Dinosaur in her laboratory that she had built in the depths of her school, growing more and more frustrated that she was stuck with the "big red dummy" but found him useful when he helped save the lives of her teacher and class during a fire.[31] However, the Hulk (Amadeus Cho) arrived, seeking to apprehend Devil Dinosaur for his earlier rampage and accused him of the fire. Lunella refused, declaring that she needed Devil Dinosaur and, growing frustrated with Amadeus patronizing her and undermining her intelligence, drew out a few homemade weapons to fight him, but only accidentally ended up knocking out Devil Dinosaur.[32]

Lunella, feeling responsible for Devil Dinosaur's arrest and, feeling kinship to the beast stuck in a place he did not belong, broke him out under the moniker of Moon Girl, a nickname the other students used to bully her.[33] After the Killer Folk - who had conquered territory previously owned by the Yancy Street Gang - failed to kidnap Lunella from school to be their blood sacrifice to the Nightstone on a full moon, Lunella decided to end things. She and Devil Dinosaur fought the Killer Folk once more and won, reclaiming the Nightstone. Lunella hoped she could finally use it to ensure she would not transform into an Inhuman, but at that precise moment she was caught in a Terrigen cloud.[34]

Devil Dinosaur took Lunella's cocoon to her lab and watched over it for several days until she hatched. Lunella was at first relieved she had not changed physically, but was dismayed to learn her Inhuman power caused her consciousness and that of Devil Dinosaur's to switch. Devil Dinosaur proceeded to make her even more ostracized at school due to freaking out in class and attacking other students whilst Lunella rampaged through the city. Eventually though they returned to normal.[35]

Devil Dinosaur and Moon Girl's next opponent came in the form of Kid Kree - a misunderstood Kree boy who had failed to enter the academy twice, who sought to capture an Inhuman to impress his father and make a name for himself on Earth as Captain Marvel had - who disguised himself as a new student, Marvin Ellis, in Lunella's class. Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur fought Kid Kree several times,[36] once being separated by Ms. Marvel, who recognized their fight as the childish squabble it was, but still entrusted Moon Girl with a device to contact her if things ever got out of hand.[37]

Lunella is then approached by Hulk, who gives her the Banner B.O.X. (Brain Omnicompetence Examiner), and is surprised when she solves it in mere seconds, proving that Lunella is the smartest person on Earth. After consulting experts, Moon Girl, Hulk and Devil Dinosaur encounter Mole Man, who was attacking the city with a group of monsters. The next day, at her lab, Lunella ends up having a vision of herself in the future, where she is approached by Earth's smartest heroes. After school, she is approached by the Thing, who takes her for a walk when Hulk appears. When the two start fighting, Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur manage to contain them while protecting the civilians, until both of them are left unconscious. Meanwhile, Doctor Doom is surprised to discover that Moon Girl is considered the smartest person on Earth and vows to prove himself superior.[38] During science class, Lunella is attacked by robot drones until she is saved by Riri Williams. They follow the drones to a nearby alley, where Moon Girl encounters Doctor Doom. After Doom escapes, Moon Girl and Ironheart go to Moon Girl's secret lab, where they discover that the energy signatures of the drones are mystic in origin. While tracing Doom's location, Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur arrive at the Sanctum Sanctorum and are found by Doctor Strange.[39] Waking up from a dream, Lunella is reunited with Devil, who was shrunk down by Strange. While walking back home, Moon Girl and two of her classmates are attacked by Doctor Doom and his Doombots. Moon Girl uses an enlargement potion on herself to help Doctor Strange fight Doom and his robots. A few nights later, while installing an energy sensing probe, Moon Girl is found by five members of the X-Men.[40] Arriving at an abandoned mall, Moon Girl reengineers a Cerebro helmet with the Omni-Wave Projector to locate Doom, only for her and the X-Men to travel back to the 1980s. Once there, Doctor Doom arrives with an army of Doombots. The X-Men and Devil fight the Doombots until Moon Girl takes off the helmet, sending them back to the present, where they discover that Doom is actually a Doombot. Lunella takes the Doombot to her lab to analyze it.[41] Lunella later makes a major discovery about her Inhuman power: it only activates during a full moon. She then encounters an army of Doombots, along with Thing, Hulk, Ms. Marvel, Ironheart, Doctor Strange, Kid Kree and the Killer Folk, who went to her aid after being recruited by Lunella.[42]

Lunella then receives a call for help from an alien girl named Illa and, after building a spaceship, goes to space with Devil and crash land on a moon. While exploring, Lunella discovers that Illa is the moon.[43] She soon realizes that Illa is lonely and wants company and does not understand Lunella at all. After a brief fight between Devil and some giant bugs, Lunella leaves, despite Illa's objections. Unfortunately, in the process, she is sent to a parallel universe where she meets another version of herself and Devil Dinosaur. Meanwhile, the Doombot head creates robotic versions of Lunella to avoid suspicions of her absence.[44] After fighting their counterparts, Devil Girl and Moon Dinosaur, Lunella and Devil get back on their spacecraft and return to Illa who tells them that they'll never leave her. Back home, the Doombot head begins to have problems with one of Lunella robots. Moon Girl and Devil manage to find Ego the Living Planet and reunite him with Illa, while the Doombot discovers that the Lunella robot is acting independently.[45]

Meanwhile, the Doombot head has created multiple Moon Girl replacement robots who to his surprise are acting like real little girls.[volume & issue needed] He tells them that they will be obsolete when the real Lunella returns.[volume & issue needed] While up in space Lunella has united Ego and Illa as a family.[volume & issue needed] On the way to Earth she uses the Omniwave projector to tearfully return Devil Dinosaur to Moon Boy in the Savage Land where she thinks he belongs and then returns to New York where she tosses it away in the trash.[volume & issue needed]

Admitting she was wrong MooN Girl brought him back as she, Ben Grim, and Johnny Storm reformed the Fantastic Four and even gave Devil his own uniform.[46] Afterwards while Wilson Fisks's daughter Princess is enrolled in her school Moon Girl decides to turn Devil into a human boy and enroll him in her class to tone down his destructive accidents. Taking attention away from princess causes her to begin focusing her and her father's negative attentions on the two.[volume & issue needed]

During the Monsters Unleashed storyline, Devil Dinosaur was with Moon Girl when she was studying the different Leviathon attacks.[47] Later, Kei Kawade demonstrates his abilities to the heroes present by summoning Devil Dinosaur, though Moon Girl was also brought along during Devil Dinosaur's summoning.[48] When the Leviathon Servitors attack the Baxter Building, Kei Kawade summons Devil Dinosaur to help fight them.[49] Moon Girl, Devil Dinosaur and other heroes later encounter other monsters until the Leviathon Queen is defeated by Kei Kawade and his new creations.[50]

During the Secret Empire storyline, Devil Dinosaur and Moon Girl join up with Daisy Johnson's Secret Warriors. After rescuing Karnak from a prison camp, the Warriors encounter the Howling Commandos after falling into a trap. While driving West, the team is found by the X-Men. After escaping New Tian, the team meets Dark Beast, an evil version of Beast, who's tortured by Daisy and Karnak on information of an Inhuman who can help them. After receiving their information, the team encounters Mister Hyde along with Hydra's Avengers. After a brief fight, the team is captured until they break out when Daisy uses her powers to destroy the Helicarrier they were in. While trying to break Devil out of his cage, Moon Girl meets Leer, the Inhuman Karnak mentioned, who knocks her unconscious when the Helicarrier crash lands. Fortunately, Moon Girl and Devil have switched brains just in time, enabling Moon Girl to lead the Warriors to an Inhuman prison camp. There, the Warriors plan a jailbreak with the imprisoned Inhumans when the Underground resistance arrives to help them. It's later revealed that Leer is Karnak's son and that Karnak had sold him to Mr. Sinister to help activate his powers.[51]

[mysmashplaythroughs]

Super Metroid Samus Playthrough

Fighter: Samus Aran

Game: Super Metroid, Wii U virtual console (SNES). First Released on March 19th 1994.

