#and i guess that's where our paths diverge anon

[everypigeondeserveslove]

I think Liliana's "Did she know?" wasn't about her, it was, "Did Imogen know that bombing me would also kill these children?"

Well, I just don't think that.

But on the theory of Lilianas being upset about children having died and questioning Imogen's involvement in it, I have a few thoughts

The idea that children were actively target and/or murdered is very presumptive of the fandom. It feels like someone whispered this theory into the fandom wind and now it's in my inbox.

If it were about the children, I still think she a hypocrite. In fact I'd say she's a even bigger hypocrite in that scenario because why the fuck where there children there to begin with. Liliana who was going around Imogen's dreams telling her to run, was also brining children into this cursed environment. The Ruby Vanguard is just not a place for a children. Hot take the moon should be childfree, not every place should accommodate children.

Also on the topic of children being there, they are child soldiers. Liliana is not a running a orphanage on the moon, she is a GENERAL. She is quite literally a general of an occupying force, the general with the most influence over Ludinus, who is being actively targeted by a native rebel group. She is actively training these kids to aid the Ruby Vanguard's cause. And once again, she is doing all of this while actively telling Imogen to not come to the moon. I am of the belief that the general who is recruiting child soldiers should shoulder most, if not all, responsibility for the harm that befalls those children.

Now I don't have access to rewatch the episode right now but I don't think the explosion came from Rashinna's group. The way it was described, being all pink and stuff, I presumed the explosion was a result of Liliana reacting to the assassination attempt (assassination attempts notoriously stressful for all parties involved). All we know of the rebel group is that they had some devices that were intended to hinder Lilianas powers and I don't think they said anything about them exploding.

And another thing.... I think this episode ended on a cliff hanger and people are doing olympic level gymnastics to justify anything that could reflect badly on Liliana.

[esther-dot]

Dany had handmaid/slaves since AGOT and she had exploited Irri. So how come she is not considered classist?

I’m going to assume fans believe Dany genuinely seeks abolition as a humanitarian end, so her failures along the way are brushed aside as gritty writing? However, when AGOT ends with her burning a slave alive, I think we have to call into question how she balances what she wants against what it costs others.

As in, once she claimed women as her own to try to save them, but then, a few chapters later, she tells one of these women,

“... but it is not your screams I want, only your life.” (AGOT, Daenerys X)

To her fans, they may allow Dany’s feelings, the fact that she does try to intervene, outweigh the rest. They’re looking at the miracle of dragons, not the charred bones.

When you read the first scene with Irri, the focus is on Dany’s feelings, the fact that she is sexually frustrated, and since she doesn’t ask Irri to do anything and later tells Irri she doesn’t have to, fans don’t believe it’s exploitation.

"No. Irri, you do not need to do that. What happened that night, when you woke . . . you're no bed slave, I freed you, remember? You . . ." (ASOS, Daenarys II)

which allows fans to focus on that, see things from Dany’s perspective, and ignore what follows, what Irri believes to be true, and what Dany does later, because later, Dany does take initiative,

Later, when the time came for sleep, Dany took Irri into bed with her, for the first time since the ship. (ASOS, Daenerys, VI)

I’ve mentioned before there’s a funny two step thing with Dany that allows readers to miss how words and actions may align at one point, but eventually, they diverge.

I assume her fans buy into her conquest so when they read this,

She wanted to cry, but she told herself that she must be strong. This is war, this is what it looks like, this is the price of the Iron Throne. (AGOT, Daenerys VII)

they over sympathize with Dany’s feelings rather than realize this is the author condemning her path:

She wanted to cry, but she told herself that she must be strong. This is war, this is what it looks like, this is the price of the Iron Throne.

Dany and the audience is being shown there is no avoiding massive suffering when one goes to war, but, if you think the point is to feel sorry for Dany, rather than analyze her actions, then you gloss over the second part. All the bad fades into the background because fans believe it’s part of achieving the greater good.

I’m guessing that buy-in prevents them from reacting the way we do, accepting Dany’s pain as absolution and Dany’s desire as worthwhile, and since we see her protect certain people and free others, they ignore that second part, the fact that she murders someone she was meant to protect, that people she freed reenter slavery and she profits from it. I think the context in which she lives allows her to have morals and sensibilities that seem good in contrast to those who surround her, and since Westeros has already rejected slavery, Dany feels like a revolutionary, where our other mains don’t? She is seemingly progressive, but mainly because of context? And she seems that way only if you fail to realize that in spite of her feelings that these things are wrong, she ends up participating anyway?

That’s my guess as to why criticism isn’t leveled at her the same way it is at other POV characters, anon.

[bubblesthemonsterartist]

*cracks knuckles* Clearly I’m going straight for the Blackout. 

ENJOY, FRIENDS. FOR YOU, I THROW IT UNDER THE CUT

Under 1000 Words

take my burdens (and bury them deep) by @thelionshymnal​ Rated M Nothing makes me happier than a fic of my favorite BroTP, especially when Obi is offering to disappear Kiki’s dirty dealings. Content warning for attempted sexual assault and Obi doing what he does best: getting rid of the body.

A Fic That Got You Involved In Fandom

Seven Suitors for Shirayuki by @sabraeal​ Rated T Look. You all are just going to have to accept that there is a certain generation of this fandom that was dragged in, kicking and screaming, by this fic. I wanted to diversify by saying something else managed it, but no. It was the fact that this story was stuck on chapter five for MONTHS that made me vibrate until my own fic fell out. XD

Made You Laugh Out Loud

An Extra Rise Before Dawn by @sabraeal​ Rated G I don’t often worry that I am going to pee from laughing so hard when I’m reading something, but this one definitely does. In one spot in particular. You might be able to guess it. It is simultaneously an incredible sweet and incredibly funny fic that hits all the right notes for me.

Favorite Trope Reversal

Fussing with Firedrakes by @leewritingrecs​ Rated T 1) Dragons. 2) Damsel in distress is no damsel and she is NOT in distress thank you very much 3) Kiki is a DRAGON 4) Obi is cursed, and 5) DID I MENTION D R A G O N S ???

