#but here's me from the next day clearing up THAT misinformation | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

gold-rhine · 9 months ago

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What the guard dogs are for

There are some things you never want to hear your secret years-long crush saying, such as “I’m getting married,” “I think we should stay friends” or “I’m the destroyer of the present order, the one who shall judge all gods, and the foe of humanity.” Wriothesley’s very bad, no good day of trying to unravel conspiracy theories, fumbling a tea party with Chief Justice and learning Teyvat’s ancient history and vishap lore from the leading expert lector.

Genre: angst and misinformation campaign

Characters: Neuvillette\Wriothesley, Enjou

Warnings: sfw in a sense that nothing even remotely sexy happens, but there is dissociation, ptsd episode, brief mention of self-harm, and Enjou doing same thing he does in canon, which is not quite gaslighting? Anyway, let me know if you feel any other warnings need to be added.

Chapters: 1 out of 2. Wordcount: ~8k

With his morning tea, Wriothesley riffled through the reports as usual. Nothing was marked urgent, so he started with the most boring part, - the official ones. The production numbers, coupon consumption statistics, everything is prepared for Neuvillette’s upcoming inspection, which was mostly a formality, but he would want it to go as smoothly as possible.

Reports from the surface informants. Traveler stirring up a ruckus with the research institute… Well, about time, that pit couldn’t go on forever pretending that massive explosions are just a part of science routine.

Next, creatures called “vishaps” appeared recently in Erinnyes Forest. These vishaps are apparently a lesser form of dragons, and connected to Liyue vishaps, also lizard-like creatures, though in Liyue they are aligned with geo, not hydro. Non-hostile to humans, aside from one accident. But in that one they fought back against the hunters sent by nobles to capture them as novelty pets. So the only regrettable part was that they didn’t get the nobles, only their lackeys. For shame.

Next, there are gangs with new lingo going around, which generally was a good thing to pay attention to as they usually ended up in Meropide. Wriothesley frowned, reading the lingo translations, as he suddenly felt old. “Trendy Zaytun Peach�� was something he’d got called for taking it up the ass a lot in his days, but now it’s a hip and cool nickname with the youngsters.

Informal internal reports. Victims of beret society are rehabilitating fine, preparations for the wedding are underway. Good. Albert, a new guy from the shop, is sending him tea. Quite good tea at that. Obviously a bribe attempt, though he didn’t ask for anything as of yet, so it was basically free. Everything was fair in love and bribes as far as Wriothesley was concerned. You could throw everything at the feet of your beloved as to the feet of your targeted bureaucrat, and receive nothing and you would have no claim to complain. Now, the fact he wouldn’t take it into account when making decisions about their proposals, and sometimes would even consider it a negative, was a different matter altogether.

He perked up reading the last report. There was a new conspiracy, whose agenda was not very clear, as they were more careful than the others, but the gist was something against Neuvillette, so Wriothesley was tracking it for some time. It was hard to get anything concrete though, as they were pretty good at keeping a low profile, but now apparently one of the members by the name of Jacque got into the Fortress on unrelated charges, and he was reportedly not the brightest shank on the block.

Wriothesley made the arrangements.

Half an hour later, he happened to stroll by when Jacque was being beaten up by three guys in the shadowy corner.

“Hey, what’s going on here? Leave him alone!” he said, walking up to them.

“Oh yeah?”, said one of the bullies, turning to him. “Well, make me!”

They were paid double for the pretend fight. It might have been an overkill, usually Wriothesley would go for just scaring them off without combat. Especially because anyone who’s been in the Fortess for some time or had a head on their shoulders would understand that nobody would try to openly fight the Duke outside of the fight club arena. But Jacque was as fresh as they get, allegedly stupid, and it was Wriothesley’s first chance at any info in two whole months, so he decided to make it as impressive as possible.

He went as easy on the guys as he could, they theatrically threw the fight and retreated.

“Hey, are you okay?” he asked, kneeling next to the guy in the corner and putting his hand on his shoulder for emphasis.

“Yeah, yeah, I think I’m fine,” Jacque muttered, shaking his head.

“Why did they attack you?”

“They don’t want me to spread the truth...” Jacque said with heavy emphasis. “But uh, thanks for helping me out.”

“No need to thank me. I feel bad enough that honest folk like yourself get picked on in MY Fortress. That’s not how I want to run my place, so it’s only natural that I stand up for you.”

It took a moment, but finally the guy gasped.

“Your fortress? Are you… the Duke?”

At least he knew what “Duke” is.

“Yeah,” Wriothesley grinned, turning up the charm. “And allow me to get you a couple of drinks to compensate for the rude welcome you’ve received so far.”

He got them to the Coupon Cafeteria, where best meals were already arranged, and generously poured alcohol into the poor guy, listening to the story of his life and misfortunes that brought him to the Fortress, nodding empathetically. He didn’t ask about Neuvillette at all, to not spook the target, trusting that he will come to this anyway, and finally his patience was rewarded.

“You know, you’re good!” the guy said drunkenly after some time, clasping his hand on Wriothesley's shoulder, which he beared stoically, grinning with all friendliness in the world.

“You know, they say we can’t talk to you because you’re bought by that lizard, but I think you’re a good guy. You just don’t know all the facts!”

“Which are?”

The guy leaned closer to him and lowered his voice to a dramatic whisper. “Neuvillette is an evil dragon!”

Wriothesley choked on a laughter, which was way too obvious to turn into cough even for the dunce this stupid.

“No, you don't understand! Dragons were enemies of humanity that Celestia conquered. But they come back when killed! They reincarnate! He is a hydro dragon who was reborn in a human form so he could more easily trick us!”

Wriothesley blinked, remembering Neuvillette standing under the rain, and the old children’s song. “Hydro dragon, Hydro dragon, don’t cry….”

“He put our rightful archon Furina on that trial, right? No one else saw the verdict, so he pretended she was declared guilty. He forced her to abdicate and took the power for himself!”

Wriothesley realized long ago that Neuvilette, of course, was not human. It was clear to any idiot who talked to him for longer than a minute in an informal setting, not to mention a lifespan of at least five hundred years. But there were a lot of options other than “evil dragon”. There were old gods who did not receive archonhood, but instead decided to serve the archon, like Liyue’s adepti, and he always assumed Neuvillette was of the same kind. But the idea that Iudex was some kind of evil monster with a grudge against humanity was ridiculous. Especially when he showed up at the Fortress and saved the entire Fountaine and Wriothesley’s own hide from the flood.

“Really?”

“Yeah! We should restore our true archon Furina to her rightful throne!”

Furina’s insurrection? Interesting. Wouldn’t peg her for someone capable of this type of conspiracy.

“And did Furina herself give us her blessing?”

“She can’t speak publicly, as this monster threatens her.”

Hmm, inconclusive on Furina’s involvement.

He spent more time with the drunk Jacque, trying to get more details, but couldn’t get much more than unhinged ramblings on how evil the dragons are and how insidious it was for a dragon to pretend to be a human. He had to leave to prepare to Neuvillette's arrival the next day.

_____

Neuvillette stepped out of Opera Epiclese into the rain and slowed down his pace to prolong the sensation. It was a bit of what humans called guilty pleasure, as he felt guilty from inflicting rain on humans for his own pleasure. Though from his understanding, humans felt guilty because they saw this pleasure as something bad for themselves. Even if often this supposed harm made no sense to Neuvillette. Eating too much food until a human's stomach hurt was at least understandable to see as such, but he heard one of palais’ secretaries say that romance novels were her guilty pleasure. How could humans feel guilty for something as simple as reading? He stopped and asked her why she would feel guilty for reading, because melusines kept telling him that socializing with humans is very easy, you just need to ask them questions about themselves and let them talk about what they like. Well, it didn’t seem to work, as the secretary stumbled, started hyperventilating and emanated levels of panic and anxiety comparable to someone in the defendant’s chair. Sensing human emotions did not actually help Neuvillette in communicating with them, as he could not discern the reasons. He asked her if she perhaps came into possession of any cursed texts? He could generally sense the stench of corruption and there was nothing on her, but there was always a possibility that it was a curse he could not register. She panicked even more and vehemently denied. At this point he decided to give up on socializing, as it was obviously very distressing for humans, but felt obliged to tell her that if she ever did read anything she felt was cursed, to inform him. He hoped it would assuage her fear of reading. She thanked him, stuttering, and after that day avoided him at all costs.

The rain was a compromise solution in any case. Neuvillette always felt a bit strained and uncomfortable in his body, but after obtaining full dragonhood and most of the memories of past lives, the human shape felt downright stifling. He now remembered thousands of years of being something much bigger, long coils that could easily crush the spire of Opera Epiclese. Now, when he looked at his own reflection, it was hard to comprehend that this small and ridiculous frame was actually him. In addition, all of his memories and instincts called him to be submerged in water. But even with his poor understanding of humans, he realized that seeing the Iudex floating in the river would alarm humans much more than him standing under the rain. So rain was the closest solution he could get at his position.

He summoned rain instinctively, to be as close to engulfed in water as possible. It was a bit embarrassing that even humans noticed it and composed a rhyme, even if that rhyme was inaccurate. He didn’t cry, as vishaps didn’t cry at all and even his current human shaped body didn’t have tear ducts. The closest he could pinpoint to human experience, as he understood it, was being stressed and desire to be comforted, for which water was his best remedy.

