#all they know is that she’s from a NOBLE family

[monokoitari]

As it seems my favorite hobby is making Shen Yuan transmigrate on random characters, idea where he transmigrates into a rogue cultivator with a very pretty and delicate face. It's almost like he looks like a pretty lady!!

... So, he decides that since he looks like a pretty girl, the only place he can survive without becoming a villain or cannon fodder is in Luo Binghe's harem.

Don't get him wrong, he doesn't even plan on getting close to Luo Binghe! But infiltrating the harem is ridiculously easy. He then asks a servant if she can assign him a new room because one of the wives filled his room with poisonous herbs. Not surprisingly, it works, because Shen Yuan knows that this is one of the most common harem drama plots. Jealous wives, drama, seeking the emperor's attention. Very common.

Now, even if he has to cross-dress for it, he has a comfortable room, three meals a day, books everywhere. He starts making friends with the servants, because well, they're interesting demons and Shen Yuan has a lot of questions about their cultures and origins. They respond, of course, happy to be recognized as equals by someone so curious.

Eventually, if any of the wives tries to do something against him... The servants are the ones who will take away all the favor from her. Get along with the servants and you will have the world! So is Shen Yuan who receives the best fabrics for embroidery, the best dresses, the best foods, the freshest fruit, the best makeup items, the most beautiful jewelry. And when some jealous wife picks on him about it, the servants don't change her sheets, leave her clothes unwashed, and give her leftovers to eat.

The fame that Shen Yuan begins to gain in the harem is... complicated. Of course, he goes largely unnoticed. He dresses modestly, spends time with the servants. When he walks through the gardens he is always talking to one or two servants about monsters, creatures, strange flowers, asking questions and gathering data. Shen Yuan is the emperor's strange wife that none of the 300 wives know where he came from, but no one suspects that he doesn't belong there because, well. In reality, it is completely impossible for there to be 300 of them all to know each other. Some do not even know the main wives beyond the stories told about them.

The only one who remembers, recognizes and knows all his wives is, of course, Luo Binghe.

And Luo Binghe knows that she... that he? is not one of his wives.

However, he doesn't cause trouble, he's kind to the servants, he doesn't attack other wives, and he doesn't seek their attention. So how bad can it be to just allow him to be there? He keeps a low profile, and even seems to be hiding. Luo Binghe considers the idea of him being a minor noble fleeing his horrible family and believing that he can find a home in the harem because of Luo Binghe's good treatment of his wives.

It would be cruel to kick him out when he apparently has good friends in the palace and a home now. Plus, he has to admit that he is very committed to his hiding place: he always wears dresses, elaborate hairstyles and looks like a delicate and sweet young lady with rouge on his cheeks and his lips as pink as petals.

And Luo Binghe is curious. Oh well. If he approach him and act like he really believe that they are married, talking and trying to understand him, wouldn't that be interesting?

(It is not interesting for Shen Yuan. Now, facing a Luo Binghe who definitely believes that they are married and offers his arm in walks in the gardens and conversations, Shen Yuan could die. The blackened protagonist is going to kill him when he knows the truth!! Well, that means he have to do... ahem... Whatever it takes to convince him that he's one of his pretty wives.)

[just-some-random-blogger]

INCHRESTIN YUMMY LOVEEEEEEEE

“To live under the control of yet another man, giving him children upon children until you experience the same fate as the Late Queen?”

“Everyone dies, Sister.”

Fucking hell alicent I hate that for you this response is crazy

You know well enough you’ve offended her. A momentary guilt spreads through your core at the sight of the little girl you had vowed to your mother you would protect with all of your life, from the cruelty of your father and of the world–yet somehow here you were, being the main source of the pain.

I hate this for her. Mirrors of the same misery

“And I am certain neither of us care of such a reputation, Lady Hightower.”

🤭🤭🤭🤭🤭🤭🤭🤭🤭 WHY HE KINDA

“Do not make me tell you twice, no one will like the blood I am willing to spill this evening.” His voice growing a tinge louder that physically had you taking a step back because of it.

It was not a happy affair, the skies were bleak and dark as your own mood. Marriage should be a happy affair, but it never was for you. It was a death sentence for a life that will never truly be your own.

Subtle foreshadowing

“You should have been a father to me,” You admit. “You should have kept your promise to Mother before she passed.”

GAGO it's fine

“There will be a time that Rhaenyra’s claim to the throne will come, and I can assure you that I will make sure that all of your plans do not come to fruition. No one in our family or our bloodline will ever sit on the Iron Throne.”

PERIOD BODY IS TEA SHE ATE THAT UP

You ignored your father’s gentle whisper of your name, as the doors to the sept opened and you were met with the sight of a handful of nobles present to the union that you never wanted.

BURN BURN BURN UGHHHH I LOVE THE ANGST OF IT ALL THE DESPAIR UGHHHHH

Barely Even Friends

Summary: A marriage that wasn't even supposed to be the solution became the only solution to remedy the Wretched Hightower. Characters: Daemon Targaryen x Female!Reader!Hightower. Otto Hightower. Alicent Hightower. Word Count: 1,775 Chapter Warnings: Not Edited. Otto being father of the year. Masterlist | Series Masterlist

Prince Daemon Targaryen was an enigma that you wish never to be associated with since your return to King’s Landing, and yet here you were. Preparing for a marriage that you did not want nor did you even need. But your atrocities and your father’s conniving nature could not bend the King’s will as he was all the more convinced that the union between yourself and his brother would benefit the realm.

Two Hightower sisters wedded to the two Targaryen brothers. How pathetic of a house could they be to stoop so low for the sake of power.

“I’m sure it will not be as bad as you think it will be.” Alicent, as much as you had grown to resent her for choosing to accept the fate forced upon her by your father, there was still the worry of an older sister towards your baby sister.

“You are married to a King, Alicent. I am bound to a Prince that has no self-control and a reputation that precedes him.”

“No different from you, Sister.” Alicent pointed with a smile that immediately fell upon the sight of your pointed glare towards her.

“Do you truly believe that what our father wants is for our sake or of his own?” You inquired to your sister as you peered around the chamber that was your sister’s own since her marriage to the King, the former Queen’s bedroom to be more specific. “To live under the control of yet another man, giving him children upon children until you experience the same fate as the Late Queen?”

Silence lingered in the chamber. The frown deepens on your younger sister’s lips at the words you knew as her fears come to life. There was no escaping such a fact, not even a Queen could escape such a fate if the Gods were cruel enough to grant it to her.

“Everyone dies, Sister.”

“But not everyone tries to meet with the Stranger more than she needs to.” You quipped right back looking at her evident bump. “You’ve given him an heir as what was required out of you, is it duty anymore or just ignorance?”

You know well enough you’ve offended her. A momentary guilt spreads through your core at the sight of the little girl you had vowed to your mother you would protect with all of your life, from the cruelty of your father and of the world–yet somehow here you were, being the main source of the pain.

“I think it is best for you to rest for the night, Sister.” She dismissed you and it was enough to end the conversation you had.

You sighed and nodded.

“As you wish, your Grace.” You spoke before turning your way and leaving her chambers.

A sigh had escaped your lips at the sight of a handful of guards on watch–more for you than for the Queen herself. They were making sure you did not leave, not this time especially with the apparent betrothal to the Rogue Prince himself. Everyone knew you would escape–it was expected out of you at this point, but you were tired.

If it wasn’t one thing, it would be another. With the guards following her closely as she made her way to her chambers, the fury and annoyance growing ever more prominent in her skin with the three guards that followed just behind you. You could escape them if you wanted to–maybe you would just to spite everyone involved in this idiocy.

“Leave us.”

The hair at the back of your head stood at the familiar voice. Oh how you loathe the voice of the man that you now had the misfortune of calling your betrothed.

“You know it is frowned upon to have the two of us in private, Your Grace.” You quipped but the two of you knew you could care less about your reputation, but you did not want to be in his presence at the moment.

“And I am certain neither of us care of such a reputation, Lady Hightower.”

“But neither of us want to deal with our respective family at this time.”

