Solstice (new Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn fanfic)

[queenlua]

In Serenes, every year, there is a ritual.

(Set some years before the Serenes Massacre.)

Reyson & Lillia, ~500 words.

Read here on AO3.

Comments

[helicoprion]

I was gonna say, "you know, funny coincidence, I was actually talking to a friend about siblicide in the great blue heron the other day," and then I remembered. It's not a coincidence, I'm literally The Guy Who Talks About That (but only every 6-12 months, honest!!!)

[queenlua]

ty for your contributions to Art™ (talking up heron siblicide) i literally could not have done it without you!!!!

tbh i think someday it'd be fun to do YET MORE variations on this theme but time, space, etc

[helicoprion]

Did you know that the siblicide issue would literally be solved if the parents would just Bring Home Smaller Fish. But no. They bring home e.g. two large fish, and there's three children, and the kids sort out who lives and who dies. In experiments where there was the same total mass of food available but it was in smaller individual items that was easier to divvy up, everyone ate and no one killed anyone! And iirc most other heron species mix it up more with prey size, and in consequence most of them don't feel compelled to kill their siblings as often! They still WILL in a pinch, but the GBH is way bigger on it than most. Notable for being a freak, bad at fractions, or both

oh there's SO many things a person could do with the theme. I regret that I too don't have infinite time to spend on "birds are weird therefore bird people are weird"

[queenlua]

wait what oh my fucking god. heron parents are literally that Succession patriarch dangling the Big Prize in front of their kiddos like "whelp have fun >:3" incredible. the utter UNNECESSARINESS i just. love.

(also i know you're not a live-action tv kind of person, but for the recor,d i should state that if you WERE, it occurs to me suddenly you might kinda dig Succession. there's at least one "scary lady / scared man" dynamic in that show. though the twist is that the scary lady is kind of not-nearly-as-competent-as-she-thinks-she-is (though often more competent than all the chucklefucks around her) and so sometimes she gets dunked on by the narrative. but never as hard as the narrative's dunking on her husband. but deep down inside he's also an absolute WORM so you get to alternate between "damn sucks for him" and "he should be ground into fertilizer beneath her stabby stiletto heels actually." just like, PSA)

also i feel like "notable for being a freak, bad at fractions, or both" would make, like. a killer tinder bio line or something. if i were a person who used or understood tinder

ETA: re: Succession: okay okay okay there's also the extremely competent hot old woman / head legal council who's briefly dom'ing the fuck out of the most pitiful poor little meow meow failson among the royal kids. and it's a good moment, for sure. but if you dip into the fandom you will assume that is A Major Plotline and i regret to say HBO are cowards and did not go NEARLY far enough with it. just making sure you know that upfront so i can spare you the disappointment the LAST friend i rec'd this show to experienced lmao

[helicoprion]

Okay this... does make Succession sound RTMI, bahaha. I am putting it on my list for "if in the mood for live action"! (Have I osmosed correctly that the scary lady who isn't machinating as effectively as she thinks she is is Shiv, or is there an additional lady I need to be aware of?)

ETA oh just saw your edit. That DOES sound like a good moment that should have been more moments

[queenlua]

oh yeah it's absolutely Shiv, she's the one to watch. happy viewing when/if the day comes...!