#i know we have the resources to feed all of us properly and yet for some reason they refuse to do so.

[flippedorbit]

i think dropping out is in my best interest at this point

[pokemonshelterstories]

So, idk how much you know about fossil ‘mon, but I’m running out of resources and thought I’d shoot my shot.

For a very long time, there was an Aurorus in my pretty small town that’s been here as long as anyone can remember, nobody knows where she came from. She’s never been properly “owned” by anyone, but she’s very human friendly and just generally chill (excuse the pun).

She must have bred with a wild ditto or something, because a couple years back we started noticing some Amaura who would hang around her. They’re more timid, but she taught them to trust humans to a certain extent and eventually they’d accept pets and the occasional treat (very occasional, we don’t just go feeding crap to every wild mon we meet here).

The problem came within the last few months- the Aurorus passed, likely due to old age, no real cause could be determined. The Amaura are still pretty young, and not nearly as used to or equipped to surviving in the wild as their mother. They seem to be seeking out humans a lot more and none of us have caught them yet, because while we love them we don’t really know what to do. On one hand, we don’t want them to become entirely dependent on humans but stay wild, because we all know how those stories go, but on the other hand can we as a pretty small town in the middle of nowhere Unova really manage these 6 young Amaura, especially with so little publicly available resources about fossil Pokémon, let alone fossil Pokémon raised in the wild?

I’d appreciate any insight you have on this situation.

well...i hate to have to say this, but by giving them treats and petting them, you have taught them to approach humans. amaura clearly aren't equipped to survive in modern unova. it's not the environment they evolved for. so getting easy food and positive interactions- especially at a young age- will just lead them to lose their fear of humans. and a wild, untrained pokemon that doesn't fear humans is dangerous.

the best thing to do is call the rangers and let them assess whether these pokemon can be relocated to a proper wild environment or are unreleasable. that might be hard to hear, but it's the only way to guarantee the safety of both the people and the pokemon in this scenario.

[lexsang]

My donor and I have agreed that, since I already was considering it as a brtween-class college career, we might try phlebotomy for doning purposes to get more blood at once and have it ready on-demand. However, I had a few questions that I would go to Google for, but I'm unsure on how to phrase them. If you don't know, that's okay, I just thought you might know of a resource that might have more information.

- Where would I get phlebotomy tools, such as needles, bags, disinfectant, etc, without being an actual medical corporation?

- What type of fridge/how cool would the inside of the fridge have to be to keep it from (for lack of a better word) 'expiring'? How long would it be good for?

- Is it okay to heat it up in, say, a microwave? I think I'd pefer it warm if I was drinking a cup of it because it would feel more fresh.

- Is there any law against keeping home-doned blood in your house for any reason, like for a biohazard type of thing? Of course I keep everything about this really private, I'd just like to know. For reference, I'm currently residing in California and will for at least two more years while I get my transfer degree at a community college, and there's a good chance I will stay in-state for university. Otherwise, knowing if any states in the U.S. have a law like this would be good to know. I know Louisiana has a 'no blood drinking' law from the voodoo/hoodoo days when slaves were emancipated, but I doubt anyone would enforce it nowadays.

- I know the environment has to be sterile for safety reasons, and I may just Google this one, but in this instance, what all needs to be disinfected/'sterile'? My partner/donor is autoimmune compromised (still okay for me to feed/for him to give blood) so I want to limit risk of infection as much as possible. Should I get one of those blood-draw specific chairs that have an almost plastic-type material spray its easier to keep clean and so there's the arm to use as the table for the insertion, do you think?

I believe, a long time ago, I read on one of the older sanguinarian websites (may be theredcellar, if I'm remembering properly; it was the one with the old feed directory where you could connect with a vampire/donor, I think, and they had a library section) which had some resources on using medical phlebotomy for this reason, but I never got through all of it at the time. If this type of website rings a bell for you, I may be able to find the PDF of the study someone submitted on it, as I remember it had risks involved and other information, which would be very, very helpful. If you think of any other information you may have or advice to follow, please do leave it. Thank you and have a wonderful day/night!

This is going to be a long one, so here we go.

Sadly, I don't have any actual experience in phlebotomy yet, so I'll keep any phlebotomy-specific parts brief to keep myself from making assumptions. To start with, a decent portion of your questions might already have some answers in articles on theredcellar.com. For anything more deeply sanguinarian, they are one of the best resources you can find. They have multiple articles on phlebotomy that have very in-depth information, and I believe they should have some info on blood-storage so that you can get a feel for how long you can safely store and consume blood you draw. As for the other thing you mentioned you had read, if I'm guessing right, it might be on theblackbooks.net. In the library tab, under miscellaneous, there is a .pdf called Phlebotomy for Sanguinarians.

If you look up 'phlebotomy supplies' on Google, there is a slew of medical suppliers that you can go to. I used to buy supplies from a dental supplier when I was working on fangs, and they can work a little differently from regular online marketplaces, but with some patience, you can find what you need. (Also be sure to become knowledgeable with what different anticoagulants the vacutainers or blood bags you're using come with, there is an article with a bunch of that info on The Red Cellar). If you keep having trouble finding supplies, I'd assume that bloodplay circles have plenty of information on where to find needles at least, and where you can find medical-grade needles, I assume you should be able to find the rest.

You can do your own trials with the microwave, but I don't think that would be the best way to heat blood. You would want to be very gentle while heating blood, and because of the way microwaves work, I'd assume you would be very likely to ruin blood by microwaving it. The one way I've heard that might be best for heating blood without lysing all of the cells and potentially cooking it, is sous vide. Others may have other ideas for this though, when in doubt, check old forums.

As far as legality, I would check for your own state. Generally, the legal issues come in the moment of feeding. Of course taking blood without consent would be illegal. I don't believe storing blood is illegal, but it is also seen as extreme by most people. In my opinion, keeping stored blood hidden isn't a safety precaution against the law, it's a safety precaution against people who are much more likely to be in your house from seeing something they might not be ready to see.

Keeping things sterile is extremely important, and whatever safety precautions you have kept up with whatever type of feeding should be held with just as much respect when taking blood intravenously. Definitely look for legitimate medical sources to brush up on what extra care you should take when dealing with phlebotomy equipment, and think about disposal as well. I can't imagine that you would have to go as far as buying a chair specifically for drawing blood, but keep your space clean, and be aware of how certain materials pick up dust and other things in the air, as well as whatever has touched them in the past. And absolutely everything needs to be sterile. The needles and equipment you end up buying will most likely come in sealed, sterile packaging, but anything that doesn't needs to be sterilized, especially since your partner is autoimmune compromised.

I hope this was helpful, and if there is anything I want to convey throughout all of this, it is to make sure to double and triple check, not only through sanguinarian sources, but also medical sources. Phlebotomy is a fantastic skill to learn as a sanguinarian (and luckily for me, I'm finally in a living situation that could allow me to learn), but donor safety is the absolute most important thing when talking about phlebotomy. Take things slow, and gauge both your and your donor's comfort levels as you go.

[flock-talk]

Can answer this privately or publicly! Was just curious if you know of the Avian Raw Whole Food Nutrition FB group with Jason Crean & if you had any thoughts on good resource or no. I've been in it for ages out of casual interest.

So I don’t use Facebook anymore and can’t see any of their content as a result but I’ll use this as an opportunity to talk about raw fed parrots in general!

((Since I can’t access any of their info none of this is reflecting on the page or the biologist who created it either))

I love the idea but it’s likely not the ideal way for the majority to feed their pets. Raw feeding just isn’t very accessible for a myriad of reasons: sourcing ingredients, prep time, expenses with the tools needed for prep, and the severe amount of guesswork.

Getting things balanced properly is hard! We don’t have a lot of data on parrot nutrition, even some of the articles I shared today notes that some nutrient ranges they were using was from data on chickens because we simply do not have the numbers for parrots yet! That’s a tricky thing to try to figure out when scientists themselves haven’t even studied it yet.

Some pellet brands have done feeding trials and there are pellet specific studies to show the long term effects of that brand! No we don’t have all the data yet but the data we do have is pointing at (good) pellets to be the safer feeding option when it comes to nutrient availability and consistency.

On top of that produce changes a lot. The quantity of set vitamins in each produce item will be different every time you purchase that produce. In season, out of season, different fertilizers, shelf life, they all affect nutrient density, unless you’re testing produce yourself with your in-home lab you won’t know exactly how much of each vitamin your bird is actually getting. You’ll have an estimate, but you won’t know for sure, that can make homemade diets very risky.

Obviously parrots exist without extruded food nuggets, obviously they are capable of surviving on raw foods, and yes ideally I would love for us to be able to provide as close to a wild-type diet as possible to them! But presently we don’t actually know what that looks like. Until we have more solid information on what their diet exactly needs I wouldn’t personally feel confident trying to formulate it myself.

Having a group run by a biologist sounds awesome and I hope there’s lots of new information, studies, and data to be gathered there so we can get closer to that goal!

[raphael-moutot-blog]

Don't get left behind: AI Tools for the modern agile professional.

Dear all, I would like to recommend the following course AI & Agility: Comprehensive Introduction as a good and soft introduction to understand what it means to leverage on AI Tools to boost your professional journey and the context behind it. Thanks for Nathaniel from my network who shared this last week, hence appeared on my feed and definitely Snehal Talati & Scrum Alliance for the content of the course. This only request 2,5/3 hours of your time (2,5 SEUs), however it is for me such an interesting discovery. 

As we've all encountered AI in some form – chatbots, recommended choices, or customized feeds based on cookies, browsing history, and profiles. But this course opened my eyes to AI as a tool to supercharge our work. Being a Change Agent myself, I believe every digital specialist, agilist, and professional navigating the VUCA world has a responsibility to explore these readily available tools.

More than tooling, I believe it is actually a new mindset that need to be enabled: I am myself yet convinced about the few examples given in the course which allow to look at AI generated solutions based on how would you feed your AI Tool.. Guess what? This is the a part every discovery journey, being uncomfortable about a new solution, trying to figure out new vocabulary and context as long as how to leverage on it... To make the best use of it, the course introduce how to leverage on the CARE framework (Collaborative goals, Adding context, Real-World Application, Expected-Outcome). 

Basically you will learn how to formulate your request properly to your AI tool (or AI copilot), to be able to evaluate an AI generated solution on your given problem. We are dealing here with team management issues, team performance, asking to spot what would be the best backlog item to focus on knowing the past and current data, asking your tool some tips or alternatives to facilitate meetings that are not reaching the outcome expected..  this is a total new world to me!

What is in for me? (in this course)

Here is what you can expect in this short course: 

Reminder / introduction about Agile evolution and the groundwork for AI integration, including Manifesto history and AI brief history.

Practices leveraging on AI.

Trends of AI in Agile.

List of AI tools.

AI & Agility Glossary.

As I am not sure how many of you will enrol the course, I still would like everyone to leverage on the tools introduced along the learning. While I am also processing all the vocabulary and how to build my own "How to leverage on AI generated tool" mindset, would like to ensure I keep this knowledge accessible for my own and for all, hence this article.

Please note that the following links and descriptions are a direct extract from the course, all credits going to Snehal Talati & Scrum Alliance. Again I encourage everyone to go through the course to understand why the following tools have been recommended and the context. 

ChatGPT by OpenAI

ChatGPT, developed by OpenAI, is a state-of-the-art language processing AI tool. It's built on the GPT (Generative Pre-trained Transformer) architecture, enabling it to generate human-like text based on the input it receives. This technology is significant for its wide range of applications, from composing emails to coding assistance, and it has been pivotal in advancing natural language understanding and generation. It serves as an exemplary resource for those interested in AI language models and their practical applications in various sectors.

Claude AI by Anthropic

Claude AI, created by Anthropic, is an advanced conversational AI designed to assist in a variety of text-based interactions. It's part of a new wave of AI technologies focusing on natural language understanding and generation. While specific capabilities and applications might vary, Claude AI likely offers solutions for content creation, data analysis, and enhanced user interaction. Anthropic's approach to AI development emphasizes safety and interpretability, making Claude a significant player in the field of responsible AI.

HuggingFace

Hugging Face is an open-source company devoted to developing machine-learning-focused collaboration. They have models, datasets, services, and more that help people integrate AI responsibly into products and workflows. Their mission says that they are working “to democratize good machine learning, one commit at a time.”

Drawify

Drawify is an online platform that provides users with a unique and interactive way to create visual content. It's particularly useful for those looking to enhance their presentations, educational materials, or digital storytelling with engaging visuals. The website offers a range of tools and resources to help users easily create custom illustrations and diagrams, making it a valuable resource for educators, business professionals, and creative individuals. Another visual content creation AI tool includes Midjourney.

Spinach

Save time on repetitive tasks! Spinach is your AI project manager. Spinach joins meetings, takes notes and captures actions in your existing tools to help you ship faster. Spinach is free for unlimited meetings and users (yes, really!). It takes instant meeting notes so you can stay more engaged, turns any action item into a ticket, remembers what was decided and integrates into your existing tools: "We take notes so you can listen."

LucidSpark

Get inspired with Collaborative AI! Don’t wait for inspiration to strike. Be more proactive, innovative, and productive by using AI to generate ideas, uncover key themes, and rapidly summarize your working sessions. Need a prompt to spark your team’s creativity? Kick off a brainstorming session or project with Collaborative AI. Enter relevant keywords or phrases into the text box, click generate, and watch as AI automatically populates related ideas on your Lucidspark canvas as sticky notes. Go a step further by using AI to uncover key themes. When you click to sort ideas, Lucid’s Collaborative AI moves sticky notes into categories within Containers. That’s where you’ll start to see the big picture as your ideas take shape. Give it a try!

Rewind

Rewind is a personalized AI powered by everything you've seen, said, or heard. Install it and it will run in the background capturing your screen and audio. Rewind stores your data locally so only you have access. You can rewind meetings to be sure you've taken in key points, draft emails, and overcome your mind's limitations by saving hours each week.

DALL-E 3

Built on ChatGPT, DALL-E3 brings your words to visual life, creating images based on your prompts. If you like a particular image, but it's not quite right, you can ask ChatGPT to make tweaks with just a few words. From a simple sentence to a detailed paragraph, watch your words come to life.

NotebookLM

Created by Google, NotebookLM is a large language personalized AI that works as a virtual research assistant to bring your research together. When you upload the documents that are central to your projects, it instantly becomes an expert in the information that matters most to you; it's grounded in the information you trust. It moves you more quickly from information to insight, from reading, to asking questions, to writing. You're in control, with no personal data used to train NotebookLM, and any private or sensitive information will stay protected.

Janitor AI

Janitor AI is a groundbreaking role-playing chatbot website. The platform offers a wide range of character options to give users the freedom to engage in conversations with virtual personas of their choice. It's invaluable for business owners seeking to streamline client interactions and deliver prompt replies. Key features include multi-age interaction, rapid responses, character options, clean API, and automated assistance.

Character AI

Character AI is in beta testing (1/2024); it lets you create characters and talk to them. Characters can be anything--the breakthrough AI lets your imagination run free and bring all your ideas to life. Users can save and share their characters in the community so that everyone can talk to Socrates, Steve Jobs, or engage with alternate timelines.

CapCut

CapCut is a free, all-in-one video editor with flexible editing, magical AI tools, team collaboration, and stock assets. Their smart tools make your video creation easier, from removing the background to AI color correction or colorizer to resizing your video. Also included are tools to automatically recognize different language and generate high-accuracy captions.

Merci / Thanks for reading, I hope this help.

[ramzawrites]

Ok I have coffeed up 🦀🦀🦀

Could I request a fic about a Male Reader Border Collie Hybridbeing hired to look after the pets of the Syndicate while theyre at a meeting? Having to feed every single dog, Ranboos cat, Carl, the parrots, Steve the bear, etc? Trying to wrangle the foxes because theyre trying to eat poison potatoes, shooing zombies off the turtle eggs? -🌱🌟

The Syndicate’s Pet Sitter - BorderCollie!Hybrid!Reader

Male

Pairings: none

Characters included: Technoblade, Philza, Ranboo, Nihachu

Warnings: n/a

Series: A request for my beloved 🌱🌟<3

Summary: The Syndicate is meeting up early in the morning and didn’t have the chance to feed their pets yet. Luckily Y/N who lives there as well but isn’t part of the Syndicate can take care of them. And no that is totally not because Border Collies are good herding dogs.

Words count: 4732

Authors Note: I just noticed I missed the foxes oh no ;_; Why do the Syndicate have so many pets I swear! I hope you guys enjoy this! Esp you 🌱🌟 since you requested it! I also haven’t had the chance to properly look over it look for typos, I apologize! I’ll deal with that as soon as I can! Also thanks for the prompt 😌 I have a weakness for animals and dogs

The chest let out a strained creak as Technoblade closed it for what felt like the hundredth time. He was preparing for the next meeting of the Syndicate and this time he, as well as Phil, had actually planned a few things other than just showing the newest members where the headquarters were and setting up the rules for the organization.

While both men were busy running from chest to chest collecting materials and writing down information into books, they were accompanied by a soft rhythmic thud as well.

That sound came from Y/N. More specifically his tail swishing up and down as he was sitting in front of a window on the windowsill. Watching peacefully as the two went about their business.

Y/N was a Dog Hybrid. A Border Collie Hybrid to be specific. He has been technically living with Techno and Philza for a while now but Techno liked to act as if he was just some stranger to him.

When Y/N first came to the SMP Philza and Techno were the first people he met and ever since then he has gotten quite attached to them.

At first Techno tried to get rid off him, especially since he always gave him wishy washy answers concerning his opinions on governments but Y/N wouldn’t let himself get spooked off that easily and even begun building his own little home close to them without asking. At that point Techno had to accept defeat and let him begrudgingly stay.

Philza liked to poke fun at that fact but he also understood Techno’s caution. Though over time Y/N has shown to be a trusty ally that could keep secrets, even once leading people astray since they became dangerously close to their home. Because of that Philza brought once the idea up that maybe they should let Y/N join the Syndicate after all as well.

Of course Techno immediately shut down the idea for the simple fact that not once has Y/N ever clearly stated that he was against any kind of government. There was no point in arguing with the Pig Hybrid about this particular topic so Philza just dropped the issue altogether.

