#for the purpose of them actually getting married

[plutoasteroids]

PAC - How Will Your FS' Siblings Feel About You

This is a general reading so take what resonates and leave what doesn't. Especially because not everyone's FS has siblings so if you aren't drawn to a pile that could be why or there are just no messages for you in this reading.

THIS READING IS ALLEGEDLY FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY. I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY CHOICES MADE IN RELATION TO MY READINGS!

Pile 1 is the picture of Alexa Demie in sunglasses

Pile 2 is the Black and White picture

Pile 3 the picture with Fairy wings

Pile 4 The picture with her holding a knif3

PILE 1

Okay I do feel like your FS' siblings may be unsure of you at first because you might be someone completely different from their usual type for example you could be of a different race or background that they aren't used to so they may feel a bit sceptical about you especially at the very early stages of them getting to know you. Regardless of a tough first impression I feel like most of their siblings will eventually like you but there is one sibling that will hate your guts and the reasons could vary from person to person but overall it's just this vibe of them feeling like you aren't good enough for their sibling (your fs) and to be honest I don't think that specific sibling will ever like you there is a lot of deep-rooted jealousy and insecurity that you trigger in them without you knowing but anyways it won't affect your marriage/ relationship with your fs or the rest of their family. For the actually nice siblings of your fs, I feel like you will all have a lot of fun together going on adventures and trips and just enjoying life. At some point which will be pretty early on they might even start seeing you as their sibling and it will feel like things aren't complete if you aren't there too (sooo sweet). To be honest I feel you will have a specific one of your fs sibling that you will be super super close with just the connection is flowy and fun, it will feel like you guys are life long best friends. Don't worry about the one hater they genuinely won't matter, it will be annoying but it won't matter. Your fs family will be on your side and your fs side so they will immediately shut down the bs every time they act out of line.

PILE 2

Okayyyy so you guys are my controversial pile lmfaooo. So, upon first impression your fs' siblings will definitely find you confident, sexy alluring, badass and just glamorous. You take care of yourself and dress well and they can see that some more than others. I feel like you won't necessarily have a friendly relationship with your fs' siblings it will be more civil than anything especially because I feel like you won't see them much, so you won't get the chance to build a deeper relationship with them. I also feel like you have your fs wrapped around your little finger and they do notice this it's honestly obvious to everyone that your fs worships the actual ground you walk on but anywayssss. To the controversial bit I do feel like your fs will have a sibling that will have a bit of a crush on you but its nothing more than an innocent crush and it won't develop into anything more and I do feel like it will be something that will be joked about for a long time. My pile 2 I feel like you will be marrying into money. So overall this will be a very civil relationship with them no hate, no jealousy, you just get along with them well especially on the few ocassions that you do and will see them.

PILE 3

Okay, they will view you as pretty innocent. They may be the type to make overtly inappropriate jokes and you may not react to them, or you will seem confused making you innocent in their eyes. I feel like your fs' siblings are more on the loud, fun, obnoxious side and you aren't like that so to them they will view you as quite shy and reserved because you aren't acting as loud and carefree as they are. I feel like you are the type to use logic and be more observant in situations involving people which will extend to them feeling like you are quite cold towards them which isn't the caseagain because oyu are more of an observer than someone who will engage inw hatever they are doing. They may not necessarily like you nor will they ahte you because you will still be quite polite it's just that you won't engage in their version of fun which may make them see you as stuck up and a bit boring. Overall, the relationship here feels a bit rough round the edges but it will get better with time as you all learn each other they will understand that it's just how you are and there is no bad blood between all of you.

PILE 4

This pile is not afraid to get down and dirty. You are outspoken, confident and the no bullshit type. You may like things direct and straight to the point which might honestly catch people off guard and in this case your fs' siblings. I feel like they may have grown up in a setting where you have to always be polite or pick your words carefully, but you aren't like that which might come as a shock and will take a lot of getting used to on their end. I feel like there is equal learning, you learning to be more sensitive because not everyone takes being overly direct well ad them learning that you mean well but you are just very open and outspoken. I feel like overall though they will like you and you will get along quite well with them it will just take some getting used to each other. I wouldn't say you will be the best of friends, but you will certainly get along well with each other, and you will make good memories together. They will learn to let loose, and you will have wild, childlike fun...eventually.

[paraphwrites]

so obviously the time period a character comes from impacts them. but i adore the analysis of dbda and loneliness so now i want to analyze the characters + their time period + loneliness

edwin. so, edwin is from the 1900s. he was raised with the knowledge that he would join the military, that he would get married. this was an accepted part of life. now, i do not wish to analyze the full scale of edwin's relationship with violence (at least, not here), but i do think it's interesting that edwin goes out of his way not to inflict harm on others. this is potentially because he was raised in such a way where that was the norm, and he always knew he did not fit traditional male standards. he has always preferred knowledge and books to fighting and sport. this would have been incredibly isolating, especially as a young boy in a school for children of military members. additionally, as a queer person, edwin would have been entirely socially isolated from his peers. whether they picked up on it like simon or just thought he was un-manly, the point stands: edwin would not have fit in with his peers and seemingly had no friends when he died. which is very sad. and very lonely.

crystal. crystal's parents neglected her for their work. she lashes out. she lashes out and pushes people away (or in front of traffic). she is volatile and destructive and she is like this because she lives in an age when parents are expected to care for their children, and her parents still actively chose not to. crystal is especially traumatized because even tho she is in upper class which may have a higher rate of willful parental neglect, the expectation is still that parents love their children. moreover crystal is psychic, and that's never really been fun. she'll be completely different from all her peers in a fundamental way which she probably never talks about with any of them! so, like, of course when david, a demon, comes along, she lets him in - she's finally with someone who understands and makes her feel less lonely. someone else who's weird and angry and pretty and supernatural. and then he, too, betrays her. there is also almost certainly a race element, which may further disassociate her from her peers, seeing as the upper class is usually very white.

jenny. so jenny grew up as a lesbian in the 90s. now, i don't know much about washington state, but i do know that they legalized gay marriage in 2012. which means for over half of jenny's life, she was living with the knowledge that she would never get to live the same type of life as her peers; though the white picket fence americana dream may have been less prevalent by the 90s, it still was very ingrained in american society - especially small town society. i wonder if part of jenny's gothic fashion is to distinguish herself from other people - if she cannot have the same lives as them, then no one will make the mistake of assuming she will.

