tank moment - mauga
summary; title slightly irrelevant, i wanted to be funny. iykyk
genre/extra tags; headcanons/bullet fic, i talk about mauga hcs i thought of on the fly, reader is implied to be a support character, reader is also part of talon group, fluff, i only know the bare minimum about him and that's all i need baby, is this platonic or romantic idk
[gender neutral reader] [canon typical violence mentioned]
a/n; im back on my overwatch era. it never really ended but, i want to write about him, mauga, the beloved. typing this on my phone and finishing on my computer if anything seems wonky shhh dont tell me i'll relive that mistake for days
also this is a somewhat lightly reseached- aka not fully accurate/detailed work. i briefly mention samoan culture and if it offends or if it's a mistake, please tell me and i will erase those parts asap.
[support me and buy a kofi]
🗣 ALRIGHT SO ‼️
i've been watching and playing with/against mauga since the trial to play him came out and god i love him
but he's kind of easy to counter (im an ana main, nade is fucking broken but that's just anti heal things) and his ult is annoying
anyways
every tank needs their heal bot to keep em up
you just happen to be mauga's heal bot KDJSJSJ
(baptiste is too probably but not really)
he's a really smug guy
no one really knows that bc he sounds so upbeat and nice
but he loves to tease you, poke at you bc he knows that you will answer to him most of the time and entertain him in conversation
you and him are probably in your world even when you're both in talon tbh
he does his own thing and you just happen to join in
(he totally baits you to join his plans and you both know it)
he's a chaotic and cunning man and you're his enabler
(sounds like me and my bestie tbh)
"a hero would sacrifice you to save the world but a villain would sacrifice the world to save you" type beat
he's lowkey possessive but we dont talk about that
jk we do talk abt it
he's your scary guard dog privileges
like that man is tall tall ‼️‼️
idk why but i dont really imagine him being like an openly sweet person
he keeps it private even with how loud he is
anyways
you know how he's on a yacht for his origin story and there's like a bunch of people who got destroyed by him?
yeah he would totally do that shit for u if you asked.
he would give you the best home but
"thanks for the new place and all but did you have to kill someone for it?"
"i mean come on! this place is nice! let's enjoy it!"
he's very "i'll do the dirty work, just sit back and look pretty." and then you're like, "yeah i could. but i won't."
dps support vibes for you ✨️
but also he's charging in most of the time so, there's not much time to dps support KDHDJDJJD
he's like the kool aid man bursting in through the walls /j
cough
back to the hcs here...
he's so tall and big, he would totally let you hang off his back like nunu and wilump (from league, yeah i play league dont remind me totally gonna write for heartsteel soon tm)
also he's literally the greatest heated blanket (ahead of roadhog)
he's so stronk and wowowowow im so gay i love him
when you're surrounded by some enemies, he's charging in, slamming the ground and carrying you with ease as he keeps you safe while destroying any enemies who even tried to touch you
ugh
despite his lack of pda, he's a very actions over words.
he's so silly
chivalry isn't dead when he breaks into a jewelry store for u 😍😍
if you ever have those crazy thoughts about crime, he's totally gonna enable you and let you reign havoc on god knows what.
love language is actions and gift giving. enough said.
when he gives you a hug, he's so fucking warm omg
i said it before and i'll say it again, he's the best heated blanket, literal furnace
bad for the people who sweat easily though (ahem me lowkey)
one the off-days where it's just a day off and relaxing, he's taking care of you well !!
when you're on talon missions, since he can't run around as easily unless he gets the okay but you do keep him company until then
he likes to protect but he loves destroying people
he knows you're able to care for yourself, so he can go crazy whenever, and he loves that.
he also loves watching you get mad or angrily passionate
"yes go, la'u ma’asoama!" (my rock/stone, get it? bc his name means mountain)
he is a really good hype man. even if you're the one in the wrong.
god I WISH I LOOKED UP MORE ABOUT HIM ARGBHYKFJ
soon (tm)
someday i'll write more.
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Karma is a God
Chapter 13: The Riverlands
The Dance of the Dragons begins on a lie, and Aemond owes a debt, one Lucerra will see repaid in Fire and Blood // Series Masterlist // Main Masterlist
Aemond x Lucerra Velaryon (fem!Lucerys)
Warnings for this chapter: spoilers for F&B and future seasons of HotD, canon divergence, descriptions of violence
Words: 7700
A/n: Also available to read on AO3.
The skies over Blackwater Bay and Crackclaw Point are clear. There are no clouds to hide in and Grey Ghost makes quick work of the distance from Dragonstone to Maidenpool.
The Queen had ordered that she fly straight back to King’s Landing after accompanying Baela and Rhaena to Dragonstone, but as much as she fears her mother’s wroth, she fears what might happen if she sits idly.
To the south, Borros Baratheon has summoned his banners to Storm’s End. To the west, the Lannisters clash with the Iron Fleet. The Tyrells have taken a neutral stance, but the Hightower army is rebuilding in the Reach, rallying behind Prince Daeron and Criston Cole.
As for the Riverlands… the reports they receive are harrowing.
For almost two moons, Aemond has terrorised the Riverlands, unleashing dragonfire and death upon all those he deems to be traitors. Everything in his path turns to ash; towns, cities, castles, crops, and too many lives to count.
They fly high enough that the world spreads out below them like a map. As they approach the southern shore of the Bay of Crabs, she can see where the green fields turn to black. Smoke rises from the ground, trees reach against a grey sky, charred and bare. No life remains where Vhagar flies.
Could he hear the screams as he did it? Was he blind to the suffering, or did he bathe himself in it?
She had heard the cries of dying men as she burnt the Tyroshi war ships by Driftmark, but they were distant, a noise lingering in the back of her mind. All she remembers of that night is the smell of smoke, flashes of golden flames blurred through her tears, emptiness and rage. Thousands of lives ended, for the sake of avenging two already lost.
It is not the same, she tells herself.
They were soldiers. Any one of them could have been the man who released the quarrel that killed Jace, or manned the ship that sunk the Gay Abandon and young Viserys with it.
Aemond kills because he is cruel.
And I…
Death could not save the people who died at Hightide and Spicetown, it could not bring back her brothers, or any other lives lost at The Gullet. That thought has lingered in her mind ever since, a parasite draining the warmth from her body, the life from her soul.
But this is war. Either she will die a martyr, like Jace, like Rhaenys, or survival will chip away at the person she once was.
Maidenpool is nothing compared to the grandeur of Dragonstone or the high walls and towers of The Red Keep. Its keep and battlements are grey and cobbled, covered in moss and ivy so it blends in seamlessly with the surrounding greenery and the backdrop of the sea.
The castle is not the first thing she spots though, rather the blood red dragon that lies before the outer walls. Caraxes is curled in on himself, in a rare moment of peace as he sleeps. But he stirs as they land, rearing his head and glaring at them through wide, golden eyes.
Grey Ghost is uneasy, and not without cause. The Bloodwyrm is monstrously large, bloodthirsty and chaotic.
She remembers the first time she saw Caraxes, as their families gathered on Driftmark for the funeral of Laena Velaryon. Jace had flown on Vermax, while she, too small to ride Arrax, rode in a carriage with her mother and father. They reached Hightide and suddenly she heard a thunderous roar and a whistling, rippling shriek. What a sight they were, Caraxes and Vhagar, soaring from the East with the sunrise. They terrified her in different ways. Vhagar was colossal, and though Caraxes was smaller, he was swift, with piercing eyes, sharp teeth and a serpentine neck that she couldn’t help but follow as it swayed and slithered.
The gates open before she has dismounted. Daemon leads an escort of guards to meet her, dressed in his riding leathers rather than his armour. He knows not to come too close to Grey Ghost.
Her dragon is steadfastly steady as she dismounts, his head fixed on the men who have dared to approach his rider.
Strangers, hisses the voice in her head. Danger.
“Princess Lucerra,” Daemon says, resting his hands on the hilt of Dark Sister which hangs from his hip. “What a pleasant surprise.” His voice is calm but in a way that makes her nervous.
“Your Grace,” she says, keeping a gloved hand against Grey Ghost’s hide, stroking along his scales to calm him.
Daemon observes this with a small smile, and a turn of his head towards the guards, who relax their stances. “You should know better than to announce on dragonback unannounced.”
“And yet you were able to determine I was not an enemy,” Luke says. “I came from Dragonstone.”
His amusement fades into something more concerned. “Baela and Rhaena?”
Rhaenyra needed a dragon to protect the island and patrol the sea, if necessary. It couldn’t be Tylesys, Sheepstealer was still weak from the encounter with Tessarion, and she wanted Seasmoke, Vermithor and Silverwing to stay in King’s Landing. By the slight frown in Daemon’s face, he has some trepidation about Baela being the one to take on such a burden. But she is brave enough for it, and besides, Dragonstone is defended by water and the Velaryon Fleet. So long as Daeron and Tessarion remain in the Reach, the girls will be safe.
“Your daughters are safely delivered,” she says.
Daemon looks between her and her dragon. “Does your mother approve of you being here?” he asks.
Her breath catches effortlessly in her throat. “She does not know.”
He smiles again. “I have to admit, I did anticipate you might find your way here.”
The small council met the very day they received the first letter from Riverrun.
Prince Aemond has declared a one man war on the Riverlands, intent on burning all those who align themselves to Queen Rhaenyra.
The sight before her eyes was dull and gloomy. She winced at flashes of lighting and rumbles of thunder that were not there to be seen or heard. She saw only him, the scar she had left him, the sapphire set within the socket. His voice drifted through her, just out of earshot but there nonetheless.
“I want you to put out your eye, as payment for mine.”
“Do this, dōna ilībōños, and I will consider your debt fulfilled.”
“My nephew must not be left unchecked,” Daemon’s voice said.
Suddenly the other faces in the room materialised into view. Rhaenyra’s eyes were down, fixed on the golden ball placed before her. Lord Corlys’ brow was twisted in contemplation and concern. The other men of the Small Council were watching Daemon, who in turn had his eyes on her.
He watched her for the entirety of their gathering, and she knew what he was looking for. She gave him nothing, not the smallest movement in her face or a hint of an expression. She had become rather well practised at this.
But the moment she was back in her chambers, the moment she was alone, she gave into the fury and fear simmering inside of her. She only managed to seat herself on the edge of her bed before the tears began to stream down her face. She caught them in her palms as she wept.
Aemond was rarely cruel as a child, if he was it was because he had been pushed too far, by Aegon, by Jace, and by her own doing. She had expected him to hate her when she returned to the Red Keep, and she had been right in her assumption. A debt was owed, one he had wanted her to pay with her life.
Whose fault could it be but hers that Aemond had grown into he had become?
A weight hung heavy in her chest. She hadn’t been the one to mount Vhagar or utter the command that scorched the Riverlands, but she knew she had a part in this, in some twisting of fate, in the overlaps and knots in the threads of life.
Two moons passed and hardly anything came from Daemon’s hunt. News would come of a castle or town left in ashes, farms and fields obliterated, whole herds of livestock lost to the dragon’s jaws, but Daemon could not fly fast enough. By the time word reached him of an attack, there would no traceable signs of Aemond and Vhagar but the devastation they left behind.