Fighter Bio.

Born on Earth Colony K-2L, Samus Aran was an inquisitive and friendly but naïve child, often trying to make friends of visitors to the colony. One visitor she made friends with was an old Chozo who was known as ‘Old Bird’ who was visiting with a group of Chozo interested in the Afloraltite, a material which can be used to fuel starships. When the Chozo and Rodney Aran, the leader of the colony could not come to an agreement over the Afloraltite, the Chozo left. Not too long later however, some other visitors arrived on the planet seeking this fuel source, Ridley and his space pirates. Ridley’s forces began a raid on the colony and Samus, a naïve child greeted Ridley just as she had ‘Old Bird’ asking him to become her friend. Ridley after telling the child she’s cute then turned around to kill her, Samus being saved just in time by her Mother, Virginia Aran, who was killed protecting her. Following this, Samus’s Father in a last-ditch effort destroyed the Afloraltite the Space Pirates were trying to steal, killing many of their forces, himself, Ridley’s ship and heavily damaging Ridley in the process. Samus being the sole survivor of the Colony remained in its ruins until the Chozo group returned to the planet, finding the devastation and Samus.  Deciding to adopt the orphaned Samus, Old Bird took her with the group back to his home planet, Zebes. In order to survive on the harsh planet the Chozo infused Samus with Chozo DNA which, along with training she received growing up, gave Samus speed and agility beyond a normal human as well as allowing her to survive suitless on Zebes. Whilst on Zebes, Samus also during her time growing up knew of Mother Brain, the mechanical giant brain used by the Chozo to control operations on the planet.

Following her training with the Chozo Samus was gifted a power suit and with Old Bird’s blessing was named a warrior of the Chozo. She then left to join the Galactic Federation, excelling at the academy and becoming part of an elite force in the Federation Police Force. Fighting Space Pirates, Samus eventually ran into Ridley, although this meeting triggered her memories of that day back on K-2L which Ridley had apparently survived causing Samus to freeze and almost get killed. Following further trials Samus left the Galactic Federation disappearing for some time until she eventually resurfaced years later as a bounty hunter. Fighting many space pirates around the galaxy Samus became renowned although believed by the public at large to be a male cyborg. When Space Pirates captured some captive Metroids being held by the Galactic Federation and were eventually tracked to Zebes where they were seeking to breed them in order to conquer the entire galaxy, the Galactic Federation turned to Samus due to her history on the planet. Mother Brain, who had revolted against the Chozo and allied herself with the Space Pirates, organising them and becoming their leader was the one in charge of operations on Zebes with Samus’s mission being to destroy all the Metroid organisms on the planet and Mother Brain.

Samus took on this task, facing off against the various dangers of Zebes as well as the Space Pirate Captains, Kraid and Ridley, who she finally defeated. Samus then went to Tourian, Mother Brain’s lair on Zebes where she fought and destroyed the Metroids and finally Mother Brain herself. In defeat however, Mother Brain set off a self-destruct system which Samus had to race back to her ship in order to escape. Her escape was short lived however as her ship was shot down, this however is part of another story relating to her Zero Suit form. Following this, Samus took on many different missions, often finding herself facing other breeds of Metroids and Space Pirates. She also encountered Ridley numerous times, now in a cybernetic form known as Meta Ridley. Eventually, Samus was given a mission to travel to the Metroid’s home planet of SR-388 and hunt down all remaining Metroids on the planet. In doing so Samus fought many mutations Metroids could undergo on the planet, including the final source of all Metroids on the planet, the Queen. Having destroyed the Queen, Samus encountered the final Metroid, a baby who hatched from an egg just when Samus arrived. Samus prepared to open fire on it until she realised it had imprinted on her as it’s Mother and was not hostile. Not wanting to kill the creature, Samus instead took it with her back to her ship, on the way having another encounter with Ridley, one which the Baby helped her to escape. Taking the baby Metroid to Ceres Space Colony so it could be researched by the Galactic Federation and she hoped kept safe. When Samus left however, she almost immediately received a distress signal from the Colony, returning there to find it had been attacked by a newly recovered Ridley and his Space Pirates.

Samus is a powerful warrior who is known to be a brooding loner of few words. She has a great amount of willpower despite her melancholic outlook with her always fighting her hardest against whatever threat she faces, often being able to survive where entire troops of Galactic Federation soldiers haven’t. Despite her fierce willingness to take on anything, Samus also shows great compassion when warranted, such as saving a species from extinction known the Luminoth, helping the Etecoons and Dachora escape Zebes when it faced destruction and sparing the Baby Metroid despite her orders being to destroy every last one on SR-388. Beyond this Samus’s personality as with many Nintendo player characters has been kept fairly vague with few games delving into it. Samus’s main equipment is her Power Suit which is highly adaptable with her gaining many abilities from both Chozo technology on Zebes as well as Chozo technology from other planets which have enhanced the Power Suit’s power, defence, manoeuvrability and elemental protections as just a few examples. With Chozo Blood in her veins Samus is also able to achieve feats beyond ordinary humans with her enhanced agility and speed.

Friends: Samus often works alone and ends up on planets with very few if any friendly species. Due to this, most of Samus’s allies only appear in backstory or the occasional cutscene. Samus has fought alongside, been a part of and been hired by the Galactic Federation numerous times, however she has not always seen eye to eye with them. Samus had a few friends back when she was part of the Galactic Federation, one of them being Anthony Higgs, a soldier in the Galactic Federation who once worked with Samus. Samus had a respect for her old commanding officer Adam Malkovich, although they would often clash, one of these clashes leading to Samus’s decision to leave the Galactic Federation. Having been raised by them Samus has a love of the Chozo, especially ‘Old Bird’ who was the first Chozo she made friends with as a child. Samus has also been helped by and helped the few non-aggressive species she’s met on various planets, such as the Etecoons and Dachora who helped her with learning to use certain abilities and she helped to escape the planet Zebes when it was set to be destroyed. Samus has worked alongside other bounty hunters such as Ghor, Rundas and Gandrayda, however they were sadly corrupted by Phazon and Samus was left with no choice but to kill them. Finally there is the Baby Metroid which Samus bonded with after it hatched. The Baby helped save Samus a couple of times and Samus felt great sorrow after it’s death at the hands of Mother Brain.