Fic That Made You Friends With the Author

The Wide Florida Bay by @sabraeal​ Rated E I had to think about this because while I read Seven Suitors first, this was the series that made me start sending anons and eventually made me join tumblr where I proceeded to endlessly play the ‘what if’ game with Jen. CLEARLY this is where our friendship was forged.

Action-Packed Fight Scene

Agent, Parts I, II, and III by @infinitelystrangemachinex​ Rated T Like Jen, I was positively torn, because both Andi and Sarah do fight scenes SO WELL, but Agent ultimately won out because there is just something so delightful about Shirayuki flailing and clinging to Obi like a cat that doesn’t want to go in the bath while arrows zip all around them

Edit: Screw it, I’m reccing them both

Republic of Tanbarun by @claudeng80​ Rated T An action adventure series where romance is involved but is by no means the focus. Zen and Obi adventures abound. Politics galore. And some masterfully done slow-motion to quick motion fight scenes that I L O V E D

Gen Fic

Fugue in Three by @infinitelystrangemachinex​ Rated G Ryuu casually destroys Obi and Shirayuki by breathing as they count down the days until he comes of age. Technically this fic has a romantic pairing, but it is by no means the focus of this fic. If you don’t agree, you are welcome to meet me under the Big Oak between the hours of 12 and 4 for a duel.

Missing Scene

Like Brothers Do by @claudeng80​ Rated G Obi is clearly Kiki’s annoying big brother and handles Mitsuhide’s rejection in the best way he knows how. Also read: Mitsuhide gets what’s coming to him. (ง'̀-'́)ง

Canon Divergent

We work at the mall by @kaedix​ Rated T With how many AUs we got floating around this fandom, I was hard pressed to choose a favorite. But there is just something so sweet and wholesome and American teenager about this. It just latches onto you and never lets go. (Also the gang all work at my favorite places in the mall when I was growing up. What’s not to love?)

Steamiest Kiss

Were Hearts Not An Unknown Country by @sabraeal​ Rated T LOOK. SOMEONE was going to have to go dig this out of the rubble of her compilation fics and it might as well be me. Also the birthplace of the much loved AnS fandom practice of solstice kissing.

Contains Your Favorite Headcanon

The road to Clarines is Gravel by @codango​ Rated E Not the focus of the fic as a whole, but like, Torou and Obi are siblings. GALAXY MIND EXPLOSION. I mean, I loved that so much that I wrote a pre-canon fic of this fic. Additional note totally not related to the bingo square: I will ALWAYS be here for positive sex worker representation in fics. Fair warning, though, this is the most unfair AU in existence because the brain screams that it SHOULDN’T WORK and yet by some sort of writerly sorcery, it DOES. PLEASE READ IT IF YOU HAVEN’T ALREADY.

Wept Real Tears

let it make you by @thelionshymnal​ Rated M It’s not every day that someone manages to write a fic that makes me stare numbly at the very first line for a solid 15 minutes, big fat tears rolling down my cheeks, but Hymn did it. And then she somehow managed to kiss it better. All in 1100 words.

Free Space

AnS Role Swap AU by @owlsshadows​ Rated M This series has it all. Shirayuki as an assassin. Obi as both a royal bastard and a pharmacist. A mysterious meeting out in the woods where it makes you question whether Nanaki and Obi are two different people or the same. Also Zen having some very conflicted feelings regarding his royal authority and how he can choose to handle rejection.

Edit: Since I’ve already doubled up once, let me double up again, I have so much love to give and not enough space to give it!

Blizzard by @nebluus​ Rated T This is one of the earliest fics I read in this fandom and it remains to date one of my absolute favorites. Obi gets hurt protecting his Miss and a blizzard rolls in. Thankfully they find a cabin where Obi, who is definitely on his death bed if no one finds them and SOON, proceeds to still fuss over his Miss. Best scene: When he warms her hands with his. Also the second chapter is all sorts of delightful domesticity I IMPLORE you to please read it and soon.

Favorite Fan-Made OC

All Pain Will Turn to Medicine by @sabraeal​ Rated M All y’all should’ve seen these coming from ten miles out. I fucking LOVE Herr Anda, the cantankerous little bastard. And Jen knows this because she designed him specifically with me in mind. Academic catnap >:|

AU That Made You Find the Source Material

All Knotted Up by @sabraeal​ Rated G Admittedly, there are a great many AUs out there that made me look up the source material, but this Tangled AU is the most recent because I finally got on Disney+. And yes, Mitsuhide is the horse. Ryuu may be Pascal a little bit, but Mitsuhide. He’s The Horse. XD

First AnS Fic You Read

Loyalty by Evelyn Fiedler Rated K+ (which is basically G on AO3) My one and only ff.net rec from my earliest days in the fandom when I was combing for absolutely any content I could find, begging the fandom to help me decide if I was down for Obiyuki and all that it implied and this author most assuredly delivered.

Favorite Minor Character

Undertow by @jhalya​ Rated E The fic itself is a space odyssey of sorts. One mission among many where humanity attempts to colonize Mars. However the real selling point here, if you didn’t know, is Lord Seiran. He is a delightfully eccentric billionaire who clearly always wanted a large family, judging from how easily he fills out the adoption paperwork.

WIP

Caulk dirty to me by @leewritingrecs​ Rated E Have I mentioned I love the sex worker trope? I. Love. The. Sex. Worker. Trope. Also Obi is clearly divine at all of his jobs. Shirayuki already got to experience his skills at one of them. I wait with BAITED BREATH for her to experience the other :3

Canon Compliant

Thicker than Blood by @infinitelystrangemachinex​ Rated G In the aftermath of the death of King Kain, Izana and Zen must decide on which path they will take moving forward. Amazing fic. Unfinished, but a wonderful look into the dynamics between the Wisteria brothers and their absent mother.

One-Shot

Worth his Weight in Rice by @claudeng80​ Rated T AU set in an Edo-adjacent Period where a disease has wiped killed off a significant portion of the male population. Resulting societal shifts occur. If you go into the comments, I have a couple of pages worth of reasons why I love this AU, but what I appreciate even more is how you have an absolutely perfect oneshot in this fic. It is a well-translated universe where we get a delightful clear, beginning, middle, and end, all in 5k. NOT an easy feat. Please enjoy.

