#so i must soldier on.

[nintendo64alexg]

to be honest id rather fucking kill myself than learn about eukaryotic gene expression right now. but i must soldier on

[addamvelaryon]

History calls the struggle between King Aegon II and his half-sister Rhaenyra the Dance of the Dragons, but only at Tumbleton did the dragons ever truly dance.

Artist: @asoiafattherite

[fumifooms]

Helki compilation

Helki is a prisoner-turned-servant. He’s a criminal canary and was implicitly one of Milsiril’s charges, and now that she’s retired he’s become her servant.

He must have gotten into Milsiril’s good graces, wether through attachment or convenience, which is a feat considering Milsiril’s a socially anxious recluse. Interesting since it’s not like he seems like the agreeable type, shifty upbeat delinquent style… We really don’t know much about him, not even what crimes he did, so there’s a lot of space for speculation on all grounds.

Edit: Shanghai QnA with Kui gave us a new juicy morsel of info!

Interesting… The original answer in japanese is: パッタドルと同じような杖を使っていました。今も同じものを支給されているのですが、すぐになくすのでもはや携帯していないようです。 That it’s written in japanese seems to say that there isn’t the same double translation issue there was last QnA, so if someone wants to look at the original phrasing and word choices it can be done. Perhaps Helki-Milsiril has a more protégé dynamic undertone than previously thought… "For various reasons", meaning circumstances that made it so the squad had to choose between saving him and saving their own skin, or like, "man this guy’s personality sucks we don’t really like him"? Likely to be a mix of several things, since ‘for various reasons’ implies the situation was either complex or they had multiple reasonings. In either case, the phrasing is very much that Milsiril couldn’t abandon him herself, and so a relationship sprung out of that. Another instance of outcasts seeking out and sticking with other outcasts in Dungeon Meshi. This could mean that it’s a bit less out of personal attachment and more out of a sense of duty on Milsiril’s side as well though.

Still edit: So then maybe him staying with Rin in that comic isn’t that much because of work ethics or that he cares for kids (or maybe he does because he feels kinship to them, alone and mistreated), but because he didn’t want to join the other canaries in that room chatting and laughing… Maybe the isolation was exacerbated because he became Milsiril’s favorite, teacher’s pet style, but I��d also be careful about assuming the others disproportionately dislike him, it could be that they just don’t really care for him. Why? Could be because of his personality, because he’s seen as shifty or unreliable or annoying, if an event, who knows who knows, but I like to think because of the Rin comic that he generally just tends to be a loner, that he’s "weird" in a neurodivergent vibe, he doesn’t conform to proper social behavior which in elven society seems especially alienating. He’s the only one with Rin to think of her sake, not only worth observing/caring for but also asks her to eat, but he does this with an offputting stare, not really emoting, and then well, the infamous alone with her staring munching covered in blood panel. He stands out. I’m a fan of the theory that it was a "Helki? Not that I dislike the guy but I’m not risking my skin for him" situation… Ok end edit back to older observations.

He seemed to be acting out of his own initiative in the Rin comic, he doesn’t look thrilled to be there in many post-canary comics but he also seems content enough. He restrains Milsiril in the Mithrun cleaning comic which is interesting to think of for their relationship.

It’s fun to notice how he’s the only one that didn’t get bored of looking after Rin, and then reports back about her condition… I’d say he was getting used to taking care of kids which would come with the job of serving Milsiril, but then, not enough for him to clean the blood off himself hah. In this way it’s interesting to think about his relationship to the idea of parenthood, he’s probably the closest thing to a father figure/male role model Kabru had growing up, without mentioning the other kids. I feel like he’d consider himself an older brother, cousin or uncle figure sooo much sooner than a father, but even then I do think it’s just his job and he’s not really invested or forming real relationships with any of them much.

