#anyway here's my version of princess cordelia

[sweetsimapples]

𝔖𝔴𝔢𝔢𝔱 ℭ𝔬𝔯𝔡𝔢𝔩𝔦𝔞

#Did you guys know that I've been building a medieval save file for over 2 years? #The kit looks underwhelming but it renewed my creativity spark #anyway here's my version of princess cordelia #sims 4 #ts4 #sims 4 screenshots #the sims 4 #princess cordelia #sims 4 castle estate kit #ts4 simblr

[melanielocke]

Lost in the Shadows - Chapter 6

AO3

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Taglist @nott-the-best @foxglove-airmid @alastair-esfandiyar-carstairs1 @justanormaldemon @styxdrawings

It took less than ten minutes to discover the identity of the boy from the lake. As soon as they had arrived home, Lucie had started up her laptop and searched for missing children in the area. There was a boy called Steve Johnson, twelve years old. Lived in the village, just like the boy had told her. Had gone missing only a week ago. Lucie skimmed through the newspaper article. She’d thought the boy might have been dead for some time already, but he had been only dead for a week. She suspected he’d drowned the day of his disappearance. The article mentioned that the boy was a competitive swimmer, which explained why he hadn’t considered the danger in going swimming alone, but still, how likely was it that a competitive swimmer drowned in a lake that was perfectly safe for swimming? There were no dangerous currents, no weeds one could get trapped in. Drowning was always a risk, but in this lake, Lucie would only expect that to happen to people who couldn’t swim very well. Definitely not the case with this child. Exhaustion, then? But there was an island in the middle of the lake, and it wasn’t big. Anywhere he could have been, he should have been able to swim at least someplace he could stand in the water.

The boy had said something about how every time he tried to swim close to the shore, he’d appeared someplace else. Lucie wasn’t sure if she should believe that, ghosts tended to be confused about their deaths. Many didn’t remember dying at all until they realized what they were, and even then Lucie had heard some odd stories that couldn’t possibly be true. It was usually more believable that dying played tricks on the memory. But if that were true, if something had trapped the boy in the lake, then it would make sense why a competitive swimmer had drowned.

‘If he drowned and no one found out what happened, then his body must still be in the lake, right?’ Cordelia asked.

‘I think so. Someone should go looking for him. If the police know he’s in the lake, they should be able to find him. The problem is, how do we let them know where to look? I can’t exactly go to the police station and tell them I spoke to his ghost.’

‘We can send an anonymous tip,’ Cordelia said. ‘Maybe claim we saw him go into the lake around the time he disappeared.’

Lucie frowned. ‘Would they believe someone only called now a week later?’

Cordelia shrugged her shoulders. ‘Could be that we didn’t recognize him at first, we don’t know the child. But after looking at the missing posters, we realized this was the child we saw go into the lake to swim on the same day he disappeared.’

Lucie started rubbing her wrist, something she usually did when she was nervous. Then something occurred to her. ‘If he went swimming and never returned, then he must have left his belongings somewhere, right? A bag, some clothes, at the very least a towel. There was nothing at the beach.’

‘Lots of places where he could have entered the water,’ Cordelia said. ‘Most would be hidden from sight, so a bag or towel would not attract attention there. You mean to say someone might have taken his belongings to cover it up?’

‘Maybe. Or maybe he put the bag somewhere hidden from sight and no one has stumbled upon it yet. I’ll call with an anonymous tip, and claim I just saw a missing poster and realized I saw that boy go into the lake, that he might have drowned.’

Lucie was sick with nerves, staring at the phone. Princess Lucinda, a fictional and much braver version of Lucie, might never have heard of a phone, but she would not be scared to make a simple call if she knew how. But Lucie was terrified of making phone calls. She knew it was a stupid fear, but it was so unpredictable what might happen after someone picked up. What they’d say, what she was supposed to say, how loud someone else was going to sound through the phone. If she could even understand what they were saying, no matter how loud someone was, Lucie often struggled understanding speech through a phone.

‘Do you want me to make the call?’ Cordelia asked.

‘I can do this,’ Lucie said, more to herself than Cordelia, and she picked up the phone and called the police station.

She hung up as soon as she was done, she wanted to avoid questions she couldn’t answer. Police received anonymous tips all the time, right? Would they be looking already? Would they find him?

‘Can we take a walk?’ Lucie asked. ‘For distraction.’

‘That’s alright,’ Cordelia said. ‘Do you think Thomas and Alastair are still out there? Alastair used to take walks of several hours, he can probably spend an entire day there and not get tired of it.’

‘Funny. Thomas did the same thing. His attempt to get away from overprotective family members,’ Lucie said. ‘I’m sure they’re having fun.’

Lucie knew Thomas’ family worried for him because he used to be so sick, and his parents and sisters had never really left the pattern of Thomas being the small sick boy who needed to be cared for. Thomas greatly valued time alone because of that.

Lucie quickly went into her bedroom and changed into something more practical for a walk. When she returned downstairs she noticed a note her parents had left, she’d been so preoccupied with finding out who that boy was she hadn’t seen it at all. Her parents had gone grocery shopping and would be away for some time since the village didn’t offer much vegan food. A couple of months ago, Thomas had decided to go vegetarian because he liked animals and cared about the environment and Lucie had decided to surpass him by trying a vegan diet instead. Thomas couldn’t stay behind and had joined her, leaving two sets of exasperated parents desperately trying to figure out what they could still feed their kids. Both Lucie and Thomas were ridiculously stubborn, so any attempt to change their minds had been in vain. Fortunately, the UK was one of the easiest countries to find vegan food. Lucie was especially proud of Thomas, she knew he struggled with making choices for himself that inconvenienced others and this was something he’d chosen for himself.

Lucie and Cordelia walked into the woods, and Lucie made sure to take in the atmosphere. If this were a scene in her novel, how would she describe the trees? They were tall, for sure, thick, allowing little light to pass through. There was lichen growing over rocks and trees. There was a fog that was worst in the morning but never quite lifted. If this were a scene in her novel, Lucie definitely would mention the fog. It was both beautiful and eerie, the backdrop for a dark or scary scene. There were some birds in the trees, Lucie couldn’t see them, but she could hear them. If the scene became creepy enough, they would fall silent.

‘Is there always a fog here?’ Cordelia asked.

‘Usually,’ Lucie said. ‘I’m not sure why, weather science is not my expertise. It’s worst in the morning. Makes for a nice atmosphere though. Mysterious, eerie.’

‘Creepy,’ Cordelia added.

‘That too,’ Lucie said. ‘If I ever write a gothic or horror novel, this forest shall certainly serve as inspiration.’

‘Now I’m getting nervous,’ Cordelia admitted. ‘What kind of creatures do you think hide here?’

‘Oh, probably nothing,’ Lucie said.

‘Well, if something attacks us I’ll have cortana to fight it with,’ Cordelia said.

‘You brought your sword?’

Cordelia put her hand around her golden necklace. Lucie realized she always wore that necklace, but it had never occurred to her that it was cortana.

‘It changes shape?’

‘Exactly. I can’t exactly walk around carrying a sword, so it changes into a necklace I can wear daily,’ Cordelia said. ‘I’ve never really used it to fight something, but if we are attacked, I can defend us.’

‘Has it always changed into that necklace? Now I’m picturing your father or uncle Jem wearing it,’ Lucie said.

Uncle Jem could look well with it, she guessed, but she couldn’t picture Cordelia’s father wearing a necklace.

‘It changes into something different for each of us. For my father, it was a fancy golden watch. For uncle Jem, it was a jade pendant.’

‘Has Alastair ever carried cortana?’ Lucie asked, curious what it would change into for him.

‘No,’ Cordelia said. ‘He did want it when he was maybe fourteen, but the sword chose me over him. I think he later realized it wasn’t for him anyway. He has his daggers in case something really bad happens, but apart from that he’d rather stay away from the dangerous parts of the supernatural.’

Lucie wasn’t sure what she wanted, if given a choice. Sometimes ghosts could be unsettling, especially when she discovered they had passed recently or asked her if she could solve their murders. She wanted to be a writer, not a hero, but at the same time, she liked being able to see people when no one else could and she liked solving mysteries. She liked being able to help, to give the ghosts some power. Unfortunately, many ghosts needed things she could not give them and reading them parts from her stories didn’t typically help them move on. Some did give useful feedback though.

‘Are his daggers magic too?’ Lucie asked. ‘Like cortana?’

‘I don’t think they can kill anything like cortana does. We don’t know, some are old and have a rich history and for all we know they were magic. Neither of us have been willing to test that though, and Alastair keeps them because he likes collecting them, he doesn’t intend to fight with them if he doesn’t have to.’

Lucie didn’t know the particulars of killing supernatural creatures, and according to her father much of it was trial and error. Cortana was special in that regard, since it guaranteed to kill anything, but for others they would just have to hope whatever weapon they have does something.

‘Do you think they have started looking already?’ Lucie asked.

‘I don’t know,’ Cordelia said. ‘Missing children usually have a high priority, so I guess they would have started already. Searching a lake for a body might take some time, even a small lake like this one.’

‘What are you doing here?’

Lucie and Cordelia turned around to see Alastair and Thomas. Alastair really looked tiny next to Thomas despite being average height, she thought. They both looked like they’d been here for a while, a bit sweaty, Thomas’ face flushed. Alastair’s usually meticulously styled dark hair was a bit messy.

‘We went for a walk.’

‘I thought you wanted to go swimming,’ Alastair said.

‘We did go swimming, but after that we came here,’ Lucie said. ‘For distraction.’

She decided the boys had better know the truth too, and summarized her encounter with Steve’s ghost in the lake and the story he’d told about being unable to get out of the lake.

Thomas looked unusually nervous, was he alright? Alastair looked concerned at most, but as far as Lucie remembered he rarely showed emotion. She wondered if Thomas and Alastair had had any fun during their walk.

‘Trapped in the lake?’ Alastair frowned. ‘There are stories of people getting trapped in certain places by powerful beings. Of course, no one knows if those are true since people who become victims of such things usually don’t live to tell about it.’

‘Perhaps we better return to grandma’s house,’ Lucie suggested. ‘Then we can explain everything, figure out if anything needs to be done.’

On their way back, Lucie did most of the talking. She asked Thomas and Alastair if they had any fun, but neither of them spilled much. Thomas mentioned something about them seeing a hedgehog and that Alastair liked them, and at some point Lucie fell into telling them all about her latest story idea. Only when they were home it occurred to her that Alastair might not care for her stories at all. Lucie could never tell, and when people politely told her something along the lines of ‘that’s interesting’, she tended to take that as an invitation to talk about her projects for the next hours. British people tended to be very polite, so they never said what they meant and left Lucie to figure out what they were trying to say. It was very annoying.

Not long before grandma’s house came back in sight, something caught Lucie’s eye. She stopped, Alastair nearly bumping into her, but she ignored him. Instead, she stared in the direction where she thought she might have seen something. There was a boy there. Not the one from the lake, but another boy of around twelve. Dark hair, light eyes, Lucie realized she recognized him.

‘Lu, are you alright?’ Thomas asked. ‘You look like you’ve seen a- never mind.’

You look like you’ve seen a ghost, except with Lucie that was often the case and it rarely startled her this much.

She’d known about her ability already when Jesse died, had known about for as long as she could remember really. She’d searched for him, in the forest where he’d died, at school. She’d even gone by his mother’s house, who had refused to let her in. She’d never seen him, never even caught a glimpse. He must have moved on already, she’d thought and although she’d wished she’d had a chance to say goodbye, Lucie was fine with the idea of him moving on. It was better than remaining as a ghost.

But here he was, and he hadn’t changed a bit since he’d died over four years ago. Still a twelve year old boy, and it hit Lucie just how young he’d died.

‘Jesse!’ she called out.

Jesse looked up. He had a haunted look in his eyes ghosts sometimes had. He didn’t say anything, nor did he move any closer.

‘Jesse!’ she tried again. ‘It’s me, Lucie! I can see you!’

Jesse opened his mouth as if he was about to say something, but then disappeared as if he’d never been there. There was no poof, no cloud of shadows or ray of light in which he disappeared. He was just gone, no evidence that he’d been there at all. But Lucie was sure of what she’d seen. Jesse Blackthorn had just appeared in front of her. But why here, so far from where he’d lived and what he knew? Why now, four years after his death?

‘What is he saying?’ Cordelia asked.

Lucie shook her head as she tried to get her breathing under control. ‘Nothing,’ she whimpered. ‘He’s gone. He disappeared. But he was right there, it was him.’

#Lucie Herondale #Cordelia Carstairs #thomas lightwood #Alastair carstairs #Lucelia #Thomastair #fic #fanfiction #tlh #the last hours

[lurking-latinist]

Sixie and Evelyn for the AU meme?

I was SO excited to get this ask and I'm so sorry that it's taken me ages to get to it! I really wanted to do it justice and to be honest I'm still not perfectly happy with what I've got--I find Evelyn really hard to write precisely because I love her so much--but hopefully it will be fun and maybe spark other people's ideas!

(As a reminder, the AU meme is in the pinned post on my blog!)

Snippets below cut

1. Wild West

“Now then, Doc,” said the schoolteacher. “I reckon you’re not here to learn readin’ and writin’.”

“No, ma’am,” he said. “As it happens, I’m after a history lesson.”

2. Coffee Shop

“You’ve saved my life,” said the coffee shop proprietor, hands in the pockets of his patchwork apron.

“It’s only a cake,” said Evelyn. “I like making them. I really do!”

“All the same,” he said. “I shudder to think what the patrons would’ve said if I’d had to tell them the only baked goods available were of my cooking.”

3. Pirates

(That’s not an AU that’s canonical)

“You know this is all your fault,” whispered Evelyn.

“Mine?” The Doctor’s face was a picture of cherubic innocence.

“It was you that came up with ‘Evil Evelyn’!” She lifted a hand in an abortive gesture of frustration, earning yet another round of raucous cheers from her new self-appointed followers.

“I didn’t expect you to become a legend!”

Evelyn the Pirate Queen smiled. “You should’ve thought ahead, then, shouldn’t you?”

4. … In SPACE!!

(Space opera crossover: Vorkosigan Saga)

"I'm sorry about him," said the historian, with an obviously fond smile. "Thank you for agreeing to an interview, Vicereine."

"Oh, call me Cordelia."

5. Schoolfic

(Obviously they’re still the teachers)

“Mrs Smythe?”

“Yes, Emily?”

“I thought this was a history field trip,” said the little girl in her surprisingly piercing voice. “Why is Mr Smith from science with us?”

“He wanted to come,” said the history teacher vaguely. “Now you see, boys and girls, it’s never too late to learn about our country’s past!”

From the back of the bus, Mr Smith flashed her an unrepentant, conspiratorial grin.

6. Urban Fantasy

"Now why exactly did you feel it necessary to interrupt my lecture?" Evelyn demanded.

"You won't believe this." The oddly-dressed stranger sighed. "I could... smell there's something wrong."

She gave him a look. "You're one of these people that thinks they're a werewolf, aren't you?"

"Not exactly." He looked uncomfortable and slightly sheepish. "Actually, I'm a were-cat."

7. Regency/Historical

"Sitting out yet another dance together, are we? Do you think I'm too old to be gossiped about?"

He smiled. "I think you're too wise to care."

8. Magic/Fairy Tale

The kingdom was celebrating the birth of twins to the king and queen.

"The princess will be wise and learned and always know her own mind," said the good fairy Evelyn at the christening.

"The prince will be curious and witty and never at a loss for words," promised her companion.

The queen, who was not entirely without common sense, whispered to the king, "Is there anyone we forgot to invite?"

"Nobody," replied the king confidently.

The fairy godparents shared a glance, suddenly preparing for trouble.

(but I cannot let this pass without reccing Kitty @strange-destinations's actual full-length Six & Evelyn fairy tale AU, "live in the along": https://archiveofourown.org/works/26815372)

9. Canon Divergence

INQUISITOR: There is only one way to rebut the evidence of the Matrix, Doctor, and that is to produce witnesses who can support your version of events. Can you do that?

DOCTOR: Well, of course I can't. You know I can't.

INQUISITOR: Then we must accept the Valeyard's evidence.

DOCTOR: Any witnesses I might produce are scattered all over the universe and all through time. How can I find them now?

EVELYN, entering the courtroom: Oh dear. Hello Doctor. What have you gotten yourself into?

(I love Mel, as everyone knows, but I can’t help thinking that Evelyn might have been a more convincing character witness!)

10. Crime/Detectives

“Doctor,” said the deceptively harmless little old lady as soon as her friend picked up the phone, “I think we’ve got another case for you and your box of tricks.”

“Forensic laboratory, Evelyn,” he laughed. “Let me guess—a terrible murder and the police are baffled?”

“Well…” she said. “It’s forgery. At least I think so. One John Draper’s will of 1590, which inexplicably disinherits his daughter Frances—I suspect her brothers tampered with the document.”

“A pressing case indeed. I’ll be right over.”

