#Chapter 1 - Excerpt 5

[boonalina]

Excerpts from my LMK fanfic ( pre-season 5 fan-write)

Chapter 1 "Mei pulled out her phone and took a quick selfie with the two in the background."

Chapter 2 "She flinched, and quickly grabbed her tail from him and hugged it. They were quiet for a moment. "U-Uh.. W-What is it..?" She looked off to the side in embarrassment from her reaction."

(Click on the links to read it. Girl in pic is my interpretation of the Red Baboon.

I named her Fei Hong.)

[1indigoisles]

Chapter 5 - Excerpt 1

“Why are you here again?” I asked groggily.

“I already told you,” Jolene said irritably, sitting cross-legged on the bed right next to mine, “there’s something going on in the Chambers.”

“And what is it?” I asked, sitting up reluctantly. Who was Jolene to interrupt me in my night-long existential crisis?

Well, not that it was just Jolene either. Rowan was there too, lying on the same bed, his head sitting comfortably on Jolene’s lap as he absently played with a lock of her fiery orange hair. Desiree was sitting on the ground next to the bed, her head against Jolene’s knee, and Scarlett just stood in the space between the two beds and gazed at the arrangement before her darkly.

“You think I wouldn’t tell you if I knew?” Jolene positively snapped. “The Chambers aren’t telling us anything, which is idiotic on their part, since we actually work here and have the right to-”

“You work there?” I interrupted.

“Yes,” Jolene answered, “but the point is-”

“In the government?” I asked, just to clarify.

Jolene gaped at me for a whole second, and then nodded her head in an exaggerated manner. “Yes.”

“But,” I gaped, “you’re not even eighteen!” I was horrified. Was Knightville so out-dated and out of touch with the times that it enforced child-labour too?

Jolene looked positively annoyed. “Boy, you need to catch on.”

“We turn adults at the age of fifteen,” Rowan explained, “which is why it’s normal that we work here full-time.”

I seriously didn’t know if Rowan actually believed that that cleared up anything. “Fifteen,” I repeated. “Full-time.”

Jolene looked like she was at the very end of her patience, but Desiree cut in. “C’mon guys, you can’t blame him. It’s your fault for not explaining it.” She leveled her gaze at me. “The Three Chambers is split into five sectors, Hunting, Healing, Investigating, Researching and Travelling, although the Travelling sector is inactive, since we can’t leave. Hunters are our police; they track down Shadows and kill them before they can terrorize the town. Healers, well, heal people, specifically Hunters, and need to have a lot of knowledge about medicine, since the concept and the different types of medicine are very different here than in the outside world. And then there are Researchers, who are basically our alchemists. They discover elements that can only be found in places like Knightville, and try to find out how they could be useful to us. As for Investigators, they deal with people like the Garamonds, besides other things. They also track down Voids, which are portals of darkness scattered around the town where Shadows are generated. You know this. All of us are trained in these things until the age of fifteen, which is when we undergo an examination to find out which sector is best suited for us. And it just doesn’t depend on our skill in each subject either. It also depends on our power. For example, if somebody’s power is offensive, like Scarlett’s shadow manipulation, then there’s a higher chance they’ll be put in Hunting. And since my power is to absorb people’s pain and wounds, it was a no-brainer basically.” Desiree grinned.

“Is it a mandate?” I asked. “This examination?”

“Afraid so,” Rowan said grimly. “If you haven’t noticed yet, none of us have choices here.”

I considered Rowan for a few silent seconds. “And what happens,” I began, “when whatever is going on in the Three Chambers clears up? What will happen to me, to my mother?”

“We don’t know,” Jolene answered honestly, looking around at her friends and brother. “It’s annoying, I get it, but the Firsts won’t tell us anything-”

“The Firsts?” I asked.

“They sit at the top of the government, the First Chamber,” Jolene said. “There used to be five of them, each one representing the sectors, but since Travelling is down, we only have four now.”

“The fact that you think all your half-boiled explanations clear up anything is commendable,” I said, glaring.

“Ugh, I keep forgetting how much you don’t know,” Jolene grumbled, and rubbed her temples. “Okay, let’s see. The Chambers have three main levels of authoritarian power, the First, Second, and Third Chambers. There are four members in the First Chamber, and they are known as the Firsts. Similarly, people from the Second and Third Chambers are known as Seconds and Thirds. The Firsts are the ‘supreme leaders’, and they basically control everything. The Second Chamber also has some pretty powerful connections, but they’re definitely not as powerful as the First Chamber, and don’t have half the decision-making power. They’re basically in charge of the stragglers, as in the Third Chamber, which is basically the rest of us, and they get to bully us around whenever they so please.” Jolene rolled her eyes somewhat aggressively.

“Adam Forrest is in the Second Chamber,” I remembered. “He’s an Investigator.”

Rowan groaned, sitting up, his hands palms-down on the mattress, supporting his weight. “He’s the worst of the lot of them. Got promoted pretty young, but mind you, it’s not the fame that’s given him a swollen head. Apparently, he was always power-hungry, never bothered to make friends or be friendly with anyone. Was always cold as ice, and rude too.” He quirked his eyes at Scarlett, who was standing with her arms crossed over her chest. “Kind of like you.”

Scarlett scoffed. “I am nothing like Adam Forrest,” she said without any particular defense to her tone, looking completely bored. “He lives for power and privilege, I couldn’t care less about either.”

“He’s friends with Tyler James,” Desiree suddenly mused. “And he doesn’t think Adam’s too bad.”

Jolene’s eyebrows shot up to the skies. “Tyler James Thorne? As in, the person who instructed you in your first three months here and your long-time friend?”

Desiree laughed. “Yes, him. I’ve seen-”

Suddenly there were loud voices coming from outside the door, three voices, to be exact, only one of which was loud, thus making all the voices seem loud and simultaneous.

“Fuck you,” came Lila’s uncensored vigor, and I wondered who’d she’d picked a fight with this time. Kids these days. “I have a right to see my damn son!”

Another voice, low and mediating and gentle and somewhat familiar, started, “We completely understand that, Ma’am, and we would help you if we could, but you see-”

“There are rules,” came a third voice, deep and commanding, responsible and authoritarian. “No one here is allowed to just barge into this institution whenever they see fit-”

The double-doors banged wide open, and Lila, the picture of barely contained rage, swivelled on a person standing behind her. “Look at me,” she said, low and furious, “look at my face and tell me if I look like I give two shits about your ‘rules’.”

No response.

Then she made a stark and precise one-eighty-degree turn and stomped over to where I sat on the bed. Behind her followed two people, men, one of whom was a slightly hesitant Tyler James, who I immediately recognized. He was still in his Healer’s uniform. Behind Tyler James was a man who sort of towered over him. Stark black hair, paired with black eyes, vampire-pale skin, neat blue suit. He was frowning disapprovingly at Lila, but Lila had her head turned, so she didn’t see it.

Not that she would care even if she had.

“Lila,” I greeted, “always good to see you.”

“Shut up,” she said, and considered me for a minute. “You look terrible.” She looked at my face, which must have sported dark circles under the eyes, from lack of sleep.

“Good morning to you too,” I raised an eyebrow.

“Ugh, I knew I shouldn’t have left you here,” Lila grumbled. “These... people,” she managed to grind out, stabbing a finger in the direction of Tyler James and the stranger who I was pretty sure was Adam Forrest, judging from the expressions on Jolene and Rowan’s faces, “tried to stop me from seeing you.”

“Well, technically,” Tyler James interrupted, “you’re not exactly supposed to be here. Adam over here is using his authority as a Second to give Miss Teigen here a free pass.”

Lila glanced at Tyler James witheringly. Tyler James just looked calmly back.

After a few seconds of that mini staring competition, Lila turned back to me, her green gaze trained on me. “Listen, Kenneth. I heard about what was going on in the Chambers,” she told me.

“What? How?” Jolene immediately demanded.

“Catherine,” Lila answered. “She’s one of the Researchers working in the Second Chamber. She knew what was going on.” Lila then continued lightly, “and when she wouldn’t tell me what it was, I threatened her with a kitchen-knife and she caved.”

“Of course you did,” I said.

“Catherine?” Adam asked, frowning. “Catherine Jordan? She gave up classified Second Chamber information? Why? That’s a serious offense, and it could potentially rebuke her status as a Second altogether, and she knows it.”

“You’re not going to tell the Chambers anything,” Tyler James asked, “are you?”

Adam shrugged. “Even if I didn’t, the Chambers would find out anyway. You know how it is. They always know.”

Tyler James didn’t say anything to that, and looked away.

“And you,” he addressed Lila sharply, “aren’t going to repeat what you heard, understood?”

“And why not?” Jolene spoke up, apparently tired of keeping quiet. “If some human can know what’s going on with the Chambers, why not us?” She said this in the tone of someone who knew they were being childish, but didn’t give a damn about it just the same.

Adam turned his frown on Jolene, glaring at her. “I don’t need to tell you, Frost, that you are Thirds, and you have only been working here for a year, which makes the lot of you severely unauthorized-”

“Bullshit,” Rowan cut in. “Granted we’re Thirds, but we were specially tasked by the Firsts to babysit Kenneth Teigen. No offense, man.” He directed this last part at me. I waved him off.

“That doesn’t give you any extra rights,” Adam replied icily, “and anyway, you weren’t very responsible with him either. On the day of the attack, you managed to get him both injured and exhausted, and still I caught the both of you off-duty yesterday when you were supposed to be here.”

Jolene restarted hotly. “So you’re saying that something serious could be going on in the Chambers and we don’t have the right-”

“Forrest, why are you here?” Scarlett asked, completely interrupting Jolene. “There’s a meeting going on between the Seconds, right? So why are you on our tail now?” She sneered. “Not important enough?”

Adam Forrest wasn’t perturbed, and even if he was, he hid it well. “One of the underground storage rooms in Basement 1 has been tampered with,” he said coolly. There was a strange and dangerous gleam in his eyes. “A couple of Thirds and I were going to go and investigate just now.”

Silence.

It took a considerable amount of effort to keep my expression still after hearing that. My heart was beating almost double-time, pumping blood into my neck. It was all I could do to affect boredom, and not let the lies show in my eyes as I looked away from Adam in what I hoped was a nonchalant manner. I didn’t look at Jolene, or Rowan, or Desiree, or Scarlett, or even Lila. I didn’t dare to look at anything but the ground.

Internally, my mind was racing. Does he know? How does he know? He can’t know.

Adam Forrest is the worst of the lot of them.

He might be just a bit older than us, but I could tell he would be the farthest thing from empathetic if he found out about Scarlett’s Shadow. In fact, I was prepared to bet that he would be the first to drag us all by the hair to the Firsts or some sort of jail or whatever it is they do to people with Shadows and other people who help control people’s Shadows. Adam was the enemy here and we needed to treat him as such.

