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pokeberry5 · 5 months

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Did Tim “kill” King Snake and does Bruce know?

In Tim’s first solo min, he goes to Paris to learn martial arts and get that “edge” he thinks he needs to properly assume his role as Robin. He ends up on the tail of British Lord, Hong Kong-based heroine kingpin, leader of the Ghost Dragon gang, Sir Edmund Dorrance AKA King Snake (who is blind, which will be important later). Tim’s only companions on this world tour are Lady Shiva, who wants to defeat Dorrance to prove herself stronger, and ex-DEA agent Clyde Rawlins, who wants revenge against Dorrance for Dorrance’s reprisal killing of his family.

Robin I #4 -- the dream team, I love them

The trio catch up to Dorrance in Hong Kong, where he’s waiting for them in what seems to be the top suite of his skyscraper, 50 stories up.

In this final confrontation with Dorrance, Tim takes full advantage of a crucial moment of distraction to kick Dorrance out of the window. Dorrance ends up clinging to a ledge, hanging on for dear life.

Shiva then appears to order Tim to kill Dorrance, presumably by kicking him off the ledge. (It becomes clear then that this is how Shiva intends to prove herself stronger than Dorrance: she trained Tim and therefore Tim is her weapon and an extension of herself. If Tim defeats Snake, she defeats him by proxy).

Tim refuses and walks away. All we see is him listen as Dorrance falls to what Tim explicitly assumes is his death, 50 stories down.

Robin I #5

So, while Tim isn't directly responsible for Dorrance's death, he was the one to put him in that position and then left him there to fall.

It’s unclear how Tim conceives of his actions here and how we are supposed to interpret them, especially in light of Tim’s refusal to kill in earlier chapters in this arc (and after).

Robin I #2

Robin I #4 -- I love Shiva

He stopped Rawlins from shooting and killing gang members, but then points to the danger Rawlins might have put them in by accidentally shooting crates containing plague (please read this arc it’s really fun despite suffering from uh. severe written in the 90s syndrome) and then explicitly restates his vow not to kill.

AND THEN, the plot thickens!!!

Dorrance did not actually fall to his death; he caught himself on a ledge below, where he believes Tim came down to taunt him. He came away from his fall with a fear of Tim and an obsession with killing him to purge himself of that fear. (anyway Sir Edmund Dorrance walked so Ra’s could run)

Batman (1940) #468

Batman (1940) #469

Dorrance moves to Gotham with the Ghost Dragons and takes over Chinatown (which. Who decided to put, a British lord, what boils down to an allegory of British colonialism in Hong Kong as the head of Chinatown? I have questions – anyway crimelord Lynx ftw)

In the course of his pursuit of Robin, it is revealed that Bruce believes “it was Lady Shiva that caused Dorrance to plunge to his death”—that Tim told him this.

Batman (1940) #469

This is clarified a bit more later, when Bruce confronts Dorrance.

#469

Dorrance explicitly accuses Tim of murder. He outlines the incident leading up to his fall—that Tim tricked him and attacked him from behind (he did, we saw this), that Dorrance was left dangling, and that Tim then caused him to fall.

Bruce refutes this accusation by claiming that it “wasn’t Robin who left you for dead. … Robin spared you. It was Lady Shiva who threw you to your death.”

From this, we can assume that in the moments after Tim refused Shiva and walked away, Shiva threw Dorrance down, which he didn’t realize because, as Bruce claims, he is blind and was likely traumatized by the incident. We can’t know this for sure, however—that Shiva threw him down—for exactly those reasons. Bruce is working off what Tim apparently told him, but we—and Tim—did not see this happen.

Bruce’s explanation of what actually happened also calls into question what exactly Tim told him about what happened.

It’s unclear what exactly he is refuting by: “It wasn’t Robin who left you for dead.” Does he not count Tim leaving Dorrance hanging as “leaving him for dead” or is the implication that Bruce thinks Shiva was the one who both threw Dorrance out the window and off the ledge? We never actually see what Tim told Bruce.

This leaves us with some possibilities:

that what Tim did by leaving Dorrance to dangle, by leaving him to Shiva, does not count against Batman’s no-killing rule.

Perhaps that Bruce does not feel that he could have expected or wanted Tim to step between Shiva and her target, Dorrance

that Bruce does not actually know what really happened—that Tim kicked Dorrance out the window, which in turn implies that either Tim may have stretched the truth or Bruce misinterpreted (purposefully?) what Tim told him

These all seem inconsistent, however, with incidents further down the line, with Cluemaster for example, and then when Tim rebukes Azbats for leaving Abattoir to die. A core tenet of Tim’s characterization is his sometimes frustrated but dedicated adherence to the no-kill rule (im beating anyone who cites the league bases at me away with a stick). So I don’t know what to do with this. Maybe it’s just comic inconsistency. Chuck Dixon, what are you doing?

If anyone has any thoughts about how to reconcile all this!! Please grant me peace

ADDENDA

i.e. stuff that I can’t possibly expect to be addressed in comics, but that I think about anyway

Related to this arc—a point is made a few issues later that Tim at this time doesn’t really have anyone to confide in. He can't really talk to Batman, isn’t close to Dick at this point, and while he is willing to work with Alfred and ask for help with Bat-related things, they’re not yet emotionally close. This isolation is poignantly demonstrated by him confessing his troubles to his still-comatose father.

Robin II #2

WHOM then would he have talked to about all that happened on his little “world tour”? No one? Besides whatever happened with Dorrance and brutal training and isolation, he also had to deal with the fact that Clyde Rawlins—whom he presumably developed some sort of camaraderie with (it’s tim ;-; he forms connections) was killed by Dorrance while working this mission with him.

We know that he had no one to talk to about all that. Did Tim linger on Rawlins????? On the fact that Shiva called him her weapon?? My boy is 13 ;-;

I also love that the whole buildup to Tim’s debut as Robin is Bruce agonizing about whether he should allow another boy to assume the position that cost him his son, and is then followed by plenty of moments after of Batman being overprotective.

Batman (1940) #468

And yet, when Tim is like “I need an edge to be Robin” presumably Bruce?? although this is never explicit connects him with a martial artist in Paris and sends him off on his own. It’s also possible that Tim is the one who comes up with this given that he agonizes a bit over whether he’s doing right by choosing his own path

Robin I #1

Either way, Tim goes to Paris Alone and essentially Unsupervised.

This lack of supervision is further emphasized by the fact that he goes to hunt down a king pin all the way to Hong Kong with Lady fucking Shiva and an ex DEA agent and no other back up. And Bruce presumably doesn’t find out until Tim runs into the hitman Henri Ducard in Hong Kong, who is apparently Batman’s acquaintance. (#5)

I have so many questions. I know that the actual reasoning is probably “oh we want to give this new character a little mini adventure arc on his own!!! To showcase how cool and independent the new robin is” but STILL

(also tim immediately getting himself a little team :’) I lub him)

#red talks #i promise this is half comic panels it only looks long #tim drake #bruce wayne #edmund dorrance #king snake #SINCERE QUESTION PLS GRANT ME PEACE #dc #a lot of me finally reading through tim's stuff is me going BUT WAIT at the writers as they continue on and never address #SEVERAL EXTREMELY IMPORTANT THINGS #i also wanna yell into the void about wtf happens after joker's wild but that needs to be its own post #also this arc feels so slept on the angst potential is crazy #shout to in your image (and of poor construction)#which i should reread now that i have more context

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nightswatchdisbandmentera · 1 year

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Rhaegar, Aegon, and the prophecy of TPTWP

I’m working on some meta about Rhaegar x Lyanna but I’ve hit a bit of a snag because something is bothering me about Rhaegar and his relationship with prophecy. Specifically, the prince that was promised prophecy. So we’re told that Rhaegar believed he would be tPtWP but at some point decided that his son, Prince Aegon, would be the prophesied messiah instead. It might just be me but isn’t it kind of weird just how abrupt this decision is?

It’s believed that the red comet seen on the day of Aegon’s conception might have convinced Rhaegar, but I feel like this is a bit unsatisfactory. So Rhaegar believes for years that it is his destiny to be the hero, but then he sees a comet and changes his mind just like that? And doesn’t the prophecy state that the prince would be born beneath a bleeding star? Born, not conceived. What would prompt Rhaegar to suddenly pivot so hard based on some circumstantial evidence?

Rhaegar doesn’t strike me as a wind vane sort of man. A man who moves anywhere the wind blows, such that he would hop from one contrivance to another just so he could fulfill some vague prophecy. Instead, judging by how bookish and well learned he was, I see him as someone who was probably moved by evidence.

The fandom likes to dismiss him as a prophecy obsessed weirdo but I disagree and think it simplifies and maligns him quite unfairly. Rhaegar was clouded by prophecy because his entire existence is due to prophecy. He was presumably conceived just so he could be a prophesied prince. And let’s look at his birth too. Is it really so surprising that Rhaegar (and Aemon) thought he was tPtWP? He does after all fulfill the Azor Ahai requirements (but rather metaphorically). A dragon was awaken at Summerhall beneath a red star and amidst salt and smoke. That dragon was Rhaegar. So Rhaegar had a multitude of evidence to back up the belief that he would be Azor Ahai.

I’m talking about book cannon so I hate to bring up the adaptations, but we learn in HoTD that Aegon I had a dream about the Long Night that convinced him to unite Westeros. We’re told that the secret of Aegon’s dream is passed down from king to heir - so we see Viserys give Rhaenyra the rundown. This is apparently something that GRRM has confirmed himself so I guess I have to consider it a part of book semi-cannon as well. So it’s really possible that in keeping with tradition, Aerys told Rhaegar about Aegon’s dream and given what Rhaegar already knew about the circumstances of his own birth, he might have been even more convinced about his role in the upcoming war for the dawn.

But then something changed along the way and Rhaegar came to believe that he wasn’t the hero, his son was. We’ve established that Rhaegar is someone who is surrounded by hard evidence, so it’s safe to assume that something happened to give him irrefutable proof that his son would be the promised prince. The comet seen during Prince Aegon’s conception doesn’t seem like much of a pivoting point. Rather, I think of it as an anchoring.

Is it possible, then, that he had prior knowledge of his son (specifically) being tPtWP instead of him? And so the appearance of the comet during Prince Aegon’s conception only confirmed what he already knew at the time. I’m trying to think of something that would convince Rhaegar to pivot and I’m wondering if a different prophecy sealed the deal.

It’s hard to think of who could give Rhaegar such an important prophecy. At first, I thought maybe it could be that he somehow met the Ghost of High Heart and she gave it to him. After all, she is the one who gave the original prophecy that led to his parents’ marriage. She is believed to have died at the tragedy of Summerhall, where Rhaegar was born, but that’s not really true because Arya meets her decades later. She is quite shaken by Jenny of Oldstone’s death and she keeps asking to hear Jenny’s song; Lady Jenny died at Summerhall. We also know that Rhaegar visited Summerhall quite a bit so it’s possible that they might have crossed paths as they both had connections to this place where they lost people important to them. There are fan theories that Rhaegar wrote Jenny’s song, which he could’ve written for the GoHH. When Arya meets the witch, she requests a song in exchange of a prophecy and this song is (presumably) Jenny’s song. So perhaps Rhaegar wrote it for her in exchange for a prophecy where he asked her about the Prince. And then the GoHH told him that it wasn’t him but his son. Given the very vague nature of prophecy that we’ve seen so far, she might have even said something like “your prince” or “the little prince” idk. So by the time Rhaegar starts having children with Elia, he knows full well that he must have a son who will eventually take up the mantle of the prophesied hero. Though he isn’t the messiah, this is still another prophetic burden for him to bear for he is destined to be the messiah’s father (almost like it’s a duty…).

But this doesn’t explain the matter of “the dragon must have three heads”. Dany sees the vision of Rhaegar, Elia, and Aegon, where Rhaegar says “there must be one more”. No one ever mentions the matter of three heads in relation to Azor Ahai/tPtWP. No one, except maester Aemon and Rhaegar. If my memory serves me correct, much of Aemon’s speculations are to do with Rhaegar and he never mentions hearing about three heads of the dragon in the Azor Ahai prophecy elsewhere. He thinks Dany is the Prince(ss) and he could aid her by being one of the heads, but that’s really it. I think Aemon got the three heads thing from his correspondence with Rhaegar; and Rhaegar heard about it elsewhere.

We have even less to go on with Rhaegar’s reasoning for why he believed that there must be two others in addition to the Prince. It kind of comes out of nowhere by the time we read Dany’s HoTU vision. So is it safe to assume that the prophecy that could have told him about his son’s role in the upcoming ‘song’ also told him about three heads of the dragon?

I’ve gone through this wall of text only to just now arrive at the point; specifically, who told Rhaegar about his son being the messiah and about the three headed dragon?

The timeline is a bit hard to pin down with the GoHH because we can’t even be sure if and when they met. And if they did meet, to what capacity? But we do have another seer in the story whose whereabouts we can confirm in in relation to Rhaegar. I’m talking about Maggy the Frog.

In 276 AC, a tourney is held to honor Viserys III’s birth in Lannisport. Rhaegar was 17 at this time and not yet married. Tywin Lannister, this time, wanted to take advantage of this and wished to wed his daughter Cersei to the crown prince. Cersei is told of the potential betrothal by her aunt and, now already infatuated with the prince, visits Maggy the Frog in order to confirm her future. We’re told that many people visited Maggy so Cersei was certainly not her first nor her last customer (though I’m not sure when Maggy died, the wiki just says 276).

So I wonder if Rhaegar also heard of the popular Maggy and deigned to visit her as well to ask a few questions. And then he got there and after giving a prick of blood, asked his questions and got a series of rather vague and confusing answers (just based on what Maggy told Cersei and Melara). It’s hard to tell what sort of questions he asked but they might have pertained to the upcoming war. I can imagine some of his potential questions being:

“How must the darkness be defeated?” - and Maggy says “three there shall be who must sally forth into the darkness” or some nonsense

Then Rhaegar goes, “three? But the prophecy talks about a prince that was promised (singular) not princes that were promised (plural). Who are the others?” - not entirely sure what Maggy could say for this but probably something vague like “one for the mind, one of the heart, one of the body” idk (someone help me out here)

Then maybe for Rhaegar’s last question he asks, “am I the promised prince?” - to which Maggy replies, “no, not you. But the son will be” or some nonsense. I think it was probably not specific that it was Rhaegar’s son or even if it was, which one.

So Rhaegar leaves that meeting having to make quite a number of assumptions about three heroes and the promised messiah and his role in relation to them. But at the very least, he now knows that he isn’t the messiah, “the son” who is presumably his will fulfill that role. Note: it would actually be so hilarious if Rhaegar, like Cersei, got a Valonqar prophecy. Maybe that was Maggy’s whole bit, it was for the *vibes*.

So that means that by the time he is betrothed to Elia by 279 and gets Princess Rhaenys by 280, Rhaegar expects a little son. But it’s not a son who is born to him, it’s a daughter instead. I don’t know if Rhaegar was thinking about recreating the Aegon-Visenya-Rhaenys triumvirate at this time, but he decided to name his daughter after one of Aegon’s wives. But he might have also been trying to honor his mother whose name also starts with the Rhae- prefix. After all if he was trying to recreate the three headed triumvirate, shouldn’t he have started with Visenya? She was the eldest of the three. Except he already had a brother named Viserys! I guess we can say that he didn’t mind his daughter sharing a name with his brother; he could even argue that his daughter is named after his brother as some sort of homage. But then it would just be that: homage and not purposefully trying to recreate the conquering trio. See this is why the fandom shouldn’t be so single minded with the headcannon that Rhaegar “most def wanted a Visenya, trust me bro”. I don’t believe that we have enough to go on to come to this conclusion and there’s even less to suggest that Rhaegar absolutely had to recreate Aegon and his sisters. Though the prophecy was Aegon I’s, there’s not much to suggest that the others would need to be Visenya and Rhaenys. A lot of the evidence is circumstantial and not at all definitive, in my opinion.

Anyway, Rhaegar would have Aegon a year or so later (not sure about the timeline). Now, he has the son who may be the promised prince. And better yet, he was heralded by a bleeding star! It’s not a perfect 1:1 ratio, but this is an instance of a prophecy coming true (as far as he knows)! So Rhaegar’s thought process here is: I have been told that my son will one day be the promised prince -> I see a comet one day as I’m laying with my wife -> a son is born to me nine months later -> based on everything I know, this son will be tPtWP.

According to Dany’s vision, Rhaegar chose the name Aegon because that is a king’s name. He then adds that little Aegon is the prince that was promised and his is the song of ice and fire. It’s assumed that Rhaegar gave his son this name so as to recreate the three headed dragon, which may very well be true. But, like, everyone had a son named Aegon at some point in Targ history. By now, there have already been five kings named Aegon, and even more princes bearing that name. So it’s a similar situation with Princess Rhaenys. It connects to the legendary conqueror, but it’s also a name that has a lot of meaning to the Targaryens regardless of prophecy. Rhaegar is now perfectly fine with fulfilling his duty as the father to the prince who was promised, if what we know of his correspondence with Maester Aemon is anything to go by.

We don’t know about much of what Rhaegar thought after Aegon. Presumably he thought he needed one more, based on Maggy’s prophecy, but where would the other come from? Perhaps Dany’s HoTU vision works as a two way mirror. Maybe Rhaegar dreamt of her too and thought she would be his daughter to complete the trio; maybe that could explain why he looks right at her. Elia was sickly after Aegon but do we really have much to suggest that Rhaegar thought Elia wouldn’t do the job and he must look for another wife? After all, he already had Aegon, his promised prince, so anyone else could fill a supporting role. We at the very least have very little to go on to suggest that he somehow believed that Lyanna Stark must be the one to carry the third child. I’m sure that he met many wonderful women in King’s Landing. Ashara Dayne, for instance, is right there. He could also get Cersei Lannister, who had already shown great interest in him (though I’m not sure that Tywin would agree). Still, Lyanna Stark (already betrothed to Robert Baratheon) was not a perfect choice. And if he already had his promised prince in Aegon, why would he hurry to chase after Lyanna? It’s not like he got a timetable about the Others’ coming in the next few months/years (unless Maggy gave that to him too). Maybe, just maybe, Rhaegar’s relationship with Lyanna was the one thing in his life that ironically had nothing to do with prophecy…

Rhaegar went to his grave thinking that Prince Aegon would be tPtWP. Who knows what he thought of Lyanna’s child. The fandom seems convinced that this child was his “there must be one more”, but he may have never really considered what the child’s role would be (if anything). We don’t know anything about what Rhaegar expected to come out of Lyanna and her child, so we should be careful about saying that Jon was for sure intended to complete the three headed dragon. I’d imagine that as long as Rhaegar had his Aegon, everything else was relative.

