GalaĆ«d has always embraced his status as a Valiant with utmost serious and pride. Sylvari were a very young race but they were destined for greatness and Valiants, as knights invested with a mission and sworn to a vow dictated by their Dream, had the duty to lead their people through dark times. But when the dragon woke and the jungle of Maguuma shattered under the feet and cast the Pact to the verdant brink of destruction, all his certitudes were challenged ā moreso that a certain former terrorist was undeniably growing on him.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
The roots ofā¦ something - 1328 AE - Starlight and Fireflies
GalaĆ«d had always enjoyed twilight, the subliminal glimpse of the sunās last rays just as it tipped over the horizon, the stars coming alight one by one, the song of birds dimming as the lament of crickets rose, and mist descending from the heights of the Grove to settle on the shores of rivers and ponds where glimmers of embershard would dot the silver ribbons of fog as the night progressed and the fireflies took flight.
But here, sunset only carried in its wake the not-so-distant sound of combat, the shattering of the ground where vines broke the very bones of the earth, and the desperate echo of hundreds of souls lost to the dragon, as they cried their last within the Dream.
And as night crept slowly on the Tangled Depths, he felt the Call growing stronger - a painful rumble, a wild beast prowling at the confines of his mind.
The sound of footsteps, muted as they were by the vegetation and the newcomerās own stealth, broke his train of thoughts.
He turned to see Canach approach, silently asserting him ā or maybe asking for permission to come closer ā before he sat beside him.
The crossing of the jungle had been an endless stream of blood, sap and tears. Tattered victories and bitter losses, half-veiled mistrust and bellowing demands battering against the walls of his sanity. And suddenly, the silence. The calm of the depths. A blessed respite from the dragonās unrelenting roarĀ āĀ one a soul already lost had sought tooā¦
Canach had sheathed his blade and knelt by the mordremās side, curiosity demanding to be satisfied ā what was it like, succumbing to the Call? How much of your former self remained, entangled in the grip of the dragon? What did it want?
One last decisive whisper breaking the mind of one long gone.
Canach, thrown to the ground.
And Galaƫd casting himself between him and the mordrem, sword slashing and repelling the enemy against the cavern wall.
The scene was all too familiar, and the fleeting shock on the warriorās face reminisced of a not so far day when it was Canach at the tip of his sword.
A rough whisper broke the silence, and brought him back to the present.
āThank you.ā
He turned his gaze to the warrior, his own voice stuck in his throat, as if still interred in that cavern beneath the waves.
āI regret.ā
Canach stared at him, questioningly.
āSaving me?ā
āNot meeting you under other circumstances. Judging you as severely as I didā¦ without actually knowing you.ā
A scoff, and a smirk enlightened the mercenaryās face.
āNow, now, Valiantā¦ Are you offering me a chance of redemption?ā
The Duskbloom breathed out a stiff chuckle.
āQuit jesting, itās hard enough as it is.ā
āOh, Iām going to enjoy making my first impression with you. How am I doing so far?ā
GalaĆ«d laughed ā a sound foreign in these depths, one that echoed with a promise of hope.
āYouāre a prick!ā
But that didnāt seem to bother him as much as it should.
āmy father is a boy and my mother is a girl so iām mixedā is the funniest possible response to someone asking your gender and it came from 6ā5 Viking footballer and notable weird little guy Erling Haaland on a Snapchat
Raphael had 2 (two) moods while he was secretly observing Tav and the Tadfools:
The utterly and unhidged craving for the insolent Mouse (a natural state for a respectable devil, he thought)
The deepest disgust turning into an awe of this pure abomination (he saw how Gale made a decent dish from fourteen apples, fish heads, and a stale loaf of bread. Fish heads were a dessert. He had nightmares for two weeks).
Some things about this post since getting quite a few notes:
1. If you see this post, highly recommend taking it as an opportunity to set a timer for 15 minutes and switch over to ACTIVITY YOU ENJOY. if after those 15 minutes, you want to go back to scrolling, that's okay!
2. Huge shout out to this popping up in my notifs often, bc I do go back to activity.
3. I think there are times where scrolling is fine. Right now, for example, I'm being connected to a machine for two hours to donate plasma and platelets. Yes this is a brag but it is also a time where scrolling is one of the few things I can do. (Though I will probably also read or watch something on phone lol)
āItās digestibleā is pertinent!! Okay, for those of you who havenāt researched Crisco for writing fic about gay sex in the mid-late 60s:
The first-edition ofĀ The Joy of Gay Sex, published in 1977, declared, āVegetable shortening may be the best lubricant, since it is not only greasy but also digestibleā[4]Ā Such a statement perhaps gives new meaning to the companies boastful declarations that āIts digestibleā and āCrisco has been making life in the kitchen more delicious for years.āĀ Similarly, in the 1978 sex manualĀ The Advocate Guide to Gay Health, Crisco even earned an entry in the bookās index.Ā Discussions of the shorteningās use as an anal lubricant indicate its popularity, with statements such as: āThe lubricant, typically the cultic Crisco, must be copious.ā[5]Ā In fact, Crisco was so synonomus with gay sex that discos and bars around the world took on the name, such as Crisco Disco in New York City, which was one of the premiere clubs during the 1970s and early 1980s.Ā Other clubs or bathhouses, such as Club Z in Seattle, even featured murals with Crisco.Ā Thus, Crisco was conversely also one of many things that led to the formation of gay identities during the 20thĀ century.
from this essay: http://www.columbia.edu/~sf2220/TT2007/web-content/Pages/drew2.html
Love this post for so many reasons but most especially because this is from all the way back in 2012 and and yet not a single blog in this thread is deactivated
Love the gay history, but i just wanna correct that the āitās digestibleā in the gay stuff was a reference to criscoās tagline it had been using since 1911, the actual meaning of its digestible is because itās main competition came from āenhancedā lards which were rendered pig fat mixed with non food thickeners that literally did not digest and caused people to basically just shit out pig cream, since crisco was veggie based the body digested it along with the food
This post is the opposite of net zero information. Not only did I learn several new facts about gay history but also we rounded our way back to the original question of the tag line and the mini obelisks.
If you're writing anything involving cons, scams, heists, or morally questionable characters who are very good at lying, here are some free resources I've been using for research. Saving you the "why is this in my search history" anxiety.
1. The FBI's Famous Cases & Criminals archive (fbi.gov/history/famous-cases) has detailed breakdowns of real fraud cases, Ponzi schemes, and confidence operations. The language they use is clinical and precise, which is perfect for getting the procedural details right.
2. The FTC Consumer Sentinel Network publishes annual reports on the most common fraud tactics in the US. Great for understanding how modern scams actually work and what makes people fall for them.
3. The Smithsonian's American Art Museum has a free digital collection of forgery case studies. If your character forges documents or art, this is gold.
4. Court Listener (courtlistener.com) is a free legal database where you can read actual court transcripts from fraud trials. Want to know how a real con artist talks under oath? This is where you find out.
5. The Internet Archive's collection of old newspaper crime sections. Search for "confidence man" or "swindle" in papers from the 1920s through 1960s and you'll find incredible real stories that would feel too dramatic for fiction.
Bonus: The Psychology of Fraud section on the Association for Psychological Science website has accessible articles about why people trust, how deception works cognitively, and what makes someone a convincing liar. Essential reading if you want your con artist characters to feel psychologically real.
Reblog to save for later. Your WIP will thank you.
Made this post about 15 minutes after the repair guy who fixed the pump on my dishwasher packed up his tools and left, as the dishwasher was whirring along doing my dishes from that morning.
He said the exact same thing, which I did not know before that, so spreading this knowledge.