I didn’t know why I was so concerned with the problems of people who I practically didn’t even know. Why had I gotten involved in the first place? What business did I have, meddling with these people’s lives? I didn’t know. All I knew was that I had gotten myself involved. They didn’t bring me in. I did. I brought this on myself. I could’ve said no whenever I wanted, yet still I chose to help. And now the consequences, the possibility of repercussions, stood right in front of us in the form of an extremely forbidding person. I had enough responsibilities. I should’ve looked out only for those. Myself and Lila, myself and Lila.

But I didn’t. I forgot.

What did that make me then, if I helped prisoners who lied without a second thought?

“Well?” Scarlett demanded at last, as though she herself didn’t understand why this incredibly awkward silence had been born in the first place. “Anything else you have to say?”

Adam looked at her, long and hard, and so did I. “No,” he said, “nothing more.” He turned to Lila. “And you really need to leave.”

“Make me,” Lila struck out defiantly.

“You don’t want me to. That’s my point.” Adam sighed. “Later, there’ll be a meeting including the Second and the Third Chambers. You and your son can attend that together.” The way he said ‘your son’ was admirable. For someone who was talking about the end of the world, he seemed to be pretty unafraid of me, considering.

That, I thought, was a good thing.

After a light squabble between Lila and Adam Forrest, and an interruption from Tyler James, Lila finally agreed to being escorted out of the building.

And then I suddenly remembered something. “Wait,” I said, slowly. “Can Lila stay here for another ten minutes? There’s something I need to ask her.” Adam opened his mouth, but I interrupted. “No, it’s not about whatever’s going on in the Second Chamber, but it’s personal,” I made my tone forcibly polite, “and I would appreciate the space.”

“I’m sorry,” Adam said, in the tone of someone who was not sorry at all, “but I can’t do that. You understand.”

“Fine then,” I said slightly aggressively, and turned to my mother, “Lila, how long have you known?”

Taglist: @jeahreading, @damn-this-transgirl-hella-gay, @mayaheronthorn, @cherryblossempearl

[redgoldsparks]

I wrote a 12 page epilogue to my 2019 comic "Harry Potter and The Problematic Author" because I found, in 2023, that I had more to say. You can also find this comic on my website, and I have PDF copies available on etsy. I may sell print copies at some point in the future.

instagram / patreon / portfolio / etsy / my book / redbubble

Full transcript below the cut.

PAGE 1

Part one: Ruddy Owls!

I was in fourth grade when the first Harry Potter Book was released in the US.

Panel 1: Sometimes our teacher would read it aloud in class. “Mr and Mrs Dursley of number 4 Privat Drive were proud to say they were perfectly normal, thank you very much…”

Panel 2: I was 11 years old when Harry Potter finally broke through my dyslexia and turned me into a reader.

Panel 3: Every night in the summer before sixth grade I waited for the owl carrying my Hogwarts Letter. I cried when it didn’t come. “I have to go to Muggle school!”

PAGE 2

Part Two: Hats

I dedicated myself to being a fan.

Panel 1: I began collecting Harry Potter News article.

Panel 2: I asked my relatives to mail me ones from their local papers. I filled a thick binder with clippings.

Panel 3: I wrote my own trivia quiz

Panel 4: and participated in the one held annually at the county fair. “Next contestant!”

Panel 5: I usually got into one of. the top five spots. I won boxes of candy, posters, stationary, and once a baseball cap. (Hat reads: I survived the battle of Hogwarts).

Panel 6: In high school I sewed a black velvet cape and knitted many stripped scarves.

PAGE 3

Part Three: Double Trouble

Watching the last film in 2011 felt like the final note of my childhood. 

Panel 1: I remember driving home from the midnight showing thinking about the end of 13 years of waiting; wondering what would define the next chapter of my life. 

Panel 2: That same month I heard of something called Pottermore. “Okay, so there’s a sorting quiz… I already know my house! Patronus assignment? Mine’s a barn owl. Duh!" 

Panel 3: You can read the books again but with GIFs? Why? 

Panel 4: I lived in a place with very slow and limited internet at the time. Pottermore sounded inaccessible, but also boring. I never joined. 

Panel 5: "I’ll just read the actual books again, thanks." 

PAGE 4

Part Four: Sweets

In 2016, a series of short stories titled "History of Magic in North America” were released on Pottermore to pave the way for the first Fantastic Beasts Film. These stories display an extreme ignorance of American history, culture, and geography, but the worst parts are the casual misuse of indigenous beliefs and stories. Fans and critics immediately spoke up against this appropriation. Some of the most quoted voices included Nambe Pueblo scholar Dr. Debbie Reese who runs the site “American Indians In Children’s Literature”; Navajo writer Brian Young; Johnnie Jae (Otoe-Missouria and Choctaw), founder of A Tribe Called Geek; Dr Adrienne Keene (Cherokee Nation), a Professor at Brown University who runs the blog “Native Appropriations”, and writers N.K. Jemison and Paula Young Lee.

PAGE 5

Rowling is famous for responding to fans directly on twitter, yet she did not respond to anyone calling out the damaging aspects of “Magic in North America.” Her representatives refused to comment for March 9 2016 article in the Guardian. She has never apologized. All of this, plus the casting of Johnny Depp and the specific declarations of support by JKR, Warner Brothers, and director David Yates left a sour taste in my mouth.

For further thoughts on the new films read The Crimes of Grindelwald is a Mess by Alanna Bennett for Buzzfeed News, November 16, 2018.

PAGE 6

Excerpt from Colonialism in Wizarding American: JK Rowling’s History of Magic in North America Through an Indigenous Lens by Allison Mills, MFA, MAS/MLIS (Cree and Settler French Canadian)

Although Rowling is certainly not the first white author to misstep in her treatment of Indigenous cultures, she has an unprecedented level of visibility and fame, […] One of the most glaring problems with Rowling’s story is her treatment of the many Indigenous nations in North America as one monolithic group. […It] flattens out the diversity of languages, belief systems, and cultures that exist in Indigenous communities, allowing stereotyping to persist. […] It continues a long history of colonial texts which ignore that Indigenous peoples still exist. […] In the Wizarding world, as in the real world, Indigenous histories have been over-written and our cultures erased.

from The Looking Glass: New Perspectives in Children’s Literature Volumn 19, Issue 1

PAGE 7

Part 5: Music

Panel 1: Also in 2016 I discovered two podcasts which radically altered my experience of being an HP fan. The first was Witch Please created by two Canadian feminist literary scholars Hannah McGregor and Marcelle Kosman.

Panel 2: “If it’s not in the text it doesn’t count!” “Close reading ONLY!”

Panel 3: They talk about Harry Potter at the level you’d expect in a college class with particular focus on gender, race, class, and the troubling fatphobia, fear of othered and queer coded bodies, violence against women, white feminism, gaslighting and failed pedagogy in the books. They bring up these issues not because they hate the series, but because they LOVE it.

PAGE 8

These passionate, joyful conversations went off like fireworks in my mind. I had never taken a feminist class before. I gained a whole new vocabulary to talk about the books- and the world.

PAGE 9

Panel 1: The second podcast I started that year was Harry Potter and the Sacred Text, created by two graduates of the Harvard Divinity School, Vanessa Zoltan and Casper Ter Kuile.

Panel 2: They read one chapter per episode through a theme such as love, control, curiosity, shame, responsibility, hospitality, destruction, or mystery. Like Witch Please, they are interested only in the information on the page, not thoughts from the author. The delights and failures of the text are examined in the context of the present day, and new meanings constantly arise.

PAGE 10

What does it mean to treat a text as sacred?

Trusting that the more time we give to it, the more blessings it has to give us.

Reading the text repeatedly with concentrated attention. Our effort is part of what makes it sacred. The text is not in and of itself sacred, but is made so by rigorously engaging in the ritual of reading.

Experiencing it in community.

“To me, the goal of treating the text as sacred is that we learn to treat each other as sacred.” -Vanessa Zoltan

PAGE 11

Part 6: Tooth and Claw

In October 2017, Rowling liked a tweet linking to an article arguing that trans women should be kept out of women’s bathrooms because of cisgender women’s fears. In March 2018, she liked a tweet about the problem of misogyny in the UK Labour Party which included the line “Men in dresses get brosocialist solidarity I never had.” The author of the tweet had previously posted many blatantly anti-trans statements.

Rowlings publicist claimed she had liked the posted by accident in a “clumsy and middle-aged moment.” Yet, in September 2018 she liked a link posted by Janice Turner to her column in the Times UK titled “Trans Rapists Are A Danger In Women’s Jails.”

Screencaps of these tweets can be found in the article “The Mysterious Case of JK Rowling and her Transphobic Twitter History”, January 10 2019 by Gwendolyn Smith (a trans journalist), LGBTQNation.com

PAGE 12

Excerpt from: Is JK Rowling Transphobic? A Trans Woman Investigates by Katelyn Burns

Ultimately, the answer is yes, she is transphobic […] I think it’s fair that she receives criticism from trans people, especially given her advocacy on behalf of queer people in general, but also because she has a huge platform. Many people look up to her for creating a singular piece of popular culture that holds deep meaning for fans from different walks of life, and she has a responsibility to handle that platform wisely. (Published on them.us March 28, 2018)

PAGE 13

Part 7: Home

At age 30, I’m still not over Harry Potter.

Panel 1: I’ve recently found a local bar that does HP trivia nights. “Poppy or Pomona?” “Poppy!”

Panel 2: I currently own an annual pass to Universal Studios so I can visit Hogsmeade.

Panel 3: I love talking to kids who are reading the books for the first time. “Who’s your favorite character?” “Ginny!”

Panel 4: And I’m planning a relisten to the audio books to next year to help me get through the election cycle. “Jim Dale, I’m going to need you more than ever…”

Spoiler from 2023: I did not do this. By mid-2020 JKR had posted her transphobic essay; we were in covid; I never visited Universal Studios again.

PAGE 14

But I do want to learn from her mistakes. I never want to repeat “Magic in North America.” As I write, I will do my research. I will consult experts and compensate them. If a reader from a different culture/background than me speaks up about my work, I will listen and apologize. I KNOW I WILL MAKE MISTAKES. But I will own up to them and I will do better.

PAGE 15

Excerpt from Diversity Is Not Enough: Race, Power and Publishing by Daniel José Older

We can love a thing and still critique it. In fact, that’s the only way to really love a thing. Let’s be critical lovers and loving critics and open ourselves to the truth about where we are and where we’ve been. Instead of holding tight to the same old, failed patriarchies, let’s walk a new road, speak new languages. Today, let’s imagine a literature, a literary world, that carries this struggle for equity in its very essence, so that tomorrow it can cease to be necessary, and disappear. (Buzzfeed, April 14, 2017) 

PAGE 16

Harry Potter is flawed, & JK Rowling is problematic. But the books helped me learn a lot: 

*One of the greatest dangers facing the modern world is the rise of fascism 

*The government cannot be trusted 

*Read and think critically

*Question the news: who paid the journalist? Who owns the paper? 