And currently he was quite stressed, looking over the Fontaine laws in an attempt to revise them. The current system that treated justice as theater was clearly imperfect, which he realized long ago. But he never saw himself as authorized to change it, as humans were the responsibility of the archon and even without it, he was well aware he didn’t understand humans, so he knew it wasn’t his place to question the human justice system, to which he was only a temporary guest. But now, as fontanias became part of Teyvat after his decision, and so, a part of his responsibility as Teyvat’s god of life, even if the usurper tried to deny him, he couldn’t ignore the need for change any longer. The problem was that he did not understand humans any better, so it was very stressful to try and restructure their systems of governance.

He extended a hand, catching raindrops on his palm, when he noticed a silhouette near the elevator to the Fortress, and stopped himself from visibly controlling the weather.

Wriothesley caught his eyes and grinned, approaching him at brisk pace, umbrella over his head.

“Greetings, Monsieur.”

“Good morning, Your Grace.”

Wriothesley always somehow managed to make a “Monsieur” sound more impactful than Neuvillette could “Your Grace”, despite one being a noble title and another just a polite greeting.

“Would you like to…?” Wriothesley extended his arm with an umbrella, without actually covering Neuvillette with it. In the past, as a part of playing a role of “normal human”, Neuvillette accepted such offers, though there were not many aside from Wriothesley who dared to approach him with it. But now, as he was a full-fledged dragon, at the height of his power and influence in this land, surely he could afford to discard this role? Surely he could afford to be himself at least in this?

“No, thank you,” he said, smiling and trying to sound as cordial as possible, so that Wriothesley would not think it was a slight against him personally. “Don’t take it as offense, but I actually like being under the rain.”

The Duke smiled back, shaking his head.

“No offense taken, but why didn’t you say it last time? I felt like an idiot forcing you under an umbrella.”

“Really?” Neuvillette perked up, falling in step with the human. “You could tell that I…”

“Hated it? Yeah, for sure.”

“....prefered not to have an umbrella.”

Wriothesley let out a low, guttural bark of laughter that somehow got to the dragon despite him not being interested in humans in general.

“Not only I could tell I disturbed you, but I had to walk on the flowerbed to get to you, and then I trailed dirt in the Palais while everyone here glared at me for the audacity. Meanwhile you walked on the same dirt, but stayed pristine!”

“I’m sorry for…”

“Hey, don’t apologize. I’m just kidding, don’t worry.”

Neuvillette met the greyish blue eyes of thawed ice directly and sensed that he was truly not bothered, which didn’t make much sense. But Wriothesley was one of the very few humans who was not scared in the dragon’s presence. He was, probably, the only one who emanated only positive emotions at their meetings. Neuvillette mostly encountered negative reactions in his daily life at the trials, so he could not tell apart which positive feelings exactly that he read from Wriothesley due to the lack of exposure. But perhaps…

“I wouldn’t want you to feel unwelcome at the Palais,” Neuvillette said after a short pause.

Wriothesley grinned with a careless shrug.

“Then I will be there, even if the rest of your bureaucrats make faces. As I said, don’t worry.”

Neuvilette frowned, but didn’t see much point in pressing this further. After a confrontation with Navia, the dragon realized that his lack of understanding of humans hindered him, instead of making him truly impartial. Especially now that he was de facto in charge of the entire Fontaine government. And practice showed that only direct interaction with humans could give valuable experience, as watching from the Iudex seat did not allow him a nuanced understanding.

So perhaps, if Wriothesley was a rare human who was not scared of him, and he proved rational and trustworthy in the years they knew each other, Neuvillette could confide in his true nature and maybe ask for advice in understanding humanity?

“Perhaps staying for some tea would make up for this past offense?”

Wriothesley stumbled for a moment.

“Seriously?” He sounded as casual and ironic as usual, but the surprised burst of positive emotions from him was bright and obvious. “After all these years you finally decided to deign my humble office with your presence?”

“It’d be a completely unofficial visit, of course.”

“Sure, sure. It was never my secret plot to bribe you with a tea party, trust me, even I realize my tea is not that good.”

His voice was ironic, but for a moment Neuvillette could see his crooked grin turn into a genuine smile. So, reassured that he was not imposing, Iudex nodded and followed the human into the Fortress’ entrance.

_________

The inspection itself was mostly a formality. The Court of Fontaine technically had no direct authority over Meripode, but it provided guards and substantial resources, and so it had a right to oversee the use of these assets. The actual budgeting was done on the regular in behind the scenes reports though, as the data was not visible in the in person visit. Still, it was a time honored tradition that got Neuvilette to show up regularly.

“Take a seat. It will take me a minute to make tea.”

Neuvilette gracefully sat down on the visitor’s chair In Wriothesley office, folding his hands on the cane. He still sat with a ramrod straight back and perfect posture, but there was a certain lightness to him today, which was hard to put into words.

“The inspection is over, yet you are still nervous.”

Wriothesley knew he had a poker face good enough to cover it, yet Neuvillette saw it anyway. He had theorized for a long time that the Iudex could sense emotions, but usually he would not acknowledge it directly like this. “I wasn't nervous about the inspection to begin with. But inviting a high and mighty Iudex himself to the tea for years and then disappointing him when he finally accepts would be a devastating faux de pas. They will mock me on the first pages of all the papers tomorrow.”

Neuvillette frowned slightly.

“I must underline that I’m not here in any official capacity, and I would hope I’m talking to Wriothesley, not the Warden or the Duke. If you agree, I would ask that we leave the titles at the door.”

“No, of course,” Wriothesley, who had fantasized about leaving titles at the door and then clothes on the floor for actual years, said quickly, frantically recalculating how he could turn the tea party to wine tasting, which best wines he had confiscated in his storage and how he could make turning on the gramophone and then maybe leaning against the edge of the table in front of Neuvillette look natural and smooth. “Absolutely. I was just joking anyway, don’t mind it.”

“Ah, I see. I apologize, I’m unfortunately prone to missing humorous intent, so I appreciate your clarification.”

With how far the Iudex went out of his way to assure people of his good intentions in informal situations, Wriothesley really didn’t understand how everyone found him so intimidating. Especially because he very often had to interact with assholes in positions of power who did try to intimidate him on purpose and the contrast was very apparent. Neuvillette projected an aura of power without really wanting to, and then tried to over-explain himself to make others feel at ease. His earnest awkwardness was something like the clumsiness of a huge beast like an elephant trying not to step on the gaggle of kittens at his feet.

“In any case, there is nothing to be nervous about. After all, tea is liquid, and it’s really hard to make liquids unpleasant. So far I think only Fonta truly managed it.” Neuvillette drummed his fingers on the table and glanced at Wriothesley. “To be frank, if crimes against water could be prosecuted, Fonta would receive life in prison.”

Wriothesley snorted. “So no sugar in your tea, I take it?”

“No, thank you,” Iudex said politely and then, after a short pause, “And to clarify, I was not serious. There is nothing wrong with people liking sugary drinks, of course. I was just making an attempt at a joke.”

He really was horrendously bad at pretending to be a human. How could anyone hear him talk and still believe he’s a scheming manipulator was beyond ridiculous.

“No, I got it. It was a good joke,” The Duke grinned, placing a teacup in front of Neuvillette and sitting down across the table with his own.

Neuvillette gave him a graceful nod with a little smile and picked up his cup, giving it a swirl before tasting.

“Hmm. Interesting. Poignant. Bitter,” he said thoughtfully, tilting his head.

Wriothesley was about to mention that this sort was not usually bitter, but Iudex continued.

“Not by nature, but forced by circumstances. Not nearly enough water to be nourished, so it had to adapt and conserve strength, letting leaves seen as unimportant to die and concentrate on survival of the main branches. But there is not just hunger… there is a dream of rain. An ache of something not ever known, but yearned, longed for, without realizing what it is. But then…” Neuvillette closed his eyes for a moment. “It happened. There is a memory of luminous joy of water not gathered by mere drops, but drank in full, overwhelming, a feast after a life of fighting for scraps of morning dew. It had tasted rain at least once in the end.”

Wriothesley put his own cup down, leaning forward in disbelief.

“No way. This was a harvest from a drought year and it’s normally a mild sort, considered unusually strong in this season. How could you know this? Are you cheating?”

“You’re welcome to test me with other samples,” Neuvillette said with an air of a magnanimous ruler granting a boon and put the teacup down with a delicate clink.

“Oh, I’m taking you up on your word, trust me,” the Duke grinned, but then paused. He didn’t want to spoil the mood, but he remembered how strongly Neuvillette felt about the perceived melusines conspiracy. Wriothesley had to tell him about the evil dragon idiots just to make sure he’s not thrown off balance later. That’s what the guard dogs are for, after all.

“Actually, before we move forward with testing your psychic tea reading abilities, there is something concerning official business that I think you should know. And then we can forget it completely.”

Neuvillette inclined his head with a small smile.

“There is a small group of conspirators, - and I must reiterate, it’s very small - who operate on the ridiculous idea that… uh, that you’re some kind of an evil dragon who schemed to overthrow Furina.”

Neuvillette's smile froze.

“You don’t have to worry about it, really. It’s negligibly small, and well, anyone with a working brain would not believe that you’re a monster in disguise.”

Iudex was silent for some time, not meeting Wriothesley’s eyes.

“Are melusines implicated in this?” he said finally.

“No. No, there’s no connection to them in this stupid theory.”

“Good. That's good. They do love living with humans so much.”

Wriothesley suspected that Iudex was taking things kind of out of proportion again.

“Listen, it’s really nothing…”

“No, no, I understand. It would be so unacceptably horrifying for humans to learn their ruler is a… monster.”

