#HE was and everything he represented and could’ve been as king died with him

[your-dear-memmy]

Tokyo Ghoul:re ending thoughts +Juuzou meta p. 2 

[Sooo I just finished Tokyo Ghoul:re and I've got quite a lot on my mind abt the last arc bc this series has consumed my brain]

Warning: SPOILERS!!

I've heard plenty of people complain about how rushed it was, and while reading the ending I didn't think it was too huge of an issue, but man do I feel unfulfilled right now. The dragon arc went by so quick that it's like nothing ever happened at all, and most of its emotional weight was lost on me. 

But first of all, I want to talk about the Implications. 

What is up with the Dragon's orphans slowly gaining the intelligence of 5 year olds, and the characters speculating that was how ghouls were born?? what?? how was that just merely mentioned, why was it only glossed over?? My mind EXPLODED at that notion. 

Is there gonna be a new species of ghouls now that will gain the same intelligence as ghouls and humans, while still posing a threat? It became all about changing the world in the end, but it just seemed to really center around Kaneki’s own happy ending, because these implications for the world are astounding. Certainly, what Kaneki truly wanted was to keep his loved ones safe, but what I mean is that the consequences for the world as a whole aren't as positive as they're presented to be.

IT FEELS LIKE EVERYTHING WENT BACK TO THE START!!

Maybe these dragon orphans are supposed to represent a vicious cycle of life and war or whatever, but that wasn't really explained because they're just THERE. It feels like the war was all for nothing because now there's new enemies people are losing their lives for, and are being trained at academies to engage in combat with. Perhaps they're new enemies that kill parents of children that go on to become new-age "investigators" to avenge their families, like it used to be against the entirety of ghoul-kind.

It's obvious not every ghoul would play along so it makes sense there are still some harmful ghouls, but these dragon things gaining intelligence is seriously mind boggling. Wdym that's how ghouls were born?? And yall are exterminating them? Why are they attacking?? 

I feel like my time just got wasted cuz what do you mean these new enemies are getting smarter? Will they reach the iq of a real person soon enough? WHAT DO YOU MEAN they're starting to look more and more like humans? 

Is there gonna be yet another one eyed king to make peace with the dragons, the ghouls and the humans?? Is it necessary for this common enemy to still have to tie them together post-war? 

Why does it sound like a shitty set up for another sequel when we know damn well Ishida never wants to do anything with manga anymore, since he talked about how stressful working on Tokyo Ghoul has been for him? If it was a philosophical choice, then Im afraid I did not understand it, though I’d certainly love to.

That aside, in regards to the ending I have to say I liked the emotional weight of the discussion between Donato and Amon (what was even the point of Takizawa being there?), as Amon finally admitted he still loved his “father” despite his absolute evilness, and Donato actually loved him as well. 

The Uta vs Renji was cool ig though it didn't truly feel like there were any stakes (I can't say I mind them becoming rivals once more but it certainly could’ve been done better, as the clowns have been hyped up for SO LONG…), and I couldn't bring myself to be sad about Irimi and Koma when they were brought back for basically one panel and died the next, even though I really liked them :-(

I was kinda chilling with the Furuta fight, and I guess Furuta wishing in the end to have a normal life was a sign that it truly did all stem from his Washu inferiority, though he remains very weird for wanting to have children with an unwilling Rize. (The Dragon Rize stuff was epic) Overall, Furuta was a cool villain, so it's fine. His opaque motives and his monologue are not too bad at all.

I'm conflicted about Mutsuki’s role in the ending and how they behave after succumbing to and accepting their trauma. Their story is truly tragic and I understand the psychological reasoning as to why they’d latch onto Kaneki and lash out (they also sa’d Uta apparently, believing him to be Haise’s corpse? Uta changed his face shape another time as well, so I do believe that was him), but them suddenly being badass once they remembered their trauma isn't really my cup of tea (which is ironic considering how many times Kaneki himself got “being suddenly badass because of trauma” moments) I liked them and the portrayal of their mental instability in the island arc but afterwards I didn't care much for them.  

Also did I miss something or are Amon and Akira not in the end?? Am I tripping??? Maybe some chapters didn't load because why wouldn't they be there? I'm so confused. Amon and Akira have def been in my top 5 favorite characters of the entire series, so safe to say I'm very puzzled.

Takizawa fading into obscurity is just so sad that I don't even know what to say, he just came back to watch and then do his thing after he was tortured and sa/d by Kano into being how he is now. Not everyone's gonna get a happy ending, obviously, but damn😭

One of the best parts of :re was most definitely Urie’s character arc- everyone's character arcs, really!

Tsukiyama’s character arc was spread onto the whole series, and tbh I completely dig it, even though the Tsukiyama raid arc probably could’ve been done even better. At first I thought he was gonna groom Hinami, but he turned out to be an actual gentle”-flower-man” lol. I like him!

Arima’s tragedy was so beautifully done, I swear. Def one of my absolute favorite parts, if not my favorite. It lives in my head rent free. 

I literally gasped so hard when it was revealed who Hide had been hiding as the whole time, Ishida's foreshadowing is truly insane. I already knew he was alive, but I was still surprised. He started to feel sm more like a concept rather than another character tho, if that makes sense, haha.

And finally, my son: Juuzou Suzuya .

People were a bit harsh on Juuzou’s ending, I think, though I can definitely understand why!  

I don't think Juuzou understood what Marude really meant about making his own decisions- at least, not at first.

Juuzou is 29/30-ish I think, in the ending?? He's been working so hard all these years, just for Shinohara, to become him as if that's what he wanted from him.  Or so, that's the last we see of of his motives, though that's before the dragon war, so years back.

After the dragon war, his development feels null because it wasn't fully explained: we aren't told whether juuzou reflected on Marude’s words and decided to stick with the new ccg because he wanted to for himself. We aren't told whether Juuzou developed a sense of justice, and that's why he does what he does, or if that's what he thinks his assigned purpose is and he's simply just sticking to it because he thinks that's what shinohara would've wanted, or he simply doesn't know what else to do with himself. We don't know whether he actually embraced his scrapper/slaughterer role (as I said in my other meta) in a healthy manner or if he just stuck with it because that's what he's been all his life and he doesn't know how to be anything else.

We can speculate, but that brings it back to Shinohara. No manner how you look at it, if Juuzou hasn't reflected on himself and his motives after all these years, then meeting Shinohara once more would shatter his expectations, as it wouldn't just be happy tears and such. That's the man he's fought for for so, so long, and it's really hard to think of how their relationship would be. During those years, Juuzou idolized Shinohara a lot in his mind, which is why he initially wanted to be him. He loved Shinohara, and so what Shinohara stood for must've been, by proxy, just. So, if Juuzou hasn't removed himself from his delusion by actually maturing past the point we see him in before the :re time skip, then it's not gonna be as pretty for him because it wouldn't match his built up expectations, and that's why I find it rather bittersweet.

For someone so traumatized, I don't think Juuzou could ever fully recover, as trauma alters the brain; but, for the sake of my sanity, I'll think he chose to keep fighting for himself rather than because that was the role he was put in. I want to believe he's found how to be his own person, and just likes working together with his squad AND also sees Shinohara on a weekly basis. I JUST WANT HIM TO BE HAPPY DAMMIT💔💔

[With that said, I've been scavaging Ao3 and soon fanfic.net for fanfictiona to quench the void in my heart, but there aren't many that are Juuzou centric. I shan't give up just yet, though! Maybe I'll find one that'll make me feel less bittersweet about Juuzou and Shinohara!]

[myths-of-fantasy]

Year of the Rabbit - Ch4, The Champion

When a woman dies and becomes a warrior bunny, only shenanigans can ensue. Or, that time Rimaru got a rabbit bodyguard that immediately declared war on a demon lord.

Chapter Directory | Previous | Next Chapter | Ao3 Link

| | | |

Now, as even Rimuru could’ve clarified, punching a government minister (even if he really deserved it) came with a lot of consequences.

It seemed that Vester had gone crying directly to the the guards when he left the venue and the city knights stormed in a moment later, quickly taking Kaijin into custody and beginning to usher the rest of their group as well. The head hostess accepted Rimuru’s quick payment while offering a towel to Black Bunny to dry the worst of her drenched fur from her. 

“Hey Kaidou,” she’d greeted the guard captain with a little laugh.

“What has my idiot big brother done now?” he’d asked, exasperation in his tone.

“That selfish prick, Vester poured his beer all over me and the host girl I was sitting with,” Black Bunny explained, dapping the towel between her damp ears. 

“And Kaijin flew off the handle,” Kaidou concluded, shaking his head. Despite that, Rimuru noted that he didn’t look angry or even disappointed - if anything, there was an expression of fond amusement in his features. “Typical Kaijin. He’s never taken disrespect towards his patrons and comrades well.”

“Your Lord, the Hero King will see us in two days for the trial,” Black Bunny explained, transitioning to rubbing her cheek. Sirocco came up, sniffing at her damp fur, the wind fox seeming concerned for her state. She reached out, gently patting the vulpine’s cheek in a reassuring manner before redirecting her attention back to the guard captain. “Do you still have my official clothes here?”

The castle cell hadn’t been too bad, a mostly comfortable stay with decent enough food while Black Bunny mumbled over things in the corner. He figured she was using some kind of skill to organize things - it sounded like she would be responsible for representing herself and Kaijin during this trial due to the honorary title of ‘Lady Envoy’ as Dwargon’s primary contact with the Warren. It was a relief to know that he and the others had mostly been detained only because they were involved in the incident, but none of them would be made to speak nor would they be on trial.

The drama was solely between Kaijin, Black Bunny and Vester.

Kaijin for his part seemed beside himself now that the combination of beer and righteous fury had burned out and the reality of his actions sank in. He’d tried to apologize to them multiple times before Black Bunny had finally put her foot down, thanking him for his defense of her and threatened to pay him for it if he didn’t stop. 

Money as a threat? Now I’ve heard everything.

When Black Bunny had prepared all she could, Kaijin had sat them down and explained the grudge Minister Vester had against him.  It seemed that Kaijin had once worked as the head of the Engineer Corps for the Dwargon military with Vester as his second in commander - something that the Viscount born man had disdained from the moment they started working together. Worse, even before the incident spawning their bad-blood the two of them had never gotten along, constantly getting into heated arguments that always ended with major compromise from either side and only once, any form of resounding agreement. It all came to a head when Vester’s ambitions were finally overpowered by his lack of patience.

Kaijin called it ‘the magic armor incident.’

As is typical after a long series of grand creations and accomplishments, the engineering corps finally hit a stagnanting period when it was considered the least prestigious of the seven corps. Kaijin had never been bothered by that - when you created everything, there would eventually be nothing new to create and all they could hope to focus on would be innovation. It was the natural course for genius, to eventually taper off and for others to begin to improve on what had been created. 

Vester had other ideas.

Leading a team of elven engineers, Vester did his very best to pioneer a new line of magic-armor soldiers - golems, Rimuru compared the description to. He was determined for this project to succeed, steadfast that this would push the Engineer Corps to the top of the military pecking order and under the watchful eyes of the king. He butted heads with Kaijin more than ever, the dwarf insisting that he was pushing the project forward too quickly, not performing enough checks, that it wasn’t fit to keep working on but Kaijin’s warnings seemed to only spurn the arrogant man on, incensed by the idea that a lowly commoner was commanding him to do anything.

Finally, Vester pushed too far, too fast and the project couldn’t handle it. 

The spirit’s magical-core went out of control in a very public area, while he was demonstrating its prowess resulting in a large amount of destruction. As the head of the engineering corps, Kaijin had taken the heat for the project’s failure, the social beating only compounded by Vester paying off all of the higher ranked individuals to testify against him.

Backed into an inescapable corner, Kaijin had admitted defeat. He gracefully stepped down from his role and returned to his usual occupation as a blacksmith.

“I try to stay out of his way from here but the bastard just won’t leave me alone,” Kaijin sighed, rubbing his temples. “He holds grudges so tightly, I’m tempted to ask if it’s a Skill.”

Black Bunny snickered.

“Maybe it’s for the best that I left,” he said with a slight sigh. “He might calm down with me gone…”

Not the most ideal situation to be in, forced to leave your beloved home just because of one stubborn man but at least he wouldn’t be alone. The three brothers - the men his potions had saved - were more than willing to follow him from the city, no matter where it is he would go and Black Bunny considered Kaijin a friend whether he could treat her to fancy dinners or not. Although this was all assuming that socking a noble in the nose and shouting at him in public hadn’t triggered some kind of overbearing death penalty.

| | | |

All too soon Rimuru feels, their two days had passed and there they were, standing in court all gathered beneath the imposing aura of the Hero King, Gazel Dwargo.

He was dwarf-like in appear with deep brown skin and a sort of stocky build that revealed a powerful frame even beneath his regalia. His eyes remained closed, black hair pulled back on his head beneath a crown that Rimuru feels should probably be more ostentatious to match the utterly imposing aura that was bearing down on them.

The slime’s entire body was tense as they stopped before him, the dormant instincts that he assumed were natural to slimes that weren’t him kicked in. He intended to bid a hasty retreat if at all necessary but now, standing before the Hero King himself…

Could I escape this monster if I really needed to?  He thought, slightly petrified. 

Suddenly, he was even more relieved that he wouldn’t be one of the ones speaking today.

“We will now begin the trial! Everyone, silence!”

For the next hour, both sides presented their sides of the story. As the accused and a commoner, Kaijin remained silent the entire time - once a case had started, only those with the rank of Earl or higher were allowed to speak. If anyone else wanted to make a point, they would have to ask the King’s permission or be addressed directly - if they didn’t, it was an automatic judgement of guilt or contempt of court. 

“And so there he was my liege.”  voiced Vester’s representative. The minister in question had really dressed up for the trial - not in a fashion sense either, but rather he’d adorned himself with an arm sling and placed a few additional bandages across his face. Really playing up the victim angle there huh. “Sitting in the back of this club enjoying an alcoholic beverage when this gang pushed its way to the front and exposed him to violence. This is not the kind of behavior that should be forgiven!”

“Is this true?” the hero king asked, his baritone voice sending shivers across Rimuru’s body.

“Not in the slight Hero-King,” Black Bunny declared firmly. Rimuru hadn’t thought about the implications of her status as Lady-Envoy until she was standing upon a pair of thoughtfully stacked boxes with Kaijin right behind her. It seemed that in the interest of avoiding situations where diplomats would be unlawfully prosecuted, thus putting the relationship between nations in danger, Dwargon granted all envoys a rank equal to Earl  so that they may accurately speak upon their own actions. As it was, the little rabbit had dressed herself up for the occasion, wearing a spiffy blue suite top paired with a white undershirt and blue bow-tie beneath her chin. The coat coat draped down to her bare hips, seemingly left uncovered for comfort reasons as the bunny stood professionally in the court.

“Quite the contrary, it was Master Kaijin and I who were seated off to the side with our own companions enjoying a celebratory drink for an accomplished job when Minister Vester intruded upon us making more commentary about my presence. When I tactfully warned him, he grew enraged and poured his drink on me and Master Kaijin retaliated in my defense.”

“Do you have any proof of that?” the other representative asked condescendingly.

She immediately produced a pair of papers from her side-bag, bouncing forward to the man who seemed responsible for handing things to the King.

“I have two written statements from the manager of the Butterflies of the Night and the host girl who also had beer poured on her.”

The Minster’s representative seemed stunned and Rimuru regretted not having a smirk to hide - Black Bunny had predicted that Vester’s representatives would try to pay the manager and elf-girl off the same way he’d paid off te higher ranks to frame Kaijin. She was even more certain that it would happen when they saw who would’ve been representing Kaijin if she hadn’t been around, explaining to them that was often seen tagging along with Vester. And so, asked them both to write up their own reports of what happened and deliver them to Kaidou.

You’re not bribing your way out of this one!

There was a shift in pressure as the Hero King opened one eyes, gaze locked on Vester’s suddenly nervous representative before migrating to Black Bunny.

“Lady-Envoy,” he addressed Black Bunny eventually, receiving a bow of acknowledgement. “These reports state that your warning involved the relationship between Dwargon and the FIeld Warren.”

“That is correct Hero King.”

“And was this stance backed by the Warren Lord?”

“My Commander says it so Hero-King,” Black Bunny ascertains. “Despite our positive relationship with the artisans and your permission for our presence in your noble city, nobility such as Minister Vester continue to belittle and scorn us while taking pride in our exports. This incident was not the first time that I have been harassed by nobility Hero King, and as I am easily the calmest mind among our ranks, the Warren Lord Riser is contemplating rescinding out deal and operating elsewhere.”

The silence was practically suffocating at this point and Rimuru was sure that if he has a throat, it would’ve begun closing up in fear of the heavy energy suddenly bearing down on them when the Hero King opened his other eye and sat up fully to glower down at the Minister. An understandable reaction given the benefits they received from the Field Warren’s consistent and cheap shipments of produce alongside their regular procural of magical ore as they lived in such a magically active area. It wouldn’t cripple Dwargon who had many other allies but it would certainly make them stagger - the worse part of this however was Black Bunny’s implications that they may begin testing the waters for other deals. If the Warren found one, they would be offering a great amount of power to an entity they likely wouldn’t have needed to if not for this incident. 

He hums - or growls, with out displeased it sounds - before slowing turning his attention to the dwarf in the center of it.

“Kaijin, it has been a while. Do you remain in good health?”

“Yes my liege,” Kaijin responded quickly, offering a bow of his own. “And it gladdens me that you remain so as well!”

“Mmm…” hummed Gazel, staring down at him. “Kaijin, do you or your comrades have any desire to return to us?”

The court murmured lowly, looking around and even the three brothers straightened up curiously. It seemed that this wasn’t usual for the court. Kaijin himself seemed slightly taken aback before he processed the question.

“I beg your forgiveness my liege but I have already found a new master to serve,” the blacksmith said solemnly, straightening up with the confidence and pride that suited him far better than the grieving self-pity he’d been stuck in for the last couple of days. “I have made my vow and it has become my treasure, one so precious that even a direct order from my liege couldn’t make me abandon it.”

A bold thing to say in a court so full of fondness for their King, the guards near the edge staring him down furiously though Rimuru supposes they were unwilling to act if their king didn't give them permission. 

“I see…” the Hero King said, his eyes slipping shut once more, seemingly in thought. Silenced reigned through the court for a moment long before he began to speak once more, “I have made my decision! Kaijin is guilty of assaulting Minister Vester and he will as such be exiled for ten years - for those ten years, he will not be welcome on my land. That is all - begone at once. Minister Vester, I wish to have a word with you.”

There is no clack of a gavel, nor a roar of outrage but the sensation of dismissal remained the same altogether.

| | | |

They’d spent about a week in the Armed Nation of Dwargon, Black Bunny being swept away that evening for some kind of emergency conversation and returning in the late evening of their final day.

Black Bunny had changed into what she claimed was her usual outfit of simple footwraps, leather sandals and a soft, forest green tunic while carrying her folded clothes. She looked kind of like a rabbit robin-hood, really all she was missing was a a quiver slung across her back and a bow at her hip. She didn’t say much about what the conversation was about, merely taking out a paper to begin writing out a report and stating that it was ‘a long overdue talk.’

Well whatever. It wasn’t Rimuru’s business.

He’d gotten to visit the Butterflies of the Night one last time while Black Bunny was busy in her meeting while Kaijin and the others packed up their things to leave. He apologized for the trouble they’d caused and got one more blessed elf cuddle for him to carry with him on the journey back to the village. They’d even granted him a little bottle of beer to take with him as a gift - which was great! That meant he could totally come back! He didn’t want to rub it in Kaijin’s face though while he was temporarily exiled, so he’d have to sneak his way back to the elves.

He turned his head to give Kaijin the illusion of privacy as he hugged Kaidou tightly, bidding his brother goodbye for looming decade ahead. Just because dwarves tended to live for a long time didn’t mean that ten years wasn’t still a long time to be separated from your family.

After a quick chat with Ranga (and some tactful use of Mimic to stop a conflict from boiling over), they set off again at a quick pace although they wouldn’t be heading directly to the goblin village - no, there was still a stop they had to make.

“There,” Black Bunny called, gesturing to what seemed to be a random hill in the grass. Well, Rimuru couldn’t judge - even back on Earth, rabbit burrows were designed to go unnoticed. “Please wait for me.”

The small bunny slipped from Sirocco’s back, bouncing over to the burrow where the large imposing figure she identified as her commander was already rising from the den. 

“Sir!” she called out brightly, opening her mouth to continue speaking only to freeze when another figure emerged from the den. It was taller than even the commander, more along the lines of a properly human height of three feet than the now tiny form of Black Bunny at his feet. He was wearing a tunic as well, this time matching the bandanna that had been tied around Sirocco’s neck, deep purple in color with a brilliant white lily shape imprinted in the center of it. His legs were long and powerful looking, adorned with simple sandals and his ears were long and pointed, standing fully alert at the top of his head more like a jackrabbit than a bunny.

The Warren Lord, Rimuru realized.

“M-my Lord,” Black Bunny stammered, quickly bowing deeply in response to such a high ranking officer. “I didn’t know you were visiting our sector.”

“Your commander has told me great things about you,” the massive rabbit said, leaning on the tall staff he’d brought with him. “I heard you ventured to Dwargon again. Do you have a report?”

“Yes sir,” she agreed, fishing out and immediately presenting the paper she’d written out to him to take. 

The Warren Lord accepted the paper, unrolling it while his eyes scanned the lines written on the paper. They remained silent for a moment, only the sound of the paper rustling as he turned the page to finish the reading. After a moment the probably-a-hare released a snort from his nose and folded it up delicately, tucking into the little utility belt that was mostly obscured by his tunic.

“...a form a apology will be arriving someday soon from Dwargon from the actions of their noble class,” Warren Lord Riser noted. “It seems you’ve also re-negotiated more favorable terms for us in regards to our food shipments. It seems you’ve exceeded expectations again Black Bunny, it is an honor to have you in my ranks.”

Black Bunny released an embarrassed squeak, rubbing her cheek shyly even as she bowed a bit lower.

“Thank you sir. I aim to achieve only the best for our people.”

“Mm…” said the warren Lord, looking her over with a slight smirk. “I wish everyone was as respectful as you. It’s going to be quite the adjustment now that you’ll be leaving.”

Black Bunny’s head snapped up while Rimuru reeled. Wait, leaving? Was she being punished for such a good deal?! He almost had half-a-mind to break in and insist that she deserved better when the memory of the conversation she’d first had with Kaijin came back to mind. 

Was this….?

“Sir?” Black Bunny breathed with awe.

