#I know this is the most beaten horse of all time but I don't believe for a second people were not watching Zim at the time

[dirtyjvconfessions]

Not a confession but to heavily agree with what that other anon said about Steve Russell. He is definitely responsible for putting it in Zim fans heads that Jhonen is some kind of big asshole, it’s so disheartening that his trash talking of Jhonen to fans spiraled this far…where the assumptions persist..even today.

Steve was a huge jerk with the Zim crew, he was judging and bossing other members especially Rikki ( from his testimony that the other anon mentioned ) as if he was Zim’s creator and not Jhonen.

Fucking jerk and a creep too!! Fuck Nick for hiring this guy.

Fuck Nick indeed, just because Jhonen didn't wanna play ball with a literal pdf-file handler he got screwed over; twice if I'm not mistaken. The first time was with the show getting cancelled, the second was him and the crew not being able to create original merch designs to get their residuals. IIRC Nick used stills from the show instead. It's no wonder the guy took his time and waited to get more animated Zim content out when it was more viable with Netflix. If Jhonen hates anyone, it would be the higher ups at Nick and not the fans, full stop.

[blushblushbear]

Hi, good to have you back!

Okay so hear me out- Double proposals. Their going to propose to their wonderful S/O when they find out we had the same thing in mind. Like we both get on one knee and both end up whipping out rings? What's their reaction?

A headcanon with anyone you think would have most reaction to it

THIS ENDED UP BEING A LOT SO I'M PUTTING IT IN A READ MORE AHHHH

Nimh: He is so so flustered. He was actually low key mentally preparing for you to say no so the fact that YOU were already planning on asking HIM??? He's gonna need to sit down, the room is spinning and his heart is fluttery

Also I picture him asking on a picnic date.

Volks: He's stunned. Like actually just staring at you in disbelief. He'd SAY he knew you were gonna say yes (you had to at this point, ya know?) but part of him was really worried that you didn't actually want to. Or if you DID want to, you didn't want it as much as him, and he hates being the one who cares more (make him feel too vulnerable) (also I feel like he'd ask you at a waterfall???)

He plays it cool (if a bit stammery and flustered) while around you but rest assured when he's in bed later that night he is so excited and giddy and relieved-- he couldn't stop smiling AND NO ONE CAN KNOW

Kelby: He's shocked but like one of those drunk people who got showed some dope street magic. He's so pumped but also can't believe cause NO WAY! OH NO WAY! YOU WERE GONNA PROPOSE?? /HE/ WAS GONNA PROPOSE!!! HAHAHA OH MAN NO WAY!!! later he says that he wished in that moment that he'd told you 'jinx, you owe me a soda' (he asks you at your guys' favorite park, but he waits till sundown to make it extra romantic)

Eli: So this old school romantic fucker made it super obvious he was gonna propose. He showed up that evening on a horse dressed like a prince. And didn't even bat an eye that you were also dressed like royalty. He whisks you away for an evening of cheesy romance but just before he pops the question he actually looks deep into your eyes and gets all poetically sincere. When you smirk and pull out your ring and say "you were gonna ask the same thing" he smirks back with "had a feeling you were going to-- I love you, but I couldn't be beaten to the punch, darling! You understand! NOW PUT A RING ON IT BEYONCE AND GIVE YOUR FIANCEE A SMOOCH!" He jokes and smarms and cheeses but honestly he's really super grateful to have you.

Anon: He actually plays it super casual but the whole time leading up to it he's crazy nervous. He asks in a really low key way-- I think you're just playing video games at his place and he asks if you'd wanna maybe move in and also maybe make it forever and also maybe marry him. He legit plays it like it's a spur of the moment thing that he just blurts out but when you laugh he says he's serious and pulls a ring out of his pocket. He stares at you waiting for his answer and when you stammer he thinks for a moment that he's going to be rejected. But before that sinking feeling can make it all the way to his stomach you pulled out a ring and said you had been trying to think of the right way to ask. He lived and breathed off that high he felt in that moment for about 3 weeks.

Garret: Fully taken by surprise. He cries and scoops you up into his arms. He super can not believe you were planning on proposing too. says he wishes he had waited to ask now so you could ask first and he could give you the same happy feeling you're giving him right now! But he tells you "Don't worry, Garret will find many ways to give you that feeling for the rest of our lives!"

I'm thinking-- maybe apple picking date?? Or a fair date??

Dmitri: Candle lit dinner over looking the sea at a private table at one of the finest restaurants he could find. Rose petals EVERYWHERE, heart shaped EVERYTHING, he is in a tux with his shirt slightly open, HE RENTED A BAND. A string quartet to be precise. He makes the evening as classically romantic as he possibly could. He read you a poem that he wrote with the band playing in the bg. Then at the end of his poem, he gets down on one knee and asks you to be his forever. As you excitedly pull out your own ring he stares at it awestruck. He's silent and unmoving for a moment before his other knee drops down and he's now crying at your feet. He tells you how happy you make him, how lucky he feels, and holds out his hand for you to put the ring on it. He slips your ring on you and then dips you dramatically, telling you "Now kiss me under the stars, my darling"

Ichiban: He streams his proposal. He makes it seem like one of those things were it's like "oh ho ho my S/O doesn't know I'm about to propose to them-- what this~~! >:3" but then you throw him a curve ball and actually pull out your ring and ask him first. He was so sucker punched by the whole thing he ends up crying on stream. The clip of him getting a proposal jump scare goes viral.

William: He actually tries to keep it low key and sweet. Well-- tries to. He's definitely a fumbly nervous mess the whole night. Dinner, dancing and then a boat ride. He brings a boom box out onto the lake. He hits play and then does the whole down on one knee thing and starts his proposal speech, but part way through he realizes that this is the wrong track and asks for just a moment to switch it. He wrestles with the boombox for a bit before fumbling it into the lake. As he watches it sink down in the water, he sighs and feels so defeated, but when you call his name and he turns to you with a kicked puppy look only to see a ring in your hand he legit cannot believe his eyes. He is in stunned shock as you take his hand and give him YOUR proposal speech. The first thing out of his mouth is "REALLY?!" when you laugh and say yes as you slip the ring on his finger, he's still processing it and after a moment of staring at the ring on his finger, mouth agape, he repeats "REALLY?!"

He asks you if your sure or if this is real about a 100 times on the way home that night.

Myx: He got his band to give you a private show to "preview their new set", at the end of which he shouts a declaration of love into the mic and says "and I have just one question for you babe--" and the lights behind him light up with the words 'WILL YOU MARRY ME?'

and as you walk up on stage, drop to your knee and pull out a ring, he can't stop smiling. He kisses you and then WHOOs /SO LOUD/. To say he's over the moon would be an understatement.

Stirling: He takes you out onto a private lake that he owns and has specially flattened so he can skate on it without ruining his skates. He walks you through a graceful yet simple couples routine and then once you've got it down he hits some lights (were those always there?) and you two perform it in full. At the end he surprises you with one final move that was not in the choreography he had shown you-- he slides toward you on one knee, pulling a ring from his shirt and holding it out to you. You look surprised and tell him to wait one second, and then start awkwardly skating out to the end towards your bag. He sits there silently in that proposal pose feeling himself sweat for a second before you come sliding back towards him with your own ring in hand. He stares at it in shock for a moment before smiling sweetly and simply saying "even now, you're still full of surprises.

Scale: He left you a map. Well-- it was more like a puzzle or a riddle. You're own national treasure style hunt towards a 'big surprise' that he refused to tell you. You ran through busy streets, jumps across rooftops, went through a jungle, through a secret entrance behind a waterfall and climbed a secret stairway all the way to the top of a mountain-- all the while feeling like there was someone following you. When you finally got to the top of the mountain it seemed like no one was there-- until a dagger was flung in your direction and embedded itself in the tree behind you. A note was attached to the dagger that read 'turn around'. When you turned, you found a hooded figure looming behind you. "you probably are wondering why I brought you here..." It ripped off it's cloak to reveal Scale in a tux, "I have an important question to ask you." He walked towards you, dropped down on one knee and before he could take out his ring or even begin to ask you pulled out a ring of your own. He looked at it in shock with a blush on his face before leaping to his feet and saying "Wh--WAIT NO FAIR I WAS GONNA ASK FIRST!"

Sven: He had invited you over for a traditional home cooked meal but when you got there you found him in the kitchen, apron still on, oven mitts still on his hands as he was on the floor crying over what looked like it was a souffle but it was so burnt you couldn't be sure. When he noticed you there he started to bawl even harder "NO! NO NO! THIS IS NOT HOW IT WAS SUPPOSED TO GO!!" he curled onto the ground whimpering as he held back more tears and muttered "there was something I wanted to ask you... but I can't do it like this..." you knelt down beside him, petting his hair trying to console him. "I... actually had something I wanted to ask you too." you said. And then you pulled out a ring and his eyes went wide. "Sven-- would you" before you can even finish you are off the ground being spun around in Sven's arms as he beams "YES! YES! A MILLION TIMES YES!"

Cole: Cole planned to play it low key. He couldn't let his hand show too early. Tonight he was going to make you his, and you weren't gonna see it coming. He had booked a dinner at a nice restaurant. Not so nice that it would draw suspicion but definitely a step above your usual place. He was gonna wait till the end of dinner and spring it on you out of nowhere. It was the perfect plan. After the plates were cleared and it was just you, him, and two glasses of wine, he reached his hand over, taking your hand in his and bringing it to his lips to kiss with a sly smile. "Have I ever told you you look breathtaking in the moonlit? I'm sure I have, but it never hurts to be repeated." He reaches into his pocket to pull out the ring "In fact, I think it would be better if you go those sorts of compliments more often. Perhaps, everyday... an easy feat for me to do once your m--" he froze dead in his tracks as he opened his eyes to a ring box in front of you on the table. He let out a nervous laugh, "heh... w-what's this dearest?" Why was his palms suddenly so sweaty??? why was all of him suddenly so sweaty??? No matter, it's fine, it's nothing, he can remain calm. You open the box, holding it up for him, and asking you to marry him.

....YOU.... were asking HIM.... YOU..... were asking.... HIM???????? YOU--- YOU WERE OFFERING YOUR HAND TO HIM???? YOU WERE ASKING HIM???? YOU WANTED TO MARRY HIM???? YOU WERE PROPOSING????? he could feel his pulse racing YOU-- AND HIM--- YOU HAD A RING??????? YOU--- WERE ASKING---- HIM?????????

"Cole?" your voice cut through his sudden panic like knife. ...A soft and gentle knife.... he looked up at your eyes and you were looking at him with concern-- had he lost his cool???? oh, he guesses he HAS been just staring at the ring wide eyed and unblinking for a full minute now HA HA ha... he clears his throat, trying desperate to cover up any traces of swooning or being flustered "ahem-- YES, sorry, I uh--" he pulls out his ring and opens the box towards you, "I guess you beat me to the punch"

Poe: He takes you out into a field, with a picnic and many candles to help you both see. He reads you a book of poems that remind him of you, and then ends it with a poem of his own. He didn't flinch at any of the other sappy love poems he read that evening but as he drew to the end of his own, he was starting to sweat, knowing what comes next. He finishes off his poem and closes his notebook with a sigh. He reaches into his pocket but before he can pull out the ring you stop him and say that you have a poem you wrote that you wish to read him now. He could never pass up a poem from you. He listened to you with wrapped attention, your voice was like a lullaby. He let his eyes flutter close as he smiled and let your words wash over him. When you finished, he opened his eyes to a brilliant night sky, feeling the ring in his pocket. As he pulled it out and looked towards you, he was meet with a ring meant to be a mate to his. He was shocked, though aside from a blush it barely showed. He simply smiled softly and as he slipped the ring on your finger, said, "to the next chapter of our story..."

Cashew: The two of you had spent library dates quietly passing notes back and forth to each other, so that's how he decided he was going to propose. As he sat next to you sweating bullets in a library, he pretended like nothing was different, and this was a totally normal library date with totally normal notes and he totally didn't have a ring in his pocket or a rose in his backpack. Then the time came. You had slid your shared notebook over to him and he held up finger to indicate he was going to write something long and to give him a moment. When you nodded and turned your attention back to your book he covered the notebook a little a wrote 'will you marry me?' on it, he quietly pulled the ring out of his pocket and the rose out of his backpack and placed them both on the notebook, covering it up just enough so that you don't see yet. then he felt a tap on his shoulder and he nearly jumped out of his skin. He glanced over at you and saw a folded up prewritten note that had been sealed with a heart sticker (you were so cute), and as he took it, you glanced at him, pointing to note, indicating that you wanted him to read it. His aniexty flared up and he began to sweat even harder as he thought 'HA w-what if this is a break up note and I'm getting dumped right now? HAHA' with shakey hands he opened the note and a ring fell out pinged onto the table. reading the words on the paper 'will you marry me? Y/N' froze him in a moment. He was sitting there, staring at the ring on the table, clutching the note and vibrating with excitement.

Someone in the next isle shooshed him.

"HOLY SHIT-- I mean---" he lowered his voice, "holy shit!!!!! Y-yes! I---"

he slid the notebook your way, "YES!"