That said after Niki came over to join the Syndicate and Ranboo got roped in it as well, Y/N managed to at least learn of the name of the organization.

He even asked to join to which Techno just said “Prove to us you are an anarchist and maybe I will think about it.”

“So you are saying you just want me to tell you the things you want to hear in order to get in? Doesn’t seem that smart to me.”

Y/N would always pull out these snide remarks whenever that topic came up.

For some reason Y/N woke up early and found that both Philza and Techno got up early as well so he just let himself in, sat down next to the window and begun happily munching on some cold steak for breakfast.

Techno made a point of ignoring him only muttering something about a “damn mutt” under his breath while Philza was chuckling to himself. Y/N’s fluffy dog ears obviously picked up on it but the happy swags of his tail continued on, knowing that if Techno really was annoyed by him, he would have already intervened way back when he begun building his home.

Phil was rummaging through a chest, trying to find some extra paper only to suddenly stop moving and turn around to look at Y/N, his arms still in the chest.

“Y/N?” adding a whistle to ensure that he would gain his attention.

As a response the Dog Hybrid looked absolutely aghast “Did you just-? Did you just whistle at me? Did you, Philza, just whistle at me to get my attention? Like a dog?”

“Sorry, just kind of happened but since you are here I have a request for you.”

Now Technoblade stopped whatever he was doing as well to observe what was happening in front of him, curious what he was proposing. A smirk adorning his features knowing full well that Philza probably whistled on purpose seeing how Y/N was kind of an unwelcome guest right now.

“You can request but no guarantee I will fulfill your request, old man.” Y/N spoke through an exaggerated pout.

This only earned him a tired sigh from Philza “Yeah, Yeah. As you can see we are up early for a reason but this also means we didn’t have the chance yet to feed the animals. Could you feed them all and make sure they’ll be alright while we are gone? You know how this place can get with pets.”

“All? Like all the pets? Like you want me to feed all the pets and take care of them?” Y/N was obviously intimated by the idea of the task judging with how his voice jumped up an octave to the end of the question. But who could blame him. Over time the group managed to amass a comical amount of pets which included a full hound army, polar bears, turtles, cows, Carl the Horse and in Ranboo’s case even parrots.

That reminded him.

“Does that include Ranboo’s bird and cat?”

“Does what include my bird and cat?” Suddenly the door swung open as Ranboo stepped inside Techno’s home. Cramping up the small cabin even more. The cold winter air only managing to sneak in for a short moment before he made sure to close the wooden door again.

Techno chuckled “We are asking Y/N here to feed our pets while we are busy at our meeting and to make sure they are safe while we are gone. He has time after all.”

Y/N’s shocked expression turned to a frown. Oh they did that deliberately alright.

Ranboo took a moment to take in the scene before he slowly nodded “Oh, if that is the case then I would actually really appreciate it if you could take a look at my parrot and cat. I haven’t had the chance to feed them yet since I ran out of seeds for the bird. Actually the reason I came over here was because I wanted to ask you guys if you had some extra.”

Techno’s smirk was ever present on his face as he motioned with his hand towards his mass of chests “Somewhere in there we have some but I’m sure Y/N will find them and take care of your pets as well.”

“Would you?”

Ranboo sounded so genuine and almost surprised by this that Y/N couldn’t come up with a snarky response but instead he looked defeated.

“I- alright. I will take care of your pets while you do your stupid Syndicate meeting.”

“We trained him well, Techno.”

“That we did, old friend.”

Now Y/N’s happy tail wagging did finally stop and he jumped up away from the window, surprising Ranboo in the process “You didn’t train me! I’m not one of your dogs!”

He knew they were joking but he still couldn’t let that stand.

Philza stepped closer to Y/N and put one of his hands on his head between his ears. Giving a short pat only to remove his hand again “Yes, we know. If that was true you would be listening to us at all times. Anyways, I spotted Niki outside and we are ready, so, we’ll be going. Make sure nothing happens to the animals! We are putting our trust in you!”

Before Y/N could protest or retract his agreement the group made sure to leave the little hut as fast as possible. Ranboo was very confused but still followed the others outside to loudly greet Niki.

Y/N himself was so bewildered by this whole situation he didn’t even make the effort to run out to greet Niki as well. Instead his thoughts begun to swirl around his new responsibilities.

What do Polar Bears eat? How is he going to feed all of the dogs? By Ender he hoped that Techno had all the necessary things in one of his chests.

That’s when a stray thought hit him “Did they hire me as pet sitter because I’m a Border Collie Hybrid? Did they seriously make me the pet sitter because Border Collie’s are stereotypically good herding dogs?”

That thought had to set in for a moment as he was asking himself if this seriously could be the case and knowing them that might have very well been a thought that crossed their minds. They all joked around about their hybrid parts but this was just ridiculous.

He didn’t know how yet but somehow he will make sure that the damn Pig and the Birdbrain will get this back tenfold. Ranboo was okay in Y/N’s book since he mostly got pulled into this by the others but even then he was still on thin ice.

“I better get going.” He whispered in order to try to pull himself out of his thoughts.

First on the agenda were the Polar Bears. Mostly since he wasn’t exactly sure how to go about it and just wanted to get it over with but also one of the Bears was laying inside the hut. Snuggling close to the fire place.

That polar bear was Steve and Techno often made comments of him being his emotional support animal and at this point Y/N just believed him. With Techno who knew at this point.

Well what would Steve eat? Just some meat?

“Fish!”

How he didn’t immediately come to that conclusion he didn’t know but better late than never.

Y/N excitedly rubbed his hands together. Time to snoop through Techno’s things. No way in hell is he going to use his own resources to feed their pets. Hence why he begun looking through Techno’s chests. Taking note of things like stray armor, golden apples and enchantment books.

Somewhere in a corner he found some cooked fish. Should be fine, right?

Taking a couple of fish he moved over to Steve who was still lazily draped on the ground enjoying the heat from the fire. Carefully and slowly Y/N put down a couple of fish in front of his big snout. His dog ears pressed down on his head as he stared rigidly at the bear. Hoping for the best.

Steve’s black nose begun to twitch. He slowly opened up his eyes and lazily begun nudging the food closer to his snout with his big paw. Snacking on the pile of fish.

“Okay? I’m guessing that’s fine? I think?”

Just to make sure he still threw more fish towards him and then made his way with a second pile outside where Ed was waiting for his food as well. Ed was way more active and often enough obstructs the way up the stairs that lead to both Philza’s and Techno’s house.

Philza was always annoyed at Ed because of that particular reason. Though today he was a good Polar Bear that was sitting next to the stairs staring at Ender knows what.

Y/N threw him his pile of fish and watched for a second as he happily begun munching on them.

“Guess I’m doing alright after all.”

Almost as if to answer the bear suddenly begun to move towards Y/N which made him panic. Stepping back, trying to understand what he was doing now. Sure the bears are cute but also big and dangerous if they wanted to be.

But Ed bowed his head down and softly pressed his head against Y/N’s chest.

“Is this a thanks, buddy? Aw, no problem.”

Tentatively Y/N placed his hand on the bear’s head to give him one or two scritches. To which Ed then let out a deep puff of air through his nose and immediately moved back to his food to continue his breakfast.

All the Polar Bears are fed. Now only the whole hound army, cows, parrot, Carl the Horse, Turtles and Enderchest the Cat were left. Oh by Ender. That is still a lot.

Y/N immediately ran back into Techno’s hut and begun to search through his chests again. Grabbing things like Seeds, Sea Grass, more fish and some steak.

The parrot and cat were the easiest to deal with first so he decided to run into Ranboo’s house. Even if just to avoid the cold outside for a tiny bit longer.

He climbed down the ladder and found the parrot patiently waiting for him. Excitedly squawking as soon as he saw him.

Placing the seeds in front of the animal Y/N took a good look at the colorful bird.

“How are you doing? Keeping Ranboo company? Making sure he isn’t feeling too lonely?”

“Company! Company!” Ranbird answered in a shrill voice only to continue picking up the seeds off the ground.

Y/N liked spending time with Ranboo. He was a bit of an enigma with his memory issues and interesting behavior at points but Y/N loved hanging out with him. He would always try to offer to play pranks on Techno but Ranboo was too apprehensive about it, not wanting to make the scary Pig Hybrid mad at him.

The two had a bit of a running joke going on where both Ranboo and Y/N would call the other weird. Ranboo for his weird behavior and Y/N for the simple fact that he apparently didn’t fear Techno at all. Philza and Ranboo having to mostly hold him back before he could seriously upset Techno.

“Enderchest? Come here!” Y/N called out and continued to do the typical mouth noises to attract cats. Luckily he did come around a corner.

Happily meowing when Enderchest saw Y/N. Chirping as he pressed his body against Y/N’s legs.

“See, you are a kitty and I am a dog hybrid but we like each other.” Was he still a bit salty about the fact that they most certainly chose him to take care of the pets due to his Hybrid side?

Yes. Definitely.

Sure, no one else was there who could deal with it but on the other hand normally they were always so prepared for everything so this must have been planned beforehand. They didn’t feed the animals on purpose because obviously he was there and had time.

A loud meow pulled Y/N back out of his thoughts again.

“Sorry, Enderchest. You are right it’s food time.”

He then took out two fish and placed it in front of the cat who immediately put them in his mouth and ran off with them. Probably to eat in peace.

Next on the list was Carl. If Y/N didn’t make sure that Carl was absolutely doing alright and was fed Techno would kill him. And while Y/N liked to joke with Techno and pretend that he wasn’t as dangerous as everyone else is treating him like, he also knew that Carl is so important to him that Techno let him get himself kidnapped by the Butcher Army for the horse’s safety.

Technoblade hid his horse behind a wall but Philza one day accidentally found it. Y/N immediately took the chance to build an actual hidden entrance. He liked being a bit of an annoyance for Techno but if he can somehow help out, he will.

Pressing a button on the stone wall gave away to the little stable he and Philza made for Carl.

“Breakfast!”

Some Hay and other food was always ready for Carl so all Y/N had to do was put some of it in the tray and make sure he still had water. Everything seemed fine so Y/N took a second to pet him.

“No idea why Techno is so attached to you but you do seem like a good one. He protects you so you better make sure to not disappoint him as well.”

Carl neighed and nuzzled his nose into Y/N’s shoulder. Softly nabbing on the clothes which made the man laugh in return and softly shoved Carl’s face away from him.

“My clothes aren’t food, buddy!”

Luckily Carl didn’t continue to screw around and instead concentrated on his actual food.

The next pit stop were the turtles and cows. It was easy feeding them since you just placed down the food and then let them go about their day. No, the dog army would be a problem later. They might be war dogs but they were still playful dogs.

Y/N closed up the stable for Carl and made his way through the snow towards the cows first. Opening up a chest that stood close by. He placed it there a few days back with a ton of wheat. It was meant as way to help with the feeding. It was meant for the others since these cows didn’t belong to him but now he was stuck with the responsibility after all.

The cows were happily chewing on the food that Y/N threw into their enclosure and seemed to be doing alright as well so he moved on to the turtles.

For the turtles he actually had to get into the enclosure. Putting the kelp down near the water so the turtles inside the water could see him placing the food down as well. All the while he had to make sure to not accidentally walk on top of the eggs that some of these turtles have laid.

The animals themselves seemed to ignore Y/N. Just slowly crawling along the coarse sand or floating inside the water.

That’s when Y/N heard a groan from behind him. A groan he knew too well.

“Oh no you don’t!”

Y/N swiveled around and pulled out his netherite sword. A sword he made with the help of Philza. During his travels in the nether he found some ancient debris but since he never worked with that material he asked Phil for help. Which was also the reason why the purple sword was called Swordza.

“You helped me make it, I’m naming it after you.” He said to Philza’s dismay.

Right now though the reason why he turned around so fast was that he heard the familiar retching sound of a zombie. It was still early in the morning no surprise there that a loose zombie might be around the place.

Also no surprise that the zombie appeared around the turtle enclosure. For some reason they loved trampling down turtle eggs which was really just barbaric if you really thought about it. Beings that seemingly just wandered around the overworld with no goal but as soon as they spot turtle eggs they suddenly know exactly where to go. Well, besides when they find a human to attack.

The zombie limped towards the turtles.

Y/N didn’t wait long to react. He immediately took a running start and jumped over the fence. Striking down with his sword while he was landing, giving the attack a little more oomph. Together with the enchantments on the sword the zombie fell down into a burning mess. Gurgling sounds escaping it only to die down. A growl escaped Y/N’s throat as he stared at the dead mob.

“Nothing will happen to the little ones while I have anything to say about it!”

He took another sweeping look around the place but found nothing out of the ordinary. With a relieved sigh he put his sword back. The turtles were fed and safe.

Though as he looked around his eyes fell unto the hoard of dogs. All fenced in under a self-made roof. Most of the dogs were laying around either in a small pile or alone. Some were trotting around or even playing but it seemed like the dogs were still tired.

It was time to deal with them.

Y/N walked over to the dogs and as he stepped closer the animals immediately took notice of him. A few running over to him while others just patiently stared. As he got closer to the fence the nearest dogs put their front paws on the fence. Barking excitedly.

If Y/N went in like this some will run out and that was not something he wanted to deal with. There was still some adrenaline pumping through his veins from back when he spotted the zombie but he was still slowly beginning to freeze. Honestly he wanted to get through this fast so he can go back into his cabin and enjoy the warmth of his hearth.

Maybe even begin to plot on how to get back at the Syndicate for doing this to him.

But this wasn’t important right now.

Y/N let out a sharp and loud whistle “Away! Come one! Move out of the way!” He pointed to a corner and surprisingly the dogs seemed to understand that he wanted them away from the gates.

When he opened said gate the dogs patiently waited for him to move in and close it again before they suddenly begun to swarm him. Jumping up trying to lick his face or they began sniffing him out.

“Hey! Stop! I can’t feed you like that!”

He had a frown on his face but his tail was happily swinging from side to side as the dogs greeted him.

“Okay, stop! Sit!”

Luckily the dogs were well trained since they immediately sat down. Still panting in excitement and whining but now they weren’t trying to pull Y/N down to play with him.

In return Y/N got out the steaks out of his inventory and walked past the dogs. Giving each one of them their share. Whenever some dogs begun to scuffle over the food all Y/N had to do was to whistle or yell “Stop!” and they would listen.

Truthfully he feared that feeding the dogs would be the most difficult task of all the animals but as it turned out they listened to him rather well. It’s probably only because Techno trained them so well but still, maybe there is a way Y/N could use this power for himself.

It didn’t take long for Y/N to feed all the dogs but once he reached the last one the first dogs were already done eating and happily following Y/N around the fenced off area. Sometimes barking, hoping to get his attention. While his ears would always move in the direction of the barking dogs, he made  appoint to concentrate on the dogs that he was actually interacting with.

Though when he was done he finally turned around to look at the happy dogs “You guys are needy, did you know that?”

As if to answer a dog right in front of him sat down and woofed at him.

Y/N rolled his eyes and knelt down, scratching that one particular dog behind his ear “You little pooch.”

That was a mistake. A huge mistake.

As he went down and balanced on the front of his feet the other dogs saw their chance as he went down to their height, practically jumping on.

Startled the Hybrid let out a yelp as the dogs pushed him on his back. Licking his face or tugging on his clothes.

He tried pushing the dogs away from his face but it he was unsuccessful. For every dog he pushed away two new dogs would try to jump into that new space. Sadly also pushing the dogs away seemed to be something fun for them.

At some point Y/N managed to get back up but still got swarmed by the dogs. All the dogs now in a happy playful mood after having eaten. Y/N could just tell them off but everyone on the outside could see that he had fun as well playing and tussling with the dogs.

Over time that tussling just became the dogs jumping into Y/N arms so he could throw them a few feet away while simultaneously trying to not fall down as some dogs begun tugging on his clothes again. The longer it kept going the more tired he got which was hi downfall. Quite literally.

He fell over again and while the dogs swarmed around him they too were getting tired and just laid down next to him. Framing his body or just straight up laying on top of him, one dog even snuggled up to his head, ending up more as a pillow for him.

At first Y/N tried to struggle against being buried alive by the animals but as soon as he noticed the warmth engulfing his body instead of the cold harsh wind he accepted his fate.

After all he was done with feeding the pets.

“Horrible. Techno would be proud with how relentless you all are.” A yawn escaped his lips which seemed to infect a few of the dogs as well.

It really didn’t take long for him to fall asleep. It was warm, soft and he felt safe.

The meeting for the Syndicate took longer than expected. They spent way too much time trying to find a common goal to start with. They didn’t want to do something huge at the beginning but start small, something that would test their cooperation and teamwork.

Though after they finally found something and started planning a few hours had past and since both Ranboo and Niki apparently had people to meet they had to stop the meeting early.

“You think the animals will be fine?” Ranboo asked Philza as they stepped out of their hidden headquarters.

The older man just waved off his question “Ah, they will be fine! We rag on Y/N often but we can trust him with things like these. He’s a good one even if he absolutely refuses to give Techno a straight answer when it comes to governments. I do believe he is only doing that to annoy him though.”

As the group approached their home again everyone took a good look around.

“Well, everything seems normal.” Techno noted.

Niki scowled “Aw I had hoped to see him. I couldn’t even say hello when I got here.”

That’s when Ranboo stopped dead in his track. He wanted to go home to get ready for Snowchester but something inside the dog pen caught his attention “Oh by Ender! There is an arm! The dogs have an arm!”

The other three ran over, confused with what the hell he was talking about only to see he was right. There was an arm sticking outside of the dogpile. Why did the dogs pile up in the first place though?

Out of nowhere Phil snorted and pressed his hand against his chest and mouth. Trying to stifle a laugh.

Niki still looked shocked and worried, confused with Phil’s reaction “What? Philza, why are you laughing?”

“Let me show you. Y/N! Are you awake, mate?”

At first nothing happened but then suddenly the arm moved and retreated back inside the dogpile. Now the others understood what happened.

Both Niki and Ranboo looked a bit embarrassed that they genuinely thought that these dogs might have ripped off an arm and were now cuddling with it.

