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pascaloverx · 8 months ago

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BORN TO DIE

Summary: In a tense political setting, a Targaryen bastard working as a prostitute is summoned by Prince Aemond to the Red Keep. Aemond wants her to approach his dragon, Vhagar, as a test of her worth. Although he plans for her to claim another dragon in the future, her immediate challenge is to survive Prince Aemond demands while trying to stay alive.

Author’s Note: This work is set in the world created by George R.R. Martin, as depicted in his book Fire & Blood, and none of the characters belong to me. The story will follow some events from the series House of the Dragon (2022), but with changes to fit the fanfiction narrative. Therefore, it will not adhere strictly to the series' storyline. This fanfiction is a work of fiction and may contain inappropriate language, adult content, and violence. Readers be warned. I hope you enjoy the story and interact with it. I apologize if there are any errors in the High Valyrian sections; I used a translator and am unsure of its accuracy. Thank you and happy reading.

ONE THREE (+18)

TWO

Your wrists ache as you struggle to undo the knot Prince Aemond used to bind you to him. The damned knot is expertly tied, making it a challenge to free yourself without drawing his attention. The prince remains intensely focused on the path ahead. If only you could reach the likely Valyrian dagger at his waist, you might be able to use it to cut yourself free.

“If that naive little mind of yours is considering anything more creative than the foolishness you've been trying the entire way to free yourself from the rope binding your wrists, having your hands tied to me will be the least of your worries." The Prince’s voice, resonating close to your ear as he leans down slightly toward you, sends a shiver through your body.

"Tying me up won’t gain you any advantage. Do you plan to keep me bound to you when you’re forcing me to mount a dragon and fight by your side, all to secure your brother’s claim to the throne?" Your frustration over the pain in your wrists spills out before you can restrain yourself, the words slipping from your lips as if you weren’t speaking to a prince who could dispose of you as easily as he mounts a dragon.

"Understand this, gundjabo, you clearly have no idea what my plans are. The fact remains, I do not trust you. And I suggest that when you address me, you do so properly. I am the Prince of the Seven Kingdoms, not your client." Prince Aemond's tone is formal, yet there's a clear undercurrent of irritation. He continues guiding the horse while your hands grasp tightly onto the rope, as holding onto his waist is not a viable option.

"I apologize for my impertinence, Ñuha Dārilaros. I will cease to trouble Your Highness with my ignorance," you reply, your tone dripping with cynicism. Prince Aemond lets out a low hum, as if murmuring "hm…" in response to your insincere apology. However, he appears to ignore your sarcasm, redirecting his attention to the path ahead. As you travel along the rarely used path, the journey is proving difficult. Your discomfort grows as the hours pass, and you’re painfully aware that your strength is waning. The thought of wrapping your arms around Prince Aemond for support crosses your mind, but you hesitate, knowing that he might push you off the horse or, worse, take pleasure in dragging you along the ground. The tension between you and Aemond remains palpable, adding to the strain of the journey.

"A servant who does not make her company pleasant must definitely be a useless servant. I wondered why I had never seen you in the brothel before, but now I have my answer." Prince Aemond says after a while, as if wanting to provoke you. You sigh, looking at the landscape, thinking about how to respond to his provocation.

"In reality, Ñuha DāRilaros, a good servant ensures that the finest clients desire her exclusively. If you never crossed paths with me at the brothel, it's because until I was taken by your guards, I was quite useful to someone." Your tone carries a hint of mystery, suggesting that someone more important than Prince Aemond Targaryen once valued your service.

"Vaogenka ābra. I could tear out your tongue for what you just said. But since you seem to enjoy deluding yourself with lies, do tell me—who could possibly stand above Prince Aemond Targaryen?" Despite the clear irritation in his voice, you can’t resist the urge to smile. Normally, you'd tread carefully to avoid bruising the ego of a one-eyed, arrogant prince, but considering he likely wouldn't kill you before feeding you to some random dragon, you allow yourself a small victory. Prince Aemond turns slowly, fixing his one-eyed gaze on you. You hesitate to speak further, realizing you may have gone too far. Instead, you direct your attention to the horizon, where you spot three men dressed in ragged clothes, their smiles malevolent.

"Unbind me, Your Grace," you say as the men draw closer. It's clear they intend to exploit the situation, and if Prince Aemond reacts poorly, it could mean the end for both of you.

"Pāsagon nyke, gundjabo."Prince Aemond murmurs forcefully as he dismounts from the horse. His confidence is unsettling, filling you with concern. If these men realize that Prince Aemond is heading towards Dragonstone while a war looms, it could spell disaster. You cannot let that happen.

"Who are you?" the men speak almost in unison, two of them eyeing you with a disturbing eagerness, likely lusting for a quick conquest. The third man, however, has his gaze locked on Aemond, suspicion growing in his eyes as he begins to piece together who stands before him. The rope binding your wrists bites painfully into your skin, worsening as it is pulled tighter while Aemond remains beside the horse. The tension in the air thickens, and you realize that it won't be long before they recognize his Highness.

"This good man is taking me to Queen Rhaenyra," you quickly interject, cutting off any chance for Prince Aemond to speak. "She’s been seeking bastards to try and claim dragons." You can tell that Aemond is deliberately keeping his hood low, trying to avoid recognition. You keep your hands as still as possible, careful not to reveal the rope that binds you to him. The tension between you and the prince is palpable, but you know that you need to maintain the ruse for both your sakes.

"Do you let a whore speak for you? Not man enough to explain yourself?" the most observant of the men sneers as he steps closer to Prince Aemond, his tone laced with contempt. The other two men begin to circle you and the horse, their intentions clear in their predatory gazes. You feel the tension in the air thickening, the situation teetering on a dangerous edge.

"I'll show you what kind of man I am," Prince Aemond declares, his voice cold and commanding. With a swift motion, he removes his hood, revealing his striking features and the unmistakable silver hair which falls perfectly into place despite the hood. The sight alone causes the men to falter, recognizing the power and danger they now face. Aemond then draws a beautiful, ornately crafted dagger from the sleeve of his cloak, its blade gleaming menacingly in the dim light. Aemond attacks the man in front of him, plunging the dagger into the man's eye. Prince Aemond pulls his dagger from the man's eye. The man screams in pain, as blood from his eye gushes onto the ground. Then the man falls in front of Aemond who wastes no time, leans over the man and he thrusts the dagger back into the man on the ground, stabbing him in the brain. Prince Aemond is swiftly kicked by one of the men standing near you. It happens so quickly that you only realize it when the rope pulls you down. The third man tries to grab you from the ground, but you swing your bound hands toward his face. A light laugh escapes you as you see blood starting to drip from his face.

You try to get up, but the rope holds you back, fueling your hatred for the One-Eyed Prince who tied you to him. The man, enraged, storms toward you, shouting slurs and threats like "Whore" and "You'll pay for this." Desperately, you crawl as quickly as you can toward Aemond, who appears to be gaining the upper hand against the second man, though the horse obstructs your view.

"Open your eyes, gundjabo. You do not have my permission to die. Ao issi ñuhon, and everything that belongs to me must not be touched by others," Prince Aemond murmurs as he approaches you. The body of the third man lies on the ground, Aemond's dagger embedded in his face. You remain stunned, standing near the horse, as Aemond's single eye fixes on you. It's as if you lack the strength to respond.

"He… he…" you murmur with a trembling voice, weak and looking down. Your hands ache, and your gaze is lowered. Then you feel Aemond’s cold hands touch your face, lifting it up to meet his gaze. His eyes lock onto yours as if he’s trying to analyze your soul, and you look back at him, perhaps in your most vulnerable state.

"He met the end he deserved for attempting to harm what belongs to me. I consider myself merciful in this regard. You are permitted to die only by my hand or by dragonfire. Remember that." Prince Aemond says, wiping a bit of the blood from the man’s face away from yours. The proximity between you is such that you can feel his warm breath against your face. He smells of blood and wine. There is something so primal in his gaze that makes you almost want to taste his lips. Yet, all you do is nod in understanding of what the one-eyed prince has just conveyed.

"I understand, Your Highness. I will only die by your hand or by dragonfire," you say, meeting Aemond's gaze. He gives a half-smile, then crouches to retrieve the bloodied dagger from the body of the third man. Rising, he firmly holds your hands and cuts the rope, freeing you.

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fandomrewrites · 1 month ago

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Legends Chapter 3: Challenges

18+ Minors DNI

Hi Riders, I decided to post early this week since the chapter is done and I won't be able to post on Wednesday like usual. Starting next week I will be moving my posting schedule to Thursdays. So this will be the longest time in between chapters. Please feel free to ask any questions or just comment on the story so far. I love hearing from you guys! And remember to let me know your opinions on a love interest!

Chapters 7-9 in Fourth Wing Pairings: Xaden x Younger Sister, Liam Mairi x Best Friend, Sawyer x Reader Warnings: Swearing, Violence, Smut (First time writing smut, definitely needs work lol), Oral M receiving, Unprotected Sex, Spoilers from the book series Word Count: 8,785

Legends Masterlist

I can't wait until next year when we get to join the riders quadrant. Not because I'm eager to become a rider, but because I'm excited to finally see you again. - Recovered correspondence from Liam Mairi to (Y/N) Riorson

A few days have passed since assessment day. Sawyer and Rhiannon have been teaching Violet sparring and the four of us have been studying history and physics together. Violet hasn't taken up my offer of teaching her sparring but she has been talking to me more, so at least it's a step in the right direction.

Now that dinner and classes are finished, we're back in the sparring gym along with the two other squads of flame section, fourth wing. Rhiannon is teaching Violet while Sawyer and I are on the mat next to them.

Sawyer and I aren't going full out, but more testing each other just to do something. "When did you learn to fight?" Sawyer asks.

"Pretty much since I could walk." I throw a punch that Sawyer dodges. "Living beyond the wards, my dad always wanted us to be able to defend ourselves."

"Makes sense, no wonder you're so good on the mat." Sawyer throws a punch of his own but I use his momentum against him, sending him to the ground.

"What about you?" I try to pin him but he uses his size to roll from underneath me.

"I learned pretty early on, plus last year in the quadrant helped." He shrugs, trying to sweep my legs from under me.

I hum, "You know? I kinda admire you."

"Admire me?" His eyebrows knit together, using the distraction I tackle him to the ground. "Shit!" I laugh as he struggles beneath me, his arm locked between my legs. "Why would you admire someone who didn't bond and had to repeat a year?"

"Because," I grunt as he finds a way to wiggle out of my grip, rolling so he's on top of me. "You didn't give up. Despite knowing that this college is a death sentence and you'll have to be here an extra year, you came back. It's brave."

Sawyer has me pinned between his hips, "Brave? That's a new one." The right side of his mouth curves into a smirk. "Do you yield, (Y/N)?"

My own lips pull into a smirk, "Why would I yield when I have multiple ways to make a man beg for mercy?" Sawyer's eyes widen at my words. I push my full weight off the ground, switching so I'm now on top of him, "And if I did yield I never would have gotten to see how good you look underneath me."

A smile lights up Sawyer's face, "I must say, I like this view myself."

"(Y/N)!" Sawyer and I look to the side, Xaden has his arms crossed, watching us fight. He crooks a finger at me beckoning me over.

I look back at Sawyer, "Duty calls, but you're not allowed to move from this position. I expect to finish this when I come back."

"Sure thing." Sawyer laughs as I stand to walk towards my brother.

I follow Xaden to the corner, out of the way of passing cadets, "Practicing or flirting?" He asks.

I smile, "Why can't it be both?"

Xaden rolls his eyes, "Don't do it in front of me."

This time, I roll my eyes, "I didn't know you were here, Xade. With that being said, deal with it. I can die at any point in here and if I want to fuck someone I will."

Xaden's face quickly morphs into one of disgust, "I don't need to know." Xaden pulls shadows around us, shielding us from prying eyes and ears, "I called you over here to tell you we're meeting tonight, midnight." Xaden already told me where this first meeting between the marked ones will take place, I guess he finally got the chance to confirm a time.

I nod, "Okay, I'll see you tonight then." I move to walk away but he grabs my arm, stopping me before I get far.