Rare Pair

the fog pushing through my mind by @thelionshymnal​ Rated E Obi/Yuzuri, friends with benefits. Two pining idiots with some sore feelings decide to get stoned and take comfort in another warm body for the night. I just really enjoyed the casual intimacy of the encounter and how this is clearly neither of their first experiences with a one night stand. Neither of them are going to make it weird in the morning, they just need to take the edge off, ya know? Additional bonus for Obi being ready to stab the dumbasses who made Yuzuri feel like she was a weirdo in her past.

AU You Took a Chance On (And Now Love)

Lightning in a Bottle by @jhalya​ Rated M I mean, if Jules is gonna play dirty by making Obi the hot fish man running around without his shirt on 99% of the time, then of COURSE I’m going to enjoy Deep Blue Sea. It’s, like, one of my favorite movies now.

Favorite Trope

Moonshine Phantom by @leewritingrecs​ Rated T We got a murder muffin who ALSO used to be a sex worker? Sign me the fuck up, I am 1000% here for this. Also all the showgirls who clearly love their coworker and only want him and his adorable wife to have the best. They may have never heard of her before, but she looks sweet, and they all have a silent agreement between them that if she breaks his heart, they’ll cut her.

Fic That Gave You a New OTP

What the Heart Wants by @sabraeal​ Rated G Haruto/Mukaze. An attempted kidnapping and subsequent rescue makes Zen and Shirayuki painfully aware that their parents have had, at some point in their lives, sex. Izana may not be happy about someone banging his mom, but is HE rather pleased at having a new sister. >:3c

Pre-Canon

The Wolf in the Woods by @krispy-kream​ (YES I STILL HAVE THIS BOOKMARKED) Rated G Everyone knows that I have very delicate food feels and this ALMOST went under the Wept Real Tears category, but I like to spread out the crying as much as possible XD Shirayuki finds a boy at the edge of the wood and decides he needs something to eat. Filed under: Guaranteed to wreck me in 500 words or less.

[makiema]

Not sure if I just missed it or something, but what did the first king do that imprisoned Ymir in the dimension of the paths? And also I agree with everything you said about chapter 122, I just wanna add a lil something: it isn't really clear whether Ymir was the one who let the pigs out, but if it is her then maybe it symbolizes her longing for freedom? Idk it's just what I thought haha

At this point in the story, I’m more than convinced that Paths is not a physical dimension. On the contrary, it is an extension of the real world in a metaphysical realm, a plane that is meant for reflection and introspection. It corresponds to the real world in a way that decisions regarding the course of an action happen in Paths, but the execution takes place in the real world. This is how both are connected and interdependent. Paths can also be construed as Ymir and her subjects’ collective subconscious (hence, the memory linking via the Coordinate which is again symbolical of how all the diverging roots are connected to the main tree in a tap root system present in the real world. Further, it is also representative of Yggdrasil, the cycle if life, and wrt to Snk, the whole intermittent Eldian genealogy. Haha, too many levels of symbolism here). Well so, to me, Ymir being stuck in Paths and wandering there aimlessly with no will of her own, is more like a contrived symbolism alluding to what she was like in the real world : a lost girl forced into submission by the First King. Of course, I’m looking forward to Yams giving us a literal explanation to why and how Ymir Fritz got stuck in Paths, but I’m more for the whole Paths thing being an extended allegory of reality, rather than it being an actual physical plane or dimension.

And yes anon, I’m glad you picked up the point of “letting the pigs out”. I’ve been doing some thinking but the conclusions I arrived at are a little far-fetched, I’m afraid. But, since you asked, guess I’ll rant anyway XD. So now, I think it has two implications :

1. It could be figurative of the difference in temperament of the two characters- Eren and Ymir, and in extension, the clashing mentalities of the two set of contradictory characters throughout the story. We all know Eren’s take on cattle. He’s simply exasperated by that kind of lifestyle and time and again, he has derided the idea of human beings living likewise. He simply cannot stand it and in his words, he’ll “destroy” a world that is modelled after this form of living. He’s a rebel against this existing system. However, Ymir’s take on pigs is very different from this. She pities them, just like she pities herself and the world that has to suffer so much from an established monarchy. Her letting out the pigs is an expression of her taking pity on people, who are reduced to the standard of pigs and who silently suffer from oppression. The act of letting the pigs out is just a show of freedom, nothing more. It is far from actually striving to obtain freedom. This is akin to how the royal fam (people who shared this mindset) would fake preach about peace and happiness inside the walls, just to give temporary relief to the people and consequently, deceive them. Unlike Eren, Ymir is not a rebel. She is not enraged by an unfree world; just like Freida, Uri and perhaps even Zeke, she is merely upset and saddened that it has to be this way. She is a kind soul who cannot muster up an unwavering, unforgiving fighting spirit that is necessary to revolt against this system that forces people into unjust servitude. Ymir and Eren’s different attitude towards farm animals here speak volumes about their inherent difference in perceiving the world. And so, my guess is Yams deliberately included that phrase to throw light once again on the two contrasting mindsets of people in the Snk verse- those who keep fighting against a cruel world no matter what lies ahead and those who give in to despair and concede to the injustices of the world.

2. It could also be a historical reference to our world. I don’t exactly recall atm where I read this, but there was this book on propagandas and explicitly referring to the Nazi propaganda, the book said something like : “if you reduce people to the standard of pigs, nobody will ever a raise a question, no matter what atrocities you commit against them”. Yeah so, in history, this is how the whole Holocaust thing went. Nobody questioned the horrifying idea of genocide because the propaganda had  successfully reduced the Jewish race to the standard of pigs. The same thing happened in the Snk verse : at first, Ymir and Marleyans were denied human rights, reduced to that standard and affronted by Eldians and then the cycle repeated with Marleyans rejecting the moral integrity of the Eldians now and treating them barbarically like animals. Isayama has always alluded plenty to our world, specially to the World War 2 era so, his pulling in “pigs” in the narrative could be inferred as yet another similar allusion.

