#stellar character writing

[thefanciestborrower]

have you seen the new ninjago series?? its so... odd to say the least. i'd just love to hear your thoughts on it? (also hello i asked about tang haha)

AA hello again!!! Okay so at first I honestly wasn’t sure if the series would be good and tbh I was. A bit critical lmao, but after watching it I actually ended up liking it quite a bit?? Like yeah it’s definitely different and I can tell we’re dealing with new writers who are still figuring out how to write the world so there’s clearly a few little issues here and there but overall??? I actually love it. They’ve done a great job with the characters in my opinion, both new and old, and I’m genuinely very happy with the way they’ve been writing Kai especially. I feel kinda like his character had been suffering a little in the late seasons of ninjago sadly but now it feels like they’ve unshelved him and are utilizing a lot of the potential he’s had for a while. And watching Lloyd be a stressed out single parent of two is hysterical and feels genuinely in character. 

I have a lot of questions about a few things of course, but those are about stuff that I feel like they’ve set up to answer in coming seasons so I don’t mind. Yeah okay I do think they did Cloud Kingdom a little dirty but you know what? It could have been so so much worse. Overall as like, the third soft reboot ninjago has had, I’m just impressed it’s enjoyable at all  

[poisonous-honey]

Hello...

Lately is a shitty time for me on miHoyo's games. I lost both my 50/50s both to Genshin impact and Honkai star rail. On Genshin, i got QiQi by pulling Xianyun and Gepard by pulling Black Swan. Now i'm broke and my moral is at its lowest.

I'd love some headcanons (or a scenario) about SAGAU(and SAHSRAU if you can) hearing the reader yell and cry of frustration about this. Like: "I'M DONE I'M SO FUCKING DONE!! CAN I JUST HAVE THE ONLY THING I'VE WANTED FOR WORKING AND WAITING THAT HARD!!?? FUCK ALL OF YOU I HATE MY LIFE!!!!"

Sorry. I just wanted to let it out...

Who’s Here: Reader/Player, Diluc, Jean, Mona, Keqing, Tighnari, Astral Express crew, and Gepard

Contains: SAGAU and SAHSR (Not Cult AU)

Note: Hey, hey! I'm sorry this happened to you. I also lost her to Qiqi and had to spend everything else I had to try again, 50/50s suck. Their banners aren’t gone yet though so I hope you end up getting both of them soon! (ノ_<。)ヾ(´ ▽ ` )

💛💛💛💛

It was an accident, it always is with them.

The six of them that are considered standard 5 stars never mean to ruin your chances. They care for you and your happiness, they also want you to continue to play their game. Even though they'd love to be the ones going on adventures with you, both to spend time with you and for their own benefit (Tighnari would love to study other nations' fauna, Diluc could gain new ideas for drinks etc.), they know forcing themselves into your party would never work. You'd just grow to hate them, which is the opposite of what they want.

They're jealous of other 5 stars. Sure they can join you technically whenever they want, unlike the others that have to deal with limited timed windows, but that also guarantees you want them. All they can do is break that or hope they're the lucky one chosen on Wanderlust Invocation. Not only do they have to share a space with each other, but they're also going against weapons, which none of them are remotely happy with.

It's when these emotions are at an all-time high, they're jealousy and longing, the stars will glow gold and tug on their heart.

Diluc is always at his desk when he accidentally takes it. Stewing over boring paperwork his mind will wander from time to time, eventually landing on thoughts of you. He'll find himself missing you and desiring your attention, not realizing you've started a wishing session until it's too late, and he hears you cursing the world. He feels incredibly guilty, and it only grows worse when the wind clatters against his windows. Tries to make it up to you with materials and mora. You’ll find your mail flooded with talent books, adventurers EXP, a ton of mora, and the sincerest apology he could write.

Jean would be trying to sleep. She doesn't have time to think about you during her job, so it’s when she’s on the brink of passing out she’ll start to think of you. The thought of travelling with you sounded like the best break she could get. Eventually she’ll fall asleep and dream about you, only to be suddenly woken up by your screaming. She panics and seeks advice from any and all of her friends on how to make it up to you. Ends up acting similar to Diluc, working herself to the bone to get you talent and weapon materials. She’ll pair them with a few dandelions before sending them to you.

Mona is thinking about food. During a time she forgets to set aside enough mora for a decent meal, she’ll find herself thinking about the delicacies you’re able to provide. Even if it involved fighting, it was a free source of marvellous food. Her mouth waters as she thinks about all the dishes you’ve made, only to be abruptly pulled from her thoughts when a star bumps into her and flies off. She sighs when she hears you start cussing up a storm. Knowing your current state, depressed and full of ire, is because of her, she’ll attempt to make it up to you in a way few others could. She manipulates the fates of the stars so you’re bound to get your next gold star early. A simple method she feels guarantees to make you happy and hopefully take the heat off of herself. It wasn’t simple she wishes you could praise her for it

Keqing would be reminiscing her interactions with you during lantern rite. Whenever she sees the traveller in the distance, but is too busy to stop and talk, that’s where her mind will wander when she finally gets a moment of rest. It’s at this moment of respite she’ll long to see you and the traveller again and when she’ll notice the sky turn gold. She feels incredibly bad when she hears you cry, but she doesn’t have much time to meaningfully apologize to you. The best she can do is write a letter to both you and the character she stole the spotlight from saying she’s sorry. She’ll definitely send you some Golden Shrimp Balls when she next has some for herself.

Tighnari, in a similar boat to Jean and Keqing, would be too preoccupied to miss you on a normal day. It’s when he’s out with his friends and slightly inebriated he mentions missing you. Alhaitham starts to mention how that’s a dangerous line of thought for him to have when Tighnari’s chest starts to glow gold. Everyone winces when you soon start shouting and Tighnari slams his face into the table. He’d end up gathering bunches of every flower in Sumeru and send them to you with a picture of him, Collei and Karkata. 

For Qiqi it's a little different. She can't remember the last time you've gone adventuring with her. Half the time she's too preoccupied to even remember she's already on your team. When a star falls and asks if she wants to go, she doesn't have time to check her notebook before she says yes, the star becoming hers and landing on your screen. 

Your rage and disappointment is always made evident fast, which always has Qiqi turning to Baizhu.

“Did I… Do something wrong?”

Baizhu sighs and kneels next to her, “You made a mistake, but it's alright. Come, why don't we look for an apology gift?”

The next day you open up the mail to see one from Qiqi. Attached to it are all the herbs she collected with Baizhu, her specialty dish No Tomorrow, and an acquaint fate.

Sorry… Qiqi doesn't remember what Qiqi did, but Qiqi knows Qiqi is sorry.

