#Beryl Ironwood

[psijic-toast]

FFXIVwrite 17: Novel

Ao3 link if you’d like

It was a given that one day, stories would be written of the Warrior of Light. Whether it be prose, poetry, sonnets or ballads, someone would capture the tales shared by the Scions on paper. It was a fate T’ahria had prayed would be far into the future, when she had only a few years left to learn of how she would be remembered. Perhaps that way she may go to the grave in peace.

She did not expect for such novelizations to come out so soon.

She wasn’t one for reading, had resisted her aunts’ every attempt to get her to pick up a book willingly. As an adult she was a bit more pliable, so long as the novel was a work of fiction and held her interest. Or about Nym, as she would skim those books for whatever information she could find on scholars and fairies, Eos sat on her shoulder. This is all to say that it was odd to find her looking at the literature stall in Revenant's Toll, fingers trailing spines as she looked over the titles.

It was there she encountered them first, an inconsequential cover decorated with blue roses. ‘T’alia Lightbringer’ was embellished in silver on the front, in an overly fancy cursive font. It caught her attention long enough that she read the blurb on the back -before handing the required gil over to the merchant, and all but running to the Rising Stones, purchase in hand.

She now stood beside the bar, slouched over with her head pressed against the cool wood. Above her, Wren sat casually, reading the story aloud.

“May she be blessed by the elementals” the Seedseer cried, staff held aloft. A cascade of magicked leaves billowed from the tip, scattering and falling amongst the crowd. Children cheered as they reached to catch the fluttering leaves, which transformed into butterflies in their palms - did that really happen at Greenbliss?”

“No” She mumbled, voice muffled. “I got trapped in the Echo to the point of passing out”

“Oh goodness” He paused in his reading, leaning over to gently pat her head. She hummed in response, though he couldn’t tell if it was a good hum or bad hum. “But other than that it’s pretty accurate?”

“It’s everything thing I did and went to, up until after defeating Ifrit”

“So someone’s written a biography of your life” Wren flipped through the book once more, skimming pages until he found something of note. “Only missing out some key information and with some slight changes… such as you have ears. Wait, do you have a brother?”

“No? Why, does ‘T’alia’ have one?”

“T’rahto Tia took after their father more, tall and lean, with shorter fangs and a bushy tail. Though, like T’alia herself, he inherited their mother’s blue eyes and rounded pupils”

“I don’t know who that’s supposed to be”

“He supposedly comes to your aid during your foray in Sastasha -oh gods is this supposed to be me?!”

“Who’s supposed to be you?”

Both T’ahria and Wren glanced up to find Beryl sauntering over, lute slung over her shoulders. She plucked the book from Wren’s grip, closing it to view the cover -before chuckling.

“I see you’ve found it”

“”Found it?” Wren asked, as T’ahria suddenly perked up. “You knew about this?”

“Knew about it? I wrote it!” Beryl chuckled harder, full on cackling now. She held the novel up, tapping the short bit of text on the bottom. ‘By B.L.Ironwood’ was printed in the same silver font as the title.

“You used my surname?!”

“What does the L stand for?”

“Lyandra. Thought a good middle name made the alias sound fancier. And, yes Wren, I used your surname” Beryl hopped up on top of the bar, leaning back to grab a bottle and cup. She took a glug of water as her friends gaped at her. 

“We all knew someone would start writing about the Warrior of Light, slayer of primals, stealer of pants. I just thought, why don’t I be one of the first and line the Scions’ coffers while I do it? Tataru even helped me find a printer” She patted T’ahria’s head. “Besides, with the amount of sales it has, people have T’alia in their head when they think of the Warrior. I thought it’d let give you a shield from the limelight”

T’ahria stayed silent, just absorbing the information. It was a good way to stay out of the public eye.

“Beryl. How many books have you written?” Wren asked, hesitant about whether he actually wanted to know the answer.

“Oh, this is just volume one” Beryl handed him back to the novel. “I’m on the seventh right now”

[itsclydebitches]

Like soldiers in real life are very well trained and have intense physical training as well. They're not peak athletes level usually, but they are part of the top tier of physically strong and healthy humans. RWBY does not show us this. I need to know what makes the main 4 so much better then a Atlas soldier. Not even the ace ops, just your common soldier should be at least physically on the level of yang. Just with more general weapon training, as opposed to specific weapons like a huntsmen.

One of my favorite tropes is “Fighter has a desperate need to eat everything in sight” not just because it’s funny, but because it makes sense. Of course they need a ton of calories! If Olympic swimmers are out there eating like 10,000 calories a day, how much does a growing teen need after fighting off grimm/performing semblance tricks? It would be nice if RWBY incorporated more of that kind of stuff, particularly if they take it seriously. I mean, what was the group eating during their trek in Volume 4? Food (along with the cold in atlas, aura all the time, etc.) could be a really easy limitation to chuck at the group: normally we’d be able to beat this enemy but because we’ve been backpacking for weeks and are splitting the last of our meager supplies four ways, we don’t have the energy to fend off an attack. Now we’re in trouble. 

More generally though... yeah. Why is Team RWBY so special again? No one except Ruby is supposed to be a prodigy. If being a huntsmen gives you access to much better training than the average soldier, why aren’t we taking into account that they missed three years of that training? Why does a few weeks out in the world supposedly trump years of constant work as a huntsmen? The only explanation we’ve been given lately for why Team RWBY is so extraordinarily powerful - better than the soldiers, better than their peers, better even than the pros - is because they’re friends. Which... okay. I normally love that shit. Sailor guardians coming together to protect the world with love? Goku achieving Super Saiyan through Krillin’s death? I eat that all up. But all of those other “love is power” moments were earned. RWBY - with the exception of Ruby’s nice flashbacks to power up her silver eyes - hasn’t done any of that work. I’m supposed to believe that this group who rarely acts like friends outside of their pairings, who disagree about lying to Ironwood, who are keeping numerous secrets from one another, who aren’t even fighting together as a team, have this innate ability to love the world/each other that gives them the strength everyone else supposedly lacks? What about Yang and Blake doing their own thing, or Ren repressing his emotions, or all of them ignoring Ozpin, or Ruby barely reacting to Penny’s resurrection says, “This group is powered by love and friendship”? 

