#it just happens that when you try to prevent every necessary disaster to the plot... you make things harder for yourself later-

[nem0-nee]

𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄 𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐄𝐍𝐃.

bskfsfksfs Overblot Mayuu concept... Inspired by a certain titan with a monstrous appetite?! Yeah, don't eat blotted magestones kids-

A certain housewarden is FUCKED (iykyk)

I just needed to get this idea out of my system, might render when I'm feeling ambitious

[mosaicofdreamsanddragons]

First Lesson

Pigsy teaches his kids to cook.

ao3 here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27769003

It was a well-known fact that Pigsy was at war. Every day he struggled to guide his troops toward excellence. Every day he worked tirelessly to build up the stockpile necessary for a campaign into enemy territory. And every day he poured his heart and soul into the techniques that would carry his crew to victory.

Oh and there was the whole saving the city thing, but that was really his second priority. He liked to think of that life as existing in a separate spears of his mind. He only had so much brain power he could devote to Monkey nonsense. When he was at war, such things were far from his mind and when he was a superhero, war was the last thing he thought of.

Until the day it wasn’t.

It had been an ordinary day: fight whatever demon or demon bull king minions who wanted a piece of his kid and then get back to his real life of noodles and plotting campaigns.

But today, today he’d slipped up. Today he’d almost been squashed by the remains of some demon bull minions and had barely been pulled out of the way by Tang. The attack wouldn’t have even come close to killing him but it could have done much worse.

He’d kept his fretting to himself of course. No point in scaring the kids, they were freaked out enough by the near hit. If a few smiles and gruff reassurances were all they needed to bounce the close call off their shoulders as only the young can, he would provide them.

Tang was no so easily fooled. “Something is bothering you,” he said, glare on his glasses preventing any eye contact. It was not a question.

“I…When we were on the mission…” he began and then stopped.

“I saved you,” said Tang firmly.

“Yes but you almost didn’t save me,” said Pigsy. Tang’s hands clutching the noodle bowl turned white and Pigsy quickly amended his statement. “Not that it would have killed me, calm down.” He waited until Tang let go of the bowl placing it on the table before continuing. “If you hadn’t, I would have broken my arm. And that would mean disaster for my business. I couldn’t cook, so MK would have no food to deliver. And soon we’d lose customers and who knows how many regulars would come back when I healed, what with the enemy always upping his game…we’d starve. And I can’t do that to MK, he’s starved enough in his life.”

“You wouldn’t starve,” said Tang with a hint of anger. “Even if the worst happened, you’d still have me to help and Sandy. Heck even Mei would chip in.” He took a deep breath and grabbed his bowl back. “And you’re missing the most obvious solution. If you broke you’re arm, you could run deliveries…” Pigsy raised an eyebrow at Tang. He snorted “….I’ve seen you drive one handed, don’t give me that look…” Pigsy raised his eyebrow even higher and Tang made a huff into his leftover broth “…fine. I could run deliveries. Then all you’d need to do is teach MK how to cook for you. You’d be able to be back in business in a day!”

“Teach MK how to cook?” said Pigsy. “Not in a day I wouldn’t. Cooking takes art and art takes time.”

“So start now,” said Tang. “Give him the time he’ll need to learn and grow. You could bring in Mei too, make a day of it.”

Pigsy looked down at his hands. “I’m not….the best instructor. Last time I tried to teach…well….Sandy and I ended that with a mutual agreement to never be in a kitchen together again.” He closed his eyes against sudden memoires of a time before Sandy had started therapy.

“Well that was a long time ago,” said Tang. “I’m sure you’ll be a great teacher now.” Before Pigsy could retort that Tang hadn’t been there and didn’t really know the extent of the disaster he caught a glance at Tang’s face.

He was gazing out the shop to where the two children had left. “And I don’t think they’d mind having a normal type of legacy,” he said barely above a whisper, “one without any magic or monkeys or dragons. Something they can learn an fail and the world won’t fall apart,” Pigsy opened his mouth to protest that was Tang not taking the noodle war seriously enough when Tang said, “…like their dad’s secret noodle recipe.”

Pigsy opened his mouth. And shut his mouth. And turned back to the table. “Okay,” he said quietly. “Lessons begin tomorrow.”

Pigsy had seen many things in his life. He’d befriended Sandy before he gave up his fighting ways. He regularly aided his children with saving the city. He’d had to create a noodle business from the ground up and used it to wage war against all who would stand in his way. But never had he been faced with such a challenge as this.

Before him, in the heart of his kitchen, stood only the freshest of recruits, neither who had ever so much as held the weapons of this war in their hands. Beyond them watching expectantly with notepad in hand was his acting secretary, who was far more interested in the potential noodles then jotting the recipe down. Farther back was the emotional support, who was not allowed near this kitchen for reasons both knew and would not discuss. Together they would create a mock battle, with Tang and Sandy as the customers and Mei, MK, and Pigsy as the chefs.

“Okay,” he said to the eager faces of his children. “Today you will be taking your first steps onto a harrowing battlefield.” He paced back and forth moving his spoon and feet with the beat of his words. “Today, you will face trails like you have never faced. It will be the most difficult thing you have ever attempted to do, magical Monkey business included.” He turned to meet the eyes of Mk and Mei. “But I have complete faith, that under my guidance you will pull yourselves from the muck and mire of mediocracy and into success.”

“Pigsy its just noodles,” said MK hands behind his head. Mei shoved her hand in her mouth to stifle a giggle.

“Just noodles!” said Pigsy throwing his spoon in the air and advancing on the boy. “Just noodles! Those noodles are the backbone of our livelihoods! The result of countless years honing my technique to perfection!” he caught Tang’s eyes and took a deep breath. Then in a gentler voice he continued, “And today I will be passing that legacy onto you. Now no one is expecting you to get it on your first try.”

“I make noodles all the time at home! How bad can it be?” said MK.

“You make instant noodles,” said Pigsy stepping back and rubbing his temples. “That’s completely different. No technique, no finesse. This, this will push you to your limits.” He waves towards the assorted vegetables and meat. “Mei, you will be on toppings,” he gestured to a large pot, “and MK you will be on broth. Now I will need both of you to listen to what I say and only do what I tell you. Do you understand?”

The nod in unison. He takes a deep breath and hands the kids the knives. He can do this.

The next hour passes quickly. But for him it goes swiftly jumping between:

“No Mei do not hold your knife like your sword. Watch me, like this.”

“Don’t touch that pan, you aren’t invincible anymore you’ll burn yourself.”

“You need to sauté the vegetables first. No those aren’t ready, you haven’t turned the stove on so they aren’t cooking…”

“Don’t poor boiling oil down the sink! &*@#$ Get on the counter NOW!!!” Both children climbed onto the counter in confusion and even Sandy and Tang pulled their feet up. “The pipe melted,” he told the confused kids. “We stay up here, until I get the boiling oil of the floor.”

“It’s like the floor is lava!” said Mei.

“Don’t try anything crazy!” said Pigsy. “I’m just gonna head over to the broom closet…” he began carefully picking his way across the counter, careful not to step near any of the food or utensils. It was harder then it looked, as the counter was covered with the mess only three chefs could bring. He picked his way across only to discover what he’d thought to be a solid footing turn out to be pan which slipped out from under his foot and sent him toppling down, down…

Something hard and round stopped his fall before he could make contact with the oil slicked floors. “I’ve got you Pigsy!” he heard his kid yell as he slowly became aware of the enormous iron staff now wedged from one side of his kitchen to another, and preventing him from a landing with third degree burns.

He took a deep breath and pulled himself across the makeshift bridge to the counter where Tang, Sandy, and MK were all waiting. And even though he was fairly certain he had got the hang of it by the time he reached them, Sandy still reached out and lifted him onto the counter.

“Real battle we got here,” said Sandy. “But I think the troops are getting the hang of it.” He nodded and Pigsy looked up to see MK carefully maneuvering the staff-bridge to bring Mei towards the broom cupboard.

“They’re ingenuous,” said Pigsy. “That’ll help them with creating new things down the line. Once they master the basics…” he glanced around his kitchen, now covered in oil, with food scattered everywhere and possibly contaminated by the people climbing around it waving their newly discovered brooms and mops and bit back a groan. This was not how this lesson was supposed to go.

Sandy rose to retrieve the one of the mops from Mei but before he left he turned to Pigsy, “No one learns any skill in a day. Give ‘em time. They’ll get it. They have an excellent teacher.”

Pigsy closed his eyes as Tang dropped down beside him. “Sandy’s right, no one learns a skill in a day, not cooking, not teaching.” Pigsy opened one eye to glance at Tang. He grinned smugly at him. “But a little disaster never stopped your campaigns before, eh Marshal? And whatever the result of this campaign, I’ll eat it.”

“You better,” he mock-growled at Tang’s smirk.

Between Sandy, MK, and Pigsy they managed to get the no-longer-boiling oil off the floor. Mei helped as much as she could but all she could really bring was her enthusiasm since she’d never seen a broom in her life and really didn’t know how to clean (and Pigsy made a mental note to teach her later). Sandy even fixed the melted pipes. With the kitchen newly sparkling and all that could be salvaged out and ready, Pigsy got up and fetched the noodles.

“Okay kids,” he said. “Mei, I want you to get the toppings ready to go. MK hold this in the boiling water for three minutes, do not touch the pot again. When the three minutes are up, pull it out and pour the noodles in it in the bowl. Mei, I want you to add the toppings on top once MK’s added the noodles and then poor in the broth. Take your time both of you, you’ll have time to add speed to this later.”

Face squished in concentration, MK slowly lifted up the noodles and placed them in the bowl. Then Mei added the toppings and very slowly and carefully poured in the broth. Now finished their faces broke into relieved grins and they both reached for the bowl, only for Pigsy to yell “Order up!” and place the bowl in front of Tang.

Pigsy turned back to the disappointed faces and handed MK another batch of noodles, nodding back to the broth and stack of toppings. “The point of cooking is to make it for others, not yourself. And besides, we’re not done here until we’re out of ingredients.”

The broth lasted them two more bowls, one which Pigsy handed to Sandy. The two children were left staring at the single bowl. They seemed to be having a silent conversation before turning and pushing it towards Pigsy. And Pigsy found two pairs of wide eyes turned up to him expectantly. He steeled himself and reached up to bring the noodles to his mouth.

It was…not bad. Not to his standards and not ready for sale yet. But it was made with his kids sweat and tears and he loved every bite. “Delicious,” he said, “We’ll make chefs of you yet.”

Sandy applauded. “Much better review then the first time I ever tried to help him! Have we told you that story? It started many years ago and ended with an explosion…”

With the kids happily listening to Sandy regale them with their first cooking disaster, Tang happily listening nearby sipping his soup and stealing some of Sandy’s noodles, Pigsy sat back and drunk the site in. This was something he wanted to savor, a memory he could call up after scares like yesterday or on bad nights.

His kids’ first bowl of noodles, one more step towards growing up. A milestone greater than any of the saving the city they did. He was so proud.

[thelawyerthatwaspromised]

Episode 1 Should Have Been Titled “The Truth”

Simply put...there was major indications that we are getting dark!Dany, Jonsa, and political!Jon in this last season. The major signs and subtle nuances were extremely consistent. The only real complaints I’ve seen is the “flavor” of some of Jon’s actions in episode 1. It’s an understandable criticism but I really think we were fed quite well for a premiere and a TON of plot boxes were checked off and done so quickly enough that the “there’s no enough time!” argument against the Big 3 is really starting to ring hollow.

I think I’ll work largely going theory by theory here and showing what makes them all even more likely than ever.

Big 3 Jonsa Fan Theories

1.) dark!Dany

If you don’t know already...the dark!Dany theory is the idea that Daenerys Targaryen’s arc has been tell the story of an emerging antagonist - principally with Jon Snow as her main political foe. 

