#Lieutenant Matthias

[supercalifragipopculturevomit]

Here's to one of the best actors of his generation, the versatile and multilingual king who's been pulling heartstrings for three decades with a variety of roles, faces, and languages... Happy 46th birthday, Daniel Brühl!

p.s. who's your favorite Danny character? Sound off in the comments or the tags—or don't. I'm not your mother. 😋

[b3anieperson]

Onyx Storm Reactions

Chapters 9-12 :)

CHAPTER 9

AINT NO FUCKING WAY HE CAN DO THAT

I'm glad they all made it.

Oh god.. Samara.. it's in shambles..

Good to know he doesn't like Aetos either. He could be an ally for in the future.

He's also not prejudiced against Poromiel. Good.

And he's respectful.

Maybe Xaden's room is still there..?

Whoa.. whoa.. what happened??

Oh.. it's a dream. Ten to one.

What are you looking for? Vi. You're gonna be okay. I promise.

Oh Vi.. I know..

Vi.. I promise you're okay. They're okay. It's just a dream.

Yeah.. thank God Sawyer's not there.

And thank God for Rhi. She's such a good friend.

Oh guys.. I'm so sorry.

What's going on in Nuhol? (I apologize for any misspellings I currently do not have the book on me to correct any errors)

Shit..

You can't help, but they can, they can do it. I promise they can.

Maren, they'll be okay. -and you might be able to help them. If you leave now.

Exactly, thank you Ridoc. You guys can do this. I promise.

Rhiannon will make the right call. I promise.

Let's hope this isn't exactly like Resson. This time they'll all make it out.

CHAPTER 10

Who cares what they saw? You guys are never going to fucking listen. And you guys are doing the right thing.

Oh god. A storm. This will either help out because of Vi's signet, or it'll make it worse.

Blast it out, you can hit it Vi.

YES! COME ON! YOU'VE GOT THIS

The worst part about this is that we don't have Sawyer to repair the daggers if they break.

Oh shit. Is she a Sage? Or another Maven?

No.. no. Shit. Shit. We need to get the others away from Nuhol. Trap or not.

Vi. Do not unseat. Stay in your fucking saddle.

What the fuck? WHY IS GARRICK THERE?

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

No. No. No. Tairn... No. No. Please.

HOLY SHIT HE'S ALIVE THANK FUCK

Holy shit Garrick. Thank fuck.

Oh shit.. fuck..

Vi. Deep breath, it's okay, let Garrick get you down.

Shit. At least Chradh's okay. At least you guys are okay. The rest of the squad will be there soon.

Garrick's got you. It's okay. After this you need to get back to Samara.

You know what I've noticed? Every time one of Vi's joints are dislocated they say, "I'm so sorry," or "I'm so fucking sorry," Right before they put it back into place.

You guys'll be okay. It's okay.

Garrick- ever the charmer lmao

Chradh'll be okay.

IS THIS AN EPIC THE MUSICAL CROSSOVER??? SCYLLA IS TRAGOR'S GRYPHON?? SCYLLA???

Dude- Xaden's unreasonable ALL THE TIME

Oh. Then not Xaden's usual unreasonableness.

Oh shit.. please let Xaden be okay.

GARRICK'S A FUCKING DISTANCE WIELDER- THIS IS ON MY BINGO CARD

WAIT WHAT?? HOLY SHIT- ALL THE MARKED ONES HAVE TWO SIGNET'S DONT THEY-

Fuck. HOW DOES SHE HAVE LIGHTNING?

She's powerful. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

Garrick. Get them out of there. Now.

Vi quit being a bisexual and TELL GARRICK TO GET YOU OUT OF THERE

No.. Maren.. fuck.. I'm so sorry..

Vi. You still have lightning. (Right?) Strike that bitch down.

Fuck. Fuck. Garrick. Hang on. Please. Hang on.

How does she know her name.?

Violphene (?) (Theophanie? Fuck it. T. I'm dyslexic, I can't spell anything worth a shit.)

Yeah. Not creepy at all T.

WHOA WHOA WHOA WHAT? IRID? THATS SUCH A BADASS NAME BUT WHAT THE FUCK?

CHAPTER 11

Keep Andarna away from her.

Very cool Andarna. But you need to fucking leave.

Bitch how old are you?

You will never get ahold of Xaden.

Who the fuck is Berwin?

DUDE WHAT THE FUCK

Is she one of the first six? Since there hasnt been another lightning wielder in a hot minute, (maybe not since the first six), like if she was already a Venin when her dragon died, she could live. Just like Jack.

Yeah. Us either Garrick. Glad you're alive though.

Thank god Tairn's okay.

Yeah. But Garrick, how do you have one? Is it a familial line? Or because of the mark?

DUDE DON'T FUCKING LIE TO HER SHE'S SMART

Garrick. She won't tell anyone. But leave. Before everyone else finds out.

Oh I highly doubt that, they just don't gossip about their riders signets. They gossip about their relationships though-

Yeah Tairn's not wrong. You ain't hobbling.

Brennan's gonna mend your ass. At least they're keeping safe.

Andarna totally looks up to Marbh as a big brother lmao.

Oop- angry boyfriend, yayyyyyy

Aww, he just missed youuuuuu

VIOLET NOT TIME TO MAKE KINKY SEX JOKES

Yeah, no shit he's angry, I'd be angry too. But he's also probably scared too. He probably thought he lost you. Again.

Yeah, but being in the saddle while injured rarely helps her out lmao.

He's such a good big brother.

OOP- THAT'S A LAW???

Brennan is the best big brother lmao-

Garrick is being the real MVR (most valuable rider)

HA OG FOURTH WING QUOTE "Well the fuck aware!"

Oh Maren.. I'm so sorry...

Fuck you Aetos. Fuck off and go elsewhere.

Ohhhhh Rhiannon please fucking stab him

SOMEONE FUCKING STAB THIS DUDE

You heard Ridoc, dick-for-brains

DID BRENNAN CHANGE HIS NAME BACK??? THATS SWEET BUT I ALSO LIKED ASEREIGH

He's such a cutie patootie

No one gives a shit about King Tauri. They aren't going anywhere.

LADIES GET YOURSELF A MAN LIKE XADEN RIORSON 👏 👏 👏

Aetos. Fuck you.

No.. no. Please.

Fuck.

Fuck you Aetos.

You fucking prick. I hope you fucking die. I really really hope you do.

Yeah Ridoc, we all do.

OH SHIT I FORGOT THERE WERE CHILDREN IN THE ROOM-

At least they're sleeping..

Good. No pain. She'll be okay.

Oooooooo- Viiiiiii you're in troubleeeeeeeeeee

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

CHAPTER 12

"Oh. Oh." -Violet Sorrengail every time she thinks Xaden is mad at her.

I AM NOT GOING TO REACT TO THE MIND BLOWING SEX THATS ABOUT TO PROBABLY HAPPEN BUT OH MY GOD

Well this deescelated quickly.

So.. they planned this out. The dragons.

Well- I don't knoowwww, I personally like MY theory.

Fuck.. Xaden.. At least he's okay.

Also this letter is super sweet.

Poor Imogen.. she's so tired..

Yuck- please kick her off the mission.

Hey Heaton, hey Emery.

Jack. Fucking. Barlowe.

Vi.. he's not here. You're not in the chair. I promise.

Exchange? Of what?

You wouldn't want to, either way Barlowe, I'm sure he wants to gain you for once.

WHO CALLED THE ORANGES THING? SOMEONE DID AND I KNOW IT.

The only thing I can picture of Jack is just Gollum from LOTR but with blonde hair.

Oh trust me Jack, she is not the first year you remember trying to kill.

God. That's... horrifying.

The dragons are not villains, fuckwit.

But the real question is, can you be cured? Please tell me there's a cure..

God. He's horrifying.

Fuck off Jack.

What the fuck Jack. You psychopath. You sick fuck.

Vi. Deep breaths. You're fine. You're fine. I promise.

FUCK YEAH IMOGEN! (I love watching her signet work!)

Wait.. how long have they been doing this? Was this the first time?

[jazzythursday]

Omg what’s sun summoner Jesper!?! 😱

Hi! I’m so glad you asked!

Sun summoner Jesper is a wip I started on a whim a while back. It follows show canon for sab but with Jesper in Alina’s place and Wylan in Mal’s (but with a lot of mixing and matching, i.e., Wylan is a cartographer and Jesper is a soldier, etc.) what I have so far is mostly based on the first 15 minutes of s1e1. Kaz and Inej also make appearances as Jesper’s friends and fellow soldiers (though I have Kaz as more of a strategist and assistant to Per Haskell, who in this is the lieutenant)

I want to tackle at least one other au before I dive into this one (probably my Rapunzel au) because if never written a long plot-driven fic, but I do definitely want to return to it eventually. There’s a lot still up in the air story-wise—I don’t know how Nina and Matthias will play into it, who the Darkling is, or if I’m going to use other characters to swap roles with the crows. I do know that it will span, at the very least, the plot of season 1 and probably a lot of season 2… and also that Kuwei is going to be Zoya.

You didn’t ask for a snippet, but I can’t really help myself, so here’s a decent chunk that takes place towards the beginning of chapter 1:

“Bit quick on the draw there,” Kaz chastens, as Jesper finishes re-loading the barrel of his rifle and pointing it at the target once more. He fires off a quick shot, one that lands directly between the eyes of the target dummie’s head. He follows it up with a second hit to the same spot, just to prove a point. Jesper cocks his head to the side, raises an eyebrow to match Kaz’s own arch look.