In any case, this is an instance in which, as Moqorro would put it, prophecy bites your prick off. Because Rhaegar died, and Prince Aegon died as well. Princess Rhaenys, who may or may not have played a secondary role, died with Aegon. Furthermore, Rhaegar did not have a third child to complete the foretold trio and even if he did, that child would have died as well. It seems like Maggy’s possible prophecy died with the fall of House Targaryen. Except it didn’t. The prophecy will come true, but in very unexpected ways.

Because Rhaegar does have a surviving son, Jon, who was quite unexpected. Unexpected in the sense that Rhaegar may never have considered where Lyanna’s child would fit into all of this. Instead of glittering Prince Aegon being the savior, it’s Jon the bastard who joins a brotherhood up North that is full of the scum of Westeros. An even bigger twist is that Jon is already doing the job (fighting against the Others) without knowing about his true family and how he might be connected to the prophecy; the prophecy wasn’t even about him to begin with. Jon is the savior not because of prophecy, but because he is a good person who cares very much about humanity. The prophecy still exist, but is actually quite unimportant when it comes down it.

Then there’s Daenerys, Rhaegar’s sister who wasn’t even conceived then. She goes even further than all of them and wakes dragons from stone; the first one to do so in some 200 years. So she also fulfills the Azor Ahai requirements rather unexpectedly. And the third head is a mystery. GRRM says that the third head need not be a Targaryen. Lots of theories have come up since then but the most popular contender is Tyrion Lannister; I personally tend to flip flop between Tyrion and Bran Stark. But whoever the third head is, it would still be a subversion. To the average Targaryen, Dany is a given because she woke dragons from stone and is decidedly the blood of the dragon; she’s also the last dragon alive. That’s all well and good but now we have to consider a northern bastard, who doesn’t even look the part, as a possibility. Sure he’s got magic powers, but they’re all wrong and not at all the expected kind. Then the last head isn’t even a Targ? Imagine it being the dwarf Tyrion Lannister. He’s no warrior and he’s got no power outside of his mind; I guess it’s nice that he reads a lot but how does that help anyone? Or if it turns out to be Bran and the third head is a crippled boy from the north who’s got magic powers but again, the wrong sort of magic. I’d imagine Rhaegar and all his predecessors going, “??!”.

Anyway, this started with me trying to understand why Rhaegar so suddenly decided that Aegon was tPtWP but has now veered off into something different. I was just thinking of the irony of Rhaegar’s son being a prophesied savior, but it’s not the son he worked for/expected. And even the three heads of the dragon aren’t who he thought they’d be either. I’m thinking, more generally, about how prophecies in ASOIAF come true, but they are fulfilled in ways that one would least expect. I need to look around and see what other people are saying in regards to Rhaegar, Aegon, and tPtWP. These same points might’ve already been made by someone else….

#rhaegar targaryen #aegon targaryen #the prince that was promised #azor ahai #prophecies in asoiaf #asoiaf #a song of ice and fire #jon snow #daenerys targaryen #three heads of the dragon #valyrianscrolls #to be honest I always thought Rhaegar just saw the comet #and was like #aight bet #time to make some babies #but that’s just so random…#really want to know what other people think #what prompted Rhaegar to switch to his song being tptwp #and how funny is it that his son is the promised prince #but it was a different one lol #welp this is really long #but yea I’m thinking about Jesus rn #I know #Jon = Jesus is the most low level ASOIAF take #but a promised prince who is thought to be one thing #and turns out to be something entirely different #and not as grand lmaoooo #the ghost of high heart #maggy the frog #hope the formatting isn’t godawful

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honey-dewey · 3 years

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Light Me A New York Torch

Pairing: Oberyn Martell/GN! Reader

Word Count: 2,045

Warnings: Mentions of canon-typical violence, mentions of gore, ghosts

Permanent Taglist: @phoenixhalliwell @star-wars-hell

The prompt for this week’s Writer Wednesday was given, as always, by the lovely @autumnleaves1991-blog, and the masterlists are created by @clydesducktape.

You couldn’t remember when it started. When you began to see the people no one else could see. But it had been going on for years, and it was no longer as unsettling as it had once been. Instead, the slightly faded people wandering through the crowds of Sunspear were a comfort, coming with the knowledge that after death, there was still some kind of life.

The ghosts never bothered you, and they never bothered others. They mostly kept residence where they’d been buried, never venturing past the wrought iron gates of their respective cemeteries. But occasionally, especially whenever you made visits to the castle, you would see ghosts, their silver fog trails and oozing injuries marking them as some of the valiant dead. They liked to sit in on meetings, especially the important ones. You never cared, always nodding a brief hello if you were alone.

But it was the Princess of Sunspear who you spent most of your days with.

Elia Martell was buried just outside the castle, in a cemetery dedicated to members of the Martell bloodline. Her name was etched beautifully into a tombstone, her two children beside her. You never met the kids, but Elia loved to spend time in the sun with you, listening to stories you told. Now, you sat on a small bench, waiting for your ghostly friend, a bag of fabric beside you as you worked on a new robe for the Prince.

“Is that for Oberyn?”

You looked up, smiling at Elia. Her face was near ruined, the color faded with death, but her smile was still beautiful, even if it was streaked in blood.

“Of course,” you said, examining the neat backstitching you’d been working on all morning. “Who else wears fabrics this expensive?”

Elia laughed, sitting beside you and looking out over the sea. “How is he?“ she asked softly. “Is he doing well?”

You nodded. “He is.” You set down the sleeve you’d been holding in favor of focusing entirely on Elia. “Doran fell ill, so Oberyn is going to be heading to King’s Landing for him. He leaves in a week’s time.”

Elia hummed. “Travel will do him good,” she decided. “He’s grown too comfortable here in Sunspear.”

“Comfortable?” You asked with a laugh. “How so?”

“He’s like a cat,” Elia said, echoing your laugh. “A cat who’s found an awfully gullible human to leave it a bowl of cream every night.”

You laughed, your project abandoned in your lap. “Unfortunately,” you said once you’d regained yourself. “I think this cat is soon to be declawed. Did you hear what Doran was planning on doing?”

“Please, enlighten me.”

You and Elia both jumped at the new voice, and you turned to see the last person you wanted to see right now. Prince Oberyn.

“Ah, my Prince,” you said, bowing your head. “I didn’t see you there.”

Oberyn smiled, looking at the bag at your feet. “Who were you talking to?” He asked, entirely unaware of Elia sitting beside you, her bloodstained eyebrows turned up in worry.

“Old ghosts,” you answered honestly, knowing he wouldn’t believe you. Most people never did. “Elia likes the castle gossip.”

Oberyn chuckled, laying his hand atop his sister’s tombstone. “She always did,” he hummed, and Elia stood, standing beside her brother. She gently reached out to touch his face, her thumb gliding over his cheek.

“Tell him he’s too thin,” she said softly, her voice full of worry. “He looks too sad.”

You sighed. Elia, no matter how long she remained youthful, would always be Oberyn’s older sister. She would always harbor that deep flame of concern in her belly. “Elia’s worried about you,” you said, not bothering to stand.

“I suppose she would be,” Oberyn said, turning back to you. “Mind if I sit?”

You shifted your stuff over, allowing Oberyn to sit beside you. He peered into your bag, smiling a bit. “Fabric looks nice.”

“Well, it is for you,” you said, drawing the half finished sleeve out of the bag again and picking up where you’d left off. “I figured you’d like the color.”

“It’ll suit me well,” Oberyn agreed.

Elia looked from you to Oberyn, her face lighting up. “Oh gods!” She said eagerly. “He likes you!”

You ignored her, not wanting Oberyn to assume you were out of your mind. “Are you bringing Ellaria to King’s Landing?“ you asked, picking up your needle and continuing to rhythmically backstitch the hem of the sleeve. “I don’t think she’s been yet.”

“She hasn’t,” Oberyn said. “I will bring her when I leave. She’s grown bored here in Dorne. She’s never truly left the kingdom, and I promised her travel.”

You nodded. “Does she need a new robe?” You asked. “I have some beautiful sheer fabric that I can’t wait to use.”

Oberyn smiled. “You work too hard,” he said lightly. “Ellaria is not in need of a new robe.”

“I work just hard enough,” you countered. “I’ll make her a new one when you return.” You tucked your things into your bag, the waxed spool of thread falling gracelessly on top of the pile of fabric. “I’ll see you tomorrow Oberyn.”

Elia followed you all the way to your sewing room, which was shocking, considering she almost never left the cemetery. The entire time, her face practically glowed, and as soon as the door was shut, she squealed with happiness. “He’s in love with you!”

“Who, Oberyn?” You asked, dragging the wooden dress stand towards your desk and beginning to put fabric pieces onto it. “That’s like saying I’m in love with expensive fabrics. It’s a damn near daily occurrence. Oberyn being in love with me means nothing.”

“Mhm,” Elia hummed, sitting up on the windowsill and watching you pin the half-finished sleeves to the body of the robe. “Do you like him?”

You almost stabbed yourself in the finger. “No!“ you insisted, grabbing a pin cushion and sticking the head of a pin into your mouth. “He’s funny and kind and, sure, maybe a bit handsome, but no! I’m not in love with him!”

Elia’s cat-like grin told you that she didn’t believe you in the slightest. “You love my brother,” she said happily. “Oh! This is amazing!”

Rolling your eyes, you threw an empty spool at Elia, watching it soar through her chest and out the open window. “Hush up,” you said firmly. “I need to focus.”

Seven days of focus later, you were presenting Oberyn with his new robe, Elia by your side.

“How does it fit?” You asked, smoothing the fabric between Oberyn’s shoulders, watching it stretch as he shifted. “Too tight, too loose?”

“It’s perfect,” Oberyn promised, turning. “I’m sure I’ll be the envy of everyone in King’s Landing.”

You smiled. “Be careful on these buttons,” you urged. “If you lose any of them, I might just cry. They were very expensive.”

Oberyn chuckled. “If I have time,” he said. “I shall look in the King’s Landing marketplace. They might have some nice fabrics and things for you.”

Your belly heated. “You don’t have to,” you said, sending a minuscule glare in Elia’s direction as she grinned wildly.

“You deserve a thank you,” Oberyn insisted. “I know you must’ve worked many long nights to finish this robe.”

“It truly was not that bad.” You didn’t disagree with him. You knew just how long you spent awake to put that robe together.

Oberyn’s smile never faded as he turned to his horse. “I’ll be back,” he promised. “Tell Elia I’ll visit her when I return.”

Elia hovered her hand over Oberyn’s. “Stay safe little brother,” she said, and although he couldn’t hear her, you swore Oberyn’s eyes shone brighter as he turned his horse away and rode off.

Two weeks later, after many boring days, you were met with a surprise. The cemetery had not one waiting figure, but two. Elia, ever the permanent fixture, and then another horribly familiar body.

“Oberyn?”

The second figure turned, and you gasped. Oberyn’s face looked as if someone had torn it to shreds. His eyes were no more than rusted red craters in his face, and his mouth was stained in blood. His hair was sticky and matted to his temples, where two identical injuries lay. He was in his leather armor, and you were desperate to know what happened.

“So you weren’t joking,” Oberyn murmured. “You really can see ghosts.”

“What happened?” You asked desperately, not caring if anyone heard you seemingly talking to yourself. “Who did this to you?”

Oberyn sighed. “I was the Imp’s champion,” he said. “In a trial by combat. I fought The Mountain, and lost spectacularly.”

You wanted to scream. “Why?”

Elia shifted on her tombstone. Oberyn took a breath. “Revenge,” he admitted. “For Elia.”

You let out a watery sob. “You bastard!” You screamed, swinging your fists as Oberyn, who merely took the fist to the face, allowing it to pass right through him. “You stupid bastard! I can’t believe I’ve lost you! You! I can’t-“ you fell to your knees, sobs wracking your body. “I don’t want you to go.”

“Who says I’m going anywhere?” Oberyn said, crouching beside you and letting his fingers glide under your chin. The chill racing through your skin forced your head up, so you were looking into his face. “I’m not going anywhere, my little seer. You’re stuck with me for as long as you live.”

You reached out, thumbs ghosting over Oberyn’s bloodied cheeks. “You’re a mess,” you mumbled. “A bloody fucking mess.”

“Well,” Oberyn hummed. “I did just die yesterday.”

The rest of the day, you lay in the cemetery with Oberyn and Elia, occasionally joined by two children Elia admitted were hers. The leaves on the surrounding trees were finally beginning to fall, peppering the ground with dots of vivid orange until the once green grass was hidden beneath a blanket of autumn. It was peaceful, even when silvery clouds rolled through the sky and bells began to toll in the city. Shouts, too far off to decipher, split the air, and wails followed shortly after.

“It seems the world has learned of my death,” Oberyn murmured.

“It seems so,” you agreed. “The common folk have lost a good man.”

Oberyn smiled. “But not you,” he said. “You’ll never lose me.”

You laughed. “I do believe I am stuck with you forever,” you said. “Wanna head into the market tomorrow? I need to make you a funeral robe.”

Looking up at the fog silver sky, the breeze making the leaves dance on the air before they fell to the ground, Oberyn nodded. “Yeah,” he said softly, watching Elia play with her children. “We can make it a date.”

“A date,” you repeated. “Of course.”

#game of thrones #Oberyn Martell #oberyn martell x reader #oberyn martell x you #Pedro Pascal #My writing #writer wednesday

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tomakeitbeautifultolive · 3 years

Note

Something I've been wondering about: If Jon comes back as a fire wight like Beric Dondarrion and unCat, will he be able to get it up? Blood won't really be flowing in his body anymore, so would his dick be powered by fire magic or something like that?

I, too, have spent a great deal of time pondering Jon Snow’s dick, Anon. 😏 Jokes aside, I will admit right off the bat that most of what I have to offer is total speculation, but over-thinking the most minor details of ASOIAF happens to be my favorite pastime, so let’s go!

Like pretty much everyone who read the quote, I was totally thrown off by the “fire wight” revelation. Here’s the quote for reference:

“..poor Beric Dondarrion, who was set up as the foreshadowing of all this, every time he’s a little less Beric. His memories are fading, he’s got all these scars, he’s becoming more and more physically hideous, because he’s not a living human being anymore. His heart isn’t beating, his blood isn’t flowing in his veins, he’s a wight, but a wight animated by fire instead of by ice.”

So, an important distinction to make here is that this quote is about Beric Dondarrion specifically, not Jon Snow.

The condition of Jon Snow’s corpse might matter

George can be very clever with how he words things. Note that he goes into Beric’s deaths, describing multiple resurrections and how he’s falling apart before stating that his heart is no longer beating. It could be that a fresh “fire wight” might still possess bodily functions—at least at first. Catelyn, too, was a very sorry looking corpse by the time she was reanimated, therefore not a great comparison, either. Especially since it’s Beric rather than Thoros who, with very little life force to lend, resurrects her.

If nothing else, Jon will be “fresh”, and his location at the Wall means the low temperatures will help preserve his body even if the resurrection takes some time.

And speaking of the Wall… there happens to be a special lady there who could help Jon, and whose powers happen to be amplified by the magic of the Wall...

Melisandre is profoundly more powerful than Thoros of Myr

Thoros may be a red priest, but otherwise he seems to be a pretty normal human man. We get a clue about when he converted from Jaime:

“Jaime had once heard Thoros tell the king that he became a red priest because the robes hid the winestains so well.”

Relatively recently, one might guess, as most children aren’t yet drunks. Further, he was never very dedicated to his faith, even questioning it at times.

Melisandre, on the other hand...

“Melisandre had practiced her art for years beyond count, and she had paid the price. There was no one, even in her order, who had her skill at seeing the secrets half-revealed and half-concealed within the sacred flames.”

While we don’t know much about her, this confirms that she spent countless years studying her craft, and no one in her order can match her skill. And no one believes in their faith more than Melisandre. Like in the television series, it’s a safe bet that she’s actually much older than the natural human lifespan, particularly if she managed to lose count of how many years she’s studied magic.

If Melisandre is the one to resurrect Jon Snow, she might not use a ‘last kiss’ method at all, or, if she does, it could be more powerful than anything Thoros is capable of.

Unlike Beric, Jon Snow is probably the prophesied prince

Speaking of Melisandre’s ability to glimpse secrets in the flames… there’s someone she sure seems to see a lot of:

“I pray for a glimpse of Azor Ahai, and R'hllor shows me only Snow.”

“Skulls. A thousand skulls, and the bastard boy again. Jon Snow.”

“The flames crackled softly, and in their crackling she heard the whispered name Jon Snow. His long face floated before her, limned in tongues of red and orange.”

I know. There is some contention about who the Prince that was Promised is. Regardless of whether you agree that it’s Jon Snow, you’ve got to admit that Melisandre is seeing him in the flames for a reason. And if he’s not the prophesied prince, then perhaps his blood has something to do with it. It’s likely that, for some reason, the combination of Targaryen and Stark blood matters. At least, Rhaegar Targaryen seemed pretty convinced...

Whatever Jon Snow’s business is in Westeros… it’s unfinished. And part of that unfinished business might just involve becoming a father.

The emphasis put on Jon fathering a child is notable

Let’s go back to Jon’s first chapter ever. It opens with Jon at Robert’s feast, the author uses Jon’s eyes to describe the setting and multiple characters. And then enters Benjen Stark. This is when we really get to know Jon. When you read this passage, really consider the author’s intent here:

"You don't know what you're asking, Jon. The Night's Watch is a sworn brotherhood. We have no families. None of us will ever father sons. Our wife is duty. Our mistress is honor."

"A bastard can have honor too," Jon said. "I am ready to swear your oath."

"You are a boy of fourteen," Benjen said. "Not a man, not yet. Until you have known a woman, you cannot understand what you would be giving up."

"I don't care about that!" Jon said hotly.

"You might, if you knew what it meant," Benjen said. "If you knew what the oath would cost you, you might be less eager to pay the price, son."

Jon felt anger rise inside him. "I'm not your son!"

Benjen Stark stood up. "More's the pity." He put a hand on Jon's shoulder. "Come back to me after you've fathered a few bastards of your own, and we'll see how you feel."

Jon trembled. "I will never father a bastard," he said carefully. "Never!" He spat it out like venom.

Suddenly he realized that the table had fallen silent, and they were all looking at him. He felt the tears begin to well behind his eyes.

