#burning down the brothel and murdering his father

[thatswhatsushesaid]

characters who are oriented towards survival and self-preservation often look to other characters who are in more stable positions socially (and are similarly interpreted by some readers) as being exclusively self-interested. which is, i suppose, not a completely inaccurate interpretation. prioritizing one's survival is a type of self-interest. but it is self-interest that comes from a place of not wanting to, you know. die.

[flowerandblood]

The Price of Pride (4/?)

[ canon • Aemond x Royce • female ]

[ warnings: fingering & oral sex, a kind of triangle, smut, the angst, description of the effects of murder, sexual tension, imprisonment, abuse of power, manipulation, violence ]

[ description: Prince Aemond finds a solution to the disproportion in the number of dragons between Dragonstone and King's Landing: he decides to find dragon blood and, like his half-sister, train dragon riders. He takes as his target the daughter of Daemon Targaryen and Rhea Royce, whom he abducts and imprisons in the Red Keep. Slow burn, darkish, insolent, arrogant Aemond. I have combined several requests here: (dragon blood female & prisoner female). ]

* English is not my first language. Please, do not repost. Enjoy! *

Next chapters: Masterlist

_____

The boy's death had devastated her.

Even though it was a strange child to her, in addition from a family she despised, it was still small and innocent – she had seen Prince Jaehaerys accompanied by servants escorting him to his morning classes when she herself had gone out to meet his uncle, to practice on Vhagar the commands as she did every day.

Knowing that her father had done this made her feel a partial sense of guilt for what had happened, though she did not understand why.

Was it because she was born of his poisoned seed?

That a part of him lived inside her?

She knew it was revenge for Lucerys' death, but after all, the little prince had nothing to do with it.

The death of an innocent being always hurt the most.

She watched his funeral procession from outside the windows of the Red Keep, from her prison that was her small chamber, thinking of her one-eyed cousin.

Were you with that fucking old whore whose tits you like to cuddle up to?

With your second mummy?

She didn't know why his lowered head, his face and big eye filled with tears of shame made her feel sympathy towards him.

However, the death of King's son made her reflect on her own life and what she had experienced in it.

She realised that she had lived for years as if in lethargy, spending her time riding horses and hunting, even though in the midst of her family, in fact always remaining alone.

She realised that she had never even kissed a man.

She had never experienced a touch that was tender, that was pleasurable, that made her feel safe.

She bit her lower lip, pacing around her room, suddenly getting an idea that was extremely dangerous.

Her cousin was interested in women – this she knew for sure – and after being humiliated by his brother in front of everyone gathered he would certainly not return to the brothel to his lover, whoever she was.

From what she understood, this woman was older than him, giving him fulfilment not only physically, but also purely childlike.

She knew he was weak, but now she also had the certainty that he was miserable.

She couldn't try to seduce him directly, offer to spend the night in his bed – he would send her away immediately, furious, knowing what she wanted to do and how she hoped to achieve it.

She had to show him what he could have, while at the same time not offering it to him herself.

She had to make him desire whatever she was in his mind.

"I want to ask you something, cousin." She muttered, standing over him with a jug of wine, wondering what she was doing. "And I know you won't like it."

She saw him freeze, looking ahead.

"You like to take risks, don't you?" He sneered, taking a deep sip of wine from his goblet without even bestowing a single glance on her.

His vision was hazy, his mind dulled by the wine.

He was weak, vulnerable, heartbroken by what had happened to his nephew, sunk in guilt.

This was her chance.

"No, but you give me no choice. I will fly with you and the will of the gods will happen, as you desire. However, the chance of me dying in flames or being devoured is just as great as the chance of me succeeding." She said uncertainly, and he sighed heavily, impatient, setting his cup down on the table.

"What do you want?"

She licked her lower lip, feeling her heart pounding like mad in her chest, cold sweat trickling down her back.

He would fall into a fury or fuck her, there was no other option left.

"Servant. I want to choose one and take him to my bed. I don't want to die without having any idea of this sensations." She muttered.

She saw that he froze motionless, his healthy eye open wide in shock.

Oh gods.

"Aren't you ashamed to ask something like that out loud? What self-respecting Lord will want you after this?" He asked coldly, annoyed, however it was not as aggressive a response as she had expected.

He himself didn't know what he thought of it, she thought.

Good.

"I don't care what the lords will think of me. If I become a dragon rider, my maidenhood will be the least of their worries. I have no desire to become either a wife or a mother. I could try to hide it from you, but I stand here before you and ask your permission like a dog." She said with a certainty that surprised her, recognising that her directness was due to the fact that she was partly telling the truth.

He was silent for a long time, his lips pressed together in a thin line, his finger in some involuntary reflex began to tap against the table top.

"Knowing what you ask, my soul will have no peace unless I am assured that no man has taken you by force."

There it is.

"I'll let you watch if it will soothe your conscience." She said without stammering, his grin turned towards her making her feel an uncomfortable shiver.

"It will."

Finding a willing person turned out not to be too difficult: she simply lied to the man she found handsome that the prince liked to look at such things and that it was his idea.

What could he do to her for those words even if he found out about it?

Were they not partly true?

Her whole body quivered in excitement and disbelief as, lying beneath Tyland Lannister's servant, she heard his lazy footsteps, felt his gaze on them, the fiery, thirsty lips of her lover pressed against hers.

It was a surprisingly wet and slick experience, not as pleasurable as she had imagined, however, it was not all that bad.

She swallowed hard, hearing her cousin sit down in a chair in the distance, and flinched when the man's hand suddenly clamped down on her breast, causing an unpleasant chill to pass through her.

"– no –" She whispered, tightening her hand on his wrist. "– not yet –"

She exhaled quietly, closing her eyes as she felt him take his hand away, trailing it instead around her waist, trying to feel what she had felt when her cousin had leaned over her face after she had fainted.

Serve me well and I will reward you.

When the time comes.

She felt it, that wonderful pulsing between her thighs, and sighed, opening her eyelids, involuntarily glancing at him. Her breath froze in her throat, her womanhood swelled all over as she met his gaze, dark and hot, his legs crossed, his head cocked in curiosity.

She gasped, feeling a squeeze in her throat and a cold shudder when the boy's body suddenly pressed her against the bed, constricting her space, making her fingers tighten on the back of his tunic in terror.

Is this how it should be?

Should she be so afraid, feel so cornered?

"– slow down –" She heard his voice, deep and displeased – her lover looked at him, surprised, panting heavily.

"– Your Highness? –"

"– slow down, I said –" He repeated with a kind of threat in his voice from which her lips parted in disbelief, some sense of gratitude and warmth spread through her heart, a pleasant stickiness sweeping from between her thighs down her buttocks.

He was protecting her, she thought, feeling the situation begin to slip out of her control.

This was exactly what she wanted.

Make me feel safe, she thought pleadingly, but no words left her lips.

Shame overwhelmed her.

"– sink your fingers between her thighs – prepare her properly –" He instructed the boy, her eyes grew big as she stared at him in disbelief – his nostrils twitched in excited breath, the corner of his mouth lifted in a dangerous smirk.

A sigh left her throat as the servant lifted her skirt and smallclothes, her gaze fixed on her cousin's face as his hand found her leaking, fleshy womanhood.

She moaned.

However, after a moment she flinched and swallowed hard, closing her eyes as she felt his fingers touch a very tender, sensitive spot, giving her pleasure and pain at the same time, not knowing what she herself felt, tears burning under her eyelids.

Why did it feel like this?

Why couldn't she enjoy it, why was she losing focus?

"– step back, boy –" She heard his voice, and then noticed that he moved towards them, startling her and him – she rose up on her elbows, panting heavily as he pulled her forward, sitting behind her back, pulling her close, his legs on either side of her body.

His arms embraced her lightly, his hand tilting her head back, allowing her to spread out comfortably while not taking away her sense of security.

She swallowed hard, feeling something long and hard pulsate behind her, pressing against her buttocks.

Good gods.

She gasped as she felt him press his nose against her hot cheek, his thumb running over her jaw as his free hand forced her to bend her legs at the knees, exposing her bare thighs.

"– bend over and lick her –" He commanded, running his full lips over the skin of her face, making her feel a simultaneous shudder of pleasure and terror shake her, his hand trailing down the exposed skin of her thigh.

Lick her?

What did he mean by that?

What purpose did it serve?

"– what? –" She mumbled, terrified, involuntarily reaching back with her hand, clamping it over his long white hair, wanting to pull away, hitting his hard body again.

She had nowhere to run.

"– easy – let me take care of this –" He whispered in her ear, making her moan stuck in her throat, her nipples became hard at his words, her throbbing walls clenching around nothing.

Let me take care of this.

He knew.

He knew what she craved.

She stifled a breath as the man obediently leaned between her thighs, a terrified, pathetic, surprised moan escaping her throat when she felt something warm and sticky slip between her tight, swollen slit.

His tongue.

She clenched her hand harder in his white hair, feeling her cousin's hand slide down her leg, to the very spot her lover had touched earlier – this time, however, she didn't feel the unpleasant pain as his fingertips merely circled around her oversensitive little bud, causing her to leak, stimulated from the inside and outside.

"– ah – oh, gods, t-too much, too much –" She mewled in despair as she tried to pull away from him, never having experienced a similar sensation before, he, however, held her in an iron grip, his free hand sliding from her face under the material of her gown, to her breasts.

"– you wanted it yourself – go on –" He said matter-of-factly in a way that sent a shiver through her – she tilted her head back, feeling the servant's tongue accelerate, forcing its way again and again deep inside her hot, throbbing cunt.

In some subconscious, involuntary reflex, she sought refuge, not knowing what to do with the waves of tickling pleasure and tension that were rising in her body, so she turned her face towards him and he leaned in, letting their foreheads touch.

For some reason she wanted to cry.

He was so close.

The gentle touch of his hand between her thighs, his thumb teasing lazily her hard nipple, his hot breath on her face, his embrace was too familiar, too safe.

"– if only you were my little sister – I'd caress you like this every night – would you like it? –" He breathed out encouragingly, and she shuddered all over in his arms, feeling her lover's tongue hit the sweet spot inside her again and again, her and her cousin's hips beginning to rub against each other, his manhood unashamedly hard and swollen.

If only you were my little sister.

I want this, she thought.

I want to be what you want me to be.

"– what would your father say at the sight of this – hm? – do you think he would be proud? –" He whispered, sinking his fingers into the throbbing folds of her moist womanhood, weeping with desire, teasing with lazy, slow circles her little bud.

She felt tears under her eyelids as she shook her head.

She didn't know.

She didn't know what her father would say to this sight.

He wasn't there for her.

He hadn't protected her.

"– you like it, don't you? – I can feel you're close – come on his face –" He exhaled and she shook her head, moaning from exertion, feeling something approaching, the tingling tension between her thighs unbearable, her breath heavy and hitched, droplets of sweat running down her skin.

"– g-gods, stop –" She mumbled out with difficulty, feeling that she couldn't take it any longer, and then she was shaken by a pleasure foreign and overpowering, hot and sweet, flowing in waves through her whole body, her lips, her nipples, her fingertips, her silken walls clenching around nothing.

For a moment she heard or saw nothing, heard his soothing whisper, his warm breath enveloping her face, his hands closed over her womanhood and over her breasts just continued to press against her skin, allowing her to calm down.

"You may leave. If you tell anyone about this, I will cut your tongue out." She heard his cold voice, but knew it wasn't meant for her – the man lying between her thighs had risen and simply stepped off the bed, leaving them alone, and she sighed loudly, as if she had just accomplished some extraordinary, demanding feat.

She didn't know why she had sought refuge in his embrace, why she had turned in his arms and snuggled into his body, burying her face in his neck, why she had felt nothing but peace as one of his hands lay on her back while the other slowly stroked her hair.

One by one tears ran down her cheeks, shame, relief and sadness spilling over her heart, making her only able to lie down and breathe. She closed her eyes, concentrating on his scent, the warmth of his body that pulsed almost imperceptibly, his manhood pushing against her stomach, his hands trailing gently over her body.

She thought that he was certainly proud of himself, but she decided that it didn't matter.

She needed his arms, she needed to hide, to disappear, to melt into him as one, not to think, not to feel, not to exist.

She fell asleep.

When she awoke, it was late afternoon – there was no one in the chamber but her, however, she knew it was not a dream.

Her bedding was soaked with his scent.

She wasn't sure who had benefited from what had happened. She decided, however, surprised by this discovery, that she did not regret it and did not intend to think about it again.

It had never happened.

As he had ordered, she was already ready before dawn, waiting for him in the courtyard in her riding attire, his mother, clearly displeased with his idea, tried to stop him, to his apparent annoyance.

"You cannot leave the Red Keep without Vhagar. Who will protect us?" She asked, and her son rolled his eyes, impatient, licking his lower lip.

"I leave you in the care of Sunfyre and Dreamfyre. May my brother be of some use for once. With the help of the gods, we will return in about four days with a new dragon on our side." He said and stepped around her, mounting his horse and nodding at her to do the same.

When they reached Vhagar's lair, the dragoness raised lazily her large head, looking at them curiously – having seen her almost every day, she had already become accustomed to her presence and scent, remaining calm.

"Come." He said, and she moved to follow him, seeing that he had taken in his hands some of the bags his horse had been carrying on its back earlier.

She walked behind him, never coming this close to her, watching as the prince tied the grey bags to the ropes hanging from the saddle.

"What are you waiting for? Climb up." He said, glancing at her impatiently, and she nodded, surprised by his directness.

They both had no intention of showing that what had happened had affected them in any way.

Being with him meant a constant battle for dominance.

So be it, she thought and glanced up, sighing quietly.

She was afraid that Vhagar would not be happy that someone other than her rider was trying to climb onto her back, she, however, merely tilted her head towards her and watched her, not moving from her place.

"Lykirī, Vhagar. Lykirī." Her cousin reassured her as she, panting heavily, climbed with great difficulty over one of the ropes to her very back and sat down in the large leather saddle.

She blinked as her cousin appeared at her side shortly afterwards, as if covering the same distance hadn't caused him any trouble, and sat behind her, pulling the bags up, using the ropes so that they weren't hanging down.

She grunted, leaning forward, hugging the front of the saddle, feeling him all too clearly, his body pressed against her buttocks and back. She shuddered as he slipped his hands under her shoulders, grabbed a couple of the front ropes and called out loudly.

"Sōvēs!"

She squealed, terrified, hugging the saddle as the dragoness suddenly rose up on her paws, moving forward with a loud thump, and closed her eyes as she spread her great wings and flapped them, struggling to slowly lift herself into the air.

She had never experienced something so terrifying and liberating at the same time.

It wasn't until Vhagar had stabilised her flight and was gliding through the heavens that she dared to open her eyes – she froze in awe, seeing clouds all around her, doing what other people could only dream of.

Indeed, there was something wonderful about it, she thought with delight.

In the freedom that flight in the skies offered.

She leaned against the front of the saddle, simply looking ahead with a smile, watching the sun rise in the distance. She drew in a loud breath, feeling her heart beat harder as his cheek pressed against hers, apparently resting in this position.

She felt his erection pushing against her buttocks again, but neither of them spoke.

It was just a man's natural reaction to a woman's closeness, nothing more, she thought.

She knew he was playing with her – she knew he already understood what she wanted.

What she needed.

Tenderness.

Care.

Shelter.

This was why he nuzzled his nose into her cheek, why he persisted in this position: he wanted to break her, wanted her to love what he could be for her.

She felt tears under her eyelids, her eyebrows arching in pain knowing that it was all just a lie.

Her father would never come back for her, and even if he did, it would only be for the sake of the dragon, if she could tame it.

But not for her.

She was of no value to either of them.

As they landed with a thud on the ground in the middle of a wasteland full of hills, evening was approaching. It was only when she opened her eyes, horrified by how intense the landing itself had been, that she realised that her cousin had not chosen this place without reason.

He must have noticed from above what she could see clearly now – vast expanses of black, scorched earth with dozens of animal skeletons.

She shuddered as she heard her cousin untie the bags they had taken with them, letting them fall to the ground, and after a moment he slid down the rope to the bottom, landing lightly on the ground himself.

"Come here."

She made big eyes, feeling that this height terrified her. She swallowed hard, turning her back, grabbing the line and squealed as she suddenly slid down it with far too much speed, thinking she was just going to kill herself.

She gasped as she felt someone's arms soften her fall, supporting her, his impatient sigh told her it was not a graceful jump.

"Get yourself together. We're going to recon. It's fresh tracks, it must not be far." He said, and she nodded, feeling her legs grow all stiff from the long hours of travelling in the saddle.

Her cousin looked around, as if trying to remember this place and how they were supposed to get back here, then moved ahead quickly, making her have to almost run after him.

"When we find it. What should I do? Approach it right away?" She exhaled, following him step by step.

"Mmm. No, you'd better not do anything rash. No sudden movements. You can't make a mistake." He said coldly, and she swallowed hard, thinking in the back of her mind that it was easy for him to say.

However, despite all the absurdity of the situation, she felt excitement.

If she succeeded, she would return to King's Landing on the back of her own dragon.

They climbed one of the peaks, from which they could see clearly in the distance the lying silhouette of Vhagar, the fields, hills and valleys, but not a trace of the dragon. Her cousin pressed his lips together, frustrated.

He thought this would be easier, and the dragon would come to them on its own, she thought with a sneer, but she dared not provoke him, knowing that they were both tired.

"We must turn back. It will be dark soon. We will start tomorrow before sunrise, moving in the opposite direction." He ordered and she nodded, following obediently behind him, looking around at the familiar landscapes.

She had an advantage over him here, she thought.

She knew these places, she knew these people.

So why didn't she feel the need to run away?

When they returned to Vhagar's liege, darkness surrounded them. Her cousin had picked up a few long, thick branches on the way, and when they sat down on the grass he laid them down and lit a fire using a flint he had taken from one of his bags.

She did not ask his permission, which did not escape his notice as she untied one of them and began rummaging through it.

"What are you doing?" He asked matter-of-factly, adding wood to the fire, watching her out of the corner of his eye.

"What did you take for us as nourishment?" She answered with a question to a question, causing him to merely turn his face away from her, trying to control himself for sure and not hurt her with his own hands.

"Bread and smoked meat." He said, and she sighed, pulling out a waterskin with spring water, drinking a few deep sips from it.

"If I had known that this would be our sustenance for the next few days, I would have asked you to bring a bow with us and I would have provided our meal myself." She said regretfully, and his face turned abruptly towards her.

"You don't need to eat. You will survive on water alone until our return to King's Landing." He hissed, meeting her tired, weary gaze.

"I have cooked many times while hunting with my uncle. It's a useful skill." She replied, pulling a woollen blanket from the pouch with which she covered herself.

Although Vhagar lay beside them, they were high between the hills where a strong, chilly wind was blowing.

She knew the night would be difficult.

Her cousin no longer spoke to her, gazing into the flames as if he could see something in them, his past or his future, his silhouette sitting on the Iron Throne or his fall from the heavens.

Finally, he lay down on the uncomfortably hard ground, placing one of his bags under his head, covering himself with the other blanket, and turned his back to her.

They couldn't sleep too close to Vhagar, for there was a risk that she would simply crush them by turning in her sleep. Therefore, they had to lie at a great distance from her, and their only source of heat was the fire.

She closed her eyes, trying not to think as her teeth began to chatter, her body trembling, her hands clenched into fists with each stronger gust of wind.

If this kept up, they'd both wake up with a fever.

"I'm cold." She said.

Silence.

A long one.

"I'm really cold. Aren't you?" She mumbled, guessing that he was suffering as much as she was, but would sooner die than admit it.

Targaryens and their fucking pride.

She stood up and walked a few steps with her blanket towards him, causing him to have exactly the reaction she wanted – he raised himself on his elbow and looked towards her, his jaw clenched in frustration.

"You have no shame."

"I don't care about shame. I'm supposed to die in dragon fire, not from the cold." She said and lay down beside him, slipping under his blanket, covering them with the other to create a thicker layer to protect them from the cold.

He slumped to the ground, letting the air out loudly, looking up at the stars as if he had given up. She embraced him, but not because she sought safety in his arms, but because he was a source of warmth that she wanted to cling to at all costs, hugging her face to his chest.

They stayed like that in silence, not moving – at first his whole body was tense, as if he thought that what she had done was just an excuse for her to slip her hand under his breeches and shamelessly try to seduce him – he relaxed, however, when he realised that all she really wanted was to lie in the warmth, and since he himself apparently felt better, also warmed by her presence, he said nothing more.

"What did you feel when you tamed Vhagar?" She whispered, looking ahead at the outline of the hills and mountains around them, feeling the cool breeze on her cheeks.

She was sure he wouldn't answer and felt herself begin to slowly fall asleep when she heard his quiet voice.

"Relief."

She blinked, surprised, not expecting him to put it this way.

Relief.

"Why?" She dared to ask further, still not looking at him, his heart hidden beneath the material of his tunic and cloak hit hard.

"I gave my family a reason to be proud." He explained, a note of bitterness in his words, as if something in that memory was painful to him.

She pressed her lips into a thin line, thinking with disappointment that she had never been anyone's pride.

Nothing she did mattered – not really.

She felt a single, lone tear run down her cheek onto the material of his leather coat and inhaled loudly, saying nothing more.

She shuddered, pulled out of her reverie when he slided his arm out from between their bodies – she froze when she felt him embrace her, cuddling her into his body, his fingers running through her soft hair as his cheek rested against her forehead.

She snuggled into him, into the merciless substitute of a protector he was to her, feeling the warmth in her chest as he let her face sink into his neck.

She knew that a part of him sympathised with her – she knew that, like her, he understood that in a day or two she might die for his cause, and so in some twisted definition of duty he tried to give her what she had craved all her life as a consolation prize for what she might lose.

It was so pathetic that she clenched her eyes shut and let heavy tears of shame run down her cheeks, her breath hitched and heavy, filled with pain.

She let him do this, let him take advantage of her desperation, the fact that she wanted so much to satisfy his vanity, because of how unavailable he reminded her of her father – by satisfying him, in her mind she was satisfying the man on whose lap she had sat as a small child, imagining that he had given her a second chance.

He created a lie for her to be able to endure what he was condemning her to.

"If you succeed. If you tame a dragon." He whispered, and she froze, feeling that he was about to reveal something vital to her, some secret he had never told anyone. "I will treat you like my little sister. I will care for you, and your place will always be by my side."

She shook her head, thinking how cruel he was, knowing exactly what to say, what to do to break her heart, to bend her to his will, to make sure she never betrayed him.

She cried out helplessly as he hugged her tighter to his body, as he cupped her cheek in his broad palm, rough from wielding his sword, and pressed his forehead against hers in a gesture that was too intimate, too tender, too sweet.

"I will protect you."

[naomikozura]

Love of My Life: Part 2

Heian Era! True Form! Ryomen Sukuna x Sorcerer!Fem!Reader

A/N: I want to put an actual paragraph warning in here. Remember this is Sukuna’s story during the Heian Era, using bits and pieces from what I've researched on JJK and him during this era.

