#and i know she was important to a lot of disadvantaged kids

[tamby-teeze]

Okay, so I know a solid 40% of the new Fantasy High was about Tracker "There's still deep attraction here" O'Shaughnessy, but HERE ME OUT

Gertie Bladeshield is the perfect woman for Kristen Applebees.

Cause, like, look, there was a lot of talk in episode 11 about impulsivity and chaos as an aspect of Kristen's character, mainly in how it's mirrored in Princess "Kristen if she had money" Naradriel, but it's also been a general focus this season, especially in how she often uses it to guard her emotions. Think back to "That's what you think", an incredible improv moment, but if you look at the big picture, Kristen's estranged parents make an incredibly inflammatory statement about her religion right after actively bullying her little brother, and instead of honoring any of the actual negative emotions she's being filled with in that moment, she pirouettes away. It's brought up in the adventuring party after this exact episode how Kristen is a cleric, a high-wisdom class that is naturally insightful, but uses these silly deflections to hold other people back from being insightful into her (hence Mac & Donna's lifetime insight disadvantage)

This isn't just limited to small moments, too. To take a broader look at the season so far, Kristen's chaotic, shrimp-jumping, wrangler-wearing, salsa-dipping, middle-school-campaigning, steel-workers-union-supporting bid for class president is often shown explicitly as a distraction from her existentially important job as the only cleric of Cassandra. Even when trying to earnestly apologize to Cassandra and prove to them that she's gonna prioritize her over class presidency, the only way she can articulate it is "You're the meat, mama." Her emotions are always guarded by some amount of chaos and impulsivity.

Now, how does that relate to Gertie "I've had a crush on you for a really long time" Bladeshield?

In both of the two scenes we've gotten of The Best D20 NPC (/j (but I do really like her)), Gertie has shown a pretty similar propensity for making bold, chaotic decisions in the heat of the moment. However, in my observation, these decisions do NOT come from a place of emotional suppression. Quite the opposite, actually.

Think back to her Grand Entrance into the narrative. Gertie, being one of the last people awake at Fabian's party, gifts her longtime-crush a jar of honey, something that connects directly to her passion/special-interest of beekeeping, in a homemade container designed as a pun on Kristen's last name. (in hindsight, the crush was very obvious) Then, in the middle of her infodumping to her about honey, Kristen's rich friend makes an incredibly dismissive remark about her good-natured gift. This obviously pisses her off, but unlike Kristen "That's what you think" Applebees, Gertie "I don't give a shit who's kid you are" Bladeshield lets herself feel those emotions very loudly, immediately starts a duel with possibly one of the most accomplished sword-fighters in the history of Aguefort, and declares him a life-long nemesis. She acts very brashly and impulsively, but in a way that doesn't hide her emotions, instead expressing them.

(I know there's a lot of talk about outbursts of anger being tied to Ankarna, but not only does the scene not really seem like foreshadowing to me, it's more interesting to see it through the lens of being Gertie's actual actions)

This trend continues with the 12th most noteworthy thing to have happened in episode 11 (which incredibly high acclaim), where after being explicitly asked to talk about bees by her crush, and being placed inches away from her face, kisses her on the lips. Now, excusing the albeit upsetting lack of consent, it once again shows Gertie acting very impulsively in a way that exposes her feelings to the people she likes. With these two instances of characterization being literally the only two scenes we get with her, it poses her as a very interesting parallel to Kristen, someone who shares in her willingness to make impulsive decisions, but differs wildly from her in the way she uses them to react to strong emotions.

However, does this really make Gertie the Autism to her ADHD?

(idk if Gertie really shows autistic traits, I just wanted to say that) Well, part of what Tracker a good companion for Kristen was that, as a fellow cleric, she naturally had very high wisdom, meaning she had enough insight to look past the layers of shrimp and salsa and engage with her on a deep level. However, clerics aren't the only class that cast spells with wisdom, so do rangers, including swarm-keeper rangers, which is a subclass that both has a good few abilities focused on spell-casting and was confirmed to be Gertie's subclass in an adventuring party. While her highest stat still could be dex (which, come to think of it, is a hilarious contrast to Kristen), there's no doubt that Gertie has a higher chance than most at being able to look past Kristen's barriers and see the complex hive of sweet, buzzing emotions underneath.

Hell, maybe that's where Gertie's crush comes from in the first place. Maybe, seeing this popular, proudly sapphic cleric be incredibly playful and chaotic on school grounds, she not only saw a bit of herself, but a little more. Perhaps, the type of mind that dedicates itself to allowing small, harmless critters to prosper even when no-one cares to join her club, is also the type of mind able to recognize when someone isn't allowing their truest emotions to prosper, making her wonder if they might have something to gain from sharing some of that chaos, using it not to hide, but to be free.

Or maybe it's just cause her last name has "bees" in it, idk.

[uh-oh-its-bird]

Short snippet from my fic 'one step three steps' under the cut. Ft. Shinobi politics and Hatake clan lore via gossiping at the bar about what happens when a clan drops off the map

No context needed, can be read as standalone, I just thought it was neat enough to post on its own.

"What are the odds there are— or were," Izumo grimaced. "Some offshoot branch of the Hatake family out there?" 

"Not impossible, I think? They were a real clan once, right?" 

Kotetsu blinked. "Were they? I kind of thought they used to be civilians or something, before the White Fang." 

"No way, the Hatake's were huge once." 

"No shit?" 

"Yeah, they were— fuck," Genma squinted into his cup, now well and truly flushed from his drink. For a guy sent on so many honeypot and information gathering missions he was a bit of a lightweight, huh? 

"6th? Is that right? 6th-ish clan to come to Konoha, way back when. It's not really taught anymore since they died off so fast and lost relevancy, but they were decently important, wayyy back in the day. Had some sort of deal with the Senju." 

"Nerd." Kurenai snorted, but she looked thoughtful. 

"Hey, this sort of thing is important!" Genma pointed at her. "This kind of history gets buried so fast, it's crazy." 

"But why though?" Kotetsu asked. 

"I mean," Genma frowned. "It's kind of complicated. It's a whole politics thing, you know? Every few years they get together and talk about what gets taught in school. All the clans have say and all the big ones wanna make sure that everyone remembers who was there first so there's a lot of pushing on how to split the importance among them. So when a whole clan up and falls off a cliff . . ."

"There's no one left to advocate for them getting taught about." Izumo finished, looking unsettled.

"Damn." 

Genma shrugged. "That's just how it is, really. Happened to the Uzumaki's, happened to the Hatake's; Would have happened to the Senju too, if the Hokage was any less sentimental about it." 

"And it's not like they teach a lot about history in the first place, do they?" Pointed out Kurenai with a sigh. "Most kids learn that stuff at home, if they're clan brats." 

"Pour one out for all the civilian losers with the disadvantage once again." Izumo sighed, and he clinked glasses with a cheering Kotetsu and Kurenai as Genma, the only clan brat among them, snorted into his cup.

Read the full chapter here ->

[robby-bobby-tommy]

Well, it's time for my hcs. (Mostly UM and KO)

Ultra Magnus has a terrible CPTSD. Sometimes he hears a plane and immediately transforms his hands into blasters. When he talks to someone he tries to continue the dialogue, but all his attention goes to figuring out the location of the enemy. (+ he has bad sleep schedule)

I'M also has a terrible case of 'bad things happen to bots when I leave them'. He doesn't like staying away from the battle, because he cares very much for his new found family. He isn't afraid of dying for the cause, but he doesn't want to lose anyone.

At the free time he has helped some Autobots make their battle skills better. Like he spared with Miko in Apex armor so she could practice her punches and also had classes for medics (Ratchet and KO). They didn't have blasters, which is disadvantage, but they figured out the way to fight almost as good as others.

Speaking of KO. He wasn't very welcomed at team at first, so he was watched very closely. Yet sooner or later they've warmed up to him. KO was a bit afraid at first, but seeing that they meant no harm, he came back to his sassy attitude.

Also KO has some appreciation problems. When he was a decepticon he had to earn the respect and after Shockwave came along he felt very replaceable. He wasn't thanked for his work half as much as he should. So when Ratchet thanked KO in 3 season he genuinely said "you're welcome".

But the moment he felt he was accepted into team prime was when OP didn't let him on some mission. It went like "Why can't I join?", "Knock Out, comrade, you aren't in need of another warrior, yet we may use the help of a second medic." "We can't just lose medics around. Too important." Ratchet adds. After like the whole team nods. And KO felt so appreciated

After that he became very close to Team Prime and (if they stayed on earth) to kids. When some bully is rude to Jack, KO would let Darby drive himself in school just to show off. He'd watch horrors with Miko, and even tell some interesting stuff abt Cybertronian culture, organism ect to Raf

Also he'd race with Bee and Smokescreen, but he is hella competitive. Like this scene in Avatar The Last Airbender, where Azula plays volleyball. "You'll never rise from the ashes of humiliation!" "Dude... It's not that deep bro.."

Oh, and he'd be very awkward with Smokey cuz like... He tried to open him up. But Smokey doesn't mind it, saying that they're even after he put KO in the wall

The other very strange relationship he has with Bulkhead. It's because of Breakdown. Bulkhead hated him and, as we all know, KO was in a relationship with him. Bulk ofc doesn't hold anything against KO for his relationship, yet they'd have a lot of different opinions on BD. They would talk a lot, finding out more about BD's past

And boy oh boy he had a wild one. Him and Bulkhead were born in the same class. They were builders, as Bulkhead said 'I can build stuff, I can break stuff. That's all.' Yet both of them wanted to do more good in the world, so they joined the Wreckers (before the war it was a gang that helped everyone in need and protected the weak), where they've met. Bulk and BD quickly became brothers in arms but the war seperated them

Once BD heard a broadcast of Megatron's ideas of reforming Cybertron and became a great supporter. He joined the decepticons cuz he thought it was his chance to make the world better. He was so blinded by Meg's promises that he thought this crimes were justified. Bulkhead was more observant, and felt something shady and was grossed out by bombings. But the thing that brought them apart and made them enemies was BD's betrayal. Early in the war Megatron was merciless and Wreckers mostly opposed him. Breakdown pledge allegiance to Megan. He wanted whole gang to join, but they refused and Big M wanted to destroy them all. Breakdown told the location of their hideout, and when Wreckers met there, they were greeted by pistols. It was a big fight, some lives were lost. After that BD went with Decepticons and Bulkhead with the Autobots. Now Bulk hated BD for his betrayal

KO never knew abt that cuz he met BD later. Knock Out was a doctor in one of the neutral cities, that were captured by Decepticons early in the war, and decided to join the "winning team" Just to survive

After all the talks Bulkhead started to respect KO more

Knock Out, Bee and Smokey regularly forcing the gang to go to the drive in theaters.

Arcee, June and Miko have a girls nights where they judge everyone

OP and UM are very close. To the point they're mistaken for brothers (they call each other that in private)

Ultra Magnus doesn't like to show affection in public, so when someone wants to hug him or smt like that, they always ask him to another room. Like after OP came back in season 3, Optimus said smt like "Ultra Magnus, old friend, for a word". And then they are just hugging in another room

Optiratch. Just them. Married. Conjux endura. That's all

Megatron, Soundwave and Shockwave are mean girls.

Megasound cuz you can't stop me. And Shocky just third wheeling his spark out.