Neuvillette's voice wavered, but his face was impartial, strict, previous lightness gone completely. Wriothesley saw his hands tighten their grip on the handle of his cane a moment before he abruptly stood up.

“I must apologize for impropriety, but I have important business in the Palais which was inappropriate for me to neglect for so long. I must beg your leave to depart.”

Wriothesley stood up too, scraping to understand what he did wrong.

“Wait, it’s not…”

“Thank you for your time, Your Grace.”

Wriothesley shut his mouth, the title feeling like a slap for the first time in his life. The formality and politeness somehow only made it worse. He took a deep breath and willed himself to sound calm.

“I hope you have a nice evening, Monsieur Iudex.”

Neuvillette left in what for his usual dignified pace could be considered a hurry. Wriothesley followed him without being seen, partly to make sure he doesn’t get bothered by inmates and partly on an instinct to investigate.

At the Fortress’ entrance, he watched Neuvillette walk under the rain, lifting his head upward. The blue strands of his long hair glowed and so did his coat-tails. They extended, shining brilliant bioluminescent blue, trailing behind the Chief Justice, in a moment looking like fish’s fins, then the next - as colossal snake’s coils. Sea waves crashed against the ridge without any wind, rising high, reaching to a lonely glowing figure of Iudex. With bated breath, Wriothesley watched Neuvillette extend a hand, as if catching raindrops - and rain stopped mid-flight in the air, lingering over his palm, waves frozen cresting over the earth. The raindrops gathered in a shuddering spheres, and then stretched upwards, against all laws of gravity. Wriothesley’s heart skipped a beat as Neuvillette closed his fist and the rain flew backwards to the skies.

Wriothesley stormed back into his office and frantically searched through the reports, pages flying about, until he found the one about vishaps. He looked at the photos, seeing similarities he would never look for before. The dark blue color of vishap’s hide was nearly identical to Neuvillette’s attire, but that was small beans, easily written off as coincidence. Their eyes, bright magenta with white vertical slice of a pupil, resembled Iudex, but there was room for debate, as his eyes were much paler, lilac merging into gentle blue instead of a bright pink, even as white vertical pupil was so similar. What really struck Wriothesley after all this, was actually the little blue feather at the side of the head of both vishaps and Neuvillette. It was identical and looked so… deliberate. It had to be chosen and placed precisely like this.

Still, this was not enough. He needed more evidence. He needed… he needed answers.

He walked to Jacque's block as quickly as he could without alarming inmates, but when he got to the conspirator’s room, Jacque was sleeping on the bed and a man was sitting on the chair next to him, reading a book. He looked up when Wriothesley walked in and stood up, clumsily dropping the book. He was tall and gangly, had dark hair, Inazuman features and light brown eyes behind the glasses.

“Who are you?” Wriothesley was really not in the mood for playing games.

“Well, my organization caught wind that you are interested in learning some… historical information, and our poor Jacque is really not the best source, which is why I’m here to answer any questions you have,” the man gave him a groveling smile. “You can call me Enjou.”

“Not here. In my office. Follow me.”

When they got there, Enjou whistled musingly.

“Uh, what a nice office! Must be a pretty sweet gig. I wish I had an office instead of slinking in dump ruins all the time.” He sighed theatrically. “So, I assume your main questions are on the vishap situation. I…”

“Wait,” Wriothesley said, walking up to one of his wall cabinets. “You can’t expect me to just believe you on your word.”

“Oh, of course, of course! You’re free to rough me up a bit first. Maybe a little bit of torture? But only a little bit, I’ve got a glass jaw, haha!”

Wriothesley didn’t live so long as an undisputed champion of fight club to not recognize a freak who gets off on pain. He grimaced, walking up to the table where Enjou was already trying to rifle through the papers. He stopped with an apologetic grin and put his hands up. Wriothesley put a glass vial on the table.

“Drink.”

Enjou raised his eyebrows.

“Are we dining and wining first or?...”

“It’s a truth serum,” it was a secret project of the Sumeru Akademiya, before the sages were overthrown. Dendro Archon reportedly could read the thoughts of people, and sages were trying to replicate the effect at least partially. Wriothesley came into possession of it after using his network to get the sages connected to the needed people in Fontaine institute, as Fontaine was at the cutting edge of mech technology and the sages were apparently building an artificial god. Didn’t pan out for them, but the serum worked. Wriothesley was sure of it, because he tried it on himself first.

“Oh! How exciting! How does it work? Will it perhaps burn my insides in agonizing pain if I lie?”

“Drink,” Wriothesley said through gritted teeth.

Enjou smiled and drank the vial in one shot.

“Well, nothing is burning so far, but the evening is young, haha,” he said, smacking his lips.

Wriothesley took a deep breath.

“Why are you here?”

“Huh? What do you mean? To explain the history to you, as I said.”

“Because of the goodness of your heart? What’s your agenda? Your goal?”

Enhou cleared his throat.

“Well, first of all, I do believe in uncovering and spreading so-called “forbidden” knowledge. But with your particular case can you really question my agenda? I didn’t come to you first. You were the one who sought us out. I didn’t even want to be here! I was doing my own thing without knowing about you, to be honest! But, well, I am in an organization with some unfortunate morons who thought that recruiting a convenient idiot and then sending him into underworld prison to make sure he isn’t heard is a great plan. And then when the Warden takes note of the idiot and gets him to blabber, these same morons go, Enjou, you have to get there, because you’re a vishap expert! Ugh.”

Enjou shook his head in seemingly sincere frustration.

“But um, yeah, I’m not trying to recruit you or anything. We know how you’ve disposed of House of Hearth agents and how you generally obstruct Fatui’s activity, and we just don't want you to do the same to us. Because we’re not your enemy! So I’m here to provide you with the necessary context to see that.”

Wriothesley drummed his fingers on the table.

“Okay. Start talking about Neuvilette and vishaps.”

“Well, Neuvilette is a Hydro Dragon, that should be obvious. To clarify, Hydro Dragon here means Hydro Dragon Sovereign, because technically all hydro vishaps are hydro dragons. If you didn’t know, which is understandable, as you’re more of a fighter type and not a bookworm like myself, haha, vishaps are primordial elemental creatures, original rulers of this land and mortal foes of humanity. Long before Archons, there were Dragon Sovereigns in charge of each element. Then there was a war with Celestia, specifics of which are not widely known, but we do know that Celestia won, dragons were largely eradicated and the huge chunks of powers of Sovereigns were taken from them and given to the Archons. Hydro Sovereign was killed.”

Enjou made a dramatic pause, before leaning forward with a grin. “But you see, vishaps reincarnate. Neuvillette is a Hydro Sovereign reborn in a human shape. There was actually an Inazuman prophecy about it, recorded in the Byakuyakoku Collection. That Hydro Dragon will descend in a human form, and it specifically mentions a cane. This really baffles me, to be honest. How could they predict the cane? Why does he even need a cane? Surely not because of any weakness, he’s an immortal dragon, 500 years is very young for him. And the records say when Neuvilette took his position as the Iudex some 400 years ago, he already had a cane. Was he born with it? Like, had he sprung fully formed, with a cane? Did he pick it up as, I don't know, honorary agreement with a prophecy? Or were his fashion choices actually predetermined to the degree that the prophecy knew them millenia ago?”

“Get back on track,” Wriothesley growled.

“Oh, sorry. Hmm, this serum works by forcing you to spell your thoughts out loud, yes? Well, then it’s not my fault I’m even more blabbering than usual!”

Wriothesley clasped his hands together and said slowly, carefully watching Inazuman’s reaction. “Even if he is a hydro sovereign dragon, as you say, this alone does not make him evil, as your conspiracy claims.”

Enjou fixed his glasses. He really had the hands of a bookworm, no work calluses or fighting scars. But there were spots of reddened, peeling skin that looked like burns that didn’t get to fully heal before getting burned again.

“Did you miss the “mortal foe of humanity” bit? But okay, sure. This is Fontaine after all, presumption of innocence and all that. I mean, I can’t read his thoughts to tell you under oath that he’s evil, so don’t take me to court, hehe!” Enjou grinned, clearly pleased at his own joke. “But I can tell what I know and ask some questions. My first question is why, after losing a war and presumably being killed by Celestia, would an ancient dragon god want to serve a servant of Celestia? The Archon, who rules with what is actually his own power? Unless he had some sort of agenda, perhaps? And come to think of it, why would Hydro Archon put a mortal foe of humanity into a position of such institutional power?”

“Are you implying Neuvilette forced Furina to give him the position of Iudex?”

“Well, I wasn’t here!” Enjou raised his hands defensively. “But why else would he become the Iudex?”

“There are higher beings and gods serving archons in other nations. Like Liyue adepti serving Rex Lapis.”

“Morax was known as the prime of the adepti. None of them could compare with him at strength. Same with yokai and Baal in Inazuma, she was the strongest by far. It’s natural that they would accept servitude. But here…” Enjou glanced at Wriothesley with a sly smile. “If you had to make a bet on a direct fight between Neuvillette and Furina, who would you bet on? Come on, I know tales that her own court would not listen to her until the Iudex tapped his cane.”

Wriothesley couldn’t really argue with this. When the Primordial Sea started breaking out, he himself sent for Neuvillette and didn’t even think to ask the actual Archon.

“In that case, why didn’t he just kill her immediately? Why would he play the judge?”

