#But then I discovered wars ON MY OWN and I liked him ALOT

[chaosfantasmic]

Lu fandom I love you to death but PLEASE write centric about other characters BESIDES WILD I'm begging y'all. Like yea he's good, he has trauma and stuff like that but what about SKY The guilt of starting everything and getting told "you suck bitch" to his FACE And wind who had to stab a man and save his sister at 12 and wars like yea wild has war trauma but what about WARS ITS IN HIS NAME I love wild but y'all use him WAY TOO MUCH, and water him down to "funny depressed gender man that sets things on fire" and ignore the fact that he's actually pretty mature sometimes. Like yea there's a bunch of interesting things you can do with him but be honest HOW MANY PEOPLE HAVE DONE THAT ALREADY What about Times magic, wars not being canon, four and the minish, Sky and oh my god the OPPORTUNITIES y'all miss with this man. And its sad bc if wild isn't your favorite in the fandom, then your basically in the trenches when it comes to finding good centric fics for literally ANY other character. No hate to y'all wild lovers out there, but as a wars fan, good angst for this man is like a delicacy. I love wild when he acts like how he does in the comics, a little chaotic but still mature. Y'all don't have to hate him I sure don't, but there are so many missed opportunities yall dont use over something that's arguably been done a million times.

(but pls don't go harass wild fans after this that won't solve anything)

#legend of zelda #linked universe #linked universe wild #lu wild #linkeduniverse #please im begging #Maybe its bc the fandom is full of ppl who only played botw and totk and literally nothing else but hw is on the switch #And for a while botw and totk were the only games I played and I did like wild #But then I discovered wars ON MY OWN and I liked him ALOT #But he got screwed over bc his game isn't canon and nobody really knows abt it #That and he gets watered down to “fruity pretty man” #Its fine if you do that for funny memes and stuff cause there yknow memes #But for an angst fic?

[kilobaxis-blog]

Low effort concepts for my tmnt au that I want to turn into a comic .... thinking of naming it "New World"

Lore and rambling about it:

It takes place in a different planet similar to earth. Mutagen was left on this planet, and the krangg used this planet as a testing ground on different animals. This takes place after the turtles defeated shredder and they are a bit older.Leo dies on earth after the kranggs last attempt to take over the planet. Instead, they choose to destroy the planet as a whole, but Mikey, raph casey april, And Donnie escape on a spaceship. Leo was the one to sarcafice himself so that his brothers could escape.Haven't planned out why this happens but Donnie blames himself alot for the death of his brother and goes off to live far away from other civilization in a deep forest on this new planet. The rest of the crew seperate as well but still keep in touch.

Mikey is known for his teachings of meditation+ ninjisu and developed a following of other mutants to learn from him and raph is known for developing an army and weapons. Casey and April are in close contact with them and they all are apart of the Mutant resistance Against other mutants who refuse to be civil and kill others or the krangg that seek to kill and destroy this planet aswell. Donnie has developed alot of new inventions in his time in solitude finding that this new planet is rich in new types of metals and materials to do so. Not everyone is apart of the resistance and those who aren't found where Donnie lives and often steals from him.

(This is kinda funny but I think I should point this out too) when male or male presenting mutants come to steal something from Donnie he can become very hostile and beats them to the point of almost dying. Because he lives so far many of them die on they way back, but he always sets them fee alive. Each time a make comes, he creates a new invention/ wepon to stop them or upgrades his staff respectively. When a woman or woman presenting Mutant comes he is much more docile and just tries to disarm them and stop them from hurting him by Knocking them out in ways that don't necessarily hurt them (chloroform in a cloth, various gasses etc) because of this after a few years those who seek to steal donnies inventions (to further their society and build their weaponry) send those who are non-men.

After a few years aswell Donnie usually gives them the inventions but this doesn't stop most because there is a bounty out for him because they think that he killed most of their spies (wich is sorta true but not really, they died from lack of care to their wonds)One of the mutants that comes to steal from Donnie is eclipse' s mother and through a series of events stays there for longer than intended and gets to know Donnie more. They have a genuine connection blah blah she has to go back after discovering that she has a tracker in her She goes back and a few weeks later comes back to Donnie's place to drop off an egg (eclipse) and tells Donnie that she can't stay because the Mutants where she lives found out she had an egg.

He takes care of eclipse and teaches her ninjisu and mechanics until She asks to go out on her own. When Donnie feels that she's ready he allows her to leave. She joins the resistance. During this time the resistance is much bigger and Mikey, raph, Casey and April have all split up in different areas of the planet but still know where everyone is Generally. A few years into it she becomes the leader of that part of the resistance probably because her direct connection to Donnie and her innovative skills she picked up from him. She develops the resistance further. Still keeps in contact with Donnie but he refuses To leave where he is. He nolonger wants any part in war anymore and partially because he's still upset about his brother's passing and feels he will make another mistake like that again.

Eclipse convinces Donnie to leave where he was staying by using a white lie of sorts. When he comes his brothers are there and eclipse breaks some news to him that he doesn't like 😭

Anyway if you read this all omg thank you hehe

#tmnt #teenage mutant ninja turtles #tmnt au #tmnt art #tmnt donnie #tmnt donatello #tmnt raphael #tmnt mikey #donnie #donnie and mikey

[discobiscotto]

Underdogs’ Ages & When Stuff Is Happening

Yeah, I’m obsessive about this too. I feel like this is one of those areas a lot of folks don’t seem to completely sync up on.

I’m not boasting THIS IS THE ONLY ANSWER cus there’s still vagueness and every interpretation of this fictional story works, but here’s my OWN personal lowdown. 👇🏻

As far as AGES, I go 100% based on the original script. Luca, Alberto, and Giulia are NOT the same age.

Giulia’s birthday is in March, and she remains 13 for the rest of the year (in the movie’s setting).

Luca is 12 and will be 13 in November of that year.

Alberto is 14 turning 15 that September.

(I’m not certain but I suspect “age gap” probably leads to folks insisting that Luca and Alberto are the same age even though they are 2 years apart?)

THE YEAR the movie takes place is still sortof debatable and vague, although Enrico confirmed in a tweet that it’s 1959. That’s fair and makes sense to me! I’ve seen him say 1960 in another tweet answering the same question as well. I also accept that! I have other sources lightly confirming 1960 too. This is all okie-dokie!

I give it a vague answer of “around 1960”. That’s generally good enough.

For all intents and purposes, I stick to a hard 1960 when trying to make sense of when events in my own fic take place. and roughly how old they all are when they happen: IE the moon landing, when Luca sees the Star Wars premiere, when certain songs were popular, etc. It’s all extremely relevant and being TOO VAGUE will drive me crazy.

Example: I can’t have Luca claiming to be privy to knowledge in his field that is either no longer relevant or not yet discovered. Alot of stuff is hinging on accuracy.

So, in a way I’m rigid? (Canned laughter) However, I have soft answers to some of my own questions about my own timeline, thus I can be consistent!

-Luca, Alberto, and Giulia were born in the mid to late 1940s.

-Original source material is set around 1960.

-Luca and Giulia attend university in the mid 1960s. They get their PhDs in the early 1970s.

-Luca starts teaching in the mid 1970s

-Alberto takes over the family biz in the early to mid 1970s.

-Giulia goes on her first expedition abroad in the mid 1970s.

-Luca and Alberto begin navigating their life “together” in the mid to late 1970s.

-They are all in their early to mid 30s in the mid 1970s

-They are all in their late 70s present day.

Anyway, thanks for coming to my TED Talk.

#discobiscotto design notes #luca #luberto #ciaolucafic #ciaoluca #ciao luca #lucafanfics #watch me hyperfixate #luca pixar #headcanons #luca1970s

[ganondoodle]

I only just found your fancomic and art now and I’m really curious as to where Farore, Nayru and Din fit in with your AU, and where Courage fits in with it all too; is the first Link/hero that Hylia chose supposed to be the reincarnation of Courage?

Well, you see, i kinda took the zelda lore and remixed it until it tasted good to me uwu

actual answer is i rewrote the lore .. or put it in a different context so it might be confusing at first and i dont know just how much into detail you want me to explain bc .. theres alot .. like ALOT

to sum it up rly shortly:

in my AU/comic the gods (here a rough sketch i did last time i redesigned them, tho this is only nayru, actually all three are one entity but also not, like three bodies melted together at the hips down)

-each created a world, and once life started to thrive there they chose a mortal to call them to come to them, the gods then killed them and used the mortals spirit to create a deity, not mortal, but no god either, as their servant

"Courage" (not actually their name, just a word to call them since their language is long lost) is the first one to be created, but fails the purpose the gods had intended for them rather quickly; so they abandon them and flood the world until nothing but Courage survives, out of madness/desperation Courage then destroys the ancient statue of the gods and promptly discovers a path to another world through it

and that is the second world, in which "Demise" (also not his actual name) resides, he is the deity of that world and has so far succeeded, although not quite like the gods intended; he was told essentially the same prophecy we hear in the intro of skyward sword (invasion of a monster etc.) this monster is in this case Courage, who attacks Demise, who in turn seals Courage away quite easily, which isnt how the prophecy went, he was supposed to die, which makes him doubt the whole plan and starts intentionally delaying working further on it, so long in fact that Courage, now mishapen (similar to the imprisoned) and mindless, breaks free of the seal Demise then kills them, but loses one of his blade spirits in the fight (he used to have two here in my AU), now that the gods plan is not doable anymore (since Courage is dead) they abandon him and his world alot of stuff happens here, inclusing mortals turning to war, then against him, and him destroying his version of the triforce as he saw it as the source of the conflicts; but in the end his world dies a slow death by drought, just like Courage he destroys the ancient statue of the gods in his world and woop theres a path there

which is Hylias world, so, Demise is taken by wrath and grief as this world was allowed to thrive while his own died seeks to reach the the gods in revenge by all means necessarry but is quickly stopped by Hylia, who instead of sealing him like she was ordered to, spares his life, bc who she encountered was not what she was told, and wishes to know why that is, why the gods would lie to her

this is where the comic itself starts, the first encounter of her and demise is the first chapter :3

it is a theme that courage is very similar to link and demise to ganondorf (tho my hylia not that much to zelda hmmmm) but here it has no ACTUAL connection, and the triforce trio as we know in canon has no actual great lineage, no reincarnation, just mortals manipulated by the gods to make them do their bidding after all three deities revolted against being used as the gods puppets

as you can see, im very bad a summing anything up, i hope this didnt sound too lame or something, there is alot of thought and heart put into this story (i even have the background stories of each deity from before they were deities, even tho it doesnt come up in the comic) and i hope i will keep my motivation and passion for this giant project alive enough to get at least more than one chapter done (i have a bad track record of failed comics, im horribly afraid of abandoning this one too bc i put so much more work and love into it already, i guess it depends on the support from you guys how far i will be able to go qwq)

feel free to ask me anything about it, cant promise to respond right away but i cherish nice asks to a point that i dont want to post answers bc then its gone from my inbox lmao

anyway, its 3 am, goodnight and perhaps ... hopefully this gave you a rough idea of what im going for >o<

#ganondoodles answers #long post #i wrote alot of stuff here that i dont think i mentioend before #sorry if this is spoiling too much #but if im not too bad of a writer perhaps this didnt ruin it for everyone #if you cant tell im self doubting my art alot #but my writing even more

[unfriedough]

‘Forgiven’- Zuko x female!reader

Masterlist <3

An: HIYA!  Sorry for the long delay, also sorry if this comes out horrible - I'm sick!!!! Anyways, love u lots <3

Summary:

See request! (Set during the war - Zuko is still not firelord and stuff)

I ACCIDENTALLY DELETED THE REQUEST AFTER WRITING IT I'M SO SORRY ANON PLEASE FORGIVE ME.

THIS WASN'T MY IDEA, BUT THE REQEST ROUGHLY WENT LIKE:

"Lavabender!reader x Zuko where they argue and it's revealed she's a lavabender and stuff. Lots of fluff and angst but the ending is bitter sweet."

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE REQUEST ANON AND AGAIN IM SO SORRY I DELETED IT!!!

Warnings: bad angst writing, arguing, lowkey the beginning depicts zuko as how he would be in season 1!Zuko's also toxic in the beginning!

The day started out as ordinary as can be - a light breakfast, followed by stretching, and then firewood hunting. Zuko walked with you through the woods to find the oak, fiddling with his fingers.

“Stressed?” you smiled, leaves crunching under your gentle footsteps.

He rolled his eyes at your chirpy attitude, why were you always so happy? The world is about to end for goodness sake! You frowned, side eyeing him aggressively.

“You have something you want to share, prince?” god, he hated when you called him that - but you did it on purpose. 

Two can play at that game.

“Not that you would understand, peasant.” he practically used the same argument, but his tone was scary - and alot more hurtful.

You scoffed, mouth agape, “What did you just call me?”

He paused walking when you grabbed his arm to make him face you, “What? Are you deaf too?” 

Zuko yanked his arm out of yours, glaring at your retreating figure.

“What’s gotten into you!?”

“What’s gotten into me?” he laughed sourly, “What’s gotten into you?” the firebender jabbed a finger into your chest enough for you to feel it - but not enough for it to hurt.

Zuko’s face inched towards yours, your eyebrows raised. 

“What? What’s gotten into me?” you laughed in a bitter tone.

“You barely ever train!”

Your eyes widened, your hands reaching to clutch your heart. You never trained in front of him, you didn’t feel ready to share your firey power. Recently, you discovered you could bend lava, very weakly, but definitely bending nonetheless. You were confused at first - isn’t lava fire? But no, after mulling it over some more, you realised it’s closer to earth than fire. It was something that made you feel special - unique even! With Toph’s metal bending and seismic sense, you always felt overshadowed by the young prodigy. This was the one thing only you had, and you wanted to achieve a good level of bending before uncovering your golden secret with your found family. You hadn’t realised that in the process, you never trained before their eyes, and so to them, you never did.

“Zuko,”

He cut you off, “The rest of us are working so hard! And what are you doing?”

“I- I,” you thought for a second, “I don’t have to explain myself to you! You good for nothing, JERK!” 

“Good for nothing?” he repeated, a hurt look in his eyes.

You frowned, folding your arms before giving him a taste of his own medicine, “What? Are you deaf too?”

He winced, before swallowing the hard pill that was your words. “You’re insufferable!”

You clenched your fists by your sides, and began to walk away. “I wasn’t done!” he yelled out.

You earth bended a small rock to his knee, which caused him to roll his eyes before storming off. You stumbled further into the woods, picking up firewood, why does he have to be such a hothead? Once your basket felt close to impossible to carry, you made your way back to camp.

“Where’s Zuko?” Sokka asked.

You shrugged, “Don’t know, don’t care.”

Looks of shock passed around the group. “Is everything okay?” the avatar asked.

You found it hard to stay mad once faced by the worried boy, “Dandy.” you replied softly, smiling to sell your story.

Aang quirked a brow, before narrowing his eyes to something distant behind you.

“ZUKO! Where were you?”

The boy in question threw his basket of firewood onto the ground, “Doing what you asked me to.”

“That's a lot of wood. Maybe too much,” Sokka looked between you and Zuko.

Zuko smirked, facing you, “Maybe you should've used your energy for something a little more useful.”

Toph’s eyes widened. It’s no secret that Zuko could be unknowingly mean, but he was always so nice to you. What’s gotten into him?

You smiled a sweet smile in his direction, “Do we have a problem?”

“No. Just pointing out the obvious.”

Katara spoke up, only to be waved off by your hand. “It’s okay,”

You walked off, humming a tune as you handed Sokka the wood. The waterbender’s sibling stared incredulously at you.

The rest of the day moved rather normally, other than the random insult you or ZUko would throw at each other. Your heart ached, why was he so hostile? Why was he so concerned with your training?  

As the moon rose in the sky, and goodnights were passed around, everyone entered their assigned tent. As you laid there, you closed your eyes and listened intently to your surroundings. Once all movement was eradicated, you carefully got up and out of your tent. Stealthily, you moved into the forest, and located your favourite cave. You followed the path that you made not too long ago down to what felt like the core of the earth. Finally, you reached a lava pool, and began to breathe more heavily. The air was suffocatingly hot, and so you removed your jacket and shoes, socked feet touching the mildly hot floor. The warm colours illuminated your troubled features, making you look ethereal. Focusing, you began to make bending movements. It was like it was an intricate dance, your feet light but stable. Finally, you scrunch your face as the lava begins to rise, and you swish it around the small cove, gentle calming tunes leaving your mouth. A sigh left your shaky figure as the magma fell back down. You squealed, “YES!”, alas, you were finally getting somewhere with your ‘magic’. Your happy moment was soon interrupted by your noticing of a shadow. Quickly, you turned around, bending their feet to the floor. 

“Oh. It’s you.” you unbinded his feet, and bumped into his shoulder as you pushed past him to leave. 

“Did you just bend lava?” Zuko swallowed thickly.

“Yeah, and what about it? Think I'm too much of a failure to pull this off? Did you come to patronise me again?” you scoffed

“No I,” he stumbled back slightly, shaking his head. “I came to apologise.”

You narrowed your eyes, turning towards him, feeling as if the apology is insincere, and only to get you to shut up. He began speaking.

“You don't have to forgive me, what I said was out of line and just plain mean. I’m not justifying my behaviour, I just think you deserve a reason. It wasn't your fault, I just had so much pent up stress, and unfortunately, I took it out on you. I’m so, so, so sorry Y/n. You're not a peasant, you’re the best thing that's ever happened to me. Please, please don’t leave me.” tears spilled from his eyes, and you gently wiped them away, pulling him into your warm arms.

