#consort of rank 1

[cjrae]

Rank And Responsibility. Or: The Hairpin Scene from Jinshi's POV.

Be warned now about the consequences of choosing to do an English Lit degree - you end up doing lit crit for fun. With that in mind, let's break down the hairpin scene at the end of Covert Operations (Episode 5). Mild spoilers for Jinshi's arc are below.

While this moment does kick off the romantic subplot, with all the implications that giving Maomao the hairpin out of his own hair has, I would argue that this is not the moment Jinshi realizes he's in love with Maomao. Instead, from his point of view, this scene demonstrates how Jinshi handles failure.

Holding Power In An Open Palm

This is still very early in the story. Our first hint to Jinshi's true rank does come in this scene, but for now we know him as the manager of the Rear Palace. For the three thousand people who live and work there, for all intents and purposes, Jinshi is the highest authority they will encounter. He literally has the power of life and death over them, either directly in the case of the servants and eunuchs, or in the case of the consorts, his word to the Emperor directly can serve the same purpose. We also see Jinshi use this power early on - he's not just there to keep order, but also to test the consorts' loyalties and virtue. We never see what happens to the lower-ranked consort who attempted to invite Jinshi back to her room, but at the very least that report ensures that her already small chance of the Emperor choosing her as a potential mother of the nation is utterly cut off - and if she doesn't bear children, she will be discarded.

We also know that Jinshi will not hesitate to order corporal punishment if he views it necessary - for example, when Maomao discovers that the toxic face powder is still being used by Consort Lihua's ladies in waiting, she mentions in the aftermath that the eunuch who failed to recover the powder was flogged, while the lady in waiting who hid the powder is put in solitary confinement. These are brutal punishments - and if we consider the historical inspirations, these are also very restrained consequences. For hiding an item that caused the death of the prince (unfortunately, the more valuable child) and has put the life of one of the Emperor's favored High Consorts in danger, Jinshi would be utterly within his rights to order executions. If ignorance is a sin, ignorance in the face of knowledge is a greater one.

Microcosm of Li

For all that Jinshi holds his power lightly, he also takes the responsibility that power bestows upon him quite seriously. It's worth noting that Jinshi takes over governing the Rear Palace shortly after Maomao's service contract is purchased. (Remember, Xiaolan talks about the "beautiful, new eunuch that's been posted to the central courtyard," which tells us that Jinshi has not been in the Rear Palace long enough to become a fixture - he's an object of speculation and admiration from episode 1).

In context it's clear that, with the birth of two Imperial children, his job is to ensure the survival of the Imperial line and investigate why children of the Emperor are dying consistently in one of the wealthiest and safest places in the entire empire. We're shown him running in between Lady Lihua and Lady Gyokuyou to ensure that their very sick children are being seen to properly, investigating what could be causing it, while also managing tensions as rumors about the Emperor's children being cursed begin to spread and outright accusations of sorcery are being thrown between consorts. While the audience might immediately scoff along with Maomao at the idea of one consort cursing another, if Maomao hadn't found the cause of death, those types of accusations followed by Lady Lihua's and Princess Lingli's inevitable deaths could have ended with Lady Gyokuyou's execution.

The Rear Palace is a reflection of the nation as a whole. No Imperial heirs plus the deaths of two High Consorts with various foreign and domestic political ties had the potential to thrust the entire nation into chaos. Jinshi's choices have very real consequences, so when Maomao discovers what the true cause of death is and sends her warning, Jinshi looks at Maomao and doesn't see a person. He sees a "perfect pawn." A tool, one with talents that have ensured that at least one Imperial child has survived and providing a rational explanation why these children have died so that it can be prevented from happening again - and a skill set that can be turned to preventing any more shenanigans in the Rear Palace that could threaten the empire's foundation.

And, as Gaoshun points out, in the beginning of the hairpin scene, she is a toy. Maomao amuses Jinshi up until this point.

For all that Jinshi is shown wielding power with a light hand and a responsible mindset, it literally doesn't occur to him that the people working in the rear palace have stories - some tragic - about how they came to be there. They are resources to be used as befits the Emperor's (and therefore the nation's) need.

Hidden Beauty

When Maomao turns around and Jinshi doesn't recognize her until she speaks, he's shocked. He thought he knew exactly who and what this girl was - ugly and unremarkable, except for her intellectual brilliance and the challenge in managing her by other means than empty compliments and smiles. He attempts to recover and assumes that she is enhancing her looks - and is shocked again when he realizes that the face Maomao has presented to him so far is a protective mask against attracting attention. In a world where beauty is both a currency and a tool that others covet, Jinshi doesn't understand why Maomao would deliberately devalue herself like that. So she tells him.

This is the moment Maomao becomes a person to Jinshi.

Not a toy, not a pawn. Someone who has been ripped from her home and her life illegally and sold off. It's in this moment that Jinshi is forced to confront the ugly side of the society he lives in, people who would rape Maomao out of pure convenience or just take a "borderline marketable" girl off the street in order to get extra drinking money.

Worse, Jinshi is complicit in Maomao's captivity. The Rear Palace has bought her contract - and as the manager of the Rear Palace, Jinshi is responsible for everything that happens within its' walls. The fact that Jinshi does not personally oversee service contracts is irrelevant. The buck stops with him. If the Matron of the Serving Women or whoever is below her is buying these contracts without checking their sources, that is Jinshi's fault because he has allowed a lax enough system to flourish. He has failed to govern this microcosm of the nation wisely, with thought for the welfare of the least powerful among his people. Worse, he has failed to even notice the problem - Maomao may say she's angry about having been kidnapped and sold, but she doesn't react in a way that indicates anger. Instead, she's resigned. Yes, what happened to her was wrong and she's angry about it, but there's literally nothing she or Jinshi can do.

Or Is There?

Jinshi offers Maomao two apologies, the first of which is our first hint to his true status. "I'm sorry we couldn't police them better." Maomao immediately blows off this apology - she points out that there's no way Jinshi should have known and has a very "all's well that ends well" attitude about her situation - her contract will be up eventually and in the meantime she's managed to land in a fulfilling role. Essentially Maomao is telling Jinshi that this apology is not his to make - he's overstepping his responsibility. And, if Jinshi were simply the manager of the Rear Palace, she would be right. It's his job to ensure that the Rear Palace is properly staffed, not to regulate that all contracts comply with the law.

Jinshi apologizes again. This time, he offers no other context. He doesn't accept Maomao's absolution of responsibility - because he knows (even if we, the audience, don't) otherwise. It can certainly be read as Jinshi refusing to accept easy absolution, and the rest of those witnessing the scene, apart from Gaoshun, certainly take it that way.

Instead, he takes the hair stick from his own hair and places it in Maomao's. Their entire relationship has just been upended; Maomao is a person who has been gravely wronged and it is Jinshi's responsibility to begin to make it right. Aside from the personal implications of giving her the hairpin (and the faint blush on his face makes it clear that he's aware of them), it is a form of restitution. There is an unspoken social contract Jinshi is offering that Maomao does not understand in the slightest. It never occurs to her that Jinshi would do something for her with no thought of what he would receive in return, because of the difference in their social ranks. But, from Jinshi's perspective, that social difference is the point. He has failed her and, as the person of higher rank, it is his responsibility to do what is within his power to begin to remedy the situation in front of him.

And, of course, in that moment he sees Maomao in a new light, the other meaning of gifting her his hairpin has fertile ground to take root in Jinshi's mind.

#the apothecary diaries #kusuriya no hitorigoto #jinshi #maomao #jinmao #long text post #apothecary diaries meta #kusuriya anime #knh #jinshi x maomao #jinshi and maomao #lady gyokuyou #lady lihua #princess lingli #gaoshun #hair pin #episode 5 #covert operations

[anon-402]

All 'Dia de Los Muertos' references in today's QSMP event

I’ve seen it in Xitter but not yet in Tumblr, so I’m gonna go and translate each Egg’s book with the references to the deities that are mention within.

(English is not my first language. Sorry for any typo or grammar mistake).

For Tilin:

Tilin, my girl, I’m sorry you couldn’t enjoy the life it was expected for you, but don’t be afraid you will be with mom at Chichihualcuauhco[1] where I will take care of you. I won’t let anything hurt my helpless girl until you have the opportunity to be reborn again, you didn’t deserve to join the Gods in the underworld. - Tezcatlipoca[2]

For Bobby:

My little Bobby, you have proven to own dignity and courage to fight for what is right, As a result of this, I’ve invited you to my kingdom  Tonatiuhichan[3], where at my side, you and other warriors will sing about their deeds and will dance until midnight, so you can enjoy forever the sunset that you adore so much. - Tonaituh[4]

For Juana:

Juana, it’s an honor for me and my wife Mictecachihuatl[5] to have you join us in the Mictlan[6]. Even though your dead was an accident, you may enjoy the journey that is our kingdom. You treated nature with respect in your life, so our dogs are excited to meet you at last. You will join us in the infinity of the universe forever. - Mictlantecuhtli [7]

For Trump:

Oh Trump, I’m sorry that my currents took you to this destiny, but to compensate I will invite you to Tlalocan[8], where you may join us in our celebration without end, and you may eat all the corn, amaranth, pumpkin, tomato and chile you want. In my kingdom, I promise you there’s no suffering and you will never be alone. - Tlaloc [9]

Now for all the little references:

[1] Chichihualcuauhco:

Afterlife in which children who died young or in childbirth are sent and fed from the “wet-nurse tree” (You can’t see it in the photo, but there was a tree in Tilin’s altar). Souls here wait for their next opportunity to be reborn.

[2] Tezcatlipoca:

He’s one of the four creator gods of the universe. I’m not an expert on Aztec mythology and I wasn’t really into Tilin’s lore, so I’m kinda uncertain as to why he was the one to write to them or how are they connected.

[3] Tonatiuhichan:

One of the afterlife paradises, where the soul of warries who died in battle go. It was believed that warriors could go back to their homes (land of the living) as hummingbirds. (Fun fact: Woman who died at childbirth would be given the same rank as the warriors who died in battle and would be sent to a similar place called Cihuatlampa!)  

[4] Tonatiuh:

God of the sun (who runs Tonatiuhichan), who most believed was the creator of the Flor of Cempasúchil.

[5] Mictecachihuatl:

Lady of the Dead, Mictlantecuhtli’s consort. She guards the bones of the dead. (Fun Fact: In Oaxaca, is known as Matlacihua, and is said to punish womanizing and drunken men who walk late at night. Kinda funny considering Mariana and Slime’s interactions lmao.)

[6] Mictlan:

The underworld. Most people who die travel to Mictlan. To travel to the kingdom, you have to go through nine levels, which kinda needs dogs to carry the dead across the river. Same reason as to why Juana is sent dogs. (Fun fact: Depending in the color of the dog, they would act different. Yellow ones would just carry the soul, white ones would refuse cause they just washed themselves, and black dogs would refuse cause they just swum the river.)

[7] Mictlantecuhtli:

Lord of the Dead, king of Mictlan. There’s nothing much to say about him; he just simply tried to maintain order in the kingdom and was kinda of an asshole to other gods. There’s a whole myth about other Gods wanting to repopulate Earth, and him going ‘Nuh uh’ until Quetzalcóatl gets tired of him and steals the human bones from Mictlan lol.

[8] Tlalocan:

The afterlife of the Nectar. Better known as the water paradise, where those who died through drowning (or anything associated with rain for that matter) go. I read somewhere that there’s a theory of Trump dying because he drown in his own tears, so that’s why he was invited by Tlaloc.

[9] Tlaloc:

The God of rain, associated as the giver of life. The flower Tagetes Lucida are kind of like the Cempasúchil, and are his symbol.

#qsmp #qsmp bobby #qsmp juanaflippa #qsmp tilin #qsmp trump #qsmp translations #qsmp eggs

[chinesehanfu]

[Hanfu · 漢服]The relationship between women in history is not just love rivals,

“but also thousands of years later, everyone knows that it is me and you.”

Let's get to know about them/她们 in China history.

1.【Han Dynasty】:Princess Jieyou (解忧公主) & Feng Liao (馮嫽)

Princess Jieyou (Chinese: 解忧公主; 121 BC – 49 BC), born Liu Jieyou (Chinese: 刘解忧), was a Chinese princess sent to marry the leader of the Wusun kingdom as part of the Western Han Chinese policy of heqin(和亲).

As the granddaughter of the disgraced Prince Liu Wu (劉戊) who had taken part in the disastrous Rebellion of the Seven States,her status was low enough that she was sent to replace Princess Liu Xijun (劉細君) after her untimely death and marry the Wusun king Cunzhou (岑陬).

Jieyou lived among the Wusun for fifty years and did much work to foster relations between the surrounding kingdoms and the Han. She was particularly reliant upon her attendant, Feng Liao, whom she dispatched as an emissary to Wusun kingdoms and even to the Han Court. She faced opposition from pro-Xiongnu members of the Wusun royalty, particularly Wengguimi’s Xiongnu wife. When word came that the Xiongnu planned to attack Wusun, she convinced her husband to send for aid from the Han Emperor. Emperor Wu of Han sent 150,000 cavalrymen to support the Wusun forces and drive back the Xiongnu.