Seth: His was somewhat spur of the moment. He had gotten a ring but still hadn't figured out the right way to ask you. After about 3 weeks of racking his brain for the perfect proposal he finally just said fuck it. One night while you two were lying in bed he looked you square in the eyes and said "marry me?" at first you laughed it off but as he reached out and pulled the ring out of the draw, turned back to you, took your hand and looking at you once more replied, "I'm serious. Marry me." You looked at the ring in shock and surprise for a moment, "L-look, I know this isn't the romantic way to ask you, but I've been thinking about it for forever now and I figured it was time I just--" you rolled over to your side of the bed, digging through your clothes. For a second he thought you were about to get up and storm out on him but when you rolled back over with a ring of your own in your hand, he grew a crazy smile

"Hell yeah!"

[faces-in-unexpected-places]

Life is hard, but try to love it anyway.

I'd like to be long-winded and break this down to the finest particulates that I can, but I just don't have it in me at the moment, so I'll just say as much as I can and hope to god you process it and take it to heart.

Guys, life is hard. It's so fucking hard sometimes and it's so easy to get caught up in how hard it is, but please, please, please, even if it's just once, find some way to step back from it all and appreciate where you are, who you are, what you are, why you are. Appreciate all of it, because we don't know what happens when we die, and when our time comes, because it always does, you're not going to be content knowing that you put in more hours of work than anyone else.

You're going to remember things that you never thought would come up again. Hobbies you never actualized, people you never spent enough time with, people you never opened up to enough, little moments that didn't seem important at the time, but they're all you can think about now. Yeah, I know the sun gets in your eyes in the morning when you're driving, but if you look past that annoyance, you'll notice that you feel a little bit warmer, too! There are so many things that you don't realize you're going to miss.

I know it is hard, believe me, oh my GOD do I know that life is hard and it can hurt really bad. Life is the most painful thing we experience. But fuck, please remember to find the beauty in it. Love yourself, forgive yourself, cherish the little moments you have and do not let the pressures of work and society run your life and make you forget.

I know this is all cliche, and this horse has been beaten to death for centuries, but the reason it has been is because this lesson really is that important and we as a civilization still haven't really learned it. It's so easy to ignore and brush aside, again, I know, trust me. But try not to. This is all real, this is true, this is important. It is way more important than work and money and drama. These things are our reason for being. Just think about it. Love you guys and take care of yourselves and the people you love, I mean it.

[the-firebird69]

We do commend our son for getting stuff done and he put his trash cans away which is nice and he opens up the mail and pulled the letter out with the card and these people got in a big fight for doing it he doesn't know if any drywall he needs fixed so we are watching him smile people know what it is and they're going to town on these guys any other messing with the phone of BG at fisherman's village and they reminded our son that people can't tell who you are if you put a coat on there and for crying out loud they admitted doing it a long time ago and they're going to pay for it.

Several other things are happening

-these guys are getting severely beaten the secondary empire which is what it really is is hammering them flat and they are squealing from it a little and realling. We need to get on with what's going on here it is a huge battle

-at the 17th ring there's a big fight and there's a lot of people involved they are having a lot of problems out at the 17th ring meeting the warlock are getting flattened and they don't seem to have a chance and next few rounds are going to get pushed back they don't have people ready and they're running low and they're trying to round them now and they can't eventually they'll probably be at the 21st ring again encapsulating in prison and they're going to try to in prison our son and our son says you will pay with your lives if you try that for real Stan ignored if you want you'll be dead. And they're kind of cringing a little but they don't know the math even though when they were messing with him tons of theirs died and they lost companies and they lost fortunes and they're stupid these people don't know the math at all and the empire is having them do it and they are crashing once the fleet goes up they will definitely see it right now they're arrogant but this will break them and now the basis of the clones are going to be destroyed tomorrow morning they'll be gone all of it they're going to be out of commission tonight probably around 1:00 a.m. and by that time there won't be anything left for the most part and the morlok too around the same time. They'll be left in the city areas fighting over the same area and all of them fight each other and they're disgusting pigs and useless. Come to find out the clones plan on attacking the secondary empire and they will attack those bases and take ships and they will depower the criminals trying to apprehend our son and it's a flood system and it's a waste of time you're hurting yourselves but we don't want to go through it your asses for what you say you're morons and we're going to kill you all of you involved and you'll have no chance for survival the clones are going to face you down and stick their face right in yours and flip you the bird right to your nose and all this other horse s*** you say you're going to do to our son because you're so pissed off you act like animals and you sound like them this kind of talk and posturing is with nothing to you and you're going to find out the hard way and probably 10 or 20 minutes

Thor Freya

Olympus

This sucks you guys blow we can't do this with small I haven't told you the whole time you want to put them in prison you f****** piece of s*** Mike to and the rest of you I can't believe how dumb you are it says usually someone saying this is a prison guy and it doesn't do anything I'll say this you put him in prison everybody beats us up faster we saw it at O'Connor you guys are f****** nutcase

Bob marsh

Why isn't an oblique angle if people go directly after you Mike too they're going to go after you before you put me in prison it's so heinous to them

Zues Hera

And we're using it too we don't really want them in prison it's a waste of time oh was it bad enough for you we went to his s*** except pissing them off and we're getting injured and stuff because you're doing things that are sacrilegious we are too but holy s*** yet you're running around blabbing s*** having people blab it you mess up the max you're messing up the idiots it says I'm trying to cause chaos and weak in the top and ride but s*** put them in prison it rides everybody I get sucked in there too you a******

Tommy f

We're going over some stuff about you idiots that your mouth goes and your brain doesn't. Now it's going to be the other way around no you said they're both going to go and it's true pleasantly surprised that's what Mike too was when he got the call that their basrs tearing everything out and it was about 20 minutes ago and you're a f**** and a loser for doing what you did and what you're doing Mike tew. Your brothers and sisters and some stupid s*** put them in prison mack Daddy can't stand you we can't either.

Thor Freya

We can't stand you we can't stand you we can't stand you so f****** dumb some things you can't do you idiot but look now the empire is after you and you're not ready you're going to open another front and another front and go down like the school kid that you are you have no right running all this stuff and when run they Rudy is chastising you in the movie something with wicked this Way comes you can hardly stay awake hes saying so much stuff

I mean it Daniel you're an idiot you and your dumb cop uniform bring it wherever you go we got a nap on your f****** ass you're so dumb this s*** has put them in the prison we'll get something what he's saying is if you try and do that he's going to do gross and disgusting things to you and it's coming up tonight

Mac Daddy

Favorite few other things to mention we're going to publish now this is important

Olympus

[tombeane-blog]

Another Mediterranean Monday - Part II

January, 2023

And then all of sudden.... all our laughter, all our cheer and all our brotherly love turns to chaos, confusion and anger.

(Editor's Note: It is unclear precisely when and why the congenial situation began to turn into a large mound of human excrement.  But began it did.  

Most historians seem to agree that it may have started when one of the American heroes tried to nail down the final price of the trip.... maybe thinking it should be reduced by the cost of the shots of whiskey the local cabbie was inhaling.  Or, the American heroes may have believed the quoted price was in local currency while the drunken, lying, thieving carriage scumbag insisted his quote was in American dollars.  To make things worse, the mixture of English, Pig Latin, Esperanto and hand signals was no longer providing clarity.)

Members of the crowd within shouting distance start loudly gibberating their opinions on the matter.  Most of our previous BFF's now seemingly turn against us.  

Luckily, about this time, the police show up.

To this day, no one knows who said what to who.  

Everyone's best guess was that the police probably wanted to resolve the dispute without offending the citizens of the country that were throwing money around like a bunch of drunken sailors.  

In any case, the carriage driver was - we think - going to be charged with drunken driving and us three amigos were strongly encouraged to wolf down our drinks and hurry on back to our ship.

As we left the bar and start walking down towards the harbor, the last I saw of all this was our carriage driver, the police and a few bar flies - standing by the carriage, all in a knot -  shouting and gesticulating at each other.

We just continue ambling on down the street, wisely bypassing all the bars until we arrive at the harbor - where we encounter a whole different kind of mess.

The dock is large and it is crowded and it is drunk. 

Except for a few communist pinko wussies, the only people not falling down drunk are the officer in charge and his small entourage.  (In the old Navy, the math was simple - sailor+liberty=drunk.)

The wind has picked up and it is cold on cold.  The petty officer on dock duty tells us that because of the choppy water, the large liberty boats from the aircraft carrier will be used to ferry everyone to the smaller ships.

Alongside the dock are street vendors. Some are selling junk items that increase in price the closer it gets to midnight.  The food carts offer some sort of heavily spiced meat-on-a-stick.  It is rumored to be monkey...  It's probably not monkey...  Could be dog...  Probably not dog...  Could it be horse?...   (Please Lord, don't let it be rat.)

We eat a couple and they taste awesome.  It's like when you eat hot dogs - you love 'em but it's best not to know too much about them.

I wander around trying to stay warm and come upon one of my shipmates, a hospital corpsman, passed out and tightly tied down in a steel basket stretcher.  

I sidle over and ask what's going on...

"He does this almost every liberty.  He was drinking Ouzo all night and he finally went completely berserk.  Nearly started a riot.  It took multiple Shore Patrol to subdue him and they finally had to tie him down in the stretcher."

I think, "Well, for now he's in that wonderful peaceful in-between state that all sailors embrace - post liberty, passed out - pre-hangover - pre-pre Captain's Mast."

Over near edge of the dock is a 1st Class Bosun's Mate.  (A bosun's mate does all the real old timey hard physical sailor work on a ship.)

I'll call him Adams.  He's a lifer.  He supervisors all the lower ranked bosun's mates with an iron fist.  Adams is old school navy.  Everyone likes the heck out of Adams except for those poor tortured beaten down souls that work for him.  

Adams spots our tied down corpsman.  Taking note of the ship's patches from all the different types of ships, he raises his hand to the sky and proudly slurs to the crowd at the top of his lungs, "ONLY A *%@#'ing TIN CAN SAILOR CAN GET THAT DRUNK!"

Tensions on the dock rise as sailors from other classes of ships vociferate their differing opinions, not believing what all destroyer swabs fully agree - is an undeniable fact.

Among the yelling and shouting a few naval favorites ring out - "Up Yours!" "Damn Right!"  "*%@#'ing  Aaaa!"  "*%@#  YOU!" "All (insert ship type here)_______s SUCK!" - and so on.

With a big grin on his face at the chaos he's caused - and with a final proud, "*%@#'! Aaaa!",  Adams takes a step back and accidentally drops 5 feet out of sight into the freezing waters of the Mediterranean Ocean. 

Adams is a big guy with twenty years of navy chow crammed into his dress blues.  Also wearing an XXL wool navy peacoat, he probably weighs a ton in the water.  

A bunch of guys still sober enough to move, grab a boat hook, snag Adams by his peacoat and pull him to the edge - slowly hoisting him back onto the dock.

Using expert Navy emergency medical knowhow (no thanks to the comatose corpsman) somebody finds a blanket and wraps it around Adams' shoulders.  Medical attention complete, we all go back to waiting for the liberty boat alongside our shivering hero.  I'm silently thinking, "Proof that only a tin can sailor Can get that drunk!"

Shortly after, a menagerie of alcohol soaked, riled up sailors stumble onto the liberty boat.   Those not sitting are crammed shoulder to shoulder in the center of the boat.

Some drunk carrier bozo still angered up from the dock disagreement must have thought he was surrounded by his mates.  Looking around and seeing the patch on someone's shoulder, he commences to bad mouth destroyers.

Quickly a group of tin can sailors gather around the big mouth and start "readjusting" his wrongthink.  

A bunch of sympathetic sailors jump in front of the "teaching circle" to block the view of any nearby officers or chiefs.  Somebody probably whispers something like, "Hey, maybe don't kill him."  - because they stop the counseling after only 20 or 30 seconds.

I look across to the other side of the boat and there is an officer sitting there.  His head is turned and he's looking way off across the harbor as all this is taking place....

...maybe he sees, maybe he doesn't.

The liberty boat pulls alongside our steel gray floating home.  We disembark the liberty boat and lurch drunkenly up the gangway.  

We sort of semi salute and mutter, "mumble mumble abroad sirs"  We half walk, halve weave and half stumble forward and down through hatches and passageways until we reach our compartment.  Undressed and falling into my bunk, I am already dreading Reveille.  

I glance at my watch to see how much sleep I'm gonna get.  Not much.  It's 2:05 a.m.

Just another Monday in the Med.

[a-real-answer--a-new-start]

To get to Heaven, you must come to the cross LIKE A CHILD. Why?

Because, like a child, who—if you read the previous post about what a child is convinced he or she can do—if you ask them if they can do fun stuff, like dancing or singing…

They will answer your questions with a yes. Well, same is true that if you tell the children about flying horses, or talking whales, etc., chances are (barring, of course, all of the doubt and negativity of this worsening world having ruined any of these things yet) they will believe you. Well, the same is true about the Salvation of God. Some, like myself at one point, I'll admit, will think that Jesus, who came here, leaving His Heavenly Father's side, and then teaching us about Him, His Father, and His Father's Holy Spirit and their LOVE for us. And then after having taught many things that, to a sinful world, was completely alien and at times, even counterintuitive, making no sense at first, and then when the time was right, Jesus allowed Himself to be beaten so badly it would have killed most people, and then nailed to a cross, which takes hours to die by suffocating, and then 3 days later, He is resurrected back to life and spends a little more time with us to help us understand how and why all of this was done to the Son of God who never had sinned. He even died in the worst way, saved for the cursed, the damned, the worst offenders.