[sometimesrosy]

Very confused where anon got the idea that we won’t see Raven react to C’s death? Is that just a guess? Was the anon wanting to see R think C was dead & there was no hope bc they wanted to see R feeling extra guilty/bad so they can get some satisfaction out of being an anti? Like, “yeah, that’s what you get for being a bitch, Raven!” R is still gonna feel horrible even if she finds out C might still be alive bc there’s still no guarantee they’ll get her back & the pressure will be on to save her

Ok. I hope it was just a guess. I missed a lot of clips, so I wondered if they had info I didn’t. 

We build up the story in our heads, and assume our speculation HAS to be what happened.

Like the theory that Raven’s image was missing because Clarke was losing her memories? ITS A GOOD THEORY! And people shaped out the story based on that concept. And it was PERFECTLY fine. It makes a great story.

BUT it wasn’t the story they were telling. 

Sometimes all it takes is one change of detail to to change the entire narrative arc. Raven’s image being removed to save Clarke is different than Raven’s image fading due to Clarke being threatened. One gives Clarke agency in her own salvation and one makes her the victim in need of saving. Both decent stories...but they go in different directions, even if there are some similarities. 

When you write you pick the details that will take you where you want to go and a small change can butterfly effect your story into big differences. I don’t think “butterfly effect” is a verb but I’m going with it. 

Anyway, it’s one of the reasons fanfiction is so cool... because you can see how every person has a different story to tell from the same source material, and how wildly they can diverge.  HOWEVER, the canon is only ONE path, and our speculation needs to adjust for canon and not stick to our headcanons, because that’s how we lose the story itself.

[reconditarmonia]

Dear Trick or Treater

Hi! Thank you for writing for me! I’m reconditarmonia here and on AO3. I have anon messaging off, but mods can contact me with any questions.

Alternate Universe Works | Assassin's Creed | Far from the Madding Crowd | Fidler Afn Dakh | Simoun | Sleep No More

General likes:

– Relationships that aren’t built on romance or attraction. They can be romantic or sexual as well, but my favorite ships are all ones where it would still be interesting or compelling if the romantic component never materialized.

– Loyalty kink! Trust, affectionate or loving use of titles, gestures of loyalty, replacing one’s situational or ethical judgment with someone else’s, risking oneself (physically or otherwise) for someone else, not doing so on their orders. Can be commander-subordinate or comrades-in-arms.

– Heists, or other stories where there’s a lot of planning and then we see how the plan goes.

– Femslash, complicated or intense relationships between women, and female-centric gen. Women doing “male” stuff (possibly while crossdressing).

– Stories whose emotional climax or resolution isn’t the sex scene, if there is one.

– Uniforms/costumes/clothing.

– Stories, history, and performance. What gets told and how, what doesn’t get told or written down, behavior in a society where everyone’s consuming media and aware of its tropes, how people create their personas and script their own lines.

Smut Likes: clothing, uniforms, sexual tension, breasts, manual sex, cunnilingus, grinding, informal d/s elements, intensity; stories whose resolution isn’t the sex scene. DNW "pussy."

General DNW: rape/dubcon, torture, other creative gore; unrequested AUs, including “same setting, different rules” AUs such as soulmates/soulbonds; PWP; food sex; embarrassment; focus on pregnancy; Christmas/Christian themes; focus on unrequested canon or non-canon ships; unrequested trans versions of characters.

I am requesting exclusively fic, but open to art treats!

—

Fandom: Alternate Universe Works (Treat or Trick)

Character(s): Female Li Shang (Mulan 1998), Female Ishmael (Moby Dick), Female Captain Ahab (Moby Dick), Pokémon Trainer Harrowhark Nonagesimus

Female Shang - I would...just love it so much if you Monstrous Regiment-ed this canon up. Shang also being a woman would give her even more reasons to be a hardass (is she in disguise, and thinks that her regiment failing would invite suspicion on her? is she openly female and needs to prove that she’s as good as her father and the country need her to be? is she paranoid about other women in the army, or does she want to have a female regiment?) If you want to write F!Shang/Mulan, I’d also love to know how falling in love with a woman plays into Mulan’s whole arc - it’s certainly not what her family was preparing her for, but neither was being a soldier and saving China. What does seeing another woman dressed as a man (whether Shang is openly female or not, I imagine she’d wear men’s clothes), or a group of women dressed as men, make her think? What are Yao, Chien Po, and Ling like in an AU where they’re also female, if that’s what you choose to write?

I’d be happy for just about anything in this vein - Shang character study, Mulan/Shang romance/sex (this is a canon that is a Lot about bodies and clothes), gen shenanigans with the rest of the squad, both? During canon or post? I love loyalty kink and butch characters a lot.

Female Ishmael, Female Ahab - I’d love to know more about these female sailor(s) and what drives them. A female Ishmael might still decide to sign on to a ship whenever she gets the blues, but it’d be socially fairly different, mightn’t it? (Worldbuilding-wise, I’d be more interested in a world where sailing and whaling are still typically male things as in our world, even if you make them a little less exclusively male, than an egalitarian or matriarchal world; something that women might do, without necessarily disguising themselves as men, but a GNC thing to do.) Would her already diverging from the “expected” female path in this regard affect her reception of Queequeg as someone who’s an outsider to Nantucket society? And, if Queequeg is also female, the the intimacy she offers? What does she still find outlandish? (If you also write f!Queequeg, is her life a typical female life for her home culture, or not?)

As for Ahab - just imagine this fanatic, tragic, vengeful character as a woman - with the willpower not only to do all the things canonical male Ahab does but also in a society where women aren’t really supposed to sail or kill or lead! Is she the odd one out in an otherwise male crew, or are there more women in the crew by the time she’s captain?

Pokémon Trainer Harrow - It's a great idea!! I think she'd have a Duskull, but I'm very open to any choices you make in Pokemon-ing this universe up. Do different houses tend towards different types or no? What are their different cultures around Pokémon raising, training, and fighting? What is Harrow's relationship with her Pokémon like, singular or plural? (I don't need you to think through the implications of what Lyctorhood entails in this setting if you'd rather just write slice of life, and, you know, I was writing this and realized that that might make Harrow's Pokémon Gideon. Thanks, brain, I hate it. DNW Gideon as a Pokémon.)