This is how George R.R. Martin chooses to introduce us to Jon Snow. And gods, that always hits me right in the gut. It’s absolutely supposed to. Jon’s trembling, venomous anger is palpable. You feel the deep hurt and resentment in his words, right down to his core. Jon says he doesn’t care—but the bite in his words and the tears welling in his eyes tell us otherwise.

Jon Snow easily embraces his vow of celibacy. At first. And then comes Ygritte. And after getting his first taste of love and later flirting with the idea of becoming a lord when it’s offered to him by Stannis, Jon Snow begins to imagine what it might be like to have a wife...

“I might someday hold a son of my own blood in my arms. A son was something Jon Snow had never dared dream of, since he decided to live his life on the Wall.”

And look what happens the moment he does dare to dream of it...

“I could name him Robb. Val would want to keep her sister's son, but we could foster him at Winterfell, and Gilly's boy as well. Sam would never need to tell his lie. We'd find a place for Gilly too, and Sam could come visit her once a year or so. Mance's son and Craster's would grow up brothers, as I once did with Robb.

He wanted it, Jon knew then. He wanted it as much as he had ever wanted anything. I have always wanted it, he thought, guiltily. May the gods forgive me. It was a hunger inside him, sharp as a dragonglass blade.”

And the feeling transitions into an almost tangible hunger felt by his wolf, Ghost.

Speaking of Ghost…

Grab your tinfoil! ‘Cause Jon’s life might’ve already been ‘paid for’ ...By Daenerys

First… in case you didn’t know, Daenerys is probably a skinchanger:

“The slightest pressure with her legs, the lightest touch on the reins, and the filly responded. As she turned to ride back, a firepit loomed ahead, directly in her path. A daring she had never known filled Daenerys then, and she gave the filly her head.”

Basically, it goes like this:

As Daenerys wanders the Dothraki Sea in search of food after being whisked away by Drogon, she hears a wolf’s howl.

“Will (Ghost) howl for me when I'm dead, as Bran's wolf howled when he fell?”

Feeling lonely yet no less hungry, she eats some strange green berries. Her stomach begins to cramp.

“My flesh will feed the wolves and carrion crows, she thought sadly, and worms will burrow through my womb.”

Unfortunately, Daenerys then experiences some horrible diarrhea. Poor girl! I don’t bring it up to be crass, but because this purge bears striking resemblance to an earthly drug called Ayahuasca—a substance that, aside from emptying your bowels, is often used as a means to ‘open your third eye’ (Just as Bran does in the crypts, and he can finally reach Jon and Ghost…)

Dany falls asleep and begins experiencing trippy dreams about her brother—perhaps even achieving contact with the other side? Then...

“When she woke, gasping, her thighs were slick with blood.”

Assuming it’s nothing more than her period, Dany begins to wonder the last time she bled—hinting that it might’ve been a little while.

“The sight of so much red frightened her. Moon blood, it's only my moon blood, but she did not remember ever having such a heavy flow.”

Maybe a bit of a stretch, I know. But… this wretched and graphic scene of Dany’s loose bowels really made me wonder what in seven hells George was thinking. I was so embarrassed for Dany that I HAD to figure out why he’d do this to her.

And my best guess is that she’s using these latent skinchanging abilities to tap into this strange connection with the “blue rose” over at the Wall of Westeros and the silent wolf who finally howled for help upon his death… And so, Dany’s miscarriage may be the death that will pay for Jon’s life.

I might’ve found some more evidence to back this claim up, this is very new ‘evidence’, so bear with me:

“Fire”, in the world of ASOIAF, often translates to “life”. As is seen here in Sam’s speech following Aemon’s death (thanks, bridge4!):

“He was the blood of the dragon, but now his fire has gone out.”

Further, according to the wiki:

“When a follower of the Lord of Light dies, priests fill their mouths with fire and breathe flame into the deceased”

In the House of the Undying, Dany receives a series of chilling prophecies, one of which happens to be about fires:

“Three fires you must light, one for life, one for death and one to love”

I know, I know. Drogo’s pyre, the Khals, etc etc. But George might be playing with double meanings here… So, if we think of fires as conceptions, this could maybe mean:

One in exchange FOR the Dragon’s lives (Life)

One in exchange FOR Jon’s resurrection (Death)

One conceived (likely with Jon) and carried to term (TO love)

Food for thought! Especially considering that, like Jon, Dany possesses the blood of Old Valyria, and these sacrifices are probably all the more powerful as a result. But even if I’m dead wrong about that prophecy, well, fire still broadly means life, which bodes well for our brooding ‘bastard’, who might just end up as a “fire wight”.

Hopefully something in this drivel has given any Jon fans reading this a little bit of faith that, despite the slight setback of death, Jon will still be able to exercise his, uh, virility when he finally meets Dany. 😅 Thanks for the ask!!

#answered #jon snow #fire wight #resurrection #jonerys #asoiaf theories #asoiaf speculation #my theories #loving the asks since I can't do much else while recovering #keep 'em coming if you got 'em!

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purpletaecup · 4 years

Photo

7 ☾ i loved you. i’m sorry.

warnings: depictions of panic attacks

notes: writing the end of this chapter made me cry t^t luv u guys, thank you for the support. i love writing this story so much! feel free to send an ask to the IFU universe characters or vent to me about them! also, there is a picture in here that i drew!!!! it’s not that great but I hope you guys like it :-)

word count: 4,471

“Who are you?”

Those words echo in Yoongi’s ear as if it was his final judgment from the king of hell. He staggered but held onto the edge of your hospital bed to keep from falling. He could only look at you in shock and silence while the doctor came up from behind him and examined you.

“Miss Kim, how are you feeling? Is there any pain?” The doctor asked.

You rubbed and blinked a couple of times. Everything was still a little blurry.

“M’head hurts and my body is so sore,” you reply. “Why am I here?”

“What’s the last thing you remember, Miss Kim?”

Rubbing your temples, you groaned in frustration, not remembering how you ended up in this hospital bed.

“I can’t remember. Everything’s really fuzzy right now.”

The doctor turns to Yoongi, who sat himself down on the chair further away from you.

“Do you recognize him?”

You looked at the man in the chair and examined him for a while. There’s a chill that runs through Yoongi’s body as he sees your eyes roam him from head to toe. He almost expects to see some kind of anger or resentment on your face, but receives nothing but confusion.

You turn back to the doctor shaking your head. He opens his mouth to say something but Yoongi beats him to it.

“It’s okay, doc, we can talk about that later, but is she okay? You said your head was hurting, right, Yn?” He says, looking back at you.

Cautiously, you nod at him before looking at the doctor again.

“It’s throbbing and it feels like there’s drums banging in my head.”

“This is all completely normal. You were in a pretty severe car accident and received a pretty worrisome head injury. You were unconscious for about five days, so your body has already started its healing process. In the coming weeks, you might experience some delayed symptoms related to the concussion you received.”

“What kind of symptoms? Is she going to be okay?” Though shocked as he was with your current predicament, Yoongi couldn’t help but worry even more.

“Mr. Min, if you would just let me continue, I can give you and Miss Yn all the answers you need. Because of the nature of the accident, she received a pretty bad head injury resulting in a concussion I believe to be grade II or III.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” You asked.

“It’s just a way to classify the severity of the concussion you received. Since you were in a car accident, you sustained a lot of other injuries but nothing too severe like broken bones. Miraculously enough, you managed to be wheeled away with only lacerations, bruising and a head injury. You were unconscious for about five days and you’re exhibiting signs of amnesia along with blurriness and headaches. These are all signs of a grade II or III concussion, though we won’t know which one until after a few more days of monitoring. Either way, there is the possibility of delayed symptoms like headaches, nausea and imbalance. After we’ve monitored your brain activity and symptoms for a few days, we can determine the grade of concussion clearly and proceed with treatment if needed. I’m leaning a bit more towards a grade II because you’re still able to speak and understand in a normal manner, but the memory loss is worrisome so we’ll have to monitor that and see if it lasts for over 24 hours or not.”

You groaned and tried to sit up straighter, but your muscles, so sore and unused for days, were making it difficult. Yoongi, who had inched closer and closer to you while the doctor spoke, held your hand in one of his while the other helped push you to sit up more comfortably. You murmur a soft thanks in his direction.

“I still don’t understand. You’re saying that I have amnesia, but I feel like I remember everything I should. I know my name, my parent’s names, my friends and my family’s names.” You begin to explain, not really understanding the whole ‘amnesia’ thing.

“How old are you? And what year is it?” The doctor asked while scribbling on your chart.

“19, and it’s 2016.” As soon as those words came out of your mouth, Yoongi fell into a quiet shock once again. Not only had you not recognized him, he was completely erased from your memory. You two met when you were 19, and in your head, you were 19 and you had no idea who he was, so your memory must have conveniently stopped sometime before you met him. He almost scoffs at the irony of it all.

“Miss Kim, you’re 23. You just turned 23 two months ago and it’s currently 2020. Today is the eleventh of November.”

The gasp leaves your mouth before you realize it. Your shaky hands lift up to cover your mouth and you feel tears well up in your eyes from the impact of the doctor’s statement.

“What do you mean? How can I just lose four years in my memory?” Your voice cracks when you ask and through the tears and the shaky breaths, you feel the ghost of a hand on your back.

“That, we don’t know. We haven’t seen an amnesia case this severe in decades, but that’s why we’re going to be monitoring you. Amnesia in head injury patients is pretty unpredictable, but most people who experience amnesia usually only lose memories within the day or at most a week, but it usually never lasts for more than a couple of days. You losing four years of memories doesn’t essentially correlate to how long it will take to regain those memories. For all we know, you could get them back tonight, but like I said, it’s pretty unpredictable.”

It takes a moment for all of it to sink in and absorb. Okay, so you lost four years of memories, but you might regain them soon. Although it’s not a guarantee, it’s still a possibility. You wipe the tears and you steady your breath before turning to the doctor once again.

“What’s he got to do with all of this? I still don’t know who he is or why he’s here.” You ask while pointing to the man beside you.

The doctor looks at you, then looks at him as if expecting him to take the floor and explain things himself.

“I’m Min Yoongi.” He holds out his hand intending you shake yours. You lift your wired up hand to his and he encloses it gently. It’s warm.

“Okay, Min Yoongi, that doesn’t explain how I’m supposed to know you?” You question again, a little bit of attitude in your voice.

It’s silent for a moment. Sensing the tension, the doctor excuses himself, telling them that he’ll send some nurses to help with your headaches and soreness.

Yoongi’s grip tightens on your hand. He contemplates for a little while about how to explain who he was in your life and who you were in his. Can he say that you’re his wife? Will that make it easier for the both of you since you were pregnant? But that was a lie, because you were divorced.

And he had lied to you enough times during your marriage. He thinks it might be the time to be more truthful.

“We were together for four years.” He starts. You wriggle your hand out of his, feeling a little too warm.

“Ah, if we were together for four years, how come I don’t remember you?”

Yoongi thinks about how to answer this one. He hums for a couple of seconds before he asks, “well, in your head, when did you turn 19?”

It was your turn to let a “hmm” pass your lips this time.

“Last week!”

“Okay, so in your timeline, we would have met next week. Two weeks after your birthday, on September 24.”

You nod your head in understanding, but you wince pretty obviously right after. The bruises are aching and you think it’s because you sat up for too long. Yoongi puts his hand on your arm and guides you to lay down.

“Here, just lay down and I’ll sit right here and answer your questions, okay?” He reassures.

After laying down, you try to move your body to the side so you could face where he was sitting.

“So how come you’re here and not my family members?” You asked after a minute’s silence, trying to think of a question to ask. If baffled you that this man you don’t even remember is the only one visiting you in broad daylight after a severe car accident.

“Jin was here with me the day of your accident. He said he was going to take care of you, but he got called in for work and had to travel out of the country a couple of days ago.”

“What about my mom?”

“Actually, I’m not really sure. Jin told me that she was abroad.”

“So you’re the only one left. Must be important if you were in my emergency contacts.”

“I was the only emergency contact you had according to the nurses.”

At this moment, Yoongi looked at you with sad eyes, but you didn’t know why. It felt like it was penetrating you and a nagging voice in the back of your head told you to stop looking at him.

Eager to ease the tension, you ask how the two of you met. Yoongi rests his elbow on the arm rest of the chair, plopping his chin down on his palm.

“Well, I had a music video shoot on the same day as yours. You were doing a photoshoot, I think, and you were using the same set room as me. I went there early to talk to the directors, but you were in the middle of your shoot and I just stayed. I asked my manager to ask for your number and we started talking and then I asked you to be my girlfriend on Halloween at a costume party.” There was a smile on Yoongi’s face when he recalled that particular memory.

He had no recollection of whose party it was, but you two showed up in the best costumes you could muster. Lydia Deetz in her wedding dress and Beetlejuice. The party was fun and the two of you had spent the night in the garden of the venue, just laying down and admiring the stars on Halloween night. It was nearing midnight when the both of you heard a countdown coming from inside. Why there was a countdown for midnight on Halloween, neither of you had a clue, but he took it as a sign and as the grandfather clock chimed, he gave you a gentle kiss and asked (whispered) you to be his girlfriend.

He remembered your laughter from that night and it brought an even larger smile to his face.

You looked at him in awe, thinking his smile was simply breathtaking.

“So you fell in love with me at first sight, huh?” You asked teasingly.

Yoongi glared at you, but as soon as he spotted your little smirk, the glare melted away and a hesitant smile made its way on his face again.

“For your information, it was at first laugh.” He simply stated. At that, you gave a gentle smile and a quiet giggle into your hand.

In that moment, Yoongi was taken back to the early days of your relationship. The appearance of that gentle smile had catapulted him back to the happier days of your story. It was so different from you in the recent months. You, who had been so sad and exhausted and frustrated. Though pale and bruised and in a hospital bed, you looked much more youthful than before, as if you had reverted back to the person that was happiness personified.

“Right, okay. At first laugh. Never heard that before.”

“I’m serious. It was like hearing bells.”

“That doesn’t sound very appealing.”

“Good bells.”

You laughed again, a little scratchy this time. Yoongi handed you the glass of water on your bedside table.

“Okay, so you fell in love with me at first laugh, then what happened?” You asked, eager to find out about this story. At the moment, you really had no inkling of who this man was, but it intrigued you to hear your apparent love story. You loved a good love story and this one, yours, seemed to have a good start. Because you couldn’t recall it, hearing it from his mouth is like looking into your own love story from an outsider’s point of view.

Yoongi took the glass of water and placed it back on the table.

“Well, we got together obviously, and we were together for four years.”

“Past tense, so you’re an ex-boyfriend?” This was getting more interesting. You have always associated exes with heartbreak (at least the ones you remembered), so this was interesting. You must have been good friends after the breakup for him to be your emergency contact.

“Ex-husband, actually.”

Oh.

That stopped you in your tracks. Now, divorce was something you had never, ever thought about. Mentally, you were 19, and at 19, you were worried about your career. You had suffered your fair share of heartbreaks and cheating bastards in high school and swore off marriage until you got yourself together, so this revelation confused you a little bit. You two met when you were 19, but here you are at, apparently, 23 years old and you’re divorced. That’s actually… unbelievable.

“We started dating on Halloween technically, but I proposed in July and that’s when we agreed to celebrate our anniversaries even though that sounds kind of silly. You thought it would be cute to just have one single date to celebrate our anniversary. Something about Halloween being sacred to you.” Yoongi laughed a little nervously, eager to soften the mood just a little bit. He knows you don’t really remember, but it still feels strange to talk about your divorce.

“Wait, so break this down for me a little bit more. How long were we married for?”

“2 years. So I proposed the July after we started dating and then we got married a year later on the same date.”

“And when did we get divorced?”

Yoongi fiddled with his fingers a bit before answering, “ The end of September. We were drifting for some months already, so I think divorce was the best option for us.”

You nodded absentmindedly. It was a little strange to be here, in a hospital bed, listening to this man (who is apparently your ex-husband) talk about your divorce. You felt like you should be feeling something more than this, but all you can feel is some kind of nonchalance, like you were listening to a lecture on a subject you didn’t like. Still, this was your love life, something you treasured with all of your heart, and the news of this divorce with a man you can’t even remember is shocking but in a detached way, if that made sense.

“That makes sense. No one should stay in a marriage where the feelings aren’t there anymore.” You say slowly, silently, absorbing this whole situation.

From your peripheral, you see Yoongi just nod, not saying anything. The silence that befell the two of you was somewhat comfortable but solemn at the same time.

The silence was interrupted by murmurs coming from Yoongi.

“Don’t worry. Even though we’re not together, I’ll still take care of you. You don’t have any immediate family and I’m the only one you really know in this city. The least I can do is take care of you.”

You look at him and shake your head. The independent part of you wanted to deny that. Even though you were mentally 19, in actuality you were 23 and you knew how to take care of yourself.

“It’s fine, Yoongi. I’m a big girl, I can take care of myself.”

That silences Yoongi for a bit. He remembers you saying that all the time, moreso during the time you decided to quit modelling. He was worried about you, but you always reassured him that there was nothing to worry about. You were a big girl. A woman. When these words came out of your mouth, it reminded him that although you didn’t remember much, you were still the woman he knew deep down.

Before he gets lost in his thoughts again, he lets out a small laugh.

“Yeah, I know you can, but you don’t even know where you live. Do you even remember how to drive? I remember you learned how to drive when you were 21.”

You furrow your brows, angry at his statements, but decide that you can’t refute since what he’s saying is completely true.

“Okay, valid. You can go home if you want, though. They said they were gonna keep me here for a couple of days, so you don’t have to come to the hospital until then, I guess. You look kind of rich… and famous, so you must be busy all the time.”

“I’m my own boss, so I can take my own time off, but I do need to go to the company to settle some things before you get discharged.”

As he talked, your eyes become droopy and were slow to blink.

“Yn, are you okay?” Yoongi asks as he moves closer to your face to examine you. Instinctively, you move back a little, but you’re still close enough to see his eyes up close. You decide to close your eyes.

You mumble a little. “Mhm, just sleepy. Head still hurts.”

Yoongi pulls the blanket up to cover up to your neck and fixes your hair so that it’s not in your face. The intimacy is strange, but not unwelcome, you think.

“Kay, just go back to sleep. I’ll go talk to your doctor then I’m going to the company, okay? I’ll be back tomorrow to give you some of your necessities.” He whispers.

You could barely hear him, but you nod anyways. The disappearance of his warm hand left a cold, empty feeling. Soon enough, you drifted off into sleep.

☽

Yoongi takes one last look at your sleepy form before he quietly leaves the room. He sees your doctor from the corner of his eye and walks up to him. Before he could ask anything, the doctor tells him that they have the results from a scan taken the day prior.