This chapter shows INTENSE GRUESOME SCENES including torture, psychological torture, abuse, massacres, and burning buildings. This is a DARK THEME story, it is meant as a work of FICTION and its 18+ ONLY MDNI!!!!

Warnings: strong language, violence, mention of mass murder, angst, generational trauma, complicated family dynamics, family abuse, murder, emotional turmoil and abuse, manipulation, sadistic tendencies, corruption of power, dark themes, burning down villages, murder, masochistic tendencies, sadistic behavior, decapitation, prostitution, sex scenes (in a brothel), torture, psychological torture, (lmk if I missed any!)

WC: 10.2K Series Masterlist

Part 1 || Part 3

The night was quiet, the aftereffects of your fight still lingering in the air. You hadn’t spoken to them for the rest of the evening, letting yourself sit with the hurt of your father’s words.  Your eyes were red, puffy from the silent tears you shed in the past hour. 

Defective. Wasted potential. Disgrace. 

Why has this been your life? Why were you born into one of the Four? Did you live a cruel existence in a past life, were you paying for the sins of your ancestors? Your father despised you being his daughter, hated that his claim was weakened because you were a daughter instead of a son, that you would never be as powerful as the sons of the other Families. You did everything to bring honor to your family. You studied, you trained, you focused on your inherited technique, you brought peace between villages with your kindness and political intelligence, you tried for the better part of your life to mold yourself into what your father wanted. You obeyed his demands, agreed to his greedy power tactics, even believed you were okay marrying Zetsubou  Zen’in when deep down you didn’t want to. You were more than just a pawn in his game, more than means to an end, more than just something to solidify your family name in the realm and create a greater power. 

Little did he know he was slowly pushing you to your brink. You believed you controlled yourself well, keeping composed in even the worst of situations but your composure slowly started to crumble with every new task he had for you. The pressure slowly built up and you couldn’t take it anymore, you didn’t want to sell your life away just for someone else to gain all the power. 

What a cruel life you were given. 

“Y/n”, you felt your heart skip a beat, a low rumble vibrating through you as your bones became hyper aware of who called your name. You turned around, your eyes meeting his deep red ones as he stood in your bedroom. You didn’t even begin to wonder how he got in, he was a gifted sorcerer, he could do anything.

“Ryo..”, you called his given name, not remembering when you had started but when he showed no distaste in your doing so, you continued to call him by name. 

“Come.”, it was all he needed to say as you nodded, slipping on your night robe and your shoes before following him through the back door of your home. You stayed glued to his side as he led you through the woods, suddenly realizing he was using his technique to hide both your cursed energy. He’d put a veil over the both of you to camouflage from any scouts patrolling the woods. 

Silence fell over the both of you, walking for about a half hour before reaching the end of the woods, a blue lake illuminated by the moon at the bottom of a slight hill. The water was bright, the moon reflecting beautifully to light up the water in a serene and breathtaking way. 

“The ground here is loose.”, he said blankly before grabbing you, picking you up in his arms as you sank into him, letting your head rest in the curve between his jaw and shoulder. He had a musk to him, a woodsy smell that brought comfort over you and let you relax into his touch. 

You wondered if you were the first person he’d touched like this? Deep down you knew he’d probably indulge in the company of concubines, he was a man with needs and one many couldn’t refuse. You were certain many of the women would jump at an opportunity to have the King of Curses in their bed. A sting grew in your chest at the thought. 

Once he’d reached the bottom, he set you down on the grass, your body small in comparison to his. He stared at you with curious eyes, the dichotomy of your existence in contrast with his was a wonder to him. He was grueling, sadistic, had the body that would make anyone recoil on sight, and held no remorse in his actions towards others. Meanwhile, you were kind, intimate, beautiful, and gifted. You had three of the most powerful names in this era asking for your hand in marriage, every man in surrounding towns having heard of the L/n daughter who was the heir to the L/n bloodline and being gifted with the Eye of Aurora. He knew your ability was powerful, strong enough to possibly even go head to head with him once you’d reached its full potential. Deep down he already knew you’d be considered one of the strongest sorcerer’s in the Heian era once you reached your full ability. 

He hadn’t come to terms with his reasoning for letting you live, for helping you, for feeling intense amounts of cursed energy at your distress. He wasn’t a man of emotion nor empathy. He saw emotion as a weakness, mundane, meaningless. He hated weak humans, despised the sight of overly emotional lackeys and often killed them on sight or elongated their emotional distress with mental torture. Emotion was something he disregarded and found useless, and yet it was the very thing that kept him from even thinking of bringing harm onto you. 

Was this punishment for his track record of horrific slayings? Were you sent by some being to punish him with your existence?

“Why are we here?”, your red eyes met his gaze, something in his chest burning at the sight of your defeated stare. He could tell you’d been crying, he felt your distress from across the realm and it burned him alive. He’d almost crossed across the entire woods just to show at your home and end your father’s life for laying a hand on you. 

“Your father.”, he started roughly. “He’s a pathetic excuse of a man, an insolent waste of human flesh.”

Your tired eyes widened at the hatred dripping from his lips, the words filled with venom as his eyes darkened. You’d heard about his anger and wrath among the scribes in your village, it was enough to wipe out an entire population and he’d done it multiple times before. You knew if he truly wanted to, he could end your father’s life with no hesitation.

You looked down at the water, watching as the water moved and the ripples distorted the moon, your chest hurting as it contracted. “He…”, you choked on your words, the break in your voice creating a rise of energy in him. “He thinks I’m defective, a disgrace to our family.”

His eyes looked over at you, the burning in his chest growing larger. 

“He threatened to get the elders from the Zen’in clan to exorcize my ability and… let me die without our ancestral guides”

He wasn’t much for believing in spiritual practices, but you’d grown up believing you needed your ancestors to guide you to the next life. it was a common belief within the families especially when you came face to face with cursed spirits constantly. They’d always been exorcized and seeing them cry out as you did knowing they’d just die, you wanted to believe there was a place where your soul could rest easy in the after. 

You felt a whirl of his cursed energy, feeling the rage boiling inside of him. A part of you feared what could happen to your father if Sukuna really wanted to get rid of him, but another sadistic, cruel part of you that you’d never encountered before told you that your father deserved whatever he had coming to him. After years of his grueling expectations, you started to hate your father for his greedy and selfish ways. You knew deep down in the hidden depths of your heart that you couldn’t bring yourself to feel remorse if he died. 

The exorcism of cursed energy was painful, you could easily say that due to how spirits cried when they would get absorbed. The exorcism of an inherited special ability was far worse. You’d heard stories of Yu L/n. He’d been exorcized of the Eye of Aurora and executed after he’d wiped out an entire village because he couldn’t control his technique. It was a horror story, a gruesome tale, it scared you to no end at the possibility that the same could happen to you. An exorcism of a special technique meant death. It was the most grueling way to torture and kill someone, leaving them alive meant they’d be a shell of a human, struggling and living at a lesser quality of life. No humane person would allow someone to live in such agony. Inherited techniques were bonded to the inheritors soul, binding together to make the energy and the human soul one for whatever lifespan the sorcerer had. It was the reason manipulation and control was easy for those who inherited special abilities, because it was connected to them in every way down to the genetic makeup of their bodies. 

You stood next to him in silence, your body numb of emotion as you recounted everything your father had said to you. Were you really wasted potential? Were you really defective? 

“I’ll kill him.”, his voice vibrated, your eyes staring at him while he focused on the body of water in front of the both of you. “I’ll make him suffer, perhaps exorcize his cursed energy to give him a taste of his own ignorance”

“Ryo, please.”, your soft voice sent a wave of warmth through his body. “I don’t want unnecessary bloodshed.”

He realized then why the realm considered you the Princess of Peace. You wanted to fight for your rights to life, fight for what was fair to the realm without bloodshed. Every gathering you’d been to had always swayed in your favor and he knew deep down it wasn’t because of your family name. You were just logical and intelligent to showcase why your outlook was necessary in the development of the Jujutsu world. You truly believed deep down there would be ways to save jujutsu sorcerers and regular humans without having to create an all out war. 

A part of him whirled in anger, another not understanding your stance. He disregarded human emotion at all costs, thought it to be weak, pathetic, unbeneficial, and a waste of energy. When he looked at the way people reacted first instead of thinking it made him recoil in disgust, when he’d see sobbing mothers or angry fathers at the villages he’d consumed he laughed, feeding off their distress and growing in power. He thrived off the negative emotion, yet he couldn’t bring himself to care for anything except gaining his right to the realm. He believed he was the pinnacle of jujutsu sorcery and everyone else was simply a lackey and weak. 

He’d consider you one of them had you been anyone else, but there was something about you that made him hold you at a higher regard. You held every characteristic he despised of humans, of lesser sorcerers and yet he couldn’t bring himself to put you in the same category as them. It was like you had all immunity from his hatred, his wrath, his disgust. He didn’t know why you were different from the rest, he just knew you were and he couldn’t bring himself to figure out why. He didn’t want to. 

“What do you suggest I do then? Sit around and feel your energy get more distressed every time he talks to you like you’re worth nothing?”

For some reason, his confession of feeling your distress made your heart skip a beat. You knew he could feel all the energy around him, the powerful, the weak, the unstable, the murderous, and he cared most about yours. He felt your distress and it made him angry. Something about that undeniable truth made you feel warm inside. 

“You know what they tell you is true.”, he said, void of emotion. “I’ve killed hundreds of people, consumed their energy and left them to rot in the ground.”

Why was he saying this?

“I know.”

“I have no remorse, no morality, no human left in me”

“I know.”

It was all you could say, you couldn’t deny the painstaking truth. You knew he was immoral, dangerous, a murderer, you knew and still you ignored it. 

“So why do you choose to stay?”, he bit out. He’d never wanted nor cared about the opinion of anyone but he wanted yours. Why after the past two months did you choose to keep his company? Why after two months did you find yourself enamored with him? 

“Because you don’t care”, you confessed. “You don’t care about what others think, or what they say. You’re free to pass through every inch of this realm without any regard to what anyone has to say or what they think. In the end, you know you’re stronger, you go through life knowing your worth and position and… If I stay around you long enough maybe I’ll learn not to care either.”

Silence. 

He had no words to say as he listened to your voice grow slightly louder. “I want to leave, I don’t want to be the heir to my family’s claim, I don’t want to be held to this impossible standard that my family has for me. I just wish I could’ve been born just a regular human being. I might’ve been weak, ignorant, and blindsided but I would be free of the torment of my family’s expectation of me. I would be nobody and that would be enough.” 

That was just it. You could never be a nobody. You were forced into this life, born into a family of inherited techniques and forced to bring honor to your family no matter the cost. You were shackled to your prison for eternity and with no way out, you accepted the consequences of your position. 

To him though, it was different. You could never be a nobody. Not when he saw you as everything that brought out a sliver of humanity from his black soul. He saw you as everything everywhere all at once. You were kindness and empathy, strength and resilience, he felt it in the energy he absorbed and saw it in the woods he wandered through. He felt your presence in every fiber of his being and he hated it. You consumed him in a way not even the strongest in this realm could even graze him in. 

“He wants me to stop training in the fields and stay in the inner territory. He’s having the elders oversee my training.”, your mouth twitched slightly. “In the end, I'm still forced to develop my domain for him.”

A surge of annoyance whirled inside of him, forcing it back down in order to remain in control of his veil. He could be annoyed at the mundane anger of your father, but he wouldn’t put you at risk of being seen with him just because he wanted to rip your father into shreds. His thoughts seemed normal to him, but he knew if you’d heard his tactic of gaining your freedom you’d surely feel disgusted by him. 

“We should go back.”, you whispered, another tear streaming down your cheek. You looked down as you swallowed a sob, the feeling of his hand wiping the tear away warming your skin. You leaned into his hand, your lachrymose eyes meeting him in a gentle gaze. 

He stayed silent, grabbing your hand as he led you back through the woods and to your home. Your focus was on your intertwined hands, wondering if he’d ever let someone else touch him like this before. Has he ever been so gentle with others or were you the only exception to this? 

When you arrived, you lingered outside for a moment, the silence occupying the space while you tried to find the right words for him. You couldn’t quite place how you felt, but you felt a pull towards him, an uncontrollable feeling that you wanted to get off your chest. 

“Thank you”, was all you could say. He hummed in response before grabbing your hand, his skin rough and his touch gentle. You smiled through your hurt, a piece of your heart breaking at the fact that your freedom to roam had been stolen from you. A piece of you hurt even more than you couldn’t see him anymore. 

You gave him one last smile before walking away, your hand still in his grasp as it slowly untangled itself from his hood and you walked inside your home. After you’d reached your bedroom, you felt the veil of his cursed energy release and his presence disappear. 

Another single tear falling down your cheek while the pain in your chest overcame you, forcing you into a slumber just to escape from the agony. 

Over the past few days, Sukuna came to visit you in your home, concealing his energy and yours in the process in order to keep you from being sensed by others in your family clan. After so much time, he created a body double of you to take your place in bed so that you’d feel more comfortable leaving your room empty in the middle of the night. 

The nights were the only time you had with him now since your training was supervised by the elders, leaving you little room to actually train to create a domain and instead your time was consumed with training your ability. Every night you spent with him made your heart warm, everything about him made you feel whole, made you feel seen. It wasn’t often he’d speak fondly of anything, but he’d express himself to you in a way he’d never let anyone else hear. He preferred hearing you talk, preferred hearing your dreams of a future and a life that wasn’t surrounded by inheritance and power. He’d often disagreed, believing that power was the best thing in any lifetime that someone could obtain, but he found himself understanding your stance more and more every night. 

The two of you would spend every night with each other, staying within reach of your home in case you needed to return quickly, visiting the lake every night. You didn’t know at what point you started to return to his home with him, but you had found yourself in his bed more times than not. You would spend all night wrapped in his arms, his gentle touch on your skin, his fingers running through your h/c hair, breathing you in as you slept in his hold. 

He’d never expected a single thing from you. Your relationship with him was never carnal, he’d never let it get to that point because to him, he didn’t care for physical release anymore. 

Before you, he’d spend the better parts of his nights in brothels, a different concubine each night and drunk on wine and letting himself dip into his pool of women whenever he wanted. A harem waiting to jump into his bed at the snap of his fingers and yet, when you came around it was like all carnal desire evaporated from his being. His sudden disappearance from the brothels left even the concubines in shock, wondering where he’d gone off to not knowing of his infatuation with the L/n heir. 

Your emotional and mental capacity exceeded his beliefs and he found himself going against everything he once swore his life on, finding himself seeing you in a different light in comparison to every other living being. He respected you on a godly level, a level he never regarded anyone else in. You saw the world through a lens of profound clarity and grace, something he’d never wasted time on, something that made you connected to those beneath you but also made you so profoundly unique. You had embedded yourself so deeply into his being that even those around him started to notice the shift within the King of Curses. He found himself in awe of your perspective, mesmerized by the way your heart navigated through everything. 

He felt utterly pathetic. 

But you were content with him in every way. Where you held empathy and grace in your heart, he held control and selfishness. You were gentle and kind, he was merciless and heartless. Your eyes looked at the world with curiosity and he saw it as a kingdom to overtake, a kingdom where he would ultimately rule. A kingdom where he wanted you to serve next to him. To be his till his heart stopped beating and even beyond that.

You were a dichotomous pairing: heaven and hell. 

Still, you felt content when you laid in his arms at night. You felt secure laying in his bed, sleeping next to him, existing in the same space he occupied, looking into his deep red eyes that the rest of the realm were too scared to look into. You loved the way he touched you, his hand gentle as it pushed your hair back while you laid next to him. You loved the way he held you while you breathed against his chest at night before inevitably having to return home before the sunrise. 

That same morning you had returned home, you were preparing for a bath, undressing as you heard the group of maids outside the room. 

“You don’t think he will have heirs, do you?”, one of them asked in a whisper. 

“Someone like him has to have heirs. He wants to rule an empire, surely he’ll find a way to get them.”

“I wouldn’t mind giving him some.”, the final one spoke, making your ears ring in shock as she continued. “Have you seen him? He has to have a harem of women waiting to get into bed with him, not to mention he looks like he would be completely wild in bed.”

You felt your gut turn inside of you. 

“I wouldn’t mind jumping in bed with him, even if it is only once. Just to know what it’s like to get fucked by a real man.”, the maid laughed as their voices disappeared down the hall, leaving you standing in your shock as you let her words sink into your bones. 

You felt… insignificant. Insufficient. Inadequate. 

Later that night when he came for you, a wave of silence covered the both of you. You knew he could feel your energy, the doubt bubbling inside of you as you moved through the woods. Once you’d reached his home, you stood in the middle of the room, waiting for him to break the silence. 

He turned to meet your gaze, the emotion glossing over your eyes as he moved towards you. His hand reached up, pushing your loose strands of hair behind your ear as he caressed your cheek. 

“What’s wrong?”, he breathed. 

“Why?’, your voice shook, leaving him questioning why you were like this tonight. “Why me?”

He stood in silence, waiting for you to continue, knowing you weren’t done with the amount of energy he felt radiating off of you. 

“Why me, Sukuna? You could have anyone, any woman you wanted, hell all the women you wanted. I know you’re far from being a saint, and I accepted that fact a long time ago because I couldn’t care less about who you’d been with before me. I don’t care about your past or how many women you’ve been with… I just need to know.”, you looked up at him with tears in your eyes. “You have so many women, so many concubines at your fingertips. I’m sure you’ve slept with some of them in the past few months, hell maybe even weeks. So, why?”, your voice broke. “Why me?”

Were you not good enough? Sufficient? Worthy?

His silence ate at you, making your gut fill with dread as he stared at you with a blank stare. You could guess that he’d probably taunt you, play with your feelings before delivering his ultimate blow. You wanted to believe that the past few weeks meant something to him in the same way they meant everything to you. You wanted to be enough for someone. Enough for him. 

When his voice broke the silence, you felt your eyes gloss over with tears again.

“I haven’t been with another woman since I met you.”, his voice held the truth, reaching up to cup your cheek.  “Since the first time I saw you, I stopped visiting brothels or entertaining the thoughts of other women.”

A shock sank into your bones at his confession. His eyes bore into yours with truth, with honesty. What he wanted to know was how these thoughts even entered your mind. 

“Who put these thoughts into your mind?”, he asked in a deep growl. 

You hesitated, swallowing the lump in your throat. “One of our maids… She..”

He let out a quiet shush, grabbing your face with both his hands as his thumb grazed over your lips, “You…”, his eyes darkening with what you could only place as lust and possessiveness, “are the only woman in this life and the next, the only woman in this realm and the hundreds of others that I desire.”

And hell did he want you. He wanted every part of you. heart, body, and soul. Down to the simple way your eyes looked at him to the way your cursed energy spiraled into immense power when fighting cursed spirits. He wanted every strand of hair, every piece of your soul, every inch of skin, every minute of your time. He wanted you to consume him in every way and he couldn’t care less about the gravity of your effect on him. If you didn’t exist to be with him, he didn’t want to exist either. He saw himself as the pinnacle of jujutsu sorcery, the king of this realm, and he wanted you to be the one and only thing that could bring him to his knees. If he was the most powerful sorcerer in the existence of humanity and jujutsu, then you were far stronger. You brought the King of Curses to his knees and he couldn’t stop it even if he wanted. He wanted you to have power over him, it meant you belonged to him in every way that mattered. He'd burn the world down if you asked, kill an entire nation to prove his undying loyalty to you, he’d stop his spread of cursed energy to know a moment of peace with you. 

He didn’t know when he’d become so wrapped up in you, but it was too late for him by the time he realized the hold you had over him. 

He was yours with the entirety of his being, with the intensity of his soul, and the remainder of his existence in this life and continue to let you consume him in every lifetime after this one. 

His soul called your name in a way he’d never experienced in his entire life. For a man who didn’t believe in indulging in mundane emotions, he indulged in you and that’s all he needed. 

Your lip quivered, a sob choked out of your lips as you looked at him in a deep admiration. You lifted your hands to wrap around his wrists, sinking into his touch as you whispered to him. 

“I want to see you, Ryo.”, your hand on his face, your gentle lachrymose eyes meeting his hardened ones. “I want to see the real you.”

He would’ve denied the request had you been anyone else, but he was at your mercy, allowing his body to morph into his true being. The very form that left the realm fearing his presence, left them in agony from the overwhelming rush of cursed energy. His true form alone was enough to make an entire nation buckle under his presence. It was gruesome, wicked, twisted, ugly, and macabre. It was something so terrifying they’d used it in stories to children for them to be good for their parents. His true form was something heard about across all of the realm and left nations training for years in hopes to one day kill the King of Curses. And despite all of that wickedness, gruesomeness, and fear, you looked up at him with gentle eyes. 

He showed his true form to you, waiting for the recoil of disgust, the shock of horror and yet none of it came. You looked at him with the same gentleness you had for anyone else in this realm. He had a deformed stomach, four arms, multiple sets of eyes and a plate on his face, teeth sharp like daggers, and body covered in scars and marked in black ink. 

Yet, the only thing that flooded your eyes was admiration. 

Why weren’t you disgusted by him?

Why weren’t you running in fear?

Bowing at his feet?

Why?

“Why do you hide your true form around me?”, you cocked your head slightly. “Everyone in the other families always say you show your true form to add to your dominance over the realm, yet you disfigure your body and make it different when I’m with you… Why?”

Who created you in such a way that you empathize with him instead of cursing him to hell? 

Princess of Peace. 

“Does it bother you?”

“I just don’t see why you have to hide it. You don’t have to do that. Not with me.”

You couldn’t explain the connection to him. 

Was it an invisible string? 

Fated soulmates? 

You didn’t know what it was that his form didn’t frighten you or leave you in shock. You welcomed every being with open arms, perhaps it was your special ability to see cursed energy and gauge its threat to you. His energy never reached levels of threat when he was near you. You’d seen it around other sorcerers and the level grew astronomically. It was almost too much to wrap your mind around and yet when you saw it in the solace of his bedroom, it never pushed you away. 

Inside these walls, no cursed energy existed to harm you. In fact, it was the complete opposite. His cursed energy manifested in a protective veil, ensuring you were guarded completely when you were with him. 

You felt every question swirl in your mind, trying to pinpoint why he had you feeling so alive. 

Was it the desire to leave your family out of spite?

The desire to know what being unhinged was?

The desire to not live within the bounds of the jujutsu code and live freely?

You couldn’t quite place it but you felt envious of his freedom and lack of care. You were always being watched, always monitored, the only moments of peace and freedom you got were when he would sneak you out of your home at night.

You grabbed one of his hands, rubbing soft fingers on the back of it and meeting his gaze. You’d grown to admire the depth of his gaze, the way they watched you with a calm intensity. You have laced his hand on your cheek, his massive palm warming your skin as you sank into him. 