Turning you were met with the smug smirk of the Prince. Your hand was aching to slap the smirk off of his face, but held yourself back especially with the guards that have yet to move from their position in front of you. The conflict of their duty to her and the position of the man in front of them all.

“I am in no mood to deal with you, Daemon.” You spoke frankly, no longer having the energy for his games. “You’ve done too much damage to what little grasp of freedom I still had in these seven hells you call the Keep.”

The smirk on his face disappeared at your words, his eyes turned once again to the guards that were here to control you instead of protecting you.

“Do not make me tell you twice, no one will like the blood I am willing to spill this evening.” His voice growing a tinge louder that physically had you taking a step back because of it.

It was enough to have the guards leaving you in the mercy of the man that you would be marrying in the following moon–whether you like it or not. You sighed seeing you were now alone in the hallway with the man that demanded a fate you would never give to your worst of enemies.

“Do you think so little of me?”

You stared at him, daring him to think about his words. Of the reality he forcefully bestowed upon you. You didn’t want this, you didn’t want to be in King’s Landing, they should have stripped you of what little nobility you still had and left you to fend for yourself–it was better than the situation you had now.

“I would ask the same thing since you forced yourself into a marriage I did not want nor did I even need, Your Grace.” You spoke frankly. “But what I want does not matter, it is your will and I am bound to follow it whether I like it or not.”

Without another word, you turned and made your way to your chambers, refusing to wait for a response from your future husband and the fate he will place upon you.

“You truly can’t do anything to save me from such a fate?” You had asked your father as you finally readied yourself for your marriage to a Prince and Otto was to walk you down the aisle to your future husband.

It was not a happy affair, the skies were bleak and dark as your own mood. Marriage should be a happy affair, but it never was for you. It was a death sentence for a life that will never truly be your own.

“It is the will of the King and of your future husband.”

You snorted, refusing to look him in the eye anymore as your servant has finished with your dress. You chose to dress in your family’s colors of green, instead of the red and black of your future husband’s own. Even in the last moments of your future, you wanted to grasp into a small piece of hope of this not pushing through.

“Until the very end, you continue to be a lapdog for the Targaryen and their whims.” You spoke frankly. “I had thought you would be satisfied with pleasing the King with my younger sister, but for the life of me I cannot believe that for all the loathe and gripe you had for Daemon, you would use me as another one of your tools.”

Your father said nothing towards you, instead focused on the servants leaving the room and not hearing anymore of the words that would certainly land in your demise at the hand of the King’s Justice, a fate better than was already placed upon you.

“You placed me upon a family that I did not want to be a part of. And now you will pay for the consequence of it when the time comes that much I can promise you, Father.”

“What do you wish for me to have done instead?” He finally acknowledged you, eyes burning with anger and an emotion that you had never truly seen in your father–fear.

“You should have been a father to me,” You admit. “You should have kept your promise to Mother before she passed.”

He said nothing as you were both signaled to head towards the sept for the ceremony. You did not hold his arm even if he presented it to you. You couldn’t. You did not want to hold him as he fed you to the dragon. You did not want to give him the right to do so anymore.

“There will be a time that Rhaenyra’s claim to the throne will come, and I can assure you that I will make sure that all of your plans do not come to fruition. No one in our family or our bloodline will ever sit on the Iron Throne.”

As you both continued on to walk, the echoes of your shared footsteps muting the sound of your beating heart.

“When the time comes, I will ensure that my future husband will erase you and our name from the history books for what you had made me do today, Otto.”

It was a promise that you were certain you will keep, whether anyone likes it or not. Nothing fuels a resentful daughter more than spite.

You ignored your father’s gentle whisper of your name, as the doors to the sept opened and you were met with the sight of a handful of nobles present to the union that you never wanted.

Once again, your father offered his arms but instead you walked with him quick to follow the pace you made. Staring at the man by the altar with the septon. The smirk on his lips ever growing bigger, and in that moment the first line of tear fell from your cheeks.

As soon as you stood besides the man that will now be your husband, your world stills as the tears continued to fall from your eyes and the smirk on his face disappeared at the sight of you.

“You may now cloak the bride and bring her under your protection.”

Even as the words escaped the Septon’s lips, there was no protection that would ever reassure you of the betrayal of your father and what he chose not to do for you and for the sake of what little control you still had in your life.

[questionablecuttlefish]

One of the most popular topics that people likes to bring up in shipwars “against” lightcannon is that we mischaracterize (did I write it correctly?) Lux to fit in our delusions. For example: she didn't kill Sylas and she despises killers and her ideals and morality is the most important thing to her, oh, also that she's good

So you as a Lightcannon writer and someone who is very familiar with her lore and character, could you give me your perspective about this?

Ah yes, that one.

Here's my answer in pictures:

But more seriously. 😆

I think that's a gross oversimplification of Lux's character, and it's generally an argument made by people who don't know who Lux is beyond the most superficial impression.

It's a product of a mindset that can't separate modern ideals of 'morality' - what would be moral to you and me, from our culture and our moment - from a character raised in a very, very different culture and a very different world.

A good example is the opening scenes of A Game of Thrones, we witness the horrible slaughter of a group of Night's Watch by the Others. The lone, desperate survivor escapes, and in the very next scene, we see that he's been captured by the Lord of a castle, who is about to execute him for the crime of desertion by beheading with a sword. This man makes his sons watch as he decapitates this poor, innocent bastard who, to us, has done no wrong and just survived a terrifying experience. He makes sure his seven year old, Bran, witnesses him cut a man's head off with a sword.

Meet Eddard Stark, probably the most forthright, honorable, and morally upstanding character in the series.

Look, Lux is a 'good' character. She's smart, compassionate, forthright, and principled. She almost always takes the diplomatic option first and uses violence primarily in self-defense.

On the other hand, she's a Crownguard. She is the daughter of the highest ranking noble household next to the King himself. Her Aunt is the High Marshall of the entire Demacian military. Her Uncle is(was,heh) the head of the Mageseekers, so the mage hunting secret police. Her brother is the Might of Demacia, Sword Captain of the Dauntless Vanguard.

What I'm saying here is that Lux is a military brat. She has been born and raised into the values of a highly militaristic, feudal warrior culture at the very highest level of that society. She's been trained in warrior arts - riding, swordfighting, archery, and military tactics and strategy - since she could walk and form words.

In her old lore? She was literally a traumatized, brainwashed child soldier taken from her family and trained to fight for Demacia.

In her new/current lore? She's still a trained spy who has succeeded at several covert missions within Noxus.

We've seen her fight monsters and Mageseekers in the M.S game, she didn't hesitate to shoot Sylas with a crossbow and stab him with a dagger until his mages dragged her off him in the comic, as above.

She also witnessed her brother behead a man in the For Demacia story; she was trying to intervene because she had sussed that there was something else going on, and therefore his death would have been unnecessary and unjust, not necessarily out of protest at the death penalty itself.

It's worth noting - as the Mageseeker confirms - that Lux stayed out of the mage rebellion not out of 'naive pacifism' as she's sometimes accused of, but because: 1. She couldn't forgive Sylas for his betrayal.

2. A desire to protect the noncombatant refugees in her care.

3. She's still loyal to Demacia and her family and refused to fight her own kin.

4. because she knew if she stayed neutral, she could leverage her Crownguard privilege and name with King Jarvan to negotiate protection for mages after the conflict.

Which, y'know, she did.

All of these are products of who she is a character, a Demacian, a Crownguard, and a canny political operator. None of these are blind pacifism, this is the kind of soft power "Fox" move Mel Medarda would recognize and approve of.

So no, Luxanna Crownguard isn't going to be put off by Jinx's violence.

Violence is inherently part of her world, too. Demacia is a 'medieval' feudal regime that is almost perpetually at war with its neighbours and, in some ways a harsher, more brutal place than Piltover and Zaun, particularly its notions of 'justice'.

Piltover is only about 50% likely to have public executions as entertainment/morality lesson, Demacia absolutely 100% does and we've seen two of them in canon, is what I'm saying.