"You'll be able to make it out by yourself?"

"Duh, I'm not incompetent. I'll be fine. Liam and I already planned to meet when you got a time so we could head over together." He nods before letting me walk back to Sawyer, the shadows falling away. I smile at the taller first year, who is still laying on the mat where I left him. "Awe, you listened."

"I was thinking while you were talking to you brother," he smirks, "I'll yield right now if you want to find a room to sneak off too."

I smirk back, "Say less." I hold a hand out for him to help him off the mat. As we walk out of the gym, my eyes meet Xaden's. He glares at me, knowing exactly why I'm leaving but he doesn't do anything to stop me.

*_*_*_*_*_*

There are a lot of empty bedrooms to choose from considering cadets only get a private room once they bond a dragon. Sawyer and I choose one that's close to the barracks. The minute the door is closed behind us, Sawyer pushes me against the door, hands gripping my hips.

I throw my arms over his shoulders and pull him down, our lips meet in a heated kiss. He quickly adjusts his hold on me, hands skimming down the sides of my body to grip my ass then thighs. I jump up as he presses me even more tightly against the door. Our tongues clash, my fingers tug at the ends of his hair as his hands feel my curves. "More," I whisper against his lips.

He quickly adjusts his hold, moving one of his hands to fit in between our bodies. He unbuttons my pants, sliding his hand underneath my clothes. "Fuck," he pants. "You're so wet."

I whimper at the pressure of his fingers against my clit, kissing down his neck. I tug at his shirt wanting more access to his skin. We slightly pull away from each other so I can pull his shirt off. He removes his fingers from my pants, carrying me to the bed. I take off my own top before he throws me on top of the sheets. "You're beautiful." Sawyer whispers, a smile lighting up his face.

"Mm, you're not too bad yourself." I run my hands up his toned stomach, pulling him down once more so his lips crash into mine. I roll the two of us over so I can get on top of him. "Wanna taste you," I mumble as I start kissing down his body.

Once I reach his pants, I snap the button open, tugging them off him to get access to his cock. Sawyer watches me with wide eyes, waiting for my next move. I smirk up at him before I lick the tip of his cock. Sawyer groans above me, "(Y/N)." I smirk once more at the sound of his voice, it's rougher now compared to how it usually sounds. My lips wrap around the tip, and I swirl my tongue around it causing Sawyer to groan once more. "Feels so good." He reaches a hand down, gathering my hair and lightly tugging.

I hum around the tip before slowly sinking more of him into my mouth. What I can't fit, I wrap my hand around before slowly starting to bob my head around his length. I look at him through my eyelashes, seeing his blissed out face. I can feel him getting closer but before he cums he grips my hair tighter, pulling me off of him. A string of drool connects my mouth to him. I pout, "What was that for?"

"Want to feel your pussy wrapped around me. Don't want this to end yet." Sawyer lets go of my hair and reaches for my pants, indicating he wants them off. I step off the bed to shimmy out of the tight pants. Once off, I climb back on to the bed, straddling Sawyers hips.

The minute I sink onto him, we both moan from the pleasure. I slowly lower myself, sinking inch by inch until his cock is fully inside me. "Gods, you feel incredible." I moan.

"And the view is definitely perfect." Sawyer smirks, referencing the conversation that started this. I let out a breathy laugh.

"It is," a smile lights up my face. I start to move, Sawyer's hands gripping tightly onto my hips to help me. They'll probably end up bruised with how tight he's holding me but I don't mind.

After a few agonizingly slow minutes, Sawyer starts to roughly fuck up into me. The action causes me to gasp and I fall forward, one of my hands splayed on his chest, the other lands on the pillow by his head. I turn my head to kiss and suck at his neck as our hips meet.

Breathy moans and groans escape our lips, "Are you close?" He asks me. I nod, not being able to form words, "Me too. Cum for me, (Y/N)." He reaches a hand between us to rub at my clit, helping me climax faster. I slam my lips on his as I cum, Sawyer following right after.

When we ride out our highs I roll over so I'm laying beside him, "That was. Amazing." I sigh.

Sawyer laughs, "Agreed." He turns his head to look at me, "Want to go for another round?"

I bite my lip, because yes, abso-fucking-lutely I want to go for another round, but I need to go meet Xaden and the others and if I don't leave now I'll be late and Xaden will be pissed. "I have to go meet my brother, he'll be pissed if I'm late. But if you stay here, I'll be back soon and we can go for however long you want."

Sawyer smirks, "Sounds like a plan to me." I give him a quick kiss on his jaw before standing up to put my clothes back on and heading out of the room.

*_*_*_*_*_*

I meet Liam by the parapet. He's sitting on the same bench where he helped me put my shoes back on on conscription day. "We're going to be late." Liam whispers, standing up when he sees me, handing me a cloak.

"We'll be fine." I brush his concern off, moving past him to the stairwell as I slip the cloak over my shoulders and pull the hood onto my head.

"Did anyone see you?"

I purse my lips, "Technically no."

Liam's eyes narrow, "What do you mean? Technically no?"

"I was with someone. That's why I'm running a little late. They just think I'm meeting Xaden, so they won't say anything considering he's my wingleader."

"Care to share who you were with?"

"Why? You jealous?" I smirk.

"No." Liam shakes his head, holding the door at the bottom of the stairwell open for me. "Whoever it was, bet I'd be better."

I quietly laugh, "I don't know. I had a great time tonight."

Liam smirks, "But you've never been with me." We stop talking as we see the figures ahead of us. Xaden and the others are gathered by the Iakobos River, under a tree.

"Finally," Xaden says, seeing us approach. "You're late."

"Maybe you're just early." I tilt my head.

Xaden rolls his eyes, "I don't care what you do in your free time, but don't let it delay our meeting." I smirk, Liam and I aren't even a minute late, I know he's just being protective and doesn't want to think of me sleeping with someone. Understandable though, considering I don't want to know what he does in his free time either.

"Well, let's not delay anymore, big brother."

Garrick starts the conversation, "We've already lost Sutherland and Luperco."

"We're here to make sure as many of you survive as possible." Xaden continues.

"Like it or not," Imogen says, "We're going to have to stick together if you want to survive until graduation."

Carolyn Bennett, a first year with olive skin and dark brown eyes speaks up, "And if they find out we're meeting?"

"We've done this for two years and they've never found out," Xaden responds. "They're not going to unless one of you tells. And if you tell. I'll know." He narrows his eyes at the group, "Like Garrick said, we've already lost two first years to their own negligence. There are only forty one of us in the Riders Quadrant, and we don't want to lose any of you, but we will if you don't help yourselves. The odds are always stacked against us, and trust me, every other Navarrian in the quadrant will look for reasons to call you a traitor or force you to fail."

There's a murmur throughout the group, I lean against Liam, not wanting to stand up straight anymore. He wraps his arm around me as Xaden continues, "How many of you are getting your asses handed to you in hand-to-hand?" Four hands shoot up, Carolyn is one of them along with a tall dark-skinned gangly guy named Dmitry Harper, a guy with shoulder length black hair and tanned skin named Julian Rizzo, and a pale woman with blonde hair named Carina Steiner.

I made it my mission to know all of the marked ones names even if I didn't have a lot of contact with them growing up. Their parents all fought with my father, and just like Xaden, I feel some responsibility towards them. "Shit," Xaden swears, lifting a hand to his face.

"I'll teach them," Garrick assures.

Xaden shakes his head, "You're our best fighter-"

He gets cut off by Bodhi, "You're our best fighter," He corrects.

"Dirtiest fighter, maybe," Imogen says, smirk on her face, "You and (Y/N) don't know how to fight clean."

"Ruthless more like," Garrick corrects, "Both of them."

I smile, "Thank you."

"Garrick is our best fighter," Xaden continues like he wasn't interrupted, "but Imogen is right up there with him, and she's a hell of a lot more patient." He pauses, "So the four of you split yourselves up between the two of them for training. A group of three won't draw any unwanted attention. What else is giving you trouble?"

"I can't do this," Dmitry says, he hides his face behind his hands.

"What do you mean?" Xaden's voice is hard.

"I can't do this! The death. The fighting. Any of it!" His voice pitches, "A guy had his neck snapped right in front of me on assessment day! I want to go home! Can you help me with that?"

"No." Xaden bluntly answers, "You're not going to make it. Best accept it now and not take up my time."

"That was a little harsh, cousin." Bodhi says, but we all know Xaden's right.

"What do you want me to say, Bodhi?" Xaden cocks an eyebrow, "I can't save everyone, especially not someone who isn't willing to work to save themselves."

"Damn, Xaden," Garrick mumbles, rubbing the bridge of his nose, "Way to give a pep talk."

"If they need a fucking pep talk, then we both know they're not flying out of the quadrant on graduation day. Let's get real. I can hold their hands and make them a bunch of bullshit empty promises about everyone making it through if that helps them sleep, but in my experience, the truth is more valuable, and I know for a fact (Y/N) agrees, that's why she looks bored as hell right now."

I nod in agreement. "We knew coming in here that death would be common, best get used to it and be prepared to welcome Malek with open arms."

"In war, people die. It's not glorious like the bards sing about, either. It's snapped necks and two-hundred-foot falls. There's nothing romantic about scorched earth or the scent of sulfur. This," He gestures around us, "Isn't some fable where everyone makes it out alive. It's hard, cold, uncaring reality. Not everyone here is going to make it home... to whatever is left of our homes. And make no mistake, we are at war every time we step foot in the quadrant." He leans slightly forward, "So if you won't get your shit together and fight to live, then no. You're not going to make it."

Everyone's quiet except for Garrick who mumbles, "Fucking Riorson's."

Xaden sends him a look then addresses the group once more, "Now, someone give me a problem I can actually solve."

"Battle Brief," Lydia Savel starts, her bunk is a row over from mine, "It's not that I can't keep up, but the information..." She trails off.

"That's a tough one," Imogen says. She turns to Xaden for his answer.

"You learn what they teach you," Xaden replies, "Keep what you know but recite whatever they tell you to." In other words, don't say anything about the truth of what's beyond the wards and memorize what the professors want you to know. "Anyone else? You'd better ask now. We don't have all night."

"When do we get to kill Violet Sorrengail?" Ashton Matuli asks from the back of the group. I stand up straight, my head snapping towards him, a glare on my face.

"Yeah, Xaden." Imogen says, a seemingly sweet smile plastered to her face, "When do we finally get to have our revenge?"

Xaden turns his head to Imogen, "I told you already, the youngest Sorrengail is mine, and I'll handle her when the time is right." I roll my eyes at my brother.

"Didn't you already learn that lesson, Imogen?" Bodhi asks, "What I hear, Aetos has you scrubbing dinner dishes for the next month for using your powers on the mat."

Imogen turns to face Bodhi, her eyes set into a glare, "Her mother is responsible for the execution of my mom and sister. I should have done more than just snap her shoulder."

I open my mouth to respond but Garrick beats me to it, "Her mom is responsible for the capture of nearly all our parents, not her daughter. Punishing children for the sins of their parents is the Navarrian way, not the Tyrrish."

"So we get conscripted because of what our parents did years ago and shoved into this death sentence of a college-"

"Violet's in the same death sentence of a college, if you haven't noticed," I cut her off, "And her mother forced her to come here as well. She was originally training to be a scribe. So looks like she's not doing much better."

"Don't forget her brother was Brennan Sorrengail," Xaden adds, "She has just as much reason to hate us as we do her. And I'm not going to tell you again. She's mine to handle. Anyone feel like arguing?" There's a moment of silence before Xaden speaks again, "Good. Then get back to bed and go in threes."

"Go ahead, I'll catch up." I whisper to Liam. I wait for the group to disperse, Liam lingers a bit farther away. I look towards Xaden, "You can't kill her."

He raises an eyebrow at me, "Yeah? Why not?"

"Like Garrick said, we don't punish the children for the sins of the parents. I hate General Sorrengail too, but Violet did nothing wrong. Leave her out of this." I don't wait for him to reply, I turn around and head towards Liam. We walk back together, Liam heading for the barracks and me towards Sawyer.