🌟🌟🌟🌟

Upon finishing the most recent event, you had teleported to the train suddenly before they noticed your presence leaving them. They couldn’t tell if you were in a menu or had left your computer entirely. After a while with nothing happening on your end everyone aboard the Astral Express quickly settled in, expecting to be here for a while longer. March was in her room organizing her photos, Dan Heng was going through the archives, and Himeko was making coffee while Stella and Welt were entertaining the guests. Gepard and Serval had come to visit the train that day. Pom Pom had wandered off earlier somewhere in the train and everything was relatively peaceful… Until they heard you start screaming.

March, Dan Heng, and Himeko all rushed into the Parlour car while the four already there were looking at each other in a bit of shock. It’s when they start making out what you’re saying and see Pom Pom rush back into the Parlour car did they realize you had started warping. A session which obviously didn’t go as planned.

They don't like hearing you angry or sad, so they try to come up with a plan, something - anything that will cheer you up without seeming too suspicious. All of them are in the middle of discussing when they also hear you mumble out a very quick and aggressive “Fuck Gepard.”

Everyone turns to him and his face goes red.

Plans are immediately put on hold as Stella whips out her baseball bat and attempts to smash his skull in. Welt tries to step in to stop her, Himeko and Dan Heng stand-off to the side (one more disappointed than the other), March cheers Stella on and Serval ignores her brother's plea for help.

They do eventually get around to cobbling up a multitude of jades for you to at least try again, but not before Stella nearly gave Gepard a concussion. He separately sends you an extremely long apology letter paired with a choice item to allow you to pick a 5 starlight cone of your choosing. Some of the others berate him for being so obvious, but he doesn't care as long as you're happy again.

[lornaka]

My five cents on Tech’s fate in TBB

It’s been over three weeks since the show ended and I’ve been writing this in my head ever since, mostly to have it summed up in one post for posterity lol. I considered letting it go at this point but I know it’ll drive me crazy if I don’t get it out of my system so might as well.

So here we go, some of my rambly post-finale thoughts on Tech’s death (and a few other issues) under the cut!

Disclaimer: while this post is in critical spirit (because that’s how my brain works), I want to make clear that I have nothing but respect and gratitude towards everyone who’s worked on the show. My criticisms are of the final story as a whole as I interpret it (art is art, everything is subjective, you know the drill), but one never knows what goes into the process of making it behind the scenes, so I’m not holding anything against the creative team. I love this show dearly and am in awe of how good it is at its best, despite certain things I wish they did differently.

To begin, if I had to sum up the biggest problem that TBB writing suffers from, it would be lack of closure, and too many red herrings. Not just for Tech, but many things. Major plot threads as well as little character moments are cultivated or thrown in just to never culminate in anything or to be immediately discarded after serving the plot, some of them incredibly misleading. Some of the top examples:

- Crosshair’s chip. We never get an exploration of how the trauma of his chip activating and being left behind not only affected his motivation and choice to stay with the Empire, but his relationship with his brothers. While it was made fairly obvious, if subtly, that Crosshair became free of the chip’s influence after getting hit by the ion engine on Bracca, the narrative treated this change as if it didn’t matter at that point, while it obviously mattered a lot within the context of Crosshair’s character. Add to that all these little details with him clutching his head in s1 finale, Omega expressing her disappointment in him, and Tech’s comment on how “it is just his nature” (as if it matters!!! See what I mean about the narrative treating Cross’s chip as if it didn’t play the key part in his trajectory? They throw in this line, like we are supposed to take away that it’s simply Crosshair being Crosshair and not like, the results of brainwashing and abandonment), Wrecker blaming Crosshair for not going back to them, all while we as the audience have been shown and told repeatedly how these chips work (and so were the Batch), we ended up with an incredibly confusing situation with lots of mixed signals from the writers. And once Crosshair makes his choice to stay with the Empire in s1 finale, his chip and the confusion it brought to his relationship with his brothers is never brought up again, because the plot simply moves on.

- Cid’s betrayal. After her being a major character for two seasons with a continuous relationship build-up with Omega in particular, she is discarded as soon as her betrayal serves the plot, with all that character development getting thrown out of the window. You can be mad at Cid all you want, but to me it’s incredibly weird and wasteful to end two seasons worth of build up on that note without it having any closure for the characters, especially Omega whose whole theme is trusting people and bringing out the best in them. It’s fine if they decided to make Cid exactly what she appeared on the surface (untrustworthy and self-serving) after playing around with her potentially growing through her fondness of Omega, but then at the very least the betrayal should’ve had an impact on the characters, Omega most of all. Even just one casual line from Omega in s3 about how Cid’s betrayal impacted her emotionally, however minimally, would have solved that problem. And no, CX-2 mentioning how he extracted info on Phee from her off screen absolutely doesn’t count as closure, because I’m talking about emotional closure for the main pov characters as well as the audience. Cid had a presence for two seasons, then as soon as she executed her role as a traitor to further the plot, she was discarded like she was a random extra.

- Emerie’s relationship with Hemlock. We are led to believe that he basically raised her, instilling in her the idea that she had no chance without him and owed her purpose and “safety” to him. You can’t tell me that this didn’t deeply affect her struggle and eventual decision to break away from all that and choose to help the kids, basically betraying Hemlock. I get that the show only had so much screen time and Emerie is a supporting character in season 3 at best, but common, she has more tension with Dr. Scalder than Hemlock while the potential for this rich deep conflict between them is right there.

I can probably list more smaller examples but this is getting long and I don’t want to go on any more tangents, so, finally, the biggest example of lack of closure and tendency of TBB writing to display foreshadowing that leads nowhere:

Tech’s death.

First of all, I’ll die on the hill that it wasn’t denial or delusion that led to such a big portion of the audience to believe that Tech didn’t really die in s2. If we look at the facts:

- there was no body

- it’s the finale of season 2 out of 3, pretty early for one of the main titular characters to get killed off

- the only/last character to allegedly see Tech after his fall is a villainous scientist who is known to experiment on clones specifically

- not a fact but: the whole scene with Hemlock presenting Tech’s goggles to Hunter was incredibly suspicious. In hindsight, I think the whole purpose of it was so that the Batch got Tech’s goggles back in their possession as a memento (and to show how evil Hemlock is to rub it into Hunter’s face like that) but it was executed in a way that read as something much more. It read as if Hemlock was going out of his way to convince us/Hunter of Tech’s death, but with us knowing who Hemlock is, his background in experimenting on clones, everything screams at us to not trust a word he says. Is it really so surprising that so many of the viewers immediately jumped at the conclusion that something more was going on there?

- Hunter’s (lack of) reaction/immediate narrative fall-out. More on that later as I address lack of emotional impact of Tech’s death in s3.