In 51 BCE at the age of 70, Jieyou asked to be allowed to retire and return to the Han. Emperor Xuan of Han agreed and had her escorted back to Chang'an where she was welcomed with honor. She was given a grand palace with servants usually reserved for princesses of the imperial family. In 49 BCE, Jieyou died peacefully.

Feng Liao (馮嫽)

Feng Liao (馮嫽) was China's first official female diplomat,[citation needed] who represented the Han dynasty to Wusun (烏孫), which was in the Western Regions. It was a practice for the Imperial Court to foster alliances with the northern tribes via marriage, and two Han princesses had married Wusun kings.

Feng Liao was the maidservant of Princess Jieyou (解憂公主), who was married off to a Wusun king. Feng herself later married an influential Wusun general, whose good standing with Prince Wujiutu (烏就屠) of the kingdom later proved beneficial to the Han dynasty.

When Prince Wujiutu seized the throne of Wusun in 64 BC, after his father died, there was fear in the Imperial Court of Han that Wujiutu, whose mother was Xiongnu, would allow Wusun to become Xiongnu's vassal.

Zheng Ji, Governor of the Western Regions, recalled that Feng Liao had married into Wusun and with her familiarity of the Wusun customs, she was a prime candidate to persuade Wujiutu to ally his kingdom with Han. Wujiutu acceded and Emperor Xuan of Han (漢宣帝) sent for Feng. He praised her for her judgement and diplomacy, and appointed her as the official envoy to Wusun.

Wujiutu was conferred the title "Little King of Wusun" while his brother, the son by a Han princess, was named "Great King of Wusun". Wusun was divided between the two kings and tensions in that region were eased.

※Xiongnu: Xiongnu: A nomadic tribe that has occupied northern China for a long time. Later it gradually became a state. It harassed the borders of the Han Dynasty for a long time and robbed supplies.

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With their efforts, the Wusun Kingdom gradually tended to support the Han Dynasty, and the Xiongnu's defeat in China also began.

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2.【Tang Dynasty】:Shangguan Wan'er(上官婉儿)&Princess Taiping (太平公主)

Shangguan Wan'er/上官婉儿 (664 – 21 July 710) was a Chinese politician, poet, and imperial consort of the Wu Zhou and Tang dynasties. Described as a "female prime minister,"Shangguan rose from modest origins as a palace servant to become secretary and leading advisor to Empress Wu Zetian of Zhou. Under Empress Wu, Shangguan exercised responsibility for drafting imperial edicts and earned approbation for her writing style. She retained her influence as consort to Wu's son and successor, Emperor Zhongzong of Tang, holding the imperial consort rank of Zhaorong (昭容). Shangguan was also highly esteemed for her talent as a poet.Shangguan was also highly esteemed for her talent as a poet. In 710, after Emperor Zhongzong's death, Shangguan was killed during a palace coup that ended the regency of Empress Dowager Wei.

Princess Taiping (太平公主)lit. "Princess of Great Peace", personal name unknown, possibly Li Lingyue (李令月) (after 662 – 2 August 713) was a royal princess and prominent political figure of the Tang dynasty and her mother Wu Zetian's Zhou dynasty. She was the youngest daughter of Wu Zetian and Emperor Gaozong and was influential during the reigns of her mother and her elder brothers Emperor Zhongzong and Emperor Ruizong (both of whom reigned twice), particularly during Emperor Ruizong's second reign, when for three years until her death, she was the real power behind the throne.

She is the most famous and influential princess of the Tang dynasty and possibly in the whole history of China thanks to her power, ability and ambition. She was involved in political difficulties and developments during the reigns of her mother and brothers. Indeed, after the coup against Empress Dowager Wei, she became the real ruler of Tang. During the reign of Emperor Ruizong, she was not restricted by anything, the emperor issued rulings based on her views and the courtiers and the military flattered her and majority from every civil and military class joined her faction, so her power exceeded that of the emperor.

Eventually, however, a rivalry developed between her and her nephew, Emperor Ruizong's son, Crown Prince Li Longji. Both of them were hostile in power-sharing and they fought for the monopoly over power. After Emperor Ruizong yielded the throne to Li Longji (as Emperor Xuanzong) in 712, the conflict came to the political forefront, and openly, the court became a manifestation of conspiracy rather than the administration of the empire; in 713, Emperor Xuanzong, according to historical records, believing that she was planning to overthrow him, acted first, executing a large number of her powerful allies and forcing her to commit suicide.

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The relationship between Shangguan Wan'er and Princess Taiping has always been written as "enemies" in official history, but with the phrase "千年万岁，椒花颂声", their friendship that has been buried for thousands of years was revealed.

The"千年万岁，椒花颂声" sentence comes from the epitaph written by Princess Taiping for Shangguan Wan'er. The original text is: "潇湘水断，宛委山倾，珠沉圆折，玉碎连城。甫瞻松槚，静听坟茔，千年万岁，椒花颂声”

Translation: Now that you are far away, the sky and the earth will lose their color. I'm afraid that all I can do in the future is to sit and look at the tea tree in front of your tomb. Maybe I can hear your voice again when I stand within an inch of the tomb. But this is a delusion after all, a quiet tomb, no beautiful face, a empty place of death. I hope that in a thousand or ten thousand years, there will still be people like me who remember you.

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3.【Late Qing Dynasty】:Lü Bicheng(呂碧城) & Qiu Jin (秋瑾)

Lü Bicheng(呂碧城)also known as Alice Pichen Lee(1883–1943) was a Chinese writer, activist, newspaper editor, poet and school founder. She has been mentioned as one of the top four women in literature from the early Republic of China.

When she was four, her father retired to Lu'an, Anhui. She lived a life of comfort until the age of 12, when her father died in 1895. Because Lü Fengqi had no male heir, relatives of the Lü lineage contested for his inheritance, and Yan Shiyu and her four daughters were forced to move to Lai'an County to live with her natal family. When she was nine, Lü Bicheng was betrothed to a Wang family, but as her own family fortune declined, the Wang family broke off the marriage contract, giving the young Bicheng the stigma of a "rejected woman". The resulting emotional scar is often considered a major factor in her later decision to never marry.[8] Her widowed mother and the Lü girls were not well treated at the Yan family in rural Anhui. When Lü was 15 or 16, Yan Shiyu sent her to live with her maternal uncle Yan Langxuan (嚴朗軒), who was the salt administrator in Tanggu, the port city outside the northern metropolis of Tianjin. Her sister Huiru also joined her later.

During her stay in Tanggu, Qing China went through the tumultuous period of the failed Hundred Days' Reform of 1898, which brought about increasing awareness of women's education, and the Boxer Rebellion of 1900. In 1904, Mrs. Fang, the wife of her uncle's secretary, invited Lü Bicheng to visit a girls' school in Tianjin, but her uncle prevented her from going and severely reprimanded her. The next day, she ran away from her uncle's home, and took the train to Tianjin with no money or luggage. She wrote a letter to Mrs. Fang, who was staying at the dormitory of the Ta Kung Pao newspaper. Ying Lianzhi, the Catholic Manchu nobleman who founded the newspaper, read the letter and was so impressed by it that he made her an assistant editor. Lü Bicheng wrote a "progressive" ci that she had previously written, set to "A River Full of Red" ("Manjianghong") usually used to express heroic emotions. Ying transcribed the whole song in her diary and published it in L'impartial two days later. At the time, it was sensational for a woman to write for an influential national newspaper such as Ta Kung Pao. She was 21 years old. She used Ta Kung Pao to promote feminism and became a well-known figure.

Lü's ci poetry was published in the newspaper and it was very well received. She was the chief editor of the newspaper from 1904 to 1908. In 1904 she decided to improve education for girls. She had published her thoughts on women's rights and the general editor of the newspaper introduced her to Yan Fu who was an advocate for Western ideas. The Beiyang Women's Normal School was established that same year. At 23 Lü took on the job of principal of the school she had founded two years before. At first this school found it difficult to find girls who qualified for secondary education and students were brought in from Shanghai to make up the numbers.

Lü knew the revolutionary Qiu Jin and they had similar objectives but Lü did not join her in Japan when she was invited as she was unsure whether women should meddle in politics. She was then chosen to be secretary to Yuan Shikai, one of the most powerful people in China. When he set out to declare himself emperor of China she left, like many of his followers, and abandoned him.

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Qiu Jin (秋瑾)8 November 1875 – 15 July 1907,was a Chinese revolutionary, feminist, and writer.Her sobriquet name is Jianhu Nüxia (Chinese: 鑑湖女俠 lit. 'Woman Knight of Mirror Lake').

Qiu was born into a wealthy family. Her grandfather worked in the Xiamen city government and was responsible for the city's defense. Zhejiang province was famous for female education, and Qiu Jin had support from her family when she was young to pursue her educational interests. Her father, Qiu Shounan, was a government official and her mother came from a distinguished literati-official family. Qiu Jin's wealthy and educated background, along with her early exposure to political ideologies were key factors in her transformation to becoming a female pioneer for the woman's liberation movement and the republican revolution in China.

In the early 1900s, Japan had started to experience western influences earlier than China. As to not fall behind, the Qing government sent many elites to learn from the Japanese. Qiu Jin was one of these elites that got the chance to study overseas. After studying in a women's school in Japan, Qiu returned to China to participate in a variety of revolutionary activities; and through her involvement with these activities, it became clear how Qiu wanted others to perceive her. Qiu called herself 'Female Knight-Errant of Jian Lake' — the role of the knight-errant, established in the Han dynasty, was a prototypically male figure known for swordsmanship, bravery, faithfulness, and self-sacrifice — and 'Vying for Heroism'

Qiu Jin had her feet bound and began writing poetry at an early age. With the support from her family, Qiu Jin also learned how to ride a horse, use a sword, and drink wine—activities that usually only men were permitted to learn at the time.In 1896 Qiu Jin got married. At the time she was only 21, which was considered late for a woman of that time. Qiu Jin's father arranged her marriage to Wang Tingchun, the youngest son of a wealthy merchant in Hunan province. Qiu Jin did not get along well with her husband, as her husband only cared about enjoying himself.While in an unhappy marriage, Qiu came into contact with new ideas. The failure of her marriage affected her decisions later on, including choosing to study in Japan.

While still in Tokyo, Qiu single-handedly edited a journal, Vernacular Journal (Baihua Bao). A number of issues were published using vernacular Chinese as a medium of revolutionary propaganda. In one issue, Qiu wrote A Respectful Proclamation to China's 200 Million Women Comrades, a manifesto within which she lamented the problems caused by bound feet and oppressive marriages. Having suffered from both ordeals herself, Qiu explained her experience in the manifesto and received an overwhelmingly sympathetic response from her readers. Also outlined in the manifesto was Qiu's belief that a better future for women lay under a Western-type government instead of the Qing government that was in power at the time. She joined forces with her cousin Xu Xilin and together they worked to unite many secret revolutionary societies to work together for the overthrow of the Qing dynasty.

Between 1905 and 1907, Qiu Jin was also writing a novel called Stones of the Jingwei Bird in traditional ballad form, a type of literature often composed by women for women audiences. The novel describes the relationship between five wealthy women who decide to flee their families and the arranged marriages awaiting them in order to study and join revolutionary activities in Tokyo. Titles for the later uncompleted chapters suggest that the women will go on to talk about “education, manufacturing, military activities, speechmaking, and direct political action, eventually overthrowing the Qing dynasty and establishing a republic” — all of which were subject matters that Qiu either participated in or advocated for.

Life after returning to China

Qiu Jin was known as an eloquent orator who spoke out for women's rights, such as the freedom to marry, freedom of education, and abolishment of the practice of foot binding. In 1906 she founded China Women's News (Zhongguo nü bao), a radical women's journal with another female poet, Xu Zihua in Shanghai. They published only two issues before it was closed by the authorities. In 1907, she became head of the Datong school in Shaoxing, ostensibly a school for sport teachers, but really intended for the military training of revolutionaries[citation needed]. While teaching in Datong school, she kept secret connection with local underground organization—The Restoration Society. This organization aimed to overthrow the Manchu government and restore Chinese rule.

Death

In 1907, Xu Xilin, Qiu’s friend and the Datong school’s co-founder was executed for attempting to assassinate his Manchu superior. In the same year, the authorities arrested Qiu at the school for girls where she was the principal. She was tortured but refused to admit her involvement in the plot. Instead the authorities used her own writings as incrimination against her and, a few days later, she was publicly beheaded in her home village, Shanyin, at the age of 31. Her last written words, her death poem, uses the literal meaning of her name, Autumn Gem, to lament of the failed revolution that she would never see take place:

秋風秋雨愁煞人 (Autumn wind, autumn rain — they make one die of sorrow)

After Qiu Jin was killed, no one dared to collect her body. Lu Bicheng endured her grief and took great risks to bury her friend. The guarding Qing army learned that the woman who came to collect the corpse was Lu Bicheng, who was famous in China, and they had no choice but to do anything.

Qiu Jin's death caused Lu Bicheng to lose a rare confidant in life. She wrote many poems in memory of Qiu Jin, recalling this like-minded friend.