“There seems to be no traumatic damage to the brain, so we have high hopes about a smooth journey to recovery. Of course, she is pregnant, so that might make things a bit more delicate, but nothing that is too difficult to adjust to. She’s right in the middle of her first trimester, so you both really need to be careful. It’s already a miracle that the fetus survived. The rest is up to you guys.”

“And what about the amnesia?”

“We’re still confused about the memory loss. As I mentioned before, the last case of amnesia that was that severe was such a long time ago, and there was no explanation or pattern that was found in the brain to justify the timeline of the memory loss. 4 years is a really long time. We believe she might be more sensitive due to having such a huge gap in her memory. We don’t know what could trigger memories or how she would react to them, but you and the rest of her family should come up with things or events to stimulate her brain activity and remind her of some of the memories that she lost.”

“That sounds reasonable. I don’t want to overwhelm her too much, so I held back a lot when I was talking to her today. If it’s possible, can we hold off on telling her about her pregnancy? At least until I come back and I can tell her myself. I tried to take the day off today, but I have to deal with the company first so I can be here when she’s discharged.” Yoongi explained.

The doctor looked nervous at first, but thought about it for a while.

“Yes, I think that might be for the best. Waking up in an unfamiliar place with no memories of the past four years can be very overwhelming so it might be easier to ease her into the news. Thank you Mr. Min, we’ll call you when there’s news.” The doctor says before holding his hand out for a handshake.

Yoongi let out a small smile as he shook the doctor’s hand.

“Yes, please let me know if anything happens and if her situation changes. I’ll be back tomorrow to drop off a new cellphone for her so it’s easier to contact people. I’ll see you then, doc. Thank you so much for your hard work.” Yoongi couldn’t help but praise him for being such a helpful person during a difficult time for both him and you.

“It’s no problem at all, Mr. Min. It makes me happy to see how devoted you are in taking care of your wife and future child.” The doctor smiles at him and pats his shoulder roughly before he walks away whistling.

Yoongi only stared at his back as he walked away from him. Devotion. That wasn’t something he was used to.

☽

He’d gone home that night and contemplated the strange encounter that you both had today. The initial shock he received when realizing that you couldn’t recognize him, worse yet remember him, was swept away quickly by your questions about your relationship with him. As the night ended and he tucked himself into his bed, he couldn’t stop thinking about your conversation today.

It was the most civil conversation you’ve had since before the divorce. It was basically the only conversation you’ve had since the divorce. The more he thought about it, the more he zoned out of the reality in front of it. He thought about your teasing smile when you asked if he fell in love with you at first sight. He thought about your laugh, like bells, when he corrected you and said it was love at first laugh. It was like the fates turned back time to when you two first met. It was like he was seeing you for the first time again.

The you from today was such a stark contrast from the you that Yoongi had lived with in the months leading up to your divorce. Being reminded of what you were like back then and comparing it to the person you turned into after 4 years together made his heart beat faster. He didn’t know what it was but thinking about how you changed, how you grew, made him nervous. These weren’t fluffy feelings of romance or admiration. It seemed to be more like fear. He looked down at his hands and realized that they were shaking. As the shaking continued, he noticed his breathing getting shorter and shorter. He didn’t know what was happening but having these thoughts made him feel so scared.

The tears escaped his eyes before he even realized he was crying. He had never experienced this before. His heart was beating so fast and he couldn’t stop shaking or crying but all he could focus on was your soft smile today and every time he saw it in his head, it crumbled into the 23 year old you who sobbed into her hands in front of him. He just kept thinking and thinking and thinking and it made him cry into his palms more and more. Behind his closed eyes were images of the two of you through the years and the way you had changed from a beautiful, happy person who could probably make the sun and all the planets stop into a sad, quiet, reserved woman who preferred to stay at home and be alone with your paper and your words.

Did he do that? Did he do that to you? Did he make you that sad? Was it his fault that you pulled away from him? Was it his fault that you two fell apart as catastrophically as you fell in love? Was he the reason for your accident?

No, no, no, no. He cried and cried and couldn’t breathe. I didn’t do that, I didn’t want to do that. I didn’t mean to do that. I loved you. I loved you. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.

At the same time, you woke up in your hospital bed, shocked by a nightmare that eventually dulled and became forgotten as soon as you woke. You felt like there was something important that the dream told you, but you couldn’t put your finger on it. Instead of trying to remember, you looked up at the ceiling of your hospital room and contemplated on your strange encounter with your so-called ex-husband today. Mentions of the divorce were vague, so you didn’t focus on it much. He told you a love story that you wouldn’t have believed if you hadn’t lost your memories. You smiled as you remembered that way he told you he fell in love at first laugh. There was a twinkle in his eye when he said that, but you still noticed a twinge of sadness and regret behind it all.

“For your information, it was at first laugh.”

You closed your eyes and tried so hard to remember anything, just the smallest thing, to confirm whatever Yoongi had told you, but nothing came to you except for a barrage of tears that was so sudden it shocked you. You tried to stop crying, but you couldn’t. You tried to laugh but it only ended in broken sobs. There was a hurt in your chest that you couldn’t precisely describe. It was sharp, and it hurt your heart, like it was breaking little by little. It wasn’t happiness. Not at all. It felt like a sadness that you hadn’t ever felt before (or at least your 19 year old self), but you couldn’t possibly remember why you felt like this. The tears kept coming and coming and it frustrated you so much that you didn’t know why you were crying like this. You just wanted to remember something about your marriage, your relationship, and Min Yoongi. You couldn’t understand why you were feeling like this.

Of course, though the memory is lost, the hurt and sorrow that your heart had gone through couldn’t be forgotten. At least not by your body. It was a sadness so deep in your bones that not even the loss of the memories associated with this hurt could erase it.

☽

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heavensturtle · 3 years

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Day 5: Sky | Lanterns

A short fic for Day 5 of Xie Lian’s Birthday Week! - - -

Note: Post-canon. This got very long, and is unedited, so please forgive any mistakes. I will fix them soon!

Spoiler alert: The standard ‘read the book first’ applies :)

- - -

The inevitable happens: time passes, kingdoms fall, and the common people gradually forget about the old gods. First they pass into myth, then into a vague memory of a time when people looked to ascended beings as the source of good and misfortune in the world.

Xie Lian, forever wrapped in the arms of his most devoted believer, will never need to worry about the inevitable. But as for the others -

“There’s only one small shrine left,” Ling Wen sighs, dropping her forehead to her hand. She stares dejectedly at the open ledger before her.

Xie Lian, shaken, kneels down to meet her eyes.

“Let me see what I can do.”

* * *

He decides to bring it up a few weeks before the mid-autumn festival, as they’re strolling through the maple forest on Mount Taicang which has grown over the centuries to become almost indistinguishable from the forest of Xie Lian’s youth.

“San Lang,” Xie Lian begins, then hesitates. He doesn’t know what to say, or even what he’s asking for.

Hua Cheng turns and smiles at him so warmly that Xie Lian can feel it in his bones. He drops Hua Cheng’s hand, suddenly ashamed.

He cannot take advantage of Hua Cheng like this.

“What is it, gege?” Hua Cheng frowns, stopping to look at Xie Lian.

Xie Lian looks away. “Oh. I, um, I was just wondering if perhaps we should make a visit to the Ghost City soon.”

“Of course, whatever gege wishes,” Hua Cheng reaches out and tucks a lock of Xie Lian’s hair behind his ear. “Was that all?”

“Yes,” Xie Lian whispers.

Hua Cheng pinches his face a bit, but says nothing.

Xie Lian tries again a few nights later, when they’re lying in bed at Paradise Manor. Xie Lian is tucked against Hua Cheng’s chest, and Hua Cheng is idly running a hand through Xie Lian’s hair, brushing it away from his head and out across the mattress.

“San Lang,” he mutters, pushing back slightly to look Hua Cheng in the eye.

“Hmm?” Hua Cheng hums.

With the moonlight passing through the open windows, Xie lian can clearly make out Hua Cheng’s face. He’s looking at Xie Lian with that same warm expression, and Xie Lian immediately regrets his decision. He nuzzles closer to bury his face into Hua Cheng’s neck.

“Nothing,” he says, breathing in the fresh, almond scent of Hua Cheng’s skin.

Hua Cheng’s answering chuckle reverberates through Xie Lian’s body.

“All right, gege,” he says, and he returns to brushing Xie Lian’s hair.

Finally, only three days before the festival, Xie Lian knows he can’t wait any longer.

“San Lang,” he calls out, closing his eyes and scrunching up his face, “Please, this is not a demand, it’s only a question, but I have to ask - I can’t just let- ”

He feels Hua Cheng’s hand on his cheek, and he opens his eyes.

“Gege would like me to light lanterns for his friend, yes?”

Stunned, Xie Lian looks up to meet Hua Cheng’s eyes.

Hua Cheng has that soft look on his face again, and again Xie Lian wants to hide. But he forces himself to answer.

“H-how?” is all he manages.

Hua Cheng smirks a bit and rubs his thumb across Xie Lian’s cheek.

“I knew this would happen, eventually,” Hua Cheng says, still smiling, “And I already told the residents of Ghost City to be ready for the celebration.”

Xie Lian can feel tears prickling at the corners of his eyes. Hua Cheng had known all along.

“Thank you, San Lang,” he manages, before he thinks he might cry again.

“Gege, they don’t deserve you,” Hua Cheng says seriously, cupping Xie Lian’s face in both his hands.

“And I don’t deserve you,” Xie Lian whispers, closing his eyes.

He feels a soft press of lips as Hua Cheng kisses him, and he sighs. Hua Cheng gathers him close, holding him up as the kiss goes on.

“You deserve more, but I’m so glad you’ve chosen me,” Hua Cheng says, kissing Xie Lian’s forehead.

“There could never be anyone better,” Xie Lian whispers hoarsely.

The night of the mid-autumn festival, Xie Lian sits at the banquet table with the rest of the gods. Shi Qingxuan, who re-ascended only ten years after her banishment and has now had several centuries of legitimate godhood behind her, sits to Xie Lian’s right and whispers to him throughout the absurdly boring speech Mu Qing attempts to give as a sort of morale boost to the rest of the deities.

“Xuan-xiong would have stopped him by now,” Shi Qingxuan mutters to Xie Lian.

“No, he would have just eaten everything at the table,” Xie Lian replies, trying to hide his smile behind his hand.

“Hmph,” Shi Qingxuan acknowledges, “By the way, how is your Ghost King?”

Xie Lian feels his lips twitch into a smile. “He’s very well.”

The lanterns have been a constant sign, year after year, of the gods’ waning importance. After Xie Lian, who always received his three thousand lanterns from Hua Cheng, the next best rarely made five hundred. Many were only in the tens of lanterns.

This year, when the lanterns are announced, Xie Lian feels the anticipation like it’s the first time all over again. Hua Cheng has promised to help Ling Wen; Xie Lian can’t wait to see what happens.

What happens is nothing that Xie Lian could have expected. The moment last place is announced, a cacophony of light explodes in the night sky, and a thousand lanterns rise into the air to celebrate the god.

A thousand for last place, Xie Lian thinks, what has Ghost City planned?

The plan becomes immediately apparent; every god, it seems, has been gifted a thousand lanterns by the Qiandeng Temple. Every god present recognizes the name and understands this is Hua Cheng’s doing. Hua Chengzu is rich, and powerful, with nearly limitless spiritual power - it’s not surprising he would be able to do this.What’s more surprising is that he would bother.

The gods look at one another with concern on their faces (with the exceptions of Pei Ming, who gives Xie Lian a knowing wink, and Ling Wen, who simply gives Xie Lian a look of extreme gratitude).

When Xie Lian’s three thousand lanterns finally arrive to rival the stars in the night sky, Xie Lian bows his head slightly, presses his fingers to his temple, and says Thank you.

Does gege like them? Hua Cheng wonders through their private communication array.

Does this mean they have believers? Xie Lian asks.

Of course, Hua Cheng replies, The Ghost City residents are already arguing over which ones they get to worship.

What?

Obviously, Qingxuan is at the top of the list. Hua Cheng sounds immensely pleased.

Because she’s so friendly? Xie Lian guesses.

No. Because she’s your closest friend.

Xie Lian can’t think of anything to say to that.

* * *

The inevitable happens: the residents of Ghost City, taking up their responsibility as ‘Grand-Uncle’s biggest fans’, build ever-more impressive temples to their chosen gods, competing to see which temple can burn the most incense, collect the most donations, light the most lanterns. It’s a ridiculous sort of worship, but oddly sincere, and after their initial embarrassment the gods grow to find the competition endearing.

Xie Lian, of course, only needs the attention of one ghost, the one who lies with him at night and cooks for him when he manages to burn his pancakes. The one who drowns him in kisses and scoops him into hugs that would surely destroy a mortal body.

One night, several years into the ever-escalating competition by the Ghost City residents, Hua Cheng pulls Xie Lian outside for a walk in the maple woods.

“Will gege stay with San Lang, this time?” he asks.

Xie Lian knows Hua Cheng is talking about the mid-autumn festival.

“Of course,” Xie Lian says, reaching for Hua Cheng’s hand.

“I would like,” Hua Cheng begins, then pauses.

“What is it, San Lang?” Xie Lian asks, stopping to look at Hua Cheng.

“It’s nothing,” Hua Cheng says, looking away.

“Please?” Xie Lian asks, reaching out to brush Hua Cheng’s hair back from his cheek.

“It’s only, I was thinking, we could light your lanterns together, this year,” Hua Cheng says timidly, as though he’s afraid Xie Lian will say no.

“Oh. San Lang,” Xie Lian breathes, pulling Hua Cheng close, “Nothing would make me happier.”

Hua Cheng grips Xie Lian even tighter. Xie Lian can feel him trembling.

“Can I light one for you, too?” Xie Lian asks.

Hua Cheng nods wordlessly, and Xie Lian feels his chest ache.

The rustling of the wind in the maple leaves accompanies them as they slowly rock in place, holding on to one another like they may never get to do this again, just like they have every other time they’ve done so.

#hualian #post canon #tgcf #tgcf fic #hua cheng #xie lian #shi qingxuan #ghost city #XieLianWeek2021

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beautifulterriblequeen · 3 years

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B2:S - Chapter 3

Much of this series will be about the differences and additions in the novel version, and how they contribute to my understanding of story canon. But there will be character appreciation, the odd theory and headcanon, and suchlike as well.

Here be Lujanne, Callum, Rayla, Ezran, Bait, and Soren goodness!

Spoilers for Book Two: Sky below.

Lujanne having excellent fitness for all her walking around the Moon Nexus, and she's so energetic that Callum has trouble keeping up with her! She seems like those active grandmas who almost never stop moving, who have a lifelong supply of endless stamina. It makes me wonder if Lujanne will need that level of fitness for some upcoming conflict.

Callum feeling really hungry over not eating grubs and then still deciding he'd rather be hungry. It makes me wonder all over again how Lujanne got to the point where she eats grubs, considering that other Moonshadow elves we know of back in the Silvergrove don't. I still love my hc that the giant leech ate all of Lujanne's moonberry bushes and she's taking her revenge. Whatever's going on there, Callum is definitely not at that point yet.

When Lujanne asks Callum how he knows she's real, he thinks to himself that he'd put up with just about anything from someone who was going to teach him magic. That's a great parallel and foreshadowing for Viren's student/master relationship with Aaravos! And it's telling that neither student gets exactly what they hoped to get. Lujanne doesn't actively teach Callum any spells, because she believes he can't learn Moon magic at all. Aaravos does offer Viren power, but it takes him to some very dark places - literally and figuratively - and the cost is terribly high.

Callum sees a moon shape among the ruins, and Lujanne explains that the Moonhenge layout is an intricate rune that uses the structures themselves as part of its symbols and power. That's apparently a thing even with ordinary Moonshadow villages like Hollow Wood in the east, which is the coolest idea I've seen in a while: city planning as magic runes!

Yes, that's the same shape as the pendants Ethari made for himself and Runaan. Protection? Home? Feelsiness? A sense of safety and belongnig for all cycles and seasons?

Wonder what this Moonhenge rune stands for, then, and how much of this landscape is included in that rune. I bet it's more than we think!

But it makes sense now, how toppling the stone pillars would disable the spell the druids would cast to connect with the Moon Nexus lake. Breaking the infrastructure of the Moonhenge breaks the rune.

There's a physical sensation involved with the visuals that Historia Viventem brings up! When that one ghostly druid walked through Callum, he felt icy cold. Like in ghost stories. I really wonder about what exactly Historia Viventem is doing when it activates. It shows truth, "what really happened here?", so it must have some kind of time-related element, maybe tied to how the moon always repeats the same cycles or something. But it also seems to draw on the spirits of any living people involved in the flashback, because Callum could physically feel that wispy shape passing through him. So very interesting!

Orrr... is that all wrong, and there's something else at work with this spell than time? Maybe the world beyond life and death can act as an imprint of the things that have happened in the living world, and the spell that Lujanne (and later Callum) casts taps into that place, with perfect recall. I'm looking really hard at the sentence that says "dozens of translucent elf ghosts" and "phantom Moonhenge" and "lost in their own world" here.

Lujanne says more here than in the show about the world beyond life and death, being her mysterious Moonshadow-mage self. She says that "beyond" and "between" might both apply to where this other plane of existence is, and she doesn't much care which. With all the relativity swirling around this place, and not much in the way of empiricism, it's sounding like perhaps multiple conflicting ideas might actually coexist in such a place, allowing more ideas to fit there than we might normally believe is possible. Which is a fascinating bit of worldbuilding. Basically, every headcanon anyone has ever had about the Moon Nexus could all be true at the same time, for all we know.

Oh oh oh, Callum coming in soft with a secret wish! He takes one look at the Moonhenge and immediately thinks of finding a way to see his mom again! Poor boy, my heart! I'd say that could be another interesting parallel with Viren, but then, who wouldn't hold that sentiment?

Oh my, is this another breath of life into Ye Olde Ley Lines headcanon? Lujanne mentioning the Nexuses again, so soon after talking about the runic design of the entire Moonhenge, makes me wonder if the six nexuses are in fact giant runes. On Earth, the places where ley lines cross are called nexuses, and there are those who believe those points got marked with ancient structures, like Stonehenge and many many others. If Xadia were crossed with magical lines which naturally formed nexus points where they met, and if powerful magical runes were built across those entire areas, well. That would be cool beans, fams. Can I smack a map of Xadia and release a spell like Luz Noceda does? Because ngl that is my first instinct here.

