#the great purge is coming

[trainalt22]

1955-1956

In 1955, the traffic to the NWR showed no signs of stopping. The express went from 6 coaches to 8, and Gordon enjoyed the new challenge. However, with Thomas on his branch line and Edward overseeing the Suddrey branch line, Tidmouth was left without a pilot. This meant that the big engines had to marshal their trains, much to their detriment. In February of 1955, the three big engines went on strike.

The new Fat Controller was furious that he could have gone six months without an incident. He went to Tidmouth to investigate. When he arrived, he was frustrated that his engines would strike over something as petty as this. But he soon reached a compromise with the engines. They would go back to work immediately, and as they did, he would look for a pilot. They reached an understanding and soon left for their trains.

Sir Topham came across an offer for a small saddle tank. From the looks of it, they were a kitbash of some kind from an independent workshop, a rarity in the time of British Rail. The engine, Percy, was cheap, and he needed a quick fix to the issue at Tidmouth. Percy was elated to have been bought. He saw more use in the industrial sector than on a railway. His kit-bashed nature made Topham wary of purchasing him, but after ample testing, Percy was in full mechanical order and ready for work.

Thomas's schedule was shifted so that he could have more time between trains to help Percy learn how to marshal trains. The two got on immediately. Percy found his gruff, sarcastic nature reminiscent of his old manager at the steelworks where he was built. Percy was a quick learner. He had experience shunting, but his size made it far easier for him to slip into tight sidings. He soon zipped around the yard. Of course, Thomas said he could do it better, but he was proud of how far Percy had come in such little time. By April, Thomas's schedule had gone back to normal, and Percy was adapting to his new job running the yard and bringing smaller trains from the yard to the docks.

The Tidmouth Harbour saw an increase in traffic as well, and Percy was soon overwhelmed. So Sir Topham approached the Tidmough Harbor board to buy a new locomotive. The board couldn't find an engine quick enough, and by spring, the port was soon overwhelmed. The Fat Controller, annoyed with the bottleneck of traffic, loaned an engine from British Rail. As Sodor had limited infrastructure for the newer "revolutionary" diesel locomotives, BR begrudgingly sent a steam engine. Montague was his name, but he preferred Duck, a nickname he picked up in his days as the pilot for Paddington Station.

The port was soon sorted, and the Fat Controller saw it fit to take a holiday to East Anglia. While there, he discovered a disused tram line, and against his wife's wishes, went snooping around. He found a small engine shed showing signs of overgrowth. Inside was a slumbering tram engine, a C53 from the looks of it. They were in pristine condition. They soon awoke, startled by the man who they believed to be a vandal. But after introductions were exchanged, the tram engine, or Toby as he liked to be called, was curious about the holidaying railway controller. He listened to his tales of the North Western from when he was a boy. Toby asked the controller rather bluntly if he had room for him as retired life wasn't what it was cracked up to be. The controller promised that if he needed a tram, he would come to Toby post haste. This pleased the tram, and they soon said their farewells.

Meanwhile, back on Sodor, Percy was getting bored of his station pilot duties. And while Duck was a lovely engine, he was trying at times. He would always go on and on about the great Western way, which Percy found to be too strict and disciplined for his industrial laid-back attitude. Thomas, on the other hand, was well-acclimated to his branch line. He would take passengers to Tidmouth and trucks to the harbor. But it was getting a bit much for the tank engine, although Thomas didn't mind the hard work.

It wasn't until the Fat Controller got back from his vacation that Thomas ran into an issue. The old constable that was in charge of Ffarquar retired, and a new, younger officer was hired. The first time he saw Thomas, he flagged him because Thomas didn't have any wheel coverings. It was illegal for him to run on the tracks from the quarry to Ffarquar station as they passed through the town on the roads. As such, Thomas was forbidden from running up to the quarry unless he had proper wheel coverings.

Sir Topham Hatt soon arrived to find Thomas and the officer in a full-fledged argument, shouting back and forth. After he was able to defuse the situation, he was told that if he couldn't find an engine to the requirements, then he was forbidden from going any further up the line than the officer's post. And if any of his engines were caught going through Ffarquar without the proper modifications, then he would be fined. He thought back to Toby and quickly went home to write to his controller.

By 1956 Toby was on Sudrian soil and being repaired to full working order and started to work up in the quarry his schedule was earlier than Thomas's but for good reason, he would take the first shift of workmen up to the quarry and bring the stone back to Farquhar

This soon turned into an issue however Toby had a significantly shorter trip than Thomas so stone trucks were just piling up in Farquhar and Thomas couldn't pull all of them down to the Harbor

With an overflow of trucks at Ffarquhar

It became apparent that another engine was going to be needed on Thomas's branchline however after Toby's purchase the board of directors voted against buying another engine

Thopam soon found a solution and went to Tidmouth Harbor to find Percy

When asked if he would like to work on a branchline instead of being a station pilot Percy immediately agreed luckily the harbor board found an engine to purchase they were a class 08 diesel fresh out of the works they didn't have a name just a number D3102

They arrived in Sodor later that year and soon proved how revolutionary diesels were he could be ready to go at the twist of a key and usually was the first out of the shed shunting the early morning trains like the flying kipper or overnight goods

Duck however was fed up with the new diesel as he was extremely prejudiced against steam engines saying how they all had outlived their usefulness and were heading for the torch

Duck scoffed at this but deep down he was concerned he was only on loan from BR if he went back he could be cut up

This drove Duck to be better than D3102 or diesel as he was the only one of his type on Sodor it made for an easy nickname

Duck strove for greatness he kept up with diesel at every turn sparking a heated rivalry between the two

Duck had managed to convince a line of trucks to hold back if Diesel tried moving them to which they gleefully agreed with the trucks ready duck feigned illness to get Diesel to move them and when he tried they wouldn't move an inch diesels wheels slipped on the wet harbor tracks as he pulled harder and harder until the coupling snapped launching diesel into the buffers at the end of the key

Diesel hung precariously over the edge of the key below him was the sea and a swift demise he screamed for help and Duck rushed to his aid with the two attached ducks gave a swift heave but Diesel was heavier than he expected ducks wheels began to slip and diesel swayed his middle wheel was close to sliding off the pier when a barge slid under him but he didn't have time to question it as the coupling gave and he fell onto the barge slightly damaging his front end

Duck and the barge captain were praised for their quick thinking while Diesel was certain that Duck planned the accident but without proof, he couldn't go to the fat controller

Later that night Henry was set to take a goods train when he arrived in Tidmouth the trucks in the sidings all called him square wheels and a useless engine

Who was undeserving of their rebuild Henry was appalled angrily bumping the trucks when questioned they said Duck told them about his rebuild

Later that week James passed Duck pulling a goods train to Ellsworth and the trucks began saying that James's red paint made him look like rusty scrap iron duck didn't hear so he just smiled at James when he overtook him

Gordon who was napping at Tidmouth station was awoken by some truck singing

"Old number four that gallant galloping sausage always pulls the express what a bore to rush from place to place as that big blue disgrace" they giggled loudly as Gordon stormed off in a huff

The three big engines summoned the fat controller to Tidmouth sheds that night they made their complaints known rather bluntly calling for Duck to be sent away in disgrace sir topham however summoned Duck to Tidmouth so he could defend himself

The big engines welcomed Duck harshly calling him a liar and a manipulator diesel who was in the yard approached the scene cautiously he interjected that he speculated Duck caused his accident because of how quickly Duck came to his aid after saying he was ill

This and the insults that the others had received forced Sir Topham who believed that Duck hadn't spread the rumors to send the poor pannier away for the time being he sent him to work with Edward at Welsworth

[crystallakec]

unfollow me right now because invincible season 2 teaser trailer just dropped and I'm afraid of the person I'm going to be for the. next 3 weeks

[simulation-machine]

Update 8: The Great CC Purge of 2024

Ok, so after a nice break from even looking at my PC, I’ve started making decent headway in my project of deleting all the CC I either never use, or no longer want in my game anymore.