Later, Lü Bicheng wrote "The Biography of the Revolutionary Heroine Qiu Jin" in English, which was published in newspapers in New York, Chicago and other places in the United States. It caused a great response and not only made many people in the world know about Qiu Jin's legendary story, but also published it in newspapers in New York and Chicago. It also makes people understand the darkness and corrupt social status quo of the Qing Dynasty. Lu Bicheng used a pen of her own to record her friendship with Qiu Jin, and also fulfilled her promise to Qiu Jin to respond with the "battle of words"

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📸Video & 🧚🏻‍ Model：@荷里寒 & @阿时Ashi_

🔗Weibo：https://weibo.com/3618951560/NEZZnpQRq

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#chinese hanfu #china history #woman power #woman in history #hanfu #hanfu accessories #hanfu_challenge #chinese traditional clothing #china #chinese #han dynasty #tang dynasty #late qing dynasty #feminism #revolution #漢服 #汉服 #中華風 #girl power #hanfu girl

[actual-changeling]

We need to talk about the Archangel Michael.

No, seriously we NEED to talk about Michael because I think she's going to be way more important than we currently think.

(quick side note: I will be jumping between pronouns for everyone involved because I go by vibes and also bc I'm trans and I like doing it. Hopefully it won't be too confusing, but I'll try to make it clear who I am talking about.)

So! Welcome back to Alex's unhinged meta corner. In accordance with the usual essay rules, let's begin with my hypothesis before we go down a long, probably very unhinged spiral.

I completely underestimated how thorough I was going to be, so to not overwhelm everyone with a miles long post, I will be dividing this meta into parts and will post them as I finish them.

A lot of small details have been fluttering around my mind over the last few weeks, and I think I am finally starting to put all the pieces together—and there are a LOT.

Part 1: Season One and Michael's Rank

We know them as one of the three (four—but that's another post) Archangels next to Gabriel and Uriel. While Gabriel's title was that of the Supreme Archangel, Michael's is explicitly stated in episode one of season two as 'duty officer', which, broadly speaking, makes them the Watcher, the one in charge in the case of Gabriel's absence for whatever reason, taking command where he can't; usually that probably meant him simply being busy and not him being unemployed and naked.

Their position is further signified by their ring, which resembles the Ophanim, the many-eyed angel wheels.

They are the one to keep a literal eye on things—they find pictures of Aziraphale and Crowley in S1 in the Observation Files, they watch over the heavenly hosts, they oversee plans, everything.

Michael even takes it a step further and (presumably created) the grapevine with hell, having direct contact to higher ranking demons such as Ligur, most likely also Dagon, and Beelzebub.

This is where we get to my theory: Michael is actively working with demons against both heaven and hell. It doesn't mean that they care about preserving earth, though they might later on, but that whatever plans heaven currently has are to be stopped.

I'm going to take this one step further and say that Michael also knew about Gabriel and Beelzebub, and helped him escape.

Now to the fun part: the evidence!

In season one, they are interested in stopping Crowley and Aziraphale from preventing the apocalypse, but that does not mean that they agree with the plans heaven has for said event—only that they need it to happen so their own agenda can stay on track. She has information she technically shouldn't, like, well, literally all the details about how, when, and what is going to go down

This is due to heaven and hell's general cooperation, which is its own post, but all of that runs through them.

That 'apparently' is doing a lot of heavy lifting here, it's the basic and plausible deniability that's required for them to not be in trouble. She is also in charge of ORGANIZING the troops, fulfilling her role as a navigator.

On top of that, the way she talks to Ligur highly mirrors the way two covert operatives might talk to one another, using phrases like 'our man' and 'working for you'. The mere assumption Michael makes here, that Aziraphale could be a spy, implies that there ARE already spies and angels working for hell.

Consorting with the enemy is allowed as long as it is done within a very specific framework, so Michael and Ligur are free to do so, while Aziraphale and Crowley are working outside of it, which gives heaven & hell the basis to punish them for it.

I think the phrasing of this sentence is also quite interesting.

Not "time to come back to heaven" or anything along the lines that takes Aziraphale's ethereal status into account, no, she simply says he needs to 'choose sides'—and who is to say that he needs to choose heaven or that heaven and hell are the only sides one can choose? Additionally, Michael is the one to bring the holy water to hell while they send one of the Erics, and while the trial as a whole holds a certain tension, there does not seem to be any open animosity between him and the dukes of hell.

In short, Michael is working with hell behind the scenes, likely pursuing their own goals, and standing in opposition to heaven.

Moving on to season two, and here it gets REALLY fun.

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5

(hopefully it will just be five. it was supposed to be two. then three. but here we are)

#alex talks good omens #good omens #good omens season 2 #go2 #good omens meta #archangel michael #archangel uriel #archangel gabriel #good omens michael #crowley #aziraphale #aziracrow #crowley x aziraphale #ineffable husbands #ineffable wives #ineffable spouses #ineffable divorce #the final fifteen #alex's unhinged meta corner

[y-rhywbeth2]

Gods & Clergy: Shar

Link: Disclaimer regarding D&D "canon" & Index [tldr: D&D lore is a giant conflicting mess. Larian's lore is also a conflicting mess. You learn to take what you want and leave the rest]

Religion | Gods | Shar | Selûne | Bhaal #1 | Bhaal #2 | Mystra | Jergal | Bane #1 | Bane #2 | Bane #3 | Myrkul | Lathander | Kelemvor | Tyr | Helm | Ilmater | Mielikki | Oghma | Gond | Tempus | Silvanus | Talos | Umberlee | Corellon | Moradin | Yondalla | Garl Glittergold | Eilistraee | Lolth | Laduguer | Gruumsh | Bahamut | Tiamat | Amodeus | The rest of the Faerûnian Pantheon --WIP

And back to collecting lore on the evil deities! There's... a lot of information on Shar, so honestly this isn't even all of it just most(?) of it. Most of it isn't relevant anyway...

Overview: What if depression was a religion?

Clergy: If you don't have shit like depression and cptsd you're about to, courtesy of the Nightsinger! Society? Burn it all!

Nightcloaks / Nightbringers: Memory wiping. Whips. Making creepy man-shaped things of pure darkness.

Shar: Don't look her in the eye. Wear earplugs when she speaks. Don't let her kiss you. Avoid the talking severed heads and the tentacles... actually, just avoid this ancient eldritch horror altogether.

-

"Reveal secrets only to fellow members of the faithful. Never follow hope or turn to promises of success. Quench the light of the moon whenever you find it, and hide from it when you cannot prevail. The dark is a time to act, not wait. It is forbidden to strive to better your lot in life or to plan ahead except when directly overseen by the faithful of the Dark Deity. Consorting with the faithful of good deities is a sin except in business dealings or to corrupt them from their beliefs. Obey ranking clergy unless it would result in your own death." "Darkness is your cloak and your spur to action. Strike down the moon and those who serve it, and work against laws and law keepers, rulers and the powerful, by corrupting them and sewing dissension. Weave discord through secrets and rumours and falsehoods, so that all that is now mighty shall in time be swept away, and all that will still remain is in the darkness of Shar. Work in secret when necessary, obey your superiors in the Night Church without question or defiance, and give your life when Shar deems it needful, for you will reap her dark reward." - Shar's Dogma

The interesting thing about Shar, for all her intrinsic hatred of existence, is that she needs people - specifically "she feeds on [people's] suffering." Literally. She eats it. When she consumes their grief and misery, the sudden void of negative emotion causes a temporary surge of euphoria. Due to this relief, many people turn to "Shar's embrace."

Sharrans believe that by following Shar faithfully they will eventually reach an enlightened state beyond all suffering, however all that happens is that they're exposed to suffering and retraumatised again and again until they become resigned to and desensitised to it - their own and others'. Sharrans are much less useful to their goddess if they truly move beyond suffering, and instead the process is simply a cycle of abuse and depression as she farms them for sustenance and power.

As per the teachings: life is inane and existence was a mistake all are cursed to suffer because of Selûne's stupidity. All love withers and dies; you are alone, and always will be. This misery is inherent and inescapable, and it's better to embrace this fact than to hurt yourself by being stupid enough to feel love for others or hope for better.

All rulers and hierarchies are corrupt, according to Sharran doctrine, and everybody should be free to live their lives as they wish free of the laws and "morality" decided for them by others.

Everything that exists deserves to perish, and the right thing to do is to help the entropic process along.

Shar is ever-present, and wanders through the dreams of mortals, prodding at their hidden pains and whispering suggestions to them on how to act upon them. She offers the allure of relief to the poor, the lonely and ostracised, the grieving, the mentally ill... Victims of abuse often turn to her for relief and vengeance. On the every day level, people who need to work or travel at night or in the dark make offerings to her to placate her.

A lay worshipper is referred to as a Dark Follower. Sharrans are forbidden to hope, plan ahead or attempt to improve their miserable lives unless ordered to by the clergy, as part of Shar's design. They must not speak out against a priest, or interrupt any of their rituals and prayers for any reason. Lay worshippers must prove their loyalty and devotion by carrying out one crime or deed under the order of the clergy at least once a year, and try to bring others into the fold. They are strictly forbidden to interact with followers of good aligned deities (so you know stay away from people who follow, like, Selûne, who encourages comforting the lonely and making welcoming spaces for the ostracised; Lliira, who encourages experiencing joy; Lathander, with his thing about optimism and new beginnings... Don't want them hanging out with those people...)

If you have no need of Shar's "aid" then her clergy are at hand to fix that for you.

The members of the Night Church are known collectively as Darshars by outsiders, but they would refer to themselves as Martyrs. They have forfeit their lives to Shar in order to serve her, and know that she will eventually come to claim her due. They're generally under no delusion regarding the fact that their deaths are likely to come sooner rather than later, and Shar's tendency to discard her most powerful, loyal and favoured servants on a whim is well known - for all should experience the loss.

When addressing each other, Darshars address equal and lower ranks as "Brother/Sister/Sibling Night," and their superiors as "Mother/Father Night."

Novices of the faith are called Adepts of the Night. Full priests are Watchers. Hands of Shar have proven themselves in battle, and are placed in charge of several cells. A Darklord or Darklady is a region's senior priest, and sets policy for the church in their area. Nightseers oversee the activities of all Sharrans in a realm (a country). The Flames of Darkness are the highest ranking priests, answering directly to Shar. The standard training of the clergy usually shows, mechanically, through multiclassing as a rogue.

To become a Darshar, each priest much prove themselves by committing some terrible deed or other in Shar's name, after which the goddess will bestow a new name upon them. The nature of the deed and the name is called one's Own Secret.

Unlike lay worshippers, clergy are permitted to seek wealth and power, although it comes with the awareness that these things will not last. "If she uses [powerful individuals] as her tools now, there will come a day when she destroys them utterly, in favor of someone much weaker and very different. For that is the way of Shar. In her words, “Out of the darkness we all come, and to the darkness we all return. Some swifter than others, and many not swiftly enough.”

The senior clergy preach of Shar's "Dark Reward" - the raising of a dead Sharran as undead under the control of the clergy. Typically mindless undead such as zombies and skeletons. If Shar prizes the fallen individual's skills enough then she will actually resurrect them fully, augmented with her power. Such priests are the Shadowed, who have abilities such as turning invisible or into mist. They always bear a mark of Shar's corruption however; their eyes - including the sclera - are pitch black, and they can speak only in hoarse, cold whispers. One of their hands gnarls into a black talon. The rest of her priesthood views them with terror.

Darshars keep their hair long in homage to Shar (whose long hair is iconic). It's usually kept under a black skullcap, but women with naturally dark hair are permitted to forgo the cap because their hair is considered sacred to Shar. Black and purple are worn extensively, as are full body black cloaks and robes.

The black cloaks are called nightcloaks, which are enchanted to enable flight and mute ambient sound when the wearer wills it.

At night, some clergy let their hair down and walk the night, wearing nothing but their nightcloaks and their hair. They leave no barriers between themselves and the darkness that is their goddess.

Some priests wear enchanted wigs, woven into braids that can move and carry things (such as daggers), much like Shar's own hair is said to be animate.

Clerics who disappoint Shar/their superiors are forced to undergo thei penance surrounded by light - "the darkness if for those who deserve it."

Darshars are tasked with making society as miserable to live in as possible, so that more will feel loss and be brought into Shar's Embrace seeking peace. They corrupt the powerful, kill those who can't be corrupted and ferment rebellion, and murder people whose work is improving people's lives. They support thieves guilds and criminal organisations that make civilisation more unsafe and untrustworthy. They do generally avoid war and mass bloodshed, however. Shar requires converts/cattle, and it's hard to do that when they're all dead. Also murdering Selûnites and destroying their bases of worship wherever you can; can't forget that.

When a Darshar commits a murder, they are to ensure that the victim is aware that they died in Shar's name. Provided that this murder isn't being committed to foment strife and chaos by pinning it on somebody else, the Darshar will write Shar's name somewhere nearby with the victim's blood.

They're also to help others avenge slights, and publicise such stories, so that the desperate will turn to the Night Church for justice and vengeance and they do their best to present themselves as the superior option to the god of vengeance, Hoar.

