Emma is the Saviour. Not me. I'm just ordinary. Luna, you are anything but ordinary. You are magnificent. Oh... Well, that's nice of you to say, but it's just not true. Emma was born with the ability to be the ultimate hero, and I was just the spare... without the cool title. You may not have been bestowed the same title as your sister, but you are an 'ultimate hero', as you put it, without it. And I think that is pretty extraordinary. Ask any of my Merry Men, and they'll tell you the same. Thank you, Robin. You're too kind. My pleasure... Your Highness. I thought I told you to stop with this princess malarky? Ah, of course. How could I forget? Luna. Thank you. Much better.
For thee, Ansonia! Nature’s bounteous hand,
Luxuriant spreads around her blooming stores;
Profusion laughs o’er all the glowing land,
And softest breezes from thy myrtle-shores.
Yet though for thee, unclouded suns diffuse
Their genial radiance o’er thy blushing plains;
Though in thy fragrant groves the sportive muse
Delights to pour her wild, enchanted strains;
Though airs that breathe of paradise are thine,
Sweet as the Indian, or Arabian gales;
Though fruitful olive and empurpling vine,
Enrich, fair Italy! thy Alpine vales;
Yet far from thee inspiring freedom flies,
To Albion’s coast and ever-varying skies!
— Sonnet to Italy (1816) by Felicia Dorothea Hemans
OR: What if Mary had accepted Mr Ryder's marriage proposal in Episode 10?
The first chapter of my The Other Bennet Sister Mary and Tom fic is out now, exclusively on AO3! It is an AU of Episode 10, in which Mary accepts Mr Ryder's marriage proposal. Mary and Tom will still be endgame, but with a little more angst and a LOT more yearning — if you thought there was a lot of yearning in the show, prepare yourself for this fic!
"The eye — it cannot choose but see;
We cannot bid the ear be still;
Our bodies feel, where'er they be,
Against or with our will."
— Expostulation and Reply, Lyrical Ballads (1798) by William Wordsworth
The first two chapters of my The Other Bennet Sister Mary and Tom fic is out now, exclusively on AO3! My only criticism of the show is that we didn't get to see their wedding, and this fic is a little insight into their lives, including their marriage, honeymoon (called a bridal tour in the Regency era), and newlywed bliss.
At the time when I first wrote it, there was only one other fic — which is why I decided to take matters into my own hands and write my own — but now we have been blessed with almost thirty in the Mary/Tom tag!
It is not only my first time writing for this show and therefore these characters, but my first time writing anything in a long time. I lost all inspiration for it, but this show woke something in me, and I could not stop writing!
A Brief History covers the earliest age of Narnia’s past (years 0-900) in a series of 7 ‘brief’ chapters based on different periods of the Age of Conquest. This is supposed to be a book that exists in the world of Narnia, written by a character that appears in the C S Lewis books (who is revealed in the last chapter).
*Not all of the characters or events exist in the Lewis timeline, many are headcannons of my own
IVE FINALLY FINISHED IT!!! Pls don’t come after me, i know it might not be accurate to one specific book, bc i just copied the maps from the combined books
- Has three major cities (Anvard, Perth, and Ende) and then several smaller towns and villages.
- The people are generally hardy and have a reputation for being tough from living in the mountains.
- Archenlanders have an affinity for magic due to most of the human inhabitants having dryad ancestors.
- Good magic practitioners are called Cunning Men or Cunning Women.
- Archenland was hidden by Cunning people during the reign of the White Witch.
- Some of Archenland's humans had ancestors from Finland, Ireland, Scotland. Greece, and France. This is most obvious given their naming conventions.
- They speak a pidgin language called Narn, which mixes English and Old Narnian. Their own language is called Archen, which is a very weird mix of Irish and Old Narnian.
- They have accents that sound Scottish.
- Everyone knows how to use a weapon of some sort due to coming into constant conflict with the Calormen Empire.
- Everyone is also taught survival skills from a young age and children are expected to be self-sufficient, which is why Corin is the way he is.
- Edmund learns Archen so he can talk to his wife's great-grandparents, who never learned Narn due to the reign of the witch.
- Edmund scares some of his classmates later when he starts cursing at someone in Archen. His Irish classmates immediately adopt him, because he's speaking Irish. Very weird Irish but still Irish.
- Archenland's last King and Queen were King Eoin and Queen Ines. They were both murdered by Calormene assassin's and their young blind son Sol (15 during the events of the Last Battle) was placed on the throne as a puppet ruler. This was a mistake and Calormen was pushed out shortly before the last great battle.