More details under the cut!

I pretty much stopped loading the game altogether and just started to sort and delete things using the Sims 4 Mod Manager (click here to check it out). It’s really streamlined the entire process.

My only complaint is that it’s not useful for CC that doesn’t have thumbnails and it doesn’t detect broken CC at all. But I’ve already gotten rid of 100 GB of CC I knew I didn’t want this way, and I’m maybe 3/4 of the way through my first round.

Eventually I will need to load up the game to do the final round and use the Sims 4 Tray Importer (click here to check it out), and while I’m dreading that part, it’ll take so much less time now thanks to the mod manager.

When my brain’s gotten too fried I’ve been playing some RimWorld. It really scratches the story itch Sims 4 usually does for me, tho it obvs uses lo-fi graphics and has an entirely different vibe. It’s more of a resource managing story generator than a life sim. And it’s hella sci-fi. Not sure if there’s much of a fan base for it on Tumblr, but it’s probably my second favorite game to play after the Sims 4. I’ve put in almost 10k hours since I started playing it Early Access in 2017.

So, yeah! This project has been so much more of an undertaking than I initially thought it would be, and I’m done predicting when it will be done since I’ve had a lot of random obstacles thrown my way throughout this whole ordeal. But I’m starting to see the faintest bit of light at the end of tunnel.

The best part about all of this is that I miss the game so much that it’s probably all I’ll wanna play once this is done. I have a draft detailing the process in the works that will make this a lot less painful for anyone else needing to do this.

Welp, back at it!

[nthflower]

Stay away from her get a job etc. etc.

[antirepurp]

i think im longing for the timeline where pokemon ruby and sapphire were a brand-new start for the pokemon franchise, featuring no kanto or johto pokemon who would not be brought back in any future installments

[fala-alfredo-pasta]

heya! question frm my boyfriend, is he allowed ta cosplay your nakichi design?

oh my god yes yes he most certainly is. I would be honored that someone would willing spend time making a cosplay of that little gremlin holy crap. pls tell your boyfriend that I'm wishing him the best because i didn't even think anyone remembered nakichi lol 💜

[andromedasummer]

yesterday was. a lot

[valoisfulcanellideux]

About the AO3 "No Guest Comments for a while" warning

If you're not following any of AO3's social media accounts you might be in the dark as to what kind of "spam comments" have engendered this banner at the top of the site:

These spam comments have been posted about a great deal on the AO3 subreddit for the past couple of days. Initially they comprised a bunch of guest (logged out users) bot comments that insulted authors by suggesting they were using AI and not writing their own fics. Some examples, from the subreddit:

But it then escalated to outright graphic porn images and gifs being posted in comments, again by logged out 'Guest' accounts. Obviously, I'm not going to give examples of those, but between these two bot infestations, AO3 has clearly decided to act and has temporarily closed the ability to post comments for users who are not logged in with an AO3 account.

Unfortunately, this means that genuine readers who don't have an AO3 account won't be able to leave comments on fics that they enjoy.

If you are a genuine reader who doesn't yet have an AO3 account, I strongly suggest getting yourself on the waiting list for one. More and more AO3 authors are now locking their fics down to registered users only - either due to these bot comments or concerns about AI scraping their work - which means you're probably missing out on a lot of great stuff.

Hopefully guest commenting will be enabled again at some point soon, but I suggest not waiting until then. Get yourself on that list.

Wait times are going to be longer than usual at the moment, due to the current Wattpad purge [info on Fanlore | Wattpad subreddit thread], but if you're in line, then your invite will come through eventually.

Update: There's now a Megathread about this on the AO3 subreddit.

[misscalming]

“Is Tumblr even still a thing”

“Let me tell you a tale”

[mytrainline]

favorite kinds of videos

[teecupangel]

(EDIT: this was meant to be a reply to @acgames' reblog but I screwed up which post to reblog. Sorry TTATT)

About Callum: It’s not really talked about I think since Arno only showed up during Callum’s Bleeding Effect-induced initiation:

Ooooohh, it never occurred to me that Altaïr meant Sef’s family when he said that. My first thought was Darim had a family too and they’re in Alexandria with Sef’s family because he’s taking care of them as well. But yeah, considering Darim also traveled to England and France to warn about the Mongols, it won’t be out of the question if he sired a child he did not know about.

So… I thought of two ideas that could make it work… mayyybbeee…

For both ideas, I agree with you that the father Noa talks about is a ‘stepfather’ who left either because he realized Noa wasn’t his kid or because he’s just an asshole in general.

First Idea (the more convoluted, yeah, probably not gonna happen idea):

Okay, so this one is because Noa has Japanese ancestry and this is something that I thought of because I did write a Ghost of Tsushima x Assassin’s Creed fic a while back. So the Mongolian Empire tried to invade Japan around the time that Darim would be in his 70s. The Mongols and the Brotherhood would have bad blood between them and we can even consider it to be personal between the Khans and the Ibn-La'Ahads considering Darim killed Genghis Khan himself so it won’t be surprising if an Ibn-La'Ahad (maybe Darim and/or one of Sef’s grandchild, perhaps a young man who has something to prove?) were to secretly go to Japan to help stop the invasion (as kind of like “this is the responsibility of my family” kind of deal). From there, either it’s a case of a couple falling in love in a wartorn country or a ‘oh god we might die tomorrow fuck it let’s bang’. Regardless, that would lead to the Ibn-La'Ahad ancestral line becoming part of a family (most probably a future Assassin/shinobi family line) in Japan. From there, it got transferred into Noa’s Korean ancestors during World War II, perhaps by a Japanese Assassin who was helping the Koreans or… the bad kind that I won’t write out loud. (This one would work with either Darim himself or a child/grandchild of Darim or Sef)

Now, the Kenway ancestral line would be a bit tricky, although there is an easy way out but I’ll leave that for last. An idea could be that one of Ratonhnhaké:ton’s descendant went to Korea during the ‘ending parts’ of World War II when Japan surrendered since there is a US Military Government in Korea after Japan’s surrender. Maybe they’re there hunting down Templars, maybe they’re there to survey the country’s current state and perhaps get information of any Assassins or Assassin allies in Korea that may still be alive. Regardless, the same case applies: either love or lust, a child was born from this Assassin and a Korean that either already has Ibn-La'Ahad bloodline (who may have been an Assassin too that assisted the American Assassin) or a civilian who would later marry into the family that has Ibn-La'Ahad bloodline. From there, we would have Noa’s ancestry. (With additional Korean and Japanese dna added in as generations are added)

Sidebar, this line could be hinting that his grandfather was/is an Assassin since it seems grandpa was also a ‘wanderlust’ which could be him traveling to other places for the Brotherhood (or I’m reaching…):

Which brings me to the other, easier but more ‘no, just… no’ idea on how to get Noa his Kenway ancestral line:

He’s not Desmond’s son. He’s Desmond’s half-brother, meaning he’s William Miles’ son. This would be a bit on the ugh side because this meant Bill cheated on his wife and Bill doesn’t really feel like the type to do that. But maybe, with a help of a lot of alcohol and a fraying relationship with his wife on the brink of snapping because of Desmond’s disappearance, he… had a one-night stand with Noa’s mom? Maybe if Noa’s mom is the ‘source’ of the Ibn-La'Ahad bloodline, she looked a bit like Desmond’s mom? Idk. All I know is the easiest way to get the Kenway line to Noa is either Bill or Desmond and Bill has more chances of going to Korea pre-AC1.