This is probably the easiest of the Big 3 to identify in Winterfell. Right off the bat, we get a glimpse. The Northerners don’t approve of Dany, very clearly. She gets satisfaction when her dragons flyover and terrify the bejeebers out of the commoners. 

Charming.

We move on to the terrifically uncomfortable first meeting with Sansa...and we all know how this went.

I think EC did a really good job conveying the air of superiority and her dissatisfaction with Sansa’s response.

Dany doesn’t have much a poker face. And it’s shown to be contentious for good reason.

This is the first time she’s ever been to WF and she expects to be called “My Queen” like everybody is Jorah Mormont. That’s just not how it works. The first town hall meeting with the North goes even worse than the initial greeting.

“What exactly do dragons eat anyway?” “Whatever they want.”

Bingo bango. If EVER you needed a money quote point to Dany both 1) being oblivious to what it means to be a good politician; and 2) being an entitled ruler who believes the rules don’t apply to her...this is it.

And it mirrors what we’ve seen before with regard to the dragons.

Ring a bell?

Then we get maybe the darkest Dany moment of the episode. Well...at least one of the top 10 darkest Dany moments of the episode.

“If she can’t respect me...”

Then what, Dany?

Her subtle head shake before she says it conveys a “don’t you get it, Jon?” She follows it up with a very intentional narrowing of her eyes...she’s letting Jon fill in the blanks of what she means here. It’s impossible to ignore the implications. 

Notice that Jon doesn’t look too thrilled and gets yet more confirmation that he is walking a very, very fine line.

Next, we get the culmination of a lot of offseason speculation that, as a Jonsa/dark!Dany/political!Jon believer...was told was NEVER going to become an issue: the burning of Randyll and Dickon Tarly.

Let’s recap...

Wonderful advice. Then..

We know how this turned out. And we were shown pretty emphatically that, yes, burning a father and son alive when they are prisoners of war is going to be viewed negatively by a family member of that father and son and it’s probably going to have an effect on how a region feels about you when your father started a war by deciding to burn a father and son alive (or burning a father and strangling a son, as in the books). 

So she bumps into Sam. Because Sam’s connection to Jorah does, again, matter. Sam happens to mention he belongs to House Tarly...and Dany’s demeanor gets noticeably stiffer and more steely. 

Let’s unpack this. 

Randyll Tarly wasn’t executed for being a bad father. He wasn’t executed as a form of justice for “betraying” House Tyrell. He was executed specifically because he would not bend the knee. Bending the knee would have allowed Randyll Tarly to have the exact same lifestyle he’d had before he’d bent the knee. So, again, this was not an act of justice. It was an act of dominance. Unequivocally. 

Then...she reveals that Dickon Tarly was executed likewise for:

...standing by his dad. Please, if you have belief in Daenerys as a hero at this point, consider the extraordinary meaning of her words here. 

The Loot Train Battle was a temporary triumph and a long term disaster for Dany. There’s not enough food to eat and she executed the members of maybe the greatest non-great house (in stature) in Westeros, people that could have at the very least been valuable hostages. And it’s hurting her now even double because the surviving son of the man she executed is best friends with the man she wants to romance and who holds her only chance for political cohesiveness in her newly “acquired” kingdom. What a complete and total disaster for her. Rightfully so.

2.) political!Jon

I’m going to say that political!Jon is probably the hardest of the Big 3 to identify in the episode...but then again it was hard to identify last season too. The difference is that I’ve actually been seeing much more popular speculation that Jon isn’t necessarily as blind and foolish as he might be leading on. 

First, let me remind everyone of what I think is basically the central thesis of political!Jon:

political!Jon is the theory that Jon’s main objective for the entirety of the time after he left Winterfell was centered on obtaining Daenerys as an ally so that her resources could be redirected to the Army of the Dead. This objective was the primary reason for every significant action he took in Season 7, culminating in Jon determining that he must bend the knee in order to get Daenerys’ help in the North.

What I’m seeing from Jon, maybe more than I even anticipated from Season 7 is that his actions are also colored by a distinct emotion that seems to be increasing as the “game” goes on: fear.

Yes, Jon is afraid of what Dany might be capable of doing. To his war efforts. To his home. To his loved ones. So now, I’m practically ready to amend my central thesis of political!Jon to read:

political!Jon is the theory that Jon’s main objective for the entirety of the time after he left Winterfell was centered on obtaining Daenerys as an ally so that her resources could be redirected to the Army of the Dead. This objective was the primary reason for every significant action he took in Season 7, culminating in Jon determining that he must bend the knee in order to get Daenerys’ help in the North - and an increasing realization that, at all costs, Jon must never appear to be a threat to Daenerys’ quest for power else he and his loved ones would become her enemy and he is not powerful enough to stop her.

It’s startling in a way. He truly is Torrhen Stark in this scenario. Think back to what Jon’s seen:

A terrifying first meeting where he’s told that by calling himself a king, he’s in open rebellion against Daenerys...

And asserted her belief that she is entitled to his home...

She leveraged his fear of destruction to demand that he bend the knee...

He watched her berate her Hand for the crime of not wanting his family dead quite enough for her liking...

He had to talk her out of using her dragons on King’s Landing...

He knows how she views her “children” as her source of “specialness” and that she craves being viewed as special...

Because she told him exactly that...

And he knows that even after SEEING the Night King, she gave him no indication that she was willing to halt her war efforts in the south to help save the world unless Cersei agreed. (she also stupidly believed Cersei)

So we get to the first town hall meeting...and Jon drops this incredible truth bomb...

Act surprised if you want...but he’s only confirming what he’s said the whole damn time...

He declared in front of EVERYBODY that he could not protect the North while holding onto his crown. He doesn’t care about Dany getting her chair. He doesn’t care about her war against Cersei. BUT because of who Dany revealed herself to be throughout the Season 7 (very powerful and very volatile) Jon’s learned that being her enemy is an untenable position. 

Follow this thought process if you’re still skeptical:

Did Jon believe his crown was important?

Yes, he refused to give it up during the season because of exactly that. It does matter.

Why would he change his mind then?

Theory 1: His relationship with Dany has shown him that titles don’t matter. Ok, well that’s hogwash because now Dany is threatening Sansa for not respecting her enough...and Jon himself was threatened in Season 7 for not bowing to her and calling her Queen.

or

Theory 2: Jon is intimately aware of how important titles are to Daenerys. And that’s exactly why he has to make her believe he could never be threat to her. He knows the things she’s said; the things she’s threatened. He knows how her priorities...else the Dragonpit summit wouldn’t have been necessary to get Dany’s agreement to help in the North. Jon is terrified of the idea of becoming her enemy because he knows how incapable Dany is at seeing things any way other than black and white.

Considering Jon explicitly states that having the crown prevents him protecting the North...I know which theory I find more plausible. You can make up your own mind on that.

This explains Jon’s behavior, I think, better than any other idea. Jon fears Dany. He fears that speaking out against Dany exposes people he cares about. He needs them to realize that this is a dangerous situation. And I think they get that - but I’m not quite sure yet that they understand the amount of destruction that Dany has openly threatened to exact on her enemies. 

Sansa is more outspoken now and more confident. When Jon jokes with Arya about Sansa thinking she’s smarter than everyone, he very obviously remembers back when Sansa said that Dany would try to force his political submission before he left for Dragonstone. And that’s exactly what happened. He told Tyrion that Sansa is smart. It’s not a secret that he knows Sansa is smart. But, in my opinion, his fear is centered on Sansa being outspoken to the point where she enrages Dany and puts herself at risk...which is EXACTLY what happened...

This is precisely what Jon fears. 

“I’ll protect you, I promise” and

“I had a choice: keep my crown or protect the North.”

His submission is his way of preserving lives. 

What’s the best indication that Jon fears Dany? It’s the R+L=J reveal.

So Jon’s finding this out for the first time...his initial reaction is disgust. It took Jon 16 seconds to say “I’m so sorry”. He was at a loss for words. And then Jon has to deflect, deflect, deflect. 

His next words? Do they address the problem? Or do they display the heart of Jon’s problem? The latter.

This is a big nothing from Jon. The reality is that this war has put Jon in an absolutely terrible situation and he hates it. But what “war”? Hasn’t he pledged himself in TWO wars?

Why would defeating the NK be in any way connected to Dany killing the Tarlys in the other war? The answer? Jon’s only doing what he’s doing and not openly confronting the realities of who Dany is because he absolutely believes that he MUST delay addressing this situation because raising issues with Dany when the war with the NK is so near creates havoc that Jon can’t even comprehend.

He’s terrified of addressing what’s happened to Sam’s family and he’s probably not even sure what to do next. 

To Sam’s credit, he cuts right through the bullshit and presses Jon on the “rightness” of Dany’s actions: “would you have done it?”

I’m not going to go into some silly discussion about “well gosh, hanging Olly is exactly the same as executing the Tarlys”. They’re not the same, but it doesn’t really matter because according to the writers - executing prisoners of war for not bending the knee is very very bad and significantly different than hanging someone who stabbed you in the chest. And we all know Jon Snow wouldn’t execute someone for the simple crime of not bending the knee and recognizing him as a monarch. Every single shallow thing Jon says back is countered immediately by Sam because we know that Sam’s right.

“I wasn’t a king” “But you were. You’ve always been.” “I gave up my crown, Sam...”

JON WALKS AWAY AFTER TELLING SAM HE GAVE UP HIS CROWN.

He’s visibly upset about it. Sam tells him that Dany executed his family...and Jon feels powerless to do anything about it. He tries to walk away when telling Sam he gave up his crown.

Ok, so, if titles don’t matter, then why does having a crown or not having a crown determine whether Jon can say whether he would or wouldn’t have made the same choice Dany made? Jon is saying it’s his not his place to say because he doesn’t have a crown anymore - just after saying that titles and crowns don’t matter.

They do matter. And Jon knows this. But he can’t say it. Not yet.

The last bit of powerful political!Jon evidence is in Jon’s reaction to being told he’s the rightful heir. That, in Sam’s opinion, Jon should be the King and Dany should not by Queen. (gonna go ahead and say this means Sam’s not going to be in favor of Jon-Dany marriage...)

Jon’s first thoughts are to step towards Sam and express anger that Ned lied all those years. Then Sam explains that Ned did it to protect him. And that Jon is the TRUE King. And this is where Jon’s episode-long poker face starts to really fall apart. Jon’s backing away. Stunned. Not totally unexpected...but it’s his first words that REALLY paint the picture.

He’s immediately terrified of the talk of succession. If Jon is SO SURE that titles don’t matter. If he’s SO SURE that she’s a good queen. If he’s SO SURE that “it doesn’t matter” - why are these his thoughts. Why is he panicked? Why is he unable to make eye contact? He learns that his birth wasn’t anything like he thought and his first real words about it jump to what it means for him politically.

Sam says what he thinks: she shouldn’t be the Queen. And this evokes terror in Jon’s mind...

It’s treason. His birth status would be viewed as treason. If Dany is a just queen. If she believes in the rule of law. Then Jon SHOULD be the King and Dany should not be the Queen. it’s the line of succession. But...again...titles DO matter. They matter to Daenerys above all. Jon has spent the entire time since he bent the knee trying to craft an image of himself as a total non-threat. 

He had made the best decision for the safety of his people.

“When you play the Game of Thrones; you win or you die.”

Jon had very intentionally played the Game of Thrones by not playing the game of thrones. It was the only way for him to survive. Now, The Truth of his birth throws his entire plan out the window. He’s scared. He’s backing away. He’s panicking. Because he knows what it means. He realized at some point that when it comes to Daenerys Stormborn or House Targaryen, you bend the knee and live or you do not, and you die. 

Daenerys essentially uses “you win or you die” as her motto. Jon chose the option that Mance refused. He bent the knee. He became Torrhen Stark. Except now imagine he is exactly the threat to Dany’s reign that he tried so tirelessly to avoid. 

It’s so clear in Jon’s reactions that he’s afraid. It’s so clear in what he said that he came to view his crown as a threat to the safety of his people BECAUSE titles matter so deeply to Dany. RLJ just exposed ALL of that because his reaction is utter terror.