“You were saying?”

Unimpressed as ever, Kaz returns to his tent. That he expects Jesper to follow is just a given, one that he doesn’t bother with the directive for. He sits at his desk—a makeshift bureau of used crates and an old door strapped to the top—he finishes counting off his share of their earnings and passes the rest to Jesper.

“Don’t get cocky,” he says, continuing their conversation from before, “and don’t”—he points a judgemental, solitary finger at Jesper—“get fancy. I don’t need the other soldiers getting jealous enough to want to take you down a peg or two because of flash. Someone will get the bright idea to tell Haskell.”

“Aw, you think they’re jealous?” Jesper bats his eyes and pretends to swoon. “Of little ol’ me? Re-ally? Who? Tell me. Tell-me-tell-me-tell-me—”

“Bolinger looked like he’d rather use you for target practice more than that dummy after today.”

“Aw Kaz, are you worried? I never knew you cared.”

Kaz looks at him. If looks could kill, Jesper thinks, knowing Kaz Brekker would have killed him a thousand times over by now.

“Not just Bolinger. Keeg looked about ready to stage a mutiny.”

“Keeg’s a sore loser, that’s nothing new. It isn’t my fault he bet on the poor shot.”

“Would you just stop for—Hello Inej.”

Jesper blinks. “What?”

“Kaz is right,” says Inej, standing right next to them, and Jesper jumps.

“Fucking Saints!” he pants, hand over his chest to feel his racing heartbeat. “Warn the guy with the gun, people!” He lifts up his rifle and shakes it a bit for effect. “Gun, weapon”—he gestures to the rifle, then points to himself—“me, Jesper. What is confusing here?”

Kaz rolls his eyes and Inej smiles fondly at them both.

“What news?” Kaz asks her, their standard greeting.

“Nothing you don’t already know. Bolliger is whinging about Jes thrashing him in the match.”

Jesper can just feel Kaz’s eyes on him. There goes another life. “What else?” he asks, instead of giving Kaz the satisfaction of looking back.

“That’s everything. Oh”—her eyes widen—“and they just brought in a new caravan. Cartographers, from what I’ve heard. They're combining them with our unit to go south.”

Jasper starts walking straight out of the tent. He slings his rifle over his shoulder, tucking the prize winnings away, deep into his pocket. He doesn’t give his friends an explanation—he doesn’t have time to—he’s already striding across camp. Moving purposefully towards where he knows any new caravans full of cartographers would have been parked.

Cartographers, Jesper thinks, trying and failing to tamp down on the fluttery hope rising within him. Cartographers could mean—

“Jes!”

Jesper stops dead in his tracks. There's a swarm of butterflies made up of half hope and half fear flapping up his spine. He turns, and is met with familiar wild auburn curls and wide, crystalline blue eyes.

Jesper might not be special, but right now, he’s feeling pretty fucking lucky.

“Wylan!”

They run—literally run—to meet each other's outstretched arms, crashing and holding onto each other tightly.

“Wy,” Jesper whispers. He closes his eyes and rests his head on top of Wylan’s, soft curls pillowing his cheek. Wylan melts into him, head buried in Jesper’s large coat, hugging him even tighter.

Wylan looks up, but doesn’t try to put any further space between them in the slightest. He grins. “Jesper.”

It’s a good look on him, Jesper thinks. Smiling. It makes the freckles dotted all across the bridge of his nose to his cheeks crinkle up like clusters of stars. It makes his eyes look like precious gems. Like solid cut sapphire.

Thanks for playing!

[bazkrekkerbrokemyshin]

Give me a crash course

Okay, so I may have turned this crash course into a full on lecture about everything you'd need to know in order to understand the fandom...

Anyway, obligatory spoiler warning for Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom (the sequel) under the cut!

Let's start with the "Six of Crows" themselves:

Kaz "Dirtyhands" Brekker, 17 (criminal mastermind; lock picking extraordinaire; Lieutenant of the Dregs; scariest thing in the Barrel; always wears gloves for some spooky/mysterious reason; beats opponents up with his crow-headed cane)

Inej "Wraith" Ghafa, 16 (grew up as a talented acrobat in Ravka; sold into a brothel in the Barrel when she was 14 after being taken from her family; now the best spy around; carries an unbelievable amount of knives on her at all times, and is extremely capable with them)

Jesper Fahey, 17 (grew up on a farm in Novyi Zem; moved to Ketterdam for university; ended up dropping out and becoming a gambling addict; now the best sharpshooter around)

Nina Zenik, 17 (a heartrender; was in the Ravkan military with other Grisha; now occasionally works for Kaz and has an ulterior motive of getting Matthias out of the most secure prison in Ketterdam)

Matthias Helvar, 18 (grew up in Fjerda; was a druskelle AKA Grisha hunter; fell in love with Nina after capturing her; is now in Hellgate AKA the previously mentioned prison because of her)

Wylan Van Eck, 16 (son of wealthy and powerful merchant Jan Van Eck, who is an unfathomably terrible person; was disowned for being dyslexic, which Jan thought made him an unworthy heir; is now wandering around the Barrel after his father tried to have him killed)

Six of Crows takes place in the Grishaverse, where Grisha (people born with powers, AKA practice the "Small Science") exist, and are typically ranked in the following orders:

Corporalki: Order of the Living and the Dead (includes Heartrenders like Nina, who can control living matter, and are extremely powerful because they can do things like stop people's hearts with a gesture of the hand.)

Ethrealki: Order of the Summoners

Materialki: Order of the Fabrikators (includes Durasts, who can manipulate solid materials to their will. Jesper is a Durast, but we don't learn that until later because he was taught to hide it at a young age for his safety. Kaz always knew, of course.)

The book takes place in the Barrel, which is essentially the filthiest part of Ketterdam, a city in the island nation of Kerch. Here's a map:

Some background knowledge:

The Barrel is essentially where all the tourists go to throw their money at gambling rings and pleasure houses, but what's even more fun is that it's all gang territory. There are many gangs, but the most important one in this story is the Dregs, which most of the Crows (Kaz, Inej, Jesper) are a part of. After experiencing one of the most tragic backstories known to man, Kaz worked his way up in the Barrel and now essentially runs the Dregs, even though he's only the Lieutenant. Jesper is his right hand man, and Inej is his go-to spy (/BFF/eventual crush).

The thing about Kaz "Dirtyhands" Brekker is that he has a reputation of accepting even the dirtiest of jobs, the ones no one else is willing to take (for moral reasons, stakes, whatever). This leads into the main plot:

Kaz is offered an insane amount of money to break into the Ice Court---supposedly the most secure building in the world, all the way over in Fjerda---to abduct an imprisoned scientist who invented a powerful and dangerous drug (jurda parem). It kills regular people and makes Grisha overpowered (until it kills them, too). Fjerdans captured him because they wanted to use it against Grisha, their greatest enemy. The man offering was none other than Jan Van Eck, but we don't know he's evil yet.

Kaz accepts, and builds a team consisting of the six main characters. This is how they all come together. Kaz finally breaks Matthias out of Hellgate (he could've done it a long time ago when Nina first asked, but had no reason to), and Wylan is the final addition as the team's demolitions expert. As it turns out (Kaz always knew, he knows everything about everyone in the Barrel and brought the team together), Wylan is extremely skilled in chemistry and can build bombs!

A lot of the book follows how Matthias hates being brought on the team at first because he doesn't want to betray his home country, Nina betrayed him, and the druskelle (Fjerdan Grisha-hunters) would disown him if anyone knew he fell for her "tricks." Eventually he starts changing his way of thinking, becoming more open-minded and realizing maybe his druskelle brothers weren't necessarily the "good guys" after all. (This doesn't happen until way later, though. He's very brainwashed.)

After many obstacles, the Crows make it to Fjerda and start towards the Ice Court. Eventually we learn Kaz's tragic backstory, which explains the reason why he wears gloves 24/7. TL;DR: his entire family died in a series of unfortunate events, he ended up in a pile of plagued corpses in the canal (Reaper's Barge) because some employees thought he was dead, and he had to use his beloved older brother (Jordie)'s body to float to land. Now he can't stand skin-to-skin contact. He was 9 when this all happened BTW.

The person they were assigned to abduct from the Ice Court had apparently died before they got there, so they took the next best thing: his son, Kuwei Yul-Bo, who also happened to be in the prison cell and surely knew at least something about the jurda parem his father created.

Throughout the book, three romantic relationships are established. Kaz and Inej (Kanej), Matthias and Nina (Helnik), and Wylan and Jesper (Wesper).

During their escape from the Ice Court, Nina consumes jurda parem to heighten her Heartrender powers to escape the Fjerdan military. It makes her powerful enough to end the battle in an instant, but soon afterwards she deals with the withdrawals of addiction and her powers are changed. Now instead of the living, she calls upon the dead, thus explaining why you may see her referred to as a "Corpsewitch."

The book ends with the Crows arriving back in Ketterdam to make their exchange with Jan Van Eck, who we now know is extremely abusive towards Wylan and hates him so much he attempted to have him killed. On the surface, the exchange would be Kuwei for $30 mil. However, both sides had some tricks up their sleeves.