*Trust and support your friends through good times and bad

*Organize for resistance

*Educate and share resources with peers

*The revolution must be diverse and intersectional

* We are only as strong as we are united

*The weapon we have is love 

MK 2019

PAGE 17

PART 8: EPILOGUE

In 2021 I removed a Harry Potter patch I sewed to my book bag over a decade ago. I took 15 pieces of Harry Potter fanart off my walls. I got rid of my paperback book set, 2 board games, and 8 t-shirt. [images: a Hogwarts a patch with loose threads, a pair of scissors and a seam ripper]

Panel 1: Maia holding up a shirt with the Deathly Hallows logo on it. Maia thinks: “Damn, this really used to be my entire personality.”

Panel 2: The t-shirt gets thrown into the Goodwill box.

PAGE 18

I wrote my zine wrestling with JKR’s legacy in 2019, after her dismissive and racist reaction to indigenous fans and critics of “Magic in North America” and after she had liked a couple transphobic tweets. Since then, she has gotten so much worse.

A Brief Timeline (mostly from this Vox article)

June 2020- JKR posts a 3600 word essay making her anti-trans position clear

August 2020- The Robert F Kennedy Human Rights Org issues a statement about her transphobia, JKR doubles down on her position and returns an award they gave her

December 2020- JKR claims 90% of HP fans secretly agree with her anti-trans views

December 2021- JKR mocks Scottish Police for recognizing transgender identities

March 2022- JKR criticizes gender-inclusive language and legislation

December 2022- JKR retweets trans youtuber Jessie Earl’s critical review of Hogwarts Legacy, starting an onslaught of transphobic harassment towards Earl

December 2022- JKR removes her support from an Edinburgh center for survivors of sexual violence with a trans-inclusive policy and funds her own center which explicitly excludes trans sexual assault survivors

January 2023- JKR tweets “Deeply amused by those telling me I’ve lost their admiration due to disrespect I show violent, duplicitous rapists.” It got nearly 300K likes

March 2023- One the podcast “The Witch Trials of JK Rowling”, hosted by a former Westboro Baptist Church Member, JKR compares the trans rights movement to Death Eaters.

PAGE 19

What are The Witch Trials of JK Rowling?

Panel 1: Maia speaking. “It’s a 7 episode documentary style podcast hosted by Megan Phelps-Roper. Nearly every episode contains interviews with JKR as well as critics, journalists, historians, protestors and fans.

Panel 2: Maia speaking. “In episode 1, JKR speaks more candidly than she has previously about being in an abusive marriage. Her ex-husband hit her, stalked her, broke into her house overlapping with the time she was writing the first three HP books.”

Panel 3: Maia speaking. “What she went through genuinely sounds horrific. I have a lot of sympathy for the kind of life-long traumas those experiences leave.”

PAGE 20

HOWEVER.

It is clear from reading the June 2020 essay on her blog and listening to the podcast, that JKR still to this day feels unsafe. Despite her wealth and privilege she moves through the world with the mindset of a victim. And the group of people she finds most threatening are trans women.

Or rather, she is afraid that allowing trans women in women’s spaces invites the possibility of male predators entering those spaces.

Here’s a direct quote: The problem is male violence. All a predator wants is access and to open the doors of changing rooms, rape centers, domestic violence centers [...] to any male who says “I’m a woman and I have a right to be here” will constitute a risk to women and girls. - from The Witch Trials episode 4 as transcribed by therowlinglibrary.com, March 2023

Image: A stem of Belladonna with flowers and berries.

PAGE 21

Let me introduce here the term: TRANSMISOGYNY. The intersection of transphobia and misogyny, this term was coined by Julia Serano in 2007. Scout Tran, on tiktok as Queersneverdie said: “Transmisogyny occurs in people who have been previously hurt by traditional misogyny. Who have been driven to hate men or at the very least to be scared of men. They will sometimes take out that rage on trans women. (March 2023)

JKR claims to care for trans women and understand they are extremely vulnerable to assault and violence. In her 2020 Essay she wrote: “I want trans women to be safe. At the same time, I do not want to make natal girls and women less safe.”

So she cares about trans women… just less than cis women, and she’s willing to throw all trans women under the bus because of her unfounded, prejudice fears.

PAGE 22

Panel 1: Maia speaking. “JKR claims to have seen data that proves trans women have presented physical threats to other women in intimate spaces, but never cites sources. She also uses “producer of the large gametes” as a definition of “woman”.

What about transmen and nonbinary folks?

Panel 2: Maia leaning on a stack of all seven HP books, the first four Cormorant Strike books and The Casual Vacancy, gesturing to a series of quotes with a tired and disgusted expression.

I’m concerned about the huge explosion of young women wishing to transition and also about the increasing numbers who seem to be detransitioning. * [...] If I’d been born 30 years later, I too might have tried to transition. The allure of escaping womanhood would have been huge. -June 10 2020 essay

I don’t believe a 14 year old can truly understand what the loss of their fertility is.

-Witch Trials episode 4

I haven’t yet found a study that hasn’t found that the majority of young people experiencing gender dysphoria grow out of it*. -Witch Trials episode 7

*No sources cited

PAGE 23

It’s hard to over emphasize how fixated JKR has become on these topics. As of the date I’m writing this, 14 out of her 20 most recent tweets (70%) are in some way anti-trans. She tweets against Mermaids (a UK based trans youth charity), against trans athletes, against gender neutral bathrooms, and in support of LBG Alliance- a UK org that denies trans rights while upholding gay rights. Here are some gems from her archive:

“People who menstruate.” I’m sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud? -June 2020

War is Peace. Freedom is Slavery. Ignorance is Strength. The Penised Individual Who Raped You Is a Woman. - December 2021

And in response to someone asking “How do you sleep at night knowing you lost a whole audience?”

I read my most recent royalty cheques and find the pain goes away pretty quickly. -October 2022

PAGE 24

Hashtag Ruthless Productions a queer nerd podcast company created a great guide on ethical engagement with HP. Image: the two hosts of Hashtag Ruthless productions, Jessie (They/she) and Lark (he/him).

Stop buying all official HP Products: books, movies, games, toys, etc, Universal Studios tickets, food, merch.* Boycott any new TV series or movies. Instead: buy the books and DVDs used. If you still want to wear HP merch, buy fan-made. Engage only with fan content: fic, podcasts, fanart, wizard rock, etc. Show transphobia is bad for business. None of this will change JKR’s mind. But the Fantastic Beast series was canceled and after record Pottermore sales in 2020, they fell in 2022 by 40%.

*She gets a portion of ALL tickets. In 2019, this was her largest income source. Read the full guide: hashtagruthless.com/resourceguide

PAGE 25

As late as 2019, I was still reading JKR’s murder mystery series. But by the fourth book my experience began to sour.

Panel 1: Maia holding a copy of Lethal White. “The only gay character in this book is a government official who gropes his staff?”

Panel 2: “The only genderqueer character is misgendered and portrayed as a whiny faker?”

Panel 3: “The only Muslim character is disowned by his family over gay rumors?”

Panel 4: “Even the women aren’t portrayed very well…”

Panel 5: “Why is the main female character defined by the rape in her past?”

Panel 6: “Wait, what happens in the rest of this series…?” Maia scrolls on eir phone.

Panel 7: “Is the series heading towards an employee/boss relationship?”

Panel 8: “And has a man wearing women’s clothes to commit assault?”

Panel 9: “Yeah, I’m done. I’m never reading a new JKR book ever again.”

PAGE 26

And as for JKR herself?

As tempting as it might be to tweet your frustrations at her, I don’t recommend it. In 2021, she tweeted, “Hundreds of trans activists have threatened to beat, rape, assassinate and bomb me.” Getting hate online feeds her sense of victimhood and she waves it as proof of her moral high ground. Instead I suggest you block her on twitter, then delete twitter, go to the library and try to find a new book that feels magical.

Stack of books: In Other Lands by Sarah Rees Brennan, The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater, Gifts by Ursula K Le Guin, Deep Wizardry by Diane Duane, A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik and Gideon the Ninth by Tamsin Muir.

PAGE 27

In “Emergent Strategy” adrienne maree brown writes: You do not have the right to traumatize abusive people, to attack them, personally or publicly, or to sabotage anyone else’s health. The behaviors of abuse are also survival-based, learned behaviors rooted in pain. If you can look through the lens of compassion, you will find hurt and trauma there. If you are the abused party, healing that hurt is not your responsibility and exacerbating that pain is not your justified right.

PAGE 28

Seeing anyone over age 12 wearing HP merch now makes me uncomfortable. Are they ignorant or actively a TERF? I hate wondering how much money JKR has probably poured into anti-trans legislation… This zine is a culmination of my slow breakup with a story that once brought me joy. Now it just makes me angry, tired and sad.

Image: Candle in a fancy holder burned down to less than an inch.

Maia Kobabe, 2023

[ckret2]

✨⚠️ Wasting Away Again in the Goldilocks Zone ⚠️✨

If you're new here, this is one of those "human Bill in the Mystery Shack" redemption fics, you know the drill: Bill illegally escapes death via reincarnation; the Shack crew imprisons him til they can figure out how to kill him; but they won't, because Bill's gonna make friends with them and literally everybody else in town. Whether they like it or not.

Featuring!! The slowest redemption arc you've ever read; "human" Bill that doesn't decide being trapped in an alien body is fine; show-style episodic plot structure; individual plot arcs for characters you've never even cared about; so canon compatible we even include the dang coloring book; and so TBOB-compatible over a year before TBOB came out that I'm considering taking up a position as the Oracle of Delphi just so Apollo stops barraging me with dodgeballs.

New chapter every Friday, 5pm CST! Yes, that includes this Friday!

For art, doodles, upcoming scene excerpts, and posts about characterization & plot plans, see my #bill goldilocks cipher tag. For the fic itself, the first few chapters are on AO3, but tumblr's 60 chapters ahead:

⛓️ 1 Part 1. Bill returns, in a bedsheet toga.

⛓️ 1 Part 2. Bill tries to murder the Stans & Soos (with time travel).

⛓️ 2. Dipper and Mabel save the day (with time travel).

⛓️ 3. A tense evening as the Pines prepare to get rid of Bill.

⛓️ 4. Plot twist: the Pines physically can't get rid of Bill.

⛓️ 5. The gang goes to a diner at 3 a.m. for hostage negotiations.

⛓️ 6. Bill escapes from Theraprism. [NEW!!!]

⛓️ 7. "How'd Bill get here" flashback; plus, entering his new prison.

💇‍♀️ 8. Bill gives himself a haircut and depression.

💇‍♀️ 9. Bill & Ford grudgingly have a sincere conversation; regret it.

💇‍♀️ 10. The kids decide Bill won't ruin their summer. Also: Pacifica!

📓🔺📓 TBOB BOUNDARY: Everything above this line has been edited for 100% compatibility with The Book Of Bill and posted to AO3! Everything after this line has not been edited... so it's only 98% TBOB compatible. 📓🔺📓

🧚 11. Mabel gives Bill the most beautiful makeover ever. (It's not.)

🧚 12. Pacifica advertises Harry's Hairy Fairy Formula. Bill wants it.

