#and has grown to be a bit more confidant since 14 and since being King Tumblr posts

[bluerosefox]

Striking of the Clock

BrainDead or DeadTired idea.

During Tim's BruceQuest he uncovers hidden texts/tombs of a being that controls and watches over the Time Stream and Tim knows this being will have to be his best bet of finding Bruce while also trying to figure out on his own how to get Bruce out of the Time Stream as well.

However the being doesn't have a summoning sigil due to being an Ancient.

He does find the sigil for the Ghost King however, a being that borderlines into Ancients power territory and could in theory grant Tim an audience with the Time being if Tim plays his cards right.

In the end, Tim decides it was worth a shot. He convinces Ra's to 'help' him summon the Ghost King. Ra's wanting to see if such a being could be real and to see how far Tim is willing to go to bring Bruce back, allows League resources to be used.

It takes a few weeks, with Tim also making plans to undermine not just the Council of Spiders but Ra's as well, but eventually the time to summon the Ghost King comes.

Tim honestly was expecting the large eldritch like being that showed up, he just wasn't expecting the being to be basically a formed galaxy mixed with ice and the northern lights itself.

He also really wasn't expecting when he negotiated a deal with the Ghost King, and taken into a place called the Infinite Realms when they shook hands (Tam and Prue is also taken with him, he refused to leave them with Ra's), for the being to shrink down and turn into a white haired, green eyed teen around his age who starts flirting at him.

Nor was he expecting for another being, one that apparently is able to shift aging forms, and a grandfather clock in its chest to appear next to the teen and bonk the white haired teen with a staff and tell him to stop flirting with his future new apprentice....

Wait what?

-x-x-

Danny is rarely, very rarely summoned since taking the mantle of Ghost King. Due to being a new Ancient most old sigils that was once connected to Phantom (mostly teens from Amity tired summoning him a couple of times) no longer worked and the only ones that did were the ones he gave to his friends and family or the Ghost King ones (but again rare due to how rare texts/tombs to the Ghost King is written down)

So when he felt the pull of a summoning he made sure to go in his eldritch form, mostly to see if he could scare them or at least intimidate.

Honestly he was expecting the cult, given the fact they summoned a being known as the (freaking) Ghost King, maybe not them being assassins/ninjas but still a cult.

He wasn't expecting the cute, same age as him too, guy in the room.

(CW totally paused time for a second, gave Danny a file on who and why he was summoned, discussed getting Tim Drake out of Ra's hands (and maybe allowing CW to finally have his own future apprentice because Tim is a smarty smart whose been slowly able to figure out the freaking Time Stream itself.), and then started the timeline again)

Danny decided, after striking a deal, that since he's going to be working with Tim, aka Red Robin (who Danny found out used to be Robin! From Gotham), from now on he might as well shoot his shot and flirt with him and-

"OUCH, CW REALLY?!"

"Stop flirting with my new apprentice for now My King, we have work to do."

[copperbadge]

If its not too personal could you talk about what was the inspiration for Michaelis? He's got a lot of depth to him, especially for what could have been a one off character in the background after Fete. Also the way he mourns but carries on really resonates with me in Jes.

Oh sure! I mean, on the one hand it is quite personal but it's a kind of personal I really enjoy sharing. :D Michaelis began life as the Standard Hallmark Parent -- you see them a lot in the movies, the parent who is

1. Kinda grouchy

2. Usually pushing their kid slightly too hard in slightly the wrong direction (with the best of intentions)

3. Often a widow/er

4. Practically a cameo designed to stress out the lead, but easily attractive enough that they could be romantic lead themselves in the sequel.

There are actually several Hallmark films where the over-sixty characters are either the supporting romance in a one-off film or the main romance of a sequel film. (The Wedding Veil films, which despite their flaws are actually very enjoyable, have a Michaelis-like character for the mother of the male lead in the first movie, and she then becomes the major supporting romantic lead in the fourth movie.)

By the time I got to Michaelis talking to Eddie at the end of the script for Fete, I'd grown to really like him. When I adapted the script to a novel, I liked him even more. I thought that I could do a sequel with him getting jolted out of himself a bit -- and I was encouraged by how many people liked him in the initial read through. The main inspirations for the actual plot of Infinite Jes were, one, Gregory jokingly suggesting he do a podcast, and two, Michaelis's defensive dismissal of Gregory's question about what he's done for companionship since Miranda passed.

Over the course of writing Infinite Jes, he came to be a collection of themes I've explored or wanted to explore, sometimes themes I knew I wasn't skilled enough to handle yet. The core of him is based on a professor I worked with as a student; the confidence that occasionally tips into arrogance, the keen intellect that likes to take things apart, the ability to look at some toxic family traits and decide "RIP but I'm different" and be a present, nurturing masculine figure, all come from that professor, who had a huge impact on me.

But I have also been fascinated for decades now by a certain kind of character in fiction, someone who has had a devastating loss and keeps going, even if they aren't driven by something like revenge. Profound grief is difficult and fascinating for me, and I finally felt capable of exploring that fully, perhaps because the pressure on romance novels is a bit lower at times.

And honestly, a lot of him is me, processing the fact that I am aging in fandom. I'm older (44) than the oldest person I knew in fandom (38) when I joined it at the age of 14. I have, for lack of a better word, a position in fandom, a status, that affords me certain perks and requires of me certain obligations. Not to call myself elected king of fandom ("I didn't vote for him!") but the duty I feel to fandom, both as a culture that raised me and a found family, is very similar.

Most of my characters contain some of me, but Michaelis and Jerry contain far more of me than most, perhaps because I'm in a place to do some reflection. Michaelis -- intelligent, experienced, hopefully a mentor, but also lonely and detached at times -- is who I'm coming to grips with being; Jerry, the charming fuckup with power but no real clue how to use it, who is doing his best to grow up a little later than a lot of his peers and figure out how disability fits into his identity, is who I still see myself as.

So yeah -- I find Michaelis incredibly fun and compelling to write for, and I think that's because I had hit a skill level in my work where I could combine a lot of tropes and themes into one character and use him to explore why I enjoy them so much. But he definitely began life as the Hallmark Widowed Dad. :D Well, there are worse origin stories.

[something-in-the-seas]

atreus is 14 in gowr, since he was 11 in the previous game. i think it's disheartening to hear from adults who wanted to be understood, seen, or be able to walk their own paths as kids don't seem to hold the same compassion for children in general. 'WHY are they so impatient ugh i hate kids 🙄' like... these are children still figuring it out bro calm down maybe. you're a grown adult. also i don't think the game was implying that atreus has become an 'adult' by the end, but it signifies that he's about to become his own person during his countless journies to come. this is something that has been ordained to him, and he has to do it without his father. but to do that, kratos had to let go (a reocurring theme - letting go; think brok and sindri. gryla when confronted by angrboda. freya and her vengeance.) this is no small feat for kratos of course, like that's his only son his only blood. he had something to life for after so many years of wanting to die - and now that very thing is leaving him.

i think that in the universe of gow, the children don't have any other choice than growing up faster, getting big responsibilities on their shoulders. i'm thinking of atreus wanting finding out about the jötnar in other worlds and possibly more about faye's coup, angrboda growing up without her parents, not knowing where she's going to end up because of fate/prophecies, literally the souls of her people trusted to her. thrud who grew up with father being an alcoholic and her messed up family, now has incredibly big shoes to fill with her wielding mjolnir. skjöldr might seem like a regular guy but he and his family moved from midgard to asgard, leaving his childhood home behind. and by the end he's already delegating and started to take on the role of a leader (on par of him becoming the king of denmark in the future). you see this happen and realize they are just... children. but their world is so unforgiving, not giving them the time or space to be carefree. so i am excited to see what else santa monica is gonna cook up for the sequels. that or Bring Me My Son Back I Miss Him I Cannot Handle This Empty Nest DLC.

People's reactions to Atreus in Ragnarök were extremely telling. Of course he was going to act rash and be a bit secretive, especially since Kratos was not handling this well at all. I don't think any of the adults were except for Brok, especially when Freya and Mimir and Odin/Tyr ganged up on Atreus over Garm. He already felt bad about it and wanted to make things right. They were doing exactly what Odin wanted and that was drive Atreus to him. I was frustrated for Atreus on his behalf because I also know Kratos was being a hypocrite. You can't go on about trust and keeping secrets while not telling Atreus the actual truth about what happened in Greece.

If Kratos doesn't tell Atreus about Calliope, someone else will, and that's gonna be a disaster.

Atreus is going to make mistakes on his own, as teenagers do as they try to figure out the world. Even though Odin has a brutal lesson, he is still vulnerable to trusting people who don't have the best intentions because he's still young and on his own for the first time in his life. I think Kratos and Freya and Mimir know that and they're prepared for it because it's a natural part of growing up and they love him unconditionally. No matter what, Atreus always has a home and family. I would be disappointed if Atreus didn't make an Oppsie-Poopsie at some point and they act like his development is over. His story is really just beginning.

Now, how gamers will react to Atreus inevitably fumbling is something I worry about because they hate teenagers. Atreus is a good kid, though. He has his moments like all kids do, but he's a really good kid and a testament to how much Kratos has changed and also Faye's parenting. He's compassionate and won't stand to watch suffering, he's very intuitive and loves to learn, and confident (sometimes to a fault). He's going to encounter all sorts of people, and inevitably encounter gods, on his journey, and some will try to take advantage of him.

I'm also really worried that it will be Kratos indirectly that causes him major problems because uh... Kratos is not exactly the most liked guy. He has a bit of a deserved reputation. Now, Atreus might not think that, and the new Norse pantheon like him, but he could get in a lot of trouble for saying who his father is. Maybe I'm being overprotective, but he's literally wearing a piece of the Ghost of Sparta's loincloth as, like, sash.

[miggydiaz]

For the salty ask 1, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 14, 16, 20, 22, 23 and 26 for cobra kai pretty please

My answers are so long, so I am putting this under the cut @wonderwolfballoon! Also I just noticed your Daniel icon I SWEAR I’M NOT DRAGGING HIM TO BE MEAN!!!

1. What OTPs in your fandom(s) do you just not get?* My biggest IDGI ships for CK are probably Elimetri or Kiaz. I’m not here to yuck other people’s yums or anything, but I do think there is something to the idea that Migueli isn’t popular because it’s a ship predicated on mutual respect for one another. Kiaz has the obvious enemies to lovers vibe and I just generally don’t sail those ships. Elimetri has... its problems, IMO, most especially around the idea that Demetri has to like... save Hawk from himself? Idk. I just like romances that I feel are based on love and mutual respect and not ...tropes.

 I am also not a Lawrusso shipper although I have a lot of those on my dash and you all are great! Again, not yucking yums! Daniel just makes me want to head butt him too much to pair him romantically with anyone 😂 I don’t even want his wife with him. He needs to self reflect~ 

4. Do you have a NoTP in your fandom? Are they a popular OTP?* 

I once saw someone ship Amanda and Anoush and I noped out of that so fucking fast I almost tripped over myself. I’m not sure if they’re popular. I just think some people feel the need to get Amanda out of the way to sail their ship and stuck her with Anoush which... no. Just no. Let Amanda be a messy single queen with a martini hobby, thanks! 

5. Has fandom ever ruined a pairing for you?* 

Not in CK. I’m lucky because I pretty much stick to my little Migueli bubble and I’m okay with that? Lmao lord knows the Squad on my dash is all about the DISCOURSE™️ so idk if I just don’t feel the need to get sucked into the wider ship wars because we have good healthy debates, but so far, so good. 

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

I never hated it... I just didn’t have many feelings on shipping with this show in general at first. Then I was in the CK tag one day and I saw Migueli fan art. Then I discovered @afurioushawk‘s falconry series and it was all over for me after that! So fandom DID make me love a ship, just not one I hated.

9. Most disliked character(s)? Why? Oh boy. How much time do you have? In some instances, it’s a good thing season 3 happened because otherwise, this would be a multi-page essay on the problems with race and class privilege as it pertains to Sam LaRusso and just some... generally not nice comments about Demetri that I’m conflicted about because I’m not sure if the writers are intentionally trying to write him a specific way and it’s just not translating to me or what. But season 3 revamped both of their images with me a lot. I’m way more flexible in terms of Demetri, but lmao I was the number one Sam LaRusso hater for a minute there (or maybe number 2, I can think of at least 1 other person who was in that boat with me back in like... August/September, but I won’t call them out because I don’t want them to get hate...) However, I have grown a bit in my opinions of Sam, and even though I still think she’s responsible  for a lot of shit she NEVER gets held accountable for, I also think that’s a reflection of the adults around her too, and this includes my otherwise unproblematic queen, Amanda.

But honestly, my most hated character (other than the obvious villain that is Kreese) is Daniel. No matter how handsome Ralph Macchio looks in cable-knits, because Daniel has always been a sanctimonious, shit starting drama king and I say that about KK Daniel too. I’m not saying Daniel was the ~true villain~ or anything, or that Johnny was innocent -- I can only drink so much Red and Yellow Kool-Aid -- but Daniel’s always been annoying to me as a protagonist, and turning him into a smarmy wealthy car salesman who is also a class traitor did not do him any favors in my book. I will say, I also like Daniel more in season 3 than I have in previous season, but since he is the adult, I will be mad at him longer than I will be at the kids, ya feel?

10. Most disliked arc? Why?

 Johnny’s entire season 3 storyline. The sheer level of REGRESSION at every turn drives me bonkers. It’s like watching him go through all of the stumbling blocks of season 1 all over again, but without the “he’s learning! He’s going to make mistakes!” free pass that I was willing to give him the first time around. He regularly jeopardizes Miguel’s recovery and it’s played for laughs. He fucks up on every level with Robby. He spends most of his time running away when things get hard or too real. He drops the ball completely with Hawk, and like, not to put too fine a point on it, but a lot of Hawk’s issues are because Johnny put Hawk on this ‘flip the script and be a badass’ path and then offered him no guidance for how to walk that path and instead left him in the hands of Kreese. And then he has the nerve to go to Hawk and basically be like “I made you what you are!” lmao yeah Johnny, you sure did, that’s why he’s breaking peoples arms, hoss. And then all of the nonsense with Ali and Carmen, like... if you were planning on teasing KK fans with Ali and him getting back together, why write her as married in the first place? Why even tease the idea of Carmen and Johnny until after you were sure what you were going to do with Ali as a character? Instead, they do what they did in season 3 and it makes him look like a colossal jerk. So yeah. Literally every choice they made with Johnny this season, I hated.

14. Unpopular opinion about your fandom? People who hate Tory are not valid, sorry not sorry.

16. If you could change anything in the show, what would you change? I would have kept Miguel entirely out of Tory and Sam’s beef. Or at least not directly inserted him into it like he was with the kiss. I know the writers thought it was necessary to push Tory to the point of inciting a fight at school, but I am just so exhausted over girls being unable to fight about anything but boys. Also I would bring Aisha back.

20. What is the purest ship in the fandom? 

I am probably biased, but I still maintain it’s Migueli. Look, Miguel stood up to Kyler for Eli and Demetri both. Hawk joined CK because he saw what it could do for some skinny nerd who was getting his ass kicked. And he took to CK, really took to it! Even flourished before he started getting mixed messages. And he and Miguel were pretty much inseparable after that. They coordinated their wardrobes ffs. Hawk dubbed him El Serpiente and no one else calls him that — it’s Hawk’s nickname for him. Miguel confides in Hawk only secondary to Johnny, who is like a father to him. The entire Coyote Creek exchange shows they can fight and disagree but... well, to use the cliche, they don’t go to bed angry, you know? They’re square the very next day. Hawk is the first person at Miguel’s side when he gets kicked over the balcony and the LOOK he gives the second floor where Robby is? That boy is out for blood immediately to avenge Miguel. So much of his s3 behavior is fueled by that need for vengeance because MD is wholly responsible for what happened to Miguel. And Miguel is so confused and betrayed by Hawk’s shift in behavior, and yet still holds out hope that Hawk will see through Kreese’s BS and come with him to The Dojo I Refuse to Name. And when Hawk does make that deflection finally, he shows up at MD with Miguel. There’s so much more that I know I’m missing but whether someone ships them or not, that is a tried and true love and respect for one another, a willingness to fight for and defend one another that you don’t often see in TV friendships... or even in most tv relationships. And I just think that’s the best ❤️

22. Popular character you hate?

 Daniel, hands down. I mean... I don’t even necessarily hate Daniel, you know? I just think it’s really, pardon the pun, rich that a guy of immense wealth and privilege can’t get a therapist or turn to his far too patient wife for help with his existential crisis over his high school bully opening up a karate dojo to make some money and help a kid who is getting the crap kicked out of him. I get that Daniel’s narrative is necessary for the rivalry, but it does nothing to make him sympathetic as a character.

23. Unpopular character you love?

 Tory, definitely! Everyone hates her and then there’s me and the Squad over here banging away on our Coors Banquet cans yelling TORY RIGHTS! Seriously she catches so much flack for a teenage girl who is... the sole income provider for her family? At 17? While caring for a sick mom and a little brother? And fending off a creepy landlord? Tory has it so rough and then she meets a cool girl at her dojo who asks her to hang out at some fancy ass country club which is probably the nicest place Tory has ever been in, and then she gets talked down to and accused of being a thief and has another girl lay hands on her, only to find out that same girl is her new boyfriend’s ex and... ugh. I HATE that Tory gets shit all over when Tory and Sam wouldn’t even have beef if Sam had apologized to Tory as she SHOULD have. Tory isn’t innocent, but damn, I’d be pressed too.

 My other unpopular character I love? Nathaniel. Seriously that kid is THE best. He’s a literal child but is out there like I WILL FUCK YOU UP, even though he’s MD. Honestly, his Cobra Kai energy is so ferocious I won’t be surprised if he moves back to CK eventually. Anyway, I love him.


26. Most shippable character?

 Miguel, hands down. It’s because he’s so affable and sweet overall. And because his hair is so fluffy and pettable that no one can resist touching it. I like to imagine that one day he and Hawk are talking about their hair and Hawk makes a joke about how Miguel’s mane is getting so long that it’s going to be bigger than his own, and then he reaches out to ruffle it and internally has a bisexual meltdown because oh no IT’S SO SOFT AND NICE. But uh... anyway, yes. Definitely Miguel.

[peonypearls-muddled-musings]

Main characters of PDatSK (more or less)

Dagney - Crown Princess of Olthandrynn (formerly Denmark), aged 14, patient and benevolent, she has chosen to add ambassador to her title of future queen; however, when old tempers flare from those who seek to harm her family, she must learn that peace isn’t always kind. (DoB: October 22nd)

Dargon - King of Olthandrynn, age unknown, former resident of Hell; The Seahorse King; Dargon is a man who thinks little of himself, but everything about his family and friends. He is wise, but admits his intelligence lacks due to years of just getting by on his own and having no formal education. (DoB unknown; chosen DoB April 7th)

Gwinletta - Queen of Olthandrynn, aged 47, former queen of Aubrelle (formerly southern France). Gwin lived a lonely childhood, something she promised no child of hers would ever face. She is a woman of resolve and determination, warm and jovial when she’s not overthinking. (DoB: July 29th)

Bensith - Prince of Olthandrynn, aged 9, Dagney’s witty, dry humored little brother is her best friend and confidant. A musical prodigy, Bensith prefers to stay indoors while his sisters enjoy running about in the fields; but often finds himself lonely, although he won’t admit it. (DoB: January 1st)

Miske - The youngest (soon to be second youngest) Olthandriann heir at age 4, Miske was born during a tornado warning, but many jest she was actually the tornado. A whirlwind of tulle and mud, Miske’s only priorities are her own whims, which can change by the second. (DoB: March 11th)

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Rinwey - The king of Gelleshire (formerly Wales), aged 55, Rinwey is spiteful, intelligent, and cold; but a doting husband and father. He won’t be fully content until the world is rid of Shapeshifters, and he is proud that his father’s side of the family has been guarding the Gates of Hell for generations. (DoB: October 23rd)

Pellnique - Queen of Gelleshire, aged 42. Pellnique put Rinwey in his place once, and it immediately had an impact on his stone hearted nature. They were wed within the year, and have only become closer over the past two decades. Sporty and charming, Pellnique is often the more sociable when she and her spouse are traveling. (DoB February 14th)

Colme - Twin of Olerqus, aged 17, the crown prince of Gelleshire is quiet, focused, and steely, although he is not cold and brash like Rinwey. While he will continue his father’s tradition of being a technological scientist, it’s been rumored that Colme may discontinue Shapeshifter hunts due to his very obvious disdain for them; but Rinwey will not comment on the possibility when asked about it; as it’s obviously not something he wants to think about. This has put a strain on the father and son’s relationship despite how well they often work together. (DoB: June 12th

Olerqus - The second in line for Gelleshire’s crown, aged 17, Olerqus is very much his mother’s son. Sociable, comedic, and light hearted, Olerqus is the first artist in his family for quite some years, not only creating his own pieces, but learning how to restore art from the years before the Shapeshifters’ rule. He is his brother’s other half, as their differences only strengthen each other. (DoB: June 12th)

Vuniper - the only princess of Gelleshire, aged 13, Vuniper is a well meaning spark of energy who looks up to her brothers and parents, although sometimes she may come off as disrespectful due to her spontaneity and eagerness. She is, however, worried about the fact that she is facing her Vocation choice soon, and she’s fighting to find what she wants to do. (DoB: August 14th)

Hadleinn - The youngest Gelleshire royal, aged 8, Hadleinn was born nearly 3 months premature, and has grown up with all of his parents’ precautions. He is pampered and loved, and often the most spoiled of the children. However, he’s been known to use this to spoil his own siblings at times, sneaking them treats when they’re supposed to be studying. (DoB: November 30th)

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Grennt  - King of Karntherin (formerly Greece), aged 43. Grennt is a tender-hearted man who values his loved ones. Currently married to his husband, Veluthe, Grennt is still friends with his ex-wife, Desta, with whom he welcomed his firstborne, Prince Branndt. Grennt is also on good terms with Desta’s husband, Bardeth. Grennt was Dargon’s first true ally, the two of them finding common ground during the Usurper War when it came to forging friendships, and they have been steadfast friends for some twenty years. (DoB: April 1st)

Veluthe - Former Captain of the Guard of Culpernathe (formerly Norway), a 53 year old trans man, Veluthe is a decorated warrior who is still held in high esteem with those who have served with him. Reserved and wry, but supportive and welcoming, Veluthe never imagined that retirement to Karntherin would land him in the eyes of the king. After an intimate courtship, Veluthe accepted Grennt’s proposal of marriage, and three years later, after much planning, they welcomed their daughter, Olympia. Veluthe is often called ‘the shoulder’, as when there’s strife, he’s often there to help alleviate that pain with a hug and as much support as he can offer. (DoB: September 19th)

Branndt - the 20 year old crown prince of Karntherin, Branndt is a beaming, sociable young man. At nearly 6′5′’, Branndt towers above all of his parents. He has a close relationship with his father, who he has lived with since his parents’ divorce, and played an integral part in convincing Grennt to ask Veluthe on a date. Branndt loves and respects his mother, who he always looks forward to seeing, and he communicates with her, his stepfather, and his little brothers regularly. (DoB: May 27th)

Olympia - the 5 year old princess of Karntherin, Olympia is quiet, but excitable. Her favorite method of transportation is sitting on top of her big brother’s shoulders. (Dob: December 21st)

----

Desta - The 43 year old Queen of Takev (formerly Morocco), Desta hails from Kivne (which was once Egypt), where her older sister rules. Desta met Grennt during a social event when they were both 19, and the two clicked immediately. Enamored and romantic, the two married quickly, and welcomed their son Branndt by the time they were 23. However, after several more years, they realized they were growing apart. In order to preserve their friendship, they divorced amicably. Desta is the definition of a queen; regal, fair, and hard working. She would soon meet and marry her now-husband, Bardeth, and welcome two more sons. (DoB: November 13th)

Bardeth - the 47 year old King of Takev, Bardeth is a gentle soul. A medicine man at heart, Bardeth values science, nature and humanity. He has met much of his extended family before during wartime, having aided Grennt in patching up warriors, and meeting Veluthe after a grenade explosion caused the amputation of his lower leg, which led to his early retirement. Bardeth also met Dargon during the Usurper War, and the two often shared a quiet campfire as they decompressed from the stressors of war. Bardeth adores his wife, and is proud of his two boys, even if at times they’re a bit too rambunctious for him to handle. (DoB: June 1st)

Mig’Hail - the 7 year old crown prince of Takev, Mig’Hail is contemplative, but often uses that for a bit of mischief with his younger brother. Regardless, Mig’Hail is a friendly boy, and often just needs an outlet to talk about his favorite things with. (DoB: August 7th)

Coloye  - the 6 year old prince of Takev, Coloye is his big brother’s shadow, often following him around wherever he goes; except when it has to do with his royal lessons, then the little prince is often finding his parents to see if they’re up to anything exciting (spoiler alert, they’re not) (DoB: July 7th)

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Thanoelle - the 73 year old queen of Kluyagal (which sits in the territory once known as southern California) and older half sister of Rinwey, Thanoelle is proud to call herself one of the gatekeepers of Hell. Following in her father’s footsteps, she performs monthly purges without mercy, She remains in excellent health, even as a new great-grandmother. She is maternal to her family, but to a Shapeshifter, she acts as the grim reaper. (DoB June 20th)

[sarcastic-sunshines]

ABIONA AU- PART 9

Pairing: T’ Challa x Black!Reader

Warning(s): None

Link to ABIONA by @aloevverified

Link to Face claims (2)

Previous Chapter: interlude Part 8

Part 9

T’Challa took a spoonful of ice cream in his bowl as he happily watched Abiona move around the living room with her toys and pacifier in her mouth. Her first birthday was right around the corner and he couldn’t believe how fast time had gone. It felt just like yesterday when he was rushing to the hospital to watch his princess come into the world and steal his heart completely. Now here she was walking about causing havoc to her mother's decorations around their home. The little girl stopped playing with her blocks and came over to her Baba and took out her pacifier signalling for him to give her some ice cream.

