#like it means sense why vale ended growing as hi did

[muxas-world]

In your tags abaut vale dads you say " he was raised by parents with a teenage mentality" I'm sorry, but what do you mean by that?

Valentino himself says in several interviews that his parents, being so young when they had him, were more like friends than parents (and here people tend to blame Graziano more but if you read articles and what he himself says about his mother, his mother It's the same maybe just nos as bad later on as grazino but theres a reason why he calls here just by his name),he always says that his parents were very young when they had him and if you take into account that Graziano was a hippy and I suppose his mother was the same, you can imagine what Vale's childhood was like ;)

#like it means sense why vale ended growing as hi did #and listed to his own interviwes abaut who his dad never did dad thing whit him as achild #insted of playing he was make to do cars etc i want to punch grazioni in the face imo #also very typical from parent in the 80-90 to be exhypis racing kids like that #valentino rossi #motogp #ask

[littledanette]

Hello!! Yes so I have completely fallen in love with Wil and the whole Shannara series. I am shocked by the lack of fanfic on ao3/ff.net, especially regarding Wil in particular. There’s just so much material there imo. I am not fond of reader x character fics or smut, but I love backstory, h/c, soft fics, and character development fics. If these are not anything you write, I totally understand!! I just wanted to put in a request for anything along those lines, for what it’s worth :) Wil is just so sweet and caring, and he has so much courage! I love him. Thanks for your offer to take requests and for taking the time to read this!

Hello darling, and thank you for your message! 💜

I thought I’d start off with your request just to metaphorically test the waters with writing for our beloved Wil. 

Everyone, please bear in mind i saw both seasons of Shannara and am currently re-watching season 1, but since it’s a very complex world, forgive me if I still mess up a few details, write something non-canon, or mix up some canon facts. 

Anyway, here are a few random HC’s for our favorite half elf….

WIL OHMSFORD HCS

He grew up mostly with his mother. He still worshipped his father like a hero, but we all know what a complicated character he was. And since Wil had no idea about his family’s history, when he was little he started thinking his father wasn’t around much / started drinking / got into trouble because he didn’t fully enjoy or want his family life. It hurt him to think that, but he still tried to make the best of the few precious moments he shared with his dad.

Because of his upbringing, Wil started to rely almost entirely on his mother. They had a very profound emotional bond, and we know her death left a scar in his heart that never really healed. 

Also thanks to his mother, Wil learned to respect and admire women, especially those with a strong spirit and a loving heart.

He has a very deep sense of protection towards the women he loves, but he also craves the motherly attention and love that was so brutally ripped away from him. 

He’s not as naive as he might seem - think of him at the beginning of Season 1. He just wants to search for the best in even the worst situation and he tries to see the good in everyone. He’s actually extremely anxious and afraid of what he doesn’t know, so he also tries to encourage himself by keeping an open mind and heart towards the world. 

He was quite lonely growing up because being a half elf meant that a lot of the other children weren’t very nice or welcoming to him. He got called names and made fun of, especially for his ears, which he became extremely self conscious about. But back then he was always too gentle to react or lash out, so he’d usually end up isolating himself instead of picking up a fight. He’d wander around exploring the little forest surrounding Shady Vale, or go visit his uncle, or stop by to watch the Healers work in their village quarters. He never really held a grudge towards the kids that were mean to him, but sometimes he did wish he had a friend he could talk to. 

He felt safe and at home in Shady Vale, but he secretly longed to leave it behind and go explore the world. He never allowed himself to fully embrace that pull towards the unknown…. Until he was forced to, by the events we all know. 

He is very empathic and often gets overwhelmed by his own emotions. This is why sometimes he’ll be too impulsive or make a ‘dumb’ decision. He hates himself when he messes things up, especially if someone else gets hurt (emotionally or otherwise) because of it. 

He doesn’t want to admit it but since the first moment Allannon first revealed the story of his father, the Elfstones and his destiny, Wil started feeling as though a huge weight had been lifted from his chest. Sure, he was terrified and confused, but suddenly so many things about his life made sense to him, and feeling as though he had a higher purpose actually started bringing out his most authentic self. 

This also meant bringing out his courage. Wil has actually been brave his entire life, but he always assumed that just meant doing the right thing and caring about the people he loves. The quest for Safehold finally allows him to discover just how brave and daring he can actually be. 

On the downside, he can be quite moody and difficult to deal with when he’s in a bad mood. There’s a lot of unresolved anger and frustration buried deep inside him. The dark side of learning how to use the Elfstones meant having those feelings start to surface from time to time. It won’t happen often, but sometimes he’ll lash out unexpectedly, breaking something or taking his anger out using his sword against some unanimated object. 

His tendency to isolate is another one of his flaws. As much as he craves love and affection, he’s also extremely sensitive to whatever might make him feel unwanted or rejected. He’ll quite literally disappear from everyone if that happens until the feeling fades away. 

His favorite season is autumn. He loves the colours of the leaves and the crisp air, not to mention spending the chilly evenings outside by a campfire or looking at the stars. 

He’s loyal to the core. Once he knows he can trust you, he will always have your back and defend you with his life.

A FEW ROMANTIC HC’s 💜

feel free to skip them if they’re not your cup of tea….

First things first, because I feel this needs to be said: he’s an amazing kisser. You can’t fool me, those lips were made to kiss and he knows it very well.

That’s also why he really, really loves giving kisses. It’s one of his favorite gestures of intimacy, whether it be passionate kisses that take your breath away or little loving kisses all across your face. 

He is extremely touch-starved. That’s obviously because he had to learn to live with loneliness at such a young age. He’s very shy at first, but once he starts feeling more comfortable around someone he’ll grow close to them very quickly and likes to express that with physical touch. After all he probably wouldn’t have wanted to be a Healer if touch didn’t resonate with him as his primary love language, right?

Speaking of that, he loves hugging the people he cares about. But he also wants to be held and reassured, especially when he’s feeling particularly alone. Sometimes falling asleep in his partner’s arms is the only way for him to finally relax and let his guard down. 

He falls in love very easily, but his emotions are also quite fleeting and sometimes very intense to deal with. 

His sex drive isn’t insanely high, but once he starts having feelings for someone he’ll crave being intimate with them even if it just means falling asleep with his arms around them, or holding hands while taking a walk, or spending time cuddling in peace while watching the sunset. 

He’s a romantic at heart, even though he can be quite awkward at first. He loves giving little presents, courting, and genuinely giving his attention and time to someone he cares about. 

He always dreamed of getting married young and have a family of his own, probably to subconsciously heal the family wounds he holds in his heart. 

His loyalty shows in his romantic relationships as well: although his emotions can sometimes be all over the place, once he choses a partner for good, there is nobody else in the world for him. 

He believes in soulmates.

He is extremely protective, sometimes becoming slightly too aggressive if he senses anyone or anything might be a threat or even a slight annoyance to his partner. 

Ironically enough, his weakness is - yup, you guessed it - his ears. Kisses, nips and little bites will immediately make his knees go weak and his restraints vanish into thin air. 

Remember how I said he’s initially shy and awkward? Yeah, that all goes out the window once he knows he can trust you as his partner and starts having feelings for you. He might not have the highest sex drive, but when he does get in the mood…. You’re always in for a very, very long and ecstatic night… A lover boy, indeed!

Hope you enjoyed these! 💋

#my writing #wil ohmsford #shannara #the shannara chronicles #wil ohmsford hc #wil ohmsford imagines #wil ohmsford x reader #austin butler #austin butler x reader

[dulcewrites]

In the canon it is in the series Rhaenyra doesn't show interest in the Arryns until she needs support, which is really crazy because in her position as heiress and orphan the logical decision to make would be to get closer to her maternal family

To be real/fair, Rhaenyra didn’t show interest in anyone or house till she needed them 😭😭😭. I think that, on top of the obvious societal pressures working against her, is why her having as many allies as she did was kind of confusing from a narrative point.

She very well could have thought she was above allyship till she realized she needed people or maybe she didn’t feel comfortable/emboldened bc of the father she had.

You see that throughout the book and flashes of it in the show. The dig at lady redwyne during the hunt, not taking the marriage tour seriously, running away to dragonstone etc. But specifically sending Lucerys to storm’s end with no terms for lord borros. Even putting aside the life threatening lie of ‘you have Baratheon blood’, the whole ‘we need to remind him of his father’s oath’ (mind you this same father helped with the marriage tour that she left early soooo) thing goes to show her mindset. None of the people who sided with Rhaenyra were doing it out of sense of duty for women’s rights despite how people try to paint it. That’s just politicking. Everyone has a bottomline, and it is interesting that a woman that essentially locked herself a way for years ends up getting so much support.

I understand what people mean when they say it would make sense for the vale to support Rhaenyra because of being ruled by a woman, as well as Jeyne wanting to reinforce her claim. But Jeyne and Rhaenyra were in very different positions as heirs. There wasn’t a male claimant with a better claim in Jeyne’s case like there was in Rhaenyra’s. Idk the whole vale thing is tricky. Bc like I said, on one hand I get it. But on the other, i call back to, then why didn’t the reach unanimously support Aegon. Also why make Rhea’s death, and Jeyne sending daemon away when he tried to get the land a thing. It’s all jumbled and makes little sense on breakdown.

But yeah it is especially weird that Rhaenyra never reached out to her Arryn side sooner. Mainly bc she has a woman in her direct family that is ruling. A woman that is rumored to live an ~alternative~ (by westeros standards ofc) life like Rhaenyra was. Jeyne had been defacto ruler since she was like a toddler, she for sure could’ve helped Rhaenyra growing up. It is a testament to how much Viserys failed Rhaenyra as well as maybe how isolating being a Targaryen can be. I wonder how Aemma felt about her Arryn side and if that contributed too. Daella (aemma’s mom) apparently had a good relationship with her husband, despite being far too young to be married imo. He even begged to have her buried in the Vale when she died giving birth to Aemma. Or Rhaenyra just reaching out for the war could be a testament to how the rug was pulled out from under Rhaenyra when her safety net (viserys) died

#blood in the water asks #I think lmao

[zoyazenik]

🔮 🎀 🌀 💙 for isla

🔮 : Star gazing or cloud watching? Hand-holding or snuggles? Early mornings or late nights?

star gazing. hand holding. late nights.

🎀 : Do they wear a specific accessory with a special meaning behind it? What is their usual fashion sense like? What do they wear when they want to be comfortable and what do they wear when they’re going to a fancy party? Or do they just not care?

isla's family life is tumultuous at best, so family heirlooms or accessories given with love are not something she was ever privvy too. after her abduction by the greens, and her betrothal to aemond, aemond eventually gifts her with a sapphire chocker necklace that she holds dear to her and wears every day, no matter where she goes. her fashion changes from when she's back home in riverrun, where she tends to wear less extravagant highborn dresses, to when she is betrothed to the prince, where she wears beautiful custom made gowns, usually green.

🌀 : Where is your OC from? Where were they born? Do they still live there, if not why did they move? If they still live in the area how has it changed since their childhood? How many places has your OC lived in and where has been their favourite?

isla was born and raised in riverrun, the daughter of edmyn tully II and alys tully, isla's childhood was a horrific event. with a stern and unforgiving grandfather, parents who found her mere existence to be a nuisance, and a brother whose best characteristic was his unbending rage, isla grew up knowing the pain of the other end of her father's sword, and the burning of her brother's hand upon her cheek. raised to be a bargaining piece for her family, it's no surprise that it was on the road to the vale, in search of a suitor, that she was abducted. her parents, both killed in a raid the year prior, and so she was left in the cruel hands of her brother, who held the banners at riverrun and refused to swear fealty to the greens. it was for that reason, that upon hearing of the lady isla's lonesome journey to the vale, that the hand of the king sent a flurry of knights after the young girl, to bring her back as a hostage in hopes of coercing lord elmo's hand into supporting king aegon II. they of course, didn't account for the fact that her brother hated her, and decided that more drastic measures were to be taken, hence the betrothal to the prince aemond. isla has only ever lived in riverrun and king's landing, and given the horrors of her life back home, king's landing and the red keep are decidedly her favourite.

💙 : What did your OC want to be when they grew up and why? Did they have any lifelong dreams or ambitions they never got to work on or are they currently working to achieve this dream? Has their life taken a very unexpected turn and put all these plans on hold for a while or have they given up on any dreams?

growing up, isla only knew one thing for certain, and that was that she was destined to be some lord's wife. or, if she was unlucky, a fishmonger. but obviously, life had some heavy twists for her, and when she becomes betrothed to aemond, an abundance of opportunities open up to her. she begins to explore her options; she finds a love for the harp, she's particularly skilled with sewing, but she finds what she most dreams of becoming is a midwife.

#isla tully #ask games

[ragingbookdragon]

I'm Only A Crack In This Castle Of Glass (Hardly Anything Else I Need To Be) PT. 5

Batfamily x Batsis Story!

Word Count: 2.5K Warnings: Explicit Language, ALL THE ANGST. AND MORE TO COME! Tags!: @itsnottilly @cloudyskylines @starflyer-104 @iwillstaywiththemforever @justine-en @weirdgirlfromtx @notsostraightweeb @candlestudy @edlothia-baby @soul-end @willieoo @willowoo @peterxwade24 @the-atlantic-french-fry @bad-bouquet-of-emotions @vvipgot7be @pure-princess-97 @atomicsoulhumanspy

Author's Note: I have nothing to say for any of the emotions y'all are about to get from this. Enjoy!-Thorne

She wasn’t sure what she expected when she sat down, but the stretching silence growing between her and her estranged family wasn’t it. She tried to look anywhere but them, not because she was ashamed—far from it. But it was more than awkward sitting across from three brothers and a father she’d not spoken to in three years, let alone tell them she was even alive.

Her eyes found Wally’s as he sat down beside her eldest brother and if looks could’ve killed, he’d been dead and buried.

“Glare at me all you want, but I’m not going to apologize,” he shrugged.

Scowling, she turned her attention to the skyline. “Fuck you,” she spat, crossing her arms.

“At least talk to them, (Y/N).”

“And why should I, Wally?” she questioned, glaring at him. “I don’t have anything to say. If I did, I wouldn’t be here in Central.”

“You’re not leaving until you talk to them,” he finalized with a firm look and she growled low in her throat and resigned herself to her fate.

Her eyes darted to her father’s and she couldn’t for the life of her decipher what was in them. “I’ll talk for an hour,” she told him. “I’m not talking about what I’ve been doing in Central City, so don’t ask. I’m not talking about the life I’ve been living, so don’t ask. You’re only allowed to ask me about my departure and that’s it. But after one hour is up, I’m leaving.”

“Who said you get to leave,” Wally questioned, and she shot him the darkest glower she could muster.

“So help me God, Wally West you’ll either take me home or you’ll fix that fucking elevator and I’ll walk myself home. Because if you don’t, I’ll tell the world who every vigilante is at this table.”

For once she managed to stump him because his eyes went wide—so did her family’s but she didn’t care—and he finally nodded.

“Alright. One hour.”

Seemingly satisfied with his answer, she turned back to her family, more specifically her father. “Why are you here? What do you want from me?”

“Maybe for you to come home, (Y/N),” Jason answered, and she glanced to him.

“Not a chance. Next?”

“(Y/N), you don’t have to be hostile. We’re not going to force you here,” Dick said, and she looked at him now, eyes narrowing.

“The manipulation tactic isn’t going to work on me, Dick. I’m not here for to be tricked into coming back. I’m never coming back.” She cocked her leg over the side of the table and reclined, biting out, “Give me your anger. I’d prefer that instead of whatever this pitiful bullshit you’ve got going on.”

In the eighteen years they’d known their sister they’d never heard her say such a callous thing, but her words had practically slapped Dick across the face because hurt etched onto his expression, then immediately turned into anger.

“You want my anger? Fine.” He stood and pointed at her. “What the hell is wrong with you! Why would just up and disappear like you did! Do you have any idea how scared we were for you! How distraught!”

(Y/N) blinked at him. “Knowing how you like to carry the weight of the world on your shoulders because you can’t help but be a hero? Probably a lot.” She made a dramatic show of looking at her watch. “You’ve got forty minutes. Keep it up.”

Her eyes shifted to Bruce’s. “Did you let them read the letter? Or did you just throw it away after you read it?”

Dick, Jason, and Tim all turned to Bruce at that.

“Letter?” Tim repeated. “What letter?”

(Y/N)’s mouth made an ‘o’ shape and then she smiled knowingly. “Oh, you never showed them the letter, did you?” She looked to her brothers. “I wrote dad a letter the night I left to explain why I was leaving. It’s sugarcoated bullshit but it is the truth.”

Dick’s face contorted in anger. “(Y/N) left a reason behind and you didn’t tell us about it? Three years and not a single word?”

Bruce merely stared at her as he pulled the letter out of his coat pocket. “I was going to burn it when I found her again. Talk to her before anyone else could.”

Jason snatched the letter from his hands. It had faded a bit, softened around the hard edges, like someone had opened it and read it every day for three years.

His eyes scanned the paper, and he met her gaze, voice chock-full of hurt and she had to fight tooth and nail to keep herself from externally reacting. “You left because you thought we didn’t care about you?”

Dick reached over and took the letter. With furrowed brows and a frown, he started to read aloud, and Bruce gazed at (Y/N) as the memory came back to him.

***

Mornings at the manor were unusually quiet in comparison with the evenings. Everyone was typically too tired to argue so it accounted for a peaceful breakfast of soft words and chewing. Everyone had an assigned seat and every child had learned early on not to take the seat that belonged to another brother or their sister because there would be a fight about it.

Dick and Jason sat next to each other and (Y/N) took the seat at the end of that side; Tim and Damian took the other side—oldest to youngest, just the neat and even way Bruce liked it.

It was rare for any of the boys to be awake before him or Alfred and (Y/N) was usually the first kid to the table, the boys wandering in just minutes after her. Oddly enough, that morning she hadn’t come down for breakfast—which she always came to.

Bruce looked at Alfred. “Is (Y/N) coming down?”

Alfred hummed and gently maneuvered Tim’s arm to the side to he could set down the plate. “When I went to her door, it was locked, and I received no conversation from inside.”

Jason snorted and sipped his coffee. “Probably had a long night with her friends and is still out. I know I would be.”

“How would you know?” Tim interrupted. “You died before you got to the eleventh grade.”

“You’re one to talk, dropout,” Dick countered, and Damian sighed.

“Richard, you dropped out of college. The only son of Batman who has actually completed an entire bout of schooling is me.”

The three boys turned on him with scowls and retorted, “No one asked you, pipsqueak.” Damian glared back at them.

Bruce rolled his eyes, using the side of his fork to cut into his omelet. “Let’s try not to start a free-for-all here in the breakfast room, please.” He glanced at Alfred. “She’s probably tired from all the ceremonies. Let her sleep.”

Alfred nodded. “Of course, Master Bruce. She should be well rested this evening.”

But when the evening came, Alfred still hadn’t been able to get (Y/N) to unlock her bedroom nor speak to him. He certainly wasn’t worried, but it was off for her to be so reclusive. When Bruce and the boys came back from patrol, he mentioned it to him.

“Miss (Y/N) hasn’t come out from her bedroom, Master Bruce. Nor has she said a single word all day.”

Bruce’s brows furrowed and he tugged the cowl off, rising from the seat at the Batcomputer. “I’ll go check on her,” he replied. “You deal with…” his steel eyes drifted to Dick who had Tim in a headlock and Jason who was giving Damian a noogie. “Them,” he finalized, leaving the poor butler behind.

