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idk-my-aesthetic · 4 years

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Phoenix Prince /// Dragon Princess AU

Aka a healthy (ish) fire siblings au (thats still super angsty im so sorry) where Zuko and Azula love/take care of eachother and earn the love of their people

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Ursa dies in child birth, though thankfully Azula survives. Zuko’s only three at the time but he’s devastated by the loss of his mother, and vows to protect his baby sister at all costs

He’s super super involved with Azula growing up, and does everything in his power to protect her from Ozai. Bc when she’s little Ozai’s very bitter bc she “killed” Ursa, plus he already hated zuko for being too weak, plus there’s no Ursa to challenge him. so he can basically do whatever tf he wants to them and be an abusive fucking dick

But then, Azula starts fire bending and is clearly a prodigy. Ozai suddenly takes an interest in her. She’s terrified of her dad so she does w/e tf he wants to keep him happy.

Except she refuses to hurt zuko. he’s her big brother and she loves him. She (secretly) stays really close with him, though is skilled enough at manipulation that Ozai thinks she’s basically cut herself off from zuko/hate him. Which zuko is fine with, he wants Azula to be safe from Ozai and if that means she needs to pretend to hate him when their dad is in the room? He doesn’t care, he knows his baby sister and knows she loves him

Anyway yeah Ozai starts to like her better and treats her.... “better”. (Note the quotations.) but she still feels guilty that Zuko’s getting the brunt of ozai’s wrath, so she does her best to keep Ozai’s attention on how good she is instead of how much of a failure zuko is.

Quick side note: if Azula seems ooc that’s on purpose. We know her toxcicity is a result of Ozai’s influence. But here he has way less control over her. Bc Ozai mainly controls her by using fear. And while she is afraid of him, she’s not nearly as afraid in this AU. a) bc Azula has her over protective big brother being over protective and b) Ursa’s dead so there’s no mother who is supposed to protect her failing to protect her and making Azula feel unsafe

So in this she’s much closer personality wise to like a “season 1 zuko” version of herself. She’s in general cool but tends to loose control of herself. Though she also has a lot more self confidence than zuko did, and maybe a bit too much pride. She’d never hit someone who was already down and cares for ppl, but pretends that she cares for no one

So yeah. The two are just kinda surviving living in the castle and love eacother a lot

Until they hear about the whole kill ur first born thing....... (which happens about 2 yrs after cannon bc Iroh came home when he heard his sister in law died and the whole siege of ba sing se was postponed)

Instead of like. Waiting for her brother to get murdered tiny 9 yr old Azula packs up their shit and gets ready to go on the run

Unfortunately she’s (almost) too late. While she’s getting ready to leave Zuko is trying to cover for her (Ozai would be murderus if he knew Azula was gonna betrey him by leaving) and somehow manages to insult Ozai while trying to protect Azula from being found out

Ozai gets big mad, and in a fit of rage tries to kill zuko by burning half his face off.

Azula runs in at the sound of her brother’s screams, at the exact same time two gaurd rush into the royal chambers. The guards are frozen in shock, but Azula is pissed

Azula attacks her dad. At first she has the upper hand/element of surprise but... she’s 9.

she starts loosing. Her forearm gets really badly burned in a suspiciously hand-shaped pattern.

During the fight Zuko’s struggling to lift himself from the ground and help. He manages to save Azula from a killing blow by throwing some fire at Ozai, but collapses immediately after. Azula barely has a second to breathe before Ozai starts attacking again.

For a moment it legitimately looks like Ozai is going to murder his two young children in cold blood

Until one of the guards snaps.

She uses the whole fucked up situation to knock Ozai out, though she doesn’t kill him. The other gaurd is just standing there, and she has no clue who he’s gonna help so she just knocks him out

Then the gaurd grabs zuko and Azula, and fucking BOOKS IT from the castle. She does a blue spirit type thing to escape (threatening to kill either Azula or zuko) and eventually gets them somewhere safe where she can get their wounds treated

The next day the fire lord puts out this whole sob story about how an assassin pretended to be a gaurd, killed his father, then kiddnapped his children. And how he’s sending out a whole manhunt for his lost children yada yada yada

The other gaurd that was there mysteriously disappears a few days later, but not before he can spread some “rumors” about the prince and princess’s disappearance. Ozai ascends to the throne and publicly offers an enormous reward for the return of his children,,,,,, while secretly sending assassins after them. (Like.... Azula attacked him and he already tried to kill zuko he don’t give a fuck)

Iroh is obviously devestated when he finds out. and while he thinks the whole thing is a bit suspicious he starts on a journey desperately looking for his lost niece and nephew

While all this BS is happening this poor gaurd suddenly has 2 damaged af kids to take care of and a bunch of assassins to run from

So once zuko and Azula are healed enough to travel and they know zuko won’t die, they go on the run. They can’t stay in one place bc of all the assassins after them and end up going all over the world

They don’t spend a lot of time in the fire nation (for obvious reasons) but they do spend bits and pieces there. Connecting with their people, meeting freinds of the gaurd who saved them that can help (like Lt Jee who ran Zuko’s ship in cannon) and spreading the truth of what happened.

Stories about the damaged prince and princess who were so hurt by their father begin to spread. But even more stories about how the prince and princess care for their people spread ten times faster. Stories they take time to rebuild small fire nation villages damaged by floods, or how corrupt military commanders suspicious disappear after they come to town start to spread.

Ppl start calling them the dragon princess and pheonix prince. Because the princess protects her people like a dragon protects it’s hoard, by killing everyone who dares to endanger it. And the prince has risin from the ashes (you can see the burn clear as day on his face), to heal the land and his people

(Though really..... the prince and princess are both dragons and pheonixes. Because even if she seems invincible and more ruthless than her brother, the princess has been hurt deeply. Though her wound is more easily covered. And she aches for the pain of her nation, the nation she feels she wasn’t strong enough to protect. She just hides her emotions better than her brother....)

(As for the prince, yes he shows more kindness than his sister seems too. But he is just as ruthless as her if someone threatens their hoard. He’s just a bit calmer.... less trigger happy than his twin. It was his idea to take out the corrupt commandor stealing a small town’s livelihoods, after all)

They call the gaurd who saved them “the Kitsune”. They say she is a flame wielding spirit, sent by Agni himself to protect the true leaders of the fire nation

Iroh overhears bits and pieces about them. He starts to get an idea of what’s happening, but for the most part he really struggles to track them. Ppl can recognize him, and they won’t sell out their prince and princess to someone who might take them away

So yeah. The three of them are on the run together for a long time. They can never spend long in one place (assassins never stop coming after them) and dart all over the earth kingdom and fire nation, seeing first hand the effects of the war. And gaining a positive reputation both for caring about their people in a way no one since before Sozin has, as well as shaming dishonorable fire nation soldiers who mistreat those in the earth kingdom

(They almost never hurt foot soldiers who are just following orders, but any one (especially upper command) who take clear pleasure in other’s suffering are often challenged to Agni kai’s in exchange for said soldiers leaving.

Though usually just being publicly knocked on their asses by a couple of scarred kids who turn out to literally be the lost prince and princess holy shit, is enough to put them in their place)

So yeah. They travel together earning a good reputation from as soon as they’re healed until zuko and azula are 14 and 11 respectively

At that point they get separated from the gaurd.... (she doesn’t die, either captured or separated for some other reason)

So now.... all they have is eachother

The two spend the next two years on their own. They still try to do the same types of stuff they did before but now they’re in a lot more danger w/o an adult to help them. They’re basically just.... 2 increasingly ferel children struggling to survive. They live mostly off of like foraged stuff and whatever money they can make/steal from rich assholes

They continue to dodge Iroh as well bc they have no clue if he’s gonna return them to their father or kill them or w/e. Which is wayyyy harder than it would seem, the only reason he hasn’t caught them yet is that they have an alliance with June the bounty hunter who keeps sending Iroh on wild goose chases bc she has a soft spot for the weird ferel kids. (And a huge crush on the gaurd who was basically their mom/older sister for a while. But we don’t need to talk about that)

so zuko and Azula are just these absolutely feral kids being hunted by 12 dozen bounty hunters from their father, plus the “dragon princess and pheonix prince” have officially been declared “traitors to the nation that are impersonating the late children of Firelord Ozai” so there’s a good amount of the actual military after them, and they’re trying to keep away from their uncle and all his fucking white lotus freinds

They’re a little bit stressed ok??? And like super protective of eachother by this point

And then who joins the fucking search??? The goddam avatar

Bc he heard these stories about these good firebenders who protect everyone no matter what side of the war they’re on. And ofc Aang wants one or both of them to teach him

So Aang like the lovable idiot he is, is just trying so hard to adopt these crazy feral firebenders.

And ik I keep saying feral but like. I need to emphasize this bc these two spent 2 years on the run + 2 more years on the run while basically living in fucking forests cus they’re out of money, connections, and the gaurd was the only one out of the three of them with social skills. They’re a little stressed okay???

And idk I just love the idea of Aang trying to befriend these crazy feral firebenders acting like they’re just like. Wild animals or smthn. Like cornering them in a clearing and trying to offer them jerky as if they were wolves and the two giving him the blankest fucking expression

Anyway this post is about 200x longer than I meant it to be and I am so so sorry. (Especially since I can’t put in a read more on mobile)

Anyway bc it’s so long i’m just gonna do the last bit in bullet form and try to finish as quickly as humanly possible

- obvi they join the avatar and stuff

- the gaurd (who ima call kit/kitsune cus I don’t have a name for her) eventually meets/joins with Iroh. June later joins them as well as they try to find the idiot fire children

- Sokka has a big gay crush on the feral firebening guy

- Katara has a very tiny crush she refuses to admit too on Azula

- there’s also a lot of drama between her and Azula at first bc Azula is brash and Katara kinda gets annoyed at a mix of that/the lingering bias she has against fire nation ppl but they get past it

- also Azula has ~issues~ where she blames herself for their mom’s death/ is sure their mom hates them but asp their mom comes to her in spirit form and says she loves her (no fucking clue when that would happen but I love that idea)

- instead of having zuko/Azula chasing them they have a really fun variety of different random bounty hunters. Obvi including sparky sparky boom man

- the siege of the north.... happens. Though Zhao doesn’t kill the moon spirit so yue lives, and Azula and zuko manage to make a huge speech and get many of the soldiers to defect to their side instead so it ends with minimal bloodshed

- when Toph joins the group she and Azula are chaos incarnate

-mai and ty lee hear rumors and stuff and join team avatar eventually

- when they find out about the day of black sun they just. Skip trying to talk to the earth king. Cus they can just stage a cou lol they have the people on their side?? Forces from both water tribes, random earth kingdom ppl they’ve managed to befriend,,,,

- though they have to find uncle first bc he could challenge zuko for the throne. Obvi they think they’ll need to get rid of him bc they don’t really know him and think he wants to hurt them but all of a sudden???

- so they kinda have a few side quests as they’re preparing and gathering everyone but then it’s the day of black sun!!! And it works and shit and I actually have some other ideas too but FUCK this is SO LONG i am so sorry and will shut up now

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akimmito · 4 years

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Heroes are made by the path they choose

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Master List

Chapter 13

Being married to Lila Rossi, now Agreste, for six years has been... an experience. The woman goes through life following her own path and coaxing people left and right, while he cannot say or do anything without the sole control over his mother's life being lost. Why would a man like Gabriel Agreste who claims to love his wife so much do such a vile thing? The worst thing is that he managed to sustain him legally and catch him with the last woman in the world he would have thought of marrying.

He must remain married to Lila as long as his mother remains in a coma or the hospital will be forced to kill her. Adrien has no other words for what would happen if he divorces her, but it's so sad to be married to a woman he doesn't love and he's the only one who must fulfill the damn contract, because if they discover an infidelity is the same as divorcing.

His mother deserved more, if she had followed that childhood love instead of his father, she woulded be happy...

Chloe and Marinette have been looking for ways to free him from torture, even Felix decided to help in order to free him from his sad fate. At least, it stopped being Chat Noir or that could have played against him, with how easy Lila manipulates people. He get migraines just from imagining making a mistake.

"Adrien, I'm going out to eat with Alya." Lila appears in his field of vision in her usual expensive way, always looking like he's attending a fashion event (which means expense and that translates directly to him working as a slave in different contracts. She makes her money, sure, but her expenses exceed those gains.) She barely looks at him as she checks her phone, probably talking to Alya or one of her lovers, not that he really cares.

"Sure, say hi on my behalf." She turns to leave, but Adrien stops her. "Remember that today we will have dinner with Michel Laforet for next month's charity event. "

"I wouldn't forget it."

They say goodbye barely looking at each other. Adrien is busy reviewing the job proposals, Marinette sent him a couple of locations to investigate a few weeks ago, due to a group of drug traffickers who settled in Paris and need to know their links, he of course must follow their leads and possible connections to find a way to disrupt it. He's now free to continue his work, especially since the MT is busy dealing with Akuma.

He was very surprised when he saw his first Akuma in seven years, he is also quite fearful of what this new villain intends. The way he has attacked, his champions are very different and, consistent with his cousin, he seems to be trying to measure the heroes. For that reason, he approves of Marinette's approach of keeping Luka in a safe place so that no one notices the use of the second chance, that way the villain will never know if his plans could have been altered in any way.

Wait this time it doesn't last for several years.

Now if he could understand why they want him to model in a banana suit for a soup ad, maybe he could consider it.

-----

The Anibiotic: How are bananas and soup related?

Wild goat: If it's another one of your jokes, I swear by Satan that I'll burn your house down

Silent Hill: I approve the plan

Plasticine: Your jokes are really bad, bro

Dragon Tamer: I think this is a serious question

The Antibiotic: It's a modeling proposal

Needle: They offer you the weirdest roles

Plasticine: Like the sardines!

Three balls: that was good

Not in hell: Maybe it's a way to get attention by putting two discordant elements together

Not in hell: You guys are that strange

Almost pretty: Pleasant

Wild goat: We are great, you know, there is no other creation as stylish as us

Not in hell: I would keep my comments, but I completely disagree

Dragon Tamer: If you start a discussion about this, I'm going to ban you from the chat

Wild goat: Tyranny! I will arm a revolution

Plasticine: Maybe it's banana soup. You don't understand art!

Three balls: Neither do you

Perfect Crime: You’re a disappointment

------

John Constantine was not planning to spend his morning avoiding being stabbed by a ten-year-old boy, nor avoiding being eaten by two German shepherds. But there he's, avoiding the edge of a Swiss knife as he tries to shake off two huge dogs without hurting them, because he's sure the boy's murderous intentions would triple if he hears a single screech from one of his pets.

He may not have met Damian in person, but he know enough about him from the chats and from what Marinette shared with him.

"Look, kid, stop, okay? Damn, I haven't drink enough for this... "

"Why?"

"I don't read minds, kido, you'll have to explain yourself." Damian frowns and presses the knife against the blonde's neck, if it wasn't for the dogs he couldn't have him subdued. The Kwami hesitate about what to do, they are talking... only in a very violent way.

"Why are you do with my mother?"

"Did they give you the talk yet? Because it would be very uncomfortable for you to receive it from me. ”John looks at the boy, who doesn't flinch at anything and seems ready to stab him. It would be better to collaborate, he doesn't want to harm the child, he can only imagine the adorable woman's anger if her son is hurt in some interaction between them. "Sure... Sexual attraction, simple like that. I don't pretend to be your father or to be a stable romantic couple, she deserves something much better than me. I'm just content to enjoy our time together, happy?

"Don't you want to be my father?"

"No, I'm the worst candidate for that position. What made you think that, kid? "Now it's his turn to frown. Much love can be had (he will not deny it), but both are aware that they would be the ruin of the other, he doesn't want to condemn her to a life as dark as his and expose her to all the demons that follow him, she truly deserves something better than misery fllow him.

He also knows that, despite all his complaints, Plagg has told him that he's its true owner and that his soul is balanced with that of Marinette, that's why they gravitate around each other and could trust as if they were born together. That doesn't mean they are romantically good to each other. Sexually? Magical, but the romance in their lives has been tragic and putting that together, well, it could be a problem for everyone.

"You've been with her for four years."

"We are mainly friends, confidants. Do we have sex? Yes, do we want to get married and have more children? No... We would just be miserable. Those stories that soulmates are happy together? Son, these are lies, romantic shit from movies and junk books.

Damian recoils, shocked by the information, all of it. Her mother had hinted at a casual relationship, but the look in her eyes told him otherwise. Soulmates? That doesn't exist, but the Kwami didn't exist for him either until his mother introduced them to him. Wretched? He need to analyze what he have learned.

"Why do you say that?"

"Experience, son. Do you want to sit down or go for a walk? The second seems to excite your friends more."

Damian snaps his fingers and the hounds stand beside him, freeing Constantine. Her kind gaze is very dark, long-suffering and ironic.

Just when he's about to answer, the alarm on his phone goes off and he knows what it means.

Akuma attack.

"Go away, I won't say anything."

Damian nods and Kaalki opens the portal, just look at the man's tired posture for a moment before breaking through the portal back to the MT. Agatha and Edgar just behind, have a job to do.

-------

Chloe B. @BourgeoisQueen

What a wonderful day for an Akuma attack. Somebody take the stick out of the villain's ass because the beast is horrible, nor Hawkmoth dared so much

Dick Grayson @TheFlyingGrayson

WHAT HAPPENS WITH PARIS? IS IT A VIOLET DOLPHIN WITH BAT WINGS?

The Last Hours @Toogoodtodie

@TheFlyingGrayson Paris would appreciate if you blocked any information on the city from external sources in the country, if you do not know how, you can contact the @MaxKan_Tech offices to receive information

Dick Grayson @TheFlyingGrayson

@Toogoodtodie ok?

Max K. @MaxKan_Tech

@TheFlyingGrayson @Toogoodtodie Subtle, Anthony. Please, Mr. Grayson, contact my office and we'll make your stay in Paris much more pleasant. You can also contact the prosecution to find out the legal procedures for staying in Paris and the security regarding the Akuma

Marc @MarcAC_twt

Does our villain use drugs?

#ml x dc #maribat #dickinette #mominette

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hellpmeimobsessed · 3 years

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Samrafi

(I’m putting Samrafi under a read more because she has done a LOT)

Name: Samrafi Race: Bosmer/Wood Elf Age: 180 Height: 5'6 Weight: 175 lbs Eyes: Red Hair: Black Companions/Allies/Friends: Cicero, Lucien LaChance, Erandur, Marcurio (Husband), Teldryn Sero, Ralis Sedarys, Faendal, Ondolemar, Niruin, Talvas Fathryon, Neloth Telvanni, Captain Veleth, Ravyn Imyan, Revyn Sadri, Brand-Shei, Enthir, Nelacar, Ancarion, Garthar, Jenassa. Family: Marcurio (Husband), Sofie, Lucia (Adopted daughters), Dianah (Mother, Hero of Kvatch), Lucien LaChance (Alleged Uncle), Vicente Valtieri (Alleged Father). Guilds: The Dark Brotherhood, Theives Guild, Dawnguard. Worships: Sithis. Champion of: Sheogorath, Sanguine, Clavicus Vile, Hermaeus Mora (rejected), Boethiah, Meridia. Nicknames: Sam (only to her closest allies), Listener, Guild Mistress, Lass (Brynjolf only), Sister Elf (Faendal only), Boss (Teldryn Sero, Ralis Sedarys, Jenassa only), My love (Marcurio only), Mother, Matron of Mer (supposed). Primary Weapon(s): Bow and arrow, Ebony bow and Dwarven Arrows.

BACKSTORY/THE DARK BROTHERHOOD Samrafi is the daughter of the Hero of Kvatch and Lucien LaChance's former Silencer, Dianah. Neither have shared their last name in order to protect each other and any other relatives they had. Samrafi grew up with Dark Brotherhood teachings, and stayed faithful. She idolizes the Cheydinhal sanctuary members, and grew up hearing stories mostly of Lucien LaChance, Vicente Valtieri, Ocheeva and Teinaava, and was taught archery by her unnamed step-father. She is a very stubborn and edgy Mer, but should she take a liking to you, you will quickly find she is protective, caring, even a motherly type. She is a ruthless killer, when under contract, outside of that she cares very much for the people around her, and would do anything to protect them. She had planned to do everything alone, but after the events that unfolded during her time with the Dark Brotherhood, she brought Cicero and Lucien everywhere, and cherishes and even spoils Shadowmere. Since she grew up with older Brotherhood teachings, she knew the Five Tenets forwards and backwards, reciting them dramatically to Astrid before driving the Blade of Woe into her neck to 'silence her traitorous mouth'. She cares not for what Sithis does to her in the void, her fire fueled simply by the loss of her only family after her mother turned into Sheogorath. She spared Cicero for many reasons, the top among them being that Lucien was specifically telling her Sithis did not want Cicero dead, she had grown rather fond of the Keeper, and what Astrid had asked her to do was against the Tenets.

THE MIND OF MADNESS She had heard rumors of the Pelagius wing in Solitude during her brief time there, and decided to investigate. She was in shock as Sheogorath continued to recount the very stories her mother had recited to her; it was then she realized he used to be her mother. Saying nothing, with tears in her eyes by the end of the ordeal, she graciously accepted the Wabbajack and became champion of Sheogorath.

