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#nothing but respect for MY power kill king.
darkacua · 2 days
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The Cain instinct
I demand canon moments where Silver and Malleus treat each other like siblings whenever they're alone, especially if Lilia or Sebek aren't around them. Where they show that outside of their typical treatment of respect is the fact that they were raised by the same man whom they both consider their father. They love each other eternally, they would kill, they would die and they are capable of destroying the entire world for each other, one to a greater extent than the other.
Especially since I'm sure they both have ridiculously strong Cain instincts.
One day you are a prince taking care of your caregiver's adopted son and the next a being who lives in an eternal circle of revenge and destruction towards the cruelty of humanity (Silver bit his finger when he was 8 years old and Malleus pecked his eye in Consequently, they continue to blame each other whenever they can)
Imagine a Silver who fell asleep in the forest and Malleus just finds him. If Lilia, Sebek or anyone was near him he would feign complete concern and take him to his bedroom. But he's alone, so he's going to wake up the young man he considers his brother with a loving kick in the ribs (nothing too hard, he wants to bother him, not kill him).
Or a malleus who is simply reading and out of nowhere feels a wet finger in his ear, a finger that belongs to a 17-year-old with a smile too kind for someone who has just drooled in the ear of the next king of the Briar Valley , and someone who is also a coward since he runs away the moment the older man gets up from his seat.
It is better if neither of them knows what is happening, they just know that there are days when they have to be mean to the other or they will go crazy, they have accepted it as a royal decree and will continue it until the end of their days. .
Imagine that no one knows about this kind of treatment, until someone enters Diasomnia only to find the all-powerful Malleus Draconia screaming like a dying child because Silver has him in a wrestling hold (which it is very obvious he can get out of, but… Where's the fun in that?)
Anyway, I need an irrational Malleus and Silver being a shitty little brother. I leave my delusions here.
Español bajo el corte
Exigo momentos canónicos donde Silver y Malleus se tratan como hermanos cada vez que están solos, sobre todo si no están Lilia o Sebek a su alrededor. Donde muestren que por fuera de su típico trato de respeto está el hecho de que fueron criados por el mismo hombre al que ambos consideran su padre. Se aman eternamente, matarían, morirían y son capaces de destruir el mundo entero el uno por el otro, uno en mayor medida que el otro.
Sobre todo porque estoy segura que los dos tienen un instinto de Cain ridículamente fuerte.
Un dia eres un príncipe cuidando al hijo adoptivo de tu cuidador y al siguiente un ser que vive en un círculo eterno de venganza y destrucción hacia la crueldad de la humanidad (Silver le mordió un dedo cuando tenía 8 años y Malleus le pico un ojo en consecuencia, se lo siguen echando en cara cada que pueden entre ellos)
Imaginen a un Silver que se quedó dormido en el bosque y Malleus simplemente lo encuentra. Si Lilia, Sebek o cualquiera estuviera cerca fingiría completa preocupación y lo llevaría a su dormitorio. Pero esta solo, así que va a despertar a él joven que considera su hermano con una amorosa patada en las costillas (nada demasiado fuerte, quiere molestarlo no matarlo)
O a un malleus que simplemente está leyendo y de la nada siente un dedo húmedo en su oreja, un dedo que pertenece a un joven de 17 años con una sonrisa demasiado amable para alguien que acaba de babear el oído del próximo rey del Valle de Briar, y alguien que también es un cobarde ya que sale corriendo en el momento que él mayor se levante de su asiento.
Es mejor si ninguno de los dos sabe que es lo que pasa, solo saben que hay días en los que tienen que ser malos con el otro o se volverán locos, lo han aceptado como un decreto real y lo continuarán hasta el final de sus días.
Imaginen que nadie sabe de este tipo de trato, hasta que alguien entra a Diasomnia sólo para encontrar al todopoderoso Malleus Draconia gritando como un niña moribunda porque Silver lo tiene en una llave de lucha (de la cual es muy obvio que se puede zafar ¿pero dónde está lo divertido en eso?).
En fin, necesito un Malleus irracional y un Silver siendo un hermano menor de mierda. Hasta aquí dejo mis delirios.
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larsnicklas · 2 months
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240227 // jt miller, power play kill merchant
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astonmartinii · 1 month
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it must be a sign | oscar piastri social media au
pairing: oscar piastri x fem deaf! red bull engineer!reader
when the two most unbothered people in the paddock combine their joint powers to be the it couple
request sent by the lovely @bibissparkles xx
author's note: heyyy so many of you won't know but i am actually deaf - i am 50% deaf in both ears and wear hearing aids so i love requests like this! (all i do most of this stuff as a deaf person, turning off your hearing aids >)
MASTERLIST | TIP JAR
yourusername
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liked by maxverstappen1, oscarpiastri and 302,446 others
yourusername: you can't complain about the dutch national anthem when you can just turn your hearing aids off
view all comments
user1: the way max's engineer is as sick of that damn song as us
user2: turning off her hearing aids makes how bored she looks during podiums make sense
yourusername: it was a banger during the mercedes dominance but would it kill someone to play the australian anthem
danielricciardo: i knew you missed me
yourusername: sure, jan.
user3: her and max signing slay to each other will always be so personal to me
maxverstappen1: gonna pretend you didn't just say that
yourusername: boo hoo babe, you gotta lose something sometimes
user4: babe? are the flowers from max?
maxverstappen1: would rather choke on my own spit and fall into a pit of snakes, hope this helps ❤️
yourusername: rude! i wouldn't want flowers from you either :(
user5: i swear we get into this argument every weekend, i think people will still assume they're together until their married to other people
liamlawson30: stop using me as a messenger pigeon please and thank you
yourusername: but i thought red bull gave you wings?
liamlawson30: do not use a pr answer against me 🤨
yourusername: no comment
liamlawson30: choke.
yourusername: idk what's going on in the red bull junior academy but spit in helmut's coffee not mine
user6: y/n consistently giving all the red bull guys shit is my favourite thing ever
user7: the amount of times the sky broadcast has caught her waving them off or taking her hearing aids out lol
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oscarpiastri
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liked by yourusername, landonorris and 782,309 others
oscarpiastri: switched four tyres for two this weekend
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user11: you can't distract us with your slutty bike pics WHO THE FUCK IS THAT
landonorris: A WOMAN? A WOMAN? IS THAT A WOMAN OSCAR JACK PIASTRI?
oscarpiastri: yeah i'm pretty sure
landonorris: don't play smart with me buster - why was i not informed?
oscarpiastri: i don't ask to be informed of every time you get rejected in the instagram dms
landonorris: FAKE NEWS
oscarpiastri: okay buddy
user12: i be seeing the sign language book, oscar you are so real for that
user13: that's my king, i need a oscar and y/n link up in the paddock - my unbothered queens
user14: she's in the likes !!!!!!
logansargent: oh we've entered the soft launch phase i see
oscarpiastri: and what?
logansargent: someone is feeling defensive this morning, dude i won't tell i've already kept it a secret for so long
landonorris: HE KNOWS? DOES BEING YOUR TEAMMATE MEAN NOTHING?
oscarpiastri: he's my childhood best friend?
logansargent: there's levels to this game norris
landonorris: @oscarpiastri consider yourself UNDER SURVEILLANCE
oscarpiastri: okay girly
user15: oscar has the patience of a saint, the mystery gal may want to rethink it before having to deal with them all
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yourusername
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liked by maxverstappen1, danielricciardo and 381,044 others
yourusername: unrelaxed, unbothered, moisturised ✨
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user18: queen SHIT THAT AIN'T SHIT
user19: but this mystery man IS
maxverstappen1: yeah sorry about that... but at least boyfy has made his instagram debut?
yourusername: about time, he's too sexy to gatekeep
maxverstappen1: well i'm not going to agree out of respect for you
yourusername: so you don't think he's sexy? i might not be able to hear but HE CAN MAX BE NICE
maxverstappen1: first of all it's a text, second of all i've been way too nice to him
yourusername: he beat you in padel fair and square you're just SHIT AT IT ❤️
maxverstappen1: you know that's a sore subject WHY WOULD YOU BRING IT UP
user20: my queen was really like you wanna tell me to fuck off? oh here's my sexy boyfriend
user21: jos verstappen really didn't know who he was tangling with that gal may be chill but she doesn't take shit
user22: she's like a female version of oscar lol
user23: i knew there was a reason i liked her
this comment was liked by yourusername
danielricciardo: why am i left out of everything these days?
yourusername: snooze you lose
danielricciardo: I AM AWAKE REPLY TO MY TEXTS
danielricciardo: I JUST SAW YOU PUT YOUR PHONE ON DO NOT DISTURB
yourusername: protecting my peace
danielricciardo: i'm on to you buster
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oscarpiastri
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liked by maxverstappen1, yourusername and 1,209,455 others
tagged: yourusername
oscarpiastri: overjoyed to get my first (proper) win in formula one and even more overjoyed to have my amazing girlfriend (and even better engineer) up on the podium with me
view all comments
user27: so this was the special occasion?
user28: so this is why she said she wanted the australian national anthem over the dutch one?
user29: this is now my roman empire
yourusername: babe is so fucking good and i'm so fucking proud
oscarpiastri: i'm so glad to have been able to share this moment with you
yourusername: you deserve this and more, i love you
oscarpiastri: i love you too xx
user30: wait so oscar knows so much more sign language than i thought
user31: he looked so excited and even mark knows some
logansargent: he forced (we were happy to do so) me, mark and his family to learn as soon as he secured the date lol
oscarpiastri: and now we're all so cool because of it
logansargent: cool and able to chat shit without people knowing what we're saying
yourusername: best bit about it tbf (everyone please learn, it's a beautiful language)
landonorris: I KNEW IT
oscarpiastri: no you didn't
landonorris: no i didn't :( i'm hurt
oscarpiastri: if it's any consolation, we didn't tell many people, max and logan are exceptions
landonorris: WHY WAS I NOT AN EXCEPTION???
yourusername: boo hoo
landonorris: i'm not gonna say anything back to that you kinda scare me
yourusername: good ❤️
yourusername
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liked by fernandoalo_oficial, oscarpiastri and 529,778 others
tagged: maxverstappen1 & oscarpiastri
yourusername: me and a racewinner (and our world champion third wheel)
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user32: fave trio in the paddock no competition
logansargent: logan erasure
yourusername: we love you logan, sunday roast at mine this weekend ❤️
logansargent: SCORE
user33: every time you post there's a new plushie
yourusername: we usually get one to commemorate a big weekend and we both got one for osc's first win
user34: that's so FUCKING CUTE
oscarpiastri: it's all fun and games until you don't fit in the bed because y/n feels too bad to put any of them on the floor
yourusername: they have FEELINGS OSCAR
oscarpiastri: she cried one time when max set off the smoke alarm cooking breakfast and the bed alarm shook so bad that all of them were thrown to the floor
yourusername: it was HARROWING but it also did wake me up so at least we know it works
maxverstappen1: actually my favourite couple to third wheel, but enjoy it while it's here osc, i won't lose again
yourusername: yeah sorry osc it's actually my job to help max win so you're gonna have to wait for him to retire if i have anything to do with it
oscarpiastri: not even for me :(
yourusername: sorry not sorry (i'm really sorry, i love you so much)
oscarpiastri: i love you too even if you won't sabotage max for my race :(
maxverstappen1: okay i know i said you guys are cute but that's enough for today
yourusername: we ARE cute thank you
oscarpiastri: the CUTEST
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fin.
note: heheheheh i hope you enjoyed this, i love requests like this xx also on the comment about the bed alarm i had one in uni halls and when the alarm went off that baby SHOOK it was kinda scary
3K notes · View notes
gojossocks · 4 months
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Anything For You
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Sukuna x Reader genre: fluff, hurt/comfort summary: After a thousand years, Sukuna never thought that he'd find you again. Only this time, your goals have changed and you weren't the person he can rule the world with anymore. Would he give that up just for you? wc: 2.7K content: friends to lovers, lovesick sukuna, kinda ooc sukuna because of how lovesick he is, mutual pining. they were in a situationship for a thousand years, can you guys handle that?
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“Sukuna, don’t you feel alone in the past thousand years? I mean, all you’ve wanted is to gain power and do other villain-y things. It’s pretty lame and sad in my opinion.” Yuuji, his vessel, says mindlessly as he chews on his food while he waits for Megumi and Nobara. 
“You insolent fool.” He sneered, a mouth forming on Yuuji’s cheeks. “I don’t mope around like you do. I was not alone either.” 
Contrary to popular belief, Sukuna wasn’t heartless as most people paint him out to be. In fact, during the Heian Era, Sukuna is always seen to be with a powerful sorcerer. 
There was you. The only person he sees as his equal. 
But after you were killed, your history with Sukuna was quickly forgetten as the men write history in their own perspective. You are a significant figure in history, yes– but you and Sukuna together were only briefly mentioned in the books. 
People have forgotten about how Sukuna, the King of Curses, have ruled the Jujutsu World with you by his side. 
In the bygone days of the Heian Period, You and Sukuna have a unique bond as you two had grown up together. You were the only one who witnessed how he rises up to be the King of Curses. You were a powerful sorcerer too in your own way, despite the lack of title. Your benevolent nature has gotten a lot of people to respect you. People were not intimidated by your power but by your wisdom. 
Despite your personality which is in contrast to Sukuna’s, it never became a hindrance between your bond. In fact, he seemed to like you more because of it. You taught him how to kill and destroy with purpose. and together, the two of you wreaked havoc on Earth. 
You were the first and last person who knows him inside and out, not even Uraume could compare. He even prefers your shitty cooking, for god’s sake. He feels weak in your presence. Sukuna kind of resents you for it, how you make him feel. How he’s willing to burn the entire world at your command. He’d kill anyone without batting an eye if you ask him to. You have him wrapped around your pretty fingers and you don’t even know it. 
He remembers going into the gardens of your shared home after a battle and you’d welcome him with open arms, hugging him with your little frame. You didn’t care about the blood on his clothes or how he reeks of death. You look at him with such kindness, as if he has done nothing wrong in this world. You held his hands with such gentleness, as if he has hasn’t covered his hands with so much blood. And you smile and crack jokes around him after terrorizing villages, you wrap bandages around his wounds even if he can heal it in a heartbeat. He loves being doted on by you. 
He was really good at keeping his emotions to himself unlike you who’d outwardly show how much you love him. He had a feeling that you knew of his affections slightly. After all, you were the only one allowed to touch Sukuna, to tease him and be alive after that. He chose not to tell you his feelings because he thought that he’d have all the time in the world to tell you. 
Well, he thought he did until he received the news that you were killed. 
Sukuna didn’t look at your corpse, refusing that seeing your cold lifeless body would be his last memory of you. After that was just endless rampage of destruction. In his mind, it was his way of avenging you. People have forgotten about you because of the amount of lives he had taken— his crimes outweighed any humanity he had left of him. 
It goes like that until he was defeated and sealed. Well, that was years ago but even now, all he thinks about is you. So much that he could still hear your laugh. 
“Really?” Yuuji exclaimed. “I think I should ask Gojo-sensei about—”
Yuuji’s rambling was cut off with a sound of laughter, which causes both him and the demon inside him to look where that voice comes from. 
That all too familiar voice that even after countless lifetimes, he would still recognize anywhere. Sukuna felt like his entire world stopped when he sees where that voice comes from. Everything seemed to blur as his entire attention is fixated on the woman. 
It was you, in the flesh. 
Or rather, someone who is an exact copy of you. 
He had found you! You had reincarnated as he hoped you would. You kept your promise and you’d see him again. 
You were walking and conversing beside Gojo Satoru as you approach Yuuji who stood up straight and looked at you with wide eyes. 
“Who might this be?” You gave the kid a playful smile. 
Sukuna was able to examine you up close as you walked closer to Yuuji. You were as beautiful as the day he lost you. You fit right into this modern period— you’re wearing a uniform similar to Gojo’s, but instead of pants, you were wearing a skirt and knee high boots. If someone were to tell Sukuna that he’d find you like this, fighting against him, he would have howled in laughter before killing that someone. 
“Yuuji Itadori, miss!” the young sorcerer said, exuding a bit too much enthusiasm. 
“So he is the vessel.” You acknowledged with a nod before sharing a look with Gojo Satoru. 
“This is Y/N Y/L/N! She’s a special grade sorcerer from Kyoto but will be transferring here to accommodate you. She doesn’t go to missions anymore just like I do so Y/N would be there whenever you need her.” Gojo explains, putting a hand on you and Yuuji’s shoulders. 
Yuuji’s eyes widened as he registered the significance of your name “Like the one in history books Y/N Y/L/N?” 
