#I see the good in the bad and the ugly || Dahlia x Miranda ( bestconqueror )

[royalreef]

@bestconqueror​ inquired:  🐶 If I may- Muses as Merfolk - NOT Accepting

(( I think Dahlia would work best as an Arctic merfolk! When the Merkingdom turned their eyes upon conquering the oceans and the various other merfolk located within, there were two major “holdouts” that put up a longer fight than the others : the various governments around the Arctic and the Mediterranean Sea. I’ve already talked about the Mediterranean, and how the Merkingdom used the geography of that location to keep them locked off from any potential help, but the Arctic is nearly the opposite. Namely, in that it’s already very well-connected to the other oceans, making it impossible to really trap off. It’s also, as you may be aware, very cold up at the North Pole. It has unique challenges presented in ice floes and sheer depth alone, and while the Abyssals themselves are good at handling water at near-freezing temperatures, most of those sent in to enact the Merkingdom’s will were not Abyssals. Even for the migratory merfolk who would visit the Arctic and Antarctic Oceans here and there pointedly visited during the summer months, and this was a multi-year-long campaign.

Similarly there was the issues of the Arctics themselves. While the Mediterranean Sea got closed off and the Merkingdom could work directly with and forcibly sway the hands of those in charge, leading to more infighting and more disagreements amongst each other — it’s much harder to do that when your own people can hardly venture far inside and are much less protected by an entourage. In fact, there were many more cases of various groups within the Arctic banding together to try and throw off the Merkingdom, since they couldn’t encourage instability and mistrust in the same way. Because of being still able to contact other merfolk, food and supply lines remained intact for most of the Merkingdom’s campaign, and extended the fight even moreso.

Even when the Merkingdom did conquer the Arctic territories ( done so mostly by making more risky moves with technology that they possessed that others did not ), they did not exactly take it lying down. To this day, there’s much more cultural resentment against the Merkingdom than anywhere else within their borders. Folk tradition often recounts tales of how they beat or outlasted the Merkingdom within the war, those who cut a blow against the Merkingdom are oft treated as heroes, and common sayings make it clear how much they still detest the Merkingdom and consider themselves forced under their thumb.

The Merkingdom’s response to this lingering rebellious sentiment is far from kind either. Getting caught doing any of these things means harsh punishment, alongside stricter punishments all-around that usually extend to unrelated parties too. Food shortages are put in place, they’re purposefully kept as far away from positions of power as possible, much-needed resources are hard to obtain, and more recur again and again to try and break their spirits. This all makes a very convenient chance for the connected religious branch of the Merkingdom throne to come in, offering food and shelter and necessities, and placing them under the watch of the Crown with additional pressure to make them give up other cultural and religious practices.

In addition, the structure of Royals within the Merkingdom often leads to further instability. Middle Royals are encouraged to effectively go to war with each other, fighting other Middle Royals for the chance to improve their positions within the Merkingdom through greater territory and reach, and it’s no secret that the Merkingdom wants rebellious intent within the Arctic stomped out for good. They incentivize Middle Royals to fight over dominion of the areas within, especially gifting portions of territory to other outside royals to further muddy and destroy extant Arctic cultures within, usually resulting in a populace ruled over by those who weren’t even born inside of the Arctic.

On the biological slant, Arctic Merfolk are the second-largest species of merfolk ( only behind Abyssals ). They have extremely reduced outer scaling, though they keep an internal series of bones under the skin to act as armor, and their fused fins have also shrunk to minimize exposed surface area. They’re the singular merfolk species closest to being warmblooded, though they aren’t true warmblooded animals. Internal genetic tinkering like this has made them lose the darker pigmentation inside their mouths, making them the only mer species to do so. Teeth are much like most other merfolk, but are shorter and sharper, adapted for cutting and slicing meat.

They are also the specific merfolk group to have very good history with taming pods of orca.

Most scars merfolk leave on other merfolk are... nasty. Clean cuts are rare, even when using bladed weapons, and use of claws and teeth are similarly common, combining with their natural tankiness to leave very jagged scars. While the Merkingdom’s dominant culture highly praises scars on the face as being the mark of the warrior, and highly condemns scars on the tail as the mark of a coward, it doesn’t apply in the same way to every culture. Regardless, to the point that any merfolk is covered in scars, the idea of scars on the tail being the mark of a coward gets much overshadowed by the general thought of them being a brawler.