THE THIEVES GUILD She had hoped to find a new family with less murder involved in the Thieves Guild, and all was going well and smoothly, until yet another betrayal, this time by Mercer Frey, had occurred. She was eerily calm as the events unfolded, until she faced Mercer Frey, immediately disarming him and beating him to death with her bow. She had attempted to drown herself upon the collapse, only to be thwarted by Brynjolf dragging her out, completely oblivious to her suicide attempt, and she kept it that way until she became Guild Master.

FAILURES She considers her greatest failures, although few, to not being able to save Malborn during her mission to find more details about the Thalmor and the dragons, although saving Etienne Rarnis was a success, not acting on Astrid's obvious betrayal sooner, and not telling her mother, now Sheogorath, that she loved them and knew it was her.

DAWNGUARD She later joined the Dawnguard to kill vampires and keep her friends and family safe after she had to ride Shadowmere to the brink of any normal horses collapse when Faendal had contracted the first stage of vampirism during a random attack, but ended up helping Serana despite everything. Samrafi, however, left Serana and her mother, Valerica, in the Soul Cairn for two days among finding out they worshipped Molag Bal and had put Serana through such a ritual. After making peace with the fact that what was done was done, she returned and helped mother and daughter, discorporating the dragon Durnehviir in the process, and gaining the dragons respect, even helping him in his final and only wish to fly in the skies of Tamriel again, at first convincing herself it was only for the shout he could teach her, later on forgoing the notion and summoning him simply while travelling to give him freedom, even summoning him in Solstheim. She also aided Saint Jiub find his pages for his Opus, and informed Teldryn Sero what had happened to him after he mentioned the very question, bringing Jiubs Opus as proof. She didn't want to kill Arch-Curate Vyrthur, especially after learning he was betrayed by Auriel and allowed to turn into a vampire, but orders were orders, and he hadn't ceased his attempts to kill them, and so he fell to the ice sheet below after she landed the killing shout. They retrieved Auriels bow from Gelebor, who she frequently visits with books from her own library, and having hours-long talks with him about the history of Mer.

A NIGHT TO REMEMBER After the events of the Thieves Guild, she went to the Bannered Mare in Whiterun, where she had first called home, to drink her sorrows away, only to be approached by a man named Sam Guivene, only to later find out at the end of the run aroud he had sent her on whilst intoxicated, that he was the Daedric Prince Sanguine, and had little time to reject Sanguines Rose once it was in her hands before she was sent back to Tamriel, Rose in hand, with Lucien snickering at her upon her return. She still hasn't convinced him she had no sexual affairs during her drunkness, especially not with the Daedric Prince, but Lucien continuously uses the Roses mere presence as his evidence.

MARRIED WITH KIDS She had no intent, nor did she think it was possible, for her to settle down and have a husband, or wife, or kids! But when she met Marcurio, she didn't know how to feel. She knew, obviously, how she felt about him, her mother had told her and described in detail what it felt like to be in love, but she didn't know how to say it, or even know if he felt the same. While on an adventure just roaming around the Pale with Cicero, they had stumbled upon a tent with an Amulet of Mara in it not too far from the Dawnstar sanctuary. She took it as a sign that her and Marcurio were meant for each other and wore the amulet around him to see if he'd take notice. When he did, she was ecstatic, and when they both confessed, they immediately headed to Riften to arrange their marriage. She had bought Proudspire Manor in Solitude not even a week before she got married to Marcurio, and they moved in immediately. Marcurio began running a store, selling whatever Samrafi found during her travels, and when she came home one day, she found Marcurio stressed and tense. When she finally found out what was wrong, being that Marcurio had wanted children, but he knew Samrafi's opinion on them, he hadn't wanted to ask, but it was eating him up inside. Samrafi admitted she hadn't even thought being married was an option for her, and they agreed to try for a child. Samrafi found out she was pregnant three weeks after her and Marcurio had begun trying, they were ecstatic, Marcurio had cried and thanked her for the opportunity to be a father what seemed like a million times. Samrafi was pregnant for three months until she had a miscarriage and found out if Samrafi tried for another child again, that even if she managed to carry a baby to full term, giving birth would most likely kill her, Dragonborn or not. That took a heavy toll on them both. The Dragonborn was nowehere to be found for another month before they started adventuring again, slowly coming back around to the happiness they felt when they were first married. While visiting Riften, Samrafi had visited the orphanage her assassin career began in, and was handed a pamphlet with details about adopting a child. She went back home to Marcurio, mentioning it, and he was more than happy about the idea, when Sofie had come running from the hallway, immediately latching onto Samrafi's leg and asking her if he was her new father. Marcurio realised she had already adopted Sofie from Windhelm, as they had run into the girl before when Samrafi had bought many of her flowers while there, and always bought her dinner and toys whenever they were in Windhelm. Marcurio was overjoyed and more than happy to accept her as his daughter. Not even two months later had Marcurio brought home Sofia, consulting Samrafi before going to adopt her and welcoming her to her new family. She even had a sister!

DRAGONBORN After a good while of being settled in, Samrafi was attacked by a group of Cultists who claimed she wasn't the true Dragonborn, that someone named Miraak was, and she immediately sailed off to Solstheim after informing her family that she was needed elsewhere. It was in the Retching Netch she had met Teldryn Sero, who she had hired to help guide her around Solstheim and teach her about the unique threats that Solstheim had to throw at her. Despite the Reaver Pirates, Ash Spawn and Netch, she hated Ash Hoppers the most. During her travels with Teldryn, she had met Neloth Telvanni, whom she had heard much about, and she had helped him with his tower, finding a steward and removing his former apprentice from the mortal plane. In turn, he had gone to Nchardak with her to find the Black Book of Hermaus Mora. She still helps him with finding heartstones to this day, and participated in a few experiments. She had even stopped a planned assassin of the Jarl, taking down a branch of the Morag Tong, the only competitors of The Dark Brotherhood, and members of House Hlaalu, winning over the Jarl's favor and earning a property in Solstheim, to which she offered to Teldryn Sero while she was gone, if he would lend his services to her when she returned.

UNEARTHED She had run the gauntlet of defeating Miraak and emerged victorious, and in her adventuring to find every location Solstheim had to offer, even climbing one of four of it's great mountains, she stumbled across Ralis Sedarys digging all on his own at Kolbjorn Barrow. She had offered and funded his expedition, informing him that she needed to return home, but if he needed any more assistance or more funding for the expedition, he should write her. On the docks of Solstheim, Captain Veleth, Councilor Morvayn and Teldryn Sero saw her off, however Teldryn Sero had declined to stay at Severin Manor, instead asking to accompany Samrafi to Skyrim, claiming he was bored of Solstheim. She agreed and brought him along with her, paying for his fair, obviously. She had made multiple trips back to Solstheim, opting to instead put Teldryn on babysitting duty while she brought Marcurio to Solstheim, to which Teldryn quickly shot the idea down, claiming he was no good with kids and would gladly return to Solstheim for the trip instead. After defeating the Dragon Priest Ahzidal, who was evidently found buried in Kolbjorn, something she found out far too late when Teldryn had stumbled upon the book titled 'The Descent of Ahzidal' while travelling to the barrow, they hastened their travel, knowing Ralis was well in over his head and fearing him dead, the adrenaline and fear of a repeat scenario with Cicero, fearing for worse results of not being there in time to save him, brought her to a sprint not even Teldryn could keep up with, she had actually cried out when Ralis was sent flying into the nearest wall as Ahzidal erupted into the chamber, and scrambled over to him once the Priest was defeated, she swore and made Teldryn swear not to tell a soul about what happened, knowing full well about not being in control of your actions when Brynjolf had been possessed to fight Karliah when facing Mercer Frey, and knew the regret Brynjolf still held, she offered to protect him so long as he travelled with her, to which he agreed. By the time their adventuring together was coming to a close, Samrafi offered either Honeyside in Riften or Severin Manor for Ralis to stay in, Ralis chose Severin Manor, and Samrafi saw him off to the docks and secretly payed for his fair and for Captain Gjalund to give him back his money plus the extra she gave him for Ralis when he got to shore. A week later she got a letter from Ralis thanking her for a new start and that he had received the money, and should she ever need his services again, he would be more than happy to oblige.

BLOOD ON THE ICE During the Butcher's reign of terror in Windhelm, Samrafi grew extremely frustrated with how many women had been slaughtered under her watch, and had even tried to protect his final victim, but she payed him back in kind by catching him and slicing his throat open, allowing him to die slowly and painfully, in as much fear as they did.

AVOIDANCES AND DISLIKES/IN THE END She doesn't care for being a vampire like her mother, nor does she wish to be stricken with Lycanthropy, she avoids the Companions due to both rumors of them being werewolves, and being too morally high for a Mer like her, and she has no wish to turn around now. She takes being Dragonborn with much pride, winning the Civil War for the Imperials with even more pride, but most of all she is proudest in managing to keep all of her family and friends safe, and will continue to do so, but pray for Sithis to have mercy on your soul should you find yourself on the other end of her bow.

#oc samrafi #wood elf #bosmer #the dark brotherhood #the thieves guild

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travllingbunny · 4 years

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The 100: 7x04 Hesperides

The first quarter of season 7 is kind of like the first quarter of season 2 on steroids - everyone separated in several groups in different locations, looking for each other and having no idea where the others really are, while the show is doing world-building and introducing information about the main threat, setting up the main story that will really kick into gear later.

The main difference is, of course, that in season 2 we saw all of the characters, pretty much in every episode. But now, Bellamy has been missing since his disappearance early in 7x01 (which, of course, is mostly due to external reasons), and we have been in the dark about Octavia’s fate since she was pulled back to Bardo in 6x13, and have only seen her in flashbacks. Clarke, Octavia and Raven have had episodes centered on them (the first, second and third one, respectively), but there has been no or very little of Octavia in the other three episodes, and even Clarke has taken somewhat of a back seat in the last 3 episodes.

In the meantime, the B-list characters from the main cast - Echo, Gabriel and Hope - have taken center stage and gotten their own great stories. Hope, in particular, has been the character with the most focus in these early episodes - which isn’t that surprising as the show has to quickly give her all the fleshing out, backstory and development that other characters have had seasons to build. And we’ve gotten new characters - guest stars developed over just one episode or one scene - who have been given enough characterization and sympathetic qualities to make their deaths feel tragic and emotional (Hatch, Dev, Orlando).

No, I don’t think that this is a sign of the show focusing more on supporting characters and sidelining its protagonists in the final season, as some fans have been complaining and freaking out about. I’m sure that the mains will soon take center stage again, which is why their storylines this season are just starting or have been set up - while other characters have been given this early stage of season 7 to shine and get a lot of the story now. Another way those smaller stories feel relevant is that they are full of parallels and callbacks to the bigger stories from previous seasons.

I’m still not sure what relevance the title exactly has for this episode, and I’m not convinced that it is just supposed to be about 7x04. Yes, Hesperides were three maidens in a garden - like Octavia, Diyoza and Hope, and it was the topic of a cute exchange between Octavia and Hope (another Blake sibling teaching kids about the Greco-Roman mythology), but what are the “golden apples” that Hesperides were guarding and that Heracles/Hercules had to steal as one of his tasks? The only really valuable object on Skyring is the Anomaly Stone. But if that it what it’s about, that’s not something that has happened yet. Or do golden apples stand for something less tangible, like family, love, trust? Were Gabriel, Echo and Hope a new Hesperides trio (even though calling Gabriel a maiden in any sense of the word is a bit of a stretch), with Orlando as the dragon guarding the garden, or they thieves? I have no idea. I’m going to wait for the rest of the season to maybe give an answer. Maybe we’ll come back to the story of Hercules stealing the apples. That story also includes Atlas (who literally carries the weight of the world), and I wouldn’t be surprised if he is referenced, too.

Worldbuilding

The biggest takeaway from this episode for me were the really strong hints supporting the theory - which I’ve firmly believed in - that the Disciples are an off-shoot of Second Dawn and that their leader, the mysterious Shepherd, is Bill Cadogan. We learn that Disciples have different levels and that the highest one (?) appears to be “Level 12″ - which is reminiscent of the Second Dawn’s “12th seal”. Orlando prays to the “Shepherd, who delivered us from the fire that consumed the Earth”.

One of the most interesting parts of this episode was learning about the planets connected to the Anomaly (which we have a bit more info on than the characters do, thanks to the opening titles!) - which I’ve covered here. (Yes, the planet which was offline is Earth.)

There are thousands of Disciples, highly trained soldiers, guarding the “fortress”, as Orlando called it. They are highly trained and dangerous - better fighters than pretty much anyone we’ve met. However, they have apparently never been in a battle - at least not the current generations. They are preparing for something they call “the last war that mankind will ever wage”/”the war to end all wars” (?). Now, who could this war possibly be with, and why do they think they need Clarke as a weapon to win it? It sure can’t be anyone on Sanctum - Wonkru has dwindled to about 400 people, and everyone from Sanctum (from Prime guards to CoG) are pretty incompetent and terrible at fighting. Unless the war is just metaphorical, there must be some other people on one of the planets... Maybe the Eligius people and the Second Dawn are two different factions after all?

The Disciples are incredibly technologically advanced (which may not be so surprising, considering the fact that - if Bardo time is faster than Sanctum, and I think it must be, their society has existed for much, much longer than 230 years - and they have an amazing SciFi technique called memory capture. Which explains how they knew about Bellamy, Echo and Gabriel in 7x01.

The layout of Bardo - drawn by Orlando - provides a lot of info about the life there: there are living quarters, a galley/mess hall (it’s interesting that they use the word “galley” - which is normally used for the kitchen on a ship, train or aircraft), cell blocks, training quarters, arboretum, and so on; we see the first mention of “conductors” - presumably people who manage the travel via the Anomaly Stone - and the most interesting part: there are cryo labs, and “Shepherd” is mentioned in relation to them. Like everyone else, I immediately thought about it being a way for Cadogan to be still alive.

Because of that, I’m starting to revise my earlier theory about Cadogan being on Etherea (which I speculate to be the planet closest to the black hole, with the ‘slowest’ time) - but now I think that maybe some other people are there, who may be seen as enemies of the Disciples?

The Skyring trio and Orlando

The first 3 episodes have had the “Previously on” spoken by different cast members (Eliza, Marie and Luisa), which I feel is going to happen throughout the season. But this is the first episode of season 7 with no “Previously on”.

Instead, the episode opened on Hope’s 7 minute backstory scene. If this was an earlier season and some of the main characters we’ve known from the start were involved, it would take at least an entire episode. But this scene was a really well done montage, with little dialogue and done through visuals and a well chosen song (”Hymn” by Joel Porter), representing 10 years that Hope spent on Sanctum, her budding relationship with a Disciple/prisoner Dev - the first male and only the third person she’s ever met in her life, who became something of a father figure for her, and the one who trained her to fight and taught her about Bardo. We have met Dev before - as a corpse, and it was easy to guess from the state he was in that he was killed by Disciples while letting Hope escape. We don’t know anything about his life before he was sent to Skyring for a 10 years sentence - such as, what he was punished for. Maybe Dev (who was Level 7) was never such a true believer as Orlando. And in that case, it would have been easier for him to decide to devote his life to helping this child find her family. Of course, family bonds forged that way - as the only two people, an adult taking care of a child who’s been left alone - must be incredibly strong.

One of the reasons why this scene worked so well and created so much sympathy for a character we see for only a few minutes, is that it told a story similar to stories we have seen before with the main characters. It was a lot like Madi and Clarke, especially the part where the child was initially hostile and the adult had to break the ice (Clarke did it with a drawing of Madi, Dev ate the paint berries that aren’t good to eat - probably intentionally, since I think he must have heard Hope yelling he shouldn’t eat them - so Hope would take care of him). And Clarke’s relationship with Madi was, in itself, something that paralleled Bellamy’s pseudo-paternal relationship with his younger sister. Octavia’s relationship with Hope was also something that made her understand her brother better. And Dev was reminiscent of Bellamy, especially with the knife throwing scene, which is reminiscent of Bellamy and Charlotte. Except for the fact that Hope was not murderous - unlike Charlotte, who was already incredibly damaged. In fact, Hope not being able to kill, freezing and not joining the battle (unlike Madi, who was able to kill to save Clarke - but Madi had been taught to fight and defend herself against Flamekeepers as enemies) that she had been preparing for, was the reason why Dev got killed.

We still need to see one final part of Hope’s backstory - what happened when she got to Bardo, how she found a “friend on the inside”, how she made a deal with Anders, why the Disciples have orders to kill her on sight. Until then, we don’t know if killing a Disciple to save Echo was the first time Hope has killed someone. But I think it probably was, because it was an important moment for her - a replay of her old trauma, with her not hesitating this time and being able to protect a friend she’s spent years with. Hope has been trying to be tough, but we already saw in 7x02 that there was a lot of vulnerability, insecurity and lack of experience behind that. Echo called her out on not being able to be a killer in 7x02. Based on her experience, Hope would probably agree with Echo’s mantra that “Hesitation is death” (which it was, for the original Echo and not for AshEcho). Her mother probably wouldn’t be too happy for her, since she wanted - pretty unrealistically, unless Hope was to live away from the human race - to keep her away from the kind of life she used to have. Diyoza even kept her past a secret from Hope - before Gabriel put a foot in his mouth in more ways than one and mentioned Diyoza’s past as a Navy SEAL and terrorist (or “freedom fighter”. PoTAto- poTAYto).

As it turns out, the main plot of the episode was a replay and ironic contrast to the opening scene. It was a bit weird that Hope suggested getting close to Orlando, saying “Trust me, I’ve done this before” - as if she had deliberately manipulated Dev to become close to her, which I really don’t think was the case. (I’d also say that it’s weird that Echo - a spy - was not the one thinking along these lines, but had to be convinced by Hope and Gabriel. But the show has always portrayed Echo as a fighter/assassin rather than an actual spy, who gets close to people and gathers intel.) Hope. Echo, Gabriel and Orlando spent 5 years together, and must have gotten at least somewhat close to each other and to him. He trained them, like Dev trained Hope. But they started to get close to him on purpose, as a part of their plan, pretending to be a happy family and hoping he would want to join in. Which proved right. Orlando also felt protective of Hope, like Dev, which they also used as bait. However, he realized he was being played - proving smarter and less gullible than they had assumed - but agreed to everything anyway, somewhat out of loneliness and desire for human contact and relationships (maybe the same kind he had on Bardo with the people he trained). Maybe he was hoping that he could influence them enough, just like they were hoping - or at least Gabriel was - to be able to change his mind and make him less devoted to his faith. Gabriel’s points about false gods and blind faith seemed to strike a chord, but he still stuck to his faith - maybe because this was all he had ever known.

But after 5 years together, at least some of the bonds must have been real. However, everyone kept their own agenda, and the prior bonds remained the strongest - including Orlando’s attachments to the Disciples he had trained. Echo’s main allegiance remains Bellamy, Hope hopes to save her mother and Aunty O, and Echo thinks that they are still not “his (Orlando’s) people”*. It’s interesting that we saw these people spend time together on screen and get closer, with funny and warm moments, the kind we don’t often get in this show, but they do not seem to be a real family at the end - in contrast to Spacekru: with them, we were told multiple times hat they had become a close family unit, although we never saw that process on screen. So it would seem that bonding worked better during the 6 years of peace and boredom in space, than during the 5 years of peace and boredom on Skyring. (Or did it? I would argue that Spacekru being “close family” was never quite convincing and was only used as a plot device to create conflict between Bellamy and Clarke or Bellamy and Octavia, but that it’s the relationships that pre-dated the Ring that proved to be the strongest.)

* Out of the 4 people on Skyring, Gabriel is the only one doesn’t really seem to have any strong emotional attachments at the moment, after Josephine’s death, and is there apparently mostly for his scientific curiosity about the Anomaly. We only see Gabriel react emotionally when loses his temper, to the point of becoming physically violent to Orlando. (Which is in character - remember that he killed Eduardo in anger?)

Let’s talk a bit more about Echo.

One of the things that struck me about Echo’s interactions with Hope and Gabriel this season is that she has more chemistry with them than we have seen her have with anyone before, especially a lot more than she’s ever had with Bellamy, and that she’s also showing a lot more personality: we see her joking, showing some sass (I would think it’s the new writer - Niylah has also suddenly became sassy and made snarky remarks in this episode - but she’s also had those moments in 7x02), she is perceptive of Hope’s emotional states. Now to be fair, though she never really glued so well on screen with the Spacekru, we did see her joke around with Monty and banter with Murphy or Raven. But, since they have become an item, always becomes incredibly bland around Bellamy - as it his presence turns her into her role as a follower/soldier/servant. It’s not something that Bellamy does on purpose, it’s just the fact that Echo has picked him as her King and gravitates towards him that way.

In 7x01, her own subconscious was telling her (just as it did in 6x02 during the red sun eclipse) that she needs Bellamy because she wouldn’t have anyone to follow without him, and questioned if her devotion to him is really about love, or about her need to have a purpose (reminding her that she was so loyal to Queen Nia that she betrayed “the man she now claims to love”). In that context, her single-minded focus on saving Bellamy (”I wouldn’t know what to do without him”) sounds less romantic and more unhealthy, something she needs to learn to grow out of. This is the second season in which she has a lot of interaction with a character whose main trait is blind faith and devotion to a master - in season 6 it was Jade, now it’s Orlando. Echo’s words to Orlando - “It must be hard to dedicate your whole life to something that may never come" sounds ominously like something that may apply to herself.