Enemies/Rivals: Samus has fought many enemies over her career, with a lot of them being associated with the group who make up her main enemies, the Space Pirates. Samus could be said to have two main enemies, the first of which is Mother Brain, who Samus has not fought often but when she has, they have been key conflicts in Samus’s life. Being on Zebes throughout Samus’s childhood, turning on the Chozo and joining with the Space Pirates, as well as murdering the Baby has resulted in Mother Brain influencing Samus’s life a lot. Mother Brain when she is present tends to be the leader of the Space Pirates, however Ridley often is either the main leader or second in command. Ridley has a long history with Samus, being responsible for making her an orphan, which in turn means he’s responsible for his own worst enemy. Ridley is Samus’s most persistent foe, and even after his death his clones have kept up this antagonistic relationship with her. Arguably the next biggest foe Samus has ever faced is Dark Samus, a being of pure Phazon that took control of Samus’s Phazon Suit. Dark Samus replicated much of Samus’s abilities with additional powers afforded by its Phazon makeup, this made it a dangerous foe for Samus, it was not allied with the Space Pirates however and became as much their enemy as it was Samus’s. Many of Samus’s foes are more beasts than intelligent species, with her most fought, the Metroids, being dangerous creations being used by the Space Pirates rather than intelligent life with goals. Other dangerous beings Samus has fought besides the space pirates include the Ing, a race from Dark Aether, a planet that’s from a parallel dimension to the planet Aether, making the Ing seem to be dark reflections of the peaceful Luminoth Race native to Aether, whom they have been invading and had almost wiped out. There is also the X-Parasite, amoeba-like beings which can replicate the form of other beings, their only natural predator being Metroids which were bred by the Chozo to hunt them, the X-Parasites came close to killing Samus if it weren’t for a vaccine created by infusing Samus with Metroid DNA saving her life and allowing her to absorb X-Parasites at their base form.

Crossovers with other Smash characters: Samus has not crossed over with other characters very often and at most has had allusions to other series in her own games rather than actual characters crossing over. Samus has crossed over with Mario a couple of times, the most notable of which was when she appeared in Super Mario RPG in a small cameo role, sleeping in a bed in Mushroom Castle after Mario defeats Yaridovich but before he goes to Land’s End. Samus will simply say “….. I’m resting up for Mother Brain.” When spoken to. Samus’s ship appears in the background of Busted Bayou in Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze, although Samus herself does not appear. Samus crosses over with Kirby in Kirby’s Dream Land 3 where she appears at the end of a level in her full Power Suit. If Kirby defeats the six Metroids in the level with the ice power however, Samus will appear without her helmet and give Kirby a Heart Star or if that’s already been awarded a 1up. A cancelled crossover Samus almost took part in was an appearance in Mario and Luigi Superstar Saga. It’s been found in the game’s coding that Samus was meant to appear with other Nintendo characters as a special guest giving Mario and Luigi an Energy Tank in exchange for their newly brewed drink. Samus also appeared alongside Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, Bowser, Donkey Kong, Pit and Link in the NES version of Tetris playing an Upright Bass in her Power Suit, and made a similar cameo in F-1 Race with various Mario and Donkey Kong characters as well as Link. Finally, whilst I normally wish to avoid things outside of games, Metroid played a somewhat big part in the Captain N TV series, with Mother Brain being the main antagonist of the show and various characters being (very loosely) adapted from different franchises such as Simon Belmont, Mega Man and Pit. Samus herself didn’t appear in the TV series but in the comic stories where the writers didn’t have the rights to use Simon Belmont or Mega Man anymore, Samus was part of the remaining team along with Pit.

Why this game?

Well, simply put, Super Metroid is often considered the essential Metroid game, even more than the very first which this is somewhat a retread of. Super Metroid takes place on Zebes, the planet Samus grew up on which is now the Space Pirates main base of operations under the control of Mother Brain. Samus defeated Mother Brain’s operations in the very first game on this planet, but in Super Metroid it turns out Mother Brain survived and Ridley has stolen the final Metroid in the universe in order for the Space Pirates to once again attempt to breed them in order to conquer the galaxy. The reason I picked this game is simply because it defines Metroid as a whole. All of the most iconic Metroid creatures and villains come from this game, some only ever appearing in this game and the original such as Kraid yet still being thought of as the main Metroid cast. A lot of Samus’s moveset in Smash is based on this game also, especially since this was the last game Samus was in before the very first Super Smash Bros. Finally, the simplest reason I chose this game to play for Samus is it’s one I’ve been meaning to properly play through for years, and thanks to this ride I’ve been on, I’ve now done that and I am thankful for it.

My past with this game.

So my history with this series is probably similar to a fair few people who didn’t play that many games until the N64 era. I first really knew of Samus in the first Super Smash Bros. I also didn’t realise Samus was a woman until I noticed how she looks when electrocuted in Smash (the original Smash Bros had a unique set of animations where you’d see character’s skeletons briefly when they were electrocuted, except Samus who would be a sort of green figure of how she looks under her power suit.) When it comes to what I thought Metroid was though, it’s somewhat embarrassing really. Back around the time, Nintendo Magazines were my main source of information about games. I tended to read about a lot of games I had never played and didn’t really intend to, however with so many games that I’d only seen still images on a page of, I would very often fill in the blanks with my imagination. Samus has a striking costume with the orange and red colour scheme, and a game I saw advertised a lot at the time had a character with an orange costume, along with a visor and was from a sci-fi setting. This was actually a fairly obscure N64 game called Body Harvest, interestingly I’ve found out developed by the predecessor to Rockstar Games (the creators of GTA3 which some say this game was like a sci-fi based prototype of.) Coincidentally, I also for a while thought Body Harvest and Harvest Moon of all things were the same game, so in summary I think it’s obvious how unaware of games besides the ones I’d played I was back then.

Anyway, gradually over the years I’d hear more of Metroid and find out more about it, through magazines going over the series history when the Prime games were coming out, to later Smash Bros showing off more of the series such as Ridley appearing in the intro for Melee. Also before Brawl came out, I remember a youtube channel and one which has always been an inspiration to me, called CrappyCaptureDevice, which sadly has been inactive since Brawl came out did a lot of videos going into the history of the characters, stages and various other things in Smash, and I learnt a lot through these so I definitely wanted to credit them at least once. It was around the time of Brawl I believe when I first actually got a Metroid game, Metroid Zero Mission on GBA. I’d read about it and how it was a remake of the original so I felt it was the perfect place to start, even if I’d heard a lot about Super Metroid by this point. Metroid Zero Mission being my first Metroid and the first I ever completed has given it a lot of nostalgia for me, which is funny as it was a remake of an NES game for GBA. Having played Zero Mission and attempted the original NES game (which I was awful at) I of course had to check out Super Metroid. The thing was, at the time I couldn’t appreciate it. I immediately wanted it to play like the GBA game did, and had trouble getting used to the ‘changes’ in the controls etc. Also, as Zero Mission drew inspiration from Super Metroid when remaking the original game, I admittedly felt like I’d already seen most of what would be in the game, a ridiculous idea I realise now but back then I didn’t play it for long before another newer game I’d been looking forward to came out, as often tended to happen when I actually got old games I’d been meaning to play on Virtual Console etc.

Sometime later, I decided it was time to properly play the game. I’d seen a couple of Lets Plays on youtube of the game by this point, and I knew all the plot points that took place etc so I just wanted to play the game for myself now. I started to appreciate the game more, from it’s exciting opening, to the first area of the game which does something I love games doing, to Brinstar’s more flowery areas with the more subdued but really nice music. I was really enjoying the game… then I reached it, ‘Noob Bridge’. I had one of my ‘Zelda Pitfall’ moments, figured I’d take a break and come back to it later… and didn’t come back to it for another few years.

My Smash Playthrough.

