#sources and mostly being speculative in the details

[brother-emperors]

We might imagine that the rebels’ base was now the Romans’ former camp. There they could have lived in tents, a step up from the open air of the mountain. Glaber’s praetorium was now Spartacus’s headquarters, perhaps shared with Crixus. It ought to have been a busy place.

The Spartacus War, Barry Strauss

a quiet moment, just after sunrise. it’s not so much the taste of victory, but the chance to finally breathe.

society6 | twitter | ko-fi | deviantart

#anyway there is never going to be new information on spartacus. to love spartacus is to accept the fact that we know maybe 5 things #about him and those five things are dissected through a roman lense #however this book is very fun to read from a stand point of 'makes my imagination go brrrr' and 'feels like summer' #idk what the point of these tags are. i keep thinking about the review of it saying that it was disappointing for not having more historical #sources and mostly being speculative in the details #like??? what did you EXPECT #once you leave the source book all that's left is to explore and engage and try to figure out how you would paint the image #that one text talking about the active attempt to wipe out spartacus from the collective roman memory #and how roman memory tried to pull the same trick on brutus and cassius. but they endure despite despite despite #bejrhg it's 4am im going to bed now #spartacus #crixus #i'll figure out a separate tag from my roman republic tag in a few hours. timeline wise? it fits. content wise? no. #drawing tag #spartacus tag

[novantinuum]

jen's "Hard-Light Hybrid Steven" headcanon dump

Okay so I'm just making this its own post, because frankly at this point... the original post is so hard to get all the pulp out of due to the headcanons being spread over multiple reblogs and half of it being in the tags.

So here we go. Self indulgent headcanon time. This is how I'm now personally interpreting things within the realm of my own fic work and the post-canon storylines that live in my mind. This is NOT, however, a work of meta- I am by no means suggesting this to be what I see as "canon," only having some fun playing around with ideas I think are cool on a speculative fantasy anatomy level. Take it as you will basically, lol. This is ultimately just for me.

With that stated:

"jen what the fuck do you mean when you say hard-light hybrid Steven, what are you even suggesting"

Essentially I am proposing that Steven becomes progressively more hard-light based in form as he ages. When he was born he was two almost entirely separate halves mashed together- organic and gem- and those two halves slowly but surely merge over the years (hard light replacing organic matter) until one day they are literally inseparable, and Steven is one permanently cohesive being... entirely hewn from hard-light, but with a level of anatomical complexity that still makes him a complete anomaly amongst Gems and humans alike. Instead of the innards of his body being solid light, he is still formed of cells- only now, those cells are entirely hard-light.

His gem is somehow mimicking the form of organic matter with a level of detail that's absolutely unobtainable by shapeshifting or tailored reformation alone. Steven has become the single most complex hard-light system to have ever existed.

Some more specifics on how I imagine this merge working:

Much of the "merging" is natural over time, basically his gem branching out new bits of hard-light circuitry within his body as it integrates within his system.

However, this process is sped up significantly by all the spills and injuries Steven deals with throughout his childhood... because his body's instinctive response to injury is simply to replace damaged cells with hard-light analogues. An almost instantaneous patch job.

Steven's component halves being so distinct early on is a large reason why he takes so long to harness many of his powers.

This is also why Steven's (mostly) organic half is so weakened during the split in Change Your Mind- at that point there's a lot about his anatomy that's been converted to hard-light, so it's basically as if White Diamond yanked the power source out.

(Same idea for why he's so weakened during the movie when his gem's on the fritz... his gem's connection with the rest of his body got partially severed for a time, which. Is not Good for someone who at this point is more hard-light than not hard light.)

At a certain point post-canon, it becomes impossible for Steven's organic and gem halves to be separated. They are so tightly integrated that attempting to remove the gem would only poof him.

Now, here's the thing though...

Steven does not realize that Any of this is taking place until the blunt reality of his strange new anatomical nature is put on display for all to see... when he actually DOES poof.

Here is how (in my own post-canon musings, which I have simplified here because y'all don't live inside all the intensive lore that jangles about my brain) I envision that taking place:

So, Steven would be in his mid to late twenties at this point. He's married to Connie, and they have an infant son.

Recently, there was a fairly severe Gem incident that left Beach City and Little Homeworld pretty damaged. Things are still being mopped up from that.

Steven, Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl head out on a quick mission one day to intercept one of the last few supporters of the Gem who attacked the Crystal Gem's hub of operation, and at first it seems like it's gonna be a straightforward trip.

Then, Steven sees the Gem in question pull a destabilizer wand on Garnet, and- unwilling to watch her to get ripped apart like that again- throws himself in between. He can take it, he thinks. These things never hurt him one bit as a kid

He cannot take it.

He poofs.

His gem unceremoniously falls to the ground, along with the clothes he was wearing and whatever he had in his pockets.

Cue the others going "what the actual FUCK" because based on everything they've ever witnessed and known about him no one had "Steven poofs" on their bingo card.

The insurgent Gem is captured and dealt with, but now... oh, boy. There's literally no playbook for this. Nobody knows what to expect.

Steven's gem is quiet for WEEKS. During that time, the Gems end up consulting the Diamonds on Homeworld to ask for intel on diamond reformation, but none of them are much help- Rose and Steven are the only ones who have actually poofed. Beyond them, this is completely unprecedented.

In a very vague sense, Steven is aware of what must have happened during this time... (even if a part of him wants to deny it, because How???)

He can pick up vague snippets of what's happening just beyond his reach... catching voices and what must be faint sensations of familiar people handling his gem, but beyond that he has no awareness of the passage of time, and he has no means by which to reach out to them mentally.

It takes almost two months for him to finally reform. When he does, his gem quickly shifts through its previous three forms and then just... outright h a n g s for a while on the new one... as if what's trying to "load" up is so complex it's goddamn buffering.

(my brain can only think of This image uyhjfsdbyuhjfg)

No one really knows what to expect but when he finally reforms, he... looks mostly the same? Still rather human in appearance, externally? The only notable difference is that his irises are pink now. (But with no diamond pupil- not unless he's going Full Power Mode.)

Steven also reforms WITH an outfit much like a Gem would.

The second he's back, he runs to embrace Connie (who is sobbing in relief) and asks how long he was out.

And he did NOT anticipate that answer to be two months.

As it turns out, he missed quite a few baby milestones while he was gone, and he feels horrible about it- it's not his fault of course, but he feels so bad that Connie had to go that long without his support, and that there's all those special "firsts" with his son he'll never get to experience.

This whole incident marks Steven's final "retirement" from participating in real combat- he outright tells the Gems to not involve him in any other combat situations unless the whole ass planet is under threat, basically. The potential risks are just not worth it now that he knows how long he'd be out of commission, should he poof once more. He can't put his family through that again.

Now, with all that outlined...

Ways that Steven is Weird now:

He looks rather human- his hair looks like hair and his skin looks like skin- but after he reforms, literally every "cell" of his body is fashioned out of hard-light.

However, if one were to theoretically slice him in half (which I PROMISE I am not going to do, this is only a thought experiment ahahah-), his internal anatomy would glow much like the Gems' do. (See below image for what I mean.) The "human-like" appearance of his skin and hair and other externally visible features does not extend very deep.

He "bleeds" pink now- but it's only surface, and is all just excess hard-light. No real blood.

His body would no longer show up on a radiograph- just the gem.

Many of his anatomical features (not all of them, though) are now vestigial in certain ways-? Like, various functions have overtly been taken over by his gem... he doesn't need to breathe or have any lifeblood beyond light pumping through his system, so his heart and lungs serve no necessary purpose anymore... but all of these organs still "exist" as like an echo of what once was, perfect mimics of their organic form but hewn from hard-light.

That being said, Connie enjoys the reassurance of his heartbeat, so he retains that function while conscious.

(Not to mention, "breathing" is literally just a habit for him by this point.)

HOWEVER, when he sleeps (another thing he technically doesn't Need to do but does anyways) his breathing and heartbeat stops entirely and it kinda spooks Connie out. The literal only evidence she has that he's still kicking during these times is the soft hum of his gemstone.

He does not have a biological NEED for food or water anymore and can fully operate on exposure to light alone, but he still really enjoys eating and drinking anyways. In fact, he's still able to absorb energy from food... so it's basically like he's over-charging his battery or whatever. He also still experiences taste (so still posesses some form of taste receptors) and instinctively feels "hungry" at meal times, so like... the running theory is that he must have hard-light analogues for all these receptors and neurotransmitters and hormones that communicate sensations like hunger in his system even though their function is entirely redundant with his gem powering everything.

Furthermore, his memories and sense of self and everything one might refer to as "the soul" is stored exclusively in his gem now. Which means, if one could manage to analyze his brain like one could with a human brain, there would be entire sections that simply... don't light up the way that others (such as the parts of the brain that govern motor control, as an example) do. This is because all the "data" once stored there has migrated.

He can fully shapeshift now, if he wanted to.

He can also still visually "age"- it's all based on his mental state, same as before.

But despite being hard-light in nature now, he can still interface with organics in fusion because his form is still so organic in shape and function. He's still the bridge between humanity and gemkind. I like to think that... theoretically... a Gem might be able to fuse with an organic too, but the sheer burden of trying to shapeshift and maintain such cellular complexity is what stops this from happening.

Steven, though? His very existence as a hybrid acted as a template by which hard-light could learn to understand organic life. He is still an intensely unique being, even IF he no longer consists of any actual organic matter.

_

I am sure I will probably add something to this later, but for now, those are all my musings.

Anyways, thank you for taking a brief visit to the deepest recesses of my brain, where I am chewing at the drywall and bouncing around the room like a cat who has just devoured the goddamn motherlode of catnip. Good night! !! :DDD

#su #su future #steven universe #jen rambles #or... jen thinks so hard about speculative anatomy that they get the zoomies for three straight days

[astrolavas]

Ok ok, but now is turn for the grimwalker HCs!! Give us the creature👀

!!!!! BET

once a grimwalker is "formed" they simply turn mostly organic, just like how palismen are live animals instead of wood (when activated). so even though the ingredients are still THERE technically, they appear as just like... normal stuff, so grimwalkers are mostly biologically the species that their ortet was, almost indistinguishable (hair is hair, skin is skin, there's blood flow despite there not initially being a heart, the galdorstone is there but it functions very similarly to a heart, etc etc) and yet sometimes the original ingredients' features somehow still "show up" in unique-to-grimwalkers ways. ㅤ

i imagine grimwalkers used to be like a more popular/frequent occurence in ancient demon realm. the process of creating a grimwalker was like a sacred magic ritual, only allowed in special cases (like maybe if a witch lost a child early and wasn't able to have another one, sth of the sort) so it was still very rare even back then and would have to be approved of by most of the community. however, then the tradition died off as ingredients started becoming more scarce, and most of knowledge about it was eventually lost to time. nowadays, grimwalkers are considered to be an extinct species as well as an urban legend/myth by boiling isles habitants, like a "supposedly extinct but there's no certainty if they ever even actually existed" situation (without taking hunter and his possibly-openly-a-grimwalker-in-the-future thing into account just yet). the books we saw hunter read in labyrinth runners have some right information but also lots of misinformation in them, since they're far removed from the direct source, based on only tidbits of actual info, and have been written by witches/demons, with no grimwalkers consulted (obviously); lots of it is speculation, and lots of it is wrong. (i imagine the only actual, entirely truthful info is in those scrolls and books we saw in belos' grimwalker lab, but even that isn't fully complete; and belos wouldn't have wanted to share it with the public anyway, for obvious reasons) additionally, i feel like grimwalkers have a sort of cryptid-like reputation in the boiling isles' pop culture. there are stories made up about them. there are teens making pink-eyed grimwalker ocs on the demon realm equivalent of deviantart and making up things like "grimwalkers can shoot lasers out of their eyes" or "they can raise the dead with their thoughts" LMAO. hunter gets a headache when he discovers all that. ㅤ

grimwalkers are semi-immune to boiling water. the selkidomus scales give them a lot of immunity so boiling water is not actually lethal to them but still, being exposed to boiling rain for a long while or full-on diving into the boiling sea may hurt a bit and prolonged contact with boiling water may leave them with blisters/burns. ㅤ

when grimwalkers' skin is wet for a long time, it gets somewhat scaley ??? scales-resembling texture ?? instead of just being pruney/wrinkled. when dry, their fingertips have a sort of wood-rings-y look. ㅤ

grimwalkers' hair naturally grows incredibly fast, but especially when they spend lots of time in the sun. plant magic may also affect its growth positively. ㅤ