Shockwave actually started to like Starscream when they were left on earth.

Agent Fowler and June dating, cuz they both deserve better

KO, Arcee and Ratchet form a widow club after the film.

KO and Arcee beat Arachnid's aft together.

That's all for now.

[thedragonsfate]

FHJY thoughts under the cut bc I gotta sort my brain and can't be succinct to save my life

I think there's something interesting in acknowledge like

of COURSE Kipperlily underestimated the bad kids.

She's hated these kids from day 1. I know a lot of people want to acknowledge that it's not unreasonable for Kipperlily and the rat grinders to think the school is run unfairly (and you're right! it's a fair conclusion)

-- but we also gotta consider that this is something that took root in her VERY EARLY. Before the bad kids got really very good. Two bad kids die on the first day of school, they spend a significant amount of their second semester freshman year just. In Prison.

Of course what follows I'm sure spurs that hatred, but she all but declared Riz to be her nemesis with Jawbone freshman year.

She's probably got some good ideas of how stuff should change, but also she saw this random Goblin boy with a briefcase in rogue class and decided she Hates Him, for a reason none of us can fathom when several of the other bad kids give off worst first impressiona

She's a teenager, a kid, with anger issues. As much as their can be important nuggets at the core of her motives, she's a teenager without emotional regulation skills. That combination is BUILT to breed resentment and feelings of entitlement. and it's built to actively ignore any evidence of a different perspective.

We talk about how she doesn't understand them, takes Kristen as entirely uncaring, doesn't expect the bad kids to do so well in the Last Stand

and OF COURSE she doesn't. some of this because she of course is not privy to all of the bad kids interactions that we are as an audience. but a lot of it is probably because she's a teenager who's decided she's being slighted and as a result is never going to take the bad kids actions on good faith. she's doubled down and while I have a feeling she's extremely perceptive, she's also in an emotional place that means she probably is ACTIVELY ignoring any evidence to the fact that maybe the bad kids are just ALSO working very hard, and that the school itself may also work against them sometimes.

Add to that a god corrupted into rage (negative in this case) and conquest, and a nefarious faculty member as a potentially directly manipulative adult in her life trying to make something big and destructive happen. Kipperlily strikes me as the kind of person who knows she's smart, and knows she's clever, but is so blinded by her emotion that she is probably missing some of whats clearly in front of her as far as all the Jace business goes. She certainly is about the bad kids.

Jawbone can only do so much to help her in her sessions if he's being actively worked against. Emotional regulation is hard to learn from zero AS AN ADULT and she's probably coming from the negatives if my impression is correct, and is doing so as a teenager.

I guess what I'm trying to say is like

In a vacuum? Sure augeforts comment about trying being stupid or whatever does seem like another slap in the face for Kipperlily, one that justifies some of her feelings.

But not about the bad kids. and not to the extent she has taken them.

And to take that at its word feels weird to me because. To anybody paying attention? The bad kids are and have been trying SO SO hard in class. Them having to take the last stand in the FIRST place is specifically because the school system is treating Kristen unfairly DESPITE her best, GOOD efforts. I'm certain the rat grinders are on some level aware of Gorgugs EXTREMELY uphill battle with schoolwork this season, even if it's just Maryann catching part of a convo with Porter or Ruben hearing about it from his uncle. I HIGHLY doubt that Oisin was oblivious to the way that Adaines academics were affected by her not having the money for the correct materials - she still was able to excel mostly but the effects of that roll being at disadvantage for so long are still THERE. Jawbone pinned down and mentioned to Riz his similarities to Kipperlily within maybe 2 seconds - there is 0% chance he hasn't brought something similar up in Kipperlilys sessions. She may not like it, she may not have the emotional intelligence to see it this way, but his efforts almost certainly mirror hers in a way that makes them equally hard workers, absolutely determined to keep themselves afloat despite it being an uphill battle. Something that she feels she deserves to be rewarded for, and to an extent implies that if just a few circumstances were different she would be able to see equal value in his work.

And sure you can say she may be able to see that and be angry that their work is rewarded and hers isn't, but we see time and time again that she and her party don't always put that same level of work in? Mary Ann at blood rush, absolutely uncaring but doing well specifically because she's got some magical enhancements. The suspicious circumstances of Kipperlily finding the Rogue teacher. Even just the natural advantage of Oisin having more than the funds he needs to excel in wizard class.

But even regardless of that, she seems to refuse to see that any scenario in which others are praised for the same thing she's done, while she is ignored etc, is the sole responsibility of the school here. the bad kids are not her enemies in that fight - augefort is. The bad kids are not going around being consistently given advantages from the school, they're earning the things they get and hitting their own academic road blocks, and they aren't acting better than other people in a way that goes beyond like. Teen stuff. And yet her sights are trained so unblinking on them.

I can see Fabian and Kristen's popularity and personalities coming off like it supports that they're being treated better or feel some superiority. And it's teen stuff to quietly hate those ppl at your school! it's p normal!

But it always brings me back to her SPECIFICALLY hating Riz. Bc Riz isn't a rich kid throwing parties that everyone loves. Hes not sniping out comebacks the way Kristen does, sometimes without even thinking. In a lot of ways he's the/one of the least abrasive of the group to an outsider. Which makes me SO much more inclined to call bullshit that this is truly, honestly rooted in an acknowledgement of any of the REAL problems that come up with their school system.

It's complex, but I feel like we can't exalt their perspective as a Truth of the world like it seems some folks do when these characters themselves do not play fairly. What is fair about the way they interfered with the exam. What is fair about what she did so easily to Buddy Dawn. What is fair about the murder of the couple that owned that farm. Depending on what happened - what is fair from them about Lucy's murder. Certainly what is fair about their hand in Yolandas.

This idea that things are unfair isn't untrue. But not in the ways she thinks, and shes moved so far beyond that notion at this point. Kipperlily probably DOES believe that she's uniquely a victim of this system, or at least that everyone but the bad kids is. But she's moved so far beyond that. Whatever divine rage magic is involved has ensured that, as well as probably some Adult manipulation, and severely underdeveloped emotional regulation skills. and for me that means like. obviously she is unjustified in her actions.

Augefort is absolutely unhinged. his school has never been run in a manner that rewards buckling down in the classroom and the classroom only. It's an adventuring school in truly the most chaotic and violence rewarding sense, and that information is given freely by Arthur augefort at maybe any turn

Saw something about the theoretical being just as important as the practical. and yes! absolutely! a very good point that I'm glad was brought up - going to the classes is important and I think this season has really emphasized the ways in which that's true at least in terms of Staying in School and Honing your Skills

I do think, in the same breath, that that STILL means that the practical is ALSO just as important as the theoretical. It CAN'T be one or the other, it HAS to be both.

and the bad kids are DOING both. regardless of what it may count for, the rat grinders xp leveling by continuing to do freshman level combat in order to excel more on paper ISN'T them really doing the practical part of what theyre learning in their higher level classes. And the bad kids do not get credit for their saving of the world REGARDLESS. Not on its own merit, and to get the credit they'd have to jump a hefty academic bar that sort of invalidates the point of practical efforts in the first place, not to mention works against students like Fig and Kristen.

The school is actively rewarding Kipperlily and her party's cheat code practical use of their skills, over the bad kids putting just as much if not more effort into their LITERALLY WORLD SAVING missions. whatever favoritism shes seeing, or that there may be occasionally, Kipperlily fundamentally takes the bad kids in bad faith. It's not ABOUT what is ACTUALLY unfair to her at this point.

from her perspective every accolade or accomplishment from them HAS to come from favoritism in order to fit how her view of whats actually unfair has been warped. for her it doesn't MATTER that they've been trying because they MUST not be trying as hard as she is. it doesn't matter that they visibly saved the world three times, one of which was livestreamed and included several party members dropping, successfully because surely it's a fluke, or they were given better opportunities than others for no reason, or they're being falsely worshipped for what MUST be a less dangerous quest than it seems (despite us seeing clearly on the first day of school that nobody is putting a pedestal up for their night yorb win)

What could have been a justified spark of frustration with a system has shifted into a vengeful sense of entitlement that to me? fully abandons the good of wanting to change a school system actively working against some (/all?) students.

idk maybe this all sounds like jibberish I just

Kipperlily in her current state is INCAPABLE of not underestimating the bad kids bc that would require some acknowledgement that they have worked and bled and died to reach the level they're at.

You cannot separate the girl who sneaks in to the Last Stand to sabotage another party's chances of passing, of staying at school, of continuing school, of one of them from potentially keeping their god alive, and of being brought back from what she assumes is certain death - from the slighted teenager running for class president to make things "more fair"

you cannot separate the girl who easily slits her own party clerics throat without second thought from the girl who thinks she's been slighted by an unjust system

What she means by unfair is inherently colored by her being that same person

Augefort can say whatever nonsense he wants, and it doesn't really justify her current frustrations at this point because her version of fair is fundamentally unfair now.

Shes a child who's become corrupted, just like Buddy. but unlike him - she's become genuinely nefarious and vengeful. Unlike buddy she is actively plotting. Harming others with full knowledge of it. We don't know how much of it comes from her on her own, or the rage baking underground, or Stardiamonds direct involvement - but I think this most recent episode should make it clear that like

Whatever truth there is to the school being run in a way that is unfair to its students, and regardless of what she says or thinks

Kipperlily Copperkettle is not operating from that grounded perspective. and I don't think she has been for a long time

[enobariasdistrict2]

suzanne collins's inclusion of the career tributes was actually a genius move thematically. because yeah, of course logically katniss is going to be repulsed by their actions (while i am a heavy career tribute defender i can admit that in katniss's place if i watched a bunch of rowdy obnoxious children kill people and laugh about it, i'd be a little angry about at them too) but she eventually recognizes something that's really important to the message of the books. while the careers receive the benefit of the capitol's favor and therefore don't experience the extreme poverty and starvation that katniss and her allies do, they in some ways have it worse because they genuinely believe that the capitol cares for them and that they benefit from the authoritarian regime, only to be exploited by it themselves.

and most of the thg audience/readers see these minor characters that katniss knows little about and gives very little attention to as these gleefully bloodthirsty violent people and therefore their deaths seem justified. but can you imagine being in their place?

the career kids are at a severe disadvantage because of the extensive indoctrination that the capitol subjects them to. teens in the real world, despite the fact that a lot of them are actually generally unappreciative of and ignorant about current events (this is based on my personal experiences with kids my age but is probably just a generalized assumption), have access to advanced technology and a world of information at their fingertips. they can easily access information about what happens in impoverished areas and educate themselves if they wanted to. in a system like panem, obviously this would never be allowed, and snow/the capitol keep the districts as disconnected from each other and from what's going on as possible.

that means that the career tributes, like the outer district kids, literally are cut off from the world. they don't know the terrible working/poverty conditions of the outer districts, they have no way of knowing anything other than the pro-capitol ideology they were raised with. the entire reason the capitol stayed in power for so long was because the districts didn't get information about one another, which is why the career children literally have no context of any situation in any other district and only know what they experience. so of course they see the capitol as this generous and honorable and just government, because what do they have that will say otherwise? what other sources of information can they turn to?

not only that, they are raised from childbirth on the belief that the capitol is a benevolent, supreme authority, and that murdering other children is an incredible act of honor and power. the way people are raised impacts them profoundly for the rest of their life and well into adulthood, and that is especially clear from brutus and enobaria's personalities (or at least, in katniss's extremely biased interpretations of them) because they followed the Career Tribute Creed long after they aged out of the games. however the educational system in d2 works, it's clear that they experience extreme brainwashing. the careers are an important example of how authoritarian governments can easily corrupt the education system and use it to manipulate young, impressionable, inexperienced children, molding new generations to support their fascist regimes.