“I wish.” You quipped, inserting a playful note in your response. “It was nice meeting you. I’ve waited for you, you know.” Then you extended your hand toward Yuuji and as your fingers met his, Sukuna could feel the familiarity of your touch. You looked at Yuuji with so much intensity, as if you’re looking at the curse residing in him. Right at Sukuna. and he didn’t fail to notice the way your smile was gentler compared to the ones you’ve given the kid. 
It was for him.
You’ve seen him. 
“Well,” You let out a sigh when you’ve pulled away. “I better get going. I’m sorry to cut this short, Yuuji. I hope we’ll get to know more of each other. I heard you like rice bowls, I’ll treat you to my favorite restaurant in tokyo next week, yeah?” You pat the top of his head and Yuuji gives you a huge grin. 
Once you’ve left, Yuuji could finally notice Sukuna’s silence. He had been silent ever since you’ve arrived and Yuuji was about to tease him for it until Gojo spoke up. 
“It’s her if she wasn’t being obvious enough.” 
-.- 
In the week following his unexpected encounter with you, Sukuna’s demeanor underwent a subtle transformation. He was less mean to Yuuji and the snarky remarks had lessened. 
True to your promise, you spent time with Yuuji, fulfilling your role as a companion and mentor. However, your newfound indifference towards Sukuna fueled a frustration that within him. Did he merely imagine the spark of recognition in your eyes? Was it truly still you? 
He found out a lot about you during the time you spent with Yuuji as well as the information that Gojo discloses concerning you. It seems as though you have helped the Jujutsu World slowly gain back its glory just like back in the golden days. You’re a teacher too, and from what Gojo has mentioned, you’re still the same patient and kind person he fell in love with. 
Sukuna feels a twinge of jealousy at the mention of how you’re close with the white-haired sorcerer. He finds himself scoffing at the thought of you finally replacing him. It isn’t far from reality, you’re too likable for your own good anyway. You make it so easy to love you that Sukuna failed to notice that this disease has swallowed him whole and now he’s stuck, absolutely pining for you like an idiot. How dare you move on from him if that’s the case? 
He needed answers from you or else he’d go crazy. So he finds out where you live and he found out that you were living in the more peaceful side of Tokyo. It took him a while to get in control again and the moment he did, his feet carried him to you. 
Your house is beautiful, it looked like the mini version of the place that you once shared with Sukuna. He entered it quietly and to his surprise, you were no where to be found but then he catches a glimpse of you in the window overlooking the garden. 
Sukuna finds himself smiling as he reaches the garden. It had a variety of flowers and plants, the very ones you had planted with him years ago. You’re wearing a beautiful red plaid sundress and the modern age never looked so good in anyone but you. 
You were simply ethereal. 
You were too engrossed in watering your plants when he walks towards you. 
“Old habits hard for you, Y/N.” Sukuna spoke up, his voice devoid of any usual domineering tone that he uses to other humans. 
You turned to him, wide eyed. It was the first time you’ve seen him in ages. Sukuna’s still in the body of the young sorcerer that you frequently saw the past week but he looked like him—with his tattoos and demeanor. Your eyes are soon filled with tears and you shakily reached for him, engulfing him in a tight embrace. 
“Finally.” You choked out, burying your face to his chest. Sukuna carefully snakes his hands towards your back on instinct.  “It’s been so long. it was all worth it. I knew you’d come back.” 
He rests his chin on the top of your head. Sukuna’s voice turned hoarse as he spoke. “I thought you were killed I-” 
“I’m already here, Ryo.” You interrupted, pulling away to cup his cheek gently. Sukuna leaned in to the warmth of your touch, melting in an instant. “ I wasn’t. I was just sealed until I was let out by one of my dearest friends. I came to find you but you were already gone, so I waited.” 
“You don’t know how much I’ve missed you, Y/N.”  
“You were asleep for almost a thousand years. I was alive for most of it, clearly I missed you more.” 
“Well, I thought you were dead. Cut me some slack, doll.” Sukuna teased with a smirk. You bite your lip to stifle your smile, playfully nodding inagreement.
“Come with me.” He murmured, pulling away to press his lips against your forehead. “After I kill this brat, I can take control and we can finally change the world.” 
“By killing everyone in it?” You shakily asked. Sukuna thought that you were just shaken because of how glad you are to have him back. 
He gave you a smirk. “Well, that was my idea. You know how I am.” 
“Times have changed, Ryo.  I’m afraid that it has softened me. I’m not the person you used to imagine burning the world down with anymore.” You calmly admitted, meeting Sukuna’s intense gaze and you tried to calm him down by tracing circles on his arm but he didn’t look convinced in the slightest. 
“I’m here now. You could drop your act. I can protect you now, you know.” 
“You don’t understand, dear.” you interjected, gently pushing a strand away from his face.  “We have different objectives now. You seek to take over the world and be feared forever. I seek to live out my days in peace until I decide to end it.” 
You must’ve noticed how Sukuna’s expression dropped at your words so you quickly clarified. “oh no, but don’t think I’d end my life after our interaction. In fact, I’ll live for a few more years until it will bore me to death. Literally. But there’s just so much to love and to do in this world, I’m afraid.” 
“Don’t you want to be with me? Have you grown tired of me?”  He demanded, his voice getting louder as he continues to talk.  You weren’t fazed in the slightest and it aggravates him even further. It used to comfort him, that you know him so well, but now the butterflies in his stomach makes him anxious more than anything else. 
You have always had the upper hand and he feels you cursing him the more you grant him your presence. 
He feels disregarded as you implicitly rejected him. 
“No.” You offered him a sweet smile, your eyes never leaving his. Sukuna thinks he might float with the way you’re looking at him right and his breath hitched once he hears you say the next words. “I love you, Ryo. In fact, I love you enough to know of your nature and I would be the last person who would stop you in achieving what you want. I wouldn’t be in your way but I couldn’t stay by your side anymore.”
Sukuna searched for a hint that indicates that you were lying and he found none. You had always been honest with him. He looks at you with a heartbroken expression but still trying to maintain his stoic face. He’s clearly hurt “Did our past mean nothing to you?” 
“I’ve done everything I could, Ryo. I’ve done everything for you. You know I did that all for you. Wasn’t that enough? Didn’t you feel my love for you in the slightest? You could kill me now, if you want. It’d be a pleasure to die by your hand.” Your eyes are once again brimmed with tears again yet you continued to smile as you trail your fingers over his cheek “I’m sorry but I’m tired of seeing red. Gojo must’ve told what I did, you must know my change of heart.” 
He did. 
Of course he did. 
He knew of what you did yet he still held on to the fact that he might be wrong. So is this really how it ends?  Sukuna enjoys destruction and killing. He loves being in power and he will not admit that if you weren’t alive, he’s probably murdering civillians in Shibuya right now. But after he’d gain control over Yuuji Itadori’s body, the only thing that he keeps thinking of is coming home to you. 
And what would the point be if you are not by his side? 
“Then I’ll stay with you.” He declared. 
A scoff escapes your lips and your bewildered expression makes him smirk even more. “You can’t be serious.” 
“I’ll just finish this and I’ll come back to you. None of this matters anymore. I’ll abandon all of it. For you.” 
You looked at him incredulously, your mouth agape. Sukuna wastes no time to finally pull you in a kiss.  
It was a gentle one at first and he pulls away slightly to see you pout, eliciting a chuckle from him, only to pull you back to a deeper, passionate kiss. Sukuna smiles into the kiss as a soft gasp escapes from you. 
He kisses you fervently, as if he needs your air to breathe. And as you run your hand through his hair, moaning to the kiss, he pulls you impossibly closer. 
He’s home. 
He returned to you 3 months later, in his original form. He entered your house with wounds and bruises, his body covered in blood once more. It was just like before, but this time, it feels so different. He had a soft look in his eyes and he feels like he’s floating on air now that he’s gone home to you. 
Just like before, you welcomed him with open arms. He lifted you and spinned you around, eliciting a squeal from you. When he puts you down, you peppered kisses to his face and hugged him really tight. 
“I love you.” Sukuna whispers, tucking your hair behind your ear before leaning in to kiss you gently. You smiled at his confession. There was a look in your eyes that you knew it all along. 
“It took you a millennium to say that.”
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wanna read more?
a/n: i bet he still murders in his free time after being retired 😻
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helluvapoison · 3 months
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You were a rare soul— and that means something down here. You didn’t care about holding the title Overlord, nor the power that came with it. You had exactly zero souls under your belt, yet people… respected you. Not feared, respected. A peculiar word to hear in Hell.
Your name was uttered quieter than a whisper, like saying it an octave too loud would summon you.
The Rat King.
Soon you would meet…
˚✧₊⁎ Lucifer Morningstar ⁎⁺˳✧༚
warnings: gn reader, language, angst, canon divergence
ʕ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔ
• He thought it was very brave (re: idiotic) to carry the title king in his domain
• Lucifer came to you out of boredom, absurdity, and— no shit— the slightest bit of self indulgence! He was supposed to see this so called second king and rip them a new asshole. Except you weren’t a king— not even close
• He scoured you toes to head, seemingly unimpressed. Not rat-like, not king-like. Lucifer knew himself well enough to know he should have been bored by now. His expectations plummeted, nothing was going according to plan. And yet.. he found himself more curious than before
“You’re this ‘Rat King’ I hear so much about?”
“I guess so” You shrugged, “But I didn’t pick that name for myself.”
• You properly introduced yourself to the one and only king. Your real name tasted interesting on his tongue. Lucifer tested it thrice as he shook your hand, relooking you over like he missed something
• Apparently they called you The Rat King because you were in the secret trading business. Give one, get one. Simple as that. You explained the rules to him over a cup of tea that he asked for. It wasn’t his first or second choice of blend but he drank it to be polite. No other motive. Definitely not because there was a question on the tip of his split tongue
• Lucifer wasn’t the most observant of people. He couldn’t tell what people were thinking, he wasn’t fluent in body language. So when he caught your eyes bouncing between his tight grip on the chipped cup you offered him, to his jittery knee sticking out from where he sat. His body and his head were, for one, in agreeance; leave, they told him. He didn’t like to be sized up and that was always his go to answer for why someone was watching him so intently. But with his chest facing you, and his heart in control, he stayed put
• “Lilith.” He choked out, “I want any knowledge you have on her.”
Saying her name out loud hurt more than he thought it would. It was acid in his belly, smoke in his lungs, and fire on his tongue.
Your smile faded.
“What?” He scoffed, “Lemme guess, you want something, right? A deal? I have to make a deal to find my own wife? Let’s get this over with then! I’m the fucking King of Hell, whatever you want is—“
Your hand shot out so suddenly that Lucifer was almost disappointed. He was expecting this. Right? This is what Sinners did, it’s why they were here. Why was he hoping you’d be different? And, more importantly, when did hope creep into his system again? He hadn’t been on good terms with the feeling in decades.
• However, Lucifer’s disappointment was killed before it could spread. Gently, so gently he could cry, you took his hand and pushed it, palm down, onto the table. Your eyes never left his. There was something about them that captivated him. He loathed it. It made him feel small. Not the kind of small that equaled insignificant, either.
No, it was worse.
Vulnerable.
“I don’t do deals,” You said quickly and it had Lucifer wondering if those eyes of yours saw how his mind was spiraling.
Stealing his hand back, ignoring how he immediately missed the contact, he wiped it on his pants.
A suspicious glare took over his face, “You—?What? You don’t do deals? What does that even mean!?”
“I just… trade secrets,” You sounded so defeated, “I don’t need deals for that. But I don’t have any secrets about the queen. I’m sorry.”
• Lucifer expected pity to rear its ugly head from you any moment now. His pride couldn’t take that hit, not today. What was it about you that made him so fucking transparent?
• The uncomfortable silence began creeping into the insufferably small shop of yours. It was fucking suffocating.
“I wish I could help you, I really do.” You said softly.
He really wished you would stop doing that. Your softness felt like a dagger to the heart. Reminding him it existed was agony he thought he’d never feel again.
• “Not one?” Lucifer asked bitterly.
Not a single one of these undeserving demons and sinners that Lilith loved so much spoke about her? Not a whisper or a rumor? They just forgot about her? It’s only been 4 years!
“I’m sorry, your majesty, if I hear something, I can—“
“No… No, it’s fine.” Lucifer cut you off, holding up his hand. His wedding ring blinded him with a sparkling gleam. He sighed, “I think we’re done here.”
• You stepped behind him cautiously, walking him to the door.
“You’re welcome to come back?”
He scoffed out a laugh, grinning at you from over his shoulder, “You’re not getting any of my secrets.”
A smile of your own began to spread.
“I also dabble in conversation.”
_
(part one? or move on to the next character? i dunno if i feel like continuing but want this to be as interactive as possible so tell me what you would like to see!)
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swannieluv · 7 days
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₊⊹ Fogaréu.
✦⸼࣪⸳ Pairing: Arlecchino x GN! Childhood friend Reader
✦⸼࣪⸳ WC: 4k
✦⸼࣪⸳ Warnings: Injuries, child abuse, blood and death.
✦⸼࣪⸳ Insp. by João e Maria - Chico Buarque
✦⸼࣪⸳ A/N: Finally wrote for Arle and I really liked it! I hope you can enjoy reading this and GOOD LUCK ON YOUR PULLS!!!
✦⸼࣪⸳ likes, reblogs and comments are appreciated!! <3
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If there was one thing the Knave knew about herself, it was that she was no saint. One way or another, she had to triumph over those around her to climb the ladder of power and reach the top. She watches over everyone with a sharp but zealous eye, without losing mutual respect for those under her wing.
On nights like this, with the children already in bed, The Knave would be found walking peacefully through the dark corridors, only a small lamp in her hands for company. Every now and then, the ghosts of the past seemed to walk around her in that pit of darkness.
With subtle movements, she gently opened the door to one of the rooms, checking if all children were asleep. It was an unnecessary gesture, since no child - at least not those with a love for their lives - would dare disobey such a simple rule for nothing. It wouldn't be strange to say that she had ironically acquired this maternal habit after becoming Father. Was she getting soft? No. Absolutely not.
Cautiously measuring the force with which she closed the door, preventing any of the children from waking up, Arlecchino stares at the tiny splinters made by the children to measure the height. In it, three familiar names almost washed away by the action of time. Perhaps the door should be replaced soon, in a small renovation planned with the money from a "kind donor".
Her fingers ever so gently touch the splinters. There was nothing much to it, so why... why did her mind start resurrecting the forgotten ones of the past? She finally allowed herself to be carried away by the wave of nostalgia for the first time in many years, since that was the room she had once used.
"..."
'I'm sorry, I didn't know it was your spider :('
The white-haired child stared at the note slipped under the door for a few seconds before folding it up and slipping it into her pocket. At that time, there was no 'Arlecchino' but Peruere.
It would be comical if it weren't tragic that the child on the other side of the door had crushed Peruere's pet spider with full force the other day, though it wasn't necessarily their fault if the animal was running around unnoticed on the floor. She harbored hatred and resentment towards her spider's killer, it’s just not worth the stress. But seeing her pet crushed at someone else's feet was cruel enough.
If it hadn't been for their remorse, the chances of Peruere opening the door would have been zero. So she decided to give just one more chance to her… friend, the troublemaker [Name].
"You killed Lady Belladonna."
Peruere left the room, walking aimlessly. However, her unwanted companion crossed the path all the time. Sometimes they were walking to the right, other times they were in front or diagonally. It was annoying and they stepped on Peruere's shoes all the time, almost knocking them off.
"Ms. Bella- Ah, the spider." [Name] blinked twice before their face burned with shame at the attitude towards the animal. "In my defense... I didn't know that ugly insect- err, I mean, devoid of beauty, was yours."
"Spiders are..."
"Arachnids..."
The light from the lamp had been extinguished long ago, leaving its bearer in complete darkness for who knows how long. Or rather, it returned Arlecchino to the bitter realm of reality. Standing in silence, she navigated for minutes in thoughts that are only allowed after the flames of the fireplace have ceased.
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There is no clear distinction between what exactly is acceptable and what is bad, it's all a question of point of view. Many factors differentiate Arlecchino from her predecessor. But in the end, the King's cycle has always repeated itself and always will, no matter who is in control and what their policies are.
During all the years that Arlecchino exercised her role as Father within the House of Hearth, there was never a child who couldn't be "tamed", a challenge that was never overcome.
There has never been a challenge like... [Name], and Arlecchino can only be thankful for that since, without a shadow of a doubt, they had been simply the clumsiest child the House of Hearth has ever received. Stumbling around the corridors with that typical mischievous grin on their face.
Carrying drawing materials, instruments, weapons or anything else they could get their hands on, [Name] ran up and down the corridors looking for something they could make or break.
It wasn't uncommon for those around them to stop what they were doing to observe the way they carried herself around, Peruere included. [Name] was a strange child, but undeniably very charismatic. However, once they had passed, everything returned to its usual monotonous rhythm, because they were so...