- Archenland has creatures unique to them, specifically they have wolverines, moose, and other animals associated with colder places. Some are talking animals.
- Susan Does Not Like the fact many Wolverines can talk but Lucy is very fond of them and they adore her.
- Susan loves the snow bears (polar bears). They're very pleasant and civilized creatures that regularly murder giants.
- Peter likes the moose. They like him and one named Teo would let the High King ride him into battle on occasion.
- Edmund prefers the talking mink as they are clever, excellent spies, and foul mouthed.
- Ariane had a mink friend named Avi. He would ride around on her or Edmund's shoulders and pretend to be a dumb beast to get information or free food. Mr. Beaver thinks he's uncivilized and they bicker about it.
- Boxing is a popular sport, as is skiing.
- Archenland is well known for its poetry and music.
- The nobility favor practical clothes over grand ones. They do have royal clothing but these are brought out for special occasions.
#the comic relief who is genuinely comic #and who makes the ‘incompetent bufoon’ trope actually work as an endearing quality as originally intended #well played movie - well played #john hannah #WHAT A FOX
#but! BUT!!!#THE GREAT THING ABOUT JONATHAN#IS HE’S NOT INCOMPETENT#he can read ancient Egyptian albeit not as well as his baby sister#he clearly has an interest in archaeology if only for treasure-related reasons#he had to go through intensive schooling to get the sort of permit required#to even have digs of his own#WHICH HE CLEARLY DOES#on a dig down in Thebes#he says and Evie believes him#Jonathan reads from the Book of the Living and he’s an excellent shot with a rifle and is clearly a boxer#Jonathan is SO COMPETENT and SO IMPORTANT#while simultaneously being plucky comic relief without JUST being plucky comic relief#u get me?
^^^This. Jonathan being in World War I makes total sense. It’s almost impossible for him not to have been. Given his age and background, he probably volunteered in 1914.
Of course he’s going to not take anything seriously. Of course he can shoot. The drinking, the skittishness, the recklessness, the sense of ‘keeping your head down’, the scepticism about traditional heroism….
The one with more actual experience of death, carnage and fighting is Jonathan. Not Rick. Not Ardeth Bey. Jonathan.
When Rick says ‘I’ve had worse (situation/odds)’ and Jonathan replies “ Me too”. That’s probably true.
Drop The Mummy into the real world context and that’s a character who’s going to have seen a lot of his school friends die, along with the myths and tales of heroism they were raised on. Sort of makes the line where Evie’s scolding him for drinking/messing about a lot darker…
Evie: Have you no respect for the dead? Jonathan: Of course I do, but sometimes I’d rather like to join them.
Wait a minute. Why is it being assumed that Rick and Ardeth wouldn’t have fought in WWI, as well? Johnathan isn’t that much older than any of them–in fact, there is a good chance that he, Rick, and Ardeth are all of an age. Just because Johnathan’s hair is thinning doesn’t mean he’s a decade older.
It was a LOT easier to lie about your age back in the day. So much easier.
Johnathan is the soldier who fought in WWI and became disillusionsed with pretty much everything except wanting to live (most of the time) and live well–and where is the shame in that? He would have seen some of the darkest shit humanity has to offer, and he kept going. And the thing is, though, archaeological digs at that time were DANGEROUS. Not from curses (usually) but from assholes who would turn up with guns to try and steal anything you discovered. Johnathan never really STOPPED having to deal with dangerous pricks, it was just less dangerous than death raining down from the sky in bomb, bullet, and mustard gas form all the time.
Rick grew up in Egypt as an orphan. What paperwork? He joined the French Foreign Legion, which fought in World War I in some seriously critical battles on the Western Front in Europe. Rick is the soldier who quickly grew disillusioned with everything, but he didn’t know how to stop being a soldier. Johnathan had a career and schooling to fall back on. Rick had guns, the talent of not dying easily, and not much else. When the army finally left him behind because he was literally the only survivor of his last FFL battle, he literally didn’t know what to do. At all. “Looking for a good time” was code for “Please someone give me a fucking purpose.”
Ardeth grew up in the desert. He probably never enlisted…but if you think his people didn’t fight against invading forces during WWI, think again: that region of North Africa was swarming with soldiers on both sides, and they alll tried to claim everything they stumbled over even while in the midst of fighting each other. Ardeth spent his entire life fighting to protect what belonged to him, what belonged to his people, and trying to keep assholes from stealing things that didn’t belong to anyone (for good reason). By the time the war was over, Ardeth was disillisioned in everyone except his own people, and seriously fucking done with stupid idiots who stole in the name of archaeology. He is completely (justifiably) resigned to the worst when Rick the Magic Survivalist returns to Hamunaptra.