so the night nurse is lonely in a very unique way. she is lonely because she does not have a proper conception of an actual human life. she has no friends or relationships - nor does she want to; she does not know what they are like. and, i think, because she exists so outside of time and removed from society, that it makes her inherently lonely. she is lonely because somehow she was created and somehow someone convinced her that her only purpose in life is to collect lost children and she is satisfied with this but she is also alone. she has no time period to be contextualized in, and that in itself is the context.

niko is lonely because her dad is dead and her mom lives in a different continent. and i think that because she is able to utilize manga and cartoons as a form of escapism, it allows her to fill that void of devastating loneliness a bit more. she lives in a world where if she doesn't want to think she does not have to. she is not obligated to be courageous. however, she also lives in a world where she is able to choose to self-isolate, even if that isn't good for her. so when she is sad she hides away because she can and it's scary and she doesn't want to do it alone but she doesn't want to do it with her mom. i've seen people saying crystal is such a teenage girl but niko? niko wants her mom to comfort her but doesn't want to talk to her mom. niko is horribly lonely and it's only a gay victorian twink who can get her to smile again. niko is lonely because she exists in a world which allows her to be and it takes someone who is not from this time to help her move past this

charles. god, we all know how lonely charles is. biracial, abused by his father, probably bisexual, good with people yet killed via hate crime, morally upstanding. charles is the epitome of loneliness because he grows up in such a particular moment of time. he lives in the 80s. feminism and queer rights have been radically shifting in the past two decades. the 80s have huge amounts conservative pushback from these movements. so, yeah, being gay isn't a crime anymore, but gendered expectations are being reestablished in a new harmful way. so, yeah, charles is growing up in a time of progress, but he's also growing up in a household which will absolutely be anti-progress, and ergo charles is stuck in this dichotomy of he could hypothetically have everything but that would mean losing everything, too. he's lonely because his dad beats him. he's lonely because his mom doesn't say anything. he's lonely because he has a piercing but his dad locked him in his room for three days after it. he's lonely because he attends a boarding school which rich racist pricks. he's lonely because never once in his life has he admitted how the intersection of all his identities puts him in a situation where he is completely alone. and he isn't alone -he's got edwin- but their experiences with loneliness are vastly different.

as i have said a stupid number of times, dead boy detectives is a story about loneliness. and the writers made these characters so damn brilliantly because they all make so much sense in the context they were raised in.

we are all shaped by the context's we're raised in. everyone is raised at a different moment in history in different environments with different families. human experiences are so unique that everyone is inherently lonely. but lonely does not mean alone and lonely does not mean forever. it means when you were fourteen you cried yourself to sleep but now you're twenty and know how to play cricket and your friends come to all of your matches. it means you were raised in a world that was cruel and unforgiving, AND it means that because of that you don't have to be. dead boy detectives teaches us that we're all horribly lonely, and maybe that makes each other a little less lonely

i'll take some of your burden if you'll take some of mine, and whatnot

[maximumqueer]

Ok, so I got to (and past) ep. 26 of Witchlight, where Gideon is hit with a fey love curse which has him be head over heels in love with Kremy. And it just has me thinking about how vastly different the two of them reacted to being fey cursed to be in love with the other (though we all know they are in love without the fey curse) and what that says about them as people, as well as the way that they view relationships.

When Kremy was under the effects of the fey curse, he was dead set on making sure Gideon (or anybody really) did not find out about him being in love. He, for all intents and purposes, did not act all that differently that he would have other than being more outwardly jealous of the fact that Gideon was marrying other people. (Richie saying "I know" with that smug look in his face will live rent free in my mind forever). This says a lot about Kremy, and the way he views romantic (or even just more intimate) relationships. He is so full of shame and insecurity at the prospect of being in love of Gideon that it all has to be done through a false lens of irony. And I think that is because Kremy, at the end of the day, is a conniving conman. He views relationships as advantageous. He is so clearly afraid of vulnerably that, even when under the effect of a love curse, is still trying his best to not let on that he is in love. (I also think this points to him actually being in love with Gideon, as it does not completely alter his behavior). He needs to maintain control on his feelings in order to be in control of every situation he is in, so that he can exploit the people he needs to, as well as make himself as un-exploitable as possible. Obviously he is friends with Gideon, Gricko, and Frost, but I can't help but believe that the trust we see him have in them was built slowly over years. Just look at the way he views Torbek earlier on. And as such, admitting that the relationship he has with Gideon goes deeper, and is more intimate that just friends and business partners, is a (nearly) impossible task for Kremy, as he does not want to feel or be viewed as vulnerable.

With Gideon, the second he gets cursed, he immediately goes all in. He says that he loves Kremy, that he is happy they are married, and goes out of his way to touch him, be close to him, compliment him. Now, this is more distinctly different from how Gideon usually behaves around Kremy, but I don't necessarily think that means that his love is completely fake. I do think, however, that it means that Gideon is unaware of the full extent of his feelings when it comes to Kremy. Because, while it was said in a joking manner, I believe that there is some truth to the claim that Gideon has commitment issues. Not in the sense that he is or ever would be unfaithful in a more committed relationship, but rather that some wires got crossed in his head (thanks to the years and years of trauma from the fucking train) and that he now views being 'tied down' to one individual in a romantic sense in a similar way as being imprisoned. He wants freedom, he doesn't want to feel beholden to a single person. And obviously this is an unhealthy way to view relationships, as a healthy one will not make you feel like you are being caged. But this does not seem to be based off of experience for Gideon, as all of his 'romantic' exploits seem to have been causal hookups that may end in him getting shotgun married and then immediately cutting town, but nothing more. It is the concept of romantic commitment that Gideon does not like, not the actual act of commitment itself. Because he IS committed to Kremy, and he has no qualms with being 'tied down' to Kremy in this way. As such, he doesn't view his feelings as being anything other than platonic, as he expects romance to feel like a cage. Until he gets slapped with fey magic, and those feelings about commitment temporarily go away.

Basically this is a really long way of saying that I LOVE how Richie and Mace both decided to play their characters being (explicitly) in love with the other. It makes for beautiful (and very funny) character work and gives us, the audience, a bit more insight into the dumbass minds (affectionate) of Kremy and Gideon.

[aromanticannibal]

mha characters that are aro for CANON reasons (read: in which I reach increasingly further for canon evidence):

(Disclaimer: some of these can be evidence of characters being something else than aro (or ace) but this is my post and I can do whatever I want + /hj to /j to everything on there, when I say I start reaching I start REACHING. These are headcanons!)