"Exaggerated."
The word left her lips unconsciously, slipping out of her thoughts and taking shape. It was a slip of the tongue that surprised even its author, whose face didn't let go of its stoicism for a second.
There wasn't a single action carried out by Arlecchino that didn't carry with it a purpose. From the time they went to bed to the food they ate, everything was done to ensure that the children performed as well as possible. After all, there are no quality sheep without pasture.
Leaving that aside and the inspection completed, she turned back to the traditional home office - of course, she had completely redesigned it after taking over, but it was still classic.
Arlecchino had always been professionally organized. She didn't have a lot of paperwork because she didn't do it, but because she simply did. As a Harbinger, countless responsibilities fell on her shoulders. Just the slightest slip-up would not only jeopardize her, but also those around her.
Accompanied by the typical cherry tea - one of her few preferences - the Harbinger diligently wrote like there was no tomorrow, at a fast and precise pace. Alongside this, the sweet aroma of the tea didn't help to stop the parallel thoughts, sugary like the distant memories tormenting her thoughts today, dancing around her head and bringing to the surface what should remain guarded.
"You don't seem to understand anything about this." The x-shaped pupils reflected in the liquid served as a distraction from the constant boredom, or just a way of distancing herself from her surroundings.
Ah, yes. That's exactly what they used to do, tea parties prepared by children who had no idea how they worked. Brilliant.
"And what's there to understand? We just have to put tea in the cup and drink it then-" The rest of the words were like an incoherent buzz, proof of the vagueness surrounding these memories. "Let me show you. It's just like that-"
Splash.
"..."
Without her noticing, the tea had spilled on her white jacket, staining it a blood red. A pity, as it was such a pretty piece. Leaving that aside, her first action was to check for any burns and take it off to clean.
She would wash it with her bare hands in the laundry room, well away from the bedrooms so as not to interrupt anyone's sleep. Then she left the rings on the table and made her way through the house again, with no light to guide her. It was so chilly when the fire was extinguished. But she was used to it, and certainly so were the other residents.
"Freminet, you know that I can see you. Right?"
"P-Pardon." From the shadows emerged Freminet, face turned downwards as if he were hiding something and his usual shy attitude. He seemed to be desperately wiping away the tears flowing from his eyes; after all, Father didn't like it when children cried.
She turned around, looking away from Freminet. "You shouldn't be awake. Go back to your room and I'll let it slide this time."
"Yes, Father." Freminet fled the scene like a shadow. There was no intention of frightening him, only of warning him.
He was there before she became Father, although he was too young to possibly remember much of the events that led to her ascension. Well, he was a good kid either way.
Arlecchino didn't like tears, they were just a semblance of pain and weakness. She had already seen too much suffering in her life to hate them. They were a reminder of the suffering experienced and something she wouldn't like to see again.
But it didn't mean they couldn't cry by themselves. She only wanted them to be strong enough to defend themselves so not have to go through the horrors of the world, although she knows it's impossible.
"..."
How many times did Peruere wake up in the dead of night, in pain and agony as her curse only intensified? Inside, she wanted to let out an inhuman scream, which is a way of being heard in this fairytale-like hellhole.
The silence around her agitated her further and further, and in a numb state, she couldn't rest. At any moment, it was as if she would be eaten from the inside out by the curse inside her body.
"Hey, hey... Calm down, is everything all right?"
The pain she felt that day was real, but the comfort given to her was more markable. It hurt (and a lot), but no tears would dare to flow from her exhausted eyes, carrying a great deal of fatigue. "You're not going to tell Mother, right?”
“Not if you don't want me to.”
"Then don't.” She didn't want to be taken care of by her, so she was fine as long as the pain didn't kill her. "Although I don't think she'll stay in the dark about it for long."
“But won't Mother be mad if she sees us awake?” They sat on her bed, keeping distance enough to be able to jump quickly to their own in case the door opens.
The leather belt hanging on the side of the old clock was a threat for those who were bold enough to try to break the rules. All children should be in bed during the whole night, no exceptions. But no one could stop [Name] from doing what they wanted.
“If she gets mad, then I'll take the blame for you…”
“Then you're just gonna get hurt!” They left an incredulous whisper. There was no way she would do that, right?
“And won't you?”
“Honestly, I'd rather be beaten than grounded.”
In a way, being hit would be better because it would happen once and then they could heal for the next few days. Since they weren't doing anything too serious, the punishment wouldn't be so bad.
But being grounded was the worst thing that could happen to a child inside the House. Or they would get excruciating tasks during weeks, or have their freedom taken away as if it was nothing. And [Name] certainly didn't like being stuck in a dark room with little light for days.
“I don't think there's a better option between those two…”
"You need more rest, you know that?" Arlecchino could no longer feel the comfort of those hands. But she was sure it was a gentle touch, because she didn't feel repulsed. "I don't understand why you accept to go through all this pain alone..."
"Because only pain breeds understanding—"
Mother's motto, a phrase repeated over and over again as a justification for the punishments handed out. Painfully engraved in children's minds as a survival rule.
"No, no, no, no, no," the hurried voice tried to silence the other. "Shh, shh. It's not like that, stop thinking like that."
"If you want to talk, then talk. If you want to cry, then cry... For the archon, if you even want to kill, then kill! But don't accept things so easily! It's so frustrating!"
Their whispers were angry, but it was clear that the anger was not directed at Peruere. In any case, she felt a little guilty about making someone take care of her.
“I don't believe that's exactly how it works—” she answered, grabbing her arm as it itched from under her skin. The simplest movement of Peruere's fingers was enough to make them snap and the sound echo through the room.
“Can I see your arms? Or is it still hurting a lot?” They wouldn't do anything without Peruere's permission. Even though they hated seeing her like that, they would respect her boundaries just like she respects theirs.
“You can…”
They gently gave her a gentle massage, trying to help that overbearing pain to go away. Peruere tried to think of something she could say to thank her friend without the typical “thank you”. Her lack of expression was a bit frustrating.because she didn't want to come out as ungrateful, but couldn't think of the right thing to say.
“Hm… thank you…” She ended up saying the same overused words, and was about to apologize when she saw the droplets of water drip down their face. How weird, for it was the first time someone had cried for her, and the first time she had been hugged so tightly.
“It's really okay… I just want to see you well.”
"Come on, you know I care about your well being." The embrace that enveloped her was as warm as an ember, and helped her hide the shame on her face. "You're not going to take my advice, are you?”
"No."
"Haha... You're so stubborn." Wiping away their tears, [Name] released Peruere's cheeks.
The scene didn't last long. It was all because they were careless enough not to notice the person standing there in the doorway, watching with a neutral, expressionless face. They were taken by surprise like two rabbits in a trap.
“Peruere, [Name], go to the Hearth room. I wish to see the two by the morning.”
That tricky grin that appeared on the woman's face never failed to confuse Peruere. Mother knows best, so why… Why was Peruere starting to slowly doubt her conduct?
The two could only stare back and low their head in respect — no, fear. Whispering the same thing in unison, they silently made their way to the door.
“Yes, Mother.”
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During the daily routine, the Knave set aside a part of the evening to get together with the orphans by the fireplace. A family activity that built their companionship and teamwork for future missions, certainly not an excuse for them to have the playtime they needed while growing up.
She usually sat in the furthest seat, watching them talk in their jovial, relaxed language. These young people today... she was sure that these dialects were not part of the vocabulary used during her youth.
Generation by generation, they would have to fight their way to the top. But now, she hopes that this chain is broken and plans for her method to continue for a good few years after her title passes on.
Lyney. He was the most likely to take over as King, although she still doesn't believe he's fully ready to take on the challenge. He was a kind-hearted child, but he needed to evolve so that he had what it took to abandon childlike ways and embrace a different reality forcefully.
In a way, someone had to suffer so that others could survive. Whether it was selfish for her to be the one to choose that person or not is a matter for another discussion. But just the thought that most of these children could become adults already appeased Arlecchino's heart.
As she closes her eyes and contemplates the sound of the fire crackling and the laughter of those around her, alongside the moonlight, Arlecchino's mind drifts to the past once again.
Just for a second...
“What is it exactly that you want, Peruere?”
"I wish for the same as the others." Everyone is waiting for the moment when they will compete for the position of King, aren't they? After all, that's the goal. "But what about you? What do you want?"
"All I know is that I know nothing. Stupid,. isn't it?"
Click.
The opening of the window completely dispelled those thoughts of Peruere, who was absentmindedly observing everything. Ahead, [Name] took in the cool breeze and the warmth of the sunset rays that touched their face, now clear and fresh in the Knave's mind.
Carelessly, already characteristic of them, [Name] climbed onto the windowsill. "I don't want to be King, or Mother, or Fatui or... anything."
Although the light touched every inch of the room, it was as if Peruere remained in the dark. There, hidden in the shadow cast by [Name], she looked away.
The hand outstretched to her, how could she possibly forget it? The hesitation to grasp it would forever be one of her greatest regrets, as would all the words that went unsaid. Peruere's cold, disconnected manner had often been the best weapon she could use, but also a major flaw.
"I want to be... free."
"..." Without an answer, her gaze only followed [Name]'s raised hand, pointed at the sky - more precisely, two birds hovering there.
"Tell me, Peruere..." the dramatic pause, their eyes still full of tears. Everything contributed to the melancholy of the moment "Will we ever be like them?"
"..."
Freedom. Peruere never had never truly believed in it. There is no such thing as true freedom, never has been and never will be. Does being free mean having autonomy? What nonsense, at the end of the day everyone is tied to their ideologies and beliefs. The two of them were no exception.
[Name] was like a resilient flame that lit up the frigid walls of the House of Hearth, bringing an air of change and perhaps hope wherever she went. On the other hand, Peruere was a... moth, yes, a single moth that belonged in the darkest corners of the night. Their flaw was clearly their ego. From an outside view, not in a million years could [Name] become King. However, something was burning inside those hopeful yet stubborn eyes, an even greater ambition.
Undeniably, Peruere felt slightly confused about them. They were a source of trouble, that was a fact. But then, why was she increasingly tempted to go against the rules with them?
"Don't dream too much. Freedom is too distant a utopia for us." She offered [Name] her hand in return, helping them down from the window.
"But aren't you curious? Maybe... maybe the world isn't as small as in here."
"And if it isn't? Will it make any difference? Either way, we'll still be chained up like the good dogs we are."
"Hm..."
"Look at me." The seriousness in [Name]'s gaze surprised me. There was no longer that silly smile on their face, nor did their voice carry the same casualness, just the seriousness needed.
"If you're going to be King, do it properly."
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The metallic smell of blood no longer bothered her - she'd been feeling it long enough to get used to it. And the disgust at being stained with Crucabena's blood was tremendous, and the emptiness of the corridors was a stark reminder of the massacre that had taken place there, since at that moment, only Peruere's deep footsteps could be heard.
Did [Name] manage to get out? Surely those who survived had gone into hiding somewhere, so Peruere made a point of searching every room from top to bottom to make sure that none had been left behind from the first search. There was no longer a Mother to run to, one monster had just devoured another in the great food chain that shapes the structures of the House of Hearth.
The bloody marks on the wall gave Peruere an ominous feeling. But now, the goal was different: to find [Name]. With everything that was going on, she was sure that the other would fulfill the agreement they had made. If [Name] wasn't there, then they had successfully escaped. So Peruere ran from where she was to the fireplace room.
And [Name] did as said. They laid there, leaning against the fireplace as if seeking the comfort of the flames. But what she didn't expect was the large open wound in their chest, which they held in distress at the pain caused.
And of all the memories Arlecchino could have, this was undoubtedly the freshest and most agonizing. It plagued her mind like a broken record, repeating itself over and over and over again.
That was the first time she didn't feel fear, but pure dread. Hidden by the serious face, her heart was restless from the sudden rush of adrenaline until her face paled like paper and her eyes widened as if they were going to pop out, for the person standing there was about to die.
"Y-You... did you... do i-it?"
She nodded in agreement, before kneeling down next to them. Peruere couldn't hide her nervousness, unconsciously biting her lower lip to keep it all in; because [Name] didn't deserve to see Peruere in the state her mind was now in.
"Y-You got really... hurt, h-huh?"
With one hand, they stroked Peruere's cheek. This time she remembered the feeling of the fingers getting colder and colder and the weakness that made them tremble, which was why she removed the other's hand from her face.
"[Name]..."
"I wasn't quick enough... I-I-"
"Shh... spare the words."
Peruere took them in her arms, supporting their head as she tried to calm her down - they were already calm enough, it was Peruere herself who needed it. She already understood that death would tear one more person away from her as the flames warmed them, at least for now.
"T-Talk to me, please. I don't want to die in the silence… A-All this quietness is torturing me…" their voice had already become a desperate whisper while they clutched to Peruere tighter, as if they needed her — and they did.
Peruere wiped the blood dripping from [Name]'s lips, before thinking carefully about what to say. Breathing heavily, she began to sing. "Now it was fatal...That the make-believe would end up like this...
[Name]'s eyes widened one last time, before tearing up. But it wasn't out of sadness, as their smile remained and even grew. What a sight, for someone close to death to be reassured by so little.
"I thought... you didn't... like lullabies...?" They were gently interrupted by a finger over the lips.
"Beyond this yard... It's a never ending night..."
They felt their breathing slowly cease, the hand holding hers loosen, and the tears in their eyes flow. Poor [Name], they wouldn't see the end of the song, because they'd already be on the other side. "Peruere... T-Thanks... for being... my friend..."
"B-Because you disappeared into the world without telling me..." Never had Peruere's voice trembled so much. But she would keep singing, she needed to finish this melody for that one peaceful smile as if their life hadn't been taken so painfully, or she would regret it bitterly for the rest of her life.
"And now I was a foolish one asking..." she wiped away her friend's tears and closed their eyes, which reflected the starlight on the other side of the window. Now they would become just like a bird and know true freedom, while Peruere would remain a moth in the dark, without her flame to guide the way.
"What is life going to do with me…?”
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ukrainian-psycho · 8 months
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Everyone hates the Ventrue calling them boring and insufferable with their grindset-mindset and while most of it is true, if you dig into the clan's culture there isn't much that makes them worse than other clans really, there's a lot of endearing qualities that also explain why are they stupid like this. So here's some of my favorite facts and bits of the in clan lore (some of these traditions are applicable for cammies or for those in the clan-clan, done with the Agoge etc; an anarch ventrue obv doesn't have to follow no rule).
Blood preference is made up. It's in their head. There were incidents of a ventrue changing their preference, takes a huge effort but nothing says you can’t. Many ancient ones perished because there's no more Yugoslavian blood or whatever and they couldn't get used to any other. The biggest problem of the Clan of Kings is that they all think they all have an imaginary lactose intolerance they absolutely will die for.
Unlike other clans who let their progeny run around doing fuck all you are responsible for your childe. Providing for them first time, teaching them to hunt, all that regardless if they want to go through the Agoge or join the clan. As a capital V Ventrue you have to respect their choice. Being a deadbeat sire is generally frowned upon.
Actually, everyone in the clan feels entitled to your childe. Any clan member has the right to show up on your doorstep whenever because they thought of something profound to say to the fledgling or give you an advice on how to mentor them. Turning them away is impolite. Absolutely insufferable.
When in a serious trouble you can always ask a fellow clans-mate for help and even if they hate your ass they have to help and do a good job at that lest they want to lose some dignitas. You are expected to return the favor obviously.
Deathnights! 🥳🎉🎉. The thought that any kindred care for birthdays (or deathnights, the time you were embraced) is already silly but the fact that it's ventrues who care about this so much is especially funny. Yeah you sire sucks, but she invited Paris Hilton and got you a new car for your sweet 160. If it's an elder's deathnight you can even rizz them and it's all in good fun!
The general opinion that your local venture is an e*lon m*usk type o guy and not a gas station manager doesn't help. In the digital era even the most powerful ventrue have to influence from the shadows which is quite a hit on their ego. Others settle for less.
They are the smallest clan. The key to survival is resilience and mutual support. Trust no one, not even the other ventrue but you know they've got your back because you've got theirs. Fucked up, however "familial" bonds like sire-childe and such are much valued.
Wholesome-ish, ventrue cliques. Many looove chess and have chess clubs. Both as a hobby and often preferring to solve personal disputes over a game. Then, Philosophes and Diplomats. The first one is just a bunch of an armchair philosophers. The other can be considered as "progressive" and want to build bridges with other clans and think the Camarilla needs to be more cooperative and inviting. The elders often snark at the "friendly ventrues" but at the end of the night it is the Diplomats they send out to represent the clan and do the talking and make peace with others. There's also a club for neonates just to bitch about their hard unlife without the restrictions of the etiquette. Btw look up the Olympian clique on your own lmao, I'm not even delving into that.