They are to do all of this in utter secrecy, it should never be obvious to others who and what is behind these events. Often Sharran cells will found secret, non-Sharran cabals to do their dirty work for them. Hiring adventurers to commit crimes for them is another way. In order to form these cabals, Sharrans often run secret societies, hedonistic social clubs and false cults. They also maintain ties thieves guilds

Unlike the churches of other evil deities, the Night Church is often outlawed simply because they fundamentally won't stop disrupting society. Occasionally, the church will agree to follow the laws and keep their destruction of people's mental health to manageable, more one-on-one levels, and are allowed to build temples and worship. They have such a temple in Silverymoon, which must begrudgingly co-exist in public with the Selûnites there. Sharran worship is also open in Calaunt, Mulmaster, Scornubel, Sembia and Westgate.

Generally speaking though, the church is happier to remain underground where they can do the work they truly "need" to. The Night Church is explicitly illegal in Waterdeep, Baldur's Gate, Amn, and the entirety of the Dales and Cormyr.

They have a complex hierarchy; they work in cells, and every member has a direct superior they answer to. Multiple cells may be active in the area, and while they may know each other and sometimes lend aid, they don't work together or maintain connections to prevent attempts to crack down on Sharran activity from taking down every cell in the area. Nobody knows the true name of their co-conspirators or their leaders, and many of them die in their attempts to subvert society (getting executed for their crimes is a common way to go).

There are no holy days on the Sharran calendar, except for the Feast of the Moon, which they call the Rising of the Dark. Sharrans gather together for a blood sacrifice, and the lay worshippers are told of the plots and aims they are expected to aid in the coming winter.

The most important daily ritual is Nightfall, held every night. There is a brief payer, sometimes in the form of a ritual dance and sometimes involving a sermon. There is a feast and everybody begins dancing (or joins in, if one already started). If one cannot attend group prayer, then the worshipper must dance alone in Shar's honour, wherever they are. Lay worshippers must also either perform a crime or act of cruelty or report one to the congregation. Nights where the moon is not visible are called the Coming of the Lady and the entire congregation is set to task carrying out acts of vengeance and cruelty in Shar's name.

The Kiss of the Lady is the most important ritual, traditionally declared at the whims of the leading priests in the Temple of Old Night in Calimport (Old Night is the oldest of Shar's temples, built in -373 DR). Shar's worshippers engage in a night-long revel of murder, chaos, horror and cruelty ending in a celebratory feast at daybreak.

Representations of Shar in religious art (typically found in temples) show either a black sphere outlined in magically animated purple flames; or depict her as a smiling human woman with sweeping raven-black hair dressed in swirling black clothes. Her eyes are large, with the irises and sclera being solid purple around black pupils. Her temples are usually built under what appear to be legitimate businesses or private residences.

Those of the clergy chosen by Shar to serve her personally are the Nightcloaks, also called Nightbringers.

They can create supernatural darkness in their surroundings that extinguishes all light

Cause temporary light blindness in others

Erase the memories of the last few minutes from the minds of those around them

Cause nightmares

They can conjure doors made of pure darkness and step through, which makes them seem to have teleported (although they've only turned invisible)

They can cast a veil of illusion magic over their surroundings, making them appear totally different (tailored to whatever the priest wants them to look like)

They are a tiny bit more powerful, physically, while in the darkness, but are a tiny bit weaker when standing in the light of a full moon.

They can wrap darkness around themselves, or another, which fully obscures their features and serves as a minor form of armour (including against magic and psionics). They can see perfectly through the darkness, but effects that require eye-contact can't affect them. If cast on an undead being then they're immune to a cleric's turning ability.

They can create a whip of flickering darkness. The strike of the whip does damage and has the same effect as turning on Undead struck. Contact causes pain so unbearable it may cause seizures. The whip passes through inanimate matter harmlessly, and can't be used to tie people up.

Darkness can be moulded into something vaguely human-shaped under the control of the priest. It levitates in the air and suffocates all sources of light it touches. The priest can vaguely "see" through it if they choose.

They can fire a beam of pure darkness from their outstretched hand, which passes through inanimate matter and non-living beings but causes suffocating cold and pain to the living it strikes. The target it overwhelmed, and struck with a supernatural silencing effect for up to four minutes.

-

The Lady of Loss is a Neutral Evil deity, and her domain has been in different places over the years. Originally her realm, the Palace of Loss, resided in the Grey Wastes of Hades and later moved into the Plane of Shadow (aka the Shadowfell) where it was known as the Palace of Night. After the Plane of Shadow moved closer to the material world during the Spellplague she moved to the Tower of Night, which was in the Astral Plane. Considering that 5e has mostly reversed all of 4e's changes, she has presumably returned to the Palace situated in either the Shadowfell or the Grey Wastes.

Shar is described as a "deeply twisted and perverse being of endless petty hatred and jealousy. [...] She revels in the concealed, in that which is hidden, never to be revealed."

Shar is omnipresent, she is the darkness and she is everywhere. She is aware of every single person, object and action that takes place in the darkness.

Another deity, Ibrandul god of caverns, the Underdark and other dark places within the earth. She felt that this was encroaching on her turf, and she murdered him for the offense and took his portfolio and his worshippers during the Time of Troubles. Most of his followers were unaware of this, because Shar enjoys deception and simply presented herself to them as Ibrandul. She usually used them to attack Selûne's followers without drawing attention to her main church. (As of the Second Sundering Ibrandul is... probably alive again, but for all anyone knows it's still Shar pretending to be him)

Shar has two avatars:

The first is the Nightsinger: a 12ft tall woman wearing a mask made of the feathers of every type, trailing away into the cowl of her cloak. The cloak becomes increasingly intangible as it merges into the nearby darkness. She is constantly singing softly, even when she speaks, and her song feels hauntingly beautiful - and engenders a feelings of tragedy and grief. She can manifest supernatural darkness in her surroundings at will. Her song drains away memory and experience (in mechanics, she drains character levels and inflict the feeblemind spell). Listening to it may cause one to experience an unearthly chill (which inflicts cold damage) and can even cause listeners to drop dead on the spot. -

As the Dark Dancer Shar stands at 7ft tall, and appears as though the night sky has been moulded into the shape of a human woman. Her skin is jet black and glitters with stars. Her eyes are just as dark, and her gaze is both hypnotic and capable of enchanting those who meet it. If she kisses a mortal she places a magical compulsion on them - if they surrender to it they will become her loyal servant, and if they chose to resist the spell will kill them (this is an active choice for the victim - surrender or die). The spell can only be removed by rewriting reality with a wish spell so that it never happened, and the victim is fully prepared to die for Shar.

Shar's hair is prehensile, and moves at her bidding while ignoring the laws of physics (gravity and the wind are irrelevant). She hisses and speaks softly, never raising her voice, even in anger.

Her lesser manifestations involve tendrils of pitch darkness forming where they shouldn't be able to. They writhe, curl and swirl in constant movement, and a nimbus of glowing purple surrounds them. Sometimes one can see a glowing purple eye at the heart of the dark staring at them, but even when the eye isn't visible one can feel a presence within the darkness watching. In some stories, the darkness that blankets the world is described as Shar's hair falling over it. Presumably these are the individual strands. When a tendril touches one of her followers she can transmit her thoughts into their head - sometimes these are instructions or advice, and sometimes she reaches into their minds and numbs their ability to feel pain. She never heals their physical injuries, only allows them to ignore their suffering until they succeed or collapse/drop dead from the damage.

Her messengers take the form of these tentacles and other, more alien, shadow monsters.

Another fun manifestation Shar enjoys is severed human heads that fly through the darkness at night. They fly silently through the darkness, and Shar sees through their eyes, hears through their ears and occasionally speaks through them.

Shar hates all the other gods (especially her sister, and the sun god Lathander (and Amaunator before him)). She has tolerated an alliance with Myrkul, worked with Cyric to cause chaos, and Talona plays the sycophant to her in the hopes that Shar will help her kill Loviatar one day.

In response to the formation of Mystryl's Weave, during the early days of creation, Shar studied it for a while, eventually creating her own form of it - the Shadow Weave (called the Dark Lady's Weave by her followers). Where the Weave forms the tapestry of reality, the Shadow Weave fills the negative space of nonexistence between the gaps. To utilise her Weave "safely", one must be a follower of Shar or have their patron deity request her permission on their behalf. One deity she works with frequently in "lending" her Weave is the drow god Vhaeraun. One who attempts to use the Shadow Weave without her permission will lose part of themself - and it's already pretty good at having horrible side effects and destroying your sanity. It works well for spells that corrupt, destroy, drain life and smother the senses, but is less useful for effects that create.

Shar hopes to kill Mystra and supplant the original Weave so that she will be the only source of power for mages on Toril. Unlike Mystra, she places no restrictions on its use.

-

Shar and Selûne were twin halves of the primordial Two-Faced Goddess born shortly after the birth of the universe. There was no time or space, only a void containing themselves, the Overgod Ao, and shadowy beings known as the Shadevari.

Together they created the planetary bodies of the solar system, including the Earthmother, Chauntea.

When Chauntea begged for warmth to nurture life upon her, the Two-Faced goddess experienced conflicting desire for the first time. Selûne was willing to grant the Earthmother her wish, but for Shar, the very concept was a horrifying antithesis to her very being.

The argument between the two spawned the concepts (and gods) of destruction; such as war, disease and death/murder. Eventually, Selûne reached into the Elemental Plane of Fire and drew a portion of it into Realmspace, and fashioned it into the sun - a process that burned her.

Shar's rage doubled, and she began to snuff out every light she could find in the universe, causing Selûne to tear out a part of her own essence and fashion it into a weapon that she threw at Shar in defence of the new-born life of Realmspace. This portion of Selûne passed through Shar and formed itself into the Weave - the goddess Mystryl (who would one day be called Mystra). Mystryl sided with Selûne, and Shar was forced to concede bitter defeat now that she was utterly outnumbered, and swore revenge against all of them.

Shar retreated into the dark to recover, and found allies amongst the Shadevari, who also shared her resentment at having light and life brought into the previously dark and silent universe.

This battle has left Selûne permanently weakened, and her strength waxes and wanes much like the phases of the moon. The two sisters continue their argument - and Shar is boldest when her sister is at her weakest.

#As always with the long posts I hope this is coherent #Honestly I hear evil goddess with prehensile hair made of darkness and I remember Eris from that animated Sinbad film... #shar's relevant enough to give the game's main tag I think #shadowheart #dark justiciar shadowheart #bg3

[ahhvernin]

WHO IS SHE?

I rewatched the first few episodes of the Apothecary Diaries and although we all got introduced to Lihuas ladies in waiting we still havent been introduced to the LADY WHO KNOCKED DOWN THE FLOWER Mao Mao placed on the railing. NONE of the ladies who we've been introduced LOOK like her. WHO IS SHE????? The regular ladies in waiting are kind of ditzy, I cannot think that they decided on their own to hide contraband on their own, someone else had to told them to do it. Now that I think of it out of the main Consorts, Ahduo had FengMing as her Head lady in waiting, and Gyokuyou has 3 ladies in waiting, 1 being Hongniang who is the Head lady in waiting. But none of the girls who we've been introduced to in the Crystal Pavilion give "Head lady in waiting" vibes, but this lady does! She even scoffs after she knocks the flower down. Is she the Head Lady in Waiting for Lihua????? Her character design says that there is something going on. All the other girls are pretty but this woman has details. She's not plain. Her earrings are RED tassels while the other girls have round blue orbs. And red is pretty ballsy for a house that mostly blue, and red generally is a symbol of high rank or affluence. Plus she is wearing a silver necklace. And necklaces seem to be pretty scarce among the ladies in waiting, aside from Hongniang. So she must be special and have some rank. This lady is suspicious, why hasn't she shown up since Episode 1? She has to come back. With all the mysteries brewing, and a new possible pregnancy, I cannot help but think all the infant deaths from the first few episodes is going to come back soon and this lady definitely gives me jealousy vibes. And if I learned anything from watching Chinese period dramas as a kid, the servant women are always suspect.

#the apothecary diaries #lady in waiting #mao mao #Lady Lihua #china #Chinese period drama

[zazter-den]

Stained Glass Circumstances

Series: Current, Snippet 2, Ch. 1 Foul-Mouthed Frit

Synopsis- Captain Kirishima appreciates the overlooked beauty of glass.

Warnings- Servant Dynamics, Concubine Dynamics, Suggestive Themes.

Tags- Less explicit prologue, No Sex, Fantasy AU, Dragon!Kirishima, Consort!Reader, Brief BarbarianKing!Bakugou, Black Haired Reader.

Word Count- 400 word Prologue I

"Oi, Kirishima!" The barbarian king barked with his usual arrogant tone, ordering the loyal captain to escort his newest concubine to the hot springs to wash. Kirishima's slit pupils landed on your exhausted form, sprawled on Bakugou's dark blankets and furs like a masterpiece displayed on an ebony canvas.

Despite the fatigue radiating from your body, Kirishima couldn't help but find you captivating. The crystalline horns jutting from your hairline were of a clear quartz, an odd hue even for a dragon hybrid. Facets refracted rainbows on your black curls and the surrounding obsidian fabric, the beams of color dancing with each ragged breath you took. Captain Kirishima, having a ruby pair of his own, doesn't see how anyone could find your glass-like horns plain.

