#which meant they would ALL die. both twins and their mom

[the-tenth-arcanum]

I can't believe trump is winning the elections...

[bokutosbabe]

Having His Baby

a/n — osamu brainrot is actually insane. not proofread so for sure horrible i wrote this on a whim 🫶🏼

content — nsfw, 18+, osamu x fem! reader, breeding kink, goes back and forth between high school and time skip, reader and osamu are high school sweethearts, reader and osamu are married, mating press, cursing, talk of a pregnancy scare, nicknames(pretty girl, nasty girl, baby, maybe more i forgot), daddy kink if you squint, i think that’s it! lmk if i missed anything!

synopsis — in high school osamu miya knew you were meant to be a mom, but seven years later he’d finally decided he would make you one himself.

✿.｡.“ screaming but daddy i love him! ”.｡.✿

Osamu always knew you’d be a good mom. From the moment he'd met you in the nurse's office during his first year, you simply radiated that aura. Always so willing to help him every time he and atsumu got in a fight or he got hurt in volleyball — you would drop everything to come help him in the nurse's office.

Sure, it wasn't exactly smart to skip the classes that Osamu needed you in, but that was your job. You were the nurse's student assistant after all.

You hadn't gotten the courage to actually speak to him until his fourth appearance in there, yes you'd given him your number just so he could text if he needed help, but the two of you only texted when he was hurt. (you had no idea how many “you up?” texts he had wanted to send to you to see if you'd respond)

It was an accident really, saying your first real words to him. They were simply out of shock as you saw his lip cut open and his jaw already beginning to bruise, "what happened to you?” you had asked, hand slightly grazing the boy's, now bruised, jaw.

That was a million years ago in Osamu’s mind, while it really had only been seven. So much had changed since he first met you, you started dating not soon after, and then he'd married you, he’d opened his own onigiri business, and it all led here — to the two of you cooking in the kitchen. " ‘samu, can you get me a bowl? There's none in the drying rack and my hands are dirty.” your cute voice broke him out of the weird trance he was under as he watched you work. “Anything for you baby.” he cooed as he reached over your head and grabbed a clean bowl for you.

Everything was always clean in your shared home, which shouldn't have been a bad thing— except it was to Osamu. As a kid, he remembered him and Atsumu making various messes whether it be with liquids or even drawing on the walls- their home was very rarely clean. Osamu loved and appreciated everything you did for the house, but the ache to have kids that would make simple messes prodded at him more often than he would've liked to admit. He remembered the first time he brought kids up to you in high school during second year.

“ ya ever think about havin' kids? ” he asked as the both of you lay in his bed, his TV just droning on as background noise since the two of you had been talking the entire time. “Hmm…sometimes. I have dreams that we have kids- twins actually,” you admitted. Your raw and honest confession shouldn't have had his cock stirring in his pants the way it did, “Really?” he asked as he nuzzled his head into the crook of your neck, imagining your stomach all round with his children, not one child, but twins. “Yeah, and they look like you,” you said simply, hands finding their way to his dyed locs and running through them. That conversation made Osamu Miya realize that he would rather die than not have kids with you. (and that he had a breeding kink but he found that far too embarrassing to tell you)

When you press the spoon to Osamus's mouth is when he suddenly comes back to the present, “Open samu, need my favorite person to make sure it tastes good.” you smiled as the man opened his mouth and allowed you to feed him— which only made him think of you feeding a baby - your baby. The male nodded as he pulled away from the spoon, “tastes good baby.” He wasn’t lying, it did taste good- but maybe the thought of you feeding a child made his mind a bit fuzzy. “thank goodness, it’s a new recipe, so I was really worried.” you gave your husband a smile as you turned back around, grabbing the bowl osamu had gotten you.

Maybe it was the high school memories coming back to him, or maybe it was him thinking about how the house was always spotless, hell— perhaps it was because you just looked so cute right now with your apron around your waist and spoon in hand. Whatever it was, Osamu couldn’t help the ache he felt in his pants, coming behind you and placing his hands on your stomach. “ ‘Yer so cute…”

“mhm, thank you, baby. you’re real cute too.” you smiled as you tilted your head up, giving him a quick peck on the chin. As you returned to what you were doing, filling bowls with the soup you had made for dinner, Osamu pressed himself against you, his hard-on very prominent. As much as you could’ve tried to ignore him, your husband always got his way when it came to you, “ ‘Samu dinners ready…” you said as you pressed your back into his chest- face beginning to heat up.

“ it can wait…need you right now-” usually your husband was a kind, patient man (except when he ‘had’ to fuck you in the back room of onigiri miya when you brought him some lunch) “You’d be such a good mommy…so good to our babies.” the male muttered against your hair, grabbing your waist and grinding against your clothed cunt. a small moan fell from your lips, “ ‘s-samu! it’ll get cold-”

It wasn’t like you were oblivious to Osamu's want for kids, in your third year you and Osamu had had a pregnancy scare. While many other 18-year-old boys would’ve probably been relieved seeing that one line on the pregnancy test, Osamu felt some strange emptiness and disappointment. sure, it wasn’t ideal to be teen parents, but he couldn’t figure out why he so badly wanted you to have his baby. It was on that same day that he figured out he didn’t want a professional volleyball career, no he wanted to have a true career that let him be home with you as often as he could be (so he could knock you up.) ever since that day, every time you passed the baby section in a store- his eyes would glaze over and he’d mention how tiny the shoes and clothes were, and you’d talked about kids- but never were you guys actually ‘trying’ for a baby.

“ jus’ reheat it,” Osamu mumbled as he picked you up, strong hands that still hold proof of his years of playing volleyball and now being a professional chef digging into the underside of your thighs. Your house wasn’t large in the slightest, but the minute it took for him to carry you felt like it took an eternity. The second Osamu’s foot crossed over the barrier of your shared bedroom- his lips were on yours. The kiss was downright disgusting, spit being shared as his tongue invaded your mouth, leaving you gasping for air when he finally pulled away. “ so pretty…” he mumbled as he carried you over to the bed, using one of his hands to untie the apron that hugged your waist in a way that turned his brain to mush.

Osamu groaned as he pulled off your shirt, seeing that you had no bra on, “you knew this was gon’ happen didn’t ya pretty?” he asked as skillfully he pulled his gray shirt off with one hand, making you squirm under his intense gaze. “n-no I just-” but Osamu didn’t want to hear your excuses, there was no need for them now. his hand quickly pushed you down to where your back met the mattress, lips puckering around one of your nipples as he played with your other one. he wasn’t much of a boob man, much rather enjoying your ass, but even he couldn’t stop the images of your tits full of milk from invading his mind. he let out a groan as he looked up at you, hand covering your mouth as you watched him- face flushed in arousal and maybe some embarrassment. “let me hear you pretty girl.” he came up and caught your lips in another kiss, hand sneaking down to the waistband of your his shorts and pulling them off of your legs in one quick movement. if there was one thing about Osamu Miya, it was that he knew how to get you undressed in a matter of seconds.

You instinctively tried closing your legs, but Osamu knew you too well, his knee already finding solace between your legs as he pulled away from the kiss, a string of spit connecting the two of you as he looked down at you. “fuck baby…look at how wet you are,” you let out a small moan as he ran a finger over your clothed cunt, your panties becoming insanely wet as you reached down and grabbed his wrist. “please ‘samu, need you…” you begged as you shook your head. “want you in me-”

Now usually your husband wasn’t the type to fuck you without fingering you or (his favorite) eating you out, but right now his cock was begging to be freed from the confines of his jeans. “my pretty girl…”he mumbled as he pulled off your panties, a string of arousal connecting to you, making him let out a groan. “need to fuck ya right now…” and Osamu made good on his word, quickly getting rid of his jeans and boxers, cock springing to life- making you moan as you saw it. it didn’t matter how many times you’d seen Osamu in his bare glory, it always made you want to thank whatever gods decided you were good enough for him.

You remembered in high school when the two of you had first had sex, both inexperienced as you tried figuring out what position worked for the both of you and accidentally breaking his bed— something atsumu never lets you forget.

Osamu groaned as his tip met your entrance, staring at you with those bedroom eyes that were like a remedy to any problem you ever had,chest heaving as he stopped himself from shoving into you- wanting you to be ready for him. “please samu…need it so bad-” you cried out as you reached up to his neck, moaning as you brought him down for another kiss. osamu miya was nothing if not a gentleman who listened to his wife, pushing into your hole and bottoming out almost immediately, groaning against your lips,“still so tight fa me, huh baby?” the moan you let out was almost pornographic, back arching into your husband,“ fuck! S-samu!” you cried out, legs wrapping around his waist.

Sure, Osamu could’ve been nice and given you time to adjust to him like he usually did, but who had time for that when he needed to get you pregnant tonight? The male groaned as he took your legs and pushed them to where your knees were pressed against your chest, making him feel extra deep, “s-samu!” you cried out as your eyes rolled to the back of your head. “yer so pretty, baby, my pretty girl…”osamu mumbled to himself. he didn’t even give you a warning before pulling out and slamming back into you, letting out his own moan as your nails scratched into his back.

You’d always been sensitive when it came to osamu, but never had you felt him this deep inside of you before, gasps and moans leaving your mouth. “feel me, baby? gonna get you pregnant, full of my cum.”osamu pressed down on your stomach as he thrust in and out of you in a rhythm you knew all too well. you tried answering him, truly you did, but even two seconds with Osamu into your cunt made you brain dead. “mhm-” was the only word you could make, giving your husband a small laugh as he looked down at you.

“Fucked ya dumb already pretty girl? C'mon, know ya got more in ya-” The teasing tone in his voice made you want to cry, but some sick sort of enjoyment of being embarrassed held back those tears. you looked so pretty under Osamu, your wedding ring adorning your finger as your hair was messily sprawled out beneath you with your knees pushed to your chest. Osamu thought he could take a mental picture and have enough spank bank material for three months, at least.

“Gonna cum- ah samu!” you whined out, nails scratching down your husband's back. Osamu let out a groan, maybe he should give you more money to get your nails done, because the short acrylics you have on scraping down his back made him want to short circuit. “cum for me baby, gonna look so good filled with my cum.” Osamu was on the brink of his release, groaning as he brought a hand down to finally rub your clit, giving you the final push to let go. you moaned out his name over and over, even slipping a small ‘daddy’ in the chant of words. With that one word, you made Osamu want to blow his load- feeling his hips stutter before stilling inside of you and releasing his cum. you whined as you felt him fill you up, your husband had always came a lot- but something about right now- this singular moment- made him give you everything he had.

Osamu looked down where the two of you were connected, seeing his and your cum mixing as it spilled out around his cock,“ fuck…” he said as he pulled out watching as more seeped out of your abused cunt. it would be a waste if you didn’t keep it all in, though. Osamu hummed as he fingered the cum back into you, making you let out a gasp from how overstimulated you already were.

“gotta make sure it sticks, baby.”

✿.｡.“ i’m having his baby ”.｡.✿

if you can’t tell, i love the miyas.

likes, comments, and reblogs are appreciated!!

[visenyaism]

HOTD blog post GRRM posted and almost immediately deleted under the cut for archival purposes

Beware the Butterflies

SEPTEMBER 4, 2024

Profile Pic

Back in July, I promised you some further thoughts about Blood and Cheese… and Maelor the Missing… after my commentary on the first two episodes of HotD season 2, “A Son for a Son” and “Rhaenyra the Cruel.”

Those were terrific episodes: well written, well directed, powerfully acted. A great way to kick off the new season. Fans and critics alike seemed to agree. There was only one aspect of the episodes that drew significant criticism: the handling of Blood and Cheese, and the death of Prince Jaehaerys. From the commentary I saw on line, opinion was split there. The readers of FIRE & BLOOD found the sequence underwhelming, a disappointment, watered down from what they were expecting. Viewers who had not read the book had no such problems. Most of them found the sequence a real gut-punch, tragic, horrifying, nightmarish, etc. Some reported being reduced to tears.

I found myself agreeing with both sides.

In my book, Aegon and Helaena have three children, not two. The twins, Jaehaerys and Jaehaera, are six years old. They have a younger brother, Maelor, who is two. When Blood and Cheese break in on Helaena and the kids, they tell her they are debt collectors come to exact revenge for the death of Prince Lucerys: a son for a son. As Helaena has two sons, however, they demand that she choose which one should die. She resists and offers her own life instead, but the killers insist it has to be a son. If she does not name one, they will kill all three of the children. To save the life of the twins, Helaena names Maelor. But Blood kills the older boy, Jaehaerys, instead, while Cheese tells little Maelor that his mother wanted him dead. (Whether the boy is old enough to understand that is not at all certain).

That’s not how it happens on the show. There is no Maelor in HOUSE OF THE DRAGON, only the twins (both of whom look younger than six, but I am no sure judge of children’s ages, so I can’t be sure how old they are supposed to be). Blood can’t seem to tell the twins apart, so Helaena is asked to reveal which one is the boy. (You would think a glance up his PJs would reveal that, without involving the mother). Instead of offering her own life to save the kids, Helaena offers them a necklace. Blood and Cheese are not tempted. Blood saws Prince Jaehaerys’s head off. We are spared the sight of that; a sound effect suffices. (In the book, he lops the head off with a sword).

It is a bloody, brutal scene, no doubt. How not? An innocent child is being butchered in front of his mother.

