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permissions | you ain't gotta be a mathematician and see the odds ain't rooting for me—
fortune rides
like the sun on high
with the fox
that makes the ravens fly
luck his soul
the lightning his eye
he snatches the moons
from out of the sky
OOC
IC
SHIPPING
WISHLIST
like the sun on high
with the fox
that makes the ravens fly
luck his soul
the lightning his eye
he snatches the moons
from out of the sky
OOC
The Wheel of Time
Canon point flexible
Familiar up to book five, The Fires of Heaven
+ BACKTHREADING: Yes, please, gimme that sweet, sweet backthreading action. No best before dates here.
+ THREADHOPPING: Check with all parties first.
+ FOURTHWALLING: How much weirder can the universe get? Open to it should it come up.
+ OFFENSIVE SUBJECTS: None I need to be warned for!
+ CANON POINT: Variable! Happy to draw from any canon point from either show or novels. For showverse, anywhere up to and including post-season three. For the books, I'm fond of the Second Battle of Cairhien era or early book six, when the Aiel people and the nations of Tear, Cairhien, and Andor have bent the knee to the Dragon banner, the Band of the Red Hand has formed under Mat, and he's ostensibly on his way to take command of the invasion force into Illian.
IC
+ AFFECTION WITH THIS CHARACTER: Lay it on him, especially if you're family or friends. It's not out of the question for him to have capricious stray cat energy and go from lovingly rubbing his butt in your face to purposely knocking shit off tables and biting ankles if you pay him attention but also do pay attention to him, damn it, please.
+ ROMANCE WITH THIS CHARACTER: Yes, he's a flirt happy to shoot his shot where there's interest. Gun-shy about actual romance vs. casual encounters, but pretty much a romantic and supportive malewife at heart without knowing it. I'll simp for chemistry and that good ol' "oops, caught feelings" slow burn exploration any day. Open to M/F and M/M and smut.
+ FIGHTING WITH THIS CHARACTER: Go for it. Despite him being a seemingly average farm boy in this area, it might not go the way anyone expects. (To be ta'veren is to be a pain in the ass - Plato, probably.) He's adept with the quarterstaff and the Two Rivers' brand of ridiculously oversized fuck off longbows, as well as polearm weaponry to a degree that would seem to fit an expert combatant—past life muscle memory coming in clutch. His signature weapon becomes the ashandarei, somewhere between a spear and a glaive. Also has a penchant for squirrelling away knives.
+ INJURING THIS CHARACTER: A-okay. His ta'veren weirdness could kick in around more considerable danger, which could be fun to plot with!
+ KILLING THIS CHARACTER: Open to it with plotting.
+ USING TELEPATHY/MIND READING ABILITIES ON THIS CHARACTER: Knock yourself out. Happy to provide details as needed, though fair warning, he's not a fan of channelers/the One Power/magic-y things and will react negatively to its use on him without permission, particularly with barging into his headspace. Below is a brief rundown of character-specific things that could pop up on deeper reads:
— Ta'veren. Canonically those with a talent for seeing the Pattern/cosmic forces see a glow around ta'veren. As essentially movers and shakers created as mechanisms to prevent the world from going to shit, at times they have the power to influence people and events in both subtle and substantial ways. Those studying their impacts throughout history observe dramatically shifting outcomes and manipulating variables to improbable degrees are defining traits, e.g. strange coincidences tend to happen around them; an unwinnable battle may become winnable when one is present; someone who would normally resist a suggestion might instead feel compelled to change their mind when coming from one; or if a ta'veren has great need of someone that person might feel an inexplicable pull to seek them out, etc.
This doesn't fall under magic, per se, but imagine deus ex machina on legs suplexing circumstances to their advantage. Divinely blessed (or weird shit magnets) are ways to look at it. Fairies find their essence tasty but world-bendingly uncomfy when too many visit fairy land at once.
— Reincarnation. People having their souls continually "spun" back into new lives by the Wheel like a big ol' loom is a commonly accepted reality after death, making his soul... technically old if someone were to carbon date it? He appears consistently tied to battles in his life(s); as such he's naturally drawn to things like military strategy. The Heroes of the Horn, past warriors of acclaim bound to the Horn of Valere and summoned to fight at its call, recognize him as someone they have fought alongside across many lives. (Though binding your soul to a Horn on team ghost hero? Pffft, sounds like a shit gig.)