The comedic nature of The Mummy misleads people into thinking it’s just a jokey movie but it’s got a lot of stuff in it that hits Hard when you pay attention. This is set post First World War. It’s set in a country that has finally began to kick British rule (although, as usual, the British still occupied Egypt) in 1922. It’s set in 1926, so that freedom is brand new and makes everything very charged politically.
Jonathan is a rich kid who was raised on stories of heroes and the honour of war, shoved knee-deep into the trenches and learned first-hand that his teachers were liars, the stories untrue, and that the honour of war was for the generals not the soldiers in the trenches being taken out by mortar and mustard gas.
Rick wasn’t raised like Jonathan and knew there were no heroes to start with. No grand stories to share and believe in the wonder of war. Life is a constant battle and if you don’t keep fighting, then you die. So he joined the French Foreign Legion and he kept damned fighting.
Ardeth is the outlier in that his entire culture differs to Rick and Jonathan’s. He’s an outsider to the world that places Rick and Jonathan as above him because of their skin colour, their nationality, whatever. Ardeth knows that heroes aren’t always easy to find but they’re out there. They just happen to be people who don’t give up, who fight and fight, and do what’s Right even if it means their death. Ardeth and his people saw war and it’s impossible to not be drawn into it somehow, either as victims or allies to one side or the other. He learnt that war has a cost and that the growing industrialisation of the West made that cost So Much Higher. Swords aren’t the primary weapon now, you don’t fight your opponent up close. Now war is distant and bloody and the crack crack crack of broken silence.
None of them have lived easy lives, either from the beginning or through events greater than any of them. But The Mummy shows very damned well that you can cope with what you see, what your experience.
You either try and pretend it didn’t happen, joke and laugh and hide how you really fear (Jonathan). Or you keep going, surviving from day-to-day and fighting because that’s what you know keeps you alive (Rick). Or you put your damage aside and focus on what needs to be done for the Greater Good because you can’t give yourself the time to break because people need you now (Ardeth).
This movie shows the trauma of war and how little support was given post WWI to survivors because the idea of soldiers having trauma was a shameful, alien concept. Not when single rifles and swords, bows, and arrows, were the way of war, coping was known how to be done. But with machine guns, mortars, and gas designed to kill or drive you mad… how do you cope with that when you’ve never really been taught how to cope with weakness? How do you be vulnerable, admit it, and let yourself heal when you’ve never been taught how?
The Mummy makes it laughy and jokey and keeps it light, but there’s a very real thread of the Cost Of War woven throughout it. Intentionally or otherwise, it’s a damned good representation of the fact that the First World War was a war like no other that came before.
Word Count: 1584 AO3
Inspired by my friend @its-short-for-jackalope's art, which can be found here! Also by my friend @midnightnautilus, whose ficlet can be found here. I found Samuel's arc truly beautiful, and as much as I'm devastated he's gone? I wanted to write my own send off to him, as someone who deeply related to him.
I hope you all enjoy it.
Samuel Stratford lies in the grass, the softness of it comforting his back. It's twilight, sweet and true all around him. A peace settles in him, as he looks up at the stars. Shining, brilliant and bright, reminders of home. The stars are familiar, even in this strange place. Shining starlight, up in the sky once more. This place, the end. The place he appeared, once he awakened from his final choice.
He's wandered throughout it as much as he can - recognizing the Paper Stand, the Township, even the Ellen Austin and Lincoln Island. Places he loved, places he made an impact. A place where his story unfolded, now a place for him to walk and discover.
Their echoes.
Now, he rests. It's a strange sensation, being alone. He doesn't know if he'll ever grow used to it. He spots familiarity up in that glimmering cacophony of stars, and feels his shoulders relax. He glows the same as those stars now, golden and warm against the cool night.
Above him is the Sagitta. Rose, Samuel, Margaret and John. The closest he has come to seeing his friends, his sister. Those stars Rose had named after the four of them, up in the sky. Separated, unable to reunite. Above him, the Satellite, shining out protectively into the dark. A guiding light home. That beauty he laid so many bricks to help create, helping to bring people home.
It's not the true stars or Satellite, of course. But it's still a reminder that his friends are out there, finding their way. He thinks that's still something real, in a way.
A cloak of grief and love covers his heart, as a lump forms in his throat. It's a strange mixture, those feelings, yet they still hold true.
He's cried so much since he made his choice. Even now, they start to softly drip down his cheeks, as he thinks of teasing Rose at the Paper Stand, quietly talking with John about the weight of a legacy, of rejoicing with Margaret as she turned that wood to gold, so incredibly proud of her. Masterpieces of memories, fortunate to have ever have made them. They fill him with pride and fondness, rippling through his veins like that starlight across the sky, the love he holds tight to his chest.
