#for the first time in his life he was family before he was a liege or heir!!

[beanmaster-pika]

I bet when Silver was very small he just called Malleus by name but eventually someone told him that they’re supposed to address him with a title and he stopped and Malleus, whose whole thing is that his status and strength have prevented him from forming meaningful attachments with most people and he feels isolated because of it, went home and didn’t come out of his room for three days.

#lilia: well he would have had to switch to honorifics once he was knighted anyway- #malleus staring forlornly out of a window at the rainstorm he caused: YOU don't use honorifics for me #lilia: thats bc i helped raise you i have godfather privileges #trust me on this okay. trust me. #I think usually little kids are afraid of malleus (look at him. he’s tall and intimidating) but little silver just Adored him #they grew more distant after silver and sebek began their training because silver didn’t want to be disrespectful as a knight #and malleus had to respect those wishes BUT by god was he sad about it #for the first time in his life he was family before he was a liege or heir!! #at least the care is still there and silver will remain close to him but it’s different yknow? #silver: calls malleus lord for the first time #malleus holing up in his chambers with a carton of ice cream: my disappointment is immeasurable and my day is ruined #pika’s ramblings #twst #twisted wonderland #silver vanrouge #malleus draconia

[itsgameofthronesimagines]

The Good Queen (Part 3)

(Gif not mine)

Fandom: House of the Dragon

Pairing(s): Viserys Targaryen x Fem!Reader, Alicent Hightower x Rhaenyra Targaryen, Daemon Targaryen x Rhaenyra Targaryen, Harwin Strong x Alicent Hightower, Harwin Strong x Rhaenyra Targaryen, Daemon Targaryen x Alicent Hightower, Daemon Targaryen x Harwin Strong (I won’t apologize for everyone being gay for each other)

Tag: hotd the good queen

Warning: Fluff. Angst. Time-skip. Happy ending. Age gaps. No feud. No greens or blacks. Blood & Gore. Grusome death.

Word Count: 7,011

Taglist: @gruffle1​ 

Summary: A look into Queen Y/n Hightower’s life is busy and full of love and family. But something else lingers in the dark, waiting for her.

Author’s Note: Laena still dies but under different circumstances and Aemond claims Vhagar honorably. Rhaena and Baela do not exist so everyone is proud of Aemond by his accomplishment and he doesn’t steal the right to Vhagar from anyone.

Part One - Part Two

(I do not consent my works to be reposted/copied)

130 AC

So much to do with so little time to enjoy the beautiful day, Queen Y/n Hightower makes her rounds about the castle after breaking her fast. As usual, she walks gracefully down the long hallways and winding staircases, entering the throne room to extend her greetings to her husband before starting her day. She climbs the stairs to the Iron Throne and leaves a kiss on Viserys lips before briefly exchanging their morning agendas. As usual, they speak mostly of their children. The Queen speaks of the planned events for Helaena's upcoming name day while the King mentions the many lords who have reached out to him to ask for Helaena's hand. Y/n appeared hesitant but further asked her husband to send these letters up to her chambers when he has the chance so she might look into these suitors as well.

"They may try to woo her during the celebration," he warns her lightheartedly, "Best to warn her so she is not overwhelmed."

"I shall," Y/n stands from her seat on Viserys' knee, cupping his face in her hand before she makes her departure, "I'll see you at supper."

"Hm. I'm afraid I have to take supper in the Small Council meeting tonight," the King smiles apologetically, "But you are welcome to join. I could use your sharp eyes on the matter of the meeting."

"Not tonight," Y/n sighs at the idea of another council meeting. They appear to be more crucial than naught these days, "If it would please you, my love, allow me to rummage through all the letters of liege lords addressing Helaena's hand. I'll invite Princess Rhaenyra and Lady Alicent for supper tonight in my apartments and use their opinions to narrow down the pool of suitors."

"Excellent idea," Viserys beamed, quickly grasping her hand and kissing her knuckles before she could turn away, "I wish you luck."

She descends the Iron Throne and exits the throne room, nodding to her ladies-in-waiting when she found them still in the spot where she had left them. They dutifully follow her as she expertly navigates through the long hallways of the castle, bowing her head and smiling whenever someone stopped and bowed to her in greeting. She stops in the training yard before all else and immediately spots Ser Criston Cole overseeing a training session between Aegon the Elder and his cousin, Jacaerys Strong. She glides down the steps and makes her way to the sworn shield, "What shall they be learning today, Ser Criston?"

"Mostly defensive maneuvers, Your Grace," Cole bows, but is unable to draw his eyes away from the fight in case he missed something, "Aegon has improved since his return from Oldtown. Do give your lord father my compliments. Whoever he had training the boy during his stay must have been quite exceptional."

"I shall," she finds herself repeating a second time, to her inner amusement. Her shoulders began to feel tight with the reminder of Otto Hightower.

When he first started writing letters to his eldest daughter, it was to reach out and learn about his grandchildren. Y/n should have felt relief to learn that her father was wanting to mend their relationship. Instead, she only felt this cold dread in her heart when she learned that he had only written to her and not to Alicent, who was also his daughter and had given him an equal number of grandchildren. Y/n tried to be courteous and kind to her father in any returning letter she sent, and yet each one he replied with felt more like a stone crushing her against the sea bed, despite feeling the light weight of the paper in her hands. Eventually, Lord Otto requested to host his oldest grandchild, Aegon, in Oldtown. His reasoning was for personal reasons only; to make up for lost time and congratulate Aegon on becoming a man. Otto also stated that perhaps it would be good for both Aegon and Daeron to reunite again as brothers. Y/n had hesitated before finally agreeing, despite the memories she had of her father when Aegon was first born. She remembered Lord Otto trying to force her hand, telling her how to raise her sweet, innocent son into becoming a king.

She gave her father the benefit of the doubt. That had been years ago and she agreed that Aegon deserved to see his little brother again, her own ache to see Daeron the deciding factor on this arrangement. She sent Aegon to Oldtown, promising him that it would only be for the season. Her inner demons wished to demand her eldest child to steal Daeron away as well, but forced the words down and bury them as she hugged Aegon tightly. Now Aegon has finally returned -and not with Daeron- just before Helaena's name day. The Queen watched her son easily defend himself against Lord Jacaerys' advances, feeling proud and yet in turmoil over how mature he's become. Her children really were growing up before her eyes.

She nods to Ser Criston, "I'm sure he would be proud to hear you say that, ser knight. Excuse me."

"Your Grace."

Next, she makes her way to the gardens, taking a moment to stand in the warm sunlight with the soft breeze brushing through her hair like a loving touch. The Queen takes her time winding through the maze of flowers and trimmed hedges until she comes across the gazebo stationed at the center of all the plants. Her sister, Lady Alicent Strong, is seated under the shade of the gazebo, Little Aegon in her lap while Little Viserys crawls around at her feet, her hand gently grazing the woman sitting beside her.

Princess Rhaenyra, heavily pregnant with her third child, is the first to notice Y/n when she neared the gazebo, and smiles at her stepmother, "Good morning, Your Grace."

Alicent looks up and immediately finds Y/n, only pulling her hand away from Rhaenyra when she noticed the Queen's handmaidens trailing behind her. Y/n nods as she approached the two women, "It certainly is, Princess," her fingers briefly push a strand of Alicent's hair out of her face before leaning down and kissing her cheek in greeting, "Ali. Jacaerys is faring well in his training, I see."

"If only he was doing well in his studies," Alicent quips with a gentle smile as she stares up at her elder sister, who takes Aegon from her arms and rests him on her hip, "What brings you here?"

"I am here to invite the two of you to a private supper tonight," Y/n tickles Aegon the Younger under his chin, smiling as he squealed with laughter, though it doesn't reach her eyes as she spoke of her troubles, "I have letters from various lords of the realm who wish to wed Helaena and I could use your help reading through them all, as well as getting a second and third opinion."

"Of course," Alicent beams, although Rhaenyra doesn't seem as thrilled.

"Helaena is still too young to be thinking about marriage," she immediately replies, a frown cutting through her beautiful Valyrian features. She is distracted by her thoughts, however, when Little Viserys pulls himself up onto his chubby feet using her skirts. Her hand brushes his silver hair back, the toddler cooing under her attention.

"She's near one-and-twenty, Rhaenyra," Y/n appeared downcast, even as she smiled down at her stepdaughter and squeezed her shoulder in comfort, "You were even younger. We all were. We've been holding this back for long enough. We can't keep her forever."

The Queen knelt down to the princess' round stomach, peering up at Rhaenyra with an encouraging twinkle in her eye, "Besides, pretty soon you'll have a daughter of your own to fret over."

Rhaenyra faintly smiled, running a hand over her stomach even as clouds formed in her eyes. She had always wanted a sister and finally got what she wanted when her father married Y/n and they bore Helaena. Rhaenyra was always so protective of her little half-sister, even more so than the brothers, "You speak in confidence. And yet Alicent believes I'm having a boy."

"You look no different than when you carried Little Aegon and Viserys," Alicent comments in defense of her opinion when Y/n glanced over to her.

"We'll make wages tonight then, at dinner," Y/n smirked at her sister, briefly glancing back at Rhaenyra and winking. The Queen sets Aegon down next to his brother and stands up straight again, nodding to the other two, "Until then, my sweets."

"Good day, Your Grace," Rhaenyra chimes while Y/n disappears from the gazebo, her ladies keeping their heads low as they follow her.

She trails through the gardens with her usual company in tow, wishing to waste a little time if it meant she could enjoy the lovely, quiet day. That is until the peace is suddenly interrupted by the loud, high-pitched laughter of a small child. Looking around, Her Grace tried pinpointing the laughter, which now followed shouts of disapproval, until she discovers Little Joffrey Strong, the small boy running through the gardens while being chased by his septa, dark curls bouncing as he sprinted. Y/n laughs under her breath and decides not to intervene, knowing that not even she could save her little nephew from his strict teacher. The Queen shushes her handmaids when they all began to giggle at the sight, and with a smile, directs them to exit the gardens quietly until they are out of sight of the poor, winded, septa. The ladies all bow to their queen and go on about their day, leaving Y/n alone to her thoughts as she walks back into the castle.

The library is the next stop on her to-do list, allowing the guards to open the heavy doors for her before entering the grand room, full of books from top to ceiling. However, she didn't find herself alone as she originally thought. At the nearest table were none other than her son, Aemond and Lucerys Strong, playing a competitive game of cyvasse. Both young men look up at the sound of the library doors opening and stand to greet her when they recognized her face.

"Mother," Aemond thinly smiles, his eye lowering in respect.

"Who is winning?" She smirks as she glides across the floor to join them, her fingers pinching the sleeve of Aemond's tunic as she practically stood in the shadow of his tall form.

"Currently me, Your Grace," Luke's eyes sparkle mischievously, his smile only broadening when Aemond directs a small glare at him.

Y/n rolls her lips to try to retain the growing smile of amusement before crossing over to the board game, peering over either side of the divider so she can see both sides of their placements. Turning and walking away, she calls over her shoulder, "Careful, nephew. If he's smart, Aemond can defeat you in two moves."

She hears scuffling and squawks of surprise from behind her as she disappeared beyond the bookcases, smiling to herself. She travels through the small aisles between shelves until she finds what she's looking for, picking up a book to her liking and dusting off the worn cover. Tucking the leather book under her arm, she makes her way back through the maze of books until she stumbles across her son and nephew again. Y/n ruffles Luke's hair, earning another squawk of indignant from him and causing Aemond to hum in amusement under his breath, much similar to his mother. Y/n beams and walks out of the library and onto her next destination.

Walking back up the winding stairs to reach the floor of her daughter's chambers was an easy feat, having gone the same way for years since Helaena's birth. Today, however, Y/n's feet felt heavy as she inched closer to the princess' room. Her steps felt like lead by the time she reached her daughter's door, knocking and announcing herself before entering.

"My heart?" Y/n called into the room as she shut the door behind her.

Helaena had her knees up to her chest, lounging over her couch by the window, heavily focused on the embroidery in her hands. Y/n walked closer and recognized the pattern to be a dragonfly. The mother smiled as she goes to sit in the open space of her daughter's couch, relaxing her regal posture as she leaned back against the cushions, sighing in exhaustion as she watches Helaena work.

Their days together are often spent like this, in silence but in comfort. Helaena isn't fond of loud noises, touches, or even conversation, so Y/n respects her boundaries and tends not to force her daughter into such situations unless absolutely necessary. This is why guilt and shame settled uncomfortably in the Queen's gut, the weight of letters regarding a future husband for her lovely daughter heavy before Y/n could even read them herself. Even though she had not seen the letters in person yet, they still lingered in the back of her mind, dreading the conversation that will have to happen, and the celebrations of her name day that Helaena will have to attend.

"Has your uncle stopped by for your lessons?" Y/n suddenly asked, realizing that she had not seen Daemon at all this morning.

Helaena paused in her ministrations but continues to stare at her embroidery as she answered, "He left early. Kostōba vali emagon kostōba ondos." [Strong men have strong hands]

Though the Queen herself was not fluent in High Valyrian, she has spent enough time in the company of Daemon and Rhaenyra to catch a few words. Y/n tilts her head, suspicious, "Does 'kostōba' mean 'strong?'"

Helaena only nods as she continues her work, unaware of the playful roll of her eyes her mother presents. Y/n sinks further into the lounge chair, pinching the bridge of her nose. One of these days, she'll have to reprimand her brother-in-law for leaving his niece and depriving her of Valyrian lessons only so he could sneak off with Ser "Breakbones" Strong.

"My daughter's mother tongue should be more important than the need to stick your tongue down Ser Harwin's throat," Y/n could already hear her own lecture in her head, to which she can imagine Daemon's sly smirk gleaming down at her in response.

"Have you seen Ser Harwin's throat, dear sister?"

Y/n scoffs out loud and had the decency to appear bashful when she realized that Helaena had heard her. She flashed her daughter an apologetic smile when the princess looked up, but it slowly faded once Helaena looked back down, the Queen was sorely reminded of the main topic of today's events. Sighing, Y/n reached a hand out to Helaena, "My dear, may I touch you?"

Helaena immediately went stiff as a board, to which Y/n retracted her hand, "Okay, I'm sorry," she whispered, guilt now evident in her eyes, not that Helaena had noticed as she continues with her embroidery. It only made her mother feel worse, the woman who once loved her innocence but now felt saddened by it. Helaena is a woman grown now, and it was still hard for Y/n to wrap her head around. How can something so pure grow up so fast? Just trying to picture her daughter in the care of a man whom she has never met frightened her; haunted her even. Y/n, as Queen, understands that this is the way of things and no matter how hard she tried, there are just some things far beyond her control, like her daughter's impending marriage. It will happen eventually, whether Y/n Hightower likes it or not.

Originally, she came to Helaena to talk about these matters but decided she wanted her child to remain innocent just a little bit longer. Instead, Y/n set the book from the library down on the table across from the couch and slid it over to Helaena, "This was a book that I read years ago... before I married your father. It's about these rare butterflies native to the islands of Naath. They carry a disease that is deadly to anyone who isn't born and bred from their natural habitats," Y/n huffs in mirth, mostly to herself, "I remember that imagery kept me awake at night, but I thought this would be more to your liking."

Helaena had paused her embroidery upon her mother's explanation. The princess peers over to the book with faint interest and reaches out to caress the symbol of the butterfly engraved into the front cover, "Thank you, Mother."

Y/n beams, feeling her heart skip a beat at the sound of her most proud title. Even as her children grow into adults, she still feels her heart melt every time they call her by her true name. Aegon says it as if he mocks it, but in a playful way. Aemond says it with respect and admiration and with a hint of a smile. Helaena says it softly, like a butterfly's wing. And Daeron...

The Queen quickly shuts her thoughts down and rises from the couch, patting the cushion closest to Helaena's foot, "I'll leave you to it then. If you miss dinner, I'll make sure a meal is sent up to you."