“I am sorry, beautiful. I can’t, your mama said I need to stop giving you sugar before bed.” The little girl didn’t budge instead she started babbling as she held on to her Baba’s legs. T’Challa looked over his shoulder to make sure he could still hear Alix on the phone with her mother.

“Fine, but just a little. And don’t tell anyone” he said slipping the spoon into her mouth. Alix came to join them just as Abiona went back to playing.

“Maman wanted to know which of her hats would be more suitable to blend in with Wakandan style so I just spent 20 minutes look at very similar hats.” She said joining T’Challa on the couch.

“It is good she is excited to come. I have gotten David and Amélie’s accommodations sorted.

“That’s good, Maman and Papa really miss Abiona and I am excited to get to catch up with Amélie,” Alix said leaning on his shoulder

“I cannot believe she is already turning one. This year flew by, and very soon she won’t be a baby anymore”

“Yes, that way she will know how to wipe her mouth after Baba sneaks her ice cream after I said not to” T’Challa closed his eyes to avoid Alix’s stare. “You need to learn how to tell her no sometimes if not it will come back to bite you in the butt”

“How can I do that when I barely tell her mama no?” He replied by getting up to keep his bowl.

“That is not my fault, it is the life choices you have decided to make,” Alix said, picking up the baby to get her ready for bed. T’Challa followed her into Abiona’s room making faces behind her causing the little princess to bounce and giggle at her father’s actions. Alix turned around and gave him a warning face that immediately made him stop.

“Did you talk to your father? Did he seem like he was looking forward to coming?”

“Well, he is happy to come see ‘Ona and me if that is what you are wondering” She replied carrying the baby to the bathroom as she rubbed T’Challa’s arm passingly.

“I really don’t know what I was expecting but I am hoping that his tolerance for me hasn’t decreased since our time apart”

“Babe, you will be fine. Just be the confident king you were at dinner and all should be well. Plus it is just Abiona’s first birthday so it isn’t like anything else is happening”

“You are right, except for my proposal to you” Alix turned from the tub briefly to look at T’challa’s smiling face.

“If you even dare I promise I will not only say no but I will leave you.”

“That is so dramatic”

“What is dramatic is proposing to a woman who doesn’t plan to marry you at your daughter’s first birthday. ‘Ona tell your Baba to not steal your shine”

“‘Ona ask your mother if she will ever want to marry me” Alix smiled quickly before allowing it to disappear as she took Abiona out of the tub and carried her back to her room with T’Challa on her tail.

“‘Ona tell your Baba that if I decide to marry, I will let him know. Until then he should stop pretending to ask me every couple of days.”

“Don’t act like you don’t enjoy it”

“Haven’t you heard of the boy who cried wolf?”

“Yes, however, you keep saying no so I am hoping that the time I am serious you actually say yes,” he said placing his hands on her waist as she rubbed the lotion on the active baby who began to giggle at her parents' antics. The mixture of close contact and the topic of marriage made Alix flustered. Her periodic heartburn had returned and it was making her lose focus.

“T’Challa please leave me and Abiona alone. You know you distract her and you’re distracting me. She won’t sleep with her partner in crime here.”

“Alright, but this conversation isn’t over,” He said kissing Alix’s cheek and taking Abiona from her hands, “Goodnight beautiful, I will see you tomorrow okay.” He handed the baby back and left Alix to her swarming thoughts. It is not like she didn’t want to marry T’Challa at all. Marriage had just never been on her agenda, but neither was getting pregnant for a prince and following him back to his country. This was never supposed to be her life, and although she didn’t hate it, in fact, she loved it, she just wanted to make sure she was still doing things to make her happy. Marrying him meant being introduced formally to the elders and the Wakandan people, it meant being queen and taking on the responsibilities around it. Although she would be T’Challa’s queen and the thought made her smile, she was not ready to give up so much of herself so quickly and with permanent effects.

Alix entered T’Challa’s study and observed him for a bit. There was also the issue of his duty to his country. Sometimes it felt like he was king first before anything else. She still wasn’t sure how she felt about their family having to come second on many occasions. She went over and stood behind his chair and swung her hands over his shoulder and rested her head on his shoulder. T’Challa smiled and turned his head to kiss her cheek.

“Are you coming to bed or doing overtime as King?”

“ Overtime.” Alix got off T’Challa and headed to the door.

“Okay, but if you change your mind you know where to find me” T’challa laughed at her playful demeanour “Good night, I love you”

“I love you too, one more thing though Alix” She re-entered the door waiting for him to continue “Do you think possibly you could do me the honour of being my wife?” She rolled her eyes and exited before he could finish.

“You are so full of it!” T’challa laughed knowing one day her reaction to his question would surely be a yes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Alix waited enthusiastically for the jet to land on the platform so she could be reunited with her friend. She had missed her and was grateful for the few days before her parents came to have some well-deserved girl time. T’Challa had just made it from a council meeting as he came to stand beside Alix. He was glad to see her so happy, the move had not been too difficult but between the fighting in the beginning and the general adjustment of a new environment, T’Challa knew that Alix missed the comfort of her life in Paris and the friends and family that came with it. The jet slowly opened to reveal the couple and their baby. The two women started waving excitedly to each other until they finally were close enough to hug.

“It is so good to see you! And look at Emmanuel, he is such a big boy now!” Alix said touching the 14-month-old baby’s cheek. He looked like he had just woken up and was trying to adjust to his surroundings.

“You too! There is so much I want to tell you that a phone call wasn’t enough to say! Where is Abiona?”

“She is napping but should be up by the time you all come in. It is nice to see you again Amélie. David, how are you, man?” T’Challa said, giving his friend a hug.

“Never been better man, you look good. Very Kingly.” T’Challa laughed at his friend before leading everyone back into the palace.

After lunch and cooing at how much both the children had grown, The men decided to move their discussion to T’Challa’s office while the women and the babies stayed home to discuss. Alix brought over a bottle of wine and two glasses to the table for her and her friend.

“ Actually no wine for me” Alix gave Amélie a questioning face.

“I hope you aren’t on some diet because I plan on taking you to all the restaurants the city has to offer. I know you aren’t still breastfeeding so drink up” said pouring herself some

“I want to but I can’t, it isn’t advisable for pregnant women” Alix lifted her eyes to meet Amélie’s as they shared a knowing look with both their faces breaking into a huge smile that was solidified by the hug that Alix gave her.

“Congratulations! I guess I will drink for the both of us” Alix joked.

“Thanks, we just started telling people”

“How far along are you?”

“Four months, so just out of the danger zone”

“Well, no wonder you haven’t told anyone. I have been wondering because you hadn’t told me anything I thought maybe you and David had decided to stop trying.”

“Well we were going to, but just as it was becoming too much, but you know what they say when you least expect it.”

“So that's what? One year? And David wanted to wait”

“I know, but after our experience with trying to conceive with Emmanuel, it seemed wrong to wait. “

“Well, I am happy for you. David better not tell T’Challa though, if not he is going to march in here talking about having more kids. He is relentless sometimes.” Amélie laughed.

“Is he still proposing every couple of days” Alix rolled her eyes.

“Yes! He never stops. Sometimes I think he is serious and other times he is just being the clown he is.” The pair laughed as Alix briefly looked over at the two babies happily playing with Abiona’s toys.

“But Alix, have you thought about it, like marrying him seriously?”

“I mean I have, but with him, it isn’t that simple. I would be Queen. That is not something I had planned for myself. I am still getting used to the idea. I don’t want to make any more life plans with him that I am not 100% sure about you know.”

“That makes sense. However, I know that you spend too much time thinking about the logistics of this relationship instead of actually living it. The man has promised to always try and make the transition smooth. I know it is scary but you can only hope it works out, right?”

“Yeah I guess” Alix looked away

“You guess? What? Is he working too much still?”

“No, he makes sure he is here every night and keeps the late work to a minimum.”

“Okay, then what? Is it Buhle? Do you think he will go back to her? What does she look like because she may not be scared of you but the two of us together is different” Alix laughed

“Oh my God no. Buhle is harmless. She sometimes oversteps but mostly that is because of how close they are. She has been sweet thus far”

“So you overreacted then, like with Tina” Alix looked offended as Amélie tried to hide her smile

“ First of all, Buhle insulted me the first week like she didn’t already know I was the mother of his child and made an already tense situation even more difficult.”

“Are you sure it wasn’t because you were sexually frustrated” Amélie slyly said

“No! She overstepped and my soft-hearted man once again could not tell. I will admit that I may have exaggerated with Tina but I was heavily pregnant and trying to figure things out with my baby daddy. Life was not being kind to me.” Amélie giggled

“Alright, Alix. You never change do you”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

T’Challa refilled his friend's glass with some scotch laughing at the joke he had just told him.

“ Not too much T’Challa. Amélie will get grumpy if she knows I got to drink and she can’t”

“What do you mean? I am sure Alix has already opened her favourite wine. She hasn’t let anybody touch it for weeks just for when you came.”

“Well, that is unfortunate because Amélie is pregnant so drinking is off-limits for a while.” T’challa’s eyes widened as David took a sip.

“You are being serious”

“Of course why would I lie” T’challa reached over and shook his shoulder.

“Congratulations man! That is good news! You are going to be a father of two. That is wild to think about.”

“You're telling me. I wanted to wait but even this time took a lot out of us so it was smart for Amélie to suggest trying when we did. She knows her body best.”

“That is really a blessing. Bast, I can barely come to terms that Abiona is one year old. I don’t know where the year went. Let alone having another.”

“T, what are you talking about, you have been talking about having four children since Alix was pregnant. “

“I know, but I sometimes feel like I have to soak up all the time I have with my firstborn. You know these past few months weren’t easy on Alix and me. I felt like I was wearing myself thin and I ended up taking it out on her.”

“You guys are still fighting or?”

“No, we worked things out, plus now she has made friends and does other things so she does not feel my absence as much”

“What about your new Tina. Wait or old Tina I should say” David laughed at his own joke as T’challa frowned.

“If you are talking about Buhle, you should know that we are also fine and our relationship remains intact and she is friendly with the love of my life.” David shook his head.

“Only you could end up in such a situation. Well no more kids for a while then yeah?”

“No, if Alix somehow agreed to it and wanted another child tomorrow, I would be on board. However, I would rather marry her first before even thinking about more children”

“Isn’t Alix against marriage”

“‘Against’ seems harsh. But slowly I believe her heart will grow to it. I have been asking her jokingly and although her answer remains no that does not stop me”

“No one is shocked by any of that T”

“Make your jokes but I am serious. I am slowly warming her to the idea until she has no choice but to say yes or at least have a serious discussion about it.”

“That all sounds nice but don’t her parents hate you” T’Challa sighed

“ No, Estelle loves me, Tolu on the other hand is like a large bolt that is difficult to open. He believes I am some clown that has manipulated his child into wasting time with me. “

“So how are you going to change that?”

“Well to begin, when they arrive for Abiona’s birthday, I hope to show him how good of a King I am as well as a father who is able to balance the two. And I will also be showing him this.” T’Challa reached into a secret compartment of his desk that could only be opened with his fingerprint and reached in to reveal a small box that he opened to display an engagement ring. David's mouth was left agape.

“I am hoping to ask for his daughter’s hand in marriage. Alix isn’t ready yet, but this will give me enough time to convince Tolu and show him how serious I am so when she is I have all my ducks in a row. So you can’t say anything to Amélie”

“No of course not. I am even shocked you have been able to keep it from Alix, especially with your word vomit.”

“It has been difficult but somehow I don't mind waiting. Bast has made it apparent to me that she is one of the few things I can wait an eternity for”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Alix climbed into their bed and immediately went to lay on T’Challa who was consumed by a rerun of MTV Cribs. She had missed him today and was glad he didn’t have to work late.

“I missed you today”

“Really?! Alixandre Ajayi missed me” Alix rolled her eyes

“ Haha very funny. And you wonder why I am not endearing with you” T’Challa laughed and turned off the television. And wrapped his arm around her and kissed her hand.

“I am only kidding. I thought you would be consumed with chatting with Amélie”

“I was, but I still missed just being with you for even an hour of the day.”

“I missed you too. Did you have a nice time though?”

“Yes, it was good to just catch up. How about you and David. I see you broke out the scotch. How Jules hasn’t found it yet beats me”

“Because I am good at hiding things, and you’re just jealous because Amélie left you to drink by yourself”

“What makes you so sure?”

“Because David told me she was pregnant”

“I was hoping he wouldn’t tell you to give you any more ideas than the ones you have created for yourself” T’Challa smiled

“No, it hasn’t created any ideas. I am happy for them. And I happy with just you and my princess”

“I am happy to hear that” Alix smiled as she made circles on his chest.

“ Plus, right now my main goal is to marry you first” Alix groaned and got off him, turning her back to him as he laughed.

“Look how you ruined a perfectly good moment.” T’Challa turned to spoon her and she immediately reached for his arm to put around her.

“Are we ever going to have the conversation Alixandre” She could tell he was serious so she carefully thought about her words.

“Yes we are, and as soon as I feel ready I will let you know okay,” She said reaching back to rub his curls.

“Okay, but until then, I won’t stop asking,” He said kissing her good night and turning off the lights with his Kimoyo beads. Alix smiled knowing that in her heart she didn’t want him to stop asking. It reminded her where she wanted her home to lie.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[tragedestined-a]

Headcanons about Nagamasa's Parents !

Nagamasa's mother —– Ono-dono ( 小野殿 ) / Ako ( 阿古 )

She’s originally from the Iguchi family. Her father (Iguchi Keigen) was the retainer and right-hand man of Hisamasa’s father (Azai Sukemasa), so it was natural that Ako and Hisamasa were married, given the friendship between their fathers and to keep the ties between their two clans strong.

Ako married Hisamasa when she was 14-15 years old, and when Hisamasa was 15-16 years old.

She had her first daughter (later known as Kyogoku Maria) a couple years after getting married.

Ako has a good relationship with Hisamasa’s eldest illegitimate daughter / Sukemasa’s adopted daughter Aku ( 阿久 ) / Shoankenkyu ( 昌安見久尼 ). Since they’re only nine years apart in age, Ako views Aku as something akin to a younger sister.

She also has an older brother, two younger sisters, and one younger brother who are related to her by blood?

As a teenager / young adult, Ako had a very positive and somewhat easily excited personality, but she was also very sheltered and naïve about some things.

Ako quickly developed romantic feelings for Hisamasa when she first married him. When she looks back on that time now, she realizes this was mostly just her being excited to be married (and to be the first daughter in her family to be married).

Several years of being a hostage and raising Saruyashamaru (little Nagamasa) all by herself forced her to mature quickly and learn to always be on the lookout for danger. She returns to the Azai as a cautious, wise-beyond-her-years woman, although she still retains some of her optimism.

Ako can’t help but wonder whether she could’ve curbed Maria’s cruel / selfish tendencies if she had been there to guide her when she was growing up.

Ako’s strongest bond is with Nagamasa, and Nagamasa is in turn very close to his mother, since the two of them only had each other to rely on during their time as hostages. Because of this, Ako is probably the only person in the Azai clan who has even a suspicion that Nagamasa’s time as a hostage was traumatic for him. Even though he doesn’t “act traumatized”, she believes that if he hadn’t been a hostage, his personality probably would’ve been very different. She worries about how much his time as a hostage has affected him and wonders whether she could’ve done more to protect him.

Ako currently has mixed feelings towards Hisamasa. Being a hostage for eight years (and, at times, fearing for her life and/or her son’s life) was a traumatic experience for her and she’ll probably never completely forgive Hisamasa for giving her to the Rokkaku as a hostage. In addition, she’s very hurt that he slept around during this time. However, Ako also wonders if Nagamasa’s actions towards Hisamasa (forcing him to retire and exiling him) were too harsh. In the end, though, she’s fine with the status quo of Nagamasa being in charge and Hisamasa being exiled. Ako could end up befriending Hisamasa, but there’s no chance that she’d fall in love with him again.

Ako was initially nervous about Nagamasa getting married, both because she had a feeling that he couldn’t deal with a loveless political marriage like she could, and because she was worried that he’d be too harsh on his future wife and scare her off. But she’s glad to see that a warm, loving relationship is slowly but surely blossoming between Oichi and Nagamasa.

Ako has interacted with Oichi in-person several times since Nagamasa’s marriage. She sees her younger self in Oichi a little bit, and tries to encourage her to be more confident and more open about her emotions with Nagamasa. However, Oichi’s Dark Hands and the “Demon King” side of Oichi’s personality seriously creep Ako out. XD So she mostly interacts with Oichi as a penpal, and the two of them send letters to each other on a regular basis.

Nagamasa built her a place specifically for her to live called 阿古の邸 (Ako’s Residence?), which is where she lives most of the time. It’s a quiet, peaceful place where her servants wait on her and treat her like she’s the owner of the residence, and because of this, she’s really mellowed out and come to peace with a lot of what’s happened to her. Despite only being in her late 30s / early 40s, she kind of lives and acts like a grandma now. XD

Ako ends up meeting a very terrible end. During the same month that Nagamasa dies (but before he dies), Ako gets captured by the Oda army. Over the course of a few days, each of her fingers are cut off, and then she dies.

Nagamasa's father —– Azai Hisamasa ( 浅井久政 )

Eldest son of Azai Sukemasa and the second-generation head of the Azai family.

Hisamasa is supposedly a legitimate child of his father Sukemasa, but there have been rumors ever since he was young that he’s the son of Sukemasa’s concubine. These rumors have followed him into adulthood.

Has four younger half-brothers (if the rumors are to be believed, one is his full brother), three younger sisters (half-sisters?), and two younger half-sisters.

Hisamasa resents his father for multiple reasons, some of which are obvious and others which are less so. One reason is that others often compare him to his father, Sukemasa, and consider him to be cowardly and foolish while they consider his father to be a brave, skilled warrior. He feels that they tend to ignore the talents he does have while putting his father on a pedestal. Another reason is that Sukemasa was tough on Hisamasa, since he was the eldest son and Sukemasa wanted him to be the Azai clan’s next leader. A third reason is that Sukemasa refused to confirm who Hisamasa’s birth mother actually is, even to his own son. The circumstances of Aku’s conception and birth also cause Hisamasa to bear a grudge against his father.

As a young man, Hisamasa seems like a good-natured and friendly young man, if a bit shy. However, on the inside, he’s very stressed and bears grudges against his father and some of his father’s men. 

Sukemasa died when Hisamasa was 16 years old, not long after Hisamasa married Ako. When Sukemasa died, Hisamasa had trouble inheriting the title of clan leader. Sukemasa’s son-in-law, along with the Kyogoku clan, tried to start a rebellion so that Sukemasa’s son-in-law could inherit the position instead. However, Hisamasa and his retainers talked him out of it.

As he grows up (and especially after Sukemasa’s death), Hisamasa loses the shyness and becomes very extroverted. To deal with his stress, he invests himself in culture and the arts —– Noh theater, renga, falconry, etc. He’s interested in trying all sorts of things!

However, no matter how many years pass, Hisamasa has little aptitude for fighting and battle strategy. His true talents lie in domestic policy and diplomacy —– he can be a very smooth talker and somewhat manipulative, especially in his later years. Even while he’s “retired” and exiled on Chikibu Island, he still exerts some influence over the Azai clan.

Sending his wife as a hostage to the Rokkaku clan was not a decision he took lightly, and it pained him deeply to make it. However, he feels that if he hadn’t done it, the leader of the Rokkaku clan would have become upset and crushed the Azai clan.

Although he tries to hide it, Hisamasa is the sort of person who constantly needs positive attention from others so that he can feel okay about himself. During the time Ako was a hostage, with Ako gone and his retainers starting to turn against him, Hisamasa started sleeping around, and that’s how Nagamasa’s younger half-brother Masamoto was born.

Hisamasa tried to rekindle his relationship with Ako when she returned, but she gave him the cold shoulder when she learned about Masamoto’s birth. To this day he’s still hoping he can win her back, and he sends her love letters every few months. She never responds back.