The night before she left to escort Baela and Rhaena to Dragonstone, she took supper with Lord Corlys and her siblings, which included Alyn and Addam. Moments like this were the closest she came to feeling she had a home in the Red Keep, despite the notable absences. She forced herself to smile as Joffrey tried to imitate everything about Lord Corlys, the way he held his cutlery, the way he leaned back in his chair and kept his cup close to his lips. Her brother was to be the future Lord of the Tides afterall.
Rhaena kept her little pink dragon, Morning, on her shoulder. She and Addam fed her scraps of beef and praised her when she cooed.
Baela sat beside Alyn, with perfect posture and a tight smile on her lips at everything he said. But her resolve was slipping. With every joke Alyn whispered in her ear, she leaned a little further into him and laughed a little louder.
At first the sight made Luke’s stomach churn, as if she could still see the distant battle at The Gullet, like she could still smell the smoke as the Tyroshi ships were bathed in Grey Ghost’s fire. Until she wondered if Jace had ever told Baela of his time at Winterfell, why he had a scar on his palm and why, if she travelled north to see for herself, Cregan Stark would have one to match.
Alyn was charming, Luke supposed, gracious, with a smile that sparked excitement.
What did it matter where Baela chose to seek happiness? Surely it was better that she did not dwell on memories and live her life with the burden of the past. What would that bring but grief and regret?
After seeing young Aegon to bed and allowing Joffrey one game of Cyvasse, Luke visited her mother. Rhaenyra could be found where she usually was, in her father’s chambers sitting by a dying hearth and gazing over the model of Old Valyria, coated with dust and cobwebs after so many years of neglect. Luke sat by her side, tracing her fingertips over her hands and the cuts along her skin. Some were red and fresh, some were older and clotted, others had faded into thin scars.
“They are meaningless,” her mother whispered without turning her eyes to her daughter. “A consequence of our ancestor choosing to forge his throne from the swords of his enemies. My father suffered the same.”
Watching her mother was like watching a warm and golden autumn fade into a desolate winter. She could not endure it for long.
Her back fell against the door as she returned to her bedchamber, frozen in place by what she saw. Another envelope, sealed with a winged insect stamped into amber wax, left on the floor by her bed, exactly where she had found the last one.
She held her breath for a moment, waiting for any kind of sound, a footstep, a voice, a scuttling of a rodent, but whoever had delivered it must have been long gone.
Once again, she reached for the knife by her bedside, slicing through the envelope to save the seal.
There was just one line, and no signature.
Search for him and he will find you.
She knew what had to be done. She could not sit idly, not while her mother’s allies burned and she had a debt of her own to claim.
Daemon steps towards her. “You want to be the one to do it,” he says.
She often has this feeling, like she’s drowning in her own skin. Like the world around her is cold and dark and she cannot breathe. She sees only one way to save herself from it.
“I have to be.”
The castle is quiet, filled with servants who scurry through the halls with their heads down, and knights and Lords who offer no looks of warmth to their Prince and Princess. It is unusual that Daemon does not reprimand them for it.
He sees that she is brought to a chamber that overlooks the sea and is given supper. It is no great feast– many of the crops and livestock of the Riverlands have been lost to Vhagar’s fire, but she is given a plate of shucked oysters and another with white fish and potatoes. Daemon does not eat with her, or visit her once she is finished.
The sounds of the waves roar in her ears as she lies in the bed and pulls the sheets around her. Each time she starts to fall asleep she feels weightless, and suddenly she is slipping from Arrax’s saddle and hurtling through to storm into the waves of Shipbreaker Bay–
But she wakes before her body meets the water.
A maid comes to her early in the morning just after sunrise. She bathes and dresses in her riding leathers, firmly fixing her sword to her hip, letting her fingertips linger on the golden seahorse hilt.
“He should be taken as a prisoner,” was Lord Corlys’ counter to Daemon’s pledge to find Aemond. “If he is dead, the Greens will make a King of Daeron and rally behind him.”
Rhaenyra at last looked up when he said it. “My brother forsook any chance of mercy when he tried to claim the life of my daughter,” she said.
Grey Ghost and Caraxes wait for them beyond the castle walls, restless the way dragons always are before they take flight.
“I have word from Sabitha Frey,” Daemon says before they mount their dragons. “She has recaptured Harrenhal along with the Blackwoods.”
“I can’t imagine it was difficult,” Luke says. “It was left completely undefended.”
Daemon chuckles as he hauls himself into Caraxes’ saddle, a much steeper climb than it is for her to mount Grey Ghost. Aemond would have further to climb than either of them, a thought which she tries to dismiss.
“We have our hold in the Riverlands once more,” he calls to her as Caraxes starts to move. The dragon whistles like a dolphin and bellows a screeching roar as he lurches forward, bounding off the ground and swiftly ascending into the air with powerful beats of his wings that shake the trees. Daemon steers him west, over the burned landscape.
Danger, whispers the voice in her head.
She drives Grey Ghost forward nonetheless.
As they fly, the air around them is hazy and thick. Luke keeps her sleeve over her nose and mouth. She is used to wind and rain rushing against her face, but smoke is a different beast altogether. It stings in her eyes, burns in her throat, seeps into her lungs and her bloodstream.
Heat lingers even after the fires have died and eaten everything away to ash. She feels it through her leathers.
Harrenhal is not out of place among this scorched wasteland. She sees the lake first, as vast as an ocean, black water glimmering under the sun’s early rays, splashes of white foam with the waves. In the centre is an island, so thick with trees she cannot see the ground underneath.
She feels unsettled, as though she is being watched. This must be the famed God’s Eye.
Standing over the water, shrouded in smoke and mist, is Harrenhal. She can see the path of Balerion’s fire through the five towers, where the stone is melted, twisted, and crumbled to ruins.
Harwin Strong once told her of the curse of Harrenhal, that every family who dared to hold it was doomed to meet a terrible end, and now her mother’s banners hang over the front gates.
Caraxes lands on the lakeshore where Daemon waits for her to dismount. This is a place familiar to him. This is where he was when news came of Arrax’s demise above Shipbreaker Bay. This is where he gave the order to seek justice for the deaths of his daughters. He remained here while Rhaenys burned at Rook’s Rest, as the Triarchy sank the ship that carried his son, as the Velaryon Fleet held The Gullet, as Jace and Vermax were lost to quarrels and treacherous waters.
Now is not the time to unleash her anger, but Daemon has always had a way of seeing right through her.
He leads her up the slight slope to the gatehouse, into the castle itself. The soldiers they pass bear the sigils of the Freys and the Blackwoods, proud and powerful houses of the Riverlands. Unlike those they passed at Maidenpool, the men and women here look upon their Prince with reverence. Daemon, with Dark Sister by his side, his short, silver hair braided away from his face, looks nothing less than a force of nature, a warrior, a would-be-King, the kind of man to inspire fear from both his enemies and his allies.
And when the fearful eyes come to her, they become curious. It is a question that has haunted her all her life; what do they see when they look at her? A Velaryon, a Targaryen or a Strong? A Princess, an heir, or an outlier, an insult to custom and duty? Perhaps now they see what she has become.
She follows Daemon through quiet hallways, through archways and holes in the walls where there should be doors, until they come to a cavernous hall. The light hardly reaches through the glassless windows on the far side of the room, but she makes out arches and buttresses hundreds of feet high, hearths untouched for decades. On the walls there are carvings of the sigil of House Hoare, images of the sea, krakens and sea monsters, men bathing– or drowning, under the dim light of the braziers, the last remnants of the Iron Islanders who once made this their home.
In the centre of the hall, still quite a distance away, is a table, around which a man and two women are gathered. Candlelight flickers against their faces as she and Daemon approach.
A woman stands at the head of the table, studying a map of the Riverlands and the Crownlands. Her chestplate bears two sigils, one of a black toad, one of two, blue towers. Her hair is pulled tightly from her face. Despite the soft, round edges of her cheeks and jaw, there is a stern look about her, a sharpness in her eyes and the thin line of her mouth.
The man is young, dressed in armour, marked by the sigil of a weirwood surrounded by ravens. He has a head of curly black hair, to match the second woman, only hers reaches below her waist. She is breathtakingly beautiful, tall and broad, dressed in white and black with a red cloak hanging from her shoulders.
“Princess Lucerra,” Daemon says, ushering Luke to stand at the other end of the table, overlooking the Kingswood and the Rose Road past Tumbleton and Bitterbridge. “Lady Sabitha Frey, Lord Benjicot Blackwood of Raventree Hall, and Lady Alysanne Blackwood.”
Only now do they look at her, with the same curiosity that she is used to.
“What an honour it is to be acquainted with you, Princess,” Lady Sabitha says, stiffly.
The two Blackwoods bow their heads, and Lady Alysanne offers her a small smile.
“We are glad to have you join us, Prince Daemon,” says Lord Benjicot.
Daemon hums in acknowledgement as he sets Dark Sister down on the table. “It seems a far more convenient base than Maidenpool,” he says, darkly.
A gust of wind howls in the distance. It is quiet, but with the echo through the hall it sounds monstrous and unnatural.
Lady Sabitha seems to have command of this gathering. Luke has heard rumours of Lady Frey’s character, most of them from Daemon. He says she is merciless and efficient. She finds she agrees with this assessment, but rather admires her for it. She has lost her husband in this war, and now her seat. The Twins, along with her son, have been taken by the Lannisters, who now block the road south.
“The Riverlands are loyal to you, Your Grace,” she says to Daemon, “but we have little chance of mustering more men than we have here.”
“What of the Tullys?” Luke asks.
Lady Alysanne sighs. “They cannot be relied upon. Elmo Tully would pledge their banners to the true Queen, but he will not act against Lord Grover’s wishes.”
“The Lord of Riverrun is as decisive as he is young and spritely,” Daemon says. “We cannot afford to wait for the old man to die while the Hightowers recover their strength.”
“But with Jason Lannister at the Twins, the Starks will have to fight through an army to reach us,” Alysanne says.
They fall into quiet, studying the map and the figures upon it, the hightower in the Reach, the stag at the edge of the Stormlands, the lion and the wolf to the north.
“And then there is the more pressing issue,” Lord Benjicot says darkly.
Luke counts the dragons upon the map. Tessarion in the Reach; Moondancer at Dragonstone; Syrax, Vermithor, Silverwing, Seasmoke, Tyraxes and Dreamfyre at King’s Landing. Lady Sabitha moves Caraxes and Grey Ghost to Harrenhal. Two figures remain, a golden dragon for Sunfyre, kept at the edge of the map, and Vhagar, hovering over Pinkmaiden, seat of House Piper.
“He was last seen here?” Luke asks quietly, reaching out a finger, but stopping herself before she touches Vhagar’s figure.
“Not three days ago,” Benjicot says. He places the tip of his finger over Riverrun first. “He began his assaults here, after Harrenhal was abandoned. He won’t directly attack the Tullys, but he targeted the lands that surround them.” Then he traces east, over the towns along the River Road, marking Aemond’s warpath.