The veil between his current and past incarnations (occasionally helped along by demonic acid trips) is thinner than usual when the general rule is people don't remember their reincarnation cycles. Mat, however, has inadvertently taken a grenade and blown down these walls. Listen, some people soul search, others accidentally absorb the memories of hundreds upon hundreds of their lives and deaths to rival their immortal foes in battle expertise, it's fine! At times, particularly in combat situations, he will tap into these experiences. He's extremely normal, please don't ask why sometimes nobody gets his pop culture jokes because they're 500 years old and he speaks fluent Old Tongue from thousands of years prior. Tl;dr if you go poking, his subconscious is a weird archaeological dig site of historical factoids.
— Ruby-hilted dagger. As if the rest isn't weird enough!!! Someone may also find effects from the Shadar Logoth dagger's cursed darkness banging around in there. In a Frodo and and the One Ring-esque manner, the tainted nature of it physically and mentally ate away at him, causing him to lose chunks of time to its influence. His memory of this time period is spotty at best.
Shipping
✓ The most honourable and esteemed Emond's Field Five (Rand, Egwene, Perrin—with top spot going to Rand because when complete strangers ping you as intense for friends they're not wrong. Cauthor is my happy place 😊). Trakand and Damodred siblings—bring me your daughter-heirs and princes for the multi-faceted bi crisis that is Elayne, Gawyn, and Galad crossing paths with farm boys and girls. Aviendha. Or really, any of the Aiel.
? Nynaeve (I could accept a case for it, but I also appreciate their "eternally exasperated mom friend is more Mom than his actual mom" relationship). Melindhra. Other canonmates not listed.
✗ Min. Brigitte (that's his soul sister and beer pong partner). I'm loosely aware of his book series relationships (i.e. his fortune reading prophesying he'll marry A Certain Important Someone, and she him). That said, I'm a baby lamb come to the new reader slaughter and would much prefer to play those elements by ear and roll them into AUs, cross canon, canon mash-ups, etc. c: (So if you'd like to find out your destined-to-be is a scraggly-haired rogue in grass stains, look no further, lmao.)
Wishlist
+ GENERAL:
• Always a fan of cross canon, canon mash-ups, AUing into canons, canon divergences, jamjar scenarios, all that good stuff! 👍 to plotting out premises to get people together.
• Bodyguarding & mutual survival team-ups. Needing protection from LotR rip-offs and powerful, shady institutions? Your character needs protection? Maybe you're obliged to keep him alive, or set in a time period where Mat is doing the bodyguarding.
• Strange friends and stranger alliances, i.e. enemies coming together to face bigger enemies.
• Figuring out he's basically a good fortune dispenser with a luck AoE and hijacking him for crazy plans. People who don't know what he does but still nag him to get onboard with the heroics thing. People who think he's a nothingburger and can't figure why this annoying turd is always around.
• Playing around with post-apocalyptic Earth. As the canon timeline goes: First Age (our time) > Second Age (utopian Age of Legends) > technologically advanced civilization detonates and punts the planet back a few millennia > Third Age (canon), so there's opportunity for plenty of timey wimey things.
• Portal stones = hello, the multiverse.
• Dreamsharing, dream world shenanigans, Forsaken sliding into nightmares like normal people slide into dms with the energy of horny Tinder dates.
• Warder AU.
• Hey, who wants to TINKER with me, who wants to stab into EXPLOSIVES to see how they WORK and make them BETTER. No scientific understanding? A go-get-'em attitude and a pocket knife will do!
• In his come up era becoming filthy fucking rich by the sheer power of his luck letting him win at gambling everywhere he goes and throwing sacks of money at things.