Techno stayed stoic as always. Folding his arms in front of his chest, waiting for Y/N to properly react.

“Y/N, come on!” Phil called out again.

A muffled groan came from the pile of dogs and Y/N’s head appeared as he sat up “What?” He whined “I was having such a nice dream!”

“Oh my- Y/N! Good morning!” Niki greeted the Hybrid happily.

In response Y/N got a bit out of his furry burial but still pulled one of the ferocious war dogs closer to himself, hugging it. His tail now out as well showing the others his happy mood as he slowly drifted off again.

“Hello, Niki.” He sounded still half asleep. At least the others assumed since his face was buried in the dogs grey fur.

“Y/N please get away from my hound army. They are bred to fight and kill not for hugs and naps.” Techno grumbled.

“Then why are they so comfy and love me so much. They love me so much more than you” He made sure to drawl out the word “love” to really hammer that fact in.

“Let’s make Y/N then our go to pet sitter.” Phil noted.

This seemed to wake up Y/N, he immediately looked up with a scowl “No! I am not going to be your pet sitter! You put me in that role in the first place because I’m a Border Collie Hybrid, or am I wrong? If it’s true that’s seriously screwed up, by the way!”

Techno sighed “Yep, there he is. Now he is awake alright.”

[theheraldsrest]

“Inquisitor bringing back a dragon egg and claiming it as their own child”

Yeeeaaahh It’s been a bit since we’ve made any posts. Our schedules have cleared up a bit and we should be able to post more, and this time on an actual schedule. I’ll be posting on Mondays-Tuesdays and Cabot will be posting on Wednesdays. Here you go, our first ask back!

-Lord Lex

Cullen

-”No no no NO! Absolutely not! We are not going to be raising a DRAGON in Skyhold! A dragon destroyed Haven, and that one wasn’t even on our side! How in the name of the Maker are you going to train that thing?! This is absolutely ridiculous, what are you thinking?! How-”

-You have to survive his rant first but, to be fair, he has good reason to worry

-If you keep it, he doesn’t argue with your decision, but you have noticed that Skyhold is being more fortified, people are being the taught on how to “take care” of a dragon, while others are being taught how to actually take care of a dragon

-Cullen sees this turning out two ways: One, this could actually be a great benefit to the Inquisition or Two, the Inquisitor has finally gone insane and this is just the Maker’s way of punishing Cullen for existing

Josephine

-”Haha, very clever joke, Inquisitor! You actually had me there for a moment! Hahaha...ha...he...you’re not joking, are you? Oh Maker…”

-Takes a lot of convincing to get her to actually allow you to keep it. Is even a little proud that you made a list of pros and cons

-Tries to even change your mind with other “pet” ideas. Just do what Leliana’s done and get pet nugs. They’re vicious enough if you train them. Or mabari, mabari are good pets, love cuddles. Or how about-?

-Is ever so slightly curious about how this will turn out though, even hires people who are dragon experts to help make sure it’s safe and well taken care of

Leliana

-”A dragon? That...actually could be very resourceful.”

-Unlike her co-workers, she finds this to be a rather interesting and fun idea that could really help the inquisition

-Does pass along notes about its growth to researchers and caregivers. Kinda wants to help in the process of raising and training it. How different can it be from nugs?

-Very. Very different. Nugs don’t breathe fire, for one.

Vivienne

-”Put it back, dear. We don’t need to add on another dangerous creature with horrible, destructive capabilities to our little group. We already have Cassandra.”

-It’s like a very tired mother telling their child to put back the puppy. The fire breathing, 200 ton puppy.

-Keeps talking about your image, trying to raise such a thing after the several encounters you’ve had with dragons ended with you almost dead

-Actually, no, go right ahead. She’d love to see what’d happen. Don’t worry, you’ll do fiiiine.

Varric

-*Currently having Vietnam flashbacks* “Please no.”

-He’s kinda split. On one hand, he doesn’t want to deal with this. On the other, imagine the stories he could write

-He thinks he needs to stop telling dragon jokes because the first time he said he had expected Corypheus to pull a dragon out of his ass and he did. Made the same joke about the Inquisitor…

-Comes to like the idea when he sees the Inquisitor treating it like a mabari. Who’s a good, man-eating, electricity-breathing dragon? Yes it’s you!

Cole

-”Your child? But...it’s a dragon? How do you make it your child? It’s rather big. Warm and happy, it doesn’t know about the outside yet or what’s waiting for it...I think you’d make a great mother dragon.”

-He’s a little confused, but he’s got the spirit. (Get it? No? Ok, I’ll see myself out) He has no problems with this

-It actually helps a lot that Cole can tell you if he's upset or not happy. Gives you an idea of the mood swings it has

-Cole is confused on why you keep calling it ‘one’ of your children. Who are the rest? Varric puts emphasis on Kid when he’s talking to Cole.

Solas

-*Solas Disapproves*

-What could go wrong? He has a list. What if it doesn’t listen? What if it’s uncontrollable? How do you expect to raise it? What are you even going to feed it? People? Your enemies? Where are you going to keep it? What if it causes more damage than the one Corypheus had? What if-?

-If he can’t convince you to put it back, he does try to help you with it. Hell, (if your inquisitor drank from the Well) you were able to control the ancient dragon, this one shouldn’t be much harder

-He gives it pet names, favors calling it names associated to the type it is. For example, a fire one would be nicknamed Little Burner or Little Light, a cold one would be Frost or Snowflake.

Cassandra

-*Cassandra Greatly Disapproves*

-Makes you put it back, she doesn’t even want to hear the ridiculous reasoning for why you want it as a ‘child’. You already have destructive children and their names are Varric, Sera, Bull, and Cole.

-There is absolutely no way in whatever realms that exist is she going to allow this to happen, the absolute absurdity of the whole idea is- Somehow you got it to Skyhold and it’s name is now Fluffy.

-Maker, give her strength to put up with you. She might see you as a great leader, but sometimes you can make some really stupid decisions.

The Iron Bull

-”This is one of the most dangerous ideas I’ve ever heard. Can I help raise it?”

-You don’t even have to ask, he’s helping to carry the egg, talking about different ways it could be used whether for battle or for intimidation

-He’s dedicating his time to this creature and has actually done some reading up on how to properly care for it

-If you’re not careful, it starts to think Bull’s it’s mother, following him around and chirping. The Chargers have taken to calling him Mama Bull. 

Dorian

-”That’s a brilliant idea, Inquisitor! And after that, we’ll go raise Corypheus from the dead and ask him to join us for afternoon tea! Oh, why not invite my mother as well! Why not just summon Andraste herself?!”

-Safe to say, he thinks this is one of your worst ideas. But he’s not gonna stop you. What? It’s gonna be funny watching you try and raise this creature

-Said he wanted nothing to do with it, but still comes around to make sure you haven’t killed it. And that it’s properly being covered. And that you’re not breaking it.

-He adores it, though, once it’s born. Won’t admit it, but the baby talk gives it away

Sera

-”This. Is going to be. The BEST joke. Ever!”

-Keep Sera away from it, she’s almost broke it several times, either by trying to carry it or rapping her knuckles against it

-It’s like a little kid waiting for their baby sibling to be born: she’s drawn pictures of it eating people and taking a shit on nobles, she keeps talking about what all they can do with a dragon on their side including blowing stuff up

-Has nicknamed it PeeWee. No reason whatsoever.

Blackwall

-*very deep sigh* “Please, please say you’re joking.”

-You’re not joking? Andraste, he’s too old for this. It’s like the Inquisitor is trying to give him a heart attack wherever he goes

-He doesn’t really give his opinion but you do see him give the egg a weary look every once in awhile

-Comes to actually enjoy the little thing, feeding it bits of food because ‘it gave me the look’ or petting it and telling it that it’s very handsome/beautiful

[thurisazsalail]

I explained the Spirit banner threat today

I explained the Spirit banner threat today to a very sweet couple in their 70s. You gotta follow me a minute. There’s no boomer and ‘greatest gen’ meme stuff here. It was actually a couple hours of fun stories back and forth.

The guy’s mom was a single mom. Imagine: a SINGLE MOTHER... that means in the 1960s, almost 15 years before a woman could own a credit card -1974- because credit cards didn’t fundamentally exist yet. If you didn’t have funding, you largely didn’t eat, or you relied on a store owner *individually* approving credit when they wanted. This is the subject of 70s horror shows for a reason. See also the first episode of “Tales from the Darkside” and “Twilight Zone” reboot, “The Card.” A single mom when you could just be locked up for various shit. Damn near no social resources. Way less than what we have NOW. A single mom who was a *waitress.* Some of you are doing the math, here, and how we legally start at often HALF the typical minimum wage. (Thanks, racist white people! 1930s racist policies are why that exists!) He never wanted to see another waitress struggle like his mother had, ever.

He was so proud of his mom! It must have been late ~1960s (the 60s! Jesus, Black folks couldn’t even vote yet! Not guaranteed, really. MLK era, we’re talking.) when a real rich guy went to impress a bunch of his friends and ran her RAGGED... then tipped the modern equivalent of maybe ~$2-3 on hundreds of dollars on the cheque. She ran out in front of everyone and told him that he forgot his change. HA! Even now, that’s hard to pull off! I’ve done something like that MAYBE twice, and once I only got away with it because my boss was on vacation and it wasn’t a corporate restaurant! NO WAY someone could get away with it in the 1960s and still have a job. And a single mom doing that at the time? What a risk. Holy fuck. Thank god the guy was so embarrassed that he pulled out a stack of cash in front of people and paid her properly instead of complaining...

The guy’s wife owned a restaurant at one time herself and it was WORK. Never ending, no days off. Not one of these modern “the owner has a bunch of money and takes a tonne of the profits and goes on vacation while taking advantage of their employees, looool” restaurant owners, but a smaller-town works constantly, on-call problem solver, pitches in and does EVERYTHING  restaurant owner. She was proud (and I’m damn proud of her!) for being able to use profits during this time of year to open her restaurant to anyone who couldn’t afford meals to just stop in, eat properly, get the same service as everyone else, and relax. All people are people, and they deserve to get treated like human beings. I found out she’s left-handed like me, really likes flan, and doesn’t like to overwhelm waitresses. >D

They’re the kind of Actual Christians that are so hard to find. They just don’t go around talking about it much. I find people my grandfather’s age often tried to be, but they’re such a minority even amongst their own. I don’t look for our differences; I look for the things we agree on and emphasize them. Like every person’s right to food because we’re a great country and we have abundance. It was hard for him to reconcile how much they tried to do with how much they felt like failing that day (that foster kids in office buildings crisis I talked about on the last Spirit post? that just got way worse because of underfunding and politics, and they do some volunteer work in that field) To put it in Christian terms, didn’t Jesus say “there will always be the poor?” BUT did that stop him from feeding the masses with loaves and fish? So he KNEW that he couldn’t save everyone. But he was still trying, right? Don’t give up. Rest, but come back.

In Jewish terms, “You are not obligated to complete the work (fixing the world), but neither are you free to abandon it.” 

Ahhhh, yes, because they can’t help anyone if they burn out. Exactly! They’ve done this before. They know this already! We all just need the reminder.

We can come together on a lot of ideas. We’re really not that different.

On that note, I explained how other countries don’t just HAVE big, giant, open land like America does, so we don’t have all these big empty buildings everywhere (the ones noted for stuffing foster kids in.) And I mentioned how Spirit stores everywhere have closed this week now that Halloween is over and all the deep discount stuff is pretty much gone. There are programs everywhere in the county where even if you don’t celebrate Halloween, all the branded candy is like, 70% off or lower, yeah? Which led into this common ground of how big companies are abusing restaurant workers and other “little guys” like factory workers. These people work with some of the worst off in the county all the time. They see directly how “little” foundational things completely derail a person’s life- one missed paycheque starts a total mess of loss of vehicle, job, apartment. We’re in a right to work state, so they know anyone can be fired any time, for no reason, no recourse.

So what is this Spirit Store thing they might hear about, “I’ll put a Spirit banner on your shop!”

Relax! It’s not some new age witchcraft thing. The employee is threatening mutiny, the way ship crews threaten mutiny against a captain. It’s a warning that you’re going to disappear the way a Spirit Store folds and disappears. Treat your people right, or we don’t HAVE to work for you! Sometimes we actually pay money to go to work, paying more for transportation and childcare than we’ll make the whole day. Why not just stay home? Florida ranks ~49th in unemployment so in reality, our governor TALKS about us getting BIG payouts but actually, very few people ever see any money. Even so, whatever. Stay home. Pay fair wages ON TIME, don’t abuse us, don’t harass us, and we’ll come to work. Treat us badly all day long, and see how long you last working a big store all by yourself. All of us have value!

And of course because we have the internet now, we can show this idea to people all over the country instantly. Simply. In pictures too, so lots of people can understand it. Will anyone actually put Spirit Store banners up on shops locally? I have never seen one. But the way things are going, the threat might be enough.

[rainbowrider1290]

Part 3 of my take on a genshin impact circus AU: Bennett, Fischl, and Razor as a beast-taming trio. Backstory under the cut.

Benny:

Bennett was adopted into a research team of zoologists (what in canon would be the adventurer’s guild). The ones that go out into the world and get their hands dirty in studying animals. He loved interacting with the animals, and though research was interesting, he always spent more time with the animal caretakers and vets than with the researchers so he’s extremely acquainted with their habits, how to feed them, when to keep them in captivity versus the wild, and how to regulate their environment properly when in captivity. He has this knack for interacting with them, even the big ones.

As for how he got into the circus: Well first off he got wind of how poorly these animals are treated in some circuses and got into the circuses for the caretaking purposes. He would hop from circus to circus to take care of the animals and show the performers how to Not Harm Them (like tigers jumping through hoops on fire??? Nuh-uh. Whips, tight collars, and muzzles? We don’t do that here). He certifies himself as a vet after a while of this.

More time passes and he realizes this is a bigger problem than can be solved by himself. He’s been kicked out of a few places and for a while had terrible luck finding work because some of his previous employers didn’t want to spend the extra resources on animal care (lacking funds and lacking planning for it) and spread word of a legal liability of a vet.

Aether and Lumine catch word of this and track him down to a little animal clinic where he works as an intern. They offer him a spot in their circus bc they’ve been wanting to introduce animals into the mix but want to plan correctly (like how many animals they can support properly). Long story short, Bennett gets into the circus and works with Yanfei to actually become a legal liability to the circuses not treating animals correctly, and he himself will take as many of those animals as he can into his corner of the circus and send the rest to his dads (since circus animals tend to be rare breeds and his dads have a branch of research on captive animals). And finally he can take care of his animals and show the world that you don’t have to harm animals for a good show. Mostly big ones like elephants, big cats, and camels.

He’ll do shows more like synchronizing movements between the animals and tricks like they do with marine animals. They do have cages for transport but they’re spacious and they take frequent breaks for physical activity. Benny will only take the animals that have been domesticated their whole lives and will send the ones fit to live in the wild to his dads to set free.

Fischl:

Fischl was born into the circus life and was that kid who would stop people from killing bugs, take them in a glass container, and set them outside. She regularly patches up the birds with broken wings she finds outside.

Def spent more time outside hanging with the birds than with the people in the circus, since birds aren’t technically a circus animal. Oz is an old old vulture (or falcon, I haven’t decided yet. If anyone can pinpoint his species please let me know) that has taken a liking to Fischl and so no matter where her circus goes, she sees Oz there to hang and bring her injured birds.

She once asked if birds could be circus animals and was told that they tried but it didn’t work out. She gets into reading the obscure materials on birds as circus animals and deduces that they just weren’t taking care of them right. She brings up this idea to the circus manager and essentially gets the door slammed in her face. The last time she asks about it, it’s to her parents and is told to find something realistic to do in the circus and forget about the birds.

From then she sees all the other kids her age in the circus training to be in the show in some way or another and hears what they say about her “head in the clouds”. So she starts training with different branches of the circus (gymnastics-based, death-defying stunts, fire, etc.) and she... genuinely considers leaving to pursue another profession.

Then as her circus is about to get on the road, she catches wind of a circus performing in the town they’re just about to leave. One that uses animals, and since her circus never used animals due to lacking funding, she goes for a night out of curiosity and on the off-chance that they use birds. She noticed that this wasn’t anything like she’d heard about or read about circus animals, so she sends them a letter addressed to the person running the animal part of the show asking about birds in the circus.

Benny’s response boils down to “well it’d be a little complicated but what’d you have in mind?” so they start exchanging letters and the next time the two circuses are near each other, she goes on over and brings all her letters after a show and sees how gentle Bennett is with the animals. They get to talking and Benny takes her to meet the animals, telling her about how he does things while she tells him about how she’d go about introducing birds to a circus.

Aether and Lumine hear about this and before she knows it, Fischl’s being told to get her birds ready, she has an audition in a month (spoiler alert: she passes). Her act is made up of all kinds of birds. Very few of them are housed on the circus for very long since she’s never liked the idea of birds in cages. The birds she uses are all the injured ones in the process of rehabilitation brought to her by Oz. She also keeps the ones that won’t fly again or never learned to find food despite her and Oz doing their best to socialize them. Those that don’t perform are excellent at taking care of the newbies and overall helping Fischl out. 

At any given point she’ll be seen with about 3-5 birds of different sizes on her and she’ll always smell a bit like worms and seeds of various kinds. She expands on her first-aid abilities from watching Bennett, and in turn offers knowledge on birds and how to deal with smaller animals with different bone structures, metabolisms, and cardiovascular systems.

Razor:

Razor’s story is a lot simpler. Backstory is essentially the same as in canon, except he doesn’t meet Lisa right away, and spends a little more time with Varka learning to read and write at the most basic level and fight hand-to-hand. Instead of an abyss mage attacking them, it’s a group of hunters. During this fight, a lot of the wolves are gravely injured but he takes one of them and runs into town looking for help.

After a show, Bennett and Fischl are on their way to see Bennett’s dads to take some birds that can’t handle the circus life but also aren’t fit to be free. They happen to be in the town where Bennett trained to be a vet and they stop by the clinic to say hello. Inside they see a boy dressed in rags and covered in dirt cradling an unconscious wolf pup, trying to get the attention of one of the clerks. One of the clerks tries to help him but the communication barrier is not helping them and the boy seems distressed on top of that, pointing and growling with the word “help” thrown in here and there, so Bennett steps in bc he knows some of these people in the clinic.