It’s curious to note that he’s dressed in canary uniform presumably after having been pardoned and living with Milsiril? Which you can tell by the armor bits (the yellow strips of spider silk). In the Kabru training montage and the Rin comic specifically. It seems very implausible for him to have still been a canary while being a retired Milsiril’s servant and being with her all the time, and the cleaning with Mithrun comic (where he’s not in uniform) happens after Utaya so it could happen after Kabru was taken in but around the time of the Rin comic. So why uniform? It could be one of the best outfits he has, so it’d make sense to wear it around especially if you’re sparring or getting… Blood on you? Could just be because that's how Milsiril wants him to dress. But yeah we don't know when exactly Helki becoming Milsiril’s servant happened. We do see Mithrun’s charge Cithis be tasked with taking care of him, so a charge being given a servant-caretaker role doesn’t seem all that out of the ordinary, sometimes even prior to retiring.

Imo, if he doesn't work for Milsiril he goes back to jail/the canaries/has to try and get a job instead of just tending to her, so Helki is staying with Milsiril because she's the best option for him. He’s her milsiril's personal servant and does mostly dull tasks involved in that. He’s not particularly suited to the role but they’ve gotten used to each other to him so she took him with her, and he does prefer it to canary work so it works out decent for him. I think he’s used to reading her and managing her moods and he’s one of the rare social connection she has.

Under spoiler is stage 2 interpretation stuff, bigger speculation, in a reblog I’ll make soon I’ll go over my thoughts for stage 3 interpretation lol. Helsiril I’m coming for you

Translation of the canary hierachy chart used is by Thatsmimi, here

[fisheito]

everyone gets a turn in the ridiculous skintight edmondsuit. or at least, .everyone SHOULD

[calocreek]

saw the most recent post about cOW and pluto, i’d love to see tyler swift and [not] tyler swift in your style the hormses this season are so cool and your illustrations of them are just. so excellent i’m in love

A bit confused about this ask because I'm pretty sure there is only one Tyler Swift? He just needed a tune-up, what are you talking about??

(I loved this storyline so much. I love all the hormses too)

cOW is everything to me, I'm glad I can do him justice 🥰

And on that subject I just want y'all to know that telling an artist they're good at drawing horses is pretty much the highest compliment you can give an artist LOL. So thank you for all the tags, 12 yr old me is so so proud

[fastidious-and-a-mess]

i think a lot about iwatex lore and story stuff outside its context of Video Game

like, it’s coded into the Video Game that kom always dies and there’s nothing you can do to save him. but in-universe? i don’t think fate or predestiny is a big thing here, bc it’s a time loop and sol’s whole life is different every time, so i often think about an In Universe fluke timeline, where something different happens and kom survives. anemone gets to grow up with her older brother and she doesn’t become a soldier and sol gets to see what it looks like for her to have a happy life.

and then it never happens again. sol can’t figure out what let kombucha survive in that loop, and they can’t ever recreate it, and he never survives again. that was the only loop where anemone was actually genuinely happy, and the guilt of its eats at sol in semi lucid moments of loop-awareness.

[namisweatheria]

Soooooo funny to see anyone call sanji a feminist even in a joke post. Like my friend he does not believe women are equal. He believes they are better than men, who are nothing but dogs. He's a misandrist.

[pyrepostings]

imagining a defiant interrogation whumpee who gets sick of saying "I'm not telling you" so they start going into what sounds initially to be them finally telling whumper what they want to know, but ends up being whumpee wasting time by just quoting a song.

[okiankeno]

french soldier FBI agent..... what if i. wrote................... fic.....

[astrxxnxmy]

My chaotic thoughts on Bucky in THAT What If episode because I haven't been able to get it out of my mind since I watched it

The scream I let out when Bucky first appeared though 💀

The intense eye contact with Peggy?? The way his gaze was so icy and emotionless while Peggy stared back in shock and sadness and then after, while talking to Howard, her voice shook.

(the drama is juicyy and i am all here for it)

And how he looks down when Hope says "Peter deserves our help as much as anyone." baby :( oh baby no someone give him a hug :(( and the help he clearly needs :(((

"It's just you and me, pal." "There is no me." BUCKY. BUCKY.

