#Morella is going to fix her

[muzetrigger]

I- I think I have a problem.

Because binging a series is normal for me.

But I really did not expect to go through the entirety of the Ao3 Morellada catalogue and a hefty chunk of the Lennabel fics too.

Like literally every single one.

Even machine translated the ones I couldn’t read natively.

I know this is tame for some people, but it’s been less than a week and an uncomfortable amount of my brain has been devoured by this series.

Anyway, here’s a pic of Lenore that would turn anyone gay (men, women, nb doesn’t matter. She’s absolutely SLAYING it. Thank you, Red and Flynn. I literally screamed when I first read this.)

[nevermorgue]

more modern au stuff cause that's the vibes tonight - Ada works in a really shitty restaurant. She doesn't like talking about it and will almost always lie about her job. She tried applying to where Duke works (a performance restaurant/bar) and got rejected. - Will brings movie theatre popcorn home for Montresor after like every shift - Will keeps spare clothes in Prospero's flat from how often he sleeps on his couch. - Berenice and Eulalie love getting their nails done in matching patterns. They even got Pluto in on it when they all did a Halloween theme. - Morella has one of those mermaid tail blankets - She also has Lenore water her plants when she works late - Annabel Lee is writing a book. She doesn't really talk about it, but will go on and on about it if prompted. - Montresor had a motorcycle. Keyword: had. He crashed it and fucked up his body for a while. As of right now, he is bikeless. Although he claims he'll "get the old one fixed up". He doesn't even HAVE it anymore - Prospero, on occasion when he can, will sneak a pastry out of work (idiot works at a bakery despite not really needing to work) for Annabel. He gives her something different every time, knowing she will say "it's good" every single time no matter what it is. He is trying to figure out which one she genuinely likes the most. - Ada was asked to model ONCE for a photography student and she loves bringing it up whenever she sees anyone with a camera - They left Will at the roller rink once and didn't realize until Montresor needed to "borrow his apartment again." They went back at midnight and he was still sitting outside. Just waiting. - Speaking of, yes Montresor kicks Will out of his own tiny apartment for his nightly endeavors. Frequently. Hence why Will is a reoccurring guest at Prospero's. - Duke can and will buy whatever hoodie he sees if it gives him Pluto vibes. Pluto has too many, but it's okay because Berenice likes to steal them.

[whiterexpper]

Nevermore cyberpunk 2077 au i mentioned before

Lenore is a well known mercenary. She was a corpo agent working high up with her father, or did , until Theo was murdered by accident after being sent to investigate an incident Lenore caused by accident. They all blame her including herself.

She became a mercenary bc she knew that’s the only way she’d uncover what really happened.

Annabel is still a Corpo, but is secretly helping Lenore behind the lines. But cautiously bc all eyes are on her. She’s untouchable and anytime she walks in all staff is on their feet and ready bc Annabel barks orders the moment she walks through the door.

Annabel and Lenore meet sometimes but not all the time, the eyes are everywhere.

Prospero is Annabel’s second hand and is truly the corpo rat of the company. Ada got in through false rumors but no one cares because they use her for it behind her back.

Morellas family has well known ties into the afterlife after her family were self made legends going down the line for centuries. She follows Ada and everyone keeps her at the corpo building bc she’s strong willed and no one can touch them w her around.

Monty snuck in.

Will followed Monty but does have ties to high up corpus through his parents.

-

Duke has his own music shop, he’s such a fan of SAMURAI, and often plays it in his shop. Occasionally going in gigs with Lenore.

Pluto is next door, he owns a book store and he’s always kept to himself until he met Lenore and duke obviously. No one rly goes into it but his business is still up for some reason..y’a know, cyberpunk ???

Eulalie has her own fortune telling shop (like misty) and is often leaving her door open bc a certain cat likes wandering about and she’s a softie for animals.

Berenice helps her run it but she’s a Doc and does implants for people. Especially Lenore when Lenore needs a fix.

The deans are the top Arasaka corpos known. Annabel answers to them, and they watch everything. Doesn’t matter where you are. Their eyes and ears are everywhere.

They’re rarely seen and keep to themselves.

[spoopy-nevermore-dump]

Summer Shark Au! 🦈

First actual meeting

So when Annabel first arrives in town, some things start happening

Missing pencils

Stolen snacks (tea always remained though)

Splashed research she spent all day on

Her stuff going missing only to end up in the strangest places

So yeah it's Lenore messing with her and being petty, but at a point where Annabel doesn't know a creature is watching her

After the incident in her childhood, Lenore is very cautious and wary of researchers and fishermen

And so one morning, Annabel goes out on a boat to do some research and take a quick assessment of the sealife and water pH and all that

After about an hour, Annabel is ready to head back, so she goes I've to the engine/power motor/whatever it is and it's not working/it's broken (btw Annabel doesn't have a paddle to move the boat so she has to do it with her hands)

Montresor throws out some insults and laughs about how she is now stranded and leaves

And she also doesn't have her phone and Monty threw the communication stuff into the water so she can't notify Morella about being stranded, so she sits there all day

At sunset, she's starting to get a little desperate and is worrying that she's gonna have to spend the night out on the water, when she notices some movement in the water. And then a fin.

She realizes that there's a shark circling the boat, and the boat is pretty small so it's just a tense situation cause she doesn't know what the shark wants

She tries to stay calm and just tries to fix the engine for the 100th time

She looks back and notices a hand trying to steal her bag of snacks

She rushes over and notices that it's a strange looking person/shark thing

She screams and falls over, which sends away Lenore at first (without the snack)

So Annabel realizes that this creature can help her and quickly recomposes herself and tries to call out to the creature, but to no avail

She thinks for a moment and remembers that the creature was trying to grab the food

So she grabs it and holds it over the water (as seen in the first drawing in this post)

And she waits

And waits.....

And waits.

A few minutes later, she's starting to think the creature just left and starts to retract her arm

And a head pops up

Annabel is like "oh!, This is what you want right? I'll give it to you if you help me"

And just continues to talk to coerce the creature into moving closer, so Lenore grabs the snack.

And immediately dives back into the water

Annabel is just like >:0 "oh you sneaky little shi-"

And the boat suddenly starts moving

Annabel nearly falls over but catches herself

She finally makes it back to the dock, where Morella is trying to quickly set up a boat

Morella realized that Annabel was gone for too long and started using a telescope/binoculars to locate her and saw her stranded and started setting up to go help her

She asks Annabel what happened and how she got back and Annabel kinda goes "well there was this-" she turns around and realizes that the creature was no longer there, so she quickly changes her story "uh- I got the engine working again for a moment"

And keeps the strange creature part to herself

And heads back to the house for the day

[vonlipvig]

Damn, 3 royal authority, 2 government budget plus -1 and now 4 energy with positive +2 Damn, this is good. Not the worse than what i have seen from others like the other players have 1 royal authority, -3 government budget and 1 energy with 0 income. Hey your improving so good for you. Also I'm glad you managed to sway Valgsland and Morella to support your arbitration case against Pales also since your past the meeting between the Prime Minister of Morella if you have an bad relations with Morella the prime minister could offer you biscuits during the meeting which in take case this biscuits is dry as fuck if eaten makes make you comprehensible and somewhat utterly destroyed your vocal chords due to its dryness. And the prime minister begun to berate you and list her demands which if you respond makes you gurgle and incomprehensible more without the tea later being serve to you which is steaming hot and burn your throat as you drink it so yeah good job on not pissing off the prime minister of morella and you can take that biscuits and gave it to Smolak you know. Just a little tomfoolery.

oh anon, you're making me feel like i'm ~The Man~, i fear this is going to go to my head now lmao. i've deluded myself enough to think that it's all going according to plan, so let's hope that we're really on the road to success, as you say!

(also, it's actually 4 authority! have i pissed off my friends in sordland after arresting their tourists? maybe, but i feel like i can fix that if needed. my people need to know i'm on their side, since i've kiiiiinda been neglecting them a bit with all these international disasters happening. guys, i'm very busy, rn.)

yeah, i'm surprised how well that all went! i loved hanging with alma, she's super cool (and i'm very glad she agreed to my demands, too! i kinda backed off on the zille support from her, since i didn't wanna push it, we'll see how that goes). and OH MY GOD, for real? that's hilarious, weaponized biscuits lmaooo. no, these biscuits were lovely, and the tea was delicious, all good in paradise! (but i can picture poor romus trying to wash down the Worst Biscuit Known To Man, tears in his eyes, while alma goes all in on her demands. good strategy, madam prime minister!).

OH i didn't take the biscuit, i gave her the morellan coin i got from rusty, tho i guess it wouldn't have mattered since it would have been a nice biscuit, and we're not about to give smolak a nice biscuit, oh no.

.....but thank you for the info, i know what i'm doing next playthrough, heheheh [<- with evil intent].

[chemically-yours]

I agree with this and feel that the reason for her increased interference with increased age as a lot to do with personal responsibility and culpability.

Perry was only 25 years old, which might seem old to some, but in actuality he was just really entering adulthood. He hadn't really become involved in the company yet and wasn't responsible for many of the morally reprehensible actions the company had taken over the years. Had he not been dead from the moment he was born, he may have developed into someone with a good moral character who sent the company in better directions (you can see this in the meeting he sat in with Frederick. He was surprised by the actions of the company and his instinct was to take responsibility and fix the mistakes). As such, he's treated gentler than the rest of the family. Verna asked him if he was sure and gave him a chance to turn back. The assumption here is that she would have offered him a gentler death if he did not pull the trigger that night.

This pattern follows with the other siblings. The younger siblings were very much following the path that had been laid out for them, but they had not been alive and making decisions as long as the others. There was still time for them to turn their lives around if they made better choices. And again Verna gave both Camilla and Leo chances to turn back, change the path they were on, and choose gentler deaths. Camilla could have listen to Verna as the security guard and left the facility. Leo could have listened when Verna said the cat wasn't for sale instead of leveraging his wealth to get his way. They're deaths did not have to be violent.

By the time we get to Vic and Tammy you have children who have taken their ill gotten wealth and privilege and leveraged it to pursue greed. Even their "jobs" are similar. They both pursue and sell "health" solutions. While Vic's is based on real medical science, the way she cuts corners and falsifies data means in the end she's trying to sell fake health solutions (even if her only real client is her father at this point). Tammy sells fake health through the veil of holistic medicine. In both cases the cause of helping people is superficial. Their personalities and life paths are pretty set in stone. They weren't going to change despite having more years than the others to do so. And so Verna is more involved in their deaths. Even so, both of them are given chances. Vic could have turned Verna down as a patient. Tammy could have said no when Verna turned up in place of her usual sex worker. But once they passed up that one last chance Verna kept showing up to keep them on the path to their inevitable deaths.

Frederick pretty much says it all. He's the oldest. He emulates Roderick in every way. He's deeply involved in the misdeeds of the company. Everything he does to Morella speaks to his character as a person. He has been corrupted by the way he was raised and at this point there is no good left. He's rotten to the core and therefore irredeemable. He does not get a chance to turn back. Verna makes sure his death is as horrific as possible.

And then finally, there is Lenore. The youngest and most innocent of the family. She is blameless. She does everything right in standing up to her father and helping her mother. Lenore isn't given a choice because she doesn't need one. She already doesn't deserve to die. So Verna does the only thing she can do by offering her a quiet peaceful death.

Verna could have done this with any of the siblings. She probably would have if they had heeded her warnings and made different decisions. But instead they chose the paths that had been laid out, that was familiar to them . They cut corners, dodged responsibility, and fully embraced their greed.

one of the things I think is rly interesting about the usher kids' deaths is that there's a clear linear pattern in how much influence verna has on the way they die, starting with virtually no influence and ending in a death 100% orchestrated by her.

like okay. perry's death? completely his fault. the only influence we see verna have on him is in her attempts at convincing him to call off the party and not blackmail people. the acid was already in the tanks, he made the negligent decision to hook up the tanks to the water system without testing them. if he'd never met verna, the party would have gone on exactly as planned and he would have died via acid rain anyways.

then there's camille. her death is similar to perry's in that there's a clear cause -> effect of her breaking into a lab full of chimps hyped up on adrenaline -> being mauled by a chimp, but there's also little hints at verna's interference. camille talks to verna right before she dies, its implied via the photo she takes that the chimp that killed her appeared to her as verna for a moment, and there's also the question of how the chimp got out in the first place. yes she probably would have died in this manner anyways based on her own decisions, but there's slightly more of a direct influence from verna than perry got.

with leo, we know that him initially killing pluto was a hallucination thanks to his drug use, but I get the impression that everything that follows is a blend of verna messing with him and further drug-induced hallucinations. the pet store he visits is actually an abandoned building full of rats that verna alters his perception of, and his visions of her in his apartment definitely feel more verna-induced than drug-induced, yet there's also kind of the implication that all the stuff with the hammer leading up to leo's death is drug hallucination-related. we also see verna appear to him multiple times; she's not just a single mysterious figure at a party or a lone security guard, she's now running a store and coming to his house and talking to him on multiple occasions.

vic is similar to leo in that her death is caused by a slow descent into madness, but the way in which this plays out is directly caused by verna. yes vic was planning on going forward with human trials, but verna is the one who shows up and poses as a test subject. there's still ambiguity when it fully comes to the question of supernatural influence, and verna's insertion into vic's life was more specific than leo's but also broad enough that its reasonable to argue that things might have played out the same had she not been there. would everything with ally dying and vic spiraling have played out the exact same way if the human trial had happened later, or if another test subject had showed up? maybe, but the actual course of events that transpired only happened because of verna's direct influence on them.

but tammy was terrorized for weeks by verna before she died. verna shows up as a replacement escort, then continues to show up in the background of tammy's life. she shows up in her apartment, appears to her in a supernatural-ish way at the goldbug launch, and when it comes to tammy's actual death she's in there fucking with her through the mirrors. I guess you could argue that she still wouldve gotten super paranoid over the launch and maybe started to hallucinate the original escort following her? but unlike the rest of them (except vic, who I feel also falls into this category), her death doesn't feel like it would have necessarily played out the exact same way it did had verna not been there. she only dies because she smashes a mirror that verna is taunting her from.

and then finally frederick, who didnt get a choice (not that he deserved one), verna steps in and 100% causes his death in a very specific way that wouldnt have happened had she not directly interfered with his life.

and then you look at the fact that the siblings died in reverse order of age, which is also in the order of shortest amount of time spent as a member of the usher family to longest, and the fact that the two who objectively had the most interference from verna in their respective deaths were the only two who were actually alive when roderick made the deal..... idk I feel like there's something there.