Aizawa Shouta doesn't ever show romantic (or sexual) interest in anyone and is actively put off by Ms Joke hitting on him and the idea of getting married to her

All Might has NO experience with women according to Horikoshi (could also mean he has experience with men but y'know)

Ashido Mina really wants to be in a relationship but never fell in love (cupioromantic moment)

Both Bakugou Katsuki and Todoroki Shouto hide from girls crushing on them near the end, don't ever show romantic interest in anyone or get anxious or flustered near girls, Katsuki especially apparently never cared about girls (and vice versa) before and and Shouto specifically doesn't notice when he's hit on.

Iida Tenya is never interested in girls or men and is significantly more focused on both his studies and his friendships

My favorite headcanon: Uraraka Ochako's love for Izuku seems founded more on her admiration and people telling her she must like him (because boy and girl etc) than in actual romantic love, and she connects a lot with Toga (who also loves people in a non-conventional way)

Midnight doesn't have a romantic partner or anyone she regularly flirts with despite being a very beautiful and desired woman, and doesn't seem to have had any kind of romantic relationship with the three boys more or less her age she hung out with a lot (the rooftop trio) (she can also be seen as a cliché of aroallo person who only cares about sex so I'm claiming her).

Pixie Bob's obsession with finding a partner is giving "I've been told all my life that I HAVE to get married and I don't want to so I keep looking for the perfect match and not finding it because the man I'm looking for doesn't exist because I won't ever fall in love". Because by god you can't tell me the cute blonde catgirl isn't finding a boyfriend.

All For One only cares about his brother, I'd even argue he's aromantic asexual aplatonic etc. a-everything except familial and idk. quirkic. attracted to quirks.

Mount Lady is aro for the same reason as Midnight but because I think it's implied or canon that she's dating Kamui Woods, she's lower.

Midoriya Izuku is green so he's obviously aromantic and most of his flustered reactions to girls seem based more on shyness (and an obvious reaction to getting boobs shoved in his face) and sexual or aesthetic attraction than romantic attraction (he also has a very romcom view of what being boyfriend girlfriend is, ie. his reaction to Toga's confession)

Aoyama Yuuga's definition of love (according to his comment on Ochako being in love with Izuku because she was thinking "what would Deku-kun do?") is very weird and seems based more in things he was told or saw in fiction than feelings he would have felt himself.

Yoarashi Inasa is just so fucking weird with friendships and social cues he looks like he's trying to navigate the world while making absolutely sure NO ONE misinterprets him, which makes him both very aro and very autistic in my book

Kurogiri is literally a bunch of mist with little free will whose purpose in life is protecting this one boy, he's all the As.

Endeavor married for insane reasons and never even cheated on Rei after he sent her to the hospital (which a lot of men his caliber would do)

Ms Joke makes the idea of dating Shouta a joke and I think that's great. She's also green.

Miruko's chill and doesn't give a fuck, she's a fighting person, very Katsuki-coded in that regard I fear. She also works alone without an agency, which is giving aromantic for no reason other than I Said So.

Toga Himiko is a queer allegory that is generally interpreted as bisexual and biromantic but I think she can be interpreted as aroallo as well (way to love that’s seen as impure and unholy etc etc, notions of consent – taking people’s blood and hurting them without their consent which is for her a way to show her love, most of her attraction seeming physical or aesthetic rather than romantic, her parents telling her to repress repress repress instead of satisfying her desires in a safe way, the scene where she’s biting her wrist in her sleep???? etc etc) 

Twice never had a lot of friends and never had a lot of female friends and when he feels gratefulness and care for Toga it outwardly seems romantic because he doesn’t know what’s romantic and what’s not and hasn’t had a lot of female friends 

Dabi is giving aromantic aplatonic who only really loves his family but due to circumstances can’t love them healthily and ends up just hating them (the most intense feelings of love he shows are always towards Enji or Natsuo, and his apology to Shouto makes me think Shouto is also included in this – no evidence for Fuyumi and Rei but I can do what I want. He clearly cares for Twice and Toga too but it presents very differently, even after he’s revealed himself and doesn’t need to be as secretive). 

Shigaraki Tomura probably just doesn’t give a shit I’d say. He’s pretty apathetic when he isn’t fighting or angry or like doing his hatred thing, but he clearly cares about his teammates. 

Fatgum is foodpilled and studentpilled. He really loves food and he really loves his students he doesn't need no romantic relationship.

Jirou Kyoka takes a bit to warm up to Denki so I think she's demiromantic actually

Bruce (the third user of One For All). He just has such third wheel vibes.

Intelli Saiko because why would she bother with romance, it's so unpractical and illogical

Despite asking for boys' numbers all the time and being very aware of romance, Utsushimi Camie looks like she could NOT CARE LESS. aro

The fact that Hawks plays up the flirting with his fans is giving aromantic to me – obviously heartbreaker aroallo stereotype but I think he could also be ace, the aroallo part isn’t that important, it’s just that he’s always pretending. It’s giving still in the closet. Also I know he’s young and busy and Horikoshi doesn’t really put that much casual romance in MHA but it’s so funny that there isn’t even a sliver of a girlfriend implied in his timeskip. Hawks is Married To His Job. 

Star and Stripe is also absolutely married to her job. Also, lots of guys around her, lots of important and admired male figures in her life, and yet not a single crush from her. Points. Aromantic lesbian 

Nezu is a fuckass mouse I highly doubt he's attracted to humans in any way

Gran Torino is a single old man which is enough for me (though because I hate that fucker I think it'd be funny if women just hated him)

Where Is Shimura Nana’s Husband. 

Muscular only likes to kill, he doesn’t need romance nor sex, his only desire is Killing People and fighting. Same thing for Moonfish, he only wants to eat people (mood my guy) 

Geten is very hyper focused on making his quirk stronger, he doesn’t seem to really have any relationships.

Overhaul just fucking hates people

Again, Kendo Rappa only cares about fighting.

So so sad because I like his girlfriend but Natsuo is giving marrying to get away from his father

Koda Koji just had the vibes. He's so aroace to me. (aro Koda brain vs kodajirou brain fight)

Monoma Neito is such a fucking hater he just has to be aromantic

Wash is a washing machine

Honorable mentions:

List of characters whose only argument is they never show romantic attraction and don't talk much about romance or get flustered: Shouji Mezo, Sato Rikido, Tokoyami Fumikage, Shinsou Hitoshi, Yaoyorozu Momo, Sero Hanta, Hado Nejire, Togata Mirio, Shirakumo Oboro, Present Mic, Seiji Shishikura, Ryukyu, Gang Orca, Shishido, Centipeder, Ectoplasm, Hound Dog, Thirteen, Vlad King, Mandalay, Tiger, Lady Nagant, Mr. Compress, Tsukauchi Naomasa, Todoroki Rei and Fuyumi, Melissa Shield.