She moves around the furniture and heads toward the door.

"Mother."

Y/n looks back, smiling patiently as she waits for Helaena to continue.

The young princess doesn't look up from her new book, speaking in riddles as she often does. But today, her riddle felt haunting, almost like a warning, "A sire wishes to breathe fire. Fire burns to skin, and his eldest breeds it."

Puzzled as she often is by Helaena's riddles, Y/n tries not to let it bother her. Over the years, she had learned to stop asking Helaena what she means and has stopped trying to understand her. Sometimes, even Helaena appears confused by what her own words mean. When she started saying these riddles, Viserys took it as a sign that she was a dragon dreamer, much like himself. Daemon had rolled his eyes and had started an argument with his brother for the sake of an argument, so Y/n never try to investigate further what her husband meant.  

Instead of asking her to reiterate, Y/n only nods to Helaena before leaving the room, taking a longer route toward her own apartments so that she might have a little more to walk and think alone. The time it takes for her to get to her chambers is peaceful and the hallways are empty except for the occasional maid walking in or out of rooms to fetch or retrieve clothes or food. Ser Harrold Westerling is waiting outside of Y/n's room when she arrives, and after he opens the door for her, the Queen turns back to him, "You may leave, Ser Harrold. Please see to it that no one bothers the Princess Helaena while she reads."

"At once, Your Grace," Harrold bows and marches down the hall, and Y/n closes the door behind her.

A late afternoon nap was in order, but Y/n knew better than to try when she still had so much to do. Looking around, she found the stacks of letters she had asked the King for and crossed the room to the table. She picks up one of the letters, inspected the contents, and made out the name Prince Qoren Martell.

"Absolutely not," Y/n found herself talking out loud, laughing at the gall of House Martell. She decided that all suitors she didn't approve of will have their letters burned immediately so her husband would not see them, lest he tried to marry their daughter off without her knowledge. She sauntered over to the hearth and watched the letter burn in the small flames, still amused but faintly disgusted at the idea of Helaena being sent to Dorne. The embers of the hearth appeared to mock her, the andirons; the two tall bracket spikes supporting the logs from falling into the room were shaped suspiciously like a Sunspeare. Y/n doesn't try to think about how her andirons were probably forged in Dorne and instead focused on watching the letter burn.

She hears rustling behind her and turned to face the maid she expected to find. Instead, a knife is pressed into her neck, and a hand grips tightly onto her arm. Y/n lets out a squeak of shock, reflexes kicking in as her free hand tries to push the knife away from her. The attacker is male, close to her own height, and reeked of filth. He doesn't demand or restrain her, instead, he speaks in grunts and growls as he fights with every intention of killing her.

"HELP! GUARDS!" Y/n screams at the top of her lungs once her brain had caught up with her body, still trying to push the dagger out of the way. He pushed back with equal strength and determination, with Y/n's own adrenaline turning quickly into fear and causing her arms to tremble. Her breaths quicken as she can feel herself slowly go into shock, limbs heavy and slowly giving into the weight of the knife. At one point, she tried to pull away and run when her legs began to feel like jelly, but her attacker had a hold of one of her arms, so she had no choice but to continue to fight for her life. As they both spun in this twisted dance, Y/n quickly realized that the hearth now stood directly behind her attacker. Sucking in a deep breath with every bit of strength she had left, she shoved the man hard, even trying to place her foot behind his to trip him for added measure.

The man falls, knife sliding like butter down Y/n's forearm in the descent. Before the assassin could place his hands behind him to stop his fall, his head hits the mantle above the hearth and he crumbles in pain, forgetting to fight against gravity as his body drops into the hearth. His neck, unfortunately, lands right on top of one of the andiron spikes, spearing through flesh and bone. He spits out blood, gurgling, choking on the red liquid as he slowly realizes he was trapped with his head sticking directly into the flames. As he spat out blood, his whole body convulsed and writhed in response to his entire head beginning to catch fire, unable to escape with his neck completely skewered onto the spike. His eyebrows turned to ash, and his skin began to blister and melt, his body twitched and kicked for freedom, even as the heat of the flames forced his skin to sizzle and pop like a boar on a spit. The smell was unbearable as Y/n quickly steps away, only to fall to her knees on the floor when she found no strength left, tears uncontrollably rolling down her face. All she could do was cling to her injured arm and watch, horrified, as her attacker's body slowly stopped fighting, going limp as the fire somehow burned brighter. The Queen tried gasping for air, her entire body shaking out of fear and pain just as the doors burst open to reveal the Kingsguard.

"My Queen!" Harrold Westerling had returned, immediately running to Y/n's side while his men inspect the scene before them. Ser Harrold guides her to the nearest furniture and inspects Her Majesty's injuries while a maester was called forward. Between the bustling of the guards and the shouting involved, other residents of the castle began to stir with all this commotion.

The first to arrive was Alicent, with Rhaenyra slowly following her in her condition. Alicent looked around the room, horrified by the man lying dead in the fireplace before she scanned the apartments and quickly found her sister, "Y/n!"

She rushed over to the Queen, gathering her up in her arms as they both wept in fright and relief. Rhaenyra excused Ser Harrold from attending Y/n so that she may sit on the other side of her stepmother and hold her close. The Grand Maester finally arrived and quickly made good, efficient work on the Queen's arm as Daemon marched into the room, sneering at the scene of the crime. He looked as though he wished to spit onto the dead body before releasing his anger elsewhere.

"Who was meant to be on watch here?! Who failed to protect the Queen?!"

"It was me, Prince Daemon," Ser Harrold bowed his head in shame.

Daemon only takes two steps towards the knight before Y/n finally found her words, even as she stumbles over them, "N-No, Daemon! It was not his fault! I... I... I ordered him to go tend to Helaena. I made him leave his station."

Her brother-in-law relents after a while of the two of them staring down one another, stepping away from Ser Harrold and moving to stand behind the three women on the couch, "Has my brother been informed? Is someone with him?"

"Ser Criston is guarding the King, my prince. He's on his way."

"Mother?" Aegon calls out from the doorway, only walking into the room when the sea of knights part for him to see the Queen alive and well. Jace also walks in with him, leading his father, Ser Harwin, to inspect the scene for himself.

"I did not realize I was hosting in my chambers," Y/n muttered under her breath, wincing when the maester added yet another stitch to the cut. However, her irritation melts away when her eldest son approached her, reaching out to him with her free hand, "I'm alright, my sweet. Have you seen your brother and sister?"

"Your daughter is safe in her room, Your Grace," Ser Harrold cut in, "I left a guard with her."

"And Aemond? Last I saw, he was in the library with Lucerys."

"I'll go get them," Harwin volunteered after a pleading gaze from his lady-wife Alicent. He quickly heads towards the door only to stop short and bow as Viserys finally enters, his cane trembling in support of him.

"What is the meaning of this?" The King demands as everyone bows in his presence, all except his family members sitting on or surrounding the couch. Viserys turns to his family, inspecting each of their expressions before settling on his queen, "And why is my wife bleeding?"

"There was an assassination attempt, Your Grace," Ser Harrold quickly reports with a ramrod back. Ser Harwin finally leaves the room after nodding to his father and Ser Criston when they entered the Queen's chambers. Hand of the King, Lord Lyonel Strong, steps up to stand beside the King, appalled and worried.

"An assassin? How is this possible?" He questions.

"I did not recognize his face," Y/n answers, her voice now stronger with her family surrounding her. Her back straightens and she now looks onto Lord Lyonel with the fierceness of a queen once more, "I pride myself in knowing every staff member in my employment, and I have never seen that man before in my life."

"It will be hard to identify him now, Your Grace," Ser Harrold continues to address Viserys while also moving aside to show the King the horrifying sight of the death. Viserys' eyes widen at the body stuck in the hearth from the neck up. He looks at his wife and then back to the body, affronted and speechless. In this time of the King taking it all in, Ser Harwin returns with Prince Aemond and Lord Lucerys, both young men striding across the room to join their respective family members. Aemond stands beside his older brother, standing over their mother as he inspects her appearance with only his single eye. He didn't speak a word, and yet confessed he was afraid by looks alone.

Alicent felt the need to stand and pace, and by doing so, caught a glimpse of the dead body and noticed, to her horror, his attire, "He wears our house colors," turning back to her older sister, Alicent recognized the equal shock spreading over Y/n's face, "Could this man be from Oldtown?"

Y/n's shoulders fall, a faint look of acceptance written in her sad eyes, "If so... then there could only be one prime suspect who resides there."

The room is filled with mutters of both surprise and indifference, depending on who you talk to. Some, like the Kingsguard, are appalled by this revelation, some, like Daemon, know it to be true and their eyes darken. Others, like Lord Lyonel and Lady Alicent, are in a state of disbelief.

Alicent even voices her disbelief as she shakes her head, "Father would never do something like this. Why would he want you dead if you're married to the King?"

"Because Father's wish wasn't for me to marry the King, it was for his blood to one day sit on the Iron Throne," Y/n stated boldly, loudly, to make sure everyone in the room heard it and accept it, "When I pledged my loyalty to Rhaenyra's right as Viserys' heir, Father's plans were ruined."

Rhaenyra squeezed Y/n's knee in comfort and the room stirred with this bit of information. Viserys grinds his teeth while glaring at the floor, enraged by the gall of his former Hand.

"A sire wishes to breathe fire. Fire burns to skin, and his eldest breeds it."

All eyes turn to the door of the room, where Princess Helaena now stood, half hiding away as all eyes turn to her. Y/n's worries all float away as her face softens at the sight of her daughter, smiling in encouragement, "Yes... that's what you meant, my heart. You tried to warn me."

"If Father is responsible for this attack, then he risks himself becoming a traitor to the crown," Alicent interrupts, her voice low in anger, "He should be punished immediately."

Viserys huffs out a large, enraged sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose, "Maester. Once you are done attending to the Queen, please inspect the body. I will have the Kingsguard bring the corpse down to the dungeons and you may meet them there."

"Of course, Your Grace."

"Ser Harrold," Viserys broadens his voice, the man in question straightening to attention at the power of it, "I demand the arrest of Lord Otto Hightower. Send out a regiment to Oldtown to obtain him and bring him back to King's Landing."

"Your Grace," Ser Harrold bows and vacates the room.

"Ser Criston," Viserys turns to the younger knight, "Remain outside the Queen's room tonight."

"At once, Your Grace."

"Half of you bring the body down to the dungeons," the old man orders the remaining Kingsguard, "The rest of you follow me. I will summon the court and address the crime at hand."

"You mean to warn them of your interrogation into their treachery?" Daemon questions with a sly glare, appalled.

"Treachery?" Viserys appeared affronted at his younger brother, scoffing in disbelief.

"Someone inside the castle must have helped, my love," Y/n decided to cut in before another spat between brothers could begin within her chambers, "I do not believe my father acted alone in this attack. I believe he had help from someone on the inside. Only someone with the proper knowledge of the castle and my whereabouts could have instructed the assassin on where to go and when to strike. No doubt whoever this traitor is had hired the attacker using Lord Otto's coin."

The maester had finished Y/n's stitches and stood to instruct the Kingsguard on how to remove the body without tampering with it. Roughly five Kingsguard managed to lift the corpse off the sharp andiron and pull it out of the fire without distressing the skull from its shoulders. The Queen keeps her eyes fixed on her husband, refusing to even glimpse at the body of her attacker. Viserys former dismissal relents, his shoulders slouching as he nods in agreement. The body is removed from Y/n's chambers and with it follows a parade of Kingsguard along with the Grand Maester. Viserys waited for them all to leave before also exiting with Lord Lyonel, mentioning under his breath of a secret council meeting.

The room grows silent, the rest of the royal family sitting uncomfortably, unnerved by the situation. Y/n's mind is buzzing, her thoughts running from her attacker... to Oldtown, to her father, and then to Daeron. Dread freezes in her chest, worry for her youngest child taking place.

"Daemon," Y/n stands up, feeling the strength of her legs again as she rounds the couch in a flurry of skirts, stepping up to her good brother. She makes sure to stare directly up into his eyes, unwavering, as she carefully spoke her next words, "I wonder if you would be so kind as to take your dragon to Oldtown and bring me back my son?"

Mischief sparkled dimly in Daemon's war-aged eyes, a corner of his lips slowly turned up as he feigns innocence with the tilt of his head, "Not by horse, Your Grace? Surely, you wouldn't want your lord father to feel insulted by the mere threat of a dragon."

A playful taunt that she would normally meet, but the Queen's mind remains fixed on her baby boy. Her words are blunt and powerful compared to the stutter she had possessed earlier, "Perhaps I would like him to feel insulted by the mere presence of your company."

She leans into her brother-in-law's space, taking both of her hands and gripping onto one of his forearms. She lowers her voice so that only he could hear the rest, "Go. I don't care what you do, or how you do it, just bring me back my son alive."

He schooled his features, emotions neutral while firmly nodding once down to her, "Yes, Your Grace."

Daemon breaks from her hold on him and cross to the door before Aemond began to follow him, "I'll accompany you, Uncle."

Y/n quickly steps towards her second son, reaching for him, "I do not wish that, Aemond--

"It's alright, dear sister," she turns to Daemon's voice, "Vhagar and Caraxes will definitely be a sight your father will remember for the rest of his miserable years... or whatever time he has left."

The grave promise in his tone may have felt intimidating to some, but it was strangely a comfort to the Queen. Aemond grasps her elbow in comfort, forcing her to look up at him. Glancing between her son and Daemon, she eventually surrenders with a stern expression as she narrows her gaze onto Aemond, "Fine. But you do what Daemon says and you do not fight. Promise me."

"I promise, Mother," Aemond whispers gently to her, "I'll bring Daeron home for you."

He pulls out of his mother's grip and saunters over to join his uncle at the door. Daemon nods to Rhaenyra before exiting from her sight. Aemond takes one look back at his family, narrowing his sight onto his older brother. He tilts his head in question and Aegon only shakes his head in rejection. He will not join the hunt. Aemond nods with understanding, a silent conversation only two brothers can share, before he, too, leaves. Aegon turns back to his mother, dutifully placing himself at her side, "What would you have me do, Mother?"

"Stay with Helaena in her chambers tonight," she instructs him with a warm smile, cupping his face in her hands, meeting his eyes as they stood the same height, "I would feel comforted knowing neither of you would be left alone for the time being."

"We can all stay together, Aunt," Jace mentions with a smile of reassurance, "All the children. We'll have the wet nurses bring Little Aegon and Viserys to Princess Helaena's room and we can keep each other company until we know everything is safe again."

"I'll go find Joffrey," Luke volunteers, springing up and disappearing from the room.

"Very well," Y/n laughs under her breath, amused by Luke's lack of courtesy before gently patting the side of Aegon's face, "Will that please you, my dear? Will you and Jace watch over your siblings and cousins until we apprehend the people involved in this attack?"

"We'll make it a celebration, Mother," Aegon comforts her, "As to not worry the smaller ones."

"Thank you, my sweet child," Y/n whispers, feeling lighter when she watches the remainder of the children leave, though it was getting harder and harder to recognize them as children when the older ones are nearly fully grown and so responsible.

The room remains occupied by Y/n, Alicent, Rhaenyra, and Ser Harwin, the latter noticing the way the Queen chewed on her bottom lip while in thought as she began pacing the room, "What is it?"

"I wish to know who among our court would want me dead, and if their intentions have any motive behind hiring my attacker."

"If the assassin had lived, we could have questioned him," Harwin had commented.