“You’ve been a tremendous asset to our ranks Black Bunny,” Lord Riser explained. “Almost too much of an asset - you’ve been so competent with your work, raising the stakes of our warren that the other soldiers of your unit have become to lazy, too convinced that you will pick up the slack. That’s not unfair on you, but it lowers our ability to defend ourselves.”

He reached out, placing a single brown paw on the top of her head, right between her ears like he was attempting to impart magical wisdom into her head. 

“It would be a waste of your potential to keep you tethered to us,”  he said frankly. “So, Solider Black Bunny, as your Lord and Ruler, I hereby release you from your binds to the Warren to pursue your own goals and achieve your own strength.”

Black Bunny trembled beneath his paw with amazement, slowly rising to her feet to stand among her former Commander and Lord.

I almost feel like I’m watching a knighting, Rimuru pondered. He almost wished he had the same kind of hammerspace that Black Bunny did, so he could whip out some snacks to watch this. He wasn’t sure if this world had popcorn yet, he hadn’t seen any but even if he couldn’t taste them, some blueberries wouldn’t be too out of place.

“Ordinarily this would be where I grant you a Name, so you could enter the world with honor,” the Warren Lord sighed. “But… there’s a great potential in you Black Bunny, potential I don’t want to limit by being the one to give you a Name. I’m sure that there will be many more suitable beings out there that could grant you a name more fitting of your status.”

“I understand my Lord.”

“None of that,” Lord Riser chided with a chuckle. “You’re your own rabbit now Black Bunny, make it count.”

She gave a little laugh of disbelief, turning her attention to her Commander who was standing proudly standing beside the Lord. He offered her an amused grin of his own, patting her shoulder firmly.

“I always saw something special in you,” he said proudly, motioning towards Rimuru and the others gathered on the edge. “Go on then, you’ve found a band to travel with. You better visit though!”

“I will,” Black Bunny agreed sincerely, bouncing forward to hug her ex-Commander tightly. “I even had an idea for another trade-agreement for you in the future.”

“Always working,” the Commander complained good naturedly.

Black Bunny turned her head, peering up at Rimuru and the rest of the goblin-riders and the dwarves that seemed to have become misty-eyed in the face of the touching scene they were witnessing. He even caught Kaijin subtly wiping his face on the shoulder of his sleeve.

“...do you mind one more tag along, Wolf Master?”

This time, Rimuru didn’t even have to ask.

“Welcome aboard, Black Bunny!”

| | | |

“H-hey, what’s all this?!”

When Rimuru left, the goblin village had been a rather modest thing, filled with maybe only fourty or so goblins total and a comparable number of wolves - there was a reason he’d begun referring to it as a village after all. But now standing before him had to be nearly double- no quadruple that number! He still wouldn’t call it a city but ‘village’ was starting to seem like a word only applicable due to the shoddy infrastructure strewn around them.

“Many have come to join us after hearing of your greatness Master Rimuru,” the village elder, Rigurd said eagerly. “Entire villages heard and came to join us under your rule! And the new wolves claim to be from distant lands or deserters who escaped before their former alpha’s tyranny reached its peak!”

“O-oh…”

“Looks like you’re in charge of something a bit more than a village now High King,” Black Bunny remarked, making him whirl around.

“EH?! High King?!”

“Well Wolf King Ranga is who rules the dire wolves and your Goblin King Rigurd rules the goblins - both of these Kings answer to you,” Black Bunny explained flawlessly, earning thoughtful and agreeing nods from the other monsters. “A King of Kings is a High King.”

I hate when people use logic against me.

From there, Rimuru had resignedly set to handing out names to each of the many (about five hundred Great Sage had said) goblins that had arrived, feeling immense relief that the wolves needed to only pledge themselves to Ranga to receive their evolution. All in all, it had taken an entire week to name them all if he included the three days he spent in low-magicule mode while the dwarves set to work beginning to properly map out and start construction on their new village. Much to his surprise, when he came to for round the second round of naming, he’d discovered that Black Bunny had also taken up a role herself.

“These guys have never heard of crop rotation,” she’d explained to Rimuru when he took a break to ask her about it. “You want to build a village and gathering food exclusively is fine and acceptable as a strategy and all but with the sudden influx of numbers you had, it’s just not sustainable. I asked if they produced any food for themselves and they agreed - then showed me that.”

The word was spoken with deep disdain as she pointed with a white toed paw to a pitiful looking garden. He supposed he could understand her disapproval, the only thing in that plot seemed to be a handful of withered plants and completely dried out soil. One or two things he thinks could’ve been vegetables at one point were strewn across the top like it had been raided by particularly aggressive crows.

“It’s not their fault they didn’t know,” she sighed, turning her attention back to Rimuru. “But I suspect they were malnourished even before The Great Storm Dragon vanished from the forest.”

She motioned to a small collection of a;ready named goblin children that were gathered around her, each holding little tools and water cups, “To help them sustain themselves, I will be fixing this shoddy garden and showing the kids how to maintain it. It’ll take some time to become established but it’ll really cut down on the amount of importing you’ll have to do High King.”

RImaru looked over the rudimentary plot of land that she’d marked out and had already begun sticking labels into the ground. It seemed that she’d managed to acquire some form of fertilizer and rather than planting and sprouts right away, she seemed to be doing that ‘enrichment’ thing he’d heard of and was showing the goblin kids how to mix it evenly throughout the soil. It seemed that the dwarves had already been informed of her intentions too, with a massive field of untended earth had been left undisturbed, cartoned off by the builders to leave undisturbed.

“Where are we going to get the seeds from?”

“I have a contract between my old Warren and your budding village for you to look over, Wolf King.”

“Huh, that sure helps.”

With that, he returned to naming the many, many goblins that had joined their village. 

Maybe it had been a good thing he had been unconscious for most of it - because it means when he’d fully come to, the village had been well into its construction. Progress with the village had been developing so well in fact that he’d been kind of suspicious. So when one of the Wolf Riders had reported explosions and screaming on one of the regular patrols, Rimuru had quickly stiffened up and bounced furiously out into the woods to go confront the source of the noise.

The adventurers he’d discovered were easy to find - it wasn’t like they were hiding while they panickingly fled from one fo many enormous ants that made their home withing the Jura Forest. Be bounced closer to the carnage when one of them began flinging fire like stones, zipping all across the clearing stabbing, slashing and slaughtering the beasts as they continued to set themselves upon them.

Oh… that adventurer…

Before Minister Vester had come to spoil their good time, Rimuru had been sitting on the lap of a dark elf who’d offered to look into his future, to see a fated person. He’d agreed offhandedly, distracted by the bouncy softness resting on top of his entire body admittedly before the image had shown itself to him. 

An image standing before him - a woman of long, straight dark hair that reached her hips in the few moments she stood still. Her pants were dark and purple in color, not too baggy with a long white cloak situated around her shoulders that matched what he assumed was a magically enhanced shirt with a large symbol on it. 

But what really spoke to him was the mask. 

The same white mask with distinctive red lines patterned out from it, potentially some form of magical inscription. 

So when she turned to speak to her companions, not seeing the furtive movements of the red ant slowly rising with the intent of attacking her while her guard was down, he struck.

“Look out!” he called.

The second the woman turned then sprung out of the way, Rimuru instinctively channeled one of his less tested skills.

“[Black Lightning]!”

The dark electricity cracked through the sky, condensing from the magicules in the air before slamming down with concussive force onto his target, sending up a massive cloud of smoke and scorching the earth below. Black Bunny had eyed the skill with sharp-eyed want and when she wasn’t working with the children, promptly began working on her [Electricity Manipulation] in an attempt to be capable of summoning the more powerful form of lightning. 

The force of his attacked lightly off balanced him from his perch, so he simply hopped down, bouncing gently until he was plopped in the center of the destruction and in front of the mask the mysterious woman had lost in the explosion. He picked it up as best as he could with his body, bouncing towards the adventurer (“Shizu” he heard them calling her) who was being fussed over by her traveling companions. 

“Here, this mask belongs to you right?”

She reached out, silently accepting the mask into her palms and looking it over. She wiped away some of the ash smeared on it before looking back to Rimuru.

“Yes, this is mine,” she said, offering a soft smile. “I’m saved. Thank you.”

…she has a very kind smile.

“High King, are you alright?”

“Hm?”

Rimuru glanced up in time to see Black Bunny land in the clearing as well, for once not accompanied by Sirocco. From the mild static sparking along her body though, it seemed she’d come straight from practice to investigate. Seeing the adventurers, she quickly brandished her little sword at them, pointing it as menacingly as a stuffed animal with a butterknife for a weapon could.

“Halt! You have entered the jurisdiction of the soon great goblin village!” she declared. “Please state your intentions, adventurers!”

“Eh? Isn’t that one of the Warren Rabbits?” one of the adventurers asked with confusion. “What’s one of them doing way out here?”

“I have been released from my service with the Warren and have chosen to offer my services to High King Rimuru in this stead,” Black Bunny informed. “Now, please state your intentions adventurers!”

One of them released a tired sigh, staggering back to his feet from when he flopped down with exhaustion or relief.

“Honestly, we don’t have intentions to do anything but rest,” he groaned, rubbing his face tiredly. “We’ve been chased by those damn ants for three days straight - for every set of them we kill, another squad showed up! When we initially thought we’d shaken them off, they came after us in the night - all of clothes and gear is long gone now!”

Black Bunny immediately glanced at him with a slight frown, “It sounds like there’s a nest HIgh King.”

“Are they that dangerous?”

“They make for a good meal but the pheromone trails they leave for each other typically end with more ants following along.”

Hmm, so they might have to find that nest at some point - if only to make sure none of the scent trails lead back to the main village. 

“...stand down Black Bunny” Rimuru decided, watching the rabbit immediately lower and sheath her sword in the face of a direct order. “They’re just down on their luck I think. If it’s just a simple meal they want, there’s no need to make a big fuss about it.”

“You live near here Mr. Slime?” inquired the woman he’d decided was their party’s healer. 

“I suppose the bunny mentioned a village,” one of the others remarked. “Blue Slimes are never alone so I guess it makes sense that there’s a village nearby…”

“It’s a new village,” Rimuru put forth as Black Bunny bounced to stand beside him. “Well, more of a town now.”

“Demons building a town…” the healer murmured nervously, clutching her staff a little tighter.

“Well he doesn’t seem like a bad slime to me,” the apparent leader said, scratching his chin. “And loose rabbit warriors tend to be really honorable.”

He was a bit confused for a moment - they were suspicious of him? Then Black Bunny’s previous explanations made it back to his mind - a lone slime was a bad sign, a lone blue slime suggest foul play, potentially from another highly intelligent magical being. That made sense - Rimuru would rather not walk right into an unknown situation with an unknown power himself. He had to show them he was harmless - bringing them to the town would hopefully relief them of any further concerns.

“As you heard, my name is Rimuru,” he said in a friendly manner. He tilted his body as best as he could, “Please come to my village - I’m not a bad slime, you know!”

Shizu giggled and stepped forward, scooping him up into her arms much to the surprise of Black Bunny who immediately narrowed her eyes in mild suspicion. 

“What’s wrong Shizu?” inquired the party leader.

“It’s nothing Kaval,” she said, turning to half-face them with a slight smile. “Actually, I think we should take Mr. Slime up on his kind offer. This slime is definitely trustworthy.”

“Huh?”

“Well if Shizu says so…”

The woman had already turned and begun walking away with him, striding in the direction Black Bunny had helpfully indicated was the way to the village.

“I can walk by myself-” Rimuru began but she interrupted him with a little smile.

“Hey Rimuru… which nation are you from?” she inquired. 

“Our town is growing in size  but we’re certainly not a country yet,” He began.

“I don’t think that’s what she’s asking High King,” Black Bunny interrupted, staring up at Shizu with a considering expression. 

“What you said ‘I’m a good slime, you know’… it’s from a game, right?” Shizu said, tilting her head a little.

She recognized it?!

“It is?” Black Bunny asks. 

“It is, where I come from,” Shizu agreed, eyes sliding hopefully to Rimuru cradled in her arms. “And… maybe Mr. Slime too?”

“...I’m from Nihon,” Rimuru confessed, still shell-shocked. Maybe they were truly fated for each other - they were both Otherworlders, from the same country even! That was divine intervention if he’d ever heard of it. 

“Oh! You’re both Otherworlders too”?

“EH?!”

Black Bunny looked up at him with concern for the shout he made, “Are you alright High King? You sound injured.”

“You’re an Otherworlder too Black Bunny?” he yelped instead of answering, almost wishing he had a mouth to drop open in disbelief to truly convey his shock. 

“Yes,” the bunny agreed with a nod. “I’m from America though, not Nihon.”

Rimuru blinked slowly in amazement trying to process that - he wondered, briefly why she hadn’t ever responded to his references and asked the question aloud. 

“I didn’t notice,” she said easily, offering a little shrug. “My knowledge of pop-culture tends to range between extremely mainstream, popular media and fairly niche, unknown media. Maybe if you’d mentioned Pokemon or said something from Naruto I would’ve caught it.”

“Naruto?”

“I’ve only seen a few episodes and read a couple of the mangas but I would’ve understood ‘dattebayo.”

“You watched the show with subtitles?” Rimuru asked, fascinated.

“Getting the English version would’ve been too much effort for a show I only watched once or twice a month,” she explained, waving her paw dismissively. “Besides, I liked learning a few simple phrases.”

“Have you seen Naruto, Shizu?”

“I’ve heard a little of it from a friend of mine,” she answered thoughtfully. “Tell me about it?”

“I’ll do my best.”

| | | |

“Guid! You dare to steal from my plate?!”

“The dining table is a battlefield Miss Irene!”

“Then I’m gonna steal Kaval’s portion!”

They’re an awfully lively bunch, Rimuru chuckled to himself, watching the scuffle break out over the stolen food. The party seemed to be acting all in good fun, none of them truly upset with each other even as they snuck their forks and spoons around each other, scooping the food into their mouths and taunting each other. 

“Mr. Slime, you’re sitting on the hot-plate you know?” Shizu’s concerned voice broke into his thought.

“Yikes!” Rimuru yelped, hopping right off of the plate and shuffled towards her where was sitting next to Black Bunny. He did his best to ignore the fluffy mob happily chewing away on a kebab of various meats slathered in sauce - he still didn’t want to think about that. “Phew, thanks. I could’ve melted!”

“You didn’t though,” Shizu noted. “So you might have [Heat Resistance].”

“Resistance?” Rimuru echoed.

“Otherworlders like us tend to gain abilities that we desire the most in that moment,” she explained. “Many of them become skills - but others become resistances.”

Rimuru pauses as a memory occurs to him - the voice of Great Sage before, or rather while he died. 

“...I was stabbed to death in my previous life,” he recalled, absently taking in the way she flinched a little, seeming surprised. “My back burned horribly from the stab… but I feeling cold from the blood loss - that’s probably where it came from.”

“Is that so?” she said, turning her attention to the happily chewing Black Bunny. “Is that how you came to be a demon as well?”

Black Bunny swallowed her mouthful and wiped her mouth before answering, “Somewhat yes. My girlfriend was being stalked by a creep while we were out… I was late to notice but when I did I tried to protect her. He shot me. It was winter and it was really cold - I think my adrenaline was too strong to feel the bullet because I passed without the burning. But I know that I have Cold Resistance, Piercing Resistance and Electricity Resistance.”

“Electricity Resistance?”

“I got myself struck by lightning to develop [Electricity Manipulation],” Black Bunny admitted openly, giggling at their stunned reactions to her actions.

“That’s incredibly heavy,” Shizu sighed softly, looking between the two. “I suppose that must be the reason you both became non-humans. You had no physical bodies when you came over.”

They were quiet for a moment longer, watching as the food war settled down and started eating kindly with each other. 

“...you must’ve gone through some hardships too,” Rimuru noted, looking at at her. “When you were fighting the ants, you controlled fire - was that the ability you thirsted for?”

“...”

Shizu clutched tighter at the pair of chopsticks she’d been offered, taking a moment to lay them across the top of her bowl, likely to prevent the chance that her party mates swiped the food as they were ‘subtly’ doing to each other. She drew her hands back to her lap and though Rimuru couldn’t see her face, he was almost certain she was trying a smile for them.

“...actually, [Fire Manipulation] was possibly the last thing I could’ve wanted,” the masked woman released a light laugh. “I would go as far as to call it a curse.”

“A curse?” Black Bunny echoed.

“...the last thing I remember from Earth was fire falling from the sky, everything around me turning to fla,e,” she murmured, removing her mask to cradle in her hands, letting her fingers trace the shapes on its surface for comfort. “The voices of everyone crying out in fear and misery as everything we loved was burned away…”

“Fire from the sky… could it have been an airstrike?” Rimuru speculated.

“Mm,” nodded Shizue. “I had a student who was also an Otherworlder and he learned about it in his class… I think it was called ‘The Bombing of Tokyo?’”

Black Bunny immediately stiffened and wilted at the same time, nervously shifting away from the woman. Right - she was from America, the place that used those bombs.

“Oh, it’s okay Black Bunny,” Shizu soothed, reaching to gently scratch the space between her long ears with gentle nails. She wordlessly coaxed the now anxious bunny into sitting in her lap, letting her clutch her hand with a guilty expression. “Or well… it wasn’t okay but… it wasn’t your fault either.”

“Still… to die that way…” Black Bunny said anxiously. “That couldn’t have been easy to handle.”

“Oh, you misunderstand… death isn’t a very common way to enter this world,” Shizu said with a slight sigh. He watched Black Bunny stiffen again and press a little more firmly against the woman.

[The individual Black Bunny is using its skill [Empathy] ] Great Sage provided helpfully, and Rimuru immediately cringed violently on the inside. He’d felt the emotions Black Bunny had sent to him with her skill… he didn’t want to know what her ability had picked up from Shizu with that little comment. Almost like she…

He mentally shook his head, frantically dislodging the train of thought trying to hook itself within his mind. 

“I was… summoned here by my master. But he… he was really disappointed when he summoned me,” she said, a little despondent. Black Bunny winced at what must’ve been her grip tightening around her but didn’t complain, merely patting Shizu’s arm in a soothing manner. “He lost interest in me right away… he had his great fire spirit possess my body and I became his bodyguard. But this fire spirit… Ifrit… it’s flames are wild and uncontrollable, so I have been unable to have anyone close. Thus, this fire… it’s a fire.”

She glanced up at the rowdy party that had settled down again, playfully sniping at each other now that they finished their meal. A small smile blossomed curved at her lips, a fond expression dawning on her face.

“I’m glad to have met them on this final journey,” she said affectionately. “They squabble and harass each other but they have great trust and respect for each other. They’re good adventurers.”

“They do seem nice,” Black Bunny agreed softly, and they all went quiet watching them.

| | | |

“Wow Black Bunny, you’ve really expanded the field!”

What had only recently been a small little garden sized plot of fertilized earth had more than tripled in size, all of the upturned soil now a deep, dark color. All of it seemed to have wilted plants strewn all across the field, some of them tucked beneath the various mounds of loose soil. It stretched about a block out, tiny little seeds sprinkled all throughout the entire plot and the original patch she’d been working on was now filled with little sprouts. 

“Thank you,” she said proudly, planting her paws on her hips smugly. “With the amount of goblin kids we have here now, it seemed reasonable to expand. They’re catching on pretty fast - now they’re waking me up for plot-tending.”

Shizu walked forward, crouching down to look at the plants with a smile, She gently cupped one of the the delicate leaves on the sprout, glancing up at the prideful rabbit.

“Amazing… and you plan to feed your entire town from this?”

“Probably not exclusively,” Black Bunny denied a little shyly. “We’ll definitely have to import some of it but I think it could take a weight off of our town-budget to have the more common foods grown locally you know?”

“It’s a very clever idea,” Shizu praised. “What are the stems and leaves for.”

“Enrichment!” she said eagerly. “I don’t know what was planted here before but the soil was so dry and kinda dead when I first started - hardly any worms  or even bugs. Those dead plants are going to break down and be absorbed back into the soil to feed my plants! We’re going to let a small section of this first patch die too - just to help things along.”

The bunny pointed towards a gaggle of children with a tiny bucket, “I sent the kids out to the forest to find non-magical bugs and worms and put them in the soil. They’ve been having fun.”

“They’re out here all the time,” Rimuru piped up in agreement. The community garden had been great in keeping the kids well-behaved, giving them an opportunity to dig and play in the soil. The hunts for worms found them being escorted through the nearby sections of lesser disturbed forest which made them feel incredibly grown up, they were doing important missions and the activities were strenuous enough to fully exhaust them. It wasn’t uncommon to watch the kids periodically dart in and out of the massive field with watering cans, attacking weeds and bringing in new worms when they got bored. 

“All of this talk about food is making me hungry,” Shizu giggled, patting the top of Rimuru’s gelatin body. 

“I have snacks if you need any!” Black Bunny said brightly, pulling a pawful of tiny cherry tomatoes from her hammerspace. 

“Oh, those look lovely,” she said, reaching out and bringing the treat back to her mask. Rimuru watched in amazement as it simply vanished as her noodles had the night before, allegedly being consumed through the hard cover.

“Black Bunny! Black Bunny! We found little sproutlet!” one of the kiddos called.

“Really?” she said, turning curiously, bouncing towards the kid in question. “Alright Gobte, bring it here.”

| | | |

“Our library is going to go right here!” Rimuru proclaimed, bouncing to a stop in front of an empty plot with tape on all four pillars. 

“A library?” Shizu inquired curiously.

“I want to collect knowledge this world and our old world,” he explained, turning his entire body to face her even if he could see her regardless. “I don’t want to forget anything… and I want other Otherworlders to have something to hold onto.”

“Oh,” Shizu said. “That’s wonderful Mr. Slime.”

“Just call me Rimuru,” he insisted. 

“Alright, Rimuru.”

| | | |

The tour of the budding was a bit of a short one given it mostly consisted of showing Shizu around the key spaces in the village, telling her all about their plans for the various plots and how it would look in the finished town but she never seemed to mind, treating each of the locations they brought her to with the same amount of awed reverence one would a proper monument. Rimuru was suddenly feeling a self-obtained pressure to make everything the best that it possibly could be, to measure up to great expectations Shizu seemed to have for their efforts. A community garden, a library, the bathhouse project, the village central, a school, a space for markets - it all seemed so much more real now that they were giving a proper tour of it all. 

He wasn’t the only one feeling the pressure though. 

Black Bunny had seemed utterly infatuated with Shizu from the moment she’d concluded she wasn’t a threat, quick to offer her gifts and pay her compliments. He may have written it off as extra-good hospitality on her part if she hadn’t confessed to having a girlfriend in her previous life (something that still made him jump and look around nervously, as if someone would say something cruel - he missed some things about Nihon but admittedly, that wasn’t one of them). As it stood, she was the bearer of the most obvious crush he’d seen in a while. 

