#well aside from dragon commander i guess

[margieargie]

EXCUSE ME larian launcher why do you NOT have beyond divinity on there (objectively the best game you've ever made)

[narcissosbythepool]

@pricegazweek Day 2 - Shotgun

Tags: smoking, shotgunning, discussion of illness and death, pre-relationship (or the liminal space between that and romance)

//

“I don’t think our target is going to show up today.”

Gaz, looking out to the empty street from the window, lowers his binoculars. “No, I don’t think so either,” he admits and sits down on the floor where Price already is located, hiding under the window’s ledge, gun propped up against the wall.

“Tomorrow?” he asks and Price shrugs.

“Your guess is as good as mine. Maybe better to keep watch either way, but I have a hunch.” He sniffles. “And it rarely leads me astray.”

“Ah yeah, the famous hunch,” Gaz rolls his eyes and gets an amused look. Price returns to patting his pocket. His eyes light up as he finds what he wants, a cigar and a lighter, and he lights it with an air of gratitude that only a good nicotine hit can sate. Gaz is suddenly grateful he closed the windows – such an obvious tell would be the most embarrassing to be found out.

They’ve been on the look out for two days now and their target is nowhere in sight. Price assured him this is nothing abnormal – him and MacMillan waited for Zakhaev for three days back in Pripyat, apparently, and Gaz hopes they won’t break that record this time.

Gaz sets his weapon on his lap, muzzle facing away from Price, and starts disassembling it as Price smokes. The smoke puffs in the air like from a great dragon, and a smile tugs at the corner of his mouth.

“You know,” Gaz says, “there is no safe exposure to secondhand smoke.”

“Yeah?” Price replies, blowing smoke in his direction. Gaz waves it away, holding back a laugh.

“My sister ranted about it to my brother once,” he explains. “Last leave. Told him to stay away from his smoker friends, when they’re out.”

“I’m sure that went over well.”

“I’m sure it did,” Gaz sighs. “Didn’t have the heart to tell her that my boss smokes constantly.”

“Like a chimney,” Price grunts and Gaz can’t fight back the grin anymore.

“I didn’t say it,” he simply quips back and knows that if they were any closer, Price would elbow him for his insolent behavior, like a proper commanding officer.

“Could be worse,” Price says then, inspecting his cigar. “A nasty habit, this one. Started years ago and was never able to stop. So don’t ever start.”

“As if the exposure won’t do it,” Gaz chuckles.

“Well, there are worse ways to go.”

“What, worse than lung cancer?”

“That’ll be my problem, won’t it,” Price drawls and were his Captain any other person, he would have winked.

“Not exactly,” Gaz says, taking out a rag to clean the parts of his gun, hands working as they speak. “It’s even more dangerous to the bystander.”

“Really, now?”

“Heightened risk, same result.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Inflammatory and respiratory effects appear within 60 minutes,” Gaz rattles on, and then turns to look at Price. “Can last up to three hours.”

“Hm.”

“Isn’t it interesting?” Gaz asks, putting the parts of his gun aside. “That it lingers like that?”

“Not just on your clothes,” Price’s eyes rake over his form and it makes him shiver.

“But inside you too,” Gaz confirms. Price blinks slowly and takes another inhale of his cigar.

“That is interesting, Sergeant,” he says, blowing the smoke away this time.

He’s not a stupid man.

Gaz doesn’t know what this reaction means – perhaps it excites him? Knowing he never leaves Gaz’s system, even when they’re apart. That he lingers in Gaz’s work clothes, his fatigues too… He mourns a little when he puts the clothes into the wash, willing the scent to stay – but it always fades away after a wash, unlike the smoke in Gaz’s lungs. It creeps into every part of him – from his lungs to his blood stream, his heart, his brain, envelops him into a deadly embrace from within; a warm sort of burn that doesn’t abate once the light is out. He wonders what it would be like to get it right from the source, not just have a scent memory that takes him back to the backseat of a car, to an office, to a quiet night on a mission. He’s never been a real smoker, but he could try. His fingers itch with the absence.

“Being with you is a little like secondhand smoking, you know,” Gaz blurts out.

“Being?” Price raises a brow and Gaz tries not to flush.

“Working.”

“Go on.”

“Leads to premature death.”

That makes Price laugh out loud, making him cough and cover his mouth with his fist. Gaz grins, willing his palpitating heartbeat to calm down – surely this isn’t the moment that his heart gives up on him, of all places, not on the job and exfil nowhere to be seen.

“You’re right about that,” Price chuckles once he’s recovered from his coughing fit. “Can’t tell which is going to kill you first, serving under me or my smoking.”

“I think we’ll find out,” Gaz shrugs. “Visit me at the hospital?”

“I’ll bring flowers to your grave every week, Sergeant,” Price says almost earnestly. Gaz nearly thanks him, save for the look in his eye. “But a pity. To die for the second-best thing.”

“At least I’d die from a real bullet.”

“You think I’ve tainted you enough by now?” Price muses.

“I think you did it by the trip to Moldova.”

“Like a smoke sauna, that car.”

“You ever been?”

“Nikolai took me once. You’d never know the difference.”

“I think I became a firsthand smoker,” Gaz grumbles, the memory of the stench of the smoke lingering in the car seats still ingrained in his memory.

“Almost like the real thing,” Price says.

His eyes linger on Gaz’s, then move to the stillness of the room. The smoke rises above them, swirling in the low light.

“Would you ever offer me one?”

“One of my cigars? Never.”

“Why is that?”

“Cigarettes suit you better,” Price says, voice low. “Your fingers… More slender than mine. A cigarette would belong there.”

“You’ve clearly thought about it.”

Price gives him a heavy look, straying to his hands – empty, still, aching to reach out.

“Yes.”

Gaz bites his lip. Price’s eyes travel back to his face, the blue of them piercing through his very being.

“Pity I don’t carry any.”

“Secondhand smoke it is, then?”

Gaz weighs the situation for a moment.

Ah, fuck it.

“Won’t hurt to have it straight from the source,” Gaz says, and crawls across the space between them – feeling slightly self-conscious, but it’s dulled by the expectant parting of Price’s lips. When he settles astride Price’s legs, Price meets his eyes – hooded, expectant – and brings the cigar to his lips.

Shotgunning is a delicate art – it has to be deliberate. The smoke, directed from one person’s lips to another, has to be a gentle blow; the inhalation precise. Gaz leans in slowly, chases that sliver of smoke from his lips, inhaling it into his lungs. And he feels it, first hand, the real thing, Price’s hand on his thigh and the other holding out the cigar, to stop the ash from falling on his clothes.

But there’s already a fallout: Gaz hands clutching the straps of Price’s vest, his mouth chasing the alluring smoke from Price’s lips, and when he leans back, it’s only for Price to inhale once more, and to pull him close by the chin.

He wonders which one’s better, the denial or the chase of it? The expectation of it or when it already burns his lungs? He thinks he already has the answer as the smoke turns into the soft press of Price’s lips, when the burning sensation turns into a greedy kiss.

Gaz hopes this will linger, too.

[siriannatan]

Victory in Defeat

I had this idea in my head for a long time so in the midst of lack of any motivation for my ongoing stories I wrote it down :}

fWhip glanced at the other side of the holo sim. He had his battleship's movements put in and waited for his opponent to be done with his inputs. As he waited he thought back to how he ended here. On the icy home world of the elves. Sat opposite their king's younger brother and their best commander - at least in fWhip's opinion best commander he faced through the entire war. Scott S. Major. The supreme commander of Rivendell space fleet. How he wasn't the commander of the whole Cod Alliance's forces was beyond fWhip.

Not that the war was fWhip's issue anymore. Grimlands was defeated. fWhip married off to Scott of all people to keep the rest of WRA from retaliating. Basically a glorified hostage. It was alright so far. Aside from the rather awkward and stiff wedding feast. And almost tripping on his new husband's tail multiple times... Scott being a half-dragon was always a rather distracting fact. Mostly due to his fangs rivalling fWhip's own. Which he could not help but bear it as he was reliving his very first battle against Scott. "When did you realise I took over? And how?" the half-dragon asked, finally done with his inputs.

"Your manoeuvres are much tighter and faster, not to mention you like to send light ships against heavier ones," fWhip hummed, sipping his drink. Where did Scott even get blood for him? "And then you changed it the moment I was used to it, it was annoying," he added glancing at Scott. His eyes were not watching the sim but fWhip. "I'll explain my setup later," he said, guessing that was what others were curious about.

He must have been right because Scott seemed to re-focus on the battle. They went through a few rounds, speeding up the usually long space battle significantly. Most that happened were a few small, fast clashes of scout ships as they expanded their areas as their slower ships took their positions. fWhip had a good memory of this battle and liked to think he understood Scott's strategies fairly well. So he set some commands that had the elf's eyebrow raising. "Is there an issue," fWhip hummed, as he ran multiple ideas and calculations through his brain. This sim was really well-detailed.

"Not really," Scott hummed in return, leaning back in his chair. "Compliments to the designer of your cruisers, they're much more mobile than they look," he rambled, no doubt trying to distract fWhip. Luckily he wasn't in his usual uniform and seemed to keep his teeth not showing unless necessary.

"Thank you, I'm rather proud of them myself," fWhip grinned. He often missed the time when he didn't have to command any armies and could just toy with his ship designs. "You really should get comfier chairs, even our smallest scout ships had comfier ones," he huffed as another turn started.

"You don't mean you designed these..." Scott was in utter disbelief.

"I'm a noble and a vampire, I had plenty of free time before the war started to make my fleet exactly to my liking," fWhip grinned reclining as comfortably as rigid elven style and his wedding clothes allowed. He was not wearing a corset ever again unless completely necessary. "Oops, looks you're down a couple of frigates," he smiled, which seemed to shake Scott's shock off as he quickly moved his forces to compensate for the losses.

fWhip won that battle all those years back. And was planning to repeat it. Make it even better. So he chattered to Scott about the technicalities of his ship designs. It was all in elves' hands anyway now that Grimlands was conquered. fWhip could have some fun disclosing what kinds of comforts they managed to fit alongside what kinds of cannons and engines.

"Why weren't you commanding more major battles?" he asked a question that had been on his mind for a long time. They were slowly moving around the map for about an hour. For the moment Scott was holding the advantage.

"I was here to keep you from going to Sigma-Seven, Joel was busy taking that over at the time," Scott hummed. He seemed confident in his new strategy for countering fWhip.

"That was a shame, we could have at least doubled our fleets with that meteorite field," fWhip sighed, at least the feeling he had the whole war was right. For most of the war, Joel or Jimmy would command against him unless they were busy elsewhere. If they were then it was almost always Scott. If it were the other way the war would have been much more of a pain.

"I might have lost but I kept you occupied long enough, not that I'm losing it now," Scott shrugged and sent a surrender request.

fWhip just hummed as he refused and started his master plan. With a swift, deadly manoeuvre his light and fast frigates decimated the guards around Scott's warp station. "Well, if you're supposed to keep me here then let's stay here," he grinned as Scott frantically scrolled the sim logs.

Scott's backguard quickly chased fWhip's frigates away but the damage was done along with the first phase of fWhip's plan.

"Can we agree my getting out is the victory condition?" the vampire asked, sadly realising he was out of his drink. Looks like he'd have to really focus now.

"Not like I'm letting you go anywhere," Scott practically growled, his tail swishing dangerously. How amusing, fWhip thought as he carried on.

After dragging Scott around the battlefield for another twenty minutes fWhip pulled out his strategy. Five heavy grand cruisers and their accompanying guard that was under Gem's command, speeding to aid Sigma-Seven, warped through the ruined warp point. Scott didn't bother checking if it was really destroyed or just looked like it. With these forces, fWhip easily defeated Scott's remaining forces. The elf refused to surrender, hoping to keep fWhip stuck until the round limit they set was out.

He failed. fWhip was out with five turns to spare. "We should simulate Sigma-Seven next time, I'm curious how you'd handle that," fWhip hummed as Scott grumbled over the logs.

"How long were you planning to bring Gem's forces?" he asked, giving up on understanding it on his own.

"Since I saw how detailed the sim is, pretty impressive, but you need comfier chairs here," fWhip sighed as he stretched. He might be technically dead by many races standard but he was still a fan of comfort. 

Scott just grumbled. His face was weirdly flushed. "You okay?" he asked, slightly worried he offended Scott.

"You're damn distracting, you know," the half-dragon growled as he approached and slowly crowded fWhip to a wall. "Really, really distracting, especially with how much you shifted in that chair."

"As I said, it's uncomfortable," fWhip shrugged. What was Scott doing? They didn't have to do anything a normal couple would. Their marriage was primarily political after all.

"I'll get you any chair you want," Scott growled, clearly annoyed his furniture choice was being questioned. "I know we don't have to... But I... ugh... I'm not used to saying it, but I really liked you since that first battle, I have no idea why. It started before I even saw you, it was easy to ignore, and then there was our first video call. And... ugh. You were so damn distracting on that garish chair of yours."

fWhip was quite honestly floored by the revelation. Seeing Scott for the first time certainly left an impression on him. Was it of the same kind? Potentially. Having Scott casually call him in the few sieges they faced off in certainly didn't help the feeling. There were nights where all he could think only of the way Scott said his name.

"We don't have to do anything but I need to ask... fWhip, will you have me as more than just a political husband?" he asked, face mere inches away from fWhip's. "Push me away and this will be it," he assured.

fWhip glanced at the battle sim. That was fun, yes. But what Scott was offering was even more fun. Potentially. "Your bed better be comfier than your chairs," he huffed before closing the distance.

Scott's bed was luckily for him quite comfy. Not as comfy as being carried around but comfy enough for fWhip to delay complaining.

[inscrutable-shadow]

Mine

guess who's writing prized possession au instead of anything else they should be doing it's meeeee i barely edited this have fun (it has footnotes!)

also on ao3!

"Reality. Settle," his father commanded, and Reality forced his knee to stop bouncing.

Holding still proved to be impossible, though. The itch built up inside of him and made him squirm. "Apologies, father, I am afraid I must…"

His mother squeezed his shoulder in concern. "Is it your magic? Do you need to go outside and blow something up, darling?"

The idea sounded promising, but he'd done quite a lot of that this morning, and the arcane power roiling inside of him was actually much calmer than usual. With a flick of his fingers, Reality turned the remainder of his glass of wine into champagne. Delicious, but casting the spell didn't bring the feeling of relief that it usually would if his magic were acting up. "No, I am simply… restless."

"He's just bored with the party." His cousin Delphina's voice was full of reproach, and he didn't miss the "spoiled brat" she muttered under her breath, either. At nearly thirty years of age [1], Reality thought he was a bit old to be called a brat. Delphinia's hatred of him was both well-known and a constant, though, so he ignored it.

The party was rather dull. As the premier social event of the season, the Midwinter Ball was the central hub for the political doings of the Winter Court, and the royal families of each of the Courts were obviously required to attend. The Hibernal King was both saturnine and mercurial, not given to socialising, and had spent most of the evening watching the proceedings silently from his throne. Reality was desperately trying to avoid the Vernal Queen and her daughter, who would either try to rope him into dancing or talk his ear off about something inane, and the Autumn Court's royals seemed to have about the same idea, given that they were remaining stubbornly on the other side of the ballroom. There was also a scattering of human royalty in attendance, invited as a formality and not worth his time. He'd hoped to see an old acquaintance, a prince from the Dragonlands with whom he'd been friendly as a child, but the Diamond Heir didn't seem to be here. Dragons disliked the cold. He supposed it was only fair. In lieu of anything interesting to do, Reality been busying himself trying to make sure he ate at least one of everything being served, but now his stomach was getting full and the wine was going to his head and he just didn't feel like it.

As his listless gaze scanned over the crowd, he accidentally caught the eye of the Princess of Blossom. Not good. She smiled at him and started cutting across the dance floor toward him. The last thing he wanted to do was talk, or Divines forbid *dance,* with the princess of Spring, but there didn't appear to be any sort of escape for him available. His parents didn't understand his distress, and Delphinia only laughed at him. Nothing for it, then. He buried his face in his hands, summoning together the will to put his court face on, but then the music stopped.

The dance floor cleared, and the partygoers all withdrew to their own tables, the Blossom Princess included. The orchestra that had been playing for the night so far mostly departed, leaving behind a string quartet, which began to tune and check strings, preparing for another segment. While they did so, a fifth young man approached, bowed to the performers, exchanged a few words, then opened his own violin case.