His body lowered to your height, bending over as he brought you closer to his chest while your heart pounded inside of your own. You knew he could feel your infatuation, your intrigue, your heart racing inside you. Your gentle eyes met his darkened ones, the closest thing to desire that he could get to while holding you. You felt his lips meet yours, the roughness of his mouth as he claimed you as his. You melted into him, your hands on his chest as a pair of his landed on your waist and the other held your face, deepening the kiss. 

He lifted your body, placing your frame on his lap as he laid against the headboard of his bed. You felt the burning of his skin as his grip tightened on your waist. Your skin ignited under his touch, running a hand through his hair which caused him to groan against your mouth. You could listen to him all day, forever. 

If your father or the realm saw you right now, what would they say? What would they think? Would they accuse Sukuna of brainwashing you? Imprisoning you? Did you need saving? 

No. 

You didn’t need saving; you were far beyond it for anyone to consider it. You were too far gone in him and you didn’t want to turn back. His muscular arms picked you up, laying you on your back against the sheets as his overwhelming form covered yours. You were tiny in comparison to him, your hair splayed out in a halo as his eyes stayed focused on you. A hand brushed your stray hairs back, rubbing small circles against your temple. 

You focused on his body, admiring every muscle, every ripple of skin, every scar, every black marking. You admired his form regardless of the fact that most would consider him a devil. It never occurred to you in any sense. 

An angel entrapped by a demon, an angel falling in love with the devil, an angel stolen from heaven and dragged to hell. 

You didn’t give a damn anymore. You wanted him, needed him like you needed oxygen. He helped you feel free, helped you escape the confines of your familial name, helped you feel worthy. He helped you see life in a new light, in every way that you couldn’t before because of your father’s controlling ignorance. You didn’t care about the opinions of the village or the families, deep down they were only looking out for themselves even if everyone else denied it. 

The King of Curses completely ruined you: the Princess of Peace. The two of you were a dichotomous pairing, chaos and peace, yet still found balance in each other. It was the balance of life and existence and the both of you knew exactly how the collision would end: one of you would gain everything and the other would lose it all. But neither of you would have anticipated the depth of your connection, the intensity in which he consumed you and you him. You no longer cared about the consequences of being with him. Your father could disown you, exile you, have the entire village and the other families against you, but as long as Ryomen was at your side you didn’t care. 

His rough lips made their way down your neck, kissing and licking every inch of your skin as your hands held into his arms. The sound of your muffled cries made him feral, making his instinct and possessiveness kick into overdrive. He needed to feel you, needed to taste you, to breathe you in and have you take over all his senses. 

Your hands gripped his arms, your toes curling against the bed sheets as he continued to kiss down your neck and swirling his tongue around the delicate skin. You tasted like a heaven he never believed in, made him feel euphoric in ways beyond comprehension. 

Your body was on fire at his touch, you wanted more. More of his touch, his kisses, his groans, his everything. You just wanted more of him. 

You wanted to give yourself to him in everyway you could. He knew you were still a virgin, he wanted to be the one to wreck you, to be the only one to know your body so intimately, wanted to be the only man you’d ever end up with. His hands gripped your hips as you felt his buck slightly against you, your moans filling his mouth as he kissed you sloppily. 

He forced himself to stop, gaining a small whimper from you. His eyes met yours, his voice deep but low as he pressed his lips against yours once more. 

“Not like this.”, he muttered, his tone vibrating in every bone in your body. 

You knew what he meant with just a simple phrase, Your body relaxing against the bed, letting him collapse next to you as he wrapped you into his arms. You soaked in his warmth, letting your body be held by him as you fell into a slumber. 

This was all you could ever ask for. 

It was all you wanted.

One Week Later 

You woke up just before the sunrise, your body sitting up as the bed sheets fell from your form. You looked next to you, seeing Sukuna in his sleep while his arms were lazily thrown over your torso. Another night with him in peace left you feeling content, feeling a soreness overtake your body from the training you’d done with him last night. You felt his arms tighten, your body almost bare against him only wearing one of his oversized wool shirts. 

You pushed yourself out of his embrace, swinging your legs off the bed and looking out the window. You still had time to get home before everyone woke up, though you needed to head home soon. You felt his energy shift as he woke, raising a hand while still laying in the sheets and looking at you while caressing your cheek. 

“I have to get home.”, you whispered as you melted into him. He grunted in response before sitting up and cracking his neck to relieve the pressure he’d gotten overnight. You follow his as he stands, letting him help dress you in your clothing as you felt his lips along the side of your neck. 

Both of you walked out of his home, walking through the woods until you reached your room, his veil keeping you hidden and camouflaged both of your energies. You gave him a final kiss, smiling at him before he turned and left, leaving you alone in your room. 

During mid day, the sun held its highest position and the food was being prepared for lunch, you heard mention from your father that the Zen’in would be joining your family for lunch. 

Everything was fine at first, everyone coexisting together, talking about family matters and everything normal, atleast it seemed normal at first. 

You looked up to see Zetsubou Zen’in walk in the door, one of the maids accompanying him to the table as she bowed and walked back to her post at the front door. He was the heir to the Zen’in clan. A remarkably talented sorcerer with the gift of the Ten Shadows technique. Everyone was sure he would soon manifest the shikigami Mohoraga, making him the first to manifest it since the family’s establishment to the realm. 

“Now that everyone is here, there is some news we must share.”, your father spoke as he stood, watching as Zetsubou’s father also rose to stand next to his son. Everyone else remained seated, you included as you cocked your head in confusion. 

“Y/n, come stand.”, your father motioned towards you, your gut churning in suspicion before you stood next to him. You watched your father before turning to Zetsubou and his father, his dark eyes staring into your e/c ones. 

“We are to celebrate the new union, the meshing of two family names into one great clan.”, your father spoke, your mother and the Zen’in wife staring in silence. Even the maids seemed to be on edge of what your father was saying. “Zetsubou, Your father and I have agreed in accepting the conditions of betrothal that you both have given to our family.”

Betrothal?

“Y/n, you and Zetsubou will meet in union in two weeks' time. Two Clans becoming one in matrimony.”, your father smiled as he shook hands with the Zen’in leader, smiling at Zetsubou. 

You stood in silence, your energy growing grimm at the declaration your father just made. Your body overwhelmed in shock, your heart racing in your chest, your mind swirling with a million different possibilities. The chatter around you blurred into a jumbled mess, nothing comprehensive due to your anger radiating from your body. 

“I look forward to getting closer to you through our marriage, Y/n.”, Zetsubou smiled at you, your eyes staring at him mindlessly. “Y/n?”

“I’m not marrying you.”, you said silently, almost inaudibly but you knew he’d heard you since you saw Zetsubou’s eyes darken. 

“What?”, his voice came out clipped, sharp. Dangerous. 

“I am not marrying you.”, you repeated, your eyes void of any emotion as you held 

“Y/n!”, your mother let out a warning call, but you ignored her. You didn’t care about anything other than making it entirely clear that you were not going to be wed to the Zen’in Clan. “Forgive us, she doesn’t realize what she’s saying.”

“I know what I’m saying. I am not marrying you, Zetsubou. Not even if you held my life at sword's edge.”

You suddenly felt the energy that radiated off of your father, his anger growing tenfold as he glared at you with intense disappointment and resentment. Your father already hated you, and already felt disgraced by your presence. Why not give him another reason to see you as less than good enough. 

“I think there needs to be some time to process our agreement. Surely we can come to a suitable agreement that will benefit both of our clans.”, your father forced out, his voice clipped. “Our maids will clean up, let me walk you out.”

You watched as both the Zen’in leader and your father walked out, your eyes glancing back at Zetsubou, holding his glare before he scoffed and followed behind his father. You heard the lowered voice of Zetsubou’s father, his voice full of annoyance. 

“Get your daughter under control or else we will take care of her for you.”, and with that, the Zen’ins left your home. You stared blankly as your father walked back into the room, his energy radiating in waves like a tsunami. He walked up to you, your blank stare meeting his eyes as you felt your head snap to the side, the sting burning your cheek as he snarled at you. 

“You are a disgrace!”, he screamed, your mother gasping at his sudden burst. “How dare you embarrass our family name in front of the Zen’ins!”

You raised your head, looking at the pure fury displayed in his eyes, still not saying a single word as he continued to berate you. 

“Why can’t you just do your duty and save yourself the embarrassment. Save our family the dishonor of having you as its heir.”, he bit out, each word dripping with acid. “You’re to marry Zetsubou Zen’in in two weeks' time. For once in your pathetic life, do something honorable for this family.”. He left the room, your mother following closely behind as the maids started to clean the dining room. 

And still, you stood in the middle of the room with no emotion behind your eyes, just the sting of your cheek and the emptiness in your chest at your father’s words. Your life, your future, your dreams, it all was reduced to being the wife of a man you did not love. A man you did not care for and despised. 

You were reduced to nothing. 

The night was silent, the wind howled softly in the background causing the trees to move, leaving nothing but a tranquil aura in the air. You stared blankly at the wall as you laid against Sukuna’s skin, the warmth flooding your body as you felt his arms wrap around you. You felt the growing pressure in your chest, an unavoidable truth you couldn’t keep from him anymore. 

“Kuna…”, you whispered gently. HIs body moved, looking at you as his eyes fell on your heartbroken form. “I..”, you choked. 

How could you possibly tell him this?

“What is it?”, his voice was deep yet soft, the words ringing in your ears. 

“I… My father..”, you sucked in a shaky breath. “He arranged for me to marry Zetsubou Zen’in.”

“He arranged for you to marry Zetsubou Zenin.” he repeated back to you, the lingering darkness hanging in his tone. 

“He says it’ll be good for our families. That I have a responsibility as heir, as does Zetsubou, to continue our bloodline and make our abilities stronger.”

“Do you love him?”, the question made your blood run cold, even kicked you in the gut, but you knew why he asked. You could read in between the lines and hear the unanswered question he truly wanted to ask. 

“No.”

A hum was all that escaped him, the silence casting over the both of you causing a small blanket of tension to rise. 

“I can kill them.”, he replied finally. “I can give them a reason to call off that sham marriage.”

He could do it easily, there was no question about it, the only thing keeping him from carrying out his plan was his loyalty to you. He wouldn’t do something you asked him to not do. You had that power over him to stop him from doing anything. You heard the hidden meaning in his words. You weren’t ignorant or naive. You knew who he was and what he was capable of and yet, you lay in his arms falling deeper into what he was, or rather, who he was with you. 

“I don’t want bloodshed. Besides..”, you sank into your sorrow again. “I don’t think there truly is a way out of this.”

“Do you really believe they could possibly keep me away from you?”, he asked in a serious, deep tone, his question full of every emotion he’d never said out loud. He didn’t know what kindness was, what admiration looks like or what love felt like but to him… you were the closest thing to that that he’d ever felt and seen in all his life. 

You brought out what little humanity he had in him, he showed it only for you. the tiniest sliver reserved for you but disappeared when it came to anyone else. You were the only one who deserved that small minuscule part of him. He had little regard for human life, he believed himself above all beings all gifted, cursed, and boring. 

Then there was you. 

He didn’t believe himself above you in any regard. 

In every way you were his equal and he’d burn the world to ash to prove it to you. 

“I can’t deny them… My father… he already hates me.”, you muttered against his skin. Ryomen slowly sat up, his arms helping you move with him as he brushed your hair back, tucking a strand behind your ear and letting his hand rest against your cheek. Your eyes glossed over, a hurt in your heart flooding every vein in your body. You didn’t want to be forced into a life you had no interest in, why did this have to be your life’s path? 

You wish you could just speak to whatever greater being ruled over your world and beg them to change the prophecy known as your life. Beg for a time where you didn’t exist within the confines of your familial name, your duty to pass your legacy through your bloodline, your fear of disgracing your family, who could ever change the end result for you? 

“I’ll find a way.”, he whispered before leaning towards you, pulling your lips against his as he let all of his emotion pour into the kiss as the tears fell down your cheeks. He was gentle even in his destructive touch, he let himself completely off guard with you. Your lips moved gently against his, soft and delicate, making his other hands wrapped around your waist as he kissed you deeply. You felt weak at his touch, your heart openly his without regret or second thoughts. 

“Ryo..”, you whispered, your voice shaky as he kissed you again, this time more possessive and full of desire. His teeth nipped at your bottom lip, pulling it before letting it go as it swelled. 

You let yourself sink into him, his arms wrapping around you in a secure embrace. You fell asleep to the sound of his heartbeat, it was even and strong, proof of the life inside of him. 

He watched you carefully, his gut churning in a whirlwind of emotion and suppressed energy. He needed an outlet and soon, he’d spent the better part of the past month with you in his embrace and presence. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d gone so long without releasing his cursed energy, it was starting to make him twitch at all the pent up power he had. He’d waited until you fell asleep in his arms before lowering you into the sheets, your body laying perfectly in his bed as he covered you with the blanket. He pushed the curtain away, closing it as his eyes lingered on your body, the blanket laying over you as he moved out of the room. 

He found himself wandering through the woods late, moving to the outskirts of the village territories and making his way deeper to territory he knew a little too well. He sensed an energy that stood out to him, his focus moving towards the waves radiating towards him until he reached his location. His veil did good in keeping him hidden, but he released a small wave of energy to send a flood of chills through every being in town within his proximity. His body moved through the homes, the worn down tavern, and the trader booths until he found exactly what he was looking for so late in the night. 

The sound of moans echoed in his ears, the energy he was tailing radiating from inside the brothel at the very end of the town, hidden amongst the trees for a more private ambiance. He knew exactly what was taking place inside the brothel, but it wasn’t that that bothered him, it was the person inside that did. He sensed Zetsubou inside with multiple women, all of them taking their place in his bed, taking turns pleasuring him or even doing it all at once. His grunts sounded out as the moans that escaped the concubine echoed through the walls. The other women were touching him, their hands on his body as one of them rubbed their body against his while another kissed him in a sloppy manner. 

He would be lying if he said he’d never been in a similar, compromising position. He’d visited these brothels long enough to know exactly who and what he wanted every night he visited. His lust filled ways long gone, no longer causing a rise in him, especially after meeting you. That was the exact reason he was here. For you. 

An anger rose inside of him seeing your supposed future husband laying in a bed being pleasured by concubines just weeks before your wedding. His groans sounded out at the pleasure he was receiving, the moans of the concubines filling the air as he fed into infidelity. He knew all too well that men were never loyal to their wives, always frequenting the brothels for a good time. The sound of Zetsubou slamming the headboard against the wall as he fucked one of the concubines, his curses filling the air as her moans ripped through the night, it all made Sukuna’s anger run deep inside of him. The lack of respect, the complete disregard Zetsubou held for you made him want to snap his neck in half. It would be the perfect way to get you out of the betrothal. 

Even the sounds of the whores in bed with him drove Sukuna mad. They had to know the great Zen’in heir was to be wed to the L/n heir, yet they still chose to lay in bed with him, to be absolutely and disgustingly fucked by the son of a bitch. He listened to the sounds, letting the anger grow inside of him, allowing himself to plot every way he would maim Zetsubou Zen’in alive for ever treating his betrothal as disposable. Something to be disregarded. Disrespected. 

After a while, the moans and the slamming of the headboard stopped, Zetsubou’s voice ringing out as he laid in the sheets with his whores wrapped around his naked body. 

“You ladies definitely know how to show a man a good time.”, he breathed as he let them touch his body, his muscled flexing under their touch. 

“Of course, always special treatment for our best man.”, one of the whores said in a sultry voice. “It’s good to get a good fuck while you still can.”

“Trust me, even in a few weeks I’ll be back. Don’t you worry.”, the sound of Zetsubou kissing one of the women made Sukuna fill with disgust. “You have the best of the best here. Can’t stay committed to some virgin who doesn’t know how to please a man, let alone know how to fuck one.”

His energy spiraled, shoving it down as he continued to listen. 

“That’s right, you need real women, not some uptight spoiled brat.”, another woman spoke out. 

“You can get all the good pussy you want here, baby.”, another called. “We know how to treat a man right. Make you feel everything.”

“That’s all I want.”, his voice vibrated as he kissed the woman again. “C’mon baby, let's go for round two.”

And just like that, the sounds of moans and deep grunts rang out again. The knocking of the head board and the panting of hot breath filling the room. Zetsubou Zen’in was scum. Bottom of the barrel. A fucking no body. 

Sukuna bided his time, waiting deep into the night as he watched the Zen’in heir leave, heading back in the direction of his clan’s territory. Sukuna’s red eyes watched him from the shadows, his anger rising into flames around him, waiting long enough for the worthless son of a bitch to be far enough away before letting the release come. 

Fire consumed the village, everything burning into ash, the smoke filling the air as the sound of screams echoed into the night. The taverns, the trader booths, the homes, all of it catching on fire and burning every single person to a crisp. He saved the brothel for last, waiting for the sound of panic cries to ring out before walking inside and seeing all the concubines who were with the Zen’in heir trying to get out of the burning building. He forced them to stay in place, his presence overwhelming them into fear. He watched as the panic settled into their eyes, their lungs begging for air, their bodies getting burned as the flames licked the walls around them. One of them tried to run out past him, but never made it as he blew her head off in one swift slice. They screamed out, begging him to let them out, crying as he watched in emotionlessness. It wasn’t until their lifeless bodies collapsed on the ground that he left, leaving the burning village behind him as he wandered into the night. He’d burn the whole world down for you. 

Even if it meant starting with those who wronged you first.

“Our entire livestock was burned! We have no more land to grow food in!”, the sound of the Zen’in leader’s voice ringing out during their meeting with your father rang out. You listened in silence, letting yourself sink into the reality of what they were discussing. A small part of you laughing internally at their misfortune. 

Another village burned into flames just two days ago, and last night, the Zen’in’s lost all of their livestock, fertile soil, and sustainable crops. They were all burned to nothing, not even the soil or the seeds were salvageable. 

“We need to get this monster under control. We have to speed up training with our sorcerers and find our strongest men to be put into units to take him out. We cannot let him roam so freely anymore, especially not now that he’s making hits closer to our clan lands.”, the Kamo Clan leader spoke out, his voice soft as he marked the map where Sukuna made his last raid, your eyes peeking in through the slit in the door. That village.. It was right outside the Zen’in borders, it was where Zetsubou frequented the brothels. 

Ryo..

You stepped back, moving back into the hall before making your way to your bedroom, closing the door as you sat on the floor. Did he burn the village down in some act of honor for you or was it just a coincidence? 

The thoughts spiraled in your head, letting yourself undress and change into your dinner clothes, the silence still filling your home ever since your fight with your father almost three days ago. You were a week away from your marriage to Zetsubou, a gnawing in your gut as you stepped out of your room and faced your father. You stood in the doorway before making your way to the dining table and sitting in your regular spot at the very end while your father and mother sat next to one another. 

Then, a rush of energy consumed you all at once. The sensation floods your senses as you feel your body tense. You look at your father, noticing his sudden change in demeanor as one of the maids let out a cry of fear, her shaky voice barely audible as you could hear her motion towards the dining room. 

In all his glory, Sukuna stood tall and unmoving, his body adorned with fine robes and his true form showing as he occupied the space. Making the air impossible to breathe, making everyone except you suffocate in fear. 

Your eyes widened at the sight of him, why was he here?

You watched as your mother raised her hand to her mouth, covering her quivering lips. “What is the meaning of this?” she asked in a shaken tone, your eyes filled with worry as you watched your father fill with anger. 

“Sukuna”, he bowed before the King of Curses, before lifting his head and asking his question. “What brings you into our home this evening?”

Sukuna stared your father down, his true form standing tall and in overwhelming sense of dominance that made your mother cower. Although you showed no fear towards him, you could see why everyone else in the realm did. He was massive, muscular, deadly, his body taking form of a cursed entity. It was no secret that Ryomen Sukuna held an energy that defied all existence, he was far above all beings. 

You tried to stay focused, holding your shock at his sudden appearance back, not wanting them to see your reaction. 

What was he doing? 

“F/n L/n.”, Sukuna’s deep voice echoed. “Leader of the L/n clan. For such a highly renown sorcerer, you sure don’t seem to realize where your greatest assets lie.” He walked further into the room, your father’s jaw clenching noticeably. “You’re ignorant and naïve, choosing to force such a gifted sorcerer, your only daughter and heir into a marriage of mutual gain, of political power.”

“Our family and Clan matters shouldn’t interest you. Now why are you intruding on our home?”. You had to applaud your father’s boldness, asking Sukuna such a demanding question. 

“You’re too mundane, worldly, pitiful.”, you watched as he moved and sat at the table, in between the head where your father and mother sat and the opposite end where you sat. He sat with his legs crossed, leaning his head into his hand before speaking again. “Why arrange for political gain when you could have real power, L/n?”

“What are you talking about Sukuna?”, your father’s words shook slightly. 

“Look at the bigger picture. L/n may be a part of the four families, but in comparison, your poor judgment and lack of support is the reason your family will fail. You seek what humans want. You’re greedy over mundane things”, Hid deep red eyes held your father’s gaze intently, overwhelmingly. “What if I told you that you could have the power of gods?”

“Power of gods?”, your fathers hands fisted in his lap. 

“Yes”, you noticed Sukuna’s red eyes glance at you, softening only when he met your gaze and immediately hardened and dropping when he met your father’s. “You could have real power, real influence, real claim to the realm. It would put you far above the rest of the families, perhaps make you greater than the Gojos.”

You didn’t miss the glint of intrigue in your fathers eyes. Of course bed listen or spare a moment for someone like him. Anything for power, anything for more claim to the realm. Your family wasn’t weak but any means, but your father had slowly started losing connections thanks to his selfishness. It truly would be the end of the L/n family if he didn’t get it together. 

“And how would I possibly gain that? I have nothing to give you in return.” , your father smiled weakly. 

“Simple”, Sukuna leaned his head on his hand, staring at your father blankly before extending a hand and pointing at you. 

“I want Y/n as my bride.” 

[wutheringskies]

Jin Guangyao and Wei Wuxian aren't the same.

Jin Guangyao is one of the best written characters I've come across. A villian that doesnt look like one, doesnt act like one, is likeable, has strong motivations and a defined personality and extremely fun to read fanfics about. But what I dislike is the role that fanon gives him; specially his role in the story with allusions to Wei Wuxian, casting Jin Guangyao as someone similar to Wei Ying. The "poor children turned to forced villains" trope. This meta is about WHY that's NOT true.

The humiliation of his mother didn't give him the right to burn down an entire brothel. (personally, I found it satisfying but). The desire of acceptance from his father was a motivation for his crimes, not a factor that validates those crimes. Often, Jin Guangyao is treated as the counter part of Wei Wuxian. They both share only three similarities, however:

1. Both came from low backgrounds and struggled a lot in their childhoods. Meng Yao had food, but witnessed constant humiliation. Wei Ying had nothing, and then got tangled into the fucked up dynamics of the Jiangs.

2. Both were found to be much different than what people believed them to be. Wei Wuxian was supposed to be evil, hateful, a murderer who kills just to satisfy his blood thirst and need for power, a monster. Jin Guangyao was supposed to be the guy who worked hard and rose to the top, humble, kind, honest and pure of heart.