🧚 13. Pacifica refuses to share; the twins discover its side effects.

🧚 14. Mabel wins Bill's eternal friendship with arts & crafts.

💭 15. Bill, Ford, and Dipper have nightmares that are Bill's fault.

💎 16. Ford has a fun day with Mabel but everything goes wrong.

💎 17. The day goes right again thanks to healthy communication.

🎥 18. Mabel's Guide To Local Animals, co-starring Bill Cipher.

🧊 19. Wendy snoops into the weird things happening in the shack.

🧊 20. Wendy meets the weird thing (it's Bill).

🎂 21. Stan & Ford's birthday party! Bill gives evil gifts.

💭 22. Bill "helps" Dipper's nightmares; no one knows his motive.

👁️ 23. Bill's ex is back in town and nobody's happy about it.

👁️ 24. Everyone's even less happy to learn Bill has a sex life.

🧿 25. Mabel and Bill make friendship bracelets! :)

🧿 26. The Pines take Bill to the mall. He wears terrible things.

🧿 27. Bill breaks Mabel's heart (and panics to fix it).

🏳️‍🌈 28. Bill talks his way into going with Wendy to Rainbow Club.

🎃 29. Bill contacts the Henchmaniacs on Summerween morning.

🎃 30. Costume making. Mabel pries into Bill's past, with crayons.

🎃 31. The Trickster's pals trick-or-treat; and Bill terrifies Dipper.

🪮 32. Dipper & Mabel make a poppet to control Bill.

🦷 33. Stan takes Bill to the dentist. In handcuffs.

🦷 34. Dentist & tooth fairy attack. Stan & Bill are still handcuffed.

🦷 35. Bill & Stan reach a painful understanding and stop the fairy.

🛁 36. Anime night; and Mabel makes Bill do community service.

🛁 37. Bill plots escape and runs into Wendy. Dipper panics.

🛁 38. Bill has the worst and stupidest day of his afterlife.

🌅 39. A cultist finds Bill; Bill tries to re-recruit Ford.

🚙 40. Gideon broadcasts car commercials; invokes Bill's wrath.

🚙 41. Bill apologizes for bullying Gideon. lol no he blackmails him.

🌕 42. Bill tells Dipper secrets of the universe; predicts an eclipse.

🌖 43. Gravity is disappearing; Ford and Fiddleford investigate.

🌗 44. Ford & Dipper drag Bill hiking; Bill faces his death.

🌘 45. Ford demands answers Bill can't give as totality looms.

🌑 46. Totality. Bill decides whether Ford lives or dies.

🌒 47. Bill feels rotten but finally explains the eclipse.

🌓 48. Bill has a complete mental breakdown.

🌔 49. The gang limps home. (Plus: a second dimensional eclipse.)

💿 50. Bill finally processes that mental breakdown.

💿 51. Dipper and Mabel try to remember the Axolotl's poem.

📖 52. The gang reads Flatworld. Bill isn't thrilled.

📖 53. Mabel tries to get Bill to talk about his home world.

⚛️ 54. Dipper, Ford, and Fiddleford do paradox physics.

📖 55. Mabel learns college-level geometry.

📖 56. Mabel & Bill have fun; Dipper & Ford prepare for murder.

💀 57. The execution of Bill Cipher.

💀 58. Everything you wondered about how Bill escaped.

💀 59. Everything you didn't wonder about how Bill escaped.

💀 60. Everything you never imagined about how Bill escaped.

✨✨ 🪐 61. The Axolotl finds the second dimension's corpse. ✨

📙 62. Soos vacuums the attic (wow exciting)

📙 63. Soos decides how he feels about Bill's treatment.

📙 64. Fixin it with Soos: home redecorating!

🎥 65. The gang makes plans for the night.

🎥 66. Dipper's Guide to the Fremont Nightwigglers

🎥 67. Mabel's Guide to Secret Sleepovers

🎥 68. The aftermath of everybody pulling all-nighters.

🏖️ 69. Beach episode! The Pines fish! Bill tans!

COMING SOON:

🏖️ 70. Bigfoot, Agent Powers, and the cool teen gang.

Hey!! Go read chapter 61 now! I posted it out of order so you probably haven't read it!!!

🪐 61-2: The 2D massacre is so much worse than the Ax thought.

🪐 61-3: A building inspection in the Nightmare Realm.

🪐 61-4: Even when Bill fixes things he breaks them.

🪐 61-5: A shape meets Bill as the world burns.

🪐 61-6: The gods & Bill negotiate him leaving Dimension Zero.

COMING SOON:

🪐 61-7: The gods deal with Bill not leaving Dimension Zero.

EVENTUALLY WHEN WE GET BACK TO NORMAL NUMBERING THE NEXT CHAPTER WILL BE:

🕴️ 71? The government investigates the Mystery Shack... again.

I skipped chapter 61 because it was about the destruction of Bill's dimension and it was scheduled to post the week TBOB came out. By the time I finished rewriting it to be TBOB-compatible, it was like, 5 or 6 chapters. I'm gonna finish posting them first to see how many chapters they actually are and then I'll update the numbering of the subsequent chapters.

This post was last updated November 15, 2024! If you're seeing this post as a reblog and it's been a while since then, check back on the original post to see if more's been added!

[screamlet]

new fic: what are your intentions?

aka the bucktommy wip that ate my life! it is a Long Fic

pairings: buck/tommy, tommy/omc's, canon background pairings rating: E, word count: 22k (out of ~130k total) status: complete (see below for posting schedule) tags: tommy pov, canon compliant, character study, queer themes/culture, angst, hurt/comfort, internalized homophobia, found family- THE WORKS. with a happy ending because i wouldn't do that to you.

Summary:

It's Tommy and Buck—the family they find and the family they make.

Excerpt:

"Alright, you creeps, it's Evan Buckley," Tommy calls out to the hangar. Donato chokes on her coffee and gets it all over her flight suit. "Him?" Katelynne, one of their medics, walks over excitedly. "Donato, that's him, right? Worst drunk kiss in the LAFD Buckley?" "Wait, that Buckley?" Harris, another medic, calls out. "Crushed by a truck Buckley? At the 118?" Tommy points at them. "Just Buck." He looks at Donato in particular and adds, "You get one sloppy seconds joke for the entirety of your human life and that's it." Donato laughs. "Are you kidding? That was sloppy firsts. I was worried he'd never find someone with game like that." Tommy, suddenly incredibly defensive of Evan's honor, crosses his arms over his chest. "He's got game." There's a long, expectant pause. "Which I don't have to describe to you because it's private," Tommy finishes.

Posting schedule:

Story's done but I'm posting a chunk every few days so I have time to proofread/edit between drops. Dates/word counts might change.

Chapters 1-4 (22k): 9/21 (today!) 5-8 (22k): 9/25 9-12 (26k): 9/29 13-15 (20k): 10/2 16-18 (24k): 10/7 19-22 (26k): 10/11

[writingrock]

part one: the tale of two lovers

notes: strangers to lovers, fantasy universe, bakusquad, slow burn, fluff, slight angst, draconic language and culture, other tags to be added ... status: ongoing - this will be updated weekly, every Tuesday.

part list

pairing: barbarian!Katsuki Bakugou x fem!reader

chapter list

chapter 1

↬ excerpt:

The bard shrugs, resting his elbows on the table with an air of quiet conviction. "Stories are what keep us alive. They remind us of where we’ve been, what we’ve survived, and inspire others to forge their own paths. Besides," he adds with a grin, "I have a feeling your story is one worth hearing."

chapter 2

↬ excerpt:

Denki and Sero exchanged glances, both grinning now as they walked behind you. “I think they’re gonna get along just fine,” Sero whispered.

“Or kill each other trying,” Denki added with a laugh.

chapter 3

↬ excerpt:

There were a couple of things Bakugou noticed about you. It was natural that he was slightly curious about the latest addition to the party. After all, he needed to know if you’d be a threat to them, whether you were loyal, or if you’d bolt if the second things got too rough. Being suspicious of people was second nature to him—he didn’t know anything about you, and you weren’t exactly an open book either.

chapter 4

↬ excerpt:

“She’s not what I expected. That’s all. She’s got guts, I’ll give her that. But the Veil—” He trails off, his thoughts drifting to the dense, dangerous forest. “The Veil isn’t a place for anyone who isn’t serious. She’s not just a mapmaker. She’s… stubborn. Determined. Like she’s got something to prove.”

“Well then,” the bard asks, his voice softer now. “Did she prove it?”

chapter 5

↬ excerpt:

As more time passed, more facets of your character and abilities were unveiled, particularly within the complexities of the woods where your skills were most apparent. The group grew increasingly curious by your depth of knowledge and confidence with which you navigated both the physical and mystical aspects of the forest.

chapter 6

↬ excerpt:

“Karshoj, I thought you were an expert on these shitty woods!” Bakugou cursed, his voice smouldering with frustration as he kicked a nearby rock, sending it skittering across the ground. His fiery eyes locked onto you, anger practically radiating from him.

chapter 7

↬ excerpt:

“Let’s keep moving,” he said, his voice slipping back into its usual hardness as he took the lead once more. And Bakugou’s quest was barely halfway done. There were still more artefacts to find, more trials ahead. It wasn’t over, not by a long shot. And right now, the biggest obstacle to overcome was getting his group together and getting out of the caves.

chapter 8

↬ excerpt:

A day of rest was long overdue for the team. Especially after getting lost in those cave systems for god knows how long. Navigating through those tunnels had drained the group’s energy and dampened their spirits. Leaving them in desperate need of a break. It was clear to the group that they needed time to recover.

chapter 9

↬ excerpt:

“This is it,” you murmured, your voice barely more than a breath as you took in the serene beauty of the heart of Niniel’s Veil. The clearing before you was unlike anything you’d ever seen. A perfect circle enclosed by towering, ancient trees that seemed to watch over the space with silent reverence. The air was dense with magical energy, making every breath feel as if you’ve inhaled fumes of pixie dust.

chapter 10 [upcoming]

↬ excerpt:

Bakugou’s response was immediate and predictable, his brows furrowing as he let out a sharp scoff. “Hell no. You think I want her tagging along, running her mouth at every turn? She’s got a real attitude problem. Always got something to say, always pushing my buttons.”

comment if you want to be in the taglist for this series

taglist: @/chocogoldie @/devils-adversary @/l0kisbitch @/miikii0 @/onlyisaa @/sleepisfortheweakpooh @/helena-way07 @/enzstr @/qardasngan

[epiphainie]

you still love me anyway (complete; 6/6)

bucktommy, established relationship, 5 + 1, fluff and angst

chapter: 6/6

rating: M

words: 43.5k (chp length: 7.6k)

summary:

But that was just him. Evan. He was too much, too smart, too impulsive, too earnest, and he was prickly, petty, bratty, unruly, redefining the phrase of high maintenance. He was Tommy’s favorite person.

aka five times buck was being too much and one time tommy told him so

chapter excerpt:

In Evan’s defense, he’d been honest about it, open, from minute one. It was Tommy who hadn’t really considered how it would all come around when Evan had told him that night, “That's usually my problem. I can get pretty jealous.”

read on AO3

[iamyourdailydoseofbi]

( ✧ MY MASTERLIST! ✧ )

[ Will be updated in time, so be sure to check / refresh ] Some will not have links as they are not posted yet.