I can’t even get to the Jonsa stuff because this got so long...but I’m going to end with the central question of the episode and one that Jon doesn’t answer, mostly because of the terrible implications of the question itself.

No. She wouldn’t. And he’s known it all along. And The Truth of that is what scares him most of all.

[paperwick]

This is my not spoiler free take on Picard.

This is a mess of a post, but I’m still trying to work through my thoughts. If I was still in college, I would watch the series one more time and write an essay, but we’ll have to settle for this stream of consciousness under the cut. (My apologies to mobile users). 

The main theme of Picard is about ‘killing for a cause’. It tries to explore this through several character’s arcs: primarily Soji, Sutra, Agnes Jirati, Seven of Nine, Rizzo, and Oh. (I don’t include Elnor because, though he kills for a cause, there’s no character development for him in this respect.)

There’s loosely a theme of “Should I kill to prevent more death/disaster?” vs “Should I kill so I might not be killed?”. 

I’m mostly gonna leave out Seven because her development on this is really non-existent, but the writers use her as a positive example of “killing to prevent more death/disaster” as a foil to Rizzo, Oh, and Agnes. I honestly feel this comparison is falsely equivalent, because Seven wasn’t wiping out an entire race or murdering an innocent man when she killed two very guilty murders. Is it right to kill murderers? Who knows, the show doesn’t REALLY touch on it so neither will we.

Here’s the scene: a faction of organics (Rizzo, Oh, Agnes) believe that synthetic life spells doom for all organic life and are seeking to destroy them. In response to total annihilation, the synthetics (Soji, Sutra) are willing to annihilate all of organic life to permanently remove the threat. Picard insists both are wrong and that there is always a more peaceful solution. 

It’s all pretty black and white, with very few grey areas of opinion. 

It drives me nuts because there’s so much ROOM in this to open up the conversation about the role of violence in independence and in survival. How far do you pursue peaceful solutions before it gives way to violence? What are the consequences of being peaceful too long? Is it ethical to use excessive force if it’s the only means to survive?

But they break it down into harshly black and white scenarios. “All life must die so that we might survive.” “If we fight back at all, we lose our humanity.” There’s no subtly, no real moral exploration. 

There’s room in the show to explore how killing might effect how events unfold. But every time it happens, it’s the dead-end of that storyline. Maddox had already told them all they needed to know, what further damage could he even do when Agnes killed him? Bjayzl was no longer a threat to them. Rizzo was no longer a pusher in the story, they’d both fulfilled her plot-purpose when Seven killed them. 

There’s room to explore how similar synthetic life is to organic life, in their humanity and morality, and lack there-of at times, in their will and desperation to survive. But we constantly come back to androids not being “real”. It’s always about their function, never really their humanity. The writing from all angles, throughout the season, is that synthetic life is somehow less real. Nonequivalent. And we never really touch on that either, it’s wildly frustrating.

So we have Sutra, who is willing to destroy all organic life to save her and her family, representing a hard extreme. Oh wants to destroy all synthetic life to protect organic life, representing the other extreme. And Picard is firmly in the middle, saying we can all live in peace and harmony. 

And that’s the end of the conversation. 

There’s a moment where Soji tells Picard that he can’t be the voice of synthetic life, and that was a great moment. The androids can take up their own cause instead of relying on a third party for protection.

But then the writers turn around and have Picard be that voice anyway, against their will, to prove that the peaceful solution is the better solution. And he has to because there’s no grey area in these moments. It’s “choose to kill literally everyone in the galaxy or choose to kill no one”. Where’s the “choose to fight the people who actively want us dead” part of the conversation?

In response to “how can the marginalized defend and empower themselves”, we’re told “make friends with less marginalized people.” But they aren’t even the operative force in that solution. It’s Picard alone. They don’t get to add their voices to the mix. It was all out of their hands to begin with. Starfleet walks in all deus ex machina because one man asks them to show up. 

When Agnes killed Maddox, their point was that she was doing it to save organic life. We never explore why she thinks it was the right thing to do. What was she afraid of him doing? He was already dying, his death was unnecessary, all we’re given is that she was haunted by the vision Oh thrust upon her. And then we spend the rest of the season redeeming her because she “felt bad about killing him” and was “out of her mind” when she did it. SURELY she had a reason for doing it at the time? Even a really bad one? Was she worried he’d created another synthetic lifeform? Was she worried he might be integral to helping the androids fight back? Fuck if I know, we never really touch on it. 

The most blow back Agnes gets from literal murder is a slap on the wrist from Picard and Dr. Soong. She was supposed to turn herself in, but that didn’t happen in the end. We pleasantly forget she killed a helpless man because she and the pilot are in love, and “she knows she was wrong”. 

As it stands, it was just an excuse to inject needless drama into the show. But there is a real and current need for us to talk about people ‘killing for a cause’. 

We see it in our own lives on the news and in our daily lives, and it’s a mind-fuck. 

How governments “root out terrorists” and kill innocent civilians in the process. They say “it saved more lives than we took”. Did it? There’s a conversation to be had there, and a necessary one if we want to continue to look ourselves in the eyes. 

When a foreign country arranges for another’s leading revolutionary to be assassinated, do they have the right to do that? No, but they seem to think so and encourage their population to believe so. There’s a conversation to be had there. 

When the government (Oh) instructs their citizens (Agnes) that this other peoples is dangerous and will be the death of them, and gently encourages their citizens to harass that other party, the citizens will take the law into their own hands. It’s wrong, but many people seem to think it’s appropriate. Whether it’s race, religion, nationality, populations are constantly being guided towards believing other peoples are a threat to themselves. And there’s a conversation to be had there. A dire one. 

Instead of developing a commentary about this senseless act of murder, the show focuses on redeeming Agnes’ character. She was “crazy” at the time, her mind filled with “poison” from Oh. Which in a way is true, people become brainwashed by those in authority and act horribly, but she never faces the consequences of her actions. She ultimately suffers no consequences for murdering a man. And she does very little to truly redeem herself. She saves Picard to save the androids. Everyone seems to go, “oh no, she spilled the milk” and gently clean it up for her. 

Do I want her burned at the stake? Not really, she did help them in the end, she did seem to have growth, but to get away scot-free is just an insult to the crime she committed. Maddox was denied justice. I think there could have been a real conversation about people coming back from getting “red-pilled”, but it’s hard to walk back on murder. 

Overall there was a frustrating lack of real commentary. The deeper conversation here might’ve been “How can we navigate and defend ourselves in a world where others seek to undermine and destroy us?” and “Does the government have the right to dictate who should live or die?”. The first one is the harder question but so necessary, with so much room to empower people. The second is very straight forward, but one that a lot of people are struggling with right now because of a warped perspective promoted by their government (at least in America). 

What we got was “total annihilation of any group is bad” and OF COURSE IT IS. I know we’re having an issue with people believing that again, but even so, the show did not really deliver that message super well either. The final note on it was “there’s a ‘peaceful’ solution to total annihilation, but really only if you have a defensive force equal to that trying to destroy you”. The androids didn’t have any real say in their defense other than “we decided not to kill everyone.” 

UGH, I could go on, but the message of the series is so muddled. I keep coming back around to how poor the writing is. How punchy and action-packed it wasted its time being, instead of really working through the core problems. Instead of making a strong statement. 

Star Trek to me is about challenging how you think/feel. It’s about opening our minds and encouraging us to be better than what we are. It hasn’t always hit the mark, there are dozens and dozens of episodes where they shoot themselves in the foot they were so off the mark, but the spirit of it is to challenge your given perceptions. Especially relevant to the time it’s being made. 

Give us more LGBT relationships other than 1 second of on-screen handholding in the final shot, and maybe write something that actually shakes people’s hearts and challenges what the general population takes for granted. 

[thedistantstorm]

The Enemy of My Enemy

[[Here I am with more of my daily SteelPoncho bullshit. For your leisure, a first meeting between one Commander Zavala and one Suraya Hawthorne. It doesn’t go very well.]]

Before he ever meets Suraya Hawthorne, he has the Guardian’s Ghost pull her record from the City’s archives. It is disturbing. Larceny. Assault. Battery. Threatening a militia officer. Disorderly conduct. Vandalism. Weapons violations. Impersonating a militia officer. Destruction of public property. Arson.

“How can the denizens of the Last City rally behind a malefactor such as this... Hawthorne person?”

“Send three patrol teams to the walls. Wait for the Cabal to finish their sweeps, then go in and collect the caches from the Underground. They should all be tagged. Prioritize the food and medical equipment, the guns can wait.”

“If the Almighty is going to wipe out our sun, Commander, does it really matter who they rally behind?” Sloane’s fists are clenched though. She does not understand it either.

“But with the arrival of the Commander’s fleet, we have more fighters-”

“Guns won’t feed the survivors. We won’t need weapons if everyone starves before the fighting starts. Rations and medical equipment are our priority.”

“How many refugees does this ‘Farm’ have?”

“When we left, maybe several hundred thousand? Hundreds more were arriving by the day.”

“I’ll alert the clans, see if any of the other Guardians would be amenable to help.”

“Good. Thank you.”

“Um, Ma’am?”

Hawthorne does not turn around. “I know he’s there, Ramos. Thank you.”

“As it is, they could use your leadership, Sir. I will do what I can from here.”

“Prepare the fleet. I will take whatever combat ready vessels we have head to this ‘Farm.’ The citizens will need someone more savory to look to than some runaway miscreant.”

They are alone when she speaks, still with her back to him. Her voice is low and clear as she repeats to him, verbatim, his final announcement to the people of the Last City. “The Cabal have affixed a device to the Traveler and severed our connection to the Light. We cannot hold the City, and we cannot protect you.” A breath. “We are setting a rally point elsewhere in the system - watch for a broadcast. We will return to the City someday, but… I do not know when.” She scoffs. “Be safe. Be brave.”

Zavala does not move a muscle, though hearing the words repeated back at him makes him tingle. Hawthorne continues to look at the map tacked to the wall of the barn and wonders how he thinks the situation looks on his side of the chessboard. Somewhere further behind them, Shaxx can be heard yelling at Guardians to suck it up and fight.

“Hawthorne believes you abandoned her and the survivors.”

“Oh?”

“We’ll go to Nessus, try and locate Cayde and Ikora, but… I don’t think she’ll be very accepting of you, especially not at first.”

“Yes, and what does this criminal know of war? Where was she during the Great Disaster or while you and your brethren were slaying Gods and preventing SIVA from spreading and threatening our very existence? I do not care if she is accepting. She will accept or she will stand aside.”

“Are you going to stand there and glare at me all day, or do you have something to say, Commander?” His title is all but a sneer.

“You are the one leading this operation.” It is not a question. “You will acquiesce to myself and the other Guardians the necessary-”

“Last I checked, you and me? We’re the same. Unless you also got your powers back like that friend of yours.” She still stands, evaluating the map. Fingers brush against points, and plot imaginary lines. “I will acquiesce nothing.”

That caused him to bristle. “These people need hope! Continue to feed them, and provide what you will, but I will oversee tactical-”

She moves too swiftly for him to see, for he blinks and the barrel of a sniper rifle is all but touching his forehead. It is not the ideal weapon for a short range kill, but it is a weapon all the same.

“They need hope, you say? It's about time you Guardians got with the program. While you were off planning your resistance - how’d that work for you, by the way - my people and I have been bringing back the survivors you left for dead.”

“The Guardians were being hunted in the streets for sport!” He does not look away from her, or her weapon pointed at him, blue eyes sparking with fury.

“So were the children! So was EVERY SINGLE ONE of us.” She shook her head in disbelief. “You want hope? Go take a walk around out there. Look at them working together. Humans and Guardians. Together. You need hope? That is hope. We are the last hope. We are the only hope.” She lowers her weapon, sets it off to the side. He thinks he could reach it if he needed to. “You want to win this war, you need the rest of humanity’s help to do it. Without your Light, you are just as much a Guardian as the rest of us.”