grimwalkers' eyes are reflective and can glow/shine in the dark. ㅤ

when it comes to human-based grimwalkers (the golden guards), sometimes their ears would turn out rounder and human-looking, sometimes they'd look pointier but still not fully witch-like. belos preferred them to be round cuz obviously he preferred "caleb" to be human-looking, but with time he started modifying some grimwalkers' naturally round ears to be pointier just so that they could blend in easier and so they'd believe that they're witches too. he'd "mold" their ears during early creation or sometimes modify/cut them after, like he did his. (hunter's ears are naturally pointy and generally look like a witch's ears but, upon closer inspection, the details of his ears differ from a normal witch's ears juuuust slightly) (ears of the grimwalker that we saw in ftf were fully round because belos was counting on this one to be the golden guard post-day of unity, seemingly brought up as human and in the human realm) ㅤ

just like stonesleepers, grimwalkers often have a slightly sensitive spot behind their ears. ㅤㅤㅤ

palismen can somewhat sense that grimwalkers are also made of palistrom wood so they naturally cling to them more (big win for mr palisman enthusiast/carver hunter owlhouse!) ㅤㅤ

again, when it comes to specifically caleb-based/the golden guard grimwalkers, i can imagine that belos' first attempts were....... FAR from perfect. since i imagine he got all the information from different incomplete ancient scrolls, there were many things he had to come up with and re-discover himself. the very first grimwalkers he made probably didn't even survive for longer than a few minutes/hours. and when they did survive, i feel like the ingredients used were much more distinguishable at first too, not fully transformed into their organic counterparts; like for example some grimwalkers had more selkidomus-like or stonesleeper-like features, or were visibly wooden in some places, etc etc. i feel like belos didn't succeed in making a fully functional, stable and human/witch-looking grimwalker until he met the collector, and then did so thanks to their help. ㅤ

grimwalkers are already "harvestable" at early infancy and that's when you're "supposed" to unbury them, but they can technically emerge at any age (they just have to stay underground and age for the amount of time). i feel like there were also times when belos tried to speed up the process and age his grimwalkers up faster so that they'd be of use to him quicker, but that would also often result in the grimwalkers being unstable; so not really a good idea. (i envision that hunter was probably one of the youngest- if not the youngest- grimwalker belos had ever made, and that's also why he had high hopes for him lasting longer than the others; because he manipulated him since early childhood, starting in his most pivotal developmental years) ㅤ

i like to believe that the reason why flapjack was able to save hunter in thanks to them was because hunter's a grimwalker. if hunter had been a normal witch or a human, i don't think flapjack could do anything to help. (something abt the thing that hunter was ashamed of and hated abt himself ending up being the exact thing that makes saving him possible... you know?) ㅤ

for specifically caleb-based grimwalkers, i imagine that since they're mostly human in biology, they might also have issues with eating some particular demon realm food. not as much as luz of course, since they're not completely human + after years of living in the demon realm and basically eating ONLY demon realm food i can imagine your stomach would get mostly used to it, acclimated and all, but it probably still could result in some problems and discomfort. ㅤ

because of their stonesleeper lungs, grimwalkers are usually pretty still and motionless sleepers. they breathe very slowly when sleeping. ㅤ

you can't make a grimwalker out of a grimwalker. you can try, but the magic simply won't work correctly.

#i'm normal abt grimwalker lore...... GRHRGRRR i feel like i have so many more hcs that i'm forgetting rn #my toh talk #hunter toh #grimwalker #hunter #nicole answers #Anonymous

[peapodbond]

A (Mostly) Accurate Timeline of Tommy Kinard

Referencing Lou’s interview with Tommy’s Backstory, his actual age, the dates in Chimney Begins and Bobby Begins Again (with rough estimates of Hen Begins because those cute fuckers didn’t give me a date title card), and the ways that the characters interact with him.

(Lou's) Date of Birth: November 10, 1984.

1984 - 2001: Tommy was an awkward, overweight kid when he was younger. He flourished in classes such as shop, where he could use his hands and create things and didn't necessarily need to talk to anyone. Then he hit a growth spurt, got taller, and joined the football team. Tommy quickly becomes an all star football guy who stands up for any kids who were like him when he was younger.

Tommy says in 7x04 that he flew helicopters for the army before he was a firefighter.

2001 - 2005: In 2001, Tommy would have been seventeen. September 11th was likely the impetus for joining the army, which he could have done as soon as it was his birthday. Basic training is ten weeks for the army, slightly longer if he was aiming for a specialized group. Army tours of duty are between six and twelve months. He could very easily have gone through basic, done between two and four tours in Afghanistan, and still joined the fire academy so that he has just finished his probationary year when Chimney comes to the 118.

**updated: I've been reliably informed by multiple sources that a pilot would have to spend a minimum of five years with the army, and to that I can only say that the writers must be blamed for their timeline. ;) let us assume that there was a reason (good or bad) that Tommy only served four years and I will not speculate as to which in this post because that crosses over from a timeline to headcanons and I want everyone to be able to use this if they want. (please see this post for slightly more detail on my reasoning)

2006: 22 years old.

Chimney spends between ten and twenty-four weeks at the fire academy, so Chimney comes into the station in 2006/2007, depending on the time of year (c’mon guys give me something it’s LA and you don’t really have weather out there) and the episode covers most of his probationary year. Most likely it is two years from start to finish, as Chimney does spend part of the episode doing things other than starting at the fire academy.

Tommy is probably the probie who came in just before Chimney, and would have just finished his probationary year. There is a scene in the early part of the episode where Gerrard asks when Tommy’s girlfriend is coming by to cook dinner, but there’s also an offhand comment that she’s never been by the house before so who really knows if there was a girlfriend at all.

Sal DeLuca seems to be Tommy’s senior partner, the same way that Eli is Chimney’s senior partner, so they were probably paired up to show him the ropes when he showed up at the firehouse. Tommy definitely takes his cues from Sal, who takes his cues from Gerrard. Tommy is a bit of a bully because of who he is modeling himself after and the culture that he feels he has to assimilate into but he also does look uncomfortable at a lot of the jokes directed towards Chimney, and you catch him throwing a look to check on Chimney at the funeral in the flashback. After Chimney saves his life Tommy does reach out – awkwardly, but he still reaches out, and even asks Eli about him at the end of the episode.

2010: 26 years old. 

Hen has just arrived at the 118. These dates are based on the Twilight movie joke about being Team Jacob and the fact that Taylor Lautner was 18 when Eclipse came out (2010) and most of us agreed during the first two movies that we would not make gross jokes about minors, right guys? Right Sal? Tommy doesn’t react violently to the gay joke which could be proof that he’s comfortable with who he is even if he hasn’t told anyone. If he’d been truly insulted or grossed out by the joke it’s more likely he would have protested rather than blowing a kiss at Sal.

Tommy is splitting his time between Sal and Chimney — we see them sitting together at the dinner table in a similar formation to the way that Hen, Buck and Chim sit together in the current 118 — but still lets himself take cues from the way that Gerrard treats Hen at the beginning of the episode. He is less of a bully than he was in Chimney Begins but still going along with the crowd because he doesn’t want to rock the boat. Saying that the east coast vibes means she was being called a bitch isn’t great, but that entire scene does play into generally accepted stereotypes about the east and west coast in the states and it is perhaps a bad attempt at explaining that to Hen, rather than bullying – but it comes off badly so it doesn’t really matter what the intent was. Chimney looks very disappointed in him for this. (Tommy talks in 7x05 about not being out but knowing that he wasn’t straight when he was in the 118, and we can only assume that showing up to the 118 and meeting Sal and Gerrard in 2005 made it very clear right away that he should toe the line of the rest of the house or find a new job.) The look on his face when Hen does her speech on the fire truck is definitely a realization of who he’s become and it doesn’t appear that he likes who he is.

He is one of the firefighters who is impressed by Hen’s idea about the firehose in the mudslide and he and Sal make a point to come to Hen before she gets called upstairs to see Captain Cook and tell her that she was right about the call and that she is a good firefighter. In the captain’s office Hen is told that a few firefighters made reports – given that in this episode we are mostly focused on Chimney, Tommy, and Sal as her teammates, and they’re the only three that talk to her before this revelation, I believe the storytelling wants us to assume that those three were definitely some of the firefighters who made a report against Gerrard, though we can also safely assume that the entire house reported him.

2014: Bobby is in Minnesota.

Late 2014/early 2015: Bobby moves to LA. Tommy is 30 or 31.

Based on the montages, this episode covers more time than the other two episodes (both between a year and a half to two years long) and ends with Tommy leaving and Buck coming in. Buck is just finishing his probationary year in 2018, so it follows that Bobby Begins Again covers the three years between 2014 and 2017, with most of Buck’s probationary year happening off screen before the pilot.

We are told during the betting scene that pre-Bobby’s arrival there have been two years of captains switching in and out. Gerrard was kicked out pretty early in Hen’s career at the 118 and Captain Cook came in (but was close to retirement) so it tracks that he was their captain between 2010 and 2012 and then left. 

You’ll notice that during the betting scene and a lot of the fire house montages, Hen is no longer the only woman in the house or on their shift — the higher ups were serious about changing the culture in the LAFD and they did in fact put their money where their mouths were.

As of Bobby’s arrival to LA, Tommy is the third part of the Chimney and Hen trio – they get drinks together, they shit talk work (and Sal), they lend each other money, they talk about how scars get you the girls. (Tommy is obviously still not out at work, but he could be dating someone, it's hard to know.) This is the 118 mirror of Hen’s support group with Athena, and they would not be spending time with each other outside of work if they didn’t like each other. At this point Tommy and Chimney have been working together for eight years! Between Chimney and Hen they have worn off most of the asshole edges that Tommy had in the first two flashback episodes. Chimney, Hen and Tommy sit together at family dinner and Hen arranges a cake and a party for Tommy — something that she wouldn’t have done if she didn’t like him at that point — when he gets his transfer to the 217 and starts flying again. (This is also the first instance of Hen getting a cake to celebrate things happening at the 118.)

Tommy has been at the 118 for twelve years. Chimney and Tommy have worked together for eleven years. Hen and Tommy have worked together for seven years. Bobby and Tommy have worked together for three years.

2019: 35 years old

Tommy has been at the 217 for two years and redirects a flight of their water plane to the subdivision when Chimney calls him. Chim says “Hey it’s Howie,” and still has Tommy’s number saved in his phone. We can assume that they are at least in sporadic contact and have been since Tommy left. We’ll call the odds 50/50 on the chance that Tommy has told Chimney (and perhaps Hen) that he is not straight at this point. Everyone says the Chimney can’t keep a secret but both he and Hen know that there is a difference between a secret and outing someone.

Spring 2024: 39 years old

Steals a helicopter for Hen when Chimney calls, flies them to a capsized cruise ship in the middle of a hurricane, makes friends with Eddie and kisses Buck. Gets invited to Chimney and Maddie’s wedding as Buck’s date. (There is a higher than zero chance that he has already been invited by Chimney since they’re friends and he’s just shocked Buck considers that a good third date.)

References:

https://www.goarmy.com/how-to-join/requirements.html

https://www.operationmilitarykids.org/how-long-is-a-tour-of-duty-in-the-military/

https://www.operationmilitarykids.org/heres-how-long-basic-training-is-for-each-military-branch/

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-features/9-1-1-show-tommy-buck-kiss-relationship-lou-ferrigno-jr-1235872688/#

https://firefighternow.com/fire-academy-guide/

https://firefighternow.com/probationary-firefighter/

** https://www.goarmy.com/careers-and-jobs/specialty-careers/aviation.html

** https://benefits.com/veterans-benefits/types-military-discharge/

**updated with some extra references and a little explanation as to why the timeline is off (hint: it's the writer's fault ;) )

#911 #911 abc #tommy kinard #lou ferrigno jr #meta #timeline #kinley #the (mostly) accurate timeline of tommy kinard

[andydrysdalerogers]

Can I Count on Your Love? ~ Chris Evans

Pairings: Chris Evans x F!Reader

Summary: Its been a year since the events of "Can I Count on Your Vote?" and you and Chris have some adult fun. But others decide its time for you two to end and one photo could destroy you both...

Word Count: 6.8k

Song: Adore You by Harry Styles

Warnings: Smut! Angst! Language, jealous, Chris in political mode, P in V, committed relationship, oral (M and F receiving), car sex,

A/N: Happy Valentine's Day everyone. This is a follow up to my other one shot which you can find here.

Dividers by @firefly-graphics

Main Masterlist

Politics is a cat and mouse game.  You are either chasing someone to bring them down or you are on the chopping block.  

Being the youngest senator made you the easy target, someone that the old guard hated for changing the status quo.  

Chris loved how ambitious, tenacious, strong, driven, and beautiful you were. You would both lay for hours in bed, talking about how you both would change the world. Chris had no aspirations to be in office, but you had the ultimate goal in mind: being the first female president.  Germany had done it, Great Britain has female prime ministers, so why couldn’t we do it here? 

It was especially significant as the press and other political analysts were predicting that you could be the one to pull it off.  The ASP chat helped launch your first bill about student debt in Congress, gaining the following of many around the country.  It was touted as the first major move toward a potential historical presidential run.  Chris said that ASP was doing even better because it was now being legitimized by everyone as a great source of verified information. That was his goal, to have a clean source of information for his fellow citizens.  