• Chomping his bitch crackers wanting nothing to do with channelers/nobles/big dumb hero types while they make up the majority of his social circle. He's an anxiety chihuahua around powered people so obviously he should work out his issues with powered people in his life, especially if men. (Also here for assuming the twins are latent channelers as their older book counterparts are. No escape for big bro. 😌)
• Related to the above, spending time with his little twin sisters!!! (THEY'RE CUTE, THEY'RE GROWING INTO MAGICAL TERRORS. ♥) Sweet, tender babysitting moments!!! Let him have all the kids, adopt all the orphans, entertain all your fake alternate world children. He'll be the cool uncle forever corrupting the youth and attending their tea parties.
• The twitchy crackhead Gollum days cursed by the ruby-hilted dagger. General struggles with ✨internal darkness✨ and existential crises every time someone jokes he has the Devil's/Dark One's luck.
• "Sheltered sweet summer children discover life outside the Shire for the first time" scenes with the Emond's Field Five in their wide-eyed tourist era. Wow, a city! Wow, people in cities! Wow, whole shelves of books in libraries! WOW, THE OCEAN. Make like Aladdin, show them the world.
• Excuses to muck around with his unusually vivid flashbacks to ancient Manetheren. War cries, battle scene memories, speaking in tongues, etc. I'm fond of Thom's conspiracy theory its intensity in him = genetic memory weirdness thanks to descending from Manetheren kings/heroes, all the way up to him being King Aemon's reincarnation. Because 1) king's blood is bullshit and he would hate that, and 2) I like the parallel of being reborn where they died in a past life (i.e., Emond's Field, Dragonmount). And 3) not to mention true blood of Manetheren descendants and in-universe King Arthur descendants popping out babies would be such a gene pool POWER MOVE.
+ SHIPPING:
• ICly, he's up for flirting as casual conversation, flirting as friendship, flirting to flirt, casual flings, and older partners (canonically anywhere from 30+ and up). He comes with a built in Fated to Be Together and Politically Valuable Asset clause if those are vibes. My heartsong is grounding feels-laden slow burns in character development and plot. Assumed CR is grand, but I'm feral and will do feral things for foundation building! Chances to tease out deeper intimacies and build on dynamics across threads, yes please!
• Concepts I jam with in no particular order: opposites attract, unconventional couples that somehow work, lady & tramp, tramp & tramp keeping each other on the rails, make-out fake-outs/fake dating, pairing the spares, exposure therapy to powers through sexy usages (😈), frenemies/enemies to lovers, UST, belligerent UST!!!, "we're allowed to bicker at each other but the minute someone else talks shit about them it's ON" pairings, one night stands that turn into situationships (that turn into more), "screw destiny but my tea leaves said I would romance [vague description of person] and here they are" ships, accidental marriage proposals (shut up, it happens), "vague acknowledgement at first sight" that develops over time. Basically.
• Other tropes I like in no particular order: bedsharing, huddling for body heat, trapped in a space together (a broader variation on a classic: extenuating circumstances requiring being stuck together), mutual hurt/comfort, won a bet/lost a bet/didn't understand the bet (aka someone play Maidens' Kiss with me, okay), personal hygiene tlc, tending injuries & nursing back to health.
• IN THIS ESSAY I WILL... explain my particular love for politically complicated enemies to lovers and subsequent irony thanks to (cups hands around mouth) (whispers softly) "You're not my enemy, but your empire is." "Nor are you my enemy, but I live to serve the empire." vibes. POV: when you realize your destiny-assigned partner and heir to the awful invading enemy empire you've been running from for like five books are one and the same person, you accidentally propose??? and the feelings might? be? mutual?
• Along those same lines: corrupting your uptight, highborn, terrifyingly cool as a cucumber spouse with taverns, circuses, normies, free will, adopted children, kissing, occasionally MMA wrestling on the ground because you're not getting me in an armlock today honey, and crazy notions like affection without ulterior motives??? Hey, teaming up to fight fantasy Satan's hordes for Friday date night, good idea or great idea? Ha ha hahaha!
• True blood of Manetheren and Lord of the Morning instead of Daughter of the Nine Moons AU, please and thank you.
• Local insecure PDAphobe and bachelor discovers committed relationships can be cool, actually.