“I went to Darry,” Daemon says, “by the time I got there, Vhagar was feasting on whole farms of sheep at the border of the Vale.”
“We think he might be seeking shelter here–” Lord Benjicot points to the mountain range that marks the border of the Westerlands. “Out of Prince Daemon’s reach, close enough to continue his attacks.”
“And he was not seen after Pink Maiden?” Luke says.
“He attacked at nightfall. Even with Vhagar’s size, it was impossible to tell where they went.”
Her eyes follow as he moves Vhagar’s figure to the mountains, and a heavy hand lands on her shoulder. The weight strains her neck.
“Perhaps I could ride out on Grey Ghost and search the mountains?” she says.
Daemon does not give the others a moment to consider. “I will not allow you to use yourself as bait.”
What is the difference? He would be happy for her to meet him in open battle, but not to seek him out as she had done with Daeron?
She knows better than to test the patience of Daemon Targaryen, but her own has been wearing thin for far too long.
“And how else do you intend to find him?” she asks. “You have searched for Aemond for moons and to no avail. Do you expect him to come to us willingly?”
“He is proud enough to do so,” Daemon mutters.
“Then where is he? Why has he not sought you out?”
“Enough.” He does not need to shout. His anger is apparent enough for her to bow her head and listen in to the rest of the gathering in silence.
There is nothing for her in Harrenhal but death.
She takes an abandoned servant’s quarters as a bedchamber, by the kitchens in Widow’s Tower, until Daemon tells her of the horror found in the crypt underneath.
Their bodies were left in the cellar, slaughtered within a cell, some simply run through, others slashed to shreds. There was no sense to it, no reason for Aemond to kill his prisoners or bring such a bloody end to House Strong– well, almost.
She wonders why he did it and how he can live with himself in the aftermath. He had not even spared the children. She pictures them cowering, helpless to watch as their family were picked off, one by one, before Aemond at last set his one, violet eye to them.
But Aemond kills because he is cruel, and soon that cruelty will be ended.
She cannot stay in the tower knowing what lies underneath. So she takes her sword and climbs the staircases, past empty chambers and passageways. She doesn’t know what she is expecting. Whatever was left of Ser Harwin or his belongings would have been removed years ago, and while Harrenhal may belong to his family, he always said he never felt at home here. She sees why for herself.
Her legs burn as she climbs higher, where the tower becomes decrepit. The stairways are treacherous now, she wonders if they might crumble under her boots and yet she carries on, passing rubble never cleared and gaps in the tower where the walls were lost to the Black Dread’s fire.
She comes to a bridge, high above the courtyard leading into the castle’s tallest tower, the Kingspyre. There are at least some signs of life in this part of the castle, servants, lit torches and hearths.
She passes a chamber with a great oak door, adorned with carvings of sea creatures with grotesque faces, waves and ships, the three rivers of the Trident and, when she looks closely, pairs of eyes hidden amongst the images.
She expects it to be locked, but tries the handle, only for it to open, seamlessly and silently.
It is a grand chamber, to be sure, perhaps intended for the Lord of the castle. There are no belongings in the room, no sign of ownership, and yet it is well kept. The sheets are clean, the logs of the hearth set and ready to be set alight It smells stale and stagnant, but not like the lingering smell of smoke found in the rest of Harrenhal.
She hesitates, then smooths her palm over the bedsheets to find they are cold. This chamber must have been in use recently, but not recently enough to warrant immediate attention.
She wanders to the window, overlooking the courtyard, the gatehouse and the God’s Eye beyond the walls. The figures in the courtyard are distant but still distinct. Daemon’s silver hair is obvious as he stands with a woman. At first she mistakes her for Lady Alysanne; she is seemingly tall and slender with dark hair, but something about her posture is different, the way she tilts her head as she leans closer to Daemon.
The wind wails beyond the walls of the tower and for a moment it sounds soft, like a breath.
The woman turns her gaze up, to the very window Luke stands behind. She can make out the colour of her eyes– green, brighter and paler than Lady Alysanne’s. They must be truly striking at a ground level, because from here they are piercing.
A sick feeling floods Luke’s stomach. She should not be here, not in this room, perhaps not even at Harrenhal, but she cannot find the courage to leave.
When she makes her way down the stairs of the tower and into the courtyard, Daemon and the woman are gone. Instead she finds the castle’s Godwood, following the small stream that runs through it, to the heart tree.
The faces in the bark are nothing like those in King’s Landing. These faces are full of anguish, twisted, mouths open as if they are screaming, in pain or fury.
A chill slips down her spine and she knows she is being watched– not by the eyes in the tree. A footstep treads softly in the grass behind her. She turns her head over her shoulder, just enough for them to know she has heard them.
The footsteps are less careful now, unabashed in their approach.
She sees a flash of dark hair, at first believing it to be Lady Alysanne, only to find herself disappointed, and then a little on edge.
It is the woman from the courtyard, the woman with unnaturally bright eyes.
“Do you often find yourself seeking the comfort of a weirwood, Princess?” she asks. Her voice is surprisingly low, rich and seductive.
She never used to, but she seems to have noticed them more since they took King’s Landing. She passes the weirwood in the gardens of the keep, sees the image of one above her bed, finds her mind wandering to memories of afternoons she spent under the shelter of red leaves and her uncle’s arm as he read from a history book.
“What business of it is yours?” Luke says sharply.
The woman hums a low laugh and lets it fade to silence.
Night is beginning to creep in. Beyond the walls of the castle, the sight of the sunset over the lake will be beautiful, a red sky over the water. She hears the waves and the wind as if she is standing on the shore.
“It is a terrible thing to lose one’s family,” the woman says, bringing her hands before her. Her dress is made of simple black fabric, with no patterns or distinctive embroidery, but the sleeves are long, draped over her hands and lined with green satin.
Luke catches a piece of flesh between her teeth. “You have lost family in this war too?” she says, uncaring at her shortness.
The woman tilts her head. Luke watches her as she takes a step towards the tree, placing her palm against the white bark, beside one of the faces. “The family I have lost was never mine to begin with. In truth, I do not feel it,” she says.
A hollow feeling lodges itself in Luke’s chest and twists like a knife in an already fatal wound. She wishes she could say the same.
The woman drops her hand from the tree, and turns to her. “Do you feel your losses, Lucerra?”
The absence of her brothers becomes a little more subdued each day, but she still carries them with her, the memories, the pain of knowing that their deaths were anything but peaceful, and the burden Jace has left her with.
She was so fearless as a child, she realises. She was secure, the daughter of a Princess, the granddaughter of the King, with Aegon, Helaena, Aemond and Jace to guide her, protect her. But all of that is gone now, the life she used to enjoy, and she fears the things she used to love.
Tears prickle in her eyes, heavy and close to falling.
How much can the woman read from a single look from her eyes?
She steps forward to take Luke’s hands in hers. Her skin is rough and dry. She opens Luke’s palms, running a slender finger along the lines in her skin. “A powerful combination of blood flows through your veins,” she utters. “The blood of the dragon, and of the First Men.”
Daemon has taken heads for such an insinuation.
Luke raises her brow. “Do you question my legitimacy?”
The woman scoffs. “ Laws are made by men, but we are made of flesh and blood alone. Legitimacy has no meaning in the natural order.”
“And yet without it, my position will never be secure,” Luke says.
The woman stares at her, amused or mocking, it is difficult to tell.
“It was not by right of birth that Aegon the Conqueror claimed rule of the Seven Kingdoms.”
She thinks of all the history lessons she used to sit through, never taking in a word. All the hours she would make Aemond read to her– did he hate her back then? Would he have refused her if he felt he had the choice? “No. But he won it, and had the strength to hold it.”
The woman hums. She runs her hand further up, to the thin, blue veins running along Luke’s wrist. She presses her thumb against her skin, letting the colour fade and run again.
Her harsh green eyes come to Luke’s. “Blood is unambiguous,” she whispers.
Why must it all come back to blood?
The woman seems to note some kind of change in Luke’s face, squinting her eyes and furrowing her brow just a little. What does she think she might find in the frightened and furious mind of hers?
“Helaena said something to me,” Luke utters before she can stop herself.
“She spoke of blood,” the woman says, assuredly.
There is a trail of blood. It flows to you. It ends with you.
Luke breathes slowly. She has tried to decipher Helaena’s words for weeks, moons even.
Her aunt used to mutter strange musings often, always to Aegon’s insistence that she was stupid and freakish. Jace’s stance was that he would not burden himself with things that did not make sense to him, and so she did the same.
Blood– blood she shares with her mother and the line of Kings that have come before them. Blood she shares with her brothers, with her father. Blood she shares with Helaena and her uncles. Blood spilled, lives ended or left in ruins. This war has seen too much of it already.
“What did she tell you, Princess?”
She whispers the words that have haunted her since she heard them, but where Helaena’s voice was gentle and wistful, she feels a tremble in her own throat. “There is a trail of blood. It flows to you. It ends with you.”
The woman frowns, keeping her gaze on Luke’s eyes as though the answer lies within her very soul. The longer she looks, the duller her eyes seem to become.
“What do you believe this means?” the woman asks.
Daemon says killing Aemond will end the war, or at least determine the outcome. Corlys says it will weaken their enemies, but give them cause to regather their strength. Her mother would say it is justice.
Kill Aemond and the threat of Vhagar will be removed. What remains of the Riverlands will be spared, Daeron and Tessarion will stand alone. Then they need only wait for Cregan Stark to march south to secure their victory.
It should all be so simple.
So why does she feel the wind running through her? Why does she feel so restless and furious that her body trembles and her nails press into her palms? Why does she hear the crashing of waves morphing into distance screams? Why does she feel so wrong?
The woman’s voice is perhaps the one thing that sounds true, clear and low. “Mercy is a weakness.”
She knows she has no reason to trust this woman, but the rage inside her tells her she is right. She may never know the number of men she has killed from atop her dragon, so what is one more? One more life lost, a fair exchange for what he has taken from her.
But it will be different to know the name of the man whose life she will claim, to know his face and his voice. To share his memories and his blood.
Mercy is a weakness– it sounds like something Daemon might say.
“What are you doing here?” The command in his voice as he approaches startles them both. Luke tears her eyes away from the woman, to the head of silver hair gleaming in twilight.
She begins to panic. Was she supposed to stay in the castle? The hour is getting late, perhaps he was concerned… but he doesn’t so much as look at Luke. His gaze is clearly on the woman.
“I was beginning to worry you might be dead,” he says.
The woman’s lips curl into a half smile. “I was spared by his Grace, the Prince Regent.”
Daemon scoffs, utterly unamused. Only then does he turn to Luke. “What poison are you inflicting on the poor girl?”
“Poison?” she echoes with a sly expression.
“That is your way, is it not, witch?”
This does not seem to phase the woman.
Daemon hums a short laugh, but his expression remains dark. “You were supposed to deliver my nephew to me…”
She hates this, not knowing the whole truth of what is happening around her, the secret devices and plots. The familiarity between Daemon and the woman is beginning to infuriate her, until her chest feels heavy with the weight of the breaths she takes to calm herself.