[nolongerapileofashprobably]

What do you think about link and Zelda’s characters?

I wonder if this is specifically Zelda and Link from the Wild Era— I’ll assume so since it is the newest era and I have been primarily focused on Wild Era games recently.

I’ll start with Zelda’s character first— to put it plainly, I love her as a character. She grows and develops despite witnessing literal tragedies and shouldering the weight of a kingdom from birth. Her duty was set forth the moment the prophecy came to light and she was put at a disadvantage when her mother died.

If we remember, Zelda didn’t cry at her mother’s funeral. We know from the game that Zelda is quite an emotional character, so her putting on a front of placing so much on herself at such a young age is something that breaks my heart. But to see how she grows as a person, how she overcomes that emotional blockage through sheer love, how she handles the wreckage of the Calamity, how she develops as a leader, to finally how she becomes a Queen is by far the most powerful and beautiful Zelda character arc in the series. She is so beloved in my heart that I cannot formulate the words to describe those emotions, though I desperately try.

There is no Zelda in the entire series that I adore and cherish more than her (and I’ve played nearly all the games). She’s on another level of development and complexity that it truly hurts to see people completely warp her personality and her actions to justify a false narrative.

Her character is incredibly strong, not just magically, but in terms of actual character design, development, and the execution of her story. She has her flaws, and we actively see her work on them and course correct when she can. That is something so mature and important (and I don’t think people give her enough credit for that). I genuinely don’t have many critiques of her character, as I was genuinely happy with her through the entirety of the story.

Link on the other hand… I do love him. I do. Link is a strong character physically, but his development is incredibly scarce compared to Zelda. His character suffers from Nintendo’s choice to essentially make Link a ‘link to the player’ rather than his own person. With a story that incites powerful emotional responses when players cannot refuse that Zelda and Link 1) are incredibly close/bonded, probably lowkey codependent 2) have not left each other’s side since they were reunited and finally that they are 3) probably romantically involved, or something akin to transcending just a simple friendship, it’s difficult to ensure that experience when all of that is lost on those who decide that it isn’t true.

Mind you, everything I listed above are simple and straightforward interpretations of in-game evidence. And we do see a lot more from Link’s character this game with small gasps and micro expressions (that should NOT be ignored). But for those who do not agree with the above, it’s likely they disliked the story. That’s okay, not everyone will like the story. But a lot of it stems from this vagueness Nintendo established for Link’s character.

He was a kid beating soldiers in the guard, trained in Zora’s Domain, continued training, got the Master Sword when he was a preteen, had the weight of a prophecy placed on him as the first piece besides Zelda, and then became a Champion and Zelda’s Knight Attended by the age of 16/17. Homeboy did have a lot of trauma and stress at an early age that did cause selective muteness and for him to create this stoic mask. We see that he is much less stoic and more talkative after the Calamity and after, but it’s all relative to what the player wants/feels. Sometimes that contradicts what the story itself implies/tells players.

Link is… wasted potential as a character. He could have 100% been more than what we were given to see. I have crafted my own version of him that to me, is as close as canon as I could get, but that won’t be the same for anyone else. Link is precisely what Nintendo wanted him to be and he serves that purpose perfectly.

And it works, but it could have been executed a bit better by confirming things regarding his character rather than leaving breadcrumbs for players to follow if they decided to.

So yeah. Zelda is amazing and I love her. Link could have been executed better but for what we got, I still love him too and extracted enough to formulate as close to canon interpretation without being overly biased (at least I tried).

[halevren]

FHJY Spoilers || my live thoughts as I watch episode 8

I am playing tomodachi life as I watch this. if anyone is curious, I named my island Yorb Island. I just restarted it

IT'S OUR TIME IT'S OUR YEAR

The lip syncing

see you at basrars! goodnight everyone

"Confirmed to be dead" NO. she is confirmed to not be on the mortal plane, perhaps she simply is chilling in the astral realm (I don't want her to be actually dead she looks too lovely)

licking baby..... :(

the lobster bisque

"Gorgug's roots of never being good" CRYING

I feel adaine right now. I am in such a point where I am very antisocial

glassblowing!!!

This disadvantage stuff is actually making me stressed

There's something beautiful about the bad kids not really caring that Kristen doesn't have magic, they still love her. A true "would you still love me if I was a worm?" She has nothing to offer right now, and yet, her friends move her more than anything

Riz can't focus :(

LYDIA 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

OH NO.... ADAINE.....

A d100???????????????????

91?!?!!?! oh no

ADAINE?!!?!??

FLASH OF RED??????? HUH???? WHAT??? WHAT IS GOING ON??

Not Cassandra???? Familiar scream???

"Maybe it's not your fault at all"

"Yeah I definitely killed her..."

Fiendish aura??

"I out wretchrot on it!" "oh good..."

"I thought it was because he was a straight man wearing the pride armor"

"Are you talking about emo music...?"

Lala Embers..

AW DON'T CRY

I feel like the cup of tea..... would be the worst idea

"All drums welcome!"

"What the fuck are we doing?"

there's a nudity tent

There's nothing wrong with a body 🔥

CASSANDRA WAS MARRIED?

I can't wait to see all the theories after this episode

"I don't want to talk about it"

"Do you want a bardic" no one wants fig'd bardic 😭😭😭😭

oh thanks goodness he has meticulous notes

Theothantic silence

There's so much information being thrown at us

Gods could always remember dead goda

"I thought you were dead" oh my

Lucy was possessed...

AYDA MENTION!!!!

OH MY GOD AYDA MENTION!!!!! ADAINE MENTIONED AYDA!!!!

Alter Emo

"It's all natural, man"

"sexy"

BUCKY!!!!!!!!!! BUCKY BOY!!!!!

24 point starts have to be the red crystals

I love all this theorizing. This feels like a debriefing

"Wretchrot is so fucking god at his job."

Minor illustration running drills 😭😭😭😭

"That's my owl bear!!!!"

"8 foot Fabian on the field next week"

"You know how you see the unknown? You shine a light on it."

"Pop off my first prayer"

A 6TH LEVEL SPELL SLOT?

a lot of invisible naked people

I want to partake in this festival

FICUS

MURPH IMMEDIATELY PUTTING HIS HEAD IN HIS HANDS AFTER FIG TURNS INTO WANDA CHILDA 😭😭

not a mosh pit environment

4 1/2 long pipe??!!? ;!

"You wanna get fucking high?"

RUBEN

"Fig had to take a shit."

"Why are there so many naked old people at your house?" "I don't know man! I don't have anything to do with that."

Gorgug disliking Ruben is so good I can't stop giggling

MY CLERICAL GNOMANCE

There is. Something going on.

PRINCIPAL GRIX

RIP RUBEN???? DISINTEGRATE???

NEW MAP!!!

I can't believe Ruben is the front man of MCG

COUNTERSPELL

"don't do this...."

OH NO. OH GOD.

oh god.......... dildo lawnmower

"I've had sex before!"

IT WAS ALL UNDER THE TARP

NOOOOOO WILMA AND DIGBY!!!!!!! NOOOOO

"Ruthless... So they were into fucking machines?"

"These are your champions, Grix?!?!!?!"

"You're not perfect order."

Save the turtle!!!!!

yeah -5 movement. that's tough.

FABIAN TURN 🔥🔥

26 to hit 🔥🔥

they're all just from this summer 😭

"I'm in"

REMOTE ACCESS

That is a four!!!

GAMER POSE 😭

"We got him Porter."

The shoe rack

"Come with me!"

So many nude gnomes

MURPH CANCELLED A CRIT INTO A MISS

"♪I'M GONNA SAVE YOU♪"

DIMENSION DOOR

SO MUCH GOING ON WITH WANDA

"But that moment of terror does happen, 'cause I want him to feel it. I want him to know what would it feel like if the most important thing in his world disappeared."

LISTENING TO A PODCAST AT A MUSIC FESTIVAL

CLOBICA!!

He's not raging???? Let him rage!!!

Bypasses the shield?!?

STUNNED??

What A Day.

Can the air elemental go up Grix's butthole?

Intelligence saving throws

ALLY GOT THE 3 MUSKETEERS

D12 bardic??????

42 POINTS OF PSYCHIC DAMAGE?

NOOO CLOBICA

Rip Clobica

FOR THE LAWN AND FOR PLEASURE

HE BYPASSES'S GRIX'S SHIELD

Wilma and Digby to the rescue!

Kristen healing 🔥

11 points to Riz </3

33 POINTS OF FIRE DAMAGE?

the little mini displays of what's going on is so cool and cute I love them

Four parents on a battlefield is too many

MY CLERICAL GNOMANCE GIVING OUT BARDIC INSPIRATION

THE VULTURE

Gilearean!

THE COMPLICATED WOMEN PODCAST

I love the CW

BIG GRIX

I love Lou and Ally's energy together is so good

RIZ GUKGAK

"If I take 5 stress tokens—"

HE'S ABOUT TO WHAT? TAKE OVER WHO? RIZ NO!!!!!!!!!!!

NOOOOOOOO RIZ IS GETTING MIND CONTROLLED

"I'm mad at you for asking."

NOOO HE GOT A ONE NOOOOO

HE'S GONNA HIT THE TUBE

FINALLY HIS BAD ROLLS HELP

omg the vulture

"Yes. Abso-fucking-lutely, Brennan. Ally Beardsley is at a place of doubt and uncertainty with this move."

hey hirlie

OH MY GOD THE BACKDROP

THE CULTURE DIMENSION???

WHAT?????? WHAT????? THAT'S WHERE IT'S ENDING????????????

[andy4yippee]

DAMN. analysis (not beta read)

Hello. this is an analysis of one, or the darkest album from Kendrick Lamar. it goes into many themes of religion, guilt from religion, love, trauma, death, etc.

I'll start with BLOOD.

the first track.

it starts with "Is it wickedness" "It is weakness?" "You decide."

"Are we gonna live, or die?"

Wickedness - the quality of being morally evil or wrong

Weakness - a state or condition of lacking strength/a quality or feature seen as a disadvantage or fault

The back cover of DAMN. seems to represent wickedness. while the front, seems to represent weakness.

This actually, continues to be a theme throughout the album. each song stands for either wickedness or weakness. that last line, may not mean much, but it means so much after you fully understand it. you can interpret the song into whatever story you want, no matter what way it's played.

in BLOOD, it's a pretty short song, and it seems simple- but it bites you back In the ass when you relisten and understand the full album.

Kendrick helps an old blind woman who seems like shes lost something.

he decides to go over and help her, and says "Hello ma'am, can I be of any assistance? it seems to me like you have lost something. I would like to help you find it."

she replies, "Oh yes, you have lost something. you've lost, you're life."

and Kendrick gets shot and dies.

