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ellievickstar · 2 years

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Lies and Redemption

A/N: I absolutely loved the request like the second I read it I was oooooh interesting… and a lot of people don’t know this but begging is kinda something I enjoy so this will be fun. Also I know you said lying but sweating is kinda like lying.

Requested: Yes this request can be found here it is by @cityofidek ! thanks for the request!

Ship: Azriel x Reader

Warnings: Angst end with fluff

The second he walked through the door I knew.

I knew that he had been with Elain. My mate, at first I had completely but now as I sniffed the air and knew that her scent was intertwined with his. I fled the kitchen as I went to the bathroom and sank to the floor. I was sobbing in seconds. We had been mated for fifty years, and four centuries before that we were best friends. He had been so willing to throw that away.

However, I decided that I wouldn’t confront him. I would wait. I would observe. I would find out just how many people knew and were keeping it from me. I would find out just how long ago he had decided to let four centuries go to waste.

The next day I had hidden myself in the training area as I listened in on the conversation between Cassian and Azriel.

“When are you going to tell her Azriel?” Cassian asked as their swords clashed, they jumped back and clashed again.

“I’m not going to,” Azriel said simply as he attacked Cassia. Feigning right. Just to be blocked. “Not going to tell her? It’s been three months, Az!” Azriel said nothing and by the time he had replied, I was out the door, ringing in my ears. Three months, he could have told me ages ago.

During dinner I looked around discreetly as I saw my High Lady and High Lord glancing at each other while they looked at Azriel, then Elain, then me. So Rhys knew too as well as Feyre. Rhys, my cousin. I glanced at my sister, Mor, but she looked completely oblivious. Nesta looked at Elain weirdly whenever she smiled at the shadow singer. So the only oblivious ones was Mor and I, since Amren knew basically everything.

I retreated to my room, pulling out a piece of paper as I folded it into quarters and placed it on my desk. With a snap of my fingers, what I needed was packed into a small bag before I winnowed away. Never wanting to see any of those liars again.

Azriel’s POV

I was nervous as hell. I had spent three months planning this. Three months of practicing proposing to Elain to the point I had started spending so much time with her our scents had intertwined on accident. Three months of going with Feyre or Rhys or Cassian to choose rings, as they laughed at Elain and I as we practiced. We didn’t tell Mor because the sisters of the court told each other everything. Nesta had felt that it was stupid and Amren had agreed with her.

As I approached Y/N’s room to ask her to go out with me the next day so I could put the plan to action, I realised that she had disappeared. A letter on her desk was all that remained.

Dear Azriel,

I know that you’ve been spending a lot of time with Elain, and that the rest of the inner circle has known for three months and neglected to tell me. Do not deny it, I had scented that your scents had intertwined the other day. Do not come looking for me, I hope to never see you again you lying, cheating, bastard.

From,

Y/N

No. The words pounded through Azriel’s head as his heart dropped. She had found out, but not the real truth. What else could spending so much time with Elain mean? To her, she must have been devastated. And she hadn’t confronted him, she had left because if he was happy, she was willing to step aside to let him have his happiness. That’s what he loved so much about her, but now, now as he reread the letter he knew she could have gone to two places only, The Court of Nightmares or The Day Court. Both options weren’t reassuring as he felt down that bond and was met with a wall of lava and ash, her sorrow leaking through the wall occasionally.

His body ached for his mate as he let out a chocked cry. No, he would have to wait in order to find his mate. The inner circle came in at the sound of his cries and as some paled at the letter, Mor was furious.

“You cheated on her!?” She shrieked as she stormed to the shadow singer and flipped a knife in her palm, holding it to his neck.

“He was planning to propose, Mor” Rhys explained, pulling his cousin away from the shadow singer. “He was practicing with Elain and their scents intertwined he didn’t cheat,” He said gently as he rubbed circled on Mor’s back. That was when Rhysand stilled.

“She’s gone to The Court of Nightmares, she couldn’t have gone to the Winter Court because Kallias and Vivian are having children and she would rather die then disturb them, she wouldn’t go to the Day Court because Helion is on vacation. The Court of Nightmares is her only option,” Rhys swallowed down another piece of information but I knew what he was going to say. Keir had wanted more troops from Autumn Court, again, and regardless of his daughter’s crimes, he would be willing to sell her. And if it was far enough down the line…

Beron’s second youngest son, Haco. Funny enough, the word meant flame in ancient fae language. “We’ll set to the Court of Nightmares by midnight, get packing,” Rhys ordered. And everyone nodded in sync.

Y/N POV:

“Let me go!” I struggled against the restraints as I snarled at my father, at the son of The Autumn Court. He smirked at me as he nodded to my father. “She’s a feisty one for sure, I’ll have fun taming her,” He chuckled as he approached me and ran a hand down my cheek I tilted my head away and growled at him.

There was no hope for me. No one was coming and here i was thinking that someone would try to find me even after I left. Foolish, I had been so irrational and foolish. Maybe I should have confronted Az, maybe I should have listened to whatever lie he spun, maybe I should have stayed in a separate apartment in Velaris.

I thrashed against my restraints again before the doors burst open. The inner circle surrounded my room, Rhys holding everyone in place as Mor approached me and freed me from my restraints.

“Thanks,” I sighed as I rubbed my wrist, raw and red from the ropes that dug into my skin, the ghost of them still tight, a phantom wind. Mor nodded to me before she turned to Keir and slapped him hard. Rhys clucked his tongue and in a flash Keir was screaming, screaming as I realised that both of his legs bent in four different directions.

“This is another warning, touch any of my court without my permission, and I. Will. Rip. Your. Throat. Out,” Keir shook his head up and down frantically as he whimpered in pain. Rhys let go of his magic as Keir slipped to the ground, wailing. Haco had turned pale as Rhys ordered him to leave and tell his brothers that the two Princesses of Nightmares were not chattel to be traded.

Azriel tried to approach me but I flinched away, not wanting to be touched after the incident, especially not…

“Are you alright?” Elain asked as she sat opposite me on the floor. I stared at her, at her beautiful face, her gentle features, repeated her voice in my head. How could I compare to her? No wonder Azriel decided to betray me, Elain was good-looking, even for a Fae. I just gave the same answer that I did everyone, “I’m fine,” I forced a reassuring smile. She simply continues talking, “Azriel didn’t cheat on you,” I furrowed my eyebrows and motioned for her to explain. However, she did not say anything but she stood and left.

I had winnowed home instead of flying together with Azriel. When I got home I was in the living room, waiting.

“All of you, explain. Now.” I demanded as I sat in my favourite chair, arms crossed, my back straight. The room stilled and Rhys stepped forward first.

“My Darling Cousin, I don’t think-,” “You only call me that when you know you are in trouble, talk, Rhysand,” Rhys rolled his eyes before motioning Azriel forward.

“Why him? He’ll just lie, you all would just lie to me,” Tears begun forming in my eyes as I blinked them away. Azriel. knelt before me as he began to explain. “I have been planning to propose to you and I was practicing with Elain because she looks like you, height-wise, so I practiced with her a lot because I wanted everything to be perfect. The rest of them was helping me pick a ring because I could not decide for myself, I am so sorry for ever making you feel like you weren’t good enough for me that I would cheat on you,” I was stunned at the words. I had been so quick to assume the worst of him and on impulse I had inconvenienced everyone.

I love you, more then ever, I’m sorry for assuming the worst. I sent down the bond. It was silent for a few moments before his reply was racing back.

You don’t need to be sorry, I love you too, I hugged him tight his arms wrapped around me and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

“Now that that is settled,” Rhysand grinned, Feyre tucked beside him, “I believe celebrations are in order,” Cassian loosed a howl as he ran to grab Rhysand’s good wine. This was my family, my court.

I would never doubt them again.

A/N: It’s not as long as I had hoped. @cityofidek I’m sorry it took me so long to write this, I hope you like it! Peace out loves <3

tag list: @moonfawnx @bankerfrog @younxii @starlit-terror @hideing @flightlesslittlebirdie @menagerofmischief @famousbasementpainter @owllover123 @bookworm-nerd6 @gigisssz @bethany-bee0128 @cityofidek

#mor acotar #acotar #acosf #acotar fandom #azriel shadowsinger #azriel angst #a court of mist and fury #a court of silver flames #rhysand #azriel x reader #azriel #acofas #azriel fluff

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themaribatpit · 3 years

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Jasonette July Day 4: Game On

Written by: The Maribat Pit @jasonette-july-event Prompt: Game On Rated: T (for sexual references, mostly references to things that happened in the comics. You have been warned.) “I can’t just go spilling my protégé’s secrets. I can barely send her out into the mean streets on her own.” she said with a coy show of innocence that she wasn’t even trying to make believable.

“I’m not asking for her identity, all that concerns me is why you decided to take her in.” Batman explained.

“She was in trouble, I was in the neighbourhood and I gave her a helping hand,” she explained. “That special claw of hers comes in handy, and besides we all know how you feel about magic users Bruce.” She wasn’t wrong about that. Batman could never trust Constantine further than he could throw him. He could only bring himself to turn to Zatanna when he really needed her help. Shazam was an exception, seeing as the limits of his magic were clear and simple enough to understand. That didn’t make him any less formidable, but it didn’t make him quite as unpredictable. He was, at the end of the day, a detective who was trained to think rationally and logically in order to get to the bottom of a situation. Magic was the ultimate wild card, and the sooner he figured out this girl’s abilities, the better. “You’ll be pleased to know she’s not a completely hopeless case, she’s been helpful but she doesn’t get quite the same thrill out of thievery.” Catwoman remarked, “but it’s been lovely having her around, and I’m not about to just hand her over to you”.

“Then what would you have me do?” he asked, “I’m concerned your rivals might be a little less forgiving.”

“Is that so? You don’t think she’s strong enough to save herself?” Catwoman smiled, it was nice to know that he cared, just a little. “Besides, she’s already had years of experience under her belt, maybe you’re just jealous you didn’t find her first.” She taunted playfully. Goodness knows he was in no position to talk when it came to taking people under his wing. “Tell you what, how about we have a friendly little wager?” Bruce saw her eyes light up at the thought, but he was undeniably curious about what she had in mind.

“What do you propose?” he asked.

“A fun little game, your boys against my little foundling. If any of them can take her down, then you can welcome her into your family with open arms” she explained.

“How do I know she won’t just kill them?” Batman asked, it wouldn’t be the first time Bruce had to try and steer someone away from any homicidal tendencies.

“She’s a lot of things, but let’s just say killing wasn’t really an option for her back in the day.” she explained, “She’ll fall in line with your ‘no killing’ rule quite nicely. Think about it, your sons versus my little girl.” Her claws skated across Batman’s shoulders as he pondered this.

“Anything else?” Batman asked, he had to know exactly what they were walking into.

“Your boys can bring a second to their little duels, but only one. No need to have the Titans ganging up on her.” she explained. She left out the part about her protégé having other tricks up her sleeve. With the power she had, they would be lucky to get a single scratch on her.

“So be it then.” Bruce said, it would be an opportunity to see how this girl measured up against the boys he had trained. At that moment Catwoman decided it was game on.

Marinette had just come home from her classes at Gotham University, and she was looking forward to a quiet night working on some designs that were due a few weeks. A text message from Catwoman brought her plans to a grinding halt:

“Mari dear, made a little wager with Batman. You beat his four sons in a fight, and you get to stay with me. If you lose however, he gets to take you under his wing (in every sense of the word). They’ll be on the lookout for Lady Noire in the next few days, but I never said anything about only using her to win.”

Marinette was really starting to regret being saved by Catwoman. That night, she was outnumbered by some muggers who thought she would be an easy target. She was trying to find an opening, to make a break for it, maybe find somewhere to hide and transform if she really must. Suddenly she heard a voice grab their attention, “I’ve always loved big strong men who aren’t afraid to show it with someone half their size.” she purred. While they were distracted, Marinette decided to call on Plagg for some help. She always loved how the Lady Noire suit made her movements feel lighter, plus the night vision and Cataclysm were useful too. Unfortunately for her, it meant that Catwoman saw her in action and decided to take an interest in her from that day forth. Sure, she was a cunning thief and there was little that Marinette could do to stop her. At the same time, Marinette was a young woman in a city that was the polar opposite of what she knew in Paris. She couldn’t deny that there was something comforting about having someone in this city looking out for her. Especially since her parents were in Paris, and Master Fu was no longer around to help her. She took the Miraculous with her to Gotham City, but none of the other wielders came with her. She was still their guardian after all, but she had to be more careful about using them. She wasn’t about to single handedly take on superpowered crime lords with their armies of henchmen. She had to be a lot more careful with her powers since other people could get hurt. Besides, they already had a small group of vigilantes keeping the city safe, they didn’t need her.

Marinette reread the text message over and over again. she was about to see what these vigilantes were made of, though it was just as accurate to say it was the other way around. She opened the box, carefully choosing which ones she could use in a fight. She usually used Lady Noire when she was with Catwoman, but by the sound of it she was counting on her to use all of her tricks to win.

Damian never fully understood his father’s attachment to Catwoman, but this was a challenge he could not refuse. They were told to keep an eye out for this “Lady Noire” character while they were out on patrol. Oracle had agreed to referee this ordeal, Damian was absolutely certain he was going to be the one to bring her in. They were allowed to bring a second, but Damian didn’t think it would be necessary. From what they were told she was a smaller Catwoman, though they were told to exercise caution because of her destructive abilities. The last person Damian had expected to find was a girl in a red and black body suit, who looked nothing like the girl with long hair and green eyes that Batman had described. Still, there was something odd about the girl and Damian moved in closer to investigate.

Catwoman had given Marinette a vague rundown of who her opponents were. There was Nightwing, the eldest of the four boys and a trained acrobat. The second eldest was the infamous Red Hood, Marinette had heard rumours about him and she had no way of knowing if the Kwamis could guard her against someone who uses firearms. The third was Red Robin, Catwoman advised using clever strategy if she was going to get the upper hand on this one. Finally, there was the current Robin, the son of Batman and Talia Al Ghul, the youngest of the boys who was trained by assassins before Batman took him in.

She took the Ladybug earrings with her, seeing as they were more versatile for the occasion. In addition to the earrings, she wore the Longg’s choker around her neck. Master Fu had often cautioned against using fusions, considering how draining they were on her body. Her new mentor advised her to use every tool she could in her arsenal, because they certainly would. On most nights she noticed a small, hooded figure passing through her neighbourhood from time to time. She decided to see which of these boys would be her first opponent.

While she was standing on that rooftop, she heard a few footsteps behind her. It was raining but through the mist and the rain she could see a small, shadowy figure watching her closely. It made sense, she was dressed in bright colours and standing on a rooftop in the pouring rain. She practically had a sign on her head that said “come and get me”, which in some way was part of her plan. The question was, whether or not her first opponent would take the bait. “I know you’re there little one, so are you going to stay there or come over and say hello?” she asked, Marinette tried to sound cheerful but she ended up sounding silly instead. She tried to hide the burning embarrassment she felt at how silly that sounded. The boy could probably sense it too, because she turned around and saw him narrowing his eyes at her suspiciously.

He leapt from his perch and landed behind her with a thud and splatter of rain water. He was no taller than Marinette and he wore a red and green outfit, with a black hooded cape and a green domino mask. The red and green outfit had a golden yellow “R” on his chest, and she also noticed a sword that was sheathed at his side. Marinette had to suspect this boy was the youngest out of the boys, Robin. The two of them stood in silence for a long moment, she figured that someone who was formerly trained by assassins would be a little more hostile. Then again, he was probably expecting someone else entirely. “Aren’t you a little young to be out patrolling by yourself, little one?” she asked, trying to make some kind of conversation with the boy. She wasn’t in any position to say anything about this, considering she had been protecting Paris since she was 13.

“What’s it to you?” He scoffed, “we’re looking for someone named Lady Noire, and you clearly wanted to attract someone’s attention by standing on a rooftop in that costume”.

“Robin, can you not be a brat for like, five minutes?” Red Robin groaned into his comm, but Damian didn’t listen.

“You can either state your business or stop wasting my time” he snapped, as Marinette chuckled.

“So, you’re planning on challenging Lady Noire. Tell me, what do you really know about her?” she asked him.

“Only that father and that woman have taken an interest in her, and I intend to prove to both of them that she is nothing special.” he growled, “so unless you know something about her, stay out of my way”.

“You seem certain, for someone who has never once faced her” she said with a smile.

“I was trained by the best, I will not lose to someone who is little more than a foundling.” he was reaching for his sword at that moment. Red Robin and Nightwing rolled their eyes at that comment as they listened in. They knew they had all bested their youngest brother at some point or other, despite being “foundlings”.

“It would have been easy too just to hide from you and your brothers, but I’m going to enjoy taking you down a peg.” She braced herself for her first fight of the challenge. She really could have, but sadly she had very little patience for people who thought they were better than everyone else.

“I won’t lose to you Lady Noire, or whoever you are”, he growled as he drew his sword and pointed it at her.

“Tikki, Longg, unify!” she called out, and a flash of red and gold light stunned Robin for a moment. The red and black bodysuit now had gold accents and a symbol on her chest. The symbol was a lighting bolt, a wave and a gust of wind all swirling together.

“What did you do?!” Red Robin yelled into his comm, “I swear if she kills us all just because you couldn’t control yourself…”

Robin looked up to see that she had a yo-yo in one hand and the other reached behind her to draw a sword.

“And by the way, it’s Dragon Bug to you”, she swung her yo-yo with one hand and Robin ducked to dodge it. After dodging it, he charged at Dragon Bug, katana in hand. She blocked his attack with her sword before kicking him back with her foot. Dragon Bug pulled back her yo-yo and charged at him with her sword, when he blocked her, he spun around and kicked her legs out from under her. As Dragon Bug fell to the floor, she raised her sword and yelled “Water Dragon!”. There was more than enough to create a barrier that pushed Robin back before he could strike again. Robin was knocked back against the wall, and she took out her yo-yo to make an escape to the streets below.

This Lady Noire, Dragon Bug, whoever she was, had insulted his honor. To him, that just simply would not stand. His father said that he wanted her alive, but he could barely get a scratch on her. He got up quickly and used his grappling hook to swing after her. She was waiting for him, with her hair blowing in the wind, and a smile that Damian wanted to wipe off her face. He charged at her once more, this time sliding on the floor at the last moment and hoping to take a swipe at her leg. Once again, she managed to turn and block his katana. The pair of them traded blow after blow after blow, but he could only land a few scratches on her. Marinette could use Lightning Dragon and shock the boy, to bring this to a swift end. However, with all the water that was around them, she might end up killing the boy instead. Before she could try anything else with that sword, he blocked it and sent it flying off to the side. Marinette watched as her sword flew out of her hands before clattering on the ground next to them.

Marinette had to admit that this kid was good and that the fusion was starting to drain her a little. She had to act fast as she dodged another incoming strike. She leapt backwards to dodge it but the boy took out a grappling hook, he gave it a few good spins before flinging it forward and catching her foot. He pulled the wire taut and sent her crashing to the ground, hard. “You may have your tricks, Dragon Bug, but I have skill, I have training, and now I have defeated you.” he called out as he tugged at the wire, pulling her towards him.

“That may be true, but there’s something you should know…” she groaned as she propped herself up on her elbows, he stopped for a moment as he waited for her to tell him exactly what that was. Marinette reached for her yo-yo, she needed to finish this and safe her strength, “…you’re not the only one who’s had training.” she told him. Dragon Bug quickly spun her yo-yo and swung it at Robin, this time wrapping the wire around him and pulling the string tight. He tried to free himself using his katana, while Dragon Bug unwrapped the wire around her foot. As she stood up she said, “another one of my ‘magic tricks’” as she ran to retrieve her own sword. She sheathed the sword and looked back to find a hog-tied Robin, desperately trying to cut the cord and free himself. She wanted to enjoy this moment for just a little longer, there was always something so satisfying in moments like these. She took a moment to send a quick message to Catwoman:

“Dragon Bug: 1, Robin: 0” before sending her a selfie, with Robin tied up in the background.