I still believe the scene in the book is stronger. The readers have the right of that. The two killers are crueler in the book. I thought the actors who played the killers on the show were excellent… but the characters are crueler, harder, and more frightening in FIRE & BLOOD. In the show, Blood is a gold cloak. In the book, he is a former gold cloak, stripped of his office for beating a woman to death. Book Blood is the sort of man who might think making a woman choose which of her sons should die is amusing, especially when they double down on the wanton cruelty by murdering the boy she tries to save. Book Cheese is worse too; he does not kick a dog, true, but he does not have a dog, and he’s the one who tells Maelor that his mom wants him head. I would also suggest that Helaena shows more courage, more strength in the book, by offering her own own life to save her son. Offering a piece of jewelry is just not the same.

As I saw it, the “Sophie’s Choice” aspect was the strongest part of the sequence, the darkest, the most visceral. I hated to lose that. And judging from the comments on line, most of the fans seemed to agree.

When Ryan Condal first told me what he meant to do, ages ago (back in 2022, might be) I argued against it, for all these reasons. I did not argue long, or with much heat, however. The change weakened the sequence, I felt, but only a bit. And Ryan had what seemed to be practical reasons for it; they did not want to deal with casting another child, especially a two-year old toddler. Kids that young will inevitably slow down production, and there would be budget implications. Budget was already an issue on HOUSE OF THE DRAGON, it made sense to save money wherever we could. Moreover, Ryan assured me that we were not losing Prince Maelor, simply postponing him. Queen Helaena could still give birth to him in season three, presumably after getting with child late in season two. That made sense to me, so I withdrew my objections and acquiesced to the change.

I still love the episode, and the Blood and Cheese sequence overall. Losing the “Helaena’s Choice” beat did weaken the scene, but not to any great degree. Only the book readers would even notice its absence; viewers who had never read FIRE & BLOOD would still find the scenes heart-rending. Maelor did not actually DO anything in the scene, after all. How could he? He was only two years old.

There is another aspect to the removal of the young princeling, however.

Those of you who hate spoilers should STOP READING HERE. Spoilers will follow, at least for the readers among you. If you have never read FIRE & BLOOD, maybe it does not matter, because all I am going to “spoil” here are things that happen in the book that may NEVER happen on the series. Starting with Maelor himself.

Sometime between the initial decision to remove Maelor, a big change was made. The prince’s birth was no longer just going to be pushed back to season 3. He was never going to be born at all. The younger son of Aegon and Helaena would never appear.

Most of you know about the Butterfly Effect, I assume.

Yes, there was a movie with that title a few years back. It’s a familiar concept in chaos theory as well. But most science fiction fans were first exposed to the idea in Ray Bradbury’s classic time travel story, “A Sound of Thunder,” wherein a time traveler from the present panics and crushes a butterfly while hunting a T-Rex. When he returns to his own time, he discovers that the world has changed in huge and frightening ways. One dead butterfly has rewritten history. The lesson being that change begets change, and even small and seemingly insignificant alterations to a timeline — or a story — can have a profound effect on all that follows.

Maelor is a two year old toddler in FIRE & BLOOD, but like our butterfly he has an impact on the story all out of proportion to his size. The readers among you may recall that when it appears that Rhaenyra and her blacks are about to capture King’s Landing, Queen Alicent becomes concerned for the safety of Helaena’s remaining children, and takes steps to save them by smuggling them out of the city. The task is given is two knights of the Kingsguard. Ser Willis Fell is commanded to deliver Princess Jaehaera to the Baratheons at Storm’s End, while Maelor is given over to Ser Rickard Thorne to be escorted across the Mander to the protection of the Hightower army on its way to King’s Landing.

Willis Fell delivers Jaehaera safely to the Baratheons at Storm’s End, but Ser Rickard fares less well. He and Maelor get as far as Bitterbridge, where he is revealed as a Kingsuard in a tavern called the Hogs Head. Once discovered, Ser Rickard fights bravely to protect his young charge and bring him to safety, but he does not even make it across the bridge before some crossbows bring him down, Prince Maelor is torn from his arms.. and then, sadly, ripped to pieces by the mob fighting over the boy and the huge reward that Rhaenyra has offered for his capture and return.

Will any of that appear on the show? Maybe… but I don’t see how. The butterflies would seem to prohibit it. You could perhaps make Ser Rickard’s ward be Jaehaera instead of Maelor, but Jaehaera can’t be killed, she has a huge role to play as Aegon’s next heir. Could maybe make Maelor a newborn instead of a two year old, but that would scramble up the timeline, which is a bit of a mess already. I have no idea what Ryan has planned — if indeed he has planned anything — but given Maelor’s absence from episode 2, the simplest way to proceed would be just to drop him entirely, lose the bit where Alicent tries to send the kids to safety, drop Rickard Thorne or send him with Willis Fell so Jaehaera has two guards.

From what I know, that seems to be what Ryan is doing here. It’s simplest, yes, and may make sense in terms of budgets and shooting schedules. But simpler is not better. The Bitterbridge scene has tension, suspense, action, bloodshed, a bit of heroism and a lot of tragedy. Rickard Thorne is a tertiary character at best, most viewers (as opposed to readers) will never know he is gone, since they never knew him at all… but I rather liked giving him his brief moment of heroism, a taste of the courage and loyalty of the Kingsguard, regardless of whether they are black or green.

The butterflies are not done with us yet, however. In the book, when word of Prince Maelor’s death and the grisly manner of his passing (pp. 505) reaches the Red Keep, that proves to be the thing that drives Queen Helaena to suicide. She could barely stand to look at Maelor, knowing that she chose him to die in the “Sophie’s Choice” scene… and now he is dead in truth, her words having come true. The grief and guilt are too much for her to bear.

In Ryan’s outline for season 3, Helaena still kills herself… for no particular reason. There is no fresh horror, no triggering event to overwhelm the fragile young queen.

And the final butterfly follows soon thereafter.

Queen Helaena, a sweet and gentle soul, is much beloved by the smallfolk of King’s Landing. Rhaenyra was not, so when rumors began to arise that Helaena did not kill herself, but rather was murdered at Rhaenyra’s command, the commons are quick to believe them. “That night King’s Landing rose in bloody riot,” I wrote on p. 506 of FIRE & BLOOD. It is the beginning of the end for Rhaenyra’s rule over the city, ultimately leading to the Storming of the Dragonpit and the rise of the Shepherd’s mob that drives Rhaenyra to flee the city and return to Dragonstone… and her death.

Maelor by himself means little. He is a small child, does not have a line of dialogue, does nothing of consequence but die… but where and when and how, that does matter. Losing Maelor weakened the end of the Blood and Cheese sequence, but it also cost us the Bitterbridge scene with all its horror and heroism, it undercut the motivation for Helaena’s suicide, and that in turn sent thousands into the streets and alleys, screaming for justice for their “murdered” queen. None of that is essential, I suppose… but all of it does serve a purpose, it all helps to tie the story lines together, so one thing follows another in a logical and convincing manner.

What will we offer the fans instead, once we’ve killed these butterflies? I have no idea. I do not recall that Ryan and I ever discussed this, back when he first told me they were pushing back on Aegon’s second son. Maelor himself is not essential… but if losing him means we also lose Bitterbridge, Helaena’s suicide, and the riots, well… that’s a considerable loss.

And there are larger and more toxic butterflies to come, if HOUSE OF THE DRAGON goes ahead with some of the changes being contemplated for seasons 3 and 4…

GRRM

[aegoneggon]

GRRM's post since he deleted it

Back in July, I promised you some further thoughts about Blood and Cheese… and Maelor the Missing… after my commentary on the first two episodes of HotD season 2, “A Son for a Son” and “Rhaenyra the Cruel.”

Those were terrific episodes:  well written, well directed, powerfully acted.   A great way to kick off the new season.   Fans and critics alike seemed to agree.  There was only one aspect of the episodes that drew significant criticism: the handling of Blood and Cheese, and the death of Prince Jaehaerys.   From the commentary I saw on line,  opinion was split there.   The readers of FIRE & BLOOD found the sequence underwhelming, a disappointment, watered down from what they were expecting.   Viewers who had not read the book had no such problems.   Most of them found the sequence a real gut-punch, tragic, horrifying, nightmarish, etc.   Some reported being reduced to tears.

I found myself agreeing with both sides.

In my book, Aegon and Helaena have three children, not two.  The twins, Jaehaerys and Jaehaera, are six years old.  They have a younger brother, Maelor, who is two.   When Blood and Cheese break in on Helaena and the kids, they tell her they are debt collectors come to exact revenge for the death of Prince Lucerys: a son for a son.  As Helaena has  two sons, however,  they demand that she choose which one should die.   She resists and offers her own life instead, but the killers insist it has to be a son.  If she does not  name one, they will kill all three of the children.   To save the life of the twins, Helaena names Maelor.    But Blood kills the older boy, Jaehaerys, instead, while Cheese tells little Maelor that his mother wanted him dead.    (Whether the boy is old enough to understand that is not at all certain).

That’s not how it happens on the show.   There is no Maelor in HOUSE OF THE DRAGON, only the twins (both of whom look younger than six, but I am no sure judge of children’s ages, so I can’t be sure how old they are supposed to be).   Blood can’t seem to tell the twins apart, so Helaena is asked to reveal which one is the boy.  (You would think a glance up his PJs would reveal that, without involving the mother).  Instead of offering her own life to save the kids, Helaena offers them a necklace.   Blood and Cheese are not tempted.  Blood saws Prince Jaehaerys’s head off.   We are spared the sight of that; a sound effect suffices.   (In the book, he lops the head off with a sword).

It is a bloody, brutal scene, no doubt.  How not?  An innocent child is being butchered in front of his mother.

I still believe the scene in the book is stronger.  The readers have the right of that.   The two killers are crueler in the book.  I thought the actors who played the killers on the show were excellent… but the characters are crueler, harder, and more frightening in FIRE & BLOOD.   In the show, Blood is a gold cloak.   In the book, he is aformer gold cloak, stripped of his office for beating a woman to death.    Book Blood is the sort of man who might think making a woman choose which of her sons should die is amusing, especially when they double down on the wanton cruelty by murdering the boy she tries to save.    Book Cheese is worse too; he does not kick a dog, true, but he does not have a dog, and he’s the one who tells Maelor that his mom wants him head.   I would also suggest that Helaena shows more courage, more strength in the book, by offering her own own life to save her son.   Offering a piece of jewelry is just not  the same.

As I saw it, the “Sophie’s Choice” aspect was the strongest part of the sequence, the darkest, the most visceral.   I hated to lose that.   And judging from the comments on line, most of the fans seemed to agree.

When Ryan Condal first told me what he meant to do, ages ago (back in 2022, might be) I argued against it, for all these reasons.    I did not argue long, or with much heat, however.   The change weakened the sequence, I felt, but only a bit.   And Ryan had what seemed to be practical reasons for it; they did not want to deal with casting another child, especially a two-year old toddler.  Kids that young will inevitably slow down production, and there would be budget implications.   Budget was already an issue on HOUSE OF THE DRAGON, it made sense to save money wherever we could.   Moreover, Ryan assured me that we were not losing Prince Maelor, simply postponing him.   Queen Helaena could still give birth to him in season three, presumably after getting with child late in season two.   That made sense to me, so I withdrew my objections and acquiesced to the change.

I still love the episode, and the Blood and Cheese sequence overall.   Losing the “Helaena’s Choice” beat did weaken the scene, but not to any great degree.  Only the book readers would even notice its absence; viewers who had never read FIRE & BLOOD would still find the scenes heart-rending.   Maelor did not actually DO anything in the scene, after all.   How could he?  He was only two years old.

There is another aspect to the removal of the young princeling, however.

Those of you who hate spoilers should STOP READING HERE.   Spoilers will follow, at least for the readers among you.  If you have never read FIRE & BLOOD, maybe it does not matter, because all I am going to “spoil” here are things that happen in the book that may NEVER happen on the series.   Starting with Maelor himself.

Sometime between the initial decision to remove Maelor, a big change was made.   The prince’s birth was no longer just going to be pushed back to season 3.  He was never going to be born at all.   The younger son of Aegon and Helaena would never appear.

Most of you know about the Butterfly Effect, I assume.

Yes, there was a movie with that title a few years back.   It’s a familiar concept in chaos theory as well.   But most science fiction fans were first exposed to the idea in Ray Bradbury’s classic time travel story, “A Sound of Thunder,” wherein a time traveler from the present panics and crushes a butterfly while hunting a T-Rex.  When he returns to his own time, he discovers that the world has changed in huge and frightening ways.  One dead butterfly has rewritten history.  The lesson being that change begets change, and even small and seemingly insignificant alterations to a timeline — or a story — can have a profound effect on all that follows.

Maelor is a two year old toddler in FIRE & BLOOD, but like our butterfly he has an impact on the story all out of proportion to his size.   The readers among you may recall that when it appears that Rhaenyra and her blacks are about to capture King’s Landing, Queen Alicent becomes concerned for the safety of Helaena’s remaining children, and takes steps to save them by smuggling them out of the city.   The task is given is two knights of the Kingsguard.   Ser Willis Fell is commanded to deliver Princess Jaehaera to the Baratheons at Storm’s End, while Maelor is given over to Ser Rickard Thorne to be escorted across the Mander to the protection of the Hightower army on its way to King’s Landing.