You held him for a few seconds, letting his sobs die down slightly.

“It’s okay Zuko.”

“But it’s not! You shouldn’t forgive me this easily!”

You frowned, as you knew exactly what he was thinking, “Zuko, you’re nothing like your father,” you landed a gentle kiss on his lips, the salty flavour of the tears entering your mouth. You rested your forehead against his, as he sniffled.

“I don’t deserve you,”

“You deserve the world.” you grinned.

So, maybe today was a little bit rocky. And sure, Zuko still hasn’t forgiven himself, but you can see the effort he’s trying to put in - and that alone, is enough of a reason to love this troubled teen - no matter how stupid he is.

An: I'm such an idiot I'm actually so sad I deleted it :( Hope you enjoyed this story, SEE YA! <3

#zuko x reader #zuko #prince zuko x reader #prince zuko #atla #avatar the last airbender #fluff #zuko fluff #zuko x you #atla zuko #zuko fanfic #zuko fic #zuko x f!reader #avatar zuko #zuko atla #zuko x y/n #zuko hc #zuko h/c #zuko headcanon #headcanon #headcanons #soft boy zuko #zuko angst #zuko atla angst #xreader #x reader #atla x reader

[tricornonthecob]

Can you do a headcanon dump, I’m curious to hear 👀

I have so many that tumblr threw an error and broke down and deleted all the things I wrote so lets see if I can be less verbose (impossible.) My thoughts are mostly fleshing the fuck out of the Phillips family because I love them.

Samuel Phillips's older siblings were from his father's first wife, who died. While still young, his own mother dies in childbirth giving birth to a stillborn daughter.

After this, he's treated poorly by his dad and siblings. He gets really into exploration and new worlds as a way to cope, and he also finds natural talent as a swordsman and horseman, but nothing he excels at is ever enough.

As an adolescent, he forms a strong father-son surrogate bond with his fencing tutor, a wizened old bachelor and veteran of Queen Anne's War (? I need to look at the timeline to see if this works)

Through a mutual friend of his fencing tutor, he is introduced to the idea of joining the army as a light dragoon. His father is furious at this decision, but by this point, 20-something Sammy Phillips is thrilled to do anything to stick it to the ornery old bastard.

------

I don't have as much fleshed out for Lady Phillips, since most of my headcanons have revolved around Major Phillips, but I have some bits.

She's the eldest daughter of a new-rich merchant.

Her name is Eliza. I also named Mrs. Radcliffe Eliza. The two Elizas became best friends forever at the age of four because they were both named Eliza. This is how it goes when you are four.

The future Mrs. Radcliffe is a ho, but her parents are spacey as hell so she does what she wants. Eliza's parents are more parenty, but still reasonable. Eliza gets bit by the rebellion bug all the same.

Our Eliza and Samuel meet at a ball that they're both attending, although the Elizas kind of maybe crashed the ball. Just a little bit. I need to sort out how.

Our Eliza and Samuel get shotgun wedding'd, although they do love each other.

Him and Eliza have trouble conceiving, and he's then shipped off to war.

He gets wounded heroically and sent back to Britain for a bit - and to be knighted! - where he convalesces and they finally have Sarah. He still has a hankering for war - and some unfinished bidness - and manages to return, despite the wound in his shoulder hampering some of his movement.

The situation in North America is looking good for Britain politically, but its turned very ugly.

When the war is over he comes back to see his infant daughter and breaks down. She looks alot like him - but, more specifically, she looks like his mother, with some of Eliza's features.

Despite loving his family, he's become restless with PTSD and can't resist the call to go back to America. When word of Pontiac's war reaches him, he's practically chomping at the bit to return.

What he returns to is even more frustrating for him, and it also begins his friendship/working relationship with the Shawnee.

He goes back one more time to Britain, but by now is totally over it. His relationship with Eliza is in tatters and Sarah is starting to show some teenage angst. He leaves for a job with the Hudson's Bay Company - which he rapidly abandons to go land speculating.

------ My headcanons for LK-timeline and post-LK are a bit simpler

Lady Phillips, to cope with the stress of everything, became an avid gardener and illustrator of plants in Britain. She brings this with her to America when she moves and, eventually, decides to curate and publish a ladies' gardening magazine with the help of James' printing company.

James is a pigeon guy. He got interested in them when he was living in the streets. Later in life he breeds and races pigeons. Sarah originally wasn't thrilled but turns into the Dads Who Did Not Want Pets meme.

James is also able to sing - not amazingly, but also can hold a tune. When he and Sarah have babies, he discovers he loves singing them lullabies and insists on it.

James will also read them humanist literature because of course he does.

TBH I envision he and Sarah having only daughters, but that is largely due to the fact that I am extremely partial to Family With Only Daughters vibes (myself being a member of a Family With Only Daughters.)

James is completely incapable of denying any of his children anything. It is a problem.

I also imagine they had a little bit of trouble having kids, but they manage to have a few anyway.

Major Phillips is a dry, aloof bastard and at first James doesn't know how to deal with the humor and the stand-offishness, but Major Phillips does grow to like James.

Grandpa Phillips, though not fully able to do fencing any more due to injuries he sustained in war, still has a sword collection.

He also loves to play with his granddaughters, possibly making up for all the time he lost with his own daughter.

James is extremely anxious to ask for Sarah's hand, until Major Phillips point blank tells him to.

Henri doesn't stay in France for long and comes back to be Uncle Henri to the Hillips babies. They love him because of his hijinks and the fact he's always bringing them bonbons and little toys and such.

Major Phillips meets Henri and has no idea what to make of him.

Henri becomes a baker. Because I said so, thats why.

Mrs. Radcliffe and her husband are 18th century swingers. You can't tell me that woman doesn't have the look and mien of a swinger.

Lady Phillips is extremely pissed at Major Phillips for a very long time for good reason. She moves from their old home to America mostly for Sarah, but also because she has no real say in the matter.

Y'all have heard my James and Sarah are horsegirls headcannon. To expand on it, they will sometimes race when they're feeling flirty.

Both of them come to Caesar to talk about their feelings, but especially James. James is not very subtle about it and at least Henri and Moses know he's doing it.

James eventually adopts Caesar and he lives out his final years in good care getting fat on grass.

During the postmaster general timeframe, Sarah's introduced to a neighbor's feisty pony, Flip. She eventually adopts him.

Sarah and James first bone at Yorktown. tbh.

Udney is a himbo. I'm 50/50 on him and Sarah actually messing around a little at one point pre-James courtship - Sarah being mad at James for whatever reason, Udney 100% being her type, and teenagers/young adults not being particularly well-equipped for self control.

I also don't like first-time energies in ships - a quirk of mine - so I've also played around with James having a rebound he doesn't realize is a rebound when Sarah goes to Britain, because again. Teenagers/young adults sometimes make Decisions.

----

Anyway these are just some of my headcanons.

#liberty's kids #headcanons #headcanon dump

[mellowpiepizzalamp]

Cum as you will

Summary: Both Bucky and Steve face some...problems in the bedroom with their wives.

Pairing: Bucky Barnes X F!Reader

Warnings: Fluff,, sort of smut, ALOT of cum talk, my rubbish writing (it’s a warning)

Word count: ~1700 words

A/N: Hello dear lovelies, this was sort of requested by the sweetheart who is @elle14-blog1. we discussed the plot of this one and hope others enjoy it too! 

Both Steve and Bucky had their fair share of trauma, as over the last 70 years they were not in control of their own bodies. Since both of the war veterans were injected with the serum making them super soldiers, no scientist ever thought of what it would do to their sexual stamina. That was left to discover by Mrs Barnes and Mrs Rogers.

Just the fact they were married before they discovered it made them laugh about it together. They’d agreed with their husbands that they were willing to wait till marriage as long as the two best friends didn’t expect them to become housewives, still continuing their jobs. Both the Mrs used to be roommates and therefore kept the tradition of getting coffee on their way to work.

On this particular day, the conversation subject certainly was… interesting, to say the least.

“I just don’t know how he managed that! He actually had to help me walk towards the bathroom after because I couldn’t stand anymore!” Mrs Barnes said with an exhausted sigh, “I slept like five hours last night.”

“You have the same problem?” Mrs Rogers gasped, the compound getting smaller behind them as they neared the street where they worked. They’d agreed to live there all together until one of two things happened, Bucky or Steve retired or one of the Mrs got pregnant.

“Yes! D’you think it has anything to do with the serum?” Barnes asked.

“Maybe, but I know I wanna experiment with him, that’s gonna be fun,” Mrs Rogers said with a mischievous grin.

“That’s a good one, let me know how it went I guess,” Mrs Barnes laughed.

At home, Steve had just returned from his morning run and Bucky had just from the gym. Both the sweaty men stood in the kitchen in silence with heavy tension.

“Buck did you-“

“When you first-“

The two men spoke at the same time and the silence returned but they finally met eyes.

“You go first,” Bucky said.

“Uhm, when did you first sleep together with y/n?” He asked softly.

“Actually we waited after marriage because we were exhausted on the night of our wedding and we did too much on our honeymoon to have energy left so just a few weeks ago,” Bucky said softly and was anxious to meet Steve’s eyes. “Why?”

“Well, we did it last night and uhm, something happened,” Steve said vaguely.

“Spit it out punk.”

“Well my stamina is definitely higher than hers, and uhm, I discovered I could, you know, finish when I wanted. And those two combined resulted in her passing out for a few seconds,” he said and couldn’t meet his eyes.

“So you were left rock hard too?” Bucky asked with a laugh.

“You too?”

“Yeah, I haven’t heard anyone else about it, so I thought maybe it is the serum. You know, since it enhances a lot of things.”

“That’s a good one,” Steve said, glad to have it off his chest.

“So anyway, how does it feel not being a virgin?” Bucky laughed and ducked from the apple that was thrown his way.

“Hi darling,” Mrs Rogers whispered as she joined Steve on the sofa in their living room. Both Barnes’ were working late, leaving the two home alone.

“Hi sweetheart,” Steve said groggily, just waking up from his slumber on the couch.

“I was wondering if you’d do an experiment with me because I thought it’d be best to know stuff about your body so I don’t pass out every time we have sex.” Steve smiled at her as he’d been thinking the same thing.

“Wanna do it now? They won’t be home for another two hours,” Steve said.

“Yes, just let me do one thing,” she said and took out her phone to give Bucky and her best friend a heads up.

Hey, maybe you and Bucky should stay away for another few hours after work. We're… experimenting and I have a feeling it’s going to take a while ;)

On the other end, her best friend smiled and arranged a date with Bucky outside of their home.

Steve picked his wife up and carried her to the bedroom, gently placing her on the bed, and starting to take her clothes off.

“Steve this is supposed to be about you,” she moaned as he started to kiss her now exposed neck and collar bones.

“I know, but let me undress my wife at least. Then I'm all yours,” he smiled, knowing the effect he had on her.

He took his sweet time with undressing her and kissing all the spots he know turned her on, but still teased her as he kissed the insides of her thighs but not where she now needed him to kiss her.

When she was fully bare, she rose to her feet and motioned him to do the same. He stood to his full height and towered over her. She slipped her hands under his white t-shirt and slowly pulled it over his head before taking a step closer, their chests meeting and their lips colliding in a sweet kiss.

As his hands were roaming her back hers were working on his zipper, slowly pulling it down and letting the denim fall to his feet. He stepped out of it and she took the chance to push him onto the bed.

His back bounced back from the surface as she spread his legs and rested her knee on the mattress while she fumbled with the band of his boxers. she pulled them down as he lifted his hips to help her.

She threw the fabric over her shoulder and focused on his. His hands were behind his head as he smiled at her in all his muscular glory. His rock-hard dick already standing proudly. She crawled over his body until her face was close to his, placing a sweet kiss on the tip of his nose.

“Darling? “ she asked sweetly.

“Hmmm,” he hummed contently.

“Last night, you mentioned something about cumming when you wanted,” she said as his cheeks went pink.

“Yea, it’s probably something to do with the serum,” he said.

“I have a question though. can you do it without being stimulated?”

Her question was answered when she felt the warm and wet sensation on her stomach she recognised from the nights before. They both laughed and shared a kiss again.

“It feels better when I’m being stimulated though,” he smiled into the kiss.

“Alright, let’s see how many times you can do it,” she grinned and knew she’d have to take the day off tomorrow.

By the time Bucky and his y/n came home, it was well into the night and they walked into the silence of their home. While Bucky was brushing his teeth his wife went to check on their roommates. Seeing her best friend wrapped up in Steve's arms and fast asleep. She picked the covers up from the ground and placed it over them and turned off the light.

When she walked out she bumped into her husband's chest and looked up at him while closing the door, not before bucky got a look at the other two.

“You saw his ass, didn’t you?” he asked with a teasing smile.

“Yours is better though,” she smiled back and let her hands slide to his arse and gave it a gentle squeeze.

His face was lathered with adoration for the woman in front of him and suddenly picked her up and carried her to their own bedroom. “You’ve done enough teasing for today, let's see how much you can take,” he laughed.

The morning after, both the women were clutching their bedroom door posts that were facing each other. They waddled over to the kitchen and Mrs Barnes managed to get herself on the kitchen counter as her legs were giving in. “We need to see doctor Banner and Tony about this,” she said as the other laughed.

“They’ll never let them live this down,” they laughed as they shot a look at their sleeping husbands.

Mrs Barnes was able to walk to get closet and get dressed, her legs recovering faster than she thought, Bucky walked into the kitchen in some boxers, the black poorly hiding his prominent boner. He went in to kiss her but she held him back by his chest.

“What?” he asked, in that sad way only he could.

“I still can’t walk because of that situation of yours,” she said and motioned towards his boxers.

“I just want a kiss!” he said sadly.

“Not until I can walk again,” she said with a laugh.

“If you don’t give me my morning kiss right now I’ll make you unable to walk for an even longer while, doll,” he threatened.

“Hmm, alright then,” she said and lowered her hand, allowing him to come closer and step between her legs. His hands were on her hips, sliding under the fabric of the henly.

“Watch your hands, mister,” she mumbled into their kiss.

Tony’s laughter rang through the compound it seemed as Bucky and Steve had just explained their problems to Tony and Bruce.

Bruce was snickering beside them as Tony toppled over in laughter. “Ah nah, sorry, very serious,” he tried to sound serious, but when he looked at Steve he started again.

“Come on man, it’s not even that funny,” Steve said.

“It actually quite is, never thought I'd live to hear that Cap fucked someone unconscious on his first time,” Tony snickered.

After a while, Tony and Bruce actually started to get serious about the issue and were helpful.

At the same time, Nat and Wanda were teasing the women about it.

“You actually passed out?” Wanda asked Mrs Rogers. She’d turned bright red when she told her and she hadn’t shut up about it.

Tony walked into the room with Steve behind him and held the door open and said “Come as you will,” under his breath.

Steve shot him a glare but continued to walk when he saw his wife sitting next to Wanda. “Tony stop making fun of them, they’re already having a hard time!” Nat said as she walked in with Mrs Barnes from the other side of the room.

“Natasha!” Mrs Barnes said and slapped her as Bucky and Steve wished the ground would swallow them.

Tony laughed and turned to Bruce. “I will freeze your nuts if you don’t recreate that serum. you have all my money to do it,” Tony said with a very, very serious face.

#Bucky Barnes #bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes fic #bucky barnes imagine #bucky barnes one shot #bucky barnes fluff #bucky barnes x you #bucky barnes x lucie #Bucky Barnes x female reader #Bucky Barnes x f!reader #marvel #MCU

[fregget-frou]

Yeps, he has a Discord server - I've never been there though (as well as in any non-University related Discord server with more than a dozen of people).

Oh and he was my first too! I accidentally started with Ornvyr, so I'm traumatized. /hj

I definitely want to know about your listeners and your apocalypse hypothesis. (Especially, if Benny was also put in any of the Hollow storylines at some point - I love him.)

Not to self-promote, but in case you want some Pharos angst, I have two bits... (one and two)

Ok before I started writing this i read your stuff on Pharos and his listeners so let me just *violent sobbing*

This is so very autistic of me <33

so I’ll start with a few of my main listeners/listeners that are actually OCs! Pharos og listener was an old one who I don’t really use anymore but I remember they were very chill and their kingdom was built in the trees! I’ve actually done a bit of topography and map making for Hollows world but basically I figured the forests in the east part(where the elves and stuff are) are super sized and are as thick as whole houses.

The second listener is part of a family of listeners who I basically made wanders or people who move around and meet multiple people during their life, they’re name is Brie and they’re the listener to Pharos and the Elf twins timeline wise elf twins came first for me :)

But for one of my older listeners I have Salem who lemme just say, I fucking LOVE this guy and he’s pretty much my all time fav oc<3333 to sum up the actual OC they’re kinda like a golem made with a purpose to regulate the earths magma and since they’re one of the older ones they have the chance to break off a bit of it’s own body to make a little human shaped thing which is called Salem! Salem eventually decided to wander around and start a family and he was really happy, til they got separated by a curse. Basically for the majority of stories from hollow it’s Salem trying to find their family but getting caught up in things like August and Fendel.(which kinda sucks because their memory is broken and they’re forgetting their family every year they don’t get back so yeah fuck you curse)

It’s more of them trying to remember their kids while trying to make sure these human children don’t fuck yo the world. He’s a parent he’s going to act like one :}

Here’s some art over the years of Salems human-ish form, a staple for a golems broken off piece is the obsidian being exposed in the extremities like a siamese cat. The one on the far right is the most recent one of Salem

Also an example of one of their kids is Jackals listener, Abel! He’s also having memory problems but he’s still trying to find his family with jackal and hopefully live in piece back near their og bodies :> he’s a mix of sandstone and magma

But….