-----

anyway I love them your honor and this gave me a great excuse to relisten to several audios, thank you lu <3

eta: here’s the ao3 link! https://archiveofourown.org/works/33872827

#doctor who #classic who #big finish #sixth doctor #evelyn smythe #au meme #ask meme #doctor who fic #classic who fic #fic #cross posted on ao3

[fieryfantasybooklover]

Scythes And Stories - Chapter 6 - Twists Of Fate

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

---------------------------------------------------

“So you’re telling me that… you are the escaped princess of Solis?” Alastair said slowly, trying to parse out the truth of the words. Ariadne nodded. “And that this is the infamous assassin, the Lady of Death?” Thomas continued, cutting his gaze towards Anna. “I’m flattered that you’ve heard of me, all the way here in Luna.” Anna chimed in. She was currently sprawled across the couch of the boat’s hold, playing with a bone dagger. “Of course we’ve heard of you. You’re either more stupid than you look, or truly ignorant of how much you’ve been employed by the Luna Council.” Alastair smirked, clearly reveling in Anna’s widened eyes and shocked expression. “I’m going to continue this discussion, because obviously these two nitwits wouldn’t bother too.” Cordelia interjected, grinning in response to Alastair’s glare. “If I am correct in my assumptions, you are Lucie Herondale.” she said, gesturing towards Lucie. “That is correct.” Lucie said, mock-curtseying. “So you must be the mysterious and handsome stranger she eloped with.” Cordelia finished, raising her eyebrows at Matthew. “That would be the truth. I am so very pleased that the general knowledge of me is my dashingness.” Matthew said, tipping his hat. “Ignore him.” Lucie stage whispered. “His ego’s gone to his head a bit of late.”

“Well. This is certainly news to me. Everyone thinks you are dead, Princess, and nobody knows the whereabouts of you, my lady.” Thomas said, standing from his seat. “I do wonder what casualties shall befall me if my husband and I decide to give you shelter.”

“Oh I swear we’re nothing but the utmost fun.” Anna said with a smile as sharp as swords. “I can vouch for her!” Matthew chimed in, mischief in his eyes. Ariadne and Lucie sighed in unison as Cordelia snickered. “Yes but they don’t trust either of you, so shut up.” Lucie said, laughing. “All we ask for is shelter for a bit. The world outside is quite chaotic and it would be good to take a breath.” Ariadne said, eyes pleading. “We will take you in.” Thomas finally agreed. “Only if you promise to participate in our drinks night.” James said, mock seriousness in his voice. “You’ll have a far harder time convincing those two to stay away now that you’ve mentioned it.” Ariadne said, gesturing towards Matthew and Anna. “Now, if you wish it, we will retire to our chambers and cause you no more trouble.”

“Is there anything else we can get you while you stay here?” Thomas asked them as they strolled through the city streets. The brick roads were baked in the heat, worn by the feet of a thousand steps. Spices laced the air - nutmeg, basil, and fresh fruit. Thomas had quite quickly fallen into the role of gracious host as Alastair and Anna bantered and the others chattered. “Not unless you can bring back my long lost brother from the abyss.” Anna answered, and silence fell. Cordelia turned to Anna however, brows furrowed. “What does your brother look like?” She inquired, concentration deepening as she gazed at Anna as if she were a puzzle. “Well, he has purple eyes. And he would be around my age, maybe a bit younger.” Anna answered, clearly baffled. James stopped walking right in the middle of the street as him and Cordelia made eye contact. Thomas and Alastair also exchanged gazes. “Is there anything you four would like to share, or are you going to continue to communicate telepathically for the rest of the day.” Anna asked, shifting. She was quite unfamiliar with the warm blooming in her chest like a rose, shining and glowing like a weapon fresh off the forge. It was hope, hope that maybe she wasn’t crazy for the first time in her life.

Shaking herself, Cordelia turned to Anna. “Unless there’s a large amount of purple-eyed teenage fugitives on the run for our kingdom…”

“We have your brother. He arrived just a few days before you. Shivering and sweating and grinning like a banshee. He also claimed to have murdered the king of Solis. On that precedent alone, we allowed him to stay. He’s in his quarters now.”

Anna froze. She could feel the frost of shock spreading slowly over her skin as she struggled to form words. After all these years, all this time, she found him. Her brother with his love of science and the rare, genuine smile that always summoned a smile from her in return. A warm hand slipped into hers. Turning her head, Anna’s eyes met Ariadne’s. The silent encouragement in Ariadne’s eyes nearly brought Anna to tears. “May I- May I see him?” Anna asked tentatively, afraid some cruel god would snatch him away before she could see him. “Of course you can.” Thomas said, understanding in his tone. “Just this way. We’ll arrive back at the castle in approximately 15 minutes. From there, I’ll give you a guide to his rooms.”

“Thank you so much.” Anna whispered. “You have my eternal gratitude.”

“None needed, Lady of Death. Everyone deserves loved ones to hold close. Sadly, sometimes the world has other plans. We’re just glad you made your way back to the hearth.” Alastair said quietly, and the others all nodded. From that point on, they were all friends. After all, a friendship forged when you are the version of yourself you hate to show are the strongest friendships of all.

“Mr. Christopher, you’ve a visitor.” the guide called, knocking on the heavy wooden door embossed with a crescent moon. “They may come in.” Came the response from within the room, and Anna’s eyes widened. If there had been any doubt in her mind, none was left now. The decades passed and sands of time could not erase the sound of her brother’s voice from her head. Anna opened the door, and slipped inside, closing it behind her. The boy on the bed looked up, hair messed over his eyes and papers strewn over every possible surface. It didn’t take long for the question in his face turned into confusion, then shock, then wonder. All in the span of just a few moments. “Christopher?” Anna breathed, not daring to take a step forward lest he should evaporate like a mirage. “... Anna? Is that you?” Christopher replied, voice also quiet and strung through with lights of amazement. “Yes, it’s me. It’s Anna!” she replied, joy cracking her face. Christopher’s face morphed again then, and he stood and strode forward. Finally, after so many miles of pain and oceans of blood and battle, they were here. Embracing in a hug and words left unsaid flew, the pair had found each other again.

“I missed you so much.”

“I missed you too! I thought I’d never see you again….”

“I thought the same! They took me away, and I wasn’t able to look for you.”

“That is ok. I doubt you would recognize the me you found anyway.”

“The same could be said of me. It took me years of planning and work, but I finally struck back.”

“And I am more proud of you than I could say. I too have blood on my hands, but I hope that staining them deeper won’t ever be necessary again. If needed, I will fight to make it so.”

Drawing back, Anna examined Christopher and smiled deeply. “You’ve grown into a fine young man. A far throw from the gangly boy I knew. If only mother and father could see you now…” Anna trailed off as a shade of grey permeated the otherwise yellow bright moment. “And you as well.” Christopher said, his wonder saving the memory. “You’re glowing. You look happy. Content.” he added, grinning. “I am… I’ve found a life worth fighting for. But more about me later. We have much catching up to do, dear brother.” Dropping into the armchair by the fireplace, Anna relaxed. Christopher sat on the bed, only succeeding in making his piles of sketches even more messy. “Tell me. What have you been doing these past years we’ve been apart? I am quite certain it’s a grand tale.”

“Now I must confess I’m dying to know how you ended up on the run with the most infamous assassin in five kingdoms.” James said to Ariadne as the two, accompanied by Alastair, Thomas, and Cordelia sat in the royal common room. It was a set of large and comfortable rooms for the royal family to relax and have fun in. Ariadne chuckled quietly, thinking over the chaos of the tale herself. “I couldn’t hardly put it into words for you myself. I had been long since questioning my parents’ actions and the way they behaved around anybody without a large purse or a legitimate heir. I just didn’t know what it was I could do about it. I trained myself, yes. In bladework and poisons and a myriad of other things. But these skills languished in my arsenal, so to speak. I was not allowed to do anything I loved, contained in the palace and all it’s parties.” Ariadne paused, taking a deep breath before continuing. “The day they forced me into an arranged marriage with somebody I despise was my breaking point. Anna appeared, and it was like she was the escape I was looking for. The escape dressed in black with a dagger, that is.”

Cordelia’s thoughts raced, connecting the dots quickly and smothering her grin. The way Ariadne used Anna’s first name, how her eyes and voice softened at the mention of her, how she would always smile. The quick gazes and hidden laughs. Turning to James, she raised her eyebrows and nearly fell over laughing at his responding smirk. James was observant and had apparently also been quick to notice what she had. “I wish them all the happiness and wishes.” Cordelia vowed, before tuning her ears back into Ariadne’s story.

“So, I agreed to go with her. I set fire to the barracks before we joined up with Matthew and Lucie. Lucie was confined within a loveless marriage, so she was also eager to leave. Anna staged my death, and we set sail. Matthew delivered the note and… here we are.” Ariadne finished, leaninging back in her chair and smiling. “Not the most exciting tale in the books, but it’s my story, so I will cherish it within my heart.”

“On the contrary, I believed that story most riveting.” Cordelia piped up, leaning forward. “There remains only one question.” James said, standing. “Would you and Lady Anna be interested in joining us for dinner tonight? Christopher is also invited, of course”

“We would be most honored to have you.” Thomas added.

“I would be delighted to.” Ariadne smiled. “Anna is I’m sure still talking to Christopher, but when she returns to our chambers, I will extend the invitation.”

“Tell her there will be wine and games!” Alastair called to Ariadne as she exited. “I will tell her. I could never forgive myself and I doubt she would forgive me if she missed out on such an opportunity.”

Once Ariadne had vanished down the hall, the four sat in quiet. “I like her.” Thomas finally said, his voice betraying how deep in thought he was. “I do as well. I’m very glad she was able to find herself a place where she’s truly happy.” Cordelia added. “As much as I’d like to stay and gossip about our new arrivals, I’ve some matters to attend to.” Alastair said, standing. “I’ll come with you.” Thomas replied.

Sighing with a bit too much gusto to be believable, Alastair nodded assent. “I guess we will get these chores done quicker together.” he said, accepting Thomas’s extended hand. “Yes I’m sure that’s why.”

“O do shut up.” Alastair shot back, and soon their voices faded.

“Would you like to take a stroll with me, my fine warrior?” James asked Cordelia, eyes twinkling. “I would love to, James.” Cordelia replied, a small smile twisting her lips. “Well, then, let us go. The winding paths of the park await us.”

“Fancy seeing you here.” Ariadne said as she flopped onto the bed of their quarters. Matthew and Lucie had been assigned a door across the hall. “Life does bring us much surprise.” Anna shot back, kicking off her boots. “Did you and Christopher have a pleasing chat?” Ariadne ventured cautiously. “We most certainly did.” Anna replied, slipping back into that soft smile. “He’s grown up so much, Ariadne. So much. And it hurts and heals my heart simultaneously to see it.” Anna said, much quieter this time. “I know you grieve for memories lost, and I understand it. It is right to feel pain, right to grieve. Just make sure you’re not missing out on a chance to make new memories while grieving the past.” Ariadne said, once again gently holding Anna’s hand. “What did I do to deserve you?” Anna asked. “You set me free.” Ariadne answered, and Anna grinned. “And I am very glad I did. Now, what’s this dinner party you mentioned?”

“Oh yes! We are invited to dinner with Cordelia, James, Thomas, and Alastair. Christopher will also be there I believe. Alastair requests I tell you that there will be wine and games.”

‘Well in that case, I’m in.” Anna said jokingly, and Ariadne laughed again, a musical sound to Anna’s ears. “In that case, I will see you in about a half-hour at the party.” Standing, Anna kissed Ariadne softly before breaking apart and bolting for the showers. Sighing and filled with happy butterflies, Ariadne also stood and began to change. “It’s the beginning of a new age. And I’ll be damned if I keep wearing the shackles I just escaped.”

“To new friends, and old. To shining futures and pasts laid to rest in unmarked graves. This is now, and it’s for living and love. I give thanks for the wondrous new souls we’ve met, and the tales they brought with them.” Thomas toasted, raising his champagne elegantly. Everybody else raised their glasses in silent succession, toasting to everything Thomas mentioned and more. And then, the party began. It was in the private royal dining room, and it came with a ballroom. Thomas and Alastair had invited some other close friends and family, and Cordelia and James had done the same. All had been instructed on the situation, and planned to be discreet. A large number of suits and dresses had been delivered to Anna, Ariadne, Matthew, and Lucie, along with a note saying they could choose any one of the options. The rooms were full of life, shining and glittering and shifting. Champagne sparkled and fragrant scents of roasted meats and delicate creamed desserts rose up. Lively violin music flowed from the ballroom, and each person was a vision in velvet and satin, a walking kaleidoscope of dancing and laughing and color. Anna and Ariadne danced, quick as quicksilver and breathless with happiness. Anna was wearing a finely cut suit of ebony and snow white, while Ariadne was resplendent in a twilight blue gown that sparkled with stars and twirled as she did. “You are as gorgeous as an angel.” Anna called as she twirled Ariadne. “And you look like a goddess sent to Earth.” Ariadne called back, cheeks flushed with the blush of life. “Oh stop I might actually blush for once.” Anna said, bringing Ariadne close before dramatically dipping her. “What a sight that would be.” Ariadne mocked, laughing. “Maybe someday, I’ll get to witness this amazing phenomena.”

“You can keep hoping, Princess.” Anna replied, laughing as Ariadne lightly smacked her. “I think I will. After all, we’ve got plenty of time.”

The previous song had ended with a dramatic flourish, paving the way for a slower and more romantic piece. Alastair and Thomas slowly danced, staring into each other’s eyes. “What a week it has been. And it’s only been the first week.” Thomas said as the pair revolved on the dance floor. “Indeed. It might be awhile before we have any semblance of peace again.” Alastair replied. “Even you can't deny that you like our newcomers.” Thomas snarked back, no true bite in his voice. “I do, much to my dismay. I can admit they are fun and Anna especially is very fun. At least she knows how to drink and have fun, unlike you.” Alastair shot back, chuckling. “Oh shut up you. I'm plenty of fun.” Thomas said, affecting a wounded air. “I suppose you can be, but-” Thomas cut Alastair off and kissed him, holding him even closer. Alastair, drunk on happiness, held Thomas close as they kissed and the violins played a song of hearts broken and mended, souls torn and sewed back together.

Cordelia and James sat along the wall, laughing and joking with Lucie and Matthew. The squad had quickly become fast friends. Cordelia leaned forward and kissed James, while Matthew wolf whistled and Lucie slapped her hand over his mouth to shut him up. The scene could be described as perfect, if such a thing exists. Music and songs and beauty and, most importantly of them all, new beginnings. What the future held was a mystery, and what the past held was unchangeable. But the now… well the now was whatever the people living in it made it. And everybody present at that party had chosen to make it something glowing with love and happiness and the treasured thing that is friendship. Twists of fate and acts of free will were what brought these people together, but it was their choice to stay. They could’ve shunned each other, torn themselves to bits and pieces while laughing. They could’ve betrayed who was supposed to be their enemies - stabbed them in the back and ran before they could be found by the accusing eyes of their victims. They could’ve done all of this, and more. But they didn’t - they chose to do the opposite. To nurture the compassion in their souls, the love blooming in their hearts. To make friends and lovers and family who would stand by them through the storm of the future, the unknown, and anything else that could be thought of.

