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#tui you have some explaining to do
munson-blurbs · 4 months
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Single Dad!Eddie x Fem!ReaderSeries
Day 2 of TUI-Mas
Warnings: pregnancy, difficulty conceiving, mention of pregnancy symptoms, lots of Eddie being a mush
WC: 1.5k
February 1999
You didn’t get pregnant that first month. Your period arrived unceremoniously, leaving in its wake blood-stained underpants and disappointment.
It didn’t happen in December or January, either, despite meticulous cycle tracking and Eddie barely keeping his hands off of you. Each negative test feels like a failure; you’ve stopped taking them when Eddie’s around because you can sense his disappointment, though he puts on a brave face to comfort you.
But now, you’re late. Only by two days–if you weren’t paying careful attention to the dates, you might not have noticed. You have to bite back a smile as you tear open the box, fingers trembling as you poorly contain your excitement. It might be nothing, just a period ironically delayed by stress of trying to conceive.
Or you might be pregnant.
You inhale, filling your lungs with air and holding it there for a while until you let it out in one strong breath. All you’re doing is peeing on a stick, but your body nervously buzzes with each passing second. You’ve likely taken a dozen of these by now, and there’s nothing that should make you think you’ll get a different result today.
With utmost care, you place the used test on the back of the sink and wash your hands. You keep pressing on the soap handle to the point where a small pool forms in your palm, but you can’t draw your gaze from the tiny result window. The control line begins forming quickly, as it always does. 
How long ago did Eddie leave to grab breakfast—maybe ten minutes? Sundays at Zeke’s Bagels are usually swamped, so you have plenty of time to wipe away your tears if that sacred second line never appears. 
“Mommy?”
A drowsy voice interrupts your inner monologue. Harris stands at the bathroom doorway, wiping the sleep from his big brown eyes and yawning. 
“What’s up, Har?” You hope your anxiety doesn’t bleed through, though you doubt he’s awake enough to recognize it. 
He squints as he adjusts to the light. “Where’s Daddy? Also, I’m hungry.”
A sigh of relief escapes you when you realize he’s too focused on breakfast to pay attention to anything else. “Daddy left to get us some bagels,” you explain, allowing your heart to slow to a normal rate. “Why don’t you go make your bed, and we can watch some cartoons while we wait for him, okay?”
Harris nods, barely picking up his sock-clad feet as he trudges back towards his bedroom. You giggle at the way he tries to fight his sleepiness, shaking your head in amusement. 
That’s when you see it, faint but still definitely present: the tell-tale second pink line.
“Oh my God.” Your hand flies to your mouth in complete shock, tears forming a film over your eyes so the results become blurred. You blink them away to get a better look, partially convinced that you’re hallucinating or projecting your hopes, and that reality will set in and show a negative result.
But when your vision clears, both lines are still visible.
You’re pregnant.
Now you just have to tell your husband; the question is, how?
You’re still mulling over the possibilities when the key clicks in the door ten minutes later. Eddie carries in a brown paper bag of bagels, whistling a tune that startles you from your thoughts. 
“Food’s here!” Eddie calls out; your stomach flip-flops at the sound of his voice. The temptation to let giddiness take over and wave the test in his face is strong, but you hold yourself back. First and foremost, you don’t want Harris knowing until you’re safely in the second trimester, but another part of you is still in denial that you truly are pregnant. That there’s a tiny little life growing within your womb, half you and half Eddie.
I’ll test again in a few days, you tell yourself, and if it’s still positive, then I’ll tell him.
You shove the test in the top drawer among your make-up and hair care products where it will be safe from your husband’s wandering eyes. Before you shut off the light, you get a glimpse of your reflection in the mirror. You look the same as you always do, but there’s no denying that you feel different.
Pregnant. You’re pregnant with Eddie’s baby. In approximately nine months, the Munsons will be a family of four.
“Mommy! Daddy’s home!”
“Coming!” You wipe away any remaining tears and make your way to the kitchen, trying to quell the excitement of knowing that you’re technically eating for two.
Breakfast drags a bit, both because of the weighty secret you’re guarding and the fact that cream cheese apparently now makes your nose wrinkle in disgust, but Harris’s animated storytelling makes the time pass a bit faster. Apparently, being seven years old is more dramatic than you’d remembered.
One particular story involving Harris, Joshua Harrington, and a celery-stick sword fight remains etched into your brain even as you brush bagel crumbs off of the table and into your cupped palm. Harris has plunked down in front of the television, gaze glued to a show about a conjoined cat and dog with screeches so grating that you find yourself wincing with each piece of dialogue. The distraction is enough to keep you from tuning into Eddie rummaging through the bathroom drawers, searching for the nail clippers.
“Um, babe?” His voice cracks on the second word, and you can sense both confusion and concern in his tone. “C-Can you come here? Now?”
Oh, shit. 
You dash into the bathroom, shrinking into yourself when you find him, one hand bracing his body weight on the sink and the other clutching a very positive pregnancy test. 
“Are…is this…” He turns to you, wide-eyed, lower lip quivering. “When…?”
“Right before breakfast,” you jump in, your pinky finger nudging his along the sink’s edge. “I wanted to do something special to surprise you after I took another one later this week, y’know, just to be sure.”
Eddie exhales a breath that’s half-laugh and half-cry, lowering the test to the ceramic ledge so he can place both hands on your cheeks. “You’re pregnant?” he asks, words thick with disbelief. He chuckles when you nod, head moving up and down between his calloused palms. “Holy shit; you’re having my baby.”
His mouth finds yours in an instant, fingers leaving your face and traveling to your waist. Eddie pulls you in close and punctuates the long kiss with several little pecks. 
“My gorgeous girl is having my baby,” Eddie murmurs, gently sinking to his knees so he’s eye-level with your stomach. It’s still far too early to be showing, but he still bunches up your shirt just above your belly button. You giggle when he presses his lips against your skin, an involuntary ticklish reaction. “I just…I’m so happy. I got kinda worried when it wasn’t happening, that something was wrong.” He looks up at you with an expression of relief and awe. “We’re having a baby, Sweetheart.” His thumb trails along your exposed flesh, the place where your child will develop over the next nine months.
You laugh, pulling him up so you can kiss him again. He tastes like the orange juice he’d drank with breakfast, sweet and tangy. “We should wait to tell people until a doctor confirms it,” you murmur as he rests his forehead on yours. “Let it just be our little secret for now, okay?”
Eddie nods, lips occupied with kisses that render him unable to speak for a minute. “I’m glad I found out when I did, to be honest,” he admits with a small smile. “I missed so much of this with Harris, and I wanna be part of everything with this little munchkin.” 
“Everything?” you ask suspiciously. “The morning sickness, the mood swings, the swollen feet? I’m pretty sure my mom got hemorrhoids when she was pregnant with me–”
“Everything,” Eddie affirms, lacing his fingers with yours. “The good, the bad, and the…hemorrhoid-y.”
You can’t hold back your amusement, throwing your head back with laughter. “I’m holding you to that.”
But you know you won’t need to, because this is Eddie, and the love he already has for this child radiates off of him.
He wraps you in a warm embrace, holding you around your shoulders so that his soft arm hair brushes the nape of your neck. He keeps you safe in his arms while you keep the baby safe in your womb.
In a little while, a commercial will interrupt Harris’s TV show. He’ll come running over to exclaim that he needs the toy being advertised, despite having a present-filled birthday just three weeks ago, and the Munson home will return to its definition of normalcy. For now, you and Eddie relish in this special moment, just the two of you and the tiny bean that is Baby Munson.
