#and if you think about it the duke's palace would have made a lot of sense for an earlier level just from emily's perspective. | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

writefightandflightclub · 9 months

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Suddenly got hit by the thought of Leto taking his sweet time eating his cum out of you after fucking you over and over for hours…

Um. Excuse me? Ok. Um. Help?! Like. My God. Um. Yes?!

(Thank you for this delicious thot, Erika, and please accept this hastily scrawled offering in return for your kindness in sharing this 😝🧡 Also sorry for typos or incoherence. Wrote this in a haze and I’m about to go to bed so no time to proof!)

P.s. I’m keen to write more for the Duke atm so anyone (18+ ofc) feel free to hit me up with requests 🧡

Word count: 1.1k ish

Warnings: SMUT: oral, cum-eating (lots) 18+ only, Minors DNI

Plenty: (Duke Leto Atreides x fem!reader)

You’re sure his tongue is tracing the shape of the Caladan coastline as it shivers through your folds, pleasure blooming through your core like the surge of waves into your deepest coves.

You cry out, clamping your own hand over your mouth to quiet yourself, the sound digressing to something muffled against the palm of your hand.

You feel Leto chuckle warmly against your cunt, before sucking a puckered kiss over your clit. “What is the use of a palace so grand as this if my concubine cannot make noise, hmm? Who is it that will hear you, all this way from the halls?”

“The guards, perhaps.”

“Let them hear you.”

Your breaths grow ragged as he works at your folds with his tongue. “I think they have already heard plenty from me for today, my Lord.” Leto knows well how to please you. Perhaps he does not care as to who knows it.

“There’s no such thing as ‘plenty’ when it involves you, my dove.”

He must believe that, for all day he has not tired of you. All day he has bred you, filling you over and over with his seed until you were full of him. Until, when he shoved inside of you with his throbbing cock, his own release was forced out around him, coating your thighs, his balls, his abdomen, the silken sheets - both your writhing bodies.

And, now that you have finally drained him dry, he settles himself over your sensitive cunt, his tongue laving the apex of your thighs, licking up his own spend.

He huffs his warm breath against your folds again as he adjusts, settling his head more squarely between your thighs. Your legs are folded back towards your chest by the firm press of his warm, broad palms, your Duke laid out on his front - in an undignified manner, quite unbefitting a man of his position.

You take pride in it. In him. At stately functions you have gossiped with other concubines - or, rather, have allowed them to gossip in your presence, as that would be unbecoming of your position. You’ve heard them tell that their Lords are more than content for their concubines to sink to their knees in service, but that the equivalent act is never bestowed in their favour.

And then, there’s your beautiful Leto.

You could count out whole calendar months against the time he’s spent between your thighs, and you know you are endlessly lucky to be at his service, when he gives you so much in return.

Indeed, you moan as his tongue probes greedily at your sensitive, fucked-open entrance, humming as his lips and beard glide over the mess he’s made of you. “Leto,” you gasp, as you realise he must mean to suck you clean of him.

He hums and you hear him swallow, the idea of him tasting himself sending a wild, throbbing want to your over-worked clit.

You throw your head back on to the propped stack of pillows he’d arranged you on when, moments ago, you had grown limp and boneless through your earth-shaking release. Your body positioned so that his seed must be gradually eking out of you, you now realise; taking a slow, honeyed surge down to his wanting lips.

You lick your own lips, imagining the moreish salt-tang of him, and once again pleasure crests as his tongue shivers through your folds. His ministrations dance over you in a gentle, teasing pattern; then, he flattens his tongue, licking a hot, greedy stripe along the full length of your throbbing slit.

Even the air is full of sex, just like you are, the room salted like the sea, a rousing musk which fills your lungs and makes you think of home.

You whimper, clamping your hands either side of his head, twisting your fingers into the regal, grizzled waves which undulate between the slack grasp of your fingers. You know not whether you mean to pull him closer or to push him away, but in the end you do neither, instead bucking your arousal up and into his mouth, grinding your heat against his beard and chin and nose until he is coated - a mess of your juices and his own seed as though he is the shore now, and you the dragged, liquid tide coursing over his stony face.

Leto does not complain, however. Instead, when you look back down to him his eyes are glinting wickedly - like black stones winking out of rock-pools. He hums into your heat, the sound low and drawn-out; sending vibrations singing through your core and reminding you you are empty of him.

“Leto!” you squeal suddenly as he swirls his tongue against you, flicking and thudding against your clit. Using all the power and finesse in his lips and tongue to stake his compelling argument.

You grow breathless, an impossible pleasure building as he writhes his tongue along your sensitive folds, meticulously cleaning every last drop of him from you.

“Do you like to taste yourself, my Lord?” you ask as a warm heat blooms right through your middle.

“I like to taste how full I made you, my dove. I like to taste how many times I claimed you as my own.”

From his position, you watch crinkles radiate out from around his eyes as he looks up at you - with a wicked amusement at the growing state of you, already a mess and about to become further undone. Then, he resumes his focus, his proud nose nudging against your clit as he sinks back towards your entrance.

The blooming pleasure makes you clamp down on nothing, empty of him, squeezing more of his seed out of you. You feel it trickle out of you, moments before it is met eagerly by Leto’s lips and tongue. You shiver as you feel the pleasant scrape of his drenched, coated beard, flattened to his shapely chin as he laps up every drop.

He grunts, pushing your thighs further back, opening you up to him further, and, as his tongue curls and slides and probes against you just the way you like, you fist your hands into the sheets in desperation. “Leto! My Lord! What do you mean to do to me?” You can barely take it, so overcome with pleasure already. “Do you mean to clean up every drop?!”

He chuckles warmly, a sound only you are ever privy to. He grips your thighs to manoeuvre them downward, settling them either side of his ears for your comfort. Allowing him to twist and to plant a delicate kiss to your inner thigh.

“I plan to keep going until I can only taste you, my love,” he rasps into your skin, and his words cause your eyes to roll skyward once more.

Leto dips his eager mouth towards your cunt once more too, entirely unrelenting.

You interpret that you are going to be here for some time at his service; but that suits you just fine.

When it comes to Leto - and his supple tongue - there’s no such thing as plenty. Never such a thing as enough or too much.

He shoves his tongue inside of you, finally through with his teasing, it appears. Indeed, the benevolent Duke finally grants you a consistent pace and motion, carrying you forcefully skyward as your pleasure lifts - like a hawk tossed aloft by the graze of the wind under its wings.

And, this time, when you come undone, you do make enough noise to befit a palace of this size.

In fact, by the time your Duke is done with you - which won’t be for some time - they may even have heard your gracious, lilting moans from all the way down in the halls.

#duke leto atreides #duke leto x reader #duke leto atreides x reader #leto atreides x reader #Oscar Isaac

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charlotte-of-wales · 4 months

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"Royal Family persuaded Queen to end her days at Balmoral"

Princess Royal discloses Elizabeth II feared making life difficult if she died in Scotland

by Hannah Furness, Royal Editor

The late Queen was persuaded to spend her final days at Balmoral as she and the Royal family made preparations for her death, it has emerged.

Queen Elizabeth II had initially feared "it would make things more difficult" if she died at her beloved Scottish home, the Princess Royal has disclosed. Her family eventually convinced her to put her own comfort before her concern for others after a lifetime of duty.

Speaking of her mother's last days in a BBC documentary about the coronation of King Charles III, the Princess described how the family had tried to persuade her that practical issues "shouldn't be part of the decision-making process".

It is the first time the Royal family has spoken of arrangements for the late Queen's death.

Queen Elizabeth II died peacefully at Balmoral in Scotland on Sept 8 last year, aged 96, after reigning 70 years.

She had extended her annual summer stay at the Aberdeenshire estate, where the Prime Minister asked to travel to Scotland to spare her the journey back to Buckingham Palace for what turned out to be her final engagement.

Her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren had visited Balmoral over the summer, as concern for her health grew. The Duke of Sussex and his family did not make the trip, having fears over their security.

At the time, the palace described the Queen as having "episodic mobility problems", with a series pf cancelled engagements in early 2022 giving way to a peaceful summer without expectation she would appear in public.

In September, she invited Liz Truss, her 15th prime minister, to form a government from Balmoral, breaking with a lifetime of holding the audience in London or Windsor. Then, it was said the Queen had been advised not to travel, with plans for Boris Johnson and Ms Truss to make the 1,000-mile round trip to Scotland instead.

Now, speaking in the documentary, the Princess Royal has paid loving and characteristically practical tribute to her mother.

"We always enjoyed being at Balmoral", she says in a programme to be broadcast on Boxing Day. "We spent a lot of time there in our youth and a lot of it was probably a more independent life than anywhere else. I think there was a moment where she felt it would be more difficult if she died at Balmoral. I think we did try to persuade her that that shouldn't be part of the decision-making process. So I hope she felt that was right in the end, because we did".

The Princess was the only member of the Royal family to be at Balmoral when it became clear the Queen was entering her final hours.

The then Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall made an emergency journey from Dumfries House in Ayrshire, with other senior members of the family arriving after she had died.

Speaking of the moment at St. George's Chapel when the Crown Jeweller removed the crown, orb and scepter from her coffin, the Princess told BBC One programme Charles III: The Coronation Year: "When he takes the crown off the coffin, I rather weirdly felt a sense of relief. Somehow that's it, finished. That responsibility being moved on".

Speaking of her brother, who became King instantly, she added: "To be honest, I'm not sure that anybody can really prepare themselves for that kind of change. At least no easily. And then the change happens and you go OK, I know need to get on with it".

The documentary will share behind-the-scenes footage of the King's preparation for his Coronation in May.

The Princess Royal is the only member of the Royal family to be interviewed on camera. The Prince of Wales and the Duke of Edinburgh appear in footage, with no sign of the Duke of Sussex or Duke of York.

#queen elizabeth ii #princess anne #articles

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brf-rumortrackinganon · 3 months

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One more thing I forgot to post re: Eugenie vs the Sussexes.

During the Platinum Jubilee when the Sussexes were doing the most to try to get pictures with the other royals or even to get them to Frogmore for LilD’s birthday, Eugenie would have been their natural and easy target ally.

Instead the Sussexes made a very public play for the Philips/ Tindalls. All the cousins were in the same room at Horse Guards, but the Sussexes were photographed variously with the junior Philips/ Tindalls and The Duke of Kent. The few Long lens pics into the room showed that no one was talking to Meghan or Harold except for one pic of Harold with Kent.

Then the Sussexes leave Horse Guards presumably to return to Frogmore, and miss the flypast. Eugenie posts lots of pics from the flypast which show that Zara, Beatrice are with her on a rooftop at SJP.

Later that afternoon/ early evening Zara, Mike, Beatrice, Edo, Jack and Eugenie are papped coming out of a London restaurant following group lunch, which Mike later revealed involved all the royal cousins+ spouses who weren’t on the balcony. Only the Sussexes don’t attend because they’d gone back to Frogmore.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10896165/Mike-Tindall-reveals-outstanding-cousins-lunch-Harry-Meghan-didnt-attend.html

The next day the Sussexes put out PR about a birthday party for LilD which they claim was attended by the Philips/ Tindalls and their children, but the two families were very visibly at the races most of that day and the distance between locations to attend both events would have been impossible especially as the Philips/ Tindall families had booked London hotels for Jubilee weekend and centred all their activities in/ around London give or take afew miles outside it.

***********

I do remember these well.

I don’t think Harry and Meghan not being in Eugenie’s Trooping video (remember how pissed everyone got at her because Wolfie’s face was visible, when Beatrice and Edo hadn’t been showing his face? ah, good times) is because of the falling out. I think it was just the logistics the Queen/Charles had put in place for handling the Sussexes. It was implied that Harry and Meghan were only invited to the official ceremonial events, and once something ended, they were herded back to their car and sent home to FrogCott to wait for tomorrow’s event. So what happened at the service of thanksgiving (where they left in a car that took them to FrogCott while everyone else bussed over to the guildhall for the reception) is what happened after Trooping: everyone else was carriaged/bussed back to Buckingham while the Sussexes were sent home and then all the cousins decided to go out for lunch.

Supposedly that’s why they left early - they were upset by how closely they were being controlled by palace handlers regarding the events, but knew they couldn’t complain (publicly at least) because they needed the optics of being with Lili for her first birthday so they could use the public spotlight to pressure the BRF into giving them the Lilibet Meets Lilibet photo.

Also it has been alleged that Anne was livid the Sussexes got the photo ops they did with her grandchildren. I have also heard that Autumn and Zara were upset too, which is allegedly why they bailed on the birthday party after promising to go (I’m not sure I believe this one because Zara absolutely would’ve already had plans with her family for the weekend). I think what really happened with the birthday party is Harry invited them, they said “we’ll let you know,” which the Sussexes interpreted as “yes” and thus all the PR.

#ask #brf #platinum jubilee

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blues824 · 1 year

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Imagine the remarried empress reacting to Duke kaufman bringing a female Kalim

🌞i see Duke kaufman bringing a brotherly figure towards her or him taking the role of jamil because her didn't get iskaid with the Kalim reader .

🌞Like she got iskaid to his kingdom still with all her rithest to her name and her being the happy go locky sunshine next to the Duke whoud be funny.

Those clothing are fabulous he looks so beautiful along with jamil.

🌞Like she got invited to navier and sovieshit empre because of kaufman and when she arrives her being herself making people think she is eather faking it or the Duke literally invided the sun.