I think Lux would understand that Jinx committed terrible deeds, yes, as part of a civil conflict that Lux herself would be coming at with only an outsider's understanding.

Lux knows exactly how it feels to have best intentions blow up in your face, to be backed into a corner and forced to take some pretty extreme actions to survive.

I don't think, after her actions and choices triggered the Mage Uprising and cost untold lives across Demacia, Lux would consider her own hands clean enough to judge someone like Jinx. Sure, Lux didn't mean to give Sylas her power to commit second hand mass murder, but Powder didn't mean to kill her family either.

And it's also worth noting the part of Sylas' actions that Lux doesn't forgive - especially in the Mageseeker dialogue - is specifically the personal betrayal of her trust, outing her as a mage, and ruining her life.

She understands his cause. She won't join it, because that would mean siding with someone who wants to kill her family, but again, Lux's reasons for choosing not to fight are much more complex and personal than 'she hates violence'.

She's able to compromise enough to accept Sylas' help when her city comes under siege, because while Lux is a 'good guy', she's also a pragmatist first.

I think Lux would see a lot of Sylas in Jinx. I think she would see a lot of herself, as well, particularly once she learned about Jinx's past, about Silco (basically Jinx's Sylas figure, no?) and about everything she's been through.

I don't think Lux would judge her for that.

I feel that Lux would try to be the voice of reason, the hand holding hers to ground her, maybe even the olive branch to help her try to repair some of her burned bridges (this is certainly what she tries to do in Ill-Omen's) and that could cause interesting conflict in their developing relationship.

But I think Lux would understand. Jinx may be more volatile and spiteful and personal in her use of violence, but she's shaped by experiences not far from Lux's own.

And by Season Two? Yeah, no, Season Two Jinx is well and truly on her hero arc. Post-Season Two Jinx? Especially if she's trying to put violence aside and heal?

Post season two Jinx, who's grieving losing her father, her sister, her child? That Jinx would absolutely attract Lux's compassion even more than before.

I've written so many words to answer it, but to me, it's such a non-argument to begin with. You have to not even look at Lux past "blonde nice girl" to think it.

[kikyoupdates]

Crushed Velvet ⭑˚🥀⭑ 𝑎 𝑑𝑒𝑣𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒

yandere!ocs x f!reader

yandere, reverse harem, yandere reverse harem, original characters x fem!reader, slowburn, isekai

Your parents are thrilled to have secured an engagement for you with the royal family. Your suitor, the crown prince, has agreed to be wed to you. It seems as though your entire future has been assured, so why is it that from this moment onward, your life starts to fall apart at the seams?

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One way or another, you’d made it through the engagement announcement, but your life still showed no sign of quieting down.

Ever since word had gotten out that you were Xeno’s fiancée, nobles kept paying your family visits, no doubt hoping to amass favor with you as quickly as possible. Of course, you saw right through their fickle appearances, but you were still obligated to meet with them and pretend like you cared. It was simple politics of the court. You’d been a high-ranked noble all your life, but you still weren’t quite used to being the center of attention like this.

That would have been all well and good, but as was true of most nobility, there were always those who insisted on poking their noses where they didn’t belong.

A certain countess visiting you had said this:

“Oh, my dear. You must be thrilled to be engaged to the Crown Prince. The rumors that you were already seeing a man must have been false, then.”

You’d done a good job of keeping your cool, but on top of her blatant rudeness, it was clear that she was accusing you of having an illicit relationship. Rumors were just that—rumors. Nevertheless, you’d never had there be such lies circulating about you. And surprise, surprise, they’d started just as soon as you’d been revealed as the Prince’s future bride.

You remembered Annalisa’s bitter expression back at the palace a few days prior. She had clearly been boiling with envy. You couldn’t exactly blame her. She’d probably been convinced that she would secure this position for herself, and to suddenly have it torn out of her grasp must have come as a shock. You also didn’t want to jump to any baseless accusations, but it seemed like a fairly reasonable guess to assume that she was probably the one who’d started spreading the rumors.

If she really is, then that only makes me respect her even less.

Xeno had described her as “filthy”, but he hadn’t really explained what he hated about her so much. You were sure he must have had his reasons, though. Especially if she was willing to resort to petty propaganda like this.

“My goodness,” your mother sighed, wiping her brow off with a handkerchief. “It’s been terribly busy. I think we’re going to have to hold off on any more visitors for a while. There’s just been far too many of them.”

“I’ve gotten quite sick of them as well,” you muttered.

“Is something the matter, sweetheart?”

“Nothing too serious. Based on what some of the nobles have been saying, it’s sounds like someone’s been spreading some rumors about me seeing another man.”

She went silent for a few moments, then pursed her lips in contemplation. “Well, that’s to be expected. Many families are bound to be jealous. They were probably hoping to marry their own daughter off to the Prince. Don’t let these rumors get the best of you. We know it isn’t the truth, and without any proof of the matter, you’re untouchable.”

“Yes, I agree. I suppose I’m just a little annoyed.”

“Why don’t you pay a visit to the Temple?” she suggested. “Go pray, take your mind off things. It would be good to have a priest bless your engagement.”

“Hm. Maybe I will.”

It had been a while since you’d gone down to the Temple. Besides the monarchy, which was the main governing factor of the kingdom, the Holy Temple and the High Council were also consulted when it came to making large scale decisions. Ultimately, the crown still got the final word, but a great deal of power was entrusted to these other two organizations. All nobles were required by law to be approved by the Temple before being allowed to serve under the King. You couldn’t say that you were a very religious person by nature, but every now and then, it did feel nice to have a quiet, safe space where you could focus on your thoughts.

You were escorted just outside the Temple by a handful of servants, since you were apparently a “big” deal now, but they didn’t try to overstep and follow you inside. As always, you could feel the entire atmosphere shift the second you stepped into the building. Light still filtered in through the stained glass windows, but the Temple was always softly lit, even with the smattering of candles laid out all around. Being inside here always gave you a chill. There was some sort of strange energy that filled the walls, and it brought you an inexplicable sense of peace.

There were hardly any people at this time of day. Most came in to do their prayers first thing in the morning. Regardless, you weren’t playing on staying for long. Just a few minutes sitting in silence and clearing your head would be good enough.

You made your way around the pews, headed to the frontmost-facing row. Just as you were about to sit down, one of the doors by the altar swung open and a man stepped out.

“Oh. Lady [Name]?”

It was one of the priests, Mihael Veron. He was the youngest member of the clergy, and he was beloved by the people for his gentle smile and kind mannerisms. Even as far as practicing religious men went, he was practically a saint. He was distractingly handsome too, which you berated yourself for thinking every time you laid eyes on him. He’d been working as a priest for just about three years now, and needless to say, you’d developed a bit of a crush on him.

“Hello,” you smiled back, cheeks slightly warm. “It’s very nice to see you, Father Mihael. I feel like it’s been quite a while.”

He shook his head, feigning disappointment. “My, isn’t that because you’re constantly skipping out on your weekly sermons?”

“I-I’m sorry,” you mumbled guiltily.

“Ha-ha. I’m only kidding. Religion is a highly personal thing. Everyone has their own unique connection to God. You should only come to Temple whenever you feel comfortable doing so.”

“Yes, but still… I’ll try to be better about it.”

“Don’t trouble yourself, Lady [Name]. I was hoping to see you soon, though, in order to congratulate you on your engagement.” He smiled warmly. “I’m sure you and your family must be very happy with this arrangement. Though I admit, I was a bit taken aback to hear about the announcement so last-minute.”

You fidgeted in place. “It’s, uh… a little difficult to explain. I don’t really understand it either, but it seems like the King and Queen must be really excited for their son to get married.”

“Well, of course they would be, when it’s with someone as lovely as you.”

It was getting harder and harder to ignore the burning sensation on your cheeks. His clear blue eyes were so piercing, yet calm and reassuring at the same time.

Maybe going to Temple more often wouldn’t be the worst idea.

“Lady [Name]?”