List of characters whose only argument is "they're green so they're obviously aromantic": Asui Tsuyu, Ibara Shiozaki, Tokage Setsuna, Kamakiri Togaru, Midoriya Inko, Ragdoll, Burnin, the Sludge Villain (I’m taking all I can get), Mustard, Ordinary Woman.

Bonus: characters that I can't make aromantic no matter how hard I try under the cut:

Gentle and La Brava, for obvious reasons. I feel like making them not love each other is like illegal.

Kudo and Yoichi. By god my brain will not accept it they're in love.

Amajiki Tamaki. I'm sure he could be aromantic but I can't let go of the Mirio and Nejire crushes (which are so real and true to me)

Yuyu (Nejire's friend), she also looks way too much like she has a giant crush on Nejire. Lesbian moment.

Best Jeanist and Edgeshot, they're giving high school sweethearts.

I put them in honorable mentions but I just have to mention Gang Orca and Shishido somewhere because the one baseball OVA made me think they're like the pseudo-enemies/rivals who argue all the time but somehow fight extremely synchronized when needed and ONLY fight each other because they're the only ones Worth It etc which is. Y'know. eye emoji etc etc

Sir Nighteye is literally in love with All Might

David Shield is literally in love with All Might

No really did you see David's wife? This man went and found a blonde blue eyed wife when he couldn't marry his blonde blue eyed best friend. His daughter looks like an All Might secret love child. I know whenever Dave hears Melissa call All Might uncle he dies a little inside because he wishes she could call him Dad too and he could call Toshinori his darling husband and

Rock Lock is happily married and I could never take that away from him

Spinner is green so I can kind of see him as aro but he’s giving madly in love with Shigaraki so much

Magne has a crush on Dabi in one of the Smash strips which is too funny to ignore I think she’s madly in love with him. And she’s right

I like kirimina so fucking much I genuinely struggle to come up with aro Kirishima headcanons. I think he could be quoiromantic but I also think he’s madly in love with Mina so I don’t know. 

Stain is literally in love with All Might

Ending (guy who attacked Natsuo) is literally in love with Endeavor

Garaki Kyudai is literally in love with All For One (“I miss your eyes” guy is so fucking devoted. The true doomed yaoi of MHA)

I know Rody is in love with Izuku he just has to be. 

To me Shindo Yo also has a crush on Izuku but also he's canonically dating Nakagame Tatami which is also cute.

[ladymorghul]

not my usual type of headcanon but here goes nothing. i'm on season two of tlk just so you know where this is lowkey inspired from.

tw: op's inaccurate asoiaf politics, abusive behaviour, cliches but idgaf cuz i love many cliches. also overlords of other regions who??

did not give this a second reread yet so if there's mistakes in it i might fix it later

--

the assize at riverrun makes the blackwoods resentful of their overlords. that is blackwood land as far as they are concerned, and the decrepit lord tully cannot change what has been theirs for generations. it takes little time for the blackwoods to defy the new border and start a battle with the brackens, one that ends bloodily for both houses, but more so for the brackens as their enemy raids their two villages near the border, burning places of worship, killing men and women, and stealing from their crops.

because of this, their new lord paramount, oscar tully, barely of age (grover tully has since died, rip), summons both amos bracken and samwell blackwood to riverrun, declaring that such acts of barbarity cannot happen again. lord oscar proposes a marriage between house blackwood's heir, davos blackwood, and amos bracken's nephew, aeron bracken. both houses protest, outraged at the proposal. the blackwoods see no purpose in this marriage; it will not solve their complaints, nor will they marry their heir to the son of a second son. the brackens, on the other hand, emphasize that such a marriage will not wash away the bloodshed and that even if they were to agree to this farce of a marriage, which they will not, davos blackwood would need to come live in stone hedge, for their nephew would be merely a prisoner in raventree hall, especially with the reputation davos blackwood has.

what they don't know, of course, is that davos blackwood and aeron bracken are no strangers to each other. they met many times at the stones, since they were old enough to patrol, and have been enemies, exchanging shoves and cruel words, but the time spent at the border, time spent getting to know the supposed enemy, changed things. they have not named their relationship "a relationship" per se, but they had kissed and were meeting in secret at night sometimes. they were testing the waters and exploring this new relationship.

upon hearing about the proposal, aeron is both excited and scared. he knew he'd have to marry one day, both of them would have to marry, but marrying the person that you were falling for stirred something in his chest even if until that moment marriage was not yet a concept he entertained at all. he thought he'd have more time. on the other hand he had no idea how davos would feel about this. sure, they liked each other enough to meet in secret and fool around a little, but marriage? that was for life.

with both houses refusing the marriage proposal, oscar tully falters and the idea fails. aeron feels disappointed but there's nothing he can do. he knew his uncle would never accept such proposal, nor would the blackwoods.

his uncle eventually tells him he'll marry into a different, random house, (have not yet decided which) and although frustrated and sad, aeron doesn't make much of a fuss because he knew it would eventually happen, he knew it was his duty as was everyone else's. but the more he thinks of how far away he'll be from home, from his friends, his family and well, davos, the more it eats at him. he accepts it, but he tries to meet davos one last time. davos never shows and they don't see each other before aeron leaves.

the problem is though, although sweet and polite on sight, the son of the house he's marrying is an actual nightmare. it starts small, with controlling what aeron can and can't do, and as the months go by, with aeron's defiant nature, everything turns worse, especially when his husband's parents die and he becomes lord. because aeron refuses to have anything to do with his husband at all, and has grown lowkey desperate with no allies in this keep, and has started responding back w as much strength as he could, his husband the lord makes him sleep in a cell with the dogs, dogs who overtime become attached to him and basically see him as their master. it helps aeron in a way, as now his husband refuses to even get close to the bars of his cell, but he's still locked up losing his mind. he hadn't been in sunshine for quite a while, hadn't seen his horse let alone ride it in a long time, hadn't had any practice, he was still a knight in his heart. he hadn't even seen a friendly face in so long. he felt like he was losing his sanity with each passing day. from his life in the riverlands to this? he could not live like this. but neither would he give in.

meanwhile in the riverlands, rumors of his treatment are reaching amos' ears. and davos' ears too. samwell blackwood died recently and davos is now lord, feeling both overwhelmed and lonely in his job. he has never forgotten aeron and what they had and had yet to still take a husband or a wife.