“Well, you see, he would not get his power back from just killing her. It would just pass to the next Archon. No, the Hydro Archon had to destroy her own throne. And running out the ruler requires a long game, as you know very well yourself, You Grace.”

Wriothesley kept a calm face, but something must have given him away, as Enjou grinned predatorily.

“Next set of facts and questions. You know of the infamous Archon trial, of course? When it was revealed that fontanian people are actually oceanids, given human shape by the previous hydro archon, Egeria? And the prophecy of the flood works because Primordial Sea waters dissolve fontanians into their oceanid forms. Well, the flood actually came. Why were fontanians not dissolved?”

“I’m sure you’ll tell me that.”

“Hehe, yes. It was because Neuvillette turned them into real humans with his powers of Hydro Sovereign. How generous of him, yeah? The question is, why did it take him so long? It’s been 500 years, and yet fontanians were made human only minutes before the flood.”

Despite a feeble bookworm posturing, there was a shadow of unhinged madness in his eyes, dangerous enough that in any other case Wriothesley would cut contact. But the stakes were too high right now. He needed to get all the information he could out of this lunatic.

“You might also remember that on the same trial it was proven that Furina is not a Hydro Archon. And I can tell you that the actual Archon, Focalors, was in the Oracle machine the whole time. Sorry, I’m not even trying to pronounce that full name, haha!”

The urge to punch this bastard was overwhelming, but Wriothesley kept himself in check, mostly because he could tell he was being baited into it and he didn’t want to give the piece of shit the satisfaction.

“Anyway, Neuvilette had an audience with her right after a trial, and as result she killed herself and gave him power back. You see, Hydro Archon doesn’t have the ability to turn oceanids into real humans. All of you were just… things, playing at being humans,” Enjou said with a smirk that looked more fascinated than mocking. “But Hydro Sovereign, the original god of life, does have the power to do so. And he also, conveniently, has control over the Primordial Sea, which you, Your Grace, already know as he stopped the flood in your own Fortress.”

Wriothesley raised an eyebrow and Enjou smiled with a shrug.

“Again, I was not there! But I do know Hydro Sovereign controls the Primordial Sea, and that there is an entrance to the Sea in the Meripode Fortress. I also know that there was some emergency in the Fortress, where inmates were told to run as close to the surface as possible, and then Monsieur Iudex visited and the disaster was somehow avoided.”

Wriothesley frowned.

“If he was really a mortal enemy of humanity, why wouldn’t he just let the gates of Meripode break and the flood happen right there and then? We would all be gone and he wouldn’t need to lift a finger. Instead he ran to help when I… when the Fortress called.”

“And what would that achieve? He still wouldn’t get his power back,” Enjou shrugged dismissively and then smiled, almost wistfully.

“No, you know what I would do if *I* was the Hydro Sovereign with an ability to take human form? And if the Archon who held my power hostage was relatively weak AND had the prophecy involving a flood of the Sea I control? Well, I’d infiltrate human society, take a position of high authority and make sure the humans not only see me as the personification of law and justice, but also respect me more than their own Archon. And when the prophecy deadline is coming up, I’d make sure I have people loyal to me in some key positions. Such as Royal Duelist… and the Warden of the Fortress.”

“He didn’t make me the Warden,” Wriothesley gritted out.

“No, but he did make you the Duke, didn’t he?” Enjou smirked with a wink. “Our sources say the Court was not thrilled to give the highest noble title to you. And if the Iudex did not throw his own weight behind it, it would have never come to pass. How generous of him.”

It was true, Wriothesley’s own informants reported that the Court loathed to give him a title, let alone as high as the Duke. Neuvillette was the only one who fought for him and fought hard, because usually Iudex’s one word was enough to make a decision, but here the stalemate lasted for two months. They wanted to compromise and give him the viscount, but Iudex wouldn’t budge, so in the end, they caved.

Wriothesley never asked Neuvillette for the title. Neuvillette never mentioned what he did for the Warden and never dropped anything even as close as a hint of asking anything in return.

Unless you see it as a part of centuries long game, where mundane favors didn’t matter, but being called first to the access of the Primordial Sea did.

“Ah, you’re starting to get it, don’t you?” Enjou sensed blood in the water, like a proper shark would. “Then I would orchestrate a public court hearing to absolutely discredit the current ruler and corner the actual Archon. And when Focalors is forced to talk to me…. I would make a bargain. Saving the lives of all fontanians in exchange of getting my full power back and Focalors dying. Isn't it ironic that the dragon playing human was the one to turn human-shaped water things into actual humans?"

Enjou leaned back against his chair, grinning with satisfaction.

“And then I’d have an entire country loyal to me as a ruler, which would make a great foothold to use for attacking Celestia.”

Wriothesley took a deep breath.

“You really expect me to take you on your word? You might believe it yourself, which will pass the truth serum, but the word of a lunatic is not evidence.”

“Oh, of course not! I would never expect you to take my lowly word for it. Instead, why don’t you take Monsieur Iudex’s word?”

Enjou made a dramatic gesture of spilling a heap of conches onto the table. Wriothesley raised his eyebrows, when the other man poked one of them awkwardly.

“Now that I have reclaimed one of the Seven Authorities from the hands of the usurpers, I have regained my true form,” a calm voice that was undoubtedly Neuvillette, said out of nowhere. “I am now a fully fledged dragon, powerful enough to judge the rest of the gods. My final destiny is to judge the Usurper-King in the heavens above.”

“This could be faked,” Wriothesley said automatically, just to argue, but his heart already fell.

“You wound me! These are his words, and I spent an entire night fishing them out for you, I’ll have you know. It’s quite hard to capture this. You’re welcome to listen to all of them and see for yourself.”

Almost against his will, Wriothesley reached out and touched one of the conches.

“…I shall fulfill my vow to judge all of The Seven in turn, even if the sky should fall and the ground give way.”

Wriothesley took an abrupt breath through his teeth. Enjou sighed and stood up.

“I think it’s better for you to listen to this alone. After, you’re welcome to reach out to us, but please don’t make any hasty decisions. I’ll see you soon, Your Grace!”

Enjou walked down the stairs, and by the time Wriothesley got to them, there was no one there. The Duke couldn’t bring himself to focus on that though. Instead, he walked up to one of the wall cabinets and took out a bottle of whiskey he was saving up as a possible gift.

He didn’t bother with the glass. He fell down into the chair in front of the conches and clenched his fingers on the bottle, icy veins springing up from under them. He took a sip and touched another conch.

“…my grievances with the usurpers have yet to be settled... They owe a debt of blood that shall not be forgotten.”

He drank, staring blindly into the distance, and listened, and the quiet words burned worse than whiskey sliding down his throat. He caught himself on a familiar thought. “This can’t be happening. This is too monstrous.” The same feverish thoughts he had when he discovered the truth about his foster parents.

As if by now he shouldn’t have learned that nothing is too monstrous in this world.

“As a survivor of the dragon race who has regained my full dragonhood, I must fulfill my oath and obligations even if it means returning all the water in the oceans back to the heavens.”

It really did sound exactly like Neuvillette. Wriothesley tried to find the lie, something that sounded fake, but not only the voice, but the cadence and word choice fit. And it sounded calm, impartial as usual too. And then there were hydro vishaps appearing in Erinnyes…

Fuck, was it really that easy to fool him? Was he really this big of a fool? He learned to distrust sweet words and warm smiles, and he was so sure that he wouldn’t get caught in the same lies ever again, even if he sacrificed his ability to love for this. But all it took was a seeming opposite, direct and harsh, too cold and intimidating to appear manipulative, but endearingly awkward just sometimes, just enough to make him believe that… That there was something true and clear in this rotten world. That he could trust in *someone*.

“Nothing will stop me from rendering judgment on each of The Seven.”

He went through all of the recordings, frantically at first, wanting to find contradictions, then, when none were found, numbly re-listening to the few that hit the worst.

“…also the destroyer of the present order, the one who shall judge all gods, and the foe of humanity. “

Wasn’t it too obvious in hindsight? Why would the Iudex stake his own reputation on Wriothesley’s title? How could you not see it coming? Oh, because you thought you “deserve” it for turning this dog-fighting pit of a prison into something with a modicum of fairness? Because you thought he recognized your redemption? Gods, what are you, fucking fourteen again, did you learn nothing, why would anyone ever care about you, you naive goddamn idiot?

Soon, the bottle was somehow almost done. At this point he was running one recording on repeat, mindless and purposeless except for repeating slashes of pain, familiar rhythm like the knife on his wrists years ago.

"Hydro Dragon, Hydro Dragon, don't cry." Whoever had penned that rhyme, as well as the Fontainians who came to believe in it, must not have known the Hydro Dragon all that well, considering that they thought the Hydro Dragon could cry. What did they take said Dragon for, some sort of bleeding heart who grieved for humans and the heavens alike?”

If this was true… If this was true, then Wriothesley didn’t just get fooled himself. Then he helped a monster take control of the country and potentially use it in war against heavens.

He clenched his hand and it took him a moment to realize he broke the bottle he was holding in it. That pain from glass pieces in his palm felt small and distant now. But at last, it spurned him into action.

If this was true, he only had one shot. He’d already told Neuvillette of the dragon conspiracy, like a good little idiot eager to please. And any tyrant worth his salt would make sure to take him out after his, especially now that he outlived his purpose in giving access to Meripode vaults. He might have some time because of how oblivious he was, dismissing the conspiracy openly, but it couldn’t be long.

He couldn’t take his time. He couldn’t hope for the better. He had to act like it’s the worst option possible. More than anything, he needed to confront Neuvillette, dragon Sovereign or not. He had to fix this, no matter the cost.