Want to know where else you can find me? Here.

Tips and tricks for baby writer's. Pt 1 Pt 2 Pt 3 Pt 4 Pt 5 Pt 6 Pt 7 Pt 8 Pt 9 Pt 10

HOUSE OF THE DRAGON.

"The only thing that could tear down the house of the dragon was itself.." [ Mix of HOTD and Modern AU ]

Aegon II Taragaryen - "The Upsurger King"

"Let the ravens fly that the realm may know the pretender is dead, and their true king is coming home to reclaim his father's throne."

The History Book on the Shelf. ( Complete )

Pt 1 Pt 2 Pt 3 Pt 4 Pt 5

Promise not to drop me? Only a fool would drop you. ( Complete )

Pt 1 Pt 2

Wanna wrap my hands around your neck. ( Complete )

Pt 1

Pt 2

Will you pray for me? ( Complete )

Pt 1 Pt 2 Pt 3

Like real people do. ( Complete )

Pt 1 Pt 2 Pt 3

Small council, cherry tarts and dragon dreams.

Pt 1 Pt 2 Pt 3

In the dark of the night.

Run rabbit, run run run.

A glimpse of us.

Oh, who is she?

From my blood, comes your ruin.

The worst guy to share a blunt with.

Money, Money, Money, must be funny in a rich man's world.

Aemond Targaryen - "The One Eyed"

"Do not mourn me, Mother. It was a fair exchange. I may have lost an eye, but I gained a dragon."

The Baratheon Curse. ( Complete )

Pt 1 Pt 2

Small council, cherry tarts and dragon dreams.

Pt 1 Pt 2 Pt 3

A game I couldn't lose.

Don't touch what is mine.

S-I-M-P

Either way what bliss.

I was gone for five fuckin' minutes.

Helaena Targaryen - "The Dragon Dreamer"

"It is our fate, I think, to crave always what is given to another. If one possesses a thing, the other will take it away."

Small council, cherry tarts and dragon dreams.

Pt 1 Pt 2 Pt 3

You have so much to do, and I have nothing ahead of me.

Alicent Hightower - "The Green Queen"

"The city is yours, Princess. But you will not hold it long. The rats play when the cat is gone, but my son Aemond will return with fire and blood.."

I hope the guilt kills you.

Jacaerys Velaryon - "The Lord Strong"

"For my mother, for my family, I will fight till my last breath.."

I don't want to be his Queen, I want to go home.

THE CONQUEROR REBORN. [ A HOTD FANFIC ]

"Twas' a tangled web Roselyn Hightower found herself in. Weaved so intimately with Aegon and Helaena Targaryen."

Chapter / Excerpts.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Book Info.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Edits.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21

THE PINK PONY CLUB. [ A HOTD x MODERN AU FANFIC ]

"In every other universe, Roselyn Hightower would find Helaena Targaryen and Aegon Targaryen. And in every other universe, it does not end well for them."

Chapter / Excerpts.

1 2 3 4

Book Info.

1 2 3 4 5

Edits.

1 2 3

DEAD FICS / I WILL NEVER WRITE FOR THESE FANDOM, CHARACTER'S, ETC. AGAIN.

Wednesday [ TV Show ]

Watch my heart burn. ( Complete & Discontinued )

Pt 1 Pt 2

House of the Dragon.

Burn. ( Complete & Discontinued )

Pt 1 Pt 2 Pt 3

By your side. ( Complete & Discontinued )

Pt 1 Pt 2 Pt 3

Six of Crows. [ TV Show ]

When your older. ( Complete & Discontinued )

Pt 1 Pt 2

Haven't I given enough?

Percy Jackson.

I just died in your arms. ( Complete & Discontinued )

Pt 1 Pt 2

Old enough to understand.

Close your eyes.

The Boys.

Doin' Time.

A leap of faith.

The other woman.

The Walking Dead.

5 stages of grief.

The Hobbit.

Never trust a spell.

----

Tell me if you see any errors and I'll fix them asap!

[mmogurl]

In The Shadow of Dragons Chapter 9: Coiled Up and Hissing

18+ | 5.1k | Daemon Targaryen X Female OC | possessive, protective, objectifying, simping, raunchy Daemon | Uncle / niece incest, Targcest, Courtship, alt canon universe

I don't want to spoil this chapter, so I'm not going to describe what happens given I get into it pretty quickly anyway! The one thing I will say - is that there is some drama - and you can probably tell with who from the gif above. ;) Also, I was running behind with editing on this chapter, so apologies if there are any flubs in it. Told from Daemon's POV.

CH 1 | CH 2 | CH 3 | CH 4 | CH 5 | CH 6 | CH 7 | CH 8 | CH 9 Also on AO3

Time seemed to stretch on far slower than it should have as Daemon waited patiently for his sweetling to join him in the Godswood.

Earlier, he had retired to his chambers for awhile, freshened up, and even busied himself reading an excerpt from a rather large tome on Valyrian history. He’d enjoyed the familiarity of reading the runes of his mother language, the daring acts of his ancestors captivating him until the night fell heavier upon the Red Keep.

By now he was certain the hour of the bat had come and gone, giving way to its successor, the eel. And as he paced back and forth in front of the great weirwood tree, a puzzled scowl darkened his face in wondering what was keeping his sweet betrothed from their planned meeting. It was not like her to keep him waiting, and yet as more time passed and she did not appear, Daemon’s mood became uneasy with worry that something might actually be wrong.

He was just about to go and seek her out, figuring he’d knock at the secret passageway to gain access to her room, when the sound of footsteps rustling through the grass rose to his attention. He faced the direction of the noise, and smiled as he saw the silhouette of one clad in a dress. Daemon’s mouth opened to call out to her, but stopped before speaking as he realized the form did not belong to his Ryna. No, this woman had a stouter frame than his slender riñitsos, a figure widened by childbirth that he knew well; it was Rhaenyra.

Daemon’s brow furrowed, his expression shifting from one of expectation to confusion, then finally to irritation. There was very little reason for his eldest niece to be out and about at night and given he was expecting Ryna, she was only making a nuisance of herself as far as he was concerned.

“Niece?” he called out with a frown. “What in the Seven Hells are you doing out here at this hour?”

“I thought I might find you here,” she said in a voice that might have sounded coy coming from any other woman. But Rhaenyra made it sound natural, proud even, as though there was nothing wrong with their meeting here.

As she stepped out of the shadows into the glowing moonlight that bathed the clearing, Daemon was able to see her more clearly. He was surprised to take in the state of her dress, looking as though it had been thrown on haphazardly, the laces barely tightened and the bust hanging lowly. She also donned a hooded robe over it, her hair a tangle of silver gold about her shoulders, reflecting brightly as though she were an ethereal being.

There was a look of heady desire in her eyes as she approached him, though he knew not if it was hunger for him or if she had other ulterior motives in mind as was typical with the heir to the throne. Rhaenyra stood beside him, almost too closely, peering up with a mixture of determination and a wanton desperation.

“I need to speak with you,” she said, her voice tinged with a sense of entitlement, as though she expected he should drop everything to listen to her.

“Shouldn’t you be abed,” Daemon replied, his voice slightly sardonic, but still betraying an air of concern. Rhaenyra was certainly a headstrong Targaryen woman, but she typically kept her more questionable antics private. That she would approach him now in this unkempt state, told him that there was something more to her visit.

Daemon stood stock still, almost shocked by her daring as she took another step closer, so near he could feel the heat radiating from her body.

“Perhaps I should,” she agreed, her voice taking on a huskier tone as she looked up at him almost challengingly. “But you see, I can’t sleep. I have too much on my mind.”

He raised an eyebrow, his expression betraying doubt at her answer. She seemed a little too emboldened, too confident for his liking, and the overabundance of flesh peering through her gown suggested she had come with plans for much than just talking.

“Rhaenyra,” he said coldly, his words a warning against any further encroachment of his patience. “Return to your chambers before you behave in a way we will both regret.”

“Like I would not regret allowing my simple little sister to take you away from me?” she snapped back defiantly, her voice full of fire and rebellion.

Who the blazes does she think she is?? Impertinent little pup.

Oh, she had surely gotten his attention now. This whole charade of hers going from mildly amusing to downright insulting. His gaze darkened, his fists clenching with anger. How could Rhaenyra have the nerve to spout such things about his beloved, directly to his face as though it might help her cause and not hinder it?

He loomed hither to her, his posture threatening as he towered over her frame purposefully. “You would do well to watch your tongue, Niece,” he said, his words a low hiss. “I am not swayed as easily as you might think. No matter how you might try to entice me.”

Rhaenyra’s eyes narrowed, her lips pursed in a stubborn pout, though her body was moving closer, pressing against him as though compelled by an invisible force. Her hand reached out to touch his chest, skimming over the heavy woolen surcoat he wore.

“You wouldn’t have to do anything,” she crooned in a voice tinged with need. “I will take care of everything, if you wish it.”

The feel of her warm touch on his body sent a small shiver down his spine. He carefully schooled his features to hide the reaction from her, but Daemon could not deny that Rhaenyra was a beautiful woman. Even so, the unflinching resolve in her eyes and the presumptive quality of her voice sent a spark of anger through him. As though she saw no other outcome to this scenario but for him to succumb to her wiles. How dare she think she might just sweep in and have him simply because she desired him so?

With a deliberate air of calmness, he placed his own hand over hers on his chest. “And what did you expect to offer me?” he answered her forwardness with a cold indifference.

The Realm’s Delight smiled, a smug, confident expression that said she already thought this battle of wills won between them. She looked up at him from beneath her lashes, her fingers kneading soflty against the fabric of his surcoat.

“Anything you want, Uncle,” she said in a seductive whisper. “Anything you’ve dreamt of I will give you. If only you’ll forsake Ryna for me. We can get rid of my useless husband and finally be wed as it should have been in the first place. It should be you standing by my side when I sit upon the Iron Throne.” She leaned in dangerously close, her breath ghosting against the base of his neck. “Do not pretend that it is not everything you’ve ever truly wanted.”

The Iron Throne though cold and jagged was a tempting lure, one she knew would give him pause to consider. No matter how alluring, Daemon abhorred the way she spoke to him, as though his resistance was nothing more than a formality. He knew her to be impulsive, but this was something else entirely. Did she not realize that she was belittling his sweetling? He was no longer simply angry, but furious with the insult that she thought the Rogue Prince, a fearless rebel with no cause but that of his own choosing, would ever cow to her.

“You think you have some power over me?” he growled, his voice dropping to a dangerous level. “That I would simply discard my riñitsos because you offered me something you think grander?”

“Do not call her that,” she seethed, jealousy transparent as a scowl formed on her face at hearing such a familiar term of endearment. “I won’t let you do this, Daemon,” she continued in a voice that was becoming unhinged. “I cannot allow you to give yourself to her. You are mine.”