This new person was human, going by the shape of his ears, and probably only recently of age. Dressed in a doublet of black with red embroidery, he set the violin on his shoulder, pushing aside waves of dark hair that framed his face. A silver circlet nestled into that hair, studded with emeralds. A prince?

"Who is that?" Reality whispered to his manservant, Ioan. An inexplicable curiosity had come over him.

Ioan followed his gaze. "Ah, the young heir Iuventus. Prince Thanatos, I believe, my lord."

"His eyes are red."

"A hereditary trait, my lord. House Iuventae is known for producing scions with the most brilliant eye colors. He's quite the sought-after match," Ioan added pointedly, and Reality rolled his eyes.

Even as young as he was, people were already "subtly encouraging" Reality to choose a match. The divinity inside him shifted uncomfortably at the thought, and he turned the champagne flute into a butterfly in an attempt to calm it. He was already a magical weapon of mass destruction, a disaster waiting to happen. He couldn't risk passing this on to an heir [2]. No, the Fiothrey line must end with him. It wasn't as if any of the noble fae daughters had caught his eye. This had given many the notion that it was a good idea to waggle their eyebrows pointedly in the direction of the sons. Reality didn't appreciate that either. If he wanted something, he took it. If he didn't have something, it was because he didn't want it.

The human prince was rather attractive, though, he had to admit. Everything about him was long and thin: from his delicate fingers dancing on the violin strings to his elegant lashes and sculpted brows; save for his face, which while long was soft, and his body, which while thin, was rather short compared to most fae [3], though he was probably average for a human. He reminded one of a puppet dancing under the control of a masterful puppeteer: every movement graceful but regimented, shifting from point to point with calculated ease. Reality found himself watching the boy with a mix of amused curiosity and captivated wonderment.

And then he began to play.

The quartet came in first, playing a tune that was common in the Winter Court and often played at Midwinter Balls. Boring, and Reality mentally checked out before the second measure, but just after he'd settled his chin on his chest and committed to allowing the food coma to claim him, he heard a sound that stopped everything in its tracks. The prince's bow on the violin strings produced a haunting countermelody, a juxtaposition of death with rebirth, the essence of winter. Reality was absolutely transported to the center of a snowy lake, watching a single figure dance gracefully to a tune only the two of them could hear. He'd never felt such a sensation of internal peace. Even his magic went completely calm, without a hint of the shifting, crackling pulse that had underlaid his whole life. Every fragment of his attention was on this mortal prince.

Reality was sure he must look quite the fool, sitting here with his mouth agape, just staring, but it was as if he'd been spellbound, utterly incapable of movement. The human boy's crimson eyes remained mostly shut, save for when he opened them slightly to check the next section of music, but for a moment, his hooded gaze swept over the audience and caught on Reality's. Their eyes locked for a moment, and along with the rhythmic moment of his head as he played, Reality was sure he saw the prince smile at him. A pang of emotion struck him through the heart.

When the music stopped, the prince boned and exited the stage amidst enthusiastic but restrained applause. Reality turned to his father and gripped him by the sleeve.

"I want him."

"Whom? The human prince? They are not toys, you know, my son. It may be difficult to—"

"I want him."

[1] Fae, while not immortal, are incredibly long lived, and can achieve lifespans in excess of five hundred years. In the Courts, the accepted age at which young fae reach maturity is held to be twenty-five years old.

[2] The royal lines of the fae Courts are, for reasons lost to time, cut with divinity. This grants them unprecedented control over magic, with the cost that, if not sufficiently diluted, their bloodlines can produce demigods. Reality Fiothrey was one of these. the body of a mortal is not designed to contain the power of a god, and that divinity will regularly attempt escape, often explosively, if not kept rigorously in check by frequent usage of large amounts of arcane energy and exemplary self-discipline. Reality was already teetering on the edge of the maximum divine-to-mortal ratio possible to keep stable into adulthood. Even if he were to attempt to reproduce with a human with no chance of divinity in the blood, it was probable that the offspring would destabilise and detonate, taking half of the fey wilds with it. That Reality himself had not was a testament to his sheer force of will.

[3] especially Reality, who was nearly seven feet and showed no signs of slowing. The Divine Reality, who would likely incarnate into him, was known to appear at fantastic sizes usually no less than thirty feet. Everyone who knew Reality desperately hoped he would not grow that large.

taglist: @crash-bump-bring-the-whump @athenswrites

[scrollsfromarebornrealm]

🖊 I would love your thoughts on how the knights dragoon elders temper arrogance in the trainees of their ranks, especially regarding them versus other parts of the ishgardian, and greater alliance military. Must be real easy for dragoons high on their dragon fire and double jumps to think they're better than every other discipline, and I bet that could lead to trouble :x

For my headcanon (but possibly could be canon), the high death rate during the Dragonsong War was a good deterrent against full-blown and outright arrogance. Also I suspect that the ranks of the Knights Dragoon were mostly made up out of very lesser nobles and commoners, and I headcanon that they really had to distinguish themselves in the war to get that major leg up into the higher nobility. Hard to be on your high horse when a Temple Knight can get more praise and rewards than you. Hell, Aymeric getting Estinien a job as a simple city guard tells you a lot about how well your average veteran was possibly treated.

That aside--I'm imagining the Steps of Faith and the ragtag group of adventures we pull together to fight Vishap probably stick quite a few pins in egos, if not outright shocking quite a few folks. And we see Heustienne have no qualms in saying 'help us, we need to adapt', and she is Estinien's second in command!

Outside of that...I drew inspiration from stories I heard of older vets in the Army who said if there were issues between troops, the commanders would let them be settled with non-lethal fights back in the day. Running your mouth enough makes you liable to be challenged to put your money where your mouth is, and the Knight-Dragoon trainers have no qualms in seeing if you can match up to your skill or put you in a situation where you've no choice. Talk shit about a Temple Knight? Oh look you're in the training ring with him, square up. And if you can't win guess what you're getting busted back to basic training.

Talk shit about a Gridanian healer? Square up. Limsan Arcanist or Marauder? Square up. Public show for everyone to watch you get beat and instill fear into the rest of your fellows.

Knight-Dragoon trainees (again, my headcanon) also now undergo a period of service in Dravania, where they act as helpers to the dragons there. You want to advance to the next level, guess what? Go get that baby dragonet there dinner. Fresh nanka. Go hunt for this dragon that's nesting right now and about to pass an egg. Or watch the blessed event to make sure nothing goes wrong and if something does, call a healer.

Go help pick up and carry rubble since the buildings are being reconstructed. Ah, wait, your head is really up your ass?

The former Count Dzemael and the moogles will only be all too happy to help you with your attitude adjustment, kupo.

Mouthing off while you're in the Grand Alliance? You gonna get roasted. Enough fools have done so and gotten annihilated by Aymeric personally! In front of their unit! With an offer to the offended party to once again, issue an ass kicking if needed!

[cryptidsurveys]

Wednesday, September 4th, 2024.

When was the last time you admired some flowers? What kind/color were they? Last week. I pointed out the wild sunflowers bordering the fields on the way to the Mountain Park, as well as the pretty little (I believe they were purple, yellow, and white) flowers dotting the woods.

Are you in the process of watching or re-watching a series at the moment? I'm not. I don't have Netflix or anything along those lines, but also, unless someone recommends something and really wants to sit down and watch it with me, I'm not much of a TV-watcher.

If so, how many seasons does it have? And what season are you currently on? N/a.

Has anyone you know gotten a new pet recently? I'm not sure about recently, but Alex adopted a small dog from the shelter a few months ago.

How old were you 10 years ago? Who were your closest friends at that point? I was 25. My closest friend was Oliver; however, tbh, I don't feel like I was all that close to anyone at that point in my life. Aside from my dad, that is.

Do you still speak to any of them? Yes.

Have you ever kissed someone of another race? I have.

Are there any races you wouldn’t kiss? No.

What is your favorite thing about your best friend? I really liked the last person's answer about being low maintenance. I wouldn't say that's my favorite thing about them, but it is a huge relief. I'm already bad about keeping up with communication, but I feel like I'm even worse now that I'm spending more time at the shelter. If that was a sticking point then idk what I would do because I think being pressured to communicate more would make it harder. As for favorite things…their sense of humor, thoughtfulness, intelligence, creativity…

What do you mostly have in common with your best friend? Basically the qualities I listed above. We don't necessarily have a ton of overlap in terms of favorite shows, books, and the like, but we have enough in common that it's not an issue. I can also pretty much always count on them for a solid recommendation.

Do you like it when men shave their chests? If you are a guy, do you shave? I don't care. Shave or don't; it makes very little difference to me. I'm just not a very...physically oriented person…I guess…? I mean, it's nice if I'm physically attracted to someone I'm interested in, but it's not the end all be all.

What is your favourite kind of video game? Music-based games like Dance Dance Revolution, Rock Band, Guitar Hero… Also games like Maple Story, even though I haven't played in forever. Something relatively simple, repetitive, and cute. I feel like I'd enjoy games like Animal Crossing and Stardew Valley if I had the patience and consistency to spare.

When you’re visiting a site, do you still type “www.”? I don't.

What can you hear right now? Esther grooming, light traffic, a dog barking, and the whirring of the swamp cooler.

Do you think it’s okay for kids to have cellphones? Cell phones sure ain't what they used to be… If they were the equivalent of what I had when I got my first cell phone (sometime around age 17), then I'd be like, yeah, sure. But these days…idk. I'm not a parent and I don't have enough experience to say what's harmful or not, so I'm just going to go with the generic answer of "in moderation/with proper monitoring."

Do you watch anime? If so, what are some of your favourites? Not anymore. I used to watch shows like Pokemon, Dragon Ball Z, Yu-Gi-Oh, Yu Yu Hakusho, Hetalia, and Attack On Titan, as well as Ghibli films such as Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, and Howl's Moving Castle.

Do you have any siblings? If so which one of them do you get along with the best? I have one younger sibling. We don't get along at all anymore and are no longer in contact.

What’s your favorite TV show? And who’s your favorite character from it? I don't have one.

Have you violated any of the 10 Commandments? If so, what? Probably. I don't feel like looking them up in order to list which ones, though.

Do people think you look like either of your parents? Does that offend you? People don't really comment on that, but no, it wouldn't offend me.

Do you prefer regular bacon or turkey bacon? Regular bacon. I don't think I've ever had turkey bacon before.

Do you think it’s weird when people talk to their pets like people? How would that be any weirder than people baby-talking them all the time? (Btw I'm guilty of both lmao. Moreso the baby-talk.)

What is the last place, other than home, that you stayed overnight? Hmm…maybe Phantom Canyon.

What is the furthest you have traveled alone? Just the animal shelter, so not very far at all.

Have you ever dated someone simply for their looks? No. In fact, like I mentioned above, looks aren't much of a determining factor.

Have you ever been drunk? Plenty of times.

What was the name of the main character in the last book you read? Okay, this is a sure sign that it's been too long - I'm having trouble recalling their names. There's also not just one main character; POV shifts routinely. As for names I can recall…Paul, Alia, Stilgar, Lady Jessica…

What are three of your favorite toppings for salads? I don't think I can settle on three. I enjoy toppings like chicken, bacon bits, croutons, cheese, pumpkin or sunflower seeds, trail mix…

Do you prefer pizza or hot dogs? Pizza.

What is your favorite pizza topping? If I had to pick one topping and one topping only, then I would go with jalapenos.

Is your dad a jerk? Naw.

Is anyone in your family currently in the military? No. My dad was in the Air Force when he was younger, though.

What is your favorite dog breed? I don't have one.

Do you own a bikini? No.

If you were a rockstar, what color guitar would you have? White and gold. Something angelic looking.

Would you rather have a personal chef or personal house cleaner? Omg. A personal house cleaner would be a life saver.

Do you have any zits on your face right now? Always and probably forever. When I was younger, I had no idea zits would last past my teenage years…

What are three of your favorite bakery items? Croissants, doughnuts, and carrot cake.

What are three creative hobbies you enjoy? Photography and art are really the only creative activities I engage in.

What are three things you like about church? I don't go to church, but I would probably enjoy the architecture (assuming it was a nice old building and not a generic block), the singing, and the doughnuts and coffee afterward. Even the Biblical texts and sermons would be interesting to me, depending on how they were presented. I enjoy learning about that sort of thing on my own time as well as in discussions with my dad, so...!

What was the last type of pie you ate? I'm not sure. Perhaps Dutch apple pie.

Which book did you love when you were younger? Watership Down (my weird obsession lmao), Little House On The Prairie, Dear America books, American Girl books, Harry Potter, etc.

Which book series could you read again? Maybe Little House On The Prairie or some of the Dear America books. I don't think I have another Harry Potter read-through in me.

Tell me about your first breakup, if you had one. He broke up with me on or right around the last day of 8th grade, and I think I purposely missed the bus and walked home all devastated. I know it was only a middle school relationship, but middle school me was genuinely crushed.

Which person would you chose to travel the world with? My dad.

Do you have (a) stuffed animal(s) sitting in your room? Which one(s)? Yeah. There's a giant purple gorilla, a Christmas teddy bear, and a pastel purple fluffball thing. I have more in storage as well, but I don't feel like listing them all.

Have you ever had to do a doubletake on someone ‘cuz they were so pretty? Probably.

Is your last ex currently in a relationship? Idk.

Who was the last female you were introduced to? Directly…River (new cattery hire). Indirectly…Vivian (new dog people hire) (she was introduced at the meeting on Monday).

Who was the last male you were introduced to? I'm not sure.

Do you use a nightlight? I have two mushroom nightlights - one on my desk and one in an outlet beneath the window.

What’s your opinion on border control? Hmmm.

What are your favorite things to create? Landscape art. I want to get to a point where I can convey that feeling I get when I go into the woods/mountains. I can kind of capture it in photographs, but I would love to be able to do it through art as well.

What’s something you prefer to keep private? It largely depends on the company. I'm extremely open with my dad and my therapist, but when it comes to people at the animal shelter…good luck getting anything out of this vault.

Are you good at prioritizing? Ahah. I wish. I really, really wish… Okay, I guess I'm not terrible at it, but lately it does feel as though the figurative wheels are coming off of my literal life. ;D

If you’re not religious, were you ever? What made you lose faith? I'm not religious, but I do believe in God. Except "believe" isn't quite the right word…"have faith" doesn't quite cut it either. I act "as if." I basically gaslight myself lmao.

What feeling do you have the most difficulty in expressing? It's not exactly a feeling, but I have difficulty expressing and setting boundaries. Telling people to fvck off or shut up but in a nice way. :')))

When was the last time you looked at your significant other/crush’s Facebook profile? N/a.

[istumpysk]

Operation Stumpy Re-Read

ADWD: Tyrion XI (Chapter 57)

The healer entered the tent murmuring pleasantries, but one sniff of the foul air and a glance at Yezzan zo Qaggaz put an end to that. "The pale mare," the man told Sweets.

What a surprise, Tyrion thought. Who could have guessed? Aside from any man with a nose and me with half of one. Yezzan was burning with fever, squirming fitfully in a pool of his own excrement. His shit had turned to brown slime streaked with blood … and it fell to Yollo and Penny to wipe his yellow bottom clean. Even with assistance, their master could not lift his own weight; it took all his failing strength to roll onto one side.

"My arts will not avail here," the healer announced. "The noble Yezzan's life is in the hands of the gods. Keep him cool if you can. Some say that helps. Bring him water." Those afflicted by the pale mare were always thirsty, drinking gallons between their shits. "Clean fresh water, as much as he will drink."

"Not river water," said Sweets.

Sunset found her squatting in the grass, groaning. Every stool was looser than the one before, and smelled fouler. By the time the moon came up she was shitting brown water. The more she drank, the more she shat, but the more she shat, the thirstier she grew, and her thirst sent her crawling to the stream to suck up more water. - Daenerys X, ADWD

+.+.+

Poor old Yezzan. The lord of suet was not so bad as masters went. Sweets had been right about that. Serving at his nightly banquets, Tyrion had soon learned that Yezzan stood foremost amongst those Yunkish lords who favored honoring the peace with Meereen. Most of the others were only biding their time, waiting for the armies of Volantis to arrive. A few wanted to assault the city immediately, lest the Volantenes rob them of their glory and the best part of the plunder. Yezzan would have no part of that. Nor would he consent to returning Meereen's hostages by way of trebuchet, as the sellsword Bloodbeard had proposed.

"No. Have the Yunkishmen chosen a new commander?"