--
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lovegrowsart · 12 days
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tui & la, yin & yang, and zuko & katara (+aang)
okay. i'm not interested in shipping slapfights, but i came across a specific pro-k/a argument and my mind simply won't let me rest until i write these thoughts down, so here's some meta about zutara symbolism and how, even if it was bryke's intention or retcon or whatever tf, symbolism related to complementary and interconnected opposites and balance, simply doesn't work with k/a's canon relationship dynamic.
first of all, the argument i saw that tui and la in the show are somehow not meant to be taken as yin and yang (or at the very least a representation of it) is... a very interesting one, considering they're designed to look exactly like the yin yang symbol, and koh literally describes them as such. he isn't just bringing up yin & yang because tui and la are, like, similar to them? but because that's what they are.
koh says tui and la are push and pull (the literal translation of tui and la from chinese) to describe what they are, and then says they are good and evil, life and death, yin and yang, to furthur describe the inherent nature of their relationship. this is a kid's show. the symbolism is meant to be this easy to parse. who is watching the koi fish merge into the literal yin yang symbol, quite possibly one of the most recognisable symbols in the entire world, and thinking "oh, but they're not really meant to be yin & yang!"? some k/a shippers, apparently.
now, you might say, but yin & yang aren't good and evil? isn't that a simplification or misconception of the concept? and yes, actually, i would agree with you, good and evil isn't exactly how i would describe yin & yang to someone (though there are schools of thought that do assign a moral dimension to yin & yang!), but if i was writing, again, a kid's show and wanted to get my point across with simple yet evocative language about the relationship between these two spirits symbolised by an complex and abstract real life spiritual and philosophical concept, i can see how "good and evil" works to explain yin (la) as negative and yang (tui) as positive. the text and visual language of the show intentionally links the ideas inherent to yin & yang to tui and la. you can't just retroactively separate them because you want tui & la to represent k/a, but you know that doesn't work if they're yin & yang because canon k/a just doesn't fit with that kind of symbolism.
the k/a argument that tui & la represent katara and aang just fundamentally doesn't work with how both are presented in the show. tui (the moon) is the white koi fish - the light side, representing yang, which is active, masculine, postive, fire etc. la is the black koi fish (the ocean) - the dark side, representing passivity, feminine, negative, water etc.
katara as the moon and aang as the ocean just doesn't map onto the specific symbolism evoked by how tui & la are presented visually and thematically in the show. tui & la are specifically described to balance each other, which just... isn't how k/a's canon dynamic is written. "aang gets angry like the ocean spirit and katara as the moon spirit pulls him back and calms him down" isn't how i would write or describe a balanced relationship, it's what i would call katara being aang's emotional crutch for three seasons with little support in return to "balance" them. k/a's canon dynamic is notably imbalanced, so if even symbolism pertaining to balance was meant to represent their relationship, bryke and the writers did a pretty piss poor job of making that symbolism present in their actual relationship. it's also a complete mischaracterisation of the yin & yang symbolism that is, again, explicitly tied into tui & la per the text and visual language of the show. not only is "katara and aang balance each other and when they're apart, they act recklessly and have to pull each other back from the brink" a reading of their relationship not particularly supported by the text of the show, that's also just... not how tui & la/yin & yang are actually characterised in the show or in real life.
furthermore, the argument that "good and evil" as it relates to tui & la and yin & yang doesn't work for z/k because "zuko isn't evil in the end" or "katara isn't evil at all" completely misses the forest for the trees in how the symbolism ties into the show's overarching themes and z/k's relationship specifically. the storytelling here is much more metaphorical and psychological than it is literal.
the whole point of yin & yang is that they are interconnected opposites, simultaneous unity and duality - zuko is as capable of bad as he is of good, and in turn, so is katara. this is true of every other person and character, of course, but zuko and katara specifically have important story beats in their respective arcs where they are shown the "light side" (zuko learning from the dragons) and "dark side" (katara learning bloodbending) of their respective elements (and their elements only compound their yin & yang symbolism, since fire and water are regarded as physical/natural manifestions of the yin & yang cosmological cycle). one of the most notable story beats of katara's arc is when she explores her "dark side" by going after yon rha (ymmv on how "dark" that really is, but i'm going with how the show presents this part of katara's journey), which is something the other members of the gaang (besides zuko ofc) don't really go through in their arcs - aang, sokka, and toph aren't written to confront the duality of their nature, their worldview, their moral character, their bending, the way that zuko and katara are.
part of me is struggling to even explain this because it's just, idk, really obvious to me. zuko and katara are fire and water, "evil" and "good" (they literally face off in the b1 and b2 finales! either of their literal and actual morality isn't actually all that relevant to how the symbolism works), of course they're yin & yang? and since tui & la are how yin & yang in the atla universe is presented to the audience, then that means they are tui & la too (symbolically, obviously, not literally).
yin & yang fundamentally transform each other the way zuko and katara do. for every advance, there's a retreat; for every rise, there's a fall. book 1; zuko falls, katara rises. book 2; katara falls, zuko rises. book 3; zuko falls, katara rises. you rise with the moon, i rise with the sun. an eternal dance as the both of them learn and grow and confront their own false dichotimies, learning how a world of seemingly opposing and contrary forces is, in fact, interconnected and interdependent.
like. c'mon.
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woodlaflababab · 8 days
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So, I like kataang a lot, but I feel like I might have a bit of an unconventional view on them? Like I don't really understand the "Tui and La, Push and Pull" dynamic people will talk about for them, especially when zukaang takes up like, 75% of my brain. (Edit, @chocomd in a reblog explained the push/pull concept to me and its actually great, plz check it out, I was wrong kendjdndn)
One of the things that makes me like kataang so much is they're, to me, not based on a archetype really? Like, they're not opposites, but they're also hardly the same, they're not two puzzle pieces that fit perfectly together, they're each their own shape and their love is purely that, love. Little else, and I've found a song that I think perfectly encapsulates the way I see Kataang.
At My Back by Madds Buckley (Spotify Vers.)
And I want to go over just a few of the lyrics to point out what I mean.
If you're the sun, I don't want to be the moon, the moon's too far away from you, I'd rather envelope you in the bluest of skies
You don't have to be opposites to compliment eachother. There is nothing opposite about the sun and the sky, but they're not matches either, they're just two things that come together to make something beautiful
Don't say opposites attract, I'd rather fight you over things we both like
Katara and Aang like so many of the same things and I think there's something to be said about that kind of connection. Also, we need to appreciate getting to geek out about and debate about shared intrest more? I love the silly fights I have with my dad over atla (a big one being whether suki is a part of the gaang or not) I love talking with friends that have interpreted a scene different and getting to debate it all. I feel like Katara and Aang would get to do these things a lot. They'd be the couple that shares fandoms and ships sksjdjdn
Don't make up for what I lack, I don't need a missing piece, just someone at my back
While I do think kataang do make up for parts the other lacks, their relationship isn't built on that. It's built on the fact that they're ride or die for eachother, that they back eachother up. They're partners in crime. They're so fuckin jwbdjsnf gung ho for eachother fuck I love them so much
And if you're the left shoe, I can't be the right, I'm just another pair that's just a little tight when I get moody
Jsbfjnsnd I fuckin, love this line. They're both their own people, a full pair of shoes on their own, (and they're both so moody when they want to be) and they love eachother at their worst, no matter how moody. They don't expect eachother to be some other half of them, they just love eachother for who they are, as simple as that
Just be my friend, and when the night is cold get close
My favorite thing about them is that they are built on such a strong foundation of friendship. They are best friends first, lovers second, and I think that's how any good relationship should be. Just be friends, and let romance be a part of loving eachother, getting close and sharing in struggles and, of course, cuddles
The rest of the song is also supeerrrr kataang imo, or at least how I see them. It's super sweet and I highly recommend checking it out if you're ever looking for kataang songs.
But yeah, it's like, The Kataang Song for me. I love these two so much, they make me so emotional. So sweet and perfect and just kshdjdndj ugh ugh ugh
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ravewing · 9 months
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Would you have time to explain a little bit about Flame, I don’t remember much from the books, maybe your favourite part about Flame, what makes Flame so much greater and underrated compared to the others?
I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS QUESTION SO I CAN RANT ABOUT FLAME HELLO !!!!