“Not at all, then.” His voice is low, eyes narrowed on her.

She rolls her eyes. “Like I’ve been telling the rest of your mopey-ass people: anybody who can pick up a gun and shoot is a Guardian. If you’re going to have a pity party, stay the fuck out of our way. We have work to do.”

“The Cabal have a weapon pointed at our Sun. They will kill us all.”

“Not if we kill them, first.”

He steps into her personal space. “You naive fool. Do you really think it to be that easy?”

She stares down her nose at him, their eyes even like their height. “No. I don’t. But I know that if we talk about it like they’ve already won we’re never going to. Buck up, Commander. We’ve intercepted their transmissions. We know about the Almighty. We’re going to find a way.”

The air leaves the Commander’s lungs like a deflating balloon. His body looks more tired than hostile. “And just what do you know about planning a counter offensive?”

She shrugs. “Enough to know that we have enough people here to take back the City, when the time comes. The time is going to come.” She turns to regard her map once more, giving him her back. “There are fourteen thousand some-odd clans out there, across the Farm and the City. All of which are made of civilians and Guardians willing to work together - to fight together to protect everyone and take back what we’ve lost. That’s what I’ve been working on, along with intercepting enemy transmissions, keeping the Fallen off our backs, and making sure the coming Winter doesn’t cut our numbers in half. Is that enough for you? I don’t have centuries of battle to call upon to help me out like you do, oh wise one, but I figure keeping our people alive is our best chance at surviving this war.”

The Vanguard Commander steps forward and looks at her map. “You believe we that can win this war? Put down this Ghaul and his Almighty?”

Hawthorne nods. “Eventually, yes. But I think we have a lot of work to do to get there.”

“My Fireteam - the other Vanguards will be arriving eventually.”

“Then it looks like you’re stuck with me in the meantime. Lucky you.” She hands him a stack of paper. It’s all hand-written. “These are the most important scout reports we’ve compiled since Tower-fall. Figure you’ll want to know what’s happening in our little slice of paradise. I’ll assemble my people to give you a briefing… so long as you promise not to attempt a hostile takeover.”

Hawthorne reaches down, slings her gun over her shoulder and turns back to him. He’s flipping through the reports rapidly, trying to read at a speed far too fast for actual absorption. “Bring those with you.” She instructs. "Let me give you the tour and find you a place to stay.”

“That will not be-”

“You want to give them hope, right? We don’t have to like each other - I still think you’re a jerk for abandoning us, and I’m sure you have something far more poetic you could call me. But we need to be seen together so they know we have a common goal, and are willing to set our differences aside for their best interest.” She straightens her back, cracks her neck with two quick jerky movements and audible pops. “I’ll try to move past my preconceived notions if you will, though I feel like I’m doing all the talking and you’re just standing there being all silently judgey. And I hate that.”

“I know very little about you.” It’s a lie. He wonders if she knows it, too. He memorized her file, unwilling to bring it with him across the galaxy.

Umber eyes regard him coolly. She’s wary, and has every reason to be. Her danger sense has kept her - and the survivors - alive this long, after all. “Pay attention. You just might learn something.”

[acostaplumbingsolution]

Plumbing Tips To Prevent Frozen Pipes

Burst pipes can be a disaster. And you also won't only need a plug. While the plot will replace the frozen pipes-and must ensure that it does not happen again-small cracks can release hundreds of gallons of water to your home every day, destroying property, causing structural damage and creating a dangerous type of condition that dangerous prints are harmful to love.

First Small Physics: Why does the pipe explode?

Water expands when frozen. Think of ice cubes when you first put a tray in the freezer, the water is neat in the small compartment. However, if the tray is filled a little too full, when you go to add a cube to your drink, you will find them all frozen together. At a certain point the water in each compartment is expanded, filled and integrated with his friends in the next compartment.

The same principle is working when the pipe explodes.

Interestingly, however, it is usually not the outside pressure that expands water on the walls of the pipe that causes the pipe to explode. This is the reason. When the pipe is completely clogged by ice, water is trapped between the ice dam at one end and the tap is closed at the other end. When the water expands further down the pipe and freezes, the pressure accumulates between the blockage and the tap ... and the pipe will explode at the weakest point.

Think about Prevention: Winterize Plumbing Your

They say one ounce of prevention worth one pound of healing ... and in the case of frozen and exploding pipes, a little prevention will save cash and some big headaches too.

Here are four tips that are worth taking because winter is getting closer.

1. Wrap to keep it warm. Check whether any pipes close to the exterior wall or floor in the basement or crawl room are insulated properly. The value of insulation increases with the thickness of the insulation you use, so don't be afraid to wrap up to the maximum. Not sure if you have enough isolation? Contact the plumber in Katy to make a quick assessment.

2. Keep the heat ... and cold. Close all air leaks near your interior pipe to make sure they are not exposed to outdoor air. Cover the outer ventilation nearby which can let in cold air. Don't forget to check that there is no gap or crack where the pipe enters your house too.

3. Turn off the tap. Outer water tap is a recipe for the pipe disaster if the flowing pipe between the tap and the interior pipe froze and bursts. Turn off the exterior water source ... and don't forget to turn on the tap to drain all the remaining water.

4. Stay hot. If your stove stops, your basement pipe will not stay long. Invest in a little maintenance of proactive heating to keep your water flow well throughout the winter. Even if your furnace is functioning properly, if your thermostat is lowered too low or you have closed all ventilation in your basement, it might not be warm enough to keep the pipe from freezing.

Plot policy: how to fix frozen pipes

Sometimes our best efforts to prevent are unsuccessful. Or the early cold snap captures us unconscious. If you turn on your tap and no one comes out, your neighbor's problem also does not experience what you have to do.

1. Stay calm. Just because your pipe is frozen does not mean it or it will be standard.

2. Turn off your main water valve. This is really necessary if you know your water pipes explode, because this is the only way to stop the flow of ol 'H2O. But that is a good precaution if your pipe is frozen, if there is a small gap that you don't realize because the water is frozen.

3. Try to find frost. This will be part of the pipe that feels cooler than the other ... and maybe there is more than one if you have some blockages.

4. Turn on the cold water tap closest to the frozen pipe. This will let the water run away safely flowing while melting.

5. Heat the pipe. Hair dryer is the best for exploding pipes and floods, in this case you should not operate electric devices in the area. Start near the nearest tap and work towards the frozen. Never use open flames to melt pipes and that is the danger of fire and can endanger your pipes.

6. Check the pipe for cracks. You want to know that you will not cause flooding when turning on the main water valve.

7. Improve the problem. Contact the leading professional plumbers to assess the situation and make recommendations.

[dfroza]

Today’s reading from the ancient book of Proverbs and book of Psalms

for july 24 of 2021 with Proverbs 24 and Psalm 24, accompanied by Psalm 35 for the 35th day of Summer and Psalm 55 for day 205 of the year (now with the consummate book of 150 Psalms in its 2nd revolution this year)

[Proverbs 24]

[Wisdom’s Warning]

Don’t envy the wealth of the wicked or crave their company.

For they’re obsessed with causing trouble

and their conversations are corrupt.

Wise people are builders—

they build families, businesses, communities.

And through intelligence and insight

their enterprises are established and endure.

Because of their skilled leadership,

the hearts of people are filled with the treasures of wisdom

and the pleasures of spiritual wealth.

Wisdom can make anyone into a mighty warrior,

and revelation-knowledge increases strength.

Wise strategy is necessary to wage war,

and with many astute advisers

you’ll see the path to victory more clearly.

Wisdom is a treasure too lofty for a quarreling fool—

he’ll have nothing to say when leaders gather together.

There is one who makes plans to do evil—

Master Schemer is his name.

If you plan to do evil, it’s as wrong as doing it.

And everyone detests a troublemaker.

If you faint when under pressure,

you have need of courage.

Go and rescue the perishing! Be their savior!

Why would you stand back and watch them stagger to their death?

And why would you say, “But it’s none of my business”?

The one who knows you completely and judges your every motive

is also the keeper of souls—and not just yours!

He sees through your excuses and holds you responsible

for failing to help those whose lives are threatened.

Revelation-knowledge is a delicacy,

sweet like flowing honey that melts in your mouth.

Eat as much of it as you can, my friend!

For then you will perceive what is true wisdom,

your future will be bright,

and this hope living within you will never disappoint you.

Listen up, you wicked, irreverent ones—

don’t harass the lovers of God

and don’t invade their resting place.

For the lovers of God may suffer adversity

and stumble seven times,

but they will continue to rise over and over again.

But the unrighteous are brought down by just one calamity

and will never be able to rise again.

Never gloat when your enemy meets disaster,

and don’t be quick to rejoice if he falls.

For the Lord, who sees your heart,

will be displeased with you and will pity your foe.

Don’t be angrily offended over evildoers or be agitated by them.

For the wicked have no life and no future—

their light of life will die out.

My child, stand in awe of Yahweh!

Give counsel to others,

but don’t mingle with those who are rebellious.

For sudden destruction will fall upon them

and their lives will be ruined in a moment.

And who knows what retribution they will face!

[Revelation from the Wise]

Those enlightened with wisdom have spoken these proverbs:

Judgment must be impartial,

for it is always wrong to be swayed by a person’s status.

If you say to the guilty, “You are innocent,”

the nation will curse you and the people will revile you.

But when you convict the guilty,

the people will thank you and reward you with favor.

Speaking honestly is a sign of true friendship.

Go ahead, build your career and give yourself to your work.

But if you put me first, you’ll see your family built up!

Why would you be a false accuser and slander with your words?

Don’t ever spitefully say, “I’ll get even with him!

I’ll do to him what he did to me!”

One day I passed by the field of a lazy man,

and I noticed the vineyards of a slacker.

I observed nothing but thorns, weeds, and broken-down walls.

So I considered their lack of wisdom,

and I pondered the lessons I could learn from this:

Professional work habits prevent poverty from becoming

your permanent business partner. And:

If you put off until tomorrow the work you could do today,

tomorrow never seems to come.

The Book of Proverbs, Chapter 24 (The Passion Translation)

[Psalm 24]

A song of David.

The earth and all that’s upon it belong to the Eternal.

The world is His, with every living creature on it.

With seas as foundations and rivers as boundaries,

He shaped the continents, fashioned the earth.

Who can possibly ascend the mountain of the Eternal?

Who can stand before Him in sacred spaces?

Only those whose hands have been washed and hearts made pure,

men and women who are not given to lies or deception.

The Eternal will stand close to them with blessing and mercy at hand,

and the God who redeems will right what has been wrong.

These are the people who chase after Him;

[like Jacob, they look for the face of God].

[pause]

City gates—open wide!

Ancient doors—stand back!

For the glorious King shall soon pass your way.

Who is the glorious King?

The Eternal who is powerful

and mightily equipped for battle.

City gates—open wide!

Ancient doors—stand back!

For the glorious King shall soon pass your way.

Who is the glorious King?

The Eternal, Commander of heaven’s army,

He is the glorious King.

[pause]

The Book of Psalms, Poem 24 (The Voice)

[Psalm 35]

A song of David.

Make a case against those who struggle with me, Eternal One.

Battle against those who battle against me.

Be my shield and protection;

stand with me and rescue me!

Draw the spear and javelin

to meet my pursuers.

Reassure my soul and say,

“I will deliver you.”

Shame and dishonor those ruthless enemies

who wish to end my life.

Turn back those who conspire against me,

defeated and humiliated!

Let them be separated from the righteous as chaff is separated from the grain,

blown by the wind,

driven far, far away by the Eternal’s messenger.

Make their way unsure and dangerously dark,

a gauntlet of gloom

chased through the darkness by the Eternal’s messenger.

For no reason at all, they set a trap for me—a net, a snare—

then, without cause, they disguised a pit to capture my soul—another cowardly snare.

May they be surprised by their own destruction.