Willis Fell delivers Jaehaera safely to the Baratheons at Storm’s End, but Ser Rickard fares less well.   He and Maelor get as far as Bitterbridge, where he is revealed as a Kingsuard in a tavern called the Hogs Head.   Once discovered, Ser Rickard fights bravely to protect his young charge and bring him to safety, but he does not even make it across the bridge before some crossbows bring him down,  Prince Maelor is torn from his arms.. and then, sadly, ripped to pieces by the mob fighting over the boy and the huge reward that Rhaenyra has offered for his capture and return.

Will any of that appear on the show?   Maybe… but I don’t see how.   The butterflies would seem to prohibit it.  You could perhaps make Ser Rickard’s ward be Jaehaera instead of Maelor, but Jaehaera can’t be killed, she has a huge role to play as Aegon’s next heir.   Could maybe make  Maelor a newborn instead of a two year old, but that would scramble up the timeline, which is a bit of a mess already.   I have no idea what Ryan has planned — if indeed he has planned anything — but given Maelor’s absence from episode 2, the simplest way to proceed would be just to drop him entirely, lose the bit where Alicent tries to send the kids to safety, drop Rickard Thorne or send him with Willis Fell so Jaehaera has two guards.

From what I know, that seems to be what Ryan is doing here.   It’s simplest, yes, and may make sense in terms of budgets and shooting schedules.  But simpler is not better.   The Bitterbridge scene has tension, suspense, action, bloodshed, a bit of heroism and a lot of tragedy.  Rickard Thorne  is a tertiary character at best, most viewers (as opposed to readers) will never know he is gone, since they never knew him at all… but I rather liked giving him his brief moment of heroism, a taste of the courage and loyalty of the Kingsguard, regardless of whether they are black or green.

The butterflies are not done with us yet, however.  In the book, when word of Prince Maelor’s death and the grisly manner of his passing (pp. 505) reaches the Red Keep, that proves to be the thing that drives Queen Helaena to suicide.   She could barely stand to look at Maelor, knowing that she chose him to die in the “Sophie’s Choice” scene… and now he is dead in truth, her words having come true.   The grief and guilt are too much for her to bear.

In Ryan’s outline for season 3, Helaena still kills herself… for no particular reason.   There is no fresh horror, no triggering event to overwhelm the fragile young queen.

And the final butterfly follows soon thereafter.

Queen Helaena, a sweet and gentle soul, is much beloved by the smallfolk of King’s Landing.  Rhaenyra was not, so when rumors began to arise that Helaena did not kill herself, but rather was murdered at Rhaenyra’s command, the commons are quick to believe them.   “That night King’s Landing rose in bloody riot,” I wrote on p. 506 of FIRE & BLOOD.   It is the beginning of the end for Rhaenyra’s rule over the city, ultimately leading to the Storming of the Dragonpit and the rise of the Shepherd’s mob that drives Rhaenyra to flee the city and return to Dragonstone… and her death.

Maelor by himself means little.   He is a small child, does not have a line of dialogue, does nothing of consequence but die… but where and when and how, that does matter.   Losing Maelor weakened the end of the Blood and Cheese sequence, but it also cost us the Bitterbridge scene with all its horror and heroism, it undercut the motivation for Helaena’s suicide, and that in turn sent thousands into the streets and alleys, screaming for justice for their “murdered” queen.   None of that is essential, I suppose… but all of it does serve a purpose, it all helps to tie the story lines together, so one thing follows another in a logical and convincing manner.

What will we offer the fans instead, once we’ve killed these butterflies?   I have no idea.   I do not recall that Ryan and I ever discussed this, back when he first told me they were pushing back on Aegon’s second son.   Maelor himself is not essential… but if losing him means we also lose Bitterbridge, Helaena’s suicide, and the riots, well… that’s a considerable loss.

And there are larger and more toxic butterflies to come, if HOUSE OF THE DRAGON goes ahead with some of the changes being contemplated for seasons 3 and 4…

GRRM

[anangelwhodidntfall]

I have a hurt/comfort dad!jake x daughter!reader request because I feel super angsty rn and would love comfort from jake so here goes:

Jake helping y/n through a panic attack/anxiety attack and helps her talk about the stuff she holds in

A/N: As someone who suffers from both anxiety and panic attacks, this hit home <3

Your dad was the first to notice how quiet and on edge, you had become lately, ever since he, your mom, and your twin had rescued you, Peì'll, and your siblings from Quaritch and his team. He and your mom would catch you staring off into space, lost in thought, hands shaking, and flinching when someone would touch you and it worried them, so he made a plan to talk to you. 

First, you, your girlfriend, and your siblings were nearly kidnapped and now your girlfriend's family didn't want you two to see each other anymore. You were constantly on edge worried that this Quaritch person and his team were lurking around the corner ready to strike again, so you were constantly trying to be hyper-aware of your surroundings. 

You were out for a walk trying to clear your head but the voices in your head kept getting louder and louder until you started to feel dizzy and your heart was pounding. You took a seat next to the tree softly crying as you struggled to breathe and felt your hands start to shake as the tears started to fall down your face. 

"Please stop." You said crying as the voices in your head kept going on about the different scenarios that could happen. 

Your dad had been worried when none of your siblings had seen you, so he went into the forest to see if he could find you and make sure you were okay. He heard crying which made his ears perk up as he followed it and found you sitting by a tree with your head between your legs making you worried.

"Babygirl?" He asked quietly until he noticed that you were going through a panic attack. 

"Da...ad?" You asked looking up at him as you struggled to breathe. 

"Easy, easy sweetheart. You are having a panic attack and need to calm down before you pass out." He said placing his arms on your shoulders.

"Breathe with me. Can you do that?" He asked as you nodded your head. 

Your dad took about five deep breaths which you copied feeling your breathing return to normal and your crying stopped as he rubbed a hand up and dad your back to keep your calm.

"Okay, can you tell me five things you see?" He asked. 

"I see you, some trees, some vines, some flowers, and I see the sun." You said. 

"Very good." He said giving your arm a gentle squeeze as he took a seat next to you and wrapped an arm around you.

"So what's going on baby? I can't help but notice that you've been on edge and more closed off lately.

"Ever since we were almost taken by.." You started to say but felt your heart rate quicken. 

"Easy sweetheart...take your time....your safe here with me." He said rubbing your arm as you nodded your head as you took a deep breath. 

"Ever since we were almost taken by Quaritch and his team, my anxiety has been through the roof about him coming back and hurting us, especially you. Then Peì'll's parents won't let us see other after that happened as if I knew that was going to happen...Daddy, I hate that I froze and she nearly got hurt because of me...I miss her daddy. It's just been a lot  daddy." You said leaning your head on his chest as Jake looked up to the sky with a sigh and tried to contain his tears. 

"Oh baby girl, why didn't you tell me sooner?" He asked you. 

"I was mostly scared." You said. 

"I understand that but none of that is your responsibility. I promise you that man and his team won't ever lay a hand on you or siblings or Peì'll again, I would die before that happens." He said. 

"But I don't want you to die Daddy." You said fully hugging him now as his heart swelled, you were truly a daddy's girl. 

"I know you don't but I would gladly do so if it meant you all were safe. I promise you that I will be around for a long long time." He said hugging you and placing a kiss on your forehead. 

"As for Peì'll and that situation, that isn't your fault either, it was a natural reaction back when I was a marine I did that the first time I was on the front lines. You both got out of there alive and that's all that matters, I'm sorry that her parents are blaming you because it wasn't your fault none of it was, you hear me?" He asked looking you in your eyes.

"I do. Thank you, dad." You said hugging him.

"Your welcome, next time please come talk to me so I can help you." He said as you nodded your head. 

"I'll try too. I love you, Dad." You said resting your head on his shoulder.

"I love you too sweetheart, so so much." He said pressing a kiss to your forehead as your breathing started to mellow out. 

Your dad returned to camp and hime with you sound asleep in his arms which made your mom worried and smile at the same time when she saw you two. He gently laid you down and took a seat next to you as your mom did the same. 

"She okay?" Your mom asked brushing a piece of hair out your face. 

"She will be now. She was worried about everything with Quaritch including me and it got to her." Your dad said. 

"Oh, my sweet girl. She's always been that way, especially when it concerned you." Your mom said. 

"My pericous babygirl." He said pressing a kiss to your forehead. 

[artist-issues]

Your words and your posts have been incredibly disheartening for me to see. My mother left the church. She is not an apostate, but she did question the church’s teachings in secret. She completely left faith when I was born. I have congenital heart defects, which I was born with. I nearly died on the operating table. For this reason, my mother and I do not believe in God, who is said to be all-powerful and all-benevolent. My mother is a wonderful person. She risked her life in the Covid-19 pandemic as she works at a hospital. If anyone deserved to live in an eternal paradise, it would be her. Your LGBTQ+ views have also upset me. My oldest friend, who I have known since before I could even remember, is transgender and gay, and have been more supportive to me as a disabled person than any Christian has been. I’m only 18 years old, yet I know that you chose faith over experiences with the wonderful parts of humanity. Respectfully, please reconsider your views on gay and trans people.

I truly appreciate how thoughtfully and respectfully you typed out this message. It is clear that these matters mean a lot to you and I'm going to go ahead and assume that you aren't speaking out of any kind of hate.

I would just offer you a counter-perspective, and maybe by understanding where I'm coming from, you can see that I'm not speaking out of any kind of hate for people, either. I'm half blind. I was born that way. My twin sister and I were taken by emergency cesareans-section when we were incredibly, dangerously premature. My twin was given no chance of survival; the cesarean was just meant to give me a 50% chance of survival. At the time, my mother was recently married to a 19 year-old drug dealer after her own father abused and abandoned her and her mother. She'd been living apart from the faith for years, rejecting God to follow the occult or whatever political party had hear heart at the time. My father hated God.

But when my sister and I were fighting for life for weeks on end, and nobody was sure if we would live or die, and they had to bring us home with heart monitors because our hearts would literally stop beating several times a night, my mom realized how helpless she was to do anything to save us. And she prayed. And we lived. Both of us. Not only that, but my father, at 19 years old, addicted to drugs since the age of 13, narrowly escaped death and gave his life to Christ. After a whole life of having no social skills unless he was high, doing whatever he wanted to whoever he wanted, and caring about nothing but himself, now he is a Pastor (bi-vocationally; he is also a tradesman working with his hands) and has given me and all my family, and many other families, everything we have in our lives through his dedicated and faithful life. He and my mother have been happily married and serving God with their whole lives for almost thirty years now.

And not only them, but me, my twin sister, my younger sister, my little brother, my grandfather (who was an actual killer and drug addict as well) we all know God. We all have a relationship with Him. And that's the biggest most wonderful gift He gave us, out of all those wonderful things He did for us. Saving my life, my dad's life, my twin's life, changing who they were and making them new people.

I'm not telling you all that to like, compare disabilities or traumas or whatever. That would be ridiculous for lots of reasons. But I'm just trying to be honest.

It's not a religion or a system of beliefs that I've subscribed to. It's not a social flag I live under. It's not something I do just because my parents or the people in my immediate community have shown me. It's because He's real, and He showed Himself to me—when it's just me and Him, and nobody else's opinion or say-so matters— and it's all really true—everything the Bible says. And He's so much better, and so much more benevolent, than anyone on earth can describe to you.

And, at the same time, when you understand who He is, and who we are...the question isn't "how could a good God let anyone go to Hell instead of paradise?" The question is, "how could He let any of us live after what we did?" It's hard. But seriously, just play pretend with me for a bit, if only to "understand my perspective." Pretend there was a God, all-powerful, endlessly loving, in fact, Love Itself. The love that was His very nature spilled out so much that He created—created beautiful, amazing, complex creatures who were intrinsically full of worth and light, and made to reflect Him, that Love, back to Him, and share in it. A big happy family.

And then those creatures from the dirt committed cosmic treason and said "screw You, I don't care if You created me and I don't care if You love me or want to be in relationship with me: I want to be You. I want to call the shots." And those creatures from the dirt basically did the cosmic version of climbing in their father's lap to spit in His face, and go stab each other over fleeting pleasures in the gutter because the mansions He was offering them wasn't as good as pretending they could be gods of their own lives.

That's the story. Thats what happened. Read Genesis, if you have the time and if you're of the heart to. And because of what we chose, we got twisted up. I'm sure you read that, in my posts. So even the thing we were made for—love—got mangled up inside us and we can't express it the right way anymore.

He would've been justified in wiping us out. Starting over with new creatures. We were His creation. He gets to decide what we are and what to do with us: we betrayed and insulted and defied our rightful King. But He's not like that. He had no reason to--no obligation to--but He chose to do the work and make a way for us to be back in relationship with Him. And He chose to do it by subjecting Himself to unimaginable torture and darkness, which would have been ours by right if He hadn't taken it for us.

I know that you love your mom. It is plain to see. And I understand the feeling. But if you really get to know the God of the actual Bible, instead of just the memes and the flawed people who try to explain Him—if you really get to know Him, between you and Him, you'll see that He actually loves your mom more than you do. And He loves you more than you, or anyone, does. Because He knows you both better and more intimately than you even know Yourselves. He made you. It'd be like an author getting to dive down into the story and tell their characters everything about themselves.

That's the kind of love we were made for. The kind of love that is there even though you don't deserve it, even though you're not entitled to it—the kind of love that would die for you while you're still hating Him.

I mean just stop and think about it, clear your brain of everything everyone has ever told you about LGBTQ+ and all that. And just think: can you love someone wholeheartedly and still know they're in the wrong? Even when they wholeheartedly believe they're right? Even when they're hurt by you believing they're in the wrong? Of course you can. Anyone who's had a loved one with a self-destructive habit, like alcohol addiction or an abusive lover or just a toxic personality trait or two, can relate to that common sense. They can say, "of course I love you. That's why I'm telling you to stop doing this, it's hurting you, it's not good for you, I know it doesn't feel that way, but it's the truth."