with these disturbing rumors reaching amos, amos sends raven after raven to the other house demanding answers but he's met with slightly polite yet short answers denying. the last raven is what sets amos off. the lord of whatever basically tells him that aeron is a married man now and all these accussations and worrying are for nothing. and that aeron is badly behaved as it is so the brackens should be thankful he did them the service of marrying such a man.

through this, the lord of whatever makes it known that he also refuses to grant aeron leave to visit or write to his family at all.

amos is, safe to say, angry. when he realizes aeron is basically a prisoner, much of what he feared would happen if he was married to davos blackwood all these months back, he decides to gather a small army and march on this house. he announces that any man able and willing to fight if it shall ever come to that, should join this march. that an insult to a man of house bracken, his nephew, is an insult to all rivermen. a few mallisters join, a few darry men and women too, a bit from all houses except, of course, the blackwoods.

but before amos can leave with his small army to march on this man keeping his nephew captive, he sees a small group of blackwoods crossing the boundary stones and approaching him and his men. they have with them a woman too, sporting a bow and arrows, looking fierce. at the head of it none other than davos blackwood.

"this is bracken land." amos says, but it's flat and devoid of any of the usual fire or anger.

davos almost smiles.

"we're here to join your march."

"you?" amos looks between them, like he can hardly believe they would.

"we are rivermen and women too aren't we?"

with that amos looks at them for a long time but eventually nods and gestures for them to join the rest of the people.

when davos had first heard the rumors about aeron's treatment, his gloom and heartbreak turned quickly into frustration and anger. how dare they disrespect him like this. nobody had exact details of what had happened to aeron, but he didn't deserve anything less than to be treat with the upmost respect. those vows spoken for marriage are not for nothing, whichever gods would be watching.

of course there were members of his house who strongly protested their lord just leave on a mad man's mission to save a bracken son from a foreigner house, but davos didn't want to hear any of it and although he had been overwhemed by his new responsabilities and nervous on weather he was doing a good enough job, he had found the strength to make his voice heard among his men. his decision was final.

alysanne was also not the happiest about this, but she would not undermine davos in front of the men of their house for she cared for him too much to do it publicly. nor would she leave him to go get himself killed gods know where. if your heart calls for you to go then you'll go and i'll go too, but this is stupid and unbecoming of a newly appointed lord.

in his stead, they left benji, now old enough to act as regent to davos, and they also left trusted men to guide him.

the march was long and not easy, they were not used to this type of long march, but shockingly, davos and amos were slowly forging a bond on their way there. amos was slowly realizing just how much davos blackwood cared about his nephew, that against the word of his house, and as a new, young lord, he'd leave his duties to march so far away for a bracken man. as they grew closer, tolerating each other better, dots were connecting in amos' head and he was beginning to understand with regret that his decisions contributed to aeron's situation.

as they were approaching whatever house, they realized a fight might have to happen when lord whatever sent some men to foolishly attack and immediately die at the hand of amos' small army.

there wasn't much of a fight. lord whatever was a proud man with no knowledge of battle and too few men. they fought but it didn't take much for amos' army to breach the keep and move the fight within.

davos fought in a fury, striking down every man in his path, and amos even saved his ass from being hit head on by a morningstar.

aeron in his cell was hearing the sounds of battle, sounds he hadn't heard since the burning mill, and in his daze, in his madness he stood up on weak knees to hear better, the dogs stirring up from their sleep to gather around him. then lord whatever came down to the cells with a couple of men. he ordered one man to open aeron's cell but all of them feared those "savage" dogs, including lord whatever. one of the men eventually opened the cell. he was also told to to grab aeron so that they can flee to their overlords house for safety. aeron looked between them, a warning with no words, and when the guard, after hesitating, attempted to grab aeron, one of the dogs immediately made for his hand. the rest soon followed, as packs do, and the rest of the guards stepped back, almost fleeing as they watched in horror. once they were done with the guard, aeron turned his attention on the man who had tortured him for the past months. he tried to reason with aeron, telling him savages had come to attack them, that they need to flee, but aeron was too lost in his hatred and rage and dispair to care.

"kill" was all he said and the dogs launched themselves at his lord husband, tearing him apart and making the rest of the guards flee.

when the lord commander of house whatever's forces saw through a window what had occured, he called for a stop to the fight. his lord was dead, many men had died, and there was no victory in sight so this was useless.

amos accepted, he had not actually come to shed blood from the get go, and he told his men to lay down their swords and hoard the remaining men of house whatever into a single place, taking their weapons.

it was then that aeron emerged from one of the entries of the keep, barefoot and dirty, but stil strong enough to walk on his own. the sun bothered his eyes and he cringed as he tried to make out the people before him. his dogs huddled close to him, excited and on edge because of the commotion.

when his eyes laid on his uncle, he took a deep breath, almost like he was breathing for the first time in months, and almost thought he was hallucinating it. time stood still and the world was spinning and he looked around to take in the bloodshed. he was saved. was he saved? what did that mean anymore? his eyes then landed on a bloodied davos who seemed almost as shocked as aeron when their gazes met. it was then that aeron could feel tears forming in his eyes and he was suddenly very aware of the state of him and everything he'd been through.

"you left me," he said to davos but then quickly looked at his uncle, both speechless, "you sent me away and you left me here to rot." he looked again at davos, anger and heartbreak and defeat evident in his voice and on his face. he didn't care anymore that he looked like a mad man to everyone watching.

"aeron," davos spoke first, taking a small step.

"you didn't want to marry me, you never came back for me," he said, anger overtaking all other emotions, "and you," he turned to his uncle, "you sent me away from the riverlands to a cruel man. for nothing."

feeling that aeron was angry and on edge, the dogs around him started to growl and snarl at them, especially when they tried to take a step closer to aeron. everything amos was trying to say was falling on deaf ears.

"maybe i should let them kill you like they did my lord husband." aeron almost whispered, looking from davos to amos, but as he saw their faces, full of worry and heartbreak, he faltered and looked down at himself and his hands, becoming more aware of the state he was in.

eventually he relaxed a bit, the emotion draining him of whatever energy he had left after so much time spent in a cell, and he swayed a little on his legs before turning around and walking back inside. he was by the entrance when he almost lost his balance but a heavy hand caught him in time. there was growling from the dogs but when aeron looked up he saw davos at his side, unafraid. aeron shook davos off gently and placed his hand on top of one of the dogs' heads and they all settled as he walked inside.