*_*_*_*_*_*

The next morning Sawyer and I are up early so we can make it back to the dorms before everyone else starts waking up. Just as I'm about to open the door I hear voices, I pause to listen, "We have curfew for a reason, cadet."

I whisper to Sawyer, "It's Dain. We should wait until he passes." Sawyer nods in agreement, moving closer to also listen.

"And you know that no one is supposed to be in the private dorms until after threshing." Dain scolds.

"Maybe we were just up early," We hear Rhiannon answer, "You know, like you are right now."

Dain sighs, "Just get back to the dorms and pretend you slept there, will you?"

"Absolutely!" Rhiannon agrees, footsteps move away back towards the dormitory.

"Monitoring the sex lives of first years was not what I had in mind when I applied to be a squad leader." Dain's voice fades as he walks further from the door.

I slowly creak the door open, peaking my head out to check if it's clear, "All good." I smile over my shoulder at Sawyer, "Luckily it was Rhiannon that was caught, he so wouldn't have let me get away with it."

"You think so?" Sawyer asks.

"Oh, definitely, Dain hates me. He thinks I'm out to get Violet and when we first met I called him an asshole."

Sawyer smirks, we make it to his dorm first, "I'll see you at breakfast." He whispers before opening the door and stepping inside.

Once I make it to my own dorm, Rhiannon is sitting up in bed tying her boots. "Where were you?" She questions.

I smirk, "With a friend."

She wiggles her eyebrows, "And that friend would be?"

I giggle, "I'll only tell you if you promise not to tell anyone. I don't want things to be weird."

Rhiannon nods, suddenly serious, "Promise."

I lean closer, "Sawyer."

Rhiannon's eyes light up, "I wondered where you two ran off to last night. I saw you talking with your brother so I thought maybe you were doing something with him but it makes sense that you and Sawyer left together. Was it good?"

I smirk, pulling a shirt over my head to put a fresh one on, "Well considering we went multiple rounds..." I trail off.

Rhiannon laughs, once we're both fully changed she hooks her arms around mine so we can head off to breakfast, "Well, your secret is safe with me."

*_*_*_*_*_*

After breakfast the next day, all of the first years are in Professor Kaori's classroom. Kaori is our professor for Dargonkind. I sit with my squad, Sawyer to my left. Liam sits beside me to my right, the rest of his squad close by. I'm taking notes as Kaori talks about the different dragon types. "Keep the temperaments of each specific breed in mind when you decide which dragons to approach and which to run away from at Threshing."

Professor Kaori is an illusionist. He can project different images of things he's seen to show others. Currently there is an illusion of a Green Daggertail in front of the class but Kaori quickly replaces the image with a Red Scorpiontail.

"Red Scorpiontails like Ghrian here, are the quickest to temper," Kaori looks at the dragon with a smile, then his eyes quickly scan over the cadets, "So if you offend him, you're-"

He gets cut off by Ridoc, "Lunch." The class laughs, even Jack Barlowe, who I was beginning to think only knew how to glare at Violet.

"Precisely," Professor Kaori smiles, "So what's the best way to approach a Red Scorpiontail?"

A first year from Second wing speaks up, "They prefer that you approach from the left and from the front, if possible."

Kaori nods in approval, "Excellent. For this Threshing, there are three Red Scorpiontails willing to bond." The image changes in front of the class to another dragon.

"How many dragons are there in total?" Rhiannon asks.

"A hundred for this year." Kaori changes the image again, "But some might change their minds during Presentation in about two months, depending on what they see."

"That's thirty seven fewer than last year," Violet says.

Kaori nods, "Yes, Cadet Sorrengail, it is, and twenty six fewer than the year before that."

"Wonder why there is less bonding." I mutter to Liam. He nods, his eyebrows knitting together.

Another voice from across the classroom asks, "Will they tell you why they won't bond?"

"No, jackass," Jack sneers, "Dragons only talk to their bonded riders, just like they only give their full name to their bonded rider. You should know that by now."

Professor Kaori sends Jack a pointed look that shuts him up, "They don't share their reasons, and anyone who respects their life won't ask a question they're not willing to answer."

"Do the numbers affect the wards?" Aurelie asks. She's tapping her quill against the desk, never happy sitting still. Can't say I blame her though, my leg is bouncing up and down as I focus on the conversation around me.

"We're not sure," Kaori's jaw ticks, "The number of bonded dragons has never affected the integrity of Navarre's wards before, but I'm not about to lie to you and say that we're not seeing increased breaches when you know from Battle Brief that we are."

The wards are faltering quite frequently, which begs the question are we growing weaker or our enemies growing stronger. I personally think it's our enemies growing stronger, which kind of terrifies me to think about. Either way, all that means is that I need to train harder and do better so I can make sure myself and my loved ones survive.

Kaori changes the image to Sgaeyl, "You won't have to worry about how to approach blue dragons, since there are none willing to bond this Threshing but you should be able to recognize Sgaeyl if you see her."

"So you can fucking run," Ridoc drawls. The class laughs, as I share a look with Liam.

"She's a Blue Daggertail, the rarest of the blues, and yes, if you see her without her bonded rider, you should... definitely find somewhere else to be."

"Xaden said she likes me." I say with a proud smile.

"Consider yourself lucky then," Kaori smiles, "Ruthless does not begin to describe her, nor does she abide by what we assume to be what the dragons consider law. She even bonded the relative of one of her previous riders, which as you know is typically forbidden, but Sgaeyl does whatever she wants, whenever she wants."

"Badass," I whisper to myself.

"In fact, if you see any of the blues, don't approach them. Just.."

"Run," Ridoc finishes for Kaori.

Kaori nods, "Run. There are a handful of other blues in active service, but you'll find them all along the Esben Mountains in the east, where the fighting is most intense. They're all intimidating, but Sgaeyl is the most powerful of them all." And my brother bonded her.

"What about the black dragon?" A first year in Jack's squad asks. "There's one here, right?"

Jack's face lights up, "I want that one." I roll my eyes.

"Not that it's going to matter," Kaori sighs, he flicks his wrist replacing Sgaeyl with a massive black dragon. "But just to appease your curiosity, since this is the only time you'll ever see him, here is the only other black dragon beside General Melgren's."

I suck in a breath, I hate General Melgren and his dragon more than the Sorrengail's. And that's saying a lot. Liam notices me tense and grabs onto my hand, gently rubbing his thumb over my knuckles. "You okay?" Liam asks, causing Sawyer to look over and notice how tense I am. He reaches down, placing his hand on my thigh, squeezing gently.

I nod, "Fine."

"He's huge," Rhiannon says. "And is that a clubtail?"

"No, a morningstartail. He has the same bludgeoning power of a clubtail, but those spikes will eviscerate a person just as well as a daggertail."

"Best of both worlds," Jack calls out, "He looks like a killing machine."

"He is," Kaori agrees, "And honestly, I haven't seen him in the last five years, so this image is more than a little outdated. But since we have him up here, what can you tell me about black dragons?"

"They're the smartest and most discerning," Aurelie answers.

"They're the rarest," Violet adds, "There hasn't been one born in the last.. century."

"Correct," Kaori nods, "They're also the most cunning. There's no such thing as out smarting a black dragon. This one here is a little over a hundred, which makes him about middle-aged. He's revered as a battle dragon among their kind, and if not for him, we probably would have lost during the Tyrrish rebellion." The marked first years around the room pull there sleeves down and squirm, except for Liam and I. We both hold our heads high, unfazed by the gazes of our fellow first years. "Add to it that he's a morningstartail, and he's one of the deadliest dragons in Navarre."

"I bet he powers one hell of a signet. How do you approach him?" Jack asks, sitting forward in his seat.

I loudly laugh before I can stop myself, "Oh please try to approach him. I'd pay good money to see what happens." Liam and Sawyer smirk beside me.

Jack glares over his shoulder at me but doesn't say anything as Kaori starts to talk, "You don't. He hasn't agreed to bond since his previous and only rider was killed during the uprising, and the only way you'd ever be near him is if you're in the Vale, which you won't be, because you'd be incinerated before you ever got through the gorge."

"Someone should ask him again," Jack states.

"By all means, Jack. Why don't you. Maybe he'd say yes if you ask him nicely." I pout, the rest of the class laughs, except for Jack and his gang of misfits.

"It doesn't work that way, Barlowe." Kaori says, bringing the attention back to him, "Now there is only one other black dragon, which is in service..."

"General Melgren's," Sawyer says, "Codagh, right?" Sawyer's hand is still resting on my thigh, lazily tracing patterns. He's not taking notes in this class, which makes sense since he already took it last year.

"Yes," Kaori nods, "The eldest of the den and a swordtail."

"But just for curiosity's sake." Jack speaks up once more, causing me to roll my eyes. "What signet ability would this guy gift his rider?"

Professor Kaori closes his fist, the illusion disappears, "There's no telling. Signets are the result of the unique chemistry between rider and dragon and usually say more about the rider than the dragon. The stronger the bond and the more powerful the dragon, the stronger the signet."

"Fine. What was his previous rider's?"

"Naolin's signet was siphoning. He could absorb power from the various sources, other dragons, other riders, and then use it or redistribute it."

"Badass." Ridoc's tone has a little more than hero worship.

"He was," Kaori agrees.

"What kills someone with that kind of signet?" Jack asks, crossing his arms over his chest.

Professor Kaori glances at Violet before quickly looking away, "He attempted to use that power to revive a fallen rider - which didn't work, because there's no signet ability capable of resurrection - and depleted himself in the process. To use a phrase you'll become accustomed to after Threshing, he burned out and died next to that rider."

There's a brief moment of silence then Kaori flicks his hand once more, "Last dragon of the day." A huge white dragon appears in front of us. She looks to have a daggertail but the image is slightly blurry, making it difficult to see. "This image is also a bit outdated but since we are going over every kind of dragon, I figured I should mention her."

"She's beautiful." I say.

"I've never seen a white dragon before," Liam tilts his head.

"She is, and she's the only one of her kind. She's never bonded before so we don't see her very often. But she is just about one hundred years old and we believe she's incredibly powerful. It's possible that if she chooses to bond, that she will die with that rider. Which is why she either doesn't want to risk bonding or she is waiting to choose wisely. Of course we can't be certain, as nobody has ever talked with her."

"Is she coming to presentation this year?" Lydia Savel asks.

"No, she has not said that she's willing to bond this year." The bell rings signaling the hour is up, we collect our things, putting them in our bags, before heading out of the classroom.

*_*_*_*_*_*

I stand next to Xaden in the gym watching as Rhiannon faces off against a guy from Second Wing. She quickly gets him in a headlock, cutting off his air supply. "She's good." I say, tilting my head. Xaden hums, a look of boredom on his face.

"You're better." He states.

I smile, "Not many people here will be better than me."

"Don't get cocky, that's how you lose."

I roll my eyes, "I'm confident, not cocky. I know not to underestimate anyone and I know not to let my emotions get the better of me, I'll be fine."

"I know you will be," His eyes flicker to me as the guy in Rhiannon's hold passes out, "I'm not worried about you on the mats."

Both of our gazes our drawn towards Jack and Violet who are arguing, "Gods, I want to kill him every time he opens his mouth." Violet throws two daggers at Jack just missing him, causing me to snort. Out of the corner of my eye I can see Xaden's lips twitch as he fights off a smile. I smirk but don't say anything.

Xaden turns away when Violet makes eye contact with him, "I'm going to watch some of the other Fourth Wing matches, but I'll be back over here when you're called up."

"No need, you're a Wingleader, focus on the cadet's that need help."

"You're my baby sister, I'm going to support you in your first challenge. Kick your opponents ass and don't disappoint me." I smile and nod, moving to stand beside Rhiannon as Violet moves onto the mat.

Violet is against Oren Seifert. He looks like he's going to be sick, Violet may get lucky. "Don't take this personally, but you'll only be a hazard to your wing." He says, palming a dagger. He charges at Violet but he's sluggish. She lands a punch to his kidney's before spinning away. They taunt each other, swinging their daggers and dodging.