Sweetly enough, she hadn’t made a move and when Rimuru asked about it, she’d said simply enough that she was his fated person.

“Even if it ends up not being romantic, I’d rather you get to know her first.”

That generosity saw where he was now, sitting on the limits of his budding town overlooking the slowly sprawling zone. He’d invited her into his memories, into the various things he’d seen to show her how the world had healed since she’d been summoned away. It had been quite an enthralling sight to see her joy, the excitement and lingering affection she still had for her birth town. Even if it was just a memory, she seemed satisfied with what she’d learned. Satisfied that it hadn’t just recovered but grown, becoming better and grander as time plodded on in its inevitable fashion.

He wondered bleakley, if Black Bunny would’ve known what was happening first.

She seemed to know so much more about this world, to the point that he’d mistaken her for a native mob for the longest time. Maybe she would’ve known what to do when Shizu originally doubled over, screaming in pain.

“Shizu? Shizu what’s wrong?” Rimuru probed frantically as Ranga stopped at his command, falling still while she whimpered. “You’ve gone all pale, Shizu-”

[Warning - Target’s Power Level has increased dramatically, entering Alert Mode]

“What’s happening? Shizu?!”

There was a loud, horrific crack and Rimuru stared up in instinctive horror at the crevice that had threaded itself through the object, a brilliant white light pulsating violently from the opening. He tired to move forward, to rest his body on hers in reassurance but she shoved him away before dropping to her knees releasing an agonized cry of pain, clutching her abdomen and starting to shudder violently.

“Leave. Run,” she choked out.

“Shizu?”

“Leave!” she screamed as the embroidered mask slipped down, landing on the ground in front of her. She didn’t reach to put it back on.

RImaru gasped - the white scherla of her eyes turned a brilliant and intense orange, her irises bleeding into a golden yellow color, not unlike a flame. Any real emotion steadily fled from her gaze as she began to rise into the air, suddenly unaffected by gravity as if she was some kind of ghost. FIre flared up around her even as she released another guttural scream of pain.

“Shizu…” he murmured, stricken by the memory of their meeting. Uncontrollable flames she’d said - was this her curse flaring up?

Another burst of flames exploded from her, tiny but incredibly hot embers beginning to rain from the sky like the airstrikes that had destroyed her life and began to torch the delicate grass and gentle trees, triggering the beginning of horrid forest fire. She raised a single hand in the direction of their little town, the air superheating once again and launched a wave of flame, setting several of the new building on fire.

“Hey! We just built those!” Rimuru protested, it was an odd thing for him to focus on but they’d put so much effort into getting this done. Shizu had been so excited. He supposed he was at least relieved that this part of the town was empty, no one had been moved in yet given the area around it still needed to be developed. At least he wouldn’t have to tell her about any lost lives. 

“High King!”

Oh no.

“High King, we saw a fire pillar are you al- Shizu?!”

Black Bunny froze in her approach, sitting on Sirocco’s back while staring up at the floating pillar of fire torching with hard work with the most horrified and confused expression he’d ever seen on her. The rest of Shizu’s party came charging forth, equally as stunned and confused by what was happening.

“Shizu?” Eren gasped.

“What’s wrong with her?” Kaval cried out.

“M-maybe… could it be… She’s that Shizu,” Guid muttered aloud, eyes fixated on the inferno in the sky. “The Champion of Flames?”

“The Champion-!”

“The one with the greater fire spirit sealed inside of her?” Eren demand, whirling around to give the being another closer look. “I-I don’t want to believe it but no one else could possibly do this…”

“Her curse,” Black Bunny said softly, seeming utterly distraught for a brief moment before she drew her tiny sword from the hilt on her hip this time. Her gaze sharpened again, becoming something dangerous and menacing in nature as she pointed the tip of her weapon in her direction. “Don’t worry Shizu, I’ll free you.”

“And me too,” Rimuru agreed quickly, twisting to look at the still horrified party. “You three should flee, keep yourselves safe!”

“We can’t do that Mr. Slime,” Eren denied, taking out her staff as her fellow party members began to brandish their own weapons with narrowed eyes. They seemed to fall reflexively into a standardized formation, the healer falling into the center while Kaval and Guid took up protective positions around her. Shizu’s physical form seemed to burn away for a brief moment, another brilliant flash of light and intense heat brushing up against them fading to a new figure floating before them, one with large dark horns extending from its head and a mane of flame in the form of hair. Ifrit. Despite this imposing figure staring down at them, none of the party so much as flinched. A bright light began to flow from her staff as she continued determinedly, “She’s a member of this party and if she’s cursed, then we’re honor bound to free her from it.”

… you’re right Shizu, they’re really good adventurers. And even better friends.

“All right then guys, let’s do this!”

| | | |

Name: N/A

Race: Killer Rabbit (Soldier)

Blessings: None

Title: Black Bunny, The 12th Commander

Type: Otherworlder (Reincarnation)

Magic:

Wind Elemental Magic - Wind Protect, Gust, Wind Blade, Wind Drill

Earth Elemental Magic - Earth Pillar, Mud Spears, Liquidize, Earth Lock, Mud Shot, Stone Edge

Electricity Elemental Magic - Thunder Fist, Thunderbolt, Electrify

Arts: Warren Fist (Mastered)

Intrinsic Skills: [Bounce] [Warren Map] [Alert]

Unique Skills: [Prodigy] [Plush] [Pickpocket] [Defiant]

Extra Skills: [Wind Manipulation] [Earth Manipulation] [Electricity Manipulation]

Common Skills: [Strengthen] [Empathy] [Appraise]

Resistance Skills: [Pierce Resistance] [Cold Resistance] [Electricity Resistance]

Direct Subordinates: Sirocco (wind fox)

[we-pay-for-everything]

Can’t believe I’m making another Lancelot Du Lac post but...

Things I liked about the episode:

The acting! Angel gave it her fucking all - when her voice broke as she tearfully told Arthur “You mean everything to me”, I died a little inside... Give that woman an Oscar. Women are always doing the best with the bare minimum they’re given. Bradley did well in their scene together too, though not nearly as well as Angel WBK. She was phenomenal but together they were explosive too. 

Some of the dialogue - the part where Arthur confronts Gwen is very well-written. I only disliked the part where Gwen asks where she’ll go and Arthur just apologizes. Overall, though, it was good angst. It was convincing and it hurt, but in a good way. 

Some of Arthur’s characterization: The way he treated Gwen was, for the most part, quite fair, especially considering the times and his position as King. Him telling Merlin that he loved Gwen with all his heart, so he would eventually forgive her, but could never trust her again, shows how pure his love and heart are (and that he knows, deep down, that Gwen is a good person who wouldnt have hurt him). Not many people would forgive a cheater. Also, he told Merlin to give Lancelot a proper burial, which was undoubtly kind of him - he could’ve not said anything at all. 

Gwen’s characterization: Obviously, I hate what they did to Gwen, but I haven’t seen people praise Gwen for her strength and love for Arthur in the episode. Morgana’s magic is powerful, and the bracelet was supposed to reawaken - nay, fabricate - Gwen’s feelings for Lancelot, yet, it’s clear it did a lot more than that - as we know, even if Gwen had found herself drawn to Lancelot, she’d never have acted on it of her own volition. The bracelet worked the same way the love spell placed on Arthur had worked - the magic was such that the characters couldn’t not act upon their fabricated feelings. However, Gwen’s feelings for Arthur were strong enough to break though the enchantment. She did cheat on Lancelot, but she also rejected Lancelot. When she saw Arthur’s fury and pain she came back to herself. She saved Lancelot from being killed by Arthur, but we’ve seen how people under a love spell behave - she should’ve thrown herself at Lancelot, called for him as he was being dragged away from her, etc. She did quite the opposite, however. Once she was imprisoned, she threw the bracelet away, forcefully flung it off her wrist. She didn’t know the bracelet was enchanted, but it represented her feelings for Lancelot, which had caused her and Arthur so much pain. She chose to turn her back on Lancelot and on her feelings for him, because she loved Arthur. That bracelet was very powerful to make Gwen act so out of character, but Gwen’s real feelings were powerful enough to break through without Merlin or anyone else’s help.  

The idea behind the episode: Arwen is not a super dynamic ship, which I actually enjoy - they’re happy together, they believe in, and trust, each other, Arthur listens to Gwen and values her, their love is selfless, etc. I like that they’re on the subtle side. However, I think they needed to shake things up between them (if only to give Gwen more screentime), so, in theory, this episode was very well done. However, the issue isn’t so much the plot itself as it is the way they handled it. It would’ve been fine, and an opportunity for Arthur and Gwen to prove their love, had the issue with the bracelet been cleared up in the end. As it was, it ended up being a disservice to the ship and the characters who fully believed Gwen had really cheated on Arthur. 

Things I didn’t like:

Lancelot - this one’s obvious, he deserved far better than the ending he was given, but he was honestly the only man for the job...

Arthur, Elyan, and to a certain extent, Merlin’s characterization - Arthur is easily swayed by public opinion, but I believe he would’ve protected Gwen more had his characterization not been sacrificed for the sake of sending Gwen away. The Arthur I know would’ve had Gwen followed and provided with everything she needed... Regarding her brother, when Gwen was on her knees in the throne room, she looked at Elyan as he was leaving and the look he gave her was so cold. Is he really the type of man who’d scorn his sister and leave her to die? And Merlin, he was a good friend to Gwen, and defended her to Arthur, but he should’ve offered her his help too. He watched her go without talking to her, comforting her, asking about her plans, giving her council and perhaps money, food, supplies, or medicine for the journey. But Merlin simply... watched her go. He didn’t even question Gwen’s behavior - did he really believe she would’ve cheated on Arthur? He’s smarter than that. He knew magic had been involved, so he should’ve known Gwen had been a victim of it too. These men would not have behaved this way under normal circumstances. Furthermore, I get Arthur not attending Lancelot’s “funeral”, but the other Knights couldn’t even do this much for Lancelot? Despite his actions he had still fought alongside them... 

Arthur’s proposal - someone said the writers were always cutting corners with Arwen, and that is very evident in Arthur’s proposal. Sure, it was all very romantic, with the blindfold and the candles, but Morgana’s voice-over made things decidedly less romantic, and Arthur’s proposal being a curt “Will you marry me” was not in character for Arthur at all. Normal Arthur would’ve for sure babbled with nerves and professed his undying love and admiration for Gwen before actually proposing. It’s also a shame we saw none of the wedding preparations. Imo, the episode should’ve had two parts, with the first part being the proposal and wedding preparations, ending with Morgana raising Lancelot from the dead. As it was, everything felt so rushed; the wedding was clearly not important - only the cheating drama... Arwen deserved better.

The aftermath - as I mentioned before, Gwen never learning she was under an enchantment ruined her relationship with Arthur and her faith in herself. She, and Arthur, deserved much better.

Overall, I’m happy that we got a Gwen centric episode, but at what cost? Some parts were so good, but the ending... This episode could’ve been great had it ended with Arwen realizing Agravaine and Morgana were behind the attack and that Gwen was innocent. Why didn’t Gwen fight for herself? Surely she must’ve known her actions weren’t in character for her. Arthur should’ve known too, but, well, he’s an obtuse idiot who got the shock of his life. Again, the characterization... *sigh*.

[ellestra]

Just cause is not enough

The Madripoor at night was basically Ghost in the Shell/Blade Runner/every cyberpunk story from the last several decades back on screen. The colours, the clothes, even the rain. But I did get a kick of that lighted up face mask.

It’s pretty clear Sharon didn’t tell them the whole truth. Her finding them seemed to convenient. Her whole new life completely unlike the character we saw before.

And sure she didn’t get much character development. And it’s been years since her story was dropped. She wasn’t on the run with Steve and Sam and Natasha and Wanda. It looks like she was out of contact all that time. She could’ve changed. Maybe, she came she came to Madripoor long before she was Snapped and it changed her. And sure, when she came back and it turned out Steve was gone before she found her bearing so he couldn’t push for her rehabilitation as everyone who fought Thanos got it soured her even more. The one who believed so much in Captain America turned cynic about all what he represented. She almost like Zemo in her disdain.

But it doesn’t seem like she tried to contact anyone else really. I’m sure someone with her money and skills could’ve contacted her family. Add to that her complete turn and it all just felt wrong. I just couldn’t buy this is all Sharon is now - stolen art dealer who doesn’t care. And that last moment made me even more convinced me think she is working undercover there trying to find out who Power Broker is. Probably using Bucky and Sam and Zemo’s created carnage to flush him out.

As Karli says he has to react now that Flag Smashers have the only serum left.

It didn’t take long for the new Captain America to start representing all the wrong sides of American “help”. Walking justification of all the doubts everyone has voiced about  - especially one so nationalistically themed as this one. But he isn’t stupid. He knows Bucky and Sam freed Zemo. Well, Bucky did but Sam went with it.

And then Walker decides to go off book to get them. Like a “fuck you” to them for saying he can’t. But it hits so differently when he does it, doesn’t it? It hits differently when someone in power doesn’t follow the rules. When all the abuses of that power they do to get results can be just swiped under the rug.

I knew they would need to break Zemo out when his name was mentioned but I didn’t expect that Bucky came in knowing it too. And that he already put the plan in motion even before he set up the visit. But for all the jokes about Sam not knowing enough about how the Madripoor or the big time criminal underworld functions or even that Zemo was rich and a baron he wasn’t wrong about Wakandans not being happy about Zemo being free. Of course, Bucky was prepared for that too.

And I bet that it’s one of the reason’s Zemo didn’t ditch them - either after escape or later. Sure, they do have the same goal of finding out the super serum and stopping it but Bucky is also only one who can keep Dora Milaje at bay. Still, the other reason is probably planning to kill Bucky too. It’s his whole thing. How they didn’t see he would kill that scientist when they know this is the reason he came along is beyond me. I only wondered how he would do it.

At first I even suspected he was behind the one who shot Selby. And the show makes sure we don’t get to comfortable with him helping. There is certain tendency for people to overlook the bad parts for cool villains that are being useful. The whole Loki-like arc that glosses over the victims and the dead (so for Loki it added mind control too for justification but we all know most viewers didn’t even think of that when they forgave him). For Zemo shows keeps throwing his privilege in our faces, it has him constantly torture James with his past as Winter Soldier and it reminds us of all he did - like killing king T’Chaka.

And yet even the bad guys’ grievances can be real. They can be a real issues that one has right to be angry about. The Avengers are responsible for destruction of Sokovia. And not just the whole Ultron thing. The changing borders from that GRC adds apparently include Sokovia being partitioned and disappearing from map. As person whose country went through that I can feel his anger - that feeling of injustice, of being wronged, of feeling like you lost everything  - and it’s made even worse that the people seem to neither care or notice.

It’s why he is being listed as one of the few villains MCU got right. His motives were clear and understandable. It was his methods that made him a villain. And we are seeing this repeated in Karli.

That shiny add of bright future of post-Blip utopia by GRC followed by the dark reality of the raid was so heavy handed as it was effective. It’s hard not to feel for the Flag Smasher cause when you see the raids GRC sponsors when someone opposes them. With their own branded police. With their unused stores of food and medicine when people died from lack of resources in refugee camps.

It’s not only the returned who have no place any more. Many of those who lived were kicked out of their houses when the people who used to own them came back. Hulk bringing back half of the world’s people made them loose everything. And no one seemed to cared. And there wasn’t much they could do about it. Until they got some super powers of their own.

But like with Zemo the moment Karli went from well intentioned extremist and folk hero to the villain of this story was the methods. When you lose so much and “them” seem to neither notice or care the need to make them suffer as much as you do to understand can lead to dark places. For Karli it was moving from stealing to murder. The hope for her not going bad blew up with that building and people in it.

And this is why Sam needs to be Captain America. Yes, we see all the ways such symbols can go wrong in Walker and all the mistakes that Avengers (especially Tony made) and all that Sharon mentions. But symbols do matter even if what they represent is flawed. They matter because they can represent a better version of that thing. They can remind us to try to achieve that better version.

And people who represent those symbols matter. Especially when you can feel they can understand that hopeless feeling of being wronged and ignored. They can show you someone gets it and will stand up for you. Someone who can show you the way to the goal and never tire of fighting for it all the while being able to avoid the temptation, we all get, of just going for revenge of it. Steve was great at personifying that but he was the WWII era personification. I like how the show is trying to show Sam he can be that for the modern MCU. And maybe for us too. At least a little.

[crypty]

Rät

I come from scientists and atheists and white men who kill God They make technology high quality complex physiological Experiments and sacrilege in the name of public good They taught me everything Just like a daddy should

Almost everything Tommy knew, he learnt from Wilbur. How to make speeches, how to strategize, how to fight. They rebelled against Dream to make potions. They rebelled so everyone could benefit. They rebelled against tyranny. He would do anything for his brother. Tommy went to war with Wilbur but only found out what he lost afterwords. Sacrifices for everyone, put the burden on the children who fought for the land. The foundation of L’Manberg was blood, after all. 

And you were beautiful and vulnerable And power and success God damn I fell for you your flamethrowers Your tunnels and your tech I studied code because I wanted To do something great like you And the real tragedy is half of it was true

Wilbur was powerful and successful. He was general of an army, fighting against a nation much larger than his own. Tommy watched everything the brown haired man did. He wanted to be just like Wilbur. He wanted to be as charismatic and influential as his brother. He wanted to be great, to do great things. He ended up sticking with his brother to the end. He did end up doing great things, both of them. Both brothers ended up seeing their hard work blow up in front of them. Only one had a choice. 

But we've been fucking mean We're elitist We're as flawed as any Church And this faux rad west coast dogma Has a higher fucking net worth I bit the apple 'cuz I trusted you But it tastes like Thomas Malthus Your proposal is immodest and insane And I hope someday Selmers rides her fucking train

They ran for president. Tommy would have been Wilbur’s vice. The ones who fought with Wilbur, the ones loyal to him, would have been high ranking in their new government. Tommy trusted Wilbur. When they were exiled, Tommy stuck with his brother. The new government was flawed. Schlatt was a horrible president. He was drunk and abusive but he won the game of politics. Tommy hated him. He and Wilbur formed Pogtopia. He would have followed Wilbur to hell. Eventually, he did. 

I loved you I loved you I loved you it's true I wanted to be you And do what you do I lived here I loved here I thought it was true I feel so stupid I feel so used I feel so used

He loved his brother. Tommy felt broken when he died. As he saw the crater where his nation once stood, as he fought for what little remained, he loved his brother. He wondered if, at the time of his death, there was enough of Wilbur to love Tommy back. He fought for L’Manberg. He fought for his friends. He wondered what Wilbur fought for. He wondered how much was lies. He wondered how much his general used his blind loyalty. He still loved his brother. That’s what hurt the most. 

I was your baby Your first born The hot girl in your comp sci class And I was Darwin's prep school dream Bred born and raised to kick your ass I fell for circuit boards Rocket ships Pictures of the stars If you could only be what you pretend you are

Sapnap and George were left alone. The Dream Team. The ideal friendship. They were everything. They were strong and powerful. Two were genuine. Their leader wasn’t. The Dream Team fell apart. They should have seen the warning signs. They should have noticed Dream faking everything. They should have noticed the power hungriness. They watched the stars and fell into his trap. They should have noticed Dream’s manipulation. They were everything and then they were nothing. 

When I said take me to the moon I never meant take me alone I thought if mankind toured the sky It meant all of us could go But I don't want to see the stars if they're just One more piece of land for you to colonize For us to turn to sand

Dream ruled the SMP. He wasn’t a king or a dictator but he was the leader. He was a good leader for so long. Not all agreed. When Wilbur declared independence, George and Sapnap were the first to take Dream’s side. All three were ambitious and believed they could win. When the first battle came, George realized he was fighting and hurting his friends. Sapnap realized he was fighting children who didn’t truly know what war meant. Neither wanted the war to continue. Dream didn’t either. The war ended quickly. There were smaller battles, smaller wars. Nothing that involved a whole nation. No one in the Dream Team wanted that. As they kept upgrading, they watched L’Manberg have fun. They watched them lose and sometimes win. L’Manberg lost so much. Perhaps that was why it crumbled to dust when Schlatt came. 

Because we're so fucking mean We're so elitist We're as fucked as any church And this bullshit west coast dogma Has a higher fucking net worth I bit the apple 'cuz I loved you And why would you lie And then I realized You're just as naive as I am You're so traumatized it makes me wanna cry

Dream, George, and Sapnap. Some of the strongest fighters in the land. The best armor, the best weapons. They could buy, or steal, anything they wanted. The three of them trusted each other, relied on each other. Why would any of them betray the other two? Dream left them. He wanted more power. He landed himself in the prison and changed. He seemed smaller, sadder. Sapnap visited his old friend. He seemed traumatized. After the visit, Sapnap went to George’s houses. They talked. Sapnap returned to his own house and broke. 

You dumb bitch I loved you I loved you I loved you it's true I wanted to be you And do what you do I lived here I loved here I bought it it's true I'm so embarrassed I feel abused

He yelled at Dream in the prison. It reminded him of earlier arguments. Fights with clenched fists and subtle begs for Dream to go back to normal. Fights that broke their already crumbling friendship. Sapnap once wanted to be his friend. Confident and powerful. The land of the Dream SMP where Sapnap built his home. He should have seen the warning signs. His friend hurt him and now he didn’t know what to do. 

Well I don't wanna eat the rich I'd have to eat my hero's first And my tuition's paid by blood I might deserve your fate or worse But I don't need your goddamn money I don't need jack shit from you So when I speak you bet your life my words are true

Quackity was Schlatt’s right hand man. They were friends, perhaps more. He joint his votes with Schlatt’s during the election. When George bailed on him, Schlatt was Quackity’s hero. He went through so much to stay with Schlatt. He went through abuse, verbal, mental, and physical, to be with the president. He oversaw the Festival to keep power. He saw a young boy get torn apart by rockets to keep his position. He snapped by the end. He didn’t need Schlatt. He learn from the former president. He changed. 

Let me level with you man As someone guilty of the game I took the help I took the cash I would've taken your last name So if any girl on earth Should get to make a call about this It would be me and as I see it You're a dick

He tried to talk Schlatt out of it. By the end of his presidency, he was more drunk and crude then ever before. Quackity saw a man who had helped him and Quackity wanted him to be better. Schlatt wouldn’t change. Schlatt stiill saw himself as above others. Quackity rose up in the past few months. He took Schlatt’s help and influence. He took anything he was offered. Perhaps that’s why he wanted to help Schlatt. He saw Schlatt at his glory and his fall. He saw the best and worse and everything in between. Schlatt was beyond saving. 