"The council of masters has been unable to agree. Yezzan zo Qaggaz had the most support, but now he's died as well. - The Spurned Suitor, ADWD

The situation is bleak but salvageable. Yezzan might be gone, but there are still other lords who wish to honor the peace.

Unfortunately Barristan the Boob is going to arrest the one man who can save the situation.

+.+.+

"Some masters free their slaves when they die," said Penny.

Sweets tittered. It was a ghastly sound. "Only favorites. They free them from the woes of the world, to accompany their beloved master to the grave and serve him in the afterlife."

Oh good, Barry's already got his next job lined up.

+.+.+

The goat boy spoke up. "The silver queen—"

"—is dead," insisted Sweets. "Forget her! The dragon took her across the river. She's drowned in that Dothraki sea."

"You can't drown in grass," the goat boy said.

Should we consider Daenerys X her second rebirth on that Dothraki sea? Her final form. Lol.

She talks of prophecies . . . a hero reborn in the sea, living dragons hatched from dead stone - Davos V, ASOS

x

The frightened child who sheltered in my manse died on the Dothraki sea, and was reborn in blood and fire. - Tyrion II, ADWD

Thank you, @decadelongsummer!

+.+.+

"It was just a wish," said Penny wistfully. "We could sail away. There are ships again, now that the war is over."

Is it? Tyrion was inclined to doubt that. Parchments had been signed, but wars were not fought on parchments.

He should know better.

Some battles are won with swords and spears, others with quills and ravens. - Tyrion I, ASOS

Right idea, wrong execution from Tywin. Bran will show them both.

+.+.+

Sweets dabbed at Yezzan's fevered face with a damp cloth. "Yezzan must live. Or we all die with him. The pale mare does not carry off every rider. The master will recover."

Not everyone dies from the pale mare. Wink, wink, nudge, nudge.

Some people only lose their minds in the middle of the Dothraki Sea.

+.+.+

When men are dying every hour, no one looks too hard at one more dead man, especially one as well despised as Nurse. Yezzan's other slaves had refused to go near the overseer once the cramps began, so it was left to Tyrion to keep him warm and bring him drinks. Watered wine and lemonsweet and some nice hot dogtail soup, with slivers of mushroom in the broth. Drink it down, Nursey, that shitwater squirting from your arse needs to be replaced. The last word Nurse ever said was, "No." The last words he ever heard were, "A Lannister always pays his debts."

Don't mind Tyrion, he's just casually murdering someone who was already going to die.

Somehow I doubt George introduced those mushrooms to the story to kill Yezzan's overseer.

+.+.+

He waddled toward them. "Scar," he barked out, "the noble Yezzan has need of fresh, clean water. Take two men and bring back as many pails as you can carry. And be quick about it."

The soldiers broke off their game. Scar rose to his feet, brow beetling. "What did you say, dwarf? Who do you think you are?"

"You know who I am. Yollo. One of our lord's treasures. Now do as I told you."

The soldiers laughed. "Go on, Scar," one mocked, "and be quick about it. Yezzan's monkey gave you a command."

Tyrion hasn't lost his mind. He wants the soldier to send him to get the water.

Remember how George managed to include a bear in every ASOS chapter? This is kind of like that, except all the monkeys are probably Tyrion.

<- The Iron Suitor (Victarion I)

The monkeys, though … the monkeys were a plague. Victarion had forbidden his men to bring any of the demonic creatures aboard ship, yet somehow half his fleet was now infested with them, even his own Iron Victory. He could see some now, swinging from spar to spar and ship to ship. Would that I had a crossbow.

+.+.+

"Bring the pails," Tyrion told Penny. He went off with the man Morgo to fetch Ser Jorah Mormont from his cage.

The knight had not adapted well to bondage. When called upon to play the bear and carry off the maiden fair, he had been sullen and uncooperative, shuffling lifelessly through his paces when he deigned to take part in their mummery at all. Though he had not attempted escape, nor offered violence to his captors, he would ignore their commands oft as not or reply with muttered curses. None of this had amused Nurse, who made his displeasure clear by confining Mormont in an iron cage and having him beaten every evening as the sun sank into Slaver's Bay. The knight absorbed the beatings silently; the only sounds were the muttered curses of the slaves who beat him and the dull thuds of their clubs pounding against Ser Jorah's bruised and battered flesh.

+.+.+

Wearing a collar conferred certain advantages, particularly a gilded collar inscribed with the name of Yezzan zo Qaggaz. The chime of those little bells proclaimed their value to anyone with ears. A slave was only as important as his master; Yezzan was the richest man in the Yellow City and had brought six hundred slave soldiers to the war, even if he did look like a monstrous yellow slug and smell of piss. Their collars gave them leave to go anywhere they might wish within the camp.

Is that a Jabba the Hutt reference?

+.+.+

Elsewhere teams of slaves were raising ramps of stone and sand beneath their mangonels and scorpions, angling them upward at the sky, the better to defend the camp should the black dragon return. It made the dwarf smile to see them sweating and cursing as they wrestled the heavy machines onto the inclines. Crossbows were much in evidence as well. Every other man seemed to be clutching one, with a quiverfull of bolts hanging from his hip.

If anyone had thought to ask him, Tyrion could have told them not to bother. Unless one of those long iron scorpion bolts chanced to find an eye, the queen's pet monster was not like to be brought down by such toys. Dragons are not so easy to kill as that. Tickle him with these and you'll only make him angry.

The eyes were where a dragon was most vulnerable. The eyes, and the brain behind them. Not the underbelly, as certain old tales would have it. The scales there were just as tough as those along a dragon's back and flanks. And not down the gullet either. That was madness. These would-be dragonslayers might as well try to quench a fire with a spear thrust. "Death comes out of the dragon's mouth," Septon Barth had written in his Unnatural History, "but death does not go in that way."

Apparently the bookworm also forgot about House Uller.

In all fairness to him Meraxes was struck in the eye.

"It is said that the Yunkai'i have ringed the city all about with scorpions, to loose iron bolts into the sky should Drogon return."

Ser Barristan had heard that too. "It is no simple thing to slay a dragon in the sky. In Westeros, many tried to bring down Aegon and his sisters. None succeeded." - The Queensguard, ADWD

Two people from Team Daenerys claim a scorpion can't take down a dragon, which guarantees a scorpion will take down a dragon.

A man wounded Drogon with a spear, and crossbows tore through the membranes of his wings, so I don't know what the hell this whole eye business is about.

I imagine someone is going to attempt to stab a dragon in the eye.

+.+.+

To the naked eye the Ghiscari looked more formidable than the Yunkish slave soldiers, but Tyrion nursed doubts. The legionaries might be armed and organized in the same manner as Unsullied … but the eunuchs knew no other life, whereas the Ghiscari were free citizens who served for three-year terms.

In case it wasn't clear, Daenerys will stomp.

+.+.+

There were only a handful of wells within a day's march of Meereen, so the wait was always long. Most of the Yunkish host drew their drinking water from the Skahazadhan, which Tyrion had known was a very bad idea even before the healer's warning. The clever ones took care to stay upstream of the latrines, but they were still downstream of the city.

The fact that there were any good wells at all within a day's march of the city only went to prove that Daenerys Targaryen was still an innocent where siegecraft was concerned. She should have poisoned every well. Then all the Yunkishmen would be drinking from the river. See how long their siege lasts then. That was what his lord father would have done, Tyrion did not doubt.

Nobody is better at weaponizing a water system than Tyrion Lannister.

So to mark his manhood, Tyrion was given charge of all the drains and cisterns within Casterly Rock. - Tyrion III, ADWD

x

"I once had charge of all the drains in Casterly Rock," Tyrion said mildly. - Tyrion XII, ADWD

+.+.+

There was no better place to hear the latest news and rumors than around the well. 

[...]

"The queen climbed onto the dragon's back and flew away," insisted a tall brown woman.

"She tried," said the old man, "but she couldn't hold on. The crossbows wounded the dragon, and the queen was struck right between her sweet pink teats, I hear. That was when she fell. She died in the gutter, crushed beneath a wagon's wheels. I know a girl who knows a man who saw her die."

I strongly believe this will not be the last time there's debate over how Daenerys Targaryen died.

Early the next morning, he was found dead on the throne, his robes sodden with blood, his arms slashed open by the barbs of the Iron Throne.

Thus ended Maegor the Cruel. How he came to die is a matter of much speculation. Though the singers would have us believe that the Iron Throne itself killed him, some suspect his Kingsguard, and others some mason whom the king had failed to kill and who knew the secrets of the Red Keep. But perhaps even likelier is the suggestion that the king killed himself rather than suffer defeat. Whatever the truth, it was a reign that ended in the only way it could after the six years of terror that Maegor had visited upon the realm. But his nephew's reign would do much to mend the deep wounds he had made in the Seven Kingdoms. - The World of Ice and Fire

+.+.+

Laughter erupted all around them. Even the old man joined in. "You saw her, then," said the redheaded boy behind them. "You saw the queen. Is she as beautiful as they say?"

I saw a slender girl with silvery hair wrapped in a tokar, he might have told them. Her face was veiled, and I never got close enough for a good look. I was riding on a pig. Daenerys Targaryen had been seated in the owner's box beside her Ghiscari king, but Tyrion's eyes had been drawn to the knight in the white-and-gold armor behind her. Though his features were concealed, the dwarf would have known Barristan Selmy anywhere. Illyrio was right about that much, at least, he remembered thinking. Will Selmy know me, though? And what will he do if he does?

Let you ruin her.

Someone who grew up with Cersei Lannister is not going to be enamored by Daenerys's beauty.

+.+.+

Selmy had never approved of Jaime's presence in his precious Kingsguard. Before the rebellion, the old knight thought him too young and untried; afterward, he had been known to say that the Kingslayer should exchange that white cloak for a black one. And his own crimes were worse. Jaime had killed a madman. Tyrion had put a quarrel through the groin of his own sire, a man Ser Barristan had known and served for years. He might have chanced it all the same, but then Penny had landed a blow on his shield and the moment was gone, never to return.

Barristan Selmy, Jorah Mormont, and Tyrion Lannister all hate each other. Add a Greyjoy, some sellsword captains, and a red priest and you have a terribly dysfunctional group of advisers.

+.+.+

"Ghazdor's collar," the old man boasted. "Known him since we was born. I'm almost like a brother to him. Slaves like you, sweepings out of Astapor and Yunkai, you whine about being free, but I wouldn't give the dragon queen my collar if she offered to suck my cock for it. Man has the right master, that's better."

Tyrion did not dispute him. The most insidious thing about bondage was how easy it was to grow accustomed to it. 

+.+.+

The life of most slaves was not all that different from the life of a serving man at Casterly Rock, it seemed to him. True, some slaveowners and their overseers were brutal and cruel, but the same was true of some Westerosi lords and their stewards and bailiffs. Most of the Yunkai'i treated their chattels decently enough, so long as they did their jobs and caused no trouble … and this old man in his rusted collar, with his fierce loyalty to Lord Wobblecheeks, his owner, was not at all atypical.

+.+.+

Tyrion set the pails of water on the ground, grateful for the halt. His legs were cramping badly, so he found himself a likely rock and sat on it to rub his thighs.

"I could do that for you," offered Penny.

"I know where the knots are." As fond as he had grown of the girl, it still made him uncomfortable when she touched him. 

Ask yourself why Tyrion doesn't want to be touched by Penny.

It's not her age, I can promise you that.

+.+.+

He turned to Ser Jorah. "A few more beatings and you'll be uglier than I am, Mormont. Tell me, is there any fight left in you?"

Boy, I can't help but notice the author keeps going back to this.

"The girl finally poked her nose abovedecks," Tyrion told him. "One look at me and she scurried right back down below."

"You're not a pretty sight."

"Not all of us can be as comely as you. - Tyrion VIII, ADWD

Not yet.

↓

A few more beatings and you'll be uglier than I am, Mormont.

Almost there.

↓

Ser Jorah had never been what one might call a comely man. The brand had transformed his face into something frightening.

Tyrion grinned. "As long as I look prettier than you, I will be happy." - Tyrion XII, ADWD

We made it!

↓

Sometimes she would close her eyes and dream of him, but it was never Jorah Mormont she dreamed of; her lover was always younger and more comely, though his face remained a shifting shadow. - Daenerys II, ASOS

Same monkey I've seen before!

It was Lemore who forced the water from your lungs after Griff had pulled you up. You were as cold as ice, and your lips were blue. Yandry said we ought to throw you back, but the lad forbade it. - Tyrion VI, ADWD

↓

Beneath her coverlets she tossed and turned, dreaming that Hizdahr was kissing her … but his lips were blue and bruised, and when he thrust himself inside her, his manhood was cold as ice. - Daenerys VII, ADWD

+.+.+

Sometimes he envied the girl all her pretty little dreams. She reminded him of Sansa Stark, the child bride he had wed and lost. Despite the horrors Penny had suffered, she remained somehow trusting. She should know better. She is older than Sansa. And she's a dwarf. She acts as if she has forgotten that, as if she were highborn and fair to look upon, instead of a slave in a grotesquerie. At night Tyrion would oft hear her praying. A waste of words. If there are gods to listen, they are monstrous gods who torment us for their sport. Who else would make a world like this, so full of bondage, blood, and pain? Who else would shape us as they have? Sometimes he wanted to slap her, shake her, scream at her, anything to wake her from her dreams. No one is going to save us, he wanted to scream at her. The worst is yet to come. Yet somehow he could never say the words. Instead of giving her a good hard crack across that ugly face of hers to knock the blinders from her eyes, he would find himself squeezing her shoulder or giving her a hug. Every touch a lie. I have paid her so much false coin that she half thinks she's rich.

Fuck yourself.

There's a lot to unpack here, but I don't have the patience or desire.

+.+.+

He had even kept the truth of Daznak's Pit from her.

Lions. They were going to set lions on us. It would have been exquisitely ironic, that. Perhaps he would have had time for a short, bitter chortle before being torn apart.

We are owed an ironic Tyrion death!

The author can't forget. He mustn't.

+.+.+

"Those are the tents we want, there."

"The Second Sons?" A queer smile split Ser Jorah's face. "If you think to find help there, you don't know Brown Ben Plumm."

"Oh, I do. Plumm and I have played five games of cyvasse. Brown Ben is shrewd, tenacious, not unintelligent … but wary. He likes to let his opponent take the risks whilst he sits back and keeps his options open, reacting to the battle as it takes shape."

Tyrion will end up promising Ben Plumm the world, making it likely that Tyrion will have to convince Daenerys to let the Second Sons return to her service.

That will be his first blunder as her adviser.

+.+.+

"A runaway slave is what I see. Three runaway slaves. Whose collar?"

"The Yellow Whale's." That from a third man, drawn by their voices—a skinny stubble-jawed piece of work with teeth stained red from sourleaf. A serjeant, Tyrion knew, from the way the other two deferred to him. He had a hook where his right hand should have been. Bronn's meaner bastard shadow, or I'm Baelor the Beloved. "These are the dwarfs Ben tried to buy," the serjeant told the spearmen, squinting, "but the big one … best bring him too. All three."

Rest in peace, Bronn's meaner bastard shadow.

+.+.+

"Come for another game of cyvasse, Yollo?"

"If you wish. I do enjoy defeating you. I hear you're twice a turncloak, Plumm. A man after mine own heart."

Oh, Daenerys. You silly stupid girl.

+.+.+

Brown Ben's smile never reached his eyes. He studied Tyrion as a man might study a talking snake.

Once again highlighting Daenerys was easily fooled by the man.

Dany tried to speak and found no words. She remembered Ben's face the last time she had seen it. It was a warm face, a face I trusted. - Daenerys VI, ADWD

Poor thing. Not everyone can be perceptive.

He had grey-green eyes that did not smile when his mouth did. - Sansa II, AGOT

x

"How . . . dutiful." Littlefinger smiled with his mouth, but not his eyes. - Alayne I, AFFC

x

"Oh, I think you do," said Littlefinger, with one of those smiles that did not reach his eyes. - Alayne I, TWOW

+.+.+

"I know you as well, my lord," said Tyrion. "You're less purple and more brown than the Plumms at home, but unless your name's a lie, you're a westerman, by blood if not by birth. House Plumm is sworn to Casterly Rock, and as it happens I know a bit of its history. Your branch sprouted from a stone spit across the narrow sea, no doubt. A younger son of Viserys Plumm, I'd wager. The queen's dragons were fond of you, were they not?"