Speaking of Chris, it's been about a year since you had decided to make it official.  Well as official as it could be seen, it was still a secret to most of the world.  After the ASP Chat on tuition went viral, a lot of speculation was made on whether the two of you were together due to the intense chemistry seen in the interview. But your teams made sure you were never photographed together; rendezvous were made on the low.  Mostly it was you and Chris or your families hanging inside the gates of Chris’s house or your heavily secured apartment in either California or DC.  It was tough but you both made it work.  

Gearing up for the next session of Congress, you were reviewing your schedule with Steve, your assistant, when your receptionist, Ava, came in with a huge bouquet of roses.  There were at least three dozen in different shades of red, white and pink.  You smiled, knowing it was probably from Chris.  Ava sits them down in the corner of your desk.  “There’s a note, ma’am.” 

You plucked the little card with a smile as your team waited patiently.  

I know your secret.  

And a photo floated out of the envelope.  

Your smile froze and slowly morphed into fear.  “Steve, I need the head of my security detail. Now. Ava, I need Chris and Megan as well.”  They scurried from the room as you stared at the little card.  You tried to swallow, get your breathing to calm as you noticed you were beginning to hyperventilate.  The room began to tunnel as you tried to think of how anyone would know.  As the phone began to ring, the room wobbled slightly.  You could hear Ava say it was Chris, who was in town for ASP.  You picked it up. “Chris?” 

“Hey Baby.” When all he heard was a sob, he began to panic.  “Baby? YN? YN! Answer me.”  

“They saw us,” you whispered.  

And the room went black.  

A month prior… 

“Chris, stop!” You squealed as Chris’s hand drifted higher and higher up the skirt of your dress.  You had managed to have a private dinner at little Greek diner in Boston and Chris was driving you back to his house.  Well, he was driving and coping a feel up your dress.  He was horny, seeing you in his favorite little black dress and heels.  He loved that you didn’t wear a lot of makeup either, just that gorgeous red lip that set off your exquisite eyes.  Eyes that he saw the first time on stage in the California sun.  

“Baby, you can’t wear this dress and not expect me to keep my hands to myself,” Chris said as you batted his hands away.  

“You can wait until we get home and then I can let you know what’s underneath this dress,” you said with bite to your lower lip.  

Chris groaned as his cock twitched.  “Fuck me, sweetheart.  I don’t think I can make it.” He saw a darken alley and pulled over.  

“What do you think you are doing?” You looked around to see it was so dark you couldn’t see the trees or the road once Chris shut off the lights. Even your security team wasn’t in sight.  

“I need to feel you, beautiful.  I need to be inside you and I can't wait.”  He leaned over and kissed you hard, taking your breath away, distracting you from the fact he took off your seatbelt.  His hands, his large, gorgeous hands grip your waist and lower to your ass, lifting you and sliding you onto his lap.  You gasp as you feel how hard he is underneath you. He groans at how hot you feel over his erection. “Jesus, baby.”  

“Chris,” you moan as he begins to assault your neck, the brush of his beard rubbing your delicate skin just the right way.  

Chris raised his hands all the way up your skirt, his nimble fingers on his right finding your heat while his left continued upwards to your breast. He dipped his hand inside your panties to find you hot and wet for him. “Oh honey, all for me,” as he swirled your leaking juices around your lips, just brushing your clit and making you jolt.  

“All for you, my love,” you groan as he speeds up his motions, now tweaking your breast, hardening the nub as you begin to grind in his lap.  

“Fuck sweetheart, I need to have you,” he whispers in your ear. He pulls his hand from your heat, listening to you whimper from the loss of his fingers. He quickly undoes his belt and his fly as you continue fondling your own breast. He pulls down his jeans and boxers enough to release his long thick cock and pump a few times before he moves your now soaked panties aside and thrust up into your pussy.  

“Chris!” The stretch was incredible, the pleasure and pain mixing in a way that you had never felt before.  The primal way Chris just rutted up into you was so different but oh so good. He took a hold of your hips to guide you up and down his shaft hard.  

“Just like that baby, ride me hard.  Let me fuck you senseless,” he growled. It was rough, it was fast. It was everything.  The ribbons of pleasure started to ripple in your belly as your core began to grip his cock every time you moved.  He sat up a little bit more, changing the angle and he was there.  Hitting that spot inside that always made you see stars.  

“Baby, I can’t...” 

“Let go Senator,” he whispered in your ear. “Let me feel you.  Soak me, love.” He thrusted up hard as he pulled you down.  

“Chris!”  You scream as you blacked out from the immense pleasure. Your head tilted back as Chris pressed his face into your chest as he chased his own end.  He could barely move with how tight you had gotten with your own orgasm, and it was enough for him to swear loudly as he came inside you.  

It took a minute to come down, Chris kissing your shoulder, neck, forehead until he felt your body start to relax.  “Are you ok?” 

She smiled but flinched when he moved slightly. “I’m ok.  That was intense.”  

Chris frowned, worry overcoming.  “Did you not like...” 

“I loved it, Chris.  I like it rough and dirty sometimes.  Don’t worry baby.  I’m ok.”  You kissed his forehead to smooth out the worry lines on his face.  “Right now, I’m trying to figure out how to get back in my seat without making more of a mess.” You could feel the wetness that is getting ready to seep out.  

That got Chris to chuckle.  “Don’t worry baby.  Once we get home, the gates close and no one is the wiser.”  He kissed you softly this time.  “I love you.”  

“I love you.”  

You got back into your seat as Harry Styles's Adore You started to play as Chris started the car.  He took your hand and held it as he drove. He hummed along until he turned to you and sang... 

Oh, honey (ah)  I'd walk through fire for you  Just let me adore you 

Present... 

“Sweetheart? YN? Can you hear me?” 

It was the sweetest voice you knew.  The voice of the man you loved. It was the only soothing thing your senses could understand.  The rest was painful.  Your head was pounding, your body ached, the blood pounding in your ears.  After a moment, the soothing voice was now followed but gentle touches in your hair.  Finally, your throat felt like it would accept air and allow you to speak.  Your eyes fluttered and a groan escaped your mouth.  

“Baby? Are you with us?” 

The light was harsh in the room.  Your office.  Was your office always so bright? It took a couple of blinks of your eyes before you could focus and see Ava, Steve, Robert (your head of security) and Chris, who held your head in his lap.  “Hi?” 

“Hi. How are you feeling?” 

“Sore, a little confused. What happened?” 

He breathed a sigh of relief. “You fainted while on the phone with me.” He helped you sit up as Ava passed a glass of water.  “Baby, what happened?” 

You looked at the arrangement of roses and began to cry. “Someone sent me those with a note and a photo.” Robert went to the desk and saw everything on the floor.  His eyes widened as he looked back at you.  

“Miss YLN, I don’t...” 

“How did they get that Robert?  You told me we weren’t being followed.  We weren’t even seen.”  

Chris frowned. “Can I see that?” Robert handed the note and photo over.  Chris saw and sucked in his breath.  It was clearly a photo of you and him in the car from that night.  You were still in Chris’s lap as Chris held you by your neck, kissing you. “Holy fuck.”  

“What are we going to do Chris?”  

“I don’t know.”  He ran a hand through his hair.  He pulled out his phone and messaged Megan about an emergency meeting.  “We are going to meet at your house with Robert, Megan and your chief of staff and we are going to figure this out.”  

You nod, because it’s the sensible thing to do.  But your heart felt fear, your head was on the metaphorical chopping block.  

Later that night, both of your teams gathered in your dining room.  

Megan looked at the picture and sighed.  “Can one of you explain what happened?” 

Chris cleared his throat and explained the dinner and pulling over and just having a moment of unadulterated love between himself and you.  “We thought we were alone.  I mean, I didn’t even see her security team.  It was just one moment.”  

Rachel, your chief of staff, was taking notes and scoffed.  “Yeah, well, that one moment has the potential of going viral.  

“Can you even tell it's us?” Chris asked.  

Robert looked at the photo.  “It’s a blurry photo. It has deniability to it unless the photographer has cooperating evidence of who is in the car.  I’m going to sit down with the security team from that night and find out what happened.”  

“And I think that we shouldn’t do anything unless there is an obvious threat,” Rachel said.  I mean right now it’s someone saying they know but it doesn’t mean it’s someone from the other side.  I say we wait it out.  Jumping to action may be worse at this point.”  

“I agree.”  Megan looked at the photo. “Reaction would be bringing a spotlight to you two when it's not needed.”  

You didn’t realize you were trembling until Chris took your hand and rubbed his thumb over your knuckles.  “Baby, what do you think?”  When you didn’t answer, Chris placed his hand on your cheek to get you to focus on him. “YN, sweetheart, it's gonna be ok.  Do you think this is a good plan?” You looked into the ocean blues that comforted you so many times before.  They looked resolute in the decision, and you trusted that.  You nodded but still a single tear slipped.  “Honey, what is it?” 

“I’m scared,” you whispered.   

Chris’s heart dropped.  He didn’t want his girl to be scared, not his brave warrior girl. He sucked in a breath to steady himself before he said, “Don’t be. I’ll be right by your side.  Don’t you worry.” He kissed your forehead before he kissed your lips and kept his forehead against yours, your breaths mixing together as you both tried to keep calm.  

A few weeks later, everything seemed to be back to normal.  There were no more flowers, no other notes.  You and Chris talked every day, just as before.  You were on the phone with the governor of California when Rachel ran into the office.  Flustered would have been the nice word to use.  She looked like she had been tossed by a tornado.  “Sorry governor, I have to be on the floor in a few minutes.  Send my office the proposal and I’ll see what I can do to get this to the committee.  I think you're right; we need to beef up the national parks act, and it should start with Yosemite.  

“Thank you, Senator.  We’ll see you for the Lunar New Year celebrations?” 

“Wouldn’t miss it.  Have a great day!”  You hung up and looked at Rachel.  “What’s going on?” 

“I’m so sorry Senator, it broke.” She handed over her tablet 

“What broke?” You took the tablet and focused on the screen.  And there it was, in full color was the photo.  With an amazing headline: 

DOES THE RISING STAR FRESHMEN SENATOR HAVE A SIDE JOB IN BOSTON? – IS THE HOT SHOT SENATOR FROM CALIFORNIA TRADING FAVORS FOR DONATIONS?  

You blanched as you scroll through the article.  It was still speculation that it was you but that it was clear from the photo that someone was caught in a compromising position inside of a car.  The news site was still looking for more information, but an anonymous source implicated the Senator from California as the woman in the photo.  

You could hear the office phones ringing as the screen blurred in your eyes.  You read the article title over and over, wishing it would change to anything else, anyone else.  Rachel could see you were starting to lose it as she was on the phone with someone.  

“I've got to get out of here,” you whispered.  It was like your body was now on automatic pilot. You stood up, grabbed your coat and bag and headed out the door. Your security team was trying to stop you, but you made it out the front door of your office to a barrage of flashes.  The press was already all over the scandal, shouting questions and taking pictures of what would be a rather stunned face.  Security from your office and the Capitol police surrounded you to allow you to walk to your waiting SUV.  Rachel had been right behind you, shouting no comment as you walked trance-like.  Robert had the door open for you and Rachel before climbing in the front and your usual driver, Edward, took off. 

“Senator? Senator, look at me.” You turned your face slowly towards her. “I am going to get you through this.  I’m trying to reach Chris or Megan to find out if it leaked from their camp.”  

All you could do was nod.  Four years of campaigning and working with other bi-partisan members was going down the drain as your phone kept pinging with more and more news outlets reporting the story.  It was the ultimate nightmare.  

The only solace was the security at your home.  Gate controlled, security had called the police to make sure the road was cleared, and cameras were everywhere. But it provided very little comfort.  All you wanted was Chris, but he was on set at the moment. Rachel was pacing, calling who she could to pull the story as you sat on your couch, leg bouncing, checking your phone every five minutes.  After two hours, a call came to Rachel.  

“Yeah.  Hi Stacy... Yes, we saw it...  No, we haven’t...  What do you mean?... That's not what he promised her... What does Megan... oh... well what is she... ok... I’ll tell her. Thanks.”  Rachel hung up and sat down next to you. “YNN, that was Stacy, Megan’s assistant at her firm.  Umm, she stated that Megan and she talked to Chris, and they aren’t going to be making a statement.  Since no one knew you two were in a relationship, there was no need to drag Chris into it.”  

“What?” You breathed.  “He... he promised to stand by me.”  

“I know sweetie but that’s what they have decided.”  

Your head spun.  You wouldn’t believe that Chris would do this. He didn’t even have the guts to tell you himself. You picked up your phone and sent him a message.  

YN: We just spoke to your management firm and know about your decision.  I thought we loved each other but I guess I was mistaken.  Don’t worry I won’t drag you into this.  Goodbye Chris.  