#anna lightwood #ariadne bridgestock #arianna #thomas lightwood #alastair carstairs #Thomastair #james herondale #cordelia carstairs #jordelia #lucie herondale #matthew fairchild #lucieXMatthew #tsc #the last hours #megans writing

[croc-odette]

i love ds9 and here are some episode premises that i wish had happened

DND EPISODE: already talked about this but a dungeons and dragons holosuite episode. jake is the overly prepared DM obviously, nog, ziyal, and alexander are players. nog’s player is clearly his idea of sisko, a lawful good paladin; ziyal plays as a cardassian rogue (played by dukat, but clearly based in personality on kira); alexander plays a mage who is kind-of worf kind-of jadzia and keeps switching between them through the game). there’s an NPC version that’s clearly also based on sisko at one point, but from jake’s point of view knowing him as his dad to compare how differently jake and nog, a cadet, see him.

as the game progresses, it becomes clear that the Big Bad is based on a combo of dukat/winn (corrupt government/religious figure). ziyal struggles with the classic DND question of ‘just because i would do this, does that mean my character would?’ except she’s realizing that her dad wouldn’t do any of the selfless things she wants her character to do. alexander keeps trying to solve shit through weird cantrips or puzzle solving instead of fighting and jake is like ‘it’s not deep it’s just a cave bat please roll initiative’. bashir and garak show up as like, the old couple from the princess bride and everyone has to be like ‘jake they’re not dating in real life this rpf shit is kind of inappropriate’ and he’s like ‘wait what? i thought they were dating’. miles is an NPC and dies. nog thinks jake’s-sisko-npc is too silly and disrespectful and jake is like ‘he’s MY dad’ and they have to take a break to argue about it and jake is like ‘your dad is cool too’. nog’s character changes to lawful good paladin rom. actually this whole game is ‘arguing about dads’ time now that i think about it, which jake is not really equipped to jump in on since he has a normal cool dad who he basically just thinks is embarrassing because he’s the ~messiah~ or some goofy bullshit. ends with them calling it a day after the final boss battle and then jake and nog privately talking about whether or not they can trust ziyal if she has to choose between ds9 and dukat, which was an ulterior motive of the game. ziyal is clearly clearly rattled by what the game made her realize and goes to see kira, who she doesn’t tell about the game but who still gives her a hug, and ziyal realizes that kira’s her hero (and like, her mom). alexander tells worf and dax about the game and dax thinks it sounds fun as hell and asks alexander if they can come next time, and worf is like ‘....... only if i can be a blood mage’. nog and jake go home and tell their dads they love them. 

shit i blacked out

PRANK WAR EPISODE: escalating series of pranks starting with jadzia putting hair dye in bashir’s shampoo and ending with the space station accidentally going into a meltdown self destruct scenario. garak is torn between helping jadzia and quark, who are clearly the better pranksters, or helping julian and odo, who suck at pranks but are his lunch friends. everyone has to tell garak that he’s way too intense about ‘pranks’ which are actually just really dangerous booby traps he puts in people’s quarters. sisko ends the episode by grounding everyone; no holosuites for a month!! yes even dax

GREAT RACE EPISODE: there’s some kind of macguffin resource on a planet (a klingon escape pod with a survivor with crucial intelligence information?), but they can’t teleport directly to it. a vorta and jem h’dar team and a ds9 team beam down on opposite sides of its location and are both racing to get there first, having to macgyver together vehicles and tools on the way. lots of excellent outdoor on-location settings and comparison of the jem h’dar/vorta dynamic and the ds9 federation dynamic. ends with the jem h’dar almost winning but turning on the vorta at the last few yards, and sisko’s team beams out as the jem h’dar chant victory. no i refuse to think this is same plot as ‘the ship’ or whatever

KASIDY EPISODE: set earlier in kasidy/sisko’s relationship, kasidy agrees to go with jadzia as a third-party observer to negotiations with a nearby bajoran colony over a trade agreement with the federation. jadzia and kasidy bond over gossiping about sisko on the way, but once they get there kasidy disagrees with the starfleet’s contract during negotiations which causes tensions, and recommends that the bajorans reject it. she and jadzia get into an argument about starfleet and its ideals, and why kasidy chose to be an independent captain rather than a starfleet captain, and how that doesn’t make her lesser than starfleet captains. jadzia realizes that kasidy is right and petitions superiors for a new contract, which kasidy approves of. they go home tenser then when they left, but when sisko asks jadzia what she thinks of kasidy, she very seriously says that she has incredible compassion, intelligence, and integrity, and that she doesn’t need or want jadzia’s approval. but has it anyway

MUSICAL EPISODE: someone already outlined a great musical ep where lwaxana comes in with a betazoid cold and it makes everyone burst into song in another text post and like 100% cosigned

SHAKESPEARE EP: holosuite shenanigans; every character is suddenly stuck as someone from a different shakespeare play. garak is an enthusiastically combative beatrice, kira is cordelia, worf is hamlet, jadzia is a very amused katerina, julian is puck, miles is duncan (”i get MURDERED?”), odo is benvolio and kind of bummed he’s not romeo, etc. i actually don’t know any shakespeare play that well but i think it could be neat. julian is the only fucking person on ds9 who actually knows any of it well enough to figure out what’s going on, except for sisko who doesn’t really care for shakespeare but generally knows about the plays (maybe a good opportunity to talk about the racism in most ‘classic Earth’ pop culture that star trek tends to uphold without criticism). i don’t know shit about the 40 plays that shakespeare wrote about british kings but i could see sisko ending up in that kind of intense role and refusing to play into it, as do the rest of the characters who refuse to fulfill their respective roles and instead find another way to end the program.

KLINGON OPERA EPISODE: goodddddddd can we see some klingon opera, mac. i’ve been dying to see some klingon opera. premise is they believe that someone is assassinating ambassadors and so they tag along with a andorian ambassador who loves opera to see if they can figure out who the assassin is, however the andorian plays it down as over-worrying and that they should use it as an excuse to enjoy themselves. worf and jadzia go and have a lovey dovey time, sisko and kasidy go and have a lovey dovey time watching worf and jadzia get super into the opera together. julian is asked to go in case there’s poison used or first aid needed, and miles is like ‘the last time i went undercover i came home with trauma and someone’s cat so no thanks i hate klingon opera’ and after some increasingly overt passive aggressive implications that julian should take HIM, julian asks garak to go with him. bonus points if for some reason they are wearing the stupid tuxedos from doctor bashir i presume. a lot of loud arguing about the opera which almost gets them kicked out. at the end of the first act, one of the actors DOES try to kill the andorian but jadzia jumps in front of the phaser beam (cue worf being very concerned and annoyed that she could have gotten killed, jadzia being very smug and pleased with herself, her head in his lap, in a pose mirroring an earlier couple in the opera). julian feels like he would have noticed if he hadn’t been distracted by garak, and when it turns out the andorian ambassador has sensitive info about cardassia’s civilian government, julian accuses garak of intentionally trying to distract him to make sure the andorian actually died, which turns into a huge argument (ideally in a very opulent klingon opera house bathroom). during the argument, julian realizes that garak was trying to hint to him that something about the assassination attempt was off; he pieces together aloud that the andorian and the actor must have been in league together, to fake the andorian’s assassination so they could not be tried for profiteering by illegally selling weapons to the cardassian central control during bajoran occupation, which they are currently under investigation for. the other ambassador assasinations were planned by the andorian to cover their tracks. the andorian is arrested, as is the actor. at the ballroom afterparty, sisko and kasidy, in a good mood that everything worked out, agree to join in on traditional klingon dancing. worf and jadzia take a peaceful walk through the gardens and worf recites some really lovely klingon poetry about how sometimes it’s NOT a good day to die if someone loves you, that none of us fucking understand without looking it up. julian and garak talk on the balcony, and julian posits that garak is loyal to cardassia, but which part of it? garak answers, very close and meaningfully looking at julian, ‘like most things... it’s complicated.’

i was about to say ‘fake wedding episode’ but literally LITERALLY that was the shotgun wedding lwaxana/odo ep. i love star trek

KEIKO BOTANIST EPISODE: kira accompanies keiko to bajor to help find a medicinal plant that was thought to be wiped out during the occupation but might still exist in a remote mountain region based on local reports. a nice episode where we learn more about bajor and see how bajorans are coping and healing. over a campfire, kira thanks keiko for accepting her into their family. keiko tells kira that she was really intimidated by her when they first met, and then realized she’s one of the most loving people she knows. just a nice episode, maybe some mild nature survival conflict, but ends on a hopeful note of them finding the plant. miles beams down with the kids to have a picnic with keiko and kira, and kira’s happy to see children playing carelessly on bajor again.

JAKE AND ZIYAL EPISODE: everyone thinks jake and ziyal are dating because they’ve been hanging out. julian’s an idiot and mentions to sisko ‘must be hard, huh’ and sisko’s like ‘WHAT must be hard’ and julian’s like oh my god were we not supposed to talk to him about this. jake and ziyal aren’t dating but as soon as sisko tries to talk to jake about it jake is like ‘i’m not but actually maybe i SHOULD ask her out’ and sisko is like fuck. okay no that’s fine. this is more of a B-plot but basically give jake and ziyal age-appropriate love interests they’re both RIGHT there

#i'm really about to write fake screenplays for episodes for a tv show that ended 20 years ago #star trek blogging #THIS GOT OUT OF HAND.

[yellowfoot-06]

Why you should read Cucumber Quest

      So it is currently 2 am in the morning and I decided to write an essay. I may put this in draft form and continue if I get too tired. This will probably be less me trying to convince you to read it and more me gushing about Cucumber Quest. This is also just me distracting myself from what is happening with it right now.  There will be no pictures but just me referencing pages of it because I am on the computer so it is hard for me to put in pictures compared to Mobile. More under the cut if you care for this and link if I was somehow able to convince you to read this underrated comic.

https://cucumber.gigidigi.com

Main Details

      This section is just a simple overview of the comic and I will elaborate more in the Character/Story section. The comic is about a little flat planet called Dreamside. The pancake planet is inhabited by bunny people and like, some pigs in one country/kingdom. An alien named Queen Cordelia has taken over the Donut kingdom and is trying to collect the Disaster stones to summon the Nightmare Knight, an ancient evil that used to destroy Dreamside 500,000 years ago (And the Dreamsiders somehow haven’t technologically advance in half a million years using the theming of two characters) Anyways, now it is up to Cucumber and his sister, Almond, along with two other characters to help defeat her and save dreamside! You should probably read Cucumber Quest and come back after reading the prologue and Chapter 0 (Also the beginning of chapter 1 for good measure) because there is some suspense there that is hard to not spoil when talking about the story and characters.

Art Work

        Anyways, here is an entire section about the artwork and designs alone because of how beautiful it is. The artwork is probably all you need to know before reading the comic. Page 804 is probably a good non-spoilery example of the artwork. You can also see the gradual improvement in the artwork if you compare the artwork from prologue to (currently the latest chapter) chapter 5. It makes sense to see the artwork progress because it is 9 years old (since I’m writing this) and it is still going on. In the printed version (which only goes to chapter 3 for now) You might notice that the artist/author, Gigi D.G., Redrew some of the pages. The printed version also has some exclusive stuff in it if you want.                                                                                                                         

        The character designs are another plus. Now they are very visually pleasing because of the colours used for them. They all have nice and soft colour schemes. Most of the characters also all are the same species say for the antagonists and some other characters. This kinda separates the villains from the protagonists (The antagonists also have different speech bubbles and some of them have this thing where the style slightly changes when they come on screen with the protagonists). The setting kinda makes everyone's designs unique yet fitting (There is literally a character that is just a giant black circle and she somehow fits). On the side note of unique character designs, even when the color schemes _and _outfits change on the characters change, you can still see that it is them based on the designs and personalities. Pages 346 and 349 are good examples of this yet slightly spoilery. Other good examples are basically the entirety of chapter 5.

Characters/ Story

       I mashed both the characters and story section into one because the characters are the ones moving the story along and it is kinda hard talking about one without talking about the other. Anyways, let’s talk about the protagonists, Almond, Cucumber, Sir Carrot, and Nautilus. You can also put the antagonists in the protagonists territory because of how well written they are.                           

       Cucumber is a great main protagonist because of his ideals. His character is slightly cliche, you know, the nerd preteen (At least I think he is that age range) has to now save the world and he doesn’t want to do it. Now there is no real “Oh, I don’t think he can do it” in there but he does have an idea of pacifying the antagonists and everyone thinks that is a silly Idea except for Nautilus. Now, Gigi puts a twist on the second part by making him slightly possessive of this idea. So much in fact that he kinda ignores the people around him. He tries to pacify the Nightmare Knight in chapter 3, it was working until Almond comes along and ruins it. Now, the Nightmare Knight scares them with a near-death experience. They talk about it now shook, and Cucumber now sees Almond crying and realizes that she was just trying to protect him. From the outside view, it seems like the antagonists are awful monsters, so it looks like Cucumber is needlessly endangering himself when the better answer would be to stab them all to death. I just love this twist and how he becomes more insensitive to others when trying to sympathetic to the antagonists. The end of chapter 5 is also a good part of Cucumber’s ark when he believes in an assumption and starting less to believe in his own cause.                                      

              Almond also has a great story ark in this comic. In the beginning, she is cocky and believes that saving the world is just gonna be a nice adventure like in the tv shows she watches. She is actually the main reason they are on the adventure, to begin with. Her stubbornness and cockiness starts to dilate the further she is on this adventure and when she sees the real danger that is happening. In chapter 4 this is brought up by Cucumber. She still has some of her beginning ark in her but now it seems like it is a mask that she puts on.        

           The other two protagonists are Princess Nautilus and Sir Carrot. Sir Carrot came into the story before Nautilus so I’ll talk about him first. Sir Carrot is just a simple knight that wanted to help two bakers out. He is not really interesting compared to the others. At the beginning of the story he was scared by everything but you can really see a reason begin to form in chapter 3 and onwards. He has a really interesting dynamic with the Nightmare Knight and with some other characters. The final protagonist in the group, and my personal favorite, is Princess Nautilus! She is probably the funniest and most comedic out of the three. Her comedic shenanigans make me laugh a whole lot. There are only two characters that make me happier when I see them. She hardly changes in the story, the only real changes that happen is that her comedy starts to dwindle as the story progressed. A big part of her ark is a little eel named Liquus. They have such a cute dynamic together that started to dwindle more after chapter 3.                                                                                               

       Now, time for the most interesting characters, the antagonists. The first villains we see are Queen Cordelia and Peridot (pronounced Peridoh). They have a nice and cute familial connection. Cordelia is stubborn and confident. She is a cat from an alien planet that came to conquer Dreamside with the help of the Nightmare Knight. When Cordelia summoned the Nightmare Knight, her confidence starts to break as she sees his power. She seems to be a powerful conqueror with confidence in her actions, so seeing her in fear is a slight surprise as summoning the Nightmare Knight in the first place was her idea. When she interacts with Peridot, she is calm and motherly, another thing that separates her from her average personality. The Nightmare Knight is also very intriguing because he is basically stuck in a place he can’t escape from as both sides are antagonizing him and he has this cycle but it can’t keep going on forever and with fears of what happened before and-                                             

         Great, now that we got all the other characters off the plate (except for the side characters) now we can talk about the best characters (in my opinion) the Disaster Masters! This is where the gushing really begins! They are the most interesting when you think about the logistics of each character and the cycle they have been. I can’t talk about every character since there are 8 and this section is already extremely lengthy. So I am speeding through each of these. Splashmaster: adorable but not really interesting. Ya Boi: great and the first example to show that everything is not completely what it seems. Mutemaster: probably the most forgettable and gets over shined by Ya Boi. Rosemaster: Oh ho ho! This is where the story starts to turn darker and she is a really good character, her chapter might be one of the best. Thebestmaster: Name says it all, he is the best and if you say otherwise I will personally stab you through the screen. Quakemaster: Same as Splashmaster, except replace adorable with menacing. Mistmaster: Terrifying and even more so if you think about what happened to him. Glitchmaster: You know about the circle I talked about earlier? Yeah, that's her. She is a lot more spooky with context.                            

         Woohoo! This is (hopefully) the last paragraph of the section! The side characters are where the comedy mainly lays on. These characters are very wide-ranged. You have characters such as psychopathic 10-year-old, realistic Rabbit, and a bunch of crabs. These characters are normally comedic and a great part of the story. Some characters are more important like Cosmo, the psychopathic 10-year-old. Other characters are just jerks jokes like Cucumber’s father. Even though some aren’t important, all of them are likable/enjoyable.

Final

     Finally! If you read the entirety of this, then uhh, you read it! Here is a link to  a Youtube video that is a lot shorter and more concise than this essay, and the link to the comic again: 

Video: https://youtu.be/4uiO9ZKj2HE

Comic: https://cucumber.gigidigi.com

#Cucumber Quest #Original

[cortexifansquint]

                        matching pairings & annotations under the cut!

                                             Youtube (x) Spotify ( x)

Buffy / Cordelia / Willow

*  Cloud 69 // Lowell

I'm like dynamite / need a cheerleader / let me throw you down / while I look at her / I'm like "Oh my god / I think I need a girlfriend"

*  Crazy // Au Revoir Simone

you knew me, wanna love to lose and to lose again / seems we're either giving up or giving in / but, uh, you girls, you drive me crazy

Willow / Tara

* There’s a Girl // The Ditty Bops

there's a girl that you might know / she's a friend at least I tell you so / but it might surprise you to find / there's something going on behind the door

* Horizon // Luna Blake 

you tower over me / you are sky and I am sea 

* Truthfully // Lisa Loeb

truthfully, I really can't explain / I'm floating, I'm smiling again 

* Room // Palehound 

she comes over / growing like a clover / in my room / in my room

* Sugar in a Pie //  Erin McKeown

love me sweet like a sugar in a pie / kiss me deep with a dreamy little sigh

Faith / Buffy

* Damn, I Wish I Was Your Lover // Sophie B. Hawkins 

that old dog has chained you up, alright / give you everything you need to live inside a twisted cage / sleep beside an empty rage / I had a dream I was your hero

* Hologram // Katie Herzig

I'm gonna let you down / gonna toss you around / gonna make you want everything you haven't found / I'm gonna hold your hand / then ask you to stand / ten feet away

* Buy her Candy

she's a famous / she's the best / I cannot lay / my heart to rest / she is selfish / she is kind / no one can say / she is mine

* Nights with you // MO

I'll take you out tonight / leave it all at home / don't care about your boyfriend waking up alone

* Portions for Foxes// Rilo Kiley

'cause you're just damage control, for a walking corpse like me, like you (S6 Fuffy edition)

* Last 2nd Chance // Vaughan Penn 

this is the last second chance I’ll ever need / this is the last time you’ll hear sorry from me

Buffy / Cordelia-

* More like you // Hazel English

I could waste all of my time / thinking up ways to catch your eye / and I tried but it just didn’t feel right / and besides I'm just trying to get by

* She // Dodie 

and I'll be okay admiring from afar / cause even when she's next to me / we could not be more far apart  (late S1 - mid S2 coffy, either pov)

* Can’t / Naaz 

in my mind / I can be what we choose / but in life / we can't stand in those shoes

* Midway // Bad Bad Hats 

the shadows you were casting nearly swallowed the night /  but god, I could have kissed you (I imagine this as the night Cordelia drops Buffy home in Helpless or sometime in mid-late S3)

* Touch //  Shura 

I wanna touch you but I'm too late / I wanna touch you but there's history / I can't believe that it's been three years / now when I see you, it's so bittersweet  (if either had showed up in L.A or Sunnydale after Buffy was resurrected)

Tara / Buffy

* If I Could // Sophie Zelmani 

If I could help you with /  this part of life you've got to live /  you could load your weight on me

* Our Eyes // Lucy Rose 

I'm alive / I feel it now / I never knew I'll find it on you / out of line we got ourselves / in a look, wait we are not fine / wait, you are not mine 

* Wire // Alessi Ark 

I'm tired of walking this wire / it keeps me awake for heaven sake / I was made for this girl / I feel lonely / my friends don't seem to know me / like i thought they did

Willow / Cordelia

* Upper West Side // King Princess

I can't stop judging every thing you do / but I can't get enough of you

* Then If I’m Weird I Want to Share // Tender Forever

people told me / that you're too sexy / you're too sexy for me / but actually I just don't care / I think it's bullshit everywhere

Buffy / Willow

* Loners // Maddie Ross

one night alone in the bookstacks / summer to make all the kids sad / next fall we're back in the corner / nice girls love kissing the loners

* Ray of Sunshine // Go Sailor 

yellow hair, fiery stare / nothing's right, 'cause she's not here tonight 

* Explosion // Zolita 

it's a mindless love affair / one hot mess of bleach blonde hair / I could kiss her but your lips taste better / you could kiss him but my words are sweeter

* Sweet Moon // Sundarta 

when the world is big and I’m alone / I call you and I am home

Faith / Tara

* Will You Be My Girlfriend // Alanis Morissette 

I guess I fall and you stay intact is that right? I guess you hear me and won't attack me, is that right? guess I reach out and you reach back, is that right?