OK SO BASICALLY HE WAS RAISED IN THE TALONS OF PEACE, HE WAS THERE BECAUSE HIS MOTHER, AVALANCHE DIDNT WANT HIM TO BE DRAFTED INTO THE WAR AS A CHILD BUT THIS LED TO HIM HAVING TO MOVE AROUND PYRRHIA OFTEN, NEVER HAVING A REAL PLACE HE COULD CALL HOME
HE ALONG WITH THE OTHER FIVE ALTERNATES GREW UP THERE BUT THEY DIDNT KNOW THAT THEY WERE THE 'DRAGONETS' UNTIL THE PROLOGUE OF BOOK THREE WHERE MORROWSEER TOLD THEM BECAUSE HE WAS DISAPPOINTED WITH THE REAL ONES
BOOK FOUR WAS WHERE HE GOT THE MOST SCREEN (BOOK?) TIME, HE WAS INTRODUCED TO STARFLIGHT BY FATESPEAKER AFTER HE MET HIS FATHER; THIS IS WHEN FLAME AND THE OTHER ALTERNATES ARE ORDERED TO KILL HIM, FLAME AND OCHRE ARE FOUND BY NIGHTWING GUARDS AND ARE PLACED IN THE DUNGEON FOR THE NIGHT (THIS IS WHERE HE MET MIDBRINGER AND DEVELOPED AN INTEREST IN BECOMING AN ASSASSIN)
THE NEXT DAY HE AND THE REST OF THE ALTERNATES + STARFLIGHT ARE FORCED TO FLY GOD KNOWS HOW MANY MILES TO A SKYWING GUARD OUTPOST WHERE HE MEETS PROBABLY THE FIRST DRAGONS FROM HIS TRIBE ASIDES FROM THE TALONS, AND JUST AS HE GETS TO KNOW THEM THE NIGHTWINGS BURN THE WHOLE FUCKING PLACE DOWN RIGHT IN FRONT OF HIS EYES!! WHAT THE FLIP!!!
THEN HE HAS TO FLY ALL THE WAY BACK TO THE VOLCANO AFTER EXPERIENCING THE MOST TRAUMATIC THING HE HAD EVER SEEN!! IMAGINE BEING LIKE 16 YEARS OLD (I THINK THATS WHAT TUI SAID 6 DRAGON YEARS WAS) AND SEEING SOME OF THE FIRST DRAGONS YOUVE MET OF YOUR TRIBE GET BURNED ALIVE IN FRONT OF YOU WHAT THE FUCK
AND THEN THE NEXT FUCKING DAY MORROWSEER GETS THEM ALL TO FIGHT AND HE GETS HIS FACE FUCKED UP BY VIPERS TAIL AND GOD KNOWS HOW MUCH THAT HURT LIKE?? OW?? AND THEN SHE FALLS INTO THE LAVA AND GUESS WHAT??? SHE GETS FUCKING BURNED ALIVE RIGHT IN FRONT OF HIM!!! ONE OF THE PEOPLE THAT HE FUCKING GREW UP WITH JUST!!! WHAT
OH YEAH AND SOMETIME AROUND THIS HE AND OCHRE STEAL THE DREAMVISITOR FROM STARFLIGHT BUT THATS PRETTY MUCH IRRELEVANT
ANYWHO HES IN THE INFIRMARY AND THEN FATESPEAKER AND STARFLIGHT GET HIM TO HELP THEM ESCAPE AND USE HIS NEWLY SCARRED FACE TO DO SO AND ALL THE NIGHTWING GUARDS THEY SHOW HIS SCAR TO GO "EW" "GROSS" "YUCK" LIKE OMFG I FELT SO BAD FOR HIM LIKE??? WHAT
ANYWHO THE RAINWINGS TAKE CARE OF HIM UNTIL THE MIDDLE OF BOOK FIVE WHEN THE REAL DRAGONETS GO TO THE TALONS TO SEND A MESSAGE TO BLISTER I THINK? IDK BUT THERE HE FOLLOWS THEM AND SEES HIS MOM AGAIN AND THEY HUG AND HE CRIES AND ITS REALLY SAD AND EMOTIONAL BECAUSE LIKE IMAGINE EXPERIENCING THE GREATEST TRAUMA YOUVE EVER HAD IN A SPAN OF THREE CONSECUTIVE DAYS AND YOU FINALLY SEE THE ONE PERSON WHO CARES ABOUT YOU ABD YOU JUST. BURST INTO TEARS
ANYWHO THEN HE GETS SENT TO JMA AND THEN THAT FUCKING CAVE GETS BURNT UP IN AN EXPLOSION KILLING ONE OF HIS CLAWMATES AND INJURING THE OTHER LIKE GEE WHIZ THAT CANT BRING BACK ANY BAD MEMORIES!!
AND THEN AT THAT ASSEMBLY WE CAN TELL FROM MOON READING HIS MIND HOW MUCH THOSE FEW DAYS IN BOOK FOUR FUCKED HIM UP LIKE I COULD TALK FOREVER ABOUT HIS THOUGHTS BUT UH YEAH AND HE SENSES MOON READING HIS MIND AND FUCKING KICKS HER OUT I FEEL LIKE NOBODY TALKS ABOUT THAT
AND BASICALLY HE CONTINUES LIVING HIS LIFE AT JMA UNTIL FUCK ASS SHIT FUCK MIDSTALKER SHOWS UP AND HES ALL "OH FLAME IM GONNA HEAL YOUR FACE" AND FLAME IS SKEPTICAL AND DOESNT BELIEVE HIM BECAUSE NOBODY HAS EVER EVER DONE ANYTHING NICE FOR HIM (OH YEAH I FORGOT THIS WAS TOUCHED ON WHEN STARF AND FATESPEAKER WENT TO GET HIM OUT OF THE VOLCANO WHEN THEY SAID THEY WERE GONNA SAVE HIM AND HE WAS LIKE "WHY WOULD YOU SAVE ME?" THAT WAS REALLY SAD TOO) AND THEN DARKSTALKER DOES WITH THAT PURPLE FLOWER BUT ITS ALSO HEAVILY HEAVILY IMPLIED THAT HE ENCHANTED FLAME TO KILL STONEMOVER SO THEN HE COULD SAVE THE DAY AND LOOK GOOD FOR MOON COS HES A FUCKING CREEP
ALSO DURING THIS SCENE WHEN DS HEALS FLAMES FACE TURTLE THINKS TO HIMSELF HOW FLAME LOOKED INFINITELY YOUNGER AND HOW HE FELT BAD FOR JUDGING FLAME FOR HIS 'SCARY LOOKS' OR WHATEVER AND THAT MADE ME REALLT SAD
ANYWHO ANEMONE FINDS FLAME AND IS LIKE "DARKSTALKERR I FOUND HIM HES THE ONE WHO TRIED TO KILL STONEMOVER :3" AND GUESS WHAT FUCK ASS FUCK MIDSTALKER DOES HE TAKES THE DREAMVISITOR BACK FROM HIS BAG AND IS ALL "FLAME YOURE A FUCKING LIAR LOL" (I HATE DARKSTALKER CAN YOU GUYS TELL) AND THEN HE TURNS HIS LIBRARY CARD INTO A FUCKING CAGE AND FUCKING IMPRISONS HIM DOWN THERE WITH STONEMOVER FOR ESSENTIALLY ALL OF BOOK NINE AND TEN LIKE?? HE IS 7 YEARS OLD. THE EQUIVALENT TO 18 HUMAN YEARS HES BARELY AN ADULT WHAT THE FUCKKKKK WHY DID TUI DO THAT TO HIM????
ANYWHO AT THE END OF BOOK TEN HE TAKES THE EARRING FROM QIBLI RELUCTANTLY SO HE CAN GET OUT OF THE CAGE BUT THEN HE HAS HIS SCAR BACK
AND THEN HE GOES TO WORK FOR THE HEALERS IN THE SKY KINGDOM AND UHH YEAH THATS ALL THE CANON FLAME CONTENT FROM WHAT I CAN RECALL !!