- it’s Star Wars. And there was no body.

So yeah, to me, it is completely justified that so many people read that whole thing as open to speculation at the very least, foreshadowing Tech’s survival at most.

Personally, I was 70% sure Tech was truly dead prior to s3, but not because the text told me so, but because at that point I was used to the show’s writing regularly sending out mixed signals, and a part of me was resigned to Tech’s death becoming another example of the writer’s intent clashing with their accidental empty foreshadowing.

As season 3 aired and the whole CX-2 plot was unfolding alongside continued lack of closure for Tech’s fate, my hope for Tech Lives reveal grew and grew, but in the end my initial doubt was proven right, unfortunately.

Oh, CX-2.. what a mess. You can’t tell me the creators went over all of these scenes, all of these lines, looked at the whole picture and *didn’t* see how it was incredibly easy to interpret CX-2 as potentially being Tech with all these little potential parallels. “Domicile” alone.

If they didn’t want us to entertain the idea that it could be Tech, they could’ve done it differently, but for some reason, they chose to leave that space for speculation. My question is, why?

If they truly wanted us to believe Plan 99 was it, Tech’s Noble End that we were supposed to take as this dramatic super emotional ultimate sacrifice and all that, then why would they not make it clear that CX-2 couldn’t be Tech? Why breed confusion? And breed confusion they did. It’s hard for me to believe they didn’t foresee the “ohh is it Tech?” speculation.

When so many members of the audience immediately and individually jump at a theory or have the same take away from the story they are being told, yet the authors say it wasn’t meant to be taken that way, something went seriously wrong with the writing.

I don’t like to speculate on such things because we will probably never know for certain, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they had at some point considered CX-2 being Tech or at least something more for the whole CX plot thread, but changed and reshuffled things at the last minute for whatever reasons.

Which is fine and understandable. But it brings me to the heart of my biggest issue with how Tech’s fate was handled:

lack of impact and closure.

Let’s disregard all the Tech Lives theories for a moment and focus on what we did get: Tech, one of the main characters, getting killed off at the end of s2 out of 3, for stakes and consequences and NOTHING else. When I say nothing, I mean nothing.

Imagine, for a moment, he survived and stayed with the Batch. Nothing would have changed, in the grand scheme of things. Nothing. We wouldn’t have had a few obligatory “Tech mention, everyone feel sad now” throwaway lines/goggle shots and whatnot, sure, but that’s it.

Tech dying didn’t change the trajectory of the plot in any way, nor did it affect any of the other characters in a way that changed their trajectory. And anything less is simply not enough to justify killing one of your main characters. Stakes and consequences ain’t it.

Consider Mayday, for example: a supporting character, but his death in s2 affected Crosshair in such a way it completely redirected his journey, AND in s3 we got an episode that cemented the impact Mayday had on Crosshair and provided emotional closure for them. That’s a narratively meaningful death.

Tech’s death was not meaningful to the narrative beyond removing him from it. That’s why so many Tech fans insist he deserved better treatment: not only was he not present in one third of the show physically, but he lacked any sort of presence even in death. His absence was never processed or grieved by any of the main characters and so by extension by the audience.

And before anyone starts with the whole ‘they are soldiers/they had no time to grieve/etc’ arguments, it is the responsibility of the writers to provide the space for all of that emotional impact. It they don’t, there is no impact.

A few reactions here and there, moments of missing Tech as a person and a brother, not an asset, anything would have made this whole thing easier to accept.

The lines that we did get, from Omega mentioning the stuff Tech taught her to Echo commenting on how decryption would be easier if Tech was with them to “Clone Force 99 died with Tech” from Crosshair - each and every single one of those lines linked to Tech’s functions as part of the squad, his usefulness, but we didn’t get a single line in remembrance of him as a person of his own, no one missed or remembered him for himself or his personal impact on them.

Just one line from Omega about how he taught her about change being a constant part of life or whatever, or Wrecker making a comment on how Tech used to info dump about stuff, anything would have instantly provided that much needed sense of “he was here, he was a person and is still a part of us”. Instead, Tech was killed off to show that messing with the Empire is dangerous and risks are real, I guess, and immediately lost any and all presence within the story.

We never even got to see Crosshair’s or Phee’s reactions to losing him.

Speaking of Crosshair, that’s a whole other example of complete lack of closure: they never closed the loop on the family being reunited again after initially leaving Crosshair behind, and with Tech dead, it’ll forever stay broken.

They could’ve given this a bittersweet yet meaningful spin if they developed the angle of Tech dying on a mission to bring Crosshair home, making a sacrifice so Crosshair had a chance.

Instead, the moment Tech dies, we get Hunter (and through him, the narrative) immediately abandon the idea/plot thread of going to rescue Cross all while saying “let’s not waste Tech’s sacrifice”. Sacrifice for what? Clearly Hunter doesn’t see it as a sacrifice for Crosshair’s sake, so, what, to make sure the rest of them makes it from the mission? The mission to save Crosshair. That mission. Right.

I see people talking about Tech’s noble sacrifice that ensured his family got to live and eventually have their happy ending, but all I can think about is how the creators chose to have him die on a mission that was immediately abandoned and the only take away from that whole sub plot was Tech’s own demise.

And after Crosshair is back with the Batch, his reaction to Tech’s death is never explored at all.

So yes, to me Tech deserved so much better. If you are going to kill off a major character, it must be necessary to be compelling. The way I see it, Tech’s death was not necessary at all because it didn’t change anything. And if it was meant to, the creators failed to communicate that by choosing not to explore the emotional impact of it and not structuring certain story beats in a more precise manner.

To wrap this up, if the way Tech’s death was handled was satisfying for you, that’s valid and I’m glad for you. For me, unfortunately, it’s completely the opposite and will forever remain the biggest and most unfortunate low point in the story.

And while I welcome anyone to share their own perspective if they wish, please don’t take this post as an invitation for debate, since there is no one right or wrong way to interpret or be affected by art.

[yuhi-san]

you know what the blood gulch chronicles are so fucking funny. the first few episodes is just a bunch of idiots shit talking. absolute useless nonsense.

but its not random rubbish being thrown around. the conservations, as ridiculouse as they are, have a flow. You can actually follow how you got from a to q, even if just looking at a nd q seperately is like, how the fuck did that happen. every comment bounces off of a previous one.

red team trying to name M12 LRV. its just gold. the bickering. simmons being the one not believing that pumas are a real animal. how they keep roasting grif for 'making up animals'.

the way the lines are delivered. it's hilarious.

[necrotic-nephilim]

i simply must know: what are your thoughts on jaydick?