He realized he needed leverage. Brute strength was out of the question. Even before the flood, Neuvillette absolutely destroyed Fatui Harbinger in one flash, quicker than anyone in the audience could see what happened. Wriothesley would put himself against Harbringer with no hesitation, but he wasn’t an idiot. If this was how powerful Iudex was before, then after allegedly gaining his full power, there was no way Wriothesley could threaten him. No, he needed something else.

He took out the paper and wrote a note, taking care to not stain it with blood. Fortunately, he held the bottle in his left hand, so he could keep it out of the way.

“....and so confess that I, Wriothesley, Warden of the Fortress of Meripode, killed Chief Justice, Iudex Neuvillette.”

He finished the note and carefully put in his signature, then folded the paper into an envelope and closed it with his personal seal. Then he walked up to a safe, one of the hidden ones, and punched in a code. When the safe opened, he rummaged in it for a moment, until finally taking out two vials.

This was sold to him as the poison that could kill a god.

#rhine writes #rhine writes light #neuvillette #wriothesley #wriolette #genshin impact #enjou #i had a lot of fun with enjou here #anyway let me know what you guys think

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jewishconvertthings · 1 year ago

Note

This isn’t a conversion question but I hope it’s okay to ask here. Is there anything I can do to support people living in Israel during this terrifying time?

Hi anon,

I wrestled with how/if to respond to this, because I try very hard to keep I/P politics off of this blog and have since I started this blog in 2017 or so. It is not relevant to this blog what my opinions are on this, and it's hard to talk about the topic at all (even in a neutral way) without people accusing you of being Zionist or Anti-Zionist if what you say does not perfectly line up with their viewpoint.

But in the end, I think that this transcends politics. It has to. Condemning the slaughter, torture, and sexual abuse of human beings, whoever they are, is the correct opinion. I don't care who is doing it, and I don't care why. This isn't a political debate; this is basic human decency.

As for what you can do right now? If you have Israeli or Palestinian friends (whether they are in your community or in Israel/Palestine, reach out to them. They may b'ezrat Hashem be safe, but they are not ok, so instead of asking, just let them know you are thinking of them, that you are praying for their continued safety and for peace to come swiftly and justly. They may not feel like talking, but if they do, hold space for them.

There are a lot of excellent organizations collecting funds to help with the great need that has been created by these atrocities. Find ones whose mission and goals align with your own, double check their validity, and then donate what you can.

Many Jewish communities (most, I assume) are currently organizing or have already set up community events to address the issues and to pray as a community. Look at your email - my inbox had no less than twelve different events (online and in person) within the next few days - and check the websites for Jewish organizations that you affiliate with for opportunities to gather and debrief.

And, perhaps, the most important thing from a social media standpoint: make sure that you vet *all* information before deciding to accept it as true and cross-check it with other sources, especially if you plan on sharing that information. Both Hamas and the Israeli government are masters of propaganda, and the Western media really likes to lean into this for a better story. Since Western media thrives on conflict and hyped up emotions to keep people interested and scrolling, there is a strong incentive to publish as much as quickly as possible, the more sensational the better. Use reputable sources, but don't rely on them to get it right 100% of the time. I would suggest looking at reputable sources that have a clear, known bias in each direction and comparing them both to media that at least attempts to be neutral. So far, it doesn't seem like too too many facts have been in dispute (most of the information about the atrocities committed by Hamas has been posted by Hamas as propaganda) but it's early. If you have the emotional bandwidth and have done the research, please correct the misinformation you see from friends, family, and followers. Do **not** jump in with assumptions or non-researched opinions, because that will only fuel the chaos and not help anyone.

Above all, be smart, be wary of disinformation, be compassionate, and (to the extent you are able) be generous. Remember that civilians are civilians, that neither group of civilians chose this, that plenty of them dream of a peaceful and just coexistence, and that intentionally hurting non-combatants is always wrong no matter the justification.

As for me, I will turn to Tehillim and to the words of the Prayer for Peace:

May we see the day when war and bloodshed cease, When a great peace will embrace the whole world. Then nation will not threaten nation, and the human family will not again know war. For all who live on earth shall realize we have not come into being to hate or to destroy. We have come into being to praise, to labor, and to love. Compassionate God, bless the leaders of all nations with the power of compassion. Fulfill the promise conveyed in Scripture: I will bring peace to the land and you shall lie down and no one shall terrify you. I will rid the land of vicious beasts and it shall not be ravaged by war. Let justice and righteousness flow like a mighty stream. Let God’s peace fill the earth as the waters fill the sea. And let us say: Amen

#jumblr #really hope I don't regret posting this #<<sigh>>

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theroyalthornoliachronicles · 7 months ago

Text

Château de Clèrisseau: 23 Mai 1850, 14:15

Marquis de Clèrisseau: I'll be back in time to change for dinner, Auclair. I'll need to be if not to receive another lecture from-Roquefort?

Vicomte de Vignieu: Bonne journée, Valery.

Marquis de Clèrisseau: Bonne journée....that'll be all, Auclair.

Valet: Monsieur. [Leaves]

Marquis de Clèrisseau: Well this is certainly a surprise. What possibly brings you by? Surely it's too early to call on-

Vicomte de Vignieu: Oh, non...I actually came to speak with le Duc.

Marquis de Clèrisseau: [Sighs Dramatically] I suppose it was inevitable...

Vicomte de Vignieu: Pardon?

Marquis de Clèrisseau: Hmm? Oh, nothing. Just off in my own thoughts I suppose....lots to do, people to see...I'm sure you of all people can understand.

Vicomte de Vignieu: Has anyone bothered to mention how tiresome you can be?

Marquis de Clèrisseau: Perhaps...though I suppose hearing it once more from you couldn't hurt.

Vicomte de Vignieu: [Scoffs] I do not have time to verbally spar with you this afternoon, Valery. I was told le Duc would be in this afternoon?

Marquis de Clèrisseau: You were misinformed.

Vicomte de Vignieu: I sincerely doubt that.

Marquis de Clèrisseau: And just what, might I ask, has you so insistent to see him at this hour? He is a very busy man, after all.

Vicomte de Vignieu: If you must know, I've called on him to ask for Eleanor's hand.

Marquis de Clèrisseau: ...

Vicomte de Vignieu: I don't think I've ever seen you without words, Ernest. Cat got your tongue, perhaps?

Marquis de Clèrisseau: Have you truly thought this through, Albert?

Vicomte de Vignieu: I don't know what you're insin-

Marquis de Clèrisseau: Don't lie to me, Roquefort. It's clear as day to anyone with eyes. My sister is not a pawn for your jealous squabbles with-

Vicomte de Vignieu: I never said she was-

Marquis de Clèrisseau: And yet you stand here waiting to ask for her hand.

Vicomte de Vignieu: I do not need to explain myself to you.

Marquis de Clèrisseau: Non....because the answer is obvious. You need to-

Duc de Clèrisseau: Ah, Vicomte.

Duc de Clèrisseau: I do hope not to have kept you waiting.

Vicomte de Vignieu: Of course not, Monsieur. Bonne journée. Your delay allowed me the opportunity to catch up with Ernest, here. It has been quite a while since we've had the chance to connect.

Duc de Clèrisseau: Ah, oui, oui. All of you used to be so close back in the day...but I suppose I have kept you waiting long enough. Shall we?

Previous | Beginning | Next

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kanmom51 · 2 years ago

Text

Letter to troll

*Disclaimer: this is an angry rant written by a feverish covid patient. Saying that, me being sick while writing this does not mean I do not mean every single word I wrote. It could only mean I might have missed something on the way.

To @PJM12023 (from here on to be called "dear troll") who might or might not see this cause you deactivated the account a mere second after you left a couple of comments on Jikook posts and sent me a stupid super ignorant and highly uninformed (or more so willfully so, I'd say):

Do you think I'm an idiot?

I think that's actually rhetorical question, seeing you did send me the ask, so the answer to that would probably be yes.

So as you probably think I'm stupid I'm here to inform you that I'm not.

I am not going to post your ask.

I am not going to hand you my platform on a platter for you to spew your lies and misinformation.

You are unwelcome here. So go find your be with your kind, I’m sure you’ll enjoy samlove608′s content so much more than mine. And you know, it’s your choice, up to you, so I’m asking you ever so nicely to fuck off from here. You are kind of lucky you deactivated cause I was planning to block your ass, but then, you know I would, so preemptive deactivation much?

I do just have to say one thing. It's itching at the tips of my fingers hitting this keyboard. I can't keep myself from not saying it, even if you might not even see this.

But fuck, LV had little to no Jikook? What world are you living in? I'd guess the world of TKK edited TikTok or YT. The world of samlove608. I guess someone like that is your source for information when you make a statement like:

"If you think that jikook in the same frame is a "moment", well...bad news for you, that's not a moment. They're in the same group, of course they can stand next to each other on stage, during a song."

Me while copy pasting your load of bull crap.

I guess someone hasn't been watching original content dear troll.

I also guess someone has had zero access to social media during BTS's stay in LV. No, wait. I assure you, dear troll, you were allowed special access to the TKK 'moments', as little as they were (yes, me rubbing in the salt, cause I'm fucking sick of the lot of you trolls), but only said content, any JM in the frame deleted on the spot.

Yeah, not a moment, right?

You are right though.

WTF?

I admitted you are right?

Oh, how different we are dear troll...