He knocked on the door to her room and pressed his ear to it. “(Y/N)? You haven’t come out all day. Is everything alright?”

Nothing. Not even a breath.

“(Y/N), are you in there?” he asked again and when he didn’t receive a confirmation, he raised his arm, running his fingers along the doorframe until he touched a small metal piece. He pulled it down and stuck it in the door, wiggling the knob for a second before it clicked, and he opened the door.

“Sweetheart, we’ve been trying to—” Bruce went silent when he saw the kempt room. Bed neatly made, everything organized and put away. Even her clothes hamper was empty.

He blinked and walked into the room, quickly heading to the bathroom to check for her there. It was empty as well, and just as clean, leaving him stunned as he exited the bath.

Wandering over to her desk, he saw an elegant envelope sitting on top of her laptop, his name written in beautiful penmanship. He picked it up and unfolded it, pulling out the multi-page letter. He drew his eyes along the golden lines, reading her words.

Dad,

I don’t really know how to start this letter. Truth be told I’ve written at least six before this one, and even then, I’m not entirely happy with it. But if you’re reading this, I’m not here anymore. I haven’t hurt myself in anyway, you don’t need to worry about Vicki Vale or Jack Ryder reporting the discovery of my body. I mean it in a literal sense—I’m not in Gotham anymore. Neither am I ever coming back.

Don’t think this is your fault. You’re a good father, the best I could’ve been given, and my brothers are good siblings. But the truth is that I’m not fit for this family of heroes. And I never have been. My best when trying to be what all of you are, was never good enough and I’ve spent eighteen years staring at your backs, waiting for you all to realize that I’m still here, that I still matter even if I’m not like you. And I don’t want to feel like a stranger in my own home any longer.

I don’t want you to look for me. I know you will, but I wish you wouldn’t. This isn’t some spur of the moment thing I decided to do the night after graduation. If you look at my bank records, I’ve been withdrawing cash from my savings since freshman year—this is four years of planning, so please understand that I’m doing this because I don’t want to be found—ever.

I’ll leave the story for the media up for you, though I doubt that they’ll care long enough to make a deal of it. It’ll pass like winter does spring and they’ll move on to the next bigger story.

Thank you for everything dad, and good luck with Gotham—keep it safe like you always have. And I hope that one day when you think of me, you won’t feel disappointment. I’ve only ever tried to be something that when you looked down on me, you’d only be proud, and I hope one day I’ll achieve what I always dreamed about. Eighteen is young to be on your own and I’m scared. But I’ll be okay—I always have been.

So do me a favor and don’t spend too much time over this. There are plenty more younger kids that need a parent’s hand on their backs to steady them like you once did for me. Find one and fill my spot. Let them shine brighter than I ever could. Let them be the one worthy to be a Wayne—I know I never was.

-(Y/N)

Bruce barely had time to grasp the back of her chair to keep himself from falling to his knees in shock. The letter was clenched in his hand and his lungs wouldn’t take in air like he wanted them to, his heart aching with each palpitation. He looked around the room to her dresser drawers, willing the strength into his legs to moved over to it. He opened every drawer and to his astonishment, they were empty. Hurrying to the bathroom, he noticed the drawers in there were empty as well. She was really gone. And he had no idea what to do.

***

Tears were in Dick’s eyes when he finished the letter and he looked up at her. “How could you ever think we didn’t care about you, (Y/N)?”

She didn’t want to have this conversation. She didn’t want to sit there and explain every time she asked her brothers if they wanted to do something with her and they conveniently had something else to do. Didn’t want to explain every school and extracurricular performance that went unattended and left a little girl standing in front of a crowd barely managing to stave off the tears as she bowed and thanked them for coming. She didn’t want to remember all the memories that chipped away at her heart with every disappointment that occurred. All she wanted to do was leave.

(Y/N) had earlier returned to her original position, hands in her lap and she clenched her fists until her nails bit into the skin of her palms, eyes directed anywhere but Dick’s.

“I think it’s time we call this little reunion done,” she said, standing to her feet. “We’re not going to get anywhere.”

“Not if you run again,” Jason muttered, unconsciously wiping a tear from his eye.

She pointed at him, hissing, “I didn’t run the first time, Jason. I left. On my own accord.”

“You ran instead of coming to us, (Y/N),” Tim said, and she threw her hands above her head in disbelief.

“What the fuck did you want me to do! Wander down into the cave and beg at your feet for someone to pay attention to me! To at least pretend like I was a sister! I did! Every day!”

(Y/N) picked up her purse and yanked it up her arm. “Cassandra seems to be fitting in better than I did. So go and dote on her as the younger sibling. I’m not interested in the position anymore.”

“It’s not a competition,” Dick explained. “We love you just as much as we love Cass.”

She paused and gazed at him, voice laced with disappointment as she disagreed, “Then you should make sure she’s content in the manor, because if you love her with any semblance of how you loved me? It’s not at all.”

Her eyes shifted to Wally’s. “Fix the elevator. Now.”

He stayed seated for a moment, the two of them staring each other down, then he nodded wordlessly and moved to the elevator, starting it again. Her family stayed seated, and she gave them one final look before she followed Wally, silently waiting for the doors to open.

When they did, she stepped inside and turned around, hitting the button. Just before the doors closed, Wally stopped them and murmured, “You’re making a mistake.”

“My worst mistake was becoming friends with you.” (Y/N) blinked at him, then reached up and shoved his hand away from the door and as it closed, she remarked coldly, “And you can go to hell for all I care.”

#batfamily x reader #batfamily x reader imagines #batfamily x reader imagine #batfamily imagines #batfamily imagine #batfamily #batsis x batfam #batsis x batfamily imagines #batsis x batfamily imagine #batsis imagines #batsis imagine #batsis #bruce wayne #batman #dick grayson #nightwing #jason todd #red hood #tim drake #red robin #damian wayne #robin #dc comics #dc imagines #dc imagine #dc

[dontbipanicjonsa]

Can't believe they Pol!Jon-baited us (I finished the show, unfortunately)

Like queer-baiting, yes.

Lucky for me I'm used to being baited.

No but really. I cannot believe how they utterly ruined Jon's character by the end.

Sure, I can still say Pol!Jon was happening. I can say that Jon told Varys his, "she is my Queen" because he didn't trust that Varys wouldn't betray him to Dany. Kind of like how Sansa would call Joffrey her King and renounce her family while she was stuck in KL.

I can say that Jon was clearly trying to talk down/calm Dany when he said "I love you" and then immediately followed it with "you are my Queen" (again) because he knew that was what really mattered to Dany.

I can say plenty of his actions were driven by fear.

I can say that his "love is the death of duty" can be interpreted as his love for his family and his need to protect them which led him down the Pol!Jon path that proceeded to grow utterly out of his control (death of his duty to the realm of men etc)

But that still doesn't cut it.

At some point his actions cross from Pol!Jon to nonsensical. Is he really the kind of guy who would follow an obvious tyrant because he "loves" her? Does he love her??? HOW

Is he so deeply in love that his vocabulary has been cut down to only "you are my Queen" and "I don't want it"? Very romantic.

Basically, I can't believe that he loved her, I also can't believe he would hesitate to try to stop her unless he did love her. So basically......idk. It doesn't make sense. Why did he need to be convinced that Dany has to be removed from power??

On a lighter note- wtf are we all still debating about???? Last episode made it clear that Jon and Sansa love each other.

I mean....

When Danaerys and Jon talk about the "others" that Dany says "won't get to choose", who are they really talking about? Who is "they"?

Let's see, Edmure from the Riverlands ? Nah, dude has too strong self preservation skills.

Who's at Highgarden? Sam? Some rando? The Unsullied? They're not gonna wage war on Dany alone. So no.

The Westerlands? Well, the Lannisters just died, besides Tyrion who's imprisoned. Dany would have probably elected somebody to take over that place.

The Vale? Right. Sweetrobin would utterly destroy Dany with his smirky face, but it's unlikely he'd try.

The Pyke? Last we checked, Yara took it back in Dany's name.

The Stormlands? Why would Gendry do that ? To avenge KL? Unlikely.

Dorne? We don't even know the freaking name of that supposed Prince.

The wildlings? Why??

That's right. Neither Jon nor Dany have reason to believe that anybody else will rebel in Westeros....except the North. Except Sansa.

"They" is Sansa. Jon killed Dany for Sansa.

Not to mention, Sansa is repeatedly brought up in the scenes leading up to Jon killing Dany, because she is the point of conflict between them. Besides his parentage, of course.

And Sansa. My girl brought a whole ass army to the capital just for Jon. Straight up said she'd declare war if anyone hurt him. Honestly, she can declare war on me anytime she wants.

Actually it's pretty hilarious-

Sansa to Bran: you ain't my king

Sansa to Jon: but you're my king :/

And also-

Sansa to Jon: can you forgive me

Jon to Sansa: dammit let me stay angry for a moment :(

Dorks.

I will say, if the show had actually been consistent till the end, I would believe that Sansa being seemingly not angry at Jon is a sign that Pol!Jon was a thing. Because otherwise he would have given away the North to a foreign queen simply because he was in love with her, and put his entire Kingdom and family at a huge risk of being burnt alive, as KL was. Not sure if Sansa would still say things like "but we lost our king" then.

But the show ISN'T consistent so what's the point anymore?

Another thing-

Dany is a tragic figure ultimately. She needs the love of her subjects, but fails to realise that conquering a continent with fire breathing dragons and the "love of the people"....do not go hand in hand.

Jon's "I love you" was calculated, but he failed to follow through on it the way she wanted.

Now, I'm going to list three ways in which Jonerys stagnated the story and generally sucked, because I'm petty like that.

1) Sansa says- you have to be smarter than Father.

Say Jon did fall in love with Dany, and he really was honorable the entire time....even at the Dragon Pit where he refused to lie to Cersei. A true Northern Fool. What was the point of that line then? He didn't learn shit. No, he got worse. Because we know Jon has lied in the previous seasons.

Actually, this lends more to making me believe Pol!Jon was real. Jon mentions his Father quite a bit in S7, and it is always about how honorable his father was. Seriously, we know Ned was honorable. You don't have to keep telling us. Unless.....?

Arya and Sansa talk about Ned too, but their conversation is not about honor.

So seriously Jon, don't you have anything else to say about your dad? Or are you trying to convince everyone of your own supposed honor by connecting yourself so strongly to your Father's honorable-ness.

We really didn't need that many reminders. It's sus.

2) Sansa says- you have to be smarter than Robb.

And then what did Jon do? Went South, fell for a foreigner, lost his crown, lost some of his standing in the North, and eventually the story ended tragically and a whole lot of people died.

Once again, what was the point? Why have Sansa specifically tell Jon not to make the same mistakes as his father and brother only to have him go and make those same mistakes? That's not how stories move forward.

If Jon really pulled a Robb, then Sansa and the North are perfectly justified in their anger.

3) Jon and Ygritte.

So....Jon goes to place where he's essentially a prisoner, meets woman who's into him, falls into Stockholm Syndrome with her, puts his duty and honor on hold to enter an abusive relationship with her, wilfully blinds himself to her flaws to cope, and then eventually (directly or indirectly) leads to her death.

Ygritte and Dany are....the same. Dany is Ygritte with dragons. Once again, what was the point?

Did Jon's story really just repeat itself, beat for beat? Is this like some loop he's cursed to live in?

Pol!Jon is the only way we can respect Jon's character growth from the time he was with Ygritte till the end of S6. Jon from S6 would not fall in love with Dany.

Side note- how do you put that "read more" cut in these posts? I feel like this one got too long.

#jonsa meta #jonsa #all roads lead to jonsa #dark dany #political jon #pol!jon

[babineni]

*sigh* let me incoherently ramble about Edér in Deadfire real quick (well... mayor!Edér mostly bc I'm more familiar with that)

Tbh some of these if not most of these are Thoughts™ that I touched in fic or other rambly posts okay idc I have them again

Bc here is the thing: I personally believe that the whole Elafa ordeal could've been easily integrated into Edér's arc about Eothas, creating a much more tightly written arc and it could've been a decent enough sequel to his PoE 1 personal arc.

Yeah, Edér's arc in PoE 1 was primarily about healing through finding a sense of purpose after everyone and their mom has betrayed him in some way or another, but this also comes with Edér becoming a more active participant in his enviroment. He goes from someone living day-to-day, constantly being at the risk of being killed for his religion, hoping that the world would sort itself out around him to someone actively working to make the world around him a better place.

The issue with that, however, is what Edér considers to be a "better world". Bc at least in the mayor ending, we get the ending slide saying that he turned Dyrford into something like the Gilded Vale of his childhood. Which is not necessarily a bad thing, but in case... let's say history repeats itself by Eothas coming back and starting to wreck shit, you might start asking yourself if that attitude is sustainable.

And this is where Elafa comes into the picture. Bc their relationship was one of the few remaining positive relationships (unless you threw his PoE 1 personal quest bc then it's actually the only one) that Edér could rebuild as part of his "going back to the better pre-saint's war world" deal. And this could've been an excellent opportunity to examine Edér's unhealthy idealization of his childhood and to find a means to overcome that bc Eothas is out there on a mission to destroy any means to go back to the old pre-saint's war world and to task Edér's bestie to build a New, Shiny, Enlightened World™ instead. And the thing is the game actually briefly touches upon this idea after you take Edér to the temple of Gaun but it quickly tosses it aside in favor of the whole "is Edér Bearn's baby daddy?" plotpoint. And then the next time we pick up on this thread we find out that Elafa is dead and this conflict gets no closure. Cool 🙃

And I know, Edér's PoE 1 quest ended with him not getting closure either. But the big difference is that by that point, Edér knew that Woden sided with Readceras, his idealized imagine of Woden is tainted and he tries to rationalize Woden's decision so he needs to find out what Woden's reasons were. That is what the narrative doesn't allow him to have, that is why the lack of closure helps Edér to grow, but Deadfire doesn't do this with Elafa, her idealized image remains untouched and then the whole conflict gets dropped in favor of having the whole Bearn and the Lighted Path conflict that has... barely anything to do with Edér, and it ends with him learning pretty much nothing as a result. Anyway I would like to live in the timeline where Deadfire did a similar deconstruction of Elafa's image and explored Edér's place in the world that keeps changing while he aims to stay the same and how that affects his relationship with Eothas and the Watcher, etc. etc.

*siiiigh* yeah that is all, thank you for coming to my Ted talk

#pillars of eternity #edér teylecg #yeah this is incoherent and i have no real new thoughts on this but yeah i felt the urge to ramble so here it is #ugh i have a headache and i'm cranky so sorry for the tone i guess

[janiedean]

What do you think of the recent Sansa discourse? (I will catch you up) a Sansa fan said that they felt Sansa was being an asshole when she calls Jon her half-brother. And the Sansa and Jonsa fans all collectively lost their minds. They are saying that Sansa was only trying to be polite and avoid calling him bastard the way Robb and the rest of the siblings do. Personally I feel like it’s impossible to ever discuss Sansa’s growth and an arc since people are always splitting hairs to make her a saint from the beginning of the series. But I know you love both Sansa and Jon so I wondered what you actually thought about this? I can honestly see it both ways. But I am growing increasingly frustrated with Sansa fandom and the inability to discuss her growth as a person since she can never be considered as anything but 100% kind, empathetic, and perfect at all times. I feel like people miss so much of the humor that exists in her early AGOT chapters when the do this as well.

... thanks for the catch up because I had... uh... zero idea this was a discourse but anyway as yes someone who loves both my opinion would be

i don't know in what language do people need to read it but like the point is that as you say sansa has both growth and evolution as a character so downplaying whatever she said about jon before she went off to KL... makes no sense? like. the point isn't how she called him because robb did call him his bastard brother and loved him anyway so whatever, the point is the intention and if jon himself thinks she was the most like catelyn/they weren't close and sansa herself while masquerading as alayne thinks 'oh I wish I could see him again I realised how wrong I treated him'.... then she didn't treat him like her brother which is fine because that's the entire point of both their storylines in that sense? XD

like, if (as I'm pretty much sure at this point) the whole plot is 'sansa goes from vale to north with jb+sandor+an army just in time to help jon & co retake winterfell after jon comes back to life in wow' then... the point is that they meet again and they have to learn to have a healthy relationship? and the point of the first stark reunion being the two that were the least close to each other means more literary conflict?? more to explore??? like if they always were nice to each other then there's nothing to write about?? that's the point??

also like......... idk how to say it but the two of them growing to have a relationship is good for the both of them??? and it's character growth/evolution and it means at the end of it the surviving starks are closer than they were in the beginning?? like denying it or twisting it like 'ah but she was always nice to him/courteous' which a) she wasn't b) he didn't perceive like that anyway means... idk that you don't care about them having an evolving rship??

I mean like if suddenly I decided that nah jaime and brienne actually didn't dislike each other he was just being an ass and she likes that humor so they absolutely enjoyed each others's company from the beginning not only it makes no sense plot-wise but it cheapens their entire journey because learning to like each other from actually not so much is half of the fun? like... idg what you get out of it other than making the text less compelling?

also like.... if you ship it there's nothing bad in it like relationships evolve it's not like you can't ship two ppl if they didn't have a great a+ amazing rship since the beginning otherwise it's BAD which is a thing I'm seeing in fandom in general anyway and... why???? honestly as someone who does love friends to lovers and shit I find it nonsensical because rewriting thing X in order to make it look more... okay or palatable or like it was never a conflict imvho means you don't really like thing X that much? idk if I'm making sense but honestly idg why it would be such a problem if sansa actually didn't gaf about jon pre-series if you ship it XD one would presume you'd ship it because she'd grow to gaf about him or... what's the point

> I feel like it’s impossible to ever discuss Sansa’s growth and an arc since people are always splitting hairs to make her a saint from the beginning of the series I mean... you're not wrong and I'd like for people to realise that 'demonizing sansa because she did and said stupid shit when she was twelve as all 12yo do is stupid and she's not a bad person for that' and 'sansa was never absolutely perfect and impeccable from page one' are two statements that can coexist but from what I gather a lot of people just... don't care about the fact that she actually has an arc that goes places when it comes to overgrowing being a 12yo

> she can never be considered as anything but 100% kind, empathetic, and perfect at all times my problem is that people say it but then proceed to completely ignore the book canon in which she is kind and empathetic because that kindness and empathy doesn't go towards the people they want it to go to and then I have to read show truthing with ppl saying that ramsay's death was IC for sansa or the last three seasons were IC for sansa when they're not and she was everything but kind and empathetic so like...... pick and choose one because she can't be kind and empathetic but then you like instances of the show when she was everything but and honestly i feel like most of current sansa standom completely sleeps on that fact or on how she's actually kind and empathetic lmao or how she's a complex character so she has faults same as everyone in these books but like it's... not worth the discussion imvho which is why I'm sticking with the corner that's friendly with the two ships for her I have and bye because honestly in between that and ppl deciding that she's the main character I can't anymore, and I'm saying it as someone who doesn't have a single main character in her top five so let's please get out of the way that it's because I don't want her to be or anything XD

tldr: I feel like with this fandom lately it's impossible to discuss sansa sticking to the text and I think this discourse makes no sense because denying sansa didn't gaf about jon doesn't make their relationship more compelling (and that goes with... turning any other rship either of them has into abuse™ like in order for those two to be shipped whichever way you like jonygritte and jond*ny don't have to be abusive rships and you can not describe sandor and tyrion as the worst™ that ever happened to say one but that's another problem we're not getting into now) and like... I don't know maybe it's me having picked the trash faves with the lamp as we say here but if I started retroactively deciding that theon in acok was really a nice dude or that jaime never did anything nasty in his life or that robb never was an ass to people because of badly managed anger then like... idk they wouldn't be the people I like? *shrug* honestly I don't understand and there's nothing bad in saying my fave#1 was an ass to my fave#2 but now they changed and they'll get better??? idk if you told me 'do you wanna read the fic where they actually like each other from the get-go' I'd say OKAY IT'S A FANFIC LET'S SEE HOW YOU DO IT but it's a fanfic it's not canon so X°D

people ignore the whole of sansa's agot chapters anyway because they're not convenient to half of the points they wanna make (I mean she and jeynep are also not exactly great to arya either but XDDDD) and they ignore the main point of her sl so at this point nothing surprised me but I just wish ppl didn't bend over backwards to make characters whatever they want because... they have to be moral or perfect™ and that's where I'm stopping X°D

then if you want mvho about the actual question is that whether sansa meant to be polite or not (which I don't think is the heart of the matter) the point is that she didn't care about jon as a sibling the way the others did and he didn't feel close to her either and the fact that his other siblings said he was their bastard brother and he still felt closer to them than with her means it's splitting hair over linguistics when the point is the intent and like... they weren't close, dot, which is entirely okay because the entire point is that they have to become close when they meet again X°D so idg what's the big deal about this but here you go X°D

#anonymous #ask post #1 #3 #4 #5 #2 #anti-show sansa #anti-jonsa #anti jonsa #this isn't even an anti post but like... GUYS I DON'T WANT WANK #ch: sansa stark #ch: jon snow #grrm please publish wow #anyway here we go sorry for the lateness

[butterflies-dragons]

Do you have any doubts that Sansa is the girl in grey? Is there strong grey imagery around Sansa?