She glanced back at Robin who was now just scowling at her. “You fought valiantly little one, but sadly you are not my only opponent” she told him as she unwound the string around him. When she had her yo-yo back, she flung it towards a street lamp and swung forward, lifting her up off the ground. There was one thing Damian was certain of, there was no way his brothers were going to let him live this down. With a good tug of her yo-yo, freed Damian, spinning him around in the process.

Meanwhile, Jason and Roy were on a road trip back to Gotham, the two of them had just taken care of a Drug Lord in Starling City. Jason’s phone buzzed with some news from Dick, something about how they had all been embroiled in a bet to take down Selina’s new protégé. If any of them win, she has to join the Bat family, and if they all lose then she keeps working with Selina. He could not bring himself to care, it was 50/50 on whether or not this girl was tolerable or if she was going to annoy him like the rest. Roy glanced over at him before turning his attention back to the road, “you look like you’re desperately searching for a fuck to give” he commented.

“Just some dumb bet Bruce made,” Jason shut off his phone before reclining back in his chair.

“That’s not like Bruce, usually making dumb bets was something you guys did” Roy wracked his brain trying to imagine the stoic and serious Batman making a dumb bet.

“Something about Catwoman and her little sidekick.” he drawled, “If Dick, Me, Replacement or Demon Spawn take her down, she becomes Batman’s little sidekick. Like he doesn’t have enough of those running around”.

“Ah, I’m guessing you don’t want to fight her when we make it back to Gotham City?” Roy asked, “wouldn’t it be hilarious if you taught her how to win against your brothers?”

Jason gave a half-hearted chuckle, moments later his phone buzzed with more messages. He was really looking forward to this little power nap, but he checked to make sure no one desperately needed his help.

He sees the picture that she took with Damian tied up in the background. Babs, Steph and Cass had watched the whole thing, with popcorn. While Tim had made that photo the new wallpaper on the Belfry’s computer.

“Well, says here she literally wiped the floor with Demon Spawn, before swinging away on a yo-yo.” he said and they both laughed “now I’m just mad I won’t get to buy the girl a few drinks”.

“I mean either way, I’m sure you’ll get your chance if you’re both in Gotham City. I’m just sad that I’ll have to be your third wheel.” Roy said wistfully.

“Roy, I had to listen to you and Kory in the next room,” Jason recalled, “you have no room to complain about third wheeling.”

“Awh was little Jaybird jealous?” Roy joked.

“Hey you’re the one who assumed that we banged in the first place,” he said “all I said was I was with her, and you decided to interpret that however you wanted”.

“Well, it doesn’t matter anyway because she ran off to Miami to work through some things, and we’re just over here thinking about the good old days,” Roy said. The two of them continued to drive in silence and Jason leaned back, trying to get some sleep before facing whatever chaos was waiting to greet them in Gotham City.

Tim has researched all he could on this mysterious Lady Noire, yet there are several reported sightings of different vigilantes all with the same height and build. Lady Noire, Ladybug, Dragon bug. Tim compiled all known sightings onto his corkboard to get a clear picture of who this person is.

The fight between Dragon Bug and Damian provided him with crucial information on how he could counter Dragon Bug. Tim then donned his Red Robin costume and began patrol of Gotham City. Gliding across he spotted an usual sight, a costumed person standing on a rooftop. It had to be the one Batman told him about, the person he was to fight because of the bet.

Tim landed on a nearby rooftop to reconfirm the target. "Same height and build, but this costume is different." Tim sighed, he had noticed that each costume had its own power and abilities, and made detailed notes on each. Codename: Polka-dot had the power to summon an unknown household object. Codename: Catwoman II used an indestructible staff and the power of disintegration, Codename: Drake used a sword and came with the power of hydrokinesis.

However, he had no intel regarding this new costume. He decided to press his luck and use stealth to take her down. He leaped off the roof and began gliding towards her with a kick.

To his surprise, his target shrank at the last second, he glided through and smashed into a skylight, landing inside an abandoned building.

Multimouse followed suit and jumped in through the broken skylight. Landing right at the centre of the room, she simply stood there arms akimbo looking at him. Red Robin threw a smoke bomb, grappling to the rafters. Multimouse did not pursue, no sense of panic she simply walked to a wooden crate and sat on it.

Red Robin, took the opportunity to launch himself off and glided towards Multimouse with a kick. He was shocked to see her suddenly turn around as if she knew he was there the entire time, with perfect timing she grabbed and judo flipped Red Robin through the wooden crate. Wiping her hands in a dramatic manner, Multimouse walked to the centre of the room and crossed her arms. Red Robin crushed a smoke bomb with his hand, obscuring the area and diving towards an underground vent.

He began to wonder how she was able to counter him so effectively. "The power of foresight? 360 degrees x-ray vision? No it can't be." Red Robin thought to himself. While crawling in the vents to a position behind Multimouse, he berated himself for pressing his luck without any information on Multimouse. He peeked his head out of the vent, Multimouse had not moved, she continued to stare at Red Robin's previous location. Taking another chance, Red Robin jumped out of the underground vent ready for a takedown.

Again as if she was a clairvoyant she countered him perfectly, spinning on the spot and delivering a crushing kick to Red Robin’s midsection. Sending him flying across the room, he took out his staff and slowly got up, using the staff as if it was a cane. He stood on shaky legs, in disbelief.

He then begins to notice something unusual hanging on the hem of his cape. His eyes widen as he takes a closer look. A miniature clone of Multimouse was hanging on, his eyes snapped up to the rafters and then the vents. There were several miniature clones all over the building, all about the size of a small insect.

Red Robin's jaw dropped as he had this epiphany. Seeing her cue, Multimouse shrank down and spawned a horde of miniature clones. Millions of clones rush towards Red Robin, he begins swinging his staff, stomping on any clones on the ground, flailing his arms like a madman. The horde bellows a collective “Surrender,” Red Robins defiantly continues to fight.

Soon the swarm begins to cover Red Robin all the way up to his neck, his body unable to move. The Multimouse arms pulls off the cowl and begins pulling all of Red Robin’s hair. Red Robin, facing the agony of Multimouse waxing his head. “Ok, ok I give up.” he cried. As he finished his plea, the swarm dissipated and reforms to the singular human sized Multimouse. Red Robin is then left kneeling and staring at the strands of his own hair left on the floor.

Multimouse, seizing the opportunity to obtain a trophy of her efforts, takes a selfie with a poor, disheveled Red Robin in the background.

Marinette was really starting to feel the effects of using different Miraculous for two nights straight. Dragon Bug was draining enough, but she had to use Multimouse to take on Red Robin. That left Nightwing and The Red Hood, and she was starting to wonder what was the point of this game. She felt like she was just fighting to win, fighting so that the person who took care of her when she first arrived in Gotham could prove a point. If she won, then she would stay under Catwoman’s protection, and the Miraculous would be protected with her. Though she was lucky that the Miraculous themselves didn’t look valuable enough to pique her interest. If she lost to one of them, she would be under Batman’s protection instead. She would become a part of the group of vigilantes who operate in the city, and she didn’t know how she felt about that either. How would she feel about seemingly being the only magic user among them? How would he feel about her being a magic user? She hadn’t even met the guy, all she knew was that he took an interest in her dealings with Catwoman. Maybe she would encounter the Red Hood and he would make the choice for her by putting her out of her misery. She decided to settle this fight once and for all as Ladybug, maybe then someone would give her some answers.

She got a text message from Catwoman, telling her to meet her on a rooftop that had gargoyles glaring down at the streets below. Maybe she had information on where her next fight would be, she didn’t say. By the time she got there, she saw two people eating fast food next to the gargoyles. The first was a redhead in red armor, and the second was…

“Get your own brooding spot, this one’s taken!” He yelled. Marinette looked up to see the other guy had a red domino mask, and in addition to being dressed in Kevlar and leather, had a red bat symbol on his chest.

Marinette spun her yo-yo, getting ready for a fight. The redhead continued eating, while his dark-haired companion gave her a swift once over.

“So, you’re the girl who took down Robin and Red Robin?” he asked, as if struggling to believe it.

“And you are?” she asked, when he put on the red helmet that was in his hand, it suddenly became clear.

“So, looking for me?” he asked, “Or are you on your way to fight the original boy wonder?”

“Honestly, I’ll take my chances with you.” Marinette said as she launched her yo-yo at his companion and wrapped the cord around him.

“Wait, wait, wait why me?” the redhead cried, then she threw him and sent him crashing into the Red Hood. The pair of them slammed into a nearby wall before she released the redhead. She unwound the cord and was getting ready to strike again.

Underneath the sprawled out pile of bodies, Red Hood grunted “Arsenal, get your ass off of my face or else…” Arsenal got up before he could finish his threat and they both stood up.

“So who checked ‘Fights with Toys’ off their bingo card?” Arsenal joked.

“Is that the best you can do?” Red Hood taunted. He came at her with a knife in hand, when she leapt in the air and wrapped her yo-yo cord around his arm. She launched herself at him, landing an aerial kick on his helmet. Red Hood grabbed her by the foot and flipped her over, sending her crashing to the ground.

“If you came here to fight me that’s one thing, not many people get to say they took on someone with a yo-yo and lived, unless you’re Toyman.” he said, as he lifted her up off the ground. “If you think this is what it takes to face Nightwing, then you have no idea who you’re dealing with.”

Ladybug took a few steps back after he helped her get to her feet, “so are you going to fight me instead?”

“Pixie, take it from me, it’s really not all it’s cracked up to be. As fun as it’s been watching you kick my brother’s asses, they are nothing compared to Nightwing.” he explained as he took off his helmet and set it down next to him.

“What do you know about Nightwing?” she asked, still understandably guarded about the situation.

“Oh what don’t I know, he’s basically Batman’s heir.” he told her “I’m just one of the spares, and that’s on a good day when I managed to not die.”

Dick had made it clear days ago that he wasn’t going to fight her, he already put his foot down at how silly this whole thing was. Jason, however, decided to have a little fun. “Honestly, you might as well just walk right into the batcave and challenge Batman yourself.” he told her, “I mean you won’t die, that’s kinda his whole deal, but you’ll be eating through a straw for the rest of your life.”

Jason, enjoying the anxiety bubble in the young woman, and he decided to crank it up to eleven.

“Nightwing is equal if not better than Batman in every way, he once took up the mantle of Batman when he was injured. Not only that, he broke Bane’s back. He lifted a 7ft tall 500lb big guy, snapped his spine over his knee as if it was nothing.” Jason moves his arms, mimicking the motion of breaking something over his knee. Ladybug began to sweat even more, struggling to imagine the powerhouse of a man to even accomplish such a feat.

Jason’s grin widens, “not only that, he fought a giant mutated bat the size of a man. He wrestled Man-Bat, putting him in a full nelson and smashing its face into solid concrete” Ladybug cringes at the thought of feeling the full force of having your face slammed into concrete. Jason gets ready for the coup de grace. “In fact, when he was 10 years old, he watched his parents get murdered by mobster Tony Zucco in front of his own eyes. After being taken under Batman’s wing, he went out for revenge. He chased after Tony for hours and cornered him in Crime Alley.

Tony died that night when Nightwent went after him, the official cause was a heart attack.”

Jason stops talking to look around him, as if he was paranoid and there were eyes all around him. He walks up to Ladybug and whispers to her ear “but between you and me, it wasn’t.”

He turns to Roy, “but if she’s gonna try and take him on after all that, then we might as well pull up some chairs and watch.” he said, giving Roy a knowing look.

“Oh yeah, I mean he’s no match for a cute girl and her yo-yo.” Roy joked.

“Come on, he’s probably waiting on top of the Iceberg Lounge, and he doesn’t like to be kept waiting” he declared, Ladybug followed as the three of them made their way to the Iceberg Lounge. She felt her legs shaking, but it’s fine, she would at least live to tell the tale...right?

Nightwing stood on the roof of the Iceberg Lounge, carefully watching the whereabouts of the people going in and out of the area. He heard footsteps and looked up to see three figures landing on the rooftop in front of him. He looked up to see Red Hood, Arsenal and a short girl who looked to be in her late teens, maybe early 20s. He looked between them, then back at the girl who was spinning a red yo-yo with black polka dots.

Nightwing waved to them, figuring she would be the short girl mentioned in the bet between Batman and Catwoman. As he noticed the three, the short girl visibly frightened as he walked towards them.

Nightwing sighed “what did you tell her?” he asked, he had better things to than get involved in Batman’s dumb little bet. The outcome would have been someone joining the Bat family by force, even he had put his foot down by that point.

“I mean, nothing that wasn’t true.” Red Hood told him, “she might as well know who she’s dealing with.”

“Right, and you probably told her you are just a soft teddy bear compared to me.” Nightwing remarked sarcastically, “was it to keep her from beating the stuffing out of you?”. At that point Ladybug was visibly confused, so Nightwing looked over at her “so how did you get dragged into this? Got sick of having to share a litter box?”

Ladybug eyes Nightwing cautiously, thinking his joking mannerisms are an elaborate ruse to lower her guard. “What, don’t tell my Catwoman’s got your tongue?” Nightwing jokes with a large grin. Ladybug begins to slowly walk back, confused at how expectations did not match reality.

Nightwing points his thumb at Ladybug and talks to Red Hood, “Alright what did you tell her about me?” Red Hood raises his arms innocently “Like I said, nothing that wasn’t true.”

Nightwing raises his eyebrow at Red Hood and crosses his arms. “Alright I told her how you took down Bane and Man-Bat by yourself” Red Hood admits. “And?” Nightwing begins tapping his foot. “I may have, insinuated that you may or may not have had something to do with Tony Zucco's heart attack”

Nightwing facepalms, “well so much for first impressions, let's start over shall we?”

Nightwing reaches his hand out to Ladybug, “Name’s Richard but everyone calls me Dick”

Marinette tentatively reaches out to shake his hand, “I know you aren’t enthusiastic about this bet, neither am I. I don’t want to knock your spots off, so how about I lie on the ground, you take a picture for Catwoman and you fly off into the sunset”

“Where would I go?” she asked,

“She could come with us.” Red Hood suggested, “nothing would annoy Batman more.”

“Right, and next she’ll start asking me if I actually hypnotize people with my ass.” Nightwing said as he raised an eyebrow at him. “Think Catwoman would let you take her?”

“We already asked, someone has to look after this pipsqueak while she’s doing what she does best, alone”, Red Hood explained.

Ladybug felt herself calming down a lot more at that moment. She came to this city not really knowing anyone, feeling like there was no one else looking out for her. Now, for the first time in a long time, she felt like she was going to be in good hands.

Bonus 1:

Roy: So, should we call ourselves “Red Arse Bug” or “Lady Red Arse”?

Jason: Do you want me to throw you off this roof?

Bonus 2:

Ladybug: So you all had to wear red, yellow and green?

Red Hood: Yup.

Ladybug: What was it like?

Red Hood: I did my time in the pixie boots, Pixie. Doesn’t mean I like to talk about it.

#jasonettejuly2021 #jasonette #maribat

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crossdressingdeath · 3 years

Note

I went to reread the Soup Incident (chapter 69, a flashback in a flashback near the Phoenix Mountain kiss). There were several things I had forgotten!

In the middle of the Sunshot Campaign, the YunmengJiang Sect had been to the Langya area to assist the LanlingJin Sect. Because they were short of hands, Jiang YanLi went to the battlefield along with them.She knew that her cultivation wasn’t high, so she did what she could, busying herself with the meals of the cultivators. In the beginning, neither Wei WuXian nor Jiang Cheng agreed, but Jiang YanLi had always been adept at cooking. [....]Although he really enjoyed the soup and felt grateful for the cook’s intentions, Jiang YanLi had never left her name. Nobody knew that another low level female cultivator had seen all of this. The cultivator was a servant of the LanlingJin Sect. Since her cultivation wasn’t high, she did the same job as Jiang YanLi did. She had fair looks and knew to take opportunities. Out of curiosity, she followed Jiang YanLi for a few times before she was able to guess what was going on. Keeping her composure, she loitered outside of Jin ZiXuan’s house after Jiang YanLi brought the soup, purposely letting Jiang ZiXuan see her shadow.Jin ZiXuan had finally managed to catch the person, so of course he was going to ask questions. Cleverly, the woman never acknowledged anything, but instead denied it ambiguously, her cheeks flushed, making it sound as though she was the one who did it, but didn’t want Jin ZiXuan to know how much trouble she went through. And thus, Jin ZiXuan didn’t force her to admit it any longer. However, in action, he had began to respect the cultivator. He began to pay attention to her, even raising her from a servant to a guest cultivator.For a long time, Jiang YanLi didn’t realize that something was wrong. This went on until one day, after Jiang YanLi brought the soup, she ran into Jin ZiXuan, temporarily there to pick up a letter. Naturally, Jin ZiXuan was going to ask what Jiang YanLi was doing in his room. Jiang YanLi didn’t dare say it in the beginning. However, hearing that his tone sounded more and more doubtful, no matter how anxious, she had to tell him the truth.Yet, somebody had used this reason already.One could easily guess what Jin ZiXuan’s reaction was after he heard this.And so, right then and right there, he ‘exposed’ Jiang YanLi’s ‘lie’. Jiang YanLi hadn’t expected something like this to happen at all. She had never been the type of person to show off; not even many people knew that she was a daughter of the YunmengJiang Sect. In the short amount of time, she couldn’t find any strong evidence. She tried to protest, but the more she did, the more she felt cold at heart. In the end, stiffly, Jin ZiXuan told her, “Don’t think that just because you come from a powerful sect that you can steal and trample other people’s feelings. Some people, even if they come from poor backgrounds, their character are much better than the former’s. Please watch your conduct.”Jiang YanLi could finally tell a few things from Jin ZiXuan’s words.From the beginning, Jin ZiXuan had never believed that a maiden like her, born from a noble sect but had low cultivation, could do anything on the battlefield or help with anything at all. To put it simply, he thought that she just wanted to find a reason to approach him, that she was just here to add to the trouble. Jin ZiXuan had never understood her, and hadn’t ever wanted to understand her either. Due to this, of course he wouldn’t believe her.[....]Afterward, although Jiang YanLi continued to work at Langya, she only did her own things. Not only did she stop bringing Jin ZiXuan soup, she wouldn’t even give him a proper look.

(At the end of the flashback is the measuring snakes. JYL doesn't want to hang out with him, and he goes to grab her when she leaves. WWX hits him in the chest and JZX pulls his SWORD? and attacks, which ends up being blocked by LWJ.

So she does seem to have an actual job in the camp, and one that a servant cultivator does as well. The unnamed woman and JZX are apparently... not worried about poison?! Either being implicated as potentially poisoning, or worried about being poisoned. JZX enjoys the soup and even thinks positively of the maker's intent. (How did you survive this long in Koi Tower JZX? THAT COULD HAVE BEEN POISONED!?) Since JYL is not even widely known as being YMJ's remaining clan how much extra privilege would she really get at camp, beyond whatever was involved with making the soup? I do think that recent fic rec and what you have posted are very interesting points and much of it makes sense but not all of it fits what the text actually says.

...Ah, yes. I had forgotten that JZX is somehow naive enough to eat soup that someone has apparently just left in his room. Which is. creepy as hell, by the way, I thought she'd been leaving it outside but apparently it was in his room? What the hell was she doing in his room? They're not friends, they barely know each other, if she got caught they'd both be in trouble despite him not wanting her there and having no knowledge of her presence, and he never gave her permission to be in there. That is insanely fucking creepy. I believe this is another one of those things that everyone would find incredibly off-putting if JYL was a guy and JZX was a girl but apparently is fine when it's the other way around.