!!! JayDick my beloved, man do i have thoughts. disclaimer that all of these thoughts will be pre-Flashpoint in basis unless stated otherwise just because that's the canon i like best.

to me. JayDick is one of the more incestual ships of Batcest. there's this desperate, driving want from Jason, to have Dick as an older brother. he and Dick never really got to be brothers, they were definitely friendly with each other when Jason was alive, but because of Dick's distance with Bruce, he never got the chance to bond with Jason. he always made sure Jason knew he could go to Dick for help, but beyond that Dick wasn't particularly emotionally available with Jason as Robin. but Jason held Dick in a high regard and wanted to be his brother, even saw himself as Dick's brother. when he came back from the dead, i think the illusion shattered for him, but he still clung to that want for something familial with Dick Grayson.

i've vaguely rambled about Nightwing: Brothers In Blood before, because i think that arc really shows a lot of Jason's true feelings about Dick. of everyone in the Batfamily, Jason cares for Dick the most and wants an honest relationship with Dick more than anyone. Dick is the big brother he never got to have.

meanwhile on Dick's side there's... well, apathy would be the kindest way to put it. i think Jason's death pulled a lot of violent anger out of Dick, but that anger was toward Bruce at moreso the concept of Jason's death than Jason as a person. because Dick never knew Jason that well. so there is this guilt on Dick's side, guilt that he couldn't have in some way prevented Jason's death, guilt he wasn't at the funeral, guilt he didn't do more to accept Jason and possible guide Jason to be a better Robin. this is Dick's mantle after all, so when the first person to wear it after him so violently dies in it, that's a mark on his record too. even if Dick didn't give Jason Robin, he still okayed it and gave it his blessing, so he carries that on his own back.

but when Jason comes back it's... well, messy. Dick openly says he kind of wishes Jason had died when he faced Bruce and the Joker, and he hesitates a bit when he needs to save Jason's life. during an arc of the Outsiders where Jason helps out with genuinely no ulterior motives, nothing nefarious, he just knows Black Lightning is innocent and wants to prove it, Dick still doesn't trust Jason and has no reason to be trusting him. i saw a post on here say that pre-Flashpoint!Dick would've agreed with what Bruce did to Jason during Gotham War (reprogramming him to have a fear response to adrenaline) and like... ngl i agree with it. Dick does *not* care for Jason and regards Jason with a lot of apprehension. and that's the fun.

because usually, in Batcest shipping that centers Jason, it's always the other person in the ship seeking out Jason, trying to bring him home, trying to domesticate/fix him, etc. but for JayDick, i think it's the opposite. Jason would try to be good for Dick, if he asked. Jason wants to be close to Dick, he's reaching out when he knows he shouldn't and doing it in the most fucked up ways sure, but he cares about Dick. we bring up "Jason asked Tim to be his Robin" a lot, but never "Jason also asked Dick to be his Robin". it's always going to be misguided and fucked up because Jason doesn't know how to handle this love he has for Dick, that's an echo of the person he used to be. a person Dick doesn't even *see* in him anyway. that shit is fun and fucked up.

i think the one interesting thing Rebirth did was that one Nightwing Annual where Dick calls Jason 'Robin' to snap him out of killing someone. because in the moment it was to remind Jason of who he was. which is the fun of it. when Dick pictures a kind, loving Jason, he pictures Robin, not Red Hood. that will always be the version of Jason that Dick loves the most. i don't think Dick believes Jason could ever be good enough to be redeemed, but if Dick Grayson loves anything, it's a passion project of trying to fix someone. if Jason came to Dick and tried to be good (without putting on the Nightwing suit-) i do think in the end, Dick would try to help him. Dick wouldn't believe in Jason, but he'd put an honest attempt into helping Jason try to be good. and that's where the relationship for them works the best for me, imo. Jason wants Dick to be his older brother. Dick is apprehensive but looking for pieces of the "old Jason" in this person he doesn't recognize. it's weird and fucked up and they make it work so well. it's really one of my favorite Batcest ships for exploring the incestual nature of brotherly love. it's the Cain Instinct if i've ever fucking seen it.

honestly you could sum this entire ship up as "Cain Instinct but they want to fuck each other after the fist fight" and i do think you would be correct. they say i love you with bloody fists. it's so fucking good man, i love these two.

[narrans]

Stellar Allies | Part One

GT July | Stellar Allies | Part One

Words: Studying, Plush, Behemoth, Shipwreck, Alien

Sirens blared all around him. Lights flashed, creating blinding sparks left and right. There was no choice now. The vessel needed to land – and now. The controls and steering mechanisms groaned and tugged against his grip.

This landing wasn’t going to be pretty.

“Just another mission. In and out. Routine. Yeah, routine my juthez! Make contact with the team. It’ll be easy. Communication breakdown is common. Juthez! This is bad!” These thoughts wouldn’t do any of them any good now.

With all his might, he threw himself backwards and attempted to level off the ship, but the damage along the edges of the wings was irreparable. Whatever had hit them knew exactly how to incapacitate their ship to force a landing.

“It’s no use!” the captain pathed. “Get to the escape pods! Coordinates have been sent. Go!”

“Captain!” The second-in-command was shot a single look, which silenced her. The captain leaned over and tapped a few lights on the console, giving the ensign a determined look.

“You heard the order. Get to the pods. I’ll be close behind. Go!”

Relinquishing the controls was the most difficult thing he’d ever done, but it was the captain’s orders and the longer he waited the less of a chance the captain would have to get out safely.

“See you soon, captain,” the ensign pathed as he slid out from the chair and ran to the escape pods. It took only two seconds to slide on the emergency suit, even though it felt like an eternity, and the ensign slid into the pod, slamming it shut behind him. The other places were vacant, showing the other members of the crew had already ejected.

He was the last one other than the captain.

Leaning back and scanning in, the pod rumbled around him before ejecting. The space craft was igniting rapidly from what little the ensign could see as he sped off through the atmosphere and to the ground far below. The wings broke off. The shields were obviously failing. The ensign watched with wide-eyed horror as the ship continued to burn up as it entered the atmosphere.

Something broke free from the ship. Was it the other escape pod? Was it just more debris? There wasn’t time to think about it as the ensign’s escape pod clipped something else, making it spin and spiral.

The ground far below was spinning out of control. Everything was blurring. Nausea swelled inside him. As the pod entered the atmosphere, the ensign blacked out, hoping beyond hope that his pod would arrive at the same emergency destination as the others after hitting some unknown thing in orbit and not somewhere completely off course.