May they become tangled in their own net

and fall into the pit which they, themselves, dug.

When that day comes, my soul will celebrate the Eternal

and be glad in His salvation.

Every fiber of my being will shout,

“Eternal One, there is none like You!

You save the poor

from those who try to overpower them

and rescue the weak and the needy from those who steal from them.”

False witnesses step forward;

they ask me strange questions for which I have no answers.

When I do good to them, they do evil to me,

bringing misery to my soul.

When they were sick,

I mourned for them and wore sackcloth;

I chose to humble myself by fasting.

But my prayers came back unanswered.

So I mourned more deeply as if I grieved for my brother or friend;

I went around bowed down by sorrow, dressed in black,

as if I were weeping for my mother.

But when I stumbled, they gathered together

and celebrated my fall with joy;

People attacked me when I wasn’t expecting it;

they slandered me with no end.

Like godless mockers at a festival,

their words tore at me.

Lord, how long will You do nothing but watch?

Save me from their evil assaults, plots, and plunder;

rescue my life from these hungry beasts, these ruthless lions!

Then I will praise You and thank You at the great gathering,

in the company of the entire congregation.

Do not allow my enemies to boast at my expense,

for they despise me without any cause—

yet they wink at me—malicious, taunting winks.

Their words have no ring of peace.

They plan evil rumors and incriminations

against those who live peacefully in the land.

They speak lying accusations against me;

they say, “Aha! Aha! We know what you’ve been up to.

We’ve seen it with our own eyes!”

You have seen what’s happening, Eternal One; don’t remain silent!

Lord, do not stay far away from me!

Wake up; come to my defense!

Fight for me, my Lord and my God!

Pass Your judgment, Eternal One, my True God;

do it by the standards of Your righteousness.

Do not allow my enemies to boast over me.

Do not allow them to gloat over me,

“Aha, we have won! We got what we wanted!”

Do not allow them to brag,

“We chewed him up and spit him out.”

Shame and confuse those who celebrate my suffering;

may those who exalt themselves above me be covered with shame—

wrapped in a cloak of dishonor!

As for those who desire my vindication,

may they be joyful and glad.

May they forever say,

“The Eternal is indeed great!

He takes pleasure when good things happen to His servant!”

That’s why I will speak of Your righteousness

and sing praises to You all day long.

The Book of Psalms, Poem 35 (The Voice)

[theshadowedqueen82]

Fic Writer’s Week Day 7

Fic recs day! Here is my (long) list of Loki centric fics, grouped by movie.

Pre Thor/ Thor

The Sinking Feeling of Anticipation by JaggedCliffs

Pre-Thor, Gen. Just so you know, JaggedCliffs always writes the most heartbreaking fics and this one is no exception. Thor gets Mjolnir for his coming of age ceremony, and now Loki’s hoping for something just as grand for his ceremony.

Monsters by Coneycat

Housemates Crossover, Gen (but slash in later fics). First off, a disclaimer: watching the TV show Housemates is not necessary. You can read this fic without even having heard of the show. I highly recommend it, as it has a fantastic breakdown of the motivations of Loki’s entire family as well as giving Loki his own support system. This fic is the first in a series that centres around the idea of Loki falling and landing in Bristol, where he befriends a variety of supernatural creatures including a ghost, werewolf, and vampire.

Life In Reverse by Lise

Gen, WIP. This fic may possibly be my favourite fic on this entire list. Loki falls to Earth and ends up becoming a SHIELD agent, and then an Avenger. He’s weird friends with everybody (including Jane!!!!), and there is a lot of feels plus plot plus emotional growth and healing! I don’t think that it’s possible to recommend this fic enough. Seriously, read it.

Truthfully by Salazarfalcon

Gen. You’ve probably seen this fic on these lists before, but that’s because it’s really good. This was my first Loki fic and ended up dragging me into the fandom, with it’s A+ brodinson feels and therapy, which is a trope I will never tire of.

Icarus by trinity_destler

Loki/Jane, WIP. Loki falls to earth and since he’s got nothing else to do decides to find out how Jane could have such a profound effect on his brother in such a short time. No smut, mostly science and feels, and Jane is written like the amazing science nerd she is. I didn’t even like Lokane until I read this fic, and it delivers the most delicious of slow burns with a smattering of plot, science, and feels, all wrapped in beautiful prose that you need to read twice to savour properly.

Avengers

Ask Me No Questions by Alex51324

Gen. A “Loki ends up living with the Avengers” fic, and it’s awesome. Loki’s punishment was to be unable to speak unless if asked a direct question, and even then he can only answer with the truth. Lots of Avengers interactions, lots of “Loki’s not doing great but he’s doing better, sometimes”.

Unravelling by Lise

Gen. Loki doesn’t get back up from the Hulk beating, aka “what if physical trauma was an actual thing in superhero movies?”. This has actually turned into a series that’s basically just dealing with Loki’s complicated feelings re his family. I don’t usually like Odin but this fic does a fantastic job of writing him as a father, who’s made a lot of mistakes and is trying to fix them.

we’re not friends, we’re strangers with memories by Lise

Gen. Have you ever wondered what would happen if Clint and Loki were roommates? Well wonder no more, because this fic has a newly mortal Loki sleeping on Clint’s couch because he refuses to leave unless if Clint kills him. Starts off as crack and gradually descends into feels and deep emotional conversations (most of them drunk). Clint and Loki end up being weird almost-friends, which is fantastic. I didn’t know how much I needed that until this fic.

A Villain State of Mind by Mikkeneko

Gen. The Tesseract failed to teleport Loki back to Asgard, and now SHIELD is stuck with him while they wait for Thor to come back and pick him up. The solution? Consult a telepath who has a shining reputation for dealing with troubled non humans: Professor Xavier. A beautiful union of the MCU with the X-Men, with Loki actually getting help and improving, gradually. This is the first in a long series that does an amazing job of dealing with internalised racism, being an outcast, and the concept of family.

Steve Rogers’ Halfway House for Notorious Supervillains by Lise

Gen, WIP. Post Winter Soldier, Steve and Sam are still looking for Bucky and end up finding Loki, holed up in a former HYDRA lab and left for dead. There are many good things about this fic, such as Sam being amazing, Steve being guilty and angsty on everything, and Loki slowly starting down the long, long road to recovery. And Bucky shows up too at one point, and so does Sharon Carter (who actually has a personality in this fic!).

I have lived with shades, a shade by Lise

Gen. AU where Loki ends up being locked up in the Raft after the Avengers, and Steve breaks him out following CA:CW. It turns into “Wanda and Steve take a trip through Loki’s brain”. Lots of feels, hopeful ending, magnificent characters. This fic I have reread countless times and every single time I find something new to love about it.

Thor The Dark World

in her garden grew hyacinths by LadyCharity

Gen. The most heartbreaking fic I have ever read about Frigga’s death, perhaps the most heartbreaking fic I have read, period. Written from Thor’s POV, it’s basically a long story about Thor and Loki mourning with a lot of jealousy and insecurity from both brothers. 

Bargaining by proantagonist

Gen (hints of Loki/Sif and Loki/Natasha if you want to read it that way). Before Thor 3 came out, it was my belief that this fic was the only way by which to fully resolve all of Loki’s family problems (and in some ways, it still did a better job than the movie). Thor ends up being killed, and Loki makes a bargain to go back in time and prevent Thor’s death. He ends up changing a lot more than that, including himself.

Road to Nowhere by Lise

Gen. The fic where Loki convinces Thor to come with him on a road trip to get Frigga back from Valhalla. It’s an interstellar road trip. If that hasn’t already sold you, then there’s also a lot of beautifully written Brodinson interactions, with a lot of Loki trying to distance himself but Thor not wanting to lose his brother again.

those yesterdays bleeding through by wnnbdarklord

Gen. A time loop fic where Loki dies on Svaltaralfheim and wakes up back in his cell, just before the riot. He decides to use this to save Frigga, no matter how many times it takes. Many Frigga feels, fantastic job of Jane, and amazing use of the Aether.

Pleas to the Stars by JaggedCliffs

Gen. Nobody tells Loki about Frigga’s death, and Thor doesn’t ask him for help. Loki stays in his cell, slowly wasting away and wondering why his mother won’t come back. This fic has me in tears by the end of it no matter how many times I’ve read it. So many feels, so much angst. It’s probably the most heartbreaking thing on this list.

In The Bud by KaylaNorail

Gen. Ragnarok speculation, where Thor is disappointed but unsurprised when Loki ditches him and Dr. Strange during their search for Odin, choosing instead to spend his time using the time gem for his own plan. This fic is hands down one of the best things I have ever read. The characters are beautifully written, the feels perfectly executed, and it somehow manages to pull you out of the pit of pain that it threw you into and leaves you with a feeling of hopefulness at the ending. A fic that I will forever hold up as “better than canon”.

Thor Ragnarok

so much left to learn (and no one left to fight) by TheOtherOdinson

Gen. Drunk conversations is a trope I enjoy very much, and this fic is no exception. Thor and Loki realise just how much they lost, and try to think of a way to move forward.

atonement by foolonahill17

Gen, WIP. Every time this fic updates I drop whatever I’m doing to read the new chapter. It’s really good. Post Ragnarok speculation, where Loki sacrifices himself to give Asgard and Thor a chance to escape to Earth.

Un/Hurt by PoorYorick

Gen. A 5+1 where Loki gets hurt and hides it from a variety of people for a variety of reasons. Mainly whump with really good character interactions, and Sif exists in this one, so yay!

bold by finalizer

Loki/Valkyrie. The Valki I have been waiting for. Two walking disasters try to figure out if they mean anything to each other, and decide that it’s a better idea to have this conversation drunk. Only to find that they remember everything in the morning, resulting in awesomely awkward pillow talk. It’s not quite porn, but is rated mature for a reason. Read at your own risk (of falling for this ship hard enough to bruise, that’s the main risk of reading this fic).

And your father’s death came by the hand of Laufey’s son by Ohdotar

Gen. What happened to Volstagg’s children in the aftermath of Ragnarok? Loki is on the ship when he hears them, and realises that their father is nowhere in sight. In which Loki awkwardly tries to become a father figure, or at least an uncle of some sort. Loki interacting with small children, what else could you ask for?

[condensed-theorem-shop]

Dream Journal 1/20/17

Last night I dreamt:

There was one separate part of the dream which had no connection to anything else but was amusing. I dreamt that one of my teeth was coming out in crushed shards, and the one next to it was very loose. This was, obviously, pretty distressing, though I was a little hopeful that maybe they were just baby teeth that somehow hadn’t come out yet. Even in the dream, though, I noticed that having your teeth suddenly start falling out was weird and improbable. “You know,” I reflected, “really if I were to apply pure logic to this situation, I would conclude I was probably dreaming. Ha! Just goes to show how silly and impractical that is in the real world.”

The main dream started at my old fencing club, with my friends [James] and [John] and some other miscellaneous people. All of us were hanging around outside on the ramp up to the door.

Suddenly there was an [announcement/sense of foreboding]; no one else took it seriously, but I had special foreknowledge about How This Went and yelled at everyone to run, run, don’t stop running, get as far away as possible. We all start running across hill and dale. People occasionally start to linger, or wonder if this is really necessary. I tell them that if it’s real this is very very important, and if not it’ll be a funny story to tell later.

Eventually, the End Of The World detonates, in a [shockwave/contaminated cloud/radiation] spreading out from the fencing salle. Most things are killed or destroyed. Because we started running promptly, we are far enough away to escape the worst of it, but we have to keep going for a while, because the Thing is still coming after us. At one point I pause to help someone else, and the purplish miasma touches me and leaves tentacles clinging to me which I have to painfully pry off.

We’ve been joined by a bunch more people, at this point. We reach a river; we’re going to swim down it a ways and get out on the other shore, and the fog won’t be able to get us there. I have something that will be very helpful to our continued survival on my phone, but unfortunately I don’t have any good way to keep it safe while swimming. I settle for powering it all the way off, wrapping it in a corner of my shirt and tying it off so I don’t accidentally drop it and lose it, and then doing my best to hold it above water. Then I get in and we swim down the river.