Anyway. First off, just because not many of the soldiers knew she was the only daughter of the Jiang sect doesn't mean it wasn't known. Everyone of high enough rank to offer any sort of benefit would also be of high enough rank that they would for sure know who she was. The rank and file not knowing a noble on sight doesn't mean people didn't know she was a noble! Also, so... JYL was doing a servant's job? When the sects would've brought plenty of servants? Note that the woman taking credit and doing the same job was a servant until JZX chose to raise her to guest cultivator status. And servants would be doing things other than preparing meals as well. So... JYL came along to do a job that other people could do just fine and that those other people would be doing as well as other things and also almost certainly was stealing food from the camp to give extra to her personal favourites and was breaking into a sect heir's room on a regular basis. Sounds like a waste of resources that would be better spent feeding and housing another servant, honestly. Or, since she's making extra food for her brothers and JZX, four extra servants. Also I love how that last bit is phrased like her in a way punishing JZX by refusing to even look at him when... yeah, that's what he wanted the whole time? All he wanted from her was for her to leave him alone. Nice of her to finally get the memo! Only took her a decade or so!

I also find it hard to feel anything for JYL when JZX stops her from leaving at Phoenix Mountain so he can talk to her, because like... you have been being a massive creep about this guy probably since you were children, you can deal with being kept in place so he can talk to you one time. JZX shouldn't have drawn his sword, but like. I do find it hard to feel bad for her regarding the slight discomfort of a man who has never shown any desire to hurt a woman in any way beyond "get the fuck away from me I want nothing to do with you" (which she then ignored) not immediately allowing her to leave when she wants to so that he can explain and apologize for his actions and give her what she always wanted. Like... oh dear! Did someone ignore your clear discomfort and insist on staying around you when you made it clear that you didn't want him there? Well, maybe you'll think twice before inflicting that on him again!

#mdzs #lotus sister #jin zixuan #asks #anon

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xwingsandlaserswords · 4 years

Text

Stories from a Secret Garden

Collab with @jinkouuart for @codywanweek day 6, fairytale! Be sure to check out her amazing companion piece!

Cross posted on AO3

Rey will be the first to admit that Finn and Poe's kids are great. They're smart, funny, and respectful. They don't fight and they know how to clean up after themselves. Her friends are great dads; that's evident every time she babysits.

The one problem is bedtime.

The minute she remotely mentions the b-word, all hell breaks loose. Damrus starts begging for one more round in his game. Shara hides in the cupboard. Leia tries to negotiate. Even Annihea, who is too young to understand a word anyone says, starts wailing. The babysitter is supposed to love bedtime; Rey can't help but detest it.

Tonight is no different. Damrus sulked as he brushed his teeth. Leia hugged her teddy and demanded a thirty minute delay. She had to drag Shara out of her hiding place. Even Beebee seemed upset with her. Beebee is never upset with anyone.

"My final offer is twenty more minutes," Leia stated, holding out her hand.

"Or," Jannah, her co-babysitter for the evening, said, "you can get in bed now and Auntie Rey will tell you a bedtime story."

It was like those four words flipped a switch. The kids perked up and hurried to their bedrooms. Rey looked at Jannah, stunned. "Why did you say that?!" She whispered, "I can't tell stories for the life of me!"

Jannah shrugged and continued to rock and feed Annihea. "It always works when I have to watch them."

Rey put her hands on her hips. "You, my love, are an excellent storyteller. I, on the other hand-"

"Will be fine," Jannah interrupted, "if you can't think of one, use a story from your life. They're only going to be awake for half of it; no need to panic if you aren't the next Emily Dickinson."

Rey still frowned. "Why can't you do it?"

"Because this baby is almost asleep and there's no way I'm risking waking her up." Jannah moved the bottle to the table and shooed Rey off to the bedroom.

The brunette flipped her girlfriend off before calling the kids to Damrus's bedroom. The three sat in the eldest's bed and eagerly waited for their aunt to begin.

Rey sat across from them and smiled awkwardly. "What story do you want to hear?"

"Princes!"

"Knights"

"Dancing!"

Shara and Leia shouted their ideas one after the other. Damrus simply shrugged. "I like flowers," he mumbled.

An idea came to Rey's head quickly. "Okay, here goes.

"A long time ago, in a kingdom far, far away…"

♤♡♤♡♤♡♤♡

It really doesn't surprise Cody to learn the prince is missing.

Everyone was frantically preparing for that night's dance. Soon, dignitaries were arriving from all over to meet the king to be. In a few short months, Prince Anakin would formally take his late father's place as monarch of their young country. Cody wasn't concerned: he'd seen the young man grow into a fearless and noble ruler. He didn't have the most conventional way of doing things, but Cody had to admit his methods were effective.

Most agreed that Anakin would settle down and conform to tradition once he was married. Cody thought that was ludicrous; marriage wouldn't change Anakin's foundation. Regardless, a dance was being held with the secondary hope of finding a spouse for the future king. The young man must have hated the idea as much as Cody if he'd been missing since dusk.

Good luck finding him, Rex, Cody thought to himself. At least my prince isn't missing.

He walked the cobblestone path to a small, secluded place in the Queen's Garden. The sun wouldn't be up for another hour, but the humidity was already uncomfortable. He hated being outside in his formal wear. The armour encasing his legs and right arm made him sweat. The straps on his shoulders made certain movements difficult. The white uniform underneath was thick and stiff. His sword was positioned in an unfamiliar way. Cody understood that it protected and looked better than his usual outfit, but the dance wasn’t for hours! Did he have to wear it now?

He would only endure this discomfort for one person. That person was currently sitting on a bench and rereading the same book for the fifth time. Cody would never understand why- he already knew all the words by heart.

Cody was sent to retrieve him for some final inspection, but he couldn't help but take a moment to admire the prince's beauty. The long cape was swept into his lap, creating a pillow for his book. The golden shoulder plates and buttons glistened under the lamp light. The tailor must have modified the suit recently; Cody didn’t recall ever seeing the golden accents on his right leg and left sleeve. He also couldn’t help his slight jealousy: the prince’s outfit looked much more comfortable than his own.

"If you stand there any longer the birds will mistake you as stone", the prince said, interrupting Cody's thoughts.

He smiled slightly. "I was allowing you to finish."

"Hm, yes," Obi-Wan turned the page of his book, "and I am oblivious to the fact Anakin is currently with the Queen of Naboo."

"Ah, well…" Cody cleared his throat. "The Duke has requested your presence in the ballroom. He would like your opinion on some things."

Obi-Wan met his gaze, amusement twinkling in his blue eyes. "It is a shame I cannot be found, then."

"Yes, Sir, it is."

They shared a smile before Obi-Wan stood. He put his book in the bench's hidden compartment. How the prince managed to find these hidden places, Cody would never find out.

He looked back at the Knight and smiled. "Would you care to escort me around the garden before I must see the Duke?"

Cody offered his arm. "It would be an honor, Your Highness."

Obi-Wan took his arm and they began their stroll. It was easy to get lost while surrounded by the beauteous flowers. The path diverged into three different sections: one leading to the castle, one to the stable and the last to the gates. Cody didn't need direction before heading down the path to the gates.

"The roses are breathtaking this year," Obi-Wan said, breaking their silence.

Instead of speaking his thoughts, Cody nodded. "Hevy has been working with Ninety-Nine to ensure the garden is ready for the summer. My suspicion is that he wants to show up the Alderanian gardeners."

Obi-Wan chuckled. "I will never understand their competition."

"It's a thing between brothers. Cutup did well for King Bail's wedding; Hevy wants to do better for the prince's coronation." Cody replied with a shrug.

Obi-Wan put a hand on his own and stopped in the centre of the path. "Do you think he's ready?"

"Oh, I'm sure Hevy is. Ninety-Nine is a great teacher."

Obi-Wan shook his head fondly. "I have no doubt in that. I meant do you think Anakin is ready? He's still so…"

"Headstrong?"

" Young. At his age all I had to do was smile and nod. He is going to be running a country."

"You did a little more than smile and nod, Your Highness."

Cody recalled the prince’s marriage with the late Queen of Mandalore. Prince Obi-Wan had just turned seventeen. He proclaimed the union would unite their two countries for years to come. Cody, a teen himself, couldn’t help but feel bad for the elder. For years, it appeared the prince was stuck in a marriage of convenience.

Later, he learned this was only partially the case. Yes, the marriage was arranged, but Obi-Wan had quickly fallen in love with the Queen. Years later, the couple had a son. Soon after the prince’s birth, King Qui-Gon passed away. Obi-Wan was forced to return to his home country to take over Anakin’s teachings and the role of acting monarch. For Mandalore to maintain its political position, it was agreed the best course of action was to dissolve Prince Obi-Wan and Queen Satine’s union. This was all before the prince had turned twenty-five.

So, no, Obi-Wan did not just "smile and nod" when he was the age of the young prince.

Obi-Wan continued, "I had years of learning under Father before I was expected to lead, not to mention what I’d learned from Satine. Anakin-"

"Anakin has known his duty since he was born," Cody interrupted. "He has watched and learned as you acted in the role he was born to take. You fail to give him enough credit, Your Highness. Anakin will be a fearless and noble ruler, just as you taught him."

It was no secret Obi-Wan was treated unjustly by the former king. As the child of a non-traditional union, Obi-Wan held no place in line for the throne. Qui-Gon still educated him, but all his attention turned to Anakin when he was born. The younger son was the first born to the King and Queen. The throne was his right, not Obi-Wan’s.

When Qui-Gon passed away, it was agreed that Obi-Wan would temporarily act as monarch. He was to educate his younger brother so one day, when he turned twenty-three, he may take the throne. Several protested this arrangement, arguing that a bastard should have no such power. By the time anyone cared to listen, Obi-Wan's reign was coming to an end. Now their attention is on the king-to-be and his courtship status.

"I know you do not want to be king," Cody said softly. "But even the moonlight doesn't hide your worry. What is bothering you?"

"Many things keep me up at night, my dear. You'll have to be more specific." Cody simply tilted his head and waited until the prince sighed. "I know he is ready, but I still feel Anakin is too young for such responsibility. I fear that his and the Queen from Naboo's courtship will be denied. I worry that my son resents me for leaving when I had no choice. I fear…" He looked to the ground for a moment. "I fear that once Anakin ascends to the throne, he will no longer need me."

Cody gently tilted the prince's head to meet his gaze. "There is no doubt in my mind that he will always need you. You are his brother, his mentor, his beloved friend. He may not need an advisor anymore, but he will always need you."

Obi-Wan put a hand over the knight's own. "What would I do without you?"

"Not have a knight to cover your sorry arse."

Obi-Wan shook his head. He waited a moment more before speaking again. "I've been thinking of moving upstate."

Cody recoiled slightly in surprise. "Oh?"

"Yes, once Anakin is crowned and married to Padmé. Nowhere too far: just somewhere to get away from the politics and so-called royal life."

"Really?" Cody tried not to let his hope build.

"Yes. I may invite Krokie to stay. It depends how he'd get along with my fiancé, however."

"Fiancé?" This is the first time he'd heard the word out of the other's mouth.

"After the coronation I will have no ties to the throne. I will be able to marry whomever I want." Obi-wan smiled cheekily. "Perhaps you've met him; he is in the guard, after all."

"There are thousands of men in the guard. You must be more specific."

"Well, this knight is loyal. He is always two steps behind me. Regardless of my rankings and status, he has never feared to speak his mind." Obi-Wan took a step closer. "He is also quite charming. Handsome too, if I say so myself, especially in his formal wear."

Cody grimaced. He'd almost forgotten about the uncomfortable garments. "He'd only wear them for you, Sir."

"Soon he may never have to dawn them again."

"I love you," Cody admitted, tired of the banter that kept them apart.

Obi-Wan kissed his cheek and pulled him close. "And I you, cyare."

Soon, dignitaries would be arriving, Rex would arrive with the upset prince, and someone would pull Obi-Wan away for one reason or another. Cody tried to forget about that; right now it was just him, his beloved, and the stars.

♤♡♤♡♤♡♤♡

Rey broke out of her story-telling trance and smiled. "The end!" She said gleefully.

All three children were fast asleep. Rey looked to the door frame and frowned when Jannah laughed. "How long have they been out?" She asked.

Jannah shrugged. "Leia fell as soon as you said the first sentence, Shara followed after Cody found the prince and Damrus was out not too long ago." Rey sighed before getting up and gathering Shara in her arms. Jannah came in and followed suit with Leia. "You did well," she continued, "I quite enjoyed your story."

"Oh, that wasn't a story," Rey called as she exited the room. "That was simply the beginnings of my grandfather and his husband."

… Well, maybe she had taken some creative liberties, but Jannah didn't need to know that.

#codywan #codywanweek2020 #obi wan kenobi #commander cody #universe: fairytale #my fics #background finnpoe #background rey x jannah #prince obi-wan #knight cody

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pikapeppa · 4 years

Text

Cullen/Lavellan smut: Plan

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO @schoute, MY DEAR LOVE AND SOULMATE!! The best way to tell your friends you love them is to throw smut at them, right? This is normal. 😂

~4300 words; read on AO3 instead.

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

Dorian chuckled and folded his arms. “... and that’s how our dear Captain Rylen ended up getting a sand rash where no man should ever get such a rash. But I digress. The point is that if you wear that armour to the party, Piper will have you thrown out.”

Cullen shot Dorian a resentful look. The Tevinter mage was sitting on the edge of his desk. Cullen didn’t understand why so many people seemed to think they could sit on his desk when they came to see him. First it was Rynne Hawke, and now it was Dorian, and there was that one time that Sera had actually perched on his desk like an overgrown blonde raven. It was completely unacceptable.

There was only one person that Cullen didn’t mind sitting on his desk, and that person was the one who was under discussion right now.

“Piper won’t throw me out of the Herald’s Rest for wearing armour to the party,” he said.

Dorian waved him off. “She clearly and specifically stated that she would eject anyone from the Herald’s Rest who wore armour to the party tonight, by force if necessary,” he said. “The notice on the announcement board says, and I quote—”

“I read the notice,” Cullen muttered.

Dorian blithely carried on. “‘No armour, no swords, and no shoes allowed, or you’ll get no fucking drinks.’” He chuckled. “Very pithy, our Inquisitor is.”

Cullen stared at him in surprise. “No shoes? Was that a recent addition?”

“As of an hour ago, I believe,” Dorian said.

Piper, he thought in exasperation. He frowned at Dorian. “I am not going into the Herald’s Rest barefoot. And the Inquisitor will not throw me out for wearing shoes.”

Dorian tutted. “Nepotism. I see how it is. Suit yourself.” He inspected his nails and didn’t move.

Cullen gazed at him expectantly. Dorian didn’t say anything further, but he also wasn’t making any moves to leave.

“Was there something else you wanted?” Cullen said impatiently.

Dorian looked up from his cuticles. “I thought you wanted to run your party outfit past me.”

Cullen’s eyebrows shot up. “Why would I–” He faltered, then scowled at Dorian and rose from his chair. “I am capable of dressing myself without your input. Now if you’ll excuse me, I haven’t finished reading these reports.”

Dorian glanced at the papers on Cullen’s desk. “It’s past sunset. Don’t you ever rest?”

“Dorian,” Cullen said firmly, “get out. Now.”

Dorian huffed and rose gracefully from his seat on the desk. “That’s rather ungrateful, all things considered, but when the commander barks…” He drifted toward the door, and Cullen sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. He was being quite ungrateful, given Dorian’s assistance picking out the textiles for Piper’s birthday gift.

“Thank you for your assistance with the gift,” he said sincerely. “I am truly grateful.”

Dorian paused at the door and shot him a small smile. “You’re very welcome. They look wonderful, by the way. She’ll love them.”

Cullen smiled faintly in return. “I hope so.”

“She will,” Dorian said confidently. “I haven’t a doubt.” He left Cullen’s office and closed the door behind him.

Cullen sighed, then sat at his desk and picked up Rylen’s latest report. But when a minute passed with Cullen blankly rereading the same sentence three times in a row, he finally gave up trying to do any further work for the night.

He glanced at the clock that Dagna had made for him back at Kinloch Hold. The party would be starting in just over an hour, which meant Piper would be here to drag him to the tavern in less than an hour. He really ought to get ready.

He sighed and rubbed his face, then stood up and began removing his armour. When he was down to his trousers, he went over the basin and mirror in the corner to shave. As he scraped the razor along his cheeks and neck, he mentally ran through the casual clothing he had in his armoire on the upper level.

He owned seven shirts and four pairs of trousers. A substandard wardrobe for someone like Dorian, perhaps, but it was more clothing than the average Templar owned, and it was more than serviceable for Cullen’s everyday duties. But tonight was Piper’s birthday party, and as galling as it might be for Cullen to admit, Dorian had a point: armour was not the appropriate garb for a celebratory occasion. Not even if the celebration was, in Piper’s words, ‘really just a massive fucking excuse to get all of Skyhold pissing drunk’.

But none of the shirts that Cullen owned were particularly appropriate for a celebration, either. They were all simple cotton shirts, long-sleeved and loose enough for movement without being so loose that they were bulky when layered beneath a set of armour. The only difference among the shirts was that some of them weren’t a plain cream colour. One of them was a reddish-rust sort of colour, and one of them was green. There was also the plaidweave training vest that Piper had bought for him, but that most certainly wasn’t the appropriate garb for a party. He supposed he could wear the formal coat that he’d worn at the Winter Palace, but that wasn’t much better than his armour.

At least, he didn’t think it was much better than his armour.

Perhaps he should have asked Dorian to inspect his wardrobe after all.

He sighed again, then roughly rinsed his clean-shaven face and sat heavily in his chair, and for a moment he just sat there thinking about his blasted shirts. Would cream be better than green, or perhaps the green would appear more festive?

Eventually, however, he was forced to admit that his clothing was not the only reason he was feeling nervous.

He glanced shiftily at his desk drawer, then opened it and pulled out the flat rectangular box that lay within. Then, for the third time today, he opened the box and critically inspected Piper’s birthday gift.

He really shouldn’t be nervous about this gift; a number of people had been involved in its design and crafting, including Dorian, Sera, Dagna and Harritt, and all of them were convinced that Piper would love the result. But Cullen had never given Piper a gift before — not beyond his lucky coin, at least. Piper, on the other hand, was always bringing and sending him gifts and souvenirs from her travels: exotic pressed flowers and local snacks and high-quality Tevinter ink and a beautiful whetstone that she herself had engraved: P. L. + C. S. R. = ❤.

This was the first time Cullen was giving her a gift of his own making, and he hoped she would like it.

Maker’s breath, he dearly hoped he hadn’t gauged this wrong and that she would like it.

Someone banged on the door. Alarmed, Cullen scrambled to shove the gift back into his desk drawer, and a second later, the door flew open.

“Who’s ready to get shitfaced?” Piper announced cheerfully. “I know I — ooh, what have we got here?”

She was grinning and inspecting his naked chest. He nervously ran a hand through his hair. Blast, damn, he could feel his cheeks burning. “Piper! I — you’ve — I wasn’t expecting you so soon,” he stammered. “What are — I was, er…”

“Do tell, what were you doing sitting here in your office with no shirt on?” she said. Then she gasped. “Oh Commander. Were you doing something naughty in your chair while you waited for me? What was that you hid in your desk? Was it a copy of the Randy Dowager?” She skipped over to his desk.

“What? No!” he squawked. He instinctively placed a hand over the drawer. “There’s no Randy Dowager, and I wasn’t — there was nothing naughty happening.”

“Then why are you blushing?” she asked with a grin. “And why are you half-naked?”

“I was changing for your party!” he said defensively. “The one where you’ve forbidden armour, might I add.”

Her smile softened, and she patted his arm. “It’s all right, Cullen. I know what’s really going on here.”

He raised his eyebrows. “What do you mean?”

“I mean I know why you’re really half-naked,” she said. “You’re giving me a birthday present, aren’t you?”

His heart did a nervous little twist; she wasn’t wrong, but for some reason he didn’t feel ready to give her the gift just yet. But to his surprise, she gestured at his body. “You were doing something sexy for me, weren’t you? And then I came bursting in before you were ready?”

Her tone was teasing. Cullen opened his mouth to protest, but he stopped himself before he could speak. If Piper thought he’d been doing some sort of naughty routine, then he could delay showing her the gift until he was ready for her to see it.

He lifted his chin. “Yes,” he said.

Her face went slack with surprise. “What?”

“That’s right,” he said. “I was planning a… seduction routine, and you interrupted my plan.” He dearly hoped his neck didn’t look as warm as it felt.