🌞Her being a sweetheart and giving navier a present and her ladies in waiting imagine her inviting navier on her flying carpet.

(sovieshit and rattrash don't dezelfde presents from Kalim )

🌞Imagine her inviting navier and some of the ladies from her empire to a party like she did in twisted wonderland and how would they react to seeing her food get always tested for poison (because being a Asim brings a lot of enemies )

Kalim taking a nap during dinner it's adorable poor jamil thought.

*Casually has a bloody nose because of the clothes on Kalim and Jamil.* I decided to put an interesting twist: your merchant family has found a way to travel across dimensions to further expand their wealth. You graduated NRC at this point.

Preface: You get transported to the Kingdom of Luipt because of a distant relative that was a part of your merchant family. You had asked to travel with them, and they agreed to let you on the condition that you would shadow Grand Duke Kaufman to learn about settling affairs both foreign and local.

Sovieshu

The moment you had set foot into the palace, he was there to greet you. As you went to bow before the Emperor, he took in your appearance. You had a silk head scarf, along with silk clothing that paired nicely with Grand Duke Kaufman’s uniform. You had a few gold bands around your arms. You just looked absolutely beautiful.

During your time, you mostly stuck with the Duke. He would try to have a conversation with you, but you would just smile apologetically and say that you shouldn’t converse about anything political without Kaufman. From what he’s seen, you seem very happy to be there, he just wishes he could show you around the garden (with your arm in his).

You even became friends with both Navier and Rashta… until you found out that the latter was his mistress and the former was his wife. It made you upset to see Navier upset about it, so you decided to distance yourself from Rashta.

Kaufman was there when Sovieshu asked if you would be interested in becoming his next mistress, kind of like an act of goodwill between Luipt and the Eastern Empire. You had to tell him that you weren’t actually a resident of the Kingdom of Luipt, and therefore your mistress-hood would be invalid. He was absolutely distraught.

Rashta

She thought you were beautiful as well and wanted to become friends with you. You had a beautiful scarf that covered your head, and you wore gold all over: in your earrings, the bands around your arms, and headpiece that held the scarf in place.

It was a bit frustrating to her because you stuck by Grand Duke Kaufman’s side for the majority of your visit. He had told you not to go anywhere without him, and you followed his orders because it was a privilege to even be here instead of Twisted Wonderland.

It made her angry to see you getting along with Navier more than her. To Rashta, having a friend from another kingdom was another step into becoming more like the current Empress. Did you think she genuinely wanted to be your friend?

She was there when Sovieshu had asked if you wanted to become one of his mistresses, and she let out a gasp. She relaxed when you refused, but your reasoning concerned her. You explained that you weren’t even from this world and therefore couldn’t be his mistress. According to birth records in any kingdom of this dimension, you didn’t exist. You never said that you didn’t want to.

Navier

She was also at the entrance to greet you both. She knew you were from a different world because she kept close ties with members of your family as well as Duke Kaufman. She was surprised at how you carried yourself and the pristine manners you displayed. It was better than Rashta, and she’s been there longer than you have.

She understood why you always stayed near the Grand Duke. You were in a strange world, and he was the only familiar person to you. However, when he gave you the ‘okay’ to hang out with her, she realized just how bubbly you were. You knew the limits, unlike a certain somebody.

You’ve thrown a few parties in your time there, and each time you presented her with the best silk that your family had obtained. They typically had golden trim to them, and they were vibrant colors that she can’t recall ever wearing before. You totally took her on a magic carpet ride.

When the Emperor asked you to become his mistress, Kaufman refused for you. That got the men going in a vocal altercation, and you going to Navier’s chambers. You ran into her arms and clung onto her as you were speaking a mile a minute trying to tell her what happened. She wrapped her arms around you in return, trying to comfort you.

Heinrey

He met you when you were visiting, and you were in the Empress’s chambers as he flew in (I made him sound like Hawks from MHA). You let out a gasp of shock, before going over and introducing yourself. You knew how to talk to animals because of your education back home, and that freaked him out.

He had told you his secret and begged you to keep it. Unfortunately, you weren’t the best liar, but you came up with the lie that his dialect was a bit different than what you were used to so you were having a harder time. Navier seemed oblivious enough.

You have given him a bunch of accessories that he absolutely loved. You would even give them to him so that he could give them to Navier in an attempt to ‘charm’ her. It never worked, but it was the thought that counted.

At his and Navier’s wedding, they were sad to see you wouldn’t be able to attend because you were heading back home to Twisted Wonderland. You did send them a long winded letter wishing them health and prosperity, as well as a bunch of fancy silk and gold.

Bonus: Kosair

You had met back in Luipt, actually. He was traveling around and went there on a whim. He had to admit that you were the most gorgeous lady he had ever laid his eyes on. When he told you so, you just smiled and called him handsome back.

Kaufman deemed that he wasn’t any danger (besides if you made him angry), so he said it was alright for you to go on a few walks with him. Kosair got to experience your genuinely happy personality. He found it absolutely adorable how you cared for everyone.

You both went with Kaufman to the Eastern Empire to negotiate between the two. Kosair was happy to see you getting along with Navier. In fact, she treated you like a dear friend, even though you had only met that day.

He eventually asked for your hand in marriage, but you said that you couldn’t because you weren’t from this world. However, you tried to make it better by telling him you loved him. It didn’t do anything besides drive the knife deeper into his heart.

#remarried empress x reader #remarried empress #the remarried empress x reader #the remarried empress #emperor sovieshu #sovieshu x reader #sovieshu #rashta x reader #rashta #empress navier #navier trovi #navier x reader #navier #heinrey x reader #heinrey #kosair x reader #kosair trovi #kosair

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copperbadge · 7 months

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Cleaning out my Google Drive archive, I happened to stumble across the original spec Hallmark Movie script that Fete For A King was based on -- not that I had lost it, I'd just kind of forgotten about it. And it occurred to me you guys might enjoy seeing a scene or two from it.

I wrote Fete basically from the script -- I made a copy of the script and rewrote it into prose as I went, then did a second pass to make it less Scripty, so most of it would be very familiar. The plot came through basically intact. The one thing I significantly altered was Jerry and Alanna's subplot -- in the script, as often happens with Hallmark films, the supporting characters also have a love storyline. I took that out of the book because it didn't need the padding, and it allowed me to give them a book of their own later, but the script scenes were pretty fun. :D

(In this version Jerry still attends the Agricultural Cabinet meeting for Gregory, but mentions this fact to Michaelis, which gets Gregory in trouble for blowing it off.)

ALANNA, spying on the lunch meeting through the door to the Prince's office, leans back behind a column or wall. DUKE GERALD (JERRY), looking apologetic, winces.

ALANNA: How could you, Jerry?

JERRY: I told you, I didn't mean to! I thought if I told the king I stepped in for Gregory, it would show I'm taking an interest. Turning over a new leaf.

ALANNA: Nobody asked you to take an interest.

JERRY: Least of all me. But I was interested, really, Alanna. We could be doing so much more with olives. I didn't know crop planning was such a precise science.

ALANNA: And that's great, but you could have just said you went WITH Greg to the meeting.

JERRY: Why would I go with Greg to an agricultural meeting? Anyway, I would have but I didn't think of it. Don't be mad at me.

ALANNA: It's not me you have to worry about.

JERRY: But Greg knows I wouldn't sabotage him. Besides, uncle Mike would have heard about it eventually anyway. Everyone in town was talking about the Prince coming to try that cheese shop with the social media chef guy.

ALANNA: He's under a lot of pressure.

JERRY: I know.

ALANNA: And now unless that cheese REALLY impresses the king, he's going to start following Greg around everywhere and trying to offer his opinion.

JERRY: He's been king for forty years. His opinion's probably useful.

ALANNA: Not if the prince wants to make his own way.

JERRY: Well, what do you want me to do? I can't make uncle Mike like cheese.

ALANNA: I want you to keep an eye on them and keep the king distracted. Can't you do something mildly embarrassing?

JERRY: More or less embarrassing than visiting a cheese shop in a "Truly Tasty" hat?

ALANNA: Fix it, Jerry!

JERRY: Fine, I'll do my best. But I want you to make Greg make me his vizier when he's king.

ALANNA: We haven't had a vizier in a hundred years. What does a vizier even do?

JERRY: Nothing, but with drama.

ALANNA: Fine. I have meetings. Stay here, keep spying, report back when they leave.

JERRY gives her a thumbs up and watches her leave, then turns to spying on the meeting.

***

And then Alanna has a realization....

ALANNA is still leading JERRY away from the picnic.

JERRY: I thought you wanted me to keep Uncle Mike off Greg's case.

ALANNA: Not tonight. Eddie's pitching his new high-concept for the coronation feast, so they've got to be there together.

JERRY: Well, I wish someone would make up their mind around here.

ALANNA: You could set a trend.

JERRY: What's that supposed to mean?

ALANNA: You're not interested in olives, Jerry.

JERRY: Of course I am.

ALANNA: You're interested in the fact that my dad heads the cabinet board that supervises the olive harvest.

JERRY: Olives are very interesting to me. (deflating) And I wanted to impress your dad.

ALANNA: He's known you since we were kids running around the palace together.

JERRY: Is that good?

ALANNA: My father has literally watched you fall out of multiple trees you were trying to climb.

JERRY: Failing to climb, mostly.

ALANNA: So why are you trying to impress him now?

JERRY: Well, isn't it obvious?

They stare at each other.

ALANNA: I cannot go on a date with you.

JERRY looks crestfallen. ALANNA pulls out her phone.

ALANNA: There's too much to do, Jerry. Between now and the coronation every hour I'm awake is booked. The best I can give you is three weeks from Tuesday.

JERRY: What?

ALANNA: Three weeks from Tuesday. Does that work for you? Never mind, your calendar's on my phone. I'm booking us in. Dinner okay?

JERRY: Uh. Yes.

ALANNA: Good. I'll send you a calendar invite, you pick the place.

She walks off, still typing in her phone.

JERRY: What just happened?

#shivadhverse #you can really see Jerry's roots in Bertie Wooster showing through here

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gizkasparadise · 4 months

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final leg of a journey to love thoughts!! (eps 35-40). this got so gd long so under a cut it goes. spoilers, of course:

PLOT STUFF/PACING

pacing for the plot definitely got shredded in the last chunk, which is a damn shame because otherwise i've been finding the pacing pretty much perfect. eps 35-37 in particular felt like they could have been like a 10 episode arc. ep 38, which mostly dealt with wu palace politics, should have been cut or streamlined imo and more time given to the characters we've actually been riding along with the whole story. by the time we get back to the pregnant empress, prince danyang, the first prince whose name i dont even remember, and the prime minister, i do not care about any of them and i think this subplot was simply just trying to fit too much shit into one bag

that said, this show still let the emotional moments hit and breathe and linger. i love the grief for the fallen liudao comrades as we go, as well as the less heavy but still emotionally important moments like yang ying and tongguan bonding over their upbringing. and we got a wedding /;3;/!!! for this show, the relationships and characters matter more than the storyline so im not mad about anything at all

side note: it's so gd millennial to have a story about a bunch of 30 something year olds who want to fake their deaths and retire into obscurity but instead they go and die for a boss they hate

CHARACTER STUFF

this show consistently brought a lot of depth to its side characters (and side side characters!!). i said it in an earlier post, but it bears repeating that even someone like deng hui i didnt expect anything from, but he got such good development and writing that he became a stealth fave. his dying words essentially being "dude, quit fucking around" ? iconic.

i didnt like tongguan as much as everyone else, so im pretty meh about everything regarding him. the attempt to force-wed ruyi was tonally really weird and didnt make sense (i assume there was some cuts made surrounding it). but LOL at him reusing all the outfits and decor immediately for his wedding to yang ying. baby duke, you tacky motherfucker. i ultimately think yang ying deserves better than him, but the good thing is that she knows this, so she'll be able to hold her own and then some entering into this partnership

shisan really was the heart in a lot of ways--the mom to yuanzhou's dad for the liudao. i was not expecting him to break my heart the way he did, but the fact that he held both qian zhao and sun lang as they died and then tried his best to remove yuan lu from harm and saved chu yue and was just very much a nurturer all the way through got me. his character couldve been cheap comic relief but the writing + performance really elevated him into one of the (imo) most memorable wuxia characters. his line wondering who would get to behead his beautiful skull!!! and how his mantra was always that he was going to drink the best wine, see the most beautiful women, and make the best of friends and he dies having lost the ability to see and having just had wine in memory of qian zhao, yuan lu, and sun lang. like. shut up!!

ruyi and yuanzhou were both so great and they're gonna be the drama OTP to beat forever. i loved the gender reversals, that they both were so respectful of each other, and that they also felt very mature in how they handled things and communicated. they were really interesting characters both together and apart and that's always a win-win. they had a schroedinger's ending where it's not super clear if they're alive or dead (i interpreted it as the latter), but what's kind of beautiful is that either option is satisfying to me. if they both died, they're reunited and with their comrades and the story is truly about the journey and the meaningful short connections we have. if they both survived, it's a bookend with the beginning where they each faked their deaths to escape. A+

COSTUMING

i gotta just separately mention the costuming for this show because it was 15/10. the textures, shisan's accessories, the way red became integrated with yuanzhou's wardrobe and blue with ruyi's. the details on the liudao name amulets!! SO GOOD. i love when characters' clothes tell a story on their own

overall i just really loved this drama it is probably my favorite wuxia ive seen so far! it's gonna be in my brain for awhile lol feel free to send fic prompts if you've made it this far :'D

#a journey to love #cdrama

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romewritingshop · 7 months

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Just Like Magic pt. 2.5

Fandom: Jujutsu Kaisen

Pairing: Viscount!Choso x Maid/Reader

Warning: N/A

MASTERLIST

A/N: This is 2.5. Just some background context drabbles to tide people over till the next release of JLM. Thanks and I hope you enjoy. Let me know what you think! Follow, comment or reblog, IDC because I enjoy writing this fic. Please pay attention before reading.