That seemed to amuse the sellsword. "Who told you that?"

"No one. Most of the stories you hear about dragons are fodder for fools. Talking dragons, dragons hoarding gold and gems, dragons with four legs and bellies big as elephants, dragons riddling with sphinxes … nonsense, all of it. But there are truths in the old books as well. Not only do I know that the queen's dragons took to you, but I know why."

"My mother said my father had a drop of dragon blood."

"Two drops. That, or a cock six feet long. You know that tale? I do. 

Tyrion pretending dragons liking Valyrian blood is a secret only he knows.

Ossifer Plumm married Elaena Targaryen, but died while consummating the marriage. Somehow she still had a child nine months later. Many believe Aegon the Unworthy was the real father. Two drops.

Not sure how many dragons will be left by the time Daenerys parleys with Jon at the Trident, but I'm going to assume he'll have to pass the dragon test before she believes Rhaegar was his father.

Most of the stories you hear about dragons are fodder for fools. Talking dragons, dragons hoarding gold and gems, dragons with four legs and bellies big as elephants, dragons riddling with sphinxes … nonsense, all of it.

Most of these are common fantasy tropes.

Dragons riddling with sphinxes is not.

He said the sphinx was the riddle, not the riddler, whatever that meant. - Samwell IV, AFFC

No closer to figuring that one out.

+.+.+

Tyrion cleared his throat. "You can talk of old times later … after I am done explaining why my head would be of more use to you upon my shoulders. You will find, Lord Plumm, that I can be very generous to my friends. If you doubt me, ask Bronn. Ask Shagga, son of Dolf. Ask Timett, son of Timett."

"And who would they be?" asked the man called Inkpots.

"Good men who pledged me their swords and prospered greatly by that service." He shrugged. "Oh, very well, I lied about the 'good' part. They're bloodthirsty bastards, like you lot."

"Might be," said Brown Ben. "Or might be you just made up some names. Shagga, did you say? Is that a woman's name?"

"His teats are big enough. Next time we meet I'll peek beneath his breeches to be sure. Is that a cyvasse set over there? Bring it out and we'll have that game. But first, I think, a cup of wine. My throat is dry as an old bone, and I can see that I have a deal of talking to do."

What is he even talking about?

It was Tywin who knighted Bronn, and Cersei who arranged his marriage to Lollys Stokeworth.

The mountains clans are still in the mountains.

Final thoughts:

There's only one more Tyrion chapter in this book. :D

Today I learned Preston Jacobs theorized that Penny is still working for Littlefinger, and her objective is to kill Tyrion or the dragons. Lol

46 down, 3 to go. :(

-> return to menu <-

[sidhelives]

Word Search Tag Game

@kittynomsdeplume has brought me back to the land of the living with her tags, and for that we thank her.

The words I have been given to search for are Seek, Fault, Bruise, Wisdom, and Cherish

Letsa go!

Seek - Listen Closely (Skyrim)

Above his disemboweled torso, the vampire's expression was frozen in shock. He had not expected death to come calling, despite what he was. A mistake Diem would do well to learn from. There was no complacency in half life, no peace for creatures like them. To seek it was to invite destruction. To forget their nature was to welcome annihilation.

Fault - Pitfall (Dragon Age Inquisition)

Shaking her head, she put her arms around his neck. "No, don't do that. It's not your fault." She sighed. "I should have known better than to wander off in the middle of the night when there's a contract on my head." "The only one at fault is the asshole who did this," Bull stated firmly. "And he's not going to hurt anyone again."

Bruise - I'm Sorry I Ruined Your Party (Dragon Age 2)

Of course not. At dawn the very next day, like vultures, the nobles had descended, no thought in their minuscule minds but their own advancement and, knowingly or not, Bran's suffering. The onslaught had continued, unabated, since then. He turned all of them away, much as he had done before Marlowe's death, but the insistence with which they reappeared was reminiscent of rats flocking to a garbage heap. It would begin again come morning, he knew, and Bran let his head thump against the door again in something like despair. "You're going to give yourself a nasty bruise," a slight, feminine voice informed him. "Not the best look for when the nobles come nipping at your heels."

Wisdom - I Guess We Have Some Time to Kill (The Mariner's Revenge Song)

So I did as you taught me to in times of uncertainty. I prayed, and asked the Lord for guidance. And the Lord, in His infinite wisdom, provided.

Cherish - Crowns of Violets and Roses (Dragon Age Inquisition)

"Loghain?! That is who I was thrown aside for?" There was fire in her eyes and her body rigid with fury. "I threw you aside for no one! Had I not done what I did, one of them would have perished slaying the Archdemon, leaving the Wardens without a Commander or taking yet another cherished life from Hero. Would you have chosen either for the sake of fidelity?"

Sorry if that last one seems like cheating, it was the closest I could find.

Tagging: @beaubartley @crown-laurel @fiannans @hezjena @jrastegar @noire-pandora @rosella-writes @starsandskies @the-cryptographer

Your words to search for are - Charm, Waste, Crew, Uncertainty, and Aloof

[commander-gloryforge]

hhgrhghh champion of soo-won byungjoon. thoughts. unsorted but thoughts

in canon he never really got to meet her for real i dont think. at least not face to face but he still like communicated with her right. and only after her death he kind of absorbed some of her energy.

but if i think about it now, hed be so easy to get void corrupted? like he hangs around at the harvest temple all the time and if something told him that he could serve the dragon hed be like yea sure ill do that i guess.

theres something about him becoming void and for once nagisa cant save him. worst case scenario, nagisa corrupts as well because in the end they just trust joon that much especially in regards to his connection to soowon. they have connectiosn to their own magical cool creature and they know that joon would never be able to understand, so they know that theyd never understandn whatever joon and dragon mom got going on. and its not like theyre aware of dragon corruption the way its happened with the other elderdragons.

even in its horror theyd still be willing to give themselves to the void because their beloved brother trusts it too. and joon does not trust anyone.

also void!joon would be a cool ass boss on dragons end/harvest temple phase. htcm gayboy edition where you have to murder some sad cowboy.

also like aside from corrupted/void champion, itd be so. nice to think about a soowon champion in the way many of us imagine the aurene branded commander/champion... like he'd carry some fishy watery characteristics, get this translucent shine, maybe his eyes/hair/parts of his skin have soowons colour scheme... of course the horns. oh horns.

or imagine him being a mermaid instead. in a universe where soowon stays alive and gets to roam the ocean and joon could swin with her. something sweet and gay like that.

or she doesnt survive, but he stays at the destroyed harvest temple forever. or at mothers lament, waiting to hear her voice again. it already is what he does now.

as a champion, would he understand that she had to die? surely she wouldve told him. she wouldve explained to him that this is how it ends. that she has to go. would he have listened to her, though? or would he have thought the commander, the void, her because he just cant let her go already?

maybe he would join the commander though. after all, they know what its like to be a dragon champion, and theyre pretty much the only one that understands. especially when aurene leaves, the commander would be the only one to somehow understand what its like.

and now if soowon is dead and byungjoon is alive as her champion. he is all that remains of. the literal creator. of the world. he carries the legacy of the MOTHER of THE PLANET. somewhere within him is the creation of all. somewhere within him is life and death and a cycle of destruction and magic. it still is in canon but as her actual champion thered just be. so much more.

oh man

where was i going with this again. idk.

[thatoneguy031]

I guess it's time to give some context for my characters. I've had them up here for a while, and seemingly no one really saw them???

So.

These are some OCs I've baked up while I was bored.

The one on the left is Jacque, although he currently goes as Smudge(due to a dark patch of scales on his torso that looks like someone rubbed dark-green paint all over him).

As stated in my post about Trevor, it's normal for my MCs to be really nice, and the same thing applies here. Smudge had a pretty rough childhood, frequently being bullied for being a dragon and having... Venomous saliva, I guess? It's a little complicated, so buckle up.

Smudge's spit functions as a very, very potent acid, being able to melt and degrade even the most resistant materials with relative ease. But, it's when it's given a chance to dilute that it shows how potent it really is.

When diluted, this turns the liquid from an acid to a deadly neurotoxin. If it gets a chance to enter the body, it attacks the brain directly first, and more or less commands it to shut down other body systems as well. It's a slow and painful process, too, taking about a week for it to finally grace you with death. After the brain, it goes after the immune system, and then the endocrine system, which is what's normally meant to get rid of these poisons(As far as I'm aware, with my limited knowledge on science). That's when it finally goes for the muscular and cardio systems, resulting in cardiac arrest.

It's really hard to take care of someone once it enters the body but, like mercury, it's safe to play with if you take the right precautions(Although I don't know why you'd wanna play with a dragon's saliva, but go off).

That aside, Smudge is also a professional volleyball player, actually winning his regionals about two years before college started for him. But, some things happened in that game. He had severely injured his foot trying to dive for the ball. Of course, in fear that he had to prove himself, he kept playing anyway, making it so, so much worse. What started as just a sprained ankle had turned into several torn muscle fibers and a dislocation. The injury itself was pretty unique, but it could best be described as an especially complicated-to-repair Grade 3.

You can't see it in this photo, but he's wearing a foot brace, along with a matching sock. his doctor said he'd have to wear it for two years, but he "should try three, just to be safe." So... yeah, he has to wear the stupid thing for a majority of his college life. it never stopped him, though. He still plays volleyball, happily at that, and often forgets about the brace. It's sorta become a part of him, but he yearns for the day he can just get rid of it.

The lovely dragoness on the right is Katherine, but you can just call her Katie. She's a little chubby, but give her a jersey, and she'll join the same team as Smudge and probably be just as active. She's pretty aggressive, wanting to fight Smudge the moment she saw him(For reasons that are kinda dumb, from both of them), but she's really caring deep down.

If you know Beastars, you know where I'm going with this next bit.

Smudge, after some supernatural hijinks Scooby-Doo style with Katie and his not-boyfriend(It was complicated, they weren't really a thing yet), decided to start talking to Katie for real. Maybe they could be friends. Katie, being Katie, rejected his acceptance immediately, but warmed up to him soon enough, claiming that she "has to protect him."

Smudge thought this was kinda cute, and began calling her "little sis." They looked enough like each other to be siblings, and they already had something going on. Why not, right? Besides, Katie was admittedly really small, especially compared to Smudge, who was around 6'7" compared to her own 5'9"(These two are 18 and 17, respectfully). She was prone to bullying, and Smudge faking as Katie's older, more popular brother, anyone that was even remotely a bully would stop in their tracks.

But, Katie could defend herself. She's gotten into her fair share of fights in school, so she knows what to do. But, she hung out with Smudge and Charles(Smudge's "boyfriend" I was talking about earlier), mostly because they were pretty fun to be around. You know The Amazing World of Gumball?

...Yeah, Smudge, Katie, and Charles are the Gumball, Anise, and Darwin of the group, respectively(...Sort of).

Here are some quotes that I think are cute from the both of them:

Smudge: "Why am I so nice? ...I dunno, really. I ask myself the same thing sometimes. ...I guess it's 'cause I feel good doing it. It's good, knowing that I'm not adding to anyone's problems." (Talking to Charles, partially half to himself as well)

"What is your deal, dude?! I... I just wanted to see if you were alright.

...I don't know you, and that's why I care!" (Shouting at Katie after an argument started by him hearing her yell in pain)

Katie: "Who goes there?! I'm not afraid to go all Bruce Lee on you! ...Oh. It's you. I've heard of you before... You're that guy that ruined his ankle in that one tourney, right?" (Meeting Smudge for the first time in an abandoned library)

"...I'm surprised that you haven't promoted yourself more. Either way, what the hell are you doing in my hangout spot?!" (Confronting Smudge about being in his hangout spot moments later)

I'll give a Part 2 at some point, but I think this post is getting wayy too long. Next time, I'll talk about some trivia and stuff about these two, but it'll mostly be dedicated to Charles, the wolf-lion-eagle... thing??? Not quite a griffon, but you won't get called out for calling him one.

[shvdwscng]

working  in  one's  high  ruler's  inner  circle  was  a  position  most  would  kill  for,  he  was  sure.  many  aside  from  alistair  were  quite  ambitious  and  he  knew  many  in  their  court  wanted  their  positions.  odd  that  the  role  of  commander  came  to  the  very  man  who  had  little  desire  for  it,  and  he's  not  sure  if  he  did  still  wanted  whole  heartedly,  more  than  it  was  a  way  for  him  to  look  out  for  his  best  friend  and  high  lord.  despite  his  rough  start  in  the  early  years,  the  commander  knew  he  had  come  a  long  way,  and  in  many  ways  he  had  surprised  himself  with  how  well  he  excelled  in  it.  it  was  no  different  with  his  little  sister,  who  showed  a  far  greater  desire  and  ambition  to  work  so  closely  with  their  high  lord.  he  was  beyond  proud  of  his  sister  for  working  as  hard  she  had,  and  he'd  also  known  ced  would  not  have  allowed  her,  be  it  his  friend's  sister  into  such  a  role  if  she  was  not  as  brilliant  as  she  was.  "they  would  be  smart  to  -  they  won't  allow  us  in  on  anything  anytime  soon.  this  might  be  the  chance  for  you  to  work  with  the  other  spymasters."  a  pause,  "what  i  am  about  to  say  has  not  been  made  public  knowledge  yet,  so  keep  it  yourself,  addie,  alright?"  he  meets  his  sister's  gaze,  "our  high  lord  has  made  an  alliance  with  the  summer  court,  you  can  work  with  their  spymaster.  in  all  this,  they  are  the  ones  we  can  fully  trust  to  work  with  us."  alistair  had  been  reluctant,  but  it  appeared  his  worries  had  been  for  naught.

"it  seems  so,  they  almost  act  like  guardians  of  this  court."  he  looks  up  to  where  a  few  hover  above  the  gardens  where  the  hightower  siblings  stood.  he  chuckles,  "special  is  one  word,  impressive  actually  that  they're  able  to  tame  such  dangerous  beasts.  then  i  suppose,  they  are  not  ordinary  unruly  creatures  to  be  able  to  we're  not  a  threat  to  them."  he  certainly  was  curious  enough  of  how  this  bond  between  the  dusk  faes  and  the  dragons  came  to,  "my  guess  would  be  not  everyone  is  able  to  bond  with  one.  unless  these  dragons  chose  their  fae  companions?"  a  small  sigh  falls,  "it  wouldn't  be  the  first  time  pivotal  information  was  left  out  of  our  history.  all  this  time  we  had  no  idea  there  was  another  ancient  magic  in  play  along  with  our  mother.  it's  surreal  to  even  think  so,  despite  the  magic  our  lands  hold."  he  grins  at  the  younger  hightower,  "nothing  can  compare  to  our  court,  and  i'm  missing  the  sun  of  our  court  awfully.  when  we  do  return  home,  we  likely  will  be  seeing  these  dusk  faes.  i  urged  ced  to  speak  to  the  high  ruler  of  this  place,  i'd  rather  we  have  them  as  friends  of  sorts  than  an  enemy."

the   hightower   children   were   raised   to   be   the   best   of   the   best.   while   adelaide   wasn't   a   hightower   by   birth   she   was   still   a   member   of   the   family   that   carried   the   name   with   her.   working   hard   was   part   of   her   at   this   point.   when   she'd   been   younger   she   hadn't   dreamed   of   becoming   the   spymaster   within   the   day   court   specifically,   but   she'd   had   to   goal   from   a   young   age   to   work   her   way   into   the   inner   circle.   "i   need   to   actively   seek   out   conversations   with   other's   here.   i've   been   listening   in   when   i   can,   but   they   keep   their   conversations   revolving   around   their   court   in   closed   quarters."   the   spymaster   explained.   while   listening   in   often   could   work   as   a   spy   method   it   wasn't   always   the   most   efficient.   she   was   going   to   have   to   be   more   clever   to   get   them   to   spill.   "they're   likely   protective   of   the   fae   that   they   are   partnered   with.   it   must   be   a   pretty   special   thing   to   have   a   dragon   on   your   side."   adelaide   mused   eyes   meeting   with   the   older's.   "maybe   those   without   a   fae   are   waiting   for   the   one   they'd   be   paired   with."   it   was   fascinating   the   way   that   the   fae   and   dragon   seemed   to   work   together.   "it's   almost   as   though   it   was   written   out   of   our   history."   adelaide   probably   would   have   enjoyed   the   dusk   court   should   it   have   been   her   choice   to   travel   to   it.   having   mixed   feelings   about   being   forced   into   it.   "it's   not   the   worst   thing,   does   it   compare   to   home   though?   no."