A comparison between Echo and Finn in season 2 has crossed my mind, but to make things clear - I don’t think their actions are similar. Finn became deranged and killed a lot of unarmed people for no reason; Echo is just being herself, once again, repeating old patterns. But the similarity is in the fact that they are obsessed - in a way that may not be too healthy - with saving a love interest, who may end up being not too happy about it. I don’t know if Echo’s actions at the end of this episode will be brought up between her and Bellamy and if he will learn about them - but the facts are that a) he has consistently shown he cares, loves, needs Clarke more and values her take on morality (or her at her best - because Clarke has not always stuck to it in the past, but has started off that way and has been trying to live by it since the end of season 5) as something he tries to live by, and b) he has been committed to “doing better” and not repeating old mistakes since season 4, while Echo is usually suggesting solutions based on killing and violence, which Bellamy almost always rejects, and Echo falls in line, because Bellamy is the leader.

But left to her own devices, even after spending 11 years in peace, whenever trouble arises, Echo tends to fall back to her upbringing by Azgeda and Queen Nia: “Hesitation is death”. While her circumstances have changed so much since season 4, she has remained fundamentally the same in many ways. It’s not that she doesn’t feel compassion (when she has to hurt someone she has some connection to - she looked sad when she was leaving Orlando. Just as she looked sad when she thought Octavia was dead and had to bring the news to Bellamy in S4), but that doesn’t change her fundamental belief in what should be done. Did she need to kill the four unconscious Disciples? That’s debatable. (It depends on whether you think they could have used the Anomaly Stone to jump back to Bardo - even if they had taken or destroyed all their suits - in time to catch Echo, Hope and Gabriel. But this possibility wasn’t even mentioned by Echo and the others.) What’s certain is that she thought she had to: she knew she had to leave Orlando, because he was too upset by the death of someone he had trained (even though, to be fair, Echo had told him something like that might happen); he could have told the Disciples about them; when there is a threat that can stop you, you must eliminate it. She only left Orlando alive because of their bond, but what she did was even worse as it made him commit suicide.

Again, I don’t know if Orlando could have used the Anomaly Stone to jump to Bardo, or if he really would have had to spend years alone, again, as Gabriel assumed. But I think the main reason for his suicide was the fact that, because he had let himself trust these people - maybe out of loneliness - he had indirectly caused deaths of Disciples he had trained and cared about. In any case, the show managed to make this character sympathetic in such a short amount of screentime, and make his fate really tragic, in a dark twist after an episode that often felt lighthearted. (I felt really sorry for the guy - kudos to the actor, Darren Moore.) Echo, Gabriel and Hope did not anticipate this, so they will probably feel terrible when they find out. And Hope and Gabriel are responsible, too, because, in spite of their objections, they went along with it.

If Hope killing to save Echo was a replay of her trauma with a different outcome, Echo has replayed her own trauma with the same outcome: she had to kill her friend to save herself. And all she has learned from it is that she has to do the same, every time. Only, we can’t blame her for what she was forced to do to save her own life as an abused child. This time, however, she did not kill in self-defense or battle, but afterwards, when the Disciples were already unconscious. Her betrayal of Orlando also recalled her betrayal of Bellamy in season 3. She had not spent more than a tiny amount of time around Bellamy then, but he considered her a friend he could trust, and she used his trust and got people he cared about and people he felt responsible for killed, causing him to feel enormous guilt.

Now, I’ve seen the argument that Echo doesn’t need redemption, because her story is about finding independence instead of being a follower. But it can be about both. Her story may not have so far been about “doing better” - although she has heard Monty’s message together with everyone else, and repeated the words “I guess it’s time to do better” during the battle in 6x13 (only after Bellamy has made his decision what to do). But that makes her stick like a sore thumb in a show where the last two seasons have been based on that idea - doing better, not repeating old mistakes. It means that she needs not just to find her independence, but to rethink her methods and world view. I don’t subscribe to the idea that being a follower absolves one of every responsibility for carrying out their master’s orders. The Nuremberg defense, “I was following orders”,is not considered a good defense in court. It’s even less so in terms of morality and personal responsibility. Now, it’s true that a lot of fans hate Echo and tend to judge her more harshly than the other characters - but at least a part of the reason for that is the fact that the show has done very little to have her face the consequences of her actions, as opposed to most of the other characters. Characters who held a similar view of “kill or be killed” have been reviled and killed off (Charles Pike says Hi). In the show, Bellamy has been called out on, physically punished, felt enormously guilty and had a long redemption arc for participating in the killing of an armed, experienced and dangerous army (who may not have been a threat, but it’s understandable why he and Pike considered them a threat), which was considered incredibly evil just because said warriors were killed while sleeping (which makes no sense, but OK) - even though he also was not in charge, Pike was. And Bellamy never used the “following orders” defense and instead felt responsible and did his best to change and do better. In season 5, he was the one who opposed to idea of killing Eligius prisoners who were in cryo sleep (while Echo, like Murphy, supported the idea). Echo has now killed Disciples while they were unconscious. Back in season 3, Echo facilitated and supported a mass murder of civilians done not because of any threat or misguided wish to protect her people, but as a part of a scheme to give her clan more political power.

Now, it may be argued that Echo didn’t have a choice to disobey - but we later saw, throughout season 4, when Nia was dead and Echo did not have to answer to her, that Echo was still constantly opting for violence and killing as the first option, often as a preemptive strike: killing a leader from another clan for just opposing her plan in public, egging on Roan to kill Clarke and the rest of the Sky people, when they haven't done anything to her or Azgeda and they weren't threatening her or them, telling Roan they betrayed him, kidnapping Bellamy and killing another Arker who was captured with Bellamy - for no reason. She didn’t even need to kill Ryker in season 6, either, regardless of whether we think he deserved it or not. And we have never seen Echo renounce Queen Nia’s legacy (which, lest we forget, is the legacy of someone who practiced genocide - including killing children - and slavery.) In season 4, she was always telling Roan he should be more ruthless, more like his mother, and she was still repeating things learned from her in season 6.

There was a character on Agents of SHIELD that Echo reminds me of (I won’t say his name for spoilers, for AoS fans should easily guess who I mean). This character also had a very tragic backstory - traumatic childhood, abuse, an evil mentor who was emotionally abusive to them but conditioned them to be blindly loyal and commit all sorts of crimes out of that loyalty, career as a spy/assassin who gets close to people and betrays and kills, pathological need for a leader to give them orders, or for some sort of a purpose, a tendency to resolve problems with violence. This character had a passionate fanbase who argued that, as a victim of abuse, he deserved a second chance, but the writers and most of the fandom was adamant that it was not enough to absolve him of responsibility for his crimes as an adult. The 100 is a show that is much more likely to give characters second chances and redeem them. But it’s also a show that normally makes characters work for it. To make Echo the one exception to the rule and give her a get-out-of-jail free card, declaring she doesn’t need to be held personally responsible for her actions, and that she doesn’t need to work to change and do better, would be both inconsistent with the overall themes of the show. and a huge disservice to Echo as a character.

Clarke & co. at Sanctum

It’s kind of funny that, before this season of t100 started, people thought/were worried Bellamy would recklessly jump into the Anomaly after Octavia - but instead, he was taken, and everyone else is recklessly jumping into the Anomaly without knowing where exactly they'll end up. Immediately planet hopping without any supplies or suits with oxygen wasn’t the wisest decision! I was wondering, like many people, why they did not at least take the suits from the dead Disciples. But someone on Twitter has pointed out that the suits probably got damaged by the blast from the energy weapon Raven took from the dead Disciple, which makes it all make more sense. For the rest, I can explain it by the urgency of the situation - they knew that more Disciples would be coming soon. (And the urgency turned out to be very justified - as a Disciple turned off the Anomaly Stone shortly after.) And I have no problem believing that Clarke is that desperate to find Bellamy “her people”.

..Who are we kidding? If it was just Octavia, Echo and Gabriel, she’d still want to save them, but I don’t think she’d be immediately hopping to another planet without knowing for sure if it’s even survivable, and without saying goodbye to Madi. Some people were bothered that Clarke’s choice wasn’t played more emotionally and that she didn’t specifically mention Bellamy - but I disagree, because this is nothing new. For so many seasons, we’ve seen Clarke talking only in terms of saving “her people” or “her friends” even when everyone knew that Bellamy was the one she’s most emotionally attached to by far. (Going back to season 2 and “You care about him” - “I care about all of them” - “But you worry about him more.) I don’t need this spelled out right now. Maybe the show could have immediately delved a bit deeper into everyone’s reasons for planet hopping, but maybe they didn’t need to because we hopefully will see more of their emotions in the upcoming episodes, especially when they get stuck on the ice planet with a really nice name that kind of means “Hell” or “Purgatory”.

I didn’t take their cavalier remarks like “why not” and “this planet sucks anyway” seriously. What makes a lot more sense is if Niylah mostly wants to save Octavia - since we know how devoted she is to her. Miller may in particular feel he owes Bellamy to save him now, since he did not in season 5, which he felt guilty for and apologized about. And maybe that argument he had with Jackson in the previous episode (aka a few hours earlier) opened some wounds from Blodreina days, since Miller reacted by saying he isn’t just a follower. For Jordan, I suppose it may be a chance to participate in the heroic adventures of the group he’s only heard stories about. Raven has all sorts of reasons, from saving her friends, to her scientific curiosity and love of space-faring adventures, to the fact that a part of her would probably want to be as far away from Sanctum and ‘the scene of the crime’ right now.

I certainly hope that we delve more into everyone’s emotions and psychology in upcoming episodes, especially Clarke’s. She tends to try to keep her emotions inside, until they explode (and she beats up Russell and burns down the palace), and this has especially been the case this season. The Bellamy-shaped hole In the show has affected her - she isn’t able to be fully vulnerable with anyone the way she was with him (as recently as their hug in the season 6 finale). In this episode, it felt like she was mostly seen from the outside - we can take a good guess how she feels because of her actions, but it feels like she is seen from other people’s POV - whether her friends’ or the Disciples. From Niylah (who knows her well) saying “of course she is” when people were surprised she would go and risk her safety and freedom and maybe life when she was told they have her people, to Captain Meredith saying their intel on her is “smart, brave, willing to risk her life, not willing to risk the lives of her friends” (that must have come from Bellamy’s and Octavia’s memories), to Jordan announcing “Ladies and gentlemen, Clarke Griffin has left the planet”. (She is, after all, a legend for him especially, he was raised on stories about her. Raven is another legend for him, so he announced her the same way “Ladies and gentlemen, Raven Reyes”.)

But let’s go back to the beginning. I’ve seen people criticize the episode for “not showing the moment they realized Bellamy and others were missing”. I don't know why anyone thinks they would have realized they were missing before. This episode takes place very soon after the end of the previous one. (Clarke even hadn’t seen Raven after she had been beaten up by Nikki.) Bellamy, Octavia, Echo and Gabriel have been gone for about a day and a half at this point. Maybe they would have wondered “when are they coming back?”, but I don’t think they would have seen a reason to be worried - before a foraging party found a dead body of an unknown person with a mysterious suit and helmet. Which was followed by the mysterious people showing up and asking to talk to Clarke.

Raven is haunted by guilt throughout this episode (which makes perfect sense to me, as she has never really had to deal with being directly responsible for deaths in this way, let alone of people she knows), including a hallucination of irradiated Hatch, and Lindsey’s acting was really good.I loved her conversation with Clarke, where Clarke gave her a simple advice, from her own experience, which says a lot about how she has been able to go on: you will not forget the faces of those you’ve killed (we’ve seen Clarke be haunted by hallucinations of Finn and see dead, irradiated Maya in her mindspace), but think of the faces of all the people you have saved. I’m looking forward to more of Clarke/Raven bonding in S7.

I know I sound like a broken record, but one character whose characterization I don’t know how to feel about is Jordan, because of the way the show has been skirting around the issue of whether he has been brainwashed or not. But that may just be me being influenced by the fact that so many people are arguing he is not brainwashed, just because he doesn’t believe in the divinity of the Primes. But 1) he has undergone the process, 2) become weirdly attached and close to his brainwasher Trey and the other ‘Devout’, 3) formed a strange attachment to Priya’s mind drive and started blaming people for her death - seemingly forgetting about his actual dead girlfriend Delilah and her death, 4) is hanging out with people who worship his girlfriend’s murderers, while seemingly paying no attention to her grieving parents, and 5) did a 180 from despising the Primes as murderers to defending their society as “peaceful” and “happy” and spouting similar Prime propaganda BS (which we had previously heard from Josephine), blaming Earthkru for destroying that fake paradise. He does it again here, in an off-hand comment (“before we screwed up”), which sounds like he blames his friends for... what? Not being OK with Clarke being murdered and bodysnatched and trying to save her? Apart from Madi - who was under Sheidheda’s influence - all the others did was try to save Clarke and try to save themselves from getting burned at the stake, while also trying not to kill people. And now, we see Jordan happily plan to save Clarke from getting captured and having her memory extracted, or Miller, Niylah and Gaia killed, by having Raven kill 8 people, which bothered her a lot (especially with her recent experience getting Hatch and 3 other people killed), but didn’t seem to bother Jordan. Now, I’m not saying it should - it’s defending your friends - but how can he do that and at the same time blame his friends for trying to save Clarke from a much worse situation? He’s like two completely different people when he is with the Devout or says anything about them or the Primes, and when he is away from them (when he suddenly stops being annoying and saying absurd things). Either he is showing consequences of brainwashing by the Devout, or he is a terribly written, inconsistent character.

I wish we had seen a scene between Jackson and Miller (which must have been deleted, going by the promo pictures), before Miller abruptly left. He probably didn’t know he would be going to another planet, but he knew he would be risking his life, so some sort of a goodbye could have taken place. At least, with the fact that Jackson was present when they discovered the body of the Disciple, at least someone in Sanctum has some idea what happened, now that Gaia got kidnapped and would not be able to go and tell Madi, Jackson and everyone what happened to Clarke, Miller, Raven, Jordan and Niylah, in addition to Bellamy, Echo, Octavia and Gabriel. But the people in Sanctum are still going to be wondering what happened to all those people (now including Gaia) who are just gone.

Did Clarke get to take the note? It wasn’t clear in the episode itself. If she had it, I wonder what Orlando wrote in it and if this would give her more info or just be more confusing. If he just said something like, there were three of them, two women and one man, she could assume those were Bellamy, Octavia and Echo - but she was already finding Meredith’s info hard to believe and thought he was lying. Everyone thought Bellamy shoot the Disciple they found, because he was the only one with a gun - which Echo actually took in 7x01, before losing it in the trip to Skyring - but all that happened doesn’t sound like something he’d do.

As I expected since the trailer came out, Gaia offered to be the one to stay behind take care of Madi and warn the others. (The show had to build a friendship and trust between Clarke and her to make it believable that Clarke would feel Madi would be safe with her, and so people wouldn’t criticize Clarke too much for leaving. Not that this is helping much, since she’s already getting some criticism thrown at her in the Facebook group.) But her getting kidnapped by a Disciple means that 1) Madi would have to face Sheidheda without the help of her former Flamekeeper, 2) people in Sanctum would have far less idea of what’s going on, and 3) Clarke and co. had no idea about it when they left, thinking that their people are relatively safe in Sanctum. At least Gaia didn’t need to warn them about the Disciples coming for them - since the Disciple has deactivated the Anomaly Stone. So, now Sanctum is offline, too.

Where is everyone now?

Octavia was pulled back to Bardo at the end of 6x13 and we still haven’t seen her in the present

Bellamy was kidnapped and taken to Bardo in 7x01 and we haven’t seen him since

Diyoza was already on Bardo as a captive

Echo, Hope and Gabriel jumped to Bardo from Skyring

Gaia has been kidnapped by a Disciple and taken to another planet - maybe Bardo, but maybe not (and I’m not sure how the Disciple even could have taken her to Bardo, when the Anomaly Stone had been set to Nakara, and the Disciple just turned if off, as far as I could see?)

Clarke, Raven, Jordan, Miller and Niylah jumped to a random planet and ended up on Nakara, the ice planet

Murphy, Emori, Madi, Indra and Jackson remained on Sanctum, together with Russell!Sheidheda, broken Wonkru, about 400 of them (including the Sangedakru - who worship Sheidheda), angry and hurt Nikki and 31 other Eligius prisoners, the Devout who still worship Russell and the Primes, and the Children of Gabriel, who want him dead.

Timeline: The 100 writers are indeed bad at math, or aren’t too bothered about making the timeline fit, and this is also clear in this episode.

Meredith, during his first meeting with Clarke, only told her "Your people killed 3 of mine" and told her to hurry "Where your friends are, time runs much faster. Every second counts". Which sounded like he only knew what they did on Sanctum, and made it sound like they were still on Skyring (I'm sure time runs faster on Bardo than on Sanctum, too, but the time differential is not as extreme, so "every second counts" is a bit too dramatic. They'd only be a few hours older if they were on Bardo.)

Which only makes sense from the Doylist perspective - the writers didn't want the audience to be spoiled on what happens in the Skyring storyline. But it makes no sense from the Watsonian perspective - Meredith should already know that they killed 5 more of his people and jumped. Because those 5 years were about 2 minutes on Sanctum - so, it all happened a day earlier, in the timeline of 7x01. Logically, Meredith and his team must have known everything and then have been sent to Sanctum.

Body count: The Disciples are really dying a lot this season: 3 in 7x01, and in this episode, 5 more killed on Skyring (1 by Hope, 4 by Echo), 8 including Meredith killed on Sanctum by Raven, Orlando (reportedly) committed suicide. 17 dead Disciples since the start of the season.

In the flashback - 4 Disciple dieds: Dev killed 2, was mortally wounded by a third, but managed to detonate a grenade and kill his killer.

Rating: 8.5

#the 100 #the 100 7x04 #hesperides #the 100 season 7 #clarke griffin #hope diyoza #echo kom azgeda #gabriel santiago #raven reyes

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ladydaedra · 3 years

Text

The Dossier

Part: 9/?

Pairings: Ulfric x Dragonborn; Brynjolf x OC; Cicero x OC; Ondolemar x OC

Warnings: Descriptions of violence and gore; Skyrim takes on a bit of 'Game of Thrones' feeling; may contain controversial themes.