How quickly those hopes would be dashed….

~~~^*^*^~~~

Space. An unlimited source of curiosity. The ever expanding abyss that exists all around us. It is the Dark Forest. It is the potential for greatness. It is the terror of the unknown.

It was here that Clifford Neilson found his true fascination. He had been studying it for years. Well, he and his best friend Jaxon Warner. Both boys were obsessed with the idea of going into space. They stared up at the Nevada sky for hours upon hours once it was supposed to be lights out for bedtime just to gaze at the night sky. They’d memorized the constellations and made their own telescopes before their parents bought them each one for their thirteenth birthdays.

Their love of science and the enjoyment of many of the same media forms made them best friends from early on in their lives. They were inseparable from day one of elementary school and they were still so in the summer before their first year of high school.

So, as they gazed up at the summer sky admiring the view, they naturally were in contact with one another. It was the time for the Perseids Meteor Showers, and naturally both boys were glued to their windows. As a massive streak lit up the sky, Clifford reached over toward his desk and fumbled for his walkie-talkie.

“Cliff to Jax. Cliff to Jax. Do you copy?” hissed Cliff into his walkie. The mechanical button clicked under the pressure of his fingers and a light static filled the air by his ear. There was a click and the sound of jostling on the other end of the line before his best friend’s voice filled the air.

“Jax to Cliff. I read you buddy. Did you see the tail on that last one?” asked Jax. “And don’t forget to say ‘over’ when you’re done talking. Over.” Cliff rolled his eyes, which almost made him miss the next shooting star, as he clicked the button onto his walkie again.

“Copy, and I definitely did see it. I can’t believe how many we’re getting tonight. And don’t you lecture me about radio etiquette. I’m the one who taught you about using ‘over.’ Over.” Cliff’s elbows ached as he continued to lean against them as he absorbed the sky above him. The billions of twinkling lights above him was absolutely mesmerizing. He already knew he’d be asking for an astrophotography set that was compatible with his telescope for his next birthday.

“Hahaha sure buddy. Big ole’ 10-4 on that. Anyway, you logging all of these? I’m trying to guestimate the length of the tails and approximate where they’d land if they collided with earth. Over,” Jax replied. His mocking laugh on the other side of the line would have gotten under Cliff’s skin if not for the next series of massive meteors falling from the sky making beautiful arcs as they burned up in the atmosphere.

“I haven’t actually. That’s a good idea though. We’ve got some record breakers tonight,” muttered Cliff, mouth agape as he stared up. A twinge in his neck as he craned it backward to keep a full view of the sky made him groan. He pulled his eyes from the sky to try and massage the area.

“You okay dude? Over?” asked Jax. Cliff glanced down at his radio and noticed he hadn’t fully released the “talk” button. Jax probably just heard a garbled moan from his side of the radio. Leave it to a friend to call me out on this stuff Cliff thought.

“Yeah, I’m okay. Sorry. Just a tweak in my neck. Didn’t mean to cut out on you. Over,” replied Cliff. He heard his friend scoff over the line and, before he even said anything, Cliff already knew what Jax was going to say.

“From looking up? Shouldn’t you be used to that since you’re always looking up? Over,” stated Jax. Cliff felt himself shaking his head and laughing silently as he understood his friend’s meaning; and it wasn’t just a looking up at space joke. Cliff had achondroplasia, so he was usually looking up at the people around him. It was said in jest and meant as a joke between them, along with the frequent joke of, “You’ll always look up to me,” stupidness, but it still made Cliff smile.

Jax was one of his only friends who didn’t treat him any differently than anyone else, and the jokes that he made were ones Cliff genuinely thought were amusing. He rolled his eyes and clicked his button again.

“Yeah, ya’ big oaf. I can only imagine how your neck must feel. Do giants have neck problems? Over,” grinned Jax.

“Naw, man. It’s in the knees. Always in that deep squat to talk to everyone. Gotta get that replaced. Know any good doctors? Over,” asked Jax. Cliff opened his mouth to retort when a massive streak ignited the sky. All words abandoned him as he gazed up at the dazzling lights. “Woah! Man! Are you seeing this? Over!”

“Yeah,” he mumbled, mind barely registering that he had squeezed the “talk” button as he watched the tail ignite the sky. Cliff’s eyes fixated on the meteor, but then something caught his eye. There was something about how it was breaking apart that didn’t seem like a normal meteor.

Thinking fast, Cliff redirected his telescope to the sky and the place where he could see the tail. He had just gotten it in his sights when he saw seven different pieces break off one by one. What was interesting was the fact each one of the pieces broke off separately with little bursts, each propelling it away from the main body. It was a behemoth of a meteor, at least for average size measures, and was sure to make the news the next day.

Cliff nearly continued tracking along the main body of the meteor but paused when one of those fragments broke off and, to his sheer excitement, saw it hurdling toward him. He pried himself away from his telescope and looked back out the window eagerly, heart pounding a hole right through him.

Sure enough. The piece he saw before looked like it had broken off and was arcing right for the ground and, if he was right, it was probably going to land close. Cliff watched with baited breath as the larger mass continued toward the ground far to the north while the smaller fragment he spotted spiraled and crashed. The teen boy was practically throwing himself against the window as he realized where the meteorite had impacted.

“My dude! Did you see that? Did you see it! It landed! We’ve got a meteorite in the fields! It’s in the park! It’s gotta be!” Cliff was sprinting around his room pulling on a jacket and his science bag while shoving his radio clip through the side pocket. He was pulling on his headphones when he heard Jax’s reply.

“I know! I know! And you didn’t say over! Over!” Jax said. From the rustling sounds Cliff heard in the background, he guessed his friend was also pulling on his clothes.

“I’m on my way down the block. Meet me there on your bike. We’re going after it! Over!” hissed Cliff eagerly. Despite his excitement, the teenager was able to slip out of his childhood home past his parents’ room without issue and, within a minute, was on his Joni peddling his heart out.