Bennett comes in and he and Fischl follow him out to where the rest of the pack is. Fischl brings her birds bc they’re her babies in case anyone was wondering. They perform first aid the best they can given the conditions, and manage to save a good chunk of the wolves, but a good chunk of them still die.

The pack splits up into two. On the one hand, the older wolves take whoever’s still alive and resume their activities in the forest. On the other, Razor has this opportunity to go and find out whether he’s a human or a wolf, and the little wolf pup he brought to the clinic goes with him because she’s too injured to go with the others. Same for a few other wolves.

So they go and the only place they have to stay is the circus bc Bennett and Fischl want to monitor the wolves a little more, so they spend the night. Next morning, Razor gives Fischl and Bennett a basket of meat, berries, and seeds to feed their respective animals and they realize Razor has some valuable skills, so he ends up staying upon receiving the OK from Lumine and Aether and telling Lisa and Ningguang for administrative purposes.

Because wolves inherently do not do well with loud noises and circus settings, Razor is very off-put by the idea of performance. Not to mention that he himself probs wouldn’t feel comfortable in the performance setting, so he sticks to the background (even learning the basics of tech) and gets really good at gathering resources from food for the animals to helping Oz bring back injured birds and track other injured animals. He and Oz interact a lot, which helps his friendship with Fischl as he was initially closer to Bennett.

His relationship with Lisa after a while can be summarized as “focus up you little monsters. not you Razor. You’re an angel and we’re thrilled you’re here”

[phoenixfire-thewizardgoddess]

So, I always wanted to know a bit more about Wands in the harry potter universe. Given that they are so central to life, it would be nice to have a bit more info.

The wood - we know there's like 4/5 different types of wood they choose, and they're all things they can get in region. Does that imply then that aussie wizards could have wattle, eucalyptus, or other local trees?

What about trees native to the region, JK? TELL ME

How do they choose the tree. Do they have to come from a specific place, or do wandmakers need to wander through magically inclined forests until a branch falls off into their hands, or what?

Is there like commercial plantations of these trees, to feed the constant need for all the children constantly coming into their power?

What does that look like? What are the hazards? Can the place get infested by bad magic or what? Pesticides or no?

So they find the tree, next step? Is it just like 'yes, dibs that branch' and that's it, or do they take the whole tree? What are their conservation policies?

Or do they need to do a spell, or use a ritual or something before/during/after harvesting?

Crafting... how do they know what length and shape to make for each piece of wood? Like, is it like when artists make statues and they can already see what is inside the marble/wood, etc.? Or do they just make as many randomly shaped wands as they can for each one... is there a magial equivalent of a lathe? Or is this all by hand?

How do they choose designs, assuming the wand isn't calling out to them? Like, some are delicately patterned, and the elder wand was straight up a**l beads???

Are there variations based on the shop, the wandmaker and the region?

The core - apart from the main question of how they get the core in there (drill a hole and slip it in? make it into a potion and soak the wand? lay it on the crafted wand and it disappears in a show of magic?), and if this is done before or after the wand is shaped... You have to think it's a little fucked up the way they go about it, right?

Standards are like, Unicorn hair, Phoenix Feathers (Rare) and Dragon Heartstring, right?

Well how the fuck do they get these things without unethical commerical farming? Unicorn hair is easy enough, you have a herd of them on a ranch protected from bad guys or whatever (and centaurs are lobbying against it bc what the fuck magical people) and most of the strands can be picked up from where they catch / fall out by fences, in the paddock, in the barn at night, etc

But what if they just pluck them. I mean, there are places that live-pluck birds for the feathers, which is fucked up, and we know magical people see any magical creature or half-human as lesser...

Assuming things are totally ethical, best case is that the unicorns lose a bit of mane or tail hair every so often and it is sourced from the field. Worst case, they are trapped in stalls all day every day and shaved beyond acceptable (look up horse tails, it's not all hair) to the detriment of the animals...

Ideally, but more impracticably, the wandmakers could wander through the forest and meet at a certain place with wild herds. They bring the carrots, the unicorns hand over a few strands once a year...

\I know unicorn cores are meant to be harder to turn to the dark arts but like... what if the unicorns are upset, stressed and angry? You'd think that would turn on them, right?

Phoenix Feathers... well they're rare. I think they probs have to get it willingly, or it doesn't work. Wasn't that in the books somewhere? But it wouldn't have to be. I mean, they're an immortal resource... even if you mistreat a phoenix, it cant escape in death.

You just have to wait a bit for it to regrow, and there's probs spells to help speed that up. I mean, look how the world treats chickens (caged), would it be that hard for magical society (with fewer animal oversight committiees and laws) to pull some nonsense...

The dragon cores are the ones that always used to stress me out, as a concept, as a child. Like, there's a LOT of dragon heartstring wands, its common... that implies a lot of dead dragons.

How many hearstrings does the average dragon have, in this universe? Assuming at least four... that's only four wands, maybe eight if they cut them in half and it still works.

So, are they commercially farmed? Is Charlie Weasley complicit in dragon farming with the goal of harvesting the animals for parts? What happened to the dragons from the Triwizard Tournament? Is there a first year with a Special Dragon Heartstring wand?

Also, would they need to prep them specially?

What variations are there, as well? Like these are the main 3, but other countries and places have to have others, or have tried other magical things?

Do you think there are houself ears, or Centaur tendons, or mermaid fins, or kraken tentacles, or niffler claws, or goblin teeth, or redcap blood, in their wands? And it only phased out of common production recently as new protections came in for magical races?

Is there a blackmarket trade for illegal cores and if you have enough it can be 'verified' as a legal core...? There are implications here.

So you have the core, you have the wood, you have the wandmaker who slapped it together and imbued it with magic... you have a wand. Does it do a little sparkle or something when it works?

Are there wands that get to the end of the process and just... fail to work? How do they dispose of them?

Do they put resin or a protective potion/agent on it? They have to last for years, right?

Longevity - So you have a wand your entire life, unless it breaks or it is taken for being a Bad Naughty Little WizardTM... for one, how does the wand choose the person? Even if we slap a 'magic' bandaid on it, there are still more questions about it.

Do you lose your wand if you become impaired? Like, would a magical doctor remove your wand if you got dementia and 'lost capacity'? But then, how would it control your innate magic? The stuff you can do wandless? Off topic.

So you pass away, is your wand typically buried with you? Is it given to a family member? If so, then how does that work because the info the author gave was it was one wand = one person, pick each other etc. Assuming it does bond to that other family member, who is probably young enough to not have their own wand yet... does that mean their perfect wand will never be bought?

If not, what normally occurs? Does the wand get taken by the council Dept of Births, Deaths, Marriages and Magical Incineration to be checked over and reset to 0? Does it get returned to the Wandsmith shoppe who made it, so they can check it is fine to be reused? Does your wand choose another person, who will never know how well it once fit into your hand? The atrocities you committed with it?

How does this system work? Is there magic recycling, or is it all waste...?

Are cores from animals who did not consent at greater risk of turning the bearer evil?

What if your wand breaks... like Ron's did? Like... he had an older relative's wand, so he got a proper wand that matched him. But what if your Perfect Match of a wand is damaged? Why is there no option to have the wand repaired properly...

If humans today would rather die than get a replacement roomba, you have to assume people would be pretty damn attached to their wands... maybe more than usual. Is it about profit? Or can they just not fix it? What are the limitations on fixing a wand, or is it just not considered at all?

Is there... wand insurance?

Like, it feels like there was a lot to talk about...

[write-1t-bop-1t]

Crashed and found

Entry for the secret shifters G/T Fanfic swap @secret-shifters

https://secret-shifters.tumblr.com/

Gift for: @syndicate-speck   https://syndicate-speck.tumblr.com/

Tiny astronaut crash lands on a giant planet or vice versa, sci-fi gulliver's travels style

Triggers/tropes to avoid: Spiders, I guess

Relationship types to avoid: None per se, feel free to go ham (but keep it sfw obviously)

Fluff or angst: No preference

I take a deep breath, running my hand through my hair and ruffling it around before breathing out and spinning in my chair to face the screen, reaching out my hand to press record,

“Hello again everybody, Ryan Harte here for log number 637, day 453 at 6:23pm Eastern time. Everything on board the ship has been running smoothly as always, no further difficulties involving the damaged engine. Alexander was able to complete the repairs with no further issue. We are a few days away from the designated drop zone, planet classification #677, and will be ready for retraction shortly after.”

I give another short sigh as I record my report, having done this almost everyday for the past year and a half. It gave time meaning, and at least it was something to do other than annoy my travel partner. I look back at the screen, smiling up at it.

“I can’t believe long it’s been…. I can’t wait for my paycheck when I get back to earth,” I say, giving a little laugh to myself.

“There is currently nothing to report on the mission, and the current planet objection is in visual range from the ship. We should-”

I get cut off from my video when the door to my room opens with a loud whoosh noise, startling me as I almost fall out of my chair, letting out a less than manly squeak of surprise.

I look over to see my travel buddy, Alexander, standing at my door with a bored expression.

“Oh, were you doing one of your diary entries again, pipsqueak?”

He says with a teasing tone, making my face turn red as I grab something off the floor and chuck it at him.

“Shove it! It’s not a diary and you know that!”

I grumble, throwing more things at him while he laughs to himself. He surrenders, putting his hands up to guard his hair, the long black strands now slightly frizzy from having collided with whatever I could have reached for moments before. He laughs again before going back to exit my room before stopping and leaning back in,

‘Well, whenever you're done with your ‘Not-Diary’, I need you to come to the front of the ship. We’ve got better visuals on the planet and I need to talk to you about it, alright?”

He says, looking at me expectantly. I quickly nod and make a shooing motion with my hands to get him to leave quickly. He laughs again before leaving me alone in my room once more. Once he leaves, a large smile breaks out on my face, as I bounce lightly with excitement. This is my first ever, real life space recon mission.

After getting into the space program at 16, with a scholarship in science, I’d always wanted to get into recon and the exploration field. I Graduated with honors at age 18, along with Alexander who graduated from ship repairs and navigation, one of the top in his class.

The planet we were headed to was said to show signs of holding valuable resources which I am supposed to gather and bring back with us to earth. Nothing was really known about the planet itself, as no one besides us has ever been this close to it. All that was really known is its size, estimated to be around 1000x bigger than our sun. But since no one knows much about it, we are being paid very handsomely once we get back home in the next year. I can’t wait to see my dad again.

I smile back at the camera,

“Well, as you heard, we are soon approaching the planet, and I am needed for the evaluation. This is Ryan Harte signing out. Love you dad!”

I say before stopping the recording and pressing the send button, to send the message back to earth’s space station, as well as so that they could send it to my dad so he knows everything was okay up here. I never want him to worry about me, so I make sure to record these often.

After sending I quickly jump up, grabbing a simple gray hoodie that had previously been thrown at Alex and throw it over my head before dashing out of the room towards the front of the ship, looking like a kid in a candy store.

My old shoes squeak against the metal as I reach the door, I bounce in place as the door rush’s open and I run inside, almost colliding with Alexander as he looks out at the black space outside the spaceship through the paned glass.

¨Present!¨ I say out loud, with a big smile on my face, causing him to roll his eyes. He motions over to the planet, and I look over to see that we’ve gotten considerably closer to it. We’re still around 2-3 days away from getting close enough to be able to dispatch my shuttle and collect parts of the large gray planet’s resources. Even so, it's already around 9000x bigger than our ship, considering our ship is about the size of a normal sized university, having to hold enough food to feed us for the to and from trips.

“Whoa.” I say mostly to myself, and Alexander nods along with me. 

He points to a lighter gray spot on the planet, “I can’t seem to get a proper scan on the planet due to the storm like clouds surrounding it, but from what I can get, that area should be the safest place for you to land. I’m going to re-route slightly to get us closer to that area, I just wanted to let you know. That okay, pipsqueak?” He says looking back at me.

I nod quickly, my excitement not faltering. 

“But why is that area safer?” I ask, just to feed my curiosity.

He explains that the area seems to be more flat than the other areas on the planet, making it easier for my shuttle to land on, along with the fact that the other, darker areas, seem to be covered with a type of dark and cloudy sky that might cause trouble with communication and engines when entering the atmosphere.

I of course, have no idea what he’s saying but nod along anyways. It probably wasn’t important anyways.

After his little safety spiel that I’ve heard a hundred times, we decide that it’s time for dinner. We made it a tradition when we started our space travel to eat dinner together as a bonding exercise, as well as to help to know each other. Now it’s just become a daily thing we do every ‘night’, to just talk and hang out. It’s not much, but when the other person with you is the only person you’ve had human interactions with for the past 2 years, you learn to appreciate it.

We walk down and make it to the ‘lobby’ where we eat, which is just an empty room with a table and two chairs melded to the ground. Bland but it works, though I wish the space program would get us better chairs.

Alexander goes and grabs our dinner, dehydrated pork and some yellow stuff I don’t bother asking about, as we talk about our days while occasionally teasing and making fun of each other. We laugh and joke around before cleaning up, saying our goodnights and getting ready for bed.

Alexander stops me before I can leave and re-explains the safety measures, protocols and blah blah blah about the exploration in a few days. I wave him off, laughing, before heading up to my room to go to bed.

As I enter, I stretch, letting out a yawn as I kick off my shoes, not caring where they go. I walk over and check my tablet to make sure my last message went through. It did, but it hasn’t been seen yet. Darn, I was hoping I would get another message from my dad, but I guess I’ll get it tomorrow.

I mess up my hair with both of my hands before getting into bed, the thoughts of finally getting to go to the planet we had been heading to for the last years and being able to finally go home and see my dad fill my mind as I quickly fall asleep.

-

The next few days go by in a blur, until I’m standing in the cockpit, struggling to pull on my gray space suit. Alexander sighs before helping me put it on, scolding me like a parent about taking this more serious. I roll my eyes, punching him in the arm before telling him that I’ll be okay.

He nods at me once before saying a goodbye as he walks towards the door to head to the main control center. I pause before running up and hugging him from behind, assuring him that I’ll be back before he knows it. He smiles at me, patting me on the head, before taking my helmet out of my arms and shoving it on my head. I whine as I have to adjust it and hear him laugh quietly to himself as he exits the room, door closing behind him. I roll my eyes as I make my way towards, and into, the shuttle prepared. I close the hatch and get comfortable, checking the ship over before booting up the power. 

The keypad lights up around me, glowing white as I flip through the proper equipment and procedures to ensure the ship operates properly, while waiting for further instructions from above.

As if on cue, I hear Alexander's voice through my helmet,

“Everything in check down there, pipsqueak?”

I roll my eyes for what feels like the millionth time as I sit back and strap into my chair, ready to finally get off this stupid main ship for once.

“All good down here, we ready to go, Tarzan?”

I ask back, making fun of his long hair, as he confirms and the ship starts up. I can feel the rumble of the engine as the ship is lowered into position and I take a deep breath, still talking to Alexander to make sure everything is ready.

We count back from ten at the hatch in front of my ship, leading into space begins to open.

Once we get to zero, I can see the large planet in front of me and the engines push me forward and out of the ship, plunging me into the dark vast of space. I lock my focus on the planet as I take control of the wheel and steer towards the area told to me by Alexander.

I can see the cloudy, storm like area around the planet, making sure to avoid the darker areas.

Once I seem to be going in the right direction, I set it into autopilot and relax my posture.

“Hey, once we get back home, wanna hang out? I know this greeeeat Mexican place near my house, you’d love it.”

I say out of the blue and here my college chuckle, “Yeah yeah, Of course. But you’re paying, pipsqueak.” He says through the comms and I let out a dramatic and offended gasp while laughing.

“What, I gotta pay you to hang out with me? I’m hurt Al, really. Here I was thinking we were friends, guess not.” I say through giggles, and I can hear Alexander laughing as well.

I can see the planet coming closer and move the steering accordingly for the best entry, making sure to soften the engines so I don’t enter the atmosphere too quickly and burn up the ship.

“Yeah well, You can’t just i##ite some##e o# #### e##p-”

I furrow my brows as he talks, unable to make out what he’s saying.

“Hey Al, you’re cutting out. Is everything okay up there?” I ask with clear worry in my voice.

Just then the power to my ship flashes off before coming back on and the engine buffers, causing me to jolt forward in my seat. I call out again to Alex, but only hear muffled static through the comms, worrying the crap out of me. I try tapping the side of my helmet to see if I can get it to come back on.

“Alexander, are you there? You’re freaking me out, what’s going on?”

I ask out again, as my ship continues towards the unknown planet. The ship shuts off and I lurch forward again before the ship comes back on, causing me to panic slightly. I check my vitals and the ship's hardware to check for malfunctions quickly, to see if I can find out what’s happening.

“RYAN? RYAN CAN YOU H##E ME?!”

I hear Alex yell through the comms, causing me to jump in my seat and respond immediately,

“Hey, yeah I can hear you now. What’s going on, my ships freaking out…”

I can hear his shaky voice, which causes my panic to rise.

“Look Ryan, you need to listen very carefully to me alright? Whatever's going on with the planet is messing with the tech on the ship and screwing up the comms. I don’t think it’s safe, you need to come back this instant so we can re-think and re-evaluate this, okay?”

“Y-Yeah, alright I’ll turn around now.”

I say quickly, quietly panicking as I reach to flip off the autopilot. I realize how close I am to the outer edge of the planet now, along with the storm, and reach to grab a hold of the steering wheel but the ship lurches forward again before I can grab it and the power shuts off for a final time, turning off the engines, along with any and all different functions of the ship.

I freeze, my breathing shallow, as I try to process what just happened. I reach slowly and yank at the steering wheel, trying to see if it would move the ship. No give. I try to turn on backup power. Nothing. But besides that, the new realization that dawns on me causes my heart to pick up and the hairs on the back of my neck to stand up…

The ship is still moving towards the planet.

I get over my initial shock and start trying to talk to Alex again,

“ALEX, I CAN’T CONTROL THE SHIP. I’M MOVING TOWARDS THE PLANET!”