I believe Sansa is the grey girl yes, but only GRRM has that answer.

About grey imagery around Sansa, I wrote about it here and there.

Grey is the main Stark color. Their sigil is a grey direwolf in a white field. Stark men wear grey cloaks, Winterfell is made of grey granite, Grey eyes is a Stark feature, etc.

There are some instances where Sansa actually wears or it is said that she will wear a grey cloak:

1.- Her first encounter with Dontos (false Florian) in the Red Keep's Godswood: "Sansa threw a plain grey cloak over her shoulders and picked up the knife she used to cut her meat. If it is some trap, better that I die than let them hurt me more, she told herself. She hid the blade under her cloak."

It is very curious that Dontos was also wearing grey during that first secret encounter: "He wore a dark grey robe with the cowl pulled forward, but when a thin sliver of moonlight touched his cheek, she knew him at once by the blotchy skin and web of broken veins beneath. "Ser Dontos," she breathed, heartbroken. "Was it you?"

2.- Cersei gave her a white and silver maiden cloak for her wedding to Tyrion. Stark colors are grey and white tho... I think in this case the silver is there instead of the grey of House Stark. I'm not sure if this is a mistake or not. "Cersei Lannister ignored the question. "The cloak," she commanded, and the women brought it out: a long cloak of white velvet heavy with pearls. A fierce direwolf was embroidered upon it in silver thread. Sansa looked at it with sudden dread. "Your father's colors," said Cersei, as they fastened it about her neck with a slender silver chain."

Curiously enough, Tyrion wore Targaryen colors to marry Sansa lol

3.- Littlefinger planned for Alayne to reveal her true identity as Sansa Stark wearing a maiden cloak with the Stark colors grey and white: "Jon Arryn's bannermen will never love me, nor our silly, shaking Robert, but they will love their Young Falcon . . . and when they come together for his wedding, and you come out with your long auburn hair, clad in a maiden's cloak of white and grey with a direwolf emblazoned on the back . . . why, every knight in the Vale will pledge his sword to win you back your birthright.

From my answer about certain ship foreshadowing:

What do you know of my heart, priestess? What do you know of my sister?

In the shadow of the Wall, the direwolf brushed up against his fingers. For half a heartbeat the night came alive with a thousand smells, and Jon Snow heard the crackle of the crust breaking on a patch of old snow. Someone was behind him, he realized suddenly. Someone who smelled warm as a summer day. When he turned he saw Ygritte. She stood beneath the scorched stones of the Lord Commander’s Tower, cloaked in darkness and in memory. The light of the moon was in her hair, her red hair kissed by fire. When he saw that, Jon’s heart leapt into his mouth. “Ygritte,” he said. “Lord Snow.” The voice was Melisandre’s. Surprise made him recoil from her. “Lady Melisandre.” He took a step backwards. “I mistook you for someone else.” At night all robes are grey. Yet suddenly hers were red. He did not understand how he could have taken her for Ygritte. She was taller, thinner, older, though the moonlight washed years from her face. Mist rose from her nostrils, and from pale hands naked to the night. “You will freeze your fingers off,” Jon warned. “If that is the will of R’hllor. Night’s powers cannot touch one whose heart is bathed in god’s holy fire.” “You heart does not concern me. Just your hands.” “The heart is all that matters. Do not despair, Lord Snow. Despair is a weapon of the enemy, whose name may not be spoken. Your sister is not lost to you.” “I have no sister.” The words were knives. What do you know of my heart, priestess? What do you know of my sister? Melisandre seemed amused. “What is her name, this little sister that you do not have?” “Arya.” His voice was hoarse. “My half-sister, truly …” “… for you are bastard born. I had not forgotten. I have seen your sister in my fires, fleeing from this marriage they have made for her. Coming here, to you. A girl in grey on a dying horse, I have seen it plain as day. It has not happened yet, but it will.”

—A Dance with Dragons - Jon VI

Earlier in this chapter, Jon was thinking about Arya and her situation (trapped with the Boltons), and he was frustrated for not being able to help her. Then he remembered Ygritte, he confused Melisandre for Ygritte.

So, reading all the context:

What do you know of my heart, priestess? = This is about Ygritte. He is still hurt and mourning for her.

What do you know of my sister? = This is about Arya and her situation.

This is an excellent example of how GRRM plays with our minds with his tricky words:

“At night all robes are grey. Yet suddenly hers were red”.  He is introducing us to the Grey Girl and her true identity.

Jon thinks he is seeing Ygritte but he was actually seeing Melissandre.

Melisandre and Jon also believe this grey girl of the visions is Arya Stark, but the person trapped with the Boltons is Jeyne Poole. And later, Alys Karstark was not even wearing a “grey” cloak.

For me the grey girl is neither of them. The answer is hidden in this line: “At night all robes are grey. Yet suddenly hers were red”.

***

"At night all robes are grey" means all the confusion about the grey girl's true identity: Arya or Jeyne or Alys Karstark.

"Yet suddenly hers were red" means that the girl with the grey cloak will be a redhead, like Ygritte and Melisandre the two women Jon was confusing.

So, Sansa as the grey girl makes a lot of sense, she is a redhead and she is a Stark, and grey is the main Stark color.

And this is not the first time that Jon confused Ygritte with another female. Jon dreamed of a ghastly grey direwolf wandering around the Crypts of Winterfell, that seems to be Lady’s Shade:

The crypts were growing darker. A light has gone out somewhere. “Ygritte?” he whispered. “Forgive me. Please.” But it was only a direwolf, grey and ghastly, spotted with blood, his her golden eyes shining sadly through the dark . .

—A Storm of Swords - Jon VIII

Despite Jon assuming the direwolf was a "he," I strongly suspect it was Lady's Shade. Lady is buried at Winterfell, not Grey Wind. Lady was beheaded with Ice, so her fur would be spotted with blood. And Lady was said to have sad eyes.

So, Jon is always confusing Ygritte with another redheads...

From my Dunk & Jon meta:

Maybe I’m seeing too much here, but the reference to Alysanne Osgrey [Os-Grey] makes me think of Sansa Stark, because:

Sansa shared a lot of parallels with Good Queen Alysanne.

The surname Osgrey has the word grey in it.

Alysanne Osgrey became a Silent Sister.

Silent Sisters always wear grey.

Silent Sisters are known as the Stranger’s wives.

According to Melissandre, the Grey Girl of her visions is Jon Snow’s Sister.

The Grey Girl will probably be Sansa Stark.

Grey is also the color of House Stark, so Sansa is, in a way, a Grey Girl.

Jon is a man that will defeat death and come back to life, like the Stranger that walks between the two worlds.

The Stranger’s face is half animal, like Jon who is a warg, half man and half beast.

From my Jon/Sansa/Winterfell meta:

The stone is strong = The walls of Winterfell = Alayne Stone = Sansa Stark.

Sansa Stark has a lot of stone imagery around her.

Winterfell’s walls are made of grey granite. Grey is also a color of House Stark and I believe that Sansa will be the girl in grey on a dying horse from Melisandre’s vision.

As the Heir to Winterfell, Sansa was practically transformed into a stone castle, Winterfell, and the north itself, since the one that controlled her would obtain all her lands and power. Or, to use the euphemism from the Books, Sansa Stark was the “key to the north.”

Sansa reflects about this objectification in the Books and gives us one of the saddest lines in ASOIAF, especially coming from a girl who yearns to be loved and always dreamed of getting married: “No one will ever marry me for love,” (because everyone only wants her for her claim to Winterfell and the north).

Tyrion associates Sansa’s rejection of his advances as icy courtesy and compared that rejection with a castle wall that he never got to break:

“You hide behind courtesy as if it were a castle wall.” “Courtesy is a lady’s armor,” Sansa said. Her septa had always told her that.

—A Storm of Swords - Sansa III

Sansa’s misery was deepening every day. Tyrion would gladly have broken through her courtesy to give her what solace he might, but it was no good.

—A Storm of Swords - Tyrion IV

He wanted to reach her, to break through the armor of her courtesy.

—A Storm of Swords - Tyrion VIII

The castle wall that armored Sansa and Tyrion never got to break is a clear reference to Winterfell:

He remembered Winterfell as he had last seen it. Not as grotesquely huge as Harrenhal, nor as solid and impregnable to look at as Storm’s End, yet there had been a great strength in those stones, a sense that within those walls a man might feel safe.

—A Clash of Kings - Tyrion XI

And certainly, Sansa feels stronger and protected within the walls of Winterfell:

Sansa stuck her fingers through the top, grabbed a handful of snow, and flung it full in his face. Petyr yelped, as the snow slid down under his collar. “That was unchivalrously done, my lady.” “As was bringing me here, when you swore to take me home.” She wondered where this courage had come from, to speak to him so frankly. From Winterfell, she thought. I am stronger within the walls of Winterfell.

—A Storm of Swords - Sansa VII

Sansa feeling stronger within the walls of Winterfell, sounds pretty similar to “the stone is strong” line from Bran quote cited above.

Later, while descending from the Eyrie to the Gates of the Moon, Mya Stone tells Sansa that “a stone is a mountain’s daughter.”

Men come and go. They lie, or die, or leave you. A mountain is not a man, though, and a stone is a mountain’s daughter. I trust my father, and I trust my mules. I won’t fall.” She put her hand on a jagged spur of rock, and got to her feet. “Best finish. We have a long way yet to go, and I can smell a storm.”

—A Feast for Crows - Alayne II

One of Winterfell’s possible meanings is “wintry mountain(s).” And Sansa Stark is “The northern girl. Winterfell’s daughter”.

As the daughter of Petyr Baelish, Alayne Stone also becomes the Heir to Harrenhal, another great castle made of strong stone. Only dragon fire was able to melt Harrenhal’s stone walls:

Stone does not burn, Harren had boasted, but his castle was not made of stone alone. […] And even stone will crack and melt if a fire is hot enough. The riverlords outside the castle walls said later that the towers of Harrenhal glowed red against the night, like five great candles… and like candles, they began to twist and melt, as runnels of molten stone ran down their sides.

—The World of Ice and Fire - The Reign of the Dragons: The Conquest

Moreover we have the parallels that Sansa shares with Jenny of Oldstones. And Oldstones serves us as an example of the strength of the stone.

Just like Winterfell was the stronghold of the ancient Kings of Winter, Oldstones was the stronghold of the ancient River Kings (House Mudd of Oldstones), both dynasties descendants of the First Men. And if we read about Oldstones, thinking about Winterfell is an inevitability:

They reached Oldstones after eight more days of steady rain, and made their camp upon the hill overlooking the Blue Fork, within a ruined stronghold of the ancient river kings. Its foundations remained amongst the weeds to show where the walls and keeps had stood, but the local smallfolk had long ago made off with most of the stones to raise their barns and septs and holdfasts. Yet in the center of what once would have been the castle’s yard, a great carved sepulcher still rested, half hidden in waist-high brown grass amongst a stand of ash. The lid of the sepulcher had been carved into a likeness of the man whose bones lay beneath, but the rain and the wind had done their work. The king had worn a beard, they could see, but otherwise his face was smooth and featureless, with only vague suggestions of a mouth, a nose, eyes, and the crown about the temples. His hands folded over the shaft of a stone warhammer that lay upon his chest. Once the warhammer would have been carved with runes that told its name and history, but all that the centuries had worn away. The stone itself was cracked and crumbling at the corners, discolored here and there by spreading white splotches of lichen, while wild roses crept up over the king’s feet almost to his chest.

—A Storm of Swords - Catelyn V

Despite the pass of time the foundations of Oldstones remained and the stones were even used by the smallfolk to rise new buildings. The stone is really strong.

What also remained despite the centuries was the tomb of King Tristifer IV Mudd, also known as the Hammer of Justice, which immediately reminds me of the crypts of Winterfell and its stone kings sitting on their thrones with their swords across their laps.

And just like songs are still sung about a girl named Jenny from Oldstones who found true love with a Targaryen prince, I’m pretty sure that many songs will be sung about Sansa Stark from Winterfell and her own Targaryen prince.

Finally, is worth mentioning that Stark means “strong” in German. And there’s a theory about House Strong (extinguished) being linked to House Stark.

Stone = Strong = Stark

So by saying the stone is strong, we are also saying the stone is Stark.

Alayne Stone is Sansa Stark.

***

There you have it.

Thanks for your message ♡

#sansa stark #jonsa #anon asks

[willownoir1112]

Hello beautiful people of Tumblr! Wyn here with day one of White Rose Week 2021 to break my silence! I hope everyone enjoys, and I'll see you tomorrow with day 2!

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Love Bites

Summer Rose vanished, and Ruby suffered.

All her life, all Ruby has ever wanted was to belong. She tries so hard to fit in, first with her older sister's friends. But, they all told her to go away. That she's a baby compared to them. "Why would I want to bring you too?" Yang would always declare. "You're still just a baby!" Her friends would laugh with her, call her names as well, and leave her behind just like Yang did.

Her sister's words hurt her, and destroyed any chance of them having a sisterly relationship.

She tried so hard to be a good daughter. But, her father spent more of his time worrying about his troops, his responsibilities, his duties to Goddess and Country. "One day you will understand, Ruby." He would always tell her. "One day, you'll have to make the same sacrifices for a family of your own." His words never changed, nor his actions. He would be gone constantly, leaving her and Yang alone for weeks or even months at a time, meaning she had to grow up far too quickly.

Her father's priorities hurt her and robbed her of her childhood.

She tried so hard to be a good student. But, subjects like english, history, anything really to do with reading simply didn't make sense to her. She could stare at the page of a book for hours and all she could see is a jumble of letters. Everyone called her simple, stupid, a waste of time. "Oh look, it's little Stupid Ruby!" Cardin Winchester would declare every day at school. He and his cronies would torment and belittle her, and once even cut her long hair off. She suffered in silence, her arms the only evidence of her inner pain. Arms she always kept covered even in the worst heat of summer.

Her peers hurt her with their words, with their actions, and made her withdraw further into herself.

She finally stopped being a good sibling. She shut her sister out of her life first, Yang never noticing that Ruby stayed closeted in her room constantly. She was the bright shiny sun of everyone else's lives, with her outgoing and boisterous personality. Everyone's but Ruby's. If Yang is the bright sun, then Ruby has become the darkest moon of the family, and she likes it that way now.

She finally stopped being a good daughter. She did her chores without complaint and without needing to be told, save late at night when her father would already be in bed or Yang too preoccupied with her latest significant other. He never noticed that his younger daughter dresses in nothing but blacks and reds, or that she never let her hair grow back longer than above her shoulders. The career he chose to continue to support his family had a long ago casualty, and Ruby keeps it that way.

She finally stopped being a good student. She kept going to school, despite all but failing in everything. She went through the motions, ignored everyone when they called her things like Queen of Darkness or Salem's heir, or even worse. She ignored the shoves, the bullying, everything done to her until they all finally grew bored of it and her. She was finally left alone to sit in the deepest corner of all her classes, doodling to pass the time until she could return to her room and her solitude.

But then Ms. Peach, the choir director, invited the secretly shy and lonely girl to her class one day and encouraged her to sing. From the moment she heard the piano play, her soul became exultant, and her voice rose in response. Even Principle Ozpin, who was walking by at that moment stopped and listened as the shy, moody, rather dark girl who kept to herself was in possession of a voice that could bring even him to tears. Peach was enthusiastic in teaching her how to read music, how to project her voice, how to truly appreciate her hidden talent for music.

But, Taiyang finally noticed when he was forced to retire. He noticed the true state of his family, and decided to take firm control. He destroyed her growing dreams when he declared she and Yang both were to join Beacon Military Academy to finish school. That they needed discipline and not freedom to thrive like he once did. That neither of his children will follow in his long disappeared wife's footsteps, and lack the discipline needed to succeed where she obviously failed.

He was furious when Glynda Goodwitch admitted her as Ruby, allowing her to keep that one small bit of freedom.

She suffered like never before at Beacon. She was admitted two years early as a favor to her father, and she hated it. Her hate translated itself into her becoming a powerful fighter with her chosen weapon, a red and black fifty caliber sniper scythe she named Crescent Rose, and soon where she was once either dereided or ignored, she was now feared. Even her own sister fears her now, and that makes her happy.

She is the Darkest Reaper of Vale, and she hates them all.

But one person did not fear her. One person saw past her pain, her grief for her denied life. Weiss was from Atlas, a mysterious, inclusive land far to the north, where they say even the Grimm do not tread. A land of dark magic, of creatures even fouler than the enemy of the world. A land even the demiurge Salem has forsaken. Weiss did not fear the Darkest Reaper, and took an odd delight in hearing the whispers about her, about them both.

She has her own secrets, secrets Ruby will know all too soon.

She cannot help but to feel an attraction to the white haired girl from the north. Her porcelain skin is always smooth and cool to the touch. Her brilliant blue eyes are like the clear blue skies she would once sit under with her long departed mother while they laugh and imagine whimsical beasts and imaginary places. Her long white hair moves like the finest of silk curtains as she walks from class to class, her nose turned up to their peers as if they are all beneath her. All except for her. She treats the Reaper with respect, with courtesy, and after a time, holds out a hand of friendship to her, one she takes willingly.

She finally has a friend, a real friend. Someone who cares for her, Ruby Rose.

But certain things stand out to her as well. The way she barely eats anything but meat, and even then almost bloody and nearly raw. The way she approaches every mock battle with the cunning of a predator on the hunt. The skill with which she wields her rapier, a dust revolver styled weapon she has named Myrtenaster, with near lethal intent even during the simplest of spars against anyone willing to challenge her. She is the only one who can stand against her, her own formidable rage and loathing a match for the heiress's feral cunning and ferocity.