UHH MY FAVORITE PART ABOUT HIM IS PROBABLY HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH HIS MOTHER, HOW SHES THE ONLY ONE WHO EVER ACTUALLY CARED ABOUT HIM AND HOW HE ONLY EVER FELT VULNERABLE AND SAFE ENOUGH WITH HER TO CRY IN FRONT OF HER
I REALLY LIKE HIS INTERACTIONS WITH THE OTHER ALTERNATES THOUGH!! I LIKE THE IDEA OF HIM AND VIPER BEING FRIENDS AS DRAGONETS
IVE THOUGHT A LOT ABOUT HOW HE BOTTLES UP HIS ANGER AND TAKES IT OUT IN THE FORM OF SELF HATRED BECAUSE HE HAS NO OUTLET, NOBODY TO LEAN ON OR HELP HIM OUT
I THINK ABOUT THE DIFFERENCE IN HOW HE PERCEIVES HIS SCAR AND HOW DRAGONS LIKE QIBLI DO; QIBLI SEES HIS SCAR AS SOMETHING TO BE PROUD OF, WHILE FLAME THINKS THAT HIS SCAR RUINED HIS LIFE AND HATES HIMSELF FOR IT
THERE ISNT ANYTHING IN PARTICULAR THAT MADE ME LIKE HIM MORE THAN OTHER CHARACTERS, I JUST THOUGHT HE WAS COOL WHEN I WAS IN THIRD GRADE AND WHEN I REREAD WOF IN 2020 I STARTED FIXATING ON HIM AND THEN I GOT TIKTOK AND STARTED POSTING ABOUT HIM AND THEN I STARTED SELF PROJECTING AND UHH YEAH HERE WE ARE LOL
ANYWHO I WOULD RANT MORE BUT I NEED TO WORK ON 30 DAYS OF FLAME ART THANK YOU FOR ASKING AND APOLOGIES FOR THE ESSAY
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some-pers0n · 9 months
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One issue I personally have with WOF that I don't see brought up often is the tonal inconsistencies. It's especially noticeable in TFoH for me. Freedom felt like a tonal mess because one second she'd be explaining how she had been trapped with her tormentor for five thousand years and the next she'd be making some qUiRkY quip or joke. Idk, just something I noticed
Yeah it's really quite annoying. In the ladder half of arc 3 I feel it's most apparent. One chapter it'll be a baby babbling to themselves or CAPS LOCK SCREAMING and the next it'll be "I have been in unimaginable amounts of pain and suffering and there is no way for me to escape" before then going instantly back to something else.
Freedom is such a messy character in of itself. You can't introduce a character like her halfway through the last book, spend most of her screentime having her yell at Luna and Dusky, then suddenly make her character do a 180 after seeing Gay People and want to be good now. Yeah yeah "oh it's so sad that she gave herself up for the greater good" and all but like...she's not a great character.
I think it's mostly because it seems like Tui is really burnt out on WoF. Like she gets bored constantly and tries to add in jokes or hold down a single key for a bit longer than she should. It really is quite jarring when it's all silly and wacky before then instantly being hit against with a character calling somebody a "bozo".
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aangarchy · 9 months
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wait i never thought abt the korra thing. bc surely their bending isn't actually gone? just blocked off- like a more permanent and less paralysing version of chi blocking. the bending is still there
Yeah, exactly what i'm thinking. Amon used some precision bloodbending, and i'm sure most of y'all noticed but when he takes away people's bending he touches their forehead with his thumb, probably somehow blocking off the part of the brain that's responsible for bending, probably something to do with their Chi but tbh i don't know how that really works and the creators didn't rlly give us an anatomy lesson.
Energybending, as explained in the show, is different. It can grant the power of bending even to those who have never had the ability to do it before, so it possibly either unlocks something within the body (chi?) that you can't reach otherwise. (see: lion turtles in Wan's time, handed out bending to the humans that left their safety, even if said humans never bended before in their life). Amon can't grant anyone bending, because born non benders don't have that part in their brains.
Now after the harmonic convergence, some non benders suddenly were able to airbend. I'm assuming that energybending has something to do with it, seeing as lion turtles are spiritual creatures (tbh we don't rlly know what they are. They could actually be spirits from what we know, spirits can take physical forms and roam the human world, like Tui and La).
So how is it that when Amon locked off a part of the brain responsible for bending with bloodbending, that Korra is able to just bring it back? My guess would be that Korra didn't suddenly start bloodbending and didn't unlock that part in the bender's brain, she actually granted the ability of bending again to the benders. And the benders are able to control it immediately because, well, they're used to it. Way different from the people that suddenly became airbenders. So maybe if Korra was feeling a bit mischievous, she could have just granted people a completely different element, which would have been hilarious. If she wanted to get back at that shitboy Tahno, she could have just given him firebending and told him to figure it out.
What do you guys think?
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before-calamity · 4 months
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The Mun-Tuy Cellars
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Hey! I'm doing a Saturday Stream of FFXIV 1.0 on December 9, 2023 at 10am! Come and watch me dig up information on lost skills, explain how I get everything to work, and we're gonna explore some places. Check it out at http://twitch.tv/maria_puddingway. The Mun-Tuy Cellars in 1.0 are different than the version you see in Modern XIV, which bridges South Shroud to East Shroud. This version is a world dungeon and is of Gelmorran design. It was destroyed in the Calamity and rebuilt, because the Gridanians loved using fermented Mun-Tuy beans in their food, and needed a new place to ferment them.
These cellars are outside of Camp Emerald Moss, which would've been in West Shroud, which isn't seen in the game. Quarrymill, which is where the new cellars in modern FFXIV are located, is in South Shroud. Read on to see more about this world dungeon...
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The map is confusing like everything else in FFXIV 1.0. This isn't even FFXI design, this nightmare reminds me of the like you see in Dragon Quest 2.
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These round rooms are all the same and all copy-pasted, and reminds me of something you'd see in Tam-Tara Deepcroft, although I'm not sure if a similar style room is there.
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Here's where the magic happens! Jars of Mun-Tuy beans fermenting in a cold, dank cave. It's weird that this is like an actual brewery, but monsters have taken it over. You'd think that...ya know, the supply of bean-related goods would've dried out by now, unless the fact that the cellars were overrun were because of the incoming cataclysm.
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Lastly, you also see these big kegs, which honestly? Quite cool looking and there's nothing really like this in ARR.
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sanguine-tenshi · 1 month
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Quick rant
I just finished WoF book nine and man is it a good example of how NOT to do a magic system.
Look so far the series has been interesting to read. It's nothing overall special and it has some nice messages in it.
All the characters are interesting in their own unique way and the author really makes them real and relatable in their POV books. It was nice seeing different reactions to the same trauma in the first arc.
But man does animus magic fuck everything up. Literally nothing up to that point matters. No character matters, no decision matters, no power maters. Nothing matters.
And it doesn't matter because an animus dragon can just... undo and redo and remake and adjust as they please.
There are no limits put on them, not even a single one.
"Oh well if they overdo their magic use they could turn evil! That's a limit!"
Except no it fucking isn't. An animus dragon can just undo whatever damage their magic does, they can just erase the negative effects, make themselves immune to them, make themselves better dragons. They can do what the fuck ever.
Darkstalker can just spell his gf back to live. What's fucking stopping him? Just write the spell down, figure out a way so you cover all the possible monkey's paw effects and you are done. He can spell Moon to like him and then spell himself to forget he did that, so he doesn't have to feel guilty or for it to feel shallow and wrong.
Oh and an animus dragon can just make and unmake other animus dragons! Isn't that a fucking grand idea!
I just... the series was fine up until that point. And the worst part is that Tui did write in an interesting idea for a magic system in this mess.
Darkstalker's magic scroll.
That's it. That is how you fix it. Just expand on the idea.
Like for example, there is an island, a magic island that kills all dragons, but animus dragons. Which is important because a plant grows there that enables animus dragons to do magic.
So an animus dragon would have to go to that island, gather the plant, make paper on the island from that plant and in the process embed their own magic into it so they could do magic. They can make only so much magic paper in their life or something.
This way their spells are only what they write on the paper and only the paper itself is magic. Like it was in the book. This way you can limit the duration of magic as well, as once the paper rots away the spell disappears.
And you can limit it even further by forcing dragons to actually understand how to get the result they want. I mean like, you can't just write down "Make the wearer fireproof." Make it so the dragon needs to know what that means. Eg. there's a plant that is fireproof. Okay why is it fireproof? What makes it fireproof? Kinda force it to relate back to things that can be found in nature, I guess. Don't really have a good way to explain this part, sorry, I'm just kinda writing out my thoughts. But basically slap a high INT and WIS requirement on it.
Anyway rant over, was just so frustrated I needed to get this out of my head.
Bye and take care of yourself💗
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sandshadow9 · 2 years
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Can you elaborate on what aspects of the WoF worldbuilding you find to be underbaked? I'm interested in your point of view(and it's been a while since I've reread them so my memory isn't the freshest lol)
Thanks for ask @aspirationatwork! To prevent this from getting too long I’ll use bullet points and try to briefly describe my thoughts on the topic. OK here we go
- The animus magic system: Its origins are a mystery, it’s limitations (if any) are vague and undefined, and its inheritance is random. Someone else (maybe on the subreddit?) pointed out that Tui had to get rid of animus magic since she had basically written herself into a corner and made it too overpowered which I think is a valid point but I’m not happy about it.