I can hear shuffling of papers through the comms,

“Ryan, the gravitational pull of the planet is pulling the ship in, is there any way to get it to turn around?!”

I can hear his breathing, it’s steady but shallow, like he’s trying to stay calm, for my sake and his.

“No-NO, there’s no controls! I’VE LOST ALL POWER!”

The ship lurches forward as I near the dark gray clouds, the ship almost at the point where it could touch them.

“DID YOU TRY THE BACKUP POWER?!”

“OF COURSE I TRIED THE BACKUP POWER!”

I wait a few seconds and tears prick in my eyes when Alexander doesn’t say anything and I call out for him again, telling him not to stop talking.

“Alright, just calm down Ryan. Your ship is too far away to grab with the retractable arm, I don’t know how to get you back to the ship in time. I can’t even get the main ship close to you without risking it being pulled in too. Maybe we could try a##atc#i## the el#c#tical cab### ## #### ###-”

His audio cuts out completely.

“Nononono, Alex come on, YOU CAN’T DO THIS RIGHT NOW, PLEASE!”

The ship is pulled into the clouds as I lose sight of the home ship and any hope of getting home. The ship is shaken harshly and I’m thrown out of my seat and onto the ground, cracking my helmet on the wall of the shuttle, causing it to crack. I suddenly feel this floating sensation in my stomach, my body feeling as if it’s weightless, until I look back out the windshield. The ship is falling. Fast.

All I remember was the sound of the windshield shattering and the heat surrounding me before the shuttle had plummeted to the ground, hitting the rock below with the full force of whatever gravity this planet went by, as pain fills my body and I black out.

-

I feel cold. And warm…. And wet…..

What happened…..

My head hurts…. My chest hurts….

A sudden pressure is put on my chest causing me to let out a loud whimper and the pressure is immediately retracted. I let out a shaky sigh and try to move, causing pain to shoot through my body and I let out another pained whimper.

What happened….? Why does everything hurt…? What’s that weird noise, it sounds like a dolphin…. Or a bird…. Maybe a cat….

I can’t keep my thoughts straight, everything hurts. What do I remember-?

The crash, the ship malfunctioning, the unknown planet…. Shit-

Another pressure is put on my chest again a few seconds later, touching a rib that is most certainly broken and I let out a surprised and pained gasp, causing it to go away again.

I try opening my eyes, finding the simple task to be, well, less than simple. My eyes seem focused on staying shut, but I need to see what’s happening. Am I dead? No, I don’t think ghosts feel pain…. Do they? That would be kinda cool though. Space ghost.

I try opening my eyes again, being able to open them a crack as light floods my vision, causing my eyes to tear up and close again. Wait, light? Wasn’t this planet covered in a dark perma-storm? Where’s the light coming from?

I hear some rumbling from above me, kinda like the sound my cat Rosco back home makes when he’s worried about something, a mix between a purr and a growl. 

Could it be my ship's engine? Wait, if it’s still active, it could explode!

I use all my strength to push myself into a sideways sitting position, while forcing my eyes open once again. The light hurts them and I let out a groan as I feel the numbing pain throughout my body. Suddenly the light is covered and I’m surrounded by a nice shadow. My brains too jumbled to pay attention to it at the moment, but what I do realize is that a large portion of my helmet around my left eye has broken off. 

HOW THE FUCK AM I BREATHING?!

Does this planet really have breathable air? Does that mean there’s some type of plants that can produce the same kind of air on earth? And a sun? We didn’t see any type of sun on the reading when we scanned the planet...

I take in a deep breath to test it. It feels like normal air, and it’s keeping me alive, I can ask questions later, once I get my bearing and stand up. Maybe I can contact Alex. ALEXANDER! He must be so worried, and my dad? He’s going to lose his mind! I have to get to my ship, even if it’s destroyed I could see if I could use the parts to fix my comms and get in contact with the main ship or even the space station if I’m lucky.

I try to push myself up more, managing to move one leg up so I’m in a night's kneeling position. The pain is bad, and I let out another whimper. As I do I can feel a rush of air surround me, it’s warm. I can see the ground underneath me, seeming to be a kind of gray rock, mainly flat, meaning I did technically land where I was supposed to, although I can see that my knees don’t look great, both being skinned and bleeding, but it doesn’t feel too bad.

Another rush of air, closer to my head, followed by a low growl, causing me to turn my head upwards to see what’s causing it. My eyes widen and my breath catches in my throat, unable to breath, as I see four glowing blue eyes staring right back at me, like it’s looking right through my soul.

 Not only that but the eyes are huge…. And predatory, looking at me as if I was something it just caught…

I stumble backwards falling onto my butt, cushioned by the intact space suit still surrounding me. I finally let out a scared, shaky breath, realizing that I had been holding it moments ago. The creature's gaze doesn't falter, if anything it hardens, letting out a predatory grumble, as if a warning, though I’m not exactly sure what that warning is for, causing me to freeze in place, adrenaline coursing through my veins causing my hands to feel like ice.

The creature is large, covered in a black fur in most of its body, some parts having less of it. It stands tall- scratch that, it’s fucking huge, the size of a small apartment building. It’s ‘arms’ are long, bent in a way that a monkeys would, reminding me of a baboon. Four large spider-like eyes are still locked on me and I force myself to make no sudden movements, tears welling up in fear as I start hyperventilating, unable to focus as I direct my vision towards the ground, not wanting to make eye contact with it. If I had, I would have noticed it’s head turning in a confused manner, like a puppy would when hearing a strange noise, and the curious way it’s slowly making its way towards me, as if not trying to frighten me more than I already am.

Once I feel it getting closer I look back up to see it slowly moving towards me, and I slowly scoot back to counter it. Just then it moves to put a hand behind me causing the ground to shake lightly, stopping me from moving away again. I let out a pathetic whine, before realizing the creatures face was now meters from mine, not noticing earlier that it had moved it’s face down to get to my level. It gets even closer and my eyes widen in horror and fear, tears running freely down my face at this point, and I try to move as far back as I can without touching the creature's hand.

It stops its movements, and holds its position, around two meters from me. I hold eye contact, not wanting to look away and have it come closer again. It also holds the stare, before I see its gaze flicker upwards slightly, focusing on something else. My helmet?

It looks back into the one hole in my helmet, at me, before it’s gaze in back at the top of the helmet. 

All of a sudden I felt something touch the back of my helmet harshly, and I let out a surprised noise as I turned around to see the hand from earlier had moved so it could poke me with one of its long, bony fingers. I start moving away from it, while unconsciously moving closer to the monster that was in front of me.

I feel another wave of hot air hit me from behind, as if it’s the creature's subtle way of telling me it’s still there. I jump slightly, and turn around again to face it. It’s now on the ground for the most part, one arm wrapped behind me and one... in the air… Like the position a cat would make when playing with a feathery toy or a mouse it just caught.

And I’m pretty sure I am that mouse.

I see the hand from the air start coming towards me, and I use my arms to try and cover my face the best I can, letting out a choked sob and whimper as I brace for the impact, for the pain of the hand coming and crushing my body.

But it doesn't come.

I look back up to see two of it’s five fingers positioned on either side of my helmet, before they close and grab lightly onto my helmet. Then they start pulling up, as if to try and disconnect the helmet from the rest of my space suit. Wait-

“Wa-Nononono, Stop it! LET ME GO!”

I yell out, panic taking over my body again as I struggle against its grip. And the creature does stop for a second after hearing my outburst, before pulling upwards again, taking most of my body with it. I’m still touching the ground with my feet as I try and use my hands to hold my helmet in place, not wanting to be even more exposed and vulnerable than I already feel.

I don’t think it feels the same way.

Once the tips of my toes can barely touch the ground, the creature twists its fingers lightly, snapping the thick plastic part that connects my helmet and suit with ease, allowing me to finally fall to the ground with a hard thud, landing on my backside. The collision with the rock causes painful jolts to course through my body and I roll on my side, clutching my chest to try and relieve some of that pain.

The helmet is dropped somewhere near me, landing on the ground with a hard thud, the sound of the rest of the glass frame shattering. I whimper again as I feel the breath of the beast come closer to me as I try to curl in on myself, as if to make myself smaller, as I screw my eyes shut.

I want to go home….

My hair, now wet with sweat, covers most of my face, bits of blood near my temples where my head had most likely collided with the side of the ship during the crash as well as more tears covering my face as I let out another choked sob.

I open my eyes slightly, only to see one of the monsters fingers coming towards my head, most likely to crush it like a grape. I whimper again, trying to tuck my head into my body, to make myself feel a little less scared and helpless. It doesn’t work.

The creature's finger touches my hair lightly, and I wince at the feeling, its finger tip being about the same size, if not bigger than my head. It holds the gentle and light touch, barley even touching my head at all, before it starts to rub against my scalp lightly. I let out a surprised and shaky breath at the gentle touch, the monster acting as if I’m a piece of glass that could be broken and damaged easily. The quick realization dawns on me that….

It’s petting me.

Like I’m some kind of scared animal.

And it actually feels kinda nice. Rubbing in a small circular motion against my scalp, soothing any former pain that resided there, causing my face to soften its expression at the feeling. It moves its motion slightly towards my face, causing me to whimper quietly. It’s quick to move its finger away to rub the back of my head, as well as my neck in a soothing motion, as if to apologize. Then the vibrations start.

Low, like a cat's purr, which only adds on to the calmness feeling washing over me along with the drowsiness, which I find very concerning as I should be scared, terrified even. But it feels so good… I hadn't had any physical contact with anyone besides light shoves and teasing from Alex for the past few years, making this gentle and almost nurturing gesture feel like heaven.

The purring gets louder and I start to get more tired. The creature seems to take notice of me being more docile and starts getting more bold with its touches. Avoiding my chest, it goes and lightly moves my arms, while still petting me with its other hand. I feel a few pokes to the soft material around my legs before it starts petting my back as well. My eyes start to close even though I’m trying to keep them open. I’m just so tired….

The creature seems to sense my tiredness and I can feel his hand cup my entire back before his other hand stops petting me, as well as the vibrations ceasing, causing me to let out a childish whine, missing the feeling.

It seems to notice my distress and quickly scoops me up in its hand, lifting my whole body carefully into the air. I let out a panicked noise again, struggling against his hand, not expecting to be lifted 100 feet into the air in a matter of seconds.

The creature is quick to pull me into its chest, causing me to pull up against its surprisingly soft, black fur, and the vibrations in its chest start up again almost instantly. I hate to admit it, but the action calms me down immediately, and I subconsciously snuggle against the fur, too tired and hurt to really care about anything besides my own comfort, my old tears dried against its body as it stands there for a few minutes as I continue to doze off before it starts moving, jumbling me slightly, making me clutch onto the giants fur for stability.

It scares me at first, but the purring increases immediately, calming me down quite easily. I notice that we’re heading in the direction of a large, dark gray mountain, surrounded by even larger plant type things in different shades of dark green and blues. I glance at the ground and see the creature is walking slowly on three of it’s four hands, the fourth one holding me. I also notice the tail following up from behind that I didn’t see until now, shaped like a monkeys.

On the ground I can see bits of metal from…. My ship!

I squirm, breaking out of my calm and tired mindset to try and find a way to get to the ground remembering that I need to contact Alex, but the second I try to get out of the hand, its fingers cup tighter around me, caging me against the soft wall and the vibrations become more insistent. They’re not so tight that I can’t move, but they’re very clearly meant to keep me in the creature's hold, as if insisting that I stay put.

I of course don’t listen and continue to try to struggle, earning me a loud growl possessive from above as they stop moving all together. The fingers cup tighter around me, and I stop moving all together, shaking slightly in fear, tears welling up in my eyes again.

I’m held for a few more seconds of not moving…

Then the purring starts again, it’s ‘thumb’ comes up and rubs the top of my head lightly, like re assurance, before being removed and it starts walking again. I try to control my breathing again, now realizing that I’m not getting out of here.

When we get near the mountain, the air surrounding it turns cold causing me to shiver into the vibrating surface. The creature's body quickly heats up to help keep me warm, along with the fur, allows me to lose focus of everything else as my vision fades to black, cuddling up against the warm monster that just technically kidnapped me.

Once I’m out, the creature takes my unconscious body into its home, a cave in the side of the mountain, and rests me against a clear, soft gel like substance to allow me to sleep, as it removes my ripped space suit carefully, making sure not to disturb my sleep. It leaves my clothes on as it takes some sort of blue substance and applies it generously on my wounds and injuries while I sleep, making sure to stay close to keep me warm, before laying next to me like a large cat would, using its hand as a large blanket to make sure I’m warm during the night and so I don’t run away if I wake up before it.

It gives me one last nuzzle against the top of my head, scenting me slightly before purring and falling asleep, holding the tiny baby it found while looking for food, now glad it had gone in the wrong direction, as this cub would have never survived on its own.

They will never let the tiny, scared baby go, not after its mother had clearly abandoned it to die, terrified and injured.

It’s now their baby and they will take care of it.

Forever.

[jeanjauthor]

I was reading about mediveal horses in fantasy and how they’re unrealistic. And usually the horses were avarge. But isn’t a shire horse origin in 1066-Ish? Could that be used in a mediveal fantasy?

It could be, but you might want to do some research to know what those shire horses were actually used for, and what they weren’t.  Horses were not owned by everyone, and were not put to the plow for a long time.  Why not?  Because horses were more expensive than oxen.

An ox is nothing more than a castrated bull that’s been trained to pull a plow, a wagon, etc, and if you have cows for milk and dairy and beef, you’d want to keep most of the females, but not keep most of the males--not as bulls, because your cattle would be goring each other.  So any male cattle born would be assessed for qualities, and either kept for stud (only 1-2 on a farm, IF you have the room to keep a bull separate from the cows), slaughtered for beef, or castrated and trained to be a work animal.

Cows will drop a fairly equal ratio of the genders, but female cattle produce milk, making them valuable to keep around and keep fed.  Horses...well, Mongols might milk mares, but that really wasn’t an European thing, which is what a lot of fantasy (talking about the stuff written in English, here) is based upon.  And mares don’t produce nearly as much milk as cows do.  So economically, it makes more sense to keep cattle around and put them to work in the earlier medieval periods.

Shire horses are huge because they are meant for pulling plows and wagons (their solid hooves don’t break up the rows and the soil nearly as much as the split hooves of cattle).  They’re not usually trained to carry armored warriors into battle, etc.  Medievally, there were horses trained for specific tasks, like the smooth-gaited riding palfrey.  It was not a specific breed of horse, instead being picked for its temperament and trained in its movements.  While certain knights did have big destriers to ride...the majority of mounted warriors actually rode smaller horses, like rounceys and coursers.

And of course, the mule is often overlooked.  This hybrid between a donkey and a mare was the “workhorse” of medieval life, if it wasn’t oxen.  They could carry a lot more weight, were more intelligent, and ate less (or at least didn’t have to eat as much quality food in winter), making them inexpensive to keep.  There might have been mules trained for warfare, for scouting, and certainly for “blending in” when spying on a neighboring region.  Just go in as a trader or traveler with your packs on your mule, and people won’t think twice.

Additionally, you might want to research when stirrups were invented and used--Roman cavalry did not have stirrups, because while they were invented in BCE Asia, they didn’t reach Europe until some time after the collapse of the Roman Empire.

...As you can see, using a shire horse for something in your story in a way that your equestrian-knowledgeable readers won’t go “...wtf??” over can require a bit of educational effort.  Presuming this is a fantasy set in a created world and not an historical real-world setting, you can get away with many things...but if there’s one thing to take away from all of this, understand that shire horses are BIG, and will need to EAT.  Lotta pounds on that thar horse!

And they’re not a bicycle.  Your character cannot just get off their steed and go inside a house for the night.  That horse must be given water, and a rubdown, the saddle needs to be removed to prevent galling and sores and scarring from those saddle sores, they need to have adequate food of the right quality--shire horses are big, so they need a lot of calories, but you cannot give a horse nothing but grain, however high-calorie that feed may be.  They need fiber from grasses and hay--they do not eat straw, which is calorically and nutritionally deficient!--they may even need tree browse (yes, horses and cattle will eat leaves, not just grasses), and sometimes you’ll want to feed them fruit, but not always.

Also, sugar cubes are very much an Industrial Revolution thing, because the cubes are made via complex machinery.  Sugar lumps are what you’d serve medievally...but you’d probably not give pure sugar to a horse, because sugar is expensive in a medieval setting.  Honey drizzled over dried fruit slices would be a more likely treat, and you’d certainly feed your horse (or donkey, mule, etc) the core from your apple or your pear.

Additionally, horses are herd animals.  They need companions around them or they become distressed from anxiety and nervousness, not having other sets of eyes and ears to help watch out for danger.  This doesn’t have to be another horse...though it should be, on a farm.  There are companion animals that are goats and mules and donkeys, and I’ve even heard of dogs and cats--yes, housecats, or more properly, barncats--being companion animals to horses.

Consider your characters’ socio-economic backgrounds before assigning them a shire horse, make sure they treat that horse as a living being in need of care and not like a bicycle that can be easily set aside and forgotten about, and decide if what you need is a really big horse (because sometimes you do!) or if something smaller or faster or whatever might serve your story better.

And lastly, horses cannot gallop for more than a few minutes.  Galloping is sprinting.  Not even Usain Bolt can sprint for more than a few minutes!  Cantering is also not something that can be maintained 24/7, or even for an entire hour.  Horses need to be ridden at the walk, the amble, and/or the trot as much or more often as at the canter, especially when burdened with armor, gear, rider, etc.

Humans can out-distance horses over the long run.

We are pursuit predators.  While horses and dogs can outrun us in a sprint, we can literally walk other animals to death.  Wolves can almost keep up with a reasonably fit human who is used to walking everywhere (which is your basic medieval traveler)...but even though wolves are pros at long-distance travel, they still have to stop and rest more frequently, and horses far more frequently still.  Horses give us the advantage of short bursts of higher speed, and the ability to carry or (even better yet) pull far more weight in supplies, etc, than we can haul ourselves...but they cannot run forever.