“...But by the sounds of it, it seems all you’ve succeeded in doing is keeping his cock wet.”
Suddenly her chest and stomach twist into a tight knot.
It is not an image she wants in her head, but it appears nonetheless. The woman standing before her is a beautiful one, and Aemond is a Prince, a warrior, hot-blooded and demanding when he wants to be.
Her imagination is vivid and visceral. She has felt his lips against hers, his breath on her skin, his hand tracing down the front of her gown and slipping beneath her skirts. She had almost expected him to take her fully that night, in the hidden corner of the Red Keep while their families failed to make amends. She often wonders if she should have let him.
Does he ever think about that night? What he did to her— what they did together, or was it all forgotten the moment he saw the pair of eyes bearing into her soul this very moment?
“He will come,” the woman says.
Daemon chuckles to himself. “For his paramour?”
Her piercing gaze falls once more to Luke. Her eyes are dark now and almost bloodthirsty. “He will come for what he believes he is owed.”
And so they wait.
Thirteen days pass. Daemon marks each one with a slash of Dark Sister in the trunk of the heart tree in the Godswood. Each strike bleeds red sap.
She tries to make use of each day, but there are only so many arrows she can shoot into targets and tree trunks, only so many times she can sharpen her sword before she will damage the blade.
All the while there is no word of Aemond and no sightings of Vhagar. Whenever she gathers in the great hall with Daemon, Sabitha Frey and the Blackwoods, she scours the map as if she will somehow know where to find him.
Daemon refuses to let her ride Grey Ghost, not even to circle the lake. He says the risk is too great, but since when did he ever burden himself with risks?
This castle was built on blood and is haunted by the Stranger. In another life Harrenhal might have been her home, but she fears she may not be able to stay here much longer. Her sanity cannot bear it.
She tries to find a new chamber to sleep in each night, but rest never comes easily. When she wakes she recalls dreams of the lake. In these dreams, she does not walk along the shore or try to find her way back to the castle. She lies against the pebbled beach, her head cradled in scaly limbs, a longing for blood in her belly and an ominous feeling that keeps her grounded.
Search for him and he will find you.
Luke rises with the sun. From the battlements, she can see Daemon in the godswood, carving his fourteenth strike into the weirwood tree. To the lakeshore she makes out the shape of her slumbering dragon. Grey Ghost blends in almost perfectly with the morning mist, until she spots one of his yellow eyes, wide and bright enough to spot from the castle.
She retreats to her little bedchamber in the Tower of Dread, tucks herself under the bedsheet, rough and scratchy with age, and shuts her eyes.
She stares back at the castle, and knows she will be safe within its walls— for now at least.
Her body is not her own, but she settles in it. This is not a brief moment of madness as with Tessarion. This feels like an extension of her dreams, something natural and familiar. Her movements are deliberate as she rises and spreads her wings.
She leaves Harrenhal behind, darting up towards the sky with all the speed she can gather, until the lake and the lands around Harrenhal are set out before her.
Aemond has not followed a particular path, so it stands to reason his hiding place may not be where she expects it to be. He could be in the mountains southwest of Pinkmaiden, or he could be somewhere else entirely.
If he has not been seen since then, perhaps he is somewhere more isolated.
By the time the sun has reached its peak in the sky, she has flown over most of the western Riverlands, over Raventree Hall, Acorn Hall, Pinkmaiden and Stone Mill. She can see she is approaching Riverrun, the seat of the Tullys. They do not fly any banners, and yet their men are gathered and preparing for war.
Where to then? Along the Red Fork to the Trident, to the mountains that border The Vale? Or over Whispering Wood, where the mountains meet the sea along Ironman’s Bay?
Intinstic drives her north with a swift beating of her wings.
A swirl of storm clouds looms over the Iron Islands, but the rain has yet to reach the mainland. A fearsome wind threatens to blow her off course and below her the waves beat against the base of the cliffs, crashing and roaring against the rock with flurries of white foam. Grey Ghost does not fear the sea and for now, neither does she.
She flies high, sweeping her eyes along the slivers of shoreline that have not been claimed by the tide, searching for any sign of another dragon, a nest, a charred carcass of an animal. That’s when she hears a growl, like a rumble of thunder, echoing through the air as if the very sky seeks to unleash its fury.
Vhagar rises from her hiding place, half-buried in damp sand and the rest of her hide blending in with the rock. She feels the heat coursing through her blood when the dragons meet each other’s eyes, the fire rising in her gut, the urge to sink her teeth and talons into flesh.
But she looks up to the clifface, to the figure standing on an overhang. His sapphire eye gleams through the dull daylight, the ends of his silver hair drift with the wind and the beating of her wings.
Aemond.
He knows what Grey Ghost’s presence means, she can see it in his face, the awe and the anger. She would be a fool to think he would feel anything else.
He will come for what he believes he is owed.
And what of the debt he owes her now?
When does it end?
When she opens her eyes her skin is drenched in sweat. She tosses the sheet off her body and hurries to dress herself in her riding leathers. Grey Ghost will fly swifter than Vhagar, but she needs every second she can claim. With her boots pulled over her feet and her sword on her hip, she yanks the door open, sprinting through the halls and the courtyard. She doesn’t stop when some of the soldiers stare at her in confusion, or when Lady Alysanne tries to stop her and ask what’s wrong. She couldn’t answer them if she tried.
She feels her heart beating at all her pulse points, the wind slicing over her skin, the howling of the wind coming off the lake.
Daemon is in the Godswood, under the heart tree, resting his hands on the hilt of Dark Sister. He turns to face her as she approaches.
She is breathless, but her voice has never sounded clearer. “He’s coming.”
“How?”
How did he know to come? How do you know?
“I saw it,” she says.
Daemon frowns. In fairness, she herself would not trust such a vague answer.
She follows him back to the courtyard. The castle is in a panic now; the men are restless. Daemon fetches something from the armoury, a bow and a quiver of arrows. They are slim, not enough to pierce the hide of the dragon, but enough to shoot through the flesh of a man.
“Remember everything he has taken from you,” he says before he hands them to her. “Aemond may share your blood, but he is not one of us.”
She nods, and fastens them over her back.
Grey Ghost flies over the castle as the sun begins to set.
Luke and Daemon both know what they must do. She joins her dragon, hiding amongst a line of trees on the eastern shore of the lake, while Daemon waits in the open, and calls for Caraxes.
From the shadows of the trees, she watches the sky turn from blue, to gold, to red.
A shape flies before the sun and for a moment the world goes black.
She has never forgotten the fear she felt when she heard Vhagar’s call at Storm’s End, as she saw her shape through the clouds and stared into her open jaws. That same fear ripples through her body and makes her blood run cold, but she does not shy from it.
A thousand voices cry out in her head. Screams of the men she condemned to burn. Cries of anguish and mourning. Raised voices, calls for justice and retribution.
Mercy is a weakness. She finds herself wishing the world had more mercy.
But one voice appears clearer than the rest.
Blood– her heart in her chest.
Blood– the sky through the branches, illuminating the lake.
Blood. Blood she shares with Kings, Princes and dragons.
She has seen Aemond’s blood before and felt it against her skin. She is sure she will see it and feel it again before the night has reached its end.
Tags (comment to be added to either)
General taglist: @randomdragonfires @jamespotterismydaddy @theoneeyedprince @tsujifreya @dreamsofoldvalyria
Series taglist: @boundlessfantasy @toodlesxcuddles @starwarsslut @skikikikiikhhjuuh @arcielee
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Dave and Jack are gay and there is proof
So the fandom liked my post on the wedding dress thing so I’ve decided to make yet another DSAF text post on DSAF headcanons with rationals behind them. This time on a much bigger one with far more evidence actually, that is all but (and might actually be) confirmed.
This headcanon of course I am speaking of is Dave and Jack being gay. This is the most popular headcanon in the fandom, and for good reason. I have yet to hear any opposing opinions actually, the fandom is again unanimous. I’m going to make this post anyway for new fans and the like.
CAUTION FOR SPOILERS FOR THE DSAF 3 ENDINGS
Just about anyone who has played, watched, or engaged in any way with DSAF has likely noticed that Dave (a character who can either be your best friend or your nemesis depending on your route) and the protagonist of the game, Jack, occasionally have interactions with decidedly fruity undertones.
Although I have not seen as much evidence that JACK is gay, given that his personality varies greatly depending on how he’s played in most games, although his being gay can quickly at least be surmised from his final speech to Dave in the true ending of the third game, although not directly stating anything specific about their relationship, does have Jack imply subtly that there is something there.
If you count things the player can make Jack say specifically rather than just things he says on his own, then Jack being gay is a resounding yes, as lines of dialogue like “thanks bae”, *blush and nod*, and more are very much in the games.
Furthermore, Jack compares if not straight up calls Davetrap his ex during the good ending of DSAF 3 with Roger. Dave and Jack also slept in the same bed while in Vegas.
As for Dave being gay, there is a lot more there. Like infinity more than I think I could ever cover, but I’ll try.
Dave very frequently calls Jack pet names, in fact, I think I can count on one hand how many times he’s actually called Jack by his actual name. He also seems to blatantly flirt with him ingame.
Dave confesses to having seen Jack’s bedroom before, and in the third game further is revealed to have set up cameras in Jack’s house, connected his vents to his house to “protect” Jack, and have had frequently used his shower and toothbrush. Not exactly healthy behaviour or signs of a healthy relationship, but DSAF is DSAF, there is an ending in the third game where you burn down your restaurant because of furries.
Davetrap, although a manipulative character, and not a very good person, is one of the bigger causes for Dave being clearly gay. Davetrap, having less restraint than his Flipside counterpart and being more disturbingly obsessive, has done a number of things to confirm the ship.
First of all, Davetrap waited 30 years for Jack, and fixed Henry’s old suit in order to try to springlock him so they can be together forever, and that’s just not a thing you do with a friend. Even if it’s toxic and fucked, we’re trying to prove he’s gay, not that he’s a good person, honestly, Flipside Dave himself after his whole redemption arc is Chaotic Good at best, Chaotic Neutral to Chaotic Evil at worst, although I believe more Chaotic Neutral.
If you side with Davetrap, things get gayer from here. If you chose to hire the female nightgaurd, Davetrap berates you, not due to sexism, rather because she has an extra hole to fill with animatronic parts, going on to talk about how his own asshole is a cavern due to previously mentioned animatronic parts. The interaction ends of course with Dave implying that he wants Jack to “find something” to fill the hole. Well ok then.
Finally getting to the part I’m sure most of you have been waiting for, Davetrap’s confession, the reason I said this might be fully canon. During the bad ending of the third game Davetrap takes you down to the Fazbunker, trying to cheer himself up as he feels something is wrong. In the final room he figures out what it is, and apologizes for springlocking Jack, showing genuine care for his well-being. Jack, manipulated by Henry, then scares the shit out of Davetrap, and rips off his head. However, just before his death, Davetrap says “Don’t do this, I love you”. The reason this doesn’t fully prove it in my mind is that it could have been said out of desperation and that only Davetrap says this, Flipside Dave never says anything of this manner specifically. However I do not believe that Davetrap was lying here, as the lines previously in which he expresses guilt towards his actions and his affects on Jack prove that he does indeed care a lot for him, and while he might have been desperate, all evidence proves that he was not lying. I just can’t accept this as full undeniable evidence as, again, we never get anything like this from Flipside Dave.