Unfortunately, the exchange goes in Van Eck's favor, Kaz doesn't get his money, and the Crows are attacked by Grisha drugged with jurda parem (extremely addictive, essentially turns them into mindless minions).

As the Grisha attack, Kaz briefly and instinctively looks over to Inej. Van Eck realizes this is Kaz's tell (she's the only thing he seems to actually care about), orders the Grisha to abduct Inej, and let's just say Kaz is not happy about it.

This leads into the sequel, Crooked Kingdom. I'm not gonna say much about this one, just the important bits.

They save Inej

We meet Colm Fahey, Jesper's dad

Kaz finally takes down Pekka Rollins, the leader of the Dime Lions (gang) and the man who destroyed his life

Kaz becomes the official leader of the Dregs, which makes him a "Barrel Boss"

Jan Van Eck is sent to prison thanks to another one of Kaz's insane yet genius plans

Jesper accepts himself as a Durast

Nina grows into her Corpsewitch powers

Matthias decides he wants to go with Nina back to Fjerda to change everyone's minds about Grisha, convincing them they're not unnatural monsters

...Matthias is shot and killed by a young druskelle who happened to recognize him (OH, THE PARALLELS!!!)

Everyone gets their millions of kruge (Kerch currency) from the job, so they are free from the financial burdens that were weighing them down (Nina gets Matthias' cut, too)

Kaz (like the simp he is) gifts Inej a ship to hunt slavers like the ones who took her, and surprises her even further by reuniting her with her parents

Jesper and Wylan live together in the Van Eck mansion, now that Jan Van Eck is gone

Nina goes back to Ravka, becomes a spy for them, and goes undercover in Fjerda to take them down from the inside

---

BOOM, DONE!

[ell0ra-br3kk3r-writes]

The Phoenix and the Crow

part twenty-four

pairing: kaz brekker x fem!reader

genre: neutral, angst

el's thoughts: this was a fun part to write!! we see a little more of what y/n's life before the story started did to her, and more interactions with the crows :) i hope y'all enjoy it

main masterlist // series masterlist

Y/N could hear Nina yammering to Inej somewhere behind her, trying to teach her Fjerdan words. “No, Hring-kaaalle. You have to hang on the last syllable a bit.”

“Hringalah?” tried Inej.

“Better but- here, it’s like Kerch is a gazelle. It hops from word to word,” she pantomimed. “Fjerdan is like gulls, all swoops and dives.” Her hands became birds riding the currents in the air. 

Y/N saw Matthias look back past her to stare at Nina and quickly cleared his throat, turning back to face forward. The group was eager to get to their next stop and rest their feet, all of them silently grumbling about the bitter cold. 

Matthias, ahead of them, threw his arm out as if to stop them from contiuning forward. “Stop! You don’t want to-”

But it was too late. Nina clapped her hands over her mouth. Inej made some kind of warding sign in the air. Jesper shook his head and Wylan gagged. Kaz stood like a stone, his expression inscrutable. 

Y/N. Y/N had the most heartbreaking reaction caused only by silence. She stared with a cold stare, her mind racing through all the faces of the soldiers under her command. Those who were captured and tortured. Those who were caught and taken, never seen or heard from again. The people who placed their trust in her and this is where she had led them to.

The pyre had been made on a bluff. Whoever was responsible had tried to build the fire in teh shelter of a rock outcropping, but it hadn’t been enough to keep the flames from dying out in the wind. Three stakes had been driven into the icy ground, and three charred bodies were bound to them, their blackened, cracked skin still smoldering.

“Ghezen,” Wylan swore. “What is this?”

“This. This is what Fjerdans do to Grisha,” Y/N said. Her face was slack, and her eyes were ablaze.

“It’s what criminals do,” said Matthias. “The pyres have been illegal since-”

Y/N whirled on him and shoved his chest hard, pointing her finger at him threateningly. “Don’t you dare,” she seethes, fury burning like a halo around her. “Tell me the last time someone was prosecuted for putting a Grisha to the flames. Do you even call it murder when you put down dogs?”

“Y/N-”

“Do you have a different name for killing when you wear a uniform to do it?”

They heard it then– a moan, like a creaking wind.

“Saints,” Jesper said. “One of them is still alive.”

The sound came again, thin and keening, from the black hulk of the body on the far right. It was impossible to tell it the shape was male or female. Its hair had burned away, its clothing fused to its limbs. Black flakes of skin had peeled away in places, showing raw flesh.

A sob tore from Nina’s throat. She raised her hands but she was shaking too badly to use her power to end the creature’s suffering. She turned her tear-filled eyes to the others. “I… Please, someone…”

Jesper had brought out his gun but Y/N reached out to push his hand down. “Too loud.” Her voice came out tense and overflowed with emotion.

She pulled out a knife she had tucked into her side and walked forward. She pulled her shoulders back and sucked in a deep breath, the cold threatening to choke her. She knelt before the burnt figure and placed her hand under their head. 

“Lieutenant.” 

Her eyes widened as they spoke, their voice hoarse and cracking, barely able to be heard. 

“Lieutenant, please… Hurts.”

Y/N sobbed silently and held them tighter. “I’m so sorry. I failed you.” She shifted them so she could hold the knife to their neck. “May the Saints recieve you, soldier.” Within seconds she had slit their throat and ended their suffering. She muttered a quick prayer over them and quickly composed herself, brushing the snow off her clothes and took another deep breath. With every breath a wave of panic washed over her with the fear of the air freezing her lungs. She turned back to the group and walked over. She didn’t realize that the wind had carried their voices and the group of six before her heard everything. 

“Let’s not waste more time.”

“Thank you,” Nina choked out. She plunged ahead over the frozen ground, following the shape of the path through the snow. She was weeping, stumbling over the terrain. Matthias followed. 

“Nina, you mustn’t stray from the group-”

“That’s what you’re going back to, Helvar,” she said harshly. “That’s the country you long to serve. Does it make you proud?”

“I’ve never sent a Grisha to the pyre. Grisha are given a fair trial-”

“Then why has a Grisha never been found innocent at the end of your supposedly fair trials?”

“I-”

“Because our crime is existing. Our crime is what we are.”

Y/N mouthed the words with Nina. All second army Grisha knew the words. It’s what had been repeated to them when they talked about the outside countries. The people who hunted Grisha. Their only fault was existing and they had to deal with it. Nothing could change the way the world saw them, so why fight it. Embrace it and be prepared.

Matthias went quiet for a moment before he spoke. “Nina, had it ever occurred to you that maybe… you weren’t meant to exist?”

And that was it. Y/N snapped. Her eyes glinted with fire as she took a step toward the Fjerdan and stood inbetween the pair. “Maybe you’re the ones who shouldn’t exist, Helvar. Weak and soft, with your short lives and your sad little prejudices. You worship wood sprites and ice sprites who can’t be bothered to show themselves, but you see real power, and you can’t wait to stamp it out.”

“Don’t mock what you don’t understand.” He almost growled as he towered over her.

“My mockery offends you? My people would welcome your laughter in place of this barbarity.” A look of supreme satisfaction crossed her face. “Ravka is rebuilding. So is the second army, and when I get back, you better hope we give you the fair trial you deserve. We will put the druskelle in shackles and make them stand to hear their crimes enumerated so the world will have an accounting of your evils.”

“If you’re so desprate to see Ravka rise, why aren’t you there now?”

Y/N felt as if he had slapped her across the face. Her eyes that were burning aglow now dulled and turned cold. “I’m here to make sure this drug doesn’t get into the wrong hands. To keep our world from getting worse and falling more than it already has.” A spiteful rage bubbled in her chest as she spoke her next words. “I want you to have your pardon, Helvar. I want you to be here when the second army marches north and overruns every inch of this wasteland. I hope we’ll burn your fields and salt the earth. I hope we send your friends and your family to the pyre.”

“They already did, Y/N. My mother, my father, my baby sister. Inferni soldiers, you precious, persecuted Grisha, burned our village to the ground. I have nothing left to lose.”

Y/N’s laugh was bitter and short. “Maybe your stay in Hellgate was too short, Helvar. There is always more to lose.”

~*~

taglist: @katherinereid @littlecat21 @jahayla-parker @maliciousbrekker @brekkershadowsinger @brekkers-desigirl @clunaes @wonderland2425 @bookloverfilmoholic @karensirkobabes @bookworm-center @el-de-phi @so-get-this-sammy

[maharlika]

rambly otp thoughts

it's midnight and i'm waiting for my brain to wind down after reading some really choice fics for a ship i barely know anything about, from a fandom i am pretty ambivalent on (it's zhongli/xiao from genshin impact ansnnsnsns)

anyway it made me realize that probably the number one thing i look for in a ship is a level of loyalty that can veer into devotion and even obsession. anyone who has known me for a while will not be surprised by this. i have always had a ridiculous fealty kink lol.

some otp thoughts under the cut!

i was thinking about this in terms of bleach ships and while i can and do ship byakuya with a lot of characters, i am particularly drawn to byaren because the captain/lieutenant relationship in bleach is just. so good. renji in particular is an extremely loyal character, and somehow byakuya has managed to garner his devotion (whether he deserves it or not is another story, but i think he gets there eventually). renji is the paragon of fealty. the thing is, i can just as easily see byakuya returning that loyalty. i think byakuya is the kind of person where, when a switch is turned on in his head and he realizes he cares about someone, it's almost impossible to turn it off. he's like that with rukia, with ichigo, and of course with renji. aside from the obvious other reasons why i think byaren are good together (contrasts and parallels!), the potential for mutual devotion is REALLY GOOD.

then i started thinking about this for my other otps and like. yeah. going through the list starting with the v obvious ones: thorki, plantcest. yeah it's incest and they're extremely powerful beings who know each other better than anyone else. there is at least one insanely possessive person in each of those ships, and one who is lowkey but no less devoted.