When Oren goes for Violet once more, she waits until the last moment to dodge, nicking his side in the process. She kicks him in the back, sending him sprawling to the mat. Violet takes advantage, digging her knee into his back and placing her dagger at his throat, "Yield."

"No!" He calls out, he retches, bringing up everything he ate that day.

"Ew. Gross." My face scrunches up in disgust.

Beside me Rhiannon mumbles, "Oh my gods."

"Yield," Violet demands once more.

"He yields," Emetterio calls out, ending the match. Violet stands up, sheathing her blade, than taking the one that Oren dropped on the mat.

"You won!" Rhiannon exclaims.

"Good job!" I smile.

"He's sick," Violet shrugs in response.

"I'll take being lucky over being good any day," Rhiannon counters.

I nod, "True, but you can't just rely on luck. Keep up with training and you'll be fine."

"I need to find someone to get this cleaned up." Dain mutters, walking away and getting a first year to clean up the mess.

The group moves to another mat to continue matches, "Riorson and McCall." I move towards the mat, a girl slightly taller than me but with less muscle steps up. She was the one who was originally in Dain's squad but got switched out. She nods at me, "Weapons?" Emetterio asks.

"Swords?" She asks, noticing I have a short sword strapped to my hip. I nod pulling mine out, causing her to do the same.

"Begin." I keep my weight balanced, waiting for Scarlett to make the first move. When I don't know how my opponent fights, I like seeing their style first. She lunges, swinging her sword towards my neck. I quickly block it with my own, pushing her arm up and spinning underneath, ending up behind Scarlett.

She moves quickly, not wanting to have her back towards me. She charges again, feigning left before attacking towards the right. Once again, I quickly block, I kick her in the stomach, causing her to stumble backwards. She gasps in pain but comes at me again.

I dodge, swiping at her legs as I pass her. My sword nicks her ankle causing her to stumble once more. Before she can recover, I attack with a flourish of swings, each one sending her closer to the edge of the mat. I send a quick kick to her sword hand, she loses her grip, the sword tumbling to the mat. I quickly raise my sword to her throat.

Scarlett sighs, "I yield."

I smile at her, "I'll take a dagger, keep the sword." She smiles back at me, reaching into a sheath on her thigh to hand me a dagger and picking up her sword once more, before stepping off the mat and heading back to her squad.

As I step off the mat to stand once more beside Rhiannon and Violet, I glance up at Xaden, he has a proud smile on his face. He nods to me before turning to watch another match.

Week after week passes, I win every match thrown my way only ending up with minor bruises and cuts. Liam and Violet are also undefeated at the moment. Every time Violet is up against someone though, they have something wrong with them. It's easy to tell that she's poising them but I'm starting to think I'm the only one who notices. It's not like I'll tell anyone, surviving the Rider's Quadrant takes more than being strong, and Violet is smart enough that she may just survive.

It's early September and I've collect five new weapons from challenges. Professor Emetterio looks down at his roll seeing who's to fight next. "(Y/N) and Liam." Multiple heads turn, trying to find each of us in the crowd. One of us is losing our winning streak and it's not about to be me.

*_*_*_*_*_* Liam

I slowly make my way to the mat, just because I'm going against (Y/N) doesn't mean I'll take it easy. I make it to the mat first my eyes scan the room for her. My blue eyes land on her just as she hands her corset halter that carries three of her daggers, to Violet. My eyes narrow in confusion but quickly widen as I watch her reach down to pull off her shirt, leaving her in just her work out bra and pants.

She flings her shirt at Ridoc who's standing beside her, gaping like a fish. "What are you doing?" I hiss once she's across from me. I know every eye in this room is on her right now, and it makes my blood boil.

She smirks, "Using all of my assets to ensure a win."

I roll my eyes, "Fighting me without a shirt isn't going to be a distraction."

"You say that now, but I know you better than that. Using daggers okay?" She asks.

I nod, but don't take one out. I want to win, but I don't want to harm her, and without an extra layer covering her that goal got a lot more difficult. "Begin." Emetterio calls out.

She tilts her head at me, beckoning me over, a small smirk on her face. I know she won't make the first move, and I want to end this quick so I comply with her wishes. The smirk on her face grows as I lunge but (Y/N)'s quick and dodges out of the way. Gods do I want to wipe that look off her face. She uses her foot to trip me, but I catch myself before I fall.

I turn to face her again, she raises an eyebrow, unfazed by the eyes on her. My jaw ticks, I just know Xaden is seething on the side of the mat. I charge once more, her dagger grazes my side as she dodges, but I grab her arm before she can fully get away.

I twist her around, throwing her to the mat, she let's out a gasp of air. I squeeze her hand open, causing her to drop her dagger. Our faces are close, neither one of us have broken into a sweat, "I love being manhandled." She whispers, her breath gentle on my face.

Before I can reply, she knees me in the groin, "Cheap shot." I groan, as I fall off her.

She gets another dagger out, pinning me to the ground, "All is fair when you're at war. Do you yield, Mairi?" She's straddling my thigh, one leg pinning my right arm down, the other knee pressed to my groin. The dagger she holds is pressed to my throat, and her other hand is holding my free arm to the mat.

I clench my jaw, about to move her off of me, but her dagger presses closer to my neck and her knee moves pressing more into my groin, and I know I'm trapped. "I yield." I say loud enough for the room to hear me.

(Y/N) smirks once more, she kisses my cheek as she sheaths her dagger, then pulls a dagger from one of my sheaths, "Thank you for this." She winks before getting off of me, offering her hand to help me up. Once I'm up, she turns around, twirling the dagger she took from me around as she heads back to her squad. My eyes follow her as I slowly back off the mat.

Just as she reaches Ridoc, grabbing her shirt back from his outstretched hands, a hand grabs tightly onto my shoulder, "Undress my sister with your eyes again and I'll cut them out of your head." I blink, my head whipping to Xaden who's glaring at me. I gulp and nod, turning around to properly head back to my squad.

"Mairi, I know you just lost your first match, but damn. You're so lucky. I'd gladly let (Y/N) do anything she wants to me." My eyes sharpen into a glare as I look at my squad mate, Augustus.

"Fuck off." I growl.

Augustus smirks, "What? I thought you two where just friends. And (Y/N)'s hot. Every guy and some of the girls were eye fucking her when you guys were fighting."

Lyra, another first year in the squad nods, "Even Barlowe looked like he wanted to have a go with her." She tilts her chin in his direction, "He's still trying to sneak glances."

I look in the direction Lyra indicated, my eyes finding Jack, he's laughing with his squad, and sure enough his gaze passes by (Y/N) multiple times. I feel like throwing up. Instead of answering, I march over to (Y/N) and her squad.

*_*_*_*_*_* (Y/N)

I make my way back to my squad after winning against Liam. Ridoc holds out my shirt, I slip the dagger I won from Liam in an empty sheath before I reach to take my shirt back from him, "You might want to put that on fast, your brother looks to be seconds away from killing everyone in this room." Ridoc says.

I snort, "He won't do shit."

"Well, you looked hot and everyone here can agree on that. I swear everyone was eyeing you like they wanted to take a bite." Rhiannon smirks, "Honestly, I wouldn't say no."

"Come find me later," I wink, taking my corset back from Violet.

"I could never be brave enough to fight without half my weapons. Or without at least some sort of barrier between my skin." Violet says, shaking her head.

I smile brightly, putting my corset back on, "The key is knowing your opponent. I know Liam would never intentionally hurt me, at least not severely. So without that extra layer, he was going to be more cautious and not go all out even though it's a subconscious thing, because he would never purposefully go easy on me."

I pause briefly as I tighten the corset, "Plus, like you guys pointed out, I'm hot. So there was a chance he'd be distracted by that as well."

"Incoming," Sawyer whispers, looking behind me.

I turn around to see what he's talking about and find Xaden's eyes locked on me and Liam marching over, a glare on his face. I open my mouth to tease Liam about losing but he beats me to it, "Never fucking do that again."

My eyebrows knit in confusion, "What? Win?"

Liam rolls his blue eyes, "Fight shirtless in a room full of horny cadets. Jack fucking Barlowe was eye fucking you and if I have to see him do that again I'm going to murder him than gouge my own eyes out. Don't even get me started on having to hear what my squad wants to do with you."

I smirk, "Oh, was it anything fun? Maybe I -"

"(Y/N)!" Liam scolds, grabbing my upper arm, but I only smirk more.

Before either of us can reply Garrick appears at our side, "I'm going to separate you two before you're brother comes over and hurts Liam." Garrick looks Liam in the eye and nods at him to get back to his Squad. Liam's jaw ticks once but turns on his heel, walking away from us.

"Why does Xaden want to hurt Liam?" I ask.

"He wants to hurt everyone that was looking at you, Smiley. He's showing a lot of restraint at the moment."

I snort, "I'm sure he is. Does that mean you weren't looking at me?" Garrick smirks but doesn't reply.

"Smiley?" Violet asks.

"She was always smiling and laughing as a kid so I started calling her Smiley." Garrick answers.

"If any of you try and use that nickname, I will break your nose. Garrick's the only one allowed." I say, watching the match in front of me.

"She's not lying. She broke Xaden's nose when we were thirteen because he tried to call her it."

Rhiannon laughs, "I would had loved to see that." The girl on the mat knocked out the other cadet with a swift kick to the head. She takes one of the cadet's daggers then moves back towards her squad.

"They were thirteen, I was eleven." I clarify.

"I'm sorry, Violet," Professor Emetterio speaks up, causing our group to face him, "You were supposed to challenge Rayma, but she's been taken to the healers because she can't seem to walk in a straight line."

Violet winces, "That's... Too bad," She pauses, "Should I just..."

"I'm happy to step in," Xaden says from across the room, causing me to smirk.

"You sure?" Professor Emetterio asks, glancing over his shoulder.

"Absolutely." Garrick and I exchange a look. We know he's already pissed because of my stunt so it's going to be fun seeing him against Violet. I know Violet is probably on the verge of a heart attack but Garrick and I both know he won't do anything on the mat.

Xaden steps forward, "You are all in for a treat," Professor Emetterio says, clapping his hands, "Xaden's one of the best fighters we have. Watch and learn."

"Well that's going to go right to his head," I mutter to Garrick, rolling my eyes.

Garrick's lips twitch into a smirk, "Please, he already has a big head, Emetterio saying he's one of the best fighters isn't going to change that."

Violet steps onto the mat, facing Xaden. "A little out of her league, don't you think?" Dain calls out, trying to protect her.

"Relax, Aetos." Xaden looks over his shoulder at Dain as he begins to take off all his weapons, handing them to Imogen. "She'll be in one piece when I'm finished with her."

Dain raises his voice, "I hardly think it's fair-"

Xaden cuts him off, "No one asked you to think, squad leader." Garrick and I both snort, turning away to hide our laughs.

"You don't think you'll need those?" Violet asks, watching Xaden remove the last of his weapons.

"Nope. Not when you brought enough for both of us." He grins, stretching out his hands, "Let's go."

"This is going to be fun," Garrick whispers.

"He's not going to hurt her, right?" Ridoc asks.

"No." Garrick and I both say in unison.

"You both seem confident about that." Sawyer says, watching the match.

Violet attacks Xaden, he blocks her easily, and slowly starts to disarm her, kicking each of her weapons towards Dain who stands at the edge of the mat. "We know Xaden, he won't harm her." Garrick replies.

Xaden and Violet are talking as they fight, Xaden offers Violet a hand, "Don't take it." I mumble.

"She's going to take it." Garrick says. Sure enough, Violet takes my brother's outstretched hand. He tugs her up then twists her arm behind her.

"Damn, thought she'd be smarter than that."

Xaden keeps disarming Violet until finally she snaps, "You've made your damn point." Imogen gasps, but I just smirk. Xaden crosses his arms, unbothered, and Violet starts letting her emotion into her fighting.

Xaden has Violet pinned to the mat, he moves her hands to grab her last dagger, showing her where to attack an opponent. "See, he's just teaching her. No harm done." Garrick says to the rest of the squad.

The two exchange a few more quiet words before Dain speaks up, "I think she's been taught enough today."