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Fandom: Assassin's Creed (Treat only)

Character(s): Aveline de Grandpré

I'm close to finishing AC Liberation and I love Aveline a lot! I really like how she basically makes New Orleans into her own little fiefdom and does what she feels like doing. Not in a #girlpower way, but in the sense where she considers herself to be the best person to judge and decide in any situation and to deal with happenings on any level in her various personas, and where becoming a business magnate is actually a part of her character and plot in a way that it wasn't so much for earlier Assassins? I imagine Assassins from other places talking about New Orleans and going "oh yeah, Aveline de Grandpré runs that whole city from the shadows," and then you go there to talk to her and she pulls a Lexa (as in The 100) where she uses her slave disguise to eavesdrop on you while you wait to meet with this Assassin lady merchant.

I like her friendships with other characters too - Gérald being there as the loyal support guy, Élise and Roussillon being the people she can be at ease with (she seems so happy to see them - "Bonjour, smugglers!"). I'd be happy to see something set in New Orleans as she takes it over or after she takes it over, in the Bayou as she lives there in a very different way (where and how does she sleep when she's there?), or in Chichen Itza if you want to expand on her discovery of all the weird shit. [Edit: I've finished the game now and I also like the aspect of her mission with Connor that's about how sometimes Assassin "brother"s from other locations will show up where you, another Assassin, are because there's something they need to find or do, and you'll work together? I guess that's also the premise of AC Rev, but.]

I do ship her with Élise and would love to read that if you do too! Fighting together, whether in the Bayou or on a mission further afield that's just them; Élise visiting Aveline in New Orleans for some reason (what if they go to a fancy party together with Élise dressed as a man?); downtime fluff?

Fandom-Specific DNW: Aveline/men, even mentioned or out-of-focus.

—

Fandom: Far From the Madding Crowd (Treat or Trick)

Character(s): Bathsheba Everdene

One thing that always sticks in my mind about this novel is the way Hardy calls Bathsheba “the young farmer” just as he refers to the men as farmers - which, just saying, is more than most people writing about this story can do - and so, that being the case, what I’m most interested in is something about Bathsheba as farmer. One day in the life or four seasons in the life or five plantings/harvests in the life, or pseudo-academic fic about a case study of a woman farmer in the Victorian era, or a conflict between the farm and nature that Bathsheba has to decide how to solve.

Feel free to bring in other characters if it suits what you’re trying to do, but what I’m really looking for is a focus on Bathsheba’s work, determination, and process of learning. (I like how Bathsheba’s relationship with Gabriel ends up playing out in canon, but I don’t want shipfic.) Other ideas: something like a merchant ship AU (as the first alternate setting that came to mind where it would be not exactly the done thing for her to captain her inherited ship and make commercial decisions herself - although I do have to point out that contrary to popular belief, there were a lot of women on shipboard in the age of sail, may this be useful - but also where nature and luck/fate are as influential as they are in the original setting), or something in which the land, superstition, and ritual are more overtly magical. I LOVE English folk magic and ritual shit.

I’ve requested both tricks and treats for this fandom, but would prefer that the outlook of the fic, including if you decide to incorporate non-canon magical/spooky/occult elements, be ultimately positive rather than the doom and gloom that canon leans toward at times. A seasonal treat would be right up the alley of this request.

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Fandom: Fidler Afn Dakh (Treat or Trick)

Character(s): The Fiddler

I would love to read about the Fiddler from the recent Yiddish production of Fiddler on the Roof, understanding him/her/them as a real person with a backstory, present and future rather than a symbol. They seem to be female (and their actor describes them as female) but wear men's clothes and are on the men's side at the wedding, and everyone seems cool with that? I'm 100% on board with any gender identity you decide you'd like to write them with. How did he/she/they come to be who they are, and what are their interpersonal relationships (platonic, familial, romantic, any gender) like? What might an encounter between them and the supernatural be or have been like? Have they always lived in Anatevka or do they wander from village to village?

Fandom-Specific DNW: antisemitism as the focus of the story. I've requested both tricks and treats, and I acknowledge that it'd be unreasonable to pretend that antisemitism doesn't exist in the world of the story, but I would prefer for any dark/scary elements to come from supernatural horror (I grew up with Singer and other Jewish folklore horror, give me as many dybbuks and demons and witches as you like) rather than the human capacity for racist violence.

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Fandom: Simoun (Treat only)

Character(s): Neviril

I've just completed a rewatch of this show, and it has reaffirmed for me that I love Neviril. She's a leader in both a military and a religious sense, respected by her squad and by the populace, but figuring out what that means to her is such a personal journey. I still love her scene in the hearing where she speaks aloud what no one has wanted to admit or talk about - that they're soldiers now, this is war, can they still call themselves priestessses? - but I was also struck on this rewatch by how Chor Tempest increasingly becomes a player in itself in the politicking (the bit in Episode 21 where the whole lot of them fly out against orders, because it's what they, with Neviril leading and giving voice to the group, think is what their role is about), and by the scenes of her blessing the people (when iirc she is needed elsewhere by the military governor for flight purposes) and Paraietta (after what Paraietta did to her).

I love the military aspects of this canon in general (and the associated tropes of loyalty and trust and bravery and positive/negative relationship to authority) and that definitely ties in to Neviril figuring out what her role is as the squad leader, but I'm also just here for that very process of figuring it out and defining it for herself.

So...what happens to her post-canon? What is the "new world" and her travel in it like? If she makes it back to the main world when war is brewing again, but her old cohort can't fly anymore, what does she see her role as being - a leader for peace, for war, something else? How do she and Aer interact with Paraietta, Rodoreamon, Floef, and/or Vyuraf?

Ship-wise, Aer/Neviril grew on me a lot! I appreciated Aer more as the determined bit-of-a-loose-cannon type than as the manic pixie this time, and noted Neviril's comments about how she was drawn to Aer's determination. But I'd also be up for a poly situation where she's involved with both Aer and Paraietta, who are friends, or, I guess, one where it's a three-way relationship, although I don't personally know what the Aer/Paraietta side would be like! (I do like how they work together in battle even when they're shown as having personal issues.)