Why? He paid the death that we owed for our sins. Which is why it says,

"But God demonstrates His own love toward us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.

For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.

And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation."

—Romans 5:8-11 NKJV

(emphasis, bold, & coloring mine)

LIKE A CHILD, who has nothing: nothing to give, no means of payment, and is basically helpless.

So, coming to the cross, and saying,

"Lord Jesus: I know that I have sinned. I know that I

• I am a sinner.

• I have no possible reason to deserve your forgiveness.

• I have no way of getting myself out of this mess.

• I have tried everything else.

• I don't want to dismiss your free gift, in fact, Thank you, Jesus. Thank you for loving me enough to pay for ALL of my sins, past, present and future.

• Please Jesus: come into my heart and into my life.

• I know that you and you alone are my Savior and my Salvation.

• I do believe, and accept, that you did die and that you rose again and conquered sin and death.

• I accept your free gift and acknowledge you as my Lord and Savior.

• And I know that there is nothing else that I can do or that I must do ever again. You paid, once for all.

• I know that I am not perfect and though I am not planning on it, I know that even though I am no longer a slave to sin, that old habits, 'the flesh', still will want to sin. But I know that you will always provide a way out and that if... when I do sin, you already forgave that sin and that I need not beat myself up. I can use it as a learning experience.

• You are now, if you really meant this (and it doesn't have to be this elaborate) but if you meant this, then you are now, and forever a child of God. You have cause to be excited, knowing that you will have God's Holy Spirit living in your soul and life and you will receive at least 1 Gift of the Spirit and you don't need to worry, you may not notice it right away. But I promise you, it will come. (Find 1 Corinthians Chapters 12 and 14 [in the New Testament] )

Thank you, Heavenly Father, Thank you Holy Spirit, and Thank you Jesus, the Son of God, all together you are the Trinity.

Now, welcome brother or sister. I will provide you with a few free links to help you get your bearings and learn more about the wonderful things that God has in store for you. Prepare to be amazed.

You may ask God for His help, and talk to Him about anything, and there is no such thing as praying too much, He is NEVER too busy for us. Anyway, whatever you ask for or even just pray about, it is best to finish with, "In Jesus's Name, Amen."

I will put in another post with some links as I said. You will never have to be or feel alone again.

Your fellow Brother in Christ,

Michael C.

[minny5ca2018]

Suleyman and Hurrem Muhtezem Yuzyl

In the Turkish TV show Magnificent Century, I really don't think that Suleyman knows which way is up at times.

He's always, regarding Hurrem, a doubting Susan, until the last moments that is. And by then, she's sick and dying. Up until that moment he'd always sided with his family. But one by one in this show, they proved him wrong.

This however has no bearing on the real life couple. This is only with regard to the TV drama.

During the course of the series Hurrem has been beaten to a pulp by Mahidevran, poisoned by Gulshah while doing Mahidevran's bidding and had a dagger pulled on her.

They've tried to marry her off and thrown her in the dungeon. They killed her horse and set fire to the woman. They cast a spell on her - actually black smoke incense blowing out into her bedroom making her crazy and hallucinate.

They deliberately set bandits on her in an attempt to kill her. Bit by bit the worst culprits turn out to be Ibrahim and Suleyman's family, namely his mother and all his sisters. They are vile and treat Hurrem horribly. Hatice even has her kidnapped. Thank goodness for M. Bali Bey, who like a dog with a bone, for the second time rescues Hurrem and brings her back.

And they're all wondering why she lashed out at them all, behaving like she did.

If she schemed and plotted, given her treatment from them, who'd blame her?

Most of their antics backfire and only serves to drive the girl closer to Suleyman.

In the end Hurrem winds up being the legal wife of the Sultan and it all hits back against them as she systematically watches as they all fall as her powerful hold on everything builds.

But on the surface, Suleyman always seems oblivious as to who is causing all the misfortune that befalls Hurrem. He seems reluctant to believe the worst of his family.

He always gets angry at Hurrem and tests her loyalty to him, time and time again. But Hurrem is loyal to a fault with Suleyman and their children. She even willingly drank what she thought was poison for him. What drives Hurrem is love, but she is possessive and doesn't share well. She lashes out at anyone who she thinks would hurt her children, or threaten Suleyman's position on the throne or take him from her. She tells Suleyman many times - if there is no Suleyman, there is no Hurrem. She threatened to kill herself rather than share him with another.

Her behavior in this respect is made worse when Suleyman continues to sleep with other women while with Hurrem. A polygamous society, he would not believe that he did anything wrong, but jealous Hurrem doesn't see it that way. It continues to happen and Hurrem continues to meddle and plot against these women. As she rises in power as Empress Consort, her manipulating gets more sophisticated and determined.

Suleyman only gets angrier, but in the end, to appease Hurrem, he sends the women away.

First with the two Russian concubines, then with Isabella and also Firuze. In the first case, he wanted Hurrem more than the two Russian women so he sent them away. And gave Hurrem the brooch he'd made as a peace offering.

In Isabella's case, he warned Hurrem to stop meddling, but when she didn't, and the woman was almost poisoned and the viewer was led to believe that Hurrem ordered the princess killed, I think Suleyman interfered and got the princess out of there both to protect Hurrem from the others trying to frame her for killing Isabella, and to protect Isabella from Hurrem's plotting.

In the case of Firuze, Hurrem told Suleyman that Firuze was from their Persian rival Safavid Dynasty. But, because Suleyman decided that Firuze was not a spy to have kept her it meant he would have had to marry her. Sum Bul Aga gave this information to Hurrem much to her chagrin. Afife Hatun however tells a relieved Hurrem that Suleyman decided to send Firuze away - Hurrem all this time has been carrying poison around preparing to kill herself rather than share Suleyman. At one point Afife stops Hurrem from doing so in a heartbroken moment of despair.

Despite his feelings Suleyman sends Firuze away and through Rustem Pasha Hurrem arranged a date for her with the Persians.

Yup, Hurrem wins again. And two episodes later after Suleyman recovers from being poisoned over several months (Firuze?) he's spouting poetry again to Hurrem. The lovesick bloke.

But it just cycles with Suleyman. Hurrem schemes. He gets angry. Then he forgives her. Every time. Over time, he's banished her and exiled her. But he always goes back to Hurrem.

As time goes on after she's rescued by Bali Bey, he puts her from him again and says I will never trust you or believe you again. He moves on and flaunts other women in front of her. He has another child, a daughter, by a concubine. Hurrem gets upset over it all - but by that time Hurrem is no longer able to conceive children. Even so, she fretted about the child being a boy. Through Nurbanu, she has the concubine killed. The daughter actually dies young. But, still Hurrem interferes to protect her own children.

As the years pass, Suleyman again is ill, and Hurrem stays by his side and looks after him along with the physicians. They keep his illness hid, but sooner or later it gets out and Mahidevran and the others flock to his beside, hoping His Majesty will succumb to his illness.

Mustafa and Hurrem at this time have an honest talk at Suleyman's bedside where Hurrem insists she had nothing to do with the recent attempt on Mustafa's life.

At this moment, the growing popularity of Mustafa with the people and the Janissary really shows and without Mustafa's help, his brother Selim's life would have been threatened by the restless Janissary.

Thankfully Suleyman recovers and order is restored.

Suleyman's recent illness, made him see once again just how loyal Hurrem is to him and his place on the throne as Padishah. He starts to thaw towards her, but is further troubled after events and growing dissention with the Safavid Dynasty and the increasing popularity of Mustafa with the people and the Janissary that forces Suleyman to order the execution of Mustafa much like increasing mistakes had forced him to execute Ibrahim.

It all sets him apart emotionally from everyone including Hurrem. But it didn't stop him from protecting her however. He has a habit of going out disguised and walking around the city as such. He discovered on one occasion people in general were gathering around coffee shops and drinking coffee and mouthing off every gossip going. Including bad mouthing his Queen, calling her a Russian witch who had bewitched the Sultan into marrying her. That was bad enough but another incident at similar shops sparked the gathering of a mob who had cornered Hurrem and threatened to stone her. In the heat of the moment, Hurrem walked out into the street and stared them down while Suleyman arrived at the precise moment that one of them was about to strike his Queen.

He can get angry at her, but you don't harm his Sultana!

As a result of all the melee coffee and the coffee shops are banned in the city.

All this time, Suleyman is continually reading from what looks like journals - Ibrahim's?

They ultimately blamed the attack on Hurrem to one of Suleyman's sisters and when confronted, she doesn't deny it, saying that Hurrem is a demon. All of his family have hated Hurrem and even Ibrahim... Suleyman replied saying that Hurrem is no angel but nobody is. But unlike you, (his sister) she is loyal to a fault. She has never betrayed him or stabbed me in the back or tried to remove him from his throne. Ever. He ultimately banished his sister.

But, suddenly we have a change in Suleiman's opinion on Hurrem. After all these years he suddenly realized that she had never betrayed him. Where did that knowledge come from? He went from declaring that he'd never believe or trust her again to declaring that she'd never betrayed him. Wow. Big turnaround. Same thing with Isabella. He never was that hard on Hurrem about it because he knew she hadn't harmed the princess. He knew where she went - therefore he had to be the one who got her out of there. Same with Firuze - when he found out someone had been poisoning him for months - it was a good bet it was Firuze. There's nothing deadlier than women. Again, he knew that Hurrem was right. He's realizing that Hurrem always has his best interests at heart. Always. It's just her love is possessive.

Once Suleyman was able to let go of his emotional hold and anger regarding Mustafa and when he realized that the other woman he'd hung around, Senora Mendes had deceived him, he wrote the letter/poem, went back to the Palace ahead of Hurrem and left the letter for her to find on her bed in her chamber.

Hurrem comes back to the Palace and finds the letter.

Smiling at each other, they meet in the corridor and embrace each other with longing.

Though glad to be close to Suleyman again, Hurrem is wary, thinking that his affection is suddenly from genuine compassion and obligation. She realizes that his intentions had nothing to do with her illness, even though Sum Bul had told Suleyman about it after he'd left the letter.

Their scenes as the final Hurrem episodes count down is a marvel to watch. He starts spouting poetry again... they become like one person. Amazing. Love truly wins. In spite of her illness at this point. They are like one person as she once again starts sharing his bedroom. "I want you beside me, your breath is enough,"

Vahide Percin as the older Hurrem truly lights up once Hurrem is back together with her Suleyman. She totally rocked it as much as Meryem Uzerli did as the younger Hurrem. With makeup she likely could have continued the role - alas the viewer will never know. Meryem was an absolute icon in that role. No doubt about it

Halit Ergenç as Suleyman is a total hottie and his voice and the poetry - you can watch the women playing Hurrem simply melt. I don't blame them. Wow. He rocked.

Magnificent Century so well acted and yet so much of a soap opera. Emotionalized fiction. But still parts of it are so far apart from the real life Hurrem and Suleyman.

But they got the love part right. Love wins. They loved each other. I have no doubt about it. I question the other women though especially later. Every account I have read said that he was faithful to Hurrem. Hmmm.

[glowingbadger]

May I request Sylvain with an S/O who has two Crests, but is cheerful and energetic most of the time? They don't let what happened in the last affect their present self, but they do spend time researching Crests for their own reasons. During the war, they get cold and distant, mostly to protect themselves from the pain of loosing anyone else they cared about. With persistence, they do warm up and return to that cheerful self.~🌺

Hope you don't mind if this is still written in the second person perspective- I find it's easiest to engage the audience that way~

Sylvain x OC/Reader - Fluff

Sylvain knows what it's like when a person's light fades. He's been told that, before he came along, his brother was a bright and energetic child- though all of that had been smothered in resentment by the time Sylvain came to know him. Then there was Felix, who had been so sweet in their childhood, but whose eyes had sharpened and clouded over with anger and regret. Others came to mind- comrades and schoolmates whose hearts would never be as light as they'd been when their greatest concern was homework or a date. But then there was you.

Five years later and five years beaten down by battle after battle, endless marching and hours spent tallying deaths as marks on a leger, Sylvain recognized with dread in his heart that the prior spark had dimmed from your eyes. He's seen this before, but it's never hurt quite this badly.

Today, you're in the library, as usual. It would have been a nostalgic sight- these shelves were the walls of your second home back in your school days. But back then, you were surrounded by friends. You studied together, traded ideas, complained about being bored or tired together. Sylvain had watched as slowly, day by day, you'd closed yourself to your companions, and fewer and fewer people shared your time among those same books and tomes. But when he seeks you out today, he's resolute in his heart that he won't be turned away as well.

"Hey there, Y/N."

He's got his usual charming grin firmly in place as he tugs a chair up next to you and plops down. You barely raise an eyebrow as you side eye him and say,

"Uhm... hey, I guess. Did you want something?"

"Yeah, actually," he says, scooting his chair a bit closer to you, "I want the rest of your afternoon, if it's available."

You finally look over at him, but it's to make your distaste as evident as possible. You sigh and turn back to your book- one on hypothetical crest theory that you've already read, but that you felt warranted a second look.

"Your usual nonsense, then." you finally mutter. Sylvain remembers then how you used to play along with him- how you used to laugh and try to come up with a pickup line more saccharine and over-the-top than any of his. His smile wavers just a bit, only to become warmer and more tender. He says your name softly this time, and with a tone of earnestness you're not accustomed to from him.