[royalreef]

@bestconqueror

[ID: a tall green and white baseball cap with a trout embroided at the base. The text above it says "My lawyer told me not to disclose the specifics of the relationship between myself, women, and fish"]

[royalreef]

@bestconqueror @cleaverbilt​ 

[royalreef]

@biteyourcrush​ inquired:  Going for the throat here- Aaravi or Dahlia. Choose. Pick who to kill - Accepting

                   “Oh, I haaaate you!!”

      Now isn’t a great time to develop awareness of the fourth wall, Miranda. And like that, her lip is twitching in tune to the irritated flicking of her tail. Thinking aloud, she begins.

      “Lucky I cannot sacrifice myself. It is supposed to be me, you are aware? They are supposed to live. They are the ones who deserve to walk away from this, to know how the sun feels on their backs and to wake up every day with the knowledge that they are beyond loved, that they are adored, that it all worked out within the end. And I am the one who is supposed to die. The title of princess implies an inherent replaceability. I am the one who should be perishing for their sake, that is what I have gained.

       So... I either am to extinguish the sun or to slay the hero. I have to destroy what is good in this world. One or the other.

      To live in the bleakest of eternal winters with company to share that torment, or to have full view of the destruction of hope within the world.

                                  What is the point, in having one without the other?

       ..... I can only ask that the choice never really comes down to me. For the sake of this question, slay both. Consider me greedy if you will, selfish otherwise - but I can’t. I won’t. Kill me, above all else. I could never pick.”

[royalreef]

@bestconqueror​ inquired:  📜📜📜 ~!!! Incorrect Quotes - Accepting

Bonus, for Island Time:

[royalreef]

(( Since I’ve been working on that piece with Damien and Miranda, I felt compelled to also draw the height difference between Dahlia and Miranda.

Smol Wife and Tol Wife.

[royalreef]

@bestconqueror​ inquired:  🔪~! Horror Movie Survival Chances - Accepting

      “You are a part of the Coven! And vanquishing evil is what the Coven is known for excelling in!”

🟊🟊🟊🟊🟊     𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚘𝚗𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚢, 𝚒'𝚍 𝚋𝚎 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚍 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚔𝚒𝚕𝚕𝚎𝚛 / 𝚣𝚘𝚖𝚋𝚒𝚎𝚜 / 𝚐𝚑𝚘𝚜𝚝 .

[royalreef]

@bestconqueror​ inquired:  ☕ (I know Dahlia's blog is gathering dust right now but...... I gotta) Character Café - Accepting

OBTAINED: Barbarian’s Brew

► That’s a hefty mug! It’s pretty imposing, nearly a gallon deep, decorated with bones and leather both. There’s no way you can possibly finish it all, not at once, but you don’t mind sticking through with it all night. The taste is a little rough, tinged with spice and smoke, but hearty like well-brewed mead, and smells of bonfires and the wild stories told around them. It leaves you comforted and relaxed, like sinking into a collection of furs after a warm meal, thinking happily of dreams and strong arms to hold you. They call it food for the soul for a reason. ► +3 FUN, +3 CHARM

[royalreef]

      KISSES PURRS KISSES PURRS KISSES PURRS !!!! HER WIFE HER WIFE, HER GORGEOUS WIFE, SHE HAS MISSED HER WIFE!!!  

[royalreef]

@bestconqueror​ || Valentine’s Day.

      It would always be a strange thing, Miranda thought, to know the weight of her own soul. To press her hands to her chest and feel the slow beating of her heart, the pace of a body and a metabolism made to live life at a scale that others did not enjoy. To know what sat behind it. What it kept chained inside of her own body, her to the truest form, her innermost place of eternity.

      Others often didn’t know what their souls felt like. Not until they were constricted to nothing but a soul, anyways, and most certainly they were not as familiar with them as Miranda. Who had felt that fuzzy, branching thing, that pulsed through her entire body and held within it her. Miranda, at her purest essence.

      Nor did they know where their souls went. What it would be like. The threat of oblivion and total destruction of that fluttering, frail thing that was herself. What waited for her beyond decay.

      Miranda couldn’t risk it. She hadn’t been able to for the longest time now, but... Even with the holiday being what it was, this year felt particularly dangerous. Rebellion that dwelled within the heads of her own people, pressing in on every side, threatening to swallow her whole. Somehow feeling even more distant from what was supposed to be her own title than ever before, and knowing that there would be royals all around her watching to ensure she kept up the act perfectly. Her eldest sisters growing more agitated. Daddy being more displeased than ever.