And to be fair, there's so much etiquette. You're being told what to wear, what to gift, how to act.
don't argue with those younger than you, embarrassing them in the act. Don't argue with elders because it's disrespectful. Don't argue with your peers because arguing is stupid. If someone really pissed you off please submit a request to your closest ventrue primogen and wait 15-20 business nights to be informed if you have a go at killing their ass. This is not a joke. Always show up as a united front at all times.
Be respectful and treat other clans as you would have wanted to be treated. Even if they are ugly, annoying, or unhinged. At the end of the night the inquisition will come for all of us.
The Agoge sucks. Everyone hates it. It fucks you up but complaining is for pussies so drink some cocained up blood or get a therapist like everybody else. Suck it up.
Crying in the boardroom is not allowed. No public display of emotions or feelings is allowed. The purpose of it is to minimize the amount of conflict between each other and other clans but it's the next best thing to Lasombra's catholic guilt in terms of repressing yourself.
Older ones have a hard time keeping up with technology, the concept of email is on par with other paranormal forces. The Board risks their unlives traveling to an in-person meeting to resolve something that could have been a 10 minute conference call. If you are a neonate who knows what a DVR is you've got quite some power.
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sp1d3rzz · 2 months
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The Devil's Bride
Ryōmen Sukuna
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Warning!! : Mentions of death/killing, forced marriage, and basically Sukuna being an asshole and having no respect for reader.
Summary : After Sukuna reclaims his throne and becomes known as the King of Curses once again, he decides on bringing forth a Queen. You
A/N : I somewhat switch pov's during this so don't get confused. Part 2 coming soon!!
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Days have passed since Sukuna has once reclaimed his throne. Yet, he seems to be bored out of his mind. There's nothing to occupy him from his apathy.
Sure, he has countless people at his feet he can order to do as he pleases. But what's the fun in that? He needs something exciting to happen. Something to fill his empty pit of boredom.
He contemplates on whether or not he should start a war, find more slaves soldiers to do his bids, or perhaps even go on a killing spree somewhere random in this dark, dark world. Better yet— why not just kill everyone??
Well, not yet at least.
His teeth grind together and his fists clench in annoyance to this endless pit of nothing he can't seem to shake off.
But just before he rips someone's eyes out with his bare nails from frustration, he forges an idea. And with that idea, comes a no-good smirk spreading across his face.
What does every king have in every fairytale, movie, and book? That's correct. A Queen.
"You." His thundering voice reaches the ears of a guard who could be approximately 52ft ahead of him. "Come here." he motions with his fingers.
Almost immediately, the soldier makes his way up the steps and to the throne of his King. "Yes, my Lord?"
Sukuna makes a simple face of boredom, supporting his head with a propped up fist. "Gather 5 of my best soldiers and find me my Queen." his eyes squint, which silently says 'Hurry it up.'
And without another word, the guard takes off to seek out to the Kings orders.
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Not many people could get in the mind of Ryōmen Sukuna. To understand what goes on in that so called empty mind of his is mildly impossible. But, taking a wild guess, the soldier puts together things the King takes an interest in.
Power, Control, and Cruelty.
To find a Queen fit to the Kings likings, she must be innocent. A girl who can't stand up for herself, but when she attempts to, she cowards out.
A girl who needs someone to make the decisions for her. But also a girl who has a little spark in her soul. A spark that can carry her to victory no matter the battle.
This shall be the woman who Sukuna finds quite delightful.
The next step was finding a girl who fits this description.
While this soldier is pondering off into space, he almost forgets about his group of men. Which, he's surprised to see catch up to him with a younger looking woman.
"P-Please!! Let me go!" she sobs, loud enough the birds in the trees fly away and flee from the scene.
Tears flow down her cheeks and onto the dirt. Her clothes are scrunched up and dirty, most likely from how roughly his men handled her. And her breathing is so uneven, she might just pass out.
"I swear I'll never tell a soul—" hic! ",if you just let me go!"
There's two men on each side of her, both practically dragging her through the ground. "We found her out here by herself. She seems to be lost." The one on the left inquires.
Once she's dragged to be met face to face with the lead soldier, he grins.
She's a mess. Forehead so sweaty strands of her hair stick to it. Panting so rapidly, she might use up all the air she has left in her lungs.
The soldier takes one last look at the girl, eyes scanning her over, just to analyze how fit she is to take the role as Sukuna's Queen.
"What do you want for me?! Why– why are you doing this!" the girl begs to know any sort of information. Anything to get a grasp on herself.
No one responds.
She looks to her sides, expecting any kind of answer. But is instead met with the men completely ignoring her.
"She'll do perfectly."
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Heavy footsteps echo throughout your head, which by now has been ruined with a horrible headache. Lucky you.
It's hard to tell how long you've been out for. If they've hurt you, or if you've somehow died and awoken in the after life.
The only thing you're sure of is how much pain is coursing through your body. It's to the point you're numb all over and you can barely lift your head up. Barely lift a finger for that matter.
"My lord." A familiar voice rings in your ear and back out. "Your Queen." Another one seems to say in-front of you.
In a desperate attempt to figure out what the hell is happening, you weakly lift your head, blinking a couple of times to regain your focus.
Your vision still remains slightly blurry, but you're only able to make out a set of stairs. Stairs that lead to what seems to be a throne. And in that throne, sits a man.
As you concentrate on this mysterious man, your vision slowly begins to recover.
He has spiky pink hair, long black nails, two eyes on one side, with a plated set of 2 more next to it, and 4 arms? His chiseled shirtless body seems to be tattooed with stripes and dots on each of his shoulders. No, no, this can't be right.
"Bring her here." his voice practically echoes into the air.
Your eyes widen to this sudden command, and you wiggle your arms, attempting to loosen yourself of the men who have you a strict hold over you.
Though it seems to not work, because the men ignore you and continue to their orders. Step by step, the men take you to who appears to be the lead of this whole situation. The man who looks to be the devil himself.
In protest, you kick your feet a little, trying to gain balance and hopefully escape wherever you've been brought to.
But before you can successfully break away, it's too late.
You're met with the horrifying (but somewhat sexy) face of the man who has caused you all of this misery. You scowl at him, which in return earns you a small look of satisfaction.
Disgusting.
His men hold you up to him like a piece of meat, dangling you in-front of his nose as if he was meant to devour you with one swift bite.
His eyes scan up and down your figure. Almost like he's purposely invading your personal space. "Pretty little thing, aren't you?" his words taunt you in a sense you'd never thought you'd feel.
You avert your eyes from his. Turning your head away so he's only in view of your cheek. You're mentally unable to face him.
The prideful moment you had was quickly interrupted. With one swift move of his arm, his hand snatches your chin and snaps you back so you can looking him eye to eye. "Did I say you could look away?" he growls.
His sharp nails press into your skin, making you wince. With how tight his grip is on you, it feels like your skin might tear.
His brows scrunch together lightly as his eyes lock with yours.
"I-"
"Silence." he's quick to cut you off.
Your mouth closes shut almost instantly, and your head drops once he releases you from his grasp. Pathetic.
Everything hurts so much. Your head, your body, and apparently your voice now too.
Small whispers spread around you. From one person to another, you can hear all sorts of comments the strange people are making about you.
If the men holding you up right now were to let go of you, you're sure you would collapse and never get back up again. Fall into an endless abyss and never awaken.
"Take her to the cellar. I shall deal with her later." he orders.
You groan a little when the men tighten their arms around yours. But your vision fades back to nothing as they take you away.
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It's been hours.
Hours of crying, screaming, and wishing upon your own death. To end this confusing mess that has somehow been brought upon to you.
You're curled up in the corner of the cell, cold walls and bars keeping you away from whatever source of life might be out there.
It almost pitch black in the haunting cellar. The only things in sight is your arms, which wrap around your legs to pull yourself into a tight ball.
Everything feels dirty. You feel dirty.
Small droplets of damp moisture fall from the ceiling and hit the rough concrete. Your skin is hot, tingling up your bones to the point you might overheat.
Your mouth is dry, deprived from the lack of water you've had in the past week or so.
Before you were captured, you were on the run from home, escaping the endless chains of torment your parents had put you through.
It might have been a stupid decision, especially since you had no where to go at the time, but it had to happen. Your life wasn't meant to be lived like that, and neither was it for this life.
Your eyes close shut, mind struggling to block out the unbearable sound of water meeting cold, hard, ground. It itches down your skin with every fall.
Abruptly, the creak of a wooden door captures your attention quickly. Lifting your head up out of curiosity to see who's there.
"H-Hello..?" You call out, but it seems useless since no one replies anyways. Though you know someone has to be there. The evidence of lingering footsteps tells enough.
Seconds pass by to what seems to be an eternity before the footsteps stop in-front of your cage cell.
Everything, including the man in-front of you, seems so unreal.
He doesn't say anything, just stares down at you as if you were just some dirt on the floor.
"What do you want from me!" You shout at him, but it appears to get you no answer except a irritating frown.
Your teeth are gritted together, and it take everything out of you to not pounce at him. Well, not like you have the strength or energy to do so anyways.
He rests his bottom two arms on his hip, and crosses his other two over his bare chest. "Y'know, you're starting to piss me off."
A moment of silence rests between the two of you before he finally speaks up again.
"What's your name?" it's more of a demand than a question, but you don't care. You don't owe him anything.
And once again, another pass of silence flows by.
He raises a brow, giving you another chance to answer. But, it seems you wont of any use for the time being.
"Name's Sukuna, but you can call me your King."
His words catch you by surprise, lifting your eyes up in a shockingly manner. "W-What..?" you have to confirm what he just said was actually him and not just an imaginary voice in your head.
He let's out a huff, shaking his head to your stupidity. "Do you know why you were brought here?"
Well obviously not, or else you wouldn't have been taken aback to his statement. "No, I don't."
"You were brought here to stand beside me as I rule over this.. kingdom of mine."
And just like that, his words crash and bring down your whole life. Everything you've been through, fought for, and accomplished are all worth nothing. It was all useless.
"No, I refuse–"
A hand slams down on the bars, causing you to flinch. "I don't remember asking how you felt, did I?"
Immediately, you go quiet. The hurtful beating of heart being the only sound audible as he glares down at you from behind the bars.
"Tomorrow shall be the wedding. I'll have my men bring you to me first thing in the morning."
Leaving you no time to protest, question, or even give him a snarky reply, he disappears.
You're left all alone, mind now pounding with how quick this is all happening. You have no say in anything, it seems.
Nothing seems to matter when you feel your eyes flutter close. Too exhausted to reject this rest, you fall asleep.
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Thank you for reading! I'll try to have part 2 out as soon as possible (which contains the smut 👀) but I hope you guys enjoyed this so far ^^ Reblogs are also greatly appreciated 💗💗
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subbyalbedo · 6 months
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Kinktober Day 31 - A/B/O with omega!Muzan Kibutsuji
Happy Halloween! 🎃👹
Dom!alpha!reader x sub!omega!muzan
reader has a cock and Muzan gets a little ooc but I’m proud of this ;)
~~~
Muzan Kibutsuji.
To most, a feared demon, the most powerful in the world, and a terrifying creature of the night.
But what they didn't know, was that he was an omega.
For years, he had kept it hidden, using the pathetic human scent patches and taking idiotic pills to remain in control.
Of course, you didn't know all of this. But, you barely knew Muzan except for the fact that he was the extremely powerful demon who turned you, and you hadn't seen since.
But as you were walking down a dark alley, right after a delectable meal, you saw a dark figure slumped against the side of the brick building lining the shadowed road.
Hmm, dessert?
But as you got closer, you smelled that not only was it not a human, but it was a demon.
And...he was in heat.
Muzan was furious. Furious, and panicked, and so fucking screwed, and as he slumped against that wall, he felt like he was falling apart.
He had failed to notice the signs of his heat soon enough to stop it, and now he was hidden in an alley unable to move. He could feel his dick leaking, and he felt so disgustingly needy that he wanted to scream.
The heat was overtaking his body and mind so much, that he didn't know you were approaching until you were right in front of him.
"What's a pretty thing like you doing out here all alone?" You grinned down at him, and his pretty red eyes glared back up at you.
"Go away." He didn't know what to do, but he was the strongest demon. He would make you respect him. Probably kill you to make sure no one knows about his...
"Aw, poor little omega is getting angry?" He looked absolutely gorgeous, and very fuckable, and you knew that no matter what, at the end of the night, you'd have him.
"Do you know who I am?!" As soon as he said it, he regretted it. Your eyes lit up with recognition, and he cursed himself for his incompetence.
"Muzan Kibutsuji. You're prettier than I remember." With a sly grin, you reached out to stroke his face.
Faster than you could see, he tore off your arm, fighting off a shiver that was triggered when his omega sensed the alpha.
With some rather quick regeneration, you regrew your arm and looked at his warily.
"Muzan Kibutsuji is an omega? Well, that's absolutely delicious."
At the word omega, Muzan felt repulsed, but the animal inside him made him want to submit to you.
There was nothing you wanted more in this moment than to fuck this gorgeous demon king. But you wanted to make him want it.
So you released your scent into the air, and immediately, Muzan let out a whine, sinking to his knees.
As soon as his legs hit the pavement, he realized what he did, and immediately tried to stand up again, repair some of his broken dignity. But you were having none of that.
"Down, omega." You commanded, and he couldn't help but moan as he crumpled, forced to bow on the ground before you.
"You dare to command me?" He gritted out, he could feel his length brushing lightly on the ground but he refused to rub himself, he refused~
without even meaning to, his body started humping the ground desperately, and even you didn't see it coming.
"I don't even need to command you. You're a slut all on your own."
He was about to lash out, kill you with the little power he still had, but you were a step quicker.
"Can you be good for me?" He felt himself almost let out a whimper, but this time he was able to hold it back.
"Good omega." You purred, and this time, he felt a wave of affection and pure joy come from inside him at your words. "Now, be good and hump my leg, will you?
Quickly, his arms came around your extended leg in a tight grip, and he drew you as close as possible to get himself off, rubbing himself at a hard, grinding pace.
He could feel his resolve weakening as the friction against his cock felt so amazing, each thrust bringing him closer and closer.
He wanted to cum so bad, would you let him cum? Please?
He thought it was just the omega chanting that in his head, but after a moment he felt his lips moving, begging to cum.
"Stop moving."
He let out a wail as he immediately stopped at your commands.
He wanted so badly for his hips to keep moving, he was so close when you made him stop and he wanted to scream, but there was something in him that so desperately wanted to be good for you.
No no no! He needed to stop thinking like this, he’s the fucking demon king, and he wasn’t going to break. “I’ll- ill fucking k-kill you!”
His voice came across as much weaker than he wanted, but he got his point across. He had just about three seconds to enjoy fighting back before you spoke.
“What did you say to me, Omega?”
Fuck. Fuck fuck no no no no no.
He felt tears welling in his eyes, he could hear the disappointment in your voice, and it made him hate himself, why would he say that to you?
His omega side felt like it was in pain at your words he didn’t mean it please! “Please m…‘msorry! I didn’t- didn’t mean it, please!”
Hell, one moment he wanted to murder you in cold blood, and the next, all he wanted was to nest with you.
Fuck, he needed to figure this out fast because he couldn’t do both.
So, he tried to make the best out of the shitty situation.
If you were going to command him to be your omega, he would, but just for the night. Once he wasn’t stupidly needy anymore, he would murder you and carry on like nothing happened.
So he gave in.
Kneeling at your feet, he gazed up into your eyes with a desperation, he needed you to fuck him, gods please.
“Poor thing needs to be full? I bet you feel so empty in your wet hole, don’t you?”
He nodded quickly, he could feel his ass clenching at your words, slick coating his pants.
“Alpha…Alpha please…I need you to fuck me….”
“Aww, poor little omega. I suppose I’ll have to fill you, won’t I?”
You yanked him up, enjoying his cute gasp as you turned him around and bent him over, arms holding him against the brick.
Unceremoniously pulling down his pants, you found nothing underneath, except for a considerable amount of wetness coming from his hole.
“You’re so wet for me, aren’t you? You were waiting in this alley for the first alpha to come your way. You’re nothing more than a street whore.”
“Yes yes yesss, you’re my alpha, mine mine mine!” Muzan was pressing back into you, practically grinding on you with need as you removed your pants as well.
With all the slick pouring out of him, and the way his hole kept opening and closing, you decided you didn’t need much prep, quickly thrusting in a couple finger to test how much he could take.
Rubbing your length along his slick ass, you quickly thrusted in while yanking his hair back, and reveled in his surprised scream, the pain and pleasure all hammering into one point as he took your cock, groaning with how full he felt.