Hisamasa’s relationship with Nagamasa is strained at best. However, while Nagamasa hates him for being a weak leader and forcing Nagamasa and his mother to be hostages, Hisamasa’s only somewhat annoyed with his eldest son for usurping his title of clan leader. Hisamasa doesn’t understand why Nagamasa hates him so much, and he feels that Nagamasa should think more kindly of him since Hisamasa wasn’t anywhere near as hard on Nagamasa as Sukemasa was on him.

In general, Hisamasa cares about his children equally and treats them all quite warmly, showing them physical affection (e.g. hugs, headpats, etc.) and always doing his best to cheer them on at whatever they’re doing and compliment them. 

That having been said, Maria is Hisamasa’s favorite child, and he’s doted on her ever since she was young. XD As Maria has grown up and become more independent (and less reliant on him for basic needs and emotional support), though, their relationship is starting to show signs of strain.

Unfortunately, Hisamasa has never been able to feel any fondness for his eldest daughter, Aku, due to the circumstances of her conception and birth. When she was first born, he could hardly bring himself to be in the same room as her and her mother. However, he’s always felt guilty about feeling so detached from / disgusted by Aku, because he knows those feelings stem from how he feels about her mother and that Aku has done nothing to deserve that from him. After being exiled to Chikubu Island, Hisamasa’s loneliness and guilt caught up with him, and he started reaching out to Aku for the first time via a letter. To his surprise, Aku enthusiastically wrote him back, and the two of them became penpals.

Hisamasa has never actually met Oichi. But back when Nagamasa first married her, Hisamasa sent him a letter simultaneously congratulating him for marrying the most beautiful woman in the land and condemning his decision to ally with the Oda. Nagamasa never replied back.

Hisamasa hates Nobunaga and feels that Nagamasa’s decision to ally with him is one of the worst decisions he’s ever made. Hisamasa regularly corresponds with some of the older Azai retainers he knows who also dislike Nobunaga to try to sabotage Nagamasa’s alliance with the Oda.

Nagamasa grudgingly lets Hisamasa back into Odani Castle so he can have him help fight against Nobunaga. However, during the attack on Odani Castle, once the Azai start losing, Hisamasa sees the writing on the wall and commits seppuku.

[morkmywords]

Not Really a Cinderella Story | Royalty au | Exo | Sehun | 15 | FINAL

Masterlist | Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 8.5 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 Part 14 Part 15 [FINAL]

Royalty!AU

Length: 6.9k

Note: This was a really hard part for me to write since it’s the final part of this fic which iv’e been working on for almost two years now and it’s grown with me, not only in my writing style but as a person. I hope you enjoy it :) I’ve been thinking make making this au into a series with some other members... let me know if you’re interested!

Warnings: some swearing

Pairing: Sehun x Reader

Genre: Fluff/angst

Summary: When a strange string of not so great events somehow and you with a job at the palace punching the wrong people can be not so great.

The music from the orchestra floated in the background as pairs spun and twirled in elaborate patterns. The beginning of your night was flooded with people of royal status bombarding you with well wishes, invitations, and promises of gifts. It was overwhelming but you managed to handle it and it distracted you from the new couple across the dance floor; now, things had finally calmed down a bit and Minseok returned to your side with a glass of amber liquid in hand which you gratefully took.

“It won’t be long now,” he said with a smirk.

“Won’t be long till what?”

“Well now that everyone has seen how young, gorgeous, and extremely single the new lady of the most powerful territory on the continent is…. Proposals are bound to come flooding in!”

You grimaced and punched him on the shoulder, “Don’t even joke about that!” He just winked and chuckled from beside you when suddenly you were being lifted up and twirled in the air. You let out a gasp of surprise when you were finally back on the ground and standing in front of Chanyeol who enveloped you in a bear hug. Yixing, Jongdae, and Baekhyun took up places beside MInseok as you squirmed from Chanyeol’s embrace.

“It’s nice to see you too Chanyeol but please let me go,” you wheezed as you finally broke from his grasp.

“Our little Y/n is so grown up and powerful now!” he exclaimed with a pout.

Beakhyun chimed in with a smirk, “We haven’t seen you in ages and now you come back in charge of Iyle? Shouldn’t you have mentioned it to us at least once?”

“I’m sorry, so much has happened over the past while and I didn’t even know myself until a few weeks ago.”

“You have to tell us everything Y/n!” Jongdae whined, joining in with Baekhyun and Chanyeol’s fake pouts.

“Watch what you say boy,” Yixing butted in with a smile and an arm over your shoulder, “It’s Lady Y/n now.”

Rolling your eyes you brushed him off with a smile, “It’s fine…”

“In all honesty Y/n, you look like a different person and not in a bad way,” he said with a comforting smile that only Yixing could create, “You seem so much more confident and it’s good to see.”

The other princes nodded along with him and you thanked them, you did feel different than the last time you saw them but you were glad they were back with you now, even if it was only for a few days. You continued to listen to them chatter away amongst themselves, making jokes just the same as they used too when a flash of pink tackled you in a hug.

“OH Y/N I MISSED YOU SO MUCH!” Jiyoon wailed, eyes watering as she clung onto you. “JIYOON!” You exclaimed wrapping your arms back around her as you both sobbed into the other’s shoulder. It had been so long since you’d seen her and immediately you started crying crocodile tears, staining both your dress and her. After a few seconds the latched onto your wrist and stood up again.

“We need to talk,” was all she said before dragging you away and towards one of the patio doors that was open and letting the warm night air flow through the great hall. All you could do was follow as you waved to the group of princes who stood there looking stunned. You followed her as she weaved around the patio until she found a secluded bench overlooking the spring garden where she sat you down.

“Y/n,” she sobbed again, “I missed you so much! You leave with Sehun and now you come back as the Lady of Iyle and you’re avoiding each other like the plague? I wrote you letters but Sehun just sent them back unopened, I thought you were dead!”

“I’m sorry,” you said lamely.

“What happened? You need to tell me everything.”

“He asked me to marry him… and I said no.”

“Oh Y/n,” she sighed taking your hand in hers, “I thought something like that might have happened, he’s always been so spontaneous, even since we were kids. But Y/n,” she paused, “Why did you say no?”

“Because I was afraid,” you whispered with tears in your eyes. You had never been able to tell anyone before but with Jiyoon it all just seemed to spill out of you like a waterfall.

“It’s okay,” she whispered, petting your hair calmly, “No wonder he was with that bitch Haerin. I hate to tell you this but even though we didn’t know, everyone started taking sides.”

“What?”

“You notice how only a few of the princes came to greet you right? Unconsciously, we’ve already started taking sides, Baekhyun, Chanyeol, Yixing, Jongdae, Minseok, and I are all on your side. Junmyeon, Jongin, and Kyungsoo are all siding with Sehun as well as most of their siblings.”

“I didn’t mean to create a rift between everyone.”

“Don’t worry about it,” she assured you, “Now tell me about this whole Lady of Iyle thing that happened.”

So you did, you explained everything about your father and mother, and how Lord Cha was the one that found you, and everything to do with the dead queen. She looked at you like you were insane but you knew she believed you.

“Oh Y/n…” she sighed, “I never thought…”

“It's okay,” you managed to say with a smile, taking her hand and giving it a squeeze this time.

“If it makes you feel any better, everyone on the continent knows your name, even though you’ve been ruling for such a short time your people love you!” You gave her a weak smile and the both of you sat in silence for a while.

“WIll you do me a favour and explain it to the others? I don’t think I have enough energy to explain it to everyone individually…”

“No problem! I’ll even tell Junmyeon and he’ll spread it to the rest of the boys.”

“Thank you so much,” You told her sincerely as you wiped a few stray tears from your eyes, “It feels really good to tell my best friend about all of this.”

“Anytime,” she told you with a smile, “now lets head back inside before people start to miss us, I swear when Chanyeol’s sister Princess Sejung gets bored all hell breaks loose!”

You laughed along with her as you wandered back through the wide patio doors and into the sea of people. Jiyoon was immediately swept away by the crowd leaving you alone in your search for the Princes, out of the corner of your eye you spotted Baekhyun chatting with some blushing ladies but before you could reach him you were spun around to face a smirking man with dark eyes and hair the colour of clouds. 

“Nice to meet you Lady Y/n,” he purred, “I’ve heard a lot about you. My name is Taek, I’m the Governor’s son.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” You croaked out as he kissed your hand with a smirk.

“The pleasure is all mine, care for a dance?”

Before you had a chance to answer his hand was around your waist and you were one of the twirling couples on the dance floor. Though he didn’t look it, he was almost as graceful of a dancer as Jongin, he navigated through the swarm of bodies like he had been doing it all his life. And he probably had been, seeing as he was the son of the Governor.

“It’s not everyday you get to dance with the most beautiful and eligible lady at the ball,” he said with a shiny smile.

“I’m flattered,” you said skeptically. He wasn’t bad looking but his motives didn’t exactly seem chivalrous.

“When it was announced that the heir of Iyle had returned everybody thought it’d be some shrivelled old man, but when you entered, boy was everyone surprised.”

“I’m afraid I don't know if that was supposed to be a compliment or an insult,” you said with a frown as he twirled you around again.

“I meant surprised in the best way a man could, Lady Y/n. I assure you it was meant to be nothing other than a compliment,” he told you with a friendly chuckle, eyes glinting.

“I apologize, I am not quite used to the ways of court life yet.”

“I could hardly tell, you’re easily one of the most poised ladies here this evening and I see you are already close with the young royals?” He asked before lifting you up and shouting along with the others.

“You could say that…”

 “As long as I’ve known them they’ve always been a tight knit group but now they’re taking over their parents rule and getting married like our King of Oclaria. Not much time for childish things when you’re the ruler of the country.”

With a small smile you nodded in agreement, “You’re quite right.” 

“On the topic of marriage, I’d like to propose a deal,”

You looked at him quizzically, you had no interest in marrying this man you had just met but you were curious enough to gesture for him to continue.

“You see the girl the King is spending all his time with was my fiance but our engagement was cancelled once the King started taking interest in her,” he explained, “Now I am left without a wife and my father won’t let me take over the family business until I get married. Now seeing as we’re easily the two most powerful single people in this room aside from the King I think we should get married.”

You frowned, “I’m sorry but I fail to see how getting married to you would benefit me.”

Flashing you a smile that would make most girls swoon he swept you up again, “Well if we get married there really would be no downside. With both of our assets combined we would be filthy rich and have enough power to take over the country if we wanted. Aside from having a few sons you would have to do nothing but live a life of luxury after our marriage.”

“I’m sorry but I’ll have to turn down your proposal at this current point in time,” you told him with as straight a face as possible, “I’m really not interested in marrying right now.”

“Just think about it Lady Y/n,” he lamented, “together we could be the most powerful people on the continent!”

You huffed as the music came to a close and you stopped moving, he held you hand keeping you on the dance floor as those who wanted to leave cleared the floor and the orchestra began playing again. Just as you were about to answer him your hand was taken by somebody else, smoothly knocking his grasp from yours.

“Mind if I cut in?” Sehun asked, holding his arm tightly around you. It wasn’t exactly a question since he was the king but he still carried you off into the crowd of dancers before Lord Taek could answer.

 “It’s quite a coincidence that you’ve managed to find yourself back in court isn’t it Lady Y/n?” he hissed in your ear, “When you left I thought I’d never see you again but now you return the most powerful Lady in the country. Aside from my future wife of course.”

“It is quite a coincidence isn't it,” You agreed with him keeping your voice as steady and emotionless as possible, “I’m not sure if I believe it myself yet either, it’s a lot of responsibility.”

He scoffed, “Well, we both know there were a lot of responsibilities you couldn’t handle either.”

You grimaced as he prepared to lift you over his head with a flourish. The lift and jumps were never your favourite part of dancing as you didn’t have the advantage of being much smaller than your partner like many of the other girls. It always felt awkward and this time was no different as you weren’t sure whether he would drop you or not.

“Now, it doesn’t seem like you have much choice about marriage,” he pointed out, “And it seems the governors son is already foaming at the mouth with the idea of marrying you?”

“You saw that?”

“Everyone did, he wasn’t exactly subtle with his proposal a few minutes ago.”

“Oh….” you sighed cheeks going warmer. The music slowed and people began to clap as the dance was finished. Partners were breaking apart and drifting back into the crowd but his hands only tightened around your waist as you tried to draw away from him. His rough fingertips dug into the bottom of your exposed back and you felt his breath against your neck as he leaned in to whisper in your ear.

“Lord Taek is a greedy bastard, maybe he deserves someone like you.” he spat at you before disappearing back into the crowd.

You stood there stunned for a few minutes until someone came up and grabbed your hand pulling you back into a swarm of people where you were quickly surrounded by the princes demanding for you to tell them what was going on. Quickly, you brushed them off and headed back to your room saying you felt ill and needed to rest.

-----

The clatter of people returning from the gala to their rooms had died down a long time ago but you were still wide awake. The clock on the wall chimed telling you it was three in the morning, the curtain danced in the warm summer air drifting in through the open balcony windows. Feeling restless you slipped a loose dress on over your nightgown and made your way through the silent palace corridors and into the gardens. Slowly and silently you made your way through the first five gardens, the sound of your slippers brushing against the plush grass, the hush of the wind dancing through the night, the soft trickle of the fountains, the chirping of crickets were the sounds that filled your ears in the silence. And cautiously you made your way from the garden of day into the garden of night. 

It took your breath away, unlike the other gardens which glowed during the daylight hours but were otherwise dimmed by the absence of sunlight. The night garden glowed on it’s own. Purple wisteria spilled from every crack and crevice, hundreds of lights twinkling softly like stars hung from the domed glass roof giving off an otherworldly glow. You followed the twisting path in the tunnel of little purple flowers until finally it gave way to a large pond filled with little silver fish that seemed to glow in the moonlight. Continuing to follow the path around the side of the lake you came to a small structure sheltering an intricately carved marble bench. Sitting on the cool surface you took notice of the round white flowers that began to blossom in the moonlight; tentatively, you reached out a fingertip to brush against the soft petals. 

“We call them moonflowers,” Sehun said, emerging from behind one of the pillars. Gone were his royal robes which he was wearing for the gala and now he was wearing something more similar to what he used to wear back in Arye. There was a certain charm that came with his messy hair and half buttoned shirt which had butterflies swarming in your stomach. It seemed so long ago that you were back in the palace of Arye, innocent and in love. Unaware of everything the world had in store for you. 

“They’re beautiful,” you told him, returning your hand to rest in your lap.

“Couldn’t sleep?” he asked, you nodded, “Too busy worrying about who to invite to your wedding with Lord Taek?”

“I declined his proposal.”

“He doesn’t take no for an answer.”

“Well it’s the only answer he’s going to get!” You exclaimed jumping up.

You both stopped and stood in silence for a moment.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know what came over me,” you told him before dipping back into a lull of silence, “This place is really beautiful.”

“It’s always been for you, this garden. When you had nightmares I meant for you to come out here and have it be like your safe haven. Nobody except for the gardener is allowed in here still, and you of course.” He explained.

Smiling, you told him softly, “Thank you.” 

“Don’t spend too much time out here,” he warned you, “There’s an early start tomorrow.”

“Goodnight,” you called after him as he disappeared down the path, leaving you alone with your thoughts again.

-----

With careful steps you climbed into the carriage, footmen closing the door tightly behind you. The line of carriages stretched through the whole driveway of the palace as the various guests loaded in. Jiyoon had offered to come with you so you wouldn’t be alone but you declined, the ride up the mountainside would give you time to relax from the night before. The second day of festivities would be a picnic on the mountaintop behind the palace, it was clear as the sun was shining down upon the palace that it would be a beautiful day full of fun. Peeking out the window of your carriage as you waited to set off you noticed you were dressed quite differently than many of the other ladies climbing into their own carriages. Many of them wore high necked, floor length dresses with varying sleeve lengths. They were made of lightly patterned cotton and lace in many layers to help the wearer remain cool in the warm sunlight. On the other hand you had opted for something a little more reminiscent of what people in Iyle wore in the south where it was much, much warmer. Your sleeves were short and puffed, ending about halfway down your upper arm,  like your dress from last night the neckline was wide and trimmed with lace while the back was low. With only one cotton layer dyed a soft periwinkle and spotted with many small blossoms the skirt ended midway down your calves giving you an ease of movement something longer wouldn’t allow. Opting to leave the parasol behind you donned a wide brimmed straw sun hat decorated with a ribbon matching the colour of the blossoms leaving your hair loose. 

After a few minutes it seemed everybody was ready in their carriages and you set off with a lurch, rolling down the pebble drive and out the gates, up the mountain road. The view of the seaside cliffs from out your window caused you to reminisce about your trip down the coast for the first time you visited Iyle with the diving gulls and crashing waves, bordered by the swaying grasses and wildflowers. Drifting through daydreams it felt like hardly a moment had passed before you were climbing out and onto the plush grass. Blankets were already strewn about the meadow, each with a wicker basket placed in the center waiting for people to join them for lunch. One step at a time you made your way towards the open meadow until a flying ball of pink attached herself to your side with a giggle.

“Isn’t this amazing Y/n?” Jiyoon exclaimed as who you were guessing the two other princesses made their way over to your side, “This is Princess Sejung of Meadazia and Princess Hyejin of Qeca, I’m sure you haven’t forgotten them.”

“How could I?” you said with a smile, offering them both a small curtsy which only Hyejin returned. Jiyoon was the same as always, full of energy as she dragged the lot of  you away in order to find the best picnic spot. After a morning of playing about in the meadows the four of you settled down for lunch, weaving flowers into each other’s hats and hair. Other guests came by to chat time after time but none stayed long, moving onto the next blanket to continue their greetings.

After lunch was finished you and Jiyoon left the two sun fatigued princesses chatting with a group of young lords and ladies as you headed off to find the croquet set Sehun had mentioned to Jiyoon last night. Once the two of you found it you played round after round until finally you were released by a tap on the shoulder.

“Would you mind going for a stroll with me Lady Y/n?” Lord Taek asked with a sparkling smile.

You glanced over at Jiyoon who had quickly stopped paying attention to the game and started paying attention to the two of you. You turned back to him uncertain of what to say, “Well…”

“She’d love to go! It’s such a lovely afternoon isn’t it?” Jiyoon cut you off, grabbing the croquet mallet from your hands and shoving you towards him. 

You stumbled and he caught your hand with a grin, “Thank you Princess, I’ll make sure to return her in one piece,” he told her.

“Don’t worry, you two go have fun!”

You shot her one last pleading look before you were dragged off behind Taek and down the hillside. Surprisingly he didn’t bring up the proposal again, the two of you spent most of the time talking and getting to know each other, the two of you were nowhere near close friends by the time dinner was called but you could say he would be a decent young man if he wasn’t so set on marriage. 

Unlike lunch earlier dinner was a celebration meant to give thanks for the previous year’s good fortune with food, friends, family,  and as you quickly found out, lots and lots of drinking. You were only a few glasses of champagne in, when like the devil she was, Jiyoon made you drop your glass and join her in dancing around the bonfire. 

“Hurry up Y/n!” she squealed as she kicked off her shoes, grabbed a handful of her long skirt and began spinning in circles to the hypnotizing beat of the drums. Feeling light from the bubbling beverage you followed suit, knocking off your hat and shoes, throwing your hands into the air with a shout of delight. The drum beats matched the pounding of your heart as you leaped around the growing fire, others equally as tipsy, if not more, quickly joined in with your pounding feet. The air filled with laughter, shouts, and music as you travelled around the circle linking arms and spinning with whoever wished to dance with you.  You were in a trance, the sparkling champagne infecting you, the drum beats carrying your feet for hours as the moon rose higher into the sky. Before you realized a cool breeze hit your cheeks and you felt yourself being pulled away from the large bonfire and towards a farther side of the meadow. The fresh evening breeze sobered you and you made out Lord Taek’s glinting smile from in front of you.

“I never would have expected you to be one for dancing,” he said stopping and spinning you in front of him. He leaned close and laughed, “or drinking.”

“And I never expected you to be the one waiting on the sidelines,” you hiccuped, you could feel the heat rising to your cheeks, were you really so drunk he could tell just from looking at you? You certainly didn’t feel drunk but maybe your vision was blurring at the corners just a little. 

He scoffed, “Believe me, nobody loves to drink more than me. Unfortunately my mother has prohibited me from touching any and all alcohol today after what happened last year.”

“What happened last year?”

“It’s too late in the evening to get into it now,” he told you with a laugh, “Let’s just say I ended up with a few scars, but not nearly as many as you Lady Y/n,” he said grasping your arm and bringing it closer to his face so he could inspect it. You could feel the ill intention in his grasp as the silver stars twinkled in the moonlight. “Tell me dearest,” he whistled, “Where did you get these scars?”

The world snapped back into focus, suddenly it felt like and were crawling along every inch of your body, tiny pinpricks against every limb. You tore your arms from his grasp, hiding in protectively behind your back, “That’s none of your concern,” you sputtered out before stumbling back to the bonfire as fast as your jelly legs could carry you. The pounding of the drums once again drowned out your thoughts as you grabbed another glass of wine, and another, and then another before being pulled into the circle of dancing once again. 

Slowly but surely the crowd trickled away, climbing into their carriages in a drunken stupor and being carted back to the palace. Eventually there were only only a few people left, Jiyoon and the other princesses have disappeared already along with the other princes whom you hadn’t seen much of during the day. Vision spinning you climbed into your carriage collapsing onto the plush seat as the driver shut the door behind you. The carriage dipped as you felt the driver climbing to his seat, you closed your eyes and rested your head against the side of the carriage but the telltale poll of the carriage didn’t come.

“Take us to the back entrance and if you tell anyone about this I’ll have you exiled!” The man outside the carriage ordered.

“Yes sir,” the driver replied as Sehun climbed into the carriage beside you and the horses began trotting away.

“Sehun…” you said breathlessly, “What are you doing here?” his face was flushed from drinking and his hair had escaped from its previous slicked back style and now was hanging in front of his dark eyes. You fingers twitched at the thought of running your hands through his hair as he loomed over you, gaze weighing heavily on your own. 

“I want to be with you tonight,” was all he said before he attacked your lips. You gave in easily, mind clouded by drinks you were putty in his arms as he held you close to him. He was warm against the chill of the night and you gladly moved closer to him grabbing handfuls of his half unbuttoned shirt. You broke apart and you could feel his hot breath on your neck as he whispered in your ear.

“I'm still in love with you,” he breathed out, soul pouring through his eyes and into your own before you pulled his lips to yours. A few moments later he pulled away panting before gently moving away from your face and taking your hand in his placing a kiss on the scar closest to your wrist.

“You are beautiful,” he whispered against your skin before moving onto the next. He repeated this process kissing each and every scar on both of your arms and telling you how much he loved you before moving onto your back. The feeling of his rough lips against your back sent shivers down your spine and once he was finished your lips locked once more.

Once you reached the palace he pulled you behind him through the servants corridors stopping every few seconds to make sure you were still behind him as if he was afraid you were a dream and would disappear as soon as he looked away. The grand clock chimed for three in the morning when he pulled you into his chambers shutting the door and pressing you against it, kissing you passionately. Slowly as you moved closer to the bed his kisses grew softer and when he finally pulled himself away you met his eyes.

“Is this what you really want?” he asked between heavy breaths.