WOAH! right? You're like, what the hell is happening?

now, this may be some kind of metaphor, but, if it was a real encounter..

huh? kendrick is ALIVE? it seems super random, right? did the old woman shoot him, did a gang shoot him, did he shoot himself? whats going on?

To make sense, we have to go to the next song.

DNA.

In this song, Kendrick states 23 things that are inside his DNA. a strand of DNA contains 23 chromosomes.

he seems very confident on this track. too confident. so, why is Kendrick being murdered on the first track??

these are the 23 things he states are in his DNA -

loyalty

royalty

cocaine quarter piece

war

peace

power

poison

pain

joy

hustle

ambition

realness

kill shit

millions

riches

dark

evil

rot

troublesome heart

soldier

murder

money

sex

There are a lot of negative things in this, but there's a lot of good too.

this song seems to be more associated with wickedness, it even has evil in it, which is in the definition. the way he raps also seems aggressive, not weak.

onto the next track.

YAH.

in this, he seems tired, way more vulnerable, and weak.

this song visibly represents weakness.

Kendrick reflects on his fame. He's afraid he'll work himself to death, he's tired of the media saying shit. his radar is 'buzzing' and he becomes aware of how much his career affects him. he says he's tired of being gossiped about, on fox news, tv, interviews, etc.

when you see YAH, you'd think it's a abrv. for YEAH.

but, YAH is the name referring to the closest name to god. it fits, due to the religious themes.

another important line is -

"im not bout a' religion.

im an Israelite.

don't call me black no more"

He states he's not about 'a religion' although, this album contains themes about him BEING religious. seems confusing right? just like BLOOD.

He's not religious in any way, but he does call himself a Israelite.

in the bible, a Israelite are gods chosen people.

"these people with be cursed with confusion, frustration, and illness until they follow God's will."

so- what's this mean? we learn more In this album that, Israelites are all people of color.

his cousin carl, (theres a tape of a phone call in one track), that he believes that people of color are God's isrealites, and that they'll be cursed of all 'the bad shit happening'.

but, Kendrick, doesn't seem to care, he focuses more on his carreer.

that brings us to-

ELEMENT.

in element, it starts with "KUNG FU KENNY, AINT NOBODY PRAYING FOR ME." "GOD KNOWS WHAT HAPPENS ON EARTH STAYS ON EARTH." (kid capri)

lets go more into that last line. its a bit like, 'what happens in vegas stays in vegas', a term to promote for gambling, etc, saying that no one will know that you've done stuff if you do go there.

so if you take that in context, Kendrick realizes that :

nobody is praying for him, and that no matter what he does he'll end up damned in hell anyway.

he states he doesn't give a fuck about whats happening to him, and he says he would die for his career. this represents WICKEDNESS. you can hear it in his tone. he insults other rappers, and says he's the best rapper. its a response to his weakness in YAH, that he doesn't give a fuck that he's cursed.

see a pattern? weakness, wickedness, weakness, wickedness...

but then, Kendrick realizes.

he does give a fuck.

FEEL.

this starts off with,

"aint nobody praying for me." x3

this features one of his prouducers, VP, a female, named chelsea bylthe saying the same. this is to show that even in music, in his team, no ones loyal, no one truly cares.

this one visibly shifts to WEAKNESS. kendrick realizes...wait. what if I AM cursed. i DO give a fuck.

in element, kendrick hides in his rap career, to escape the fact he's 'cursed' or that he's 'damned'.

FEEL. lets out those feelings.

Kendrick feels like hes lonely, like no one truly cares, and that he's truly ALL ALONE, and that every in the industry is an enemy. he feels weak, so he fights back in this song to seem anything but that.

he still speaks about how hes the best rapper, but how its full of toxic people, showing weakness.

he starts to come with the fact that he might actually be cursed. 2 songs back, he was kind of mocking that.

LOYALTY.

This ones a short anyalisis. its a song about Kendrick trying to get people to pray for him, by having loyalty people by him.

people who he trusts, he needs loyalty.

but, this one shows weakness. the pattern breaks.

PRIDE.

this is considered the worst possible sin of the seven deadly sins.

pride makes you feel above everyone, even god.

this song is likely his post popular on the album, and its a very important song.

"Loves gonna get you killed. But Pride's gonna be the death of you and me..."

confusing, right?

but, you can notice, that Love will simply get you KILLED. pride will be the DEATH of you.

Death seems almost like it would be the end of you. the end of your soul, while love would simply kill you.

In this album, we can see how pride infects him throughout the song.

he states he cares more about his lyrics than others. he says that in another life, a perfect world, he was there.

maybe in that perfect universe, there is a Kendrick who cares about others- but he doubts there's a universe where he doesn't have pride like this.

this track shows weakness.

HUMBLE.

this is THE turning point in the album.

kendrick talks about trying to overcome his sin. pride, but, the fact that he cant help himself from throwing shots at other people.

this track shows wickedness, but almost accidental wickedness.

he wants to be vulnerable and get rid of pride, but he cant seem to do that.

Hes taking shots at other rappers or people, telling them to sit down and be humble.

almost like, "ill be humble, but you better sit down and do the same."

LUST.

this is another of the seven deadly sins. its considered as when sexual pleasure is isolated from the fact of making children.

its a very sexual song. infact, i never noticed how bad it is lol.

it tells the routine of a man/woman who only live for short kinds of pleasure, and wake up to do the same.

it also tells the story of how Kendrick has to change, but how he doesn't. he states he hasn't only been lusting over sex, but fame and money. he fears god now, because of his sins.

this song is the first time Kendrick talks about being afraid of being damned by god to hell.

he begins to be afraid of god in his healing process. he becomes more religious because he fears hell.

he drifts more toward weakness.

LOVE.

this is the oppisote of lust. he states his relationship with his wife.

but, he says he values loyalty more than love.

"ill rather you trust me than to love me."

going back to loyalty..

in the music video, a Kendrick in white gets choked and killed by a Kendrick in black.

they sort of reappear in LOVE.

the one is black is happy, in love, and in a happy relationship in the LOVE music video.

and the one in white is unhappy, and in a toxic, unhealthy relationship.

in love, you can see that he overcame he lust with love.

so..why is there a Kendrick in the music video, doing the COMPLETE opposite? he chose love in the end, right?

he overcomes his pride with humbleness and overcomes his lust with love. he lets go of his wickedness. right?

XXX.

it shows a poor understanding of America's problem. song talks about how young black kids in America will find a way to survive.

we get introduced to johnny, who doesnt want to go to school and wants to be a rapper like his uncle. (this may be keen, his younger cousin)

on a phone call, Kendrick says that if anyone touched his family he would kill that person and openly admit it- then, he quickly ends the call, saying he has to speak at a convection.

it talks about gun control, evil acts in America, etc, and how people turn a blind eye due to the American dream they're living.

kendrick talks about america like the complete opposite of a perfect world referred to in PRIDE.

XXX. could be the 'USA' X rated, but no ones exactly sure.

FEAR.

this starts with a voicemail from duckworth/carl, talking about how he knows that Kendrick feels like no one prays for him and he explains how they're cursed, and how it'll keep going until he follows gods wishes.

we get a verse from Kendrick sung backward.

random, right? but it actually means were going BACK in time.

he talks about when he was a kid, and his abusive mother. she threatened to beat him, and if he ran to his dad, she said she would hurt him more.

his father was the only one who could help him with his mother, and he really looked up to him.

the second verse takes place 10 years later. he was 17.

Kendrick mentions one fear: Death.

the lyrics speculate how he could die.

in 10 more years,

when he was 27, he has many more fears, saying that all the money and fame is a joke from god.

GOD.

God is a DIRECT response to fear, especially to the voicemail.

kendrick didn't want to feel cursed, so he turned to god, which to him, turns to weakness. vulnerable, that's how it seems to make him feel.

he says to god, don't judge me for my past mistakes. he says he was beaten, he did bad things..etc. he feels fear of god. its his way of asking god to not send him to hell.

he says he lives through fear. fear of god.

wickedness, or weakness? Which one?

weakness, right?

but, what if, he was never meant to choose?

YOU decide.

DUCKWORTH.

duckworth is the last track on the album.

he realizes that his biggest enemy was him, this whole time.

"i always thought it was me versus the world"

"until i realized its me versus me"

This is a story. a story of two men, one named ducky, one named anthony.

anthonys life turned into a life of crime. at 15, he was drug dealing, and continued in tih business. he gets approached by cops, gets offered to be a confidential comforter. he says no, and goes back to KFC to get something to eat.

Ducky worked the window and had a young son. he wanted to make money to get his son to college, but, obviously, he's not the only one who needs money, anthony does too.

ducky was aware, and he knew Anthony would. so, he got on his good side, gave me extra biscuits or extra chicken.

Anthony became fond of ducky, that he never robbed the KFC.

Ducky, is Kendricks father. kendrick was signed to anthonys label, and they met together, they laughed together.

because they realized that if ducky wasn't so kind to Anthony, Kendrick would have NEVER become a rapper.

WRAP UP.

to conclude.

you can play this album anyway. it can end, or start anyway. and it will still make sense.

if you play it backward, kendrick goes into a loop of crime, and died in blood, being shot after going into a life of crime after his dad dies from Anthony.

or, he can get better, closer to god, and be successful.

overall, this album was played out perfectly. and my hands hurt. thank you, bye.

THAT WRAPS UP, DAMN. THE ANALYSIS.

thank you.

[presidenthades]

Once again, I am doing a series of my behind-the-scenes thoughts for The Golds while I do light edits for formatting, typos, and continuity. Here’s Chapter 9!

For this chapter’s title, I went with the final stanza of “The Song of the Seven” when the lyrics talk about all the gods, because the chapter ends with Jace and Aegon arriving for the anointment ceremony.

I kinda feel sorry for Jace and Aegon discovering the true hardships of parenthood (night feedings! Sleep deficit!), but they also have a castle full of servants to do all the chores. Raising a baby is hard, but at least they don’t have to worry about laundry or cooking. Can’t blame Jace for delegating diaper changes, though.

I have no idea how long a dragon’s gestation period is supposed to be. No reason it can’t be comparable to a human’s? They’re fictional anyway 😛. But I wanted Vermax’s gestation to align with Jace’s pregnancy to highlight that dragon/rider bond, since the show has cuts of Syrax reacting during Rhaenyra’s labor in Episode 10.

There’s a fandom theory that dragons seem to thrive more roaming freely on Dragonstone than chained in the Dragonpit. But one disadvantage of the Dragonmont is the Cannibal, who I imagine is quick to hint down new eggs and hatchlings. So when a claimed dragon is expected to lay eggs, I think the Dragonkeepers are very alert about when it happens. It might be harder to keep tabs on unclaimed dragons like Silverwing, who probably do their own thing without a rider to keep tabs on them. But otherwise the Dragonkeepers are trying their best to save the eggs from getting eaten.

There’s also probably a narrow window after Vermax lays eggs when she goes away to hunt or something, and that’s when humans are able to get the eggs. Otherwise Vermax might not be so happy about them taking her eggs, and Jace is in no shape to go up the mountain and tell her to calm down.