- NightWing powers: Now I enjoy mind reading/prophecy powers a lot, but these powers stick out like a sore thumb compared to the abilities of the other tribes and we never really find out how the NightWings got them.
- The aging system: Need I say more?
- The naming system: Also very creative for Tui to give the humans the same naming system.
-Size of fruits and non-dragon animals: Just overall proportions of dragons vs the environment that seems to change every so often as fits the scene.  
- MudWing breeding night: Of all the scraps of MudWing lore Tui could have given us, this is what she came up with. 
- The Scorching: the biggest event in dragon history was left vague for a very long time, and then once an explanation was offered it was lame and only provided half the answers. It might have explained why the dragons conquered the continent but not really why they then differentiated into different Tribes.
- Inconsistent characterization and character arcs: While it maybe doesn’t fall into the “world building” category, character arcs are definitely an important part of story crafting, and I don’t think I need to provide specific examples. Every WOF fan has their own.
-Overall dragon culture and society: This is probably a personal bias, but the way the different dragon tribes live and work and rule are kind of brushed over in a lot of ways. I’m not expecting Lord of the Rings level detailed world-building here, but there are certain things that just don’t hold up when you think too deeply on them. Stuff like the IceWing Circles or how currency works (is it a bartering system? Do they use coins and gold?) or how the postal system works. 
Others can feel free to add other stuff or disagree, these are just what come to mind for me. But I do want to explain that I don’t say this to be hateful of the WOF books as that would be immensely hypocritical of me, a person who actively creates fan content for the series. Some part of me loves this series obviously, or else I wouldn’t have the passion to write for it, but it's the same love for it that makes all these things stick out to me. 
I also want to take this chance to explain a comment I made in my previous post: that it is very telling that Tui was given the suggestion to write a book about dragons rather than her coming up with the idea from scratch. Anyone who has created their own original story or even an AU has probably felt the universal experience of feeling overwhelmed with the details of how the world works and the characters they are writing about. This comes from a place of love and passion for what’s being created - and I just don’t think Tui has that love for WOF. 
I am sure she had a fun time writing it, or I hope she did, but I just don’t feel the love in the story. The characters are wishy washy since she doesn’t really love them. The world building is shaky because she probably hasn’t spent years daydreaming about it and turning it over in her head.
Anyway, this post is getting long enough. I’d like to know how others feel about this, but these are just my thoughts :3
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kingdarkstalker · 2 years
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this is a weird ask but hear me out. since i was a kid i've loved Warriors. i'm an adult now and just finished WOF. my dream is to write something like these series. before your blog i NEVER noticed anything wrong w WOF. now i'm concerned - what if despite my best efforts, instead of an inspiring series that carries the right messages, i fuck up like her? my real question: what would you have tui do to rectify the situation? genuinely, not devil's advocate. what is the solution? if you don't think there is one: what is your goal? to get people thinking about the themes she glossed over since she failed?
aah, to answer your first concern, its an understandable and heathly thing to worry about. you nor i definitely dont want to accidentally write something like tui sutherland, but the good news its actually quite easy to avoid writing like tui. do thourough research on whatever sensitive topic you're writing about if you dont have life experience with it, and even if you do, its always good to research. talk to other people with the life experience you're writing about. have them read your writing and listen to their feedback. have your writing proofread by LOTS of people if you can! have confidence in yourself and the fact that you care about writing an inspiring series with the right messages, but dont default to "im right", simply know that if you're willing to learn and change, your writing will NEVER be like tui sutherland's.
i very much suggest you check out my friend jasmine's analysis video on Wings of Fire because she goes more into the harmful tropes that are found in not only WOF but fantasy books as a whole, and she talks about ways to avoid these and reflect on yourself if you have.
youtube
now, about your second question.
in an ideal world, i think it would be the best if tui sutherland pulled wings of fire from anywhere its being sold and publicly held herself accountable for the actively dangerous things she's written to children, donate her money to the people whos trauma shes profited off of, and fucking never write again. she needs some serious recovery to realize the aggregious worldviews that she seems to deem as inherent and good.
realistically, though? she's a big time author published by scholastic. someday i hope to write to scholastic about her, but i hardly have the fucking spoons to focus on my own life right now. the best news right now is that the netflix show was cancelled, though im not sure why. my goal right now then? would be indeed what you said, to make people understand the mistakes that tui has made so that they aren't made again. do you really think that its simply pointless to understand these flaws? we can and MUST learn from her mistakes so kids can read books written by people who understand whats important and how to explain these things to a young audience. dont just give up because lots of huge authors are bigots, because capitalism favors bigotry. write your story! im sure that if you put even an ounce of geniune care and effort into it, it will be unbelievably better than tui sutherland's work.
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stardomthenightwing · 2 years
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I love the ships in wings fire but I don’t think it was really ok to have same sex couples (sunlow and jamapple.) it is a kids series and I do like sunlow but tui is really just throwing out mlm and wlw ships. my sibling is constantly asking about why sunlow is a thing and she asks about why it’s expectable for this to be in a 8yo book.
I respect your cautiousness for the younger audience that reads these books. Same-sex couples have been a controversy throughout all of our history, so it's not something new. It just so happens that it has gotten really popular in modern media, and I agree, media that includes LGBTQ makes understanding others more cumbersome for youth. It's kind of a problem to be told your whole life that males only get with females and have your core values changed by a children's book so suddenly. As a parent or older sibling, it's really difficult to speak with your child about these things, and I get it because I have a younger sibling who looks up to me.
Your viewpoint is valid, but mine differs. I personally think that including LGBTQ themes in children's media can be a good thing because it helps children determine things for themselves and gives them a head start on figuring out their philosophy and view on the world. As a child myself, I was exposed to many adult concepts, and that turned me into the intelligent person I am today. It depends on the path you want to take in life what you make of controversies, and children who want to endure the difficult understanding go down a much more rewarding and thorny path than others who prefer to ignore it. And to keep prejudice from arising within our society again, I think Tui's demonstration of these relationships is tolerable, even for people who don't think LGBTQ people are valid. Children should decide for themselves what they make of these relationships, and it's better through a book than a possibly biased parent.
Opinions aside, you've got to respect Tui's boldness and desire for change. She clearly strived to do something different, all the while knowing how some people would receive this, and I really admire that 'true' demonstration of courage.
Now I totally see your other concern, the fact that Tui might be cashing in on LGBTQ. She's throwing all these LGBTQ characters into her books to feed and fuel the desires of her fanbase, and from a certain point of view, it would appear that Tui is exhausting that category of character and cashing in on it. Too many LGBTQ characters can be a bad thing, and my personal opinion is that Tui doesn't have too many yet; we will see what happens in the future with that.
If you are searching for advice to explain this to your sibling, you came to the right guy. If I were you, I would tell them that times are changing and that people are changing with those times. LGBTQ people aren't bad people, neither are furries, stans or any of those other silly types of people you hear of on the internet. A person is defined by their actions, not by their sex, color of skin or mental conditions. You should never hate a person, only the bad actions a person does, because all people are allowed to change but not what has already been done. Sunlow is a thing because Tui decided to represent one of those kinds of people, and that's acceptable because the sexuality is depicted fairly and not misleadingly. There are many different kinds of people in this world, and it's up to you to decide who you accept and who you do not.
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munson-blurbs · 4 months
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Single Dad!Eddie x Fem!ReaderSeries
Day 6 of TUI-Mas
Warnings: pregnancy, lots of fluff, Harris and Wayne making us all cry
WC: 1.3k
Divider credit to @saradika
June 1999
“Harris! Lunchtime!” you call out from the kitchen, balancing three plates in your hands, crunchy peanut butter and grape jelly slathered between WonderBread slices atop each one. A gourmet meal, Grandma would have teased, but she wouldn’t deny the simple deliciousness of a PB&J sandwich. 