* Not gonna Get Us // T.at.u 

soon there will be laughter and voices / beyond the clouds over the mountains / we'll run away on roads that are empty / lights from the airfield shining upon you (teenage runaway mehane)

* Love you Anyway // Jil Nisson & Marlene

I know what you've been getting / coz I sure got it too / don't, don't you forget it / the damage they do

* Walk The Line // Halsey

I keep a close watch on this heart of mine / I keep my eyes wide open all the time / I keep the ends out for the tie that binds / because you're mine, I walk the line

Willow / Amy

* Wherever We Are // Human Life

after the day we're chasing the sun / farther away the faster we run / feet on the ground our head in the stars / finding the sound wherever we are

* When We’re High // LP 

let’s swallow the moon and the stars / let’s wallow just right where we are

Amy / Faith

* Whiskey & Black Leather // Sapphic Lasers

some they want a girl next door / but that ain't what I'm looking for / I first saw your lips across the room / red like a blood moon

* Her Lover // Ally & Stevie 

she is like a cat in the dark / and then she is the darkness

* High Enough // K Flay 

don’t try to give me cold water / I don’t wanna sober up / all I see are tomorrows / oh, the stars were made for us

Cordelia / Anya

*  Only a Girl // Gia

soft touch, warm skin / nothing like my ex-man / slowly falling, I don't want my next man

* I Don’t Do Boys // Elektra 

I don't do boys, I just do girls / just do girls with style and class / I don't do boys, I just do girls / just do girls with kissable ass

Fuffy / Radison

* One More // Elliphant 

stay with me tonight / we can count the street lights / stay with me alright let's bring it all back to life (bad girls & smashed shennanigans)

Dark Willow / Anyanka + Darla / Drusilla + Lilah / Cordelia (Jasmine possessed version)

* Glory & Gore // Lorde

delicate in every way but one, / God knows we like archaic kinds of fun / chance is the only game I play with / baby, we let our battles choose us 

“ Your Lips are Red // St. Vincent

this city's red / this city's red from riding us into the ground / this city's black / this city's black from all the ashes in downtown

Willow / Anya

* Wishful Thinking // The Ditty Bops 

when the cold and lonely hours put your heart to the test / maybe I'll be the one that you like best (S7 Rosekins)

* The Happy Song // Kate Miccuci 

'cause isn't it nice to have the friends that you do? / and isn't it nice that the sky is so blue? / and isn't it nice to say "I love you"? (the cheery & matter -of-factly style of this song reminds me of anya)

Faith / Willow

* So-Called Str8 Grrrl // Gina Young

I think you want me / you know you want me / so why do you talk shit about me

* She’s so Lovely // The Butchies 

she's a rocker dressed like a killer / she's got lips like wine not sugar 

* Sum of your parts // Mary Lambert

I didn't know I was a phoenix till I learned how to speak / even with ashes in my mouth I was still born to breath / I wonder are you like me

* All I Want is To Be Your Girl // Holly Miranda

Well there's ghosts in the night and ghosts in my mind / and if we quit changing we'll be left behind / but I won't take another chance of screwing it up / so I stay where I am / but all I want is to be your girl

Buffy / Satsu

* Cliff’s Edge // Hayley Kiyoko

you turn me on / you lead me on / you got me on / a cliff's edge (satsu’s pov)

* One Night // Charlie XCX 

you are somethin’ special / twenty carats, solid gold / what we had was precious / but I had to let you go

Cordelia / Lilah

* Short Skirt, Long Jacket // Larkin Poe

I want a girl with a mind like a diamond / I want a girl who knows what's best I want a girl with shoes that cut / and eyes that burn like cigarettes

Fuffy + Willow / Kennedy

* We Might be Dead by Tomorrow // Soko

give me all your love / ‘cause for all we know / we might be dead by tomorrow

Kendra / Buffy

* Eleventeen // Kimya Dawson

you may feel strange, well, you are an angel / stuck in tight pants stuck at a high school dance / stuck doing people things not knowing you have wings

* Supergirl // Anna Naklab

you can see in her eyes / that no one is her chain / she's my girl / my supergirl

Cordelia / Faith

* Can I Say Baby // GIRLI 

can I say baby? / I don't wanna be soppy / but I like your style / think you're kinda cool / I'm sort of into you

* Rebel Girl // Bikini Kill 

rebel girl rebel girl / I think I want to take you home / I want to try on your clothes

* Flowers and Rope // Princess Nokia

voices in my head, monsters under my bed / I'm alone again, I lost all my friends / wanna play pretend? hope this never ends

Fred / Faith

* Whiskey // Nicole Reynolds

you accept that i talk too much / i accept that you talk too little / but it's fine / i like a good riddle

In the Margins // Ani Difranco

you are a rare bird / the kind i wouldn't even mind / writing in the margins of my books

Willow / Kennedy

* Pretty Girl // Hayley Kiyoko 

I can tell you’re real smart / world class piece of art / I can see you in the dark / all we have to do is start

* Let it Go // Allie Moss 

darlin' you see / the fear in me / and how I'd finally be / if I were willing to let it go

Buffy / Anne

* Annonymous Club //  Courtney Barnett 

let's start an anonymous club / I'll make us name badges with question marks

* Hideaway // IVY 

under stars and satellites / a thousand miles / from where we've been

Willow/Fred + Buffy/Tara

* I Was Made for Sunny Days // The Weepies

I was made for sunny days / and I was made for you

Faith / Kennedy

* Crimson and Clover //  Joan Jett & the Blackhearts 

ah, now I don't hardly know her / but I think I can love her

“ Honey // Kehlani

I like my girls just like I like my honey; sweet / a little selfish

Cordelia / Fred

* Genius // The Murmurs

she's kinda weird / she's kinda freaky / but I don't know / I think she's a genius

* There she goes // Sixpence None the Richer 

there she goes / there she goes again / racing through my brain / and I just can't contain / this feeling that remains

#BTVS #btvsedit #mine #btvsfemslash #click to expand #lmao this has been in my drafts for 2 years #but I kept coming across more music #and trying to find a fit for the really rare pairs #my personal ships are completely obvious as they have nearly a playlist of their own

[avonleaace]

Tragical Romance at a Winter’s Ball

Hello @raspberrycordially !!! I’m your secret santa and I present to you the fake dating shirbert and added Diana moment oneshot of your dreams! I hope you enjoy it and have a wonderful holidays! Unfortunately Tumblr is being weird so here is a version of the post that will hopefully show up in search results!

Summary: Anne is not allowed into a Christmas ball as an unaccompanied female. Good thing Gilbert is there to pretend to be her fiance so she can be allowed in! Cuteness, dancing, fake courting and a whole lot of feelings ensue!

Read on AO3 or under the cut!

Before her, Anne faced a largely unforseen predicament.

It was Christmas Eve, and also the night of Diana’s cousin’s coming out ball in Charlottetown. And Anne was barred from entering.

Marilla had been reluctant to let Anne go to the party alone, but Anne had assured her it would be perfectly proper in these modern times. Jerry had driven the cart to Charlottetown without trouble, and Anne wasn’t yet very late. Snow fell softly on the streets. Muffled laughter and music could be heard from inside the town hall. Anne’s skirts brushed through the fine powder as she climbed the steps.

And Anne congratulated herself on an adventure without misadventure of any kind.

A gruff looking footman stood at the door.

Anne approached with all the poise and elegance of Princess Cordelia.

He did not open the door.

Unfazed, Anne began to work her charms. ‘Excuse me, but as a personal friend of Miss Barry-’

‘No entry.’ The footman looked bored.

‘But I don’t understand-’

‘Unaccompanied females are not permitted. How should I know if you are not some trouble from the street?’

Anne started, outraged. ‘That is absurd! I will have you know I am Anne Shirley-Cuthbert, most trusted friend of the Barry family-’

‘Anne?’

Anne knew who had spoken before she even saw him. Gilbert Blythe had chosen an opportune moment to make an appearance.

When Anne turned to look at him, an expression of concern was etched on his face. Snowflakes dusted his dark curly hair, but the clothes he wore were smart enough for a party.

Gilbert knew enough about Anne to know she was probably in some kind of trouble. Anne never sought out conflict, but she always seemed to find herself in interesting predicaments anyway.

Gilbert supposed he should be thankful for Anne’s knack for trouble, as there were always opportunities to step in and help.

‘Any dragons around here need slaying?’ asked Gilbert. His mouth quirked into something like a smile.

‘Mr Blythe, good evening,’ said Anne with a scheming grin. A plan was quickly forming in her head. She took Gilbert’s arm and pulled him beside her.

Anne ignored the fluttering of her heart behind her ribs.

Gilbert looked as though he might speak-

‘Let me handle this,’ she hissed.

Gilbert nodded once, a gleam in his eyes.

‘My good sir,’ said Anne, addressing the footman once more, ‘As you can see, I am not unaccompanied. So you must grant me entry.’

The footman looked the pair up and down, unconvinced. ‘The two of you are siblings?’

‘No!’ said both of them abruptly.

Anne could feel a blush forming across her cheeks. Surely her and Gilbert didn’t look like a brother and sister?

The footman raised an eyebrow. ‘You are betrothed then? Engaged to be married?’

A awkward beat. Anne’s heart was beating out of her chest. Why couldn’t she get the words out? Then-

‘Yes,’ said Gilbert smoothly, taking Anne’s hand in his own. ‘This is our first event attending as a pair. So as personal friends of the debutante’s family, the Barrys, we would be much obliged if you could grant us entry.’

‘Very well,’ a suspicious edge still in the footman’s voice, ‘You may enter.’

Once safely through the doors, Anne grinned. ‘You are quite an actor.’

-

The ballroom was crowded with people in fine clothes. Guests drank mulled wine and couples danced to the string quartet playing on the stage. Anne felt a little out of place at such a grand event. That was until they paused in front of a full length mirror.

Anne almost didn’t recognise her reflection. At seventeen, she was a little girl no longer. Her hair was pinned up in an elegant style, and Anne wore her very first floor length dress. Marilla had chosen the colour, pale green, to compliment her eyes.

Anne’s vanity had decreased with age, but for the first time she felt like she was something close to beautiful.

Gilbert looked every inch a dashing young prince. His height, dark hair and the expression of his eyes- endearing as a boy- had grown magnetic now he was a young man. Anne could never deny the fact that Gilbert was handsome.

The pair met each other’s eyes in the mirror and suppressed a laugh. There was something delicious about a shared secret.

Gilbert’s eyes gleamed. ‘There is something exhilarating about breaking the rules, isn’t there?’

Anne laughed. ‘I still can’t believe that he actually bought the story that we were betrothed!’

‘I thought you said I was a good actor!’ shot back Gilbert with a grin.

Anne could not keep a smile from her face. She enjoyed spending time with Gilbert, and never found him difficult to converse with. More than that, he always knew exactly how to make her laugh.

But maybe Anne’s smile around Gilbert was also to do with the fact she was on the edge of falling deeply and irreversibly in love with him.

Gilbert’s entire bearing always changed when he was around Anne. Her sense of fun and direct manner always put him at ease. One always knew where one stood with Anne. She never pretended to be someone she wasn’t.

But maybe Gilbert’s change in manner around Anne was also to do with the fact that he was hopelessly and irrevocably in love with her.

‘What a handsome couple!’

A kind-enough looking woman made moves to make conversation. Anne and Gilbert suddenly became acutely aware they were still holding hands. In the moment, neither decided to let go.

‘I saw you both across the ballroom, and I must say you make a striking pair! What with your complexions and hair colour, you are simply complementary to each other.’

Anne had never been paid such an unusual compliment.

‘Thank you?’

‘Tell me at once, how long have you been betrothed?’ The woman leaned in with keen interest.

‘... Not yet a week,’ answered Gilbert. Anne shot him a look of panic and Gilbert shrugged. Somehow it still appeared to be effortless as he faked his way through the conversation.

‘Really? How delightful!’ The woman indeed showed genuine delight. ‘And do tell me, what drew you to this charming young woman in the first place? Surely some due must be paid to her looks. She is very beautiful, is she not?’

Gilbert’s cheeks coloured. Of course he thought Anne to be beautiful- One would have to be blind to deny it. Her coppery hair shone in the candlelight, and freckles dusted her pale skin like cinnamon. Nerves swirled in his stomach. How would Anne react when he revealed his true feelings?

Gilbert took a deep breath.

‘She is the most beautiful girl I have ever met,’ said Gilbert.

Anne stared at him, heart fluttering. There was an honesty in his hazel eyes- she could almost believe that he was telling the truth. A cold feeling pooled in her chest. Gilbert was a good actor.

‘And he is the kindest person I have the pleasure of knowing,’ said Anne, hiding her hurt behind a soft smile.

The woman nodded approvingly. ‘Then I wish you every happiness for your marriage.’

Inside, Anne was in turmoil. Why was it so agonising to hear those words, even when she already knew they weren’t true? Gilbert was her friend, so why did she suddenly wish for more?

You know why, said a small voice in her head.

You’re in love with him.

‘Anne?’

Anne snapped out of her reverie to see a confused Diana emerge from the crowd. She looked between Anne and Gilbert, a small but knowing smile spreading across her face.

‘What have you two gotten yourselves into?’

‘Diana, you look wonderful!’ cried Anne, pulling her into a hug.

With her face in Diana’s hair she relayed the situation at a whisper. ‘Gilbert and I pretended to be betrothed so I could be let into your family party and I’m really sorry!’

‘I figured as much,’ laughed Diana, pulling away.

‘It’s good to see you Diana,’ said Gilbert, smiling warmly.

‘You too,’ said Diana. ‘I am so glad you brought your fiancee along. You make a beautiful couple.’

Gilbert spluttered, finally at a loss for words. The compliment, coming from one of their friends as opposed to a total stranger, was disarming. Anne could feel her face warm.

Diana quirked her head to the side, her smile growing wider. ‘We have to keep your cover you know.’

‘Of course,’ said Gilbert, the first to recover. ‘Of course that’s what you meant.’

Anne was spared having to comment by the swell of music. It seemed as though the guests were preparing for a dance. Couples around Gilbert and Anne began to sway and waltz gently in time with the music.

‘I think I want to go and get some food,’ said Diana, ‘I’d better go.’

‘Good idea, let’s go with her,’ said Anne, dragging Gilbert by the hand.

Anne tried to ignore the sparks of electricity that pricked at her fingertips at his touch.  

‘Not so fast,’ said Diana with a triumphant smirk. ‘A young and in love couple like you two should be dancing.’

‘I have two left feet, I really shouldn’t-’ started Anne.

‘Don’t worry,’ said Gilbert softly. ‘I’ll teach you.’

Anne did not break eye contact with Diana until she disappeared into the crowd. She could have sworn Diana mouthed something like you’ll thank me later before she vanished.

‘Anne? Are you alright? We don’t have to dance if you’re not comfortable-’

‘No. Let’s just enjoy it,’ said Anne, forcing a smile.

She was not looking forward to making a fool of herself in front of all these people and especially Gilbert.

Seemingly reading her mind, Gilbert calmed her. ‘Don’t worry, you aren’t going to make a fool of yourself.’

He scratched the back of his neck. Was Anne imagining it, or did Gilbert look nervous?

The thought was gone as soon as it entered her head. Gilbert straightened, looking every inch the dashing prince of Anne’s stories.

‘First … you take my hand,’ said Gilbert. Anne slowly obliged, feeling the sparks dance across her fingers. His hand was soft and cold.

‘Then … you put your other hand on my shoulder.’

Anne reached and placed a hand on his shoulder. Had Gilbert always been this tall?