So, in the meantime, before I got around to playing Super Metroid again, I’d read about ‘Noob Bridge’, and realised just how ridiculous I’d been to quit. It didn’t help in this respect that the other Metroid games I’d played didn’t have a run button, even the later ones like Fusion and Zero Mission didn’t. Super Metroid was one of many games that inspired me to take on this challenge, more so than others because it was a game from a series that had been in Smash for a long time, and which I’d only ever beaten one game of at this point, being Zero Mission. (Actually, there was Other M too but I barely remember that one beyond one or two moments.) So I played through the opening sequence on the space station, which I’d done a few times before so there wasn’t much stood out about it this time, then reached Zebes. One of my favourite types of ‘fanservice’ in games is getting to revisit old locations, especially when those locations are shown to be part of a larger world, it really helps making a sequel feel like it’s an expansion of the original. Super Metroid does this in a really cool way by having you return to the original area Brinstar on planet Zebes, which has been left to ruin along with going to Mother Brain’s base of operations in the original game, which is all still ruined following the events of the first Metroid. As you go through however, you’re being watched by what seem to be some sort of security systems, which makes it clear the place isn’t as dead as it looks.

Following this you travel to the rest of Zebes, expanding beyond the original game’s area into the Space Pirates true base. You travel to areas from the original game, but a lot of them are vastly different to the original versions, showing you that even if you’ve been to an area before such as Brinstar, it won’t necessarily be the same as it was last time. The original Brinstar, in Zero Mission was rocky with the occasional acid lakes. The Brinstar you visit in Super Metroid is an area overgrown with vegetation, with all sorts of flora and fauna growing there. It is also here in Brinstar where I returned at last to ‘Noob Bridge’. This time, I was ready, and ran across the crumbling bridge, making it further than I ever had before. Following this, I travelled through the many areas of the game, some familiar like Brinstar and Norfair. Some new to me such as the Wrecked Ship and Maridia. I got through a fair bit of the game without too much trouble, although there’d be times I’d end up in another ‘Zelda Pitfall’ looking all around the different areas to try and work out where I hadn’t been, only to work out it was something obvious I’d missed. I believe the area I had the most trouble with was Maridia, although I don’t have any issues I can remember specifically, it was more I’d find it a tough area to navigate and spent a good hour aimlessly wandering around till I figured out where to go.

One big aspect of the game which sets it apart from the rest of the Metroid series is the atmosphere. Of course, this isn’t to say the other games in the series don’t do atmosphere well, far from it, just I’d say this is the game that does it the best out of all of them. I personally really like the lively music tracks from some of the series, with Zero Mission having some great songs that were remakes of the music from the NES game, and made up a lot of the music Metroid had in the Smash Bros series. Super Metroid’s music tends to be a lot more muted, but it really works well building the atmosphere. The subdued themes tend to emphasise the desolate feeling in some areas, which is helped by the graphical look of the game. One of the key aspects to Super Metroid is how the story is more experienced than told to you. One of the biggest examples of this is the few friendly creatures you’ll meet on Zebes. They will show you how to do the wall jump and shine spark by doing it alongside you, teaching you how without dialogue or actually telling you the buttons. This culminates at the end of the game where you can find them trapped and choose to help them escape, which doesn’t change the ending majorly but is a small touch to the game which just feels nice in my opinion. It’s not a very complicated story but it’s still done well and engaging I found. Another aspect I really like about the game is how colourful it can be. Whilst there are a lot of desolate areas, there are also areas such as in the overgrown parts of Brinstar that have bright pink colours everywhere, and the enemies are varied with various colourations rather than just being generic grey bugs as some other sci-fi games where you fight aliens tend to go for.

The bosses were all fun to fight as well as challenging. Kraid was cool to see, especially as the version in Zero Mission was based on this version, so I’d been looking forward to playing the ‘original’ fight for myself. Phantoon was another fight I found cool, it took me a couple of tries but I beat it eventually. Draygon I think was probably the boss I had the most trouble with having to probably rematch it the most. Ridley was a fun fight and I don’t remember him being particularly difficult. His style of fighting in this game still makes it funny to me he would become a fighter in Smash down the line, but I’ll go more into that in another post. Finally, we come to the final boss Mother Brain. The fight with Mother Brain I found easier than the fight with her in Zero Mission, although there’s a reason for that as this version of Mother Brain starts off fighting you the same way as she did in the original game, but then has a second form after you defeat her. The second form I didn’t have any trouble with either from what I remember, and this leads to the most famous sequence from the game, where Samus is helped just when it looks like she’s about to be defeated and gets the final powerup of the game. This is what I like to think of in games as the ‘Reward Final Boss’ where you’re very unlikely to lose to them and it’s more a reward for reaching the end of the game that you’re able to thrash the final boss spectacularly, especially if it follows on from a Final Boss who was particularly difficult and you get to pay them back for all the time you’ve spent fighting them. I’ve seen these sort of final bosses criticised for being too easy but personally I think it’s a good way to do it, especially if it’s a reward for defeating their earlier more difficult form.

Following this comes the ending sequence, however before I go onto that, I think it’s best I go over the Baby Metroid. It’s the main driving force for the game, being the creature the Space Pirates have captured in the hopes to create more Metroids using it, and it’s a key part of the Metroid franchise at this point due to being so iconic. Sometimes it’s not been done well, but I feel that shouldn’t be allowed to tarnish how important and well the Baby works in this game. I don’t want to spoil anymore about it, granted when I played the game I already knew all about what happens etc, but it’s still a key aspect to the game I don’t see much point in me fully explaining here. One thing I will say though is that even though it’s a plot point brought directly over from Metroid 2, the Game Boy game which until it got a really amazing remake recently on 3DS tended to be forgotten, it’s perfectly easy to understand and follow the plot involving it when playing just this game alone. So, following Mother Brain’s defeat, as is a tradition at this point in the series, there’s an escape sequence. Unlike the first game where it was just the Space Pirate’s Base that was destroyed, this time the whole planet blows up, and Samus has to escape before the timer reaches zero. Being the planet she was raised on of course this is a big part of Samus’s overall life, so seeing the world blow up, even if there’s no dialogue regarding it is still a big moment for her in the series, with her ship narrowly escaping the explosion, and depending on whether you saved the creatures, you’ll see them also escape if you look carefully. You get a different ending image depending on how long you took to beat the game, with Samus either in her power suit, in her power suit without her helmet or in her casual outfit. Naturally this being my first time beating the game, I got the full power suit ending for taking over 10 hours. Still, regardless of that, beating this game was a big deal to me. Super Mario 64 was a game I’d played through many times, as was Donkey Kong Country. Ocarina of Time I’d beaten the remake of on the 3DS already before I beat the N64 version, but this for the first time in my Smash Bros Playthroughs was a game I’d always meant to beat but never had, until now, the first of many to come and I loved it.

Specific aspects about the game relating to Samus in Smash.