Lujanne has got to be missing some grandkids to spoil, right? The way she's always whipping out cake and ice cream for Callum, and she's so grandma-ish about it. Headcanon about her being Runaan's mom aside, she is canonically lonely and she's very sweet to Allen and Ellis and I think she's missing whatever family she once had in the past. She may never get to have that family back, so she's finding a new one among the humans who live nearby, and I think that's sweet. Found family isn't just for the young.

But Ellis is straight up gonna be her fave, I bet, because she didn't turn up her nose at Lujanne's illusion food!

Ezran and Bait have a lot more to their relationship than was visible in the show, and I'm so excited by it! Ez can tell by looking at Bait's colors that he's not truly jealous of Zym, even if he's really grumpy about the dragonling taking up his favorite human's time.

And Ez thinking a lot about his dad and the things he's taught him. They're soft leadership material, and I love that so much! "Pick your battles" and the importance of encouragement. Ahh, my heart. Ezran, you're going to be such a good king.

But wait a second: both times that Bait gets extra grumpy in Zym's first training session, Ezran has just mentioned something about flying. Guys, I think Bait wishes he could fly, really badly. And that's his biggest problem with Zym, and with Ezran teaching Zym to fly, instead of Bait who doesn't have wings so. Bait is so old that his secrets have secrets, and I'm really curious how flying fits into them now!

Rayla, Dramatic Assassin: "I need to patrol for dark forces." That's what Lujanne called the source of the purple wisps that found them. I wonder if that's an official term all Moonshadows know, or if Rayla is just taking her cue from a veteran Moon mage. And I wonder how far Rayla is falling into the apparent pattern of "one mage, one assassin", since she does spend a lot of her time patrolling without being asked.

When Callum tells Lujanne that he was bad at prince stuff, and she asks if he didn't give up and got good at those things anyway, it's an opportunity for Callum to embrace subverting his parents' expectations in favor of seeking his own path, which is a primary theme of the show. But Lujanne is a couple generations older than Callum, at the very least, and I have to wonder what her upbringing was like. Is her version of success the one she took? Was she bad at magic once too, but she persisted? She is very soft and doesn't want to kill anyone.

Maybe Lujanne had dreams of doing something else with her life, but she felt she had to pursue the destiny that others handed to her, so she studied magic as hard as she could, and she did get good at it, but using it to defend Xadia from humans is not what she wanted to do with her life. Whether there's a parallel between her and Ethari on that point, there's one between Callum and Ethari, I think. How much of your life are you willing to let others direct for you?

LISTEN I WAS DYING AT THE EAR BREAD SCENE OKAY

This is my new favorite Soren and Claudia moment ever. Soren loves him his bread, okay. Even as earplugs for Claudia's sleep ocarina tune. The fact that it's "super effective" makes me think of a Pokemon defense. The fact that he learned it at camp, where he also learned about Moonshadow Madness, is hilarious. Later on, Corvus doesn't know Soren by name, but I still love the idea of Corvus being a kind of Strider-esque camp instructor, filling the ears of his young charges with all kinds of useful tactics like ear bread for magic spell songs (which actually seemed to work as intended), and warnings about the enemy elves' blood-themed tactics (which may or may not come back around in BH)

I thought they were gonna go in a kind of deep direction when Soren still wanted his ear bread back, but then he just. Eats them. Just noms them. I love this kid. Give Soren all the bread!

#book two: sky spoilers #book two: sky #b2:s #tdp spoilers #ToX spoilers #gloaming glade spoilers #lujanne #callum #rayla #ezran #tdp zym #soren #tdp claudia #tdp bait

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that-house · 3 years

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Viego Rant (villainy and character design and tragedy and all that jazz)

Introduction The more I think about Viego, League of Legends’ newest character, the more enamored I am with him as a villain (unrelated to his general sexiness, though that does tie in with what makes him such a good villain).

I’ve seen a lot of complaints about his design. The Ruined King, one of the greatest threats in Runeterra, the progenitor of the Shadow Isles, the lord of the undead, is finally released as a playable champion and he looks like this:

People were expecting another Mordekaiser (who is similarly an undead king with a ghost army), a lich-tyrant clad in iron, decayed flesh peeling from an aged face. What we got was an angsty anime prettyboy, and it was infinitely better than the alternatives.

Lore Viego isn’t a conquering king. While his combat abilities are indeed badass, his personality is far from it. He’s a whiny brat and that’s incredible. He isn’t bent on world domination. His character arc revolves around just how human, how fallible he really is. For those unfamiliar with his lore, I’ll paraphrase it here:

Viego was the second son of a great king. Overshadowed by his brother and with no expectations upon him and near-limitless wealth, he wandered around being an idiot fuckboy for the vast majority of his formative years. Disaster struck when his brother died in an accident, and Viego took the throne with no training, no experience, and no desire to be king. He was a shitty king. The worst king. Just all-around apathetic. Gave zero shits. Can you blame him? It’s a lot of responsibility to be thrust upon someone who isn’t much more than a child, and with no preparation. He didn’t care about anything, that is, until he met Isolde. She was a poor seamstress, but he fell in love with her upon their first meeting. Together they ruled the country but it was really just them staring longingly into each others’ eyes. His allies were kinda fucking pissed about that, and one day an assassin came from Viego. The assassin fucked up and stabbed Isolde instead, and the poison on the blade made her fall gravely ill. As she lay in her bed, slowly dying, Viego went mad seeking a cure. He ravaged the land seeking any knowledge that might help, pouring all of his money into finding an antidote. He failed. As a last resort, he brought Isolde’s body to the Blessed Isles, a place rumored to be able to resurrect the dead. It worked, to an extent. Isolde’s wraith, confused, afraid, and angry at being ripped from the peace of death, unthinkingly stabbed Viego in the chest with his own magic sword, creating basically a magic nuke that turned the Blessed Isles into the domain of the undead. Viego resurrected as the king of the Shadow Isles some time later, having totally forgotten that Isolde killed him. He controls a big-ass ghost army, could probably beat up any living thing in a fight, and has evil ghost magic. Now this stupid simp wants his wife back and if he has to kill every living thing on Runeterra, well, anything for his queen. He’s even a tier 3 sub to her Twitch.

Music His musical theme isn’t some heavy metal anthem or intense cinematic piece (unlike the Pentakill song named after his sword, Blade of the Ruined King). It’s mostly sad and slow, almost sinister, with a piano and a music box. It has its loud moments featuring violins and choral bits like any villainous music, but the song is mostly subtle. It is a banger though.

youtube

In the comments section of this video, someone pointed out that the music reflects his story from beginning to end:

Everything about this champion is so well done. Riot Games really outdid themselves on this one. Bravo, encore please.

Motivation While the Mordekaiser circlejerkers on r/LeagueofLegends won’t shut the fuck up about how powerful Mordekaiser is, Viego is the better villain. Mordekaiser may be a bigger threat to all life on Runeterra, but Viego is a better character. (There’s a guy on my League discord server who won’t shut up about Mordekaiser so forgive me for being pissed at Morde stans).

Mordekaiser is motivated by a desire for control, to rule the world. Viego is motivated by obsession and misplaced love. There aren’t a lot of Mordekaisers on Earth. Supervillains are rare in real life. But Viego’s motivations are a lot closer to home. People in positions of power that they don’t deserve can do a lot of harm (for example: Trump).

He’s a grieving husband who was never prepared to deal with anything more difficult than choosing what wine to drink with dinner, who is trying to get his wife back because the world had always complied to his every whim. He’s a funky mix between a truly hopeless romantic and a spoiled brat throwing a temper tantrum.

Obsession is scary. It’s a real-world emotional state that’s been the cause of a lot of murders over mankind’s history. In contrast, Mordekaiser’s cartoonish Genghis Khan XXL schtick isn’t something that we encounter often. Of course a superpowered ultradictator would be worse for the world, but if you give ultimate power to a random person, you’re more likely to get someone like Tighten from Megamind. Or, more relevantly, Viego.

Design His design is sexy and stupid, just like him. He wears an open shirt into battle and wields his sword like an idiot (I’ve seen all the rants about how that’s not how that sword is meant to be used) because he was never really a warrior. Even at his most violent, right before the end of his mortal life, he didn’t do much combat himself, leaving his military endeavors to his underlings. Even now that he’s essentially a god, he still has a colossal wraith army that causes far more devastation than he ever could personally.

Despite his slim build (by League of Legends standards), he easily wields his colossal sword because of the strength of his state of undeath. Like his political power when he was alive, his posthumous magical and physical powers were never something he sought out, they were just given to him by circumstance.

The big cool-ass triangle hole in his chest where Isolde stabbed him is the source of the Black Mist, which is evil ghost mist that ebbs and flows from the Shadow Isles, bringing with it hordes of the undead. The sadder Viego is, the more Mist he creates. Poetically, his invasion of the world is inspired by his sorrow at his wife’s death and enabled by his wife’s reluctance to return to him. His story is perfectly reflected by his design.

Isolde Isolde’s spirit took up residence inside a young Senna (who’s another League champion, not particularly important here). This led to some Black Mist-related shenanigans and at least for the time being, Senna uses Isolde’s power to fight off the servants of Viego which threaten all life on Runeterra.

It seems pretty clear that whatever love Isolde felt for Viego is gone by now. Whether or not she ever loved him or was just unable to say no to the king is up for debate, but I’d like to believe there was something there. In my opinion, Viego’s story hits harder if they really were a great couple at first, torn apart by circumstance and obsession.

Much like the Maiden of the Woods in that one comic that circulates around here, to whom the knight gave his heart and she was like “yo what the fuck i literally never asked you to do this,” Viego went a little too far in trying to save her. They may have once been happy, but the Ruined King ruined his own life, too.

Unless Isolde is a lot less morally decent than we’ve been led to believe, I doubt she can forgive all the massacring that her husband’s been doing lately. In the recent cinematic, she was shown to be pretty anti-Viego. Maybe she’ll get a bastardization arc, but it certainly seems unlikely.

All of Season 2021 is based around Viego, Isolde, and the Shadow Isles, so we’ll just have to see what comes next. It’s possible that we’ll get Isolde as a playable champion, which should clear a lot of things up.

Final Thoughts Unlike so many villains, he’s not fueled by rage or hatred, but rather by sorrow. He’s stuck in his past, unable to move on. He regrets the actions of his life but is set on his course now. The sunk-cost fallacy comes into play here; he’s put so much time and effort and blood into bringing back Isolde, that turning away from it would feel to him like an insult, not only to her but to the innocent lives he’s taken in her name.

His tale is a tragedy, a love story gone horrifically wrong. Viego has suffered throughout his thousand-year life. Despite this, he’s undoubtedly the villain. His permanent death would be a net positive for the world. In has rage and grief he’s destroyed multiple civilizations, and will burn down the world to get Isolde back.

His heart may be in the wrong place, but it’s in a very human place. I don’t think he’ll get the ending he’s looking for, but I hope he finds some closure in the end.

#League of Legends #viego #i swear no one's gonna read this #even if you dont care about League i tried to make this interesting #even if you don't like League as a game the lore is pretty fucking solid

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walkwithheroes84 · 3 years

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Immortals After Dark (Half Way) Series Thoughts And Couples Ranked

I started reading the Immortals After Dark series by Kresley Cole on February 5th, 2021. In the last twelve days, I've read roughly half the series. And, believe me, I was crushed to find out that the last book was released in 2017. The fandom is dead and the author - whether due to publisher issues, health issues, or a mixture of both - hasn’t been active on any social media platforms since 2019.

I have some mixed feelings on the series, but since I have no one to share them with, I’ve decided to put them here. I chose to read this series because I liked the idea of it: immortal beings, preparing for a major “battle”, all while dealing with last-minute villains and finding their true soulmates. Yeah, I’ll read that. So, what have I liked about the series?

Let’s start with the fact that it is very clear that Kresley Cole had a major game plan in mind. Hints of future books, hints of storylines, and future important characters are introduced in every book. Since most of the novels take place around (or even at the same time) readers are often given several perspectives of the same events. Someone who seemed like a no-so-great person in one novel is shown to be a better person two novels later - because we now know their backstory and what makes them tick. A character might offhandedly mention something in a novel (example: Garreth mentioning Lucia is his destined mate in book one) and it comes full circle in another novel - we get to see that story play out.

Even if your favorite character plays a minor or side role in one novel, there is a great chance they will be a main character at some point in the series. And, as someone who often loves the side characters more than the main characters, that was a nice surprise for me.

It’s also fairly clear that Cole took some time in developing the different (major) groups within the Lore: who they are, what they can do, who they are friendly with, etc. That was a nice detail that I liked, especially as it didn’t really change in the novels I’ve read. And to be honest, in such a long series, it would be very easy for an author to forget smaller details. But, I don’t think Cole has - yet.

There were some things I didn’t like, of course. Having read books 1-7 and then 9-10 (I don’t have access to book 8 yet) in the span of twelve days - it is so painfully clear that Cole has a formula she likes to work with.

Most of her novels play out the same way: ML and FL meet. An attraction forms, with the ML realizing that the FL is his destined mate/Bride/whatever. They fight, he chases her, they fight some more, there is a bit of sex, there is a misunderstanding, he’s possessive, they fight and have sex, there is something terrible looming in the background that gets quickly taken care of in the last 50 or so pages, they fight again, they makeup and then they ride off into the sunset until they have a few cameos in other couples’ novels. It’s painfully predictable at times, and in truth it works well with some couples and not so well with others. So, I do like when Cole changes things a bit. (See book ten, Dreams of a Dark Warrior, for example.)

I also have to fully admit that some of the Alpha males, who were so possessive, running around calling women “Mine,” while being borderline abusive or/and manipulative at times turned me off. That kind of guy is just not my cup of tea. So, I’m sad to say I have not (as of yet) been a huge fan of the Lykae and the way they tend to treat their fated mates.

That said, I’d like to go over each couple and rank them.

09. Emma Troy and Lachlain MacRieve from A Hunger Like No Other (Book 1): I almost stopped reading because of this couple. I understand that he was tortured and hurt by vampires for years, but he was so awful toward Emma when he thought she was a full blooded vampire! He demanded she touch him in exchange for a phone call! It was so clear that she was scared, and because of his own trauma, he did nothing to calm her. Not a fan.

08. Sabine, Sorceress of Illusions and Rydstrom Woede from Kiss of a Demon King (Book 6): While I liked them as characters, their relationship just felt very toxic to me. At times I was even uncomfortable with the way they treated one another. From reviews I can tell that a lot of people like them, so I may go back to this novel once I have finished the series.

07. Holly the Bright and Cadeon Woede from Dark Desires After Dark (Book 5): Cadeon was fine. Holly was fine. But - he was going to sell her out! I can’t get behind that. In the end, they did win me over, but I just felt (at times) that Holly could be a bit boring and that Cadeon’s betrayal (while somewhat understandable) was too much.

06: Mariketa the Awaited and Bowen MacRieve from Wicked Deeds on a Winter’s Night (Book 3): Mari was stronger than Emma in dealing with her Lykae and because Bowen thought his feelings were a spell he wasn’t as possessive with Mari as Lachlian had been with Emma. Mari and Bowen had a bit of humor in their relationship, a bit of teasing and they were just...fun. I enjoyed their interactions before and after they were together. Do I think Mari forgave him way too easily? Yes. Do I think their issues were solved too easily? Yes. But, my goodness, I still enjoyed them.

05. Kaderin the Cold/Kind Hearted and Sebastian Wroth from No Rest for the Wicked (Book 2): This is a weird one, because I can’t really tell you why they made my top 5, but they did. I liked Sebastain and the way he just wanted to make Kaderin happy. I loved that Kaderin was not the damsel in distress that some of the other heroines had been throughout the series. In fact, I would dare say that it was Kaderin who was leading the romance instead of Sebastian, which was a nice change of pace in this series.

04: Daniela the Ice Maiden and Murdoch Wroth from Untouched (Book 7): I really loved the setup here: when Murdoch had been alive, he had been a, well, he slept with a lot of women. Dani is a virgin at 2000 years old. Why? Because she is half Icere Fey, which means when anyone touches her skin they freeze and she burns. Dani also happens to be Murdoch’s Bride, which means after 300 years of no sex (or interest in sex) Murodch suddenly wants to have sex - with Dani - who can’t. They have a lot of back and forth, push and pull. They find some very creative ways to be together without actually touching. And, for some weird reason I really enjoyed them. They weren’t the typical story in this series and I liked that.

03: Carrow Graie and Malkom Slaine from Demon From the Dark (Book 9): Me, Tarzan. You, Jane. That’s what seems to come to mind for a lot of people who read this one. Malkom is a seriously traumatized demon/vampire, who knows nothing of the world and is somehow really sweet toward Carrow. Carrow is a witch, who's seen it all and done a lot of it. She’s using him to save her adopted daughter, but Carrow falls for Malkom. And it’s a weirdly sweet and cute story.

02:Néomi Laress and Conrad Wroth from Dark Needs at Night’s Edge (Book 4): A ghost and a vampire. Who knew I’d love them so much. It’s even better, because she’s his Bride, but she’s dead...so they can’t get physical. Instead they talk and get to know one another. She was a woman of the world, and he’s a half-crazed vampire bounty hunter, who was once a virginal vampire bounty hunter. She flirts and teases and he is angsty. They are basically perfect.

01:Regin the Radiant and Declan Chase (Aidan the Fierce) from Dreams of a Dark Warrior (Book 10): Chef’s kiss. Regin does not take crap from Declan and he actually has to work to win back her trust. Declan is a mess, but it’s not used as an excuse for his misdeeds. Yes, he has had a traumatic past and he has been brainwashed, but his actions are not excused by Regin - especially when he goes back on his word. Declan has to fight for Regin, just as much as she has to fit for him. I loved them.

I have book 8 on the way, I already have books 11, 13-15, and book 18. I’ll be buying books 12, 16, and 17 soon-ish. While the series has some flaws, I do like it overall. The books are really quick reads for me and overall I like the overarching story and a lot of the characters. I’m rather disappointed that nothing new has come out in four years and that Cole has fallen off the grid. I know she had books 18 and 19 planned, and reportedly book 18 is finished. I hope it is able to be published someday.

#immortals after dark #kresley cole #iad

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beneaththebrim · 4 years

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(might be remembering this wrong) but isn't there this one scene where a man's gambling away his daughter's future marriage & HC lets it happen & XL is there too??? & later XL asks why HC runs a casino & HC says it's so other ppl won't do it. but couldn't HC do more harm reduction? basically, how do you reconcile XL's "my dream is to save the common ppl" w/ HC's general... antipathy towards almost all other ppl? (sorry for the ramble & i really like your blog & metas :)

Thank you! ^^

(Not just her marriage, but 20 years off her life! yikes!)