[wovenstarlight]

that's all i got gang :P I have no real plans right now for writing anything beyond that last chapter. this last post isn’t a real chapter, but more just a collection of information and lore I didn’t manage to fit into the Chapter™ chapters.

(on ao3)

general life stuff

Regarding the Dodam upper ranks, Yoojin is the guild leader, obviously. His right hand (and the assumed deputy guild leader) is Kim Sunghan, but Kang Soyoung—who immigrated from England basically the second she learned about Yoojin/Dodam’s existence—is being trained as Yoojin’s personal protégé, and will inherit the guild if/when he steps down as leader. Soyoung was really close with Yoohyun, Yerim, and the others. She’s also the head of one of the first kiseungsu-riding units that Dodam ever put together, leading the charge on her dragon partner. Soyoung and Yoojin fighting side-by-side is a sight to behold. A terrifying sight, that is.

Yoohyun attends college as a part-time student. He’s not too worried about his career—hyung encourages him to do as he likes, since he can support them both. Dungeon diving is kind of a part-time job for him—risks to his life aside, the experience boost does ensure he’s strong enough to withstand any threats he faces for being Yoojin’s brother.

Kim Sunghan usually goes along with him as his bodyguard, swapping out with some of the other Haeyeon high-rankers whenever he’s got a raid to participate in. Yoohyun’s generally well-liked by the Dodam high-rankers for being pretty straightforward and seemingly immune to fear. (Like with Yoojin, it’s just that he’s used to being scared.)

Besides college studies and dungeon diving, he occasionally helps out with Dodam stuff, particularly the kiseungsu, with whom he spends a lot of time for company. They all know him and are fond of him. A lot of them were hand-reared by Yoojin when they were young, so Yoohyun would sometimes feed them and groom them. They remember him as adults and still obey his commands. 4 out of 5 times he encounters a random kiseungsu, it’ll probably recognize him and be delighted to see him.

Hyunjae’s the son of some rich family who have a business deal with Dodam. He accompanies Yoohyun to dungeons partly as a part-time thing, partly as a business contract thing, and partly as just… Well, he’s Awakened, and the increasing stats from leveling up do help. Plus there’s no safer place to do this than by Yoohyun’s side, under Yoojin’s helicopter-parent protection by extension. (Also he’s grown fond of Yoohyun, and of Yerim, and of Soyoung, and also of Yoojin himself.)

Taewon was the chief of a team in his police department, but he stepped back from the job ever since Awakening. I guess the public isn’t too keen on having Hunters deal with regular criminals. Some concerns there about the use of skills on Unawakened people. He considered trying for a job in the Awakened People Management Office instead, or perhaps the Hunter Association. When he was offered a job in security at Dodam besides his usual job of accompanying Yoohyun on raids, he gave up the government job search and became a full-time Dodam employee. Everyone still calls him Chief Song, for whatever reason (for a specific reason) (Hyuna started it). He doesn’t really mind.

Hyuna’s the leader of a team of F/E-ranks (her neighborhood tennis team; they all Awakened at the same time). She’s known for being pretty good at her job for a low-ranker, and particularly good at skill manipulation, just as in canon. She usually works with them, only accompanying Yoohyun & co. on raids occasionally. Despite the fact that she doesn’t hang out with the guys and Yerim as much as she does her own team, she still really likes them all. (Some of her team had suffered severe injury in the years that they regressed; Hyuna checked on them after the meeting with Yoojin immediately post-regression, and was incredibly relieved to see them alright again.)

Yerim had it real bad for a while there after her parents died, but after meeting Yoohyun, Yoojin was like “[perspective of a guy who’s just seen an animal placed in an unsuitable enclosure] RATING: NOT CUTE! We gotta get you out of there.” They probably either got Yerim legally emancipated or adopted by Yoojin himself; in the end, it works out that she basically lives with them, working with Dodam’s kiseungsu. The newer generation of kiseungsu know/like her just as well as they do Yoohyun. Yerim sometimes gets yoinked away for a girls’ night with Soyoung and Hyuna, or Hyuna and her team. She gets parented a lot by HYJ, SHJ, MHA, and STW.

specific plot stuff

Yes, Yoohyun & co. regressed to the exact day that Yoohyun’s campus suffered a dungeon break and Yoohyun Awakened. Specifically, to about 10 seconds before Yoohyun Awakened. Myeongwoo found him in the middle of a really horrific meltdown, barely able to move let alone defend himself, and sheltered him until Yoojin got there, at which point Yoohyun launched himself at Yoojin, started bawling, and absolutely refused to let go. Yoojin freaked out and barely said anything to Myeongwoo before carting Yoohyun back home as fast as possible, only to be sneak-attacked by Yerim’s ice bomb on the way back. Noticing them was the first thing that got Yoohyun to chill out even slightly, so Yoojin was like, “Ah, fuck, sure. Fuck the security protocols. Just let these guys in already. This day’s already been weird enough how much worse could it get”

And then he found out he died, so, uh

Honestly all things considered he was pretty chill about learning he died. He was like “I went down protecting you? Checks out. I’d definitely do that. Oh no Yoohyun-ah you JUST stopped crying don’t start again!!!!!”

Way more panicked about learning that they were ever attacked like that in the first place, honestly. He doesn’t mention it to the others, but he suspects active interference from his filial duty addict contractor. And he thought he didn’t trust them BEFORE…

…Yeah, you probably already guessed from Yoojin breaking into the dungeon to save Yoohyun & co., but he did have a contract with one of the filial duty addicts. Not sure which one, because that would determine 1. the nature of the monster that attacked Yoohyun & co. 2. the nature of the title they get afterwards

Let’s suppose it’s Diarma like in canon—but I want to say it’s not the Lauchtas that attacked the gang in that last battle pre-reg, it’s a different poison-curse dragon, because

wouldn’t it be so cool if post-regression Yoojin later went into a dungeon with Yoohyun & co. and the Lauchtas appeared to kill them + he killed it instead + received the Dragon Slayer title + it granted him a dragon transformation skill like the Luires got

It would also grant him Curse Resistance, which would let him break his contract with Diarma, so fuck yeah killing and violence

On the flip side of things, Myeongwoo a.k.a “Furnace” is the one the immoral people chose as their representative on Earth, like how they chose Yoojin/Honey in canon. He’s got steel/fire attributes—no flight skill, but his metal manipulation abilities allow him to strap bits of metal onto himself and then manipulate those to float, granting him indirect flight abilities.

And the only person he really considers a friend is Yoojin, but shortly before Yoohyun Awakened, the immoral people brought up Yoojin’s filial affiliations (affilialtions…?) and floated the idea of hampering his way or possibly blackmailing him through his weaknesses, namely Yoohyun

And Myeongwoo epically blew up at them; internally he was like I would rather die than hurt the one person I feel any hint of human connection to, especially hurt him through the number one thing he cares about. Externally he was just like THAT’S THE STUPIDEST IDEA I’VE EVER HEARD. FUCK OFF. (…Drawing a lot from canon!SHJ for Myeongwoo here, and Yoojin’s very much his STW/HYJ in that respect! He’s. Very lonely. He’s never connected with anyone before. Yoojin is his first (and only) friend, yes, but he’s also the first and only person Myeongwoo’s ever felt fond towards. Myeongwoo’s been depressed basically his entire life, and Yoojin is the most fascinating person in the world to him and the only thing that holds his interest beside his work. Maybe even the only thing, period.)

After he shut the immoral people down, Myeongwoo stormed off. The regression happened shortly after this conversation.

Pre-regression, when he next spoke to them, they tried to reason with him and convince him that it was better to just neutralize Yoojin than have to actually kill him, and besides it was just a contingency plan, he didn’t have to ACTUALLY do it!!!! Myeongwoo was like “Who the fuck cares. You’d want me to actually go through with it, that’s why you suggested it in the first place. I’ve had it with y’all.” and kept contact REEEEALLY minimal with them after that. Basically refused to cooperate most of the time. They hoped that if they kept Yoojin safe and prospering, Myeongwoo would eventually come back, but he never did.

Post-regression, with the second chance the F-ranks conveniently handed them on a silver platter, they hastily went OH YEAH NEVER MIND. WHO GIVES A SHIT. WE LOOOOVE YOOJIN!! WE LOOOVE HIS BROTHER!!! ABSOLUTELY NOTHING SHOULD HAPPEN TO THEM!!!! and begrudgingly connected with Yoohyun to help him out more directly. With both of the immoral people’s only Earth representatives now insisting on Yoojin’s safety, they had to ensure it or they were… kinda fucked for good this time! So Yoohyun and Myeongwoo were assured he’d be safe, and continued to work with the immoral people. Once Yoojin broke his contract with Diarma everyone was significantly happier, but now the immoral people get lectured about Yoohyun’s safety every time they tune in to Yoojin when he’s in a dungeon, and Yoojin’s safety wherever they speak to Yoohyun or Myeongwoo. They don’t even care about the Han bros that much. Worst comes to worst, they’re extracting Myeongwoo. They’re really having a time of it in this universe…

That initial suggestion of using Yoohyun as a point of blackmail or potentially harming Yoohyun is also why Myeongwoo was watching him strangely back when Yoohyun first Awakened. The dungeon break on his college campus was pretty unexpected, and given how soon it happened after Myeongwoo’s argument with the immoral people, he suspected they might have triggered it on purpose (they didn’t, but still). Also, the conversation the Han brothers were having was a reminder of just how much Yoohyun meant to Yoojin, and Myeongwoo was wondering just what it was about Yoohyun that made him so special.

Going back to that conversation with Yoojin post-regression, the F-ranks all play hot potato with Who Gets To Tell Yoojin About All That for a while. Eventually he gets the full story (probably in large part from Yoohyun, signing from under the desk).

(Speaking of under the desk, it’s been one of Yoohyun’s favorite hiding spots since childhood. He likes being tucked away safely, especially when Yoojin’s sitting at the desk and he can lean on/hug his legs. Back when he was a little kid, he fit down there just fine, but once he hit his growth spurt it got too cramped. He was really upset about that. So when Yoojin got the new building and the new study, he commissioned a particularly long, particularly large desk with Extreme legroom and a little shelf on the inner back panel, then outfitted the area underneath with a soft carpet, lots of pillows, and a power strip. Yoohyun uses that little shelf to put stuff on while he’s down there, like snacks or whatever.) (They added some more cushions once they realized Peace likes to curl up there, too.)

After the regression conversation is over, Yoojin is like “well, it’ll be easier to follow up on this and manage any repercussions of the time travel if you guys have the same jobs you had pre-regression”, and grants the adults their jobs at Dodam back. Yerim is offered some internship thing Yoojin makes up on the spot, probably regarding kiseungsu care. She gets to work under Soyoung, who quickly grows fond of this excitable little kid.

Yerim’s parents are incredibly confused but enthusiastic at their daughter’s new job opportunity. Taewon’s brother, Song Cheolmin, is similarly bewildered but really excited. He texts Yerim’s parents sometimes, asking for advice or just to chat (or to go is your daughter acting weird again? because hyung is, and it’s freaking me out). They’re friends now, which no one expected but Yerim’s happy about, because now Chief Song gets dragged over for dinner every other weekend.

Yoohyun is mildly annoyed that the regression took away his college degree, though he can’t be too angry since it brought back his hyung. All the same, he slacks off on his studies a lot. Yerim’s similarly pissed about being 15 again and having to go back to school, not to mention all the hormones and growth and her emotions going haywire all the time. She drags Yoohyun to study together a lot, because it’s the only way either of them get any work done.

Yerim and Yoohyun’s inherited skills didn’t come up, but:

Yoohyun’s Do As I Say, usually just called the “command skill” or named in full, allows one to command lifeforms lower than one’s own rank, with variable results depending on their Mentality, which allows them to resist the command. With enough Mana, you can adjust the strength of the command. Yoojin mostly uses this skill to beam BEDTIME FOR BABIES into Yoohyun’s head every time he thinks he’s up too late. And also to stop all monsters in their tracks and have them spontaneously die/kill each other/kill themselves anytime he’s in a dungeon or dungeon break, of course, but mostly that first thing.

Yerim’s Unity Is Strength, a.k.a. Unity, allows one to buff another person’s skills in direct proportion to how close she is with them. Not sure of the exact measure by which this works, or if it has a keyword like canon!Yoojin’s Caregiver, but that’s the general idea.

As for the others, they were pretty clearly depicted, but still, some more specifics:

Hyuna’s In The Family, a.k.a. Family, acts as a version of Terrifying Hatchling Class Teacher, allowing her to tag people “into the family”. This pools all stats and skills from Family members, allowing any member of the Family to draw on the communal stat-skill pool. By default, all stats and skills are split evenly among all Family members, but people can consciously pull any ability/abilities towards themselves to use it at higher/full strength. Unless the others actively resist this pull, they’ll lose the ability in equal measure as the others gain it.

Family members can also forcibly keep skills to themselves to prevent the others learning about them. You can’t open an Information Window for a shared skill that’s not your own; this keeps Family members from actually learning anything about the skill they’re not already aware of. E.g. if canon!Yoojin shared Promising Sprout through Family, canon!Yoohyun would only be able to use it to check other people’s system windows, but he wouldn’t know about the optimized Awakening.

There’s a range limitation on how far a Family member can go before being dropped from the connection, and the person has to be in contact with the Family skill holder to be invited in. As shown in the chapter 7 case of two Families existing, if one skill holder is invited to join the other’s Family, the Families merge.

Family doesn’t actually allow telepathy or magic communication between members. You can vaguely sense the number of people in the bond, and who’s in the bond if you’re familiar with the feel of their magic; it feels like they’re standing very close beside you. Hence Yerim mentioning the “mind-presence” of her ahjussis.

Hyunjae’s Under The Skin, a.k.a Skin, lets him feel the movements and bodies of lifeforms equal to/lower than him in rank. The skill is usually limited to targets within one’s line of sight—but since Yoojin’s line of “sight” is expanded through Brother’s Keeper, he can use Skin on targets he’s not actually seeing with his eyes.

The “mirroring” from Chapter 6 is something Yoojin also experiences to a lesser degree, and happens when a user focuses on a single target too strongly with Skin. The user generally experiences lingering aftereffects of connecting to anything with Skin, usually just feeling a phantom sense of “I’m taller than this, aren’t I?” or “have to accommodate for my fangs—wait, the monster has fangs, I don’t”, etc. but mirroring happens if that connection runs too long or too strong. It’s what Yoojin was feeling back during MHA’s introduction in Chapter 5—hence the not-fangs and keeping his “claws” away from Yoohyun.

Mirroring also gets worse when the user doesn’t have high enough Mentality to maintain a strong sense of self :( High Mentality generally also helps with the sensory overload of having a “second body” (or third, or fourth…).

Taewon’s Brother’s Keeper, a.k.a Keeper, is the lifeform-tracking skill and not restricted by rank at all. It’s honestly kind of a headache and incredibly overwhelming in crowded places. Smaller lifeforms like bugs are generally faint enough to be ignored, but not entirely absent from this sense. Microorganisms are definitely small enough presences that they’re functionally absent, unless you burn Mana to strengthen your perception.

Both Skin and Keeper are assisted by high Mentality, naturally, due to the mental overload of tracking that much Stuff. It also helps to have them in tandem, rather than solo—once you track a familiar target using Keeper, you can latch onto it with Skin and focus on that, which will muffle everything else. To make sure they can manage without Yoohyun sharing his S-rank Mentality through Hyuna’s Family, Yoojin makes Taewon and Hyunjae repeatedly mark the team as “familiar” targets, focusing on them to the exclusion of everything else in the skill. Eventually, being aware of the team fades into something like white noise due to overfamiliarity—but since they are still focusing on those targets and therefore maxing out their skills, Taewon and Hyunjae can enjoy relative peace.

The individual S-rank stats for the F-ranks kind of backfired! Yoojin didn’t foresee that part. Oops. I headcanon Stamina as being the Constitution equivalent, especially given the Korean word being physical strength as opposed to Strength’s muscular strength. So when Yerim tried to run for her mom with S-rank Agility, her F-rank ankles just… couldn’t keep up with that speed, and sprained right away. The same for Taewon, who—in his surprise—crushed his phone with S-rank Strength only for the glass and metal to cut through his hand like butter; and Hyunjae, whose high Mana will eventually leave him with almost permanent lightning scarring. Yoohyun got off the easiest, having high Mentality, since that’s entirely an internal thing.