"Just tonight," he says, reaching out a hand to brush your hair behind your ear, prompting you to finally turn to face him in full, "And if you like, after tonight, you'll never have to see or hear from me again. But tonight's special- and I'd like to show you."

Sylvain can't begin to parse what may be going through your mind in the pause that follows his words. Then, you sigh heavily and move to stand up,

"I was in the middle of this book, not that you care." you grumble, though you're already closing it, turning to follow Sylvain's lead. His grin widens and he simply says,

"Bring it with you then. Come on."

You truly had no desire to be Sylvain's prospect for the evening. There were a thousand more productive ways to use your time. But when he leaned close to you in the library that day, with that boyish smile that brought out the creases at the corners of his eyes, something long dormant had begun to stir in your heart. Not that you couldn't at least try to convince yourself otherwise. After all, you're an expert in the practice of stifling your hopes and expectations, and by the time it becomes clear your shared horse is headed towards the nearby shoreline, you'd successfully calmed your fluttering heart.

If it's a "long walk on the beach" he wants, then fine- you'll turn him away as you had many others, and he'll set his sights on his next conquest. You could return to your research and your solitude with little disruption.

You both leave your shoes where your horse is tethered inland, where grass begins to make way for sand. It's late afternoon now, tending toward evening, so the sand is warm but not uncomfortable on your bare soles. Sylvain checks on you regardless, and you wave away his concerns.

He'd said he had something to show you, but all you can see in any direction is sand, ocean and sky. As if you didn't know those existed. Maybe you should give him some pointers for his next date.

Still, you're relieved that he doesn't seem to be in a particularly chatty mood. Ordinarily, you would have expected him to be showering you in sweet talk and flattery. Instead, you walk side by side in relative silence, trading brief words here and there, but nothing of any substance. Until you finally say,

"Listen Sylvain, what is it you wanted to show me?"

He stops walking, and his hand at your arm prompts you to stop as well. When you turn to face him, you're struck by how the light of the gradually setting sun dances around his mess of orange hair like a halo. No wonder he chose this location- he wears the scenery like it's been tailored to him.

"When was the last time you took a second to look at all of this? I mean, really look." he says, gesturing around the two of you. You open your mouth, but realize you have no reply, and shut it. "Sylvain steps towards you, "I mean, look at this!" he turns out toward the sea, where the sun is delicately perched on the horizon, "Can you even believe this many colors exist in one view?"

"It... it is nice," you murmur, shifting awkwardly beside him.

"I chose tonight for a reason, remember? It's because of those clouds," he nods up towards the sky, and you follow his gaze, "The sunset is always most beautiful when the light reflects off of the clouds. I wanted you to see that."

He's right, of course. As the sun dips lower beyond the sea, a glorious spectrum of color glows before you- reds and yellows at the horizon, blues and purples and refracted orange along the clouds. A warmth grows in your chest that you haven't felt in a long time. Perhaps you have been inside the Monastery a bit too much lately. Sylvain says your name once more, prompting you to turn towards him again.

"I know our lives right now are... complicated. They're messy and brutal, and... we've both lost a lot." his hand raises tentatively, and when you don't move away, his fingertips brush your cheek, "But I need you to know that even with everything that's been lost- there's still beauty when you look for it. All of this is still here. I'm still here," he pauses, and his gaze falters for just a moment, "if- if you want me here is what I, uh... yeah."

You bring your hand to rest on Sylvain's where it cups your face, and though still a bit awkward and a bit shy, you smile up at him.

"Thanks, Sylvain," you say, the slightest tremble evident in your voice, "thank you for... everything."

He exhales and leans forward to rest his forehead against yours.

"There it is. That smile of yours." he murmurs softly, "You can't imagine how much I've missed it."

[jensonsbuttons]

hello and welcome to another addition of "katie goes through the answers of the "tell me something funny" question on my quiz" brought to you via request from @lancestrolls !!!!

we got some *pretty* wild responses and i cannot wait to share them. i didn't go through all of them because there's been a lot of people taking it the past few days and i accidentally hit the back button so i lost my space and don't want to scroll that far! that being said, let's get into it:

- Once again to all those that said “my life” or “life” or any variation………you good???

- “I banged an F1 driver's dad but I won't say which one” - what a way to start this list

- “my mother (70) keeps a plastified photo of kimi raikkonen winning his wcd in her wallet because, I quote "he repels off bad luck. Trust me" - incredible

- “What's an astronaut's favorite key on the keyboard? The space bar” - thats an out of this world joke if i say so myself

- “there’s something lose between my legs apart from the obvious” - nice one.

- “something funny” - a classic

- “Was walking home from school and because it recently snowed, there were some children having a snowball fight. Like 6 to 8 years old. I went past them and saw that one of the older boys was throwing a snowball onto one of the smaller children. Cue the small child absolutely yelling "you fucking wanker". Had to walk away quickly to not burst out laughing ^•^” - love this story about a young guenther steiner

- “everyday I think about Nelson Piquet starting next to Andrea DeCrasheris and being like I want to die instead of driving” - SORRY???

- “I have a sound engineer friend from Poland.and a Czech one too and a Czech one too” - sad to say it took me reading out loud to get it but when I did absolute chuckles.

- “it's a yoke ! A YOKE !!”

- To the person that left their twitter handle and wants to be friends that’s fine but uhhh I do not use twitter

- “pls I need you to know theres a video of Nico Rosberg getting beaten by a 9 year old in mini carts and its the reason I stay alive” VIDEO PLEASE

- “pierre gasly reminds me of that chipped tea cup from beauty and the beast and idk why lol” - THIS IS. SO FUNNY??? AND THE PERSON THAT SUBMITTED IT PUT DOWN THE NAME CHARLES.

- “Cats wearing socks” - kitten mittens??????????

- To the person that said you aren’t funny but wished me a good day/night, thank you and also don’t sell yourself short.

- Idk why but this is the second time I’ve looked through results and both times someone has just said “frog.”

- “I hope you're doing well, and your bed is nice and warm and cozy!!” THANKS. right back at you pal.

- “here's a yoke my 7 year old nephew told me: what word has the most letters? postoffice.”

- “My cat is named shitfur and shes actually pretty cool and my family horse is a himbo who once put his snoot in the anthouse and he sneezes ants for a week” - apologies to your horse but this is the funniest thing I’ve ever heard

- “what does the buffalo say to his son when he leaves for college?? bison” - a classic

- “I was supposed to study for my "general surgery" exam but here we are, hello” - best of luck pal please do good surgery

- “ok….this is not funny but i do believe lewis would have been a club promoter in another life” - *scribbles notes furiously* okay and tell me more about that

- “KACHOOOOWWW THE FANBASEE”

- “Haas WCC” - RIP

- “everyone is convinced i’m half in love with this guy but i only made people believe that so they don’t know that i’m crushing on his best friend instead. send thoughts and prayers.” - THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS PAL

- and finally someone just wrote: “dicks”

[beeblackburn]

First Law for the blorbo meme?

blorbo (favorite character, character I think about the most): I am terminally Black Calder-brain poisoned. I love almost everything about him that I even wrote a prior ask meme answer on him that still broadly applies. If anything, after The Wisdom of Crowds, it hurts even more. His ending there is perfect and I'm going to be consumed by feelings at the tragedy and how Calder's personal flaws and loves led to that conclusion in that familial line. 😭

scrunkly (my “baby”, character that gives me cuteness aggression, character that is So Shaped): Let's see... canonically chunky by The Trouble with Peace, depressed-as-hell, self-deprecating with too much teeth at the core of him, inability to self-care and, instead, trying to tend to others to overcompensate, thoughtful and compassionate, takes too much fault, almost to a narcissistic degree? Really, none of the others had a fucking chance above Crown Prince Orso.

scrimblo bimblo (underrated/underappreciated fave): I intuitively want to say Vick, but I actually think more people are seeing her virtues as a character, come The Wisdom of Crowds and the trilogy as a whole, so I'll go with something more off-the-beaten path: Scale Ironhand. Genuinely love his relationship with Calder, it's so wholesome and adorable on his end (it... ends up being so on Calder's end too, but it's complicated by a few factors), and he believes in and cherishes Calder dearly. Abercrombie even makes his original trilogy's eye-bulging short temper hilariously sweet by having him threaten Tenways for calling Calder a coward. And I love how The Heroes shows a different sort of facet to him, that he's a bit simple-minded, but he's got a great understanding of Northern military culture and even how Bethod operated. And he's hilarious in The Age of Madness, along with Stour. And heartbreaking, once the knife slips in. Scale's so underappreciated and I love this pinhead.

glup shitto (obscure fave, character that can appear in the background for 0.2 seconds and I won’t shut up about it for a week): Luline Buckhorm! She feels lived-in as a mosaic POV, torn between resentment and love for her family and yearning for her own dreams, and her snippet always strikes me with such sadness at how much she and her husband are likeable, decent people who understandably don't want to drudge up anything too harsh to the surface and hurt each other. Also, damn, she's a vengeful treasure, given her cheer at the Ghosts being killed by Lamb after two of her boys were killed by them. Go on, Mrs. Buckhorm.

poor little meow meow (“problematic”/unpopular/controversial/otherwise pathetic fave): Let's be frank: all three of these last questions were laser-designed for The First Law because Joe Abercrombie sure is interested in writing utterly pathetic men and I approve. I'll say Stour Nightfall, because he's such a pathetic failboy. Despite being one of the best warriors of his time, despite being coddled and groomed for kingship, despite having the ruthless edge to him to get what he wants, he still loses it all while Abercrombie is clearly trying to hold in his laughter at what a loser he is. He had a soul patch at one point, what. 🤣 Not even Leo could aspire to such failboyhood because at least Leo has good taste in male features.

horse plinko (character I would torment for fun, for whatever reason): Seriously, laser-designed. My god, we are spoiled for choices here. Collem West, to be honest. Glokta's used to pain and torture, so it wouldn't be beneficial, nor fun. But, I don't know, I'd give West a stubbed toe or something, at bare minimum. Make his daily life all the more inconvenient. It's certainly better than what he deserves, but as his sister says, "No one gets what they deserve."

eeby deeby (character I would send to superhell): Can it be anyone but Bayaz or Sand dan Glokta? Bayaz for the obvious reasons, but it's not like Glokta's any choir child. He's a meaner, smaller shadow of Bayaz, at best. Really, any shades of Bayaz can go to the Other Side and face Euz's wrath and get magic-gibbed by him.

[a-blue-secret]

CHAPTER IV

BACK TO MASTERLIST

Chapter III | Chapter IV | Chapter V

GENRES: royal au; fantasy au; magic au; friends-to-enemies-to-lovers; king!beomgyu, vizier!taehyun

PAIRING: taegyu

WARNINGS: none

WORD COUNT: 3.2k+

AN: I did a little fencing when I was younger, so this is based on my very limited experience. I had fun writing this part- there's not as much angst!

SUMMARY: Best friends turned enemies, Kang Taehyun has managed to trick Choi Beomgyu into his service, and to rule for a year and a day, until his youngest brother would be old enough to take the throne. Choi Beomgyu has no intention of being obedient however, and tries to thwart Taehyun’s orders at every turn. With a growing amount of distrust and lies within the court, will Taehyun manage to keep the kingdom of Gojongja from falling apart?

So how good are you at fencing, Yeonjun?” Beomgyu asked, picking up his foil. He’d already finished getting dressed, and was waiting for Yeonjun to be ready too.

“Me? Oh, I am by no means a master,” Yeonjun said as a servant tightened his gloves. “But I am rather good, if I do say so myself. How about you, Your Greatness?”

“Well, I am a master myself. Be prepared to lose in the sorest ways possible,” Beomgyu grinned. Yeonjun smiled back, picking up his own mask and foil. “Ready?”

Yeonjun nodded, and stepped aside. “After you, Your Greatness.”

.・゜-: ✧ :-　　

“En guarde.”

They raised their foils towards each other.

“Pret.”

Beomgyu was rather surprised to see Yeonjun’s stance looking so firm. No one he’d sparred with had looked that comfortable in a fencing stance before.

“Aller.”

Beomgyu advanced almost immediately, thrusting his foil out towards Yeonjun’s side. The elder back-stepped quickly, staying just out of reach. They exchanged hits, moving backwards and forwards as they alternatively defended and attacked. Finally, Beomgyu managed to strike Yeonjun on his back, using the flexibility of the foil to curve it round to touch Yeonjun. They parted, panting.

"Break?" Beomgyu offered. Yeonjun nodded, already taking off his face guard.

As a servant handed them a towel each, they walked over to a table with drinks on them.

"Wow, you're pretty good," Yeonjun marveled, gulping down the water. "No one I've met has ever been able to perform that so well before."

"Thanks," Beomgyu said, patting the towel along his hairline. "It takes ages to master as well. I'm not surprised there are few people you know who can execute it."

"How did you learn it?"

"My father," Beomgyu explained. "He was a general slash Lord. He taught me how to fence, how to do bareback horse riding, how to sword fight, and so much other stuff."

Yeonjun nodded. "Wow. Your father sounds so cool."

Beomgyu smiled. "He was. Anyway, how did you learn fencing?"

"In court. I was born a noble, so it's kind of a given that I had to know how to do it, so I was taught by fencing masters."