If your human has enough of a head start that can negate the sprinting capacity of a horse, and if there is enough underbrush to just barely admit a human to pass through it, but not a horse, a human on foot can escape from mounted people pursuing them.

...All of this is just scratching the surface of writing realistic horses in fantasy, and I am not an expert by any means.  (I have, however, listened to many, and done my own research.)  So...go chat with equestrians, ask them questions, look up resources online, and ask yourself some questions. 

How would this character have/afford a shire horse?  How would they train this horse?  What uses would they have for this horse? How do they take care of the horse?  What equipment do they carry for taking care of the horse, riding, etc?  What companion animals does the horse get to have? What are their plans for recovering the horse if it spooks and runs off?  How much does the horse consider the character a friend and/or herd-member?

Yes, you could ignore all these questions and just have the horse around when it’s convenient and vanish it when it’s inconvenient...but unless it’s like an enchanted bridle or a brooch, a ring, a summoning statuette, whatever, imbued with the spirit of a faithful steed (fantasy writing is great for this stuff)...you’re going to need to thing about these sorts of things if you want to have your horses in your fantasy setting be realistic enough that the equestrian community won’t *facepalm heavysigh* any time they read a scene in your story with an equine.

The “enchanted bridle” thing is how I pretend my characters in World of Warcraft don’t have to worry about actually housing, feeding, etc, their steeds, and it’s how they can ride or fly all day without tiring because it’s not a living being, it’s an enchantment full of magic.  BUT, if you’re going to go this route because it’s easier...you’ll still need to consider, how did your character acquire this enchanted object?  How could they afford it? Did they make it themselves? Or did they find it, or steal it?  How is it powered?  Does it have a limit to how much it can be used in a day, or summoned and dismissed and resummoned?  Does it require a set period of waiting time between being dismissed and being resummoned? 

Is there a chance of this enchanted item breaking?  Remember, it doesn’t have to break at the worst moment in the story; it could break earlier, when they have time to fix or replace it...but do they have the resources to fix or replace it?  Not just in terms of buying or craft, but, are enchanted bridles or horse statuettes common in that region?  For that matter, if they’re not common, is it going to cause confusion to people when they go around or into a building for a few moments, only to come back to see absolutely zero horse anywhere, because while they were gone you dismounted and dismissed the enchantment?

...Okay, okay, I’ve gone on long enough!  You can see how this one topic can quickly get out of hand.  And again, I am not an expert on equestrians in stories.  But if you do a bit of research and keep some realism in mind...you can write realistic scenes involving horses, shire style or otherwise.

[aboveallarescuer]

Daenerys Targaryen's tropes - Powerful and Helpless

A hero or villain can have superpowers, fighting skills, knowledge, wealth, power, technology, political and social connections, all of which help them to achieve their goals. But sometimes a situation arises where their power is rendered useless. No, they haven't wandered into the range of a Power Nullifier or been Brought Down to Normal. They don't have Useless Superpowers that regularly fail to work properly. They'll still punch as hard as they normally can, or use their genius intellect to try to think their way out of the problem, or they'll call on all their connections and resources and favors owed, but none of those things matter here.

*

“I have the dragons,” she pointed out.

“Hatchlings,” Ser Jorah said. “One swipe from an arakh would put an end to them, though Pono is more like to seize them for himself. Your dragon eggs were more precious than rubies. A living dragon is beyond price. In all the world, there are only three. Every man who sees them will want them, my queen.”

“They are mine,” she said fiercely. They had been born from her faith and her need, given life by the deaths of her husband and unborn son and the maegi Mirri Maz Duur. Dany had walked into the flames as they came forth, and they had drunk milk from her swollen breasts. “No man will take them from me while I live.” (ACOK Daenerys I)

~

The Pureborn heard her pleas from the great wooden seats of their ancestors, rising in curved tiers from a marble floor to a high-domed ceiling painted with scenes of Qarth’s vanished glory. The chairs were immense, fantastically carved, bright with goldwork and studded with amber, onyx, lapis, and jade, each one different from all the others, and each striving to be the most fabulous. Yet the men who sat in them seemed so listless and world-weary that they might have been asleep. They listened, but they did not hear, or care, she thought. They are Milk Men indeed. They never meant to help me. They came because they were curious. They came because they were bored, and the dragon on my shoulder interested them more than I did. (ACOK Daenerys III)

~

“I will not throw away Unsullied lives, Grey Worm. Perhaps we can starve the city out.”

Ser Jorah looked unhappy. “We’ll starve long before they do, Your Grace. There’s no 
food here, nor fodder for our mules and horses. I do not like this river water either. Meereen shits into the Skahazadhan but draws its drinking water from deep wells. Already we’ve had reports of sickness in the camps, fever and brownleg and three cases of the bloody flux. There will be more if we remain. The slaves are weak from the march.” (ASOS Daenerys V)

~

“The city bleeds. Dead men rot unburied in the streets, each pyramid is an armed camp, and the markets have neither food nor slaves for sale. And the poor children! King Cleaver’s thugs have seized every highborn boy in Astapor to make new Unsullied for the trade, though it will be years before they are trained.”

The thing that surprised Dany most was how unsurprised she was. She found herself remembering Eroeh, the Lhazarene girl she had once tried to protect, and what had happened to her. It will be the same in Meereen once I march, she thought. The slaves from the fighting pits, bred and trained to slaughter, were already proving themselves unruly and quarrelsome. They seemed to think they owned the city now, and every man and woman in it. Two of them had been among the eight she’d hanged. There is no more I can do, she told herself. (ASOS Daenerys VI)

~

“But how can I rule seven kingdoms if I cannot rule a single city?” He had no answer to that. Dany turned away from them, to gaze out over the city once again. “My children need time to heal and learn. My dragons need time to grow and test their wings. And I need the same. I will not let this city go the way of Astapor. I will not let the harpy of Yunkai chain up those I’ve freed all over again.” She turned back to look at their faces. “I will not march.”

“What will you do then, Khaleesi?” asked Rakharo.

“Stay,” she said. “Rule. And be a queen.” (ASOS Daenerys VI)

~

When Missandei was sound asleep, Dany slipped from her arms and stepped out into the predawn air to lean upon the cool brick parapet and gaze out across the city. A thousand roofs stretched out below her, painted in shades of ivory and silver by the moon.

Somewhere beneath those roofs, the Sons of the Harpy were gathered, plotting ways to kill her and all those who loved her and put her children back in chains. Somewhere down there a hungry child was crying for milk. Somewhere an old woman lay dying. Somewhere a man and a maid embraced, and fumbled at each other’s clothes with eager hands. But up here there was only the sheen of moonlight on pyramids and pits, with no hint what lay beneath. Up here there was only her, alone.

She was the blood of the dragon. She could kill the Sons of the Harpy, and the sons of the sons, and the sons of the sons of the sons. But a dragon could not feed a hungry child nor help a dying woman’s pain. And who would ever dare to love a dragon? (ADWD Daenerys II)

~

“Is it true that dragons never stop growing?”

“If they have food enough, and space to grow. Chained up in here, though …”

The Great Masters had used the pit as a prison. It was large enough to hold five hundred men … and more than ample for two dragons. For how long, though? What will happen when they grow too large for the pit? Will they turn on one another with flame and claw? Will they grow wan and weak, with withered flanks and shrunken wings? Will their fires go out before the end?

What sort of mother lets her children rot in darkness? (ADWD Daenerys II)

~

“It is good that you have come,” she told the Astapori. “You will be safe in Meereen.”

The cobbler thanked her for that, and the old brickmaker kissed her foot, but the weaver looked at her with eyes as hard as slate. She knows I lie, the queen thought. She knows I cannot keep them safe. Astapor is burning, and Meereen is next. (ADWD Daenerys V)

~

I have no more help to give, Dany thought, despairing. The Astapori had no place to go. Thousands remained outside Meereen’s thick walls—men and women and children, old men and little girls and newborn babes. Many were sick, most were starved, and all were doomed to die. Daenerys dare not open her gates to let them in. She had tried to do what she could for them. She had sent them healers, Blue Graces and spell-singers and barbersurgeons, but some of those had sickened as well, and none of their arts had slowed the galloping progression of the flux that had come on the pale mare. Separating the healthy from the sick had proved impractical as well. Her Stalwart Shields had tried, pulling husbands away from wives and children from their mothers, even as the Astapori wept and kicked and pelted them with stones. A few days later, the sick were dead and the healthy ones were sick. Dividing the one from the other had accomplished nothing.

Even feeding them had grown difficult. Every day she sent them what she could, but every day there were more of them and less food to give them. It was growing harder to find drivers willing to deliver the food as well. Too many of the men they had sent into the camp had been stricken by the flux themselves. Others had been attacked on the way back to the city. Yesterday a wagon had been overturned and two of her soldiers killed, so today the queen had determined that she would bring the food herself. Every one of her advisors had argued fervently against it, from Reznak and the Shavepate to Ser Barristan, but Daenerys would not be moved. “I will not turn away from them,” she said stubbornly. “A queen must know the sufferings of her people.” (ADWD Daenerys VI)

~

Bless me, Dany thought bitterly. Your city is gone to ash and bone, your people are dying all around you. I have no shelter for you, no medicine, no hope. Only stale bread and wormy meat, hard cheese, a little milk. Bless me, bless me.

What kind of mother has no milk to feed her children? (ADWD Daenerys VI)

~

This is peace, she told herself. This is what I wanted, what I worked for, this is why I married Hizdahr. So why does it taste so much like defeat?

“It is only for a little while more, my love,” Hizdahr had assured her. “The Yunkai’i will soon be gone, and their allies and hirelings with them. We shall have all we desired. Peace, food, trade. Our port is open once again, and ships are being permitted to come and go.”

“They are permitting that, yes,” she had replied, “but their warships remain. They can close their fingers around our throat again whenever they wish. They have opened a slave market within sight of my walls!” (ADWD Daenerys VIII)

~

The Brazen Beasts did as they were bid. Dany watched them at their work. “Those bearers were slaves before I came. I made them free. Yet that palanquin is no lighter.”

“True,” said Hizdahr, “but those men are paid to bear its weight now. Before you came, that man who fell would have an overseer standing over him, stripping the skin off his back with a whip. Instead he is being given aid.”

It was true. A Brazen Beast in a boar mask had offered the litter bearer a skin of water. “I suppose I must be thankful for small victories,” the queen said.

“One step, then the next, and soon we shall be running. Together we shall make a new Meereen.” The street ahead had finally cleared. “Shall we continue on?”

What could she do but nod? One step, then the next, but where is it I’m going? (ADWD Daenerys IX)

[shipwreckedshadows]

The Shadow Prime thing.

[after his failure to keep Catra and Glimmer contained, Horde Prime captures another prisoner in the hopes that she might have some value to him]

Shadow Weaver tested the bounds of her magic as she waited to be retrieved from her cell. The shadows responded to her call, as they always had, but they did so without motivation. They would not be effective in a fight. She tried to search for any hint of darkness on the ship and found that she could sense a large mass of it at the center of the space craft. It pulsed with irrational need and the sins of a prideful man. Her cell was three levels up from the source but she could not recall following any stairs to get there. Perhaps the floor was uneven and progressed at a slight angle, like a giant, spiraling ramp.  Or perhaps there were teleportation pads between floors and she just hadn’t seen one yet.

She inspected the room silently. The bed was docked on either side by two side tables. The one on the right held nothing. The one on the left contained a book. Horde Prime’s insignia had been pressed into the cover. Inside were writings of cultist rhetoric. After thumbing through the pages, she put it back. She never cared for anyone’s rules and she was not about to start.

She lay on the bed and did not move for hours. If there were cameras in her cell, the only thing Prime would observe of his prisoner would be her infinite reservoir of self control. 

After several hours, the cell door slipped open and two clones stepped up to collect her. She did not move, even as they spoke.

“The Lord requests your presence, madam Weaver.” One said politely.

“If he wishes to see me, he can come up here and ask me himself.” Shadow Weaver answered to the ceiling.

“Is something troubling you, my lady of darkness?“ The clone asked after a moment of silence. His intonation had changed. He sounded authoritative and entitled. He held the voice of a king who had seldom lost to anyone. That power she felt from the center of the ship, pulsed now at the foot of her door. The magic of Obtainment swirled within her and she smiled.

“Lovely to see you, Horde Prime. I keep hearing about you.”

“Naturally. Why don’t you allow my clones to escort you and we can introduce ourselves properly?”

Shadow Weaver finally sat up to look at him, “I don’t make for very pleasant company.”

“I would not be asking if I didn’t wish it. You will come to see me if you value your freedom.”

The clone blinked and he returned back to himself - a lost man on the path to purity. Horde Prime’s signature had left and returned to where it came from. She slid off the bed and allowed the clones to lead her to their master.

She frowned when she realized they had moved a floor down. Prime’s signature indicated as much. But the floor didn’t descend at a gradient and she had no memory of a teleportation pad. She kept her mind sharp and leaned more focus into her environment and her actions. They kept walking. The corridors wound around each other like tree branches. Everything looked exactly the same. She wondered how the clones were able to transverse such confusing architecture.

It was too late when she noticed that they had dropped down another floor. She decided to puzzle over it later and calmed herself so she could properly greet and assess Etheria’s new overlord.

They came into a grand room, guarded by more clones. Prime lounged in his throne and managed to look both pleased and menacing. He sat taller than most of the objects in the room. His aura filled the grand room, from the floor to the top of the twenty foot ceiling. Shadow Weaver quelled the Obtainment magic. They would have to feed later. He stood to greet her, arms open wide.

“Welcome, my lady of darkness. It is so lovely to have you here.”

“Nobody has ever said that to my face without later redacting their sentiments.” Shadow Weaver commented offhandedly, “Please spare me the theatrics. I’m only here because you seem have business with me. What do you want?”

Prime scowled, “I can see how, as one of the most powerful magical entities on Etheria, you might feel entitled to direct the conversation. But you are standing in the hall of my light. There are no shadows here, no darkness that will bend to your magic. I will negotiate my terms with you when I feel it is necessary.”

“You sound just like Hordak.”

“Well, of course. I made him in my image. I might have to do the same to you, if you keep with your current attitude.”

“You can hardly blame me. I’m imprisoned here, on this ship, away from my home.”

“Home?” He laughed as he circled her, “You have no home. I know all about your history - your lovely Hordak showed me everything. You’ve been a traitor your whole life. What’s one more defection before everything Etheria once was is lost?” His large frame towered over hers in an effort to intimidate her. She kept her posture relaxed and met his gaze with indifference.

“You wish for me to join you?” She asked skeptically.

“There will be terms, of course, but in a simple word, yes.”

“And will we discuss these terms? Or do I have to endure another round of your plastic pleasantries?”

“We’ll save that conversation for dinner. For now, I want to give us a chance to get to know each other. Come, I wish to show you something.”

She had no choice but to follow him from the throne room, down the twisting halls and into another set of chambers. Otherworldly artifacts decorated the room. Paintings and weapons of distant civilizations mounted the walls, books and odd trinkets sat on shelves and several rugs covered the floor.

“This is my trove of rare and valuable artifacts. It’s a collection curated from all over the galaxy.” He said proudly.

Shadow Weaver couldn’t help but wonder at it all. Other creatures had created, sold, bought, possessed and held these items in their hands. So much history was stored in this room. She noticed an empty pedestal by the large window. 

“It’s... impressive.” She noted without colour in her voice, “Why feel the need to show me? Are you not worried that I may break something?”

“A little.” His fourth eye shifted to the pedestal at the window, “But I feel it is my responsibility to show you the rich history of the worlds I’ve seen”

“And yet you eradicated each and every one of them.”

“Because their people refused to see that they had deteriorated from greatness. They denied my light and without much else to do to persuade them, they had to be purged. It was for the sake of their own good.” His teeth clenched to hold back a wave of anger and disappointment. He saw himself as a protector of the universe. The worlds he destroyed was out of his sense of responsibility to the galaxies - a responsibility to chase away the darkness. Perhaps that was his mission at one point. There were ulterior motives to his mission - motives to rule the galaxy and control everything, from the atomic cycles to the construction of civilizations.

“I kept their possessions to preserve their history, to keep their memories alive.”

“What do you wish to collect from Etheria - so you can commemorate its people... my people?” She asked.

“Originally, I wanted Queen Angella’s wings. She was such a beacon in the fight against my little brother. He had nightmares about her for several months following a bad encounter with her. And she was immortal - that is most definitely a rarity in this universe. You can imagine my disappointment when I found out that she was no longer part of this world.”

Shadow Weaver imagined Prime taking a large scalpel to the angel’s wings, pushing the blade through feathers, flesh and bone. Quickly, she pushed the thought from her mind. “She’s only stuck between worlds, why not build another portal and retrieve her?”

“My lady, do you know how resource intensive portal building is? Besides, I found something better.”

Shadow Weaver waited wordlessly for him to tell her, head tilted to the side and hands clasped in front of her. She had a feeling she knew what he might say.

“The Heart of Etheria. A weapon of magic, preserved inside your planet. I’ll condense it down to the size of a watermelon and put it right at the helm of my collection.” He indicated the pedestal, “I used to have something else to occupy that space. However, it has most unfortunately been disposed of.”

“What do you mean?” Why would Prime do away with one of his precious trophies?

“You ask so many questions, my lady.” he chuckled, “Let me have a turn.” He tapped his chin in mock thought, “Why do you insist on hiding your pretty face from me?”

She scoffed, “Pretty.”

“Horde Prime knows all.” He walked into her personal space and drew a curious finger along the cheek of her mask. “It’s quite hard to speak to you when this thing is in the way.

Shadow Weaver looked up into his face and made no move to stop him.

“You’re so still. Does it not bother you that I might rip your protection away?”

“There are worse things, Horde Prime.”

“Fascinating.” he whispered, “stronger hearts have quivered at the very mention of my name yet yours...” he slipped his fingers under the neck of her gown and shoved them against her jugular, “doesn’t so much as even move!”

“My heart has not moved for over thirty years. I doubt it will start now.”

He kept his hand resting against her neck and removed her mask with his other. She enjoyed the stunned look on his face as he looked into hers. His features remained smooth but she saw the way his extra eyes widened for a fraction of a second.