The skills also suffer from this. Taewon/Hyunjae’s skills are mentally taxing, as in literally taxing on their brains, so they got the headaches/nosebleeds of all time trying to make it through SS/S-rank skill usage without proper Stamina and Mentality.

Since the gang can draw on such insanely high Mana, I imagine they can shape it without caring about actually… having a skill for it. Which is why, when provided with raw Mana, they naturally create their innate attributes. SHJ can create lightning/electricity, BYR can create ice and water, HYH creates flame, MHA has limited control over air, and STW has a sort of void attribute? He muffles everything around him and nullifies skills. Anyway, that’s how they made the ice bomb/firework. A spark of SHJ’s lightning inside a shell of BYR’s ice, set to explode harmlessly.

I’ve since discarded the idea, but at one point I also considered having the inherited stats transform into skills.

SHJ’s Mana would turn into the Charge skill, making him into a sort of Mana battery—giving him a ridiculously high Mana regeneration rate, allowing him to transfer Mana to others etc.

STW’s Strength would turn into the Force skill, allowing him to manipulate forces and their strength—this would let him manipulate gravity ⇒ weight like in canon, as well as possibly skill strengths, to parallel Looting.

I ditched the idea mostly because What The Hell would HYH’s Mentality/BYR’s Agility/MHA’s Stamina turn into that would be functionally useful while also paralleling their canon S-rank abilities??? I didn’t want to just start making shit up, honestly. I have a lot more fun making AUs that reflect canon or canon storyline in some way.

[LATER-STAGE S-RANKS SPOILERS] I personally imagine Noah as being the equivalent of canon!SHJ, being planted by a transcendent who intends on using him to disrupt/destroy/replace the source somehow. He’s, uh. He’s not doing too good!

Riette’s relationship to him… is a lot like canon!pre-regression!Yoojin’s relationship to his Yoohyun. Very strong inferiority complex. Riette’s an A-rank now, but she grew up severely, severely outmatched, and Noah would barely even look at her. She hates him, a little bit; is scared of him, a decent amount; but most of all, she admires him. Nowadays he mostly only sees her as something useful, and she’s keenly aware that if she outlives that usefulness, she’s out in the cold.

Think canon!SHJ if he never met STW and HYJ, and was therefore entirely apathetic to the world at large.

He and Yoojin actually butt heads quite a bit, on the rare occasions they meet up. Yoojin thinks it’s ridiculous that he doesn’t care about his fucking family(!!!) and Noah thinks his love for Yoohyun is holding Yoojin back. Not to mention, Noah’s abilities include healing… as well as anti-healing, leaching vitality from his attack targets and transferring that to his healing targets. And since Yoojin can feel with intimate clarity what that feels like on the attacking end, he thinks it’s unreasonably cruel. He often kills Noah’s attack targets just to stop their pain, even though it cuts off the flow of vitality to any healing targets and leaves them still-injured. Yoojin thinks that if you’re going to kill monsters, the least you can do is make it fast, since that’s better for the monster itself as well as the people who the monster could potentially attack before it dies for good. Noah wonders what the point even is in caring about the monster’s experience before it dies. If it’s already killed and caused damage, what does it matter if it suffers in return?

…Yeah, Noah in this world is… a lot sadder than his canon version.

And that’s all, folks! If anyone has questions, feel free to put them in the replies or comment on the AO3 version of this post, and I’ll do my best to respond! I can’t think of anything else I’d put down right now, but I’m forgetful plus I’ve definitely not covered everything there could be to learn about this AU.

[foxx-queen]

what do you think about the way dai handled the wardens?

see I feel like inquisition could've said something interesting about an organisation that can do whatever necessary in the name of saving the world, but they just? didn't do it well? (it's something I feel like is never really addressed with the power of the inquisition itself either but that's off topic). tdlr at the end because this got long whoops

like I think the idea of the wardens all panicking about getting the calling all at once is a really interesting idea! but the way the writers went about it was so??? like it just made the wardens (specifically clarel) seem really dumb? not with using blood magic, because despite all the anti blood magic stuff from the characters (especially hawke which is bizarre when they... can be a blood mage), da2/dai also tell us it's just a tool and not inherently evil. which is fine, we've seen that throughout all three games! but the fact that clarel and the wardens are listening to erimond and that none of them suspect him or question is plan is just so stupid. erimond is the most cartoon stereotype of an evil tevinter magister and will literally Evil Grin half the time and none of the wardens thought that was weird??

up until dai we/the characters see the wardens as this group that seems like it knows exactly what it's doing, is always going to be around, is completely necessary, and can't really 'fall' aside from in battle against darkspawn. having them be suddenly vulnerable and in need of help could've been really interesting! it could've also been an opportunity to actually tell us more about the wardens origins. solas has this belief we've never seen before that the wardens are actually fools/potentially completely wrong with the way they're going about defeating the blight, but we're never able to find out why he thinks that or what he thinks the alternative is (this is a general fault with his character imo, they never let you push him because he has to stay Mysterious). there's a lot about the wardens we don't know, and I feel like dai would've been a good time to tell us more since we're facing off against one of the og magisters who started the blights.

it all just feels very contrived to push the 'inquisitor chooses to kick the wardens out or not', so as a result a lot of it just feels?? stupid sjekskw especially because at this point even despite what's happened ... the wardens are the only way to stop a blight? and so many of the companions are like oh kick them out :/ but guys... what about the blights??

on the other hand, I actually really like the fade quest. it's so different from the fade quests in previous games and its really interesting seeing the 'raw' fade. the scene where clarel is dying and blasts the red lyrium dragon as she's reciting the wardens oath and the ledge crumbles as everyone falls into the fade is actually one of my favourite scenes in the game. the whole falling into the fade feels a lot more ?? natural I guess than some of the other quests in the game and is genuinely a surprise when it happens.

basically I think that dai could've done something really interesting with the wardens as a group who are usually the people you turn to when things are extremely dire suddenly needing your help, instead of oh a whole group of people are blindly following a cartoon villain without question, isn't that bad of them we should punish them!

this is off the top of my head, but i think an interesting way of doing it that would tie more into the main story maybe would be to have that corypheus is directly influencing the warden commanders (cut erimond out completely), since we know he can do that, and he's managed to spread that influence (maybe still using the nightmare demon), and that the wardens themselves turn to the inquisitor after hearing about how they survived corypheus at haven and allied/recruited the mages/templars. (it was weird to me that clarel was like??? corypheus is dead tho?? like surely she would've heard the rumours about haven at least? anyway). maybe if you ally with the mages, fiona tells you the wardens have reached out to her for help, or you're able to ask her opinion once the wardens have reached out through hawke or something. it would make the whole 'the inquisition is developing into a group that people respect and see as a source of help' feel more real I think. have the build up to fighting the wardens at adamant be longer and more in depth, with the warden contact taking the inquisitor to meet more wardens and giving us the opportunity to learn more about the order or something. personally I've always wondered if the first warden, or whoever created the wardens, was one of the original tevinter magisters like corephyus. I think maybe also get rid of the demon army bit? because I'm not sure I get why corephyus even needed one if his main goal was to break into the fade. like why not just influence the wardens to obey him into gathering people for a sacrifice to enter the fade like he did with the other magisters?? idk

anyways ajaja this got long so tdlr: I think dai handled the wardens 'corruption' poorly and that helping / saving the wardens from themselves could've been really interesting but ultimately is kind of annoying and in the end kind of feels like bioware being like surprise this organisation we told u is good in dao is now the enemy!

[thessalian]

Thess vs Personalisation

Once again pondering Dragon Age as a franchise - specifically, the whole “choosing your race” thing you get in both Origins and Inquisition, and the difference between the two. Also how it ties in to how the little changes in world state your decisions tend to make felt so much more impactful in Origins than they did in Inquisition. Because honestly? The main thrust of Origin’s plot is not changed one tiny iota no matter what you decide in the end. Main goal is: destroy the archdemon. Main goal: achieved no matter what. And Inquisition is the same. Main goal is: defeat Corypheus. Main goal: achieved no matter what.

The difference is how personal it all is. Origins was hugely personal, where Inquisition was not. Quick aside away from how race selection enters into it, though - the final battle against Corypheus was lacking compared to the fight with the archdemon in terms of how your choices mattered because frankly, you never saw any difference in the forces at your disposal in Inquisition, whereas you could literally throw various forces at your foes in Origins, and what you had at your command changed depending on what choices you made. Supported Zathrian or resolved the whole werewolf problem? You got Dalish. Sided with the werewolves? You got werewolves. Destroyed the Anvil of the Void? You got dwarves. Supported Branka? You got golems. Saved Irving? Mages. Slaughtered every mage in Kinloch Hold? Templars. And you saw those forces fighting. Whereas all you got in Inquisition were knots of generic Inquisition soldiers whether you went for In Hushed Whispers or Champions of the Just. It changes who you fight in the end, sure. But at the end of the day, it’s not personal the way looking at your allies and deciding who’s best to throw at what was in Origins.

But the main thing that made those little choices that didn’t make that much difference beyond end slides and post-battle cutscenes is how almost everything tied into the origin you picked in at least one significant way. ...With the exception of Mahariel, yes, but there’s probably a reason that the quasi-canon default Martyr origin story you can pick for Dragon Age 2 involves a Mahariel making the Ultimate Sacrifice, because Mahariel doesn’t get beans beyond being forced to mercy-kill Tamlen (though they probably would have had to go for an entirely different plotline if they’d had their sights set on using the eluvian set-up later, just in case someone sided with the werewolves and slaughtered the clan so integral to DA2′s story, so I guess I can see why). But Aeducan? If you choose, you can stick it to Bhelen after he either cons you into killing Trian or frames you for his killing Trian. Flip-side? Brosca - you finally get to be on even footing with the jackasses who treated you like shit for your whole life, plus the whole Leske situation. Amells and Suranas can either save the Ferelden Circle or destroy it, depending on inclination and personal approach to backstory, plus they get closure over the Jowan thing, however it panned out. Tabris gets to save their entire alienage from Tevinter slavers. And Cousland gets to restore their family name and stamp the person who slaughtered their family into paste.

All you get with different races in Inquisition is a couple of different dialogue options, a very slightly easier time dealing with the Dalish clan in the Exalted Plains, and somewhat less of a reason to let Morrigan drink from the Well of Sorrows (particularly if you’re playing an elven mage because “Fuck you with your ‘I know more about the Dalish than you ever will’; I was training to be a Keeper!”) It would have been different if we’d had race-specific quests the way we had companion quests, or even an intro scene wherein we’re the ones chosen to either attend or spy on the Conclave because of whatever we got up to in the backstory-tutorial section. Y’know, instead of dumping us into the plot in that in medias res sort of way that was more or less understandable from the narrative perspective but did still deny us a connection to our chosen origin story. But we didn’t get anything specific to our chosen character origin in any way, shape, or form, and what that largely says to me is that Bioware didn’t understand for a single fucking second why Origins worked as well as it did, at least in the whole racial selection stakes.

When we all said, “We want to be able to choose our race instead of playing default human”, what we meant was “We want those background-specific stories that give us insight into both the larger world of Thedas and the place of our characters in it, because it aids immersion and helps us roleplay more effectively, which is very important in a role-playing game”. They just thought we wanted different character models, apparently. Which ... no. A little bit of faffing about at the war table is not the same as being able to go back to the site of your origin story and do something heroic in it.

(And it still offends me that you can have a fucking Lavellan ask Morrigan who Mythal is. Ironic as that question winds up being in the long run ... that’s a major tenet of their faith, right there. It’d be like a Trevalyan asking who Andraste is!)

[cappymightwrite]

So I’ve just read your meta on the TWOW Alayne I sample chapter (it’s amazing btw!) and I noticed something while reading it that I wanted to share and see if anybody else has noticed - nearly every man Alayne dances with during the feast could be taken as a reference to Jon or the Night’s Watch.

Ben Coldwater -> Snow is, obviously, cold water, and Ben is a sneaky Benjen reference

Andrew Tollett -> most likely related to Dolorous Edd Tollett, Jon’s old steward and good friend

Ser Byron the Beautiful -> GRRM has described Jon as a Byronic hero

Ser Morgarth and Ser Shadrich the Mad Mouse -> these men are more dubious, I’m not really sure of the link with Morgarth. Shadrich is a callback from Brienne’s AFFC plot though, and a sign that Sansa’s cover isn’t as secure as she and Littlefinger think it is

Ser Albar Royce - a reference to Waymar Royce, he of the many Jon parallels and Sansa’s old crush, though she finds his cousin(?) stout and dull

The Sunderlands - their family are the lords of the Three Sisters. In ADWD, Davos is told a story on Sweetsister about Ned having to sneak across the Bite during Robert’s Rebellion, to get North and call his banners. A fisherman helped him but drowned when a storm caught their boat - but his daughter got Ned safely to the Sisters. The prevailing story on the islands seems to be that he left her with a bag of silver and a bastard in her belly, whom she named after Jon Arryn

Uther Shett - I was half-convinced this guy also had a relative on the wall, because his name (insulting pun aside) seems to be a reference to Chett, the prologue POV of ASOS who had a grudge against Jon for losing him his position as one of Maester Aemon’s stewards in favour of Sam

Ser Targon the Halfwild - Jon will likely be half-wild when he comes back from the dead, but he’s already been described as ‘half a wildling’ multiple times. Also Targon = Targ-Jon?

Ser Roland and Ser Wallace Waynwood - both are described earlier in the chapter as long-faced with brown hair, which are also Stark features. Alayne thinks of them as “horsefaced”, probably an Arya reference that also calls back to her and Jon’s shared Stark look. Wallace is even the same age as Robb, and thus Jon, would be.

So though Jon wasn’t mentioned by name in the chapter, I think he was very present... not just lemoncake-wise ;)

Thank you! :D Haha for a moment there I was like...wait which meta? Had to take my mind back for a sec there because I've written quite a bit since then! But yeah, doing deep dives into certain chapters is really fun — my next one that's in the works is Jon XI in A Dance With Dragons. Great to hear you enjoyed my Winds one :)

Ooooh that is really interesting and a mighty fine catch! Definitely the vibe I got whilst reading that chapter, after having analysed Alayne II, AFFC (which chronologically precedes it), is that Jon's presence or references to him are made subtly throughout the chapter(s) — especially whenever Winterfell is alluded to because Jon is the "Snow of Wintefell", the "blood of Winterfell", etc. But also vice versa, Sansa is very much connected to Winterfell in Jon's chapters as well — "Winterfell belongs to my sister, Sansa."

But let's take a look at those names you listed below the cut! Big post ahead, so buckle up kids!

So, I hadn't noticed the significance of those names on my reading, but I can well believe what you're suggesting because it plays very much into how I interpreted the subconscious goings on of that chapter — that you have these rememberances/reminders of Winterfell and Sansa's Stark idenity at crucial moments within the chapter’s narrative pacing, especially prior to moments with Harry the Heir. Not to sound too crass, but it's sort like a marking of territory, and this is made even stronger by that goddamn phallic as hell Giant's Lance lemoncake (aka Jon's peen). It's all quite neatly buried, but when you start matching up the imagery...I mean, I guess wolves are territorial beasts, so...checks out? (George...why are you like this?)

It is interesting that we get that iconic entrance of the Giant's Lance lemoncake prior to these dance partners, i.e. a claim has been staked essentially, and it ain't from Littlefinger, which is what could be interpreted on first inspection. And let's not beat around the bush, as uncomfortable as it is (because Sansa is ONLY 13/14!!), this is a sexual claim being made owing to the phallic symbolism and the general tone of the chapter being about Alayne's betrothal/marriage:

And best of all, Lord Nestor’s cooks prepared a splendid subtlety, a lemon cake in the shape of the Giant’s Lance, twelve feet tall and adorned with an Eyrie made of sugar.

For me, Alayne thought, as they wheeled it out.

I legit just snorted re-reading this: "splendid subtlety" MY ASS! What follows is a whole lot of gift-giving, which come to think of it, in combination with this bloody big cake...well, it reads quite a bit like a wedding breakfast to me, followed by dancing, in addition to a possible nod to a Stark bridal cloak, masked by the Arryn colours:

There were gifts as well, splendid gifts. Each of the competitors received a cloak of cloth-of-silver and a lapis brooch in the shape of a pair of falcon’s wings. Fine steel daggers were given to the brothers, fathers, and friends who had come to watch them tilt. For their mothers, sisters, and ladies fair there were bolts of silk and Myrish lace.