What Happened in the Year Drabbles:

Meeting Megumi:

Megumi huffed and groaned in exasperation as he struggled to use his spoon to scoop some soup into his mouth. It has been two days since he was recovering from his recon mission. Megumi was doing routine checks on villages in the north, ensuring security was tight when he was attacked by a monster. This was an ugly tall monster with lots of drool and long legs, the young soldier struggled to subdue the monster with his skills and barely got away.

When he arrived at the palace, he informed Viscount Itadori, who then planned to take most of his men up north to eradicate the monsters. Nanami helped him into his room to rest and recuperate. Right now, he was struggling to eat some food which made him instantly give up and return the bowl onto his tray and move it to the foot of the bed. There was a knock on his door, annoyed at whoever was coming to disturb him.

“Megumi!”

He winced at the screechy voice as he took in the hyperenergetic pink haired mage. His posture straightened in surprise at the woman behind him, wearing a dark green dress and carrying herself with an air of elegance.

“What do you want?”

“I wanted to check on how you were doing! What kind of monster were you attacked by?”

“Shut up, Yuuji! Who’s that behind you?”

She was about to open her mouth when Yuuji cut in rather disappointedly.

“Not until you answer my question.”

Megumi glared at Yuuji but the young lady rolled her eyes and patted the pink haired man on the shoulder before taking a seat on the chair beside Megumi’s bed. Her eyes go over to the tray on the bed as she smiles softly at Megumi. There’s something about her that reminds him of someone close to him.

“My name is (Y/N).” She hesitated at the end, looking to Yuuji as if he could better explain who she was. Yuuji grinned as he gave a nod.

“She’s the new Viscountess."

Megumi raised a suspicious eyebrow, folding his arms and leaning back on his bed.

"When did this happen?"

Yuuji brought his fingers to count before smiling and answering.

"Four maybe five days ago."

Megumi furrowed his eyebrows before then asking.

"I thought he was meant to marry Lady Yorozu."

Yuuji smiled nervously, scratching at his head whereas (Y/N) straightforwardly answered.

"Duke Kenjaku tricked Viscount Itadori by making me pose as Lady Yorozu."

Megumi gave a nonchalant nod as (Y/N) turned to Yuuji to request that he excuse her and Megumi. Yuuji gave a nod and stepped out before it was just (Y/N) and Megumi. She exhaled looking at his tray and spoke.

"Was the soup not to your liking?"

Megumi pursed his lips and shook his head, unsure of whether to tell her the truth or to go with her assumption. She smiled and brought the tray on her lap, stirring it with a spoon.

"I used to make this soup for my brother whenever he was … unwell. I hoped it would do the same for you."

Megumi's shoulders sagged slightly as he shook his head, this time deciding to admit the truth.

"It would have been good if I could just get my strength up."

(Y/N) smiled softly and lifted the spoon up to Megumi’s mouth.

"If you're okay with it, I could help you eat."

Megumi opened his mouth cautiously, taking a bite and finally managing to savour the soup. It was sweet and nutty, being able to taste chicken, corn and egg. Something his sister would make as he glanced up at the young Viscountess. What did she want? (Y/N) smiled while stirring the soup and giving Megumi another spoonful.

"Truthfully Sir Fushiguro, I'm trying to atone for my inconvenience."

Megumi hadn't realised that he expressed his thoughts out loud but remained a neutral expression at her words. He couldn't well and truly judge what she was saying as he exhaled.

"Don't bother. You weren't the one who tricked Viscount Choso, Duke Kenjaku did. As long as you don't hurt anyone here, then there is no issue."

(Y/N) gave a nod and helped Megumi to finish his soup before she stood up with the tray in her hands.

"You remind me a lot of my brother. I just want to make sure that I do right and well by you, along with the other house members."

Just before she's about to go, Megumi calls out.

"Call me Megumi. You make me sound old like my Dad."

"Of course, Megumi."

(Y/N) left the room and Megumi couldn't help but let out a small soft smile. She reminded him a lot about his sister Tsumiki. Maybe Lady Itadori would be a beneficial addition to the Itadori House.

Meeting Locals:

It had been a month now since (Y/N) had grown accustomed to the House, coming to grips with her role as a Lady. It seemed that the training she would have given to Lady Yorozu (if she got married) became more useful for herself as she finished reading the final ledger from Viscount Itadori.

Kaprines was doing alright as a region but it had not given much value to the country of Alabria as she leant back on her study chair. She recently rearranged her office, to have an extra desk by the wall, full of parchment, paints and graphite. The window in the office also had a cushioned seat which made it easier to look out the window and sketch.

It had also been a month since she had stayed indoors, getting used to her place and she desperately wanted to go out and breathe some air, to go into the town and see what life was like for the inhabitants of Kaprines. After all, she was Viscountess Lady Itadori of Kaprines.

She gave a soft smile at Zachary, the raven was snoozing peacefully on a cushion on her desk, she brought a finger to stroke the back of his neck. (Y/N) wanted to keep Zachary close to her. Standing up, she went beside her office door to pull the golden cord which summoned Nanami to her office. Within a few minutes, there was a knock on her door before it opened to reveal Nanami.

The man was dressed in a simple dark blue shirt with a khaki coloured trouser and long jacket. He gave a short bow to the Lady.

"My Lady?"

"I've finished reading the last ledger but I had a few questions."

Nanami gave a nod as (Y/N) gestured for him to take a seat opposite her desk before she too sat down herself. The blonde man simply stood before her desk ignoring her offer which made (Y/N) roll her eyes.

"What would you like to know?"

"Has Kaprines contributed to Alabria in any way? For example, Scora is our biggest port which takes in imports from other nations; Chaycor produce steel and wool; Shiuh Shia have big agriculture, almost providing food for the country, Jotron has the best education and medicine provision and Lushijan is where most men train to become knights and soldiers."

Nanami nervously scratched the back of his head which seemed to answer her question. Something needed to be done to try to get Kaprines established and on the same level as the other regions.

"I mean, Kaprines has a mixture of those things but nothing that makes it stand out alone."

"Right. And what about the people? How do they feel about the Lord presiding over their state? Viscount Itadori wrote very little about them."

"As far as I know, we've not heard many issues from the towns. They're self-sufficient in what they do but I can be wrong. In terms of the ledgers, Viscount Itadori had to focus more on retaining stability as a household head.

"It took him a lot longer to be accustomed to being a Viscount, especially as he is used to being on the battlefield."

"I see. Finally, how many people exactly know who I am? And what have the people been told?"

Nanami stuttered as he counted in his head.

"In terms of the truth of how and why you're here: Me, Nobara, Megumi, Yuuji, Captain Tsukumo, Captain Fushiguro and Lord Itadori know. The other workers in the house have been told that Lord Itadori chose to marry you instead of Lady Yorozu. Everyone else has not been informed. That was Lord Itadori's job."

Nanami's face darkened as he stared down at the desk. Unfortunately Zachary was waking up at that moment and croaked loudly at the butler's face, flying up in panic before landing on his Lady's shoulder. (Y/N) pouted, patting her bird comfortingly and soothing him whereas Nanami snapped out of anger and apologised.

"I apologise, Zachary."

The raven bowed his head before flying down perching himself on her lap to receive pets and strokes.

"Right. In that case, I should be able to just visit the people without any hassle."

She lifted her bird to her eyes and informed Zachary to pass a message to Nobara and Megumi. The blonde haired butler stands up with surprise.

"My Lady?"

"What? Is there an issue with it?"

Nanami shook his head with a soft chuckle, opening the door to let the raven fly out and give a message.

"You're beginning to look a lot like the Lady of the house." (Y/N) gave a smile before Nanami continued, this time his tone was more serious. "Please do me a favour and keep Megumi and Nobara with you."