‘I take your waist,’ breathed Gilbert.

The feeling of his light touch at the small of her back made Anne feel lightheaded and grounded all at once.

‘Draw you close,’ said Gilbert quietly - more to himself than anything.

Anne’s heart felt as though it was fluttering out of her chest as she felt herself moving even closer to him. It was intoxicating.

‘And then we’re dancing.’

Gilbert felt grounded, alive. This was where he was meant to be, with Anne. He never imagined how slight she would feel in his arms, or how much more beautiful her freckles were when seen from up close.

Anne was lost. She could feel the warmth of Gilbert’s body. It occurred to Anne that she had never been in such close proximity to him before. His dark brown hair looked so soft. Anne wished she could reach out and touch it.

Before realising what she was doing, Anne twisted her fingers through the curls at the back of Gilbert’s neck, playing with his collar. It was soft. Gilbert tensed for a moment, before relaxing into her touch.

‘Maybe dancing isn’t so bad.’

‘And you’re not so bad of a dancer,’ said Gilbert, a soft twinkle in his eye.

Anne smiled at him.

And for a blissful moment, everything was right with the world.

Then Gilbert spoke.

‘Anne, I’m in love with you.’

The words hung lightly in the air, like they could flutter away in a single moment.

Anne stared at him, bewildered. For a moment, she said nothing. She wished this was true. She wished this was all real.

Then Anne felt the tears spring to her eyes. Gilbert was a good actor.

‘I …  I have to go.’

Anne tore herself from Gilbert’s arms and ran.

‘Anne? Wait!’

Anne didn’t hear. She didn’t stop running until she found herself out in the cold air. Why did she have to feel everything so deeply? She wished she could run from her feelings in the way she ran from Gilbert.

This was never supposed to happen. Gilbert wasn’t even supposed to be there.

And I never meant to fall in love with him.

If Anne were less dramatic, she could have laughed at the irony of the situation. All it took to fall in love was pretending to be so.

An unforseen predicament to be sure.

The snow had stopped falling and the air was still. An expanse of white, marred only by Anne’s small footprints.

When her breathing slowed, she began to hear approaching footsteps. A sickly feeling swirled in her stomach.

‘I’m not mad at you, Gilbert.’

‘Anne, It’s me.’

It was not Gilbert, but Diana standing in the snow. The only person Anne could stand to see at this very moment.

‘Gilbert thought you might not want to see him, so he sent me out here.’

Anne flug herself at Diana and hugged her. It was so comforting and warm it almost made Anne burst into tears again.

‘I just wish I didn’t have to feel such things,’ whispered Anne.

‘I thought you wanted a tragical romance?’ asked Diana, a smile in her voice.

Anne laughed, and wiped a tear from her eye. ‘You always know just what to say. Although I wouldn’t call what we have romance. We were just pretending for the party.’

‘Anne, you can say that you were just pretending all you want, but I know that Gilbert cares about you a lot.’

Anne pulled away, looking at Diana doubtfully.

‘I’ve seen it in the way he looks at you,’ said Diana. ‘And I know you care about him too.’

‘I … I guess I do,’ said Anne. ‘It feels nice to say it out loud.’

‘You don’t have to hide your feelings. Gilbert will still respect and care about you regardless if he returns them. You have nothing to lose.’

Anne said nothing, lost in thought. The idea of talking to Gilbert still scared her. The heroines in her stories were never afraid.

‘At least I can apologise to him for acting in such a strange way.’

‘That’s the spirit!’ said Diana. ‘When I left Gilbert, he said he was going to the library.’

-

The corridor was quiet and the sound of the party lessened with every step.

Anne knew she might never truly be ready to share her feelings, but she did owe Gilbert an explanation. It was this thought and this thought only that drove her to the entrance to the library, and to open the door.

A fire was crackling, and Gilbert sat beside it, staring into the flames. A Christmas tree stood on the other side of the fire, decorations adorning the branches. The firelight danced off the walls and in another time Anne might have stopped to look through the books on the numerous shelves.

But Anne had only one thing on her mind.

She approached and Gilbert leapt to his feet. He wore an expression of surprise and concern.

‘Gilbert I-’

‘Anne-’

They stared at each other.

‘You go first,’ said Gilbert.

‘No, you should.’ said Anne.

Gilbert’s face softened. ‘I’m sorry I put you in an uncomfortable position. It won’t happen again.’

Anne smiled sadly. ‘It’s alright. You were only acting. And you don’t have to act in here, so don’t say anything you don’t mean-’

Gilbert paused, the same truth and warmth in his beautiful eyes.

‘Anne, I’m only ever honest with you.’

Anne’s heartbeat quickened. ‘What are you saying?’

‘Please believe me when I say I have loved you since the day we met.’

The moments stretched into longer moments. Anne stared into the fire, wondering what to say. How to react. Anne wished she could have prepared a beautifully crafted and poetic response, worthy of all the stories she wrote.

What came out of her mouth was something quite different.

‘I’m sorry?’ asked Anne.

‘Excuse me?’ asked Gilbert, now ludicrous. ‘What part of “I love you” don’t you understand?’

‘Um- yes. Sorry. I just have trouble with expressing my feelings and- I wish I could write down what I mean to say instead of saying it. This is not at all how this was supposed to go.’ said Anne, as though this explained everything.

Gilbert looked more puzzled than Anne thought possible. She wished she could wipe that stupid expression off his face. Start this whole godforsaken evening again.

And so Anne leaned in and kissed him.

For an agonising moment, Anne felt like she was kissing a statue. Then he melted into her touch and the world melted away.

Anne had many wonderful ideas as to what her first kiss might be like, but the real thing surpassed all of them.

His lips were soft on hers. Warmth spread throughout Anne’s body. Gilbert hooked a gentle arm around her waist and slowly drew her closer to him. Anne had never expected to feel so elated. It amazed her how so many feelings could be shared through a simple kiss.

It was still much too soon, but Gilbert pulled away. He looked lovingly into Anne’s eyes.

‘You’re beautiful.’

‘And I think I’m in love with you. That’s what I was meaning to say.’ said Anne, a blush covering her cheeks.

Gilbert lifted her chin with a gentle finger. ‘That’s what I figured you meant when you kissed me.’

The silence between them was sweet. Anne felt her face warm, but not from embarrassment. Anne knew she could never feel awkward around Gilbert again. She leaned in for a quick kiss, relishing the simple action.

‘I’m sorry I reacted so strongly back when we were dancing. I hate to think what you felt when I ran from you.’

‘I could have chosen to confess how I felt when you weren’t under the impression I was acting,’ laughed Gilbert, ‘So It’s safe to say the blame rests with me.’

Gilbert kissed her again softly, just because he could. This was a happy ending Anne could get behind.

‘Gilbert?’

‘Yes, Anne?’

‘Merry Christmas.’

#annesecretsanta #awae #shirbert #shirbert fanfiction #anne with an e fanfiction

[preserving-ferretbrain]

Nildungsroman

by Dan H

Saturday, 27 September 2008

Dan finally identifies something that has been bugging him.~

I've always had a problem with Modern Fantasy. Not in the sense of "published within the last five years" (although there is also that) but in the sense of "set in the real world, only with magic and shit, which most people don't know about". Possibly that's Urban Fantasy.

This whole thing struck me while I was reading Cassandra Cla(i)re's City of Bones, which funnily enough seems to have a lot of traits in common with a certain other modern fantasy series that the author may or may not have heard of, and which I may or may not have said a few things about in the past, so these comments are slightly biased towards those two august tales, but I'll also be talking about other elements of the Geek Canon, including Buffy, Tolkein and Star Wars.

As ever, contains spoilers.

The Hero's Journey: Ur Doin It Rong

For what it's worth, I'm not actually a big fan of Joseph Campbell. I think the observation that lots of different myths have lots of things in common rates somewhere between "dog bites man" and "Bishop of Rome Espouses Nicene Creed" on the duh-o-meter. On the other hand, the Hero With A Thousand Faces One Of Which Is Luke Skywalker does nicely identify a basic structure which can, at the very least, make sure that a mythically-slanted story doesn't suck donkey balls.

Very broadly, the Hero's Journey has three stages: the departure, the initiation, and the return. The hero starts out as Joe Ordinary (or possibly as Joe Destiny), then goes off into the Crazy World of Magic Shit, then comes back a better and more complete man. Along the way he has to get eaten by a whale and meet a goddess, but that's basically the deal (any inaccuracies can be attributed to my not actually having read The Hero With A Thousand Faces and thus getting most of my information from Wikipedia).

Star Wars, as you probably already know, was based very, very, very (very, very, very) closely on the classic Campbellian journey (right down to including the trash compactor scene pretty much entirely to tick the "hero goes underground and bad shit happens" box). Early season Buffy actually holds fairly closely to the model as well, both in terms of its overall arc (at least in seasons 1-5) and the structure of individual episodes. An episode of Buffy usually opens with our heroine facing a Typical Teenage Problem, then getting drawn into a supernatural event which allowed her, at the end, to resolve her Real Life problem as well as lay the smackdown on some vampires. As I've argued before on Ferretbrain, I think Buffy lost its way around the point it stopped bringing everything back to the real world.

And that, in a roundabout way, is what I think is wrong with Modern Fantasy. If you blinked you might have missed it, so I'll say it again more explicitly. A lot of Modern Fantasy seems to be at least loosely based on the Hero's Journey, and while it does the departure and the initiation really well, it seems to write the whole "return" bit off as a waste of time. Modern heroes leave their home and family, descend into the underworld, and bloody well stay there.

Now I admit, part of this is going to be structure. In a TV series about fighting vampires (for example), you'll always get to the point where you can't view "going out to fight some vampires" as anything but routine, and you can only escalate so far before you have to play the "real life is the greatest battle" card or the "fighting the very essence evil itself" card (neither of which worked). On the other hand, part of it seems to be an issue with people actually missing the point of the Hero's Journey. I'm going to talk about both these phenomena, because I like to hear myself talk.

Sunnydalization: Myth Invades Reality

If, like me, you wasted your entire undergraduacy watching Buffy videos, and can quote pretty much the entire seven series end to end, including the "grr-arg" bits with the mutant enemy logo, you'll probably remember the bit in Prophecy Girl where Willow finds two dead bodies in the student lounge in Sunnydale High and, despite having seen at least a corpse a week for the past series, gets totally freaked out. When challenged about it, she says:

"I'm not okay. I knew those guys. I go to that room every day. And when I walked in there, it... it wasn't our world anymore. They made it theirs.

And at that point, Buffy changed subtly but irrevocably. Prior to that scene, Sunnydale was the real world, and the Hellmouth was the place where the monsters were. Every week, Buffy would battle the legions of hell, and every week she would come out and go to class and we would see exactly what she was fighting to protect. We'd see Jonathan and Cordelia and Harmony and the rest, all going on with their totally normal lives, totally unaware that little Miss Summers had been saving their collective assi.

After that moment, though, it all changed. Things got bigger and scarier, and the Demons didn't go back into their box. Buffy may have defeated the Master at the end of Season 1, but she failed to defeat the Hellmouth, and as the seasons progressed the line between the "reality" of Sunnydale and the Underworld of the Hellmouth became more and more blurred. In season three we are told that the mayor "built this town for demons to feed on" and by the end of season seven the two are so inextricably linked that the final closing of the Hellmouth actually destroys the town.

As I said above, I ultimately think this is an inevitable effect in a long running series. The first time a vampire attacks somebody on school grounds it's scary. The twelfth you just start to wonder why the school is still open. The Sunnydale body count became something of a running joke ("if we train hard, keep focus, and don't have so many mysterious deaths, Sunnydale is gonna rule") but while it was funny it also began to undermine the point of the show. What started out as a nice little town threatened by a supernatural enemy became itself a seat of magical corruption. By the end of series seven there is literally nobody normal left in Sunnydale, they've all evacuated because of the effects of the Hellmouth (even the more sympathetic demons get out of town).

What this means is that, by the end of the series, Buffy has literally nothing left worth fighting for, except possibly Joss Whedon's ropey feminist doctrine. The later series of Buffy fall flat because, as Sunnydale itself becomes a place of evil, the Slayer loses all contact with the real world.

Mugglism: The Family Romance

Ultimately, though, I can forgive Buffy for its structural flaws. What I have more trouble with is the peculiar tendency in a lot of Modern/Urban Fantasy to treat the Fantasy World as just flat-out better than reality.

The chronic offender in this case is, of course, the Wizarding World of the Harry Potter series. Harry is rescued from the dull, dreary (and psychotically abusive) Dursleys, the "biggest load of Muggles" Hagrid has ever seen. He is then taken away into the wonderful Wizarding world where everything is fabulous and magical. He then discovers that he is a figure of the utmost importance in said world, and people either treat him with awe or loathing, both of which he finds equally affirming, while the infallibly wise guardian of his new world assures him that he really is all that and a bag of chips. Meanwhile the author informs us in interviews that everything in the Wizarding world is indeed superior to everything in the real world.

Oh, and just to forestall the inevitable "but the Wizarding world is really dangerous" apologia, there are two things to say about that. Firstly, until Rowling writes a scene that actually reminds me of the Holocaust, instead of just vaguely alluding to people making Nazi salutes, real life has Rowling licked when it comes to being dark, man. Secondly, horrors of actual, non-school-based wars aside, "like the real world but nastier" is yet another way of saying "like the real world but better". I'm going to hark right back to my third ever Ferretbrain article here and say that one of the things that really impressed me about Pan's Labyrinth was the fact that the really scary thing in it was not the Faun, or the Labyrinth, or the dude with the eyes in his hands, but the brutal mass-murdering fascist.

Anyway, where was I. Oh yes. The "fantasy is better than reality" style of Urban Fantasy usually winds up being a version of the (Freudian, and therefore almost certainly no longer reputable) idea of the Family Romance. The belief, common in young children, that their parents aren't their real parents, and they're actually something different and special. Of course most of us then grow up and realise that our parents are pretty okay people, and that being a Magical Princess probably wouldn't be that great, and actually there's some pretty radical stuff in the real world which we could be getting on with (like writing for webzines or playing World of Warcraft).

A mythical journey in which the Hero leaves the real world and then never comes back is always going to seem, to me (and therefore to anybody who matters), to be fundamentally juvenile. 

Pan's Labyrinth would have been completely meaningless if Ofelia did not ultimately end up confronting Vidal (albeit hopelessly), and the Lord of the Rings loses a lot of its impact if the Hobbits don't go back to the shire. Harry Potter may save the Wizarding World, but muggles like me have no reason to care about that. Stories like the Potter series work absolutely fine, as long as you're still labouring under the illusions that you're a beautiful unique snowflake, and the only people that matter are you and the few others you're willing to accept as equally special. The moment you - not to put too fine a point on it - grow the fuck up, and realise that everybody else (yes even the teachers at your school, yes even your parents, yes even the kids who are mean to you) are real people with their own lives and ideals, you have to let go of the belief that your secret world is the most important one.

I've not yet finished City of Bones, much less the whole "Mortal Instruments" series, but it's shaping up to go the same way as potter: a long story about somebody totally failing to grow up.

In Conclusion: Why Americans Damned Well Should Be Afraid of Dragons

Roleplayers in the audience will probably know that White Wolf Game Studio used to publish, as part of their risibly-entitled World of Darkness line a game called Changeling the Dreaming. It was a game about, like, the loss of innocence and the death of dreams, man. Players took on the role of Changelings, fairy spirits in human bodies, who were slowly losing their beautiful-unique-snowflakeness under the crushing "Banality" of the modern world.

As games went, it was alright, it fetishised childhood in a slightly iffy way, but otherwise was decent Guns and Wizards Urban Fantasy fare. What bugged me about it, though, was the way it essentially divided everything in the world into "Banal" (soul destroying and imagination crushing) and "Glamorous" (drawing on the power of the Dreaming, the wellspring of human imagination). In particular, what bugged me about it was that it assumed that "imagination" was associated purely with the trappings of medieval fantasy. An artist who paints grim cityscapes and urban decay is Banal, an artist who paints forests full of dancing elves is Glamorous. 

Who Wants to be a Millionaire is Banal wish-fulfillment tapping into people's desire to get something for nothing. The hundred or so fairy stories about farmer's sons who get fantastically rich because of a stroke of good fortune are totally inspiring and bring out the best in humanity.

In her article Why are Americans Afraid of Dragons? Ursula le Guin observes (perhaps correctly) that the Fantasy genre is looked down upon in America, and that this is perhaps indicative of a society too obsessed with industry, productivity and profit, and distrustful of the imagination. Fiction in general, and fantasy in particular, encourages the reader to stop thinking about how they can best make a million bucks before they're forty and start thinking about any one of the million other things they could be doing. As Le Guin puts it:

"Fantasy is true, of course. It isn't factual, but it is true. Children know that. Adults know it too, and that is precisely why many of them are afraid of fantasy. They know that its truth challenges, even threatens, all that is false, all that is phony, unnecessary, and trivial... They are afraid of dragons, because they are afraid of freedom."

Of course the important thing to remember about this particular essay is that Le Guin is using "dragons" and "fantasy" as a shorthand for "fiction in general", and you could the mistrust of Fantasy in the twentieth century with the mistrust of the novel in the nineteenth. A lot of fantasy readers (and, by extension, some fantasy writers) go further. Like Changeling they come to view "elves and dragons and shit" as being synonymous with imagination, and to view imagination as the only virtue required in humanity, instead of as part of a healthy, well rounded personality.