"Awe, he's jealous." I whisper to Garrick. Garrick's shoulder's shake in a silent laugh. Xaden stands, walking away from Violet and gathering his weapons from Imogen.

Violet moves towards Dain in order to collect her weapons, "Aetos," Xaden calls out, turning to look at the second year, "She could use a little less protection and a little more instruction." Dain nods.

Xaden makes a beeline for me, "Good luck." Garrick whispers to me, he nods at Xaden then walks away.

Xaden is glaring at me, he then grabs my arm, pulling me away from my squad and out of the gym. "Challenges aren't over you know." I say, a smirk on my face.

Xaden remains silent as he walks me through the halls, glare never leaving his face. I know why he's mad, but I don't care. We make it back to the dormitory, heading straight for his room. Once he closes the door behind us, he finally lets go of my arm. "Sit." He says, gesturing to the bed.

I sit on the edge of his bed, biting my lip to keep from smiling, but it's easy to tell that I find his anger amusing. Xaden's eyes flare, "It's not funny. What the fuck where you thinking?"

"I was thinking it's Liam and I could distract him. When you fight an opponent that's bigger and stronger than you you need to use everything in your arsenal to win. That's exactly what I did."

Xaden rolls his eyes, "Oh, so you'll just walk up to a random enemy, take your shirt off, and fight them in hopes they'll be distracted."

This time I roll my eyes, "If I know my enemy is attracted to me then yeah, maybe." Xaden's glare hardens, "Xaden, I'm not dumb. I know how to win and get what I want and that's exactly what I did. I'm still undefeated in challenges, you should be proud of me. I don't see what the big deal is."

Xaden raises his voice, "The big deal is that you were just shirtless in front of almost the whole quadrant and half those people were eyeing you like a piece of meat. You're my little sister, I don't want anyone looking at you-"

I cut him off, "That's why you sent Garrick to me. You wanted him next to me to scare off anyone eyeing me. Well, Liam already informed me about the colorful commentary on my behalf and I don't give a fuck. Let them talk. Let them look. More than half of those people are going to be too scared to do anything anyways."

"That's not the point!"

I stand up, "What's done is done, Xaden! We can't go back in time and stop me from taking my shirt off and you know what? Even if we could, I would do it again. Because I. Won. I did what I needed to do and I don't regret it."

Xaden pinches the bridge of his nose, "You're going to be the death of me." He says causing me to roll my eyes, "Just don't do it again. Okay?"

"Yeah, sure, whatever." Xaden's jaw ticks but he doesn't say anything else.

#series rewrite #the empyrean #xaden x sister!riorson reader #fourth wing #xaden riorson #dain aetos #violet sorrengail #imogen cardulo #garrick tavis #liam mairi #bodhi durran #ridoc gamlyn #sawyer henrick #rhiannon matthias

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lurkingteapot · 2 years ago

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Free Thai language learning resources

I’ve been learning Thai for the past 20 months. This list is by no means complete or comprehensive, what works for me doesn’t have to work for you, etc etc. That said: I’ve used most of these and found them useful, I thought you might, too. Have fun!

Youtube channels with free video lessons:

There are tons of wonderful teachers on youtube; this is by no means an exhaustive list. The three channels listed here are comprehensive, long-running, and updated regularly; if you have other favourites, please reblog and append!

Comprehensible Thai is a channel that teaches Thai in Thai, from zero, via the comprehensible input method. They have videos from total beginner through upper intermediate/lower advanced levels available.

Learn Thai with Mod – Mod runs a language school that offers good, structured group classes; she and her co-teachers often upload short videos about specific aspects of Thai. The channel has been around for a long time and they cover a lot of topics, including grammar points.

Thai Lessons by New (Learn Thai one Word one Sentence) – lots of good vocabulary and situational phrases

Other channels I like:

Advanced Thai with Kruu Momm -- one of my favourites, Momm’s a star. Not included in the upper list only because this is definitely more of an intermediate-advanced resource.

Thai with Grace -- I knew of Grace via her polyglot channel and travel vlogs before I realised she also teaches Thai. Fun stuff.

Kat talks Thai -- I believe Kat is more active on instagram (@kattalksthai), but these are still really neat.

Perth Nakhun’s Basic Thai playlist

Honourable mentions because they’re interesting and can be nice supplements (yes, the video titles on these channels tend to be clickbaity, the content is useful, though):

Stu Jay Raj: Stu is a polyglot based in Thailand. His channel is a bit of a mixed bag, but he has a very interesting approach to languages and sometimes does foreign accent reduction / accent analysis sessions on his channel (with consent and participation of those whose speech he dissects).

Thai Talk with Paddy: Paddy is an Australian who learned Thai when he was a volunteer in Thailand, he’s kept it up. Fun things about language learning and culture

Listening comprehension

I’m assuming many folks on here who are interested in Thai already watch some Thai shows (yes I’m stereotyping but also this is tumblr), which means you’re spending time listening to Thai.

If you’re not:

Netflix, Youtube, WeTV, and Viki all have several Thai shows with English subtitles available. The Youtube channel of Thai broadcasting giant GMMTV has English subtitles on nearly all of their uploaded series, some series are also subtitled in languages other than English. one31 is another huge channel; they have English subtitles on some series and some series also have subtitles in Thai. There’s tons more – find a rec list and a Thai show that sounds like you’d enjoy it, chances are you’ll be able to watch it for free, legally, on youtube. You can use the youtube controls (or the ones on netflix) to turn the speed down to 75% —this can make it a lot easier to catch what’s being said. 50% gets so draggy that I personally find it almost harder to understand, but ymmv—give it a shot!

https://lingopolo.org/thai/ has real-life recordings for listening practice; sign-up is required but it’s literally just an e-mail-address, user name and password. Using the site is free.

https://www.activethai.com/ has a section dedicated to learning the tones (under “Overview of Thai Tones”) including a self-test for listening that I found very useful.

Learning to read

I will always, always, ALWAYS recommend learning to read the Thai script. All available romanisations for Thai have drawbacks, and besides, you learned to read English with its “though through thorough tough thought”, you can damn well learn to read Thai. I promise it will help you improve your pronunciation (yes, really) and overall understanding of how the language works.

Learn-to-Read-Thai resources that seem comprehensive and like they should do everything in one:

Anki decks “Read Thai PHASE 1 - The Consonants“, “Read Thai PHASE 2 - Thai Vowels“, “Read Thai PHASE 3 - Consonant Classes” and “Read Thai PHASE 4 - Tone Rules” by Khruu Gaan (ครูกานต์). Anki is probably the most powerful spaced repetition software I have ever used. It’s free on all desktops and android. These decks have sound.

Memrise course “Read Thai: A Complete Guide to Reading Thai“

Other resources I used (In hindsight, I feel like I should’ve picked one resource to learn to read from and stuck with it; I think I was rushing and made things more complicated than need be for myself with my hodgepodge mix-and-match approach. But hey, I can read now.)

https://www.activethai.com/ – the site I started with. Teaches the consonants separated by class and with sound. The only reason this is no longer my top recommendation is that I ended up using this alongside a resource that helped me memorise what the words used to represent the letters actually mean because the site itself didn’t tell me, and I wanted that easy way to have 44 vocabulary words ready as soon as you’re done learning your consonants, and it gives you access to neat mnemonics such as ไก่จิกเด็กตาย(เฎ็กฏาย)บนปากโอ่ง.

The chart on Wikipedia’s English article on the Thai Script

the reference section of Thai-Language.com

In order to better learn to read Thai written in different fonts (modern and handwriting fonts can be tough at first), the Thai Script typographical styles overview on Thai-language.com was a huge help, as was throwing simple phrases things into gdocs and messing around to see how different fonts made them look. This chart from sanukmaak.com also helped.

Speaking and pronunciation

The hardest one for any new language for most folks. For me personally, finding someone who speaks the language and is willing to correct me was an absolute necessity, but I know that’s not always an option. If you’re going it on your own, make sure you check out the resources above for learning to hear the tones and those sounds and sound clusters not present in your own language correctly first.

Things to try on your own:

shadowing: Whenever someone on a show utters a sentence you think might be useful, or provide a useful pattern, or something just sounds cool, rewind and try to speak along as they say it, trying to make it sound as close to their pronunciation as you can.

try to record yourself and listen back -- yes, it’s cringe af but it will HELP.

memorising short sentences and phrases: tying back to the section above, there's a ton of youtube videos that is "phrases to use in [situation]" that are great for targeted learning if you're up for it

self talk (cautiously! don't want to cement bad pronunciation habits)

if you’re linguistically inclined: looking up descriptions on how to make a sound correctly sometimes helps, as does watching videos of folks who’ve successfully learned the language.

once you’ve learned to read: find sentences to read somewhere (twitter, a textbook, whatever) and read them into your phone’s dictation engine. See if the software understands you correctly. Adjust as needed until it does.

Websites and apps to find language partners or (paid) tutors

Like any other app where you ‘meet people’, please exercise caution on these.

italki (mainly for finding tutors and teachers, but you can find language partners on the forums)

Preply (web/app) (for finding tutors/teachers)

hellotalk (app only, iOS/android) for finding language partners -- free to use basic features like messaging, voice rooms, etc; has annoying ads

tandem (app only, iOS/android) for finding language partners -- free to use basic features, has ads

any other app or website that’ll let you meet people, like local facebook groups (yes really), instagram, etc

(note: Neither hellotalk nor tandem allow users to sign up without selecting a binary gender. it sucks. I’ve seen people who managed to circumvent this on Hellotalk by signing up via apple ID (? I think), but it’s hearsay and I have not managed to do so myself.)

Books (a book) that are (is) worth spending money on imo

Higbie & Thinsan: Thai Reference Grammar. The Structure of Spoken Thai. Orchid Press: Bangkok, 2002. Yes, it’s ancient in textbook terms. It’s not perfect, but it’s still the best reference grammar for Thai I’ve come across so far, and I use it frequently.

Random bits and bobs

Stu Jay Raj has two videos in particular that I, as a phonetics-and-phonology-loving person, loved and found extremely useful and wished I’d watched before I started to try and learn the script: Thai Vowels for Dummies in 5 Min v2 - A System Impossible to Forget and Thai Bites Extended Edition - Transliterating Thai using IPA. I realise these may be overwhelming and less helpful for people with no prior phonetics or phonology training, but they helped me so much it’d feel amiss not to include them.

Resources I recommend AGAINST using when starting out

drops/hello words -- seems like their Thai courses have been created using machine translation that wasn’t sufficiently proofread. They will assign you nouns in places of the corresponding verb or false cognates, and that’s within the first 10 or so lessons. Might be useful once the level where a learner can tell “ah, yeah, that’s … not right” has been reached? idk.

transcription as generated by google translate: BURN IT WITH FIRE. it’s a transliteration, i.e. 1-to-1 representation of 1 Thai letter = 1 Latin letter (extended), it’s not phonemic, it’s not going to help ANYONE (and those who can make sense of it presumably already read Thai and would be better off with just Thai script). Just. Stop.

Google translate as a dictionary: still shitty but not AS bad as the transcription function. Still, for the love of all that you hold dear, please, save yourself the pain and confusion and just use thai2english or thai-language.com instead.

---

And that’s that from me, friends. Yeeting this into the void before I second-guess myself more. Please append additional resources!

Edited to fix a couple of typos and errors on 2023-06-15

#thai language #learning thai #ภาษาไทย #เรียนภาษาไทย #Thai from English #language learning #language resource #language learning resource #idk what the hell else to tag this #free education #don't get me started on 'creative' 'free-form' 'by-ear' romanisations; we'll be here all day #my nonsense

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rosenclaws · 3 months ago

Text

Do Mutants Dream of Two-Headed Sheep? Chapter 1 || Logan x Cyborg!Reader

Summary: You find yourself in a strange place after being rescued and you don't feel very welcome here.

Warnings: Body horror, angst, blood, medical stuff, injury, angry reader, defensive Logan, reader has a panic attack

wc: 2.2k

a/n: Here's the first chapter! Its mostly set up with a lot of angst but I'm excited to take this story and explore more about both Logan and the reader.