"Cool. Here in Gojongja, I believe we have a swordsmanship school where the kids can learn sword fighting and fencing. It's kind of like a summer camp thing I think? I heard we had it anyway."

"I heard that you do."

Beomgyu set down his glass, and placed his mask on top of his head. "Ready to go again?"

Yeonjun grinned. "Get ready to be beaten by me."

Beomgyu laughed, taking his foil from a servant as they walked back. "Oh, you wish."

.・゜-: ✧ :-　　

"It almost looked like you were using a whip! How did you do that?"

Beomgyu and Yeonjun finished fencing (with Yeonjun not even managing to touch Beomgyu once), and Beomgyu suggested they go do archery. They were currently walking through the castle to find the door which led to the outdoor fields.

Beomgyu laughed. "You're not going to let go of that, are you?"

"No, I'm not! I've never seen someone do that before!"

Beomgyu let out a chuckle, tapping the side of his nose. "It's a secret."

"...It was luck, wasn't it?"

"What are you talking about?? It was a tactic which I 100% meant to use, and how dare you think otherwise!"

"Yeah it was. Don't deny."

".... Okay fine, maybe it was, but it was still cool, right?"

Yeonjun looked at Beomgyu, and they both burst out laughing. Their light-hearted banter reminded Beomgyu of how it used to be between him and Taehyun. With Taehyun always saying a sarcastic comment, or seeing through Beomgyu's bravado, and then all it took was one shared glance and they'd start laughing. The thought made Beomgyu a little sad, and then angry. He pushed thoughts of Taehyun aside. He shouldn't be thinking about the younger. Right now, it was about bonding with Yeonjun, and becoming friends.

"So," Beomgyu said. "You have any experience in archery?"

"Oh, loads," Yeonjun said. "I'm a bit of a Robin Hood myself."

"Ah," Beomgyu sighed regretfully. "I'm not the best archer in the field, so it seems like in this sport you'll have the upper hand."

"Hey, don't doubt yourself," Yeonjun said. "You never know! You might beat me again."

"No, but archery seriously isn't my strong suit," Beomgyu said. "I remember in one of my archery classes, we were meant to hit the board which was like three metres away, and I managed to get the arrow caught in the tree. Behind us."

Yeonjun laughed. "But this was when you were little, right? Surely much has changed since then."

"It was five years ago."

"See? Five years! Not that bad, eh?"

"I was twenty."

"Ah." It was obvious Yeonjun was at a bit of a loss as to what to say to that. Beomgyu laughed, nudging Yeonjun.

"I'm joking! I was five. This wasn't five years ago, don't worry. I've improved since then, I'm sure. I think. I hope."

.・゜-: ✧ :-　　

Beomgyu stared at Yeonjun's target. The elder had managed to get two in the bullseye, and three in the red ring. He was watching intently as Yeonjun shot his last arrow.

Thwip!

It landed right in the center of the yellow bullseye, and Beomgyu clapped.

“Whoo! Well done!”

Yeonjun grinned, and playfully bowed. “Well, I did say I was a master at archery.” He sighed a little regretfully, walking up to the target to tug at the arrows. “It’s annoying I didn’t get these three in the bullseye too.”

“You're good, though. Like, really good."

"Thanks. How did you- oh," Yeonjun laughed, seeing Beomgyu's target. Beomgyu had managed to hit everywhere apart from the centre. "Hey, at least you hit one into the red ring, right?"

"That one I shot with my eyes closed."

"Even better!"

Beomgyu laughed nervously, scratching the back of his neck. "I was aiming for the target's leg."

"You what?!"

“Yeah. That was my last arrow, and I thought, ah, whatever, let’s just aim for the leg stand, and then it just flew straight to the red ring.”

Yeonjun shook his head in wonder. “Wow. I guess archery really isn’t your area of expertise, huh?”

“Standing archery isn’t, but I can do it pretty well on horseback," Beomgyu said conversationally, going to take his arrows out of his own target.

“Woah,” Yeonjun said. “I can sort of do it, but isn’t it harder when you’re moving?”

“I dunno,” Beomgyu shrugged. “I find it easier because the momentum adds to the power of the arrow, and I was pretty much brought up on horseback.” He mimed going up and down as if on a horse, and brought an imaginary bow up to eye level and mimed shooting into the air. “Yeah, I find it easier on horseback.”

“That’s so weird! Most people are the other way round, because you have to take your hands off the horse, and your legs are like the only thing securing you. You must have really strong thighs then.”

“Yeah,” Beomgyu laughed. “I do. But my butt’s been hurting like hell recently every time I’ve gotten on a horse, so I’ve been taking a break from horse riding.”

“Well, you still up for a little horse riding session?”

“Hell yeah! I miss Toto.”

“Toto?”

“He’s my horse! Well, I say mine, but really he’s one with nature.” Beomgyu began talking animatedly to Yeonjun about Toto as they walked to the stables. “Oh, and just a fair word of warning: some of our horses are very, um, unique.”

“Unique, huh?” Yeonjun laughed. “We have unique horses back home. One of them has three legs.”

“Three legs? They’re not a race horse, are they?”

“You wouldn’t believe me if I said yes, would you?”

“No way! You make the three-legged horse run a race?”

“No, but Nellie is really, really good. Seriously! She’s won three times out of the five races she’s competed in.”

“Three-legged horse wins the race, hmm?” Beomgyu mused. "Well, our horses are even more unique than that."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah. You'll see."

.・゜-: ✧ :-　　

“I… When you said they were unique, I didn’t think you meant like this.” Yeonjun was staring at a horse in a dumbfounded state. The horse nickered, tossing its orange mane. Yeonjun started a little, stepping away. His wide eyes were fixed on her orange, beak-like muzzle. “How do you even breed these types of horses?”

“Easy. They breed among themselves. No, we don’t cross-breed the different animals,” Beomgyu laughed at Yeonjun’s shocked stare. “Starburst, for example, the horse you’re looking at. She’s just like that. We think a curse, but we’re not sure. Orion over there, though, is a type of elemental horse we found in the woods. He's among the last of his kind, and we're breeding them until they flourish again.” Beomgyu patted Orion's watery muzzle. "We're going to protect you, aren't we? As for Starburst, we're trying to make sure she stays okay while under a curse."

“How old is she?” Yeonjun asked, still standing a good deal away from Starburst.

“I don’t know. I think Taehyun said she’s been around even before he was born.”

“Woah.” Yeonjun raised his eyebrows. “He’s around the same age as you, isn’t he? And Starburst looks so young.”

“Yeah, Kang’s a year younger than me. I dunno, she might be immortal.”

“Can I…?” Yeonjun gestured to the horse.

“Oh yeah, yeah,” Beomgyu said. “Despite her appearance, she doesn’t bite. Well, she doesn’t bite much. Stroke her nose. She likes that.”

“How do you know so much about them?” Yeonjun asked, gingerly reaching out to Starburst. “About court and stuff.”

“Kang and I used to be best friends. He told me so much about everything. Also, I’ve been doing my own asking around. I like horses.” Beomgyu walked up to a greenish horse with a feather-like mane standing in the corner. “Hello, hello. Yes, I’m back now. Did you miss me?” The horse whinnied, tossing its mane before nuzzling its nose into Beomgyu’s shoulder. The boy laughed, stroking the horse. “Alright, alright, I get it. I missed you too, Toto. Are you ready for a ride?” He turned to Yeonjun. “You picked a horse yet?” he asked.

Yeonjun was still staring in surprise at the unusual horses. “I knew you had pegasi,” he said. “Those take part in your wars and parades. I knew about the unicorns, ‘cause we have them too. But everything else?” He turned around, face a mixture of shock and awe. “I didn’t even know half of them existed.”

“Benefits of our long history of preserving wildlife and our abundance of wild forests, I guess,” Beomgyu said, taking out a brush. “Anyway, do you want me to choose you a horse? Tell me what you want and I’ll pick for you.”

“No, no it’s okay,” Yeonjun said slowly. “I’ll go with Starburst.”

Beomgyu nodded. “Good choice. Seems like she likes you as well. Oh! Yeonjun, meet Toto. They said he’s a breed of Amazona Equus. Apparently he’s a parrot-horse? I’ve never seen him sprout wings though, so yeah.”

“Well, uh, nice to meet you, Toto. My name is Lord Yeonjun.” Yeonjun bowed to the horse. Toto regarded Yeonjun for a few moments, before inclining his head in a bow of his own. Yeonjun smiled at Beomgyu in disbelief. “Did he just bow back at me?”

“Yep,” Beomgyu smiled. “It means he trusts you.” Yeonjun gave a smile.

"Okay, so let's go brush and tack the horses. Meet back in front of the stables?" Yeonjun asked. Beomgyu nodded.

"See you then!"

.・゜-: ✧ :-　　

"Whoo!" Beomgyu yelled. "Race you to the oak tree!"

"Hey!" Yeonjun called. "That's not fair! You're in front of me!"

"Come and catch up then, slowpoke!" Beomgyu laughed over his shoulder, galloping full speed towards the tree. He yelled out again, the yell turning into an overjoyed laugh at the end. His face was split into a wide grin. God, he'd missed this. The stinging wind whipping against his cheeks, the feeling of the powerful horse beneath his legs, the exhilaration he felt from riding. He'd missed it.

He glanced over his shoulder back at Yeonjun, who was riding behind on Starburst. He grinned. Leaning forward, he patted Toto’s neck.

“You ready? Wanna do the trick?”

Toto flicked his ears, letting out a neigh as they continued to canter towards the tree. Beomgyu laughed. “Okay bud. Get ready, ‘kay? I’m trusting you!”

Gingerly, Beomgyu released Toto’s reins. Toto seemed undeterred, continuing to go forward at a steady pace. Now was the hard part. Gritting his teeth, Beomgyu brought his knees up, closer to the saddle, before slowly easing them up further until he was crouching on Toto’s back. He looked back at Yeonjun.

“Wanna see something cool?” he yelled. Then, he stood up on Toto’s back fully, raising his arms up and letting out a loud whoop. Yeonjun cried out, either in terror or amazement, Beomgyu wasn’t sure. He couldn’t hear much over the whistling of the wind and the happiness in his heart.

“Whoo!” He tilted his head back, closing his eyes. But he immediately shot them open again, seeing that they were close to the tree. He jumped back down into the saddle again, laughing. “Was that fun? God, I haven’t done that in ages.” Toto flicked his ears again, and Beomgyu grinned, riding faster.

When they we're a short distance away from the tree, Beomgyu pulled at the reins, slowing Toto down to a walk. Yeonjun came thundering up beside him a few moments later, grinning and panting hard.

“Oh my god! You actually did that?”

Beomgyu laughed. “Oh, it’s nothing special.”

“Special? You stood on a horse’s back! And at that speed too!”

Beomgyu shrugged. “I find it easier at higher speeds.”

"Wow!" Yeonjun laughed. "I don't think I've ever galloped that hard before."

"Better get used to it," Beomgyu grinned. "Here in Gojongja, we ride hard and fast."

"Evidently," Yeonjun said, still out of breath. "Why don't we, uh, go for a little walk?"

"Okay," Beomgyu laughed. "Follow me. There's a cool lake around here somewhere I think."

Beomgyu and Yeonjun rode side by side, in amiable silence.

"So, tell me Yeonjun," Beomgyu said. "What was your life like in Aruyeonan court?"

"My life? My life was, well, almost ordinary for an Aruyeo noble. I live in a big house, have a large inheritance, have matters within court. I suppose what makes me different, however, is the fact that I always have matters within court. Her Supreme Highness is fond of a few select nobles, and those are the ones which she sees all the time."

"I assume you're one of them?"

"Yes. While you here in Gojongja have meetings with lots of Lords and generals, we narrow it down to five people plus the Queen."

"Ah yes, your Queen does not have a vizier, does she?"

"Queen Erajin does not, no."

"Hmm. Ah, we're near. See that shiny, round thing in the distance? That's the lake. We nicknamed it 'the Shield', because in just the right angle it looks like it's a huge, silver shield."

"Who's 'we'?"

"Oh, Kang and I. We used to come here," Beomgyu muttered. "But anyway! Here we are. You up for another race there?"

"You bet," Yeonjun grinned, already galloping off.

.・゜-: ✧ :-　　

They reached the lake and dismounted, letting the horses drink and rest for a little. The two of them wandered a little aimlessly around the lake.

You know," Beomgyu said, "I have experience within the Aruyeo court as well. You probably don't remember, but about two or three years ago I came to stay in your court."

"Oh really?" Yeonjun raised his eyebrows. "Hm, no, I don't think I remember."

"You guys were really welcoming," Beomgyu remembered. "Especially this one Lord. I can't remember his name exactly -I think it was foreign?- but he was adopted by the Jinju Choi clan. Kai? I think that's his name? Wait- Yukai? No, no, I remember. Hueningkai. He was really kind."

Yeonjun tripped over a pebble. "Sorry, didn't see the rock. Hueningkai, huh? Hmm… I know a lot of the nobles in my court, but I can't remember seeing a Hueningkai…"

"I dunno. He was really nice. I remember him because he was adopted by this clan, so he wasn't even native to Aruyeo court. And yet, he was welcomed so readily. You could see it, because everyone greeted him so normally. It was obvious he wasn't a pure Jinju Choi, and yet they didn't treat him any differently. It was nice."