3. Both had their reputations destroyed from targeted rumor mill.

That is all.

Other than that, Jin Guangyao is NOT at all similar to Wei Wuxian by any measure. He had to do bad things because he desired power, and to gain, power in a corrupt world, you need to be even more corrupted. He killed all those who looked down upon him (not bodily harm him). He clenched his teeth and killed everyone who protested against him or questioned him. He silenced everybody before they could silence him. He isn't SOLELY responsible but he only played the cards that would bring HIM benefit, not the cards that were righteous, or good, or kind.

Wei Wuxian never desired power, was willing to give up a limb for the safety of his sect. When has he ever raised his sword or his flute if not in self defense? When has he ever attacked first and when has he ever killed an innocent? The only innocent he's most directly responsible for is Jin Zixuan and that was too, in an ambush, where he was asked to back down.

Not just that, everyone is always talking about the Nightless City massacre but never about the Burial Mounds Seige 2.0 where all of the cultivators WOULD have DIED, if not for Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian.

If your reasoning behind justifying Jin Guangyao's actions and murders is the "intention" then you come across as hypocritical if you condemn Wei Wuxian for the Nightless City massacre, ignoring everything that led to it. His prowess in cultivation, his natural genius, and his terrifying powers that he built himself even after losing a core are not crimes that he should be punished for, but he was. Because he's supposed to be just the son of a servant. How dare he be so powerful? So many attempts on his life were made and he survived them all. So many attempts to summon his soul, and they didn't work.

Is surviving a crime? For the Jiang Cheng stans who always thrust the survivor narrative onto JC, this is a question for them. Was Wei Wuxian wrong to have survived incidents in which he was being attacked? Should he have died for doing absolutely nothing wrong, other than having a different voice? For standing against a structure that always prioritizes one being above all, being the ultimate voice that cannot be questioned?

Here I'm going to quote some parts from the ExR translation of Villanous Friends:

He Su, “What was the irresistible trend? What was stirring up trouble? Jin GuangShan wanted to establish the position of chief cultivator only to imitate the QishanWen Sect in being the only ones at the top. Do you think all the world is ignorant? You frame me like this only because I spoke the truth!”

When you really succeed, all of the world of cultivation would see the true face of the LanlingJin Sect. Do you think killing me alone would put you eternally at ease? How wrong you are! We, the TingshanHe Sect, teem with talent. From now on, we’ll unite and never surrender to you Wen-dogs of another skin!”

Sounds familiar?

After a few laughs, he continued, “Sect Leader Jin, let me ask you something else. Do you think that, because the QishanWen Sect is gone, the LanlingJin Sect has all right to replace it?”

Wei WuXian added, “Everything has to be given to you? Everyone has to listen to you? Looking at how the LanlingJin Sect does things, I almost thought that it was the QishanWen Sect’s empire all over again.”

Wei WuXian, “Did I say something wrong? Forcing living people to be bait and beating them up whenever they refused to obey—is this any different from what the QishanWen Sect does?”

These were voices that questioned the greater powers. This is what happened to these voices:

Jin Guangyao: That’s not the way to go about things, is it? The TingshanHe Sect rebelled and schemed to assassinate Sect Leader Jin with all its forces before it was caught red-handed. How could that be called without a reason?”

Flashback to Wen Chao, asking if the disciples in the Xuanwu Cave were rebelling when they protected Mianmian who was asked to be the live bait of a monster.

Also, flashback to Wei Wuxian standing up for the Wens and being called a rebel when he stood up for the Wens who were being used as live baits to strengthen the Jin.

The ones over there cried, “Brother! He’s lying! We didn’t, we didn’t!”

Flashback to Wen Ning "losing control" at Koi Tower probably due to Xue Yang's invention. But the point to be taken away is that Sect Leader He Su's younger disciples, who are harmless, are framed as murderers. A position similar to what Wei Wuxian was put into.

He Su, “Utterly nonsense! Open your eyes and fucking look! There are nine-year-old children here! Old men who can’t even walk! How could they rebel against anything?! Why would they assassinate your dad out of nowhere?!”

Funny how the evils of society comprised of old grandmas, uncles, a toddler, a doctor, a fierce corpse, and a cultivator with no status, no core, no money, no voice living in a cave with a pool of blood, digging the Burial soil to grow some potatoes.

And not those who were sitting on their thrones, reveling in riches and ordering people around.

Jin GuangYao, “Because you made a mistake and committed murder, Young Master He Su, while they refused to accept Koi Tower’s conviction of you, of course.”

"A mistake" reminds me of the incident at qionggi path. Even if Jin Zixuan hadn't died that day, they would've kept cornering Wei Wuxian until he'd have no other choice but to go on the offensive (which is what he did.)

Turns out even being sooo powerful that he could shake mountains, he eventually died.

Yet, at such a place, nobody would listen to his protests. Sitting before him were two villains who already treated him as though he were dead. What they enjoyed was precisely his dying struggle. Smiling, Jin GuangYao leaned back, waving his hand, “Hush him up, hush him up.”

"You shut them in live?"

Xue Yang turned around, curling his lips, “Wei WuXian never used live humans, but I wanna try.”

So, Xue Yang is an actual demonic cultivator who's protected by the Jins, murdered 2 entire clans and this is the third one and godness knows how many more. Absolutely very few people give actual fucks about what cultivation methods to employ. The one who really cared was perhaps, Lan Wangji.

Jin Guangyao as you can see isn't being "forced" to kill people because he's of lower birth and nobody accepts him :(

He's killing people to silence those who speak against his and his father's (and they both are one and the same entity. he's acting on his father's orders which he could've disobeyed and run away but he would lose his sect reputation and standing.)

Why does his reputation and standing mean more than the lives of all these 70 people ?

Were they trying to kill him? No.

Did they attack him first to the point he would lose his life? No.

Would they have thrown him into a whore house? No.

Let us please not compare Wei Wuxian and Jin Guangyao.

MXTX wants us to know what's said and told may not be right. Wei Wuxian isn't fond of the techniques that are used to confirm Jin Guangyao's demise. He's critical of how nobody else is concerned. He's unsure of what NHS's motivations are - does he now want complete power? or did his plan only extend up to his revenge? He's critical of how only yesterday people were all over this guy and today they hate him. Critical of how society works on what is favourable and not what is true.

But he's not SUPPORTIVE of Jin Guangyao. He's sympathetic to people turning onto you, but not empathetic towards Jin Guangyao. He believes Jin Guangyao to be a cruel man.

Those are two different things.

Nobody knows better than Wei Wuxian how it feels to be set up at every step:

1. Firstly he was used as a punching bag for Madam Yu and an emotional one for JC throughout his childhood

2. The Wens completely played him up, setting him as the cause of LP's fall.

3. Then, he was played by the Jins and the cultivation world until his death by validating JC's jealousy against him, by villianizing him and estranging him, by setting up the ambush, by sending JZX, by making false promises, by not checking for validity, by controlling Wen Ning, by setting up the seige parade, by getting JYL there, and finally the seige. (even after his death disrespecting his all)

4. He was brought back to the world on the revenge plans of NHS and tossed like a tennis ball from the plans of NHS and JGY. Yi City arc? children would've died -> NHS. Burial Mound seige 2.0? everyone would've died -> JGY. if LWJ wasn't with him at every step of the way, Wei Ying would've once again been in such a spot. Without any status or authority he would've gotten no help, no aid, and been villianized once more. He would've been stabbed and captured with nobody to save him. He would've made himself the bait without anybody to fight the monsters off.

Each of us have individual capacities and also, each of us have the one thing we cannot let happen:

1. Wei Ying can't let injustice prevail and sit by the side doing nothing

2. Jin Guangyao can't take in being stripped of power and being a lowlife again.

Those are two very different things. JGY made every decision he could to escape his grand fear, which was personal. I don't condemn his motivations personally cause I find them hot. Similar to how I find his character hot. Yet, he's not the hero on the opposite spectrum. He's not the lowlife who was killed because people can't handle people from lower birth statuses being on the top chairs for making decisions - but that is also true - but is not the reason behind his tragedy. Not the sole reason and also not the most important reason.

The most important reason is as it is said: he believes himself to be different and values his life over others, similar to Xue Yang. Their personalities vary greatly, yet his "true" friends were Xue Yang and Su She. (He showed glimpses of the truth and of his reality to LXC. So, he's hiding the truth and LXC doesn't wish to dig deeper anyways thus not a true friendship.) One wished to take revenge in extremely unfair shares, a clan for a finger. A clan for a son. The entire cultivation world could die but he couldn't be badmouthed or put on trial or killed. The other - Su She, wished to be recognized by those who he equally hated, despised and considered arrogant and also was jealous and envious of. So, these two traits - great desire for revenge onto everyone who's ever said anything mean about him, and the desire for power. You may argue how this developed from his childhood trauma but you can't argue that this justifies his cold blooded crimes because it doesn't. Another thing I'd like to add is that, his friendship with Lan Xichen also shows his personality; not wanting to take the messy, big path (such as showing up to your own death planning party, or planning a death party) and his relatively calm nature. Yet just like the friendship it is fragmented and fake; a composure that is stuck onto the cold, and hot brimming desire for power.

There was one character who had to kill a large number of people or would have no other option left and it wasn't Jin Guangyao. There was one character who was hated by society solely because of his background and his desire to protect people and it wasn't Jin Guangyao. There was one character who had to give up everything for what he believed in and it wasn't Jin Guangyao. There was one character who ended up being the indirect reason for the passing of loved siblings due to the unjust society.

and it wasn't Jin Guangyao.

(but there were two characters who had confirmed sex before marriage. one of them was Jin Guangyao)

[lansplaining]

why i don’t think jin guangyao killed rusong

(or had him killed) 

“Then... then even if you had no choice but to marry Qin Su, you still could have neglected her,” Lan Xichen said. “Why did you have to... And why go through with the trouble of siring A-Song, only to kill your son with your own hands?” 

Jin Guangyao clutched his head in his hands and said in a bitter tone, “...After the wedding, I never touched A-Su again. A-Song... was conceived before we were married. At the time, I was afraid that a delay would cause complications...” 

So he and Qin Su had consummated their union in advance. If not for that, he would never have ended up committing incest with his own younger sister. He didn’t know whether he should hate his father, who was hardly a father at all, or his own paranoid, overthinking self! 

Lan Xichen sighed. “Next-- and do not attempt to prevaricate-- but answer me. Did you intentionally plot Jin Zixuan’s death?” (7 Seas trans., 86-7) 

This is the sequence where Jin Guangyao lays everything out. Given what he chooses to reveal, it seems safe to assume that he isn’t hiding anything. So why do he and Lan Xichen just completely drop the Rusong question? There’s potentially an answer in the way Xichen frames the question-- that is, it’s a two-in-one of “why did you sleep with her and conceive a son only to kill him” and JGY’s response answers both-- I didn’t know when I slept with her and when I conceived him. 

But why does even the narration seem to forget about it? Why doesn’t it say, “he would never ended up committing incest with his own younger sister and having to kill his own son”?

I think... because he didn’t. I get annoyed by attempts to answer questions that hinge on how someone “would” or “should” act because everyone is different! But! Murdering your own son is something that would demand at least a little emotional unpacking, surely?? Or at least a little more explanation. He was a total innocent, and a child! But we get more time breaking down murders that are ten times more understandable, if not justifiable in the eyes of those listening, just from surface knowledge of the relationships. 

We even get other opportunities for it to come up, and it doesn’t. In the very next section, for example: 

“Despite us being born of the same man, why was your father able to spend his leisure time at home with his beloved wife, playing with his child, while I didn’t dare be alone with my wife and my blood ran cold at the sight of my own son?” (88). 

Again, dropping in “while I was driven to kill my own son” feels a little more rhetorically powerful-- if it happened. 

JGY leaves out potentially morally exculpatory evidence again and again when he isn’t asked for it directly-- like SiSi, like an explanation of how his mother was treated in the brothel he burned. The fact that he doesn’t go into Rusong’s death, and the fact that Lan Xichen just lets it pass without explanation, makes me think that the official version of events-- that he was killed in political retaliation-- is true. 

[jedimaesteryoda]

What was in Prince Nymor's Letter to Aegon I? (Updated)

Background

Aegon the Conqueror managed to forge the Seven Kingdoms into one with his dragons, but there was one exception: Dorne. The First Dornish War marked the only war where a kingdom managed to avoid subjugation by the Iron Throne. 

The Dornish avoided open battle as well as holing in fortresses. Rhaenys found all the castles in Dorne empty as she flew on Meraxes as the Dornish forces melted away. 

Meria: I will not fight you, nor will I kneel to you. Dorne has no king. Tell your brother that. Rhaenys: I shall, but we will come again, Princess, and next time we shall come with fire and blood. Meria: Your words, Ours are Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken. You may burn us, my lady, but you will not bend us, break us, or make us bow. This is Dorne. You are not wanted here. Return at your peril.

Princess Meria waited for her in Sunspear just to tell her off. Aegon placed his men to control castles, and declared victory only for the Dornish forces to return. Meria threw Lord Rosby from a window herself. 

Also, apparently the Dornish didn’t play nice. Entire garrisons were put to the sword. Knights were tortured, and Lord Wyl cut off the hands of captured prisoners-of-war, including Aegon’s Hand, Orys Baratheon. These actions violated the codes of chivalry, and had Aegon and his bannermen howling for vengeance, which led to a bloody cycle of retaliation and reappraisals. 

Aegon’s retaliation was swift as he and his sisters took to their dragons and burned Dornish castles. The Dornish responded by burning half the rainwood and sacking half a dozen towns and villages. The Targaryens then responded by burning more Dornish castles in dragonflame. The Dornish response to that was Lord Fowler capturing Nightfall and taking its occupants hostage and razing the nearby villages and towns. The Targaryens, then predictably, responded with their dragons again, but this time, miraculously, the Dornish managed to take down a dragon. A scorpion bolt in a one in a million shot, hit Meraxes in the eye, killing the dragon and ostensibly, the rider, Rhaenys. 

The death of Aegon’s favorite sister-wife was of course a huge personal blow, and it marked the start of the next two years of the war appropriately named the Dragon’s Wroth, the nadir of the war. Aegon and Visenya's initial response was to burn every castle in Dorne, except Sunspear. Some castles were even burned more than once with Hellholt, the site of Meraxes’s death, being burned three times. Aegon and Visneya also placed bounties on the heads of Dornish lords to which the Dornish responded by placing bounties on their heads as well as those of their allies. Half a dozen Dornish lords were assassinated while Aegon and Visneya survived several assassination attempts, and Lord Fell was murdered in a brothel. 

Finally, Meria Martell died, and was succeeded by her son, Nymor. Nymor took a different approach compared to his mother, and sent his daughter and heir, Deria, to King’s Landing with Meraxes’s skull and a letter. While Aegon’s queen and advisors pushed for Aegon to harm Deria, Aegon refused and heard out Deria. 

Dorne wanted peace, according to Deria—but the peace of two kingdoms no longer at war, not the peace between a vassal and a lord. Many urged His Grace against this, and the phrase "no peace without submission" was often heard in the halls of the Aegonfort. It was claimed that the king would look weak should he agree to such a demand and that the lords of the Reach and stormlands who had suffered so much for his cause would be angered.

Swayed by such considerations, it is said, King Aegon was determined to refuse the offer until Princess Deria placed in his hands a private letter from her father, Prince Nymor. Aegon read it upon the Iron Throne, and men say that when he rose, his hand was bleeding, so hard had he clenched it. He burned the letter and departed immediately on Balerion's back for Dragonstone. When he returned the next morning, he agreed to the peace and signed a treaty to that effect.

Aegon read Nymor’s letter, burned it, and left for Dragonstone on Balerion that day, only to return the following morning and to his court’s surprise, agree to Nymor’s terms of ending the First Dornish War with the Iron Throne recognizing Dorne’s independence. 

No one knows the contents of that letter, but there are theories as to what was in that letter that led Aegon to forgo his aim to conquer Dorne and agree to Nymor’s peace. Let’s look at the possibilities offered.

1. Did he threaten to take all the wealth of Dorne to hire the Faceless Men to kill Aegon's young son and heir, Aenys? 

The problem with this one is Aegon "flew to Sunspear on Balerion on the tenth anniversary of the peace accords to celebrate ‘a feast of freindship’ with Deria Martell” with Aenys accompanying him. I doubt Aegon would willingly celebrate such a treaty with Princess Deria, and do so, by bringing along the son they threatened to kill if he didn’t sign. That would just make things awkward.  

Also, the whole point of hiring an assassin, especially a Faceless Man, is to get someone killed without you being implicated. If you say that “if person A dies, it's definitely because of me,” that would be a clear invitation to retaliation from the victim’s family and allies. 

The man whom this threat was made to burned every castle in Dorne in retaliation for Rhaenys’s death. It doesn’t take much speculation to imagine how he would have responded to the death of his son borne by that same woman. A threat like that likely wouldn’t have intimidated Aegon into signing the treaty, but more likely angered him and provoked threats of retaliation.

One must also note that by the time of the meeting (13 AC) Maegor had just been born the year before (12 AC). Even with Aenys dead, Aegon would still have had a son to continue the Targaryen line, and it wouldn’t have been a permanent end to the Targaryen threat. 

2.  Did Nymor reveal that Rhaenys lived still, broken and mutilated, and that he would end her suffering if Aegon ended hostilities? 

It doesn’t take a genius to see the problems with this one. The proposal is basically to tell Aegon "Hey, remember your beloved queen Rhaenys, she's alive, we've just been torturing her for the past two years. Agree to this peace and we'll kill her, the thing that you burned Dorne over thinking we did."

For Aegon, the idea of Rhaenys having been left broken after being tortured and mutilated for two years undoubtedly would have enraged him in such a manner that would have befit his sobriquet “the Dragon”, and had him threatening swift and brutal retaliation. He would have demanded Rhaenys back, no matter what condition she was in. I also seriously doubt Aegon would take Rhaenys’s son, Aenys, to celebrate the peace with Deria that was signed on the condition of killing his tortured mother. 

Nymor would also have demonstrated himself to be an idiot by needlessly endangering his daughter, Deria. By sending her, he would have handed Aegon a potentially valuable hostage on a silver platter that Aegon could use to counter any threats against Rhaenys. It also undermined the message of goodwill by bringing the skull of Meraxes.

There is also the question of if they had Rhaenys alive this whole time, why the hell didn’t they use her before, the moment they had captured her? The Dornish would have to be complete fools to not see how valuable a hostage Aegon’s favorite sister-wife could be. They at the very least could have used her to negotiate a ceasefire, and given themselves some respite.

3. Was the letter ensorceled?

Short answer: no. I don’t think we’ve seen magic capable of influencing someone’s consciousness with the most being tales of love potions.

4. Some claim it was a simple plea, from one father to another, heartfelt words that touched King Aegon’s heart.

This seems a little too romantic. I mean even if the words did touch Aegon’s heart, there were still political realities to consider, and I don’t see how relating as a father would move Aegon enough to forget about Rhaenys, the woman who first made him a father to begin with. 

5. Others insist it was a list of all those lords and noble knights who lost their lives during the war.

I admit while showing a king the human costs of his war isn’t unappealing to me, one must note that “the Reach, the stormlands and the marches had suffered grievously during the fighting, and would never forgive and forget.” The relatives of those same lords and knights who died in the Dornish War largely wanted the war to continue to avenge their relatives, and would potentially have seen a Dornish peace without submission seemingly make those deaths in vain. 

It also wouldn’t be the first time Aegon suffered a personal loss in his conquest. He lost his distant cousin and one of his family’s closest friends, Daemon Velaryon, in the first Targaryen assault on the Vale. Yet, he continued his conquest regardless. 

What actually was in the letter?

Think back to Robert’s Rebellion with Dornish anger over the horrific deaths of Elia and her children as well as the death of Lewyn at the Battle of the Trident. Jon Arryn managed to avoid rebellion by the Dornish by returning Lewyn’s bones to Dorne, and negotiating with Prince Doran. 

Returning the remains of a fallen relative is an act of respect. It is mentioned that Rhaenys’s bones were never returned. Neither were the bones Elia and her children, but that was because they were given the Targaryen custom of cremation.

I think Rhaenys’s body was likely given the same treatment. What Nymor may have mentioned in the letter is that he was returning Rhaenys’s ashes from her funeral pyre to Dragonstone. That is why Aegon left for Dragonstone that day on Balerion, he wanted to meet up with the ship carrying her urn. 

That leaves the question of why Aegon burned the letter. It likely mentioned how Rhaenys died. It must be mentioned that in the Dance of Dragons, dragonriders have survived their dragons falling to the ground like Aegon II on Sunfyre (twice) and Baela on Moondancer, though with serious injuries. Rhaenys actually may have survived the fall, and they put her in bed and gave her a maester to recuperate.

Note, that "his hand was bleeding, so hard had he clenched it," or his hand was stained with Targaryen blood, a trope going back to Cain's hands being stained with the blood of his brother Abel. The letter likely stated that when Aegon attacked Hellholt in retaliation for Rhaenys's purported demise, she was in one of the towers Balerion had burned. In other words, Rhaenys had died not by Dornish hands but by his own hand. The crime he had pinned on the Dornish, and made them suffer for was his own. In his pursuit of vengeance, he had destroyed the one thing he had loved most.

The kinslayer is cursed, and that meant that House Targaryen had been tragically cursed from the start. The tradition of dragons slaying dragons would continue to plague the generations of Aegon's progeny.

Throughout the war, both sides did a lot of awful stuff with the Targaryens burning everything in Dorne in dragonflame, and the Dornish responding by engaging in torture, mutilation and assassination (which the Targaryens did first). All those actions did was escalate the war, and result in more brutal retaliation from the Targaryens with each side upping the violence, brutality and destruction. However, by performing this one honorable gesture, Nymor managed to succeed where his mother failed in ending Aegon’s attempts to subdue Dorne. Aegon having learned he had inadvertently killed his own beloved wife made him realize the futility of the Dragon's Wroth and agree to the terms to end the war.

[topguncortez]

Bad Medicine | Chapter 2

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word count: 5.4k

synopsis: A wealthy Italian mobster sets up his daughter to marry the head of one of the last remaining mafias in California. The union was supposed to create and heal the damage between two families, but all it does is cause more harm than good. MAJOR SLOW BURN (ENEMIES TO LOVERS)

WARNINGS: death/murder, guns, violence, physical abuse, cursing, mentions of prostitution, mentions of murder, grief, blood, nudity, mentions of drugs, mentions of a brothel

Y/N’s apartment looked over the upper East Side of New York. It was a cute little place that was within walking distance to the club. It gave her both things that she loved, the chaotic life that came with living in New York, and privacy to where she felt safe coming home at night. And that was partially because of Rueben, aka Payback, her bodyguard that Rafael had hired when she moved back to New York. That was part of Rafael’s deal in sending Y/N back to New York, she had to have a bodyguard. Y/N was smart though, and could figure out how to leave her bodyguards in the dust and jet off around the world, except Rueben could see right through that all. 