But one late night, during a restless night they both secretly shared, a truth is told, and their lives are changed forever.

She herself couldn't sleep. It was the one thing she could always count on being able to do. It was her refuge from the reality of her world, and she retreated to it every chance she could. But tonight, she tosses and turns, she begs and pleads with the treacherous brain that won't stop thinking, and finally surrenders and gets dressed. Taking up her scythe, she easily steals away into the Emerald Forest, the guards ignoring her out of fear. She runs deeply into the darkened woods, no fear for the Grimm that hide in the shadows as well as whatever other creatures may dwell within.

She never realizes that a pair of blue eyes follow her, belonging to the single person who doesn't fear her. The only person who is beginning to secretly adore her.

She finally stops near the old temple to the Brother of Light, which has been long abandoned when he left Remnant to it's fate. Sitting down, she begins to cry deep tears of pain and sorrow. She hates her life now, she hates being taught to kill, to end the lives of others. She despises the fact that she is good at it. She never wanted this. All she ever wanted was to be a good sibling, a good daughter, a good student. All she ever wanted was to belong, to love a certain white haired girl and be loved in return.

She almost screams in terror when the great white furred head lays in her lap, with sad blue eyes that reflect her pain.

She stares at the great beast, marveling at the fact that a wolf has appeared here. One of the few things she has managed to remember from her poor studies is that the Grimm killed all the wolves when they first came to Vale. None were spared, and somehow she knows this one knows that. To her surprise, she begins to pet the wild creature, smiling softly at the way it's tail begins to wag as it whines. And then she begins to talk to it. She talks about her mother, her father, her sister, her life. She is soon sobbing in grief at the sadness of her life thus far, and is surprised to see tears in the white wolf's eyes as well.

But she forgot that sorrow is a feast for the Grimm, and they soon gather around her and the white wolf both.

She makes her decision. She throws her scythe to the ground and gives in completely to her sorrow. She is so tired. She is so tired of being turned into someone she wants nothing to do with. She's so tired of hoping people will finally love her instead of hate her or fear her. She is so tired of dreaming of a pair of blue eyes that will never look lovingly at her. She is ready, and the Grimm will feed well on her. But she doesn't expect the snarling, the sudden sounds of battle. Opening her silver eyes, they widen as she sees the once four legged wolf has vanished, a naked Weiss snarling in her rage as she wields Myrtenaster against the foul creatures.

"YOU KILLED THEM ALL!"

She stares at the rage filled young woman. She's never seen her fight with this much savagery, this much hate. Even in battles in which she is outclassed or outnumbered, she is still controlled. She uses superior tactics, the icy calm she is infamous for, and her obviously hidden rage to still rip victory from the jaws of defeat.

"ALL THE PACKS OF VALE ARE DEAD!"

She picks Crescent Rose back up. The white haired girl is beginning to frighten her, and she does not frighten easily. She watches in growing terror as an Alpha Beowolf appears, howling in challenge, Weiss's answering howl frightening her to her very soul. She watches as the white haired woman tosses her sword to the side and begins to growl as she grows. She listens to the popping of bone and sinew as fur begins to spring from her bare skin. She stares on in horror as the one friend she has ever made turns into…

A werewolf. A creature from Remnant's darkest stories has come to life before her, and is defending her while taking vengeance for the long dead wolves of Vale.

"You will not hurt my Ruby…"

She screams as Weiss leaps towards the Alpha, her fangs bared and her still hand shaped front paws slashing at the creature of darkness. The Alpha charges her as well, it's own jaws wide open to bite and tear at the white werewolf, it's own claws slashing at her unarmored and exposed flanks. She hears her friend's scream of pain as the Alpha strikes harder than she can, and causes more damage than she can possibly manage in return, and she finally leaps into action. Weiss is the first person to be her friend. She is the first person to treat her like a person. She is the first person she's allowed herself to start having feelings for in her short life.

She may be ready to die, but she will not let Weiss die for her own selfish desires.

Crescent Rose strikes the Beowolf quickly, breaking the Alpha and the werewolf apart as the Grimm leaps back to avoid the deathblow Ruby aims at it. But Ruby is enraged now. She sees the bright red blood upon the moonlit ground, and it adds to her fury. She hears the whimpers of the injured wolf, and it increases her rage. She roars in her righteous anger as her scythe becomes a blur, the Alpha soon howling in pain before Ruby's final blow comes in her scythe hooking around its neck before she pulls the trigger, decapitating the beast with one final roar of triumph. It takes her a moment to calm herself, a long moment in which she has forgotten her anger, her sorrow, her self loathing. And then she finally remembers Weiss. In a panic, she begins to look for her friend, desperate to ensure that she is safe.

It doesn't take her long to find her, and her scream of anguish can be heard back at Beacon.

Weiss has managed to get back to a small cave, her clothes as well as some supplies stacked neatly in the back. She herself is panting heavily as blood flows steadily from her injuries. But her tail thumps on the ground weakly as Ruby slides to the ground in front of her. She doesn't hesitate, but begins to treat the slashing wounds, bandaging them carefully while doing her best to ignore the pain filled shrieks from the badly injured werewolf.

"Oh Goddesses, I'm so sorry, Weiss. I'm so so sorry!" Is her litany as she keeps at her work, until the blood finally stops. Until the white wolf goes silent save for her panting.

The sun rises, then sets once more, but Ruby has yet to leave the white werewolf's side. Weiss has slept the entire time, but she has stayed awake. She is too scared to close her eyes, terrified that if she relaxes her vigil for even a moment, she will lose the most important person in her life. But her body's needs will not be denied, and she finally falls asleep, the large canine head still in her lap and her grip firm on Crescent Rose's handle.

She dreams of white fur and sky blue eyes. Of days spent watching the skies and laughing. Of feeling loved once more, and being confident in being able to return that love.

She moans as she feels the urgency of the lips on her own. Of the feeling of cold skin upon her own now bare skin. Of cold hands exploring her body and her own hands wandering across smooth, uninjured skin in return. She moans in longing as lips caress her skin with feather light kisses. As her own fingers discover places on the other willing body that bring moans of pleasure from a voice she has come to adore since beginning at Beacon.

But she moans loudly as teeth sink into her collarbone, a tender, almost loving bite from the woman she knows she loves deeply.

"Ruby…" Her voice is husky as she releases the love bite, full of longing and need. She can feel a certain heat against her leg that is foreign to the cold that the rest of her skin belies. She herself feels so hot, so needed. She has never felt like this before, and she wants more. She needs more. But her eyes widen as she catches her lover's hands as they grab at the hem of her panties, her face full of fear once more.

"Weiss… I…"

"I know, Ruby." Weiss smiles softly at the Reaper. "I know what you are. But I have wanted you for months now. Since I saw your strength for myself. Since I got to know the real you, and not your mask of anger and self loathing that you hide behind."

"Weiss…"

"Ruby, I am the last of my pack." The werewolf informs her sadly. "I came to Vale seeking the packs that once roamed here, hoping to join them and be safe." She sighs sadly, her blue eyes dimming. "I am beginning to fear I am the last of my kind."

She sits up and pulls the werewolf into her arms. She knows all the signs of sorrow, being well acquainted with them herself. "I… Weiss I'm damaged. Why would you want someone like me?"

Their eyes meet, quicksilver staring into sky blue. "Because I have been alone since I was a child. But you make me feel like I am home now." She cuddles deeper into the Reaper's arms. "I feel safe with you, and I know I can trust you with my secret."

Ruby takes a moment to think, to gather her thoughts while considering everything she has been told. But her thoughts always return to a pair of sky blue eyes she loves to look into. Coming to a decision, she lifts the werewolf's face by her chin with a single finger and kisses her deeply, while her free hand pulls her even closer.

This may be a mistake, but it is going to be the best one she ever makes.

The cavern is soon filled with their moans, their cries of pleasure, their whispered words of love, their need for one another. Their lovemaking is tender at times, frenzied at others, and intense throughout. Morning found them once again asleep, this time in each other's arms and in a tangle of limbs, a part of Ruby still inside the white werewolf, who smiles as she sleeps deeply. They wake upon that glorious morning and decide that Beacon has nothing left for them, and decide to seek their fortunes elsewhere. Someplace where no one knows either of them.

Someplace where their future children can grow up safely…

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Weiss declares her love for her, and for the werewolf, she will throw everything away for a future with her...

Ruby opens one silver eye, smiling at the blue eyed pup staring back at her eagerly as she whines. Sitting up, she yawns as she stretches, her mouth opening wide as her fangs gleam in the light of the morning sunlight. Bowing her head down low, she nuzzles the white haired silver eyed pup tenderly before the two of them leave the comforts of the small, modest home she and Weiss have built together. It has been a decade since she and the white werewolf left Vale far behind and traveled to Mistral. To their surprise, as they explored the deepest parts of the wilds of Anima, they encountered a village full of others like Weiss, led by a lioness named Pyrrha Nikos and her own mate, a human woman named Nora.

She had heard of Pyrrha, who had been reported killed in a massive battle at Haven Academy. A report fabricated by the woman herself so she too could escape with her own mate and their hard won freedom...

They had met so many others, who had fled the destruction of their own packs and prides, their own groups and hutches. They met Velvet, who was a kind and gentle soul of a wererabbit and her mate Coco, who was the heiress of Mistral's largest corporation and their secret benefactor. They met Blake, a panther who loves to read, and her chameleon mate Ilia. There had even been a tearful reunion between Weiss and her older sister Winter, who had also barely survived the destruction of their pack and had also fled. They even met a pair of birds who squabbled constantly, an overly violent Raven and her dusty, drunken Qrow of a brother.

But the biggest shock comes when they reach one small cabin in particular, where a lonely woman lives. A lonely woman long thought vanished by the young woman, but who in truth had been forced to leave by the man she thought loved her.

Ruby sobs as she rushes into her mother's arms, Summer Rose holding her tightly as she too weeps in joy. A mother and her daughter are reunited to their eternal joy, and Weiss cheers in her happiness for them both.

They talked late into the night, the white werewolf asleep in her mate's lap as mother and daughter catch themselves up on years of their lives. Summer is livid at how Ruby has been treated, how she has suffered for so long because of her absence. Ruby had been furious to discover that her mother had been driven off due to a twist of fate, as she had been bitten by another werewolf during a mission. She had been bitten to save her life, and had been punished for it.

Ruby made her own decision that same night, and smiled as her beloved sank her fangs into her skin in a love bite that would change her forever. She turned willingly, determined that Weiss, her sister, and her own mother will not be the last of their kind.

She quietly cheered her mother onward as she found the courage to move on with Raven, who adored her and treated her with kindness, respect, and love. She had happily held her baby sister when she was born two years later, Weiss still at her side and a smile on her own face to match the look of peace in her eyes. She and Weiss had themselves celebrated the birth of their twin pups a year later, naming them after both their mothers.

But the biggest surprise is still to come.

She still checks her scroll from time to time, she and Pyrrha both agreeing that they cannot remain ignorant of the outside world. There is still danger out there, both from the humans and faunus as well as the Grimm, and all while quietly offering safe haven to others like them, as well as their families. They as well as Raven and Nora are the defenders and leaders of their small community, and they take their responsibilities seriously. But Ruby had been surprised to find an email waiting for her one day, when she had travelled far to the south before turning it on, a feat she can accomplish with ease thanks to her semblance and now enhanced senses and superior stamina.

She never expected to hear from her sister ever again.

Downloading it, she returns to the village and her mate, asking her to read it for her. Weiss of course does so, having been the one who finally helped the Reaper figure out that she was not stupid like everyone in her life claimed, but struggled with severe dyslexia. She and Summer have been helping her learn to finally read and write, but it is a slow process, one she still finds herself getting frustrated with as well as embarrassed. Opening it, she soon stops to summon Summer, the two of them sobbing at the state of the brawler's life since they fled. Tai has placed his blame on his eldest for her disappearance, and she has suffered greatly for it. Her life is a disaster now, and she has already been in a failed marriage. She begs Ruby to at least reassure her that she is alive, that she is at least doing well, that her suffering is worth it if it means that the sister she long ignored is finally happy.

That they have traded places, and that her sister is finally whole in spirit and at peace.

Pyrrha does not hesitate to give her permission to bring Yang back. To allow them to reunite, so that she can see for herself that her wishes are indeed true, and that Ruby is happy and thriving. She goes and meets Yang at Mistral's airship port, where the two of them meet in a long overdue hug between sisters, and not the strangers they have been all their lives. They return together, where Yang is also overjoyed to be reunited with her own mother, Raven. Ruby herself nods in satisfaction that her sister is on her way to a peace of mind she now enjoys, and is grateful that she too settles into life in their village, calling it home as well.

Only she and Weiss bear witness to Winter sinking her fangs into Yang's flesh, the two of them falling in love in this place they too call home.

Summer and Luna play happily with the other children, who include their cousins and their aunt. They are gentle with their younger brother, and fiercely protective of their newborn sister. Ruby and Weiss have slowly become the leaders of their still growing safe haven, and lead both by excellent example as well as with hard learned wisdom and knowledge. They share a deep, beautiful commitment to one another that many envy, one forged in mutual understanding and undying love.

Weiss Schnee came into Ruby's life, and she has prospered...

#White Rose Week 2021 #white rose #ruby rose #weiss schnee #Day One #werewolf Weiss #Trans Ruby #here we go!

[agentrouka-blog]

Tyrion and Tysha murder mystery hints - first mention in the text

This thing just keeps tugging at me, and this recent thread made me ambitious to examine it in more detail. So I’ll look at hints for an even darker edge to the story of Tyrion and Tysha in the parts of the text that actually mention her.

Since I have limited time, I’ll do several posts. This one is about how we learn about Tysha in A Game of Thrones.

We head into AGOT, Tyrion VI via a chapter transition from AGOT, Jon V, where Jon talks Maester Aemon into choosing Samwell as his assistant. In the presence of his current assistant Chett, who - it is revealed later in the ASOS Prologue - murdered a girl he liked for rejecting him.

Chett gave a nasty laugh. “I’ve seen what happens to soft lordlings when they’re put to work. Set them to churning butter and their hands blister and bleed. Give them an axe to split logs, and they cut off their own foot.”

“I know one thing Sam could do better than anyone.”

“Yes?” Maester Aemon prompted.

Jon glanced warily at Chett, standing beside the door, his boils red and angry. “He could help you,” he said quickly. “He can do sums, and he knows how to read and write. I know Chett can’t read, and Clydas has weak eyes. Sam read every book in his father’s library. He’d be good with the ravens too. Animals seem to like him. Ghost took to him straight off. There’s a lot he could do, besides fighting. The Night’s Watch needs every man. Why kill one, to no end? Make use of him instead.”

Maester Aemon closed his eyes, and for a brief moment Jon was afraid that he had gone to sleep. Finally he said, “Maester Luwin taught you well, Jon Snow. Your mind is as deft as your blade, it would seem.”

“Does that mean …?”

“It means I shall think on what you have said,” the maester told him firmly. “And now, I believe I am ready to sleep. Chett, show our young brother to the door.”

(AGOT, Jon V)

The chapter is followed by AGOT, Tyrion VI, where Tyrion and Bronn rest on the high road after being kicked out of the Gates of the Moon, after he won his trial by combat:

They had taken shelter beneath a copse of aspens just off the high road. Tyrion was gathering dead-wood while their horses took water from a mountain stream. He stooped to pick up a splintered branch and examined it critically. “Will this do? I am not practiced at starting fires. Morrec did that for me.” 

The entire conversation between Jon, Aemon and Chett sets up Tyrion. A lordling, bad with manual labor, but smart and a reader. Yet we know he is no Samwell Tarly in his sensibilities, and the last sentence is dedicated to Chett.

Chett...

The only women Chett had ever known were the whores he’d bought in Mole’s Town. When he’d been younger, the village girls took one look at his face, with its boils and its wen, and turned away sickened. The worst was that slattern Bessa. She’d spread her legs for every boy in Hag’s Mire so he’d figured why not him too? He even spent a morning picking wildflowers when he heard she liked them, but she’d just laughed in his face and told him she’d crawl in a bed with his father’s leeches before she’d crawl in one with him. She stopped laughing when he put his knife in her. That was sweet, the look on her face, so he pulled the knife out and put it in her again. When they caught him down near Sevenstreams, old Lord Walder Frey hadn’t even bothered to come himself to do the judging. He’d sent one of his bastards, that Walder Rivers, and the next thing Chett had known he was walking to the Wall with that foul-smelling black devil Yoren. To pay for his one sweet moment, they took his whole life.

But now he meant to take it back, and Craster’s women too. That twisted old wildling has the right of it. If you want a woman to wife you take her, and none of this giving her flowers so that maybe she don’t notice your bloody boils. Chett didn’t mean to make that mistake again.

Like Tyrion, Chett is rejected by others for his appearance, has a violent father and a lot of resentment that comes out in the shape of murdering “slatterns”. He also mixes it up with the idea of marriage. Like Tyrion, the cold night reminds Chett of the girl in his past.

He could see Bessa’s face floating before him. It wasn’t the knife I wanted to put in you, he wanted to tell her. I picked you flowers, wild roses and tansy and goldencups, it took me all morning. His heart was thumping like a drum, so loud he feared it might wake the camp. Ice caked his beard all around his mouth. Where did that come from, with Bessa? Whenever he’d thought of her before, it had only been to remember the way she’d looked, dying. What was wrong with him?

Chett killed her in a rage, but the truth is layered and haunts him.

But back to Tyrion.

Tyrion VI emphasizes Tyrion’s cleverness as he converses with Bronn, explaining his strategy in the Vale for how to steal Bronn from Cat’s service and make use of his practical talents, and his strategy for their travels in the Mountains of the Moon. Tyrion talks, Bronn listens and agrees to serve him.

The point is, Tyrion is very observant and smart. Reader, trust Tyrion’s judgent and words, is the message. Then we get more personal.

As they light a fire and eat a goat, Tyrion remembers his goaler Mord who treated him cruelly in the sky cells.

(Mord, btw, translates to murder in many a germanic/Scandinvian language.)

“And yet you gave the turnkey a purse of gold,” Bronn said.

“A Lannister always pays his debts.”

Even Mord had scarcely believed it when Tyrion tossed him the leather purse. The gaoler’s eyes had gone big as boiled eggs as he yanked open the drawstring and beheld the glint of gold. “I kept the silver,” Tyrion had told him with a crooked smile, “but you were promised the gold, and there it is.” It was more than a man like Mord could hope to earn in a lifetime of abusing prisoners. “And remember what I said, this is only a taste. If you ever grow tired of Lady Arryn’s service, present yourself at Casterly Rock, and I’ll pay you the rest of what I owe you.” With golden dragons spilling out of both hands, Mord had fallen to his knees and promised that he would do just that.

The image of coins spilling from hands is picked up later.

Tyrion was hoping to lure in the mountain clans, but they take their time showing up, so he tries to be even more conspicuous.

Tyrion chuckled. “Then we ought to sing and send them fleeing in terror.” He began to whistle a tune.

He chooses the “terrible” tune himself. It leads straight to his memory:

“Myrish. ‘The Seasons of My Love.’ Sweet and sad, if you understand the words. The first girl I ever bedded used to sing it, and I’ve never been able to put it out of my head.” Tyrion gazed up at the sky. It was a clear cold night and the stars shone down upon the mountains as bright and merciless as truth. “I met her on a night like this,” he heard himself saying. “Jaime and I were riding back from Lannisport when we heard a scream, and she came running out into the road with two men dogging her heels, shouting threats.