“Y-Yes?!” you squeaked, absolutely mortified by the thoughts currently running through your mind.

Mihael just let out a soft chuckle, looking more amused than anything else. “My apologies. You looked deep in thought, so you must not have heard me. I was just saying, if you’d like, you can light a candle and I’ll read a few passages aloud for you. It won’t be a full sermon, just a little something to bless your union and lead the both of you forth in good health.”  

“Oh, that would be perfect, if it isn’t too much trouble.”

“Of course not,” he smiled. “Here, follow me.”

He picked a fresh candle out of a basket and handed it to you, then gestured for you to light it and place it along with the other lit candles. You did so, and once you’d set it where it belonged, you slowly closed your eyes and allowed the sound of Mihael’s gentle voice to fill the room.

It was a peaceful feeling, perhaps even more so because Mihael was the one reading the passages. There was a reason he was so loved. Initially, the other clergymen had thought less of him because he was so young and inexperienced, but with time, they too had come to cherish his presence. He was the Temple’s pride and joy.

After some time, Mihael’s voice eventually came to a stop. He waited for you to open your eyes and smiled again. “How was that?”

“It was lovely,” you beamed. “Thank you. I’m not all too familiar with most of the passages, but even if I couldn’t completely make sense of all the words, it still filled me with warmth. There were some worries on my mind earlier as well, so I feel a lot better now.”

“I’m very happy to hear that. This is a safe place. If you ever feel yourself becoming overwhelmed, you are always to come here.”

“Yes. Thank you so much.”

Mihael leaned forward, his hand coming to rest just atop your head. You flushed, a bit confused, but certainly didn’t complain when he started gently stroking your hair.

“I am overjoyed for you, Lady [Name]. I will pray each day that you and the Prince have a long, happy marriage.”

He was so earnest, so genuine in his enthusiasm on your behalf, that you didn’t quite have the heart to tell him how you truly felt about Xeno. You just stood there, relishing in the warmth of this gentle, selfless man.

His hand eventually dropped, and he almost looked disappointed as it did.

“I should be going now,” you said. “My servants are waiting outside for me, and there’s a lot I still have to attend to now that word’s gotten out about my engagement. You know how nobles can be.”

“Yes, of course. I wish you the best of luck with all your endeavors.”

You thanked him again, and waved back at him up until you’d reached the entrance. You then turned and pushed the door open.

If you’d waited just a second longer before turning away, you would’ve seen his smile drop.

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💞 main masterlist ♡ character appearances

[occasionally-poetic]

marauders characters’ ethnicities/religions/languages

just my own HCs so don’t get offended!

jayaram fleamont potter

(tells people to call him j or jamie bc its easier, so everyone assumes his real name is james, and he doesn’t correct them)

indian hindu on his mum’s side (tamil nadu specifically)

effie comes from a rich tamil pureblood family (many pureblood families name their children something greek/latin, thus ‘euphemia’), and teaches jamie hindi, tamil and some greek

his tamil is great and he’s fluent in writing/reading as well as speaking, writing letters to effie from hogwarts in tamil

his hindi is okay, mostly with reading and talking, his writing is pretty limited

his greek is godawful and he’s barely conversational, much to effie’s dismay

(non-practicing) catholic chilean on his dad’s side

monty is (obviously) a potter, and most of his relatives live in chile or south america, but his parents moved to england for hogwarts (didn’t want him going to school on another continent to them)

he’s a practicing hindu with his mum (monty doesn’t really get it because he doesn’t speak a word of hindi so he just smiles and nods)

he speaks english and (chilean) spanish, which he teaches jamie, who speaks/reads/writes it as fluently as his english and tamil

sirius orion black

he is heir of the noble and most ancient house of black so he’s the french-est pureblooded-est guy you’ll ever meet

especially pureblooded because he’s the product of incest (his parents are second cousins) (canon)

the black family are french, owning many estates there, etc., but have lived in england for generations (his great-grandparents migrated and now they only visit france in the summer sometimes)

catholic (receiving NOO criticism here bc this is canon (no its not)) with intense religious trauma and internalised homophobia (not projecting at all whaaaaat)

sort of converts to judaism (ish?) he makes remus explain it all and siri thinks its sooo fascinating so he gets a menorah for the dorm for hanukah and buys a torah to study and remus is so happy

speaks french as his first language, and latin and greek fluently from tutoring, but only started to learn english for hogwarts (is so bad at it in first year omg)

remus yohanan lupin

(I KNOW HIS CANON MIDDLE NAME IS JOHN BUT HE IS SO JEWISH CODED TO ME SO HERE’S THE HEBREW FORM OF JOHN INSTEAD X)

polish-jewish on his dad’s side (lyall was evacuated to wales in ww2, when he was about 10, and hope’s parents looked after him until he graduated hogwarts and started dating hope (they literally adored him and helped raise remus I DONT CARE))

protestant welsh on his mum’s side (didn’t really practice her faith though - just brought them all to church on christmas eve and easter sunday)

interfaith household + being a patrilineal jew (more not fitting in angst for remus guys!)

spoke english and welsh at home, equally fluent (lyall picked up welsh while living with hope’s parents), and hebrew too from his hebrew sunday school

lyall tried (and failed) to teach him polish, as that was his first language, so remus can speak a very basic amount of polish, mostly swearing and children’s lullabies (marlene teaches him more at hogwarts so they can gossip!)

not very orthodox jews, but celebrate jewish holidays and go to the synagogue on sabbath (and he wears a necklace of the star of david that belonged to lyall’s late mother)

pieter daan pettigrew

(anglicised his name for hogwarts because everyone called him p-eye-ter (like actual pie + ‘ter’))

protestant dutch on his mum’s side (but she went to hogwarts!)

protestant english on his dad’s side

parents were ‘born again’ christians so they were very devout (grace before every meal, helping out at church every sunday, bible study every morning, etc)

peter never really believed in any of it, and would often go to jamie’s to avoid having to go

he spoke english with his dad and half-brother, but solely dutch with his mum and his other siblings. he was also taught latin before hogwarts (pureblood things) and absolutely HATED it (he was probably dyslexic and often found himself changing language in the middle of his talking exams)

picked up a fair bit of tamil from jamie and effie (aka his second mum) and absolutely LOVED the potters’ diwali party (literally the highlight of his year)

let me know any other characters i should do!! and if you disagree feel free to leave your HCs in the comments, but please respect that people have different opinions xx

[olliewrites-stuff]

Beautiful Things.

“You came back!” she whispered disbelievingly.

Floronia had been convinced that the wizard currently huffing out of breath in front of her had left her for the final time.

Gone in the night, leaving only a scrap of aged parchment with a hastily scribbled message resting on the pillow where their head should have remained. The druid had awoken the following morning to the rays of dawn gently stroking her face. She’d rolled over, expecting to meet the warm mass of her bedfellow, and felt only the crinkling of the note on her cheek and empty air.

Zaire stared determinedly at the mountains behind Floronia. Not making eye contact. Never making eye contact. "For some reason, I'm attracted to you,” the wizard grunted.

A month ago, this statement would have caused the druid’s stomach to stir excitedly. As it stood, after three weeks of tears, reflection, and grief, these words only sickened Floronia.

Unbidden, the words from that note on the pillow flew through her mind:

Floronia,

I’ve left. Don’t try to find me; I do not wish to be found. We both knew this wasn’t going to last. I’ve just taken the initiative to end this before either of us gets hurt.

My family have accepted me back into their society.

I’m moving to my next adventure. You should too.

Regards,

Zaire

It was far too late for the druid to be unharmed. Every re-read of the message had shattered part of herself even further. The words were clinical, formal, reflecting nothing of the love Floronia had been convinced bloomed between the two. This hurt more than the act of physically leaving. It hurt more than if Zaire had simply left with no note.

No, they’d taken the time to write a letter. They had evidently respected Floronia enough - in some twisted version of respect in their mind - to leave a note. The removal of emotion in the note proved, to the druid at least, that they had never loved her.

She’d only started adventuring to impress the wizard.