"I promise."

~~~~

"Why is it so quiet?"

(Y/N), Megumi and Nobara walked around the town square, taking in the very few people that were walking around. It looked like a ghost town. The roads weren't dilapidated so the town wasn't necessarily poorly kept. There just seemed to be no life and excitement.

"Kaprines has been like this as far as I know. There just isn't much to do."

The shopkeepers seemed bored out of their minds as (Y/N) glanced around. There was a lot that needed to be done before she came across a shop that was simply titled 'Hakari's'. With a frown, she entered the shop, after requesting Megumi and Nobara to wait outside, looking around to see odd bits of indistinguishable junk and books. There was a person sitting at the front counter, their eyes snapped up in surprise as they turned around and called.

"Kin! There's a customer!"

There was a trudging down the stairs before (Y/N)'s came across a man of average height, dressed almost like his manga counterpart. This was all new territory and the characters she knew were becoming different to what she knew prior. He was wearing black trousers and a brown fur coat, his hair was a pale purple.

He had a big grin on his face as his fingers stroked along his thin barely there moustache, before spinning his hand to give a flamboyant bow.

"Hello! I am Kinji Hakari and behind me is Kirara Hoshi. Call me Hakari. What brings a member of the Itadori House to my shop?"

(Y/N) glanced up with confusion at Hakari, unable to understand how Hakari knew that. The man simply grinned as he explained.

"I know nearly everyone in this town and you definitely aren't from here. Plus you have the house seal on that robe."

(Y/N) pinched her lips at her realisation as she lifted the hood off her head before introducing herself, deciding to go with her maiden name to avoid telling the truth.

"I'm (Y/N) Inumaki, working in the Itadori House. I'm new to Kaprines and simply just want to know why it looks so empty out there."

"Ah, so you want information? That's gonna cost you."

That's how he was going to be. (Y/N) was unimpressed as she exhaled rather bored.

"That's disappointing. I'll simply take my business somewhere else."

She was about to turn around but Hakari called out after with a hearty guffaw, as he gestured for (Y/N) to come and sit by their front counter. Kirara went back and put a chair down for their customer to sit on.

"Ah I'm only jesting, Miss. Please sit. Kirara, how about tea? I promise it's on the house."

(Y/N) gave a nod and sat down on the chair as Hakari took a seat opposite her. It wasn't long and Kirara brought out a rich chamomile tea for her to drink. The chamomile was fairly decent but (Y/N) sipped the drink so as not to look rude. Hakari began to answer.

"Well there's just not much in Kaprines. People here just live quiet lives or the people that did live here, move to the other regions or try to work in the Itadori House."

"You seem like the kind of person who'd make more of themselves in another region. How come you're here?"

"You're not wrong but I'm great where I am. My business does well and Kirara and I are happy here."

There was something he was hiding but (Y/N) gave a nod as her eyes wandered around before landing on a candle with drawings on its body. Standing up, she went towards the candle, lifting it and examining it in her hands.

"Ah you like the candle?"

"It has a beautiful design."

"Yeah, these sell quite well but people are buying them because they light up a room. They don't care to look at the designs which is a shame because the maker works real hard to design and carve them."

"Who makes them?"

"A kid that lives down the road with his mother, says it helps him pay for food."

Her hands stilled as she glanced up at Hakari, asking.

"Are people struggling here?"

"A lot of people do. That Lord Itadori spent money to build the roads and some houses but the houses are too expensive. People can only afford food. Honestly, the region needs a lot of work and improvement."

Staring down at the candle, a small idea was starting to form in her head as her fingers traced the designs on the candle. She was going to turn Kaprines around to make it thrive.

The improvement project:

(Y/N) shook her head as she stepped off the carriage, before being immediately flanked by Nanami and Nobara. Rolling her eyes she was about to turn to the carriage when Nanami had beat her to it and held on to three covered canvases, Nobara had the other two and a small pile of booklets which were held by a twine bow.

Nanami bowed at the Lady who shook her head with a smile, walking forward and into Hakari's to greet the owner. The purple haired man grinned and exclaimed with delight.

"Lady Itadori! Once again a delight to see you here!"

About two months after her visit, Hakari had already deduced that (Y/N) held a high position in the house and his suspicions had been confirmed when he caught Nanami bowing to the Lady, a prior time when (Y/N) came to visit Hakari.

The two of them had formed a business relationship of sorts as (Y/N) sold a few paintings to Hakari, additionally providing him with means to travel around and sell these art pieces. This slowly started to create a name around the region and slowly slowly, people were coming to Kaprines to buy and sell art. Kaprines was on its way to becoming a cultural hub for art.

"Hello Hakari! How are you doing today?"

"Doing amazing my Lady! Can't wait to see what you've brought for me to sell today!"

Nanami uncovered one canvas to show to Hakari, who put the canvas on his counter. Kirara was busy helping the other few customers that were in the store. The painting was a watercolour of a peach blossom tree in the summer and it made Hakari's heart warm with delight.

"My Lady! You seem to get better, day by day! These will all sell well. Let's hope that Sir Amanai shows up today."

Among her buyers, there was apparently a tall man with striking sharp blue eyes that went by the name of Sir Amanai that brought a lot of her paintings. The door opened and closed but Hakari's grin grew wider as he spun around the table to greet the customer.

"Speak of the man himself, Sir Amanai!"

Finally after months of wondering, (Y/N) could meet her most valuable customer. The man was incredibly tall, dressed in a simple brown shirt, black waistcoat and black trousers, along with a black robe. The man was rather tall and his stature was difficult to tell because of the bagginess of his clothes.

Hakari was right about his eyes being a striking shade of blue. It was like the sky and sea were clashing for dominance and it could make you get lost for years. That was the only defining feature of him because the rest of his face was covered by a white mask. Apparently it was to hide his hideous scars he received from his military days.

The tall man seemed to sense Lady (Y/N), finishing his greeting with Hakari before stepping up and bowing in front of the Lady. He used one hand to lift the bottom of his mask, the other held onto the Lady's hand and kissed the back of it before resettling his mask on his face.

His eyes seemed so familiar but she couldn't pinpoint who exactly this man was. There was no way this man could be who she thought it was because the person she could think of, would have had a much grander introduction to the story.

"And you must be the painter who creates these wonderful works of art."

"That's me. I'm (Y/N) Inumaki. Sir Amanai?"

"That's right and in the flesh! I must say, I adore your art pieces. I’m always asking Hakari when the next piece will come in but he’s given me a better gift as I am now able to meet the lady responsible for them.”

Sir Amanai stepped around the young Lady to the counter to see the cherry blossom canvas. There was a big grin on his face as he took in the soft colours and brush strokes. His gloved hands traced the branch of the tree trunk before looking over his shoulder and declaring.

"I would like to purchase everything that Miss Inumaki has brought just now."

Hakari clapped his hands and gave a nod, going around the counter to process the purchase. (Y/N) had a curious glint in her eyes as she stepped forward to open her mouth but Sir Amanai cut in.

"Do you take commissions?"

(Y/N) glanced up to Nanami as if silently asking him but he shook his head.

"Not to date, Sir."

"Well would you take a commission from the Royal family?"

Everyone seemed to be still at the words. There was no way this man was of the royal family. The masked sir laughed as he waved in hands to clarify.

"I'm a representative of the Royal family and the emperor has heard of your work. He would like to commission a portrait from you to celebrate his birthday next year."

"Next year?"

"Yes. He is in no rush to hear a response from you soon. Take your time and consider it. When you do, please arrive in Jotron with this brooch. You'll be let in to meet Emperor Gojo."

The store door opened and closed which made Mr. Amanai look up and nod.

"Ah! Mr. Kuroi, good you're here! Please help me take the art pieces back to the estate."

Mr. Kuroi was also a tall man with long black hair that was tied into a half updo, he had brown dragon like eyes which gave him a mysterious intimidating aura. The man dressed similarly to Sir Amanai and had on a black coloured mask. There was something fishy about his mask which made a chill run down (Y/N)'s back.

Nanami noticed this but kept quiet, hoping to bring it up later with Lord Itadori when he came back from his hunt. Mr. Kuroi silently gathered the canvases and parchments, sending a bow of his head to everyone before leaving. After paying Hakari with a pouch of what could be coins, Sir Amanai stepped forward and reached into his pocket to hand her a brooch bearing the crest of the royal family: a shield with a hydrangea behind a magpie, the Gojo family crest.

"Until the next time we meet." He sends a final farewell to Hakari before swiftly leaving the shop. Nanami, Nobara and (Y/N) share an intrigued expression as (Y/N) whispers to them.

"There's something quite not right there."

"I agree, my Lady. I'll have someone survey them the next time they come."

(Y/N) gave a nod before collecting her split money from Hakari. Heading out of the shop and going to her carriage, followed by Nanami and Nobara. There wasn't something quite right about Sir Amanai and Mr. Kuroi.

#au #jujutsu kaisen #jjk #choso #choso kamo #choso kamo smut #historical au #jjk choso #jjk kamo choso #choso x reader #choso kamo x reader #choso kamo x you #choso kamo x y/n #kamo choso x reader #kamo choso jjk #choso jjk #smut #choso smut #choso x you

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marvelmusing · 2 years

Text

An Era of Power

Part Three

Pairing: Aleksander Morozova x Fem!Reader

Summary: You begin to feel at home in the Little Palace, and slowly grow closer to the General.

Word Count: 2K

My Masterlist • Series Masterlist

Settling into life at the Little Palace comes naturally to you. When you wake in your own room on the first morning, you find a dark purple kefta hung on the folding screen waiting for you. Your kefta is a darker shade than the typical Materialki kefta, and the hem’s are lined with intricate gold embroidery that shimmers in the sunlight.

Genya becomes your friend almost instantly. The two of you initially bond over being different from the rest of your fellow Grisha. She tells you all about the gossip and rumours from the Grand Palace, and informs you of certain Lords and Dukes you would do well to avoid.

You spend a lot of your time in the Materialki workshop, watching the Durasts and Alkemi tinkering away with their experiments, and occasionally offering to help them. Seeing you curled up in a corner with a stack of books from the library becomes a common occurrence for the Little Palace’s Materialki.

Combat training goes better than you first expected. After the centuries, you’ve picked up the general knowledge needed to do well in a fight, and with the daily use of your powers, you find it easy to keep up with the rest of your classmates.

Lessons with Baghra garner less positive results. In all honesty, you had tried hard in the beginning. But it hadn’t taken long before the two of you had lost your temper with one another. Baghra had spent the majority of your first lesson belittling you and your power, making you feel more and more alienated from the Grisha around you. You had stormed angrily from her hut, your feet crunching over the gravel as you made your way back to the Little Palace. You’ve lived for centuries, you shouldn’t have to deal with a crotchety, old woman. However, you continue to pretend that you are as young as you look, which means that you have to deal with lessons like a schoolgirl.

Sometimes you consider telling the General the truth. After all, Darkling’s live long lives. You haven’t asked General Kirigan how old he is, but your guess is that he’s in his mid-hundreds, maybe one hundred and sixty. If anyone could understand your situation, it would be him. But the General is still practically a child compared to you.

You don’t see the General very often. He’s usually managing troops on the frontline, either in the North or the South. It makes you impatient. For the first time in your long life, you feel the importance of being Grisha. That you’re in a position to finally do something for yourself, and your people. Whilst learning more about Grisha, and how different abilities worked, was interesting it couldn’t couldn’t compare to how you felt when you were with the General. He often only returned for a day or less even, but he always found some time for you. Though these brief conversations were nice, you can barely hide your excitement when you hear him call your name as you’re walking through the grounds.

You turn, smiling as he approaches you. He gives you a polite nod, returning your smile with his own.

“When did you return?”

“A few hours ago.” You raise a brow at him, looking at the pathway he had been walking on.

“And visiting Baghra was one of your first priorities?”

“Something like that.”

“I will warn you, Baghra tends to over exaggerate my lack of ability.” A small grin warms his features, and your heart flutters at the sight.

“I find that easy to believe. How have you adjusted to life at the Little Palace?”

“Quite well, I think. Lessons have been… productive.” His lips quirk again, as if he finds your choice of words amusing.

The two of you exchange light conversation as you wander around the lake. Neither of you mention a particular route, but you seem to know where you both want to walk. You’ve always loved the grounds of the Little Palace, surrounding the building with a halo of woodland that seems to shield it from the rest of the world.

It’s only once the Little Palace is completely out of sight, that the General stops. You stand bedside him, head tilted aside as you watch him stare up at a large oak tree which towers over you both, its leaves touched with brown - a telltale sign of autumn’s upcoming descent.

“This tree is around a hundred and seventy years old.” He tells you. The two of you continue to look up at the tree as the leaves rustle with the branches swaying in the breeze. “I wonder what it would have looked like when the Little Palace had been built.” He adds, tilting his head aside as he looks down at you. A smirk curls at the corner of your mouth.

“Is that a request, General?” He mirrors your smirk with a challenge.

“If you believe you are capable of such a feat.” You raise your brow at him, determination filling your features. Taking a deep breath, you shift your focus from the charming smile the General is giving you and close your eyes to prevent him from distracting you.