Once we’re safe, we start talking about how to rebuild society. At this point I seem to be Zari. Some guy is talking about what our roles should be. He notes that I submitted a very thorough document with lots of good suggestions. “Of course,” I-as-Zari say. He then admits that he totally just said that to see my reaction. He thinks I’m being overambitious in my ideas and wants to pose some more practical problem to me. Unfortunately, he mumbles it unintelligibly. “Huh?” I say.

“OOC OOC,” says the person who is playing him [??? this seems to explicitly become a glowfic at this point, it’s a bit confusing], “did Zari not hear it or did you actually not?”

“Oh, sorry, I didn’t,” I say.

She and the other person glare at me and start gesticulating wildly.

“...uh?” I say. “...what’s going on? Did I say something wrong? I’m sorry, I just didn’t hear.”

Eventually one of them manages to point me at a sign on the wall, which proclaims that all out-of-character utterances must be preceded and followed by ‘OOC’.

“Oh,” I say. “Sorry. I didn’t know that. I figured you’d said OOC, we were still having an out-of-character conversation, we could say it again when we were finished.”

She begrudgingly admits this explanation and agrees to let it go. (I keep to myself that I think this is a stupid and draconian rule.)

A few minutes later, I mess up again on the OOC rule, and they get all judgey and start talking about banning me. I go hide in the bathroom to cry. After a little while I can hear them outside talking about how maybe they’d been too hard on me and should go check on me. I don’t really want to go talk to them, so I continue hiding out.

At this point the dream seems to transition back to being in-character, but this time I’m Jean. I’m still hiding in the bathroom, sitting on the bathroom crying; there’s a woman in the bedroom of the suite, just outside, and a man comes in. They’re having an argument and yelling; he seems to be her ex, with a whole soap opera plot going on between them.

I’m not particularly invested in them; I’m still thinking about the drama with my ... cowriters? I’m worried they’re going to come looking for me, and it’s been too long for me to have plausibly been on the toilet, so I go get in the shower instead. I can still hear the fighting outside.

Then, suddenly, I hear the sound outside of a gun being cocked. I realize that the angry ex is armed. I am Jean, so obviously I decide to do something dumb and go intervene before she gets shot, at the risk of getting shot myself. I get out of the shower and try to unlock the bathroom door, but the lock is stuck; and I’m trying to do it quietly, so as not to alert the man with the gun, so it’s taking a long time to get it unstuck.

Before I can, I hear the sound of a gunshot. My first thought is that the man’s heard me, and is shooting at me through the flimsy bathroom door. But there’s no hole in the door. I pry the lock open and open the door. The man is gone; the woman is dead on the floor, shot through the head. I’m still Jean, so I’m not particularly upset about this, but I’m a bit worried about him coming back and shooting me. I go hide in the walk-in closet.

The closet, it turns out, is super weird. It’s this -- shrine? to a dark-haired young woman, full of pictures of her with a blonde woman who seems to be her sister. There’s pictures of them taped all over the walls, and framed and set on shelves, and also various other little relics -- things she wrote, belongings of hers, and so forth. It seems intensely private. I feel like an intruder; but not enough like one to go back out and maybe get shot.

Going further in, I find a hidden door, which leads into a series of hallways and eventually back into the underground compound where the survivors of the disaster are staying. Everyone is glad to see me, but at that moment someone else comes in with news of the murder. I’m a little worried that they’re going to end up thinking I did it, but no one ends up suspecting me.

I go back to the bedroom, through the normal route, and hang about the people who are investigating the murder. They’re saying it must have been a suicide, since the bedroom door was locked from the inside, and there’s no way for an attacker to have gotten out. I realize he must have left the same way I did. I explain what happened, and offer to show them the secret door. They are also intrigued by the shrine in the closet, and find several more hidden doors.

Then an old, gray-haired woman walks in on us. I know at once she’s the blonde girl from the pictures. I apologize profusely for intruding on her shrine, but she waves it off: it’s not particularly private, she says, and she’s glad to have a chance to talk about it. The dark-haired girl was her sister, who was born with a terminal condition and only lived into her late teens.

“Oh,” I say, realizing. “All those dark-haired dolls in that one room at the fencing salle -- those must have been hers! Made to look like her!” [It probably goes without saying that no such dolls existed in my real-life fencing salle.]

The old woman confirms that this is correct. I’m still Jean, so I’m not sad about her dead sister, but I find the shrine to her beautiful and aesthetically compelling and cry on her over that.

We go for a walk together and talk; she’s a very interesting conversationalist, with lots of insights about life. [I seem to be myself again around now.] We pick through the remnants of the destroyed world; it hasn’t been looted yet, so there’s lots of good stuff, which will make rebuilding civilization from the ground up a bit more tolerable. We find some packages of cupcakes, and I eat some. She reminds me not to just eat them without thinking, but take the time to deliberately enjoy every bite. It’s obvious she’s not just talking about the cupcakes.

There’s a deep puddle in the road. She goes around it, but I start to wade through it. She asks why I’m not going around. “Every time I’ve waded through a puddle in the last week, something good has come of it,” I say. [At the time this seems true to me, with good things earlier in the narrative having supposedly followed from my wading through puddles.] She acknowledges the wisdom of this, and joins me. I’m curious about what good thing is going to happen.

Then it comes to me. “Look,” I say, “here’s the good thing already. Look, what do you see?” She gestures for me to continue. “Tadpoles,” I point out, “nearly turned into frogs. And minnows, and baby lizards.” There are indeed lots of baby animals in the water. “We thought that the Disaster would wipe out life and prevent anything new from being born, but look, we were wrong. These are new enough that they must have been born after it. There’s hope after all.”

As we continue through the water, we start to find things we’ve lost floating by. There are, particularly, lots of retainers and dentures; I find two sets of mine [in real life one is a set I don’t own anymore and never actually used, and one is a set my sister doesn’t own any more; my actual real retainers did not appear in the dream] and she finds hers. We salvage as many as we can, because we figure a lot of people will want their retainers.

[arcelian]

Tales of the Abyss Hogwarts Houses

Here's something I've been working on for... almost two years apparently??  Some friends and I started an Abyss Harry Potter AU a while back, and sortinghatchats was brought up, and I ended up trying to sort all the main characters using their system.  So here it finally is!

Obvious disclaimer: while I've had feedback from said friends while making this it's still ultimately subjective; I've written explanations for all the main chars (protags and villains) but if you disagree with any of these that's okay! (and you should tell me because I will be interested!!)  There's also some bonus major npcs at the end that I didn't write explanations for bc they're.... bonus....

Also disclaimer: this uses sortinghatchats' two-house sorting system, so if you've never heard of it before you might want to look at this post first so you don't get confused by my references to primaries and secondaries and other stuff!

Full thing under the cut bc Long.

Heroes

Luke: Hufflepuff/Gryffindor

Luke is definitely Hufflepuff primary, even before his character development; he was so isolated that he didn’t really have much understanding of or attachment to anyone outside of the manor, but even then he was quick to empathize with others.  Even pre-development he shows concern for others’ wellbeing, shown most explicitly with Ion and with his reluctance to kill.  Most of his role models as a child are very discriminatory, so he tends towards that at first, but by the endgame he’s trying to save everyone, up to and including his enemies who are actively trying to kill him.

For secondary, he’s the most ridiculously stubborn Gryffindor I’ve ever seen, to the point that the rest of the party yelling at him about how he’s making incredibly stupid, impulsive decisions is a fairly regular occurrence, even post-development.  He almost has to be physically dragged out of Sheridan during the disaster, he chases Spinoza halfway across the world to prove a point to Asch, etc.

Tear: Gryffindor/Gryffindor

Tear is the sort of person who prioritizes justice and morality above anything else.  She is kind and apologetic to Luke when they first meet, then treats him coldly when she starts seeing him as rude and selfish, then is the first person to support his efforts to become a better person.  She’s also willing to turn against anyone, even her own family or the Order of Lorelei itself, if she feels their actions are unjust, and will do whatever it takes to correct that injustice.  She is capable of performing Slytherin when necessary, but she feels most at home in Gryffindor.

Guy: Slytherin/Hufflepuff (models/adopts Hufflepuff primary & Slytherin secondary)

Guy’s a bit hard to get a handle on at first, but if you look close he’s actually Slytherin primary; he’s just very warm and friendly in his regular interactions.  However, there’s really only a few people he’s very attached to; before and during the beginning of the game, that includes his family, but that expands to include Luke, and the rest of the core party to a lesser extent.  He also adopts Luke’s Hufflepuff mindset as a moral code for the part of the world he’s not emotionally invested in, which is what causes the confusion.

He is Hufflepuff secondary though, perfectly happy to spend years on his revenge plan, or sit in Aramis Spring for hours, or devote himself to helping Luke grow.  He can model Slytherin as a secondary as well, but in the end his more favoured tactic is calm, stubborn persistence.

Natalia: Gryffindor/Gryffindor (models Hufflepuff primary)

Natalia has Hufflepuff leanings as well, but ultimately she’s actually Gryffindor.  She values her people, yes, but that’s because she believes that it’s her duty as a princess, so she models Hufflepuff.  However, in the end, she puts that duty above all else, as she does when she chooses to fight Largo for the sake of her people, for example.  She does slip towards burning for a short time during the heritage plot, but manages to pull herself back up.  By the time of the peace conference, she’s returned to doing what Gryff/Gryffs do best: seeing injustice and marching straight in to right it.

Jade: Slytherin/Ravenclaw (models Ravenclaw primary)

Jade is almost always the smartest person in the room, and he takes pleasure in knowing that (and lording it over everyone else).  He’s also incredibly logical and methodical, trying to study a situation from every angle before deciding on a course of action - he just happens to have enough experience to do this incredibly quickly.  Overall Jade is a good example of a hypercompetent Ravenclaw secondary - his ability to draw on an extensive knowledge base is what makes him such an effective threat.

Despite that, when push comes to shove he really wants to protect his people over all else, and when he’s sufficiently stressed he begins to fall back on this instinct, which is why he’s a Slytherin primary with a Ravenclaw model, and not a Ravenclaw ignoring his gut feelings to do what’s logical to him.  For example, his pre-Rem conversation: “I would ask you to die, yes. If I were an Emperor, with a country to consider.  But as your friend, I feel compelled to stop you.”  Jade’s desire to follow his Ravenclaw-model idea of what is correct is ultimately secondary to his Slytherin instinct to protect his own.

This is also shown during his backstory: Nebilim was part of his inner circle, and her death and Jade’s failure at properly replicating her causes him to begin to Petrify.  His Ravenclaw model was built primarily as a way of coping with this loss and preventing it from happening again.

Interestingly enough, by the end of the game Jade’s added Luke to his inner circle, to the point of adopting some of Luke’s Hufflepuff primary tendencies, shown with his plans to resume his fomicry studies for the sake of the remaining replicas.

Anise: Slytherin/Slytherin

Anise is incredibly Slytherin!  Her major motivation is protecting Ion and her parents, and she will do anything to further that goal, including lying, spying, and sucking up to every rich person she meets.  Most of Anise’s struggles during the game are a result of her guilt over being forced to act against her inner circle (her parents, Ion, and eventually the rest of the party).  This comes to a head during her traitor subplot, when she’s forced to choose between her parents and Ion, shows off her Slytherin secondary with her plan to save both, and is heartbroken when her attempts ultimately fail.

Asch: Burned Slytherin/Gryffindor

Asch started off as a Slytherin primary, with his family, Natalia, and Van among his inner circle, but was Burned after the kidnapping incident and stopped trusting anyone.  During the events of the game, the group, especially Natalia, started to pull him out of the burned state, but he wasn’t able to do so entirely before the endgame.