"Not likely," Queen Y/n shook her head, "The maester may confirm this, but I believe the attacker's tongue might have been cut out prior to assaulting me. I remember he never spoke a word, only making pained noises and grunting. Whoever helped him into the castle was more careful than my father. Whoever they are, they covered their tracks."

~~~~~~~~~

It was well into the next day and yet none of them left Y/n's side. They had all stayed up the entire night, debating on what to do next as the Queen anxiously waited for news from Oldtown. To try and distract her, both Alicent and Rhaenyra offered to assist in looking through the letters asking for Helaena's hand in marriage. The three women had done so until morning, with Harwin standing guard inside the room and Ser Criston guarding outside of it.

Ser Criston had yet to be informed of Daemon and Aemond's return when they all heard the familiar roars of Caraxes and Vhagar flying overhead, even shaking the floor of Y/n's chambers. The Queen abruptly stood from her chair, running to her balcony to spot the two dragons for herself. However, they had flown directly to the Dragonpit and they were now too far for Y/n to see who sat on top of their mounts. Anxious to see the riders with her own two eyes, the Queen sprinted out of her chambers, barely acknowledging the others shouting her name behind her. She knew for a fact that Ser Harwin and Criston were running after her, but Alicent and Rhaenyra's voices faded away, not following Y/n, most likely because of the princess' round stomach.

Y/n paid no mind to courtesy or manners as she ran through the halls of the castle, not even nodding her head whenever a servant or lord stopped to bow in greeting her. She even kicked off her shoes, grace be damned, so that she may pick up her skirts and take two steps at a time down the winding staircases.

By the time she ordered guards to open the doors of the Red Keep, the front gates were slowly rising. Y/n bounded down the steps of the courtyard, finally stopping to catch her breath as she anxiously waits for whoever to come through. Daemon entered first, followed by his nephew. Aemond, however, was occupied with another silver-haired individual, the older brother playfully shoving a younger boy forward.

Although upon looking at him, Y/n could hardly describe him as a boy. Daeron, and the age of six and ten, was technically a man grown, though he could never possibly reach the same height as Aemond or Daemon. He always kept his traditional Targaryen hair short, at least to his shoulders, and Y/n's eyes briefly squinted at the green-colored apparel her youngest son wore before quickly forgetting about it, her smile uncomfortably stretching as her eyesight began to blur.

Daeron had kept his gaze on the Queen, even as the front gates closed behind them. The courtyard was still until the young prince stepped forward, his own smile smaller than Y/n's but it was one of relief and shyness, "Hello, Mother."

She broke after that, huffs of laughter under her breath as joyful tears ran down her face. Y/n opened up her arms and Daeron dutifully fell into them, hiding into her shoulder as his mother hugged him tightly, shaking with relief.

~~~~~~~~~

"Has Daeron comfortably moved back in?" Viserys asked his wife that following night, both of them sitting at the corner of the Small Council table, alone.

"Yes. Although I wouldn't be surprised if we found him in one of his sibling's rooms the next morning," Y/n smiled fondly behind the lip of her wine glass, "Aemond said that he was thrilled to be coming home. Apparently, he hated Oldtown."

"And your father? What has become of him?"

Y/n's smile falls, immediately avoiding her husband's gaze as she carefully swirls the wine in her goblet, watching the small whirlpool instead of the King's reaction, "I don't know. I didn't bother to ask."

Viserys sighed, all too well acquainted with Daemon's temper and his opinion of Lord Otto, "Well, my men will be there in a few days and they will make do with what is left of Otto Hightower."

The Queen sets her goblet on the table and leaned back in her chair, drumming her fingers against the arms, "Perhaps Daemon chose mercy. Perhaps he wished to surprise us and soon the Kingsguard will bring my father back alive and whole."

It was a comforting thought, but Viserys only huffed in amusement, "Knowing my brother, I wouldn't get your hopes up, my dear."

They both laugh from their chests, even if there wasn't much mirth behind it. They settle back into a comfortable silence again, while a thought comes to Viserys' mind. It pleases him, and he outwardly shows with the broad, toothless smile he gifts his wife, "You know... even though you're kind and caring, you're also fierce and harsh. Those are tremendous qualities, my love, that not many can possess. Did you know what the smallfolk call you? The Good Queen. My grandmother, Queen Alysanne, was also nicknamed the Good Queen."

Her curious expression slowly melts into a fond smile, allowing Viserys to continue as he sets down his own wine goblet, "It's an honorable title, perhaps more honorable than just being a King or Queen. It goes to show that you are well-loved and you are good at what you do... I often wonder what would happen to this kingdom and this family without you, especially after nearly losing you last night."

Y/n's heart squeezes in her chest, touched by her husband's words. Eyebrows furrowed and lips turned up, the Queen looked over at Viserys with sympathy as she reached her hand over to grasp his, holding it tight, "Best not to dwell on it, my King."

~~~~~~~~~

A/N: It took me an embarrassing long time to realize I was spelling ‘Jacaerys’ wrong. I blame Rhaenyra for giving her son such a difficult name.

I hope you’ve enjoyed! This will likely be the last part of ‘The Good Queen’ since I don’t think it really needs to be a series. It’s bad enough that I have three other series that need updating. Please leave a request in my pm or ask box!

Inspiration for this chapter HERE

#viserys targaryen #king viserys targaryen #viserys targaryen imagine #king viserys targaryen imagine #viserys targaryen x reader #king viserys targaryen x reader #hotd imagine #house of the dragon imagine #hotd #house of the dragon #paddy considine #aemond targaryen #aemond one eye #rhaenyra targaryen #alicent hightower #harwin strong #daemon targaryen #otto hightower #aegon ii targaryen #aegon targaryen #helaena targaryen #daeron targaryen #aegon iii targaryen #viserys ii targaryen #rhaenyra x harwin #daemon x rhaenyra #rhaenicent #rhaenyra x alicent #princess rhaenyra #daemyra

[dwcmarshalarts]

Ewan Everett Figes has a family! His mother Helen is a professor of pre-exodus (from the Earth) literature at Parsinee University, Wipani planet. Older brother Wilson Frederick, i.e. "Fred" Figes is a journalist, who's worked his way up to co-editor of the Wipani Star, focusing mainly on foreign policy issues.

FRED FIGES Ewan's older brother (by 8 years) Wilson Frederick had been put-off from an early age from any kind of military service, to Everett's disappointment. Fred had a distaste for what he saw as a kind of "mind-numbing" obedience/deference to authority, and often got into rows with his father in the early days about the role of armed forces in various complicated engagements. He channeled this attitude into a career as a journalist, something that given his mother's background in academics was something the family "could accept." However, his chosen-topics still represented a long-running anti-interventionist streak that made for contentious family dinners, especially with his father and brother Ewan. He, his wife and daughter live in New Liege, Wipani.

HELEN FIGES Born Helen Carmodie, "Mrs. Figes" has had quite a storied life of her own. For being a professor in pre-exodus (from Earth) literature, Helen's demeanor is far from what you would expect from a book-cloistered academic. Her respectfully snarky attitude and occasionally foul-mouth ended up getting her a reputation as the "fun" professor at Parsinee, but she is the furthest thing from a stranger to whipping a class into order if need be.

She met Everett Figes while she was working part-time at a deli near the Bagstram Military Academy on Wipani. Her irreverent sense of humor and Everett's understated mischief combined made them inseparable despite their contrasting views, and the two would marry shortly after university. She would temporarily put her rapidly advancing university career on hold to raise their first son Fred, but eventually hit the ground running after a couple months leave. She would butt heads with Everett on what direction to raise Fred, but would ultimately win out softening his approach. By the time she had Ewan, she'd already been fairly settled in her career, and Everett and her had at this point reached a more reasonable understanding of balancing their parenting. Despite her many successes though, she would say her biggest mistake was never being able to wean Everett off of smoking, which largely led to his diagnosis with esophageal cancer in 2341, to which he would succumb in 2346, devastating the family, and especially their newly commissioned officer son Ewan. She would continue to persevere however as the new family matriarch, and would later become head of her department at Parsinee.

She lives on-campus at Parsinee University, Parsinee town on Wipani.

EVERETT FIGES Born on the planet Reggi, Everett Figes was the second generation career military man in his family after his father Frederick T. Figes. He'd spend the early days of his life in the typical athletic throng before attending Bagstram, the sector's lead military academy, and having to live off-world at Wipani.

As a parent, Everett's disposition could have been described as firm but not uncaring. Having always had issues showing vulnerabilities even to loved ones, Everett was unintentionally emotionally distant during most of his parenthood, only having a turn-around in raising Ewan (a fact that still bothers Fred after Everett's passing).

As far as his military career went, Everett spent a number of years directing different non-frontline Ground Forces engineering facilities before being transferred to active command of infantry. He never partook in any pivotal combat operations, or galactically significant theaters of war- something that he tried to change, but nonetheless couldn't by the time he received his diagnosis.

It was around that time then that he'd try to make amends with Fred, while Ewan would visit him every weekend from Bagstram. Fred was initially very resistant to this, but seeing him getting worse each time he visited, realized the seriousness of the situation

Everett is buried at the Field of Heroes on the grounds of the Bagstram Military Academy on Wipani.

Original art and story by DWC Marshal Arts

#furry #anthro #digital art #furry art #dwc marshal arts #sci fi #the percivals #illustration #furries #furry fandom #ewan everett figes #helen figes #fred figes #everett figes

[thesunfyre4446]

The lord who support aegon didn't do so because they hate woman, but because they see them as inferior to man. The green's propaganda was based only on misogyny (same the lord who support aegon) , and that funny cause they rely on the same system who basically destroy alicent and haelena's life. I really do not understand female who are team green, they basically based everything on the subjugation of women and their inability to govern and they rely on a system that sees them only as churning out children. Aemond said "rhaenyra may call herself queen but she has women's part", aegon's men cut off Rhaenyra's breasts to awaken Sunfyre, lord borros otto Jasper and many others spend their life claiming a son came before an older daughter (and for what reasons?), lord pike (im not sure of his name but he is one of aegon' supporter who survive the dance) was describe as "a men who fought to prevent the accession of a woman to the throne". It doesn't matter that rhaenyra have bastards cause people were plotting her usurpation wayyy before her marriage (it wouldn't matter if she were jaehaerys himself born again, rhaenyra is a woman. Otto's word on ep. 3. He admit that rhaenyra may have been the perfect princess and thos still wouldn't prevent her from usurpation). Do you really feel represented by them? Rhaenyra may not be a femminist but it's undeniable that her ascension to the throne would have been a great step forward for women and that she had all the cards in order to become a good queen. It is sufficient to see her positions the council in ep 6, how she always manages to remain calm in front of horrible circumstances (such as the driftmark petition or the black council), how she rule peaceably dragonstone for years. Obviously the war, the usurpation and the death of all her children made her lose her head (as is normal). But if that hadn’t happened she would have been a good queen, definitely better than alicent, Aegon or anyone else. And please do not say that this was the vision of the time because things can change, our society is not equal to the medieval

ohhhh i love this ask so much

ok so first of all, different lords supported the greens for different reasons. misogyny was def one of them!! @green-aeggs-and-spam made a really great post about this :

so now let's talk about the greens themselves :

otto : while i do believe that otto is a misogynist , his main reason for wanting aegon on the throne is to be the grandfather of the king = personal interests. like if he was aemma's father you know he'd be selling "equal rights for women" T-shirts lol

alicent : wants aegon on the throne because if rhaenyra will ascend the throne her children will die. the patriarchy might have ruined her life, but she also has something to gain from it - the system supports aegon as king and keeps her children safe. so as much as she hates & was hurt by the westerosi patriarchal system her family's survival is dependent upon upholding it. same with helaena , her own children will also be in danger if rhaenyra ever became queen. (i've made a post about why rhaenyra would have to kill alicent's sons when she ascends the throne : https://www.tumblr.com/thesunfyre4446/739501560667734016/ok-so-ive-been-getting-a-lot-of-rhaenyra-would?source=share)

criston : pre ep 4, he was very much team rhaenyra. he didn't seem to have a problem with her inheriting over aegon, he's dornish, so that might seem very normal to him. criston supports the greens because of his hatred towards rhaenyra & love towards alicent = he's a man driven entirely (some may say a little too much haha) by his feelings.

so of course the greens are going to try and uphold the patriarchy, because - while it also ruined alicent's life - they have everything to gain from that system being kept. their lives are dependent on it & their political power.

no, i don't feel represented by alicent. i don't need to feel represented by a character in order to love & support them. of course that I believes in equal rights & am a feminist. but i don't need the fictional characters i like to represent my values. westeros is not a real place, alicent & rhaenyra are not real people. i don't need to pick the the team who'd be better for the realm - [ though i don't think that the blacks would be better to the realm then the greens]. - i'm going to root for the characters that i find interesting & love.

my main reason for disliking rhaenyra is that i find her character boring and lacks interesting inner conflict. also, as you've said, rhaenyra is not a feminist. rhaenyra is team rhaenyra, and that's fine! she wants the throne for her own personal reasons, and when she's queen she doesn't do anything to help other women - she even refuses other firstborn daughter to be named heirs because it would destabilize the realm = rhaenyra has no intention to "break the wheel". she's not dany. so would her reign have been a step forward to all women? i honestly don't know, because a woman sitting on the throne does challenge the patriarchy, but rhaenyra herself has shown no interest in helping & advancing other women. (not to mention lowborn women).

another great post by @blackcat419.

#house of the dragon #hotd #team green #pro team green #asks #alicent hightower #otto hightower #aegon targaryen ii #aemond targaryen #rhaenyra targaryen #anti daemon targaryen #criston cole

[crossdressingdeath]

Narrator: *For the first time in over a century, silence falls over the Bhaal Temple. No chants, no screams, no prayers.* Narrator: *In the end, your own death brought you more joy than any you wrought on this land. You are slipping into peaceful oblivion.* Narrator: *But your journey is not over.* Withers: Thou hast defied Bhaal, thy liege and father, and in doing so hast earned a place among champions and heroes. Withers: But, alas, thy courage was in opposition to the divine cosmology that bound thee to the Lord of Murder. Withers: Thou art now faithless - godless - and doomed to wander the Fugue Plane for eternity. Withers: I will not permit that, though all the powers of life and death dictate that it should be so. Withers: I, too, still hold some power, and I invest a portion of it in thee, who hath challenged the gods and now liveth to tell of it. Withers: Thy fight is not over, and it is thy fight, for one who can look upon Bhaal and oppose him can survive any crisis. Withers: So rise, Challenger of Gods, and prepare for battle once more. Death will not claim thee whilst I endure.

Not gonna lie: this sounds like whether or not Durge was immortal before, they sure as hell are now. I mean, "Death will not claim thee whilst I endure"? Sounds to me like they aren't going to be dying any time soon. Durge's relationship with death has been upgraded from "I'll have to ask my dad (he says no)" to "I'll have to ask my granddad (he says absolutely not under any circumstances)." Benefits (or curse) of coming from a family of death gods, I guess.

I love the imagery of a hush falling over the temple as all of this is happening. Like... based on Withers's dialogue this shouldn't be happening. Durge shouldn't be defying their father and Withers definitely shouldn't be bringing them back afterwards. From the moment Durge says no everything's gone off-script. It's also interesting that Withers says Durge defying Bhaal is in opposition to divine cosmology; keeping in mind I haven't played the first two games, I get the sense that while Bhaalspawn defying Bhaal isn't the norm it's not all that unheard of. There are two whole games about Bhaalspawn doing exactly that, actually. Then again Durge's situation is unique; possibly it's something like... as they were made from Bhaal's own gore Durge literally shouldn't be able to refuse him like that, which raises some fun questions about their life pre-amnesia. The suggestion that Durge kind of broke cosmology in defying Bhaal is very good and I'd love more details on that.

The suggestion that Durge is now entirely without a god to claim their soul on their death and will wander the Fugue Plane for eternity now that Bhaal doesn't want them is very interesting, considering that you can be a cleric and so bound to a god other than Bhaal (unless the dialogue is different under those circumstances). I guess Bhaal took priority as their father and maybe since Durge died as a direct result of him abandoning them no one else had the chance to stake a claim? But if this is just the way of things for them now and their soul can't be claimed by a god that's. not good. But then again I guess technically Jergal has it. It's fine! I really like him walking into this situation and saying "No, they don't deserve this and they're too important to this fight, I'm not letting them die like this (or at all)."

Based on what Bhaal says prior to this Durge dies less because he directly killed them and more because his divine essence was their life force, so when he ripped it out of them they had nothing to keep them going? So then what Withers is doing seems to be replacing that portion of Bhaal's divine essence with his own, giving Durge a new life force in the process (hence why they'll now endure as long as he does, since presumably if he dies that new life force will die with him). Durge may or may not thank him for that (that bit about Durge's death bringing them more joy than any they've caused hits hard, and even harder when you consider that the deaths they've caused include Ketheric and Orin and potentially include people who hurt their companions like Cazador, Gortash, Viconia...), but it seems like the divine equivalent of a heart transplant or something similar.

#bg3 #bg3 spoilers #bg3 withers #durge

[sonicasura]

Let's be honest with ourselves that Transformers Earthspark has its issues. It isn't uncommon for the series to have a few messy iterations throughout the years. However those at least have something going for them.

Bayverse is a junk pile yet there's a lot of material you can build off on and some pretty interesting concepts. RiD15 is an awful sequel to Prime but does decently well as a standalone although there are much needed changes to be had. Earthspark... Well, it's just there.

I can be lenient with the plot holes and poor pacing as Nickelodeon is notorious for interfering with any show that isn't SpongeBob to the point of cancellation. The issues truly land on the characters themselves. I'm gonna try to simplify it without devolving into a rant like the previous draft.

Edit: Gonna add some further edits as I wrote this in the middle of the night. Plus my simplified version skipped some key details.

Robby. Somehow they made a human character I actually dislike instead of be neutral about. In the official Transformers wiki, he's labeled as a big brother who cares for his siblings but his actions so far say otherwise. Robby literally ran away in the first episode because they moved then decided to try and hide the Terrans from his parents.

Yet he rarely gets enough consequences for his actions. I think we don't just need less Emberstone saves not just because of plot armor but force actual character growth on him. Like a life changing to one of his siblings as consequences for his actions and strained relationship until he gets his head outta his ass.

Edit: Yes, I know Robby is a teenager but that isn't a decent enough excuse for his behavior. Seen the trope about big brothers who do act closed off or at some points rude but they haven't done shit that put their family in serious danger. No, I didn't try to purposely forget the times he was injured badly.

There honestly needs to be less of those and his consequences be adjusted to it affects someone else badly. *

Next issue is lacking confrontation with Optimus choices alongside the obvious misplaced trust in the 13 Primes. Quintus Prime literally emotionally manipulated and scarred Mo through a fake bad ending reality because she doubted herself. No good person would do that, much less an actual ally. Even moreso on a child.

I seen this shit in Trollhunters but at least Jim, the main character, was a teenager. (It still was wrong though.) We also got remember that Liege Maximo and Megatronus/The Fallen are Primes. Yet somehow it is best to trust them.

Don't get me started with some of Optimus' choices when it comes to GHOST. He probably did it to protect his Autobots but what about the Decepticons who are locked away? Why are there so little of his companions with him especially since Bumblebee had fucking went into hiding before the show began.

There needs to be tension between Optimus with his Autobots. Someone is bound to snap and Bumblebee would have the biggest impact. The man clearly isn't okay as he's doing things that even Megatron admits ain't like him.

Mandroid needs to be written differently. He has the making of a sympathetic villain but oh boy. First off it is clear that his depiction is ableist aligned since the reason he doesn't like Cybertronians is because he lost his arm. Major thing to change right there.

Give him a narrative where his interest been genuine but slowly declines as the Autobot/Decepticon war increases the number of destroyed lives. Let him become a victim to this than just 'I lost my arm so death alongside experimentation to all Cybertronians'. Also don't make Mandroid ignore the obvious fact that the Transformers parts he puts into his body is slowly poisoning and instead come up with ways to fight the infection. Kinda like in Ironman 2 where Tony's arc reactor began to do the same thing.

Edit: Mandroid's negative views on Cybertronians are about the war and he's aware of the Energon poisoning. It is just that it is poorly portrayed to the point you rarely see it over his Arachnamechs/his ruined life.

Have the man present various evidence of destruction the war caused by both sides at the Malto children or anonymously spread such info around town to sew discontent with the townsfolk. 'These are the people who you consider heroes. Who you see as family and friends. Or should these tragedies be forgotten?'

Do a Baxter Stockman where you frequently see him try to fix the Energon poisoning than just simple dialogue. Even have testing on organic subjects to see how they react and find ways to counter it. Don't keep these key points as simple dialogue. *

I don't think Karen needs much changes either. 'But her taking over Cybertron doesn't make sense!' It actually does for one reason: hubris. Have you ever seen what happens when you give a control freak power? Their behavior becomes more erratic as they begin to think they deserve more. She is xenophobic in nature so imprisoning Decepticons and ordering around the Autobots is a drug to her.

Karen wants to treat them like slaves so the next step in her mind is Cybertron. Her death is well deserved and well played. Just like Icarus, the bitch flew too close to the sun.

I think the last major issue, other than out of character racist Shockwave, is the Terrans. No offense but they need a bit less screentime so the rest of the cast can shine. We barely see Alex and there's unclarified issues involving Bumblebee with Arcee if he's uncomfortable around her.

I also want their flaws to be at the forefront. Thrash is the only one who gotten such character development from his encounter with Swindle. We need more of that! Like Hashtag's overreliance on the Internet biting her back as she is forced to use real world skills.

Edit: I accidentally put in Terrans when I really meant Twitch. The screentime for everyone needs to be balanced mainly for the Malto family. Alex alongside the three younger Terrans rarely get involved or their characters further build upon. Twitch needs to get benched more.

Also the Dad Number 2 should really be addressed. Wheeljack was clearly uncomfortable when it been brought up. Plus it is way too fast to even consider such ideas unless you plan to have it addressed properly. Like 'Kid. We barely know each other yet somehow I became a father figure in an instant? It's best not to do that until you truly certain "Dad Number 2" doesn't mean harm or feels comfortable with it.' *

Earthspark clearly has potential but these problems need to be handled better. Addong the deleted scenes help add some clarification but canon needs to present it. We are supposed to get a second season so hopefully some of these are addressed.

#sonicasura #maccadam #transformers #transformers series #transformers earthspark #tf #tf series #tf es #tfes #personal idea #rambles #tv shows #slight rant #personal review #fixing canon #canon divergence #character flaws

[iguessthisisanewobsession]

Uhhhhh, Hi! Do you have any ideas or prompts for platonic soulmate fics with Danny and the Kent or Bat Family???????

Danny would not say that their relationship was always simple.

The supposed automatic syncing of two souls, the feeling of elation of finding the one.

It did not happen, and quite frankly sounded stupid.

No, Danny dreaded the day for quite some time. To force some poor smuck to be tied down with a burden of ruling a realm that he himself did not want to begin with. Uprooting someone’s whole existence to be some faithful queen to sit by his side for eternity.