Wordcount: 2166

~~~~

"I am not the only one who runs this operation," Ayla explains as she places her palms on the doors leading to the war room. She gives a shove and both doors swing open, revealing four people on the other side of the room, "I have many sources who help me in my endeavors," she adds, giving Ulfric and Ralof a quick glance before walking into the room.

The two Nords look at the others in the room as Kharjo walks past them and takes his spot next to Vilkas, "Don't be shy, they won't bite," Ayla says, glancing over her shoulder at the two, giving them a smile, before looking back at the others, "This is Athena and Vilkas from the Companions. Athena is the Harbinger," Ayla introduces, pointing out the two before moving on to the other two in the room, "this is Brynjolf, he is a thief from the Guild. And over there reading a book is Asteria, Headmistress of the College. The leaders of the Dark Brotherhood and Thieves Guild would be here, but they are on an important mission at the moment,"

"Wait, you allied with the two most dangerous organizations in Skyrim?" Ulfric asks, staring at the Dragonborn with furrowed brows. He would never have thought that the legendary Dragonborn, the hero of Skyrim, would align herself with such people.

"How did you think the Emperor mysteriously died?" Ayla questions, turning her head to meet Ulfric's gaze, her light blue eyes, something rare amongst Nords, piercing his, "I am sure the Emperor would never have killed himself, seeing as he lived a life of luxury,"

Ulfric couldn't believe what he was hearing. There have been rumors circulating that the Dark Brotherhood were the ones to murder the Empire's beloved ruler, but, like most assassinations, there was no incriminating evidence at the scene. A knife across the throat was how the old man had died.

"You organized the Emporer's death?" Ralof asks the question that was swarming in Ulfric's head. They both watch as Ayla lets out a bark of laughter before walking around the table and examining some of the bookshelves lining the room.

"At the time of his death, I was in Whiterun, planning to trap Odahviing in Dragonsreach," she explains, running her finger along the books of the shelf, "I had no interest in the Civil War at the time, so why would I intervene to kill the Emporer when I had nothing to prove?" she looks back at the two blondes, a small smile on her lips, "someone else contacted the Brotherhood and asked for his assassination in reward for a large sum of money. Money I didn't have at the time,"

"Why are you telling us this?"

"Because we need to trust each other if we are going to be successful in this war. You know that just as well as I do," Ayla replies as she pulls a red book from the shelf and turns to face the table. She sets the book down but rests her hand over the title, "you may not like this, but the Empire isn't our true enemy. The Thalmor is," she then slides the book across the table and it slows to a stop in front of Ulfric.

"On my journey to defeat Alduin, I worked alongside the two remaining members of the Blades," Ayla explains as Ulfric slowly picks up the book. 'Thalmor Dossier: Ulfric Stormcloak' it read on the leather cover, "the Thalmor were hunting them down, so naturally, they thought the Thalmor were somehow behind the return of the Dragons. So they sent me to infiltrate the Embassy and I did so with success, saving two lives as well.

While I was there, I collected that dossier as well as two others based off of the Blade members," Ayla continues while Ulfric flips through the pages, reading a few paragraphs here and there. This was accurate, too accurate for his liking, "the Thalmor want this war to go on for as long as possible, not caring at all about the millions of deaths wasted during it,"

"I assume you read the whole thing?" he questions, not looking up at her. Ayla blinks as she stares at him, noting the way his fingers tightly holds the book. She looks to her right to see Asteria giving her a pointed look as if saying 'I told you so'.

Ayla takes a deep breath, raising her hands and folding them in front of her, standing straighter as she replies, "I read it as well as the other two," she replies, her voice calm yet the tone of it warns the male of doing anything rash. He wasn't planning to. Him against the Dragonborn, who has a stronger Thu'um than he does? It was obvious who would win.

"Do you really wish for this alliance to end so soon?" he asks yet another question, carefully setting the book down and meeting her gaze. Her impenetrable gaze was locked on him and she was not backing down. From where she stood, she looked regal and elegant. She is the epitome of confidence at that moment.

But she has no reason to read that dossier, no matter how she explains her reasoning, "it wasn't yours to read," he declares and receives only a single raised eyebrow and a slight tilt of her head as a response. To both of them, no one else was in the room. But there were and everyone was listening to the conversation while trying to look like they were focused on their own work.

"It's like some competition," Asteria mumbles to Brynjolf, who stands in front of her, "to see who holds the most control while in the same room. It's stupid, really. A war to fight and the two leaders are scrambling for power over the other,"

If the two heard her, they didn't show it. Instead, Ayla smiles before shrugging, "you may not agree with it, but that dossier plus the other two and everything else I have heard and seen of the Thalmor is what made me start this rebellion," she explains, her tone neither icy nor warm. It was emotionless, something much scarier coming from the mouth of the Dragonborn, "they seek to use the Empire as a way to control Tamriel, to make it a point that Mer are more superior than man,"

"Don't you think I know that?" Ulfric scoffs in response to her explanation. Ayla merely shrugs, a nonchalant look on her face telling him that she cared not about whether or not he knew that bit of information.

"I think you need to be reminded of that fact," she replies bluntly, raised eyebrow as if challenging him to continue this little game they are playing.

"I think we need to focus more on the matter at hand," a voice interrupts and Asteria walks over to Ayla's side, setting a few books down on the table. Ayla doesn't break her gaze from Ulfric until Asteria practically shoves a book in the Dragonborn's face, "like this," Asteria adds as Ayla takes the book from her.

"What's this?"

"You asked for artifacts that could help in the war," Asteria explains, smiling a bit and revealing that she is proud of her work, "well I found-" she breaks off suddenly, giving the two Stormcloaks a glance before looking back at Ayla, "I found a few interesting things that could do exactly that, not that we need any help at all, just a precaution really,"

Ayla nods, smiling at the elven woman, "great job," she praises the white-haired elf, "we will discuss this in another setting," she adds and Asteria takes the book back from Ayla and wanders back to another bookshelf. Ayla then turns to Ulfric, "we need to discuss Whiterun and how things will go down,"

"We discuss everything back at Windhelm," the blonde reminds the raven-haired female, "what else is there to talk about?"

"What is going to happen to Jarl Balgruuf?" Ayla asks simply, causing a few of the others to glance at her.

"What about Jarl Balgruuf?" Athena asks, looking away from the few notes her husband holds in his hand to look at Ayla, concern evident on her face, "did he do something wrong?"

"In a way," Ayla says slowly, turning her head to look at the Harbinger, "he chose the wrong side in the war," she adds and Athena doesn't reply, only glancing up at Vilkas, who wraps an arm around her, "I don't intend to have him harmed when we take the city,"

"So you won't have him and his family killed?" Athena questions, taking a few steps forward, gaze on Ayla, who shakes her head in response, "good. He's a good man who's only doing what he thinks is best for his city,"

"What we need to decide is how we handle the situation," Ulfric points out, "Balgruuf proved to us that he is loyal to the Empire, we can't have him on the throne of Whiterun," Ayla quickly catches on to what he means. To allow Balgruuf to remain as the Jarl, he could cripple Ayla and Ulfric's rebellions by becoming a double agent; saying he is loyal to Ulfric while he is feeding the Empire information from the inside.

"Exile seems kind," Ayla mutters, eyes on the small horse statue that rests over Whiterun, "give him and his family safe passage to Cyrodiil where he can serve the Empire there?" she adds, looking up to see what Ulfric thinks.

Athena speaks before Ulfric has a chance to, "kick Balgruuf out of his homeland? A prominent man getting exiled by two people who say they're fighting for Skyrim? That won't bode well for the public,"

"So exile is off the table," Ayla mutters, returning her gaze to the table. A large map of Skyrim sits there as well as several statues litter it. The three types of statues is a wolf that rests on Solitude, Morthal, Falkreath, and Riften. A bear sits next to Windhelm, Winterhold, Markarth, and Dawnstar. A lone dragon rests on the mountains bordering the Pale, Hjaalmarch, and Whiterun.

"The base has a dungeon below," Asteria pipes up as Brynjolf excuses himself to deal with Guild business, "we could keep him as a prisoner of war," Ayla glances across the table at Ulfric, the suggestion interesting her. From the look on the blonde's face, they all could tell he too was preferring that option.

"But his kids," Ayla breathes out, dropping her gaze to the table once more, a few strands of her raven-colored hair falling to frame her face, "what about them? Their father is locked up in a cell and they have no other family members.."

"We'll deal with that when the time comes," Asteria replies, no idea coming to mind.

"The Riften Orphanage," Athena pipes up and everyone turns to stare at her at that suggestion, "they're spoiled rotten kids that think they have it all at the fingertips. Send them to the orphanage and they'll get a face full of reality,"

Ayla blinks, biting her lower lip in thought. It wasn't a bad idea and she had to agree with Athena. She only met Balgruuf's children a few times on her visits to Dragonsreach and they always threatened to have their father throw her in jail, "too bad Tal killed old Grelod," Ayla says and Athena laughs a bit.

"Yes, the old lady would have given those two a run for their money," Athena agrees with a chuckle, "though I don't think Constantine would be as harsh with her punishments, the Orphanage is still an option,"

"They could always live in the base," Kharjo says, walking over to stand beside Ayla, "we can keep a close eye on them and put them to work in the farm section," Ayla takes a deep breath. Kharjo was right. These are the children of a Jarl who pledged loyalty to the Empire. They would be beyond angry that their father is imprisoned and they were taken from the only home they've ever known. It would be riskier if they sent them to the Imperial held Riften than if they were kept in the base.

"Kharjo is right," Ayla says slowly, glancing around the room at the others, "if we send the Jarl's kids to Riften, they would most likely help the Imperials there. How I do not know, but they will hate us and wish us dead. If they stay here, we can keep a close eye on them without having to risk them spilling secrets to the Empire,"

Everyone nods in response, "the Empire should be at Whiterun in three days time, we attack the night after they arrive," Ayla explains and the others take that as a cue to leave. Only Ayla, Ulfric, Ralof, and Asteria remain, "Asteria, can you please show the Stormcloaks to their rooms?"

The Altmer nods and smiles at the two, "Follow me please,"

#Skyrim #Skyrim fanfiction #Dragonborn #Dovahkiin #Ulfric Stormcloak #Brynjolf #Cicero #Ulfric x Dragonborn #Brynjolf x OC #cicero x listener #Fanfic

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bouncyirwin · 5 years

Text

KakaSaku Fic Rec | Readers’ Favourites

This took forever. Mainly because I had to retrieve the links myself, but it’s finally here! I present to you the KakaSaku fanfiction recommended by this fandom through comments, messages and asks per my request. Thank you to everyone who sent in their recs and to those who recommended some of my writings. Happy reading! Find 50 fics under the cut. I added a (*) next to my personal absolute favourites if you’re interested ;) Although I should point out I haven’t read everything on this list yet!

A Study In Movement by @ila-moon-beam | Ongoing | M

Sakura juggles taking care of her 12- year- old, working as a nurse technician and exotic dancer. It's not an easy life, but it's the best she can do given what she has. What she isn't prepared for is Sarada's handsome teacher who she meets at the parent/teacher conference, as well as his surprise appearance at the strip club she preforms at one night with his friends.

Private Practice by @alienwritesstuff | Ongoing | M

When nineteen year old Kakashi is injured during a mission, it's Sakura's job to see that he is healed properly. But, Kakashi is interested in a bit more than the healing she can give him. [Age Swap AU]

Nama-Stay Away From Me by @the-copy-mistress | Ongoing | M

When Sakura’s impeccable schedule keeps getting thrown by her gym’s ever tardy yoga teacher, she decides to give him a piece of her mind. Things do not go as she predicted. Modern AU.

Moment You Loved Her (back) by LindtLuirae | Completed | T

Some things are just worth breaking for. KakaSaku AU.

Hungry Hearts by @ila-moon-beam | Ongoing | M

Sakura is a single mom who works tirelessly to finish her bachelor's degree. She does what many other single moms her age do; they go to school, they work, they take care of their children. Except, things are different for Sakura in her last semester of her college career. Her daughter, Sarada, will be staying with her grandfather, she will be TAing for this mysterious new Professor at her university, and she will soon find a familiar face coming back to haunt her; determined to reconcile their family.

Everyone Goes to Tsunade’s by @mrssakurahatake | Ongoing | M

1920s AU, After their long term business partner forces them out, Tsunade and Jiraiya decide to open their own New Orleans speakeasy. Business isn't going well, can a new house band help them turn things around?

Into Darkness by @lady-otori | Ongoing | M

For Sakura, being the granddaughter of the head of the largest Yakuza clan in Shikkotsu wasn't easy. For Kakashi, being forced to consider marriage with the Fire Country's most spoiled Yakuza princess was worse. When the wolf and the dragon of the criminal underworld go head to head, bystanders had better look for cover. [KakaSaku] [Yakuza AU] [Arranged Marriage]

The Beginning, the Middle, and the Coda by @lady-otori | Complete | M

The beginning, the middle, and the coda to Kakashi and Sakura's relationship, in which it all begins when he expresses the most important thing in the most awkward way possible. A three-part series of interconnected oneshots, exploring three different stages of their love. [KakaSaku] [Fluff] [Smut]

Reciprocity by @sparkswithyou | Complete | M

On a mission gone wrong, one thing goes right.

Insatiable by @somnificsheep | Complete | M

Sakura tugs the covers back to reveal dark, pleading eyes looking up at her. “If you don’t mind it in the shower,” she says. “Some of us--” she leans down to nuzzle his forehead-- “have work to get to.”

“Maa, Sakura, anyone else might think you’re calling me lazy,” he drawls. “I’m simply taking advantage of having some time off, is all.”

House of Crows by SilverShine | Complete | M *

KakaSaku. War is coming to Konoha and Sakura is far from home, uncertain of her future. But one thing is for sure, Sakura will protect her unborn child at all costs, whether it be from Konoha's enemies... or from its own father.

Crowns Of Blood And Bone by @raendown | Complete | T

He hates and hates and hates until he loves her, slowly and in small pieces.

Daughter of Fire by JulietteDeschemps | Ongoing | M

Sakura got up and didn’t bother brushing the dirt from her dress. She had a feeling she was about to get even dirtier.

She looked at the memorial stone one last time, memorizing the characters without even realizing she was doing it. It would serve from that moment on as a reminder of her determination. She wouldn’t let Naruto and Sasuke join the names carved on that stone.

That was her nindo.

you'll never leave me behind by PersephoneHemingway | Completed | M

Sakura went ANBU and Kakashi hasn't seen her in a while. They face certain truths.

Masks by madstoryteller999 | Ongoing | T

When Sakura walks home after sending Naruto and the Sasuke Retrieval Squad off, the last thing she expects is to be attacked. What she could have never anticipated is that evening changing...everything.

In which: Sakura's Inner is far more diabolical than anyone ever expected, crows demonstrate themselves to be cruel mentors, the complications of selfdom in ANBU are realized, and Sakura learns exactly how much she hates Kakashi (and how alike they are in the most terrible of ways)

Pink Clouds by CharredCitadel | Ongoing | M

Konoha has fallen to Danzo, and Sakura has fled far away...right into the arms of the Akatsuki. Who would have thought that life as a missing nin could be so liberating?

Wish I Knew You by LindtLuirae | Ongoing | T

A lost bet and a forced dare brings two lonely losers together. Sakura never thought something as absurd-sounding as the 'No More Lonely Losers' program would land none other than Konoha's hottest bachelor and her long-time crush in her lap. KakaSaku. Rating might be upped later.

Mariposa by WhiskeyBlair | Ongoing | M

It wasn’t until he found himself getting a face full of skull fragments and brain matter that he even realized he was being rescued

To Grow A Garden by Wolfy Tales | Complete | T *

"So what do you think about having a kid with me, Sakura?" - A family focused one-shot [KakaSaku]

Follow Your Nose by @tipsyraconteur | Complete | M

Sakura decides to find her signature scent. Kakashi "helps". Things get out of hand. (Kakasaku. One-shot.)

In Case of Blue Scroll by Leola Majora | Complete | M *

In Case of Blue Scroll the Hokage must lock himself in his office and pull his hair out as what he thought were memories of a long lost love turn out to be the memories of a mission he was about to assign his former student, Sakura Haruno.

Konoha Files by @mummapaintstheblues | Ongoing | M

Exactly one year since his partner's untimely murder, Detective Kakashi Hatake is forced back into active duty.

He is paired with up and coming Detective Sakura Haruno.

Through their work together, not only do they catch a killer, but Kakashi begins to see a fresh new hope to the dismal world around him. But is this new partnership enough for him to abandon the darkness altogether?

Kakashi Candyman by @xoxoendoh | Complete | M

"Just how much did you drink before coming down here?"

"Sakura," Kakashi murmured darkly, trailing his hands down her thighs as he knelt at her feet, "I'm still thirsty."

Kakashi notices that his wife could use a little 'de-stressing' before hosting the Halloween Benefit Gala…. —Swalloween2018, KakaSaku, NC17—

Adaline by @nikkigrand | Ongoing | T *

I would choose you in a hundred lifetimes, in a hundred worlds, in any version of reality, I would find you and I would choose you.

I pecan U by merrrcurius | Ongoing | M

It all started with a twig and a razor. The pecans didn't count because they didn't work.

Kakashi's just doing his duty as Captain.

It takes them places.

Discoveries in Oil by @nikkigrand | Complete | G *

Kakashi always knew that he would always be there for Sakura, even when she belonged to someone else. Birth AU

The Fletcher's Heart Paradox by @Moonlady9 | Completed | M

They are familiar yet total strangers. She knew their names but not the kind of people they were in this moment in time, she knows who they are from her moment in time. 28 years is a long time for people to change, but how much will Sakura change? How long will her heart stay steadfast, now in this new time. Time changes people, and their hearts.

House Calls by Spoiled Sweet | Complete | M *

Always the Team Mom, Sakura opens up her home as a clinic for the hospital-phobic ninja of Konoha. At the same time, her relationship with Kakashi begins to evolve in a way she never expected. M for swearing and later content.

make it holy by faeritell | Complete | T

Neither Kakashi nor Sakura welcomed the names on their skin.

Duty Before Honor by SilverShine | Complete | M *

[KakaSaku] Sakura knew why Tsunade didn’t want a virgin on this mission. Things might get out of hand. Acts might be carried out too far. She was glad Kakashi was accompanying her, but right then she wouldn’t have minded the entire population of Konoha.

The Cabinet Door by @itslulu42 | Complete | M

It says something about her, she thinks, that the only thing tying her to sanity is a talking dog.

Everything But The Kitchen Sink by @itslulu42 | Ongoing | M

Kakashi must have angered a god in a previous life. Why else would his soulmate be such a walking cliché? A Kakasaku Variety Pack of Modern Day AUs!

Omega Erased by @ila-moon-beam | Ongoing | M

A shift in equality caused a change in the dynamic between Alphas and Omegas. With the emergence of Alpha woman, the hierarchy reflected as such. Alphas began to mate with Alphas, simply using Omegas for their respective heats and ruts.

They were seen as play things. As a means to an end. As anything but equal to an Alpha. It had been this way for the past hundred years, society punishing Omegas for bringing out the worst in Alphas.

It was an Alpha world, and Sakura was just living in it.

A dystopian omegaverse.

Double Edged by nimblnymph | Complete | M *

Seduction is like a double-edged sword. You never know when you'll go from being the seducer to being the seduced.

your most important person by @fineillsignup | Complete | M

Some people got their soulmarks on their arms or faces or some other place that was more difficult to hide. He remembered how Minato-sensei’s hair would sometimes be lifted by the wind enough to reveal “Uzumaki Kushina dattebane!” written boldly across the back of his neck in crimson. His teacher had sometimes laughed in his gentle way about it, saying that fate was determined to make things easy for him.

Your Most Important Person

Or, Kakashi tries to fight fate and fate fights back.

Or, how many ways can a soulmark screw you over?

Or, sometimes you just have to take what you can get.

the malady of solitude by moonvalentine | Complete | T

A few years after the war, they're still trying to regain their footing.

Friendship by Numbers series by Oroburos69 | Ongoing | M

Sakura's too young, Kakashi's too...different, and neither knows what to do with a real, live friend. Clueless and incompetent, they stumble down the path of friendship, accidentally getting naked and engaged along the way. Seriously.

Take my past and take my sins by @thekatthatbarks | Complete | M

Sakura narrowed her eyes at him, not wanting him to play it off like he always did. Her hands came up to his face. “You look like you haven’t slept in months, Kakashi.” Before he could respond, her hands went down to his waist and she tugged at the hem of his pants. Unsurprisingly, there was slack. “And you’ve lost weight.”

“Sakura –“ Kakashi started, grabbing the hand that was at his pants.

A thought crossed her mind, making her blood go cold as she realized. She cut him off with a glare, “You picked up the mask again, didn’t you?”

A Poor Imitation by leafygirl | Complete | M

Sakura is injured on a mission, forgetting everything she knew of life in Konoha.

The Samurai and the Oni Girl by selberias | Complete | T

AU KakaSaku set in Edo-period Japan. Sakura is the descendant of a red-haired foreigner as well as a merchant's daughter. Kakashi is a local samurai who has fallen on hard times, a man whose pride has been broken down to this point. Love comes after.

It's Something Unpredictable (But in the End is Right) by BasicallyAnIdiot | Completed | G

The problem was not that Sakura broke into his apartment.

It was that she had opinions about his defences.

Scar Tissue by @TipsyRacounteur | Complete | M

She comes to him on the type of day that he has way too often—the type of day that almost breaks a man—and she asks him to let her take care of him. And just like that, he starts to let her in, without ever even meaning to. (For KakaSaku Month 2018 Healing Prompt.)

Better Man by Kakashisgf | Complete | M

Sakura and Sasuke have been married for over a decade, but things are far from perfect, and Sakura's beginning to realize that maybe she deserves better. KakaSaku

Say it Again by @nyxako | Ongoing | M

A story in which Kakashi loses his hearing during a mission, only to later realize that the only thing he can hear anymore is the sound of Sakura's voice. [KakaSaku]

The Taste Of Fire by @alienwritesstuff | Ongoing | M *

**Hogwarts AU** Like a moth to the flame, Kakashi couldn't seem to stay away from her. He knows it's wrong, knows it's too dangerous. But, he's drawn to the fire. And fires like these tear the whole world apart.

Aposematism by @youngjusticewriter | Ongoing | T

Pretty things were dangerous more often than not. They had to be.

Don’t you know that the world has a tendency of yanking beautiful things up and leaving them to slowly die wherever they were taken to?

Dear fellow traveler by youngjusticewriter | Ongoing | M

“You’re thinking too much. Let me make you stop,” Sukea offered and, yes, his voice was different but Sakura liked it even if something about it made her mind inch.