Prime hardly had his pupils attended to the one single thing, she’d found. Now, she watched them move in unison, across the valleys of scars the burrowed into her aged skin.

She took the mask from him and with her free hand, guided his to the side of her face.

“You are a man of exploration and observation, it seems. It is how you communicate” she said, “You see what is broken and your reflexes tell you to fix it.”

“Are you asking me to heal your scars?”

“Hardly. But healing is your first language. Your tongue speaks through carpentry just as your hands work to build. Observe me, Horde Prime. Communicate with me and perhaps you might land yourself a very good deal.”

He chuckled low in his chest and grinned wide, “How fortunate am I that you can translate so thoroughly.” He traced ever scar on her face until his fingers wove themselves into her thick hair.

“You’re so cold.” He murmured.

“Does it bother you?” She challenged.

“Not at all. It serves to make you more noteworthy.”

He moved his other hand up her neck and followed a trail of gnarled tissue to press the pad of his thumb to her lips. She stowed the mask in her pocket so she could hold his hips properly. Soothingly, she ran one hand up to the center of his back.

“You are sorely mistaken if you think I’m going to put your finger, unwashed and without my knowing where it’s been, in my mouth.” She glared lightly.

He laughed from the deepest bowels of his core. A very good deal, indeed.

[efrmellifer]

Anniversaire, Another

When the sun rose on the 15th day of Llymlaen's moon, it was on a very different life than it had the year before. Betula and Landric lay in their cradles, their day not yet started, no responsibilities before them yet other than being another joy in their parents' life. Etien was just beginning to stir, uncurling from how she lay on the mattress and starting to rise from it to take on the day. Aymeric began his special day by staying asleep even as dawn came.

Etien ran the backs of her fingers over his cheek as she passed him on her way to check on the twins—still asleep. Praise be. She laid a hand on Landric’s stomach as she passed him too, just feeling the rise and fall of his breath.

And then she padded to the kitchen.

She could still only be thankful that the house’s staff mostly let her do as she pleased, to use the resources of the kitchen for her own projects without interfering. That was, after all, how she had managed to yet again whip together some of her mother’s pan au chocolat. She slid the trays of the pastry waiting to be into the oven, set the time for them, and then left the kitchen to tend to Betula and Landric.

Since the both of them were still asleep, she tended to Landric first, who woke as he was lifted from the soft warmth of his mattress, feeling the kiss of cool air before being fully and properly held by Etien.

She paced the hall, listening for both the timer and for Betula as she nursed Landric, waiting for either to signal what she would need to do.

She ended up taking the pan au chocolat from the oven with Landric in the sling around her.

While they cooled, she headed back to the bedroom and fully planned to place Landric into the safely enclosed bit of the bedroom floor while she took care of Betula, but that was not to be.

Betula was calm, but she was awake, cooing up to Aymeric, who was leaning on the side of the cradle to talk to her.

“Good morning, young lady,” he murmured. “I assume your mother has your brother, then?”

Betula gurgled.

“I see. No, I do not expect you to have all the answers, little one.”

“You’re up, huh?” Etien asked, getting Landric settled on her hip.

Now he looked up. “There she is, and your brother, too. I imagine you must be as happy to see them as I am,” he said to Betula, though he wasn’t looking at her. “Only just,” he replied to Etien finally, “good morning.”

“That’s a shame,” she sighed, “I had this whole plan about waking you up the same way you wake me up.”

“And that would have been very sweet,” he said. Then he patted the bed, starting to sit up. Etien sat down, settling Landric in her lap.

“Oh, well. I make plans, and the Twelve laugh. Nothing stopping me from proceeding regardless.” She leaned in and kissed his cheek, then his lips. “Happy nameday, Aymeric.”

“Why, thank you.” he took Landric from her lap. “I hadn’t meant to disrupt your—” He sniffed the air. “Is that butter?”

“I made my mother’s pan au chocolat,” she replied, standing now that she wasn’t holding a baby, and started for the door. “Stay put, and I’ll bring you one.”

She returned with a plate, handing it over to him with a smile and finally lifting Betula from the cradle, expressing her apologies as she got her settled for a changing.

“I know, Betula. If your da had still been asleep, I was going to have you all comfortable and fed, then I would have woken him up. But he does reliably rise with the sun. I should have known.”

Aymeric scoffed his way into a laugh, watching as Etien got to feeding Betula.

“How are they?”

“Good,” he answered. “Even better than last time. Though I admit, it is just a touch difficult to eat while holding a baby.”

“You’re telling me,” she said, though there was little to the statement. She simply knew. “One moment, and Betula will be asleep again. I’ll get Landric settled again, too, and then you can finish that and get ready for the day.”

“How long do I have?”

“Three-quarters of a bell,” she said, glancing to the chronometer on the mantle. “But all you have to do is eat what’s already prepared and get dressed. You have plenty of time.”

He nodded, bouncing Landric on his knee. “Just like a knight on his steed,” he remarked, watching Landric’s eyes widen, his smile following.

Now Aymeric turned to Etien. “You weren’t kidding about the teeth.”

She crossed the room and gently laid Betula down, then wiped Landric’s mouth with her nightgown’s sleeve. “No, they certainly are coming in. Betula’s are, too, but she isn’t drooling.” She took him from Aymeric’s arm, and began to sway from foot to foot, slowly spinning as if she were teaching him to waltz.

Aymeric watched her feet as he was getting himself into his clothing, and noticed the simplified boxstep she had fallen into. Aww.

He finished the pastry, too, asking for a second to enjoy with his tea when he got into his office, and was allowed one immediately.

“You can choose among them; they’re in the kitchen still,” Etien told him, laying Landric down now. “And while I doubt Lucia will work you too hard, today of all days, remember to take it easy. I have some plans for us for when you get home. All right?”

He nodded, but added, “But what could I possibly want besides this, such a perfect start to my day?”

“Well, hopefully, you’ll like it,” she said, already following him down the hall and almost out the door, until the bite of the winds sweeping across the Pillars hit her. “I’ll see you later. I love you.”

And off he went.

_

Aymeric came home to find they had guests—not enough for it to be a party, but more people than he had expected to be there when he came in.

“Estinien, this is a welcome…” well, it wasn’t a surprise, was it?“...development. But Lord Edmont, to what do I owe the pleasure?”

“I have been employed for the evening to do what I am always eager to do—play grandpere.”

“Oh yes?”

“Yes,” Etien answered, finally coming to the foyer. Aymeric couldn’t stop himself from scanning her from head to toe when he finally caught proper sight of her, when she’d come to a stop. She was dressed very nicely, considering he had last seen her in her nightgown, its sleeve smeared with their son’s saliva. He thought he recognized the dress, then it hit him all at once: she had worn that dress the night she had joined him for dinner, when they’d gotten to share that promised drink so long ago. She looked just as good now as she had then, though it had been a white dress the first time he had seen her in it.

“I can guess why you’re attired so,” he said to her, still giving her appreciative twice and thrice-overs. “But if Estinien is here, then why…” he didn’t know quite how to finish the question in a way that wouldn’t offend his father-in-law. He was always welcome at the house, the same as he always welcomed Etien into the Fortemps home, but there was a still a bit of confusion lingering in the corners of Aymeric’s mind. He could guess he was about to be invited on a date, but—oh. Oh, of course.

Edmont was here to watch the twins because Estinien was coming with. Naturally.

“Oh,” he mumbled finally. “Right. Silly of me.”

Estinien laughed. “Are you sure we should be going out? You may be too tired.”

Aymeric gave him a sheepish smile. “It has been a long day; nothing would please me more than an evening out with you both.”

He stepped past the three of them, heading toward the bedroom so that he could change into something a bit more suitable for the occasion. When he came back, he gave everyone a nod, and they all said their goodbyes to Edmont, Betula, and Landric.

“I expect we’ll be back before it gets too late,” she told him as she adjusted the sleepers that they were dressed in. “You may not even need to get them to sleep.”

“Go, go, do not worry about it. I managed to help raising my own children, I doubt my grandchildren will raise much more of a challenge. Enjoy the night.”

And so the trio stepped out into the chill evening.

They picnicked in the Firmament, choosing a spot near Hoarfrost Hall, so they could see it all spread out before them as they ate.

“It is a lovely sight, if you want to get sentimental,” Estinien noted. “Loving a city so much you manage to rebuild it, and creating something this nice.”

“I only wish I could have done more,” Aymeric noted, trying to swallow so he could elaborate. But before he did, Etien chimed in.

“Me too.”

“You spent an unbelievable amount of time gathering supplies in the Diadem,” Aymeric reminded her.

“I suppose so.” Her ears dipped.

“Besides, being practically chained to your desk and expecting are conditions that prevented that. You had excuses.”

Aymeric and Etien both shrugged.

“By the Fury, you would think the two of you married your jobs instead of each other,” Estinien snorted.

After a beat, and her ears returning to their normal angle, Etien replied, “Well, with the circumstances of our entering those jobs, it was an arranged marriage, if anything.” She scooted closer to Aymeric, nuzzling him. “This is for love.” She reached across Aymeric a moment later to take Estinien’s hand. “This is, too.”

“This is about Aymeric,” Estinien said, squeezing her hand before he let go. “And speaking of which, I think we made it through Etien’s plans for the evening. Shall we get started on mine before night falls much harder upon us?”

“What did you have in mind?” Aymeric asked. “I hadn’t known we had so many things to do.”

“You will not be,” Estinien commented, starting to rise. He offered a hand to Aymeric to help him up, and Etien stood up, starting to clean up after the picnic.

Aymeric turned to help her, but she waved him onward. “Go with Estinien,” she told him. “I’ll catch up.”

Looking a little sad, he did as she said, the two of them walking toward Snowsoak Springs.

They entered the pools, sitting in the water that still billowed steam, side by side. For a time, they were silent, just enjoying the warm water and each other’s company until they heard familiar footfalls approaching.

Estinien turned around first, and then Aymeric followed. Etien sank into the water on the other side of Aymeric, sighing. “That’s more like it.”

“What did you do with the basket?” they both asked her, even as Estinien moved to set his plans into motion.

“Called in a favor from Ehll Tou,” Etien replied simply. “I told her she and the dragonets could split some of the contents, but they weren’t allowed to finish anything. There will still be leftovers; I just eased her burden and asked her to drop the basket off—to place it down, not literally drop it—outside the house.”

“The convenience of having dragon assistance,” Estinien grumbled.

She shrugged, a little smile on her lips. “You don’t have to go without it anymore. Anyroad, enough about the leftovers and the dragonets. We came here to help you relax, Aymeric.”

“You did, did you?”

She nodded. “Few know better than we do how stressed you are, playing all the roles you have to, and doing it so well.”

“And you’re tighter than an over-wound chronometer,” Estinien added, lightly pressing Aymeric’s back. “So we wanted to help.”

“Especially today,” Etien agreed. “So you can just settle back and we’ll take care of you.”

By the time they were done, Aymeric wasn’t sure whether there was a spot on his body that had been ignored (within reason, of course; they were still in public). He had rolled his shoulders with much more ease when Estinien was done with them, finding much less tension held within the muscles there. For her part, Etien had done something incredible with his calves. While they had been slightly achy for what felt like moons now, that was no longer. Now, he could practically dance en pointe, if he was asked to.

But most of all, the thing that made him feel like he was floating as he exited the springs, dressed, and went back home, his lovers tucked under his arms either side, was that they had gone to the trouble for him. He had said last year to Etien that he had never had such a fuss made about him for his nameday, and she had told him then what it was clear she meant now, and likely every year on: he was worth celebrating.

And oh, what a celebration it had been. Quiet, comforting, and relaxing. Everything he wanted. He was ready now to cap his day perfectly; to kiss his beloveds goodnight, lovers and children both, and sink into a restful sleep. Another year older and more blessed.

[pensofgrace]

Feminism Gone Wrong!

cene one Rose parked her black ride in front of her favourite restaurant, picked her bag, got out of her car. She adjusted her black body hug that speaks classy, executive, sexy, well marched with a luxury bag and watch, she matched in as beautiful as she can. Upon entering the restaurant, moving to their regular sit, she realised brandy was not present yet, shakes her head and sit. Rose: "this girl cannot fail to disappoint", she says while looking at few posts on Instagram. "let me see what her excuse will be today, maybe its flat tyre or traffic". She called on the waiter to give her regular drink. While rose was sipping her smoothie, a woman with nice curves walked in with all her glory, a well porshe girl with a simple dress of about $300. " before you run curses on me, babe the traffic was terrible, I couldn’t drive rough like those rough beard guys do", brandy says while sitting down, dropping her purse and phone on the table, she looks at rose smiling. " I was waiting for your majestic excuse already ma", she says not looking up, " so, you had a terrible traffic from vgc to chevron, hmmmm, impressing", she stops talking, looking up at brandy with a smirk on her face. Brandy looks away scratching her ears, " baby love, am sorry, I was watching spider man when you called that you were 5 minutes away, I totally forgot about our date”, giving her apology smile. " keep that love for them that sort for it, I knew you lied when you said you were out of your gate, I just knew it. You know what, lets just forget it, its your usual behaviour, am hooked forever. Brandy erupts into loud, mocking laughter, " am happy you know dear, we are stacked forever. So, you said you had something important to tell me, which could not be said over the phone or through mail". She says closing the joke atmosphere automatically, pulled up her serious wall up face. Now, it was brandy’s turn to look guilty, up in her mind she stated to think of how to present the matter, "o my God, how is brandy going to take this, am I being stupid and selfish right now, what if she breaks it with me, I don’t want to lose my best friend, really been together for five years. She shouldn’t be that angry right, what!!!, the oath, am in serious trouble right now, what if sheeeee…. "rose Philips", brandy voice erupted close to her nose, rose jerked back, " why did you scream my full name like that, common some respect", rose said trying to hide her anxiety. Brandy looked at her " look here I don’t have timed for your games, you went off for about five minutes, I ordered a drink just thinking about what could have been so big that you went so locked down", brandy sighed, smile and said " sweetie I love you, we are best friends, nothing can be so difficult you cant tell me, we are in this together, remember?, remember our promise to one another, no issue and problem coming between us, unless you’ve broken our oath, I mean you remember right", brandy took a sip of her drink, sit back and said, " well, I trust you that you wont break that, we decided on it together, no man making decisions for us. We are the independent woman baby! " brandy says laughing and jumping on her seat. Rose sits up straight, took a sip of her smoothie, she looked at brandy and continued the conversation. “, that’s why am here, you see... "what do you mean, our promise, babe you are scaring me", brandy jumped in. Rose breath in calmly them looked up to brandy. "brandy, please can you calm down, promise me you will let me explain, let me finish before you jump in’, brandy smiled and shake her head up and down while crossing her leg. " am all ears rose, feel free, tell me anything, we will solve this together". " okay, here it goes. You remember how much we suffered in the hand of men, how they treated and molested us, making us feel like we worth nothing, brandy, remember how drake used my skills and potentials to build himself to the top he his right now. Can you remember how we decided to never fall for any human being with a short hair, no breast to feed a baby and a

material to produce a baby, our decision to never be vulnerable or subject to a man, how we made that oath to be independent, an ability to depend on ourselves only, equality with men, {at this point rose was up in tears, not bothering to swipe it off, rose did not make any movement m, looking still, it feels as though she knows what this is about already, not ready to acknowledge and accept though}. "am sorry brandy but I can’t do this anymore, I can’t push this wanting, this desire for a help mate away anymore, brandy I can’t keep ignoring his care, his love, his realness, he loves me, and am not sorry to say I love him too". Rose stopped talking waiting for brandy’s comment after no response, she looked up to see rose giving her the betrayal eyes. She quickly spoke up. " brandy please, I didn’t mean too……. "rose from this day onward we are officially off, no need of arguing and trying to convince you, goodbye rose Philips". Brandy stood up dropped some thousands on the table, left without looking back. Rose dropped her head on the table and sobbed. SCENE TWO " hi baby, you miss me, matt kisses rose on the cheek, rose left her sitting position to assist matt with his attire. Rose: "how was your meeting, contract coming in", she looks at him with hope Matt: " well, am sorry to say babe, am not the most successful CEO in the world yet, but you are looking at the youngest successful CEO in Arica". Rose jumped on the bed, screaming yes! Yes! Yes! "you deserve it baby am so proud of you", she looks at him with a serious face, ‘ you complete me , you are my perfection’. Matt: " it’s the other way around love’. Rose:" let me drop to the kitchen, something special for a special man with a special achievement" Matt: " no baby, no stress for you, love, we are going out, a friend told me about a nice place, its new, very exclusive, executive and exotic" Rose: "funny, three e’s for a place" Matt: "actually the place is called three e’s" Rose: "okay, let me freshen up, give me 10" Matt: "no, make it 15, I won’t be done in 10, not as fast as you fox" Rose laughs, shaking her head " just like brandy". SCENE THREE Brandy stood near her office table, checking for a Particular important document her personal assistance should have documented properly, " stupid man, they never do any thing right, such a disappointment, what a waste of resources, I presume too". Her office door opened with no noise, " madam new couples are here, we got their details to be their first, should we give the the ultimate on the house service". Brandy: " next time you come into my office without permission, I will make sure you never get a job in Nigeria again, is that clear Patrick, idiot, now do that which is right, I will come down and greet them myself, get their table number for me. Make them comfortable". Brandy found the document, kept it ion her bag, checked herself in the mirror reapplied her lip stick. " Patrick, what table", she said with no smile " ma, its table 7, they are having a drink right nooo…… "shut up, I didn’t ask that, hmmmm 7, rose favourite number". Brandy walked down to table 7, upon getting their she discovered it was rose, she looked at her, full of annoyance and betrayal, left the table without a word, rose stood up immediately ran after her lost best fiend screaming her name, not minding the scene they were both creating. Rose: " brandy, please wait, please, its ben so long, hear me out. Brandy turned back sharply " I want no conversation with a person like you, enough!" Rose; " stop, just stop, okay can we talk, maybe not n ow, someday during the week, please, just please, I will drop my card with the receptionist. Will be waiting to meet up. I still love you". Rose turned making her way to her husband, she turned " by the way, nice restaurant, it has always been your dream, good work, brandy". Scene