• The running gag even Forsaken and ambitious social climbers with five point ta'veren seduction plans take one look at him out of the 5 and immediately swipe left (+50 luck), while his actual dating life is a cursed conga line of Darkfriends and supremely questionable contenders (-100 luck). (Give me "oops, reached tent-sharing stage with my kinda sorta gf until she outed herself as an enemy spy and tried to kill me" fallout.)
• Soulmate AUs with hijinks. I'm especially intrigued by premises like Soulmates and The One where there exists a means to find out your match, which comes with grey areas and complications. What if only one of you is interested in looking? What if you match with someone you don't expect, or more than one person?? What if your soulmate dies and you get the understudy or reincarnation???
• I'm filth, give me curl action. So much curly hair between the main trio of boys to touch, so little time, so many tsun-adjacent types to make admit they wouldn't mind it. Indulgent reciprocal hair play is the height of kink, I apologize.
+ MISSING CANON SCENES / BOOK SPECIFIC:
• Training montages with Lan and Thom (the latter taught him how to throw knives, I'll die on this headcanon hill!). Lan catching onto Mat's weaponized incompetence and tricking him into revealing himself as being more capable than he lets on just by quietly nudging him in conversation is everything. Goddamn it, when will we learn everything goes to hell when Lan starts speaking in full sentences. And Thom as best shady father figure.
• Thom being everyone's father figure, tbh. Teaching Rand, Mat, and Elayne varying amounts of spycraft and how to basically be professional circus clowns in an unholy blend of skill sets will never not be funny. Like, who even are you if you can't play the political game of houses while being dexterous enough for a tightrope? Always here for a guy who thought he was finally out getting right back in to give his insane, brilliant, ballsy ducklings the tools to survive and succeed for no other reason than he loves them a whole lot. That's some real dadcore mentor shit.
• Special shoutout to my girl Faile, I feel they would be great friends and knife magician buddies pulling sharp implements from mysterious places
• Points to eyes, points to a couple of princes in the training yard. Who's ready to have their asses demolished, lose their money, and limp off with a bizarre new male power fantasy!!! Points to eyes, points to daughter-heirs (and their dimples) and agreeing to be their personal courier service... wait a minute. The mutual wHaT dO yOu TaKe Me fOR energy in the Elayne vs. Mat cold wars is a special, beautiful thing. You expect him to fight off a tidal wave of assassins and uuuugh just taxi across country and uuuuugh just sneak into your palace and uuuuuuuugh just meet your queen mum just to deliver your stupid mail? U g h, fine, he can probably do that.
• Mat and Rand and their moments being each other's Meredith Grey and Cristina Yang, platonic or otherwise. All of their many hand-holding, bed-sharing, mouth-to-mouth, raging hurt/comfort, life partner idiocy road trips.
• Flicker, flicker, flicker scenarios. 😭
• Mat going to Fal Dara, Rand staying in Fal Dara, the group going on the horn hunt together. Living the Arthur fist clench meme at Rand's nobility glow-up. Attending Barthanes' party as Rand's """servant.""" 🔪🔪🔪
• Pulling a B&E on the Stone of Tear while Yakety Sax plays. Who knew you could take out a defensive wall on the most impenetrable fortress conceived by man with a grab bag of fireworks? Oh oh they're so prettyyyyy. 🎆🎆💥
• Let this man find an old grubby hat to love (◕‿◕✿) and kick off the legend of tatty gambler hats that grant superpowers.
• Let's goooo, Aiel Waste and Rhuidean. RHUIDEAN RHUIDEAN RHUIDEAN. I would love a hanging scar the boy is reluctant to address ever.
• Day one: this gleeman's all right. Day two: secret meetings? Elbowing in on quality time with Rand??? Excuse me, who the fuck is this guy????? Extremely sus, I nEVER liked him and I always said so.
• Stunlocking Asmodean at every turn and giving him a chainsmoking habit from the stress. After weeks fucking around and finding out with Rand, Asmodean checking the weather channel like let the Dragon ride the winds? We're in an armed conflict the size of which hasn't been seen in a thousand years, the wind is a fart, the sun is shining on the Forsaken's victory lap, it's a beautiful day to di— 🚨🚨Hurricane Mat making landfall🚨🚨 ? ?? ????