[loki voice] don't tell me...IT WAS THAT WOMAN

yeah, that tracks. okay, next

cazstar - clearly cazador is fucking obsessed with his favorite spawn, but also i'm not sorry about shipping astarion with the single most important person in his life for 200 years lmao. if you can't make your own devotion, manufacturing it through horrific torture and vampiric compulsion is just fine too!!!

e/R - look the devotion is built into the ship, even if it's one-sided

nina/matthias, damen/laurent - their particular brand of "society-enabled enemies who then learn to see each other as people and become lovers" cultivates a good level of devotion because deciding to love someone you'd dedicated your life to hating means you're gonna have to go ALL IN

that's all the examples i can think of for now!! there are probs more and obvs i have ships i enjoy that might not fall into this pattern, but as long as the potential is there, i'm probably down

[amanita-muscaria-things]

How I picture characters from The Empyrean series

General Lilith Sorrengail

OR

Brennan Sorrengail/Lieutenant Colonel Aisereigh

Mira Sorrengail

OR

Rhiannon Matthias

OR

Fen Riorson

Garrick Tavis

Dain Aetos

[okkanai]

> THE FALL OF THE MONTREVÉ SYNDICATE & THE RISE OF THE LAST SHADOW . . .

at thirty six, adrian moreau was untouchable — the hidden hand behind the montrevé syndicate. montrevé was a different beast entirely from adrian's current syndicate, the final order — volatile, ruthless, & lacking the precision adrian valued. he wasn't its leader, but in many ways, he was its mind, orchestrating moves that others thought were sheer instinct from the top bosses. though, montrevé had cracks. it was a machine built on ego, greed, & desperation, a structure adrian knew was unsustainable ; someone else in the syndicate must have realized he was the only one keeping it from collapsing.

betrayal was inevitable. he just never expected it to be that night.

the conspiracy . . .

the betrayal was set in motion by a faction of montrevé’s most ambitious lieutenants — men who had long grown restless under adrian’s quiet dominance. the official leader of montrevé, mathieu corbin, was a feared & respected figure, but those in the inner circle knew the truth : adrian was the one keeping the empire from burning to the ground.

among the conspirators were :

lucien cunningham — a ruthless enforcer who believed montrevé should rule with absolute force, not careful manipulation. he despised adrian’s methodical approach, believing it made them weak.

matthias rousseau — a trusted hitman, once adrian’s most reliable blade, who had grown resentful of being nothing more than a tool for someone else’s plans.

emilia voss — montrevé’s financial mastermind, who had built an empire of offshore accounts & black-market investments. she saw adrian’s caution as a threat to expansion & wanted the syndicate to be more aggressive in its global reach.

together, they formed a plan — not just to kill adrian, but to erase him. they knew that a man like adrian would never walk blindly into a trap, so they had to construct a scenario he wouldn’t be able to ignore. even shadows can be trapped when the light is manipulated just right.

the setup . . .

the alley smelled of rain - soaked asphalt & old cigarette smoke — a narrow corridor of forgotten stone & flickering streetlights, cut off from the rest of the city. it was the kind of place where men disappeared, where screams were swallowed by the wet concrete, where blood mixed with rain & drained into the gutters, leaving nothing behind but an empty space where someone used to be.

adrian moreau shouldn’t have been there. he was too careful. too precise. he never walked into a situation without controlling every possible outcome . . . but this time, the game was rigged before he even sat down to play.

the message had been urgent. a shipment compromised, a deal on the verge of collapse. one of montrevé’s foreign arms buyers was getting nervous, & someone needed to clean up the mess before it escalated into something worse. lucien, one of montrevé’s top enforcers, had sent word himself.

adrian had worked with lucien for years. he knew the man’s methods, knew he preferred violence over patience, intimidation over strategy. if lucien was asking for adrian’s intervention, it had to be serious.

& yet as adrian stepped into the alley, he noticed it immediately — the stillness. the city behind him buzzed with life — distant cars, muffled voices — but here ? nothing. no movement. no footsteps. no lucien.

his instincts screamed at him : turn back, leave, this isn’t right ; but by the time his body reacted, it was already too late.

the attack . . .

the blade came first. a sharp glint of steel from the shadows, arcing toward him in a deliberate, practiced motion. not a wild attack — an execution. adrian pivoted, but not fast enough. the knife slashed deep from his brow down to his cheekbone, cutting through flesh, muscle, & the delicate skin around his left eye.

blinding pain. a flash of white-hot agony. blood poured instantly, hot & thick, half - blinding him as it streaked down his face. he barely had time to register the pain before a gun fired. a dull thump — silenced, precise. the first bullet punched through his side, lodging deep beneath his ribs. a second buried itself into his shoulder, jerking his body back as the force sent him stumbling. he barely had time to breathe before a third tore through his thigh, a clean shot meant to cripple, not kill.

adrian gritted his teeth against the pain, his vision swimming from blood loss & shock. his legs nearly gave out, but he forced himself to stay standing. moving. calculating. then he saw them, emerging from the shadows, stepping into the dim yellow glow of the streetlight, his betrayers.

lucien stood at the front, rolling his wrists like a man warming up for a fight, the blade he had just used still dripping red. to his left, matthias, montrevé’s most efficient killer, the one adrian had trusted with too much. behind them — emilia, cold, unshaken, the one who had made this possible.

" still standing ? " lucien mused, tilting his head. " you always were a stubborn bastard. " adrian clenched his jaw, forcing himself to remain upright, calculating exit points, weaknesses, possibilities. he saw none. this wasn’t a warning. this wasn’t a beating. this was the end. lucien moved first. a solid kick to his ribs sent adrian sprawling against the brick wall, pain exploding through his already battered body. boots followed.

a heel to his chest — hard enough to fracture ribs. a fist to his jaw — disorienting, but nothing he hadn’t endured before. adrian barely heard the voices over the blood rushing in his ears. " you always thought you were smarter than the rest of us. " lucien crouched beside him, grabbing a fistful of his hair, forcing his head up so he could see the smirk on the man’s face.

" but you forgot one thing, moreau — no one is untouchable. " another gunshot, point - blank, straight into his abdomen. a clean, execution - style shot, meant to bleed him out. they let him collapse onto the wet pavement, the rain mixing with the blood pooling beneath him.

matthias crouched down, staring at adrian as if expecting some final words, but adrian didn’t speak. didn’t give them the satisfaction. " nothing ? " matthias scoffed. " fine. bleed out, then. " they turned & walked away. no final bullet. no dramatic send off. they thought the job was already done. they thought adrian moreau was dead.

the aftermath . . .

the alley was silent, save for the distant hum of city life beyond its walls. adrian lay there, his body broken, his vision blurred from the blood seeping into his left eye. the cold rain bit into his wounds, washing crimson rivers down the pavement, but the pain was a distant thing now — just a dull, pulsing reminder that he was still alive.

though, not for much longer, he could feel it.

the slow, creeping numbness spreading through his limbs. the weight in his chest. the short, gasping breaths that didn’t seem to pull in enough air. he had been left for dead, but moreau did not die in an alley. pain had always been a teacher. from the time he was young, he had learned that suffering was temporary. the mind could adapt. it could endure.

so even as his body screamed for rest, his mind forced him to move. he pressed a shaking hand against his stomach, feeling the warm, sticky blood spilling from the wound just below his ribs. deep — but not immediately fatal. the shot in his shoulder burned, sharp & relentless, but he could still move the arm. not paralyzed. the bullet in his thigh ? that was worse. his leg barely responded, & when it did, the pain was enough to make his vision go white. he was dying.

with trembling fingers, he reached into his coat. he always carried a blade — a slim, hidden dagger tucked into the lining. it wasn’t much, but it was something. he could use it if someone came to finish the job. except no one did. the sound of footsteps had faded. lucien, matthias, emilia — they were gone.

they had made a mistake. they should have made sure. he taught them as much. for once, he was glad they never listened to him.

adrian dragged himself forward, inch by inch, his fingers scraping against the wet pavement. every movement sent a fresh wave of agony through his body, but he didn’t stop. couldn’t. he didn’t know where he was going, didn’t know if he would make it, but survival wasn’t always about certainty. sometimes, it was about refusing to surrender.

he pushed forward until the alley opened up into a quieter street, one where the flickering street lights didn’t quite reach. the kind of place where the forgotten & the desperate gathered in the shadows. among them was a man who owed him a favor.

the helping hand . . .

adrian barely made it to the crumbling doorway before his strength gave out. he collapsed against the old wooden frame, his body fighting between unconsciousness & sheer willpower. the door creaked open, & through his blurred vision, he saw a shape — a man, older, with rough hands & tired eyes. the man’s gaze swept over him, taking in the blood, the torn suit, the wounds. recognition flickered.