Piper barked out a laugh. “I was joking! You – you weren’t really?”

“I was,” Cullen lied. “I was planning on…” He hesitated. Maker, this felt wrong to say, but he had no choice but to go on. “I was planning to be naked in my chair when you came in.”

Her eyes widened with interest. “Go on,” she said eagerly. “What next?”

“I was going to…” He took a bracing breath and rose from his chair, then stepped in front of her and crowded her back against the desk. “I was going to kiss you,” he said. “Might I continue with that part of the plan, even though you ruined the first part?”

She laughed brightly, but Cullen could see the heated spark in her brilliant hazel eyes. “You certainly can,” she said. “By all means, Commander, please carry out your naughty plan.”

He scoffed, then kissed her abruptly – a purposely hard kiss complete with a gentle nip of her lower lip, all the better to distract her from the drawer that she was leaning against. Fortunately, the distraction worked: Piper gasped at the nip of his teeth, then gripped his waist and thrust her tongue into his mouth, and Cullen’s body flared with a sudden rush of excitement at her obvious hunger.

She tilted her head and stroked his tongue with hers, and Cullen cupped the back of her neck and leaned shamelessly into her kiss. Then Piper’s fingers were stroking his cheek and threading through his hair, and he sighed happily as her nails grazed his scalp.

She leaned away from his lips. “You just shaved, didn’t you?” she breathed.

“I did,” he murmured. “I didn’t want to, er…” He cast around wildly for something naughty to say. “I didn’t want to scratch your thighs with my stubble,” he finally said.

She grinned, and to Cullen’s surprise and amusement, her cheeks turned faintly pink. “And why would your face be anywhere near my thighs, Commander?” she asked.

He stared at her cheeky smirk, then abruptly lifted her onto the desk and stepped between her legs. “Would you like me to tell you, or would you like me to show you?” he asked.

Piper’s face lit up even further, and Cullen winced; of course she was going to demand that he say it, now that he’d put the offer out there. Sure enough, she laughed throatily and trailed her finger down his chest. “I think I need you to say it,” she said. “I’m very innocent in all of this, you see. I think you need to spell out your plans for me.”

He pressed his lips together, then gathered his courage once more and lifted his chin. “Fine,” he said. “I’m going to take off your breeches and your smallclothes, and then I’m going to… to push your legs apart and put my mouth right... here.” He pressed his knuckle against the juncture of her thighs.

She gasped and jerked her hips, and Cullen’s manhood twitched at the sound. He gently kneaded the spot between her legs until she was restlessly twisting her hips, then lowered his lips to her ear.

He purposely dropped his voice. “I’ll place my mouth right here,” he murmured. “And then, Piper, I am going to kiss you here until you’re squirming on my desk.”

“Squirming, hm?” she panted. “And then what?”

She was smiling. Her cheeks were pink and she was rocking her hips toward his hand, but still she was giving him that signature cheeky smile.

He shook his head in amusement, then lifted his hand and brushed his thumb over her lips. “And then you’ll need to wait and see what happens next, you minx.”

She laughed breathily. “I’m not the minx this time! You are, with all this dirty talk. I’m so proud–” She broke off with a little cry: Cullen had abruptly pulled aside the deep-cut neckline of her shirt to take her nipple in his mouth.

“Fuck,” she gasped. She arched her spine and braced her hand on his desk, her other hand sliding into his hair to pull him more firmly to her breast, and Cullen curved his arm around her waist to pull her closer too. Her eagerness was bleeding into him, raising and stoking his lust with her every gasping breath, and as much as this little game may have begun as his desperate attempt to distract her, it had swiftly turned into so much more than a distraction: Piper was rolling her hips toward him and clutching his shoulder, and he was laving her nipple with his tongue while untucking her shirt from her breeches, and then her shirt was on the floor and she was pulling his hand toward her breast and his tongue was stroking the inside of her mouth…

He kissed her and impatiently untied her breeches, then started peeling her breeches down, and Piper panted fitfully and lifted her hips to help his efforts. “Cullen,” she whimpered.

He didn’t reply. He was too busy staring at the glory that awaited him between her legs. She was plump and slick and ready for so much more than just his kiss, and his manhood was throbbing like an eager beacon between his legs…

“Cullen,” she whined, and she lifted her hips toward him. “Put your mouth on me.”

He swallowed a rush of saliva and sat in his chair, then tenderly pushed her thighs apart before lifting his eyes to her face. “I’m doing this because it was part of my plan,” he said sternly. “Not because you have told me to.”

She grinned at him. “I don’t doubt it, Commander. You’re the naughty one here.”

He smirked at her irreverent tone, then lowered his face between her legs and slid his tongue from her cleft up to her swollen clit with one slow, thorough stroke of his tongue. By the time he was circling her clit with the tip of his tongue, she was already crying out and rocking her hips toward his face.

“F-fuck,” she gasped. “Fuck, Cullen, that’s – oh gods!”

He slowly and thoroughly kissed the fragrant flesh between her legs, then lifted his mouth and looked up at her. “Is everything all right?” he asked.

She burst out a breathless laugh, then moaned and twisted her hips. “You know it is, you big handsome jerk. Now keep going!”

He huffed and leaned away slightly. “Remind me, Piper, whose plan is this? Yours or mine?”

“Yours!” she burst out. “Yours, yours, it’s yours, all right? Just – fenedhis, just put your mouth on my pussy, please!”

He gave her a chiding look. “Only because you said ‘please’,” he said, and he placed another careful open-mouthed kiss between her legs.

She moaned and spread her legs wider, and Cullen closed his eyes as he savoured her earthy musk on his lips and her pleasured little whimpers in his ears. He reached up and smoothed his hand from her belly up to her breast, and when he palmed her breast and stroked her nipple with his thumb, she moaned and began to undulate her hips toward him more eagerly still.

“Cullen,” she mewled. “Gods, please, it feels so fucking good…”

Pleased by her pleasure, he lapped at her more eagerly still. A few frenzied heartbeats later, her pleasure crested and broke, and she cried out and threaded her fingers through his hair.

“Yes!” she cried. “Yes, yes, ah!” She rolled her hips toward him, and Cullen followed the cues of her body, lapping and kissing her voraciously until the wavelike rhythm of her body began to slow. He wiped his mouth carefully on his hand, then stood up and began unlacing his trousers.

“What are you doing now, Commander?” she asked.

Her voice was strained and breathless with pleasure, and Cullen looked her straight in the eye. “Now I’m going to push down my trousers,” he said. “And I am going to… to press myself inside of you until we are both extremely satisfied.”

She gasped in a raspy little breath and nodded. “Yes, yes, fuck me, that’s what I want!”

“I’m pleased to hear that,” he panted. He shoved his trousers down, then pulled her hips up to the edge of the desk and buried himself inside of her in one hard stroke.

She cried out and arched her back like a bow, and Cullen groaned in bliss. She was perfect, hot and tight and enveloping him like the most perfect sheath, and in all the rushed and frenzied heat of this impromptu ‘naughty plan’, he was too eager and riled and filled with lust to be patient. He pumped his hips eagerly, pushing his own pleasure higher with every lusty cry that poured from Piper’s lips.

Just as his climax began to build in the depths of his belly, he paused in his frenzied thrusting, and Piper mewled and scraped at his chest. “Cullen, don’t stop, don’t stop, keep fucking me hard–”

“I will,” he gasped. “I – give me a moment…” He swiftly looped his arm beneath her leg and hooked her knee over his arm, spreading her wider and angling her pelvis toward him, then slid into her once more.

She let another wild cry, and Cullen gasped in ecstasy before kissing her hard. With her body spread like this, he felt like he was delving even deeper inside of her, sliding sweetly and firmly through her glorious feminine depths, and Piper was crying out and running her nails over his scalp and pulling his head down toward her breast again–

He suckled her nipple and slammed into her hard, and she threw her head back. “Fuck!” she cried.

He moaned into her breast and thrust into her more eagerly than ever. The pleasure was thrumming through his veins and his throat and down through his calves, and when it finally peaked, his breathy groan of rapture was smothered against her perfect petite breast.

She clasped the back of his neck, and he squeezed his eyes shut and suckled her nipple until the blinding pleasure ebbed away to a boneless sort of peace. He finally lifted his mouth from her breast, then sighed happily and smiled at her.

Her face was flushed and dewy from their exertions, and she was beaming at him. “Happy fuckin’ birthday to me,” she said, and she burst out laughing.

Cullen let out a breathless little laugh. “Minx,” he accused.

She laughed more brightly still. Cullen smiled helplessly at her, then carefully pulled out of her and tucked his manhood back into his trousers. He quickly grabbed the towel from his washbasin so Piper could use it to tidy up, but when he turned back to face her, her smile was soft and affectionate instead of wicked.

“You weren’t really planning this, were you?” she said.

He raised his eyebrows, then rubbed the back of his neck. “I – I certainly was. What makes you think…”

He trailed off; Piper was gazing at him with a fond sort of expectation, like the look she wore while she was waiting for him to tell her little stories about his life before the Inquisition, and… and of course she’d seen right through his half-baked ruse. She knew him better than anyone, and of course she knew he wasn’t one for planning naughty seduction scenes.

He sighed. “All right, I’ll admit, this was… rather impromptu. I…” He nervously licked his lips, then gave her a pleading look. “I have a birthday gift for you. And I – I wanted to–”

“You got me a birthday gift?” she interrupted. “I — you didn’t have to do that!”

Cullen gazed at her cautiously. She looked both surprised and happy, but this somehow only made him more nervous. “I designed it,” he corrected. “Dagna and Harritt made it – made them, I should say. And Dorian helped me decide on the colours and fabric, and – well, I hope you like them, but I’ve never seen you wear such an item before, so I’m uncertain if perhaps you may not like them, but Sera said–”

She cut him off once more. “You had something custom-made for me?” she asked. “What is it?”

Her eyes were bright now, and Cullen’s nerves ratcheted even higher. “They’re – well, I might as well…” He swallowed hard, then gently patted her thigh so she would shift aside.

She shuffled to the side on his desk, and he opened the desk drawer. Then, with an odd combination of hope and worry, he handed her the flat rectangular box.

“These are for you,” he said. “Happy birthday, Piper.”

She took the box and opened it, and her jaw dropped. “Archer’s gloves?” she exclaimed.

He rubbed the back of his neck. “Sera said you didn’t usually wear them and that’s why your fingers are so callused. But I noticed that you soak your hands sometimes in a basin of elfroot, so I thought if – well, the gloves might protect your fingers, and…” He trailed off and swallowed hard. Piper was staring at the gloves in an uncharacteristic silence, and her mass of silver hair had fallen partway over her face, so he couldn’t tell what she was thinking.

Feeling truly nervous now, he pressed on. “They’re druffalo skin to protect your fingers. And they’re lined with fennec fur for softness,” he explained. “Dorian said you would like that shade of brown the most. And the… the thread is woven from silverite for strength, but it also, er, reminds me of your hair. And the grommets are – well, they’re purely decorative, but they’re ten-carat gold, and you – well, you call me Golden Boy sometimes, so I thought–” He clamped his lips together to stop himself from babbling at her like a nervous messenger.

Piper was still gazing silently at the gloves. Cullen rested his hand on her bare knee. “Piper?” he said tentatively. “If you don’t like them, I won’t be offended, I promise you–”

“I love them,” she said. “I absolutely love them. They’re perfect.” She finally looked up at him, and his heart jolted: she was beaming at him, but her eyes were shining with tears.

She laughed and briskly wiped her eyes. “These are perfect,” she said. “The – the silver and gold? That’s so…” She laughed again and shook her head.

Cullen winced. “Is it, er, tacky? Dorian said it was tacky, but I insisted. Perhaps I shouldn’t have–”

“No,” Piper said loudly. “I love it. I love them. Cullen, I fucking love you.”

He sighed in relief, then smiled at her. “I love you, Piper. Very much. And you are always giving me gifts, so I–”

“Stop talking,” she said. She put the box aside and reached for him. “Stop talking and just kiss me.”

He smiled at her, then stepped close to her and kissed her just as she’d asked. She twined her arms around his waist and hugged him, and Cullen blissfully cradled her neck in his palms and savoured the press of her perfect scarred lips until she pulled away from him.

“I love you, Cullen,” she whispered. “I’m going to wear these gloves every single day when I’m out in the field, and I’ll pretend it’s like you’re keeping me safe.”

He stroked her cheek with his thumb. “That was my hope,” he murmured. “That something of me could be there to protect you, even if I can’t.”

Her smile widened, and she let out a tremulous little laugh. “No more talking, Golden Boy,” she said. “I can’t afford to cry, not before the big drunken bash.”

He chuckled. “Yes, Inquisitor.”

She smirked and poked him in the belly, then kissed him once more before picking up the gloves and sliding them onto her hands, and Cullen was further relieved to see that the asymmetrical gloves were a perfect fit.

She smiled up at him once more, and the quirk of her lips was cheeky once more. “So that whole ‘naughty plan’ thing was… what? A distraction?”

“A panicked attempt to distract you, yes,” he said ruefully. “I was nervous for you to see the gloves. I apologize, I didn’t–”

“Apologize?” she exclaimed. “For what?”

“For attempting to deceive you,” he said. “And now…” He glanced at Dagna’s clock and winced. “Maker’s breath, we’ll be late for the party. I’m sorry, Piper, I–”

She barked out a joyful laugh. “Don’t you dare ever apologize for fucking me. A perfect present and a naughty last-minute fuck on the commander’s desk? Honestly, Cullen, this might be the best birthday I’ve ever had.” She laughed again and wrapped her arms around his waist, and Cullen lovingly admired the brightness of her smile.

If such impromptu naughtiness pleased her so much, he might have to do it more often.

#cullen rutherford #cullen smut #cullen DIRTY TALK! SORT OF!!#HAPPY BIRTHDAY SCHOUTE #cullen/lavellan #cullen x lavellan #cullavellan #piperford #ADORABLE BABES #pikapeppa writes

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mercuriallycooperative · 4 years

Text

Doom flags at her heels, Katarina really has a lot going on

(slight arc one spoilers, slight arc later spoilers, lotta long rambling thoughts)

So I’ve been keeping up with the manga for quite awhile and then remembered the light novels exist and then discovered the anime is existing and then realized “oh this is popular enough people are writing fic for it!” and then read a good fic and then I realized that this was a chance to articulate a thought that’s always in the back of my mind whenever I reread the manga and now that I’m watching like four let’s-watch youtubers as the anime goes on but like-

It has always struck me that like- as much as Katarina has a lot of sparkling happy fluffy moments and people she cares for a lot in this life, people that certainly I think she does love perhaps more deeply than even she realizes, and the audience is reminded so often "ha ha she still thinks she's doomed, she doesn't realize literally everyone has fallen in love with her and she's become crucial in their lives and hearts"- there’s also the other side of that-

That is that all the preparing she's been doing since she woke up with her past life memories at 8 years old- she's spent all that time running from a looming shadow at her back.

She's spent 7 years with a lot of excellent friends, capturing hearts and being a bright light in the world, but she's also spent all that time living with the fear that some of her friends might kill her, someday, or that she'll be made to leave them, or be discarded, and have to start a new life in a strange place for a third time- this time, alone. And she's been running from that all this time. Even for a slightly one-track mind with a bit of a blind spot for things too close to her, how much fear and worry do you have to be carrying, to be still as Concerned as we see her when she's 15, to keep up preparing for such a doom for 7 years?

And there are moments like when she’s visiting Sophia and is reminded of Acchan, that we see she does still have some wistfulness for her life-that-was. Heck, even when she’s fighting her way out of her magical coma thing. Wistfulness for the world that was. And she doesn’t seem to have spoken to anyone about any of this past-life stuff. Even if this is her world now- she lost a lot, when she died the first time.

Even if she’s usually more focused on either things right in front of her, or her looming doom (hardly an enviable distraction), that has to be a lot to bear and never breathe a word of. A lot to miss, and people she will likely never see again.

And of course she's considered very simple and direct and incapable of guile or scheming by even her dear beloved friends- and often times she is- but there is also is the fact that in 7 years she hasn't let on about the secret of her memories, or what she's preparing for, or what she's afraid of. She hasn't ever let on those fears of getting killed or exiled by people close to her, or the fact that all this preparing is just in case she has to leave them all forever. Just in case they make her have to leave them all forever. She does a lot of off-the-wall things, but nobody has ever gotten a real hint of what they're for. The most anyone has really gotten is a refrain of “just in case!”

(I went back to check- she's mentioned "In case I'm exiled," in some material. She has not mentioned "In case you exile me." There's something of a difference.)

Also like. I know she’s really memetically, uh, got a bit of a blind spot about how people feel about her (I’m pretty sure she just doesn’t care about the whole rules of society thing except when they make immediate trouble for her, which she’s in a position to mostly ignore- that’s less her lack of sense, I think, and more her contemporary sensibilities and a certain amount of unselfconsciousness coming just as much from not caring for some of the more implicit rules as it does not noticing them) (not that she doesn’t also have the sense of a single turnip sometimes, but like. still.).

But like, in the first episode’s worth of events, she has like three different head injuries, two of which result in unconsciousness, one of which results in getting a load of past life memories dumped into her head. It’s not unlikely that this happens, not frequently, but more than just the times we’ve seen, over the years. That can’t be good for her- especially because if she’s visibly fine there wouldn’t necessarily be any reason to apply any handy-but-rare healing light magic that could mitigate any medical repercussions of head injuries. Certainly, I would not be surprised if this affects her attention span or ability to put together some things, just a little.

Take that, along with the fact that given what we see at least about her parents in this life, pretty sure some of the obliviousness is genetic- and also the whole ‘preparing for her doom for seven years’ thing... When we’re afraid of stuff, our limbic system, our fight-or-flight-etc, goes all “yeet” in our brains and it does actually affect our ability to think things through. Like. We had a seminar at work about it and stuff. And constant stress, even constant low-level-mostly-in-the-background stress, is known to cause issues with both memory formation and retrieval. Which can’t be helping anything else happening here.

What I’m saying is, Katarina has a lot of actual potential physical reasons to have some of the really increasing amounts of obliviousness that sorta seem to show later in the light novels.

(Also, in fairness, some people just aren’t great with the subtext of the goings on around them, even if they can read the pattern fine in words on a page. I’m like that myself. Uh, not nearly as much as Katarina, given, as far as I know. But that’s a way that one can be, too, and it’s not mutually exclusive with the rest of this or anything.)

Aside from those- from what we get about her reflection on her life in the last world, it doesn’t seem like all of this is totally new to her character; I definitely feel like she was Like This last lifetime too. (Actually, yeah, went back to check, and in the light novel, in Acchan's chapter, Katarina was indeed Like This last time too.) But I think it’s possible that aside from new circumstances in this life accentuating these characteristics, that they’re the sort of thing that produces more, uh, pronounced reactions to situations, the bigger the situation is. Last life, she was a normal schoolgirl who didn’t expect anything life-threatening. This life, she’s been living in the shadow of her doom for 7 years, and she’s in the upper strata of Very Important People, With Harem Hijinks.

I think some of Katarina’s determination just really has this flavor of- “Well it just can’t be helped! I just gotta do the thing!” A sort of.... taking all the weight of the things that really are chasing her, and also some of the subtext-laden everything in a lot of her close relationships, and a little willfully going “well this is kind of a lot. you know what was also kind of a lot? preparing for my doom for 7 years! you know how I dealt with that? just getting on with it as best i can, blithely moving past all the things i wasn’t really equipped for, with twice as much energy as life threw at me!” Not consciously, necessarily, but there’s certainly an energy of eliding past the whole mass of situations down to the brass tacks of an action plan. Gonna get murderlyzed? Learn to fight back against being murderlyzed, with a sword! Lonely brother set to fall in love because of healing loneliness? Guess he’s not gonna be lonely anymore! I stole some relationship flags from people? Well they’re great folks, I’m sure they’ll be fine!