Second Idea (the one I’m basing on… well… the percentage thing and… might be evidence that he is Desmond’s son???)

Okay, this is more in line with @artduringclasstime’s reply:

If we decide to keep going with the idea that he could be Desmond's son, we could say that Noa's mother was half Japanese half Korean - as suggested by that wedding photo of his grandfather - who got pregnant by Desmond at... some point... then married quickly upon discovering she was with child, and THAT deadbeat dad ran off on a milk run. Which stretches me to the limits of my suspension of disbelief, but w/e

Okay, so this would take into consideration the percentages of Noa’s ancestral line which read as follow:

Noa’s mom would be half-Japanese, half-Korean because those two compose 50%-sorta of his ancestral line.

This means that the other half, the 50%, is Desmond’s which… would probably work although the percentage of his bloodline seems a bit wonky to me. If we double the amount to approximate Desmond’s DNA, we’d have this:

Syrian 4% = 8%

British 16% = 32%

Italian 10% = 20%

Iroquois 19% = 38%

British and Iroquois take up more than half alone. British, we could understand, Desmond is Maria’s descendant so… ummm… good luck to us trying to make sense of Desmond’s own ancestral percentage??? (I would call bullshit on the percentage though since Edward is Welsh so, if this was truly accurate, it should have Welsh percentage as well)

Okay, I got sidetracked and I’m pretty sure that’s not how DNA works anyway BUT the main point is that the plot twist is that Noa’s Desmond’s son, and his mom married some other dude to ‘hide’ that she got pregnant from a one-night stand when she was in the US for vacation or maybe even a student exchange program.

This is even annoying though because, this means that Noa isn’t a Desmond-copy. He’s an Elijah-copy! And Elijah is so unutilized already that, goddamn, just fucking kidnap Elijah again if you want this kind of setup! Or, you know…

USE DESMOND’S SAMPLE 17 TO PLAY THESE MEMORIES SINCE 1725 MEANS SAMPLE 17 SHOULD HAVE THIS IN ITS GENES TOO.

Noa could have just been freaking Noob 2.0! There’s no need for him to be a descendant of anyone since the Animus can read DNA directly with no need for a descendant match with the user!

(And I’m about to start ranting so I’ll end it here)

Also from @artduringclasstime

Alternatively, I can absolutely believe that that is Ezio in that photo given the scar and the hair, but there is NO WAY IN HELL that that other guy is Altair. Look at him! He's paler than Ezio!!! And WHERE IS HIS HAIR? The 5 O'CLOCK SHADOW?! Compared to Revelations Altair, they barely look alike! So second theory: Noa's a descendant of Ezio and Ratonhnhake:ton, but NOT Altair, and that guy is instead some rando ancestor we don't know yet.

Oh, oh, oh. I have the excuse to upload this cursed image once more.

BEHOLD! Altaïr without his hood down according to an official Assassin’s Creed artbook:

I hate it. I still want to believe that’s not his real hairstyle. Unfortunately, AC Revelations does give… ‘evidence’ that the Levantine Brotherhood liked to keep their hair short:

(It looks like Darim is trying to do bluesteel and I cannot XD)

So yeah… skin tone aside (something that, unfortunately, does happen), that,s probably the artist’s attempt to draw Altaïr with his hood down. The missing scar and five o'clock shadow are either artist error or image quality error.

Thoughts ond the new web comic for ac black flag?

Someone in the Kenway bloodline is a whore and I hope the plot twist is it isn’t Edward but Haytham. XD

Okay, so in all seriousness, Edward Kenway is like the 2nd poster boy of Assassin’s Creed and it shows. Before this webtoon, there was also a manga called Assassin’s Creed Black Flag: Kakusei (usually translated as ‘Awakening’) and it is considered as noncanon (where the descendant is a half-Japanese student that's Edward's descendant from his mother's side) while the webtoon seemed to be considered to be canon.

So for the webtoon, I have dipped my feet in the high seas and all I could find was the Indonesian version for the 1st chapter so I can’t be sure of what’s happening but the main character is a descendant of Edward Kenway and this is set after Black Flag.

Which is a bit weird as the ending of Black Flag made it clear that Edward was returning to England with Jenny but it’s highly possible that Edward is in that time period where he’s looking for Isu related artifacts and temples for the Brotherhood (which included the temple in Alamut).

I always assumed that Edward had that adventure after Haytham was born as noted in AC wiki though but, because this webtoon is supposed to be canon and set after Black Flag, it's highly possible it must have taken the genetic memory of Edward Kenway from the main character and one of the plot points is that Edward would have a love interest in this one and the main character is a descendant of Edward and that love interest.

Because if they were using Desmond Miles' genetic memory, the Edward Kenway portions of the webtoon must happen between late 1722 - early 1725 (at most 8~10 months before December). In other words, before Haytham is conceived.

If they were using the main character's genes though, it's free game 'cause I won't be surprised if Edward cheated on someone like Tessa Kenway. (cheating is bad though so please don't)

Now, one could argue, “maybe they’re using Edward’s remains like what Layla did?” and yes, that’s a possibility. Just because the main character is a descendant does not mean Abstergo is using his actual genetic memory to access Edward’s memories. For all we know, he’s being used to get a high synchronization rating using the DNA from Edward's remains.

So I guess we’ll just have to see where this goes.

But the most important thing:

The fuck is this? Is that supposed to be Altaïr and Ezio???

Are you guys telling us he’s also the descendant of Altaïr and Ezio?! Because I call bullshit on that. This would mean that this dude would have had to have a similar genetic makeup to Desmond unless you’re going to say “oh, the Altaïr genes came from Darim not Sef, don’t worry”. One of the main points in AC is that Desmond is the only known descendant of Auditore AND Ibn-La'Ahad blood (until Elijah). If the main character has the same bloodline as Desmond, then dear god, Minerva’s gonna grab this innocent bystander and drag him to the Grand Temple to be sacrificed instead of Desmond.

Or is this another case of “we thought that Ezio was Altaïr’s descendant, oops!” that I’ve seen in two different official Japanese AC booklet???

Although...

So wild wild theory...

Absolutely not gonna happen...

The age of the main character is a bit of a mystery but if this is set in 2023 and he's around mid teens to at most 19, he could be another one of Desmond's kids. 20 is pushing it and anything beyond that though would be, uuuhhh, possible but you don't wanna think about that.

[gildedmorrow]

Just persist.

that’s all you gotta do. just persist. just keep affirming. just keep spamming your thoughts with your desires. that’s all you have to do love, i promise. you don’t have to feel great, you don’t have to believe it, just pop on a song that you can vibe to and affirm affirm affirm.

if you’ve been affirming but your doubts and old story come back up, that’s your subconscious bringing up your old thinking because your new affirmations are unfamiliar— they’re quite literally coming up to be purged. so all you have to do is persist in the new story, whether you believe in what you’re saying or not.