~~~~~~

“For the faith of the infinite realms, to calm you in the most difficult of times,”

“To be your faithful right hand in times of need,”

“To give the occupants something the look up to as status,”

It felt undermining and demeaning every way the Observants phrased it. Like he was some unstable fruitloop waiting for a reason to be unreasonable.

He had heard his mentor’s tales of how such a relationship can become an undoing and wasn’t interested.

He was 18 human years young and just entering college on top of being a king. A love life was the furthest thing from important in his mind.

~~~~~~~

So you could imagine his shock when he was called back to realm during mid terms under the pretense of something important only to find the youngest Wayne child in chains and frothing mad.

“UNHAND ME!”

This did not feel good,

With a sigh Danny rose from his throne,

“Do I even want to know?”

“You have put off finding sustainable spouse for far too much time. It is imperative that the monarchy has suitable alternatives due to your rare affliction. Fright Knight had taken it upon himself to scour amongst the living and dead for the most suitable consort.”

“I will show you the real definition of consort you-!”

Danny glanced at the knight who though stood with his usual air of reticence, seemed to minutely grasp at his swords hilt as he looked to the observants.

“Leave us.”

The room paused at the command,

”My liege?”

“You as well my knight, Mr. Wayne and I have much to discuss and the likes.”

“Of course we will be in contact when you are ready,”

It took everything in his core to not react to the observants’ smugness as they filled out the throne room. Freight Knight hesitated at the door but fealty left, the closing the chamber reminiscent of the locking of a casket.

~~~~~~

Danny was not ready for the elbow to the solar plexus when he removed the binding from the shorter man.

Nor the fist to nose, jab to the ribs and kick to the back of the knees.

He regained his senses in time to phase through the rope wrapped around his neck.the two circled each other waiting for the first strike.

Danny threw his hands up,

“Dude! CAN YOU FUCKING CHILL?!”

“ I will not! If you think I will be genial to a thing that kidnapped me with the intention of consummation-“

“JESUS! Listen! I didn’t know shit about this beforehand! Does it look like I can handle a fucking husband let alone a good relationship!”

Damian paused

“My kidnappers said-“

“Your kidnappers are egotistical dumbasses that would throw me away at any given chance if it weren’t for the that it would fuck everything else up.”

Danny shook his head,

“Look, I’m so sorry that you got dragged into this shit but if it weren’t you than it would be someone else. They’re getting unruly.”

“How so?”

“Besides your kidnapping? Acceptance of all courting letters sent to me. Do you know how many awkward dinners have had to sit through? From people who have been dead centuries to literal hauntlings!”

Danny pinched his nose with a sigh,

“Surly they would understand that such a choice is impeccably important? Why force your hand with meager people will only burn them in the end.”

“Doesn’t stop them.”

They say in silence for a moment before the Wayne cleared his throat into his face and turned to back to Danny.