There’s a certain resilience to this particular response to the whole state of affairs that keeps the story of Katarina’s life in this world from being dragged down into the implications of all the little bits and troubles that come with both her getting isekai’d into doom flags, and also all her friends’ troubles in their youths. It’s part of what makes her so interesting, I think, that she’s able to just go along being herself, doing her rather erratic best, genuine, honest, loud and enthusiastic and kind, and producing very direct responses to the happenings around her. And people respond to that genuineness and directness and kindness.

Whether we’re reading it on the page or the characters are seeing it in person, I think there’s something very charming about that. Taking ‘wow this is a lot. life is... a lot.’ and getting down to ‘but being nice is simple, and being enthused is simple, and scowling at mean people is simple, and now it’s not as a lot anymore!’

The origins of Katarina’s directness and charm aside, in this life she has very much been rewarded for Being Like This. Here, I’m speaking a little more in response to how I’ve seen people getting exasperated at the increasingly pronounced amount of Bakarina-ness that I’ve seen so far in at least the translation of the later light novels that I got a chance to read; she’s... still quite oblivious.

But her life and the narrative has always rewarded that. Her good-natured kindness to people with sorrows has made her happy friends; her determination to go the direct and simple path through things has always cut to the heart of matters (even if she’s sometimes missed how she’s now rather at the heart of a lot of people now); her blithe disregard for a number of proprieties has been protected by both her noble parents who love her, rather a lot of overprotective friends, and her royal betrothed. Worry has only ever gotten her to an action plan and a drive to proceed with it; after she’s got those to work with (e.g. her “train in swords and magic to not be murderlyzed, keep Keith from being lonely, make a field to train in magic, make a romance novel friend” plans), she’s always had to learn to take her actions and then live her life pushing that worry out of the way.

If she’d drowned in worry about her doom instead of letting it propel her to action and then disregarding it in favor of living in the moments produced by her choices, then I don’t think her life since waking up with her old memories would have been as happy as it was.

(Actually, I have this theory that the ‘original’/no-memory Katarina was running in a similar way as our Katarina, only she responded to the worry with sharp eyes and teeth, instead of brushing it aside with a determined smile. But that’s an analysis for another time, possibly after more of the Verge of Destruction spinoff is out and I’ve reread it a bit more.)

So, all that being the case- why should she be less blithe about things? Why would she be more cautious? Why would she start worrying any more about things beyond her newly-lifted worries about her doom? Her determination to charge facefirst through situations with a good nature, direct problem-solving, and some slightly-suspect assumptions that have always been close enough to the heart of things before- that’s always seen her through.

(Also, like. After everything, when she’s finally, finally able to stop worrying about her doom flags- enjoying all the people and things she loves without digging into the bits and troublesome bobs of it all, getting in a sense a second new lease on life- she can be forgiven for wanting things to be as simple as she’s always tried to make her one most looming problem in the past.)

(Also also, she did have to go through the stages between “you’re all adorable but you’re all 8 and I’m like 16 and I literally cannot be attracted to you, that’s weird” and “well I guess you’re all the same age as me-in-this-life but a large part of me is still 16, so it’s still weird” and “I haven’t changed much over the years because living through the same years twice isn’t really growing up so much as it is being 16 for an extra year or four and then being 12 again and then 13 again and then 14 again and then 15 again and only then finally getting a chance to grow older than 16- and in the meanwhile wait shit now you’re all the same age as me for real. now you’re not just breathtakingly cute or beautiful like a freaking artwork, now you’re making my heart skip a beat, uhhhhhh”.

It’s not particularly surprising that after years of thinking “yeah but I’m older than you, you’re like 8″ that it’s going to take being blindsided multiple times for Katarina to get into the swing of “wait, you’re my age or older and now, suddenly you’re able to be hot. wtf.”)

I don’t really have a conclusion to all this, exactly.

Just that- Katarina may have the sense of a single turnip sometimes, albeit a very good-natured turnip, but while some of it is absolutely just How She Is Even At Peace, some of it’s most likely a response to quite a few environmental factors over the years. And her life has rewarded her for the type of resiliency that she’s used to face her doom flags- the doom flags she’s been politely carrying and deflecting the stress of for seven years.

Direct and simple and kind and uncomplicated in nature she may be- and a bit slow on the subtext sometimes- but Katarina Claes should not be mistaken for lacking in willful resolve where it counts, nor mistaken for lacking fears, nor mistaken for lacking in ability to plan and analyze. I’m pretty sure she just... concludes that kindness is best, people are good, and that this life and the people in it are worth it.

She’s got more to her than just “oblivious harem protag is oblivious and really nice”. And honestly, I think if you look at her closely, she’s a lot more reasonable than people make her out to be.

#hamefura #otome game no hametsu flag shika nai akuyaku reijou ni tensei shiteshimatta #my contribution #in the tags #this is the quality content i'm on this site for #i'm allowed to tag my own post with that

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ladyherenya · 3 years

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Books read in December

I set myself some reading goals for the end of the year -- finish any books I’d already started, read the books I'd already borrowed, and to read ebooks I’d bought before buying any more. But I guess most of those books just weren’t the right genre? A few exceptions aside, this month I read a bunch of other things instead.

Also read: The Frost Fair Affair and Holiday Brew by Tansy Rayner Roberts, and Sweetest in the Gale and 40-Love by Olivia Dade.

Reread: Love Lettering by Kate Clayborn and Bookish and the Beast by Ashley Poston.

Total: thirteen novels (including two audiobooks and two rereads), three novellas, and three story/novella collections.

Favourite cover: The cover was what caught my attention for Finding My Voice and Old Baggage.

Still reading: Between Silk and Cyanide by Leo Marks, Or What You Will by Jo Walton and The Disorderly Knights by Dorothy Dunnett.

Next up: A Most Improper Magick by Stephanie Burgis.

Queen’s Play by Dorothy Dunnett (narrated by David Monteath): In 1548, Francis Crawford of Lymond arrives in France, incognito in order to protect Scotland’s queen, seven-year-old Mary. I enjoyed this, even though I am not very interested in the antics of the French court and thought The Game of Kings benefitted from having more characters who I found wholly likeable and/or who matter, personally, to Lymond. Dunnett is an impressive storyteller -- vivid descriptions, lively dialogue, nuanced characters and twists that take me by surprise. Moreover, those satisfying puzzle pieces explain the plots and intrigue, give insight into personalities and develop the narrative’s themes (here, the consequences of power).

The Kinship of Secrets by Eugenia Kim: In 1950, four year old Inja lives with her grandparents and uncle in Seoul, while her sister Miran is in America with their parents. War delays the family’s reunion. This is a fascinating portrayal of two sisters growing up in different countries, and an incredibly poignant story about a family separated. Compelling, and beautifully written, and despite moments of intense grief, hopeful. I liked how, in the end, Inja and Miran didn’t have all the answers.. But I wonder if I’d have found the ending more satisfying if I had a deeper understanding of who they both were as adults.

Teacup Magic series by Tansy Rayner Roberts:

Tea and Sympathetic Magic: Stephanie Burgis recommended this novella as something similar to her Harwood Spellbook series and it certainly has a similar appeal: romantic fantasy, bordering on comedy-of-manners territory. Like Georgette Heyer but with magic and diversity and an intention to challenge problematic and outdated attitudes. Charming and cosy, like a good cup of tea rather than a frothy hot chocolate. Miss Mnemosyne Seaborne, a reluctant guest at a houseparty. She joins forces with the other guests after an unexpected abduction occurs. Entertaining, and even though it was too short for me to really become invested, I immediately wanted to read the sequel.

The Frost Fair Affair: After her previous adventures, Mneme has new friends, a suitor and a campaign: overturning the social conventions which prevent women from travelling by portal. After someone in Town steals her political pamphlets, she gets caught up in a mystery. I enjoyed this oh so much! I found myself caring a lot more about Mneme and her relationships; I liked the mixture of intrigue and danger, and how in the cause of dealing with these, Mneme learns more about the man she hopes to marry; and the Frost Fair, on a frozen river, makes a delightful setting. I'd love to read more.

Belladonna U(niversity) series by Tansy Rayner Roberts:

Unreal Alchemy: Oh, this is my new favourite! Urban fantasy about Australian uni students who are connected to an indie rock band, Fake Geek Girl. These stories are funny, geeky and romantic, with great chapter titles and lots of fandom references. They employ different points of view and different narrative styles in a way that’s really effective. I love the characters and how important and intense their non-romantic relationships are. Between them they have a variety of romantic/sexual relationships and feelings, but friendships and familial relationships, like the one between twin sisters Hebe and Holly, also drive the narrative. The first collection contains four stories/novellas.

Fake Geek Girl -- Ferd moves into the Manic Pixie Dream House; Holly and Sage argue about the future of the band.

Unmagical Boy Story -- Viola has feelings about her best friend losing his magic, transferring colleges and making new friends.

The Bromancers -- The band and frriends spend a weekend at a magical music festival.

The Alchemy of Fine -- A prequel about the band’s origins.

Holiday Brew: This collection is more serious and less overtly fandom-y than the first, but arguably still very meta (especially if you consider Viola, Jules and Ferd as a response to the trio in Harry Potter). I sat down intending to read just one of these stories -- and ended up reading them all.

Halloween Is Not A Verb -- Holly invites various people to their mums’ place for Halloween.

Solstice on the Rocks -- A short story about university graduation.

Kissing Basilisks -- Begins on New Year’s Day, is compelling, and picks up the non-band-related narrative threads from Fake Geek Girl.

Missing Christmas by Kate Clayborn: This novella is loosely connected to Beginer's Luck but stands alone. It's sweet. Business partners and best friends Jasper and Kristen pay a last minute trip to a client and get trapped by a blizzard, which pushes them to reconsider the boundaries they’ve drawn in their relationship. I liked the moments which showed that they’re an effective team because they know each other so well and can communicate through subtle body language.

Finding My Voice by Marie Myung-Ok Lee: Ellen is a Korean-American teenager in her final year of high school. Her story is about applying for college, gymnastics training, Ellen’s relationships with her best friend and her first boyfriend, dealing with racism at school and with her parents’ expectations that she will follow her sister to Harvard. It’s very short, first published in 1993. I was aware of all the places where a YA novel written today would be allowed to give more details and to expand the story, but it was still interesting.

The Magnolia Sword: A Ballad of Mulan by Sherry Thomas: I’ve borrowed this several times this year, only to return it unread each time, and I was starting to wonder if I really wanted to read it. But once I actually sat down and focused, I quickly realised that I definitely did! I became completely engrossed in this Mulan retelling. It’s a tense adventure. I enjoyed the characters and their interactions, particularly the elaborate courtesy of formal conversations, and the way Mulan and her companions value loyalty and camaraderie. I thought this was a very believable take on the whole girl-disguised-as-a-boy thing too.

Dear Mrs Bird by AJ Pearce: In 1940, Emmy wants a newspaper job but is instead typing up letters for a women’s magazine and discarding mail from readers whose problems are Unacceptable. Frustrated that Mrs Bird won’t offer advice to so many women in need, Emmy's tempted to take matters into her own hands. Her optimism means she makes some naive mistakes, some of which made me wince, but it’s also an incredible strength. She's delightful company. I really like how much of this story is about her friendship with Bunty and I enjoyed the insight into women's magazines and the Auxiliary Fire Service.

The Lonely Hearts Dog Walkers by Sheila Norton: Recently separated, Nicola moves back in with her mother, starts as a teaching assistant at her daughter’s new school, gets a puppy and joins a group of dog walkers, who embark upon a mission to save the local park. This was very low-angst and, once I realised the sort of story it was, kind of predictable. I can recognise the appeal of this brand of realism, but personally would have preferred more humour or more emotional complexity. Were Nicola a colleague, it’d be easy to find things in common to discuss, but her story wasn’t quite what I was looking for.

Chasing Lucky by Jenn Bennett: When Josie and her mother return to Beauty to look after the family bookshop, Josie has plans -- keep to herself, finish high school, secure a photography apprenticeship, move to LA. But after Josie accidentally breaks a store-front window and her childhood friend Lucky takes the blame, Josie’s priorities change. I enjoyed this more than I expected to. I particularly liked how Lucky subverts people’s expectations, and how Josie’s family works at communicating better with each other.

Old Baggage by Lissa Evans (narrated by Joanna Scanlan): It’s 1928 and Mattie Simpkin, a now-middle-aged militant suffragette, lives in Hampstead with her friend Florrie Lee (aka The Flea). Mattie gives lectures about the suffragettes but realises she’s not reaching the younger generation. So she starts a club for “healthy outdoor fun” for teenage girls. Mattie is wonderfully forthright -- amusing, engaging and informative when it comes to things she’s passionate about -- but she’s also fallible. A really delightful yet bittersweet story about friendship and loss and the opportunities available for women. I liked its awareness that being able to loudly be yourself is a privilege not everyone has.

There’s Something About Marysburg series by Olivia Dade:

Teach Me: Rose is unimpressed -- not only must she share her classroom with the new history teacher, he’s been given her Honors World History class. There’s something particularly satisfying about people who have been hurt and lonely finding support and love in each other. I like that they get to know each other over many months. I like Martin’s relationship with his teenage daughter and Rose’s relationship with her ex’s parents is so touching that one scene made me cry. And it was interesting seeing the US school system from the perspective of experienced teachers; I appreciated the details about their jobs.

Sweetest in the Gale: a Marysburg story collection contains three novellas about couples in their forties.

Sweetest in the Gale -- Griff is worried when Candy, a fellow English teacher, returns for the new school year uncharacteristically sombre and subdued. A really sweet romance about people who are navigating loss and grief.

Unraveled -- Maths teacher Simon is assigned to observe and mentor the new art teacher, Poppy. I enjoyed the threads of mystery.

Cover Me -- After a concerning mammogram result, Elizabeth marries an old friend so she’s covered by his health insurance. Predictable as anything, but that made it a safe position from which to explore serious and sobering topics.

40-Love: I’m not interested in tennis or holiday resorts; I was disappointed that this novel wouldn’t show Tess being an assistant principal; and even though some of my favourite fictional couples have a significant age-gap, I’m wary about age-gap romances (and socially-programmed to think it’s odd for a woman to date a much younger guy). But I liked the other stories in this series and I was curious. It’s Not really My Cup of Tea, but I was convinced that Tess and Lucas were both capable of making their (somewhat unconventional) relationship work. An interesting exercise in challenging my social-programming.

The Viscount Who Loved Me by Julia Quinn: After watching Bridgerton (not always to my tastes but mostly fun), curiosity prompted me to read the opening of the second novel, and I was so entertained by Kate Sheffield verbally sparring with the viscount, whom Kate is determined to prevent from marrying her younger sister. I continued to be entertained up until the viscount acts a bit too entitled on his wedding night (that’s unattractive, if outrightly problematic). Which left me in rather an uncharitable mood for the final act, so I can’t identify if the drama of dealing with past traumas didn’t meet the standard of the earlier comedy or if I just hold such scenes to differing standards.

#Herenya reviews books #sooner or later

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aphrodicted · 4 years

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Hey! 💕 As stated previously, I sent you all the details on our dm and once again sorry for the long messages 😅 I just wanted to know about Ale's (scorpio sun, leo moon) energy towards our situation and how he feels about me or how I make him feel? Thank you! Also I sent you a tip! Hopefully you were able to receive it! It may not be much, but I hope I am able to help a little at least 💖 - janice (aries sun, virgo moon) 🦋🌹

Hello, angel! How are you? Thank you so much for your donation, baby! I aprecciate it a lot, really. You’re soooo sweet I want to cry. I wish I can help you with your questions. But first of all, tell you that I love reading you and having you on my blog, my love! I’m very excited to see you in my asks and, ushhhhhhhh, you are so cute! (btw, we are the same age, yehet!). On the other hand, I recommend you to look for the meaning of 222, since it’s closely related to love and union. I think it’s an important number and it may be telling you about your love life. Let's see what my letters say!

Ale’s feelings towards you: The Justice, The Temperance, Three of Cups, The Death (reversed), King of Wands, The Empress, Nine of Swords, The World, Three of Wands.

I have reread your messages to be able to unite what you have told me with what my cards say and, my friend, Ale does want to have a relationship with you. I’m not referring to a relationship of friends with benefits or similar, but a formal relationship of lovers. Therefore, our boy does want to have a relationship with you as he told you, so that message about not having anything serious with you was more an excuse or a response to get out of trouble. Your relationship will continue in the future and Ale intends to keep in touch with you, so a reconciliation is a reality in your future with Ale. Regardless of how you are now, your relationship with Ale has a positive future and stability. In addition, The Temperance announces communication between the two, so messages or calls can become an important point to reconnect in some way. The cards also talk about peaceful moments between you. Ale really enjoys when he is with you. Especially when you both travel and go to new places that you haven’t visited together. Therefore, the dates are very important to him, since he can enjoy by your side and experience moments of calm that he doesn’t have with other people.

The cards recommend you not to lose confidence in Ale and, if you have a chance, reconnect with him. Ale wants to reach agreements with you: talk things out and know what bothers you and what makes you happy so he can know how to act around you. He really cares about your opinion and he doesn't want to screw it up and make you feel uncomfortable. However, Ale needs you to do your part and be honest with him because he cannot know what is happening to you or what you think if you don’t verbalize it, my love. He wants to stay by your side, but he needs you both to go at the same pace to avoid any misunderstanding like the one you have told me in your messages.

It’s possible this “friendship” that you have until you formalize your relationship continues for a time until it evolves into something else. Ale isn’t in a hurry, so he will wait for things to evolve naturally and without forcing anything. He doesn't want to force things out of the anxiety of naming your relationship. However, Ale has a certain fear that you will get bored or stop being honest with him and end the relationship you have. Is any kind of unfaithfulness possible? For his part, I don’t see that he has any intention of it, but he is afraid that you will get bored or that the relationship will come to a standstill and you will look for what he cannot give you in other people (friends, lovers, etc.). Therefore, communication is essential for the relationship to progress correctly and not stagnate and end up separating.

Ale knows he can make you happy and you can make him happy. Ale is happy by your side and, as I said, enjoy your moments alone. My cards again comment Ale feels he must go slowly with you, since he thinks (I don't know if because you have told him) that he needs to go little by little because you have had a bad time in the past (related to relationship and emotions in general). On the other hand, may Ale have had any unpleasant experiences in the past with a woman? The cards tell me about a woman's past pain. Regardless of this, Ale feels a lot of joy at your side.

Finally, Ale feels that your relationship has reached the end of a stage. The relationship will improve in the future, but Ale feels that your bond needs to close one door to open another together (I hope I'm explaining myself correctly). Everything Ale does will be thinking about the future of your relationship, so you must be attentive to his words or his actions, since they could be talking about his feelings towards you. Therefore, Ale feels things for you and intends to continue knowing you, but I don't see him madly in love yet.

Energy Ale’s towards your situation: The Moon, The High Priestess (reversed), Four of Wands, Three of Pentacles (reversed), Three of Swords (reversed), The Hermit, Six of Pentacles (reversed), Four of Pentacles, The Chariot (reversed).

Ale feels that your emotions are very unstable and, therefore, your relationship is very changeable because of the mood swings you have. It doesn't bother him, but it's not something he enjoys either. At the moment Ale will not make any "romantic move" and he can stay slightly away when these emotional changes appear, since he doesn’t know how to act and needs to reflect on your situation. The cards see Ale taking a time of solitude to think for lack of vision and clarity about your future. This doesn’t have to be negative, since we all need our moments of solitude to understand what is happening around us, but you must be careful and avoid that this time of solitude extends too long and ends up breaking the relationship due to lack of communication. Ale is afraid of getting too hurt for not understanding the situation or not having the necessary tools to deal with it. In addition, he may have the feeling that he is giving more than what you give in the relationship and that makes him close in on himself and avoid any future injury that may cause him. Until this changes and he feels that you are both on the same path and at the same time, Ale will not move forward according to his feelings.

What do you make him feel: Ace of Pentacles, Ten of Cups, The Pope, Queen of Swords (reversed), Five of Pentacles (reversed), Nine of Pentacles.