[that-nerd-who-writes-fanfiction]

I wanna write a really mundane magic reveal.

This has definitely been done before (please send fic recs) but I’m procrastinating and really want to write it.

Literally nothing is happening, Arthur is having a bath, Merlin is tidying up in his chambers one night and everything is basically fine.

Arthur asks Merlin how he manages to always get the bath water perfect and Merlin jokingly says “must be magic” while he’s distracted, Arthur stops and starts thinking about all the fallen tree branches, how his armour is perfect and even if Merlin is late, his food is always hot.

So Arthur realises Merlin is a sorcerer, but not a very good one if all he can do is boring stuff with chores. And if he’s not using magic to defeat all the bandits, it must be because he can’t defeat all the bandits. Not that he’s trying not to die or anything. In fact, the thought of killing Merlin, or of Merlin being punished for his magic, never even crosses his mind.

Arthur shrugs, because Merlin made the joke before, it was just his fault for not noticing it, also his father is still king, so it’s probably for the best that Merlin never said anything, and he tells Merlin to be careful about his magic and to only use it if he’s locked the door.

Merlin’s too shocked by the easy acceptance to panic, so he’s just like: “you’re cool with it?”

And Arthur, oblivious but in love, is just like “well, at least you’re good at something.” Because, sure, Merlin isn’t powerful, but he’s not about to piss off the guy who gives him perfect baths. Then he’s like, “maybe figure out how to lie so my father doesn’t find out about you though. We can figure out the ban once I’m king”

I’m picturing this to be in early/mid season two. Morgana never turns evil, Merlin helps her with her magic because I said so.

So Merlin and Arthur have a while for Arthur getting used to Merlin magically lighting fires, sharpening his sword, adding protection charms to his armour, heating his baths, removing stains from his clothes and even putting them back to being like new if they lost buttons or anything.

Then they go to find the dragonlord, Balinor survives also because I said so.

Merlin tells Arthur Balinor is his father in the inn before they meet him. Arthur is a little worried for Merlin, but ultimately happy for his friend.

Then Merlin uses magic infront of Balinor and Arthur after Merlin told Balinor that he’s his son. Balinor shoves Merlin behind him protectively and Arthur is confused, “why would anyone assume he’d hurt Merlin? It’s Merlin. If anything, he’s more useful as a servant and more honest as a friend since he found out about the magic.”

Balinor is floored by it, and starts treating Arthur a lot better. Arthur gets to ask about pre purge stuff, Balinor tells him a bit about his mother from when her parents visited his when they were kids, then about Ygraine visiting the dragons and how she, Balinor and others in court at the time were friends.

They take him to Ealdor after the dragon is defeated/banished and Arthur looks over at Merlin and realises “oh my god, you summoned the wind.”

And Merlin is like, “yeah? No big deal.”

So Arthur is left wondering why Merlin is downplaying what he thinks is the strongest bit of magic he’s ever done. He comes to the conclusion that Merlin is embarrassed that it was a fluke, he tries to reassure Merlin that he can always practice and learn to do stronger magic like that. Merlin is confused because the wind wasn’t strong magic?

Balinor realises what’s happening and decides he wants nothing to do with it so he stays quiet. (He’s already sensed a lot of power from Merlin, so he knows he’s strong.)

Anyway, they keep going to Ealdor. Merlin still hasn’t caught onto the fact that Arthur thinks he’s a weak sorcerer, Arthur hasn’t caught on to Merlin being strong and just thinks he’s a little bit embarrassed about not being that strong of a sorcerer.

Then they get to Ealdor, everything is great for about two days until it starts down-pouring. Enough rain to flood the village and everyone is worried because Cenred or Lot(?)(I don’t remember when Cenred dies in canon) isn’t going to do anything because he just doesn’t care so their fields will flood and they’ll starve and not be able to afford taxes.

Arthur tries to reassure Merlin that it’s okay, but Merlin just hums. He asks Arthur if they can still lie and say they were on a hunting trip if he does something about the rain, Arthur tells him he shouldn’t push himself or anything, but Merlin says he won’t and Arthur trusts him so it’s fine. Merlin then goes outside and casually stops the rain, clearing the clouds and moving the rainwater into the river.

Arthur is shook.

Then he’s got to realise that Merlin is powerful, but again he never lied about it so he can’t really get mad, so he decides it’s better to just be shocked and carry on as usual until he gets used to the idea that Merlin is stronger than he looks.

There’s also a little bit of a bi panic in there somewhere because Arthur definitely has a thing for competency. We all saw his crushes on Gwen, Merlin, Lancelot, Mithian if she wasn’t just the wrong person for him, I’m pretty sure Percival too. There’s definitely others I haven’t noticed or forgot about. You get the idea though.

He sees Merlin being good at Magic and is suddenly very confused by the feelings he’s too emotionally stunted to recognise. Even if it’s just small things, Merlin is good at something and ‘what the hell happened to the bumbling idiot who forgot to hand him his sword the first day? What? Huh?’

Then after he accepts Merlin is really good at magic, he decides: “great! He can train with me now! :D” and he drags Merlin out of Camelot to spar which is basically just Merlin teaching Arthur how to defend himself against magical attacks. Arthur thinks he’s helping Merlin to protect himself because ‘if all he can do is wind that’s hardly an offensive attack so he needs more help mastering that. And considering no one else knows, it’s my responsibility to make sure he’s safe if he ever needs it.’

Merlin is just glad to be accepted and that Arthur is willing to learn how to protect himself against the numerous magical attacks every week so he lets Arthur think whatever he wants about why they’re sparring.

But yeah, there’s minimal trauma, it’s not a big deal and they get the happily ever after they deserved.

[olderthannetfic]

hi, as someone who is tragically gen Z and only ever read AO3, can I ask: what was so great about LiveJournal? Like, I know that there were fics posted there (and I've even read about the "purge", so I get why it isn't used anymore) and that it was sort of a forum-type thing. But what I don't understand, wouldn't Tumblr fill in the latter function? How was that site any different? I see a lot of people reminiscing about it and I'm confused

--

A big factor in LJ's greatness is timing and nostalgia.

It was genuinely great, but it wasn't quite as great as all of the Lo, shall the Golden Age ne'er come again? posts suggest.

LJ arrived at a pivotal time in the development of the internet both in terms of technical stuff and how many people had access. Many fans who are now in their thirties to fifties first discovered fandom through LJ and many were at a time in their lives when they were feeling energetic and up to making lots of new friends—and to figuring out how to make a site work for them.

I got on LJ in 2002 when it required invites. Fandom arrived in droves in 2003, first via coordinated campaigns to get invites to key people and then when LJ opened up free account creation to everyone. Back then, LJ's features sucked. It was impossible to search properly, among other things. At its height (2005-7, let's say), there was a reasonable site search, and fans had developed all sorts of community resources for finding each other.

People often remember this phase but not the early days of suckitude.

This development parallels how Tumblr used to not have that private chat feature and how a lot of fuckyeah[whatever] type tumblrs have helped curate the site and make it much more usable for fans. Fandom draining away from LJ after strikethrough also parallels people draining away from Tumblr after the purge.

There are people who talk about Tumblr the way my cohort talks about LJ...