So, for my Smash Bros playthrough, Super Metroid does something that made it so much easier for me, and which is something I don’t believe any other Metroid game sadly gives you the option for, which is you can choose what equipment upgrades you’re actually using. What’s even cooler with this is it means you can mix different types of upgrades to be unique setups, such as if you don’t want to be able to use the charge beam, but want to use the wave and ice beams, you can select that and instead of charging the shot when you hold the button down you’ll rapid fire a beam that can go through walls and freeze enemies. Due to this feature, I was able to make Samus as accurate as possible to her Smash Bros appearance. In this case, I chose to have her equipped with the Varia Suit, Charge Beam, Morph Ball, Bomb, Screw Attack, Hi-Jump Boots and Space Jump (due to her double jump in Smash Bros). She also has her regular and Super Missiles equipped as well as the Grapple Beam. This is I believe the closest to Samus having all of her abilities from the Super Smash Bros series as you can get probably in the whole Metroid series, as you don’t tend to be able to get every upgrade with the Varia Suit before it gets upgraded in other games and you can’t switch back by that point. Samus’s entrance animation in Smash is taken from the save points throughout the series and seen in this game. When you continue on a save file the game will have Samus start off in the last save point you saved at, and similarly to Smash Bros she will appear facing the screen stood inside the save point before you make her walk out. Finally, Samus’s gunship in Smash Bros is based on the one she uses in this game, with it sometimes changing slightly based on other portrayals such as in Metroid Prime 2 and Other M, however it is still the same gunship in these cases and she does not use any of the other models of gunships she has owned throughout the series in Smash. 

Credits.

For information on this game including dates of releases I must give credit to Wikitroid.

The screenshots in this post are taken by me using Miiverse before it shut down.

[vaguely-concerned]

I’m back! Temeraire Let’s Read:Tongues of Serpents

- Tharkay literally shows up at the beginning of the second sentence; STRONG start, I highly approve, great improvement on every level

fsdafhsadkjlfh cooly tossing tables and throwing people’s drinks in their faces in the bar brawl fkjsdhfksdalfhasdj this ain’t his first rodeo huh

- these dumbasses having to clean up from the bar brawl before going home so their dragons don’t go out there and demand to have a word with the dudes who bullied their lil boys... oh my  g o d 

- “it was true, if one wished to be very particular about such things, that laurence was a convicted felon”  t e m e r a i r e... ~*technicality schmechnicality*~ it was barely treason at all really  

also temeraire being in super protective mother hen/older brother mode over the eggs is perfect  

- Jane Rolands bluff, jovial letter writing is Everything

- “Have Temeraire throw him overboard,” Tharkay had suggested laconically, when Laurence had escaped to his quarters for a little relief and some piquet . . . “He can fish him out again later,” he added, as an afterthought.

A VISIONARY. An unmitigated joy. “Have Temeraire throw him overboard”. He says what we’re all thinking. 

- AAAAAAAAH MUTUAL FIRST NAME BASIS!!!! THIS IS NOT A DRILL WTF HAVE THEY BEEN DOING ON THIS TRIP TELL ME IN DETAIL WHEN THE SWITCH HAPPENED PLEASE (also I really like that the first instance we see is “But Tenzing, I cannot trust myself” b/c that was literally the whole point of that scene in VoE. laurence... yes you can. tfw your crush is the goodiest of twoshoes and can barely move for it and doesn’t even knoooow)

- y’know if Laurence could get over this thought that asking a direct question to a friend is just ~*intolerably rude*~ he could get so much shit done 

(I guess tharkay, clearly a follower of the rosa diaz school of ‘no one is ever going to know shit about me’, is like fuck yeah I’ve struck gold with this one)

- “So spake the pot” oh I do love Actually Pretty Chill Dad William Laurence finally letting the snark out more frequently, it suits him very much (I guess his main claims to fame in a lot of circles is a) treason and b) spoiling his dragon rotten)

- rankin’s name is mentioned and everyone’s like HIIISSSSSSSS and RIGHTLY SO FUCK THAT GUY JUSTICE FOR LEVITAS

- temeraire is talking to the egg about consent and saying he’ll make sure it won’t have to do anything it doesn’t want to fjklsadhfkaslhfsd my heart

- lol lol lol weeeell in hindsight who could’ve guessed captain and second in command of the dragon pirates would have a materialistic superficial kid huh

- . . . Granby said, with a look half affection and half exasperation oh granby baby still carrying that torch huh

- lol lol lol just the implication of sara maden and laurence silently tops up his drink and he’s like ‘cheers’ and they’re both quiet for a moment flskdfs 

if you think about it that must’ve been such a wild day in his life tho -- like first  Laurence furiously fires him for being gone at a crucial moment and then immediately unfires him when it turns out he’s been chasing a lead and being the only goddamn person really working on solving all their problems (as is his wont), then he finds out his ex is getting married and steadfastly pretends it doesn’t even bother him, lol what are feelings I heard only losers have them (extremely relatable -- I guess he must have known it was in the cards though, because he specifically tells Laurence at the beginning he didn’t intend to go back to Istanbul, so it’s been over for a while?) then they go on a life and death chase through the sewers, and THEN, before he knows it, after half a book of being kind of a mistrustful dick to him, Laurence does a 180° and is there offering eternal friendship with big soulful eyes after seeing him get upset one time and y’know I guess I see why that got to him lol 

- aw man I know it’s never going to happen but I am getting sort of wistful and teary-eyed over this pirate (cough cough I mean legally sanctioned privateer of course) AU that’s going entirely to waste

here are some tags I left on this superb piece of fanart: #I just got to the part where tharkay makes the suggestion and like... I know it's not happening #but what a shimmering tender mother of pearl dream to carry in one's heart lol #just a lil pirate family out there wrecking shit #temeraire would get wind of what the east india company actually does and they'd inevitably turn against them and fuck 'em up... *sigh* #fix it fic: the boys kiss and the east india company is stopped from committing further atrocities! all is well

so that’s basically my position on that

- “I’m sure there’s nothing too dangerous out there, in the fucking untamed Australian wilderness,” Temeraire said, tempting fate to a frankly anxiety-inducing extent 

- hell yeah demane is the only one with presence of mind to actually find some food; you go buddy <3

- my boy tharkay slinking off in the middle of the night without telling anyone and solving everyone’s problems... *dabs at eyes* just like old times

- oh wow rankin really is just a piece of shit in every way huh

- fhasdklhfsadfsad temeraire being like ‘I know tharkay is a strong independent human who is perfectly capable of making his own decisions and don’t need no dragon... but also he’s clearly one of my humans tho why is he riding on another dragon :(’ THE CUTEST SHIT

- temeraire silently dissing his dad over refusing to believe in ghosts ~*except*~ for the holy spirit adslfhaskjdlhfs

- demane taking in the strange little hatchling... im crey... he truly hits me straight in the heart every time

also laurence steadfastly Doing The Right Thing and following his convictions is so deeply healing after all that bullshit he went through in the last book... makes me feel all safe and calm inside haha

- actually when you think about it it’s so fucked up that they apparently just straight up murder dragons with birth defects in england as a matter of course b/c like. dragons come out of the egg fully sentient and capable of understanding what’s being said around them. kulingile literally understood every word they were saying as they discussed whether or not they should be KILLING HIM.  j e s u s  thank god for demane and laurence’s stubborn insistence on being good

- temeraire going straight from mother hen to extremely impatient and jealous older brother the moment an egg hatches never gets old. all these dumb little babies just complaining and stealing his crew ugh (HOW FUCKING CUTE is him deciding kulingile could be a scholar or something tho #dragon rights)

- “I wish,” Temeraire said to Laurence, “I do wish that other dragons were not always thinking me peculiar . . . it makes one doubtful.” BABY BOY NOOOO he’s just so sweet and he’s so secretly scared that laurence might resent him a little after the whole treason business and OW right in the parental heart that fucks me up

- Temeraire’s indignant “Oh!”s always soothe my soul it’s so adorable

- little emily roland yelling “damn you all for cowards!” after a bunch of grown men fleeing while she reloads her gun and takes aim again is incredible poetic cinema (and also demane joining her... I love the bond they’ve got going on in the background here)

- aw poor sipho :( at least he still has temeraire to nerd out with and stuff but that’s some difficult shit to process for a kid

kulingile bobbing around tethered to temeraire like a small balloon at a fair is such an image, what a blessing, temeraire’s exasperated brand of babysitting is so funny

- laurence being a Dad to the kids in his crew... mana from heaven

- YESSS they crossed the endless miles of DEADLY AUSTRALIAN WILDERNESS so laurence could be MORTIFIED as the emperor’s adopted son at a party this is the content I am here for

- hell yeah let’s play a round of pimp my captain!!!!!!!!!!