" mon dieu . . . " the man exhaled sharply, " moreau ? " a smuggler. a man whose name adrian barely remembered, but whose life he had spared once, years ago. a debt that had never been repaid. adrian forced out the only words he could manage. " i need . . . time. " the man hesitated only a second before stepping aside. " then you’d better come inside before you bleed all over my floor. "

adrian was off the board.

for weeks, he drifted between fever & lucidity, his body barely clinging to life as he healed in a small, forgotten room above a dockside warehouse. the smuggler, nicolas ardent, had no love for montrevé. he had been cheated by them once, years ago, & adrian had ensured he got out of a bad deal alive. now, he repaid the favor.

the bullets were removed. the wounds cleaned. the pain ever - present. his left eye, though healed, was permanently marked — a jagged scar running down his face, a reminder of what he had lost. he listened, day after day, as montrevé tore itself apart without him. montrevé had always been chaotic, but without adrian ? it was crumbling.

the ressurection . . .

his betrayal had not been a death sentence, it had been a liberation. now, adrian moreau was no longer bound to montrevé. no longer a right - hand man in someone else's empire. now, he could build his own. now, he could become the last shadow.

by the time adrian resurfaced, montrevé was already in ruins. lucien had tried to take control, but his reliance on fear had backfired. he made too many enemies. matthias. on the other hand, was dead ; killed in a power struggle he should have seen coming. emilia ? she vanished, taking whatever money she could before montrevé imploded.

by the time adrian stepped back into the underworld, montrevé was nothing but whispers. a lesson in what happens when you remove the strategist from the empire & as the underworld watched, waiting to see what he would do next, adrian moreau did not take revenge. revenge was beneath him. instead, he built something better. something untouchable. something that would ensure he never had to crawl out of an alley ever again : he alone built the final order.

[markoftheasphodel]

From "Until the Sun Cries Morning," revised:

James didn’t love his men, didn’t think of them as his brothers or his children.  He couldn’t afford to love them.  His bright young captains were likely to wind up face-down across their silent guns; his able lieutenants were all too likely to end up in enemy hands.  Such was the fate of the artilleryman.  A gunner didn’t have the option to charge at the enemy with sword upraised and satin-lined cape swirling behind him.  Not for him the hot-blooded thrill of action, of the chase.  The artilleryman needed a colder courage-- the ability to man his post as the enemy closed in, the will to keep on firing as his comrades fell, as the horses fell, until he was the last bluecoat standing in a butternut sea.

“Hold fast, men. We’ll make it back to Chattanooga if we have to crawl on our knees... dragging these guns behind us.”

[Still Innes. ;P]

Matthias Lowell wasn’t a man to say, “I told you so.”  He didn’t have to be.  When he was wrong, he apologized for his errors.  When he was right, the results spoke for themselves.

At the present time, the growl of Ephraim’s empty stomach provided the most eloquent commentary on their situation.  They had command of Chattanooga, Braxton Bragg’s Army of Tennessee had them surrounded, and they were starving to death.  So, no, capturing Chattanooga hadn’t put an end to the war... though it was likely to put an end to all of them within the month.

“Nice view,” he said, and handed the field glasses back to Lowell, having seen more than enough of the rebel-infested mountain that loomed over them.

“Thank you. They’re from Prussia,” Matthias said as he slipped them back into their leather case. “Catherine gave them to me.”

“McCook and Crittenden are both facing a court-martial.”

“How nice that we all have everything we wanted.”

[Still Ephraim and my FE11-inspired Marth]

Honestly, I think this might work if I punch up the Ephraim/Lyon content.

[supercalifragipopculturevomit]

FUCK, MARRY, KILL: Daniel Brühl Cinematic Universe Edition

Just for funsies. Don't have an aneurysm. Leaning towards Zemo, Laszlo, and Böse, in that order, at the moment. At some other point, I might have said Thomas Lang, Niki Lauda, and Erik Jan Hanussen.

Because of the 30-photo limitation, I removed his minor and/or underdeveloped roles and the ones that wouldn't be difficult to "kill". I also didn't include the ones I haven't seen, so you won't see Salvador on this list. p.s. if anyone has a copy/link to that movie with English subs, I'd be forever grateful!

Lukas, The White Sound (2001)

Daniel, No Regrets / Nichts Bereuen (2001)

Alexander Kerner, Good Bye, Lenin! (2003)

Paul Krantz, Love in Thoughts / Was nützt die Liebe in Gedanken (2004)

Jan, The Edukators / Die fetten Jahre sind vorbei (2004)

Andrea Marowski, Ladies in Lavender (2004)

Lieutenant Horstmayer, Merry Christmas / Joyeux Noël (2005)

Tonda, Krabat (2008)

Dr. Georg Rosen, John Rabe (2009)

István Thurzó, The Countess (2009)

Fredrick Zoller, Inglorious Basterds (2009)

David Kern, Lila, Lila (2009)

Hans Krämer, The Coming Days / Die kommenden Tage (2010)

Konrad Koch, Lessons of a Dream / Der ganz große Traum (2011)

Álex Garel, Eva (2011)

Iván Pelayo, Winning Streak / The Pelayos (2012)

Niki Lauda, Rush (2013)

Daniel Domscheit-Berg, The Fifth Estate (2013)

Thomas Lang, The Face of an Angel (2014)

Daniel, Colonia (2015)

Sebastian Zöllner, Me and Kaminski (2015)

Tony Balerdi, Burnt (2015)

Dr. Laszlo Kreizler, The Alienist (2018 - 2020)

Ernst Schmidt, The Cloverfield Paradox (2018)

Wilfried Böse, Entebbe (2018)

Thomas Fischer, My Zoe (2019)

Daniel Weltz, Next Door / Nebenan (2021)

Erik Jan Hanussen, The King's Man (2021)

Baron Helmut Zemo, Captain America: Civil War (2016) / The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (2021)

Matthias Erzberger, All Quiet on the Western Front (2022)

[b3anieperson]

Onyx Storm reactions everyone :*)

Enjoy my pain and suffering.

Prolouge-Chapter 3

PROLOUGE

Vi.. she's just shutting every emotion out..

Ugh, guys just leave her alone.

She is going to hear a conversation she doesn't want to hear.

WWMSD? (What would Mira Sorrengail do?)

Also I love that Andarana is just, there, we needed more of her.

Okay, lowkey, these guards are sweet, they at least have honor.

Being down here for her.. it's gotta be hell.

I'm glad she's still fighting for him.

She's so sick of the fighting. With everyone. She needs rest more than anything.

"I have no doubts about who you are." That's very true, a sweet, loyal dragon, willing to do anything, at all.

OH WHAT this is fucking crazy, do more of that Andarna

Yeah. Let's also not make the FUCKING CHILD a weapon.

Also I really can't believe King Tauri might be aligning with Poromiel.

WHY CAN'T HE JUST FUCKING DIE

She'll do anything for him. She'd die for him.

I'm glad Andarna has more fate in him.

I hope she finds her kind.

"You no longer answer to them either."- man she is soooo snarky lol

WAIT so do Bodhi and Garrick know?

OOOOOOO IMOGENNNNNNNN

CHAPTER 1

"Don't fall off this time." MOTHAFUCKA SHE JUMPED

Yeah, scorch these sorry fuckers!

All these storms, all because she's not here.

Stupid fucking Venin.

Andarna is about to fucking start ripping throats open istg-

I highly doubt they've killed them all. HOLY SHIT 17 KILLS- GODDAMN XADEN

Shit- Ridoc let's not kill the main character omg-

Ice is no shit, it's fuckin screwy

GUYS LETS NOT KILL EACHOTHER HOLY SHIT

Girly go beat some fucking sense into your boyfriend goddamn-

OOP- AOTROM AND RIDOC ARE ARGUING-

Also- Ridoc and Aotrom are the same age (or almost)

Damn- Tairn is a tad bit bitchy-

And Tairn needs to pull his head out of his ass.

He quit calling him the Lieutenant.

He can be saved. Quit being like that dumbass.

She's.. pretending to sleep?.. Is she actually scared of him?..

That's such a dad line to say- "Yes." To both fucking options- fuckin jackass

Yeah Well, everyone used to say Dain was beyond redemption. NOW LOOK AT THE FUCKING DAIN AETOS APOLOGISTS CLUB

The argument is fucking pointless Vi-

At least the Wyvern are still dead.

We love Ridoc-

I agree, I'd rather you all go back to Aretia too. Unfortunately it's not as safe.

YES WE KEPT THE FUCKING JOURNALS

Ugh- Aura Beinehaven

Personally Vi, I think Malek just hates you-

I would have shot Aura and her little friend lol

DESERTERS?! BITCH THEY SAVED YOUR DUMBASSES. YOU DIDNT FUCKING KNOW SHIT AND WOULDVE DIED DURING THE BATTLE OF BASGIATH

I hope the fliers are doing okay at least. They're probably all holed up in like three rooms.

PARDONS YOU?! YOU GUYS FUCKING SAVED THEM- YOU CAN LEAVE AT *ANY* TIME

Ooooooo- Something with huhhhhh???

Oh so now we have a new mantra? Every possible path? Not "I will not die today," damn, gonna miss it.

Rhi might just kill Ridoc yet-

Girly (Imogen), if they're apart of a circus, you're the damn ringleader-

Has he drawn more than once? What did she mean by lost control? God I hope not.

First Wing dickheads. I've never met no one nice from that Wing.

Xaden would be so proud-

Man Infantry definitely got FUCKED during the Battle of Basgiath

Oh, now she's back to being a tad bit bitchy-

SAWYER

Awwww, they're all sitting with him. This is so sweeetttttt

Awww even Cat and Maren are there too. They care.