[luxmaeastra]

Viscardi coughed crawling to a nearby tree. His clothes were in tatters, his body scratched and mutilated. Lanthys stepped toward Elatha horrified.

"What the fuck did you do?! Did you make a bargain with the Witches?"

"No Morella did. The bargain is done, but they still keep her. They lured me to her some decades ago. Lanthys help me, help me get her out please?"

"Ever since that bitch came into your life you've given and she's taken. Why should I give shit about her now?"

"You say that but do even remember why Bryaxis left you Lanthys? Do even remember those first 200 years?"

Lanthys paled and shifted uncomfortably.

"It was a disagreement she came back —"

"No! You got her daughter killed! You let Halia go to that swamp knowing what would happen! You didn't care and laughed when she cried!!"

Lanthys eyes hardened, Viscardi broke into a coughing fit. Lanthys lips thinned and he became mist falling into one of Elatha's pockets.

Viscardi glared at where he was.

"Coward."

"You know I could just give Morella to you. What's her number? #V.3524?"

Antinous walked toward them looking to where Lanthys had dissapeared to.

"I've never seen them so attached to another. They sell their own out for scraps, and your wine of course."

This was why everything had to be carefully planned out, this was why everything had a place. His eyes were fixed upon the battered body of Viscardi, a low sound of annoyance came from him when it was confirmed the cause of this was a female. A female who done a bargain with witches.

He stood there quietly as he allowed them to bicker, for them to throw their shots at each other. Of course, they knew each other's worse part, they knew the dark secrets that could hurt each other. As was confirmed when Lanthys made his way into his pocket.

"I believe the coward at this moment if not the one who is in my pocket," he responded. "To let yourself become so beaten by a female, you are better than this. This is why we are careful with what we do."

He looked to Antinous when he walked towards them, of course, he held the information. "It is as they are, it is a shame we cannot train them all."

[francoiserenaldt]

the last night

or the disgraced prince of morella receives a visitor.

warnings: a little gore toward the end, some incel logic

word count: 1.3k

note: this was a secret santa present but then I remembered @bladesappreciationweek was happening and I couldn’t not share this. enjoy. 

I hate you.

It’s all over her face; her expression appears tight and furrowed under what little moonlight slips into the castle dungeons through cracks of crumbling walls. Her knees are taut against her chest, her breathing shallow, as she rakes her eyes over every nook and cranny of the cramped holding cell, committing every detail to memory. 

Anything was better than looking at his face, he figures.

And yet, he can’t make sense of why she won’t just open her mouth and say it; after all, there’s not a soul within 100 miles of Morella that could argue that he doesn’t hate her too. 

And really, who's fault is it that he's in this predicament anyway? Sure, no one told him to stab the arrogant bastard he loathed to call his brother in a room full of witnesses or to kidnap a priestess and transport her into the Shadow Realm, but no one told her and her lackeys to make it so easy for him, either. She’d done it to herself. 

No one told him to put everything he had on the line at the first opportunity that showed itself just to fail in the end, but no one told her to revel in destroying everything he’s worked for in the name of being a hero. She had no right to hate him when everything about this night was her fault.

And despite everything she’s said and done to him, she sits outside of his holding cell in the King's Palace under the cloak of night, taunting him with her silence and scorn. 

What in the hells is she waiting for? 

He scoffs at the thought. The only thing she’s doing outside of his cell is wasting his time.

"Come to see me one last time?" He croons to her. The ache in his previously dormant throat is only quelled slightly by the deepened furrow in her brow.

"I'll be at the beheading tomorrow. That will be the last time." She retorts as the back of her head brushes against the rotted ivy along the walls.

"You want it to be the last time." The sentence borders on accusatory and she scoffs, far too loudly for the hour.

She rolls her eyes. "Of course I want it to be the last time. You’re not someone I look forward to seeing."

"Then why are you here?" Aerin hisses. “To watch me wither away?”

"Something like that." Her furious expression falls into a lackadaisical smirk as she turns her head to peer at his crippled and disheveled form in the darkest corner of the cell. The whispers of corruption linger on his skin like burn scars and he knows that she wants nothing more than to dig into them. "You're looking even worse than I thought."

"You enjoy it, don’t you?” He snaps, glaring. “Seeing me like this."

Another scoff. "I don't enjoy anything about you, Aerin. Not anymore."

"Not anymore? You mean to tell me…" 

She curses under her breath and he grins for the first time since he exited the Shadow Realm. If he’s interpreting this correctly, then that means that she…

No, she couldn’t be that foolish. There’s no way.

Her expression is unreadable now, her gaze fixed on a medium-sized rock that lays at her feet. She punts it into the northernmost corner, grunting underneath her breath.

All this time he had thought she came to gloat about her outrageous victory when she really come to give him an earnest love confession. It was no wonder why she couldn’t look him in the eye; he too would be embarrassed beyond belief. Still, the thought of the great mage who conquered the Shadow Court paying him a visit to mourn her love for him—the absurdity can’t be lost on her, he refuses to believe it—rips a deep chuckle from his core.

"Oh, gods. You liked me. You thought that I was interested in you." He tilts his head back and releases a full-bellied cackle, an unusually bright sound considering his predicament. "All that time planning for my rise to power and I was beaten by a vigilante with a crush." Aerin's laughter subsides at last as he gazes upon the warrior with lidded eyes, shaking his head softly. "I never stood a chance, did I?"

"I am not a vigilante." 

"Of course not, with your shiny new medal and all. In case it wasn't clear by now, you're an idiot."

"I don't even want to think about what that makes you, Aerin." She snaps, rising to her feet and dusting herself off. Gods forbid that the hero of the kingdom sustains so much as a speck of dirt on her outfit. “Especially considering that you’ll be a dead man this time tomorrow.”

"Leaving so soon?” He purrs. After the hell he’d endured, he was going to have fun with this. “I thought you wanted to see me."

She growls before shaking her head. "I've seen more than enough of you for a lifetime."

"I don't think you've seen nearly enough," Aerin smirks. 

She, against all law of rational thought, turns back toward him. Gods, she really is a fool. "Really?"

"Really." He crawls toward the cell doors, catching her eye as he comes closer and closer to the light.

"What will you show me?"

"I'll show you anything you want, everything you want"

"I'm guessing this means that I need to break you out of here, don’t I?”

"No, no. All you have to do is come in with me."

"No can do, Prince Aerin.” His eyes narrow at the derision in her voice before he can stop them. “I have a life to return to and I get the feeling that you don't plan on letting me go."

Aerin leans forward, his dirt-covered face just inches from hers. "Does this mean that you'll take me with you?"

She grins. "Not a chance."

And then she's gone. Whether she's off to solve the next adventure and win some medal for inevitably saving the world or to sneak back into someone else's bed—he tries not to linger on the idea too long—he'll never figure out. His last night alive and she's left him alone with nothing but the cool, unattainable moonlight for company. 

The chill is too bitter for sleep tonight, so he lets his mind wander. He was never one to linger on his thoughts—thoughts were quickly turned to letters on parchment until they were safe to speak, a rarity with castle staff and Baldur around every corner—but he'll make an exception, just for tonight.

He thinks of the night the Dreadlord had approached him, promising to make all of his dreams come true.

He thinks of the night she kissed him and how great of a distraction it was from the pain. Something strange tugs him, but he dismisses it. He no longer had the luxury of pondering.

He thinks of the night he obtained the shards, how beautiful and powerful the Blade had been in his hand, and the rush he’d feel when he fed the Dreadlord to the priestess.

He thinks of her confession: the earnest way she'd seemed to give her loyalty to him, even after everything he'd done, and the insurmountable rage he'd felt when she snatched it from him. 

He thinks of his father, the man he used to admire more than anything, and how carelessly he'd thrown Aerin into the castle dungeons. 

He thinks until he’s yanked out of the solace of quiet and into the execution room, where the castle’s most pristine cleaver slices into his trachea at the first crack of dawn for all of Morella to see.

Fin.

[retvenkos]

“and we were destroyed before we were made whole.”

A/N: the amazing @brokenandheadoverheels asked me to talk about my mc for blades of light and shadow so here we gooooooo

@bladesappreciationweek, Day 7: MC + Wild Card SOME GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT OLINDA, MY BLADES OF LIGHT AND SHADOW MC...

background: while i do like the mc’s original background, sometimes you have to disregard canon for the drama of it all. so.... just kind of disregard the “bandits killed my parents” storyline.

she’s a human - more about her look here

she and her family lived on the outskirts of riverbend - they were humble farmers, working the land, and they were old friends with kade’s family.

when olinda is five, there’s a drought. 

it hits right right before crop season, and nothing can grow. droughts in morella are rare, but when they hit, they last for a long time - years. the crown is expected to have resources saved in the event of these 

king arlan, a man of excess and pride, blew through a lot of morella’s saved resources throwing the most elaborate of banquets to get nobles on his side, rather than his twin brother

(who was the more popular of the two but younger by just a few minutes, denying him a birthright that many would have loved to see challenged.)

when the drought hit, it was a crisis that needed averting. 

the position of king’s advisor was a revolving door because arlan was intent on finding someone who could fix this problem, without having to negotiate with orcs or elves or (even worse) send expeditions beyond morella’s borders to hopefully find aid in the people only spoken of in stories and legends.

charlatans, arlan thought, there was no possible way that there could be a species of people more intelligent and more capable than his own.

eventually, one advisor of the dozens suggested encroaching on private land in the southeast - a place where the drought was suspected to have hit less. those lands were all privately owned because long ago, the land was gifted to brave men who served on the front lines of a war, but that was long enough ago that few remember it. besides, it’s already farming country, most of it. it’s been mostly forgotten. the idea was to take back the land, get the most fruitful harvest they could, and give the biggest rations to those in Whitetower - the home of all the nobles. the nobles wouldn’t care enough to check to see how the poorer parts of the nation were doing, and as long as their bellies were full, they would support arlan.

arlan agrees that the plan is engenius. so how do they decide to steal land from innocent, hard working farmers? by taxing them, of course!

so one day, kingsguard marches up to houses, declaring an emergency increase in taxes. when the struggling farmers inevitably fail to pay, they seize the property. and if anyone is to put up a fight, they’re jailed for their crime. there are a few “aggressive” farmers who put up a fight, and a few are killed or gravely injured. the crown manages to hush it up for the most part, and due to such aggression, they have reason to strip many others of their property.

it’s terrible, and a little prince named aerin sees what is happening and cries, one night. his brother baldur laughs and whispers “you’re just as weak as they are. i’d be careful you aren’t next.”

there is much unrest in the rural parts of the kingdom, and during this time, kade, his mother, his lame uncle, and a former neighbor move in with olinda’s family. together, they are resourceful enough to scrape up enough for the high taxes, and because their property has always been less fertile than those around them, they are overlooked.

for two years, the makeshift family survives, going to sleep without food in their bellies, selling their valuables and conserving as much as they can. no one knows when the drought is going to end, and until it’s truly over, they have to be careful.

kade’s uncle passes

one of olinda’s parents dies, something like pity for those who live on their face

when spring comes around again, it’s mostly dry. one night it rains, and olinda and kade dance in the downpour, ignoring their family telling them they’ll get sick.

it’s still a painfully dry season, and everything is dry enough that if it were to be lit on fire, the whole countryside would burn before you could make it to the river to get water.

during the day, the family works and the children are left to themselves - sometimes assigned menial tasks but mostly just left to roam with the strict warning to never step foot on a neighbor’s property. most of it belonged to king arlan, now, and if they were caught, they would lose a hand.... and perhaps something more.

olinda was mischievous, though, and kade was nothing if not the person to egg her on. together, they got very good at sneaking through the trees, using their own renditions of bird calls to play and tease the other.

one day, during their usual games, kade raced to olinda, cheeks blotchy, and told her he found an apple tree. olinda thinks it’s just another one of his tricks  (“you’re always turning shadows into boogeymen and clouds into dragons.”) but kade insists.