The air hung heavy as you slowly reached up to pull him into a kiss as your answer, when you broke away again you reached behind your back and slowly began undoing the buttons of your dress.

----

You woke as the clock chimed six with a start. The sun was just beginning to rise through the window and everything from the previous night came rushing back to you as your pounding headache cleared just enough to see who’s room you were in and your lack of any clothing. Thankfully Sehun was nowhere to be seen as you quickly threw your dress back on, collecting your shredded undergarments with an embarrassed blush before saying a quick prayer that you wouldn’t run into anyone in the hallway as you scurried back to your rooms. Thanking the gods that you weren’t caught you quickly ran yourself a hot bath, eager to wash last night not only from your body but your mind as well. The steam enveloped you, the scent of the bath oils filling the air as you let the heat of the water seep into your muscles. When you were finished you pulled on the soft robe and headed back into your room only to be met with Yixing sitting on an armchair next to the fireplace.

Quickly you pulled your robe even tighter and fastened the belt at the waist with multiple knots, “What are you doing here?” you exclaimed.

“Good Morning to you too Lady Y/n,” he said calmly, not moving from where he sat, “I’ll give you a few moments to get dressed then please come back here, I brought you breakfast and hangover medication. We have a lot to talk about.”

You gulped and nodded silently. Rarely was that amount of seriousness ever heard in Yixings voice so you scurried into your closet and pulled on a comfortable gown and plush sweater, quickly braiding your hair away from your face before returning back to the chair next to Yixing where breakfast awaited you. With a smile he urged you to take the medicine which quickly did a good job of clearing up most of your headache leaving only a dull throbbing. 

He cleared his throat and placed his cup of tea back down on the table, folding his hand in his lap in a very royal manner, “I saw you last night,” he said.

You gaped at him, you thought that everyone would have already passed out cold by the time you and the King reached the palace, “How?” was all you asked.

“I came back earlier with Baekhyun who was far beyond drunk, I was heading to the kitchen to get a cup of tea and some things for him in the morning after I finally got him settled when I saw the two of you dashing through the servants corridors. I followed you just to make sure you were alright and I saw the two of you disappear into Sehun’s room,” he cleared his throat, “I pretty much assumed what happened after you didn’t come out for a while.”

Your cheeks were the brightest pink you had ever been before, you were so sure nobody had seen you and yet, one of  your closest friends had caught the two of you in the act.

“Nobody else saw you two, just me,” he assured you, “But Y/n you know what this means for your future marriage. You must be careful from now on, I won’t tell anyone but you have to make sure nobody finds out,” he warned, “If they do, the chances of you finding a husband are slim to none.”

“I know,” you said, head hanging.

“The one way around that would be to marry Sehun,” he told you softly, “I don’t want to worry you Y/n, but what if you’re pregnant? It’s almost impossible to get the herb that will stop your pregnancy anywhere on the continent after it was outlawed and the fields were burned by our predecessors. What will you tell people then?”

“I don’t know.”

He squeezed your hand in a comforting manner, “I don’t mean to burden you but I just want you to make sure you’re being careful. I’ll help you in any way I can, I promise.”

“Thank you,” you told him with a weak smile.

“The ball is tonight,” He said standing and moving towards the door, “I don’t want to tell you something you already know but if things don’t go the way you want, my door is always open.”

He shut the door behind him as he left leaving you to finish eating alone. After spending your morning alone in your room as the clock struck twelve noon you headed down to the Library to eat lunch with Jiyoon and the other princesses. As they chattered away like the small birds outside your window in the morning you kept to yourself, focusing more on the food in front of you than the conversation around you. Yesterday you had agreed to spend the afternoon with the girls as they got ready for the Solstice ball that evening, it was the grandest party of the summer and they assured you that they would need all the time they could manage. As soon as the four of you had finished your plates were cleared and you headed up to Jiyoon’s chambers. Being the ever so attentive friend she was, Jiyoon noticed something was up and pulled you aside.

“Is something going on Y/n? You don’t seem like yourself…” she asked, taking your hand in hers.

You smiled softly and gave her hand a squeeze, “I’m sorry, I’m just so exhausted after last night. I had too much to drink and not enough sleep but I’ll be okay by this evening,” you assured her, “I left my things in my rooms, I’ll come straight here after I go and get it.”

She nodded and dropped your hand. You gave her a small wave before she disappeared into her chambers and you down the hall. When you had almost reached your rooms you paused when angry voices came drifting from one of the conference rooms.

“You must make a decision, your highness! The solstice ball is tonight!”

“Things in the Southern Continent are getting restless,” a second male voice shouted, “There will be a war soon and you must marry to secure your throne!”

“Forget Lady Haerin,” A third one said, “Marry Lady Y/n, she is the most powerful of any lord or lady in our country!”

“Things are no different in your brother’s country,” the second one said again, “His advisors are pressuring him to marry more than we are you! You are not a child anymore.”

You backed away mind spinning from the information you had gotten from only a few sentences. There would be a war with the southern continent? Lord Cha had mentioned trade had been slow but you had no idea. You quickly shook it off and moved on to your rooms before anyone could catch you listening in or Jiyoon would get worried. 

----

Your mind was elsewhere as you let Jiyoon do what she would with your appearance, hours seemed to fly by so quickly until you were standing in front of the grand ballroom as the Speaker announced your arrival. You went in before Jiyoon since she was at a higher position than you were, the grand staircase seemed shorter than last time with everybody milling about and almost no eyes on you. As an attempt to avoid attention you had decided forgo the original dress you had planned to wear and wear something more plain. It was white with vines of little red flowers strewn around your shoulders, waist, and wrists. You definitely blended into the background compared to the dresses some of the other girls were wearing, Jiyoon sparkled next to you as you walked up to the dias to greet the king.The entire time you kept a blank expression, eyes trained on the floor, as you dropped into a low curtsy mumbling out a “Your Majesty,” before breaking apart from Jiyoon who joined her family sitting atop thrones and headed back into the crowd. Once everybody had been checked off the guest list one of the royal advisors climbed atop a pedestal and rang a small but piercing bell, drawing the attention to himself.

“The purpose of this evening’s ball is for His Royal Highness, The King, to have a final chance to spend time with the eligible ladies of the continent before choosing his bride. At midnight I ask you please to gather back here for the King to announce his bride and without any further, please let the festivities commence.”

The band struck up a tune and the dancefloor quickly filled with people, you wandered off to the agreed upon meeting place for you and Jiyoon once she was released from her royal duties.For most of the night you stayed huddled behind a large sculpture of flowers reading the small book about the continent’s greatest composers you had stashed in the many layers of your skirts. Jiyoon stayed to chat and keep you company for a while but left quickly to flit around the crowds dancing and chatting like the social butterfly she was. People came and went, most who saw you turned away at the first glimpse of you looming behind a book but the Princes periodically stopped to chat without you, hiding from their parents or the hordes of girls always swarming around them. Finally the all ganged up on you, Baekhyun stole your book and Minseok pulled you onto the dance floor, despite the constant panic at the back of your mind you found yourself having a good time with them as they traded off with you for dances. When they were finally done with you, your book was returned and you headed back to your spot with a dazed smile.

It was almost Midnight and Sehun hadn’t paid any attention to you all night, every now and again you would see him with Haerin hanging off his arm but nothing more. As you emerged from the edge of the crowd into the shaded wings of the ballroom you were met with the man himself. 

“Follow me,” he muttered before turning and disappearing through one of the doors that led to the garden. You turned back to the crowd and quickly spotted a fuming Haerin before a hand grabbed your wrist and Sehun pulled you into the garden behind him. 

“You should listen to the king when he gives you an order,” he said as you trailed behind him. You stayed silent until he finally stopped you in the middle of a patch of rose bushes.

You looked up to meet his eyes and tightened your fists around your skirts, trying not to let the small bit of hope you had left peek through if he was just going to torture you, “It’s almost midnight,” you told him, “You need to be inside to announce who you’re going to marry, why are you out here… with me?”

“I need to know,” he told you, reaching out to grab your hands softly in complete contrast to before, “I know I said I wouldn’t ask again but you have to tell me the truth now, after everything that’s happened. I love you more than anything in the world and no matter how many times I try to convince myself otherwise my heart always ends up going back to you and I think you feel the same way. This isn’t just for political power it’s because I want you and I have wanted you long before you became the Lady of Iyle. I need to know now, Y/n, if I asked you to marry me what would you say.”

You looked deep into his eyes and saw a reflection of yourself inside and whispered with all your heart, no moment of doubt, “Yes.”

He kissed you softly before heading back indoors right as the clock chimed for midnight hand intertwined with yours. Your heart pounded  in your ears as he slipped his hand from yours and weaved around the crowd to stand with his advisors on the dias. Jiyoon quickly found your side as the same advisor from earlier began speaking, she squeezed your hand.

“Now, as the clock strikes midnight, his Royal Highness, King Sehun, will announce who will become his bride and the next queen of Oclaria.”

Everyone was silent as the trumpets wailed and Sehun stepped forward slowly, you felt eerily calm as your eyes moved across the crowd, seeing Haerin looking smug at the front of the crowd, and finally landing on Sehun where his gaze met yours.

“I am pleased to announce,” he said calmly, eyes never leaving yours, “That my bride and the next queen of Oclaria will be… Lady Y/n of Iyle!”

The crowd erupted around you as you took in all the shocked faces of officials throughout the room. You felt Jiyoon hug you tightly screaming into your ear before four guards surrounded you and brought you through the crowd and to the dias. Sehun outstretched his hand with a smile and without hesitation you placed your hand in his and stepped in front of the throne beside him and looked out across the crowd of cheering people with your hand still firmly wrapped in his.

[cxnsigliere]

King’s Backstory.

Warnings; mentions of:

teenage pregnancy / teenage birth

large age-gap relationships

physical abuse / physically abusive relationships

sexual abuse / sexual manipulation / sexually abusive relationships

prostitution / underage prostitution

pedophilia

rape

suicide threats / suicide

strangulation / death by strangulation

Note: Please keep in mind that I am in no way glorifying the messed up things that take place in this backstory at all! King has done things or has had things happen to him that I would NEVER approve of and that I DON’T condone in any way, shape, or form. These are simply things that... just happened to him, shaping him into the character he is now. Please don’t think I’m fetishizing or romanticizing anything here or something like that. SO, now that that’s out of the way, I present you... King’s full backstory!

     Hildred--now known as “King”--was born on October 7, to Garrett and Clarisse Brasher, who were both only seventeen years old--seniors in high school--when they had the baby. Garrett would eventually become a respected capo of the Giraldi Mafia family when he was around 23, though surprisingly enough, he had been a very emotional and sensitive man, perhaps unfitting for his line of work. Clarisse had gone to law school when she was 19, then becoming an attorney when she was 26--she was a very rude woman through and through, even to her husband and especially to her child.

     Because they had Hildred at such a young age, their respective parents had pressured the young couple into getting married as soon as they could, thus tying the knot the minute they graduated high school, 18 years old. However, it had been clear to just about anyone who knew either of them that their relationship wasn’t healthy in the slightest. They argued constantly. Garrett loved his wife more than anything in the world, and did everything he could in order to provide for her and their son, giving them more than enough money than the family probably needed. Clarisse, on the other hand, never showed any appreciation for her husband, and in fact came to resent both him and their baby--she had dreams of becoming a world-famous jazz singer, which Garrett had promised he could make happen for her when they had first gotten together in the first place, but because of their hassle with the young pregnancy and to get married so quickly, it never happened for her. So Clarisse blamed the both of them for that. While Garrett was not home, she would very frequently physically and verbally abuse Hildred. She and Garrett later had two other children, Zariah and Connor, years later.

     It wasn’t long until Garrett’s way of life was, of course, the Mafia. Though he was a good man, his morality was astray--he thought that money was what made people happy, and so he worked hard in any way he could to make that money for his family--even if that involved committing crime, such as loansharking, gambling, extortion, political corruption, and even murder. These were all things that Garrett viewed as bad, but had good outcomes in the long-run. If he killed somebody, yes, it was sad and he would regret it, but in the end, the money he gets from that would make his wife and children happy--and wasn’t that what really mattered?

     So, with that mentality in mind, Garrett had wanted that same fortune for his son as he got older. He raised Hildred to someday become a made man in the Mafia himself, to know exactly what his job was like--unlike most Mafioso parents, who would typically keep their line of work a complete and utter secret from their family. Garrett taught Hildred how to shoot a gun. He taught Hildred how to intimidate people if anyone ever gave him trouble. He taught Hildred to always throw the first punch in a fight. He taught Hildred to never tell anyone, even close friends, what Garrett did for a living. And Hildred was a quick learner--he did exactly as his father told him to.

     But instead of growing up bold and noble like Garrett had planned him to, Hildred grew up to be quite a bully as a child, violent and arrogant, and had anger issues like you could never believe, even given his young age. He had absolutely no friends growing up. He got into fights constantly with his fellow students at school, cussed out teachers, made poor grades, all very much to the dismay of his father, who could only gently tell Hildred that this behavior was going to get him nowhere in life, but it only did so much. The child’s terrible attitude and mentality carried with him throughout most of his life, up to the age of 16 or so, if not older.

     When Hildred was 13 years old, he had managed to court a girl, an 18-year-old cheerleader in his school, named Lainey Chung. Many of their peers were surprised by the fact that Lainey, one of the most popular girls in school, would date this overweight bastard delinquent with no friends, but in truth, the only reason Lainey went out with Hildred was for the sex--which he had assumed was perfectly normal, given it was his first relationship. Hildred lost his virginity to Lainey within the first two days of dating each other--and their relationship came to an abrupt end when he had found out that she was cheating on him with a senior football player, Trystan Carballal, after only one week of dating.

     Ironically enough, despite his temper, Hildred did not fight Trystan over this. Admittedly, he hadn’t really grown that attached to Lainey--they didn’t last very long, after all. Actually, Trystan and Lainey didn’t last long, either. They broke up after a few months for the exact same reason Hildred had broken up with Lainey for--she cheated on him. Though unlike Hildred, Trystan was genuinely hurt by this, and came to Hildred after they had broken up, because he knew that they were in the same boat now.

     Trystan was then Hildred’s first real friend, though it was a little awkward between them at first. It wasn’t long until Trystan told to Hildred in confidence that he was bisexual, but was terrified of the truth coming out to the rest of the school. Of course Hildred didn’t care what Trystan’s sexuality was, and thought nothing of it at first--until it made Hildred begin to realize that he was developing the same feelings for Trystan that he had developed for Lainey, realizing that he may be bisexual as well. Or gay. Maybe straight. He was never quite sure. One thing he knew, though, was that he liked Trystan--that much he could be sure of.

     Eventually there came a time that Hildred would tell his feelings to Trystan. He was delighted when the feelings were requited, and the two formed a relationship--although it remained a secret from everyone, since they both were in the closet.

     However, he came to realize that Trystan was not too far off from Lainey. He never cheated on him, but used the younger boy for sex constantly. Again, Hildred just guessed that this was normal for every relationship, and could never bring himself to say no whenever Trystan would make any advances on him, just wanting to make him happy--and afraid of the consequences if he said no. There came a point where Hildred just became blindly obedient to the senior football player, answering to his every request like a puppy wagging its tail when its owner calls.

     One day Trystan told his boyfriend, “there’s a car park down in Manhattan where you can make extra money by having sex with older men,” inviting Hildred to do this with him, “for support,” as Trystan referred to it. At first Hildred was obviously very hesitant about this, but because he didn’t want to disappoint him, he agreed to it, and began going down to that car park after school with Trystan, where he would perform sexual favors for these older men, mostly middle-aged, nearly every day. At the time, he honestly thought nothing of it, or didn’t fully realize the affect this would seriously have on him both mentally and physically until it was far too late.

     This went on for about two years. On one particular night, while waiting for the subway to go back home, coming back from this car park, the 14-year-old Hildred hadn’t even noticed a man stalking him. Judging from this man’s appearance alone, he must have been in his mid-thirties to early forties. Hildred was all alone, this being a rather secluded area unbeknownst to hardly anyone. So, with no witnesses around, the man grabbed Hildred from behind, dragging him into a nearby alleyway. The attacker knocked the boy down, then smashed his face onto the ground with one hand and ripped his pants off with the other. He does not remember anything after that, other than waking up in the hospital with his father, his 7-year-old sister and 3-year-old brother by the side of the bed, sobbing as they worried about Hildred’s well being. This was how his parents finally found out about what Hildred had been doing every day after school, which of course Hildred had never dared to tell them before. This put a bit of a rift between him and his parents--his mother especially. His father did not blame him for what happened to him, but only wished that he wouldn’t have kept all of this a secret for so long. After Garrett had found out what those men had done to Hildred, he gathered people from Giraldi--the Mafia family he worked for--to raid the car park, killing every pervert there and shutting the entire place down. Trystan was obviously upset about this, knowing it had been his boyfriend’s father to have done this, and so he broke up with Hildred, leaving the younger boy in shambles.

     After he healed and returned to school, Hildred was obviously deeply hurt by everything that had happened, and by the breakup with Trystan. He couldn’t even tell anyone that he had just gotten molested. Only his parents knew--and that hadn’t even been his own choice. He had, however, reached out to a rape crisis helpline one time in secret, but was told very matter-of-factly by the woman operator on the other end, “This number is only for girls and women--men are the abusers. Women are the victims,” and she hung up to, “terminate the call so that they can help real victims.” Given this was in the early 2000s, male rape was not really considered real by many people at the time--especially not a male of his bulk. Though he was young, he was already nearing six feet tall and was vastly overweight. So, aside from the support only from his father, Hildred was completely and utterly alone on this, forced to keep silent.

     The only other person that Hildred went out of his way to seek help from was his mother, Clarisse--which turned out to be a mistake. When Hildred had anxiously asked if he could perhaps see a professional about this, a therapist, she only got angry and shouted at him. “It’s your own fucking fault that you’re a goddamn mess, ain’t it? Grow up! You went to that car park in your own free will! You’re just a whore--I’ve got a slut for a son. How do you think that makes me feel, huh?”

     And then Hildred began to cry.

     This angered Clarisse even more. Since Garrett wasn’t home at the time, Clarisse saw no problem in grabbing the boy and forcibly drugging him in order to shut him up and keep quiet--but that’s not all it was for, either. She had then took his clothes off, tied him to the kitchen table, where she then performed a botched enema on him. He hadn’t even completely passed out, lying awake while this all happened, but because of his dazed state, he couldn’t even do anything to stop it.

     Afterwards, being without the help that he clearly needed, Hildred still had a bad tendency to sleep around with older men he would meet up with, and the other students in school--most of them boys, several girls. At this point, the fights he frequently got into, just his over all anger issues, were still very much prevalent, but now he just desperately wanted to fill the void where Lainey and Trystan (particularly the latter) had been--and at this point, he firmly believed that the only thing he was ever any good for was sex, figuring that was the key to making people like him. His perception of healthy relationships was completely warped now, and he was willing to accept just about anybody that came into his life.

     Rumors did spread throughout the school of Hildred’s past in the car park, though no one knew for certain if it was true. One of his teachers, Mr. Chance Ortiz, had heard about this, and instead of talking to Hildred about it, the man simply came to resent the student for it, though he never said why. In the beginning, this wasn’t so bad--he would simply do things like “lose” Hildred’s schoolwork, deliberately giving him poor grades, the like. Hildred, being the delinquent he was, didn’t take kindly to this treatment, and began to act out towards this particular teacher than he ever had with anyone else before. He started playing pranks on the teacher weekly--super-gluing his desk-drawer from opening, putting an apple in the tailpipe of his car, throwing water balloons out of the second story window right onto the teacher down below, even putting laxatives in his coffee. This “war”, as the other students called it, went on for about two years, up until Hildred was 16 years old.

     Finally there came a time that Hildred inevitably got detention for this. He was now 16, sitting inside Mr. Ortiz’s classroom after school all by himself, accompanied only by Ortiz himself. Hildred attempted to strike up conversation with the man--nothing too bad. Simply things like, “hey, when am I getting out of here again?” and, “you know, I don’t really think I did anything wrong.” This went on for a while before Ortiz snapped at the student, saying, “My God! Is everyone in your family this infuriating?!”

     It was common knowledge that Hildred’s parents both had attended this same school when they were younger. In Garrett’s youth, he had been a troublemaker as well--perhaps not quite as much as Hildred, though. Ortiz had taught Garrett and Clarisse years ago, so he knew full well how much of a handful Hildred’s parents were--particularly his father.

     This comment made Hildred pause, and he asked him, “how is my family infuriating, exactly?”

     “I knew your father when he was a teenager,” Ortiz said, as if Hildred didn’t already know the obvious. “He was just like you are now. Rebellious, obnoxious, annoying, loud. A whore, he slept around--though I would imagine he must be no different nowadays. He had you, after all.” Then he went on to say something that he clearly did not mean to say aloud, but slipped: “Dumb father, even dumber son.”

     This set the student completely over the edge as he got up from his seat, throwing his desk behind him and charging his way towards the teacher. Ortiz then realized he made a mistake--this boy was obviously not above hitting a teacher. He tried to run, but Hildred had caught him by the throat before he could make his escape. Hildred then proceeded to ram the older man’s face against the wall over and over until his face was completely unrecognizable. Ortiz was lucky to survive. He was sent to the hospital for a month, and resigned from his job shortly after that incident.

     After this, Hildred was permanently expelled from the school, and was forced to transfer. His father, greatly disappointed that his son could have done this, had insisted he go to a Catholic school. Hildred transferred to Lakeside Catholic School, an all-boys school.

     It was in Lakeside that Hildred met a boy named Luca Masini, a short, quiet bookworm, the son of a preacher who worked as an altar boy after school. Hildred found him cute, so he striked up a conversation with him. Surprisingly, it didn’t take long for them to bond--Luca seemingly had no other friends, and neither did Hildred. So, they definitely found solace in that.

     Lakeside Catholic School would often have dances so that the boys may interact with the all-girls school once in a while--particularly around the holidays. In this instance, it was around Christmas. It being Hildred’s first few months there, he was honestly somewhat excited to go--but he didn’t want to go alone. Seeing as Luca was the only friend he had, Hildred had practically begged him to go with him, but Luca was never one for much social interaction with large groups of people, so at first he refused. But Hildred never gave up, and eventually convinced the other boy to go.

     However, Hildred and Luca did not spend much time together as they had planned when the dance finally came around. Luca was admittedly cast aside a bit when Hildred had met three girls--a group of friends--named Amber Kennedy, Veronica Delgado, and Kiera Pickett. Amber was a short, bubbly girl who had been set on flirting with Hildred the minute she’d walked into the room. Veronica was just awkward, but sweet nonetheless, though Amber loved to insult and berate her for everything. And Kiera was quiet, often moody and was the only one of the three who pretty much refused to talk to Hildred, immediately deciding she hated him--perhaps she’d heard the rumors about him, though Hildred couldn’t be sure.

     He hit it off with Amber nearly right away. They sneaked out of the dance and into the school bathrooms, where they did it then and there, leaving Luca, Veronica and Kiera to their own devices as they cast them aside. And once they were finished up with that, Amber had given the boy her phone number, telling him, “Call me as soon as you can, okay? We should sooo do this again sometime! Outside of school and whatnot. I’d love to get to know you better!”