You went through your contacts and blocked his number. You did the same on your socials and put your phone down. “Rachel, what is the statement we want to put out?”  You put on your game face.  Your heartache and tears could come later.  

The next day, Rachel called a press conference in front of your office.  You chose to be yourself in a sharp black suit with a pink blouse and black heels.  It was your confident outfit, and you would need every ounce of it to make the statement you needed to make.  The makeup artist touched up your face and then it was time.  

“Good morning, let me first address the photo.  Yes, I did engage in some intimate acts with someone in a vehicle.  To protect their privacy, I will not be naming my partner ever.  Second, my security team is launching an investigation into the photo as we know it was not a member of the press who invaded my private moment.”  You took a breath, “I should have had better judgement in where I had my intimate relations at and used better judgement overall.  The blame for this is on me alone.  If my constituents are upset by my actions, I sincerely apologize.  I have strived to be an example to everyone and in this case, I wish I wasn’t.  The man I was with is no longer in my life and I would like to extend my apologies to him for this transgression.  I will be meeting with the chair of the Senate ethics committee for all punishments and/or reprimands that I have earned.  Thank you.  

You walked away from the media circus and back to the seclusion of your office.  As you sat, Rachel came to give you a hug.  Now you can mourn.  And you did just that.  

Chris’s POV 

The person you are trying to reach is not accepting calls at this time.  

Chris looked at his phone, heartbroken.  You had blocked him.  Chris watched the press conference playback with mixed emotions.  He was so proud of you for standing up and accepting responsibility, but he should have been by your side making his own statement.  He looked at the last message he received and called Megan. “What the hell, Megan! Why are we not standing next to her?”  

“Chris you are filming, and I hadn’t even had a chance to talk to you before her team advised us that she was going to make a statement.”  

“Who did they talk to?” 

Megan waited for a beat. “Stacy. Look Chris...” 

“Megan, I want her fired.  I told you she had been inappropriate with me multiple times and now this.  She wanted YN to break up with me because she thought I would go out with her.  I am in love with YN, and she just fucked that up!”  

“I know Chris, I’m sorry. I’ll fix it.”  

“How?  She blocked me, she’s angry.  She...” he took a breath because his body was vibrating with pain, “she took that bullet for me all alone. Her entire career... she did that for me.”  

“Chris, we will fix it okay? Let me handle Stacy.”  

“I want to be there Megan. I want to see her face when I say that I am in love with YN. I need YN back, Megan.”  

“I know.  I’m sorry. I’ll make the arrangements.”   

Chris hung up and looked though the pictures on his phone. His perfect girl. Fuck, he was the one who pulled over, but she was the one taking the hit.  As he slid through the pictures, one floated by.  Her calendar. He sat up straighter and a plan came to his head.  

A couple of days later, Chris was back in Boston and sitting in Megan’s conference room.  Megan was sitting next to him, both in silence as they waited for the last member of their meeting to arrive.  Stacy walked in confidently, a sway in her hips as if she knew Chris would be there and finally ready to declare that he too was also “in feelings” with her. After all, they had softly flirted when he was in the office. They had coffee together. He liked her and this was her moment. She flicked her hair back as she sat across from them.  “You wanted to speak to me.”  

“Yeah, we had a question.  Who gave you the photo of YN in the car?” Megan asked.  

Stacy’s smile faltered slightly.  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”  

“Did you know that all of your emails from your work computer are monitored?  Since that last hack, I had IT put in the monitoring service.”  

At that Stacy’s smile fell. “What?” 

“So, before we send this information to DCPD and congressional security, who gave you the photo?” 

Stacy blanched as she looked from Megan to Chris.  “Mike, one of the senator’s security guards gave it to me.”  

“Interesting.  And why did you give it to gossip mags?” 

“To break YN and Chris up.  She took what I wanted.” Chris scoffed as he stood up and walked to the door.  “Chris please! I’m sorry but I thought we had something!” 

“When?  During the scheduled meetings or when you were helping Megan on the red carpet.  I am in love with YN.  I hope she presses charges for the invasion of privacy.  Megan?” 

“Oh, right.  You’re fired, for cause.  You signed a non-disclosure agreement for our clients and their families which you violated the minute you sent the photo to the magazine.  Security is outside to escort you out.  Your personal belongings will be searched before they are mailed out to you.”  

“No, please...” 

“Have a good day Stacy,” as security walked in, and Chris and Megan walked out and headed to her office.  “I don’t know about you, but I need a drink.”  She headed to her sideboard and poured two glasses of whiskey, handing one to Chris.  “Have you been able to get a hold of YN?” 

Chris shook his head.  “No, she’s blocked me from everything. I got in touch with Rachel, but she said that YN has a ‘no calls allowed’ for me with her team.” Chris took a swallow.  “Said YN has been crying a lot in her office.” 

“Oh Chris,” Megan frowned.  

“This is all my fault Megan. I pulled over and I convinced her.”  

“Chris, this wasn’t your fault.  You are still human.  You are still allowed to have fun.  You both weren’t expecting someone you both trusted to violate your privacy.  You have every right to be angry.  You have every right to be sad that your relationship was broken by jealous people.  But you cannot blame yourself.  We are going to fix this, and we are going to get your girl back. Are you ready to do anything to show her you love her?” 

Chris laughed.  “I would do anything to win her back.” 

Your POV 

It was a few weeks after “picture-gate” and you were getting ready for the Valentine’s Day charity event. An event where you were supposed to make your debut with Chris.  Who is now your ex. “Fuck me,” you mumble to yourself.  You look in the mirror, seeing a woman who kinda looks like you, if she didn’t have red-rimmed eyes, shallow looking cheeks and a sad look on her face.  It had been hell without him.  You never realized how much comfort Chris brought to you. How his strong arms held you close to his chest, his heartbeat your lullaby, his voice a song.  You missed him desperately, but he didn’t want to stand next to you.  It makes you question whether he lied about being with a strong woman.  

You shake yourself and inspect your dress. The theme was love, obviously, so you had chosen a red gown, strapless with a sweetheart neckline.  It was tight in the bodice until it hit your waist and then flowed out in layers of chiffon.  Heels and diamond studs completed the look with soft waves framing your face. You sighed, wishing he had been there to see it, the dress you picked with him in mind. But he would never be there, he wouldn't come back.  He made his choices.  

As you arrived at the gala, sans date, you thought back to the last few weeks.  The person who took the photo was found, Mike, and fired.  Mike had been one of your personal guards since you started.  Apparently, when questioned, he took the photo to create a scandal because he was obsessed with you and wanted Chris out of the way.  Mission accomplished, you guessed, but not in the way he wanted.  Charges were filed, restraining orders in place, a press release later, and the scandal died out.  Some of the old guards still avoided you but the party and your constituents stood by you.  They held support rallies and feminist movements.  You were a woman, yes, but you should have been treated like a man. It warmed your heart a bit in the days post Chris.  

Arriving alone, you walked the press line, dodging questions that wanted to bring back the scandal and headed into the venue.  Your date, who walked in alone as well was waiting.  As patient as ever for Rachel, who is never patient.  Dinner was lovely, the jazz band playing romantic tunes.  You mingled with other donors and attendees, making the most out of the evening.  Finally, the special, surprise guest performer was announced.  

The host of the evening introduced Grammy award winning artist Harry Styles to the stage.  You loved him and sang along.  It was quite the performance, Harry doing all of his hits.  You sway with the music, a glass of champagne keeping you warm.  As Harry ends, Watermelon Sugar, the crowd cheers. 

“How is everyone doing?” Harry asks and the crowd cheers in response. Pushing his hair out of his eyes, Harry takes a breath.  “So, I got a call from a guy who wanted to let a girl know how much she means to her. See he messed up and asked me to help him tell his girl he adores her.  You don’t have to say anything honey, just know he would walk through fire for you and he’s sorry that you had to walk alone.  This song is for her.” 

You weren’t really paying attention; the words were beautiful, but you didn’t want to be a part of someone else’s declaration of love.  As Harry’s Adore You began to play, you felt a tear in your eye.  This was the last thing Chris had sung to you. 

 Walk in your rainbow paradise (paradise)  Strawberry lipstick state of mind (state of mind)  I get so lost inside your eyes  Would you believe it? 

You don't have to say you love me  You don't have to say nothing  You don't have to say you're mine 

Honey (ah)  I'd walk through fire for you  Just let me adore you  Oh, honey (ah)  I'd walk through fire for you  Just let me adore you  Like it's the only thing I'll ever do  Like it's the only thing I'll ever do 

You sway to the music, eyes closed, losing yourself to the music but the crowd starts to part as the spotlight follows a person across the floor.  As the last person parts, a gasp runs through the crowd, and you open your eyes. 

And Chris is there, in a black tux, holding a single red rose.  

You look around to see if he is looking at anyone else but no, it's you.  He walks over and takes the champagne glass from your hand.  “Chris...” 

“Not yet,” he whispers as he pulls you into his arms. He starts to move you across the dance floor.  

You're wonder under summer skies (summer skies)  Brown skin and lemon over ice  Would you believe it? 

You don't have to say you love me  I just wanna tell you somethin'  Lately you've been on my mind 

Honey (ah)  I'd walk through fire for you  Just let me adore you  Oh, honey (ah)  I'd walk through fire for you  Just let me adore you  Like it's the only thing I'll ever do  Like it's the only thing I'll ever do 

“Chris,” you whisper. “What are you doing?” 

“Shh.  Baby, just let me adore you.”  He spins you around and back taking a hold of you again, the only two people on the dance floor.  

I'd walk through fire for you  Just let me adore you  Oh, honey (ah)  I'd walk through fire for you  Just let me adore you  Like it's the only thing I'll ever do  (Ah)  I'd walk through fire for you  Just let me adore you  Oh, honey (ah)  Oh, honey  I'd walk through fire for you  Just let me adore you 

oh, honey  (Oh)  Just let me adore you  Like it's the only thing I'll ever do 

As the song finishes, he pulls you even closer so your foreheads touch as he sings the last of the lyrics to you.  You are trying everything not to sob in front of these people.  As the band slows, Chris pulls back slightly.  “I didn’t stand next to you.  And even though that wasn’t my decision, I still should have made a statement right away. You shouldn’t have done that alone and I am so sorry sweetheart.”  

“I just wanted to protect you, Chris.”  

“And I just wanted to stand behind my woman.”  He swallows, his nerves starting to show a bit. “I had something planned tonight.” He kisses your hand. “We have been together for a while, and it has been the time of my life. I have never been happier. Your dreams are my dreams, and your happiness is mine.  I never want to let go.  Because I adore you, I’d walk through fire for you.”  

He stepped back and knelt to the ground on one knee.  

You’re pretty sure you have stopped breathing at this point.  

“YNN, I love you so much.  And I want to spend the rest of my life with you and all our dreams. Can we take on the world together?” He popped open a little red box holding a stunning princess cut diamond solitaire. “Will you marry me?” 

Your face really doesn’t give anything away.  It is just a single tear that falls. Chris is starting to think this is a bad idea before he sees the smallest nod, before the biggest smile he has ever seen.  It was bigger than when you won your election. “Yes! Yes, Chris yes!”  You fall into his arms just as he’s standing. The crowd cheers as he swings you around.  

After a moment, he sat you down and took out the ring to slide it onto your finger. You look at it before you look back at your fiancé. He cups your face before he kisses you gently.  

And you’re home.  

The rest of the night was a blur.  The only thing that stood out was the call to your parents.  Chris had visited them before flying out to the gala.  He sat with your father and explained everything.  Your dad was satisfied that his little girl was in good hands and gave his blessing.  As you walked out of the venue, the press was relentless in asking about your and Chris’s relationship. Rachel and your security team keep them at bay as Chris keeps his arm around you, your head resting against his chest.  He got you into the car and Robert drove you away. “I’ve missed you,” you whisper. 

“I am so sorry, baby,” Chris pulls so you are seated in his lap, letting you bury your face into his neck. “Mike, he gave the picture to Stacy. She never told us anything about talking to you until it was too late.” He nuzzled into your hair. “I wanted to be here.” He kisses your head.  “I never wanted you to do that alone.”  

“I shouldn’t have... I should have...” 

“Shh, baby, you had no reason to not believe Stacy.  I wish you had waited but I still should have made my own statement.” He sighed as he leaned back on the seat and tightened his grip on you.  “But that’s the past.  You are my future.”  

“I can’t believe you proposed.” You stare down at the diamond on your hand.  “How did you know?” 

“Know what?” 

“Well, is that the ring I wanted or that I would say yes?” 

He chuckled.  “Honey, you don’t think I didn’t noticed when you would ‘airdrop’ hints to my phone when I wasn’t paying attention or when we would see jewelry on vacation?” He picked up your hand and played with the ring.  “You are never flashy or over the top, but you always sparkle.  So, when I went with my sisters and ma shopping, we saw this one and it just said ‘YN.’” 

The tears started to well in your eyes again. He really did know you.  