“You cannot allow?” his tone was sharp, his expression suddenly menacing as his hands moved to grip down roughly on her arms, pulling her closely to him. His eyes flashed with fury, like a violet storm beneath darkened brows. “No one, Rhaenyra, least of all you, tells me what I will or will not do,” he stated firmly and succinctly. “I will give myself to whomever I choose, and you will not stop me. You will not dictate to me, and you will not make demands. Do you understand?”

The look on her face was obstinate, a spoiled child not used to being rebuffed in this manner. She had always gotten her way, never been denied anything in her entire life, and she did not seem pleased with the concept of rejection.

“You cannot do this,” she whimpered as she shook her head with bewilderment. “You cannot just leave me for her. You have always been mine. Our hearts were always meant to burn together!”

Rhaenyra lunged forward, pressing her lips against his violently. It took him by such surprise that he froze a moment before regaining his wits and pulling back while keeping her in place with his grip. An agonized lament echoed out against the sound of his thudding heart, startling him even more than the forceful kiss had. He had thought the shriek made by the spoiled child in his grasp, but when he looked down to see her head turned to the side, a wicked grin tearing through her cheeks, his heart sank as he followed her gaze.

His world seemed to freeze with cruel clarity as his vision zeroed in on the fleeting figure of his sweetling. Turned on her heels and running from the ghastly sight of her intended kissing her sister. He rememebered the fears she’d given voice to when they first discussed the possibility of wedding, how she would not be second best even to her husband. His heart nearly stopped beating, his ears ringing and his stomach twisting as the reality of the situation fully set in.

No… No… No…

“You vicious wench,” he let out a hiss, roughly pushing Rhaenyra away from him, his amethyst eyes narrowed and filled with a murderous intent. “What have you done?”

But, it was not a question he expected an answer to, and as his violence gave way to horror it seemed everything went silent besides that deafening trill in his head.

“Fuck!” he raged, running as fast as his legs would carry him to catch up with her. “Ryna! Wait!” he called after her, not knowing if she heard him or whether she would heed the call if she had. He knew he could not let that bitch, Rhaenyra, win though, that he could not let his precious girl escape thinking the worst of him.

He could not lose Ryna, not because of this foolhardy blunder. He could not allow this one incident to destroy the bond they had spent a lifetime forging, and the past month honing. Not when they had come so damn close to finally being together.

“Sweetling!” Daemon’s voice roared up to the heavens as he sprinted out from the empty corridor and into the open air of the training yard. His long legs propelled him faster than the wind and yet he couldn’t seem to close the gap between them. “Stop! Wait! I can explain.. Just wait, Gods damn it!”

She looked back for a brief moment in response to his call and that was when she stumbled forward, tripping over a shield that had been left against a haybale. Finally, he closed in on her from behind, his wide reach enveloping her fully in his arms.

“Let go of me!” she fussed, kicking and elbowing him in a frantic attempt to get away.

“No!” he barked firmly, his hands wrapped tightly around her, keeping her arms trapped down at her sides so she could not escape. “Stop struggling. You are not getting away from me,” he held onto her vehemently, his voice a low snarl.

“How could you do this to me, Daemon? Was it always your plan to betray me for her? To make me fall so deeply in love with you that it would hurt all the more when she took you from me?” her voice was choked with tears, and it pained him to hear her say such things. Even knowing those terrible words came from a place of pain didn’t make them bite any less.

“I did nothing!” he bellowed loudly at her with frustration. Soon he could hear the clinking of platemail nearing as one of the Kingsguard came to investigate the commotion. They would not have privacy for long if they did not move. “This is exactly what that bitch wanted. Do not let her win. Come with me willingly and I will explain.”

Daemon turned her in his arms and gave her a firm squeeze, hoping that she would see reason. “Please,” he found himself asking softly, looking upon her tear-stained cheeks, the sound of heavy metal footsteps were getting closer with every passing moment. He could not remember the last time he had pleaded with someone like this. For a time it seemed as though the word please had not been a part of his vocabulary at all. Long ago he’d decided that nobody would ever make him beg for anything and yet here he was.

“Please, my sweet girl,” he implored her once more.

Her lower lip was still trembling with upset, but she nodded ever so faintly at him in acceptance. He took her hand and ran up the steps, ducking into the corridor that led past the Hand’s Tower to avoid any unwanted questioning. The last thing he needed was for the king to find out that he had been chasing his crying betrothed around the Red Keep at all hours of the night. Without any context as to what had occurred, Daemon knew Viserys would think the worst of him. It would mean the end of everything.

They needed privacy, a place he could speak freely away from the prying ears of staff and guard alike. Daemon placed a hand of the stone wall, his breath ragged from the exertion of running through the keep like a madman.

“Listen to me, riñitsos,” he ducked down, patting her hair back against the crown of her head soothingly. “Go back to your chambers and let me in the back way. We have made enough of a spectacle tonight. I promise I will be entirely honest with you, but we need to use discretion. Can you do this for me?”

Ryna wiped tears away from her face, almost as if offended by the presence of such weakness. Those beautiful, big eyes of hers were puffy and red from crying and yet still so full of injury. He hated that her ire was directed at him when he had done nothing to welcome Rhaenyra’s advances.

“Do not look upon me with such hateful eyes,” he said somberly, a hint of pain cracking into his voice. “You know your sister is capable of treachery. You know what a spiteful creature she is,” he tried to speak reason so that she might understand. “And what record of betrayal have you known of me? When have I ever hurt you so?”

She looked blankly at him, a weariness now settling into her features. Daemon could not stand to see her like this.

“Please, sweetling,” he murmured, bringing a hand up to the side of her face and wiping a few more of those salty tears away from her cheek. “Just do as I bid you.”

His head was still swarming with anger as he thought about the conniving little wretch. The way Rhaenyra had tricked him so effortlessly into believing she was in distress and the cruel laugh of malice that he’d heard as he ran off after Ryna. He felt like such a fool to be had in such a way, but he would never underestimate Rhaenyra again, would never allow her close again.

He leaned forward, his lips finding the peak of her head and giving her a gentle kiss. Her hair smelled so good, still fresh from her bath but mixed with the faint smell of sweat from their tussle. Daemon found himself just wanting to wrap himself up in this scent that was wholy hers, remembering every moment of passion they’d shared together vividly.

Gods, she is too precious to lose like this. Not like this…

“Fine, but only to explain yourself,” she finally eked out. “Nothing else.”

“Of course,” he agreed readily, his voice too eager for his own liking. “Then straight to your chambers, dear one. I will come to the back passage shortly.”

Ryna nodded and turned, dragging her feet slowly as she took the hallway that led back towards her room. Daemon hoped he could make her see the truth of what had transpired, but he feared she might not listen. That his sweetling would dwell on only her deepest fears come true, that Rhaenyra would always take everything that was hers and she would be left with nothing that was her own.

He could not accept that as an outcome, would not accept it. He rushed down the stairs, through the Great Hall until he reached the tunnels. Taking a torch from the wall, he found the path he knew well to Ryna’s room and was delighted to find the door already ajar for him. Despite everything that had already occurred, Daemon thought it a good sign that she had allowed him entry, though he would not mistake it for forgiveness.

There was still a heaviness about him as he quietly entered her chambers through the secret passage. He found her already seated on the edge of the bed, her elbows on her knees and her head hanging low in her hands as she waited for him. Daemon took a seat next to her, leaving some distance betweem them to show her that he would respect her space, at least for now.

“Ryna…” he spoke, letting out a long sigh. Daemon could hardly imagine how to put into words all the things he needed to say right now. How did one even begin to defend what appeared so obviously to be betrayal? “Where do I even start?” he said aloud, his mind going back to how the entire mess had unfolded. “I can tell you this much, that I did not desire that kiss,” he stated firmly. “It was wholly unbidden and unwelcome. The act of a desperate woman.”

“So what happened then? How did she come to be held in your arms?” Ryna asked with incredulity. “How did she even know you would be there?”

“I know not,” he replied with the same level of disbelief. “She said she thought she might find me there. I had been waiting for you obviously. I arrived there perhaps a touch earlier than I should have in my eagerness to see you alone. Your sister looked a mess, as though she’d risen from bed and carelessly thrown a dress and cloak on. In all truth, I thought something was wrong with her at first glance.”

Ryna looked at him intently, the apathy draining slowly from her eyes as she listened to his story. “Go on,” she encouraged him to continue.

“I told her she should be back in bed sleeping, but she insisted that she could not sleep. That was when she became quite bold, and I warned her to leave before she did something she would regret.”

He sighed with exasperation, hating that he must repeat such a horrible thing to this sweet girl who already felt a severe amount of insecurity at her place in life. He would protect her from any uncessary pain if at all possible, but not too much lest she think him lying to her.

“I do not know what to make of what followed after. I might actually wonder if Rhaenyra is far crueler than any of us might have imagined or that she has gone mad,” his tone was resigned, hoping that she would actually believe him.

“Why? What did she do next?” there was a hint of curiosity in Ryna’s eyes. Was it too naive of him to hope that her inquisitiveness meant she might trust him more now?

“I hate to tell you this, sweetling, for you will not be glad to hear it,” Daemon looked at her with a sadness in his expression. “I do not wish to be the one who tears you and your sister apart.”

“It is a little too late for that, is it not?” Ryna said raising her eyebrows expectantly.

Daemon’s jaw tightened with the regret that she was correct in her assertion. He knew she would never look at Rhaenyra the same again after what happened that night and his side of the events would most definitely make it worse.

“Do not hate me for telling you this, riñitsos,” he spoke with a softer tone now, trying to lessen the blow. “She came on to me, obviously. She said she would give me whatever I wished if I would forsake you, and I refused. I was furious with her for insulting you so.”

“Then why were you so close to her? Why was she kissing you when I came upon you both?” Ryna looked hurt still, but it was different now. Her features brightening as she tried to put the pieces together, attempting to clear Daemon of any wrong-doing.

He shook his head, trying to remember the flash of insanity that had happened in such a brief span of time. “She was all over me and it was all I could do but to hold her back from me. When she would not accept my answer. She demanded that I was hers. That she would not allow you and I to wed.”

Daemon could not help but to scoff at the thought of it. A part of him still couldn’t believe how deranged Rhaenyra had sounded.

“Of course then I got even more incensed and meant to intimidate her when I grabbed her by the arms, to get her to give up the foolish notion that I would somehow leave you in favor of her. And that is when she reached up and kissed me.”

“I see,” Ryna let out a long winded sigh as she looked forward once more, resting her hands on her thighs as she sat more upright.

There was a long silence before Daemon finally broke it. “Sweetling,” he reached out and touched the back of her hand, dwarfing it with his much larger palm. “I know this is not easy, but I really do need you to believe me when I say this.” He leaned in carefully grasping her chin so she would look at him. “You are the one I want, dear girl.”