Series Masterlist

They were called the X-Men. They’re mutants. Just like you. You didn’t know anything. They asked you a million questions. Hooked you up to machines. Took X-Rays. Ran tests. Their scientist. Beast. Hank as he asked you to call him. He poked and prodded you for hours.

You hated every moment of it. You were a fucked up creation. He apologized but you paid him no mind. All you could stare at was your new robotic body. What did they turn you into? Hank starts talking.

The people who did this to you, they replaced half of your body with machine parts. But it was incomplete. They meant to turn you fully into a robot, a heartless, cold dead weapon who would listen to their every command. But by the time the X-men had gotten there they had only gotten half way through.

“It’s incredible really.” Hank mumbles and your head whips to the side.

“Incredible? You call being torn apart and replaced by metal incredible?” You spit. His eyes widen as he starts to back peddle, apologizing for his insensitive language but you don’t want to fucking hear it.

“Leave me alone. I’m done being your little show pony.” You snarl.

“I…I’ll be back later to check on you.” Hank offers you a small smile but you just stare ahead of you.

You look at your hands, your arms, your legs. You can barely differentiate between your new body and the medical IV’s that Hank and stuck in you. You had no memories, no clue who you were, how you got there in the first place. The only thing you remember is pain. Only pain.

You hated it. In a fit of rage you grab the IV wires and rip them out of your arm. You watch as blood drips down your arm. The only reminder you have that you’re still made of flesh.

Upstairs Charles had called a team meeting. All of them for the lack of a better term were unsettled. They’re mutants. They’ve seen a lot of things in their life. People who don’t look human or have some mutation that changes their physical appearance. But this. This was utterly new and horribly cruel.

“According to the files we extracted from their computer, the mutant you found is known as Project G.H.O.S.T.” Charles sets down the files on his desk.

“Doctor Peter Crane is the lead scientist hired by Section K. Unfortunately, we were unable to capture him or the leader of a mutant experimentation group. But we were able to get their information and future plans all while destroying their current base of operations.” Scott follows while skimming through the amount of information gathered on the mission.

“Who are they? Why did Crane want them?” Storm asks as she looks at the folder with all your information.

“We don’t know. Most of the information had already been destroyed, not even a name. But from what…” Scott trails off, unsure of how to phrase it. He glances at Logan for just a second before turning back to Charles.

“What we do have, we think they were planning on turning them into a living weapon. Strip them of their humanity and turn them into a puppet.” That struck a chord with Logan. Living weapon, yeah he’s heard that one before. He was one before.

“Did they?” Logan asks gruffly.

“We don’t know. It looks like they only got half way through before we found them.” Scott replies.

Logan grunts in response. He stops listening to Scott once he moves on, something about plans or whatever. He doesn’t care. His thoughts drift back to you. Just what are you? Charles didn’t mention anything about a mutant like you. Half machine. Logan was the one to save you, to cut you free and try to get you out but now he’s wondering if it was a mistake.

What if they had turned you already? Destroyed your humanity and they brought you right into the heart of the X-Men. Are you dangerous? He knows what it’s like to be experimented on, to be turned into a puppet for the masters to play with.

Anyone else would feel a connection, a level of understanding. But Logan, he can’t trust that easily. This is his home and the people living in this mansion are his family. He knows what you could possibly be.

And he doesn’t trust it one bit.

“You’re all dismissed, we’ll try and find out more and plan for next week.” Charles says. He turns his head to stare directly at Logan.

“Logan. Come with me.” Logan grumbles as he gets out of his chair and follows the professor through the halls.

“I know you’re distrustful of our new guest,” Charles starts making Logan scoff.

“Your thoughts are louder than you think Logan. I would have assumed you would be more…understanding.” Charles says carefully. Understanding isn’t exactly the word anyone would use to describe Logan but it was the best choice.

“I understand how dangerous people like us can be.” Logan states plainly. The destruction he caused as Weapon X, he doesn’t remember most of it but he can still smell the blood and sometimes he catches glimpses in his nightmares.

“I see.”

Logan steps in the elevator with Charles and stays quiet as it brings them down to the laboratory. When they enter your room they just see you sitting on the bed. Your eyes staring at the small TV in front of you. The channels flipping back and forth rapidly.

“Hello my dear, my name is Charles Xavier.” You glance at him, then at Logan before turning your attention back to the TV.

“I know this is a lot to process but I promise you we’re here to help you.” Still silent.

“When you’re ready, we have a room ready and we’d like to ask you some questions.” Still nothing. Logan grows irritated at your lack of response.

“Hey. He’s talking to you bub.” Logan snaps, the words tumbling out of his mouth without even thinking. You glare at him as he slams his hand against the TV, shutting it off. With a flick of your wrist it turns right back on.

“Technopathy, a rare mutation indeed.” Charles notes.

“Logan, show them to their dorm room. I think they’ve spent enough time down here.” Charles leaves, stranding you alone with Logan.

He’s the one who found you. You recognize his voice. Though this time he’s much angrier than he was before. He’s hostile and it looks like he might claw you right where you sit.

“Alright kid-”

“I’m not a kid.” You snap. Your robotic hand clenching around the rails of the bed, crushing the metal with ease.

“Fine. I want to know exactly what they did to you. Give me one reason I should let you near any of those kids up there.” Logan growls. You just laugh at his audacity, he doesn’t scare you for a second.

“Aren’t you a warm welcome? Is this typical X-Men hospitality? Stick needles and threaten my life? ” You spit and Logan’s claws come out instantly.

“Listen bub, I know their plans and I want to make sure you aren’t already the weapon they wanted to create.”

“What if I am Logan? A trojan horse to spy on your little friends.” You’re not, you have control but he was pissing you off. If he was going to treat you like a threat you sure as hell weren’t going to spare him any real explanation.

“Then I’ll slice you to pieces in a heartbeat.” He says, brandishing his claws.

Without thinking you flinch just seeing them. They remind you of the blades, the pain as you went in and out of consciousness. Your heart starts to race as flashes of broken memories. The pain shoots through your body, both sides. You don’t understand. You push yourself off the bed and flee to the corner of the room. Logan’s eyes widen as you start to mumble. Your fingers digging into your hair as you try and calm yourself down.

“Hey kid I-” Logan’s cut off by the TV exploding next to him.

“Fuck!” Logan hisses as the parts of the screen dig into his skin.

“I’m sorry I’m sorry I didn’t mean it.” You cry.

Logan reaches out but the sight of his claws send you deeper into your spiral. With your right hand you push him into the wall and run.

You hear him shouting but you keep running. Grabbing a jacket from one of the lockers you hurry into the elevator, putting it around you and hoping it covers some of your robotic body. When the doors open you leap out of sight, maneuvering your way through the halls as you hear the sound of children laughing and footsteps getting too close. You can’t think straight, you want to leave. You don’t want to be here anymore, you just want to go home.

What even was home? Did you have one? Did you have a family? You see a group of kids approaching your hiding spot and you bolt. You see a large open door and throw it open, slamming it shut and leaning against it. Closing your eyes you try to focus on your breathing. Your lungs had been replaced too, with each breath you hear the turning of the gears and the squeaking of the air pump.

“I may owe you an apology my dear, perhaps Logan was not the right person to leave you with.” You open your eyes to see Charles at this desk. Fuck the room you went into was his office.

“You think?” You bite back, though you feel yourself a little more relaxed around this man. He chuckles and beckons you over to sit.

“I apologize. You see, you and Logan share more than you may think.” You raise an eyebrow but don’t say anything about it.

“He thinks I’m a threat.” You close the jacket tighter around you. Charles stares at you and you feel something off in your head.

“Please don’t read my mind.” You mumble, trying to shut him out. To his surprise you do.

“I’m sorry, your thoughts are just very loud.” From Hank's scans Charles had discovered that your body was an odd mix of human and machine.

Your heart and lungs had been replaced but your brain remained intact. The neurons that controlled your bodily movements had been expertly attached and morphed with the wires that ran through the right side, the robotic side. Your thoughts were loud and clear that even if he tried not to he could still read them.

The conclusion?

You were not an immediate threat, but you could pose danger if you were to give in to your machine side. You carried the capacity for both great good and great evil. Your humanity was out of touch which is exactly what Crane wanted. The doors to his office slam open to reveal a pissed off Logan. He breathes a sigh of relief when he sees you sitting there, for a moment you swear you saw his eyes. turn soft. But you blink and the softness is gone. Replaced by complete apathy.

“Look, I appreciate the rescue but I think it’s best if I leave.” You say while looking at Logan.

“If you want to leave, I will not stop you. But I believe you would do well here. This is a place to learn how to operate your new self safely. We’ll protect you, take care of you.” Charles offers.

The truth is he wants to keep you here so they can guide you to the right path. The fear is radiating off of you. He doesn’t have to be a mind reader to know that you’re afraid of becoming exactly what they wanted you to be. There’s one question swimming around in your mind, projecting itself to everyone who looks at you.

Are you human? Or are you a weapon? Can those people have truly stripped away your humanity, by taking your heart, your blood, your limbs?

If they were to find you again they could finish what they started. But if Charles could keep you here, he can help you find your humanity again, help you become yourself.

“I know what you fear and we can help. I promise.” Charles whispers.

“It might be too late.” You whisper back. Staring at your hands once again, watching yourself in the reflection of your metal hand.

“Nonsense my dear, you’re not the first person who’s come here with a past like yours.” Charles says while looking at Logan.

Logan shifts on his feet, there is guilt for sending you into panic but he doesn’t trust you fully yet. But if Charles does, he’ll at least stay out of your way.

“Give us a month, a month to guide you, to help you and I promise the team will do everything in our power to find the people who did this.” You think for a moment.

There’s so much of your life missing and there’s a desperate need to know growing inside of you. If he’s telling the truth, if he can really help you. Then you don’t have a choice.

“Deal.” Charles smiles and places a hand atop your metal one.

“Welcome to the X-Men.”

#logan howlett #logan howlett x reader #logan howlett angst #logan howlett x cyborg!reader #wolverine x reader

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glowettee · 4 months ago

Text

analyzing what went wrong (like actually wrong) - part 2/5 🎀

1st post

posted by: glowettee

hey study besties! ♡ mindy here!!!!!

welcome back to my little grade recovery series! now that we've processed our feelings and dried our tears, it's time to put on our detective hats (make it pink, obviously) and figure out exactly what happened. this is where we get super real but super helpful!

♡ the pre-test investigation

let's look at everything that happened before the test/assignment:

study method audit:

were you just reading and highlighting? (spoiler: that's not actually studying)

did you try to memorize instead of understand? (guilty of this in my first year)

were you doing practice problems or just looking at them?

did you create your own study materials or just rely on reading?

i learned this the hard way - highlighting things in pretty colors isn't the same as actually learning them. what helped me was creating my own practice questions and pretending i was teaching the material to my stuffed animals (don't judge, it works!).

♡ the time management tea (sorry for these weird titles, lol <3)

be brutally honest about your study timeline:

last-minute cramming or consistent studying?

how many actual focused study hours? (scrolling through #studytok doesn't count)

did you have a study schedule?

were you taking proper breaks?

i started tracking my actual study time using a cute timer app and realized i was only doing about 20 minutes of real studying in what i thought was a "2-hour study session." yikes!

♡ the environment check

your study space matters so much:

where were you studying? (your bed doesn't count, bestie)

how was the lighting? (dim lighting = sleepy brain)

what distractions were around?

did you have all your materials organized?

i created a dedicated study space with good lighting, my favorite scented candle, and zero phone access. it literally changed everything.

♡ the content breakdown

this is where we get super specific:

which topics gave you trouble?

what patterns do you see in wrong answers?

were there specific types of questions you missed?

did you understand the basics before moving to complex stuff?

(IMPORTANT) make a chart (make it cute but functional) listing every topic and rate your understanding from 1-5. this becomes your study guide!

♡ the test-taking trauma

let's analyze the actual test experience:

did you read all instructions carefully?

how was your time management?

did anxiety take over?

were you physically prepared? (proper sleep, food, etc.)

i started doing mock tests under real conditions and found out i was spending way too much time on early questions and rushing through the rest.