"You don't know me." AKSJKSFGHKS (that growl though)

"Steve Rogers did." THE SCREAM I SCRUMPT-- and the way Bucky's eyes widened. He knew, he recognized that name, he remembered, if only a little bit.

"And the man he knew, the friend he loved, would never take that shot." THE FRIEND HE LOVED IM SCREAMING I CANT DO THIS TODAY

PLUS HIS HESITATION JUST AT HEARING STEVE’S NAME GOD

THE WAY HE THEN BROKE FREE FROM THE PROGRAMMING AND WENT ON THE RUN TO REDISCOVER HIMSELF JUST LIKE AFTER CATWS

"The Winter Soldier may be out there, but I'm pretty sure Bucky Barnes is out there with him." 😭❤️

[cienie-isengardu]

When Liu Kang says "capture Shang Tsung"

and Bi-Han is "Decapitation then"

[allegedly-human]

Saw a post from a USAmerican teen saying hating France ironically was americans trying to find socially acceptable ways to be racist and that it was imperialism and like.

Hi! French here. Making fun of France ironically and for silly reasons is more than okay 90% of the times. The few times people have been cunts about that has been when they were salty about us not joining the US to invade the Middle East, and other equally racist comments. We are not a misrepresented community that suffers from racial or societal prejudices because of our French origins, and especially not from people posting a vid of France disappearing from a map with a One Direction song. And fun fact, the argument that other Western countries don't respect us (especially the USA) is a far right argument for nationalism with the intent of pushing the "reject modernity embrace tradition the woke is coming from the US" argument with it. Believe it or not, "the French must not see any part of their culture treated lightly for it is holy" is a lot more worrying to me than "I kissed a Frenchman and got lung cancer from the second hand smoking" or whatever infinitely funnier thing internet people can find.

And, and I cannot stress this enough, this applies to our language. I cannot and won't talk for other French-speaking communities, but here in France I don't know one person who wouldn't make jokes about French being a joke and all that, and those I do know like this are people that tend to say the sentence "but is it really a genocide" a lot on various topics. However, the institutions that are hellbent on respecting and protecting French here are, you guessed it, conservative institutions like the French Académie who thinks that you shouldn't call Natives Americans Native Americans and that you should not be allowed to use gender neutral pronouns or to have a word for female authors, and of course the right. You're not being progressive by treating our culture the way Le Pen wants it to be treated, believe it or not

It's a long long topic worth thousands of words but I think the bottom line for this is: you guys joke about 9/11 and burgers, believe me, we're not that different, the only people who'll get offended by this are the same people who would scream at you to respect the troops and the thin blue line if they were from the US. The USA isn't the most special place of the world that's the only one worth laughing at, and claiming that USAmericans are "punching down" when making jokes about us is fucking stupid

[01x69homo]

i remember seeing sandman way back when it was released and thinking "wow, the superwholock era of tumblr would've eaten this UP" and now there's a series set in the same universe where a pair of space-and-time(?)-jumping ghosts solve mysteries produced, developed and written by steve yockey and produced by jeremy carver and yeah. i rest my fucking case

[losingeverysouls]

You guys may or may not watch a Bollywood movie named Happy New Year but I must tell you, they’re Six of Crows but Indian version.

With some differences, of course.

[kitsune024]

Stucky Fics

WinterFrost Fics

WinterIron Fics

*

Operation Hindsight by @dcangstfiction I Chapters 24/24 I Completed Time Travel Fix-It, Bucky & Winter Soldier, Dehumanization, Captain America Sam, Alternate Timelines. BAMF Bucky Barnes

Bucky and Sam follow Jack Rollins through time from 2024 to 2014. Armed with knowledge of the future, Rollins wants to make sure Project Insight succeeds and Hydra rules the world. Bucky and Sam take on the challenge of stopping him and preserving their timeline. To do that, Bucky has to take on the Winter Soldier.