     And sure enough, during the following days, Hildred and Amber began to date.

     It quickly turned out that Amber was no better than Lainey or Trystan, and thus Hildred once again fell into the vicious cycle of letting himself be used for sex in this relationship. Amber was a sex addict through and through, as if it was all she ever thought about, despite being only 16--for what reason, Hildred could never be sure as he never tried to pry into her personal life, but he was sure she must have been through something awful in her life. But regardless, the rare moments when he would tell her that he didn’t want to have sex, she’d often get violent--of course not being able to do too much damage seeing as she was much smaller and weaker than him, but she’d often throw things across the room like plates and such, landing him with quite a few cuts here and there. She’d also threaten to harm or even kill herself if he ever refused to do it with her, and as such he could never really say no to her.

     An entire year into this toxic relationship, it had been Luca who had caught Amber cheating on Hildred--he’d been staying after school to talk to one of his teachers, Mr. Huber, where he then saw the 62-year-old man with Amber, who must have visited all the way from the all-girls’ school to meet up with him. Luca immediately ran, the teacher literally chased him, yelling at the boy that he’d kill him. The altar boy eventually found a hiding place at the side of the school building, where he then called Hildred and asked him to pick him up as fast as he could, that he was in trouble and that he had something to tell him. Hildred did exactly as he was told, picking Luca up and driving off to his house, where Luca told him everything that he’d just seen. Mr. Huber was soon fired from his job and, of course, arrested.

     After hearing of this, Hildred finally broke up with Amber, which surprisingly to him, left her in tears. He felt bad--when he thought of taking her back shortly after, Luca had to tell him, “Don’t you dare! She's downright awful, Hildred! You deserve so much better than that...” And so... he didn’t! He completely cut Amber out of his life for quite some time, and rightfully so.

     Then Amber visited him at his house after several months of not talking, much to Hildred’s surprise. It had been late at night while both of his parents and siblings were asleep, and he was the only one up. And it was there, right outside of the house, right at the doorstep, that Amber cried and sobbed and begged Hildred to take her back and that she could get better. He tried to refuse at first, but inevitably came the moment she told him through pouring tears, “Please--please, Hildred! I- I’ll... I’ll kill myself! I- I’ll shoot myself in the fucking head, or I’ll slit my wrists, s- so please! Please take me back!”

     This completely set Hildred over the edge. He wanted so desperately to say ‘don’t do it, I’ll stay with you,’ feeling obligated to say yes to her every command--as he had always felt for every single person who’d taken advantage of him. But he had to remember what Luca had told him. She was downright awful. He deserved so much better. He deserved so much better.

     But what he couldn’t keep under control was the voice in his head repeating over and over to him, a voice that sounded oddly like his father for some strange reason:

‘Kill her.  Kill her. Kill her. Kill her. Kill her. Kill her. Kill her. Kill her.’

     And so, without even thinking, Hildred had grabbed his ex-girlfriend by the throat, pulling the girl into the house, and strangled her to death. Fine--if she wanted to kill herself so badly, he’d just do it for her. She, of course, died, and Hildred couldn’t tell if what he felt afterwards was relief or regret. Perhaps... both? Regardless... he had never killed anyone before. When he finally came back to his senses, he panicked, screaming as he ran upstairs to his parents. When he woke them up, they came downstairs only to find a dead girl in their living room. Clarisse screamed and hid in her room, and Garrett simply responded with, “Oh... Oh, jeez...”

     Hildred tried to explain, sobbing hysterically. “I- I don’t know what came over me, I- I don’t--I- I- I jus’--!! Sh- She said she’d kill herself if I didn’t... i- if I didn’t take her back, I- I couldn’t control it, I- I couldn’t--!”

     Surprisingly, Garrett was not all that mad. He was shocked, for sure, but not mad. “Hildred, it’s... it’s okay! It’s okay. I’ll take care of this, okay? You’ll be alright. I promise.”

     Then Clarisse’s voice sounded from up the stairs, though she still refused to look at the body. “You can’t get rid of the body! Somebody might’ve seen her come here. If she gets reported missing, that’s going to seem suspicious...”

     “It’s gonna be suspicious if she’s found dead in our home, Clarisse!” Garrett said.

     "Yep, it sure will be. But, I... I’m an attorney--I can get him through this, I think.”

     Hildred sniffled. “Y- You mean... you’ll lie for me?”

     “Sure.”

     And so the wisest thing Clarisse said to do was immediately call the police--which Garrett did, albeit reluctantly. He explained to the police that the girl had come to the house with the intent to kill Hildred and tried to attack him, and he acted out of self-defense by hitting her in the head with a pan. Afterwards, Garrett had put on gloves to take a frying pan from the kitchen, bashed it over the dead Amber’s head to get it and her head nice and bloody.

     The police easily fell for all the lies that the family told them. Months later Clarisse begrudgingly lied to the court as her son’s attorney, and at first they bought everything she told them, up until the rival attorney cross examined Hildred, practically asking him question after question until he broke down and confessed.

     “Why was Amber Kennedy at your house, Hildred?” the other attorney--the Kennedy family’s attorney--asked him.

     “She... She wanted t’ get back with me after I broke up with her.”

     “Really? So, where were your parents in this ordeal? Where were they when you in... self-defense?”

     “Th- They were asleep...”

     “They didn’t hear the screams from the both of you when you fought?”

     “I- I guess not, ahah...”

     “You’d think something like that would be quite loud, wouldn’t it? Don’t you have little siblings, Hildred?”

     “...Y- Yeah, I do...”

     “Now, if your parents didn’t wake up, sure--but children have a very keen hearing sense, don’t they? Why didn’t they wake up?”

     “I- I don’t know... I- I don’t know, okay?!”

     “Would they not wake up and tell the parents if they heard or saw their brother fighting to the death with anyone?”

     “I- I don’t know!”

     “Or could it be that there were no screams at all, then? Was it a quiet death? Did you, perhaps, not hit her with a pan at all? Did you do something else? Like choke her?”

     Clarisse stood up from her stand then, defensive. “I- I object--!”

     But Hildred had bursted into tears right then and there, before exclaiming, “Y- Yes! I killed her, okay?! I- I choked her, I choked her! Sh- She said she’d kill herself if I didn’t take her back, a- and I got angry--I don’t know what came over me, I- I’m sorry, I’m sorry...!!”

     The rival attorney smirked, then said, “The defense rests, your honor,” before going back to his seat.

     And with that new confession to Amber’s death, Hildred was put into jail, and Clarisse had been fired from her job once it was found out she was lying for her son. Hildred was originally going to get seven years for committing murder, but thanks to the help of the boss of Giraldi--Malcolm Willis--paying people off, Hildred was able to get out in just two years, when he was 20 years old.

     While in jail, however, somebody had come to visit him quite frequently. Veronica Delgado, who was already a good friend of Hildred at that point. Surprisingly to him, Veronica completely understood why Hildred did what he did, and didn’t blame him at all. They eventually started dating, even despite Hildred being imprisoned.

     After getting out, Hildred and Veronica were able to be happy for a long while. Luckily Veronica was nothing like any of his exes were. She never abused him, never used him for sex, never got violent, none of that. She was genuinely sweet and understood him--a feeling which he’d never got to experience in a relationship before.

     But, on the other hand, Hildred had grown so attached to Veronica because of the fact that this was his first healthy relationship, that he was often overly clingy to the point it became a bit mentally abusive towards Veronica. Hildred, much like with what Amber had done before she was killed, would often threaten to harm or kill himself if Veronica tried to leave him, or he would threaten to kill anyone that she talked to that he became jealous of. He was possessive. Very, very possessive.

     And eventually, after Hildred had suggested to Veronica that they “get married someday,” Veronica just couldn’t handle his behavior anymore, and Hildred discovered her body hanging by rope in their room the next day. She had hung herself, all because Hildred had scared her too much from trying to break up with him someday, and terrified that she’d have to marry him.

     After Veronica’s death, a few days later, Hildred--who was now an utter wreck--had been sitting in a bar, drinking away his sorrows, when a familiar girl had approached him. Not to flirt, but rather, to call him out. It was Kiera Pickett, who had been a good friend of Amber and Veronica--particularly the latter. Kiera had attempted to kill Hildred, plunging a pocket knife through his left eye, blinding him in the eye. Luckily, Kiera was held back by security before she could do anything more, and she was carried away by police as she screamed, “You ruined my life, y- you killed them, you kill both of them, fuck you, fuck you, y- you goddamn WHORE--!!” And Hildred never saw Kiera again after that encounter, although he’d heard that she was put into a psychiatric hospital. Hildred himself was hospitalized for the injured eye and was released a week later, though he was now permanently half blind.

     Of course, this put him further into his depressive state as yet another relationship failed for him. At the very least Luca was still there to comfort him. He was the one who suggested to Hildred that he ought to get therapy now, see a professional about his clearly declining mental health--and he did for a very short while, but it didn’t last for long as he simply stopped going after a few weeks or so. Luca did, however, eventually confess feelings for Hildred in this span of time, which were very much reciprocated. So he and Luca began dating, and this time Hildred tried his best to keep his possessiveness and his temper under control, even if it was hard at times. He wasn’t going to lose Luca like he’d lost Veronica this time. They got married that year.

     One particular day, Hildred and Luca had both been on their way to Hildred’s father’s house for a nice visit, passing by a small pond which wasn’t far off from the house. However, at the pond Luca stopped in his tracks, grabbing his husband by the arm and pointed towards what he saw. It was Garrett’s body, floating face down in the water with blood everywhere. He’d been murdered.

     Out of sheer panic, Hildred had attempted to go into the murky water to drag his father’s body out, hoping that perhaps he may still be alive--though it was obvious that he wasn’t--but unfortunately for him he’d never even learned to swim, so this was a clear mistake as he nearly drowned. It’d been Luca who had to pull Hildred back, asking him, “What were you trying to achieve?!” but Hildred could only respond with sobs and screams. Garrett had just died. He was dead. His dad was dead. He could never get him back.

     Detectives never figured out who it was that killed Garrett--or whoever it was, they must have paid them off to keep it covered. Regardless, Hildred never found out. And now, it was during this time that Malcolm Willis, the boss of Giraldi, personally came to Hildred to give his condolences, and to ask him to work for him in his late consigliere’s place. That same week Malcolm’s consigliere, or basically his right-hand man, had died of natural causes, and Malcolm had personally chosen Hildred to be his new consigliere, especially seeing as he knew Garrett probably would have wanted it. Despite being an absolute wreck now, Hildred had assumed it would be what his father wanted, so he agreed to it, becoming the consigliere to the boss.

     As Hildred quickly came to learn, Giraldi’s hideout was in a large restaurant by the name of Cavallero, which was owned by Malcolm himself as a cover-up for the crimes Giraldi would commit. Everybody from Giraldi was nearly always found here, including Hildred now, who of course always brought Luca with him.

     One particular day, however, while Hildred and Luca were now 24 years old, they both hadn’t noticed a car following theirs as they made their way to Cavallero. Not too long after Hildred and Luca had walked into the restaurant, the people from the car which had been following them came in as well with guns, shooting the entire place up and killing most of the people inside. One of the many who died, much to the dismay of Hildred, was Luca, who fell dead to the ground beside him.

     Hildred hid until it was all over and the attackers were finally sent packing. There were a few survivors, such as Malcolm. However, Hildred was not found in the restaurant after that. He just... went missing. Several people got out of the building as it caught on fire, and it then exploded, killing anybody who hadn’t gotten out yet. Hildred was pronounced dead, and the Cavallero building has long since been rebuilt, now even better than it’d been before.

[weasleyismyking540]

Hogwarts Mystery Stories: Feelings and Jumpers

Characters: Bill Weasley, Charlie Weasley, Alana Jordan (MC)

Just a little story that popped into my head when I finally got Bill’s Weasley jumper. Hope you like!!

It had been a tradition in the Weasley family since Bill was a baby that his mum would knit the family jumpers for Christmas with the initial of their first names on them. Each Christmas without fail, Bill always got a brown jumper with a gold W knitted on the front. Though Bill would have rather had a nice blue jumper like his father would get, he never complained, especially because the jumpers were hands down the warmest things he owned.

The tradition didn’t stop when Bill started Hogwarts. In Bill’s second year, whe  he didnt go home for the holidays, his mum sent him a nice package with homemade fudge, knitted gloves with a matching hat and scarf, and of course, his Weasley jumper. Though he got the mickey taken out on him for a few weeks, he still wore the jumper, and cherished it even more because it was sent to school for him.

Now it was no secret around Hogwarts that Bill had grown very fond of 4th year Alana Jordan. He had met her in his 4th year, when the young 2nd year Gryffindor needed to learn how to cast Incendio to get past the cursed ice. Since then, they had been on many adventures, each more dangerous than the last, but still thrilling and exciting. He had come to consider Alana as one of his best mates.

Which is why when Christmas came along, he had the perfect gift to give her.

“Is this one of your jumpers, Bill?” asked  a surprised Alana when she opened her gift in one of the cabins of the Hogwarts Express. They were on their way home  and Bill wanted to see her face when she opened his gift.

“Sure is,” said Bill proudly. “My first year  jumper to be exact. I figured that one would fit you nicely.”

Alana let out a girlish squeal as she slipped the jumper over her body. She could instantly feel the warmth of the jumper spread all over, not just what the jumper was covering. It wasn’t exactly snug, but it did drape comfortably over her, like a wearable blanket.

Alana pulled the collar over her nose an inhaled. The jumper smelled of what she imagined Bill’s home smelled like: cookies, spices, fresh linen, and a bit of burnt logs. Probably from Bill wearing it near the fireplace at school. One of Bill’s favorite spots to study was on the floor in front of the fireplace.

“Thank you, Bill!! I’m going to wear this jumper til the letter falls off.” said Alana enthusiastically, giving Bill a big hug around his waist, as he was significantly taller than her.

Just then, Charlie and Rowan walked in, arms weighed down with treats from the trolley and speaking merrily. They paused as they looked at the scene they had walked into. Charlie felt his ears tingle as they turned red with blush.

“Are we interrupting?” asked Rowan in a playfully suspicious voice.

Alana smiled as she unlatched from Bill’s waist. “Oh no, nothing at all. I was just thanking Bill for the lovely early Christmas gift he just gave me.

Alana turned so the big gold W was showing to her friends. Rowan smiled happily, while Charlie felt even more uneasy.

"I always knew you were the favorite,” joked Rowan as she sat down with her treats.

“Now now Rowan, I got you a gift too.” laughed Bill as he sat down and snatched a cauldron cake from Rowan’s arms. “You’ll just have to wait for Christmas to get it.”

Charlie continued to stand, looking awkwardly at Alana, trying to find words to say.

“It…..it suits you,” he said, putting the treats down and scratching the back of his neck, a move he often did when he was nervous. “It’s like you’re an honorary Weasley or something.”

Alana smiled. “An honorary Weasley? Really? Brilliant!! I think it would be lovely to be a member of your clan. All the stories you tell of your brothers and sister. They are truly fascinating.”

“Yeah,” said Charlie, sitting down. “Fascinating.”

The rest of the trip went without a hitch.  For Alana and Rowan that is, who were happily chatting over classes and gossiping about other students. Bill on the other hand, spent the next few hours avoiding monstrous gazes from his younger brother on the other side of the cabin. He couldn’t figure out why it seemed like all of a sudden Charlie wanted to take his head off.

When they arrived at King’s Cross, they all said their goodbyes, with Charlie awkwardly giving Alana a hug. That’s when it hit Bill. And he couldn’t wait to get home and address it.

After dinner and helping get the twins, Ron, and Ginny to bed, Bill went up to Charlie’s room that he had shared with Percy. Percy had wanted to go to their Great Aunt Muriel’s for the night, so Charlie had the room to himself.

“Alright Dragon Boy, out with it.” said Bill as he closed Charlie’s room door and sat on Percy’s empty bed. “Why were you giving me the avada kedavra stare on the way home?”

“Sod off,” mumbled Charlie as he unpacked his trunk.

“Sod off? Really?” said Bill, shocked that Charlie was speaking to him like that. “So you’re that cross with me? What did I do?”

“Forget it.”

“Come on, Charlie. Out with it. I don’t want you going to bed mad at me, especially when I don’t know what I did.”

Charlie sighed,  but said nothing. Bill continued to sit and wait to see if Charlie would open up.

“You know,” began Charlie, as he hung up his jacket, “it must be so wonderful to be the oldest. You get everything first. All the love, all the clothes, all the praise, and you always get first pick of whatever you want. ”

Bill looked at his brother in confusion. So this wasn’t about Alana. Now he was even more lost.

“You sound mental and I have no idea what you’re talking about.” he said.

“You always have to have everything first!” blurted out Charlie as he slammed his dragon book onto his desk. “Every single thing, you always have to have first call at it. Hell, why can’t I get a chance first? Why do you always have to claim everything before your sibling even gets a chance to speak?”

Bill thought about what Charlie said, and chuckled. So he was right.

“So this is about Lonnie, isn’t it?” asked Bill, trying not to crack a smile.

Charlie opened his mouth wide to protest. Then, he sighed, dropping his shoulders and plopping onto his bed.

“Okay, so maybe I fancy her a little..”

“Ta!! So that’s what all that staring was about on the train!!” said Bill, slapping his knee and laughing.

“Don’t you dare laugh.” warned Charlie.

“I’m sorry, Charlie,” said Bill, bring his loud laughter down to a grin. “It’s just I should have known. It was so obvious how you were since you met her.”

“It isn’t that obvious, is it?” said Charlie, rubbing the back of his neck while his ears were turning red.

“Oh, it is. The way you look at her sometimes is like how you look when you read Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.”

“I guess it doesn’t matter to you how I feel, does it?” said Charlie viciously. “ Seems like you’ve already staked your claim on her from what I’ve seen.”

“Mate, do you mean me giving her my old jumper?” asked Bill.

“A right Sherlock, you are,” said Charlie, crossing his arms.

Bill couldn’t help but to burst out with laughter. This made Charlie even more irate.

“This is amusing to you??” said Charlie through gritted teeth.

“It certainly is,” laughed Bill as he held his sides.

Charlie felt his anger rising as he dropped his head. He wanted nothing more than to hex Bill’s mouth off his face. How dare his brother act so insensitive to his feelings. And right to his face too.

Bill wiped the tears from the laughter from his eyes and looked over at Charlie’s hurt and angry face. His laughter died down immediately.

“Merlin, do I have to spell it out?” said Bill. “I don’t fancy Alana, okay?”

Charlie’s head shot up with a quickness. “Are you having me on?” he asked.

“No, not at all.” replied Bill kindly. “Alana has always been like Ginny to me. Like my very own Hogwarts sister. And I’m pretty sure she probably feels the same way. I only gave her the jumper because she is that way to me. Plus, it was too small anyways, and I didnt want to waste a nice jumper. You know how Mum gets.”

Charlie felt a delightful shiver run down his spine.

“So, you don’t fancy her at all?” he asked quickly. He just had to be completely sure.

“Not a worry, mate. Though lovely, I dont fancy her like that in the slightest.  I never did.” reassured Bill.

Charlie sighed as he relaxed on his bed. “Right. Okay well, I feel a bit better then.” he said, laying down, the back of his head resting on his hand on his pillow.

“So,” said Bill slyly, “when are you going to tell her?”

Charlie’s eyes grew wide. “Tell her? Sometimes it feels like I can barely speak to her.”

“Come off it, I’ve heard you have many conversations with Alana.”

“Yeah, about dragons, creatures, and schoolwork. Never about….you know…..feelings.”

“That’s true.”

“Besides,” said Charlie in a morose tone, “I think that she fancies Andre. I’ve overheard her and Rowan talking about it in Care of Magical Creatures before.”

Bill nodded. He didn’t want to tell his little brother that he in fact knew for sure that Andre was who Alana did indeed fancy. However, he also knew that Alana was very fond of Charlie, and could tell that she didn’t view him in a sibling like manor as she viewed himself. He felt that maybe there could be a spark there, and that something could happen.

If only Charlie would try and assert himself.

“She’s 14, girls minds are flighty at 14,” said Bill with a nonchalant shrug. “Maybe if you showed that you did fancy her, she may come around to you. Girls are attracted to confidence. You’ll lose what you desire if you stay hanging in the background, mate.”

“You think so?” asked Charlie.

“I know so.” said Bill, sitting down to Charlie’s laying form. “Don’t sit around like a prat and expect her to come to you. Go to her. Ask her to a Hogsmeade day, just the pair of you. Hell, there has been rumors of a ball happening soon. If those rumors end up being true, ask her to the ball. You can do it, Charlie.”

Charlie sat up, a newfound feeling of hope started to grow inside of him. “You’re right. I should. Perhaps I’ll ask her to Hogsmeade when I see her on the train after New Years.”

Bill smiled proudly at his brother. “That’s the spirit, mate.”

“Thanks, old man,” said Charlie, giving Bill a handshake. “I can’t wait to get back to school now!!”

Bill grinned at Charlie, giving him a hard pat on the back that made Charlie cough. “And here I thought you would never be interested in anything other than dragons.” he chuckled.

“Yeah, well, sod off.”

[momo-de-avis]

So I read your big personal post and I'm furious. It makes me see red that adults can watch children be treated like ants and feel ok to ignore it. I wanna say I'm truly sorry that you had to go through all of that, and I hope you can grow free-er and free-er from it in the future 💕 A question, though: how can you still keep in touch with them? I'm trying my hardest to leave home and run away from these demons or else I'll never be happy, how and why do you do it? If you wanna answer, of course

Thank anon, your words mean a lot to me and rest assured I may not have the strength every single day to do it, but at least I’m conscious about my effort and just... keep going the best I can. And I do believe one day I’ll manage to look back and say ‘boy, did I grow up’. There are days when I do already and it feels revigorating, to say the least.

And I don’t mind at all answering. I share these things about my life because where I stand I have at least learned a few things (I do have my therapist to thank for that) and by sharing that it might help others.

There’s a lesson I learned with her that became super important in balancing out who I am and who I am with my family. It has to do with that feeling of guilt that comes with the whole experience. Because one thing I did hear a lot was how ungrateful I was, a kid who didn’t care about her family, who wasn’t there for them, etc etc. And because my experience as a kid within the foundation of family can be translated with ‘left to my own, trying to find my own way of surviving and growing’ what that resulted in was forcing me to try and change others.

Which is a lost battle. And that’s what I had to learn the hard way.

To quote my therapist: it’s a dangerous thing to believe you can change others, but it’s important to learn that you can change the environment around you by changing your attitude.

A few weeks back, I was talking about Christmas with her, because she knows Christmas is that time of the year when crippling depression strikes like a goddamn lover, although it’s been getting better with every year. Mostly because ever since I started spending Christmas with my bf’s family (who are the prime example of just... how a family should be, so much it fucking threw me off my balance the first time I met them like---holy shit this is a real fucking family), I finally got the perspective of the two opposites. And I was telling my therapist that there was one thing I learned, given my current situation, that made christmas with my family a lot more bearable.