So if you believe that there are some circumstances where that applies, what makes it so unloving for this hypothetical God, who knows the best thing for your friend and knows your friend better than you do, to say so about being LGBTQ+? Why should LGBTQ+ be any different?

Well, the answer, of course, is that you don't believe it is true that it's wrong. Because, if we rewind, you don't believe in God. But you just told me that you came to that conclusion kind of...after feeling hurt by Him. You almost died, first , then your mom chose to leave Him behind and go ahead and live as if He doesn't exist. And you did, too.

But let's go back to playing pretend. If God exists, then He didn't act how you think He should've, as an "benevolent" God: He didn't do YOUR version of "good." So you abandoned Him. (We're pretending like He exists, from your perspective.) He didn't do your version of good, you feel mistreated, so you walked away from Him.

But He would never do that to you. If He's the kind of person the Bible says He is, He doesn't treat you that way. When you (humanity) didn't do His version (which is the only real version, since He invented it) of good, He didn't abandon you. He totally could have. But instead He made a way for your relationship to get fixed. But you have free will. So He's not going to force you to love Him and accept the gift. If you want to continue for all eternity without being with Him, you can. He gives you that option.

But then don't wonder why people who choose that option don't get "eternal paradise." Because according to the Bible, that's all heaven is: getting to be in relationship with God forever. Fully who He made you to be. If you don't want that, He won't force it: in fact, He couldn't. It wouldn't be just, and He is always just.

The truth is, after what we did to Him, none of us deserve anything from Him. I didn't deserve to survive in that ICU. Neither did my sister. Neither did my father or mother or grandfather. None of us should be allowed to inhale another breath; we're the King's people who betrayed Him and tried to steal His throne. But He is so good that instead He turns around and adopts us.

I know this is rambly. But you messaged me so genuinely, I just sort of wrote this as if I were sitting down and talking it all out, one word in front of the other, with you. I don't know you. I know these are very hot button topics, and very personal issues; but like you, I think they're of the utmost importance.

So I will keep considering the LGBTQ+ and transgender issues—but you have to understand that I'm in service to the King, so to speak. I love Him, He loves me, and He's my God. When I consider any part of reality, it's impossible to do so without Him as the center and standard of truth. Without Him, who gets to decide what's right or wrong? Just me. And on my own, I am inconsistent, selfish, ruinous. But I'm not on my own. And in the meantime, I'll ask you to consider God, the real God, of the Bible. Not what a church of whatever denomination tells you—not to start with. Not what I tell you, or anyone tells you. Just what He said about Himself, straight from the Bible. Let Him speak for Himself. Thanks for reaching out.

[targaryenstone]

George Martin's last blog post (now deleted) about House of the Dragon S02

Beware the Butterflies

Back in July, I promised you some further thoughts about Blood and Cheese… and Maelor the Missing… after my commentary on the first two episodes of HotD season 2, “A Son for a Son” and “Rhaenyra the Cruel.”

Those were terrific episodes: well written, well directed, powerfully acted. A great way to kick off the new season. Fans and critics alike seemed to agree. There was only one aspect of the episodes that drew significant criticism: the handling of Blood and Cheese, and the death of Prince Jaehaerys. From the commentary I saw on line, opinion was split there. The readers of FIRE & BLOOD found the sequence underwhelming, a disappointment, watered down from what they were expecting. Viewers who had not read the book had no such problems. Most of them found the sequence a real gut-punch, tragic, horrifying, nightmarish, etc. Some reported being reduced to tears.

I found myself agreeing with both sides.

In my book, Aegon and Helaena have three children, not two. The twins, Jaehaerys and Jaehaera, are six years old. They have a younger brother, Maelor, who is two. When Blood and Cheese break in on Helaena and the kids, they tell her they are debt collectors come to exact revenge for the death of Prince Lucerys: a son for a son. As Helaena has two sons, however, they demand that she choose which one should die.

She resists and offers her own life instead, but the killers insist it has to be a son. If she does not name one, they will kill all three of the children. To save the life of the twins, Helaena names Maelor. But Blood kills the older boy, Jaehaerys, instead, while Cheese tells little Maelor that his mother wanted him dead.(Whether the boy is old enough to understand that is not at all certain).

That’s not how it happens on the show. There is no Maelor in HOUSE OF THE DRAGON, only the twins (both of whom look younger than six, but I am no sure judge of children’s ages, so I can’t be sure how old they are supposed to be). Blood can’t seem to tell the twins apart, so Helaena is asked to reveal which one is the boy. (You would think a glance up his PJs would reveal that, without involving the mother). Instead of offering her own life to save the kids, Helaena offers them a necklace. Blood and Cheese are not tempted. Blood saws Prince Jaehaerys’s head off. We are spared the sight of that; a sound effect suffices. (In the book, he lops the head off with a sword).

It is a bloody, brutal scene, no doubt. How not? An innocent child is being butchered in front of his mother. I still believe the scene in the book is stronger. The readers have the right of that.

The two killers are crueler in the book. I thought the actors who played the killers on the show were excellent… but the characters are crueler, harder, and more frightening in FIRE & BLOOD. In the show, Blood is a gold cloak. In the book, he is a former gold cloak, stripped of his office for beating a woman to death. Book Blood is the sort of man who might think making a woman choose which of her sons should die is amusing, especially when they double down on the wanton cruelty by murdering the boy she tries to save.

Book Cheese is worse too; he does not kick a dog, true, but he does not have a dog, and he’s the one who tells Maelor that his mom wants him head. I would also suggest that Helaena shows more courage, more strength in the book, by offering her own life to save her son. Offering a piece of jewelry is just not the same.

As I saw it, the “Sophie’s Choice” aspect was the strongest part of the sequence, the darkest, the most visceral. I hated to lose that. And judging from the comments on line, most of the fans seemed to agree.

When Ryan Condal first told me what he meant to do, ages ago (back in 2022, might be) I argued against it, for all these reasons. I did not argue long, or with much heat, however. The change weakened the sequence, I felt, but only a bit. And Ryan had what seemed to be practical reasons for it; they did not want to deal with casting another child, especially a two-year old toddler.

Kids that young will inevitably slow down production, and there would be budget implications. Budget was already an issue on HOUSE OF THE DRAGON, it made sense to save money wherever we could. Moreover, Ryan assured me that we were not losing Prince Maelor, simply postponing him. Queen Helaena could still give birth to him in season three, presumably after getting with child late in season two. That made sense to me, so I withdrew my objections and acquiesced to the change.

I still love the episode, and the Blood and Cheese sequence overall. Losing the “Helaena’s Choice” beat did weaken the scene, but not to any great degree. Only the book readers would even notice its absence; viewers who had never read FIRE & BLOOD would still find the scenes heart-rending. Maelor did not actually DO anything in the scene, after all. How could he? He was only two years old.

There is another aspect to the removal of the young princeling, however.

Those of you who hate spoilers should STOP READING HERE. Spoilers will follow, at least for the readers among you. If you have never read FIRE & BLOOD, maybe it does not matter, because all I am going to “spoil” here are things that happen in the book that may NEVER happen on the series. Starting with Maelor himself.

Sometime between the initial decision to remove Maelor, a big change was made. The prince’s birth was no longer just going to be pushed back to season 3. He was never going to be born at all. The younger son of Aegon and Helaena would never appear.

Most of you know about the Butterfly Effect, I assume.

Yes, there was a movie with that title a few years back. It’s a familiar concept in chaos theory as well. But most science fiction fans were first exposed to the idea in Ray Bradbury’s classic time travel story, “A Sound of Thunder,” wherein a time traveler from the present panics and crushes a butterfly while hunting a T-Rex. When he returns to his own time, he discovers that the world has changed in huge and frightening ways. One dead butterfly has rewritten history. The lesson being that change begets change, and even small and seemingly insignificant alterations to a timeline — or a story — can have a profound effect on all that follows.

Maelor is a two year old toddler in FIRE & BLOOD, but like our butterfly he has an impact on the story all out of proportion to his size. The readers among you may recall that when it appears that Rhaenyra and her blacks are about to capture King’s Landing, Queen Alicent becomes concerned for the safety of Helaena’s remaining children, and takes steps to save them by smuggling them out of the city. The task is given is two knights of the Kingsguard. Ser Willis Fell is commanded to deliver Princess Jaehaera to the Baratheons at Storm’s End, while Maelor is given over to Ser Rickard Thorne to be escorted across the Mander to the protection of the Hightower army on its way to King’s Landing.

Willis Fell delivers Jaehaera safely to the Baratheons at Storm’s End, but Ser Rickard fares less well. He and Maelor get as far as Bitterbridge, where he is revealed as a Kingsuard in a tavern called the Hogs Head. Once discovered, Ser Rickard fights bravely to protect his young charge and bring him to safety, but he does not even make it across the bridge before some crossbows bring him down, Prince Maelor is torn from his arms.. and then, sadly, ripped to pieces by the mob fighting over the boy and the huge reward that Rhaenyra has offered for his capture and return.

Will any of that appear on the show? Maybe… but I don’t see how. The butterflies would seem to prohibit it. You could perhaps make Ser Rickard’s ward be Jaehaera instead of Maelor, but Jaehaera can’t be killed, she has a huge role to play as Aegon’s next heir. Could maybe make Maelor a newborn instead of a two year old, but that would scramble up the timeline, which is a bit of a mess already. I have no idea what Ryan has planned — if indeed he has planned anything — but given Maelor’s absence from episode 2, the simplest way to proceed would be just to drop him entirely, lose the bit where Alicent tries to send the kids to safety, drop Rickard Thorne or send him with Willis Fell so Jaehaera has two guards.

From what I know, that seems to be what Ryan is doing here. It’s simplest, yes, and may make sense in terms of budgets and shooting schedules. But simpler is not better. The Bitterbridge scene has tension, suspense, action, bloodshed, a bit of heroism and a lot of tragedy. Rickard Thorne is a tertiary character at best, most viewers (as opposed to readers) will never know he is gone, since they never knew him at all… but I rather liked giving him his brief moment of heroism, a taste of the courage and loyalty of the Kingsguard, regardless of whether they are black or green.

The butterflies are not done with us yet, however. In the book, when word of Prince Maelor’s death and the grisly manner of his passing (pp. 505) reaches the Red Keep, that proves to be the thing that drives Queen Helaena to suicide. She could barely stand to look at Maelor, knowing that she chose him to die in the “Sophie’s Choice” scene… and now he is dead in truth, her words having come true. The grief and guilt are too much for her to bear.

In Ryan’s outline for season 3, Helaena still kills herself… for no particular reason. There is no fresh horror, no triggering event to overwhelm the fragile young queen.

And the final butterfly follows soon thereafter.

Queen Helaena, a sweet and gentle soul, is much beloved by the smallfolk of King’s Landing. Rhaenyra was not, so when rumors began to arise that Helaena did not kill herself, but rather was murdered at Rhaenyra’s command, the commons are quick to believe them. “That night King’s Landing rose in bloody riot,” I wrote on p.506 of FIRE & BLOOD. It is the beginning of the end for Rhaenyra’s rule over the city, ultimately leading to the Storming of the Dragonpit and the rise of the Shepherd’s mob that drives Rhaenyra to flee the city and return to Dragonstone… and her death.

Maelor by himself means little. He is a small child, does not have a line of dialogue, does nothing of consequence but die… but where and when and how, that does matter. Losing Maelor weakened the end of the Blood and Cheese sequence, but it also cost us the Bitterbridge scene with all its horror and heroism, it undercut the motivation for Helaena’s suicide, and that in turn sent thousands into the streets and alleys, screaming for justice for their “murdered” queen. None of that is essential, I suppose… but all of it does serve a purpose, it all helps to tie the story lines together, so one thing follows another in a logical and convincing manner.

What will we offer the fans instead, once we’ve killed these butterflies? I have no idea. I do not recall that Ryan and I ever discussed this, back when he first told me they were pushing back on Aegon’s second son. Maelor himself is not essential… but if losing him means we also lose Bitterbridge, Helaena’s suicide, and the riots, well… that’s a considerable loss.

And there are larger and more toxic butterflies to come, if HOUSE OF THE DRAGON goes ahead with some of the changes being contemplated for seasons 3 and 4….

[imdoingsortagay]

Wanda’s Lazy Day

Summary- After weeks of non stop orders at the bakery, dealing with kids at home and trying to help her friends out with problem they had, Wanda finally has one day to herself where she can be lazy and watch countless baking shows in the comfort of her home 

word count: 1.2k words

a/n: anyways i love being lazy

Warnings: fluff

Happy reading besties 

After a couple of weeks of dealing with countless orders that were placed in the bakery, both of her kids needing help with some projects at school and whatnot, Wanda finally had some free time to enjoy one of her favorite pastimes, spending a majority of the morning in her comfy PJs, eating some Chinese food and binging seasons of some baking shows on Netflix. 

When she had first started the bakery and it was only her who was running it ( before she had hired people) she loved to spend countless hours binging shows like the great British baking off or whatever baking show that the cooking channel would seem to be airing when she was working. Getting inspiration for any new flavors or just for a way to make the time pass in the shop. 