“Okay,” she agreed before closing her eyes. She didn’t want to (see the world, she just wanted to wake up to find out the mission had been a bad dream) see Sukea and think on the things that she kept picking up on from him. All Sakura wanted was to be Chinami who was just a traveler just like Sukea was. A traveler who didn’t have people’s lives slip through her hands because she wasn’t good enough.

Destroy the middle, it’s a waste of time by youngjusticewriter | Ongoing | T

“Another one?” Mrs. Takahashi asked, “You’re going to burn yourself out.”

(You’re not good enough to keep working; you can’t endure like others do. You’re too young. You’re supposed to just wait around until your teammates get back because those who abandon their teammates are worst than scum.

And Sakura wanted to laugh despite the loneliness that had dug itself into her skin, and had made her bleed, so not to be shaken off.

They left - they left and now it was just her so why should she wait until they got back? She wasn’t a piece of cake that could be discarded.

Sakura had wanted Sasuke and now she wanted to be better in serving her village. Her crush, her teammate, refuting her didn’t stop her chasing after him even though she should have respected his choice. What was their opinions, strangers opinions, compared to that?)

Then I burn, were the words Sakura wanted to spill out from her tongue, to spew out as though they were poison she studied and used, and I get up from my ashes.

Don’t slam the door, Sakura thought as paws pressed into her hand as though to hold it. It (having to pay for another door) wouldn’t be worth it.

(Don't) lay me to sleep by youngjusticewriter | Ongoing | G

Sakura doesn’t need defending though.

Sakura smiled at the girl, because that’s what Ami is and what Sakura hasn’t been since her dreams started, with tired eyes (with eyes too old because that’s what happens when your soulmate is a jonin with a pretty painted mask).

You got to choose before the choice is pulled from you by youngjusticewriter | Complete | G

Kakashi didn’t greet her with an apology, a lie, or even with a hello. (He wasn’t too for gone that he had neglected himself to point he couldn’t sense her coming.)

That’s okay because Sakura doesn’t smile up at him, she doesn’t (lie) promise everything is going to be okay, nor does she greet her husband like she would have this morning if he wasn’t already out of the house. Sakura didn’t even take one of Kakashi’s hands into her own and give it a small squeeze in comfort, in a subtle way to remind him she was still here. No, instead Sakura exhaled the breath she had been holding in and it doesn’t remove the heaviness she feels in her chest.

“You need to come home.” Sakura doesn’t ask for him to do it for her even though Sakura had too lost their child. (We’re not dead, Sakura wanted to yell, and if you continue to keep your company with them, with the dead, then one day when you do come home we might just have become the company you prefer to keep. We might just become the dead you idolize because you were too late in life to realize how much your loved ones meant to you.)

Ceremonial by youngjusticewriter | Complete | T

With bloodied lips and sharp canines Kakashi smiles at the sight - it’s only for a night after all. In the past he had tried to shove it down, had never voiced that sin unlike the others (so many others) to the tombstones of his fallen comrades, but he’s dying now. He can have it just for a little bit. The air is hard to breath in, its too cold or maybe he’s too out of breath, and there’s clothe from his destroyed mask in his bloodied mouth but that’s okay. It’ll be over soon.

Twisted fingers - Kakashi could actually see a bone poking out of one - reach up to touch but it’s too late.

come through (like the sweetener you are) by exarite | Complete | M

Kakashi was not Sakura's sugar daddy.

(Or was he?)

It Wasn't Even Us In The End by tedthedead | Complete | M

How many years?

How many years had he been lovesick, a yearning child needy for her comforting touch, a desperate man aching for the soft silk of her skin?

#kakasaku #fic rec #fan fiction #romance #angst #family #hurt/comfort #smut #drama #one shot #multichaptered #kakashi hatake #sakura haruno #naruto

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jq37 · 5 years

Text

The Report Card – Fantasy High Sophomore Year Ep 6

The Fall of Fabian Seacaster

OK, let’s do this.

We pick back up with Kristen and Riz who are still outside Garthy’s room. Kristen’s Detect Good and Evil from last week pings Garthy as well as the general aura of the Golden Gardens which is protected in the way a sanctum sanctorum would be but with celestial energy. Riz and Kristen improvise a not super cogent plan that involves ribbon dancing and knocking over barrels before Riz just decides to cut to the chase and ask Garthy’s guards to send for Sandra-Lynn. Once she comes out (still looked sexed up and pretty annoyed) they’re not quite sure what to ask her and Riz wants to bail but Kristen (who has cast Zone of Truth, tried to muscle into Garthy’s house, and gotten smacked down physically by Sandra-Lynn) says that she’s worried about Sandra-Lynn because she’s “not poly but [she’s] acting poly.” Being directly called out is enough to snap Sandra-Lynn out of it (and to think about Fig’s reaction) so she agrees to get her stuff and come back to the gang’s suite.

Meanwhile, Fabian is hanging out with Bill’s cult of 20-ish warlocks. They’re all super glad to see Fabian--who they assume has been sent by Bill to help them--and they want him to regale them with the tale of how he slew his father in battle. Fabian tells them the story which, as you all know, isn’t a story about besting his father in a hard-fought battle so much as it is about a story about bittersweet mercy killing. They are less than impressed, especially considering they want Fabian to defeat Captain James Wicklaw who has promised to kill all of Bill’s followers. Ego stung, Fabian says that he may not have bested his father but he did (help) kill a dragon and, more importantly, he’s gonna lead them into an ambush against Captain Wicklaw (who he sees, presumably looking for him, with 30 men).

Oh boy.

Fabian telepathically alerts the Hangman that he’s about to get into a big fight before slamming down a door and full-out attacking Captain Wicklaw. He’s able to get a good couple of attacks in and Wicklaw misses his first couple of attacks but then Fabian fails an intelligence save with a Nat 1 and gets stunned while Wicklaw tries to open his skull and eat his brain.

Meanwhile with the rest of the Bad Kids, the Hangvan alerts Gorgug that the Hangman has sped off and everyone assumes Fabian is in trouble. They all do their best to get to him as quickly as possible and, even though these scenes are intercut with Fabian’s I’m going to summarize them all at once:

Fig (w/ Gorgug in tow) Dimension Doors as close to the Hangman as she can. Then, Gorgug has the idea to try the classic pirate move of grabbing a rope, cutting the weight, and instantly flying to where on the ship you want to go. They try that and begin flying towards Fabian at terminal velocity, both dislocating their arms. Fig passably disguises herself as Jemina Joy (even with quadruple disadvantage) and tries to get a wizard to teleport her to where Fabian is but they’re going way too fast for anyone to hear her. Gorgug (also with quad disadvantage) tries to throw a hand axe and, on a nat 1, almost cuts the rope they’re swinging on.

Gilear is fully passed after a back-slap from Fig.

Adaine casts fly on Riz (because his rogue speed means he can make the most use of it) so he can go get Garthy to see if they have any teleport spells. Then, she gets on Baxter with Kristen and Sandra-Lynn (plus Tracker who follows in spectral wolf form). Kristen tries to bring up Sandra-Lynn’s relationship stuff again and Adaine casts Tasha’s Hideous Laughter on her. Adaine tries to pull from the jacket to get something to help her get to Fabian faster and she gets a Razor scooter.

Ragh drives the Hangvan towards Fabian’s.

Riz finds Garthy who takes him to a room, pops out neon angel wings, and does some kind of teleport spell that almost seems like it moves the space closer to them rather than the reverse.

But, none of this really matters because Brennan says none of them will be able to make it to Fabian before 22 rounds of combat. Woof.

Still in the first round of combat, 2 of the warlocks manage to hit Wicklaw and break Fabian out of his grapple (right after Wicklaw says that he’s eaten many of Fabian’s siblings but let’s put a pin in that because we have so much to get through here). Fabian declares that all spells are on him for the remainder of the fight (which is maybe the last funny thing he says all night). Then, 6 of the 20 warlocks on Fabian’s side die to gunshots from Wicklaw’s men. Fabian sends his men forward then falls back and attacks with his crossbow. Wicklaw mocks him for abandoning his crew so viciously that I feel like he should have spontaneously taken a level in bard. Brennan rolls for the ten still living pirates who never got names and only one survives. Then he rolls for the named pirates (Alistair and the three I haven’t mentioned yet because this episode is A Lot--Chungle-Down Bim, Old-Young Benjamin, and Creaky McBarrel) and only Creaky dies. In two rounds, Bill’s cult is down to four (plus one guy who peaced out after Fabian said he didn’t actually brutally murder his dad).

Fabian’s tactical retreat shakes the confidence of everyone but Alistair who stays loyal (even as he gets wrecked on his next attack on Wicklaw). Chungle-Down Bim is so disgusted by Fabian’s cowardice and performance that he tries to Eldritch Blast him and misses. He says, “Yeh ain’t no pirate and Bill would spit in yer eye.” Fabian has to hold back tears. He, with a heartbreaking mix of trepidation, reluctance, and resolve, asks if there are any ropes he can use to escape. Roll a perception check. He does.

Natural 1.

Sure, Brennan says. There’s a rope that looks like it will 100% guaranteed hold Fabian’s weight. Fabian goes for it--leaving behind a stunned and crushed Alistair--and finds that it’s actually a clothesline. He goes plummeting down a quarter-mile towards the ground but, before he actually hits, he hits a bunch of other ropes and, on his last possible chance, is able to save from splatting and taking max fall damage. Lou opts to take some damage anyway because he’d feel like he was cheating otherwise.

The rest of the group shows up through their various means and all immediately assume that Fabian got jumped. Fabian is meek in a way we’ve never seen before. I’m talking Adaine with Jawbone in Prompocolypse meek. He doesn’t tell them what happened and he answers all the questions with short yesses or no’s as much as possible. The healers heal him (plus Fig and Gorgug) up and take him back to the suite. The Hangman asks if he’s alright. “No Hangman,” he says. “It’s all bad.” Cathilda brings him kippers but he feels like he doesn’t deserve them.

Garthy has a little tete-a-tete with Fig about their tryst with Sandra-Lynn. Garthy is all about getting down but not if that person is in a monogamous relationship (even though they’re against them on principle). Fig (who has been avoiding her mom since the top of the ep) says she’s only mad at Sandra-Lynn (she says Sandra-Lynn, not Mom--oof) since Garthy didn’t know better. It just sucks that this happened to Jawbone. Jawbone as in Jawbone O'Shaughnessy? asks Garthy. Turns out he’s visited (many times) and they’ve boned (super hard) which, honestly, totally tracks.

Because she didn’t get a full night of sleep, Tracker can’t keep the Moon Haven spell up all night which isn’t great. Kristen can also gather than she’s too tired to remember anything that happened earlier in the night (ie: things about Sandra-Lynn and Jawbone). Fig, concerned that she might get mind controlled again without the Moon Haven up asks Adaine to tie her up (this actually happens before the above conversation with Garthy).

Sleeping arrangements are Fabian, the Hangman, and Riz as a bodyguard in one room and everyone else in another. Adaine trances a little early so she can regain her spells and be awake in case anything happens. Brennan makes everyone do wisdom saves. Kristen and Adaine roll high and Adaine gives her TWO (2) NAT 20 portent rolls to Fig and Gorgug. That leaves Riz and Fabian, but we’ll get to them in a minute.

Adaine wakes up from her trance and she sees Ragh get up early as well. He says he’s going to get some food. Adaine, vigilant as ever asks Ragh who his first kiss was. Ragh acts confused for a second, and then screeches and attacks her, waking everyone up. He’s been dominated. Adaine goes for a Tasha’s Hideous Laughter and subdues him. Also Fig is able to escape Adaine’s magical ropes so maybe she’s not the best person to do that next time.

Meanwhile, Fabian is having a nightmare. He dreams of Wicklaw trying to eat his brain and Chungle-Down spitting in his face and his betrayal of Alistair. He sees the ghosts of the warlock cultists entering hell and his disappointed father. And then, he’s approached by a man. A man with a familiar, non-threatening sounding, yogurt-offering voice. Fabian, like Adaine before, feels very strongly that if he looks at this man’s face, something terrible will happen but he does take the offered yogurt and agrees to go with him without looking at him. He’s taken to a lovely, sunny, kind of museum area dedicated to Bill Seacaster. Fabian thinks it’s very nice but he starts to notice that though there are many pictures of Bill and Hilariel, there are none of him. He asks why. The man says that Fabian needs to look at him. Fabian is hesitant. The man says that Fabian really needs to look at him. The yogurt in Fabian’s stomach curdles, weakening him (and me because yogurt grosses me out on the best of days and this is not the best of days). The man turns Fabian’s face to look at him and Fabian finds himself looking at a doughy, middle-aged Fabian Seacaster. He laughs hysterically and Fabian wakes up, plunged into the sea.

Elsewhere, Riz wakes up in his room. Fabian is gone, he’s paralyzed, the Hangman has been stabbed through by Fabian’s sword and is leaking oil, and Kalina is sitting on his bed. She was able to get in with the Moon Haven spell down. She speaks to him unsettlingly casually. She sounds almost friendly as she demands Riz and his friends stop looking for the Nightmare King’s crown on the pain of their lives. Riz, a grizzled old knight to his core like all of Murph’s characters, can’t wrap his head around why she would be doing this. It’s simple. Power. She psychologically toys with him, saying that Riz throws himself into his cases (which she seems to know quite a bit about) to distract himself from how sad he is about his dead dad. Then, she says that Fabian is in massive danger and if Riz doesn’t play ball (pun not intentional but it’s staying in), he’ll die. Riz assumes she knows where the Nightmare King’s crown is and she asks why he’s sure she knows which makes him think she actually doesn’t know. Riz, who sleeps with his sword because he’s rightfully paranoid, uses it to Misty Step outside but he’s still paralyzed so he just hits the ground and breaks his arm.

Kalina meets him outside, tells him Fabian is long gone, and tries to bargain with him: information about his dad for information about what he knows. Riz counter-offers that he’ll tell her about where the Nightmare King’s crown is if she guarantees his friends’ safety. She doesn’t care about the crown. She wants to know what Riz knows about her. Riz agrees (to save Fabian) and tells her everything he knows except that he withholds the information about Adaine’s mom being involved and tries to withhold the information he got from Ragh but he accidentally gives himself away without saying Ragh’s name. That’s enough for her to put two and two together though and she leaves to kill Ragh’s mom.

Back in the sea, Fabian has to make three Constitution checks. He rolls two nat 20s in a row for the first two and is rescued two flying imp monsters (presumably sent by Kalina) who drop him off at the edge of town. Fabian, absolutely destroyed, rips off his eyepatch and takes off his Owlbear jacket as he makes his way back. He rolls one last Constitution check. Nat 1. He’s got pneumonia. Cathilda shows up in the Hangvan to pick up Fabian.

The rest of the group is still shaken up by Ragh’s attack. They snap him out of it and someone gets Garthy. Post Riz’s encounter with Kalina, Ragh bursts in, devastated and says that someone from home called and said that his mom died. The whole group is immediately suspicious because--post Gorgug/Zelda debacle--they know they shouldn’t have signal. Ragh tries to call another number and all he hears is laughing on the other end. When Riz (healed up by Garthy) looks, he sees that his phone shows 5 bars for a second. Riz, Tracker, and Sandra-Lynn also see the flicker. Possibly illusion magic. Tracker and Garthy can also now suddenly see the Shadowcat in the picture (but it doesn’t seem like the rest of the Bad Kids can). Riz thinks Ragh’s mom is in serious danger but not dead yet.

Garthy has the idea to send the group to the Leviathan Library so maybe Adaine can learn a Sending Spell to communicate with their various parents and allies in Solace. They give Adaine a note that says to let the group safely use the library addressed to one Aida Aguefort.

Fig checks in with Sandra-Lynn to see if maybe she was under the influence of something more malevolent than alcohol when she cheated. Sandra-Lynn cries, and admits that she just F’d up but that they should deal with the problem at hand for now and that’s where we end, with the bulk of the group en route to the library.

Detention

Fabian for Everything

Oh Fabian.

Fabian, Fabian, Fabian.

I don’t think I have ever seen a series of events so driven by a single character’s careless actions.

Truly, almost every single bad thing that happened in this episode can be traced directly to Fabian losing his entire chill at the worst possible time.

All those warlocks, dead (And Alistair either dead, seriously hurt, or set on the path to show back up with a vendetta later on down the road).

Because Tracker didn’t get her 8 hours, she couldn’t do the Moon Haven properly which is why Ragh got mind-controlled, the Hangman got stabbed, and he got brain-jacked and dumped into the ocean.

It’s why Kalina got to Riz. It’s why Lydia’s in danger.

And it wasn’t just that what he did was dumb, it was also completely unnecessary. There was no plot reason for what he did and he wasn’t forced into it. It was a completely character driven decision and it was bad, y’all. It was pretty much an absolute fail parade.

Honor Roll

Brennan and Lou for Absolutely Stellar Roleplay

Everyone had their moments this episode.

Siobhan and Zac made some clever choices. Ally brought some needed levity. Emily subtly continued her emotional threads about Fig’s relationship with her mom and her distress over her actions while mind controlled. And Murph had that absolutely stellar scene in the back half of the back half of the ep with Kalina.

But Brennan and Lou 100% carried this episode.

Brennan is such a good DM that I feel like it’s almost easy to take for granted. Like, if you visit a town, you’re gonna talk about how how cool the shops, and food, and events were. Not about how well the roads are paved. But if the roads are all janky and potholed and stuff then it’s a big issue.

This episode clearly took a major turn from whatever was supposed to happen but Brennan deftly kept pace with all of Fabian’s wild choices and made sure the roads were paved before he got there.

So much of this episode was just Brennan talking to one other person (Fabian and then Riz during the Kalina scene) and he nailed all of it. The disgust from Chungle-Down. The betrayal from Alistair. The concern from Cathilda. The quiet but sinister lilt of Nightmare Fabian. And the affable, dispassionate, Just Business evil from Kalina.

And Lou. Everything Fabian did this episode was an extremely bad idea but it is exactly what Fabian would do in the situation. Lou played him completely consistently, even when it clearly pained him to do so.

When Lou rolled a nat 1 on his perception check for an escape rope, Brennan essentially handed him a fully loaded gun and said shoot yourself, and Lou grit his teeth and he did it.

Mad respect to both of them for keeping the tension and gravity going for a full three hours basically. That was lightning in a bottle. D&D is an amazing game.

Random Thoughts

I know there’s a significant chunk of the fandom that ships Riz and Fabian and, can I just say, RIP to y’all.

It really was narratively cool that we started out with the Sandra-Lynn plot in this crazy, over the top, comic scene and then ended with the quiet conversation between Fig and her mom on the same topic. It really was a through line throughout the episode without over-shadowing the main drama. This episode had a clear A and B plot just like a scripted show.

Also if Garthy is a powerful as Brennan is making them seem, wild that the NK and Kalina were able to bust through what is supposed to be super sanctified ground, especially since Tracker--a jr. cleric--has been keeping them at bay by herself.

Zac: This is a real Axford move.

Also Zac: I don’t understand what’s gonna happen if this goes well.

Riz and Murph Equally: We’re so stupid.

I think it’s funny how players in D&D tend to treat Zone of Truth like it forces them to spontaneously say things that are true rather than just preventing them from actively lying.

The kinda wild thing about how this whole mess started is that Fabian’s character development is part of why it happened. When he told the warlocks about the dragon and his dad, he gave everyone else their due credit, didn’t hog the spotlight, and didn’t lie/embellish the truth to make himself sound cooler. That in turn disappointed them which made him relapse into S1 Fabian who attacked Gorgug on the first day of school for absolutely no reason. I was actually going to give him major credit for that before he, you know. Made some other choices. He absolutely gushed about how cool his friends were and then invited exactly none of them to his terrible plan.

Lol at Lou being like, “I rolled to get Alistair to make a better speech?”

Bill’s cult of about 20 guys has collectively sent him like 350k gold. That’s insane! They’re all so poor!

Lou playing Fabian very confidently making an absolutely suicidal decision, and then surfacing to laugh hysterically for a full thirty seconds out of character about how he’s for sure gonna die, was such a mood. It was like Lou was being held at gunpoint by Fabian for the entire first half of the session.

Big props to Zac for trying to get everyone in on the action by suggesting the Hangvan would see that the Hangman was gone and let the group know.

OK, so now let’s talk about that line about Wicklaw having eaten many of Fabian’s siblings. Hoo boy. You know this episode was wild because that line was said and never followed up on. What might have been a headline in a different episode was a footnote in this one. No big surprise that Bill would have fathered a ton of kids. That pretty much tracks, as Adaine said last ep. I feel like this was something that was going to come up regardless, Fabian just forced it to be right then and there. This dude hates Bill so going after his kids seems like an obvious move (unless he’s bluffing I guess, but I doubt it). But, like, did Bill know about these kids? Was he fully ignorant? Willfully ignorant? Did they know they were Bill’s kids? Are there any left? Can Fabian please have a little pirate sister because I would love that so much you don’t even know.

You think Lou expected to say (loosely quoting), “I try not to cry in front of Chungle-Down Bim,” when he woke up that morning? Idk but I can tell you that I didn’t expect to hear it and feel strong emotions about it.

Chungle-Down Bim, which is short for Bimothy.

Lol, Brennan makes Emily rolls with Quadruple disadvantage and she still gets a 15 because she has a plus 11 to persuasion. No wonder she’s so quick to slam the disguise self button if there’s even a sliver of a chance it’ll work.

Adaine getting a useless Razor scooter on the way to try and help Fabian and then being like, “Well, I’m still gonna keep it,” was such a funny beat during the tenseness of that fight scene.

I need you guys to know that this is a mindflayer ability: Extract (Ex): An Illithid that begins its turn with all four tentacles attached and successfully maintains its hold automatically extracts the opponent’s brain, instantly killing that creature. Truly what was he thinking? You’re gonna eat his brain? Go ahead because he clearly isn’t using it!

You know the part of Princess Bride when Wesley is giving the “To the Pain” speech to Humperdinck? I feel like that’s what Brennan did to Fabian this episode. “Oh you think I’m going to kill you? No, that would be too easy. This fight is to the pain. You will watch your allies get slaughtered until you are forced to betray them or die. You will escape but in the most clownish fashion possible after breaking your most loyal ally’s heart. You will be beset by your concerned friends and forced to either own up to your horrible life choices or stew with them and lie by omission. You will be the reason your ultimate enemy is able to break in and attack your friends and you will be forced with your worst nightmare before being unceremoniously dumped into the sea. You won’t die. You’ll just wish you had.” Absolutely brutal.

Anyone else feeling a possible villain turn from Allistair? Dude’s a warlock so he’s already prone to dabbling in questionable power sources. And Fabian really did him dirty. I was hoping he’d at least get Kristen or Tracker to try to see if he was around anywhere for a heal but he just went into shellshock shutdown mode and they bounced. We didn’t see him die on screen so I feel pretty strongly that we’ll be seeing him again in some form.