She’d only dared to believe she had a chance with them because of the attention the usually aloof, disgraced noble had blessed her with.

What a fool she’d been.

Presently, Zaire cleared their throat. Their dark, furrowed eyebrows hung like thunderclouds over piercing grey eyes.

“Well?” they asked.

Floronia closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. Tapping into the wells of hurt that lay ready within her chest, she allowed them to leach the emotion from her tone.

“Thank you for letting me know,” she droned.

Zaire scoffed, furious eyes finally meeting the druid’s own.

“That’s it? That’s all you have to say?” they hissed.

The druid shrugged.

Zaire’s features stretched into an incredulous frown.

“I come back to see you, tell you I’m attracted to you, and all you have to say is ‘thank you?’ Where have your emotions gone?”

The druid barely squashed a desire to scoff. Bold for the wizard to ask about feelings. They’d made Floronia feel like an over-emotional idiot all throughout their… well, it barely counted as a relationship, but she supposed that was the word that fit best.

“You’ve never cared about my emotions before,” she stated icily. “You certainly don’t deserve them now.”

Zaire dragged a hand desperately through their cropped blonde hair. They seemed… upset?

“Gods, Flo, I’m sorry!” they all but shouted in frustration. “Alright? I’m sorry! What else do I need to say?” Those icy eyes met hers again. This time, a hint of desperation lurked in the irises.

The druid frowned, unswayed.

“What if I said I’ve moved on to my next adventure?” she asked calmly.

This seemed to confuse the wizard. “What?”

“‘I’m moving to my next adventure. You should too,’” Floronia quoted. “Your message was pretty clear. What if I’ve moved to my next adventure?”

A flurry of emotions overtook Zaire’s face in quick succession, surprise, disbelief, anger, and mourning, settling finally on bereavement. Floronia had never seen this many emotions on her ex-lover’s face. It was bittersweet to see it now.

The wizard’s shoulders slumped. They ran a shaking hand over their face as they exhaled loudly.

Finally, their eyes ghosted across each of Floronia’s features. An expression of miserable acceptance settled itself on their face.

“W-Who?” Zaire croaked.

When the Floronia remained silent, the wizard squeezed their eyes shut as if preparing for a blow.

“Just - just tell me,” they grunted. “Who?”

Floronia’s frown deepened even though she knew the other wasn’t looking at her.

‘What makes you think you have any right to know about the people I’ve been with since you?”

The effect was immediate. Zaire stumbled backwards as if they’d been struck.

“P-People?” they whispered. Their chest heaved with emotions. When their gaze met Floronia’s once again, the druid startled with surprise at the stricken, teary expression on their face.

“I - I don’t have the right, I suppose,” they gasped wetly. “I just - Floronia, I -”

The wizard wiped their nose with a sniff.

“I fucked up,” they stated. “I never should have… You have every right to… I -”

Gods, Floronia had often wished for more displays of emotion from her ex, but this barrage of despair and floundering was unnerving. She almost wanted the old Zaire back.

“Are they people I know?” the wizard whispered.

The druid looked away, not wishing to see the other’s reaction. What she didn’t expect were Zaire’s next words,

“I - that makes sense, I guess. Any of them would give you the life you deserve.”

At this, Floronia whipped back around to face her ex-lover. Where was this coming from?

“What is that supposed to mean?” she hissed.

Zaire startled. Evidently, they hadn’t meant their words negatively. The druid failed to see the alternative to their meaning, though. Zaire hailed from a long line of nobles. They’d been raised in high society. Their path should never have crossed with Floronia’s own.

Years ago,they’d had an affair with the daughter of another noble family, leading to their disgrace and eventual escape to study wizardry. After this fall from grace, Zaire had surrounded themself with miscreants, taking on jobs no matter how deceitful or unlawful.

These people were their peers. These are the people Zaire had implied, in Floronia’s mind, would provide a life she deserved.

These people were no longer their peers, the druid supposed. The note was the first time she’d heard about Zaire’s family accepting them again. She supposed this made sense for their hurried exit from their shared life together. Floronia may have been acceptable company when they were a disowned lowlife, but she had no business in the world of nobility.

Deep inside herself, Floronia knew she didn’t belong in such society, but Zaire cementing this belief had cut her the deepest.

“Flo?” Zaire called.

Evidently, the druid had lost herself deep in thought. This didn’t sound like it was the first time the wizard had called her name.

Fighting back tears, her ice wall crumbling, the druid spat, “Don’t! You don’t get to call me that! You don’t get to nickname me, like I ever mattered to you, like you ever loved - hell, even tolerated me!”

Zaire frowned, “That’s not -”

“Don’t!” Floronia yelled. “I get it, okay, Zaire? I get it. I was never good enough for you. Not even before. I’m especially not good enough for you now that you get to go back to your cushy old life. You never loved me. I was a fool to think that you did. I’m sure you’ve had a great laugh at my expense with your new, posh, friends and lovers, okay? I get it, I’m a fucking joke from your past. A great story to tell at parties, I’m sure!”

Zaire’s frown deepened, “But, Flo, I -”

“Stop it, Zaire!” Floronia screamed. Tears flowed freely down her face. All the words she’d whispered to herself late at night in the last three weeks bubbled to the surface and out of her mouth. “You left me! You don’t get to pretend to act hurt for pity points! You left me, in the middle of the night, with only a fucking note, to return to your old life. Your beautiful life, with beautiful people, and beautiful places! You’ll find some beautiful woman to call your wife, make beautiful friends, and find other beautiful women to cheat on your fucking wife with!”

She inhaled deeply, “I was a fool to think I could ever stand in for these beautiful things. What, you’re attracted to me? Big fucking whoop! You’ll find someone else. Someone worthy to you. Someone you respect enough to maybe actually talk to instead of abandoning in the middle of the night!”

Floronia stepped towards Zaire. Something deep within her smirked at the way the other cowered beneath her intimidating stance. Serves them right.

“You have no fucking right to ask about what or who I’ve done in your absence to fill the gaping hole in my soul and life that you left. This ‘attraction’ will end. You never loved me. You don’t love me. So, go back to your beautiful life and leave me alone to continue picking up my own broken pieces!”

Out of breath, Floronia’s chest was now the one heaving. She didn’t expect a cool hand to gently card through her hair and over horns. Glancing down at Zaire’s face, the druid was surprised to see an equally gentle expression below the tears.

“I’m sorry,” they whispered. “I shouldn’t have left. I was - it was a really weird situation to be in, with my parents. If I’m honest, I used it as an excuse to leave because I was terrified of my feelings for you.”

Floronia huffed in disbelief and ripped herself from Zaire’s embrace. How dare they? She turned to leave.

“I LOVE YOU,” Zaire shouted.

The words halted the druid in her tracks, but she refused to turn around.

“I’m - I’m really shit at expressing it, obviously. I’m sorry. I don’t just find you attractive, I guess I just said that to protect myself, but now I’m worried you’re really going to leave without me telling you, so… It’s time for me to be self-sacrificing.”

Floronia remained frozen.

“I’ve never loved anyone like you,” Zaire stated, then winced. The druid could practically hear the wince. “Not like that! I mean, I’ve never felt this strongly about anyone, and that scared me. You’re so honest and loving, and I’m just a mess. I thought that if I left, you’d find someone who could love you like you deserve, and I could find someone to fill my time…”

When they next spoke, the wizard’s voice was soft, “Flo, I was wrong. I’ll never find anyone that can hold a candle to you. I can’t say the same for you. I’m sure you have many people eager to fill the place I once, foolishly and selfishly took for granted. A place where they can experience your love and trust so intensely…”

Their voice cracked with the words that followed, “I love you, Floronia. I know that now. I can admit it. I know you don’t need my approval, but - but I don’t care how many people have come before or after me. I can’t say I don’t care if you don’t believe me or take me back, but I can say that it’ll never change my opinion of you. I love you. I’ll love you until the end of time, I know it.”

Floronia’s shoulders shuddered with silent tears. Zaire’s words flowed over her like a soothing balm, but the pain refused to subside. She heard them take a step closer.