Eddie saunters in first, taking two of the plates from you and placing them on the dining room table. “Need me to grab anything else?” he asks, watching as you suck peanut butter residue off your thumb. “Like, maybe your boobs?” He grins, crossing his arms over his chest against a faded Corroded Coffin t-shirt. 
You playfully roll your eyes, setting the last plate at your spot. “Could you slice up an apple for Harris? I’ll pour us some lemonade and then get his gift from our room.”
“Puttin’ me to work on Father’s Day weekend,” he grumbles, but the smirk curling his plush lips betrays him. He grabs a Red Delicious from the refrigerator and cuts it into eighths, careful not to nick his ringed fingers. 
You pluck the gift bag from its hiding spot underneath your bed, re-fluffing the yellow tissue paper as though Harris will notice that it’s askew. 
Eddie’s tongue swipes at the apple’s juices on his fingers and calls for your son once more. “Harris! If you don’t get your behind in here now, you won’t get your surprise!”
The TV clicks off instantly. “My surprise?” He races into the kitchen, stopping short and skidding in his socks to avoid colliding with the counter’s edge. “Where’s my surprise?”
“You can open it while you eat lunch,” you reason, swinging the bag between your pinched thumb and forefinger. Harris plops in his seat, takes an enormous bite of his sandwich, and holds out his hand for the present. You relent with a laugh, nerves buzzing as he tears into it. 
Harris is momentarily confused when he pulls out a book, studying the cover intently. “The Berenstain Bears New Baby?” he asks quizzically, looking between you and Eddie for a clue. 
“Why do you think we’d buy you a book about a new baby?” Eddie teases, trying to lead him to the answer. 
You both watch as the proverbial gears turn in the boy’s head, his eyes widening when it clicks. “Am I getting a baby?” A squeal builds up in his throat, the excitement palpable. 
“Mhm. In about five months, you, Harris Munson,” you tell him, poking his chest with your pointer finger, “are going to be a big brother.”
“Mommy’s growing the baby in her belly right now,” Eddie elaborates, beaming as the words resonate with him once again. 
Harris leaps from his chair, bumping into the table and nearly toppling his glass of lemonade in the process, but he hardly notices. “We’re having a baby! We’re having a baby!” He cheers, waving the book high in the air. A slip of paper falls out, floating down to his feet. 
“That’s my latest ultrasound. It shows what the baby looks like and how he or she is growing,” you explain as he picks it up from the floor. 
He squints at it to make heads or tails of the grainy photos. “When do we know if it’s a boy or a girl?”
“At my next appointment in about five weeks.”
He hums in acknowledgment, still focused on the sonogram. “It kinda just looks like a blob,” he says cautiously, as though breaking the news that the fetus in your womb is a gelatinous creature. 
Eddie chuckles, kissing Harris’s wild curls. “Yeah, but it’ll look more like a baby soon, I promise.”
Harris exhales a relieved sigh, launching himself into your arms with a barrage of questions. 
“What are we gonna name it?”
“Is it gonna sleep in my room?”
“Do I have to change its diapers?”
“Are you sure it’s gonna look like a baby?”
It’s your turn to laugh and ruffle his hair. “Slow down there, Har. We can talk about all of that stuff later. Right now,” you lower your voice but keep all of the exuberance, “we need you to do us a super special favor.”
“A super special favor?” His face lights up and he leans in to ensure he hears you correctly. 
“Yup. Grampa Wayne still doesn’t know about the baby, and we were hoping you could make a Father’s Day card that helps us tell him.” You watch as he unlatches himself from around you and scampers off to find his art kit. “That was easy enough,” you say to your husband, who affirms this with a smile-laced kiss. 
Eddie shrugs, wrapping his arms around your waist. “To be honest, I was expecting him to be even—”
“I’M GONNA BE A BIG BROTHER!” Harris’s ecstatic shriek interrupts him, compounded with the pounding of his feet as he jumps up and down. 
“There it is.”
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You all pile into the car the following afternoon to celebrate Father’s Day at Wayne’s trailer. Harris buckles himself into his booster seat, the homemade card clutched securely in his hand. Eddie rolls down the window, turning the crank until it’s halfway cracked, letting the warm June breeze tickle his face.
From the backseat, Harris whines, “Dad, be careful! I don’t want Grampa’s card to fly out the window.”
“Don’t worry; we’re not going fast. Just taking the backroads.”
He seems to be content with this promise, but you notice his grip tighten just a bit.
Wayne waits for your arrival, stubbing out his cigarette on the trailer steps as soon as he sees you pull in. His naturally stoic expression dissipates into a wide grin and he pushes himself to his feet, tugging on Harris’s door handle as soon as Eddie throws the car in park.
“Happy Father’s Day, Grampa!” Harris shouts, flinging his arms around him. Wayne reciprocates eagerly, holding his grandson in a loving embrace. “Look at your card!”
Eddie laughs, shaking his head in amusement as he stretches his legs out of the car. “Real subtle, Har.”
Wayne takes the piece of construction paper from Harris, retrieving his reading glasses from where they’re hanging out of his breast pocket and sliding them up the bridge of his nose. “Let me see here,” he muses, scanning the drawing in front of him. “A family portrait, huh? This is gonna go right on the fridge.” He starts back towards the front door, but Harris stops him.
“No, Grampa, look!” Harris impatiently points to where he’s drawn your prominently rounded abdomen, much more obvious than your actual burgeoning bump. “That’s Mommy.”
Wayne’s eyebrows raise, glancing between you and Eddie for confirmation before he says anything further. 
“You’re gonna be a grandpa again, Old Man,” Eddie tells him, resting his hand on your stomach and rubbing it gently. “There’ll be another little mischief maker joining us in November.”
“You’re serious?” Wayne’s eyes mist over, visible even behind the lenses. When you nod, rife with emotion, he ambles over for a hug. “Oh, my word. Nearly got me blubberin’ over here.” He pulls back only to rest his glasses atop his head, wiping his tears with his shirt sleeve.
Harris tugs on his grandfather’s free hand. “Dad said you’re gonna change all the poopy diapers.” He giggles, exposing the gap where a tooth is newly missing after weeks of being wiggly.
“Is that so?” Wayne chuckles, looking directly at Eddie before bringing his attention back to Harris. “Well, I’ll tell ya what: I’ll change the baby’s diapers if Dad changes mine once I’m real old.”
Eddie tries to protest, but you cut him off. “Sounds like a good deal to me.”
“Nope, no way” your husband argues, waving his arms in disgust, “I’m throwing you in a home the moment you can’t wipe your own–”
“Eddie!” you admonish before he can utter another word.
“I was gonna say ‘tush.’”
--
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efrmellifer · 1 year
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Princely Knights
hi can I interest you in a fact about French Toast but it's Aytien (/Wyrmelliferel)?
The end of a loaf of bread. Mun-tuy brew. Cinnamon. An egg. Honey to drizzle on at the end. Yes, he had everything. As Aymeric got out a bowl and the frying pan he’d need, he started thinking more about the recipe and the method of preparation.
It was simple, but good. No wonder it had been a staple in the Temple Knight kitchens for so long—on and off for as long as the order had been required and consistently as long as he had been in the Temple Knight ranks, to be certain.
And its simplicity and deliciousness were what made it the perfect thing to share.
Not with Estinien, unfortunately, who was still asleep in his room (or he had been when Aymeric had checked) and who would instead be greeted with coffee when he came out to the kitchen.
But he would with Etien. He wasn’t sure if she had ever had a dish like it before. In some ways, he was sure she must have, growing up near enough to Coerthas that recipes got adapted and bastardized for the forest. But she’d never had this version, the version he had perfected after asking for the recipe in the refectory.
But Aymeric also wanted her company in the kitchen as he cooked, so now that he had his ingredients in order, he made his way back to the bedroom.
He laughed, thinking back only a few short years to the days when they spoke of being woken with kisses as like the princess and her prince in the faerie tale, but when she lay under the covers curled so tightly, he couldn’t not think of her that way.
But she was not, strictly speaking, a princess. She was, however, a lady. His lady. So he came to a knee beside the bed, running a knuckle along her cheek, then pressing his lips to the highest point of her cheekbone. “Wake up, Etien,” he called to her softly. “I have something for you.”
She stretched with a little squeak, and curled up again, opening her eyes to meet his. “Oh? And what is it?”