Also, maybe I’m way off, but did you guys feel like Fabian missed a clear opportunity? I thought he was gonna ask his dad for help. Or, at least try and talk to him before the fight. Clearly it’s possible because the warlocks are doing it. Just pray for some infernal intervention or guidance or powers or something? Worth a shot when you’re in such a bad situation anyway.

Fabian never did tell the party what was going on. They all still think he was ambushed and forced into a fight somehow. I really can’t wait for the truth to come out. I wonder how long he’ll sit on that info. He better tell them before they fight Wicklaw again and they find out that way.

Every single player playing up their concern for Fabian and making a point to presume he was in the right and that it had been a wrong place/time situation to make him feel even more like garbage was *chefs kiss*.

The Hangman basically acting like a big metal dog and pressing itself up against Fabian to comfort him is weirdly adorable.

“Anyway, I’m gonna go get tied up.”/“What?”

Also I love Adaine’s reaction to being asked to do it. She’s like, “What? I mean, I’ll do it but, what?” Sidenote, Fig said she was gonna ask Riz as her first choice but that’s also a terrible choice! He has like a minus 2 strength modifier I think. Ask Gorgug!

Truly, the entire episode can be encapsulated in the fact that Siobhan was sitting there with two nat 20 portent rolls but sidelined and useless because Fabian decided to go completely rogue.

I have to give Adaine big credit for checking to see if Ragh was mind controlled because whenever I’m watching a show where a bad guy can shapeshift or possess people, I always think, “Why don’t they just have a codeword or something?” This is one of the few times I’ve seen it properly executed. Genre savviness saves lives people.

Fabian’s rolls really matched his decisions this week. It was like the dice were punishing him with all those nat 1s on crucial checks.

Also, Brennan being like, “You get pneumonia” was lowkey hilarious. Just like, insult to injury. What’s next? He’s gonna die on dysentery on the Oregon Trail?

I wonder if Fabian is considering chronomancy-ing this away? The thought for sure crossed my mind. Also, everyone was joking about everything being all a dream, but that’s something that could happen in this campaign without it being cheap because it’s been set-up that that’s the kind of bad guy they’re up against so I’m staying vigilant.

Ragh coming into the room and, voice cracking, announcing that his mom was dead cut me up so bad. And I thought it would be not as bad on my rewatch. Nope, still awful. I can’t believe I like him so much now. This is like a Steve from Stranger Things level turnaround for me. Also, the chat was absolutely blowing up when Murph was like, “I tell her everything,” without excepting Ragh’s info at first. Brennan is a nice DM for reminding him about that (despite the absolute ravaging of Riz and Fabian otherwise this ep).

Also gotta give a shout out to Murph this ep for playing Riz so well during the confrontation with Kalina. His steadfast, simple, “We can’t stop. It would be wrong. Fullstop,” mentality is so pure. Riz is such an interesting character. When he tried to withhold info, Murph said, “I have low deception.” That’s who Riz is. He’s a rogue with low deception. He’s sneaky but only in pursuit of justice. No guile at all. Kalina, who is as casual as he is wound up and amoral and he is knightly is such an interesting foil for him. I’m very intrigued to see how this develops.

Like I said in the recap, Garthy and Tracker can now see Kalina in the picture, even though neither of them saw her when she broke in (that they know of) so the plot thickens there. I’d go into it more but I really don’t have any new theories off the top of my head and this was honestly the least of my worries re: this ep.

Also, she says that all of her abilities come from serving the NK, and she had the abilities since she was working with Pok so this doesn’t seem to be a new development. I will say though, based on the info the group got, I really thought she was gonna be a more ancient being, you know? Maybe it’s just a title and she’s just the latest tabaxi to serve him and get it? I dunno.

Truly the mood for this episode was dawning horror. Things just got progressively worse in new and interesting ways every single scene.

Speaking of, let’s talk about Fabian’s vision. First of all, Brennan did a great job real-time DJ-ing that scene. The switch to that creepy music was very unsettling. Second of all, the chat exploding when Brennan started doing That voice and everyone for a brief moment thought that maybe, Maybe, Gilear was the Nightmare King, was delicious. But, on to the important stuff: When this happened to Adaine, my guess was that if she had looked at figure, it would have been a representation of her anxiety which I think was like 65% correct based on what happened to Fabian. Her worst possible future for herself is probably herself ruled by anxiety to the point of uselessness so she would have seen that version of herself. Fabian’s worst possible future self is essentially Gilear. Which, on behalf of Gilear, ouch. But, yeah, I see why it would be. And, honestly, NK-Fabian was worse than Gilear. Gilear is pathetic, sure, but he’s pathetic in pursuit of his own goals. To be stuck in his dad’s shadow, devoid of any other purpose is the antithesis of Fabian’s whole making a name for himself thing and a sick twisting of his very real pride in his dad. It’s a real raw nerve to hit, especially right after his colossal failure that left him feeling unworthy of even his favorite snack.

I’m really glad Fabian looked at the face of his nightmare. Brennan pushed him a little (in that fantastically unnerving, cajoling yet demanding voice) but I think he would have done it anyway. Like, it’s good information for the team to have and, if anyone was gonna get hit, it made most sense for it to happen right then, when Fabian was already at basically his lowest point. Both Adaine and Fabian felt like something horrible would happen if they looked at their nightmare and I’m wondering if there’s a mechanical effect to that or if it’s just psychological. I feel like there might be some not yet revealed mechanical effect going on but, when your players are as devoted to the RP as Lou (who, again, asked to take damage from his fall even after Brennan was gonna let him off with just the shame) you can get away with just giving the character trauma and having the player hinder their own actions based on it.

Titles for this recap that I rejected include Actions and Consequences and Keyfish 2: Pirate Boogaloo (because the first part of this episode truly felt like the CritRole Keyfish incident but spread out over an hour and a half).

Yet another thing that would have been a headline item in another recap but is just a footnote here: Aida Aguefort. That’s gotta be a sibling, ex, or parent (in my order of probability). What is an Aguefort doing running a pirate library? Are they as chaotic as the other Aguefort? I think it would be very funny if Arthur is this dude in a high position in a “normal” town who is just feral and Aida is living on this insane pirate island but, like, a completely normal librarian.

Oh, speaking of Aguefort, Kalina called him out on his child soldier factory and, listen, I know she was just trying to hurt Riz but she doesn’t not have a point.

Kristen was able to discern that Tracker probably won’t remember what happened with Sandra-Lynn but I hope she keeps track of that info because if Tracker rolls high perception and finds out that she semi-willfully kept that information from her, she might be miffed.

Are all of Bill’s dead warlocks gonna work on his hell ship now? Didn’t they become warlocks specifically because they were bad at being pirates?

I notice the group didn’t wait for Fabian even after Riz presumably told them what happened. I also notice that Cathilda was able to find Fabian right away which is interesting.

Adaine solemnly Razor scooting at the front of the party towards the library is low key hysterical.

Fig better hope it doesn’t get back to Jemina that she was being impersonated.

Also, that plan was crazy but super not the craziest thing Emily has ever done and Brennan backed her up on that. He was like, “This is good. This isn’t Hilda Hilda,” which is where the bar is because Emily is crazy.

Fig: We’re gonna fail./Gorgug: We’re gonna die./Adaine: And, more importantly, we’re gonna fail school.

Riz’s “How about no dead friends,” one-liner was so good. Unfortunately, it didn’t do anything to stop his paralysis. Ouch.

I’m assuming Kalina was asking what he knew to see if there was anyone she needed to kill because they knew too much about her? Because, otherwise, it seems like unimportant info for her. I was thinking when it was happening that she needed him to give her that information so they could take it from him and he wouldn’t have it anymore, like in a weird Fae way, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. It’s probably just the simple thing.

Garthy doesn’t leave the Golden Gardens which is probably good for game balance. You don’t want to give the players a super powerful ally who has no reason not to help them at any given time. That’s rife for PC abuse.

I have to say, after last week, I was hoping we’d be done with the pirate stuff halfway through the ep and en route to Falinel but this was such a turn. I was saying to someone last week, it’s very tempting to try and predict where a D&D game is going by using typical narrative structure as a guide but that only halfway works because you really can’t account for the improvisational nature of it. I absolutely could not have guessed that this is what this episode would be and I’m glad.

Goes without saying, this ep totally snatched the crown for Most Heart Attacks Given To Me By BLM from Family in Flames.

“The game isn’t about what you plan; it’s about what happens,” sounds like a line from an inspirational Ted Talk, and not from a man who, minutes later, said that a pirate named Chungle-Down Bim wanted to use a teenager’s mouth as a toilet.

“I feel drunk from anxiety.” Same Ally.

You wanna know how many pages of handwritten notes I have for this episode? If you guessed 16, you’re right. And I was so into the ep, I forgot to keep track of crits, which is why I had to watch it a second time.

Emily proposing “felettes” as the feminine version of fellas.

“How many HP you at?”/”I’m not telling you.”

Just, the idea of this warlock drawing on Bill’s power to try and attack his son is so raw.

Brennan, being asked by Zac if he can help with Emily’s crazy plan: You absolutely may not and, in fact, take five points of damage.”

Siobhan: What do you have to lose?/Gorgug: *Rolls a nat 1 and almost severs the rope he and Fig are holding on to*

Garthy plays the harpsichord (I have in my notes harpsichord and not harp so I’m going with that) post-coital which is definitely a choice.

The shot of levity that Brennan injected between the big fight and the NK invasion by having Garthy know Jawbone was great. I knew it was coming as soon as Fig said his name, but the comic timing was still perfect. Apparently, Jawbone’s stories are crazy even by Garthy’s standards, which is wild.

Also funny, Fig being tied up as combat started. It didn’t end up making a difference but, at a certain point, when enough bad things have happened, piling more bad stuff on top just becomes funny like, yeah. Of course. That tracks.

Ally: Sleep when you’re dead, which might be this episode.

Riz and Gorgug (and Allistair) each roll one nat 1. Kristen rolls a nat 20. Adaine has 20s for both of her portent rolls (which she gives to Fig and Gorgug). And Fabian rolled an amazing 2 Nat 20s (in a row) and FIVE nat 1s.

Edit: Oh, forgot to say! Next week there won’t be a game because Thanksgiving is happening in the States. Early Happy Thanksgiving for y’all in the U.S. who are celebrating. I’m thankful for a week off to recover after the ordeal that was this episode.

[Footnote: This ended up cracking 6000 words, in case you’re wondering about the ways I choose to spend my time. Shoutout to y’all for reading these and justifying the dissertation length brain dumps my dumb, former English major brain compels me to produce for absolutely no good reason.]

#fantasy high #fantasy high spoilers #dimension 20 #dimension 20 spoilers #report card

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writingthrones · 5 years

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the northern dragon- part 1.

PART 1: A SPARK.

TAGS: @psychosupernatural , @xleviiiix (feel free to shoot me a message if you’d also like to be tagged!)

DESCRIPTION: the world thought that just 2 dragons survived, that house targaryen was missing its third head. but there was another– the youngest, the final child of the mad king and queen rhaella. of course, she was almostpart of the near extermination of her house. but the honorable ned stark, unable to watch a babe be murdered for crimes she did not commit, rescued her from an awful fate. instead, she grew up amongst wolves within the walls of winterfell.

NOTES: this a rewrite of the original part 1 after an anon pointed out how i definitely rushed it. i hope this gives you all more insight into the reader’s personality and her relationships to the Starks (and Theon). there’s a few flashbacks in this which i thoroughly enjoyed writing, so expect more in the parts to come. as always, i’d love to hear any & all feedback. requests for what you’d like to see in the story are always nice to hear as well!

WARNINGS: violence (so there will be descriptions of attacks, wounds and blood).

Things had been stressful since Ned, Sansa and Arya all left for King’s Landing. There was a lot for you to do now that Lady Catelyn was spending day and night with Bran waiting for him to wake. Even when you did have time away, there wasn’t much to do. Robb was now acting Lord of Winterfell and Theon was constantly at his side– though it wasn’t like you’d spent too much time together anyway. Much to your dismay.

You found yourself wandering the courtyard or spending time at the Godswood whenever you weren’t tending to some sort of duty. Might as well enjoy the northern summer while it lasts. As the saying goes, Winter Is Coming and it is not something to be taken lightly in the North. It is one of those nights, just before you head off to your chambers when you hear… something going on. Your brow furrows with curiosity then fear as you watch Summer take off in a full sprint right into where Bran is being kept. Without a second thought, you take off after the wolf when you happen upon a scene that makes your blood run cold. Lady Catelyn is struggling against a man with a knife with only her bare hands when the direwolf comes to the rescue, tackling him and tearing his throat out.

Falling to your knees beside her, you grab hold of her hands. “Lady Catelyn, are you hurt?! What happened?” Without waiting for an answer, you turn her hands over to check, finding deep cuts to both. She still remains speechless, clearly in a daze and it is certainly no wonder considering what took place. “I’ll– I’ll get help.” You take a glance at the man on the floor, then an untouched Bran with Summer at his side before running out the door. “HELP– HELP!” you cry. Just then, Robb and Theon appear in the courtyard, rushing to answer your call. Again, you fall to your knees, the shaking so bad you couldn’t stand anymore. What if there was others? You left Lady Stark, what if something happened to her?

“Are you okay?” the boys ask, frantically scanning your body for an obvious signs of injury. “Lady Stark– you must go to Lady Stark! Someone tried to hurt her and Bran, GO!” Robb’s eyes go wide as he takes off, while Theon bends down and takes your blood covered hands. “Are you hurt, Y/N?” the concern in his voice is evident as his words come out rushed and nearly blended together. Panting, you shook your head. “I’m fine, you must go with Robb,” you insisted. He hesitates, but releases you then takes off after him. Even if your entire upbringing was spent bickering, there was an instinct to look out for one another. You were a pack– Stark or not.

The perimeter was searched in order to assure that there was no one around to finish the job and everyone was safe. Luckily, they found nothing. After checking in with Catelyn, you headed for your chambers. You needed the rest and yet sleep evaded you. Your mind raced with all the what if’s. What if they had succeeded, what if there was still someone out there.. so on and so forth.

So, you laid there for a while before you just couldn’t handle the stillness and silence anymore. You rose to your feet and peered out the window, allowing yourself that one moment before hurrying to tie up your head wrap. Everyone was supposed to be asleep, but you never know. This wasn’t just about you, Catelyn and Ned would certainly be punished if they were found harboring a Targaryen princess.

You sighed as you finished, wishing you could spend just a little bit of time with the nighttime winds blowing through your hair. Then, you pulled a fur robe over your night gown and started out down the hall until you reached the courtyard. It was so quiet out in the snow, save for the soft crunching of footsteps that could just barely be heard on the outside of the walls. Everyone was on high alert.

The cool air felt good on your warm skin— blood of the dragon and all that. You were making your way to a bench when you heard footsteps behind you, immediately causing you to turn around. Inhaling a sharp gasp, you were just about to scream when you found that it was Robb. You sighed heavily, placing your hand on your chest which your heart was nearly beating out of.

“You scared me!” you whisper-shouted. Robb’s face had been stoic, but then broke into a smirk. “Sorry, my lady.” That granted him the eye roll he was so clearly looking for. Though, it was usually Theon teasingly calling you the lady you were clearly not. “I just needed some air. It’s impossible to sleep after that whole mess.” You sighed, fingers rubbing at the bridge of your nose. “Well, you’re not alone in that, ” he murmured.

Having a quiet moment alone with Robb was.. a bit odd to say the least. The two of you hadn’t really shared moments like this since you were kids. He had responsibilities to tend to now and so did you. “I just don’t understand who would’ve done this. Why would anyone want to hurt Bran?” Robb stiffened before shaking his head, just as lost.

You turned to face him, indigo hues focused on his Tully blues. “I need to do something, Y/N. Someone tried to kill my brother-- twice. My mother thinks it was the Lannisters.. I’d believe it but saying anything will start a war. And everyone knows what Lord Tywin is capable of. I...” his words were rushed, the panic evident. This was all too much, resting heavy on the shoulders of a 17-year-old boy.

“We’re going to figure out who did this and we’re going to make them pay,” you replied, resting your hand gently on top of his. He looked confused. “We?” You nodded, “Yes, we. I love Bran too and I won’t stop until we discover the truth.” You were stronger than he knew, not a lady trained only to serve others. “My mother rides for King’s Landing tomorrow to find proof. We can’t act before she gets it.” You nodded, he was right. If he decided to start the conflict before knowing the truth, then this could lead to a terribly bloody conflict all for nothing. The two of you shared a long look before you removed your hand from atop his, not realizing how long it’d been there. You may have shared tender gestures like these as children but it was no longer appropriate when he was was the heir of Winterfell and you were nobody. So, you rose from your place next to him and hugged the furs closer to your body as you walked back towards your chambers.

“Goodnight, Y/N.”

“Goodnight, Robb.”

That night, you dreamt of your childhood, a memory you thought of fondly. It was before Rickon, Bran was a newborn, Arya was just a babe and Sansa was a toddler. So, it was you and the boys-- Jon and Robb. Theon had yet to be taken on as a ward. The three of you ran around the woods as you did quite often. You had been looking back at them as the chased you, not paying attention to what was in front of you when you sent yourself flying forward after catching your foot on a rock. Bracing for impact, you placed your hands out in front so you wouldn’t damage your face. You yelped as your palms were torn up, feeling your eyes well up with tears. Sitting up, you began to cry looking at all the dirt and blood. Jon and Robb ran over, frantically assessing the damage. Robb moved before Jon could, taking your small hands in his own and examining them. “Are you okay?” he asked, turning his gaze up to meet your eyes. “No!” you huffed, tears still falling down your cheeks. Without another word, he wiped away the mixture of blood and dirt with his sleeve and placed a kiss on each one, mimicking what his mother did when he got hurt. “All better?” he asked, a hopeful smile on his lips. The tears subsided and you smiled, nodding your head. You remember it being the first time you ever felt butterflies.

When you awoke, you could feel the difference in the air. Things were tense now. No matter what Lady Stark discovered, something big was about to happen-- you could feel it in your bones. Whatever it was that happened to Bran sparked something. After dressing, you entered the courtyard and saw Catelyn, preparing for her trip with Ser Rodrik. You ran to see her off before the long journey down the Kingsroad, the last one to say your goodbyes. Your eyes were sad but you forced a smile, as did she. Taking your hands, she spoke, “Take care of them.. please.” She didn’t just mean Bran and Rickon but Robb, too. Sure, he was considered a man now but he was still her boy and she was trusting you keep him from caving under the pressures of his new duties. “I will, I promise,” you said with a nod, feeling tears prick at your eyes. You hated to see her go to such an unsafe place. She nodded, her own eyes looking watery despite the smile on her lips. Taking you into her arms, both of you hold each other tight. Backing away, Catelyn takes your face into her hands. “Don’t worry too much, child,” she said softly. This would be a lot for you to deal with as well, she knew that. It reminded you of when she had to calm you after revealing your identity. Nodding, you backed away and allowed her to get onto her horse and set off.

You intended to keep your promise. You tried spending some time with Bran but you never stayed for long, he was always asking for everyone to leave him alone. It broke your heart, seeing the boy who was once so full of life be completely defeated. You played with Rickon when you could, the young boy’s laugh always putting you in better spirits. Theon was practically attached to Robb and you hardly ever saw either of them. But Catelyn had asked you a promise and you intended to keep it. You tried to visit Robb in the Great Hall or catch him on the way to his chambers, but he always claimed to be too busy to speak with you.

But one night, you finally managed to do it. It was a chance encounter, you spotting him just as he was going to reach his room. You rushed forward, standing in the way to prevent him from leaving. Stopped dead in his tracks, he looks to you with an unreadable expression. “I know you’ve been busy but I just--” He cut you off, “I don’t have time for this. It’s been a long day and I just want some rest, Y/N.” Your brow furrowed with frustration. “Seven hells-- let me speak! I just want to know if you’re okay... this has all been so much, I wanted to check in on you,” your voice grew more soft as you continued to speak. He sighed heavily, “I’m fine, Y/N. You don’t need to worry about me, let’s just both get some rest, okay?” Your gaze was cast downwards before finally looking up, “Fine.” You moved and walked away in frustration. As you turned around a corner, you spotted Theon, who was giving you a questioning look. “What was that, Y/N?” he questioned. You knew what he was insinuating, causing you to only scoff as you pushed past him. He’d been teasing you since you were young about it but you dismissed it every time.

The next morning, you unknowingly walked in on a meeting between Robb and some lords from surrounding areas. Once he spotted you, though, he halted the conversation. So definitely something you weren’t supposed to be listening to– noted. “Robb,” you called, causing all heads to turn. The men stared at you in shock. “…Lord Stark, Lord Tyrion has returned from his trip to the wall. He wishes to speak to you.” Before you can get the door to let him in, he simply does it himself. You stole once last glance before slipping out, off to find something to do.

Weeks went on and Lady Catelyn was still gone on her mission to find the truth about what had happened to her son. Ned remained in the lion’s den down south and all that Robb could do was keep the peace in the North. But the people were growing antsy as word of growing tensions began to reach Winterfell, as were you. On sleepless nights, which was many of them, you ventured out into the courtyard where you practiced your sword work. Before Jon had left, you two practiced from time to time after quite a lot of begging. You may not have been a Lady but you were still a woman and he had said it wasn’t your place to be fighting. It wasn’t meant as an insult, either, he just didn’t want you to end up hurt because of it. You pushed and pushed until he caved, though. A true Northwoman you were; fierce and stubborn.