So fuck your tunnels fuck your cars Fuck your rockets fuck your cars again You promised you'd be Tesla But you're just another Edison Because Tesla broke a patent All you ever broke were hearts I can't believe you tore humanity apart With the very same machines That could've been our brand new start

Fuck everything that Schlatt had. His power, his office, his mercenaries, his land. He tried his best to break the people who resisted him. He destroyed what the country stood for. He showed everyone his true colors at the Festival. He forced Technoblade into killing Tubbo with rockets. The same fireworks that could have signaled a new land. The same boy who represented the future. Schlatt destroyed L’Manberg, even if Wilbur was the one who blew it up. 

And the worst part is I loved you I loved you I loved you it's true And sometimes I feel like I still fucking do I lived here I loved here I thought it was true I'm so embarrassed I feel abused

The part that made shame rise in Quackity’s throat was that he did care about Schlatt. Maybe he still did. He lived in Manberg, he loved its president and yet he saw it turn to rubble. He was ashamed to have been the one who worked closest with Schlatt. Some people forgave him, some didn’t. Tubbo forgave him. He worked with Tubbo, after Schlatt’s death. He amassed enough power to still be part of the government. He wondered if it was worth it.

I feel so used I feel so used Take me to the moon Because I feel so used I feel so used

~~~

Inspired by Rät by Penelope Scott

Masterlist

https://thelullabyer12.tumblr.com/post/639129395216433152/masterlist-of-2021

[carewyncromwell]

At last, my friends, we’ve come to the end! This is the final part of my POTC AU. *cue the confetti and noisemakers*

I’ll be creating a masterpost for this AU in the next few days, so that it’s easier to start at the beginning, but before we jump right in, I want to thank those people who contributed to the POTC AU during its development by creating content for their own characters -- @hphm-brooke, @danceworshipper, @rosievixen, @smarti-at-smogwarts, @theguythatdraws, @dat-silvers-girl, @that-ravenpuff-witch, @hogwarts9, @drinkyoursoupbitch and @samshogwarts -- as well as my dear friend @cursebreakerfarrier, whose character Jules I roped into this thing at the very start before having any concept of how big this thing could get and I feel so blessed to have been able to write for. I also just want to thank you all for the overwhelming flood of support you guys have sent my way for this project -- I truly have loved every minute of it, and I hope to finish some of my other unfinished projects as well as create other fresh new material for you guys in the near future! I love you all! xoxo

One last time -- previous part is here, and full tag is here!

x~x~x~x

Even with McNully’s brilliant ploy giving her an extra smattering of glory to cement her position, Carewyn had still initially feared the crew who had been on the HMS Lion would take her to task for her insubordination of Cutler Beckett. It turned out she really needn’t have worried.

“Lord Beckett may have been chosen by the King to take charge of the Empire’s anti-piracy campaign,” said Carewyn’s old lieutenant when she questioned him about it, “but he selected you as the Admiral of the fleet. Therefore it’s only right that we, as your subordinates, follow your orders -- whether they contradict Lord Beckett’s or not.”

“Even though I’m the sort of person to threaten the King’s chosen representative with my pistol?” asked Carewyn, her eyebrows raised.

“Even if you did far worse than that,” said the lieutenant, his eyes blazing with resolve. “Your orders saved a lot of our men’s lives out there, when Beckett’s no doubt would’ve led to their deaths. It’s only right that we protect you -- that the Navy protects you -- just like you protected us.”

His boyish face broke out into a broad smile. “We won’t betray you, Admiral. None of us will.”

With the Navy’s defeat at the hands of the Pirate Lords, Carewyn charted a course straight for London. The fleet had just started the month-long journey when about three days in, the Flying Dutchman emerged out of a gigantic wave and pulled up right alongside the HMS Royal. The Navy’s sailors immediately prepared for a fight, as they knew that the Dutchman was no longer under their control, but Carewyn held the order to attack, instead allowing the ship to approach.

The sailors on board the Dutchman were unrecognizable to Carewyn’s eyes -- gone were the barnacle-encrusted, shark-or-fish-headed crew members she’d seen before: all she saw were a band of very human, though admittedly very dirty and ragged-looking pirates. Sticking out amongst them was a handsome, clean-shaved man with a stylishly-embroidered coat, a brown ponytail, and discerning brown eyes, who stood shoulder-to-shoulder with a shorter, stockier man with very long curly dark hair tied back in a ponytail that swished around behind him like an oddly sentient tail. It was these two men that came aboard, when Carewyn invoked the right to parley with the Dutchman’s Captain in her office.

Percy shut the door to Carewyn’s cabin’s door behind the two men, taking off his tricorn hat just as the pirates, Ben, and Carewyn already had now that he was indoors. It was only once Carewyn, Percy, Ben, Jacob, and Ashe were alone that the two Navy officers and ex-Navy veteran dropped their professional masks and the two pirates dropped their intimidating glares, and Jacob and Carewyn ran forward, throwing their arms around each other and squeezing tight.

“Jacob!” Carewyn breathed against his shoulder as she clung to her brother.

Jacob cradled his younger sister close, absently trailing his hand through her hair in repetitive strokes. “Oh Wyn -- my brave Wyn...”

Carewyn pulled away just enough to look at Jacob. Her eyes trailed over his face, down to the long scar on his chest exposed by his slightly open shirt, and over his curly ponytail, which was currently squiggling like a ribbon in mid-air behind him.

Jacob smiled a bit sheepishly.

“Seems all sailors on the Flying Dutchman become a bit more ‘sea-like’ upon tying themselves to the ship. Rakepick’s hair kind of went all ‘jellyfish’ when she was captain -- probably because of her talent for shocking betrayals,” he added with a rather nasty smile. “Ashe thinks that my hair’s been evoking an eel. Fortunately I reckon I won’t start sprouting gills or turning green unless I actively shed my humanity and ignore my role as ferryman like Jones did...”

The severe look on Carewyn’s face made the smile slowly slide off of Jacob’s face.

“Jacob...when Jones was captain of the Dutchman, he wasn’t allowed to visit dry land but once every ten years,” said Carewyn, her voice betraying the anxiety she felt despite her best effort.

Jacob’s eyes grew a little more solemn. “...I know.”

Seeing the pain in his sister’s eyes, he immediately swooped in and trailed a hand through the hair near the front of her face.

“Wyn, I already planned for this. The whole reason I left you on Isle de Muerta is that I wanted to get Jones’s heart and force him, any way I had to, to release you from the contract.” He swallowed. “...I knew I’d have to be prepared to follow through, if I was going to threaten Jones’s life -- that I’d have to be prepared to become captain of the Dutchman myself, if it came to it.”

Carewyn looked if possible even more upset. “...You mean you planned this? You were really going to kill Jones, to stop him from impressing me into service?”

“I was not going to condemn you, Wyn,” Jacob said in a very forceful, pained voice. “I couldn’t let you suffer because of my mistake -- ”

“Two wrongs do not make a right, Jacob,” Carewyn shot back very harshly. “Jones may have been heartless, but he was still a person!”

“If you disregard the tentacles and claw, anyway,” Ashe said rather coolly. When Carewyn whirled on him with a very reproachful look, he spoke again before she did, “Carewyn, your brother had his fair share of conflict about the whole thing. He hated the thought of killing Jones and joining the crew of the Dutchman. He hated the thought of not being free to go where he wanted, to lose so much time with you...with me.”

Ashe’s eyes were very stony, but they still flickered over to Jacob, narrowing slightly with something oddly resigned. Carewyn’s gaze softened significantly.

“...I hated it for him too,” the merman said lowly. “I still do. But I hate the thought of Jack having died there on that deck more. I hate the thought that Rakepick would’ve actually managed to kill him this time, and there would’ve been nothing I could’ve done to stop it. Your friend the Pirate King couldn’t save your brother’s life, but she did prevent him from dying...all because she, like me, couldn’t bear the thought of you two never seeing each other again.”

His lips actually turned up in something of a weak, wry smile upon Carewyn.

“I understand your frustration -- your brother can be amazingly thick -- ”

“Oi!” said Jacob, a bit offended, but Ashe ignored him.

“ -- but I’ve been very fortunate to know the same intense, selfless love from Jack that he feels for you. I’m not going to act like it’ll be easy -- I mean, even if I’d be able to stay on-board on the Dutchman with Jack while he’s here in the land of the living...whenever he goes to the next world as ferryman, I won’t be able to follow. But I can always meet up with him at sea, in my regular form -- I can always catch up, given the proper time...just like I did while Jack was serving under Howell Davis. Until then, I’ll just find someplace to wait.”

Carewyn considered Ashe for a long moment, her blue eyes rippling with a rather indiscernible expression. Then, looking a bit more determined, she strode right up to Ashe and took hold of his shoulders.

“You won’t have to find a place,” she said. “You’ll have one with me.”

Both Jacob and Ashe looked taken aback.

“You’re family, Duncan,” said Carewyn with a smile. “And everything I’ve ever done -- everything I’m doing now -- is for my family...my blood one and my found one.”

She glanced at Percy, who beamed, before turning her gaze back to Ashe.

“You’ll always have a home with me, when you don’t have one with my brother,” she said very firmly. “Always.”

Ashe looked faintly stunned. His eyes trailed over Carewyn’s face, analyzing every inch as if he’d never seen anyone quite like her. His gaze flitted back over to Jacob, whose face had broken into a very warm, tear-choked smile.

Seeing the intense emotion in his partner’s face, Ashe couldn’t help but bow his head and clear his throat as he struggled to keep his composure.

“Ahem...well...that’s...nice.”

He glanced at Carewyn out the side of his eye almost hesitantly. The Admiral’s smile softened that bit more, becoming more sympathetic, and finally Ashe’s face slowly broke out into a very small, soft smile too. He brought up a hand and rested it on the crown of her head, lightly messing up her bangs.

“Guess I’ll just stick with you in the interim, then,” he said airily, “considering the Brethren Court’s instructions.”

Percy blinked in surprise. “The Brethren Court?”

Jacob nodded. “We took a vote and our Pirate King decided that a ‘representative’ should deliver the Court’s demands to the Admiral and the British Crown. Originally the plan was to have Ashe and me rendez-vous with you, and for Ashe to stay with you until ‘the terms were met.’”

“Jack would’ve done it himself if he could, but of course, he sort of needs to stick to the sea, unless he wants to waste his ‘one day every ten years,’” added Ashe.

“What terms did the Court decide on?” asked Ben, his arms crossed loosely over his chest. “I assume they want pardons for themselves and their crews...but just pardoning a mob of pirates isn’t going to fix things on its own.”

Jacob nodded. “Aye. The Court requested a ‘path toward reintegration’ -- one that includes pardons, as well as a job that suits our sailing and, er... ‘financially-inclined’ talents and can be used to build a future for ourselves and any families we may want to support. Amari’s First Mate said there would only be a 58% chance that the King would accept those terms, but he hoped that you ‘being put under duress’ by a pirate while submitting those terms in writing might improve the odds slightly -- ”

“I don’t think that will be necessary,” said Carewyn very primly.

This startled both Jacob and Ashe. Carewyn exchanged a wry smile with Ben.

“We’re already heading to London right now,” said Ben, his smirk noticeably broader than Carewyn’s. “The Admiral plans on requesting an audience with the King himself.”

“With Beckett gone, I’m in the best position I’ll ever be in, to make my move,” Carewyn said, her blue eyes flashing with determined fire. “I’m done with staying silent -- I intend to convince the King to give every pirate the chance to start their lives over.”

And so Carewyn sailed for London with Ashe, Ben, and Percy as her entourage. Meeting King George I would be a formidable proposition for anyone, but Carewyn fortunately was able to prepare a little ahead of time. The Weasley family had grown up near London, so Percy was able to give Carewyn some advice of how to approach the King --

“His Majesty was born and raised in the Holy Roman Empire, so English is not his first language. There are some rumors that he really doesn’t even speak English at all, but I think that’s highly exaggerated -- anti-German sentiment more than anything, you know. One thing that’s for sure, though, is that what he says goes. He’s even ostracized his own son and heir, so I’ve heard, since he was more popular with the British people. But he also can’t stand the Tories -- they never quite accepted his claim to the throne, over the Stuarts...honestly, there are a lot of people who’ve never really warmed up to the man...”

“And financially?” asked Carewyn.

Percy considered this. “...Well, the King’s very wealthy, certainly -- everyone knows that. But I suppose profit would always be advantageous, for the sake of the Empire...”

Carewyn smiled wryly and shook her head. “The Navy has been commanded by the East India Trading Company more than the King himself, as of late. Beckett once equated money with power, and I think there was a reason. If the King’s been leaning so heavily on the Company, that tells me that it had financial resources the Crown is in desperate need of, so the Crown’s own coffers currently depend on the Company’s success.”

Ben got an delighted, devious glint in his eye.

“Bet he’ll be absolutely thrilled to hear what happened to his fleet, then,” he said sarcastically.

Ashe and Carewyn exchanged a smirk too.

“I reckon you could play to that desperation,” said Ashe dryly. “A lack of or loss of wealth is a very common fear among men, I’ve found.”

Carewyn nodded in agreement. 

Within twenty days, the HMS Royal docked in London, a few days ahead of schedule thanks to the almost miraculously clear weather and friendly winds. Carewyn then traveled with Percy, Ashe, and Ben to Kensington Palace. It was only one of many castles owned by the King, but according to Percy, it was the one King George I had renovated the most, so Carewyn sussed out that it was likely his favorite of his residences and so, in her opinion, the best place to seek him out first. Her intuition turned out to be spot-on -- as it turned out, both King George I and his son the Prince were there, and although the King was occupied with his Ministers and couldn’t meet with them until that evening, Prince George Augustus was eager to meet the famous Admiral Weasley and requested an audience in one of the royal drawing rooms.

The Crown Prince of England was an amiable and warm, but not a very clever or intellectual man of about forty years. He expressed a lot of interest in Carewyn’s experience as a Navy hero, sounding rather like a child as he questioned her about facing off against the likes of Orion Amari and the crew of the dreaded ship Revenge. Carewyn did have to tailor her stories somewhat, but after a while, she was able to get Prince George comfortable enough that they ended up talking casually over a game of Cribbage, where Carewyn gleaned a few other helpful insights. For one, Carewyn learned that both the King and Prince knew several languages, the first being French, which was the preferred language at court as well as among royals abroad. She also found out that the royal family had never visited the colonies themselves, and that King George I’s leading advisor on matters of business -- the First Lord of the Treasury, Sir Robert Walpole -- had been personally putting more stock in the East India Trading Company than on investing any additional money into the colonies. From the sound of things, he believed as Cutler Beckett did in the power of money over noble ancestry, and yet the Prince conceded that his wife and father both thought well of him and that he was relatively amiable.

When Carewyn finally got her audience with King George I, she sure enough encountered Sir Robert Walpole. He was a broad middle-aged man with a powdered white wig curled into ringlets who stood beside the gray-wigged, tiny-eyed elderly King -- and the news of Cutler Beckett’s fate and the outcome of the confrontation at Shipwreck Cove visibly troubled him. As Carewyn had thought, the Crown had been counting on the East India Trading Company’s profits to flow back toward England to offset the national debt brought on by the War of Spanish Succession and Britain’s other conflicts...and so, when she made her proposal to the King, she felt rather confident.

“Votre Majesté...the scourge of piracy is indeed a threat, not just to the lives of our citizens, but to the Empire’s prosperity. But the East India Trading Company is a business -- they’re not trained in military matters, nor do they know how best to use the resources of the British Crown to combat this problem. They’re not equipped to deal with sensitive matters of state, which truthfully, I believe this to be. We don’t need to get England tied up in another military conflict...particularly when there’s a much more cost-effective alternative.”

King George I raised his graying eyebrows with some interest, but did not speak.

“And what alternative would you suggest, Admiral?” asked Walpole, looking rather curious himself.

“Investing in the colonies,” said Carewyn very firmly. “There’s still a lot of undeveloped land out there -- a lot of trading potential in beaver skins, lumber, and tobacco -- the possibility of wealth that’s been left untapped by the East India Trading Company, with their intense focus on Asia. These men who have become pirates, many of them, were privateers under us during our War against the Spanish. They know shipping and are in need of honest work. They’ve asked for it explicitly. I say that we offer pardons to those pirates who would be willing to work for a new trading company in New England -- one that can be for the colonies what the Company in India already is.”

Walpole frowned deeply in thought, considering the proposal. King George straightened up slightly in his throne so he could peer down at Carewyn with a beady eye.

“You believe, truly, that these criminals would want honest employment?” the old man asked.

His voice was very quiet and laced with a husky German accent. Apparently Percy was right to think the rumors that he couldn’t speak English weren’t true, but he seemed a bit uncomfortable with the language, all the same.

Carewyn smiled at the King. “Oui, mon roi. Beasts can survive on human flesh alone, but humans need a home and money in order to live well. Et les pirates...pardon, I hope that word is correct...sont juste les humains.”

King George’s tiny eyes softened noticeably.

“Your French is very poor, Admiral,” he said in rather smug amusement, “but your word choice is correct.”

He looked at Walpole. “What say you, Earl?”

Walpole considered his answer. “...It could be an interesting proposition -- were we able to locate someone who’d be willing to put his name, reputation, and estate on the line, to fund such a company...”

“I volunteer.”

Ben took a step forward and gave a low, but clipped bow to the King.

“Lord Earl, Your Majesty, this is Captain Gordon Cooper, of the HMS Royal,” Carewyn introduced him. “He was instrumental in helping me lead our men during the battle at Shipwreck Cove.”

“I already have a small sum of money saved up, your Majesty -- enough to purchase one or two ships of my own, to start with,” said Ben. “I truly believe that the profits I could make with those two ships just from offering safe passage to the colonies would be enough to fund the purchase of another. All I’d need would be some collateral to pay a crew for each ship in advance.”

"A standard ship would only need about ten well-bodied men to sail it and transport its cargo efficiently,” Carewyn said quickly, seeing the slight hesitation in the King’s expression. "I’m no expert in finance -- ” she inclined her head respectfully in Walpole’s direction, “ -- but in order to settle more land in the colonies, trees would have to be cut down...which means more lumber to transport back to England. If the people Captain Cooper’s ships are transporting are settlers who are incentivized to build homes there -- possibly with the promise of land ownership -- then their arrival alone would spark a boom of lumber sales. That could then pay back the investment several times over.”

Walpole’s lips spread into a smile, one wryer than the King’s. He was clearly a much more discerning man than either of the two Georges, but he seemed pleased by the proposition, nonetheless.

“...Indeed it could,” he granted. He glanced at the King. “I daresay old Townsend would be pleased to have some financial leverage for his talks with the Spanish and French...”

“Mm...”

King George I gave a short, pompous nod before turning back to face Carewyn and the others.

“Very well. I grant my favor.”

Walpole inclined his head to Ben. “Captain Cooper, the Crown grants you and your Company permission to sail. We shall provide you a loan of 10,000 pounds sterling for your first twenty sailors and any necessary ship repairs, to be paid back with interest within a year. If your sailors complete a successful -- namely, profitable -- round-trip expedition to London on board those ships, then they will receive a full pardon from the British Crown for their past crimes and be permitted to continue working as part of your Company.”

Carewyn’s companions’ eyes all lit up.

“Understood,” said Ben, his face consumed by a huge grin.

“Admiral Weasley will deliver the terms to the pirates -- quietly,” said the King with a stern eye. “I expect written reports and good results.”

Carewyn’s face burst into a brilliant smile too, which she tried to obscure when she brought an arm up to her chest and gave a low bow.

“Mais oui. Merci, votre Grace -- we’ll work hard pour England, et pour vous aussi.”

The King’s eyes sparkled with the trace of a wry smile. “Vous etes un garçon très divertissant, Amiral. J'espère que votre français se sera amélioré lors de notre prochaine rencontre.”

With the King’s blessing, Ben purchased the ships needed in London and, with Percy’s help, prepared them for their first expedition. Carewyn returned to the HMS Lion with Ashe, taking it out to sea just far enough that the Flying Dutchman could emerge from the water and pull up alongside the Navy ship. Carewyn relayed King George I’s decision to Jacob in her cabin, and the Captain of the Flying Dutchman was so overwhelmed with pride that he threw his arms around his little sister and squeezed her with all of his strength. Carewyn, however, found herself unable to celebrate.

“What’s wrong, Wyn?” said Jacob. He tilted his head to look at her, his eel-like ponytail twitching almost curiously behind him. “You did it -- you convinced the King. The Lords at Shipwreck Cove, all the people who live there, will be able to live normal lives again, and it’s all thanks to you.”

“I know,” said Carewyn lowly.

Despite herself, she just couldn’t meet her brother’s gaze. Her eyes lingered on his shoulder.

“...I just wish I could’ve given you that kind of normal life too,” she admitted.

Jacob’s blue eyes darkened. Bringing up both of his arms, he encircled Carewyn and held her tightly against his chest as he rested his head on top of hers. Carewyn bit her lip, trying to hold in her emotions as best she could.

“I wanted to bring you home,” she murmured. “The whole reason I wanted to fight for a world where pirates could be forgiven was because I wanted you to be able to come home...you and Bill and Charlie and Jules and Orion...”

Jacob squeezed Carewyn that bit tighter. Both Cromwells were crying now, even though they both stubbornly fought to keep themselves from breaking down into full sobs.

Ashe shared a grim look  with Jacob over Carewyn’s head. Then he came up beside both of them, resting a hand on the crown of Carewyn’s head and leaning his forehead against his lover’s, and hummed something low under his breath. The resonant bass tone seemed to slowly calm Carewyn’s heart and breathing and help the tears ebb.

After a moment, she took a deep breath and looked up at Ashe with muted gratitude, before she turned back to her brother.

“...Now that I’ve done my duty and made sure the Crown’s terms were delivered, I intend to send in my resignation to the Navy. I can’t support Ben’s new Company while I’m still Admiral without worrying about a conflict of interest, after all.”

She offered a weak wry smile, which then slowly morphed into a much more gentle one.

“Besides...I think I’m ready to finally stop fighting.”

Jacob’s teary eyes softened fondly. “Then live, my sweet Wyn. Live in peace and happiness...”

With a heavy breath, he picked up the Dead Man’s Chest he’d brought with him back off Carewyn’s desk and faced Ashe.

“I’ll need to head to the next world soon,” said Jacob. “Would you...?”

Ashe inclined his head in a solemn nod. “Give it to me, Jack.”

Very carefully, Jacob placed the Chest into Ashe’s open hands, trailing his own much dirtier, faintly trembling hands over his lover’s once he’d taken it. His eyes darted from Ashe to Carewyn, looking heartbroken and almost starved -- like he longed so much to never look away from them again.

“Be safe,” Jacob mumbled, “and...please, keep a weather eye on the horizon for me?”

“How dare you ask me that.”

Ashe trailed his lips along the side of Jacob’s face in lingering, messy kisses, only pausing briefly to look him in the eye, blazing brown on blue.

“I will always wait, Jack. I will always find you again.”

Carewyn’s eyes were just as soft as she reached up into the inside pocket of her jacket and slowly withdrew a familiar star-like, sapphire-and-diamond pendant for Jacob to see.

It was the one he himself had given her on Isle de Muerta.

Jacob’s eyes flooded with more tears as Carewyn wrapped both of her arms around her brother’s neck, hugging him tightly just as she had then.

“We’ll be there, Jacob,” she murmured. Two streaks of tears slid from her closed eyes. “I promise.”