And to the shock of no one, they are people who came of age on Tumblr, who found fandom via Tumblr, who were on Tumblr during pivotal times in their lives and ones when they had energy to make friends and figure out how a site worked.

Those same Tumblrites are now making all the same geriatric-sounding posts we LJers do about how other sites lack the required features to be good for fandom while missing that 90% of tumblr's "features" at its height (2012-2016, let's say) were actually fan-created and were basically the same as any fandom newsletter or links page or all the versions of this kind of personal curation stretching back to long before the internet existed.

What life phase you hit a site at matters.

--

With all of that said, no, LJ was not a forum. It was a blogging site with threaded comments.

The key point to understand is that conversation was always happening in a specific person's space. Unlike on a true forum, people were in the comments on a particular post in a journal owned by another fan. (On a forum, there's the first post in a thread, but it's still more of a communal space with less of a hierarchy.)

Overall, the LJ format can have a feeling a bit like you're over at someone's house for tea. There's more of a sense of intimacy and also behaving yourself in front of community members.

Tumblr being obscure and impossible to find anything in does give it some of the same vibe relative to Twitter, but it's still part of modern social media that tries to shove every rando into the face of every other rando.

But it wasn't just vibes: LJ also had robust privacy features where you could lock a post to this or that group of friends. You could moderate your comments section properly. Tumblr has far fewer controls to force people to behave or leave on a technical level.

--

The biggest thing many people miss about LJ is the threaded comments. At least by late LJ and on Dreamwidth, you can expand and collapse threads, making it far easier to deal with a massive comments section. But more than that, things are properly threaded with multiple levels of hierarchy that are all easily visible in the same place.

On Tumblr, it used to be extremely difficult to find all of the actual commentary on a post. Nowadays, it's far easier, but you still have to scroll chronologically, and multiple versions of a post with a long chain of commentary may be much more divorced from each other than what would happen in a LJ comments section.

--

But could we use Tumblr pretty much how we used LJ?

We could.

I do.

--

The key things that people tend to miss about LJ, aside from the younger and more excited version of themselves or the friends they've lost since then, are:

Heavily text-based

It may sound odd on the modern internet, but there are a lot of people whose brains don't like or handle an image-heavy site well. They were everywhere in SF book fandom. They were everywhere on the early internet. Today, they're hanging out on Dreamwidth and still going to their SF cons. They're usually not on Tumblr.

You could follow the discussion

Threaded comments help, but a lot of it is about having some place you can check for updates. It wasn't actually that easy to follow big LJ discussions unless you were subscribed to comments and reading along as things were happening instead of coming along after the entire mass of comments had been left.

The tone of the discussion is intellectual and one's enemies are "idiots", not "problematic"

All this requires is a penchant for longwindedness and an itchy blocking finger to remove anyone slinging ad hominems from the comments section.

On tumblr, it's as simple as conversations happening in the replies on a popular account and that person not tolerating suibaiting and threats.

(And make no mistake, a lot of LJ discussion was in the comments on popular accounts, not spread equally between everyone's.)

It does require that multiple people like that tone and want to engage in that way, but lots of people do want to.

--

These days, I interact with tumblr by checking my askbox and reading my activity page. The vast, vast majority of my posts are ones where I'm the OP, so if I block someone, they're booted from the discussion entirely.

For me... yeah, Tumblr functions almost exactly like LJ.

Also like LJ, while I'm hosting the conversation, if you hang around, you'll see the same people again and again in the comments. They may or may not also host that kind of conversation in their space, and there's a larger pool of lurkers who have some notion of which people count as regulars. Other people are watching from the shadows, enjoying or deriding the takes of the usual crowd.

People presumably do like reading my lengthy commentary or they wouldn't be here, but my tumblr wouldn't be popular like this without a healthy pool of other people who chime in regularly. It's not just that there are more people: it's that you see the same people over time. There's a bit more sense of place and community than on some parts of the internet.

--

So, in my opinion, the failure to just recreate LJ fandom on Tumblr was a skill issue.

Threaded comments were great, but LJ culture came from mailing lists, and mailing lists had the same issue as tumblr with the diverging threads.

We solved that back then by clipping out only the parts we wanted to respond to (you'd write "snip" around the quotation to show it was incomplete). We solved the smaller LJ issue by linking to other posts we were referencing and doing discussion link roundups. We solve it on tumblr by, again, linking to what we're talking about and even quoting multiple reblog chains in our own reblog of just one chain.

--

Tumblr's technical features and even general crap-ness aren't really the problem. 90s and early 00s sites regularly went down for periods of time unthinkable today.

The missing piece is people.

When one is in an active fandom with others who curate or with friends who let one know what's up, a site with imperfect features is easy to figure out and retrofit for fandom's needs. When one already feels out of touch and is between fannish passions—or at least fannish passions anyone else cares about—seeing the potential in a new site is hard.

--

Threaded comments are different and better.

LJ's built-in way to see everyone's blog in your own style was better. The automatic timestamps and the ease of seeing a paginated archive of an entire blog was better than tumblr's endless scroll and lack of clear date labeling. But some of that can be fixed with xkit or knowing your way around tumblr well.

A lot of it is nostalgia for the lj era and a refusal to take the time to figure out how to use tumblr in an oldschool internet way.

--

So by all means, people, weigh in about what made LJ great or how the culture felt at the time...

But if I see one more god damn response going "You can't have a conversation on tumblr!" in reply to my tumblr, which contains nothing but conversation, I am coming for you.

[reasonsforhope]

"South Carolina is preparing to put up its first individual statue for an African American on its Statehouse lawn, honoring a man who put on Confederate clothes in order to steal a slaveholder’s ship and sail his family and a dozen others to freedom during the Civil War.

But Robert Smalls isn’t just being honored for his audacious escape. He spent a decade in the US House, helped rewrite South Carolina’s constitution to allow Black men equality after the Civil War and then put up a valiant but doomed fight when racists returned to power and eliminated nearly all of the gains Smalls fought for.

State Rep. Jermaine Johnson can’t wait to bring his children to the Statehouse to finally see someone who is Black like them being honored.

“The man has done so many great things, it’s just a travesty he has not been honored until now. Heck, it’s also a travesty there isn’t some big Hollywood movie out there about his life,” said Johnson, a Democrat from a district just a few miles from the Statehouse.

The idea for a statue to Smalls has been percolating for years. But there was always quiet opposition preventing a bill from getting a hearing. That changed in 2024 as the proposal made it unanimously through the state House and Senate on the back of Republican Rep. Brandon Cox of Goose Creek.

“South Carolina is a great state. We’ve got a lot of history, good and bad. This is our good history,” Cox said.

What will the Robert Smalls memorial look like?

The bill created a special committee that has until January 15 to come up with a design, a location on the Statehouse lawn and the money to pay for whatever memorial they choose.

But supporters face a challenging question: What best honors Smalls?

If it’s just one statue, is it best to honor the steel-nerved ship pilot who waited for all the white crew to leave, then mimicked hand signals and whistle toots to get through Confederate checkpoints, while hoping Confederate soldiers didn’t notice a Black man under the hat in the pale moonlight in May 1862?

Or would a more fitting tribute to Smalls be to recognize the statesman who served in the South Carolina House and Senate and the US House after the Civil War? Smalls bought his master’s house in Beaufort in part with money made for turning the Confederate ship over to Union forces, then allowed the man’s penniless wife to live there when she was widowed.