He had laughed, thinking his friend was surely joking when the rowdy regent had called you the “extra” consort he found. Claiming you on a whim.

Though he tried to dismiss his lingering thoughts and desires, Kirishima couldn't fully resist your allure. Despite their current roles—one as King Bakugou's concubine and the other as his trusted captain of his guard—Kirishima carried a deep...affection for you. One that couldn't easily be brushed aside. Gods know, he tried.

Captain Kirishima unbuckled the clasps of his scarlet cloak, the vibrant color signifying the high rank he fought tooth and claw for, and the fabric slipped from his broad shoulders. The thick ornate clothe was gentle against your skin, offering warmth and protection. He carefully wrapped your naked curves, shielding you from any prying eyes that may be present as he made his way to the baths outside the borders of the courtyard.

With gentle strength, Kirishima lifted your sleepy form into his arms, holding you as if the most delicate treasure. The weight of your body pressed against his chest, bodies fitting together in a way that felt natural. Intimate. He was lucky the tyrant's attention was long lost to the battle plans on his desk.

Then again, most servants ceased to exist in Bakugou's mind the moment he no longer had a need for them.

He held you close, cherishing the friendship he had formed with you over the past fortnight or so. Kirishima carried you out of King Bakugou's chambers, your head tucked into his chest as you continued to doze, and moved into the quiet hallways. The flickering torches along the walls cast a soft, warm glow. Their light danced upon the horns peaking out of your ebony hair, creating a mesmerizing display of color on your dark curls and his polished armor.

Stained Glass, Kirishima realized with a soft grin, that's what your horns reminded him of.

Comment/Reblog for more of this series!

#Already got half a hot spring scene written (｡˃ ᵕ ˂ )⸝♡ #zaz drabbles #minors dni #Dividers by the hard working @CafeKitsune #kirishima eijiro x reader #kirishima x reader #dragon kirishima #dragon!kirishima #bnha fantasy au #mha fantasy au #dragon reader #dragon!reader #bnha x reader #mha x reader #stained glass circumstances series

[glorianamultistan]

Park Chanyeol x Male Reader

<Part 1> <Part 3>

'You are such a fine specimen y/n; no wonder Duke never turned over to look at us even when we flaunted ourselves voluptuously.' 'To deny the chance of becoming a consort to the crown for this, hmm, must be some witchcraft.' 'I never really liked visiting you all because of this, you might be the heir to the throne, and you might be beautiful, but that doesn't mean anyone would just let their guards down and be with you.'

'Forgetting all the manners are we now?' 'Not really Sohee, I rank as equal as you; you and Suyung both are princesses and I am a prince, I expect nothing but respect for the orders we represent.'

Meeting the princesses was tiring; the constant remarks and counter-attacks had y/n feeling as if he had himself trapped in a pathetic tragicomedy rather than a few days hosting at a castle.

Chanyeol was often out and about leaving y/n with the princesses, and it was getting hard to control his nerves as the days went by. One night, on his routine night visit Chanyeol found y/n sitting on the bed staring at the wall with dried-up tear stains on his cheeks and the yellowish pages of the book he had opened in his lap.

'I don't remember the palace being so ghastly as to push you to the limits.' He went ahead and sat where he regularly did, on the chair beside the dressing mirror, facing the bed.

'I am tired.' 'Your royal highness, I will leave at once if you say so.' He got up and almost left when y/n whispered 'Please, don't.'

Chanyeol turns, shocked, rather bewildered, and caught off guard. This was a new tone he was hearing; he looked over y/n still in bed, looking down at his lap, still as if he was a part of the whole furniture.

Chanyeol went back and made himself comfortable; at least he tried to do so; while y/n put the book at the side table and took a sip out of the glass that had been there for some time now.

'Are you not well? You can skip the gatherings tomorrow and rest; there is no need to over-exert yourself.' 'I am tired.' Y/n repeated, in an even lower voice than before. 'The princesses and their cousins are tiring; at least I had my brother before to accompany me so they were all mostly around him. Now, I am all alone and their remarks never stop. Is this why you brought me here? To leave me all day long to suffer through comments as if I had done something wrong. I never even wanted to marry you. You could have had the heir to the throne here. Why did you do this to me? And why do you never accompany me while I am with them?'

'I...' Chanyeol was at a loss for words; he never thought that the prince would break down in front of him like this. He never really wished for it too. He got up and slowly went to the bed as if approaching a sparrow in the wild; he knelt down on the carpet, near y/n while observing the younger.

'I am sorry. I had no idea that they were going to treat you like this. I thought that since you always visited the palace you all must be good friends. I have to attend the training of the main army heads daily here that is why I am never able to be here. I am sorry. And, I married you because I liked you, I never liked the princesses, I know my ways to procure you were rash, but morality never really worked in favour of love and war did it? I am really, deeply, religiously, devoted to you; if you command me right now, I will behead the princesses, their cousins, and all those who made you cry like this and run away with you to your home and fight if they come for you.' He was already standing with his sword in his hand and that was the moment y/n realised that this man was beyond understanding.

Doing so much harm, on one command of someone, no one should be allowed to wield such powers, yet here, in the middle of the night, in an isolated wing of a palace, y/n sat looking into Chanyeol's eyes directly after weeks, feeling a rush of emotions indescribable.

'You are not a very intelligent person are you, Chanyeol?' A comic relief, his name, uttered by y/n with a smile full of twinkling eyes. Y/n realised later that he called the other by name and looked down again, 'Sit on the bed, then talk, I feel uncomfortable like this.'

Chanyeon went on and sat on the opposite side of the bed looking over y/n with determined eyes, 'I am not joking, I will do it all if you want it and if that will make you leave your gloom behind.' 'You will do no such thing. Hearing such declarations are ghastly enough for me; you should know how much I hate violence.' 'Then what should I do!? Please your royal highness tell me. I will do it, just say it.' Chanyeol was eager and looked more like a big dog waiting for command than a general of the army.

'Take me home.' Y/n whispered looking up to meet Chanyeol's eyes. 'Okay, we can leave for your kingdom right now, I will take you and your luggage can be sent later.' Chanyeol got up and before he could move y/n said 'I - I meant Sandria, not that.' Y/n was trying to avoid the bulging eyes of the general and trying to calm the heat rising in his body. 'What!?' 'I meant take me to Sandria, I miss Lady Park.'

It took a whole awkward minute of silence for y/n to repeat it 'Can we go?' 'Yes!' Chanyeol almost screamed and shocked y/n, again, more happy dog than a general.

So they left, in the night, without their luggage, just the two of them on a single horse. It took them two days and in between Chanyeol stopped at grand inns and was welcomed warmly by the owners, but what surprised y/n was how kind they all were to him, often too kind and reminding him of Lady Park.

They took one room throughout the journey as they were married so to avoid any rumours they had to take such measures, but Chanyeol never slept in the bed; he was always on the sofa, half asleep, half guarding as the threat on the prince was ever looming.

When they reached, Lady Park was not surprised; she got the letter from the palace beforehand; rather she was inquisitive as to why they cut their stay short and why did they not take the train?

'Oh I am sorry Lady Park, I was just uncomfortable at the palace and missed this place so I asked Chanyeol to bring me back, and I never really had the chance to roam the country, outside the manors and abbeys and castles, so I asked him to take the horse, also there was no train available that instant.'

'Oh y/n, please do not worry, I am rather happy that you are back; it gets lonely here without anyone to talk to except the butler and the other servants.'

Chanyeol was shocked again to hear his name from y/n's mouth utter so casually; he did not want to point it out to the other but wanted so bad to ask him to use it more. On his part, he still could not muster up the courage to use y/n's name; it feels — ironically, after doing it all wrong — it feels disrespectful.

'I will go to the room and change up, then I will meet you in the library.' With that y/n was gone.

'Why did you not insist on waiting and taking the train!?' Lady Park asked his son with a bit more hint of anger than he thought he would be facing.

'I did! But he wanted to leave instantly. I had no choice.' 'What did you do now that he left the palace like this to come back?' Before Chanyeol could answer Lady Park led him to the library and motioned him to sit as if starting an official inquiry.

'I? How can I do something in the palace that would make him run away from there? And runaway back to my house? Make it make sense mother.' He should not be acting this sassy to her but he wanted to point out the absurdity of the blame.

'Then what happened? I am sure the palace was more comfortable than here.' 'Well, do not talk to him about it please, he will tell you if he would like you to know, but I guess you are so stuck up with rituals that he would not want to portray a bad image of your future queen to you.'

'What?' 'Yes, he was crying, apparently both the princesses and their cousins always passed remarks and comments about him and other stuff, you know, stuck-up royals. He told me his brother was good at handling them but he was more sensitive to all of this so it hurt him a lot. I asked him to command anything that could be done to make him feel better, and he asked me to bring him back, so on my word, I did, also dearest mum he said he missed you.'

"I cannot believe that such behaviour is sanctioned by our King and Queen. They must be doing it as a jest but if it hurt him so much then it is unacceptable." "Well, you know how they are still pent up about me not marrying anyone of them." "It would have solved so many problems and there would have been no useless war." "Mother, you make it sound like I marrying someone for such reasons will result in a long-lasting relationship." "What about you and the prince then? He married you to end the whole show of gore bloody circus you started! Do you think he is happy here and not half as miserable as you would have been!?"

There was an uncomfortable silence, Ldy Park had such a moment after months, Chanyeol thought she was over it, but all this talk flared her up again.

"Mom, you know..." "What!? You love him!? That!? Please, I am still so ashamed that my son really went out to kidnap someone, that too a prince, at the cost of innocent lives, all the facade which you have created around this seemingly happy, working-out relationship disgusts me to the very core. I am here only for his sake, as I cannot trust you to be with him alone here, otherwise, I would have left for the dower house months ago."

Now, Lady Park was not only angry, she was in tears, all of this built up inside her while the young couple was away. She has been keeping up her smiles around the prince but after getting to know about the incident at the palace and her son's justification for not marrying any one of the princesses, she was not able to control herself.

"Enough, I will have the rest of my life to be blaming you, we mustn't make a fuss over it all when he comes down, at least he should get comfort somewhere."

P.S.:- If you liked it, you can support me by buying me a coffee; link's on my page.

#kpop x male reader #male reader #gay #gaypop #fanfiction #bottom male reader #kpop x male reader smut #exo x male reader #exo #park chanyeol x male reader #chanyeol x male reader #fragments of my mind #kpopidol #kpopgay #kpop fluff #kpop

[lafiametta]

I feel bad for the Lord with leprosy on Shogun like how horrible. I know he's probably done a lot of bad things but still 😕

Understandable. Having to sit behind a screen during your working lunches so that your colleagues don't have to look at your disfigured face while you eat seems pretty crappy (as well as having to listen to one of them call your cousin a "rotten syphilis").

If I had to rank the co-regents, though, I might have to put him towards the bottom of the pack:

5) Kiyama — claims to be a "warlord," but how hard can it be to assassinate one little barbarian heretic? 4) Ohno — sorry about the leprosy; glad you've still got the remaining eye 3) Sugiyama — it only took you five episodes to realize you're being played, and unfortunately for you (and your entire family), looks like it was an episode too late 2) Ishido — gotta respect a guy who's clearly enthralled by a hot, scary lady; also, his world-weary stares when some bit of his office politics goes wrong are comedic gold 1) Toranaga — was it even a question? here's a man with a flair for the dramatic, be it with a fan or a prize falcon, and he looks as good in his consort's kosode as he does in battle armor

#shōgun #shogun 2024 #shogun #shogun fx #fx shogun #lord ohno #yoshii toranaga #ask and answer #anon asks

[sparks-chaotic-cove]

Back again- fable characters ranked on how much they’d freak out a child from the Middle Ages

1 - Aax

Fish man, gay, 2 boyfriends?? The child would just fall over and die

2 - Wolf

Wolf man, gay, at least one boyfriend, might be more soon- plus occasionally transforms? Same situation as Aax, the child would just poof

3 - Rae

Gay librarian man with long hair? Half of him is purple? He’s got a freaky eye AND horns? The child’s not having it

4 - Jamie

Talking bear? In this economy? Absolutely not. Child is gone

5 - Athena

Just an anomaly to this child. Probably would think they’re a ghost. Child is not having it

6 - Sherbert/Icarus

Wings? They/them pronouns? Bleeding eye? Probably haunted by something? Child’s not doing well

6 - Caspian

Gay man with 2 boyfriends??? What sorcery is this??? Child not vibing

7 - Centross

Gay man but also like… looks like he’s been consorting with spirits (he has). Child does not approve

8 - Ocie

Fins? Breathing underwater? What sorcery is this??? Child does not like water

9 - Momboo

Honestly child would think she’s crazy but probably not be freaked out. Looks like a normal person. No one tell them about momboo and Sherbert

Honorable mentions(I know too little about them);

Arisanna - that person is BLUE. With WINGS. Child not happy

Easton - just a blind guy ig

Seven - what demonic magic is fueling this creature of metal

Ven - he kisses men??? Child would freak

#fsmp #Fablesmp #fable smp #fablesmpwolf #fablesmprae #fablesmpaax #fablesmpcentross #fablesmpjamie #Fablesmp Arisanna #Fablesmpmomboo

[i-guess-im-into-this-now]

The Apothecary Diaries

S1E14 First Watch

Here's where I watch The Apothecary Diaries for the first time and give my thoughts, analysis, predictions, and occasionally I stumble into a joke.