So when the redhead had seen that she had 2 days that she didn’t have to be at the bakery or that nobody had placed any orders it meant that she could finally have a lazy day at home. It wouldn’t be a fully lazy day since she’d have to take the boys to school and pick them up but she’ll take what she can get at this point. 

All she was waiting to complete her lazy day was her regular Chinese order from her favorite restaurant in town, Wok this way. One of the only restaurants in this area that sells anything other than burgers which she has to thank Rose for her whole life recommending. 

 “ Where did you even find this place rose? “ Wanda asks her friend as they make their way to a small restaurant. It had only been a couple of months since she and the twins had moved to Westview but with her duties as a single mother, she never really got the time to herself and this is where her dear friends and neighbors step up to give her a day to relax. 

Even though you didn’t know Wanda much, you and Agatha had volunteered to babysit the kids for the evening while Rose was in charge of taking the young mom out for an evening to shop, eat and just have time to relax from her busy life. It took a while for her to leave the young babies with her friends but she was proud of herself that she did it. 

“ Aggie did when she was walking home one day, trust me honey when I say that their honey walnut shrimp is so fucking die for,” rose says to her, making it a point to emphasize the shrimp menu they have as they walk there. Before Wanda even chose to come here she didn’t have many options when it came to food because stark always chose the best because “ we have to be at our best and we can’t do that 

It was one of her favorite comfort foods when she was feeling sad along with all the recipes from her childhood in Sokovia. It never fails to bring her back from a bad mood or relax her on a day like today. 

The food came in 30 minutes as per usual by the son of the owners, always amazing the redhead at how quickly he can even deliver it to her house on a bike but she won’t question it.

Wanda checks her list to see everything and is ready to have a great British bake-off marathon when she gets a text from none other than Agatha. 

Agatha: help pls help 

Wanda: hi hello! How are you? what do you need help with? 

Agatha: Me and the little lady are going out of town to a concert and I want to surprise her with an outfit 

Wanda: And you need me to help with fashion choice? 

Agatha: See she doesn’t know about the concert 

Wanda: Oh you dummy 😂

After an hour of talking to Agatha between different outfits, Wanda finally can start to catch up on 2 episodes from 3 seasons when she hears her phone ringing. It couldn’t be you because Wanda had remembered you were gonna be out of town for some important work meeting, Agatha just text her about her problem so it was just about rules for everyone who would call her. 

Until she saw the caller ID and had to fight the urge not to throw her phone into the wall.

“ HI Jake this is Miss Maximoff, what did you need ?” she answers in the sweetest tone even tho all she wants to do right now is not have to deal with stuff from the bakery. It’s not like the dude could read her energy through the phone if he can’t do basic shit. 

“ So there’s a problem with the electricity, I was helping out a customer with the cake order you did when all of a sudden it just went out, was off for 5 minutes, and then came back on” He explains and she runs to her little home office to check something on her calendar. 

Seems to be paid so why would it do that? 

“ She was talking about how this was important and might have yelled at me a bit which made me cry but I don’t want to embarrass myself so i-” 

“ Jake sweetheart, i’m gonna call you back and see what’s the problem,” Wanda tells the poor boy and proceeds to do some investigating, deciding to move her laptop to the living room to try to catch up on at least another episode of the great British bake-off. 

It took the redhead 2 episodes of bake-off later to get ahold of the electric company in town and she was able to help a very tired-of-the-day Jake with his problem. He had apologized many times over the phone to his boss and made sure to thank her before hanging up the call and giving Wanda some well-needed self-care time. 

For the next two hours, Wanda is in bliss, in the comfiest of sweatpants, a cozy blanket, and a good-sized bowl of popcorn, not to forget the Chinese food too. 

Just as she was about to get into her third season of bake in the day, the door bursts open, Billy and Tommy running into the house at full speed excited to finally be home for the day to relax and be with their mom. 

“ Hi mom,” both of them say in unison as they make their way to the couch, carefully hugging Wanda to not spill the popcorn all over the place.

“ How are both my favorite boys ever? Did you both get along in school ?” she asks, paying very close attention to how their days went. 

She was always excited to hear about her son’s day, making it sort of a daily thing to have them tell each of their days went Wanda even telling them how her day went too even if they didn’t get the inner workings of the bakery or didn’t seem too interested in adult stuff.

The rest of Wanda’s “ lazy day “is spent helping out her sons with homework, talking to billy about how to do complicated math, and showing Tommy some of her fighting moves that she learned while during her many years as an avenger.

Once both boys were fast asleep in their room, Wanda prepares to start her nighttime ritual and hears her phone ring and sees that she has a text from you. 

y/n: 

Look at this kat I saw outside of the hotel Wanda, I named him Mr cat :3

She giggles at the cute picture of the black cat in your lap, happy to be able to conclude this fun “ lazy day” with a text from you. 

[faithfromanewperspective]

Okay so I'm about to be real annoying about autism and biology(specifically genetics) real quick-

So first off, just because Ty has autism doesn't necessarily mean that Livvy does. Yes they are twins but they are fraternal twins, ie two eggs and two sperm, which means they only share about 50% of their DNA like regular siblings. Because that's what they are canonically, regular siblings who just so happened to both be conceived in a roughly 2 week window of each other and born at the same time.

Same with Mark and Helen. Only they share about 25% of their DNA with the other Blackthorn siblings.

Now autism is genetic, this is scientifically proven to be true, and as of 2023 1 out of 100 children has autism. Those chances increase if a sibling or a parent has autism because they share genes, and if one person has the gene then it's likely to assume that someone else in the family does as well.

Take my family as an example: my grandfather is autistic, so was his brother, and his sister's daughters(identical twins) were both autistic(because they share 100% DNA so if one is autistic likely the other is too), and so were their kids. So even though my great aunt is NOT autistic, both her brothers are, which meant she carried the gene for it, and it passed down to her kids and grandkids. Now none of my grandfather's kids got the gene, but all of us grandkids did. Because even though our moms weren't autistic, they carried the gene.

Now, there's not too much proven scientific evidence for how autism works genetically other than it is passed down and can even skip a generation or two. But because of how society is, especially how afab people are raised in society, there could genuinely be a significant amount of people who just haven't realized that they are autistic, not to mention the over a million people who aren't able to get a diagnosis. So please take what I've said above with a grain of salt.

NOW onto my personal headcanons with the Blackthorns-

I truly believe that Lucie Herondale is autistic and I will die on this hill. Which means that the gene could carry all the way down the Blackthorn line, all the way to present day. And since we know almost nothing about Andrew and Eleanor, we don't know if either one of them had the traits or if they just carried the gene.

Let's start with the oldest(s) and work our way down, shall we:

Mark: the nature audhd, he loves everything plants earth related and spend almost too much times researching flowers and berries that can be grown in California. He much prefers a date to the botanical gardens rather than to a movie theater(too loud) or a library(too quiet). But he loves concerts(jumping up and down bass boosted music).

Helen: the coffee autistic, she loves everything in the world of coffee, and if she wasn't so debilitated by her enhanced hearing making her uneasy out in public she would open her own coffee shop just so she could make coffees all day everyday. Aline gifts her different coffee scented candles for anniversaries, birthdays, and holidays.

Julian: the art autistic, he loves the feeling of paint on his fingers, and has spent an hour rubbing a new and soft brush over his palms and face(much to Emma's amusement). His go-to stimming behavior is sketching something either on scrap paper or with his fingers on the table or on his thigh. He loves drawing over his arms and hands with pen, and he also loves drawing all over his families' hands and arms as well.

(Ty is canon, so I'll skip him)

Livvy: the theater audhd kid, she loves reading Shakespeare and obscure off-Broadway plays. Once a week she puts on a one woman show for her siblings(mostly Dru and Tavvy) entertainment. She collects playbills, cds, records, merch, and autographs from shows she sees(she goes with Jocelyn or Tessa at least once a week) and covers her room with them.

Dru: the thriller audhd, she loves everything that gives her a fright and makes her adrenaline and blood pressure skyrocket. Her favorite "dates" are amusement parks with Thaís and Jaime, she makes them go on every terrifying ride. She, Livvy, and Emma have movie nights where they binge vintage horror movies and play indie horror games. She went bungee jumping for her 18th birthday.

Tavvy: the music autistic, he loves everything in the music realm: instruments, songs on the radio, Broadway musicals, and Julian humming while he cooks. He learns to play over 16 different instruments and uses each one to stim depending on what environment he's in(if he's at Cirenworth then it's violin or piano, but if he's at the NYC Institute then it's drums or guitar, his favorite is playing the pan flute on the LA Institute rooftop with Mark and Kieran).

I also hc that Livvy is trans that her and Ty ARE actually identical but apparently it's weird to say that😒

Sorry if this doesn't make any sense I just woke up from a nap😅-

dude. this is such a detailed ask. shaking screaming silently in excitement that i get to answer this!! all of this detail for me!! this is such a fascination of mine! anyway ANYWAY SO

I love your hc's about the blackthorns especially tavvy, idk why i see him as a musician as well but it just FITS. and hey, they are in LA right?? he def spends his teens sneaking out to see live music and he def gets SUPER into like a handful of artists and spends hours just playing around with their songs, remixing them or whatever (do i do this? am i talking from experience? do i have a sideblog dedicated to it?) and dru is absolutely that kind of adrenaline junkie. so am i! i say she gets really into lead climbing (rock climbing, but the rope is below you instead of above and when you fall it's TERRIFYING) and it helps her get really comfortable with her body esp when she goes with mundanes and downworlders and shadowhunters all mixed up. and i love theatre livvy, i really do, but her canon thing is computers and maths isn't it? maybe she's both. i can see that, different sides of her personality: she's into STEM a lot as a kid but realises she also likes to act when she's a bit older. you're dead right with julian, tbh what he was going through in the tda era makes it hard for me to see his neurodivergence clearly but yeah i can see it, and he's a cassandra clare male protagonist after all, he's gonna remind me of a bunch of people i know irl who are--slowly realising their neurodivergence, shall i say. mark and helen are dead right too. i see it. never did they come across as neurotypical to me.

and i do know, genetics of fraternal twins--if you're referring to the 'twin thing' or whatever i said i was meaning the bond between them and how they communicate so naturally! which is in part due to their proximity being together since the womb, but also because they are naturally so similar and also complimentary and actually, the fact that they both 'adopt' kit into their group is just another neurodivergents unite moment. like, it just works. so naturally.

and i 100% agree with you that yeah, sure maybe they're not ALL autistic in the family but with underdiagnosis and stuff and genetics it does make sense. Also irl i do think that 1% is a MASSIVE understatement (idk what the actual number could be, but the way i go out in public and in community with people i've known for years even when we're not brought together by things in common, and i just get the vibe of people, i'm pretty sure a lot more than 1% are autistic). now, with lucie. i never was quite sure with her, she's very much a could-never-have-been-neurotypical-herondale but the more I think about it the more it makes sense. it's really interesting to see her and james interact as siblings bc they're SO different but there's this common thread of likely being autistic, in fact a specific genre of autistic that clearly runs in their family (and i could say the same of anna and christopher, but that's for another post). anyway. just for fun. I reckon we can trace it back up both sides of their family to Linette Owens on the Herondale side and to Aloysius Starkweather on Tessa's side. and cassie invented genetics again.

but seriously, i fondly summarise tlh as 'bunch of neurodivergents adopt biracial traveller who doesn't fit in anywhere'. like SO MUCH of the cast is autistic coded, trust cassie to do that, there's also a heap of rep of adhd and cptsd and bipolar in the mix and then. there's cordelia

I also have to say I do love your trans livvy hc!! the more i think about it the more i'm like, oh, that could make sense. in the way she presents her femininity (which trans women don't have to!! I know!) and imagine her bonding with diana over it! anyway that's all i have to say. slightly differently coloured features to ty--that's just a technicality right? no, this could definitely work.

[fiercynn]

was in bed all day so i watched the entirety of the fall of the house of usher. i'm mixed about it overall, but i think it may have actually been the best plot-wise of the mike flanagan shows i've seen?

spoilers for all the mike flanagan tv shows except the midnight club (which i started and was intrigued by, but fizzled out on when i found out it had been cancelled) beneath the cut

my problem with both hill house and bly manor is that i think that plot-wise, they set up interesting stories and then can't stick the landing and go out with a whimper out at the end. they do an okay job with emotional arcs, but you can't entirely divorce the emotional journey from the bones of the story - at least, not in these kinds of stories - so the plot still matters, i think.