Myrish, as in the Myrish lens. The object Lysa sends Catelyn, which has a false bottom hiding the real message in a secret language, a message of murder and conspiracy. A secret language, a foreign language, like Mord.

"A lens is an instrument to help us see."     (AGOT, Catelyn II)

Bright and merciless as truth.

My brother unsheathed his sword and went after them, while I dismounted to protect the girl. She was scarcely a year older than I was, dark-haired, slender, with a face that would break your heart. It certainly broke mine. Lowborn, half-starved, unwashed … yet lovely. They’d torn the rags she was wearing half off her back, so I wrapped her in my cloak while Jaime chased the men into the woods. By the time he came trotting back, I’d gotten a name out of her, and a story. She was a crofter’s child, orphaned when her father died of fever, on her way to … well, nowhere, really.

Where Tysha went will become a theme. @une-nuit-pour-se-souvenir examines that beautifully here.

But even right here, the tone is ominous, and GRRM goes out of his way to emphasize it with the ellipses.

We get the story of Jaime chasing after the outlaws and Tyrion and Tysha falling into bed at an inn after drinking, eating and talking, and the story of their marriage, and its end.

Tyrion was surprised at how desolate it made him feel to say it, even after all these years. Perhaps he was just tired. “That was the end of my marriage.” He sat up and stared at the dying fire, blinking at the light.

“He sent the girl away?”

“He did better than that,” Tyrion said. “First he made my brother tell me the truth. The girl was a whore, you see. Jaime arranged the whole affair, the road, the outlaws, all of it. He thought it was time I had a woman. He paid double for a maiden, knowing it would be my first time.

NOTHING about this makes sense, which is ridiculous when you consider we were just hammered over the head with how smart Tyrion is supposed to be.

Since when is Jaime prone to setting up complex schemes? Why would feel the need to push Tyrion to have sex at thirteen, and why would be ever do it this way? Why would be hire him a virgin for his first time? We don’t question it because GRRM has told us not to question the smartiepants. But as we later learn, that was all. not. true. So maybe other things aren’t true, either.

“After Jaime had made his confession, to drive home the lesson, Lord Tywin brought my wife in and gave her to his guards. They paid her fair enough. A silver for each man, how many whores command that high a price? He sat me down in the corner of the barracks and bade me watch, and at the end she had so many silvers the coins were slipping through her fingers and rolling on the floor, she …” The smoke was stinging his eyes. Tyrion cleared his throat and turned away from the fire, to gaze out into darkness. “Lord Tywin had me go last,” he said in a quiet voice. “And he gave me a gold coin to pay her, because I was a Lannister, and worth more.”

The parallels to his memory of Mord are striking. Silver and gold, coins spilling from hands, a “price” beyond expectation... and a promise of something very sinister at the next meeting.

After a time he heard the noise again, the rasp of steel on stone as Bronn sharpened his sword. “Thirteen or thirty or three, I would have killed the man who did that to me.”

1) Nice how Bronn makes it about Tyrion’s pain. Tysha’s pain does not exist to them. And so the reader is also drawn away from it. Poor Tyrion.

2) Another reference to killing. It foreshadows Tyrion’s murder of Tywin over this very matter, of course, but at the same time...

Tyrion gestured impatiently with the bow. “Tysha. What did you do with her, after my little lesson?”

“I don’t recall.”

“Try harder. Did you have her killed?”

His father pursed his lips. “There was no reason for that, she’d learned her place … and had been well paid for her day’s work, I seem to recall. I suppose the steward sent her on her way. I never thought to inquire.”

“On her way where?”

“Wherever whores go.”

Tyrion’s finger clenched.  (ASOS, Tyrion XI)

I don’t think it can be emphasized enough that this happens right after he murders Shae. Shae the whore.

“Did you ever like it?” He cupped her cheek, remembering all the times he had done this before. All the times he’d slid his hands around her waist, squeezed her small firm breasts, stroked her short dark hair, touched her lips, her cheeks, her ears. All the times he had opened her with a finger to probe her secret sweetness and make her moan. “Did you ever like my touch?”

“More than anything,” she said, “my giant of Lannister.”

That was the worst thing you could have said, sweetling.

Tyrion slid a hand under his father’s chain, and twisted. The links tightened, digging into her neck. “For hands of gold are always cold, but a woman’s hands are warm,” he said. He gave cold hands another twist as the warm ones beat away his tears.

And just before he asks him about Tysha, Tywin assures him he was meant to be sent to the Wall. Whether or not that’s a lie, we’re looking at another Chett parallel. Murdering a “slattern”, facing life at the Wall.

We close Tyrion’s memory of Tysha:

Tyrion swung around to face him. “You may get that chance one day.  Remember what I told you. A Lannister always pays his debts.” He yawned. “I think I will try and sleep. Wake me if we’re about to die.”

He rolled himself up in the shadowskin and shut his eyes. The ground was stony and cold, but after a time Tyrion Lannister did sleep. He dreamt of the sky cell. This time he was the gaoler, not the prisoner, big, with a strap in his hand, and he was hitting his father, driving him back, toward the abyss …

Like Chett, his thoughts return to the girl. He turns into the goaler, Mord, his rage comes through, his capability of great violence. In ASOS, his lashing out at Tywin is preceeded by directing his violence toward the “whore” who allegedly betrayed him. Which is preceeded by a truth about Tysha.

“Thank you?” Tyrion’s voice was choked. “He gave her to his guards. A barracks full of guards. He made me … watch.” Aye, and more than watch. I took her too … my wife …

“I never knew he would do that. You must believe me.”

“Oh, must I?” Tyrion snarled. “Why should I believe you about anything, ever? She was my wife!”

“Tyrion—”

He hit him. It was a slap, backhanded, but he put all his strength into it, all his fear, all his rage, all his pain. Jaime was squatting, unbalanced. The blow sent him tumbling backward to the floor. “I … I suppose I earned that.”

“Oh, you’ve earned more than that, Jaime. You and my sweet sister and our loving father, yes, I can’t begin to tell you what you’ve earned. But you’ll have it, that I swear to you. A Lannister always pays his debts.” Tyrion waddled away, almost stumbling over the turnkey again in his haste. Before he had gone a dozen yards, he bumped up against an iron gate that closed the passage. Oh, gods. It was all he could do not to scream.

(ASOS, Tyrion XI)

The turnkey here is interesting. Once again, Tysha’s memory is associated with a cell and the presence of a turnkey. In his anguished memory, Tyrion almost stumbles over him. The last turnkey was Mord.

So, just looking at Tysha’s first mention, there are so many ominous connections. Murder murder murder.

The chapter ends with Tyrion meeting and “hiring” the mountain clans. How? To avenge himself on Lysa Arryn, he promises them the entire Vale. Really driving home that “a Lannister pays his debts” is all about disproportionate retribution.

A few chapter later, to create some distance to this dark tale, Tyrion meets Shae and sets up to re-create his entire Tysha trauma. The two are intertwined, so why should their ends not be?

That’s fodder for a different post, though.

#asoiaf #anti tyrion lannister #tysha #murder mystery #long post #Shae #tywin lannister #bronn #mismemory #memory edit

[extemely-thoughtful-person]

Ignihyde: Dormitory Analysis

Ah, Ignihyde. The dorm founded on the success of the King of the Underworld. Many people classify this dorm as a place for shut-ins, introverts, weebs, otakus, and internet addicts. They say that the people here rarely interact with the other dorms. And according to Cater, he says that the Shrouds who run the dorm are more mysterious than the seven wonders of NRC (not joking, he said that during chapter 5 auditions). But is it's residents all it's known for?

All dorms not only follow a patron, but also the moral that the patron represents. For example, Heartslybule's dorm patron, the Queen of Hearts, was known for her strict rules. Rules that the students under that dorm admire and follow. Octvinelle is based on the "pity" of the Sea Witch. Basically taking the opportunity when someone needs help, and helping them and yourself. Scarabia is founded by the cunning of the Sorcerer of Sand. The students in this dorm are very strategic in planning things out. Savannaclaw is known for brute strength and force, Pomefiore is known for their heavy efforts (and is currently the most analyzed dorm in the fandom), and Diasomia is known for it's elegance and talented mages.

But what is Ignihyde known for? All the residents that are shut-ins?

I hate it when this dorm is treated like a place where people can go "oh, so he's a weeb? Just toss him in with the others then." I mean, come on! You can still be a shut-in or a gamer and be in a different dorm like Octvinelle, or Diasomia (Azul's a shut-in, and Lilia's into gaming). Plus, not every student in Ignihyde is an introvert! (Ortho is an extroverted curious little thing that loves exploring and meeting new people, so...?) So, what is the backbone of this dorm? If you ended up there, it was for a reason right?

To begin, let's take a look at a different world.

There is a show I like to watch called RWBY. They are currently on their 8th volume with more episodes on the way. But for now, let's look at their world's (the world of Remnant) kingdoms.

There are four kingdoms: Vale, Vacuo, Minstrel, and the big one, Atlas. Each kingdom has it's own reputation, location, and general beliefs. Just because they don't agree with everything doesn't mean that they don't get along. Vale is about excepting things for what they are, as they seem to be a mix of all the other kingdoms. Minstrel is about art, learning, knowledge, basically elevation to a higher form of society. Vacuo is about strength, survival, being a strong individual. But Atlas is about change, adapting, thinking outside the box, being creative despite the limitations.

The locations of each kingdom influence their beliefs. Vale as in the middle of the world, in a valley surrounded by land and sea with a few surrounding islands, basically a small variety of everything. Minstrel is located in a similar terran, but they're in the east, they're environment is more asian so they have an art style heavily influenced by it's surroundings. Vacuo was built in an Owasis in the middle of a desert that was destroyed overtime, but the kingdom still remains.

Atlas was built in a tundra. A cold desolate wasteland with no life what so ever. So your probably thinking, why? Atlas is called the greatest kingdom, the most advanced kingdom because of their military power and highly developed technology. But here's the thing, they had to be the best, they had to be creative and advanced, because in a freezing wasteland with no other forms of life besides the animals of the north, they had to adapt in order to survive.

Now back to the twst verse. What does any of this have to do with Ignihyde?

I believe that the dorm shares the same moral as the kingdom of Atlas. Ignihyde is about adapting, creativity, flexible thinking in an environment with limits. How do I know?

Let's take a brief glance at the dorms locations. All of them.

Heartslybule is located somewhere lush and green, nothing to fancy, but pleasent non the less. Pomefiore is almost identical except it may have a nearby mountain terrain. Savannaclaw is on a savanna, not a lot, but some trees and bushes here and there, anything that can survive. Scarabia is similar but in a desert owasis, most plant life is native, though it could be imported. Octvinelle doesn't have plant life, but it has lots of coral underwater so that still counts. Heck, even Diasomia has thorns everywhere.

Ignihyde is underground, where nothing can grow without sunlight:

There is no life down here, as it's basically in an environment where nothing is supposed to remain. It's next to a glowing river, which is probably acidic or something. But unlike the other dorms structures and buildings, this area has limits as to what they can do with little space, hence why the dorm is built upside-down. Ignihyde's whole design was specifically crafted to exist in an impossible environment. At first I thought it was designed to scare off intruders, but I guess that's a bonus.

But it's not just about the structure, but also the students. I imagine there's a rule of nature stating that magic comes from living things, like plants, animals and people. If that's the case, then that adds another limit to the Ignihyde Dormitory: their environment is barren of magic, meaning that in this place magic is weaker and in some points, doesn't exist on it's own. You could still cast spells, sure, but it would take a lot more energy, and have less of an effect. So how do the students cope with magic limitations? They don't use magic. They use technology instead. And because it's the only thing they can use, it's been updated so much that it's centuries ahead of it's time. Which is why their dorm is so advanced. I also like to imagine that all of their stuff is powered by the river that surrounds their dorm, and that makes sense considering that the river is the only other thing in the terrain.

If you still think that adapting isn't an Ignihyde thing, then there is one more important factor that can confirm that it is. Hades himself.

In the traditional story, Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades drew lots to see what part of the world they would get. Zeus got the sky, Poseidon got the Sea, and Hades got the Underworld. I imagine this also applies to the Hercules movie. Hades was basically pushed out of heaven and into the Underworld. He didn't have the same things as the other Olympians did. He didn't have any friends, there wasn't a single living thing down their, and to him, it felt like he was banished. But what he didn't do was wine and complain, sure he took it all with a grain of salt, but instead he rolled up his sleeves and made do with what little he had.

You want a messenger like Hermes or Iris who can keep you informed about what you want to know? You don't get that, but you've got the Fates! They know everything, even the future! Board out of your immortal mind cause you've got no one else who can relate to your possition to talk to? Take up boardgames to take your mind off it all instead! Need a way to keep track of souls that come in cause you can't keep track of all 5,000,000,001+ entities? Boom! Build a machine that does the counting for you! Have to get something accomplished on the surface? Send your shape shifting imps to do the job for you!

See? Basically Hades overcame the challenges of living in the Underworld because he had to adapt in order to survive. Once he was stable enough in his domain, then he let his negative energy out on the other gods by plotting to overthrow them. Sure he survived the Underworld, but he still misses Olympus.

So even the dorm patron had to adapt in order to get through his challenges. Things like creativity, and thinking outside the box are things that are admired in this dorm. Even Hades had some creative power.

So to wrap things up, Ignihyde is about adapting, creativity despite the limits, and thinking outside the box. And it's about succeeding at doing it

#twisted wonderland #twst #ignihyde #twst idia #heartslybule #savannaclaw #octvinelle #Scarabia #Pomefiore #Diasomia #rwby reference #idia shroud #ortho shroud #lilia vanrouge #azul ashengrotto #cater diamond #disney hades #hercules #Ignihyde #i did a thing #twst wonderland #twst theory #Twisted Wonderland Ignihyde

[itstimetotheorize]

Ravens greatest regret, The mysterious final days of Summer Rose

Ever since volume 2, Raven presented herself  as someone that is shrouded in mystery,  whatever we knew about raven was always mirrored by how much yang knew as the story progressed. According to Tai and Qrow, Raven is a complicated woman, she has a funny way of looking at the world that many would disagree on, but despite this she remained a strong, clever, independent woman who is devoted to whatever cause she believed in.

However, over the course of volume 5, many of us have now begun to realize that raven may not be the person she once was. Throughout volume 5, Raven has been shown to be manipulative, untrustworthy, and more than willing to sacrifice anyone around her. But most importantly, it was through ravens confrontation between Yang that we realize juts what kind of person raven is, so, who is she? well....shes a coward.

Despite Ravens best efforts to be the only victor in the fight of volume 5 and make others believe that everything she has done till now was the smart decision, we begin to realize that raven is simply letting herself live in denial rather than accept the fact that it was her fears that prompted her to make bad decision, decisions that she claims are for her and her tribes benefit. Some of those decisions included, siding with Cinder to help Salem obtain the relic in exchange for Qrows death,

 stealing the spring maiden powers by killing the previous maiden 

and even attempting to steal the relic from the vault. 

And for what exactly?, HOPE!, hope that the maiden powers and the relic of knowledge would be more than enough power to help keep her safe from Salem!

As I watched Raven realize the reality of her situation and just how much she had screwed up by making such decisions, I began to wonder....... what exactly happened to Raven that lead her to lose track of herself and fall down such a path?. Something must have happened to her, but what? well, lets take a step back and look at what we know of Ravens past.

In the past, when raven was still part of team STRQ, and shortly after giving birth to yang, raven found out that Salem could not be defeated ..… but.... did this mean she found out that Salem couldn't be killed?. Ruby and the others only found out about Salems immortality when they questioned Jinn,

 So, did Raven somehow uncover the same truth?. Some have theorized that perhaps Raven used one of Jinns wishes to learn about the truth herself, but this would not make sense because  Raven had never seen the relic of knowledge, let alone know where the vault containing it was hidden, so, how did she find out that Salem could not be defeated? well, let me start off by saying that maybe Raven never knew Salem couldn't be killed, only that she could not be stopped. 

Now, the main problem with fighting in Salems war, is that it was already well known to have lasted generations!, Iron Wood knew this, Glinda knew this, Qrow knew this, pretty much everyone that was on either Ozpin or Salems circle knew this, and yet none of theme ever questioned why she hadn't  at least died of old age. Perhaps due to Ozpins ability to reincarnate and Salems ability to use magic and control grimm, they may not have questioned it much, they simply accepted the fact that Salem was capable of terrible things, including keeping herself alive. So, what if it was this one major factor in the war against Salem that lead Raven to realize one very important thing about herself ..... she, had been fighting in the war against Salem, for far to long now!

with all the fighting and no real progress to show them where Salem was and how to defeat her, could have lead raven to grow tired of it all. Soon after, raven may have come to the realization that all this fighting was pointless and as a result, Raven left. 

but this still doesn't explain why she was so afraid of Salem and why she was so desperate to avoid her, after all, no one (not including Ozpin), not even Qrow or Tai,  had ever seen Salem!. The only ones team STRQ had ever faced in relation to salem were her henchmen, and they appear to have no problem defending themselves against them, I mean, just look at when Qrow fought against Tyrian in V4C7

 everyone of Ozpins followers that knew of Salem only ever had fears of what she would do to the world if she managed to get her hands on the relics, but only those that truly came face to face with her and realized just how horrifying she truly was, would end up developing an overwhelming fear for her. 

Cinder, Tyrian, Watts, Hazel, Emerald and Mercury, are all terrified of Salem and what she might do to them If they don’t do as she says.

 Even Leo, a man who had  devoted himself to Ozpin, who told Ozpin face to face that he would never betray him no matter the danger, did in fact betray him once he met and saw first hand just what kind of threat Salem really is. 

So, does this mean that Raven met Salem in her years away from Ozpin?..... maybe, but how?, when?, where? and why? 

 For starters, when raven left Ozpins side, she would have needed to gather her thoughts and come up with a plan for herself: Where would she go now?, and what would she do next?. If you think about it, these questions are obvious, Raven went back to her old tribe and became the new leader, as for what she would do next ,well, there was only one thing she could do, survive. If Raven had any chance of surviving the crazy war between Ozpin and Salem, she would have needed to keep herself hidden and as far away from Salem, for as long as possible. To do this, raven would have needed intel on what areas in remnant Salem was targeting

 keep in mind that when raven left Ozpins side, she left with the bird transformation ability. Raven, being as clever as she is, might have harnessed this ability and used it to her advantage in order to gather information on how she could better defend herself against Salem. Better yet, she could do all of this undetected by anyone, if anyone did see her, they would simply see an ordinary bird!

But gathering intel on Salems targeted areas was one thing, figuring out who Salems pawns were was a completely different situation. Just as Qrow said back in V4C8 , Salem likes to work in the shadows, she likes using others to carry out her work. So, if raven did want to keep herself away from Salem, she would have also needed a good idea as to what kind of people were following her. Seeing as just how good raven is at judging others by their character, such as when she was able to accurately describe cinder, watts, mercury and emerald  in V5C9 

 It doesn't seem like Raven needed to hunt down the people that could be following Salem, she only needed to know what kind of people had the potential to be a pawn in Salems plans. Back in V2C11, when raven saved yang from being killed by neo, 

its possible that raven was there, not to keep an eye on Yang and save her the one time, but to confirm her suspicions of Roman Torchwick being one of the pawn in Salems plans! Roman was all over the news after all, so his suspicious actions in the city of Vale most likely caught her attention.