I can just... leave. Like, if they piss me off, I can just get up and say goodnight and off I go. This isn’t something most people can do, because they’re not given that liberty. But what was new here was that I actually allowed myself to say and believe that. Because my whole life I was dragged back and forth between family shit where I guilt-tripped into taking part of these celebrations and it ruined the experience for me, and it forced me to withstand all of it against my will. So to tell myself ‘you don’t have to put up with this shit, actually, you can just leave’ was a turning point for me.

And this came out of a VERY long process of accepting who those people are. I remember the appointment I had right after Christmas, I told her: I remember sitting at the table with my family and thinking: wow.. I genuinely don’t like these people. I don’t see myself in them at all, and they have nothing to do with me, and I want nothing but distance and the bare minimum of contact. I just don’t fit in.

To learn about who you are in this scenario, you have to learn about who the people around you are. You have to accept that trying to change them will only lead you to more frustration. The best you can do is learn to adapt enough that it doesn’t corrupt you but it doesn’t expose you to danger (it’s basically why there’s an encouragement to let LGBTQ people remain closeted if they choose to out of self-perseverance, even if they have already come out to their friends---because you act a different way with your family, and sometimes that means survival). Now, granted, that’s a hell of a learning process---at best, a trial and error kind. But it’s one of the ways to preserve yourself.

I really had to accept that these people, the way they are, is more than something that is susceptible to change. There’s a whole ritual to the way they exist. My mom is stuck in the past, and she projects that onto both of us---she treats my brother like he’s still a 14 year old in private school, and me like I’m still a teenager, to the point where she refuses to memorize the things that changed about us past that age, like how she doesn’t understand how I don’t like that band I used to listen to at 15. My brother comes up with fucked up rituals that were never there, but exist to paint a picture of ‘how-it-should-be’, of good manners and eloquence, to the point where he literally comes up with memories that never existed (he still believes that we used to eat Fatias Douradas on Christmas, when the entire family has reiterated that my grandmother never even cooked them---and that's is why every single Christmas he buys them, only to throw them in the garbage because no one ate them). That puts me in the position of the old portuguese saying: in the land of the blind, the one who sees is a king. And the moment it snapped in my mind that these people were living a fantasy to cover up for the atrocities they committed against each other, for the fucked up things they’re stuffing in the back of their minds in pure denial, I sort of became at peace with that. Because it gave me more confidence in myself.

When I told my therapist recently about how witnessing my nephew’s behaviour was like watching a script I had written, because I predicted every single thing about it, she asked me why did that matter to me. And I told her ‘because I was validated by none other than myself. It means I understand their dynamic, it means I know now how they work a little better. And I know now there is very little I can do, so I chose to step aside.’

So, to answer your question, in all honesty, there are a series of external factors that came into play. Without them, I certainly wouldn’t have made it as well as I did. The fact that I was so quickly and easily embraced by my bf’s family was a breath of fresh air, and it was the one thing I never got as a kid and what I am so thankful for. It gave me perspective and it’s still teaching me a sense of belonging. That sort of puts my mind to ease, so that when I face my family, I’m more relaxed because I understand my place a lot better, and I understand that the place they want me to fulfil isn’t normal, not for me and I don’t have to fulfil it if I don’t want to.

The fact that I can just get up and leave whenever I want helps a lot. I have accepted that my family is like a retail job. I can only stand that shit for no longer than 8 hours a day, and 8h to me is too damn much. I would say 5h. When I’m with them, it’s never for any longer than that because otherwise I’ll go crazy.

And then there’s bit... In all honesty, I see my mom a lot more than I see my brother (I must see him like, some 5 times a year), and I can tolerate and accept her presence a lot more. I guess I do have the ability to forgive, and that’s what allows me to move forward, because the fact remains that, when you grew up with an alienated mother and no maternal figure to rely on, and as a grown woman you finally see those attitudes your kiddie self wanted so much, you sort of succumb to it. You embrace it because you’ve craved it for so long, even if your inner goblin is screaming ‘IT’S TOO LATE NOW’. Most of the times, my mind is at conflict, thinking: this isn’t right, she doesn’t deserve this. But a part of me just really wants to move past that, forgive and accept that she has her own fucked up way of changing and showing support. There have been moments even when I thought ‘she acknowledged her faults, even if she will never say them allowed or ask for forgiveness’ and that sort of eased me (although I’m a leo... I forgive, but damn I don’t forget).

I think the main ingredient here is that I always felt left out and shunned by my family. But now, I feel like I’m the one leaving them out and shunning them. They don’t know what’s going on with my life, and although they don’t really ask, you can tell at times they try to pry. And I don’t tell them shit.

It’s funny, last session I told my therapist the one thing I would never share with my family was my writing because they never acknowledged it the way I needed it to be acknowledged, and that ruins the experience of writing for me. And that’s a bit how I balance tolerating them while being me. The things that are important to me, they’re locked away and they’re not touching them. All they get to live with is a cut-out version of myself that they think is the person they know, but someone completely different. I let them believe their own conceptions of myself while preserving my own achievements and the things I treasure to myself. 

It’s basically creating the persona they believe I am when I’m with them versus the person I really am everywhere else (trust me when I tell you they get completely baffled when they hear my friends say the most basic shit about myself---like how my mom got dumbfounded when she learned through my godmother that I actually did know a lot of drug addicts and dealers but stood away from using while not being the sort of person my brother is and dehumanize them. She really couldn’t conceive that I was that person because all her life she believed everything I did was because someone else did it and I followed. She is so keen on refusing to accept I do things out of my own free will she’s thrown off her balance when she learns that like, the pink hair thing in 2006 was actually sort of a trend setted in my school lmfao)

(oh shit this got WAY TOO LONG)

[sky-writes-daydreams]

How They Met Part Four

A/n: Heyo! So I’m about to go to bed. Thought I’d give you lovely people something. Just A head’s up. I am starting to post this on my AO3 as well so if some don’t like tumblr, hit it on there. I’ve only got part one currently but I’ll fix that tonight. :) So as always.. Enjoy and let me know if you want a tag. 

@valkyrieofardyn @mooshinspace @shigekihizashi

Next Chapter     Masterpost

I didn’t expect it to happen as quickly as it did. I was on the road towards the city when I got a call on my phone. I had it plugged into my radio so I had to pull over and answer it. I didn’t have this number in my phone after all.

“Hello?”

“Skylar? I’m one of dave’s friends. He told me to call this number.” I relaxed a bit then.

“Oh. Cool. What up?”

“Have you been to the region border recently?”

“No… Why?”

“We heard a rumor that the barricade fell. Something about an immortal and some kid hunters.” I stopped then and soon smiled.

“That insane man…. Hang on!” I quickly got my bluetooth earpiece on and connected it. I turned around then gunning it.

“I know who they might be talking about! If it’s true then we seriously owe those city boys.”

“They were city boys!?”

“Yep.” I kept going and soon drove straight through it laughing.

“It’s legit!!”

“No way!”

“Yes way! I just drove through the damn thing!” I pulled over then before pulling a u turn and hitting the road again. The suspension on my jeep made it a lot less bumpy for sure. I drove right back through smiling.

“Tell dave and the others the way is clear.”

“Got it hon. Where you going to be?”

“I’m hitting the city. I’ve got some city boys to catch.”

“Got it hon. See you around.”

“You know it.” I hung up then and soon just took off for lestallum. I couldn’t wait to talk to them again about this.

Sadly they weren’t in lestallum. I found some friends of theirs who knew where the boys went. I took off after thanking them and just smiled. I had a feeling those boys would have found out about Wiz’s chocobo post at some point. I set off for there happily. I loved the place growing up. Chocobos were awesome creatures and fun to ride honestly. I knew exactly where it was and soon pulled in. I could see regalia but the boys weren’t inside. I hopped out then despite the rain and ran up to Wiz. He smiled when he saw me.

“You’re a few minutes too late hon. Some new hunters just took the deadeye hunt.”

“Let me guess, some cute boys and one wanted to ride them?”

“How did you know?”

“They’re friends. I’m going to back them up.”

“Let them keep the bounty?”

“You know it.” He chuckled then.

“Go on then. Damien’s missed you hon. Been a month since you’ve come by.” I smiled then.

“I got trapped inside the wall for a bit…. How big is he now?”

“Go see before helping your friends hon.” I nodded and ran over. He was inside the stables with the others. Damien was originally almost ivory but after feeding him some interesting berries, he was now a dark blue. He had grown a good foot since I last saw him. I could easily ride him now. He even had the saddle on. He came to the door when he saw me and I petted him.

“Hey… Been a while. I missed you.” He made a noise then and nuzzled my hand. I just smiled and moved closer and gave him a kiss on the head.

“I’ll be back. Mama’s gonna help some boys kill deadeye so you can play outside ok? Then we’ll go for a ride. I’m sure he’s got some hunts.” He chirped then and nudged me to get going. I laughed then and gave him a slight ruffle before running. I had to catch up to those boys.

The good news is that even if I wasn’t a hunter, I could have followed. Deadeye left one hell of a mess to mark his path. I quickly set down it and listened. I could hear someone further ahead plus Deadeye getting pissy. The Behemoth was such a jerk. He almost got me killed one night by chasing me through the forest. Good news is I know hiding spots. I stopped by one and smiled. I could see the boys ahead of me. Deadeye was by the old metal tunnel leading to the next part of the forest and they were going to use it to sneak by. They let Prompto go last and I got an evil Idea. I adjusted my gear and once I knew it was clear, I slid into the tunnel. Prompto was making just enough noise to cover me as well.

They had no clue until I grabbed his ankles making him fall. The others looked back ready to fight but quickly froze.

“Skylar!?” Ignis was sure as hell shocked I was here. I waved and Prompto looked back. He was panicked.

“Did you really have to do that!?”

“Um… No. But it was fun! Now let’s go! I’m your backup in case this goes south!” We crawled out and I quickly gave him a one armed hug.

“You’re not hurt are you?’

“Nah. Just scared me.” Noctis smiled then.

“What brings you here?”

“Dude… This is home territory. I don’t need a reason. Plus wanted to talk to you.”

“About?”

“The checkpoint into the region.” They all shared a grin then and I grinned back.

“You did a lot of hunters a huge favor by taking it down. Got a call about it and the word’s being spread about the city slickers kicking niff ass.” We started walking then, me staying close to the back smiling.

“Nice…. So why help us?”

“Um… Cus I want to? It’s not like I need the hunt. Plus… Last time I took it, I ended up getting chased till past dawn out here. Not really wanting to do that again.” Prompto cringed then.

“Yikes…”

“Yeah. He’s a nasty bugger for sure.”

“Nothing we can handle.” Noctis sounded so confident. It was kind of cute honestly.

“Well listen to that. The king’s confident in taking down an asshole Behemoth.” Gladio chuckled then and I knew Ignis smiled. Noct looked back but he was smiling.

“And it seems once you’re in home Territory, you really don’t hold your tongue.” I shrugged then and pushed ahead to get even with him.

“Home is home. I don’t fake around here. I grew up in these parts so most everyone knows me.” he nodded then.

“Wanna tell more?” I smiled then.

“Left around here for middle school. Went to a public school inside the wall…. Um… been solo since like… 14. Lived in liede until about a year ago…. Rank seven hunter.” I could see the shock in his eyes then. I just smiled.

“What? This weapon isn’t for show after all.”

“I figured but… you’re that good?” I shrugged then.

“It’s been rough. Had my share of close calls. One most recently with this jerk.” Gladio looked back then.

“You came after him? Alone?”

“Wasn’t supposed to be alone. I was trying to find his lair with another hunter. We got separated and Deadeye snuck up on me. Ran till dawn when I found the road and got back to Wiz’s. Other hunter couldn’t help. He got lost. Come daylight he showed back up.” I jumped up onto a rock then and smiled. They were shocked for sure but I didn’t care. I could hear him. It was faint for sure but he was around. The fog coming down didn’t make using eyes a good idea after all.

“He’s away from us, I assume?” Ignis said. He was keeping his voice low. I slid down and nodded.

“He's going to the old ruins. We’ll have to play hide and seek for a bit but we can get there and catch him. Once in there it's not easy to leave.” They nodded then but let me take the lead. Before the gate, I ran. I knew these woods. It was usually so calm around here and decent hunts. Finally we reached it and I quickly dropped down. The boys followed easily but then I had to pin noctis to the rock close by. Deadeye was in front of us.

“Shit….” I nodded feeling my smile come back. This was going to be fun.

“Leapfrog. Rock to rock. He's blind on the left. Use it. No noise.” Gladio gave me a look but I quickly took off. He was moving. It would cover for me.

She was fast. Even if she was a bit odd, skylar knew her job. The others weren't sure so I followed her. She was quick but always stayed in sight. The fog was only getting worse for sure the further we went in. It got sketchy at few times. She tripped over a small rock and quickly scrambled to hide while we did the same. The behemoth knew he was being followed. After that, it got more tense. We couldn't always keep an eye on him so skylar had to be our lead. Finally though, we broke through into ruins. She had her sword ready and let Gladio take the lead. I went to follow but she got my arm and stopped me. I looked over and she smiled.

“I know you punks have elemental abilities. Who’s got the fire?”

“Why?”

“What do you think blinded him? There's old oil drums around here. If he gets over one, explode it. It'll be our best chance to get him weak enough to land some serious blows.”

“How do you know this?”

“Cus I saw others trying it. Just trust me….. Gods you four are paranoid…”I shrugged then. Better to be paranoid than be dead in my mind. She just sighed and followed Ignis quickly. I got the flask ready and followed.

He knew. He was up on a ledge above us and jumped down. We all backed away and quickly Gladio went into action. Prompto was giving cover fire while skylar backed up gladio. She wasn't as strong but she was doing some damage. She made openings that Ignis took advantage of and slowly got him over a barrel. I figured I would try her advice.

“Move!!!” The guys jumped back but she couldn’t. I had to throw it. It landed on the barrel and the explosion was big. It knocked over the guys but then we rushed him. At least I tried until Prompto came flying into me. We both were off our feet but I felt someone catch us and the relief of a potion.

“Stand up you idiots!” I looked and Skylar was still on fire. She dropped me and jumped going right for Deadeyes face! Prompto got up and helped me up stunned. It didn’t last though. He was on his last leg and soon it gave. Deadeye fell dead. We all stopped then before we celebrated. That was insane!

“Um…. Help!?” I froze then. That was skylar. Gladio moved with Ignis then by his head and prompto and I followed. She has gotten a leg stuck under his head and couldnt get free.

“Big bully!!!!” Gladio chuckled then and quickly pulled her free. She yelped but soon got on her feet huffing before giving him a solid kick. I laughed then.

“Was that needed?”

“Yes! He landed on me! I was trying to shoot his other eye! Blind the jerk….” I stopped then. She didn’t have a gun. She walked away then and came back with a crossbow. She was checking it out before folding it backup and putting it on her back. Ignis smiled then.

“A lady of many weapons…. We do owe you some thanks. Your fire tip did help.” She shrugged then getting into her bag. She crushed something and we all got healed. He gave her a look and she smiled.

“Can’t help it…. Mega elixir.” She flashed a new one making Gladio chuckle.

“Sure you wanna be solo? We might need the backup later.”

“Get real muscles…. I’m happier alone…. Now…” She smiled then sheathing her sword.

“Let's go ride chocobos!!!” Prompto cheered with her and I laughed. Soon we found the way out and headed back to the post. She had someone she wanted Prompto to meet.

We got back to wiz’s about sunset. He was shocked for sure but quickly paid the boys while I washed off my arms in a barrel. The healed burns were still tender but it was barely anything. Soon Wiz came over and held out a key.

“Wanna let him out?” I nodded then taking it.

“I’ve missed riding him. Mind if…?”

“You know the rules. Havens near by. Feel free to leave bella here. She’ll be safe.” I nodded and ran to the stable. Damien was so happy to see me but nothing beat it when I got the door open. He ran into me and quickly let me on. I led him out and Prompto almost dropped his camera. Noctis was shocked.

“They come in dark blue!?” I laughed then petting his neck.

“Nah. Won these berries in a race. Changed my baby to this color….. Boys. Meet damien!” He crowed then making them laugh. Prompto came over and petted him gently.

“How….?”

“Rescued him as a baby. Mom had been killed so I brought him here. Wiz helped me raise him and well… Now he’s my baby!” I hugged him then happy. I’ve missed him. I heard a click then and I looked. Prompto got a photo of us. He turned so I could see it.

“Oh nice angle…. Mind…?”

“I’ll have a print the next time I see you.” I cheered then. He laughed and Noctis came close. Damien sniffed him and he just smiled.

“You leaving?”

“Yeah. There's other hunts close by. I’ll be hanging out between here and lestallum for a while.” I saw gladio nod then as he came up behind the prince.

“Call if you need backup. We won’t mind. You helped us out against that behemoth.” I shrugged then.

“I prefer solo…. But if I get kicked, I’ll call…. Or if I find some cool ingredients.” Ignis perked up then and I smiled.

“I know of a ginger. It's hard to get to… but if I head that way, I’ll get you some.”  He nodded then smiling.

“It would be appreciated. Our spices currently are rather lacking.” Wiz laughed then smiling.

“I’ll point some spots out to you boys.” They all smiled then and while they went to talk to wiz, I loaded my pack up and made a saddle pack for damien out of bella. Right as the sun died, I took off while they camped in the caravan. I was ready to be home again.

[aion-rsa]

Labyrinth: the Unsettling Second Character Played by David Bowie

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Not everything we enjoy is good for us. A chocolate-filled doughnut, for instance, can be delicious even while it crams our arteries with trans fat. The simple fact of knowing that something is unhealthy doesn’t stop it from being fun, which is to say that it’s still okay to love Jim Henson’s 1986 cult kids’ film Labyrinth while acknowledging that its sexual subtext is creepier than a drunk uncle on a camping trip. 

It’s not as if nobody noticed the vibe between lead characters Sarah and Jareth at the time, or in repeated viewings since. Like Bowie’s codpiece, it stares you in the face all the way through the film. Jareth’s a 300-year-old Goblin King (played by a 38-year-old pop star) who wants to live within 15-year-old Sarah. Jareth spies on Sarah, comes into her bedroom, drugs her, dances with her, and promises to be her slave if she’ll love him, fear him and do as he says. Their dynamic is wrong in every size and colour, and – depending on whether you’ve spotted the other character Bowie plays in the film – could be about to get a little bit more wrong.

Sarah’s scrapbook in Labyrinth (1986)

The events of Labyrinth are a fantasy that takes place in Sarah’s mind. Using the childhood dolls, stories and ornaments spotted around her bedroom in the early scenes (Hoggle and Ludo toys, a Goblin King statue, a wooden labyrinth game, storybooks from Snow White to Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland…), Sarah invents a scenario in which she’s a put-upon fairy tale hero who saves her baby brother. It’s a coming-of-age fantasy that teaches Sarah to leave her childhood behind, recognise her inner power and step into the adult world. The film starts with her dressed as a princess and play-acting, and ends with her literally clearing her room of toys and games, and symbolically passing on her beloved teddy bear Lancelot to her little brother Toby.

If Labyrinth were a ‘real’ fairy tale, then Sarah’s absent mother (the girl lives with her father, stepmother and new stepbrother) would be dead. She isn’t, as we can see from recent photos around Sarah’s mirror and the scrapbook of press clippings Sarah keeps about her, decorated with hearts, the word “mom”. Sarah’s mother Linda Williams is a theatre actor who’s famous enough for her love life to be written about in the papers. Several of the newspaper articles in the scrapbook show her mother pictured with another actor, topped by a headline about their on-again-off-again romance. The other actor in those photos is played by David Bowie. That means that when Sarah was dream-casting the much older lead in her personal coming-of-age fantasy, she gave that role to… her mother’s boyfriend. Therapists of the world, start your engines.

A.C.H. Smith’s 1986 novelisation of Labyrinth was written with input from Jim Henson and screenwriter Terry Jones. In this 2018 podcast interview, Smith explains that Henson gave him over 20 pages of feedback about the draft manuscript and invited him to visit the set and watch several days’ filming. Jones also spent an afternoon with Smith and gave him permission to use an abandoned boneyard scene in the novelisation which had been originally written for the film. The novelisation is canon, is the point. It bears the official stamp. And the novelisation gives us more on the characters of Linda Williams and her actor boyfriend Jeremy. Here, it describes Sarah’s bedroom press clippings:

Sarah’s mother and her co-star, Jeremy, were cheek to cheek, their arms around each other, smiling confidently. The photographer had lit the pair beautifully, showing her to be so pretty, he so handsome, with his blond hair and a golden chain around his neck.

Novelisation-Sarah clearly has a thing for Jeremy, who comes over in the book as louche and flirtatious. Smith describes Sarah as being thrilled by Jeremy’s French-speaking sophistication. She’s impressed by his language and mockery of others, and keeps repeating an actorly phrase she’s heard him say about “finding a way into the part.” 

Sarah’s bedroom mirror in Labyrinth (1986)

In one scene from the book, Sarah remembers celebrating her 15th birthday with Jeremy and her mother. The novelisation describes them giggling poolside at Jeremy’s members’ club before receiving his gift of “an evening gown in pale blue” (her mother gets her a music box, so the evening gown is a Jeremy-only deal). Sarah wears the dress that night to a musical, after which Jeremy takes them all to a dimly lit restaurant:

Jeremy had danced with Sarah, smiling down at her. He kidded her that a flashbulb meant that they’d be all over the gossip columns next morning, and all the way home he drove fast, to shake off the photographers, he claimed, grinning.

That’s not the only time Sarah dances with Jeremy/Jareth. Film audiences will remember the masked ball part of Sarah’s labyrinth fantasy, a hallucinatory scene that plays out in the feature as romantic yet sinister, but which is made explicitly sexual in the book. In this Sam Downie interview, Smith says of the novelisation’s dance scene, “It gets quite sexy when she is in the bubble and dancing with Jareth and so forth. I made a little more of that in the book because I felt the book needed that, it needed that extra little emotional kick at that point.”

Read more

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Labyrinth Conceptual Designer Brian Froud Talks David Bowie, Dark Crystal, and Sequels

By Louisa Mellor

The book scene has Sarah being perved at by a stranger who “relished her face, then her white shoulders, her breasts, hips, and legs,” and sidled up to tell her that she was remarkably beautiful. Dancing with Jareth, the 15-year-old is described as feeling like “the loveliest woman at the ball” and finding “the touch of his hands on her body thrilling.” 

When he told her that she was beautiful, she felt confused. 

“I feel … I feel like … I — don’t know what I feel.” 

He was amused. “Don’t you?” 

“I feel like … I’m in a dream, but I don’t remember ever dreaming anything like this!” 

He pulled back to look at her and laughed, but fondly. “You’ll have to find your way into the part,” he said, and whirled her on around the room. 

Jeremy’s catchphrase, there. In the book, fantasy-Jeremy/Jareth then tries to kiss Sarah, when she realises that the whole room is watching them and laughing:

“Jareth seemed to be unperturbed, but she turned her face sharply away from his, horrified. He held her more tightly, and insistently sought her lips with his. Suffused with disgust, she wrenched herself free of him.”