(imo midnight mass does not do that, it tells exactly the story it wants to tell and constructs it decently; i just found that story really boring lol.)

so while i think bly manor was still the most enjoyable of the shows to watch, the fall of the house of usher might be the best in my book at plot, and i enjoyed the way it used poe stories amd poetry with its own twists on them. and i think with a few changes could have been really good overall! here's what i would have changed:

less racism. i mean it was probably average amount of racist for both a flanagan show and, generally, a majority-white cast & crew american show, and i know the whole thing was about how horrible rich people are, but there was still so much casual racism, sigh

like 40% less monologuing. i know, i know, that's flanagan's whole deal, but it's still too much even when it's performed by actors as enjoyable as bruce greenwood and carla gugino, and isn't all about catholicism (sorry midnight mass fans)

pretty early on i thought that the reveal about what happened on new year's 1980 would be madeline and roderick killing rufus griswold. but then after roderick betrayed auguste at the deposition i was like "wait no that's too obvious, they must have killed annabel to keep her quiet about roderick's perjury" and honestly i think that would have been a better twist??? like even the bells they were hearing behind the wall made sense to me because her name was annabel! and it would have been a murder roderick felt guilty about on a personal level, and it might have made sense that he would take the deal from verna if her pitch was "you already sacrificed your wife who you loved. don't you want to make it worth it by having some certainty for you and your children for at least a number of decades?" so i was bored when my original predictable guess was right. i guess it fit better with the cask of amontillado to have it be rufus but still, less compelling

the scene with arthur showing pictures of verna throughout history was SO silly and hamfisted, i'm sorry. also the lemons speech, the worst kind of example of a flanagan monologue which thinks it's brilliant and is just...goofy

i thought maybe there was going to be a twist where lenore didn't die because her mom had actually cheated on freddie and i was upset that didn't happen :( i know it was meant to be a lesson, that roderick and madeline's deal had to apply even to the not-horrible members of the family, but i still hated it! sigh

i thought that both lulu wilson (child madeline) and willa fitzgerald (mid-20s madeline) did a much better job with the character than mary mcdonnell (senior madeline). idk something about her just didn't seem as ruthless and collected and cold?

also not a change exactly but why did no one comment on the fact that roderick and madeline usher, who are twins, one of whom was married at the time, decided to do a couples' costume as jay gatsby and daisy buchanan for new year's 1980. why

[aparticularbandit]

Things I like to play around with re: Ryoko/Junko backstory but probably won't use:

Secondary heir to a great family (similar to Byakuya, Sonia, Fuyuhiko).

Useless/Unwanted spare (her mother was only meant to have one child but had twins instead whoops).

Mukuro remained the sole known daughter of her parents; Ryoko was either left somewhere to die and got picked up by one of the maids/servants who couldn't leave a baby abandoned somewhere or was given the the servant to raise on her own as a back-up in case something happened to Mukuro or Ryoko was given to a servant with explicit instructions to have her killed and the servant just. didn't. (This gives credence to Junko's comment that she was born into despair.)

Ryoko and Mukuro didn't know they were twin sisters until later and grew up only sort of as friends. (Mukuro was probably encouraged to bully Ryoko because, you know, servant's kid and all that.)

But Ryoko has her dad's hair, and there are enough rumors about things that Ultimate Analyst Ryoko Otonashi figures it out.

Ryoko tells Mukuro, who absolutely doesn't believe her (and maybe doesn't want to believe her for reasons (if you want to go Despaircest route)). But Mukuro asks her dad about it (he says no) and then asks her mom about it, and her mom breaks into tears, which tells her the truth more than her dad ever did.

After this, Ryoko and Mukuro are inseparable. Mukuro requires her sister bestie to go with them on big trips. (Her parents encourage her to bring a friend! Her dad wants her to bring someone from her super elite school (reader's choice if that's the Elementary Division of Hope's Peak), but Mukuro only ever wants to bring Ryoko. It's possible this was true even before they found out they were sisters, too.) Her dad hates this.

Mukuro's parents very clearly understand that Ryoko is their other daughter. Her dad hates her. Her mom is just glad she's not dead.

Fenrir is an assassin group. They are not in the market for middle school children applicants. It's likely they were meant to kidnap Mukuro - or that their dad hired them to kill Ryoko and Mukuro joined up with them instead. (Mukuro spent three years with Fenrir? So 7-9th grade? Probably?)

This only increased their dad's hatred of Ryoko, and eventually, she ran away.

At this point, we have reason to believe Yasuke was orphaned, so Ryoko probably went to hide with him. (And then they both ran further away because if her dad knew anything, he would know the first place to look would be with Yasuke.)

Ryoko became Junko for two reasons: 1) because different name and different appearance would keep her dad off their backs and 2) Ultimate Fashionista level modeling career means they have enough money to live off of.

Mukuro finds out about Junko on a mission. Probably finds out that there's a scandal involving her. Leaves Fenrir. (It's possible the scandal involves their dad? This makes the most sense.)

Junko and Mukuro slaughter their parents and the entire family complex. Mukuro starts the slaughter probably re: scandal involving Junko and Junko steps in, not offering mercy to their mother or her adoptive family. Their mother didn't care about them enough to save her, and if her adoptive family had known better, they would have killed her instead of trying to keep her alive. It would have fixed the whole thing. Mukuro would have never needed to know, and it would have spared them all of this pain.

I play with this as I go, but this is like. probably the general shape of what's in the back of mind re: etc. And then might use bits and pieces of this in stuff.

I'd be modifying it a bit in The Thin Line Duology because Chiaki but. It's a good way of making sense of the tiny stuff Junko says with regards to her past, explains why she would have a different last name as Ryoko (as well as why she'd want a second name as Junko, even though stage name is just as good an answer there), and then also gives me nice parallels with the Warriors of Hope and your parents abused you and now you have to kill them to level up.

(It also gives a good reason for Despaircest hints in canon coming from the case of oh no you're my sister but these feelings are already here because I didn't know. Which. Admittedly. I still don't like. And won't be writing because I don't ship Despaircest and have no intention of writing it. Ever. But reader's choice, there's a spot for that, I guess.)

I just. return to these thoughts frequently.

[navree]

I like your take on Daenaera but I still don't have much thoughts on the aegon and jaehaera thing. To me if she lived I just think Aegon will keep a marriage only in name with her. He respect her as Queen but won't have much emotional connection with her. Cuz based on canon: it's very doubtful that she can actually have the concept of consent when she was cognitively 4 when she was 8. Neither did she show much ability to bond with people after the dance (aegon did tho). That's even a hard thing for me to ship compared to Aegon and Daenaera's 7 year old gap

Yeah, that's also been what trips me up on Jaehaera sometimes, which is that the way she's coded is meant to hint to a pretty severe developmental delay that does signify a bigger developmental disability. I'm pretty sure that was just there on Martin's part to make sure people didn't get attached to Jaehaera or her relationships with people like Aegon before killing her off (since I think he was doing a bit of backfilling, since Daenaera and Aegon III as the couple who produced children and reigned together was set in stone before he got into the minutia of the Dance and created the twins and then had to figure out a way to end the Dance concretely), especially considering how sloppily it's handled compared to disabilities like Tyrion's dwarfism and Bran's paralysis in the main series, though that may be because those are physical disabilities rather than mental. And Jaehaera being half her age mentally is something to note, four is incredibly differently, cognitively and developmentally, from eight, especially when Aegon was already older than her by three years, and would have impeded their connection in the short amount of time they had.

But I do also want to note that, because F&B is vague by design and Jaehaera died young and pretty early in Aegon's reign, we don't actually know if her issues were going to be permanent and severe. Jaehaera went through a lot in the Dance, beyond all the deaths of her family members and living through two armed invasions of KL, which is always gonna be scary for a kid, we really can't overstate how traumatic Blood and Cheese would have been for her. She's, like, six, and men break into her home to commit various acts of violence against her grandmother, her mother, her siblings, and her. It's not just that Jaehaera saw her own twin, someone she's never lived her life without, be beheaded by intruders, which would be incredibly traumatic in and of itself, or saw her mother and grandmother both in a state of emotional collapse that would be very distressing for a child, Blood and Cheese also threaten her specifically. At six years old, grown men tell Jaehaera that they are going to rape her unless her mom picks which of her brother's is going to die. In a time and place where she has no space or tools to process all the incredible traumas of that night, or having to later deal with Helaena's breakdown and not even being able to have the comfort of her mother, and likely very little comfort from her father who is first actively participating in a wara nd then later has a long convalescence following Rook's Rest, of course Jaehaera was going to regress. Aenys went back to acting like an infant after the trauma of just learning about his mother's death at age three, it's entirely reasonable Jaehaera went through something similar. The brain is a funny thing, and how trauma affects it is also a funny thing.

I do thing that Jaehaera was neurodivergent, while the severity of her mental condition seems to have only been noted during/after the Dance, even as a kid she's noted as not having expressed emotions the way you typically see from children, and I think that's generally seen as an early indicator of autism by the medical community today. So I'd feel comfortable headcanoning Jaehaera as autistic, likely more severe on the spectrum than Helaena is coded as being in the show, and I know that a lot of people do headcanon her that same way. So in my view, I'd attribute Jaehaera's mental state as a trauma response to the horrors she had to go through at such an early age, and if she had lived longer than the age of ten, it's entirely possible she would have improved and healed.

And with respect to the Aegon/Jaehaera/Daenaera throuple AU that's at the heart of this for me, I'd follow it on those lines, and that's part of what I talked about when discussing how Jaehaera and Daenaera would forge a connection first. Jaehaera's mental issues come not just from her neurodivergency but from her trauma and her inability to deal with that, so having her socialize with someone who, while she too has known grief and strife, has not been through anywhere near the same crucible as Jaehaera, is helpful developmentally. Bonding with Daenaera, and especially Daenaera because of her known traits of being sweet and bright and easy to get along with, would go a long way to helping Jaehaera in a world where mental health counseling and therapy and psychiatry aren't a thing. And that in turn can help lead her to bond with Aegon, who clearly wanted to connect with people but also had a boat load of issues, and as they grow older it turns into something more romantic, along with the romantic feelings springing up with Aegon and Daenaera and Jaehaera and Daenaera too. I'd have Jaehaera certainly be autistic, as mentioned, likely blunt and unaware of social cues and perhaps with a tendency to put her foot in her mouth or fail to follow social norms as a result, since she's described as "sweet and simple" in the text. That's kinda one of the things at the heart of this AU, that the Dance left a lot of young children lonely and lacking in connection that they desperately need, and how those children might grow and develop and blossom if they find that connection, in spite of the sins and rivalries of their parents (the Greens v Blacks, obviously, but also the mistreatment of the Velaryons on both sides and those loyalty switches).

But I'm also glad you like my Daenaera take anon! She's pookie to me, sometimes characters just speak to you without you even knowing why, and she's definitely like that for me, and I'm glad people enjoy the vibes I'm trying to bring.

[2n2n]

Hanako kun killed Tsukasa, but it was ruled a suicide for both of them, so we can't be sure if the parents also died voluntarily after finding the twins dead. They could be already dead or the mother could have gone crazy and decided to commit family suicide by killing her husband and then decided to kill the twins when they got home, failing to kill both of them and accidentally dying, or Tsukasa trying to protect Amane killed her, thus showing your true power. Can you tell me your theory?

It's all spectulation more than theory ya know, we have so little to go off of! But I'm glad you're thinking about all the angles and possibilities, it could be any order of events. There's a lot of pieces on the board ....

Personally, I like to keep the parents fairly 'separate' from the kids, and would rather they commit on their own after the Yugi are gone (and the weight of that not being a factor in what the Yugi did, or why they did it). I like to think the shinjuu was wholly about Amane and Tsukasa, only, that they weren't thinking about anyone else. A decision Amane made, enacted, for them-- wholly about his control, his usurping of Tsukasa's fate. I would feel sorry for him, if it was less, perhaps. That poor covetous guy...

That said, it sure would mess up Amane if something happened, suchas their mom trying to hurt Tsukasa, etc; if he had neglected something, and if he had to carry that sense of failure-- and also-- the sense of ah, wanting to administer the final killing blow himself. I could see something like that creating real urgency, "it has to be me" or, "if it's going to be like this, then...."

However, I'm a little fixated on Amane's obsession with "stopping time", and the shinjuu's auspicious date-- the boys die right before summer vacation …

I wonder if there was something about to separate them, if Tsukasa was meant to spend the next semester somewhere else, or do something … ? If there was some sort of, summer, event, imminent? Something like that could drive Amane to want a 'solution' in a hurry.

This concept of ah … 'limited time' …. it's in Narisokonai Snow White, which shares a lot of various details and themes with JSHK. In that story, there is a point in time the twins, Rasphard and Estelio, will live separate lives, as Estelio is moving into the royal family's castle, while Rasphard will spend more years languishing in their abusive family's estate. In that story, Rasphard, the twin to be left behind, has a psychotic break, and poisons his brother-- though, his reality is blurry, and he hallucinates his brother as himself (so, his urge and action is suicidal, even though the accidental target is not himself, but his mirror-twin brother).

I think the date of the shinjuu, whatever the case, is likely important -- it's sometime after July 22nd. That's actually about the time the Far Shore shenanigans happened, so it's possible Nene-chan's offering of suicide to Amane, happened at the same time as the twin's shinjuu? Calendar time, I mean. Not year, obviously....

End of July is when Summer Vacation starts in Japan...

The Severance happens just before Summer Vacation... meaning this happens around then, too:

I've thought a lot about Tsukasa attempting to commit suicide at 13. Since Nene-chan attempts to commit here, that would be an interesting "we're the same" moment for Tsukasa-Nene.

I think as an instigator of Amane's protectiveness (protecting Tsukasa from... himself? his own autonomy, his own volition?) ... Tsukasa trying to 'leave' him would be interesting. This also happens in Narisokonai Snow White .... Rasphard commits suicide in many endings, abandoning Estelio, his guilty and lonely twin who struggles with what he wished to happen, between them.

What would Amane do, if Tsukasa attempted to 'leave' him? If Amane had failed to convince Tsukasa to 'stay'? What reason is there to stay with Amane? Why not die again?

Tsukasa is waiting for Amane to give him a reason to stay here...

What was Amane's 'reason' to do all he did for Nene-chan? Why does Amane do anything? Why should Nene-chan be forced through so much effort, to live,

if that's not what she wants? Who is she living for? For the sake of living, only? "Because Amane wants her to"?

Living, all for its own sake, is not what Tsukasa wanted, either.