“If this is such of an inconvenience that you imply, may I offer a boon?”

~~~~~

No their relationship wasn’t easy going at all. Damian and him were widely different in personalities, different pasts, and had outside lives that were important.

But as Danny watched his “paramour” chase an observant around with a glowing sword. He couldn’t help but feel like they won in the end.

#dp x dc #danny phantom #danny fenton #platonic dead serious #these two are just having a good time making the observants wish they had hair to rip out #writing prompt

[xerith-42]

I humbly beg for more shadow knight angst for the thousands time my liege.

C'mon guys, this is getting ridiculous there's no way I can write even more angst around this small handful of characters I've already given an unholy amount of attention to...

WHICH IS WHY I'M GIVING IT TO OTHER CHARACTERS NOW

We talk about Shadow Knight angst as it pertains to the knights themselves, who live a horrific cursed existence where they are doomed by the plot before they're even in it, but what about those around them? Those who bare witness to the ugliest parts of being human that being inhuman can reveal. Those who have to lose their loved ones only to find that their loved one isn't truly dead, and that's somehow worse. Lords start becoming paranoid, borderline irrational every time a guard dies, not because they are grieving the death of someone they may have cared about, but because they know what comes next.

Obviously the general public didn't understand Shadow Knights when they first came about, but those who did? Imagine being Aph and trying to sleep at night knowing that one of your closest companions is one bad day away from potentially killing you in your sleep. She's constantly trying to protect Phoenix Drop from oncoming threats, but in the back of her mind she's always paranoid about Zenix. What if he just came back right now and tried to hurt her people again? What if he tried to take Levin again? Would she be able to hold herself in a fight against someone who's literally immortal? But if she fails... She can't entertain the thought. She has to shove down all these worried and put her faith in her guards.

Her guards. Who if they sacrificed themselves for her, like they're so fond of doing, could only create more problems for her. Her guards who would throw their lives away to protect her and her family, and yet could be dooming her in the process. It's a horrible contradiction of values. She values her life and her families lives most. Her and her kids and the small assortment of other caregivers for them are the most important things in the world, what she has to protect. But if any of her guards or worse, herself, were to fall in battle, it would only spell more death and destruction. She wasn't ever even meant to be a lord, never trained to be one like those who were heirs, and now there's an entirely new unpredictable and incredibly dangerous variable thrown in.

It makes her incredibly restless. The bags under her eyes are barely hidden by any markings on her face.

And if you're a guard? Especially one who's prone to self sacrifice like, oh I'm just throwing out ideas here, GARROTH! Hoo boy. Garroth is petrified at the thought that he could become a Shadow Knight. He isn't there for a lot of Laurance's descent, but he spoke to Laurance quite a bit when he came back from the Nether, and spent a lot of season 1 at his side after the fact. He doesn't know the full extent of how bad it is, but he knows how the calling torments Laurance, and he admires Laurance's ability to fight against it.

Because he isn't sure if he'd be able to. Garroth has known for basically his entire life that it is the job of a guard to be ready to throw their life away for their lord. It's a core part of his understanding of his purpose in the world. But now there's a wrench thrown into it. If he does as he has prepared himself to do since he was a teenager, he might do worse. Laurance can fight off the calling, but Garroth doesn't think he would be able to. He can't even dream of hurting his lord, and yet he deeply fears his inability to fight supernatural urges that he doesn't even have. Yet. It only takes one bad fight.

Hey guys, remember when Cadenza was almost killed by her mother figure?? In episode 26 we get this line

And if I'm not mistaken (I just went and watched the episode, I'm not) this woman tries to KILL CADENZA!! Glenda (as she's later named) attempts to drain the magic from Cadenza/use her as a sacrifice to open up a portal to the Nether in episode 86. Even though she once considered Cadenza to be her daughter.

And this is all while Cadenza at least initially thinks her father is dead. So her father is dead and her only remaining family are shadow knights that are prone to killing her. Awesome! So cool! Great and excellent! I hope this won't have any severe psychological impacts on her!! (it does but Jesson didn't ever give it to us so I guess I have to do it now)

Cadenza has had enough talks with Laurance and Vincent to know that the Shadow Knight's existence is a far greater struggle than anyone realizes. She empathizes with them, and yet she is utterly terrified of them. She knows that Laurance and Vincent are good people, but it doesn't matter how good of a person you are. Once the calling is put in your head you can become completely different. Whether you're in control or not. She loves her brother, and she loves her head guard, but she knows that Laurance is far from perfect. She knows that the Shadow Lord could do anything to push him one direction or the other. She knows he's interested in her magic. She fears that another family member will try to take it from her, or worse.

She'll never admit it, but she felt safer during some of those 15 years Laurance was gone. When he and everyone else first disappeared, grief, despair, and panic swirled in her head for nearly a year. She worried about where they had gone, what had happened, and worst of all, she worried when they would come back. What they would be like. She fears that they went to the Nether. That Laurance may have succumb to the calling. That he's just waiting for the right moment to strike. But then years pass. Nothing. Her father dies a peaceful death with a smile on his face. Still nothing.

After a certain point Cadenza knew that they weren't dead, but that whatever adventure they had gotten themselves dragged into was taking a lot longer than usual. Suddenly she's not as worried. She doesn't know where Laurance is, but he isn't here right now, and therefore is one less thing she has to worry about. It's... Nice. Also Cadenza and Laurance totally have that sibling "I would know if you died" esp, despite not being related. That's how you know you're real siblings. She always knew they weren't dead because she remembers how it felt the day Laurance died in the Nether. Even if she was a chicken.

Feels like a better place than any to leave off an angst post. Though I will probably be thinking of more of these, Shadow Knights and how they effect the world and characters is easily the most interesting thing Minecraft Diaries has, it's no wonder we all latched onto it.

#minecraft diaries #text post #aphblr #aphverse #shadow knights #jury of redesign #mcd headcanons #answering asks #garroth ro'meave #mcd garroth #minecraft diaries garroth #aphmau #mcd aphmau #minecraft diaries aphmau #cadenza zvahl #mcd cadenza #angst #its always angst #laurance zvahl #minecraft diaries laurance #he gets mentioned a lot it counts #queued post

[medusapelagia]

Suck it up

for @steddiemicrofic october prompt: suck rated: T wc: 480 wt: no one

Steve Harrington is no stranger to pain and endurance.  He used to train as hard as he could, hoping to get a scholarship. And that was before the Upside Down. Now that Hopper is dead he is the only one who can keep an eye on the town, that's why he drives by night around the town checking if there are monsters waiting for their next victim. Robin has tried to make him feel guilty, telling him that if he is too tired he will not be able to protect the kids if the moment comes. But Steve knows that is not an if, it's a when. That's why he is not surprised when Dustin and Max rush into Family Video, asking for their phones and telling him about something strange that is going on. That's Hawkins. And so he has found himself involved in this shit again, this time with another boy, Eddie, Dustin's friend. But it doesn't matter how many people are involved, somehow it's always Steve that has to protect them, and he doesn't complain. He sucks it up and does his best to keep them safe. When they reach the middle of the lake he looks at the dark water under the boat and then he turns toward the others. He is a man and he has to act like one. It doesn't matter what. He jumps into the cold lake, gets to the bottom, and sees the red glowing portal. After that, everything is a blur. He gets dragged to the Upside Down, almost killed, and finally takes a break after escaping the horrible creatures. "You ok?" Robin asks. Steve nods while he tries not to whimper when Nancy wraps his injuries. Eddie is looking at him and he knows he will tell him to stop being a baby and suck it up. But Eddie does not. He slows down the pace to walk next to him. "It was pretty metal what you did." he tells him. "Being eaten by those bats?" but Eddie shakes his head. "Go head first into peril, risk your life for the others, kill a bat with your bare hands. That. That was pretty metal." "I'm a big boy." Eddie smirks "Yes you are, but it's ok if you want to rest." "I just have to suck it up." "No, you don't. You can let yourself be fragile, you know that right?" Steve stares at Eddie. "You don't have to put up this macho shit. You are allowed to rest, and let the others take care of you. You don't have to endure everything on your own." he tells him. "I... I don't have to suck it up?" "No you don't." he replies, then he smirks "But if you want to suck on something I might have an idea..." he teases him. "Fuck you Muson." "As you wish, my liege."

#steddie #steve harrington #eddie munson #stranger things #steddiemicrofic #steddiemicroficoctober #myfanfic #tumblr fic

[howlingday]

tragic backstory (tm) au) ren learns how to "culltivate" aura mainly it involves infusing aura into his body perminantly, it's important to take it slow especially since he has to borrow aura from the surrounding forest and the animals and plants therein. right now he's only doing his skin. but even that's pushed him far beyond his previous limits why wasn't everyone doing this? a story in which ren gets a little love and learns that his semblance makes it very easy to manipulate aura because he uses it to keep himself calm and focused. super ren is about to make an entrance! (next stages would be muscle, then organs, then bones, then he'd start working on incorporating the ambient aura into his own soul to boost himself that way before repeating the steps again. I'm basing the system off of cultivation martial arts stories)

My Kingdom Comes

Have you ever woken up and asked yourself, "What lie will I make today?" It doesn't happen often, though it still does happen to JNPR- Excuse me, JMNPR's resident ninja, Lie Ren. Today, he would tell no lies.

Ren: (Stirs, Turns off alarm before it goes off)

Ren: (Goes through his morning routine, Looks around)

Ren: (Nudges Nora, Doesn't move)

Ren: (Makes his way to the rooftop, Meditates)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jaune: You're like a brother to me.

Jaune: I couldn't ask for better friends.

Jaune: Do you... think I'm a good person?

Jaune: I'm not a king!

Li: Yes, you are.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Shishi: Having troubles, your majesty?

Ren: ...

Shishi: Don't worry, nobody else is here. I was simply walking around this morning, and I couldn't help but notice you were deep in your meditation. Would speaking to a friend relieve you?

Ren: We are not friends.

Shishi: Perhaps not, your majesty, but I am here for you still. (Sits next to him) Be it as a friend, or as a confidant.

Ren: And you are neither.

Shishi: You wound me, my liege. I simply wanted to share the morning sun with you. Would you permit me that, your majesty?

Ren: ...Fine.

Shishi: ...

Ren: ...

Shishi: ...

Ren: ...Why do you hate Jaune?

Shishi: Because he is not you, my liege. Jaune Arc is no king. He holds no seat of power, channels no divinity, and holds no connection to any of the royal families past. And yet, the people still cheer his name as their king when the rightful heir to Remnant is-

Ren: No. I am not. Jaune is my friend, and I would sooner trust my life to him, a man who has proven himself to be a hero with a heart of gold, than to you, a stranger who suddenly arrives and calls me his king. Why? The Mistrali royal family is dead, as are all the royal families of past.

Shishi: ...Mistral. Vacuo. Vale. These were the first three Kingdoms, with each ruled by a royal family. The details of Vale's family may be lost to time for reasons we don't know, but Vacuo know their lineage. So, too, does Mistral. My father, before his passing, was a retainer of the royal family. He served his king with pride, and now so do I.

Ren: The royal family of Mistral died before I was born. And even if I was royalty, do you truly think there are other royal families still alive?

Shishi: Yes, my liege. Yes, I do.

---------------------------------------------------

Gillian: Pardon me, but are you the famous Jaune Arc?

Jaune: ...

Gillian: You are Jaune Arc, aren't you?

Jaune: ...That depends; are you with any news networks?

Gillian: Um, no?

Jaune: None at all, not even a local TV program for the history channel?

Gillian: I promise, I'm here for you of my own accord.

Jaune: Hm... Alright. So, why are you here?

Gillian: Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Gillian Asturias.

Jaune: Oh, uh, okay? Khm! My name is Jaune Arc. (Extends hand)

Gillian: (Takes hand) My, what an impressive handshake you have~!

Jaune: Uh, thanks? So, uh, how can I help you, Gillian?

Gillian: I have a proposition for you, Jaune Arc of Vale.

Jaune: Oh no...

Gillian: I, Gillian Asturias, heiress apparent of the royal family of Vacuo, offer my hand to you in marriage.

Jaune: Oh no, not again...

Gillian: Huh?

Jaune: Listen, Gillian, you're a very nice girl, but you don't have to pretend to be royalty to ask me out. I'm just a regular guy like everyone else.

Gillian: Quite the humble demeanor you have. Perfect for a future king.

Jaune: But I'm not a king. Everybody just says I am because of some really bad prank.

Gillian: Your recent activity begs to differ. You've made quite the spectacle of yourself, Mr. Arc.

Jaune: I'm sure everybody got their laughs in after watching me look like an idiot all over their TV screens. They're all just flukes.

Gillian: Really? One fluke after another?

Jaune: Mhm, and it all comes back to one really bad prank. But hey, if you want to hang out later, I'll be free after some lessons with my sister.

Gillian: ...No, but thank you, Mr. Arc.

Jaune: Please, call me Jaune.

Gillian: ...Until next time, Mr. Arc.

Jaune: ...Yeah. I figured. (Yawns) Man, I must not have gotten a lot of shut-eye. Should probably head back before I fall asleep in the halls.

---------------------------------------------------

Ren: (Deep inhale)

Ren: (Slowly slides forward with his feet, Sweeping wide across the ground)

Nora: Whoo~! Go, Renny~!

Ren: (Fires off five open-palm strikes, Exhales)

Ren: (Air pops with colorful flare)

Nora: Whoa~! When'd you learn to do that?!

Ren: I've experimenting with my aura control, and I've found that if I focus enough aura into my palms, they could form invisible aura bubbles that eventually pop.

Nora: Whoa~!

Ren: (Closes eyes) Unfortunately, it's still...

Nora: Still what?

Ren: (Tilts head at Nora-shaped pink blob in the darkness)

Nora: What? Is there something on me?

Ren: Nora, have you always been pink?

Nora: I mean, have you seen me lately?

Ren: (Opens eyes, Pink aura fades into her)

Ren: Are you okay, Nora?

Nora: (Giggles, Taps nose) Boop~!

Ren: (Smiles) Boop to you, too, Nora.

Nora: (Giggles, Sighs) Are you feeling okay? I saw that sheep-sheep guy coming down from the roof.

Ren: Did he say anything?

Nora: Nah. He just seemed his same moody self.

Ren: Mm...

Nora: Hey, did he say something to you?

Ren: ...It's nothing to worry about. He was just trying to impress me with his history knowledge.

Nora: Ugh! I knew he was a history nerd! Just the way he walks around like he's some kind of royalty! Only Jaune should walk around like that, because he is!

Ren: Funny enough-

Nora: Haha funny?

Ren: Coincidentally funny.

Nora: Darn. What did he say?

Ren: He said...

---------------------------------------------------

Jax: Ah, now there is a fine specimen of a queen!

Yang: Huh?

Jax: Tall, physically tough, and hips certain to bear a lineage fit for conquerors!

Yang: Okay, creep-o, you've got five seconds left to live. I suggest you start running.

Jax: (Chuckles, Coughs) Feisty, too! Perfect. Just the kind of woman I need at my side on the throne.

Yang: Uh, excuse me?!

Jax: Can you imagine it? (Smiles sadistically) You, standing by my side, breaking bones and skulls of anyone who would dare oppose my rule!

Yang: Alright, that's it! I'm stuffing back into whatever hole you crawled out of, you little freak!

Yang: (Swings)

Jax: (Leans in, Hugs her arm)

Yang: Hey! Get off me, you little... You little... (Staggers, Kneels)

Jax: Mm, now this is a sight I never grow bored of. (Deep breath) I don't believe we've introduced ourselves. I am Jax Asturias, your future king. And you are?

Yang: I'm Yang Xiao Long, or would you prefer your future queen, your majesty~?

#rwby #jaune's tragic backstory (tm) #jaune's tragic backstory (tm) au #tragic backstory (tm) au #jaune arc #lie ren #nora valkyrie #yang xiao long #gillian asturias #jax asturias

[estinininininen]

FFIV: Delicate Flower, "Rose of the Moon", part 2/2, (ao3), ~2800 words. (Part 1 tumblr)

Kain Highwind is a little older now, and realizes paladins, white mages, and love can all be far stranger - and messier - than he thought.

WARNING: Graphic injury. Graphic. Don't ignore the warning.

Kain never got to speak again to Rosa that day, but this was not the end of the world. Life continued. Kain realized that he shouldn't listen to the part of him that called that day the worst of his life so far. He learned a lot from that day.

Kain spent more time listening to others when they told him things he didn't want to hear. He did not need Sir Halbright to force him up at the crack of dawn to train, and even tailed after Sir Halbright in meetings when he could. He studied under him for practical reasons, as one day the command of the dragoons would pass down to Kain.

Kain also worried that there was something inside people like Halbright, Giles, Rosa, and by all accounts his father, that he and Cecil lacked, Kain moreso. He wanted to absorb it by watching. He did not know the word for it. It floated somewhere between focus, integrity, and calm.

Cecil and Rosa were dating and that, he told himself, was good. It was fine. They were cute together. Cecil had more important things on his mind and needed support from both Rosa and Kain. The King did not fulfill Kain's deepest anxiety and disown Kain and dissolve the dragoons forever more for his bad showing. In fact he spoiled Kain a bit after his injury. Kain was relieved, and felt for the first time that Odin might understand Kain more than he had known.

Giles had been right about the King: what he asked of Cecil had been a passing fancy. The airships, the strange swords: these had been the aborted beginnings of Odin's attempt to reduce Baron's military. It was a noble if idealistic dream: What if there was one day a strong warrior-king, who risked himself before others, able to travel the world at a moment's notice? Perhaps the ever-grinding war machine that formed the backbone of Baron's culture and economy would not have to exist.

