Aiden of the Cats, very much inspired by @inexplicifics beautiful writing

Morvran Voorhis, first-ranked prince of Nilfgaard, has been sent to Kaer Morhen on a diplomatic mission. His tasks are twofold: first, negotiate a nonaggression treaty between the wild barbarian Warlord of the North and the Nilfgaardian Empire. And second, ingratiate himself with the mysterious Warlord’s daughter and heir apparent, Princess Cirilla.

Sir Cahir Mawr Dyffryn aep Ceallach, a Vicovaran knight, has been assigned to protect young Prince Voorhis on this mission. Prince Voorhis may be the best of a bad lot, but Cahir’s still not looking forward to the threats or the temperature of a winter in the distant North.

They both know their mission is a dangerous one. But they don’t know where the true danger lies…and while they know how to navigate Nilfgaard’s treacherous court, they are not prepared for Kaer Morhen. This is a mission they might not survive…and if they do, they might be changed beyond all recognition.

The latest episode of The FanFic Maverick podcast is out! The show is available through the link above and also on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Spotify, and iHeartRadio.

In this episode I get to chat with fanfiction writer Inexplicifics about tripping head first into the Witcher fandom and her Witcher fic series ‘The Accidental Warlord and His Pack.’ 

Thanks for coming on the show @inexplicifics!

Keep on rollin’!

The link to ‘Accidental Warlord and His Pack’ series is here: 

Summary: Jaskier is sent as a sacrifice—er, tribute—to Warlord of the North. To his astonishment, the rumours of his terror have been greatly exaggerated in Redania. Lovely romance, smut, events, and characters ensue.

Author: @inexplicifics

Note from submitter: The OG witcher warlord fic. Great worldbuilding and characterization, and the OCs bring a lot of charm to the story

Aaaaagh! Another Irish fan!!!!!!!!!!!! Hello down there in Limerick! I'm waving to you from Dublin! (Inex's beta)

Whereas I always snigger at the line that follows. "Lambert has fucked actual whores, ok?" and I always hear it in my head in @aceoftigers voice too. One of my (many) favourites! @inexplicifics

A snippet for my darling Rose from the Fic Specific Asks meme: she asked for Geralt, Letho and the other witchers confronting the Lord who gave the children to the Ladies and then returning the children to the parents.

“Borys of Leyda,” Geralt says grimly.

Letho doesn’t let his expression change from smoldering fury, but inside, he’s grinning. The Wolf does intimidatingly angry so beautifully well, it’s genuinely a pleasure to watch. Borys of Leyda is pale as milk, and shaking in his fancy boots.

The servants crowded into the doorways of the hall, far enough back to be just barely out of sight, are quiet as mice, but Letho can feel their stares, smell their terrified anticipation.

The little girl in a makeshift sling on Letho’s back shifts a little, and he can smell her apprehension. Borys of Leyda is probably nearly as scary as the ladies of the wood were, to her; if Borys regularly has her father beaten then she probably thinks of the baron as a monster in truth. Well, this should be cathartic for her, then.

“My lord,” Borys of Leyda quavers.

Geralt drops the head of one of the ladies of the wood in front of Borys and snarls, “Explain.”

“Explain, my lord?” Borys says. “It…looks like some sort of monster?”

“Explain to me,” Geralt says slowly and clearly, “why the children of your barony were caged by the ladies of the wood, and you did not call for a Witcher. Why your steward came to me with the marks of a beating fresh upon him, to say you had forbidden any to speak of their lost children. Why you reek of guilt.”

“I - I - I don’t know what you mean, my lord,” Borys stammers. “Whatever tale my steward told you, I assure you, he lied -”

“We can smell lies,” Geralt rumbles. “Try again.”

Borys goes, if possible, whiter. “I - you must understand - my lord, they were only peasant children, worthless brats, my subjects to do with as I please - the, the ladies promised me there would be no bastards to pollute my line - ”

“Ah,” Geralt says, low and furious. “No.” Borys starts to stammer something else, and Geralt growls. “Be silent.”

Borys makes a gulping sort of noise and shuts up. Geralt takes two long steps forward until he is looming over the baron, glaring down at him; Letho is honestly rather surprised that the nasty little rat doesn’t piss himself in fear.

“No one in my lands is worthless,” the Wolf snarls. “Save only monsters. And a man who feeds children to monsters is a monster in truth.” He draws his sword, the soft sound of metal against leather like a shout in the dead-silent hall.

“Please, my lord,” Borys wails, dropping to his knees. “Mercy!”

“No mercy for monsters,” the Wolf replies, and his sword comes down in a single clean stroke.