This is supposedly Sarah’s fantasy. She’s the one in whose imagination all this is happening. In 2016, the film’s conceptual designer Brian Froud explained the thinking to Empire. Sarah, says Froud, is approaching the age of sexual awakening, and so has created Jareth as a composite image of the kind of men who turn her on. “We’re not looking at reality, we’re inside this girl’s head.” Jareth’s costumes were designed to reference “a leather boy”, the armour of a German knight, Heathcliff from Wuthering Heights, and male ballet dancers. “He’s an amalgam of the inner fantasies of this girl. Everyone always talks about Bowie’s perv pants, but there was a reason for it all! It has a surface that’s fairly light, but then every so often you go, ‘Oh, my God! How did we get away with that?!’”

Telling a children’s story about a girl’s veiled sexualised fantasies of her mother’s boyfriend is getting away with a fair bit. There’s more to the film of course, and ultimately, Sarah vanquishes Jareth by rejecting his sinister allure and asserting her own power. Her attraction to him though, especially in the novelisation, is undeniable. What makes this uncomfortable isn’t the fact that Labyrinth is in part a story about adolescent female sexual awakening, but that its vision of that awakening was dreamt up by grown men and shows an underage girl drawn to a man of their age. Thought of that way and it’s less sure that Sarah’s is the fantasy we’re watching.

It was a different time, though, the 1980s. All this stuff was much more mainstream back then. 16-year-old Samantha Fox could be photographed topless for Page Three of national newspaper The Sun. Bill Wyman of The Rolling Stones could openly ‘date’ a child. The charts regularly featured songs about adult men heroically wrestling with their sexual attraction to schoolgirls. And the 83-year-old writer of a children’s film novelisation could reminisce about how thrilling it was to have danced with the film’s young star at the wrap party, and laugh at how much more thrilling it might have been if only her mother hadn’t insisted on staying so close to her “very beautiful 14-year-old daughter” all night. A different time. (Except, that last anecdote was recounted in 2018. Perhaps the time isn’t quite as different as it should be.)

Don’t let any of this put you off though. Like a chocolate-filled doughnut, Labyrinth remains a sweet childhood treat… with a slightly sickening centre.  

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Labyrinth celebrates its 35th anniversary in the US on June 27th.

The post Labyrinth: the Unsettling Second Character Played by David Bowie appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[heaven-delight]

[New Years Special ①] ‘Wise Entertainment Life’ ‘24 Q&As’ with 24-Year Old Red Velvet Seulgi

[Sports Seoul Lee Ji-Seok] The ‘Year of the Dog’ Star Red Velvet Seulgi has a soft charm. Rather than catching the eyes of people with a glamorous appearance, Seulgi has a kaleidoscopic charm and gets even more charming the more you look at her. Her body figure and proportions are claimed to be the best out of all female idols. Also, her singing and dancing skills, which have been honed for seven years at the mega-agency, SM Entertainment, is simply the best. Although her members call her ‘no fun,’ when she stars on variety shows, she does whatever it takes to get enough screentime.

Seulgi, who was born in February 1994, is 24 years old this year. Because this year is the ‘golden year of the dog,’ she is excited more than anybody for this upcoming year. We asked 24 questionsㅡthe same number as her ageㅡto Seulgi, and Seulgi, in a serious tone with no signs of mischievousness, answered 24 times. The interview was held in the SM headquarters in Cheongdam-dong, early December.

1. During 2017, your group, Red Velvet got lots of love.

Seulgi: During 2017, Red Velvet released three albums and received lots of love. I think we grew greatly as a team. The image that people think of when hearing ‘Red Velvet’ has solidified. While musically we tried to take on the ‘Red’ conceptㅡthe lively conceptㅡand the ‘Velvet’ conceptㅡthe alluring and soft conceptㅡin turn, we tried to be perfect in every aspect. We’ll continue to grow during 2018 too.

2. Seulgi, what do you personally think suits you more? The lively ‘Red’ concept or the alluring and soft ‘Velvet’ concept?

This was hard to choose, but I think I can show more of myself in the ‘Velvet’ concept. I like the ‘Velvet’ concept and the musical style of that concept a little bit more, personally.

With the soft and alluring ‘Velvet’ concept, such as ‘Peek-A-Boo’ and ‘Automatic,’ I can show off my charms comfortably. Unlike my real personality, I like showing off my chicness on stage. I have a hard time showing off fresh and pretty things. I think I need to work more on that. I get to do all of these because I work hard and I try new things.

3. What’s the happiest thing that has happened to you in 2017?

I’m so glad that the Red Velvet fan club got a name. I’ve been waiting for this a long time. If in the award ceremonies before, I had to call them ‘our fans,’ now I can call them as ‘reveluv.’ The name and the fans are all so special to me. It meant a lot to me that Red Velvet got to hold a concert with the ‘reveluvs.’

4. What year do want 2018 to be for Red Velvet?

This is what I’ve been dreaming of ever since we debuted, but I hope that we’ll be able to become a team that will be able to take on many different genres. With our second full album ‘Perfect Velvet,’ which we released last November, we tried to widen the genre of music in our discography, and I hope we’ll continue doing so in the future.

5. You were born in February 1994, and 2018 is the year of the dog. Do you feel anything special because it’s the year of your zodiac again?

I heard that 2018 is the ‘golden year of the dog.’ Since it’s been 60 years since the last ‘golden year,’ I hope this year will be more special. I hope everybody, not only me, could be happy this year.

6. You were born on the same day as Apink’s Son Naeun (1994/02/10).

I’m not acquainted with her that well. When I met her at the end-of-the-year awards ceremony way back, I said ‘we’re the same age and we have the same birthday.’ Son Naeun said that she knows that too. We greet each other when we meet, but we haven’t gotten a chance to really talk with each other.

7. Do you have any other best friends that are the same age as you in the entertainment industry?

I’m close with BlackPink’s Jisoo. Of course, my best friend is Wendy.

8. Your eyes look like a cat’s, but some people say that you look like a dog. Which animal do you think looks closer to you?

People used to say that I look a lot like a baby tiger. I also once heard that I look like a mouse. (Laughs) Now, I think it depends on what style of makeup I have. Depending on that, I can look like a cat or a dog.

9. What did you do in the last ‘year of the dog,’ which was 12 years ago?

That was about a year before I started training. Back then, I was a student that liked to dance and sing. During break time, I would stand in front of the giant bathroom mirror and dance. I used to dance a lot to TVXQ’s or Super Junior’s songs. I especially liked TVXQ. At the school talent show, I danced along to TVXQ’s ‘Balloons.’ I had no idea back then that I would end up being in the same agency as them.

10. What do you do when the next ‘year of the dog’ comes in 12 years when you’re 36?

I haven’t specifically thought about what I want to do when I’m 36. I think it’s important to live each day to the fullest because you never know what could happen tomorrow. I don’t know what I’ll be like when I’m 36, but I hope that I would have grown more when that day comes. I think it would be a problem if I’d be the same person I am now when I’m 36. I still have a long way to go in terms of musicality and putting things into action. I have a bit of a lazy personality, and I hope I’ll be able to fix that. I hope my personality will stay the same except for that. I like my easygoing personality.

11. You trained for seven years, starting from 2007, when you were in middle school. Is life after debuting any different from how you’d dreamt it would be during your trainee years?

There are a lot of things I learned after debuting. I’m kind of sad because I think that I would have done better during my trainee years of I had known things such as stage manners, and how to express lyrics better. Things like how to express through dance better are things that you learn after debuting.

12. You’ve been a trainee for seven years. What do you think you would have done if you weren’t able to debut?

I wouldn’t have known what to do. I’ve cried a lot during training because I didn’t know what to do. I haven’t thought of becoming anything other than a singer. If I haven’t become a singer, I would have studied hard at school, but I haven’t thought of becoming anything else or taking any other career paths.

13. Have you experienced any slumps after debuting?

Not as severe as the ones I’ve been through during my trainee years. I’m thankful that I was able to perform on the ‘King of Mask Singers’ on October 2016. I was able to gain a lot of strength through that show. Before that, I was always sad when I had to talk about my trainee years, and the hardships that I went through during those times made me tear up. After the ‘King of Mask Singers,’ I don’t cry anymore. It was nice to hear ‘you’re good’ rather than ‘you’ll do well.’ I got more confident in expressing something on stage and I started to have more fun performing on stage.

14. Are there any times when you think that becoming a singer was a good idea?

I don’t know if I would have been able to have so much fun doing something else. I’m so glad that I’m able to do something I enjoy. Because a lot of people recognize me when I perform something on stage, I get motivated to do even better. The fact that my fans know how much I work hard gives me strength. When I go to fan-signs or get fan letters, I also think that becoming a singer was a good idea.

15. What do your other normal 24-year-old friends worry about these days?

They worry a lot about getting a job. I have some friends who even got rid of their cell phones to focus on studying. I was lucky enough to find what I want to do early in life and debut. I feel like I should work hard because of that.

16. I think the hardships for a celebrity and the hardships for a normal person would be different.

Everybody goes through their own hardships. Although I don’t have much privacy compared to my normal friends, that’s something that I have to endure. It doesn’t make me uncomfortable. Rather, I’m thankful for it.

17. Your hair color changes often. When you debuted, it was orange, then dark during ‘Be Natural,’ blonde during ‘Ice Cream Cake,’ brown for ‘Dumb Dumb’ and orange again for ‘Russian Roulette.’ What’s the color that describes the 24-year-old Seulgi?

I like orange. I tried that color when I debuted because SM recommended it to me. I think it has a lot of meaning. At first, I thought that orange wouldn’t work on me. Back then, I had a lot of achromatic clothes, such as black, gray and white, and I didn’t like bright clothes. But, after trying on a bright color, I found myself trying to suit the color more. I think I was able to find a new charm hidden inside me by trying to express something bright. I’m happy because I’m more colorful than before.

The color that I originally have is a toned down color. I like wine colors more than red, beige more than pink, grey rather than black.

18. In a past interview, you said that if you get hooked on to one menu, you only eat that for a long time. During your trainee years, you said you were hooked on soft tofu stew, hot pot bulgogi and scones. Are you hooked on to anything these days?

I don’t eat scones a lot these days. (Laughs) During some part of my trainee years, I only ate soft tofu stew, and around the time when I was done with the trainee life, I only ate hot pot bulgogi. These days, I’m into hot soup. I like eating rice with soup. Nowadays, I’m into radish soup and dried radish leaves soup.

I’m not hooked on to a certain food for a long time, but I only eat what I like. I only go to the restaurants that I’m used to going to, so I’m not that good at finding new yummy restaurants. When it comes to choosing clothes or food, I have a strong preference when it comes to those. So, I only choose what I like. I have a strong habit that I have to get the items that I like or do those things that I like.

19. You have a lot of nicknames, such as ‘Gap God Gap King (meaning that she has a huge difference when she’s on stage and off stage)’ and ‘No Fun.’ What’s your favorite nickname?

I like ‘Gap God Gap King.’ It means a lot for me to be given that nickname. I’m thankful that there are a lot of people who think that I’m cool onstage, even though I’m a dummy with no charisma off stage. 

I can’t say no to being ‘No Fun’ though. I’m not a fun person. Rather, I’m a serious person. I’m not the kind of person who makes jokes while talking. I don’t think that I have to make people laugh and I don’t have the skills to do that. So, whenever people call me ‘No Fun’ on the variety shows, I don’t know what to say, because it’s true. And then I lose confidence. I lose confidence because I think that I’m a ‘No Fun’ person so I should just stay put. (Laughs)

20. Do you have any special tips when it comes to keeping your body in shape?

To be honest, I don’t go on diets. When I think that I should go on a diet, I start eating more. Ever since I was young, I liked eating rice more rather than eating noodles or bread, so I try not to overeat. But, when the promotions start, I don’t have a lot of time to eat, so I lose weight naturally. I think I lose appetite because when I eat before going on stage, I feel stuffy and I feel like I wouldn’t be able to perform onstage well because of that.

21. Out of all the SM female artists, you’re the only one that has a single eyelid. Also, out of all the members, you’re the only person that uses your real name as a stage name.

I’ve never thought much about having a single eyelid, but once people started to say that there’s a celebrity in SM Entertainment with a single eyelid, I start to think more about it too, like ‘how did I get into SM?’ I like the way I am. I want to be prettier, but there are a lot of people who like the way I am right now. It’s all a matter of preference. I wish that my eyes could be a bit bigger, but that can’t be fixed with surgery. I think the charms of a single eyelid is that it can look different based on the makeup style. I don’t want to fix it.

I’m grateful that I’m able to use my name ‘Seulgi’ just the way it is. I don’t think any other name would have suited me.

22. What is your dream type, and thoughts of an ‘open relationship?’

I like people that I can talk with easily, and people that I feel happy being around. Having a relationship isn’t bad, but having an open one can hurt the fans, so I’m cautious about it.

23. Do you have any dreams of becoming a solo artist or an actress?

If I get the chance to be a solo singer, I would work hard, but for now, I want to focus on Red Velvet. I like the way the members’ voices harmonize. I wish I would be able to release a lot of albums as a member of Red Velvet. I do want to try acting, but I’m not good at it yet, and I think now is not the time to pursue that. I’ll try everything one by one when the time comes.

24. What are your goals for 2018?

I wasn’t able to keep the goals that I’d set for 2017. I wanted to become more fluent in Japanese and learn English, but I wasn’t able to. I hope that I’ll be able to become a person who’ll be able to seriously put her thoughts into action. I have to work hard because I have a long way to go. For now, I’m thinking about learning a different genre of dance in 2018.

As a member of Red Velvet, I want to hold lots of concerts. We had our first concert on 2017, and next year we want to hold concerts in places other than Seoul and overseas and interact with lots of fans.

[nakateleeli]

100 questions about Miss Naka

Y’all probably get tired of me talking about her, but I’ve had this post in the back of my head for a while and wanted to answer them because I like talking about Miss Naka and Welgaea and stuff! So hold on for a ride.

Since things change over the course of the story, all questions will be answered as though we’re at the beginning of the first game unless stated otherwise. I did change one question, as the removed question felt redundant and I could have sworn the added question was in there already.

1. What is your OC’s race? Human

2. Does your OC have any powers beyond what is normal for their race? She’s pretty good at a few things, but nothing abnormal for a human. She’s very agile and has strong legs. She’s got a pretty good resistance to cold, too.

3. What is their gender? Female

4. What is your OC’s favorite color? Pink

5. Are they religious? Not very. She does for sure believe in the goddesses, but she’s not the kind to pray to them for salvation or for a bountiful harvest or whatever.

6. Do they have a favorite outfit? If so what? The same red and white outfit she always wears!

7. Do they have a spirit animal? Not really into that sort of thing. Deer, maybe, if she had to. There aren’t really deer in Welgaea. Something with antlers.

8. Does your OC have a favorite time of year? Spring! Everything is pretty and just beginning with the year’s possibilities still ahead of us.

9. How does your OC travel around? By foot or a passenger caravan usually.

10. Does your OC have a best friend? Dis guy once they meet.

11. What is your OC’s biggest secret? She’s not really one to hold onto secrets, but she’s not exactly blatant about herself being a lesbian.

12. How does your OC feel about violence? It’d be swell to avoid, but often times it can’t be avoided.

13. Does your OC have a favorite time of day? Mornings are really nice. When the sun’s just coming up and the world is still sleeping. Very relaxing, lets you get your head straight before tackling the day.

14. Is your OC in a relationship? Not initially, but eventually with her.

15. What does your OC smell like? Probably the wind, or a grassy field, faintly flowery. Maybe a little foresty if she’s been out and about.

16. How old is your OC? 26 years

17. What is your OC’s weaknesses? Physically she’s not very strong. She can be a bit impulsive and will absolutely help people out to a fault.

18. Has your OC ever killed someone? Yes. She avoids it if possible, but sometimes you have to. Mostly just bandits and cultists, which common society doesn’t really treat the murder of much differently than killing a monster.

19. What languages does your OC speak? She speaks common fluently, while speaking bestia, elvish, and abaia good enough to get by, but not well.

20. Can your OC swim? Pretty well, but she’s no olympian.

21. Who is your OC’s biggest hero? Her dad!

22. What social class is your OC from? Lower middle class. She’s had an easy enough time, but they’ve always grown their own food and taken care of themselves.

23. What country was your OC born in? There aren’t really countries in Welgaea, and I haven’t figured out enough about the general geography to place things, but she’s from a pretty average part of common society.

24. How does your OC prefer to have their hair? Twin tails, with the front a stylized messy. She’ll put her hair up in buns if need be though.

25. Is your OC introverted or extroverted? Introverted, but she’s not a recluse.

26. Does your OC enjoy nature? Yes! She spends a lot of time surrounded by it either traveling or exploring.

27. What is your OC’s morning routine? Maybe start by making a warm drink. Or cool if it’s hot out. She’ll put her hair up into her twin tails before actually drinking it and relax for a few. She’ll usually do some reading at this time too. If she has to get dressed she’ll usually do it after this, and regardless will tidy up a little and put a little makeup on. Then make/eat breakfast right afterwards. Other than a bit of relaxing to start she tends to do everything back to back so she can get her day going.

28. Does your OC drink or do drugs? Nope, not at all. Doesn’t see the point for recreational use and she prefers her mind and body in peak condition. She sees performance enhancers as having both bonuses and drawbacks, which remove her from that peak condition, and even if there were zero drawbacks she would still rather rely on her own abilities and not become reliant on something else.

29. What’s your OC’s eye color? Purple, a little brighter than her hair.

30. Does your OC have any extra limbs? Are they missing any? Nope, just the usual.

31. What’s your OC’s sexual orientation? Homosexual/lesbian

32. Does your OC have any scars, moles, etc? Beauty mark under the corner of her right eye.

33. What turns your OC on? A nice person is a must. Someone who makes her feel like they want her is big. Someone who’s very casually open and confident about their body is also a big turn on.

34. Does your OC regret killing anybody? Any time she has to, but there’s nothing that continues to haunt her. Perhaps a botched job at some point that got an innocent killed.

35. Are there any smells your OC really likes? Nothing too strong, but flowers are nice.

36. Are they an honest person? Very much. She’ll only lie if it benefits everyone and isn’t the sort of thing that could come back to bite anybody.

37. What’s your OC’s favorite food? Pastas and meats, mostly.

38. Does your OC like to travel? Absolutely, it’s really all she does if she doesn’t need to do some work for money.

39. What’s the farthest your OC has ever traveled? She’s been all over the world, but has limited experience in the farthest corners.

40. Who is your OC’s favorite family member (if they have any)? Her dad!

41. Does your OC have any siblings? Who? Nope, she’s an only child.

42. What makes your OC angry? Intolerance and generally being a jerk. Active malice. Interruptions, be them verbal or physical, getting worse the more urgent or important the task is that’s being interrupted. She’s not going to go off the wall if it was nothing important anyway.

43. Does your OC have a pet? Nope!

44. Can your OC use magic? Minimally. She can do what’s expected of most people, like recharging a light crystal, but not much more.

45. Does your OC want to use magic? It’d be cool, but she’s not heartbroken about it.

46. Where is your OC’s favorite place to be? Anywhere quiet that’s outdoors. A place she can hear the sounds of nature, like a running stream, but still has a nice expansive view.

47. Has your OC ever destroyed anything sacred? By accident once. She tries not to go back to that town.

48. Would your OC ever use sex to get what they want? Absolutely not.

49. Does your OC care about hygiene? For sure. She doesn’t spend all day on it, but she cleans herself when she wakes up and before going to sleep; and bathes in running water once a day if she’s been out and about, or once every other day if she’s been inactive.

50. Does your OC like to take directions? She likes to figure stuff out on her own but she’s more than happy to take directions if she’s on a time limit or just doesn’t have any idea and the opportunity to ask comes up.

51. How would your OC react to getting lost? Unless she’s on a time limit, no big deal. She’ll camp out and survive for a bit while she works her way back to civilization.

52. What are 3 things your OC always has on them? Her swords and a small bag of holding, though the bag has quite a few items in it. Most importantly are a blanket, some spare change, and a change of underwear.

53. Who is the most important person to your OC? Her dad. Later on likely Ysami.

54. What is your OC’s biggest fear? Death and bugs.

55. How would your OC react to suddenly being told that they are now King/Queen, President, Ruler, etc? She wouldn’t believe them. If they managed to convince her she would take on the roll and its responsibility, helping everybody out as best she could, especially with whatever was lacking without a ruler, but she would try to get someone to replace her as soon as she could.

56. How would your OC react to suddenly having everything materialistic taken away from them? She doesn’t really have a lot to lose, she lives pretty lightly. Her swords would be the only big one. She’d be pretty heartbroken about it, but she’d have to go about making enough money to get another pair made.

57. What does your OC sleep in? She sleeps nude. If sleeping nude is unreasonable she sleeps in only a simple chemise with an unfitted waist. This would be like if she were sleeping at a camp site with others, and each person had their own small tent. If there is no privacy at all she sleeps in her bikini top and fundoshi.

58. What’s your OC’s favorite weapon? Her twin bayonets.

59. How does your OC feel about the government? Given how little government there is everywhere, it’s actually nice having government provided utilities like a police force to settle disputes and for protection, and hazard relief to help put out fires or rebuild. Even just regulations on trade so people can’t rip each other off or pull people into slavery or anything. Living with absolutely nothing to rely on is rough. Some government officials can get corrupt and self-serving though, so be aware.

60. Is your OC able to travel off world? Nope. At present nobody on Welgaea can.

61. How does your OC feel about ships? They’re nice. Be nice if they didn’t get attacked by pirates and monsters so often.

62. Can your OC fly? Funny question, but no.

63. Does your OC have any phobias? Nothing I’d go so far as to list as a phobia.

64. Is there any delicacy your OC hates? She has pretty basic tastes in food, so anything too out there is a turn off.

65. What is your OC’s favorite memory? Muscle posing with her dad.

66. What’s the best way to make your OC happy? Generally being happy yourself. Being around happy people rubs off on her.

67. What’s your OC’s favorite way to relax? Being able to kick back and take in the atmosphere. Even if she were at a party she’d be most relaxed observing to herself and not getting dragged into a conversation or the events.

68. How does your OC feel about being nude? She is very pro nudity. An at-home nudist, if she’s lounging around an inn room all day she’ll be nude for it. She’s very comfortable nude, but she’s not an exhibitionist and has no interest or desire to show off to anybody. In fact she’s rather off-put by the idea of someone oogling her.

69. Is there any trait your OC despises in themselves? In others? Before meeting Ysami she doesn’t really like that she’s a lesbian because of the embarassment that comes with asking people out or revealing feelings for people who aren’t, or end up not being lesbians. While young she was laughed at for it and had nearly sworn off getting into a relationship at all. In others mostly intolerance, especially of sexual preference. Also body shaming and forcing prudishness on others.

70. How far along has technology advanced in your world? Technology is pre-industrial revolution, but supported by magic, which is used for things like lighting and flowing water. Magic technology has advanced fairly far in small pockets, but is reliant on the rarity of advanced mages.