The Life, Death, and Resurrection of James Buchanan Barnes by @dcangstfiction I Chapters 35/35 I Completed Winter Soldier Bucky, Bucky Barnes, Recovering, Multiverse, Alternate Universe - Canon, BAMF Bucky, Time Travel, Amnesia, Epic Bromance, Whump

One day in 2012, Steve Rogers encounters a doppelgänger of himself who says three words that change everything: "Bucky is alive." This is a story about friendship that survives war, tragedy, and the devastation of time. It eases into things with a glimpse of two friends growing up together in the 20s and 30s. It then goes DARK (mind the tags). Darkness doesn't last forever, though. It yields to light. COMPLETE. Thanks to Fictitious for beta-reading!

Avalanche by MuzzledRavings I Chapters 19/19 I Completed Winter Soldier Bucky, Secret Identity, CEO Bucky Barnes, Bucky Barnes Remembers

When an experiment to improve the effectiveness of the Winter Soldier’s supersoldier serum is a little too successful, James regains his mind and his memories. After breaking free from HYDRA’s grasp, he finds the world is infested with HYDRA. Desperate for purpose, he puts the muzzle of the Winter Soldier back on to fight against his old tormentors from the shadows. When New York is attacked by aliens, the masked Avengers assemble. Not knowing who this new superhero team truly works for, James tries to find out while still hunting HYDRA. When it becomes clear to him that the Avengers can’t be trusted, he decides the best way to protect the world is to do it himself. So, the Winter Soldier founds a terrorist organization. TL;DR: The Winter Soldier founds a terrorist* organization *Terrorism subject to interpretation

Avengers: Search for the Winter Soldier by Wolverine6Claws I Chapters 58/? I Winter Soldier Bucky, Psychologists & Psychiatrists, Psychological Torture, Emotionally Repressed, Body Horror, Brainwashing, Aftermath of Violence, Rape Aftermath, Mind Control Aftermath & Recovery, Borderline Personality Disorder, Hydra Bucky, Past Bucky Barnes/Natasha

Steve Rogers was adamant about finding his friend whom he thought had died decades earlier. Seeing Bucky behind the Winter Soldier's mask had stunned Steve. His mind had been reeling at the time, but now he was totally focused and committed to finding Barnes and helping him regain his identity. The Avengers team agrees to help him do just that.

paint me as the villain by TheCockyUndead I Chapters 21/21 I Completed Bucky & Clint Friendship, Manipulative Nick Fury, Blood and Torture, Past Torture, Steve & Tony

Out of everyone that could have captured the Winter Soldier, Fury hadn't expected to be the one to do so. But he didn't question it. After all, who was he to argue when a sharpened weapon was given to him?

Kill Strike Trigger by llethe I Chapters 17/17 I Completed Gen or Pre-Slash, Bucky/Natasha, Bucky & Sam, Bucky Remembers, Steve/Sharon implied, Hydra, World Travel, SHIELD

Rumlow actually smiles and crackles “our puppet, like you,” his voice so quiet and the words so distorted that Barnes just barely makes them out. He tells himself that they’re just words, and they’re just words designed to elicit an emotional response. It’s been just two months; there’s nothing HYDRA could have done by now, to make those words true. Right? A story of how far three people will go to bring Steve Rogers home -- and of how far HYDRA will go to bring home their Winter Soldier.

Oneshots

Falling and The Fallen by @iamshadow21 BAMF Bucky, Soul-Searching, SHIELD Agent Bucky, Post-World War II, 20th Century, Amnesia, AU- Different First Meeting, AU- Canon Divergence

You're in some kind of convalescent home in New York when you're visited by two men in uniform. Captain Steve Rogers, killed in action, they say, and that's how you learn his name. An AU where Bucky Barnes falls and is found by the Howling Commandos.

what departs at death by magdaliny World War II

Steve breathes a sigh of relief. Instead of giving in to his impulse to shout invective, to demand to know why Bucky broke camp without telling anyone, why he keeps doing that, Steve says: “Who you talking to, Buck?” Bucky pats something on the ground and shifts his leg.