This is a good question, and I do think one could take a few different interpretations of how Hua Cheng’s Chengzhu role jibes with Xie Lian’s morals.

Something I haven’t mentioned in my metas, but which I did expand on a bit in the beginning of this fic, is that Hua Cheng’s construction of Ghost City is likely due to an exchange from the first chapter of Book 4, when he’s trapped in a lantern:

I think that Hua Cheng hears this exchange and takes it to heart. After Xie Lian’s second ascension and after Hua Cheng emerges from Tonglu and challenges the 33 gods, being unable to locate Xie Lian and help him directly, Hua Cheng chooses to establish Ghost City instead, to fulfill this need.

Why doesn’t Hua Cheng go out and help the common people directly? Wouldn’t that be more in line with what Xie Lian would want? Well, the common people probably fear Hua Cheng too much. And, Hua Cheng has poor self-image--he might view the establishment of Ghost City--which he often talks about as a trash heap--as his rightful place in the scheme of things.

And, in a sense, it does help the common people, by keeping unscrupulous activities isolated to a single place he can control.

As you say, in Ch.40, Hua Cheng tells Xie Lian that he runs Ghost City because if he didn’t, someone else would, and he’d prefer that person to be him.

But what exactly does Hua Cheng do with Ghost City? How does he operate? Is he really doing good by running such a place?

Consider the anecdotes of the cultivators who chase him in Ch.137:

So, if we’re to believe their accounts, Hua Cheng’s a mixed bag. Ghost City is a place where ghosts can take refuge, whether or not they ‘deserve’ it. The third story, about the prostitute ghost, seems morally justifiable, as she preyed on a rapist. And who knows if the stories behind the boar butcher or the rooster spirit have hidden details?

Well, to Hua Cheng, maybe it doesn’t matter. He gives refuge to ghosts. Point blank.

As for the dealing you mentioned in the gambling den, I think it’s important to think about context: by now, Hua Cheng likely knows that Xie Lian is present, since he and He Xuan had plotted together to arrange for the ‘rescue’ of ‘Ming Yi’. And, he likely wants to fish Lang Qianqiu out from the crowd. So, his dealings with that man might be staged--he might have formulated it to be just the catch-22 that would provoke Lang Qianqiu.

I think it’s also worth note that the bet doesn’t end up going through--in truth, we can’t know what might have actually happened. Maybe there would be some fine print in the deal, or in entering the gambling den--one way or another, I don’t think that the patrons of the gambling den truly dictate the terms of their bets.

But that’s just speculation. I think that for readers who really want to believe that Hua Cheng is chaotic good, this interpretation of the scene gives some wiggle room. Hua Cheng’s an ambiguous character in that scene, reflected in the way Xie Lian perceives his silhouette through the silk curtain.

But hey, in the end, Hua Cheng’s a fictional character, as is Xie Lian. We can’t expect a fictional ghost king to uphold the same morals as we would expect of people in real life. Personally, I don’t think that Hua Cheng hasn’t done some evil--I mean, you can’t be that powerful and not have done at least a little bit of bad stuff. It’s kind of part of his appeal as a demon, too. Personally, I’m not into de-clawing or woobifying him.

But, reconciling it with Xie Lian’s morals is another thing: I think Xie Lian’s ability to accept and love Hua-Cheng-the-ghost-king stems from an understanding: that sometimes there are impossible decisions to make, morally.

Hua Cheng’s philosophy complements Xie Lian’s in the following way (unfortunately in reference to Pei Su’s massacre of the Banyuese, which has a lot of unfortunate implications wrt current events re: Uighurs in Xinjiang & Islamophobic propaganda, but hey we can still take the words out of context...):

So, I think that Xie Lian is willing to overlook Hua Cheng’s morally ambiguous actions, knowing that in truth, it is often difficult to resolve or extrapolate right and wrong. Remember that by now, although Xie Lian hasn’t lost his moral compass, he does view such a sweeping statement of ‘dreaming to save the common people’ as naive. He knows that things are not so simple in reality. I also think that over the course of the novel, Xie Lian likely develops enough trust in Hua Cheng that he believes Hua Cheng fights--by and large--for the right things.

As for Hua Cheng’s antipathy toward most people, let’s bring back his poor self-image. Through Jun Wu’s character, we see viscerally how self-hatred turns outward. In the beginning of Tian Guan Ci Fu, this is also true of Hua Cheng--as stated before, he views himself as trash--powerful, but still trash--so it’s hard for him to view others as anything more.

But Tian Guan Ci Fu has a ‘Love Like You’ theme (plz go watch melts’ animation if you haven’t already it’s so... ah): both Xie Lian and Hua Cheng learn to love themselves through their love of one another.

On Hua Cheng’s side, he begins to view himself as worthy of love. And, through getting to know Xie Lian, quirks and foibles all, he’s able to reconnect with his humanity, which in turn allows him to empathize more readily with other people--be they ghosts, gods, or humans.

Throughout Hua Cheng’s life, Xie Lian has been his primary moral anchor. It’s through Xie Lian’s influence that he can direct his violent tendencies:

[...]

It’s through their combined power that they can best achieve Xie Lian’s goal--not to save, but to serve the common people.

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aahsokaatano · 3 years

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King I would love that essay about Changing Channels

Fjdjshjdhdjd thanks for reading my tags Jesse you're the real VIP here.

Okay SO "Changing Channels" is the 8th episode of the 5th season of Supernatural. I give this information bc it's important in looking at the context of the episode - now I've complained a LOT about how SPN is terrible at giving us canonical timeframes within the episodes (y'all i was SHOCKED to discover the first season is supposed to cover a little over a year's worth of time, I thought it was like... 4 or 5 months) so I can't say for sure how long before and after the other episodes happen in-universe around "Changing Channels" BUT

The episode before is "The Curious Case of Dean Winchester" where Dean and Bobby bet years of their lives in a game of poker with a witch. The episode after is "The Real Ghostbusters" where Sam and Dean end up at a fan convention for the in-universe Supernatural novels.

Why am I pointing this out? Because it's important, please, no audience participation, this is like a Brian David Gilbert panel.

[under a cut bc this got...... STUPID long. Who knew I still had this many opinions about SPN in 2020?]

Okay first of all I wanna talk about the cinnamon topography of this episode - I love the way the first 5 seasons are shot because you really feel the americana gothic horror aesthetic they were going for (I have a whole ‘nother rant about the first 5 seasons vs the last 10 but thats for another time). Everything is a little washed out and grey-toned, the camera angles generally serve to make Sam and Dean appear even taller than they actually are (larger than life - again, another post for another time), and there’s honestly a LOT of shots from the ‘monster’s’ perspective, which is really neat! I’ve said it before (on another blog - YES i have a dedicated spn rant blog, don’t @ me hdjfhfjfh) but the episode that really got me hooked on spn back in the day was the second one, about the w*ndigo. Yes, it’s a racist, culturally appropriating shitstorm, but the way its SHOT is fantastic. I’m honestly not a horror fan, but that episode could have easily relied on jumpscares and they DIDN’T and it was scary as all fucking hell and just - fuck okay getting off topic.

In “Changing Channels” we get that distinctive grey-washed tone in the beginning and the very end of the episode, but the middle? When they’re in TV Land? Everything is bright. Almost comically so, I mean - okay look at these two shots of Sam (apologies about the crappy phone pics, netflix won't let me screenshot)

This one is from the start of the episode, in the "real" police station

And this is from a little later in the "TV" hospital

Ignoring that my phone is washing him out a lot in both pics, you can still see the warmer tones in the hospital shot as compared to the cold greyness in the police station one

Okay, now look at this picture

Dean inside the Impala, and those warm tones are back. Why? Because even though Sam and Dean believe that they’re back in the “real” world, they aren’t - so instead of the grey-washed shots that we’re used to, its the bright and warm shots that we see in “TV Land”! So the viewers pick up, even if its just subconsciously, that the boys aren’t out of the woods yet - everything is still too bright to be the in-universe reality we’ve come to expect from SPN by season 5

Which is also why i love this shift so much

These shots are literally SECONDS apart. The first is in "TV Land" and the second is in the "real" world. I have some red strip lights behind my bed, which are reflecting off my laptop screen - notice how much brighter they seem in the second picture? That’s because literally all of the warm colors have been drained out of the shot. As soon as Gabriel snaps them all back into “reality,” things get so much colder.

Okay, so the second thing I want to talk about is some of the very pointed dialogue choices within the “shows” the Winchesters take part in. Not between Sam and Dan and Gabriel, but from the, for lack of a better term, NPCs within the shows.

In the hospital, Dr. Piccolo tells Sam that he is “the finest cerebrovascular neurosurgeon I have ever met - and I have met plenty! So that girl died on your table; it wasn’t your fault. It wasn’t anybody’s fault. Sometimes people just die.” Standard cheesy soap opera dialogue - but lemme just swap some words here and -

“You are the finest hunter I have ever met - and I have met plenty! So that girl died on your hunt; it wasn’t your fault. It wasn’t anybody’s fault. Sometimes people just die.”

Or even -

“You are the finest hunter I have ever met - and I have met plenty! So Jessica and Mary died above you; it wasn’t your fault. It wasn’t anybody’s fault [but Azazel’s]. Sometimes people just die.”

Keeping in mind that the NPCs are basically Gabriel’s mouthpieces, its easy to see why so many people ship Sabriel. I’d actually love to see a fic that explores them talking about this moment in particular later on and the kind of gentle forgiveness that Gabriel can give Sam... getting off topic again.

In an abrupt about-face, the herpes commercial (much meme’d within the fandom) is straight up Gabriel shaming Sam. Because if you replace “genital herpes” with “demon blood” it’s.... dark. And very intentional.

So that’s what I did! (I combined all spoken lines to make the message easier to read, rather than splitting them up across 3 speakers as in the episode)

“I’ve drank demon blood. I tried to be responsible... did I try. But now, after being forcibly detoxed, I fight my addiction every day to reduce the chances of passing back into that toxic mindset. Ask your loved ones about a demon blood intervention today. [...] I am doing all I can to slightly lessen the chance of drinking demon blood again. And that’s a good thing.”

Like... the subtext throughout this episode sure is. Something.

Okay this is getting ridiculously long so I wanna wrap up by talking about The Best Scene In The Whole Goddamn Show

I’m talking, of course, about Gabriel’s Confession

“Max,” you might be saying, “there are so many better scenes out there, even within the first five seasons!” and to that i say, again, no audience participation, please. Also, you’re WRONG and here’s why!

Gabriel’s confession hits every goddamn emotional chord that the fandom begged for on this show - fear, rage, grief, pain, guilt, and even, yes, absolution.

Okay, here’s the scene again for those of you who don’t think about it at least once a week like me

youtube

Now this video is missing some of the conversation, but most of it is there, enough for you to see what I’m talking about. Gabriel up to this point has been, essentially, a nameless antagonist - this is the third episode he appeared in, and before this, we didn’t even know he was going by Loki. He was just referred to as ‘The Trickster’. But here, not only do we get a name (a real name at that), but we also get a glimpse of his backstory and a hell of a lot of character development in less than 5 minutes. I mean, Sam didn’t get this much character development throughout the entirety of season 1! There’s a good reason Gabriel has been a fan-favorite for a very long time, and I think a big part of it is this particular scene.

Because here, we get to see Gabriel being vulnerable. And we even see Dean show a little vulnerability, as he can empathize being the third party to explosive arguments between the two people who mean everything to him.

I mean... okay, it will never see the light of day, but I wrote a little bit of a Reverse ‘Verse fic (because I’m a sucker for Reverse ‘Verse) and this was the scene I started with. Not s1e1, not even the resurrection in s4e1, but this scene. Because this scene, more than any other, is critical to the way not only Gabriel’s (first) arc plays out, but also to how Sam and Dean conduct themselves for the rest of the season (and maybe a bit beyond, it’s been a hot minute since I watched s6 and later). Dean is angry but determined, he has a point to make, he is going to save Sammy and if he can’t do that, then he’s going to damn well die trying. But Sam... it’s after this episode that we start really seeing how bone-achingly tired Sam is. It’s after this conversation - where one of the other archangels, one of the few beings who can truly understand how powerful Michael and Lucifer are - says that there’s no other way around this that Sam seems to start inching towards giving in. Saying yes.

Sure, in the actual episode, he seems outraged by the idea, practically scoffs at it - “you want us to say yes to those sons of bitches?” - but it’s after this where Sam really seems run down.

I mean, look at the episodes before and after (HAH you thought I forgot about that first point I made at the very beginning of this post! I did, briefly, but I’ve circled back to it, thanks for being understanding). In “The Curious Case of Dean Winchester,” Sam behaves much as he did since the start of s4, which is to say, ‘annoying little know-it-all brother tossed into the middle of the apocalypse and just trying his best’ and it works well for the mad scramble for any scrap of information that’s happening in s4/early s5.

But in “The Real Ghostbusters” it’s different. This is another funny meta episode - except, while Sam and Dean are technically aware of the joke, they aren’t as amused by it as the audience is. And it’s not because of the ghosts. It’s because they’re just... done. Especially Sam. Dean has that nice little moment with the cosplayers at the end of the episode, but Sam... threatens to shoot Chuck. Sam ‘goes darkside’ more often than pretty much any other character in the show, but that moment is different. It’s a flat promise, not a threat. He’s not being an asshole, like he is after losing his soul. He’s just... done. And it’s obvious to see.

Gabriel’s confession is the turning point for Sam in s5, and it informs a lot of his behavior through the rest of s5, and possibly beyond! Like I said, I haven’t watched past s5 in a very long time, so I don’t feel confident enough to analyze that specific sort of character line, but I feel confident in saying that hearing one of the most powerful beings in the universe basically say “it doesn’t matter what you do - your destiny is unavoidable” and then he’s proven right (Sam says yes to Lucifer, and Dean eventually does say yes to Michael down the line!)... like, that’s really gotta fuck up your world view that was built on free will and throwing off the shackles of fate. Sam managed to avoid his ‘destiny’ in s2... but then it turns out that that wasn’t ever his destiny. Lucifer was his destiny.

Talk about an obscured view of the inner self.

#thebisexualmandalorian #jesse #max answers #spn #naturally super #changing channels #im having some THOUGHTS yall

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prairiedust · 4 years

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The Further Folklore of Supernatural

Here’s a little more folklore meta in light of how season 15 has been playing out if anyone is game. I genuinely thought that Moriah would be the end of the folklore stuff and tossed out “Folk the Author” as an “epilogue,” so this is probably less of an addendum than it is a waymarker as I try to continue to parse these themes into the last seven episodes.

Welp. *waves hands at everything* THIS is not how anyone expected 2020 to go. Things got a little bit big and I stopped thinking about Spn in light of needing that energy elsewhere. But I also don’t want this crapfest to ruin how I fan my favorite show, so here I go again. I will attempt a TL;DR, too!

If you’ve read my old “folklore” analysis here about how I think fairy tales and all their baggage fit into Supernatural season 14, you know that I believe Castiel has stepped into a Sleeping Beauty type story, and that coincidentally a few themes and symbolism from Snow White kept popping up around Dean. (I hold Sam to be a Protagonist in the modern “literary fiction” sense of the word, but emotionally, thematically, and narratively he’s always been a little inaccessible to me. I finally understood him when the death-of-the-author plot surfaced, and I’ll get to Sam eventually here. And Jack, there’s a little Jack in here, too.)

If you would rather have the TL;DR than read several thousands of words about how folklore and myth *might* be abstractly connected to an American genre show, all I can say is that I tried. The textual support is all in the folklore posts. This is as succinct a summary as I could fabricate. At least I’m not gonna talk about Sam and bricolage and freeplay! This is an almost completely theory-free post! If you don’t want to read or don’t need a refresher and just want to know how this has been working in 15, you can scroll down to “END OF TL;DR”.

So, to catch up, I’m not talking about the folklore and mythology that this show has always relied on for plot and MOTWs. I wasn’t drilling down into urban legends like Hook Man or world folk monsters like shtrigas or pishtacos. By “folklore” I mean the study of storytelling tropes and tale types that have been with us for ages. One of the many subtexts of the end of the series. I’ve been tracking this because I think it’s fun to see how fairy tale imagery and mythology might layer preconscious suggestions into the text of the show. I personally think it was loud enough to be seen easily, but more than likely viewers felt unsettled, felt cheered, or felt like they knew what was coming? I’m curious to know. Anyway.

When we found out that Kelly Kline was going to name her baby “Jack” waaaaay back in season 12, things started chiming. Jack and the Beanstalk. Jack the Giant Killer. Jack Tales. Jack is a powerful Western character, sort of a cross between a noble hero and a trickster, featuring in stories that often blur lines and boundaries. He is both the poor man’s youngest son and the equal to King Arthur’s heir. Jack is both everyman and extraordinary. Jack is so cool, I wish I had more time to parse that but his qualities are not subtle in the text/subtext, anyway.

But back to my half-crack reading of seasons 14 and 15.

Once upon a time in Supernatural, there were two fairy tales being told. Both fairy tales are found all over the world and in many forms, but they all can be grouped together because they all contain shared elements of the same basic plot or shared themes, and these two in particular are sister stories. So when I mention “Sleeping Beauty,” I’m talking about lots of different versions of the folk tale, and the same for “Snow White,” which can be found in one form or another in storytelling traditions all over the place. It is both helpful and irritating that these are both Disney movies, too.

Jack makes an allusion to Sleeping Beauty in 14x03 The Scar while talking to Castiel-- it’s the kind of subtextual flash that in and of itself means little and proves nothing, but then beginning with The Scar we got three stories in a row that dealt with “sleepers” of some sort-- Lora in 14x03 doomed to die because of a witch’s spell, Stuart in 14x04 Mint Condition in a coma because of a ghost attack, and Sasha’s father in 14x05 Nightmare Logic under the spell of a clever djinn. It’s powerful subtext, like a soft light that bathes these episodes in the color of fairy tale and makes Jack’s Dramatic Swoon at the end of Optimism all the more Dramatic-- subtext amplifying the plot. Jack goes to Heaven, but is eventually cornered by the Shadow, who wants him in the Empty where he will sleep forever-- the Shadow being an entity who has claimed the husks of dead angels since their inception and thus implies a “curse” laid on Jack from the moment he came into being-- but Castiel, who is ever a thief in oh so many ways, makes a bargain with the Shadow and essentially takes over the consequences of Jack’s Sleeping Beauty story (hence my rarely used but hilarious tag “Castiel Thief of Endings.”)