Because if we compare this "cloak of cloth-of-silver" with previous descriptions of Sansa's maiden cloak, we see this obvious recurring inclusion of either silver or grey as one of the Stark colours:

Cersei Lannister ignored the question. "The cloak," she commanded, and the women brought it out: a long cloak of white velvet heavy with pearls. A fierce direwolf was embroidered upon it in silver thread. Sansa looked at it with sudden dread. "Your father's colors," said Cersei, as they fastened it about her neck with a slender silver chain.

A maiden's cloak. Sansa's hand went to her throat. She would have torn the thing away if she had dared. – ASOS, Sansa III

"[...] and when they come together for his wedding, and you come out with your long auburn hair, clad in a maiden's cloak of white and grey with a direwolf emblazoned on the back...why, every knight in the Vale will pledge his sword to win you back your birthright [...]" – AFFC, Alayne II

This is all very in keeping with the theme of the chapter, which is meeting Alayne's betrothed, Harrold Hardyng, so obviously a future marriage/alliance is very much a prevalent theme here. Furthermore, the mention of "Myrish lace" for the "ladies fair" does somewhat remind me of Alys Karstark's wedding garb:

The girl smiled in a way that reminded Jon so much of his little sister that it almost broke his heart. "Let him be scared of me." The snowflakes were melting on her cheeks, but her hair was wrapped in a swirl of lace that Satin had found somewhere, and the snow had begun to collect there, giving her a frosty crown. Her cheeks were flushed and red, and her eyes sparkled.

"Winter's lady." Jon squeezed her hand. – ADWD, Jon X

I think some other people have mentioned before how even though Jon makes a conscious comparison between Arya and Alys — "reminded Jon so much of his little sister" — the romanticised, flushed cheeked imagery very much points towards a subconsious allusion to Sansa (ETA: anyone spoken on this got a link?). With that in mind, we could see this as foreshadowing of not only Jonsa, but a Jonsa wedding, and Sansa as Queen in the North — "a frosty crown" "Winter's lady" — with Jon as her king/consort. In my current Jon chapter analysis I've been working with the idea that actually as soon as Jon starts romanticising a girl, which is notably different from just noticing someone's physical beauty (e.g. with Val), that is when the subconscious comparisons to Sansa really jump out.

But anyway! Onto those names...or rather, Jon Snow stand-ins.

Rising, [Ben Coldwater] offered Alayne his hand. “Would you honor me with this dance, my lady?”

“You’re very kind,” she said, as he led her to the floor.

He was her first partner of the evening, but far from the last. Just as Petyr had promised, the young knights flocked around her, vying for her favor. After Ben came Andrew Tollett, handsome Ser Byron, red-nosed Ser Morgarth, and Ser Shadrich the Mad Mouse. Then Ser Albar Royce, Myranda’s stout dull brother and Lord Nestor’s heir. She danced with all three Sunderlands, none of whom had webs between their fingers, though she could not vouch for their toes. Uther Shett appeared to pay her slimy compliments as he trod upon her feet, but Ser Targon the Halfwild proved to be the soul of courtesy. After that Ser Roland Waynwood swept her up and made her laugh with mocking comments about half the other knights in the hall. His uncle Wallace took a turn as well and tried to do the same, but the words would not come. Alayne finally took pity on him and began to chatter happily, to spare him the embarrassment. When the dance was done she excused herself, and went back to her place to have a drink of wine.

And there he stood, Harry the Heir himself; tall, handsome, scowling. “Lady Alayne. May I partner you in this dance?”

She considered for a moment. “No. I don’t think so.”

If I've counted that right, that's 14 men? Alright, here we go.

First up...Ben Coldwater

I think you're right that Ben Coldwater feels very much like a nod to Ben-jen Stark, who is referred to as Ben a few times I think, and Jon Snow (cold water = snow), both men of the Night's Watch. House Coldwater also traces its lineage back to the First Men, and are sworn to House Royce, who are also notably descended from the First Men, have previously married into the Stark family and still maintain close connections to the current house through Ned's fosterage in the Vale. So, through the Royces, we see another possible connection to the Starks and Jon Snow...Jon Snow who was named after Jon Arryn.

I would also add that we have Ben make this inquiry prior to his dance with Alayne:

“Are there no singers?” asked Ben Coldwater.

I don't know, maybe I'm reaching but...singers feature quite a lot in connection to Jon, for instance:

Mance Rayder, who infiltrates Winterfell disguised as a singer called Abel, an anagram of Bael, aka Bael the Bard;

Bael the Bard and the Blue Rose of Winterfell — a story told to Jon by Ygritte, which very much evokes the tale of Rhaegar and Lyanna;

Rhaegar Targaryen, Jon's real father, was a notably skilled lyre player, whose singing supposedly made Lyanna cry — "The dragon prince sang a song so sad it made the wolf maid sniffle," (ASOS, Bran II). He is also theorised to have written the song Jenny of Oldstones, possibly for the Ghost of High Heart, Jenny's friend.

Ygritte — when Jon starts to find her more attractive, when he starts to romanticise her, he observes that "sometimes she sang in a low husky voice that stirred him," (ASOS, Jon II).

Val — again, we start to see Jon begin to warm to Val, to see her in more of a romantic + typically feminine light, because of her singing to the baby Monster: "I have heard you singing to him," (ADWD, Jon VIII).

Sansa — oh, my sweet Sansa...when remembering his family, not quite in his dying moments, but a little bit prior to that, Jon thinks "Of Sansa, brushing out Lady's coat and singing to herself. You know nothing, Jon Snow," (ADWD, Jon XIII).

I think it's clear that Jon loves a good song and you know what? He'd probably be asking about the lack of singers too! One final detail perhaps worth noting is the seat of House Coldwater:

[...] the Coldwaters of Coldwater Burn [...] – TWOIAF, The Vale

Obviously, the "song of ice and fire" is not a person, but more the elemental and destructive forces of the Others and the dragons, yet nevertheless, through Jon's parentage, as well as his actions (burned hand, etc.), plus his personality to a certain extent (hot-headed then repressing emotions) you do have this duality of hot and cold, of fire and ice...Coldwater Burn? Could be something.

Ser Andrew Tollett

So, like you said, the name Tollett immediately puts us in mind of Eddison Tollett, also known as Dolorous Edd, who is like Jon, a black brother of the Night's Watch. And he is a good brother to Jon, voting for him in the election for the Lord Commander, as well as becoming his loyal steward for a time, before being sent on a mission to Long Barrow. Interestingly, Dolorous Edd, as well as the Tolletts in general, do have a bit of a Stark vibe to them...

Like a typical Stark, Dolorous Edd is described as having a "long face" (ACOK, Jon III), a face like a mule's to be exact, but also notably a horse's as well:

"[...] Me, I have the mules. Nettles claims we're kin. It's true we have the same long face, but I'm not near as stubborn [...]" – ADWD, Jon XII

He only wished he had time to kill Tollett as well. Gloomy horsefaced fool, that's what he is. – ASOS, Prologue

He is given the nickname Dolorous Edd (dolorous = mournful), and is referred to several times as being "dour" (ACOK, Jon II, Jon III, ASOS, Jon V, ADWD, Jon XII, XIII), an attribute not entirely out of place when we consider some notable Starks and their disposition, as well as their house words:

He had the Stark face if not the name: long, solemn, guarded, a face that gave nothing away. – AGOT, Tyrion II

Winter is coming. The Stark words had never sounded so grim or ominous to Jon as they did now. – AGOT, Jon VIII

I gave my maidenhood to this solemn stranger and sent him off to his war and his king and the woman who bore him his bastard, because I always did my duty. – ACOK, Catelyn VI

Ned was shorter and plainer of face, and so somber. He spoke courteously enough, but beneath the words she sensed a coolness that was all at odds with Brandon, whose mirths had been as wild as his rages [...] And after the war, at Winterfell, I had love enough for any woman, once I found the good sweet heart beneath Ned's solemn face. – ASOS, Catelyn V

So, not unlike Jon, Arya and Ned, Dolorous Edd has a "long and solemn" face (AGOT, Arya I), as well as a "dour" personality. Furthermore, even House Tollet of Grey Glen's sigil and words have Stark vibes, since according to semi-canon sources, their shield is "pily grey and black" and their words are "When all is darkest," which arguably carries the same ominous, Long Night warning of "Winter is coming". In addition to this, like the Coldwaters, the Tollets are sworn to the First Men descended Royces.

But beyond this, if we take a look at some legendary and historical Tolletts...we actually have two notable names:

Torgold Tollett — also known as Torgold the Grim, though ironically, because he was famous for riding into battle laughing, and naked from the waist up:

The songs say that Torgold knew no fear and felt no pain. Though bleeding from a score of wounds, he cut a red swathe through Lord Redfort's staunchest warriors, then took his lordship's arm off at the shoulder with a single cut. Nor was he dismayed when the sorceress Ursula Upcliff appeared upon a bloodred horse to curse him. By then he was bare-handed, having left both of his axes buried in a foe's chest, but the singers say he leapt upon the witch's horse, grasped her face between two bloody hands, and tore her head from her shoulders as she screamed for succor. – TWOIAF, The Vale

Ser Jon Tollett — In Fire & Blood, Jon Tollett is recorded as a member of King Maegor the Cruel's Kingsguard. After the king's mysterious death, his successor, King Jaeherys I, offered Maegor's surviving Kingsguard a choice between execution or taking the black. Jon Tollett chose the latter. This somewhat parallels Ned's decision to take the black, to a certain extent.

You could argue that there are more than a few similarities, or future foreshadowings, between these Tolletts and Jon Snow...

Ser Byron the Beautiful

Like you mentioned, Jon Snow has been described by GRRM as a "Byronic, romantic hero". I'm so annoyed with myself, because I had written up some good stuff on how Jon really does possess certain Byronic traits but as I was inserting a gif it ended up deleting most of what I wrote...so I'm still a bit bitter over that, but will rewrite it at some point soon. Take my word for it though, Jon Snow is 100% more of a Byronic Hero (a la Byron's own Manfred), than Sandor Clegane, for example:

GRRM: “Well who wouldn’t want to be Jon Snow — the brooding, Byronic, romantic hero whom all the girls love.” [source]

Ser Byron, as well as being described as beautiful, is also notably very gallant, the perfect knight:

"Dutiful and beautiful," said an elegant young knight whose thick blond mane cascaded down well past his shoulders. – AFFC, Alayne II

We all know that Sansa appreciates a bit of genuine courtesy, and in fact, she's taught Jon well in that regard:

"Gilly, he called me. For the gillyflower."

"That's pretty." He remembered Sansa telling him once that he should say that whenever a lady told him her name. He could not help the girl, but perhaps the courtesy would please her. – ACOK, Jon III

I think this Jon stand-in does rely mostly on Jon's connection to the Byronic Hero. So, if anyone is still a bit dubious on that (because Rochester and Heathcliff are trash), just hang in there for my eventual meta on the subject, which focuses on Lord Byron's OG Byronic Hero, rather than the later Brontë/Victorian iterations.

In fact, in terms of Jon's parentage and future romance with Sansa, there's one Byronic tale that may be a particular source of inspiration — The Bride of Abydos. This poem notably includes a romance in which half-siblings are revealed to be cousins...sound familiar?

Ser Morgarth the Merry

Another hedge knight, like Ser Byron, who is sworn into the service of Petyr Baelish. I've got to agree with you here, red-nosed Ser Morgarth's connection to Jon is quite a bit harder to decipher! I have done a little digging though, and it is possible that the Garth in Morgarth is a reference to several Garths that appear in Jon's chapters, as well as Garth Greenhand, the alleged ancestor of legendary House Stark founder...Brandon the Builder:

Garth of Oldtown

Garth of Greenaway

Garth Greyfeather

All of these Garths are rangers/members of the Night's Watch at the same time as Jon, though I think by Dance it is presumed that they are all dead, or at least missing — in fact, Garth of Greenaway kills Garth of Oldtown. Garth on Garth violence!!

Haha, oh god...I think I just got the pun...Morgarth = More Garth! More Garths the merrier! Get it?! More Garths everybody!

George, I hate you.

Ok, so that's what that is. It's literally just a dumb pun, yet it also connects Morgarth to the Night's Watch Garths, and therefore Jon.

Ser Shadrich the Mad Mouse

I think you're right that Ser Shadrich's presence connects us to Brienne's quest, as well as foreshadowing potential shit hitting the fan at the tourney of the Winged Knights. But he also notably makes some interesting remarks, both to Brienne and Sansa, which we can connect to Jon Snow's secret Targaryen heritage:

"Where?" Brienne slapped another silver stag down.

He flicked the coin back at her with his forefinger. "Someplace no stag ever found...though a dragon might." – AFFC, Brienne III

On the surface, in response to Brienne's questioning about the whereabouts of the Stark sisters, Shadrich is talking about a monetary bribe. However, beneath that explicit meaning, is an implicit reference to a stag (Joffrey) failing, where a dragon (Jon) will succeed. Others have talked about this line in more detail elsewhere, but it seems like a pretty good allusion to the foils, Joffrey (a prince who is really a bastard) and Jon (a bastard who is really a prince).

In this exact Winds chapter, however, we also see a conversation between Alayne and Shadrich, which hints at his possible plans to uncover and abduct Sansa Stark in return for a lucrative reward:

“A good melee is all a hedge knight can hope for, unless he stumbles on a bag of dragons. And that’s not likely, is it?”

This "stumbl[ing] on a bag of dragons" could also be seen as an implicit nod towards stumbling upon Jon's Targaryen heritage later in the novel, something that is more "likely" than anyone would expect. That claim might be a reach, were it not for the implication that when Shadrich talks about money, i.e. dragons...he isn't actually talking about gold coins, he's talking about Targaryens, but more than that...he's talking specifically about Jon Snow.

Ser Albar Royce

"Myranda’s stout dull brother and Lord Nestor’s heir." I think like Ser Morgarth, the physical appearance of these stand-ins doesn't always play a factor, because it would be kind of unnerving if they all had solemn long faces... So, what is important here is, like you say, the name Royce and his relation to Ser Waymar Royce, Sansa's first crush, who just happens to resemble and parallels Jon quite a bit:

She had fallen wildly in love with Ser Waymar, she remembered dimly, but that was a lifetime ago, when she was a stupid little girl. – AFFC, Alayne I

Ser Waymar Royce was the youngest son of an ancient house with too many heirs. He was a handsome youth of eighteen, grey-eyed and graceful and slender as a knife. Mounted on his huge black destrier, the knight towered above Will and Gared on their smaller garrons. He wore black leather boots, black woolen pants, black moleskin gloves, and a fine supple coat of gleaming black ringmail over layers of black wool and boiled leather. Ser Waymar had been a Sworn Brother of the Night's Watch for less than half a year, but no one could say he had not prepared for his vocation. At least insofar as his wardrobe was concerned. – AGOT, Prologue

Jon's eyes were a grey so dark they seemed almost black, but there was little they did not see. He was of an age with Robb, but they did not look alike. Jon was slender where Robb was muscular, dark where Robb was fair, graceful and quick where his half brother was strong and fast. – AGOT, Bran I

"They're not my brothers," Jon snapped. "They hate me because I'm better than they are." – AGOT, Jon III

Although, it is worth noting that the Royces, as a whole, do somewhat resemble the Starks in appearance, at least in terms of their eye colour:

Bronze Yohn Royce, the current head of House Royce of Runestone, has "slate-grey eyes" as well as a "solemn face", (AFFC, Alayne I).

Ser Robar, his second son was "comely in a rough-hewn way" (ACOK, Catelyn III), with "pale" eyes (ACOK, Catelyn IV), possibly grey like his father's.

Ser Waymar, Yohn's third son, as mentioned, was "grey-eyed" (AGOT, Prologue).

It isn't as clear whether or not their cadet branch, which Albar belongs to, tend towards grey eyes as well, though we know that Myranda has brown hair, specifically "thick chestnut curls" (AFFC, Alayne II) — typical looking Starks, like Ned, Arya, and Jon, all have brown/dark hair.