“Breakfast, dearest. But it is not ready yet. Perhaps a little selfishly, I wanted to chat with you while I cooked.”
A sleepy smile pulling at the edges of her lips, she shrugged. “Be greedy with my attention all you want, gods know your colleagues abroad are. But do I need to get dressed?”
“I would not decline the offer of you sitting at the island nude,” Aymeric said with a little grin.
Etien sat up, undoing the second and third buttons of her nightgown. “And that will be all you get for now.”
“’Tis already an indulgent amount.”
She got out of bed then, laying the covers as neatly as she could, and followed him to the kitchen.
“So what is it?” she asked as she got comfortable in her chair, humming happily as Aymeric poured her a steaming cup of tea.
“A dish called ‘Poor Knights’,” he told her. “And indeed, with how inexpensive the ingredients are, and the pay knights received in some eras, it was easily consumable by poor knights. It was a celebratory dessert for us most times we ate it,” he explained, “though there were one or two times I recall eating the leftover portions for breakfast.”
He cracked the egg in, poured the mun-tuy brew into the bowl, and then shook in a liberal amount of the cinnamon. Still talking, he whisked it together, followed by pressing a slice of the bread under the milky concoction until it was soaked through. Once that was done, he transferred it to the pan, and set the pan over the flame, watching it carefully.
“I had a sudden craving for it the other day, and thought it would be better if I shared it.”
“Why not with Estinien?” Etien asked. “Or was it only given to the archery corps?”
“No, despite Estinien’s willingness to eat most things that are safe to be eaten, he has never much liked this.”
“Aw, what a shame.”
“It means there will be more for you,” Aymeric lilted, setting the first piece of bread on a plate for her, drizzling the honey over it. “Tell me what you think.”
She took the fork he handed her and cut herself a piece. “Well, it smells nice.”
He cursed softly.
“What’s the matter?”
“I forgot the vanilla,” he said with touch of embarrassment. “In my defense, half the time, there was none in it. If the prices were too high, they couldn't afford to feed all of us vanilla-soaked confections.”
“I’m sure it will still be good,” Etien assured him, finally getting the bite into her mouth. “And it is.” She dabbed at her mouth and swallowed. “Sorry. It is, it’s good!”
“I’m glad you like it,” he said, a little relieved. He took her fork and had a bite himself.
“Yours is in the pan, ser,” she teased, taking back her fork. Even as she said it, she cut him another piece and fed it to him.
“I thought I smelled Poor Knights,” Estinien mumbled as he joined them in the kitchen.
As if it had been timed, Aymeric set down the cup of coffee for him.
He sipped it, then gave them each a good-morning kiss (this was a habit of theirs he was amenable to joining in on). “I have to admit, while I still will not have a plate of it myself, it does taste better off your lips,” he commented, pleasantly surprised.
Aymeric sat down with several more slices, giving one to Etien and keeping the two that remained. “And toast for you, Estinien. There’s also honey.”
Etien rested her chin on her free hand, humming softly. “What does he need honey for? He already looks so sweet.”
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stevensaus · 1 year
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Two Ways To Access A Remote PulseAudio Session Over SSH
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Despite what you may read elsewhere, there are two ways to control the volume on a remote machine running PulseAudio when you can only access it via SSH. I am not talking about using X forwarding here (which does NOT work), and I do not mean running a whole remote desktop session via VNC or X2Go just to mess with the volume. Nor do you need to run PulseAudio as a system service, or edit PulseAudio's configuration files at all. This is done using command line tools only. Specifically, tmux, pulsemixer, and volumerb. This works on a fresh install of Debian bookworm, where I have not altered any PulseAudio configuration files at all. The system in question has audio two devices - a "regular" audio output and a HDMI output. The Problem Because of some very good complicated security reason , unless you are running a system-wide configuration of PulseAudio (which is not a great idea ), you typically cannot connect to an already running PulseAudio daemon when you SSH into a system. When would this come up? In my particular case so that I can adjust the volume on my media center PC from my laptop with a few simple scripts. It's definitely one of those things not everyone will need, but when you do need it, you need it. The Solution For this, I've done the following (the PulseAudio setup is the default that Debian configured, and works perfectly fine locally): - sudo apt install tmux pulsemixer ruby - wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/uriel1998/volumerb/master/volume.rb - sudo mv ./volume.rb /usr/local/bin/volume - sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/volume - Create a tmux session, have at least one open shell window in that session, and detach from it on the machine whose volume you want to control. Not "connected via SSH", but actually on that machine. The tmux portions are actually extra, but they give you a lot more flexibility. And if you're regularly using SSH and don't know about tmux, you'll be doing yourself a lot of favors by knowing even a little about it. pulsemixer is a fantastic TUI program for handling PulseAudio, and I thoroughly recommend it.
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But, as you can see in the first video below, if I just SSH in, pulsemixer returns Failed to connect to pulseaudio. That's also what happens if you try X-forwarding, by the way. However, you can see that - for reasons I do not understand - the volumerb script works out of the box. That script is comparatively klunky compared to pulsemixer, but for some reason it works. The only change from that script's normal behavior is that it only seems to work on whichever sink is set as the "default" sink, not all of the sinks. The interesting part comes next in this second video. You have a tmux session still running on the machine that you just SSH'd into. You can attach to that existing session (tmux attach), and in any windows that were created on the local machine, you can use pulsemixer normally. It attaches to the running PulseAudio session with no difficulty. But again, this workaround only works with windows (and sessions) that were originally created locally. In the video you can see that I create - connected over SSH - a new window. In that new window, I once again cannot connect to the PulseAudio session. But as before, volume.rb still works. So there you go - two ways to control PulseAudio on a remote machine via SSH without running PulseAudio as a system service. I do not understand the specifics of it, nor do I understand it well enough to explain it, but just enough to take seriously the warnings that it is a Very Good Idea to not work around the security here. Featured Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay Read the full article
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thewarriorspecial · 9 months
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Greenhill High (CH1 - Dream Job)
*Archive Edition* Previously only linked to AO3, full work now available under the cut.
Read on AO3
Rating: Teen | Guy Gardner/Kyle Rayner, Hal Jordan, John Stewart, Dinah Lance, Oliver Queen, Wally West, Katma Tui
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence
A little something special for @hobicat!
Kyle Rayner just landed his dream job. He's the new Art Instructor at the brand new Greenhill High. His boss takes him around the campus and he meets one of the other faculty members.
Kyle’s grateful for the time Principal Lance has taken out of her day to show him around the enormous campus and help him get acclimated. For a small suburb outside of Star City, Greenhill boasted an enormous campus at its high school. 
He had felt trepidatious the day of his interview as he parked his Camry in the visitors lot located between a nine-hole golf course and a domed football stadium. Much like a luxury apartment complex, he had to be buzzed in by a security guard. When the big double doors opened, he entered a foyer that looked more like it belonged in a concert hall. The next set of doors were flanked by a box office and the guard station. When Kyle opened that second set of doors and saw the two million dollar theater he was floored. 
“Wow,” he breathed, looking at the ornate auditorium; still as striking as the first time he had seen it.
“Mr. Queen personally oversaw every detail. In a lot of ways, this is his school. That theater is his baby,” Principal Lance says proudly.
“Some kind of investment project?” Kyle asks, a bit suspicious.
“He’s invested in the students and their futures. We’ve lost a lot of small schools outside of the city. Some classrooms are cramming as many as sixty kids to a room. We’ve got room for them all here.” Principal Lance pauses, sharp eyes sweeping the gorgeous theater. A small group of students are following a middle aged instructor as he explains the complicated system of pulleys that control the movement of the curtains. “We’ll catch up with Mr. J’onzz during his office hours. Follow me.”
Kyle follows his new boss through the wide hallways, peeking into the large classrooms. Some are fairly spartan; rows of tables and seats, overhead projector, long stretches of dry erase boards. Other rooms are well stocked, colorful, inviting. It looks more like a private college than a public high school. 
“The uh, library is kinda small,” Kyle remarks. Principal Lance turns to the room with its short shelves and colorful carpets. The far corner is full of smiling, brightly colored stuffed animals. 
“Oh, that’s our Early Childhood Development center. Mr Harper brings children from elementary schools and even orphanages here for story time and puppet shows.”