“show me, then.”

“well...”

“see? i knew it was a lie.”

“it isn’t! it’s just... well, it’s on one of the king’s farm.”

“so?”

“you know we can’t get close to those farms!”

“you did if you saw apples.”

“well... they were sort of small. and definitely not ripe.”

“did you see them or not?”

“i did!”

“so you can take me back.”

“but, olinda—”

“kade, all of this land belonged to us before it belonged to them. those are our apples. besides, we’re not going to eat them - we’re just going to take a look.”

they decide to go after night fall. no one will be out in the fields that late at night, and their parent’s won’t know they’re gone.

but in true seven year old fashion, they don’t realize that it’s going to be too dark to actually see the apples from a distance.

olinda convinces kade to take them closer - onto the property so that he can prove they’re actually there.

when they get close enough to the tree to properly tell, kade’s stomach growls and olinda says they’ve already come this far - they might as well take some.

they take three apples and stop to eat them in the woods before they go home. the apples are terribly unripe and pitifully small, but they eat all three and lick their sticky hands clean. kade insists on planting the seeds, despite the drought, and so it’s well into the night by the time they start to make their way back home.

i believe it’s the light they saw first. the heat was already unbearable, that time of year, and the ash was too akin to dust and dirt for their young minds to reason.

when they saw the fire, kade was the first to run. he made it far on his spindly legs before a coughing fit overwhelmed him and he staggered backward.

their house and all their crops were on fire

burning before their eyes.

olinda was the first one to remember what their parents had always said, in case a fire should start. she pulled kade to the place where they were to wait - a wooded area that was far away enough to hopefully be safe, but close enough that they could watch their world burn to the ground.

their parents weren’t there, and for some reason, olinda thought that they would come

kade’s mother was probably just trying to pull on her shoes or something. they would meet them there - just like they always said they would.

olinda waited all night for them to come, even when kade knew they weren’t coming

part of her is still waiting.

farmers and the king’s guard were the ones to put out most of the fire, and for some reason, it rained that night - barely more than a sprinkle, but enough to dampen olinda and kade’s clothes and enough to calm smouldering ashes.

by that time, it was too late - the fire ravaged the area and much was lost. their house was burnt down, and some time in the morning, olinda and kade crawled back to its foundations, finding very little in its wake.

they ash stuck under their fingernails and collected in their throat. kade was coughing from how thick it was, and olinda rubbed his back, as though trying to ease the pain that ate at him.

who started the fire, olinda and kade would never know. bandits, some said, the hungry, thought others. some people even blamed the drought itself.

but aerin knew. he had heard his father and baldur speaking through a crack in the door about two families who they couldn’t oust from their land. they somehow managed to keep up with the tax - no matter how high they pushed it. they were survivors.

baldur (barely ten, at the time) expressed that everyone could be crushed, somehow. “can’t they just burn?” he had asked, with something dangerous in his eye.

arlan had thought for a moment, and eventually said something about how legend said a phoenix could rise from the ashes. perhaps the land could, too. he then patted his son’s head and left, a swish of furs and jewelry.

a nearby farmer went over to the burned ruins in the morning to make sure nothing was left burning, and when he found two kids, he put them in his cart and took them to riverbend - the failing town nearby.

he brought them into the pub, and the town christened two new orphans - nowhere children, they called them.

riverbend knew a lot of tragedies, and orphans with nothing to their name were called what they were - children who came from nowhere and were going the same.

the farmer couldn’t feed two more hungry mouths. neither could anyone else, for that matter. the pub owner said they could watch them for a week or two - then they’d become someone else’s problem.

kade seemed to be sick, after the fire. he was paler, feverish in the dreadful heat, and the bright look in his eye was fading.

it was olinda’s eighth birthday when someone new came to the pub. he was a weathered looking man - younger than he seemed and tired - the pub owner seemed to know him, and kade and olinda were introduced to him, not too long after his arrival.

he had been a nowhere child, once. he still was, really, with very little to his name. but he was working as a blacksmith and a farmhand at some place nearby. he didn’t have money for two kids - especially when one of them looked like a ghost - but he had a debt to pay forward. he figured this was the way to do it.

“but you’re going to earn your keep - you hear me?”

kade simply coughed

“i can earn it for the both of us.”

and the man nodded at olinda, something dark in his eyes “yeah, i reckon you can”

and olinda did well.

having lived on a farm her whole life, any task she needed to do was a quick study, and having been born from tragedy and drought, she was constantly working, used to the grime beneath her fingernails and the sweat that lingered on her brow.

olinda was strong and worked in the fields, and kade was smart and helped count money and barter with vendors in town. his sickness never really left him, it lingered in him always, but most days it wasn’t bad. he worked as best he could, but much fell on olinda’s shoulders.

when olinda was 9, the drought was over. four years later, and things were growing again. the taxes stayed high for a while, but at some point, word started to get out that arlan had suspiciously high taxes on certain farming regions, and whispers of when they were imposed started. arlan’s twin brother seemed to be currying favor with the king’s privy council.

 the taxes lowered again.

fear didn’t leave the hearts of the farmers, though. they knew what had happened, and they knew how vulnerable they were. olinda and kade grew up alongside fear and ruin, and it would stick with them for the rest of their lives.

when olinda and kade were 10, kade’s sickness flared up again, this time far worse than anything olinda had ever seen.

riverbend had a name for this, too - ghost sickness. a way the dead damn the living for having survived when they shouldn’t have. a way the dead promised to claim kade soon.

but olinda had already lost too much to lose kade, too.

she worked all day - harder than before to account for kade’s lack of work - and at night, she would pretend to sleep but really stay up, listening to his coughs to see if they got worse, and making sure he was breathing, when he finally did fall asleep.

the townsfolk told kade stories during this time, and the bard in him was born. he was always a charismatic speaker, and now, with such fanciful tales... it wasn’t just pity that earned them free bread.

during this time, an anger festered in olinda. all of life was so cruel to her and kade. it took everything from them when they were so young, and now it threatened to take away what little she had fought so hard to build.

by 13, olinda would get into fights with other kids her age. they looked at her funny because she was a nowhere girl with a dying brother, and she was tired of it. she would give them a reason to respect her, if they needed it.

the farmer that had taken them in (and still cared for them, the three drifting here and there, wherever they could find work) found out.

he advised her to take out her anger on things other than people, but also taught her proper form. he told kade, once, when they thought olinda was asleep, that he knew that anger far too well - it was bound to come out, at some point.

by 15, kade began to get his strength back. he was still thinner and weaker than most, but he lost the pallor to his skin and he could hold a meal and get through a day of activity.

the farmer they lived with died when kade and olinda were 16, and once again, it was just the two of them.

olinda could do most everything by now - she was a decent blacksmith, a skilled farmhand, a fisher, a rudimentary carpenter, a fletcher, a leatherworker... kade joked that if she ever wanted to be a gladiator she could. 

point is, she was decent at a lot of things, explaining why she was able to so easily pick up skills during the book.

kade, on the other hand, was an entertainer with the added skill of having an encyclopedic knowledge on random things (like, he knows what flora and fauna are safe to eat or he knows a crazy amount of geography and can use maps really well). he also knows elf and orc languages - all thanks to the people who would keep him company, at his bedside.

it’s a big superstition in morella that one of the few ways to wash away your sins is to appease the dying. they are close to the veil and if you visit them when are in between, they will remember you and give you blessings, later on.

kade also worked as a peddler for a while, selling things that olinda made while drifting from here to there. they traveled a bit between small towns, staying at pubs and inns. kade often charmed them a decent meal for cheap and at the end of the night, olinda got them kicked out for brawling.

they always came back to riverbend, though, never going far. despite not having a home, they seemed to be tethered to riverbend, like they had unfinished business, there.

personality/relationships:

as you can see, olinda is a little more.... pugnacious and rough around the edges than the actual mc for blades.

she’s seen how terrible this world is to the best of people, and she has had to bear the brunt of misfortune on her shoulders from very young. it’s only natural that she have some of that anger in her heart.

olinda may not believe in the goodness of the world, but she has hope for it, yet. that’s all because of kade’s stories - he would tell them to her every night and make her swear that she wouldn’t give up on the world, and at some point, olinda started to believe that maybe things weren’t so hopeless, after all. it was just their poor luck that landed them where they were.

this also means, though, that olinda is extremely caring and sensitive when it comes to those who are suffering. she would rather die than turn her back on someone in need, and this will put her in sticky situations over the course of her journey.

olinda doesn’t really see herself as a hero - she would like to save the world, but she has only ever been a nowhere child, and nowhere children don’t go anywhere. she thinks it would be amazing to do something grand - something that could change the world, but she truly doesn’t think herself capable

it takes a lot of prodding to get olinda to realize the weight of her actions and the possible outcome, and when she realizes that what she is doing could truly change the world, she has a hunger and thirst to prove herself.

olinda always gives 100% to whatever she’s doing, and it can often come at her detriment. when she’s given the chance to be more, she seizes it - damn the consequences.

olinda doesn’t have a lot of friends or close relationships - she has lost everyone who has ever gotten close, and part of her wonders, especially when kade looks sick, if it’s her. maybe she curses whoever comes near.

when olinda first meets nia she is baffled by her innocence. it’s not refreshing nor is it something that angers her - it’s just confusing. and maybe, at some point, olinda envies nia for her rosy view of the world. to nia, fire is just fire; it’s not a burning funeral pyre that haunts her dreams. to nia, sickness is just sickness; it’s not a vengeful ghost ripping away the one good thing she relies on. to nia, shadows are just shadows; they’re not something she has been running from ever since she was seven years old. olinda wants a bit of that. and maybe she’s worried that she will ruin nia, if they were to ever become closer than travel companions.

nia definitely teaches olinda the beauty in the world. kade taught olinda beauty in the past and the possible future, but he could never teach her to love the beauty of the present. nia does, slowly but surely. she shows her how things manage to grow, despite the world conspiring against them. she shows olinda how this world is still good, deep down. there is always light, with nia, and when she instills that view in olinda, it’s important.

when meeting mal, olinda immediately saw something of a kindred spirit - he was clearly damaged, too, this world against him from the beginning. they were both survivors looking for their family but while still being afraid of letting others close. although mal seemed to hide his damage better. instead of righteous fury, mal was ambivalent, and olinda wanted desperately to learn how he did it. olinda quickly learned though, that mal was an avoider - he didn’t let things roll over his shoulders, he jumped to the side before they could get to him. together, these two get some therapy and learn to take this world without letting it change them.

what i absolutely adore about their relationship is that they are both constantly teaching each other new skills. mal teaches olinda how to throw knives and how to be sneaky and she teaches him how to set traps or how to make a scabbard for his knives. they are constantly trying to one up each other by knowing how to do more things or being better at select skills, but it’s just friendly competition that keeps the other on their toes.

when it comes to tyril, olinda is less than enthused. these two had the hardest time getting along, and it all kinda stemmed from tyril being like,,,, “don’t slow me down” and olinda is like,,,,,, you invited yourself??? but also, i think that he reminds olinda a lot of the farmer that took her and kade in, so it’s a wound that tyril unwittingly hits. but also, tyril and olinda both know that the other is useful, and part of them knows to make a person who has the most potential of becoming a future enemy a friend, first, so that’s why they swallow their pride to reach out. they’re both headstrong, but they also both have deeper wounds, and that connects them. it’s like,,,,, i see you and i respect you, but if you weren’t on my side, i would not hesitate to end you.

i think that olinda and tyril eventually become great partners on the battlefield - they work in sync really well because they are both a little self sacrificing in their melee attack, and they are both fairly versatile. they definitely work well together, and they definitely teach each other patience. and don’t get me wrong - they have their soft, vulnerable moments together, but they’re too similar to be good for each other™

this leaves me to talk about imtura, who definitely vibes with olinda. they both do what they have to do, and while it infuriates olinda that imtura doesn’t open up much (she’s surrounded by kade and nia in the beginning, who are like - do you want to know my tragic backstory? i’ll tell you right now, even if you don’t want it. then, mal is willing to tell some parts, and tyril is just tyril. olinda is 90% sure that he doesn’t even have a past, he just has vague allusions. imtura just shutting her down right away because she doesn’t feel like it? blasphemy.) olinda respects imtura. they’re both self-made women trying to find their way through this world, and they both learn to really lean on each other.

funnily enough, olinda teaches imtura to let her soft side out. olinda “i will fight you if you so much as look at me wrong” teaches imtura to be vulnerable. it’s weird. but, olinda is big on emotions - harsh and vulnerable, so she teaches imtura to express those more. imtura teaches olinda when to let that anger simmer, without flying off the handle. think first, then pull out your axes. they do wonders for each other’s emotional maturity.