This had backfired on the King. Odin could not maneuver the merchants and warriors of Baron into following a song of peace instead of war. The very dragoons Kain was the ascendant lord of would not accept a lessened role in Baron. Nor would Kain in his heart, even if he heard logic from Odin at dinner table discussions. Other countries worried at the air force and these new "Red Wings." They were more comfortable with Baron's army as the traditional, landlocked force, protecting the crystals only if called. They had since time immemorial, why change?

Kain drifted away from the King as foster-father, as he and Odin had reached an understanding they were more liege-lord and knight-vassal than family. Odin was not ever going to be Kain's father. There was calm discussion and little drama about it. Odin was proud of him, Kain knew. Kain more worried about Odin telling Cecil that.

As the years passed, Odin and Cecil's relationship grew closer and yet more fraught. Cecil pushed himself beyond what even Odin and all teachers asked from him. Odin would then let Cecil recover for months, trying to spend time with Cecil more as a father than liege-lord. Contrary to expectations for a boy raised as a prince in all but name, Cecil did not enjoy this coddling. He was becoming a man suited for action, and without the very same skill that was driving a wedge between him and Odin, he felt less useful. Kain suspected no one besides Odin's closest advisors and friends even knew, or felt they had the right to ask: Did the King regret asking Cecil to . . . ?

The matter of the royal inheritance had crept up over the years as Odin failed to marry. Odin, Cecil, and Kain had ignored it for more than a decade out of love. As Kain came of age he found it was decided in everyone else's thoughts before the three had even realized. Outsiders murmured to Kain their surprise he was not more jealous of Cecil. Kain was, but he also knew he would be a terrible king, and he would not wish Cecil's current burden on anyone. And there was also the biggest lesson he had learned at that tournament.

Life was not like a chivalric romance. Good people did bad things.

Kain could not say when he realized the King had asked Kain and Cecil to be dark knights without explaining the cost. It just flowed out from that sunny first day of June. He grew a more natural awareness of how adults hid secrets from each other, instead of the mustache-twirling villains of his past imagination. Real life did not have childish expressions of pure evil.

And yet . . .

Kain still cherished a sliver of that old magic in the stories and culture Odin now wanted to weaken in Baron. There were important truths in glory and romance, Kain still felt, and the most important was what was worth fighting for. A beautiful woman. Childhood friendship you remembered, even if you all drifted apart. A king worth serving. People worth saving, if you were not worth saving yourself.

Such lessons Kain thought he had learned, and that the King and Cecil had also learned similar things. Enough they should have avoided what happened later.

Then the King went mad. Or perhaps he had already died and they didn't know.

Kain almost saved Cecil from dishonor and demotion. He almost piped up to say the Mist dragon seemed not to be a true enemy. He almost reached close enough to Cecil and Rydia when the eidolon Titan erupted from the earth. He almost escaped his own madness. He almost broke free of it, in Fabul. He almost got Rosa out of Zot, then was almost cleared of Golbez's influence for a time. He almost resisted in the Sealed Cave, and he almost didn't hurt Cecil.

By the time Kain slipped free again, he was tired of 'almosts.' He wanted certainty, the certainty he couldn't find in himself. If he turned to his old understanding of the world, he would be the villain, the blackguard children hissed at in puppet shows. Cecil had changed, changed into more legend than man, a half-Lunarian paladin. Redeemed. Filled with the nameless strength of character Kain realized he had lacked. Compared to Kain he was as distant as the moon from the earth. There was only one constant left:

Rosa.

Until, that is, he learned she was never what he thought in the first place.

----------

They had been lucky in the Lunar Subterrane until Edge found the dark shadow of Bahamut. Luck tended to run out when everyone was blasted point-blank without warning by a wall of dragonfire. Kain only escaped because he was ready to Jump anyway.

He looked down from the air to see four prone forms. All four were knocked out with pain or because their airways were burnt. Clock was ticking. "Shit shit shit shit shit," he said.

Never take a chance to strike for granted, though. At the apex of his jump, he flipped into the classic headfirst dragoon attack now as easy for him as walking. As he twisted, he reached into the emergency-of-emergencies bundle tucked into his breastplate. He grabbed it, a folded, thin white handkerchief. Grey with age and stained, and with young Rosa's attempts at embroidery. One of dozens the group shared now without thinking.

He shoved it his mouth, knifing down through the air, and braced for impact with both hands on the holy spear. This was what he did. This was what he was for, the only thing men like him were good for- no time to think. Distraction killed. With no other target, Kain aimed for the eye. It was wide enough to stand on.

Hit. Clean, deep, and retractable for an easy retreat. He tried not the think about the sound the lens made as it crunched. Kain had no time for thinking. He withdrew the spear in a shower of blood and clear jelly. A bit splattered on Rosa as Kain landed next to her. Don't think about mess. Don't think about what she must think about disgusting things.

The shadow twin of Bahamut reared in agony and lost track of Kain, but that would be only for a moment. Kain spat out the handkerchief, pulled back one corner, and pulled out one of the treasures held within: a fluff of phoenix down, tiny as a grape and thin as onion skin. With a shaking hand, he pressed it to Rosa's forehead between her eyes. He told himself, Do not, do not think about the puling whistle of Rydia's breath next to him, or how Cecil was not moving at all.

Rosa's blackened cheek twitched as the magic, which Kain was deaf, blind, and numb to, flowed into her. Then she gasped in and Kain was moving backwards the moment he saw healed flesh rippling out from her head and chest. The most he could do now for help was to distract the dragon. This creature, the inversion of Bahamut's cleansing fire, as Kain was to Cecil's sacred sword-

Don't think. Don't think.

He Jumped, and dived, and stabbed. He ducked and wove. He kept fighting. Behind him he heard armor clanking as Cecil stood back up and helped Rosa heal. Within moments they would all be standing.

Kain flipped back to regroup. He tore his eyes away from the dragon to check Rosa and Cecil were healing successfu-

Something huge, and sharp, and awful as judgment crashed into his stomach. It popped right through to his skin and tore down to his hip like peeling overripe fruit. He was pulled out of the air and and smashed into hard stone only feet away from landing next to Edge and Cecil. The dragon's tail whipped out and back and Kain saw a bloody smear on the spines.

Cecil was looking down at him and saying something. Kain couldn't understand him. His head, back, and everything below his chest didn't hurt, exactly, but felt like they were either blowing up like a balloon or shriveling up, or both at the same time. He felt ready to pass out.

"I think I'm going to pass out," Kain said.

He passed out.

He came to what felt like seconds later. But with no dragon, screaming, or screaming dragon, it had to be some time later. Kain was on top of a blanket. He couldn't open his eyes. He felt more tired than he ever had before. The questions What's going on? and Where am I? seemed less important right now than Can I go back to sleep?

His belly twisted, and it hurt. No - something twisted his belly. Something was in his stomach.

"He's twitching," Cecil said, somewhere over Kain's right side.

"He won't wake up," Rosa said, over Kain's left.

"Should I get Rydia just in case?" Cecil asked.

"Let her sleep. Shame you don't have that sleep sword anymore," she said. "If it comes to it, I could just cut him with that instead of the scalpel a few times and he'd fall asleep again. Eventually."

"Uh," Cecil said.

"That was a joke," Rosa said.

Cecil was quiet, then said, "I don't think I'm cut out to be a white mage." Kain could hear how nauseous Cecil felt. It made Kain want to ask what they were both staring down at, and what were those wet sounds coming from where his navel was. Where his navel should be, rather. He was just too tired to talk. It also hurt, of course, but he imagined that was just a fact of life when disemboweled.

Reality and all its troubles seemed very far away to Kain. It was a nice change of pace.

"Nonsense," Rosa said. "You're a great white mage. You've already got all the basics down. I'm really impressed with how fast you've learned," she said. Kain heard the snap of tiny scissors and a squelch as Rosa reached into him to grab gods only knew what.

"Oh," Cecil said. "Thank you." He swallowed. "It's just. I'm still not used to it, I guess."

Rosa hummed. Kain had the absurd idea she was stitching up his guts with the same silly face she might stitch up a handkerchief. She would stick out her tongue a little and close one eye, which Kain had always thought rather cute. It was less so now. She sounded very casual.

Surely this wasn't a . . . a normal activity to her?

Cecil continued thinking out loud. "I didn't think stitching and mending, all the practical healing skills, would still be so important." Kain cracked his eyes open. He could lie there unmoving while in pain, but if he was going to need to say something, it was Cecil, for fuck's sake, stop distracting her.

All he could see was stone and a blurry glow from a campfire. Cecil and Rosa were silhouetted.

"Well, I didn't intend to run out of mana," Rosa said.

"Of course not. Neither did I," Cecil said. "I feel like I'm just learning things . . . backwards, you know?"

"Hm?"

"You started with changing bandages and learning anatomy, long before you ever healed a patient, right? But I started with Porom and Tellah yelling at me in between fighting off the undead when we were coming down - that mountain," Cecil said. Cecil never spoke about Mt. Ordeals unless he had to. "I feel like I skipped some important things."

"Like what?" Rosa said.

"Oh, uh. Everything," Cecil said. "Right now I'd need to know how to sew, how to cut, where to cut, when to clean the scalpel-"

"It's always better to clean between every cut, with gut wounds, but I'm cheating," Rosa said. Kain loved Rosa but he was about to lash out and say, The fuck you are, woman, go back and clean up or save everyone the trouble and put me down, but then Rosa said, "I'm healing a bit and using esuna as I go along. I have some mana left, just not for big heals. Don't try this until you've practiced a few times."

"Oh. Okay," Cecil said.

"You've got to relax, Cecil. This isn't the first time you've seen blood, or guts. I know it isn't."

"No, no," Cecil said. "I just . . . can't believe this is something you just. Do. Reach in and . . . "

"You might have to do more than just this," Rosa said. "Not today, because I'm healing as I go, and I have a reed for a straw, but if the intestines are full, or impacted? They bruise easily. All organs do. Cleaning them out before making an incision or stitching is important if you rely on healing later, after closing up, to clean out infection. And bruising can weaken them enough they tear later, and then you've got to heal for that, too. So you have to clean it out, and can't squeeze. You have to suck."

Kain felt his soul take leave of his body and land back in his chest with a thunk.

"Oh," said Cecil. Kain wondered if he'd prefer to be a dark knight again. "Oh. I would prefer not to have to that."

"It's not pleasent but it's part of the job. Overall, though? I'm just putting the pieces back together is all," Rosa said. "I can teach you anatomy. It's nice having something to talk about besides the end of the world. And I've been spending more time with you than ever before. It's nice."

Kain's full attention floated up towards the surface enough for him to say, "Oh, so that's your idea of a hot date?"

Cecil screamed. It was a loud and high scream of the sort Kain hadn't heard from Cecil since they were children.

Rosa didn't even flinch.

"Kain! Oh good gods, man," Cecil said. "He's awake! You said he wasn't going to wake up!"

"He's fine," Rosa said. "Kain, don't . . . don't move around."

Kain said, "No problem, Rosa. I'm fine, Cecil. Ces. Hah. You screamed like a . . . " He stopped, and thought about who was holding a piece of his insides. "-a child," he said. "I got you good."

Rydia, hair wild with sleep but eyes wide enough the whites glowed in the firelight, appeared over Rosa's shoulder. Edge materialized from bare stone. "Why's he laughing? What's wrong?" Edge said.

"He's just in shock," Rosa said. "He'll be fine. He's fine. Everything's fine. Rydia, put him back to sleep, would you?"

"'M fine," Kain said. "Rosa, you ate shit? Have you literally eaten shit?"

"Go back to sleep, Kain," Rosa said, with the patience of a glacier eroding a mountain. Rydia started chanting the spell.

"Nooooo," Kain said. "I don't want to go to sleep. Were you making fun of Cecil? Were you just kidding?"

"No, I wasn't kidding. You weren't supposed to hear that, though. Don't worry about it." She winked at him. "White mages have to keep a few secrets."

"Ugh," Kain said. He looked at Cecil. "If this is her idea of a good time, you can have her."

Cecil's jaw dropped at both Rosa and Kain as Rydia cast sleep. As he slipped under, he heard Rosa start giggling. He wondered what was so funny.

"What's so funny?" he said.

"Goodnight, Kain," Rosa said, still giggling.

He smiled. "Goodnight," he said, and fell asleep.

#ffiv #ffiv fanfiction #kain highwind #rosa joanna farrell #cecil harvey #rydia #edge ffiv #my ao3 crosspost #final fantasy iv #final fantasy 4 #ff4

[padfootagain]

You and the King (III)

Chapter 3 : Fighting with Words

Hi lovelies! Here is a new chapter for my Caspian series! Y/N is getting fierce, and I love it. Also, troubles are coming…

I hope you like this new chapter! Let me know what you think!

****

Pairing: Caspian x reader

Warnings: None… insults? Is that worth a warning?

Summary: Sequel to The King and You – After meeting Caspian in your own world, you decide to follow him to Narnia, your love for him too strong for you to keep your old life. But as you discover the magic of Narnia, you soon realise that this extraordinary world is as dangerous as it is magnificent. Will your love for Caspian be enough to defeat your new enemies?

Word Count: 3740

Masterlist for the series – Caspian’s Masterlist – Main Masterlist

Dalia was far from stupid.

After refusing to attend your first meeting the previous day, she was expecting Caspian to call for her and ask for explanations. It was part of the plan, actually.

Caspian was an amazing man, a great king. But he was also a little naïve sometimes, a little bit blind. She blamed it on his kind heart. He had a tendency to see the good in people before he could see the bad. And that was the cause of her worry now.

She took a deep breath before opening the door of Caspian’s private office. It was barely dawn, the light still shy, golden, almost orange in a sky tainted with pink. The Castle was waking up, servants hurrying back and forth to prepare breakfast, guards sleepily walking to take their posts. A ballet she knew by heart, that she had known all her life, growing up side by side with Caspian and the royal family.

A ballet you knew nothing about, and yet…

“Come in,” Caspian’s voice was loud and clear as it answered to her knock on his door.

Her face was unreadable as she stepped inside the room, and Caspian was not surprised. She excelled in this art of pretends, of hiding emotions and thoughts. She had been raised at court, after all, she had learnt to wear a mask, just as he had.

He hated that she still used her mask when he was around though. Despite the many years of friendship between them, it felt like she still didn’t fully trust him.

“Good morning, Dalia,” Caspian politely greeted her, but she didn’t fail to notice that his tone was colder than usual. “Take a seat.”

She complied, sitting on the opposite side of the desk. The long, wooden piece of furniture was buried under parchments, documents, maps…

Caspian had been busy. She guessed that he had tried to catch up with his duties during the night, to compensate the day he had spent with you.

She hated you for the dark bags under his eyes.

“You wanted to see me,” she spoke slowly, her voice perfectly calm and polished.

But Caspian wasn’t fooled. He knew her too well for that. And he knew about the ways of the court as much as she did. He was used to tear these masks apart now.

“You know perfectly why I’ve asked you to come this morning.”

“Let me guess… it is about your new fiancée.”

He frowned at her tone. It sounded a little cruel, disrespectful, full of disdain…

He hated it. The very sound in her voice, but now more than ever because the poison was aimed at you.

“I don’t like your tone,” he answered in a cold voice, staring intensely at her.

“I’ve never really cared…”

“You should, Dalia.”

A heavy silence settled across the room. Dalia broke it with a scoff.

“I apologize, My Liege.”

But her tone was mocking still.

“We are friends. We have been for a long time,” Caspian spoke his words slowly, with a heavy frown and a weight on each of the sounds. “But that does not mean that I am not your King. And that certainly does not mean that you can so blatantly insult me and get away with it.”

“I can hardly call sarcasm an insult.”

“You did not come yesterday. How do you call that?”

“I was sick.”

“Now, Dalia, do not play that game with me. I know you are lying.”

He was angry. He was glaring at her and she hated it. She hated every second of it. She didn’t back down though.

“Do you truly want to know why I did not come?”

“Yes, I do.”

She leaned forward a bit, coming closer to him, as to try to catch his attention and put more weight into her words.

“I believe that you should reconsider your decision about Lady Y/N.”

Caspian frowned hard.

“What?”

“You barely know each other, you are going too fast.”

“I am not…”

“There is still no treaty with Lord Cirvan and his men. And you are making things worse with their lands, refusing to marry Cirvan’s daughter to announce your future wedding less than a day later. You are making a mistake.”

But Caspian narrowed his eyes at her.

“You know perfectly well that if I made an announcement about my engagement with Y/N, it is precisely because of Lord Cirvan and his men. Because I need the assurance that he will not try to marry me off again…”

“But Caspian, this wedding presents no political advantage.”

He clenched his jaw. He was beyond angry now, and Dalia knew it. She couldn’t claim she had not been expecting this, but it still hurt to see such fire in his glare aimed at her.

He didn’t say a word though, and let her continue.

“I know that it sounds cynical, but your wedding is an incredible opportunity to build lasting alliances with other kingdoms, and powerful lords, and you are endangering our borders by acting stubborn and letting a strange girl manipulate your feelings.”

“Manipulate my feelings? Do you even hear yourself?”

“I do. And I know what I am saying. You are a King, Caspian. Women try to seduce you for the throne every day.”

“Y/N is different.”

“Because she made you believe in one of the old fairy tales? The great love stories? Those are good for Doctor Cornerlius’s books, not for us who are dealing with real politics. You are making a mistake by wanting to marry this stupid girl…”

She fell instantly silent when Caspian stood up, jaw clenched and eyes glaring.