“I went back to my parents. It’s a world I don’t belong in, but I’ve tried to make space for myself and someone else. I had something to ask them, and something to grab from them… Floronia…”

The druid heard a rustling behind her. Overwhelmed by curiosity, she whirled around to see Zaire on one knee, holding an ancient and intricate ring between their shaking fingers.

“Floronia,” they whispered. “Will you marry me?”

The druid’s eyes widened, and her mouth opened and closed silently.

“Are you - are you fucking kidding me?” she cried, confused tears welling in her eyes.

Zaire was an asshole, but they’d never been cruel like this.

“This isn’t funny, Zaire,” she gasped, lips trembling.

The corners of the wizard’s mouth turned downwards in concern.

“Flo, I know I’ve done some shitty things, but I would never do something like this insincerely,” they stated calmly, maintaining eye contact with Floronia.

“I love you,” they repeated. “I - I want to give you everything. I want to make up for all my mistakes, and then more. I want to make a life with you. I want you in my life.”

They startled at Floronia’s following burst of tears.

“Take as much time as you need,” they soothed. “Say no if you genuinely don’t want to. But, please, Flo, don’t say no just because you think this is some elaborate prank - which I would never do. I mean this with all sincerity. Let me prove just how much I love you, every day, for the rest of my life.”

Floronia shook her head, tears still pouring down her cheeks, “I’m someone who doesn’t belong in beautiful places,” she whispered.

The wizard stood, pocketing the ring and pulling the druid into a tight embrace. They kissed the top of her head softly,

“You make places beautiful by simply existing in them. You are the most beautiful place,” they murmured into her ear.

When the druid shook her head again, Zaire held her out at arms length.

“Floronia, please,” they begged. “Say yes. Let me prove to you every day how you make my life beautiful, and how much I love you.”

Swallowing around the lump in her throat, the druid finally replied, “No.”

Zaire allowed their arms to fall. They swallowed loudly and darted their eyes away. Floronia managed to catch the grief in them.

“Oh, okay,” the wizard stated desolately. “I, um, I respect your choice. I’ll just - I’ll just leave you alone, then.”

They slumped miserably and turned to leave. Floronia darted a hand out to catch theirs before they could slink away, miserable and gone from her life forever.

“Zaire,” she called calmly.

The other turned a hesitant face towards hers, making no effort to hide their misery.

Floronia pulled the arm towards her. Zaire’s body followed sullenly.

“I - This is a lot,” she explained. “It’s a bit much to rush into an engagement and marriage with so much still not sorted out between us. It would be ludicrous for me to say yes today after everything we’ve been through.”

Zaire looked at the ground and tried to tug their arm away. Floronia held on tighter, pulled them closer, and tilted their head up towards hers with her free hand.

“I’m not saying no forever,” she whispered. The wizard’s eyes lit up with hope.

“Why don’t we start with just trying again? No secrets this time. Take me to your beautiful places. Prove to me that you actually love me. That you’re willing to accept my love. And one day, when the hurt is gone, when our lives are already intertwined, when we have shared visions for our future, then I’ll say yes.”

The grey eyes she adored shone with joy. The pair leaned close together, reuniting their lips with the salty taste of beautiful things to come.

© O.M.A

Prompt #290

“I’m someone who doesn’t belong in beautiful places.”

[l-egionaire]

My Warrior Penelope AU: Betrayal

The day that Penelope had returned had been one filled with the blood of would be assasins; the tears of the reunited royal family and the cheers of the people at their queens return.

The night of that day.....was filled with work.

In his years at home, after his health failed and his mentor and son helped him realize why, Odysseus had kept a close eye on castle staff. Would listen in when the maids huddled together after bringing him food, took notice of which cooks examined him with knowing eyes whenever he came down to the kitchen under the guise of being unable to resist the delicious smells. Observed which members of his council would have their faces flicker with disssapointnent when he entered into the meeting room claiming to wish to check on his son. He'd noticed it all. And now, it was time to put it to work.

By the next morning, over two dozen members of the staff and kings council, including maids, cooks, and nobleman were brought into the throne room in shackles and chains, the hall filled with the other members of the staff. At the very end of the room sat the King and Queen, the prince standing on his father's left side. The queen still wore the blood-stained armor and torn clothes from yesterday. All three glared down at the bound group in disgust.

One noble rose from the ground.

"You're majesty! Wh-what is the meaning of this? To be suddenly chained up and taken away in the middle of the night!? I demand an explanation.

Oddyseus gave him a hard scowl.

"You know full well why you're here. But if you insist on continuing your trickery, very well. I'll tell you."

He snapper his fingers and some of the servants brought out numerous books, letters, and scraps of paper and displayed them to the others. They contained writings detailing their plans to poison the king, the dosages they gave him to keep it a slow process, the contact they kept with one another to moniter his health, the confused correspondences when he began to recover, alternative solutions and-Odysseus's stomach had turned when he'd read this-plots for Odysseus's assignation and plans to capture Telemachus once he'd returned and kill him, then discard his remains into the ocean and claim he'd been lost at sea.

"You all plotted against me, against my son. Against this very kingdom. And for this disgusting attempt at a coup.....I sentence all of you to EXECUTION.

All of the chained people gasped, and their faces paled. One maid wept and, in spite of her heavy chains, threw herself at the king and queens feet.

"NO! Please! Your majestic, this-this is clearly all some sort of mistake! I beg of you! Have mercy on-!

"MERCY?" The queen hissed those words quietly like a snake, then rose from her seat and came over to pick the maid up by her neck and roared the words again. "MERCY?!

She threw the maid back into the lineup of captured servants and walked over to them all. Then, she untied the two bone Labrys hanging from her waist.

She rose them in the air and then-

THUNK!

"My mercys been CRUSHED for years."

THUNK!

"Stomped underfoot in a cave alone."

THUNK!

"And I was filled with rageful tears, when I'd returned and seen what you'd done to my home!

THUNK! THUNK! THUNK!

"You conspired to kill my son. *THUNK!* You bastards POISONED my husband! *THUNK!* All of you are going to die! HERE and NOW, Your treachery ends!"

THUNK! THUNK! THUNK! THUNK! THUNK!

The walls of the palace once again filled with blood, the floor filling up with the heads of the conspiracies Penelope had sliced off one by one.

The remaining ones all looked in fear at the queen, standing before them stained in red and holding the head of the first maid.

"You filled my heart with hate....all of you, who've hurt my family, THIS shall be your fate!

And she brought down her axes on the rest of the group, ending their lives and punishing them for the betrayal of her family.

(The indented words indicate that part is being sung.)

[gnckholin]

okay I need to preface this with yes I like having representation and anyone who's been around my blog long enough should know that renarin is my specialest little guy him and him and rlain are very cute and if y'all really need it this is coming from the perspective of a queer man if you turn this into a pissing on the poor type deal I will simply block you but. now that I've had time to stew on it.

the rlainarin arc was a bit boring.

part of this is I think rooted in Brandon trying to be a Good Ally™ doing Good Representation™ and he worked a lot with sensitivity readers to make sure things are handled well but it just felt a bit... tokenizing? like they were in the spiritual realm as a bit of plot convenience but also it kinda felt like an excuse to keep them relevant enough to give them pov chapters. and it's cute! don't get me wrong! but also every other characters get emotional arcs about growing as a person and they got...trying to ask your crush out? it felt very out of place.

now you might be saying hold on! they're not primarily pov characters you can't expect as much nuance emotionally as someone like kaladin. and you're right! but let's look at the other supporting cast members here. jasnah gets the struggle of power and her entire attempt to keep thaylenah which results in a meaningful paradigm shift for her! navani gets to work on her connection with the sibling and uncover the past. we don't even really see much of relationship between renarin and glys much less rlain and tumi. sure they may have been good representation! but they were mediocre arcs. even in the discussions I'm seeing lately of favorite parts, it's not that people have disliked it it's just...nothing to write home about?