With just the entering of your big length, he came, back arching and eyes rolling back as he felt himself jerked back and forth by your pace.
All the while, he’s mumbling how he’s your omega, he belongs to you, and please knot him, he’s been good for you,
and you smile at his state, you’re fucking the actual demon king, and you should probably be scared for you life in the morning, but you can’t bring yourself to care with the tightness of his ass and his lovely groans, and you decide to go ahead and mark him.
Leaning forward quickly, you bit into the part of his neck, and Muzan moaning even louder, and you knew he’d be furious but you had to!
And as he came once more that the thought of you claiming him, he collapsed into you.
“You’re done already? Oh no, we’ve just begun.”
Poor Muzan will wake up sore all over with a new mate that he won’t be able to get rid of.
of course, maybe he’ll just kill you…
but with your mark on his neck, you highly doubt it.
~~~ hehehehhehehe I hope you enjoyed!
happy Halloween!!!!!!!
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calisources · 5 months
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THE   ROYAL   TREATMENT.   all   sentences   are   either   taken   from   fantasy   or   fictional   and   historical   novels   about   kings,   queens,   royal   blood   and   some   sparked   romance   and   magic.   change   all   pronouns   and   names,   locations   as   you   see   fit.
“You are enough to drive a saint to madness or a king to his knees.”
“She was a ray of sunshine, a warm summer rain, a bright fire on a cold winter’s day, and now she could be dead because she had tried to save the man she loved.”
“He was a man known for the violence of his temper as well as the deliciousness of his touch.”
“Am I making you nervous, Natalie?”
“Sad it is, the fate of kings.”
“Go to this masquerade ball with your new friends, put on a pretty gown, and dance the night away.”
“Repentance is like a royal cheer.”
“Even the small joys are worth cherishing, and they will lead to greater ones.”
“when you become king shall find many difficult tasks and you shall have to hurt others and yourself.”
“The throne brings trouble and grief along with the glory.”
“Anger is a feeling afforded only by royal blood. Ordinary people ask for mercy in such situations.”
“True leadership is serving others; follow Queen Elizabeth's noble example.”
“Success isn't wealth or status; impact matters.”
“The power of empowerment can change the world, one person at a time.”
“Leadership is service, not a throne to seize.”
“I have in sincerity pledged myself to your service, as so many of you are pledged to mine.”
“Proper training is key, it allows one to accomplish a great deal."
“Oh honey, someday a real man is going to make you see stars and you won't even be looking at the sky."
“Royalty comes with a cost. My great-great-grandfather was one, and he left me no royalty but loyalty to empower people.”
“At all times an empire is more important than emperor and empress, prince and princess.”
“You might have to ask yourself, however right your claim is, if you are the leader the realm needs and wants.”
“You’re Royal. Get used to it and that involves a lot of burdens and things you don’t want to do.”
“I’m in awe of you, Rowan Palotay.”
“Slow down there, princess. How do you know what kind of first impression you gave me?”
“Prayer is a royal power.”
“You forget yourself and who you are speaking of.”
“Anyone young, famous and beautiful who dies young is forever frozen in time and fascinating to all of us.”
“Youths are the life blood of any nation.”
“I am not yet come of age, my lord. How can I be queen?”
“To crown her is to kill her.”
“He didn't marry you to become king. He became king because he wanted to marry you.”
“Little by little, the old world crumbled, and not once did the king imagine that some of the pieces might fall on him.”
“I believe we are what we make ourselves, and as such, you, Crown Princess, are nothing.”
“Rule with the heart of a servant. Serve with the heart of a king.”
“There’s a fine line between gossip and history, when one is talking about kings.”
“We kings do develop a certain ability to recognize objects under our noses.”
“...alone is such a nebulous state when one is queen.”
“I respect you as my king, and I respect you as my father, but I do not respect you as a man!”
“She was made to be a queen, just like her mother.”
Protect Myrcella with your life. Defend her... and her rights. Set a crown upon her head.“”
“You’re my princess, right? You were always going to be my princess, no matter what you were born.”
“For dogs we kings should have lions, and for cats, tigers. The great benefits a crown.”
“This marriage had resulted from impulse.”
“The king is a saint and cannot rule, and his son is a devil and should not.”
“One does not ask if one likes the Blood Royal. They simply are. It is like asking if one likes the Gods.”
“You are a king worthy of their allegiance . . . with a queen full of fire and promise.”
“The idea that how you are born or the name you are given dictate the sort of person you really are.”
“You seem to think that you can still turn back, but it’s too late. You’ll have to face it, Princess. Maybe not today or tomorrow, but soon enough. And you can’t be this scared when the time comes.”
“Was it worse, she wondered, to be wanted dead or wanted Queen?”
“My royal status is both a shield that protects me and a sword that impales my heart.”
“Respect shouldn't be hereditary; it must be earned.”
“You know, for a pampered princess, you have a certain gift for violence.”
“There is nothing sharper than a well mannered princess’ words.Their true meaning are a mystery.”
“People are born great but yet need to grow into greatness”
“Kings needn’t raise their voices to be heard.”
“She was their witch queen, and they adored her.”
“To be fair, I don't quite see any difference between an assassin and a knight. They both kill people, only one "in the name of Honour '' and the other is just a "monster"
“Crowns belong to those that serve.”
“I have the softness and meekness of a daughter but I also have the boldness and Braveheart of a Son.”
“Will you visit my chambers tonight?”
“A throne won in blood will soon be drenched in it.”
“Even when she's dethroned by hardship, she still wears the sun as a crown.”
“The Princess knew in her heart she is strong, smart, and capable because it is in her blood.”
“There is the matter of succession that has to be settled. You don’t start a reign without settling how it continues.”
“My reign has been anything but traditional. Let’s not start now, shall we?”
“Every girl thinks about growing up in a palace. Few ever ponder living in a cage.”
“Often blessings and burdens comes hand in hand. The bigger the Crown the heavier the burden”
“If stubborness were all that was needed to be a good queen, I'd rule the world.”
“Some girls have a frightening killer instinct. Don't let the ball gowns fool you.”
“You don't turn your back on your destiny.”
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laststandx3 · 5 months
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There are many bad things about wish, but one of the most annoying is how it fails to pay off its own set ups.
It's established Asha's father believes in the magic from the stars. He died of an illness (never specified), that Asha's grandfather (her father's father) never got his wish granted in YEARS, well now to me this feels targeted.
Follow my thoughts for a minute, how easy would have been with this already established set up to add the part where it's Magnifico who killed Asha's dad because he was promoting a different kind of magic that would undermine Magnifico's power? This would've established Magnifico as an actual villain from the start, manipulating people's perception of him with magic and the lengths he would go to keep his power and crown.
This would have impacted Asha's journey as well,instead of asking Magnifico to grant her grandfather's wish immediately (which imo is a good reason for him not to hire her, she literally asks for favoritism the moment she arrives), let her instead be perfect for the position, not clumsy and awkward but make her qualified and respectful of the king's secrecy about the wishes. And still she's still not hired. And then she starts questioning him, she's studied, she's ready and it's not enough and the king seemed to like her until she mentioned her father.
And then she talks with the people of rosa about the king, if that was unfair of him maybe , but the answer is that the king is good and kind and doesn't he grants everyone's wishes, isn't that so wonderful of him? (and maybe this can be a song) and at first it sounds like she just doesn't want to accept that she wasn't chosen but after the forth person answers the same exact thing, well then this starts to feel more like a script than an original thought. Just then she looks at all the wishes Magnifico's granted so far and they're all material, it's all about people owning bigger houses, better clothes, riches, nothing is about community, knowledge, about people becoming something(musicians, teachers, scientists, artists...) . The guy that got his wish granted last year also got it granted a few years ago too, Isn't that weird? Some people never get their wishes and this guy twice? And also his wish was so selfish? He wanted a swimming pool! How in the best kingdom, with the best king, nobody wishes nice things for others? And isn't that weird that she and her friends used to make graffitis and jokes on the guards but when Sleepy gave away his wish at 18 suddenly he doesn't make jokes about Magnifico's beard anymore? He's so respectful of the rules now.
And idk maybe Asha doesn't just wish upon a star and everything is given to her. Maybe Magnifico's source of magic is Star and she frees it and that's why Star tags along. The magic of the starts was real, her father was right! Star knew her dad, he tried to save the magical pet but he was killed instead! Now it's not just about freedom and justice she wants revenge. And this is maybe when she fucks up because she was too reckless, she got discovered. Her friends/family are watching how she's getting arrested/executed for treason and that's SO UNFAIR such a cognitive dissonance it breaks Magnifico's brainwash spell.
Now a song about revolution makes sense. But singing about revolution bc they want to be able to wish? Are you kidding me? Not only the movie established that you can have new wishes and that they make you whole again, but also girl, you all read the terms of services when giving Magnifico your wish. You give it to him and if he finds it worth it, it'll be granted. Making questions about the king choices is the opposite of living under a monarchy.
Ultimately I agree with everyone who says this movie feels empty, because it's true, it's a bunch of disney trope stitched together with easter eggs that don't makes us feel anything and that contradicts its own message. The fact that disney doesn't want to make grey characters anymore it's felt. And it mirrors the way people have started to see enjoying stories as media consumption, everything that alludes to people being flawed is an endorsement of abuse. So disney's characters have all turned is these empty shells of heroine tropes. They're always bubbly, their worst flaw is being clumsy, but the worst is that they're always right. Asha's quest to free the wishes is based only on her conviction that the king is wrong in not granting everyone's wish. It's never even hinted in the movie that the subjects of rosa lack something. It's a fairy-tale kingdom in every aspect (maybe the king is a bit egocentric but that hasn't hurt anyone so far), except that her grandpa's wish wasn't granted and so the king must be wrong. If it wasn't for Magnifico's long exposition of I don't accept criticism she wouldn't have questioned him. And even then, that's what living in a kingdom means, that you follow the king's rules. I'm sorry but singing about revolution and then ending the movie still under a monarchy is just contradictory with the whole premise.
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optimizche · 2 years
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Missing (Part 3) [Aemond Targaryen x Reader]
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Warning: THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR HOUSE OF THE DRAGON SEASON 1 EPISODE 10. Be careful!!!! And please comment with your feedback! ❤️
"I couldn't possibly-" you said, shaking your head violently, an incredulous smile on your lips. "I will burn to death."
"You must, sweet one," Jacaerys implored, the Lords gathered around the Painted Table nodding solemnly.
It was then that you turned to Prince Daemon. "I have no Valyrian blood in me, My Prince. How could I possibly even hope to bond with a dragon? Let alone ride it into battle?"
Threat of the looming war was now closer than ever.
Ever since Princess Rhaenys had flown to Dragonstone on Meleys, bringing the news of the death of King Viserys The Peaceful and the crowning of Aegon instead of the rightful, named heir, Princess Rhaenyra, chaos had erupted.
Queen Alicent and her Green Council had successfully managed to usurp the Iron Throne.
Ser Erryk had arrived to Dragonstone mere hours after Princess Rhaenys, carrying with him King Viserys' crown, the same crown Prince Daemon had placed on The Black Queen Princess Rhaenyra's head during her coronation, days after Aegon's coronation at King's Landing.
The House of the Dragon was now officially divided, ready to tear itself apart in the midst of war.
During the discussion around the Painted Table this morning at dawn, the topic of adding more dragons and dragonriders to the Black faction had arose.
Princess Rhaenyra had Syrax, Prince Daemon had Caraxes. Princess Rhaenys had Meleys while her two granddaughters, Rhaena and Baela had Morning and Moondancer respectively. Jacaerys, Lucerys and Joffrey were bonded to Vermax, Arrax and Tyraxes respectively.
This brought the number of dragons on the side of the Blacks to an impressive eight.
The Greens, Queen Alicent's party only had three dragons for her three children, Sunfyre, Dreamfyre and Vhagar each bonded to Aegon, Helaena and Aemond respectively.
Even though the Blacks vastly outnumbered the Greens in terms of dragons, Prince Daemon and the young princes Jacaerys and Lucerys were adamant that more dragonriders were needed on our side.
You yourself had been a witness to Prince Daemon awakening Vermithor, a dragon once ridden by King Jaehaerys I Targaryen.
"We need more dragons with us, little one," Prince Daemon urged, the anger at his wife being robbed of her crown palpable in his temper. "You must try to bond with one of the dragons here at Dragonstone."
Jace and Luke spoke up in your support, trying to bolster your courage. "We won't let anything happen to you."
But it was when you looked at Queen Rhaenyra, who had just suffered a miscarriage of the daughter she carried, Visenya, you found your own resolve hardening.
It was the news of Aegon's coronation that had sent The Black Queen into an early labour. Far too early, leading to considerable blood loss and the birth of a stillborn baby girl, Visenya.
While your healing powers had restored the health of the Queen and brought her to her feet, she was stricken with grief over the loss of her sixth child and only daughter. Just a few days ago, you shuddered at the memory of how the Queen had wept and cursed as she bled during her premature labours. The tragedy had shaken all of you to the core.
You knew you had to bind yourself to a dragon, even if it killed you, for the sake of the Queen.
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Your years of studying and training in combat had done nothing to prepare you for this moment, as you stood within one of the largest pits of Dragonstone, staring up at the beast that slumbered before you.
A female dragon, the size of a mountain, she had scales of lavender interlaced with aquamarine.
"She's… formidable," you chuckled nervously, glancing at Prince Daemon, Jace and Luke, who stood on the sidelines, nodding encouragingly along with the dragonkeepers.
Steeling yourself, you slowly approached the dragon, reaching out tentatively with your palm.
"Dohaerās!" you called out, your voice echoing in the cave, awakening the she-dragon who looked at your comparitively miniscule figure with aqua coloured eyes.
"Dohaerās!" repeating the command with a determination in your voice that impressed you, given how much anxiety was gnawing away at you.
The dragon huffed, it's breath washing over your face as it raised its head.
Please don't open your mouth, you silently begged. Please don't burn me.
"Lykirī!"
Sensing the dragon's uneasiness, you attempted to calm it, but you knew that it wasn't listening to you. One wrong move and you'd be burnt till even your bones disintegrated. But you were desperate to bond with the dragon. You didn't want to disappoint the Queen when she needed you the most.
You stepped even closer to the dragon, right in front of it and all of a sudden, it opened its mouth, letting out the most thunderous roar that shook you to your bones.
"Dohaerās!" you commanded, yet again, undeterred.
"Stand your ground, little one," came Prince Daemon's advice. "Be firm."
Taking a deep breath, you kept your eyes focused on the dragon's.
"Dohaerās!" you cried out, your own voice echoing in the cave, almost as fierce as the dragon's roar.
The silence following your cry rang through your ears and you were certain that at the very next moment, you'd be burned alive by the irritated dragon.
You closed your eyes, bracing for the worst…
Instead, you felt the nudge of the dragon's head against your still outstretched palm.
"Gods be good, you've done it," Prince Daemon exhaled.
You opened your eyes to see the she-dragon bowing its head before you, a wild and unrestrained smile breaking across your face.
You had bonded with a dragon.
"Mount her!" Jacaerys shouted, rushing to his own dragon, Vermax.
"Fly with us!" Lucerys urged, already climbing Arrax.
Suddenly emboldened, you found yourself climbing swiftly up the dragon's back, patting it encouragingly as you gave it the High Valyrian command to fly. "Sōvēs!"
Laughing, Prince Daemon clapped his hands, moving aside as your dragon now rushed toward the exit to the cave, breaking all her chains in the process.
"What will you name her?" he asked between chuckles.
"I'll call her Aquerion!" you screamed back as the dragon spread its lavender aquamarine wings, ready to fly.
Perhaps your ancestry did contain a drop of Valyrian blood after all, you thought, exhilarated by the wind in your hair as you flew skyward, Arrax and Vermax flanking Aquerion on either side.
----------
While you spent your subsequent days training and honing your dragon riding skills with Jace, Luke, Rhaena and Baela, the Black Council made a decision to send envoys to the various powerful houses of Westeros, hoping that they'd swear themselves to Queen Rhaenyra's cause.
A raven came to Dragonstone, containing a message from one of Prince Daemon's spies in King's Landing that Prince Aemond had flown on Vhagar to Storm's End to secure House Baratheon.
This elicited a roar of laughter considering that Lord Borros Baratheon was a cousin of Princess Rhaenys and a staunch supporter of King Viserys. There was no chance that he would ally himself with the Greens, you were told. He was certainly going to support Queen Rhaenyra's cause, you were told.
You weren't so convinced, knowing full well that Borros Baratheon had four unmarried daughters. A betrothal to the new King's own brother could easily sway House Baratheon over to the Greens. And given that the Greens were not above usurping the Iron Throne from its rightful heir, you knew they were now capable of anything to secure their position in the approaching war.