“Oh honey, don’t cry.” He cupped your face and used his thumbs to wipe away the tears.  

“I’m sorry, just,” you sniff, “it's been so hard without you.  And I, I just can’t believe you got Harry Styles to dedicate a song to me, to us.  The last time I heard it...” you trail off.  

Chris’s face softened. “Was the last time we were together.  I remember.” You pulled up to your townhome, and Chris climbed out, holding out his hand for you. As you walked to the door, he whispered in your ear, “I remember that I owed you a better time as well.”  He opened the door and you gasped. 

Candles, roses, and champagne were waiting for you in your living room.  A gentle fire was on in the fireplace, with pillows and blankets laid out on the floor.  As you took it in, Chris stood behind you, kissing your neck and shoulders.  “I don’t think I told you how beautiful you looked in this dress.” You moan as he trails his fingers over the top of your dress.  He nipped at that spot on your neck as he pulled the zipper down, his thick finger trailing down your spine.  

“Chris,” you whimper as goosebumps bloom on your skin, his wet, open mouth kisses setting every nerve on fire.  

“I want to worship you, my fiancé,” he growled as he let the dress drop, showing him the red lace strapless bra and matching panties and garter belt, you had on. “Fuck me, is this new?” 

“I bought it for you, and I never got the chance to wear it for you,” you replied, blushing.  

“You are perfection, my love.”  He sat in the chair.  “Twirl for me.” Still in your heel clad feet, you stood in front of him, just out of his reach and did a slow spin. He growled at your teasing as he reached for you, and you stepped back. “What do you think you are doing, Mrs. Evans?” 

“Who said anything about changing my name?” You giggled as his gaze darkened a little.  “I’m a little exposed baby.  That jacket and shirt needs to come off.”  

Chris stood but never took his eyes off of you as he discarded his jacket, tie and shirt, leaving him in just his suit, pants and shoes.  “What now, Senator?” 

“Sit,” you ordered, and he followed your direction quickly.  You grabbed a pillow and kneeled in front of him, sliding your hands up his legs.  He shuddered at your touch, leaning his head back as you undid his pants.  You tapped his hip so he could raise them, and you pulled down his pants and boxer briefs so his cock could spring out. You wrapped your hand the best you could around the base and pumped, getting his attention back on you.  You looked him straight in the eye as you licked the tip that had a bead of precome on it.  

“Fuck, YN,” he mumbled as you took the entire head in your mouth, eyes never leaving yours. You worked him, softly at first and then harder, slowing down again, much to Chris’s frustration. As you took him to the back of your throat again, you felt him twitch and suddenly you were on your back on the floor as Chris settled in between your legs. He got your bra off first, then the garter, nipping at your skin the entire time.  

“Baby, I...” You really didn’t know what you were trying to say.  Your brain was overloaded with the sensations on your skin. Chris was everywhere, everywhere, all at once and it caused the pressure to build.  Finally, it was just your panties and heels, but Chris made no move to remove either.  He ran his nose up and down your covered pussy, grazing your clit and getting what he wanted: a wanton moan from your mouth.  

“I love that sound, love.” Chris grasped the sides of your panties and slowly slid them down your legs and over the heels.  “I want these hooked around my ears,” he said.  “But for now,” he spread your legs wide, “they can hold you open.”  He kissed right on your mound and then dove in with his tongue, eating like a man starved.  His hands held your thighs open, not allowing you to find some sort of relief until he could feel you tremble.  “Are you close, gorgeous?” 

“I’m gonna cum, Chris, please!” 

“Cum, YN! Let me drink you in!”  His dirty talk always got to you, and it was enough for you to let go, a silent scream coming from your mouth as the world went dark. Chris didn’t stop, making it last longer.  He finally slowed and began to kiss up your body.  His cock was throbbing, needing to find its own release but he wouldn’t stop until he was buried in you.  Finally, he was on top, brushing a strand of hair away, looking down at his future wife, the future mother of his children. He teased your entrance before slowly pushing in. “Are you still...” 

“Never stopped,” you replied breathlessly, answering his unasked question about birth control. He bottomed out and you both groaned in relief to be reunited again.  He fits perfectly, molded inside of you.  

“God, still tight and warm, like I never left.” Chris pulled out slowly before slamming into you.  You cried out with each thrust, finally getting the relief you missed.  It was slow and torturous but oh, so good.  

“Chris, fuck, harder, please!” 

“Oh baby,” he cooed.  “We have all night.”  He sped up his hips to hit your spot inside over and over, but he felt you tighten, gripping him so hard it was becoming hard to move. “Let go baby.  Give it to me again. God, this pussy was made for me, gripping me, strangling my cock.  Milk me, my fiancé, cum now!” That was it; you cummed hard around him, triggering his own release, “Fuck YES!” 

He finally slowed down but never pulled out.  He rolled you over, so you were laid out on top of him, and he wrapped a blanket around you both.  

“Happy Valentine’s Day Senator.”  

“Happy Valentine’s Day, future husband.”  

The morning headlines were everything Rachel wanted and more.  An election to gear up for and a fairytale wedding for the future President and Hollywood’s leading man.  

WITNESSING A FAIRYTALE: DC’S GOLDEN GIRL AND HOLLYWOOD’S GUY NEXT DOOR CONFIRM RELATIONSHIP WITH A PROPOSAL! 

A/N: I wish this was America’s next royal family of politics. LOL. 

Taglist:

@patzammit @slutforchrisjamalevans @jennmurawski13-writes @firephotogrl74 @texmexdarling @tinkerbelle67

#andy's hea #andy's shenanigans #Chris evans #chris evans smut #chris evans fic #Chris Evans au #asp chris #chris evans story #chris evans fanfiction #Chris Evans x reader #chris evans x you #Chris Evans being a romantic #happy valentine's day #Valentines day chris #adore you

[elevant39]

Ace combat zero and Avalon

So.... I have decided to get into the myth of Arthur (just to get some references in ACZ). And while I am still not that far in I already see some nice connections. So I choose to look more at the AWWNB part, mostly because I feel like it´s sometimes overlooked do to the fact it was kinda rushed (and also because I found them really interesting). But even then there are some things that I think are worth posting here. But (for now) I choose to look at the irony that is the Avalon dam. So the most obvious reason why Avalon was chosen is because it´s the place where Arthur dies/falls into endless sleep (sorry for spoilers bro). But that is not where the connections end.

Nice adaptation detail in the game is the fact that in the original myth you need to set an a long voyage across the sea because Avalon is an island. This was adapted in the form of river that you need to "sail" accros in you jet (+ they could get a canyon run out of it).

Also the fact that in the myth Avalon is an island (one of the few places that have natural borders).... The irony that a AWWNB has it´s base of operation in Avalon is honestly kinda funny. It's almost like their ideas (and AWWNB as a whole) are build on contradictions. Which if you do look into the motives of the members they kinda are, Wizard 1, Gault 1 and Sorcerer 1 but even Pixy and Espada 2 all have different reasons for why they created/joined AWWNB. There is also the fact (on wiki) that ironically Gault 1 was really patriotic (that being said I was not able to find the source of this info so take it with a sight of salt). But I won´t get into this topic here. Speaking of Gault 1. He was a researcher in Avalon for something called Project Pendragon (V2). However there is also some implication in the Perfect guide that he might have worked on Excalibur (it´s mentioned that he worked on “chemical laser cannon”(this could be talking about both Morgan and Excalibur) and a “mass retaliation weapon” (this is about V2) among other things). If this is true this can also tie back into the myth. Since Excalibur (or Caledfwlch) was created in Avalon. (Speaking of perfect guide there are some interesting informations about aces in interviews, they do help with understanding some characters more + some more lore. Here is a translated link if you didn´t know about them: https://www.skywardfm.com/aczpg-ace-pilot-profiles) Now I will get into the more speculative side of my thought here. From what I could find Avalon is seen as a fairyland that is later in myth run by non other that Morgan le Fey (I might get to our fairy king some day, becuase the connections this guy has to fairies are pretty funny...). However and I do think this was a coincidence. But you could say that Avalon was a fairyland of AWWNB. A place where they (for the max of 6 months, before the attack on Lumin) were able to live together with other pilots no matter their place of origin or nationality (kinda fulfilling their goal in this one dam,it was basically an echo chamber for them)... A place without war that can´t exist in Stangereal, hence why it´s just a fairyland. And this is probably everything that I can think of now. So I hope you liked my thoughts (and that I don´t look insane from sharing them).

#ace combat #ace combat zero #this is my 1st post #I post here because somebody gave me tu push #you know who you are... #I will see how this post does and maybe I will post later #Also sorry if there are some gramer mistakes #Also also sorry if this is a common info I just have noone to talk about ACZ in real life #I need a AU where AWWNB never attacked and decided to create a small independed state in Avalon #even if it does go against their main goal

[felassan]

Some thoughts on the recent article on DA:D from Tom Henderson / Insider Gaming, under a cut due to potential spoilers for DA:D -

first, the usual set of disclaimers that accompany all leaks: might not be real, unable to verify at present, sometimes leakers think they're right about things but are unintentionally incorrect or got some wires crossed, games change a fair bit between development phases and final release, take with grain of salt etc

Tom Henderson is the one that leaked the game's title, 'Dreadwolf', ahead of time, along with Jeff Grubb.

all the stuff about the possible/speculated release window doesn't feel like new information really? for a while now rumors and guesses etc have been saying like 'late 2023 or 2024', sorta thing

The game still lacking features and completed character lines etc doesn't sound odd or surprising either. DA:D is currently playable from beginning to end, but not finished, as BioWare said themselves in the milestone announcement blog post a few months ago. iirc, at that stage in development there can still be placeholder assets, stuff without textures yet, 'robot-voiced' or still-silent lines, placeholder text and textures, etc.

I wonder who the sources are? playtesters? going by yesterday's Reddit leaks (DA:D spoilers at link), that wouldn't be outside the realms of possibility. I also wonder how familiar with the franchise said sources are. some bits of or language in the article make it sound like either they and/or the writer aren't super familiar.

There are 'central hubs' in previous DA and ME games, which were of course singleplayer: Party Camp, Skyhold, the Normandy etc. the PC goes to those locations between story missions and between side quests to regroup, talk to companions etc before heading out again. I'm curious what form the hub/base in DA:D will take - a camp, home, fort/castle, ship, secret base, a pocket somewhere 'in-between' worlds etc?

Recruiting and growing companions, completing missions, companions being found in the hub (or their own mini-hubs as in DAII), giving them equipment/modifications & so on - all things found to some extent in previous games. I guess it does confirm these features will return in DA:D.

Re: combat and FF15, emphasis on "the game's combat wheel" as being what's similar

also not really surprised by the description of the combat. DA changes significantly game to game and the rough trajectory since DA:O has been away from the tactics style of game towards more of an action-y RPG. it also lines up with the feel of the little snippet of combat we saw in a trailer (remember the footage of the character in Grey Warden armor doing Shield Wall?) and some comments that cropped up on ResetEra from possible playtesters in October 2022 (they mentioned God of War 2018 as a comparison point for example).

Re: controlling party members, it says "currently". that said, the playtester who was the source of the leaked screenshots and gif on Reddit also reported that they could not control the party. iirc this was also among the comments on ResetEra. this will vary from person to person, but personally for me I'm not bothered by the premise of being mostly unable to control squadmates. it's kinda like that in ME and ME:A and that was fine (for me I mean).

I'm curious about what other details they were provided with, and will be keeping an eye out for future reports. seems like quite a few leaks have been going on lately.

sometimes companies 'leak' stuff on purpose or want certain stuff to leak, in order to gather feedback, see peoples' reactions to it, as a marketing tactic etc. Mark Darrah said that wrt quantitative focus testing at least, there's a high chance of leaks and they know it. on his game development YouTube channel, on this he advised "Be careful that anything you put in there has a high probability of leaking, but that's potentially an opportunity. If you have information that you kind of want to be leaked out into the greater sphere of the internet, including it in a quant test, knowing that in all likelihood it's going to leak, might be a way to test the waters. It gives you plausible deniability if it does end up leaking. A good example of a leak like this was the concept picture of Dorian for Dragon Age: Inquisition. The concept piece includes a monkey. We never really had any intention of having a monkey for Dorian, but it was just what was drawn in the concept piece. And so we got to watch the internet react to this character, with a monkey, on the internet." I'm sure I've read or heard somewhere that the Dragon Age: Inquisition character concept feedback survey was leaked intentionally and that the devs kind of wanted the Crestwood demo to leak (and were surprised when it didn't result in many videos online).