it also feels particularly weird to have an arc around "my family will think it's weird" when it's been pretty well established that alethi in general are like. fine with queerness. and sure you can say "well they're nobles" but at this point renarin is in line for 0 titles. dalinar was only going to give king of urithiru to someone who wanted it, jasnah planned on being the last queen of alethkar, there's literally no point? it feels a little love Simon. and yes absolutely in modern western culture people can feel weird about coming out to people who would be accepting and that's fine! but that's also rooted in real world homophobia which alethkar doesn't seem to have.

even when we compare with the other canonically queer stormlight character, it just kinda. . .falls flat. part of this is that shallan wasn't intended to be queer but honestly it feels like it reads well. she doesn't have to turn to camera and say she's different she's bisexual she can just be a person. she can fall in love with adolin she can get flustered around jasnah veil can call women hot and it's like. fine. and it feels more authentic to the setting! a lot of the rlainarin arc in WAT felt like it was meant to be educational. for cishet people. and like that's fine! but it doesn't make for an engaging character arc. I can't even say it really makes for good reading.

and look, I get it, we all like seeing them get flustered and worry about what the other one thinks and we all get to be excited when they confess their feelings and kiss but it just feels so tonally dissonant that like. I can't believe this was intended to fit into the main plot. it feels a bit patronizing - like look we have good healthy representation now! I'm doing so good at this! and genuinely from the bottom of my heart it's thrilling that the largest name in fantasy is willing to do this even more so considering the religious background he's writing from I'm not writing all this to say Brandon is a bad guy or secretly a homophobe I'm just saying. I wish we had more, y'know? something less feel good for the cishets for being good allies something with more of a real plot that engages with the themes of the series and whatnot. I'm looking forward to arc 2 (in like 10-15 years)! I'm looking forward to more rlain and renarin and their dynamic! I just hope it feels less. educational.

anyway a lot of this was directly inspired by verilybitchie's video on good representation it really helped me out my finger on why their arc felt a bit flat so please go check it out she's a great creator.

[viajandopelomar]

Morrigan and Eris

Guys, why are you looking for a reason to justify Eris leaving Morrigan at the border? It's so simple. A princess and a prince, the princess despised not only her own family but also the family of the crown prince and this could lead to a war within Prythian.

So many meaningless theories when the obvious is so much easier and OBVIOUS. Like, WHY WOULD HE HELP HER IF SHE DUG HER OWN GRAVE AND STILL INSULTED HIM???? HE WOULD INSULT HIMSELF EVEN MORE, AND INSULT HIS TERRITORY WHICH WAS ALSO DESPISED!!!

The context. read with the context of the real thing. Not only Morrigan's pov matters 😑. They are nobles, nobles have duties and obligations and above all Morrigan was one of the most privileged women in the hole where she was born and yet she claims that everyone else deserves to be where they are. If even with the position she had she was forced to sleep with Cassian knowing what that would entail, and was even tortured, what do those people suffer? And she simply... Lets it happen. Does nothing even though she has the power and position to do something. Says that everyone deserves it. Maybe she really deserved what happened to her.

But of course SJM didn't think about it that deeply. She doesn't even know how to approach it. But looking at it from the point of view where Eris and Morrigan are royalty in a board game fulfilling their duties doesn't make much more sense than him simply knowing that she likes women? Not even her cousin knows, let alone Eris 🤡. You have a brain, use it.

🇧🇷 Gente, por que vocês ficam caçando motivo pra justificar Eris deixando Morrigan na fronteira? é tão simples. Uma princesa e um príncipe, a princesa menosprezou não só a própria família mas também a família do príncipe herdeiro e isso poderia levar a uma guerra dentro de Prythian.

Tanta teoria sem sentido quando o óbvio é tão mas fácil e ÓBVIO. Tipo, PRA QUÊ ELE IRIA AJUDAR ELA SE ELA MESMA CAVOU A PRÓPRIA COVA E AINDA INSULTOU ELE???? ELE IRIA SE INSULTAR AINDA MAIS, E INSULTAR O TERRITÓRIO DELE QUE TAMBÉM FOI MENOSPREZADO!!!

O contexto. leiam com o contexto da coisa real. não só o pov da Morrigan importa 😑. Eles são nobres, nobres tem deveres e obrigações e acima de tudo Morrigan era uma das, se A mulher mais privilegiada no buraco onde nasceu e ainda assim ela afirma que todos os outros merecem estar onde estão. Se mesmo com a posição que ela tinha ela se viu obrigada a se deitar com Cassian sabendo o que isso acarretaria, e foi até mesmo torturada, o que será que aquelas pessoas sofrem? E ela simplesmente... Deixa. Não faz nada mesmo tendo poder e posição para fazer alguma coisa. Diz que todos merecem.Talvez ela realmente tenha merecido o que aconteceu com ela.

Mas é claro que SJM não pensou nisso tão fundo assim. Nem ela sabe como abordar isso. Mas encarar isso do ponto de vista onde Eris e Morrigan são realeza num jogo de tabuleiro cumprindo seus deveres não faz muito mais sentido do que ele simplesmente saber que ela gosta de mulher? Nem o primo dela sabe, imagine Eris 🤡. Vocês tem um cérebro, usem ele.

[arkadijxpancakes]

I'm not sure Rowling designed pureblood supremacy after Nazi Germany.

(Fair warning: My brain got the better of me. This is a long one and I'm afraid my side tangents went on tangents.)

On her website, she claimed that she designed the distinction between purebloods, half-bloods and muggleborns first. Only later, when she visited a Holocaust memorial, did she realize the similarities to the Nazis. (link) I'm still flabbergasted by that, tbh. The similarities should be obvious to anyone with even a rudimentary historical knowledge of that period.

At the same time, Rowling isn't really known to have historical knowledge of anything, especially when it happened outside of England. (So it kind of tracks.)

My guess is that she modeled the concept of blood purity after aristocratic families instead. She probably took the concept of tracking your family tree based nobility and mixed it with the "racism = bad" message she put into her books. That would create a system that is eerily similar to how Nazis treated ancestry. It also fits into the narrative of how pureblood families see themselves as some kind of nobility. (For all we know, the Blacks called themselves a "noble house" and the Malfoys are a noble family that was around since 1066.)

Fun fact: Over the past couple weeks, I researched my family tree. Unless you belong to a family that is already tracking their ancestors, it can be pretty hard to find that stuff.

Knowledge about one's ancestors dries up surprisingly fast. It can be very hard to track anyone who's not part of lived memory anymore. A person can probably name their parents and grandparents - but things will get dicey after that. If their parents and/or grandparents are still alive, they might be able to track their ancestry up to four generations back. However, it's pretty likely, that there will already be holes in that family tree. Everyone, who isn't remembered, will fall through the cracks.

From there, you depend on written records.

Personally, I'm lucky in that regard: In my region, it was common practice to keep parish books in the past. The oldest books I found date back to the 17th century. They're pretty helpful for research, but they're also a pain in the ass. They're hard to read and often damaged. If your family moved around a lot, you will probably lose track of them, because that's not recorded. Additionally, most books were kept in a very patriarchal fashion, with minimal information about women/female lines. And that's before you factor in that a lot of those books were destroyed during one war or another.

In the end of my research, I did not end up with a full family tree. I have one line that I can trace back to the late 17th century. Another line dried up somewhere in the 19th century, because any older documentation was destroyed during the second world war. Most female lines dried up, too, simply because the documentation was lacking.

If we take this experience and apply that to the wizarding world, it would cause a huge divide between old families (who predate the statute) and everyone else. It's very likely, that existing wizarding families already tracked their ancestry prior to the statute of secrecy. (Mostly, because they considered themselves "nobles". They had to track their ancestry to have proof of said nobility.) Everyone else would have had a hard time to keep up with that. They might be able to name their grandparents, and maybe some members of the generations before them - but that's it. Unless they have written documentation (like parish books) available to them, they will not be able to track their ancestry further.

If I had to hazard a guess, this is where the distinction between purebloods and half bloods came from. It's not really about how many muggles there are in your family, as both types of families are clearly wizarding families. Instead, the distinction would depend on status and on how old (and noble) a family was, when the statute went info effect.