Running Through My Veins (An American Masquerade) by @cheesethesecond Winter Soldier Foreshadowing, World War II, Implied/Referenced Torture, Hurt/Comfort

For all Steve’s bravado, his disregard and his blind determination, Bucky knows that neither of them thought they’d end up here—Bucky, with a body full of poison and secrets, a head full of landmines; Steve, with the weight of a nation on his newly-formed shoulders; both of them, with eyes for each other first. At least that part isn’t new. [Or, Bucky Barnes, from the rescue to the Commandos.]

Keep You Going Through the Show by Lauralot Torture, Aftermath of Torture, Pain, Implied/Referenced, Torture, Self-Harm, Blood, Gore, HYDRA Trash Party

The first time Bucky breaks his fingers, Steve thinks nothing of it.

Fulcrum by @laporcupina World War II, Military, keeping an eye on Steve is sometimes a thankless business, POV Bucky Barnes

Bucky really wishes that Steve understood all of the ways that this wasn't a back alley in Brooklyn, that this was war, and that he had a half-dozen men who would follow him to hell but he could try a little harder to keep those excursions to a minimum.

they came in by the dozens by orphan_account Captain America: The First Avenger, World War II, Canon-Typical Violence, War is hell and they're just trying to get through it, Team as Family

“Y’know,” Dugan gestures vaguely, “senators, war profiteers, generals. Big men don’t care if a few of us get blown up as long as we win the battle.” “Yeah,” Jones joins in, “we do the fightin’, they get the glory, and don’t care what else happens as long as they get their name on the front page.”

Bookmark Series

Blue-eyed matador by @flamingo-queen-writes I Part 1-2 I slow burn Bucky/Clint, Steve/Sam, Mute Bucky, Asset Bucky, Implied/Referenced HYDRA Trash Party, Canon Divergence - Post-Avengers, Kinda dark to start out, Dehumanization The Claws That Catch by MuzzledRavings I Part 1-2 I Completed Amnesiac Bucky, BAMF Bucky, AU - Canon Divergence, BAMF Tony, Avenger Bucky The Hollows by ealcynn I Part 1-4 I Standard Winter Soldier Warnings, Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, hydra All Life's Evils by @bridge-agent I Part 1-2 I Past Winter Soldier/Natasha, James "Bucky" Barnes/Natasha, Action/Adventure, Drama

Bucky || Winter Soldier with Fanart

I've Heard That Song Before by @pokimoko I Chapters: 10/10 I Completed World War II, Minor Peggy/Steve, Winter soldier Bucky meets the Howling Commandos, Time Travel Winter of the White Wolf by @klecrone I Chapters: 89/? I Winter Soldier Bucky, White Wolf Bucky, Captain America Sam, BAMF Dora Milaje, Post-Canon Fix-It, Wakanda, Friendship

Bookmark Series

Bucky and Sam in 1946 by @dcangstfiction I Part 1-2 I Completed James "Bucky" Barnes & Steve Rogers & Sam Wilson, Time Travel, AU - Canon Divergence, 1940s, BAMF Bucky, Alternate Timelines, Period-Typical Racism, Period-Typical Sexism

[lovesickeros]

putting my thoughts under the cut in case people dont want to spoil themself on arle voicelines

currently obsessed with the view our current harbingers have of the Tsaritsa. both childe and arlecchino greatly respect her even if arlecchino is dubiously loyal to the Tsaritsa at best. they both talk about her as a figure who is gentle and compassionate, completely at odds with both the organization she allows to commit horrible acts (dottore. its a lot of dottore. he canonically took children from the hoth under the old knave if they were no longer considered "useful" and used as test subjects). shes described as someone with no love left for her people yet the harbingers we've heard talk about her never seem to describe her in such a manner. of course, childe mentions she had to harden herself to complete her goal, but he still notes that shes too gentle. the more we learn about her the more i want to meet her purely because she is contradictions all the way down and its great!!! taking whatever scraps i can get and its perfectly in line with my characterization too so i stay winning