Tsukasa and Nene-chan both do want a confession out of Amane before they die, after all....

He doesn't give it to either of them, though.

In the story, takase-bune, which Amane is reading from here...

two brothers suffer hardship and struggle to survive, together. One brother becomes chronically ill, and can no longer help with the living expenses, placing all of the burdens onto his healthy brother. Guilty for being dead weight, that brother attempts to commit suicide, but fails. His brother comes home to find him mute and agonized, suffering one the edge of death, but not dead … and ultimately, his brother chooses to follow through, as there is no better option (there was no way to remove the implement from his brother, or get him help…)… and kills his long-suffering long-ill brother. He's seen doing this by a neighbor, and it's assumed a homicide, which he accepts, and he then contentedly is exhiled to prison.

By the way, in various Narisokonai Snow White endings, Estelio catches his brother dying on the floor, and depending on your choices-- since it is a VN with many endings-- he either chooses to save him, or simply leaves him to die on the floor in pain & agony....

Overall… JSHK has this thing, where, characters do assume someone would be better off without them. Tsukasa already attempted that with Amane-- dropping himself down the well is, for all intents and purposes, a suicide, and Tsukasa chose that at age 3.

Aoi is also choosing suicide, when she refuses to let Akane rescue her on the far shore.

Sumire is also willing/ready/encouraging of her demise, ready to be done with things here. But of course, in the end, it is Hakubo who KILLS her, a sort of new spin on this whole thing.

And then of course, Nene-chan chooses suicide as a means of staying with someone, unlike everyone else, a CONTRAST, in fact! Suicide can be something characters do to 'free' someone from them, or escape, or, it can be something characters do to desperately remain together, to prove devotion.

I think the ah, 'jibaku' in the title, that wordplay on suicide-bomb, probably is endemic to a kind of running motif, of suicide. Given the twins are (somehow..) our 'main characters', I imagine the 'main event' so to speak, the shinjuu, probably really but really has a lot do with all that, and might marry together a lot of concepts we've seen bits and pieces of across every other pairing ...

So ah... I guess that's me saying, my speculation is that Tsukasa might ultimately be a suicidal person, who needs 'a reason' to stay alive, and Amane couldn't give him that ... he won't give Nene-chan a reason, either. If Amane could only tell them both, "because I love you", maybe we could do something , for eachother.

[justafanwarrior]

Tim would like to say it was a genuine accident. He just forgot to mention his husband and then it had been so long that he ... Forgot that he forgot to mention him.

Tim loved his husband and he loved their children. He loved Jordan in all his grumpy glory, he loved Ellie and her free spirit, he loved his sister-in-law, he loved his parents-in-law, both living and dead and he loved his husband's platonic life partners in the shape of his two best friends.

And he wanted them to meet his family ! He really did! He just wished it wouldn't be like that.

He just wished they didn't meet because someone got a lucky shot while he was out as Tim Drake. He had been quite publicly shot in the shoulder and where his spleen used to be. Which meant of course that he was brought to a hospital. Which meant of course that as his family waited outside his husband had been called.

Which of course resulted in a shouting match when Dick refused to let in who he deemed a stranger. And Danny, the worrier that he is, grew angrier the longer it went.

With a long suffering sigh Tim slowly rose up and walked toward the door before anyone on either side had enough and started throwing hands.

Was Tim touched that the whole batfamily (except for Cass who je could only assume had went after whoever shot him) was there? Even Jason and the Demon brat? Yes, not that he would let them know. Was he surprised that the entirety of the Fenton family, outside of its neverborn or fully dead members, were there? Not really. Okay maybe a bit, he thought Maddie and Jack would go hunting too instead.

The second Danny saw him, his shoulders relaxed minutiously, a relieved smile painting his face while their twin terrors ran up and started clinging to his legs.

"Dad ! You're fine! Mom worried! We told him that you're strong and won't get too hurt but mom just kept worrying but you're fine right?" Ellie's little face was looking at him expectantly even if she refused to admit she had been worried as well.

Dan had stayed silent the entire time, hiding his face in Tim's leg as soft sobs wracked his shoulders.

"I'm fine starlight, little wraith. I promise I'm fine. I'm not going to die anytime soon." He said, kneeling down to pat both his children's heads, finally seeing his son stubbornly trying to hold back tears, "Hey, there's no need to cry I'm here." Tim hugged close his children, Ellie immediately returning it while Dan once again desperately clung to him, "I'm not... I'm not crying..." His baby boy argued even as his shoulders shook with the strength of his sobs.

Tim knew his family was staring but right now comforting his children was much more important than anything else.

Danny and [insert any of the Batfam here] enter a whirlwind romance. (Danny on vacation while the Batfam member was on a forced too)

It's fast, it's chaotic, it's passionate. There is Oscar winning romance scenes (kissing in the rain after confessing deep feelings), miscommunication and heavy makeups. Etc etc.

In the middle of this romantic whirlwind, the two get drunk and get hitched.

When the morning after their wedding greets them they of course freak out but after talking it over they discover the pros outweigh the cons and decide to keep their marital status (and they maybe forgot due to reasons)

then the time for them to go home happens, the two keep in touch, sometimes finding time to go have dates but understand the other is normally busy with their jobs (and night jobs too, they talked about their hero personas so there is no misunderstandings)

It isn't until one of them gets hurt that their doctor gets in contact with their 'spouse' that their families discover they're married.

Cue shenanigans as their families try to dig up things on the mystery spouse.

[rogue-durin-16]

LIFE-SAVING SHARPIE

Summary: Despite being a muggle, Y/n's mother was an expert in divination. She tried to teach Y/n, who saw it as a mere muggle game. But, oh, what a powerful weapon a muggle game can become in the hands of the right witch.

Pairing: Fred Weasley x Reader

Genre: angst (w/ a good ending)

Tags:

Fred Weasley: @whiskeyn-rain @lumos-solemn

Permanent taglist: @elia-the-bibliophile @randomparanoid @karlthecat15722 @thebutchersdaughtersblog

Warnings: injuries, death(ish)

A/N: I'm not saying I'm incapable of writing an angsty ending for a Fred Weasley story, but I'd rather not do that, so here comes a stupid story that occurred to me this morning, enjoy <3

Rogue-durin-16 masterlist

"Y/l/n!" I sighed. "Is it true?"

"Your mom is into divination?" George question made me throw my head back in desperation as both twins made their way through the Great Hall to meet me.

I knew that day would be a bumpy one the moment we entered in the Divination classroom. The fact that a muggleborn aced a new subject since class one was strange.

I knew I would have to give some explanation to my friends after. Ron was particularly shocked by the fact that my muggle mother had taught me —against my will, may I say— lots of Divination-related things. I knew Ron, being Ron, would surely tell every soul that would listen about his discovery, but I had hoped for him to wait until the third period at least.

"Secrets spread like wildfire here." I said.

"Are you secretly a soothsayer?"

"Yes, Fred. You see, I have the Sight." I ironically stated, and, seeing this as a perfect opportunity to get closer to the boy I fancied, I added "Want me to read your palm?"

They shared an amused look, fully aware that I was joking. Even in the Wizarding World, divination wasn't something to believe in.

There were supposed to be people able to see the future, such as professor Trelawney, but no student had seen her predict a thing, so she wasn't the best example.

George was the first one to sit down. "Predict my future, oh, you who were gifted with the Sight." I snorted as he laid his palm before my eyes.

I picked his hand on mines, "Hmm..." Fred hovering over my form from behind wasn't ideal for me to concentrate. "Okay so..." I felt one of his hands toying with the clasp of my necklace, brushing my nape. "Will you stop touching my necklace and sit down?" I demanded.

"Yeah Fred, sit down." George reprimanded his brother. "She's trying to see my future." I heard Fred chuntering before he plopped down on my other side, leaning on a tad too close for my liking. "Alright, fortuneteller, is there a love line?"

Of course he would ask about that. "Let's see..." I traced said line, unable to remember to the T what my mom had tried to teach me. "So, the heart line is arched... Which means..."

"That you can't tell a thing?" I slapped Fred's arm.

"Which means he's balanced." I corrected him. "You're able to realize when you need to take care of yourself, and when you should let a someone in." George seemed invested. "You'll have just one serious partner, but they'll be the right one."

"Well, that doesn't sound half bad, huh?" He looked at me with a content smile.

"My turn." Fred spoke, smacking his brother's hand away and replacing it with his left one. "The line of life or whatever." He scooted a bit closer and I felt my heartbeat pick up. "What's my fate?"

"Are you left-handed, Fred?" I questioned with an eyebrow raised, already knowing the answer. "I need your dominant hand." Oh well, that came out wrong.

"Straightforward, are we?" George snorted at his brother's remark as he exchanged hands, turning to straddle the bench to be more comfortable. "Alright, what do you see?" He had leaned on to the point where he only needed to tilt his head down a couple of inches to rest it on my shoulder.

"A hand." I deadpanned, which earned a playful push from him. "Okay, okay— I see..." A puzzled frown took over my gaze. "Wait—" I turned to George. "gimme your hand."

"What?" Fred questioned, shifting his position ever so slightly.

"Uhm..." The frown grew bigger, and I had to remind myself what I was doing was a joke. "You... don't have a lifeline?" I dubiously informed. "I mean— it sorta... Starts? but then it fades away." I widened my eyes and froze, remembering what that meant.

I saw Fred tilting his head slightly. "Is it so bad that you won't tell me what it means?" He asked jokingly in order to lighten my distraught mood.

"It— well, it means that you'll die at a young age." My eyes met his and, despite the amused smile that always danced on his lips, fear slipped out of his orbs now, too.

"Wait what?" George propped himself on his forearms to see his brother's palm. "Can't be. Check mine?"

"I just did, you git." George wasn't even smiling. Maybe he did believe it. "Yours is fine."

The three of us stayed in silence for an instant. Even if none of us believed in divination, the fact that Fred had no lifeline was rather unsettling.

"It's fine." I cleared my throat, turning to my bag and leaving Fred's hand over the table on the process. "Apart from seeing the future, I can fix lifelines." They looked at each other when they saw me grab a sharpie. "Don't move." I demanded, holding down Fred's right hand before tracing a black line where the lifeline was supposed to be. "There. A long, healthy life."

When I looked back at the twins' faces, I saw them ready to laugh. Distress had already left them, and that helped my own evaporate.

"Merlin, Y/n!" Fred dramatically exclaimed. "You've just saved my life!"

"She sure did." George agreed, patting my back.

"Now go and tell Ron to shut up." I didn't want to imagine what would happen if people started to believe I could actually predict their future; the twins were sceptic and even they had somehow fallen for it.

I was so focused on George getting up that I didn't even notice Fred's hand flipping and wrapping around mine.

A soft kiss was placed on my cheek and I felt my face heating up even before meeting Fred's proud grin. "Figured I'd give my savior something in repay." His eyes seemed to flicker to my lips for a second; it's just my imagination, I thought, unaware of Fred's thumb caressing the back of my hand until he removed it in order to stand up.

Four Years Later

FRED'S P. O. V.

One second I was laughing at Percy's joke, and the next one everything was black; not only visually, everything was pitch black in every fucking sense.

I heard nothing, I couldn't touch anything, my voice was gone.

My mind was completely blank, until a thought slipped in my brain: 'you'll die at a young age'.

My head was spiralling now. I was dead. That's what death felt like? Nothing?

Y/n's words kept going on and on, frying my brain. How ironic it was that the voice I would have forever in my mind belonged to the girl I had been in love with since I was fourteen, and the words were what we thought to be her silly prediction.

I had no idea how long it had been, but suddenly I felt it; a tear running down my cheek. A flaming hot tear, burning its way off my face. Then I felt something else, some sort of rope wrapping tight around my right hand and wrist, so tight that it made my pulse speed up.

My pulse.

It dawned on me that my heart was beating fast against my chest. It was beating.

I needed to breathe.

"FRED!" Someone forced my eyes open; It was Percy. I couldn't see him right away because the lights were blinding to my eyes, but I recognised his voice. "FRED SAY SOMETHING!"

"Y/n..." I couldn't hear my own voice, but I felt her name going through my vocal cords.

"HE'S ALIVE!" Ron cried. "you're alive-" my sight was blurry but I could pick out my younger brother's crown in front of me as he sobbed over my chest.

"We gotta get him out of here right now!!" Of course it was Hermione who got everyone moving. As both my brothers managed to pick me up, I felt my eyes closing once more. Not even the fear of not waking up again stopped me from passing out.

READER'S P. O. V.

I had volunteered as Healer to help Madam Pomfrey during the Battle, that's why it was me who received two Weasleys practically dragging a third one into the improvised infirmary.

I recognised him from his jacket. "Fred..." At first I thought it was his corpse, that's how bad he looked.

"Y/N!!" It was only when Fred seemed to tilt his head up due to Ron's cry that I reacted, rushing to help them. "Keep him alive!" I only nodded, taking Ron's place as he took off.

With one of his arms over my shoulders and the other over his brother's, we managed to carry him to one of the stretchers; his painful weak groans went directly into my ear as we moved him, triggering the tears I was holding to fall.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

FRED'S P. O. V.

"—alive, somehow." Y/n's voice, though it sounded far away, let me know she was close. "No, don't wake him up."

"Listen, you gotta get him to St. Mungo." It seemed George the one talking, but his voice was too shaky to tell. "in an hour this is gonna get really ugly, I want him out."

"George, we're besieged." Her tone was hopeless.