Ridoc- you funny dumbfuck-

At least he's working to get better.

Sawyer, you're gonna be okay. I promise.

Are they trying to get Sawyer to retire? Fuck that.

Fuck. Fucking Venin. Fuck. They're inside. Fuck.

CHAPTER 2

The six most powerful had to have been the first six, right?

YEAH NO SHIT TAIRN, DIDN'T NEED YOUR INPUT

No one dies. If someone dies, I'm throwing hands.

Who gives a fuck. Let her do it indoors anyways.

Damn Andarna- holy shit-

This is so intense

HOLY SHIT. IT'S NOT JUST RIDERS. I DONT KNOW WHY I THOUGHT IT'D JUST BE RIDERS.

Is it just scribes? I don't think it's just scribes.

Smart-ass

Tairn. Politely. Fuck off.

God- how many of them *are* there?

WHAT THE FUCK

HOW DOES SHE DISAPPEAR?

That poor gaurd..

HOLY SHIT

HOW DO THEY HAVE THESE FUCKING POWERS

XADEN YES!

He cares. He isn't one of them.

OH SHIT??? DID HE UP A RANK???

Awwwwww, hand holding. That's something right?

Suuuurreeeee Ridoc- lol

Come on Garrick, quit doubting him. He's still Xaden.

There's so much tension between them..Fuck..

Xaden. Quit doubting yourself. You are still you.

TAIRN BUTT THE FUCK OUT

Exactly Vi. He's still him. He still loves you.

They can sense eachother?.. shit.

CHAPTER 3

OH DAMN- FUCKIN STRAIGHT TO THE POINT AIN'T YA LILITH???

Garrick- I suggest you watch out lmao-

I had to ask @siobhanbooks about what a senarium was lol-

"The Xaden Effect"-

Oh goodie, are we about to meet King Tauri?

OOOO BRENNAN

Ugh- fucking Melgren

"You're such a romantic-" FISJRSITDITURSYRAUTSITS

Yuck- She sounds like such a C U Next Tuesday-

It's not Vi making the demands. It's Andarna. And either way, fuck off.

Fuck off Melgren. Duke Lewellen seems really sweet.

DUDE FUCK OFF THE FUCK OFF JESUS CHRIST

It should not Grady's choosing. It should be hers AND Andarna's

Xaden BETTER be among the selections.

The ONE time I agree with Tairn. I know Andarna should meet her family, but I say no.

Consider? You flying fuck-nut? You WILL meet her demands.

They won't even let them enter the fucking Quadrant? You fucking assholes. Where are they even staying?

Awww, he's actually so sweet.

Girly you deserve to sleep in for once.

Awww he marked her book for her- THIS IS COUPLE GOALS RIGHT HERE PEOPLE

AWWWWWWWWW HE'S STILL ASLEEP NEXT TO HERRRRRR

These two are perfect for eachother-

HE CALLED HER LOVE AGAINNNNNNNN

Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Xaden.. Fuck

[trillian-n7]

Elena von Valancius

Portrait is from Rogue Trader Generative Portaits.

Name: Elena von Valancius  Age: 38 Terran years Homeworld: Imperial World Origin: Navy Officer Conviction: Dogmatic Archetype: Bladedancer Planned Romance: Heinrix van Calox Appearance: Black hair, usually worn in a tight bun; grey eyes; light olive skin, tall and athletic build Style: Imperial navy uniform, white shirts, fitted grey pants, vest, black leather boots Personality: Confident, unrelenting, persuasive; loyal to the Imperium through privilege and wealth.

Early Life Elena van Mynaard was born on the small, yet prosperous, Imperial planet of Kessler. The Voss family was part of the nobility of Kessler and her mother hailed from the prestigious Von Valancius lineage. From an early age, Elena's sharp intellect and natural leadership skills were evident, which threatened her older brother, Matthias, the heir to the van Mynaard family, especially since she was clearly their father's favourite.

As Elena neared her eighteenth birthday, her father fell ill. Threatened by his sister’s popularity, Matthias seized the opportunity to secure his inheritance and pulled strings with the planet's Governor to ensure Elena's admission to the Kar Duniash Naval Academy. This honour left Elena with little choice but to accept.

Determined to avoid the commission, Elena secretly plotted to transfer the honour to her younger brother, Bastion, for when he turned eighteen. However, in a treacherous twist, Bastion orchestrated Matthias's murder and framed Elena for the crime. Heartbroken by his children's betrayal and unable to discern the truth, Lord van Mynaard concealed the murder within the family and commanded Elena to attend the naval academy.

Career At the age of 18, Elena attended the prestigious Kar Duniash Naval Academy in the Segmentum Ultima. Training was brutal, both from the expectations of the instructors and the conflicts between students, but her time at the academy was marked by excellence in both academic and tactical training. She graduated with honours and earned her first assignment as midshipman to the cruiser Indomitable. Her first deployment was in the Segmentum Obscurus, where she saw action against Ork raiders and Chaos incursions. Her strategic acumen and bravery in battle earned her several commendations and a rapid promotion to Lieutenant.

Elena's defining moment came during her deployment in the Gothic Sector where she played a crucial role in the defence of the forge world Aeolus. Her decisive actions and innovative tactics, luring a pirate squadron into a gravitational tear of a star, turned the tide of battle, saving countless lives and securing vital resources for the Imperium. For her heroism, she was promoted to Captain and given command of the frigate Drusus’s Blessing. 

As the commanding officer of the Drusus’s Blessing, Elena van Mynaard now patrols the perilous voids of the Segmentum Obscurus with the mission to safeguard Imperial interests and maintain the Emperor's peace. Known for her unwavering resolve and tactical brilliance she was promoted to Commodore and it was of little surprise when Elena received summons from Rogue Trader Theodora von Valancius to attend her ship.

Views of the Imperium Born to a lineage that has served the Imperium for generations, Elena's loyalty is woven as deeply into her being as her bloodline's honour. Sheltered by privilege from the many horrors of life under the Emperor's gaze, she nonetheless holds a burning conviction, a fierce dedication to the Imperium. This loyalty isn't a mere formality; it's the essence of her existence, sculpted through years of relentless service and countless battles. Each skirmish, each clash has only fortified her ideals, reaffirming her unyielding belief in the Imperium's cause. Elena's life is a testament to noble duty and the unbreakable spirit of the Emperor's faithful.

[lincolnchristie]

A Masque of Shadows: Your Suspect List

Uh I mean. Meet your lovely cast of characters!

Let's start with our exhausted detective who really didn't sign up for this, Matthias bar Aeneas:

And our victim, the controversial (some would say infamous) regent of Serenissima, Lord Dante di Fratelli:

The person who drags Matthias into this mess is his lifelong best friend and ex-girlfriend, Spymaster Festivity bar Corleone:

Festivity will do anything to serve her queen-ascendant Cassandra di Adriel, who is the number one suspect in Dante's death on the eve of her long-delayed coronation:

If you want information, there's no more reliable little eavesdropper than Sapphire, Festivity's protege and Matthias's affectionate pain in the ass:

While Matthias himself relies heavily upon his lieutenant Lyria, even if their favorite habit is playful insubordination:

We can't overlook two other suspects - Dante's own daughter Allegra di Fratelli, said to have inherited her father's ruthlessness and cunning:

And Dante's son, the charming liar Antonio:

Antonio's lover Piper probably had quite a few bones to pick with Dante as well, seeing he disapproved of their relationship with his son:

Our list wouldn't be complete without including the women Dante seduced and scorned, such as the beautiful (and married) Lady di Tigrana:

Or Cassandra's own trusted personal maid Lara bar Bini, who Dante left in the lurch:

Cassandra relies deeply on Lara, since her noble ladies-in-waiting can't be trusted - some of them have ties to other nations, such as Mari Von Musel:

And then there's the Duke of Mendax, Olivier Fisher, who holds a powerful strategic position and seems to be playing his own game:

But it might be his younger brother Jacques Fisher that brings it all crashing down, because the number one rule of solving a murder is never get involved with a suspect…

The stage is set, our players are in position, and we're ready for a very memorable twelve days of Masquerade.

[ell0ra-br3kk3r-writes]

The Phoenix and the Crow

part twenty-five

pairing: kaz brekker x fem!reader

genre: neutral

el's thoughts: nothing much! i hope y'all enjoy!

masterlist

‘I can smell them.’ Y/N batted at her hair and clothes as she lurched through the snow, trying not to retch. She couldn’t stop seeing those bodies, the angry red flesh peeking through their burnt black casings like burnt coals. It felt like she was coated in their ashes, in the stink of burning flesh. She couldn’t take a full breath. Not that she deserved to. She wondered how many of those soldiers were at one time under her command. Under her sworn protection and care.

She had made every effort to be a mother or sister figure to the soldiers in the Second Army. That’s how you earn their loyalty, show them you care and they’re valued. And she tried. She tried so hard to make every one of them feel her compassion and empathy while maintaining her power as Lieutenant-General. She tried and it wasn’t enough. Again.

She heard an argument stir in the group behind her but she paid no mind to them until a sudden rumble shook the ground. Y/N turned around and lost her footing, she saw Kaz brace himself with his walking stick. They exchanged puzzled glances.

“Are there fault lines this far north?” Wylan asked.