He beat Jax by only a few seconds as the two boys turned their attention to the fields that led to the national park right across the way. Both boys gazed in the direction they saw the crash and grinned at one another eagerly.

“You think we can actually make it?” asked Jax. “Before anyone else I mean. I can’t imagine we’re the only ones who saw that.”

“Only one way to find out. It’s probably a few miles in. Fastest peddling will get us there in fifteen to twenty minutes if we’re really going at it,” estimated Cliff. Jax grinned and pushed his unruly hair out of his eyes and under the rim of his helmet.

“Then we’d better get moving,” he said firmly.

Determination and excitement fueled the two boys as they turned their bikes to the swath of desert that lay in front of them. The terrain was tricky and navigating in the dark was also a bit of a beast. These boys, however, were undeterred. With their monochromatic lights geared for seeing in the dark and their knowledge of the terrain, their adventure felt short lived despite nearly thirty minutes passing since they’d left the safety of their home to charge out into the midnight lit desert.

Jax and Cliff both huffed and puffed as they pushed their bikes up the final part of the hill. The entire way, the smell of burning stone filled their nostrils. They knew they were close, and they had the right gear for the job. They’d done their research and had several of the essentials including gloves, tongs, aluminum foil, and even multiple containers to put it in. They’d figure out how to divide it up later.

As they crested over the hill, they saw it – a small crater. It wasn’t very big, but neither of them expected something massive. It was just a meteorite fragment after all. The bigger piece was far to the north, and it was way too far away for them to go after tonight. This piece, however, was going to be perfect for the aspiring astronauts.

“Almost… there,” puffed Jax. He hopped back on his bike and rode the hill all the way back down. Cliff did the same. The bumpy terrain shook Cliff up one side and down the other, but he didn’t care. This was going to be his first adventure harvesting a meteorite. The first of many if he had anything to say about it.

Cliff was trembling with excitement as he and his friend abandoned their bicycles a few hundred feet away from the flickering, fiery mess burning in the ground.

“Safety first,” Cliff instructed as he pulled off his backpack and put on a filtered face mask that he’d used for chemistry class. Jax did the same before handing Cliff a pair of heat resistant gloves.

“Nice and careful. You get the aluminum foil and I’ll get the tongs,” directed Jax.

“Hey!”

“I’m only saying that because my arms are longer. I don’t want to get too close to the fire. You should be happy you get to hold it first,” Jax pointed out. Cliff rolled his eyes, wanting to be the one to use the tongs, but relented with the alternative of being the first between them to hold a meteorite.

“Got it. Ready?”

“Ready.”

They crouched and cautiously stepped forward. The ground crunched under their shoes as they crouched and inched their way closer and closer to the burning place on the ground. Thankfully, nothing nearby was burning to create a dangerous fire.

Their hearts were hammering faster and faster, both glancing nervously at one another as they approached their target. Cliff wondered what the texture was going to be like. Was it going to be rough or smooth? Would it have ridges or be like an ocean smoothed stone? There were so many different reports of what it could be like.

But, as they approached, the boys began to notice some irregularities. For one, there wasn’t a distinct crater. There were skid marks that were parallel that looked more like that of a docking boat in sand and stone. Jax glanced back at Cliff, who noticed his friend looked just as confused as he felt.

Neither spoke and continued to approach. Cliff felt his hands starting to get cold and clammy within the protective gloves he had on. The hair on the back of his neck began to stand on end, and there was something unsettling in the air. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but there was something off about this area.

Now nearly thirty feet away, they could better see their target, and it made them stop in their tracks. What they expected was a hunk of rock from space, but what they saw was far from that ideal image.

The parallel skid marks didn’t lead to a rock, but a cylindrical tube that was the color of liquid mercury. Something was hissing and whatever it was looked a bit banged up, dents creating odd imperfections in the surface making it look like scuffed silverware. Jax turned around to look at Cliff, mouthing “what on earth” before looking back at the tube.

For a moment, Cliff contemplated turning back or getting Jax’s attention to plan a new strategy, but he knew his curiosity would always get the better of him and already he and his best friend were stepping cautiously forward toward the metallic cylinder. The hissing was starting to subside and, now that they were closer, they could see that it was hissing because there was a small section that was open along the side.

Jax crouched down and, like a military sergeant, he held up his hand with a closed fist, signaling that they should stop. He turned and, in a hushed voice, asked, “Do you see this? It looks like a shipwreck.”

“Yeah. It does,” muttered Cliff as he inched forward toward his friend. “Should we get closer?”

“I mean, I think so. I’m just worried about the hissing and stuff. Like, what is it putting in the air?” asked Jax. Cliff glanced around at the smoldering brush nearby and the tiny flames that hadn’t extinguished yet.

“Well, it’s probably not toxic. Look,” he said as he pointed to the fire. “The flames are still orange. If there were other chemicals in the air, the fire would probably change color.” Jax gave his friend a disbelieving look, actually swinging his head over to stare at his friend before fixing his eyes back on the flames.

“That’s only a little reassuring. There’s a million other explanations for that,” Jax pointed out.

“I know, but it’s what we’ve got. We’re either turning back or investigating. So? Which is it?” The ultimatum made the decision an obvious one. Swallowing dryly, the boys inched forward once again, this time with the intention of moving forward.

Both of them were quaking in their shoes as they were now close enough to glimpse inside the small section of the metal cylinder. Just inside, they could barely make out what looked like some kind of odd plush made of a reflective leather. Tongs in hand, Jax’s trembling hands reached forward and nudged the slit in the metal cylinder open.

The hatch clicked and hissed again as it slid open, parts of it grinding as it clicked open and revealed what was inside. The boys’ jaws went slack as the realization hit them. Neither could tear their eyes away from the sight.

It was an alien. A real alien.