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Fandom: Sleep No More (Treat or Trick)

Character(s): Bald Witch, Sexy Witch

One of my favorite things about Sleep No More was the idea of this world of darkness and magic that’s underlying or intertwined with the social world, rather than in a separate space - I loved seeing the Witches at the ball and, holy shit, Bald Witch pulling off her wig after the ball in her solo ritual thing! (I hadn’t realized it was a wig until that moment.) So -

how do either of these witches interact with the normal world (Paisley/the hotel/etc.) or deliberately carve out other spaces (like the apothecary shop)? For that matter, I love the apothecary shop and Bald Witch's scene in it A LOT, so more about that would be awesome.

How did the Witches find each other - was it before or after they were witches?

Are they immortal, and if so, what’s that like for either or both of them?

How much do they have a day-to-day life vs. witching all the time?

Their card game is super cool and I'd love to know more about the Witches and cards.

I was very struck on my last visit by Sexy Witch's dance for Hecate after the rave. The fan material seems to describe it as her having trouble coming down, but it felt to me like pleading with Hecate for more power, more magic.

If you want to ship them together, and/or with Hecate (or both) I’m very up for that as well. Some sexy prompts if you go in that direction -

ritual sex magic to make something happen or share power?

If they have non-witch personas and sleep together while they’re being normal people, is there still magic?

Sex in one of the play locations - the apothecary, the ballroom, the bar that’s the empty shell of the real bar?

Slow dancing nude, or another inverted version of something in the normal world?

Fandom-Specific DNW: f/m ships with requested characters

[jacksgreysays]

for the fake fic prompt, dreaming of sunshine, "spin me a song in the shadows of death"

… okay so I googled this and I could not figure out what this was from or what song these are lyrics out of so… um. Is this meant to a biblical reference to Psalm 23?

This is kind of long for a title, too? And… I don’t even…

I am bewildered, anon, but I’ll try my best.

Spin Me A Song (In The Shadows Of Death)

The ability to summon spirits is not a gift given lightly or often. Gods even rarer.

Shikako just wants to go home.

So, right from the outset I’m going to diverge from DoS Chapter 130. In the sense that, having been super traumatized by the events that took place in Land of Hot Springs, Shikako would VERY MUCH NOT LIKE TO GO BACK THERE, please and thank you.

So instead of having Heijomaru reverse the reverse summoning, Shikako travels through the Summon Realm in hopes of finding some of the other summon spirits that she is friendly with (Kakashi’s dogs, Sasuke’s hawks, Ino’s chameleons, Tsunade’s slugs, the other Nara clan summons etc. etc. Hell even Naruto and Jiraiya’s toads would be good though she has no idea where they are except for Not In Konoha, but as long as that is also Not In Land of Hot Springs then she’s okay with that too. If pushed she’d probably be okay with the cats of the Neko-baa in Soraku, though given the pawprint encyclopedia mission she’s probably persona non grata in their territory).

Um, yeah. I don’t know if this is canon/fanon/headcanon but are the summons spirits from a parallel plane that can’t die in our world? Like… any hit that would be lethal would just send them back to their realm. Is that just me? Have we seen summons die canonically? I know Gamabunta has a wicked scar over his eye but we don’t know what that’s from.

Anyway. I figure that while that pseudo-immortality works in the human world, in their own realm they’re as mortal as normal.

Why is that important?

Well, the summon realm is a dangerous place and not only for humans. There’s a reason why each species have their separate territories and that’s because they do not naturally co-habitate. So Shikako wanting to leave the deer territory and find her friends’ summons to be brought back to the human realm is a VERY RISKY UNDERTAKING. I… don’t think the deer will go with her.

Don’t get me wrong. She is their summoner (their only summoner, apparently) and they are fond of her and they did have a mutual vow of alliance. But I think that only covers the deer coming to Shikako’s aid in the human world. Heijomaru’s offer to go back to the place she was summoned from with her is his only offer. Her deciding to wander the summon realm for an alternative way home is not one that he can commit himself (as the leader of his herd) or any of his herd. They can actually legit die in this realm unlike the human world.

They do probably have some summon alliances with the species whose territory are near them but those aren’t any Shikako is familiar with. Alternatively, there’s huge swathes of unclaimed and thus unprotected land between established territories. The deer probably give her a map or at least directions to the listed above summon species and their territories, but it’s a long journey fraught with many dangers and, again, Heijomaru would prefer it if Daughter of the Forest not do something so reckless.

Heijomaru does not know Shikako very well yet.

So a journey of self-discovery, I suppose. Many moons ago, Shikako had been considering reverse summoning herself to figure out what her most compatible summon creature would be–though she took the path of least resistance and went for the already established contract with the deer.

Sure it’ll take a while. Might be dangerous. But so long as it’s not going back to that place of horror, Shikako doesn’t mind wandering around the Summon Realm for a while.

And hey:

Guess who else can be summoned?

That’s right, the Shinigami. :D

I don’t actually think that Minato and the Sandaime–who both have other summons, anyway–went this route to get the ability/fuinjutsu sequence to summon it. But it is, according to the naruto wiki, apparently affiliated with the Uzumaki clan. So some enterprising Uzumaki clan member many maaaaaaaany moons ago apparently thought this was a good idea.

Maybe the fuinjutsu sequence that Minato and the Sandaime use are the equivalent of the single use summoning scroll that Sembei had to originally introduce Shikako to Heijomaru?

Anyway. The point is, Shikako meets the Shinigami in her quest to go home. Maybe they talk about godhood, maybe they don’t seeing as how traumatizing the last god she spoke to was.

~Spiritual journey~ (literally).

…

Aw man, I just realized Aoba had a summoning contract with crows right? Ravens? Well, Shikako definitely stumbles on them and there’s conflict/grieving/emotional reparations/closure.

...

@saltykrispycake RE: Manda... according to his wiki page the timing might have been that even though the death blow came from the human world (Deidara’s explosion) the actual time of death/receipt of injury could have been in the summon realm which is why Suigetsu had to summon Manda (and Sasuke inside Manda) to his location. I’m unsure though...