“Jon, please!” you whined. The pair of you were fourteen at the time. Jon had already been training for several years. He was talented and the only one you had even a chance in persuading to train you to fight. “Y/N, I told you, I can’t!” There was nothing else for you to say, but the look in your eyes was pleading. “Seven hells...” he huffed, an admission of defeat. You grinned and the two of you disappeared into the woods where he began to teach you all he knew. Grunts and sword clangs could be heard for some distance. Just then, Jon spotted something, his eyes going wide as he dropped his weapon. Confused, you whipped around to face whatever it was, hiding the sword behind your back as if it changed anything. It was Robb and Theon. “What do you two think you’re doing?” Theon spoke first. “I asked him to. I want to know how to defend myself!” you shouted back. He scoffed, “You’re a girl! You don’t need to know anything.” Taking the sword from behind your back, you pointed it in his direction. “Shut up!” you yelled. Theon gasped, surely ready to bark back some stupid insult. That’s when Robb stepped in between you two, pushing the end of your weapon down gently. “That’s enough,” he had decided. The three of you then ventured back to Winterfell, Robb trying to mediate the bickering between you and Theon while Jon hung his head. Surprisingly, you still managed to persuade him into continuing your training, this time during periods where no one would think to look for you both. Sometimes you’d meet late at night or early in the morning.

Everything finally boiled over when Ned was imprisoned and Sansa held captive while Arya’s whereabouts remained unknown. Robb quickly assembled the Great Lords whose allegiance was pledged to House Stark in the Great Hall of the castle and determined they would march South and retrieve his father and sisters. You just happened to hear the conversation echoing as you passed through the halls. I’m going with them, you thought to yourself. So you dashed off, hurrying to your room where you began packing away all you would need in a trunk. Even if you had to sneak yourself onto the trip, you were going one way or another. Hopefully it would be alongside Robb.

Not long after, you spotted him leaving Bran’s chambers. Exhaling a deep breath, you approached him with confidence. “I know what you’re doing and I’m going with you,” you said so matter-of-factly. His eyes narrowed. “You’re not,” his voice was resolute as he stepped aside and walked past. Turning quickly on your heels, you grabbed hold of his arm and pulled him backwards. “Yes I am! I will not stay here performing mindless chores while your– our family is under attack!” His jaw was clenching and he opened his mouth to speak again before you cut him off. You weren’t a Stark, you knew that, but Ned had saved you from certain death and it was about time you returned the favor.

“I won’t cause problems,” your voice becoming softer. “I can help…I-I know how to fight, you know I do. I’ll send myself into the front lines if it means you’ll let me come. Please, Robb.” His brow furrowed in thought as he sighed, “I can’t send you out there.” That was a given, though. A woman was not meant to be a solider. “You must-- Let me tend to the mens’ wounds then, anything! I just can’t sit here wondering what’s happening to you all-- I won’t.” You hated begging, you shouldn’t have to. If that’s what got you out there, though, then it would be worth it. It was a long silence between you two and his eyes felt like daggers, piercing through you as he looked down to meet yours. Your heart was nearly beating out of your chest when, finally, he spoke again. “Fine. We march in an hour, gather what you can.” A sigh of relief passed through your lips. “Thank you,” you said softly. Robb said nothing, instead giving a look with a meaning you couldn’t seem to figure out. Was it.. concern, maybe? It was nearly impossible to tell. You hurried back to your chambers, assessing the room one last time to see if there’s anything you’d forgotten. In a rush, you allowed yourself one last look at Rickon and Bran’s sleeping faces, swallowing the lump in your throat. You’d miss them. Who knows if you’d ever see them again. You had to believe that you would, though, that you’d return to them with Ned and their sisters, successfully reuniting them all. Probably far too idealistic for the harsh realities of the world, but you had to hold out hope.

Your belongings were loaded onto a cart as you jumped up on a horse. You may have been lowborn, but you were still allowed to march close to the front, much to the high lords’ confusion. None of them had time to question it, though. It was time for war; not just for justice of the Stark family but for the North as a whole. It was time to take their land back from the Southerners who cared so little for them. The North would be free again, now and always.

#robb stark imagine #robb stark x reader #daenerys targaryen imagine #jon snow imagine #game of thrones imagine #the northern dragon.

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inkandpapermagic · 5 years

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Queen of Nothing: In-depth Theories and Analysis of loose ends and plot threads from TCP and TWK that still need to be addressed

I had too much time on my hands on a summer afternoon, and since I just finished a reread of The Cruel Prince and The Wicked King, I wanted to get my thoughts together (I also am an English major and I’m starved for some literary analysis, yo). This series has so many cool prophecies and mysteries and there’s a ton of plot threads needing to be tied up in The Queen of Nothing. So, I chose a few of my favorites to over-think on.

Justin and Eva, the dumb kids who started this mess

Justin and Eva, y’all. Justin and Eva. Ever since Jude saw her mother in the Lake of Masks, I have been dying to know the real story about these two. Jude doesn’t seem to be that curious, but during her entire conversation with Asha, I was screaming internally for Jude to shut up and let the woman talk about this mysterious pair. I could personally read an entire novel about them alone (Holly, if you’re reading this, please please please can we make some kind of faerie bargain about this?).

In any case, there’s so many unanswered questions about Justin and Eva. I’m just going to dive right in, starting with Justin. He seems like a pretty straightforward guy-- dude just wanted to make swords. Like, really wanted to make swords. Justin was probably that kid in high school who played Dungeons and Dragons 24/7 and set the school on fire during wood shop class. He is a fictional, real-life Gendry Baratheon, and according to Taryn in The Lost Sisters, he sold his swords on Ebay.The only real hint we get that Justin may have been more than Eva’s hunky mortal baby daddy is what we hear from Grimsen:

“Then I told him I would give him one of my secrets: He could learn the practice of a hundred years in a single day… if only he would part with something he didn’t want to lose.”

“And did he make the bargain?” I ask.

He appears delighted. “Oh, wouldn’t you like to know?”

Will we find out Justin’s bargain? I personally think he took it-- and lost his life.

Then there’s Eva, who we hear a lot about but know very little. We know that she had an idea of who her daughter would become-- but sadly, she was a bit misguided.

“...do you know what the hag said? That Eva’s child was destined to be a greater weapon than Justin could ever forge.”

Of course, Eva thought this was Vivi, and Asha speculates that this prophecy might have influenced Eva’s decision to flee to the mortal world. But we don’t know that, or really anything about why she decided to leave, a fact Jude bemoans to Cardan.

“There are so many questions I wish I could ask my mom… why she married Madoc,” I say. “Whether she loved him and why she left him and whether she was happy in the human world. Whether she actually murdered someone and hid her body in the burnt remains of Madoc’s original stronghold.”

I NEED ANSWERS, HOLLY.

Of course, Asha knows-- “...one or both of them killed a woman and burned the body to hide your mother’s disappearance from Madoc. I could tell you about that. I could tell you how it happened--” but she’s not telling without a reward.

While I can’t even begin to guess who that woman could be, I do think that Jude will consider her mother’s fate as she struggles with her own relationship with Cardan. It’s something Taryn struggled with, too, in The Lost Sisters. I also still like the theory I’ve seen floating around here that Cardan and Jude somehow end up in the mortal world together, permanently-- wouldn’t that bring things full circle.

Jude, Oriana, Jude’s bad life choices, and Oriana’s disapproval of Jude’s bad life choices

Speaking of crazy kids in love-- the subject of lovers, specifically those of the High King, is something that is explored very early on, in the first half of The Cruel Prince. Through the story of Liriope, we can understand that being the High King’s lover is a dangerous job. And since we know early on that Jude is attracted to Cardan, we’re worried for her. But it’s Oriana who inadvertadly imparts wisdom onto Jude about what she’s getting herself into. Oriana mistakenly thinks Jude is Dain’s lover, and their conversation, which at first seems throwaway and out of place, really intrigues me. First, Oriana admits she was Eldred’s lover, and tells Jude the story of Liriope. Then, she wraps up that story with a moral:

“Hear me, Jude. It is no easy thing to be the lover of the High King. It is to always be in danger. It is to always be a pawn.” Then shit starts to get weird. Oriana says to Jude:

“If you go to Prince Dain despite my warning, if he gets his heir on you, tell no one before you tell me. Swear it on your mother’s grave.”

Jude, of course, swears, thinking she won’t have a problem keeping that vow. But why was that included at all? Just to show that Oriana is paranoid and crazy?

I don’t think Jude will necessarily be having Cardan’s baby or anything like that. But I do think that Oriana’s lesson will come back to her, just as it did when she watched Eldred’s lover be murdered at the coronation. Jude has already become somewhat of a pawn-- after all, Orlagh abducted her, and Cardan bargained to get her back. And that was when she was only a seneschal. When Faerie finds out that she has become the Queen, who knows what might happen to her?

As for how her vow to Oriana fits into that-- I think that perhaps she will go to Oriana for help with something else. Maybe to tell her about their marriage, or ask her for advice, or even for revenge. Who knows? What I do know is that Oriana will not be having any of Jude’s nonsense.

“I want to tell you so many lies”-- are Jude and Cardan actually married?

And now that we’re on the subject of lovers, let’s talk about those marriage vows.

What really bugs me about this is that when they married, Cardan didn’t know that Jude had killed Balekin. So he had no plans to send her away when they married. Which makes me think that, in his mind, he really thought that he could crown Jude and they could rule together. The act of exiling her was just a frantic chess move to get her off the board so that Orlagh wouldn’t kill her outright. I’ve read and reread that scene, and I still come off with the impression that he was sincere. And that supposed sincerity is what brings me to the marriage vows, specifically Cardan’s. He goes first, which means that he dictates the terms of the vow:

“I, Cardan, son of Eldred, High King of Elfhame, take you, Jude Duarte, mortal ward of Madoc, to be my bride and my queen. Let us be wed until we wish for it to be otherwise and the crown has passed from our hands.”

“Until we wish for it to be otherwise.” In her own vows, Jude puts it a little more simply:

“Let us be wed until we don’t want to be and the crown has passed from our hands.”

This is interesting. If this rule holds true, than Cardan’s supposed betrayal of Jude would dictate that, if they’re truly at odds, that they technically aren’t married anymore since they supposedly hate each other.

Yet I think that, deep down, they both still wish they were married to the other. In that case, even though I’m sure they’ll pretend to be angry at each other, the marriage remains because they both secretly wish to remain married.

The mermaids are out to get us

Finally, I want to look at a little prophecy that takes place near the beginning of The Wicked King, but whose words I believe basically foreshadow the events of the entire book.

“Spurn the sea once, we will have your blood,

Spurn the sea twice, we will have your clay,

Spurn the sea thrice, your crown will away.”

I think it’s safe to say that the “blood” was the drops of blood spilled when Nicasia accidentally hit Cardan while he was in bed. The clay, of course, is Jude, daughter of clay. I’ve seen several people on Tumblr discuss these theories and I definitely think that all makes sense. It’s the third line that interests me. But first, let’s go back to the Cardan’s final act of The Wicked King, when he exiles Jude.

“Until and unless she is pardoned by the crown.”

It all comes back to that line, doesn’t it? The general consensus is the Jude is the crown, and she can pardon herself. So how does this tie into the Undersea’s prophecy?

Jude is exiled for killing Balekin, the ambassador to the Undersea. As a result, Cardan sends her away to the mortal world.

“Spurn the sea thrice, your crown will away.”

So, in conclusion, I believe that through a clever bit of wordplay, all three components of the Undersea prohpecy have come true-- in this case, because the crown, Jude, has been sent away in retaliation for her crime against the Undersea.

Queen Jude (doesn’t that sound amazing?)

There is one thing we can be sure of-- Jude Duarte will be queen of Faerie. After all, Baphen saw it in his stars:

“The stars say this is a time of great upheavel,” says Baphen. “I see a new monarch coming, but whether that’s a sign of Cardan deposed or Orlagh overturned or NIcasia made queen, I cannot say.”

If you made it this far, thanks for sticking with me! I can’t contribute cool fanart but I can give you theories haha.

And in short, this is me every day until November 19th:

#the folk of the air #tfota #the cruel prince #the wicked king #queen of nothing #qon #the queen of nothing #jude duarte #cardan greenbriar #holly black

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alrightsnaps · 5 years

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Your dislike for Clarke is inspiring. I haven't watched the show since season 3 I think, but I stopped liking her in season 1, so yah. Raven deserved lead.

Raven had the potential to become the sci-fi female lead.

An impoverished girl that grew up with an alcoholic, neglectful mother and managed to grow into a strong yet kindhearted woman? A downright genius latina mechanic that inspires admiration and respect and saves the day time after time? A disabled woman with chronic pain that simply does not know the meaning of the word give up, because she's a survivor that will always fight for her life no matter what?

She'd be fucking iconic!

Raven is simply too good to be true, and these idiotic writers reduce her to a side character they only remember when someone has to save everyone's asses, torture porn (which is absolutely disgusting) or shoving her with the next insignificant dude that joins the show as a love interest.

But it's not just that Clarke doesn't hold a candle next to Raven of course– though she sure as hell does not. I could handle a character I dislike, we all have one or two of those in every show. It's her sidelining every other character, constantly putting everyone (including Raven and Bellamy that are my favourites) in danger and betraying her people, constantly whining about how she never asked for power yet repeatedly stepping forward as a self-proclaimed leader (and fucking everything up once again) and never ever facing any consequences for her actions.

If you can believe it, I started watching the show more than biased in favour of Clarke. In favour of Bellarke. In favour of Clexa. (you know how hyped up all these are on social media!). As far as I knew when I decided to give the show a shot, it was a surprisingly good teen drama (that many compared to got.... I'm still laughing about that bit) with a badass bisexual lead character. What's not to like?

Needless to say that's....not how I found Clarke. Or the show. By season 3, her arrogance, insufferable entitlement and hypocrisy is so in-your-face I could hardly stand her. (Season 6 is downright comical in that sense, with the writers coming up with a melodramatic martyresque Clarke centred plot to make her come out as the victim, when in last season's finale she sent Raven to get tortured and Bellamy to die in a fighting pit. The lengths to which they'll go to avoid her actually facing the consequences of her actions never cease to amaze me.)

I guess it has to do in big part with how cw shows are in general– no in depth characters that merely serve as puppets to move an action filled plot forward, and zero logical consequence. The 100 feels like watching a Walmart version of the mess that were seasons 7+8 of GoT on a loop. A constant tell-not-show narattive– we'll tell you who's the good guy and who’s the villain, even though our labels don't make much sense as far as the characters’ actions and motivations are concerned.

For example, D&D decide that Dany is the bad guy and start hinting it since season 7, even though her actual actions up to 8x04 directly contradict it. So she's made out to look like an arrogant bitch for not giving some random guy free pass to her resources or agreeing to help him fight some fairytale ice zombies the moment she sees him, her killing enemies in battle after they brutally wipe out her allies is interpreted as some Mad Queen foreshadowing, her not giving North an independence they have no armies to fight for or the skills to negotiate for, is proof that she'll become a tyrant and so on.

And of course the double standards– Dany is mad and too eager to use violence for not mourning her lifelong abuser, killing rapists and crucifying slave masters after they did the same to literal kids, but Sansa and Arya are kweens for smiling after feeding her rapist to his dogs and massacring a room full of people and baking actual human beings into pies respectively. Daenerys shows the signs of a tyrant for executing the men that betrayed their liege lord and butchered their entire House after actually giving them a choice, but Robb barely an imperfect leader for doing the same to Rickard Karstark, without giving him much of a say in the matter either. (The list could go on forever.)

In the same way in the 100 (or in reverse I guess?) Clarke is supposed to be some heroic leader, even though she lets one of her own get executed for a war crime without even demanding (or at least trying to negotiate) that the same price is paid by the opposing side when it comes to their war criminals (especially since this was a war started by the grounders against a group of defenceless teenage refugees in the first place) all to achieve a fragile alliance (btw I'll never forgive the 100 for making me care for Finn McPlainface, whose scenes I could barely watch without falling asleep, but good god, was his death poorly handled. Are these writers ignorant in politics or plain stupid?). After they are betrayed by their ‘allies’ she abandons her people at a crucial time and then.....jumps into bed with the woman that forced her to kill her boyfriend, left them all to die and had her kidnapped (thanks for the quality sapphic rep cw– I hate it). She falls madly in love with her in the span of five days, immediately reclaiming her role as a leader without even asking the actual people she's supposed to lead (and that's just the first three seasons!).

But a hero and a leader she is.

Then there's, once again, the horrifically obvious double standards. How is it possible to blatantly judge your characters based on different standards even within the same season? Clarke can blow up 250+ of her own people to save her ass and nobody even learns about it, much less have her pay the price for her choice. She can literally get into bed with the enemy while insisting on playing leader without asking anyone, and there are no reprecussions whatsoever. But Bellamy’s s03 massacre of an army of people that had repeatedly chased, tortured, killed, threatened and attempted to massacre them repeatedly (and were once again doing that at the time of Bellamy’s actions), will be brought up again and again and again in future seasons because it makes him a Dark Character Beyond Redemption, which the audience isn't allowed to forget.

Or Pike– a refugee that witnessed countless of his own people persecuted and violently murdered by the locals from the moment he stepped foot on the ground is straight up portrayed as shady for distrusting them (never mind Sky people were once again threatened with a massacre at the time). He was literally paralleled to Trump by this hellish fandom (while mass murderer Lexa is supposed to be some Flower Power Badass Queen I guess) and shoved a shitty trope of the xenophobic entitled colonizer, straight up ignoring the show's context (how anyone could make the Skaikru/colonizers and grounders/Native Americans parallels with no shame is beyond me, but apparently some people have difficulty differentiating between colonizers and refugees, as if the two are even remotely close). I'm not excusing anything he did afterwards of course–he clearly went off the rails. My problem is the show portraying him straight up as the Bad Guy for holding actual democratic elections, while the privileged non elected elite that led them to the Mount Weather mess were supposed to be the Good ones. Much like Dany was the Tyranical Dragon Queen from the moment she set foot in Winterfell, because Sansa had prophetic abilities and could predict the clusterfuck of 8x05 I guess!

At the end of the day, I was a fool to trust any recommendations and take a cw show seriously.. if it weren't for Bellamy and Raven I'd be out of this mess loooooooong ago! I'll hardly last this season really, not when every episode is dedicated to praising Princess Clarke Griffin, Bellamy having turned into her hypnotised lapdog with no personality of his own, and her stans constantly attacking Raven for not kissing her ass and *daring* to hold her responsible for her actions.

#this is a looooooooong answer #but this show frustratea me and I needed to unwind! sorry #♥️#clarke griffin

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violetsmoak · 4 years

Text

Pieces of April [8/?]

AO3 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21099044/chapters/50202530

Summary: On the anniversary of his death, Jason’s second life takes an abrupt new turn and he’s faced with a challenge that neither Batman nor the All-Caste prepared him for.

Rating: PG-13 (rating may change later)

Warning(s): Past Jason/Isabel, kidfic, minor canon character death (pretty sure you can guess who), I’ll add more warnings/tags as I think of them.

Canon-Compliance: Takes place in between the two RHATO series, so after Roy and Kori and before Artemis and Bizarro. Jason and Isabel Ardila

Author’s Note: Exactly what it says on the can. I’ve had this idea kicking around my head for a while, getting in the way of finishing the next chapter of Philtatos and I figured if I started jotting down the basics of it, I could stop thinking about it.

________________________________________________________________

Tim drives to one of Jason’s safehouses in the Bowery, about halfway between his apartment and the bar where he found Jason earlier. The place is a rundown, fire-damaged building with boarded-up windows and a sign out front advertising cheap studios.

“Do you need any help?” he asks as Jason gets out of the car.

“Just how much stuff do you think I need?” is the irate response before Jason vanishes into the dilapidated lobby.

Tim scowls at his back.

Someone remind me why I’m helping this jerk again?

The memory of the very tiny human still in the nursery at Gotham General makes his facial muscles relax.

Right.

Given the circumstances, Tim supposes he can overlook Jason’s inconsistent moods. He needs someone to lash out at right now while processing, and it’s not like Tim isn’t used to it. Better him than the criminals of Gotham; Jason’s pretty good these days about not using lethal force, but he might not care so much if he goes out without his head on straight.

Speaking of going out…

Tim surprised when Jason actually returns to the car ten minutes later instead of just vanishing. As he indicated earlier, he doesn’t have very much with him, just a worn duffel bag that he tosses in the backseat of Tim’s Porsche before having himself back into the passenger seat.

“Hope there aren’t any severed heads in there,” Tim remarks lightly as pulls away from the building. “I just had the seats redone.”

Jason rolls his eyes. “A guy makes one grand statement and they never let him forget it.”

“You don’t want people to forget it.”

“True,” he agrees with a sharp grin that is anything but humorous.

It’s a short journey back to Tim’s place, but he still drives around the block to use the secret entrance to his base of operations.

“What, I’m not good enough for your front door?”

“Be my guest. Say hi to Vicki Vale when you do, she’s usually lurking nearby.” When Jason shoots him a sharp, questioning look he elaborates, “An occupational hazard of being the face of WE is having paparazzi camped out around my place every now and then. I figure you don’t want your face showing up on the front of the Gotham Gazette.”

“Yeah, that might have been worth mentioning when you offered your guestroom.”

“Guess it’s a good thing like all responsible Bats, I have an underground secret hideout.”