Her pale eyes shimmered as emotion began to overtake her and he took the opportunity to move close to her side, to wrap his arms around her and offer some comfort. “It saddens me that you don’t see how beautiful you are. How you’re so sweet and caring, yet still you possess a fiery tempest within. It’s you I’ve wanted all these years, even when it felt like a crime to acknowledge such feelings. It felt wrong to want someone so pure, but now that I’ve come to know what an incredible woman you are, I can not bear the idea of being without you. That anyone else might have you. I have never felt this way about anyone before, riñitsos.”

He took a deep breath, letting it out as he collected himself, honing his words with a sincerity that he was not accustomed to.

“I have married in the past for convenience, even married for what I thought might be affection.. But with you, my sweet girl,” he pulled back enough to force those gorgeous, weeping eyes to look at him once more. Daemon needed her to know the depth of his emotion so that she might never doubt him again. “With you I will be marrying for love for the first time.”

Ryna buried her face in the crook of his neck, sniffling as she turned into his embrace. Daemon exhaled with a slight shudder as her wet cheeks pressed against his skin, the warmth she exuded soothing him in a way he had never known before. Her acceptance of his touch felt healing, like a balm for his soul. It was the closest anyone had ever come to pacifying the rage that lied just below the surface at any given moment.

The need to protect her was overwhelming in ways he never could have anticipated. He knew she was not a delicate flower who needed saving by any means, but he wanted to guard her from the harsh realities of life. To shelter her from the despicable relatives that saw her as a pawn in a game, or those like Rhaenyra who saw no need for her to be on the board at all. Where he had felt nothing but loyalty towards his family prior, Ryna had now become the centerpiece of his allegiance.

Daemon gently stroked her silken locks as she wept, trying to find the right way to settle her. “It is alright, sweetling,” his voice was soft and tender. “Come here,” he said pulling her small frame up onto his lap. “I’ve got you.”

He wrapped one arm around her, hugging her against his broad chest and held her tight as though she was the most precious thing to him in existence. While his free hand combed through her hair, carding through the platinum curls over and over. Daemon held her like that for what felt like ages, whispering sweet nothings in her ear and hoping it provided her some level of relief.

It was then, during those moments that a thought occurred to him. He didn’t want to wait any longer to make her his wife. Another week was simply too long a time to delay when he felt the overwhelming urge to declare his devotion to her before the old gods.

“Little dragon?” he asked suddenly, leaning back to make eye contact. “I wish to marry you.”

“What?” she asked almost confused by his words, wiping her eyes on the backs of her hands. “We will be wed soon though.”

“No,” he replied with a shake of his head, his hand coming up to caress her cheek. Daemon’s expression was serious as he held her gaze. “I mean as soon as possible. Today. Now. I can not wait a sennight to call you my wife.”

“But, how?” she looked upon him with such unsure, yet hopeful eyes. “There will be a big wedding held before the Seven, I’m sure, as is always done.”

“Yes, yes,” he said with a dismissive wave of the hand. “There can be a grand ceremony before the High Septon with all the pomp and spectacle that is customary. But I wish to give you more than that. A marriage before the old gods would solidify the bond with the most important people in attendance. Not all the lords who wish to curry favor, nor the ladies who simply wish to seen in the presence of greatness and gossip.” He paused with a smile before completing the thought. “I wish to bond with you first, rinitsos. Before anyone else.”

“Daemon,” she replied quietly, her voice almost too choked up to speak, yet she managed. “You mean a Valyrian ceremony?”

He leaned in close enough for his nose to brush her own, his eyes gazing fondly upon her. “Yes, my love. A Valyrian wedding forged with fire and blood.” The thought of it was almost too perfect, to eschew the new gods in favor of the old.

In any other case, he would have asked Viserys to do the honors, but he doubted his brother would approve before the official wedding. That didn’t leave many options, but he might be able to find one among the Dragonkeepers that could officiate. After all, he already knew the rites practically by heart from his studies and the dragon tenders were the only others well versed in Valyrian besides the some of the more studied maesters.

“Doesn’t it require frozen fire?” she asked, a look of concern in her features as though they might not be able to procure such a thing on short notice.

“Yes, sweetling, it does. And as you also might know, there are many such deposits on Dragonstone. I’ve already a dagger we might use for the ritual, so don’t concern yourself with that,” Daemon said quietly, brushing a soft kiss against her nose before withdrawing to look upon her once more.

“The only question that remains, is if you want this as well?” his words were gentle, a slight smirk teasing the edges of his lips as he peered at her.

Ryna appeared bewildered, yet touched by the idea of engaging in a private wedding reception. Her eyes were wide and thoughtful as she stared at him with a look that felt as though it were piercing through his very being. He worried for a moment that she might still harbor doubts about his loyalties, but then her face softened considerably, a warm smile forming in acceptance.

“Yes, I do want this,” she whispered, leaning in closely and pressing a tender, albeit brief kiss against his lips. “I want you to be mine and mine alone.” Her words breathed against his cheek as she nestled in tightly against him.

Daemon pulled her into his body with a deep exhale, hugging her against his chest with both arms wrapped around her slender frame. He buried his nose in her silvery locks, inhaling the sweet scent of roses from her hair. Despite everything that had happened, even through her worries, Ryna still wanted to be his.

“I am yours,” he sighed into her hair. His hand reached up to tangle in her silky ringlets as he withdrew, knowing he must make the preparations in haste lest he be forced to wait another day to be bonded to her. “I will arrange the ceremony immediately, even if I must wake some poor fools. Tomorrow night,” he said with a hungry ache to have her, “You will finally be mine.”

I wanted to make a quick note about how I chose to write Daemon in this ending scene. I'm sure some may think he is far too direct, sincere, and honest with Ryna, but after going through it in my head countless times.. I decided I feel it is in character. You have to figure, he has endured a lot by now just to have the chance to wed her and there is no way in the seven hells that he is going to let her go. I think by now, his feelings are maturing a bit too, into love and less infatuation and lust. I wouldn't say he's all the way there yet, but he can definitely realize that he doesn't want to lose her. And I'd even go as far as to say the thought would be troubling to him, almost cause a panic as it does when he's first caught. So yes, while I realize I don't have to make excuses for how I choose to write characters in my own fanfics, I still felt I wanted to make note of it. I do realize he comes off as far more emotional than normal, but I think he would be in this case.

[1indigoisles]

Chapter 1 - Excerpt 5

It was that girl, the girl I’d seen a few days ago, with the black-and-blue eyes. My neighbour, I thought. Strange to see her here.

It wasn’t as though I was particularly surprised to have spotted her; Knightville High was the only high school in this town.

I just hadn’t expected to see her again so soon.

Even as I asked her the question, I could see Jolene’s expression change ever so slightly when she found who I was referring to, into something that was hard to coin. It was the kind of expression someone would put on to hide what they were truly feeling.

“Scarlett Raynott, I think that’s her name,” Jolene said, her voice a little away from her person. She turned to me. ”Why do you want to know?”

“I saw her a couple days ago,” I said, still looking at Scarlett as she disappeared around the corner. “She lives in the house opposite to mine, at the edge of town.”

“You actually live in that rickety old house?” Jolene asked incredulously, though with the thin air of someone trying to change the subject.

“It’s not that old,” I said, frowning a little.

“It’s not the fact that it’s old,” perked up Rowan faintly, who, up until then, had been silently daydreaming, “which it isn’t, really, compared to other houses, it’s just the way it looks old. And not very pleasant. We all call it Bleak House – not a very creative name, sure, but it stuck.”

“And now people actually live in Bleak House,” Jolene mused.

“I think that’s an overstatement,” I said. “It’s not that bleak.”

“Some people died in there, didn’t they?” Rowan asked Jolene.

“What?” My head snapped up.

“Fourteen people, I think, back in ‘95,” Jolene said.

“Fourteen people?” I echoed, horrified.

“All murdered, weren’t they?” Rowan went on, unfazed.

“Police never found out who it was,” Jolene confirmed, shaking her head mournfully.

“Wow, you guys talk about murder with such ease,” I said.

Jolene grinned. “I would be more worried about living in a haunted house, really.”

“My house is not haunted,” I said, trying for a withering look but grinning instead.

“They say that there are fourteen small dots on the floor, the places where those fourteen people had stood when they were killed,” mused Rowan. “They were drawn on by the murderer.”

I shuddered minutely. “They never found him or her?”

“No, and that’s what’s really troubling.” Rowan stopped short, as though that last part was something he hadn’t meant to say.

Jolene, on the other hand, was now staring at the space where Scarlett had last been, before vanishing from view, and I felt I had to ask, “do you know her?”

Jolene’s eyes flashed in understanding. She smiled softly, like she held a secret, close enough to her that nno one else could see it, hard as they tried, and answered, “nobody knows her.”

And it was precisely then that the bell rang.

So sorry, I know it's short, but it just came to me and I knew that this was how this particular excerpt would end. I promise the next one's longer!

Tagged List: @jeahreading, @mayaheronthorn, @fantasyquinn, @damn-this-transgirl-hella-gay. Salute to my only readers!

[jules-writes-stories]

I had a couple of asks about WIP Wednesday (including a playlist!) so wanted to post a blurb for Chapter 6. I threw a playlist together really quick. They're songs I listened to while outlining/ made me think of the story, setting, and characters. All vibes. No order or hidden message. This is not my strength, lol. 🖤

The Night Court Lounge | Tribeca, NYC | Ch 1-5 on AO3

Azriel x Eris

Chapter 6 (Excerpt)

Tribeca, NYC

“Lemme guess. Black hoodie?” Akon’s eyes peered back in the rear view mirror. 

Eris saw Azriel’s figure the same time his driver did. Of course he would do something reckless like walk up the island of Manhattan in the early hours of the morning. The pretty man clearly enjoyed stressing him out. 

Eris took a breath. No good would come of acting distraught.

They followed him down a cobbled street to an overpass that crossed over a highway below. Steam rose over manholes. Squares of light from empty, lit office buildings reflected off rain slicked streets. 

The car slowed to drive alongside Azriel. He wore Airpods and his hands were stuffed in his pockets. Eris rolled down his window.

After several seconds, Az turned to look directly at Eris and his eyes grew wide. Something like embarrassment and rejection passed across the man’s face, before it froze into a cool mask of neutrality. He pulled his dark hood up and picked up his pace. 

His beloved bat was growing fangs… 

Akon’s eyes flicked up to meet Eris’s and laughter shined in those dark pools. He needed no directions as he began to drive alongside the petulant pedestrian. 

“Azriel. Will you at least tell me why you stormed off?” Eris called out of the slowly moving vehicle, his voice laced with humor.

Hazel eyes were brazen as they narrowed at Eris. There was the magnificent creature in his submissive. Jealousy made a beast of Azriel. And Eris had the strange impulse to pet the beast, to soothe it. 

Azriel pulled out his earbuds and faced the car. They were stopped on the overpass now. Traffic flashed below like a river of light through the chain link fence behind him. 

Eris could tell the younger man was struggling, was on a precipice. And he considered… In business, it was customary to offer a concession. Eris would give something, and then, perhaps, Azriel, the silly man, would get in the car. 