[marcusssanderson]

120 Adventure Quotes To Inspire World Travel

Looking for inspirational adventure quotes about traveling around the world? These quotes about adventure and travel will stir the wanderlust in you.

Are you tired of the same old, day to day? Are you looking for more adventure in your life? Do you have a whispering voice that encourages you to go, see and do!

Yes, it’s easy to silence that voice. It’s easy to get distracted by the day and just get right back into your routine. But, what’s really holding you back from traveling? Why can’t you buy the plane ticket? If you’re being honest with yourself: have you just settled? Have you talked yourself out of it? Think about that.

Travel is undeniably the one constant item you’ll find in everybody’s bucket list. It doesn’t matter if you plan on venturing out nationally or internationally. Travel is being done for the sake of experience and memories, not just to escape. It’s more than just a trend; it has become a lifestyle.

According to Trip Barometer, travelers are likely to spend more on sightseeing than on shopping, souvenirs and nightlife combined. So don’t just lounge for hours on a local beach. Splurge on that trip instead of material acquisitions.

Below you’ll find our collection of inspirational, wise, and cool adventure quotes, adventure sayings, and adventure proverbs, collected from a variety of sources over the years.

Best Adventure Quotes For A Journey Around The World

1.) “Wherever you go becomes a part of you somehow.” ― Anita Desai

2.) “Travel far enough, you meet yourself.”  ― David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas

3.) “Actually, the best gift you could have given her was a lifetime of adventures.” – Lewis Carroll

4.) “Travel makes one modest. You see what a tiny place you occupy in the world.” ― Gustave Flaubert

5.) “Be fearless in the pursuit of what sets your soul on fire.”  – Jennifer Lee

6.) “To travel is worth any cost or sacrifice.”  ― Elizabeth Gilbert

7.) “Traveling – it leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller.” – Ibn Battuta

8.) “Better to see something once than to hear about it a thousand times.”  – Asian  proverb

9.) “It’s funny. When you leave your home and wander really far, you always think, ‘I want to go home.’ But then you come home, and of course it’s not the same. You can’t live with it, you can’t live away from it. And it seems like from then on there’s always this yearning for someplace that doesn’t exist. I felt that. Still do. I’m never completely at home anywhere.” ― Danzy Senna

  10.) “Travel is never a matter of money, but of courage.” – Paulo Coelho

11.) “Why do you go away? So that you can come back. So that you can see the place you came from with new eyes and extra colors. And the people there see you differently, too. Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving.” ― Terry Pratchett

12.) “Travel makes you realize that no matter how much you know, there’s always more to learn.” – Nyssa P. Chopra

13.) “I heard an airplane passing overhead. I wished I was on it.” ― Charles Bukowski

14.) “When you travel, remember that a foreign country is not designed to make you comfortable. It is designed to make its own people comfortable.” – Clifton Fadiman

  Adventure Quotes about Exploration and Fun

15.) “If you think adventure us dangerous, try routine; it’s lethal.” – Paulo Coelho

16.) “Travel is the only thing you buy that makes you richer.” – Unknown

17.) “It is not down in any map; true places never are.” – Herman Melville

18.) “The journey, not the arrival matters.” – T.S. Eliot

19.) “For an occurrence to become an adventure, it is necessary and sufficient for one to recount it.”  ― Jean-Paul Sartre

20.) “A ship is safe in the harbor, but that’s not what ships are built for.”  – Gael Attal

21.) “Not I, not anyone else, can travel that road for you. You must travel it for yourself.”  – Walt Whitman

22.) “We wander for distraction, but we travel for fulfillment.” – Hilaire Belloc

23.) “Please understand, I have been waiting to leave ever since I figured out there were roads willing to take me anywhere I wanted to go.”  – Unknown

24.) “Stuff your eyes with wonder, live as if you’d drop dead in 10 seconds. See the world. It’s more fantastic than any dream made or paid for in factories.”  – Ray Bradbury

25.) “Only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far they can go.” — T.S Eliot

Inspirational Travel Adventure Quotes about Life

26.) “If you reject the food, ignore the customs, fear the religion, and avoid the people, you might better stay home.” – James Michener

27.) “Adventure, yeah. I guess that’s what you call it when everybody comes back alive.” ― Mercedes Lackey

28.) “To travel is to discover that everyone is wrong about other countries.” –  Aldous Huxley

29.) “…adventures don’t come calling like unexpected cousins calling from out of town. You have to go looking for them.” — Unknown

30.) “Don’t tell me how educated you are, tell me how much you’ve traveled.” – Mohammed

31.) “If you can’t live longer, live deeper.”  – Italian proverb

  32.) “My heart swings back and forth between the need for routine and the urge to run.” – Unknown

  33.) “Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s life.” – Mark Twain

  34.) “Traveling tends to magnify all human emotions.” – Peter Hoeg

  35.) “I do not want to get to the end of my life and find that I just lived the length of it. I want to have lived the width of it as well.” – Diane Ackerman

  36.) “Traveling is like flirting with life. It’s like saying, ‘I would stay and love you, but I have to go; this is my station.’” – Lisa St. Aubin de Teran

Best Adventure quotes about seeing the world

37.)  “Always there has been an adventure just around the corner–and the world is still full of corners.” ― Roy Chapman Andrews

38.)  “Maybe you had to leave in order to miss a place; maybe you had to travel to figure out how beloved your starting point was.” ― Jodi Picoult

  39.)  “And forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair.” — Kahlil Gibran

40.)  “If it scares you, it might be a good thing to try.” – Seth Godin

41.) “I would rather own a little and see the world than own the world and see a little.”  – Alexander Sattler

  42.)  “Jobs fill your pocket, adventures fill your soul.”  – Jaime Lyn Beatty

43.) “No reason to stay is a good reason to go.” – Unknown

44.) “Let your boys test their wings. They may not be eagles, but that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t soar free.” ― C.J. Milbrandt

45.) “Every man can transform the world from one of monotony and drabness to one of excitement and adventure.” – Irving Wallace

46.)  “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I – I took the one less traveled by.” – Robert Frost

47.)  “The purpose of life, after all, is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience.” – Eleanor Roosevelt