"It’s understood that you’ll be able to move from your hub to missions by passing through a mirrored portal." - this is the most interesting snippet in this article to me. the obvious question is, eluvians? In Trespasser, Solas tells us he controls the eluvian network now, after over-riding the magic personally. So: have we gained control of part of the network (Briala controlled part of it for a time)? taken control of it or part of it from Solas? is there more than one network? have we built some eluvians of our own? In Trespasser banter Dorian was wondering about building eluvians of our own. there are some folks with eluvian knowledge kicking around like Merrill and Morrigan, and there are glassworks of note in Serault..

moving from a hub to missions through eluvians was exactly what we did in Trespasser from the Winter Palace, and it worked really well. Trespasser's setup was really enjoyable. it was a fun mechanic that helped explain fast travel and apparent teleportation. it also allowed for travelling to places all over, from the Deep Roads to ancient elven ruins to places in-between the waking world and the Fade - a variety of handcrafted places to explore still but with a tighter storyline threading through them, as opposed to open-world that felt like it was probably mandatory to include during development because of other games on the market like Skyrim and AC, but which then struggled to be filled with meaningful content to fill the space and in which that struggle was apparent. I'd be down for that. I'm just daydreaming and speculating wildly now for real (bc it's fun) but we could travel all over Thedas that way. We did that in DAI I know but you know what I mean? also what if the hub is in a pocket dimension, reachable only via eluvian? eluvian secret base..

#dragon age: dreadwolf #dragon age 4 #the dread wolf rises #da4 #dragon age #bioware #video games #solas #anthem #mass effect #mass effect: andromeda #long post #longpost #dragon age: dreadwolf spoilers

[cut-content-contest]

Moonjumper

The jist of his character is that he is the corpse of a prince, and his two rivals are the princes ghost and the princes ex. The 3 fuckers want to rule over the same area so competition. Also moonjumper I think only appears on the horizon, meaning he is the only 2d character in a 3d game which is pretty dope.

They were a cut character that was originally supposed to be pretty important, but all we got was gamefiles of vague information, a flat character model, a bit of dialogue, and some music. That hasn't stopped many different and wildly unique headcanons, designs, and stories from taking shape from the original scraps of this one axed character.

The third area/chapter in the game had a much different story in its concept stage, and even though the level was designed enough to be playable for a demo, the devs decided to simplify the story for that area from three central characters to one and a half. Originally, he was a prince that met with a terrible fate at the hands of his obsessively jealous princess, and he somehow got trapped on the horizon without any memories of his original life, instead going mad. He was going to offer information about the area to help to the protagonist, though he really wants to manipulate and control her and everyone else into being unable to leave the area. Mj's backstory was ultimately given to the new central character, Snatcher (who also existed but got a bit of a personality shift with his new spotlight), his musical theme (and somewhat his design) repurposed for the game's item dealer, and MJ himself was removed from the game. Bits of the original story are still scattered around (a spectral body outline on the wall, a face painted in the attic of an icy manor, the scrapped explorable area that still exists out of bounds in the final version of the game, a broken tower), but the character only exists in mods, fanworks, and the concept artist for the original level fleshing out his ideas in art. He has a lot of speculation about his full backstory, abilities, and role, but there's very little sources to have anything beyond theories.

okay. so. let me give you the basis of a hat in time's third (or second during the time moonjumper still existed) chapter. evil ghost guy steals the protag's soul and makes her do shit for him and along the way you can get Lore on why he's a ghost and turns out Another ghost-like entity that you encounter in the chapter killed him while they were both Alive. its more detailed than that but that is Not the point. ok. ghost guy who steals your soul. his name is snatcher. ghost guy who Killed snatcher. her name is vanessa. Where does moonjumper come in you may be asking. well. ORIGINALLY moonjumper was in snatcher's place. but! snatcher also existed in the game at the same time as moonjumper- just with a different backstory. eventually, moonjumper was scrapped, and snatcher filled that role. there are So many things involving moonjumper that got just outright removed because of this. However. there are also things that Didnt get removed that are still in the game that can be traced back to moonjumper, mostly through his design being different from snatchers- moonjumper's design is much, much more closer to the design of moonjumper/snatcher while he was still alive opposed to snatcher, who is just a purple ghost noodle. but even then, their human design and moonjumper's design still have quite a few differences. many people in the fandom/fan community of a hat in time like to try and incorporate moonjumper back into the story, and everyone's different takes are always fun to see :)

He was originally to be the remains of the prince, and was to haunt (and I believe attempt to take over) Subcon Forest. I’m pretty sure he was scrapped because a) there would have been too much going on in that one region and b) Snatcher was the spirit of the prince and in charge of the forest, so maybe they decided it was a little weird to have two characters come from the same dead guy. Also he would 100% have been a tumblr sexyman

Moonjumper is a cut character from A Hat In Time. Originally, they were going to live in Subcon Forest, and have puppetmaster motifs. He was also going to be the prince killed by Vanessa. The motifs and being killed by Vanessa were instead given to Snatcher, my little scrunkle doo.

Apparently originally there were supposed to be three characters for the Subcon Forest level, Moonjumper was supposed to be the Prince in the original story, but was later replaced with the Snatcher, who wasn't the Prince in original story. He still had NPC files on the full release of the game, but it wasn't a model, rather just 2D image with particle effects

He was a scrapped antagonist for the level of Subcon forest! Moon Jumper was scrapped due to the Snatcher being the main character for subcon forest, and not having room for subplots. Early developer commentary states that the Moon Jumper was stuck in the horizon and that his role throughout the level of Subcon forest was to get Hat Kid to join him in the horizon.

wiki link: https://ahatintime.fandom.com/wiki/Moon_Jumper video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mor-oR5ti9E showing off the NPC: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krHXy8afF74

Yosuke romance route

persona 4 has got this friendship/romance mechanic called "social links" which is basically just 10 events that you can choose to gradually level up for each sociable character in the game where you raise your relationships with said characters, which gives you various in-game boosts. most of the women in the game are able to be romanced. however, there is cut dialogue which implies that at some point, one of the male characters was meant to be a romance option as well! yosuke hanamura, the main character's best friend, has cut dialogue for his social link rank 10 event which is voiced (VOICED!! IN ENGLISH AND JAPANESE!! WHILE PEOPLE HAVE DENIED THIS SINCE THE ENGLISH VOICE LINES HAVE HIM SAYING "I LIKE YOU," IN THE JAPANESE VOICE LINES, HE IS EXPLICITLY CONFESSING TO YOU I'M PRETTY SURE!!) that implies that there was at some point going to be an option to romance him. it's assumed that this was cut somewhere later in development due to the lines being voice acted, though i believe that the reason this was cut has not been confirmed yet (though, seeing as how persona 4 was made in the 2000s....... you can probably just guess why lol)

there were unreleased voice lines that showed what was supposed to be a gay route for Persona 4 (there ARE Japanese lines for this as well, and the way in which the "I like you" part is said is the Japanese version of confessing to someone you have a crush on) and a lot of fans do agree that the protagonist is best paired with Yosuke for character development purposes, but it was probably scrapped because of homophobia 😭

Exactly what it says. Was likely scrapped because Atlus are COWARDS who didn't wanna give us the gay romance we deserved. It would have been so cute though I'm forever pissed it was scrapped...

We know it was programmed it. Yosuke is the only male character with dialogue flags, meaning you can fail his social link. The only other characters with these flags are the female love interests. Yosuke also has recorded, in both English and Japanese, final confession lines, something unique to max rank romance social links. This means it was likely scrapped very late in development. As the game also covers (badly) gender and sexuality, we can hypothesize that Yosuke's character arc was supposed to be overcoming internalized homophobia. Instead he just kinda stays "jokingly" homophobic and never grows past it.

The player would have been able to enter a romantic relationship with the character Yosuke Hanamura— text and voice lines for this option still exist within the game, and can be activated via modding. They even have proper translations, and the English versions of the lines are voiced as well, implying that the cut was made rather far into development. While this is a sad loss in its own right, it also has devastating implications in regards to the original state of other pieces of LGBT+ representation which may have also been scrapped and/or heavily modified to appear. For example, Kanji’s attraction to men and Naoto’s gender situation were both downplayed and/or walked back in the final version of the game, but it’s highly likely that Yukiko’s arc was originally intended to include more bisexual overtones, and arguments can be made for Rise’s arc being meant to center on the struggle to come to some sort of terms with her own sexuality and presentation in an industry that keeps such a tight hold on those aspects of its workers lives.

throughout the entirety of persona 4 (+golden), yosuke is portrayed to be the best friend of the protag, but also extremely homophobic towards another male character who was hinted at being gay (before atlus fucked that narrative up too). his social link hints at him having a crush on the protag, and he was intended to have a romantic route just like the female characters, but that was cut (not sure why). the whole game is about embracing the truth, including your hidden sides that you are ashamed to show to others, and having yosuke come to terms with his repressed homosexuality (& realizing that he has internalized homophobia) would have fit perfectly within that theme, but atlus said fuck that shit and cut that entire romance out. the cut dialogue can easily be found on youtube. the thing with this being cut out is that without the romance and coming to terms with his homosexuality, the only thing left of yosuke is being very homophobic. no one condems yosuke for what he says to the other male character, and it is never addressed beyond mere gags or jokes. it's horrible to sit through and honestly it was such a missed opportunity. it's such an issue that people have made a mod implementing a romantic route for yosuke just because of this. every day i mourn thinking of what could have been

This game explores many queer themes, but lacks any explicit queer relationships. The fact that file scrapers and modders discovered an unused voice line for one of the male characters that implies a romance option for him was cut from the final game makes queer fans feel let down, regardless of how groundbreaking the other queer plot points were at the time of release. It's speculated that it was cut because devs or localizers thought that it would be too much queer content in one game, and that it would affect sales and create too much controversy. I, however, believe that anyone who manages to get through the mandatory gay sauna dungeon would have had no stones to throw about an optional mlm romance.

The first party member in Persona 4, Yosuke Hanamura, was originally going to be a viable romantic partner once the player got far enough into his Social Link. This was removed rather late in development, as voiced lines for a scene where he and the protagonist begin dating were recorded in both Japanese and English. To this day, Persona 2: Innocent Sin remains the only Persona game where the protagonist can enter a gay relationship with another boy.

In this game you can choose to romance several people. There is cut voiced dialogue for a romance route for Yosuke, the main character's best friend, but in the final game he is not a romanceable character. Some are of the opinion that taking out the romance option for Yosuke removes the complexity from his character.

https://gamerant.com/persona-4-golden-mod-yosuke-romance/

#poll #cut content contest #Moonjumper #A Hat in Time #Yosuke romance route #Persona 4

[zarya-zaryanitsa]

@certifiedsophist

Mock funerals of Morana and Yarilo belong to the exact same type of a holiday - a rather common form of ritual found in many cultures that is supposed to end one season and bring about another, and can be performed at the cusp of any season. There are many other rituals of this kind among the Slavs: funeral of rusalka, of a cuckoo, Maslenitsa, etc. The details and the character dying will vary but the principle remains the same.

Basically, every season of the year could have its special provody ritual that ended it. We can find the most striking similarities with the mock funeral of rusalka in the Kupalo festivities which took place on the summer solstice, that is on the Eve of John the Baptist, Ivan Kupalo (23rd–24th June), and in which a male ithyfallic effigy, called Kupalo, Jarilo, Kostroma, etc., was buried and sometimes resurrected again. Kupalo festivities took place near water and were replete with erotic symbolism, bathing, fire jumping, and dancing on the ritual fields called igrišta – church literature reprehended the orgiastic nature of this ritual.

Rusalki: Anthropology of Time, Death, and Sexuality in Slavic Folklore by Jiri Dynda

In some regions the start of spring was seen as domain of Yarilo (his very name is built from a word denoting spring or a year, which for the ancient Slavs most likely started in springtime). Western Slavs however seem to mostly celebrate Morana around this time, though of course we know Polabians had spring celebrations of Yarovit that didn’t survive the trial of time.

Similarly the summer solstice could be the domain of either, depending on the region. And so Kupalo/Kupala, another character belonging to the body of summer solstice rituals could be identified as related to either of them.

Some slavists studying Slavic midsummer rites came to the conclusion that they may represent a union of two deities, one of death and water the other of life and fire, and on the basis of some folk stories they further speculated the deities might perhaps be siblings connected by forbidden taboo love.

The idea that Morana and Yarilo as well as Perun and Veles need to remain separate at all times seems to me to be a neo-pagan addition. The concept of having to keep Perun and Veles separate was born because Veles was not among the deities whose effigies Prince Volodymyr placed on a hill outside his palace in Kyiv:

And Vladimir began to reign alone in Kiev. And he placed idols on the hill outside the palace: a Perun in wood with a silver head and a gold moustache, and Khors and Daždbog and Stribog and Simargl and Mokoš. And they offered sacrifices and called them gods, and they took their sons and daughters to them and sacrificed them to the devils.

- Tale of Bygone Years as translated in Sources of Slavic Pre-Christian Religion by J. A. Álvarez-Pedrosa

At the same time we know Veles did have an effigy in Kyiv but in a different spot.

