Revealing our dark pasts
Dec. 9th, 2025 10:28 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lokifanI went to a bi speed-friending thing on Sunday (it was great) and one of the conversations I had there reminded me of this weird, hilarious moment of fandom-meets-normal-people I had a while ago.
So there were six of us sitting at a round table in a restaurant, having just done a fun activity forsodsta’s birthday. Me, sodsta, januarium, Januarium’s husband A, and our friends L and F. Importantly, L is a uni friend of A’s, and F is her partner. We’re definitely all big nerds together but I’m not sure even L knew that Januarium, Sodsta and I all met through Harry Potter fandom.
We did, though. And we’re part of a group of 11 friends who all have a lightning bolt tattoo - mostly about two inches long, on the inside of our wrists. They were drawn for us originally bylizardspots, because she wasn’t gonna get a tattoo herself but she was part of the group. None of us, I think - including the 4 or so of the group who are trans - regret the tattoos, because they’re a symbol of friendship rather than Potter in itself.
Sooooo like two years ago, we’re sitting around having dinner and F starts excitedly talking about how she’s reading HP for the first time, and really enjoying them. She’s very offline and you can tell from how she’s talking that she has no idea about JKR’s fall off the deep end - and her girlfriend L, who 100% knows, is trans. So she’s happily talking, and L is looking at us in desperation, clearly hoping we’re not about to burst F’s bubble with any information about JKR’s transphobic activism. And I think we all silently decide that if L doesn’t wanna have that conversation, we won’t inflict it. But we’re all kinda like ‘hmm, interesting’ lol, not really engaging about HP, more drawing the conversation towards like reading in general. You’d have no idea any of us had even read those books.
And then F goes something like ‘and the red dragon, the - I can’t remember, the - ’
Januarium: the Norwegian Ridgeback?
F: ???
Sodsta: the Chinese Fireball, wasn’t it?
Me, joining in for the fun of it: or the Welsh Green?
F: …wait…
Januarium, sodsta and I: :look at each other, then slowly slide our wrists onto the table and pull back our sleeves to reveal our tattoos as one:
So we basically did a big reveal that we’d secretly been in a cult the whole time, lmao.
So there were six of us sitting at a round table in a restaurant, having just done a fun activity for
sodsta’s birthday. Me, sodsta, januarium, Januarium’s husband A, and our friends L and F. Importantly, L is a uni friend of A’s, and F is her partner. We’re definitely all big nerds together but I’m not sure even L knew that Januarium, Sodsta and I all met through Harry Potter fandom.We did, though. And we’re part of a group of 11 friends who all have a lightning bolt tattoo - mostly about two inches long, on the inside of our wrists. They were drawn for us originally by
lizardspots, because she wasn’t gonna get a tattoo herself but she was part of the group. None of us, I think - including the 4 or so of the group who are trans - regret the tattoos, because they’re a symbol of friendship rather than Potter in itself. Sooooo like two years ago, we’re sitting around having dinner and F starts excitedly talking about how she’s reading HP for the first time, and really enjoying them. She’s very offline and you can tell from how she’s talking that she has no idea about JKR’s fall off the deep end - and her girlfriend L, who 100% knows, is trans. So she’s happily talking, and L is looking at us in desperation, clearly hoping we’re not about to burst F’s bubble with any information about JKR’s transphobic activism. And I think we all silently decide that if L doesn’t wanna have that conversation, we won’t inflict it. But we’re all kinda like ‘hmm, interesting’ lol, not really engaging about HP, more drawing the conversation towards like reading in general. You’d have no idea any of us had even read those books.
And then F goes something like ‘and the red dragon, the - I can’t remember, the - ’
Januarium: the Norwegian Ridgeback?
F: ???
Sodsta: the Chinese Fireball, wasn’t it?
Me, joining in for the fun of it: or the Welsh Green?
F: …wait…
Januarium, sodsta and I: :look at each other, then slowly slide our wrists onto the table and pull back our sleeves to reveal our tattoos as one:
So we basically did a big reveal that we’d secretly been in a cult the whole time, lmao.
FIC: Emorian borderland (Tempestuous Tours)
Dec. 8th, 2025 11:39 amduskpetersonThe Emorian borderland, like the remainder of the borderland, is famed for the friendliness of its villagers. Despite that, do not be surprised if you are asked to pay for your room and board. Past foreign visitors have often taken advantage of the villagers in order to escape the high price of inns elsewhere in Southern Emor.
In the westernmost villages, you will find a blend of Emorian and Daxion life; though no bards live here, villagers can often be heard singing. As you travel further east, the singing will slowly cease, replaced by talk of blood-lineages and the seven gods and goddesses. You are now in the portion of the Emorian borderland that lies north of Koretia.
The borderland is the only part of Emor where vineyards can be found. Despite the relative coolness of the Emorian borderland, Emor's wines are among the best in the Three Lands. Especially popular is sweetened wild-berry wine (don't try the unsweetened variety unless you enjoy bitter drinks, which you probably do if you're Koretian) and wall-vine wine, made of a mild-tasting grape that grows only in the Emorian borderland.
Farming is also common here. Eastern mainlanders who farm will find much to interest them in these lands that have been plowed since ancient times.
Travelling east, you will eventually reach a crossroads. To travel on to Emor's capital, turn left.
[Translator's note: Hidden Blade shows life in an Emorian borderland village.]
FIC: From Daxis to Emor (Tempestuous Tours)
Dec. 2nd, 2025 10:09 pmduskpetersonNorth of Border Port lies a beach. Its serene beauty belies its bloody history.
It is here that, on half a dozen occasions, the Daxions beat back the Emorian armies that were intent on conquering Daxis. Finally frustrated by all these attacks over the border, the Daxions undertook an amazing task of landscaping, bringing the Western Ocean several miles inland from where it had lain before. Once the Daxions were finished, their border with Emor had narrowed to a brief passageway between a mountain and the deep Ocean.
Guarding the border has been exceedingly simple since then. Indeed, on the one occasion on which Daxions permitted Emorian soldiers to cross the border – in 976, when Daxis agreed to allow the Emorians to travel south in order to attack the Koretian capital from its naked back – it took so long for Emor's vanguard to pass over the border, one horse at a time, that a concerned Koretian borderlander was able to alert Koretia's council in the south to the coming attack. Alas, his message was not heeded, and Koretia fell to the Emorians.
The Daxions, on the other hand, have not been attacked from the north since they persuaded the Ocean to guard them. Their true vulnerability lies now to the east, which is why Daxis attempts to maintain good relations with Koretia these days.
Because the border is so narrow, you will likely have to wait several hours to cross the border into Emor, during the busy season. You may wish to spend your time exploring the caves nearby.
[Translator's note: That narrow little border causes some trouble for travellers in Breached Boundaries.]