What you make him feel is closely related to what he feels for you. You make him feel good, happy and successful in his love life. It’s as if your relationship was something he had wanted for a long time and it has finally been fulfilled. He feels happy by your side, but not a temporary happiness or an empty happiness, but an abundant happiness. Ale is willing to help you in whatever you wish, dear, and he has a certain fatherly and protective feeling about you. Ale wants to build with you, but he needs communication and honesty on your part. Also, it’s possible that Ale is discussing everything that happens to both of you with an older person who he trusts a lot. On the other hand, you make him feel that he wants a commitment to you, a future relationship and lasting stability. Although sometimes he sees you as a somewhat cold and distant person with him. Ale feels you are stuck in an emotionally negative situation from the past (the incident you mention in your messages) and are unable to move forward because of that memory. Ale needs you to listen to him more often.

Lastly, and not wanting to do a long reading, beware of the emotional codependency that you may be creating around Ale. Remember that codependency is not positive for either side, but creates unnecessary pressure on one and unfounded insecurity on the other.

Good luck, my love!

If my reading resonated, consider leaving some feedback, or tipping me here on Paypal!

#tarot readings #setsunaiii #janice

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loquaciousquark · 6 years

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All right, kiddos, gather around for a completely necessary metatextual analysis of the most painful sentence in the Queen’s Thief series by @meganwhalenturner, driven primarily by my recent reread and the fact that I can’t get this sentence out of my head or my heart, and that means you all must suffer with me.

Is it: “Please, please,” as if his heart were breaking.”?

Is it: “Oxe Harbrea Sacrus Vax Dragga Onus Savonus Sophos At Ere.”?

Is it: “Who am I that you should love me?”

Is it: “It was a kiss between a man and his wife...”?

NO IT IS NOT. I submit to you, dear readers, that the most painful sentence in the entire Queen’s Thief series is the following:

Attolia explained. “He had to be forcibly dissuaded from strangling his son.”

“So have we all from time to time,” Eddis said seriously.

MAN ALIVE WHAT A BLOW TO THE HEART, AM I RIGHT OR AM I RIGHT

I see you doubt me. READ ON.

As I’m sure all of you perfectly remember, during the events of The Queen of Attolia Eugenides gets his hand cut off in gods-approved punishment by the woman he’s in love with. Awkward! More awkward is that at the end of the book, he goes through a great deal of trouble to win her hand in marriage (hoping desperately this will help convince her he loves her), only to have his gods yank the rug out from under him one more time. His war party is routed; the kidnapped queen is freed; the whole lot of them are returned to her court where the entirety of Eugenides’s surviving company are chained together and deposited wholesale on the fancy floor together to await judgement and execution.

And then, this gem:

In the megaron Eugenides sat on the stone floor with his knees pulled up, leaning back against a red painted pillar. His eyes were closed. Like the other Eddisians, he was wet through, and from time to time a shudder shook him, as if a ghost had walked over his grave. The high collar of his uniform tunic hid any marks on his neck. Teleus, standing with the queen at the side entrance to the megaron, pointed him out as he explained to the queen, with Nahuseresh standing nearby, that the lieutenant, in passing, had noticed that the Thief was quietly being strangled in the chains of the prisoner just behind him. The prisoners had been chained in rows and then ordered to sit on the stone floor. The lieutenant, in haste to save the Thief for Her Majesty’s pleasure, had kicked the other prisoner in the head.

OUCH. Not convinced yet? Let us consider even further:

“Teleus, you say your lieutenant kicked one of the prisoners in the head?”

“Yes, Your Majesty.” [...]

“Well, let’s have that one, then.”

The guards brought the Eddisian she’d chosen [to deliver her message of acceptance to Eddis] to stand before her. As she’d guessed, it was the gray-haired man who’d fought beside Eugenides on the mountain.

and later:

“The messenger I sent to Eddis, you didn’t recognize him,” Attolia said.

“Should I have?” the Mede asked, his eyes on the field below.

“He was Eddis’s minister of war,” Attolia said. “Eugenides’s father.”

The words took a moment to penetrate Nahuseresh’s concentration. He turned slowly, like a defective clockwork, to look at the queen.

Fair enough. We have now confirmation that after that last disastrous battle, Eugenides was chained next to his father, and that at one point during the wait for the Queen’s decision his father had to be stopped from strangling him. Except...it’s not just a “wow, kid, you screwed the pooch on this one!” strangling, is it? It’s the action of a man who knows what happened to his son the last time his son was in the power of this woman, who knows exactly what is about to happen to him now that he’s been caught a second time.

Shall we review?

In the evenings, before dinner was served, the court gathered in the old throne room. Four officers who had already drained several cups of watered wine joked about the threats of the queen of Attolia, lately reported by Eddisian spies. In a sudden silence, their words carried over the crowd. “...send him into the afterlife blind, deaf, and with his tongue cut out as well...”

Eyes turned to Eugenides, standing across the room in a group with several of his uncles. Everyone knew that Attolia had been speaking about him.

And shortly after, speaking with Eddis:

“Eugenides, we can’t afford to have you disappear in a fit of despair just now.”

“Do I look sunk in despair?” he asked, holding his arms out from his sides.

“I assume you’re hiding it to maintain pretenses.”

“It’s worse than despair I am hiding,” he said, sounding suddenly very bleak.

“Is there something worse?” she asked.

“Oh, yes.” He shifted his weight and looked around the empty room. He turned away from her and appeared to take a great in the interlocking gold squares painted around the walls near the ceiling. “I’m terrified,” he admitted.

And let us even glance ahead to King of Attolia, where Eugenides says to Attolia, post-nightmares:

The king sighed. Forgetting Costis standing nearby, forgetting possibly that anyone or anything else in the world existed, the king said shakily, “Tell me you won’t cut out my lying tongue, tell me you won’t blind me, you won’t drive red-hot wires into my ears.”

As stated previously, ouch. Eugenides spends this book frightened down to his bones. He loves Attolia, but she has cut his hand off; he knows that if she had him in her power again she might do more than that. His existence is a threat to her throne & the Mede are a threat to her sovereignty; which is one she can actually mitigate? She sure can’t unseat the Mede by herself, but Eugenides she can make an example of. What a blow to Eddis, to remove the greatest tool she has and the only direct continental check on Sounis’s warmongering in one stroke. And here Gen is, sitting neatly in her power with not a bargaining chip in the world.

And Eugenides knows it. And Attolia knows it, and so does the minister of war, Eugenides’s father, and every single man in that company. The routing of the war party isn’t just a tactical loss. It’s the consigning of the Thief of Eddis to the most horrific torture any of them can imagine, a slow and agonizing death, with no reprieve in sight.

“You’ll be chained by the neck to two other prisoners,” she told him. “if you and they live to reach my megaron at Ephrata, the other two will be safely returned, without ransom, to Eddis.” Eugenides didn’t move. His hope of heaven could have been in the dirt at her feet, so fixedly did he stare there. “Do you understand?” she asked.

“Yes,” he answered.

“What will you do now? “

“Oh” --he tried unsuccessfully to keep the tremor out of his voice-- “grovel, I suppose.”

“I’ve heard you do that before,” said Attolia, briefly amused in spite of herself.

Eugenides swallowed. “That was begging,” he said with a better effort at lightness. “There wasn’t much opportunity for groveling last...time.” He stumbled, then added evenly, “I am very good at groveling.”

“Anything to save your skin?” Attolia asked.

“Nothing is going to save my skin,” Eugenides said flatly.

Oof.

Attolia wasn’t surprised that the mask that hid his feelings was gone. His training hadn’t been in fear and diplomacy; it had been in silence and stealth. As he looked at her, his eyes were bright with anguish. He had heard of her threats, as she had known he would. She could see that he had no expectations of mercy from her. No hope that she would be something other than ruthless and cruel.

Eugenides was afraid and he was a fool and he knew it. He had forgotten what it felt like to be at the mercy of the queen of Attolia. The blood pounded in his ears, and his entire body was rigid to fight the trembling in his knees. He was sick with it. He remembered that feeling but thought it had been caused then by the pain in his head. Now there was no pain, but the same feeling in the bottom of his stomach. He would beg, he knew, for any mercy she would show, but he thought there would be none. [...] A shudder he couldn’t stop shook the Thief. He would lose his sight, and his hearing, his power of speech before he finally died. Dead is dead, he had told himself over and over. Dead is dead. But worse than dying was knowing that she would be the one to take those things from him. Because she hated him.

Oof.

My God, he thought, I am so frightened. O my God, if you will not save me, make me less afraid. He fell on the steep trail.

He hit face first, and the stones in the mud cut into his cheek. He had fallen so quickly that he’d dragged down the two others chained with him. They at least could brace themselves with their chained hands as they tried to get to their feet. Eugenides’s arms were bound to his sides, and his feet, seeking purchase, slid across the wet ground. One of the men made it to his feet, but he rose too quickly. Eugenides choked as the chain pulled hard against his collar, and his weight pulled the other man off-balance to fall again. [...] The man got to his feet again and this time, while still leaning down, helped Eugenides up. [...]

“Sir,” whispered the man beside him, “at the next cliff, we will jump with you.”

Eugenides turned to look for the first time at the men chained on either side. Both men nodded to assure him that they were willing to sacrifice their lives, but Eugenides shook his head. [...] Eddis would need every soldier if she was going to survive his failure.

Eugenides is going to die. Every person in his country knows he is going to die, and die badly, and it is going to destabilize three countries and invite in the invaders in the process. It’s the first step towards the beginning of the end, and there’s nothing anyone can do to save his life.

Eugenides’s father is with him the whole time this is happening.

It’s such an easy thing to forget, but the minister of war has been there since the beginning. He’s watched his son grow up and follow in his mother’s footsteps, and his mother’s father’s footsteps; watched him give up the sword and a position as a soldier to be this flighty, ascerbic, clever thief who’s as reliable as a shadow.

Watched Eddis send him too quickly back to a country that wanted him dead, a country that cut his hand off and sent him back closer to dead than alive. Watched his son hide in a library for a year rather than face the world and the war in it because it was too hard and he was afraid, Gen who’s spoken with gods and stolen from kings and queens and danced on the edges of rooftops without fear.

The minister of war was there when Gen came back to Eddis at the end, when he outlined the plan that led to the kidnapping of the Attolian queen and his marrying her in order to stabilize her country and Eddis’s. This woman tortured and mutilated his son and drove him into a year of despair, and now his son wants to marry her. And the minister of war agrees. What I wouldn’t give to have been inside his head when Gen first presented this idea!

Except...it goes wrong. It all goes wrong, and they’re caught, and the minister of war watches his son’s best, most carefully laid plans be torn to shreds. Good men die. The Medes win again. He watches the woman who mutilated his son go up to him when he is in chains and taunt him again when he is powerless, sees his son afraid to his bones because they all know what this means.

I don’t know if the minister of war is one of the men who agrees to jump with Gen. I kind of feel like he isn’t, because I think Gen would have acknowledged that in the text, but that doesn’t change the fact that when they reach the megaron he’s chained close enough to Eugenides to wrap his chains around his son’s neck and begin to quietly strangle him.

Like I said, it’s not a kind thing. He’s killing his son swiftly so that he can’t be tortured to death.

And Gen lets him. Because everyone knows what this capture means, and he knows that his father loves him, and he knows that the sheer enormity of this failure means that there’s not a thing in the world his father can do for him now except minimize his suffering.

That’s bad enough. Man, that’s bad enough. But you know what’s worse?

Attolia knows the minister of war has done this. Attolia knows why he has done this. Attolia must look her future father-in-law in the eye and tell him that she knows he feels death is preferable for his son rather than another instant of interaction with her, and she is going to keep his son anyway. She knows that she is going to marry a man whose family hates her in the visceral gut-deep hatred that destroys people, because she took from them what they loved and broke him and is now going to take him again forever.

No one thinks Attolia is redeemable except Gen. Not his father, not Eddis, not Irene herself. He is the only person in the world who sees her as something more than a barbaric, vicious torturer, and she cut his hand off and mocked him and belittled him and let him think he was going to be torn apart at her hands, and that it would be better to let his father kill him than be touched by her again.

And Attolia tells Eddis this to her face. Everyone--the minister of war, Gen, Irene, Helen--every one of them knows what it meant to fall into Attolia’s hands, and Attolia tells Eddis to her face that she knew the minister of war thought it would be better for Gen to be dead than with her, and that Gen agreed.

She’s going to marry him anyway. She will have to face for the rest of her life the agonizing truth that she loves a man she has maimed and tortured and broken, and that his family hates her for it because they also loved him, and that there will never be enough grace in the world to make her worthy of the fact that he still loves her anyway.

So.

Attolia explained. “He had to be forcibly dissuaded from strangling his son.”

“So have we all from time to time,” Eddis said seriously.

Attolia tells Eddis the truth. Acknowledges the enormity of what she’s done and what she’s still about to do, and that she knows what it’s meant for everyone Gen loves.

Eddis could respond bitterly. Could turn away and not answer at all, because she knows as well as Attolia does that the minister of war thought the best thing he could do for Gen in that moment was kill him.

But she doesn’t. She doesn’t--minimize it, exactly, but she eases it, just a little, and whether she means to or not she lets Irene, just a little, into the circle of those who love Eugenides. It’s not forgiveness. It’s barely acknowledgement. But it’s an understanding and a a brief, brilliant kindness to a woman who’s gone decades without it, one infinitely small step towards her instead of away.

Eugenides loves Irene, so there must be hope. Or-- Helen must hope because Eugenides loves Irene, and in the end it all comes down to the same thing. It’s the offering of mercy and grace where none is deserved, not because she loves Irene but because Eugenides does, and Helen loves Eugenides, and maybe between the three of them and the minister of war and the fate of three countries hanging in the balance, they can find a way to open the cage Irene has been trapped in since her brothers died. To save Irene is to save Eugenides, even if no one realizes it but Eddis.

Three countries’ worth of love and grief and terror and hope all wrapped up in twenty-three words, with nothing but blind faith in Gen to keep them together.

And that’s why that’s the most painful set of sentences in the entire Queen’s Thief series.

#queen's thief #megan whalen turner #meta #hoo boy things i did not expect to write today but that i feel very strongly about #eugenides #attolia #eddis #the minister of war #needs his own supplementary compendium #just saying #GOSH i love him very much

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ohnoboho · 6 years

Text

Dream Escape

Gave myself 48 minutes to complete the car prompt and finished right before the alarm, so no time for rereading or editting (sorry). Had such an insanely fun time writing this crazy ass piece, so thanks, anon! Don’t ask me where this all came from, I have no idea... however, enjoy, dear reader!

The door to Roman’s room slammed open with a heavy kick. Virgil sprinted from the noise and chaos, with a blubbering Patton slung over his shoulder. The anxious side stumbled frantically down the stairs, coming close to tripping more than a few time, before he skidded to a stop at the last step.

“Woah, Virgil! Where are we going? Roman needs help!” Patton cried out, wriggling out of Virgil’s grasp and clambering down from his shoulder. He could barely make out the other side’s words through his heavy breathing.

“Gotta find him...Where is he….Here somewhere…” Virgil didn’t even register Patton’s words as he ran about the house, looking under tables and pulling open doors frantically. The moral side flitted behind him, constantly pushing his glasses up his nose as they ping ponged around the house. It wasn’t until Virgil collapsed onto the arm of the couch that Patton knelt down and grabbed the anxious side’s shoulders.

“Virgil, look at me, kiddo! Who are you looking for?”

Virgil eyes came into focus as he looked up like he was seeing Patton for the first time. “Sleep, Patton. If we wake him up, Thomas will wake up and that nightmare will go away.”

“Oooh…” Patton nodded, standing up and glancing around the dark room around them. “Well, wouldn’t it make sense we’ll find Sleep wherever Thomas is sleeping?” He gave small shrug to Virgil, who let out a frustrated sigh and dropped his head into his hand.

“Ugh, duh, Virgil…” The anxious sigh groaned into his palms. It was the obvious answer, but man, was it hard for him to think while he was so heightened.

“Back upstairs we go then!” Patton chirped, trotting towards the stairs and peering up into the inky blackness of the hallway. How he managed to stay so cheery in times like these, Virgil would never know. The anxious side stood with a breathy grumble and joined the moral side on the last step. His breath hitched as they heard a loud boom from the hallways. Everything fiber of Virgil screamed at him to turn and sprint away, but he forced himself to follow Patton as the other side bound up the stairs.

They had just reached the top when a dark figure burst through Roman’s still open door. It was a gruesome shape, a copy of the hideous monster from the horror game Talyn and Joan had forced Thomas to play, except for the faces, where were only blank, black canvases. It’s giant, hulking frame spun to face the two sides and the buzz saw it had in place of an arm swung wildly towards them.

Patton’s eyes grew wider as the blade whizzed through the air towards his head, before there was a clattering of metal on metal and suddenly it was gone.

“Patton! I thought I told you to get out of here!” Roman shouted over his shoulder, as his sword clashed again with the beast. It was clear the prince had been fighting with it for quite some time. He was panting heavily with each swing and his outfit, usually immaculate and clean, was stained and torn.

Patton tried to call out an answer to Roman, but he could barely hear himself over the din of the battle. The moral side cupped his hands around his mouth and tried again. “Virgil scooped me up and took me downstairs, but then he had the idea we had to find Sleep so we could wake up Thomas, and I said that Sleep was probably up here in Thomas’s roo-” He paused as Virgil shoved him out of the way of a wayward swing from the monster. “Anyways, we’re going to go back to Thomas’s room, but seems to be a bit of a road block! Are you okay?”

Roman couldn’t help but scoff at Patton’s surprising calm tone as he rolled out of the way of another hit from the monster. “I’m fine, Padre. This demon is no match for this prince! So we need a bigger road?” The creative side called back to them, grunting as the last swing he deflected knocked him back onto his knees. “Fine! Let’s take this outside!” Roman growled, slamming his palm down on the floor. The shockwave echoed through the hallway, suddenly turning the cramped, dark space into a four lane highway.

Virgil let out a strangled yell as he yanked Patton out of the way as a Jeep flew past them. “What the hell is this, Roman?!”

“What?” Roman launched himself at the monster, knocking it back into the hood of an oncoming vehicle. It crunched the metal with an ear-splitting sound as the wheels screeched to a stop. “Patton said ‘roadblock’ and it was all I could think of! Also, I’ve always wanted to fight on a highway, like in the Matrix!” His grand laughter echoed between the cars as the creative side danced and dodged through the stream of cars and trucks.

“I can’t believe you’re enjoying this!” The anxious side snarled angrily. “Patton!” He turned sharply to the other side, but found that he wasn’t there. “Patton?!?!” Virgil cried out, before he spotted him.

“This is just like Frogger!” The moral side giggled as he trotted down the road. “Come on, Virgil! Let’s go find Sleep!”

Virgil let out a pained whine and sprinted off after Patton.

When they finally reached Thomas’s bedroom door, Virgil was sure that his heart was going to explode. Between dodging cars and trying to keep Patton from being roadkill, the anxious side’s heart rate had jumped beyond actual numbers and could be measured in just perpetual screaming.

“We made it!” Patton clapped excitedly, turning the doorknob and rushing into the quiet room, with Virgil spilling in after him.

Sprawled across the bed in the middle of the room was the figment they were searching for, snoring loudly with his trademark sunglasses tipped half off his face. Virgil nearly strangled him as he pounced angrily on the bed.

“WAKE UP!” The anxious side screamed desperately as he shook Sleep violently.

“Oh my gawd, WHAT?!” Sleep woke up in a snap, falling back on the bed with a soft thud as Virgil dropped him with a relieved sigh. “I KNOW you did not just interrupt my beauty sleep, you absolute beeotch!” The figment popped up from the bed in a rage, readjusting his shades. “I just cannot-I CANNOT EVEN DEAL WITH YOU-Hey, Patton, love the jammies, you mad cute- I’m leav- I’M LEAVING! YA’LL HAVE FUN TRYING TO GET HIS ASS TO SLEEP WITHOUT ME! BYE BITCHES!” Sleep stomped through the bedroom, glaring angrily at Virgil, before disappearing out the door with a sassy snap.