Matthias frowned. “Not that I know of, but-”

A slab of earth shot up from beneath Matthias’ feet, knocking him to the ground. Another erupted to Y/N’s right, sending her sprawling. All around them, crooked monoliths of earth and ice burst upward, as if the ground were coming to life. A harsh wind whipped at their faces, snow spinning in flurries.

“What the hell is this?” cried Jesper.

“Some kind of earthquake!” shouted Inej.

“No,” said Nina, pointing to a dark spot that seemed to be floating in the sky, unaffected by the howling wind.

“We’re under attack,” Y/N spoke up. She crawled on her hands and knees, seeking some sort of shelter in order to regroup. Her mind raced as she witnessed things never done by Grisha before. There was someone in the air, hovering in the sky high above her. She was watching someone fly.

The only Grisha known to fly was herself.

She had seen Squallers play at tossing each other into the air at the Little Palace, but the level of finesse and power it took to maintain controlled flight was unthinkable– at least it had been, until now. It wasn’t a topic that they taught at the palace. Jurda parem.

Y/N had seen the drug’s effects on a Heartrender but to see it on a Squaller is a whole different field.

The Squaller turned in the air, stirring the storm into a frenzy, sending ice flying until it stung her cheeks. She could barely see. She fell backward as another slab of rock and ice shot from the ground. They were being corraled and pushed closer together to make a single target. She knew they were too high in the air for her flame to reach them.

“I need a distraction!” shouted Jesper from somewhere in the storm.

She heard a tiny plink.

“Get down!” cried Wylan. Y/N flattened her body to the snow. A boom sounded overhead, and an explosion lit the sky just to the right of the Squaller. The winds around them dropped as the Squaller was thrown off course and forced to focus on righting himself. It took the briefest second, but it was enough time for Y/N to throw her hands out to contain the fire from the bomb and direct it to the Squaller while Jesper aimed his rifle and fired.

A shot rang out, and the Squaller was hurtling toward the earth. Another slab of ice slid into place. They were trapped like animals in a pen, ready for slaughter. Jesper aimed between the slabs at a distant stand of trees, and Y/N realized there was another Grisha there, a boy with dark hair. Before Jesper could get a shot, the Grisha rammed a fist upward, and Jesper was thrown off his feet by a shaft of earth. He rolled as he fell and fired from the ground.

The boy in the distance cried out and dropped to one knee, but his arms were still raised, and the ground still rumbled and rocked beneath them.

She saw Inej signal to Kaz. Without a word, he positioned himself against the nearest slab and cupped his hands at his knee. The ground buckled and swayed, but he held steady as she launched herself from the cradle of his fingers in a graceful arc. She vanished over the slab without a sound. A moment later, the ground went still.

“Trust the Wraith,” said Jesper.

The group stood, dazed, the air strangely hushed after the chaos that had come before.

Y/N had already got to work on melting the slab of ice to get them out of there and within a few short moments the bottom collapsed and fell backward. Y/N moved her hands gracefully for the fire to swallow the ice before it hit the ground, melting it so it didn’t make as loud of a sound. Her flames radiated a heat none of them had felt before, enough to warm them all up before they would have to continue their journey.

They found Inej standing over the body of the trembling Grisha. He wore clothes of olive drab, and his eyes were glassy. Blood spilled from the bullet wound in his upper thigh, and a knife jutted from the right side of his chest. Inej must have thrown it when she’d escaped from the enclosure.

Nina knelt beside him.

“I need a little more,” the Grisha mumbled. “Just a little more.” He grabbed at Nina’s hand, and only then did Y/N recognize him.

“Nestor?”

He twitched at the sound of his name, but he didn’t seem to know either of the Grisha women above him. “Nestor, it’s me, Nina.”

Y/N knew the two of them were in school together back at the Little Palace. She had personally sent them to Keramzin together on a mission. He was a Fabrikator, one of the Durast who worked with metal, glass, and fibers. It didn’t make sense. Fabrikators made textiles and weapons. He shouldn’t have been capable of what she’d just witnessed.

“Please,” he begged, his face crumpling. “I need more.”

“Parem?”

“Yes,” he sobbed. “Yes. Please.”

“I can heal your wound, Nestor, if you stay still.”

“I don’t want your help,” he said angrily, trying to push away from her.

“Nina,” Y/N warned while placing her hand on her shoulder.

He stood up, staggering on his wounded leg, pulling at the knife buried in his chest. “Where are they?” he screamed. “Where did they go?”

The rest of the group backed up slightly while Y/N stayed in her place. “Who?”

“The Shu!” he wailed. “Where did they go? Come back!” He took a wobbling step, then another. “Come back!” He fell face forward into the snow. He didn’t move again.

Nina had rushed forward while Y/N stood still and watched in horror. This wasn’t right. Practicing the small science should make a Grisha stronger, never drain them to the point of death. Never. Grisha was never supposed to die like this, let alone a soldier. They were to be honored and held with the highest regard.

Kaz had called them all together to keep hiking but Nina argued that they couldn’t leave the body for the wolves. The two bickered for a moment before Matthias offered to help Nina and make sure they’d catch up with the other five. So the group carried on, trying to shake off the scare of the events a few long moments ago.

They all knew this wasn’t going to be an easy heist. They all signed up for it, some more willing than others. They all had to train their minds to focus back on the bigger goal at hand. Go in, get Bo Yul-Bayur, get out. Alive. All of them.

~*~

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[intosnarkness]

So IDK if any of you are interested, but I felt the need to write a sort of DVD commentary for Adding on Weight talking about easter eggs and inspirations.

General

Working title was "Die a Boring Death" but I decided that it didn't make sense past chapter 5.

I spent a lot of time trying to find something about longing, about wanting someone to want something. About wanting to be wanted, or wanting in general. I never found it and I'm not sure I like the title I landed on. 

(The song after the chapter is where the title is from.)

Chapter 1: Dial Drunk, Noah Kahan

I moved the timeline of the book because I wanted everyone to have more time to feel consequences. Kaz gets happy years before he gets imprisoned. Matthias is in Hellgate for longer. Everyone has a long enough time to actually work through the grief because I don't have to write YA where they're 17 years old.

Sir was originally 2 characters; a heavy and a talky guy. By the time I got to chapter 5 and knew what was going to happen when Kaz escaped, I knew I had to cut them to one. So we lost the talky guy and Sir just became more odious.

Kaz eats an apple because this is his Kobyashi Maru

The assignment was originally to wipe out the principal of the debt. Once I did math, that wasn't going to be near enough of an impetus.

The chef Kaz works for is named Kooken, which is just the Dutch word for "cook"

Chapter 2: Afraid of Heights, boygenuis

The party was not the original idea here, at the point of writing this chapter I didn't have the inciting crime totally figured out (originally Jordie just lost money he was carrying, but that wasn't good enough later to imprison and brutalize Kaz) and so I had this idea that he'd been breaking into the office of the brothel and doing like… audits that got him attention. And Pekka was going to send him to a Mercher's home to get their financial information. I scrapped that when I decided Pekka was going to be our major villain.

The entire point of this chapter was to get Kaz in eyeliner

No actually, the idea of Kaz being forced to sit on Pekka's lap and count cards came extremely early in the process, as did the idea of it being where Inej sees the potential. Originally she was going to be a Dreg lieutenant but I didn't want to have to deal with Per Haskell, so I gave her a gang of her own.

The tattoo knife thing would absolutely not work in reality. 

Card counting is not that reliable. 

The tray of glasses was a very late addition to the story, but I fell in love with the idea of Kaz having glass stuck in him that no one will help him with but Nina.

I always think the trope of a person sitting in the shadows waiting for another person is ridiculous because it implies that they broke in and sat in the dark for hours waiting. Doing fuck all. I still made Inej do it.

Chapter 3: Afraid of Heights, boygenuis

The chapter that boygenuis wrote, this whole thing is a mix between revolution 0 and afraid of heights

I just want to know/who broke your nose/figure out where they live/so I can kick their teeth in

There's been a run of fires downtown/On half-built construction sites/I know you never liked a townhouse/I've seen you climb a crane at night/If they ever catch you at it/I know you'd want me to be proud/That you took a rich man's dream/And brought it with you on your way down

Kaz thinks the Jam Tart House is a stupid name because I do. Who names a house that? But it's in the book!

They're drinking fantasy Strongbow at the night market.

Kaz crawling into Inej's bed is, to me, the saddest scene of this entire fic.

Chapter 4: Stick Season, Noah Kahan

A deck of cards and book of tricks gets left in Kaz's room, but he doesn't stop to think about who left them there. This is Inej, wanting him to want things.

"Good days" here is lying in wait for Jesper's question six chapters later. 

The client Kaz kills was an early idea, that he'd be set off by the word "daddy". Mostly because I am. 

The Floating Place is pure dissociation. Brought to you by my mental illnesses.

"So break me. Or buy me." is one of my favorite lines.

Kaz makes more than $1,200 a night. At the end of 8 years, assuming no days off and no fines, he would have made $3,504,000. He has paid off his principal 54 times. 

We learn later that his debt is held at 500% interest, which means at the end of 8 years with 0 payments he would have owed $221,709,240,000.

Kaz is getting fucked by the interest.

"Young, dumb, and down for everything" was originally "young, dumb, and full of come" but I couldn't bring myself to put that in a story.