Sensible proponents of Fantasy argue that it is perfectly okay to like dragons and wizards, and that the presence of fantasy elements does not make a story frivolous. Less sensible proponents of fantasy seem to want to argue that it is perfectly okay to like nothing except dragons and wizards, and that fantasy elements make a story more meaningful by their mere inclusion. This is particularly common in fandom and geekdom, where people are massively more inclined to focus on the details of a particular setting (elves, vampires, wizards) than on the actual contents of the narrative (destruction of rural England, coming-of-age in small town America, why suicide is totally heroic).

Obviously, I don't want a return to the nineteenth century, I don't want a world where nobody reads fiction, or where it isn't considered perfectly okay to pick up the odd bit of Laurel K Hamilton if you feel like something light and pulpy, but I am deeply concerned about a Fantasy genre that is coming to view fantasy as an end in itself. That's fine if you're aspiring to nothing more than light holiday reading, but a lot of fantasy (even, or perhaps I should say especially children's fantasy) takes itself very seriously, and it's ludicrous to try to deal with "real" issues in something that's totally divorced from the real world. You can't show us the reality of war in a world where everybody acts like an overgrown five-year-old and people only die when the author is trying to make a point.

Fantasy is not factual, and because it is not factual it must remain true, and the truth is that the real world matters, and that real people are amazing, and a Hero who doesn't return is no hero at all.

Themes: 

J.K. Rowling, Books, TV & Movies, Sci-fi / Fantasy, Whedonverse

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Arthur B

 at 15:31 on 2008-09-27I'm reminded a little, in fact, of Terry Gilliam's 

Tideland

, which kind-of repudiates the fantasy-as-an-end-in-itself stance he took in some of his earlier films: in that one you have plenty of people who use fantasy as a means of escaping from the world around them, with the result that their lives are completely stagnant and horrible, and you've got the protagonist who uses fantasy to endure the world around her whilst still progressing through it, so she comes out the other end more-or-less unscathed and with a potential adoptive mum to boot.

You've glossed over an aspect of the Hero's Journey a little, which is that when the Hero returns to the everyday world he isn't just a fuller and more complete man, he actually enriches the everyday world by the fact that he's gone on this journey in the first place. 

Lord of the Rings

 is an exceptionally good example of this; not only are the Hobbits better people for having gone to fight Sauron, but when they get back they solve the Shire's problems and then (for the most part) become its primary movers and shakers for the next generation. Arguably, part of the problem with the way Buffy developed was that whilst Buffy's own real life problems were often solved by her adventures, she didn't so much enrich the community by her adventures so much as prolong the death throes of the status quo: things gradually get worse, and worse, and worse in Sunnydale until it all goes to shit. Harry Potter's magical studies not only have no beneficial effects for his community in the mundane world, he's actually legally prevented from letting that happen.

I think the problem with Hero's Journey type narratives in fantasy set in the modern day is that "it's the modern day, but with vampires" seems far too close to the real world, if you see what I mean. Back in the day it was sufficient for the hero to walk a long long long way away and people could accept that "oh, OK, way over there is the land of magic and adventure". The problem with the likes of Buffy and Potter is that the land of magic and adventure is 

right on their doorstep

, and this actually makes the return to the real world slightly problematic; because the vampires and werewolves and death eaters are in such close proximity (physically and in terms of always getting in each other's face), you'd expect the hero to be concerned about them all the time. The reason 

Narnia

 does the Hero's Journey so well is precisely because Narnia is a mythic otherworld which it's non-trivial to get to, and I would argue that that's a requirement for any mythic otherworld in a Hero's Journey-based story: if you can get to the Hellmouth by walking down the street then that's not so much a Hero's Journey as a Hero's Morning Jog.

I suspect the answer is to use a different myth for modern-day fantasy. 

Supernatural

 seems to get a lot of mileage (no pun intended) out of the old Lone Ranger/Fugitive "Eternal Wanderer" story (which has the advantage that it's a lot easier to adapt to television, because you can spin it out for as long as you damn well like, whereas the Hero's Journey pretty much demands an end point).

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Andy G

 at 20:52 on 2008-10-05Great article! That really put the finger on something that had been bugging me, except actually I hadn't realised it had been bugging me until I read the article. I was just wondering how you think Star Wars would fit into the pattern of the Hero's return, as you'd given that as an example of one closely written to the pattern, but it doesn't seem as clear-cut an example as the LotR or others where the magical world/magical powers are left behind?

Possibly a stupid question as you have clearly read a lot of stuff ABOUT fantasy (where on earth do you find it? I mean I do like to read fantasy, but I can barely ever find anything interesting written about it - except on Ferretbrain, of course) but have you read On Fairy Stories by Tolkien? It covers a lot of the themes from above, and it's one of my favourite essays with some really well-made points.

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Arthur B

 at 21:15 on 2008-10-05As far as I can tell, the supposed precise mapping of 

Star Wars

 to the Hero's Journey is a bit ropey, and came about mainly because John Campbell was all "Hey, 

Star Wars

 fits the Hero's Journey perfectly" and George Lucas said "Oh... really? I mean, yes. Yes it does."

So working out where all the various bits and pieces fit in is sometimes tricky, but I think the Hero's Return is very much there, although it's pretty much described in a single scene - it's the bit at the end where they're all getting their medals and all the rebel forces cheer them. Having ventured into the depths of the Death Star's chasm and faced the dark lord, Luke emerges victorious and the community (said community being the rebellion) is enriched for it. That's all you really need for the Hero's Return - tenuous, I know, but so's the entire Hero's Journey idea to begin with.

(The end of Return of the Jedi is interesting in this light, actually - the community is having a big party, but Luke isn't really part of it - he's off at the edge, burning his father's body and communing with ghosts, his experiences finally alienating him from his community because he's endured so many things that have no parallel in the common experience of the war - hundreds of people can claim they were involved in the attack on Death Star II, for example, but only Luke actually saw Darth Vader's true face.)

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Dan H

 at 16:29 on 2008-10-06

Possibly a stupid question as you have clearly read a lot of stuff ABOUT fantasy (where on earth do you find it? I mean I do like to read fantasy, but I can barely ever find anything interesting written about it - except on Ferretbrain, of course) but have you read On Fairy Stories by Tolkien? It covers a lot of the themes from above, and it's one of my favourite essays with some really well-made points.

I've not read it actually (I'm far less well read than I pretend to be, I just shout my opinions loudly and hope people assume I've done some research).

As for Star Wars, the "real world" if you want to call it that in the SW saga is (IMO) the Rebellion, the big deal is that while Luke goes off and learns from Jedi Masters and confronts Darth Vader, it's the regular guys in the guns-and-bombs shooting war that he comes back to. Our Esteemed Editor also points out that Luke's return to Han and Leia is a quite literal return to family at the end of the series.

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Sister Magpie

 at 20:38 on 2008-10-30Great article! I've been catching up and had just read your review where you asked why someone would have to add fantasy to New York City to find a sense of wonder--quoting that paragraph that's a beautiful image strangely undermined by the addition of werewolves, fairies, vampires and mermaids. (Central Park, Chinatown, the Hudson River are all far more interesting.)

I've always liked "our world, but with magic" in terms of books starting in our world rather than a totally different secondary world, but I totally agree with this--because as you say, setting something in our world and adding magic doesn't have to mean that our world is the world that sucks or can't hold it's own. A sense of home is always present in LOTR and that makes the Shire stand up as just as wonderful as any magical place.

It reminds me of the book Hatchet that I had to read a couple years ago for a thing I was doing on YA books. I have only ever read that book, but there are several in the series. It's not fantasy, it's about a boy who survives a plane crash and must survive alone in the Canadian wilderness. But in the end he's rescued and there's other books, some of which follow a "what if?" scenario where he never leaves the woods. What struck me about the synopses of the later books was that the main character pretty much wound up going off to live in the forest. He didn't like civilization any more and preferred his solitary life. 

The idea seemed to be that the author enjoyed the more "real" life experience of fighting for your survival, hunting your own food etc. But I thought it made the whole series a failure by not realizing that the point of a Vision Quest is to find out how you can help your community. Deciding to be a hermit--a fine choice in other contexts--is here just selfish and avoiding the responsibilities of being an adult in the community.

It's just important to make the distinction between this really being a flaw in Urban fantasy and it being just something urban fantasists can use it for.

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Dan H

 at 15:25 on 2008-11-17Hiya, sorry it took me so long to reply (this just in, doing NaNo is 

hard

). Thought I'd clarify one particular point:

It's just important to make the distinction between this really being a flaw in Urban fantasy and it being just something urban fantasists can use it for.

Oh absolutely. By "a flaw in Urban Fantasy" I basically meant it in the specific, subjective sense (as in "this is something I consider to be a flaw in the works of urban fantasy which I have personally read") not a fundamental weakness of the genre.

I find it particularly infuriating since so much Urban Fantasy is either targeted at children or "young adults" and if there's one thing that young adults *don't* need to be told, it's that being an adult is for losers.

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Sonia Mitchell

 at 01:52 on 2009-06-25Once again I know this is old, but I hadn't read any Campbell when you wrote this. I'm rehashing now I've read enough of 

Hero With a Thousand Faces

 to comment. Not all of it, I have to add (psychology texts bore me) but a fair amount (I'm also cribbing the exact terms from 

here

 because it's been a few months since I touched the book).

And while I agree with the points you make, Dan, I don't think HWATF backs them up. It's not a check-list of ingredients for a story, but a variety of factors of which some (not all) can be found in a given hero's journey. Refusing to return 

is

 a valid stage of the journey, even if it makes for an unsatisfying narrative. I agree that it marks Harry out as an immature hero, just as I think it does Achilles and the Sandman and the Pevensies (who never intended to return home in TLTW&TW). For most of us there does come that point where we stop thinking Dorothy's mad for wanting to go back to Kansas (we grow the fuck up, as you so rightly say), but nevertheless according to Campbell heroes who don't return are still heroes. 

Suicide 

can

 be 'totally heroic' in the classical model Campbell's following, which isn't using heroes as role models. Working in the chivalric model, which I think maybe you are, naturally it isn't. And Harry Potter seems to strongly invite one to take the chivalric viewpoint, right up to telling us how 'gallant' Harry is for protecting a(n extremely competent) woman with an unforgivable curse. If nothing else, the cosmetic details (suits of armour, portraits of damsels, Arthurian treasures and constant references to Merlin) are knightly not classical, and invite one to take a certain perspective (there might be an article in this, actually...). 

As far as I can tell, the supposed precise mapping of Star Wars to the Hero's Journey is a bit ropey, and came about mainly because John Campbell was all "Hey, Star Wars fits the Hero's Journey perfectly" and George Lucas said "Oh... really? I mean, yes. Yes it does."

Which I'd say is the right way to do things - treating. HWATF as a tool for analysis rather than an instruction manual on how to write fiction. I think consciously ticking off the elements of the hero's journey would make for a rather boring (not to mention contradictory) story, since the natural temptation would be to take them far too literally. I'll take tenuous any day :-)

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http://ruderetum.blogspot.com/

 at 16:20 on 2009-09-10Great article and it immediately reminded me of Guy Gavriel Kay's Fionavar trapesty, which is a bit narnian in its basic plot, has some slight elements of urban fantasy and I thin generally is a surprisingly awesome take on what seems on the surfce to be an awfully cliched fantasy world. Commenting on heroic suicides, I think this one has one brilliantly haunting example and a few others might qualify as well.

But really made me recollec this is the development of Dave, who is kind of an average guy compared to the rest of the cast and doesn't get any cool pwers or even the girl or anything. But in a very awesome ending, without any sense of needless fanfare, you know that he'll return back to the real world and things will be okay.

I won't explain more because I'd hate to spoil it for any one and I guess it would be a bit tedious.

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#Ferretbrain #Harry Potter #J.K. Rowling #Buffy the Vampire Slayer #Ursula K. Le Guin #The Mortal Instruments #Cassandra Clare

[hundredsunny]

yoo can u tell us who your ocs are and their story??

YES I WOULD LOVE THIS SO MUCH THIS IS THE BEST ASK I HAVE EVER RECEIVED !!!! im only gonna talk about like 4 of them bc im v attached to these 4 okokokokokokok here we go this answer bouta be long as hell 

april - ok this girl is my first oc. i made her in the middle of english class in 6th grade and shes been around ever since!!! tbh at this point idk if i want her to still be a straw hat or not but like??? anyways shes a rogue princess. she grew up just fine, but then one day her asshat dad killed her mom bc her mom was an “embarrassment of a ruler” and made their kingdom “look bad” anyways that happened when april was like 11. then once her dad took TOTAL control of the island he locked her tf away so she wouldnt be able to visit the citizens like she used to. so from 11 to 18 she was cooped up in the damn castle. when she was 16 she got her hands on a devil fruit that was locked away in some hidden room in her mother’s library (cliche i know im sorry) so then she ATE IT. THE AURA-AURA FRUIT. a v basic summary of that fruit is that she can manipulate her own aura and shit. imagine lucario from pokemon as a human honestly. idk. so when she ate the fruit she decided to fight her dad but of course she lost horribly and then she had to sit around in even more of a cooped up state for two more years until the STRAW HAT TEAM CAME ALONG ON ACCIDENT BAM SHE WAS ABLE TO LEAVE THE ISLAND BC OF THEM ok ok??? her whole story is complicated i tried to give the best watered down version im sorry. anyways shes v sweet and can be goofy but can be defensive as hell. she knows what she wants and will do anything to get that. yeehaw. shes an average height for a woman, she’s got shoulder-length brown hair and sky blue eyes. if u ever wanna know more bout her hmu

jack - OK MY 2ND OC EVER HE WAS MADE RIGHT AFTER APRIL AND HONESTLY HES MY FUCKING BABY. I LOVE HIM SO MUCH!!!! anyways. he grew up on the same island april did. his dad was like the right hand man to april’s dad so like he had connections and shit. he had a v happy family. a sweet mom celest and a dope dad cain and a wonderful lil sis sho. when aprils mom was still alive, they would always visit the town so jack and april always hung out and went on adventures throughout the town together. when april’s mom died and her dad started locking her up more, they werent able to see each other much anymore. of course, jack being the rebellious son of a gun he was, he would always sneak around and find ways to still hang with her. jack’s 3 years older than her btw. anyways. one day out of NOWHERE jack’s dad just VANISHED from the island and it rly fucked him up. he was 14 when that happened. so then he had to take a step up and watch over his mom and sister. then april’s dad became even more of an asshat and more people started leaving the island, so jack’s mom and sis decided to leave. HOWEVER jack decided to stay so april wouldn’t be completely alone. that happened when he was 16. then he stayed on the down low and visited april as much as possible until he finally decided to leave and make a life for himself and also search for his family. he left when he was 18 and he promised april that shed be set free one day and theyd be able to meet up once again and have more adventures :’) anyways then he went on a search for his dad. turns out his dad left bc he was the leader of the LEAGUE OF ASSASSINS and had to tend to the duties over there. after YEARS jack finally found the LOA but his dad literally left AGAIN 3 months before he got there. that frustrated him. but then he decided to start a life in the league ((bc his dad lowkey taught him a whole lotta shit about that as a child but u kno)) and met CHAZ AND JO…anyways pause on the story. jack’s an uncooked piece of spaghetti. hes v tall and lanky. hes got messy black hair and red eyes. he deserves so much love ok. he needs a hug. covers up his problems with dumb humor. a little shit. v snarky. his weakness is overthinking. v good with daggers. his epithet after he becomes a wanted man is (lame) jack “the slicer” solo ok. hes 23 after the timeskip. yes. i could talk about him forever. pls lemme know if u wanna know more about him AHHHHHHHH ps april and jack are my favorite brotp and i wish someone was the jack to my april 

chaz - oh charles. dont call him charles he’ll kill a bitch. idk what it is about me and having my oc’s be of higher class but like chaz came from a family of nobles and Fucking Hated It (big shocker huh) so long story short he RAN away and started a life as a pirate but he was betrayed Too Many Times and ended up hating pirates. nerd. anyways. one day he ran into this guy named cain. jack’s dad. cain was like “yo u got somewhere to stay?” and chaz was like “lol no”. so then cain took chaz in and introduced him to the LEAGUE OF ASSASSINS and basically trained chaz for years and then VANISHED. chaz was SO FUCKING HURT!!!! but cain left him as the leader of the organization so chaz was also v shook. he got RLY defensive when jack stumbled along. he felt threatened that jack was gonna snatch his leader spot all bc he was cain’s son. tbh chaz was a dick to jack for a good bit of time. cain was the best kind of father figure chaz ever had and he just??? ah chaz also needs a hug. anyways eventually he and jack became nerd bros. they argue all the damn time. think of zoro and sanji but dumber. thats these two. chaz fights with whips (kinky) ((jk)) and hes a fuckin BEAST with them. run. they call him the dawn menace bc he mostly makes his move at that time of day. CHAZ THE DAWN MENACE. ok lame. but yea. hes 26 after the timeskip. hes a nerd. takes things seriously. easily stressed. chaz had a horrible event happen to him in the past so he lost one of his green eyes and (theres a whole other story about that where cain does a Good Thing but im tryna save time and space rn) his weakness is his right side bc he literally cannot see. hes a hothead sometimes. also a redhead. makes sense. hes got some good biceps tbh. strong dude. love him

jo - AYYY JOSEPHINE!!! her story isnt entirely developed tbh. she’s part of the league of assassins. literally the smartest damn person in the entire world. SO SMART. literally shes the reason why the league is still thriving. she knows everything about everyone. ALSO SHES SUCH AN INCREDIBLE SHARPSHOOTER. USOPP WHO? v v v v v good with guns. honestly. shes 25 after the time skip but honestly shes a mom to chaz and jack. always breaking up their dumb arguments. so kind. can be snarky. purple eyes and long blue hair that she wears in low pigtails all the time. she was around when chaz first joined the league so they’ve been good buds for a hot minute. she’s 2nd in command now!!!!! she needs a break so bad. oh my god. works so damn hard. i honestly feel like im forgetting a lot of things about her im sorry im rushing rn but!!!!! honestly jack chaz and jo are my fave dream team. they’re all fucking nerds. i love them. tbh on the sims 4 i made a household with the three of them in it and it was wild. 

codie - lil cordelia. redhead. amber eyes. V STUBBORN. serious as shit. will kill someone. she has a zoan fruit and the model is an albatross so since shes a redhead she just fuckin. turns into a red albatross. they call her the red feather bc 1) literally red and 2) the blood of her enemies sometimes stain her feathers. ooooo spooky. her story is fuckin insane. all im gonna tell u is that she’s just with the whitebeard pirates. 20 after the timeskip. sassiest gal i know. fuckin constantly flamed ace even though ace was the flame guy. bird bros with marco!!! yay!!!!!!!!!!! anyways. thats all i got rn im sorry!!!! thank u for asking and please feel free to ask me more questions if u ever wanna know about some of these kids o mine!!!!! 