Bringing your palms together, your concentration fixes onto the components of the tree in front of you. You turn your hands in alternating directions, palms brushing together, and the bark of the tree groans as it begins to shrink. The leaves fold in on themselves, curling back into green buds. The branches retreat into the trunk of the tree, shrinking into fragile twigs. You push further, reducing the tree to a small sapling which dwindles down into the ground.

When your eyes flutter open, you squint in the sunlight now pouring down on you both as the shade of the tree is gone. A frown of confusion crinkles your brows, as you take in the empty patch of grass.

The General steps forward, towards the space where the tree had existed for over a hundred years - a mere fraction of your life. He leans down, picking up a small round object from the ground. It looks hard, and shines in the sunlight. You suddenly realise, it’s an acorn. You had turned an enormous oak tree back into an acorn. A startled laugh escapes your lips, and the General smiles widely at you.

“I can’t believe I did that.” You tell him in an astonished gasp.

You stare down at the acorn in his hand, blinking in shock as he pockets it and continues to walk along the grass.

“Won’t someone notice a tree missing?” You ask him as you pick up the pace to rejoin his side. He shakes his head.

“Very few people venture this far into the grounds.”

You nod in acknowledgement, and the two of you continue to walk through the blades of overgrown grass and tangled wildflowers. You watch a butterfly flutter towards a tall bunch of delicate, purple flowers. Your gaze drifts back to the General. He appears to be lost in thought, his brow furrowed slightly as he watches each of his steps. You swallow hard, before deciding to voice something that has been weighing on your mind,

“Baghra keeps telling me my improvements aren’t enough. As if she knows something I don’t.” He glances over at you,

“Like what?”

“She acts as if I’m working towards something.” He holds your gaze for a long moment, the corner of his mouth wavering slightly.

“You’re quite perceptive.” You shrug lightly before remarking,

“A result of my power really.”

“In what sense?”

“I have to understand how something works before I can alter it. I know how an acorn grows into a tree, so I can reverse the growth. If I don’t understand something, I can’t control it.” You’re both quiet for moment, before he asks,

“Is that why you’re always reading? Because you feel the need to understand everything, so that you can control it?” You turn to look at him sharply.

You’re used to seeing through people, but you often have a hard time reading the General, or understanding his motives. It’s startling for you, to have someone see you so clearly. A small smile flickers across your lips.

“You’re quite perceptive yourself, General.” He mimics your earlier shrug.

“A result of my profession.” Your smile widens at the sound of him mirroring your words. This smile fades slightly as you consider your next words.

“I won’t ask Baghra about it, she either wouldn’t tell me or just confuse me out of spite. But…” You hesitate as you watch the General step over a clump of thistles onto a fallen tree trunk, and he watches your face intently. “I like to think that you would tell me the truth.”

He sighs, running a hand over his face. You wobble slightly as you step onto the tree trunk in an attempt to follow him. He grasps your hand, pulling you up onto the trunk. A rush of certainty floods through you, a result of his amplification. You’re suddenly aware of how close you are, your chest almost flush against his, the warmth of his body barely an inch away from yours. You feel your cheeks warm at the proximity, despite the serious nature of your conversation.

“Shall we sit?” He asks, and you nod.

He bends, sitting down on the peeling bark of the tree, and you settle next to him, swinging your legs as they dangle over the edge of the trunk. You remain quiet, waiting for the General to speak again.

“I have spent the last few months spending whatever free time I had trying to discover what you are.” You hold your breath, terrified for a moment that he’s found you out. That he knows you’re immortal.

“What did you find?” You ask tentatively.

“Nothing. As far as anyone is aware, you’re the first of your kind.”

You knew that. Morozova had no idea what would happen when he altered your abilities with merzost. From what you remember, he seemed like the kind of man to never repeat his experiments, only seeking to find something new to create.

“I have spent my life attempting to repair the damage done by my ancestor. Ever since the creation of the Fold, the Church has prayed for a Sun Saint to destroy the blemish that scars our country.” His voice is filled with doubt as he looks down at the worn grass below you.

“You don’t believe that?” He looks back at you, his eyes meeting yours.

“I used to. Now I believe that instead of fighting shadows with light, instead of finding my opposite, all we need is someone who can reverse his mistake.”

Your face drops. Your thoughts begin to spiral - surely he couldn’t mean you were the saviour of Ravka? His gaze remains direct, fixed on you with an unwavering look of confidence.

“Me?” You ask in a whisper. He nods slowly,

“Yes.” You shake your head before you can even voice your doubts.

“I can’t.”

“Why not?”

“The Fold is huge, I couldn’t possibly-“

“You’ve just turned an oak tree back into an acorn. With a more training, the right amplification, you could-“

“No. I would have to understand how it was created in the first place, and Morozova’s journals were destroyed hundreds of years ago.” He pauses for a long moment, before turning back to look at you,

“If we could locate the journals, do you believe you could do it?”

You falter. Logically, you might have the ability to do it. But confidence has never been your strong point. After years of staying hidden, finding the extent of your power has never been a priority for you. You truly don’t know how far your abilities could go. You shake your head again.

“They were destroyed.”

“We don’t know that.” He states. A tiny smile curls at the corner of your mouth.

“You are incredibly determined, General.” He breathes out a small laugh, his gaze losing some of its intensity as he realises you’ve accepted his suggestion. The two of you share a smile, until you look down at the trunk of the tree you’re sitting on. Your fingers trail over the space between you, picking at loose pieces of bark as you avoid meeting his eyes.

“Do you think I can do it?” He nods resolutely.

“I do.” He looks at you with the same unwavering certainty you feel when his fingers brush against your skin. “You and I are going to change the world.”

»»---------------------►

AEOP Tag List: @budugu

#the darkling #the darkling x reader #the darkling x you #the darkling x y/n #the darkling fic #aleksander morozova x reader #aleksander morozova #general kirigan #general kirigan x reader #shadow and bone au #ben barnes #an era of power

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acoraxia · 4 months

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LIVE RHY REACTION TO INVESTITURE OF THE GODS

Disclaimer: this is an English translated version and I do not know how accurate it is so if some things are wrong or improperly translated please let me know. I will also be including screenshots of dialogue and scenes every now and then but please keep in mind I will probably not go into too much detail of these chapters and that I am just reacting to the scenes that happen in the book.

This is also VERY LONG because the book itself is very long. Do not read it if you don't want spoilers/want to sit through a lot of text.

I’ll be covering Chapters 1 - 10 in this post

Once again, do not read if it's a lot of text and mute the tag #live rhyactions

CHAPTER 1 (GODDESS NU WA AND KING ZHOU):

I can’t believe they made Li Shou king because he was strong. He threw a pillar and everyone told King Di Yi to make him king like ok cool ig

also in the other version I was reading, King Di Yi was called Da Yi.. wonder if that was a mistranslation or something

“King Zhou established his capital at Zhaoge, a metropolis on the Yellow River.” interesting, in the other version they call it Morning Song. huh! The more you know

“The king placed Queen Jiang in the Central Palace; Concubine Huang in the West Palace and Concubine Yang in the Fragant Palace. They were all virtuous and chaste in their behavior and mind and gentle in manner.” (…) im not gonna comment on how much that last line irks me for some reason but… ough

ANYWAYS HE RULED IN PEACE… YIPPEE

“and his peasants were especially blessed by favorable winds and rains” why did that make me laugh a little ok

the four dukes!!!! yippee!!

East Grand Duke Jiang Huanchu, South Grand Duke E Chongyu, West Grand Duke Ji Chang and North Grand Duke Chong Houhu

i hope none of them die

SEVEN YEARS OF PEACE!!! and then a report was sent to him oh no

ough a rebellion.. of 72 marquises in the North Sea District — surely Grand Tutor Wen Zhong can take care of it right?? surely he’ll take care of it.

Shang Rong asks King Zhou to honor and hold a ceremony at Nu Wa’s temple for her birthay (the 15th day of the third month) and King Zhou has the gall to ask, “What has Goddess Nu Wa done that a great king such as myself is obliged to to go her temple and worship her?”

What if i stab him. what then.

thank you Shang Rong you will always be the smart one of the advisors

King Zhou then makes an announcement that he's going to go worship Nu Wa at her temple. amazing. thank you for that.

“It would have been better if he hadn’t gone at all, for it was this very pilgrimage that caused the fall of the Shang Dynasty, making it impossible for the people to live in peace.” i think it was because he disrespected Nu Wa actually

why did he need 3,000 cavalrymen and 800 royal guards if he is such a well known and respected king… hm…

But they were under the command of General Huang Feihu, Prince for National Pacification and of Military Prowess. so maybe this guy’s important for later. hopefully. i do not want anyone to die yet

except King Zhou but anyways

PRAYERS!!! RESPECT FOR NU WA YES

why are you wandering King Zhou. King Zhou go back.

KING ZHOU.

KING ZHOU NOOO

the most beautiful passages describing Nu Wa and how beautiful she is and how she looks at him with joy and this mfer gets horny. ok.

Or, perhaps, it is about how men’s desires in the past were always the cause of their own downfall because he was warned that Nu Wa was a respected goddess and one he shouldn’t take lightly and, in the end, he ends up disrespecting her all on his own and that is what causes his downfall.

“He desired to possess her and thought to himself in frustration, ‘Though I’m wealthy and powerful and have concubines and maideservants filling my palace, there’s none as beautiful and charming as this goddess.’”

rip bozo you signed your own death warrant

AGAIN, I AM SURPRISED HE ACTUALLY DID WRITE ON THE WALL ABOUT HOW MUCH HE WANTED HER. I THOUGHT THE WIKIPEDIA ARTICLE WAS LYING TO ME BUT NO:

Shang Rong: Nu Wa’s been a proper goddess and the guardian angel for Zhaoge, I only suggested that you worship her so that she would continue to bless the people with timely rains and favorable winds and ensure that they’ll continue to live in peace. But with this poem, you’ve not only shown your lack of sincerity ubut have insulted her as well. This isn’t the way a king should behave. I pray you wash this blasphemous poem off the wall, lest you be condemmed by the people for your immorality. King Zhou: shut up i’m king

NOT THE REST OF HIS MEN LOWKEY SIDE-EYEING HIM….

anyways they go to the Dragon Virtue Court they go where he meets up with his queen and concubines happily. hooray!

Nu Wa paying respect to the three emperors — Fu Xi, Shen Nong and Xuan Yuan — before returning to her temple on her birthday is so nice to me? I know Fu Xi is her brother in some iterations and it makes me happy idk :(

WAIT THE MFER WROTE THIS IN THE MAIN HALL?

IT SAYS SHE SEATED HERSELF IN THE MAIN HALL — NAHHH HE DESERVES WHAT’S COMING TO HIM WHAT THE HELL??

GET HIS ASS!!!

did not know King Zhou had two sons (Yin Jiao and Yin Hong)

anyways he still has 28 years to go before his downfall and Nu Wa realized “that she could do nothing about it at this moment, since that would go against the will of Heaven.”

surely this “against the will of Heaven” won’t be a reocurring theme in the book and it’s successor, Journey to the West, right? Right?

of course it will

NU WA SUMMONING DEMONS AND EVIL SPIRITS FROM THE DEMON SUMMONING PENNANT LET’S GOOOO

“All demons the world has arrived to receive her command” queen shit

IT’S THEM!!! IT’S THE THREE QUEENS OF THE SHANG DYNASTY LET’S FUCKING GO!!!

“May you live eternally, dear goddess!” they have more respect than King Zhou LMAO

“you mustn’t bring harm to the people” uh. anyways.

“since his visit to the Temple of Goddess Nu Wa, King Zhou had sunk into deep depression” shut the fuck go hold your wife

“He had no passion for his queen, his concubines, or the numerous maids in his palace. They now all appeared to him like lumps of clay.” Something poetic about Nu Wa making people out of clay and King Zhou now seeing them as clay—but also fuck this dude

King Zhou: im sad because im in love with nu wa and can’t marry her

what if i kill you

NOT THEM SUGGESTING HE ORDER 100 WOMEN FROM THE GRAND DUKES — BRO NOOOOOO

why is that the end of the chapter

[.....]

CHAPTER 2 (THE REBELLION OF SU HU):

King Zhou: bring me 100 virgins. they must be gentle, virtuous and above all beautiful

i cant with this man.

Shang Rong: you already have 1,000 women you can’t ask for more when your people are dying of drought and floods King Zhou: fine

HES SULKING LMAO

Su Hu… i like Su Hu he doesn’t want to give you any bribes smh

Shut up King Zhou i miss Su Hu

“we greatly appreciate the kind concern shown us by your majesty” i dont trust like that…

what if i killed them all

why are you mentioning Su Hu has a daug- STOP

ISN’T THAT SU DAJI’S FATHER HOLD ON

King Zhou: can i marry your daughter Su Hu: fuck you King Zhou: >:O

NOOO HE FUCKING ARRESTED SU HU WHAT THE HELL

he was right though this kingdom is dying because you’re being too horny King Zhou please listen to REASON

HE (SU HU) WROTE HIS POEM ABOUT KING ZHOU ON THE WALL HELLO?

idk if it’s intentional but it seems like he’s making fun of King Zhou for writing on Nu Wa’s temple wall LMAO i love that

we stan Su Hu

“Our goal is the utter decimantion of the city.”

I miss Su Daji

where’s my wife

Fei Zhong is like… the worst fucking instigator huh? He’s the one who keeps giving King Zhou ideas- i hate men

Ji Chang taking place for King Zhou so he won’t get caught in the cross fire… interesting that he hesitated on that? ig?

“How could possibly have offended the king? He’s known to all for his loyalty and good conduct, and for his many outstanding military successes. There must have been good reason for him to write the poem.” Ji Chang you’re one of the few smart people in this novel

tiredly reading this chapter because…. ough… ji chang,,,, rebel,,, ji chang,,, j i c ha ng,,

ANYWAYS BACK TO SU HU ARRIVING BACK AT JIZHOU

he has a son (Su Quanzhong)???? HE’S A DAD???

wait why am i suprised his daughter’s literally daji nvm

honestly this is great for learning how names work yppee

NOT THE 50,00 STRONG ARMY FROM CHONG HOUHU… OUGH

Su Hu immediately getting angry when he learns Chong Houhu is leading the armyncjks