oh! i think i should mention aerin. at first, olinda is against aerin and baldur. she does NOT want to have to take care of two princes who have lived sheltered lives and are the reason she lost her family. however, it’s much easier to hate baldur and something about aerin reminds olinda of kade.... a smart, bookish boy who’s lonely and doesn’t mean much to anyone, in this world. the two definitely bond, (and while i chose some of the romance options just to see) they only become friends. it’s crushing when he betrays them, and for a moment, olinda is afraid that maybe when she finds kade, he’ll be the same.

random thoughts:

olinda has a fear of fire. her eyes follow it’s tongues very carefully and she’s always double checking that it gets put out. the company figures this out fairly early on, and nia is almost always the one to very pointedly put it out. the first time, she made a big show of it, and everyone laughed, but olinda thought it was very sweet.

it’s kind of a joke, now, that whenever anyone puts the fire out, they make some very pointed comment. olinda always rolls her eyes, but she won’t deny that she does sleep easier, now.

it’s 100% an inside joke between olinda and tyril that they make up the most outlandish constellations - all stemming back from that time they talked about kade making up constellations. tyril made up a constellation once while on the road, stretching his imagination to cheer up olinda. nia tried to (sweetly and carefully) correct tyril, but he insisted until olinda realized what he was doing and smiled. together, they’ve made up some pretty good ones, and when kade joins the group, he makes up stories for each constellation they make.

mal is a pickpocket, and one of the first things he ever taught olinda was that skill. they like to have little competitions to see who is the better pickpocket (tyril was the final level and the hardest to pickpocket), and at one point, the game changed to sneaking things into people’s pockets. mal slipped olinda a love letter once and it was vvv sweet. olinda will sometimes jokingly mock him for it, but we all know she enlisted kade to help her write one back.

imtura and olinda spar! they do it all the time, and even though imtura wins most of the time, they both maintain that it’s a tie - they’re both too good. 

also, olinda 100% makes imtura a new gauntlet - it’s a collaborative process. imtura chose what she wanted it to look like and what materials she wanted and olinda made it for her, trying to teach imtura, but imtura was terrible at it.

olinda has long hair, and nia taught her how to do really intricate braids. my girl used to just tie it up into a bun or ponytail, getting all kinds of tangles. nia was rightfully appalled and taught olinda how to braid her hair nicely.

the whole company has definitely braided each other’s hair.

the only one allowed to touch imtura’s hair is nia, and tyril would rather die than let mal touch his hair, but all of them know how to braid hair and you cannot tell me that they haven’t helped each other tie their hair back before going into battle

tyril is the worst at telling stories, and it’s a joke within the whole company. whenever they’re all hanging out after dinner, they tell stories and at least one person tries to tell a story terribly, seeing if they can do it worse than tyril

at first this super annoyed tyril, but now he will correct people’s terrible stories, making them even worse by revising the story and cutting out entire chunks or just interrupting them, saying the premise is already too interesting.

the exact opposite happens with mal - his stories are all incredibly detailed, but they’re all the same

the company tries to make a “mal story” that checks off all the cliches

contessa?

poorly timed winks?

a daring escape that is 100% fake?

an increasingly large diamond?

a charming disguise?

nia is actually really good at coming up with the most outlandish stories. mal is very proud.

speaking of nia, this woman did not know how to cook. imtura teaches her, and it’s actually really sweet. everyone thought nia was going to get queasy at gutting a fish, but she was oddly okay with it.

imtura gets really connected to her culture later on, so the whole company knows orcish sayings and the know a lot of the customs. it’s very sweet.

olinda is actually really bad at flirting, so mal is constantly trying to give her “tips” which is really just an excuse to hit on her. tyril hates it, nia is slightly scandalized, and imtura joins in on the fun.

olinda is actually scarily good at deception, though, and she teaches nia, which scares the whole company.

AND FLUFF ENSUES.

-- taglist: @musicallisto, @missameliep // message me if you want to be added!

[fantasyoverreality98]

Prince of Shadow

Pairing: Aerin x F! MC

Summary: Aerin reflects on why he chose a path of darkness and receives a visit while imprisoned in the dungeons.

Author’s Note: I’m back at it again with the clownery! Can’t help myself but write about some villains. I will not rest until I get redemption arcs. Anyway, this takes place after the finale of Blades Book 1, and the only warning I have is that it is angst and contains talk of abuse. Thank you to anyone who takes the time to read it, I really appreciate you.

Word Count: 2,671

-----

Water splashed against the hard stone, the sound echoing in the silent dungeon.

Prince Aerin Valleros sat in the corner, listening to the scurrying rats on the other side of his cell. One ventured closer and withdrew when it felt the dark energy radiating off him. His lips curved up in a smile as he watched the creature disappear into the shadows.

With a sigh, Aerin cast his gaze to the cell door.

“What are you looking at, prince?” the guard sneered.

The prince shook his head and looked away. Two weeks had passed since he woke up in this cell. Only once had his father bothered to visit; first to beg that his precious son come back to him, and then to curse him for killing Baldur. As if his father had ever cared about him.

No, he had never felt loved by his family.

They were weak. Pathetic. Worthless.

All his life, Aerin had been abused by his brother, while his father stood by and watched. Life as a prince meant nothing when he spent every moment wishing that someone, anyone would care for him. Love him.

He’d thought he may have found that in the adventurer. Raine had convinced him that she cared. But like everyone else, she had deceived him and let him down.

And now you are alone.

Foolishly, he briefly allowed himself to believe that she would visit him in the dungeons. Perhaps those feelings were mutual.

But she had never appeared.

“Have you heard word from my father?” Aerin asked, tired of spending his days wondering what came next.

The guard took a moment to respond, and even then, refused to look at the prince. “No. King Arlan has been trying to—”

“And just what do you think you’re doing? Our orders were to watch Prince Aerin. Not engage in a conversation with him.” Another guard sauntered up to the cell, sneering when he glanced at Aerin. “Ignore this traitor.”

Someday, he would make that guard pay for all the mistreatment he had faced in this cell.

Footsteps filled the air, and for a brief moment, hope flared in Aerin’s chest. The excitement vanished when he saw that it was simply another guard. Of course it wasn’t Raine. He was foolish to believe even for a moment it might be.

“But why, Aerin? Why would you do this?”

“What life did I have before? Forever trapped in the shadow of my fool of a brother, doomed to a life of pathetic obscurity? Bullied. Doubted. Mocked. I hated it here. My only reprieve was in my dreams.”

No one understood how it felt to live life as a constant afterthought. Baldur had spent every possible moment torturing him, making him feel insignificant, while their father stood by and encouraged it.

Aerin may regret some of his decisions now that the Dreadlord had been defeated, but he would never regret ending his brother’s life. Baldur got what he deserved. He had been the truly evil one.

“Have you heard word of the heroes?” Aerin’s voice echoed in the cell, and he tried to mask the desperation he felt.

If Raine would appear, just once, he might allow himself to believe that things could change. Despite all that happened, he still wanted her. He wanted to be with her. If she would have him.

“Who said you could speak?” The guard who had arrived last glanced at him with a look of disgust. “King Arlan has been inconsolable these past two weeks. The crown prince’s death has devastated the kingdom.”

Unable to help himself, Aerin snorted. “Of course.” Bitterness wrapped around his heart once more. “Poor, poor Baldur.”

Pain burned throughout his body, the Nerada Stone still fused to his chest. It had grown worse since he awoke here, in this dark cell, his only companions the rats that shrank back in fear whenever they wandered too close.

“How dare you speak his name. You tarnish the good reputation of Morella through your very existence.”

Those words may have hurt once, but Aerin no longer cared. Morella was not a great kingdom. Humans, elves, orcs, they were all weak. Any goodness that may have remained had long been corrupted, and the world didn’t need his help for that to happen.

“Please, do tell me more of how much of a traitor I am.” He was growing tired of this daily routine. It seemed many of the guards felt it necessary to remind Aerin of his sins, as if he wasn’t already aware.

The guards ignored him, chatting amongst themselves while Aerin stared at the wall across from him. It was damp, water gliding down the stones, staining them a dark gray. Outside, the sounds of life raged on.

This was the way things had always been. For as long as he could remember, he had been cast aside. Forgotten. Treated like a foolish child. No one pitied the younger prince.

Resentment bloomed inside his chest.

“Some of the heroes left, but others remain.” The whisper was so low, he believe he may have imagined it.

Aerin looked up, locking eyes with the one guard who often gave him snippets of information. To his surprise, the guard gave him a smile, even if it was a weak one.

Perhaps kindness wasn’t completely lost in this cursed world.

“Do you know who remains?” he whispered back, directing his attention on the two other guards, who were engaged in what appeared to be a heated discussion.

The guard glanced at his companions briefly before turning back to Aerin. “The two siblings, I believe. And the priestess.”

The two siblings. Those were the only three words he needed to hear.

Raine was still here. She had not yet left. Maybe—

“Alright, let’s go! I doubt the little prince can do much anyway. Someone can stand guard nearby.” The rudest of the men walked past the cell, pounding a fist against the bars before he disappeared from sight.

Not much later, the other two followed, leaving Aerin in silence once more.

Tears started to well in his eyes, and he wiped them before they could fall. Crying wouldn’t fix anything. He had failed. The Shadow Court was in pieces. Now, he would spend the rest of whatever life he may have left trapped in this cell.

Alone. Hated. Abandoned.

Memories of his first encounter with Raine and her friends in the Deadwood haunted him. He remembered their first kiss. In those fleeting moments, he had allowed himself to believe that people might value him more than Baldur. For the first time in his life, he had been shown kindness.

---

Everything about the situation felt like magic. The air came alive, and Aerin could forget for a moment about the pain that burned throughout his body when Raine looked at him.

She gave his hands a tight squeeze, shifting closer until her lips brushed against his.

Wow. He was sure he said something without realizing it, a flicker of joy igniting deep within as she kissed him again. Aerin never wanted it to end.

When Raine said that she was glad they understood each other, even more hope worked its way into his heart. Perhaps he was not as alone as he had thought. Perhaps someone truly could understand him. The thoughts stayed with him until they parted ways. Then, the pain returned.

Do not forget the objective. The words hissed inside his mind, and he glanced back at Raine’s tent, narrowing his eyes.

How was it that this young woman could cast doubt on him?

“Growing quite fond of the peasant, are you, pipsqueak?” Baldur’s voice induced rage that Aerin had to try his best to ignore. “Can’t say it surprises me. Of course you would associate with those scum.”

Aerin tried to walk away, but Baldur grabbed him by the back of his tunic and yanked him backward.

“When your future king speaks to you, you are expected to answer. Or shall we visit the good old days, brother?” Baldur stared into his eyes, malice reflected in them.

One day, Aerin would make Baldur pay. But today was not that day.

He tried not to retaliate when his brother shoved him so hard, he fell to the ground. Ever since childhood, things had always been this way. And no one cared.

No one cared that the younger prince was bullied by the crown prince. King Arlan even encouraged Baldur at times, brushing the abuse off as child’s play. No one could see him for what he truly was. A coward. An imbecile. A fool.

“They saved our lives,” Aerin said, brushing the dirt off his tunic as he rose to his feet. “How else should I treat them?”

Baldur started to approach, his face twisted into a sneer. “Just you wait until we return home. I—”

“Is there a problem here?”

Both princes turned their heads in the direction of the voice. The orc watched them, a scowl on her face when she looked at Baldur.

“N-no—” His brother fumbled over his words, his eyes wide.

Aerin hid a smirk when Baldur scurried away, the terror giving him amusement. “Thank you,” he said to Imtura, who grunted in response and focused her attention elsewhere.

Once he was alone, the smile dropped, and he leaned against a tree, trying to steady his breathing. The Stone fused to his chest caused constant pain. No matter how hard he tried to ignore it, it would not go away.

But it was a price he was willing to pay to become the King of Shadow.

The Dreadlord was his one friend. Before this, Aerin had no purpose. He’d been little more than his older brother’s punching bag, forever ignored by the rest of the court.

Soon enough, he would have all he needed. The shards would help him to return the Shadow Court to glory. Finally, people would bow to him. He would no longer live in his brother’s shadow, forced to endure endless torment and abuse.

His time was coming.

---

The people above ground continued going on with their lives while Aerin sat in darkness.

Time lost all meaning in the dungeons. Sunlight could no longer reach him here.

“You have a visitor.”

Aerin looked up at the sound of the guard’s voice, trying to conceal the surprise he felt at that statement. “Who?”

Without answering the question, the guard craned his neck back and called out down the dark hallway. “He’s ready to see you!”

“What? You didn’t answer my question! I—” Aerin paused mid-sentence when a familiar figure emerged from the shadows, her lips set in a hard line. He couldn’t stop himself from smiling, speaking her name in a breathy tone. “Raine.”

Her hair was in its usual low bun, parted down the middle. The last signs of her injuries from the fight were fading, the bruises just visible in the dim lighting.