That’s not to say Flipside Dave is not in love with Jack however. To the contrary, he most definitely is. Case and point. The pizza flirt.
When interacting with the pizza thingy I don’t care to learn the name of, Dave asks Jack how he likes his pizza, then proceeds to ask him if he’d ever be willing to have eggplant on his pizza. This, in context, is a very clear case of Dave very non-subtly flirting with Jack.
To go to the ending of the good route, upon finding out Jack cannot move on due to not having a soul, Dave freaks out, says he can’t go on without Jack, and says he would rather stay in the void with Jack. Jack only gets him to leave giving him Blackjack, the embodiment of his own soul which cannot join back with his body, telling him Blackjack will not leave him.
For misc evidence, during the evil route of the second game Dave changes his plan to include torturing Peter when Jack gets fired because it bothered him, referring to Jack as his “orange baby”, and insinuating that he cares more about Jack’s pain than his own.
There is an ending in which Dave says “Old Sport you will be mine” while attempting to shoot up Freddy’s.
Although Flipside Dave unlike Davetrap never actually says that he loves Jack, he does call him the “tangerine to my aubergine”, which in my opinion is pretty close.
During the neutral ending of the third game, Jack yells at Davetrap, saying how he only opened his Freddy’s location for money, specifically saying “do you think any of this was because I loved Freddy’s? Or loved YOU?”. Davetrap then responds by opening up his mask (if I recall the only time he does this), crying and saying he’s going to go cry in a dumpster, alone.
On one of Dave’s tapes he goes crazy and vows to find Jack.
In Dave’s diary he says he’s “really wild about Jack”, and writes his nickname a lot. I also heard something about having files of pictures of Jack in a maid dress, and Jack having pictures of Dave in a maid dress, although I don’t know if this is true or not.
Finally, what all of you have been waiting for. Doggo has confirmed that both Dave and Jack are pan or bi, Jack having a preference for men. Doggo has also stated that he himself ships these two, although it was intentionally made ambiguous.
So to close off my argument, here are the results. In all endings of DSAF 3, as well as all prior games, Dave is in love with Jack, Jack himself varies, seemingly only being gay during the third good ending and some routes in the previous games, although in the neutral route and the bad route of the third game he decided does not like Dave at all.
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Hello there! I've been wanting to replay the older Baldur's Gate games, and was searching around for mlm NPC romance mods. I saw yours mentioned and found your site with some googling, but it seems the place they were hosted at is gone now (Spellhold Studios). I was wondering if you still have the mods available somewhere? Either way, I hope you have a great day!
OK, this has made go down a modding-community rabbit hole! I hadn't done anything with our Baldur's Gate 2 mods, or looked at them really, since 2015 and I really appreciate it because they're something that brought my wife and I a ton of joy, and they were the first interactive narratives I made.
Links, descriptions, and comments below because it is Long:
I got in touch with folks on the Gibberlings3 forum which is, wonderfully, still going strong, and have given permission for Faren and Nathaniel to be uploaded to the Spellhold Studios GitHub (which has a bunch of other mods too - do check out Adrian, Isra, and Ninde in particular!) to the team maintaining it. That may be a little while as some of the team are ill right now, but once I hear that it's done, I'll post about it here; I've also been pointed to some links where the mods were mirrored. Note that I haven't tested these myself on a current BG2 install, but it is easy to uninstall WeiDU mods if there's a problem.
Faren is a bisexual True Neutral fighter/thief (I can't remember if he's dual-classed or multi-classed) who's easygoing, down-to-earth, and up for partying, with a bit of a checkered past - his adventuring party died in one of the dungeons you can visit in BG2, and since then he's been picking up dodgy jobs, feeling a bit adrift, and trying to get his life back on track. That's where the PC comes in! You can befriend him or romance him (starting with either a casual or more committed tone, then committing further if you want to), and he has a personal quest in which a shady figure from his past wants him to do one last job. He was our third mod, and we'd developed our skills with writing and scope a lot by then. When I play BG2, I play with Faren! You can currently download Faren here. It's the version updated in 2015 with more banters with modded NPCs and the Enhanced Edition characters; there may be compatibility issues installing it with other newer mods but do give it a try.
I found The Luxley Family, which was our second mod, on the GitHub here. From a cursory (rusty) glance it looks like it should be compatible with Enhanced Edition, but the storyline is only for Shadows of Amn and doesn't continue into Throne of Bhaal. Sebastian and Andrei (Chaotic Neutral bard with a custom kit and Lawful Neutral monk respectively) are members of a mysterious, reclusive family who are under a curse. Sebastian's a worldly playwright who's showing his polite but moody teenage cousin Andrei the sights when they bump into the PC. They aren't romanceable, but you can have a fling with Sebastian, who's bisexual, if you let/help him mess up his life sufficiently.
Nathaniel is a Lawful Good gay fighter with a lot of feelings. He was our first mod and I am really proud of the impact he had on a lot of people and even other games back in the day, but if you play, go in expecting a LOT of feelings good and bad, relationship drama, and angst! (There's something very sad about the fact that as teens we could not imagine a D&D setting without homophobia back then; the idea of a knightly order thinking well of gay people just didn't cross our minds. it's extraordinary how much better a lot of things are now, including the queerness in D&D streams, books, and of course Baldur's Gate 3. Interestingly, we didn't include homophobia in the Luxley Family or Faren and I don't remember how conscious that was; maybe we'd become more hopeful by then.) You can download an outdated version of Nathaniel here but I don't think it will be compatible with Enhanced Edition.
Thank you so much for messaging! I didn't realise they weren't able to be downloaded anymore and I am really keen for digital art to be preserved (as well as players getting to smooch hot guys, of course).
(Digression - my wife and I have a couple of almost-finished mods on our computer: a lesbian cleric of Talos which she wrote, and a bi Valygar romance that I wrote. And, if it's among two computers' ago worth of external hard drive storage, the ending for the Luxley Family story. Who knows, maybe one day...)
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okookookkokoko WHERE DO I EVEN START. I LOVE THIS GAME SM SMH BUT I HAVE A HARD TIME EXPLAINING STUFF SO TAKE THIS SHORT PASSAGE. (Most of this will be an unorganized ramble btw)
(SPOILER WARNING FOR MOST ARCS)
I played T2A2G and OC before this so um. Guess which route I did lmao. SPEAKING OF ROUTES, GENZOU GENZOU GEZNOU GEZNOU GEZNOU OMG GENZOU. I RELATE TO THIS MAN IN WAYS I DID NOT KNOW I COULD RELATE TO A CHARACTER. LIKE WTH?? HE HAS SUCH A TRANSPARENT CLOSET LOL. And also speaking of Genzou I do have a few questions related to him
-Is Genzou fully blind? I don't think he is bc of his cane but I heard it's different in some countries so idk
-We learn Genzou is (supposedly) taking antidepressants in Arc 2. Is he clinically depressed? (According to the Visual Noval Database he is anyways but idk)
-HOW TF DOES HE DEAL WITH BEING CANNIBALIZED TWICE LIKE DAMN..I WOULD HAVE A BREAKDOWN NO MATTER WHO I'M WITH??
-Did Genzou's friends ever like assume that he was gay?? Or like did he tell anyone?? Or did he try his best to hide it lmao
-Did anyone think/know that Gen had a crush on Iggy??
-GENZOU WITHOUT HIS HAT <333
I love Genzou sm if you couldn't tell already /p
ARC 3 CONFUSED ME SM LOL. I thought that I had accidently switched routes (even though I hadn't even made my LI choice, I ofc didn't know this atm though) from Genzou to Orlam and I was fr so confused like waht. Also like I feel so bad for Orlam wth </3.
HUMAN JERRY.
OO ALSO SOME MORE THINGS
-During some parts (mostly during arcs 3/4) I HAD TO PLAY A RELAXING PLAYLISTS BECASE I FELT OVERWHELMED/ANXIOUS/IDEK?? AND AT SOME POINT I JS GAVE UP AND STATED PLAYING HYPERCORE LMAO
-I LOV ELOVE LOVE THE WAY THAT THE NEUTRAL ENDING COLLIDES(???) WITH OC LIEK WHATWHDWATDHFWHWFTHAFG. IDK BUT FOR ME IT MAKES ME FEEL LIEK IT'S THE MORE "CANON" ENDING EVEN THOUGH THERE IS (probably) NO CANON ENDING.
-I IMMEDIATELY WENT TO THE GALLERY LIEK OMG??
-Some of my favorite liens in the game were the homicidal gardener lines (both referring to Iggs and Gen), when Gen was arguing with Jerry, When Genzou was telling iggs during the Arc 5 Kiddie Cruise scene that it shoudn't be a choice like I WAS GONNA CHOOSE DONT JUMP JS TO SEE WHAT HAPPENS LOL
-I also relate a lot to Iggy in some forms
-GIDGET.
-I took a total of 260 screenshots of this game (as of now heheh)
UM YH THATS ALL SORRY IF IT'S HARD TO UNDERSTAND OR TOO ENERGETIC BUT I TRULY LOVE THIS GAME SM. Ima go replay OC again byes <3 :3 BEST REGARDS ILYSM /p
KDFJLADFA this message is so chaotic, i love it
first off, i'm really happy you like the game (and genzou) weep. thank you so much for all the kind words 😭💕 i'm also always super intrigued to see where/how ppl came into the game, so hearing you played T2A2G and OC first is very interesting to me lakdjfkdjfa
regarding your questions:
yes he is; i do think he sees a bit of light/shadow (which is different to an answer i gave some time ago, but i've been thinking about it since) but that's about it; it's a result of traumatic optic neuropathy
yes he is; he's been on meds and seeing a therapist for a while
i cannot answer this question LOL 🤣 i also don't know. i guess the only answer is that he has no choice
mmm... he never outright told anyone in the friend group. tbh he doesn't outright tell many people, mostly as he's just a bit of a private person in that regard and keeps to himself outside of attempting dating apps every now and then. i would not say he actively attempted to hide it though aside from around iggy. as for other people assuming i think it was something many of them did kinda realize but never said anything also
similar here, i think some of them kinda knew. i think gidget knew, even if they kinda ignored it, because it prompted their jealousy on a few occasions. i think orlam had a bit of a guess but it wasn't really confirmed until later
LDKAJFSLDKFA THAT'S NOT A QUESTION
LOL about the routes. indeed, if you don't realize that actually all the "routes" are mandatory parts of the story until the finale then it can be confusing if you thought you were going for a specific char early on or something 🤣 it's not like the games where you can pick your route and then the rest of the game is that route
hahaha yeah i wouldn't say there's a "canon" ending. for one, i feel like that would kinda defeat the point of having different possibilities to begin with. why make other choices if there's only ever one canon ending? i want people to be able to choose however they want the story to end. i mostly connected the neutral ending to OC as a sort of self-indulgent gift to myself, because i thought it would be very sweet if iggy would still have a chance to find companionship with one of his friends later on even if he chose to focus on himself first. like that it just keeps it open. i also just thought it'd be a fun easter egg to give ppl more incentive to at least try the neutral route as i figure most ppl would not choose that route as it's kinda short compared to the others and doesn't give as much closure to the other chars
260 SCREENSHOTS LDKJFASDLFA
sob thank you for this lovely message!! it was really fun answering your questions hahaha and i'm really glad you liked the game so much!! it means a lot!! 💕
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happy oc-tober everypony 💖 finally took the time to draw out my three main fallout characters! i was going to draw all of my ocs out before posting but i couldn't wait to share these i love them so so so much they are my besties truly i made them i live for them and i would and will die for them
some info about each of them under the cut:
jesse: sosu; you know him, you love him, i never shut up about him. early 30s. my vaguely self-insert projection character who's taken on a life of his own at this point (but in my heart he will always be an extension of me to some extent). anyway. science guy, pacifist-adjacent. pre-war he was a radiologist w/ a concentration in epidemiology and was one of the last researchers trying to cure the new plague. his story in-game is less about shaun and more about the question of whether or not he's a synth (he's not but he's manipulated into thinking he is for a long long time). works with the railroad but has a falling-out with them post-game and takes up post as a doctor in diamond city. soft-spoken but capable. has a few grey hairs because i think it's cute and no other reason (poliosis). he's bi and dating nick. also poly but that's not super important.