“Chong’s an evil fellow” LMAO??? OK DAMN

not Su Hu apologizing for not being able to salute properly becuase of his armor

“King Zhou has of late become corrupt and immoral as a ruler” SAY IT LOUDER

LMAO NOOOOOO

NOT THE GUYS FIGHTING

STOP PLEASE NOT SU QUANZHONG

nvm they won HELL YEA

RUN AWAY CHONG HOUHU YOU COWARDS

SURPRISE ATTACK AT MIDNIGHT LETS GOOOOO

i forgot peopel took drums with them to war

not Chong Houhu drinking after Huang Yuanji reassured him it’ll be fine. fool. you’re at war. don’t drink before sleeping

“They rushed in like tigers and wolves, slaughtering and maiming on all sides.” ough i love this novel’s descriptions

SO MANY PEOPLE DYING

“Chong Houhu dismount from your horse and die!” these men are violent

if this is how violent they are im terrified for su daji now LMAO

Su Quanzhong my beloved

NOT HIM KILLING SUN ZIYU WHAT THE HELL

not Chong Houhu fleeing and distracting his son and he ends up gettig killed by Su Quanzhong

THAT’S WHERE IT ENDS???

wow wtf

[.....]

CHAPTER 3 (DAJI ENTERS THE PALACE):

MY QUEEN’S ARRIVING LET’S GO

My queen did not, in fact, arrive

These men are going through it

also i thought Chong Houhu’s son died but no hes just wounded LMAO

MOST OF THIS CHAPTER IS MEN CRYING I CAN FEEL IT

Chong Houhu is finally smart for once in acknowledging he cannot win this

“A huge army is marching towards us at great speed.” PLEASE SAY IT’S SU HU COMING TO KICK EVERYONE’S ASS

oh.

nvm

Chong Heihu, the Black Tiger, the Marquis of Caozhou

why does he have a brother-

Black Tiger: i heard you got your shit rocked

Su Hu: Black Tiger’s here? We’re screwed

Sun Quanzhong is so cool but also so so stupid

bro your dad is telling you this guy is trouble because he knows MAGIC bro

Bro don’t go off to fight your dad’s sworn brother bro no

NOT THEM CAPTURING SUN QUANZHONG

BRO

BRO WHAT THE HELL

HERE COMES BLACK TIGER WITH THE STEEL CHAIR

nvm the steel chair was Black Tiger winking and trying to give Sun Quanzhong a signal that he is, in fact, siding with his dad but Sun Quanzhong is too stubborn and fucking decides to fight Black Tiger

honestly bro what did you expect

GET FFUCKING CAPTURED BRO

DUMB OF ASS… STUBBORN BOY SOBS

also no Black Tiger isnt a tiger he’s a human thats just his name i hope i dont have to clarify that again oops

bro

bro???

SU HU WHAT THE HELL???

so… petition to beat up Su Hu??

OH MY GOD

BRO ALMOST KILLS HIS DAUGHTER- WHAT THE HELL??

Why does he blame her and not the man who is lusting after his, supposedly, young daughter? Why doesn’t he curse the man that was a tyrant and has been growing lustful with power? Why doesn’t he realized that she is not to blame for she does not even know what is happening?

Ough.

Black Tiger: Brother, if only you would only consult with me, I could withdraw my troops. Why do you fear and refuse to see me? I don’t understand! There’s no ned to launch an attack.

black tiger and su hu have an interesting relationship.

hm.

tfw even your men are wondering why you are suddenly acting so strange

bro Black Tiger did something to Su Hu huh….

GENERAL ZHENG… OUGH

hes going to fight black tiger oh boy

“Black Tiger was mounted on a fiery-eyed monster” what if i eat him

General Zheng Lun of Jizhou… inchresting

interesting.

NJKCDSNJCD FUCKER CAPTURED HIM SO QUICKLY WHAT???

also Black Tiger’s smoke magic >>>> LMK!Macaque’s shadow magic sorry lmao forgot to mention that

Su Hu: I cant believe Zheng Lun died Zheng Lun: i’ve captured the black tiger Su Hu: what the fuck-

“I’ve never forgotten that we’re sworn brothers. I’m ashamed to be a captive and greatly appreciate your courtesy.”

Black Tiger And Su Hu Have An Interesting Relationship (by which i mean it's strange seeing male friendship represented like this in such an old novel but it's a /pos kind of strange yknow)

uhm.

anyway.

SHUT THE FUCK UP SAN YISHENG PLEASE. STOP

WDYM KING ZHOU WROTE A POEM NOOOO

Poem basically says to let him marry Daji or else they’ll all die.

Su Hu Is Considering This.

“How could I dare to oppose his wishes!” bro you literally told him to act like a better king what’s happening right now-

what if i die

wdym the chapter ends there.

what

[.....]

CHAPTER 4 (THE FOX SPRITE MURDERS DAJI):

the title goes straight to the point huh-

“I won’t sacrifice my life on account of my adoration for my daughter” Su Hu what if you shut the fuck up

yo what the fuck

Black Tiger going off on Chong Chouhu what

wow.

anyway-

“As I cannot let the family perish on account of Daji, I’ve got no choice but to send her back to the palace and apologize to His Majesty.” Su Hu i want you to choke

aw madame yang crying over daj-

what the fuck

huh

WHAT

I MEAN I GET W H Y

BUT

HUH???

y’all she’s gonna die either way im sorry-

“The old couple spent the whole night in despair and sorrow.” and y’all didnt… like.. want to fight for her or…. ok

when’s erlang showing up so he can beat up everyone

OG DAJI DID NOT DESERVE THIS

LOOK AT HER SHE BREAKS DOWN INTO TEARS WHEN SHE HEARS ABOUT WHERE SHE’S GOING

OUGH MY POOR GIRL

Su Hu after hearing there might be a murderous spirit haunting the place they’re staying at: SURELY THIS WON’T AFFECT US IN ANY WAY POSSIBLE

He checked in on Daji to make sure she and her maidservants were sleeping before reading a book on war strategy…

sir make up your mind either cherish her and love her or send her off to be married to a man probably twice her age

HE STARTLES THE GOES TO CHECK IN ON HER

OUGH

EITHER BE A GOOD DAD OR DONT BE A GOOD DAD WTF

the fact he stays awake to keep her safe

wtf

oop

OOP

LMAO

SHES DEAD SORRY LMAO

so.. who’s gonna tell him..

Fei Zhong: Su Hu is here to offer his daughter King Zhou: Why??? Fei Zhong: …b…because you asked for it-

mfer is so offended and for what

Shang RONG MY BELOVED

THE ONLY MAN WITH FUCKING COMMON SENSE LETS GO

and then Fei Zhong ruins it by saying if Daji is beautiful enough then they can forgive Su Hu and if she’s ugly then they can kill her and his father ok wow wtf

SU DAJI MY BELOVED <333

the fact they say she wears red… and i hc’d she wore pink/violets on her way to the kingdom.. and when the spirit kills her and possesses her she’s fully red clothed…. ough..

Can he like… not…. can he not….

I MEAN

i know why she’s so ethereal to him

because hulijing are said to be bewitching to people and they fall in love with them easily

but also fucking come on dude what the hell

sorry this whole thing is jsust… you have to read it to understand how ANGRY i am at this motherfucker right now

“passionate blissful night” daji im so sorry dude ough

NOT HIM FUCKING NEGLECTING ALL HIS DUTIES IMMEDIATELY

BRO I THOUGHT IT TOOK… LIKE 13 MORE CHAPTERS

MFER IS JUST…. GONE

WOW

WHAT A WAY TO END THE FUCKING CHAPTER

OUGH

[.....]

CHAPTER 5 (A VAIN ATTEMPT BY MASTER OF THE CLOUDS):

Master of the Clouds: she’s going to bring calamities

GOD FORBID WOMEN DO ANYTHING DAMN

also like???

she hasnt murdered anyone

Nu Wa sent her

why are people triyng to exorcise her already wtf-

TNE FUCKING MONTHS?

KING ZHOU HAS BEEN DRINKING AND FUCKING FOR TEN MONTHS???? HASNT APPEARED IN TEN MONTHS??? BROTHER WHAT

everyone: we’re worried King Zhou: anyways

HES SO FUCKINGNCJKDSNJK

im so tired of this dude

JUST DO YOUR FUCKING WORK??

where’s his wife bro

where are his sons

what the hell

Master of the Clouds explains taoism

ngl it’s pretty cool

i wont post the whole thing but it’s genuinely cool

he made a poem about the spirit lmao

PINE SWORD… SOUNDS SO COOL TBH

i want a pine sword

HE MADE ANOTHER POEM SAYIG HOW NICE HIS LIFE IS AS A TAOIST MASTER

THAT’S…

i like this dude

funky

Master of the Clouds: this pine sword will kill the spirit in 3 days King Zhou: Cool! Daji:

MOTHERFUCKER BELIEVES HER

OH MY GOD

GASLIGHT. GATEKEEP. GIRLBOSS.

motherfucker you CANNOT BE THIS DUMB OH MY GODNJDKSNJCKDS

bro

BRO

i cant believe it fucking ends there DAMN LMAO

[.....]

CHAPTER 6 (THE BURNING PILLAR TORTURE):

i wonder what this chapter’s about oh boy

she recovered and carried on with her merry-making… i love her actually

“(…) Jiang Ziya will enjoy worldly glory and filfth, and fifth, gods are to be created.” ayo?? first even Jiang Ziya mention

iirc Jiang Ziya was Erlang’s mentor? I could be wrong but yknow yippeeee

so basically, to recap: Master of the Clouds sends a poem to Grand Tutor Du Yuanxian and he immediately writes a report to King Zhou. Shang Rong receives the report and tries to present it to the king at his personal palace

oh boy

Du Yuanxian: hey so the spirit in your home is growing really powerful to the point where the spectral light she emits can be seen in the ninth realm King Zhou: HE ALMOST KILLED DAJI >:(

sorry guys he is…

he sure is something. this man. yea

He asks Daji if she knows anything about this and she just

oh my god.

SHANG TRYING TO REASON WITH HIM OUGH…

Du Yuanxian waiting eargly for news of what King Zhou said,,,,,, only to be told hes a criminal and will be executed bro what

Mei Bo: dw bro i’ll talk to the king and tell him this is all a misunderstanding

i bet hes gonna get killed too lmao

HE CHASTIED SHANG RONG FOR TELLING HIM HE’S LETTING INNOCENT MEN GET SLAUGHTERED BRO PLEASE

KING ZHOU IS SO ANGRY MEI BO ENTERED THE PALACE LMAO

Shang Rong gets a pass because hes so polite (and he’s a veteran and served for three Shang Dynasty emperors)

MEI BO FUCKING CALLING KING ZHOU OUT…

“Du Yuanxian’s a loyal minister. If you put him to death on account of your concubine, you’ll be cursed for butchering your father’s old minister, and denounced as the destroyer of the nation, for your act tantamount to wrecking a house by removing its pillars and beams. I exhort you to let Du Yuanxian live, for it you do, people will honor you as saintly ruler.” i like mei bo

KING ZHOU IS NOW KILLING MEI BO AS WELL

MEI BO WENT OFF LMAO

“You listen daily to the fawning courtiers and spend your nights in dissipation with Daji. The kingdom will suffer disaster soon, and I fear that I won’t have the face to contront our deceased kings in the nether world.” GO OFF MEI BO…. OUGH

….go off girl

go off

i - go off honeslty

KING ZHOU LOVES THIS IDEA

SHANG RONG RETIRES BECAUSE HE CANNOT HANDLE THIS ANYMORE

HE WANTS NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS ANYMORE

GO OFF SIR GO

LVIE YOUR LIFE

GOODBYE SHANG RONG… YOU WILL BE MISSED GREATLY SOBS

“King Zhou continued to indulge with Daji day and night, ignoring all state affairs.” daji if you kill him now i wont tell anyone promise

iMMA GET YOU OUT OF THERE GIRL

aside from that, some princes arrived and they were all horrified by Mei Bo's execution after witnessing it and declared they have to do something to stop King Zhou

King Zhou is too infatuated with Daji to notice this ofc-

i feel so bad for King Zhou’s wife

ough… next chapter

[.....]

CHAPTER 7 (FEI ZHONG PLOTS TO DEPOSE THE QUEEN):

…uh oh-

“When the guards announced her (Queen Jiang) arrival, King Zhou glanced at Daji with half-closed eyes. ‘Lady Su! Would you please meet Her Majesty for me?’” bro you have little to no decency…

mfer you’re not even going to go greet your own wife??????

what the fuck man

also i do like that they explain Daji is a “mere concubine” so she doesn’t get to sit down. very interesting

NVM KING ZHOU IS IN FACT THERE TO GREET HIS WIFE BUT I FULLY BELIEVED HE WAS GOING TO STAY BACK AT THEIR ROOM DRINKING WHILE DAJI HAD TO ENTERTAIN HER OKAY

i love daji she’s just singing and dancing and enjoying herself i bet

fuck off King Zhou i don’t need you complimenting her

Queen Jiang: this isn’t good King Zhou: why can’t you enjoy yourself Queen Jiang: BECAUSE OF YOU

GO OFF QUEEN JIANG????

HOLY SHIT

i sure do hope nothing bad happens to Queen Jiang today

King Zhou is fucking drunk!!!!

amazing!!! /s

we love a manipulative queen holy shit

SHE’S SO GOOD AT IT TOO???

HOW MANY TIMES HAS THIS MFER FALLEN FOR EHR CRYING

IT’S INSANE

i’m pretty sure any other man would’ve told her to stop crying or something

damn

abusing the fact he’s so in love with her huh

Queen Jiang: You’ve seduced and incited him to all manner of evil. You’re the instigator and must repent at once. If you continue to wreck havoc upon this dynasty, I will deal with you according to the law! You may leave now. Daji: Daji: so i’m planning to murder her-

no really she tells Gun Juan she must seek her revenge i love her nckjs

Gun Juan is so cool?

“I’m a mere maidservant” girlie you are so smart actually

it’s a solid plan too? i didn’t expect it ngl i thought they were going to curse Queen Jiang but nope! just regular plan which is very nice

bro this isnt a debate come on man

let’s go murder the queen

come on fei zhong-

HELL YEA FEI ZHONG HAS A PLAN

Everyone: go back to work King Zhou: bah Daji: go back to work King Zhou: ofc anything for you daji <33333

i fucking hate this man

this man tried to assassinate the king and failed

you disgrace me you should’ve killed him bro

wait nvm it was all part of the plan???

what the fuck omg

King Zhou: WHY WOULD MY WIFE CONSPIRE AGAINST ME

because you’ve ignored her for almost a year, mayhaps?

“Who has so shamelessly condemned this innocent woman?” Queen Jiang im so sorry but im a daji stan through and through, off with her head

daji about to pull an ultimate powermove i can feel it-

daji i dont trust like that

ma’am?

i dont have the words to describe this so uh placing this down here HAHA

King Zhou is a yes man for Daji and i cant even blame him right now

he still sucks

QUEEN JIANG CRYING

CONCUBINE HUANG CRYING

EVERYONE’S CRYING WHILE DAJI’S PROBABLY SITTING THERE SMILING WAITING FOR QUEEN JIANG TO GET TORTURED

god forbid women do anything smh

so they took one of Queen Jiang’s eyes

y’all will have to read this book yourselves lmao i am not sharing this scene

but it was good

anyways Daji wants to keep torturing her and King Zhou has an inkling of doubt on her for once

i doubt it will last tho

IT DID NOT FUCKING LAST LONG

OH MY GOD????

he has no spine

THEY FUCKING BURNED OFF HER HANDS????

MY FUCKING GOD

AND THE CHAPTER ENDS WITH DAJI SUGGESTING THEY BRING IN JIANG HUAN OKAY ALRIGHT GOOD IG

[.....]

CHAPTER 8 (PRINCES TAKE FLIGHT):

General Chao Tian and Chao Lei bring Jiang Huan to the west palace. yippe

Rip Queen jiang she only has one eye now

Queen Jiang: SAY YOU LIED Jiang Huan: but you ordered me to assassinate the King Queen Jiang: BITCH

HELP

Yin Jiao and Yin Hong playing chess…. free from guilt… not knowing whats about to happen lmao

Yin Jiao is fourteen and Yin Hong is.. two years his junior? So fourteen and twelve i think

no wonder theyre not paying attention

me too guys

YIN JIAO LET OUT A ROAR??? OK IG THEYRE RUNNING TO THE WEST PALACE TO SEE THEIR MOM

theyre crying now awesome

“I’ll cut off Daji’s head in revenge for my mother!” Yin Jiao buddy you’re like fourteen and you just kill your uncle- buddy n- oh boy

oh no nvm Yin Hong is sixteen then since they said Yin Jiao is too young to understa- yeah ok my bad

THE KING THINKS THEY WERE GOING TO KILL HIM LMAO NOOO

HE’S ORDERING THEM TO MURDER HIS SONS

QUEEN JIANG’S FUCKING DEAD?

WOW

OKAY NVM

RUNAWAY TEENAGERS LETS GOO

i would feel bad but i dont want to get attached i dont think children live long in these types of novels

HELLO?

CONCUBINE YANG FUCKING DID WHAT?

King Zhou: i wonder why she did that

BROTHER SHE WAS TERRIFIED YOU’D TORTURE HER

MFER JUST DOES NOT CARE HUH

still tries to kill his sons- im cdnsjkcndks

ERLANG PSPSPSPSPSPPSPS PLEASE I NEED SOMEONE TO COME BEAT THIS MAN UP

help is this why the war starts… because daji wanted queen jiang dead? damn

REBELLION REBELLION REBELLION

why does Huang Feihu have a rainbow ox

what

anyways