Yeonjun nodded slowly. "We in Aruyeo pride ourselves on making no one feel excluded. It's one of the things we are adamant about."

"You guys sure do a good job of it then." Beomgyu laughed slightly. "I must confess, there were times I felt more at home within Aruyeo than I'd ever felt inside Gojongja." Yeonjun gave a small, proud smile.

They stood there, silently. Beomgyu was staring down into the lake, but Yeonjun was looking out back into the direction of the palace. He squinted.

"Hang on… is that Kang Taehyun?"

"Hm?" Beomgyu turned around, following Yeonjun's line of sight. "Oh. Yeah it is."

"And is he riding that horse… bareback?"

"Yeah." Beomgyu turned away, walking up to Toto before mounting the horse. "He's coming to lecture us about staying out. Must be almost supper."

"That's so cool though. He's riding bareback!"

"Eh, he's gonna lose his cool in a minute if we don't get going."

They both began making their way back to the palace, and Taehyun, seeing that they were coming towards him, halted his horse to wait for them.

"Do you know how long you were gone for?" Taehyun glared when Beomgyu was within hearing distance.

"No, and I don't care," Beomgyu retorted. "And did you seriously have to come riding bareback?"

"What, you have a problem with it?" Taehyun scoffed, turning the horse around back to the direction of the palace, Beomgyu a couple of places behind. "You shouldn't have a problem with it. It's better for the horses to have no saddle on them anyway."

"Uh huh."

"You're just mad that I'm right," Taehyun said. "Anyway, would Lord Yeonjun care to join us for dinner? It seems a little mean to get him to eat on his own."

"Since when did you care about seeming mean?" Beomgyu scoffed. Taehyun glared at him.

"Shut up. That's rude."

"Hey, don't tell the King to shut up. That's rude."

"Anyway," Taehyun said. "Would you like to eat with us? You spent the whole day with His Greatness, so perhaps it's only fit you eat with us as well."

Yeonjun inclined his head. "I'd be much obliged." He gave a slight grin. "I've been having meals in my room these last few days, so a change of scenery will be nice."

"Well let's hope there is any food suitable enough to eat," Taehyun said, glaring at Beomgyu. "It's an hour past supper time. An hour!"

"Stop nagging, geez! You sound like a mum. Ow! What the heck?”

Taehyun hit Beomgyu around the back of his head, causing the elder to glare at him.

“I’m the King! You can’t just go round hitting me on the head! What were you doing??”

“Simply trying to knock some sense into you,” Taehyun said calmly. “But then I realised you didn’t have any in the first place.”

Beomgyu rolled his eyes, before slowing down his horse so that he was in step with Yeonjun. “See? Kang has literally no respect for me whatsoever.”

“I can hear you,” Taehyun called. “And hurry up, or you’re not getting any food at all.”

[theseagull16]

Warning the following content includes swearing ideas of suicide attempted suicide and depression and anxiety and mental illness detailed graphic descriptions and sexual references and criminal acts which could be upsetting to some viewers viewers discretion advised before reading the rest of this post remember this is all of my own oc is not official and I don't know how to make it if it's even possible anyone knows please comment but for now is this is my personal SCP but other Scps mentioned are real as in official

First encounter and and recovery logs

Scp-691 Dizzy was found in a French town in the countryside called ---- the entire town and everything in it was completely infected with SCP-691, scp-691-A. Dizzy was found in the town completely depressed with tears running down the face she was only one not affected. mtif soldiers were first entered into the area from rumours of screaming people in the distance turns out these people were local people of the town Dizzy then confessed of causing all the panic and suffering even explain her powers she fell to her knees and demonstrated her power by covering the car in green veins she then tryed to commit suicide by grabbing a gun from a mtif soldier and try shoot through her mouth of course it had no effect the bullet bounced off her mouth and she gust spit it out according to her she already realised she was immortal but wanted to try anyway over 6 soldiers were force to be hospitalized after being infected by effects of touching the green veins and 14 injured by civilians and animals who were infected they had to walk back on foot due to the car causing infection dizzy did not hesitate and just continue crying as mtif soldiers took her to the nearest facility they were unable to handcuffs on her but she refused to escape basically didn't have anywhere to go it was later discovered the girls name was Dizzy lalelu and she was the oldest of a family of 6 she later told her story she was a young girl suffering from severe cases of schizophrenia up until recently her schizophrenia was controlled due to medication but due to money problems in the area medicines was taken out and replaced with fake ones in the pharmacy she symptoms quickly cause severe effect to the point of her seeing monsters and seeing everything around to be holistic entities with no peace she was desperate for help and was on the edge of suicide her parents refuse to take it to an insane asylum knowing that she was most likely due to asylums at the time having poor health records and rumours of abuse including rape, assault, humiliation, and experimentation in a last ditch desperate attempt of a attempt of a cure other than suicide she ran out of her parents house and to a small cottage where she had a witch once lived the which told her that she can cure her schizophrenia and illnesses she desperately beged for it threatening to commit suicide if she didn't and the which agreed she was received a bracelet and when the bracelet was put onto her it released green veins after a few seconds the schizophrenia had gone no traces of it in a site vision and she saw no more monsters not realizing but now everything she touched became sick or infected with her poison as she called it. first victim she realised her potential was her younger sister the second after she ran back home she peted her sister shoulder, causing unstoppable Caesars and the second victim was her mother when she Hugged her she suffered from super severe case of dehydration leaving her to the equivalent of a mummy shocked of her powers in a seat panic realising that everything she touched became sick she went to the centre of town people start to surrounding her concerned of her panic state she then entered a state of extreme stress causing energy to surround her causing a boom effect knocked down everything around her in close proximity and infected the whole town in the poison

Comment from Rocky jones leader of the NTIF team that 1st discovered dizzy.

"It .. it was the most horrific thing I have ever seen bodies being ripped apart by each, other by themselves, horses with green veins smashing their head on the wall from pain. They look like zombies. There was 1 horse that was spet in 2 literally its torso was completely removed from its body and both part's of it still alive blood and everything. Still moving, screaming like a maniac. With half of it head complete destroyed brain tissue exposed."

Examples of subjects infected with the poison

Interview recorded 1950s recording has been taken 46 hours after first recovery of the SCP for further enquiry mince note everything in green is Dizzy everything in blue is interviewer

Extreme crying can be heard through the interview (gasp noise) please tell me where is my family,... are they o-ok are they still... I can't even say it please tell me! Are they ok. I don't mean of any this to happen. Continued crying

I don't know personally what happened but parents and siblings are getting the best medical treatment as possible I'm sorry about what happened

Don't be. This is all my fault really want to be suffering is me

Could you elaborate on that please

I just wanted to be better like before I couldn't take it anymore the voices the screaming the torture even in my sleep it doesn't go away I had no choice it goes against everything but I had to. It was this or suicide I had to

Head to what exactly

Get these powers you dumbass it was only for help me to be cured but she tricked me it was not a cure it cured me but I can't enjoy it everyone around me stuff worse than I did it's torture please make it stop

Believe me we are trying to

Or just kill me already

You're trying to help you not harm you

I don't give a shit I'm already suffering if you really want to help me just kill me already I don't care anymore

Even if we wanted to kill you are kind of impossible you seem to be immune to any sort of harm you already tried hanging yourself according to a security cameras you stayed hanging there for over 4 hours and literally no effect not even a mark on your neck from where the nuws was you try to shoot yourself through the mouth using one of the soldiers guns from when we first got you even if we tried more I don't think can be killed

Of course she wanted me to suffer for later and this is the best way to do it and not even get me the way out by any means what is exactly is going to happen to me now and those people I don't want them to suffer anymore not there fault you know

well those people will be treated and if lucky have a full recovery it's not guess the same fate as you keep them until we figure out how to reverse this or help you.

So I'm going to be stuck in here like prison

I wouldn't call it a prison of more like a hospital or a care facility

I'm might be now contagious but I'm still as smart as before I know a hospital or a care facility shor some of them are terrible but but at least people are not screaming being dragged off to who knows well being locked into rooms forced into rooms and banging onto walls and screaming like I said I see it more of a prison so don't sugarcoat it

End interview subject later confessed to whole story after calming down and after realising anyone who got sick if he comes cured after 62 hours. ln the last 60 years Dizzy has still suffered slight chase of depression and anxiety and sometimes nightmares due to her tormatic experience but mostly recovered and doesn't seem to affect her personality and punishing guards and infecting stuff and pulling labyrinth pranks on them due to her hated with Dr bright and make him sick many times some rules have now been added to Dr blight it's not to-do listwhich include Dr bright is not allowed to indirectly insult Dizzy in live video feed it was horrible the stuff finding you all beaten up and watching you being beaten up on live camera feed when Dizzy found it and entered your room whilst you were filming little advice lock the doors before you do anything with Dizzy, Dr bright is not allowed to deliberately piss off Dizzy especially by ways of insulting her hair unless you want to be infected with a disease that make you lose all your hair your body or get all your hair cut off Madeleine when you were unconscious, Dr bright is not allowed to leave food with Dizzy especially if you're serving it to people that upset Dizzy in anyway seriously 60 people got food poisoning from you doing that, Dr bright is not allowed to upset SCP that are attached to Dizzy and then tell people where he's hiding she just torture that person until they tell her where you are hiding

[bbq-hawks-wings]

I sincerely hope Keigo and Touya didn't meet at the HPSC. Other than finding it unlikely-ish, I don't want Touya intruding on Hawks' backstory in that way. He may already be in it, sorta. But I personally don't like that one. Anyways, had a thought that if they were to meet. Where exactly is that building now? Tokyo? At least if they moved Hawks from Kyushu to Honshu, he'd be closer to the Todoroki's. Its not like they let Hawks live in his old home right? Not with the state of that place.

“I’m hesitant to agree with Keigo and Touya being physically present for the Takami theif capture. Why would Endeavor take a child to a whole other island while on duty, and boom. Now the world knows about Todoroki Touya and I don’t think they do. But Keigo speaks of Endeavor as if he saw his flames shinning personally. Maybe not on TV as I previously thought? If that parent never came home, just the footage and knowing Endeavor stopped him could be considered being saved. You can be a shinning light just from giving hope or relief too right? It’s like respite. 

Back to the other ask, Hawks being in Honshu could kinda explain why he knows Standard Japanese. Sure he’d learn anyways from hearing people who speak it, but also from being in a region that speaks it. Uses it more than Hakata dialect, despite slipping into it sometimes. I wonder if he chose Kyushu for his agency to return to a place he couldn’t grow up in? To be further from the HC? Tokyo too crowded? I mean there’s already so many big name heroes in the other regions. Honshu mostly I’m sure. That’s like half of the top ten. And there’s U.A. Hawks is the only one in Kyushu. Which is also the most distant from other places by both location and language. As if Hawks wasn’t alone and cut off enough already. Though logically it makes sense. Sent four asks, sorry!“

Anon- he-HEY! Anon. Anonanonanoanonaonanon. Look at me. For the past month the overwhelming bulk of my human interaction has been limited to a single toddler who currently only seems to ask for snacks and thinks pulling my hair/climbing all over me is just the best thing in the world.

Don’t you dare apologize about having a detailed discussion about this otherwise pointless thing I am still nonetheless passionate for, personally cannot shut up about, and have almost no one in my immediate circle with whom to talk about it.

This is a lot to cover so I’ll put the rest under the cut and try to break down your argument point by point to respond.

1. You feel like Touya entering Keigo’s story in the way that theory outlines doesn’t feel quite right - either from an emotional standpoint or otherwise.

On this point I would agree, not so much because it has anything to do with Keigo but moreso what it means for Dabi and the way his story has been built up against Endeavor up to this point. Dabi has been built up as a result of Endeavor’s abysmal failure as a hero and a father. While I would certainly argue at this point Dabi has accrued his own hefty laundry list of sins to account for, for him to be “solely” responsible for his own demise doesn’t gel cleanly with the narrative setup so far.

2. Potentially moving Keigo’s location during childhood/training would put him in closer proximity to the Todoroki’s.

This feels pretty plausible, and I would also be inclined to agree but again probably for different reasons.

A. His previous home was likely at least not conducive to the strict training he was about to go through as you mentioned.

B. For a long-time ward like that it’s probably easier on the organization, family, and child if he lived closer to headquarters where resources were more readily available due to already-present demand (i.e. other trainees).

C. I hesitate to weigh in on the language aspect as I don’t know enough about Japanese dialects, and these in particular, to comment much. I know that some Japanese dialects are so different from standard that even native speakers can have trouble understanding them. Standard Japanese is more than likely used in most media and entertainment across the country, though, (just like standard American English is where I am), so I probably wouldn’t say that’s how he knows it; but it would contribute to him being able to switch more smoothly between. Those introduced to and enforced to speak a specific way in specific circumstances (especially when young) can easily be trained to immediately respond instantly in whatever assigned speech pattern - often naturally doing so after a few short years of practice. It’s code-switching, though the fact that he more naturally falls into the Hakata dialect when comfortable or excitable enough to slip may actually reinforce the idea that he was located in a place where his relaxed, informal speech was Hakata (like at home) and switched to standard when working/training.

For those who aren’t as familiar with Japan’s geography, Kyushu is the southernmost island of Japan, and Honshu is the largest, main island where most of the big-name cities like Tokyo and Kyoto are located. UA Academy is located in the fictional city of Musutafu, Japan which is meant to be close to Tokyo. For the purpose of the argument, we’ll just consider those relevant regions Tokyo-adjacent. We actually don’t have much information as to the official location headquarters for the Hero Public Safety Commission, but just for a common point of reference we can probably assume it’s Tokyo-adjacent as well.