Unfortunately, keeping track of your enemies is certainly not an easy job to do, but if raven really did want to stay away from salem, she would have no other choice but to keep track of everyone elses plans and make sure that she was not going to be involved. But, what if, just maybe, something did get her involved, or...someone!

what if in the midst of her investigating, someone discovered what raven was doing and asked her to include them in order to better figure out who else was involved with Salem. But wait, Raven would never agree to working with someone, if anyone did discover what she was doing, raven would simply kill them without a second thought, its been made clear to us that Raven is perfectly willing to kill innocent people such as villagers, the previous spring maiden, and even her own brother Qrow

if someone really was with Raven in her search for answers, it would have been someone that kept her from killing them on sight, someone that not only made her listen to their reasons for wanting to join her, but also be someone that was able to prove to her that they had the skills to carry out dangerous mission along side her, without being a burden.

Problem is, the only people who have these qualifications, are the members of her former team, team STRQ! but wait, she left them remember, why would any of them search for Raven and ask her to team up?

Qrow only ever saw Raven when she felt it was necessary, so that leaves him out. Tai was busy enough as it is, taking care of yang and ruby when he became a father as well as a teacher at signal academy, so we can cross him off the list. The only one left to take into account is...Summer rose!... but wait... no one knows what happened to her....

in V2C6, when yang tells Blake about what had happened to Summer, yang says that she went on a mission one day and never came back. 

In V7C4 when Ruby talks to Qrow about summer, Qrow finally reveals to us and Ruby that of all the missions that summer went on, the one mission that she never came back from, was a mission that she never told anyone about!... but what if summer only kept her mission a secret from her friends and Ozpin, what if, someone else knew about her mission! but who? who would summer talk to about her mission besides Qrow, Tai and Ozpin?...perhaps, a former friend...like Raven!?

but why would Raven get involved with summer, years after she left team STRQ? and why would Summer want to include Raven in her mission, years after Raven abandoned Yang and her team? and if Raven really did get involved with summer, then what the heck kind of mission did summer set up for herself !? 

from what we know, after Raven left, Summer married Tai, became the adopted mother of Yang, and gave birth to Ruby. According to Yang, summer was “supermom”, going out on monster fighting missions and making cookies for her and ruby when she came back home. Judging by Yangs description of Summer, Summer was clearly every bit the loving mother that Raven was not. When Qrow talks about Summer, he talks about her the same way Yang does, that she was a kind person that was always the first to stand up and fight for what was right. 

But then again, maybe it was her identity as a kind, strong willed person, a protective and loving mother, that could have made summer realize something horrible and later come to an even more terrifying decision.

where am I going with this? well, what if in the time that Summer became a mother, Summer began to have the same realizations raven had about fighting Salem, that realization being of course that the war on Salem was lasting to long!. And that despite her, her team, and Ozpins efforts, summer might have realized that there was a chance that the war would not end in her time. When summer became a mother, it might have occurred to her that she did not want the war on Salem to be passed onto Ruby and Yangs generation. Perhaps it was through her own worry of what might have happened to her daughters, should they one day choose to fight against Salems war themselves, that finally made summer come to a very important decision.... this war... needed to end!

but what would Summer even do to end a war that has lasted generations?!. Keep in mind that Summer was a huntress born with silver eyes, meaning that she was a major threat to the creatures of grim, and by extension a major threat to Salem. When the fans discovered just what kind of effect the silver eyed warriors had on the grim, such as when ruby used her eyes in V6C6

and when Maria used her eyes in V6C7, back in her youth as “the grim reaper” 

 many of us had soon theorized that if a silver eyed warrior managed to find Salem and actually got the chance to use their powers on her, then maybe, just maybe, they could beat her immortality by turning her into a living statue, rather than killing her!  Well, odds are, Summer might’ve had a similar idea, the only thing she needed to do now, was find Salem! but how !?

Summer already knew that Ozpin had no idea where Salem was located and any leads they had on her location were a bust. The only people that knew where Salem was were the same people that had to report directly to her from time to time, her henchmen!. But finding them was a challenge of its own. Regardless, If summer had any hope of finding Salem, she would first need to track down her pawns, but her pawns hide in the shadows, away from the public eyes, moving only when Salem tells them to.

 In order to find them, Summer would have needed help from someone who was not only familiar with the dark side of the information network, but also be willing enough to help her locate Salems pawns. She couldn't rely on Qrow since he already had a tough enough time collecting whatever info he could without being noticed in his human form, that and seeing as Qrow and the others still have no idea what had happened to her, clearly tells us that summer really didn't want anymore of her friends and family involved.  .

 In order to accomplish her mission, Summer needed someone who not only had experience in the dark underbelly of the world of remnant, without drawing suspicion, but also be someone she could trust in helping her accomplish her goal, that someone...could have been Raven!

What if, Summer tracked Raven down and convinced her to help. Growing up along side raven at Beacon academy, summer must have already known that Raven would not agree to helping her without a good enough reason, well, what if Summer gave her a reason, a means to an end, a chance to end the war and be free from Salems threat!. Raven might be hard to talk to but she is clearly someone who is willing to negotiate a deal, IF its in her favor. If raven really did put up a search in trying to keep track of some of Salems followers then Raven would have been the key to completing summers mission.

But why would raven help fight Salem? she wanted nothing to do with her. If summer really did try to recruit raven, she would have sealed the deal in their negotiation by telling raven that she would have no part to play in the fight, just lead up to it. If anyone had a chance of defeating Salem, it was summer, and if they did manage to locate Salem, then the inevitable fight was for Summer to handle alone!. The only question now is, If Raven and Summer really did manage to track Salem down through her pawns, then what would’ve happened after that?

In V7C11, when ruby and the others finally confront Salem (as an apparition), Ruby shows no fear to her as she valiantly proclaims that they do not need to kill her to defeat her and that no matter the challenge,  they will stop her. 

When Salem hears Rubys words, she is unfazed, why? because, seconds after Rubys courageous speech, Salem drops a bomb of information and explains to Ruby that her words, were words she had heard before, from summer!!.

 Its during this scene that we finally receive confirmation to the one thing Ruby and her family had been questioning for years, Summers whereabouts the day she went missing!.... summer.....was with Salem the day she disappeared !!!

up to now, no one was ever able to find and confront salem, but if our theory is correct then, this moment in V7C11 ,confirms to us that summer was successful in her goal. Summer found Salem, she fought against her, and she failed!!

However !, Salem never talks about confronting Raven, but maybe, that's just because raven stuck true to her word with Summer and didn't fight! so then, what did she do?. If raven really did help Summer find salem, then perhaps rather than leave Summer and go back to her tribe using her portal semblance, Raven may have decided that she wanted to see the outcome of the fight and answer the one question she had been thinking of the day she agreed to help summer, ....could summers plan.... really work?...this... was something that Raven had to see. But if Raven really was there, watching Summer fight, then how was it that Raven remained unnoticed by Salem....unless... she was in a form that made her practically invisible. What if the reason salem and her pawns didn't take notice of Raven during their fight with Summer, is because she was hiding in the sidelines, in her bird form!

when summer began her fight, Ravens mind must have begun to flood with thoughts about everything she had heard about Salem; was she powerful!?, was she truly as terrifying as ozpin said she would be!?, could Salem finally be beat!? could this war finally end!? and could the world of remnant finally be freed!?

 I can imagine that Raven only ever heard stories about how terrifying Salem was, she had only ever seen just what kind of damage she could do. But if she really was present the day Summer fought Salem, then maybe it was  that very day, the day that summer died, that finally made Raven understand just how horrifying going against Salem was, just how terrifying Salem is, and just how hopeless it was to win against her! 

The day that she watched her beloved friend summer die, could’ve finally caused Raven to lose her courage and become truly afraid for her life, making her the Raven she is today.

In the RWBY comics issue #2, when Summers disappearance had already become known, we see a young Ruby searching through a memory box filled with things that reminded Ruby of Summer.

 Unfortunately, due to Rubys young age at the time of summers disappearance, Ruby has had a hard time remembering what little she could of summer, eventually, Ruby becomes desperate for any information on what kind of person her mother Summer was. Sadly, no one, not even her father Tai, is willing to tell her about summer. 

Yang however, is able to to ease rubys curiosity by telling her stories about Summer,

 These stories however, are sadly made up by Yangs childish mind, due to her missing Summer just as much as Ruby. Ruby never the less takes the stories seriously and is over joyed by just how much of a hero Summer was. Moment later, however, Ruby tries to share her moment with a black bird in a tree next to her, this black bird is of course revealed to be Raven the moment it talks back to Ruby.

When Raven talks to Ruby, she tells ruby in anger that summer was weak, she was no hero, and she was never as good of a wife, mother or huntress as she was told she was. As Raven continues her cruel words towards Ruby, Raven finishes up by saying that ruby is the same as summer, but not yang, yang is different because she was never truly summers daughter. 

These are indeed some heavy words for Raven to blast at a little girl. Originally, some of us believed that Raven said this when she felt insulted for having watched her own daughter Yang favor Summer as a mother rather than her. However, when Raven yells at ruby, she says it in a way that almost makes it seem like she is not talking to a child, but an adult, if so, then who might Raven be talking to as she stares at ruby? Qrow always said that Ruby was a lot like summer, so perhaps when raven saw ruby, all she could see was summer looking back at her. If Raven really was with summer, then perhaps her death caused Raven to spiral into a pit of twisted emotions, resulting in her doing things that could cause others to question her emotional state, such as yelling at a child.

 Raven has always been presented as someone who is unable to properly express her emotions, so perhaps at some point or another, summers death might’ve caused Raven to develop a sense of hatred for her in the midst of her grief, why? because, up until the day summer fought salem, Raven still had hope that she could survive the war, but ever since “that” day, that hope Raven had disappeared along with her bravery and willingness to keep fighting. 

Then again, this hatred towards summer, could also be a cover for Ravens true feelings. Like I said before, Raven has been presented as the type of person who can’t properly express her emotions towards others, including herself! if so, then how does raven really feel about summer and about herself?

in V5 C14, when yang tells raven that despite her reasoning for everything she had done up to that point, raven has shown yang that she is nothing but a coward who will do anything to run away.  

When raven hears this she is greatly angered and tries to put herself in the right by telling yang that she can make choices that others cant and that it was her willingness to make those decisions that has allowed her to face death and come back out alive every time. 

This however, does not convince Yang and instead only confirms to her that raven is no longer the strong woman she once was and is instead now someone that makes decisions based solely on her fear of salem.

 Yang does not hesitate to tell Raven this and in their final moments, yang tells raven that she is not like her and is willing to face the threat and consequence of salems wrath once she takes the relic of knowledge. When Raven hears this, we see her, for the first time, not defend herself. What's so interesting about raven and yangs final moments is that as yang proclaims her willingness to face danger, Raven physically and emotionally begins to weaken in front of us all!

Of all the things that raven could have done in her final moments with yang, be it fight against yang for the relic, yell at yang once more for not understanding how hopeless the fight against salem really is or even choosing to redeem herself by setting her fears aside and instead choose to side with her daughter to once again fight against salem, we instead watch as Raven cries and utter to yang in a sad voice, ”I'm sorry”, before escaping through one of her portals.

as I re-watched this scene over and over again, I began to realize something, ravens apology... may not have just been towards yang. When yang tells raven the harsh truth about herself its almost as if there was something else eating at her, making Yangs words sting and hurt even more than what we saw. Tai always said that Yang was a lot like Raven, and in those final moments, perhaps Raven saw through yang the version of herself that was still courageous and strong willed, the version of herself that was still devoted to fighting salem and the version of herself that was still part of a team. 

As raven watched yang walk towards the relic door, raven may not have just been thinking back to the days that she was still as strong as yang, but the day that she witnessed summer be just as strong as yang and ruby as they all choose to fight salem head on no matter the risk. If raven was thinking about all this and the choices she made up until now, then maybe, just maybe, raven cried for not having tried hard enough to hold onto that same courage, she cried for having given up so quickly and for not having the strength and willingness to set her fears aside and stand alongside summer the day she fought salem. These, I imagine, were Ravens greatest mistakes, this was her greatest regret, but hey, that's just a theory, a RWBY theory.

#rwby #rwby vol 5 #rwby vol 6 #rwby vol 7 #rwby volume 8 #raven branwen #yang xiao long #tai yang xiao long #qrow branwen #summer rose #ruby rose #rwby theory #rwby theories

[skye-huntress]

RWBY V8 Finale “The Final Word” Reactions

Thus concludes the first Volume I get to watch as it airs week by week, and react to it

MAJOR SPOILERS BELOW! SERIOUSLY IF YOU HAVE NOT WATCHED THE EPISODE YET AND FOR WHATEVER REASON STILL SEE THIS EVEN WITH THE SPOILER TAG, CONSIDER THIS YOUR LAST WARNING

Sooo, I cannot not talk about this big one first because it gives me personal feelings. Penny is a character that is very precious to me, always has been. I binged the show up to Volume 7 last year so I didn’t have to go through years of new episodes knowing she was gone and then when she came back and throughout Volume 8, she cemented herself as one of my favourites, right up there with Ruby and Weiss. I even warmed up to Frosen Steel. I honestly did not think nor did I want to think that the show would kill her again, even knowing this was going to be a rough volume for her being the central figure in the whole conflict. The only consolation I have is that she died on her own terms.

While we’re on this note, my sympathies to Jaune for having to be the one to send her on her way. My sympathies to a lot of characters because whether or not Nuts and Dolts is platonic or romantic, she was particularly special to Ruby who once again was not there to save her.

Penny finally got her song, and it hurts

I could tell from the beginning that the Ace Ops were overrated. They seemed cool on the surface and as individual fighters they were probably up there, but I’m also sceptical of the ones that everyone (including themselves) called the “best” at anything. The reality is that they were a mess, they told to bury their feelings, and told to always accept their Jimmy’s judgment over even their own. Clover died a meaningless death because he ignored his own better judgment. That said, for Vine, the least expressive of the whole bunch to not only talk Harriet down but make a sacrifice for his team friends was not something I would have called. And yet I remember how he tried to comfort Elm, and how when Marrow was nearly killed how expressive he was in his shock and fear. Honestly, I should know better, as someone who isn’t able to express the full depth of my emotions very well, I should have known that Vine was probably the one who cared for his friends more than they ever realised.

Qrow was actually lucky for once. I have a theory. If Ren’s semblance can evolve from masking emotions to sensing them, maybe Qrow’s semblance could evolve so that he could change his or others’ fortunes for the better and not just for the worst. At the very least, rubbing the pin made him believe he could in fact be lucky, maybe that’s all he needed.

Harriet has a lot of issues to sort through, but maybe now without the toxicity of the military and Jimmy, she and her remaining friends can allow themselves to feel, grieve, heal and grow.

So we have Robyn, Qrow, Harriet, Elm and Marrow on a transport leaving Solitas through conventional travel. They probably can’t fly their transport straight to Vacuo so they may have to make some stops on the way, probably at Argus or Vale.

As for Ironwood, what a fitting end. He always saw himself as the hero of Remnant, the one with all the answers, the one who was always right, and who would save the day. But in the end, he wasn’t anyone even worth killing. To the villains, he was always a joke, someone to be used, and right when he is finally face to face with his greatest enemy, she never even looked at him once. In the end, neither he nor his precious Atlas proved to be very relevant or impressive.

Neo thought she was clever but she was a fool. That’s what happens when you let anger and vengeance consume you, it warps your judgment. Cinder was always using her, to get what she wanted, and as a means to get her own vengeance on Ruby.

Speaking of not letting not letting vengeance consume you, Blake. She saw how close she was to losing everyone else she cared about she switched tacts. I’m proud of her. And she risked the fall to save Ruby, unfortunately this risk was too great for her.

My WhiteRose heart cheered when Weiss went to back up Ruby. I assume Blake knew the partners could assist each other better than she could. It hurt that she had to watch the rest of her team family fall, to be the last one standing, using Gambol Shroud. And then she fell right in front of her sister.

Ruby really needs more practice with her eyes before she faces Cinder again. It was impressive though how she goaded Neo and knocked her over the edge. Unfortunately, there was more than one person there who really wanted her dead.

As for Ruby’s mental state, she never really had time to process anything that had happened, she was in survival mode the entire time. Falling into the same place as Yang did might give her hope that her sister is still alive and if she fell with Blake, all the better, then she won’t be alone. But like I said, Penny was very important to her, and this is the second time she has lost her. Just imagine though, if Penny’s body falls into the void with them and Ruby finds it, that’d be all the worse than just hearing about it from Weiss or Jaune.

Now, Winter, she is the MVP of this episode. Winter is now the Winter Maiden, not because Ironwood chose her to be or because she actually chose it herself but because Penny chose her. Penny believed in her friend. My love of Penny gives me a lot of conflicting feelings for this and the implications but it was satisfying to see Winter own Ironwood and hold her own against Cinder. And now she is the champion for Atlas’ refugees, but failing Weiss and Penny is going to have a significant impact on her. At least she’ll allow herself to feel and she still has some family left.

Now for the weapons. When Crescent Rose fell, it was like watching an entirely separate character fall as well. Gambol Shroud and Neo’s umbrella fell on their own, too. And Jaune’s weapon that was reforged with Pyrrha’s ruined weapon was destroyed by none other than Cinder. So basically the only ones still completely armed are Weiss and Yang, but of course the latter also has a concussion.

It wasn’t the complete victory she wanted but it was decisive. I figured a victory for Cinder would be getting both relics and she did. But I knew she wouldn’t get the Maiden powers, that’s always the part she fails at again and again. She tries to syphon a Maiden’s magic only to be interrupted. Every. Single. Time. Seriously, Cinder will just never learn from this mistake and its why she will likely never have more than one Maiden’s power at the rate she is going. But as decisive as this victory was, it will cost her in the long run. She needed help from Jinn, Neo and Watts in order to beat Team RWBY but they’ll come back stronger, smarter and more pissed off and Cinder won’t have all of that help next time. If anything, she might have put herself back on top of Neo’s shitlist.

Watts’ end is also rather fitting and also completely expected. Like Jimmy and Jaques, he represented a lot of what was wrong with Atlas, particularly the elite. How annoyed would Ambrosius be with Cinder though? “More fire, that’s it? This is my cosmic karma for being annoyed about being used by the same kids twice in a row.”

Atlas fell as I always knew it would, after all the relics exist to help humanity and a flying city did nothing but fuelled the egos of those who lived on that floating rock. Mantle was something to be proud of, but Atlas was a lie. Now Remnant’s “greatest kingdom in the world” reduced to ruin and it’s people refugees in a land their ancestors made a wasteland. This will have dire consequences.

So in the end, no help came for Atlas. Not surprising in retrospect. Atlesians didn’t have the best reputation to begin with, then Ironwood made a series of terrible decisions (that everyone around him strongly advised against), destroying Atlas’ relations with the other Kingdoms. Then came Ruby’s broadcast out of nowhere where she dropped some insane bombshells and then her message was cut off and global comms went down again. Few can vouch for Ruby’s character and even fewer can verify anything of what she said. I still believe it had an impact and we’ll see it as we visit other Kingdoms again, but the full pay off won’t be for quite some time. As I said before, the message was just the first of many, many small steps to uniting the world against Salem

So now for the detour, and that cursed image of Crescent Rose alone, slammed into the ground. It’s likely Volume 9 will focus mostly on our girls, Jaune and Neo, surviving in this strange environment and finding a way home.