Fang Bi and Fang Xiang are taking the princes somewhere safe

BOTH THE PRINCES AND MARSHAL HUANG ON THEIR KNEES KNOWING THIS IS AWFUL AND WRONG BUT DAMN

NOT YIN JIAO SACRIFICNG HIMSELF SO HIS LITTLE BROTHER WILL LIVE AND RAISE AN ARMY AND SEEK REVENGE ON THEIR DAD

OUGH

ough,,,

E CHONGYU?

OH MARSHAL HUANG HAS AN IDEA

YES

YES THEY WILL ALL LIVE

SECRET BETWEEN ALL OF THEM HAHAHAHA

i already forgot who e chongyu was- wasnt he like….. hold on

no i forgot but it’s ok

Marshal Huang giving the boys his jade pendant with gold so they’ll be ok bc they have no money :( aw

Marshal Huang: yeah so i couldnt catch them idk where they went King Zhou: DAMN… it’s ok you can go now

UH OH DAJI HAS AN IDEA

Daji ily queen you go girl

ANYWAYS HUANG FEIHU ONLY SELECTINGT HE OLD AND WEAK SOLDIERS TO GO FIND THE PRINCES LMAO

why are you.. letting two little boys go off on their own

what is wrong with you people

THANK GOD YIN HONG GOT SOME FOOD FROM SOME NICE FOLK DANG

anyways onwards he goes to find E Chongyu

he collapsed at a temple… uh… yippee

SHANG RONG????

SHANG RONG!!!!!!

LETS FUCKING GOOOOO

Yin Pobai and Lei Kai are now in pursuit of the brothers,,, oh boy

chapter ends there aaaaaaa

[.....]

CHAPTER 9 (THE PRIME MINISTER'S DEATH):

ayo what the FUCK

yknow i wasnt going to comment but immediately the generals find the Temple of Emperor Xuanyuan where Yin Hong is sleeping and they find him LMAO

Yin Pobai arrives at Fengyun to talk to Shang Rong uh oh

GET HIS ASS SHANG RONG

also conspiring with shang rong would be the best thing imo

NOT THE BROTHERS REUNITING AND BASICALLY GOING “FUCK! NOW WE CAN’T AVENGE OUR MOM”

uh oh Huang Feihu’s mad-

OH LORD HES REALLY MAD OH NO

no one wants to execute the princes

im assuming a riot’s going to happen?

Daji said to execute the princes today and King Zhou agreed

yep riot i can feel it

JIANG ZIYA MENTION

I CANT BELIEVE SHANG RONG TOLD DAJI “KYS” IN HIS REPORT TO KING ZHOU

WOW

YEA NO WONDER YEAH UHM

shang rong you will always be famous

THATS WHERE IT ENDS? SHANG RONG DIES AND HIS BRAINS AND BLOOD DRIP DOWN THE COLLAR OF HIS ROBE….?

DAMN

MY GOD

OKAY...

[.....]

CHAPTER 10 (THE DISCOVERY OF THUNDERBOLT):

Zhao Qi angirly stepping out of the ranks to snap at King Zhou? uh oh

WHAT AN INSANE WAY TO START THIS CHAPTER MY GOD

WELL IG HES DEAD… HUH….

UHM…. DAMN….

“‘Have you any better means to deal with these stubborn jackasses?’ he asked Daji.”

uhm how about stop killing these men

also i can’t even entirely blame Daji for this she’s genuinely just carrying out orders from Nu Wa to ensure King Zhou is the downfall of the Shang Dynasty? She’s doing her job and it’s going ridiculously good and although a war’s coming… King Zhou is at fault for not listening to everyone that tells him he is being a bad king

YIPPEE SHES OFFICIALLY QUEEN DAJI NOW LETS GO

so hes going to behead the four dukes…. ok

WHY IS SAN YISHENG IN CHAGRE OF INTERNAL AFFAIRS NOOOO

Bo Yikao is a funky name i wonder what it means

Ji Chang’s son going in his place to King Zhou’s court… hmhm

THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN JI CHANG HAS NINETY-NINE SONS????????WHAT

“the star of a great warrior has come to existence” ji chang why do you speak in riddles

WHY ARE YOU ABANDONING A BABY SOBS

MASTER OF CLOUDS

his name will be thunderbolt…

like his name’s just lightning?

ok well master of clouds have acquired a baby

oh boy the dukes are drinking

well E Chongyu’s drunk at least

HES INSULTING CHONG HOUHU NOOO

Ji Chang stopped Chong Houhu from slapping E Chongyu… damn

so close

JI CHANG SAID TO DECAPITATE EVERYONE SINCE NO ONES SPEAKING UP LMAO

YAO FU???

i have a character named Fu Yao that was wild

anyways

YAO FU TELLING EVERYONE ABOUT DAJI AND KING ZHOU AND HOW QUEEN JIANG DIED

oh shit Jiang Huanchu’s her dad right

uh oh

HE FAINTED

Jiang Huanchu: MY DAUGHTER IS DEAD… MY DEAR DAUGHTER…. HOW HORRIBLY YOU MUST HAVE SUFFERED!

i like this guy

hes just sad over his daughrer dying ough :(

aaaaand King Zhou is killing everyone ok

THATS IT… HE JUST.. GETS ANGRY AT JI CHANG FOR SPEAKING UP AND THE NSAYS HE’LL KILL ALL FOUR DUKES

wild

can’t wait to read chapters 11 - 20

#live rhyactions #fsyy reading #long post #uhm #chapters 1-10 were insane and very good ngl but also uh #what the fuck was chapter 10... ngl...#its insane /pos #SO WAS CHAPTER 9 TBH #if i ever watch a movie about this novel it better include shang rong

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thewales · 1 year

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Telegraph:

The Duke of Sussex has revealed that he has enough material to write another book, having held back disclosures for which the King and the Prince of Wales would not “ever forgive” him if they were made public.

In an interview with Bryony Gordon of The Telegraph, Prince Harry said the original transcript for his book, Spare, was twice the length of the final draft.

He admitted a lot of the detail that was eventually edited out concerned interactions with both his father and his brother.

800 pages, and now it’s down to 400 pages. It could have been two books, put it that way. And the hard bit was taking things out.”

He added: “There are some things that have happened, especially between me and my brother, and to some extent between me and my father, that I just don’t want the world to know. Because I don’t think they would ever forgive me.”

Prince Harry – who has accused Palace staff of lying to protect his brother Prince William – claimed that the media had “a s--- tonne of dirt about my family, I know they have, and they sweep it under the carpet for juicy stories about someone else”.

He said he knew he was “going to get trashed” for anything he included about his family, but insisted that it was impossible to tell his story without their inclusion.

The Duke also revealed that he felt “responsibility” to reform the monarchy for the sake of Prince George, nine, Princess Charlotte, seven, and Prince Louis, four. “I know that out of those three children, at least one will end up like me, the spare,” he said. “And that hurts, it worries me.”

He admitted that the notion frustrated Prince William, adding: “He has made it very clear to me that his kids are not my responsibility.”

Regardless, he said he liked to “fix” things and was approaching his mission with “long-term, strategic thinking”.

“This is not about trying to collapse the monarchy – this is about trying to save them from themselves,” he claimed. “I know that I will get crucified by numerous people saying that.”

The Duke demanded the Royal family apologise to Meghan and used the interview to address them directly, saying: “Because you know what you did, and I now know why you did it. And you’ve been caught out, so just come clean and then we could all move on.”

He said that “if people had listened” when he had raised the alarm they would not be in this position, adding: “That’s the saddest part about it – it was all so avoidable. But they just couldn’t help themselves.”

He likened his family’s silence on the entire furore to abuse.

Prince Harry said he genuinely wanted his brother and his father back in his life. His “technique”, he suggested, was to completely curtail the relationship between the Royal family and the press and, by doing so, protect them.

“When you’re trying to change an institution, and fundamentally the media landscape, that is not a small task,” he added. “The scale of the challenge is enormous, and I have to be able to protect myself mentally and emotionally throughout that process.”

He admitted he did not understand why it was considered so “shocking and outrageous” for him to tell his own “truthful” side of the story, but vowed to continue “the good fight” in standing up for Meghan “and other women” and encouraging other men to do the same.

“If you don’t lead by example, what is the point in living?” he asked.

He suggested that although his family might not like him at the moment, they would thank him in a few years for talking so openly about trauma.

Meanwhile, the Duke described how, as he got older, Prince William “went completely silent and completely shut down” over their mother’s death.

For his part, he said it was only after taking ayahuasca, a hallucinogenic, that he realised it did not matter that he had not cried and that his mother just wanted him to be happy.

Full article free

The transcript of the full interview

#faulty spare #OMG

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bridgertonbabe · 1 year

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could you imagine an AU where Charlotte was desperate for an heir and looked at Kate, Sophie, and Penelope and a lightbulb pinged on her head. “OHHHHH BOYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYS!!!!!!”

It would be a lot of fun to have an AU where in; Anthony and Kate remain butting heads with one another (while pretending as if there's no sexual tension between them); Sophie is the legitimate daughter of the earl and out in society but not taking the bohemic Benedict seriously as a suitor; and Penelope has a glow up afforded to her thanks to her Whistledown earnings while giving Colin the cold shoulder after overhearing him declaring he would never dream of courting her.

Queen Charlotte meanwhile attends the Danbury ball, the first of the season, and shrewdly surveys the room as she hunts for potential wives to settle her sons down and produce legitimate heirs. Sure, her courtiers had made recommendations for particular ladies of the Ton but Charlotte wanted to scope the Marriage Mart herself to see which eligible ladies she personally deemed worthy of becoming dutiful princesses and producing potential heirs for the crown. A lot of the ladies in the room were doing the Most™ to grab her attention and be granted her approval; but the three ladies who happened to catch her eye were gathered by the edge of the room and enraptured in bright and enthused conversation with one another. The queen swans over to them, surprising them by her approaching and engaging with them. She speaks with each of them in turn, and then finds herself encouraging them while indulging herself in sharing their thoughts about art, music, hobbies and interests, as well as their thoughts about certain members of the Ton (she does enjoy companions she can have a good gossip with). After a good twenty minutes of getting to know them the queen declares she is thoroughly impressed by Miss Kate Sharma, Lady Sophia Gunningworth, and Miss Penelope Featherington; and she invites them for tea at the palace the following day. The trio, while taken aback, accept the invitation - after all, who declines an invitation from the queen herself?

The three ladies were pleasantly naive in thinking that tea with the queen was nothing more than that - but as soon as three of the princes join them, they soon recognise the smirk on Queen Charlotte's face - the smirk of a meddling matchmaking mama. And so then, much to Kate, Sophie, and Penelope's shock and disbelief, they find themselves being courted by the princes. The three ladies truly don't know what to make of it and are genuinely worried that regardless of how they feel they might not have any choice in the matter if the queen demands they wed her sons for the good of the crown and country.

Meanwhile it doesn't take very long for word to travel to Bridgerton House and the Bridgerton brothers are thunderstruck to learn that Kate, Sophie, and Penelope are all being courted by princes. Finally all three buck up their ideas as they realise how ardently they love their respective lady and they try to figure out a way in which they can win their sweethearts over from actual princes.

(Plus a bonus scene of them going to the Duke of Hastings for advice, seeing as Daphne picked him over a prince. Simon's internal monologue goes something like, "let's not bother mentioning that their sister was thinking of me while touching herself so I had the upper hand right from the jump".)

#asks #kanthony #benophie #polin #queen charlotte

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honestlyyoungtyphoon · 11 months

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So I was reading the chapter where Heinly declares the western kingdom as empire and I just shook my head. I don't know whether to laugh at the stupidity or roll my eyes. So I did both.

Hah what's even funnier is that some readers thinking it's such a romantic move that he declared the kingdom as an empire for Navier as if that's how it works. 😵‍💫

I'm guessing those readers aren't older beyond 13/14. No wonder they think such way, birdface is 19 too. I know their main audience are them and thus these stories are written like this, which is a huge insult to teen readers, cause authors believe that teens don't have the capacity to grasp beyond the surface level. Which is true to some extent (judging by comments from the fandom) but there are also teen readers who criticise the story because of its plotholes.

Look I'm not making fun of the readers who enjoy it, look at my blog for goodness sake! But it annoys me when the plot just bends over backwards for the MC.

A kingdom is a one independent state. An empire is composed of multiple conquered countries that has a centralised sovereign ruler. Look at UK, it was British empire before cause it had multiple Asian and African countries under its belt. Now it's just United Kingdom, not an empire. Also the title of the ruler didn't change, they were still called queen or king of British empire cause a queen and king can rule an empire without changing their titles, if the states fulfil the criteria of an empire which western kingdom does not have.

Many will say "but western kingdom has lots of wealth." So? Many countries now a days have more wealth than UK, but they don't declare themselves as kingdom either cause that's not how it works.

Declaring themselves an empire/kingdom because they have enormous wealth does not make an empire/kingdom. Sure, empires have wealth but that’s a correlation, not causation.

Birdface declaring himself as an emperor is like some random baron/duke/count etc declaring himself king, because he has gathered a large amount of wealth. It doesn’t work that way. It’s also a good way to make a lot of enemies with severe consequences. And the fact that nobody including Sovieshu didn't do anything about it, shows how strong the plotforce is. Some will say, he didn't attack western kingdom cause of Navier. Umm so what Navier is there? According to the author, Sovieshu never abandoned his duty as an emperor. The dude literally collapsed because of overwork. This guy is a workaholic. It was obvious his empire comes before everything but all of a sudden he forgets about his duty because of a former empress? (Just like his character assassination after bringing Rashta in the palace). And conquering western kingdom would have given him Navier too. Yes it'd be forceful and ooc for Sovieshu to force himself on her but since when the author cares about character consistency when it comes to Sovieshu?

And other kingdoms just put fingers in their mouths like suckers and did nothing in response except for one and birdface had to run to Sovieshu for help. He didn't have the capacity to beat a smaller Kingdom without the help of Sovieshu yet he had the audacity to call himself emperor. How pathetic and shameless. Lol

An empire is a sovereign state made up of multiple countries : that’s the definition of an empire, so declaring oneself an emperor or declaring the desire to become an emperor is basically a declaration of war, unless you're a bland ml of a webnovel that's backed up by plot force stronger than thanos' snap. 🗿