bec: lw; i drew her here as she looks at age 29, when she's hanging out in the commonwealth with jesse. i'm not a fan of fo3 so she's truly a fo4 npc who just so happens to have also been the protagonist of fo3. she was injured pretty badly while activating the purifier and suffered severe radiation burns on the right side of her body; it was bad enough that the bos, who took her in, had no other option than to amputate her right arm (she's left-handed). she was coerced into working with the bos in exchange for saving her life and giving her a fully-functioning prosthetic arm but eventually parted ways on less than stellar terms once maxson started worming his way into power. she made he way north on the trail of dr. li and her father, who she had discovered had close ties to the institute (and she herself had a bit of a stake in the synth equation because of how much the replicated man quest affected her). after coming up empty she decided to hunker down in an old red rocket outside of sanctuary hills and turned the garage there into her home. she's a mechanic and loves tinkering with old tech, power armor in particular. she's a lesbian and dating another npc of mine, peaches (aka the general of the minutemen in jess' story).
simon: c6; late-20s. chaotic neutral but not chaotic stupid. dumbass but not dumb. they're related to the chosen one (it's a long and complicated family history that i haven't completely fleshed out yet) and they grew up in arroyo. they were always eager for adventure and set out at a young age for new reno, taking whatever odd jobs they could find. they eventually settled on being a package courier, as it gave him the opportunity to see more of the wasteland they loved so much. they set up a trading post on the long 15 years later and weren't able to escape the blast when it was destroyed; they carry a long scar across the length of their back as a reminder. he's mainly out for himself, but he's also deeply loyal to those few he considers trustworthy. has a soft heart under his silly and slightly abrasive exterior. collects teddy bears and dyes their own hair with a dye they makes themself with a mixture of bleach, clay, and mutfruit. never one to hunker down, they basically vanish back west after hoover dam. unsure if anyone ever sees him again. he's gay and 'dating' arcade (it's very very very very very complicated).
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3 minute read
The psychiatrist who blew the whistle on children’s gender services at the Tavistock clinic has called for the equivalent clinic in Scotland to close immediately.
David Bell said that the Sandyford young people’s gender service in Glasgow was based on a similar model to the north London clinic that is being shut down over safety concerns.
Bell, a former staff governor at Tavistock and author of a report that raised concerns about its gender identity development service (Gids), also warned that the SNP government’s stance on affirming gender transition was “likely to make it more difficult for them to see the damage that is being done to children by inappropriate, experimental treatment”.
The Scottish government intends to reform the Gender Recognition Act to make it significantly easier for trans people to legally declare their gender without having to obtain a medical diagnosis. It will cut the length of time that someone has to live in their new gender before being legally recognised from two years to six months.
Bell’s comments follow the announcement that NHS England is shutting the Tavistock clinic, after a review found it was “not a safe or viable long-term option” and that other mental health issues were “overshadowed” when gender was raised by children referred to the clinic. Children who questioned their gender were often prescribed puberty blockers, despite a lack of long-term research into their effects.
Dr Hilary Cass, the paediatrician who led that investigation, said that rather than a single national service there should be regional centres linked to wider paediatric mental health services taking a “holistic” view of their patients’ needs. The Scottish government has said it will “closely consider” the conclusions of the Cass review.
Bell noted that the Sandyford service, which is described as primarily assisting “people who are transgender to facilitate medical and surgical treatments”, was strikingly similar to the model at Tavistock. He said children being seen by gender clinics tended to have other problems, including autism, depression, chaotic homes and a family history of sexual abuse.
“These children have been disadvantaged by being sent to a service that only deals with gender,” he said. “These children must be treated like any other children who have psychological problems.
“The other specific problem is puberty blockers. In my view it should be an extremely rare occurrence that you should block a child’s puberty. I still consider it an experimental treatment because Gids — and I expect the same in Scotland — had not followed up those patients.”
In the wake of the Cass recommendations, research has been commissioned in England to follow up Gids patients and collect information about their outcomes.
Bell said this should also happen to former Sandyford patients, but added that “no child should go through that model at all”.
He added: “There are quite a lot of studies showing if these children are helped in a different way, with expert attention and gender neutrality, they give up their wish.
“A lot emerge as gay and lesbian young people . . . We want to celebrate gender fluidity, so people can keep their sex body but express their gender how they wish to.”
Bell, who has previously addressed the Scottish parliament on gender issues, said that the Sandyford clinic “should be closed down immediately” and insisted there “should not be a national service”.
He said a significant proportion of the SNP leadership had been persuaded by “trans ideology” and this could affect how services were provided. He said: “It does indeed make them more reluctant to address these issues.”
The decision on the future of Sandyford gender services can only be taken by NHS Scotland and Scottish ministers.
A Scottish government spokesman said: “We recognise the need to provide the best possible care for young people questioning their gender identity or experiencing gender dysphoria.
“As we have previously stated, we will closely consider the findings of the Cass review within the context of NHS Scotland services as part of our broader commitment to improve access to, and delivery of, NHS gender identity services.”
Case study
My teenage daughter has said that she identifies as trans and has been referred to Sandyford. We knew she was struggling with anxiety, like thousands of other children during the pandemic, but she had not told us about her gender concerns.
We had explored options to help with her anxiety, but child and adolescent mental health services were too busy to add her to their waiting lists. I feel utterly terrified about her plans to change gender. We know there are issues which might be affecting her, but we do not know if she would receive help with those problems at the Sandyford clinic.
I do not want my daughter to suffer but I think it would be better if she could work on what is underlying her anxiety.
I see what is being talked about in England and it gives me some hope that at least part of the UK is moving in a better direction. I am quite worried about living in a part of the country that seems fixated on transgender ideology, potentially at the expense of the health of young people. I find myself having less trust in the Scottish system.
Nicola Sturgeon seems to indicate that the way to go is to affirm new gender identities. If that is the message from the top of the government I find it hard to see how the Scottish NHS will take a more cautious approach.
Father of a trans teenager in Scotland
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List of current blorbos
otp: Thiefweave (Gale/Val) ficlets
Sylvam (Syl) - he/him || half wood elf ranger || whatever counts as mid forties for half elves || charlatan || likes animals more than people || severely bullied and abused when he was a child and now Traumatized™ || was exiled from baldur's gate for killing a man who injured his dog || lived alone in the woods for twenty years || i can tolerate oppression but i draw the line at animal abuse || zero people skills || no patience for small talk and diplomacy || accidentally stupidly in love with astarion || bonds with halsin over animals and nature, then agrees to be his boyfriend || syl 🤝astarion: learning to trust people again || syl 🤝astarion 🤝 halsin: cuddle pile
Valefor (Val)- they/them || Mephistopheles tiefling arcane trickster || mid thirties || urchin || soft spoken and shy || illiterate so gale reads all the books to them || grew up hungry on the streets and is obsessed with hoarding food || chaotic stupid good boy (gender neutral) || will impulsively sell their left foot for snacks if someone doesn't hold them back || needs to do the right thing (conditionally) or they'll explode || incredibly autistic || soon to be Mx. Dekarios
Sanguine (San) - he/they || half drow || whatever counts as thirty for half drow || eldritch knight whose life is 90% trying to fight intrusive murder thoughts - the other 10% is 'eh what could go wrong?' (turns out, a lot.) || chaotic stupid. i cannot stress how much of an impulsive fuck this asshole is. what do you mean actions have consequences??? || tries to do the good thing and it always blows up in their face || fully embraces tadpole bc eh what could go wrong || is in a very complicated love (sex) triangle with lae'zel and astarion || journey to heal from the dark urge || horny™
Redorick (Red) - he/him || Zariel tiefling || late forties || tired gay trans dad who's had enough || breaks his oath of vengeance bc surely if he deserves mercy then others might too? || he is trying guys he's so confused about it all || raised a child all by himself and he misses her every day || good guy but he's been through so much so he's kinda bitter || oh my god i made corvo attano || fell stupidly hard for gale but I can also see him bonding with halsin over being Old Queers || immediately adopts Wyll upon meeting him || renewed his oath when he heard what gortash did to karlach and what cazador did to astarion || literally secretly cries every night before he falls asleep || Depressed™
Siderius (Sid) - he/him || dark urge || late twenties || tempest sorc || looks the most intimidating but is actually a literal cinnamon roll || has murder on the mind 99% of the time and he's so embarrassed about it || wyll romance??? maybe??? || instant besties with gale but purely platonic (hopefully - watch me use Val's face and then fall in that rizzard hole again)
Zacharius (Zac) - he/him || bard || half high elf || dark urge || age ??? || will 100% charm his way through everything || all i know about him so far is that he's gonna be a dick and write songs about it || starts out evil and then stays evil || journey to please murder papa || i feel like he will be really into lae'zel at first but then meet minthara
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…Hi.
I've been lurking in the Obey Me! community for about two years now, but I decided to try interacting instead of shyly hiding in the corner like the anxiety-ridden mess I am.
Who am I?
You can call me whatever you want. Lambs, Cal, Al, I'm fine with anything. (Seriously, a kid once called me penis-vagina and I was fine with it.) My pronouns are he/him and I'm a gay/queer polyam aroace spec. Mammon is my favourite.
I generally create content for my two MCs, Al and Audrey, as well as their supporting characters, but I'm working on a couple of general imagines as well. (Always gender neutral, unless they're specifically related to gender identity.)
I'm open to asks and DMs. I just might not respond immediately. Also requests, I would be very honoured to receive a request.
My Stuff
To be filled out more later, as I do more things.