~~~~~^*^*^*^*^~~~~~

Continue

~~~~~^*^*^*^*^~~~~~

@gianttol #gtjuly #gtjuly2024

[dudeyuri]

i know I’m not alone in this but my favorite thing mhok did this episode, out of all the sweet things he did, was urge day out of his comfort zone to set a plan with august. it spoke volumes about his character and about his relationship with day. it was just such a refreshing turn of events (that led to a cute practice date sequence)

this ep set up mhokday v. augustday in a way I can really only call “juicy” lmao. day makes excuses for and takes on the onus of talking august down from his flighty and flaky tendencies; mhok is day’s anchor, in a myriad of ways, and when he wasn’t there for day during that scene in the markets, it was of course in no way positioned as day’s responsibility. day had to strive to earn august’s acceptance; mhok’s acceptance has been unconditional even if it took some trial and error for him to understand day (I think their relationship is built on a deepening understanding of each other, fostering this two-way acceptance). day and august were assigned to each other; day chose mhok and mhok chose day. august surreptitiously walks away from day’s feelings; mhok shoulders them despite his own.

we’re shown right off the bat in ep5 that august and day’s relationship strikes something like jealousy in mhok. but this is a grown ass man with a caretaking job. even as he blurs the line between caretaker and suitor he remembers his place—his place as day’s friend and phi even more than as his caretaker imo. above all else he wants to help day push past self-isolating tendencies (look at all the friends who love day! he’s not meant to be holed up in his room!)(and I mean, this is personal for him! not just as someone with feelings for day, but as someone who lived through the suicide of his sister and as someone who had been in jail before).

and the way he reacts to day’s confession of feelings for august—we see that day is not the only heartbroken one here, but mhok doesn’t let day in on that. there are more than a few things he doesn’t let day in on, in this scene lol. he didn’t even divulge the full story of rung’s tragedy (just as day only hinted at what happened between him and night). mhok is just fully present for day as day deals with his own heartbreak. whereas in august and day’s relationship as badminton partners, august’s feelings formed the center of their relationship, and he often left day scrambling just to appease him.

there’s probably some comparison to be made between mhok stepping in and setting up dinner plans for august and day, and august insisting that he will never have another badminton partner if it’s not day. it’s like love v. possessiveness. mhok has this maturity that is really compelling, makes sense with his character, and again is just soooo refreshing

mhok has made a few self-deprecating comments about lacking tenderness, a hang-up informed by his past and by his sister’s suicide, but damn if this man isn’t the paragon of devotion idk what he is. and because of all this, because we’re seeing mhok place his feelings second to caring for day, i am of course looking forward to seeing mhok’s feelings prioritized alongside day’s and his insecurities addressed as the series progresses. in conclusion, what a mensch

[unhealthy-obessions]

Can we just accept that every fucking character in ACOTAR has their faults?? Everyone is morally grey 😭

I recently joined the fandom and I am terrified to post a single thing. I feel like I’m gonna get hate over how I feel over anybody in that stupid book.

IM SO FR, THERES SO MANY CONFLICTING POSTS OF EVERY FUCKING CHARACTER

JUST ACCEPT THAT THEY ALL HAVE TRAUMA AND ISSUES THAT MAKE THEM REACT HARSHLY

[adelinamoteru]

the problem with jason’s writing post resurrection is that like. you spend all this time while he was gone building up these batfam characters and their views and morals and way of interacting with each other and their world. and then you bring back this one character who’s been dead for however long, but an insanely long period of however long, and you’ve made it so his worldview has become drastically different than what he was being taught. then you dump the antagonist route completely and start trying to figure out how to bring him back into the fold.

but once again, you’ve spent around 15yrs expanding these characters separately from jason todd. so what do you do? you mold and reform what jason is meant to be post resurrection until he fits into those standards. its what makes sense to do. how can you justify the batfam characters doing an almost complete 180. maybe a 90. on their views purely because of one character? purely because of jason todd when nothing has set ever been able to set that change in motion beforehand? so now jason has to be the one to change. except the change completely contradicts all the beliefs he’s formed in his post resurrection plot-line.

and now jason todd as a character becomes bland. he becomes a victim to bad writing and character assassinations. he’s wishy washy. nobody knows what to do with him so his character and the characters he interacts with only continue to suffer as a result. everybody begins to stop taking him and his stances seriously. all because you’ll never remove him from the sources that led to the origin of jason todd.

a batfam character away from batfam? well now why would the writers ever think to do that!

[luxaofhesperides]

Vampires of El Norte by Isabel Cañas

Nine years divided them, but time meant nothing to hands: her fingers interlaced with his as naturally as if they were eight years old, or ten, or thirteen. Palm to palm, thumb over thumb. A bridge between them.

[seefasters]

people making all those body-switching drink spiking memory altering theories when its so much easier to admit you felt like the writing wasn't that good this season. knowing a thing is mid and still enjoying it is so freeing try it sometime

[corpsentry]

there’s something so epic about hetero chinese period dramas and i think one part of it is that there is absolutely nowhere in the narrative i could exist.

lately i’ve been on a western media detox— i’ve cleaned english language music out of my playlists and have never been able to stomach western dramas anyway, so that part is easy— which might seem funny, because if i’m in singapore and i hate it and i won’t touch american music then what’s left? the answer is the false binarism of chinese period dramas, at least for me. the badly written ones are misogynistic and stupid and the better ones are less of those things, but regardless the world that emerges is clean-cut and easy to parse. there’s someone to root for and someone to hate. there’s a girl and a boy. there’s the comedy and the drama, the sheer thick drama, the music that signals to you precisely how to feel before the scene even starts going

try to jam a fifth culture transnational transgender they/them with 2 mental illness and 1 autoimmune disease into this world and it simply doesn’t work. and that’s kinda epic lolzers! it’s like watching high fantasy, or super hardcore sci-if. it both represents a simulacrum of the real world and is so far from the reality you know that you understand it as a hypothetical universe, one that disincludes you on principle. i exclude myself from the story and in doing so fangfei from moyuyunjian’s steely gaze becomes all the more important. i give so many shits and laugh and yell and spectate. but i am safe from the eyes of its inhabitants. if i entered the story it would break. so i sit outside of it, clapping by myself

in other news, we gave up on mysterious lotus casebook 16 episodes in. there are many character archetypes in these shows that i can no longer stand; the salacious sexy seductive supervillain lady is not necessarily one of them but the way they did miss ‘this man didn’t even Look at me when all men fall at my knees so i hated him’ ‘no one is allowed to steal buttchin from me’ jiao was way up there. surely a woman can have multiple personality traits and yet you would think from this drama that that is not at all true. and the strange harem that grew around li lianhua despite his absolute loser attitude— like i get it, he’s the gintoki of this show, that’s hot, but the way the women who were into him were written made me want to Eat Horse. it bothered me that di feisheng and lianhua’s homo as fuck dynamic was so intriguing and them + fang duobing was a winning trio but all the women in the show were written like complete fucking ass, and one of the big antagonists being a woman, the stakes throughout were not only lost to me but also Pissed Me Off. also, that case about the corpse flowers dragged on forever and all my pocky wilted

I Just Think, women deserve better in these damn stories. make them slutty as hell, sure, but make them other things too and i mean this in the most generous sense. slutty and proud. slutty and weird. slutty and oblivious. literally anything at all so they don’t come out cardboard flat from all angles. this is why i have a personal vendetta against the ditzy clueless female protagonist as well because if everything stems from the fact that she doesn’t know shit it’s like please someone Please tell her shit i’m on my hands and knees begging. give her more to chew on she’s dying of boredom over there