Borys of Leyda dies as ignominiously as he lived. Letho lets his grin break through. The Wolf’s justice is frankly a pleasure to see.

At his back, the little girl whispers, “He’s dead.”

“Yep,” Letho confirms, as Geralt turns to ask the servants who ought to be in charge around here. “He’s never gonna hurt you again.”

“Oh,” the little girl murmurs. There’s a brief silence, and then she adds so quietly only Witcher ears could hear it, “I want my Mama and Papa.”

Letho grimaces. “We’re gonna take you to your Papa,” he promises. He has no idea how to tell her her Mama is dead. That’s…something her Papa’s gonna have to handle. “Just a few more days, alright?”

“Alright,” she says, and wriggles a little to get more comfortable in the sling, wrapping an arm around his shoulder and tucking her head against the back of his neck. Letho grimaces. The aftermath of monster hunts is always more miserable than the actual hunting. He knows how to kill monsters; how to comfort the survivors is a different problem.

But at least Borys of Leyda is dead. That, at least, is satisfying as all hell. Frankly, the best bit of being the Warlord’s Witchers is that these days, they can actually see to it that little shitstains like Borys of Leyda get what they fucking well deserve.

Oh my, dear, this is GLORIOUS! ❤️❤️❤️ Thank you!

Two Years of the AW AU

Today marks two years since I began posting With a Conquering Air, the first story in what became the Accidental Warlord universe.

In that time, I have written 347K words in 41 fics in the Accidental Warlord ‘verse, plus an increasingly remarkable amount of other Witcher fic, and a 230K polyamorous romance novel inspired by the AW AU.

With a Conquering Air is currently on the first page of “The Witcher - All Media Types” on AO3 when sorted by kudos or bookmarks, and has been for quite a long time. The AW AU has a Fanlore page which spent a week as the featured page back in October of 2021.

So many other wonderful people have come to play in the universe, creating art, music, podfics, and translations - at least 270 works and probably more. The first chunk of the AW AU has been bound in book form - more than once! A Discord server has been created to gather the people who count themselves fans of the AW AU and help bounce plotbunnies, encourage hobbies, and generally find a community. I have a map of places AW AU fans live which spans four continents.

The AW AU has been talked about in a dissertation and on the Be The Serpent podcast (twice!), the Fansplaining podcast, and I Ship It Pod.

I myself have made so many friends, from so many wonderful people reaching out to me to tell me how much my work has meant to them. I have to give a special mention here to the superlative Rose, beta extraordinaire, whose encouragement and keen eyes have improved my storytelling immensely.

I didn’t realize, when I started writing this series in the middle of a lockdown, tired and frightened at the very beginning of a pandemic whose end I could not see, that it would resonate with so many people. I wrote it for myself, to bring the compassionate governance and joyful endings which I wished to see in the world to life, if only in a fictional universe. Or rather, I began it for myself. But I kept writing it because it has brought such joy to so many, many people.

I hope it still brings joy. I hope that I continue to be worthy of the immense kindness this fandom has shown me, the enthusiasm and generosity you all have given me, which has helped to sustain me through these strange, chaotic years of pandemic and political turmoil.

I have thought quite often during these last two years that writing the AW AU feels a lot like finding Kaer Morhen, abandoned and run-down, with dust in all its corners and leaves blown in through the open door, and moving in; opening the windows and sweeping out the debris and moving in new furniture; and then throwing the door wide again and saying, “Come in. Come in and find a place.”

And so many people have. It is a great joy to me, to see the community my AU has caused to form.

So: Come in. All of you. Come in. There is a place by the fire, and food on the table, and a warm bed waiting. There are people who will love you for who you are, and encourage you to become who you wish to be. There are empty rooms to fill with whatever your imagination can conjure.

Come in. And welcome home.

the clint barton™ that we all deserve

YES.  Except, we actually deserve more.

when you wanna show your muscles but you don’t want people calling you a show off so you gotta stop a helicopter to make it seem natural

I worship at the altar of Chris Evans' biceps.

@castlefanfics - Thanks for posting - hey if this prompt ever gets filled I’d love a heads up! :) Or if you find any pre-existing Alexis x Esposito fics out there that I missed...

Here are some photos of the Coulsonite (Fe2+V3+2O4) mineral samples. I originally got a total of four pieces of different size and consistence, which all came with name cards / COAs from the MRC. (The fact sheet from photo 5 is from http://www.mindat.org/min-1142.html) I once again include the photo Clark Gregg posted, just because it’s beyond awesome and should I ever get the chance to meet him in person, this is the picture I would maybe ask him to sign (then again, I probably wouldn’t dare.).

Full mission report coming up when I have some more time on my hands.