Back to the Apocalypse theory!

This is one of my favorite series even with it being pretty old and only 3 parts because it just scratches the itch I love in fiction of humans being the weird ones in a new race!

If you need a refresher on the apocalypse series, it’s about the listener —who is human— where they woke up in a basement to be discovered by a bunny boy named Riji. He and others live in a radioactive post apocalyptic world where humans have all died out for ~~mysterious reasons~~ and left dangerous artifacts like Geiger counters and the dangerous ~boom box~.

Listener lost a lot of their memories and now tries to learn about the world and what happened to the ancients while making friends!

It’s really short so I’ve had the liberty to think on it alot more than other series so I’ll be doing that now!

From what is really easy to guess, humans eliminated themselves with nuclear/atomic warfare, leaving places stuck in time in permanent destruction, the land riddled with radioactive waste, and people mutated and likely other things as well.

I figured that at the tail end of humanity we got too big for our britches and blew ourselves up with bombs from war but I have little bit more history on humanity before that.

I theorized that humanity was pretty advanced, or atleast from our perspective in current era 2022. I figured there was advancements in space travel and other such future stuff but still with the old “I like war fuck you” mentality in the higher ups.

So a fucked up dystopia wrapped up in a faux solar punk ribbon! So that leads us to the listener who’ve I’ve named Dr. Genesis, who back in the days of humanity they were a geneticist working for a high end company who was building things for CRISPR and other gene editing tech.

They lived in a city that was meant to be floating almost, above the ground connected to mountains and other such structures.

Within earth war was between rivaling companies who wanted newly acquired resources and spots in terraforming projects like the moon and Venus. Yada yada a very angry company messed up BIG time and had a giant malfunction on a grand scale destroying a lot of nuclear plants and sources of power for much of the provinces in the Americans and south Asian islands.

Yada yada full scale war and atomic bombs are detonated not before the high society of rich elites fly off to their colonized/terraformed moons and planets leaving the majority of humanity to realize they are stuck and dead on a soon to be blown up planet! Chaos for a few hours, people trying to get home and instead of going home Dr. Genesis the listener decided to go in with their team to be part of the last attempt at saving humanity, sorta.

It’s a backwater project almost like a doomsday prepped decided to do it but basically around 30~~ of these scientists got into stasis pods for interstellar travel they kept for maintenance under the floating cities to hopefully ride out the bombs and maybe build humanity. For the listener they lived too far to get to their family in time so they just decided to stay with their coworkers who were like family and indulge in a dream before everyone is gone.

A couple thousand years later, they wake up from stasis under rubble inside of their pod, now completely freezer brained making them lose memories and making them weak and disoriented. I mean, they were broke pods did you think they wouldn’t harm humans a bit in 2k years of use??? So eventually they make their way up to the upper levels of the ruins and meet Riji, story continues through audios!

Kinda open ended for other people but who decided to make it so Dr. Genesis slowly regains their memories, progressively getting angrier and angrier at past humans and trying to atleast help these people that are left with what humans put there. Trying to help teach people about their work, medicines, tech that can be salvaged and maybe even get contact with new humanity. But for the listener they seem to rather want to fix up an old car and move around the sectors helping people as they can and making a small home for themselves, and trying to make sure that what radiation left doesn’t harm people if they can help.

I’ve written a bit about it as an off story but it’s very loose but if I do get around to creating a consistent plot I’d love to actually write something for it (maybe even commission hollow to do a follow up with a script I write but that’s a big fat IF because my writing sorta sucks and I don’t have much money to spend on stuff like that :p)

If you wanted to add things to this I’d love that!! :]]

#some of the art here is old sorry #Benny could have been a one off listener but I really only remember my reoccurring listeners #and Benny has become more of Redacted listener! #Dr. Lynne the oc Benny is based off of would actually fit into this continuation actually #he’s a scientist that yes works with magic but it would be a fun little thing with him added #freggzocs #freggzartz #redacted asmr oc #hollow va #hollow_va #infodump #infodumping my beloved #freggrambles #freggterra #autism won today #I don’t know what periods are sorry

[thefestivelbnuy]

Introduction or reminder post here. Umm.

Hi, hi welcome to my blog about a art content of cookie run fanart or oc (original character.) or other art. Little miss fortune, the amazing digital circus, warrior cat, mlp, old first fnaf, baldi basic, alots. I also a lesbian and go by she/her and is female.

I likes bunnies and animal (except cockroaches and maggots). And also warm colors, pastel, etc color as long as it a good color pallete or design lol, galaxy, forest, swamp themes. My favourite warrior character is beenose, silt (the kin), cinders, frecklewish (thunderclan), myler (kittypet), buster/rippletail [shadowclan] (thanks to the buster fan who introduced me into him lmao), yarrowleaf, sol (warrior cat), silt (for no reason i just get introduced by someone), mapleshade, nettlepaw/nettlebreeze and bumble (kittypet from dotc/ dawn of the clan), squirrelflight, ashfur (thunderclan), scourge, smudge (kittypet), princess (kittypet), shadowsight, crookedstar, ivypool.

And the cookie run character are milky way cookie, strawberry crepe cookie, strawberry cookie, caramel arrow cookie, white lily cookie, pastry cookie, chili pepper cookie, rye cookie, creampuff cookie. stollen cookie (idk her but I like her design, ima read her story later)

Do not interact if your a.

-homophobic.

-p0rn bot.

-racist .

-doxxer.

-sagutoyas or sagutoyas supporter.

-Gr00mer.

-paedophile.

-comshipper.

-dead dove do not eat.

-Pedophile.

-child p0rn or child p0rn supporter.

-z00phile.

-necrophilia.

-necromantic.

-rapist or r4pe supporter.

-incest.

-kodocon.

-lolicon.

-proshipper.

-doveship.

-shoutacon/shotacon.

-fujoshi.

-animal abuser.

-profiction.

-hatsumi rou (check callout of her actions). Or supporters.

-Lentotally.

-paraphila

- using a slur that you can't reclaimed it.

-sexist

-misogynistic

-Ephemeralmoth.

Wolfs42.

-Giginaute.

-Ephemeralmoth.

- seasandfur.

- art block studio.

- homophobic.

-transphobic..

-dirgeclaw.

-spunkeii.

-pumpkin claw.

-believe on gender, race, culture, etc stereotypes!.

-ageism.

-Feral nsfw.

-making joke about war, rape, NSFW, diabetes, diseased, virus, races, culture, traumatic event.,etc problematic.

-ableist.

-art block studio.

-true crime community.

-person who ship incest, pedo ships, huge age gap like adult x minor this include kid or teen. (Example kid x adult and teen x adult ew).

-pro zionist.

《Also another important content trigger warning of my content art, oc character story, symbolise themes especially if it warrior cat or cookie run, etc》.

- trauma.

- bl00d.

- G0res.

- bones.

- body horror.

- injuries.

- deaths.

- dark symbolism.

- griefs.

- bruises.

- scratches.

- wounds.

- abuse.

- murder.

- cult.

- religion theme.

- animal death.

- unhappy childhood

- anxiety.

- guts organs.

- angst

- anger issues.

- misc warning.

-dark theme.

Note: all of that content will get censored black and warnings but see or read it at your own risked.

Also another old outdate fandom that I used to be apart of and no longer associated with: animal jam.

[Reason: personal, bad relationships with friends, toxic friends, abandoned issues, mental health, unhealthy habits, the company unacceptable behavior, get harassed, friend ghost me, etc, i feel bad for my old good innocent buddies and bestie there but i can't return from that game bc most of my bad experiences is from there, and i forget to tell them that i quit it. I still miss them, i will cherish the old good memories of them] (also I'm mot going to tell what my username animal jam since it been deactivated for so long and is hacked)

Gif in this introduction post is from pinterest here the link to downloaded, also I had no idea which anime or show is this came from:

[thesunicarusfellfor]

Icarus( did I spell that right? ) my beloved does you have any yandere c! Technoblade and philza with a shy reader stories? 👀

Feel free to take as long as you like I'm in no rush hopefully you don't mind me requesting alot if it's a problem then I will stop requesting as much as I do

Agian I love your writing have a lovely day or evening my beloved(platonic!!)

:D

Darling Mooshroom, I adore you so much (platonically). You have my full permission to fill my inbox with any and all requests that come to mind. I love the ideas you give me and you're the only one who has requested more than once (other than anons but I can't tell with them.)

Also. Philza Philza Philza I FINALLY GET TO WRITE FOR THIS MANS WOOOOOOOOOOOO sorry ignore me. Unfortunately, this story will be shorter than my normal ones because I used up the majority of my brainpower on other stories and I feel bad for keeping you waiting <3 (plat)

(Techno is not part of sleepy bois in this story. Instead, Techno and Philza are ancient gods and set more in like Ancient Egyptian times?? Really low key Yandere in this story)

TW: Yandere, mentions of a creep, getting robbed

Mortal of Gold (Yandere!C!Techno x GN!Shy!Reader x Yandere!C!Philza)

Was it your appearance? Or your shy personality? Perhaps it was the various amounts of golden chains and jewels sprinkled strategically all over your person...

Crows and Piglins were naturally attracted to gold, so that's how Techno justified himself, but Philza wasn't stupid, he's been through this many times before. He knew what being in love was.

But they had never felt so... Strongly towards a mortal before.

The God of Blood and War continued trying to deny his feelings for you, but he always found himself watching you shuffle around the Ancient DreamSMP, curled in on yourself as you walked to and from shrines for the gods that you had made.

Philza, the God of Survival and Crows, leaned over a bowl of ink and water and stared into the swirling designs, watching as it shifted into a picture. He saw a lovely figure kneeling at the base of a statue, placing a bowl of fresh bread and cakes, before lighting some incense and standing up, their head dipped in silent prayer.

The winged god chuckled softly and adjusted his large hat before cupping his hands together in a bowl shape. Slowly, with very minor concentration, a golden chain appeared with an emerald heart shape dangling off of it. With a small but sharp whistle, a black crow swooped in through the window and perched itself on his arm, "Yes Dadza?" It chirped telepathically, tilting its head curiously.

"Hello, my child. I would like you to place this on the young mortal's doorstep. I trust you will be able to find it?" He smiled softly and held out the piece of jewellery to the feathered creature who picked it up in its beak.

"Sure, Dadza!" The bird gave a squawk before hopping over to the bowl of ink and water to study the appearance of the mortal. "Oh! It's (Y/n) again! Didn't Technoblade recently cause a man to meet his end because he was rude to them?"

The man sighed, rubbing his face with his free hand, "Yes, Techno is brash like that... I should speak to him about that after... Now, be on your way. I would like them to receive the gift before they start putting their faith in other gods." With another telepathic chirp, the bird quickly took flight and headed out the window. Once his beloved crow, Chat, was gone, he leaned over the bowl again.

The mortal was now praying to Technoblade's shrine, after giving an offering of beer and herbs with the incense now re-lit. Phil decided to disperse the image with a wave of his hand, beginning to make his way to his old friend, the God of War and Blood.

With a flurry of black feathers, Philza landed on the balcony Techno had designed specifically for him and closed his wings neatly behind him, "Techno?" He called, walking through the red curtains into the room of the God. When his emerald-coloured eyes landed on the tall man, he discovered that he was hunched over a large bronze dish like he had been moments ago.

"Yeah, I'm here." The pink-haired male sighed, adjusting his glasses before pushing his long hair out of his face as he looked up from the bowl. "What do you need, Phil?"

"I'm here to discuss (Y/n). That mortal we are both smitten with?" He watched as the god's cheeks visibly turned pink despite his tough demeanour, causing Philza to chuckle into his hand, "Relax. It's obvious. And I know how you had one of your followers beheaded that poor fisherman."

"Millionaires. Not followers." Techno retorted with a scoff as he stepped away from the bowl filled with likely water and ink. "In my defence he deserved it. He should've known better and held his tongue when being in the presents of one of my worshipers."

Phil wasn't able to hold back his sigh, "Millionaires? Good grief Techno, you're just making up words at this point. Besides, that's not the main reason I flew out here," The Survival God's eyes suddenly darkened, catching Techno off guard but nonetheless made him happy, "I heard... That (Y/n) has been getting threats from the village of L'Manberg."

Techno frowned at the thought of anything happening to their favourite mortal. The images that appeared in his mind caused the voices in his head to roar in anger, demanding for human blood to be spilt across his shrines.

"Yeah. I suggest we put a stop to it. But, I do want to meet our little mortal..." Philza smirked a bit, raising his hand in an attempt to stop Techno from seeing how violent his thoughts were becoming towards the humans.

-

You couldn't help but smile as you saw the new jewellery that had been placed at your doorstep, scooping it up into your hands and taking a moment to put the necklace and solid gold armband on. You were quite aware that the vast amounts of jewellery covering your body made you a target for thieves, but you trusted in your gods to keep you safe.

On your eighteenth birthday, your village had dressed you up and offered you to the gods in exchange for safety and a good harvest, chaining you in the middle of the dessert on a stone platform. You would have perished from starvation had a black crow not have carried a basket filled with the ripest and fresh fruits you had ever had. That's when you knew that Philza was watching over you.

Technoblade had started watching over you not long after that. On a trip into the village for yeast to make bread to offer Philza, a creep had cornered you in an alleyway. He began making disgusting remarks towards you, but a man with glowing gold eyes and red sclera came up and pummeled him into the ground before completely vanishing. It had been a high priest of Technoblade's Syndicate temple who told you that it was the God of Blood and War who saved you.

"Look," Techno whispered under his breath as he saw you standing in your doorway with a soft smile. Philza peaked around the corner as well, watching you attach the jewellery to your (s/t) skin with a smile of his own, "I take it the necklace is from you?" The tusked male asked as he pulled the hood on his cheap commoner clothing up to cover his noticeable pink hair.

Phil did the same, trying to hide his inhumane blue eyes from view, while also trying to shoo away Chat who was relentlessly teasing the two of them, "Sh! Chat, it's not like- No. Shut. WHat?! I'm not being a creep!" He hissed to the blackbird, trying to bat it away with his free hand, while Techno was snickering to himself, "Wait, no! This is my bread, (Y/n) made it for me! Get your own!"

After watching his old friend get bullied by Chat for a few minutes, he turned back to watch you walk back out of your home, holding the cup of beer you had placed at his shrine earlier today. Your offerings were always his favourite... He would burn this entire village down if they tried to chain you into the desert again... Actually.. That was a good idea...

The two gods silently followed behind you, watching you nervously try your best to avoid social conversation, but they noticed how the other mortals seemed to look down upon you for wearing so much golden jewellery.

"H-he-hello..." You murmured out meekly as you approached the man selling fruits and different herbs. Leaning forward, you carefully inspected the cranberries and cinnamon specifically, knowing that they were Philza's and Technoblade's favourite offerings.

You heard footsteps walking behind you, but because the market was busier than normal today, you decided to brush it off. Until you felt someone gently grab the golden jewellery dangling from your ears, giving it a light pull, "Solid gold, ey? Aren't you a poor little peasant?" A voice male voice cooed softly in your ear, causing you to spin around quickly, backing up until you hit the table that all the fruit and herbs were placed on.

Dream. The high priest of DreamXD's temple. The God of Control and Manipulation. This man truly believed he was the walking incarnate of the god himself, and even named himself after the god! Truly a maniac...

"Dream..." You murmured softly, your body trembling and flinching away from his touch, "I-I'm not giving them to you for you to offer up to your twisted god... I worship Technoblade and Philza... No one else."

The masked man growled in annoyance before he snapped his fingers and two men in masks grabbed onto your shoulders before beginning to tear the golden jewellery off of your body. Snapping the golden chains off from around your neck and wrists, pulling the earrings out of your ears and the golden bands from around your biceps. The entire time you yelped and begged for them to leave the gifts you had received from your gods alone, everyone else around you putting their heads down and averting their eyes, pretending not to see you.

A flurry of black feathers clouded your vision and you heard three hard thuds before a loud barking voice echoed through your ears.

"How DARE you!"

"Techno! Help me burn this damned village to the ground!"

#philza x reader #technoblade x reader #techno x reader #yandere philza x reader #yandere technoblade x reader #mcyt #mcyt x reader #yandere mcyt #dream smp x reader #technoblade dream smp #philza dream smp #techno dream smp #mcyt au #dsmp

[anyoneseenadam]

You write fenrys so well 🥺

Can I request something for him falling in love with a lady who works in a library and is friends with aelin and he keeps finding excuses to visit the library and one day they realize they’re mates ? Can you plz include alot of longing looks & touched and his friends noticing ?

pairing: Fenrys x reader (throne of glass)

warnings: drinking, small argument, mainly fluff

a/n: kay so it's been a hot MINUTE since I've posted and I am sorry my loves, also I comepletely modified this but I hope you still like it, comment and shiz pls it really helps with writers block lol <33

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

You had met Aelin sometime after the war. She had been wandering around town a couple days after the coronation, smiling at children and waving at the elderly, observing the way the town was slowly filling again, people returning home now it was safe. There weren’t many people about however, it just being seven in the morning.

She had walked past a shop then. It was small and rickety, the door barely on its hinges as a girl fought with it, swearing like a sailor.

“Do you need some help?” she asked, moving to stand beside the girl. You screamed instantly, jumping out of your skin at her sudden appearance, having not heard anyone coming due to how absorbed you were in your job. Aelin screamed when you screamed, and it left the two of you staring at each other with wide eyes before you fell apart in fits of laughter.