#asks #ferisuu

[rosheendubh]

This stream of consciousness inspired by HistoriaBrittanorum’s Battle 8, the Battle of Caer Guinnion/the White Fortress. It could be the Fort of the Legions as well, but York’s Latin-Brythonic Name of Eboracum, actually shares a root with the Latin of Ivory (eburone,or something??...Ivory has a sense of Whitish—maybe York’s Walls, repaired by Constantine, appeared white when viewed from a distance??), along with other speculations of meaning (its British/Welsh form of Efrauc mimics the AngloSaxon ‘Eofor’ which means Boar...not related, I don’t think, unless the Boar was the standard of the VI Legion Victorius, stationed in York, but that might have been a bull actually??).  The boar belonged to one of Britannia’s other legions, I think. Anyway, Nennius writes that it was this Battle in which Arthur bore the Image of the Virgin on his shield/suspended across his shoulder...like a shield. In Welsh ballad tradition, Arthur’s shield is translated as ‘The Face of the Evening’. This was a common epithet given to the Virgin Mary, But was actually a phrase directly acquired from Venus-Aphrodite, as the planet Venus appearing with the Sun and Moon as the Morning Star and Evening Star. Venus, of course, was the Babylonian-Sumerian Ishtar/Inanna. The Queen of Heaven, literally, and...another epithet of the Virgin Mary.  Celestial Brigantia was another appelative for the same goddess, as understood by the Romano-British. A tutelary goddess of what had been the most influential tribe of northern Britain, even after Roman occupation, through the 3rd c AD at least. And dedications to ‘The Virgin’, meaning ‘Virgo/the Constellation’, alluded to her archaic Sumerian origins as the great Creatrix of Life/Death/Learning/Science/Poetry/Music/Agriculture/Law/Civilzation/War/Medicine/Justice/etc...all the aspects embodied historically by Inanna, the Face of the Evening, who becomes Freya-Frigg-Skathi-Nanna-Hella in the Nordic pantheon. Anyway, Arthur, Uthyr in my take, when it’s mentioned by Nennius he bears the Face of the Virgin into battle, ACTUALLY harkens to a pre-Christian concept, molded to Christian tastes, of the Archaic Virgin. IDK if that was Nennius’s intent, or if Geoffrey of Monmouth understood that context when he compiled his epic 300 years later.  Maybe he did. After all, it’s Geoffrey who conceived of Morgan le Fey/of the Faery, as the most learned in medicine, math, and astronomy, of her 9 Muse-like Sisters, who resurrect not just the Muses, but 9 Gallic priestesses who resided upon Sena, off the coast of Brittany, known as the Gallicenae. And, Geoffrey liked his Queens. He had no problem writing powerful women into his epic. After all, it’s from Geoffrey Shakespeare drew his inspiration for Cymbeline and King Lear/Cordelia. Anyway, the motifs of the Arthurian codex, resound from (my own speculation) a much earlier, borrowed concept lying somewhere between Inanna, and Athena’s aegis of the Gorgon (Medusa, being an aspect of Athena actually, and Andromeda as well. The name alone of Andromeda, means, in simplistic breakdown, ‘Ruler of Men’. And the symbolism when she’s chained to the rocks before the Sea-monster, Cetus, mirrors Inanna in the Underworld, having passed the 7 Gates of Hell, stripped of her Status, judged and condemned by her Sister, Ereshkigal, to be hung by chains, and tortured into death for her arrogance in daring to conquer the Land of the Dead). I love how unsentimental these first Sumerian myths were before they became softened by later Greek and Roman classical writers. What Anglo-Norman Medieval authors borrowed in the term Virgin, has nothing to do with purity, or a woman with an intact hymen. Virgins slept with men, or women whenever they wanted. The even had children, with or without a male progenitor. The oldest sense of the word ‘Virgin’ was an heroic woman. A woman complete into herself, who took on the traditional tasks of men, and women, w/o the assistance of a man. Or, like a Shield Maid, ALONGSIDE AND EQUAL with a man. Risking death, torture, rape, loss, or whatever else stood in her way (think Lagertha of Vikings), to triumph in the exact same conditions as their male counterparts. Sometimes with more ruthlessness, or more compassion, but human all the same, and judged by her actions before her gender/sex put a label on those actions.  A Virgin has no bond with a husband, to whom she was subservient. That’s all the word meant. Thus, Guinevere—The Face of the Evening, the Raven Queen, Ruler of Valentia Beyond the Walls, uniting the Picts and the Northern British houses under the Banner of Old Brigantia, to the aide of a southern prince, a son of Tyrants. Uthyr, bastard son of Vortigern, begotten in an act of humiliation upon Ygerna, the wife of Vortimer, Vortigern’s eldest son, dishonoring Vortimer for his rebellion against his father.  In Uther’s veins runs the blood of Irish nobility (Ygerna comes from the tale of Ingren, the daughter of the Leinster King, Crimthann mac Ennais—here, as in Welsh geneolgies—Ingren/Ygerna is the daughter of Amlothi/Hamlet actually, a Danish Sea Raider who sleeps with one of 3 wives of Crimthann— and joins the Irish dynasties of the Deisi and the DalRiada to the British/Picti/Germanic families inhabiting the lands United from the Atlantic to the Irish Sea and North Sea and the Black Sea rim), Roman magistrates, and Waelsung heritage (Sigfrid, Sigmund, and Sinfjatli of Niebelung fame) that have shaped Uthyr as a son of Vortigern, rebelling against his father, and allied with Danish/Swedish/Geatish houses of Northmen, who have their own rivalries against fellow Danes/Swedes/Jutes/Saxons. Geoffrey’s Yder/Idris/Hidernus/Edern/Eurderyn—Eutharios/Eutigern—of the Black Danes, becomes my Uther, allied with Hrothgar/Swerta, an exiled Dane living amongst the Angles of NE Britain (This is based off Hrolf Kraki Saga. The Danish king of Beowulf, Hrothgar/Hroar...Rodger in English , who’s forever a battle-brother of Uther, in later decades. It was said Hrothgar converted to Christianity, and ruled his hall of Heort/sp?? as a Christian King). Uthyr, a quasi-outlaw, exiled bastard residing between Gaul, Scandinavia, and Byzantium in his youth, a mercenary andca Sea Wolf/Sea-Raider finally reuniting with his older brother, the renowned Vortimer/Riothamus/Embreis Wledig, to wrest back their authority to rule from their father, and the Jutish/Saxon houses opposed to the Danes/Geat/Angles. Arthur comes later, as Guinever’s son, either—and both—by Uther and Theoderic the Great. Dynastic imperatives here span the transformation of Western and Northern Europe from Scandinavia to Ostrogothic Italy, and in-between. Guinevere, Uther, and Theoderic, encompass a strategy of this New World of civilizing Romanized Barabarians, amalgamations of Tribal cultures reviving old Roman precepts of rule and law, between Britannia on the Western end of Old Empire, to Ostrogothic Italy, that Theoderic seeks to establish as independent from Constantinople. Lying in their midst, a lion at the heart of Gallia, are the Franks, with Clovis clawing the Merovingian hold to sever Britannia, and Visigothic Spain, from Italy. Willing to ally with Byzantium to do so, in order to distract Theoderic into defending his eastern territories of the Adriatic, Clovis succeeds in driving the last of his Visigoth brethren out of Gaul, and the inception of the Kingdom of the Franks arrives like a tempest. And finds Uther slain with his long-time war-band on the fields of Poitier, in 507, and Arthagenes (a version of a title of Hercules/the Hindu-Hellenic-Persian Verethragna. The name resembles variations of Artogenes/Bear Kin or Bear Prince/Artius/Arthan/and Artogneu...from that hideous inscription, but in my mind, while not ‘King Arthur’, lends enough similarity to said names, I’m comfortable basing his persona, ultimately, off the mythic concept of Arkas/Arcas, the Bear Prince, who circles Polaris, son of the Bear Goddess/Artio-Artemis-Callisto, and the War-Lord/and the Guardian of the stars, Bootes and Draco), his son, or Throderic’s, serving in Theoderic’s forces, in the counter-campaign to win back southern Gaul from Clovis. Incidentally, one of Theoderic’s generals bears the name Ebba, or at times conflated as Eobba (like the Bernician king of the Anglo-Saxon king lists), as well as Ida—the first king of Anglians who defeats ‘Outigern’ (in my take, the son of Arthagenes, by a northern princess, Vivian/Nuvien—Nimue-which is Gaelicized as Bebhionn, and feeds into the renaming of Din Guardi as Bebenburg, after Ida marries the British princess, Beara, according to certain chroniclers of later era. Beara is my Nuvien, a British saint actually, and the name from which Vivian and Nimue derive, and Dutigern, her son, a form of Outecorigas, recorded on Celtic inscription from Dyfed, I think, as a Protector of the Region.) Where Ida accepts Outigern as a son, And so, at Din Guardi/Bamburgh in 547AD, Ida establishes the kingdom of Bernicia. That will, by his grandon’s time, unite under Aella of the Deirans, forming Northumbria. The Star of the North, and its emerging repository of Anglo-Celtic-Roman culture by 600-800AD. This segment involves my revision of Theoderic’s daughter, Amalsuentha (a version of Melisande), actually being rescued from her assassination (she was strangled in a bath, around 534, by her cousin who coveted the throne of the Ostrogoths, which opened up Justinian’s excuse to invade Italy), as more of an comedic abduction by Offa/Yffi of the Deira/East Angles, Ida, and Cethegus, whose my version of the warrior-saint, Cathog/Cathomalos. She becomes my version of Marcia—founder of Mercian law, as Geoffrey attributes Alfred the Great’s codex of law and rule procedure to a Marcia, a great queen of wisdom and courage, who...probably didn’t exist. Anyway, I’ve now expounded to the point of random outline, and the tale which falls between my 2nd Century Artorius Castus Tale (that might go back to 1st Century Cartimandua, Agricola, and Arviragus/Genvissa, as mentioned by Geoffrey), and PreRev Paris with Jefferson and his Scottish lady physician. As an underscore to the Uther/Guinevere tract of Gwen as Queen, and Defender of the North, later Uther’s Wife, and Theoderic’s lover, there’s this scene that comes from the Welsh Mabiniogion, of Culhwch and Olwen. The tale is basically a Welsh version of the Norse myth of Svipdag-Odr, and Menglod. Svips is cursed by his step-mother to only fall in love with a particular woman, who happens to be the daughter of a fearsome giant, and impossible to win. Unless the hero undergoes a series of impossible feats which he overcomes, of course, to finally win his bride, and kill her monster-father. Anyway, there’s this passage Arthur speaks when his cousin, Culhwch arrives at Arthur’s hall, seeking some Band of Bros to help in his quest of Lady Love. Basically, I’m a kow-tow to those ‘rules of hospitality’ we like to romanticize were inherent to tribal societies of Germanic and Teutonic origin, Arthur welcomes his cousin with every promise to provide him with anything he needs on his quest, except [paraphrased from rusty neurons]: “...my sword, my spear, my dagger, my ship, my shield, and...my Wife, Gwenhwyfar.” Every time I come across this line, I think that’s either the coarsest of insults to his wife, and his queen, listed in an intinerary of his weapons. Or, it’s the most oblique of compliments to his wife. As Guinevere is his greatest weapon, even over his other enchanted implements, and won’t be utilized to any other man’s cause than his own. I’d like to add, that would be at her discretion of course. Anyway, it’s this exchange I use between Uther and Theoderic the first time they meet on the eve of Badon 2.0, after Gwen has escaped Frankish forces. And masterminded winning a bunch of heavy cavalry to her cause/Uther’s cause in the civil wars erupting across their island in the late 480s-491/493AD. This coincides with Clovis’s campaign against Soisson and the last Roman count, Syragius’s kingdom, falling to Frankish hands. Somewhere in there, I fanciful-ize Theoderic has come to Northern Gaul in the years of his own campaign to win Italy against Adavacrius (my Erp/Hyrp/Tge AngloSaxon Eadawacer—the son of Gudrun of the Nibelungs-Burgundians, and the widow of Sigfrid of the Walsungs. He’s Odovacer, the Heruli chieftain who deposed the last Roman Emperor, in 476), seeking an alliance with Clovis, a most brilliant and Mschiavellian ruler of Merovingian bent, asking for Clovis’s sister, Audafleda, as his bride (she does eventually marry him—the mother of Amalsuintha). Somewhere in there, we have Gwen being betrayed by her own sister, Cywyllog, whose married to Medrod, Uther’s nephew/cousin, and Gwen trying to reach Uther in Brittany/Aremorica, as he’s fighting for/or against Clovis, depending on when Clovis attempts invading north of Orlean, into the lands of Alani tribesmen, and the British colonizers of Brittany. In an attempt to set the truth before Uther that there’s been a conspiracy weaving lies that she’s tried seducing/promising their lands to Cerdic of the Gewisse/Wessex and his son Cynric, when it’s actually their daughter Gwenog, she’s promised to Cerdic’s son when they’ve come of age, attempting to win an alliance against Medrod/Cywyllog, Medrod’s messengers reach Uther first, and Clovis’s troops intercept Gwen’s small landing party, killing her own guard, and capturing her. Brought before, he disavows her, and rips off her neck-ring, that bore the symbol of Brigantia, and the right of her rule of the North. That Uther truly has no authority to deny her. His action breaks the alliance of Alba from Britannia, and only lends further fuel to Medrod’s attempt at usurpation in Britain. The fracturing of allegiances proves beneficial to Clovis, while he entertains Theoderic’s proposal. Uther, casting off his wife as a traitor, readies to return to Britain, facing the the forces of Medrod, his and allies of varying Irish/Northern British/Teutonic mix (where we see Onale/Aella Bretwalda, and his sons, Cymen-Cissa and Wlencing, arrive enforce, a Nordic king establishing a foothold in Sussex—the tale involving the clash of Swedish-Geatish-Norwegian-Danish-Anglian houses, from the tale of Ohtere and Onela, and the sons of Ohtere, Eanmund and Athislus/Aedgils). Gwen’s leftvin the custody of the Franks, to be disposed of or dealt with after the coming wars. It’s here Theoderic crosses paths with Gwen, his first love from decades before, when they been teens/young adults coming of age in Rome, in the last years leading up to Odovacer’s victory. And Theoderic, never trusting Clovis, devises an entirely different plan than what he’d first come north for, his own war stalled at the Walls of Ravenna, and needing a naval fleet to blockade the harbor that keeps Odovacer afloat, and fending off the final victory of the Ostrogoths. In a borrowing of the legend of St Genevieve of Paris, Clovis sends Gwen on a time wasting errand to Tours, where she’s meant to secure a bread supply fending off famine in Paris, whilst she, of her own design, crosses paths with Clothilde, and arranges a marriage between Christian Frankish princess and the heathen Merovingian conqueror. Theoderic’s 1000 Strong Sarmatian Cavalry who have served him as indentured warriors since his defeat of their city, Singidunum, in 474AD, sweeps in as the entourage returns from Tours to Paris, Theoderic intent on rescuing Gwen back to Itsly, or using her as hostage-ransom to win Uthyr’s naval force of Black Danes. Backstory here is, Gwen and Theo didn’t part well in Rome all those years ago, when he only knew her as some British orphan, and later discovered her heritage as a princess of northern Pictish/Roman British nobility, made an offer of marriage to her at that time just after his father had passed away, leaving Theoderic the heir of the Wandering Kingdom of Ostrogoth Amalungs. He rejection out of loyalty to her father and her people offended him, thinking she spurned him out of pride, thinking herself superior to his barbarian heritage, however Romanized, educated in the court’s of Constantinople. And once more, it’s Gwen who rejects his proposal, but w/o allies in the wilds of Northern Gaul/Frisia, where Theoderic’s forces are camped, she learns of his Cavalry, their decent from the other 2500 Horselords who had been sent into exile by Marcus Aurelius centuries ago. And it’s Gwen, a descendent of those same Sarmatians, the other 5500 Iazyges, sent to Britain by Marcus Aurelius centuries back, on the side of her Pictish mother, whose blood ran back to the Horse Goddess of the Sarmatians when she and her warrior-priestessss first arrived in Britain (see the intriguing grave finds of 2 women buried with weapons and Cavalry armor from Brougham found in 2004–thought to be of Hungarian origin, and dared to mid 3rd c AD), following their men to exile. And it’s Gwen who speaks the old tongue of Saranyu, mounted on a stallion, galloping amongst 1000 Catarphactii, with their Standard aloft in her hand, moving between their ranks, and rallying them in the language of the Iazyges, turning Theoderic’s offer for refuge in exchange for becoming his queen or mistress, and instead, compelling 1000 HorseLords to her cause, tge cause of Britannia, by weight of her lineage, and the promise to no longer “be considered slaves, but citizens” with lands of their own upon British shores if they were, to once more, fight on the Isle of Mists, for her king, and her land (mmm, I always loved that scene of Daenerys suddenly winning the Slave Army of Unsullied...this is my tribute of the Raven Queen to the Dragon Queen. Cliche is as cliche does...but, I’m hoping my version contains some originality). And Theoderic, thinking himself the savior, suddenly becomes the usurped, as his own officers, Vidia, Hjalmar, drawn from the sagas of Thiodrrek, always loyal to him, follow her command to apprehend and restrain him, till she can figure out what to with him.   Which, in her Gwen way, involves an intimate scene, and Theideric’s Promise to fightvat her side, in support of Uther. Which is where we arrive with Theoderic and Uther meeting. A very stoic and grieving Uther, whose son, Llacheu, had been slain, the son of his youth, fathered  years before with the matron/abbess of the monestary-college where he’d been educated outside of Avillion/Gaul. And who’d sought service in Uther’s court when he’d come to adulthood. Uther, who’d taken his dead son to The isle of St Michael’s Mount, in a confrontation with Medrod’s greater numbers, in a battle he’d thought lost initially, until the 11th Hour arrival of his wife, who he’d cast off in a rage of jealousy and intriguing falsehoods. And by the gods’ justice, he’d been punished by the loss of his closest brothers, Cei amongst them, and Medrod, who he’d always loved, turned against them. Gwen, once the enemy was in retreat, beaten once, but hardly defeated, who searched for her husband in a panicked dread, not finding him amongst the fallen, but following the trail of bodies strewn in his wake all the way to the tidal Chanel looking out to St Michels. And the beacon, the pyre burning there, where dead Llacheu lay, with his father mourning him, who wished to die himself. Haunted by the the ghost of his dreams, his wife and Queen, the mother of his son and daughter, guardian of his vision, takes shape out the shadows of a ruined villa’s garden—where flames dance in the night as Llacheu’s body turns to ash and smoke, and the stars witness with icy diamond beauty, the tragedy of men inviting war and sorrow. She wakes in his arms with the dawn, and he knows this was dream. He sees the neckring in place of the one he’d torn from her throat, bearing the insignia of the Wulkknot, 3 interlaced triangles, just above her collarbone, and Uther knows this as the Sign of Wotan. And the Symbol of the Ostrogoth Amalungs. Her lips are soft upon his, her gray eyes, clear as the sun shimmering across the steel waters with the dawn, entreat him. “You’ve lost a son, but where a brother has fallen, and one turned traitor, you may have gained another. Meet him, Eurdeyrn. And you might find a kindred soul there.” Which finds him striding through their camp, arrayed to allow for a makeshift infirmary, where Gwen will serve later, and the commander’s quarters marked by the standards and banners of the companies of his army. The cheers and relief resounding through the throngs as his officers welcome him in a rush of greetings, condolences, assurances of faith, and endurance, these men who’ve bled and wept with him, to victory and loss. And more, the furious cheer that rises through the assembly grounds, at sight of his Queen at his side. North and South, Alba and Britannia United once more. He pauses. The guards align, stepping aside to allow for Uther to face this Ostrogoth lord, followed by his own comitatus/elite officers—some them who’d committed sedition only 3 days ago, at the pledge of this Queen they all believe a goddess in human form, rather Horse Queen reborn. Gwen has never hestitated to take advantage of old symbolisms, equine goddesses or Ravens some of the most powerful divinties many of these nomads or barbarian tribes, recognize, only a generation or two as converts to Christ, separating them from their pagan forefathers. He’s well-formed, this Maering, a Chieftain who styles himself an enlightened philosopher king. Eyes like marine seas meet Uther’s amber gaze, guarded. Aquiline features of boldness and depth define the high brow, the angular cheeks, fine nose nose, and strong jaw. An assembly not unlike Uther’s own, Theoderic’s grandeur smacks of brilliance, and sun, a lion in his prime, his red-gold hair plaited, the fine stubble of his beard, flecked with gray. Theyre of an age, and similar physique, each just on the other side of four decades, Uther’s image, more somber, the Winter King indeed, tresses of oak brown frosted with white, drawn back, long at his neck, his posture straight, muscled body riddled with scars of old wounds, his joints feeling the damp and cold more so than in younger days.  The hard lines of cheek and chin might have been sculpted from harshness through the years, but the lucidity of eyes that carry the cast of autumn leaves struck of rain and setting sun, soul-searching, and somber, so it’s said Uther reads the hearts of men the way migrating birds read the change of season.  And he sees Gwen was right. This man has born the burden of his people for over a decade, aimless, as mercenaries. A client-King to Constantinople, consul, and conqueror, fighting other men’s battles so his nation might survive for another season. Guests at the mercy of ally and enemy, subsisting on fortune’s vagaries. Uther knew that life. And he hears that understanding in Theoderic’s tone, words of greeting, without supplication. Uther responds with the same reserve, the words a ritual of recitation. A host welcoming. A guest received. Men will recount later, over beakers of ale, in a commons awash in song, and roasting meat, lit by torches, and hearth fires blazing near the sorted benches, how they met, the Stag and the Stallion, the Lion of the Amalungs and the Wolf of the Waelsungs. Then, Theoderic nearly shatters his composure. “You lost a son here. I too, have lost a brother.  These battles we fight to carve some kind of future demand sacrifices we could never have foreseen. But in the struggle, we may find blessings of unknown delight as well.” Theoderic’s attention shifts to Gwen. There’s no coveting or lust, as he might have supposed from a lesser man. Yearning shines from the depths of his heart. And worship. Untarnished and without shame. In the presence of her husband, who’d cast her off in a fit of wrath and grieving doubt. Gwen’s silence, her wary glance that moves between the two men, the tension tightening her mouth, belies her anxiety.  She has a tendency to brusqueness when she’s uncomfortable, and clear she’s far from easy with this encounter. She gathers herself, some internal motive rising that bades her salute each man, a crisp nod between them, as she extricates herself from the awkward company. “Medrod’s forces regroup in the North. We have much to do if we’re to drive this momentum to victory. And I have much to catch up on, before we march.” Uther, then Theoderic, neither raise objection, a small bow, an *as your leave*, as they watch her amble off toward the one place which has always been her retreat. Medicine, and the surgery-taking rounds of the wounded before she’ll take on a shift.  Determining clearance for the coming transport, and those who’ll be left at the encampment to recover or die. Their respective guards maintain a distance meant to preserve confidences without seeming to neglect their commanders. A strange quiet flows between them. A calm Uther finds an effective tool. Men are apt to let tongues loosen in silence, to cover their nerves, and spill Revelations they otherwise wouldn’t. Theoderic doesn’t appear unsettled/discomfitted. Shrugging easily, and motioning with a look toward the commanders tent, he’s almost conversational. “I imagine you’d welcome a bath, and a meal first, before we get to the grit of how we proceed from here.” How naturally men seem to look to him, seeking direction or simply a pleasantry. That irks Uther, noting as well it’s his own tent toward which they’re headed. “I saw the pendant at her throat, Amalung.” Theoderic slows, hearing the stiff words, halting with Uthyr, to face him once more.  Curiosity rather than caution shining in his eyes. “Whatever courtesy of treaty you seek in exchange for your service, I will do all in my power to honor. But this will not include the right of my spear, my sword, my dagger, my flagship, my shield, and most of all my wife. You’ll not have my wife hereafter. These sacred insignias conveying kingship, right to rule. Most of all, his wife. A moment only, of consternation, flickers across Theoderic’s features, calm, seeming to weigh responses. Until he breaks into a chuckle, and a commiserating glimmer directed at Uthyr. “Only it was your wife who had me, rather. Not the other way around. — Shout out to G’Schola’, and his Tower Down the Tracks, at these turnings of the year... And to my concept of Guinevere. It’s hard for me not to see her as something of a queen, and warrior. And of Scottish origin. Like Robert Graves (who took a much more arcane synthesis of Welsh bardic poetry), one of my favorite poems is the Battle of the Trees/CathGoddeu... The part where Gwydion, son of the goddess Don(a), raises the trees and flowers, earth, roots, vines, etc to aid in the kingdom of Gywnedd’s battle against the southern Welsh kingdom of Dyfed, I’m convinced, inspired the Battle of the Ents in LotRs (Graves and Tolkien shared a personal and professional relationship of scholar and ‘belles-lettres’... Ents, and the Welsh poem, both harken back to Irish myth, and the 2nd Battle of MaghTuredh. Where Lugh summons his goddess/sisters-sorceresses, to aid the Danaans against the Fomori, and asks what weapons they’ll bring to their fight. And the sisters reply: "And ye, O Be-cuile and O Dianann," said Lugh to his two witches," what power can ye wield in the battle?" "Not hard to tell," said they. "We will enchant the trees and the stones and the sods of the earth, so that they shall become a host under arms against them, and shall rout them in flight with horror and trembling." That, in tandem with the more ancient Babylonian tale of Ishtar’s Descent to the Underworld, carries such resounding power in the primordial concept of goddess and queen, where Ishtar stands before the Gates of Hell, her sister’s domain, and demands entry to pass. “If you do not open the gate for me to come in, I shall smash the door and shatter the bolt, I shall smash the doorpost and overturn the doors, I shall raise up the dead and they shall eat the living: And the dead shall outnumber the living!” Can you see where GrrMartin drew his inspiration for Daenerys, in the 2nd Season, where she promises destruction of her enemies, and those who’ve harmed her friends (“...I’ll lay waste to enemies, and burn cities to the ground!”). Basically, she’s Inanna/Ishtar at the Gates of the Hell. That’s (part) of my concept of Guinevere—the queen who summons the Houses of the North, and unites them under an old Battle Standard of Brigantia (which is the Cross of St Bridgid...that mimics a tetraskele), marching them south to the aid of Uther outside of the Walls of York. And in the Cavalry charge of the northern host, amid a rising thunder/snow storm (I place this battle circa Nov/December...not usual for campaigns, but that’s part of the desperation here...in post-Roman Britain), where men who are frost-bitten, exhausted, famished, at the edge of defeat on both sides—Jute and British—blood-blurred vision, obscured even more by slashing winds and sleet and mud (hopefully the horses don’t spin out), it’s Uther, or Uther’s more literary-inclined brother/cousin Brochmal (my version of Bedivere/Bedwyr) who quotes the old Irish tale, as Gwen’s forces align on a distant bluff across the Vale, and she raises the Sword of Ares (yep, she’s also the one who pulls ‘the Sword from the Stone’...based on her mother having sacrificed herself years before, drawing the sword of the Sarmatians that attracted a lightening strike at the same moment she plunged the blade into an oak, and promptly induced one of those conductive lightening strike scenarios that passes through a bunch of people and explodes the tree/ground/and people around them...thanks Wilderness Medicine workshop!) as the rallying point of the charge. With Gwen’s trio of Ravens circling about her (they are cool birds—they can live like 25-50 years, are as intelligent and social as dogs/horses/mammals/other smart birds...and there’s a rare white raven variant that occurs), symbols of her ambivalent relationship to Wotan and Christ, as well as being classically educated, and thus, agnostic ultimately, to Gwen, her Ravens have always reminiscent of the Morrigan—the triple goddess of Death, Battle Frenzy, and well...sex/life-rebirth. Amid the building of horse, down into the Vales of York, men’s senses to confused by the icy winds and rain, not always sure if they’re even striking at friend or foe anymore, the Horns blasting different signals sounding like Heimdallr’s Gjallhorn of Ragnarok, imagination, and delusion, or delirium form shapes in men’s minds, out of storm cloud, sleet/hale/, and bloodied earth, mucked by entrails, corpses, and excrement of human and beast. British ally, or British foe, clashing spear and sword with shields, they all swear in the charge of the North, do the phantoms manifest, shadows of past legionaries, and Roman auxiliaries, the ghosts of the first Sarmatian horselords, taking shape from earth and most, fleshless memories of gore, long-dead and fallen, whose blood quenched the thirst earth in defense of the Hallowed Isle, summoned once more, unknowingly, by the vision of mere mortals whose vision of a new Britannia rises from the past, and stretched into a tenous future told in tale of the Stars... Okay, Bunnygrrl obscura done for today...