“Aerin.” For a moment, emotion flickered across her face, but she composed herself so fast he may have imagined it. “How are you?”

He grinned, looking around the cell. “Well, I’m alive. How are you?”

“Listen, I—” There it was again. The conflict. Raine cleared her throat, her eyes shining with unshed tears. “It is not too late to change. The Dreadlord is gone. You don’t have to worry about your brother anymore. We—”

“You have five minutes. That is all we can give you.” Aerin focused his attention on the guard, sending him a glare that was enough to make the man retreat. “Ten minutes,” he said as he hurried down the hallway.

As soon as they were alone, he looked at Raine again. “You lied to me. You said you’d still have me, even as I am. And you lied.”

She uncrossed her arms, and the stony expression fell away. “I didn’t lie. Aerin, I do care about you. That moment we shared in the forest was real. But what you were doing was wrong. We couldn’t let you win.”

“You’re just like the rest of them. No one understands me.” He turned away, regretting that he had spent the past two weeks awaiting her visit.

Raine watched him without speaking a word. The water continued to drip onto the stone floor, creating a quiet melody.

“I know that the Aerin I fell for is still in there.”

The words made him inhale sharply, and he turned to look at her. Had they crossed paths sooner, perhaps everything would be different.

She made him forget about his terrible childhood, of the abuse he’d faced at the hands of Baldur. Only Raine had shown him true affection. She almost made him want to believe in the Light. That things could get better, if only he had the courage to fight off the fragments of corruption and evil that were intertwined with his soul.

“That Aerin wasn’t real. I stopped believing in the goodness of the world a long time ago.” He wanted her to leave. To let him live out what little time he had left in silence.

Raine stepped closer, wrapping her hands around the cell bars. “Your father sent me here to try and talk some sense into you. He told me that none of what happened was your fault, that the Onyx Shard—”

“Do you have any idea how it felt to spend my entire childhood beaten by my brother as my father stood by and did nothing?” Aerin refused to look her in the eye. “All I ever dreamt about was having someone who loved me. I found that in the Dreadlord. He promised me power. He told me that I would no longer be weak, that I could find a family who cared about me when the people of Morella did not. How could you possibly understand how that feels?”

“I—” Raine shook her head, chewing on her bottom lip as she searched for the words to say. She remained just outside the cell, watching him. After some time had passed, she opened her mouth to answer. “I don’t understand how that feels, you’re right. But you’re wrong when you say no one loves you. Or that the Shadow Court was a family that cared about you. I’m here to help you. You don’t have to live in fear anymore.”

They both tensed when footsteps pounded on the stone toward them. Raine turned to look, frowning as the guard approached.

He spared Aerin a quick glance before returning his attention to Raine. “Time’s up. Let’s get you out of here.”

“Wait! Just—hey!” The guard grabbed her by the arm and started to drag her away, but she elbowed him in the side, flinging herself against the cell door. “Aerin, I believe in you, okay? I know that—”

The guard grabbed her again, and she once more fought him off.

“I’ll come back to see you again. You aren’t alone. I—”

This time, the guard grabbed her around the waist and heaved her back. Raine tried to fight him some more, but he called for backup. Together, three guards dragged her away from the cell, all the while she continued to yell promises.

“I’ll return!” Her final words echoed throughout the dungeon, followed by the sounds of a struggle as the guards carried her off.

Once silence rushed back in, Aerin struggled to his feet, crossing the cell to the door. He peeked outside, unsurprised to see the dungeon empty. If he listened close enough, he thought he might hear the sounds of a continuing fight overhead.

You aren’t alone.

It was too good to be true. Part of him didn’t believe her words. And yet, he wanted to take consolation in that statement. Perhaps Raine really did mean it when she said she cared.

Aerin shook his head and started to laugh. His laughter rang out in the cell, and for the first time in years, he felt hopeful.

[angstmongertina]

Reunion (BoL&S)

I love writing sibling dynamics so much and oh my GOD I love Adrina.

This was meant to just be a shippy thing but it got serious somewhere towards the middle. And a bit out of control in general lol.

AO3 Link

He had barely set foot inside his former quarters after showing his… companions to their guest rooms before Adrina pounced on him, a smile bubbling on her lips.

“So…”

Tyril sighed, though if he were to be perfectly honest with himself, he wasn’t entirely surprised; his sister had always been far too keen on knowing the intricacies of his life, social and otherwise, and while that, in some ways, made her far more suited to the political dance that was Undermount society than he was, it also meant she was far too perceptive for her own good, or at least for his.

Then again, he had also deprived her of a year of such observations, and, if the state of his family’s estate, as well as its lack of servants, was any indication, it had been a trying year, during which time he had abandoned her to aid their father with minimizing the damage of his own folly. No, he had earned it, through his own actions, and he owed it to her for all she had done in the meantime.

Still, that did not mean he would make it easy for her, or dare show any sign of his resolution for fear of her pressing the advantage. Instead, he scowled. “So what?”

His disapproval had never had any effect on her, a fact that a year apart apparently had done nothing to change. She tilted her head, observing him with a gaze that vaguely made him feel as though she were seeing straight through him.

“So… Tell me about her!”

“Who?”

She rolled her eyes. “You know who I’m talking about! Csilla! Your… girlfriend?”

“Naturally. I return back to Undermount with a multitude of friends but why would you ask about anyone else?” He crossed his arms, willing himself to stay impassive despite her choice of words. “What about her?”

“If you genuinely think your attitude will get me to stop, you’ve clearly been away from home for too long.”

He sighed again. “Apparently so.”

“And…?”

“And what?”

His lips twitched as she scowled, suddenly looking much more like the younger sister he remembered from their childhood rather than the capable young woman she had become. “And tell me everything! How did you two meet? What is she like? Are you two really together?”

Taking the bait in spite of himself, he raised an eyebrow. “I believe you already asked her that last one.”

“Yes but I want to know what you think.” She grinned. “Besides, it’s much less weird to grill you for the details, especially on how you two even managed to get together, considering how stuffy and serious you are even at the best of times.”

The sound that escaped his mouth could only be called a groan, to which her eyes lit up. “Fine, but one question at a time.”

To his surprise, the sound that greeted his statement was silence for several heartbeats, before she smiled, an oddly warm expression replacing her typical teasing. “All right. What do you like most about her?”

Taken aback, he blinked. “I… was not expecting that to be the first thing you asked.”

“Oh, don’t worry. I have plenty of other questions too, but this seems the most important.”

At that, he couldn’t help but offer her a genuine smile. He had always known that he had grown up in a society where utility and consequence were the most important aspects of any interaction, but it was another thing entirely to realize just how ingrained it was in his view of the world, and how antithetical it was to everything he had witnessed in Morella, that her simple inquiry took him by surprise.

That, however, did not make the question any easier to answer, particularly when Adrina was studying him with that full intensity of hers. He cleared his throat, willing his face to remain neutral. “She… is determined.”

He was not entirely surprised when his answer earned him an eyeroll of epic proportions. “Of course she is, if she can somehow convince you to be affectionate. I have no doubt I can go ahead and add patient and forgiving to the list as well, knowing you.”

“I don’t know. I suppose… I don’t know if it’s because she was not raised in Undermount but she’s not like anyone I’ve ever met.” He paused, relaxing in spite of himself as he remembered those quiet nights and warm conversations of the past weeks, despite everything that had seemed to have gone wrong, despite the heavy weight of the world upon their shoulders. “I feel… comfortable around her. Like I could tell her anything and she wouldn’t judge me.” He shrugged, glancing away. “I suppose I feel like I can trust her, which is a rare feeling.”

He was turning red in the face, he was sure of it, but for once, Adrina had no quip prepared, no joke at his expense. Instead, she smiled, slow and warm. “That’s good. You might have thought you managed to hide it, but you’ve always been closed off to everyone, other than…” She cleared her throat, pointedly looking away as he shifted, and he looked down to find his hand clenched into a fist at his side. “Well, at any rate, I’m glad you found someone to support you. We, father and I, feared the worst when we didn’t hear back from you.”

Her expression was earnest and he looked away, finding himself strangely unable to meet her gaze. “I apologize. I… had much on my mind but I know now that I was also a coward to run away like I did.”

For a moment, the room was quiet other than his breathing, harsh in the silence, and the weight of his own confession hanging between them.

When Adrina spoke again, her voice was uncharacteristically hesitant. “Tyril? What actually happened? Father said you only told him that you lost a duel.”

He sighed heavily. “That I did.”

“But… You lost? How?”

Drawing a deep breath, he sat himself down on the edge of his bed, sweeping his gaze across the once-familiar room. Everything was as he had left it, that night he had returned from the Ancestral Masquerade, battered, bruised, and heartsick. It was easy, too easy, to remember looting through it all, blinded by grief and shame and, underneath it all, terror at what had befallen his only friend, at what would befall House Starfury. Even with his absence, with their fall from grace, not an item had been touched, left as he had last seen it, and he sighed again, brushing a finger over the wooden bedpost.

“How much do you know?”

“I know… I know that you came home from the masquerade and immediately left again without telling Father anything other than the fact that you lost a duel.” He flinched, but there was no judgment in her voice. “I know that your friend—former friend?—Kaya beat you soundly and won prestige for her house, that she has been acting… different than I remember from before she left, and that House Duskraven is now House Ascendant. And I also know that you were easily the best duellist in all of Undermount. So what actually happened?”

He sighed again, feeling the words stick in his throat, almost seeming to burn his tongue. “The Shadow Court.”

“What? You were serious?”

“Did you think that I was joking?”

Her expression turned sheepish. “Maybe? Though I should have known better; you rarely joke about anything. Perhaps it was more wishful thinking on my part.”

“I would not make light about Kaya.”

The smile she offered him was small, placating, and similar enough to ones from their childhood that he almost, almost, smiled back. “I know. It is just a… disconcerting thought, that the House Ascendent might be led by someone possessed by the Shadow Court. That does not bode well for Undermount.”

“No, it does not.”

“But… Are you absolutely sure that it is not some manifestation of her own ambition?” He opened his mouth to cut her off but he could do so, she held up a hand, and he forced himself to hold his tongue. “I know she was your dearest friend, but… There is no harm in being overly cautious.”

“I know who she used to be. She could not have deceived me.”

For a second, she met his gaze, eyes careful, scrutinous, as though weighing his curt words, and then she nodded and a warmth of affection flooded his chest.

“The Shadow Court, then. So they made her… what? Stronger so she could defeat you? How did they even get to her?”

“Technically, she went looking for more information about them. She thought there was more to the story about how they were sealed away, but…”

“She found more than she bargained for.”

At that, he sighed. “I do not know what their end goal is with Undermount. I do know that they made her much stronger and faster, and they may have to others as well.”

“And her cunning and ambition? She has taken over contracts and council sway, finding the most vulnerable points of each house and exploiting them to her own gain with all the precision of a surgeon.”

He hesitated. “I do not know. The Kaya I know is kind and humble, but clever too. It is possible that they did not need to change anything except for her morality… all of this. But the changes had to have started before her return. I should have noticed, should have found a way to have prevented all of this. I cannot ask for yours and Father’s forgiveness enough. But I will fix this. I promise.”

Her sigh was almost exasperated. “You need not do this alone. This is not just your fight.”

Despite the gravity of their discussion, the weight of his failure and its consequences, he could not help but smile, much to her apparent surprise. “I am quite aware. Csilla has informed me as such as well. Multiple times.”

When Adrina raised a single eyebrow, he shook his head, fighting in vain against the heat rising in his cheeks. “No, she has her own stake in stopping the Shadow Court. They have taken someone dear to her as well.”

“And does she know about Kaya?”

“She does. She knows that is what lead me out of Undermount in the first place.”

“No, I don’t mean like that.” That time, her sigh was lighter, amused. “Never mind. Speaking of which, however, have you had a chance to see…?”

“Yes.” The word felt heavy on his tongue, and yet somehow freeing as well, as though acknowledging it alone had taken off a burden from his shoulders. “We saw her just before coming here, at the shrine. She apparently wished to hand-deliver an invitation to this year’s masquerade.” He cast a keen eye over his sister. “You are not surprised.”

“No. Recently, she had taken to haunting our gardens more than she has any reason to, almost as if she has been awaiting your return to gloat some more.” She made a face, muttering something no doubt highly uncomplimentary under her breath. “It was beginning to get quite annoying, to be honest.”

He chuckled, nearly missing the sharp look she directed at him. “What is it?”

“Nothing.”

“Liar. You wouldn’t give me that look unless something was wrong.”

“Nothing’s wrong.”

“Adrina.”

She shook her head, a faint smile on her lips. “Truthfully. There’s nothing wrong, per se. I just… am surprised, that’s all. You’re not the same as the person who left Undermount after last year’s masquerade.”

“I should hope not.”

She rolled her eyes. “Can I be sincere without you deflecting it for once?”

“I believe that is usually my role.” When she scowled, he gestured expansively towards her, earning him a genuine, if reluctant, laugh. “Very well, then. Go on.”