Y/N stood on the balcony, taking in her surroundings for the last time. She hadn’t stood out on the balcony in a long time. Good and bad memories filled her mind as she held her cup of tea close to her body for some warmth. Images of her relationship with Francisco filled her mind and sent a shiver down her spine. She also thought about all the good times she had while working at the club. Sure it wasn’t the best job she could ever have, but she loved the girls she worked with. She was probably going to miss them more than anything. 

“Y/N?” Gianni asked softly, “You ready?” 

Y/N and Rueben had spent the whole night packing. She looked over at the small carryon and purse sitting on her bed. She packed the essentials to make the trip over. Her brothers would be sending the rest of her clothing in the coming weeks. 

Y/N took a deep breath, she wanted to tell him no. She didn’t know a thing about Jake Seresin, to the internet it was like the man didn’t exist. She knew that he supposedly studied law at University of Texas, but never went past that. He took over for his father when he had a heart attack nearly two years ago. It was all fabricated bullshit about “Seresin Enterprises” and how they bought several blocks of casinos and clubs in both Vegas and San Diego. Apparently they had been on the FBI’s radar for sometime due to an underground boxing and prostitution ring. However, they claim no such truth about it. Which was something all mobsters said. 

“Y/N, we gotta get headed to the airport. The Don is mad we held it off this long,” Paulo said walking into her room. Y/N sighed and walked into the room, leaving the warmth of the morning sun, “You got what you need?” 

“Yeah, Payback took my bags to the car,” She answered and fixed herself in the mirror. She wore a simple skin tight black dress and paired it with matching black heels. Her tan skin looked sunkissed compared to the dark colors. She looked around at her barren apartment and frowned. She didn’t have a lot of stuff to begin with, but seeing it all boxed up made her feel kind of sad. Y/N nodded, and Gianni gently led her through the house and towards the waiting car. 

“Wait,” Y/N said, and turned to face her brother, “Have you heard from Sophie? I haven’t heard from her since she left for Greece and I know she’d want to be a part of this wedding bullshit.” 

Paulo looked at his two brothers, as if to tell them to keep their mouths shut. Narciso clenched his jaw and Gianni whistled, looking away from his little sister. 

“I have not heard from Sophie,” Paulo answered, “But I’ll make sure someone reaches out to her.” 

“She’d kill me if I got married and she wasn’t there for it,” Y/N smiled sadly and pulled her phone out, dialing the number again. Paulo ushered her into the car as Sophie’s phone went to voicemail again. Y/N sighed and left her yet another voicemail. 

When Y/N arrived at the small private airport she noticed the black SUVs and armed men that were standing around. She would try and make a break for it if it weren’t for the military style weapons ready to fire at any moment. One would think that the president or some diplomat was about to land, but in reality, it was just some man from Italy. Although the Santiagos had slowly defeated their enemies over the years, some still lurked in the shadows, waiting for the right moment to strike. 

The Don stepped out of his own vehicle when the Santiago siblings arrived. He looked pissed and Paulo fixed his suit as he walked over to talk to him. The patriarch stared his daughter down through the dark tinted glass of the SUV. She gulped and looked over at Payback who simply shrugged. He didn’t want to do this anymore than she wanted. 

“Do you want to make things easy?” Payback asked and Y/N nodded, “Don’t try and fight every little thing he says.” 

“You know me better than that Rueben,” Y/N smirked, and opened her car door. Her heels clicked across the ground as she walked up to her father. His stare sent a shiver down her spine, and it made her hold her head up higher, trying to show him that she was not afraid. 

“No funny business, Y/N. You get on the plane here and off in San Diego. I hear you made the pilot take you to England or Paris, I will cut off the expenses for the wedding,” Rafael threatened Y/N. The girl rolled her eyes, “We’ve set up for you to be married to Jacob in four weeks.” 

“Four fucking weeks?!” Y/N cursed and was met with another backhand across her face. 

“Watch your fucking mouth,” The Don yelled, “This is why you couldn’t find a husband on your own.” 

“Maybe if you would give me a damn chance!” Y/N yelled. 

“Why? So you could find someone else to murder someone in our family?!”

Y/N clenched her jaw and looked away from him. She had heard it almost every year since her mother’s death, Rafael never let her live it down. What happened to her mother was one of the worst things that Y/N and her family could’ve gone through, but no one knew that Francisco would turn his anger towards Marie. Her brothers forgave her for what happened, but Rafael still held it over her head. 

“Are none of you going to say anything!?” Y/N yelled at her brothers. They were all looking down at the ground, not bothering to jump in and say anything, “Spineless fucking idiots,” Y/N cursed and licked her lips, “I’ll see you in hell, Rafael.”

Rafael stood with his head up, his jaw clenched as he watched Y/N and Rueben walk up the plane steps. She sat down in a chair that was by the window. She watched as her brothers wouldn’t look at the plane, but the Don looked like he was ready to give an order to shoot it down. Y/N knew once the plane took off he would scold her brothers for telling her about Francisco, but the Don didn’t dare punish the boys in front of her or anyone else. People needed to know the boys were untouchable, but Y/N’s life was useless.

“Miss Santiago, can I get you anything to drink?” The flight attendant asked.

Y/N looked around the small jet and noted who the security was. There was, of course, Reuben and what looked to be like his new partner. Rafael hardly let Y/N go without two guards. The last one had been killed because the Don caught Y/N and him together. The new guy was all of 6 foot tall, with tan skin and a scar running down his face. His dark hair was gelled back and it looked like he had just bought a new black suit and dress shoes. Payback could see the glint in her eye and knew exactly what was going to happen next.

“Well, Rueben will have a Hangman IPA, I’ll take whatever red wine you have open, and a glass of whiskey for the Rookie,” Y/N smirked. Payback rolled his eyes, knowing Y/N’s plan like the back of his hand. This wasn’t the first flight he had taken with her and some new rookie, he had seen this episode before. 

“We can’t just have one plane ride where you leave the Rookies be?” Reuben asked, and Y/N just smiled, “You know what’ll happen.” 

“Then why not enjoy the fun while it lasts,” Y/N said as the flight attendant handed her the glass of wine, “Leave the bottle please, dear.”

“Laying it on thick,” Payback said, taking out his headphones. 

“My life has been signed away, Reuben. These are my last moments of freedom until I have to go wait on some mobster hand and foot,” Y/N said and Rueben frowned. He glanced outside the window to see that the black SUVs that carried her family were gone. 

“Fine,” He muttered, “Just know this one is on you.” 

“Of course,” Y/N nodded, her eyes going over to the Rookie who was seemingly confused. She just gave him a wink, and settled back in her chair as the pilot told them to prepare for take off. Y/N closed her eyes, she wasn’t ever a fan of planes taking off, she always felt like she was going to fall right out of the sky. 

Once the plane got up to cruising altitude, Y/N opened her eyes and looked at the Rookie, “Have you ever joined the Mile High club?” 

“N-no, ma’am,” He said. He had a thick country accent, making him out to probably be from the South. 

“Perfect,” Y/N smiled and stood up, taking his hand in hers and leading him to the private bedroom in the back of the plane. Payback groaned in annoyance, and pulled his earbuds out of his pocket. He settled them in his ears before going back to look through his magazine. 

“They never learn.”  

— — — ♱♱♱ — — — ♱♱♱ — — — 

When the plane finally touched down in San Diego, California, the skyline was already starting to light up. Y/N smiled, noticing the familiar sight of the skyscrapers in the distance. Rueben followed behind her, straightening out his suit, and looking at The Rookie behind him who had a smirk plastered on his face. He felt like the king of the world having bodied the princess of the Italian Mob. The Rookie fixed his suit jacket and ran a hand over his gelled back hair. 

“Good evening Miss Santiago, my name is Martin, and I’ll be handling your movement from the airport to the Seresin compound,” Martin was a middle aged man who had salt and pepper hair. Y/N held her hand out and Martin kissed the back of it. Y/N’s favorite pastime was making men bow to her like she was the Queen of England. In a way, Y/N was a queen, the mafia queen. If Y/N was into old men, Martin would be added as another name on her list.

“How was your flight? Everything went smoothly, I assume?” Martin asked, as he ushered Y/N towards the awaiting white Range Rover. Her father hated white cars. He said it made them stand out too much and put a bigger target on their backs. 

“Yes the flight went very well,” Y/N said, and glanced over her shoulder at the Rookie. He smirked to himself, and fixed his suit jacket. He felt like he was the king of the word having bagged the Italian Mob king’s daughter. But that feeling was short lived as Rueben tightened the silencer on his gun, and then fired a shot into the Rookie’s skull. 

“Clean this mess up,” Reuben said to the men standing by. Martin opened the door for Y/N, and she noticed a group of men picking up The Rookie’s body. She looked at Rueben who was tucking his gun back into the holster of his jacket. 

“What?” Reuben asked, and Y/N nodded her head towards the body, “I told you not to.” 

“Mood killer,” Y/N said and Rueben shook his head, shutting her door before getting into the front passenger seat. 

The Seresin mansion sat in the neighborhood of Mission Hills, which was about ten minutes outside of San Diego. Y/N had only visited a handful of cities in the US, and had only been to California once. She understood why mobsters picked quite poor towns to set up shop. The busy hustle and bustle of the nearby ports could mask the terrors that the mobs did. Y/N eyed the prostitutes as they hung around the street corners in downtown San Diego.  

“Those are someone's daughters,” Her mother used to say when they would pass a young female on the street in barely there clothing. Her mother would take them in, like stray cats, give them food and a place to bathe, before they would run off back to the streets they know.

“Everything is pretty close,” Martin explained as they drove through the busy streets, “It’s no European country side, but it suffices. Los Angeles is about two hours by car. San Fran is two hours by jet. Mr. Seresin has his own private jet. It’s one of the best ways to travel around. Sometimes, they’ll take a private train. Although, most of his work is done in Miramar or North Island.” 

She knew that from the google search that she did. Jake owned a flight club and a bar in North Island called the Hard Deck. It was a quaint little place that attracted a lot of sailors to the area. It also just so happened to be where his brothel was set up. If there was anything Navy men loved more than causing a fight, it was getting pussy after a long trip out to sea. 

“What is the legality of their business?” Y/N asked. 

Payback looked at her in the rearview mirror, “You know what they do.” 

“I can’t ask questions to get to know my future husband? I am going to be investing in this, so it is only fair that I know what he is doing.” She had a point and both Payback and Martin knew it. Y/N was smart and knew how to play her cards correctly, “Tell me what they do.” 

“Mr. Seresin’s grandfather set up a very vast trading company back in New York during the twenties. The Seresins own and control almost 50% of the US trading ports. Seresin Trades is working on going global with the help of Mr. Santiago. Mr. Bob Floyd has been fast at work creating Seresin Industries, one of the fastest startup technology companies,” Martin said. 

“A trading company,” Y/N tilted her head to the side, “How unique. And the brothels, fight rings, clubs, and casinos, those are just. . . extra amenities?” 

“Athena,” Reuben warned. 

Y/N held her hand up stopping Rueben, “Martin?”

Martin scoffed, “You act like your family is the greatest gift to God’s green earth.” As soon as the words left his lips, Martin regretted it.. Y/N glared at him through the rearview mirror and a cold sweat broke out down his back, “I apologize.” 

“A little too late,” Reuben said and Y/N smirked.  

If there was anyone who knew Y/N better than her own brothers, it was Rueben . He had become her personal bodyguard after Francisco attacked her and her mother’s death. Y/N had gotten too smart, she figured out how to run away from her guards. So Rafael hired Rueben , and the man watched her like a hawk. Y/N was never out of his sight. He had not only become her bodyguard, but also her closest confidant. She could tell him anything and everything. 

Martin’s knuckles turned white with his grip on the steering wheel, as he turned on to a magnificent compound. The black gates rolled back as the SUV drove onto the marble driveway that was lined with black lamp posts. Buried behind the trees was almost like a castle. The Kiszka house stood tall, at least 3 stories, and had a complete wall of windows. 

“Mr. Seresin likes windows. Makes him feel less caged in.” Martin said as he pulled up in front of the house. There was a large water fountain in the middle of the circle drive and Y/N could see water lilies floating around in the water. 

“Lovely,” Y/N said. When the car came to a stop, her door was opened. She reached her hand out and a guard gently grabbed her hand, helping her out of the car. She smoothed down her dress as Rueben  quickly rounded the car to her side, “Where is he?” 

“I believe they are at the club, or getting ready to go,” Martin responded. The glass front door opened and an older woman stepped out of the house. 

“Welcome Miss Santiago,” She introduced herself, and bowed her head softly,“I am Emile, I will be your personal attendant. Do you care for a glass of champagne, maybe even wine?” 

Y/N took a step into the house, and looked around the foyer. It had high ceilings that opened into a glass grand staircase. Everything was red and white, giving the entrance a cold yet warm feeling. The living room was open, and had white leather couches and a fluffy black rug on the floor. Hanging above a roaring fireplace was a picture of a young man in a black suit. She stood in front of the picture, the man’s green eyes were enticing and almost as if they were locking her in a trance. She looked away at the sound of the front door opening and Rueben walking in. 

“I’ll take a bottle of white,” Y/N said to Emile, “And please take the bottle to my room. Oh! And if you would, can you draw me a bath? I don’t like the feeling of blood on my hands.” 

Rueben scoffed, “You’re one to talk.” She could see a smudge of blood on his collar, more than likely from killing Martin before he walked into the house. 

“Yes, Miss,” Emile nodded and scurried off towards the kitchen. Y/N stepped farther into the house surveying everything. She walked over to a set of windows and glass sliding doors. She looked over the backyard, an infinity pool and giant garden that looked daunting at night, caught her eye. Y/N made a note of wanting to test the water in the pool at some point tonight.  

“He would like you to come to the office,” A guard said, standing in the doorway of the living room. 

Y/N turned around to see about ten or so men standing in the living room, all of them wearing black suits and ties. 

“No,” Y/N responded, a smirk on her lips. Her eyes not leaving the reflecting water of the pool, and kicked off her heels. She reached for the zipper of her dress and undid it. Payback also knew this tactic, and rolled his eyes. Y/N let the sleeves of her dress fall down her shoulders, and shrugged the dress off, wearing absolutely nothing underneath. All the men standing around her tried to avert their eyes the best they could, but failed miserably. 

“I want a bath first,” She said. 

“I can’t let you do that,” The guard responded. 

“Why not?” Y/N asked, stepping closer to him, “Do I turn you on?”

“I-I. . . Mr. Seresin  had strict instructions-” 

“I bet these pants are feeling pretty strict,” She let her hand shamelessly trail up and down his body, before landing over the clothed hard-on

“Please,” The guard practically begged. Y/N smirked as she gently palmed him, “You’re going to get me in trouble.” 

“What are you going to do about it?” Y/N challenged. Before the guard could respond another gunshot rang through the house. Y/N shrieked as the guard’s body buckled and she moved out of the way to let him fall. She looked over at a tall man with curly hair, holding a gun out.

“That’s what I’m gonna do about it,” The gun wielding man said. He tucked the gun back into the waistband of his black dress pants. He was tall with beautiful brown eyes with scars on his face and neck. Y/N smirked and walked over to him, but he held his hand out, “Don’t think about it. Let’s fucking go.” 

Y/N opened her mouth but squealed as he threw her naked body over his shoulder, “Hey! Put me down!” She yelled, hitting his back. The man tightened his grip on her body so he wouldn’t drop her as she kicked and squirmed in his arms, “Payback!” 

Reuben took a step forward to try and intervene but was cut off by guards standing in front of him, “Just keep your mouth shut!” 

Y/N felt a shiver run down her body, “I’ll fucking kill you,” She threatened the man. 

“I’d like to see you try,” The man said and tossed her down onto a cold leather chair, “Wait here, don’t fucking move.” 

Y/N looked around the office, seeing more pictures of the man from the living room. There was a bookshelf with tons of old leather books with gold writing. Y/N narrowed her eyes, reading the titles on the side, most of them were in Latin, but she could understand that they were law books. There was a large dark oak desk in front of her, which must belong to her future husband. On the wall behind the desk were various diplomas from colleges that he must’ve gone to. 

He’s distinguished, Y/N thought to herself, and smart. 

Y/N almost got out of her chair to go explore more things around his desk, when she heard the clicking of fancy dress shoes coming down the hall. She sucked in a breath as the door opened, and a beautiful blonde man with green eyes stood in the doorway. He was wearing all black, with his shirt rolled up to his elbows. He forewent the tie, and Y/N could see he was wearing a thin gold chain around his neck. 

“You couldn’t give her the dignity to walk in here by herself? With her clothes on?” The blonde man asked.

“She didn’t want to,” The man with the gun shrugged and looked over at a man who was wearing a big pair of glasses, with a smirk, “We lost Martin and Dominick.” 

“Fucking idiots,” The blonde cursed, “Welcome Y/N, I’m Jake, your new husband.” He held his arms out as if he were presenting some great prize. Y/N looked him up and down, he looked like the human version of Adonis, “My beauty stunned you into silence. It happens, sweetheart. But thank you for finally joining us.” 

Y/N scoffed, “You basically bought me from my father to help your little group here get up and running.” 

“Oh don’t flatter yourself sweetheart. You weren’t the pick of the crop I wanted,” Jake said, but then shrugged, “No offense.” 

“Offense taken,” Y/N said, “What? I’m not good enough for you? You prefer underaged prostitute pussy instead? I bet, he-” She said pointing at the man with large glasses, “Would you like a taste?” 

“Not my type either,” He said, “I like my pussy tight and silent.” 

Jake chuckled and Y/N clenched her jaw. He walked towards her, his green eyes looking her up and down as if he were examining her. She felt like she was under a microscope and wanted to hide away. She was suddenly very aware that she was sitting naked in front of three guys who could easily kill her, and had no idea where Rueben was. 

“Where are your clothes?” Jake asked. 

“I like being naked,” Y/N smirked, sitting back in the chair, exposing more of her body. Jake looked like he was about to murder everyone in the room. He looked from her face to her chest, his eyes seemingly assessing every millimeter of skin, down her stomach and to her legs, which were crossed hiding her modesty. Y/N caught the wandering eyes of the men behind Jake, and slowly uncrossed her legs, opening them slightly. That was the final straw for Jake, as he moved quickly, snatching her up by her chin.

“I was told I was getting a mafia queen,” Jake spat, holding her throat tightly, “We got rules, sweetheart, and you’re going to listen to them, got it? Or I swear to god, I’ll fucking sell you for whatever your worth to the highest bidder. I’m sure these-” He said, tracing his fingers between her breasts, his knuckles brushing against the soft mound of skin, “could get me a pretty penny. Of course, the face is a little fucked up.” 

Y/N clenched her jaw at the mention of the scar that ran down her face. Her eye socket had to be repaired and left a permanent scar, a constant reminder of what Francisco had done to her. It was easy for her to hide the other scars on her body, that one, was out in the open for everyone to see. Her mother told her to not hide what he did, to embrace it. 

“Understand me?” Jake asked and Y/N nodded. He released her chin. 

“Asshole,” Y/N said, before spitting in his face. Jake clenched his jaw, and grabbed her hair, yanking her head back to look up at him. 

“Don’t fucking test me, sweetheart,” Jake seethed, “I won’t hesitate to throw you down on the pew, I don’t give a fuck who your daddy is. Don’t fuck with me, doll.” Y/N trembled and nodded. Jake picked up her body and put her down on the wooden chair, harshly. Her ass still stung a bit from where the curly haired man had thrown her down earlier. 

“If you’re done being a brat, I’d like to introduce you to my right hand men. The one that brought you in here was Rooster, he’s in charge of security. You need to go somewhere, you take it up with him. If he tells you ‘no’ you don’t fucking argue. This is Bob,” Jake said, pointing to the man with the glasses, “He’s intelligence. Don’t try to fucking go somewhere or call someone or do something fucking stupid cause he’ll find out about it and I’ll kill you.”

“And what do you do?” Y/N asked. 

Jake smiled, “I’m the Hangman. I am the reason this whole place ruins and operates. The face of the family and the company.” 

“Bob would’ve made a cuter face,” Y/N said and looked at the man. Bob couldn’t help but chuckle, but Jake quickly shot him a glare. Y/N sent him a wink though, which made his ears turn red. 

Jake crossed his arms over his chest, “I’ve got a couple rules. One, don’t be in my way or anyone else's way. Two, don’t fucking speak to me unless you are spoken too. And three, don’t piss me off. If you follow those three rules. . . I don’t see why this relationship won’t work out great.” 

“Because you’re a fucking psychopathic murderer.” 

“Says the one who’s gotten three men killed in your first two hours of being here,” Jake said. 

Y/N smiled, “You say that?” 

Jake leaned his hands on either side of the chair she was sitting on. She could smell is cologne and see a thin scar by his eyebrow, “I see everything,” He spoke softly, “Go fucking clean yourself off. I don’t want to see your face until tomorrow.” Jake said and turned to walk out of the office, “Actually, I don’t want to see your face at all, unless I fucking ask to see you, which I probably won’t. I don’t want you here any less than you actually want to be here. If I knew you were a part of the expansion gun deal we made, I would’ve never fucking made it.”

Y/N tried to not let his words sting. She had heard worse from her father, but there was something about hearing it from someone else. Y/N turned her head to the side as Jake and the boys left the office with a slam of the door. As soon as the door shut, she let the tears roll down her face. She waited a minute before she got up from the wooden chair and walked out of the office. She was suddenly very aware that she was stark naked in a mobster’s house. 

She moved softly as she walked down the hallway, trying to avoid the eyes of the workers in the house. Y/N looked up and noticed Emile walking towards her with a robe. The older woman smiled softly at her and handed her the robe. Y/N nodded and wrapped it tightly around her body. Emile gently wrapped an arm around the girl’s shoulders, guiding her over to the grand staircase and up to the second floor. 

“Mr. Jacob and the boys went out for the night,” Emile said. She had a heavy french accent that reminded Y/N of some of the older maids back home at her father’s mansion, “I ran a bath and had some of the other guards bring your belongings into your room. Any specific way to put your clothing away?”

Y/N shook her head, “I can get that tomorrow when the rest of my things arrive. Thank you, Emile.” 

“You are very welcome, Miss,” Emile said, nodding her head as they stood outside one of the bedrooms, “The master bedroom,” Emile said, pushing open two wooden doors. Y/N’s jaw dropped at the sight of the bedroom. It was white with red accents that reminded her of the suit that Jake wore. Hanging above a california king bed was a picture of the fucker himself. Y/N scoffed, of course, he had a picture of himself hanging above the bed, “Mr. Jacob doesn’t stay here. He prefers a bed on the third floor with his brothers.” 

“They are all very close?” Y/N asked and Emile nodded. 

“Very close. They all served together in the Navy.” 