To start at the beginning:

Episode 1

Content warning: Discussion on sexual harassment, assault, and rape

My character/location cheat sheet

Suiren - Jinshi's attendant

Lady Gyokuyou - Precious consort

Hongniang - Lady Gyokuyou's attendant

Jade Pavilion - Lady Gyokuyou's pavilion

Concubine Lihua - Wise Consort

Concubine Loulan - the new Pure Consort

Lady Lishu - child bride concubine

Lakan - mysterious officer

Lihaku - young military officer

Pairin - one of the princesses of Verdigris House

Opening. Like with many of the openings in this show, I don't know what is happening yet. But it is visually and musically stunning. The strings bowing out some poignant melody while a woman under a red umbrella crosses a nearly colorless courtyard with her retinue. I'm guessing this must be the new concubine. Oh yeah, I'm pretty sure that was the crown that Lady Ah-Duo wore. This lady ditches it as soon as she comes into the Garnet Pavilion. I wonder how she feels about being made into the newest high ranking concubine. Her face is revealing nothing to me.

I don't know what Lady Gyokuyou is up to, but I love her, so I'm looking forward to whatever "good timing," she's trying to take advantage of. Probably trying to see Maomao I'm guessing.

Oh good, Maomao is planting her own herb garden. Perfect! Finally a way to start to make a place for herself in Jinshi's world. Maybe she can find a way to fit in here. Suiren doesn't care about this garden though, she wants Maomao to clean the office. And I'm starting to wonder if this lonely residence is maybe not as great for Maomao as the Jade Pavilion was. Back in the Jade Pavilion, Maomao was surrounded by people who cared about her and supported her. That isn't to say that Suiren won't, but who else even lives here? Gaoshun? I mean there is Jinshi of course, but I'd like to know she fits in with more than just him.

Turns out Jinshi is in the office that Maomao is meant to clean, so maybe Suiren is just trying to push Jinshi and Maomao together.

Something truly screwy has happened. Maomao has been selected to teach the new Pure Consort. What they want her to teach, I don't know. Probably not poisons. As it turns out, Lady Gyokuyou has written a recommendation for Maomao. A chance to get Maomao back into the Rear Palace so they can all see her maybe? Oh haha, Lady Lihua, wants her back too! Well Maomao did teach Lady Lihua something useful! Terrific! Maomao, who just failed her exam to be a court lady, is now highly recommended to teach the new high ranking concubine. Incredible.

Before Maomao had walked in, Jinshi called the situation "perplexing," followed by a frustrated or maybe thoughtful hum. Then when Maomao arrived Jinshi definitely made a frustrated sound. Was he upset that he would most likely need to send her out of his residence, and back to the Rear Palace? Was he upset that this seems like a blatant excuse for those concubines to see her? Or maybe he's upset that she failed her exam to be a court lady, because she does show up ready to clean his office, carrying all of her cleaning equipment.

Jinshi: The Rear Palace has set it's mind to the Concubine's education. And they selected you to be the teacher. Maomao: That's a good one.

Maomao, doesn't see how she could be good enough for a position like this. It must be a joke.

Jinshi: I'm not joking here.

And, oh yeah, he's not happy. He doesn't like that two of the top concubines have forced his hand like this. And maybe he also doesn't like Maomao's self deprecating attitude He sends her off so abruptly, that it seems curt. And what the hell is Jinshi's issue? Why is he acting like this with Maomao? Maybe he is just uncertain what to do with her. She's so capable at certain things, and yet... there are certain things she just won't or can't do. She's a highly requested teacher to the top concubines in the rear palace, yet she can't pass the test to become a court lady. Maybe that is what has Jinshi so annoyed. Maybe he can get over himself, while Maomao goes on her mission.

Does Maomao still owe money to Verdigris House? WTF. Maomao tries to stealthily change her wages but Suiren immediately shuts that down, even though Jinshi was willing to pay her more.

Jinshi seems excited about Maomao's class now and wants to see what teaching supplies she is bringing to the Rear Palace and Maomao becomes defensive.

Maomao: Under no circumstances can he see these!

What does she have in there? Maybe it's some courtesan stuff. Perhaps she's going to try to teach the new consort some brothel tricks?

Maomao insists on pulling her own cart. Maybe she didn't realize that Jinshi and Gaoshun would also be coming to the Rear Palace or she wants to be sure no one gets a chance to look at the racy goods she's transporting.

Jinshi is received like a celebrity, with lines of adoring fans all hoping to catch a glimpse and make a comment about his appearance. He puts on a smile and laughs, but I think he hates this. Maybe Maomao should draw some freckles on him.

And maybe this is a good time to take a closer look at what Jinshi's experiences have been with sexual harassment. I have @cjrae and @teaflowsthroughthesesims to thank for opening my eyes to some things in the comments section of the last blog.

Jinshi has been getting this kind of reaction to his appearance for a long time. I'm realizing now why he was so excited to have Maomao glare at him in one of the early episodes. People so often look at him and see his beauty, but not the person. He has never had to worry about that with Maomao. Her absolute lack of self value means she never considered for a moment that Jinshi would see her as a viable romantic partner, and so therefor never bothered to look at him with a lustful eye. It's rather sad that that was a novel experience for Jinshi.

We know that his own female servants have tried to leave their underwear in his closet. I've learned that the undergarment made of human hair is meant to be a love spell. How utterly fucked up. Just as bad is the fact that people have tried to sneak aphrodisiacs into his food before. Maomao identified one for him way back in episode 2. I did not realize that when he asked Maomao to make an aphrodisiac that he would be using that to retaliate against the male officer that gave him the drugged food, and it becomes apparent that he did when we hear the rumor about a man who "hates women" that was seduced by servant girl. I've been taught that "hates women" is a euphemism for gay men. So Jinshi has been experiencing sexual harassment from both men and women, and it ranges from lascivious comments that he hears on the street like we see in this scene, to very intimate acts like the undergarment in his own drawer and food that was given to him. It's one of the reasons Gaoshun attends him everywhere. Perhaps Maomao should be a food taster for Jinshi.

I can't help but think about the moment when Jinshi gave Maomao his hair pin. She had just explained her story of being captured and sold, but also about how she had been sexually harassed. He probably felt a powerful empathy with her then. Imagine what it would mean for him to share his own experiences with her.

Jinshi wants to attend Maomao's sex ed class, but she literally pushes him out the door. Delightful. She says they are going to be discussing sensitive womanly issues, so, cool, maybe Maomao is the right choice for this class. She might actually teach these ladies something. Maybe prevent a few UTIs and yeast infections.

Lady Gyokuyou is so happy that her favorite romcom Maomao is back. Maomao knows everyone in the room, other than the new concubine, Lady Loulan and her attendant.

Maomao shares a book that gets blushes all around the room, as well as a few more dramatic reactions, so it's got to be something she learned at the brothel. The new lady seems to be ignoring Maomao?

Jinshi has his ear pressed to the door, like a creep. Is he worried about what Maomao will teach these ladies, or just curious about what she knows? Maomao bust him trying to listen in. When he finally sees what's going on in the room, he's not so sure he should have agreed to all of this. Lady Gyokuyou and Lady Lihua seem pleased, but Lady Lishu is traumatized, and most of the attendants are freaking out. Only Lady Loulan seems unfazed. What is her deal any way. All I've seen her do so far is discard her crown in the opening scene, yawn, gaze off at nothing, discard the book Maomao gave her, and ignore everything around her. Is she bored? Depressed? Does she have a disability? Maybe she isn't ignoring everyone, maybe she literally can't hear them? Of maybe she can't understand the language? It would explain why she's not moved by anything being said and why the book is of no interest to her. Maomao did point out that her clothes are of a foreign style. I can't figure her out. Maomao says that Lady Loulan is unreadable. Agreed.

Maomao actually seems pretty pleased as she lays down to sleep. She's giggling about her bonus, and I have to appreciate her commitment to avarice.

The hell? Was that an explosion? Maomao thinks to investigate, but then gives up at the thought of Suiren. How much impact does Suiren have on Maomao's behavior? Is Maomao afraid she'll get in trouble with Suiren? Is this a good influence that is keeping Maomao from behaving recklessly, or is it a bad influence that stymies her curiosity and impulse to help others?

We get a name to the mysterious man from last episode, Master Lakan. He's investigating the explosion and has found that opium pipe from last episode. His face says he knows something, but when someone asks if he found something, he says no. Is he involved with this explosion somehow? Is he going to cover up some piece of evidence? Is he an investigator in the palace? If so than he probably will cross paths with Maomao at some point, since she can't help but get involved in mysteries.

Maomao is working in Jinshi's office today. She's surprised to see how much work falls to a eunuch of the Rear Palace. And for fuck's sake Maomao, the man is so clearly not just a Rear Palace eunuch. I think she must be intentionally delusional about this. She's already figured out part of the puzzle that is Jinshi's background but chose to discard it. Perhaps the truth is too intimidating for Maomao to face.

Because if she were to accept who and what Jinshi is, that would probably be the end of all of this. It would widen the gulf between them as Jinshi was worried about a few episodes ago. It's something Maomao is also very worried about. She's being very careful that she doesn't do anything that will force them to part.

Jinshi is so obvious with his attraction to Maomao, and Maomao is so reserved, that it can often seem like this is a one sided relationship. Maomao doesn't dare think about her feelings for Jinshi, much less speak or act on them. To get an idea of what she's feeling, we have to make some assumptions. But they aren't totally unfounded, we can see evidence of Maomao's feelings in some of the choices she makes, and in some of the actions she takes, even if we may be waiting a real long time for her to think about or verbalize them.

Maomao has managed to secure herself a position here in Jinshi's residence, in a position that keeps her close to him. She chose to come back to the palace. She gave up the people she calls family in the Pleasure District, and the career she loves as an apothecary to return to the palace. And yes, she thought she was going to be working in the Rear Palace, but she's not complaining about being in Jinshi's residence instead. In fact she's planting her herbs in the yard. She's literally and metaphorically putting down roots here.

Though Maomao thinks she's not worth the affections of a eunuch official, she has still managed to build a rapport with Jinshi. They can banter, and solve mysteries together hold each other when they're drunk and sad. She likes that he encourages her to use her skills, that he appreciates her abilities, that he pushes her out of the places she hides, so that she can grow. And for Maomao that's pretty nice actually. All of it is more than she would hope for from him. It's a beautiful dream, that falls apart if Jinshi is more than a simple palace official. Because even as a simple official, she's taking more than she deserves. It's completely inappropriate already. If he's a prince... there really, really isn't a place for her in that world. So she holds on where she can for now, and takes what is offered, and very carefully does not think about Jinshi's true identity.

Also, because Jinshi is a "eunuch" he is safe for Maomao. She has some serious fears around sex. When she told us about being sexually harassed she said that nothing ever came of it, and I do think that being attacked, even if she was not raped is enough to cause this level of trauma. There could be more though. She told that story to a pavilion full of people, it's highly likely that if there were a more serious story about sexual assault that she may not have told it so publicly. Regardless of the origins, Maomao has sexual trauma. As a "eunuch," Jinshi would not be able to assault her that way, even if she thought he were willing to. So, it's easier for Maomao to continue to believe an increasingly unbelievable delusion, than to deal with her trauma.

I am so here for the Gaoshun-Maomao dynamic. Gaoshun is mothering "Xiaomao" and making sure she stays warm, because it's cold outside after all. Maomao is once again thinking about what a catch Gaoshun is. You know, if things don't work out with Jinshi, then Gaoshun could be a nice runner up.

Oh and Jinshi has noticed all of that! He's literally growling. Back the hell up off his girl Gaoshun! Oh my god this is a hilarious scene. Now Gaoshun is claiming the cloak and thoughtfulness came from Jinshi. I wonder if next time, Jinshi doesn't get up and bring her a cloak himself, rather than sending Gaoshun.

Maomao: To need permission to give warm clothes to a chilly servant. Talk about bureaucracy.

Holy hell, her ability to misread a situation... is just... mindboggling. I know her confidence is nil, she is incapable of seeing Jinshi's affection for her, but the mental gymnastics required to come up with other possible explanations is a lot.

Once again, medicinal herbs have drawn Maomao to the military officers side of the palace grounds. She happened to run into Lihaku. Jinshi is not going to like that.

Lihaku fell in love during his night at Verdigris House, and now he has dedicated himself to his career advancement so he can buy another night with Pairin. But in the meantime he drinks frugally with other girls hoping to catch a glimpse of his love.

Maomao says she's been transferred to a palace official's personal quarters.

Lihaku: Transferred huh? And to such a thankless detail. Maomao: Yup, I've gathered that much.