“I understand your worry about politics and Lord Cirvan,” Caspian spoke, words slow and voice deep, clearly struggling to remain calm. He was leaning over his desk, palms resting on the map splayed across the wood. “But, Dalia, I will not have you insult Y/N, do you understand?”

“You are being manipulated…”

“I am not,” Caspian answered, voice firm and decisive. “You do not know Y/N, you have spent less than an hour with her. Why do you not trust me on this?”

“Caspian… you are King. People will try to manipulate you. Does it not sound strange to you that all of a sudden this woman has fallen madly in love with you, in barely more than a month, and has decided to leave everything behind to join you here, in Narnia? Do you not think it weird that she might leave her ordinary and rather pointless life behind without thinking for a second about the fact that you are King? Do you not think that it is precisely the reason why she did this? She left because she could become a queen. And you were too foolish to see it. Blinded by… I do not even know what could have blinded you… she seems completely ordinary.”

Dalia fell silent, waiting for Caspian’s reaction. She hoped she could shake some sense into his head. She hoped she could make him see that you were not fit to be queen. What by Aslan’s name was he doing? You had worked together so hard to get him there, as a stable king on a Narnian throne, and now he was falling into such a silly trap?

He stared at her with eyes of stone, icy cold. She searched through her memories but didn’t remember him ever looking at her this way. Of course, after so many years, they had fought countless times, he had been angry against her before. But she had never seen such a rage, it was mingled with something protective that she hated, because you were the source of it.

“You know nothing of Y/N, Dalia,” Caspian repeated in this same slow tone of his. “She has given up on everything to come here…”

“That is what I am saying! If not for the throne, then why should she come?”

But he frowned, a little taken aback now.

“Because she loves me, Dalia.”

He let out a wry laugh.

“So, do you really think me such an awful man that no one could love me for who I am? That the only reason anyone has ever showed any interest in me is because I am King? Well, thank you for the compliment…”

She shook her head, her expression softening.

“That is not what I meant, and you know it.”

“Then why is it so difficult for you to imagine that Y/N has chosen to come here because she loves me? Nothing else. Dalia, do you realize what it means for her? She has left everything and everyone she has ever known, she has been thrown into another world she knows nothing about and is so different from her own… If she wanted money or power she could have tried to earn those in her world and it would have required less sacrifices from her. She came because she loves me. And I love her, Dalia. I love her more than anything. Had I not been King, I would have not come back to Narnia.”

Her eyes grew round.

“What?”

“I came back here because I am King. Because my people needs me. Because I cannot abandon Narnians. Because Aslan, Eustace, Peter, Lucy, Edmund and Susan trusted me to take care of this land, because my father died for this… But without this responsibility, without so many people I would have failed by leaving for good… I would have stayed with her in New York. I love her enough for that. I understand her choice, Dalia. I would have done the same, but I couldn’t.”

He let out a deep, worried sigh as he stood straighter again. He seemed tired more than angry now. Dalia hated seeing him like this. She wished she could take all his worry away.

Still, when he walked around his desk to stand next to her, leaning against the piece of furniture, his presence was still reassuring, strong, kingly. He ran a hand through his hair to brush the strands away from his eyes, and she wished she could have been the one to tame the rebellious strands…

She remembered how soft his hair was. She had touched the gentle strands a couple of times, always thanks to a silly excuse, always hidden behind a lie. There was something in his hair, it wasn’t tied properly… no matter the lies, they were worth it.

Did he let you touch his hair as much as you wanted?

“Dalia, I know what I am doing. I want to marry Y/N. I have never been more certain of anything in my entire life. She loves me. She loves me, for who I am. She loves me despite the crown, do you understand? She is terrified by all this. By the Narnians, by this place, by our ways, by the prospect of having so many responsibilities and power over people... She is not craving it, Dalia, she is afraid of it. And I need your help, I need you to show her our ways so this place can become her home too. And I love her, Dalia. I know that marrying her will not fit into any kind of political scheme, and I do not want it to. I love her, and that is enough. Do you understand?”

Slowly, she nodded, but she didn’t seem convinced. And indeed, she wasn’t. When he asked for her help again, she nodded anyway, promised to be more open-minded, to give you a chance.

But she had no chance to offer you. Not when Caspian looked so handsome in the early light of dawn…

“Alright, let us go through this again, shall we?”

Doctor Cornelius was kind and patient, and you felt grateful for him being your first teacher. So far though, you felt a little stupid.

You knew a few things about Narnia, because of what Agatha told you back in New York, because of Caspian’s stories… But their tales did not include any concrete information about Narnia, about their custom, about their land…

It was an awful lot to take in.

First, you were taught about Narnian currencies, basis of geography, and the current relations with other kingdoms and lands surrounding Narnia. Later on, you would be taught about Narnian laws and traditions.

“Dalia will smoothen up your manners to fit the court,” the old teacher had told you. “But I will make sure you understand what is happening around you, and that no one will make a fool of you during a conversation.”

Tough job, indeed… because as you tried to memorize the list of names set before you, you felt utterly brainless.

You had been working for almost four hours now. There was a bright sun outside, happy and inviting, but you were stuck there, in this dusty room, with a terrible headache…

And you felt like you would never make it. Never be ready…

You started as the doors of the library opened, and you recognized Ammos accompanying lord Baras and Luis towards your table. You struggled to swallow…

… they could only mean trouble.

You offered them a warm smile anyway, and they bowed before you.

You were unsure how to react, but Lord Baras spoke before you could decide what to do or say.

“My Lady. I see that you are busy this morning.”

Small talk. It called for something more important, and you assumed, less pleasant as well. You cautiously nodded.

“Yes, Professor Cornelius is helping me learn about Narnian ways.”

“It must be quite overwhelming.”

“Quite,” you admitted.

But your voice was cautious. You were new to Narnia, but you were not an idiot. Baras smelled of trouble. His smile was too sweet not to, too honeyed, as if it would turn sour soon.

“It is noon already, My Lady. Lord Luis and I wondered if you would like to join us for lunch. I am afraid our King is busy today, but we do not want you to feel too lonely for your first days in Narnia.”

You looked for an excuse to refuse, but couldn’t find any. You didn’t want to let anything slip that could compromise Caspian in any way. He had warned you that the court could be ruthless and would be filled with rumours.

But there seemed to be no way out of this, so you nodded with a smile, and followed the two Lords outside the Library after bidding the professor a good day.

They guided you throughout the fortress, and you didn’t fail to notice the annoyed glance they threw over their shoulder towards Ammos’s tall figure.

You wondered if Caspian had asked your bodyguards to remain by your side all day simply because he feared for your safety, or to have a spy…

There was small talk for a while, a rather boring exchange of questions and answers, until you reached a small room, where a table had been set for about ten people. It included three women, who looked at you with fake smiles and judging glances. You felt unbearably self-conscious under their stares.

But you were too old to be intimidated this way. Instead, you merely shot them a tight smile, and followed Baras to take a seat by his side around the table.

You noticed the stares, they were not as friendly as the day before, when Caspian was by your side. You were not surprised though…

There were a few other Lords that you recognized, but they didn’t seem friendly either.

You guessed they were all great at hiding how they felt, and make happy faces for their king.

“Oh, it is delightful to finally meet you, Lady Y/N! Or should I say… Queen Y/N,” one of the women told you after introducing herself as Velma. You didn’t fail to notice the sarcasm in her voice.

Your smile was tighter again. You weren’t sure if you ought to react or not. You wanted to snap back at her, throw a witty remark, but you didn’t want Caspian’s reputation to falter because of your behaviour. So, you merely remained silent instead, and looked down at your plate, filled with appetizing food.

“I hope your royal chambers fit your needs,” Velma went on, insisting on the word royal.

“It’s perfect,” you answered in a neutral tone, tightening your hold on your fork.

“How strange that the King has made an official announcement out of nowhere,” she went on, turning around as to not be talking to you, even if you were in the room. “I would have expected more restrain.”

“You mean, more wisdom,” one of the Lords said.

You recognized him, but couldn’t recall his name. He went on.

“A period of courting is needed, may the lady come from another world or not.”

He glanced over at you, but didn’t speak directly to you, and you hated it.

You planted your fork in your carrot with a little too much strength, but you didn’t care.

You would answer the next jab made at you, you knew you would… and you reckoned that you would be right to do so.

“The king must be eager,” Velma shrugged. “Even though… she doesn’t look like much…”

You clenched your jaw and glared at the woman.

“I am sitting right here, in case you haven’t noticed,” you spoke between gritted teeth.

“I know, my Lady. I am simply discussing a fact, that our king seems eager to marry you… for some reason.”

“Because we love each other? Is that not a good enough reason?”

But they all laughed at you. Even Barras, who had tried to remain neutral and seemed to merely study you. Except for Ammos, of course, who remained perfectly still behind you.

“You are quite naïve. Or optimistic. It is quite refreshing,” Luis chuckled.

“I don’t see how.”

“You seem to have much to learn about political alliances, then.”

You looked down at your plate at that. Of course… royal weddings… they ought to come with a political arrangement. That’s what Caspian almost did with Cirvan and his daughter…

“Emilia was a good choice. A shame he changed his mind.”

You felt a sharp pain cross your heart at that, but you didn’t let it show.

Instead, you let your anger find your next words.

“A chance you’re not in charge of the decision, then.”

“Indeed,” Luis went on. “I would have advised my king to be more cautious in his choice of wife.”

“It’s true I don’t bring lands or money to the table. Sorry about that. You’ll have to be contempt with my striking personality instead.”

He raised an eyebrow at that, surprised. You didn’t care. You were too annoyed and tired, and this headache of yours… it was getting worse.

Your nostrils were tickled by the scent of something burning, you wondered where it came from. But it wasn’t improving your painful head, that was for certain.

“My lady, I am certain your personality is delightful, of course. Why else would the king have chosen you? I can see no other argument in your favour.”

You looked down, unsure why the mean reply hurt you so much. Perhaps it was because you felt uneasy, when the ladies by your side seemed perfectly at ease… and it didn’t help that they were ridiculously beautiful, too.

“It will not, however, change the fact that we have lost a treaty so that the king could bed you.”

Your head snapped back up, feeling heat creeping over your neck and cheeks.

Had Velma truly said that?

You shouldn’t be petty, but you reckoned that she deserved it.

“Wow, that was classy, at least.”

Everyone around you frowned, but you didn’t really care. The manners you were trying to behave with were slowly leaving you, just like your patience.

“I’m sure you can do better than that,” you went on. “If you want to play the insult game, then at least make it a challenge. Or did you never find anything clever to say after you stopped being an idiotic teenager?”

Velma stared at you with wide eyes, her mouth slightly agape, and you reckoned that you had won the duel, for now.

“Now, I am grateful for the invitation to lunch, Lord Baras,” you went on, turning to the man right before you. “But if this was merely meant to spend an hour insulting me right into my face, next time, be free to let me eat on my own. I’d rather have no company at all than an awful one.”

You tried to sit as straight as you could, and with as much dignity as you could muster.

“This kind of words are not expected from a future Queen,” Baras commented, but he had a small smile tugging at his lips. “Is it how you act in your world?”

“In my world I would have thrown my plate into your face. I am mustering all my restraints to not break anyone’s nose.”

You were surprised when he laughed, but Baras did. It was hesitant at first, but when you raised an eyebrow, he let out a bright wave of laughter.

“Forgive us, my Lady. We have underestimated you, it would seem,” Baras said, and there was something a little strange in his gaze, like he kept on studying you but seemed to have detected a worthy opponent instead of an innocent sheep.

You weren’t sure you liked that look though, but for the rest of the meal, no one dared to attack you anymore, or at least, not so openly. You reckoned it was some kind of success…

It didn’t prevent the gnawing feeling in your chest to make you feel miserable as you walked out of the room. You waited until you were alone in a corridor to let your shoulders drop though, rubbing at your temples because of this bloody headache of yours. The burning smell lingered, you wondered where it came from. Perhaps from the torches?

You wondered how much time you would have before Dalia would arrive. You weren’t sure to be ready to see her, she would not try to make you feel better, that was for certain. You wondered what could be the cause of her animosity towards you, but then again, you had an idea. You just hoped you were wrong about that…

A rival was the last thing you needed.

***********************************************

Taglist : @reg-arcturus-black @sergeantbuckybarnes @intothesoul @pat-sirius @rockintensse

#caspian #caspian x #caspian x reader #caspian x you #caspian x y/n #narnia #caspian fanfiction #caspian fanfic #caspian series #king caspian #the chronicles of narnia #narnia fanfiction #narnia series #fanfictions #fanfic #writing #series

[officalroyalsofpierreland]

Investiture of Crown Prince Louis of Pierreland

The Imperial Family along with Guests and Neighbors from Europesim have descended onto Valentinois Castle in San Simon for the full investiture of Crown Prince Louis as Grand Duke of San Simeon and Earl of Valentinois. HIH Crown Prince Louis has stayed at Valentinois Castle since yesterday and now awaits the arrival of his family and guests who are being led to the castle by the San Simeon Regiment of the Pierreland Army.

The first carriage has Their Graces the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess of Bordeaux as well as Captain and Mrs. Villa.

The second carriage has HRH Princess Eloise of the Ionian Union, representing Queen Viviana, and Their Graces the Grand Duke and Grand Duchesses of Anjou.

Behind them is a carriage containing several guests and the first senior members of the Imperial Family. HRH Prince Oliver of Scots who is the Emperor's nephew is here on behalf of his father King Alexander VI, he is sitting next to HIH Madame Hortense, sister to Emperor Napoleon V and represenative of Francesim. Opposite them is TIH Princess Maria Aisha and Prince Henri with HRH Princess Magadalena of Lunaria between them.

Finally, Emperor David and Empress Katalina finally bring up the end of the procession.

First to enter the Castle is HRH Princess Eloise in a stunning purple ensemble followed by HRH Prince Oliver of Scotland and HIH Madame Hortense, the pair have grown close due to Prince Oliver's time in Francesim. This is one of the first times we've seen Madame Hortense in color since the tragic death of her father. This is also one of the first times that the uniform of the Scottish Army has been seen outside of Scotland, complete with the infamous kilt.

Next to take her seat is HRH Princesss Magadalena of Lunaria, paying homage to Lunaria and Pierreland's ties in a handpainted dress by a local Pierreland designer.

First of the siblings to take their seats are TG the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess of Boredaux with the Grand Duchess in a beautiful green number that does accent the bump slightly.

Next is Mrs. Isabella Villa in a pink number with her husband, Captain Villa meanwhile, behind them are Their Graces the Grand Duke and Grand Duchesses of Anjou who are both glowing due to their pregnancies.

Before the arrival of the parents, imperial twins, HIH Princess Maria Aisha and Prince Henri arrive with Princess MA looking beautiful in dark blue and Prince Henri having some fun with a white jacket and some yellow polka dot socks peeking out.

Finally the arrival of Emperor David and Empress Katalina. The Emperor wearing the Imperial Naval Admiral uniform while the Empress wearing a beautiful blue lacy dress.

Upon sitting on the dias, Emperor David summoned the Crown Prince from inside the castle.

The Crown Prince makes the solo walk down the green, wearing the uniform of the Imperial Military Academy.

The Crown Prince kneels before his father and prepares to receive the instruments of his role.

Louis: I Louis, Crown Prince of the Realm, do become your liege man of life and limb and of earthly worship and faith and truth I will bear unto thee to live and die against all manner of folks.

Louis: Your Imperial Majesties, Imperial Highnesses, Royal Highness, family and distinguished guests, I want to thank you all for joining me on this auspcious day where I finally take on my full responsibility as Crown Prince of this Great Empire. To the people of San Simeon, your hospitality has been more than generous. I make this promise before you all,

Louis: Like my father who has dedicated his life to this empire, and like his father before him and all the emperors before me, I too now dedicate my life to the Empire. To all it's peoples, its cultures, from the countryside of San Simeon and Bordeaux, to the cities of Marsilles and Windensen, from the Oasises of Oderia to the beaches of the Isles and Anjou; All citizens of this Empire shall feel like they have a voice and feel the care the Crown has for each of you.

Master of Ceremonies: Ladies and Gentlemen, His Imperial Highness the Crown Prince Louis, Grand Duke of San Simeon & Earl of Valentinois.

@empiredesimparte @simsroyallegacy @funkyllama

#officalroyalsofpierreland #story #sim: louis #sim: david #sim: katalina #sim: henri #sim: maria aisha

[shiroi---kumo]

⋯✧・♪♫♪・✧⋯ Sitriini Sinfonia is Prince Usva's Music instructor. He comes from a prestigious background and has attended possibly the best musical academies in the kingdom thanks to his mother, Palava Tuli being one of Lord Aurinko's instructors turned advisor. Due to his mother's relationship to Lord Aurinko, Sinfonia was raised within the palace walls and only left in late adulthood to study at the best musical academies money could buy.