Jacob delivered the British Crown’s terms to the Brethren Court at Shipwreck Cove within two days, after he’d returned from ferrying the proper souls to the next life. Within a month, a ship full of twenty sailors had arrived in London, ready to man the red-and-blue-painted ships Ben Copper had purchased. The two ships set sail for the colonies, the first up to New England and the second down to the Caribbean, which allowed Percy to return home to Port Royal and go about his duties as Commodore and Ben to finally be reunited with his love Wendy Gordon and propose marriage as a free and prosperous man.

Once the two ships returned to London another month later, the first wave of pardons was signed. From there, Ben’s enterprise -- the Gordon-Cooper Trading Company -- grew, taking on more ships that then proceeded to employ the once-most-wanted criminals in the world and give them a chance at a new life. And Carewyn -- retiring with full honors from the Navy and settling in New York City with Ashe under her real name for the first time since she was a child -- visited the dock every morning to see every ship that came in.

The first ship to New York brought Ellie Hopper. The once-Pirate Lord of the Mediterranean Sea ended up colliding with the soft-spoken third son of the well-respected horse breeder Johan Schaefer in upstate New York, and the two were married within a few years.

The second ship brought Merula Snyde and the stylish Frenchman Andre Egwu. The captain of the so-called “most powerful ship on the seven seas” continued as a merchant, breaking off from the Gordon-Cooper Trading Company to buy her own ship and engage in the tobacco and sugar trade between New England and the southern colonies. Andre opened up his own clothing shop in Philadelphia and soon became one of the most sought-after tailors in Pennsylvania.

The third ship brought Bill and Jules.

When Bill caught sight of Carewyn at the dock, he practically barreled his way down the ship’s gangplank and shoved a good ten people aside to reach his best friend. The two gingers and Jules then clung to each other for what felt like hours, tears of joy streaming down their faces as Bill trailed a hand through Carewyn’s now-loose-flowing hair and Jules fawned over Carewyn’s pretty new dress.

Bill and Jules also brought a letter from Charlie with them --

My twin, Carey,

I’m sorry I won’t be able to give you this news in person -- but I won’t be accepting my pardon for a while yet.

At Shipwreck Cove, I met a woman named Sarahi (I don’t believe you know her, but she knows you, and Orion spoke very well of her), who grew up in the area of the Pacific Ocean. According to what she’s said, it’s been left largely in chaos since the death of Bartholomew Sharp -- sea serpents, carnivorous sirens, giant squids, the whole lot...and as Pirate Lord of the Pacific, it’s my responsibility to manage things there. But hey, you know I’ve never been afraid of a little adventure! Particularly when I’ve got a good crew on my side. My First Mate Barnaby’s injuries have completely healed, so we, Sarahi, and Samantha O’Connell will be heading out within the next three days on the new and improved Revolution. Sam and Sarahi helped me paint some red dragon wings on the sides, just as a flourish!

I miss you so much, and I miss Bill already, just writing this -- but I know that we won’t ever be truly apart, even when I can only see you in my mind’s eye. I know you’ll probably be worried about me, Carey, but please don’t be. I’d trust my crew with my life -- I already have, honestly, and they sure haven’t let me down yet! I can’t wait for you to meet them. I reckon you’d probably “mother” the hell out of Barnaby, and Sarahi was really happy when I told her how good of a singer you are, so she’s very excited about the prospect of singing with you. And Sam...I reckon you and she will get on famously.

Remember, Carey...we’re family, now and forever! You’ll be in my mind and heart always, until I sail up into New York Harbor and see you again! If Bill hasn’t given you the biggest hug ever for my sake, then give him a good kick to the shin and remind him. Take good care of him, Jules, and Percy for me. Love you so much.

Your brother,

Charlie

Bill and Jules Weasley ended up settling down and starting a family of their own in New York City, just twelve blocks away from where Carewyn and Ashe lived. It was not uncommon over the years for both Carewyn and Ashe to pick up babysitting duties, though Ashe most frequently would just use his particular talent for singing to put any fussy children right to sleep and then drop them off in either Carewyn’s or Jules’s lap.

Over the next six months, more and more red-and-blue ships passed through New York Harbor, dropping off more pardoned ex-pirates so they could start new lives in the colonies. Then one day, toward the end of spring, Carewyn left the brick house she shared with Ashe as if to head for the dock as usual, only to stop mid-step at the sound of someone shouting her name.

“Carewyn!”

She turned around, her ginger hair flourishing behind her as if in slow motion.

A man had just leapt off the back of a carriage he’d been hanging off of without the driver’s knowledge and was now running toward her. Carewyn squinted, taking in his unfamiliar dark ponytail and sailor’s clothes -- then, within seconds, she recognized the handsomely smiling, bearded face and his shining, galaxy-like eyes.

“Orion?” she breathed.

Her heart seemed to seize up, as if it were being squeezed in someone’s hand and yet being given wings at the exact same time. Then she threw herself into a run, and it slammed against her rib cage, as she ran to him, flat-out ignoring how her knees kept getting caught in her hoops and her heeled shoes pinched her feet.

“Orion -- ORION!”

She just about tripped into his arms. Orion caught her and swooped down on her, burying his face in her hair.

“Carewyn...” he murmured against her neck.

“Orion,” said Carewyn.

Her voice was strained with the effort of trying to contain her joy. It felt like she was being stretched at the seams and probably could’ve exploded from all the intense emotions beating at the edges of her heart. She secured her arms around his neck and clung to him -- she brought her lips up to the side of his temple and kissed it, resting her forehead against his briefly before finally pulling away enough to look him in the face.

Orion was beaming from ear to ear as he brought up a hand to trail his thumb gently along her cheek.

“...Carewyn Cromwell...I don’t think you’ve ever looked more fair.”

Carewyn smiled. “Does that mean you like my new look?”

“Yes,” said Orion, his eyes grazing her black-and-white-striped dress and the diamond-and-sapphire pendant tied with a black ribbon around her neck briefly, “but that’s not why you look so fair. You’ve been my moon goddess, previously...but now you are Libertas, personified.”

Carewyn laughed, her face contorted with confusion. “What?”

“Libertas, Carewyn,” repeated Orion, his huge smile never faltering. “The goddess of freedom! Freedom is the most beautiful thing, Carewyn. I’ve longed for it all my life, but never could truly have it, whether because I lacked the means of survival or because I was a pirate who could only live on the run. And when we first met again, on the Artemis...the thing that hurt me the most, seeing you again...was knowing that you were trapped by your position -- enslaved to the duty that made you hide who you were and march lock-step with the likes of Cutler Beckett. But now you...in this moment, here...you are free. It shines in your eyes, on your face -- it radiates off of you like a star, Carewyn. Better still -- because of you, I am free. For the first time in my life...I’m completely free to chase my heart’s desire...”

Orion’s smile seemed to shrink slightly, not out of lack of happiness but out of something almost like nerves, as he reached into his lone remaining belt and slipped out a familiar black-lidded compass.

"McNully, Skye and I have been offered salaried positions with the Gordon-Cooper Trading Company,” he said a bit more seriously, “so I may have to return to sea in the future, but...”

When he opened the compass, its scarlet arrow was pointed right at Carewyn.

“...My heart’s desire has not changed. I would always return, if you...”

He trailed off, his tone oddly shy for how calm his face appeared. The once-Admiral’s red-painted lips spread into a bigger, fuller smile too as she rested her hands on top of his.

“I wouldn’t have married you in the middle of a storm if I didn’t want to build a life with you, Orion Amari,” she said gently. “Or is it Cromwell now? We may want to make a decision about that...”

She smoothed some dark hair out of his eyes.

“I already told you that I want you to have a home. If you need to fly like a bird...then I’ll be your nest.”

Carewyn placed a soft, chaste kiss to his lips. His black eyes softening, Orion brought up a hand to hold the back of her head, holding it in place. He kissed her chastely in return once, twice, and then deepened the kiss on the third go. After he released her, he lingered, his lips brushing up against hers as he smiled down at her.

“...My dear Bedlam maid...I will always follow your song home.”

Carewyn’s blue eyes sparkled affectionately. “Then I’ll never stop singing.”

“See that you don’t,” said Orion, his black eyes glittering with some wry amusement. “I do believe I said I’d envisioned a life for you where you married a man that you could sing for.”

Carewyn laughed quietly, but after a moment, she brought her forehead beside her husband’s, her arms secure around his neck as she held him close and sang for him.

“So now these two are married, and happy may they be, Like turtle doves together, in love and unity.

All pretty maids, with patience wait, that have got loves at sea – I love my love because I know...my love…loves…me.”

[samsilver975]

Wow, never thought I’d start off my Tumblr career with a post on the DreamSMP but here we are.

I’ve decided to post my thoughts on the events that took place today! Or: my thoughts on DOOMSDAY, character by character. Please keep in mind that these are my opinions, I respect those who disagree with me! Also, imma do this in parts so we’ll start with Niki, Fundy, Eret, Ponk, Punz, HBomb and Quakity.

Let’s takle some of the ‘smaller’ ones first. Something I love about the SMP is how much care they put into every character. Not just major players, but those that would be considered side characters. Every character goes through growth and changes, which makes the world of the SMP dynamic and ‘real.’ That being said, I’ll begin with Niki. I really liked Niki’s arc in this season. I remember how loyal she was to L’Manburg in the beginning, and now she has let go. It isn’t a ‘betrayal.’ The L’Manburg she fought and died for was pretty much already gone. She tried so hard to hold onto the nation, but in the end, she let go, which is a strength in itself. Her burning L’Mantree represents that she had truly left it behind for better things. Her perspective is one that makes the world seem the most relatable; what are we all but caught in the middle to two extremes? It’s raw, bittersweet, and beautiful.

Next up: Fundy

Oh Fundy. I wasn’t expecting that. I knew the signs were there, but still didn’t put the prices together. He too, was caught in the middle, representing one whose core values were shaken to the point of shattering. He is left in a fragile state, both mentally and emotionally. I’m... not sure what I think about Fundy’s role. I didn’t entirely appreciate the sudden turn, though I understand the reasoning behind it. I felt his position was just a repeat and he didn’t really go through as much development as I was expecting. Though, the realization I felt when I was watching Ranboo’s stream and Phil mentioned their source of TNT hit me like a freight train. It made me realize that Fundy, for all his talk of unity, had drifted away from L’Manburg far before January 7th. In the end, Fundy will always be Fundy. He’ll always be a Fox.

3: Eret

I didn’t catch Eret’s stream unfortunately. I chose to watch Ranboo’s instead. But I appreciated his character arc nonetheless. His is one that extends beyond season 2, all the way back to the first war. We all know of his betrayal (and if you don’t you have a lot to catch up on my friend). Back then, he was in the same position Fundy was. Dream crowning him king could have been horrible; Eret could’ve become a tyrant. But in the end, Eret turned his crowning into a redemption arc, one long awaited that he didn’t get during Pogtopia. Despite being crowned by Dream, he owed little allegiance to him. He too, found himself caught in the middle. In the end, he did his part. He gave his fort as a staging ground for an ultimately lost cause. I think he kind of knew that; many did. He finally got his redemption though. It’s best summed up be Ghostbur, “Plus Eret.”

Ponk:

Oh Ponk. Head pats for you.

Punz:

You sneaky decoy. His tweeting about being a spy totally made me miss Fundy because I was worried about him! Nice.

HBomb:

Watching his stream gave me anxiety. But I liked his point. There are always those who won’t take action. Not even to torment one side or the other. I’m glad to see him getting involved in the plot!

Quackity:

I like Quackity’s arc from an analysis standpoint, not a moral one. He kinda leaves a sour taste in my mouth from a moral standpoint. His is the true corruption. Dream was right. He was one hundred percent more of a president then Tubbo. I enjoyed watching power corrupt him slowly; the pacing was really well done. You can see it all the way up to the festival as he enforces rules more then Tubbo. The lead up to Doomsday was a little bit odd. It was kind of a sudden swing from the loudly power hungry politician, to a... quieter character. The best way I can think to explain it is that Dream got into his head. He was another whose stream I didn’t catch until the end. As far as I can tell, he realized how close he was to becoming like Schlatt, more than any of the other cabinet members. But then... why threaten to execute Ranboo? Maybe the point came from Tubbo. Their conversation culminated with realizations for both. For Quackity, he realized that he had been too powerful, and the way to fix that was to get away, pass the chain on to Tubbo, for real. But that was before Doomsday. Quackity after the destruction was... different. I was expecting him to be angry, and he is, but not in the loud, typical Quackity fashion I’d come to expect. He tells Tommy to, “Not trust anyone,” hinting that he knows something Tommy doesn’t. Later he resigns himself to rely on democracy from now on when dealing with Dream. So... he still thinks of himself as independent? He brings up some good points in his “Savages” speech, and while I agree that rushing in as I’m sure Tommy will try to do is not the way to go... I don’t think it’s presumptive of me to say that believing democracy will magically solve everything is a bit... naive? I dunno. Quackity at the end derailed everything I had laid out in my mind about his character. In short, I enjoyed his early power mad arc, but the aftermath of L’Manburg’s fall has left me thoroughly puzzled. Either way, Quackity will not be taking a backseat in the Resurrection Arc. There’s a lot to be had from his character’s future developments.

That’s all from me for now! Once again I’ll ask that you remember that these analyses are my opinion, and I’d love to see what the rest on the community thinks. The rest of the characters I need to have my thoughts thoroughly collected for, and I pretty much wrote this at 8:30 pm as a one shot while I was still traumatized. I’ll post part two tomorrow. Also, if I fail my English class because I was watching a fantasy country get destroyed instead of paying attention to the online lesson I am Blaming You TOMMYINNIT

[aerltarg]

2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 26, 27 from ask game

2. Are there any popular fandom OTPs you only BroTP?

oh, it's actually hard to answer bc pretty often my otps can work as brotps for me as well. it also means that when i can't ship some characters they don't work for me as friends either. not to mention that in asoiaf i'm open to many ships, and if i'm not very passionate about some it's not a sign i can't see them in romantic light.

5. Has fandom ever ruined a pairing for you?

may i say any sansa ship? 😭 as well as sansa herself lmao. idk generally i can't ship characters i don't like because i'm just not interested. and it's not to say i don't like book!sansa (show!sansa is another case 💀), i just don't find her arc as intriguing and epic as arcs of some other characters. however, it's absolutely her obnoxious fandom's fault that i don't want to touch anything about her now, pairings including. sansaery? pass. sansan? i used to have a soft spot for them in my heart but now? nah. sansa x anyone? pls have mercy, she's already a fandom bicycle.

and jonsa ofc. i would never mind some crack ship as i do this one if not for their obnoxious stans that did way too much to list there right now. but this burning desire to persuade every rock on the street that your crack ship is canon will never stop being ridiculous lmao

also braime. tbh i used to low-key like them but some of their stans weirded my away lol. i get that not all of them are like that but still. it's generally my great pain when i see braime/brienne/jaime stans who are also dany/targ antis. every time i see them i cackle and run away as fast as i can crying from disappointment lmao. it's really a pity because i'm either very neutral or like in my own way all three of them.

6. Has fandom ever made you enjoy a pairing you previously hated?

jonrya it is! i never hated them, you know, but they never were more than siblings and brotp to me. however, later i encountered the deluded crack ship fandom that shall not be named and understood that if there is any possible romance for jon with any of his sisters-cousins we all know which one it will be lmao. also their stans are very sweet and i really like many of their takes on arya and jon! i generally love relationships of jon and arya very much so it wasn't that difficult in practice to see them in a quite different light.

7. Is there anything you used to like but can't stand now?

meta culture lmao. reading different analysis and interpretations of the text used to be very interesting to me (and still is tbh but in other fandoms) though asoiaf is a different case. imo many people aren't honest in their so called theories and analyses. i get that all of us are biased but some "meta writers'" denial of their own biases influence fandom in a bad way. it looks like too many people run to them to get answers to their questions about any minor detail as if they were grrm himself. yk instead of using their own reading comprehension lmao. you see how this meta culture ruined fandom just looking at the most delusional stans and shippers who spread their agenda by writing endless text posts full of nonsense and bullshit but styled as oh so intellectual and thoughtful analysis. it's insane how many people actually buy it and don't check canon accuracy of such claims themselves. it got to the ridiculous point when random people try to argue with you with some far-fetched embarrassing "theories" as if they were canon facts or quotes straight up from a fanfic because they read somewhere some other confused soul's post and got from a context that this quote is canon (despite the fact that it wasn't written in grrm's style at all but some people can't use their brains even if their lives depended on it it seems).

anyway it's become too long and rambly already so tldr. because of such "neutral unbiased" analyses i got the habit of fact checking almost everything i see in such posts. there's only a small amount of meta writers from targ/dany/jon/arya stans that i trust because i know by practice and following them for some time that they don't pull anything out of nowhere, back up everything they say with canon quotes, don't decontextualize anything and (that is the most important thing to me) are reasonable and open to discussion unlike so many bnfs nowadays.

8. Have you received anon hate? What about?

ah, not in this fandom yet, god bless! i think i'm not loud enough for the needed amount of time to deserve it lol. but since i'm not going anywhere soon maybe one day i will 😂

9. Most disliked character(s)? Why?

robert baratheon and tywin lannister, obviously. tbh it's pretty hard for me to hate any characters because you know. they're fictional lmao. just lines on paper, they can't hurt you. and even such dudes as tywin or robert don't get real distaste from me if they're written well enough. my problem with them lies not only in their canon crimes and shitty consequences of those but in fandom's (or at least some parts of it) unwillingness to acknowledge that they're canonically written as shitty, not as stan/pity/worship material. tywin isn't as clever as some think and robert is a coward outside of battlefield, not to mention some absolutely disgusting denial of his nature from targ antis only because the man happened to be the most vocal targ hater in-universe so these folks feel like he is their main book representative and whitewash him completely lmao

10. Most disliked arc? Why?

uugh idk even. i'm either low-key interested (or used to be at least so i can stay pretty neutral for the sake of nostalgia lol) or too indifferent to really care.

11. Is there an unpopular character you like that the fandom doesn't? Why?

all my faves have their own crowd of haters i'm afraid 😭 but let me say rhaegar. even among some dany/targ stans my man is so misunderstood lmao. it's not even his fault i dare say it's fanon about his half-imagined crimes that somehow got widespread to the unbelievable degree. and when i say they're half-imagined i'm being very generous actually. ofc he isn't perfect, no one in asoiaf is. and yes, he's a pre-series dead minor character but almost all little information about him is actually positive, not to mention the narrative itself that doesn't paint him as a villain or just a shitty dude. on the contrary, he's an idealized to some degree dead prince who could've been a good king (like some other historical targaryens, jacaerys, baelor breakspear, aemon son of jaehaerys, etc.), a mysterious yet tragic figure. i have much to say about why it's so popular to shit on him in fandom but yeah. his haters should send their complaints to grrm instead, no one forced the man to write him like that lol. and i mean that no one has to like him ofc. but it's misinterpretation of the text to claim he was intentionally written as a villain or smth by grrm.

12. Is there an unpopular arc that you like that the fandom doesn't? Why?

i don't know if it counts as unpopular but i would say tyrion's arc as a whole because i enjoy his character and like in my own way. i can get why some people don't like him but this man will always have his own place in my heart i must admit.

13. Unpopular opinion about XXX character?

is this unpopular tho?.. ok but renly wouldn't make a terrible king. i dare say he would be better than both robert and stannis. yes, he wasn't shown as perfect and i don't claim this. he wouldn't be the best or the most brilliant or the most just or noble. yet still better than his brothers. his flaws weren't anything other high lords didn't have, his mistakes weren't anything other lords and kings didn't do. in many ways he would make a better job than robert or stannis, too bad he died so early, even though i get why it was important for the narrative.

26. Most shippable character?

well generally for me it's the ones i love the most lol. jonerys/snowstorm is my never dying otp but i admit my sins, sometimes i just see dany with other characters (often from other fandoms pls don't @ me). however, since dany is THE fave of mine it means i would rather twist the other guy or girl to fit into the good match for her than twist her for another character in my new born crack ship lol. and i never stay for too long with the ships with which i feel they don't really fit and don't do justice for each other lol. maybe that's the reason i'm not much of a rare shipper / crack shipper afshdjdb

27. Least shippable character?

everyone i don't like? 😭 as i've said sansa for the reasons above lol. you can insert many others in her place lmao

[theusurpersdog]

So Game of Thrones ended on Sunday, and for now it’s going down as potentially the worst ending of any TV show ever. Some of the backlash has come from the more nonsensical elements, such as Bronn being on the Small Council, anyone in Westeros defending Daenerys (the show literally framed her like Hitler, come the fuck on), Tyrion deciding who was King while in shackles, etc. But the truth is, none of that would’ve mattered if the emotions rang true. And that’s been a problem since the show started; go all the way back to Winter is Coming and you’ll see that the Starks have always been sidelined - both as individuals and as a family - in favor of the Lannisters. George Martin is writing a character piece about the Starks and how they survive, and the show was never going to stick the landing when they fundamentally didn’t understand that.

I’m not the first to point this out, but man did it really bother me this episode. D&D really could’ve phoned in 95% of this story and just shown up to love the Starks and everyone would’ve been at least satisfied, and they just couldn’t do it. So many years of bad writing and idiot plots and plain stupidity hasn’t lost Game of Thrones hardly any fans, because the ones they had were deeply invested in the characters GRRM had created and were willing to overlook just about everything to see those characters have some sort of conclusion. That’s why their entire audience has turned against them now - they didn’t care about the Starks for 8 seasons, and GRRM’s ending required the audience and the writers care deeply for Jon, Sansa, Arya, and Bran.

For all of GRRM’s talk about wanting to break his reader’s hearts, and D&D’s version of his story as this GrimDark nightmare, GRRM’s story has a real, emotional heart to it. People debate whether it was a fantasy story with the false premise of a political period piece, or a political story with a touch of fantasy intrigue - but the truth is, this story is and always has been a character piece centered around the Starks and how they survive and rebuild after family tragedy. In number of povs and chapters, they literally overwhelm the series. Jon, Sansa, Arya, Bran, and Catelyn all are in the top povs as well as Ned, who is still competitive despite being in exactly 1 book of the series. Having the Starks as the center of the story, the point in which almost all the action revolves, is what grounds all of Martin’s series even as his povs reach 30+. Martin was being very serious when he said Arya, Sansa, and Bran were the heart of his series. You need them because they make it worth it.