Something didn't seem right here, so I switched from the English dub to the Japanese with English subtitles and got:

Lihaku: Personal quarters? Who's crazy enough to do that? Maomao: Yeah, I wonder the same.

This is really not an important scene, so I'm not sure why I'm so hung up on it, but I think something is probably lost in translation. I think what Lihaku is implying is that the move is a bad one for Maomao. It's not as prestigious as working for a high ranking concubine in the Rear Palace. In a private residence how will a servant stand out or advance? Lihaku is all about climbing the ranks, and he pities Maomao for getting stuck in a position where she can't. Maomao has gathered that this position isn't one to bring her career advancement, but she doesn't cares about that, it's not why she wanted to return to the palace or why she is finding contentment in her new job. So she pokes fun at herself yeah I guess I am crazy for taking this position, not because she's missing out on a chance to advance her career, but because she's given up on other options for her life like being an apothecary in the Pleasure District, to take a risk in the palace.

There was a fire last night, the origins of which are unknown. Maomao cannot resist a mystery. Maomao surmises that it was an explosion and that the military suspects arson. Maomao finds that same opium pipe that Lakan did. She has an idea, and now she just needs to prove it. She asks Lihaku to bring her a few things. Maomao builds a very nice wooden box, and Lihaku compliments her. She remembers a time when she was young, at home with Luomen while he examines a box. Maomao uses her box to demonstrate how improperly stored powder such as flour can be combustible. She surmises that someone went into the warehouse to light a pipe and accidentally caused the explosion.

Damn I like watching her work.

Lihaku: How is it you know these kind of things. Maomao: Simple. I once blew up a room at the Verdigris House experimenting with powders. Lihaku: You're a menace.

I don't know if Lihaku is taking personal offense to her causing trouble at the brothel where the love of his life lives, or if he just thinks she's weird and dangerous. Either way, I don't think Jinshi has anything to worry about when it comes to Maomao and Lihaku. I'm looking forward to him be jealous about this anyway.

Maybe I do understand how she can still owe the Verdigris House, if she has destroyed rooms in the building before...

Maomao kept the fancy pipe, accidentally of course, we've all forgotten about her klepto-urges a couple episodes ago, right? I can't help but think that keeping this pipe is a mistake. There is a lot that could go wrong if someone finds that in her things. She could be accused of using opium to start, but she could also be accused of stealing it, selling drugs, associating with nefarious people, or who knows what else. I don't like that she has it. She considers returning it. I hope she does.

The final scene is of a man having a break down in an eatery. He breaks something and cries about being "worthy too." I don't know who he is, but the other dude who looks back over his shoulder looks familiar. Was he around when Sir Kuonen died? Do we have a serial killer in the palace? Or maybe an assassin?

Want to start from the beginning: Episode 1

Next Episode:

Episode 15

#the apothecary diaries #apothecary diaries #maomao #jinshi #jinmao

[bluecoolr]

Roots

Part 1 of Darron and Baeron's Backstory

Link to Part 2

T’zeklochar cast a brief glance toward the vaulted cavern ceiling of Menzoberranzan. A faint red glow rose from somewhere in the middle of the city, signaling that the great stalagmite clock, Narbondel, had only begun its reckoning.

The Matron Mother had had him woken and dragged from bed, in the middle of the night.

“Is there a room somewhere we can put Ryld?” she inquired after he had been essentially jostled through the whole damned house and dropped in front of her throne.

“Couldn't this wait till morning, Breena?” T’zeklochar asked pointedly. He glared at the guards at his elbows (both of whom were smirking females) and got to his feet.

As if T'zeklochar hadn't spoken out of turn, Matron Dinbreena carried on, “Somewhere out of the patron's way - where he won't notice. I mean, imagine.”

“How very delicate of you.”

Her eyes were dull from thought, her silver hair loose and trailing down her shoulders to her knees like a curtain. She was preoccupied. About Ryld, of course.

“See that he's found a room.”

It was final. Definite, No room left for contention.

“Yes, Matron Mother,” said T’zeklochar, bowing slightly, all thought of sleep banished with the new task at hand.

Presently, the Weapons Master of House Barriurden crossed the back courtyard, passing the stables housing the lizard mounts. He stepped into the kitchen, then further down into the cellar, and headed for the cubby tucked behind the shelves. The door to the hole slammed against the wall as T’zeklochar threw it open.

The single inhabitant of the cramped cubbyhole sprang up from his bed. “What in the hells – ?!”

“Wake up, pantry boy.” T’zeklochar ordered as Ryld blinked dumbly in the dark. “Whatever paltry possessions you have, gather them and follow me.”

Ryld was a commoner, a kitchen servant tasked with keeping track of the House’s food stores. He was also the newest, albeit unwilling, object of Matron Dinbreena's affections. Her appetite for amorous exploits was unabated even as she saw her third century. No drow could refuse her. Whichever male she chose must submit, under pain of death.

A swarm of bats flitted through the stalactites. Ryld stretched as he quietly followed T'zeklochar to the front of the house. Guards stood in attention as the Weapons Master walked past. The kitchen servant, they paid no mind.

It was difficult not to notice him, however, even T’zeklochar would admit. The drow, at the prime age of a hundred or so, was handsome and tall - tall by drow standards. His build was lean and wiry. His eyes appeared blue in the Underdark, with red pin pricks in their centers. An unfortunate defect, caused no doubt by his forebears interbreeding with surface elves or even humans. And yet, it did not take away from his beauty. The overall effect was one that stirred the blood.

“You think this is some sort of blessing?” T’zeklochar asked the younger drow, who was inspecting his new bedchamber.

Ryld peeled his eyes away from the ornate trimming and gossamer curtains overhanging the bed.

“You're in more peril than you ever were.”

Drow hated and yet thrived on competition. As a rival to the Matron’s consort, he would surely be faced with opposition. The patron would not allow Ryld to sire children by the Matron, and put his own children's ranks at risk.

“You think I asked for this?” snapped Ryld, an assertive fire making the red pin pricks of his eyes more pronounced.

T’zeklochar's frown belied his pleasure. “You'll need more tricks than just batting your eyelashes, if you want to survive now.” He shoved a shortsword into Ryld's hands. “Meet me in the training hall in two hours.”

The empty halls rang with the awful, pained screams of Matron Dinbreena as she labored to bring her and Ryld's child into the world. She had been taken into Lolth's unholy chamber, attended by her clerics and priestesses. All unneeded persons were barred entry, including the father.

Ryld sat trembling where he waited in the stairwell. T'zeklochar, who had become an unlikely friend in the last 10 months, stood leaning on the bannister, smoking on a small pipe. He took pity on the expectant father and passed him the pipe, chuckling as he struggled to put it to his lips.

There came Dinbreena's screams again. “RYLD! WHERE IS HE?! I WANT HIM HERE! RYLD!”

Ryld flew to his feet and up the stairs, followed closely by T'zeklochar. Dinbreena held out her arm as she saw them come through the door.

“Damn you and your spawn,” she hissed as tears streamed down her ashen cheeks. Her grip on Ryld's hand was crushing.

“What's happening? The child has been delivered. Why -?”

The pain was not letting up, even as Liriel, one of Dinbreena's daughters and high priestess of Lolth, carried a squealing child to a stone pedestal.

“There's a second child,” snapped Zardra. “You have twins.”

T’zeklochar stood over the kicking baby, wiping it clean with a blood-soaked towel. Ryld's heart sank as he studied the Weapons Master's expression.

His dark heart uttered a desperate prayer and a bargain. “Please, goddess. If you give me this, I will be your uncomplaining servant.”

Ryld gently set the Matron down on the armchair. She had succumbed to the exhaustion just after the second child arrived.

The children's sobbing had subsided and the chamber grew deathly quiet. Ryld held his breath, looking to T’zeklochar for some hope. His red eyes were empty, his face like stone.

The Weapons Master shook his head, and Ryld felt like he had been gutted.

“Two male children. Cursed day,” muttered Zardra.

Liriel turned to Ryld. “You ought to be executed for your uselessness!” She cast a venomous glance at her newborn brothers, her knuckles white over the handle of her dagger. “Along with these wretched whelps.”

“Look at their eyes!” gasped Evandra. The twins had inherited Ryld’s ice blue eyes, with the red pin pricks glowing bright in the worship chamber.

“Beastly little wretches!” chimed Zardra.

T’zeklochar, who had not left the babies’ side, appeared unbothered, but was slowly easing his hand toward the shortsword at his belt. If any of the priestesses attacked, he was going to defend the little ones.

“Liriel is right,” said Zardra. “This is an omen. We all know what happened to House Do’Urden. We must kill them lest these blue-eyed freaks follow in Drizzt's footsteps.”

Ryld grew cold. Beside him, Matron Dinbreena stirred, and, her voice husky from screaming, addressed her daughters with severity. “If you lay a finger on our children,” she said, “On my honor as Matron Mother, on my honor as the Spider Queen’s servant - I will cut your head off myself.”

A smirk pulled the corner of T’zeklochar’s mouth. Our children. Dinbreena was done for. She had fallen in love with Ryld.

“These children are Noble Drow of House Barriurden. You shall show them the respect they are due.”

Matron Dinbreena retired after nursing her twin boys. She left them in the company of their father, sleeping side by side in a cradle that had held five older sons. The daughters’ cradles were naturally more resplendent, but this one did the job and Ryld was satisfied.

He was still lost in thought when T’zeklochar entered, his hands clasped over something. Ryld admired the sight of the Weapons Master looking into the cradle, how gentle he became in the presence of his children. The way the tension from his broad, muscular back eased as he hummed and cooed at the little ones.

In the purple faerie fire, Ryld saw that T’zeklochar had brought a tarantula for the twins. The fuzzy creature crawled over T’zeklochar's knuckles and settled on Baeron's little chest. The little one stirred, smiled in his sleep, and cuddled the spider closer.

T’zeklochar opened his mouth, and a second tarantula crawled out of hiding. This one he gave to Darron. “Sleep sound in the dark, child,” he purred.

He addressed the father without looking at him. “Do not agree to have Dinbreena's daughters raise your children.”

Ryld scoffed. “I have no intention to. She's allowed me to raise them myself. Being her consort has granted me that favor, I guess.” He watched his boys with his arms crossed. He was steeling himself for what he was about to tell T’zeklochar. “I… I want you to train them, when they come of age.”

The Weapons Master still did not look him in the eye. “You're a madman and a fool,” he simply said.

Indignant, Ryld straightened up. He always had too much cheek for a commoner. It was one of the things that T’zeklochar admired about him. “A fool? My sons will live, if they know how to defend themselves. How am I a fool to know that?”

“Yes.” T'zeklochar nodded, his voice growing louder. “They will live, but not long enough to see 30. The Patron already hates you as it is. Put a sword in either boy's hand, and they will be a greater threat than ever. If they aren't murdered by their siblings, they will be murdered in the Academy.” He gestured wildly to the window. Somewhere out in the city stood Melee Magthere, where fighters were forged. It was a cruel and merciless place whose halls were washed with blood and colonnades polished with screams.

“I cannot protect them there,” T’zeklochar declared. I cannot protect all of you, he thought to himself.

“That's not what I'm asking,” Ryld replied coolly. “I only require that you teach them what they need to know.”

T’zeklochar was adamant. He shook his head. “Give them up for consortship and they may yet survive.”

“So they can be treated like… mere courtesans?” Ryld could not - would not see his sons suffer the same fate.

Ryld. What mother he had was so heartless as to name him “slave” in the drow tongue.

“They will marry into security,” T’zeklochar explained, “They'll be valuable in continuing the bloodline. Is that not enough to placate you?”

“And if your boy was alive, would you do the same?” Ryld snapped.

The words were out before Ryld could stop himself. When he saw the look of hurt on the Weapons Master's face, he knew he had gone too far.

T’zeklochar was Matron Dinbreena's consort once. He'd sired a child. A third son.

He didn't even get a chance to hold the boy before Liriel plunged her dagger into his tiny heart. A sacrifice to appease the goddess, Lolth.

Recovering, T'zeklochar replied, “If he had been allowed to live? Yes.”

He held Darron's foot and placed a tender kiss on his heel. He passed Ryld on his way to the door, and without so much as a warning, he grabbed him by the throat and shoved him against the wall.

The impact knocked the wind out of Ryld. His breath did not return now that he and T’zeklochar were a lip's distance from each other.

“If you ever mention my boy again,” T’zeklochar whispered, his voice soft as silk. “I'll kill you.”

He dropped Ryld to his feet and headed out the door.

“I need you.”

T’zeklochar froze.

“I cannot do this alone,” Ryld begged. “These boys need to be strong. You must teach them.”

“Have it your way. It won't be easy. It will break them.”

“I know.”

---

A/N: not me posting this because it got too long 🤡

There will be more.