As previously mentioned, the Royces are also descended from the First Men, have kinship links to the Starks, knew Ned when he fostered in the Vale, and Bronze Yohn even "knows" Sansa Stark:

"Bronze Yohn knows me," she reminded him. "He was a guest at Winterfell when his son rode north to take the black." She had fallen wildly in love with Ser Waymar, she remembered dimly, but that was a lifetime ago, when she was a stupid little girl. "And that was not the only time. Lord Royce saw...he saw Sansa Stark again at King's Landing, during the Hand's tourney." – AFFC, Alayne I

His seamed and solemn face brought back all of Sansa's memories of his time at Winterfell. She remembered him at table, speaking quietly with her mother. She heard his voice booming off the walls when he rode back from a hunt with a buck behind his saddle. She could see him in the yard, a practice sword in hand, hammering her father to the ground and turning to defeat Ser Rodrik as well. He will know me. How could he not? She considered throwing herself at his feet to beg for his protection. He never fought for Robb, why should he fight for me? The war is finished and Winterfell is fallen. "Lord Royce," she asked timidly, "will you have a cup of wine, to take the chill off?"

Bronze Yohn had slate-grey eyes, half-hidden beneath the bushiest eyebrows she had ever seen. They crinkled when he looked down at her. "Do I know you, girl?" – AFFC, Alayne I

They also have the house words "We will remember", which somewhat evokes the recurring refrain "the north remembers" (ASOS, Catelyn, ADWD, Davos IV, ADWD, A Ghost in Winterfell, TWOW, Theon I), as well as a possible remembrance of the Long Night, similar to the Starks’ and Tolletts’ words. All in all, as well as evoking a certain Starkness (and Jon-ness), the Royces seem set up to be staunch allies of the Starks going forward.

All Three Sunderlands

Since these Sunderland brothers aren't given names, we can assume what is significant about them, in relation to Jon and Sansa, is their Sunderland name. As you noted, the Sunderlands are the reigning lords of the Three Sisters, and in Dance, through Davos' pov, we hear about Ned's time there during Robert's Rebellion:

"At the dawn of Robert's Rebellion. The Mad King had sent to the Eyrie for Stark's head, but Jon Arryn sent him back defiance. Gulltown stayed loyal to the throne, though. To get home and call his banners, Stark had to cross the mountains to the Fingers and find a fisherman to carry him across the Bite. A storm caught them on the way. The fisherman drowned, but his daughter got Stark to the Sisters before the boat went down. They say he left her with a bag of silver and a bastard in her belly. Jon Snow, she named him, after Arryn.

"Be that as it may. My father sat where I sit now when Lord Eddard came to Sisterton. Our maester urged us to send Stark's head to Aerys, to prove our loyalty. It would have meant a rich reward. The Mad King was open-handed with them as pleased him. By then we knew that Jon Arryn had taken Gulltown, though. Robert was the first man to gain the wall, and slew Marq Grafton with his own hand. 'This Baratheon is fearless,' I said. 'He fights the way a king should fight.' Our maester chuckled at me and told us that Prince Rhaegar was certain to defeat this rebel. That was when Stark said, 'In this world only winter is certain. We may lose our heads, it's true…but what if we prevail?' My father sent him on his way with his head still on his shoulders. 'If you lose,' he told Lord Eddard, 'you were never here.' " – ADWD, Davos I

This passage has one of my favourite asoiaf quotes of all time..."In this world only winter is certain. We may lose our heads, it's true...but what if we prevail?" Truly iconic. So defiantly hopeful.

But, yes, you're right that this story, and the Sunderlands, connects us to Ned, but more importantly...to Jon Snow. Really, Jon has quite a few Vale connections, all things considered, and he is named after Jon Arryn after all!

Uther Shett

Well, along with his buddy Ossifer Lipps (ass for lips), Uther Shett (utter shit) is an example of George having some pretty lowbrow fun with punny names. During their dance, Uther paid Alayne "slimy compliments as he trod upon her feet"...so not the best partner!

But from one shit to another...I think you're probably right that Uther Shett is meant to recall Chett, indeed, if we take a look at his description in Winds:

The one on her left was no more than eighteen, and skinny as a spear. His ginger-colored whiskers only partially served to disguise the angry red pimples that dotted his face.

His bad skin is somewhat comparable to Chett's boils:

Chett had a wen on his neck the size of a pigeon's egg, and a face red with boils and pimples. Perhaps that was why he always seemed so angry. – AGOT, Jon V

What is also noteworthy about Chett's prologue pov in ASOS, is that we get this linking of literal snow and Jon Snow:

Snow was falling.

He could feel tears freezing to his cheeks. It isn't fair, he wanted to scream. Snow would ruin everything he'd worked for, all his careful plans. It was a heavy fall, thick white flakes coming down all about him [...] The snow's taken it all from me...the bloody snow...

Snow had ruined him once before. Snow and his pet pig. – ASOS, Prologue

This makes any mention of snow beyond this point a bit more noteworthy, especially since Jon is referred to as "the Snow of Winterfell," (ASOS, Jon I), and we also have Sansa's famous "drifting snowflakes brushed her face as light as lover's kisses" whilst building Winterfell out of snow scene, also in ASOS, (Sansa VII). So, Chett is very important when it comes to establishing this connection.

Ser Targon the Halfwild

Targon is only mentioned once and it is in that list of dance partners. He's not connected to any particular house, all we know of him is that he is a knight and that he "proved to be the soul of courtesy." This detail is interesting because it sort goes against his "Halfwild" moniker — he is courteous in spite of his half-wildness. Likewise, Jon is also courteous, chivalrous and knightly even, in spite of the stigma attached to being a bastard:

They still think me a turncloak. That was a bitter draft to drink, but Jon could not blame them. He was a bastard, after all. Everyone knew that bastards were wanton and treacherous by nature, having been born of lust and deceit. And he had made as many enemies as friends at Castle Black...Rast, for one. Jon had once threatened to have Ghost rip his throat out unless he stopped tormenting Samwell Tarly, and Rast did not forget things like that. – ASOS, Jon VII

As mentioned in comparison to Ser Byron, Jon behaves courteously towards Gilly, calling her name "pretty", just as Sansa taught him. He also often refers to Val as "my lady" despite her being a proud woman of the Free Folk. Jon also clearly looks up to and wishes to emulate legendary knights to a certain extent, and behaving with courtesy and honour is very much part of that:

They were not little boys when they fought, but knights and mighty heroes. "I'm Prince Aemon the Dragonknight," Jon would call out, and Robb would shout back, "Well, I'm Florian the Fool." Or Robb would say, "I'm the Young Dragon," and Jon would reply, "I'm Ser Ryam Redwyne." – ASOS, Jon XII

Furthermore, Jon has this connection to the Free Folk, also known as the wildlings, having spent a fair amount of time with them:

"The wildling blood is the blood of the First Men, the same blood that flows in the veins of the Starks [...]" – ASOS, Jon I

"Some of your own Sworn Brothers would have me believe that you are half a wildling yourself. Is it true?" – ADWD, Jon IV

Mully cleared his throat. "M'lord? The wildling princess, letting her go, the men may say—"

"—that I am half a wildling myself, a turncloak who means to sell the realm to our raiders, cannibals, and giants." Jon did not need to stare into a fire to know what was being said of him. The worst part was, they were not wrong, not wholly. "Words are wind, and the wind is always blowing at the Wall. Come." – ADWD, Jon VIII

"A wildling. A filthy, murdering wildling." Cregan's hands closed into fists. The gloves that covered them were leather, lined with fur to match the cloak that hung matted and stiff from his broad shoulders. His black wool surcoat was emblazoned with the white sunburst of his house. "I see what you are, Snow. Half a wolf and half a wildling, baseborn get of a traitor and a whore. You would deliver a highborn maid to the bed of some stinking savage. Did you sample her yourself first?" He laughed. "If you mean to kill me, do it and be damned for a kinslayer. Stark and Karstark are one blood."

"My name is Snow." – ADWD, Jon X

I am not the trusting fool you take me for...nor am I half wildling, no matter what you believe. – ADWD, Jon XI

If Stark blood is also essentially wildling blood, and Jon is half Stark on his mother's side...that would make him "Halfwild" in blood as well as in spirit. And like you said, Targon feels very close to Targaryen/Targ-Jon. So this name is there solely as a hint towards Jon's true parentage — half Targaryen and half Stark. But I think you could argue that the "Halfwild" element could allude to Jon's post-resurrection state as well. I do personally like the idea of Feral Jon™.

Ser Roland & Ser Wallace Waynwood

Like the Royces, and Dolorous Edd, the Waynwoods also bear some notable Stark physical traits, as noted by Myranda in this chapter:

“The first Lady Waynwood must have been a mare, I think. How else to explain why all the Waynwood men are horse-faced? [...]"

As we know, looking horse-faced, or in Edd's case, mule-faced, indicates a rather long visage:

Arya took after their lord father. Her hair was a lusterless brown, and her face was long and solemn. Jeyne used to call her Arya Horseface, and neigh whenever she came near. – AGOT, Arya I

[Arya] even looked like Jon, with the long face and brown hair of the Starks, and nothing of their lady mother in her face or her coloring. – AGOT, Sansa I

Interestingly though, Jon is never referred to as being called horse-faced, although we know he has a long Stark face. You'd think that Chett, in the ASOS Prologue would have made that kind of dig, since he says as much about Dolorous Edd? This is why I tentatively believe that, although long-faced, Jon isn't as apparently "homely" as these Stark looking Waynwood brothers:

Ser Roland was the oldest of the three, though no more than five-and-twenty. He was taller and more muscular than Ser Wallace, but both were long-faced and lantern-jawed, with stringy brown hair and pinched noses. Horsefaced and homely, Alayne thought.

That being said, I don't think he's as "handsome" as Ser Waymar Royce, or "beautiful" like Ser Byron. But obviously, he's got something going for him because as GRRM says "all the girls love" him, and you know, he's got a good bod probably and if the Giant's Lance cake is anything to go by, as well as all Tormund's small penis jokes...um, well, maybe he's packing, I don't know! (Don't look at me like that guys...it's GRRM not me!)

But anyway! Like you said, Ser Wallace Waynwood is even of an age with Robb, and therefore also Jon:

Robb would be his age, if he were still alive, she could not help but think, but Robb died a king, and this is just a boy.

There is also a teeny bit of Stark blood, though obviously potent stuff, in the mix with those Waynwoods:

"No," Catelyn agreed. "You must name another heir, until such time as Jeyne gives you a son." She considered a moment. "Your father's father had no siblings, but his father had a sister who married a younger son of Lord Raymar Royce, of the junior branch. They had three daughters, all of whom wed Vale lordlings. A Waynwood and a Corbray, for certain. The youngest...it might have been a Templeton, but..."

"Mother." There was a sharpness in Robb's tone. "You forget. My father had four sons." – ASOS, Catelyn V

Shit — "all of whom wed Vale lordlings" — that's probably where all these Stark looking mother fudgers are coming from. So, all in all, I think there's some strong parallels.

And finally...Ser Harrold Hardyng

But let's not forget this bitch.

And there he stood, Harry the Heir himself; tall, handsome, scowling. “Lady Alayne. May I partner you in this dance?”

She considered for a moment. “No. I don’t think so.”

Prior to Harry, who notably fits into the Ashford pattern of Sansa's suitors, we have all these Jon stand-ins, or references to Jon. We can actually separate them out into their different functions, though there is some overlap with Andrew Tollett:

Those who reference Jon's Starkness/the Stark Look™:

Andrew Tollett

Albar Royce

Roland Waynwood

Wallace Waynwood

Those who reference his position/location at the Night's Watch:

Because in the Alayne chapter prior to this one, Sansa learns that Jon has been made Lord Commander:

[..] Oh, and the Night’s Watch has a boy commander, some bastard son of Eddard Stark’s.” “Jon Snow?” she blurted out, surprised. “Snow? Yes, it would be Snow, I suppose.” – AFFC, Alayne II

So, it is interesting that you then have a number of dance partners connected to members of the Watch:

Ben Coldwater

Andrew Tollett

Morgarth the Merry

Uther Shett

This could be read as foreshadowing for Sansa's future journey north, and specifically to the Wall, where she believes Jon to be.

Those who reference his true/uncertain parentage:

Byron the Beautiful

Shadrich the Mad Mouse

The Three Sunderlands

Targon the Halfwild

All these guys get a dance, but when Harry asks? He is denied. It is only after some A+ dragging by Alayne, and begging by Harry that the latter gets his dance. Yet don't be fooled into thinking this is a win for Harrold:

"Should we ever wed, you'll have to send Saffron back to her father. I’ll be all the spice you’ll want."

He grinned. "I will hold you to that promise, my lady. Until that day, may I wear your favor in the tourney?"

"You may not. It is promised to… another." She was not sure who as yet, but she knew she would find someone.

First off, we have this reminder of the betrothal, but there is a lack of certainty there — "should we wed" — and I would argue that's because...they ain't gonna. Remember all that wedding breakfast imagery, including an umcomfortably phallic lemon (wedding) cake, gift-giving and nod to a bridal cloak? Remember how that was followed by several dances with Jon stand-ins?

"[...] It is promised to… another."

Oh, I wonder who that could be? Honestly...GRRM has very clearly, for those who care to really look, stated someone else's claim here, and it ain't Harry's. In fact, it is the very same person who also evokes Valarr Targaryen in the Ashford pattern.

...it's our boi, Jon Snow.

“Jon Snow?” she blurted out, surprised.

“Snow? Yes, it would be Snow, I suppose.” – AFFC, Alayne II

You "suppose", Myranda? Honey, I'm certain.

[hisclockworkservants]

Opinions on ROUNDERHOUSE's Gold Proposal

Just some personal views and opinions, I’m obviously biased.

Just finished reading the entry, and I just have some thoughts I want to talk about here. Like I didn’t even hate the article or anything, I’m actually no voting it. It wouldn’t be fair to say there’s nothing new in there, but I just don’t really have a strong emotional reaction towards it, no strong like or disliek, except maybe vaguely frustrated?

The Bumaro/Hedwig thing is like... I actually don’t have a reaction to that at all because I don’t really feel anything towards the characters.

What I do feel frustrated about is like... oh yeah, yet another empire ruled by god emperors.

Like ancient super anomalous cilivization is fun! It’s worldbuilding for supernatural culture! I just wish there are other forms of organization for them aside from empires.

There’s the deavite empire, kaktus’ first human civilization empire, Ion’s empire... I guess I’m also guilty of this in writing about  anomalous Xia (I mean I do think I’m basing that on cultural context but yeaaah). And now this.

And I think in earlier series Mekhanites are written as cities united together? Like city states in Greece? And that’s why they had to ally with others to fight Ion. And there’s some tales mentioning Menkhanite empire, which I guess is what lead up to this.

And the Mekhnites, as an empire, still allied with other countries in this 001? Which doesn’t make a whole lot of sense given how god emperor Bumaro is not super benevolent actually and can just command people.

I guess there’s nothing wrong with just having shepred and family blessed by god and creating a whole empire, but really really just wish there’s more... different stuff. Like people working together to discover the secrets of Mekhane through generations and building that up naturally. Instead of just one person becoming a chosen one and single handedly creating great empire. Not that we can’t have that but like, that’s Ion already (Ion’s story is actually more interesting because he was an uprising slave). It would just be more interesting to give it a diverse bent.

Personally I think the fun of worldbuilding of prehistoric anomalous civilization in foundationverse is that you can put cultural stuff and integrate it with the supernatural stuff, and see how the cultural aspect would react to that. I think Metaphysician generally did a really good job of that, especially in An Anthropological Approach to Sarkicism series. Like the historical text there are actually part of the story to convey the cultural stuff instead of just set dressing.

(The whole reason I wrote about Xia is like... I want to explore what different culturals would react to a god entity, like they would react to the same entity different. Like maybe Mekhnanites wanna rebuild broken god and a different cultural would interpret it as not needing repairing. So their text aren’t necessarily the truth about Mekhane but what they see Mekhane as. Maybe I didn’t convey that super well... and got sidetracked because cool dragons, welp.)

I feel like here the empire is really divorced from its cultural context and all the focus is on how super advanced they are. Their philsophy of becoming better and away from flesh feels more like a modern person's reaction towards the Broken God instead of people of that cultural setting. There are just traces of local cultural in some text and maybe in a image but not much else.

I actually feel similarly about kaktus’ super empire, I feel like it’s maybe based on European kingdoms what with the knights and fairies, but it also feels like it’s divorced from the time it’s set in and I really wish it’s less grand and set in a time period more fitting.

I just think there should be more diverse ways of these super civilizations, instead of just empires and empires. I guess giving one person focus is easier to write, letting a god emperor creating history, but it’s just kind of way less charming for me.

I guess in conclusion I don‘t hate it or anything, I just wish it’s different, which I guess isn’t a fair expectation.