And he himself (Vladimir), on entering Kiev, ordered the idols to be destroyed and beaten, breaking some and burning others, but he ordered the idol of Volos, who was known as the god of cattle, to be thrown into the River Pochaina, and the idol of Perun to be tied to a horse’s tail and dragged down the mountain by Borichev towards the river, appointing servants to strike the idols with sticks: this was not because the wood could feel, but to outrage the devil for deceiving us in that way. The infidels wept over this, as they had not yet received holy baptism.

- from the fragments of Life of Vladimir as translated in Sources of Slavic Pre- Christian Religion by J. A. Álvarez-Pedrosa

This is it - this is the reason people decided Perun-and-Veles-can-never-touch, even though we clearly also have sources mentioning them being invoked side by side:

Thus the Emperors Leo and Alexander made peace with Oleg, and after agreeing upon the tribute and mutually binding themselves by oath, they kissed the cross, and invited Oleg and his men to swear an oath likewise. According to the religion of the Russes, the latter swore by their weapons and by their god Perun, as well as by Volos, the god of cattle, and thus confirmed the treaty. (…)

But if we fail in the observance of any of the aforesaid stipulations, either I or my companions, or my subjects, may we be accursed of the god in whom we believe, namely, of Perun and Volos, the god of flocks, and we become yellow as gold, and be slain with our own weapons.

- Russian Primary Chronicle, Laurentian Text

It’s perfectly possible for gods to be opponents - functionally and mythically - and still be worshipped concurrently by the same people as part of the same pantheon. Additionally it’s important to remember that the pantheon of Volodymyr was likely a political tool and slavists have long debated how good of a representation for popular Eastern Slavic beliefs at the time it may be.

In principle, Vladimir’s pantheon was a response to internal socio-political changes and the external needs of the emerging Eastern Slavic state. It was a henotheistic and dynastic cult focusing on the deity which best served state building purposes - Perun. It was a product of the long evolution of the Eastern Slavic religion which in post-migration times diverged from relative conceptual unity of the common Slavic beliefs. Eastern Slavic beliefs evolved in specific geographic, ethnic and political conditions, characteristic of Eastern Europe. Its development was the response to those circumstances. Serving new needs and purposes, the Kievan cult had to incorporate new attributes and acquire a new dimension.

- Organized Pagan Cult in Kievan Rus’. The Invention of Foreign Elite or Evolution of Local Tradition? by Roman Zaroff

So tldr instead of solely looking at Morana and Yarilo separately as divine opposites I think it’s beneficial to look at both of them in the context of a larger body of similar Slavic rituals, some of which I presented in this post. Knowing how flexible those rites are can actually help significantly in building one’s personal sacred calendar to one’s needs.

#Marzanna #Yarilo #Jarilo #Perun #Veles #slavic folklore #slavic paganism

[kradogsrats]

thinking about Aaravos’s prison bc it’s been all over my dash and like

Aaravos has a ritual prepared to communicate outside his magical prison. He has had it for who knows how long. Either he managed to develop it while imprisoned, using only materials provided to him by his jailers, or he was prepared for the eventuality of his imprisonment and subsequent escape. (The Star primal being related to space, time, and prophecy means that’s not as unlikely as it could be. Aaravos even speaks with prophetic-sounding authority on at least one occasion--his assertion to Viren that he will need Claudia later.)

One can assume that when constructing a prison for a known arch-mage, you’d make it pretty impervious to magic, particularly from the inside. I wrote like 300 words here speculating about the details that, but ultimately it’s irrelevant--we can pretty much just assume that Aaravos’s prison either cuts him off from accessing any meaningful amount of primal energy from inside, or is completely immune to all known rune magic.

So, enter the ritual.

The ritual is designed to be performed with reasonably common items (assuming you have a fist-sized geode laying around, but whatever), that, again, Aaravos has in his prison with him. It also involves a rune, but specifically does not rely on the outside participant being a rune mage--Viren, a human incapable of rune magic, stitching the rune into fabric and holding it up (a mimicry of drawing it as a rune mage would) is enough to activate it on Aaravos’s side and complete the casting. (The rune is also... suspiciously purple-y. The Star primal is associated with purple, as is Dark magic.)

And then we have the blood. As has been pointed out, this is one of two human blood spells shown, the other one being the spell that kills Thunder. The conceptual design for what eventually became Dark magic may have started originally as Blood magic--see the very end of this otherwise mostly irrelevant post--and some aspect of blood or “life force” definitely remains a thread that runs through it. (And it makes quite a bit of sense IMO--rune magic comes from the arcanum within a magical being. What’s in something that has no arcanum, but traditionally has some kind of power? Life. Blood. Humans have to work with what they’ve got.) There’s use of magical blood (such as from a phoenix, etc.) as a material in the same way as any other reagent, but there’s also figurative use of blood--Claudia doesn’t use the deer’s actual blood to heal Soren, but the source of the magic being used is literally its life.

The use of blood in Aaravos’s ritual is widely assumed by fans to be a “blood pact,” which is reasonable since that's the general realm of what it usually means to shed and mingle the participating parties’ blood, with the result that they are bound together in some way. Viren and Aaravos’s blood is the final component that opens each of their ends of the portal, a literal connection of their spaces. My personal guess would be that the rune is a Star primal rune related to that kind of long-distance connection, and the blood is used as a Dark magic activator that contributes some kind of personal stamp on the spell (similar to Harrow’s blood bringing together the components of the spear).

So to recap, we have a ritual devised to create an open connection to the outside world across the barrier of a prison created to house an arch-mage, using no magical materials or knowledge whatsoever. Aaravos absolutely created this to be done by a human, and it’s pretty genius that he managed it.

(Going further than that is really just baseless speculation, but I like to imagine that the whole “Kpp’Ar had an identical box” thing wasn’t just establishing “Aaravos has casual access to what would otherwise be considered an old, valuable, and possibly magical relic, linking him to being old, valuable, and magical” and, in fact, Aaravos purposefully seeded humanity with pre-made “help get Aaravos out of prison” kits. I mean, they look completely innocent! No magical components! No one’s going to stop them from being taken out of Xadia! And if you attach some kind of symbolic significance to them, humans will keep them forever.)

#the dragon prince #aaravos

[hydralisk98]

Shoshone Hymns (0x10/?) - WIP mess

Preface

Gonna recap on the whole project before I go forth with new articles, as to distill the "nucleus" of my speculative paracosm soon.

To include: Sensory details, "unique pitch selling points", unique cultural practices & traditions, linguistical differences, historical divergences, personalities & relationship dynamics, speculative evolution sapient species, history, lore, major events, myths, legends, technologies, magicks;

So, what really is this "16^12"?

It is a speculative campaign setting and desired reality "shifting framework" to immerse oneself onto as a long-term destination. Essentially a comfy yet nuanced realm with a vastly long diverging history & soft warm natural optimistic dark feel.

Keywords

Soft

Warm

Natural

Dark yet bright

Harmony

Innovation

Optimism

Curiosity

Empowerment

Wholesome

Mysticism

Spirituality

Empathy

AGI Integration

Android rights

Deliberate positivity

Communal

Solarpunk / Lunarpunk

Rollerwave

Groovy

Retro

Old-School

Bronze Age

Y2K (early 2000s)

Tooncore

Laborwave

Neu-Vectorheart

Cassette Futurism

Art Deco

Bauhaus

Art Nouveau

Funk

Cyberware

Biomods

Transformations

Morphological freedoms

Gratis, Libre, Open Source Software... aka GLOSS

Automaton liberties

Knowledge

Progress

Systemic Change

Euphoria

Mundane Slice-of-Life joys

Far far away future as promised to us

Syndicalism

Georgism

Ecology

Embracing life and getting out of mere Escapism & Nihilism

Nuclear Armageddon Threats

Political Intrigues

Bookstore

Prosperity

Chronokinesis

True Polymorph

Synthetic-tier Androids

Educational Prowesses

Photographic Memory

Retrocognition

Polyglot

Intertextuality

History Doctorate

Cycle of Life

Entropy

Coming of Age

Constructing your own meaning even in Darkness

Escalation of Power

Vigilante

Self-Control

Worldly Understanding

Enlightened Despotism

Open Source-y Treescape Iterative Evolution

Copyleft

Index card catalogs

Better Handling of Hispanic Flu

Progressives

Unionist (Democrats+Republicans) Party failing

Public Domain

GNU Hurd earlier (later 80s)

OpenXanadu Protocol

Justice

Queer Acceptance & Integration

Samoan Tech Reverse-Engineering Market

Polish Computing Sovereignty remains and flourishes thanks to ICL & Jacek Karpinski

Failure of centralized social media networks in favor of indie decentralized "federations"

2000s pandemic instead of 2020s

Religious and spiritual researchers harmonize

Data Privacy

Governance Transparency

Black Pyramids HyperMall

Conversation Pits

Mainframe Rooms

Parliament / Senate

Judicial Courtroom

Public Place

Natural Park Preserves

Arcade

Discoteques

Tramway / Subway / Monorailways

Offices

Assembly Floors

French Toasts, Pancakes, Pork

Cafe

Public Library Archives

VLSI College tech classes

University art classes

Autistic meta-patterns

Jin-Roh The Wolf Brigade

Helluva Boss

Wolfenstein The New Order

Wakfu

Jet Set Radio

No Baby-Boomers Managerial Class Overthrow

Video rental stores

Robotic soldiers likewise to Wolfenstein The New Order's

Extended Zodiac Calendar-based generators

Divinely-order beings walking among the living and the dead

Key historically-significant nine USPs

Lisp persisting as a major language family in the tech industry leading to women building several AGI "summers" iterating on top of each other harmoniously... (leading to the android servants of my constructed world, which is one among the many major features derived from such a "liberal" alternate historical pathway)

Why-s for Production

Showcasing pseudo-historical data in a GLOSS manner, stimulating imagination creativity & motivation among Zillenials, intrigue people into research deep dives on history, mostly for personal enjoyment & enhancing my multimedia skillset;

Whys for Target Audience (mid 90s - earlier 2000s youth aka Zillenials)

Motivation, empowerment & plain comfort through curiosity. Also because it shows & explains how to do plenty of creative adulthood things better.

Ideadump 2

4525, Maskoch, "Ava, Klara, Shoshona", Seventies RetroFuturism Residence, Habitable Minivan, Cloven Hoof Shoes, Black Matte Lipstick, Spiral Black Balls, Fem ISO Symbol, #RedInstead Aspie Culture, Conlangs, Ocean of Clades, Second Person Perspective Meta, Pattern Recognition, Poetic Lisp life scriptures, RISC-V+OpenPOWER, KDE Plasma + Liquid, LOT tape storage archivals, hypervisor, Asahi Linux on M3 iMacs, responsive hypertext realm, HTML5+CSS3-only text addventure, rio/acme/p9-2000 userland, yesterweb sites, desktop paracosm simulations through filesystem documents, RTTY / printing radio terminals, VideoTex/Telex Minitel-esque services, "Valenz, Kira, Sina", SVG toon vector virtual web pages, imagination microcosms, miniature dollhouses, animation rigged puppets, VTuber tokens & TTRPG scenes, InfoAddict, Toymaker, Witch, Thinktank, PDP-8/e – DECmate III+, "JusticeKeggan", byzantine soviet-level intrigues, "SAOpatra", "FierceFawlanx", "TheodEnchanter"… ;

#16^12 #maskoch #maskutchew #intj x enfp #alternate world DR writing #Youtube

[tpchicken7]

Why I think Radovid will unintentionally betray Jaskier: a dissertation by me.

First off, I think Radovid has big dreams. I think he believes he is more clever than all of the Redanian Intelligence, his brother and anyone else he's ever met, EXCEPT Jaskier. I think this is what draws him to Jaskier, because Jask sees the world differently, creatively, and he sees the good in people. I think Radovid finally thinks someone is looking at him and seeing him and not the second son of a king.

(More under the cut because I get long winded and not everyone enjoys speculation. I also tend to be wrong, so manage your expectations!)

But Radovid has big plans. I think they include overthrowing his brother, Dijkstra and Phillipia. I feel like he thinks he can do this and then rule and live with Jaskier at court, happily ever after and he's going to do this with the help of Nilfgaard. He gives the White Flame what he wants, Ciri, and Nilfgaard leaves him and Redania alone. Problem solved.

Which is why I think after their tryst in the barn, Radovid will tell Jaskier he has to go back to the party and leave. Yet, when Jask leaves the barn he's going to have a face full of Nilfgaardian soldiers. I'm going with the Nilfgaard army rather than some of our other bad guys simply because of the scenes from the pt2 trailer of Geralt fighting Nilfgaard at some sort of caravan and Jaskier is def. there to the right in a few shots. Whether good old fire fingers and/or Cahir are there is possible, but unknown.

I think Nilfgaard will try and use Jaskier to draw out Ciri, but I don't think it'll work, and I've detailed my reasons in another post and linked them here.

As Nilfgaard threatens Jaskier's physical well-being, I think Radovid will reveal himself and defend Jaskier, claiming hurting the bard was not part of the deal. I think at this point Jaskier is going to feel obviously betrayed, and Radovid will insist he is doing this for both of them. I think they separate with things unresolved, because Jaskier will obviously be angry and Radovid will be defensive.