You stood from where you had bent to clutch your stomach, wiping tears from your eyes as you calmed down.

“Jeez you fucking gave me a heart attack,” you laughed as she apologised, still giggling behind her hand. You then turned, hands on your hips as you glared at the door of your shop.

“Rude men should be put down,” you muttered and Aelin was laughing again.

“That I can get behind,” she said as you opened it, giving up on fixing it completely, Aelin gasping when she saw the inside.

“You have a bookshop!” she exclaimed, and you laughed.

“Had, now I just have dusty books and a broken door. It was my mother’s before…” you trailed off and Aelin put a hand on your shoulder.

“I’m sorry,” she said, and you shrugged.

“It’s fine, it was ages ago anyway,” you stepped further into the shop, going to the large window up front and tugging of the white sheet that obscured it from light. “However, this shop isn’t dead yet so might as well get it done.”

Aelin looked around the shop, the paper on the walls was peeling, the paint on the shelves cracked and the books covered in a fine layer of dust. “Damn, where do we start?” she asked, rolling up her sleeves and grinning at you when you whirled around, frowning at her.

“Doesn’t the queen have better things to do?” you asked, and she shrugged, laughing at your bewildered expression.

“I’m sure my husband will cope.” You gave her an unsure look at that, and she laughed, “He’s competent.”

“If you say so.”

“If you knew I was queen you really have no fear of authority do you?” she asked as you started pulling books down and pilling them onto the sheet you just pulled off the window.

“Respect is earned, plus you’re the one who made me shit myself.” She laughed again, smiling widely, and helping you take down more books as she realised this was the most she had laughed since the war ended.

--

The worked all day. First removing the books and putting them upstairs in the rundown apartment you lived in, filled with plants, blankets, and somehow even more books. Next the repainted the shelves, setting them outside to dry while they re-wallpapered the walls and cleaned the floor until it was shining.

When the sky got darker you swore as you realised neither of you had eaten all day, going up to your new friend and asking her what she wanted for dinner.

“I make really good pasta,” you had suggested, and she had nodded enthusiastically as you went upstairs to your apartment, drinking wine as you cooked together. As you ate on the floor, drinking yet another bottle of wine, this time straight from the bottle Aelin asked about your past.

You assured her it was relatively normal, asides from the whole ‘evil tyrant thing’ as you put it. You talked together for hours, going back downstairs, and bringing the now dry, sage green shelves back in and putting all the books away, setting them in categories.

Hours later Aelin decided to go home, not wanting to worry so much and she opened the still broken door, the both of you laughing as you realised you had forgotten a pretty integral part.

“Hey, you could just name the shop, ‘the broken door’,” she suggested, and you smiled.

“That would work.”

--

When Aelin got home she was met with a concerned Rowan, asking where she had been all day.

She smiled at him, pausing before answering, “I think I have a new best friend.”

Rowan frowned at that, “And what brings you to that conclusion?”

“Today was the first time I’ve laughed since…” she trailed off as silence fell at the thought of their past few months, Rowan then bringing her in for a hug.

“You know this means I have to meet her too then,”

“Nope my best friend get your own.” She shoved him playfully, falling asleep next to him that night with a smile on her face.

--

They went to see you the next morning and Aelin laughed when she saw your dishevelled state.

“Did you sleep?” she asked when she walked into the shop and found signs put up and plants dotted around the room as you sat on the floor, drinking a coffee that smelt so strong she almost gagged, much preferring sweeter tastes.

“Sleep is for the weak!” you said, half-heartedly raising your hand.

“And what’s with all the plants?” Rowan asked, frowning as he almost walked into another and you sat up straighter, glaring at him.

“What you too good for plants?” you asked your hands moving over-exaggeratedly as you got to your feet. “Don’t listen to him, he’s just a stinky man,” you whispered to the plants and Aelin laughed at her husbands offended face.

You stood and started walking upstairs, your feet dragging as you went to get breakfast. You heard them follow you and you pushed open the door to your flat.

You had even more plants up here and Rowan rolled his eyes as you moved to open the large windows, letting in fresh air, you then moved about making pancakes, mixing enough for the three of you and adding blueberries when you were finished.

You cooked them up while chatting idly with Aelin and Rowan, only receiving a small amount of judgement when Aelin discovered you didn’t actually have a bed and instead just a mattress on the floor with a sheet for warmth and some soft pillows. Your house was newly decorated, art hung on the walls, plants and candles decorating every surface.

“Tea, coffee, water, vodka?” you offered them drinks and Aelin whined.

“No vodka, we had too much wine last night,” you laughed at that as you served up coffee and pancakes.

“Yeah we’ll have to go properly drinking some night,” you muttered, Rowan chuckling under his breath and nodding in agreement.

The three of you ate the rest of your food, laughing and joking together and Rowan really noticed the difference in Aelin’s manner. She hadn’t been truly comfortable or at ease in months, always looking over her shoulder, but now she sat laughing with her friend and Rowan wanted to thank you a million times over for bringing her back out of her shell.

--

Since you first met Aelin you were meeting up almost every day, discussing books over tea and hanging out at your shop, or drinking from expensive glasses in her castle while trying on elaborate dresses. Soon you were practically apart of the family, but that didn’t stop the confusion Fenrys felt when he walked into the castle and found a young girl sleeping on Aelins’ bed, a book opened but abandoned on her chest.

He tentatively walked forward so he could see her more clearly and felt his heart clench when his eyes fall upon her peaceful face, her eyes closed, and hair spread around her head like a halo. He was about to reach a hand out to brush a strand of hair from her soft hair when he heard the door open, turning to see Aelin run in, wrapping her arms tightly around him.

“Fenrys I didn’t know you were back,” she said when she pulled back, bouncing on the soles of her feet excitedly and he laughed.

“Are you going to explain why there’s a girl in your bed, or do I need to break some news to Rowan,” he joked and she shoved his shoulder before moving to the bed and shaking the girl awake.

“It’s just (y/n),” she explained as the girl huffed and rolled away from Aelin.

“Ah of course this person who I definitely knew existed,” Aelin stuck her finger up at him as he laughed, unable to stop his eyes from trailing back to her.

He watched as she breathed in deeply, her eyes opening slowly as she took him in, before she pulled her covers up to over her chin and frowned at him and Aelin with a small pout.

“I was having the best dream every asshole,” she complained and Fenrys smiled as she sat up on her elbows and reached a hand out to him to shake, introducing herself. He brushed the shake of and instead brought her hand to his mouth pressing a kiss to the back of it as sparks show through her skin at the sensation.

“I’m Fenrys, ambassador of Terrasen,” he smiled cheekily as she shrunk away slightly, nerves taking over her, “hope to see you around more.”

He left, pressing a quick kiss to Aelin’s temple, and winking at you as Aelin moved over to you with wide eyes.

“Aelin…” you started as she squealed.

“He was totally flirting with you! You would be such a cute couple, please, please ask him out I need you two to get married and have to worlds prettiest babies!” she was bouncing in hr seat as you moved to shut her up.

“Okay ONE, I just met him. And TWO, he was far too pretty for me,” you said and Aelin frowned.

“Nope, nope you are incorrect, and he is going to fall in love with you,” she demanded, and you laughed, kicking her with your foot.

“Mhm sure.”

--

The next few days, Fenrys was coming to your shop every day. He would bring chocolates and flowers some days, or coffee and pastries other days. Always dropping them off with a smile, before lounging in the plush, green chair in the corner of the shop and talking to you for hours. He has also started coming to your and Aelin’s weekly cocktail night, wrapping his arm around your shoulder’s and laughing drunkenly into your neck as you told stories.

However, through all this you remained ‘friends’. He would press kisses to your cheek and hands, keep an arm slung around your waist when men came to speak at you at bars and primarily referred to you using pet names and rarely ever your actual name. And it was getting frustrating.

You were having to start putting genuine effort to not kiss him every time you had a drink and he sat extra close to you. Or when you were invited to parties, and he moved smoothly through the countless questions asking if you were dating.

And while you revelled in the attention it was tearing at your heart slightly as insecurities told you that he would never actually be interested in you. You wanted to scream at him every time he kissed you but wanted to melt into him every time he hugged you, your brain constantly at battle with itself when he was near.

You knew you were due to explode any time soon. So when you were out one night and he was holding you extra close, you pulled away, muttering an excuse about getting another drink.

Standing at the bar as you waited you rested you head in your hands for a second before you saw a man begin to approach you. He was attractive, not like Fenrys, but honestly you would take anything to get your mind of him at the moment, so you smiled at him, tilting your head.

“What’s a doll like you doing all alone?” he asked, his voice rough and gravelly, unlike the smooth, deep timbre you were used to, but you just laughed.

“Waiting for a man to not dehumanise me,” you bit back, and he raised his hands sheepishly.

“Sorry about that, what would you prefer?” he flirted, sidling up closer to you as you turned to face him.

“Can’t go wrong with ma’am,” you joked, and he laughed, looking down and shaking his head, only to look back up, his eyes going wide. You felt a familiar hand wrap around your waist and looked up to see Fenrys, resisting the urge to roll your eyes as he glared at the man in front of you.

“What do you think you’re doing?” he asked, his voice deep and full of authority, the man in front of you shrinking under his gaze.

“Shit sorry man, didn’t realise she had a boyfriend,” he apologised and this time you did roll your eyes.

“He’s not my-“ you began but Fenrys cut you off.

“Yeah she does, so back the fuck off.” You looked down as he spoke, shaking your head as tears of frustration built in your eyes. You harshly pulled out of his grip, leaving the bar as quickly as you could, wiping away the escaped tears as you heard Fenrys follow after you, shouting your name.

You whirled around when you got outside, your glare murderous.

“You do not get to do that!” you shouted as he moved closer to you.

“Sweetheart I’m sorry,” he began but you cut him off.

“NO! I am not your girlfriend! You have never once asked me to be so you don’t get to try scare away any guy that might have genuine interest in me!” his shoulders slumped as you spoke. Truthfully, he has been working up the courage to ask you out for months, and while he knew it was unfair how he treated you, he couldn’t help himself. He was addicted. He thought of you constantly, the texture of your skin, the smell of your hair, the way your eyes lit up and the way you moved your hands as you spoke. So when he saw you engage with the man that had the audacity to talk to you, his grip tightened on his glass so much it shattered, ignoring the worried looks from Aelin and Rowan as he stomped over to you.

“(y/n) listen, I’ve been an asshole I know,” he raised his hands, tentatively stepping towards you, “But I really care about you, and I want to be yours.”

You laughed bitterly, “You’re just saying that.”

He shook his head vehemently, stepping closer to you again and wrapping his arms around your shoulders so gently, one would think you were made of glass.

“I love you darling, please be mine,” he said into your hair, and you pulled back, looking up at him through glassy eyes before nodding slightly.

“I love you Fenrys,” he smiled down at you before leaning down and pressing a gentle kiss against your mouth, pouring his heart into the action. You gasped slightly as your lips met and he smiled widely against your mouth as the bond clicked into place.

“You know this means I now have an excuse to break the nose of any man that talks to you,” he whispered against your lips, and you giggled, shoving at his shoulder gently.

“I’m still annoyed at you,” you muttered, and his eyes darkened.

“Well I’m sure I can make it up to you.”

#fenrys moonbeam x reader #fenrys moonbeam #fenrys x reader #throne of glass

[josefavomjaaga]

Hi ! Who was Eugène friends with throughout his life and were there people with whom he was not so friendly? How was your relationship with your wife's family? Thank you!

Hi there, and thanks for the question! Also, please bear with me, ´coz this is going to be lengthy.

Eugène's position changed a lot over the years but there are some people, usually not well-known, who will remain friends with him throughout all his life.

During the Consulate, Eugène was something like everybody's darling. This was partly due to his position as stepson of the new chief of state. First Consul Bonaparte increasingly resembled a monarch, and Eugène, the son of Madame Bonaparte,was the closest thing to a crown prince there was. Eugène's biographer Michel Kérautret emphasises how much he (and in a different vein his sister) were seen as the »next generation of France«. Eugène commanded one of the most famous regiments, the Chasseurs au Cheval de la Garde, and was universally admired. Little boys looked at him with big eyes when he walked by. Besides, he was completely apolitical, only interested in women, horses and the army, and could therefore be invited by anyone. As long as there was music and dancing, Eugène was happy.

His closest friends also came from the ranks of the army. His probably best friend is hardly known: Auguste Bataille (de Tancarville), later Baron of the Empire and one of Eugène's aides-de-camp. Napoleon was not very enthusiastic about him and his abilities. (If I remember correctly, poor Bataille once had the misfortune to have a thief steal the briefcase with the documents he was supposed to bring to Napoleon. Eugène then got a nasty letter saying "Don't send me that idiot any more!")

Auguste Bataille remained in Eugène's service until his death in 1821. He is the one Eugène sends to Napoleon in 1809 to report the arrival of the Armée d'Italie in Austria (when Eugène was probably expecting the thrashing of his life and instead received a hero's welcome). But he is also the one whom Eugène's sister and wife turn to when they want news of Eugène and he himself has no time to write, so clearly someone who is quasi-family. When Eugène had to leave Italy, Bataille, who was married there, remained behind to administer Eugène's Italian properties. He died in 1821, and when Planat de la Faye asked Eugène for a job in 1822, Eugène explicitly referred to the late Bataille and said "You have seen who else belongs to my entourage. Bataille was my friend and the only one I could really rely on - I want someone like that again." (Planat de la Faye will take this job very seriously and later defend Eugène's memory like a bloodhound).

Just to mention a few other people who became important to Eugène since his time in Italy and who also accompanied him to Munich into exile: his cousin Louis Tascher and his wife, his adjutant General Triaire and the family of his former secretary for political affairs, Etienne Méjean and his only remaining son. After Eugène's death, Eugène’s children will grow up with the children of Méjean Jr.; they will call them "Papa Méjean" and Grand-Papa Méjean".

Let's move on to more prominent people. Among the marshals, Eugène's best friend was clearly Bessières. Bessières had been Eugène's superior since Egypt and remained so until Eugène went to Italy as viceroy. Apparently Napoleon had tasked Bessières with taking Eugène under his wing (or perhaps just with preventing his overzealous stepson from accidentally killing himself in the Sahara in an attempt to somehow distinguish himself). This resulted in a friendship that lasted for years. Eugène called Bessières "tu" in his letters, even when he had become prince and viceroy; there are apparently over a dozen letters to him in the "Archives Nationales", which are according to the description "of a predominantly private nature". After returning from Egypt, Eugène and Bessières shared a house in Paris (and apparently the two also plunged into Paris nightlife together). Eugène also accompanied Bessières when the latter visited his fiancée in Cahors and repeatedly sent his regards to Madame Bessières. After Bessières' death, there were several letters of condolence between Eugène and Bessières’ widow. In his memoirs, Eugène defended Bessières against some accusations that Lannes had made against him after the battle of Marengo. (One would think that this would have been time-barred by 1823).

Duroc, from whom Eugène sometimes sent greetings in his letters to Hortense, completed the trio of friends (but Duroc seemed to get on well with everyone). Eugène recounts in his memoirs how Duroc once stopped him from literally sleeping through his duty in Egypt; later they lay wounded side by side in the military hospital outside Acre (Duroc, however, considerably worse). When Eugène was left all alone and clueless in Milan as Viceroy of Italy (that was how he saw the matter), Duroc seems to have been the only one who regularly looked after him and wrote to him. Apparently Duroc and Eugène also "shared" the attentions of a young lady from the stage (Emilie Bigottini). Later, whenever Napoleon was particularly angry with Eugène (which happened with a certain frequency), he did not write to him himself, but had someone else write; usually it was Duroc. Duroc was also the one who delivered the marriage proposal to Eugène's prospective father-in-law. When Eugène was in Vienna in 1809, he wrote an enthusiastic letter home to his wife because he had finally, for the first time in three years, been dining together with Bessières and Duroc! (Funnily enough, Bessières wrote almost the same letter to his wife).

However, Eugène's oldest friend among Napoleon's close collaborators, who even became his relative, was Lavalette. When Eugène, not quite 16 and just out of school, went to Italy as Napoleon's adjutant, the first Italian campaign was basically over. Napoleon sent his stepson to Corfu with dispatches (and explicit orders to get some rest and sightseeing there), and gave him Lavalette as an escort. Before the Egyptian campaign, when Lavalette was to ask for the hand of Emilie de Beauharnais, Eugène had to chaperone him and his cousin for a walk, only to remember that he had urgent business elsewhere and leave them alone. Lavalette was also among those whom Eugène continued to address as "tu" in his letters after he was promoted to viceroy. And after Lavalette narrowly escaped execution in the Second Restoration, he took refuge with Eugène in Bavaria, where Eugène and King Max more or less successfully hid him.

I'm limiting this to Eugène's male friends, by the way. Female acquaintances are another matter altogether.

Who did Eugène not get on so well with? Quite a lot of people, interestingly enough, consideringhe is described in almost all sources as incredibly amiable, patient and sociable.

There is, of course, his rivalry with Murat, the exact origins and background of which would interest me immensely. The two were actually in a very similar position from 1810 on at the latest, but rather than communicating with each other, the two seem to have been constantly at each other's throats. I have the impression that Murat made a timid attempt at reconciliation now and then, and that at this stage Eugène was the one who no longer wished to hear anything from Murat. Probably because he held Murat responsible for Napoleon's separation from Josephine.