“Thank you, I…” She paused, her expression souring once more. “Well, all of that just ruined the mood, now, didn’t it?”

“For you, perhaps.”

At that, she snorted. “Yes, yes, I get it. I won’t draw out embarrassing you with all of this talk of emotions any longer. Though didn’t Csilla call you sensitive earlier? And I can’t even talk to you without you getting all embarrassed.”

He coughed, clearing his throat. “She’s… special.” Hesitating, he opened his mouth, but after a moment, closed it again. It would only give her more ammunition, and the prospects of going back to normal were still far out, too far to consider.

Still, she seemed to read his mind, her expression soft as she threw her arms around him for a sudden, tight embrace. “I like her, brother. I’m glad she brought you home”

He couldn’t help but smile as he hugged her back. “Me as well, Adrina. Me as well.”

[ghostladyofwinterfell]

These (K)nights of Summer

A Modern Jonsa AU.

Summary: Sansa should have been having the time of her life celebrating graduation with her friends in Kingslanding. 

But her parents have other plans, instead sending Sansa with her feral little brother to a run down camp in the North. All in an attempt to get their two unruly children straightened out.

Whatever, Sansa was not lost and this wasn’t about to be one of those stupid summers were she would embark on a journey of self-discovery. That was not her. No way. 

But being there, in the heart of the North she starts to remember who she was before the likes of Joffrey had set his claws in her.

These were the nights were she found Jon, were she reforged her bond with Rickon and met people that were fierce and proud of who they were. These were the nights of summer.

Chapter One: Introduction

Sansa’s head was still pounding, the milk of the poppy vial had yet to kick in after the night’s slumber party with Margaery.  

They had pestered her older brother Garland, to buy them a bottle of peach schnapps with added frilly umbrella's, that they had drunk in less than twenty minutes.

Later, after sipping on a pink concoction of Margaerys making with a cocktail stick full of sweet Morella cherries, they had giggled their way down to the cellar to pop open a bottle of Arbour Gold champagne.

They often didn't need a reason at all for these nights, but they had gone all out just the two of them. In celebration at them both finishing high school a few days ago and breaking up for the summer.

Well that was what Margaery was celebrating for, Sansa on the other hand, was knocking back drinks to avoid her problems. Everything seemed better in a champagne haze.

They had gone back to Margs' room with a full glass and played games that had gotten more of an edge to them the more they drank.

It didn't matter if it was just the two of them, because whenever you had Margareys attention on you, your night was made. She just had that aura around her. She was the blooming rose in the centre of any room she was in and even Sansa couldn't help but gravitate towards her.

The last thing she remembered was revealing all about her first kiss and all the juicy details about her breakup with Joffrey during truth or dare.

It was only as her head hit the plump pillow and her eyes were slowly closing that a thought flashed through her mind. In the six months she had known her, Margaery had never let slip any real truths about her or her family, not like Sansa had.

Sure Margaery had come to her whispering that she had a secret she could only share with her, Sansa was sure her face would light up at that, but it was never anything deep or a hard truth like Sansa would share about Joffrey.  

She'd pull her close, whispering in the shell of her ear, "Can you keep a secret Sans. I've had a crush on our sociology professor and its gotten so bad I'm going to do the 'drop the pencil on the floor trick' to see if he stares at my ass."  

But they weren't really secrets. Yet Sansa had peeled back all the layers of herself to Margaery hoping for her approval.

So awaking at 7:15 to six missed calls from her mother, she knew she could no longer avoid her problems. So after downing a glass of pomegranate juice and the vial that had been left by the staff, she whined before finally plucking up the courage to call her mother back.  

Before she could even hear the first full dial tone her mother had picked up. Obviously having her phone glued to her hand ready.

Oh I am in so much trouble, she cursed to herself.        

“Jory is waiting outside the Tyrell town house. You are to go down immediately and get yourself into the car and come home young lady-" her mother’s tone was clipped, "and do not forget to thank the Tyrells for their hospitality.”

“Marg says she’ll help me to book a train home in two or three days after our shopping trip. It’ll take less time than getting back by car,” Sansa didn't like to plead, but desperate times and all that. Two more days in the sun and shopping sounded more marvellous to her than going home.

She heard Rickon screaming in the background before her mother sighed heavily, “It wasn’t a question. A car has already come to collect you once Sansa. So to the car, now.”  

She wished for her mothers warm comforting tone to greet her with the way she had been feeling the last few months, but she guessed she deserved it really.

She put her phone and the rest of her things in her bag after hearing the abrupt end beep. She pouted knowing not to go against her mother’s words, instead walking over to the bed and shaking Marg’s shoulder.

“I have to go. Mum’s brought another driver to come pick me up,” she whispered it so softly, wanting to wake her gently so they could say goodbye.

But Marg just rolled back over, pulling the sheets over her head and giving Sansa a sleepy ‘mmphh’ in response.

Well, I'm was clearly going to be missed.

She dresses quickly, grabbing a croissant from the tray and made her leave before shouting a quick ‘thanks for having me’ over her shoulder. Can't forget that hospitality her mother had instilled in her.

Jory’s eyes kept flicking to her in the mirror and they were the eyes of disappointment. She slunk further in her seat, licking her fingers of the almond glaze that had filled the pastry and sighed heavily.

She knew they would be the same eyes she’d see from her father when she returned home.

He’d left her a voicemail yesterday- her eyes filled just thinking about it now. Her father wasn’t one to show emotion often, yet he had pleaded with her to come home all the same and that he could help her with whatever was wrong. Instead she had chosen to just ignore him. As she had ignored them for the past several weeks and even after the incident happened which they had helped her fix.

It was noon when they had pulled up at the services, choosing to grab a bite to eat at the Crossroads café. She was flicking through her phone when she saw it, Marg’s new Instagram post. A picture of her and the bunch of friends from Kings Landing High- Joff and the rest of his footy guys included as well.

It was the caption that ticked her off, ‘Ready to kick off summer with only the best people’.

She couldn't help but scoff aloud as she scrolled through her last texts with Marg hoping she’d missed one from the morning off of her, she had not. She rolled her eyes chucking her phone in her bag moodily as Jory raised his brow at her.  

“Girls. The teenage kind,” she huffed in reply.                                                                                                                                       Jory chuckled, “Enough said then”.

She moved her lunch around the plate some more, all before finally giving up and pushing her tray away, after losing her appetite.

“Head to the car and I’ll go get us something sweet from the bakery. Is lemon still your favourite?” Jory asked.                                                                                                         "Yep. But can I also have something with chocolate in it to. A lot of chocolate," she spoke before taking the keys.

Sweet treats would give her back an appetite and Margaery Tyrell clearly wasn’t worth giving up lemon cakes for. Although, she supposed she could message her first, but she didn't want to seem needy, Joffrey said it was a disgusting trait.

The closer they got to the Stark Estate in Winterfell the more the feeling of dread seeped further into Sansa’s bones. Worst case scenario, her parents would ground her for life, even though she was about to turn eighteen in less than a month.

She was 50% positive that Margaery might come up for a week in the break and see what the North had to offer.

She could picture it so clearly. Marg's distasteful gaze at the cloudy days filled with cold winds that occurred here even in the height of Summer. Maybe she was like 25% sure she might come up here to see her.

She turned to look at Jory again, "How much trouble am I in?"

She hated that. Asking how much trouble She would be in, Sansa was never the one to be in trouble.

She had tried so hard and for so long to be the golden child. Until she realised she never was or never would be in her parents eyes. It may have also been the same time she visited her aunt Lysa in Kings Landing for New Years. Where she had bumped into Joffrey and decided she would badger her parents to death unless they transferred her to Kings Landing High to finish out her senior year.

"They were worried Sansa-" he paused giving her a sad smile, "we all were". She turned her head sharply to stare at the hedges that lined the private road, which lead to the Stark Manor, in case they tears brimmed over. She didn't mean to let anybody down and make them worry. She hadn't meant to do a lot of things lately.

They reached the wrought iron gates at half past five and the sky was already starting to turn a deep blue.  Jory gave her a sheepish glance and a ‘good luck’ before driving round to the garage once she'd left the car.

She nervously headed to the door up the cobble path that was illuminated by the soft glow of the lanterns in the lawn. She huffed to herself, here she was admiring the stupid lawn lights so she could reach the door even slower to face her fate.

She doesn't know what has happened to her. Who doesn't want to come home to their loving parents after being away at school for near on five months. Gods, how could it have been a whole five months since she's been home and three months since she'd seen any of siblings.

Another driver just begins to pull into the large front drive way, its light shining on the door handle for Sansa to grab at.

The words, Oh god. Oh god. Oh god, are the only thing repeatedly flashing through her mind as she see's what greets her as she enters into the foyer.

Her father and mother are both sporting judgemental glares and she wishes the floor would swallow her up.

But she can't deny how much she has missed them, even if they don't look pleased with her.

They don't do what she expects, there's no scolding, at least not yet anyway. Her mother simply calls out for Rickon, who comes bounding through to them with Bran wheeling behind them. She steps back to avoid being caught in the whirlwind that is her little brother, as he launches himself at their father.

She thought they were supposed to have grown out of this silliness by eight, or was he nine now she wasn't too sure, she had already been four when she stopped this nonsense.

Her heart ached to see both of them though, her little brothers who she used to help take care of when they were babies as if they were her dolls.

She remembers her mother laughing down at her when she had once tried to put a new born Bran in her own little dolls pram to walk him around the house.

How times had changed things between them, or maybe she had just allowed distance and Joffrey to. She felt splintered from them all, and it had seemed like the hardest thing in the world these past few months to just simply call them up and ask for help.

It's her mother who breaks their silent stand off, "Your bags are all ready and the cars waiting outside."

Wait.

Her mother was looking at her when she said that and gestured to several of her old suitcases waiting by the door.

She had just gotten here, they had brought her all the way home and now what, packed her bags for her to go again. Gods, parents were so confusing.

"Yay, yay, yay!" Rickon screams as he comes over to her, pawing at her coat to drag her over to where she see's his cases as well, which are parked up right next to hers.

"The drivers here to take you both." To say her mother was not from the North she certainly had the ice cold stare and voice down to a tea.

"To take us where?" She starts gnawing on her bottom lip. She doesn't like not knowing what was going on, why were they going in a car with suitcases and a driver she didn't know?

"We've decided to let you both go on a little holiday-" Sansa eyes brighten at that, all until her mother quietly mumbles out the last bit, "camping."

What on earth would make her mother think that Sansa wanted to go camping. She was clearly not outdoorsy and everyone knew it.

"Let us. You mean make us. I'm not going. And why is it just me and him?" Great she was home for all two minutes and in a sour mood.

Why couldn't they just yell how disappointed they were in her, then she could yell back, run up to her room to slam her door and then be left in peace.

"Hey, I wanna go and I wanna go now!" Rickon began to shout out, as he pulled his suitcase over to the door and opened it.

"Shut up Rickon, the grown-ups are talking," she hissed at him.

"No. You shut up." That made her stand up straight in shock. Her eyes flicked over not to Rickon but to Bran at the outburst.

He never yelled and never at her. "Won't you just shut up. You're so ungrateful, don't you think I would love to go there. But look at me, I can't, but you can. So just shut up and go," he started to tear up at the end, she didn't know from sadness or anger.

And it was because of her. She didn't know how to talk to him after the accident. She felt the guilt eat away at her again as he wheeled himself off down the hall. She should go after him and apologise, but she doesn't.

Her mother bends down and kisses Rickons forehead, she gives Sansa a sad smile as she says goodbye and goes after Bran.

Her favourite child, not you, the voice hisses in her mind darkening it. Rickons fidgeting urges her father into motion, "I'm sure you'll enjoy it if you let yourself."

Sansa cuts him a sharp look, what did he even know about her anymore. He shows her some mercy even at her harshness, "Don't worry, it's not the kind of camping in a tent. You'll be staying in a lodge by the lake, having bbq's around the camp fire-"

She gasps out suddenly, interrupting him. Dorne, they where going to Dorne. She wanted to squeal out in joy.

How spending a couple weeks in the summer at the Water Gardens in Dorne was a punishment she didn't know. But they had actually done something incredibly right and cool for a change. 

She tells him just that.

"Its for the whole summer Sansa and it's not at-" She interrupts him again and he doesn't look happy, but its her birthday plans that have been ruined.

"But I'll be there for my birthday, I want to celebrate with Margaery and the girls. She promised me a big party at her home in the Reach," she's pouting like a two year old but she doesn't  care.

She'd even start stamping her foot if she had to.

"Well, plans seem to change don't they. You'll do this for us after what happened," he gives her a pointed look.

Well, she couldn't argue with that. She agrees quickly so no further mention of the incident can be brought up.

"Fine. I suppose Marg probably won't mind meeting me somewhere else for my birthday for some sun, lakes and bbq’s. It should be fun away from you two nagging me all summer."

Oh, she's disappointed him again.

She sees her fathers eyes tighten up at her admission.