But let me be clear as a sunny day. When I say I agree with you it’s on this:

Not every time members happen to stand by each other can be called a moment.

Oh so true.

I’ll give you your comment and raise you one.

We are the first to say that not every interaction or ‘moment’ is an indication that “they are boyfies”.

But

A member saying "Love you" to another member on stage between songs, well, that's a moment.

And guess what else...

A member squeezing another member's ass, what to do, is definitely considered a moment.

A member knowing the smallest incidental information about another member’s grandmother is considered something, if not a moment.

Another member putting his foot in his mouth saying that while JM is walking around naked at home JK is the one in charge of the playlist, that is definitley something.

Two members choosing to spend their spare time together, not for promotions, not for the cameras, but while off camera, that is something.

I can go on and on and on and on and on and on and on.

Literally.

So for you, dear troll, here's a masterlist with a shit ton of content, original content, unedited content from LV. Go read it. Go watch it.

I won't say that later you will come here and admit you were wrong. I'm not that naive.

But then, I can always hope.

In any case, I’m writing this here once again, even though I’ve repeated this at the very least 1000 times, and even though I know that for you it’s like talking deaf ears, but there are others that will listen:

WATCH ORIGINAL CONTENT.

And if you watch edited content know it’s edited, many times manipulated into a short clip to show a point, at times twisting the whole interaction into something it never was.

BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU BELIEVE.

WATCH THE MEMBERS. LISTEN TO THEM.

APPLY CRITICAL THINKING.

Ask yourself: Is a post saying “a friend of a friend of the instructor from the ski resort told me...” something you can rely on?

Or, when the story keeps changing, evolving as time goes by, can that ‘story’ be perceived as truthful?

Or, when you have content you can actually see and a whole unsubstantiated story built behind it, is that story reliable?

Rule of thumb: Just don’t believe everything you read. Someone taking the time to put it into writing doesn’t make it truthful.

There’s more, I know there’s more. My covid fogged mind just can’t think of the rest right now on the one hand, and on the other my fever and anger are ‘forcing’ me to post right now. It is what it is, lol.

In any case, to all you dear trolls out there:

Don’t expect coming here to my blog and me posting your shit asks. I don’t have to prove anything to you, not to mention you have zero interest in hearing what I have to say. All you want is this platform to spread your shit. You ain’t gonna get it here.

Well, that’s my rant coming to an end.

Maybe we made some lemonade out of a very sour troll ask, who knows.

#my message to the trolls #watch original content #listen to the members #stay away from my blog

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canyouhearthelight · 2 years ago

Text

The Miys, Ch. 218

Eeep, my buffer of chapters is dwindling, and it’s a bit scary. Kind of like 2022 has been, if we are being honest. Major life goals to get that built back up, at least until the end of the story.

Major spoilers are laced throughout this entire chapter... but not for this story. Cue eerie mystery musiiiiic!

Props go out to @baelpenrose and @werewolf2578 on this chapter. I triple pinky promise to catch up on reader shoutouts next Tuesday. I just need to wade through the army of bots that recently decided to follow me (I even accidentally reported a new follower as spam in the bot-weeding, and genuinely cannot apologize to @thornsilver enough for any trouble that has caused them).

In my office two days later, no amount of blueberry corn muffins could completely lift the solemn mood. I had finally managed to sum up the communication between Charly and the S’crirs, and the summary had been released to the entire population of the Ark midway through Gamma shift. Already, I had received just under three thousand requests to release the full audio, and more were piling in as Alpha shift got under way.

“It isn’t anything new,” Tyche scolded gently to the somber room. “She literally just asked Ix’al and Brol to do exactly what she said in the Council meeting: destroy at least a big chunk of the Eko’mari fleet.”

“By killing them,” Parvati reminded. Her tone wasn’t quite judgemental, but there was a definite undercurrent of nausea.

Tapping the top of my muffin, appetite wholly gone, I nodded. “An explosion big enough to scare off the GeeCee is inevitably going to have some casualties.”

“Innocent casualties, that’s what we’re okay with?” she argued. “I get that they are assholes, but their plan was to play the long game. We’re wily, persistent creatures - we can take the time to out play them.”

Tyche glowered from beneath her brows, biting her lips in the distinct way that told me she was keeping quiet for someone else’s benefit.

Hannah spoke, her voice barely audible. “They were planning to actively suppress our self-development. Did we really have time to find another way? How long would we give them: years? A generation or three? We have evidence in our own history that two generations is enough to cause a century or more of cultural decline. Especially when you have the threat of a definitely-not-hypothetical outside force working against us.”

“They wouldn’t even need to be as overt as they’re being now,” Tyche pointed out. “Change a few facts here or there, just enough to be misleading instead of outright wrong. Misinformation grows faster than any weed, and it’s even harder to get rid of.”

I opened my mouth to speak, but Alistair beat me to it. “This is all academic,” he stated loudly.

“There’s nothing academic about it!” Parvati cried. “We’re talking about killing a fleet of living beings who, albeit obnoxious, pose no violent threat to us! We know they are there and what they plan to do, we can take measures to combat it.”

“You say that on the supposition that these beings are innocent,” he responded. A part of my mind took note of how clear but unemotional his statement was. He wasn’t guessing, he knew. “They are not.”

“They aren’t violent - “

“They are military, Miss Fletcher. Enlisted, voluntarily. Councilor Kalloe, along with thousands upon thousands of others on this vessel can confirm that enlisting in a military organization immediately removes your status as ‘innocent’ when it comes to acts of war. Especially among Terrans.”

A loud click accompanied Parvati’s jaw snapping immediately closed. She blinked a couple times before turning towards me. “They’re military? You didn’t include that in the communication.”

“It was a judgment call,” I sighed, forcing myself to sit up straight. “The fact that the Eko’mari fleet is military is public and known information, always has been. We even included it in the first twenty or so communications to the Ark, remember?”

She glanced at Hannah, who nodded.

I continued. “Given every other reason that everyone has to be afraid, angry, and stressed right now, I didn’t think it was a great idea to give anyone the idea that the Eko’mari could possibly attack us at any second. The FAQ that we’re going to put together this week and triple check to confirm we didn’t miss anything will start out with a reminder, including necessary file directories to all those early communications.”

She nodded, clearly still objecting but accepting that her arguments had been addressed.

That meant it was Alistair’s turn. “The funny thing is,” I drew out questioningly, “You just repeated nearly verbatim what Ix’al said, Alistair. I can believe that you remembered that the Eko’mari are military. I can even believe that you did enough research on them to know that the Eko’mari do not accept conscript soldiers and are therefore volunteer only.” Gently, I tapped the top of my yet-uneaten muffin. “But nothing you say is going to convince me that your thought patterns worked the same way as a twenty-five foot fanged squid who also happens to be a pirate queen.”

Irritatingly, he shrugged in response. “Miss Harper contacted Farro for assurance that she had made the right call. She knew you would support her, no matter what, but also that he would suggest any ideas she had missed. She sent him her recording of the conversation, which he later allowed me to listen to with her permission. Provided I do not speak on it until the official briefing was sent to the Ark, of course.”

UGH, I groaned internally. I couldn’t even be mad at him, since I had done the exact same thing with Conor and Maverick. “Did he at least agree with her recommendation?”

Parvati snorted. “Of course he did. I am certain that Xiomara does as well.”

I held up a finger and raised an eyebrow. “You would be surprised. Arthur’s pragmatic enough to agree with it, but Charly asked him because he thinks strategically. What’s most pragmatic isn’t always the best strategy.”

Alistair nodded towards me. “Thank you, Sophia. As a matter of fact, he did not entirely agree with Miss Harper.”

Parvati and stared at each other while Hannah sputtered. “He what? I would think he would be all for it.”

“Oh, he quite agrees with the no-survivors-no-prisoners approach,” he waved off. “The concern was rather more in regard to the timing of the act.”

Tensions were already high, and Alistair’s tendency to use as many words as possible when he was stressed wasn’t helping matters. I was clenching my teeth to keep from snapping at him, but Parvati clearly had fewer compunctions. “Oh, just spit it out, Alistair! We’re all friends here, even if we don’t agree about this!”

“He advised we should be planetside before the fleet is destroyed,” he glared back at her. “Otherwise it could be interpreted as the same pirate activity that they are citing to justify their request.”

“I mean….” Tyche drew out. “That wouldn’t be wrong.”

“Unfortunately,” I groaned. “Which means Arthur is right, and therefore will be impossible to live with for the next two weeks.”

She rocked her head side to side. “You could take one for the team and break his jaw again?”

Bracelets clattered as Parvati threw her hands in the air. “More violence! People being a nuisance is not justification for violence!”

“One, when I broke his jaw it was an accident. Two, I am sure that Hannah was joking - “

“Mostly,” my sister grumbled.

“THIRDLY!” I raised my voice in vain hope that Parvati hadn’t heard the comment from directly across the table. “Space. Nazis.”

She stood, resting her fingertips gently on the table. “Sophia, I am begging you - I have seen the results of drastic actions like these. I don’t just mean the End, either. I was there for the NorthAm blackout. I lost friends and family when the global economy went offline. And they were caused by the same thing: people who thought they had the right taking drastic action instead of thinking rationally.”

Hannah gasped and covered her mouth. Tyche stood and started pacing as far away as she could get without leaving the room. It was all I could do repeatedly try closing my jaw while I wrapped my mind around what I was hearing. “Parvati, are you comparing us to Nils Andover? The Meltdown Messiah, King of Nothing?”