And only to avoid any false impression: Murat and Eugène also called each other "tu" when they met in private. But in their official correspondence, they almost suffocate from the pompous phrases they throw at each other.

Someone Eugène did not get on with at all was Marshal André Masséna. For this, I think alot of things came together: a social background that couldn't be more different, and perhaps a sense of class superiority on Eugène's part. On the other side, Masséna, who had really fought his way up from the gutter by his own efforts, was unlikely to have taken seriously this brat who, thanks to his stepdad, was allowed to play viceroy in Italy. Eugène, for his part, with his rather naïve attitude to war, was horrified by Masséna's ... rather creative approach to the subject of requisition and his general attitude to "mine" and "yours". In 1805 he complained bitterly about the way Masséna and his men had plundered the Italians they were supposed to protect, and Masséna actually had to pay back a huge amount of money. In 1809, Eugène desperately wanted no marshal (it would probably have been Masséna) to be sent to Italy, but to be allowed to take command himself. When the battle of Sacile promptly turned into a disaster, Napoleon told him pointedly that this would not have happened with Masséna, Masséna’s plundering notwithstanding.

Similarly, Eugène clashed with Auguste Marmont. This was also about money, financial trickery and personal enrichment. On this point, Eugène did not joke (and presumably this was precisely the reason why Napoleon had appointed him as overseer in Italy). The friction with Marmont developed into an enmity that lasted truly until after the death of the two adversaries, or rather only really erupted there: Marmont accused Eugène in his posthumously published memoirs (not entirely without reason, but in a rather exaggerated manner) of having been the main reason for Napoleon's defeat in 1814, and Eugène's daughters and Planat de la Faye (see above) then took the editor of the memoirs to court. Absolutely crazy.

From his correspondence, I take it he also at least once discovered Bourienne’s financial shenanigans in Hamburg.

I unfortunately do not know how his relationship with Marshal Lannes was (but I would love to know). My gut feeling says: probably similar to Masséna. Eugène does mention Lannes twice in his memoirs, both times respectfully. But I have not come across any personal interaction or correspondence between them at all. As Lannes was close to Murat and somewhat at odds with Bessières, he’s unlikely to have been friends with Eugène.

As this has gotten so long already, I’ll stop here and put anything about Eugène’s Bavarian in-laws into an extra post at a later date. Just so much for now: If this was Facebook, I’d pick »It’s complicated«.

#eugene de beauharnais #napoleon #auguste bataille #etienne méjean #jean baptiste bessières #jean lannes #antoine marie lavalette #geraud christophe michel duroc #andré masséna #auguste marmont

[where-theres-smoak-2]

Darkling Character Analysis

Full disclaimer, I’ve not read the books, though I have ordered the first so I am hoping to have read that soon. But just so you are aware this character analysis is based entirely on the show version of the character. Obviously there will be spoilers for all of season one. Also I just want to say that my aim with this analysis was to sort of get into The character’s head and so alot of this is just what I think the character might have been thinking, feeling and what his motivations may be, it does not mean I agree or disagree with his actions. When I am giving my view on his actions I will try to make it as clear as possible. Also this is just my interpretation of the character and my own opinions on the character, it is ok if you disagree. So obviously this is an analysis of the character The Darkling but I am also going to be talking about his relationship with Alina so I guess its also a sort of analysis of their relationship too just solely from Aleksander’s side of it. I will be using all of the names he has interchangeably because he has so many that I don’t know which one to stick with (seriously haven’t seen a character with this many different names since Jace from Shadowhunters) so sorry if that’s annoying. Fair warning this one is probably the longest analysis I have ever written and they are usually pretty long so I would suggest if you are going to read this maybe get some beverages and snacks first. I mean I think it shows how compelling and interesting a character he is that I was able to waffle on as long as have about him. But yeah its long. Of course you can also always scroll on past. But if you would like to read it then the rest is under the tag. 

Ok so first off I think the show does a really good job of building up the character in the first episode by giving us some information on The Black General before we and Alina officially meet him, they really give the character this air of mystery by giving us only a small amount of information about him but also by not letting us see his face. We get small tantalising glimpses of him, a shot of his boots in the mud, his carriage passing by, the back of him with his cloak billowing in the wind as the skiff enters the fold. It’s just enough to peak the audience’s interest. But most of what we learn in episode one is from what other character’s tell us. The very first mention we get of The General is from Mal and it’s a very small detail but I actually think it can tell you alot about The Darkling’s character. When Mal and Alina come across the Grisha practising Mal says ‘They’re always picking on us when their General’s not around.’ This seems like such a throwaway comment designed to show us how the First Army feel about Grisha and paints this picture of the Grisha thinking they are higher and mightier than those who are not Grisha. But it actually suggests that if they only do it when The General is not around then he does not tolerate Grisha bullying First Army. That he doesn’t think its ok for them to act like they are higher and mightier than those who are not Grisha and that he believes in humility even. Which I think is really interesting. This tracks with Nadia’s comment later in episode three when she says that General Kirigan insists that the Grisha eat peasant fare to keep them humble. Yet while he encourages humility he also makes sure that the Grisha have everything they need in order to flourish and he obviously cares a great deal about the Grisha, I feel like rising the Grisha up and making them strong has been pretty much his only drive and motivation over the hundreds of years since the fold was created. 

The other thing we learn which is repeated a couple of times by a few of the characters is that The General cannot bring down the Shadow Fold. In fact I think there are two conversations about it. The first between Inej, Jesper and Kaz when Jesper asks why the General hasn’t taken it down to which Inej replies ‘Have you ever put out fire by adding more fire?’ The other conversation is more flippant and is between Dubrov and Mikhael, where Mikhael sarcastically says the General is there to save the day and Dubrov asks if he’s going to tear down the fold. So on two occasions we have characters believing the General is powerful enough to fix the problem of the fold only for them to be corrected and told that he can’t. It seems like the show wants to make it very clear that the General will not be destroying the fold and I could be reaching here but this could be foreshadowing for later when we learn he doesn’t desire to bring down the fold.       

Of course even after the first episode the character of the Darkling still remains a bit of a mystery. He’s the kind of character where the more you learn about him the more questions you have. This tactic of giving us small pieces of information about him, just enough to keep you interested continues throughout the season and of course you have the twist in episode 5 where its revealed that he’s the ‘villain’. And yes I did put villain in quotation marks because I personally feel like its too simplistic a term to use for the character. I do feel like he’s more than just a two dimensional villain and there is alot of complexity to the character and his actions just for him to be considered the ‘bad guy’. 

So lets have a look at some of those actions and think about what might have been his motivations and what he might have been thinking and feeling. I want to start with one of the more controversial of his actions and as a warning this is a sensitive topic. One of the earlier things we find out about is that General Kirigan gifted Genya to the Queen. I’ll be honest when I first watched this scene I was so caught up in the new character and what was going on in the scene that I didn’t think much about Genya’s comment about being a gift to the Queen but when I thought more on it later I realised that it was a rather dark idea, that you could gift a person to another person. It becomes especially darker later when you find out what Genya suffered at the King’s hands. I kept wondering a few things, one being why the General would gift a child to the Queen in the first place, two whether he knew what the King was when he put Genya under the royal family’s care and three if he didn’t why he didn’t remove Genya when he discovered what was happening with the King. I do feel that we didn’t get enough information in the show (I don’t know if there’s more information in the books) to really answer these questions but I’ll give it my best shot. Firstly why would the General gift a child to the Queen? Well I actually think this one is easy to answer, he needed a spy within the Royal Family. We know that Aleksander has suffered and been betrayed by a king in the past. He won the Old King a war and in turn that King turned on not just Aleksander but on his people too. I feel like Aleksander was blindsided when this happened and he just didn’t see it coming and because of that his people were slaughtered. It would make sense then that the General would want to keep an eye on the royals and get a warning if they were planning on turning on Grisha again. I also think this is why they refer to Genya as a ‘gift’. That was just the wording the General used to manipulate the royals. Here’s a gift that I am granting you out of respect and to honour and please you, is going to go over a lot better than hey here’s a spy I want in your household. Genya is essentially the General’s trojan horse. As for it being Genya as oppose to someone else, like a trained adult Grisha, well I think that’s because it would be easier to get the royals to take a child into their household than an adult, even as a gift. They will be alot less suspicious of a child than they would an adult. Also they might bond with a child and therefore treat them as more of a confidante as time goes on. As well as that Genya had a very specific set of Grisha abilities that made her perfect for a vain Queen. I may be wrong on this one but thinking back to my history education I think I remember being taught it was fairly common during the time period if a young lady was discovered to have a particularly special talent, like say singing for example, they may be given as a gift to the Queen as this may gain favour for the maiden’s family if she is made a lady in waiting. So if I am right about that then whilst it might seem strange to us it may have been a fairly normal practise to the characters. I mean Alina didn’t seem shocked when Genya said she was a gift to the queen it was learning about the King that upset her. 

Also I do wonder if some of the reason why he placed her with the royal family was because he believed she wouldn’t fit in with the other Grisha, she does say that she is almost as rare as Alina. I don’t know for sure but maybe the General suspected she would struggle with being different from the other Grisha and so decided the best way to help her grow and flourish was by giving a special mission of her own. 

Ok so what about question 2? Did he know what kind of person the King was when he placed Genya under his care. In my opinion I don’t think he did. I am basing this on how he always seems to want to make Grisha safe and wants them to flourish and also due to his actions with Alina when things between them became more intimate, we know that consent is something Aleksander cares about. So to me it would be out of character for him considering how much he cares about the Grisha and consent for him to knowingly put Genya under the King’s care whilst having the knowledge of what would happen to her. I feel like he would also consider it as a disrespect towards Grisha from the King for him to harm a Grisha woman like that especially as she was ‘gifted’ to them. Also when Alina herself asks a similar question in episode 7 when she says ‘did you think Genya was safe when you placed her under the King’s watch?’ To me I think the Darkling looked somewhat upset that she would think that he would knowingly put Genya in that situation. However I do think that by the time Alina was discovered and brought to the Little Palace he was aware of what was going on with Genya and the King as he makes that comment about Alina remaining at the Little Palace with him to train undisturbed. The way he said undisturbed made me think he thought the King might decide he wanted Alina and the General was warning the King away, making it clear that if he wanted the fold destroyed he would have to leave Alina alone. His actions here in protecting Alina also make me think that he didn’t know at the time of placing Genya with the Royal family what would happen to her. He doesn’t want to make the same mistake with Alina that he made with Genya. 

As for number 3, why didn’t he remove Genya from the King’s care once he did find out about what the King was doing? I saw a few comments about this. All of them saying the same that because he didn’t get Genya out he was as bad as the King and was complicit in what happened to Genya. But I actually think it’s more complicated than that. For one thing technically he did remove Genya from the King’s care when he had her poison the king and then made her Corporalnik. Though obviously he didn’t do it immediately. We’ve got no timescale as to when he find out so who knows how long they were planning this. But also there was one line in episode 3 that I think answers this question best, when the General says ‘I may lead the Second Army, but the King is still the King.’ Whilst the General is powerful he still only has so much power over the King. He needed the King’s permission just  to have Alina at the Little Palace and for her to train, which is what the demonstration Alina had to go through in episode 3 was all about. I don’t think the General had the power to just walk into the Grande Palace and take back Genya. The only way he was getting Genya out of there was by killing the King. Also correct me if I am wrong but I feel like what the King was doing to Genya was a large part of the General’s motivation for poisoning the King. I mean we weren’t given much information about the King other than what he was doing to Genya, which made me think that’s why he was poisoned as we weren’t told about any other bad things the King had done that might lead to the General deciding to poison him. I think once he found out what the King was doing to Genya he allowed her to be the one to carry out the poisoning knowing that she would want revenge rather than trying to remove her right away and potentially causing tension with the royal family and also making it harder if not impossible for Genya to be the one to exact her revenge on the King. I guess what I am saying is its possible that Genya was the one who wanted to stay because she wanted to be the one to kill the King. I mean that’s the impression I got from her conversation with Alina where she says ‘I waited for years for my chance at revenge.’ For all we know General Kirigan might have offered to remove her from the Royal household and she might have told him she wanted to be the one to help him take down the King. Whatever his motivations were and however much he may or may not have known I think we can all agree that him ‘gifting’ Genya to the Queen was a mistake. I personally feel like it was more of a similar mistake to when Alina burned the maps. She had good intentions, she did it to protect someone she cared about, but in the end she caused others harm. With Alina she wanted to protect Mal and her whole unit was killed. With Kirigan I think he hoped a spy in the Royal household would protect the Grisha but in the end Genya was harmed by the King. One question I do have is whether Kirigan feels any guilt over what happened to Genya, whether he regrets his decision. I mean we did see him protect Alina from the King when he insisted she remain at the Little Palace. But was that just because it was Alina, the Sun Summoner? What if it were someone else. For example say the King came to the General and said he had taken a fancy to Marie, or Nadia or Zoya, and asked for them to be sent to the Grande Palace, would the General have agreed or would he have made some excuse as to why they couldn’t go, maybe even sent them on an assignment to protect them? There’s no way we can really know the answers to these questions as we just don’t know enough about the situation. All we know is that the General ultimately decided to get rid of the King but even then we don’t know for certain what his motivations for that were.   

I suppose you could say that him plotting against the king and conspiring with the apparat to usurp the throne was also a ‘bad guy’ move. But to be honest after telling us everything that the King did and just generally presenting the royal family in a negative light, I was surprised that Alina had such a problem with what the General did. To me it didn’t make sense for her to be upset and using that against him. I mean after learning what he did to Genya I was fully on the Darkling’s side when it came to killing the King. If they were trying to present this as a ‘villain’ move on the Darkling’s part then they did a poor job of it because I completely understood where he was coming from with that one. 

I felt a similar way with his other big ‘villain’ move when he expanded The Fold into Novokribirsk. At first I found it hard to have sympathy for them considering literally a couple of minutes before we were being shown that the soldiers were planning on murdering everyone on the skiff as soon as it docked. Couple that with the fact that Zlatan had arranged to assassinate Alina and once again I found myself on the Darkling’s side, I mean screw Zlatan and his soldiers. It was another case of it wasn’t until I rewatched it that I realised the villainous part of what the Darkling did was that there were civilians in the city that were also killed. To be honest I do wish that the show had done a better job of showing those civilians to really get across the horror of what the Darkling did. I mean on a rewatch I could see a few civilians mixed in with the soldiers but they were blended in so were hard to spot. I guess that was the purpose of Zoya having family in the city, to tell the viewer that there were innocents there but I just don’t think it made enough of an impact. I feel like if they had focussed in on actual civilians running and being swallowed by the darkness as well as the West Ravkan soldiers it would have had a bigger and more horrific impact. Instead it just kind of came across as the bad guys who had been built up as being bad throughout the season, who were rebels and who had tried to kill the main character, were finally eliminated. Lets be real if Alina had been the one to take out those soldiers we would all have been cheering. Lets talk about Game of Thrones for a moment as an example (spoiler alert for GOT here) however you felt about the way Dany’s descent into madness was written one thing the writers did right in The Bells episode was focus on the civilians that Dany was killing on the ground. They cut away from Dany completely and stayed on the ground with her victims and so you get that impact of what she has done, you see the horror in what she has done and I think this is something that would have worked well with Shadow and Bone. If they had just cut away from the skiff for a scene showing the civilians, the victims that were being effected by what the Darkling was doing then I think I would have been more shocked and effected by his actions. 

Ok so lets focus back in on the character and talk about what his motivations might have been for Novokribirsk. Why did he expand the Fold and take out the city? Well again I don’t think its hard to answer that question. We have to remember that he is a General that is fighting a war on three fronts. He’s fighting the Fjerdans on one side, the Shu Han on another and then the cherry on top is that the West Ravkans are rising up in rebellion. It’s already hard enough having to fight two enemy countries without also having to split your forces again to deal with a rebellion. The General knows that they are already overstretched without having to split their force again to deal with Zlatan. So if you look at it from his point of view striking down Zlatan now before the rebellion gets too large is a tactical military move. Also the fact that it is such a violent move will act as a deterrent for any remaining rebels who might think of trying to restart Zlatan’s movement. As well as to Fjerda and Shu Han, a this is what we do to our own people when they act against us so think about what we might do to you if you cross us, kind of deal. As for the innocent civilians that were in the city well I think the Darkling would convince himself that it was a numbers game. He might have killed hundreds of civilians but as far as he sees it he has spared thousands of lives that would have been lost if they had gone to war with West Ravka. By now the General knows the cost of war, so to him sacrificing a few hundred civilians is worth the price of saving thousands of his soldiers. Of course there is another motivation for the General, one that is less military strategy and more personal and emotionally driven. As Kaz says he was a man fuelled by vengeance. These soldiers standing on the dock had turned their back on Grisha and even worse than that they had tried to kill Alina. In the scene where The Darkling is talking to the Conductor and the Conductor admits to agreeing to assassinate Alina for a million kruge you can see how angry this makes The Darkling. This idea that someone would harm Alina for something as material as money is unforgivable to him. I said in a previous post that I wondered if the General always planned to expand the fold into Novokribirsk and I actually think the answer to that is no he didn’t. I actually think he was trying to make up his mind about what to do about Zlatan and his rebels, its possible he had a number of strategies to go with and was trying to decide which to choose, with expanding the fold being the most extreme of them. I actually think this here is the moment he decides to go with that plan. As he walks away from the Conductor and the Conductor asks ‘tell me how I can help’ The Darkling replies ‘you already have.’ I actually think what he meant here was you’ve helped me make up my mind. Them daring to harm Alina was the linchpin.         