Or is the elder Smalls who fought for education for all and to keep the gains African Americans made during the Civil War the man most worth publicly memorializing? Smalls would see a new constitution in 1895 wipe out African Americans’ right to vote. He was fired from his federal customs collector job in 1913 when then President Woodrow Wilson purged a large number of Black men out of government jobs.

Or would it be best to combine them all in some way? That’s how Republican Rep. Chip Campsen, an occasional ship pilot himself, sees honoring one of his favorite South Carolinians.

“The best way to sum up Robert Smalls’ life is it was a fight for freedom as a slave, as a pilot and as a statesman,” Campsen said."

-via AP, Octtober 23, 2024

[afewfantasies]

"WARRIOR ⛊" - Feyd-Rautha X Reader

ᴡᴏʀᴅ ᴄᴏᴜɴᴛ: 4.4K

ᴘᴀɪʀɪɴɢ: Feyd-Rautha X Reader

ᴘʟᴏᴛ: Feyd needs an Army, your planet has the best in the galaxy. Uncertain if he should deem your planet friend or foe he lands to treat with your father. It's not in his plans to meet a secret bastard daughter that quickly becomes the object of his fascination and desire. The reader is a warrior in this.

ᴡᴀʀɴɪɴɢꜱ: NSFW, 18+, intercourse and oral. Mild knife and blood aspects.

FAMILY ...

You watch sweat bead from your fathers forehead as you refill the cups for hour four of this council meeting. Your ears are astute while your eyes and head remain low. On a few occasions you look to your brother who you find is positively unimpressed with the strategy being put forth. 

“To the Harkonnen we are a threat that is better eradicated, we can offer them nothing they wouldn't take on their own. An alliance is futile, they would only place us on the front lines to be killed en masse first when we are best saved for after the bombings” your brother speaks finally. Their future King.

“Then  what would you have us do, wage all out war? Have you heard nothing of Feyd-Rautha” your father responds, sending a shiver down your spine. The screeching of a chair being pushed out sounds.

“Do as you wish and I will stand by it father” your brother snaps tossing his stone in the bowl as is custom. He walks off with his flowing robes leaving the room silent. You remain as his second pair of ears, only no progress is made before the meeting comes to an end. Relieved of your duties as a cupbearer you head into your chambers to be dressed for combat training. Looking up you see ugly ships in the shy looking to land. The alarms sound signalling for the people to adhere to curfew protocols as the Harkonnen land. You pause from what you had planned and send a communication to the armed forces to be ready for anything. You station your best fighters to disperse within the city, and those in training to man the evacuation routes and tunnels. Heading to the control room you find your brother looking at live footage of Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen the new Baron and infinitely more treacherous than the first.

“Find me a weakness that saves our people” he says with his head bowed. You nod honoured to be trusted with the fate of the people. Swallowing you turn heading back to the palace to perform your duties.

LEGITIMACY …

It’s the next morning when you finally find Feyd-Rautha court is a shuddering mess of whispers and the palace has been purged of all women. The fear of being sullied by a Harkonnen is too much for the nobles to bear.

“They have been in council since dawn” the guard at the door says as you go to enter it gives you pause. “Women have been asked to leave. The foreign concubines have been brought in” he continues.

“Thank you” you nod understanding the need for fear but not welcoming it. Feyd-Rautha is Geidi Primes only heir and he is in your home world. “Do not cower, it is unbecoming of a warrior” you advise. Heading to the great hall you move stealthy among the men filtering all of their whispers. When they fall flat you look up to see him. Feyd-Rautha. The halls clear and you head outside knowing the route he’ll likely take to his quest quarters. You sit by the pools humming as you watch the floating lily pads, when a terrifying reflection looks at you through the water.

”I wish I was more frightened” you comment looking over at the Harkonnen legend. Feyd-Rautha, a man so feared few uttered his name aloud without shuddering. The stories and recollections that did follow were equally as harrowing, only right now all that stands before you is a man.

“Why should you be terrified?” Feyd asks, turning to the side like a predator ready to play with his food. You tap on a shield and the smile that escapes him is full and dimpled.

“I’ve heard enough stories to exercise caution.” You explain and he nods.

“Such as?”

“If you’re displeased you take the lives of those who’ve displeased you. If you are offended depending on the level, death can be very painful. And people whisper that you revel in it, they throw around big words” you speak candidly.

“Such as?” he asks intrigued.

“Tyrant, psychopath, madman, warlord” you disclose.

“I haven’t heard anything about you” he comments and if you were anyone else perhaps it would sting a little. Smiling, you nod appreciating the honesty in his remark.

“A great man has many sons, illegitimate daughters are only of use should the sons fail. I have five brothers - they’ve afforded me the freedom of invisibility.” you explain.

“Invisibility” Feyd repeats and you look him over again deciding to play with fire. You disengage the shield. “How does an invisible woman find a husband?” he probes.

“Husband?” You ask amused. “If you ever were to hear anything about me it would be that absolutely nobody wants to marry me. I’m quite undesirable” you confess.

“What would they say?” He raises his browless brow bone.

“Who? Women or men?” you ask to be sure.

“Women?” he asks, showing his famed black smile.

“They’d say my mother is a whore who knows no shame and that shame is all I bring my father.” you smile.

“The men?”

“Men who would gossip about me are not worth listening to or considering” you shrug.

“Fair enough” Feyd nods as you take in his features without fear. He doesn’t recall the last time someone was brave enough to lay eyes on him. The palace doors open out, walk your brothers, advisors and father. Feyd watches as you put your head down  heading in to line the table with glasses as pleasantries are exchanged. The break is short and has moved the council outdoors. It means there is a potential for hostility. Feyd catches you signing to one of your brothers as you pour wine into the empty glasses. Once everything is situated you refill the gourd of wine placing it on the table as is custom for the men to pour. Feyd catches one of your advisors eyes lingering on your breasts. When your task is complete you bow to your father who nods dismissively, you take your leave.

LEGACY …

It was seldom that men didn’t cower in his presence, that they seemed more preoccupied with the issues at hand than Feyd’s own lore. Your family had a reputation for being straightforward and your brother for being valiant. He expected arrogance and self importance but all he encountered was a soldier. There was no posturing or small talk. Your eldest brother was straight to the point. Unlike Rabban, Feyd could see genuine respect among the siblings and care. There were no power plays or attempts to usurp inheritances; everyone seemed content in their place. His usual tactics to sow chaos wouldn’t work. Passing the training grounds Feyd stops. He watches a formidable combattant training young recruits in hand to hand combat.

“Your soldiers are some of the best” Feyd remarks honestly.

“As are yours” your eldest brother nods.

“We’re known for brutality, you for skill” Feyd attempts flattery.

“Dead men have no preference” your brother says matter of fact. The sight of the eldest son has the recruits fall into salute. Feyd nods impressed.

“At ease” he says when he realises your brother has given him the respect of calling the force.

“Pardon me” you call removing your helmet. Feyds surprise is evident at your appearance and at your fighting ability; he'd never seen a woman train men. He’d never seen a woman fight so well.

“Y/N” your brother nods.

“Brother, I was wondering … what of the sparring custom?” you ask.

“No” your brother says plainly, shocking you. Feyd looks between you as you swallow bowing and falling into line.

“What sparring?” Feyd asks.

“As a means of education a member of our force would spar with one of yours to a position of yielding. Afterwards the fight would be broken down and analysed for learning and training purposes”

“So why is it not happening?” Feyd asks.

