#also dragons

[skymagpie]

House of the Dragon is a medieval soap opera in these few middle episodes in season 1 and literally a non-historically based western "Magnificent Century" (google it, it was a popular TV show on the Balkans I watched with my mother) and it's very funny like that, like great writing and all, but I cannot ignore the similarities in energy

[altocat]

I was rereading AMT (again!) And I got to the part where teen Genesis was fanboying over Seph and mentioned something called the battle of the great running wind. So...do you have some lore on this? I'm really curious. I love hearing early Seph war stories!

So some fun facts--I was originally going to recount this battle in Flashes Before Your Eyes, but ultimately scrapped it. So it will probably never see the light of day in fic form.

THAT SAID, yes. This was some corny lore I was developing for a potential future story on Sephiroth's early war days, back when he had already appeared as a frontrunner of the Wutai War, but was still physically not as formidable. It's just one of his many legendary tales that marked him as a hero, though I'm sure Ever Crisis will either retcon or expand on that concept.

So...

Still very, very young (12 or 13), Sephiroth had already made something of a name for himself among Shinra's ranks. Viewed as nearly unstoppable in battle, and capable of incredible strength and skill, he'd already become somewhat renowned among his men. The Battle of the Great Running Wind, however, sealed the deal.

Shinra had mounted an enormous offensive on one of Wutai's biggest strongholds. This stronghold was said to contain some of the very best fighters with the very best weapons--one of their biggest trump cards in repelling Shinra's forces. The battle was bloody and exhausting, reaching a stalemate after nine consecutive days of fighting. And WITH Sephiroth's aid as well. There was no break, no deciding factor to split the deadlock, both forces fighting and killing, but not breaking the line.

Sephiroth, already having contributed his full efforts to the bloodshed, but still very much limited by his child's body and experience, has an idea. It would be incredibly dangerous, risky. But it's the only thing he can think of to finally end the standoff and tip the battle into Shinra's favor.

He flees the battlefield, breaking off into the wilderness as fast as his legs can carry him. Shinra views this as Sephiroth abandoning Shinra and turning traitor, imposing a small patrol to take him alive if they spot him, but ultimately too distracted by the battle at hand to truly give chase.

Sephiroth makes his way down the fields and forests, up to the high sloping hills. They'd marched on these hills only weeks before, a secret discovery sleeping within the caves as they'd passed along. Sephiroth had sensed it. Now, he would make use of it.

Fast asleep in the grassy caverns, perched atop misty mountain peaks, slept a great dragon of enormous size and scale, tunneled deep in the darkness, undisturbed. Sephiroth, relieved to see that his hunch had been correct, sets himself to work at once. He slices the sleeping dragon's face, slashing its nose and snout, poking and prodding and striking until it's awake and extremely, extremely angry.

Then, still doing everything in his power to keep the creature agitated, he begins the long, terrifying trek back, weaving and dodging through anything he can find, pursued by the infuriated enemy. Whenever it grows bored with the chase, Sephiroth emerges again and attacks with ten times more vigor, resuming the pursuit.

The process takes nearly two days in total. Sephiroth is nearly eviscerated a thousand times over from the dragon's flames, claws, and teeth, completely exhausted, nearly at his life's end by the time he reaches the outskirts of the battlefield.

The stationed sentries catch him at once, ready to arrest him and bring him back to Midgar into Shinra's custody. Sephiroth pleads with them to send a signal to the commanders to pull back the Shinra forces. At first, this request is soundly ignored. When they see the enormous winged beast coming out from over the hills, however, they begin to acquiesce.

With the very last of his energy and strength, Sephiroth leads the dragon straight into enemy lines, the stalemate broken through the eruption of chaos and carnage. The dragon's flames are one thing. But the sheer scope and strength of its thundering wings are enough to shake the entire battlefield around them, a decimating gale that quakes the earth and destroys everything in its path.

Thus, Shinra secures a victory as there is nothing left in the aftermath. Sephiroth himself is so exhausted from the constant running and strain that he is rendered bedridden for days, awakening to a handsome array of celebrations and glorious titles.

In retrospect, Shinra marks this event as an example of Sephiroth's courage and resourcefulness. The Wutai people, conversely, view this event as the dirty trick of a conniving, slippery mind, and all known dragons within the region are subsequently hunted and disposed of thereafter.

Sephiroth, for his part, is actually rather proud of the way things turned out, though in hindsight he would admit that the act was incredibly stupid, dangerous, and somewhat sloppy. He prefers efficiency and control, and takes to being far less reckless in the future.

"Dragon's Child" is one of Wutai's many names for Sephiroth. And his presence often brings about the incalculable fear that, should he not kill you directly on the battlefield, there's a good chance he shall once again call upon dangerous beasts to do his dirty work. Even now, in merely speaking Sephiroth's name out loud, they still feel the urge to pause and gaze fearfully up into the clouds, wondering if his divine, dark messengers are lurking somewhere within them...

[wren-clouds]

When I was about 11, Inheritance - the last book in the Eragon series - came out. (In fact, it came out the day after my birthday. I got a folded black and white printed picture of the cover as a birthday present to show it had been preorded.) The series had a lot of fun things for a young child to be traumatised by, like big old bat bug nazgul guys, mind controlly magic, dudes who couldn't feel pain and went laughing into battle (I still distinctly remember the description of the birthmark the guy had when that was first revealed) and a guy making a literal pile of bodies with a war hammer.

In hindsight, maybe I shouldn't have been reading those books at ten.

But the thing that I remember most was in Inheritance. Nasuada, the leader of the rebel faction is captured and a prisoner of the big bad. He uses various torture methods in an effort to get information out of her, like the big bad he is, but, since she is a badass and a queen, she resists him.

Enter the worms.

I don't remember what they were called but I do very much remember what they did. They crawled around her until they reached her armpits and burrowed inside her, making fun little tunnels through her body that she ended up passing out from the pain (she got fixed up by magic and eventually escaped so it's fine.)

To this day, eleven year later, I still cannot lie in bed with my arms above my head or in any position that might expose my armpits without thinking about those bugs. Every single time, without fail, I feel uncomfortable and can't keep the position for long because I cannot stop thinking about those burrowing worms entering into this character and also maybe me.

And that's why the Eragon series is a foundational childhood story thank you.

[discountalien-pancake]

I was sitting here the other day and thinking lmao does sjmess have a wing fetish?

I’m gonna be honest with you anon, most people do and just don’t want to admit it. It doesn’t even begin to make the list of things that bother me about her writing.

[nonbinarychaoticstupid]

HEHEHHEHEHE EXCELLENT IDEA FOR TFAF

[appendingfic]

Artists on Tumblr: *Teeth*

Me: ...I should write gay werewolf fiction

[bewareofraiju]

Disney’s greatest love story was the one between Jake and Rose from American Dragon: Jake Long, and I don’t accept criticism, sorry. Princes and/or Princesses got nothing on a forbidden romance revolving around a dragon and a dragon hunter.