There’s some debate whether Sunfyre was a cradle egg or a dragon that Aegon claimed as a kid. The strong bond makes me want to say cradle egg, but Sunfyre seems a lot larger than most dragons his age if so, and there are lines in F&B which indicate that Aegon, Helaena, and Aemond might not have even received cradle eggs. There might not have been eggs available when the genre born, or maybe Viserys chose not to give them eggs because he was showing favor to Rhaenyra’s line. Daeron is the youngest so he’s a special case because of the timing; there might have been more eggs when he was born, or, in the book (where Daeron and Jacaerys are of similar ages), Viserys may have felt obligated to offer an egg to Daeron since he gave eggs to Rhaenyra’s kids.

I’m leaning toward Aegon claiming Sunfyre (who could have been a young dragon in the Dragonpit). In that case, it’s extra important to Aegon that he gets an egg for his son, especially if you go with the headcanon that Viserys deliberately didn’t give Aegon an egg. By personally choosing an egg and placing it in the cradle, this is another way Aegon can demonstrate his love and approval to his own son, which Viserys didn’t show to Aegon.

In the last chapter’s commentary, I mentioned that I made Aegon minimally affected by the glass candle since he’s not inclined toward magic. But Joff is very interested in magic and has actually used the candle, so it has a much greater effect on her. Kinda like how the One Ring in LOTR affects different people differently.

I think we can all agree that generally, it’s an asshole move to a) purposely create sudden loud noises around a newborn and b) shove a woman who just gave birth. Joff is not entirely herself and she shows remorse, so she gets some sympathy. At the same time, I think it’s clear why Aegon is so angry. From his perspective, Jace is bleeding on the floor and screaming for Joff to stop whatever she’s doing, and he catches Joff with her hands literally in the cradle. He believes he came just in time to stop something terrible from happening, and who knows what would’ve happened if Joff hadn’t snapped out of it? So Aegon is not going to immediately forgive Joff for hurting Jace/almost hurting the baby. And if it were anyone else (not Jace’s sister, not the person who just saved Jace and Cheeseball), he probably wouldn’t have forgiven them at all.

As for Jace, despite her own fear and pain, her first instinct is to try to protect Joff by lying for her, because that’s her sister and Aegon is pretty pissed. As usual, Jace sets her own needs and comfort aside in favor of her loved ones. But now Jace has a helpless baby to think about. She might still put her sisters above herself, but Cheeseball comes before her sisters now.

I allude to the glass candle in the Handbook, first when Daeron blabs about getting Joff something from Oldtown in Chapter 7, then in the final scene of the fic when Daemon catches the two of them examining the candle. The Citadel doesn’t officially acknowledge the existence of the candles (although it seems to be an open secret in Oldtown), so Daeron must’ve been very sneaky and creative to be able to “borrow” it.

“Joff won’t like it” is one of Daeron’s mantras when he decides what to do or not to do. He’s probably going to have to grow out of this eventually 😅.

“Joff is going to have to do a lot of things she doesn’t like. That’s life.” Aegon learned this life lesson a while ago, but he truly absorbs and embodies it in Chapter 10 when he steps into the game.

Vermax laid three eggs. The mysterious wet nurse said Aegon and his wife would have three children 🧐.

Jace dresses Cheeseball in Targaryen red knits for his first day of being paraded around the family!

Baela, Rhaena, and Helaena are basically the fairy godmothers from Sleeping Beauty. They’re even color-coded the same!

It’s revealed in Chapter 10 that Helaena has no interest in pregnancy/childbirth, but that doesn’t mean she’s opposed to children entirely. She just doesn’t want to carry them. Hence her and Rhaena’s little chat about Garmund, who would hypothetically be the medieval equivalent of a sperm donor while Rhaena and Helaena raise any kids. It’s also why they picked Daemion Velaryon as Helaena’s potential husband in the Handbook; Daemion is implied to be gay and he has no holdings to bequeath, so his wife doesn’t need to have kids, compared to, say, Kermit Tully.

It’s OK Baela, your gift to Cheeseball was your midwifery skills.

Aegon hovers a lot over Cheeseball right now because the birth was a very fraught experience, and the Joff incident didn’t help his nerves. Also he’s just in the “newborn dad” phase. When Cheeseball gets older and is a bit less fragile, I think Aegon will let Cheeseball run around and get in age-appropriate trouble.

Cheeseball is literally one day old but I couldn’t resist infusing some personality into him. He enjoys feminine attention, likes boobs, and instinctively thinks Aemond is kinda weird. Definitely Aegon’s son 😂.

Luce was about to say her kids are gonna be named after historical figures, because Aemond’s a history nerd 😢.

Aemond is trying to be cool and pretend he isn’t super interested in the baby, but this man spent a small fortune on that Valyrian steel dagger 😭.

“Aemma” is the magic word when it comes to Viserys. Although he shipped Luce and Aemond at the end of the Handbook, he’s putting on his king hat and doing what he thinks is necessary (but also Elenda invoked Aemma). Viserys wants to be a peacemaker (although he fails miserably in canon), and he wants people to like him (can't remember which episode, but he asks Lyonel or Otto if they think he'll be remembered as a good king). Breaking up Luce and Aemond is a price he's willing to pay. He doesn't care about Aemond's feelings, and while he does care about Luce's feelings, he doesn't think a young girl's romantic affections are worth destabilizing the Crown. And since there isn't any official arrangement between her and Aemond, Viserys thinks there isn't much shame for her in being jilted, since there's no betrothal to be jilted.

Borros Baratheon is gunning hard for power and a royal marriage. In F&B, he seizes every opportunity to advantageously betroth his daughters, and he tells his wife to name their unborn son Aegon after Aegon II. The Baratheons also claim Targ blood through Orys, a more recent infusion of Valyrian blood through Queen Alyssa, and kinship to Rhaenys (and Jace and her sisters by extension). If any great lord thinks he "deserves" a royal marriage, it has to be this guy.

In F&B, Elenda seems like a cunning woman who balances the desires of her daughters with the welfare of House Baratheon as a whole (considering how she dealt with Cassandra's marriage in the book). She is grieving for Floris, but she has three other living daughters to think about, and she's too smart/ambitious to let this opportunity slip by despite her grief.

Aegon has a very cynical view of Viserys, but honestly he's pretty close to the truth IMO. I always side-eye the show writers/actors when they say Viserys is a good person just trying his best because…uh…I don't think so 😅. There are already tons of blogs and opinions out there explaining why Viserys is kinda terrible so I won't parrot them. But ultimately, it seems Viserys is driven primarily by the prophecy (his desperation for a son, then him believing the PTWP will come from Rhaenyra's line) and by guilt about Aemma. So that taints my opinion of his love and affection for Rhaenyra, and her children in turn. Rhaenyra's kids are more important than Alicent's kids, but they aren't the most important thing either.

Aegon is also kinda right about hiding the info from Jace during the pregnancy. She probably would have stressed herself even more if she knew the truth, and that wouldn't be good for her health or the baby's. So the temporary information diet was probably the best call Aegon could have made in that situation.

When Rhaenyra arrives, she's frowning at Aegon who's freaking out in the corridor. He stays there like that until Alicent makes him get lunch for Jace.

Joff feels very guilty about last night, so she decides to remove herself from the situation out of fear of a repeat.

Even though Rhaenyra generally has a good relationship with her daughters, no mother-daughter relationship is perfect. Jace and Rhaenyra have pretty different personalities, and arguably different values, but Jace is a people-pleaser and Rhaenyra is on the chill side for a Westerosi mom, so they get along most of the time. But when they clash, they really clash (like that argument in Chapter 6 of the Handbook that Daemon slept through, about Jace's elopement to Aegon).

Jace thinking that she would throw herself off a tower if she'd been presented with her baby torn up is a reference to Helaena and Maelor

I honestly don't think Rhaenyra has really forgiven Viserys for Aemma's death. She just moved on, because what other choice was there? He's her father and the king.

Rhaenyra really didn't like Aegon growing up (for reasons already included in past commentaries), but she was more neutral about Aemond. There isn't the same baggage about Aegon claiming everyone's attention/replacing her, and Aemond was much better behaved. And I think Luce was spoiled more while Jace was the responsible one making sacrifices and doing her duty, so there is different treatment in that regard.

I was going to elaborate more in earlier drafts before I rewrote some subplots, but Alicent had perinatal depression during her pregnancy with Daeron. It got bad enough that even Viserys noticed, and after the maesters advised a respite from court might help, he decided this meant sending Alicent to Oldtown for the rest of the pregnancy—without her three older children 🙃. That’s why Alicent was away in Oldtown, and that’s why she can empathize with Jace’s current mess of emotions. If I ever write that Alicent & Rhaenyra POV fic of the kids’ childhood, this subplot is definitely going in there.

Rhaenyra ultimately resigned herself to Jace/Aegon for the sake of her child’s happiness, and Alicent did the same re: Luce/Aemond. Parallels!

“All your children will be precious to you, but it is your firstborn who changes you the most.” Of course Alicent is thinking about Aegon when she says that. She might not always like him very much, but that doesn’t make it any less true, and she loves him anyway. She just isn’t great at showing it, and she has hurt him physically and emotionally, and that’s left its mark on Aegon.

Just like in Chapter 5, Jace and Aegon reconcile quickly because they don’t like being at odds with each other. Again, Jace is a people-pleaser, and Aegon is a Jace-pleaser, which helps a lot when they need to be honest with each other about their mistakes.

Aegon’s joke about commissioning a giant gold statue for Joff is a reference to Aegon in F&B wanting to commission giant gold statues for his brothers.

Aemond 100% cares what other people think about him. He supposedly wears the eyepatch so his sapphire eye doesn’t scare ladies at court (even though it’s gorgeous??), and he gets triggered by Maris’s purported taunt about his balls in F&B. He has a lot of internal motivation to excel, but I think he wants external validation that he’s good enough (see: his whole “‘tis I who studies” speech). So even though he’s impulsive enough to suggest eloping (the Storm’s End chase was one big impulse in the show, the roast pig triggers him into making the Strong boys toast), he would care a lot about the gossip and his reputation afterward. And TBH Aemond is not a very emotionally stable guy, so I can totally see him lashing out against an easy target who doesn’t deserve it—like Luce. But hey, that’s what a character growth arc is for!

The Faith is supposed to be based on Catholicism, so I figured they have an in-world equivalent of a baptism. The religious lore is different so instead of water, they use oils; we see Aegon being anointed by oils during his coronation in Episode 9. And seven is THE lucky number in the Faith/Westeros, so babies are usually anointed at seven weeks old.

Typical Viserys forgot that Jace might have some trauma related to the Grand Sept 🙃.

At this rate the Dragonpit is going to become a symbol of Jace and Aegon’s marriage. And it’s a nice blend of Targaryen power as well as a nod of respect to the Faith. Jace is very conscious of the importance of the Faith’s support and the need to assimilate into Westerosi culture while retaining icons of Targaryen superiority.

“You’re thinking like a statesman.” Jace is right though, Aegon could be good at it if he tried…

Cheeseball was born on the small side since he came early (and stress during pregnancy can lead to smaller babies too), but he is definitely a chonker now.

A commenter once suggested that Aegon might have a lactation kink and now I can’t get it out of my head

Deep down Jace knows that Baela had feelings for her, but Jace tries not to think about it/pretends she doesn’t know. Jace prefers her sisterly relationship with Baela, and acknowledging non-platonic feelings would affect that. Also, Baela has more or less moved on (most likely?), so Jace thinks there’s no point acknowledging it anyway.