Which brings me to the next part of this analysis, The Darkling’s manipulation and relationship with Alina. One of the great things the show did with the Darkling’s character was making him so complex and nuanced that the audience is in very much the same position as Alina when that reveal is made about Aleksander being the Black Heretic. Just like Alina (if you haven’t read the books) you are left sort of blindsided. Also just like Alina the audience is left wondering how much of it was a manipulation. Was all of it part of his manipulation? Or were there some moments that were real? Did he care at all about Alina or was he just interested in her power? 

Well I will say this, while I do think he always planned to manipulate her, I don’t think he ever planned or tried to use seduction as part of that manipulation. I think we have to remember that he was waiting for the Sun Summoner for hundreds of years and I think he spent that time creating his plan for her and her power. We also have to remember that when he was creating this plan he was expecting to find a child. I think his plan was to earn her trust as a mentor and build a confidence between them. I think he planned to bring her up with his ideals, to bring her up believing the best thing was to use the fold as a weapon, to bring her up to always want to protect the Grisha and to bring her up to embrace her power. However this whole plan had a wrench thrown in it when he does finally find Alina and she’s not a child, she’s a grown woman and one that has been taught her whole life that the Sun Summoner’s purpose is to tear down the fold. Changing the ideals and beliefs of an adult is alot harder to do than a child. On top of that I think he does develop real feelings for her. But these feelings get in the way of his plans, which makes everything all the more complicated for him.        

Lets go to the moment they first meet. I do think right from the get go he is intrigued by her and mean I think when you watch the scene you are so focused on Alina and what she must be going through and feeling, how scared she must be being dragged in front of this powerful General that she’s only ever heard stories about, that we don’t think about what this moment meant to the General. I mean he has been waiting for this woman for so long. She could be the solution to all of his problems, a fix for all of his mistakes. She has been his one glimmer of hope in the vast darkness of eternity. And now she’s here in front of him. Jessie said in an interview that Alina felt a connection to Aleksander right from the beginning, but I think he felt a connection to her too. I think you can even see the moment they make that connection and it’s when he takes her wrist in the tent.

Once he takes her wrist they never break eye contact even as he draws her sleeve up higher, their eyes are glued to each other. Then they both pause for a few beats and again just stare at each other.

The tension between them is so thick it almost makes you want to yell get a room at the screen. It’s like they both suddenly felt something click between them, a oh I know you, kind of moment. But I also feel like Aleksander is a bit surprised by this feeling, he wasn’t expecting it. They don’t break eye contact until The General cuts her arm releasing her power and causing her to look down in surprise. But almost immediately Alina brings her eyes back to his. One kind of cool little detail I did notice is that you can see the reflection of the beam of light in both their eyes.

It’s like a thread connecting them both, I don’t know why but it sort of reminds me of that red thread of fate legend. But also with them both having dark eyes the beam of light reflected in them sort of reminds me of yin and yang. The other thing of note is the General’s facial expression when he sees her power. Whilst everyone else is looking on is awe and surprise, he looks almost content, definitely happy and maybe even a bit hopeful. To me he kind of looks like he’s just had all his prayers answered. 

I think Kirigan is further intrigued by Alina in episode two when she talks back to him with that rant about maybe he hasn’t found anyone with her power because they didn’t want to be found. I think its the first time in a long while that anyone has stood up to him and not just said yes sir. I actually found it really comical how surprised he was when she said no to him. You just know he hasn’t heard that word much in recent lifetimes. But I do think this plants those first seeds of him seeing her as an equal to him. I think this is where he starts to see her as not someone to bow at his feet but someone who belongs at his side. Then when she confesses that she hid from the testers because she didn’t want to feel even more alone I think he really saw something of himself in her. I mean you can see his facial expression shift. I think this furthers his idea that she is meant to be at his side, that she is the same as him and I think even at this early stage he begins to hope that maybe she is someone who will understand him as no one else ever has. In that moment he is determined to make sure she doesn’t ever feel alone again and that is why he tells her ‘you are Grisha, you are not alone.’ You can see from the passion in his voice when he says it that this is something very personal to him. 

However despite this connection he feels to her and the care I think he has for her too, he does manipulate her. I think one of the more obvious manipulations happens in episode 4 when he takes her to the fountain. Something that is worth noting is that before setting out on their ride Aleksander takes off his Kefta. Their Keftas in the show are presented as their armour, so I think it was a very deliberate move on his part to sort of send the message to her, look I’m taking my armour off for you and I am being vulnerable and open to you. He furthers this by giving her his name to create this familiarity between them. Then he takes her to a place that is personal to him and then he really gets into his manipulation game. Here’s the thing though, I feel like most of the time when we think of manipulation we think of lies. But sometimes the best way to manipulate a person is through twisting the truth and I think this is what he does here. From their conversations so far I think he has figured out that Alina feels like an outsider and that she fears being alone and not fitting in. I definitely think he uses this information to manipulate her by telling her the story about how he used to go to the fountain as a boy after he discovered he was descended from the most hated Grisha in Ravka and wished to be anybody else. He knows that Alina will respond to this story, that it will make her feel sympathy for him and also make her feel like he is someone who understands her and therefore someone she can trust and rely on. He is also most definitely being deceitful in that he knows she thinks he is talking about being related to the Black Heretic when in fact he is the Black Heretic. However that doesn’t mean that what he said was untrue. I really do think he used to go there as a boy and wish to be someone else. As for being the descendant of the most hated Grisha in Ravka well my theory there is that he could actually be talking about Morozova. In the flashback in episode 7 Aleksander says that he and Baghra are his descendants and that means that if he created the amplifiers than Aleksander could create an army. Baghra gives the warning that Aleksander will die like Morozova. This makes me think that Morozova died in quite an unpleasant way, maybe even killed because he was feared and hated. I mean sure the Black Heretic is the most hated Grisha in all of Ravka now, but whose to say there wasn’t someone who came before him? Another Grisha who was hated like the Black Heretic is now. And maybe when Aleksander was a boy he discovered he was the descendant of Morozova and that was a burden on him, so much so that he wished he was someone else. 

I also think he was being genuine when he talked about how he is never seen as the solution only a reminder of the problem. I mean we’ve seen this ourselves in episode one its one of the first things we learn about him, that he can’t bring down the fold. I also think he’s being truthful when he says they always need someone to blame but again he’s twisting this truth. Alina thinks he means he is being unjustly blamed for not being able to fix the Fold but I think he actually is talking about how the Old King turned on him. I’m also sure over the years many people have blamed him and the Grisha for all the ills the world has suffered. But I do think he really meant it when he told her that he wouldn’t let the world make her the new Heretic. I think making sure that doesn’t happen is something he cares deeply about and I think it shows that he does have some care for her that he is so determined that she doesn’t go through what he did with the world turning on him. 

Slight diversion here but I do want to talk about whether or not this hatred the world has for him is justified, I mean he did create the fold and that fold has killed alot of people since its creation. So surely just the fact that he created the fold is enough to solidify him as the villain. Well I think that depends on why he created the fold. I mean we get three different versions of how and why the Fold was created. The first one we hear is in episode 4 when Alina tells us the story that is taught to children in school. They say that history is written by the victors, and whilst I personally don’t think there were any victors in the creation of the fold, The Black Heretic disappeared with its creation, presumed to be dead, so the Old King probably considered himself the victor and was left to decide the history. Therefore this story was most likely the Old King’s version of events. In this version of the story it talks about how the Darkling hungered for more power after being made the Kings military advisor and this made the king fear that the Darkling would try to overthrow him. So he put a bounty on his head and that of anyone who stood by him. Eventually the Heretic realised he was outnumbered and decided to create an army using forbidden science. But he failed, creating the fold and killing himself and countless others. The second version we get is from Baghra and it is similar to this one. She says that he created the Fold to use as a weapon, that he tried making an army with merzost and that he didn’t think about what that would do to the people who lived there, that it turned the men, women and children into the Volcra. That she had warned him there would be a price and that he didn’t listen. She also says that he took a noble’s name to hide after. Baghra’s version paints Aleksander as power hungry and as someone who will stop at nothing to get what he wants no matter the cost. But there are somethings I think its worth noting about her version. The first is that it is very brief, sort of like the cliff notes version, as they are in a hurry and she needs to get Alina out of there pronto. She doesn’t have time to go into all the details so she tells her enough to convince her to leave. Which brings me to my second point, Baghra’s motivation here is to get Alina to flee, so logically the best way to do that is to tell her the worst parts of the story and leave out anything that might make Alina feel sympathetic towards Aleksander and therefore hesitate about leaving. Another thing to remember is that Baghra whilst she might know somethings wasn’t there for a lot of it, she didn’t see Luda killed by the soldiers just knows that she was killed and she didn’t witness the confrontation between Aleksander and the soldiers. However what she did see likely had an effect on her. There is one moment in particular during Baghra’s story where she becomes emotional and choked up, there are tears in her eyes and you just know she is reliving a bad memory and that is when she talks about the women and children who were turned into the Volcra alongside the soldiers. Think for a moment about where Baghra was when the fold was created. She was inside the sanctuary with the women and children who were hiding from the soldiers. Which means that she would have witnessed them turning into the Volcra which must have been a horrifying scene. 

Eventually we get to episode 7 and we learn what really happened when the fold was created and the story is more tragic that first told. I mean first you have the whole situation with Luda. He obviously loved her deeply and I can only imagine how painful it must have been to see her murdered right in front of him and to feel that guilt of her dying because she was protecting him. I mean the words ‘just mortal’ now make me want to burst out crying anytime I hear them. Then he gets to the sanctuary and there’s all these Grisha there that need protecting. I think he feels a responsibility for them. Then his mother reminds him that they are not fighters, they make things. Which gives him the idea of creating an army using merzost. It is worth pointing out here that when telling the tale to Alina Baghra says that she warned Aleksander that there would be a price for using merzost, but when you actually see the conversation what she says is that whilst the small science feeds them merzost feeds on them. This suggests that the price to be paid is by him. So yes he was aware there would be a price but he assumed he would be the one paying it. I think if he knew that the people inside the sanctuary would be turned into Volcra he might not have gone through with it. This is another thing that makes the story even more tragic. Aleksander was driven to create his own army by his wish to protect his people, but he lost control and ended up destroying the very people he was trying so hard to protect. Another thing I noticed when Alina is telling the story of the heretic in episode four when she gets to the part about the Heretic being killed along with countless other you can hear what sound like screams in the background, also Aleksander looks really sad and guilty. It is also right after that he says he had devoted his life to undoing the great sin aka the creation of the fold. We see this look of guilt again when Alina confronts him in episode 7 about being the one to create the fold and therefore responsible for the deaths of her friends and parents. You see him look to the floor.

 I really do think that he has alot of guilt about the fold, he sees it as a mistake.  We see both Baghra and Alina make the claim, the fold was no mistake. But in episode 7 we learn that it was, Aleksander did not deliberately set out to create the fold. It wasn't his intention. It seems to me that he wanted to bend the will of the soldiers to his, to make them his own army, but I think he lost control due to the emotional state he was in at the time. I mean right before the soldiers were threatening to murder all the people inside, including his mother, and were mocking him about Luda’s death. He was grieving, he was angry and he was fearful for his people. We were told the fold was born out of greed but lets be real it was born out of grief and out of pain and anger and fear. 

So if he considers it such a big mistake why doesn’t he want to tear it down? Well I think its two fold. On one hand he might be afraid of what he’ll see. It’s like Kaz says to Zoya ‘it’s dangerous to go looking for the dead. What you see may haunt you for the rest of your days.’ Tearing down the fold will reveal all the destruction he caused to the land and to the people who lived there, he’d have to really confront what he did to his own people. But I think another motivator is what he said about undoing the great sin. I think he thinks if he makes the fold useful then at least it would have made the ‘deaths’ of his people mean something somehow. If creating the fold cost them their lives then maybe by making it a weapon that can be used to protect Grisha will make their ‘deaths’ a worthwhile sacrifice.

Ok so diversion over, lets go back to the Darklina relationship and how much of his actions were a manipulation. We’ve already established that he was being manipulative when taking her to the fountain and was telling her twisted truths. But if we stick with episode 4 there’s the scene where she comes to visit him at night in the war room. This whole scene I actually think he was being completely genuine. I don’t think any of it was part of his manipulation of her. First off is the way they are both dressed. They are both in their nightclothes which gives this idea of them being more intimate and more exposed to each other. I said above that the Kefta is seen as the Grisha’s armour, well here neither one of them are wearing their Kefta. They have both taken off their armour and are letting each other in. When Alina first finds him he is looking over the war map and you can see that he looks troubled, which you know fair enough considering he’s fighting a war on two fronts, having to deal with getting supplies through the fold and how to deal with the rebels. I love the way he looks at Alina when she comes in though, its just so soft and I feel like he feels instantly calmer when he sees her. But then he starts talking about how he’s been fighting the war alone and lost friends, about how their own people are turning on Grisha just as their kin once did and he is clearly thinking back to when the Old King was hunting him and his people. When the shadows start creeping in I think his pain is very real, I don’t think this was an act at all and once again if you listen closely you can hear those faint screams in the background. Then Alina dispels the shadows with her light and repeats his words back to him, ‘you are not alone.’ I think in this moment he truly does feel like he’s not alone. That he has found someone who understands him and who is his equal, who is like him. So he reaches out and cups her face and tells her he’s been waiting for her a long time. But then she pulls away and says she should go. I think Aleksander is afraid at this moment that he has frightened her away or that he misinterpreted the situation and he becomes very confused. So when she lingers at the door he goes to it and contemplates calling her back, just as she struggles with whether she should go back. But then she walks away and I think he thinks that maybe he was wrong and she doesn’t feel the same as him and he is a little angry with himself for losing focus and for feeling something for her and so he locks the door between them.  

Another question I asked myself was whether he always intended to put the stag collar on her and to control her powers. In my opinion this one has a bit of a yes and a no answer. I think he kept changing his mind. He clearly knew that by killing the Stag and putting the amplifier on her he would gain control of her powers. As I said early I think his first draft of the plan, shall we say, was to find the Sun Summoner as a child, to gain her trust as her mentor and teach her that the Fold is a weapon to be used as opposed to something that needs to be torn down. If he had found her as a child he would have had a lot more control over her and could shape her into what he wanted. However when they find the Sun Summoner she’s an adult and believes that its her fate to tear down the fold so he has to do a rework of his plan. On top of that he’s got this problem that she clearly doesn’t want to be the Sun Summoner she has no interest in saving anyone and she just wants to go back to being a mapmaker in the First Army. I think it is during that speech where she talks about him transferring her power to someone else that he starts to look into whether that is possible. But as he gets to know her more I think this changes again and he starts to feel things for her and I think he starts to believe that they want the same things and that maybe taking control of her powers won’t be necessary. I think the turning point for him is in episode 5. In the breakdown video of their first kiss Jessie says Alina goes to the General’s rooms because of what happened the night before in the war room where they had a moment in episode 4. Alina wasn’t sure what that moment meant and so she was seeking out Aleksander because she was intrigued and wanted to know if there was something there. Aleksander is once again clearly happy to see her but I do feel like there is some awkwardness there because of what happened in episode 4 and because he feels like he had misinterpreted things and maybe was too intense with her. It’s an interesting dynamic because as Jessie says in that video in this moment he is the vulnerable one. One moment in particular that I think shows this vulnerability is right after she helps him into his Kefta. Again going back to the whole the Kefta is armour thing. When Alina first enters the room like in episode 4 she is wearing her dressing gown she has come to him with her armour off so to speak. He is also out of his Kefta and this early conversation is playful where they are joking about Ivan and the Volcra. But after she puts the Kefta on him is when his mood shifts a little and you see him kind of tug the Kefta tighter around himself. I feel like he was trying to protect himself because the more time he spends with her the more vulnerable and confused he feels, he’s feeling alot of feelings he hasn’t felt in a long time and I think he knows by now that he is well on his way to falling in love with her and this scares him a bit because he has lost loves in the past. Him putting the Kefta back on is like him attempting to put that armour back on. There is another way of looking at it too though. It’s worth noting that on this occasion Alina is the one helping him put the armour/Kefta on, like she is the one giving him protection. Then he turns around Alina is alot closer then he anticipated and you can actually see him struggling to even form words. Then she leans in close to him like she's about to kiss him but changes her mind and walks into the other room leaving our poor guy more confused than ever. Then Alina makes the speech about how she finally feels like she is part of something bigger and that they can offer hope to the Grisha and to Ravkans. In this moment our girl was talking straight to our boy’s heart. I think this is all he has ever wanted to hear her say, especially the ‘we can offer hope.’ I think he really means it when he says it means a lot to him and you can hear the passion in his voice when he says ‘you mean a lot.’ Of course when she looks down he once again becomes afraid he’s overstepped, gone too far and so he tries to backtrack with ‘to everyone’. And well we all know what happens next. Alina kisses him and as he says after he is surprised and not many people do surprise him. I think there is something about this woman that just makes him lose all his senses until his whole world becomes about her. I feel like throughout episode 5 Aleksander feels like he’s gotten everything he’s ever wanted. Because maybe she does feel the same way he does, maybe she wants the same things he does, maybe he has found his life partner, another immortal who will always be by his side, finally he’ll never have to feel alone again. I think the moment I decided this fool was definitely in love with Alina was the look on his face when she enters the room and he sees her in his colours for the first time. After watching her demonstration I think he does see her as his equal. He’s in complete awe of her and the only time he looks away is to look at the Monarchs to see their reaction. Basically from the moment Alina kisses him to this moment where he is seeing her take command of the room and truly showing her power, having people bow to her, Aleksander is living his best life, he’s on cloud nine. 