“And,” Laurence said. “And you are certain that this should be appropriate for the occasion; not, perhaps, excessive?” I can’t  b r e a t h e  he can’t even say shit because his dragon boi is so happy fsaldfjsldhfasjlh and then granby making fond fun of him what a beautiful cherry on top of this sweet sweet laurence being embarrassed sundae 

- william ‘I’m here to kick ass and describe menswear in fastidious detail and I’ve already kicked my own ass twice today’ laurence strikes again

- this description of the dragons sitting around squabbling as they watch shiny sparkly things is the most endearing few pages in modern literature do not @ me

- it’s kind of fucked up that the emperor of china is giving laurence more of the sort of warmth and validation a father should than his actual dad ever did lol. u did good curing the dragon plague, weird european adopted son I am proud of you

- every time temeraire is really upset about something my soul suffers a small wound

thank god he doesn’t actually know what opium is really used for most of the time yet (also I am obligated to divulge that I am entirely charmed by tharkay’s sardonic yet clear eyed cynicism on the issue, I cannot be anything but what I am and he hasn’t had enough proper page time in this half of the book so I will take what I can get)  

- ...I kind of just realized that I imagine the sea serpents basically as long-ass gyaradoses... OH NO

I will say I respect the ‘give no fucks’ vibe they give off -- it’s a real ‘we’re here to eat fish & party and if you try to get in our way we’re gonna have you as a snack’ mood and I cannot fault them for it

- iskierka is such a fuckboi it’s glorious 

- nOOOOOO tharkay is leaving again fuck ;_______; is his life just an endless procession of semi-unwillingly having to go back to istanbul again these days 

Temeraire did not see why Tharkay should have to go so far, only to deliver news; and particularly when he did not seem as though he wished to go, very much. DDDDDDDD: THIS SUCKS you know that when a) he’s letting it show and b) temeraire notices it that he is dragging his heels big time over this lol

‘there can be very little to call you back to this part of the world any time soon’ LAURENCE YOU 24 KARAT IDIOT YOU ARE HERE HE CAME TO AUSTRALIA FOR YOU ALREADY WHY ARE YOU LIKE THIS

all that said whenever I see a ‘Tenzing’ on the page my heart does a happy little dance. ah well now let’s settle in and wait for what horrible catastrophe will happen now that tharkay is gone... come back soon buddy

- ooooooooooooh that is so good, using the last chapter + epilogue to show how the... idk moral wound I guess laurence received victory of eagles has finally healed, that’s so reassuring. he just wants to do good things for good causes and can’t be badgered, cajoled, threatened or convinced to do anything less anymore and it’s all so sweet and well earned. that’s some good development through this book too, from ‘tenzing I cannot trust myself’ to this. excellent stuff

- while I did quite enjoy this book for the character moments it is incredibly weirdly structured? like the beginning drags a bit with the quite uninteresting colony politics and stuff but then they’re finally travelling and then... nothing really happens plot wise before the sea serpents freak the fuck out at the end there lol. I’m mostly a character-oriented reader tho so I’m pretty fine with it.

ETA: actually now that I think about it I’d say that my biggest gripe with this book is that it doesn’t engage at all with the perspective of the native australian people? even though one of the dragons settles down with one group? god knows it’s not like there was no time to dive into it, considering all that time spent in the fucking wilderness lol

we’re going to the inca empire next tho apparently fuck YEAH!!! that’s such an underexplored and extremely interesting part of history, my body is Ready

[oddsandendsandthings]

Did somebody say Pokémon AU??

I honestly have no clue if this has been done or not. But here' what I'd think a Pokémon AU would look like complete with Pokémon teams.

So for the most part everything follows the show with the added bonus of Pokémon being a thing. The Magnus Institute exists to investigate and catalogue paranormal and supernatural experiences that fall outside the range of regular Pokémon shenanigans. So in the beginning, Jon is an even more cynical ass that chalks everything up to being just typical ghost Pokémon messing with people. But there are greater forces at work that fall outside of even Arceus's range of understanding. And there is more to fear than just Pokémon lurking in the shadows.

Jon: He wasn't like most kids with grand dreams of being a Pokémon master. He was and still is much more content reading a book than training Pokémon. All the ones in his team caught him more than the other way around which is really just par for the course for Jon really. He also can’t be bothered to name any of them.

Absol: It just started following him after the brush with the Leitner and just refused to leave. It tries to warn Jon about bad situations but the man has zero self-preservation instincts. Essentially acts like a beleaguered mom looking after her self destructive toddler.

Rotom: It really just kinda came with the tape recorder.

Unknown: Jon didn't intentionally catch it. The unknown just live in the Archives and made themselves at home in his office until one finally just tapped into a pokeball conveniently left on his desk. It likes helping him find real statements in the Archives and tries to work with its brethren and Absol to warn Jon about incoming dangers. He’s just too buried in statements to see ominous warnings literally floating above his head.

Buneary: It was the first and only Pokemon he ever purposefully caught. It hated him when he caught it and it still hates his guts now but they both refuse to let the other go out of spite. Tim gets a kick about teasing him about it.

Purugly: His first pokemon given to him when his grandma's purugly had kittens. It spends all its time skulking around the archives just doing cat things.

Chandelure: He caught it in the woods as a litwik as a kid and used it as a reading light. He doesn't believe in the stories surrounding them stealing your life force but it definitely does and he’s just too hyped on caffeine to notice.

Martin: I imagine Martin as the breeder type who loves to nurture Pokémon from eggs and just overly spoil his entire team. He of course names all his pokemon after Romantic poets.

Joltik:  Used to belong to Jon before he gave it away after the Leitner incident. He really just kinda threw the ball as far as he could and it hit Martin upside the head. Jon doesn't realize that Martin was that kid or that that Joltik was his and it makes both of them very sad. The only pokemon he hasn’t named since he doesn’t know what Jon named it and it didn’t feel right to change it.

Araquanid: He named it Byron after Lord Byron. Pokémon who, depending on who you ask, either drowns unsuspecting Pokémon or cares for them. Fits Martin to a T if you ask me and he would take pity on a poor, misunderstood spider.

Sylveon: He named it Felicia after Felicia Hemans. He raised it from an egg he found in the backyard. It was also his first Pokemon period that he hid in his room because his mom didn't want any Pokémon in the house. When she did find it she begrudgingly allowed it. She always seemed to dote on it more than she ever did Martin himself...

Klefki: Named it Will after William Wordsworth. This little guy is half the reason Martin is able to get into half the places he does.