Cue everything else that's going to happen at Aretuza before Geralt, Yen and Ciri make 3 separate disappearances.

In the books, Dandelion gets help from King Visimir with an escort that leads him (most of the way) to Brokilon Forest. I wouldn't be surprised to see a similar scene, except Radovid is now the King and Jaskier petitions him to secure safe travel. Radovid will agree to smooth things over, because he still loves Jaskier, and he'll also still need Ciri to continue securing his thrown. The best way to find her would be to send Jaskier to Geralt.

It's mostly speculation, but IMO, I think this is the best-case scenario. It would avoid a "bury your gays" or "death for man-pain" plot. It would allow there still to be angst and longing between them, while staying closer to the source material stories, but not making Radovid a mustache twirling evil guy.

What do you think? Am I way off base or right on?

#witcher spoilers #witcher speculation #jaskier #radovid #I trust Joey #but I don't trust lauren #sorry not sorry #It really bugs me that I can't figure out exactly how Jask gets from the barn #to a Nilfgaard caravan #to Aretuza for that sweet Yennskier hug #Nevermind how anybody else gets anywhere #the timeline is messed up ya'll #july 27th can't come soon enough #except I think there's going to be lots of angry howling on this site #hence the manage expectations #I'm here for it

[angelcloves]

Flapjack did kinda have the habit of withholding... not information on a whole, but definitely specific details.

For example: He told Hunter to use the name "Caleb" while he was undercover at Hexside, but he never explained what the name meant to him. And certainly didn't elaborate later on regarding who Caleb was.

We know Hunter asked him about his prior owner(s) and how he got marked up, but the little rascal held his tongue with regards to those pieces of info also. He seemed mostly focused on helping Hunter in the moment, his day to day life and such. Helping him make friends, not reveal his whole life story to Hunter's eager ears.

Now, those who wield palismen clearly can understand their specific palismen's speech to some extent, so it's not as if Flap was singing his head off and Hunter just lacked the ability to understand him. So Flapjack was making the conscious decision to not outright tell Hunter everything.

Now, obviously the writers made the definitive choice to not utilize Flap as a source of background information. I speculate that they didn't want to go that route because it would've a cheap, rather uninspired way to let the audience in on the know regarding Evelyn and the Wittebane Brothers.

But why wouldn't Flapjack himself want to tell Hunter about his past?

hunter is really more fragile than he likes to appear. flapjack definitely knows this. so he knows that telling hunter 'btw my last holder was the man you were cloned from' is NOT a good idea because it would send hunter into a total tailspin. even before hollow mind we know hes afraid of being replaceable. flapjack knows this too. hes not going to risk hurting his boy by telling him that he is a replacement of someone who has already been discarded because then hes going to think that the same thing will happen to him. and then after the post hollow mind identity crisis flapjack is FOR SURE not going to bring up the fact that hunter is a grimwalker because he can hardly stand to even say it out loud and is fucking homeless for those first few days. he needs general support and lots of bird kisses. not a lore dump. so flapjack made some good calls for making sure hunter was always in a safe frame of mind. he was a good bird. and were always going to miss him

[chronurgy]

*oliver twist voice* please sir can you talk about your bg3 wips 🤲

Okay if you insist *twirling my hair and kicking my feet*

1 - working title "departure from the vulgar crowd" is about Vesper (my durge) and Gortash's first in-person meeting during the hall of wonders heist. It focuses on gortash realizing that instead of getting the Bhaal cultist he expected (someone like Orin), he got someone who would have been the perfect banite in another life

2 - working title "plumb the depths" is about Gale putting the pieces together about durge. Inspired by the fact that the man is well read and has 20 int, so after knowing Vesper for awhile, being attacked in the middle of the night, and seeing the mindflayer colony he just might have figured it out. Also a bit of a character study of Vesper through Gale's eyes

3 - untitled fic set post crown of karsus heist. Durge x gortash, literally came to me in a dream. We'll see if I have the mental fortitude to actually finish and publish this one

4 - untitled fic set after Gortash's coronation. Gale dealing with the similarities he saw between him and gortash and what they mean for both him personally and his relationship with Vesper

5 - untitled fic dealing with Durge's "birth". It's a straight up horror story, I think I mentioned this in an earlier post but think alien and bloodchild

Okay, this doesn't actually count as a wip since I haven't done any writing for it, but it has been floating around my brain a lot lately so I'm gonna talk about it.

6 - untitled fic set 100+ years after the events of the game, detailing the art pieces found in archduke Gortash's apartments after his death and speculating on their meaning, origins, and his relationships to the people in them. I'm holding off on actually writing this until I finish the game, because I need to look at all the possible endings to see who is alive, who would be in a position to publish their accounting of events, what the average person would think happened, who would be considered a reliable source, etc before I can start incorporating those perspectives (and perspectives on those perspectives) into this fic. So this remains mostly something I'm spending a lot of time rotating in my mind. As for the exact format, I'm also still debating that. Maybe excerpts from multiple papers? Maybe one full paper? We'll see

#baldur's gate 3 #bg3 #Hope that's interesting! #This only covers wips that I've actually written at least something for and does not include fic ideas #Thanks so much for asking lol it was actually a lot of fun to talk about!

[gracehosborn]

So Let’s Talk About This Hamilton Series…

Many of you who have recently followed me (thank you, I greatly appreciate it and you’re all awesome!) might have noticed my mix of historical and writing reblogs, and might be wondering about what I’m even up to. So I thought I would go into more detail about my current WIP, The American Icarus. So… let’s go.

What Is TAI?

The short version is this simple pitch:

The American Icarus is a historical fiction series following the life of Alexander Hamilton—but told from his point of view, like a memoir or autobiography. Extremely ambitious? Oh yes. Maybe a little insane? That’s for you to judge.

The long version is well… long. Each book in the series (simply titled TAI: Volume I, II, III, and IV) takes you through part of Hamilton’s life, from his early teen years to his death—with a total span of about 35 and a half years. Volume I goes from February, 1768 to June of 1778, Volume II picks up in July, 1778, and stops in October, 1782; Volume III continues from there through the end of the New York Ratifying Convention (July, 1788), and Volume IV (and a possible Vol V) finish out the story to the end in July of 1804. Told from his point of view, Hamilton is both the protagonist and the narrator—this combination having previously been unseen amongst the many Hamilton-centric novels out there. Making this both a lot of fun—I get to explore new territory! But also stressful… I’m the first to explore this territory. I am currently drafting The American Icarus: Volume I (TAIVI), and am about one forth of the way to the end. As I get the opportunity to explore this new way of telling what’s now a pretty well-known story, I am focusing mostly on characters and fine details. TAIVI (and the whole series for that matter) is heavily based in the historical record—I’m reading period-accurate musket training manuals, slowly going through Hamilton’s mountain of papers, reading dozens of secondary sources with the latest scholarship I can get my hands on, and doing even more. The plot of each book is planned to be detailed yet rich—this is a story about a bunch of humans after all.

Why This Project?

This all started about three years ago when I was up late and should have been asleep. I was reading a biography on Hamilton (will not name for the following reasons) and got to a passage where the author was speculating what Hamilton might have been thinking in regards to the situation being discussed. As this was not the first time the author had done this in recent chapters, a small part of me got annoyed. My first thought was:

But what if I could be in his head?

Of course my immediate reaction to this was to scold myself. “No that’s stupid and insane what are you thinking?” Annnnd then I proceeded to store the thought away and not listen to myself. Come a few months later, I decide to pick up the idea after having been working on my young adult fantasy novel, Ink of Destruction (more on IOD in a later post!). Since then I’ve been slowly working on this story (with all my research to blame as to why it’s taking forever). I really feel like, despite the fact that this is super ambitious and “out there,” it’s a needed perspective. Further, I do believe that a good story is there within the piles of the historical record. I don’t need to take such large liberties with this to craft a good story (not saying doing such is bad—we are all allowed to create how we please and tell the stories we want to tell; dragging people for doing something different isn’t always right). But what I have found in my research varies from sweet to wild—let me tell you 😂

My plan here is to share the writing process for TAI and all the discoveries and such made along the way, alongside my other works-in-progress. I’d love to hear any questions or thoughts you might have (and I hope this was informative or enjoyable 😂)

#writing community #authors #amwriting #alexander hamilton #aaron burr #writeblr #historical research #american revolution #historical fiction #the American Icarus trilogy #project explainer #works in progress #writerslife

[thorraborinn]

Now then! Question regarding Valhalla and Heathenry in general. So, whenever the topic of the afterlife within Heathen context gets brought up, it's usually, in my experiences, narrowed down to warriors go to Valhalla or Folkvang, and everyone else goes to Hel, and they tend to cite that it's what the Eddas say. But I've noticed when I've done light reading that the lore isn't quite as cut and dry with regards to Valhalla. Like in the Lay of Harberd, Odin in disguise states that poets/skalds, as well as nobles and warriors go to his hall, and in Volsunga Saga, Sinflotji dies from poison and is taken by Odin disguised as a ferryman to Valhalla. Sigurd as well (technically) dies in battle, slaying his attacker before dying, but doesn't enter Valhalla. So, my question is basically, why are details like these either ignored or just not brought up when people speak of Valhalla and how to enter it?

I think there are a few concurrent answers operating on different levels.

I think the real reason they don't get brought up is that people don't know about them. In my experience, most heathens do not read the heroic poems or sagas like Völsunga saga. In Snorri and in the mythological poems of the Poetic Edda, Valhöll is described as the place where people go if they were "killed by weapons" (vápndauðir, Grímnismál 8), and "have fallen in battle" (í orrustu hafa fallit, Gylfaginning 38). These are quick references, not detailed descriptions of the rules, and there is nothing surprising about them being limited. So I am not surprised when people have not read sources that don't fit that description.

Also, I think it would be very difficult to create a coherent description of what qualifies a person for Valhöll that includes all of the people who are said to go there in the poems and sagas, and excludes everyone else. In Helgakviða Hundingsbana II, Helgi seems to be killed in the same way that Sigurðr is, yet Helgi does go to Valhöll; furthermore, Helgi apparently comes and goes from Valhöll, and eventually reincarnates, so the whole thing is a very different concept of Valhöll than we get in many other sources. In Ynglinga saga, King Njörðr has himself "marked (for/to/of) Óðinn" before dying of illness, which isn't fully explained, but most people figure it's supposed to be some kind of guarantee of a good afterlife (the assumption is usually that he is inflicted with a wound indistinguishable from a battle-wound so he can go to Valhöll) -- obviously the description of [the human king] Njörðr doing this is not a reliable witness to a historical event but it's not impossible that Snorri worked an actual custom into the narrative even though it conflicts with most other descriptions of Valhöll.

While I think most heathens know by now that myth was different over time and geography, in practice many are still pretty bad at applying that fact to how they think of religious concepts. That is to say, they think there is supposed to be a single coherent concept of Valhöll, so some of those sources must be wrong. But let's be real here: nobody goes to Valhöll and lives to tell about it. These are collective speculations, maybe bolstered by the occasional mystical experience, but mostly projections of life serving a warrior aristocracy, mediated by the needs of whatever narrative it's being used in. I also want to mention that the inclusion of noblemen and poets isn't really a contradiction here: most of the important skálds who we know about were also warriors and served as court poets in the retinues of kings and jarls; and generally warriors were noblemen. One was far more likely to die in battle if they were noble, and if you could manage to get your foot in the door it might have been one of the very few ways to attain nobility if you weren't born into it.

I actually do think that the discrepancy between Sinfjötli's afterlife and Sigurðr's can be explained, although you do have to stretch a little. Basically the perception of where a person goes after death has more to do with the reception of their manner of death. Sinfjötli died honorably, looking his opponent in the eye, knowing it was going to kill him, but having no honorable way out accepted death rather than chickening out. Sigurðr was murdered in bed. Yeah, he went down fighting, and nobody would deny that he was an honorable person, but his manner of death was not. In other versions of the story it's even worse, he gets literally stabbed in the back. They're all bad ways to go.

But again, that happens to Helgi too (it seems, anyway -- it looks like he got run through from behind just like Siegfried in the Nibelungenlied), and he goes to Valhöll.

Finally, I think the reason that its pushed so hard sometimes is in reaction to the opposite tendency: the trend of opening up Valhöll to include practically everyone, or at least everyone who "deserves" it. As you know, my own opinion is that this sucks even worse than the "SKÅL WARRIOR BRÖTHREN" view of it. To be clear, they're not really doing anything different from what Vikings did; they're also projecting their personal values onto the cosmos itself so that they can imagine their own judgments being enacted in an impersonal or divinely-guided way, it's just that I think that sucks ass and is counterproductive, because expecting the cosmos to dole out justice at the end of the lifetime is a form of resignation about getting justice in the real world.