48.) “One way to get the most out of life is to look upon it as an adventure.” – William Feather

49.) “For my part, I travel not to go anywhere but to go. I travel for travel’s sake. The great affair is to move.” – Robert Louis Stevenson

Adventure quotes for couples

50.) “Never go on trips with anyone you do not love.” – Ernest Hemingway

51.) I have found out that there ain’t no surer way to find out whether you like people or hate them than to travel with them. — Mark Twain

52.) “Love is the food of life, travel is dessert.” – Annonymous

53.) “As soon as I saw you, I knew you would be an adventure of a lifetime.” – Winnie the Pooh

54.) “I would like to travel the world with you twice. Once to see the world. Twice, to see the way you see the world.” – Anon

55.) “A couple who travel together grow together.” – Ahmad Fuadi

56.) “It is only in adventure that some people succeed in knowing themselves – in finding themselves.” – Andre Gide

57.) “He who does not travel does not know the value of men.” – Moorish proverb

58.) “The biggest adventure you can take is to live the life of your dreams.” – Oprah Winfrey

59.) “If happiness is the goal – and it should be, then adventure should be top priority.” – Richard Branson

60.) ”Don’t die without embracing the daring adventure your life was meant to be.” – Steve Pavlina

Adventure quotes that inspire you to tackle the world

61.) “I haven’t been everywhere, but it’s on my list.” ~ Susan Sontag

62.) “And into the forest I go to lose my mind and find my soul.” – Unknown

63.) “Every man’s life ends the same way. It is only the details of how he lived and how he died that distinguish one man from another.” – Ernest Hemingway

64.) ‘’Adventure isn’t hanging on a rope off the side of a mountain. Adventure is an attitude that we must apply to the day to day obstacles in life.’’ – John Amatt

65.) “Instead of trying to make your life perfect, give yourself the freedom to make it an adventure and go ever upward.” – Drew Houston

66.) “Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.” – Helen Keller

67.)  “Let us step into the night and pursue that flighty temptress, adventure.” – J.K. Rowling

68.) “I see my path, but I don’t know where it leads. Not knowing where I’m going is what inspires me to travel it.” –Rosalia de Castro

69.) “An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered.” – G. K. Chesterton

70.) “I’ll look back on this and smile because it was life and I decided to live it.” – Unknown

Motivational quotes about adventure and living life to the fullest

71.) “I do not have the slightest clue what I am doing…that’s the adventure…I stopped worrying about it…that’s the beauty.” – Jason King

72.)“Adventure is worthwhile in itself.” – Amelia Earhart

73.) “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” – Mark Twain

74.) ”Attitude is the difference between an ordeal and an adventure” – Bob Bitchin

75.) ” If we do not find anything very pleasant, at least we shall find something new. ” – Johann Friedrick von Schiller

76.) ”Fill your life with adventures, not things. Have stories to tell not stuff to show.” – Unknown

77.) “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discoverthat I had not lived.” – Henry David Thoreau

78.) “Life is full of adventure. There’s no such thing as a clear pathway.” – Guy Laliberte

79.) “There is no certainty; there is only adventure.” – Roberto Assagioli

80.) ’The only question in life is whether or not you are going to answer a hearty ‘YES!’ to your adventure.’’ – Joseph Campbell

Adventure quotes to inspire you to live the life of your dreams

81.) “I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning to sail my ship.” ~ Louisa May Alcott 

82.) “If it’s both terrifying and amazing then you should definitely pursue it.” –Erada

83.) ‘’Live, travel, adventure, bless, and don’t be sorry.’’ – Jack Kerouac

84.) “Anytime I feel lost, I pull out a map and stare. I stare until I have reminded myself that life is a giant adventure, so much to do, to see.” – Angelina Jolie

85.) “I know not all that may be coming, but be it what it will, I’ll go to it laughing.” – Herman Melville

86.) “It takes a lot of courage to release the familiar and seemingly secure, to embrace the new. But there is no real security in what is no longer meaningful. There is more security in the adventurous and exciting, for in movement there is life, and in change there is power.” – Alan Cohen

87.) ” We’re not home-and-hearth people. We’re the adventurers, the buccaneers, the blockade runners. Without challenge, we’re only alive.” – Alexander Eliot

88.) “If you don’t take risks, you’ll have a wasted soul.” – Drew Barrymore

89.) “Until you step into the unknown, you don’t know what you’re made of.” – Roy T. Bennett

Inspirational adventure quotes

90.) “Life is a blank canvas, and you need to throw all the paint on it you can.” – Danny Kaye

91.) “The bad news is time flies. The good news is you’re the pilot.”- Michael Althsuler

92.) ‘’A man practices the art of adventure when he breaks the chain of routine and renews his life through reading new books, traveling to new places, making new friends, taking up new hobbies and adopting new viewpoints.’’ – Willfred Peterson

93.) “Adventure is not outside man; it is within.” – George Eliot

94.) “We love because it’s the only true adventure.” – Nikki Giovanni

95.) “People don’t take trips, trips take people.” – John Steinbeck

96.) “The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page.” – Saint Augustine

97.) “Here’s to freedom, cheers to art. Here’s to having an excellent adventure and may the stopping never start.” – Jason Mraz

98.) “Never forget that life can only be nobly inspired and rightly lived if you take it bravely and gallantly, as a splendid adventure in which you are setting out into an unknown country, to face many a danger, to meet many a joy, to find many a comrade, to win and lose many a battle.” – Annie Besant

99.) “Make your life a mission – not an intermission.” – Unknown

100.) “May your adventures bring you closer together, even as they take you far away from home.” – Trenton Lee Stewart

Adventure quotes to ignite your wanderlust

101.) “You know you are truly alive when you’re living among lions.” – Karen Blixen

102.) “I’m still a kid inside, and adventure is adventure wherever you find it.” – Jim Dale

103.) “One does not discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time.” ― André Gide

104.) “Adventure is worthwhile.” – Aesop

105.) “Life is an adventure, it’s not a package tour.” – Eckhart Tolle

106.) “A man on foot, on horseback or on a bicycle will see more, feel more, enjoy more in one mile than the motori