Chansey: Named Keats. Another Pokemon raised from an egg, it is just as doting as Martin is to the others in the archives. It is also consequently the most powerful member on his team.

Zorua: Named Percy after Percy Shelley. He initially thought he was catching a volpix when he caught it. He bonded with it over having to hide who he truly is too. It is the overprotective guard dog he deserves that no one realizes how dangerous it truly is.

Tim: his team is comprised of beautiful Pokémon that can absolutely kick anyone's ass at a moments notice. They are all as salty as they are beautiful. He names his pokemon after famous actors and actresses.

Roserade: Named Angelina after Angelina Jolie, it was the first Pokemon he ever caught, the two are a dazzling duo charming anyone that crosses their path.

Yamask: It showed up and started hanging around him after his brother was taken by the Stranger. After that, he knew without a shadow of a doubt his brother was dead. He dotes on it constantly because of it despite how much it creeps others out. He, of course, named it Danny.

Milotic: Named Kiera after Kiera Knightly, he evolved it from a feebas he hatched from an egg. He still treats it like his baby.

Lopunny: It was his first Pokémon. His brother gave it to him as a gift and he took it as a challenge to get it to like him enough to evolve. He named it Audrey after Audrey Hepburn.

Liepard: Its stealthy nature is extremely helpful when scouting locations and doing research for the institute. It also hates Jon as much as Tim does. He named it Jackman after Hugh Jackman.

Diancie: He inherited it from his bro after his passing. Danny found it while exploring an old cave and used to travel everywhere with him. It and Danny are still inseparable. Its name is Mila after Mila Kunis.

Basira: Her team is as practical as she is. They are all extremely powerful and could easily take down the entire league if she wanted to. She just doesn’t want to. Her no-nonsense attitude means she just doesn’t see the point in naming any of her pokemon.

Arcanine: What's a cop without their traditional canine companion? Her arcanine fell in love with Daisy's before they even had a clue they were made for each other and set them up in a very 101 Dalmatian style.

Serperior: Her first pokemon given to her from the local pokemon professor. They share the same unimpressed icy stare.

Mightyena: They are truly cut from the same cloth and is honestly more of her partner than her official partner.

Alolan Ninetails: Her strongest Pokémon and her fiercest protector. It loves playing mind games with people.

Umbreon (evolved during the Raynor incident. It seems especially keen on picking up on paranormal activities making it very useful to have on hand)

Mewtwo (cause if anyone has a legendary Pokémon, it's Basira. She caught it during one of the section cases she took and just didn't tell anyone)

Daisy: She is the “gotta collect them all” type of pokemon hunter. She catches any new pokemon she comes across and sends them to the local professor cause she has to fill that pokedex.

Arcanine: Second verse same as the first with this one of being a staple of being a police officer. It will look for any excuse to burn someone. The only person it likes besides Daisy is Basira and her Arcanine.

Houndoom: Her first pokemon she got as a houndour. She terrorized the neighborhood kids with it and is essential for her hunting down both new pokemon and perps. 

Treevant: She caught it as a phantump after it showed up as she was looking into a cold case. At least if she never was able to file an official report, she at least knew how the case ended.

Sawsbuck: She caught it as a deerling and was the first pokemon she ever caught. What kinda hunter hasn’t caught a deer right?

Espurr: She got it after the whole coffin incident. She just kinda cam across it by chance and felt a kinship with it about having to restrain a flood of overwhelming power it holds.

Lyanroc Midnight form: It is as vicious as she is when in full Hunt mode. 

Melanie: She is the one type kinda trainer and it’s, of course, ghost types. She is determined to prove the paranormal exists outside of ghost type pokemon.

Gengar: It was the Pokémon that started her fascination with ghosts and the first Pokémon she ever had.

Honedge: She found it when looking into that ghost train and couldn’t not catch it. When she’s threatening to stab someone, she uses honedge to do so.

Sableye: Found in an abandoned, haunted mine shaft.

Banette: Cause what kinda ghost hunter doesn’t have a haunted doll?

Gourgeist: She caught it as a pumpkaboo on her very first ghost hunting trip.

Spiritomb: Caught it poking around the wrong place at the wrong time she came across it and had to catch it cause if anyone would have a spiritomb, it would be her. It’s just as bloodthirsty as she is.

Sasha: Do I mean this team was made by Sasha or Not-Sasha? The answer is yes.

Mimikyu: The first pokemon she ever caught. Wait... wasn’t it supposed to be a pikachu?

Ditto: This one just speaks for itself.

Baynette: After she caught it she started reading up on the stories and pores surrounding certain Pokémon that put her on the path of working at the institute.

Gothitelle: It started crying nearly immediately after Sasha started working for the Institute but didn't buy into the wives tale about them predicting their trainer's deaths. It mysteriously disappeared after the Prentis incident.

Claydol: She found it wandering around artifact storage and felt bad for it.

Parasect: Her first pokemon. She really just found it as a paras in her parents' backyard as a kid and begged them to let her keep it. It evolved during the Prentis incident while trying to help her fend off the worms.

[nukagalreacts]

For the anonymous who requested Fallout 4 companions, faction Leader and other DLC characters reacting to Sole having and being followed around by 10 baby fire breathing dragons! Part-one

(Here’s the first part to the request, second part will hopefully get out tomorrow where I shall included more characters! for now enjoy this piece and thanks again for the request!) Hancock: The mayor fell in love with the baby dragons at first sight because he thought they were all so adorable in a vicious, scaly sort of way. He also liked the fact that they automatically acted like guard dogs and didn’t hesitate to shred apart anyone who bothered him or Sole. His favorite thing to do was to bring all of them down to the third rail with him and Sole and let them all sit up on the couch and lounge in his lap while he got high or drank. Him and Sole even let the little guys curl up with them in bed which was always so cute and they acted like little furnaces to keep Sole warm. The only thing Hancock didn’t enjoy though is that while the dragons teethed they chewed everything from the furniture, to his favorite hat which made Sole laugh but caused the dragons to get a good scolding from Hancock.       

Preston: He honestly didn’t know what to make of the strange baby creatures following Sole around, he has seen a lot of strange creatures in his wanderings across the wasteland and Commonwealth, but this took the icing on the cake. When he asked Sole about what they where and why they followed her so obediently, they admitted that it had been by accident when they were down in the vault looking around for supplies when they come across a strange room and found the eggs in a weird cryo like incubator. Sole had pressed a button out of curiosity and the eggs become unfrozen and started to hatch and to their surprise 10 small reddish baby dragons popped out. Since Sole was the first thing they saw they immediately saw them as their mother. Preston was amazed he had never heard of dragons before, but he kept his distance from the little fire breathing critters least they see him as their next dinner.

Codsworth: Didn’t really like the little rascals at first, because they were all so messy and constantly knocked things over from climbing everywhere and attempting to fly. And let’s not forget just how messy of an eater dragons can be, they always left pieces of meat and blood stains that where all but impossible for the Mr.Handy to scrub out of the furniture, floors, and walls. In his own way though he found it oddly cute and endearing that they followed Sole around like how ducklings would follow their own Mothers around, and he appreciated the fact that they where very protective of his master, just as much as he was. He did wish the little tykes would tone down practicing their fire breathing though, he was quite tired of singed furniture!