Is Aegon being extra when he uses dracarys on a dirty diaper? Probably yeah, but what else is he going to do with it?

I like to think the Garden girls are part of the crowd waving gold flags when they fly back to KL.

Aegon says he hates playing politics, but he puts on a show without thinking about it. He even gives the crowd a Lion King moment when he holds up the baby.

Chapter 10 commentary here

[honuofhawaii]

So I have a major angst fic idea but it has some holes in it that I will take suggestions on if anyone is interested in making them…

Explicitly IceMav retelling of Top Gun: Maverick set in 2009.

2009 bc extra devastation of Mav having to conceal the extent of his grief as DADT is not yet repealed, it’s before there were even discussions of the possibility of an appeal.

(This idea spawned out of another short fic idea of the Daggers (or a group of them) celebrating the appeal, and them wanting the invite Mav and Bradley or Penny telling them that Mav isn’t in a celebratory mood bc he’s mourning the fact that his partner didn’t live to see the appeal)

Okay so like I said SO MUCH ANGST!

but here’s some of the problems and the not problems with shifting the timeline:

Okay Mav was a Captain by 2006 so 2009 he’s still a Captain everything is good. Less snide remarks about him “only being a Captain” (but like seriously those were pretty ridiculous in the movie, it is really really difficult to rise to captain and being promoted to admiral is like winning an election)

The problem is Ice. By 2009 he at most might have two stars. Probably only one. He even could still be a Captain. But he’s definitely not the COMPACFLT. I don’t plan on creating new characters to fill Cyclone and Warlock’s shoes, but those characters would also be lower rank, but they need to be high enough that they outrank Mav but not so high they dont outrank Ice. (But like is this even important? Can I just have everyone at the ranks they are in the movie and Ice just had a extremely rapid ascent?)

I fully intend to ignore the fact that Penny only bought the Hard Deck three years prior.

My initial plan has been for Sarah to be Ice’s sister, and she’s there with her kids to help take care of him since Mav can’t actually take leave very often to help. I am open to the idea of a lavender marriage, Sarah being aro, or a lesbian. What do you prefer? And if you prefer the lavender marriage idea I’d love to hear your thoughts on why Sarah wants entered it?

Okay back to a real timeline problem. The Sukhoi Su-57 aka the 5th generation fighters that an F-18 Superhornet does not have the technological advantage over (it’s actually at a disadvantage) didn’t have its first flight until 2010. (And I’m guessing first flight, means test flight, not in production or service yet) so what do I use?! MiG-29’s? Or do I say fuck it again this is Top Gun fanfiction the enemy can have jets that were barely even built yet.

I mean I am letting Mav have Darkstar she’s too pretty not to include! Grant I have less qualms about that bc SR-72 does not officially exist in the real world.

I am worrying a lot about the logistics of a fic that I might never even write. But I’m a nerd, apparently a secret aviation nerd (secret as in I didn’t realize it until I started waxing poetically about how pretty Darkstar and the P-51 were and how I love aviation movies and that people should definitely read and watch the Right Stuff and my friend said “wow I didn’t you you were such a slut for planes”)

Hey if any of this rant struck a cord an you want to write it go right ahead, just let me know I want to read it.

[qqueenofhades]

I just saw some article abt a tiktok where a mother asks if her 10 yo's written music piece can be played (yes it can) and she starts with the kid having played violin for 2 yrs but it turns out it's a family thing with parents/aunts/grandmothers involved too...

And the reason I'm bringing this up is because of my university experience. I didn't do anything like AP classes or A levels when I was in high school. My parents have their high school diplomas and they're at very basic levels. I used to attend a different form of tertiary education attended by ppl who had backgrounds a lot more similar to mine, but in academia I'd say 80% of people had university educated people and probably about 10% had at least one parent and/or grandparent with a PhD.

I messed up my MA thesis. I mean, I passed and realistically I know that a lot of what happened isn't my fault (I ran into a serious medical issue which meant my process was delayed AND then my supervisor left after giving me minimal feedback and w/o any sort of decent transfer, after which I was not allowed to get any feedback from the replacement supervisor who was new at my university/in my country).

At the same time, I feel like the situation is definitely compounded by not having any academics in my family. I wasn't raised with the academic sense of thinking (and therefore rely too much on background research because I get insecure!) and I don't have the degree of Background Knowledge that is sort of expected of people when they wanna succeed (and yes languages like Latin are sort of included but the STORIES and HISTORIES are a lot more important, in the sense that learning Latin can be done postgraduate for sure but catching up on many many of the stories and references is a lot more difficult).

I was wondering what your thoughts are on this. I don't know if this really qualifies as a hidden curriculum as technically it ISN'T needed to succeed, but I DO notice that I have had to work a lot harder than my peers for the same outcomes, and the moment I faced setbacks I simply didn't have the type of backup in place (esp with few friends) that other people did have.

Ofc this also isn't to say that people who do have all this background knowledge should be excluded or whatever! It's just supremely difficult to catch up once you're behind, and it really has confronted me with class immobility more than anything else. Jobs in the academic world ARE notoriously difficult to come by, but this is about the step before that - succeeding in programs where previous knowledge DOES really benefit students simply because they're capable of drawing more connections because they KNOW more, and how that should be dealt with. The idea that people who are "behind" in their way of approaching academia and/or the knowledge required being immediately put at a disadvantage (and I know I am and I am a rare case bec most ppl with this disadvantage don't MAKE it to uni in the Netherlands or don't do as well as I somehow managed to do at all), AND the idea they need to catch up in the same amount of time that other students without the disadvantage to catch up... And of course not doing as well be cause we need additional time to catch up!

Like... University to me has been sucu a confrontation with how different classes of people (whether traditional income based or more education based) function and the inequality functions in a way I can't really find the words to express. All I know it's been very difficult and made me feel the odd one out pretty much the entire time I was studying.

How do you feel about inequality in higher education, and I guess also how do you feel about the current postgraduate system (MA/PHD).

Okay, so if I'm understanding your question correctly, you're specifically asking how I feel about how inherited privilege functions in academia, and how this contributes to overall inequality in the discipline/in regard to people involved it?

Obviously, kids from well-off homes, who have access to better education, private schools, personal tutors, cultural/learning opportunities paid for by their parents, etc. etc., all have a big advantage going into university. This doesn't always translate into actual results, but we all know about the nepotism/Ivy League kids who get into Yale while clearly not being very bright (cough cough George W. Bush) because, well, their families have always gone to Yale and it's what they do. I often see people expressing incredulity that particularly noxious American politicians, such as Josh Hawley, Ted Cruz, and Ron DeSantis (who all went to Harvard/Yale/Princeton etc) act that way, because "they went to Harvard, shouldn't they know better?" This naively assumes that because Harvard is so prestigious, it must therefore teach a more Correct or Intelligent Curriculum, and totally ignores the fact that when Harvard IS in the news, it's usually for some scandal or gatekeeping or corruption, because it's functioning exactly as designed in transmitting the mentality and privilege of the American ruling class. Harvard is prestigious (and very hard to get into) because of that, not due to any extra rigor or merit in its curriculum. If you have that name on your CV, then yes, doors will automatically open for you whether or not You Personally Deserve It. That's just not the way anything works.

As such, academia reflects the inequalities that are already present in society, and it often magnifies them, especially because the long-term pursuit of higher education is, to put it bluntly, almost impossible without equally long-term funding resources. People either have to go into massive amounts of debt, or rely on having the Bank of Mom and Dad to pay for them. If you don't have and/or want either of those, your options are limited. Tons of people quit because they just can't afford to do it, they have no job options afterward, or they're burned out. Academia is a corporate structure just like everything else, and it's certainly not some magical fairyland where everyone is judged only on the quality of their ideas and nothing else. Getting an academic job is all about who you know and how you can leverage your existing connections in the field. So yeah, it can often function as a microcosm of all the other inequalities in society, and produce narratives that are, as ever, beneficial to the powerful.

That said, I do think there has been important and meaningful progress in the last few generations of scholars alone. Diversity, equality, and inclusion statements/institutional values can often sound canned and stereotypical, but the fact that they're there at all, and have broad acceptance across the academy, is remarkable and somewhat underappreciated. Ron DeSantis and his fascist footmen aren't trying so hard to totally destroy higher education in Florida (and if he wins the GOP nomination, across the country) for no reason, and conservatives aren't so hyper-obsessed with their local school boards for the same reasons. There is more awareness of marginalized narratives and dynamics in the academy than there has ever been before, and there is real and important work being done by a wide variety of incredibly diverse scholars. One critique of academia that really gets my goat, and shows me that those repeating it have no idea what they're talking about, is "academia is all old white men at elite universities!" That just isn't remotely equivalent to what things look like in 2023, or what they focus on. What about that guy who couldn't even read until he was 18, who just became Cambridge's youngest black professor at age 37? Obviously, obviously, more work needs to be done across all levels in increasing access and opportunity. But that shouldn't prevent us from recognizing the real progress that has been made, and just why anti-democratic, anti-intellectual forces perceive it as such a threat.

Likewise, academia is an incredibly fusty and outdated practice based on rules and systems originally developed about 1000 years ago, which is why it can be -- to say the least -- resistant to change. So the whole MA/PhD system is predicated on those very outdated systems, but nobody has really come up with a better one. I was very fortunate to have had the support of friends and family, including financially, while I was completing my degrees; without that, I too would not have been able to finish. Likewise, anti-intellectualism and the idea that all information is created equal, that academic expertise doesn't matter, that all intellectuals/college professors must be secretly lying to you for the power trip, etc., is something that often turns up in left-leaning as well as right-leaning spaces (see, uh, Tumblr, which tends to think that whatever is empirically true is whatever aligns with their favorite belief). So I have to push back on that as well as the rest of it, if that makes sense.

[meteor752]

Who of the kids would win in a life series?

OOOOOOOOOOO

I actually haven't thought about this, but like I'm having just all the thoughts right now

Cause they all know the ins and outs of the series, every little loophole you'd be able to abuse, so knowledge-wise they're all on the same wavelength.

Liana has the Scar-licensed Silver tongue, but considering all the other kids know her and her tricks that ability wouldn't help her for too long. She does have the long-range advantage, being the only one skilled with the bow, but that's her only combat experience. Her odds are low

Wes is physically tanky, so he can both deal a lot of damage and take a lot of hits, but he’s also extremely anxious and would probably be afraid to hurt people. He also relies on his bulk, so heavy armor and shields isn’t his priority, meaning weak spots can easily be exploited. I doubt he’d win, but he’d make it a bit, possibly top three

Gertrude is a redstoner which means she’s capable of complicated traps, she’s a good physical fighter, and she has the advantage of being a fricking werewolf. Her biggest weakness is her own intelligence, mainly when it comes to logic reasoning, and let’s be honest here, trust. She’s quite easy to fool this one. So while she could possibly win the whole thing, she could also be the first one out lol.

Johnny is the son of two curses, so you know that’s not great. I mean, those curses are broken (was Tango’s curse broken? I can’t remember lol) but it’s still a disadvantage. Johnny is thought a fire demon, and can inflict second degree burns just by biting someone, and he’s also an animal wrangler and talented with both the lasso and whip. He does have the same problem as Wes, in that he doesn’t really wanna kill people. I don’t think he has the worst odds (unless he has the canary curse), so he could possibly make it to the top three.