3. Speculation about Endeavor’s role in Keigo’s training/saving him.

This one gets fuzzy because there’s important gaps we’re missing. We know for certain that Keigo saved a street-crossing’s worth of people from a high speed multi-car pileup accident; we have solid evidence to believe that Endeavor and Keigo met face-to-face (even just a glance) when he was a child; we know Endeavor specifically stopped some thief with familial ties of some kind to Keigo, and we know that Endeavor in particular inspired Keigo to be a hero.

What’s fuzzy is the order and timing of these events. In the flashback to Keigo saving those strangers it’s unclear if he was immediately identified as the person who saved them (aside from the description of “a kid”). He was eventually discovered, but “Find this wonder child, quickly!” means there was some amount of searching involved.

It’s unknown if the “thief Takami” was an immediate family member or even just Keigo himself. Given his age at the time, it’s at least suspect that a child that small would single-handedly draw the attention of a top hero without due cause, though with his quirk and given the fact that he was already so adept at using it (which we’ve seen in the series comes from practice) it’s not out of the question to believe that this thief was using Keigo as an accessory to whatever theft was taking place and thus drew Endeavor’s attention.

It’s possible Keigo never met Endeavor face-to-face. It’s possible that Thief Takami directly or indirectly caused the accident either in an altercation with Endeavor or while committing a crime - at which point Keigo swooped in and saved the day. In either case, Endeavor may have been the one to find/recognize Keigo as the hero prodigy or by taking custody of the thief inadvertently revealed Keigo’s identity to the HPSC. While he may have more or less recruited Keigo himself at that point, more than likely in the reporting of the incident, the “wonder child” was rediscovered.

It’s also possible that a string of coincidences and misconceptions led to Endeavor becoming Hawks’ personal inspiration as a hero in a similar way All Might was to Deku - a kid beaten and battered by society with a heart for others has a chance meeting with the hero he admires for specific, intangible reasons to be told from the horse’s mouth “you too can be a hero.” Assuming this, in Keigo’s case it’s tragic in the grand scheme of things as it was a matter of displayed aptitude rather than the spirit of the action that was recognized in Keigo during a time where Endeavor sought mere ability in a youth for his own narcissism to the point of torturing his own young children to attempt to pry it out of them. In other words, while a tiny child like Keigo was still aspiring to ideals over results he associated those qualities with a man who did not embody them and thus subjected himself to a lifetime of coercion under false pretenses even despite the fact his own intentions were pure.

Linking back up to point #1, I feel like that’s more in line with the story Horikoshi is setting up; but we won’t know until we have more information. At this point, I think almost - if not all - our questions will be answered soon. It’s just a matter of being patient for the drip-drip-drip trickle of information we get chapter by chapter every week.

[hinshinotsuki]

🖤 Switched 🖤

***

***

The next moment she woke up, she found herself staring into the same forest floor of leaves and pebbles. She closed her eyes, wanting to go back to sleep, when she felt something poke her in the cheek.

"Is she dead?"

"No, dummy, she just opened her eyes!"

"Shall we bring her to the hospital?"

"That's it. I'm calling 911,..."

(F/N) instinctively snapped her eyes open and sat bolt upright when she heard the unfamiliar voices talking about her. She looked at them and saw two teens in weird attire consisting of short - sleeved shirts and knee - length pants staring confusedly and worriedly at her. Both of them were carrying what looked like huge rucksacks with a lot of pockets on their bags and they even wore funny looking hats that were cut on the top.

Weird, thought (F/N). What's the point of wearing a hat if it exposes your head?

"Hey, miss, are you okay?" the one who must've poked her in the cheek asked her. He was carrying a stick and unknowingly pointing it at her. "Are you injured?"

"What are you doing out here?" asked the teen's companion. "How can we help you?"

(F/N) opened her mouth to speak, and with a painful sensation on her throat, most probably due to her narrow escape from death due to asphyxiation, said, "Where am I?"

"Trost City." answered the one with the stick. "Are you lost?"

"No." she answered. It was the truth, she's still in Trost. "Are you the ones who saved me from them?"

"Oh, god! Did someone really try to kill you? I'm definitely calling 911 now!"

In a confused daze, (F/N) stood up in shock, unable to understand what these teenagers were saying. This made the two strangers even more scared and confused.

"Don't worry, miss! The cops are coming."

"No! Leave me alone!" (F/N) practically screamed at them and ran as fast as she could away from the two.

"What happened to her?"

"I have no idea. But, I honestly think she just came from some kind of a weeb party. I mean, look at her."

"Yeah, dude, definitely right."

As the two talked about her, (F/N) made her way out of the forest, glad to still know the way out. But, when she finally came out, she hoped she was back there again, for it seemed that she just entered the afterlife, and this is what Heaven, or Hell, looked like.

Instead of the usual marketplace filled with dirty peasants going about their daily, mundane business, she saw a magnificent - looking park filled with citizens wearing different and weird - looking clothes, kind of similar to what the two teenagers she met at the forest wore. The females were wearing absolutely tiny skirts and pants that showed their bare thighs, and some of them even had the courage to expose bits of their chest. The males were wearing short - sleeved shirts in different patterns, matched with strange - looking fabrics that went well with their equally strange - looking footwear. All of them paraded around the place in different directions, but most of them were looking into small, flat devices that shone like a light.

"Where the hell am I?" (F/N) breathed helplessly as she stepped into the light towards them.

At first, nobody took notice of her, but when she almost bumped into a short male wearing a pair of steel - rimmed glasses and what looked like absolutely huge earplugs with a strange white string, her world felt like turning upside down.

"Oh, hey, a cosplayer!" the teen said in a shrill voice. "Who are you cosplaying as?"

"Fool!" (F/N) shouted at the unsuspecting teen. "I' am a Scouting Legion Section Commander! Who are you to speak to me?"

"Ooh, in character!" the boy foolishly answered. He really didn't know a thing about the Legion. All of a sudden, he whipped out that same, smooth device and pointed it at the two of them. "Selfie!"

"Get away from me!" (F/N) screamed, thinking that the teen would murder her with that weapon of his and pushed him as hard as she can.

The people around them noticed the stirring commotion and gave her a suspicious look.

With an escalating heartbeat, she turned and left the teen on the ground where some people help him on his feet. Some were even shouting at her, calling her out for her assault. Nervously, she passed the citizens who gave her scared and suspicious looks, thinking she was some kind of maniac who didn't belong here.

A maniac,...

At the thought of being caught by the Military Police, she began running away from all those people. She ran for almost two hours straight, witnessing, with her very own eyes, the changes that happened during the span of her unconsciousness. Instead of the little stone houses, she saw towering structures made of both steel and glass that almost reached into the sky. Instead of horses leaving droppings around, she saw even more fancy - looking people walking with different kinds of dogs in leashes and some in little clothes that opened to the tail. Instead of the carriages, she saw fast, sleek - looking transportations that never stopped, carried four to six people inside, and were not pulled by horses.

She looked helplessly around, hoping this was all just a morbid dream, but one more bump into her, this time by a running male wearing black all over, made her realize that she really was not having a nightmare.

"Hey, are you okay?" the man asked kindly, looking at her like she was some lost brat.

(F/N) finally snapped. She screamed at the man, gaining the attention of everyone who was walking by, and ran away from him as fast as she could, hoping to get out of this madness. Her running brought her to one of the darkest parts of the city where some unsightly men gathered. They noticed her due to her Scouting Legion uniform, and, unfortunately, she made the huge mistake of stopping right in front of them.

"Hello, miss,..." one thug with a strange hair color said. "Are you lost?"

"How can we help you, sweetie pie?" another man cooed.

(F/N), despite the confusion she's feeling as of the moment, looked slightly up at them. She may be lost in this huge, urban menagerie, but she knew how to tell bad people from not.

And unluckily, these men were considered the  former.

"Hey, nerds don't belong here." their leader, the one who's really fat, said, coming closer and closer towards her. "We'll take you someplace else and maybe we could all get along,..."

Before the man could even finish talking, (F/N) kicked his ankles so hard, he toppled and plummeted to the ground.

"What the fuck!" the fat one howled in pain. "What are you two staring at?! Get that bitch!"

His two companions flinched at his tone and finally made a move to capture her. But, (F/N) was too quick for them. For one, she once had an impossibly strong sparring - partner. Second, she was used to fighting things that were way bigger than her. And thirdly, she just couldn't stand men like these.

And so, with a swift move, she grabbed the arm of the one with the strange hair color, twisted it like it was nothing, and brought it down to her waiting knee, breaking it as easily as splitting a stick in two. The man collapsed on the ground, howling with pain. Next, she strode towards his comrade like a predator, eyeing him wit murderous intent. The man made a huge mistake of flailing his arms at her in an effort to scare her away despite his evident fear of her. She dodged each and every hook and hit he threw at her, aside from that one punch, wherein she just connected her own palm with his bony fist, holding it firmly.

"My turn." she said in a low voice that sent shivers up his spine.

"No, no! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

But, he was too late. She brought her knee up once again and connected it with his skinny arm, breaking it with a really ugly sound. Then, she punched him right in his stomach, brought an elbow down his shoulder, and released a very powerful roundhouse kick which landed on his poor, ugly face.

"AAAHHH!"

(F/N) turned around in time to see strange hair running towards her with a metal bar on his good hand, swinging it high above his head, hoping to scare her.

"Really?" (F/N) muttered sarcastically and smiled. She wiped the sweat off her nose with her right fist and met the guy halfway. The man brought the metal bar down on her head and she easily caught it with her hand. The man gasped nervously as (F/N) pulled the bar, along with his arm, towards her.

"NO! NO! NO! AAAHHH! FUCK!" the man howled in pain once more as his now broken arm fell limply. He had no time to mourn his injuries when he looked up and met the thick and jagged sole of (F/N)'s boot. He flew backwards, landing on the ground and staining it with the blood coming from his now broken nose.

"Alright, who's next?" (F/N) said, turning around just in time to see their fat leader running towards her with a knife. "You just don't know when to give up, do you? Fine, then! Have it your way."

(F/N) ran towards their leader, colliding with him and stopping him in his tracks by putting her firm holding his arms firmly, making him unable to use his knife.

It was in this exact moment that a man happened to pass by. He got intrigued by the crowd that was starting to thicken at that dark and grimy part of Jinae. And just as he was about to move along, the crowd went wild with cheers.

"What the hell was that?" he muttered, then decided to finally go see the commotion himself.

And there, right in front of their very eyes, was someone he knew personally, kicking ass and totally beating the crap out of the city's most infamous thugs.

"The hell? (F/N), is that you?" he uttered, unable to believe his eyes. "Oh, this I gotta record!" He whipped up his phone and started recording when another group of men joined in the fight.

"This is our turf!" a huge man bellowed at the top of his lungs. "What do you think you're doing?"

(F/N) finally left the fat leader on the ground, collapsed and beaten to a bloody pulp.

"You one of them?" (F/N) asked, no trace of fear in her wild, beautiful eyes.

"What did you just say - ?!" one of the men screamed at her, mad that a woman such as her would talk back to them. 

However, their leader stopped him from going towards her. "Are you the one who did this?"

(F/N) smiled at him, wiping the blood off her face with the sleeve of her uniform. "You want to find out? Come and get me." she then said, blowing things out of proportion by challenging all of them.

"You,... dare?!" the leader screamed at her, effectively giving her men permission to attack her.

The people got worried and some of them started calling the police. The man who was taking the video, on the other hand, got more excited.

"Oh, you, go girl!" he said. "You're gonna get viral!"

For a moment there, everyone got so worried for (F/N), but when she started beating the crap out of those men, they couldn't help but cheer for her. It's like the days of these thugs' torment were over, thanks to the swift judgment this strange cosplayer was giving them. Blow after blow, punch after punch, kick after kick, the men fell on their knees and surrendered, until the leader, himself, remained standing.

The two combatants were about to fight when the sirens coming from the local city police could suddenly be heard. The leader noticed this and acknowledged that the fight had to stop.

"Leave this place and never go back." the leader said to (F/N). "I shall overlook this grievance for now."

"Why would I - " (F/N) said, irritated that he had to cancel their fight. She was about to demand for an explanation, when the man, who was taking videos earlier, came forward as bravely as he could and grabbed her just in time.

"Come on, (F/N)!" the man whispered desperately to her. "The cops are coming!"

"Do I even know you? Wait!" (F/N) wasn't given the chance to even talk properly as she was whisked away by this strange man.

***

🖤🖤🖤

***

[kreidark]

Kyle

Death was the oldest. Since time immemorial, people have died and they have come to him. Mankind fights an endless war against him. Though they may have succeeded in stifling his actions, Death is patient. He knows that in the end, all things come to him.

Pestilence was Death's brother. He brought plague upon the lands. Staining the Earth black with disease and blight. His method of bringing people to his brother was slow and excruciating. However, mankind have begun to stave him off. Disease was beaten by technology and he increasingly faded into irrelevance.