“Bye, Sleep!” Patton waved after the figment with a cheery smile and turned back to Virgil, who had collapsed onto the bed for a moment, still breathing heavily. “He’s so funny! Well, guess we should go check on Roman!” The moral side grabbed the other side’s wrist and dragged him off the bed.

They both peeked out into the hallway and were surprised to see it was nearly back to normal. Roman looked up with a smile as he dragged his hand along a large crack in one of the walls, it disappeared as his palm passed over it. Patton trotted over, jumping up and down excitedly as he and Roman loudly exchanged snippets of their adventure. Virgil’s heart rate was just about back to normal as he glared at the two of them, until he heard a strange shuffling sound behind him. He spun around wildly.

“Oh, hello, Virgil.” Logan yawned sleepily, slowly blinking the sleep from his eyes. “I woke up suddenly and I had to use the restroom. Is everyone else up as well?” The logical side pulled his glasses from his robe pocket and set them gingerly on his face. As he glanced around, becoming more and more awake as he took in Virgil’s panicked face, Roman’s tattered clothes, Patton’s flushed face. “You are all up. I’m quite confused. What has been happen-Wait… Is that? How... How did you manage to get a car in that position?”

All the sides turned to look where Logan was pointing to see a car embedded into the wall above Roman’s door. Patton was the first one to bust out into fits of giggles with Roman’s booming laughter and Virgil’s exhausted chuckles mixing in.

“I’m not sure that I even wish to know...” was all Logan said, pinching the bridge of his nose angrily.

#thomas sanders #sanders sides #virgil sanders #roman sanders #patton sanders #logan sanders #fanders #misc writing #swearing

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xoleahbeanxo · 6 years

Text

Mercka Squad: Chapter One

This is a story I wrote over a year ago and just left sitting for a time when I felt good about going back over it. I loved writing it and I love rereading it. I hope you’ll feel the same.

If you don’t like reading it here, you can also read it on Ao3 https://archiveofourown.org/works/15083603/chapters/34972910

Comments and criticism are welcome. Thank you for taking the time to read it. ^.^

Synopsis:

After the battle of three nations, seventy percent of the world was covered in a toxic magical radiation that’s killed everything that touched it. From the radiation spawned Creepers, violent and horrendous monstrosities, constantly hungering but never sated.

Those who survived the blast are forced to scavenge and carve out a living in the wasteland. Food and water are scarce, and garbage is treasure. That’s where the Mercka Squad comes in, an elite tactical group of mercenary…kobolds? That can’t be right?

“You know, they say war, war never changes. They must be right because this place, here, is a shithole.”

“The Centernal year is 36 AD…that’s After Destruction, thanks to the ever lovin’ fey High Elves and their inability to control their unending superiority over every living creature in the realm.”

“RUBY!”

“Sorry, sometimes I get carried away.”

“We know, dear, trust us we know. Maybe instead of telling them, perhaps we can show them in a beautiful and cinematic opus.”

“I think not Amethyst.”

“Both of you hush, now.”

***

…Latherimy stood atop the mass of corpses that lay at his feet. His frail elven legs barely held his disheveled figure aloft. The air was chocked with green gas that threatened to suffocate him but he clung to the last shred of life he had left. What would his people think of him, if he were the first of the Three Kingdom’s rulers to die? No, if he were deemed to die, he would be the last.

Gristleback leaned onto her hammer; the crisp skin that ran up her side had long since bubbled and scabbed over. It stung and burned like the very fires of the Underfall but she refused to falter. No, she would carry the weight of her oppressed people to the very halls of her two rivals, if she must. They will take note that Orcs, no, that her people had every right to grow and flourish as theirs does.

Auturo fell to one knee, the arrow imbedded there threatened to end his adventuring days forever but not his days to rule in the sun. Latherimy would kneel to the fire that all humans possess in their souls. He would teach the pointed-ear bastard that being an “infantile” race didn’t mean they couldn’t learn, couldn’t develop, and couldn’t unite the land under the banner of peace for the greater good. And Aurturo swore to kill anyone who didn’t agree to join the alliance. Yes, that would show them.

***

“Does anyone want anything; I’m going into the kitchen.”

“Citrine! Can’t you see I’m telling a story here?”

“Sorry Sapphire; I was trying to be helpful.”

“Don’t mind her; she’s got her knickers in a twist.”

“Thank you, Amethyst, that’s really-”

“I could use more pork rinds.”

“Sure thing, sweetie, I’ll be right back.”

“Would you mind if I continued the story?”

“Shouldn’t we wait for Citrine?”

“Nah, she’s heard it before. Go on, before out reader gets bored.”

***

…Right. The three lords stood on a battlefield that had long since been carpeted with the remains of their clan’s members, their friends, and their people. It didn’t matter now, the three lords were balls-deep into this war and it would be determined now.

Aurturo hefted his sword and swung but the elf was nimble enough to move but not nimble enough to keep from collapsing under the weight of the green miasma. Gristleback stumbled forth, lifting her hammer with the last of her strength; her last swing would finish the point-eared bastard for sure.

But Latherimy would not be undone; he cast his hands to sky and muttered words of the ancient and all the sound left the world. The birds flew away, the fire stalled its crackle, and even the wind itself shut the fuck up.

“I may die here,” He uttered, his voice muted to the soft whistle that came from worlds away. “But I will take you and all of this to hell with me when I go.”

“You fool, what are you doing?” Gristleback dropped her hammer and reached for him.

“Meeeh, you fool, what are you doing, shut up, I’m winning, duh!” Latherimy’s voice spiked a sour tone but it faltered next to the whistle that grew louder.

“You may be a prick.” Arturo stepped forward and rammed his sword through the elf’s middle. “But you know what; I’ve got a bigger one for you.”

“Ugh, men and their inbred need for a pissing contest, even at the end of things. Let this be done.” Her hammer crunched down on the elf’s head, splatting his brains all over the place.

The human looked at the Orc and smiled. “You know, I never disliked you.”

“Liar,” She said, splatting him for good measure.

Now the orc female was all alone and there was no one to splat her. So, she looked up at the sky to the glowing green fireball that was falling faster than a shooting star and with it came death, the four horseman, and maybe even their mothers, who knows, but they were all there.

“Bring it on, you pussies.” Gristleback sneered in triumph seconds before it hit.

***

“The toadstool cloud could be seen from miles around. A radiated shockwave rolled through the countryside, obliterating everything in its path and man, did it suck.” The sleek blue kobold said from her perch on the rickety looking couch. “Farms destroyed, kingdoms fell, and almost everyone died.”

“You know, this story gets more bitchin’ each time you tell it.” A ruby-red kobold snickered as she knocked back a glowing green bottle of Mountain Dew.

“It’s not a story, Ruby,” A shimmering purple kobold snapped at her, dumping her popcorn on the mesh metal floor. “This is real history, right Sap?”

“Sapphire, thank you very much. And yes, these are annuals of our histories from over tens of thousands of years.” The blue kobold scrolled down on the glowing tablet in her hand.

“More like bullshit with a side of crap, if you ask me.” Ruby snarked and grabbed a handful of popcorn from the floor.

“How else do you explain the radiation swamps that cover seventy percent of the world?” Sapphire adjusted the pinched lenses on her snout.

“Bad luck!”

The purple kobold snickered at Ruby’s response.

“Glad you find the death of millions funny, Amethyst.”

“Meh, life is sacred, nah nah, didn’t you just shoot a douche bag in the face the other day, Sap?” The red kobold chuckled.

“The bastard had it coming.” She said pointedly as she plucked her glasses from her muzzle, folding them neatly before slipping them into their leather pouch.

“Amethyst, I brought your another soda!” A shimmering yellow kobold walked into the room, passing a bottle of glowing green liquid to the heavy-set kobold stretched out on the couch.

“Thanks, Citrine but…I don’t drink this stuff.”

The yellow kobold touched her chin, her eyes glazing over.

“It was me, genius. I asked for pork rinds.” Ruby snapped.

“Oh right, be right back.” The yellow kobold started down the stairs again.

“I swear to god…goddess…or Steven Spielberg that she’s a dumb as a box of rocks.” Ruby glared at Sapphire.

“Ruby, you stop that right now. She can’t help it!”

“I personally think she’s getting better.” Amethyst passed the soda to Ruby. “Drink up and smile, for a change.”

“Fat chance and judging by your waistline, you know a lot about those types of chances.”

“Sapphire, I brought this back for you.” Citrine climbed back up the stairs with nothing in her hands.

“Dear,” Sapphire pinched the bridge of her muzzle. “I didn’t ask for any-”

Behind her came a tall scrawny looking elf dressed in a tattered navy-blue parka. Her camo pants were tore so badly that her long johns could be seen underneath. She had a modified AK-47 strapped to her back. Her belt lined with various tools, traps, and a broad bladed sword. It was more a homemade machete that bore and intricate hilt of her people. She pulled her goggles up to rest on her tattered, flannel cabby hat.

“Mercka Squad?” The elf’s thick cockney accent fell out of her mouth like someone dumping out a sack of potatoes.

“Yes!” Sapphire stood up from seat and straightened her freshly pressed BDU’s.

“Thank the goddess I found you.” She rushed forward.

Ruby was off the couch in a second pressing the tip of her combat knife to the elf’s side. It was so large in her hand that it could double as a sword but she wielded it better than most humans, orcs, or elves.

“That’s far enough, forest fart.”

“I mean you no harm.” The elf raised her hands; in one she carried a yellow index card.

“Don’t mind her, she’s more than a little demented.” Amethyst got up and snatched the index card away, handing it to Sapphire.

“I come on behalf of Druger-Ox; he has a mission for you.” The elf was quick to explain her presence.

“An elf working for an Orc, that’s a laugh.” The red kobold snickered as she sheathed her knife again.

“It’s an important matter…involving stolen secrets, hmm.” Sapphire read the card to herself but commented aloud.

“That’s right, a thief took it and ran into subway system, we can’t follow.” The elf stated.

“What kind of idiot-”

“A kobold like yourself, ma’am.” The elf snapped.

“Fuck off! You must by high.” Ruby cackled. “Everyone knows most kobolds hid underground only to be buried amidst the remnants of your ancestor’s past fuck ups.”

“Amethyst, if you’d please.” Sapphire snapped.

The pudgy purple kobold slid across the metal floor on her belly, coming up beside Ruby fast enough to catch her off guard. She closed her hands around the kobold’s mouth and wrest her to the couch where she wrapped her legs around the feistier female’s waist.

“I apologize for my companion; she’s a bit of bitch.” Sapphire tucked the card away. “A kobold, huh? That’s interesting. And how much is Mr. Ox-Orc willing to pay?”

“Druger-Ox, ma’am,” The elf slapped the yellow kobold’s hand away as she was caressing the elf’s hip. “One hundred, ma’am,”

“One hundred? Is this some kind of a joke to you?” Sapphire’s crystal blue eyes narrowed.

“I could go as high as one hundred fifty.” The elf reached into her pocket and pulled out a credit card.

“One hundred and fifty,” Amethyst grunted, still wrestling the other female on the couch. “That’s like a spit in the face!”

“I-I…I can give you half right now, seventy-five thousand.”

“Well, I suppose...wait…what was that again?” Sapphire stopped in mid thought.

“I can give you eighty thousand, right now, just please take this case. Mercka Squad is the only ones who can go into the places we can’t and we really need you to do this.” The elf was almost pleading now.

“I suppose so.” The blue kobold feigned her surrender. “Stolen documents sounds very important and all. I suppose it’s almost like our civil duty…our paid handsomely, civil duty. Tell Mr. Orc-Ox we’ll accept his standard offer and will report to you in two weeks to a month on our progress. Please give me your contact info and the payment.”

“Oh, thank you so much for this. All the information you need is on the card. Druger-Ox wants to be perfectly clear, you can contact me anytime, day or night, just please find those documents and…bring the kobold back alive.” The elf sighed, her body growing limp with her relief.

The elf punched a few buttons built onto the face of the card and passed it to Sapphire. “I’ve cleared you for eighty thousand credits; the rest will be released to you upon completion of the task.”

“Yes, yes, you have our word that we will return the documents and the prisoner ASAP.” Sapphire shook the elf’s hand nonchalantly. “Now if you’ll excuse us, we need to prepare for our manhunt.”

Citrine blinked and looked at Amethyst. “I thought we were hunting a kobold?”

“Not now.”

The elf looked from the yellow kobold to the Sapphire with a look of worry. Sapphire fought to reassure her with a smile before patting the elf’s bicep.

“She’s just confused.”

“Certainly,” The elf nodded and pointed back down the stairs. “This way, right?”

“Yes, it’s the door that says ‘exit’, you can’t miss it.” Sapphire was struggling to compose herself under the weight of the loaded credit card.

The elf disappeared down the stairway as Citrine walked up to Sapphire. “Can you believe she’s stupid enough to pay us that much money?”

“What was that?” The elf popped her head back up.

Sapphire’s eyes shot open as she glared at the yellow kobold, her mouth hanging open. “Oh, I…It was…”

“I said, ‘can you believe she’s s-”

Sapphire wrapped her tail tightly around the yellow kobold’s throat and pulled her clean off her feet and to the floor, choking the words out of her.

“Don’t mind her!” Sapphire’s voice spiked in a very unbecoming way, her blue face growing purple amidst the frustrated blush. “She stupid…head wound as a child, we keep her around because she’s like family. We can’t find a home to take her in.”

Both Ruby and Amethyst looked up at her with their mouths hanging open in shock at the sudden rant.

“Oh,” The elf said, a little more put off now that she witnessed the emotion slaughter delivered to the yellow kobold. “Carry…uhm, carry on then.”

Again she disappeared through the hole. This time, they waited until they could hear the slam and lock of their metal front door before they did anything.

When they were sure she was gone, Sapphire released Citrine from her chokehold, relieved to hear her gasp for air.

“Why did you say all those awful things?” Citrine cried, wiping the tears running down her cheeks.

“Oh for the love of James Camron, I didn’t mean it, I was trying to get the stinky elf to leave. Come on, stop crying. I’ll buy you a stuffed puppy.” Sapphire fell to her knees, coddling the kobold. “You know I love you, don’t you?”

Citrine sniffled and nodded. “Ye-yes.”

“And you know I would only act that way to save your life, right?”

Citrine paused, her eyes rolling to the side as she thought. “I suppose so, though I don’t really know how that works.”

“She’s saying that if you’d fucked this deal up for us, she was going to skin you and make a pair of boots and a matching belt out of your hide.” Ruby snickered.

“Right.” Sapphire nodded.

“Oh, well then I’m glad you did it.” Citrine smiled widely, her tail bounced off the metal floor happily.

“Thank god.” Sapphire sighed and slid the card through the reader built into the side of her tablet, depositing the first half into their account.

“Sappy, you know how you said you’ll get me a stuffed puppy?”

“Uh, yeah, of course,” Sapphire looked down at the yellow kobold who was chewing one claw.

“Can it be a kitty instead? I like cats more than dogs.” Citrine wiped her wet finger on Sapphire’s pant leg before getting to her feet.

“After this is over, Citrine, I’ll buy you a roomful of stuffed kitties.” Sapphire smiled at her, before giving her cheek a soft pat.

“Really?”

“That’s right.” Sapphire slipped her tablet into the pocket of her canvas bag. “Now ladies, gather your gear, we have a thieving degenerate to find. We roll out in ten.”

“Aye, captain,” Amethyst saluted and hurried off into one of the rooms off of the main chamber.

Ruby reached behind the couch grabbing her hastily stuffed backpack. “Ready,” She forced everything back into their respective pockets before zipping, clasping, and latching them away safely.

“Ruby?” Citrine whispered.

“Whut?” Ruby pulled a cigarette from the pack sitting on the three-legged end table next to the couch.

“If she used my butt to make your hide boots out of…would they be called booties?”

Ruby laughed so hard she choked on the first drag from the cigarette. “What the fuck, that was so funny, even for you.”

Citrine wrapped her arms around the taller Kobold and kissed her cheek. “See, there’s a reason you keep me around.”

“I suppose so.” Ruby smiled and ruffled her golden head feathers. “Come on, let’s get you all packed.”

Sapphire watched as the pair left the room through the same door Amethyst had hurried through.

“Heh…booties, that is pretty funny.”

Sapphire shook her head, and picked up the well-polished Peacemaker from the bookshelf, still holstered on its bandolier. She was quick to wrap the belted bandolier around her waist, buckling it and tying it off around her thigh. The weapon was heavy in her hand but she managed to spin it a few times before slipping it back into the holster, just as her husband, David, had shone her once upon a time.

The blue kobold kissed her fingertips and touched the faded printer picture of a human with red hair and a dark handlebar mustache. The picture was taken a long time ago but the memory was always fresh. She was too short to be seen in the picture when she first put it in the frame. She always joked with her husband that she managed to get the best part centered anyway. They’d laughed about it but David always promised to bring her a new one as soon as he found it. He never did, thus she never felt it needed changing.

“Here I go again, David. Doing good, just like you taught me.” Her words were a whisper just in case the others were within ear shot.

She lingered her gaze a moment longer before turning to face the door. “Come on, ladies, daylight’s burning.”

“Of course it is; we live in a nuclear winter.” Amethyst spoke around the fingerless glove clenched in her teeth.

“I think it’s more of a nuclear summer.” Citrine mused.

“I prefer nuclear autumn myself. The way the leaves glow as they drift through the breeze to inevitably burst into flames and fall to the ground as ash has always reminded me of how fucked up life is now.” Ruby cackled as she snuffed her cigarette out on the wall before dropping the butt on the floor.

“Come on you misfits, let’s tuck tail and run.” Sapphire gave each of them a brief look over as they walked past.

They were misfits from horn to tail, she thought, a smile coming to her lips, but they were her misfits and she loved each of them very much.

#Leendenwrites #Kobolds #Elves #Orcs #humans #gnolls #fallout #D&D

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allanamayer · 6 years

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My year in fiction.

As with last year, this post was brought to you by Bibliocommons’ Completed Shelf. Fuck yeah opt-in datasets. Anything listed here you can take as a recommendation; I’ve skipped over everything I didn’t finish or found underwhelming.

Another year, another list of awesome things I’ve read. I had a twinge around mid-year that I should start doing these more often because everything I’m reading is so wonderful. Buuuuuut let’s try this once more for now.

I delved more deeply into young-adult and kidlit this year, finishing off the Anne of Green Gables series, reading the last four books. After that I jumped right into Laura Ingalls Wilder, racism and all, and read the eight official series books. At some point later in the year I indulged in some personal nostalgia and reread two of the Louis Sachar Wayside School books that I cherished so much as a kid. I started digging around in how Canadian history is represented in kids’ reading, and discovered not just Afua Cooper’s My Name Is Henry Bibb, but also the Dear Canada books on a recommendation. I flipped through a number of kids’ biographies that aren’t technically fiction, but I’ll mention Stand There! She Shouted, a biography of Julia Cameron Mitchell that was really well done and a good mix of archival reproductions and new illustrations.

I also followed up on an adult author I love, Edward Carey, and discovered he had started writing some kids’ books about a mysterious and evil English industrial town called Foulsham. I read the first of these but haven’t gone back for more yet.

In adult books, I started with Fauna by Alissa York, an urban and modern setting unlike the books of hers I read last year. It did, however, flow nicely from 2016’s “books set in Toronto kinda” theme. I also read Behave by Andromeda Romano-Lax, which is a terrifyingly effective look at what women sacrifice when their male partners have careers in the same field as them. Wait, let me put that another way. What women sacrifice when they meet their partners in grad school and realize they’ll never be taken as seriously as them. No! What sucks about gender. There, that’ll do.

In February I went to Mexico for a short work-cation, and took Anna Freeman’s completely badass Fair Fight as well as some non-fiction, which didn’t last me very long. Luckily the hostel bookshelves contained Julia Alvarez’s fantastic and touching How The Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents, as well as a relatively new copy of Wuthering Heights, which I had never read. It was so miserable I was actually pretty happy to get back to Villette as part of a long overdue group read - which of course ended up being both awesome and frustrating. After this I landed on Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton, I think as part of that group’s discussions. Definitely less frustrating and vastly funnier. Oh yeah and I read North & South entirely on my phone from Project Gutenberg, staying up late and giggling into the covers - admittedly after I watched the adaptation on Netflix.