Jassy wins. Just, no question, she wins. She’s a ninja and expert in many forms of combat, and she’s stealthy like it’s nobody’s business. And while she does care for her friends, she’s not afraid to kill them in cold blood to win. Jassy is the winner. Congrats anime girl

Jekiv is where things get complicated, because a very important question is posed. Does he get to keep his magic or not? Because if Jek has fricking necromancy, he’s winning. Like no shot. Jassy can be as talented as she wants, she’s not fighting an army of undead. But if he doesn’t have his magic, then Jekiv’s only option is an alliance with Wes, and even then he’s on thin ice.

Novo is not getting far. He’s small, frail, with negative charm and no self preservation. The only thing he’s got going for him is his unpredictably, something that will not get him very far. If Jekiv can’t use magic, then he might be the second one out, but if not then he’s out first, no doubt.

So the most probable order would be either

Jekiv-Novo-Liana-Gertrude-Johnny-Wes-Jassy

OR

Novo-Liana-Gertrude-Johnny-Wes-Jassy-Jekiv

It is a little funny how Jek, Novo, and Liana are the children of the six winners, yet they’d be completely awful in these games lol

Also I am, heavily considering making actual traffic designs for them, like color indicators and all, so you know we’ll see if I get around to doing that

[cherengymleader]

Normal Type Exposition @ Kalos. Part 1

[ Cheren walks onto a show stage, followed closely by his faithful Lopunny ]

Good day to everyone, welcome to the Exposition Universelle de Kalos. My name is Cheren, and I have come here today all the way from Unova to talk to all of you about normal types! Which is the type I specialize at back at my own Gym.

Now, many of you could be thinking; 'Oh we all know normal types. Why would anyone decide to specialize in them?'. And to that all I have to say is; Whitney's Miltank. Those who chuckled know what I'm talking about, look it up.

Now with that out of the way, how about we talk first about things that you may be more familiar with? Because, as many people believe or believed -myself included- they do have some disadvantages in comparison to all the other types. And today's topic is an interesting one.

First of all. Yes. It's called normal. what does that even mean? Why is Raticate a normal type if it can learn thunderbolt and thunder like a Raichu? Why are slowpoke and wobbuffet psychic type? They look pretty normal. Why aren't Meowth or Stantler any other type other than normal? Is it because they look plain and simple? Is normal just a funny word to refer to a pokemon that is boring? Are all of these even real questions that people ask? And as someone who also manages a trainer's school in Unova. Yes. Kids and Adults alike ask these questions frequently, all the time actually.

Now, it's fair to note that yes, a lot of normal types can look very simple and plain. To which all I have to do to show it, is call over a special friend up to the stage.

[ Cheren whistles and soon enough, a Furfrou happily trots over causing a bit of murmur from the audience. ]

Now, just from a first glance, this little one here has very plain characteristics, doesn't he? He's white, with black paws and face. His sillouette is a fluffy coat… And that's about it. And judging by the looks of most of you, is a fairly common species. Furfrou are very popular as pets and battle pokemon for about five routes until the trainer finds something more interesting to add to their team instead. And there is absolutely nothing else to them. Pretty normal.

[ Cheren pets the Furfrou, who happily leans into the touch with a wag of his tail. ]

Or at least, that's what any other region that isn't Kalos would have believed. Really, Furfrou outside of Kalos are often seen as either thophies for contests or just a more boring growlithe.

Furfrou are, as most of you know, one if not the most popular and well known pokemon in the entire region. They have a thick white coat that not only can serve as good defense against a variety of attacks, it can also be trimmed into various styles so much so that there are entire competitions and clubs dedicated to showing off the best trims that trainers can make. They are so important to the history of the region that there is evidence of Furfrou being used to guard the king's palaces of ancient times. So yes, it's just a normal type. But there is nothing truly boring about it, which is a mistake that a lot of people do, more than you may think. And I can prove this right now with our next guests.

[ He instructs his Lopunny to walk behind the stage, and while she does that Cheren approaches the curtain to pull it back, revealing a decently sized pokemon pen with several cinccino inside, all chittering and chirping about. Lopunny pushes it closer to the public while Cheren sets up several boxes on one side. ]

These are cincinno. They are native to Unova and are the evolved form of Minccino. They are a fairly popular species to keep as pets, and they usually do decently well in Pokemon Contests and Theater performances. They are very clean pokemon, they like their dens to be clean and free from dust and mold, so they make really good housepets. However, if you saw them yesterday. You will also know that they can be quite the mischievous bunch especially when they are in a pack. If any of you wants to own more than one Minccino or Cinccino heed my advice; don't.

[ Cheren steps aside from the entrance, bowing to his Lopunny who mimics him perfectly before opening the pen and quickly snatching one of the little pokemon inside. The rest seem to know better than try to escape so they press against the other end of the pen when Lopunny exits and Cheren locks the door behind her. ]

Alright, lighting round. Why are they caged? They are grounded. Isn't this pokemon abuse? No due to the reeason they are in the pen. Why are there six locks on the door? It only had one, guess why. Why are you showing them like this? Because this is a prime example as to why you shouldn't, under any circumstances, underestimate a normal type. Now, this one here is Chinchilla. She is one of my oldest Cinccino and is highly possible that she was the culprit that busted the rest of her buddies out in the first place.

[ Lopunny grabs the Cinccino by the scruff as Cheren searches the little pokemon, in less than two seconds he pulls off a long scarf from somewhere within the little pokemon's fur. ]

Let's see. A scarf from 'Roi des Furfrous' boutique according to the tag. It costs 5,000$POKE.

[ Cheren drops it onto one of the boxes and keeps fishing out items from the one Cinccino. ]

A wallet. Another wallet. A ring. A bracelet. Sunglasses from 'Seulement la mode' at 3000$POKE. A neckerchief, same store at 2750$POKE. Yet another wallet. A premium ball, empty. A collar. A bookmark? A bundle of IDs with what looks like a keycard.

[ Cheren deposits everything onto the boxes to the dismay of Chinchilla, who chirps and wiggles in protest. ]

So I took, what? About ten unique items from her? Yes, please do check your wallets and belongnings. You see, one Cinccino can be perfectly trained and raised as both a pet and a battle pokemon with little to no incident. But the moment that they have a buddy, which they will get one way or another because they are pack pokemon, they can and will get up to do all sorts of mischief.

From experience, theye can unlock safes, locks, fit into incredibly small holes and spaces, memorize codes -both numerical and alphabetical- remember schedules, and clean up everything at record speed the moment one of them spots you walking home. If they weren't so pernickety, I bet a lot of criminals would use them for robbery. If any of you saw a lone cinccino yesterday and it convinced you to stop and pet it, you probably got robbed of something. And I apologize, but being honest?

[ Cheren shrugs his shoulders with a smirk. ]

That's just pretty normal of them. So really, maybe don't stop to pet pokemon that you don't know on the street. Thank you for coming today, I'll see you all around during the week for more about normal types! Please pass by lost and found if you are missing any belongnings and yes, the Stoutland are gonna be around for petting and small strolls around the park. Have a good day everyone! Profitez du reste de l'exposition!

[houseofbrat]

People are talking about George, I'm more interested in seeing how Charlotte and Louis pan out. Mind you, because of Kate's virtue signalling on how to raise your kids I know a lot of people are keeping tabs on it. I know many people who find the kids adorable (as all kids are) but are getting tired of Kate preaching parents how to raise their kids and are waiting when she herself has teenagers and adults kids on her hands.

I agree that the campaign and other stuff could have been different and in other moment. But despite not liking it a lot, I have been paying attention to it, and Catherine has never sound preachy to me nor lecturing adults of how to raise their children, in fact, she is more focused that the people can have the support they need (aka the government) in order to provide a better childhood to their children. She also pretends (according to the experts and their data) that the way to avoid teenagers or adults with mental illness, addictions, etc., is by providing them with good bases, she also has said that it doesn’t mean you won’t experience it, even in a happy childhood (but reduces the risk) also, give to the parents-children bond, the opportunity to notice a problem and trust on their parent to talk about it and accept the help (like her brother). She has never said she is the best mother nor that people should raise their kids as her, so, saying that Charlotte and Louis can become a problem and that she will a ‘mother failure’ is unfair. The problem here is that their PR and communications team aren’t too good, and that’s why people think she is lecturing, when is the less she is doing (now).

That being said, I honestly think that she really put herself on a big problem. Because the only way to help those children and the families is by making the government to put more money on initiatives. For what I’ve been reading and seeing from some articles, she has on her mind some initiatives like ‘Sure Start’ (an initiative that was created by the Labour, but the Tories brought it down by closing almost 1k centers). So, she can’t say something clear, because will be against the ‘royal’ rules, to not be partisan, but if she doesn’t do something tangible on the next 1-2 years, and if Labour comes and open again the Sure Start programs, her campaigning would be ‘useless’ (unless the government don’t open them). And, the most important, Labour won’t care less about her campaigning (they won’t mention her as the reason to wake up and open initiatives) …… so, what she needs to do is something like the DoE Awards or Prince’s Trust, not depending on governments to provide help. I mean, what she did with the baby banks was good and was a good thing in a right direction that she can continue doing. I know that she really cares about all children having the best childhood (rich and poor), but perhaps the better she can do for now:, is to focus on the disadvantaged families (specially with the crisis)

I agree with most of what you said; however, while I don't personally feel that Kate has been "preachy" or "lecturing," I can see how people would interpret it that way. That's the danger of pr campaigns like these. They're always open to interpretation by the general public. The economic situation in the UK certainly doesn't make for the most receptive climate for this kind of campaign, as far as I can tell.

Your last paragraph is a perfect explanation of why I think the future for this campaign (The Early Years) isn't going to go well. I wish she would have concentrated on more regular royal duties, such as visiting more factories, nursing homes, and civic organizations, instead of rolling out the "Shaping Us" campaign this month. It's just not timed well at all, particularly with the political situation even though it's not directly attempting to become partisan.

[nekrophoria]

You got it coming! :D 🍍 🍎🍇🍐🍌🍊🍓🥝 for Alev please

I can't even complain...I basically set myself up for this.

Jokes aside though thank you for being interested in her character <3

I tried to keep it as spoiler free as possible, which was pretty difficult ngl. I hope I succeeded.

Disclaimer: These answers focus on the time period where Alev will be introduced in the story (in a flashback chapter when she's 18) . It will most likely take a bit until she makes an appearance in a present time chapter so I thought that would make the most sense.

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🍍  :    how comfortable is my muse in their body?  how do they feel about their height,  weight,  strength,  and body type?  how important is being attractive to them?  

For the most part Alev feels pretty pragmatic and almost indifferent towards her body.

Generally she doesn't look at her body and thinks "this is me". To her it's just an attachment or sorts. Something that she knows may partially define her in other people's eyes. But not in her own.

She's aware that she's attractive, based on experiences she's made with guys in the past and she sees certain perks, as well as disadvantages in that. But that's about it in regards to her body image.

Despite her feeling very neutral about her body however she experiences what could be defined as gender dysphoria occasionally. She doesn't know what it is or where it comes from. It's just uncontrollable feelings of discomfort with her femininity that occur especially when she's in a bad place mentally.