Was that everything? Probably not. Now the mourning period begins as I try to process all of that.

#rwby #rwby8 #rwby8 spoilers

[chaoskirin]

Reversed (Reworked) Chapter One

Well, I finally did it! I am re-working Reversed in order to remove the Harry Potter from it. This was one of my most popular Queen stories, written before the author of HP showed her true colors. I like the story too much to allow it to be tainted by that BS, so here it is with a new coat of paint!

There is, of course, still some similarities. I’m REMOVING the Harry Potter. And while that does necessitate some re-writes, the gist is still the same. I hope you enjoy the story as I repost it chapter by chapter!

PLEASE Reblog, and please feel free to comment on AO3. I love comments, if you’re so inclined.

AO3 link can be found here!

---

Chapter Title: In His Eyes Word Count: 5148 Rating: PG Genre: Fantasy/Gen Summary: Roger, Brian, and John are brought together by a shared accident.

Between the two of them, Brian and John should have been able to get Roger up the stairs. Should have. Except Roger had become dead weight between them, legs dragging, black eyes staring.

"Did you hex his legs, too?" Brian snapped, lip curling at John, who supported Roger's other arm.

Neither Brian--a student in the Kyyra View--nor John--who made his home in Vexxzus--were particularly powerful. Despite Roger falling prey to the same muscle-less predicament, he sure had a healthy weight to him. As John stumbled on an uneven step, he growled, "Use your legs, Taylor!"

"I thought I was supposed to be playing the grievously injured damsel in distress?"

Brian groaned. "How are you still joking about this? You can't see, you idiot!"

"Bet he can walk, though." John elbowed Roger's ribs, and miraculously, the Oerris found his feet.

Vale Rest loomed ahead of them--an enormous, crooked tree growing out of a shallow escarpment. The natural magical force in the area made it an ideal, if not unsightly, place to construct an academy. At least it blended in with the environment, which was more that could be said for other schools. Of course to get to it, one had to climb a million steps.

At least that's what it felt like.

They paused outside the southern tanglewood doors to catch their breath. Despite their altercation, John kept one hand on Roger's arm out of guilt; he couldn't just leave the other student alone on the dark after everything, especially since it wasn't meant to happen.

John only meant to disarm the other boy, but a much nastier curse had bubbled up in his mind instead. The anger, combined with the fresh blood on his hands, led to the recitation of a spell he didn't even know he knew.

Scraping his thumb across his palm, John dislodged the last of the dried beetle haemolymph. Vexxzus spellcasting was disgusting but powerful, and he could still feel the magical aura around him from the insect's death. With that alone, he'd be able to cast for many hours.

As if reading his mind, Brian asked, "Why can't you Vexxzus have a normal focus?" He ran his hand over the branched barrier in front of him until he found the right combination, after which the door swung open. "To cast immediately, too. It's... Well, it's irresponsible is what it is!"

"Aw, c'mon. You know Vexxzus' magic is pretty new," Roger said, glancing up from the floor. An intricate black mask traced the skin in and around his eyes, the pattern almost like lace. It was disturbing but beautiful, shimmering like stars. John couldn't stop looking at it, half with pride and half with horror. A second year student such as himself shouldn't have been able to cast such a curse.

"Decades old," Brian corrected as he and John guided Roger onto the flagstone interior, then toward yet another set of stairs. "A new study in the course of history, sure, but it's been around--There's still people alive who were kids when it first manifested. It's hardly new! Anyway, why are you defending him?"

"Mmmh," Roger mused, his feet tapping in front of him to find the steps. "It looks like he's sorry."

"Looks like!" Brian exclaimed. "You can't bloody see!"

"But I can feel!" Roger argued. "Look at 'im. He's practically shakin' out of his boots."

John certainly did feel as if he'd be expelled for this, or that his family would disown him. Or kill him. Consequently, he couldn't prevent the occasional shudder from wracking his body.

Brian grunted a halfhearted acknowledgement. Roger patted John's arm and said, "It's okay, John. Trust me."

John curled his lip, sneering. "How, in any way, is this okay?"

"It's not," Brian said. "And once we make sure Roger's okay, I'm telling the Council everything."

"I hope you make sure you tell them that this idiot challenged me to a duel in the first place!" John snarled. "And you were his second, May!"

"'This idiot' is right here," Roger noted.

"Good! Don't challenge me to a duel next time!"

"Roger that!" Roger Roger'd.

Incredulous, Brian let Roger go, and stood with his hands on his hips. "Oh, you'll listen to him?" Brian demanded. "This is a snake, Roger. We step on snakes. I'm your best friend, and I clearly remember telling you that this was a bad idea."

"Well, I mean..." Roger fumbled for words. "There's a big difference between 'this is a bad idea' and 'don't do the thing.' Seems to me like we should keep John around. He has the potential to stop me from doing some incredibly stupid stuff!"

John chuckled before he realized what he was doing.

"It's not funny, you prat," Brian said. "You could have killed him." Killed? No. Could he have? Granted, he'd said the words to the curse that blinded Roger before he really knew what he was saying, as if they had a mind of their own. He'd screamed them, in fact, if he remembered right. At full volume, louder than he'd ever said anything before.

What if his anger had driven him to say something else, though? There were rumors. The barest whispers of the power of Death Magic--the power to take a life for a life. Since the Vexxzus View manifested some seventy-odd years ago, those in the darkest reaches of the world had experimented. And, it had been theorized, the words came from deep within; a language spoken with no context. An ancient tongue... "No," John said, half to himself and half to Brian. "I couldn't have. I'm twelve." He stopped on the stairs, distracted by the idea. "You could have. I'm honestly surprised you didn't," Brian said. "Pleasantly, mind, since we're all still very much alive. Thanks for that."

Could he have felt so much hate in that moment that he could have possibly used magic to kill? Was it even possible? If anyone could do it, his View could.

No.

"Let's go, Rog," Brian said, taking Roger's arm again. He gave John another good glare before turning away.

Despite his blindness, Roger still faced backward even as Brian dragged him up the stairs. Eventually, Roger turned away as well, and John thought that would be the end of it. He'd escape to his dormitory and await his punishment while he pondered if he was capable of killing another student in hatred.

Well. Hatred was too strong a word. John didn't particularly like Roger Taylor, but he didn't hate him.

"Hang on, Bri," Roger said. John looked up again, to find the Oerris student feeling his way down the stairs on his own. John automatically reached out to help him. Roger wasn't a bad kid after all... He was just a bit of a jackass. And definitely didn't deserve a life of blindness for a few idiot pranks. "John, I told you, it'll be okay." He took one of John's hands in both of his, and for a second, John believed him.

"No, he's like all the other Vexxzuses," Brian grumbled. "He'll grow up to be a murderer. Maybe even the first person to murder someone with a single word."

John wrenched his hand away from Roger. He lacked the fortitude to argue, since fear and a painfully insistent shame clouded his thoughts. He actually could have killed someone! And even if Roger was just an stick-waving Oerris like the rest of them, with no sense of artistry to the craft, he was still a kid.

Also, the most confusing person John had ever met, because who in their right mind was actually nice to someone who'd just cast a terrible curse on you?

Roger, apparently. An person with feelings and dreams and goals. What if, instead of staring into Roger's starry eyes, John had to stare at his life-robbed corpse?

He saw it for a moment. A snow-pale classmate, dead and still. Struck with the gravity of what could have happened, John shuffled backwards. Unfortunately, as he was on a step, his foot landed on thin air, resulting in an immediate tumble. Something cracked as he tried to catch himself, and the resulting pain followed him all the way down. He couldn't remember how high up he was, but by the time he collided with the landing, he felt like he'd rolled down a hundred stairs. Howling in agony, he curled against the banister, clutching at his arm.

"What happened?" Roger asked. "John?"

"Look--I didn't mean it, Deacon," Brian said, footsteps getting closer. "I mean, as far as Vexxzuses go, you're all right, I guess? What'd you go and--Oh, hell, this is broken."

John opened his eyes, tears distorting the blue and silver colors of Brian's Kyyra uniform. "Broken?" John hadn't ever seen that look on Brian's face before. Gentle, worried, caring. Before, it always looked so angry. "You're both idiots," he said.

"Brian?" Roger whimpered.

Brian bit his lip, brow furrowed. "Okay, Rog... Let me..." He stood, skipping back up the stairs. Taking Roger by the hand, he guided him back down to the landing. "Sit here with Deacon. I'm gonna go get a nurse. Don't move, either of you. I mean it."

After helping Roger sit, Brian ran off, at a much quicker pace, toward the hospital. All John wanted to do was cry, really, but he found himself distracted when he felt Roger's hand on his hip. "What are you...?" John started. But Roger seemed to be concentrating quite intently as he moved his hand, finding John's elbow. A little more, and he was touching John's shoulder. "Ah-ha!" he exclaimed. Reaching all the way around, Roger pulled John up, until he was sitting. Not one to reject any sort of comfort at the moment, John leaned against Roger, relishing the warmth. "Did you fall down the whole flight?" Roger asked. "Half, maybe," John said, glancing up and estimating. "Yeah, half. May says my arm is broken." He looked down at it and wished he hadn't; no arm should be able to bend quite that way, and seeing it just made it hurt more.

"Why do you do that?" Roger asked.

"What? Fall? It's a hobby."

"No. You call me and Brian by our last names. I mean, he does it, too, but just 'cuz you do, I think."

John really had no idea. It seemed like the thing to do, he supposed. Take something precious to someone and completely ignore it in favor of something less personal? Seemed stupid, now that he really thought about it.

"Anyway," Roger went on. "This is quite a spell you did. I think you might know more than Brian." More than a stuck up old Kyyra? Possible. Probable, even. Though Brian didn't seem like the type to study curses in the first place. Academics could name a curse and maybe even go through the incantation for a test, but to actually pull it off? Nah. Most who shared the Kyyra View had the same problem, at least as far as John knew.

He took a moment to feel pride at the compliment, until the implications hit him. Looking into Roger's eyes, he winced. "It's bad, Roger."

"I know."

"Then why are you so calm?"

He smiled serenely. "Well, it's done, isn't it? There's nothing I can do about it right this minute. Besides, I don't think you meant to."

After a moment, John said, "No. I really didn't." There was no sense wasting an opportunity to learn, though. He leaned over to look at the spell's handiwork again. "What's it like? Do you see anything?"

Roger shook his head. "No. N'come to think of it, I'm not totally sure what... what it was like to see." His eyes narrowed, the bright stars shifting around inside. "That's strange. I mean, odd, isn't it? I don't remember what you look like."

John felt sick.

"It'll be okay!" Roger said again. "Brian'll demand the Head Matron. Salwix, or her assistant Cammielle. He gets all panicky and people kinda take him seriously 'cuz he's so brainy. They'll make it better."

John wasn't so sure.

In the idle silence, Roger waved a hand in front of his own face, expression elated, as if this was the most wonderful thing to ever happen to him. "Wow! What's a hand look like? I can feel it, but I don't remember. Neat, huh? You know, my view's colors are purple and gold, but I can't even think of what purple is anymore! This is so weird--"

"Please stop," John said weakly.

"Eh? All right. Just thought you wanted to know, is all." Roger pulled his knees up, wrapping his arms around them.

"Didn't know it did all that," John replied. "Actually I wasn't sure what it'd do. I think I read about it once. My family's got these old books. Sometimes I'd sneak into my mom's study to read them."

"Didja get in trouble?"

John laughed. "Yeah. Sometimes." Roger laughed, too, then said, "Look at us, havin' a normal conversation for once."

"You're cursed, and I've just broken my arm. This isn't how normal people have a chat."

"Normal as we've ever had. Anyway, you seem nice enough. How'd you end up with the Death View, anyway? I thought only the creepy ones ended up there."

John curled his nose. A lot of people thought the same of Vexxzus, but one couldn't control their magical aptitude any more than they could control the color of the sky. "They shouldn't be called Views," John answered. It was the only thing he could think of to say.

"Yeah, but--"

"It's just a way to do magic, all right? And some people are... better at it than the other views. Some people... It's all they can do."

"Really? It's all you can do?" Roger pressed. "I'm good at Oerris, but I can do Kyyra if I really concentrate. But I don't want to concentrate, so..." He trailed off with a shrug. "You know Brian can do all four? Even Ghittan?"

John didn't know that. His respect for the Kyyra increased a fraction of a millimeter.

After re-situating his arm, which had dulled from a brilliant pain to a mere sharp ache, John said, "yes, it's all I can do."

"Weird," Roger said, though his voice carried a hint of contemplation to it. "We all just thought that--"

"Oh! Heavens, there they are, just like you said!" a voice echoed from the upper landing, cutting Roger off as a heavyset nurse bustled down the steps. Headmatron Salwix, who ran the entire hospital, reached John and Roger and knelt down next to them. Brian followed a few steps behind.

Salwix reached into her pocket, retrieving a pouch, out of which she took a pinch of red clay. Looping the pouch around her thumb, she reached for John's wrist; her touch set it to throbbing again, and he squealed.

She tsk'd. "You're right, May. Definitely broken. Falling down a flight of steps at your age, Deacon? Remind me--"

"A second-year, ma'am," Brian supplied.

"Well, I suppose it happens sometimes," Salwix muttered, gently sprinkling the cold clay down John's forearm. She muttered a healing incantation John hadn't yet learned and added, "this will numb the pain until I can take a closer look. But it's still broken, so don't go doing cartwheels on it."

John's answered with a relieved sign. "Yes, ma'am."

"As for you..." she said, turning to Roger. Reaching for his face, she grabbed his cheeks and turned his head from side to side, squishing his lips into a pucker with her grasp. With her other hand, she traced the lines around his eyes. "Cold, smooth. I know what this is, but I haven't seen it in years, and then, only once in my entire career! What in Merlin's name happened?"

John looked up at Brian. The Kyyra crossed his arms, quickly looking away. He hadn't told!

"Whrrbwoosiiyrrs--" Roger tried. Salwix released his face.

After rubbing his jaw, Roger tried again. "One of the sixth-years bet me that I couldn't curse myself," he said, brimming with unearned pride. "Now he owes me n' Brian n' John here a round next time we go to Rec."

John bristled. How dare a stick-waver take credit for John's brilliant spell? Before he could ruin their whole cover, though, he bit his tongue. Roger seemed to be in the process of saving his ass, which meant John was going to have to let that little insult go. At least for now.

Salwix looked up at Brian, who rolled his eyes. "Roger's an idiot, Matron Salwix," he said. "I found him wandering around down the hill. Me n' Deacon were helping him get up to the hospital, but then..."

"I see. Well, Mister Taylor, I'll be informing your View's council that you've been using advanced curses. This won't go unpunished, I'm afraid. This sort of magic is dangerous." She shook her head, clicking her tongue. "At least you didn't curse someone else. Honestly, you children. Up. Both of you. We'll have you seen to."

With Salwix helping Roger to his feet, that left Brian to help John. He did so with surprising care, slowly, so as not to jar the broken arm too badly. It still stung, now that gravity was pulling on it. John held it to his chest, feeling tears sting at his eyes again. "Matron Salwix?" John asked. "Can you fix his eyes? He's going to be okay, right?"

Salwix turned, hesitating. Roger said, "It's okay. You can say." "There are... some side effects," she said. "Minor, but obvious, I'm afraid. But you'll see again." Side effects. As Salwix helped Roger up the stairs, John met Brian's eyes, and they shared a moment of worry.

~*~

"Uuughhhh," Roger groaned. As he became more and more conscious, the headache seemed to get worse. Still, he chanced opening his eyes, grimacing as the light hit them. He threw his arms up in front of his face to block it out.

Well, at least he remembered what seeing was like now. Pain. Agony.

"Roger," someone whispered.

"No, not so loud," he whined. Peering through his fingers, he found John and Brian standing over him. If John would only move a little bit to the right, he'd block out the overhead light...

"We're between classes," Brian said, as quietly as he could manage. Thankfully, Brian's voice was fairly comforting anyway, but it still made Roger's head hurt. "Thought we'd come see if you were awake yet." Between classes? Roger's duel with John was on Saturday, which meant he must have missed all of Sunday. At least. "So, this is when I ask the cliché, 'how long was I out?' question, I suppose." He squeezed his eyes shut and added, "Shut up, Roger. You're too loud."

"He's Roger, though," John said, worried. "He knows. He's just being funny," Brian replied. "Or trying. It rarely ever hits the mark." "Hey, I'm funny." Roger opened one eye again, and gestured to the window. "Think one of you can shut the curtains?" "They're closed, Rog," Brian said. "Besides, it's cloudy out. You're just very photosensitive right now. It'll pass." "Oh, yeah, don't take my photo right now, either. I imagine I'm a bit of a mess. Now, c'mon. Tell me. How long was I out?"

Brian and John looked at each other. Roger noticed that John's wrist was neither wrapped, nor did it look like it hurt at all as he cradled a stack of books. "Ah, well," John said. "Salwix put you out for a week. She thought you'd wake up today. I got your homework."

Roger groaned.

"I told you, he doesn't like homework," Brian said. "You should have saved that for when he was up and about."

Roger smiled. "You two friends now?"

"He needed someone to keep him in line. Vexxzuses, you know," Brian said.

John rolled his eyes.

Roger pushed himself up until he was sitting. The headache was easing a bit now, although it still felt like someone had grabbed his brain, shaken it, and put it back sideways. One would think that with all the mages around Vale Rest, they might have found a way to eliminate such inconveniences entirely. Maybe he'd ask Salwix for a headache draught once Brian and John left. "You guys figure out what the side effects are supposed to be?"

They smiled, and John giggled behind his hand. Roger didn't like that. It meant they were in on a joke that he wasn't in on, and that was unacceptable. "C'mon, it can't be too serious. What? What is it? Do I have another eye?" He waved his hand in front of his face, but found that he was still seeing in boring, normal three dimensions. No mystical powers of prestidigitation. Alas. "Is he disappointed that he doesn't have another eye?" John asked.

"No," Roger said. Then, "Yes, maybe."

"It's not that exciting," Brian said. "John, did you bring the mirror?"

"Oh, right. Hang on." He set his books down on the nightstand and slung his bag off his shoulder, digging through it. "You'll have some dark circles under your eyes," Brian said. "That's thanks to the initial masking spell effect. But it doesn't look that bad, honestly, I think. It's the other thing... Show him. He'll probably love it." John handed him the mirror. Despite his curiosity, Roger still felt just the slightest amount of trepidation as he looked into it... and found that his eyes were a rather fetching shade of bright lavender. Surprising, to say the least. He wondered if it was a trick of the light, but when he moved the mirror, they stayed purple.

"Salwix says they'll change based on the weather," Brian said. "It's raining now, so... We're guessing purple is rain. We'll have to see what the rest is. I guess that's the true intention of the spell, it's just... imperfect. Also, it's..."

"Not reversible," John said quietly. "I'm really sorry, Roger."

He missed the blue, it was true. Still, John seemed so down, and it could have ended up being a whole lot worse. Color-changing eyes? The girls were going to love him. "Are you kidding?" Roger exclaimed. "This is great. There's no windows in the dorms. We'll know what to wear without sending someone upstairs in their skivvies."

"Told you," Brian said. He smiled, laying a hand on John's shoulder. But John didn't look particularly relieved. He had that same sick, pale look that he had on the stairs. Or, the same look Roger imagined he would have, if Roger could have pictured anything at that point in time. In any case, he looked now how he sounded then, and that was kind of sad. "Hey, Bri?" Roger said. "Can I talk to John for a bit?"