So let’s break down how D&D ripped the heart out of asoiaf’s chest. The biggest problem the show had was something book readers have known for a long time, but didn’t fully realize until Sunday night: The Bran Problem. GRRM has stated multiple times that Bran is his hero, yet the show has never had any interest in his story. They made an entirely random decision not to include flashbacks or dream sequences, which immediately cuts out about half of Bran’s content. But not only did they take away his magical importance, they also stole his political importance. Bran was Robb Stark’s heir, Lord of Winterfell and first in line to be the King in the North. Yet they took Bran’s story away from him and gave the focus to Theon Greyjoy, a character more appealing to the tastes of David Benioff and Dan Weiss. So we never got to see the King of the Six (should be eight but whatever I’m just dying inside) Kingdoms acting in any leadership capacity. And, last but certainly not least, D&D took all emotion from Bran. And no, I don’t mean when he came back from beyond the wall a husk of a person. That was awful, but the damage was done seasons before. If you’ve read the books, you’ll know and love Bran Stark because this is who he is:

He sent sweets to Hodor and Old Nan as well, for no reason but he loved them

Bran was a sweet boy. Everyone loved him

The roots of the trees grow deep, and under the ground the Kings of Winter sit their thrones. So long as those remained, Winterfell remained. It was not dead, just broken. Like me, he thought,  I'm not dead either

Old stories are like old friends, she used to say. You have to visit them from time to time

He is a sweet boy, quick to laugh, easy to love

Bran has always represented happiness and people coming together in GRRM’s story. Ned wants to bring him to King’s Landing because he’s universally loved and will ease the conflict between Joffrey and Robb, and just the thought of him being alive makes Jon bury his ego and reach out to his Night’s Watch Brothers. He is Meera’s little Prince, someone that Howland Reed’s children are willing to go beyond the wall and die for. He accepts food on the road beyond the Wall, and promises he’ll repay his debt many times over. He’s the boy who looks back into the past and just wants to see his dad again; who reaches out to save Theon, even when Theon took everything from him. He is Eddard Stark’s son, soft and kind and loving, brave when he is afraid, loyal and honorable, and he is a good person. He’s young, but he is fit to be a King one day. 

But no, D&D didn’t stop at Bran. Let’s talk about Arya Stark, and the little girl who never was. Was there ever a character more suited to D&D’s tastes than a little murder girl hellbent on revenging her family’s killers? But was there ever a character further from Arya Stark? She is nine years old when Ser Ilyn takes her father’s head, of course she is brash and reckless and childish, wanting to avenge him. But she is all of those things because she is still a kid. Below the surface, she is very scared and very hurt. Unlike the show’s version of Arya, who is upset Joffrey died because she couldn’t do it herself, the Arya of the books has a realization that Joffrey dying means nothing because she’ll never get Robb back. Arya isn’t turning into an assassin because it would be cool, she’s running away as far as she can.

You can watch the season finale of Game of Thrones s4, and be right in concluding that Arya Stark leaves The Hound for dead in a ruthless move of brutality as she goes to pursue her dreams of being an assassin. Now read the end of A Storm of Swords, and you’ll find an Arya who refuses to let Sandor take a piece of her no matter how he abuses her, and goes to Braavos because she is so afraid that no one could love her anymore - and most of all she leaves because with Winterfell sacked and held by the Boltons, she genuinely thinks she has lost her home. Arya doesn’t make a well-adjusted decision to leave Westeros, she’s trying to keep her head above water before she drowns in grief. Disassociating from her pack is the only way she can cope with the unbearable amount of loss she has suffered, especially at such a young age. But GRRM’s version of Arya is fierce, brave, loyal, loving, and above all she loves her family.

Then there is Sansa, the most empathetic character in GRRM’s whole world. The unfailing hope and kindness in which she views the world are her defining character traits; she echoes GRRM’s own worldview, one where you can see the good and the bad in everyone, and choose to forgive - and if not that, still refuse to be cruel in kind. Sansa is the only one who looks at Sandor Clegane, looks at the ruin fire made of his face, and see that his eyes are why he’s so ugly - and then reach out to show him mercy. The girl who was beaten everyday of her time in King’s Landing, and still mourned Joffrey because he was a person and he died and she understood that it was still awful. She wishes knights who literally beat her bloody would fall off their horse, then feels bad and ashamed when they do. Sansa Stark is kind above all.

And the show took this character and made her cold. They tried to make her Littlefinger. Surprise! Nobody cares about the emotional well being and happiness of Petyr Baelish for a reason. Thankfully Bryan Cogman was there to run interference between Sansa and D&D, so she wasn’t fully the Ice Queen D&D wanted her to be, but goddamn how do you take Sansa “if I am ever Queen, I’ll make them love me” Stark and make her cold?!

The biggest problem with stripping the Stark kids individually of their emotions, is that they can no longer exist as the family GRRM created them to be. Without Arya, Bran, and Sansa’s emotional arcs, everything becomes meaningless. Who cares that Ramsay Bolton is the one to rebuild Winterfell in the show? Certainly not an audience that hasn’t been told to care.

You’ll notice a trend in the type of chapters that D&D decided not to adapt into Game of Thrones; think of all the chapters that are the emotional heart of GRRM’s story. Not the shocking character deaths, or dragons, or plot twists. The moments of intimacy between GRRM, his character, and you as the reader. The moments so small yet so impactful, the lines you remember not because they pushed the plot forward but because they honestly moved you in a way that you felt hope, longing, love? Those chapters are almost always either from Bran, Sansa, or Arya; and are always about their connection to their family. D&D adapted none of them. Here’s three great examples:

Done with Wooden Teeth

When Arya is a serving girl at Harrenhal during A Clash of Kings, it really sucks. Unlike the show, she is not cup bearer to Tywin Lannister; she is just like everyone else: abused, mistreated, underfed, miserable, and uncared for. She’s already at a pretty low moment in life, then the news breaks that Bran and Rickon were murdered by Theon Greyjoy and Winterfell has been sacked. And Arya doesn’t even have someone to grieve with; the one person she tries to tell, Elmar Frey, tells her nobody cares about a serving girl’s brothers when he’s just lost his Princess (the irony...).

The news that her family is dead almost breaks her:

As Arya crossed the yard to the bathhouse, she spied a raven circling down toward the rookery, and wondered where it had come from and what message it carried. Might be it’s from Robb, come to say it wasn’t true about Bran and Rickon. She chewed on her lip, hoping. If I had wings I could fly back to Winterfell and see for myself. And if it was true, I’d just fly away, fly up past the moon and the shining stars, and see all the things in Old Nan’s stories, dragons and sea monsters and the Titan of Braavos, and maybe I wouldn’t ever fly back

This is Arya giving up. Everything she’s done in this book so far has been to get back to Winterfell, or to Jon at the Wall. Her making the decision to fly away (which she’ll follow through on in A Storm of Swords) is a defeat, the acceptance that she’ll never get her family back.

If the chapter had ended here (it doesn’t), D&D still would’ve gutted it, because no Stark gets to react to Bran and Rickon’s death in the show. Not even a minute of screentime given to the Heir to the North and his brother dying; not a moment where their family can grieve the tremendous loss.

But Arya is a Stark, so before she gives up on her identity, she visits the Godswood:

“Tell me what to do, you gods,” she prayed.

For a long moment there was no sound but the wind and the water and the creak of leaf and limb. And then, far far off, beyond the godswood and the haunted towers and the immense stone walls of Harrenhal, from somewhere out in the world, came the long lonely howl of a wolf

The Godswood is very important to the Starks for a couple different reasons. First, only the men of the North worship the Old Gods, and the trees is the connection they have to them. The Old Gods were who Ned went to for guidance, and every single Stark has huge moments of understanding in front of a Godswood (none of which made it into the show...). But, more specific to the Starks as a family, Bran speaks to his family through them and guides them toward home. So even though they don’t understand that Bran is calling to them, the Starks are drawn to the trees for help.

And the trees always answer them. The Starks get a real, physical response when they ask the Godswood for help:

Then, so faintly, it seemed as if she heard her father’s voice. “When the snows fall and the white wind blows, the lone wolf dies, but the pack survives,” he said.

“But there is no pack,” she whispered to the weirwood. Bran and Rickon were dead, the Lannisters had Sansa, Jon had gone to the Wall. “I’m not even me now, I’m Nan.”

“You are Arya of Winterfell, daughter of the north. You told me you could be strong. You have the wolf blood in you.”

“The wolf blood.” Arya remembered now. “I’ll be as strong as Robb. I said I would.” She took a deep breath, then lifted the broomstick in both hands and brought it down across her knee. It broke with a loud crack, and she threw the pieces aside. I am a direwolf, and done with wooden teeth.

In her lowest moment, Arya re-finds her strength by remembering she is a Stark, a direwolf who belongs to a pack. The Godswood gives her Ned as comfort, as a reminder of who she is and what she should do. There is an incredible emphasis on family here. It would be impossible to adapt this chapter unless the writers and audience fully understood just how committed to each other the Starks are - which is why they didn’t adapt it.

I’m Not Dead Either

When Bran finally leaves the crypts at the end of A Clash of Kings, he’s close to giving up on himself entirely. He spent three days inside Summer, and returning to the body he views as broken (”Bran the Broken” is something he calls himself when he feels upset, not the monikor he’d give himself as King) is really hard for him. And when he finally leaves the crypts, he comes out to a Winterfell that has been destroyed; Ramsay has set the place ablaze and killed everyone. Bran knows Ser Rodrik is dead and Maester Luwin is soon to be as well. He looks around him and sees all this destruction, all he smells is fire or blood. But one thing in Winterfell stands unharmed; Summer takes off running for the Godswood:

The air was sweeter under the trees. A few pines along the edge of the wood had been scorched, but deeper in the damp soil and green wood had defeated the flames. “There is a power in living wood,” said Jojen Reed, almost as if he knew what Bran was thinking, “a power strong as fire.”

After Bran says goodbye to Maester Luwin, and him and Rickon part ways with no idea where either is heading, Bran has one last moment to look on Winterfell and find hope:

Beyond, the tops of the keeps and towers still stood as they had for hundreds of years, and it was hard to tell that the castle had been sacked and burned at all. The stone is strong, Bran told himself, the roots of the trees go deep, and under the ground the Kings of Winter sit their thrones. So long as those remained, Winterfell remained. It was not dead, just broken. Like me, he thought, I’m not dead either.

Bran looks back at Winterfell, and because he’s able to see the unharmed Godswood and the Kings of Winter still seated on their thrones, he can understand it’s not dead, just like him. Again, a Stark is drawing strength from their connection to each other, and through a Godswood.

I Am Stronger Within the Walls of Winterfell

This next one, you’re probably thinking “but the show did adapt Sansa’s snow castle chapter”, and I’m here to tell you they didn’t. I could write an entire book on how that scene is the perfect example of how adaptations fail; they *technically* adapted it, with pretty much the same events, but it was completely stripped of its emotional impact and narrative importance. It is the perfect microcosm of why Game of Thrones was a bad adaptation of A Song of Ice and Fire, as well as how D&D consistently missed the emotional beats the Starks were supposed to have.

The show’s version of this chapter somehow centers it around Littlefinger, while simultaneously underselling the fact that Lysa killed Jon Arryn (they sandwiched this episode and scene between Tyrion’s trial and Oberyn’s death, when this chapter ends A Storm of Swords. All of the climaxes in that book, and GRRM saved this one for last). The end product is a rather forgettable scene that most people overlook.

In the book, this chapter is everything. It is the best chapter in asoiaf, and the best writing of anything ever. Period. And it’s a chapter centered around Sansa’s relationship to her home, to Winterfell. Unlike the very small castle of the show, Sansa spends hours building a castle big enough that she can step inside and continue building details. The fact that she can stay outside for hours, while several onlookers get too cold and go back inside, is a reminder that she is a Stark.

And this chapter is centered around a Godswood. The tree never took root, because the Eyrie is too high for weirwoods, but the courtyard Sansa’s in was meant to be a Godswood. And since she doesn’t have a real one, Sansa builds her own inside her snowy Winterfell.

Being up in the mountains is also the first time Sansa’s seen true snow since she said goodbye to Robb in Winterfell, and just the thought of it makes her dream of home and of memories with Bran and Arya. She wakes up having dreamed of home, and thinks she’s sleeping next to her sister until she wakes up enough to realize she’s not in Winterfell.

When Sansa’s alone with no real connection to home, she finds the closest thing to Winterfell (the failed Godswood) and builds her own. She literally gains strength from it:

She wondered where this courage had come from, to speak to him so frankly. From Winterfell, she thought. I am stronger within the walls of Winterfell.

Her home and her family give her strength to stand up to her abuser, just as Arya was able to escape the abuse of Harrenhal and Bran escaped the Boltons.

There is way more than these three instances, but these are the best examples of D&D failing to adapt the Starks as a pack, or as individuals with feelings. Of course the ending didn’t feel right emotionally, because we had no explanation for what emotions led our Starks to their destinies.

I’ll probably make a post specifically about this in a couple days or weeks, but I can see GRRM’s ending stuck within D&D’s sloppy rush to the end:

The first time Arya leaves Westeros, she leaves because she thinks all her family is dead or taken, and that Winterfell is gone forever. At the end, she’ll leave because she is sure her family loves her, and that she has a room in Winterfell whenever she wants to visit Good Queen Sansa. Arya is also fast to make friends of all different people, and would start her own pack of rogues as she travels the world.

Sansa won’t be alone because she, like Arya, is good at finding her own pack. (And GRRM has built his world out so extensively, it’s honestly a joke to think we could be in a crowded room and recognize no one). Sansa’s friends are her people. She throws feasts constantly, and like Ned, always has a seat at the High Table for the small folk. She has many ladies in waiting, true friends of hers that help her write songs and stories, and sew dresses. She is a good and kind Queen, and visits the Wall constantly as she helps the Lord Commander resettle the Gift.

King Bran the Wise (or ya know, just not broken) rules from his Weirwood Throne on the Isle of Faces, at the heart of his kingdom. After Daenerys burns King’s Landing, he moves the capital since The Red Keep was a monument to Aegon’s Conquest - a symbol of tyranny King Bran is trying to move forward from. He fills his council with highborn and lowborn alike. He constantly talks to his siblings; Sansa waits for him at the Godswood, and Arya and Jon see him through Ghost and Nymeria. 

Just because they’re far in distance, doesn’t mean they aren’t a pack. They all know the others are safe, and that they’ll see see each other soon. GRRM will invest the right amount of time explaining the emotional beats of this ending to make it feel right. He cares so much about the Starks. He wrote them a whole epic fantasy because he saw Bran finding pups in the snow. He loves them more than we do, guys. 

The Starks are the Giants!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[mousehole5000]

the rest... of... book 4..... through chapter 225

i sad.

“He was lying to himself and lying to others! All nothing but deceit! No matter what, it was impossible to pretend nothing had ever happened, and it was impossible to return to before!!!” - i know :(

“Before Feng Xin went, he was afraid. Now that Feng Xin had gone, he wasn’t scared any longer. But, even though he wasn’t afraid anymore, he was in deeper agony.” - ah yes. being afraid of your friends leaving so you do things to drive them away so you can have something to point to and say that you were the one who made the choice and you dont have to fear it anymore. except that has never once worked out ever and turns out losing people just means you lost them and it still hurts. not that i would know or anything.....

“He saw upon the table there were a few plates of horrid-looking dishes that were now cold. They were what he made the queen take away without eating a single bite the night before. Now, he pulled them over absent-mindedly, and ate everything, not daring to leave behind a single leaf, afraid to miss a single grain of rice. After he ate he started puking.” - this broke me and the bad cooking isnt funny anymore :(

all this happens after they have money again. no further commentary on this chapter

i know for a lot of book 3 i just wanted hua cheng to go away but now i would give anything for wuming to come and interrupt these interactions with white no-face

“Lang Ying, a brute commoner, led an army and destroyed Xianle. With the aura of the king enveloping his body, ordinary evil wouldn’t be able to come close to his person. However, at this moment, what Xie Lian brought with him were millions of souls of those who died on the battlefield!” - interesting to think about this story from lang ying’s point of view. the bit about his wife and child... oh my god... the things we carry with us...

“Will it really be alright to leave him like this? How about, I give him a cup of water?” - cup of water motif is back... ouch

“One person. Just one. Really. Just one person was enough!” - for like 20 minutes after reading this i really was just sitting here thinking about every time a stranger did me a small a kindness and the times i did the same it just made me cry harder i love people and they really can be awful and choose to be cold and cruel but it means that when they choose to be kind..... it doesnt negate the cruelty but its still indescribable.. and being able to see that and remember that even after all the pain..... 

ugh still just thinking about the times ive gone through something that changed me and having the cold numb fear that i would never be the same as i was before that i would lose some precious part of me forever and wondering if this would be the thing that finally did it... i dont know if ive ever actually experienced a piece of media that really make me think about that tbh

“Stop thinking so highly of yourself! I don’t need you to teach me anything, I can learn on my own. If you represent heaven’s will, then something like heaven’s will should be destroyed!” - why is defying the heavens so sexy.... keep it up (edit after white no-face identity reveal: HOLY SHIT!!!!!!!!!!!)

the fact that xie lian went through what he did and got nothing out of it and in fact lost everything he had left due to the trauma,,,,, but just one person is enough for him to willingly offer to do it again, even if all he could save is one person,,,,,, crying again.... and who it is who takes it all on instead... ok...

“After all, everyone knew that Mu Qing ascended because he cleaned up all the remaining stubborn resentful spirits in the old capital of Xianle, so to understand it as “generous and kind” wasn’t unreasonable. In any case, everyone in the old capital of Xianle were all very grateful for him.” - its not unreasonable at all!!! this boy picks cherries for his mom and the neighborhood kids leave him alone

“Shaking his head, Xie Lian contemplated, then he ladled two large bowls of rice, one offered inside the Temple of Ju Yang, the other inside the Temple of Xuan Zhen. Finally, feeling that everything served its purpose, he clapped his hands close, completely satisfied.” - please i just want them to be friends again

ruoye........ xie lian bidding farewell to the tiny red flower.... ok i feel a totally normal amount about all these things

book 5 time!!!

xie lian king of taking a third option.. no one dies in the kiln at all we’re just leaving bitch

“Xie Lian didn’t know why he had to use his hands to cup Hua Cheng’s cheeks, but he did so subconsciously, probably so he could comfort him, but also because Xie Lian was afraid Hua Cheng’s face would be frostbitten by the snowstorm.” - gay people.....

“This giant stone divine statue must’ve been sculpted when Hua Cheng was trapped inside the Kiln, when he was severely beaten down and in intense suffering.” - ohhhh my god. okay. okay. look. i get it....

“The divine statue obeyed his command and took off with a gigantic, wide step, going along with the rolling current of snow. One slide was several miles, and the snow waves it created crashed around its body. Because both its arms were open, even though it was a body of a million tons, it still maintained good balance.” - HELL YEAH!! HELL YEAH LETS FUCKING GO LETS GOOOOO

the statue that requires transfers of spiritual energy... statue of make you kiss me i see how it is.....

“Hearing this, Hua Cheng raised his brows, his expression seeming to say, please have them beat each other to death, that’d be great.” - when you dont like your SO’s friends and they dont like you

“With a sharp sword in hand, Xie Lian was like a tiger with wings added, his might increasing exponentially, and he struck out!” - YES!!! GET EM!!!!

“No one could blame him for not knowing what was going on. Perhaps, he was confused the entire way: Why was he beaten? Why was he buried inside a wall? Why was he turned into a daruma doll? And why did he have to turn into a sword, too? There was not a single point where he’d figured out what was happening.” its okay qyz its okay i know honey me too

HELLO?? SQX IS BACK???? omg what a development omg omg okay okay interesting... okay so shi wudu would have rather died than lose everything but shi qingxuan is still trucking

“Hua Cheng responded lazily, “Oh? So you mean to say, beggars can’t save the world? Is it because they don’t have the ability to, or because they’re not worthy?” - KING okay i know this is a motivational tactic but also... who was it who took on all the souls for the human face disease and did in fact save the world back then hmmm?

absolutely enthralled by the fact that in chapter 207 we find out that the guoshi is in fact just. still here. and the name of the chapter is "Seeking Affection; Ghost King Fakes Displeasure” which i mean that happens too but fjasdlkfajsld

bruh okay. okay. okay. everything is happening okay. okay. chaos in the heavens okay. ling wen is still invited to kiss me on the mouth tho idc

“Indeed Yin Yu didn’t have enough confidence, and said weakly, “Chengzhu has shown me grace, he saved me…” “I know,” Jun Wu said. “He even helped you pacify and send off the resentful spirit of Jian Yu, who died during banishment, am I right?” - awww im glad they resolved that bit that whole situation was awful also give me the forbidden hua cheng ghost king lore...

“Yin Yu finally couldn’t take it anymore. He clenched his fists tight, his knuckles cracking, and he whipped around. “I DO RESENT HIM! I DO HATE HIM!!! BUT, SO WHAT??” - yin yu kiss me on the mouth right now

“Xie Lian hugged him. “It’s alright, it’s alright. These are all small matters, really. Your Highness Yin Yu, just live in this world for another few hundred years and you’ll know that none of that really matters. Either driven to madness or really wishing someone would die, whichever. Who in the world has never had such thoughts? I’ve even thought of massacring all in the world who had wronged me, it’s true, and no lie, I’d almost done it. But look at me, haven’t I shamelessly lived until now? You haven’t actually done anything in the end, and that’s the most important thing.” - he’s right im crying again

“But…in the end, I…still think…it’s so unfair,” Yin Yu sobbed. “If I was already destined to be no one remarkable, then at the very least, I…wanted to be a kind and perfect person. But…I couldn’t even do that. It’s really…so unfair. And truth to be told, even in this moment, just thinking that I’m dying for Yizhen, this little dummy, I still can’t get over it. I can’t even let go and die with a heart with no resentment and no regrets, what is that.” - YIN YU YOU CANT DIE NOOOOOOO youre the only man in this whole book i would kiss why does this always happen im actually really sad ;_;

“If the Rain Master was killed directly, and a better heavenly official couldn’t be found to replace her, the people put food above all else; if agriculture isn’t running smoothly, the world will be thrown into chaos. You don’t let people eat, people won’t give you a job. Besides being displeased with the Rain Master, the people of the world might also begin to be dissatisfied with the great god above Rain Master’s head. Which means, if he isn’t careful, the fire can burn all the way onto him. If things aren’t controlled adequately, it might incur riots to topple gods.” - rain master my friend rain master... also yes!!!!! food production!!!! critical!!!!!!! theres a lot you can get by without but food is not one of them!!!!!

“Feng Xin was Xie Lian’s servant, his good friend, but not his slave. He could’ve built his own home, had his own family. And he had actually already met those people, but the encounter just had to be during Xie Lian’s first banishment, the toughest days they suffered back then.” i am very sad about all of this

hua cheng in the palace of ling wen looking for the brocade immortal while the heavens are in complete chaos as the world turns on its head and STILL taking the time to beg for kisses is making me lose it fjalkdfjlsd

oh my god the guoshi and the cards thing..... hmmmm

delighted that mount tong’lu has such great significance beyond just being the kiln or whatever

hmmm crown prince of wuyong... its truly sad... but dude.....

the way that the heavenly capital is literally built out of previous gods... wow