A hand flew up to rub her temple. “No. And yes. It’s complicated.”

I leaned back in my hair, resisting the urge to cross my arms defensively. “Complicated is what I do. What we - “ I waved at everyone in my office “do.”

She closed her eyes and whispered. Whatever it was elicited another gasp from Hannah, but no one else could tell what it was. Once she glanced around and realized this, she dropped her hand, grit her teeth, and repeated it.

“I was a Queen’s Pawn when I was thirteen.”

What followed was a three second flurry of action. Hannah flung herself back from the table, while Alistair planted himself between me and Parvati. All I could see over his back were the palms of her hands, both of which were held over her head and open. I was confused until I looked over to Tyche.

She held knives in both hands, the left ready to throw.

“Stop it, everyone,” I stated firmly, doing everything in my power not to yell and set my sister off by accident. “Tyche, put the knives up. This room isn’t large enough to need them, and if Parvati hasn’t poisoned me yet, I doubt she’s going to kill me now that we know exactly who the suspect is.”

No one so much as twitched.

“All of you. Sit. The fuck. Down. Before something horrible happens.” Without even waiting for a response, I did exactly what I asked them to do. “Queen’s Pawns turned on Andover, which I’m sure you were about to explain, Vati?”

“Right.” No fear could be heard in her voice, only a very deep exhaustion and shame. “And no one on this ship is anything like Nils Andover the person, thankfully. But killing everyone on those ships to save our own arses is entirely too close to the ideals he created. We’re talking about destroying them with no chance of defending themselves!”

“I would like to remind you that this, in fact, an unarmed medical vessel,” Alistair pointed out. “And I am not sure how you believe the S’crirs is going to destroy those vessels, but I doubt it involves magically creating antimatter in their drives.”

“Right, it’s got to get there somehow, which means the crew of the S’crirs is taking a huge risk on our behalf,” I added. “Which they are doing because they blame themselves for the fact that the Eko’mari have actual grounds to hang around after we land.”

“That’s idiotic.” Hannah shook her head as she carefully took her seat at the table.

“I agree, but I’m also not suicidal enough to argue with someone who could eat me.”

Tyche kept her knives at hand, but at least shifted to a position that wasn’t as immediately threatening. “The way I see it, we are acting in self defense.” When every eye in the roomed turned toward her, she shrugged. “What they plan to do is effectively an act of war. They want to prevent us from developing our own knowledge and technology, potentially using an infohazard campaign. Misinformation causes scarcity, which causes wars.”

“Alistair?” I asked for confirmation.

“She is quite correct, unfortunately. Scarcity does not bring out the best in humanity, despite what some would try to have us believe.”

He had shifted just enough that I could see Parvati’s face, and the emotional journey it was going through at that moment told me she was rapidly changing her stance. Patiently, I waited her out. “It’s the rich and the Baconists all over again, isn’t it?”

“Possibly,” Alistair confirmed. “Only instead of glittering starships, the ‘haves’ have food, or water.”

I still wanted to reassure her, even though there was only so much I could say. “You don’t have to like it. Hell, I hate the idea. I just go to sleep at night reminding myself that there are no good options, only even worse ones. I’m sure Xiomara knows better than I ever will how to handle that.”

She lifted a shaking hand to her face, shaking her head. “I - I need to take the day. Maybe two. This is… It’s all too much. I feel like it’s happening all over again - “

“Vati,” Hannah murmured, reaching a hand across the table.

“No!” she cried, jerking away. “For the second time in my life, I am listening to my friends talk about sabotaging the FTL drives of over a dozen ships and killing everyone on board. You don’t - none of you know what that’s like! And I’m begging, again, that my friends don’t do this. That you find another way. And now I am realizing that there isn’t - I can’t.”

Before we could say anything, she turned and fled from the room, hand over her mouth to prevent any other sound from coming out.

<<Prev Masterlist Next>>

#the miys #found family #humans are weird #tw: violence #tw: trauma #humans are space orcs #haw #original science fiction #original fiction #my writing

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ask-serendipity-sky · 1 year ago

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Just be fr for a second. If this whole situation was the other way around and Like Crazy got “everything “ that Seven did not would you all be kicking off like this ? 🫠 would you be dropping jimin like a hot potato and saying he’s changed, sold out, etc.

… no ya’ll would not and that speaks volumes. all jkkrs are pjms.

As for the situation, there is just so much misinformation, lies and jealousy being spread, exaggeration about the amount of versions and etc. In jungkook’s live, he said official promotions are over so he only got 7 days of promo (ironic lol).

The rush to get everyone enlisted quickly is annoying because it feels like people aren’t really able to have their own “eras.” From a western perspective I was thinking solo debut wow that SHOULD be months long of promo right? But what we’re getting is rushed. Ofc yoongi went on tour but that was a personal decision and I don’t think I’d a sign of privilege- he has a lot of solo songs.

Anyways I agree that the company didn’t react well to the rule change for Like Crazy and allowed it to free fall embarrassingly. I also heard it was sent to radio but didn’t get many spins.

Ultimately I just wish everyone would not get hysterical and just wait to hear more from the boys themselves. We don’t know everything. And please if so many of you are questioning jungkooks integrity and character so much then please.. just leave him alone. So he’s more confident? So what? I remember when he was a shrivelling mess with the lockdown scandal, now he’s over it. Both Jimin and Jungkook seem in such a good place mentally.

I can only make an accurate judgement after some time. Because if Jimin gets what Jungkook got in his next cb then are y’all gonna use the word Payola to the same extent?

It’s sad that it’s so toxic on here and twitter but I will just listen to what Jimin and Jungkook say directly.

Hello,

No, I wouldn't be celebrating because I'm not a double face person. Anyone who reads me and knows me can vouch for that. I couldn't celebrate Jimin being treated nicely while Jungkook got scraps because I care about about of them. Yes, I love Jimin the most but I care about both.

I haven't dropped Jk. I'm not judging him for the choices he's making. Go and read my posts. I question things because I want them to make sense but I also know, and have stated, that I would probably do the same as him if I was in his shoes.

There is no exaggeration of what has been said. It's just that the truth hurts and people would rather avoid it. It's not ironic that Jk got 7 days promo...sigh.. that was the whole point -_-

And yeah, if Jimin gets payola we can talk about it too.

I don't get it when people say that we need to wait for the boys to clear things up lol They are not going to!

And as fans who spend our money and time supporting our artists, we have the right to question things on the music side. Like why weren't we informed that sales on week 2 for FACE were not going to count if the company knew of the rule change? Or what's the point of supporting an artist when payola kicks in and everything has been in vain?

But I guess you can keep waiting for Jimin and Jungkook to say stuff...but you will be waiting forever.

Thanks for stopping by.

#skyasks

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darkdeadlylove · 2 years ago

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The Rogue Prince Chapter 7

Masterlist

Summary: I was meant to marry the king and become the next queen. That's what I was meant to be doing here. Become queen and bear more heirs, that was it. My whole life planned out by my father wanting to be a united front with the Targaryen's. What no one planned for was Daemon. It is hard to plan for chaos. It’s even harder to plan who you fall in love with? Daemon has a bad reputation. One he has earned and is proud of. That should be enough to make me stay far away from him and in the safety of who I supposed to be wed to. Too bad, I couldn’t help myself.

Triggers: Age gap, violence, arranged marriages, cheating, love triangles, lose of virginity, cnc, just all around bad ideas. (I will add more as needed. Chapters will have their own individual if needed.)

Disclaimer: This is more of an AU. This is nothing at all like the show or book. I am mostly taking the characters and putting them into another situation. This has very little game of thrones lore and I will probably get a wrong or have misinformation. If you don’t like that, don’t read.

A/N: Sorry this took so long. I had a depressed spell and school. I will have more coming soon with some one-shots.

Ellaria

Why couldn’t I get that kiss out of my head? It was like he had gotten inside my head with it. That is exactly what he wanted. He wanted to get in my head and under my skin. He wanted to make sure I would mess this up. I know it. He doesn’t want me to become queen. He has made that very clear. He didn’t think I could do it. He didn’t think I could even make it as queen. I would show him. When I get power…I will show him….I hope.

I sighed as I moved about my room trying to figure out my next move when I heard the door open to my room. I didn’t look up thinking it was one of the maids until I heard a voice. “I thought you were going to spend all day with your head in those books.” Eleana voice came. I smiled as I got up from my bed. “You know that I could spend all day with my head in those books,” I said with a giggle. “I was reading some of the history of the wars. There are some great battles there.” Eleana shook her head at me. “I don’t know how you can sit there and read things like these. I wouldn’t even know where to begin with that stuff. I prefer reading fairy tales or maybe even romance.” “I do like a good romance or a fairy tale,” I admitted. “But I like to read other things as well. I love history and learning about all the battles. I love war stories.” I said remembering all the stories my eldest brother used to tell me when he got back from war. The ones my dad and even a couple knights would tell me. They were happy to tell someone willing to listen to their stories.

“I will never understand that,” Eleana giggled. “So have you talked to the king after last night? I am sure he would want to see you.”

I shook my head. I really hadn’t. I didn’t want to see him either. A bit less than his brother. Both made me nervous. Daemon even more now than before. I couldn’t tell Eleana what had happened in the garden. She would lose her mind. I did a great disrespect to my future husband by kissing his brother. Even worse, I think I actually liked it.