So Sinfonia shares a complicated relationship with Aurinko, as he was practically raised at the man's side and is only a few years younger than the King himself. The two have come to consider each other like brothers so it was a natural choice to ask him if he would teach Usva the art of music. Still Usva is his Liege and Aurinko remains his King even if they do see each other as family.

Sinfona's musical works have been heavily published and he's known for throughout the kingdom for his musical prowess. He truly is a master at his craft and he has the ego to match it. He has no time for nonsense and is a traditionalist for the way things should be handled and approached when it comes to teaching the craft.

He is strict and tolerates no backtalk from his charge, yet is not afraid to drop disparaging comments about other people within the space of the palace if he believes it is protecting the boy. He is not one for games and believes he is here to get a job done and the job comes before all else.

So he frowns heavily on the way Pilvi's teachers interact with the boy, believing that they give him special treatment and don't work as hard at their jobs as himself and his fellow instructors do for Prince Usva, since Prince Pilvi is the Child of White and already blessed by the Celestial Mother. He had an especially nasty relationship with Aqua Sielu, things even getting so bad once as to come to blows leaving Sinfonia to exit the confrontation with a broken nose for his very off the cuff comment he made about Pilvi.

Even still his relationship with the princes remains strained and distant. Due to the way Misterican Kings tend to die young for unexplainable causes, Aurinko asked Sinfonia to watch over his boys should anything happen to him in the future and Sinfonia agreed without hesitation. He wants the best for both of them, but doesn't know how to encourage properly without pushing. He prioritizes Usva as his soul bind but he struggles with all things considered with Pilvi since no one knew if the boy would even live past the ritual of the holy blade so he refused to allow himself to get close.

It wasn't until Pilvi was fifteen, that after having performed his first half of Path of the King, that Sinfonia finally allowed himself to try to get close to the boy and told him he was proud of him for the first time in his life.

#ffu #final fantasy unlimited #final fantasy:unlimited #ff:u #final fantasy oc #topic: sitriini sinfonia #g! tradition is the only way || opettaja sinfonia #g! white cloud's scribbles [[ mun's art ]] #// you may reblog #tw; long post #tw; death #tw; fighting #tw; injury

[cursedcola]

Hello! Congratulations on 1000 followers! It's always so nice to see creators get the recognition they deserve.

I was wondering if I could request prompt 77. "It's an honor just to know you like this." With Silver?

Thank you so much, and once again, congratulations! :)

Prompt #77: “It’s an honor just to know you like this”

Character: Silver

Have you ever felt that someone was watching you? It’s odd how people have a sixth sense for that kind of thing. The saying ‘eyes like daggers,’ is born from truth, as a stare from afar can be just as noticeable as a hand on the shoulder.

Which is why Silver is not surprised when you turn from your conversation and wave to those at his table. He might have returned the gesture if Malleus had not beat him to it.

The process repeats the next day.

And the next.

And the following.

And the one after that too.

It keeps repeating. Where he cannot help but stare at you from afar. In the dining hall, in the library, in the walkways, the lecture hall - everywhere. His eyes trace you in the distance until your sixth sense activates and turn his way. Only to smile and wave at his young lord. Utterly unaware that the eyes you often felt came in pairs of two instead of one.

Your smile was not for him, and he could not pretend it was. His liege - the one he owed his life - was utterly infatuated with you; and why wouldn’t he be? If anyone was to be at Malleus’ side, Silver knows that you are worthy. You will treat Malleus with the love he craves, the attention he deserves, with both the kindness and strength he has seen time and time again since you arrived in Twisted Wonderland.

He can think of no one better for his liege and future king. His resolve only solidifies as the days go by and the love between you both becomes undeniable. On the eve of your first kiss, Malleus returned to the dorms utterly entranced. None had ever seen him so happy, and that night Silver truly accepted what could never become.

His chest ached throughout the night and into the following day.

Instead of staring from across a distance, you clung closer than ever before. Merely cutlery and a table divided Silver from your side, as you happily enjoyed your breakfast next to Malleus.

Silver could not help but watch you for the first time up close. From the curve of your lips, poorly suppressing a laugh at one of his father’s jokes, to the way you twirl your fork in between bites.

To his surprise, for the first and likely last time, you turned to wave at him. The feeling sent an unfamiliar jolt in his stomach, briefly wiping his normal impassive expression away in alarm.

“Silver? What’s wrong?”

Your voice screamed alarm bells, and caught the attention of his family. At Silver’s side, his father studies his son intently and steadies him with one hand.

“Nothing,” Silver gathers himself and picks up his fork,” “I was struggling to think of a proper congratulations…thank you for taking care of Master Malleus. He…we, are lucky to have you,”

“What? That’s it?,” you giggle, and his chest pulsates, “you’re so weird. I don’t know why you said it that way but I’m glad to be your friend too, dummy,”

His heart throbs harder and the air feels hard to breath. Silver has never experienced a pain like this before; and yet, deep down he knows it will never end. His master must remain his top priority, and as for you? Well, so long as you are happy then that is enough. It has to be enough.

“Indeed…It is an honor to know you just like this,”

#twisted wonderland #twst x reader #twst #twst imagines #twst scenarios #twisted wonderland x reader #twisted wonderland imagines #twisted wonderland scenarios #silver x reader #twisted wonderland silver #twst silver x reader #twst silver #diasomnia #1000 follower special

[mizumech]

Day 7: Blade/Ocean/Death

Hi! It’s mizumech. I know I’ve been late on Day 5 and 6, but Day 5 is spiralling out of control in length. Well, here’s Day 7, inspired by the Magnus Archives, coming in at 2451 words named ‘Gone Fission’.

(Subtext: I have never interacted with the original Magnus Archives)

All rights reserved.

TW: Death, Altered state of consciousness, Bloodlust

Enjoy!

-

[Click]

[MARTYN]

Statement of Ren “The Dog” Lycan, regarding an…incident of violence and potential altered state of consciousness during a LARP session. Recorded direct from subject today, 17th September, 2023—

[REN]

…do we need to be so formal, my dude?

[MARTYN]

It’s mainly for the sake of archival and whoever the next archivist is, my liege.

[REN]

…

[MARTYN]

You—you know what? Tell you what, I’m going to…re-record this. Or something. If that’s okay with you. God, I should not have taken that coffee from Grian this morning…

[REN]

Yeah, I’m okay with anything at this point—wait...Grian works here?

[MARTYN]

Yeah, surprising, right? I always thought he would be in architecture or something else that has to do with eyes.

[Click]

[Click]

[MARTYN]

Statement of Ren “The Dog” Lycan, regarding an incident of violence and potential altered state of consciousness during a LARP session. Recorded direct from the subject today, 17th September, 2023. Statement begins. 

[REN]

So, backstory first. Death’s been a big thing for me all my life. I love acting and storytelling, and Death is always a big theme. I die a lot, actually. 

[MARTYN]

…what? You never told me about this?

[REN]

Yeah, I’ll come back to that later. Anways, I first died when I was…uh…when was that? I think I was like…ten? I drowned on a beach trip, and everything was white. I think I might’ve even met Death herself! Death’s not as strange as it seems. It’s like drifting away with the sound of your family accompanying you. It’s also moist. She waved to me, and I waved back, but then I got pulled back to the living world where Ma and Pa Dog were lookin’ down worriedly at me. They later told me that they had done CPR and mouth-to-mouth on me and that had saved me life.

I don’t think that’s true. CPR in fact fails most of the time, did you know that?

Well, as a ten year old, I didn’t know that. 

I jumped off the roof of my house back then at night and I think I broke my neck or something,

Now, neck breakage doesn’t always kill you. I’ve actually heard that immediate medical attention regarding injuries like that can save lives.

Well, I didn’t have that. It was nighttime and I hadn’t told anyone that I was planning to jump.

I just kinda laid there for a while.

When I finally died, Death and I met again. She offered me a seat, and I think we chatted a bit. We might’ve talked about Transformers.

[MARTYN]

Sorry to interrupt, but you met Death and you talked about Transformers?

[REN]

Heck yeah! We talked about Optimus Prime and Bumblebee before I came back. This proved that I could die and come back, which my ten-year-old-self did not think to take advantage of.

I love kitter-me to death, heh, but he’s not the sharpest knife in the drawer.

Well, I got through life rather smoothly until my sixteenth birthday. I participated in a group-outing-friendly-championship with some friends; Falsie, H Mama, and Fruity were on my team. This time, the game was some sort of tag with darts and normal other rules.

So. You know by now. I somehow died. Something about the darts. I broke off from the group and got ambushed by Sapnap. I don’t even think anyone noticed. The recovery period this time was so short that I didn’t even get to wave to Death before I got pulled back. 

We won that game, for the record.

There weren’t really any major events like that other than a different tournament where I might have died. For that one, I’m not sure. It felt more like I had gotten on a train, fallen asleep, and missed my station.

That was a strange dream, I tell you. I dreamt Zed was with me, and there was a melancholy guy called Wilbur. There was also a guy called Schlatt.

[MARTYN]

The name Zedaph sounds familiar. Has he made a statement here before?

[REN]

I don’t know. He does seem like the sort of person to do that, though.

When I got off ‘the train’, people patted me on the back with nicknames like “Grimdog”, and “The Reaper”, which is kinda strange, if you ask me.

I know for a fact almost no one knows I can die.

Okay, maybe Falsie knows. She looked at me like she’d seen a ghost when I came back from that whole deal with Sapnap, and she’d already made quite a few death related jokes in front of me when we first became friends. That’s not even her normal humour!

Well, so do you.

[MARTYN]

...excuse me?

[REN]

I even died one of the first times we met.

Remember?

Grian organised a LARP thing with his friend groups, which included you and me. He called it a social experiment. Well, to him and Mumbo, everything is a social experiment, I guess.

Did I tell you about the time Mumbo put a button near our office pantry that dispensed chocolate coins? It had lights to indicate when it had last been pressed and the number of chocolate coins dispensed depended on how long we waited to press it. If no one pressed it for too long it would supposedly explode. He even found a way to make the timing pressed correspond with a different coloured sweet wrapper!

Hilarious, I tell you! Workplace drama for days!

Oop. I think I’m off topic at this point.

Anyhoozle, you and I were allied. All of this game was merely meant to be a game, if you don’t remember. I was the king of a fictional place called Dogwarts and we were against Grian and Scar’s faction. I lost my ‘green life’ to an explosive trap, and my ‘yellow life’ to you.

That was a real life.

Remember?

That axe I gave you, it was supposed to be foam. I knew it was foam. Grian wouldn’t have allowed the circulation of weapons made of anything other than foam.

You know what happens next, I get you to behead me, right?

Funny story: that was inspired by a thick epic that appeared in my mail one time. I think the inside was stamped “Library of Joe Hills”?

Well, I see the axe come down. Mumbo’s behind the camera, and he’s recording this.

And then the axe glints.

I see that axe glint in the moonlight, and deep down I know that’s not plastic, or foam. That’s metal and it’s coming for my head.

One moment, I’m sprawled out on Blackheart Altar, and one moment, I’m facing Death.

I think I even got some pickup lines in there.

(a laugh)

Does that make me a more successful Thanos? Ladies get in line! Ladies, gentlemen, anyone can get in the line!

[MARTYN]

Ren…

[REN]

When I came back, I was not the same. There was something in my head, and it was telling me to kill. It was urging me to snatch the axe to lop off your head, actually!

But I have to resist, right? No killing of the bros.

Besides, only I get the private landline to Death herself!

Back to the story.

I think there were voices in my head. All of a sudden, it felt like I was the character I had been illustrating. I wholly believed that we hated Grian and we hated Scar and we all hated each other. 

I don’t know why this death was so different.

I wholly believed that you were my Hand, and that Scar was nothing but—nothing but scum!

It’s a horrible thing, to think of your friends that way, and it’s so terrible to actually consider killing them.

I didn’t even know you well back then, but I would’ve trusted you with my life.

But in that moment, when I was staring at the pool of my own blood, those voices wanted more blood.

It wasn’t just a game anymore. I wanted them to die. Those voices were pushing against each other, overlapping and reaching at fantasies of revenge.

Kill. Kill. Kill.

When I was still vaguely sane I knew my plan was to gift you that axe. But when I knew that was a real weapon, my hindbrain could not take not having it for myself.

I needed their blood dripping down my hands. It was going to be me and Scar to the death, my Hand.

That axe…

I think the thing that should have really rattled me was when I ‘killed’ Joel.

We were chasing him and his ‘wolf army’ and we chased him into the woods. Now, normal me would not have had the stamina to do that. I would’ve been panting and on my knees at that point if I was normal, pre-death Ren. 

But I wasn’t. This wasn’t a roleplay anymore to me. 

I was the Red King, protector of my country; and my vision was tinging with red. Literally. I had a doctor check it out a week later. Nothing.

It was an animalistic sort of desire. At the speed I was going, I wasn’t even feeling tired. I knew I could freakin’ eat him whole if I wanted to, but I was just nipping at his heels and taking big swings at him with a foam blade.

Thank God I wasn’t holding the real axe. I don’t think you realised the danger of that axe at the time, to be honest.

I would’ve killed him. I would’ve.

Eventually, I caught up. In Joel’s eyes was some sort of fake bravado. 

I don’t even know how I could tell. Normal me would not have been able to do that.

I think the Red King could smell the fear rolling off Joel, because I was suddenly in his space; punching him and snarling like one of his wolves.

I didn’t stop. I wanted to tear him to pieces. I wanted him dead. I needed him dead. I didn’t stop until Mumbo started frantically gesturing at me to stop and you were pulling me away.

In that moment, I had never felt more…alive.

It’s a strange euphoria. It’s strange to feel so good to beat someone up.

Now that I look back on it, that’s a terrifying sensation; the electric tingle I had after I did what I did. 

Joel was just lying there; trembling. 

He looked so…small to me. 

I think he might’ve been hyperventilating.

We never spoke much after that, in any of the later LARP sessions. 

I still couldn’t get the idea that this was a game to stick to my brain. It was all so real to me.

Even after I lost my ‘red life’—my last one, I couldn’t get the bloodlust out of my brain.

I watched you die in vain; trying to protect Dogwarts, and it took me all my self control not to stand right back up and stab Scar.

I watched your axe fall.

It had turned back to foam.

When I got back to the car, I realised I couldn’t remember how to drive. I had to get you to drive me home.

I couldn’t figure out how any of my technology worked, in fact.

It was only halfway home when my ears kinda popped.

My heart was racing because I didn’t know you.

All the voices seemed to shut up all at once.

I didn’t know who you were.

I knew how to drive. I knew how to use a comm. I knew that I had been invited to LARP.

But I didn’t know you.

You were talking about how believable my improv was and I was just sitting there in the passenger seat with adrenline coursing through me like a drug. 

Something had shifted.

At that moment, I don’t think I recognised you. I don’t think you recognised me either. 

Just a moment before that, we had been as thick as thieves. Then, it felt like I was looking at you through a periscope across the ocean. 

Your eyes…they were blue. I don’t know why that shocked me. Blue is one of the colours I see best. But it did. I could’ve sworn they were a more purplish-grey.

It was weird.

I eventually got to know you normally, and we have a great friendship now.

Well, I don’t think I’ve died since.

I don’t think I’ve tried to kill anyone since.

(a laugh)

Or at least I don’t think so.

End of statement?

[MARTYN]

Thanks for coming in, man. I really appreciate it.

[REN]

Love ya face. See you sometime soon!

[MARTYN]

You too, my lord!

(audible sigh)

[Click]

[Click]

[MARTYN]

For the sake of archival and the benefit of the next archivist, I want to contribute my side of the story to the tape. 

So. Ren. He’s a funny guy, has a big heart. He’s a good friend.

What he’s just said all really did happen. While I can’t verify whether Death is a woman or whether dying is moist, I do admit he wasn’t really the same after he turned red.

Context here. Grian’s social experiment gave all LARPers three lives each. On your green life, you just had to survive. On your yellow life, you were supposed to be more anxious and cautious.

On your red life, you were supposed to be aggressive, and you were allowed to ‘kill’ people.

I say ‘kill’ with big air-quotes because no, you were not supposed to actually kill people.

When I pretended to behead him—

(clears throat)

Beheaded him. Actually beheaded him, I guess.

I did note a change in his behaviour. 

I chalked this up to something else. After all, that was part of his character. 

He had asked me to behead him so he could be permitted to kill his enemies, and after I killed him, he said that “Red Winter is Coming!”

Pardon the accent. I can’t do it the same as Ren. 

Speaking of which. He had some sort of accent on his last life. He never tripped over it. Some sort of inflection I’ve never understood.

Well, when I cut his head off, it actually came off.

I didn’t really think about it at first. I don’t know why. There was actually blood all over, but I had thought it was just some movie magic I didn’t understand.

I know this seems unlikely, but being Ren’s Hand? That was of my own accord. I don’t think I was brainwashed into it. 

I think I would’ve known if I had been brainwashed.

Right?

Well, my character was so…devoted to Ren’s. 

Even now, I do cherish our friendship. It’s a deep one. Love hanging out with him.

Well, him and me forever.

I hope he’s doing well.

[Click]

#treebarkweek2023 #treebarkweek #trafficshipping #3lshipping #martyn inthelittlewood #rendog #magnus archives fusion