RT has created a pretty logic-based world but doesn’t want to explain Team RWBY’s power through logical means (more training, experience, access to magic stuff, etc.) Instead, Volume 7 has shown us that they want to tap into that anime theme of Love Conquering All. Only problem is, we haven’t seen a whole lot of extraordinary love lately and the other group (Ace Ops) pretty clearly love each other too. There’s a reason why this explanation is usually pit against the Beryls and the Friezas of the world: villains who have no concept of love and severely underestimate it. Not fighters on the heroes’ side who are presented as caring for one another no more or less than the protagonists do. 

[weirdletter]

Sherlock Holmes and the Occult Detectives Volume Two (The Great Detective Universe), edited by John Linwood Grant, Belanger Books, 2020. Cover design by Brian Belanger, info: amazon.com.

All New Malevolent Mysteries and Perplexing Puzzles where Sherlock Holmes works with Classic and New Occult DetectivesAs Carnacki the Ghost Finder, the famous literary occult detective, once said: “I view all reported ‘hauntings’ as unproven until I have examined into them, and I am bound to admit that ninety-nine cases out of a hundred turn out to be sheer bosh and fancy.” In these pages, a range of contemporary authors explore ‘what happens next’ when the Great Detective confronts mysteries which question reason. A summons from Irene Adler’s daughter; a chance encounter with one of Houdini’s fraud investigators; the enigma of Dr John Silence. Mysterious events at Mary Morstan’s old school, and a threat to Queen Victoria. The return of the German agent Von Bork, somewhat changed, and a desperate hunt for a killer through the alleys of London with none other than Professor Van Helsing. Join us in the second volume of this two-volume anthology as Holmes finds himself working with psychic investigators old and new in pursuit of answers, and must confront his own scepticism. Tales in the traditional style – but with a twist. Can Holmes’s logic work alongside the occult detectives’ willingness to embrace another set of rules entirely? Paranormal – or poppycock?

Contents: Ghosts Need Apply! An Introduction by Derrick Belanger Editor’s Note by John Linwood Grant The Problem of the Defenestrated Uncle by Lisbet Beryl Weir The Monkstree Horror by Marion Pitman The Direction of Sunbeams by Mike Chinn The Case of the Talking Board by James Jensen The Ironwood Wardrobe by Josh Reynolds The Active Dead by Tim Prasil The Plant Man of Pinhoe by Tim Gambrell Five Burnt Portions of Bread by James Bojaciuk The Rani’s Dream by Catherine Lundoff The Adventure of the Ambitious Task by Steven Philip Jones The Aerodynamics of Bees by Robert Pohle Special Thanks to Our Kickstarter Backers

[talefates]

{ Below is a post detailing information about James’ family. Some will have very little information since I’m still working out details as time passed. Please be sure to click the links for images of each member! I made them in the sims lmao }

Oliver Ironwood

Oliver is James’ father and the one who primarily runs the farm. He’s still in excellent health and the one responsible for most of the animals’ names.

Eileen Ironwood

Formerly Eileen Oaklen, she is a world class chef and baker, but not professionally trained. Her homestyle, rib sticking food could rival some of the best chefs in Atlas. She gives the best hugs!

Donovan Ironwood

Donovan is the eldest son of the Ironwood siblings. He’s Aromantic Asexual and tends to be rather quiet and reserved. A skilled dog trainer, he helps on the farm with his 10 dogs. I don’t have specifics but there are 4 Collies, 2 golden retrievers, a great dane, and a pomeranian. I’m not sure the other two, but all of the dogs are named after fruits. The Great Dane is named Banana, the Pomeranian is Cherry, and one of the collies is named Plum.

Sable Ironwood

Sable is the eldest daughter of the family and tends to handle most of the finances. She’s gifted with excellent mathematical skills! She’s Pansexual and Polyamorous, with 2 loving partners that are both skilled in graphic design and marketing. They handle a lot of the product form the farm that goes into the stores. She had 3 kids with her partners

Broderick Ironwood

Broderick is the first born behind James, and the older twin between him and Douglas. He does a lot of work on the farm and tends to stick to the crops. He is Bisexual and currently single!

Douglas Ironwood

The latest bloomer of the family, Douglas is the younger twin and didn’t realize that he was gay until he was in his mid 30s. He had a girlfriend who he ended up getting pregnant and it was around this time that he realized his sexuality. His girlfriend was his first relationship, having never put much weight on them in the past. The two split, but are still friends! She ended up giving birth to twin girls. Douglas lives as a single dad in Atlas (though maybe mantle im not sure), running a small grocery store of his family’s products.

Beryl Ironwood

Beryl, also called Berry, is the baby of the family. But don’t let that fool you. She’s an ace rodeo competitor and is the butch farm lesbian of your dreams.

[psijic-toast]

Happy Moofire Faire

[psijic-toast]

The Warrior of Light and Team Echo: - Qhota’li Lhitri - Wren Ironwood - C’ynthia Rhin - T’ahria Lasa - Beryl Ironwood - Narantsetseg Borlaaq (A.k.a, an inability to stay out of character creator)