71. Would your OC ever kill a loved one to save the world? She would save both.

72. How does your OC feel about races other than their own? They’re cool.

73. How does your OC feel about their own race? They’re cool.

74. How does your OC feel about religious people? They’re cool, just don’t force your religion on others.

75. Can your OC make a good meal? She’s no professional, but she can cook up a decent meal. She prefers stove-top cooking to oven-based.

76. Can your OC survive in the wild? She does quite often just traveling around.

77. Does your OC prefer the city or the country? Generally the country, but does like visiting the city.

78. Did your OC have any schooling? Did they enjoy it? She was homeschooled by her father, leaving home with the equivalent of an early-highschool education. She enjoys learning and has continued to pursue it.

79. How would your OC feel about being naked in public? She doesn’t go out in public nude but kind of wishes she could, and that casual public nudity were more pervasive. She’s not an exhibitionist after all. She wouldn’t really be embarrassed or anything if someone saw her nude. If she were nude in an inn room and had to answer her door she would likely grab a towel or something to hold in front of her while answering instead of answering completely nude.

80. What are your OC’s feelings regarding sex? That it should be saved for someone you trust with your whole heart and love deeply. If your heart changes later on that’s fine so long as you did at the time.

81. Does your OC play any instruments? Nope, she’s never had any training. String instruments are neat though.

82. Does your OC like music? Sure thing, but she’s no connoisseur. She likes music with energy and a strong melody. Something pop-y. She’d probably like our k-pop and j-pop.

83. Does your OC like art? Sure thing, but she’s no connoisseur. She likes expansive landscapes you can get yourself lost in. She especially likes creative paintings of things you can’t find naturally. The fiction of the painting world, whatever that’s called. She appreciates other mediums, like sculptures, and has seen some neat stuff made, but doesn’t understand it as well.

84. Has your OC ever had a painting or photograph taken of them? She’s modeled a few times for the work. Generally not anything too big or professional, usually just for an art class or something. Though she’s modeled a good few times she’s only modeled nude once or twice for very specific situations. Like once was for a single female sculptor.

85. What is your OC’s favorite thing to talk about? Usually whatever she’s learned about most recently, since when she has down time she’ll read reference books and studies.

86. Has your OC ever made clothes? She makes her own, and has had to several times.

87. What’s the best piece of advice your OC was ever given? “Have fun!” -Her father.

88. Does your OC want to fall in love? Absolutely! Though she was scared it might be a pipe dream.

89. What does your OC want to do with their life? See everything. Learn everything.

90. Does your OC believe in ghosts? She’s been to enough spooked places she doesn’t have to believe any more. In a setting closer to Earth she’d likely not believe in them, but would be willing to entertain the idea if someone could get her actual proof.

91. Does your OC wear any jewelry? Not really, though she’ll occasionally wear earrings.

92. How will your OC die? This is a complicated question. I don’t know. Possibly a spoiler?

93. Does your OC believe in an afterlife? She’s not really sure. Even Kharon has been a bit ambiguous about what happens.

94. What is your OC’s favorite part about being alive? Seeing and learning something every day that shows the world is more complex than we ever expected.

95. Does your OC fear death? Terrified. She tries not to think about it.

96. Does/Will your OC ever have children? I’ve dabbled with the idea of her having a child, but I feel like not. Too complicated.

97. How does your OC feel about traitors? She’s a pretty good judge of character, so I feel like unless they were intentionally duping her from the start they’d have a hard time getting the upper hand on her. Otherwise she’d mostly want to know why. She wouldn’t want them dead, depending on what they did anyway, but she would have a very hard time trusting them again. She likely would eventually trust them again, but never completely.

98. What’s the craziest thing your OC has ever done? She’s helpful to a fault and will put herself at great risk without a second thought if someone needs the help. At some point I would not doubt she’s rushed into a burning building to save someone, or distracted an unreasonably powerful monster so someone else could get away. I’m hard-pressed to say these would be the craziest things she’s done because this is the sort of thing she’d probably do quite often. Though there is that one time she beat up the elf princess without even turning around.

99. How does your OC feel about killing animals? Avoids if possible, but sometimes you need to hunt to survive, and meat is tasty. Don’t be wasteful, be merciful, only do as necessary.

100. What is your OC’s name? Miss Naka “the Honeywhite” Teleeli

[elane-in-the-shadows]

Red Queen Fan Fiction - Blood Curse part 11

Find this on wattpad

chapter 1

chapter 2

chapter 3

chapter 4

chapter 5

chapter 6

chapter 7

chapter 8

chapter 9

chapter 10

chapter 11

chapter 12

chapter 13

chapter 14

chapter 15

chapter 16

chapter 17

chapter 18

chapter 19

chapter 20

chapter 21

chapter 22

chapter 23

chapter 24

chapter 25

chapter 26

chapter 27

chapter 28

chapter 29

Final chapter

A/N: Finally, the long-awaited (by me) wedding chapter. If you don’t like my OCs, skip the first half. Then Maven appears, what rare occasion ;-) Fashion pics are at the end.

Cassandra POV

The crown weighs heavy on my head although it’s made only of sakura twigs and blossoms, the pale pink petals matching the light shade of my silk dress.

All guests of my brother Hagen Eagrie’s wedding with Larissa Welle wear flower crowns today. The bride’s grown and shaped them herself, and put them on every brow, having chosen them carefully to match the guests’ clothing and preferences. More flowers wind along the walls and corners of the Eagries’ large mansion in Archeon, other bouquets are carefully arranged in numerous vases placed on pillars.

The smell should be overwhelming but it isn’t. Lari’s too great a mistress of her greenwarden ability, so I suppose she created the flowers especially not to have a strong odour. Yet their perfume is ever-present – and pleasant, at least to me. The smell changes slightly the closer I move to the garden, probably intentionally as well. Maybe a metaphor for the seasons; I haven’t asked Lari yet. It’s another artwork among the many she designed for her wedding to be impressive and unique. As the flowers’ smell is contributed to her groom: Since Hagen is unable to see the decorations, Lari made it possible to sense them in other ways.

Just makes me wonder what the food will be like.

I gather my skirt in my hand as I descend the stairs to the reception hall. The dress is unusual to me, hence I’m most likely lifting it too high. The gown widens along my thighs but it’s tight otherwise, urging me to ponder how to fight in it. I chide myself for the thought but it’s less for paranoia than for the wish to protect this dress from damage that I make such considerations. It becomes me marvellously. Short, frilly sleeves, a low cleavage, the tightness accentuating both my curves and my muscles while enabling me to dance. The seams have a more intense colour, a vibrant fuchsia; it’s the same shade I chose for my lipstick and eyeliner. Sakura are embroidered on the skirt, following the colour pattern of pale pink, fuchsia, and every shade in between as the yarns fade from intense into pastel.

All in all, it’s simple but the most beautiful gown I’ve ever worn.

I catch a glimpse of someone standing at the foot the stairs and I almost stumble when I notice it’s Sorata. He smirks at my efforts to remain ladylike. He’s as much a gentleman in his swallow-tailed coat, despite being a Red. What the right clothing can do for you – how many “noble” guests will be confused by his presence, and rightly so. He’s better than them and deserves to be my partner at the wedding party. And more. He’s dressed to match my outfit. Where I carry a crown of pink cherry blossoms, he wears white ones while his cravat and pocket square show pink embroidery. It’s obvious for anyone looking close enough that we are … together.

He bows and kisses my hand, slightly more serious. I curtsey in response and fail, my knees pointing in the wrong directions. He laughs until he coughs. “Unused to formalities, Cassie?”

“Tsk.” But I giggle as well. “I’ll have to train before the queen arrives.”

“I suppose she values your other skills more,” he says. “But I am content as long as I receive your first dance.”

“I promise.” He pulls me close for a faint kiss, then guides me down the corridor to the garden where the ceremony will take place. There’s no one else, so I’m wondering if we’re late and the guests have already arrived, with only the bride and groom to show up.

“Are you ready for a grand entrance?” I ask.

He sighs. “Whenever else will we have the chance – “ he trails off and stops walking, turning us sideways to another pillar in an oriel.

It displays a wreath for a guest, braided from poppies and cornflowers. Simple plants, but their orange and blue colours are as brilliant as fire.

“That’s hers,” I breathe. “Firebird’s. Lacey’s.”

He nods. We stare at the crown dedicated to my absent cousin, either a hostage or a collaborator of the Scarlet Guard, depending on the perspective. Sorata leans against me, his hand skimming my neck as he whispers in my ear. “You’ve heard from her?”

“Only that she’s alive. And occupied, whatever that means.”

He inclines his head and kisses my cheek. “They trust me more,” he says quietly. “The king is rumoured to return here soon, and Archeon might become a target again.”

He draws away, smiling like he didn’t talk treason a second ago. “Excited for the ceremony, madam?”

“Of course I am, Mr. Ives.” And I mean it. At least Lari and Hagen will have this before all hell will break loose.

Indeed, the garden is already filled with guests seated on filigree chairs. Ribbons fixed on poles create the illusion of a room and a roof on the meadow-like green although breezes and sunbeams filter through. We have a magnificent weather for September and the approaching autumn is only announced by the golden and reddening foliage on the trees farther off. My family stands at the front and we part to join them, each of us going along one outer side of the congregation; the middle aisle is reserved for the bridal couple.

I hug my oldest brother Roman with a grin before I take my position. I haven’t seen him for a month. Now he and I stand on the left side while Mother’s on the right, with Sorata behind her. Her assigned companion has still to arrive. She doesn’t wear a suit or other casual clothes today, it’s like she wants to dress as rich and festive as the other nobles for once: She’s swathed in black tulle as voluminous as a black cloud. I’ve helped her to pin up her yellow hair in an elaborate fashion but our efforts are barely visible beneath her wreath of white lilies with small black markings.

Roman wears white asters and I notice that every small movement of his is as graceful as ever, a generous inheritance from his Iral grandmother. But even formally dressed in a suit with a necktie, he manages to look like a punk, a rocker with electrum jewellery gleaming on his ears, hands and chest, and the tattoos engraved on the brown skin of his neck and left hand. His black hair stands up in every direction like he just walked through a storm and his white shirt hangs over his slacks.

But that’s exactly his charm. Despite his height, he resembles his long-dead father a lot. He and Hagen share his colouring with brown skin and black hair but Roman has Mother’s dark eyes and inherited his father’s handsome, hawkish features as well. And his ability of course, the Eagrie foresight.

Yet all three of us siblings are Mother’s children and that shows. She’s a person who always gets what she wants and we adapted the confidence from her. Roman with his seer ability never makes a wrong move; be it in battle, life or art. I always fight for the win, dismissing the chance of losing to begin with. While Mother has never wanted Hagen to doubt himself for his disability and made him believe in what he can do. Although wandering through people’s dreams in his sleep is generally considered as a freak ability, he’s come to live both in aethereal dreams and in the flesh to his capacity. All the more a reason for Mother to be happy and proud of him today.

When the queen arrives at last, the whole congregation rises and bows or curtseys and I manage to lift my skirt almost exactly to the right level. I raise my eyes just in time to catch Sorata winking at me. Queen Iris walks around the seats like we did, with her ambassador Isabella and the bodyguard Richard Rhambos behind her. Richard serves in my place yet as he’s related to Hagen as well, I wonder if he might’ve wished to attend too.

Iris takes the place next to Mother. She curtseys again, kisses the queen’s hand and reaches for the wreath Lari prepared for the queen – blue-violet iris flowers, an obvious choice for the queen’s name. Yet Iris smirks courtly upon receiving another crown while Mother says something in the Lakelands tongue, eager to show off her knowledge and skills. The queen’s smile widens a bit and I wander if Mother said something funny or if Iris’s just delighted to hear her mother tongue. Naturally, her gown stands out even among the nobility. Dark blue flowery lace is interwoven with silver threads and beads. It’s another dress with a long skirt on the backside but an open front, turned into a kind of catsuit as her legs are dressed in the same rich fabric ending over her sparkling pumps.

The congregation rises. Bride and groom enter together, arm in arm. They walk down the carefully prepared aisle of rich, dark soil. Lari’s gown has no train, nor does she wear a veil or a flower crown herself. Instead she displays fanciful, butterfly-like eye-makeup and flowers woven into her dark brown hair which falls down her back. Following an old tradition, her bridal gown is white, with embroideries in the green and gold of her house along with numerous blossoms placed on it in a detailed pattern. She’s barefoot and in place of a train, buds of daisies, poppies, asters, cornflowers, chamomiles, wild roses and many more arise as she goes down the aisle.

My brother looks dashing besides her - even though she grabs all attention. Larissa’s chosen him a laurel crown with an elaborate black coat, vest and white shirt as usual, velvet and frilly in the same style that his grandfather, Julius Eagrie, prefers. Instead of a big tie or a black cravat with lace in the Eagrie colours, Hagen’s necktie is violet, with an interwoven iridescent pattern in purple and fuchsia. “Hagen needs a more special colour,” Lari told me in the dressing room when my hand glided over the silk tie. “Like you do.” Then she winked at me, who’s not bound no a house colour for my lack of a high house.

With cheers, the guests take their places again as the ceremony begins and the queen herself gives her blessing to the union.

Larissa’s planned and arranged every little part of her wedding, and she’s made it to perfection; without ever losing her nerves or her smile. The glass-ceilinged hall the dinner and dances are to take place in is just another demonstration of rare and impressing botany combined for the utmost effect. Lari tries to personify life and beauty and lets everyone forget in what times we live in, as if not so many of us have lost someone. But still. She was never meant to be a warrior or a queen as that is her cousin Heron’s due, the house lord’s daughter. The girl is here as well and forcing a smile, maybe perturbed that two Silvers marry for love and not for prestige. Yet in ability, Larissa excels nonetheless, and she might be able to grow food for the whole capital on a field the size of the gym with the right fertilizers. She knows all about her vast collection of seeds for crops, flowers and other plants. She showed one of those produces to me mere two days ago, when we partied in anticipation of the wedding in one of the few remaining bars in Archeon.

“Usually, I don’t smoke,” I reminded her.

“But I strongly recommend this one,” Lari answered smirking. I had one draw and it was a sensational experience though I’m uncertain whether I want to repeat it. Drugs unsettle me.

When the dancefloor is opened, I give the first waltz to Sorata, as I promised. We’re swaying among the Silver nobles, most of them relatives or Maven and Iris’s favourite allies. Most of them don’t know what to make of us, or of this festivity as a whole. A Red dances amid them with me, the bastard commoner girl, while my mother, half outsider by association, half trusted advisor to their majesties, doesn’t bat an eye. The groom is a blind man with a freak ability yet the queen herself attends and married him to his bride. Thus, the nobles put on their frozen smiles and clap when appropriate, lest they are deemed second-guessing their rulers.

They might as well boil and drown in their pretends and prejudices. In the end, no one has forgotten they – Maven – have already lost against the Scarlet Guard and the Rift. Even though a part of me is afraid. For my family and the friends I’ve found. What will war and change do to these people, this place? But the change can’t be stopped either way, and possibly, it’ll mean I can dance with Sorata as often and openly as we want, without him fearing the discovery of his ability or any brutal whim of Silvers.

The music stops and we part like all dancing couples. He smiles and asks, “one more?”

“I’d be delighted.”

Roman almost runs into me after four rounds. “Untypical for you,” I chastise him.

“But I wanted to surprise you,” he retorts. “May I dance with you for once, dear sister?”  

“Is it that special piece of music?” I ask, raising my eyebrows.

“It is.”

Grinning, I take his hands as Danse Macabre begins to play. We haven’t practised recently, but we danced to this music often enough, as a mean of training and to show off our abilities combined. We forgo the lifting steps yet draw attention anyway. “The ladies are staring at the rare sight of you, Roman,” I say panting, “Still not interested in marriage and children?”

He only laughs in response.

“Nor any new love in sight?” I inquire further.

“Ah no, Cassie. I’m a happy bachelor.” But he sighs. “The time with Reuben still carries fond memories.” He seems slightly melancholic. Maybe because I can see Reuben Osanos, his boyfriend for two years, standing at the edge of the dancefloor. They broke up eight months ago.

Later on, we lounge on a chaise longue when Lari jumps up out of a sudden, pulling me up with her, only to lower into a curtsey. Tired from feasting, my attention isn’t as perfect as usual, but I notice our high guest quickly enough. The king – awfully underdressed in his ragged uniform – is walking along the central aisle of the hall and the queen goes to him in greeting while the rest of wedding congregation displays their reverence.

Half of us must be laughing under their breaths. King Maven, returning to Archeon’s court after months of absence, crashes a wedding as if to make up for the ruination of his own. Iris plays along, her smile showing more amusement than it should from mere politeness.

Lari is having none of it. When she rises from her curtsey, she takes my brother’s arm and together, they go to meet the monarchs, me following behind.

“We are most honoured by your presence at our wedding, Your Majesties,” Hagen says and Lari beams in her characteristic way, so enticing that Maven bows to her and kisses her hand.

My new sister-in-law is too much of a perfectionist to let her wedding get crashed. She’s the queen of this party, ruling over small-talk, aesthetics and good taste. Yet I muse why she doesn’t offer him a left-over laurel crown so he doesn’t stand out so much. In the end, even Mother abstains from joining the little group around the royals, probably avoiding to broach the sinister topics of her double play with both Maven and her Rift-allied Haven relations. She’s even invited cousin Elane, but the Rift’s princess hasn’t appeared.

Larissa guides us back to the corner from before, now including the royal party and thus clearly intending us to sit down in a more formal way. In a circle, Iris and Maven sit next to each other, I’m at Iris’s, Larissa’s at Maven’s other side, with Hagen between us. Iris frowns at the sight of Larissa’s special “cigarettes”, but she remains silent about them, picking one of her fancy little juices while Larissa and Maven talk, soon switching to politics.

“… so, if you don’t mind to postpone your honeymoon, my lady, would you serve Norta with your ability?” Maven asks suggestively. As always. He’d make a good merchant, talented at selling you everything. But he is a king and this takes it to a whole new level. Lari keeps on smiling and chatting but she holds Hagen’s hand tightly.

“I do not want to urge and hurry you, my lady, but we should start quickly with growing more crops, which would be greatly helped by your skills,” he continues.

“I am proud to be recognized by Your Majesty,” Lari replies. “I will help you gladly.”

Iris rolls her eyes at her exaggerated politeness but she’s distracted by a new glass of juice put before her. I’m startled to see Sorata serving her and Maven while he’s already dashing off. It’s one of his games to play pretend with the highest Silvers, now that he’s again forced to hide his importance and our closeness. And consequently, Maven doesn’t even notice the Newblood spy who’s able to steal his ability with a touch. Instead he asks Iris about her juice.

She shrugs. “It’s good, try it.”

“It’s … exotic.”

It delivers the perfect prompt for Lari to describe her efforts again, having grown the juices’ rare fruits especially for the queen – upon my suggestion as the queen never drinks alcohol. “I’m sure you’re the best to produce food for Norta, my lady,” Maven compliments her. “Yet, the season demands …”

“The season does not matter to me, Your Majesty. Earth, water, seeds and some fertilizers are enough.”

“But,” Iris wonders, “how can you reap the whole of your fast-growing crops? My lady?”

“My queen, we have enough field workers with the choke front disbanded,” Maven says.

“We do not even need many field workers, Your Majesties,” Lari informs them. “The plants I think of are easily reaped with machines.”

“Provided by our loyal techies?” inquires Hagen, unsettling Maven, but the king nods after a second. Iris gives him a shove.

“Indeed, my lord,” Maven adds, though still befuddled.

Larissa laughs. “How unfortunate the traitor prince only saw engineering as a hobby,” she says, the mention of Tiberias changing the mood immediately. Lari enjoys to play with the fire of the banished royal’s reputation and laughs again. “But, of course he did, since when has he ever been useful?”

Her mocking afterthought might “prove” her loyalty but the playfulness has left our group. Intentionally, I suspect. While the conversation becomes awkward, Larissa and Hagen kiss and cuddle like the newly-wed bride and groom they are, as if to remind everyone of the reason for this event.

The two monarchs decide to leave soon after. Iris beckons me to follow them as if I’m only here as their bodyguard. I don’t protest, sparing myself for more important battles. So I merely watch Iris and Maven walking out of the hall with grand ceremony, hand in hand like this procedure lies in the blood of both of them, the one thing bonding them together more than everything else.

“Seasons?“ Iris blurts out, back in their office. She stands with her arms crossed and faces the windows.

The king leans back in his chair, as comfortable as possible in a room inlaid with silent stone. He shrugs. “Autumn is approaching. It’s better to have matters done before winter.”

“Neither my soldiers, nor you and I, can be bothered by cold weather,” Iris insists. But whatever her point is supposed to be, it makes Maven tense. He turns his chair and stares at his wife. She stares back but no words fall for a minute.

The king clears his throat. “You don’t need to be worried about warfare and terrible living conditions?” asks he.

Iris bites her lip. Then sighs. Finally, the corners of her mouth twitch. “If you put it like that – no. I … would be worried.”

His jaw drops. He mutters something and gestures, but stops himself before his fist hits his desk. Although I can smell smoke.

The queen glares.

“I am sorry, Iris,” Maven replies. “I apologize, I haven’t thought it would come so far.”

“But it has,” she insists and while I piece together the meaning behind their polite niceties, I don’t want to believe it, even as I bring back to mind what she told me two months ago. “We have to think of the future, of House Calore, of Norta, and - our alliance.”

I don’t want to be here at all. I want to fall into a hole and die.

But Iris remembers my presence. She comes to me, smiling, but it is her queenly face. “You have sworn to protect me, Captain Griffey,” she proclaims. “Now swear to protect the heir as well.” She says it so formally, neutral and regally, as if this is just a usual matter of state, not her own child.

Yet I curtsey once more in my beautiful gown and do as she commands, pushing away my own thoughts.

Maven rises at the same moment as I. “As this was your plan, my queen,” he utters, “I leave it to you to make announcements when you see fit.”

“I am grateful for your trust,” she replies sarcastically when he’s already on his way to the door. Then he stops and looks at me.

“You’re dismissed for the night, Captain. There’re enough sentinels in the palace.”

Obviously, he thinks if one has to leave, it should be me, not him. I curtsey again but walk away slowly, curiousity taking the better of me.

I glimpse Iris approaching her husband and patting his shoulder and chest.” We both know how it is to walk on determined paths,” she reminds him. “We choose them still.”

I hear his answer just before I close the door. “I thought I could change them. The monarchy. Everything. I really did … believe …”

A/N: If you read my other fics, or chapter 4 of this one, you would’ve been warned ^^° 

  � 2Wc

So you can imagine the whole thing better, here're some fashion porn photos <3

Cassandra: something between those two plus frilly sleeves (and not cut)

Larissa: I have more than 50 dresses for her this is the best though I miss the golden embroidery >_<

Hagen (totally wrong colour ugh):

Charlotte (Cassie's mum): okay but this is 100 % as I imagine it

Iris: too much cleavage I know though I admit I imagined Iris's dress after I saw this one

 d @clarafarleybarrow @mareshmallow @lilyharvord @redqueenfandom @inopinion @spookysamos @hannaharies @red-queen-united @ssingerqueen @runexandra @iris-cygnets