He pulls into the back alley and flips the switch that activates the hidden ramp; the ground falls away and leads down toward the carpark. Tim won’t lie, he enjoys the way Jason’s eyebrows go higher the further in they get. The rest of the Family doesn’t come here—even during citywide emergencies, the agreed-upon convergence point tends to be the original Batcave—so Tim doesn’t have a lot of opportunities to show off.

And maybe showing off to his former childhood idol is something that doesn’t go away, no matter how many years or murder attempts.

That subbasement is nowhere near as large as any of the Caves, but there are two other cars and a half-dozen motorcycles in various states of modification parked in a circle. Tim eases into the only empty space and cuts the engine.

“Welcome to the Nest,” he says as he gets out of the car. “It goes three floors up not including this level. Outside it looks like just another apartment building behind my place, so no one would expect an actual secure installation inside.” He gestures as he speaks. “Ground floor’s got my crime lab and containment units, the second floor’s all training stuff, and the third’s the communication’s hub. There’s even aerial access, but I haven’t had to use it yet.”

Jason shakes his head. “Must be nice to be Dad’s favorite.”

“I wouldn’t know, you’d have to ask Dick.”

“Is that a popcorn machine?”

“No self-respecting hero’s lair should be without one,” Tim quips. “Come on, the living area’s this way.

They head up the stairs to the main level, and Tim doesn’t miss the appreciative glances Jason casts his tech and gear. He opens his mouth to offer to hook Jason up—extend the olive branch, so to speak—but stops himself; he doesn’t know if, after this whole baby adventure is over, Jason’s even going to want to stay in Gotham.

He slides open the hidden door, revealing Tim’s apartment. It’s the same deliberately clean open-concept room as he left it, except for one change. Across from the aquarium that hides the entrance switch, Tam Fox is reclining on the divan in the living room, one hand holding a glass of wine and another flipping expertly across her tablet.

She startles at the sound of the secret door sliding open, and that movement makes Jason tense, fingers ready to grasp for a weapon if need be.

“Relax,” Tim tells him, unsurprised when Jason does the opposite. “She knows everything.”

“And that’s reassuring how?”

“I trust Tam with my life, and to put my interests above WE’s or Bruce’s,” he explains. “Since at the moment you and I are working together, that means she puts your interests above WE and Bruce’s too.”

“She can hear you and knows how to speak for herself,” Tam quips, putting down her glass and standing up. “Who’s this?”

“This is Jason, the friend I was telling you about.”

Tim can almost hear Jason scowling at that; he trusts new people about as much as Bruce does.

Funnily enough, they both make the exact same face.

“And since when is there wine in my apartment?”

“Since you sent me scrambling around Gotham running errands, you generously decided to buy me a bottle of this very nice Riesling,” she replies, studying Jason. “When you said you had a friend with an emergency that required diapers, I was expecting Batgirl. Or Wonder Girl. Or Pru. Or, heck, even that Lynx-woman.”

“Lynx?” Jason repeats, shooting Tim a disbelieving look. “Ghost Dragons Lynx? There’s no way you have that much game.”

“Then he didn’t tell you about what almost happened in Paris,” Tam informs him.

“Anyway,” Tim interjects. That’s all he needs is for Jason to hear about his own near brush with fatherhood. “This is Tam. Officially she’s my personal assistant, but I think ‘friend and confidante’ covers the relationship a lot better. And Tam, this is—"

“Jason Todd,” she says immediately, her eyes fixed on the other man in disbelief. Tim is momentarily caught off-guard. “It took me a minute, but I recognize you anywhere.”

Okay. I didn’t expect that. Though I probably should have. The Foxes were invited to all the same benefits and events Mom and Dad were. She probably knew or knew of Jason.

“Tam,” Jason repeats, tilting his head to one side and frowning at her for a moment like he’s trying to place her. His expression clears. “Tam. Tamara. Fox, right? You knocked Ned Davenport into a potted plant during Bruce’s birthday party one year.”

For once this evening, Tim is the one to feel a little bit off balance. Jason never talks about his time at Wayne manor in anything but unpleasant terms. And yet, Tim knows from Alfred’s stories that there were happy times and that once, Jason was as much a part of life at the manor as Tim or Damian.

“He deserved it for ‘accidentally’ grazing my boobs when he passed by. Three times. And—and that’s not the point! You died!”

“I got better,” he replies with a bitter twist of his mouth.

She gapes for a moment, then reaches for her glass and downs the remainder of it.

“I’m going to become an alcoholic before I’m 25,” she tells the empty glass in a resigned tone before turning back to Jason. “Okay. I don’t even question this stuff anymore,” she informs him. “He could show up tomorrow with the Devil himself and I wouldn’t be surprised.”

“Kid Devil, maybe. Lucifer doesn’t like Gotham. He's more of a beach-party kind of guy."

Tam stares, clearly unsure if Jason is being serious or not; Tim actually isn’t sure either and decides to change the subject.

“You want something to drink?” he asks as he heads for the kitchen. He doubts Jason will notice or care, but his mother raised him to be polite even to people that don’t like him. “I doubt you want anything alcoholic after everything today, but I think I’ve got Zesti—”

“Water,” Jason says absently, looking around the apartment. Now that Tam has been proven as a non-threat, he’s clearly more interested in assessing his surroundings.

He notices the large pile of boxes and bags by the stairs at the same time Tim does.

“What the hell’s this?”

“I called Tam and said it was an emergency and that we needed a few things.”

“This is not a few things.”

“Well, you don’t know how long you’re going to need them,” Tam replies. “Congratulations, by the way.” Tim can’t see Jason’s expression, but doubts it’s a good one from the way Tam quickly adds, "Or no congratulations? Where are we on the whole 'congratulations' thing?”

I don’t think either of us has the energy to get into what happened with Isabel just now. Redirection time.

“Did you have any trouble picking up the stuff?” Tim asks as he gets two glasses from the kitchen cupboard.

“Trouble?” she snorts, and her voice instantly goes from bemused to annoyed. “Do you know how hard it was to get all of this delivered without someone seeing me? Or seeing that it was baby stuff? That’s all I need now is Vicki Vale adding cradle-robbing and teen parenthood to her stories about us.”

“What’s Vicki doing this time?” Jason asks.

“She’s been trying to prove Tim’s Red Robin for the better part of a year,” Tam says. “She tried to get me to confirm that last year when all those ninjas tried to kill us, but I panicked and said we were engaged just to distract her.”

“Talk about taking one for the team,” Jason mutters.

Tim glares at him, and if he shoves the glass of water into his hands a little more forceful than he needs to, oh well. “She trots out that dead horse whenever Tam and I happen to be in the same room together.”

“Which is doing wonders for my career,” Tam deadpans. “People already scream nepotism because of who my father is, but now I’ve been reduced to either Tim Drake-Wayne’s assistant or Tim Drake-Wayne’s fiancée.”

“Hope he’s paying you overtime,” Jason says and wanders over to the intimidating tower of cardboard and plastic. He makes a face. “How much of this shit did you order? There’s like a lifetime supply of diapers here.”

“Trust me, that’ll last a month if you’re lucky,” Tam informs him. “My nieces and nephews did nothing but eat and poop for the first year of their lives.”

Jason appears vaguely horrified. His gaze rests on something else. “Is that a car seat?”

“How else were you expecting to bring home a baby? Carry her on a subway?”

Neither man has a response to this.

“Oh, this is going to go well,” she sighs. “Neither of you has any idea what you’re doing, do you?”

“That would be putting it lightly,” Tim acknowledges, and side-eyes Jason. “We should probably sit down and talk options, but that can wait until tomorrow if you want.”

“Tomorrow,” Jason agrees, and he sounds so exhausted and lost, that Jason takes pity on him.

“Come on, then. I’ll show you to the guestroom,” he offers and starts up the stairs. “It’s right next to the bathroom, if you want to shower. The water pressure here’s not great—” He shrugs, as if to say, ‘Park Row, what can you do?’ “—but it’s unlimited hot water.”

Surprisingly, Jason follows without comment.

“I’ll be here,” Tam says, and there’s an undertone to her words that suggest she’s not going anywhere until Tim explains the whole story.

And isn’t that going to be fun…

________________________________________________________________

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#jaytim #jaytim fanfiction #babyfic #accidental baby acquisition #enemies to lovers #slow build #tim drake #jason todd #tam fox #angst #drama #snark #tam doesn't get paid enough for this

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disregardcanon · 5 years

Text

that one long ass rayllum fake marriage/ theon greyjoy style hostage au

After the dragon king is killed and the dragon egg is killed (stolen), Xadia strikes each human kingdom one by one. They aren't seeking revenge, though, as much as insurance that this will not happen again. The humans will not act against Xadia in the foreseeable future after they do what they're planning to and they might be deterred from acting against them ever again.

The dragon queen methodically travels the kingdoms, demanding a hostage from each monarch in exchange for not burning their cities to the ground. King Hawthorne of Del Bar refuses to give one of his sons up to the dragons, and the queen strikes him dead where he stands. The King's widowed husband, Rowan, decides to go to prevent the dragons from burning the city to the ground. Rowan’s oldest son, newly made King Florian, tries to talk him out of it, but he won't be swayed. Rowan, the Dowager King of Del Bar, will be the Xadians hostage to ensure the good behavior of his kingdom.

Then they take Queen Aanya of Duren's aunt, Queen Fareeda of Evenere's closest advisor, and King Ahling of Neolandia's younger sister. These hostages are sixty three, thirty five, fourth two, and twenty eight respectively.

Word of the dragon queen's intentions and tactics spreads, and King Harrow decides that he will offer himself when she comes.

The dragon queen does not accept, saying that she knows she would kill Harrow if he were to leave with her and it would spark another war. Then, Viren offers himself. Fareeda offered her best friend and closest advisor, why should he not qualify? The dragon queen refuses, stating she will not allow the dark mage who killed her people into her kingdom.

There aren't many options left. It must be someone Harrow can prove his closeness too, and beyond his sons and Viren.... the only option is Amaya, who is currently on a mission.

His sons, however, are not an option. Until Callum offers himself. Harrow tells him that he can't, tries to talk him out of it, tells him all about how vital his presence is and about his PLANS for Callum at Ezran's side, but Callum knows this is the only option.

They can't offer their best general and they can't offer the heir to the throne. He is the only one who qualifies they can spare. It takes a lot of convincing, but eventually callum does. He talks Harrow into letting him go to save the kingdom. Harrow writes Callum some letters to open when he's feeling homesick, and helps him pack and embraces him deeply. He apologizes for not being more affectionate, for never openly loving him openly the way that he should have. He calls Callum his son and tells him that he will get him back someday, somehow. They will bring Callum home.

Callum nods, and he cries, and he hugs. He does not believe his father, but he lets Harrow believe that he wants.

The group crosses into Xadia over the moonshadow path, and then they travel the land for what seems like months until they reach the palace of the thunder dragons.

When they arrive, the hostages are all given the chambers of one dragon royalty share. They're enormous, big enough that the five humans don't have to act like roommates if they don't want to. They don’t. Sadly, they don't seem to cling together for warmth the way Callum'd hoped. They're the only five humans in the whole continent, the only humans they have for company, but most of them don't seem to want to be around each other because they're different ages and from different countries.

He misses Katolis. Xadia is large and lonely and oh so different and he feels isolated and alone. He doesn't know their foods or their magic or their history or their culture. He just wants his dad and his brother and his castle and to smell the Katolis air and joke with Claudia and lose at sword fighting with Soren and celebrate their holidays and do human things and be home, warm and cozy with a book in his room.

He doesn't get that, but at least the hostages are given semi free rein of the castle. Semi. They're each given a bodyguard for "their own safety". Mainly it's to make sure they don't escape. In the mind of the dragon queen, the ax over their heads is the only thing keeping their countries from invading Xadia. Callum's guard is named Rayla. For a while, she hates him for being human. Then she hates him for being a prince. Then for being an idiot, then he thinks she warms up to him.

He warms up to her, at least. Rayla is good company, better than any of the other human hostages, at least. They're all grown people, worried about grown people things. Sometimes he can get Rayla to dick around with him and just do dumb teenage stuff like silly games, or exploring, of talking about magic. He's really interested in magic. He's told he can't do it, not because he's a hostage and he can't do it, but because he's a human and he can't. The palace magician is adamant about that, even when he insists that Viren and Claudia do magic. He's seen it.

"That is dark magic," the palace magician says, "it is an abomination. I will not hear anymore talk of that or I will tell the queen." Who will ban him from coming to see her and learn about magic and maybe even confine him to the human quarters.

Great. Callum really should shut his mouth, but he's never been great at that.

"But my friend Claudia does it," he says, "that can't be evil." Claudia isn't evil. He knows that.

The magician tells him a story about a group of humans who crossed the border, intent on murdering a nobleman on the edge of the kingdom.

"His poor wife was gutted. His daughter had to become queen as a child and grow up without a father." It reminds Callum of Queen Aanya, orphaned by a mission into Xadia.

She tells Callum how they killed him in cold blood for their magic and then dragged parts of his corpse across the border.

"Wait," Callum says, "that was my dad- that was- that saved Katolis!" That was what left Aanya an orphan and killed his mother. He says that she must be mistaken, they did that to save hundreds of thousands of people. They killed a monster. Right? Right?

"He wasn't a monster. No one was except you people. As you say in your half, the giant they killed for their own benefit was human too." He wasn't, but he had a wife, a kid. He had feelings. They killed a man in cold blood and drug his heart across the countryside to save their own skins. Suddenly Callum feels uncomfortable in his.

"I'm sorry," he says. He still gets why his people did it, but he feels less certain about it. Was that right? He feels even sicker when he realizes that his mother's heroic sacrifice was over this. Now it's tainted. His memory of his mother is tainted and- Callum feels ill.

Callum leaves the room, Rayla on his heels. He asks her to leave him alone, she demands that she can't- it's her job not to.

If he's left alone, these people fear that he'll go on a killing spree just because. He thinks about all the times he admired Claudia's magic, thought I want to do that, and realizes they're not that far off.

He decides that he wants to learn to wield the arcanum.

Maybe that can be the bridge between humans and magic- learning to utilize it without harming anyone else. Maybe he can fix things.

It takes a long time to convince the palace magician to teach him and then even longer to learn. The years pass, the Xadians allow the three hostages from countries that have never directly attacked them to go for peace treaties and assurances and promises that the dragon queen will burn their counties to the ground if they ever break them.

That leaves Aanya's aunt and Callum. They keep to their own end of the chambers and don't talk much. Lady Aalexa is not quiet in her suspicion that Callum has turned traitor from spending too much time with Rayla and learning magic. He's not great or anything yet, but he can do primal magic. Humans aren't supposed to do able to do that but he can.

He's not behaving the way a proper human should anymore, but he knows now that proper humans are not always right. Sometimes they kill people just to keep themselves warm and he won't do that. He refuses.

He keeps learning, and he hangs out with Rayla, and when he's lonely he rereads his dad's letter or hugs the stuffed animal Ezran sent him with or clutches his mother's locket or writes his family letters they may never get to read.

He's eighteen years old now. He's been in Xadia four years and he worries he'll never see home again.

That worry increased tenfold when Katolis gives Xadia a reason to kill him. He hears the whispers before the queen calls him, hears the servants gossiping that the queen is finally going to kill the littlest human because his kingdom attacked the border.

Then the queen calls him and he knows that his life will soon be forfeit. Most of the human kingdoms do their executions by beheading, but he thinks the dragon would breathe lightning in him until he died. He doesn't know if that would be worse or better.

"There's been a Katolan attack at the border," the queen says. Callum bites his lip to keep from screaming. Nothing he says can change this now. He could fight, but his magic is feeble compared to the queen. He could run, but he'd only get a few feet before she would strike him down.

Better to die with dignity, then. Then it's an execution instead of her putting him down like a mangy dog. She starts reciting words that he knows will doom him, but he hears Rayla's voice cut through the court.

"You can't kill him!" Rayla shouts at the queen.

"Why not?" The queen asks in her booming voice.

"We're uh. We're engaged!" Rayla chirps. Callum sends her a look. We are? He mouths. Go with it, she mouths back.

"Why have I not heard of this?" The queen says, "if the boy were to marry into our kingdom, then we would not kill him. I do not execute citizens without just cause."

Citizen. Rayla is suggesting he marry her and become a citizen? How- what-

don’t you have to forswear your homeland to get citizenship other places?

"We've been keepin' it secret," Rayla says in that accent of hers, "we didn' want anyone to know before we made it more official. We haven't even talked to families yet after all." The queen chuckles

"You expect to speak to King Harrow about this?"

"Well. My family. Can't exactly go waltzing into Katolis to ask King Harrow for son's hand."

"Quite technically, King Harrow has no claim to Callum's hand at the moment. He gave him up to me. Therefore, his hand is mine to do with as I please."

"You may have it, Rayla of the the moonshadow elves. After I have one more piece of him."

"Wait, what?" Callum squeaks.

"Your finger. I need something to show King Harrow I make good on my threats."

"You want to- to cut off my finger?" Callum asks, feeling like the air is being sucked out of his lungs. He hasn't felt this scared since he got settled in Xadia. They're really going to cut off his finger.

Somehow that's scarier than the execution. He doesn't know why, but it is.

"We won't take the ring finger, I promise."

"Could I maybe, um. Just send a toenail? Dad'll know it's serious if we send him a toenail."

"Or it could be your head."

"Nope!" Callum squeaks, "a finger is good! I can um, blend in better! If you take a pinky! Then I'll look more like an elf! Four fingers Callum!" He can't shut up and he feels the air in the room thinning and even though he can control the wind he can't make it go fast enough into his lungs.

He wants his mom, but she's dead. He wants Rayla, but there's nothing she can do to save him right now.

They take the pinky of his non dominant hand to send to his father. It hurts like hell and it bleeds like hell but he gets through it. He has nine fingers but he's still alive. Being alive gives him options.

His options are marrying Rayla or dying. So yeah. He accepts.

He and Rayla wed. Eighteen years old and thousands of miles away from home and wed to an elf girl who used to hold his chain. What would the rest of Katolis think of him now?

Especially since one of the vows they made him read was "I renounce my allegiance to all lands but Xadia, all rulers but her rulers, all laws but her laws."

They're just words. They burn like acid on his tongue, but they're just words. They keep him alive to say the right ones later to his king, his kingdom, his land and laws. He is Prince Callum of Katolis even while he is Callum et Rayla of the Moonshadow Elves. He will not ever give himself up no matter what words he says or who he gives his heart to.

He has a little more freedom as Rayla's husband than as the queen's hostage.

Rayla is a respected guard as well as a trained assassin, and now that guarding him isn't a full time job she gets to take on higher paying more respectable employment like guarding the queen's nobles.

But now that guarding him isn't a full time job, he doesn't get to see her nearly as much. It kind of pisses him off. He marries the woman and then gets to see less of her. What's the deal with that?

But at that point, they realize that they both realize how much they value their fine together and become more intentional about making and spending time for each other. Then, they decide that maybe, just maybe, they do like this being married thing.

They consummate, and their marriage is real in all ways except for where Callum's allegiance lies. He might not have pledged himself to the dragon queen for real, but he pledged himself to Rayla and he will keep that promise. He loves her. That part is real.

Another year passes. Callum is nineteen. It's been five years since he saw his father last. It won't be a day more.

King Harrow shows up at the gates of the palace, an egg in his arms.

"Is that-"

"The egg of the dragon prince," the King says. His dad has something in his arms that could end the conflict and all Callum cared about is seeing him.

"Dad!" Callum screeches. His dad explains how Ezran discovered the egg, how Viren held it for years, how Viren is sitting in a cell awaiting his return and justice as they speak.

"I wish to trade the egg for my son and the other hostage."

"You may have the Duren," the queen says, "but it is no longer my place to decide where your son goes."

"What do you mean?" Harrow asks cautiously. The dragon queen inclines her head towards Callum. The gesture asks: explain?

"This is Rayla," Callum says, "my wife."

"Oh," his dad says, "that's... fantastic?" Callum sighs and pulls his dad and Rayla into their chambers to discuss. They tell him dad that it was necessary to save his life, that if Rayla didn't marry him it would have been his head they sent his father and not a finger.

"Well, thank you for marrying him to save him. I'm sure that was a sacrifice."

"I'm not that unattractive, dad. I look like mom-"

"I just meant because you didn't love him. A farce marriage is always difficult to maintain. I appreciate the favor you've done him." They both turn scarlet. Harrow looks scared.

"You fell in love, didn't you?"

"Well"

"Uh"

"That's just my luck." They talk for hours about possible ways to solve this problem.

"Summers in Xadia and the other four seasons in Katolis!"

"One year there one year here?"

"Back and forth and back and forth and back and forth"

They suggest option until his dad suggests Callum come back to Katolis and return to Rayla in Xadia when he feels ready.

The way he said it implied he would never be ready. And, no matter how much Callum loves Rayla, he doesn't know if he could force himself to return to Xadia if he goes home without her. Trying to make the trek back itself might just kill him as a single human.

"Please, Rayla," he says, "come with me. Just for a while, at least. I need to go home."

Xadia has been a prison to him, but he knows that the human kingdoms won't be much better for her. Until they can fix things, there won't be a land that's good for both of them. He supposes that they'll just have to make due with what they have.

They go home to Katolis and he sees everyone he loves and finds out how much things change and stay the same. He introduces Rayla to mixed reviews, but he defends her at every turn.

They travel the human kingdoms with Ezran, promoting peace and tranquility, and then they return to Xadia for a time, and decide to travel back and forth and try to hit every shrine to learn magic and see the world. It's more peaceful nowadays, partially due to them, partially due to Harrow and the dragon prince, and partially due to a dragon queen who backed out on her hostage policies. And also, of course, love and marriage. But like, that was kind of a given, right?

#sunkelles writes #tdp #rayllum #textpost aus

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