Her own widen in shock. She upset him. She didn't mean to, she doesn't want to hurt anyone, but she knows she won't apologise. Nobody said sorry to her when they did it.  

"You best get going. You have a while in the car yet, here I'll help you with your bags."

Once they're ready and getting in, Rickon squeezes her father tightly before leaping in and snapping up the leaflet, all while excitedly yapping on about the things they’re going to do.

Her father turns to her, but she gives a simple goodbye and quickly jumps into the car, slamming the door shut. She shoves Rickon over into the back of the seven seater car, so she can have the whole of the middle to stretch out.

She doesn't turn her head towards her father, even as she feels his sad gaze burning into the side of her face.

After a few moments, he pats the side of the car to signal the driver to go and wishes them a safe trip.

As they pull away, she turns to look at him. Her eyes fill with tears as they both stare at each other. They both seem to watch the other all the way down their long driveway, even when their faces get too small and they began to blur.

She drowns Rickon out when he starts yammering on, she's good at that, she's had a lot of practice from blocking out Joffrey when he starts to rant at her.

He flits from one thing to another, hands flapping like the wings of a hummingbird. He'd chucked the leaflet on the floor and had started ripping all of his things out of his bag to get at his sticker book.

She scrolls through her social media before texting Margaery to inform her of the utter misery that has befallen her. She hovers over the messaging app for several minutes hoping to see the three dots appear for a reply.

No one from Kingslanding high had reached out to her since Joffrey and the whole debacle that had happened after.

She'd gotten through about half of Hoziers album, letting the deep timbre of his voice lull her, when she catches one of the road signs.

They were heading the wrong bloody way.

She informs the driver rather impolitely she knows, but hey she's tired.

He tells her that they're not. Their destination is North he tells her, not South.

The cogs in her mind begin turning before everything clicks into place. She launches her upper body over the back seat and stretches her arm out for the leaflet, bringing it over to her so she can get a closer look.

'A Knights Camp'. A rustic and rural experience in the heart of the North for children and teens to get back into nature. Have fun exploring the famous Wolfswood and adventuring on the Long Lake, push yourself further and learn new skills under trained Camp Instructors.

She feels as though she's swallowed a bee.

Well then. All the visions of herself sunbathing on the golden sands, of exploring the ruins of SunSpear and dipping into the Water Gardens to cool off slowly began popping in her mind.

Her phone had no signal. It didn't stop her from redialling every time the call failed to try and get in touch with her parents.

How could they do this to her. She felt bitter tears gather in the corner of her eye, so she clenched her jaw closed. She was so tired of being upset all of the time.

She crumples the leaflet up in her other palm, sick of looking at the dreary state of the place in each one of the photos.

The camp was hardly popular. Not for people south of the Neck anyways. Sure northern children and teens often went their out of school term time, but not someone like Sansa. It taught things like how to start a fire, why the hell would she need to do that. There fun adventure days were things like hiking and fishing, as if she'd be caught dead doing that.

The people she grew up had actually found things like that fun, it was popular among the children of WinterTown High.

The people of the north were weird though. And she clearly took after her mother, who thought her twice a week yoga sessions meant a hard core fitness regime.

The people of the south viewed it differently, many using it to send their wayward children so they could be rid of them for the summer.

And by the old gods, did that make Sansa and Rickon like them. That's why they were going wasn't it, so her parents could be free of them and they'd get straightened out by the camp guards.

Every year Walder Frey often sent a whole army of children and grand children to use the camp as a babysitting service.

Or in case of the Tarly’s, who had sent their son Samwell many years ago in hopes of curbing his eating habits and to toughen him up. She remembers because his brother Dickon had told her at a college party and she hung on his every word.

She turns to Rickon as he begins talking, just not to her but at one of his games. He has the contents of his bag is all over the back seat,  a colouring book with scribbles from when he got bored and stickers all over the roof of the car. Sansa sees the shine of stickiness on his face and fingers from the bag of sweets he’s devoured, least he’s being quite tapping away on his computer.

Its only two hours in and things went downhill, she thinks its lucky she's had peace for this long.

Rickon's moaning because his stupid computer is out of charge, he has no pages left to colour because he scribbled all over them and there's no snacks left.

She can't help but snap at him. She knows why she's being a bitch, Margaery's text had come through when she had gotten a few bars on her phone finally.

Marg: Poor you, having a drink for you, talk soon xxx

Maybe she was being a bit irrational, she doesn't know why she expects a bit more from her. She was too busy pre drinking and getting ready for a party from all the pics she had been posting.

Rickon looks at her tearfully and she sees the tiredness in his eyes. “I'm sorry," he mumbles out through a yawn.

She can't help but soften at him, she was seventeen and couldn't keep it together and he was only eight- or nine.

“It’s okay Rickon, I’m sorry as well. It's just because I'm tired, you look tired too." She gives him a soft smile, hoping to stave of any upset.

She thinks that although he's probably excited to be going camping for the whole summer, it didn't mean he wasn't missing their mother and father already.  

"I'm not tired," he pouts out.

She laughs, looks like sticking ones bottom lip out at their displeasure is a shared trait.

"Okay, whatever you say. How about you come here for a snuggle though?” She knows it will help Rickon, but it'll help her to. It had been too long since someone she loved had shown her affection and if she wasn't so stubborn she could have gotten one from her dad when they left.

Rickon huffs like he doesn't want to, but then unclips himself and kamikazes over the seat.

She belts him up again and lets him lean against her as she strokes his hair. Its not even a full five minutes when she can hear soft snoozes fall from his lips.

She wakes him softly when they arrive, trying not to poke the sleeping bear too hard.

She can see he's about to whine until he looks out at their surroundings.

She wishes she could see this through his eyes, maybe these dilapidated wooden huts looked like castles to him and the dark shimmer of a murky lake looked like the mouth of the deepest sea.  

Once they are out with all their bags and cases a figure approaches from the main lodge.

Her hearts in her throat when she see's who it is.

Jon Snow. Robbs best friend, who has grown up with them all since they were babies. Her first kiss.

She blushes just thinking about it, the whole thing had been embarrassing. Not the kiss, the kiss had been sweet, what happened after was not. Her fragile, just turned sweet sixteen year old self had barely recovered.

Rickon is more than overjoyed for the both of them and quickly runs to him, trying to tackle him down by his legs.

They greet each other like long lost brothers.

She greets him like an enemy.

He looks to her smiling, she remains with her arms folded and chin raised.

"The cases are in the boot, I need to make a call," she walks away sharply, her hair whipping around to her other shoulder.

"Phones need to be handed over, you get access to them at the weekend." He never did take her shit.

"Don't worry it's just one call," she thanks her father for her stubbornness. But she won't be giving him thanks in a minute.

She stares out at Rickon as she listens to the ring.  He'd wondered over to the sloppy mud, stirring it up with his hands until they were caked.

See, this is the kind of crap she didn't sign up for. Rickon needed a leash and she needed to be sunbathing in the South for summer.

"Yes Sansa?" the voice on the other end is airy and sickly sweet.

Oh damn, its her mother who answers her fathers phone. Catelyn Stark was fierce and she didn't crack in her resolve. There would be no pleading or begging to her in hopes she'd get to come home.

So she did the only other thing she thought she could do. Lash out in hurt and anger.

“You sent us off here. Well here I was thinking you’d actually cared sending us to the Water Gardens for the break, I bet you and father had a right laugh-" she doesn't even pause for a breath in case her mother answers back, "that’s it, ship your moody teen and uncontrollable child to the end of the world so you don’t actually have to deal with us now that we’re home. What great parents.”

Her mother doesn't respond for a long time, which makes it worse as it gives her time to digest all of the horrible things she said. It also allows her a moment to stare at Jon's shocked expression towards her at what she'd unleashed upon her own mother.

“I’m sorry if that’s how you see this Sansa. I hope you’ll change your mind and give it a try. We know the rules, so we hope to hear from you at the weekend. Now its late, you and Rickon get to bed. Me and your father love you both.”

She hates it that her mother sounds so understanding, she shouldn't be, Sansa was being awful and they all knew it.

She sniffles out loud with her reply, "Okay."

She shuffles over to Jon, handing him her phone. He gives her her cases as he takes Rickons and escorts them to their own cabin.

She's thankful its a private one, with two single beds and a shower just for them. She doesn't think she has it in her to handle a communal cabin.

She shouts at Rickon to stay over on his bed when he starts getting mud everywhere. She sighs heavily, this is what happens when you get lumbered with an eight year boy who was a wild savage at heart.

She pulls her cases on her bed, rifling through them for thick socks as her teeth chatter in the cold air of the cabin.

She looks over as Jon squats down at their fire place, after a few moments there's a small flicker of a flame and she sends a blessing to the gods for his kindness as the heat begins to fill the small space. He adds enough logs to see them through most of the hours of the night. 

He helps lift Rickons case on his bed, telling him to get his muddy jacket off as he explains to her that they'll have to do it themselves from now.

"Do what?" She says dumbly, but her brain is too tired to try to make connections right now.

"Chop your own wood and light a fire."

She's had it. She's too tired and pissed at everyone and Jon thinks now is a good time to shovel more shit onto her plate. "Gods, what is this some slave labour camp."  

"Its a skill you need to keep practising whilst your here and it helps to teach some independence," he's trying to be understanding with her but she can hear a slight sharpness in his tone.

"I don't think I like being independent," she states matter-of-factly as she sits down on her creaky bed.

She thinks she may fall asleep right then and there, but Rickon has other ideas as he launches the dollop of mud he still had in his hand right at her face.

All she can do is sit there as she feels a blob from her cheek drop onto her jeans, Rickon has the decency to look scared as she stares at him and Jon tries to hide his laugh in a cough. 

Jon takes pity on her tired and now dirty form as he tells her to wait a few minutes for the shower to warm up.

She rises slowly and goes to the shower room just up from their beds. She looks at her tired reflection in the mirror, until that voice begins to stir in her mind pointing out how horrible and dark her bags look.

She brushes her teeth and takes her meds, hoping her usual nightly routine will help bring some normalcy to her.

While she washes, Jon stays with Rickon to help him get wiped up a bit and to sort through his things.  

Once she's freshly clean and in her pyjamas she feels marginally better and is all smiles as she enters the room thanking Jon for his help as she see's Rickons already changed.

Its late he can shower in the morning, Jon says and she rushes to agree, to worn out to even think about having to help Rickon.

She hears her phone ping as she receives a text and goes to get it from her bag until she realises that she doesn't have it at all, its in Jons pocket.

She gives him a pleading look through her long lashes.

"One minute," he tells her sternly as he hands it over.

She wished she'd never bothered.

After all she'd told Margaery about Joffrey, after all she'd seen, there she was in the photo with her arms all over him. And it was him who had sent it.

Joffrey:  I'll pretend she's you.

She shuts it off quickly, giving it back and says how tired she is, as she tries to keep horrid memories from springing up.

Jon bids them both good night, saying he'll be here in the morning to wake you them for breakfast.

As he closes the door he turns back and mouths to her, "Is everything okay?"

She nods and tries to smile, it doesn't reach her eyes and she knows she hasn't convinced either of them.

Jons face has fallen and he looks as though he's about to come back inside again, so she quickly gets under the covers and turns away from him.

The door clicks shuts after a few seconds.

Rickon is fast off in dream land and now she's left with her own thoughts which go swirling in her mind at a mile a minute.

She's glad her and Joffrey are done, how many nights had she prayed for it to be over, but it didn't stop that voice in her mind. Am I so easy to replace? And Margaery, she had said they were sisters and had fumed at how vile Joffrey was. How could she do that to me? Did she even care for me at all?

She wishes she were home. In her bedroom at Winterfell, falling asleep in her old flowery blanket knowing she was safe with a house full of Starks.

She goes to sleep in a strangers bed, in a place she doesn't know, with his voice echoing in her mind. You stupid girl.

And she was, too stupid to even realise that there would be consequences to her actions.

Of course they sent her North. She wanted to laugh at herself, as if she thought they would ever send her to Dorne.

This was a family place. Her father had come here with his siblings as a boy, Robb had come here with Jon and even Arya had been the past few years before getting that summer sports scholarship for Bravos this summer.

Sansa drifts off uneasy, but that had been the way for the past few months now.

She dreams about lions chasing her though the woods that night. She gets caught in the bushes and snagged on it's thorns. The lion puts his heavy paw on her chest and she cries out. She feels its heated breath on her face as its jaw opens. She knows its going to eat her, but then something stops it. Something saves her, albeit temporary, from being devoured right that second. The lion gets distracted at the howl of a wolf getting closer to them. She hears its panting breath as it rushes forward, drawn to her cries, she see's the trees part for it as it comes-

The knocking on her door rips her from her slumber. She's still feel half asleep as she stumbles to the door opening it to reveal Jon smiling at her.

A/N- I hope those who have read this far have enjoyed it and there aren’t too many mistakes. Sansa seems a bit bitchy at the moment, but she has her reasons which I hope you have seen hinted at a little bit here.

I hope to update this again next week.