Inej's story changed a few times, mostly her age at the time of the raid. At first she was 14 when it happened, but I needed more time for her father to drink himself to death and her to hunt down slavers before getting to Ketterdam. So now I imagine she left Ravka on her mission around 14.

Chapter 5: Afraid of Heights, boygenuis

Kaz's birthday is canonically in December or January, so I believe my exact idea for this scene was December 20. That's my mom's birthday.

Kaz's Kaelish is actually the gaelic for "you are an excellent lover"

Jesper's comment about using the curtains to hang youself is due to the way Margret Atwood describes Offred's room in the Handmaid's Tale. 

Getting them in year four would mean Kaz was 17, so after the leg, which he refers to as "breaking him beyond repair" later.

Kaz doesn't put on shoes because I wasn't sure he would own a pair. Why would he?

The Sir fight scene was originally much shorter, but I liked the idea of Kaz getting a little beat up.

I kinda regret killing Sir here. I should have done it after chapter 8, it would have meant more to the audience.

""No," he says. "I'm right here." was originally the last line of the story.

And then she's gone/And then he's alone is a reference to Come From Away and you can pry it from my cold, dead hands.

Kaz hiding under the bed is inspired by the one scene in The Haunting of Hill House that I have never watched, where the Tall Man comes for his hat.

Inej brings coffee because Kaz wished for coffee in chapter 1 as a luxury he didn't get. She doesn't know it, but I do.

Chapter 6: Harmony Hall, Vampire Weekend

Going to the exchange to see his debt posted was a night before publishing add or I would have written the entire scene. I should have.

I had to think of a reason for Inej to be painting. In reality, I think she just finds Ketterdam ugly and needs the beauty in her life.

"Wool socks" is inspired by that viral Danny Pudi clip 

I imagined Inej did a lot of the "hanging head first in a canal while the tide comes in" type murders because then she can tell herself that if the Saints want them to live, they will.

"Don't come into my club and refuse my hospitality" is based on something my grandfather would say if we came to his restaurant and weren't hungry. You could order a plate of nothing, but you had to order something. 

Kaz mentions that he should learn people's names here. By chapter 14, he will know the name of every Razorgull he meets.

Chapter 7: Dial Drunk, Noah Kahan

I forgot about the first tattoo knife for a long time and had to go back and write it in. I believe Nina had it with her on Heist Night.

Kaz's back being scarred from beatings was a decision I made because I needed him to be damaged in ways people didn't know about to echo his insides. 

This is the only time the word "rape" is used in the entire fic.

The private room where they have dinner is based very specifically on one at the Palm that my parents rented out for my dad's birthday once. There are fewer caricatures in Kaz and Inej's.

"Secret for a secret" was the only way I could make Kaz talk in this scene.

Chapter 8: revolution 0, boygenuis

Is the whistle Inej uses (and Wylan does later) the conflict motif from West Side story? I'll never tell.

Inej in the meeting with Pekka is heavily inspired by a specific Space Pirate RP Pixy and I did 12 years ago. "I didn't do it and you can't prove it" was her character's MO there.

$60,000 at 500% for 40 years would end up being $1,764,509,279,127,346,261,335,823,263,022,972,928 with 0 payments. 

We know Kaz makes more than $1200 a night, and works 7 days a week. Assuming he never had a day off and never incurred a fine, he would make $17,520,000 in 40 years. 

He was always fucked. 

I very nearly cut the leg breaking scene because it was just that brutal. I expected more people to be disgusted with Sir afterwards, anyway. This is why I shouldn't have killed him so early. If he was in the room for Kaz's flashback it would have hit harder.

The style of the leg breaking is deeply inspired by my friend Ruby, who writes such beautiful horrors.

Chapter 9: Afraid of Heights, boygenuis

Kaz counting his kisses starting over is something I borrowed from Natasha Romanoff fic. It doesn't count if you had to do it.

I also do not know how to make dry coffee be wet coffee but that's because I hate coffee.

Inej gets to show her smarts here, she knows what Kaz saw even if he still doesn't. He never mentions two sets of books, but she recognizes the behavior and names it.

Inej does angry dishes as a homage to my college friend Elle who used to clean my dorm room when she was pissed off.

Chapter 10: revolution 0, boygenuis

Originally Nina was going to be able to control dissociation a lot better until I reread her intro in SOC and she specifically says she can't control the brain. That's when I invented plan B for the heist: fantasy roofies.

Jesper and Kaz are flirting while picking locks and I ship it.

"You've been through it" is in fact the most insane way I could think of to respond to "I wish I could have picked locks so fewer people would have assaulted me," which is in itself a BUCK WILD thing to say.

The affidavit was a late addition. I needed Kaz to be more afraid.

"Torpor of constant terror" would be a good band name

Originally the painting had a representation of Kaz and Inej in it, but that felt too obvious to me.

Chapter 11: revolution 0, boygenuis

Inej is wearing a fantasy Sari. Kaz specifically got 9 yds of silk for it.

It is raining because something has to go wrong in a heist and it can't be something that the characters could have planned for. Adding it allowed me to slow down the escape from Pekka's office later (sealing the tray) and also set Kaz on high alert so he'd be more susceptible to the panic later

Chapter 12: Cool About It, boygenuis

Describing a person as "built like a ship- wide and low" gave me great joy.

The cloche tray was one of those happy accidents I wrote in that turned into a gift. Initially it was just a tray. Then it had a fork. Then it was a ledger containment device. But that all happened organically.

Originally Jesper left the code in his pants in the ceiling, but I decided that was a stupid mistake to make and I didn't want him to look incompetent.

The guards absolutely smell the acid and that's what brings them into the room.

Chapter 13: Harmony Hall, Vampire Weekend

The chapter of badass lines

There are 0 hits on google for the phrase "upstanding young criminal", which I was sure I stole from somewhere.

The tattoo knife being Kaz's weapon here was planned from chapter 2. I loved the idea of Kaz stabbing Pekka with a knife made of the ink Pekka put on him.

Maybe someday I will write a story about Dime Lion Hostage girl, because I love her an irrational amount.

The hero/corpse line gave me so much joy that I told it to my roommate who also thought I plagiarized it. I did not.

I knew Kaz had to think something happened to Inej, but I was disgusted at the idea of actually hurting her in a sexual way. In the first draft of this scene, I still didn't know why Pekka wanted to get her alone and I wrote a whole monologue about them joining forces and it was extremely bad.

I considered having Kaz tell Pekka that his son had already signed a contract to be a closer analogue to the book, but it just didn't make sense for this Kaz.

Chapter 14: House By The Sea, Moddi

Do not jump out of third story windows. I did a lot of research about this, you will injure yourself.

Here we have the first hint that Kaz has actually integrated into the Gulls, even if he doesn't know it yet. When he bursts into the guard shack Dael (who I also love?) speaks to him, and not Jesper.

The guardroom questions between Jesper and Kaz are my least favorite scene in this story. It feels like plain exposition to me, but it needed to happen and I never figured out how to make it better.

"You should see the other guy" is what Jesper said back in chapter 4 when he got stabbed. It was my brother's go-to response when he was hurt after wrestling matches in high school and college.

"I've been worse" is what Kaz told Nina back in chapter 2 after the beating. It's what I tend to say when someone at work asks me how I am.

Kerstan, the Razorgull who gives Kaz a blanket, is roughly 9 years old. I know his backstory vaguely (he is Dael's little brother), but mostly he's meant to invoke feelings of "what the fuck" in Kaz

I went back and forth about the scene with the caning scars. I almost cut it, but in the end I wanted Inej to assert that she loved Kaz, and I wanted Kaz to be able to tell her that he wasn't ready for her to love him that way, but he wanted to be.

Pekka in draft 1 was the captain of the ship, but if he was running the Dime Lions when Kaz was 9-13, that would only give him a few years to get to that position. So I adjusted him to the owner. 

Chapter 15: Harmony Hall, Vampire Weekend

I had the worst time with this chapter, it got rewritten about 90 times

This piece of paper (below) reads "Open before fall/house by the sea/contracts" as the three things I needed to remember to keep in it through the drafts. It was taped next to my computer.

Inej is talking about the Ice Court when she talks about the big job

This is the only chapter that was NOT finished when I started posting. I didn't know what the last line would be, but I knew I'd find it in editing. 

[thepowerposter]

Complete Monstober Day 20: Cluny the Scourge

An unalloyed rat in more ways than one, Cluny was just a sample of the kind of villain who would often appear in Redwall. His TV Tropes entry reads as follows:

Cluny the Scourge, the first villain introduced in the series, is a borderline Satanic figure of legend. A pirate turned warlord with a legacy of blood and murder behind him, Cluny arrives at Redwall Abbey with the intent to conquer all of Mossflower. Press-ganging every nearby rat, ferret, stoat, and weasel, Cluny orders their deaths should they not join while happily sacrificing his troops when he deems it necessary or to make brutal examples to his own forces. Steadily losing his sanity as the siege drags on, Cluny becomes more brutal before taking a dormouse family hostage to force the father to open the gates to the Abbey. Upon his triumphant claiming of Redwall, Cluny declares that he will slaughter every citizen within for daring to defy him and fatally wounds the harmless old Abbot Mortimer for attempting to protect his people. When the young warrior Matthias arrives to face Cluny at last, the rat sacrifices one of his most trusted lieutenants and attempts to force Matthias to yield to a pointless death by holding an innocent mouse hostage with a spike to his throat.