“Azriel. I can’t fix it, if I don’t know what’s wrong.” Eris tried to keep his voice reasonable. This was him being reasonable. He was being… Yes, reasonable was the word. 

The beautiful man stalked towards the car. “Why did you even follow me? What do you want?” 

Eris felt that prickle of panic, control slipping once more.

Thesan’s words clanged through him.  Be vulnerable with him, or end it… All or nothing.

And the thought of ending it, of not seeing those hazel eyes or that shy smile, the way Azriel’s dark lashes fluttered against his cheekbones when Eris praised him. No. He did not like that idea at all. And panic grew at the thought. 

In fact, if Eris was being completely honest, he wanted to learn more. Who were his favorite artists? When was his birthday? Why did everyone at the Night Court feel the need to protect him and what happened to his hands?

Be reasonable. The last time Eris fell, it had been for Thesan. And it had cost him a year of his life.

What did he want? Right now? 

“I want you to get in my car. And talk to me.” Eris kept his voice level, even as the authority he was accustomed to using slipped through his timbre. He pushed it aside. This was not the bedroom or the boardroom-- this was a highway overpass, and he wanted this man. 

Azriel stepped closer, backpack slung over a shoulder. “You’re used to getting your way, aren’t you, Eris?”  His tone was icey, but there was something soft and needful in his gaze. 

Eris stepped out of his car and leaned against the door. He crossed his arms over his chest. They stared at each other beneath the fuzzy glow of the street lamps. The hum of traffic rattled the overpass. 

“What if I want you?”

Please let me know if you ever want on/off the tag | @the-darkestminds @fieldofdaisiies @mistandmemories @secret-third-thing @chunkypossum @talibunny30 @amalhe-kofee @shadowsandlint @queercontrarian @molcat07 @c-starstuff-man0 @lovely-vanserra-sunshine @hieragalbatorixdottir @brunetterebel010 @pippsmcgee @theartofmischief @born-to-riot

[katakaluptastrophy]

Love your TLT meta! I'm curious - what do you make of Nona's "You looked like you wanted to be kissed, that's all." and Alecto's " This is how meat loves meat."?

Thank you!

I don't really have a coherent answer, and I suspect we won't really get one until ATN. We know that Alecto is...a Resurrection Beast...a fully Lyctorised cavalier...that is, some combination of the collective soul of planet earth and the soul of a human guy called John (plus or minus 10 billion ghosts). But just what is Nona?

You kept screaming and screaming...like a baby in pain. So I tried to hurt you - I did hurt you. I reached out for you and it hurt you... He said, I put my hands around your neck. He said, I cupped your soul in my hands. He said, I took you into myself and we became one. ...He said, As the world went up I remade us both. I hid me in you... I hid you in me. And when we were together...once the shaman had claimed the sun... I became God. (John 1:20)

This excerpt elides some of the full horror of John's description, in which Alecto screams rather a lot more and John is vomiting dirt and tearing his ribs out and blaming it all on human nature and his id while he binds her into some horrifying nightmare Barbie body and worries that she'll "escape" before he finishes.

We know Nona doesn't enjoy having a body. And we know necromancy makes Nona feel sad.

There's one particularly horrifying moment in NTN where these two things come together:

She wanted to shout. She wanted to be listened to. She wished the barrier had taken her hands. She wished she had thrust herself into it - become that big seething mass of flesh and meat and tendrils - ruined her body, just melted it; come back messed up, so that nobody could want her body but her, so that it would be hers and nobody else's. (NTN ch 24)

The language that Tamsyn Muir uses to describe both what John did to Alecto and the way that Nona's borrowed body subconsciously remembers that violence is so viscerally uncomfortable.

Just a few chapters later, Nona begins to remember who she is:

"Did you think this was fun, Pyrrah Dve? Did you think this was lovely? Family. Blood. Together. Kiss, kiss. A child's game. You say nice words and everyone pretends they are the words you say. Here is a house. We live in it. Worms slithering over each other... Did you like playing pretend? Did you like being mother and father? You should have given into your desires and eaten us. Chew and swallow. More natural. Would have respected you for it..." (NTN ch 28)

Who have we met who likes to play a twisted game of happy families but who at the end of the day will justify his desire to own and consume and destroy as natural and understandable?

What "lessons of the hand and the mouth" did Alecto learn when John "saw the face of Earth and choked the life out of it and ate it whole"? (John 5:4).

I'm never not haunted by the line in HTN where John reaches out for Harrow and she physically cannot refuse him: "the meat of your meat and the flesh of your flesh belonged to God." (ch 9), which so closely echoes Alecto's "this is how meat loves meat".

"I might not help you when... I'm back," she said, not quite understanding I. "I'll be different. I'll remember everything... I'll remember the thing I'm trying to forget... I won't love anything... I won't know how. I won't be me at all, or I'll be the me who knows the thing, and knowing the thing means I'm not Nona - I'm someone else." (ch 31)

Nona is, in some way we don't quite understand yet, Alecto without John.

And that fills me with quite a lot of sorrow for Alecto and trepidation for Alecto the Ninth.

[jacesvelaryons]

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©️jacesvelaryons, 2024

[blooms-in-april]

The first time, they are young, dumb, and it's Ivy's pollen that does it.

It’s one of the early Superman and Batman team-ups. The title World's Finest is still awkward and clunky on their tongues. They know each other's identities, but it's barely even a partnership at this point. Even Clark can barely call them friends.

So when things go wrong with Poison Ivy, it's a sticky mess both of them want to forget.

Together, the two of them apprehend the villain, dodge her hostile plants and hand her over to the police commissioner. It’s a fairly typical fight and Gotham’s reporters crowd around, asking the friendlier visiting vigilante for his statement.

"I got involved because the labs Ivy was originally working out of were located in Metropolis. This incident involved the safety of both our cities."

"So that means we won't be seeing the World's Finest in Gotham anymore?" Someone asks.

Clark expects Batman to jump in on that question, but the man remains silent beside him, fists clenched, breathing deeply.

"Batman is perfectly capable of guarding Gotham on his own. As for the World's Finest, well, let's see what the future holds."

Batman's heartbeat is dangerously fast. Clark goes to look at him in concern, but something grabs the back of his cape.

"Get us out of here." Batman growls, and while Bruce tends to growl his words more often than not, this is so much deeper below his normal register that a shiver runs down Clark's spine.

Nodding farewell to the bystanders, Clark allows Batman to get a firm grip on his shoulder and takes off into the smoggy Gotham sky. Bruce's breath is scaldingly hot on his ear, his heart pounding like a ticking time bomb. As soon as they are out of earshot, Clark turns to his partner.

"Batman. What's wrong? Your vitals are all over the place."

His dark passenger is silent for a moment, before gritting out. "Land. I need- Land now."

Concerned, Clark lands on the firescape of a derelict building. Batman clutches at him for a moment, gloved hands digging fiercely into the collar of his suit, before ripping himself away to grasp at the railing.

"Batman. Bruce." Clark reaches out a hand, but Bruce flinches away. "Bruce. You need to tell me what's wrong."

"I can't hold it." Bruce is shaking so badly the whole rusted metal structure is shaking with him. "Fly away, fly away now, I can't hold it, Clark, leave. Leave now-"

Clark frowns. “I’m not leaving you alone if you’re in trouble. I thought you knew me better than that. I’d never leave someone who needed my help.”

Batman barks a laugh. “You can’t give me the help I need. You need to get away from me now.”

“No. I want to help. Bruce.” Clark clasps one wrist, the pulse beating so furiously he can feel it through the gauntlet. “Whatever you need, I’ll do it.”

Blank white lenses meet his eyes and he looks into them steadily. Bruce takes a deep shaky breath, and something snaps as the Dark Knight pulls him into a deep kiss.

Excerpt from Chapter 1 of my fic:

[slut-arc]

A new update for my Poolverine 5+1 Do I Wanna Know will come out sometime tonight! So sorry to anyone that’s been waiting. This chapter will be more angsty, with some hurt/comfort. Here’s a small excerpt to make up for my absence.

Logan hands the towel over to Wade, who immediately drapes it around his shoulders like a pathetic little cape. “Just because you dealt with this alone in the past doesn’t mean you have to now.”

He meets Logan’s eyes, and it’s like looking into a cracked funhouse mirror. They both know what it’s like to deal with pain and they know even more what it’s like to deal with it alone - how it amplifies the anguish and makes it immeasurably worse.

Suddenly swallowing around a lump in his throat, Wade presses the towel to his stinging eyes. Only once he’s absolutely sure that he’s not going to cry does he remove the fabric with a sigh. For once in his life, there is nothing dramatic or over the top about the sound. It’s bone-deep and utterly defeated, and he knows that he can’t just joke this one away.

[grandmother-goblin]

Granny's BG3 FanFiction Masterlist

Just a one-stop-shop for my fics since I keep losing track of them on Tumblr.

Astarion x Tav

Field Study: NSFW, Astarion's POV, ongoing multichapter fic, a character study of Astarion as he navigates his newfound freedom and falling in love.

Chapters: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 - 12 - 13 - 14

Asking Nicely: NSFW, Astarion's POV, Field Study Excerpt, 5k words, Cas asks very nicely to give Astarion a blow job.

His Most Willing Prey: NSFW, Astarion's POV, Field Study Excerpt, 4.9k words, Primal Play, Predator/Prey Sex.

Savoring The Sunrise: NSFW, Astarion's POV, 2.6k words, Morning Sex.

When Soap Isn't Enough: SFW, Astarion's POV, 2.4k words, Hair Washing.

Just Watch the Fireworks: NSFW, Reader's POV, 2.3k words, Exhibitionism.

Savory and Sweet: SFW, Astarion's POV, 4.1k words, Comfort and cuddling.

Gale x Tav

Simple Magic: NSFW, Gale's POV, 7.3k words, Dom/Sub.

The Best Kind of Gift: NSFW, Gale's POV, 5.2k words, Breeding Kink.

Wyll x Tav

Enough Time for Us: NSFW, Reader's POV, two parter, you and Wyll have a discussion about getting intimate sooner rather than later.

Halsin x Tav

Apotheosis: NSFW, Dual POV with Halsin and Tav, ongoing multichapter fic, Halsin tries to figure out how his and Zilvira's relationship went wrong before it ever really started.

Chapters: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4

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List of my works in progress, and upcoming fics, are below the cut! Feel free to send any suggestions my way for what you'd want to see and I'll see if I can squeeze something in!

Works In Progress

Beachfront Brunch: (SFW) Gale x Female!Tav, Gale's POV - Gale arranges a lovely brunch by the beach to introduce his new fiancee, Sarana, to his mother.

Juggling: (SFW) Wyll x Female!Tav, Wyll's POV - Wyll takes a moment to talk to Juniper after a tense argument between Astarion, Shadowheart, Lae'zel, and Juniper about her leadership abilities.

Enough Time for Us (Part 2)

Apotheosis (Chapter 4)