Famine was as old as Death and pre-dated the birth of mankind. He worked with Pestilence to target the source of man's strength, his food and fuel. He destroyed crop and rotted grain. Starvation and a slow path to Death awaited those afflicted by him. However, man stood strong against him. They developed methods to create a surplus of food, too much for Famine to destroy. They developed methods to deflect his hand so that he may no longer afflict the source of man's strength. Thus, Famine, like Pestilence, faded into irrelevance.

War was the youngest. He was smart and cunning. He channeled man's strength against themselves. Conflict and strife became the grounds for which man displayed his strength. Efficient in work, he brought many to Death. However after his most brilliant work, where War embroiled the world twice over, mankind caught on to his cunning. Man made laws and grew to depend on each other. Though they may never fully quell War's influence, they made sure he would never afflict the world so spectacularly ever again.

Death was unhappy. Mankind had defeated his brothers and impeded his work. In his impatience and anger, he consulted his 5th brother, Kyle.

Kyle was a strange fellow amongst the brothers. He was quiet, lazy and seemed to care little for Death's work. He decided that his own birthname was too tedious to pronounce and opted for an easier name. Gaelic in origin, "Kyle" meant "narrow" a strange name for a Horseman to take on.

"Help me Kyle. My brothers are defeated. Mankind may one day defeat me as well. Please help out just this once." Kyle said nothing and merely nodded. He then disappeared off to perform his work.

As Death sat around his bedridden brothers, a miracle occured. Pestilence finger twitched and he his hands grew fleshy. Disease once again spread around the world. No longer as powerful as he once was, but alive once again.

Famine groaned and began to sit upright. Once again, crops wilted and people starved. Famine however, felt something amiss, some of his work was...voluntary. Mankind began to starve itself.

War rose from his bed with new found strength. The gears of conflict shook off their rust and began to turn once again. Innocents die in battle again, widows gained and fathers lost. Misguided soldiers die under authority's whims.

"You revived our brothers Kyle. How did you do it?" Asked Death, impressed with Kyle's work.

"I am Kyle, "narrow", the fifth of the Horsemen. Born with humanity but before War. My influence appeared when the first man decided that he did not need his tribe to survive. Narrow are the minds of humans.

Humans defeated disease with miracle cures. Now some fear that those cures are harmful to them. Let them face Pestilence's wrath.

Humans defeated Famine through piling resources and modifying crop. Now they hoard but never give. They let their breathren starve. Now they feel that excess of food is sin. They willing starve themselves of their source of strength to meet society's whims. Let them suffer by Famine's hand.

Humans defeated War through tolerance, diplomacy and restraint. Now they turn intolerant and unleash violence against those not of their own group. They justify their "Holy Wars" with the blood of innocents. Violence begets violence, vengeance for innocent blood spilled is carried out by the sword. Let them spiral down to oblivion, guided by War.

Narrow are the minds of humans. They do not think before they act. They believe what they want to believe and ignore what they don't.

I am Ignorance. Until mankind is capable of defeating me, they can never truly destroy the Horsemen."

[thelegendofclarke]

Sorry to bring up The Discourse again but how do you feel about the fact people don't acknowledge that while Sansa's traditional femininity is rewarded in-universe, it is a mark against her on a meta level? Many people decry Sansa as "weak" or "boring" or "stupid" due to her "girly-girl" status and her more traditionally feminine storyline, she is consistently in the bottom of character polls because people have been programmed to devalue or even hate "girly-girls".

Hey Anon!

You’re totally fine :) I really don’t mind discussing or even debating this topic tbh. It’s the condescension, vitriol, and being called an unfeminist asshole ect. ect. that I’m not particularly a fan of haha.

You’re getting into a few different points here and I’m going to attempt to talk about them in a semi -organized, coherent manner. So bear with me… Your first point of “while Sansa’s traditional femininity is rewarded in-universe” touches on one of the (floppity trillion) things that kind of ~grinds my gears~ about how this topic is discussed. 

Its a pretty significant misstatement and misconception to say that any woman is “rewarded in a patriarchy,” especially an incredibly oppressive patriarchy like Westeros. No woman is ever rewarded in a patriarchy. Not being punished is not a reward. Not being mocked or ostracized is not a reward. Being praised for conforming to an arbitrary set of standards aggressively imposed on you by society is not a reward. Not being beaten or otherwise abused is not a reward. Having basic human rights and freedoms is not a reward. Being treated with basic human decency and respect is not a reward. And tbh, thinking that these things are “rewards” is one of the things that allows a patriarchy to function in this manner in the first place. 

It’s one of the most effective tactics of oppressive societies: they shrink the size of your world and the scope of your permissible behavior, punishing you when you cross an invisible line that is perpetually moving, until you are basically stuck on a tiny patch of grass like a dog unwilling to cross an electric fence. So then, when they finally open the gd gate to take you for a walk, you’re supposed to feel grateful and say “thankyouthankyouthankyou” and pee yourself with excitement. And you do; even when you’re owned, even when you’re property. even when you’re still firmly on their leash, they can somehow make it feel like freedom. 

Margaret Atwood has some very good (and creepily accurate/applicable) quotes in The Handmaid’s Tale that really get to the heart of the problem with the idea that freedom in the most basic sense is a “reward”…

“A rat in a maze is free to go anywhere, as long as it stays inside the maze.”

“There is more than one kind of freedom,“… “Freedom to and freedom from. In the days of anarchy, it was freedom to. Now you are being given freedom from. Don’t underrate it.”

And also about the fallacy that women in an oppressive patriarchy are granted any kind of real agency:

“I compose myself. My self is a thing I must now compose, as one composes a speech. What I must present is a made thing, not something born.”

“I have failed once again to fulfill the expectations of others, which have become my own.”

“That was one of the things they do. They force you to kill, within yourself.”

A system of perpetually limited freedom, agency, and self determination doesn’t allow for rewards really, at least not for the oppressed demographics. Everyone is a victim of whatever group is in power (i.e. men in a patriarchy). So then you have to start getting into the area of debating who is a “better victim” or “more of a victim,” and those conversations are alwaysss yikesy. I don’t think there is any fair or objective or comfortable way to answer a question like “whose pain, abuse, and/or oppression is most important?” People like to point out that there is always the option not to engage in patriarchal standards, but the consequences for this can be severe. So then that begs the question, is there really an option? And are we willing to blame people for choosing what ever the “not abuse” option is. Its the concept that’s at the heart of coercion: taking away someone’s choices until they come to believe that the only choice left that isn’t ~terrible~ is the thing that they want.

I can ~kind of~ see where people are coming from when they make the argument that Sansa and women like her are “rewarded in universe.” Sansa does receive a lot of praise in the narrative from other characters for being good at traditionally feminine skills. Definitely far more by a large margin than characters like Brienne and Arya, who don’t comply with prescribed gender roles. The skills Sansa has are more socially acceptable in universe of course; they are much more valuable in terms of cultural currency, and make her much more marketable in a society where women are essentially chattel to be sold or traded. But as I have kind of talked about before, comparing the treatment different types of women are subjected to in a patriarchal society and how it affects them just isn’t that cut and dry. Traditionally feminine women are supposed to be the most “rewarded” group of women, while women who do not act “how a woman should” are meant to be the most disadvantaged or disenfranchised group. But when you really examine the POV’s of women like Cersei and Sansa vs. women like Brienne and Arya, you can see if affects them mentally in very different ways.

Cersei, who outwardly seems to be the epitome of a Good Westerosi Woman in her appearance and her actions, and has the ultimate “reward” (being the Freaking Queen), seems to have the most veraciously negative mentality about her gender and her role in society.

Cersei sniffed. “I should have been born a man. I would have no need of any of you then. None of this would have been allowed to happen. How could Jaime let himself be captured by that boy? And Father, I trusted in him, fool that I am, but where is he now that he’s wanted? What is he doing?”— ACoK

“We were so much alike, I could never understand why they treated us so differently. Jaime learned to fight with sword and lance and mace, while I was taught to smile and sing and please. He was heir to Casterly Rock, while I was to be sold to some stranger like a horse, to be ridden whenever my new owner liked, beaten whenever he liked, and cast aside in time for a younger filly. Jaime’s lot was to be glory and power, while mine was birth and moonblood.”— ACoK

“If the gods had given her the strength they gave Jaime and that swaggering oaf Robert, she could have made her own escape. Oh, for a sword and the skill to wield it. She had a warrior’s heart, but the gods in their blind malice had given her the feeble body of a woman.”— ADwD

Cersei learned how to perpetuate and perform femininity in a socially acceptable way, despite her constant frustration and contempt for its constraints. But it has left her in a state of basically complete self loathing; she is bitter and angry and just so incredibly unhappy.

Brienne on the other hand, couldn’t look or act less like Cersei. She is one of the most “masculine” female characters in appearance and stereotypical behavior. and yes, Brienne does have insecurities from the criticisms and mockery she receives.

Lady Stark had been kind to her, but most women were just as cruel as men. She could not have said which she found most hurtful, the pretty girls with their waspish tongues and brittle laughter or the cold-eyed ladies who hid their disdain behind a mask of courtesy. — ACoK

There is not question she is judged and degraded and treated atrociously. BUT, she doesn’t seem to suffer from the same resentment, self loathing and all consuming anger that Cersei does. She wants to be a knight, but she never tries to pass as a man nor wishes she had been born male. Yes, she recognizes and resents the limitations placed on her because of her gender, but she also actually expresses respect for women as well:

“No, but you have courage. Not a battle courage perhaps but… I don’t know… a kind of woman’s courage.”— ACoK

“[L]adies die in childbed. No one sings songs about them.” — ACoK

So that kind of shows how even The Best Women aren’t really “rewarded” in a system like Westeros’s. There is nothing rewarding about being pigeon holed and forced into a teeny tiny box. There is nothing rewarding about constantly being at the mercy of rigid expectations based on conformity and stereotypes and prescribed gender roles. And there is definitely nothing rewarding about being taught to hate yourself based on your gender.  

Which also relates to your next point about how Sansa’s brand traditional femininity can be a mark against her on a meta level; and how she, and other characters like her, get called “weak” or “boring” or “stupid” due to their “girly-girl” status… This is essentially one of the reasons why people argue that the rise of the Warrior Woman Character can, at times (NOT ALWAYS), be sort of a double edged sword. 

On the one hand it has been amazing for feminism. Its breaking the mold, its fighting the idea that there is only one way to be a Good Woman, its showing that there is no wrong way to be a woman. These types of characters show that sword fighting can be just as feminine as sewing. In fact these characters represent the idea that there really is no such thing as the distinction between “feminine activities” and “masculine activities.” Things do not have a gender. Activities do not have a gender. They can’t actually be male or female. They are actually neutral; their existence or practice doesn’t exclusively depend solely on one gender or the other. There is no difference between sword fighting and dancing; they are both just physical activities people can take part in. There is no difference between pants and dresses; they are both just clothes, pieces of material we use to cover our bodies. The only reason we think of them as masculine or feminine, the only reason we consider them to be gender coded AT ALL, is because we are taught to do so. And the Warrior Woman character defies these stereotypes.

But these types of characters can also be ~warped~ to help perpetuate patriarchal norms just as much as classically feminine characters can, because the fucking patriarchy ruins everything. (Seriously though, it is the reason we can’t have nice things.) That’s one of the hallmarks of a patriarchy, it appropriates something that is supposed to be empowering for disenfranchised or exploited groups and ~twists it~ to their own benefit. The Handmaids Tale has another great example of this with The Republic of Gilead’s perversion of the bible verse Matthew 5:5, “blessed are the meek.” Instead of citing the entire phrase, as the narrator Offred points out, “they never mention the part where ‘the meek will inherit the earth’.” The quotation of scripture is manipulated to support the idea that the Handmaid’s should be submissive,  that it is their duty to acquiesce to their subservient role in society.

So as a result, instead of defying gender coded distinctions, these types of females can be applauded as the “superior” type of female character because they are skilled in areas that are “traditionally masculine.” A woman who is good at sword fighting is “more badass” than a woman who is good at sewing, because being able to sword fight is a more valuable skill than being able to sew. And of course it is, its a traditionally masculine skill; the Bro-er the Better. Then all the big time, toxic patriarchal shit rears its ugly asshole head with the concept that anything feminine or “girly” is bad and that anything masculine or “manly” is good. That femininity is weakness and stupidity while masculinity is superiority and strength; that masculinity is preferential while femininity is, at best, acceptable.

This type of thinking makes the Warrior Woman Character, who is good at combat and sword fighting, stronger and more admirable, and a superior role role model, and just all around Better than the Girly Girl Character who likes sewing and dancing. It takes beautiful, strong, dynamic female characters of both varieties and polarizes them in a really annoying and unnecessary way. It makes a plot/arc/storyline where a female character learns to fight or some other traditionally masculine skill an “upgrade” and a hero story, while a plot/arc/storyline where a female character does something more traditionally feminine is a “down grade” or a ~chick flick~ and not to be taken as seriously. It makes female characters who have many different skills (both traditionally feminine and masculine) into Mary Sue’s and says “she must be bad at something! she must have glaring flaws and obvious weaknesses!” or else she “isn’t believable, isn’t relatable, and isn’t at all lovable.” 

It dictates that characters like Sansa Stark must be weak and stupid, because they are skilled at sewing and not sword fighting and they have to rely on intuition and their intellect instead of fighting and their physicality to protect themselves.

And I mean, honestly… It 👏  Is 👏  So 👏  STUPID! 👏