This would also mean, that families can't really gain "pureblood" status - they can only lose it.

I know, it is pretty common in fandom, to assume that everyone with muggle parents is a muggleborn and everyone with one to three muggle grandparent(s) is a half blood, while everyone else is a pureblood. (Which would cause non-pureblood families to achieve pureblood-status within one or two generations.) Personally, I don't agree with that idea. It doesn't fit to what we see in the books. It reads more like having a muggle relative is a blemish a family can't get rid of. Doesn't matter how many generations are between said muggle and the current family members.

This would also explain, why half bloods aren't subjected to discrimination in the same way muggles and muggleborns are. Being directly related to muggles (within a generation or two) is probably quite rare. Most families are probably wizarding families through and through - they just don't fit the definitions of the pureblood elites.

Regarding the Blacks faking that spell: I could see that. Keeping up appearances is probably a huge part of pureblood society. If the lie is convincing enough, it could also help to keep other (younger) family members in line. Even if there is no curse, telling them about the curse might be enough to ensure their compliance. (Especially, if you embellish it enough.) It would require someone willing to be cursed, to discover, that the curse is, indeed fake.

And Rowling ... well, she always had some issues with genetic determinism. Making magic hereditary is just one aspect of that, I guess. It does make the whole thing worse, though. If she wanted to use blood purity as a metaphor for racism, designing a system where the racists have a point, isn't really a good look.

I find the family dynamics interesting Bella seems to still care for Cissy and Andromeda too despite Andromeda becoming a traitor

Sirius on the other hand only care for the Potters as I think he really didn't care much for Regulus (I could be wrong though)

But honestly this has been bugging me but why was Sirius still able to inherit Grimmauld when he was disowned/removed from the tapestry?

How can the Will be written? It wasn't sure he is still part of the family, and he prefers to spend time with the Potters and after their death, wasn't he busy chasing after Peter before being thrown to Azkaban?

Friend, you have set a terrible curse upon me. I went combing through the books to look for any mention of wizarding laws, since we know so terribly little about them, and now I'm sitting on an essay on law in the magical world :(((

As for the rest:

Your guess is as good as mine vis à vis the inheritance of Grimmauld. I went through the conversation that Dumbledore and Harry have in book 6 about it and we learn very little:

and

and

and

We basically learn that Sirius's will is legally binding because Harry becomes Kreacher's owner, which means that somehow wills in the magical world (or at the very least some wills) are also magically binding.

I also find it interesting that Dumbledore seems very sure that:

There's a separate enchantment on Grimmauld to prevent it from being owned by non-purebloods

The ownership of Grimmauld has passed onto Bellatrix.

We are generally supposed to take Dumbledore's word as law so it's interesting that he's proven wrong and Bellatrix isn't the rightful owner. I get the vague sense that Dumbledore didn't put much faith in Sirius's abilities and partly added enchantments to Grimmauld because of that.

Also, it's never proven conclusively wether said anti non-pureblood enchantments even exist.

As to the matter of Sirius's will, I find this passage from book 3 to be interesting:

To me, this reads like Harry's parents appointed Sirius as Harry's guardian on top of him being made godfather, not as part of it; mayhaps as part of a will?

It's not unreasonable, they did know they were being haunted, and perhaps this also helps us establish when Sirius's will was also made. I can imagine Sirius making (or amending) his will as a consequence of the Potters' will, especially since this likely happens after Regulus died and he also knows Grimmauld is likely to pass onto him.

Just throwing this out there, idk.

Changing subjects completely, these are the only times Sirius talks about his brother:

and

and

I think Sirius's words are vague enough that you can read them pretty much however you please. I get the vague impression that Sirius himself is not sure how he feels about his brother but he recognizes that Regulus behaved they way he did in order to please their parents (and perhaps to compensate for Sirius's own unwillingness to uphold the family ideals).

I also went looking for proof that it was Sirius who kept Regulus's room unchanged once the order moved into Grimmauld, since it's a popular fandom assumption, and the books say nothing on the subject. I honestly think it's more likely that Kreacher is the reason why the room was kept as is but that is just pure conjecture.

[silviakundera]

more Li Rong/Pei Wenxuan/Su Ronqing dynamic thoughts...

Ep 18, Su Rongqing: "Don't forget that if it wasn't for His Majesty's fear of the imperial relatives, you wouldn't have even been able to get close to Her Highness in your life. Not to mention to be with Her Highness."

imo it's key that SRQ is from a super prestigious land-holding family, whose wealth and power are old & deeply entrenched. He's your modern day chaebol nepo baby, smart & educated & ready to inherit his family's slice of the empire.

Because he's every insecurity PWX has, tied up in a bow and sneering dismissively at him lol. PWX whose family worked hard to get out of the countryside and entered officialdom just in his dad's generation, and who doesn't even have the backing of that family. He has had to work 40x as hard and without being the princess consort he would never in his lifetime have achieved the stuff that's just handed to SRQ.

Part of PWX being determined to fight for Li Rong and not letting SRQ get in his head is that he needs to internalize that she sincerely thinks PWX is valueable and has never thought he was inferior to SRQ. None of their problems were ever about that. She saved SRQ for her moral conscience. Then she settled for him because her husband couldn't let go of his childhood engagement crush (plus his own acknowledged pride issues about a marriage arranged by the throne). He never actively tried to repair the marriage - his insecurities overtook him and he gave up. SRQ didn't "win". There was never any contest.

But though Pei Wenxuan tells himself this and tells Su Rongqing that she'll never say yes to him.... we gotta know that it's not that easy to defeat all your inner demons. That's why I think he gets a bit erratic and overblown in his romantic moves in the succeeding episodes - subconsciously anxious to tie Li Rong further to him.

[katartna]

Song of Frosted Light ❄️🕊️

[msue0027]

Doctor who 60th anniversary specials? More like "in today's episode of 'bullying the Doctor'"

[dunmeshistash]

Not what this blog is for but now I'm thinking about this forever

They could NOT catch Kira and WOULD NOT survive smh

They might be "dungeon investigation team" but all they're equipped to do is catch dungeon lords, not mass murderers

If it's Mithrun's squad: First of all most of them are criminals, if Kira finds out their names (unsure if that would be hard since their crimes are related to ancient magic) there would be no reason to hesitate to kill them. Plus the prisoners mostly follow orders instead of planing anything themselves, Cithis is smart and can sus out people but nothing indicates she has the ability to actually find proof unless she was face to face with him I doubt she could find out who he is. (At least from what we know about her, she can manipulate people but I don't think she could manipulate Light)

For the guards, Pattadol is barely an adult and only does things by the books, if there's no book on catching Kira I doubt she would try anything out of the ordinary to get him (and the police that do ordinary investigations can't catch him so) (she might survive just from being so incompetent at it and not a real threat unless it's you know to punish her for trying to catch him)

Mithrun is only interested in catching a demon but we can pretend he wants to catch Kira instead, he's unstable, would be pretty easy for Kira to rile him up enough to get him killed, would probably not even need the death note.

If you mean the canaries as an organization: They are mostly made up of criminals! And most of the guards are sheltered noble children! Even if for some reason it's hard to get the names of the criminals the guards are from big important families, would probably be SUPER easy to get any of their names and faces. Kira might avoid killing the guards at first if he can get to the criminals, would probably be something like he did to the police "if you side with Kira you don't die"

Anyway, idk why "would catch Kira and would survive" is so high, they're a swat team at most not detectives smh smh U_U

[delightfuldevin]

People in the comments of the new splatfest song are kinda annoying ngl,,

Marina is very smart y’all. Even if she was sheltered by growing up in the Octarian domes, I’m preeetty sure everyone wasn’t super kind and genuine to each other all the time. There’s no way Marina doesn’t know what being passive aggressive looks like. She’s not too uwu pure to tell that Shiver was insulting her. She’s just a genuine fan of Deep Cut and she ain’t about that petty insults stuff.

[myfairkatiecat]

mysterious benedict society medieval au