the outright attempt to continue to cycle of trauma that failed simply bc 1. xie lian is his own person and 2. xie lian recieved kindness and gave it back to the world even to the people who refused to help him im ;_;

the absolute mess of xuan ji/rong guang/pei su/banyue/ke mo going down in the palace of ming guang... entertainment

okay i think im to a point where i dont have any possible spoiler knowledge in my brain about what happens next (only thing i have is theres a joke about he xuan eating that i dont understand yet and i think we might get like an emily corpse bride moment but if we do i dont know why) but oh my god things have escalated

[jess-readallaboutit]

ON by BTS - Religious links~

(Song)

Once again I am researching a bts song, ON has a lot of Biblical imagery in it so I wanted to analyse this because it linked to the constellations/parallel universe and cultural theme of this project.

BTS has a storyline which is like another Universe, they create their storyline by putting many deep meanings into their music videos and lyrics, they have been carrying on with this storyline for around 7 years and nearly every bts song/mv links to this storyline and they all connect somehow. I have been listening to bts for 4 years and over these years I have dived deep into this massive storyline, I hope one day they turn this whole story into a film because it would take me weeks if I ever tried to analyse the WHOLE storyline, however people have created many YouTube videos explaining theories and analysing music videos.

At the start of the video we see a scene that looks like an aftermath of a war, a member is seen kneeling down at a white bird that had been shot with an arrow. This bird looks like a dove, doves symbolise love and peace. This scene shows that love and peace has been “destroyed” since the dove has been shot and this scene is a literal war. A lot of the scenes in ON reference scenes in Fake Love, this is another bts song with deep meaning and this is where the parallel universe theory comes in. Fake Love appears more modern because of the clothing and scenes, ON looks the opposite and looks like it’s in the past because of the old looking clothing, however it could even represent the future but in a different universe.

There’s a scene where a member is standing near a pile of drums, this could mean music is no longer used in that world and was discarded, but the drums were also used on the battlefield to communicate from officers to soldiers.

The member at the start of the video is shown again but he is holding the dead dove in the cage, more of this will come throughout the video.

It then goes to a scene of a different member standing in a setting similar to Noah’s Ark because of the broken ship and the animals. This scene could represent:

“The flood as the collective society falling into the unconscious. Being swallowed by divine/archetypical modes of thoughts, by through a modern lens”- Carl Jung

BTS’ current concept was heavily inspired by Carl Jung’s ‘Map Of The Soul’, which is a book where he writes about his theories on psychology and believed that the human psyche had three parts: the ego, personal unconscious and collective unconscious. BTS even have albums called Map Of The Soul: Persona and Map Of The Soul:7 (MOTS:7), ON is included in MOTS:7. Below is a picture showing Carl Jung’s theory:

Carl Jung’s theory of the animals in Noah’s Ark represent beings that possess almost no free will, Noah and his family represent the more “conscious” and transcend, or see through the human tendency to war amongst themselves. This meaning that BTS in the music video could possibly represent Noah and his family as they are aware and conscious about their surroundings.

The next scene shows a member reaching to the sky, he does the same action in many older music videos and this could mean he is reaching for hope, he also reaches out to the child sitting with a drum and this could mean he’s trying to reach out to the youth. BTS’ whole goal of creating music and meaningful lyrics is to reach out to youth.

This scene shows a member standing in front of a beautiful setting, however there is another member laying unconscious on the ground with what looks like a Raven pecking at his body. Raven’s are tied to BTS’ storyline and also to Carl Jung’s theories. Jung teamed Raven symbolism to represent the shadow itself or with the dark side of the psyche, in the picture I showed of Carl Jung’s theory, Shadow was also an element included in the ‘SELF’. The members see this Raven constantly during their ‘WINGS’ Era (album). Not only do Ravens represent the shadow itself, but many cultures associate them with healing, renewal and rebirth, so that could be why the Raven is on his unconscious body.

A member sees a girl with a blindfold standing and facing towards a huge wall with doors, he looks behind him and the doors start opening. He removes the blindfold in order to help her move forward, the blindfold represents ignorance, this is similar to Jimin (a member) in the storyline and he is sometimes shown having his eyes covered and also blindfolded in Blood Sweat and Tears, he wears this blindfold in order to prevent himself from accepting the truth. Now together him and the girl walk forward. A drum is played by the little drum boy and the member that was unconscious with the Raven wakes up, it’s as if the child played the drums as a signal. When he wakes up the doors are fully open and these doors remind me of the film The Maze Runner.

The once unconscious member is now conscious and he goes to a lake, he walks into the shallow lake. This whole music video he has been running away from somewhere like he was being held captive, his hands were cuffed together with thorns around his wrists. These thorns are similar to the crown of thorns that were placed on Jesus’ head during the events prior to his crucifixion. It was one of the instruments of the passion employd by Jesus’ captors, both to cause him pain and to mock his claim of authority. The thorns also link to bts’ past when they experienced hardships.

Then all the members, except the one at the lake, join together with many other people with them. In the storyline Jin (the member with the bird) is known to be a time traveler and he travels back in time multiple times to try and save all of his friends (the other members) from hardships and death. We started off the music video seeing all the dead bodies and dead dove after a war, however now the music video is ending with EVERYONE gathered together as if he had travelled back and saved the ones who had died in the war and now they are all gathered together. He then opens the cage and sets the dove free:

White doves also symbolise a new beginning.

Then we are back at the member at the lake with the thorns around his wrists. He dips his wrists underwater and then takes out a conch shell and the thorns disappear. The conch shell is a spiritual symbol used in many cultures throughout history. The Ancients adapted the practical use to associate the conch shell with spiritual awakening and symbolism. According to mainstream Hinduism and Buddhism the conch shell is also associated with truthful speech and strength.

The next scene is a dance break, this scene has a dark atmosphere and the members are wearing cloaks, Jungkook (the one that was at the lake) stands with the members while holding the conch shell. There is a volcano behind them and at the end of the dance scene this volcano erupts and destroys everything. In the Fake Love music video in order for the members to move forward they destroyed their masks and in ON it seems as if they were destroying their establishment, so they could re-grow everything and start a new. Their WINGS era was heavily influenced by the book ‘Demian’ by Herman Hesse, where Abraxas represents a bird that must destroy its own world, which is its egg in order to live.

“The bird fights its way out of the egg. The egg is the world. Who would be born must first destroy a world. The bird flies to God. That God is Abraxas.”- Hermann Hesse

For the process of individuation the Ego and the Shadow is no longer divided but brought together in unity and their Persona is now balanced with their shadows.

Jungkook (the one at the lake) was the last to join all the members at the wall, so it seems as though he was the last to go through it and complete the process of individuation, the process of individuation is in the picture of Carl Jung’s theory with the ‘SELF’, ‘SHADOW’, ‘EGO’, ‘PERSONA’, and ‘ANIMA/ANIMUS’. Individuation means the realisation of self, which is what BTS was going through at the time ON was released in the storyline. Individuation begins with becoming conscious of the Persona, the mask we take off in our everyday lives. After we become conscious of the Shadow, the repressed characteristics of the Ego, then we become conscious of the Anima (the inner woman in each man). After that the experiences with Self happens, BTS have passed through the Persona, Shadow, Ego and Anima in their storyline and they also have songs named Persona, Shadow and Ego where they talk about each stage in their lyrics, however they have not gone over the Self yet.

Behind the wall is a mountain/rock, this reminds me a lot of Pride Rock in Lion King. The dove that was released flies over the members who have started walking up the mountain, however this time there are 7 doves (7 members in bts). Then it shows Jungkook (member from the lake) running up the mountain, this scene is similar to another scene in a different music video called ‘Not Today’ where all the members are running together, however the members except Jungkook are being shot down and he looks worried, in ON Jungkook is smiling while running and this time they all run together without being shot down. In Noah’s Ark a Dove flies out to find land, the Dove brings back an olive tree branch to signify that it found land. When the gates first opened, the land on the other side was destroyed and there were no trees, when Jungkook joined all the members at the wall and the dove was released, millions of trees grew. It was as if on the other side of the wall there was hope, love and peace, whereas before it was a war zone.

This music video showcased the members’ battles, representing their hardships and the boys who once had ‘No More Dream’ now has a ‘Dream’ and their dream is to reach out and connect everyone through music and Art, and this music video symbolised Hope. They’ve succeeded by finding themselves and they’ve helped us by leading us on the same path, so the crowd that stood with the members at the wall could’ve represented the fandom and those that they’ve helped. BTS’ whole storyline is based on loving yourself, working to find yourself and doing that by looking towards your own shadows and accepting it, so it is like a path to self love. This music video was an amazing representation of that and the song follows the same kind of theme as the music video:

“Look at my feet, look down

The shadow resembles me

Is it the shadow that's shaking

Or is it my feet that are trembling

Of course I‘m not unafraid

Of course it's not all okay

But I know

Awkwardly I flow

I fly together with that black wind”

Here it talks about looking down at your shadow, like I talked about above, he’s accepting his shadow because it’s a part of him.

“Hey na-na-na

Gotta go insane to stay sane

Hey na-na-na

Throw myself whole into both worlds

Hey na-na-na

Can't hold me down 'cuz you know I'm a fighter

Carried myself into this beautiful prison

Find me and I'm gonna live with ya”

This talks about how nothing can hold him down because he will fight it, it’s like the hardships throughout his career that he has gotten through to reach to the top. “Find me and I’m gonna live with ya” meaning that he will live with the struggles and his shadow.

“Come on up, bring the pain, on yeah

Rain be pourin'

Sky keep fallin'

Everyday oh na-na-na”

“Bring the pain

It'll become my blood and flesh

Bring the pain

No fear, now that I know the way

Breathe on the small things

My air and my light in the dark

The power of the things that make me, “me”

Even if I fall, I come right up”

“Even if I fall, I come right up, scream

That's how we've always been

Even if my knees drop to the ground

As long as they don't get buried

It won't matter

Win no matter what

Whatever you say, whatever they say

I don't give a uhh”

These lines mean that even if the rain is pouring and the sky is falling bring the pain on because it doesn’t bother him, he comes back up. Remember how Jungkook was knocked unconscious at one point in the music video but he got back up and fought.

Overall this song is very motivating and the music video is cinematic and meaningful, I enjoyed researching this song because ever since it was released last year I’ve wanted to analyse it.

Here is the link to the music video:

3/3

[thattimdrakeguy]

Robin - The FIRST Miniseries - Issue #5 (The LAST Issue) Review - (R.I.P Tom Lyle)

This is the big movie styled climax of the miniseries. So its mostly just endings, and action from here, but that doesn’t mean there’s not fantastic character work in here either.

There’s a LOT in this issue I didn’t remember, since normally I don’t pay attention to this one simply because I didn’t remember as much character stuff in it, but to my slight surprise (and bigger surprise in one or two moments) there’s some stuff in here I didn’t quite remember.

The weirdo trio finally breaks up in a way that reminds me of a divorce of some kind.

In a way Clyde and Lady Shiva played the roles of Tim’s parental figures in this miniseries. So that is fitting in it’s own way.

Clyde argues that Timmy shouldn’t be a part of this. Partially for his own want to kill King Snake (Dorrance) himself, but also because he wants to protect Tim’s innocence given the gruesome nature of what’s about to go down.

While Lady Shiva is absolutely numb to violence, and if anything wants Tim to be like her and revel in it.

Some of the word usage and Tim’s reaction to Clyde running off really set this up to a bizarre version of a divorce. It’s a slight soul cracker seeing Tim so worried that Clyde’s leaving to the point he yells out “CLYDE! WAIT!”. In the panel were Lady Shiva holds him back, he looks like such a helpless kid.

It’s a wee bit more emotional then it has any right to be given this trio only lasted 3 issues or so.

But, the climatic action must begin.

--

Tim uses his established cleverness to give the team some kind of advantage against what’s more or less an armed militia of men ready to protect King Snake and his drug empire.

With some small, but still tense moments.

And Timmy, of course, being on sneaky time.

This is one babyfaced boy that loves his sneaky time.

There’s even a good page that’s a good reminder that Tim isn’t the best fighter on the planet, but that he does his best given any opportunity he can.

--

A good chunk of this issue though, and deserving enough too. Is Clyde trying to get his revenge against King Snake for all he’s done.

It’s genuinely tense even if it is just a one time side character in this fight.

Because this has been building up between him and the bad guy since issue two. He is the emotional connection between the heroes and the main big villain. It’s for the best he’s the one that gets to take him on first compared to if Lady Shiva or Tim did it.

He’s the one that deserves this fight the most. Even if King Snake is too much.

While Tim’s too preoccupied stopping the plague from spreading and making sure he doesn’t get killed himself. Tim isn’t skilled enough to get out of the situation fast enough. He’s helpless to help his own friend.

Tim has no idea whats even happening to Clyde as he keeps having to run to his own safety.

All Tim can do, is his best. He sticks to the rafters to be sneaky. Uses the tools he knows he can use like his sling, and that’s just about it. Which continues to use his established skill-set instead of giving him sudden Gary Stu moment were he’s suddenly good at everything.

He’s lucky he’s small enough to even hide up there.

--

I know I been talking spoilers this whole time, but after this part. This contains-

MAJOR SPOILERS. 

So read at your own risk, because this is the climatic issue and stuff happens.

So the big crushing part about this issue. Is that the last time Timmy Drake ever got to see Clyde Rawlings still alive, breathing, and blood pumping through his body was when Clyde ran to come to this fight.

The last thing Tim ever heard Clyde said was “RIGHT NOW!” and the last thing Clyde ever got hear Timmy’s voice say is “CLYDE! WAIT!” that’s the last they ever got to hear each other, because the next time Tim finds Clyde’s body it shows he’s already been killed by King Snake.

At this point it’s literally just this tiny little boy in red and green spandex vs a tanking man (with a freaking mullet) that’s supposedly one of the most dangerous men.

There isn’t a Lady Shiva in sight to save him, and Clyde’s not around anymore. Tim’s all alone, and the two people that have been protecting them this whole time are either gone in one way or gone in another way.

It’s all up to Timmy now.

And for the most part he doesn’t do good, because of course he doesn’t. He’s not a good fighter. He’s a tricky scamp with a sling and staff. Against the One of World’s Most Dangerous Men.

King Snake mocks Tim’s notable innocence.

Luckily though, Tim’s a clever boy, and finds a way to distract King Snake, before he can kill him or destroys him too badly. Thanks to Lady Shiva teaching Tim to his enemies underrating him to his own advantage.

Also right before Timmy absolutely wrecks him with one big, hit, that’s the biggest Tim can get out of his very teeny body.

This is when Lady Shiva shows up, and we get another scene representing Tim’s morals, because it’s a spot were King Snake should be knocked off the building, but he managed to get one solid grip on the scaffolding.

Even to the very last issue the character’s remain strong as ever. With constant reminders during their fights of who they are.

Clyde was so stuck on vengeance and anger, even if he wanted to try his best to protect Tim.

Lady Shiva, while calmer, doesn’t care about other people. She’s empathetic to her own fault.

Tim’s just the Boy Scout doing his best to stand up for what he was taught as right.

So what does Tim do in this Emperor Palpatine “DEW IT” moment?

What do you think? He’s such a good boy. He’s no Anakin Skywalker. This is a Luke Skywalker (Original Trilogy anyways), baby.

There’s some hard to watch panels though. Some stuff that actually made me a bit emotional reading this stuff.

Where Tim carries Clyde’s corpse because he’s not leaving him behind. Even when it causes Tim physical pain given he has a busted rib as he does it.

Tim could’ve easily left Clyde’s body behind for the police to find but he didn’t.

Clyde’s still on his mind and who can blame him. This is the dude that protected him this whole time even when he jumped in to protect him.

Tim tries to figure out what this all was for, because it starts to drag on him.

There’s even a surprisingly dark moment were Tim goes into the mindset of getting some payback, but of course, because he’s Timmy. He backs off of it because he realizes it was wrong. Showing that even when stuff goes wrong, Tim still has a sense of morality in him.

It’s stuff that really weighs down on Tim as the issue closes, because this was Tim’s first real adventure, and as it ends there was a lot of stuff he probably never wanted to be a witness too.

Probably some regrets carrying in his brain.

He starts to wonder what it’s all about as the miniseries and his adventure comes to an end.

--

So this was honestly a pretty good climatic issue even if it gets massively grim towards the end to a degree I wasn’t expecting.

Tim’s ongoing series touched grimness in the 90s, but it never went to this level or had such soul crushing visuals like Tim carrying the man who protected him on his back even with a busted rib.

Or contemplating physical payback against the person who caused him being dragged into all of this but backing off.

Like his ongoing series (where I fell in love with him) was a lot more lighthearted after this. So this isn’t the typical tone Tim carries. Even before this, it was just a soft action romp with character moments.

A lot of this caught me by surprise, because since I skip to Tim’s parts and the action didn’t take me away like other scenes, I didn’t even realize Clyde freaking died in this issue.

How did I not realize that?

I don’t even have a clue how, but in a way, it made it better for this review, because I’m more in tune with how a first time reader might react to it.

It’s a grim ending to a good miniseries.

The miniseries biggest flaws is having creepy girl characters who’s creepiness either feels out of character or not expanded upon to make it feel like it has a point, and moments that don’t go anywhere, with a really lame villain. Such a super lame villain.

However it’s character moments, character work for Tim, pacing, art, and sense of adventure still makes it a really good read. Even if compared to others it’s still a low-key adventure.

If you really wanna learn about Tim’s character. It’s a definitive recommend, because it’s a great character study for him. Through his goodie two shoes boyscout moments, his geeky moments, his awkward moments, to even his immature moments, and a rare dark moment from early Tim, but even that dark moment showed that in the end, Tim’s still gonna do what’s right, and not go too far.

I love reading the miniseries when I’m bored, because even if it’s typically just the first issue or two I read. I just love Tim, and I like to be reminded why.

He’s such a bean that’s trying his best to be heroic. You get a real sense of depth with the character that wasn’t seen by a Robin that was still Batman’s sidekick till this.

Dick had depth, but it wasn’t till he split with Batman that he got it.

With Tim he was the first Robin that was still Batman’s sidekick that could carry depth, and this is were you get it.

It’s the full show of Tim as a character from all sides.

It’s great that way.

I’m thinking of reviewing his next miniseries next just because reading this captured my spark for Tim in a brighter way then it has been after all the dullness of his current life as a character being misused time and time again sort of dragged on me.

With this, I get what I want even if there’s a bit of dirt on it. It’s a good read for a Tim fan, or someone that wants to learn about who he is just to include him in a fan fiction.

It’s a great feeling to remember just how fantastic Tim used to be.

I still hope DC brings back the old Tim eventually.

[escapekissed]

GLADIO (& ignis who i’m re-adding lol) HC: outside the wall

i’ve written a bunch of gladio hcs on similar topics on this before this blog. but this is a brand new blog basically and i JUST watched kingsglaive SO. some important notes:

-gladio’s the one that understands camping. prompto has never been outside the wall since he was adopted. 

-ignis hasn’t been outside the wall since he came from the country he was born in to insomnia (and that was a difficult process that makes him both refugree & diplomatic/dignitary aid in a weird way, or at least that’s what his green card says. he’s technically classified as a kingslaive instead of crownsguard, and many have used the phrase ‘a rat picked out of the gutter’ to describe him’ just like the phrase is used by ghaldians to refer to themselves in the movie which they are no doubt repeating from the asshole insomnians that look down on them)

-gladio’s mother was ghaldian. i still hc his mother would’ve been maori by like. real life standards? but ghald is apparently an island country so like IT FITS STILL LOL. gladio’s mother was a glaive, fell in love with clarus, they had a kid together, but she stayed a glaive.

-gladio’s mother was also married in spirit to the king’s magic and her own position in her own head as his shield and his fighter, fighting for her country, fighting for her husband, fighting for all the children of insomnia. she liked the way it made her feel. powerful in a way ghaldian women are not in insomnia. righteous wings. with the king’s magic, she was a hero, she was strong, she was incorrigible, she was unbeatable, and then she was... beat. cocky to a fault, that’s how she died, and it’s hung over clarus’s head and gladio’s too ever since.

-clarus remarried an insomnian woman. like many biracial children, because gladio doesn’t remember his mother and she died when he was young, he remembers only fragments of her---and he was unable to ever connect with ghaldian culture bc of it due to his mother’s family being stuck in ghalad, and, in the vein of my own family history, clarus never thought to reach out to gladio’s mother’s family after she died.

-to me this is most represented by his hairstyle. he has the style almost, but not the braids. he doesn’t know how to do them. it feels wrong to wear them. he wants so badly to hold a part of his mother and ghald in his heart. but he never can, and it feels wrong, and everything about insomnian culture is so easy besides the racism against him, besides the disappointment even tho he does literally everything insomnian so fucking right.

-insomnia worships death. they worship their own lands, their own ruins, their own dead kings who just want more dead kings, which are everywhere. i choose to believe most of the ruins are even more ruined to the point where. what we see in the game is basically the end and short of it. they cling to land they don’t even live on, they propagate a war for people they don’t protect so they can hoard the bones and rocks and temples left behind when they’re eaten alive by disease and rot and somnus’s / ardyn’s original sin.

-but gladio is never sure how he feels about death, about how he feels about war, or insomnia. he just knows that he has to be the best, that he has to take everything seriously, that he has to be perfect and elegant at all times because that’s what’s expected of him but also what he wants for himself. bc it always feels like there’s something missing. he picks at his own flaws, he overcompensates sometimes which is easy when ur so large and eloquent and literally a genius. but he can never get his mother back, just like he feels he can never truly free ghalad from insomnia OR nifhlem.

-the road trip is important to him, and to ignis, more than as a ‘brotherhood bonding experience’ as the game might have u believe. ignis and gladio are ‘the outsiders’. they understand this war better than anyone. and they try to keep things light for noctis---but also. gladio has taken noctis outside the wall. he’s let him see the war, the daemons, camp at night on rocks while iron giants overtake the trees and the animals, while storms rage on temples that are protected only by their own magic, by some old king they’re supposed to pray to and worship even moreso than the temple itself.

-when gladio leaves. he knows that his father will die without him. he knows. in his gut, he knows. it still hurts. there was so much unsaid between them. just like there was so much he could’ve learned from his mother---gladio feels he spent years trying to grow enough to please his father when he could’ve grown WITH him. it hurts. he expected it. but it hurts. and it’s not fair, just like his whole life wasn’t fair, and this war isn’t fair. it’s surpising that he keeps his temper even at all. in a way, the brotherhood of this road trip is all that keeps him sane, as is the fighting with noctis’s magic.