As much as the idea of Aemond marrying a Baratheon girl perturbed you, you were even more disturbed when it was decided that Lucerys would fly to Storm's End as an envoy of Queen Rhaenyra.
Alone.
"My Queen," you begged the night before the morning of Lucerys' departure. "Please let me accompany Luke to Storm's End. He might need me."
Over the course of the years you had come to think of Lucerys as your little brother. Naturally, you had grown very protective of him.
"There will be no need for that, my dear," Queen Rhaenyra said, waving off your suggestion. "Luke is certain to receive a warm welcome at Storm's End. House Baratheon favours Princess Rhaenys and us."
"But, My Queen, Aemond will be there," you insisted in urgent but hushed tones. "He has no love for Jace, Joffrey and especially Luke since the incident at Driftmark."
"Dearest, are you questioning my decisions now?" she asked you, a brow raised.
You were suddenly flustered. "Of course not, My Queen, I was merely concerned about-"
"Lucerys will be fine, dear," she said, giving your hand a squeeze. "He is eager to prove himself and I've made him swear to the Seven that there will be no fighting on his end with that Aemond."
You bowed your head, agreeing reluctantly to her decision, an inexplicable sense of dread overcoming you.
The very next morning as soon as dawn broke, all of you assembled in the Great Hall to say goodbye to Lucerys.
"Don't fret, little one," Prince Daemon remarked, noting your concern. "Lucerys will be fine."
"Of course!" the boy said, hugging you tightly and giving you a bright smile before moving on to hug his mother.
As much as you wanted to believe it, something in your heart made you quite unsure, leaving you feeling unsettled as you watched Lucerys take to the skies on Arrax's back.
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Hours had passed with no word from any raven of Lucerys safely reaching Storm's End. He had promised you and Jacaerys that he would send a raven as soon has he landed at the Baratheon stronghold.
Prince Daemon had watched your mounting anxiety, noting how you did not indulge in even one of your favourite sweetcakes at breakfast that morning.
Jacaerys could tell by how distracted you were during your morning lessons with Maester Gerardys that you were still apprehensive about Luke. You paced restlessly through the hall while Jace studied High Valyrian with the Maester, before running to consult the great almanac that sat open on the stone table nearby.
"It predicts a cruel storm at Storm's End today," you read, murmuring more to yourself than to anyone else. "Gods, Luke…"
While you were almost sure that Lucerys could deal with Aemond well enough by himself as he had already done during that night at Driftmark, you knew that Aemond and a storm made for a rather difficult combination to navigate for little Luke.
"Maester, may I be excused? I'm feeling quite unwell," you said, placing a hand on your stomach to feign a stomach ache.
Jace eyed you with suspicion, not believing your excuse for a single moment but letting you leave nevertheless.
You rushed headlong down the corridors, making your way down to the basement of the building.
The armoury, I need a weapon, you thought, a plan already formulating itself in your head as clear as day.
Sneaking into the armoury, you found a vast array of blades. Swords, daggers, spears, bows and arrows. All fashioned from either Valyrian steel or Dragonglass.
You picked a sword you knew you would be able to wield, along with a couple of Dragonglass daggers.
Prince Daemon is out searching for more dragon eggs, you thought to yourself, running toward the dragonpit before quickly changing from your gown to your riding leathers. Queen Rhaenyra is abed, resting. Princess Rhaenys is tending to Rhaena and Baela…
You found Aquerion waiting for you, the gorgeous she-dragon having already anticipated your arrival with the sound of your footsteps. Perhaps you had gotten more close to your dragon than you ever realized.
Climbing up on her back, you mounted the supple leather saddle, grasping the reins in your gloved hands, looking around for any dragonkeepers guarding her nearby. There were none present.
"Sōvēs, Aquerion!" you commanded, your voice confident and crystal clear.
As you leaned down to pat your dragon as it charged toward the entrance of the pit, you knew that you needed to get to Storm's End and quick.
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Aquerion, being a mighty dragon had large, well-built wings, the wingspan almost double the size of her body.
She carried you swiftly up the sky and within a few hours of flying, if the change in landscape was any suggestion, you were nearing Storm's End.
It had begun to drizzle, the clouds growing thicker and more grey the closer you flew to your destination, a thin mist permeating the air. Hampering your visibility.
Wiping a stray lock of wet hair away from your face, you silently prayed that you'd reach your destination safely.
Gods, I only hope that Lucerys is alright…
You flew straight into the eye of the storm where the wind was whipping at you, the rain coming down thick and merciless. Drenching you to the bone through your riding outfit.
You were flying right above a ravine when a blast of fire cut through the storm.
Dragonfire.
Heartbeat rising tenfold, you turned Aquerion in the direction of the fire only to find a small dragon being violently pursued by a giant one.
Arrax and Vhagar.
Despite the rain and the mist, your eyesight allowed you to make out the silhouettes of their dragonriders, Lucerys and Aemond.
"There is a debt to be paid, boy!" Aemond bellowed, chuckling ruthlessly as he pursued Luke.
"Lucerys!" you cried out for the Prince, seeing him turn to see you and Aquerion approaching from the right.
Queen Rhaenyra's son shouted your name in palpable relief, seeing your much larger dragon arrive in the middle of the chase.
"Dracarys, Aquerion!" you commanded, aiming her dragonfire at Vhagar in an attempt to distract Aemond. "Fly away, Luke!"
Your dragonfire hit Vhagar's wing, a pained screech emitted by the old dragon almost shaking you to the marrow.
On Vhagar's back, Aemond looked bewildered, looking hard through the rain and fog to see who it was who had dared to attack him.
When he spotted you on Aquerion's back, for a moment in time, Aemond looked shell-shocked.
"Dracarys!" you roared yet again, sending more dragonfire at Vhagar, aiming at her head this time as you charged head-on at her with Aquerion.
Over your shoulder, you looked to see Lucerys staring at you with worriment etched on his face, even as Arrax safely carried him out and away from Vhagar's reach, to Dragonstone.
He was safe, you thought, the ghost of a smile gracing your own face as you became distracted for a fraction of a second…
All of a sudden, it felt like the air had been knocked from your lungs, your dragon, Aquerion colliding with Vhagar.
The momentum of the push was powerful enough to send both dragons plummeting toward the ground, their roars echoing in the skies. You clutched desperately at her reins to prevent yourself from being knocked off the saddle, bracing yourself for the impact at the top of a cliff.
Vhagar fell first, with a screech, Aquerion falling a few yards away from the other dragon with a pitiful whine.
For a moment, it felt like the world itself had been plunged into darkness, unconsciousness tugging at your senses, trying to pull you under to keep you sheltered from the immense pain you felt.
A broken arm for sure. Perhaps a few broken ribs?
You fell from the back of your dragon, collapsing to the ground before hesitantly raising a hand to your abdomen, feeling blood weep from a wound there.
It almost felt like a rush of energy, when you heard footsteps approaching you, making you rise shakily to your feet as you raised your sword.
"You would dare to raise a sword against me? Your childhood friend?" Aemond asked, his own sword now unsheathed, as he stood before you, bleeding from a gash on his head.
"You would dare to attempt to slay your own kin? Your own nephew?" you asked in retaliation, stepping forward, sword raised, should he attack, a hand pressing into the wound in your abdomen.
There was no chance in seven Hells that you'd survive a swordfight against Aemond Targaryen. But you weren't going to perish without a fight.
"I see you ride a dragon now," he said, nodding toward Aquerion where the poor beast lay in pain. Recovering from the fall.
"Which Baratheon girl did you betroth yourself to?" you taunted.
It was this that sent Aemond charging at you, your swords clanging as you held the blade up to defend yourself against his every swing.
Matching his reflexes as best as you could.
"Oh, wait," you sneered, between offensive blows of your own, blows that he dodged with ease. "You've been too occupied with your sister to take someone else to wife-"
With a roar, Aemond slashed violently at you, the blade of his sword cutting into the wrist of your dominant hand. Disarming you as your fingers let go of the sword from the sudden pain.
You cried out as he pushed you onto the ground with astounding force, straddling you with his sword now at your neck. The blade pressing into the column of your bare throat.
"Kill me," you urged him, the pain in your heart far greater than the pain from any wound you had suffered. "Kill me and be done with me."
Aemond looked pained, wrenching the patch away from his eye to reveal the sapphire underneath it. To show you who he really was.
"Do you truly think I would kill you?" he asked, aghast from your words. "Do you truly think so low of me?"
"You only ever needed me around to heal your wounds, to heal your eye. I was nothing more to you than my abilities," you said, your heart breaking at the pain you felt, your own eyes burning with tears.
How had years of friendship and affection come down to this?
Hearing him growl, you felt the blade vanish from at your neck as he threw his own sword to the side, his gloved hands finding your face.
"You were my best friend. The best part of my life," he said. "I loved Helaena but I loved you more, you fool."
He pressed his forehead against yours, a single tear from his own eye falling on your cheek.
"You were my solace, the only one who ever gave me true peace. When you left, I lost a part of who I was," he said and you felt your eyelids fluttering, your strength seemingly abandoning you with every drop of blood that gushed from your abdomen. "When will you ever understand this?"
Tears now felt freely from your eyes as you whimpered quietly, a sudden relief filling you at his words. For how many years had you ached to hear them?
You felt his own chest wrack with sobs, raising your bloodstained hand to touch his cheek underneath his scar. Mixing your blood with his, flowing from his head.
"You're hurt…" he said, placing his palm over your hand, his eye examining the huge bloodstain on your waist, terrified.
"But your children? With Helaena?" you asked, struggling to keep your eyes open.
He opened his mouth to speak but your mind tuned out the words he said, too exhausted and fraught to stay awake.
Seconds later, your world turned black.
Part 4
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dragonzzilla · 11 months
Text
Tears of the Kingdom's underwhelming narrative had rich potential
I'll preface this with a confession: I have not played Tears of the Kingdom. As a matter of fact, I haven't played any Legend of Zelda. I simply never had the opportunity while growing up, so my interest in the series has always been satellite. As such, I do not have the perspective of someone who has. My opinions are formulated entirely in what little I have seen or sought out. I'm coming at this with the perspective of an outsider looking in. But I'm not looking for a fight. My aim isn't to bash the new hotness out of jealous spite, or to convince people to feel bad about liking this game that, I've otherwise heard, is really fun. The reason I care, even though I'm not a part of the fandom, is that we all deserved better.
This is a much anticipated sequel to a smash hit from one of the biggest names in the industry, sold at a whopping $70—and having watched for free a YouTube compilation of all the cutscenes pertaining to Ganondorf, the much advertised central antagonist of TOTK, I felt robbed. This was my legitimate reaction:
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Disregarding all my other feelings for a moment, I was dumbstruck to see a Nintendo game—released in our year of 2023—use what is essentially the same cutscene four times while explaining the backstory. I recognize TOTK has modular progression, allowing you to reach the Sages in whatever order you please. But once you've seen the first one, the other three will offer you no more valuable information. I'm willing to stretch my suspension of disbelief pretty far, yet even I recognized on first viewing how formulaic the Sage cutscenes are. It wrenched me out of the story.* Hearing different perspectives about the same events can and should be interesting, but the Sages relating these events barely qualify as characters—possessing neither names nor even faces, thanks to their uniform masks of Zonai design...
* I'll acknowledge: Within universe, there is reason enough for the Sages to repeat what is essentially the same story to their respective successors to apprise them of the situation. I can certainly see Link having to sit through the same spiel several times so everyone is on the same page. But it felt really unnecessary as a member of the audience. And unlike their BOTW counterparts, the Four Champions, the Sages don't stick around long enough to endear themselves any further, instead passing their abilities and function onto their successors.
… Which, I feel, represents the Ancient Past Storyline as a whole. Despite the number of bodies involved, no one felt alive. Queen Sonia—this continuity's founding mother of Hyrule, where divine power is explicitly matrilineal—amounts to nothing more than meat for the fridge to motivate the real star of the show, Rauru. Everyone else, including Zelda and the other Sages, are merely bit players in the conflict between him and Ganondorf. But it's a conflict without teeth. Ganondorf displays nothing but a mad, naked lust for power. Opposing him is Rauru, the quintessential Good King and benevolent god figure who would never abuse his power, but would sacrifice it all to seal away the evil invader who killed his beloved martyr-wife. There is no interrogation of the 'gentle' imperialism Rauru represents. His way is textually presented as the only righteous way. The world of this continuity revolves around his legacy and its preservation; anything else is not merely deviant, but indicative of evil. Only someone with the blackest of hearts would oppose this order. The narrative requires Ganondorf to be nothing less than the epitome of evil.
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Which is… really disappointing, to say the least. Because I happen to like Ganondorf. His character and his place in the mythos have always been the forefront of my interest in the series; forget Link or Zelda. Naturally, I was drawn in by TOTK's marketing about Ganondorf's return as a human antagonist after a 17 year long hiatus. Given how much of a reinvention BOTW was for the series as a whole, I was disappointed back in 2017 to learn that Ganondorf existed only as a mindless force of primordial evil. "How lame," I thought, "but I guess it's not really Ganondorf." Calamity Ganon was just that: Ganon. And Ganon's always a full-blown monster, divorced from any nuance possessed by his OOT, WW, and TP selves. Then the first teaser for TOTK dropped, placing Ganondorf the man (if a little worse for wear) front and center. Intrigued, I enjoyed the explosion of enthusiastic fan art that followed, as well as the speculation regarding the role he would play. Surely, he would be more than a one-note villain! My expectations rose as Nintendo revealed more about him. His new design didn't immediately scream Dark Lord; and in his first speaking role, he draws attention to the fact that he has returned (within universe and meta-wise) and he has a vision for the world. I couldn't want to see the final product! Yet here we are.
It's a strange thing to fixate upon, when I don't have any skin in this game. But I'm passionate about storytelling. I enjoy rich narratives with nuanced characters, and I respect those that fully commit to the ideas they present... whereas stories that try to have their cake and eat it too, well, those pique my interest as well. Whenever I see untapped potential, my writer's mind cannot help but ponder the age-old question of "What if?" And I intend to do just that, in the cut below (this rant is long enough as it is).
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Of course, no amount of brainstorming can change the reality of a product. A ship's structural flaws only become apparent once it's left port, but there's no recalling it then. Nonetheless, there is value in the discussion. We should always critically analyze what corporations give us, desiccating their products to discern the messages (whether intentional or not) contained within—especially when the product is aimed toward a young audience that might not have the cognitive tools to decipher those messages for themselves. Even if we cannot affect change in a monolithic company like Nintendo, we can still draw lessons from their missteps to improve our own writing.
If I have such grievances with TOTK's story, why bother with a rewrite? Because:
Playing within the limits of another's sandbox can help to build creative muscle.
I believe TOTK has all the right ingredients for a compelling story, if this new series wasn't so afraid to challenge its narrative roots the way it has its gameplay.
A few more things to note: I am not a professional writer, nor am I a veteran of the series. I'm working strictly with what TOTK brings to the table. I'll make no efforts to reconcile the continuity errors between BOTW and TOTK (though it deserves mentioning), or even attempt to fit this in a single cohesive timeline with the rest of the franchise. I am not that brave lol. What I propose below is simply how I would use these toys; YMMV. I hope this inspires discussion more so than congratulation or wordless agreement (though my ego will accept compliments all the same, especially since it took no small amount of spoons to organize my thoughts like this). As Ganondorf says:
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A Modest Rewrite of TOTK's Ancient Past Storyline
Zelda is still flung to the past, but she awakens not to a picturesque golden age under the magnanimous rule of an infallible demigod. Instead, sadly reminiscent of her own age, the land lays in ruin, in the immediate aftermath of its own calamity. But this isn't the fault of Ganon. The blame lies solely with the Zonai.
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The Zonai were understandably viewed as gods. A people who live up in the sky on floating islands, in possession of miraculous technology (including killer robots to protect their interests!), and magical artifacts that in the wrong hands can unleash cataclysmic power? A civilization as powerful as theirs doesn't suddenly end without a very good reason. Yet as far as I know, no explanation is provided as to why Rauru and Mineru are seemingly the last of the Zonai. No mention is made of a rival power that could've taken them down; certainly none of the terrestrial races. Remember, the Zonai were seen as gods. If you were to ask me? A civilization with that great of a power at their disposal, and apparently so much of it that Rauru has four more Stones (not including his own, Sonia's, or Mineru's) to pass out as he sees fit... can only destroy itself.*
* I know the Zonai are depicted in text as a purely enlightened and benevolent race... but as far back in the franchise as OOT (which TOTK draws a lot from), not even Hyrule—the standard by which all civilization in LOZ is judged—was above a civil war, orphaning Link. War Within LOZ clearly isn't waged solely against primal forces of evil that can, must, and should be destroyed. And that's good! A story is made richer when even the Designated Good Guys can fuck things up, when characters are allowed to contain multitudes—good and bad qualities!