Now that was one thing the internet did not tell Y/N. That meant one of two things, they never served long enough to make an impact, or the Navy was trying hard to keep them all a secret. Whatever the reason was, Y/N was going to find out more about it. 

Y/N walked over and ran her hands on the satin bed sheets. They were soft and still smelled like the packaging. The room had an overall cold feeling to it, like no one had ever stayed in the room. Y/N could tell that the paint on the walls wasn’t the original colors. She could see the slight difference in paint colors as the walls met at the ceiling. She ran her hands over the footboard of the bed, humming to herself as she did. 

“Is that tune from ‘Annie’?” Emile asked, and Y/N lifted her head, smiling. 

“It is.” 

When Y/N was little, before she knew most about what her family did for a living, she used to play around like she was the little Orphan Annie first coming to Daddy Warbucks’ house. She used to play the song ‘I Think I’m Gonna Like it Here’ while running up and down the halls with her mother, making the butlers and the maids sing along with her. She did it at every house she moved into, it was one of the good memories she had with her mother. 

Y/N paused and looked at the picture above the bed, and then at Emile, “When will they be back?” 

“Oh, they stay out very late,” Emile answered, “I see them leave at night and stumble around the next morning with hangovers.” She smiled and sighed, “Your bath is waiting for you, dear. Any questions, don’t be scared to ask.” 

“Thank you.” “They aren’t all monsters,” Emile said, “Just a little rough around the edges. You know what they say, ‘only the good die young’.”

@cherrycola27 @seresinsbabe @violyn20 @materialgirl01 @bradleybeachbabe @a-reader-and-a-writer @lt-spork @topnerd03 @3in1shampooconditionerbodywash @bioodforbiood @topguncultleader @ma-fraise @abaker74 @double-j @cm27078 @thedroneranger @khaylin27 @mak-32 @unhinged-btch @wittywhispers @theliterarybeldam @bloosomjoon @chxcxlate-cxxkies @luckyladycreator2 @wellshit6 @harper1666 @phoenix1388 @footprintsinthesxnd @dempy @emma8895eb @bonitanightmxres @love2write2626 @bobbyonboard @some-lovely-day @thenewdaysalreadyhere @cassiemitchellslibrary @ilymoonie @morgensternsblog @hotch-meeeeeuppppp @rintheemolion @tallrock35 @adoringsebstan @xoxabs88xox

TAG LIST IS FULL DO NOT ASK TO BE TAGGED

if you want me to add the playlist link lmk!

[symphonyofsilence]

Shits Jiggy has done in order of iconicness & badassery (or the top 13, at least. 'Cause, everything he does is iconic & badass. Yes, that includes saying "Xue Yang did it" with a fucking bloodied Wen sword in his hands that he had just pulled out of the intestines of the fallen captain right in front of NMJ. Respect!):

His death! This fucking part!

Jin GuangYao coughed up quite some blood, his voice hoarse, "Lan XiChen!"

He forcefully broke through the spell of silence.

At the moment, Jin GuangYao was injured from top to bottom. His left hand was burned by the poisonous smoke, his right hand was severed, and his stomach was missing a chunk of flesh. Covered in blood, he couldn't even manage to sit upright, yet right now he stood on his own without any help, like one last streak of light from a setting sun. He called again in a voice filled with hatred, "Lan XiChen!"

And then! He pulled the sword out himself! And then! He spilled his own blood over NMJ's coffin to envoke him! And his last words were "fuck you Nie MingJue! Do you think I'm scared of you?" While NMJ lifted him by his throat with one hand and choked him to death! He took control even in his murder! In the middle of being killed! He took control! He died on his own term! Badass!

His mother was bullied & ridiculed & humiliated in a brothel, so he burnt that brothel to the ground and made a temple for his mother in its place. I'm sorry about the casualties but it ain't about them.

Was thrown down the stairs of Jinlintai, was not accepted into the Jin Family or even acknowledged as a person that exists when he was working for them, when finally accepted only after becoming a war hero was given a wrong generational name and treated as a glorified servant, but eventually manipulated, mansplained, manslaughtered, manwhored (& did a lot, lot of hard, competent work) his way to the top & became the Sect Leader of the Lanling Jin Clan. Was considered the lowest of lows in his society and eventually became the Chief Cultivator! (& a VERY GOOD Chief Cultivator at that! He helped the weak & fought against systematic corruption and ruled through a decade of peace and prosperity) ICONIC! BADASS! TALENTED! INCREDIBLE! AMAZING! SPECTACULAR! SHOW-STOPPING! NEVER THE SAME! TOTALLY UNIQUE!

The way he kills Wen Ruohan in the books! "Do what you want" "yes." *kills him*

Meng Yao, "Now, that's not the way to go about this. With Sect Leader Nie's sturdy body, he might become all great and mighty again after just a few days of rest."

Wen RuoHan, "Do as you please."

Meng Yao, "Yes."

Yet, as he responded, a cold light, thinner than thin, slashed out and across. Wen RuoHan suddenly turned quiet. Warm droplets of blood splashed onto Nie MingJue's face.

The thematically appropriate way in which he killed his father. I mean just killing JGS was a service to society, but to kill him like that? 10/10. Inspired. (I guess it was actually kinda inspired by what Sect Leader He said, wasn't it?)

The things he does every time he's thrown down the stairs? When he gets up with difficulty and straightens his clothes & his hair & wipes the dust off them and bows with that "consider your ass kicked<3" smile in a low angle shot as the sun shines above him/ smiles the "you're so fucked, bestie. You just have to catch up to the fact that you're fucked, bestie.<3" smile as he goes up those long-ass stairs with difficulty as he bleeds from the head? And that straightening his clothes he does, in general, every time he's humiliated? I mean badass in general but when you consider that he was told by his mother that he shouldn't let his hat be slanted, 'cause clothes maketh men it takes more meaning. It means "I'm still a gentleman. you cannot touch me. I'm still in power, & I'm coming for you." I mean, It's very sad. as is everything else about him. especially JGS throwing him down the stairs scene. but the thing is that every time something sad happens to him, he has the coolest reaction to it that anyone could possibly have.

This is more obvious in the show. The way he kills the big baddie of the Jianghu, the most powerful man alive, the main villain of the past timeline (by backstabbing him, after being a spy in his realm without anyone noticing anything, doing tortures for him & becoming so close to him in such a short period.) and immediately convinced EVERYONE to go "oh this poor innocent paragon of virtue, this noble lord, had to kill a bitch.😔 he must be so hurt and traumatized and scarred for life.😔 I'll pay for your therapy.😔" And he was like: "do not flatter me so, my lords. You are the true heroes. Please pardon me for not killing him sooner. I shall live with these scars and trauma.😔"*off to the next murder*How can you not stan!❤️ (like...he's named Lianfang-Zun! The master of hidden fragrance! And nobody suspects that he might be hiding something!)

the Guanyin temple is the first scene in which we see him fight. And boy does he fight! He hands Sandu Shengshou's ass to him! And remember that Jiggy has a very weak golden core. And JC has WWX's golden core that is even stronger than his own & his own was pretty freaking strong. I mean did he cheat a little? Maybe. But he had enough presence of mind to think of aiming for WWX in the middle of a fight with a pretty pissed-off JC that was going after his life with both Sandu & Zidian. And he was so good at knowing people & had such a high emotional intelligence to know that JC would fall for the trick!

Interrupting his big villain moment to ask WWX how comes he & LWJ are not sleeping in the same room (and they did, actually. Before that thing happened. He was right.) And politely and respectfilly put a pause on his plan to help let his and his boyfriend's ship sail.

The way he creates unnecessary homoerotic tension in every interaction and flirts with anyone & everyone even Baxia when he's in his openly villainous mode. (Openly villainous Jiggy is my favorite Jiggy)

Divorcing Jiang cheng without being married

Divorcing Nie Mingjue without being married

"I think it's best if Young Master Wei stops right there. It's nothing if your flute's broken, but if your tongue or your fingers went missing, it'd be such a shame."

Wei WuXian immediately put his hand away, agreeing, "You make so much sense.

The person, "May I request your company?"

Wei WuXian nodded, "You're too polite,Sect Leader Jin."

Jin GuangYao smiled, "It's my pleasure."

Wei WuXian, "LianFang-Zun, you hid quite a big land deed in the secret chamber of Fragrant Palace, right beside my manuscripts. Don't you remember?"

Jin GuangYao, "Oh, that would be my fault. I should've put them separately."

Wei WuXian, "Right now, we won't be able to run from your grasp no matter what, so could you perhaps tell me just what a creature is being suppressed in this Guanyin Temple, LianFang-Zun, and quench my curiosity a bit?"

Jin GuangYao smiled, "Quenching your curiosity doesn't come at a low price. Young Master Wei, are you sure you'd like to try?"

Wei WuXian, "Oh. On second thought, then, nevermind."

Meng Yao's voice was approaching, "Your subordinate is useless to have needed your presence, Sect Leader"

Wen RuoHan laughed, "You good-for-nothing."

Meng Yao laughed as well. Wen RuoHan asked, "He's the one who killed Wen Xu?"

He's like if I'm ending their whole career I might as well give them a "this better not awaken anything in me" crisis, too. Just as a little treat. Very bad bitch of him!

English title drop in the show

Was just dropping off the kid he was babysitting at school, walked up to the first Jade of Lan, the most eligible bachelor in the Jianghu, gave him one look, and the man was GONE! Meng Yao bagged him just like that on one of his usual working days.

Last but not least, "Xue Yang did it." (As promised)

[star-girl69]

We Do Not Wilt - Chapter Five - We Do Not Sway

Daemon Targaryen x Hightower!FemOC

warnings: mentions of child loss, death, funeral, slight suicidal ideation, mentions of alcohol, swearing, tell me if i missed anything!

—-

Driftmark was beautiful. Something about the waves beating the shore, the sand, the sun shining bright, it lit something in her heart. May just wished she had come under better circumstances.

She didn’t know Lady Laena terribly well, but she was kind. She loved her children, and was a good wife to her husband, Ser Harwin.

Although he did not return the kindness.

Everyone knew Ser Harwin was unfaithful. Ever since the rumors of him taking Rhaenyra’s maidenhead at the brothel, then dancing with her obscenely at her own wedding, everyone had known. When Rhaenyra’s children were born with pale skin and dark hair, rumors could not be put to rest.

May and Alicent found it dishonorable. Where was her duty? Her respect? May found Rhaenyra to be a nice woman, but she trampled duty and honor under her foot. She was a princess. She was not like May and Alicent. She did not have to listen to her father, she could have affairs. They would always resent her for that, try as they might to not.

May had found love in Daemon, and she couldn’t imagine her life without him, but she simply wished it was her choice to marry him.

Laena’s uncle, who’s name May struggled to remember, continued in High Valyrian. May knew that if she asked Daemon, he would translate for her, but she felt as if she would be invading upon something. Daemon had tried to teach her High Valyrian, but May was horrible at it. And in the early days of their marriage, Daemon decided their time was better spent… in their chambers. She was all too happy to comply, of course, already deeply in love with her handsome husband.

Ser Harwin started laughing.

May almost gasped in shock, turning her head to look at him. It was not a loud, boisterous laugh, but noticeable. Everyone stared at him for a moment. May shot a look to the Princess Rhaenys and Lord Corlys. To have someone laugh at their daughters funeral, her own husband none-the-less, it was just salt in their wounds.

They pulled the ropes, slowly pushing the heavy coffin into the sea. It fell in with a splash, sinking to the bottom. She was at rest, and May felt jealousy sink into her veins.

—-

The breeze from the sea was quite cold, May noticed. She wrapped her shawl around herself, hand resting on the swell of her stomach.

There was no baby in there.

May let her hands fall, suddenly disgusted with herself. Daemon walked over, carrying two chalices.

“Wine, my darling,” He whispered, and May looked up at him. He brought it to her lips, and May felt the sweetness sink down her throat. It was slightly cool, and May felt it sit in her stomach. “Do you want to leave?” He asked, setting the chalices down and putting his hand on May’s face. She leaned into it, sighing. “Do you want to talk to your sister? See the children, maybe? You always like that,” May shook her head.

“Want you,” She whispered, and Daemon brought her head to rest on her chest, looping his other arm against her waist, the other still on her face.

“Will you two stop fucking in the middle of everyone?” May ignored her sister.

“She’s tired, Alicent. You know what has happened.” Daemon sighed, and May could feel the arm around her waist tighten.

“Lord Larys has been staring at me.” She continued, and May opened an eye to look at her sister. Silently saying, Well, dear sister, you did accidentally tell him to kill his own father.

“Oh, you were there. You know I did not mean for it to happen.” May was there. And Alicent did not explicitly say for him to murder anyone, he must have sensed something behind her words. Harrenhal still burned. And Lyonel Strong was dead.

“I know,” May sighed. “But what is done is done. Mourn, but do not regret. See how happy this is, sister.”

It was true. This was happy. Their father was back, restored as Hand of the King. Everything was working to their favor, everything happening as it should.

Of course, Daemon had no idea what they were talking about, so May was able to comfort Alicent without drawing too much suspicion. Regardless, even if May had murdered someone with her bare hands, Daemon would not turn her in. He would help her cover it up, even. Alicent sighed and nodded.

“You are right, I suppose.”

“I know.”

“Now, go. Two lords have already asked after you and the Prince. At least go pay your respect to Laena’s twins.” May nodded, disentangling herself from Daemon.

They made it through the crowd, stopping before Rhaena and Baela. May got on her knees in front of them, the empty weight in her stomach making difficult. She grabbed their hands in her own.

“Hi, Aunt May,” Baela said. May always insisted the children just call her Aunt May. Especially when they were younger, all the titles were confusing for them.

“Hi, sweetlings. How are you doing?” May asked, titling her head a bit with a kind smile. Both girls just nodded in response to her question. May hadn’t expected them to respond. “You know, I lost my mother when I was a little younger than you two.” Both girls perked up at this. “Do you know what helped? My sister, Queen Alicent. Now, correct me if I’m wrong, but you two are sisters, right?” This brought forth a smile from both girls, Rhaena rolling her eyes playfully. “Sisters always make it better.” May whispered, leaning up to press a kiss on each of their cheeks. When she let go of their hands, they looked toward each other, and let their hands intertwine.

Daemon came up behind her, setting his hands under shoulders to lift her to her feet. May smiled at the sweet gesture, turning around to press a kiss to his cheek.

—-

May came to stand next to Alicent, whispering about everything and nothing. Daemon stood beside her, seemingly bored, but something about the chill sea air remade May. She seemed a little happier, and wanted to spend time with her sister, be in the presence of her husband.

She could see See Criston glaring at him from behind Alicent, and May was sure Alicent could see Daemon glaring back from behind her, but they both ignored their protector’s dislike for each other.

Everyone bowed as Viserys stood, walking by with his cane.

“I’m going to bed, Aemma.” May and Alicent stared at him. He continued to walk.

“Shall I see after Queen Alicent, Your Grace?” Ser Harrold asked, and the King hesitated. He looked back up at Alicent. May fussed through fabric to grab Alicent’s hand.

“No, Ser Harrold,” Viserys said, continuing his slow walk.

“You have the night’s watch, Ser Criston.” Alicent bit her lip and stared off, before squeezing her sisters hand and walking away.

May watched her back.

—-

The winds grew fiercer, the night darker. May quite liked the feeling of a breeze hitting her face, but Daemon urged her inside. It was cold, he said, and he was tired. She let him guide her inside.

Later, they both laid in their bed. It was just as lavish as their rooms at King’s Landing, but simply different. May could not find sleep. She pulled Daemon’s arm around her waist tighter, willing his presence to lull her into sleep.

Sleep came, but was interrupted.

—-

[jiangwanyinscatmom]

hi

I'll start this by saying you can ignore this ask if it's too annoying bc valid

but I just saw some absolutely bullshit takes when I was scrolling through mdzs posts

some people claimed that:

- jin guangyao and wei wuxian are the same and both killed for revenge so if wwx isn't evil then jgy can't be either (I- excuse me??)

- jgy did so much good for people and wwx just........ saved some wens (lmaoo???)

- jgy killed nmj out of self defense (ok so why did he keep coming back and acting nice playing/poisoning him for probably weeks if not months then????????)

- (this one is just crazy) wang lingjiao was just some poor commoner woman who couldn't fight back so wwx is awful for what he did to her

....

I'm sorry am I the crazy one here because these takes sound straight up INSANE to me like did the people who wrote it read the same novel I did??

"wwx stans are so hypocritical how can they say my baby's evil while they stan this cruel murderer who doesn't let his corpses reincarnate :((((" bitch????

I'm fairly new to the fandom and I can be wrong so can you tell me if I'm missing something (I doubt that i do tbh) but you seem very sensible and I just needed to get it off my chest

I'm not even saying people can't enjoy characters that are evil/morally gray bc some of my faves from other works are just that... but if you have to pretend these characters are some saints who didn't deserve what they got and drag down the main character just because you're salty then I don't think you like your "fave" all that much tbh

I hope you don't mind me ranting in your askbox, if you read my message then thank you for your time! Have a nice day! (I hope I didn't ruin it too much haha)

Hello anon! No I don't mind at all for this, rant away if you need to as I make my inbox open for it.

As to the idea that Wei Wuxian are similar, in terms of their status they had been born to, yes. But that's about as much of their similarity as they get. Just as how Jiang Cheng and Lan Wangji are literary mirrors due to similarities in circumstance, but not mind or ideals. Yes, Wei Wuxian did kill in revenge, but he never denies this. He fully admits to this unlike Jin Guangyao, who continues to say he had no choice but to kill those that wronged him. The difference there is that, Wei Wuxian had been tortured, his guardians killed cruelly, his own sect almost was decimated by the ones he killed. Where as with Jin Guangyao, he killed many that endangered his political position or, verbally insulted him in some way. Between the two one's actions of revenge was foremost for the ones that had been wronged. For Jin Guangyao it was concerning his own ego.

Jin Guangyao never did anything for the common people. We are told several times in story that Lan Wangji, and the Lans are the outliers for this sort of thing. The watchtowers are nothing more than a repainting of the Wen's Advisory Offices and keep in mind, it was still under the approval of Jin Guangshan that they even were created. From a Jin Guangyao who wanted to please his father foremost. He also burned down a brothel of prostitute women, where in that, shows he cares for commoners of his own background?

A scum of a person, can be human and sympathetic, but it does not change that they themselves are in the end selfish, cruel and manipulative. That's what makes them terrifying, they use that sympathy to cause more hurt. Wei Wuxian never holds others hate of what he had done as unfair, just that he would not take rebuttal for what he never did and stands by what he did. Jin Guangyao never takes any sort of responsibility towards the ones he drags into his schemes and continues to say he needed to with no sympathy for the ones who had been innocent, saying that he should be the one pitied and forgiven.

You can like and enjoy an evil, just don't paint it as a saint when that is what the very work is against and criticizing. We are told that Wei Wuxian is meant as an ideal of morality, who this is still argued about and he is labeled "morally grey" and "just as wrong as the others" is just wrong from a literary and plot point of the book.

[cuckoo-among-beasts]

HC: Huaisang's Revenge

This post might be edited and added to, since I might forget things or feel the need to change something in case another idea pops up, but hopefully, most will remain the same after posting.

First of all, Huaisang isn't a ruthless person, nor is he power-hungry. Mingjue is the only person he would ever do this type of revenge for. Mingjue was his world, his dage and in many ways also a father figure and best friend. They were close. Very close. A bit co-dependent actually.

Huaisang wasn't fully alone in his revenge. He had occasional help from his right-hand-man , Nie Shuchang. However, he knew far from everything. Huaisang has also learnt how to use some of his bird for "far-sight", as in him being able to see through the birds' eyes. There's also been a couple of adapted teleportation talismans used, but with his mediocre core, it actually ends up making him sick. Though that helps with his Headshaker persona. Anyway, his secret use of cultivation to find things out is partly what leads to Huaisang appearing to have a weaker core than he has. The other reason is the need to secretly subdue Mingjue's arm for many years.

Also, the Headshaker person, although a mask is not a full lie, he just played up the emotions that were already there.

Now, to the actual revenge.

Huaisang's grief for his brother was, as expected, immense. He didn't eat, drink, sleep and barely moved. He was devastated and needed help with even the most basic of needs. It was during this time that Lan Xichen offered to play Cleansing for Huaisang, hoping it might help in some way. From the first time it was played, Huaisang noticed it sounded different from when San-ge played it. He has a good ear, but he thought that maybe he was wrong, but after Xichen played it three times for him, Huaisang knew that he was right, Jin Guangyao's version of Cleansing had been different. Had he purposely hurt Mingjue with it? Huaisang wanted to believe that it was San-ge mislearning the song, but he also knew about his memory, that he doesn't forget. The realisation and acceptance of it happened over days, not wanting it to be true, but he had to admit to himself that it was very possible that his beloved friend and 'brother' had helped killing his Da-ge.

To see if there were any traces of this, of this dark melody being used on his brother, Huaisang went to examine his brother's body. It was then that he discovered that the body was gone. Someone had robbed the grave and stolen Mingjue's body from his last resting place. Finding this infuriated Huaisang and he started to feel fairly certain who the culprit was: Jin Guangyao. He still needed more evidence though.

Though trying to find his brother's body turned out to be hard. He wasn't even sure where to start. Maybe looking into Guangyao would help? So he began trying to figure out the man, digging into his past and that was when he began finding more of the things he had done, such as brutally murdering Jin Guangshan (not that Huaisang cried any tears over that) and burning down the brothel. Unfortunately, he still had little luck with finding his brother's body, however, he knew of someone interested in demonic cultivation that might be able to help, even if he had lost his mind (or so he had been told).

While Huaisang kept looking for more parts of his brother, Mo Xuanyu's mistreatment by his family got worse and he one day got a message for help. Huaisang went there and admitted he had found no proof of Jin Guangyao's lies about Xuanyu, but that revenge would find Guangyao eventually. Mo Xuanyu was barely functional at all by then, but he did manage to tell Huaisang about his plan, about how he wanted to take his revenge on his family. So here they were, two previously kind and timid people, both pushed to their limits by Jin Guangyao, the difference was that one has get further mistreatments and the other had lost the person meaning the most to him. Hearing about Xuanyu's plan, Huaisang realised this could work to both their favours and he suggested that his friend called on a very specific soul: the Yiling Patriarch, aka Wei Wuxian. And so he did. The reason Huaisang wanted Wei Wuxian to return was mostly because he knew he had the knowledge and talent to find the rest of Mingjue, but he also knew how unpredictable he could be, so he might not take the breadcrumbs, although Wuxian did love a good puzzle to solve. However, a small part of the reason was also sentimentality and guilt, feeling like he hadn't done enough to protect him the first time.