♡ the resource reality check

what help did you actually use?:

did you go to office hours? (they're literally free tutoring)

did you use study groups effectively?

were you using all available resources?

did you ask for help when needed?

confession: i used to skip office hours because they scared me. now they're my literal secret weapon for acing classes.

♡ creating your analysis document

grab your favorite notebook or digital doc and create these sections:

concept confusion list

study technique evaluation

time management analysis

resource gaps

test-taking troubles

improvement ideas

♡ the action plan prep

based on your analysis, start thinking about:

which study methods you'll keep/change

what new resources you'll use

how you'll manage time differently

what help you need to seek out

how you'll prepare differently next time

this analysis isn't about beating yourself up - it's about creating the perfect strategy for your comeback. think of it like analyzing why your skincare routine isn't working - once you know what's wrong, you can fix it!

xoxo, mindy 🎀

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cherryfyre · 5 months ago

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Speed Dating, Figure Eight Style

The sun dipped low over Figure Eight, casting a golden hue over the sprawling lawn of the Cameron estate. The event—hosted by one of the Kooks’ most prominent families—was as absurdly extravagant as you’d expect: a speed-dating competition, Kook-style. The twist? It wasn’t just awkward small talk. Participants would be paired up at random and forced to complete a series of ridiculous couple’s challenges. The grand prize? Bragging rights, free dinner at The Pearl, and a bottle of Dom Pérignon.

Martini!Reader had no idea why she was here. Technically, she wasn’t even supposed to be. But Pope and JJ thought it would be hilarious to infiltrate the event. While they snuck into the catering tent to swipe hors d’oeuvres, you were left to fend for yourself in a sea of Kooks, feeling every bit the fish out of water.

That’s when you saw him: Rafe Cameron, standing by the check-in table, radiating smug entitlement in his crisp white polo and tailored khakis. His sharp jawline tightened when his eyes landed on you.

“Great,” he muttered, running a hand through his perfectly-coiffed hair.

“Trust me, I’m not thrilled either,” you shot back, folding your arms.

It turned out, through some cruel twist of fate—or maybe just Kelce’s bad handwriting—you and Rafe had been paired together.

“Let’s make one thing clear,” he said, stepping closer. His cologne was annoyingly intoxicating. “I’m only doing this to win. Don’t get in my way.”

“Likewise,” you snapped, squaring your shoulders. “Try not to screw it up.”

The First Challenge: “Newlywed Trivia”

The first event was a rapid-fire trivia game where couples had to answer questions about each other, despite having just met.

“Alright, Cameron,” you said, grabbing a clipboard. “Let’s make this quick. Favorite color?”

“Blue. Yours?”

“Green,” you lied, just to make it harder.

The game began, and to your frustration, Rafe was ridiculously good at guessing. He nailed your fake favorite color, guessed your favorite season (“Summer. You look like the type who likes sunburns”), and even got your dream vacation right (“Italy? That’s so basic.”).

Meanwhile, you struggled to read him.

“Favorite hobby?” you asked, scribbling.

“Winning,” he said, smirking.

“God, you’re insufferable.”

“And yet, you’re stuck with me.”

Despite the bickering, you somehow scored the highest points, advancing to the next round.

The Second Challenge: “Obstacle Course”

The obstacle course was set up along the Cameron property, complete with water balloons, rope swings, and a three-legged race section.

“Try to keep up,” Rafe said as the whistle blew.

“Oh, please. Don’t trip over your ego,” you shot back.

It was chaotic from the start. Rafe was fast—annoyingly so—but you were nimble, darting under ropes and dodging water balloons like a pro. When it came time for the three-legged race, things got… complicated.

“Stop pulling!” you yelled, nearly falling as Rafe’s long legs dragged you forward.

“Stop being slow!”

By some miracle (and a lot of yelling), you crossed the finish line first, collapsing into the grass, breathing hard.

“Not bad, Pogue,” Rafe admitted grudgingly, offering you a hand.

“Not bad yourself… for a Kook,” you replied, taking it.

The Final Challenge: “Trust Falls”

The last challenge was designed to test trust. One partner would be blindfolded and guided through a maze by the other.

“You trust me?” Rafe asked, tying the blindfold over your eyes.

“About as far as I can throw you,” you muttered.

“Cute. Let’s go.”

Surprisingly, Rafe’s guidance was steady, his voice calm as he navigated you through the maze. “Left. No, your other left. Watch the step. There you go.”

When you finally reached the end and removed the blindfold, you were face-to-face with Rafe, his smirk replaced with something softer.

“Not bad,” you said, brushing off your hands.

“You weren’t completely useless either,” he replied, a ghost of a smile tugging at his lips.

By the end of the event, you and Rafe had somehow managed to win, much to everyone’s shock—and your own. The cheers and applause were almost drowned out by your mutual bickering as you accepted the prize.

“This doesn’t mean I like you,” you said, clutching the Dom Pérignon.

“Good,” Rafe replied, leaning in closer. “Because I definitely still don’t like you.”

But the way his eyes lingered on yours told a different story….

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raavenb2619 · 5 months ago

Note

Can you talk more about aromanticism in Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep :o But yeah as someone who read the book before watching the movie, I thought it was weird they didn't include how animals were super important in the world as a sign of empathy and showing empathy was a status symbol.

Yes, I would love to talk more about this! I have a bunch of incomplete thoughts rattling around in my brain about Blade Runner and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, including about the interesting parts of the book that were cut, like Mercerism, the importance of animals, the empathy boxes, the emotion dialing machines, the spider scene, the other police department, the use and non-use of the empathy test, the fact that multiple androids can share the same face, and the narrative/story treatment of Rachel. I'd like to organize and share my thoughts with other people, but first: I need to watch Blade Runner 2049 because I've heard it's got things for me to analyze, compare, and contrast with the original film and the novel; then I need to decide how many versions of the original film I need to watch and analyze (so far I've only seen The Final Cut, which seems to be the version most people like and recommend, but I think that having Deckard narrate sections could change the worldbuilding and potentially add roboticism that I felt was lacking in The Final Cut); then I probably need to spend some time piecing my ideas together into something coherent that other people can read and understand, but then I'd love to publish my thoughts (probably as an essay on Wordpress, though maybe something a bit more informal) and let people read it and have a conversation about it.

How long will that take? I don't really know. My Frozen essay took four months; DADoES + BR + BR 2049 might take longer because there's more material to analyze. But by asking for my thoughts, you've somehow given me the motivation and inspiration to actually write something about this. (So, thank you for that :).) I'd also like to try to share some of my progress, thoughts, realizations, and questions as they happen on Tumblr, because I'm interested in doing media analysis with other people (and because that might reduce the risk of me losing motivation while working on this), so I may end up rebranding my blog a bit at some point.

Here are some other media analysis/writing things that I'd like to do some day. It turns out that other people asking what my thoughts are on a thing is a really good motivator for me to write down what my thoughts are on a thing, so if anyone wants to encourage me to write an essay or blog post about any parts of any of the following topics, feel free to send me an ask:

Wicked (the musical). One angle I'd like to explore is looking at the musical through an aromantic lens, and reading Elphaba as alloaro/alloaro-aligned. I might broaden the scope to look at other Wizard-of-Oz media, and maybe also aro-aligned villains and aro-aligned anti-heros in media, but maybe that would be better served as a series of essays/blog posts and not an essay so long it should be a book. There's also so much musical/motivic analysis I need to do of Wicked, it has so much depth and I still find more things when I relisten to the music.

The portrayal of robots in fiction. One angle I'd like to explore is, "why are robots and aromanticism linked?" And I'm not happy with the shallow answer of "robots don't have emotions and people think aromantic means you don't have emotions"; I want to actually know "why are robots and aromanticism linked? How did the portrayal of robots evolve for there to be a link? Was that inevitable, or could robots have turned out differently so that they weren't liked to aromanticism? What does the linking of robots and aromanticism say about society and fictional depictions of humanity and lack thereof?" I also need to rewatch and actually finish Battlestar Galactica, though I think that might be more interesting through an ace lens than an aro lens.

Isaac Asimov's fiction and related works. I've been reading a lot of his fiction in publishing order in part because of my interest in the origin of robots and aromanticism, but there's definitely interesting things to be said about his novels and short stories, and also the Foundation TV series, such as how they treat love. (I also want an excuse to rewatch all the episodes just to answer nerdy music theory questions about Demerzel and does she have two musical motifs and why is one very legato and lilting and the other is staccato and halting and is that representing an inner struggle between her humanity and her roboticism?)

An analysis of @kernsing's aromantic sonnet #1 (this is still on my todo list, I got busy but didn't forget, but I have Things to say and I want to Find even More Things to say about this poem)

"Why Beauty and the Beast (1991) is fundamentally arophobic and can't be fixed." Okay, I haven't thought about this in a while so it's possible my perspective has changed and I'll find a way that the story could be changed to not be arophobic, but I know that the conclusion I came to a while ago was that the story structure itself was fundamentally problematic and that changing it enough to make it no longer be arophobic would require changing the story structure so much that it would be a fundamentally different story. This would not exactly be a fun essay to read or write, because I can't imagine many people enjoy someone digging into why a movie so many people love is arophobic to its core, but I'd still like to do it, some day.

Is "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas" a distant relative of "Beauty and the Beast"? (I mean the story structure, not genetics/family trees.)

An analysis of Walt Disney Animation Studios films over the years. After my Frozen essay I spent like a month watching almost every Walt Disney Animation Studios film and tracking how the films treated a bunch of different aspects (e.g. sex, romance, marriage, third wheel, kissing, jealousy, love, true love, meet-cutes, queerness, gender, sexism, transmisogyny, homophobia, multiple concrete aspects of amatonormativity, queercoding). But I never really tabulated or aggregated my notes.

The discarded best friend trope (this is an arophobic trope I noticed and came up with a name for), and some examples and subversions of it.

Why does High School Musical (and HSM 2 and HSM 3) lack romantic love songs despite being a loose retelling of Romeo and Juliet that allegedly preserves the central romance? What are the queer things that can be found in the movies? What would I do if I could remake it as a multi-season TV show that was overflowing with explicit queerness that touched on things that weren't shown in the movies? Can I be normal about Kelsi? (I absolutely can't)

Why does Heartstopper (the TV show) make me read Tao as aro all the time?

Fairy tales! What is a fairy tale? Fairy tales through an aro lens! Do fairy tales have a distinct musical sound/style/identity? Has the musical sound of fairy tales changed over time?

Why do stories typically have room for a heroic love interest, but not a villainous love interest? (I'm not happy with the shallow answer of "because of amatonormativity/arophobia". I want to know, why are stories like this? Does it have to do with the structure and pacing of stories? How do pure narrative reasons interact with societal forces and expectations?)

"Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games has always felt aspec to me, and here's why." The last time I read through the trilogy, I felt she came across as demi I think? It might be interesting to compare the books to the movies and look at what and how the adaptation changes, especially with regards to romance, relationships, and aspec coding.

Something about how you can have in depth discussions about aspec politics without using aspec terminology, and maybe using too much aspec terminology makes conversations in the aspec community less accessible to new aspecs as well as well-meaning and open-minded allos who would be better allies to us if they could more easily understand what we talk about. When it comes to things like amatonormativity and allonormativity and the societal norms and issues we face, the more people who understand us and agree with us, the easier it'll be to shift society to be better for aspecs. So, sometimes it makes sense to try to talk about complicated, in-depth aspec issues using as little specialized terminology as possible.