[funkymbtifiction]

Valentine’s Day at Funky MBTI: Favorite Romances

MYSTERYLOVER123:

I have a lot of favorite fictional romances and ships (both canon and non-canon), but we’d be here all day if I tried talking about them all. So I decided to instead look at the combinations of types that showed up most frequently in my list of OTPs/Romances, and check out the results:

Here’s the top 5:

1. INTP & ENFP

Maybe it’s because I’m an INTP and always get along swimmingly with the ENFPs I know. Whatever the reason, I like this particular pairing a lot. I have a large number of ships and canon romances with this pairing I just adore. Probably the best known of this combination is Romeo and Juliet themselves (ENFP boy, INTP girl), but among my other OTPs of this type are Andy and April on Parks and Recreation (I nicknamed them ‘Ludwyer’; don’t know why this portmanteau hasn’t caught on) and Spider-Man/Mary Jane Watson (Comics version, movie and animated versions are other types). 

2. ISFJ/ESTP

Another sort of “opposites attract” pairing. I don’t know anyone of this combo IRL, but fictional pairs of this sort are just wonderful to me. Superman and Lois Lane (Smallville versions are definitely this pairing, others may vary) are probably the best known pairing of these types, archetypal in many ways. And then there’s the OTP I used for the picture, Korra & Asami Sato from The Legend of Korra, who are kind of archetypal for this sort of relationship: Start off assuming things about the other, and discover the hidden depths in each other as time goes on.

3. INFJ/ENTJ

On going through my various OTPs, I sorted by functions as well as types, and out of all of them, the combo of Fe/Ti/Ni/Se (in any one of its four types) and Te/Fi/Ni/Se (also, any one) is the combination of functions I ship the most. Anyway, INFJ & ENTJ: A pairing that spins beautiful dreams from the fabric of imagination into a startling reality. Partners in crime. The types of my ultimate OTP, Daphne Moon & Niles Crane from Frasier (pictured above). Talk about true NJs (the cautious and patient kind, anyway); it takes them seven years to even get around to admitting they like each other! But boy are they charming, every single time. 

4. ISTP/ESFP

I like shipping various combinations of the four Artisan types (SP). They all use Se strongly, which can often=wild decisions and impulsive actions. I’m kind of including all of the various SP character pairings I love in the back of my mind here (The Princess Bride’s ISTP/ISFP, Harry and Ginny ESTP/ISFP) but ISTP/ESFP was the one with the highest number. The pairing pictured above is from the James Bond movie On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, featuring my favorite Bond Girl Tracy diVicenzo (ESFP) and Bond himself (ISTP). This pairing has a sharp appeal for me, similar to the iNTP/ENFP pairing above - Ti dom matched with the type that’s dominant in their auxiliary function. But let’s not get too technical. Let me instead sigh over that film’s deeply tragic ending (we have all the time in the world...)

5. ISFJ/ESTJ

Similar in functions to my #1, but instead pairing two Guardian types. I think of this one as the business partners romance. People who get to know each other in a day-to-day setting, and slowly come to appreciate each other. My favorite pairing in this one is Cangel (Cordelia Chase/Angel), from the Buffy-verse (though mostly on the spinoff, Angel). I guess I’ve mostly featured my more tragic OTPs here; I don’t usually go as much for the tragic love story, I prefer the one with the happy ending, but that’s just the ones I ended up featuring. Again, another sigh, and a muttered “Curse you Joss Whedon and your ability to write brilliant romances and then rip our collective hearts out by ending them tragically!”

OTHER FAVORITE ROMANCES:

Pride and Prejudice

INTJ + ENFP

When Harry Met Sally

ENTJ + INFP

Tell me your top combinations :)

#romance #valentine's day #intp/enfp #isfj/estp #infj/entj #istp/esfp #isfj/estj #infp/entj #intj/enfp