#oc lore #character backstory #dnd oc #dnd au #drow oc #t'zeklochar #ryld #dinbreena #darron #baeron #twins au #drow twins #bluecoolr.txt

[chirp-a-chirp]

Court of Darkness: Master List

Headcanons

Dirty Pictures (All Consorts)

Fenn Offers Unsolicited Relationship Advice

Getting Caught in the Moment (Princes and Tino)

Handmade Gifts (Princes)

How the Princes Describe Sex

Princes as Mythical Creatures; Princes as Dogs; Princes as Cats

Prince Reactions to MC Being Cold/Shivering

The Art of the Massage (S:Rank Princes)

The Spray Bottle (Princes, Valets, Sherry)

You Look Good With

Short Stories

A Test of Kingcraft Part I; Part II; Part III

Bye Bye Anders (Princes, Lou, MC, Sherry, Violet)

Lessons in Love (Princes)

Love Letters (Toa, Guy, Fenn, Roy)

Picture Perfect (Princes, Lou)

Sleeping Places (Fenn and S Rank Princes)

The Battle for Facial Hair

The Moment (Guy, Lynn, Roy, Rio)

The Swear Jar (Princes, Lou, Valets, Sherry)

Lists

Betrayal Ranking (Who is Most Hurt by a Cheating MC)

Gently Roasting Halloween Demon Outfits

Getting Caught Between the Sheets - Who’s Most Embarrassed

How Consorts Would Live at Hogwarts Universe; Hogwarts Houses

How Princes Would Respond to a Booty Call

It’s all Fun and Games (Princes)

Spicy Gifts (All Consorts)

12 Days of Christmas

Guy’s Gambit

Satisfaction

Wedding Day

Roy’s Fantasy

Anxiety Ridden

Charred

Devour and Delight Part 1; Part 2

Enough; Nothing Else to Compare

Morning Delight; Passion Revealed; Lipstick Obsessed

Perfect Proposal

Seven Minutes of Heaven

Sleeping Beauty (Birthday Story); Wedding Day

Untamed

Lance’s Fables

Remembrance

The Prince of Ember and Flame (Character Analysis)

Toa’s Tales

Basket Full of Troubles (Knight and Toa)

Just Desserts

Puppy Love; Purfection

Warmth

Wedding Days

Tino’s Delight

Anxiety Ridden

You Are My Sunshine

#otome #masterlist #court of darkness #voltage romance games #court of darkness fanfiction #court of darkness voltage #voltage otome #voltage games

[atelierlena]

[Atelier Lena] New Eoyeo Meori

1. New Eoyeo Meori

(Recommend for Queen consort, Crown Prince consort & High rank royal concubine)

- New Mesh - All lods - All 14 Swatches - Hairstyle Category

2. New Small Eoyeo Meori

(Recommend for Royal concubine or Court lady)

- New Mesh - All lods - All 14 Swatches - Hairstyle Category

Recommended use with New Korean Braid Hairband Color Overlay texture file:)

You can change top of Eoyeom jokduri's color. (Gloves Category)

Always thank you for supporting<3

DOWNLOAD << Early Access!

#sims 4 korean cc #sims 4 korean #sims 4 cc #sims 4 #ts4 #ts4 cc #sims 4 hanbok #sims 4 hanbok cc #sims 4 korean hair #sims 4 joseon cc #sims 4 joseon

[vermillioncourt-if]

Children in the Siji Empire

(in response to an ask!)

Children can be adopted, produced biologically, or created magically in the Siji Empire. How your MC and RO would want to go about this is up to your discretion. Surrogacy also exists, although it's less popular than magically creating children, which completely nixes the need for a womb/incubator.

In fact, many noble women prefer to magically create children with their husbands/partners than carrying them to not lose their figure or beauty. Magically creating children is not allowed for royal families, if both parties are able to produce a biological child and carry it. Otherwise, it's free rein.

This rule is why Consort Dou is unable to have another child via magical means. Since there's already proof that she's able to produce and have a biological child successfully, she is unable to use magic to produce a child with the King. If she were unable to at the beginning, then magic would have been allowed in that case.

Anyway, moving onto adoption, royal families aren't keen on adoption, especially if the child isn't an orphan. They don't want to risk giving the adopted child a title and their living parent then demanding a title/land/etc since their biological kid is a prince/princess. This also extends into marrying someone who has children already with a previous partner they divorced, but that partner is still alive. They (being royal families and courts) don't want to risk that child, somehow, becoming king/queen and naming that non-royal parent as Dowager.

Things are much less intense if the adopted child is an orphan. The only criteria is that they (the child) must not have any immediate or extended by 1 generation (aunts, uncles, cousins, etc) family left living. If that child passes that qualification (which most orphans do), then they're allowed to be adopted into the royal family, officially. As in, given proper titles and a rank befitting of their age.

As for being accepted into the family, assuming the child is an orphan that met the qualification, they're treated just the same as any biological prince or princess would be treated. They'll receive proper education and protection. They're allowed to inherit land BUT are generally not allowed to inherit thrones.

The thrones of the kingdoms were forged by the mythical creatures of each kingdom themselves way back when they were creating the continent of Nian. As such, they've bestowed magical protections onto the thrones that will harm a person who does not possess their (respective) Blessing, which is passed down biologically. As such, an adopted child would not be able to be king or queen unless they somehow possessed the Blessing.

Blessings tend to die out in bloodlines by the 3rd generation away from the sitting ruling family. So, any of children of the cousins of MC's father will have, most likely, lost the Blessing of the Vermillion Bird and making them unable to sit on the throne. It hasn't been tested to see if Blessings last past 3 generations, since no one is willing to risk their health and safety to test it.

So, yes, MC can make their adopted child their successor since their child would only be inheriting land and not the throne. The Nan family, itself, will happily treat the child like any other grandchildren. Consort Huo would be simply ecstatic and Dowager Queen Nan Niexing, if she is still alive by this time, will be overjoyed at having a great-grandchild. No one in the family would care that your child wasn't biologically related. Yes, including Consort Xing.

#the vermillion court #info post #xiatian kingdom #qiutian kingdom #dongtian kingdom #chuntian kingdom #siji empire #nian lore

[princessvisionary101]

💘❤️‍🩹 Nuada x Disowned Human Princess reader who her parents and her sister neglect her.

Part 1 of ?

Summary: Your father wants your older sister to be the perfect queen to the Bethmoora clan. Your sister wants everything to be perfect for her. Your mother never wanted anything much. You however, want to know why your sister’s dream guy, or elf in that matter, wants your attention and your presence to himself.

Info: This is my first Nuada x female reader so please don’t judge me! I’ll try my best to make it enjoyable! Enjoy!

When you think of the word “Princess” what do you believe a princess is?

The daughter of a king and queen who rules over a kingdom of their own. The consort of a prince who can later make her become a queen of higher standing. A woman of high rank or of high standing in her class or profession with good skills and enough power of her own.

Your family’s princesses were all of the above with each definition. Someone who wanted to marry the princess to turn her into a queen. Someone who obeys her husband and behaves like a good wife. Someone who a man could have as a trophy to display.

That’s a princess.

You were the first princess to ever ruin the image of your family’s title.

Every since you met a boy name Tommy who not only was the laundry boy in your palace but a Satyr, you befriend him even when you found out about it. I mean who would think that a half goat half boy was dangerous right? And also since you didn’t fear him or said anything to the maids about him, you were reeled into a life where you and him had the most fun in the small town your parents ruled over. He taught you the amazing things about other creatures and how he wished for humans to get along with his kind so that no one has to fear anyone again. You swore secretly that you wanted to make his dream come true.

When your family found out, they immediately got rid of Tommy and you never learned whether he was dead or kicked out of the country. You were punished for keeping him a secret, and you were to never leave your room unless you were told to or else. You preoccupied yourself with the books in the library about trolls and fairies and it helps you learn more about them than you ever did with your family’s help. When your family suspected your change of perspective to mythical beings and how you wanted to make peace with them instead of ruling over some of them, you were banned from the only place you enjoy, unless you learned that creatures like Tommy were never to be seen as equals. Of course you refused to accept that and never saw your family eye to eye again.

Years went by and your role of a princess was fading every day. Maids and guards still served you every time you needed them, but it was hard for them to be loyal when your sister would command them to do small pranks or to just leave you be. And since she is your parents favorite, how could the servants oppose her demands? You didn’t blame them anyways and insisted to yourself that you were better alone. No suitors to ask for proposals, that belongs to your sister. No gifts on random days, your sister has them all. No attention or praises from your parents, you sister took their eyes away from you.

Your parents never did gave you the attention that you wanted from them than your sister who could easily ask by calling for them. Back then you thought, if you were more socializing, more full of yourself, and more of a show off than your sister, you could get attention from both your parents and suitors to pass on the family’s fame. Instead, you chose the route to avoid that possibility. To avoid accepting that creatures are monsters that deserve to rot and never step on man’s land. To avoid pretending to enjoy men who live to gloat and boast about their riches and palaces. You even promised yourself many times that you would never get married to a man like that, or any man at all.

That is until your father at the dinner table gave you and your sister a announcement.

“We’ll be visiting the Bethmoora clan to have a peaceful agreement with lands and supplies. I want both of you to behave and go along with the plan I have in mind to help our land and kingdom. That is all.” He said before leaving the dining room where my sister and I were left with our mother. She smiled at us and told us to get ready to meet them and to look very nice and cute. After my sister left I asked my mom why would they want to talk to us? She frowned and stood up from her seat walking towards you. “Your father wants to expand our land and make more people live here so that people can pay more for the construction of homes, shops and businesses. He loves to own a lot of land, and the clan seem to not like that much. So he believes he can convince them to gives us some land so that he can give supplies to them.” She pushes you towards the door and lets you off with a small comment. “But I wouldn’t worry about that dear. After all a good princess doesn’t worry about affairs or anything that a king won’t have trouble with.” And she closes the door. Does she really think that a affair like this is important to know for the occasion?

After getting ready for a business meeting that you might not have importance in, you family were set off to the land that the Bethmoora clan owned and saw many of them growing crops that you’ve every seen in your life. Your sister seemed to snicker at your gaze. “What is so funny dear sister?” You ask with a slight low tone. “Oh nothing little sister!” She said with a slight smirk. “It’s just it’s funny how your amazed at this many crops when there’s lots of markets at our home that has those in display-oops!” She covered her smile. “I forgot! You haven’t been out for so long! I’m sorry forgive me little sister!” She giggled. Man she really gets on your nerves a lot does she? Makes you wonder how you two got along before you saw how she really was when she wasn’t near you.

“Oh girls! Chins up! Remember to give perfect impressions!” Mother stated before leaving the carriage. Your older sister went after you. You were astonish of how the clan could be so beautiful with a small palace of their own. Even the small houses you passed were so pretty compare to the ones back home. And you were interested of how each elf looks exactly the same but yet so different from one another. It confuses you and intrigues you equally. When your family were greeted by the advisor who said that they were to wait at the dining room for the king, your sister couldn’t help but voice her thoughts out loud. “And will the prince be there?” She asked with curiosity is her face. Your face would look unimpressed and your eyes rolled up. It wasn’t surprising that your sister would be happy to know that 1) the king has a son and that 2) would be interested of what he looks like and what he does. She was just as curious as any girl who learns of a prince in their father’s business matters. “Yes your highness” the advisor said with a neutral tone “he and his sister the princess will be with his majesty at the dining room. They are just getting ready and will meet with you all momentarily.” He said while guiding all of you to the room. Before you could sit in a chair, you mother made a request to your father. “Oh! Honey, don’t you think that our youngest will grow tired and lost from this meeting?” She asked your father while you look at her bewildered. Is she trying to ask father to make you leave the room? In a palace you don’t know of? “I don’t mind being quiet if that’s what your worried about mother.” You try to testify but your father held up a hand. “It’s alright darling. If you want to roam around but not too far, you are excuse from this meeting. It will only take maybe a hour at best.” He said with a small grin and a reassuring tone. “What about dear sister?” You gesture to her. “Will you get bored of meetings like these? You use to say that affairs were not suited for you.” You said while you look at her. “She might be needed for this so just be on your way. Ask the advisor if there’s a place you would like to visit.” He shows you with his left hand. “Run along now, let us handle this dear.” You were left outside the room while the advisor even seemed surprised by this action. “My apologies for my family.” You reassured him while he look at the door then to you. “Why do they treat you different if I may ask?” “They don’t wanna say bluntly that they don’t want me here but because I’m part of the family, I have to participate in events like family meetings or social gatherings that involve us. It’s not new for me so don’t worry.” You look down while saying that last part. It really wasn’t new that your family didn’t have high expectations for you. You’d don’t care though. Not so much though. “So!” You look at him while he seemed to have straighten his posture. Was he looking down somewhere? “You wouldn’t happen to have a library I can past the time with by chance?” He seem to be surprised by this type of request. I guess no princess visits libraries now often? “Oh of course! Right this way!” Let’s hope that you have time to explore the palace while you still can. You would loved to hope that this meeting isn’t long enough for you all to stay long. You also hope that you won’t bump into your sister’s new crush. Oh that would be exhausting.

Ok this might become a small series due to how I didn’t know a text maximum! Oops…hope you guys enjoy this and hope for part 2! Thank you for reading!

#nuada x you #prince nuada x reader #nuada x s/o #nuada x reader #nuada silverlance #prince nuada silverlance #prince nuada #nuada #x female reader #princess reader #princess’ fanfics #hellboy: the golden army #hellboy 2 #hellboy