THE END

no. of course there is more to this story. more about healing, about forgiveness and who knows, if davos has any game, maybe a rekindling, maybe even an unlikely marriage, but there's quite a long way to that and this is all i have.

[makedonsgriva]

SQQ muttering and writing notes about safe sleep curse configurations, while doing a terrible job of hiding her plans from LBH, and LBH is just “Oh! She’s trying to adapt her black magic/curses to act as a sleep aid! How clever. 🥰”

The more I think about it, the more hilarious SY both ‘accidentally’ and on-purpose making actually super helpful curses is.

Finds out a servant woman’s husband is a drunkard, makes a handy curse that makes him vomit up any alcohol he drinks.

LMY sighing over people only caring about her looks? SY curses her face to be veiled/obscured to anyone who doesn’t love her as herself.

SY’s step-nephew, ZZL, hates conversing with flirtatious girls and wishes he could hide from them? SY curses him to turn into a little snake (with very tough scales) when flustered. (Scares off most girls, and makes him damage resistant enough they don’t hurt him with their flailing).

SHL annoyed by the frippery and expectations of noble women, and rarely being invited to actual fun things like hunts? SY curses her to be a were-creature of some sort, so she can freely run around at night and viciously murder prey animals to her heart’s content.

Etc.

Some optional ‘evil’ step-siblings possibilities/thoughts:

Ning Yingying probably follows the common Cinderella adaptation trend where the younger step-sibling isn’t so much a bully as troublesome in other ways. In her case, she would be the type who constantly pesters her new sister when LBH is trying to do chores, accidentally breaks things LBH worked hard on, unknowingly tattles on LBH whenever she does something OG!SJ forbade, somehow gets hurt on LBH’s watch, etc. You know, pre-SY NYY things. :P

For Ming Fan, I’m thinking she may have been another step-daughter (unlike NYY, SJ’s one bio daughter), but her somewhat sickly father had SJ formally adopt her after marrying him. MF really looks up to SJ and dotes on NYY, so she has major insecurities about LBH possibly replacing her as the family’s responsible older sister. (That and she’s plain faced compared to LBH). Why she got so into the bullying and mistreatment.

These ideas are all so delicious and I don’t know if they are coming from the same anon or not but whoever is the mystery Cinderella lesbingqiu anon pls pls dm me!!! Let’s work on this fic together please <3333

[corsairspade]

Halenthir scenario where they get married for tax benefits (in a platonic good friends sort of way) and fall in love long distance via sending each other letters with ideas on how to best leverage their marriage for tax evasion.

[youssefguedira]

have a little more fencing world champion joe. because it's worlds again and olympics soonish. enjoy

The clock on the nightstand changes from 01:36 to 01:37, and Joe sighs, rolling over to stare up at the ceiling. Nicky, beside him, shifts in his sleep but doesn't wake.

Joe, however, has been awake since at least 12:08, and feels far too restless to sleep. It's almost certainly jet lag: they're in Chicago for a little while, visiting Nile and her family, and largely trying to enjoy the last little bit of free time they have left until training begins again in earnest. Of course, Joe's kit bag is lying open at the foot of the bed, and Nicky's beside it: just because they're not formally training doesn't mean they won't need it at all.

Still, Joe can't sleep. He sighs again, and gives up on trying to do so entirely. Maybe he'll be able to find some time to rest tomorrow, though he doubts it. Nile's got a lot of things she wants to show them, and Joe would ordinarily be thrilled, if he wasn't so tired.

It'll pass, Andy told him, though she doesn't seem to have been affected by it at all. He's almost certain they'll meet her in the morning for breakfast and she'll be exactly as normal, as if they haven't just crossed multiple time zones. Even Nicky, who hadn't struggled nearly as much as Joe had, had begun to slow down some time around midday, but Andy had been fine.

He gets out of bed, careful not to wake Nicky, who's rolled onto his side facing the door. With nothing else to do, Joe makes his way to the little balcony attached to their room, picking up his phone from the nightstand on the way. The sliding door squeals a little when he opens it, but when he looks over at Nicky he hasn't even moved.

While it's certainly quieter than it had been before, the city is nowhere near silent. It's beautiful, though, and Joe takes a picture to send to his sister.

She texts him back immediately. Pretty, but isn't it like the middle of the night for you?

1 am, Joe responds. Jet lag.

His phone lights up with a call then, but not from Amira. He reads the contact name and answers, heart in his throat.

Oof, is Amira's response.

He almost drops his phone when he realises what they're calling him for.

By the time they hang up, his hands are shaking: he stays like that, phone still pressed to his ear even after the call has ended, for at least a few minutes.

Finally, at a loss for what else to do, he lowers his phone and goes back inside. Sits down on the edge of the bed.

The movement is just enough to wake Nicky, who blinks a few times before sliding into awareness all at once, the way he always does. He sits up, leaning against the headboard, pushing his hair out of his eyes. "Joe?" he asks, voice still slightly hoarse from sleep. He frowns when Joe doesn't answer straight away. "Is something wrong?"

"No," Joe says. Fidgets with his phone, screen now dark, still in his hands. "Uh. They want me for the Olympic team."

Nicky is silent for all of a split second before his expression breaks into a wide smile. "Yeah?"

"Yeah." Joe can't keep himself from smiling now, either, as Nicky cups the back of Joe's neck with one hand, leans in to press their foreheads together. Joe closes his eyes.

"Of course they do, Joe," Nicky says then. "You're the best in the world right now. You're going to be incredible."

There are times when that doesn't quite feel real, even if it's been a while.

"You'll come with me?" Joe asks.

"Always," Nicky says. Then he pulls back and kisses Joe's cheek, his forehead, the space between his eyes, until Joe laughs.

"I love you," Nicky tells him.

They'd met fencing épée, of all things. Andy had invited the seven of them – they hadn't quite been friends yet, but Joe had known Quynh for a couple years by then, and Andy too, while Nicky had already known Nile – to train with her and Quynh for a while, and Joe couldn't possibly refuse, because Andy was both his friend and one of the best coaches in the world back then. She'd made them all switch to a weapon they didn't usually use, and Joe and Nicky had picked épée: Joe because he figured it would be easier than restricting his target area to the torso only, and Nicky because épée was far closer to foil than sabre. They'd been about evenly matched, and it had been – well, it had been fun.

Joe had left a week later with Nicky's number in his phone and a small, fluttering hope in his chest. And even if they hadn't kept in touch very well those first few months, when the World Championships came around, and Joe had qualified for the second time, Nicky had joined Andy to meet him at the airport, grinning widely when he caught sight of him.