“As head of your force one of ours would have to fight you. It’s treason” your brother says.

“Are you not the head of your force?” Feyd asks your eldest brother.

“No, it’s a great risk for an heir to be” your brother explains looking between the two of them you nod.

“Sorry for the interruption, good day” you nod, turning.

“Who is the head of your force?” Feyd asks suspiciously.

“Right there” your brother points to you as you retake your arms.

“A woman?” Feyd asks.

Your brother nods. “She’s earned it”

“Why does no one speak of her?” Feyd inquired.

“Many think it unwise? If word were to travel other disgruntled young women may take up arms against their intended to avoid marriage.” he explains.

A puzzled Feyd looks up. “What?”

“She started receiving suitors at thirteen. She would choose soldiers to fight on her behalf if the gentlemen couldn’t win they couldn’t have her hand. Of course it garnered great sport and then when she was eighteen she desired to fight for herself. That slowed things down a touch. Most men don’t want to bloody their bride. Those who attempted mercy were driven to the brink of social conduct by my sisters off hand provocations. When the previous commander passed she auditioned and won the position” your brother explains one of the planet's best kept secrets.

“Curious” Feyd comments. “If it’s custom” Feyd says watching you with his snake eyes.

“She would never yield,” your brother warns, knowing it’s not in your capability.

“Then to first blood” Feyd proposes. Your brother tells you to stand down in your language causing Feyds eyes to perk up. You take a step back before bowing to the men. 

“It is impossible.” Your brother says with weariness and you head back to your men.

“I promise not to disfigure or maim your sister” Feyd promises.

“I’m not worried for my sister, with much respect”  he says, making Feyds mouth water.

CUSTOMS …

You brush out your hair before braiding it for the night when a shadowy figure emerges in the doorway. All of your staff wear white while this figure is clad in all black. Holding your brush you turn to face him as he emerges from the shadows. You see Feyd-Rautha. His black smile contrasts against this alabaster skin. A Harkonnen legend in the flesh and in your chambers. You go to stand but he holds his hand out to stop you. He looks around at your chambers noting the contrast from Primes sterility. He closes the distance between you in moments.

“You were proposed as a concubine to Paul according to my mentat but you refused”  Feyd says having done his research while deciding what was to be done about your planet and people.

“I don’t like excessive heat” you explain and he smiles. “Would you like me to train a force of your men?” You ask to pick his brain.

He gives you a black smile, “I would like to spar with you.”

“I don’t yield” you warn, standing slowly in your night silks.

“To first blood?” Feyd proposes.

“I’d like to keep my teeth and nose” you set your boundaries.

“You will,” he nods.

“Shall I fetch my armour?” you ask the Harkonnen salivating over your figure.

“No, hand to hand” he says.

“What should I get in return?” you ask stepping into the open area of your chamber.

“Whatever you like” he offers, at the liberty to provide it.

“An infinite amount of time to decide”  you smile knowing what you want already.

“Deal” Feyd rasps with a smile too sinister to be good.

“What do you want?” you ask.

“Have you ever been with a man?” He asks his mind on sex.

“I’m a soldier, of course I have been” you respond and he smiles. “I’ve sullied myself” you speak in society’s terms.

“If I win-” Feyd begins.

“You won’t” you smile swinging first. He dodges with a wide smile. Your heart races knowing it’ll be a good fight. His style is brutal and aggressive. But you’ve learned the Harkonnen style first. All hits are superficial. Until Feyd lands a blow that knocks the wind out of you. Anger surges and you cut him with his holster. Black blood drips as you fight for breath.  Feyd steps shocked at his loss as he watches his arm drip. You fight for breath still hoping he’s true to his word. You regain your breath as he snaps out of his stupor. Taking a cloth from your vanity, you tie it around the gash to stop the blood flow. His dark eyes focus on all of your features, unable to decide whether to take your life or indulge in passions of the flesh. He notes your hands are remarkably soft for a woman capable of such brutality.

“Your back will ache in a few hours” he rasps, speaking first. “We have our remedies should you want to save yourself the discomfort” he says speaking of the blow he’d landed.

“No thank you” you whisper.

“You don’t trust me” Feyd’s instincts are spot on.

“When you’re a woman people enjoy hurting to keep yourself from being a victim, you learn to enjoy the pain” you explain. Your words stroke all the right flames within him. Looking down he’d been right about you. There was no fear. Feyd takes a fistful of your nightgown, lifting it slowly in anticipation. When he’s met without resistance he removes it from your body. He sees scars scattered across your skin in varying depths caused by varying blades. The heat of anger and protectiveness surges.

“Why haven’t they been treated?” he asks, placing his hand against one of the scars that has healed quite bad.

“It’s our way to honour the fallen. Great warriors are remembered by their scars. My skin says I’ve met many.” you explain wearing your wounds with honour.

“Or that you took a long time to learn your skill” Feyd chides with eyes full of mischief. 

“Once blood is drawn in combat by a cut it's our custom that you submit to the person who bested you, or become a sword or a slave if they will have you” you explain as Feyd eyes your breasts.

“What is my fate?” Feyd muses.

“How fares the Harkonnen?” You ask finding the zip to remove his armour. He’d never been undressed before by a woman whom was already naked or a woman that had cut him. Holding his arms out he watches as you remove it tossing the pieces onto the floor. He could feel the blood rushing to him manhood full of passion for you. Looking up at him as you remove his armoured gloves.

“I’d like a pair from your personal collection.” You tell him honestly. He’d never engaged in combat prior to sex either.

“I’ll see to it,” he says. “Or you could come to Prime and make your own selections” he offers with ulterior motives.

“And become your captive?” you smile finished with the task. A strong chest and an even stronger core is bare for you to see. Circling him you find a chiselled back. There’s no bulk, you note his power comes from within instead of the armour's added mass. 

“I don’t think you can be made to do anything, much less stay where you don’t want to be.” He whispers as you sink into a squat.

“I only win all the time because I know when not to play” you smile using his belt to bring him to you. You unfasten the clasp as Feyd stands completely bewitched. You never break eye contact with Feyd; his concentration is like no other. Freeing his manhood, it springs free. His size is impressive. You don’t realise you’re smiling until he makes a guttural sound in awe of your reaction. Taking his sceptre into your hand gently you feel the weight of him in your forearm. It’s an act of submission in itself for him to be weaponless as you hold his prized possession, his legacy and virility. Your mouth waters at the round tip.

“Permission granted” he says after having waited too long.

“Be gentle with me, I will appear in court tomorrow” you tell him. He nods ever so slightly but you place no trust in his promise. Taking him into your mouth you revel in the ability to be the undoing of dangerous men. Your tongue traces his length before your jaw slacks to take him in. Your cheeks tighten and his head falls back from the suction. His grip is firm on the back of your head as it bobs from the strokes. His body reacts quickly as does yours from his arousal. Your hands slip along his slick manhood. Your strokes are tighter.

You use your hands and mouth unable to watch him as you try to send him over the edge. You find yourself moaning with him as he whispers praise and sweet nothings. Your flesh rises, tiny hairs standing at attention. White hot arousal envelopes you as your eyes find his again as you suckle him. His eyes are weary. His hips tick gently guiding his manhood back into your mouth slightly. Taking control of the pace Feyd’s hips thrust slow and deliberate challenging how much of his length you can manage.