four Brandy sit quietly at the corner of the restaurant, everywhere seems cool and fun. She sips her drink smirking at herself, at a little side up she could see matt chatting and laughing about something rose says. "stupid fool, let’s see if you will see something to laugh at by the end of the day" Brandy calls upon a waited for a refill, seeing matt standing up moving towards the rest room, she sends the waiter off standing up and walking towards matt’s direction. She waited for matt to come out of the gent, Brandy: hello to you too Mr matt, having a fun day" Matt: ohh, brandy you scared me, what’s up, you look good, didn’t know you were around" Brandy: you weren’t supposed to know, you brought this upon yourself though, what aaaaaa……. Matt: see brandy, I know you vexed with your bae, its wasn’t her fault, seriously, she told me about the oath and promise, I thought they were unreasonable first but after she told me about you and your past, I came to understand, but you see, you are a very beautiful girl…. Brandy; ohh, Mr matt, rose told you about my past right, lovely, I believe she told you about the gang rape too, how interesting my life story with Fred, I guess I have a better reason to do this. Brandy comes upon matt suddenly, knowing his head against the wall, after so many punches, she believed him to be dead. Brandy: no man, we promised no name, rose and our oath is mine. I hope the angels are willing to take you to hell for breaking two friends up with fake love, and I hope rose realise I just did her a good favour". Brandy adjust her cloth cleans her hand, heads back to her seat, calls for the waiter for a drink while she watches matt body being rushed out, with a devastated rose. SCENE FIVE rose knocks on brandy’s office door, enters and takes her seat, looking at brandy. Brandy: to what annoying honour do I hold this unexpected, unwelcome visit Mrs rose Chantel" After few second of no response from rose Brandy: am giving you 10 seconds to leave my office, or I will calllll…… Rose: why, why, why brandy. You hate me that much Brandy: well, I would have an answer to any why if I do know where the why is directed to Rose: you hate me so much, you angry about the oath but do you have to do what you did, almost killing my husband Brandy: almost, he’s not dead, what! That bastard isn’t dead, how come, how Rose: so, you won’t deny it, really brandy I never knew you were such a snake, well to disappoint your miserable life, he’s not, because he never deserved it. How could you, for what reason, because he loves me. Aint you suppose to be happy for me, happy for your best friend, what has gotten into you. Brandy; best fiend my foot, you lost that title months ago, you lied to me, betrayed me. Rose; then have you forgotten our promise to each other, forgiveness all the way, I could hand you over now to the police, but I won’t, I still love you brandy, you’ve always being sister, please stop all this. Just stop it. Brandy: just get out, I hate you liar, get out…… Brandy screams at rose, after rose left the office, brandy break down weeping SCENE SIX Brandy sit at the sitting room, watching the tv, news going on around the world obviously her mind seems outside the house, all in another world. After about a minute of leaking tears, she picks up her phone. Went to a number, typed a capital "AM SORRY". Switch off her phone and lays down. SCENE SEVEN Rose; " thanks for coming, although it took you extra two hours after you said you were close, guess you haven’t changed", smiling to brandy " I don’t have time for your nonsense chit-chat, why am in here, I got business to run’. Rose: " I love you, please never doubt that, what happened wasn’t planned, I didn’t even know I had gotten so far in, until he proposed, and I said yes. The feeling wont just go away, bran…… Brandy; " since when,

since when have you two been together, till the time you told me, since when rose, one month, two months, answer me!!!", she spoke up so angry Rose: "six-month brandy, babe, I was only joking around, I only planned to play him and make feel miserable, please, I love him". Brandy; "six, six, woah, six months, my best friend kept a secret from me, how many more do I need to know, you married, you got two kids in the cupboard’, Rose; ‘after you left, I lost it, couldn’t contact you, he stood with me, he was my comfort, he gave me happiness, we got married. I love him brandy and am not ready to leave him for anything". Brandy:" so why am I here, what do you want", Rose:" I want my best friend back, I want you to enjoy the happiness I do now, I need you to change your mentality about this feminism of a thing, please". Brandy: " so you want you change, why should I do that, give me reasons rose. Your love for a man made you leave me, common convince me your betrayal". Rose:" I accept, I betrayed you, but it was for a good thing, you are not happy brandy. I know that, I can see it in your face, just one chance, just a chance with a good man" "baby", she says holding a broken brandy’s hand, " please, a good man is what it takes, a good man won’t make you feel like a slave, like a servant, no he won’t want, he would want you as a helpmate, someone to complete him. Thank about it, no need to rush, just calm your heart, baby I need you to break that wall when that man comes, that responsible man with a good knowledge of how to treat a woman, okay, love”. Brandy kept to silence holding rose’s hand like her life depend on it. A lot was going through her mind, he wanted to talk but knew deep down the truth was been laid down flat. SCENE EIGHT ‘happy birthday brandy" "thanks so much for coming it’s a small party I guess, like I want, hmmm, rose is poking my eyes with invisible spears, wanting a speech, isoritte, here we go, thanks to God first, He made me special, am grateful to my parent for the prayers and support am 25 meh, so to rose, I love you more than life itself, you aint just a friend, you are my sister, days of fight and love, of arguing and convincing. Thanks for changing my mentality on some ideas I keep to heart, thanks for making me make the best decision, my life could ever need. Thanks love am happy for you, I appreciate you. To the man that wet through hell to get my heart, bros kudos to you mehn, guy you deserve some awards, thanks for not giving up on me, thanks for always running off to rose for ways to cool mu hot brain. I love you. Just mind you, no baby yet, let me enjoy my marriage first. And to all that…………….

cene one Rose parked her black ride in front of her favourite restaurant, picked her bag, got out of her car. She adjusted her black body hug that speaks classy, executive, sexy, well marched with a luxury bag and watch, she matched in as beautiful as she can. Upon entering the restaurant, moving to their regular sit, she realised brandy was not present yet, shakes her head and sit. Rose: "this girl cannot fail to disappoint", she says while looking at few posts on Instagram. "let me see what her excuse will be today, maybe its flat tyre or traffic". She called on the waiter to give her regular drink. While rose was sipping her smoothie, a woman with nice curves walked in with all her glory, a well porshe girl with a simple dress of about $300. " before you run curses on me, babe the traffic was terrible, I couldn’t drive rough like those rough beard guys do", brandy says while sitting down, dropping her purse and phone on the table, she looks at rose smiling. " I was waiting for your majestic excuse already ma", she says not looking up, " so, you had a terrible traffic from vgc to chevron, hmmmm, impressing", she stops talking, looking up at brandy with a smirk on her face. Brandy looks away scratching her ears, " baby love, am sorry, I was watching spider man when you called that you were 5 minutes away, I totally forgot about our date”, giving her apology smile. " keep that love for them that sort for it, I knew you lied when you said you were out of your gate, I just knew it. You know what, lets just forget it, its your usual behaviour, am hooked forever. Brandy erupts into loud, mocking laughter, " am happy you know dear, we are stacked forever. So, you said you had something important to tell me, which could not be said over the phone or through mail". She says closing the joke atmosphere automatically, pulled up her serious wall up face. Now, it was brandy’s turn to look guilty, up in her mind she stated to think of how to present the matter, "o my God, how is brandy going to take this, am I being stupid and selfish right now, what if she breaks it with me, I don’t want to lose my best friend, really been together for five years. She shouldn’t be that angry right, what!!!, the oath, am in serious trouble right now, what if sheeeee…. "rose Philips", brandy voice erupted close to her nose, rose jerked back, " why did you scream my full name like that, common some respect", rose said trying to hide her anxiety. Brandy looked at her " look here I don’t have timed for your games, you went off for about five minutes, I ordered a drink just thinking about what could have been so big that you went so locked down", brandy sighed, smile and said " sweetie I love you, we are best friends, nothing can be so difficult you cant tell me, we are in this together, remember?, remember our promise to one another, no issue and problem coming between us, unless you’ve broken our oath, I mean you remember right", brandy took a sip of her drink, sit back and said, " well, I trust you that you wont break that, we decided on it together, no man making decisions for us. We are the independent woman baby! " brandy says laughing and jumping on her seat. Rose sits up straight, took a sip of her smoothie, she looked at brandy and continued the conversation. “, that’s why am here, you see... "what do you mean, our promise, babe you are scaring me", brandy jumped in. Rose breath in calmly them looked up to brandy. "brandy, please can you calm down, promise me you will let me explain, let me finish before you jump in’, brandy smiled and shake her head up and down while crossing her leg. " am all ears rose, feel free, tell me anything, we will solve this together". " okay, here it goes. You remember how much we suffered in the hand of men, how they treated and molested us, making us feel like we worth nothing, brandy, remember how drake used my skills and potentials to build himself to the top he his right now. Can you remember how we decided to never fall for any human being with a short hair, no breast to feed a baby and a

material to produce a baby, our decision to never be vulnerable or subject to a man, how we made that oath to be independent, an ability to depend on ourselves only, equality with men, {at this point rose was up in tears, not bothering to swipe it off, rose did not make any movement m, looking still, it feels as though she knows what this is about already, not ready to acknowledge and accept though}. "am sorry brandy but I can’t do this anymore, I can’t push this wanting, this desire for a help mate away anymore, brandy I can’t keep ignoring his care, his love, his realness, he loves me, and am not sorry to say I love him too". Rose stopped talking waiting for brandy’s comment after no response, she looked up to see rose giving her the betrayal eyes. She quickly spoke up. " brandy please, I didn’t mean too……. "rose from this day onward we are officially off, no need of arguing and trying to convince you, goodbye rose Philips". Brandy stood up dropped some thousands on the table, left without looking back. Rose dropped her head on the table and sobbed. SCENE TWO " hi baby, you miss me, matt kisses rose on the cheek, rose left her sitting position to assist matt with his attire. Rose: "how was your meeting, contract coming in", she looks at him with hope Matt: " well, am sorry to say babe, am not the most successful CEO in the world yet, but you are looking at the youngest successful CEO in Arica". Rose jumped on the bed, screaming yes! Yes! Yes! "you deserve it baby am so proud of you", she looks at him with a serious face, ‘ you complete me , you are my perfection’. Matt: " it’s the other way around love’. Rose:" let me drop to the kitchen, something special for a special man with a special achievement" Matt: " no baby, no stress for you, love, we are going out, a friend told me about a nice place, its new, very exclusive, executive and exotic" Rose: "funny, three e’s for a place" Matt: "actually the place is called three e’s" Rose: "okay, let me freshen up, give me 10" Matt: "no, make it 15, I won’t be done in 10, not as fast as you fox" Rose laughs, shaking her head " just like brandy". SCENE THREE Brandy stood near her office table, checking for a Particular important document her personal assistance should have documented properly, " stupid man, they never do any thing right, such a disappointment, what a waste of resources, I presume too". Her office door opened with no noise, " madam new couples are here, we got their details to be their first, should we give the the ultimate on the house service". Brandy: " next time you come into my office without permission, I will make sure you never get a job in Nigeria again, is that clear Patrick, idiot, now do that which is right, I will come down and greet them myself, get their table number for me. Make them comfortable". Brandy found the document, kept it ion her bag, checked herself in the mirror reapplied her lip stick. " Patrick, what table", she said with no smile " ma, its table 7, they are having a drink right nooo…… "shut up, I didn’t ask that, hmmmm 7, rose favourite number". Brandy walked down to table 7, upon getting their she discovered it was rose, she looked at her, full of annoyance and betrayal, left the table without a word, rose stood up immediately ran after her lost best fiend screaming her name, not minding the scene they were both creating. Rose: " brandy, please wait, please, its ben so long, hear me out. Brandy turned back sharply " I want no conversation with a person like you, enough!" Rose; " stop, just stop, okay can we talk, maybe not n ow, someday during the week, please, just please, I will drop my card with the receptionist. Will be waiting to meet up. I still love you". Rose turned making her way to her husband, she turned " by the way, nice restaurant, it has always been your dream, good work, brandy". Scene

four Brandy sit quietly at the corner of the restaurant, everywhere seems cool and fun. She sips her drink smirking at herself, at a little side up she could see matt chatting and laughing about something rose says. "stupid fool, let’s see if you will see something to laugh at by the end of the day" Brandy calls upon a waited for a refill, seeing matt standing up moving towards the rest room, she sends the waiter off standing up and walking towards matt’s direction. She waited for matt to come out of the gent, Brandy: hello to you too Mr matt, having a fun day" Matt: ohh, brandy you scared me, what’s up, you look good, didn’t know you were around" Brandy: you weren’t supposed to know, you brought this upon yourself though, what aaaaaa……. Matt: see brandy, I know you vexed with your bae, its wasn’t her fault, seriously, she told me about the oath and promise, I thought they were unreasonable first but after she told me about you and your past, I came to understand, but you see, you are a very beautiful girl…. Brandy; ohh, Mr matt, rose told you about my past right, lovely, I believe she told you about the gang rape too, how interesting my life story with Fred, I guess I have a better reason to do this. Brandy comes upon matt suddenly, knowing his head against the wall, after so many punches, she believed him to be dead. Brandy: no man, we promised no name, rose and our oath is mine. I hope the angels are willing to take you to hell for breaking two friends up with fake love, and I hope rose realise I just did her a good favour". Brandy adjust her cloth cleans her hand, heads back to her seat, calls for the waiter for a drink while she watches matt body being rushed out, with a devastated rose. SCENE FIVE rose knocks on brandy’s office door, enters and takes her seat, looking at brandy. Brandy: to what annoying honour do I hold this unexpected, unwelcome visit Mrs rose Chantel" After few second of no response from rose Brandy: am giving you 10 seconds to leave my office, or I will calllll…… Rose: why, why, why brandy. You hate me that much Brandy: well, I would have an answer to any why if I do know where the why is directed to Rose: you hate me so much, you angry about the oath but do you have to do what you did, almost killing my husband Brandy: almost, he’s not dead, what! That bastard isn’t dead, how come, how Rose: so, you won’t deny it, really brandy I never knew you were such a snake, well to disappoint your miserable life, he’s not, because he never deserved it. How could you, for what reason, because he loves me. Aint you suppose to be happy for me, happy for your best friend, what has gotten into you. Brandy; best fiend my foot, you lost that title months ago, you lied to me, betrayed me. Rose; then have you forgotten our promise to each other, forgiveness all the way, I could hand you over now to the police, but I won’t, I still love you brandy, you’ve always being sister, please stop all this. Just stop it. Brandy: just get out, I hate you liar, get out…… Brandy screams at rose, after rose left the office, brandy break down weeping SCENE SIX Brandy sit at the sitting room, watching the tv, news going on around the world obviously her mind seems outside the house, all in another world. After about a minute of leaking tears, she picks up her phone. Went to a number, typed a capital "AM SORRY". Switch off her phone and lays down. SCENE SEVEN Rose; " thanks for coming, although it took you extra two hours after you said you were close, guess you haven’t changed", smiling to brandy " I don’t have time for your nonsense chit-chat, why am in here, I got business to run’. Rose: " I love you, please never doubt that, what happened wasn’t planned, I didn’t even know I had gotten so far in, until he proposed, and I said yes. The feeling wont just go away, bran…… Brandy; " since when,

since when have you two been together, till the time you told me, since when rose, one month, two months, answer me!!!", she spoke up so angry Rose: "six-month brandy, babe, I was only joking around, I only planned to play him and make feel miserable, please, I love him". Brandy; "six, six, woah, six months, my best friend kept a secret from me, how many more do I need to know, you married, you got two kids in the cupboard’, Rose; ‘after you left, I lost it, couldn’t contact you, he stood with me, he was my comfort, he gave me happiness, we got married. I love him brandy and am not ready to leave him for anything". Brandy:" so why am I here, what do you want", Rose:" I want my best friend back, I want you to enjoy the happiness I do now, I need you to change your mentality about this feminism of a thing, please". Brandy: " so you want you change, why should I do that, give me reasons rose. Your love for a man made you leave me, common convince me your betrayal". Rose:" I accept, I betrayed you, but it was for a good thing, you are not happy brandy. I know that, I can see it in your face, just one chance, just a chance with a good man" "baby", she says holding a broken brandy’s hand, " please, a good man is what it takes, a good man won’t make you feel like a slave, like a servant, no he won’t want, he would want you as a helpmate, someone to complete him. Thank about it, no need to rush, just calm your heart, baby I need you to break that wall when that man comes, that responsible man with a good knowledge of how to treat a woman, okay, love”. Brandy kept to silence holding rose’s hand like her life depend on it. A lot was going through her mind, he wanted to talk but knew deep down the truth was been laid down flat. SCENE EIGHT ‘happy birthday brandy" "thanks so much for coming it’s a small party I guess, like I want, hmmm, rose is poking my eyes with invisible spears, wanting a speech, isoritte, here we go, thanks to God first, He made me special, am grateful to my parent for the prayers and support am 25 meh, so to rose, I love you more than life itself, you aint just a friend, you are my sister, days of fight and love, of arguing and convincing. Thanks for changing my mentality on some ideas I keep to heart, thanks for making me make the best decision, my life could ever need. Thanks love am happy for you, I appreciate you. To the man that wet through hell to get my heart, bros kudos to you mehn, guy you deserve some awards, thanks for not giving up on me, thanks for always running off to rose for ways to cool mu hot brain. I love you. Just mind you, no baby yet, let me enjoy my marriage first. And to all that……………. One Rose parked her black ride in front of her favourite restaurant, picked her bag, got out of her car. She adjusted her black body hug that speaks classy, executive, sexy, well marched with a luxury bag and watch, she matched in as beautiful as she can.

‘happy birthday brandy"

"thanks so much for coming it’s a small party I guess, like I want, hmmm, rose is poking my eyes with invisible spears, wanting a speech, isoritte, here we go, thanks to God first, He made me special, am grateful to my parent for the prayers and support am 32 meh, so to rose, I love you more than life itself, you aint just a friend, you are my sister, days of fight and love, of arguing and convincing.

Thanks for changing my mentality on some ideas I keep to heart, thanks for making me make the best decision, my life could ever need. Thanks love am happy for you, I appreciate you.

oy my marriage first. And to all that…………….