John, the man who started as an icon, who became someone Samuel could speak to about his fears of not being enough. Who understood Samuel when he said he still had so far to go. Who Samuel watched choose creativity, becoming more wild and free.
Margaret, his friend, that one who enchanted him with what lived inside her. Her quiet resolve, her determination to find her answers, her own kind of masterpiece. One who he found trust with again, who forgave him for what he had done. Who he spoke and spoke with, trying to build back that original connection once more. Helping her find her way.
Rose, the one he would have been lost without. The one person Samuel thinks he knows better than he knows himself. The bravest, the best person he knows. Her sheer resolve to make her own legacy, to accomplish whatever she set her mind to. The first person he ever dreamed with, who was the one who reached out with him to find a world that was more than this.
Memories are what he has in this after, and he thinks of them often. Living in the echoes he made with those he loved so dearly.
There's a peace in his choice, though. Samuel knows it was the only choice he ever could have made. His friends will go on without him. His life was worth them getting to live, to continue their journeys. He acted like the man in his dreams, accomplished great things in the end.
There is no greater thing he could have done than make sure that the family he built in brick carried on.
But, still...
"I miss you." His voice is quiet. He misses them so badly that it aches. He could write and write and write, and it would still never come close to capturing the loss that he carries with him now.
But they must go on without him. This is what sacrifice means. It's a sacrifice he cannot ever bring himself to regret. Not when it means that those he loves--John, Margaret, Rose--live on. He did this for them. He would do this for them over and over. He wasn't afraid at the end, no longer needed direction.
He knew what needed to happen. In no universe would he have held back from what needed to be done. He saved them, making his final impact.
"I love you." It's easy, to say those words. Reliving those memories, that started all with his notebook. Those connections--those people he holds so dear. His hand reaches out to the stars. Connecting the four of them with his finger, holding their memories and stories in his mind. He's always been a storyteller, after all--that certainly will not stop now. He tells their stories, if only to himself. A fond smile crosses his face, as he feels warm air swoop across his face. He can almost picture them beside him--but only just.
The world is silent.
It's only Samuel and the stars, at the end of infinity.
A quiet sigh leaves Samuel's mouth, feeling that kaleidoscope of stars all around.
This is a moment, all his own.
Then, a buzz, just above him. He draws his head up, to see an intricately carved box, humming with its own sort of blue-green glow. It's mahogany, the buttons and knobs near the top standing proud and strong. It's near his height, mere inches shorter.
He lets out a laugh, recognizing the radio--for that is what she's called--that first and only other being here. He moves to get a better look at her, the other storyteller here. He'd like to call her a peer.
MAIA.
Elation and fear runs through him, as he realises what's happening. "Oh." She does not often call. There's only one reason she's come to his side.
"It's time, isn't it?"
MAIA lets out a short buzz. An affirmation.
Samuel breathes in. Breathes out. He gets to his feet, feeling the grass shift around him. He rolls back his shoulders, steadying himself.
Once on his feet, he places a hand on MAIA's top.
"Take me there?"
She lets out another buzz, and--
In a flash, Samuel's no longer in the grass. Instead, he stands in a small room. Marigold-yellow wallpaper covers every wall. A green, plush chair is in one side of the room, with MAIA now rests next to that chair. On her top, now, a vase of roses. Soft blue carpet covers the floor, as a small table holds issues of what he knows to be the Sun. He picks one up and idly flips through it, laughing at the words he wrote with Rose in what feels like so long ago. His journal, a recreation of it, sits besides one of those issues. Trinkets, some he thinks Rose would have loved, strewn across the room.
MAIA starts to hum, a signal. She's picking up on the next story to share.
He's almost nervous.
But why should he be?
They know where to find me.
Samuel feels a swell of pride, of trust in his friends. There's agony in no longer being there for them, of course. He thinks he will always feel that pain. There is a part of him that is terrified to listen, to hear exactly what his choice did to his family. That is terrified to hear Rose's grief, the final Stratford still on Earth. His sister, without him.
But they will persevere.
They always have, and he knows they are strong enough to keep on moving. Margaret, with her quiet inner strength and belief. John with his understanding of the weight of a legacy. Rose, who has survived so much already, his sister who he knows better than anyone else. His harbour in a storm, who will now live on without him. She has people other than him to lean on now, and he prays that will be enough.
They will be enough for each other. They have each other, even without him. They've built their family - and Samuel knows that it will hold fast against the shadows ahead.