Fics
(WIP, in prewriting) Indulgence Loves Company
Seven dates, seven brothers. An exploration of the seven deadly sins and how they manifest for each of the brothers... in my headcanon, at least.
(WIP, in prewriting) Stars of Hell
A working-class, magicless, white male is chosen to be the second human exchange student. But the brothers are in for a surprise, as Al Hasnawi isn't keen to take hits lying down, and he may or may not have a trick or two up his sleeve... (AKA, Al's story.)
(WIP, in prewriting) The Devildom and the Dark Sorcerer
The brothers grow fond of Eileen, the young adoptive daughter of Gaillean, a sorcerer whose power is second only to Solomon's, and a good friend of Lucifer's. But Eileen's chaotic tendencies tend to land her in mischief, and she seems insistent on dragging everyone around her into the midst of it, consciously or not. So what happens when this young lady bites off more than she - or anyone else, for that matter - can chew, and ends up the figurehead of a rebellion that could destroy the Devildom? And, most importantly for Lucifer, what will become of the exchange program in the midst of this chaos? (AKA, Lycas's story.)
Imagines
TBA
Other
TBA
last updated: Sept. 17, 2023 @ 04:18 CDT
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Imagine if we’re wrong (we’re not, but imagine 😭). At this point, with how much energy has obviously been put into making one of the most queer-coded characters in cinematic/television history, and with how many transparent parallels and clues that aren’t even clues atp- just full on SIGNPOSTS as obvious as the one way sign to Mike’s closet- the idea that we could be wrong, that Byler could be one-sided, that this could all be accidental, and that Mike could be straight after all is just so RIDICULOUS AND COMICAL. I’m THAT confident in Byler endgame because the alternative literally doesn’t make any sense- not in terms of Will specifically (I suppose hypothetically the Duffers could think that writing a sad, one-sided ending for their gay character is “realistic, tragic, and heartbreaking” - it wouldn’t be the first time a storyline like that has happened in history). But Magic: The Gatherings often say things like, “What’s wrong with Mike being straight and loving his girlfriend? Not everyone’s gay/bi. Mike’s not obligated to return Will’s feelings.” But they miss the point entirely. There’s nothing “wrong” with Mike being straight and loving his girlfriend in a general, theoretical, neutral sense. In real life, unrequited love storylines happen all the time. But this is a STORY with a very expensive budget and high levels of intentionally behind every frame. And based on the way Mike has been written, based on the very specific cinematography choices the filmmakers have repeatedly used, and based on his increasingly confusing and chaotic behavior in the more recent seasons, there isn’t ANY other explanation for him. The mustache twirling villains have a Mike Wheeler problem on their hands. Because at this point, it’s clear that he simply hasn’t been written as a straight character.
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Greetings fellas, I have you some gay au deff crack idea.
✨Dungeons and Dragons/Willow AU✨
Kit: Rogue/Fighter
-We know she's pretty sneaky and all that stuff bc she escaped from her manners lessons all the time
-Good with swords AND bows (daggers seem to fit her naturally)
-Artefacts, strength and abilities
-A champion, shield, sword. Willow said that himself
-Chaotic neutral.
-The party member who is the 40% of the time causing troubles, 40% solving those troubles and 20% getting on the others memebers´ nerves
Jade: Ranger/Blood hunter
(IK how sounds but)
-Rangers "warrior who combats threats on the edge of the civilization" AKA Bone Rivers
-Blood hunters "adept warriors have forged themselves into a potent force dedicated to protecting the innocent" AKA Shining Legion
-”Blood hunters are clever warriors driven by an unending determination to destroy evils old and new. Armed with rites of secretive blood magic and a willingness to sacrifice their own vitality and humanity for their cause, they protect the realms from the shadows—even as they remain ever vigilant against being drawn to the darkness that consumes the monsters they hunt.” hear. me. out.
Graydon: Bard/Druid
-don't tell me that you can't see him taking animal form and using nature force as his main force
-HIS FLUTE
-He would know how to make these two classes work, as multiclasses or individually would adapt at him perfectly
-Neutral good.
-Smart but so insecure that he goes unnoticed
-But in really, really for real, important moments he contributes with his half braincell.
Boorman: Rogue/Barbarian/Monk
-He was prisoner for a very long time, he definitely trained his body way more deeply, reaching for new techniques and forms
-The Bone Rivers in some point teaching him sum that got him EVEN deeper in physical-mental-spiritual strength
-He's canonically sneaky (but still will enter a room by kicking the door) trickster, and very good at detecting traps.
-He have been in so many places and he definitely learned a little about a lot of things in every place he went
-The barbarian part is even needed to explain??
-If there is a crash, is a Boorman near
-Chaotic neutral, depends where are Scorpia and his kids
Elora: Sorcerer (maybe artificer multiclass)
-Was BORN with the magic, as a gift or bloodline, she would be a sorcerer canonically.
-The only time she readed a magic book was when Graydon was dying
-Then not ever once again Elora was sighted less than two foots away from a study book
-Spelcaster, uses an artifact (wand) to conduct her magic, BUT also manipulates it directly with her bare hands.
-Chaotic good
-The chiller, reckless and not so bookworm version of the common wizards.
-Like, imagine a shortgun that works with recolcted magic from another moment, so when she´s running out of energy she could just boom boom her enemies
Willow: Sorcerer
-He did born with magic in him but was limitated until tha things happened and he became the great sorcerer.
-Even tho he reads about magical stuff and all the ways to i, he didnt learned magic, he was born with it.
-This isnt even an option actually, lfmao.
-Lawful good
-Permanetly at least one and half braincell of the party.
Airk: Bard secondly fighter. Not virseversa.
-He isint the most calm person but he is way chiller than Kit when it comes to opposing their mother´s choices.
-True neutral
-He havent tried too hard to please the expectations, then he was free most of the time.
-Yes he is a very good swordsman but he cannonly prefers to roll up in the grass with flowers and eating muffins.
-Still enjoying the spars and all that, tho.
-That party member that wont shut up and will mansplain the way out of the troubles
-He and Kit caused the trouble, if not, it was them with stupidity extensions
-If words don't work he will hit yall with his freaking massive ukulele. Or ch0ke them with a necklace.
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Hello! I just wanted to thank you for translating GH2! I've been wanting to play GH (any) since forever, and you guys did such a great job with Double Scramble. I just finished it and I can't stop thinkin about it. Could you both rank the boys in order from favourite storyline to least favourite? I'm really curious because I ended up really surprised with quite a few of the stories, and some really touched me unexpectedly, most notably Hayato (my best boy) and Arata.
Hi and sorry for the incredibly late reply. I actually can't see when this question was sent because I guess tumblr doesn't think that's important information anymore. Suuuure.
Interesting to think about the storylines versus characters, because the entire planet knows who my favorite character is, heh. It's hard to rank them because there are good and bad things about each of them and I feel like it's unfair to simply put them in order and then peace out without explaining my reasoning. Some are written better than others, some are more emotional, some are more believable, some are more personally relatable...
Maybe I should just say my favorite parts of each because it's so hard to rank them in any way!
Kuya: Dude, this kid is just SO realistically sad, complete with his weird imaginative ways of compartmentalizing it. His "my feelings that time" is heartbreaking. That miserable wail in the middle of it always fucks me up.
Takato: Best writing quality in the game by far. You can definitely tell who TAMAMI's favorite character was. Great take on the sexy/kinky glasses dude trope.
Joker: Another great representation of a realistic reaction to trauma. Also love the duality of how he can go from sweet to rage at a moment's notice. Chaotic neutral at its finest.
Sonoda: Classic self-blaming child of divorce. That scene with the knife fucked me up so bad the first time. When he spills his entire story and Yuki just loves him anyway... teary eyes every time.
Chiba: You think he's going to be a shallow idiot and then he's this poor kid who never processed a friend's murder. I don't agree with the inclusion of supernatural elements in his route but I love the tender scene with Yuki that follows. AND OH MY GOD THE SLEEPOVER. That's the best part, will fight anyone who disagrees.
Arata: For the longest time I didn't like his route at all but my most recent replay was just... bam. It hits harder when you're not angry about editing the longest (by far) route in the game. And finally an actually gay character who KNOWS he's gay and has known since he was a kid.
Tomo: Weakest romance in the game but everything else is so good. Watching him grow from someone who literally ran from his past to the ABSOLUTE BADASS who completely destroyed Sakaki's brother was so satisfying. Love his relationship with his bro, too.
Yagami: Sloppy writing/plot imo (needs editing pls) but it's so fun to see the tough guy character who just... isn't. His shy embarrassment throughout the route is adorable.
Sakaki: I mean his route is like a shitty afterthought but I love this dude so whatever. Best part is the flashback of flirting shooting the shit with Nao on the roof, and near the end when he tells his brother to eff off. Dude got destroyed by a teenager AND his (formerly) spineless little bro in the same day, and I love it.
So I think my favorite storyline is Takato followed closely by Sonoda, and least favorite is Yagami. But I like parts of all of them and all of them have flaws too, so it's hard to rank!
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Karma is a God, Chapter 13 teaser
The Dance of the Dragons begins on a lie, and Aemond owes a debt, one Lucerra will see repaid in Fire and Blood // Series Masterlist // Main Masterlist
Words: 600-ish
A/n: I can't help it, I wanna post something, so please accept this as an apology for taking nearly 8 weeks to update this 😚
The skies over Blackwater Bay and Crackclaw Point are clear. There are no clouds to hide in and Grey Ghost makes quick work of the distance from Dragonstone to Maidenpool.
The Queen had ordered that she fly straight back to King’s Landing after accompanying Baela and Rhaena to Dragonstone, but as much as she fears her mother’s wroth, she fears what might happen if she sits idly.
To the south, Borros Baratheon has summoned his banners to Storm’s End. To the west, the Lannisters clash with the Iron Fleet. The Tyrells have taken a neutral stance, but the Hightower army is rebuilding in the Reach, rallying behind Prince Daeron and Criston Cole.
As for the Riverlands… the reports they receive are harrowing.
For almost two moons, Aemond has terrorised the Riverlands, unleashing dragonfire and death upon all those he deems to be traitors. Everything in his path turns to ash; towns, cities, castles, crops, and too many lives to count.
They fly high enough that the world spreads out below them like a map. As they approach the southern shore of the Bay of Crabs, she can see where the green fields turn to black. Smoke rises from the ground, trees reach against a grey sky, charred and bare. No life remains where Vhagar flies.
Could he hear the screams as he did it? Was he blind to the suffering, or did he bathe himself in it?
She had heard the cries of dying men as she burnt the Tyroshi war ships by Driftmark, but they were distant, a noise lingering in the back of her mind. All she remembers of that night is the smell of smoke, flashes of golden flames blurred through her tears, emptiness and rage. Thousands of lives ended, for the sake of avenging two already lost.
It is not the same, she tells herself.
They were soldiers. Any one of them could have been the man who released the quarrel that killed Jace, or manned the ship that sunk the Gay Abandon and young Viserys with it.
Aemond kills because he is cruel.
And I…
Death could not save the people who died at Hightide and Spicetown, it could not bring back her brothers, or any other lives lost at The Gullet. That thought has lingered in her mind ever since, a parasite draining the warmth from her body, the life from her soul.