"Look at him, You said it— It's a bloody miracle he's still breathing." my brother's voice shattered; all I wanted was to get up, hug him and say I was okay, but I felt my brain spinning once more. "Bill and I will escort you out of the castle so..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next time I opened my eyes, terror inundated me; everything was dark again. I gasped for air and propped myself up, instantly regretting it. A stabbing pain attacked every part of my body, triggering a shocked cry out of me.

"What are you doing?!" Y/n whisper-shouted, before placing both her hands over my chest to push me back to the bed again. "Are you mental?" Her fingertips moved out of the way a bandage that covered my eyes. "Oi, listen," when she noticed my shaky hands desperately trying to reach my face, she took them in hers. "You're safe."

I tried to say something —anything—, but my throat was sore, and the only thing that was able to leave it was her name.

"Shhh." She hushed me, letting one of her hands travel to my face. "You have to rest." I would have sworn she was crying, but I couldn't tell. "Everything'll get better." Her thumb stroking my cheek was the most soothing thing I had ever felt, so it wasn't difficult for me to close my eyes, this time willingly, though I was equally scared. "I'll stay by your side." The reassuring squeeze her hand gave me, made me aware that she had noticed my fear.

Before drifting off, I felt Y/n's lips placing a chaste kiss on my forehead, making my heart hammer against my chest.

I was still alive.

A Month Later

READER'S P. O. V.

It was Ron who sent me an owl the moment Fred finally got out of the hospital. He informed me that, instead of going to the Burrow to rest a few days—as planned—, ha had gone straight to the shop.

That's how I found myself the next morning inside Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, which was not-so-surprisingly full of people again.

Due to the huge amount of customers, it was relatively difficult for me to spot the twins.

Apparently, I turned out to be easy to spot.

"Y/n!" I turned in the stairs' direction to be met with a very enthusiastic George who, before I could even greet him, engulfed me in a hug.

"I see you can't catch a break." I observed, pulling away with a big smile on my face. That place really made the trick to bring joy to everyone.

"You can't imagine." He replied, his gaze wandering around before pulling my hand. "Oi, Fred! Look who dropped by!" He shouted over the hubbub, leading me to the till counter, behind which I saw the reason why I had come in the first place.

Just as Fred's eyes noticed me, he attempted to rush out of the till. I left George's side as soon as I realized that he, in fact, couldn't really rush out.

"Merlin's beard!" Despite he had just had to grip the counter in order not to fall, he tried again. "Take it easy, will you?" I scolded him, steadying him by his forearms and helping him step back to rest against the till. "Do you want to go back to the hospital?"

"If you're the one taking care of me, I wouldn't complain." The first time his eyes fell on my lips, I missed it because I was still securing him. The second time it was impossible to miss. "You know? Your sharpie saved my life."

I snorted at his nonsensical words. "You're delirious, Weasley." My hands finally left his forearms, just to be picked up on his. "Still suffering from the concussion?" I joked, trying to deviate my own attention from my fast heartbeat.

Another glance at my lips.

"I should get going." George spoke behind me.

"I was going to visit you tomorrow." Fred stated, his gaze now focused on my eyes.

"Sorry to break it to you, love," I pointed out, motioning at him with our hands still held. "But you can barely walk."

"Yeah, but I needed to see you." He looked somehow sheepish; I doubted I had ever seen him like that before. "I'm gonna be as clear and concise as possible—" He cleared his throat and forced himself to look at me. "I'm pretty much in love with you." I didn't know my eye could go as wide as they went. "Thing's I've known for a good couple of years now." He shrugged. "Telling you scared me, but then this happened." He gestured at himself. "And now not being able to tell you scares me even more." His eyes scanned me before looking around. "This wasn't the ideal place to tell you, but I didn't want to wait any longer."

I gulped, trying to process it as fast as possible.

"For Godric's sake, Y/n," he gently tugged my hand. "Say something, please." Fear started to take over him, even if he tried to keep it at bay. "It's alright if you don't feel the same, we can still be friends, I promise—"

"How do I kiss you without hurting you?" I questioned, already feeling the heat on my cheeks.

I could tell by his face that, out of everything I could have said, he was not expecting the answer I had given him. "Ever the caring one." He let go of my hands to cup my cheeks. "Just kiss me," he sounded so happy, it was contagious. "I'll deal with the pain later."

I listened to him and, holding onto his blazer, stood on my tiptoes and crashed my lips against his— only because I had been wanting to kiss him for too fucking long.

I got lost in the kiss and my brain completely dismissed that an entire wall had collapsed over the boy before me just a month ago; my hands went up to his neck, pulling him closer and, consequently, earning a painful groan from him.

"Shit! sorry." I was quick to let go, suddenly very aware of our surroundings, too.

He just shook his head and pulled my back to him, this time by my hips. "I said I'll deal with it later." He spoke against my lips before going in for a second kiss.

I was more gentle now, careful not to cause him too much pain.

To our dismay, we were interrupted.

"You said love confession!" George snapped us out of it; this time the groan Fred let out was from annoyance. "not snogging session in front of our customers! Get to work!"

He huffed, unwillingly separating from me. "If you stick around until lunch time, we can resume this."

I pretended to think about it. "I guess I can find something to do until then." My smile was as wide as his, and it grew wider when he pulled my into a hug, placing a kiss on the crown of my head. "I love you too, by the way."

His laugh reverberated on his chest. "Good to know."

"Freddie! Now!" This time it was me who groaned at George's demands.

"Help me out, love." Fred requested, pulling away from me so I could help him move behind the till counter. "See you in a couple of hours?" I nodded, pecking his cheeks and walking away from the shop.

It was when I started to walk down the Diagon Alley that it clicked.

His lifeline.

The sharpie.

"OH MY FUCK—"

[thevindicativevordan]

On Kong Kenan/Super-Man

It should've been him. He should've been the Superman of 5G/Future State/right now not Jon, and he should be the one getting an HBO Max series not Val. Hell he should be getting a movie!

God this dude is literally the best legacy character Superman has ever gotten, wholly his own person with his own lore and status quo while still building on the idea of "Superman". I am so pissed at DC for essentially just dropping him after his ongoing ended, what the hell Lee? You keep trying to make the Wildstorm characters happen, I need you to get my man Yang another Kenan book.

Have to admit I was a bit nervous at first about whether or not Kenan would be a worthwhile character. Yang's New 52 Superman run had been a disappointment to me overall, with only the the arc where Superman has underground wrestling matches against forgotten gods really sticking with me. Now he was introducing a brand new Superman? Didn't feel like he had "earned" that yet. But from the first issue I was hooked on this new character.

Kenan was unlike any other member of the Superfamily. He wasn't kind or sweet, he was an asshole! He was a bully! He was fantastic! Right from the start Kenan was set up to undergo a very different kind of character journey than the other members of the Superfamily. Empathy, humility, respect for people weaker than himself, these are all traits most heroes wearing the S-shield already posses by the time they first don the crest, but not Kenan.

Like all bullies he was even a bit of a coward himself at first, trying to bail on the experiment meant to give him Superman's powers right as it begins. After "saving" Lixin (the kid he bullies and steals lunch from every day) from Blue Condor he demands all the money Lixin has on him as payment. He's not courageous or selfless either at the start, Kenan is as much of an opposite of Superman as you can get short of being Bizarro. Learning the appeal of these traits formed the basis for his growth over the course of his series.

Seeing Yang bring in a lot of recognizable "Superman" elements in the series, but with a twist, was also great. Kenan is the one who bullies "Luo Lixin" rather than the traditional Clark/Lex friendship of Pre-Crisis and Birthright. Initially Kenan develops a crush on intrepid reporter for Primetime Shanghai, Laney Lan, but she dismisses him as too young and Kenan eventually ends up pursuing Avery Ho (Flash) instead. Baxi the Bat-Man of China has a similar relationship with Kenan as the traditional Superman/Batman in terms of being vitriolic best buds, however Baxi is the one who has the most respect for authority while Kenan is the rebel. Kenan is a part of the "Justice League of China" which does not meet with the approval of the already established Chinese superheroes, the Great Ten. That contrasts nicely with the good relationship the Justice Society and Justice League have, as well as seeing Yang lampshade the "Chinese copy" trope and incorporate that into his storytelling.

One of the funniest differences is how Kenan chooses to immediately reveal his identity as Super-Man to the world by taking off the compliance visor he was forced to wear, contrasting with Clark's choice to hide his identity. He was so eager to impress people that he never gave any thought to the danger he could put himself or his family in by revealing his identity until it was too late, something Clark is well aware of and has taken great pains to keep his identity secret. Was a missed opportunity for DC to have Kenan comment on Clark copying him for once when he outed himself under Bendis.

But one of the most poignant differences between Clark and Kenan is the gulf in separation between their relationship with their parents. Clark has a loving relationship with Ma and Pa Kent, trying to live up to their lessons as best he can. In contrast Kenan's mom was believed to have died in an airplane crash when he was just a child, and he never really knew her. His father was distant from him after that and the two weren't really close despite Kenan's attempts to impress him. So Kenan lacks that strong connection while still clearly loving both of them.

Pa Kent's death is one of the most tragic examples of Clark's love for his parents, and I've always been a fan of takes where Clark promises his father to fight for the powerless on Pa's deathbed. Kenan gets a similar scene at the start of his career, his dad "dies" (after being exposed as Flying General Dragon, a pro-democracy "supervillain" from the Chinese authorities perspective) and wants Kenan to promise he'll fight for Truth, Justice, and Democracy. But because Kenan's dad never really bonded with him, Kenan doesn't know what those mean, and can only promise that he never wants to see people die, something his father takes comfort in at least. In classic comic book fashion it's revealed that Dr. Omen, Kenan's "boss" and the one who gave him his powers, saved Kenan's father, because she is Kenan's mother! Kenan's relationship with his parents forms a lot of the crux of his character arc, and seeing how Yang utilizes the classic Superman concept of family kept the storytelling exciting.

Yang's brilliant exploration of the concept of "Superman" through the prism of Chinese culture was a great way to differentiate Kenan as well.

I absolutely freaking love how he tied to the concept of Qi to the S-shield in particular. Connecting the shape of the shield with the way Kenan has acquired his powers along the path of the Bagua (eight trigrams used in Taoism that represent the fundamental principles of reality), with his octagon S-shield outline representing all eight principles together, was mindblowing! So was the idea of restricting Kenan's access to his powers unless he was actually acting in a Superman manner, that tied his character growth to his power growth in an entertaining manner. There were so many characters and concepts that meshed Chinese and DC lore together, like how Emperor Super-Man was Kenan's "Doomsday", they even recreated that iconic dual kill shot! The Chinese Wonder Woman Peng Deilan, being based on the Chinese Legend of the White Snake! There was even some Korean mythology referenced with the Aqua-Man member of the JLC "Dragonson".

Yang also managed to do a Superman Blue/Superman Red story with Super-Man Yin/Super-Man Yang!

Shameful that it took me a while to realize what Gene Yang was doing but once I caught on I was touched. You can tell how much Yang loved Superman and his mythology, and how he was excited to incorporate as much from Clark as he could, while still using it in a way that was solidly Kenan's. And not just Superman's mythology, but the history and lore of the entire DC Universe. I-Ching got to be brought in, fleshed out, and used as Kenan's mentor! The "Yellow Peril" villain from Detective Comics #1, the comic DC gets its name from was brought in and revamped as I-Ching's twin brother All-Yang! Hats off to Yang for taking a racist caricature and attempting to make him into something more.

This series was a beautiful attempt by Gene Yang to build a space for Asian heroes and villains where they could be more than stereotypes, Kenan himself being a defiant mold-breaker in every regard as the complete opposite of most Asian characters in Western media (a jock, a bully, loves his dad but not on great terms with him, a powerhouse as a hero, etc). So much thought and hard work was poured into this by Yang and his team of artist collaborators.

Especially the costumes, man Kenan had so many great looks. From his starting outfit (which is my favorite Superman variant not worn by Clark himself), to the one with the Yin/Yang shield he acquired later on, to his Super-Man Yin & Super-Man Yang outfits, Kenan looked damn cool. Part of me is bummed they didn't go with the Chinese character shield they toyed around with, but I loved how Yang used the "s-shield" as a plot point, so I'm not too broken up over it.

All that great work Yang did to build that space up has been more or less forgotten sadly. It was nice to see Kenan in the DC Asian Month Celebration issue. Avery is going to be in Justice Incarnate at least (unsurprising considering she was created by Williamson). So fucking bummed that Superman Family Adventures cartoon didn't happen, they were going to have Kenan and John Henry Irons in it! Would've been a dream come true for me to see Irons in animation again, and Kenan making the jump to outside media! Maybe that would've encouraged DC to let Yang keep writing New Super-Man, or at least encouraged them to use him elsewhere instead of allowing him fall into Limbo.

Unfortunately I'm not sure what the future holds for Kenan. Jon is being pushed as Clark's replacement in the comics, with DC keeping all the other contenders such as Kon benched. Calvin is leading the Justice Incarnate team likely due to the upcoming Coates reboot that will make Clark black. Val will probably get something once Taylor leaves Jon's book or once they officially announce the HBO Max show is happening. So where does that leave Kenan, my new favorite PoC legacy hero? Currently my only hope is that Yang is working on something for DC involving him. Yang left Batman/Superman, where I was hoping to see a Baxi/Kenan team up, to go work on "exciting other opportunities" per his Twitter. So fingers crossed that there's something in the works for Kenan!

One day I hope he gets his day in the sun again.