Something something aro Celeste. A while ago a friend joked that I should do an aro analysis of Celeste, and then I started actually thinking about it and saying words and they realized they'd made a mistake, but I never wrote down any of the thoughts I had. Just brainstorming here, but there's probably something I could say about Crystal Hearts as collectibles that gate access to more difficult content and have three different art styles depending on where they appear and how they push you away unless you dash into them and break them and how you can die after collecting a Crystal Heart, Madeline's ex, Madeline and Theo's friendship and Grannie and Theo's grandfather's friendship, Madeline and Badeline's story arc through a "Show Yourself"-like aro lens, and Theo's instagram photos of Madeline doing archery. (This essay would be more on the silly side of things, basically proving that given enough disparate pieces in media I can cobble them together with thumbtacks and red string to make shapes that don't exist. And yes, I came up with the brainstorming list in about 5 minutes off the cuff while writing this bullet point)

An aro reading of Homestuck. I would need to finish Homestuck first, and I'm going to start from the beginning at...some point. I remember really liking and getting excited by the "troll QPRs", and I'm probably going to get nerd-sniped by trying to build my own understanding of how leprechaun romance can make sense. (Yes, I know this might be another thumbtacks and red string essay. No spoilers please)

Something about Gravity Falls, The Owl House, She-Ra, Steven Universe, or other similar TV shows?

Tron and Tron: Legacy? Idk I rewatched them semi recently, and expected to dislike the sequel because I had been listening to the album totally wrong. But then I disliked the original and liked the sequel a lot. There's potentially a music theory lens here, but I'm not sure if there's a queer lens here. But that's okay, maybe someone will suggest one, or maybe I'll just write up my thoughts even though there isn't any queerness to speak of, because my media analysis doesn't always have to be through a queer lens.

Something else that I haven't listed here because I don't have an actual list of things anywhere and I've probably forgotten multiple things?

Something I haven't thought of? If you want to know my thoughts on something or want me to analyze something, feel free to send an ask or a reblog or something. No promises I'll answer in a timely fashion (or ever), but I might

#... this was supposed to be a short answer.#anyways i've been wanting to sort-of rebrand my blog for a bit and more frequent casual posting about media analysis seems appealing to me.#so thank you for the ask and motivation to want to write things.#feel free to treat this list as a menu and order off of it; just be aware that your order may arrive in four-to-never months lol.#aro #aromantic #media analysis #queer #lgbtq #original #ask #unpolished media analysis

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mono-dot-jpeg · 9 months ago

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the witch's diner [w.i.p] - a. azul

summary; in which a new witch comes to nrc, ready to take over the restaurant business

genre; rivals to lovers (probably), witch is used as a gender neutral word, reader is a piranha mer-person (i think at least), magicless! reader, reader is not yuu (i hope that much is obvious), written at least a year ago, and now impulse posted bc i want to, possible series if im feeling silly, READER'S PERSONALITY IS [slightly] INSPIRED BY KDRAMA WITCH'S DINER

[gender neutral reader] [TEST RUN PREVIEW]

a/n; this has been sitting in my google docs for a while and never posted bc i just do that and also i never post even half of my drafts so that's just a given really. if i find it in myself to continue this maybe i will. but i wanted to post this as like a test run or a wip.

you dont need to watch witch's diner to understand reader's story but i like the show so if you have time, watch it. i love song ji hyo sm. anyways i dont know what kind of fish i made reader, this was written in like sept of last year KSHSKDJEK it was probably between a shark or a piranha but im like 60% sure it's a piranha.

imagine azul's surprise when he found out about the latest witch of the sea.

how they made the most delicious of dishes and granted a wish with them. were they free of charge? no, that would put far too much weight on the balance of the world, they would explain.

then what about it being a signature spell?

they would simply laugh in their face, claiming that, "not anyone can simply be born with magic so powerful. why, i'm magicless."

no one really believed those claims… right?

it was such a big title to steal, and yet.. some random magicless person just happened to have such a power? azul didn't believe it when he heard about it at first, but then they arrived.

clearly they were of mer-person descent, their skin shiny, their teeth almost as sharp as a piranha, the side locks of their hair were a metallic-like blue gray and their height almost as tall as the twins that stand beside him. he can't quite figure out what kind of mer-person they were, but it was obvious enough that they were from his homeland. and then he heard the whispers from the other first years.

"wait! that's the person all the rumors were talking about!"

"what? the sea witch rumor!?"

"no way! they wouldn't be here, they're magicless, aren't they?"

"is it really them?"

"shh! we don't know yet!"

with a calm smile, they stand in front of the mirror.

"state thy name."

"y/n l/n."

"y/n, the nature of thy soul is sharp and intelligent and yet.. they possess no magic." quiet gasps and whispers erupt again but their smile stays calm, there's a smug glint in their eyes that only a few can see. "the shape of thy soul is octavinelle." the section of the octavinelle students freezes cold as they take their spot in their respective section.

they ignore the curious stares with ease. azul can't help but wonder what kind of talent they truly possess. he almost feels envious if he were to find out that they were just handed this with ease. and he was jealous of their lack of care for the gossip and whispers of their name after that announcement of their magicless self.

but a pair of twins watch them with sharp and amused eyes, one more mischievous than the other.

"hm, what an interesting fishy! don't you think so, jade?" one speaks.

the other hums in agreement, "yes, floyd. i wonder if those rumors were of any truth. how amusing that would be."

#twst azul #twst wonderland #disney twst #twst x reader #twisted wonderland azul #azul ashengrotto x reader #azul x reader #twst azul x reader #twisted wonderland #twisted wonderland x reader #twisted wonderland azul x reader #twst floyd #twst jade #floyd leech x reader #jade leech x reader

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ilminnestrone · 12 days ago

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The Vampire Chronicles AU (Part 1)

This concept had lived rent free in my head since @sassywastelandtimemachine influenced me into starting reading the series. The Vampire Lestat could as well be titled The SOLDIER Genesis, and Queen of the Damned really sold the Jenova-Akasha parallel to me.

Both Lestat and Genesis have a thing for depressed boyfriends (Nicki/Louis and Angeal) who are basically catholic guilt incarnated... and theater, of course. They are both rockstars. The both want to meet their "Goddess". They both want to become the best of all. They both want the blood of a powerful being to become stronger. They both are sassy motherfuckers who offer unwelcomed revelations.

I wanted to write a snippet from this AU for GenGeal Week, but first I needed to flesh out a guide for those who are not versed if VC's lore to better navigate it, so here it is!

Origin

The Calamity from the Sky is a sentient virus unleashed on Gaia by an unspecified alien race as part of a plan to annihilate all advanced life. It transforms infected hosts into cannibalistic puppets, thereby propagating the contagion and consigning its victims to a protracted, agonizing death.

By the time Jenova ascended the throne as the benevolent Queen of the Cetra, the virus had already spawned a cult dedicated to ritual cannibalism. In a desperate bid to halt the plague, she waged a relentless war against the cultists. She ultimately captured their Priestess, only to be betrayed by her own guards—secretly infected—and slain.

The Calamity then claimed Jenova’s dying body as its host, fusing with her blood-spilled corpse to create the first known vampire. Jenova became a being of immense power—functionally immortal, invulnerable, and capable of transforming any creature into a bloodthirsty monster. From her enhanced mind, unseen tendrils of telepathy reached out to her children and their descendants, forging a vast psychic network.

In a final, desperate stand, the Cetra managed to slaughter all of the newborn vampires but could not destroy Jenova herself. Instead, they sealed her in stone, vowing that each new generation would guard her starved, dormant form.

But the Age of Men came; the Cetra were decimated, and Jenova’s tomb faded into legend—until 1977.

In early 1977, an expedition led by Professor Gast Faremis, Chief of Shinra Scientific Department, located an extremely well preserved Cetran construction in the freezing region of the North Crater, once believed to never be inhabited.

The operation revealed it to be the tomb of the ancient Queen Jenova, one of the better known rulers among the Cetra. Her body was finally excavated on the 7th of July of the same year, and was impressively preserved, giving Gast unrevealed insight on Cetran anatomy.

The operational base was set in Nibelheim.

Jenova Project

The aim of the Jenova Project was to recreate a living Cetra using Jenova’s blood.

During Phase One (named Project G), overseen by Professor David Hollander, two different approaches were tested.

The first volunteer couple consisted of Professor Gast and his assistant. The gametes (the egg was donated by Doctor Gillian O’Hara) were treated with Jenova’s blood prior to conception. The assistant got pregnant, but rapidly became aggressive, fell ill, and eventually died before delivery. The baby was extracted via C-section in July 1978. Although premature, the infant was anemic and photophobic but otherwise healthy — and entirely human. He was named Genesis and adopted by a wealthy family: the Rhapsodos.

The second volunteer couple were Doctor Gillian O’Hara and Professor David Hollander themselves. Unlike her counterpart, Doctor O’Hara was administered Jenova’s blood throughout her pregnancy, developed no symptoms, and the baby was delivered naturally. Born in October 1978, he was named Angeal. Early blood work revealed traces of non-human traits. Alarmed by the possible implications, O’Hara fled Nibelheim with Angeal.

Shinra quickly located her and agreed not to interfere, on the condition that she reside in a newly built rural settlement intended to monitor Genesis’ health in Mideel — Banora.

Phase Two (known as Project S) took the experiment to the next level: Jenova’s blood was directly injected into the developing fetus, specifically the child of Doctor Lucrecia Crescent and Professor Simon Hojo. Lucrecia developed psychological symptoms similar to those of Genesis’ mother, though without the physical decline, and in late 1979 she successfully gave birth to a healthy boy: Sephiroth. Although genetically the son of Lucrecia and Simon, Sephiroth bore an uncanny resemblance to Jenova herself, with grey eyes and silver hair—traits neither parent possessed.

Hojo soon realized that Jenova was not the Cetra Queen they had believed her to be, but a different specimen altogether. He kept this discovery secret from both Gast and Hollander, and seized the infant, claiming his wife had gone insane as a result of the experiment. Lucrecia attempted to take her own life but found she had become incapable of dying. She left Nibelheim and sealed herself within a nearby cave.

Sephiroth displayed immediate and unmistakable signs of inhumanity: although capable of metabolizing food, he became weak and unstable without monthly transfusions. He was stronger and faster than any child his age. He could survive in sunlight, but was highly sensitive to it, and his natural circadian rhythm was attuned to nocturnal hours.

Secretly, Hojo deemed Project S a success. Sephiroth was not a Cetra—but a perfect human-vampire hybrid.

The Incident

Genesis and Angeal grew up together in Banora and eventually joined Shinra to become members of SOLDIER. They rose quickly through the ranks to First Class and developed a close friendship with Sephiroth.

In the late summer of Year 0000, Genesis challenged Sephiroth to a duel and was wounded. Though the injury seemed minor at first, it failed to heal and continued bleeding to the point that a transfusion became necessary. Angeal volunteered his blood.

Something in Angeal’s blood triggered a sudden change in Genesis’ genetics: Jenova’s characteristics hadn’t been entirely lost, only dormant, and the transfusion was enough to awaken them. After days of agony, Genesis realized that sunlight had become potentially lethal to him, and that he could no longer digest food—he needed blood to survive.

On his next mission in Wutai, he turned most of his troops into vampires and deserted.

To be continued...🩸

#ff7 #ffvii #final fantasy vii #final fantasy 7 #crisis core #genesis rhapsodos #sephiroth #angeal hewley #vampire chronicles #vc #vc au #tw: blood #jenova

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justinspoliticalcorner · 5 days ago

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Emma Roth at The Verge:

Interim DC attorney Ed Martin has written a letter to the Wikimedia Foundation — the organization behind Wikipedia — that calls into question its status as a nonprofit entity. In the letter, which was obtained by The Free Press, Martin claims he found that Wikipedia “is engaging in a series of activities that could violate its obligations” under US law about tax-exempt organizations. Under the law (Section 501(c)(3) of Title 26), tax-exempt organizations must operate “exclusively for religious, charitable, scientific, testing for public safety, literary, or educational purposes.” Martin alleges that Wikipedia is “allowing foreign actors to manipulate information and spread propaganda,” including by “rewriting” historical events and through “other matters implicating the national security and the interests of the United States.” Martin is known for thinly justified legal threats against media organizations. In recent days, Martin has sent letters to the New England Journal of Medicine, the CHEST Journal, and Obstetrics and Gynecology, accusing them of being “partisan in various scientific debates.” Martin asks the Wikimedia Foundation to respond to several questions, such as what it’s doing to “safeguard” the public from propaganda, as well as efforts to exclude “foreign influence operatives from making targeted edits” on topics that would “reshape or rewrite history.” He’s giving the Foundation until May 15th to respond.