"Yeah. Yeah, that's fine. Glad you're up, Roger. I'll have your homework waiting for you when you get out of here." He winked as Roger groaned, before shouldering his bag.

"He knows I hate homework," Roger said, once Brian was gone. "Your wrist looks okay." "Oh, yeah. They fixed it up here really quick," John said, turning it over a couple times. He sat on the bed, shoulders slumping. "Thanks, by the way... For taking the fall for me. While I was up here, I heard Salwix talking to your Council. I'm sure if they knew I cursed you, I would have been expelled."

"It's not that bad! Is it?" Roger held up the mirror again, poking at the dark smudges under his eyes. Eh, he could make it work. They really brought out the color, honestly, even if that color was purple. "We gotta find out what the other colors are. Think you can make it stop raining?"

"...Yes." John said. "I mean, yes, it's bad. No, I can't make it stop raining. Do you take anything seriously? I cursed you, Roger. Forever. What if it'd been worse?"

Roger lowered the mirror. The poor second-year looked like he was about to cry. "My mum says 'if' is a big word."

"It's two letters."

"Yeah, but you can't dwell on it, you know? If you start thinking of all the 'what ifs,' then you never live now. What are you worried about? That you'd be able to do some weird death magic?"

John didn't say anything.

Honestly, Roger always did have a healthy fear of the Vexxzus View. Some, like John, crushed beetles to gain a burst of magic power, but he'd seen others take the lives of mice or birds. Killing was a strange, gruesome, macabre focus, unlike the much more sensible imbuing of magic into a wand or gem--like a sensible human.

Furthermore, the View possessed an air of secrecy and mystery, even among its own members. No one knew how far the magic could go. What it could do. Everyone else in Vale Rest just assumed the Vexxzuses pursued murder as their ultimate goal. Why else would you choose...

But John said he hadn't chosen it.

Roger sighed. "Look, I don't know you very well, but everything I need to know about you, I've learned since our duel. S'far as I can tell, you wouldn't be able to do it." When John looked affronted, Roger clarified. "That's a good thing! No one should be able to invent a killing word, and those who'd do it are bad people. And... and even if you could... Even if you knew some death spell, you wouldn't have done it anyway. You wanted to teach me a lesson. You didn't want to kill me." Roger paused, then added, "Did you?"

"No! Of course not!" As soon as John said the words, realization dawned, and he relaxed. "No. I never want that. Still. I think what I did to you... It's the worst curse I know of. And I shouldn't have been able to do it. I mean, most adults can't do it. It is still under development, after all. It just doesn't work right... But it's not the words. I've read about it, you see. A little. It must be the pronunciation. It's not at all natural. The words--they say they're ancient..."

"Like... Old god ancient?"

"Maybe," John wondered. "And it'd be easier with a wand, like you have in Oerris. There's a... A motion to it."

"I thought you said you didn't read much about it."

John's academic fixation fizzled, and he slumped. "I pick things up."

Roger muttered to himself, throwing his feet over the side of the bed. Looking through the drawers in his nightstand, he finally found his focus--a rosewood wand, carved in the shape of a panda eating bamboo. He held it out to John, who wrinkled his nose.

"Yes, yes," Roger said. "Stick-wavers and such. I've heard it all. It's a valid implement for magic!"

"Mm-hm," John conceded, taking the wand and holding it between his fingers, as if it were filth. "I told you, I can't. Most people who can do Vexxzus magic can't. Except Brian, I guess."

Undeterred, Roger reached for the nearly spent candle next to him, and puffed out the flame. "Light it. It's the easiest spell we know. You said you pick things up, right? Maybe a different View? One that's not so deathy?"

"I can't--"

"Try!"

"No!"

John pressed the wand back into Roger's hand. "No. It's--It's not..."

He pressed his lips together, eyes focused downward at his own hands.

"All right, all right," Roger said, tapping the wand to the candle's wick and setting it alight again. "I just thought--"

John vigorously shook his head. "Sorry."

Interesting.

Roger set the candle back on the nightstand, and leaned back on his pillow. Despite having slept for a week, he still felt incredibly tired. Maybe being cursed sapped all your energy, too. Honestly, the thought that it could have been worse was pretty frightening, and maybe he'd think about how lucky he was later when it all caught up with him. Maybe he'd talk about that with Brian, though, since John seemed awfully traumatized by the whole thing. He certainly didn't seem like the stereotypical mean-spirited, borderline-evil Vexxzus everyone talked about.

"Hey, John? Why'd we start fighting, anyway?"

"You don't remember?"

Roger thought for a moment. He really didn't.

Clearly uncomfortable, John shifted, appearing much smaller. His brows lowered, but he looked hurt more than angry. "You... You charmed all the words in all my books to be the same color as the pages. I'd bought new books before I realized what you did."

"Oh yeah! Yeah, I remember now." He chuckled. "You were so pissed. I never heard a first-year say those words before." John reddened, looking away. It wasn't just the incident with the books, though, Roger realized, with a rare stab of guilt. Because after that, there was the hair-color-changing incident. And the sweater-unraveling incident. And many other incidents that seemed entirely minor and extremely funny, until Roger added them all up and realized... He'd been harassing the shy kid. The quiet one who just wanted to stay out of the way. Who didn't want to bother anyone.

Because John was a Vexxzus, and so very easy to harass. The whole time, Roger felt like a hero.

It was no wonder John had been so angry by the time they got to dueling. "Oh. Damn. I mean, you have such a bad temper... It was like, ah... throwing water balloons at a bear. Hilarious, 'til it... rips out your spleen or something. Brian did tell me to leave you alone. I guess after all that, I deserved--"

"Don't say you deserved it," John interrupted. "I was scared you'd never see again. I was scared I could have killed you. That's a lot worse."

Roger always prided himself on being the easy-going, laid-back guy who everyone thought was a complete idiot. He liked to make people laugh. And he did! Of course, it meant he was a bully, which wasn't ever what he intended. And he'd driven a nice kid to cast a horrible curse. Of course Roger deserved what he got. "I'm sorry, John. I really am."

"Yeah, well, if we're going to be friends, can you maybe do that a little less often? The bear-harassing, I mean." Friends? Friends? Roger knew his face must be lit up like a Christmas tree. He didn't care, though. "You? And a stick-waving Oerris? This is so cool." He used the springiness of the horrible hospital mattress to propel himself forward, knocking John's bag to the floor, so he could wrap his arms around his new Vexxzus best friend forever. "Ain't no one messin' with me now," he said.

John tried everything to pry him away, finally gave up, and said, "You're going to have to stop hugging me at some point."

"That's a lie," Roger replied.

#queen #queen band #roger taylor #brian may #john deacon #freddie mercury #fantasy #fantasy au #reversed #ck writes #not bestiary

[fire-the-headcanons]

Follow the Beacon Raven—Quiet

[Link to Masterpost]

[Apparently I didn’t post the last few chapters on Tumblr? Use the masterpost to make sure you don’t miss anything]

[also hi, not dead]

The truck door opened with a solid click and let cold sea air wash through the cabin. Raven followed her brother out onto the gravel with an irritated shiver. She hissed quietly through her teeth. They're making us soft.

It had been almost as difficult to sleep on Summer's flat, even wooden floor as it had originally been to sleep on the spongelike mattress.

Summer yawned, stifling it behind her hand but drawing the attention of her mother. A familiar grin crept over Claret's face, identical to the one Summer wore when about to provoke someone. "Aww, I'm sorry, sweetie. Did you want to sleep in on the first morning of your first mission?"

"Mooooommm."

Professor Mesánychta's oft-repeated don't worry, that's how they show affection echoed in Raven's head. Seeing them with their parents actually made it make sense.

"You know that's contagious, Sum," Huang yawned as well, distorting his words. "Who's up for some fishing?"

Raven eyed the machines bolted down to the truck beds with a scowl. …They did look a bit like fishing rods.

"You're the worst," Tai grumbled, grabbing a bundle of straps and tossing half to Summer before shaking his out and shrugging it on.

Harnesses. Raven's gut clenched.

"In all seriousness, each person on a line needs a spotter," Huang said, looking at her and Qrow.

"Raven, will you spot me?" Qrow asked quickly.

She hesitated. Hang over a cliff or sit with Huntsmen? Which was worse? Then again—he was probably just trying to keep Misfortune away from the trucks, where more could go wrong. "Sure."

He nodded, accepting a harness from Mrs. Rose. She immediately turned her attention to Raven, however, explaining how the winch worked and how to keep the ropes from getting tangled.

"This is pretty straightforward work," Huang said, giving Tai enough slack to walk out toward the edge, and Raven copied his motions carefully. "Try not to fire on the cliff—we're trying to avoid eroding it here, and the damage adds up. Absolutely no ice Dust, it's hell on the rock, but stick to your blades in general."

Qrow nodded, riveted.

"Lastly—do not drop your weapon. Recovery is a big enough pain when the water's warm."

"Right." He glanced over the other tools in the truck bed and grabbed a short cord to tie the hilt to his hand.

Huang nodded approvingly. "Better safe than sorry."

"Hmm, you've got a point," Summer muttered, unclipping her gravity arrow and securing it to her belt before slotting in a spare. Fire Dust glistened through the clear window in the side.

"See ya!" Tai shouted with a manic grin, latching his shield-sled to his shoe and hopping backward off the cliff. A moment later the line tightened, metal clanged against stone, and a small skreeeee of rage cut off half-formed. Summer and Qrow yelped and followed.

Claret smirked at Huang with a quiet chuckle the three wouldn't be able to hear. "Oh, yes, they're so miserable."

He raised his hands in mock surrender. "I'll admit, they're taking it well."

In spite of her apprehensions around working with two professional Huntsmen—from Anima, no less—but mostly they and their children had distracted each other, content to let the twins quietly observe. With all of her teammates at the very edge of earshot, she braced for the inevitable shift in focus. Just stay calm and say as little as possible.

"So…what made you want to become a Huntress, Raven?"

Oh. Maybe she should have lied to Summer, before. "I wanted to stay with Qrow."

"His idea?" The Huntress asked, amused. "He was certainly quick to volunteer you to stay up here and do the boring work."

"He…" What would Qrow say? Her mind went blank.

…What would Summer say? "…I… dislike heights." There, put that way it wasn't even admitting weakness. "And Qrow doesn't mind them. He's just trying to be nice."

"Oh. That's sweet. …You two must be very close."

Raven nodded. She could do this. She could play along.

"I guess we won't have any of you trade off then." Oh, thank gods. "Well, what do you think of Huntressing so far, then?"

"Um…" she glanced at the edge of the cliff, where the three lines swayed gently and laughter echoed from below. "…Is this what you really do?"

"Oh—don't worry, there's not always so many cliffs involved."

"N-no—I meant—" Every Huntress she'd seen before coming to Beacon had been desperate, injured, dead. Expendable tools of people too weak to fight for themselves. "I thought it would be… harder?"

"You've been talking to Taiyang," Claret smiled, fiddling with the winch to give her daughter more line. "Don't get me wrong, there's plenty of Huntresses that go out looking for trouble. "Well—you went on some of Zelenia's expeditions, right? There's always something out there to hunt down or study—but yes, most of Huntress work is just… maintenance."

Huang nodded from his seat in the other truck bed. "These fledglings are no threat to us. But if someone untrained with their aura tried this, it could turn deadly fast. Add in the icy conditions and it's not really safe for Signal's students either. So we step in, because we can."

"What about bigger Grimm?" Raven countered.

"If you're doing your job right, you won't have any young and stupid Grimm that get big enough to be a threat. As for what wanders in from the wilds…"

"The old ones are smart enough to stay away from humans, at least when we don't weaken ourselves by attacking each other. And you should always have an idea of what's in the area."

"If you ever end up in a fight you're not prepared for, something went wrong a month or more ago."

"…What do you mean?"

Claret smiled again. "I'm sure by now you've heard Summer and Taiyang crack at least one joke about migration tracking."

Raven nodded.

"The Kingdoms spend a lot of resources keeping an eye on any large herds of Grimm that form." She turned out toward the ocean and pointed at the horizon. "You see those buoys out there? There's a listening station bolted to the seafloor under each one. Warns us if anything too big gets close to the island, gives us time to call Vale for backup if we need it. There's stations all over the mountains too, same thing, and the Kingdoms are putting them further and further out into the wilds every year."

"I suppose your farm would have been pretty far from any of the Kingdom's guard stations if you were growing something illegal, though," Huang added, too casually. "It makes sense you wouldn't know."

Adrenaline surged through Raven's veins, turning the world sharper and colder. "No—we grew—rice. It was just rice, and—" Of course she'd get them caught for the wrong thing—they'd be captured and discovered for sure—

"You're not in trouble!" Claret exclaimed. "They obviously threatened both of you—you didn't have a choice—" she froze for half a moment, repeating softly, "…you didn't have a choice."

"What do you mean?"

Huang cleared his throat with a different sort of hesitation. "…Apparently, Qrow let slip that the two of you had to keep watch for each other at night because the others would attack you. I hope I'm not the first person to say that's not normal."

That was pretty unlucky. At least if this is what killed them, it wouldn't be entirely her fault.

"You and your brother are safe with us. If you need help, or protection, we're here for you."

A trap. Like Professor Mesánychta's attempt to get her to confess everything to a doctor at Beacon. "We grew rice." She threw as much certainty into the words as she could.

The Huntress nodded, almost sadly. "It's all right. We just want to make sure you have somewhere else to go when the school year ends."

Raven didn't want to think about it. No, they didn't have a plan, and Qrow would have an unlimited number of threats and excuses to keep them in Vale and away from Vanta.

And he'd be right. His Semblance was no better now than when they left camp.

Maybe the Huntresses didn't have a reason to hurt them—yet—but they didn't have a reason to help, either.

"Why?"

Claret stared with a frown. "…Summer and Taiyang care about both of you. They appreciate what you've taught them, and they know you're struggling."

What we've taught them. Maybe she had underestimated how useful they were to their teammates.

Qrow laughed from below, and Raven held tight to the winch to lean out over the ledge to see, ingoring the way her stomach turned over.

"SIGnal POINT is FALLing DOWN," Tai sang, pushing away from the cliff on the half-beats and crashing back against the rocks in time to the song. Smoke and flames burst from under the shield clipped to his boots as it smashed through the fledglings' perches. One of the larger birds gave a high-pitched squawk as it flattened, and Qrow laughed again.

"…Seems to me like he's happy here," the Huntress murmured.

Refusal would be suspicious. They had let too much slip, and there really was nowhere else to go. "I'll talk to him about it."

***

"You kids are too good, that was supposed to take all day," Huang said.

"That wasn't so bad, was it?" Ms. Rose asked, taking Tai's hand and pulling him back onto solid ground.

Tai shrugged out of the harness and tossed it back into the box. "Ehh. This probably could have waited another month."

"There would be too much rain in another month," Claret pointed out, "and it shouldn't wait three or four more."

Tai shrugged sharply, unable to argue with that but still unhappy with it.

"Why did you want to become a Huntsman?"

"I want to do something that matters," he declared, accepting Summer and Qrow's harnesses and tossing them in with his own before popping the lid closed and latching it. "Not gonna stick with this kid stuff forever."

That didn't match what Claret said—and the Huntress took Raven's silent glance as a question. "There are, of course, some people who go out looking for trouble."

So that was the difference. All the Huntsmen that tracked down Vanta and Bones, that ambushed the tribe in the wilds or waited in villages that couldn't possibly afford them—

Something foul rose in the back of Raven's throat. "But—this does matter."

Qrow's mouth fell open.

"Well, yeah," Tai admitted, shrugging. "It's just boring. I want a challenge." With a teasing grin, he added, "Are you worried about me?"

She knew when she was being baited and so said nothing. Tai shrugged and turned away, giving her the chance to shoot Qrow a scathing glance behind his back.

"Let's get these back to the school," Huang said, gesturing for the twins to follow him back to the truck they arrived in.

"Everything go smoothly?" Qrow muttered, clambering in and offering a hand.

She nodded and took it. "You?"

"Fine."

Outside, Huang slammed the tailgate closed. Raven twisted at her vambrace. "…Mrs. Rose says this is what Huntresses do most of the time. Not the cliffs, the…cleanup."

"Really?"

Huang laughed, and the two nearly jumped. "You've been talking to Summer and Taiyang too much."

"But—" Raven frowned. Were they supposed to talk to them less? "They're our teammates." Or were they supposed to be talking to people outside of team STRQ more? Ugh—trying to learn the right things to say for just two people was hard enough.

He waved a hand, sliding into his seat. "Just an expression. I was the same at their age… desperate to get out there." The truck rumbled to life, crunching ice and rock as it started forward. "Too often people don't see the value in the little things until after we try to take on the world. They'll learn as they get more experience."

And what if they're killed before they learn?

Raven shook herself silently. It's not our problem. We're smart, we'll—damn it, we'll go HOME. They'd return, kill Vanta and Sanguin, take over the tribe, and teach the Huntsmen it wasn't worth coming after them. The children of Bones Branwen shouldn't have too much trouble with that—they'd only have to kill three or four to get the message across.

When both the tribe and the Huntsmen feared them, they'd finally be safe.

***

"I must have told him three times, 'Stay on the path.. Okay?' Then I turned around to get Summer out of her car seat, and when I looked back he was up to his knees in mud."

Tai froze, halfway out of the other cab, gaping at his father. "Are you telling them the—"

"Oh, I remember that," Claret said, thoughtful. "We never did find that shoe."

"He had them for two weeks! They were brand new!"

She giggled with a snort just like her daughter's, though Summer was currently trying to hide a smile from Tai.

"Are you two going to be this embarrassing all week?"

"I'm your dad, that's my job!"

Tai groaned in that exaggerated, joking way. "Let's just get out on patrol so you have to be quiet."

"Ah, you wound me!" he gasped, hanging the keys back on the wall.

"It's going to be dark soon," Summer said. "We really should get going if we're hiking to the cabin."

"You don't want to drive there on the second day of your first mission?"

"You're never going to let that go, are you."

"Hmm…" Claret smiled. "Ask me next year."

Raven followed them from the warehouse, out the eastern side of the fort. Half of one wall served as the local Huntsmen's base of operation, separate from the school—which apparently in a town this small just meant storage.

"Uncle Azraq?"

At the other large door—the main school entrance—a Huntsman froze on the threshold, head snapping toward Summer's voice, and his eyes widened.

"Uncle Az!" Tai shouted, and the two of them ran forward to hug him.

"Hey!" His eyes flicked past Raven, toward the other adults, only briefly. "How was your first day?"

"Ehh, nothing crazy. How was your mission?"

"…Just a false alarm," he lied, tension running under his voice.

"Aw, dang. Hope it didn't waste too much time."

"At least now you can meet the twins!"

"Of course," he replied, and they stepped aside to let him past. His gaze stayed trained on their teammates' parents, though, and he walked right past her—

Qrow stood with his head bowed, hands hanging limp at his sides. A knot of unease tightened in Raven's stomach as the Huntsman stopped right in front of her brother and spoke with a gentle voice.

"It's good to see you again."

Next Chapter: Qrow—Doesn’t Change Anything

#rwby #rwby fanfiction #raven branwen #summer rose #taiyang xiao long #qrow branwen #strq #team strq #claret rose #huang xiao long #azraq ibn diyab #follow the beacon