Then he gets word that someone has located the stag. We don’t see the scene where he gets informed of this but you can imagine he probably can’t believe his luck. Not only are things perfect between him and Alina but now someone has found the amplifier. But I feel like he gets a bit of a reality check when he discovers that Mal is the one who found the stag and he’s now here in the Little Palace. I feel like Aleksander sort of came crashing down to earth here and realised he might have a bit of a problem. Once again he’s having to do a quick, rapid, rework of his plan. Which brings us to another moment where the Darkling is being manipulative. He uses Mal to find out what Alina’s favourite flower is. I mean I suppose you could argue that he’s only doing what every other person does when they want to get a gift for their crush and don’t know what would be best, ask the best friend. But all jokes aside this move was clearly calculative on The Darkling’s part. But I couldn’t help but wonder why he decided to use the Irises. What was his motivation here. It’s clear that he has already won Alina over seeing as she was kissing him not to long ago. Well I said earlier that I think he changed his mind about using the collar on her. I do think after their conversation in episode 2 where she talks about how she didn’t want any of it and could he transfer it he thought she was going to be a problem and difficult so maybe he should look into finding a way of controlling her power. In the beginning she was focussed on her old life and I feel like she didn’t have much loyalty or care for the Grisha, it took her awhile to accept who she was and she was also struggling to use her powers. All she wanted was to go back to Mal and I think this may be why, or at least part of the reason why The General takes their letters. For one he didn’t want her to go back to him and so making her think that Mal didn’t care would encourage her stay put and discourage any ideas of leaving. I mean given her comment in episode 3 where Alina asks Genya if anyone had ever escaped the Little Palace, which the General overheard, its not that surprising that he would decide to confiscate any of her correspondence out of the Palace in case she was organising a breakout with Mal. Secondly as I said she was having trouble using her powers and I think after reading the letters maybe he figures out that its because of Mal that she is struggling, so he either stopped the letters because he wanted her to continue feeling abandoned by Mal and therefore he was hoping she would shift her dependence onto him or because he knew if she let go of Mal then she would be able to control her power more and more power for Alina means more power for him to control. This was all very manipulative on his part and obviously not the actions of someone who cares about Alina’s feelings but at this point she wasn’t Alina to him she was the Sun Summoner, a tool to be used and he was thinking as a General who had people and a whole country to protect and if that meant putting the collar on this stranger then so be it. I think he set out to win her trust to make it easier for him to put that collar on her when the time came. But then as he got to know her more, started catching feelings for her and after their conversation in episode 5, I think he decided that maybe he wouldn’t need to use the collar after all. My theory is that he got her the flowers and he took her to the war room instead of the dinner because he was planning to tell her some of the truth. I don’t think he was going to tell her about who he really was and about him being the Fold’s creator but I do think its possible that he intended to tell her about the Stag and maybe even try to convince her about using the Fold as a weapon. So I think he just wanted to put her in as good a mood as he could if that makes sense, sweeten her up before he brought it up. Also telling her about the Stag means telling her about Mal. I think he actually felt a little threatened by Mal because having read their letters he knows how she feels about Mal. So he wants her attention as much on him as possible. I think he very much felt like his dream was slipping away. As for the make out on the war table moment, that could have also been an attempt to keep her sweet on him like the irises. But as I’ve said before Aleksander seems to lose all his senses when he’s with Alina. When he’s with her the only thing he’s focused on is her, and I personally think it was just a case of he really wanted to kiss her. Some of it might also have been to reassure himself that those feelings between them were real, especially now that Mal has shown up. I mean they are both so giddy and happy when they break apart for him to answer the door that I find it difficult to believe that the whole kiss was a cold manipulation, he was grinning like a school boy. My favourite kiss between them (as steamy as their make out session was) was actually the one where he comes back to kiss her one last time. This is right after he has learnt that she was the target of an attack that happened inside of his Palace, which is the one place where his people are supposed to be safe. I think in that moment he just needed to reassure himself that she is safe, you can see his desperation in the kiss. There was just something so soft and pure about it. If I am sure about anything is that one was definitely real, I may have small doubts about the other kisses but that one kiss was 100% true.   

Things only get worse for Aleksander in episode 6 when he realises that Alina is missing. I think how he behaves in this episode tells us alot about how he really feels about Alina. He becomes somewhat unhinged when she goes missing and only becomes more so the longer she is gone from him. His sole focus is on her and finding her, to the point where he kind of forgets about anything else as we see when Fedyor comes to report about Nina, The General has completely forgotten there were other missions and things he was dealing with. Later when he calls Zoya to tell her to prepare a team to track down ‘Alina’s abductors’ and she puts forward the suggestion that Alina ran by herself, he doesn’t even consider it a possibility. The idea that she would willingly leave him is just too hard for him to wrap his head around because as he says to Zoya he is sure he knows exactly how she feels. He is usually the composed, unfazed General but he very much snaps at this moment and I think reveals more than he intended to Zoya, who clearly looks surprised by his outburst. He even says himself with Alina gone he’s not himself, he’s feeling unbalanced and tense without her. So when Zoya offers to help him relax he tells her that he’ll relax when he has Alina. I think its important as well that he says Alina and not the Sun Summoner. It’s not the Sun Summoner he’s lost without its Alina. When he finally catches up with Kaz and is told that Alina fled on her own you can see how shocked he is at this.

 And even then he has trouble believing it because he once again asks where she is and its not until the line ‘It was pretty clear she wasn’t interested in being a captive any more’ that it begins to set in for him and you see his shadows creep in. After you can see the heartbreak set in and then the anger.

 This anger only grows when he learns that she is with Mal and that she is going after the Stag. I think he very much feels like everything has been snatched away from him in a blink of an eye. I think he is angry that he was blindsided by it and he’s angry that he let his feelings for her cloud his judgement and distract him from his plans. Because of his feelings for her he might now have ruined all his plans and, as he would see it, risked the safety of the Grisha in doing so. Naturally its back to plan A of forcing the collar on her, because no matter how he feels about her he can’t let that distract him from his mission to protect the Grisha again. 

However no matter how angry he is at her and how hurt is is that she ran from him, that doesn’t mean he doesn’t care about her. I see alot of arguments that he can’t have loved Alina because you can’t hurt someone you love like he did when he put the collar on her. But I’m calling BS on that one now because the people you love are the people who can hurt you the most, especially when they are hurt or angry. It doesn’t necessarily mean they don’t love you it just means they are human and make mistakes. However that doesn’t mean you should tolerate those mistakes or brush them under the rug, absolutely they should be called out for them and held accountable for them and I am really glad that Alina does do this. The Darkling's anger at her is what drives him to find her and to kill the stag himself so he can collar her and I think this anger builds up whilst he is away from her, again showing how unhinged he has become without her. But I feel like some of that anger ebbs away a bit when he does find her and once she is in front of him again. That moment when he finds her and the stag and Mal is hurt and he calls out to her that she can’t save them, that as powerful as she is she does not have the power to heal. He is obviously thinking back to Luda here. Because as powerful as he was he was not powerful enough to save her, in that moment he was utterly powerless to keep her from dying. I think despite how hurt he is he cares about her too much to watch her go through the same pain and grief he did which is why he offers to heal Mal if she gives him the Stag. The similarities between the two scenes (the one with Alina, mal and the Stag and the one with Aleksander, Luda and the king’s men) are clear and I think really have an effect on Aleksander. I think when he says that Mal was only protecting Miss Starkov there are two interesting points. One is the use of the term Miss Starkov. This is a name he mostly called her when they barely knew each other and I think he is trying to distance himself from her again by making things more formal between them. The other thing is that it draws a parallel between both Mal and Luda. Both Mal and Luda were just trying to protect the people they love and Aleksander clearly doesn’t think either one of them deserved to die for it so he lets Mal live. 

Another scene I want to talk about real quick is the one right before he puts the collar on her. This scene is eerily similar to when they first meet. Once again they are back in a tent. Once again the scene starts with the Darkling’s back to her and with Alina in the hands of a guard/s. I said before that I think alot of the reason why he decides to collar her is because she doesn’t share his views and he feels like he needs to control her so he can weaponize the fold and save his people. That he was angry at himself for believing she might be his equal and share his goals. I think this scene where he talks to her shows that. The fact that he lowers himself to her level I think shows that he does see her as an equal. Then he talks about how together they could end all wars and protect their own and asks isn’t that what she wants. I think he is still clinging to that belief that he wasn’t wrong and that they did want the same things and maybe some part of him was still hoping he might not need to use the collar. But then she asks if they are going to tear down the fold and you can see the disappointment on his face because he understands now that she won’t see it his way. So instead he deflects the question and I think this is the moment that cements his choice to collar her.  

Further evidence that he does still care about Alina comes when he puts the collar on her. This is obviously a very distressing and gruesome scene. What he is doing is obviously wrong and I think deep down he knows it too. He can’t bear to look at her as it happens and so her turns away and its the second time he does as he also looks away in guilt when he threatens Mal. I don’t think he can handle her looking at him like he’s a monster and he can’t cope with seeing the betrayal and hurt in her eyes. It is also worth noting that I think part of the reason why he goes through with putting the amplifier on her is like he said to Mal, he thinks that over the years she will come to forgive him. Now this conversation where he talks about how she might take years to forgive him but he had patience also tells us that the fact that he is hoping for forgiveness shows that he knows what he is doing to her is wrong, that it is something that will require forgiveness. When he comes to see her later in her tent, can we just talk for a moment how nice that tent was, I mean he really went all out for her with lace and flowers like he somehow thought that would make up for him fusing a antler into her collar bone, but again even the fact that he gives her all these nice things shows that he wants that forgiveness and the way he approaches her as well is cautiously, like you would a wounded animal. He knows he’s hurt her and made her angry so he comes in with sweet words of compliments, telling her how special she is, and very quickly comes to know that she’s not having any of it. I mean that look she gives him when he first comes in, if looks could kill he’d be six feet under now. But I really do think he did go to her just because he wanted to talk to her, despite his words to Mal about having the patience to wait however many years it will take for her to forgive him, he wants to fix things between them now. He doesn’t want her to be angry with him and he doesn’t want her to be in pain. He’s desperate to get back what they had in episode 5. Also I think its important that we remember that until that conversation with her in the tent he didn’t know that she had discovered who he really was, so when she ran he believed that she had ran because she wanted to be with Mal which I think contributed to his anger at her and his feeling of betrayal. He couldn’t understand why she would want to be with someone who he believes never appreciated who she really was and who is mortal and will eventually just be a blip in her very long lifetime, instead of being with him who is her equal and immortal like her. This is another occasion where I feel like he gets a bit of a reality check and realises that she didn’t run because of Mal, she ran because of his own lies. So all that anger he felt at her ‘betrayal’ was unjust. But then I think he feels a different sense of betrayal in how easily she believed Baghra. I mean looking at it from his point of view she didn’t come to him and ask for his side of the story or demand an explanation she just trusted Baghra and ran. He is clearly desperate to make her understand and you can see his composure begin to fail as he stands and tells her that everything he is ever done has been to make Grisha and Ravka safer. I really do think that line was true, he really does believe that what he’s doing is the right thing for his people and his country. You can feel his frustration and desperation continuing to build throughout the scene as he pretty much pleads with her to understand and can see that she doesn’t. I think the part that really hurts him though is when she says ‘we could have had this, all of it. You could have made me your equal, instead you made me this.’ This line is so powerful and I think its at this moment that he realises just how badly he has messed up. To be told that his actions are the reason why he hasn’t got her, the one thing he wants more than anything else in the world right now. Also the line of making her his equal I think would have hit him hard because he did see her as his equal and so I think he’s surprised that she believes that he didn’t make her his equal and then when she says ‘instead you made me this’ he realises that whilst he might have seen her as his equal he wasn’t treating her as one. His need for control made her a slave to him and I really think that in this moment he is realising that, I genuinely think this dumbass got so caught up in his own dream of what the two of them together could be that he didn’t realise that whilst he thought he was protecting her and helping her grow into this saviour for their people he was taking away her choices and he was making her feel like a captive, the dummy didn’t think to ask how she felt about any of it because he assumed he already knew, it was the same as what he wanted, to protect their country and people. So his anger when he says the line ‘fine make me your villain’ isn’t just directed at her but himself too. It’s not just his hurt and anger that she doesn’t understand his reasons and that she isn’t seeing it his way, it’s also because he knows it was his own actions that lead him to that moment when the woman he loves is standing in front of him and looking at him like he is a monster. He can’t go back and he can’t undo it and worse than that he can’t seem to get her to understand why he did it. I think he feels trapped and so the only thing he can be to her now is her villain. 

It’s after this conversation that his demeanour towards her changes and you can see that he sort of stops trying to win her over. He’s not as gentle with her, I mean he ties her to the deck of the skiff and answers mockingly when she points out it’s not a good look for him with the ambassadors. I did notice though that after that conversation he seems to have trouble looking at her. When they are walking to the skiff and he tells her that Mal is being held captive and will be released if she does her part, he isn’t looking at her but straight ahead and this is something he does alot when he is threatening Mal. The moment when he takes off her cloak he does glance down at her. I seen alot of debate about that scene, as it does come across as having a bit of sexual tension in it and some people thought it was a rather sexy scene whereas others pointed out that he was holding her captive and mocking her. Me personally I actually think its both. People talk about how it has to be one or the other. But yes in that scene he is holding her captive and that part’s not sexy but there is a moment where I feel like he still feels that draw to her. Before reaching up to undo her cloak it seems to me like a hesitates for a moment. When he goes to whisper in her ear that he doubts they’ll notice her feet and I think he feels that pull and that attraction to her and he is really close to her, I don’t think he’s been that close to her since the war room in episode 5. You can see him lean slightly towards her and I think he really is struggling with the desire he feels for her which is why he steps back with the cloak rather forcefully, like he's having to force himself away from her again. It kind of reminded me of the scene where she helped him into his Kefta. So no the situation itself is not sexy but I do still think there is tension in the scene because the attraction they feel for each other didn’t just disappear despite how hurt and angry they are at each other. It’s like their words are saying one thing but their body language is saying another. 

When they are in the Fold again at first The Darkling avoids looking at her particularly when he is forcing her to use her power to create the tunnel of light. His focus is on The Fold. Again I think this shows that he is determined to not let his feelings for her get in the way for his goals, yet he knows he is taking away her free will and her choice and that’s hurting her so he can’t really stand to look at her. Its the same when she asks to tear down the fold and he answers why would they destroy the best weapon they have. Again he doesn’t look at her when he says it because he knows that he deceived her by letting her believe that was what they were going to do and he doesn’t want to see the disappointment and betrayal in her eyes. Again this is something he does alot and look, I love The Darkling’s character, I do, but that doesn’t mean I can’t recognise his flaws and for me I kind of saw him as a coward for this. I mean if you are going to deceive and manipulate a person and force them to do something you know they don’t want to do, then at least have the decency to look at them. He does however look at her when she tries to save Novokribirsk after he lets the fold consume it. He stops her and you can see the anger when he says they are traitors who tried to kill her and that this action was retribution. I think he hates the fact that she is trying to save the very people who tried to hurt her. But again he looks away from her when he sees the way she is looking at him and how horrified she is by what he has done. 

Their very last interaction is when she uses the dagger to cut the amplifier from his hand and shows him what she is and that she’s the one the stag chose. He sees this as her betraying their people which is interesting because at the end of the episode Alina says that Kirigan turned on his own people. So they both believe the other turned on their own people, the problem here is that I feel like Alina feels more loyalty towards the non Grisha Ravkans, she still sees them as more her people due to spending more time as just a ordinary mapmaker then as Grisha but the Darkling has more loyalty towards the Grisha. Its like how you know parents aren’t suppose to have a favourite child but we all know they do. Well I feel like the Ravkans are Alina’s favourite child and the Grisha are the Darkling’s. Of course they still care about the other but their ‘favourite’ is their priority if that makes sense. By the end of the season when we see the Darkling emerge from the fold I think he is feeling very angry and very betrayed by Alina, however I actually think the fact that she bested him has only made him look at her as even more of an equal than before. Not only is she someone who will stand up to him but now she has become someone who can match him. I do think he’s in this very complicated situation where he is on an opposite to the person he believes is essentially his soulmate. However as much as I think he does love her I still think he will put his people above her and so will continue to act in what he considers to be the best interests of his people. It also seems like he’s got some new powers and was able to create shadow soldiers which again is interesting because he basically just accomplished what he meant to do in the first place when he created the fold, he’s created his own army. 

Ok so that’s all for now to be honest I could talk about the Darkling forever but I think this is already long enough so if you have read all the way to the end thank you for your time. I am thinking of doing other character analysis posts so keep an eye for that if its something that interests you, I think I might do Alina next. I’ll also post my thoughts on the book once I’ve read it.        

#the darkling #general kirigan #darklina

[rayshippouuchiha]

Prompt of sorts i guess?

Read the story ‘the family you choose by TunaFishChris’ good story set in ATLA but when I finished reading it my brain threw more plot bunnies at me. Help.