       It would not be the first year nor the last Miranda was sure that she would be finally killed by what she was born to be and do, but it might be the year her fears finally come true.

      As per custom, she had to speak with Daddy and ensure that she was still to return to the land by the end of the week. To make sure his mind hadn’t changed, that this was to continue, and that she wasn’t yet to return home.

                                       All the more reason for Miranda to do this now.                  When she was no longer certain that she would be able to return to Dahlia.

      If she was to die. If she was to suddenly be unable to return to Spooky High, to graduate alongside her demoness, to meet with her and talk to her, to be able to do this......... Miranda had weighed her options. She knew what waited for her beyond the veil of death. She knew the risk that came if the reapers didn’t claim her soul in time. She knew Dahlia would never hurt her.

       Dahlia had trusted Miranda with her True Name. A trust that complete and whole, and Miranda had memorized the lines, the individual strokes. Miri had sealed it away into a place that only she could open, that only she knew what lay inside, but it was given. Freely. No contract, no catch, nothing. Just Dahlia’s trust.

       And Miranda was sure she could trust Dahlia in turn. No deal had to be made for that. She trusted her kiis’r with her life, and Miranda was sure she could trust her with the other side as well.

      As she folded her hand over her opposite wrist, feeling the slow, paced thump of her own heart, and knowing what it kept tethered down to this world, Miranda knew what she had to ask. What she wanted to do. A gift, upon a land holiday, doubling both as a gesture of how much Miri cared and a reassurance that, together, they could pull some glimmer of hope out of the bitter jaws of fate.

      Down Miranda stared at them. At her own lap, where they rested. Sitting so comfortably in Dahlia’s apartment. Maybe it was funny, that for all the wealth Miranda knew and was surrounded with on a daily basis, nothing came close to the same comfort of Dahlia’s own home. Or maybe it was just appropriate, that this felt more her home than any manor or castle or palace, to have a place dedicated to being lived in, and nothing less than that grand goal.

      Privacy. They needed privacy for this. Miranda had told Dahlia that she was coming over, that she wanted to talk to her about something, and... Spooky High just wouldn’t cut it. They needed somewhere without onlookers. Without others to overhear. Where it could be discussed and given wholeheartedly, no reason to hide, no reason to turn shy. The comfort of a home. A place marked by softness and domesticity that Miranda had been kept a lightweight with.

      “I... I have to... go away, for a while. The land’s month of March is a busy time for me, and... I have to go back to the palace, for a few days. It’s our big holiday.” For once, Miranda’s words trembled under her breath. Unsteady. Shaky as a newborn, and just as naked and defenseless for the world beyond. Scared. Scared for what was coming, but not for what she was about to do. That she was confident in. Even when her voice was hers, and not the call to war of a ruler or the demands of a princess, when it was just her, frail and tiny and pretty without bite. Even when she felt truly vulnerable. She didn’t regret posing it to Dahlia. Couldn’t regret it.

      “I came here because... I wanted to ask you something. Give you something. If you’ll take it. Before it might be too late, and I can’t make sure it comes to rest in your hands.”

      Inhale, exhale. Eyes closed. Focusing on the slow, steady beat of her own heart. Those bonds forged by all those who came before her, building chains of threads of connections, a mortal barrier, a spiderweb spun stronger than steel that might bend but would only break for one thing.

      Thinking now, of a new tie, entrusted to the person she knew would keep it safe, keep her safe, at her very weakest.

      “ ..... I want to... gift you my immortal soul. No deals. No contracts, no tricks. Freely given, from me to you, for nothing in return. If you want to take that claim. A gift, willingly shared.”

[royalreef]

@bestconqueror​ inquired:  (¬‿¬)~!!! Remove one piece of clothing - NOT Accepting

[royalreef]

@cleaverbilt​ inquired:  "Why didn't you at least talk to me about this before going through with it?"

       “Because it’s my soul. And I needed to make sure it was safe.” Miranda wasn’t about to say her real thoughts. Namely, that it was hardly even a debate in her own mind before she had done it. The terms really were complete in that way - not a doubt in Miranda’s mind what she wanted to do, what she wanted to give to Dahlia to ensure that she would never be one with the screaming, writhing mass that had haunted her dreams and kept her lights on. Set in her heart before they were set in Infernal, and given completely and genuinely.