Mo Xuanyu had been kind to Huaisang when they met in Golden Carp Tower, not making fun of him for his anxious ways and weak cultivation. He was kind to Jin Guangyao too and the two had found a shared interest in demonic cultivation, something Huaisang didn't find out until later. Not until he began researching Guangyao's past and he went to talk to Mo Xuanyu the first time since his banishment. That was also how he found out that Jin Guangyao had lied about Xuanyu's interest in him and made it seem like he had behaved inappropriately to get him sent away. This was partly because he was jealous at him for getting better treatment by their father, but also because Mo Xuanyu had seen something he shouldn't. Exactly what he had seen, Huaisang never found out, because remembering it seemed to drive the young man over the edge and into fullblown panic.

When Huaisang later returned to Mo Xuanyu to ask if he knew how to find Mingjue's body, the young man agreed, but only if Huaisang promised to help him get revenge, since he figured justice was out of the question. Huaisang did agree, feeling sorry for his friend. It was Xuanyu's knowledge that helped him find Mingjue's left arm and this was when Huaisang understood that Jin Guangyao hadn't just taken his Da-ge's body, he had also dismembered it (do minimise the risk of the fierce corpse coming after him). It made him want to vomit and for a moment, the world went red as fury rose up inside him, consuming him.

Once the ceremony was done, Huaisang waited nearby, releasing his brother's left arm once the Lan Juniors had arrived and he was certain that Wei Wuxian now inhabited Mo Xuanyu's body. And from then things began to roll on quicker than ever before.

Besides observing things unfold, what else is Huaisang a part of? He was indeed present at the Stone Castles, aka the Nie Ancestral Hall. However, the events there was not his doing. He did not know that his Da-ge's legs were in there, nor did he know that Jin Ling was going to disturb the place. He did let Lan Wangji catch him though, knowing that it would be best if they found out what the place actually was, even if he didn't like telling this particular secret.

He did lure the Juniors to Yi City, despite knowing the danger they would be in, not that they weren't good at getting into danger on their own. Though he hoped they would be okay, not taking any pleasure in the death of children. He had calculated it and with them being in a group and with Wangji and Wuxian getting there, since he kept an eye on them too, the likelihood of the boys surviving was high. The reason he lured the Juniors to Yi City was not mainly to up the tally of deaths to pin on Jin Guangyao, but rather to make it more likely that Wuxian and Wangji came there, knowing that Xue Yang lived in the ghostly place and if he was caught, it would add to the evidence of Jin Guangyao's misdeeds as well as the reason for Mingjue's murder.

It was also around this time that his threatening letter arrived to Jin Guangyao, provoking him into moving faster, and therefore more sloppily, than he would've wanted. Risking to show the world who he was. And indeed he does.

Around the same time, he bribed Bicao to tell Qin Su about their incestuous marriage and that her husband had killed their son. Beside murdering Mingjue, this was the crime Huaisang found to be the worst. Maybe not the incest itself, even if that was wrong too, but murdering your own son. What he hadn't expected was that Qin Su would kill herself (or be killed by Guangyao, depending on how you view it). He felt guilty for this since Qin Su had always been kind to him.

With Jin Guangyao now having to move Mingjue's head, Huaisang watched him and then followed, finding out where he decided to hide the head. He then retrieved it as well as taking Meng Shi's body, but unlike what Wei Wuxian later thought, he did not dismember her. He actually planned to, but realised that he couldn't. Instead he felt sorry for yet another of Jin Guangshan's victims.

Now having the head, the whole body was in his possession, even if it was also guarded by Lan disciples, he decided to put it back together. Why? There was actually nothing nefarious behind why. He had hoped that it might bring his beloved brother some peace to be whole again, a part of him even hoping that he might somehow regain consciousness and recognise him. It did not.

Huaisang is then part of the Second Siege of the Burial Mounds. There he played the roll of the one who helped making others listening to what Wei Wuxian had to say. And of course being hopeless and pathetic.

As they leave the Burial Mounds, knowing where they're headed, he called for Bicao to come there and for Sisi to be saved and brought there as well. There they would both lay witness to the evil deeds of Jin Guangyao.

To the final thing. Did Jin Guangyao move? Or was it all a ruse from Huaisang? He actually and honestly doesn't know. Maybe he did? Or maybe Huaisang's fear of Guangyao surviving and his slight grudge against Lan Xichen made him see something that wasn't there? When it happened, he knew, he thinks, but now... now he really doesn't know (though er-ge didn't kill him anyway, so what's the fuss).

Guanyin Temple. He let Su She capture him, something he had planned for since he figured out Jin Guangyao would go there before leaving. What he hadn't planned was for so many to be there. This made it all a little tricker since he didn't want all the others to die and he didn't really need more people to hear what kind of person Guangyao was, that had already been told in Lotus Pier.

Not all is an act in the temple though. The shivering was true, he was scared as well, even if also furious. The sight of the melted Jin cultivators truly made his stomach flip, never having been one to stomach sights like that. It was also emotionally straining to see his Da-ge as a fierce corpse (even if he had been the one attaching the head to his body), moving, appearing almost alive and not even recognise his didi anymore. It hurt and it was tumultuous. However, he did indeed make it so Su She stabbed his leg, well, he made it so it looked like Su She did it. Moving in the way on purpose, knowing that the scream and smell of his blood would make Mingjue's corpse pay attention to them and then noticing Guangyao again. He was also well aware that this might kill him, but here's the thing: Huaisang never planned to survive his revenge. He had expected to die with Jin Guangyao. What did he even have to live for anyway? This is also the reason he could put so many people in danger, how he could deceive and lie without problem, he had planned to pay with his own life in the end.

[strscrossed]

marleyan eren with a hatred for island devils going undercover and meeting paradisian town girl mika (or underground night worker mika who was never rescued 🥺)

this was collecting dust so! i finally wanted to sit down and write it out! i hope you enjoy!

The first time he sees her, it’s on a humid June evening. She steps out of the flower shop that she owns, locking the door. It’s that sweet smile, and he knows he’s a goner. 

It wasn’t supposed to happen, obviously. She’s an Island Devil. He hates the devils. He hates what they represent. He hates how happily ignorant they remain in their cage while Eldians worldwide suffer. It burns his insides. 

Until he meets her. 

He’s gotten used to sleeping in crappy inns when he has money and dark, smelly alleyways when he doesn’t. She caught him on one of those nights. 

“You can stay with me. It’s a tiny apartment just a block away but I’m happy to share.” 

Her name is Mikasa Ackerman. A beautiful name, he thinks. A beautiful name for such a beautiful person. 

It’s awkward at first. He doesn’t know what to say to her. She just smiles at him. Some mornings, he can tell she’s spent the whole night crying, but even with her bloodshot eyes and bruised under eyes, she finds it in her to smile at him. 

She’s an Island Devil. He shouldn’t care if she’s unhappy or not. Who is she to him? Just a foolish girl with a kind heart that invited him into her home. It’s like inviting a snake into her bed but she never thought twice. 

But her sadness bothers him. Her tears infuriate him. And as the summer goes on, their small talk turns into long nights of talk. 

Just like him, she’s an orphan. Her family was murdered and she’d been sold into a brothel at the tender age of nine in the Underground. How she got out. How she isn’t angry at the world, he doesn’t understand. 

“The world is very cruel. But it’s also very beautiful. It gave me the strength to start over…” 

It stumps him. To him, the world had always been ugly. The world had taken his mother from him, had driven his father into madness, and had beaten him down in various ways. And all that anger had been placed onto the unknowing Island Devils. 

Something changes between them. Lingering stares, small touches. It’s almost domestic. Eren likes to pretend that it is. It’ll come to an end one day, unbeknownst to her, but for just a short time…he wants to pretend. 

In another life, he would’ve acted on these feelings. In another life, he would’ve asked her to run away with him. In another life, he would just be Eren and she’d just be Mikasa. Maybe they’d get married. Maybe they’d start a family. 

Maybe, maybe, maybe…

One evening, he’s sitting on the floor while she massages his temples. She has magical hands. 

“I don’t know how you do it, Mik. You’re incredible.” 

Her chuckle is a sweet, soft sound. Like a lullaby. It soothes his nerves. In his hell of a life, she’s the only thing that has ever brought him a semblance of peace. 

“Well Eren, maybe you should learn to let things go. For your own peace.” 

She can’t see him but his lips curl downward into a frown. 

He can’t do that. He knows he doesn’t have forever with her. His life isn’t meant to be peaceful. But for some time, he can temper the fire that rages within him. With her, he can pretend to have a life that would ultimately belong to someone else. 

He leans into her as her fingers work their magic…

[flowerandblood]

My Best Friend (25)

[modern! club owner • Aemond x fem!reader]    

[warnings: swearing, physical violence]

[description: Aemond has his own club and often does business at the home of one of his business associates. There he often meets his younger sister, with whom he develops a deeper relationship through shared secrets. This is slow burn love story.]

* English is not my first language. Please, do not repost. Enjoy! *

Previous and next chapters: Masterlist

_____

"Get out." Aemond tried his best to stay calm and not pull Y/N out of the car by force. He was standing in front of the open door on the side of her seat, they were under his apartment building. "I'll give you the keys to my apartment, you wait there and I'll be back in an hour."

"I don't want you to go to a place like this alone. I'll worry, I'd rather be with you." She said in a tone that brooked no argument. Aemond squeezed his eye shut. He wanted to grab her and just pull her arm by force, but she quickly unbuckled her seat belt and jumped over to the driver's seat. Aemond stared at her, not knowing whether to laugh or scream. “I will not stay here. You can't make me!" She said, moving as far away from him as possible so he couldn't reach her.

Aemond wondered why everyone was doing this to him, and for once, someone just couldn't listen to him. Talking to Alys, his mother, and now her, had completely exhausted his patience. However, just as he felt with Alys that he could really do something to her, watching her curled up fiercely in his seat, despite all his anger, he also felt undue gratitude. But he didn't want her to see it, or worse, that any harm would come to her there. He resented his irresponsibility in the park and did not want to repeat the same mistake.

“What if they take a picture of you and send it to your father? How am I supposed to explain to him why I took his daughter to a brothel?" He smoked through pursed lips. Y/N looked at him intensely.

"You will tell him the truth. That we went at your mother's request to get your hungover brother out." She said, shrugging her shoulders without changing her position an inch. Aemond sighed heavily and shook his head.

"I have no strength for you." He said as he closed the car door on her side and walked over to the driver's side, so she jumped back into the passenger seat, moving as far away from him as possible. He sat in his seat and started the engine, shooting her a murderous look. Y/N pursed her lips but said nothing.

They drove to the suburbs. Aemond stopped in front of the same building he'd picked up Aegon from last time. He sighed at the thought of having to go through the same thing again. He turned off the engine and looked at her.

"Stay in the car, I'll be right back." He said as he unbuckled his seatbelts and opened the door. Y/N wasn't going to do that though and left with him. Aemond looked at her like someone on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

"I'm going to hurt you today." He said in a low, dangerous voice. Y/N only laughed at his words.

"No, you are not."

He had no idea where she got so much confidence around him. He was angry with himself that her laughter made him laugh inside out. For some reason, her approach made their trip seem like a silly adventure. He just shook his head. He wanted it over with.

"Come. Stay close to me." He said in a tone that brooked no argument. This time Y/N obeyed him, rushing over to him right away, keeping close to him. They entered the building, the staircase illuminated only by tiny red lights. By the descent to the cellar, naked women were smoking cigarettes, looking at them curiously. Y/N blushed at the sight of them, pressing herself tighter against his arm.

They went down the stairs, soft music played in the background, they could hear people talking, sighs, laughs and moans. There was a lot of smoke in the room they entered, mostly from cigarettes. Y/N had never seen a place like this before in her life. Plenty of naked and half-naked women sat with men and other women on couches, floors, tables, some in plain view, some hidden by translucent curtains.

She didn't know where her eyes should go. Her gaze wandered from one group of people to another. Women knelt in front of men with their pants down, others rode them, others injected them with a small syringe. Some people just had sex, in two, three or more people, others sat and talked, completely drunk. Y/N felt Aemond grab and squeeze her hand. He must have seen the shock and uncertainty on her face.

"Do you want to leave?" He asked quietly.

"No. I can handle this." She responded, feeling her heart pounding hard, and squeezed his hand tighter. She felt a whole range of emotions. Fear, excitement, curiosity and disgust at the same time. It seemed to her as if all these people were in some kind of trance.

Suddenly, among all these people, Y/N spotted Aegon sleeping between two naked women. She looked away, seeing that he was also naked. "He’s over there, on the bed against the wall." She said to Aemond without looking that way. Aemond turned his gaze there and Y/N felt his whole body tense. She knew he was furious.

"Wait for me here." He spoke softly through clenched teeth and walked towards his brother. Y/N obeyed him. She saw that they had already caught the attention of some of the people in the room. The men who were playing with other women were looking at her in a way that made her very uncomfortable. She felt as if she herself was naked. She glanced out of the corner of her eye at what Aegon was doing.

She saw that somehow Aemond had put pants on him. Aegon, however, seemed so drunk that he didn't even know what was happening to him. She saw him mumbling something to his younger brother, staggering and falling as Aemond tried to pick him up. It was a pitiful sight, and she wasn't surprised that Aemond hated doing it.

Aemond swung his arm around his neck, grabbing his waist with his other hand, and lifted him up. Y/N moved towards them, seeing that Aegon's legs were like rubber and he couldn't even take a step. Aemond gave her a stern look, but like him, she threw his arm over her neck and hugged him. He smelled terrible of alcohol and sweat, but she tried not to think about it.

Aemond ordered them to head for the stairs. She could see that he was furious and ashamed. But she didn't want to leave him alone. She didn't pay much attention to the couples sticking to each other's sides now, but she found this place to freeze her blood in some way. Aegon's babble snapped her out of her thoughts.

"Ah, who is it? Your girlfriend?" Aegon asked, his expression amused, his remark clearly arousing him. "You took her to a brothel and didn't fuck her?" He snorted, leaning his face closer to hers. She felt his drunken breath against her cheek. “My brother likes to pretend to be tough, but he really doesn't know how to make a woman happy. If you ever want to know…”

"Shut your mouth or I'll leave you here, you fucking bastard." Aemond shot suddenly, his eye dark with rage. Y/N swallowed hard, his brother's remark sending a shiver of embarrassment down her spine.

"See? He can only scare. But deep down, he’s a soft cunt." He laughed, and Aemond suddenly released him and shoved Aegon down the stairs in front of them. Y/N jumped, mouth opening in surprise and horror.

"Then crawl up those stairs yourself, fucking punk." He fired and kicked him in the stomach. Y/N grabbed him quickly, pulling him away. Aegon just cringed and coughed.

"Stop! It's no use, he's completely drunk." She said quickly, terrified of where this was all headed.

"When he's sober, he's the same. Fucking peace of shit. I should spit in your face." He said furiously, but Y/N squeezed his arm pleadingly. He looked at her, fury in his eyes. "You wanted to accompany me, now you have what you wanted. Enjoy it." He said, his voice dark and low, Y/N shivered and swallowed. She thought that he was on the verge and that she must be a sanctuary for him to keep him from going mad.

“Let's pick him up and carry him to the car. Not for him, but for your mother." She said softly, looking pleadingly at him. His jaw was clenched. He stared at her without a word, and his brother only moaned softly under their feet.

"No. I don’t care. Let him handle himself." He said stepping over him and heading up the stairs. "Let's go." He said in a voice that brooked no argument, but Y/N stood still. As if she hadn't heard him at all, she leaned over his brother and slung his arm around her neck again. Aemond had never looked at her with such fury before.

"Wake up, Aegon. Try to get up." She spoke to him gently. Aegon groaned, but made an attempt to get up. He managed to kneel down and slowly got up, resting his other hand against the wall. "A step up." She said calmly, and he tried to lift his foot and nearly fell over again. When he regained his balance, he slowly began to climb the stairs with her help, without any unnecessary comments. A large limo slowly formed on his cheek from the collision of his face with the stairs.

Aemond stared down at the scene with his lips pressed together. He finally came down when they were halfway up and helped them to the top. After a few minutes, they managed to get him into the back of his car. Aemond slammed the door shut, Y/N stepped closer to him, but he walked past her.

"Don't be angry with me." She spoke quickly to him, but he got into the car from the driver's side and slammed the door behind him. Y/N felt a pang in her heart, but she climbed into the car and silently buckled her seatbelt. Aemond started the engine and they drove through the city wordlessly. Once in a while, Aegon groaned from behind, tossing from side to side, falling into short dozes every time.

Y/N glanced at Aemond from time to time, but he was staring through himself. His face was stone. She knew what she had done made him furious beyond measure. But she knew that if they left Aegon there, the situation would be even more hopeless. She didn't want him to take it as a rejection, but she knew he resented her for not taking his side at the time.

"You're like my mother." He fired suddenly through clenched teeth, disapproval and revulsion in his voice. Her lips trembled and she felt tears welling up in her eyes.

"I’m sorry." It was all she could choke out. She stared at him for a moment, then turned her face to the window, clasping her hands in her lap. Fifteen minutes later they reached the outskirts of the other, much more prosperous part of the city.

It was already night, so Y/N couldn't see much. She was aware that they had entered a wealthy neighborhood full of huge houses. Aemond stopped in front of one, turned off the engine, and wordlessly unbuckled his seatbelt as he got out of the car. Y/N got off too.

"Get out." Aemond said impatiently to his brother, but he was on the edge of sleep and waking again, babbling to himself. Aemond pulled his arm in one swift motion, Y/N had to catch him to keep him from falling to the ground like a log. Aemond glared at her, but Y/N didn't care anymore. 

They led Aegon to the door, and Aemond rang the bell. After a while, they heard the sound of a lock opening, and his mother appeared in the doorway, already in a nightgown and bathrobe. When she saw Y/N, her eyes widened with surprise and embarrassment at the situation.

"Y/N, what are you doing here? Come in." She said, moving away. Aemond and Y/N went to put Aegon on his bed in his room, but he vomited on the floor as soon as he stepped through the door.

"Fantastic." Aemond said coldly, Y/N only swallowed silently. Their mother just waved her hand, trying to smile, though her eyes expressed desperation.

"Don't worry, I'll take care of it later."

They took Aegon to his room and laid him on the bed. His mother wiped his face, which was stained all over with his vomit. Aemond looked away, he couldn't look at it.

"Will you stay overnight at our house? It's already so late. We could have breakfast and lunch together tomorrow." Their mother said, rising, a note of hope in her tone. It disappeared as soon as Aemond laughed.

"I take your eldest son out of the brothel at least once a week, and you want me to have a nice dinner with him tomorrow?" He asked amused, but his face was tense, his gaze cold. Y/N had never seen him like this before, she looked at him with pain and horror. His mother flinched at his words and looked down in embarrassment.

"We haven't eaten together in years." She said softly. Aemond looked away, enraged. He shook his head, stared at the point beneath his feet.

"I will never go for him again. Never. It was the last time. Understand?" He asked, looking at her with eyes full of regret. "I know you often forget this, but I am your son too."

_____

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[crookedherringcolorclod]

Akemi’s Past, Chapter 2: Nobody Knows, Not Even You, No One Knows Who I Am.

Title based on: “No One Knows Who I Am” Track 28 of the Jekyll and Hyde Musical.

Previous Chapter.

TW: mentions death and blood.

•Akemi wandered around the town after the incident had occurred. The fire in the red-light district was the hottest gossip around and was always in everyone’s mouths. Akemi would find herself irritated as peopled insulted the prostitutes and pitied Dorin and his father, her fists would flicker blue flames and she would need to rub her hands together to make the flames dissipate.

•Eventually the rumor mill ended up making the noble’s son, Dorian, the new subject for their gossip again. Days later, people even thought that Dorin still might be alive and running about. This ended up reaching Dorian’s grandfather which led to a search for his only grandson.

•While everyone was talking, Akemi didn’t pay attention to the news and had to teach herself how to pickpocket other people and sneak out some bread to eat.

•Then there was the problem with blood, it would be too suspicious if people started disappearing left and right. In the end, she had to snack on rat’s blood to even satiate her hunger and the occasional humans she snagged into a corner at night.

•That was until a bunch of well-dressed servants found her walking down the streets and cornered her. Akemi thought they were going to hurt her until an older rich man reached his hand out and asked in a shaky voice “Dorin, is that you?”

•Akemi was shocked and kept quiet for a while. She wanted to say no and continue to struggle in the streets, it wasn’t ideal for her but didn’t want to deal with anything involved with that nobleman and Dorin. Before she could even say no, the older man simply assumed Akemi was mute and just took her in the carriage and went back into the mansion, leaving Akemi confused and paranoid about the event taking place.

•When Akemi steps foot inside, the man who is supposedly Dorin’s grandfather ordered the maids to help get rid of the smell of the streets off Akemi and prepare her something to eat right after.

•When Akemi was escorted to the bathroom, she would shake her head as the maids told her that they will help her bathe. Akemi didn’t want to risk the fact that she could be revealed as a fraud but didn’t know how to tell the maid she can bathe herself without talking.

•The moment the maids found out who and what she was underneath the rags and ashes in her hair, Akemi grabbed one of the maids by the neck and threatened them that she’ll burn them if they dare reveal her real identity.

•Akemi did not hold grudges against them, but she didn’t dare to take the risk of getting caught. She feared that if anyone found out, she would be hanged in front of many, people might even recognize her and torture her for the murder of the people whom she killed in the red-light district and for burning the brothel to the ground.

•So, for years, Akemi had lived in a lavish mansion, pretending to be Dorin. As she was the only living ‘relative’ of the man that she had to call her grandfather, she had to study, learn how to fence, and ride horses with her ‘grandfather’. All the while pretending to be temporarily mute.

•Whenever she’s alone in her chambers, Akemi had to learn how to deepen her voice by herself and wrapped long pieces of cloth around her waist and chest in hopes to look more masculine. At night, she would sneak to the nearest fireplace with a makeshift sack in her hands, gathering the ashes, and rubbing the ashes in her hair to mimic Dorin’s dark hair.

•Whenever she needed to feed, she would drink from one of the maids that knew her secret. They were always scared and on edge, Akemi could hear their hearts pound in their ribcage and feel their pulse thrumming as she drank. She never killed them, instead she just patched their wounds, and told them to rest up.

•Those maids were always at arm’s length. She only needed their blood and their promise of silence. If they didn’t listen… well, they always listened to her. So, she didn’t need to kill any of them.

•It was a routine she had built for a long time until a carriage arrived in the front yard. It looked different compared to the carriages she had seen enter the estate and decided to ask her ‘grandfather’ out of curiosity.

“My dear grandson! Has that fire made you forget your memories as well?” The grandfather laughed heartily while slapping Akemi’s back harshly.

“Dorin my boy, that’s your fiancé. She is to be with us so the both of you can be betrothed to one another next spring. So do take care of her.” Her ‘grandfather winked as the doors opened to greet their new guest.

•So, Akemi had to walk down the stairs and greet her ‘fiancé’. It was a young lady with a small round face and a petite build, only reaching up to Akemi’s shoulder. Her long amber brown hair reached her lower back and her bright brown eyes seemed to shine brighter when she saw Akemi.