Now that we know from 14x20 Moriah that the Shadow and Billie the Reaper are, if not allies, at least working together when Jack is awakened in the Empty, does that mean that Castiel’s deal is still on the table, or has that fate been thwarted? *pounds table* Was Jack’s death and Chuck’s rise as a “greater threat” in 14x20 enough to shift Castiel’s ending? It’s the kind of subtextual question that lends tension to the narrative and it’s what I am here for.

Well, speaking of thwarted expectations, Dean’s arc was being shadowed by a Snow White tale type. We all know Snow White but why don’t I sum it up anyway, since Disney messed up the folktale ending lol. Snow White is cast out of her home by her jealous stepmother (and echoes of the stepmother’s magic mirror show up in 15x02 Gods and Monsters) who sends her huntsman to kill her; the dude can’t do it and turns the girl loose in the forest instead. Snow White joins a band of outsiders who live in the forest-- in the Disney movie and the Grimms’ tale they are dwarfs, in some versions she happens upon a band of robbers-- and they love her very much and we presume she’s safe for the rest of her life; Michael mysteriously turns Dean loose to join Sam’s gathering of hunters, however we know, like Stepmom, Michael is still out there. The stepmother finds out that Snow White is actually alive and contrives to kill her herself. Eventually succeeding, Snow White appears to die and is usually laid to rest in a crystal casket/glass coffin. Her stepmother’s machinations have _stolen her agency_ (further paralleling Dean’s possession by AU!Michael.) A Handsome Prince stumbles upon Snow White, is besmitten with her, and he asks her protectors if he can have her, as one does. Leaving the Disney adaptation aside, Snow White awakens when whatever item that has caused her death-like state is dislodged (piece of apple in her throat) or removed (magic corset) or withdrawn (poisoned hairpin) by her protectors. Snow White is a story about the community of the dwarves of band of robbers or adopted family caring deeply for her, and when Dean starts making his own crystal casket, the ma’lak box, in which he will ride out eternity in tormented symbiosis with Apocalypse Michael, he has to rely on his family to help him see the plan through. However, here’s where Jack-- who is as much a chaos engine as his surrogate father Castiel if not more so-- steps in and ruins the ending. Jack smites Michael. Dean Winchester is saved. Again. To put the final nail in the coffin, so to speak, Jack later destroys the ma’lek box entirely.

That was quite the surprise ending… for one of the stories.

Was the end of season 14 the end of the Sleeping Beauty theme, also?

END OF TL;DR

I quit writing about “folklore” for a while, but that doesn’t mean it stopped being a theme. It just stopped being fun to write about as the story got more and more dark, and when it transmuted into two parallel themes of “folklore” or storytelling by the people versus Death of the Author--or storytelling by a lauded authority-- and there was so much angst about the boundaries of Chuck’s powers, I just wanted to sit back and enjoy that. I did distill my thoughts about Sam’s new arc in the DotA plot, which I thought would subsume the folktale themes but hey, we still have folktales around, too. I mean, we have Sam and we have Dean, and we have two “literary” subtexts, or maybe rather two subjects about the nature of story, something that I thought was a little bit of a surprise.

Storytelling was a Feature of 15x07 Last Call, both in the sense that Lee and Dean swap new stories and tell old tales of their adventures together as they catch up, but also in the sense that we got additional “text”-- hints of a backstory where John and Dean hunted with Lee in that swampy long-ago “Stanford era,” and again we get storytelling when _Lee recounts how he ended up keeping a marid in his basement_. There is also an allusion to the Thousand and One Arabian Nights in that episode that I yelled about in a meta that I never put on the interwebs, but the “marid” is in a specific tale in many editions of that collection, and thus calls in not only a different folktale tradition but the concept of a framed/nested narrative, which I believe will be important to understanding the last episodes of the series, but that’s an aside. In 15x08 Our Father Who Aren’t In Heaven, Castiel _tells Michael the story_ of how everyone ended up where they are now to convince him to help. And Michael and Adam’s allyship, if not friendship, was probably the best subversion of any “storytelling” expectation we’ve ever had on this show. Belphagor set us up for “room full of crazy” or something, but, no. We got symbiosis.

That almost sums up how I’ve been viewing the last “era” of spn. This wasn’t in the master post, but I shouted a lot about underworlds before 15x09 Purgatory 2: Return to Purgatory, and then stopped shouting because I had to ferment for a while. Also, as has been mentioned, the world turned to crap. But talking to other meta writers during the ramp up to the resumption of the season helped me realize just why this reading of myth to folktales to literature feels so right.

Underworlds and Otherworlds…. Everybody has crossed into an “underworld” or three in Supernatural, it’s really nbd. It was actually surface-level plot in season 13. By the time 15x09 rolled around, our heroes are just, like, strolling in and out of “sealed off” Hell after doing a level one spell and chilling with Billie in the Empty and even that Purgatory trip didn’t have the same feeling of danger that, say, crossing into the AU did. But also, we’re at the point where subtext is leading us to a _satisfactory_ ending. Where before we had serial text, like a cumulative tale type-- “The House that Jack Built”-- which just kept adding more and more plot, we’re hurtling o’er the apex of Freytag’s pyramid now and things are getting loud.

But they’re also getting very shifty.

I wrote a little bit about Sam Winchester successfully reviving Eileen in 15x06 Golden Time and the “Orpheus and Eurydice” symbolism of him keeping his back to her. (I’m not linking it because it’s so, so rough.) But because Sam is not an underworld hero, not completely-- I see him as a modern Protagonist coming to terms in a psychoanalytical model with things like mortality, fallibility, and mastery-- maybe bildungsroman, even -- he was able to subvert the tragic ending of the tale of Orpheus and Eurydice because it is not “his” story. But if I were pressed to find a mythic or folk tale type to measure Sam against, I could. I would probably sideye “the sorcerer’s apprentice” trope (ATU 325-The Magician and his Pupil :D ) which began as a poem that entered European folklore on different fronts. (and weirdly, that story was also Disnified in Fantasia. That’s probably more my own limitation as a gen x american lol than anything coming from the writer’s room.)

Dean got his moment in Purgatory where he was able to finally come to grips with his anger and heal the rift between himself and Castiel because Purgatory is a different kind of underworld. Dean is a successful threshold-crosser, having crossed that boundary out of Purgatory before, but in 15x09, his prayer to Castiel is all a subtextual evocation of doing the emotional and mental work of therapy, which Sam, as a modern protagonist, is usually caught up in. The mythic hero also deals with mortality, failibilty, and mastery, but in different terms. I hope I’m doing an okay job peeling apart these nuances that I’m seeing.

Since Castiel accompanied Dean to Purgatory, and in the past made his own wildly successful incursion into and out of Hell with Dean’s soul, and was the one in The Trap who actually retrieved the Leviathan blossom, Castiel counts as an underworld hero, too, but you can pull the lever and send the tumblers spinning again and make him a fairy tale character in that he has made this Bargain with the Empty which is both in the “modern” tradition of subverting a fairy tale, and the tale type “deal with the devil.” Or he could be seen as a modern protagonist in that he’s lowkey grappling with questions of selfhood and identification. “I am an angel of the lord.” “I am no one.” “It’s Steve, now.” “You are nothing.” “I am an angel.”

We even got an episode that playfully explored the concept of “hero” by subverting our expectations (Sam and Dean were rescued by, of all people, an upgraded Garth.) It was called The Hero’s Journey, after the Joseph Campbell book about mythic heroes.... !!! Like, what??? !!!! I didn’t even have anything to say about that episode, it just rocked. The “meta” was just all out there in plot, like the olives and boiled eggs in a 1950’s gelatin recipe.

Some of this slipperiness in the subtext points right at the study of folklore and the (admittedly Eurocentric at first) efforts to transform a “soft science” into something approaching scientific rigor. The Aarne-Thompson-Uther folktale index is today a codifying or cataloguing tool, with which anthropologists and literature scholars can line up stories based on the motifs found within them-- it is useful for cataloguing tales, making comparative studies, and for trying to trace these stories back through human history to find the One First Story of that type, for instance the ur-story that led to Snow White. When did people first start telling that tale, where, how did it spread, and why are we still telling it today? The danger in using the ATU index is that by stripping a story down to it’s bones, we lose the story, if that makes sense. The beauty of using the ATU index is that you find many, many more interconnected stories. It’s sort of a paradox. Some scholars criticize the ATU, claiming that one could take a random selection of these motifs and shuffle them to create a story and, you sort of could? That’s the beauty of the system.

So that brings us to Jack. I feel like Jack, as in Jack of all Trades, is anything that the narrative needs him to be. As far as I can find, “Jack” is not a “tale type.” He shows up alongside any number of them-- sometimes as a trickster, sometimes as a hero, almost always as a kind of slippery character. In the first folklore post, I invested many words in exploring Dabb’s obsession with threes-- AU Michael asks three beings what they desire, asks his human victim to guess his name three times, then we follow three sleeper stories, and so on. The original TFW was three people. But Jack makes four.

What is Jack’s story going to be?

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

And speaking for a sec about the origins of myth and folklore-- what about ALL OF THE OTHER PEOPLE in the world? Are they lowkey churning the matrix of reality on their own and generating their own content, like Becky and her AO3 stories and mackettes?

*¯\_(ツ)_/¯ intensifies*

It all just feels so good at this point, even the peril that I feel surrounding Castiel.

I *think* this will be the last of the longform metas before the end of the series. I mean, I can only hope so. I’ll drop some stuff about individual episodes that might be applicable as I rewatch, and I might clean up my post about Last Call and drop it on here, but I just wanted to kind of hold this up as a mile marker before the Final Seven air.

#the folklore of supernatural #idk even what to tag this

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thegreatestofheck · 4 years

Text

Ocean and Alcohol Pt. 12 ✘JJ Maybank✘

part one! part two! part three! part four! part five! part six! part seven! part eight! part nine! part ten! part eleven!

(gif not mine. All credit to rudypankow!)

Word count - 5522 Warnings - Swearing, underage drinking Synopsis - The Pogues have internal issues in regards to a new member joining. But John B comes up with a clever idea on how to smooth things over. Taglist - @bitterbethany @lovelymaybankk @ilymarkchan @downbytheouterbanks @clearcolourlessglass @obxwriterfan @tangledinsparkles @chill-sushi @summerintheobx @kiarasgold A/N - Thank you all for the love I got on the last chapter. It was truly astounding. I’ll admit that this chapter wasn’t my absolute favorite, but it was important that I carried on with the story. After rereading some of the earlier chapters, I decided that I needed a chapter that wasn’t about the plot and was just JJ and Ellie hanging out, so that’s what the next chapter is going to be. Fluff and maybe a little bit of angst, but mostly fluff. I hope you can enjoy this chapter for now, though! Thank you all again for the love and support. Stay safe, stay healthy, stay groovy out there ladies, gentlement, and all the rest of you wonderful folk!

***

The cool breeze ruffled your hair, goosebumps prickling your skin. JJ’s white collared shirt he had worn to the party was draped over your shoulders. He sat next to you, so close that you could feel the warmth radiating off of him. With your adrenaline from the night fading fast, a rather large rock of fear dropped into your stomach. You couldn’t imagine what kind of storm your father was raging back at home. Shutting your eyes, you prayed silently that Kid had the smarts to stay out of his way.

“So, like, my dad’s already going to kill me,” Pope said as John B stoked the fire. “What’s this mandatory meeting about?”

JJ looked up to John B, who pointed finger guns at him.

“Might as well tell him, man,” JJ said, the barest hint of a smile on his face. “Before we’re gaffed.”

Kie turned to look at John B slowly, a look of worry on her face.

“Ready for this?” John B asked. You nodded your head eagerly. It had to be about the gold. There was nothing else that was so important.

“Uh, yeah,” Kie said, eyes widening.

“So, the gold went down with the Royal Merchant,” John B started, as if telling the beginning of a long ghost story. Your heart started to pound as if it was. Pope sighed and rolled his eyes.

“Here we go again with this,” he said, leaning back.

“Hold on,” JJ said, “Hear him out, alright?”

Pope looked away from JJ toward John B, who had a finger to his smiling lips. He was really enjoying this whole story-telling thing. If both him and JJ were this excited, it must be a real lead.

“It’s been here the whole time,” John B said. You scowled, your eyes narrowing as you gazed into the fire. John B looked around, letting his words settle in. “It’s on the island.”

You sucked in a sharp intake of breath, a smile starting to widen across your lips.

“Are you serious?” Kie asked, glancing between JJ and John B, as if one of them was going to jump up and say ‘sike!’ But neither of them did. “Oh, my god!”

“I’d like to voice my skepticism,” Pope said, leaning his elbows against his knees.

“I’m sure you would, Pope,” John B said as he stood. You rolled your eyes at him. JJ threw a stick into the fire. “But can I please present my evidence, sir?”

“Proceed.” Pope waved his hand in a mocking manner.

You watched, eyes wide with merriment and a grin on your face, as John B presented his so called evidence. He spoke of Denmark Tanny, the slave who freed himself with the Royal Merchant gold, about the letter he left to his son. He told the circle about Tannyhill, the plantation that Denmark Tanny bought and how he freed slaves and got richer from his rice production. You weren’t surprised when John B told everyone that Tanny was killed, but it still made you sad. All the good he had done in his life, only to be murdered.

“Harvest the wheat in parcel nine near the water,” John B said. “Except, there’s no wheat.”

Your mind was swimming. It was so much to take in, so much that you didn’t really understand.

“So, wheat is a code for gold?” you asked, squeezing your eyes shut in an attempt to understand.

“Look at this,” John B took the two papers he had handed out and held them up. One was a picture of the gold with the wheat symbol stamped on the top. The other was the letter with the same wheat symbol on the bottom. Your heart started to soar. Kie laughed, her mouth falling open with glee.

“Holy shit,” Pope breathed, looking at the pictures closer.

“All we need is the original survey map of the property,” John B said, pacing back and forth in front of the fire. “And we’ve found the gold!”

You covered your face with your hands to keep from screaming with joy. You had a chance after all, the chance to get Kid safe.

“Okay,” Pope said, looking up. “This might have a small chance of being actually true.”

JJ stood and walked around Pope and the fire toward John B.

“Dude, it’s like King Tut,” he said.

“I am a genius,” John B just before JJ engulfed him in a hug. “Hello! Fire. You’re near the fire, you’re gonna burn.”

“I’m so proud of you right now,” JJ said, pulling away.

“Thank you,” John B breathed.

Everything seemed to be going fine until Pope asked for the plan and then John B made the mistake of mentioning Sarah Cameron. You were excited to hear her name mentioned, but Kie was less so.

“Why Sarah?” She asked.

“Well, see, we, um-” The throne that John B had just been so gracefully sitting on seconds ago had now toppled over and he was fumbling.

“This is gonna be good,” JJ mused, looking at his fingers. You watched rather uncomfortably as John B tried to explain to Kie what exactly had happened, how Sarah had helped. He may have almost convinced her that it was innocent, until JJ piped back up. “He was mackin’ on her.”

You dropped your head into your hands.

“Really helpful,” you said, shaking your head.

“I wasn’t macking.”

“You were totally macking Sarah Cameron.”

“I really don’t think you’re helping here, JJ,” you said, cringing as you looked back up. He just shrugged.

“I wasn’t macking on her,” John B protested, still trying to defend his innocence. “I was using her for access, okay?”

You could see the lie in his face, but that still didn’t help the ache in your chest. You remembered when JJ gave the note to Sarah. John B must have been Vlad. The smile on her face when she saw who it was from had been real joy. If John B really had been playing her, Sarah had no idea. The thought of it made your stomach squeeze.

Kie and John B continued to argue about Sarah while you kept your chin in your hands. You had no idea why Kie hated Sarah so much, but after knowing Kie, there must be a good reason. But also knowing Sarah, you weren’t sure what she could possibly do to make someone so levelheaded as Kie despise her.

“Look, you guys know me!” John B said, looking around at the circle of friends. “Do I look like the type of guy to fall for Sarah Cameron.”

You nodded your head a few times, glancing up at him.

“Do you want us to answer that or-” Pope started.

“You don’t know her yet. But I do,” Kie said, desperation clear in her voice. “You can’t trust her.”

“Her brother beat me in the back with a golf club,” Pope said as he stared at the fire. You pointed at him, agreeing non-verbally.

“Rafe and Sarah are two different human beings,” John B said.

“What did she do to you, exactly?” JJ asked Kie. That got her fired up more than she was already.

“She’s like a spitting cobra,” Kie said, using her hands for dramatic effect. “First she blinds you and then-”

“This is a bad analogy,” Pope told her.

“Listen to me!” Kie yelled, her voice breaking. “Whatever we get, she’s going to try and take.”

You didn’t know if you could believe that. For years, Sarah was the closest person to you. She had been nothing but kind. She even invited you to her birthday party once.

But John B wasn’t taking no for an answer. He had you all in the van less than five minutes later, Kie still smoldering with anger.

When John B pulled to a stop at the Hawk’s Nest, JJ and Pope pulled the door open.

“I think I’m going to go alone,” John B told you guys, turning around from the front seat. He looked at Kie, still hoping to convince her he was doing the right thing. But she just gave him the longest, most exaggerated eye roll.

Thunder rumbled outside. You pulled the button up tighter around you, a chill running up your spine. You loved storms, the static in the air, the rain and the wind, the flashes of lightning. But this storm felt different. Like a warning.

“I don’t think you should go alone,” you said, looking out the open van door to the storm out over the sea.

“Why?”

“I dunno. A bad feeling, I guess.”

A bad feeling wasn’t enough to keep John B from leaving, it seemed.

“I don’t see why we’re involving her at all,” Kie said as she leaned back against the van, arms crossed.

“We’re not involving her, Kie,” John B protested, clearly tired of having the same conversation. “It’s just like a business meeting...thing.”

“Promise me nothing’s happening between you two,” Kie said.

“Nothing’s happening!”

You and JJ looked at each other, rolling your eyes in sync. Maybe you and JJ had different ideas about what was happening between the two of them, but you both knew that something was going on. You just weren’t entirely sure why John B was being so stingy about it.

“Dude, she’s gonna get inside you’re head,” Kie said, narrowing her eyes. Her mom voice was coming out again. Part of it was concern for her best friend, but the other part of it was obvious disdain for Sarah. This time, John B looked her dead in the eyes.

“I promise.”

“That was believable,” JJ said as you cringed. John B just really needed to come out and say it. It would make things a thousand times better than lying continually.

“A hundred percent believable,” Pope echoed.

“Just go,” you said to John B. “It’s gonna start pouring soon.”