But this is war. Either she will die a martyr, like Jace, like Rhaenys, or survival will chip away at the person she once was.
Maidenpool is nothing compared to the grandeur of Dragonstone or the high walls and towers of The Red Keep. Its keep and battlements are grey and cobbled, covered in moss and ivy so it blends in seamlessly with the surrounding greenery and the backdrop of the sea.
The castle is not the first thing she spots though, rather the blood red dragon that lies before the outer walls. Caraxes is curled in on himself, in a rare moment of peace as he sleeps. But he stirs as they land, rearing his head and glaring at them through wide, golden eyes.
Grey Ghost is uneasy, and not without cause. The Bloodwyrm is monstrously large, bloodthirsty and chaotic.
She remembers the first time she saw Caraxes, as their families gathered on Driftmark for the funeral of Laena Velaryon. Jace had flown on Vermax, while she, too small to ride Arrax, rode in a carriage with her mother and father. They reached Hightide and suddenly she heard a thunderous roar and a whistling, rippling shriek. What a sight they were, Caraxes and Vhagar, soaring from the East with the sunrise. They terrified her in different ways. Vhagar was colossal, and though Caraxes was smaller, he was swift, with piercing eyes, sharp teeth and a serpentine neck that she couldn’t help but follow as it swayed and slithered.
The gates open before she has dismounted. Daemon leads an escort of guards to meet her, dressed in his riding leathers rather than his armour. He knows not to come too close to Grey Ghost.
Her dragon is steadfastly steady as she dismounts, his head fixed on the men who have dared to approach his rider.
Strangers, hisses the voice in her head. Danger.
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Hi, friend! 💖 I hope things have been looking a little brighter for you, and if not, I'm manifesting it for you!
Now, for the ships ask game... Ikesoren and Raeda? 👀
You're always so sweet ;__; the cats have been really good lately so that's been a positive, thanks for checking in!!!
Ikesoren & Raeda my beloved. They both mean so much to me
Ikesoren
1. What made you ship it?
Ok so funny story I actually unknowingly played RD before PoR (one of my older brothers bought it for another older brother so we didn't realize it was a sequel at first), so I had only the sequel's dynamic to go off of, and RD didn't have the in depth support system that PoR does. I did end up going back to play PoR right after beating RD and I think through the process of playing both games in order to do all the bonus shit to get Ike & Soren's secret ending conversation I was ride or die by that point. When I played RD the first time almost every support I paired up was based on aesthetic alone since there weren't actual convos & you could literally pair up anyone -- it was fucking lawless haha. Since I didn't have the previous knowledge of who had what rapports I got a TON of the pairs I made wrong based on what friendships/relationships I ended up liking best after playing PoR hahah! Ikesoren was unfortunately one of them
2. What are your favorite things about the ship?
Upon first glance you'd think they'd be an 'opposites attract' kinda dynamic but they're actually the same stone-faced smartass. I also love how Ike can't get an ending with a woman, it's either Soren or Ranulf, like the Tellius games really got an unequivocally gay Lord
3. Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?
I don't really know what the popular opinions are, but based on fanart & fic I can recall seeing over the last decade or so, I don't like when Soren is portrayed as timid or shy. Like Soren's a bit of a bastard, even to Ike, he's not gonna get all 😳 around him, the neutral look of displeasure is his default expression even with the love of his life haha
Raeda
1. What made you ship it?
The second we saw Raine and could tell that was the kid Eda had her arms linked with from that S1 photo I was like "👀 ok ok finally learn that history!" Then Eda's smirk as she taunts "how are you supposed to be HeAd BaRd with stage freight?" I was like "omg snark, there's some bitterness but that's such a fond smile on her face" and then when they reunited? I was gone. By the time we saw the duet scene I was ride or die for Raeda. I genuinely believe we'll get a wedding montage at the end of W&D, or at least a kiss. Those two are extremely important to me
2. What are your favorite things about the ship?
They hit every note! They're childhood friends, they were immediate best friends, they're equally chaotic despite appearances, they're exes, they've been carrying the torch for each other SINCE they broke up like 20yrs ago, they're both blushing messes around each other, the mutual pining, the fact they're older & grayer but still undeniably smitten with each other, they have their own flower that means "deception and graciousness" WHICH PERFECTLY SUITS THEM, Eda's a harpy & Raine's a monsterfucker! They just! Really mean a lot to me, getting to see old gray queer love combined with the chance to repair old relationships
3. Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?
I don't really vibe with art that makes Raine look or dress a lot more femme than they present in the show or in Dana's art.
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bl/gl tag game
i definitely did not steal this from @tutontawans.
your all time favourite bl character and why.
absolutely copying tay by choosing five because who can choose ONE?! in no particular order:
— porsche kittisawasd — dramatic, chaotic good bisexual himbo who loves his brother dearly. could be venn-diagramned as both pure of heart, dumb of ass AND looks like a beef cake cinnamon roll, could actually kill you.
— jang jaeyoung — chaotic neutral bi who is also a massive puppy. can and will fight anyone in this bar.
— haruta souichi — chaotic baby good bi who is really trying his best but will also have a breakdown every 5 minutes and that's a big mood.
— wen kexing — chaotic evil gay. eyeliner can kill a man. thriving. his adopted daughter is still alive and you can't change my mind.
— pete (lbc) — PEACH. i miss and love him dearly. a treasure. paved the way. best boy.
what’s your one character from a bl you wanted to punt into the stratosphere (you only get one so choose wisely).
— lhong from tharntype. i wished he would have DIED. i'm glad nut's dad died and i hope he died mad.
the best music moment from a bl
— not sure about best overall, but recently i really loved the scene in gemini when kuea (new) sang change. i usually skip through musical scenes like but it was really good!
what’s a popular heterosexual text that you would like to see adapted into a bl/gl?
— something dracula related. ultimately, what i really want is for the tgcf drama to actually air and then for qiye to get adapted into a live action asldjsad.
a scene from a bl that always makes you laugh?
— porsche's "i'd rather die" before jumping off the boat. oscar worthy honestly.
— dawoon passing by siwon when he was eating alone in that restuarant. my soul left my body.
— noh shinwoo almost choking to death because daon called taekyung pretty.
— lian (zee) dancing in the locker room and getting caught by kuea was hilarious and embarrassing.
— pretty much every funny moment namgoong had in light on me.
— lian calling kuea an anabelle doll ended my entire life.
— mork in my ride losing his shit over seeing tawan's belly button.
— zon standing on the table to argue with saifah was the only time i thought they were funny lol.
— everything that happens in secret crush on you.
biggest disappointment?
— TRIAGE NOT HAVING ENG SUBS!!! but ehhh i haven't been too disappointed by much (i have really low expectations for things), but if what i've been reading on japanese twitter about cherry magic the movie is true... that's disappointing. oh and maybe the miracle of teddy bear too, if the novel spoilers are true and the drama follows that i might actually be gutted.
what two random bl/gl characters would make hilarious exes?
— hwahwa (why r u) and waiwai (secret crush on you)
who would be the funniest person to watch a bl in its entirety and which one would you make them watch.
— hands down @earthpodd but also @lordinquisitorcopernicus because i feel we three come as a set now lol. i'd like to nominate my bestie crystal, too. and i'm not sure what we'd watch but probably something super cringe.
best wardrobe moment/or character wardrobe from a bl.
— thankul theerapanyakul we've had him for one ep and he's already an icon
tagging!: @itsforcebook @earthpodd @lordinquisitorcopernicus @liankuea @pharawee @machikeita @gabrielokun @jaeyoungsjang @coldties
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hey y’all! dec deets below the cut. let’s plot & play. love, ry. 🖤
{ CHARLES MELTON, 21, CIS MALE, HE/HIM } Is that DECLAN PARK? A JUNIOR originally from POTOMAC, MARYLAND, they decided to come to Ogden College to study MARKETING. They’re THE JERK JOCK on campus, but even they could get blamed for Greer’s disappearance.
basics
name: declan park.
nicknames: dec (pronounced like ‘deck’, most common), big dec (himself, likely referring to his pee-pee), dicklan (by his haters, his motivators).
age: 21.
date of birth: october 24, 2000.
gender: cis man.
pronouns: he, him.
orientation: identifies as queer/gay.
hometown: potomac, maryland.
ethnicity: half-korean, half-white.
nationality: american.
social class: upper class.
religion: atheist, but raised christian.
occupation: full-time student at ogden college.
living arrangements: roomies with mari zuko in suite 1A in linden dorm.
languages spoken: fluent in english, some conversational korean.
family: his father is a tennis legend from south korea and his mother is a much sought after political speechwriter who works in d.c.
personality
traits: abrasive, arrogant, assertive, protective, resolute, tactless.
mbti: estp.
astrology: scorpio sun, virgo moon, virgo rising.
moral alignment: definitely chaotic. typically somewhere between neutral and good. he acts as his conscience directs him with little regard for what others expect of him. he makes his own way and hates when people try to intimidate him or tell him what to do.
at ogden college
label: the jerk jock
year: junior (class of 2024)
major: marketing (concentration in sports marketing)
extracurriculars: tennis (singles and doubles), sigma alpha epsilon (vp of recruitment)
relationship to greer: nationally ranked in mixed doubles, the two have been tennis partners since their first year at ogden and have an enviable win streak. greer’s his girl and has been since childhood summers with the rest of the hamptons crew. he considers her one of his only true friends, although they didn’t hang out one-on-one much outside of practice, matches, or parties on the weekends. still, Declan’s always invited to the morrisons’ on breaks and holidays and is an integral part of greer’s inner circle.
headcanons
declan’s amused by his reputation for being a cocky, arrogant, dickhead, jerky, douchebag. nobody’s safe – he’ll bust the balls of anyone around him. he’s trolling more than anything, it’s a way to keep people from getting to know the real him
he’s skilled in tennis, popular and well-known (albeit, not well-liked) around ogden (mostly because of his thirst traps on social media), and a total frat star who’ll never say no to a party or a keg stand.
his alpha-male persona is overcompensation for his queerness, his fear he’ll never be loved for anything outside of tennis, and his desire to live up to the family name and his father’s status as a tennis legend
pressure has defined much of his life. it takes an awful lot of effort not to crack under it. he’s focused and dedicated on living up to the expectations of his parents, coaches, team, and peers at ogden.
he can be intense and driven by the pressure around him. he’s sometimes a bit too honest and direct. it takes him a while to trust someone but is fiercely loyal and protective of those he lets in. a great competitor who is driven to succeed and puts relentless effort into all he wants to achieve.
closest to fellow trust fund babies, other athletes, and the biggest partiers at ogden -- anyone down to have a good time and not take themselves so seriously
pretty rich -- has a black card, drives a 2004 lamborghini, a champagne snob
with designer boots and bad-boy charm, he’s grown up entitled which has given him a bit of a superiority complex. the consensus on campus is that he’s behind in the ‘being nice’ game, and it goes beyond insensitivity. but who cares when you’re a tennis star with a perfect jawline and even more perfect abs?
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