•It sent Akemi into a panic, she tried to catch up on what Irina said to her and had endless thoughts on whether Dorin and Irina had met before or if it was their first time meaning. What did Dorin know? What memories did they share before Akemi burned that rat to the ground?

Akemi’s thoughts were cut short as she noticed Irina bending down for a curtsy. “Hello, my lord, my name is Irina.” Akemi slowly approached Irina and bowed in return. “Lady Irina… it is a pleasure to meet you as well.” All the while giving Irina a polite smile.

•After getting acquainted with Irina and keeping her company, Akemi managed to gain more context to the relationship between Dorin and Irina, making her calm down and hide better underneath her façade of a sweet fiancé.

•Days turned into weeks as Irina slowly became more involved in Akemi’s routine. Irina would convince Akemi to take a break from studying and to spend time with her in the gardens to which Akemi rarely agrees.

•Akemi didn’t know much about courtship, let alone even had someone that she would consider loving. So, Irina decided to try and talk to Akemi in hopes to be more emotionally intimate with her, to which Akemi complied.

•As the months passed by, Akemi even learned even more about Irina and started to look forward to spending time with her. Akemi even learned that Irina loved to dance and would grab Akemi’s hands in hers would insist that Akemi would dance with her.

“Oh, pleeeease Dorin? Won’t you indulge your sweet fiancé?” Irina begged, leaning against the piano. Akemi looked through her dark curls as she stopped playing the piano, fighting the urge to smile as she pursed her lips together.

“Don’t be so silly, Irina. Who would play music while you dance?” Akemi would tell Irina, her callused hands cupping Irina’s face, making Irina blush at Akemi’s actions.

•No matter how many excuses Akemi made, Akemi found it hard to say no to Irina when it came to dancing with her. Akemi found solace whenever she was holding Irina’s hand, twirling her around to the songs they hummed, and Irina’s laughter are like bells to their made-up melody.

•As the days went by, Akemi can’t help but laugh at herself. She never felt so at ease in the mansion since Irina arrived. Yet the past haunts Akemi, imaginary smoke makes her throat clog up in guilt whenever she dared to be happy with Irina.

•One day passed like any other, the pair were at the side of the lake near the garden to spend their afternoon. They twirled each other around in circles while they laughed at themselves as they fell to the ground. Akemi managed to catch herself with Irina’s face between her hands, panting in exhaustion.

•Their breaths intermingled with one another as they tried to gain their bearings, Akemi gathered Irina in her arms as she lifted Irina off the ground. Irina nuzzled her face against Akemi’s nape, making her shiver at the warmth of her face. The moment felt right, Akemi basked in the silence for a bit as she rubbed her hands against Irina’s waist. Before Akemi could even speak, she didn’t expect Irina to kiss her then and there.

•Akemi was left speechless as she held Irina in her arms, she didn’t know what to do with herself and stood still. Irina noticed how stiff Akemi was and pulled away, embarrassed at her behavior.

“I… I apologize, do you want to stop?” Akemi snapped out of her trance and looked at Irina, who didn’t want to face her direction.

•Akemi felt something bubbling inside her, so many emotions that she tried to process to no avail as she decided to press her lips against Irina’s once more and hid her face from Irina, also embarrassed.

“No… it felt good,” Akemi muttered under her breath, her cheeks flushed as Irina smiled again, happy at Akemi’s reaction.

•One kiss then led to another, Akemi was afraid that she might hurt Irina and touched her gingerly, gasping when Irina’s hands roamed up her back.

•Irina combed her fingers through Akemi’s hair, it was a sweet moment and Akemi chased after her warmth, pressing herself against Irina. Irina opened her eyes to look at Akemi until she saw her hands had been stained black and everything stopped.

•Irina quickly pushed Akemi away from her, shocked by the sudden reveal. Akemi cried out in shock as she slipped into the lake and managed to catch herself before she could submerge into the clear waters. The ashes she placed on her scalp were dripping down her face, revealing her blonde hair underneath and staining her vest and shirt black. Irina looked at her in confusion and horror.

“Who are you?” Irina shouted, horrified at the imposter.

“Dorin?” Akemi chuckled as she wrung out the water from her hair, dropping her male voice. “… no, that’s not right… I’m… nobody important.” The bitterness in Akemi’s voice was evident, she cursed herself for being too careless.

•Irina was scared and angry, she questioned Akemi about what happened to Dorin, on the verge of crying as tears gathered in her eyes.

“You’re not my beloved… imposter, what happened to my Dorin?!”

•Akemi tried to calm Irina down, but she just kept flinching away when Akemi tried to reach out to her. They argued for hours until Akemi finally had enough of trying to explain what happened in the brothel.

•She eventually told everything to Irina. Akemi told about Dorin was not how Irina dreamed of and how much a perverted rat he was and how he deserved to burn, resulting in Irina slapping Akemi in the face.

•That was the last straw, Irina broke down in tears and refused to be consoled as she sank to the ground, too tired to stand up, especially by her fiancé’s murderer. Akemi didn’t bother to say anything and ran off without a goodbye. When the servants arrived, they only found Irina fast asleep in the grass, her eyes were puffy from crying, and tear streaks marked her face. ‘Dorin’ or Akemi was nowhere to be found.

•After fighting with Irina, Akemi decided to jump into the next town where she would hide her identity and spend her life as a wanderer. She didn’t want to go back to the mansion and was always on her feet.

•From time to time, when Akemi decides to surrender to her thoughts, her mind would drift to Irina. She had conflicted feelings about her fake fiancé, did she love her? Would Irina love her if she didn’t dress up as a man in the first place? Did she regret the time she spent with Irina or not? Akemi never got a conclusion on which one was the right answer.

Next Chapter

[jayne-hecate-writer]

Andor something completely different

Warning: Spoilers ahead about the Disney Plus Series Andor. Read at your peril.

For the past twelve weeks, Disney have trickle fed us the Star Wars series Andor, an attempt to create a prequel that will lead into the prequel story of Rogue One. a series that was entirely successful in its mission. With a diversity of moments from absolute euphoria, to almost bottomless despair, Andor hit the marks hard, showing us the development of Rebel Spy Cassian Andor, a womanising street thug who finds later absolution as a devoted Rebel Fighter. Along the way we met his family, witness the murder of his father at the hands of Imperial forces before finally seeing his Mother, Maarva inspire a whole town to rebel against the Empire.

The series started with the brilliant Diego Luna playing Cassian as an adult searching for his sister, a search takes him to a brothel, having heard a rumour that she may have been working as a sex worker, which was a first for Star Wars with the writers clearly taking a step up in the darker tone of the story. The images of the sex workers, though not explicit, would make for complex explanations for younger viewers, but as with Rogue One, the feeling here was that this version of Star Wars was never meant for younger viewers. The language used throughout the series also hinted at this, I cannot imagine Captain of the Ghost and Rebel hero, Hera Syndula uttering the word shit or calling the Empire bastards, thus making Andor special yet again. Interspersed though the first block of episodes, we also see Cassian as a boy, Cassa, living among a tribe of feral children, with no explanation of how they got there or a translation of the language they were speaking. We did not need the explanation though, the images on the screen were obvious from the start in this powerful three show story arc. The adults of the tribe had been taken and forced into slavery in the mine that was destroying the ecosystem of the planet. A damaged ship crash lands not far from the children's camp and they get ready to investigate, creating a war party with blow darts dipped in poison. Upon investigation of the crash site, the tribe's leader steps up to look inside the ship and is promptly gunned down in a brutal and senseless murder that is both shocking and painfully sad. Cassa, whose sister remained at the camp with the other much younger children leaves the distraught group as they return the body of their leader to their camp. Now alone, Cassa begins to explore the ship, only to encounter Maarva and Clem who, while on a salvage mission to gather parts from the wrecked ship, rescue him from the coming massacre. We do not see the murder of the children by Imperial forces, but later conversations between Maarva and Cassian explain well enough the depth of the evil perpetrated against them.

Fiona Shaw who plays Cassian's mother Maarva did so with both a gentleness of heart and a steel resolve. Now a veteran actor, having worked in theatre, movies and television since at the 1980s, I have never seen her portray a character with such absolute purity of heart or with such emotional power. To many she will always be the cruel aunt of Harry Potter, but from this moment she is cast in brick as the gentle, powerful, inspirational mother of our hero. With the death of Maarva later in the Andor series, we are left with a hole in our hearts and the credit for this feeling goes not just to the writing of the series, but to Shaw's often subtle but always beautiful acting. Seeing her, with tear filled eyes, tell Cassian to leave their home on the planet Ferex and that his worry for her was the cost of love, was a moment that will be burned into the psyche of Star Wars for decades to come. The line of “I will love him more than any wrong he can do”, utterly broke my heart and filled my eyes with tears, delivered as it was by Cassian's friend Brasso, played by Joplin Sibtain as he reported to Cassian the death of his mother.

The first murder we see Cassian commit was in the first episode and was a both brutal and painfully sad. As he walks away from the brothel disappointed by the lack of leads into the location of his sister, he is jumped by two corrupt Corporate Police Officers and in the scuffle, one of the officers is killed almost by accident. The fight is fast and shows Cassian to have the technique of a street brawler as he quickly disarms and downs both officers leaving the second and more senior officer begging for his life in a scene filled with darkness and rain, only for Cassian to shoot him at point blank range in the face with a blaster. With this despicable act, the scene really set the dark relentless tone for the series and this is something that I am going to keep referring to, the tone of each episode was of something considerably more adult and less silly than anything Star Wars have done since the duel between Anakin and Obi-Wan in the third movie, Revenge of the Sith.

The comparisons with other shows and movies in the Star Wars saga was inevitable and with the recent Boba Fett and Obi-Wan Kenobi series being fresh in the viewer's mind, it is easy to say that Star Wars is creating a new, darker feel for the Empire, not just the distant experience of a farm boy on an isolated planet in the outer rim. As with Kenobi, the tone of the show was one of darkness, the loss of the soul of the republic as the Empire crushes every citizen under foot. However unlike Kenobi, Andor does not step into the magic realm of space wizards and magical feats of the force. There might be subtle hints that one of the rebel leaders may have a Jedi past, but there is a strong lack of Force wielders and frankly, the show was all the stronger for this, giving the series the emotional weight of a harder edged Sci-Fi, rather than the soft swashbuckling fantasy of the original movies.

With the early episodes broken up into three episode story blocks, we are introduced to Luthen Rael, portrayed by the masterful Stellan Skarsgård, who is an organiser for the Rebel Alliance working alongside Senator Mon Mothma, played by the superb Genevieve O'Reilly, the future Rebel Leader. For those of us familiar with the animated Star Wars Rebels, we know that Mothma will eventually be forced to flee the senate to be rescued by Hera and her crew, which starts the building of the Rebel Alliance that we see in Rogue One. Here we see Mothma struggling with disclosure of her dangerous financial contributions to the Rebel Alliance, that ultimately leads her to give her daughter away in betrothal to the son of a gangster, hiding her manoeuvring under the guise of her husband's gambling addiction and debts that would make it appear that the money issues are entirely his fault. It was a clever, painful and dark move (written beautifully) from someone who we will come to know as a future leader of the Alliance. The strings are all being pulled, connecting characters with events that happened in the prequels and original movies and other series, all of which must take all of the computing power of the Star Wars story group.

The second arc of the series, or episodes four through six, was the raid on the Imperial vault at Aldhani, to steal eighty million credits from the payrole of the Empire. Again in any other story, the arc would be simple with the building of a crew for a heist, but yet again Star Wars played with the heart and soul that binds the story together. Luthen leads Cassian to his team leader and the as yet unknown, the cousin of Mon Mothma, Vel played by the charismatic Faye Marsay and her rather complicated band of rebels. Tucked away rather quietly in this tiny group of rebels is the character Karis Nemik, touchingly played by Alex Lawther as a young soulful dreamer, fired by his belief in liberty and freedom, themes that are cleverly explored in his discussions with an angry and introverted Cassian. Cassian's cynicism and anger often brushes the boy aside or tried to crush his optimism, but Nemik is a philosopher and writer and as he progresses, he creates a manifesto that will eventually be at the heart of the rebellion. The raid was an exciting story arc, with visuals of utter beauty with contrasting with the darkness and evil of the Empire. The crushing of the local population, the brutal destruction of their religious movement and the Imperial plans to eventually enslave them to work on another destructive mining operation, is all laid out albeit subtly and with enough heart to leave the viewer with the knowledge that the pilgrims at the Imperial base were murdered after the raid.

Cassian escapes from Aldhani piloting the stolen ship loaded with the Imperial credits, but as they flee, Nemik is critically hurt when crushed by a pallet loaded with credits. His death is a moment of reflection for Cassian, but this is one that we do not see because of his urgent need for escape and to rescue his ill mother and her droid, the beautiful B2 EMO. If ever there was a droid to melt the heart of the coldest and most cynical Star Wars fan, it is Bee. With his glitches and minor bullying by hounds in the first episode, Bee could be written off as worthless, but as with so many of the characters in this show, Bee has more heart than all of the Empire combined and will fight for what is right. It is sad to say it, but not even R2 or even BB8 can equal Bee for purity of spirit or just plain old cuteness.

The core of the first half of the series, is a discussion of integrity over cynicsm and asks the question of the characters, what are they going to do in the fight against tyranny? We see Cassian reinforce his apathy, as he shrugs off any responsibility, he tries to take his mother away from her life of cold misery on Ferex, only for her to explain the nature of evil in the Empire and then of their love for each other to him. He leaves, with tears in his eyes, pays a few debts as he visits old friends and is then gone, leaving chaos and carnage in his wake once again.

For many of us, agents of the Imperial Security Bureau are personified by Agent Kallus in Rebels, the man who serves the Empire despite being haunted by the Genocide of Lasan. The complexities of modern Star Wars are not to be dismissed, just because the story is animated rather than live action and it is through Rebels that we meet a host of important characters, in particular, we see once again ISB Colonel Wulff Yularen, who mentors Kallus only to be disappointed by him when Kallus defects to the Rebel Alliance. The ISB are a cold, brutal organisation who exist as enforcers among the ranks of the Empire as well as a secret police force among the greater galactic populace, in the fashion of the real world, former East German Stasi. With the Andor series, we are introduced to ISB Supervisor Dedra Meero, an ambitious officer pushing against the misogyny of the Empire as she battles her way to the top. She is cool, powerful and determined, her icy persona matched by her crisp uniform and carefully controlled blonde hair. At moments the viewers find themselves not only gleefully watching her take apart her rivals in the ISB, but actually hoping that she finds her man, the rebel Cassian Andor. However the arrogance and ineptitude of her colleagues and fellow supervisors is displayed throughout the series and it is apparent that the galaxy under the Empire is not a good place to be if you are a woman or non human. Denise Gough is fantastic in this role, the almost perfect antagonist to Diego Luna's Cassian and she is ferocious and at times fearless as she fights for what she believes is right. Her methods are cruel and brutal, she is quick to resort to torture and is more than happy to have people executed for what she perceives as crimes against the Empire. She makes the links between thefts of pieces of Imperial tech around the galaxy and then the raid on Aldhani, much to the annoyance of her fellow Supervisors, but to the pride of her mentor, Major Partagaz played by the joyful Anton Lesser. Thus begins the quest to locate and interrogate Cassian, all the while being unaware that he has already been arrested and transported to a shocking Imperial prison where he has been put to work as part of a team of slave labourers, building parts of the Death Star, parts that eventually turn out to be parts of the super weapon that destroy Alderaan.

There are so many characters in this show worthy of mention along side those already spoken of here, but how long do I want this piece to be? For starters we have the disgraced Corporate Security officer and stalker Syril Karn and his disdainful mother, played by Kyle Soller and Kathryn Hunter, a more beautiful and complicated pair have yet to be seen in Star Wars. We also have the seemingly pious but ultimately heart breaking Kino Loy played by the fabulous Andy Serkis. We meet Sgt Melshi for the first time, a man yet to join the Rebels, but determined to tell the galaxy what the Empire are doing to the citizens. There are moments of brevity, moments of heart racing anxiety and though out the whole second arc, we see Diego Luna with his face filled with the horror of what has happened to Cassian.

Some critics have complained about the slow steady pace of Andor, a pace that slowly, almost unobserved built up into a climax that was as powerful as anything ever done in Star Wars since Rogue One. Sadly, with one series down, we have only one series left which has only just gone into production. It feels like a very long wait for season two of this fantastic series, but if it is as powerful as season one, it will be worth the wait. Again we are almost forced to compare this show with the others in the Disney Plus era and even the all powerful The Mandalorian is going to struggle with the tone and intensity of Andor. We all know that Mando and Grogu are building into a beautiful Father and Son epic and I have already written in the past my views that it will be Mando that ties the sequel movies to the rest of the saga, when a somewhat more grown up Grogu is forced to leave Dinn Djarin, who has grown old, so that he can take up Jedi training with Rey Skywalker. No doubt the Ahsoka series will take us somewhere else, I already suspect that Thrawn is going to be an important and complicated character in the future, especially given how the latest books set Thrawn up as clever tactician, if political inept. It will be very easy to forgive Thrawn his war crimes when we remember that he is just a bit crap at politics and only joined the Empire in order to save the Chiss Ascendancy from the threat of the Grysks. You have no idea what I am talking about? You need to read Timothy Zahn's two Thrawn trilogies.

Yet no matter where Star Wars goes in the future, the best bit of Star Wars ever written thus far comes from a line or two in the first movie, when it discusses how Rebel Spies captured the plans for the Death Star, the planet killing super weapon that destroyed Leia Organa's home planet and was eventually blown up by future space wizard and recluse, Luke Skywalker. With Rogue one, we got a dark, gritty and painful movie, painful because in my home it is strongly recommended that the film be watched with a box of tissues close at hand for the third act, when viewers will likely cry their eyes out as each beloved character is killed off. Rogue One gave us Cassian, the complex, conflicted Rebel Intelligence officer. Series one of Andor shows us how he got there and it was just as dark, gritty and painful. Each week as I have tuned into the wonderful Geeknd live stream, I have joked that I award Andor points out of twelve because I am an Imperial at heart, but Andor has shown us all just how evil the Empire is in a new and more dramatic way, without the use of space wizards or wielding Force magic. It is true that we love the Jedi and the Sith, during a rather painful hospital procedure when I had fluids removed from my spine, it was reciting the Sith code that got me through the whole ordeal. I still love the character Asaaj Ventress more than any other in the saga, but as of now, sat next to her on her throne will be Cassian and his mother and her droid. The Andor family are beautiful, complicated, compassionate and most of all, so very human, even their droid. I will say once again something I have come to believe, the Andor show is the best piece of Star Wars since Dark Disciple, the novel that gave us the end of Ventress, written in tear inducing prose by the wonderful Christie Golden. If you read only one Star Wars book, read that one and then Watch Andor as it leads into Rogue One and then Rebels. If you have not cried by the end, then you are more stoic than I am capable of being.

Andor streaming now on Disney Plus.

[meanwhileinstasiville]

I'm going to lean all the way into the Dunn ranch, the most traumatic period of my life

And see what's really going on (because they put up a horse paddock up front, it seems)

Because what I complain about has *increased exponentially by the day* and only a couple days in.

A synagogue family sans the rabbi husband up on clark; because shop n kart and the attendant businesses of that block, tell a theoretical story of unsavory things out at the ranch and deep in the past. (Backed by takelma the village, bell up front, pizza on the other side of slaughter's office; a well of human suffering called shop n kart where the foreman who was named Adrian back then, desperately wants to own the place)

We've got gang members walking out of my blind spot at intervals gank murder style, as perhaps what happened to Grubbs; because no one talks about defensive wounds. We've got 112268 stalker grinning like an idiot after I threatened to kill him *a second time* for his stalking endeavors at the southtown block intersection. Ambulance was waiting by expecting a violent event because company town.

There's the guy who was supposed to look like me waiting in ambush down below minute market on the way up to a food pantry. A pantry where a latina attitude style white (retirement age, outlived usefulness) woman could be found *tossing food from the pantry into her van*. And he seemed to have been hiding somewhere off to the hidden springs brush side (since murderers seldom change mo; why Jessica Fletcher concerned the Italians ;)

There's yellow everywhere, calling attention to itself, we've got coopers, we've got staged gang activity waiting for the library to open so many minutes ago.

CLEARLY, this is worth a lot of money to someone. An unsolvable murder ran about 200k back in the day. Mexicans, it was said, would do it for 10k or less. *More yellow*

Guess the synagogues are mad at me, sitting here minding my own business in front of illahe house. Thought you guys were pacifists. You know the Hill family was *Greek* right? And that they were in bed with the army at fort Klamath. And that, they all traveled with a US army entourage *down here from the Dalles*. After surveyors mapped the donation claims the Hill sisters would *sight unseen as yet* lay claim to?

(They were building a fortress, or trying, and at odds with "I married that man who had that land my father wanted" Patrick Dunn who was on friendly terms with all the natives)

Natives they later exterminated. We haven't gotten to the part where they were feeding and slaying homeless people out there, running a brothel out of the ranch house, becoming a "one stop shop" for shadowy policy making regional AND national. Both with and without KKK auspices. *More yellow*

(Go ahead, instigate a murder synagogues)

You know, Grubbs was "European mutt. Oh! And I am one quarter Italian" as he had said; didn't see a lot of Italian hanging out with him but *I did see a lot of Jews and semi Jews*.

Helman killed sisson back then, final answer. Convening a court martial on behalf of pioneer stock they didn't know, against one of their own, and for a murder a community would never admit to backing *though it did*, wasn't going to happen. Acting in the best interest of his friends up at the fort against what amounted to foreign interest from France.

(And he was whoring out his wife)

Since her house burned not long after she didn't go with helman (yeah, the murderer) after the fact. People can pretend this is revelatory, but really frontier boilerplate back then.

(Why would grandpa want to destroy his own family...hmmm. A branch related to Robert E. Lee and in bed with the army does *all* that)

And that's not the half of what's going on out there. As near as cartel on behalf of scraping together whiteness can get, this Janneke vs jennafae as a lookalike behind a coffee counter when it comes to me.

(As with ranch operations of old, it's *really easy* to discourage people when they get a rock with their name on it for not stopping whatever the objectionable is; that's shop n kart to Ashland now as a dialed down and washed out version of what had gone on)

(The Dunn's were on good terms with the Colombians and the Mexicans, making the slave caste they were turned into sort of ironic)

I would be quick to point out the Dunn house up on Clark had *all the trees cut down and mulched* in short order *within days* of me pointing out it had belonged to the family. By Mexican landscapers. With a latin king colored car sitting out front. An snk employees living there all the while. So I'll reiterate that *killing is easier*than continuous beating around the bush.

(Seeing how far this goes if so many days of leaning into the ranch has added up to this)

Yellow is a color.

Edit: Did I not say what the legacy was of where I grew up? "An encounter is a stand alone argument" only if it is backed up by murder. "Oh yeah? A shirt." Only if it's backed up by murder. Gang stalking? A car at an intersection conoting a drive by shooting driven by a misguided idiot? Only if it's backed up by murder.