“We’ll just sit here,” Pope said with a sigh as John B stepped out of the car. “In this hot ass car...while it’s lightning.”

Kie was less than pleased.

“Is it lightning or lightninging?” You asked, fiddling with the frayed edges of your dress.

“I think it’s lightning,” Pope said.

“But then it’s a verb and a noun. That doesn’t make sense.”

“That’s just the way it is, Elm.”

***

You sighed, looking back out the window. Yeah, you had a really bad feeling about this.

“I told him not to go!” Kie paced back and forth, the bottom of her dress sweeping past your feet.

“You act like it was Sarah who pushed him,” you grumbled, legs bouncing beneath you.

The four of you sat outside of John B’s hospital room as you waited to hear from the doctor any news. Kie hadn’t stopped pacing. Pope hadn’t looked up from the floor. JJ hadn’t taken his hand out of yours. He wanted to kill Topper and part of him knew that if he left you, he might do just that. Even when he squeezed too hard, you didn’t let go. Since seeing John B unconscious on the ground, JJ had barely said a word. You couldn’t imagine what it might be like to see the person you care about most in the world in that position. You tried not to think about how you would feel if it was Kid.

Sarah was inside the hospital room, sitting on the edge of his bed, holding his hand in hers. After hearing everything that John B had said about using her, you couldn’t help but feel horrible. You should tell her so she wouldn’t have to find out the hard way. But you also barely believed John B when he said it.

“I’m gonna kill Topper,” JJ ground out through his teeth. You hid a grimace as he squeezed your hand even tighter. The two of you kept your heads down when doctors passed, not really wanting questions about the bruises and cuts.

You wanted to kill Topper just as much. It was his fault you were in the current condition, after all, and now he had shoved your friend off a building. You couldn’t believe it, but you were almost starting to hate him more than Rafe.

Of course, you didn’t say that. JJ needed someone to keep him out of trouble, not throw him deeper into it.

Sarah emerged from the room, arms wrapped tightly around herself. Kie rolled her eyes and turned her back, JJ standing and dragging you up with him.

“They said…” She cleared her throat before lifting her head higher. “They said that it’s just a concussion and a fractured wrist. He’s going to be fine.”

There was a collective sigh of relief. You felt JJ’s grip loosen just ever so slightly.

“What about DCS?” Pope asked, finally lifting his head. “They know he’s here. They’ll take him away.”

Sarah shook her head slowly, biting her lower lip.

“I talked to my dad. He’s willing to be John B’s legal guardian.”

That was a bombshell that you weren’t expecting. Your mouth fell open and you glanced over at JJ, whose eyes widened.

“Wait, like, live with you?” Kie asked, accusation heavy in her tone. Sarah nodded her head a few times.

“Yeah.”

“Great. That’s just great,” JJ scoffed, pulling his hand out of yours. He turned around, messing with his hat. You walked over to Sarah and pulled her into a hug. She was hesitant to reciprocate it, but eventually, she wrapped her arms around your waist.

“Thank you,” you whispered. All she did was nod, sniffling.

“We should go,” Pope said finally. You let your arms fall from around Sarah. She wiped a quick tear away and turned back toward the hospital room.

“Where do we go?” You asked, turning toward them with your hands on your hips. “I don’t think any of us can go home right now.”

“We can go to the Wreck?” Kie suggested. “There are some spare clothes there than we can change into. Get some food. Wait for John B to wake up.”

“Maybe we should crash at the Chateau first,” Pope said, rubbing his palms against his shorts. “I’m beat and I need to sleep.”

“I second that,” JJ said, lifting his hand. When Kie looked at you, all you did was nod your head. You hadn’t realized how tired you were until they mentioned sleep. It had been a long, exhausting day and you somehow knew that the next few days weren’t going to be any easier.

***

“You two do anything funny,” Pope warned, pointing a finger at you and JJ. “I’m setting your bed on fire.”

You found the energy to smile as you dropped into the bed.

“Aye, aye,” JJ said with a mock salute. He fell, face first, against the bed beside you, his arm flopping over your stomach. Kie shook her head as she walked into John B’s room. Pope disappeared down the hall.

It was too hot for blankets. You kicked them onto the floor with a huff as JJ threw his shirt at the wall. You could feel JJ start to pull at the bottom of your dress.

“What are you doing?” You asked him, glaring. He shrugged.

“It’s hot in here. Just want you to be comfortable.”

You shook him off, rolling onto your side.

“You heard what Pope said. I don’t want to be responsible for John B’s house burning down. JJ sighed and kissed your shoulder before flopping back against the pillows.

Your eyes fluttered, already half asleep. Something kept you awake. A few minutes past before you saw something large skittle across the floor. It didn’t take long for you to realize what it was.

“JJ,” you mumbled. When he didn’t respond, you tried again a little louder. “JJ.”

“Hmm?” He was more asleep than you had been.

“There’s a big old heckin’ spider on the floor,” you said, limply pointing at the spider. JJ sat up and looked down at you with a partial smile.

“What happened to your sailor’s mouth?” He asked. You turned to look at him with half open eyes.

“JJ,” you said. “There’s a big old fucking spider on the floor.”

He clucked his tongue, smile widening.

“Atta girl.”

He slid off the bed, tiptoeing to the other side. He walked over to his shoes, but you held out a hand for him to stop.

“Don’t kill it though,” you asked, your voice whinier than you wanted it to be.

“Sure.” JJ disappeared into the kitchen and came back with a large cup. You nodded your head against your pillow. You watched, vision blurry from a desire to sleep, as JJ scooped the spider into the cup and carried it outside.

“Thank you,” you mused as he lay back down beside you. Instead of answering, he lay on his stomach beside you, his head resting against your shoulder, arm laying across your back. Despite the added heat from his body, you couldn’t have been more comfortable.

You fell asleep with a smile on your face.

***

Arriving at the Wreck, you couldn’t be happier at the smell of food or the prospect of a new set of clothes.

“I’m burning this dress,” you grumbled as Kie helped you shimmy out of it. She was unusually quiet. “Are you okay?”

She shrugged her shoulders.

“I’m sure John B is going to be fine,” you said with a smile. “He’ll meet us here.”

“Yeah, I’m sure John B is doing just fine.” Kie turned around so you could help her unzip her dress.

“What did happen between you and Sarah anyway?” Kie tensed. “It’s just us girls, right? You can trust me, Kie.”

“Yeah? I thought I could trust her, too.” You were tempted not to push further, but then Kie sighed, pulling a tank top over her head. “We were best friends once. And then she stabbed me in the back, turned everyone at school against me.”

Your stomach dropped. Even though you couldn’t imagine Sarah doing anything like that, you couldn’t not believe Kie and the grief on her face.

“Kie, I’m so sorry.”

“That’s why I didn’t want John B to go. It’s clear he likes her and I just don’t want him to get his heartbroken.”

You nodded your head. That made more sense to you than an impersonal vendetta. There was a knock on the bathroom door.

“What are you guys doing in there?” Pope called through the door.

“Anything I can watch?” JJ asked. You could hear his smile in his voice.

You looked at Kie with a sigh.

“Why do I like him?”

Kie shrugged her shoulders, but there was a hint of an almost smile on her face. You shook your head and opened the door.

“Surprise,” Kie said. “We were just changing you perv.”

John B showed up a few minutes later and the smile that had graced Kie’s lips was gone.

“So, do you have a membership card?” Pope asked, tucking his hands behind his head. You helped Kie pass out a few drinks as John B sat down.

“I don’t know, Pope.” You could tell he was exhausted.

“Does it come with a free sweater vest or do you have to buy one on your own?”

You scowled to yourself, sitting at one of the open chairs. JJ leaned his hands on the back of your chair.

“Look, you promised,” Kie said, staring down at John B. “You said you weren’t with her.”

Even though you understood Kie’s concern, you weren’t sure why they weren’t happier for him. He got around the foster system, wasn’t that a good thing? Maybe since you were the only other one at risk of the foster system, you were the only one who really understood how terrifying the idea could be.

“Bro, just own it,” JJ said, taking a sip from his cup.

“If you want to hang out with her, that’s fine. But I’m letting you know now, I’m doing anything with her,” Kie said. You let out a heavy sigh.

“Do you guys see her here?” John B asked. “No? Right. A little focus would be fantastic.”

The switch was almost instant. John B pulled out the map, the conversation switching from Sarah.

Thirty minutes later, you were sitting at the remains of Battery Jasper, staring out at the ocean. Pope had the map spread out across the wall. You leaned in close to get a good look.

“Parcel 9,” you said, pointing at it.

“Right, so it’s northeast of here,” he said and you nodded your head.

“Somewhere over that way.” Kie pointed out over the land.

“That’s not Tannyhill, that’s a subdivision,” JJ said with a shake of his head.

“Tannyhill used to be the entire island.”

“We need another marker,” Kie said, walking over.

“What about that?” You pointed a thick line right in front of Parcel 9.

“That’s a wall,” Pope said. “Perfect, Elm.”

Back on the road, Pope sat in the front of the seat with the map. He navigated for John B. You felt your pulse spike. You were actually doing this. And it might actually work.

But then you pulled up to the Craine House and your heart sank. You remembered the story that JJ had told Kid about Mrs. Craine and her husband. You felt sick to your stomach as the five of you hopped over the wall. Barely listening as JJ retold the story he learned from Hollis, you looked behind every tree as if expecting to see the old lady jump out and chop your head off.

Chills ran up and down your arms as JJ recounted the story.

“JJ, stop it. You’re freaking me out,” you said, peering behind another tree.

“You’re so full of shit,” John B laughed.

Pope asked a few more questions, feeding into JJ’s story. You stood closer to Kie, who clearly didn’t believe anything JJ was saying. John B rolled his eyes and started to walk away.

“Dude, wait!” JJ called after him.

“What?” John B snapped, turning back around.

“You sure you wanna do this? She’s an ax murderer. You got a cast on.”

“I don’t give a shit if she’s an ax murderer, okay?”

“I do,” you piped in. “Just a little bit.”

“I got nothing to lose,” John B continued as if you said nothing. “You coming or what?”

Kie was the first to follow him and Pope went after her, but JJ stayed back, scratching his arm.

“You want me to walk behind you?” You teased, walking up to him with a smile. He looked around.

“We’ll go together,” he said, taking your hand. You were glad for it. You didn’t really want to walk behind him, afraid that the crazy murderer lady would creep up behind you and cut your head off, but if JJ asked, you would have. His hand in yours made the fear fade.

You snuck through the tall grass behind Pope until John B called for you to stop.

“You scared, JJ?” Kie asked with a playful grin, looking down at your interlocked hands.

“I was,” you said, squeezing his hand once. “Call me crazy, but talking about ax murderers doesn’t entirely make me feel safe.”

“Fair point.”

“Okay,” John B interjected. “Here’s the plan. We need to look for the wheat near the water like it said in Denmark’s letter.”

“What kind of water?” Pope asked. “Like...pond water?”

“Bong water?” JJ suggested with a laugh. Both Kie and Pope turned to look at JJ, eyebrows raised. You closed your eyes, breathing steadily through your nose.

“No, it just said look for water, okay?”

“That’s the shittiest secret message ever,” Kie said as she started to walk toward the house.

“You wanna complain a little more, Kie?” John B asked after her. “Nobody said it would be easy.”

“I’ll search the northeast, you guys search the northwest quadrant,” Pope said.

“The decapitation quadrant?” JJ asked as Pope walked away. You let out a deep sigh. This was going to be a long day.

***

There was little to do as John B and Kie slapped skeeters off of each other. All you could really find to do was lean up against the wall and swat bugs away from you.

“Can we leave?” JJ asked, looking around the small basement.

“Don’t you think it’s weird there are so many bugs?” Pope asked you. You pinched your eyebrows together, but then nodded her head slowly.

“There aren’t usually so many, unless they’re by-”

“Water.”

Realization hit suddenly. You pushed yourself off the wall and walked over to where Pope was, eyes scanning the floorboards. Flashlight scanning the floor, you froze when you heard the ground beneath Pope creak. He looked up at you and you felt your lips twinge upward. You shuffled a few of the broken pieces of wood out of his way as Pope plucked a small rock off the ground and crouched down. You knelt beside him.

“Hey, I think I found Mrs. Craine’s voodoo doll,” JJ said. Kie and John B continued to slap each other.

Pope took the rock in his hand and dropped it through the floorboards. You waited, straining your ear. You heard the splash and a grin spread across your face. The same smile grew on Pope’s face as he looked up at you.

“The water,” you breathed. He nodded and the two of you started to move the rest of the junk.

“Hey, guys!” Pope whispered.

“Hey, Pope,” JJ replied.

Kie shushed the two of you, turning away from John B.

“Hey, help us move this,” Pope said, standing straight. He grabbed John B’s arm. “We need to move this.”

“Okay.” John B lifted his hands. “Just...quietly.”

With all of the hands working together to move the trash, it went a lot faster. Then, moving the boards, you found yourself staring down into a deep well.

“Well, well, well,” Pope said. You almost laughed.

“They built this part of the house right over it,” Kie said, squatting down.

“This is where she hid the bodies.” JJ stared into the well. You shook your head.

“Dude, c’mon.” Pope tapped his fist against JJ’s arm.

“No, I’m dead serious.”

“Yeah, you will be dead if you don’t stop talking about Mrs. Craine,” you said, nodding toward the well.

“She probably doesn’t even know it’s here,” Kie added, shining her flashlight into the well. It was too deep to really see anything.

“So, we found water,” Pope said, turning the attention back to the object at hand.

“We’re gonna need a really big rope.”

***

Once you got back to the Chateau, your nerves abuzz with excitement, John B took off on some unknown trip (but you guessed that it had something to do with Sarah). You elected yourself to go and pick up some groceries.

In doing so, you managed to miss the entire Kie vs. John B and Sarah debacle. You walked up to the Chateau, bags hanging off of your arms, a smile still on your face. You had found the water where the “wheat” was. The gold was right there. All you had to do was get down a really deep well and find it. No biggie, right?

But then you saw JJ and John B sitting in the kitchen. Glancing around, the skip in your step slowing and your smile fading, you saw Pope and Kie down by the docks. Something about the separation didn’t feel right to you.

“What did you two do?” You asked as you walked inside, setting the groceries on the counter.

“Wasn’t me,” JJ said, putting his hands in the air.

“I tried to pull Sarah in but Kie wasn’t too fond of that idea,” John B said, hanging his head.

“And by ‘not too fond’ he means that Kie wants him to choose between the two of them, but he won’t.”

You pursed your lips and started to unpack the bags.

“That’s not really a fair ultimatum,” you said, tossing JJ a bag of fresh bread.

Pope walked back in with a deep sigh.

“What’d she say?” John B asked.

“That you’re an idiot.”

You wished that you could shrink away from this entire conversation. It felt like a Pogue thing. The boys argued back and forth for a moment as you passed out apples and set out some grapes. Maybe they were all just hungry. If they just ate….

“I’ve got a plan,” John B said, which pulled your attention back. “And you three are going to help me out.”

***

You were assigned to Kie duty with Pope. It felt wrong to be lying to her about what was really going on, but you knew that it was for good reason. Hopefully, she would understand that, too.

“Can’t you guys do anything without me?” Kie asked as you pulled up to the boat. The sun had slowly started to set, getting closer to the horizon.

“Definitely not,” you breathed as Pope pulled up to the HMS Pogue. You leaned back against the side of the boat while Kie climbed into the Pogue. As soon as she was off, Pope turned his small boat around.

“They’re going to kill us,” you said, squinting your eyes against the heavy glare of the sun.

“Most definitely,” Pope agreed.

You sat up when you heard the sound of hollering and two large splashes. Running to the front of your small boat, you offered your hand to the boys as they neared.

By the time they were back on, Sarah and Kie were both leaning off the edge of the Pogue, shouting. You grimaced and gave a wave.

“Get your assess back here!” Kie called.

“Can’t. Not until you two figure things out!” John B said.

“I will kill every single one of you!”

“Don’t let her mean words scare you,” JJ whispered, grinning like an idiot.

“You can’t just leave!” Sarah cried.

“There’s food in the cabin and JJ rolled a blunt,” John B said, waving his hand.

“Hydroponic!”

The boat started to splutter away, leaving Sarah and Kie behind.

“Love you guys!” John B called one last time. JJ gave a whooping laugh.

As you made your way back toward shore, you wondered if this was really going to work. After all, Kie was probably the most stubborn person you had ever met and if she was dead set on something, she wasn’t about to let it go. Then again, the boys did know her better than you did.

“So, what now?” You asked.

“Now we wait until morning,” John B said. By the grin on his face, he looked rather pleased with himself.

“What do we do until then?”

“I could think of a couple of things…”

“Really, JJ?” Pope rolled his eyes. “In front of my boat?”

JJ shrugged, leaning back as he draped an arm around your waist.

“If you wanted,” John B said, fiddling with his fingers. “Pope and I could get out of the house if-”

“God, John B,” you cringed, covering your eyes with your hands.

“I mean, you’ve….” John B waved his hand through the air. You felt your cheeks burn hot. Once again, you wanted to be anywhere but here.

“Is this what you boys talk about on a daily basis?” You asked.

“Only sometimes,” Pope told you, not taking his eyes off of the water in front of them.

“No, John B,” JJ said. “It hasn’t really come up.”

“It hasn’t come up?” John B scoffed. “Why don’t I believe you?”

“Ellie isn’t a fan of sex.” JJ shrugged. You turned to look at him, eyes wide. This wasn’t really a conversation you wanted to have right now. “I can’t push her.”

“JJ,” you said quietly, trying to smile. “Please stop talking.”

“You don’t like sex?” John B asked, somehow surprised. You turned to look at him, trying to keep your smile, but it was obviously forced.

“Not really, no,” you told him.

“Any particular reason or-”

You almost considered telling them. There weren’t supposed to be secrets among you, but this was a secret that could cost you your life. If the beating you got from your dad was just after he found out that you had been sneaking around, there was no telling what he would do if he found out that you told them what he had done to you.

You shook your head.

“Just not a fan.”

“Hey, you know what?” John B said, handing you a beer. “That’s valid.”

You felt yourself give a real smile as you accepted it. You popped it open a took a long drink, feeling the familiar taste on your tongue. In recent weeks, you found that that feeling of calm it brought you could be found somewhere else.

You put your head on JJ’s shoulder, letting your eyes close. The wind drowned out the cries of Kie and Sarah, rapidly disappearing behind the small boat.

With the alcohol in your system and the smell of the ocean filling your nostrils, the craziness of the world didn’t seem to be able to touch you.

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