The plotholes are so massive in this story that you could pass multiple eastern empires through it. 🫨

Reason why I still don't acknowledge western kingdom as an empire. Cause it's not an empire. 😂

At the end of the day TRE is a cheesy manhwa that helps us in our escapism. It's not meant to be taken so seriously but that doesn't mean we've have to close our eyes and accept the blatant hypocrisy and massive inconsistency for the sake of making the MCs look better. It just makes the MCs and author look foolish.

In the end, all we can do is shake our head and laugh at this stupidity and enjoy the clownery.

Or you can ignore the canon and make up your own fanon like me.

If the author is going to be beyond reasonable about the plot why should we not be beyond reasonable with our fanon? Go crazy.

In my canon Sovieshu actually had character consistency and helped Rashta but didn't make her concubine and lived happily ever after with Navier. Birdface who?

#Anyways I skip scenes that contains birdface cause his mug annoys me #I know he's a teenager and acts like one too but that doesn't mean I've to tolerate his bs #skipping scenes with birdface is self love #making up your own fanon cause the canon is crap is self therapy #navier #sovieshu #navier×sovieshu #remarried empress #the remarried empress #webtoon #anonymous asks

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sugoiney-weaver · 5 months

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I finally finished my first playthrough of BG3 last night, and it's maybe the worst/most depressing playthrough possible. I went into the game mostly blind, and tried not to savescum any major decisions or events. Spoilers below the cut

I accidentally killed the Owlbear mama. Without Speak with Animals, I got the gist that she wanted me to leave and not come back. I found a potion of animal speaking, and she was serious about the not coming back part.

I did not free the owlbear cub from the goblin camp, but it showed up at my camp later. It was only there for a few days before I accidentally made its hurt paw worse and it ran away, never came back

I didn't know Minthara would be a companion until after I killed her

I completely missed Halsin until after I killed all the goblins and saved the tieflings

I misunderstood/misclicked the levers at the windmill and sent Barcus flying

At Waukeen's Rest, I saved the guy upstairs, not realizing there was anyone else to save. I then went and found the Zhentarim hideout and didn't come back for a while. The other person (people?) died. Could I have saved the Duke there? IDK.

I saved Baelen by yeeting a healing potion at him, but he triggered the Bibberbang field so I didn't get the Noblestalk

I didn't realize that the world moves on and events resolve themselves without you, so Nere died behind the cave-in. I was trying that fight over and over, kept dying, so I went and explored the rest of the area and came back after a couple long rests. I had been drinking so I was very confused. I KNOW I didn't kill EVERYONE here, but where the fuck are they?

I explored the Grymforge but didn't actually use it. I thought for sure that I would find something that would explain how to use it, but I didn't. I refused to look up walkthroughs so I missed a lot of content because I didn't immediately understand what I was doing

When I first got to Last Light Inn, I missed Dammon. I failed to rescue Isobel and reloaded when I saw Zombie!Dammon. I then went and talked to Dammon to fix Karlach's heart, tried again to save Isobel, failed, and killed ALL the Tieflings and Harpers

Jaheira died on the front steps of Moonrise Towers. Because she wasn't actually in my party, I couldn't revive her.

I remember seeing some stairs that probably led to where the rest of the Tieflings were being kept, but I forgot to check it out before I moved on. I assume they're still there.

I decided not to give a fuck about Halsin's quest, so he was very sad that I did not lift the Shadow Curse

When I found Mizora at Moonrise Towers, I correctly translated the button that said "Unleash" and assumed it meant "unleash the Illithid." I failed to translate the one that apparently says "annihilate," so I pushed that one. Mizora and Wyll went WOOSH and Karlach was pissed

I didn't know that Isobel was saveable so I killed her.

Gale got kidnapped by Orin in Act 3, before I had a chance to take him to Sorcerous Sundries

Because I didn't need him (I was already a wizard) I took my sweet time rescuing him. I think I accidentally killed him on the altar with a Fireball. He wasn't technically in my party so Spell Sculpting didn't help?

I completely skipped Cazador's Palace for the sake of finishing the game. I hadn't taken Astarion out of camp since act 1 so he was only level 4 the whole time lol.

At the end, I turned Karlach into a Mind Flayer, released Orpheus, fought the Emperor.

I crit failed my attempt to convince Laezel to stay with us

That's pretty much it lol. I also abandoned so many quests that I probably could have gotten an extra 60 hours out of this playthrough. I ended at 129 hours though!

#bg3 #baldurs gate #baldurs gate 3

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blues824 · 1 year

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How would female Rengoku fit in the remarried empress

🔥Imagen her being navier's body guard who is pretty joyvial and had a very strong code of conduct that she follows and therefore is highly respected by many.

🔥Imagen everyone's reaction to her alcolic dad that used to be very respected until his wife died and her being the sole person who keeps her family name in the good light and even deu her her circumstance she is still so jolly.

🔥And how would they react when they learn that she has a hearing problem (not cannon but she took a hit of the empty bottle of wine for her younger brother )

And her unique owl like eyes that she doesn't blink a lot.

🔥I see navier being happy that she is her personal guard and that she doesn't care about rumours and is always so honest to her and her always hepling navier lift her mood if she is struggling.

🔥Imagen Duke ergi or heinley meeting navier's personal guard and thinking she can also become a bird and call her the Queens owl.

🔥And her reaction to rattrash becoming a concubine is disappointment because even her alcoholic father loved her mother so much that her would not betray his wife and even now after all those years he doesn't want another wife.

How would sovieshit react to rattrash saying she wants the female Rengoku as her personal guard because of her background (just to take navier most trusted friend away from her )

🔥and sovieshit asking the Rengoku reader to serve rattrash only for her to dicline because thx to navier her family name is out of the mud and that she ows her life to navier.

Sovieshu

You were hired on as a guard because your family was known for its long line of generals that served the Eastern Empire. However, your family’s reputation has gone downhill as of late because your father drank excessively after your mother’s death. But, Sovieshu could tell that you were dead-set on restoring your family’s honor. He admired your will, and so he assigned you as his wife’s personal guard.

Those simple times in the palace were long gone. Ever since he took on a mistress, there has been more and more stress on his shoulders. You, with a smile, told him that your father never remarried because he was loyal to your mother even in her permanent absence. Your view on the matter was clear: you were disappointed in his actions.

Another thing that was now different was that you had obtained some damage to your ears due to your father hitting you in the head with a broken bottle. Sovieshu was a bit concerned and asked if you should be granted leave to recover, but you stated that situations like this are what make a person stronger. He made sure that everyone in the palace knew, so that they would all speak a bit louder.

When Rashta asks the Emperor if he would transfer you from Navier to her, he immediately went to ask you. He contemplated making the threat of firing you, but he’s sure that you have more power than any of his guards and could easily overpower an army. You, being loyal to Navier, refused the offer and stated that your morals and principles would not allow you to go through with being transferred. He understood, so he just left it at that.

Rashta

She became acquainted with you when you introduced yourself as Navier’s guard. From then on, she would see you following closely behind the Empress with a sword attached to your belt by the sheath. You were very professional, and you were very courteous to her. However, you did not go out of your way to converse with her.

It’s not like this whole situation was her fault after all, she just ran along with it. Whenever she came up to you with a question, you would answer it to the best of your ability. But, you drew the line at her trying to become your friend. It was one night where you told her that even though your father was a widower, he never remarried because he loved his late wife so very much. You explained that you did not agree with what Sovieshu did, but that you were also aware that it was his fault rather than her fault that she was now a concubine.

You might as well have told her that you did not like her, because it would have had the same effect. She now viewed you as an enemy, even though you quite literally wanted nothing to do with her. So, to seek revenge, Rashta asked Sovieshu if you could be transferred from being Navier’s guard to hers, but her hope went to go get milk and never come back when the Emperor explained that it was your choice since your family was highly influential.

Absolutely no one, including herself, was surprised when you refused to be transferred. You later explained that you had swore your loyalty to Her Imperial Majesty, Navier Trovi, and would do anything she asked. She understood, but she still considered you a dangerous enemy that needed to be dealt with sooner or later.

Navier

She was aware of your family’s declining reputation, so she was the one who wrote a letter to your father. In the letter, she asked if you could apply to become a guard, and she would pull some strings to make you her personal guard. As a result, your family’s honor would be restored. Of course, she knew that you wouldn’t refuse the offer, so she was expecting you soon.

You seemed perfectly capable of being a guard, and she persuaded Sovieshu that you would be perfect for the job. The Rengoku family was known for their immaculate service within the military of the Empire. In just a few months, your family’s reputation was restored and were now a part of high society once again. Your father even told you that he’s proud, and started acting like a true father again.

Not just that, but Navier thought you were doing excellently as her guard. She’s seen what you do in your downtime, having arm wrestling matches with the other knights and guards. She’s also aware of the little betting ring, and while she does not condone betting, she’s not snitching. She knows that it’s probably the most fun you’ve had since your mother was still here, so she let you have at it.

As for your hearing impairment, she made adjustments to accommodate you. If there was a ringing in your ears, she would make sure that everyone spoke softer. If you were now hard of hearing, she would make sure that everyone spoke louder. You were her best guard, and she wanted nothing but the best for you.

Heinrey

Since you were Navier’s guard, it makes sense that you have become acquainted with Queen. Something that runs in the Rengoku family was the ability to commune with birds, as they could see the battlefield better, Thus, you know what Queen was saying, and you knew that Heinrey was Queen. To be fair, he thought you could turn into an owl because of your appearance.

Over the next few weeks, the two of you got to know each other better. You would put in a few good words for him, saying things to Navier like “he’s so polite and courteous” and “if we were to endure a test of loyalty, I’m not sure who would win.” You played the role of his wing-woman. You would write to him, giving him an inside look in the Empire. Sure, you would be executed for treason, but you only ever swore your loyalty to Her Imperial Majesty.

Through you, Heinrey learned not just about the Imperial Family, but also about the noble families. This included yours. It was just sad, the way you spoke about your father with pride at his achievements as a general, but once your mother died he fell from glory into a sea of alcohol. The Crowned Prince found himself falling for the Empress even more once you told him that she employed you to restore your family’s honor and pave the way for your younger brother.

When the Emperor ordered that any birds sent to Navier would be shot down, you told him to fly to your chambers instead so that you could pass on a message. What you did not expect was to see McKenna instead, but you quickly took the letter and ran to deliver it as fast as you could. Heinrey knows that you put your life on the line for him, so he keeps that in mind. He seriously cannot thank you enough.

Kaufman

You two met when he visited the Empire to discuss trade between the Eastern Empire and the Kingdom of Luipt. You bowed as you introduced yourself, but he did something rather surprising: he took your hand in his before bowing and kissing the back of it. Your eyes went wide in shock, as that sort of greeting wasn’t usually done with knights or guards, but rather ladies of the court instead.

During his stay, he tried to see and talk to you as often as he could while trying to not arouse suspicion from you. It actually led to some good conversations between the two of you. For example, he learned that each of your family members (aside from your younger brother) had been involved with military service. However, once your mother has passed, your father fell into a heavy drinking habit. You even pointed to your ear, which had a big scar, and stated that you have hearing problems because your father hit you with an empty bottle.

However, despite that, you spoke about him with pride. You told Kaufman about how you wanted to follow your father’s footsteps in the military and restore your family’s honor and teach your brother to do the same. The Grand Duke found your motives admirable, and he could see your principles whenever you are trailing behind Navier. You maintained a smile and a cheery disposition, but you would not let your guard down.

When Kaufman had presented Her Imperial Majesty with a love potion, you insisted that as her guard, you should be the one to test its power and potency. You only had a sip when your head started pounding and you felt incredibly warm. Once it was all over, you looked up to see him asking if you were alright. Well, you tried your best to make it seem as though it didn’t affect you physically, but you said that it was stronger than you originally thought.

Before you could stop yourself, you leaned up against him as you stated that both your heart and head felt light. You couldn’t tell if the potion emphasized your already-deep feelings for him. The man you were leaning against was definitely flustered, but the Empress was doing her best to not laugh. You quickly excused yourself to go to your room as the Duke promised to find a cure. But, what you didn’t know is that Kaufman really did not want to find a cure because he was in love with you as well.

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