On the other hand, Asch is, like Luke, a Gryffindor secondary.  He’s stubborn and hardheaded, refusing to follow any path but his own, especially when Luke is involved.  He’s also surprisingly blunt and honest, choosing to explain things to Luke at the beginning of the second act despite his personal feelings towards him.  Unfortunately, the combination of this secondary and his burnt Primary lead him to ignore the party’s suggestions and offers to help, which ultimately lead to his downfall.

Villains

Van: Burned Gryffindor/Hufflepuff

Van is a good example of a villainous Gryffindor.  When he was young he was likely an idealist, believing in the Score, or at least his family’s duty as descendants of Yulia - but when Hod was destroyed, he lost his faith in those duties and Burned his primary.  He chose to destroy the Score that betrayed him, and by extension the world that allowed it to exist, and refuses to be swayed by any outside arguments because he is no longer capable of seeing any other solution.  And he chooses to sacrifice anything that could get in the way of his goal, even his sister or the lord he was sworn to protect.

To reach that goal, Van spends years working his way up to the position of Commandant in the Order, charming and manipulating everyone around him, and just generally being a very effective Hufflepuff secondary.  Van’s most dangerous attribute is his relentlessness, with his ability to gain people’s trust as a close second.  Using it, he manages to draw the God-Generals and Mohs to his side, and several others including Luke only oppose him once they’re far enough from him to break free from his influence.

Interestingly enough, Van’s sorting is an inversion of Luke’s, with his Gryff/Puff opposing Luke’s Puff/Gryff.

Legretta: Burned Slytherin/Ravenclaw

Legretta is another Burned Slytherin primary, with her brother’s death and her confrontation with Van as the catalyst for her primary burning.  By the time the game happens she’s stopped being able to trust her heart, because she’s no longer sure whether her feelings are actually hers or if they’re being caused by the Score.  In the meantime, she’s adopted a rather Ravenclaw-like mindset in order to cope with her loss of trust: her reason for destroying the Score is to find out whether or not it’s manipulating her feelings.  The Score is the greatest threat to both her and her loved ones, and until she can confirm that she’s safe from it she refuses to let herself care about anyone.

She is, however, a true Ravenclaw in her secondary, with her gambit to follow Van to restore her primary showing that off best.  She is careful and methodical, following the plan to the best of her abilities, thorough in everything she does.  This even shows in the flashback to her assassination attempt, as she apparently did enough research beforehand into the Closed Score and Van’s actions to know that her brother’s death was foretold there.

Dist: Slytherin/Gryffindor

As a Slytherin primary, Dist is an extreme example of the ‘selfish ambition’ Slytherin stereotype.  His ultimate goal is to win back Jade’s approval, to make Jade happy; it’s the driving force behind all his actions.  Unfortunately for him, he fundamentally misunderstands who Jade is and what he wants, which is why he’s so unsuccessful in reaching that goal, but that is his goal regardless.

Dist also tries to emulate Jade’s Ravenclaw secondary, playing the part of the scheming mad scientist, but unfortunately for him he’s actually a Gryffindor secondary.  During most of his interactions with the party, he ends up resorting to stubborn tenaciousness to try and get what he wants.  He brags and taunts, throws robots around liberally, and absolutely refuses to consider any other options, no matter how many times Jade brushes him off.

Largo: Burned Gryffindor/Gryffindor

Like Natalia, Largo is both Gryffindor primary and secondary, but unlike her, his primary is Burned, caused by the loss of his wife and child.  He could no longer believe the Score was just, and he couldn’t trust his king to do what he believes is right.  Largo doesn’t follow Van because he believes Van’s plan is any better than the Score, though; it’s because he can no longer see a path that’s truly ‘right,’ so he latched onto Van’s convictions in an attempt to find stability.  He became the muscle of Van’s faction, preferring to use brute force and implacability over his allies’ less straightforward methods.

However, Largo still holds onto the shreds of his Gryffindor ideals.  He may not know for himself what is right, but he still places value on the idea of justice, and respects anyone who can wholeheartedly believe in something, even if he can’t agree with it.  It’s what convinced him to side with Van, but it also shows in his conversations around his final battle, as he praises Luke, Natalia, and the rest of the party for standing up for their own beliefs.

Sync: Burned Slytherin/Slytherin

Sync is a Burned Slytherin at its most extreme, caring for nothing and nobody, including himself.  Van comes the closest to being part of Sync’s circle, but in the end Sync follows him more because of their shared goal than out of any significant emotional attachment.  Sync’s Slytherin primary is also what makes it easy for him to follow Van’s plans - he has no loyalty or attachment to the world in general, and thus feels no guilt over destroying it.

Sync’s secondary is also Slytherin, as his preferred method is manipulating and toying with others instead of meeting them straight on.  He uses the curse slot he put on Guy to attack the party several times, sneaks onto the Tartarus during the planet core mission to wreak havoc, and after Ion’s death he uses their similar appearance to mess with Anise.

Arietta: Hufflepuff/Gryffindor

Arrietta as a Hufflepuff primary sounds odd at first, but that’s because her Puff loyalty is very different from the stereotype.  Like most Puffs, she cares about people - but Arietta’s definition of ‘people’ is almost exclusively her monster family and friends.  With a few exceptions, she doesn’t seem to see humans as worthy of her time or respect; it’s arguable that she doesn’t even perceive herself as ‘human,’ identifying with her monsters more.  Ion, of course, is the rare human exception, with the other God-Generals counting only through Van’s connection with Ion.  However, the rest of humanity is beneath her notice, and she treats the party with active malice.  They killed her family, after all - to Arietta it’s the humans that are the real monsters.

She also shows a Gryffindor-secondary tendency to run into things headfirst, trusting her gut to do what seems right in the moment instead of doing any complicated planning.  Arrietta fights the party mainly because of her grudge over her liger mother’s death, with Van’s plans being secondary.  She also gives the party information on a whim when Ion is threatened, and just as impulsively challenges Anise to a duel after Ion’s death.

Mohs: Hufflepuff/Slytherin

Mohs is the type of Hufflepuff that prioritizes loyalty to a community or group over loyalty to the people in it.  For him, his priority is the Order of Lorelei, and all its religious ideals and traditions - he is the only major faction leader who is unable to let go of the Score when everyone else chooses to abandon it, and he resorts to increasingly desperate measures to cling to his duty.  The Score is an intrinsic part of his identity, and he just can’t cope with the knowledge that it might not be the perfect promise he believed it was.  He spends the second half of the game trying desperately not to Burn, because if the Score is destroyed, his entire identity will go with it.

Meanwhile, his tendency to use whatever means possible - even if it’s underhanded or deceitful - to ensure the Score is carried out proves his Slytherin secondary.  Even beyond his following the Order’s rules of controlling information access for the Score’s sake, he manipulates King Ingobert to try and get rid of Luke, and even goes as far as allying with the God-Generals when he thinks it’ll help him succeed.

Other

Ion - Hufflepuff/Slytherin

Mieu - Slytherin/Hufflepuff

Peony - Hufflepuff/Slytherin

Ingobert - Hufflepuff/Ravenclaw

Duke Fabre - Gryffindor/Hufflepuff

Ginji & Noelle - Hufflepuff/Ravenclaw

Nephry - Gryffindor/Hufflepuff

Cecille - Slytherin/Hufflepuff

Frings - Gryffindor/Gryffindor

(also shoutout to jeredu lyra slip rei for Making Hogwarts AU and thus This Post Happen)

[dfroza]

Today’s reading from the ancient books of Proverbs and Psalms

for Sunday, january 24 of 2021 with Proverbs 24 and Psalm 24, accompanied by Psalm 35 for the 35th day of Winter

[Psalm 24]

A song of David.

The earth and all that’s upon it belong to the Eternal.

The world is His, with every living creature on it.

With seas as foundations and rivers as boundaries,

He shaped the continents, fashioned the earth.

Who can possibly ascend the mountain of the Eternal?

Who can stand before Him in sacred spaces?

Only those whose hands have been washed and hearts made pure,

men and women who are not given to lies or deception.

The Eternal will stand close to them with blessing and mercy at hand,

and the God who redeems will right what has been wrong.

These are the people who chase after Him;

[like Jacob, they look for the face of God].

[pause]

City gates—open wide!

Ancient doors—stand back!

For the glorious King shall soon pass your way.

Who is the glorious King?

The Eternal who is powerful

and mightily equipped for battle.

City gates—open wide!

Ancient doors—stand back!

For the glorious King shall soon pass your way.

Who is the glorious King?

The Eternal, Commander of heaven’s army,

He is the glorious King.

[pause]

The Book of Psalms, Poem 24 (The Voice)

[Psalm 35]

A song of David.

Make a case against those who struggle with me, Eternal One.

Battle against those who battle against me.

Be my shield and protection;

stand with me and rescue me!

Draw the spear and javelin

to meet my pursuers.

Reassure my soul and say,

“I will deliver you.”

Shame and dishonor those ruthless enemies

who wish to end my life.

Turn back those who conspire against me,

defeated and humiliated!

Let them be separated from the righteous as chaff is separated from the grain,

blown by the wind,

driven far, far away by the Eternal’s messenger.

Make their way unsure and dangerously dark,

a gauntlet of gloom

chased through the darkness by the Eternal’s messenger.

For no reason at all, they set a trap for me—a net, a snare—

then, without cause, they disguised a pit to capture my soul—another cowardly snare.

May they be surprised by their own destruction.

May they become tangled in their own net

and fall into the pit which they, themselves, dug.

When that day comes, my soul will celebrate the Eternal

and be glad in His salvation.

Every fiber of my being will shout,

“Eternal One, there is none like You!

You save the poor

from those who try to overpower them

and rescue the weak and the needy from those who steal from them.”

False witnesses step forward;

they ask me strange questions for which I have no answers.

When I do good to them, they do evil to me,

bringing misery to my soul.

When they were sick,

I mourned for them and wore sackcloth;

I chose to humble myself by fasting.

But my prayers came back unanswered.

So I mourned more deeply as if I grieved for my brother or friend;

I went around bowed down by sorrow, dressed in black,

as if I were weeping for my mother.

But when I stumbled, they gathered together

and celebrated my fall with joy;

People attacked me when I wasn’t expecting it;

they slandered me with no end.

Like godless mockers at a festival,

their words tore at me.

Lord, how long will You do nothing but watch?

Save me from their evil assaults, plots, and plunder;

rescue my life from these hungry beasts, these ruthless lions!

Then I will praise You and thank You at the great gathering,

in the company of the entire congregation.

Do not allow my enemies to boast at my expense,

for they despise me without any cause—

yet they wink at me—malicious, taunting winks.

Their words have no ring of peace.

They plan evil rumors and incriminations

against those who live peacefully in the land.

They speak lying accusations against me;

they say, “Aha! Aha! We know what you’ve been up to.

We’ve seen it with our own eyes!”

You have seen what’s happening, Eternal One; don’t remain silent!

Lord, do not stay far away from me!

Wake up; come to my defense!

Fight for me, my Lord and my God!

Pass Your judgment, Eternal One, my True God;

do it by the standards of Your righteousness.

Do not allow my enemies to boast over me.

Do not allow them to gloat over me,

“Aha, we have won! We got what we wanted!”

Do not allow them to brag,

“We chewed him up and spit him out.”

Shame and confuse those who celebrate my suffering;

may those who exalt themselves above me be covered with shame—

wrapped in a cloak of dishonor!

As for those who desire my vindication,

may they be joyful and glad.

May they forever say,

“The Eternal is indeed great!

He takes pleasure when good things happen to His servant!”

That’s why I will speak of Your righteousness

and sing praises to You all day long.

The Book of Psalms, Poem 35 (The Voice)

[Proverbs 24]

Don’t envy the wealth of the wicked or crave their company.

For they’re obsessed with causing trouble

and their conversations are corrupt.

Wise people are builders—

they build families, businesses, communities.

And through intelligence and insight

their enterprises are established and endure.

Because of their skilled leadership

the hearts of people are filled with the treasures of wisdom

and the pleasures of spiritual wealth.