@lovelifelovebooks

[doorp]

I dont like the idea of Morella “saving” Ada or “fixing” her, and the idea that Morella can “fix” Ada completely disregards morellas flaws and character arc. Morella is not perfect, she’s just not. Morella is just as fucked up as the rest of them. She could get a comforting anchor by abandoning Annabel lees group and permanently siding with the misfits, they’d welcome her with open arms and she feels safe with them. Ada’s problem is that she craves validation from other people, and a romantic relationship isnt going to make her get out of that mindset- she needs to be able to validate herself on her own, to love herself without needing someone else, love herself not because other people love her but because she loves her - a canon morellada would be toxic as fuck, and if people wanna talk abt a toxic morellada then im game but currently its causing people to perceive Morella in a really weird way

Also, Ada Lowkey patronizes Morella like “she’s a sweet girl” and her reaction to the sheppards pie, and how she comforts her when Morella thinks Lenore is dead? Im from the south and “she’s a sweet girl” is not something you say about a potential partner

someone please explain to me the appeal of morellada besides they look kind of cute together i feel like im going insane

[adrisalomonm]

"THE   ENIGMA   OF   SCARLET"

REGISTERED AND ORIGINAL HISTORY OF: ADRIANA SALOMON.  

CHAPTER 13:

 WHO ARE YOU?

Of course at the meeting everyone was in a tense calm because of the arrival of the new "Member" of the Miranda family, Scarlet was between upset and tense that this was not expected and unless that girl was The girlfriend of his son ! Perhaps Scarlet sensed that deep down something was part of a plan, it was called to reflection ... Would not it be a little paranoid? Plan what? But whatever it was something was wrong ... I looked at Carlos this was impassive did not express anything and ordered to be taken to the room, was almost asleep, Arturo looked and knew he wanted to express something and approached the young couple to intimate with the new "Sister and girlfriend" of his son ...

Karen was next to Jobito and they went to the beautiful garden that had beautifully lit fountains and sculptures, in the distance you could hear the beach:

-           I know this bothers you ... - Karen confronts Jovito ...

-           It bothers me that it was true that the climber Graciela Fernandez and the family ... all are really nasty! - Jovito takes her by the shoulders:

-           Tell me what do you want to tell me? - Karen looks at the window and goes with her husband deeper into the beautiful garden, they did not suspect that they were listening, Karen was very tense:

-           She confronted me. Remember? In Scarlet's marriage, Carlos did not deny it, but they had plans to leave ... Or at least that's what Carlos told that fool! - Jovito remained silent; suddenly he said:

-           Do not you realize that Graciela could not have died when Dulce died? - Karen looks at him without understanding:

-           What are you saying? - Jovito sighs:

-           I tell you ... We presumed that Graciela had died and Carlos too, or at least it is what we believed because they did not appear anywhere ... What time do you think I had when he told you?

-           - Karen was thoughtful:

-           I think a little ... Two months at the most ... But why did it disappear? - Jovito remains pensive and says:

-           This has to mesh well ... Carlos is what I can not explain ... Why disappeared if I had nothing to do?

-           That question we all do! - Jovito saw that Karen was upset:

-           Karen, my love you must calm down, I know it's a hot topic for you, but this is so strange- Karen with the   head in the hands the thought illuminates:

-           What if Carlos ran away with that woman when he heard about Dulce? The suspicions would fall on both!   I know Carlos ... He was not going to leave my sister if not more ... He is a fake and of the worst kind! - Jovito concludes an idea:

-           And he left with her But why come back fifteen years later and pretend? Because for me it pretends, that it lost the memory, as a beggar, it arrived without memory and now it appears this young woman and the immutable one - Karen takes the arm to him:

-           I mean ... Are there probabilities of   what   Graciela is alive? But will Estela know? - Jovito twisted his eyes:

-           I'm sure if- Karen was thoughtful and said:

-           Let's go back ... Let's go   to see what they do ... The deception has short legs ... - Jovito started the march back to   the Ville…

Coral approached Miguel and Natacha and asked Miguel to speak with her for a moment, Natacha looked at her questioning her beautiful porcelain complexion made her look like a doll and if she had gestures of her father.

-           First of all I wanted to give you a welcome ... I'm surprised but I'm glad to have a younger sister - Natacha looked at her with some curiosity but I accept her gesture of goodwill.

-           - Thank you ... Sister - They embraced and Miguel approaches the two to talk animatedly joining his boyfriend Bruno.   Dino was with his mother who was a little reluctant to approach his "Niece"

-           What do you think of this mother? - Estela looks at him with some annoyance:

-           I already knew it - Dino confronts her with the look:

-           How? - Estela makes a sign of silence and approaches Scarlet.

-           Hello Dino - is   they greet and ask   He spoke alone with Estela in his office - Estela goes not very willingly but could not do anything. When she arrives at the office Scarlet invites her to sit down:

-           I'll get to the point and I do not think there should be a conflict with this ... But I want you to explain to me about your niece and why I work here as a maid   You did not know it or did you? With what intention? - Estela sighed and with much aplomb said:

-           Scarlet I think it is better to explain this in front of your brothers too, when we are more intimate- Scarlet was thoughtful and Estela was right, she was going to get up when she felt a gust of wind enter the room and the hedgehogs at two , both looked at each other but did not speak, on the balcony overlooking the beautiful garden, Estela and Scarlet saw the silhouette of a woman pass with an identical dress to Dulce, both looked at each other and the dogs howled, but there was another much more howl sharp and sharp that came from the blue horse, Scarlet thought:

-           "Mama" - He ran out to pull the curtain and see a woman very similar to the deceased, Estela went after her, in the huge room everyone was silent for a moment and then continued, Scarlet ran after that woman who could be his mother   and struggled to reach her, but it was useless she shouted at him and nothing, Estela shouted at her and Scarlet did not see the imposing figure of her husband who cut her off when she was going to fall, when she saw him surprised she said:

-          Arthur   It's my mom! - He hugged her and she kept repeating:

-           It's my mom ... You too the   You saw Estela - She told him:

-           I do not know what you're talking Scarlet - She looked with great discomfort and everyone went to see what happened to Arturo to appease the people, looking at the path that led the blue horse, but she saw a silhouette that was lost in the dim light but decided not to say anything, once "Forgotten" The incident   the meeting continued. Scarlet and calmly told him   Francisco and Perla who agreed to speak with Estela tomorrow, sent  Morella to prepare a room for the new member of the Miranda family.

In the morning Hilda had coffee with Francisco:

-           Your new sister does not get up yet- I was thoughtful:

-           Do not believe Hilda this has me very thoughtful - She looks at him questioningly:

-           What do you mean?

-           Why show up now and why come here as a maid? - Hilda   she was thoughtful:

-           It is really strange and I doubt that Estela has ignored his existence, I imagine that Pearl is going to ask for explanations ... - Francisco made a face we have a meeting because even Aunt Karen is upset:

-           But I see no sense in bothering ... She already exists ... - Francisco shook his head:

-           It's not about that Hilda ... It's the fact that since we came back I do not know ... I'm not a believer in this but there's something very strange here, it's like everyone conspires against us - Hilda sipped coffee and another young woman took the dishes from them.

-           Are you going to Pearl's office? - Francisco looked at her questioningly:

-           Do not you come? - She got up and looked at the time:

-           I do not have to do other errands for my mom, you   You know ... - When he was going to say goodbye, Perla enters with Lorenzo saying good morning and ready for breakfast, he left and Perla said to Francisco:

-           I believe that Natacha should not be on the question meeting- The look:

-           Because there are things to clarify, I would like to have a view of the matter without entanglements- Lorenzo nodded:

-           Now the issue is what are they plotting? - Pearl looks at him:

-           Do you think they make something?

-           Last night I talked with Aunt   Karen ... What could be done and this is very strange- Scarlet enters with Coral in the dining room and after them Arturo.

-           I fired Miguel at school ... - Everyone sits down, Scarlet says:

-           Yesterday I tried to talk with Estela - Coral, then she said:

-           If my aunt does not take long to arrive and told us that Estela was very overwhelmed by you Scarlet - She shrugs:

-           That happens to her for wanting to be part of the family - Everyone looked at each other and suddenly they laugh. Coral thunders throat:

-           I do not know about you but I'm happy with the idea of ​​a younger sister- Arturo looks at Scarlet and she turns her eyes:

-           - What happens is that Scarlet is jealous - Sketch a smile, laugh again and that Karen enters:

-           How good is the reason for laughter - Arturo with obvious good humor:

-           The jealousy of Scarlet - She looks at her curiously:

-           Aunt is for the abruptness of all this- Karen looks at Jovito and they sit at the table:

-           I told Estela to come and have breakfast with us ... Let's hope to see ...

Estela was arriving at the Villa but was talking to someone on the phone:

-           I think this was an imprudence ... Now I must give many explanations ... Of course I who should give c ara! Yesterday I was able to evade   toScarlet ... If I saw her too ...! But I do not know if it was that they dressed like Dulce ... Or really it was an apparition ... - Estela kept silence and her face paled - Did not you send her? ... Tell me ! What is your plan ? ... Do not play with me! - Estela saw out   to H ilda and told him to the person:

-           You'll have to explain that to me because if it was not you , who? They already saw me and I must enter ... Let's see how I fix this ... No , I do not think it's convenient to take it to the   cas a , it's less than staying in the village ... Something is happening to me ... chao do not bother me anymore-Greeting   H Ilda and left the car when parked to enter the dining room overlooking the Ville…

Everyone was having breakfast and when Estela came in, the weather became tense , nobody spoke and Arturo broke the silence:

-           I suppose Estela that you are here to clarify doubts ... - She nodded and Cora asked:

-           Tell me something Estela Did you know about the existence of Nat acha? - She bowed her head and nodded, Francisco looked at his sisters:

-           But ... If you knew , why did not you introduce her? W hy not said no s the? P or what the ulterior motive? - Scarlet was uncomfortable, but it was about control:

-           Is that there are many questions like Estela and understand each other ... Graciela is alive? What happened to my mom? - Estela was thinking about answering very carefully:

-           ¡C l ar or eloped with Graciela because they loved each other ! - is to said with some annoyance, t Odos   they looked at each other and had some discomfort, Karen sighed and tried to control herself:

-           And you know that Carlos junt OAT or sister ruined us   everyone? - Estela looks at her:

-         Of course I know Karen, help raise this family from the rubble that both left    Why do not they ask him ? - Lorenzo said very serenely:

-           That is sick or without memory or done ... - They all look. Pearl I try to reconcile:

-           Estela we have given muc h to Trust, but you must understand that it has been very hard for us to accept the death of Mom and more in the circumstances that died And we could never know the truth! - E stela tried to remain silent as much as possible. Jovito in a very serene tone asks:

-           Estela What was the point of silence and in the way that Nat ac has worked as a maid here? What is it that you were up to ? - She raised herface:

-           No ... No ... A l're up to nothing less no ... - There was a silence and Natacha came in with the nurse and Carlos, and all looked disappointed,Escar tin rose from the table to follow her husband:

-           I think the best thing is that we have been in my office . B uen día Nat ac ha ! - S e he approached   kiss her father and Nat ac has the intercept, she looked at her brothers and they nodded as if she did not say anything, she   He went with Arturo. Coral told him:

-           Zero e s sister better than good and we eat breakfast shop ... You think? - Nat ac ha smiled and took his father's hand , Lorenzo tried to locate him    to him and the enfermer a, P Erla and everyone else got up and went to the office Escarlata before arrive Arturo told him:

-           She lies ...! - Scarlet nodded:

-           And a lot ... I do not understand ... But I swear that today I will find out this ... I do not understand What is happening? - Francisco arrived and said:

-          She is not going to talk to my hidden many things - ta Escar the drink thick!:

-           This has to be ascertained little by little- All of them have just arrived and the fabric with more aplomb sat in front of them. Pearl the emplacement:

-           I hear you - Scarlet interrupts her:

-           Estela Are you aware that Pope ruined us all and not just in money, your sister went and hid us Q ue had a daughter! - Estela took a deep breath and Francisco asks:

-           Why? What happened? - Estela looked at Karen:

-           You know what was the reason q u e Carlos ... You know what the and nigma of Scarlet ... - Karen opened her beautiful green eyes and everyone looked at each other face   without understanding anything of what q ue had said Estela ...

[doorp]

I dont like the idea of Morella “saving” Ada or “fixing” her, and the idea that Morella can “fix” Ada completely disregards morellas flaws and character arc. Morella isnt this perfect selfless innocent person that people think she is and I think that’s why I find a lot of morellada kind of annoying bc like. Morella is also fucked up and people pretend she isnt. Ada’s problem is that she craves validation from other people, and a romantic relationship isnt going to make her get out of that mindset- she needs to be able to validate herself on her own, to love herself without needing someone else, love herself not because other people love her but because she loves her - a canon morellada would be toxic as fuck, and if people wanna talk abt a toxic morellada then im game but currently its causing people to perceive Morella in a really weird way

someone please explain to me the appeal of morellada besides they look kind of cute together i feel like im going insane