Power does not defuse conflict. It only escalates the scope of destruction once it's unleashed. So, for whatever reasons the Zonai gave themselves then clung to, they started fighting each other. Using their flying machines and automatons, battles were fought upon and between their sky islands, the detritus of war raining down on the lands below—the inhabitants of which can do nothing but watch as a war rages in heaven—until finally the full power of the Stones is unleashed in an exchange that guarantees mutual destruction. The sky islands all plummet to the earth, wreaking mass destruction. This is the world Zelda finds herself in—where the land has been cracked wide open, the skies are choked with dust, and no one gets along... so unlike the world she knows.
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Zelda still comes into the care of Rauru and Sonia, but Rauru is merely Sonia's consort—he holds no power as king. It's evident from the start that Sonia is steering the direction of Hyrule—a humble territory in this age—in this tumultuous time, although Rauru is backing her. It's thanks to Sonia that Rauru and Mineru survived the fall of their sky island, brought back from the brink of death. It was during this time that Rauru fell in love with her; and to repay her, Rauru revealed that, between himself and Mineru, they have three intact Stones (a small homage to the Triforce since it doesn't matter in this continuity) with which they can secure Hyrule's place in this brave new world. Importantly, this isn't portrayed as any more righteous than a nation acquiring a clear advantage over its rivals. Indeed, Zelda's thrown for a loop to learn that in this era, the other races like the Gorons and the Zora aren't merely independent from Hyrule but have a history of conflict—something she never learned in her history books. And tensions are only rising, as these rival nations find Stones of their own after much scavenging, shifting an already fraught balance of power. The gods are dead, their empire shattered—yet slivers of their strength remain, for those daring enough to claim them. By using one of these Stones, a tribe could secure its borders, reclaim ancestral land... or conquer new territory. This is where Ganondorf enters the picture.
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This Ganondorf is still a villain, but there's room for nuance. He's ruthless and prideful, and certainly antagonistic toward Hyrule; but the narrative respects him as much as his fellow monarchs. He cares about the success of his people, because his entire identity is shaped around being their king. Remember that a male is born to the Gerudo only once in a hundred years. Ganondorf is but the latest in a lineage of kings, with the heavy burden of expectation that carries—he has a legacy to uphold or surpass if he can help it. And ever since he was a boy, he envied the easy lives and green lands of Hyrule, so as a man he has made it his personal ambition to conquer it... but at every turn, he has met his match in Sonia, who is every bit as skilled of a commander and a magician. The two of them have clashed so many times that they've become the most intimate of enemies, hard pressed to hate each other because they both know what's at stake. For years, they've been evenly matched... but the downfall of the Zonai changed everything. In spite of the Gerudo's best efforts, they haven't been able to find a single Stone to make up for the fact that the crash of their local sky islands kicked up terrible sandstorms and drove monsters from their usual habitats. The Gerudo are more desperate than ever. Then Ganondorf learns that his oldest enemy is housing two living Zonai underneath her roof, and has a total of four Stones at her disposal. He cannot battle Hyrule as before, lest he risk annihilation—if not by Sonia's hands, then another tribe that is more willing to coup de grâce a decimated competitor, or they might perish to monsters, or the desert might finally claim them, the dunes swallowing up their bones and burying their accomplishments. He could bend the knee—throw himself at Sonia's feet and hope for the best, sacrificing Gerudo independence to share in Hyrule's bounty. But his pride will never allow that.
He grew up in the shadow of detached gods, was raised on tales of how they were the ultimate arbiters of truth and value—almighty in their judgment and unassailable—and he saw for himself that they would only ever come down to earth to indulge their curiosity about the quaint groundfolk or harvest what their sky islands could not provide, most notably Zonaite (of course they named it after themselves...) to fuel their miraculous machines, the secrets of which they refused to share with anyone 'because they weren't ready' and would in fact use those same machines to keep the groundfolk from overreaching. Ganondorf is the first king in generations to glimpse a sky—and a future—uncontrolled by the Zonai. Though he was raised to be a king, the very definition of absolute power and privilege, only now is he truly beholden to no one. Finally, he is free to shape his own destiny. And he's not about to relinquish that freedom on account of his dearest enemy getting in bed with a fallen demigod—no, not a god... the Zonai's civil war proved they are not infallible. Without their technology, without their precious Stones, they're flesh and blood, the same as anyone else. Mortal. And what is a man to a king?
Despite the bad blood between them, and the generations of strife between their peoples, Ganondorf is able to convince Sonia that he is willing to bury the hatchet for the sake of his people, that his desire to enter the protective embrace of her kingdom, given the dangerous new world they find themselves in, is genuine. His true intentions are not so painfully transparent, but still Zelda does not trust him. She can't stop wondering how this man becomes the source of the Gloom in her era, even if the hateful creature she encountered in the depths below Hyrule Castle hardly seemed human at all. But she cannot act on a suspicion of duplicity due to future events. So for Ganondorf's entire stint in Sonia's court, Zelda tries to weasel out the truth—and in so doing, builds a relationship with the future Demon King. Once Ganondorf catches on to the fact that Zelda sees right through him, it becomes a game of 4D chess. Who is this girl, a member of Sonia's court that he has never heard before yet is trusted enough to bear a Stone, and why is she so certain of his true motives? He's smart enough to suss out that it isn't simple bigotry. It's a fine line Zelda must walk, because she has a secret of her own—she hasn't told anyone that she's from the future, out of a rational fear of disrupting the past and changing history (but at the same time, she can't abide doing nothing, and these interests war within her).
Despite Zelda's best efforts, Ganondorf succeeds in his plot. In a single stroke, he eliminates an old enemy, deprives her nation of its leader and a Stone, and finally secures a Stone for the Gerudo. But claiming the Stone doesn't immediately transform him into an Almighty Demon King. The surge of power is great, but not so much that he's willing to engage three other Stone bearers—two of which are Zonai who of course have experience using them—so he wisely retreats, though not before telling Rauru: "No point in crying over this one. She's not the first victim of your arrogance. And we both know she won't be the last." He's made powerful enemies, but it's a battle he can fight on another day, and at least now he's on equal footing with the other factions and can take their Stones until he can finally conquer Hyrule. But Ganondorf severely underestimates the lengths Rauru will go for revenge. In killing Sonia, before Rauru's very eyes no less, he has made another enemy for life (and beyond).
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Understand that Rauru survived the destruction of his people and their way of life. That's traumatic enough. But now, the person who saved his life, and gave it new meaning, is dead. Murdered. By someone he had come to trust. Because he put a target around her neck. He should have seen this coming, he should have listened to Zelda, perhaps then he could have stopped this. But it's far too late now. Before, he was content to merely support and serve—a just penance, he believed, for his small part in breaking the world. Now, he has a new purpose: To secure Sonia's legacy by any means necessary. He binds his fate to Hyrule, which will never be safe so long as Ganondorf lives. This isn't a wise and beneficent King of Light opposing a terrible darkness, but a grieving widower—who's also a skyborn demigod that just lost his one earthly tie.
After taking command as regent, Rauru does not invite the other races to a grand alliance; he brings them to heel through force. It's not enough for Rauru to immediately counterattack Ganondorf. He wants to destroy him, and what better way than to turn the whole world against him? Additionally, by consolidating the power of the Stones onto his side, he denies Ganondorf the opportunity to pick them off one by one. Zelda is witnessing history, the birth of Hyrule as she knows it, but there's nothing noble about it. It's simple imperialism, and she has to grapple with the fact that she's a beneficiary of it. If the peoples of Hyrule were united through bloodshed, does this invalidate the friendships she's made among those peoples in her present? She's confronted with deep questions which possess no easy answers.
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Meanwhile, Ganondorf hasn't been sitting on his laurels. He sees Rauru is stacking the deck against him, such that even the Stone's power won't be enough to win the coming war. The Gerudo are outnumbered and outgunned. So Ganondorf turns to darker magics, begins to press monsters into service, etc. His search for ever greater power takes him into the Depths, where he finds a dangerous substance called Gloom. According to legend, it is the ichor of a demon god who was struck down long ago and sealed away in the bowels of the earth. It drains the life-force of whoever touches it, that much is certain... but Ganondorf reckons it is possible to access this stolen vitality to perform feats of magic hitherto thought impossible. Through his mastery of dark magic, amplified by the Stone, he is able to harness the Gloom. First he tests it upon monsters... then dissidents, those reluctant to oppose Rauru's growing army. He makes examples of them, siphoning away their life-force to show those who will not fight will still serve their king. But this barbarous act only creates more dissent among the Gerudo. Tradition appointed Ganondorf as king, but that doesn't mean they have to stomach his tyranny. Even if he manages to win this war, this new power could allow him to reign forever, and he just demonstrated how little their individual lives mean to him. Worried for the future of their people, Ganondorf's second-in-command, Nabooru, sells him out in exchange for clemency, enabling Rauru and his Sages to capture him. Instead of slaying him on the spot, Rauru declares his intention to haul him back to Hyrule for a public execution in Sonia's name. Nabooru insists on coming along; if the King of the Gerudo is to die on foreign soil, then one of his own should observe his passing.
Ganondorf doesn't respond well to this betrayal. After everything he sacrificed, they would still rather roll over and show their bellies—surrender their freedom and pride—to a foreign lord. Who are these people, to abandon the courage of their ancestors? These are not his Gerudo. Ganondorf disowns them, swearing vengeance upon these cowards even as he is taken away in chains. The journey back to Hyrule gives him time to brood on his destiny. He was born to be a king, yet the place of his birth has forsaken him while the rest of the world wants him dead. Most people would crumble, succumb to despair. But his pride will never allow that. He will keep fighting, like he always has. He will crush any opposition, even if it's the people who gave him birth. He will rule, even if he must reign as king of the undesired. There's a saying: 'The brighter the light, the deeper the shadow.' And Rauru has blazed oh so fiercely. To oppose him, Ganondorf must become nothing less than the King of Shadow.
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At the moment of his execution, he draws upon the Gloom to transcend his mortal limits, finally becoming the Demon King. In this form, he's able to battle all seven of the Sages, but he's still not almighty. In theory, Rauru is able to slay him... but he chooses not to. Imprisoning Ganondorf isn't done as a last resort; Rauru wants him to suffer. "Killing you would be far too kind. I will make you wish you could die. You won't. I will hold you here. We will build our kingdom over the lands you tried to burn and pillage. And you will rot here, trapped in this moment, long after you have faded from its memory." And he sincerely believes that he'll be able to contain Ganondorf for all time—because he was able to ascertain that Zelda is from the future, after examining her Stone (his Stone, as it turns out) and piecing together her strange accent and unusual notions, even though she has the pointed ears of a Hylian. He doesn't understand the power, but he does take it as proof positive that his victory is guaranteed and Hyrule exists well into the future... without ever learning the whole truth of it. Rauru is directly responsible for the cycle of Calamity Ganon, as Ganondorf's resent and hatred transformed the Gloom into Malice.
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Rauru's pride is an actual flaw, one that is fully explored in the modern day. Just like Ganondorf says, thousands of years passed in the blink of an eye; Rauru hasn't had any time to process his rage. He only saves Link to make him a vehicle for his revenge; sticking around past the tutorial as Link's spectral companion, constantly pushing him to ignore all distractions to destroy Ganondorf ASAP, yet unable to control him directly. In staying with Link, Rauru learns of his legacy; that he created a lasting kingdom, but harmed future generations by inadvertently creating Calamity Ganon—Ganondorf's disembodied anguish and hate, nursed over thousands of years. His selfish decisions created more harm than Ganondorf could have in a single lifetime. Just as the Zonai destroyed the world once before, Rauru managed to destroy it again and again. Hyrule no longer even exists as a kingdom, destroyed by Calamity Ganon 100 years prior. Yet Link continues to fight—not for himself, but to protect and help those he cares about as well as perfect strangers. Rauru gives a touch of the divine to Link, and in return Link reintroduces Rauru to humanity.
In contrast: Ganondorf broods in the Depths, alone. Although he still has a corporeal form, he's just as much of a ghost as Rauru is. He's more isolated than ever, having awakened to a strange world where nothing is as he remembers it. The geography is different, the flora and fauna is different, the people are different. Especially the Gerudo. They don't remember him as ever having been a person at all, believing the monster of their legends merely adopted the form of a Gerudo. But that doesn't sting as much as how tame they've become in his absence. These Gerudo have no fangs; they're fully in bed with Hyrule in every sense of the word, and it disgusts him. Nothing in this world is right. Everyone has forgotten their pride and their history; no one remembers a time when Hyrule wasn't be-all and end-all. Unable to accept this future, he terraforms Hyrule in the image of what it used to be, so it might become a crucible once more. The strong will adapt and survive, while the weak rightfully perish. He will create a world that rewards might and daring above all else.
Ganondorf is none too pleased to learn Link is running around with the arm of the man who sealed him for millennia, and assumes that he has become Rauru's puppet (even more hand symbolism)... but that's a key difference between Ganondorf and Rauru. Link essentially drags Rauru through character development, rekindling a sense of humanity within him. Ganondorf has no one to break him out of his rut. His only company down in the Depths are monsters and the Yiga Clan, who revere him as the source of Calamity Ganon—for his power and opposition of Hyrulian supremacy—but do not see him as person, a king in need of counsel. Ganondorf is more alone than ever, but he refuses to address this. To despair is to admit that the world has power over you, and he is the single strongest being in the world. Gods do not weep. And in that final confrontation, Rauru addresses Ganondorf: They're both ghosts of the past, stubbornly trying to shape the future to their liking; but the present belongs to the living. They both need to let go. But Ganondorf's pride will never allow that. To admit defeat is to admit someone has power over him, and he cannot allow it. It becomes clear to him that the only option left to him is to not play at all.
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He swallows his Stone and becomes a dragon, but this doesn't lead to another boss fight (to compensate, the third phase would be a more classical Ganon fight; a friend suggested the name of "Scourge of Hyrule—Apocalypse Ganon"). Instead, in line with what was established earlier—that to become a dragon is to lose yourself to the process—Ganondorf ascends to the sky... and bears no more malice toward Link or Hyrule. He becomes the ultimate in power—immortal and at last truly divine—at the cost of his ego. He's still dangerous since he radiates Gloom, but he doesn't attack, just like the other dragons: an idiot god. He returns to the Depths out of instinctual comfort, but will occasionally surface and usher in a Blood Moon. And like the other dragons, you can harvest rare materials from him to make the best Gloom weapons or whatever. + Leaving Ganondorf in this state leaves a door open for fanatics to try and restore him in a sequel.
So, that's all I got
There's a lot of things I didn't address. Like whether the line of succession was broken with Sonia's death (so is Zelda descended from a relative of hers?), what sort of characters the Sages should be, or what Zelda does after Ganondorf is sealed away by Rauru (I'm personally not comfortable with her waltzing up to the Sages and in a stable time loop binding all the races to Hyrule), how weird the Draconification plot point is (and how Zelda is restored to her human form by Good Ending ghost magic), how Zelda is restored in this version (sequel hook same with Ganon?), how disconnected I feel Link is to the Ancient Past storyline as a whole, whether my version of Ganondorf actually ever learned about him, I didn't really dive into the aforementioned imperialist message in TOTK (others have already done so better than I), etc. Thing is, I'm not a professional writer. I do it for the love of it, and that's what this is. A messy labor of misplaced love for a franchise I've never played, all because I was upset they didn't treat my blorbo the way I like. You know how it goes. My brain didn't know when to let go, but at least now it's out there and not rattling around solely in my noggin, making an awful racket. Maybe now I can work on other things. If you've made it this far, cheers.
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goldenwitherphoenix13 · 10 months
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A long post is under the cut, but I think we, as a fandom, moved on far too quickly from the endings of empires smp season 2.
Almost everyone got a happy ending.
Fwhip resigned from the role of the Goblin king.
Joel accended to true God hood.
Sausage grew old in sanctuary and raised Hermes to be an interdimentional warrior.
Gem finished Dawn and chose to stay in Hermitcraft because it was the best choice.
Katherine cured the curse plaguing her land.
Joey got to go on all sorts of adventures after defeating his arch-nemesis Skeletron.
Pix, while not finishing his work, got to tell the story of the ancient ruins.
Lizzie created a fully functioning city of animals to live as they want.
Shelby became one of the most powerful witches and got that date with Katherine.
Scott went off into the sunset with Owen to discover new lands and treasures to steal.
Heck, even Oli got out of debt, even if he ended up accidentally time travelling.
And while False never uploaded her finale, we can easily infer that she continued to expand her empire and make her name for herself.
Who did I miss?
Sheriff Jimmy.