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

🍎  :    how stable is my muse’s mental health?  have they been diagnosed with any mental illnesses and  /  or conditions?  do they have any undiagnosed mental illnesses and  /  or conditions?  do they or should they attend therapy?  

Oh dear, you're making me open cans of worms here that I'm not sure should be opened just yet. Since Alev's psyche is something that I definitely want to delve into in Volatile as well (if I ever get this far T_T) I'm just not sure I can do it justice in a simple character ask and risk not spoiling too much about her character seeing as she hasn't even made an appearance yet.

Her mental health is more on the instable side, despite her (for the most part) having an immense amount of self control that makes her seem way more stable at times than she actually is.

She has never been diagnosed with any mental ilnesses, nor has she ever been to therapy.

She's got undiagnosed disorders though. And she's definitely in need of therapy. (which one of my characters isn't to be honest?)

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

🍇  :    how would my muse describe their childhood?  how much has it impacted the person they are now,  or will become as an adult?  around what age did they or will they start to mature,  and why?  do they wish to go back to their days as a child,  or have they embraced adulthood?  

Alev would probably describe her childhood as pretty alright, followed by a shrug.

Truth is though she barely had one.

She had to deal with a lot of crap as a kid, and way more responsibly than any child should carry which forced her to mature at an early age. And that most definitely had a negative impact on her.

(initially this part was way WAY longer but I had to rewrite it after I realized that what I wrote didn't really answer any of the questions. So, apologies for keeping it short and vague now .)

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🍐  :    how intelligent is my muse overall?  are they smarter than the average person,  or less than?  are they primarily self-taught,  or did they acquire most of their knowledge in school?  are they more street smart or book smart?  

Alev's intelligence is way above average I'd say.

Despite the fact that she never went to school and was home schooled (more or less) by an ever so slightly overchallenged Lyall to his best of abilities. (Lyall being Alev's surrogate dad fyi)

She's a very fast learner and was always good at logical thinking and drawing conclusions despite lacking context or education in certain areas.

The fact that she reads every book she comes across has made up for her lack of proper education a fair bit as well.

She's got a few blind spots here and there. (like what the fuck is calculus?)  But nothing too essential I'd say.

Her emotional intelligence is lagging behind a bit in comparison. She's aware of that, she just doesn't know how to change it.

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🍌  :    is my muse inclined to help others,  or will they only do it when it benefits them,  if at all?  what makes them this way?  has it ever gotten them into trouble,  or inconvenienced them?

Generally she is more hesitant to help people unless she cares about them a lot or is in their debt.

She's got a bit of an "every man for himself" attitude when it comes to anyone apart from Lyall and Rokas (Lyall's Partner at the time) .

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🍊  :    does my muse desire romance?  is it something they would actively seek out,  or prefer to happen more  ‘  naturally?  ’  what is their love life like?  do they have any exes or past flings,  or crushes?  

Alev is aromantic, she doesn't really experience romantic attraction nor does she want to. That doesn't mean that she can't have feelings of affection towards a potential partner though. Just not romantically, or what most people consider romantic

She's had small flings with two guys in the past. But nothing beyond that.

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🥝  :    does my muse have any  ‘  unusual  ’  habits,  interests,  and  /  or talents?  do they hide it,  or are they proud of it?  

Habits: She likes to climb the roof of her house to have a smoke, or just walk around at the top.

Interests: Any book, no matter the genre she'll probably find an interest in. She is particularly fond of Fairy Tales and Children's books though, which I guess could be labeled unusual.

Talents: I can't think of anything in particular right now.

She doesn't bother to hide any of her interests or habits. She isn't really proud of them either though.

[a-lonely-dunedain]

for the OC fruits n' veggies interview~

tossdir: red apple, carrot, mango

ethedis: cucumber, eggplant

margim: onion, broccoli, hot pepper

celeair: peach, leafy green, strawberry

oooh that's a lot of good ones! sorry it took me a bit tho lol

Tossdir!

🍎 [RED APPLE] Who does your OC value above all else?

Would it be cheating to say Meneldir? Everyone already knows that! So let’s say post Sarch Vorn… hmmm, that’s a tough one, he’s very close to a lot of people. 

There’s his older cousin and last living family member/sort-of almost father figure Bragadir, who stepped in to help raise Tossdir after both of his parents died tragically and Babyranger-Meneldir was still unequipped to care for his kid brother. Bregs says he’s not the best at it, but he’s Trying His Best and cares SO much about lil Toss ;-;

Then there’s Galasebdir and Gorwen, who provided much needed support after he lost everything in Sarch Vorn, and did everything in their power to help him feel welcome among the rangers again after his long absence. The ones who so adamantly tried to show Tossdir that he wasn’t alone during one of the most painful times in his life, and were probably the first rangers he befriended and truly felt like he belonged with after being away for so long.

And then of course there’s his best friends and traveling companions, Etheids and Corunir! The ones who would go to hell and back with him, the ones who always have his back in and out of combat! Ethedis always being there with encouraging words and an infectious smile, Corunir who seems to have a much deeper understanding of what he’s been through than most others.

If I had to pick one to say he values the most though, I would say Bregadir but it’s Close. All of these people are very very important to him, but he has known Bregadir for the longest.

🥕 [CARROT] How tough is your OC against certain situations? How weak are they against others?

In tests of physical fortitude Tossdir is incredibly tough, he can take beating after beating and get right back up to fight afterwards (even when he really should stay down so he doesn't die oops)

However when it comes to tests of mental fortitude, (like the Nazgul’s dread/black breath, the Grey Fear’s bodysnatching, and whatever the heck is going on with Saruman) he’s… well I wouldn’t call him weak by any means, but he’s really ill equipped to fight against these things. I think that most powers of The Enemy are generally more potent against people who are experiencing a lot of grief or don’t have much hope, and unfortunately for Tossdir that puts him at a pretty severe disadvantage, and he can’t hold out as long as other Dunedain might be able to.

🥭 [MANGO] What colours best represent them and why? Does this differ from their favourites?

I generally associate Tossdir with red, browns, and green (in that order). The meaning behind red is pretty clear I think, it’s a color that’s strongly associated with Meneldir and is most prominent on Tossdir’s scarf that originally belonged to him. I also think red is Tossdir’s favorite color as well, it looks good on him and matches his hair.

As for the browns and greens, I just think they offered a nice contrast to all the reds and they’re also very ranger-y colors in my mind (and strikingly absent from Meneldir’s design, save for the pale grey-green in his eyes)

Ethedis!

🥒 [CUCUMBER] How innocent are they (unaware to the bad happenings around them)?

Around the start of the epic line? Very! She’s been Elrond’s apprentice in Rivendell for a very long time before this, and the trip to Ered Luin was really her First Big Outing and real exposure to the danger of the world. Before that she was kinda sheltered. That’s not to say Elrond didn’t try to prepare her for the dangers outside of Rivendell, but hearing about something is a lot different from seeing it firsthand y’know? 

Like she knows things are dangerous out here, but it takes a little bit for it to really sink in for her. I think she gets a very rude awakening when she can’t save Amdir. Up until that point she had at least been able to save people, like the sick dwarves in Ered Luin and Prince Avorthal. There was very real danger but everyone was more or less ok in the end, unlike here in Breeland, where Ethedis’ first ranger friend Amdir dies horribly and she really can’t save anyone. Not Amdir, not the other rangers, no one.

it really got to her, and she promised herself that she wouldn't let something like this happen to her new ranger friend Tossdir

[EGGPLANT] How are they used by others? How easily are they tricked into this?

Y’know surprisingly she’s not used by people all that much. Despite the fact that I write her as very friendly and trusting, I don’t often put her in situations where people take advantage of that. I think that’s just because it’s something I personally wouldn’t like to see happen to her I guess. I mean there’s the Sara Oakheart thing of course, but besides that she generally has someone (usually Coruinr) watching out for her, so her trusting nature usually isn’t taken advantage of (even though by all accounts it probably should be)

Margim!

🧅 [ONION] What is surefire to make your OC cry? Who knows of this information?

It’s very hard to make her cry. She’s an expert at burying her emotions when she starts to get upset, by necessity rather than choice. Anytime a topic that really strikes a nerve is brought up, she just gets stone faced and shows no outward reaction; save for being even quieter than usual.

The only time she can cry is when she really, truly, lets her guard down. So far Celeair is the only person she’s ever been able to cry in front of. As for a surefire way to get her to cry, I would say if you somehow managed to get her talking about her childhood. She remembers very little of it, but she knows enough for it to be incredibly traumatic. I don’t really want to go into too much detail about that, but suffice to say, it was pretty bad.

🥦 [BROCCOLI] What do they hate about humanity/their species?

Margim doesn't consider herself to be a Black-Numenorean, but thanks to her appearance she’ll never be able to escape having an association with them. Yellow eyes and blackened blood are kinda hard to look past after all, especially if you know what those traits mean. There’s a lot of reasons to hate Black-Numenoreans, but I don’t feel like most of them apply here just because Margim would never call herself one. 

The title of Black-Numenorean is given to those who choose to serve Sauron after all, and Margim never willingly did so, but unfortunately she still got stuck with the marks denoting her as one who has. And those marks are what she hates the most, a constant, inescapable, reminder of where she came from and the evil that is tied to it.

🌶️ [HOT PEPPER] Who would your OC declare their sworn enemy if they could meet them?

UNGRAKOR 100%. BITING KILLING MAIMING 

Even though Margim will likely never know that he’s actually her biological father, she would hate his guts anyway. He’s the Captain of the Pit, the one who oversees Udun and is both directly and indirectly responsible for all the horrible shit that goes on there, she has every reason to hate him! 

I mean don’t get me wrong, she’s terrified of him, he’s got a reputation and she’s well aware of the things he’s capable of, but I think that fear could turn into bloodlust reaaaal quick if she got pushed in the right direction.

Celeair!

🍑 [PEACH] How do they show their kindness? How kind are they truly?

*slaps top of Celeair (gently)* THIS BAD BOY CAN FIT SO MUCH KINDNESS IN THAT MASSIVE HEART OF HIS.

I think his kindness most often manifests as just gentleness. Not just when he’s tending to someone’s injuries, but also how he’ll always be ready to offer his shoulder to cry on and softly speak words of comfort and encouragement. His kindness is quiet and soft like a warm blanket, always there when you need it.

He’s also the kind of guy who will gift people random trinkets that make him think of them. Margim offhandedly mentions that dandelions are her favorite flower? Well guess he’s always going to stop and pick her some whenever he comes across a patch of them! You say blue is your favorite color? Well now he wants you to have this neat blue feather from one of his bird friends! he just likes to give people little things he finds, a lil reminder that he's thinking of them :>

🥬 [LEAFY GREEN] How mundane are they? Do they like it that way?

He’s just a simple guy who wants to heal people and talk to trees. Sure, maybe he could learn to blast fire out of his hands or call down lightning upon his foes, but why would he? At the end of the day he’s a pacifist who wants nothing more than to ease the hurts of those around him and cuddle with his cool wife. Truly, the kind of guy we should all aspire to be. He is quite content to be out here living the cottagecore dream

🍓 [STRAWBERRY] How do they feel about 'cute' things?

He absolutely loves them! Small and large woodland creatures? Flowers and tiny mushrooms? That half-stifled laugh Margim does when he makes a bad joke? They’re all adorable to him and he loves them SO much!

[the ask game]