-being a glaive is a way to connect with his mother, and all her strength. lose the fear of dying, fly with a hawk’s beating wings.

-she got the hawk tattoooed, too, but she got it done in traditional ghaldian style, with actual scarring.

-gladio hopes he earns the scars on his back just like she did.

[armsdealing]

/ LA VIE EN ROSE.

paris prefers you in pink. it will always prefer you in pink, champagne bubbling up in its glass, and rose-tinted glasses -- c'est lui pour moi. moi pour lui dans la vie. il me l'a dit, l'a jure pour la vie: honey words, lovely voice, sweet kisses to petal-soft lips. paris prefers you like this.

                                                           ***

la vie en rose is a verse subservient to elements already established in the otherworld verse and the nulliverse. it is an au with focus on crime and -- as you might’ve guessed -- centered around europe as setting, particularly france. general trigger warnings apply: violence, gang violence/crime, murder, drug and alcohol usage. it will have supernatural and non-supernatural variants (in the non-supernatural case, simply ignore the fantastical bits), as well as a period variant upon-request.

continue if you wish to read more about this verse, and the characters involved in it.

FUNDAMENTALS.

so this is a verse that’s actually been present for quite a while, but not on the level that i’m working it right now. its main focus is very simple: it explores the what if of marcelo having grown up in sicily with the marconi family as opposed to the reyes in either colombia or the states. 

both of his parents died exactly as did in canon, and at age 19, he officially assumed his father’s moniker, dents de sabre. at age 24, he put that name to good use as he went about ruthlessly yet methodically wiping out every single presumed and not-so-presumed enemy of his parents, really anyone that could’ve played a role in ysmael reyes’ disappearance and death. nobody was spared in the process, which immediately put his name out there in the criminal landscape. 

marcelo has been aged up to become 31 years old. he went about working in contract killing capacity for the marconi family between ages 18 and 30. he was very good at his job regardless of range and regardless of difficulty. he’s become known for his tenacity, especially when it comes to killing other supernatural creatures -- fae, demons, vampires, werewolves, witches. he’s had no shortage of powerful victims. at age 26 he also picked up enhanced interrogation.  

the job took him to france, which is currently where he lives. he resides in the quartier latin of paris, and though he continues to pick up contracts, he no longer affiliates himself with the marconi. that means that he will no longer exclusively work for them and is now independent. 

his front job is to work at a bar owned by bulgarian fae, le six tireurs. it is notable for being neutral grounds as far as business is concerned. 

speaking of the marconi family, their power comes into full swing in this verse. they have complete control of sicily and southern parts of italy, and influence throughout europe, and still in the united states. though marcelo has chosen to disconnect from the family, he is still biologically related to the family’s padrone, giancarlo marconi. marcelo’s his grandchild. as a result he will really never be not associated with them. 

OTHER CHARACTERS INVOLVED WITH THIS VERSE.

though marcelo is my main focus in this verse there’s many characters that can be interacted with, that also exists in this au since it’s basically just the european otherworld. for more information on them, click their names.

MIKHAIL REZANOV: owner of bibliothèque d'encre dorée, a library in paris known to store very special books that humans tend to consider odd or just useless. a lot of these books talk are about forbidden magic but are written in code, or talk about innocuous things like history or biology but happen to be from different dimensions or different timelines of the earth, there’s also poetry in various dead languages, et al. on top of this, mikhail is also a very well-respected member of the eurocouncil and the high priest of the old god zhaogd'endir, also known as janus. he’s a good source of information when it comes to old gods and monsters in general, as he’s tasked with overseeing a few of them. he’s always happy to share a cup of tea with you. 

LORENZO SCARLATTI: fashion designer, member of the marconi family, tailor of clothes known to be impervious to magic and resist both a normal bullet and a werewolf bite. open to commissions if you’ve been referred by someone. a laestrygonian that has been alive for at least one century who was not born with the face he currently wears. 

RENAUD: a cosmic anomaly that gave himself a name and also a purpose: cult leading. malignant entity that feeds off people’s fear and sexual energy. known to visit people in dreams to elicit these emotions. will visit you looking like your biggest object of desire, and will possibly try to rope you into the aforementioned cult, or simply possess you for a day or two. occasional council asset.

VITALE: the king of vampires, nearly old as the condition. presumed son of a goddess. does not live in france but will frequently travel anywhere he pleases, other than that his focus is on either italy or egypt. a council member. will kill u if you so much as sneeze in his general direction -- jk, he’s too affable for that. 

THE EUROPEAN COUNCIL.

the organization tasked with overseeing supernatural activity in europe, with key representatives from every single country. mikhail is part of the council, as are several members of the marconi family (with giancarlo leading the charge). their concern is politics and control over the information regarding magic. there are other, shadier objectives, depending on who you ask, but overall this organization is shrouded in mystery and this is by design.

they count with a large number of assets that do a variety of jobs for them, from killing irresponsible magic-wielders to stealing objects of great importance from the wrong hands. they’re not a criminal institution, but they don’t care about the criminal affairs of their members.

also, as the name might suggest -- there are other councils for other parts of the world. america’s equivalents would be the CPA or the council for protection of the arts (made up of 12 old magical families), also known simply as the twelve families council, and the mediation group, an interespecies association with representatives from witch, vampire, werewolf, and fae communities as well as other “fringe” species, like werepumas.

the american and european councils are run by different people and only associate themselves for the purposes of sorting out intercontinental affairs.

LE SIX TIREURS.

owned by the kallikantzaroi, it is the place to go to to find people in paris that will do your dirty work for you. it has been around since forever, tucked inconspicuously between other two nameless establishments in the quartier latin. the inside is bigger than the outside could ever hope to denote, and underneath there’s catacombs that are connected to other key spots of paris through tunnels, something useful for safe passage and discreet movilization from one location to another.

marcelo works as a bartender. he got the job as a favor, and everyone that frequents the place knows him very well. he, in turn, knows them as well, and hears each and every one of their conversations -- even if they try to conceal them through magical means. as of late marcelo has gotten into information brokering, and can give you any information you need about paris’ underbelly for a price.

THE COURNEUVE COMPLEX.

a complex of buildings in la courneuve (a commune very close to paris) that houses primarily immigrants and refugees and low class citizens. also renaud’s base of operations and the home of the courneuve group, a gang comprised of renaud’s vessels and people he has visited in dreams. in exchange for their loyalty and labor, renaud keeps them clothed and well-fed and needing for very little. it is a VERY dangerous place, and you’ll never feel safe entering it. they will know you are an outsider as soon as try to walk along the street near the buildings. 

LA CHÂTEAU DE RÊVE

a club in the french riviera that comes to be eventually owned by marcelo reyes and his wife, charmaine theroux. counting with a primary house and two secondary houses, it doubles as both a night club and a strip club, depending on the location, and it caters to clientele of any gender (with employees from any gender as well). it sits in the heart of cannes surrounded by expansive gardens, and much like the name suggests -- it could be considered a small castle all of its own, with every night being its own dream-themed fantasy. it is an expensive establishment, but this is not without reason; there’s an illusory quality to this place and an air of mystery and secretiveness that they actively work to maintain. marcelo cares a lot for it and goes at great lengths to look after his employees -- they are a very close-knit group. 

by the point marcelo becomes a manager of the place he’s 38, so the chateau’s existence comes into place at a different point of the verse’s timeline. though not officially retired, marcelo no longer takes contracts as frequently as he might have in the past. he’s very busy running the castle. 

PLOTTING NOTES.

the verse can simply be a simple aesthetic backdrop for interactions or you can choose to actively have your character involved within the verse. either works just as well. ideally, this verse is perfect for interactions with other supernatural characters that are set in europe, especially those with a criminal edge (but those that are simply civilian or crime-adjacent are welcome too). 

as previously noted, however, it can also be used for strict modern realism -- do not be afraid to approach me for this. everything is quite adaptable. if your character is a human and you’re more comfortable keeping things realistic, simply assume that the magical bits do not apply to our plotting. i’ve made it so it can go either way, easily. 

nothing is set in stone. i’m quite flexible and open minded if you’d like to play around in this verse. for example, with some talking, i can happily accept your characters as powerful enough to be part of the european council as well. and if you choose to work with marcelo’s older counterpart, your character can work as an employee of his in the chateau, or just an associate. basically, what i’m saying is there’s no need to keep your distance from all this worldbuilding -- i want the opposite! if the connection makes sense, i’d be happy to include it.

i’ve actually worked out a john wick variant of this verse in case any john wick canons or ocs want to interact with me, with the marconi family as a member of the high table, and le six tireurs as a group with similar aspects to the continental but smaller in scale and unaffiliated to it. if you’re more comfortable with this particular canon, we can go with it. 

[rhyaxxyn]

Lost Halos: An Introduction

“An ache shudders in my HEART, a fear like no other, an understanding deep in the back of my MIND. The woman looks up as if to speak to her GOD. My GOD too, I suppose, but I don’t feel him like I should. I feel a VOID. An abyss of despair and TERROR.

She will never understand. The woman is only a starry-eyed SHEEP in the eyes of hungry, bloody teethed WOLVES. But it is only BEASTS that can lead the FLOCK.

I close the door and descend into my COLD, STAGNANT world. A world the wolves will never LOVE. A WORLD THE WOLVES WILL EAT ALIVE.”

𝕊𝕐ℕ𝕆ℙ𝕊𝕀𝕊 In a world ruled by the Major Arcana, a powerful court which rises from new blood every few generations, seventeen-year-old Miykal is nothing. Despite being born into the Year of Power, a pool of people her age waiting for the Old Arcana's to die in order to replace them--she lives for no one but her father and brother. When the powerful High Priestess dies, the last of the Old Arcana, the pool is opened again, and Miykal begins the final test for her year. But it is then that--against her every belief--Miykal becomes a top choice for the title of the new High Priestess. Now, amidst a life of politics, intrigue, and secrecy which threatens to destroy all that she is, Miykal must find those to trust, and weed out those who threaten her. That is, if she is willing to take it. But the final trial ends with the greatest sacrifice an Arcana must make. She must fight the odds in order to save herself and get back to the family she abandoned. She'll toe a dozen blurry lines, fight like she never has, and seek the depths of her soul to escape her fate. The world is against her, her rulers are against her, her gods--but she will succeed. To Miykal, there is no other option.

ℂℍ𝔸ℝ𝔸ℂ𝕋𝔼ℝ𝕊 MIKAL SEHER | High Priestess | Scrappy, Smart, Quick, Secretive, Emotional, Witty, Intuitive, Strong Inner Voice. | The type of girl who will smile as she shoves your face into a wall. Shuts down to cope. Thinks of what could’ve been. Just wants to keep her family safe. |

XYNIC MORI | The Hierophant | Intelligent, Traditional, Compassionate, Honest, Dedicated, Spiritual, Righteous | Wants to help too much. Trying to fix past mistakes. Never trusts anyone but himself. Would rather read than talk to his friends. Misses something he never had or can’t remember. Looks a little weak but is ridiculously good with a sword. |

ADELAIDE ADARA | The Empress | Kind, Thoughtful, Empathetic, Enthusiastic, Stunning, Nurturing, Cautious | The mom friend of the group. Trusts people too much. Tries to make everyone happy and forgets about herself.  The type of girl who you think may actually be a goddess. Is very non-conflict, but will take zero shit. |

KEON ALLIARD | The Emperor | Strict, Intimidating, Traditional, Courageous, Wise, Structured, Logical. | The one who reigns in and calms down everyone else. Easily annoyed by anyone. Doesn’t like change. The king of dad jokes. Mind over heart constantly. |

𝕊𝔼𝕋𝕋𝕀ℕ𝔾

Usmary: The nation which is ruled by the Major Arcana and the Minor Courts. Since the rise of Arc, a god around whom the Major Arcana is based,  a Year of Power has been selected to take on the role of his original protectors and guard the nation. It is a rich, and industrialized nation with a diverse landscape that includes plains, large bodies of water, forests, and mountain ranges.

Vain: An outer city that manufactures many of Usmary’s goods. Besides the central area of the city, it is mostly impoverished, citizens having to conscript themselves into Usmary’s army which defends its borders or become a factory worker. Vain is home to many gangs, such as the Court of Blood, which is infamous nationwide.

Santa Ivyak: They stunning capitol city of Usmary. It’s known for Cloud Palace, where the Major Arcana live. It is the richest and most populated city, but as all places with the powerful and privileged are, there are constantly schemes within both the Minor Courts and the Arcana. 

𝔾ℝ𝕆𝕌ℙ𝕊

The Major Arcana: The Major Arcana is a collection of twenty-two individuals who are chosen to represent the original Arcana which had been created thousands of years ago. There is the High Priestess, the Empress, the Emperor, the Hierophant, and many more. This court, when fully/mostly collected is the one which leads all of Usmary, having a spiritual connection to Arc and his gods (the original MA). 

The Minor Courts: Despite their name the Minor Courts--which include the Court of Swords, Wands, Cups, and Pentacles--take over as political leaders while the Major Arcana is unfilled, untrained, etc. They’re known for their indecision, which has caused already impoverished lands such as Vain to be thrown into a worse state.

The Blood Court: Due to the belief that the Minor Courts do nothing to help the struggling, gangs take on a name such as the Blood Court/Court of Blood to anger them. The Court of Blood, led by King, a powerful ringmaster who has controlled an entire sector of Vain for two decades now. He frequently competes with other gangs, such as Bone Court, Hell Court, and Bronze Court.

ℕ𝕆𝕋𝔼

Hey everyone! I know this is a very sudden announcement. One that I never dreamed of making, but so much has happened in the time I’ve been gone that has inspired me greatly (which I will go into greater detail on in a separate post.) What I feel like I need to say though is that I’m finally--after suffering from really bad depression since I was ten--on meds. They have helped me so much and I already see a huge difference in my ability to create... which is why I’ve chosen to come back and share this project with you! 

To those of you worried that I’ve put The Natural Orders on hold, I have to admit it is, but for good reason! In fact, I’ve completely finished my edits for it and have passed it on to my peer editors. I’m even hoping to seek out a publisher so it can be released this summer! (A fun birthday gift. lol). Even the outline for the second book has been made! This book is just a fun filler until my editors are finished by the end of February.

To all my mutuals, I love you just as much as the day I left and I don’t think there’s been a day I haven’t thought of the people on this site who supported and encouraged me. Even when I was gone you fueled my desire to write.

If you took the time to read this whole spiel despite the ridiculous length thank you. I know I have a lot of work to do to be more interactive than ever, but I will give it everything I have. You guys are my motivation and my inspiration, and I’m happy to be back :) Luv yall -Ken

[luvshuas]

white lies

pairing - wonwoo x fem!reader

tags - royal!au + fluff + slight angst

synopsis - sneaking around the castle with neighboring kingdom’s princess was not on wonwoo’s to-do list, but he’d definitely fit in room for it

word count - 1.7k

©

Wonwoo’s never been fond of his sheltered life. He found no interest in being cooped up in a castle all day; he’d much rather be outside the castle walls with other boys his age. His disdain for being a prince almost triples when an engagement is announced between him and the neighboring kingdom’s princess. Getting married was definitely not on his bucket list.

You weren’t too fond of it either. You tried for years to avoid becoming the reigning queen of your own kingdom, and after months of trying your parents gave in only to marry you off to the crown prince of another kingdom. You made yourself hate him because of his ‘crown prince’ title and what it’d do to you. After years of ruthless convincing your efforts were for nothing.

                                                       −♔−

Wonwoo was hiding when the family of his betrothed arrived at the castle. He wasn’t ready, nor did he want to, to meet the girl he’d be bound to for the rest of his life.

When a fanfare started playing the young prince poked his head around the curtains and watched as the king and queen stepped out into the fresh air. Not even a minute later a girl with a frantic expression stepped out behind them, already looking for somewhere to run off to at the first available chance. Her glance shifted upwards and met his staring down at her through the window. Wonwoo quickly left the window and began wandering deeper into the library in hopes of finding a more secluded spot. He knew this would be the first place his father’s men would look in when the time would come to introduce Wonwoo and the princess.

What he didn’t know is this would also be the first place the princess found when she went to find somewhere to hide from the prince.

When Wonwoo heard the large library doors open and then quickly shut he began to sink deeper into his hiding place. The sound of heels clicking against the ground told him it wasn’t one of his father’s men, maybe a maid or the his mother herself had come to look  for him? The clicking suddenly stopped. Wonwoo prepared for someone to jump out and yell at him for hiding, but nothing came. He waited for the sound of the library doors, but they also never came. He was sharing his hiding place with someone and curiosity was soon going to get the best of him.

He slowly pulled himself up from his place. His footsteps were quiet against the hardwood floors of the library. He didn’t want the mystery occupant to be aware of his presence, but she already was. You saw him before he saw you. You sunk farther into your spot between the shelves, but your dress was a dead give away on your location.

“If you’re going to hide from someone you should probably dress accordingly.” His voice was awfully close to her hiding spot, but you refused to make yourself known. Wonwoo huffed in frustration before stepping past the bookshelf and right in front of you. “If it was anyone other than me you probably could’ve gotten away with hiding, but seeing as your dress isn’t the most suitable for hiding and your heels clicking against the ground could be heard for miles it was pretty easy for me to find you.” He stuck out his hand, meaning for you to take hold of it and pull yourself from between the shelves.

You lightly grabbed onto his hand and let him pull you from between the shelves. “Please don’t tell anyone you’ve seen me. I don’t know what your position is here, but when my parents find out I’m missing please use whatever noble influence you have to keep anyone quiet for awhile.” You pulled your hands to your chest in a begging position, and that’s when he realized he was talking to the princess. His fiance-to-be.

But she didn’t know who he was yet. “Don’t beg, princesses aren’t supposed to do that.” You put your hands down shamefully.

“Right. What’s your name? If you help me I’ll find you a suitable reward. Land, wealth, anything you want.” Wonwoo chuckled, you really had no idea you were bribing your future husband into hiding you from himself. He decided to play along since there was no harm in it.

Wonwoo nodded his head in agreement. You smiled, and he felt stars dance across his vision. There was no denying you were absolutely beautiful. It made his head spin with how radiant you were. But he couldn’t forget that neither of you wanted this marriage.

                                                       −♔−

When you had arrived it was Sunday, now it was Thursday and you still have yet to meet the prince. You had only one person to thank and that was the unknown boy who found you hiding in the library the day you came. He never told you his name or social status no matter how many times you asked. For all you knew he could be an assassin, but you doubted that since he had billions of chances to end your life and claim to the throne. You eventually got used to the boy refusing to tell you anything about him; you had too much fun sneaking around the castle grounds to care about his identity.

However the inevitable meeting of the prince came that Thursday afternoon. Your mystery boy hadn’t shown up at his usual time to sneak you away to the gardens where he’d listen to your stories from home, where he told you his dreams, where he stole a quick kiss from you in the middle of you talking about how you wanted to experience every country in the world and not just the diplomats representing them. From far away the kiss didn’t look like anything special; just a boy staring at a girl as if she held everything good in her hands then they’d see his lips quickly pressed against hers as the words in her throat died.

The realization that the boy wouldn’t be coming to rescue you hit when you heard the knocks of the maids on the bedroom door and then the shuffling of their feet as they brought in a dress and breakfast. Your heart sunk, but you got up and prepared to face the man you’ve been running from all week.

Wonwoo’s nerves weren’t any better than yours. He’d grown to like you quicker than he thought he would, but you just knew him as an unknown face in the castle. He didn’t want an end to come to the time you two spent running around the castle grounds. Wonwoo fixed the jacket of his suit before peaking around the corner of his bedroom door in search of any guards. Two were situated at either end of the hall. Wonwoo groaned knowing his father probably stationed them there in case he tried anything sneaky, and Wonwoo was sure trying something sneaky. He backed into his room once again, his gaze falling towards the window. Stupid, but possibly effective, he thought. The latch to the large window was undone and Wonwoo stepped through the window and onto the decorative balcony. He trusted his footing and instinct to keep him from becoming a royal pancake.

He moved from window to window, down vines, across balconies until he came to the window he knew you’d be at. Unfortunately you didn’t have a decorative balcony situated in front of your window so he settled to hanging from the vines sneaking up the wall. It took two taps on your window for your attention to be stolen from the breakfast you were eating. You peered through the still closed window until the face of your mystery boy appeared. He frantically pointed at the latch holding your window shut. As it came undone and window was pushed open, Wonwoo quickly swung himself into the room.

“What are you doing here? Wait, why are you dressed so fancy?” You guided him to the small table where you were previously eating. Wonwoo straightened his jacket and brushed the dirt off of his sleeves.

“I needed to see you….before you...uh...met the prince…” His voice got quieter as he finished the sentence. You would’ve found it endearing if you weren’t so confused about what was happening.

“Are you worried I’ll stop trying to see you? He might become my husband, but I’ll still make every effort to see you. Besides sneaking around the gardens with you is infinitely more fun than anything the prince could do with me.” You smiled, taking his hand in yours. Your words didn’t ease Wonwoo’s nerves in the slightest. For the first time in his life he was scared someone wouldn’t like him once they found out he was the crown prince.

“That’s not it. I have-” His sentence was cut off by the sound of the maid knocking on the door to signal it was time to go. You hesitantly stood up, your hand still snug in Wonwoo’s. Neither of you made a move to let go of the other. Wonwoo slowly started walking you to the door leading out of the room.

“Wait! You’ll get in trouble if you walk out of my room with me.” You pulled him back from the door. Wonwoo cupped your face and pressed his lips to your forehead. He never hated being a prince as much as he did now. The feeling of his lips lingered and you could’ve sworn your heart was starting to grow wings to fly into his hands. Wonwoo pulled you back towards the door, swinging it open it one swift move. On the other side waited his father to escort you to meet the prince.

“I hope nothing inappropriate happened between you and my son behind those closed doors, princess.” You looked up at your mystery boy. The crown prince, the heir, the future king, your mystery. Your prince.