The sheriff, who all the other emperors abandoned. The sheriff, nearly loosing his own identity to a joke. The sheriff, who lost his town to the fae.
Let's not forget Jimmy never left tumble town willingly. He was booted out when the fae corrupted his lands, spreading it throughout his home. He and the old sheriff, Roswell, made the best of a bad situation. I mean, what else can they do? Fight the fae? Fae are powerful creature. Not to be messed with. Fighting them is a one-way ticket to death if they don't decide to hold you a prisoner in their realm.
Jimmy also never got the chance to say goodbye to anyone. Everyone had already left him behind. Joel had accended without saying goodbye to his supposed best bud. Sausage never thought to check in on tumble town. There was no final passing of words—just a note from Fwhip.
And, let's not forget this big bit of information, the thing that still grinds my gears about empires season 2. He is the only villain of season 2 who got no closure, redemption or apology. Shelby was uncorrupted and saved. Sausage supreme was fused into Sausages soul. Skeletron was killed by Katherine, Joey and Shelby. They all got an end to their villainy, wether through being saved or killed.
Jimmy got nothing.
His ending was, in multiple ways, left unfinished. He was still bitter towards the emperors. He was still lacking any human respect. He wasn't given any apology or forgiveness. He was forced out of his home by powerful creatures, trying his best to make good of the darkness left to him.
But it's not all darkness. This isn't a bad ending. I think this end has an underlying subtext not even Jimmy planned for. Something I've seen almost no one talking about.
The sheriff walked away from a toxic environment.
Now is an excellent time to remind you that this is all about the characters. Not the actual content creators. Got it? Good.
Let's be honest. None of the characters in Empires Season 2 were 100% innocent besides maybe Katherine. Some were thieves. Some were filled with pride, some made dubious choices, and some were even a little corrupt. And Jimmy isn't an exception. He was a lil bit dishonest with power sometimes and a lil bit prideful in his name. But the sheriff wasn't evil at first. He still did things to help people. He helped Katherine arrest Joey for theft. He did his best to follow the rules, and he actively sought to stop those committing crimes and try to understand the issue at hand, like with Shelby. And his reward. Constant teasing and mockery.
Everyone, including his allies, still made fun of him. Even his best bud said things behind his back. And this is what made him snap. Not the jokes, but that no one, not even his allies, seemed to show any human decency to him.
And he never got an apology or a moment to put them in their place to tell them that they have done goofed. The sheriff was barely given a chance to build, hardly a chance to breathe. He knows he probably couldn't take them in a fight, but they didn't even give him a chance to talk. They made him sit there and take it like he had no choice.
The sheriff instead chose to walk away. Everyone had left him behind. And with the threat of the fae above him, he decided that the best course of action was to leave the toxic lands behind. Lands full of pranks and mistakes that would only ever remind him of his negative attributes.
The sheriff stayed with the one person who ever showed him any sliver of true friendship—the old sheriff. The old sheriff helped reverse the effects of the lore potion with an unnamed potion he found at Shelbys. He helped Jimmy defend the town from a raid. He stayed with him through thick and thin. Sure, he isn't the best influence, but he's better than the world around them.
Ultimately, Jimmy's finale wasn't the good ending like everyone else's. Villains rarely ever get those. Instead, it's a bittersweet goodbye from the two sheriffs off to find a new home far away to the lands of one that brought sorrow, even if at least one of them has some anger issues to work through.
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la-pheacienne · 1 month
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Continuing my post about Jaime and Rhaegar’s respective roles in the sack of KL, let’s talk about Jaime and Rhaegar’s last conversation which I didn’t mention in that post and it deserves its own analysis. I find it extremely funny how both (some) Lannister stans and (some) Targ stans seem to think that the last convo between Rhaegar and Jaime was actually like this :
"Jaime, a sack is about to happen very soon. Elia and my kids are in a high risk of getting brutally murdered inside the very capital by the orders of your father who has ghosted us for some time but is deep down an enemy planning all of this in secret. Meanwhile, my father is planning to blow up the entire city any minute now because reasons. I’m leaving you here, alone, to take care of all this and keep all these people, my wife, two kids, father and the people of the city, safe from harm. If you fail to do any of that at any point, you’re incompetent, a traitor and a coward. Now I have to leave to do my thing with the others, don’t forget your duty and your vows, bye".
While it was actually like this :
"Jaime, there’s a war, we are in a pretty tight position and I gotta go to battle taking some men with me. Unfortunately my father wants to keep you close because he believes Tywin will not turn against him this way, and he’s kind of insane so there is nothing we can do about it without risking an even bigger outburst. Give me some time to get out of this mess, and then I’ll come back and we’ll fix this. All this will be over soon, bye".
So the first reading of Jaime and Rhaegar’s last convo completely misses the mark in many ways.
Some Lannister stans are screaming crying throwing up that Rhaegar left a literal cHiLD with all tHiS rEsPoNSIbILIty he doesn’t give a FUCK about anyone how dare he what kind of tHOUGhT PrOCesS is that !!!! Some Targ stans say that Rhaegar gave specific orders to Jaime to protect his father, wife, kids and city against multiple and opposite threats and thus honor his vows, and Jaime failing to do that means he is basically a traitor and a coward. And incompetent.
None of this is correct, because this isn’t what Rhaegar asked him to do, at all. Rhaegar did not know, could not know, could not possibly conceive or imagine or suspect that a sack was about to happen at the orders of Tywin no less and that his family was in immediate danger in.the.very.capital. Nobody.knew. That is why this sack is so horrifying. Also he may have been well aware that his father was insane but not to the point that he could expect him to literally want to blow up his own city. That is a whole other level of insanity he very legitimately didn’t expect. Thirdly, Rhaegar had no power to take Jaime or his family away at this point (« I dare not » is not an epheumism. He literally dares not. We’re talking about Aerys here).
All he asked Jaime to do is wait for Rhaegar to come back and in the meantime try to keep his father at bay. That.is.literally.it. Rhaegar said : « Give me some time, I’ll come back and fix this » And Jaime did wait and he did hope that Rhaegar would come back, but Rhaegar didn’t come back not because he decided to go on vacation with his new chick but because he got killed. Nothing went according to plan, and Jaime had to take matters in his own hands.
So :
Rhaegar did not leave """""all that responsibility""""" to a """"literal child"""".  He left his father the king with the one member of the Kingsguard the king specifically wanted with him, and he told that member of the Kingsguard to literally, wait it out and be a KG. Apart from the fact that Rhaegar couldn’t take Jaime away because Aerys wanted him there, Jaime was not a random child, he was a member of the KG. Him staying with Aerys is technically what he was supposed to do as a member of the KG anyway, there is nothing abnormal or particularly stupid or outrageous or naive in this """"thought process"""", despite Jaime’s age. That order seemed both inevitable (it was Aerys’ order) and reasonable (Jaime was a KINGSguard after all), at the time.
Likewise, Rhaegar did not reasonably expect Jaime to go all Superman on both his father and Tywin’s men and save like the entire population of KL including his own family, all by himself. Again, what he actually told Jaime to do was literally wait for him to come back and try to keep his father at bay. He hoped Jaime’s presence would satiate his father until he comes back. That’s all. He did not know that Aerys would want to blow up KL, he did not know what Jaime would be forced to do and he did not expect the sack and the fact that his family would be murdered in the capital. He didn’t entrust Jaime with all these things simply because he wasn’t expecting these things. All these things were definitely not part of """the job""" Rhaegar gave him. Rhaegar’s GHOST saying to Jaime in his dreams "I left my wife and children in your hands" is manifesting Jaime’s guilt for not being able to save the family. It is a ghost in Jaime’s dream. This doesn’t mean that Rhaegar literally expected Jaime to prevent his father from blowing up the city and simultaneously protect his family from an entirely different threat that wasn’t even remotely a possibility then. Jaime failing to do all of the above by himself doesn’t make him a traitor, an incompetent loser or a coward.
The distortion of their actual convo led the entire fandom to engage in a strawman argument ad nauseam. Lannister stans are attacking Rhaegar for leaving "all this responsibility" to Jaime and Targ stans are attacking Jaime for failing to honor this responsibility, while "all this responsibility" was never part of their actual conversation to begin with because none them had the slightest idea of what was about to happen in the first place.
It is such a pity because this last convo between these two men is so tragic and haunting and beautiful, Jaime (grrm) describes his last visual memory of Rhaegar in an unusually poetic manner, and the fact that deep down he is still waiting and hoping for Rhaegar to come back makes me insane. « The day had been windy when he said farewell to Rhaegar, in the yard of the Red Keep. The prince had donned his night-black armor, with the three-headed dragon picked out in rubies on his breastplate ». « So the Prince of Dragonstone mounted up and donned his tall black helm, and rode forth to his doom ». « It is not Aerys I rue, it is Robert ». « I almost mistook you for Aegon the Conqueror ». « How much can a crown be worth when a crow can feast on a king? ». And instead of focusing on that and the symbolism of it all and that fact that it’s literally foreshadowing Dany’s or Jon’s « return » and their meeting with Jaime (Rhaegar will come back in the end in some form or another, all hope is not lost) we’re reiterating bad takes about a supposed conflict between them ad infinitum. It is boring, reductive and uninspired.
Be serious, read the text and stop spreading misinformation about either side. This is not a football game. We all love a fandom fight occasionally but it is important to actually engage with the themes of the story from time to time.
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Snow White Yuu: the story line is the same but what if when they were running to the house of the seven dwarfs they ended up finding the portal to the world of twisted wonderland and their stepmother is not the evil queen
I know it’s supposed to be Snow White!Yuu but I couldn't really specifically think of Yuu being in Snow White's shoes. So instead, this is all I could think of. I’ve always wanted to write this ever since I learnt of Twisted Wonderland.
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Descendents of the Great Seven
As it says on the title, Yuu is the descendent of one of the Great 7 (kind of). In another world, the Great 7’s actions created Twisted Wonderland but because of the butterfly effect, something quite different happened in Yuu’s world. Featuring a much more kinder (?) Great Seven.
Queen of Hearts - In here, the Cheshire Cat didn’t or couldn’t antagonize the Queen of Hearts successfully for reasons, thus not making the Queen of Hearts get angry and put Alice in trial. Since the Queen is actually kind of a decent person as long as her temper doesn't go off, Alice stayed for a lot longer in her castle and experienced new and different things. She learned to appreciate Wonderland’s madness but at the same time she never lost her own sense of reality and logic. Instead, she just made the two work together in a more balanced way. Perhaps cohabiting in the castle also made the Queen of Hearts soften up and realize that maybe ‘her way’ isn’t just the only way. She became less childish, still short-tempered though, but overall has a character development. Years later, Alice became the heir to Wonderland and eventually the next Queen of Hearts.
Scar - Honestly? Haven’t seen Lion King ever. But, for the sake of the butterfly effect, Scar intended to kill Mufasa and Simba to rule over Pride Rock but he stopped himself and instead thought it was better to guide Simba and make his nephew dependent on him. Of course, just like how I like my tropes, Scar becomes fond of Simba in a tsun-tsun way and thinks ‘his father is stupid, might as well teach him stuff so he doesn’t end up like his father and end up killing himself’. Simba soon takes over as a great leader, looking to Scar for advice whenever needed but ultimately an independent and sharp thinker just as Scar taught him to be.
Ursula - Instead of trying to trick Ariel using the loopholes in the contract, she went for a wait-and-see attitude to let Ariel see that the human prince she fell in love with at first sight isn’t as nice as he seemed to be and let the mermaid break the contract out of her violation. Of course misunderstandings and that stuff was soon bound to happen since Ariel couldn’t talk properly with the prince so she went to Ursula and decided in the heat of the moment to become a Sea Witch and help other merfolk like her. Ursula, thinking that molding and using Triton’s daughter was much better and was more a secure way to get back at Triton, accepted Ariel as her apprentice. But gradually, she learned to care for Ariel like her own daughter and strived to actually fix her reputation in the Seven Seas as a Sea Witch.
Jafar - Also another movie I haven’t seen. But for the sake of the butterfly effect again, let’s say he wanted power so he would be respected. Let’s also ignore and pretend the trying to marry Jasmine, who’s 16 years old mind you, thing never happened for our sake. He desired power and to be respected so when he saw that Jasmine was besotted with Aladdin, he thought, ‘Why don’t I use this street urchin who knows nothing of palace politics to become my puppet once he inevitably becomes the married to the princess’ because obviously Aladdin’s words are going to have weight since he’d be known as the princess’ husband. Of course, as I would like to have it, he began to care for both Aladdin and Jasmine as time went on and the two began to respect all the work that Jafar had to do. He would also even become the godfather of their future children. Both he and Genie would even fight for the title of the best godfather.
Evil Queen - Instead of trying to kill Snow White to become the fairest in the land, the Evil Queen thought that it would be advantageous if the people saw her as ‘benevolent’ and ‘kind’. That way, people wouldn’t only call her beautiful in looks but also beautiful in heart, thus spreading her name out more to distant lands. Initially, she just thought of Snow White as a charity case, with her losing both her father and mother but grew to care for her as time went on. Inevitably, she also realized that although Snow White was considered fairest of all, the citizens still called her beautiful for her heart which made her realize that she shouldn’t need to be the most beautiful in looks to be the most beautiful in people’s eyes. She also taught Snow White a lot of things ranging from sorceries and witchcraft and to keep on striving to be the most beautiful of all, both outside and inside.
Hades - Eh, what was his dastardly evil goal again? He wanted to take over Olympus, right? But that could only be possible if Hercules didn’t fight him. So what does he do? Does he go and attempt to kill baby Hercules? Of course… not! Not unless who wants to die, damn, the baby has strength. He instead decides to raise Hercules himself since the Fates said that he’d be successful in taking over Olympus after 18 years so why not just keep Hercules close to prevent him from gaining power and indebted the boy to him? It worked, for the most part anyway. He became a father figure to Hercules, obviously. Sure, Hercules felt slightly betrayed when he found out Hades wasn’t actually his father and he got kidnapped as a baby but then went all, ‘Eh, the underworld’s gloomy and the other gods never visit Fath–Hades. Might as well rule Olympus and invite Hades over to get him out of this place and get some fresh air.’ Hades may have not specifically ruled over Olympus but Hercules, whom he considered as a son as time went on, did so it was kind of basically the same.
Maleficent - Here, Aurora’s parents considered leaving Maleficent in the invitation but changed their mind at the last second because, hello? Maleficent? You really want to exclude the strongest sorcerer? Lmao, if this was politics, you’d automatically be dead the moment you stepped into the battlefield for trying to antagonize a powerful person. Make her your ally, get on her good side, and that’s what Aurora’s parents actually did in this timeline. They invited her and although the other fairies were wary of Maleficient, all of them were civil. Turns out, Maleficient was a chill person as long as no one antagonized her. In the end, Maleficent became a somewhat decent godmother to Aurora. She’s kind of like that dramatic aunt that appears every now and then but Aurora’s vibing with it and always looked forward to Maleficent's visits and witnessing her magic.
Although Yuu isn’t really related to the Great Seven, their parents did (kind of) get adopted so that still counts as being the Great Seven’s descendant, especially when it was the Great Seven themselves who were acting as their godmother/godfather and teaching them all kinds of stuff. Now that I think about it, Yuu’s technically the main character’s descendant rather than the villains but eh, let’s ignore that.
So anyway, basically with the single flap of a butterfly’s wings, it drastically changed history and Yuu grew up as the descendent of one of the Great Sevens. And then they get yeeted to Twisted Wonderland.
Imagine Yuu, looking at the statue of their ancestor and becoming haughty and proud because of  course their ‘meemaw/peepaw’ is great! It’s only right to celebrate them!
Not to mention pitting Yuu against the overblot boys.
Any sign of disrespect given to Yuu, the heir of the Queen of Hearts, is immediately dealt with by Yuu themselves. Their mood shifts as quick as they are to get angry, much like Queen of Hearts. Imagine Riddle trying to ‘Off With Your Head!’ Yuu, only for Yuu to counter back with an even angrier ‘Off With YOUR Head!’
Vil meets Yuu, heir of Snow White’s Kingdom, and he’s immediately threatened because this person gives him Neige vibes! What’s worse was, they seemed interested in watching them make poison so Yuu almost constantly never leave them alone and people are starting to compare the two of them!
Then there’s Azul who tries to rope Yuu, heir of the Seven Seas, in with a contract only to be dealt with an Uno Reverse card and have Yuu attempt to rope HIM in with a contract.
Of course, Yuu doesn’t tell the inhabitants of Twisted Wonderland that the Great Seven they look up to so much were their godparents back in their own world. They were smart enough not to get themselves mobbed by people. They wouldn’t be a very good heir to their kingdoms now would they if they didn’t know how to keep people in line, no?
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