Same soulmates verse but its ozai not azulon who burns zukos off, azulon does have one but its on his head covered by hair n it was for his wife so when she dies azulon goes a little mad n as this was during ozais formulation years n while iroh is away its no surprise that ozai ends up like he does. Half natural inclination n half nurture or lack there of. Sozin was soulmates with roku, loosing him n being partly responsible got rid of any sanity he still had thus war n genocide with gusto. Ozai is the only born royal with no marks n sees it as a strength, zuko gets his down his spine for his soul family always having his back n such. Ozai nearly cripples zuko getting rid of them. Lala (is easier n faster to write) gets her marks when she is with zuko, zuko is always with her, mum told him that he was a big brother n that big brothers looked after their little siblings, zuko loves his little sister, he takes her everywhere. So when her mark appear he very quickly covers them, takes them to a discreet doc in town to get cover cream for her n starts teaching her to NEVER talk about them to anyone but him, not mother not father, no one. It works the cream n the where they appear on the body mean she is not found out by ozai. This changes alot. Once azulon gets his mind back after his wifes death he is tired of war but realises that no one will believe him wanting to end the war, he looks at his sons, iroh has too much blood on his hands n likes fighting too much to be the one to take over from him. Ozai is too cruel, twisted n power hungry for it to be him. Lu ten is promising but after talking with him (under the pretences of teaching him royal politics, laws n other things that the presumed heir would need to know) azulon discovers that lu ten does not want to rule and to force him to do so would only make him resent the throne. Lu ten suggests zuko instead, zuko loves the nation n the ppl, zuko is a naturally caring n protective person, zuko already sneaks out n mingles with citizens who can’t seem to help loving him, he just draws everyone in. Lu ten suggests having zuko (and lala if zuzu is there so is she) attend these lessons with azulon n Lu ten the excuse given to allow it is that zuko is to be trained to be Lu tens advisor when he is firelord. Its the other way round really but no one else needs to know that yet, zuko can be the lord, Lu ten n lala the advisors. Lu ten is the one keeps the farce going n keeps the target for assassination on his back rather than his little cousins. Lu ten is reported dead at ba sing se but is alive just so injured n with amnesia, possibly also damage to his chi so he can’t bend. Is picked up by the boulder who was an army soldier but leaves after that battle as he can’t stand to see that much blood anymore. Lu ten has soul marks but they hang on his skin like a very log hanging belt no one is going to notice them unless he gets naked. Growing up zuko n lala discover they r soul mates, lala is far more stable as she knows her brother will always love her no matter what she does n without conditions like father. She still is terrifying but she is loyal to zuko n only plays at being loyal to ozai. When Lu ten is reported dead n ozai makes a play for the throne azulon sees his chance n when says ozai must lose a son, he doesn’t want zuko dead, he plans to remove zuko from ozai family line register n either take him in as his own son or to have iroh take zuko in. Either way zuko was never going to die. Lala not knowing this is scared her only person will be taken from her goes to mother as even though mother doesn’t love her she loves zuko n will be willing to protect him, that done she goes n spends the night with zuko in case father sends assassins. Ursa makes the poison n gives it to ozai n then runs, it isn’t fatal poison she is hoping that ozai will mess up, azulon to survive but proof that ozai tried to kill him will see ozai either in prison till he dies or being executed for treason. Either way zuko is safe from his father n azulon can’t kill zuko as he will be the only remaining male heir, ozai dead, iroh too old to have more children n azula being too young n too female for most of the war counsellors to take seriously. Ozai adds something of his own to the poison, not completely trusting ursa (I wonder y) the poison ends up stimulating death long enough for azulon to be declared dead, ozai crowned n shit started. Azulons body is secreted away by a small group of loyal followers n his health slowly, very slowly returns, he is an OLD man even if the poison doesn’t kill him it does still kick his ass a bit. Ozai ups his campaign to get rid of zuko, lala quickly becomes VERY good at acting, manipulation n fighting to counter this n keep her dum dum alive, zuko becomes paranoid as hell but reaches new heights in stealth, weaponry n first aid. Lala is counting down the days till she has a valid excuse to kill ozai. Azulon is pissed as hell that he can’t do anything from where he is apart from try to help zuko as much as he can by sending ppl he trusts to teach him n look after him. Iroh comes back n really throws a spanner in the works, dismissing his fathers ppl from around zuko, in the (how many??) months that he is back before zuko is shipped out has the highest number of nearly successful assassination attempts on zuko since ursa left. Ozai is not impressed (that they failed), lala is adding uncles name to her shit list, azulon is just mystified as to how his son who is a supposedly great tactician can be so damn stupid.

Then the agni kai happens n azulon is too pissed off at ozai to care about iroh anymore. Azula is leaving with zuko “as otherwise his only example of fire bending will be uncle father n really even dum dum is better than that, besides then if zuko dishonours the family I can kill him straight away.” She has spent too long keeping him alive now for him to ruin all her efforts now. Zuko still has the same soul mates but also has the marks for Lu ten, azula n yue. Azula has zuko, toph n yue. Lu ten has zuko, azula n boulder at the least. Toph has azula added to her group. 6 months after zuko is banished azulon manages to find their location n reach them before they leave, takes over teaching them again n rips iroh several new ones while the crew watches in awe n horror. Azulon finds out about zukos marks n what ozai did n nearly sinks the ship in his rage, lala is glad to find someone else to help her keep zuko alive even if she doesn’t fully trust him, the only one who gets that treasure is zuko. With azulon backing his thoughts about stopping the war n to start helping the ppl of his nation zuko is different by the time aang gets freed, he n lala (im still coming with u dum dum) start working with the gaang earlier n things go smoother? The fire royals end up going to the northern city with them where they meet yue, she n azula bond, azula teaches her to be terrifying, azulon just watches n makes cutting remarks on how stupid the norths misogyny is n just how under prepared they r for anything really, the small fleet of their southern sisters tribe could lay seige, win n not loose more than maybe 5 ppl n they r all non benders. Water ppl being pissed that they can’t kill azulon due to him not being fire lord anymore n is just a doting grandfather really look at how harmless n unarmed I am, they have no claimable vendetta to excuse their killing him as lawful by tribe standards, as the tribe isolated itself n has had no real damage from azulon, also he has already been declared dead which is throwing them a little. Hahn being stupid enough to try n take azulon on, azulons bitch face is epic n lala vows to replicate it one day. Political marriage betrothal between yue n zuko? This azulon is a mix of grumpy old man, sarcastic little shit n im-too-fabulous-for-this attitude. When they find toph is also when they find boulder n Lu ten, zuko n azula bond with him n that breaks the amnesia n katara might be able to help heal his chi?

#ATLA #Prompt #Oh oh damn #that's good #submission

[shygirlsimps]

How similar am I to the brothers and a mini rant about them idk

Not much to say for Lucifer, well actually a lot but ima shorten it bc it makes me mad (my previous post says it all basically), so I mean yeah it’s love hate thing with him I either wanna hit or hug him so he’s ranked either 5 or 6 out of the brothers gets bonus points for his daddy issues and being a dad who has a son with daddy issues hahahahahah Ima satan kinnie I will not confirm nor deny my issues with my dad 🥴👁👄👁💧

I mean ironically enough I do watch horror movies and ride rollercoasters even if I’m hella scared like even if Im so scared I wanna cry I force myself it’s weird I got issues, he’s my current fave, this tsundere dork is so adorable I wanna hug him so tight, especially when his brothers make fun him like stop leave him alone but I also wanna tease him and if he teases me back i would hit bc I have this issue where I hit people I like

I mean yeah he’s one of my kins and third fave, I just wanna tell him hes valid and I will gladly be an anime simp with him and cosplay and read manga and all that but our convos would mostly be us ranting or awkward asf bc I’m so awkward at first at least bc once I get comfortable I’m idk lol I got so many embarrassing stories like the one where I accidentally rejected a cute boy I liked when he was flirting bc I didn’t know he was or when I panicked and told the person I was talking to I have weak bones and he looked me up and down smiled and walked away

He is also another one of my kin’s and my first favorite but is now second, playing the game he immediately caught my attention and his backstory and daddy issues made me like him even more idk why I got issues anyways, we are so similar from being nerds to anger issues to piano playing etc, my whole family calls me a need just bc I read and get As well use to it’s been rough but they’ll never know they just think I’m being lazy now im just the awkward version of him that is super shy and has like two friends and no connections but ironically a lot of people know who I am I just don’t know them it surprises me when they talk to me I’m like I’m sorry who are you

before playing (just off looks) I thought I was gonna fave him femboys👀might also be gender envy I’m still discovering but idk I just didn’t maybe bc I’m so insecure shy and not liking emotions and he’s outgoing confident and touchy, but I still like him alot Bc like everything I’m not and opposites attract and I need him to help me come out of my shell and help with my skin care, Hell bring out my crazy that comes out once in while, his rank usually switches with Lucifer between 5/6

I mean he’s so sweet and nice it’s a little off putting to me, I really wanna like him a lot but I have trauma, plus just knowing he’s always (well not always but yk) working out or eating and is like 6’4 and super muscley is just like a no for me bc I’m disabled yes weak bones so even though I can walk dance and do normal things, i can’t do everything like run or jump and if I do it’s usually with pain, plus I’ma 4’10 (I thought I was taller but I’m not😭) 18yr old girl who’s been described as petite and fragile and quite frankly been given the kids menu one too many times it’d just be weird, also I got a love hate relationship with food I’m picky and other things like weight are a factor I thought about this too much hes ranked 7 I’m sorry Ik he’d be sweet about my issues but no

This sadistic mf who killed me I should freaking hate you but ima push over and for some reason you’re ranked 4, is it my love for purple stars the moon and the night idk but I get insomnia a lot so it’s ironic, but there’s something about him that I just like, I feel it’s my own trauma that makes me like him I mostly always like the daddy issues or edgy characters i mean Shoto,Dabi, Levi,Eren, Light, Zack. I just wanna lay down with him while he sleeps and I brush his hair and read or play games with him on my lap

I am done and if you read this all thank you now you know I’m basically a mix of taiga from toradora and hori from horimiya lowkey kaguya from love is war could also maybe be described as a little bit of Todoroki Bakugou and tamaki also excuse my mess of typing I hope it wasn’t too confusing

Anyways if you wanna be friends or Mutuals I’d be happy :))

#obey me shall we date #obey me! shall we date? #obey me #omswd #obey me! #obey me mammon #obey me lucifer #obey me satan #obey me leviathan #obey me belphegor #obey me asmodeus #obey me beelzebub #obey me beel #obey me belphie #obey me asmo #obey me levi

[nesta-stan]

Acosf Theory: Nesta being kidnapped by the Mortal Queens will be a major plot point.

We all already know that the queens are going to play a major role from the synopsis. I think that specifically it will be the youngest Queen who will act as Nesta's main antagonist. She is the perfect character to act as a foil for Nesta.

Lets start with the younger queen herself.

"And the youngest two queens … One was perhaps a few years older than me, black-haired and black-eyed, careful cunning oozing from every pore as she surveyed us.

"The youngest queen, the dark-haired one, smiled slightly. Arrogant youth"

Here we see a few similarities between Nesta and that Queen. She is arrogant, "Cunning", proud, and about the same age as Nesta. They were both made into things they didn't want to be. To the Queen, Nesta has everything she wanted; she got the youth the power, and the money.

“The youngest one—that pinched-faced bitch—went into the Cauldron first. Practically trampled the others to get in after it saw what it did to you and your sister.”

Stone screamed beneath twin sets of talons. “But the Cauldron … Oh, it knew that something had been taken from it. Not sentient, but … it knew. It was furious. And when that young queen went in …”

The Ravens laughed. Laughed as the slope leveled out and we found ourselves at the bottom of the library.

“Oh, it gave her immortality. It made her Fae. But since something had been taken from it … the Cauldron took what she valued most. Her youth.” They sniggered again. “A young woman went in … but a withered crone came out.”

And from the catacombs of my memory, Elain’s voice sounded: I saw young hands

wither with age.

“The other queens won’t go into the Cauldron for terror of the same happening now. And the youngest one … Oh, you should hear how she talks, Nesta Archeron. The things she wants to do to you when Hybern is done …”

The Queen is angry at Nesta and Nesta is angry at the Queens. I'm going to be honest, when it comes to SJM's main villains like the king of hybern they seem to be one dimensional but this Queen's circumstances can be what forces Nesta to look further at her own. This Queen is what Nesta might have been. She might even be a deciding factor on who Nesta chooses to become.

Why this would make Nesta going to the Illyrian mountains make more sense

"She wasn’t stupid—she knew there had been unrest, both in Prythian and on the continent, since the war had ended. Knew some Fae territories were pushing their new limits on what they could get away with in terms of territory claims and how they treated humans."

These are Nesta's thoughts before going to see her sister in the sneak peak. I, and a lot of others, have never been able to wrap our heads around how the Illyrian mountains could ever be a good place for Nesta. Yes, a lot of people use the excuse "it's for her healing" but there is never any reasoning behind why illyria?

The mortal Queens know about Velaris. If Feyre and the inner circle have caught on to a plan to kidnap Nesta, than it makes sense that they would try to hide her away somewhere safe. Especially since she is basically helpless on her own. Cassian is the only character, besides Feyre, that cares about Nesta's well being and Illyria is filled with soldiers ready to fight at a moment's notice, while Velaris isn't. It is also where she can train. This threat has probably made Feyre realize how defenseless her sister is and to give her a fighting chance, she forces Nesta to train.

Now, let's talk about the "Ally" the synopsis mentioned. I think it's the Illyrians. That's how she still ends up captured. They betray Cassian and offer his mate to the mortal Queens. Though we all refer to this as Nesta's book, it's Cassian’s too. The Illyrians are closest to his heart. So it makes sense that they are included in his Arc. He has long been bad mouthed and treated as lowly for his status but he never stopped loving his people. Instead he internalized it, but what happens when the woman of his affections suffers because of that hatred? It would be the perfect tool to force Cassian to self-reflect on who he is and what he stands for. Can he choose between his people and his love?

This ties in with the snow queen theory

I actually first thought of this when reevaluating the theory that the story that will work as an inspiration for this book is the Snow Queen by Hans Christian Anderson. There are three versions of that story that all could potentially tie into to Acofas. The original, Frozen, and the 2002 movie remake.

Frozen because it is the tale of two sisters coming together after years of estrangement. (Feyre and Nesta obviously). 

I put the 2002 version in their because in that version of the story has "Lady's" portraying and ruling over each season. Their is a spring witch, summer princess (cresseida) , Autumn thief, and then the snow queen(Vivian?). Meaning more characters might play more roles in this story. I did see alot of wanting Nesta to travel to the other courts.

Now for the original, which probably looks like it has the most connection to Acosf. The story is short and easy to find online. In short, it's about a girl Named Gerda who goes on a quest to find Kay, her childhood friend. A magic mirror created by the devil , that I'm not going into detail much but it's basically the Ouroboros, is shattered and falls into the eyes and heart of young Kay. (Snow Queen also speculated to have a shard in her heart) This makes him cruel to his sister like friend over the next year till he is kidnapped by the snow queen.

This story ties in for multiple reasons. I think hear the mirror is replaced by the Cauldron. Both the Mortal Queen and Nesta were made and neither or happy about it. This being the "glass shard that froze their hearts." And the Mortal Queen being the Snow Queen who kidnapped Kay, or Nesta. Also, Kay is cruel to Gerda for a year before he is taken and it's been a year since the war.

Now let's look at this Quote.

“Little Kay was quite blue, yes nearly black with cold; but he did not observe it, for she had kissed away all feeling of cold from his body, and his heart was a lump of ice. He was dragging along some pointed flat pieces of ice, which he laid together in all possible ways, for he wanted to make something with them; just as we have little flat pieces of wood to make geometrical figures with, called the Chinese Puzzle. Kay made all sorts of figures, the most complicated, for it was an ice-puzzle for the understanding. In his eyes the figures were extraordinarily beautiful, and of the utmost importance; for the bit of glass which was in his eye caused this. He found whole figures which represented a written word; but he never could manage to represent just the word he wanted—that word was “eternity”; and the Snow Queen had said, “If you can discover that figure, you shall be your own master, and I will make you a present of the whole world and a pair of new skates.” But he could not find it out.”

I always interpreted that if this was going to inspire something in Acotar it would be Metaphorical. That the injuries Kay suffers would be how Nesta let herself fall apart and the puzzle that he needed to spell eternity for could be how Nesta still doesn't know what to do with her immortal life.

But what if it's literally? What if the Queen captures Nesta and tries to use her powers to fix her. The Queen was also granted immortality. What if Kay figuring out how to spell eternity is Nesta figuring out how to fix the young Queen. And the injuries are of being black and blue are from the queens torchering her?

Sjm's habits.

Sjm always has a habit of making her characters go through even deeper shit, once they finally healed. It would make sense that she would throw us another curve ball like this. She did something similar with Aelin in Koa, and she has reused some points before. Like Aedion and Lysandra taking Nessian's "till the next life".

Also, alot of people don't like Nesta and having even worse charecters be introduced to make the others look better is so in Sjm style. Just in the way that Tamlin and Eris make Rhysand look like a Saint, having the mortal Queen be the "bad" version of Nesta would help people see her in a better light.

I tried to look at this in the way of, What will make these Charecters question themselves and their motives the most. This was my conclusion.

This is just what I came up with, if you have any differing thoughts or ideas I would love to hear them. 

@heylittlemissy @sjm-things 

#a court of frost and starlight #a court of mist and fury #a court of thorns and roses #a court of wings and ruin #acomaf #acofas #acotar #acowar #nesta archeron #nesta #a court of silver flames #acosf #acosf theory #nesta acotar #cassian x nesta #cassian acotar #nessian #Archeron #archeron sisters #sjm theory #sjm critical #sjmass #sjm #sarah j maas #cassian #nesta x cassian #snow queen