Cait: Really wanted Sole to get rid of the horrible little creatures at first, she absolutely hated them and thought they were just slowing her and Sole down when traveling. Cait would always just cross her arms and give them a death stare at they marched behind Sole or when they would all gather around Sole at night and snuggle up to them while sleeping or when Sole would give them little treats whenever they got the dragons to do little tricks for them. After Awhile though Cait started to grow rather found of the little devil’s and liked watching them roast people with their fire breathing or ripping people up with their extra sharp claws and teeth.

Strong: Loved the baby dragons and rather enjoyed looking after them and making sure they got fed, he always shared any meat from a fresh kill he made with them. They actually started to like Strong more than they loved Sole, and would always ride around on Strong’s back and shoulders. He also liked the fact that they where starting to learn how to breathe fire and found it hilarious when they started to constantly catch things on fire including enemies him and Sole would come across. Strong couldn’t wait till they got bigger and could teach them to smash things like he did and also teach them about the milk of human kindness.

Curie(Synth): Adores the baby dragons and is fascinated by them, she never knew dragons could be a real thing from what she had come to understand from reading materials is that dragons where just a myth and something found in children's story books. With Sole’s permission she began to study the dragons and getting samples to test in her lab, everything about them she found as highly valuable material that must be recorded for others to study and know about. The dragons become fond of Curie as well because she is always so sweet to them and spoils them with lots of treats and cooing and baby talk.

Valentine: Mistook the baby dragons for baby deathclaws at first and was concerned that Sole had stolen a bunch of them and probably had a pissed off deathclaw momma who would soon be on the hunt for them, but Sole told him they were actually dragons. Nick just stared at them for a minute thinking Sole was pulling his leg, but they quickly showed how the babies all had the features of an actual dragon, and he just couldn’t believe that they existed. He got rather annoyed with them though because they would make a mess in his office as they sniffed around and flapped their little wings sending papers everywhere, they would sometimes even try to chew on nick because his metal parts felt good on their teeth, so Sole did their best to never bring them over to his place.

Piper:Was weary of the little guys at first but couldn’t keep her curiosity at bay and had Sole sneak them into Diamond city into her office, which was easier said than done, but Sole managed. Piper really wanted to type up an article about the dragons, but Sole didn't think that was such a good idea because as far as they knew these were the only dragons in the world right now and they didn’t want anyone to try and come after them and kill them or steal them. Piper was disappointed but she understood and promised to keep it to herself. She did love seeing the dragons though and was always sure to give them belly rubs and head scratches, but was sure to keep them away from her work area because last time one of them accidentally started a small fire.     

Deacon: The man loves weird and unusual things so he took to the baby dragons right away and always made jokes about how Sole was the Mother of all dragons now, and that she could take over the Commonwealth once they were bigger and she trained them. He even started to give all of them names which all sounded ridiculous but hey what did anyone really expect from him. Deacon also started to dress them up or making clothes small enough for the little guys to fit in like hats, or shirts and Sole had to admit dragons look ridiculously cute when dressed up. The thing Sole found the funniest though is when Deacon would lay down and let the dragons walk all over him and lick his face or try and eat his sunglasses.

Desdemona: She actually didn’t mind them at all, being exposed to so many different people, creatures, and things throughout her life and being in charge of the Railroad made her not even blink at the sight of these sharp tooth, winged creatures. She told Sole they could stay at the agency long as she trained them and they didn't destroy or eat anything important, which took Sole awhile to accomplish because hey it’s hard to train 10 rowdy fire breathing dragons. Desdemona liked the fact though that having them all around was way better than any guard dogs they could have used, and she couldn’t help but think of what they could accomplish once they were all bigger.  

Danse: He tolerated them for Sole’s sake because he knew how attached they where to them and how they treated them all like small children, long as Sole kept them away from the Prydwen he was okay. They did get into a lot of arguments though because Sole would bring all 10 of the baby dragons with them on missions which Danse would complain was distracting Sole and slowing them down. Sole refused to leave them behind or alone with anyone because the dragons saw them as their Mother and they didn’t want the dragons to think they had abandoned them. Also Danse would never admit it to Sole’s face but he liked having the dragons around during combat because even though they were small they could definitely deal out some damage to any enemies.

Elder Maxson: Despised the creatures and demanded that Sole kill them immediately or face being banned from the Brotherhood of Steel, which pissed Sole off so they left the Brotherhood behind and made sure the dragons never came in contact with them again. It honestly made Sole sad that people still destroyed anything that scared them or that they couldn’t understand, but they promised to always look out for their dragons until they were old enough to defend themselves without Sole’s help.

MacCready: Felt really nervous whenever Sole brought the dragons around, he didn’t trust any creature with teeth and claws that sharp that looked like it might decided to eat you while you slept. Sole assured him that the dragons were obedient to them and well trained to follow all of their commands, which really didn’t make Mac feel any better because he thought about what would happen once the dragons become adults which was a terrifying thought. He had to admit though it was helpful for him and Sole to get what they wanted out of people when you had 10 dragons ready to eat said person if they didn’t cooperate, a lot of missions tended to go more smoothly now, which he appreciated because it meant less work on his end.

Dogmeat: Greatly confused by the dragons at first even after he sniffed them and watched them from a safe distance, he just couldn’t figure out what they where. His master seemed to really like them though and they were obedient just like he was and seemed to have the same goal as he did, to keep Sole safe and make them happy. So after going on more missions together and lots of playing and snuggling at night they grew to all really love each other, and the dragons even went out of their way to protect Dogmeat in battle.

  X6-88: Can’t believe that Vault-Tec had actually been successful in their experiment of making dragons an actual species, and finds himself rather amazed that Sole just casually leads them around like their pet dogs rather then fire breathing dragons. He convinces Sole to bring them back to the Institute so the scientist can study them and run some test, which Sole only agrees when X6 promises they can be present for all testing and that the dragons will be well cared for. Sole is happy to see that these promises are greatly met, the dragons have lots of room to play and fly around and are fed with excellent meat and other tasty treats. X6 even likes to come down from time to time and watch the dragons fly around with Sole.

Father: Can’t believe his own ear’s when he hears X6 tell him that his Mother has a small herd of baby dragons that she would like to bring to the Institute. At first he laughs because he thinks it’s absurd but when he sees the dragons himself he is with X6 in wanting them to be kept at the Institute for immediate analysis and studying, because this is a creature that shouldn’t even be real let alone exist. He even gives the go ahead for the scientist to replicate the dragons dna and see if they can makes successful clones of them, his mind races as he thinks of the possibilities of what they could do with such dna.

Shaun(Synth): He comes to love all the dragons like a boy would love a pet cat or dog, and he makes it his responsibility to make sure the dragons get daily exercise, and always have access to food and water. Shaun also loves to play with them, and give them lot’s of affection and treats, and in turn the dragons constantly follow Shaun around to and always keep a watchful eye over the boy to make sure no harm befalls him. Sole thinks it’s cute to that at night when they tuck Shaun into bed all the dragons snuggle up around him on his bed and sleep their the whole night.

Gage: Thinks the dragons are badass long as they don’t try to chew on him or anything or catch him on fire, but as soon as Sole came in with those 10 fire breathing creatures he knew he had picked a good overboss and that no one would stand in their way. Sole definitely used the dragons to intimidate the rest of the gang leaders and raiders, because if anyone pissed them or Gage off they became food for the dragons. Gage even became really attached to all of them and would give them plenty of head scratches and plenty of treats for a job well done after a long day.