“Good girl” he rasps going deeper with every thrust before giving you enough reprieve to breathe. His eyes are wild with arousal. You didn’t think him capable of pleasure without brutality. You’re even more impressed when he pulls you back from him abruptly holding you by your hair as he curses. It takes a moment to realize he’s trying to ward off a climax. You release his fist and dim the lights before padding over to your bed where he may come find you.

Once partially recovered Feyd is a moth to a flame. The path to your bed is lit with sconces. His acute hearing listens for the pads of your feet hitting against the marble. The darkness adds to the experience. Only when he enters your bedroom he hears the sound of water and turns to find a waterfall along the wall in front of the large bed. He takes steps down to the sunken area. The bed sits high in the middle lifted on a platform instead of taking the step up. He has an idea.

“Come here” he calls, holding out a pale hand. The bed is at his perfect waist level. “Open your legs” he instructs and one after the other you follow suit spreading them open for him. His eyes say it all as he comes in for a kiss. You’re taken aback when he slips one finger in. The kiss is broken and Feyd growls bringing your head back to his as he nips your bottom lip kissing your harder and adding another finger as he begins to stroke them skillfully. He’s unlike most warriors that are poor lovers. There’s no theatrics. When your eyes close you are in a bid for control as he takes you out of the present into planes of pleasure you’ve never frequented. There’s a seamless transition as he enters you going deep. He sheathes himself inside of you leaving you to gasp. His body is strong and rigid.

“Look at me” he demands drawing you back. Your eyes open and he appears first as a shadow, and then as Feyd-Rautha. There’s a brutality to his love making and an attention to detail that leaves you in delirium. A skilled combatant that knows how to use every inch of his body. The slapping contact of skin is felt and heard as his hands hold firm all over you. You can feel him tense and in a bid for control you slap him breaking the kiss as he fucks you into the bed. Shocked he pulls back robbing you of the contact. But Feyd-Rautha isn’t going to give you anything. Using his surprise to you out manoeuvre him so he’s lying beneath you.

“Relax” you whisper, mounting him and beginning to ride. He’s the best you’ve ever had. When the praise turns to curses you know he’s close. Sitting up Feyd fights for control, kissing you as you clench around him. The orgasm that rips through the both of you is a shared effort. Feverish breaths follow as your bodies fight to stabilise. Never breaking the intimate contact Feyd lifts you onto your sides so you’re both laying on the bed. Even after such a powerful orgasm he’s still hard. It feels incredible. Laying beside him you find beauty in his ferocity and Feyd initiates a kiss that is surprisingly soft and intimate. He roots himself deeper enjoying the closeness. You wonder if it’s a Harkonnen thing or if it’s just Feyd and smile. Your hands trace the now blackened cloth around his arm.

“What is it you want?” he rasps fully lucid.

“An honest treaty and not annihilation, we are not your enemy” you breathe honestly. His eyes darken in frustration before his jas sets in anger. He pulls out of you and the loss of contact causes you to gasp. He sits at the edge of the bed in contemplation.

“I will keep my word” he hisses feeling outmanoeuvred

“Come back to bed.” you respond. Feyd casts a hateful look over his shoulder making you smile. Your lack of fear amuses him. He returns back to bed giving you round two and whe it's over sleep comes too soon.

TREATIES…

Your father glares at you in fury. Undoubtedly his attendants have told him about your tryst last night. It’ll be every bit of a scandal by the end of the week if it makes it out of the palace. Suitors have come far and wide just for you to voluntarily take a Harkonnen to bed. As punishment you’re forbidden from attending the procession. There is no goodbye as you watch the fortified shielded ships take flight. Your father is an old man that’s comfortable in his ways and unaware of the complexity of the new world around him. It’s how your mother wormed her way into his heart. It’s how you came to be. You hear doors open and your eldest brother emerges behind you with none of your father’s judgement or contempt.

“He left you these,” your brother says, placing the gloves on the counter in front of you. You look down at them before looking at your brother. “We’re allies now” he declares. “The Harkonnen have stopped looking at us like food.” he finishes.

“Good” you respond.

“Well done sister” he nods leaving the room. You sigh deeply knowing Feyd is now deep in a web. Staring at the contraceptive tea your brother has placed beside the gloves you contemplate the future. “Now, it’s time to keep them busy” your brother says leaving your quarters.

SUCCESSION …

War had left Feyd preoccupied for the past few years and it was your fathers doing that none of his correspondence attempts made their way to you. Your brother had been a step ahead of every visit in an attempt to keep Feyd at bay, your father compliant and your reputation intact. Feyd had sent spies but they’d been unsuccessful in finding anything of consequence. You remained unwed training new recruits in a remote part of the country. There were modified designs of his gloves being used in combat and using your forces at his side had easily become one of his better decisions. It was why he was here now after all this time. Your father had passed on and his ally to become the planet's ruler. But, it was no secret he’d come all this way to see you. Still after so much time and many women there was always one who he could not shake. The cut on his forearm he refused to treat etched you into his skin and cellular memory. It was beyond time for him to take a wife and he was set on you, in spite of his advisors' cautions. Taking the path to the ceremony he finds the inhabitants clad in black. Mournful cries from a few mothers follow and he spies all of his sons. He’s seated among the esteemed guests and he finds you expressionless seated with the women. The wind blows your veil as you disassociate, Feyd becomes reckless. 

Shifting in his seat the procession takes too long. The singing is horrible as is the burial. Every attempt to get close to you fails. One of his spies passes him coordinates to your place and after the feast you are noticeably absent from Feyd finds you removing your headdress.

“Why haven't you returned my messages?” Feyd asks and you turn to face him. He’s unchanged. His spectacular features have been frozen in time. 

“My father was not a fan of our time together” you respond honestly. “I never received any messages” you tell him honestly.

“Shouldn't have stopped you from reaching out?”

“To Feyd-Rautha, who can have any woman he wants? To think our time together was of any significance to you?” you ask amused. “Na-Baron, Baron, usurper, co-emperor” you list his accolades. He sticks you with a truth poison and you smile. Removing the stinging vile. His lips find yours in a fevered kiss.

“Did you get my messages” he growls looking up at him your answer is unchanged. Not for the ineffective poisons.

“No,” you whisper and Feyd picks you up heading to the bed. He's rough and you moan getting lost in the kiss. Only for it to stop abruptly. Feyd’s body stiffens and he rolls off the bed falling onto the floor with terrified eyes. Alarmed you sit up to find your son manning the choking shield and disengaged it in a flash.

“No mommy, he was hurting you and he’s a stranger” your son snaps in a combative stance. But when Feyd stands the boy looks up in shock knowing the legendary Feyd-Rautha. The anger of his attack leaves him as he eyes the small child. Once ferocious he sees fear creeping into the kids' eyes. Eyes he knows too well from seeing them in his reflection. Swallowing, he squats down to the boy's eye level.

“What do they call you?” he rasps.

“Valyr” he says with a strong chest full of pride. Nodding he takes in the boys features his obvious strength, natural suspicion and strength. He counts back the years as he stands upright. The world would call him Valyr but Feyd would call the boy son and you wife. The planet would be fortified for your protection and a bastard daughter would be the planet's sustenance and salvation.

Authors Note: How did you like this all in one style story? It was fun to write. I hope yo do more of these especially considering how many of you miss Feyd. I don't want to keep the Feyd Brigade waiting too long! What was your favourite rite part? Don't forget to like, comment & reblog for more 🖤🩶

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