The rest, as they say, is history.

"I love you too," Joe says.

"You want to tell the others?" Nicky asks.

Joe looks at him for a moment. Looks at the clock. "It's 1 am, Nicky. Andy will kill us both."

Nicky snorts. "In the morning, then?"

"In the morning," Joe agrees.

Neither of them end up going back to sleep until 4 am, and they're both exhausted at breakfast the next morning, but. It's worth it.

[caffeinatedopossum]

My greatest dream is to own a mansion someday and have all mine and my wife's adopted children and our pets live together in safety and relative comfort

[loverboybrightsideghost]

i want to understand dating and such but i'm just so lazy to put in the effort and also no one likes me like that and i don't see the point in going after someone just on the off chance that somehow love manages to happen and also drama is stupid. i wanna know for the sake of it but also i could not be assed. i want to know to know but really what i want is friendship and cuddles.

[milkteawithrusk]

you're making me wish you'd stop talking to me bc i don't think you have anything to say to me about anything except my academics. i can't even breath in your presence without you going on about how i should be learning

[helladventurers]

There's something funny to me about the fact that i liked age of calamity's interpretations of the events and characters from botw so much that that i was actually disappointed to see master kohga and the yiga clan show up as antagonists again

[thegetdownrebooter]

Yeah I'm kinda glad they didn't confirm Tabitha still dating Roman so I can imagine her getting back together with Naomi, lol. I feel like people make her into a bit of a manic pixie dream girl maybe

lol, someone as attractive and rich as tabitha pulling the "i can fix him" routine on a fascist that doesn't respect her and told her to not be aroused during sex like, they need to be serious.

[hauntingblue]

ONE PIECE reading musings

Most importantly: buggy hairdo

(yes that's his real hair)

more under the cut

"I can't swim, but if this took me it would be a shame. Ah! In this situation it doesn't matter if I can swim or not!"

Luffy talking about the whirlpool taking him and him being so stoic??? Iconic, it sounds goofy coming from him but what else can he do lmao it actually makes so much sense

This panel with nami and buggy is just too good. Look at their faces lmao

"Nami: I can't fight with a group of men as big as that! I am weak!

Usopp: don't leave it up to me because I am a man! I am so scared my legs are shaking! Look!

Nami: Look at me, I am near tears!

Usopp: your eyes are completely dry!"

Usopp and Nami just having a crying off

Nami: why did you get mad earlier?

Luffy: I hate them, they do everything wrong

Nami: what are you saying? They were pirates, of course they were doing it wrong

Luffy knowing and kinda explaining how there is a good way of being a pirate but nami doesn't quite get it yet. Until she leaves the baratie and cries about it, wishing to go back with them again.... I think she gets it there. Also the first of many times nami just sits beside Luffy when he is down my beloved

Johnny just name dropping mihawk and telling zoro he MIGHT be there and zoro looks TERRIFIED? it's like he was expecting to die there and he knows he is too weak to face him and win so when this happens:

Sanji tells zoro they all are going towards their death and that they are idiots and zoro says:

"I threw my life away the moment I decided to become the best swordsman in the world, the only person that can call me dumb is me."

He is speaking like he knows he is going to die and he is scared when he hears about mihawk because he didn't expect to be so unprepared. Death is coming for him earlier that it should LIKE IT DID TO KUINA but spoiler... He gets to live because of his ambition GIVEN BY KUINA it's like a double edged sword. Kuina made you ambitious enough to die for your promise to her but that promise is going to make you live enough to see it.

This is actually so good and the fact this influences sanji to go after his dream like damn. Interlaced together since sanji was introduced

Zoro about to die for his dreams and what does sanji say? Give up your dreams if they will cost you your life. Because that's exactly the example he has since zeff stopped being a pirate to save sanji's life... But that's not the takeaway my boy.... Zeff wants you to go after your dream

Sanji saying he took everything zeff cared about away from him.... He gave it away FOR YOU!!!! And Luffy hitting him with the "death doesn't repay debts... He didn't save you for that!" And then the one two hit of shank's panel.... Damn

I don't even need to translate anything here but Luffy understood zeff since the beginning and he didn't hear one word from him. Luffy asking if he won't say goodbye and then looking at sanji like that..... There is not a bigger undesrtander than him. Just made that word up. And sanji's hard fucking head had to be told by like 15 different people to leave and still just left bc he thought he wasn't wanted anymore there. The guy who didn't understand what the story was about until his father told him. Christ don krieg is annoying but Baratie is so good. And extensive because sanji is so fucking stubborn about his debt to zeff. Incredible. Look at Luffy's happy face.

[kavehater]

Do I have to start saying not that anyone would care in that super duper passive aggressive way to guilt people into caring or what

[sophiamcdougall]

You're a reasonably informed person on the internet. You've experienced things like no longer being able to get files off an old storage device, media you've downloaded suddenly going poof, sites and forums with troves full of people's thoughts and ideas vanishing forever. You've heard of cybercrime. You've read articles about lost media. You have at least a basic understanding that digital data is vulnerable, is what I'm saying. I'm guessing that you're also aware that history is, you know... important? And that it's an ongoing study, requiring ... data about how people live? And that it's not just about stanning celebrities that happen to be dead? Congratulations, you are significantly better-informed than the British government! So they're currently like "Oh hai can we destroy all these historical documents pls? To save money? Because we'll digitise them first so it's fine! That'll be easy, cheap and reliable -- right? These wills from the 1850s will totally be fine for another 170 years as a PNG or whatever, yeah? We didn't need to do an impact assesment about this because it's clearly win-win! We'd keep the physical wills of Famous People™ though because Famous People™ actually matter, unlike you plebs. We don't think there are any equalities implications about this, either! Also the only examples of Famous People™ we can think of are all white and rich, only one is a woman and she got famous because of the guy she married. Kisses!"

Yes, this is the same Government that's like "Oh no removing a statue of slave trader is erasing history :(" You have, however, until 23 February 2024 to politely inquire of them what the fuck they are smoking. And they will have to publish a summary of the responses they receive. And it will look kind of bad if the feedback is well-argued, informative and overwhelmingly negative and they go ahead and do it anyway. I currently edit documents including responses to consultations like (but significantly less insane) than this one. Responses do actually matter. I would particularly encourage British people/people based in the UK to do this, but as far as I can see it doesn't say you have to be either. If you are, say, a historian or an archivist, or someone who specialises in digital data do say so and draw on your expertise in your answers. This isn't a question of filling out a form. You have to manually compose an email answering the 12 questions in the consultation paper at the link above. I'll put my own answers under the fold. Note -- I never know if I'm being too rude in these sorts of things. You probably shouldn't be ruder than I have been.