this is why i liked the so called antagonist of blossoms in adversity best (spoilers ahead). he was cruel as hell to huazhi and gu yanxi’s only parental figure. he was paranoid and selfish and lonely and craved a son’s love from the one person he couldn’t hold onto. in the end he is pushed further and further by huazhi, who won’t give in, to isolate yanxi from the people he loves and to lash out at those people as a way of punishing yanxi. and when he dies it’s because of his own distrust, his own negligent parenting, his absent cruelty from decades of insomnia and lack of faith in his people. but he cries for yanxi, and there’s something so human about that. to think of evil not as a first principle but rather an adjective for a verb that is set in motion by other events. to be honest, i haven’t seen such thoughtful writing in any chinese period drama before or after that and i strongly suspect i will never see such writing again in this genre but man, it was so fucking good (spoilers end).

in the meantime, i’ve dragged my mother to moyuyunjian/the double for the return casting of liu xiening and wang xingyue who are Eating so hard. they’ve got wang xingyue done up with the sluttiest makeup and liu xiening is breaking my heart with her pout and her Sassy Mean constitution and this is a revenge story, yes, but it’s a double revenge story. it’s a grief story. and fangfei is carrying more on her shoulders than lingbuyi imo, and doing so with much more grace too. her step mom’s a dick but she’s a smart, 5d chess playing dick who wears hot shades of green so i’m personally interested enough to keep watching (something lotus casebook DID NOT accomplish with their epic female antagonist…. mein gotte). and the princess too. unhinged as hell but god, so charismatic. and beautiful, with scary big eyes and the sweetest head tilt. fun fun fun! that’s fun character writing right there. the comedy might be too straightforward for my tastes but everything else is kind of hot and sexy And after the coming of age ceremony when jiangli appeared amidst the flowers i felt my throat close up even though we saw her for all of one (1) episode). i was like yes. they got me alright. i Care now

really that’s all that matters isn’t it. we want stories about people we care for. we want to give a shit. why else would we listen to the stories of other people. we are looking for us and the people we love in them

oh also moyuyunjian soundtrack goes hard as hell i love a little three step waltz. here’s a pic from the ‘gym’ for ur time. guten night

[ninja-knox-ur-sox-off]

I am at 59k on this Ninjago fic i swear I'll finish it this month I will work on nothing else I am going to finish this--

[stellarish]

There was a woman titled as a knight, they said. The first woman given such a title since the founding of the knights' academies, or at least that's what the women of the rebel camp said as they traded gossip. Much more honorable and noteworthy than the country girls that donned armor and struck out as mercenaries alone, they said. One never knew what to call a girl like that.

But the knight woman, now that was a different story.

She was titled by the Academy on the Plains, so went the gossip. The oldest and most honorable of knightly institutions was that place, as the people of the Plains were always known to make fine farmers and monster-slayers. Coarse, rugged, classless folk the lot of them, but their Academy sorted the wheat from the chaff and produced what even kings and warlords and governors called most capable knights in all the Former Empire. And who were the wives and sisters of a petty rebel camp to disagree with that?

So yes, the woman, if there really was a woman, surely had to be worthwhile if they'd titled her. Why would such a place as the Plains Academy ever break with tradition if not to elevate one particularly golden grain? She must be leagues above those vulgar women that fought with swords without the title Sir, and every rumor seemed only to enforce that grand conclusion.

The knight woman's name, they said, was the young Sir Harlan. A common Plains name for boys, but given to a girl on account of some inexplicable family tradition. One woman said she was named for her grandfather on account of her parents having no sons, but another said she'd been raised with many brothers, so it was hard to say what tradition exactly it was. Either way, she went by Harlan as pronounced best in the common Yonla tongue, not the strange, Plains-language version of the name that pushed one's tongue too far to the back of one's mouth, so the gathered women agreed it was alright. Perhaps the masculine name was even a sign that it really was the girl's fate to be a Woman Knight. Or perhaps, as one woman suggested, her parents' strange naming choice had decided her path, rather than the other way around.

As the women talked around their washing, one young woman, looking strangely rueful, asked the crowd if any knew how the young Sir Harlan had found her place in the Plains Academy.

Another woman, knowing that the girl who'd asked had herself dreamed once of becoming a knight and been laughed away, answered with mocking mischief.

"Don't take it to heart, Miss Dawn. I heard she snuck into the summer tournament one year and bested all the knights in training, along with every late-applying Plains boy."

"No, no!" called another woman. "Even if that's true, would an Academy take in any girl that swordfights well? I heard she saved the Headknight's only son himself from being eaten by a monster that invaded academy grounds. She's a gift from the gods!"

A third woman scoffed aloud. "How could academy boys need a girlchild's help to kill a monster? I heard the Headknight had a dream that the gods told him Miss Harlan was to be treated as an honorary man, for she was the reincarnation of a great knight's soul, and she had been placed in a girl's body to test her fortitude."

"Don't Plains people not believe in gods? What's their Headknight doing having god dreams? Did the grass tell him Sir Harlan's ancestry?"

"Headknight Anzho's from northern Old Yon," said the girl the others called Miss Dawn. "Knight trainees all have to follow Yon's religion, and nobody had prophetic dreams about Sir Harlan."

Another woman sneered at young Miss Dawn. "Why ask how she got in if you know so much?"

Dawn gave a shrug, and her neighbor waved a hand at her dismissively.

"I heard she won the tournament and saved the Headknight Anzho's son, and then she told a sob story so beautiful that the gracious knights couldn't help but let her in."

"Well I heard the Headknight wants her for a wife!" yelled another woman, and the crowd all sputtered.

"How would titling a girl make her easier to marry, Ms. Linna?"

"Didn't we say Sir Anzho has a son? How could he marry her?"

The woman who'd made the scandalous claim, Ms. Linna, splashed water at her neighbors in response to the mockery, and they all laughed.

"I think Sir Harlan would kill you for suggesting that," said Dawn.

"No," Said another woman, "I hear the young Sir Harlan never kills a soul, and upon her titling she declared she'd never take a job that asks her to do so."

"Some knight! That's what they get for letting a girl get a title."

"But isn't it quite a story? She's like some old Plains hero from a fairy tale."

"What do you know about Plains heroes? You've never gone farther east than Logedz."

"I've never even gone that far!"

A provocateur, a friend of Linna's, fixed her grin on Dawn from across the water.

"You went to the Plains before you came here, no Miss Dawn? Did you ever meet Miss Harlan?"

Dawn pulled the last of her washload from the water and began to wring it dry, piling it all into her basket. She thought about the rebel soldiers it belonged to and wondered vaguely if she could best them with her polearm the way Sir Harlan could with her sword.

"I saw her once or twice," Dawn said dryly.

A chorus erupted, all echoes of "Did you really?" and "No you didn't" and "What's she like?"

I think she's an evil hypocrite, thought Dawn, but she knew she couldn't possibly say that aloud.

"The young Sir Harlan was dazzling," she said. "I admired her greatly and wish I could have known her better, but I think she would be too pleased with this conversation."

Another chorus of questions and jeers met the girl who had once dreamt of being Sir Dawn. Kay Manas, the girl who had fled her home for the Plains with laughter on her heels, then fled the Plains for the rebels in the west when not-yet-Sir Harlan had laughed at her as well. She made to leave, gathering up her basket of rebel men's clothes, and smiled, bitter and mean.

"I think the noble Sir Harlan is happiest when she's being discussed."

[officialgleamstar]

Got a three paragraph response from a writer on AO3, this is the best day of my life

[paradoxgavel]

finally played slay the princess today and. i definitely have a new game to add to my top five favorites. holy shit dude