I would've watched North & South a long time ago if someone had told me it was about union organizing

— ҩȴȴҩηҩ (@allanaaaaaaa) August 16, 2017

Two books left me completely heartbroken and sobbing this year: Yaa Gyasi’s Homegoing and Katherena Vermette’s The Break. Between the two of them you have American and Canadian injustice pretty well cornered. Can I admit that while reading Colson Whitehead’s Underground Railroad I spent a lot of time thinking about going back and reading Homegoing again? I’m not trying to pit them against each other or anything, just, if you liked the former you should definitely definitely read the latter.

I was telling my boss about something I was reading, although now I can’t remember what it was, and she recommended to me Susan Orleans’ Orchid Thief, which I know, I know, and I had never actually made it through Adaptation before either, but the book of course was totally great.

In sci-fi, I read the followup to The Girl With All The Gifts, The Boy On The Bridge and maybe cried a little. I thoroughly enjoyed the series by Ann Leckie - Ancillary Justice, Ancillary Mercy, Ancillary Sword. At the end of the year I dipped back in for Provenance. I’ll mention Ted Chiang’s Arrival, too, although only some of the stories were interesting to me.

In post-apocalypse, there was Good Morning, Midnight, which was recommended to me as “Station Eleven-ish” and I mean it kinda was, but a little slower-paced and meditative and left just the right amount of information out. I read The Leftovers by Tom Perotta and found it fantastic. I also read Jean Hegland’s Into The Forest after finding out it was going to be a movie (this is admittedly a trend for me) and holy hell I did not at all expect the way the last few chapters panned out. Not even a little bit.

In fantasy, we found a copy of Patrick Rothfuss’s Wise Man’s Fear in a neighbourhood book exchange so I got Name Of The Wind from the library and read both of them in a very quick flash. Really wonderful world.

In art writing, I probably most enjoyed Barbara Shapiro’s Art Forger, although I most identified with Sara Baume’s Line Made By Walking. Like, a bit too much. I also really liked Andrew O’Hagan’s The Illuminations after I became short-term obsessed with Margaret Watkins, although it was hard to get into.

Also it occurs to me upon reflection that I never actually finished Anthony Doerr’s All The Light We Cannot See, even though it is a lovely book. I think I maxed out my tolerance for WWII depictions this year, for some strange unknowable reason.

I am way too lazy to do a non-fiction list, again, but that’s okay because this year I mostly just read trashy art-crime books:

Priceless by Robert Wittman

The Gardner Heist by Ulrich Boser

Provenance by Laney Salisbury

The Forger's Spell by Edward Dolnick

Seduced by Modernity: The Photography of Margaret Watkins, by Mary Elizabeth O'Connor

The Lost Painting by Johnathan Harr

… as well as Lab Girl by Hope Jahren, and the Josephine Baker graphic novel, the two most worth mentioning.

#books #fiction #reading #libraries #speculative fiction #scifi #fantasy #historical fiction #cancon #canlit

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aesarctic · 6 years

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Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard: The Ship of the Dead, by Rick Riordan

The third book in the Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard trilogy. Finished it a month ago, but I just got the review done.

Read on Goodreads

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

FOR THE SUPER NON-SPOILERY AND THE NON-SPOILERY PEOPLE: This is the third book. Can't say much. Here: The Sword of Summer

FOR THE SPOILERY PEOPLE: Oh. My. Dear. Gods. Let's talk about my thoughts pre-book. I got this book maybe two days after it came out--in my defence, it was a busy time in my life. Marching band is a big deal. Marching band ending in my senior year of high school is a bigger one. After marching band, school got in the way. I wasn't able to read the book. A sad life, I know. I was looking forward to this book for forever at that point. (Where "forever" = about 1 year) But then. A four day weekend was coming up. It was time. I picked up the book. And I read it. Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard: The Ship of the Dead is an end-book. The last book. It's the last book in the Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard trilogy. I've read three other end-books by Rick Riordan: The Last Olympian, The Serpent's Shadow, and The Blood of Olympus. The Last Olympian is by far my favourite of the three. In fact, it's high up on the favourite-end-books list. It's amazing. TLO SPOILERS: The entire thing is dedicated to the battle that has been built up for four books. The battle is amazing. There was the right amount of death. The ending was near perfect. I loved it. END SPOILERS To be honest, I don't remember much of The Serpent's Shadow. If I wasn't on a rereading ban, I'd probably reread that series. And then, Blood of Olympus. We all have feelings about that book. Mine aren't the best. Not the worst, but not the best. The point is, I didn't know what to think about this book. Was it going to be a good end-book? Would it wrap up everything? What the heck was going to happen? Percy Jackson is my all-time favourite character in any Rick Riordan book in the history of Rick Riordan books. When I finished the second book, Annabeth ended the book by saying it was time to meet Percy.I remember thinking that this meant Percy was probably going to make a cameo at the beginning, teach Magnus a couple things, and be on his way. AND I WAS RIGHT. Some people I knew thought that he'd be throughout the book, and they were angry because of it, but no. Nope. Personally, I'd love more books with Percy as the main character. I know he needs a well-deserved break, but he's still my favourite. I'd even go for a series that just follows his current life. Anyway, I loved the beginning. And we finally got to know what Percy's baby sister's name is! Estelle! It feels like such a difference from the other names in these books, and it caught me off guard at first, but I actually really like that name. And he's so excited to be an older brother! I love Percy. Moving on, fast-forward to looking through Randolph's place. We get to see more of Alex's sass, which I love. The whole cast of characters in this series is fantastic. I didn't really think much of anyone other than the main four until this book, but now I love all of them. Which I'll get into later. Spoiler for The Shadowhunter Chronicles: Anyway, so originally, when naming Magnus Magnus, Rick asked Cassandra Clare if he could use the name Magnus, since Cassie also has a character named Magnus in her books. And Magnus gets together with Alec. In these books, Magnus gets together with Alec. I don't ship either, but I love the parallels. When we meet Sam, we find out that it's Ramadan, and I think this is really cool for a children's book to touch on. It also shows how powerful Sam is. She's an amazing fighter, and she can do all of it while going through the month of Ramadan. Talk about a powerful character. She's incredible. Sam has been struggling with her shape-shifting and resisting Loki when he tries to control her. Magnus says to her,"You'll find a way. A way that works for you." And it's never really mentioned in the book if she does. It's highly implied, shown in pages 363 and 373 (hardback, first edition) when she resists Loki. I do kind of wish we got a line about figuring it out, though. Chapter nine: I Become a Temporary Vegetarian. This needs a shout-out because this was definitely one of my favourite moments of the book. Aegir asks if there are any dietary restrictions. Sam imediately says that it's Ramadan. Aegir: "I see. Sorry. Yes, I don't think dwarves are halal. I'm not sure about elves." And I love this, because Sam then says, "They're not, either. In fact, it's Ramadan which means I need to break my fast in the company of dwarves and elves, rather than eating them or being around anyone who does eat them. It's strictly forbidden." Conclusion: Sam is amazing. But it gets better: Magnus claims he's a vegetarian and Alex claims he has green hair. Green hair of course means that he can't eat dwarves or elves. There are so many other funny moments and lines I wish I could highlight on, but I don't have the time to type all of them out. When Magnus challenges Loki to a flyting, Loki refuses. This made me so excited. It didn't occur to me that he might refuse. Probably predictable, but I was excited for the plot twist. Very, very excited. Then a couple pages later it turns out they're having a flyting and I could never describe the disappointment that arose from that. I have to say though, Magnus' speech had me kind of speechless. And embarrassed. I really liked it. I'm a sucker for friendship stuff, and it made me feel. In the end, we get a phone call between Magnus and Annabeth. This next bit contains spoiler's for Riordan's Trials of Apollo series. ToA and MCGA take place at the same time. In The Dark Prophecy, Apollo joins up with Leo and Calypso, they go through some times, and then the book ends with Apollo meeting (waking up) Grover Underwood. I admittedly don't remember too much, but that's what I think is a good summary. So, I don't know about you guys, but Grover coming back to reality seems pretty good to me. I missed him. So, when Annabeth seemed to be crying, you have no idea how badly I wanted the third ToA book. What happened? What's the bad news? Gods of Olympus I need to know. It was intense over on my end when I read that chapter. END SPOILERS Magnus and Alex opened the mansion for homeless kids in need, and I thought that that was incredibly noble and true to Magnus' character. I loved it. All in all, the book was good, I'm not sure where I'd place it with the other books, though. The first was my favourite, then maybe this one? I really liked getting to know the characters in this book. However, as a series ending, it wasn't the strongest. I expressed earlier how worried I was that it would be a bad ending, and it definitely wasn't the best I've ever read. I think major battles should feel major--not a couple pages long. Also, every Riordan book ends with a huge meet-and-greet with the gods at the end. I've read it so many times, I'm ready for something new. There must be some other way to end these books. A lot of our characters develop in this book, or we get to know them better, and I thought it was incredible. Here's some highlights and thoughts: Alex: She seems to be a lot happier in this book, and her relationship with Sam is strong The piece of evidence I have on me right now is on page 168, where Alex is texting Sam because she wouldn't just leave Sam on the boat without updating their cellphone plans and making sure they're able to text at all times. Alex even says, "Well duh. Gotta keep in touch with my sister." Maybe it's small, but as someone who is close to her sibling, it means a bit more to me. Also, her relationship with Magnus went through some major developments. Most of it was pretty embarrassing for me, and I really don't have much to say about it. Speaking of Alex, she has a lot of moments where it seems like she's forcing gender identity into the reader's face. I think that this is good. This is a children's book, and it's good to introduce kids to these things, because they're reallyimportant, to some more than others. It may even help out someone who's reading the book. It's also important to just educate the audience as a whole. And if you're wondering how I'm deciding to use which set of pronouns, I use the pronouns that match the section of the book I'm talking about, and if I'm talking about a generalization, I use she/her pronouns because that's when Alex said to do in the second book. TJ: He cannot back down from a fight. This is why he must fight Hrungnir, and we get to know a lot about him. We got a glimpse of what his life was like and how he came to be involved in the war. It was glimpses, but it's also a huge deal. Mallory: First, we learned how she died, then we learned who her godly parent is (Frigg, only the queen of the Aesir), where she is told that she's the key to retrieving Kvasir's Mead. Mallory then kills all the thralls, which of course gets them a step closer to getting the mead. That's a really short version of it all, but it made me from hating her character to liking her, and I was impressed. I still don't understand why Magnus wants to call her Mack, though. Halfborn: We start learning about Halfborn when he tells Magnus that they're heading towards the places that Mallory and Halfborn died. It gets worse as the crew heads towards Fläm, and it's revealed that that is Halfborn's hometown. Sixty pages later, we learn that Halfborn wanted to get out of Fläm--he wanted to be known. Be famous. Then, later on in the book, Fläm gets insulted, and Halfborn was not having it. He has a rather one-sided conversation about it with Magnus, and it was really nice to have a bit of closure to Halfborn's mini get-to-know-him arc. Halfborn's not my favourite, but at least I can respect him as a character now that he actually is one. I was really happy to know that we were getting to know his story as well (because this was before I knew we were getting to know everyone's stories.)

#MCGA #The Ship of the Dead #Ship of the Dead #SotD #Rick Riordan #book review

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libralita · 7 years

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Way of Kings Reread to prepare for Oathbringer

“Almighty above, Kalak thought. You’re broken too, aren’t you? They all were.”—Page 17

And thus the Radiants must be broken as well.

“‘They see us as divinities,’ Kalak whispered. ‘They rely upon us, Jezrien. We’re all that they have.’”—Page 17

So they aren’t, they were just people.

“The tempest within Szeth gave him many advantages—including the ability to quickly recover from small wounds. But it would not restore limbs killed by a Shardblade.”—Page 30

So a Honorblade can’t restore limbs killed by a Shardblade but being a Radiant can.

“Kharbranth, City of Bells”—Page 61

I forgot that Kharbranth was called the City of Bells.

“I’m dying, aren’t I? Healer, why do you take my blood? Who is that beside you, with his head of lines? I can see a distant sun, dark and cold, shining in a black sky.”—Page 73

Ah, Brandon and his foreshadowing.

“‘Kaladin,’ Syl said, landing on the log, ‘I’m going to leave’ He blinked in shock. Syl. Leave? But…she was the last thing he had left. ‘No,’ he whispered. It came out as a croak. ‘I’ll try to come back,’ she said. ‘But I don’t know what will happen when I leave you. Things are strange. I have odd memories. No, most of them aren’t even memories. Instincts. One of those tells me that if I leave you, I might lose myself.’ ‘Then don’t go,’ he said, growing terrified. ‘I have to,’ she said, cringing. ‘I can’t watch this anymore. I’ll try to return.’ She looked sorrowful. ‘Goodbye.’ And with that, she zipped away into the air, adopting the form of a tiny group of tumbling, translucent leaves. Kaladin watched her go, numb.”—Page 149

Oh, boy, fun fantasy series!

“She cowered down, kneeling on his palm, misty skirt around her legs, drops of rainwater passing through her and rippling her form. ‘You don’t like it then? I flew so far…I almost forgot myself. But I came back. I came back Kaladin.’”—Page 161

My poor sweetie, Syl.

“‘Today,’ King Elhokar announced, riding beneath the bright open sky, ‘is an excellent day to slay a god. Wouldn’t you say?’”—Page 183

Killing gods is so passé, Elhokar. You should really keep up with trends, you’re king after all.

“‘I know,’ Renarin said. His voice was measured, controlled. He always paused before he replied to question, as if testing the worlds in his mind. Some women Adolin knew said Renarin’s ways made them feel as if he were dissecting them with his mind. They’d shiver when they spoke of him, though Adolin had never found his younger brother the least bit discomforting.”—Page 184

Fight me!

“The king beamed.”—Page 188

C’mon, Elhokar, I believe in you! You can be a good king!

“‘Wit!’ Adolin called, waving.”—Page 197

Wit!

“Adolin—stalwart as always—had dismounted beside the king. He tried to stop the claws, striking at them as they fell. Unfortunately, there were four claws and only one of Adolin. Two swung at him at once, and though Adolin sliced a chunk out of one, he didn’t see the other sweeping at his back.”—Page 208

Adolin VS 4 is becoming a pattern.

“But the other one? You saw how he ran out onto the field today. He even forgot to draw his sword or bow! He’s useless!”—Sadeas, Page 227

COME AT ME, BRO! NO ONE TALKS SHIT ABOUT RENARIN!

“‘He is relying heavily on Brightness Lalai to act as clerk.’ Perhaps that would make Jasnah return. There was little love lost between herself and Sadeas’s cousin, who was the king’s head scribe in the queen’s absence.”—Page 422

Whoa, there, Sadeas’s cousin? I’m sure she won’t be a pain in the butt.

“‘Forgiven? Me?’ [Taravangian] seemed to find that amusing, and for a moment, Shallan thought she saw deep regret in his expression. ‘Unlikely. But that is something else entirely. Please. I stand by my questions.’”—Page 464

Ahahahaha.

“Gaz had never gotten used to having just one eye. Could a man get used to that?”—Page 472

I dunno, ask Kelsier.

“Roshone fell still, skewer held limply in his hand, brilliant green eyes narrowed, lips pursed tight. In the dark, those eyes almost seemed to glow.”—Page 546

Panic.

“‘Yelig-nar, called Blightwind, was one that could speak like a man, though often his voice was accompanied by the wails of those he consumed.’—The Unmade were obviously fabrications of folklore. Curiously, most were not considered individuals, but instead personifications of kind of destruction. This quote is from Traxil, line 33, considered a primary source, though I doubt its authenticity.”—Chapter 45, Way of Kings

Everyone in this series think the Unmade aren’t important which makes me think that they’re incredibly important.

“Kabsal hesitated, then walked over, taking the picture in reverent fingers. ‘It’s wonderful,’ he whispered. He looked up, then hurried to his lantern, opening it and pulling out the garnet broam inside. ‘Here,’ he said, proffering it. ‘Payment.’”—Page 639

Why would Kabsal try to pay Shallan for her drawing? Does he know she’s a radiant?

“The flashes of light came from directly ahead. So transfixing. Brushing past a pretty gold- and red-haired woman who huddled frightened in a corner, Kaladin burst through a door.”—Page 648

Who’s that?

“But that implied that they had limited themselves before. Did they do it because they realized that the battlefields left little room for maneuvering? Or was it for speed? But that didn’t make sense—the Alethi had to worry about bridges as choke points, slowing them more and more if they brought more troops. But the Parshendi could jump the chasms. So why commit fewer troops that their all?”—Page 781

They just trying to keep the Alethi distracted?

“The soldiers pulled Sadeas’s helm off, and Dalinar was relieved to see his former friend blinking, looking disoriented by largely uninjured.”—Page 786

Oh, good, Sadeas is still alive…

“I hold the suckling child in my hands, a knife at his throat, and know that all who live wish me to let the blade slip. Spill its blood upon the ground, over my hands, and with it gain us further breath to draw.”—Page 789

What do you guys think of this death rattle? I find it interesting that it first refers to the baby as “he” and then in the next sentence says “its blood” instead of “his”. So there’s possibly some baby possession going on here.

“When a surgeon failed, someone died.”—Page 790

Kal, dear, if a farmer fails to produce food, people will die.

“‘Yes,’ Elhokar replied. ‘And yet they are savages, and easily manipulated. It would be a perfect distraction, pinning the blame on a group of parshmen. We go to war for years and years, never noticing the real villains, working quietly in my own camp. They watch me. Always. Waiting. I see their faces in mirrors. Symbols, twisted, inhuman…’”—Page 826

Oh, poor Elhokar.

“‘Every bridge run,’ Kaladin said. ‘You’re going to make us go on every one.’ ‘Yes,’ she said idly, tapping for her bearers to raise her. ‘Your team is just too good. It must be used. You’ll start full-time bridge duty tomorrow. Consider it an…honor.’”—Page 833

Ah, now I remember why I hate Hashal.

“‘The world as we know it has quite nearly been destroyed,’ Nohadon said. ‘Barely a family exists that hasn’t lost half its members! Our best men are corpses on that field, and we haven’t food to last more than two or three months at best. And I’m to spend my time writing a book? Who would scribe it for me? All of my wordsman were slaughtered when Yelig-nar broke into the chancery. You’re the only man of letters I know of who’s still alive.’”—Page 852

Okay, so Yelig-nar is one of the Unmade. And he existed so, you’re wrong Jasnah.

“None of the soldiers rushing across the chasm had made any specific effort to attack the archers firing on Kaladin, but the weight of numbers had forced them away. A few gave Kaladin loathing gazes, making an odd gesture by cupping a hand to the right ear and pointing at him before finally retreating.”—Page 896

Odd.

“‘Don’t worry,’ Kaladin whispered. When had he started to cry? ‘I’ll bring you home. I’ll protect you, Tien. I’ll bring you back…’”—Page 924

MY HEART.

“‘On your horse, lighteyes’ ‘We should finish him. We could—’ ‘On your horse!’”—Page 940

Get on your fucking horse, Dad!

“Navani steeled herself, folding her arms, trying to quiet the screams of denial and pain that came from the back of her mind. This was a pattern. She often saw patterns in things.”—Page 946

Hmmmmmmmmmmm.

“All is withdrawn for me. I stand against the one who saved my life. I protect the one who killed my promises. I raise my hand. The storm responds.”—Page 945

Possibly foreshadowing Kaladin having to save Roshone or Amaram?

“Wait. You—That—What just happened?”—Page 956

I love this.

“For all I know, there are many groups searching for these secrets.”—Page 992

What? Pffft noooooo. There isn’t a ridiculous amount of secret organizations looking for these secrets. You’re crazy, Jasnah.

#TaylorRereadsSA #Brandon Sanderson #Way of Kings #Stormlight Archive #Cosmere #DONE!#I have a problem...

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