Please do not copy and paste any of this: that would defeat the purpose. This isn't a petition, they need to see a range of individual responses. But it may give you a jumping-off point.

Question 1: Should the current law providing for the inspection of wills be preserved?

Yes. Our ability to understand our shared past is a fundamental aspect of our heritage. It is not possible for any authority to know in advance what future insights they are supporting or impeding by their treatment of material evidence. Safeguarding the historical record for future generations should be considered an extremely important duty.

Question 2: Are there any reforms you would suggest to the current law enabling wills to be inspected?

No.

Question 3: Are there any reasons why the High Court should store original paper will documents on a permanent basis, as opposed to just retaining a digitised copy of that material?

Yes. I am amazed that the recent cyber attack on the British Library, which has effectively paralysed it completely, not been sufficient to answer this question for you.  I also refer you to the fate of the Domesday Project. Digital storage is useful and can help more people access information; however, it is also inherently fragile. Malice, accident, or eventual inevitable obsolescence not merely might occur, but absolutely should be expected. It is ludicrously naive and reflects a truly unpardonable ignorance to assume that information preserved only in digital form is somehow inviolable and safe, or that a physical document once digitised, never need be digitised again..At absolute minimum, it should be understood as certain that at least some of any digital-only archive will eventually be permanently lost. It is not remotely implausible that all of it would be. Preserving the physical documents provides a crucial failsafe. It also allows any errors in reproduction -- also inevitable-- to be, eventually, seen and corrected. Note that maintaining, upgrading and replacing digital infrastructure is not free, easy or reliable. Over the long term, risks to the data concerned can only accumulate.

"Unlike the methods for preserving analog documents that have been honed over millennia, there is no deep precedence to look to regarding the management of digital records. As such, the processing, long-term storage, and distribution potential of archival digital data are highly unresolved issues. [..] the more digital data is migrated, translated, and re-compressed into new formats, the more room there is for information to be lost, be it at the microbit-level of preservation. Any failure to contend with the instability of digital storage mediums, hardware obsolescence, and software obsolescence thus meets a terminal end—the definitive loss of information. The common belief that digital data is safe so long as it is backed up according to the 3-2-1 rule (3 copies on 2 different formats with 1 copy saved off site) belies the fact that it is fundamentally unclear how long digital information can or will remain intact. What is certain is that its unique vulnerabilities do become more pertinent with age."  -- James Boyda, On Loss in the 21st Century: Digital Decay and the Archive, Introduction.

Question 4: Do you agree that after a certain time original paper documents (from 1858 onwards) may be destroyed (other than for famous individuals)? Are there any alternatives, involving the public or private sector, you can suggest to their being destroyed?

Absolutely not. And I would have hoped we were past the "great man" theory of history. Firstly, you do not know which figures will still be considered "famous" in the future and which currently obscure individuals may deserve and eventually receive greater attention. I note that of the three figures you mention here as notable enough to have their wills preserved, all are white, the majority are male (the one woman having achieved fame through marriage) and all were wealthy at the time of their death. Any such approach will certainly cull evidence of the lives of women, people of colour and the poor from the historical record, and send a clear message about whose lives you consider worth remembering.

Secondly, the famous and successsful are only a small part of our history. Understanding the realities that shaped our past and continue to mould our present requires evidence of the lives of so-called "ordinary people"!

Did you even speak to any historians before coming up with this idea?

Entrusting the documents to the private sector would be similarly disastrous. What happens when a private company goes bust or decides that preserving this material is no longer profitable? What reasonable person, confronted with our crumbling privatised water infrastructure, would willingly consign any part of our heritage to a similar fate?

Question 5: Do you agree that there is equivalence between paper and digital copies of wills so that the ECA 2000 can be used?

No. And it raises serious questions about the skill and knowledge base within HMCTS and the government that the very basic concepts of data loss and the digital dark age appear to be unknown to you. I also refer you to the Domesday Project.

Question 6: Are there any other matters directly related to the retention of digital or paper wills that are not covered by the proposed exercise of the powers in the ECA 2000 that you consider are necessary?

Destroying the physical documents will always be an unforgivable dereliction of legal and moral duty.

Question 7: If the Government pursues preserving permanently only a digital copy of a will document, should it seek to reform the primary legislation by introducing a Bill or do so under the ECA 2000?

Destroying the physical documents will always be an unforgivable dereliction of legal and moral duty.

Question 8: If the Government moves to digital only copies of original will documents, what do you think the retention period for the original paper wills should be? Please give reasons and state what you believe the minimum retention period should be and whether you consider the Government’s suggestion of 25 years to be reasonable.

There is no good version of this plan. The physical documents should be preserved.

Question 9: Do you agree with the principle that wills of famous people should be preserved in the original paper form for historic interest?

This question betrays deep ignorance of what "historic interest" actually is. The study of history is not simply glorified celebrity gossip. If anything, the physical wills of currently famous people could be considered more expendable as it is likely that their contents are so widely diffused as to be relatively "safe", whereas the wills of so-called "ordinary people" will, especially in aggregate, provide insights that have not yet been explored.

Question 10: Do you have any initial suggestions on the criteria which should be adopted for identifying famous/historic figures whose original paper will document should be preserved permanently?

Abandon this entire lamentable plan. As previously discussed, you do not and cannot know who will be considered "famous" in the future, and fame is a profoundly flawed criterion of historical significance.

Question 11: Do you agree that the Probate Registries should only permanently retain wills and codicils from the documents submitted in support of a probate application? Please explain, if setting out the case for retention of any other documents.

No, all the documents should be preserved indefinitely.

Question 12: Do you agree that we have correctly identified the range and extent of the equalities impacts under each of these proposals set out in this consultation? Please give reasons and supply evidence of further equalities impacts as appropriate.

No. You appear to have neglected equalities impacts entirely. As discussed, in your drive to prioritise "famous people", your plan will certainly prioritise the white, wealthy and mostly the male, as your "Charles Dickens, Charles Darwin and Princess Diana" examples amply indicate. This plan will create a two-tier system where evidence of the lives of the privileged is carefully preserved while information regarding people of colour, women, the working class and other disadvantaged groups is disproportionately abandoned to digital decay and eventual loss. Current and future historians from, or specialising in the history of minority groups will be especially impoverished by this.