“That’s really cool!” 
“I think you’ll be really happy here, Mr. Rayner.”
“You can call me Kyle.”
“I do insist on the formality. It helps the students build character,” Principal Lance smiles.
“Oh, right. Yes, ma’am.”
“Speaking of the events for our students, there is someone I’m excited to introduce you to. You’ll be working with Coach Gardner to develop your Art Therapy program.”
Kyle’s eyes widen and his heart soars. This must be a dream. “I’m sorry, Coach Gardner?”
“That’s right. Our football coach has a background in psychology. His experience and insights with individuals with behavioral support needs has been invaluable.”
“Oh, that’s awesome,” Kyle lies. He pictures some meathead jock trying to tell him what to do. He’s awash with memories of fistfights, stolen lunches, and slurs. 
They round the next corner and head down a long hallway. At the end, a set of large glass doors lets s good amount of sunlight in and Kyle can smell fresh cut grass. A blue sign on the wall indicates the locker room to the left and stadium seating to the right. Principal Lance’s cell phone rings. 
“Excuse me, Mr. Rayner I have to take this. Coach Gardner’s office is at the back of the locker room. Are you comfortable introducing yourself?”
“Yeah, no problem.”
“So sorry, I’ll be just a moment.” Principal Lance ducks into one of the classrooms to answer her phone, leaving Kyle to stew. He looks down at his feet and sighs. He’s not the smallest sixth grader anymore and this guy has his job to think about too. Maybe he’s nice. Probably dumb, but everyone here has been really nice and focused on the kids so far. The job posting said Batchelor’s required but Master’s preferred so maybe he was one of those rare smart jocks. 
Kyle steels himself and pushes the door to the locker room open. No time like the present. As he enters, he hears two muffled voices and he stops. 
“Well, I don’t wanna freak ya out comma but, when ya let a cut like this go for tew long, ya actually can’t get stitches. So we’re gonna patch ya up. If ‘at bleedin’ don’t stop, we gotta take yew to a real hospital, okay?” a grown man’s voice speaks softly with an odd accent.
“I can’t,” says a child’s voice.
“Was’wrong? Scared? I’ll go with yew.”
“No, you don’t understand.”
“Wha’don’t I understan’, buddy? Yew know yew can tell me an’thin.” Kyle cringes. Is this guy trying to talk around a jawbreaker?
“They’re gonna ask questions, Guy. If I say too much, they’ll figure it out.” 
Kyle peers around the lockers. A stocky, thirty-something redhead is kneeling in front of a lanky young boy—maybe fifteen. A bloodstained towel rests on the bench where the boy is sitting. The redhead is cutting a length of gauze and wrapping it around the boy’s bloody knuckles. 
“Aw, you an’ Bobby been friends your whole lives,” Kyle parses out the man’s words around the accent, “He’s the smallest kid in your class. It’s not surprise you’d stick up for him.”
“Dad’s a cop. He’s gonna figure it out,” The boy shakes his head, “I can’t hide it from him forever. And I’m—I’m tired of hiding. I’m tired of fighting.”
“It’s a fight worth winning,” Guy says as he finishes taping the gauze down.
“You met him. You know how he is. What am I gonna do when he turns on me? What do I do when he finds out?”
Guy’s sky blue eyes snap up to meet the boy’s, his expression stern, “You come get me. No matter what happens, Tommy, you will always have me. And I know all too well how much it hurts to get the holy hell beat out of you by someone you love.” 
Tommy nods as he tests out his wrapped hand. “Alright.”
Guy pats the boy’s knee and stands up. “Let’s get you to Math on time today. If your grade goes any further down the shitter you’re gonna get pulled off the team.”
“But—”
“No buts. Go see Mr. Stewart about Calculus, he’ll get you straight.”
Tommy smiles, and that makes Guy smile.
“With Math. Now go on. We’ll see you at practice.”
Tommy jumps up from the bench and throws his arms around his Coach, “Thank you.”
Guy gives the boy a good squeeze, patting his shoulder, “Anytime, buddy.” 
The boy grabs his backpack and dashes out of the locker room.
Kyle waits a moment before stepping out and clearing his throat, “Hi, um, are you Coach Gardner?”
“The one and only,” the redhead crows as he spins around. He’s got a smile that lights up the whole room and Kyle is floored by the clear blue of his eyes. He grabs Kyle’s hand with one of his big paws and gives it a firm shake. Kyle feels dizzy. “And you’re…” Guy prompts, still wearing his friendly grin.
“Oh, uh,” Kyle can’t believe he has to think about his own name, “Kyle. Rayner. Mr. Rayner, I guess,” Kyle’s laugh sounds as awkward as it feels and he feels fifteen again; small and lost and stupid.
“I guess that makes me Guy, and you Kyle, and us partners then.”
“Sure,” Kyle smiles, “Partners.”
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monstermaster13 · 1 year
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Corey and Oats in…
The Mysterious Bird-Lady.
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There is nothing better than a good mystery, a mystery that leaves us wondering if everything is as it seems to be or if it isn’t and there was one mystery that our duo seemed to be hyper fixated on, the legend of the NZ Bird-woman who kept all sorts of pet birds and had supernatural powers. Corey watched a video explaining the bird-woman’s powers and he wanted to find out more about her so he and Oats called up Mel, asking her if they could go on an adventure to where the bird-lady lived.
Mel agreed and she used her magic to create a passage-way which took them all the way to a special nature reserve and that was where they saw the bird-woman, her name was Gladys and she kept an assortment of bird species, Corey and Oats explored her house and looked around in the aviary.
Our friends came across a talking crow that taught them all about magic and the power of reincarnation and being reborn. ‘A lot of people fear death, but not I…’ ‘What do you mean by that?’ ‘Well I mean that the death isn’t scary to me, just morbidly fascinating and I can show you how.’
The crow took on a spectral form and guided Mel through the garden before entering her body and taking over it, which caused her fur to transition to pale looking skin as her chest muscled up a bit and her hands to enlarge with black nail varnish materializing on them as her arms enlarged too, her breasts retracted as her torso contorted in the process. Corey watched as this happens, and clothing similar to Eric Draven’s formed on her body while her feet contorted and her hips retracted, her feet enlarged while her privates altered into the more masculine variant as her shoulders broadened and her neckline altered.
Her hair slowly shifted from brown to black and grew messier and longer, as makeup similar to Eric’s was applied on her face, her features altering as a result of the makeup’s application on her face in general (if you’re expecting a lot of grotesque transformation horror or mind changes, this isn’t one of those, sorry) as her appearance shifted to resemble the character of Eric Draven in general.
The pitch and tone of her voice shifted, becoming that of a male as she gained powers related to his, when her transformation was finished…she was a perfect doppelganger of Eric Draven except of course she was also still herself, she chuckled for a little bit as the duo looked at her. ‘See? That’s how it works. One thing can be reborn as another, it is simple as that.’ ‘Fascinating. And I like this form too.’
Corey and Oats both developed wings as they flew around the garden, Oats developed pegasus-like wings and Oats became half-bird himself as he floated around and had all sorts of fun, they followed a series of clues and came across a nest filled with magic bird eggs which hatched, revealing multiple species of birds native to New Zealand in them. ‘Hey Mel, how do you like being Eric?’ ‘Not bad, this is definitely fascinating.’
Mel decided to test out some of the powers she had in her new form, she had to admit some of those powers were pretty awesome and she understood now why the character was so awesome, she stayed in that form for a couple of hours.
The duo went into the bird baths and splashed around with the Kokako and Tui birds and then they decided to have a little bit of a snack before having tea with Gladys the bird-woman. After playing around for a bit it was time for them to go home, and Mel reverted back to normal before picking them up and taking them with her.
They said goodbye to Gladys before heading through the passageway and arriving back at Nile Road, when they arrived back at Nile Road they all relaxed and had fun, a couple of hours later it was dinnertime and they had some delicious food for dinner.
After dinner they relaxed before putting on a karaoke session with the other microbes that were present and they played up until eight thirty that night, and after that time they went into the bedroom and relaxed.
When it was time for bed they brushed their teeth, put on their night-clothes and got into bed, snuggling up and having sweet dreams and their pegasus bed took them on a slew of new magical adventures, but speaking of…this isn’t the end of their adventures though.
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