      Of course Bellanda wasn’t happy about it. This was Miranda’s territory, after all, what was given to her by the crown and the call of her title priming her for the task of ruling. A most honorable job. Tag'yct'eh dealt with the living, with fighting bloody wars and enforcing the living, shepherding them to their dooms. And she had touched the weapons that were made, used them to make such beautiful slaughter and inspire fear in those who opposed the crown - but it was Slz'Exkii who dealt in the making of such things. Who watched how they were set, who knew each and every parameter, who knew how they did what they did and exactly the processes to find and isolate every single target so they might be crushed with blinding efficiency.

      And Miranda knew it well enough to know how to throw it off. Things that Bellanda wasn’t trained for, where Miranda had seen it in action. She also knew what sat in her own bedchambers, protected in a tightly sealed box that no one other than Miranda herself could open and much less break. Dahlia had trusted her with something of equal weight. And Miri knew she would be safe.

      “Tag'yct'eh, please --- I know you will not believe me, but I know the severity and weight behind this, and I knew it well before I even knew Dahlia. And I have told you now! This relies on the kingdom not knowing, on no one knowing, and you do. I assure you, I’ll be safe. This will be fine, I promise you.”

[royalreef]

@bestconqueror​ inquired:  I'm contractually obligated to send in 7'5ft for tall wife. A more accurate height comparison - Accepting

[royalreef]

                    “Liam does what?”

       As if she doesn’t have experience with having many, many lovers in a nightmarish dystopian setting and getting through it with the connections she forges with all of them.

[royalreef]

      Oh. Oh she LOVES being referred to as Dahlia’s wife. Don’t mind her, she’s just going to be dissolving into a melted puddle of blushy blushy fishie and fluttering fins.

[royalreef]

@bestconqueror​ inquired:  'Advice'~! Relationship Advice - Accepting

I [21/Mermaid] keep having weird feelings for my best friend [20/Demon]???? Posted by: throwaway-6382893411

I do not know if this shall be the accurate place to post such a thing, but recently I have been having more and more complex feelings for my best friend. We’ve known each other for a long time, and she is one of the brightest stars in my life, who I always look forward to speaking with and hanging out alongside. She’s such a beacon of positivity into all that we do together that I don’t quite know what to do about this.

Recently I have started to feel shyer around her. I have always been a rather confident person, so I noticed almost immediately how my heart will flutter around her or how I abruptly feel flustered whenever she looks at me. She is still one of the great things in my life, so this abrupt change does not feel bad, but it is overwhelming whenever she smiles at me.

We have bit each other before, and she is aware that it is a fond thing for myself to do and believes similarly. Yet as I’ve started to feel more shy around her, so too have I started to think about biting her more often. Perhaps on her beautiful shoulders, where others can see it? I have been thinking about marking her a lot, or her marking me, or both. I really want everyone to know how close we are and how much she means to me. Recently it has even started to intrude into my dreams. I cannot stop thinking about her, about us. She truly means so much to me.

This has gotten bad enough to where I keep getting an intense bout of protectiveness whenever I consider someone potentially hurting her. She is far more physically trained than I, and was the finest warrior in the Nine Hells, and yet I feel an intense need to make sure she stays safe. That no one would ever hurt a hair upon her head, and want to defend her with my life. To destroy anyone who might ever wish harm upon her. I know she can fight upon her own and handle herself, yet I don’t want her to have to fight. I want her to be able to relax, and be happy, and not have to worry about such things.

I’ve tried to channel this energy into getting her gifts, as I am rather well off, but that does not feel to be enough. I just truly want her to be taken care of and happy, to be surrounded by things that she loves and to see her bright smile.

Does anyone have any advice as to what this might be??? I do not know what’s going on, and the sheer strangeness of this is enough to be concerning. 

RE: [ ... ] Posted by: lepi-dope-tera

I have no way to put it any gentler than this: you got a crush. You fucking bit each other and you keep thinking about biting her??? Get a room already!

RE: RE: [ ... ] Posted by: 43Juans

dont be rude, there was just one bed, OBVIOUSLY they had to share

RE: RE: RE: [ ... ] Posted by: throwaway-6382893411

How did you know that just last week we were snowed in and had to sleep together to stay warm???