Wisdom can make anyone into a mighty warrior,

and revelation-knowledge increases strength.

Wise strategy is necessary to wage war,

and with many astute advisers

you’ll see the path to victory more clearly.

Wisdom is a treasure too lofty for a quarreling fool—

he’ll have nothing to say when leaders gather together.

There is one who makes plans to do evil—

Master Schemer is his name.

If you plan to do evil, it’s as wrong as doing it.

And everyone detests a troublemaker.

If you faint when under pressure,

you have need of courage.

Go and rescue the perishing! Be their savior!

Why would you stand back and watch them stagger to their death?

And why would you say, “But it’s none of my business”?

The one who knows you completely and judges your every motive

is also the keeper of souls—and not just yours!

He sees through your excuses and holds you responsible

for failing to help those whose lives are threatened.

Revelation-knowledge is a delicacy,

sweet like flowing honey that melts in your mouth.

Eat as much of it as you can, my friend!

For then you will perceive what is true wisdom,

your future will be bright,

and this hope living within will never disappoint you.

Listen up, you wicked, irreverent ones—

don’t harass the lovers of God

and don’t invade their resting place.

For the lovers of God may suffer adversity

and stumble seven times,

but they will continue to rise over and over again.

But the unrighteous are brought down by just one calamity

and will never be able to rise again.

Never gloat when your enemy meets disaster

and don’t be quick to rejoice if he falls.

For the Lord, who sees your heart,

will be displeased with you and will pity your foe.

Don’t be angrily offended over evildoers or be agitated by them.

For the wicked have no life and no future—

their light of life will die out.

My child, stand in awe of the Lord Jehovah!

Give counsel to others,

but don’t mingle with those who are rebellious.

For sudden destruction will fall upon them

and their lives will be ruined in a moment.

And who knows what retribution they will face!

[Revelation from the Wise]

Those enlightened with wisdom have spoken these proverbs:

Judgment must be impartial,

for it is always wrong to be swayed by a person’s status.

If you say to the guilty, “You are innocent,”

the nation will curse you and the people will revile you.

But when you convict the guilty,

the people will thank you and reward you with favor.

Speaking honestly is a sign of true friendship.

Go ahead, build your career and give yourself to your work.

But if you put me first, you’ll see your family built up!

Why would you be a false accuser and slander with your words?

Don’t ever spitefully say, “I’ll get even with him!

I’ll do to him what he did to me!”

One day I passed by the field of a lazy man

and I noticed the vineyards of a slacker.

I observed nothing but thorns, weeds, and broken-down walls.

So I considered their lack of wisdom,

and I pondered the lessons I could learn from this:

Professional work habits prevent poverty from becoming

your permanent business partner. And:

If you put off until tomorrow the work you could do today,

tomorrow never seems to come.

The Book of Proverbs, Chapter 24 (The Passion Translation)

[dfroza]

Today’s reading in the ancient book of Proverbs and Psalms

for friday, july 24 of 2020 with Proverbs 24 and Psalm 24 accompanied by Psalm 35 for the 35th day of Summer and Psalm 56 for day 206 of the year

[Proverbs 24]

Don’t envy the wealth of the wicked or crave their company.

For they’re obsessed with causing trouble

and their conversations are corrupt.

Wise people are builders—

they build families, businesses, communities.

And through intelligence and insight

their enterprises are established and endure.

Because of their skilled leadership

the hearts of people are filled with the treasures of wisdom

and the pleasures of spiritual wealth.

Wisdom can make anyone into a mighty warrior,

and revelation-knowledge increases strength.

Wise strategy is necessary to wage war,

and with many astute advisers

you’ll see the path to victory more clearly.

Wisdom is a treasure too lofty for a quarreling fool—

he’ll have nothing to say when leaders gather together.

There is one who makes plans to do evil—

Master Schemer is his name.

If you plan to do evil, it’s as wrong as doing it.

And everyone detests a troublemaker.

If you faint when under pressure,

you have need of courage.

Go and rescue the perishing! Be their savior!

Why would you stand back and watch them stagger to their death?

And why would you say, “But it’s none of my business”?

The one who knows you completely and judges your every motive

is also the keeper of souls—and not just yours!

He sees through your excuses and holds you responsible

for failing to help those whose lives are threatened.

Revelation-knowledge is a delicacy,

sweet like flowing honey that melts in your mouth.

Eat as much of it as you can, my friend!

For then you will perceive what is true wisdom,

your future will be bright,

and this hope living within will never disappoint you.

Listen up, you wicked, irreverent ones—

don’t harass the lovers of God

and don’t invade their resting place.

For the lovers of God may suffer adversity

and stumble seven times,

but they will continue to rise over and over again.

But the unrighteous are brought down by just one calamity

and will never be able to rise again.

Never gloat when your enemy meets disaster

and don’t be quick to rejoice if he falls.

For the Lord, who sees your heart,

will be displeased with you and will pity your foe.

Don’t be angrily offended over evildoers or be agitated by them.

For the wicked have no life and no future—

their light of life will die out.

My child, stand in awe of the Lord Jehovah!

Give counsel to others,

but don’t mingle with those who are rebellious.

For sudden destruction will fall upon them

and their lives will be ruined in a moment.

And who knows what retribution they will face!

[Revelation from the Wise]

Those enlightened with wisdom have spoken these proverbs:

Judgment must be impartial,

for it is always wrong to be swayed by a person’s status.

If you say to the guilty, “You are innocent,”

the nation will curse you and the people will revile you.

But when you convict the guilty,

the people will thank you and reward you with favor.

Speaking honestly is a sign of true friendship.

Go ahead, build your career and give yourself to your work.

But if you put me first, you’ll see your family built up!

Why would you be a false accuser and slander with your words?

Don’t ever spitefully say, “I’ll get even with him!

I’ll do to him what he did to me!”

One day I passed by the field of a lazy man

and I noticed the vineyards of a slacker.

I observed nothing but thorns, weeds, and broken-down walls.

So I considered their lack of wisdom,

and I pondered the lessons I could learn from this:

Professional work habits prevent poverty from becoming

your permanent business partner. And:

If you put off until tomorrow the work you could do today,

tomorrow never seems to come.

The Book of Proverbs, Chapter 24 (The Passion Translation)

[Psalm 24]

A song of David.

The earth and all that’s upon it belong to the Eternal.

The world is His, with every living creature on it.

With seas as foundations and rivers as boundaries,

He shaped the continents, fashioned the earth.

Who can possibly ascend the mountain of the Eternal?

Who can stand before Him in sacred spaces?

Only those whose hands have been washed and hearts made pure,

men and women who are not given to lies or deception.

The Eternal will stand close to them with blessing and mercy at hand,

and the God who redeems will right what has been wrong.

These are the people who chase after Him;

[like Jacob, they look for the face of God].

[pause]

City gates—open wide!

Ancient doors—stand back!

For the glorious King shall soon pass your way.

Who is the glorious King?

The Eternal who is powerful

and mightily equipped for battle.

City gates—open wide!

Ancient doors—stand back!

For the glorious King shall soon pass your way.

Who is the glorious King?

The Eternal, Commander of heaven’s army,

He is the glorious King.

[pause]

The Book of Psalms, Poem 24 (The Voice)

[Psalm 35]

A song of David.

Make a case against those who struggle with me, Eternal One.

Battle against those who battle against me.

Be my shield and protection;

stand with me and rescue me!

Draw the spear and javelin

to meet my pursuers.

Reassure my soul and say,

“I will deliver you.”

Shame and dishonor those ruthless enemies

who wish to end my life.

Turn back those who conspire against me,

defeated and humiliated!

Let them be separated from the righteous as chaff is separated from the grain,

blown by the wind,

driven far, far away by the Eternal’s messenger.

Make their way unsure and dangerously dark,

a gauntlet of gloom

chased through the darkness by the Eternal’s messenger.

For no reason at all, they set a trap for me—a net, a snare—

then, without cause, they disguised a pit to capture my soul—another cowardly snare.

May they be surprised by their own destruction.

May they become tangled in their own net

and fall into the pit which they, themselves, dug.

When that day comes, my soul will celebrate the Eternal

and be glad in His salvation.

Every fiber of my being will shout,

“Eternal One, there is none like You!

You save the poor

from those who try to overpower them

and rescue the weak and the needy from those who steal from them.”

False witnesses step forward;

they ask me strange questions for which I have no answers.

When I do good to them, they do evil to me,

bringing misery to my soul.

When they were sick,

I mourned for them and wore sackcloth;

I chose to humble myself by fasting.

But my prayers came back unanswered.

So I mourned more deeply as if I grieved for my brother or friend;

I went around bowed down by sorrow, dressed in black,

as if I were weeping for my mother.

But when I stumbled, they gathered together

and celebrated my fall with joy;

People attacked me when I wasn’t expecting it;

they slandered me with no end.

Like godless mockers at a festival,

their words tore at me.

Lord, how long will You do nothing but watch?

Save me from their evil assaults, plots, and plunder;

rescue my life from these hungry beasts, these ruthless lions!

Then I will praise You and thank You at the great gathering,

in the company of the entire congregation.

Do not allow my enemies to boast at my expense,

for they despise me without any cause—

yet they wink at me—malicious, taunting winks.

Their words have no ring of peace.

They plan evil rumors and incriminations

against those who live peacefully in the land.

They speak lying accusations against me;

they say, “Aha! Aha! We know what you’ve been up to.

We’ve seen it with our own eyes!”

You have seen what’s happening, Eternal One; don’t remain silent!

Lord, do not stay far away from me!

Wake up; come to my defense!

Fight for me, my Lord and my God!

Pass Your judgment, Eternal One, my True God;

do it by the standards of Your righteousness.

Do not allow my enemies to boast over me.

Do not allow them to gloat over me,

“Aha, we have won! We got what we wanted!”

Do not allow them to brag,

“We chewed him up and spit him out.”

Shame and confuse those who celebrate my suffering;

may those who exalt themselves above me be covered with shame—

wrapped in a cloak of dishonor!

As for those who desire my vindication,

may they be joyful and glad.

May they forever say,

“The Eternal is indeed great!

He takes pleasure when good things happen to His servant!”

That’s why I will speak of Your righteousness

and sing praises to You all day long.

The Book of Psalms, Poem 35 (The Voice)

[Psalm 56]

Trusting in God

For the Pure and Shining One

King David’s golden song of instruction composed when the Philistines captured him in Gath, to the tune of “The Oppression of the Princes to Come”

Lord, show me your kindness and mercy,

for these men oppose and oppress me all day long.

Not a day goes by but that somebody harasses me.

So many in their pride trample me under their feet.

But in the day that I’m afraid, I lay all my fears before you

and trust in you with all my heart.

What harm could a man bring to me?

With God on my side I will not be afraid of what comes.

The roaring praises of God fill my heart,

and I will always triumph as I trust his promises.

Day after day cruel critics distort my words;

constantly they plot my collapse.

Lurking in the dark, waiting, spying on my movements in secret

to take me by surprise, ready to take my life.

They don’t deserve to get away with this!

Look at their wickedness, their injustice, Lord.

In your fierce anger cast them down to defeat.

You’ve kept track of all my wandering and my weeping.

You’ve stored my many tears in your bottle—not one will be lost.

For they are all recorded in your book of remembrance.

The very moment I call to you for a father’s help

the tide of battle turns and my enemies flee.

This one thing I know: God is on my side!

I trust in the Lord. And I praise him!

I trust in the Word of God. And I praise him!

What harm could man do to me?

With God on my side I will not be afraid of what comes.

My heart overflows with praise to God and for his promises.

I will always trust in him.

So I’m thanking you with all my heart,

with gratitude for all you’ve done.

I will do everything I’ve promised you, Lord.

For you have saved my soul from death

and my feet from stumbling

so that I can walk before the Lord

bathed in his life-giving light.

The Book of Psalms, Poem 56 (The Passion Translation)