He had always been the storyteller before. The one who wanted so badly to convert passion to action. But now?
"Tell me how it ends?"
MAIA buzzes, a unspoken of course. So, Samuel settles in, sitting in the comfortable chair beside her. He can feel warmth exuding from him, something ghostly and true. He leans in, placing his hand on his cheek.
"Rose, Margaret, John..." he muses, "l know you can do this. You're capable of everything. You were worth the world. Protect each other, for me?" He knows they cannot hear him. But he says it anyways, keeping them in his heart. Speaking out to the stars.
A voice starts to play through MAIA's speaker, the blue-golden glow shining across the room, a mixture of Samuel and MAIA's combined light. A sweet tune sounds off before it, a opening of a curtain. Their stories go on, even without him.
Samuel smiles.
He's ready.
"Somewhere between the comforts of the familiar and the precipice of the unknown, an orchestra performs a score written in stardust..."
Hello, I am from Gaza, due to the shortage of medicine in Gaza, my mother who is a type 1 diabetic and was supposed to undergo urgent eye surgery, has not been able to get insulin or any medical care for the past three months. . Some members of my family fled to the southernmost part of Gaza (Rafah) in tents. But my parents and sisters have nowhere else to stay. They are forced to stay in the Nuseirat refugee camp, which has been bombed since the beginning of Christmas. "I am on my knees asking for your donations. Please help me. where you can, Goal: $700
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Throughout the years and across each and every realm and universe, Luna has been called many names. Princess. Daughter. Sister. Aunt. Mother. Wife. Charming. Blandus. Hood. Blanchard. But right here, right now, Luna will be damned if she lets herself be named a coward who abandons her family when they need her most.
— Luna Charming, Season Seven
The Many Names of Lady Sabitha Blackwood - Meet Me in the After
Lady Sabitha Blackwood has been known by many names through the years, not all of them kind. As a girl, Sabitha was said to have greendreams, often seeing events that would unfold well into the future. For this gift, her father, Lord Owen Blackwood, bestowed on her the endearment Raventouched. Upon her wedding to Ser Theodred Smallwood, the second son of the widowed Lord Theomer of Acorn Hall, she was known as Lady Smallwood. Two years into her marriage, and her service to Queen Aemma, who was known to have called the Blackwood girl friend, her clandestine affair with Prince Daemon Targaryen was discovered, earning her the moniker of The Dragon's Plaything, oft believed to draw attention to the many years between the lovers in age. Though there were fifteen summers between them, it was said that the prince sought her council, and referred to his mistress as nuhos ozzālanos, or my pyre in High Valyrian, a term that filled his elder brother with a simmering anger.
It was recorded that at one time, the new Queen of Westeros, Alicent Hightower, called her former friend and confidant secret keeper, though many wondered exactly what secret the queen was referring to. Maester Mellos recorded that it was to do with King Viserys' choice of second wife, though Maester Gyldayne is confident that the secret in question had nothing to do with Queen Alicent at all, and everything to do with the sudden death of Queen Aemma.
One evening, while in his cups, King Viserys cornered Lady Sabitha at a feast in celebration of his second daughter's birth, loudly proclaiming for all the hear that she would henceforth be known as The Barren Bride for her inability to provide Ser Theodred or his own brother with a child. He cursed her, saying she would bear neither heir nor bastard. It is noted that Ser Theodred did nothing to dissuade the king and made no effort to comfort his wife.
After the brutal murder of his grandson, Prince Jaehaerys, and the attack on his daughter and granddaughter, Lord Otto Hightower declared that Lady Sabitha was a shapechanger and a witch, accusing the woman of shedding her human body to take the form of a rat, leading the murderers Blood and Cheese through the tunnels of the holdfast and assisting in their heinous crimes.
"The whore knows no shame, no bounds," the Hand raged to his grandson, Prince Aemond. "She is guilty of blood magic and more and I will have her head and her husband's for the death of the heir." When Lady Sabitha heard of the Hand's outburst, she rolled her eyes, waving off the accusation. "A rat, he says? Fitting, considering his own loyalties and betrayals. Perhaps Lord Otto should learn more about his enemies, and his own family, for what use does a dragon have for a rat?"
Lady Sabitha lived out her days as The Lady of Whispers, maintaining the once-ruined keep on the northeastern coast of the crownlands that Prince Daemon was granted upon their wedding, largely believed to be the eye of a storm in the Black Queen's attempt to reclaim the Iron Throne. Many believe the granting of this keep to be King Viserys' final jab at his younger brother, sending him away from King's Landing one last time to live out his days with his barren bride.