“I wouldn’t even know where to begin.” I sighed. “I looked so stupid last night just being the butt of his joke. How can I even come back from running off like that? I didn’t look like a queen. I looked nothing more than a fool.” Eleana sighed. “You didn’t look like a fool. You looked like someone who was blindsided. I still can’t believe Daemon can get away with saying those things about his brother’s future wife. He must do something and you need to do something now to show you aren’t a coward. Stand up for yourself. You are going to face far greater things than Daemon Targaryen. You will be a great queen, Ellaria, you just have to get over your fear of sticking up for yourself and this is the start. He is a very good place to start. Show them who is boss.”

She was right and I hated it. Almost as much as I hated Baelor being right. I needed to stick up for myself and this was the first way too as much as I hated to admit it. I

I sighed as I got up from the bed. “I guess you are right. I should go speak to the king.” I fixed my dress as I gazed at myself in the mirror. I made sure my hair looked presentable to see the king.

“Do I look alright?” I asked her as I looked over at her.

She nodded coming up behind me. “You are as beautiful as ever. Any man in all seven of the kingdoms would love to have you. There would be wars over you.”

I blushed as I let out a soft giggle. “Stop, you are just saying that.”

“It is nothing but the truth. Now, go.”

❤️~❤️~❤️

I took a deep breath as I knocked on the king’s door. I wasn’t sure if he was taking visitors or would even want to see me right now. It had my nerves on the edge. I didn’t want him to be mad at me, but I knew I had to do it. The longer, I put it off the harder it would be.

“Come in,” He called from the other side of the room. I entered as I walked inside. He smiled at me as he looked up from what he was doing. I couldn’t help but smile back. He was making a model of what looks like the kingdom. I had never seen one so realistic. “Wow,” I said taking it in. “You made these?” I asked as I looked at them. I walked closer to them, but I didn’t touch them. I wouldn’t want to ruin such good work.

He nodded. “Yeah, I made them myself. I have been working hard on them for a long time.” He said as he placed the one he was working with down. “Now, what would you like to speak to me about?” He asked as he looked up at me.

I bit my lip as I nodded. “Yes, well, I um, want to talk to you about what had happened last night.”

He sighed. “I am so sorry for how my brother behaved. I should have said something to him earlier. I spoke to him though.”

“You did?” I asked. My mind raced as I stood there. I did my best to look like it wasn’t affecting me, but I couldn’t help, but wonder if he had told him about the kiss. He didn’t seem mad. Is he not mad? What kind of family am I marrying into?

“Yes, he needs to understand his behavior is unacceptable no matter how he feels about things. He was very close with my late wife and I think seeing her replacement has made him quite upset, but that doesn’t excuse how he has behaved. I should have said something last night, but i did not want to make anymore of scene.”

I looked down. “I am sorry, sir. I didn’t mean to make a scene. It was just a lot. This is all just alot.”

He nodded as he slowly got up and reached for me. He pulled me close to him as he held my hands. “This is a lot on both of us. It’s a big change. I will have a different wife and you will become queen. It is a lot for anyone to take on. But, I think you can do it.” He said rubbing my hand with his thumb. “I like you, Ellaria. I really hope my brother hasn’t scared you away. I want you to stay.”

I nodded as I looked up at him. His eyes looked so genuine. Like he really meant it. Maybe this would be okay. “I will stay, my king. I want to marry you.”

He leaned down and kissed my head. “Good, now don’t worry about Daemon or what he has to say.”

“I won’t. Can I help you with your models?” I asked.

He nodded as he pulled up a chair for me to sit down in. “I would love that.”

#house of the dragon #house of the dragon x oc #house of the dragon fanfiction #house of the dragon fanfic #house of the dragon au #Daemon Targaryen #daemon targaryen x oc #daemon targaryen fanfic #daemon targaryen smut

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thenihilaeternum · 1 year ago

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Why the next Pandemic terrifies me

This is something I've been pondering about for a few months now, and no matter what I read to try to rationalise my fears, instead, they are exacerbated. Like you all, I watched with caution here in the UK during late February or early March as COVID-19 swept through Italy and other neighbouring countries. The scenes of overcrowded hospitals and grieving families plastered the news day in and day out. Ironically, around the same time, 'The Tab' released an article titled something like, 'Why this thing in China won't be a big issue' - I'd love to know if the author continued majoring in journalism. Fast forward to the 23rd of March, 332,924 people were confirmed worldwide to have the virus, and our then shitty prime minister declared a complete lockdown to come into effect at 1pm on the 26th of March. As the pandemic progressed, the virus dipped and spiked up as advisors tried to advise in order to break the spread. By the end of 2020, it was clear that COVID-19 was not bubonic plague or Spanish flu. Luckily, COVID-19 had a low morbidity rate and tended to kill the old, unhealthy and those with autoimmune disorders. It was rare, but still tragic, to see a young fit adult die with it. I raise this point for an important reason: the mortality rate was low, with a(1.4%) estimate, but with even such a low rate, the World Health Organisation reports that almost 7 million people have died from it. This has left us in a precarious position. Why? For one, distrust of the government is at an all-time high. The mishandling of the pandemic is fresh in everyone's minds, and the general public won't be quick to forget. Secondly, If a harsher disease somehow manifested in the Western world, many would be sceptical about lockdowns. And the last deserves its own article. The misinformation about vaccines is wild. We have communities where 'anti-vaxxers' gather and spread their shite among the next gullible stay-at-mum. On the upside, despite COVID-19 still claiming lives around the world, especially among poorer countries where the medical treatment is just not robust enough, it appears that COVID-19 is not the threat I feared it to be, and after all, what are the chances of two pandemics in one life-time?.. Right?

#covid19 #long covid #covid isn't over #covid pandemic #mask up #2020s #worry

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sunnywalnut · 9 months ago

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Actually, that absolutely is how numbers work.

If you have ten people in a room and six of them die, there are four left, yes?

The day after that, two out of the four die as well.

Two is less than six. So technically speaking, there are "less" deaths as the days go on, because I am counting these deaths on separate days (as do many news reports, both from journalists set in Palestine, but also other resources outside of Palestine as well. This has been the case for other long term losses such as wars, terrorist attacks, and other cases). But in total, there would be eight people who are dead versus the ten that there originally was to begin with. If I was counting them as a total.

Onto your next point. If you look to my original post, I never did claim that every single Palestinian is innocent. But that's also because there's no possible way that every single person in one area is innocent. Not because I think people are evil. However. It seems that you are missing what I've said prior when you bring in Palestine's population. People are not numbers. And even if they were. 30,000 people is a LOT of people. Regardless of their stance of "innocence".

And I just want to ask.... How exactly do you fight against carpet bombs? Or snipers? What about white phosphorus, which is highly restricted under International Humanitarian Law? What kind of resources do you think these people have? Because if I remember correctly, these people are being starved, dehydrated, murdered by hypothermia, suffering amputations without anesthetic (which, if you remember from history class when you heard about soldiers drinking alcohol in order to try and withstand surgery before anesthesia was a thing, is actually really bad because you can die from shock, blood loss, infection, and countless other reasons). Not to mention the fact that if you have been keeping up on the media as I(and many others) have, you will see (and hear) the constant surveillance planes that Israel has circling Gaza, the whizzing of bullets past people's faces, burst blood vessels in people's eyes that turn the whites an almost black-red color. You will see countless bodies of children, families, animals, all torn to pieces. You will SEE the exact moments when bombs, yes, bombs are thrown onto simple ambulances, killing everyone inside. You will find rubble everywhere. You will see that the dust has not even begun to settle.

But honestly... Please do tell me how you think these people are supposed to fight against these horrors when they can't even run to aid trucks to collect a simple bag of flour without being murdered. How many of these people do you think, have grown accustomed to the taste of human blood? Simply because there is no clean flour without it?

And lastly, I would like to take a look at the tags that you've added on my post.

(Photo ID: bottom sentence of @pineapplecake555 's reblog that reads "What even is this but a bald faced lie? Do you even know you're lying or are you genuinely so stupid this just felt true and you posted it?" With the tags of "misinformation" "leftist antisemitism" "Gaza" "Palestine" and "Israel Palestine conflict" :end ID)

While I can agree that it might seem like misinformation if you take my original post at face value(death numbers don't go down during ongoing conflicts, they go up), I am more than happy to clear up my meaning here.

However I do want to point out that I never once did bring up any sort of antisemitism. I simply said that genocide is cruel and inhumane. I said that people are not numbers and they should not be treated as such.

You are the one that has added that label. You are the one that thinks that I am targeting someone specifically. You are the one that has a problem.

I am simply stating truths that I have seen.

It's not my fault that you are willingly blind.

And once again.

Free Palestine. 🍉

Important thing to remember: the only reason the number of deaths in Palestine are going down is because there isn't enough people to kill.

Read that again.

The only reason the number of deaths in Palestine are going down is because there isn't enough people to kill.

The genocide is still happening. The cruelty and inhumanity is still happening.

People are not numbers.

It is time we stop treating them as such.

Free Palestine.

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projektnomad · 1 year ago

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Pilgrimage

You shuffle exhausted through the dusty roads, your arm aching from holding out your own hand carved ceremonial guyger, your tongue numb from the constant clicking you’d had to perform since entering the sacred city of Lundin. The locals had watched you with an uncomfortable reverence, they knew of your sect and knew not to interfere in your ritual, but the fear that the wasting wretches might jump you for your last morsel of bread still lingered.

Feet bloody from 200 miles without a horse, you’re relieved to finally see the holy temple of Stonks. A fellow brother of the Order of Dah Jhones welcomes you, opening his arms and lifting his cloak enough to see his ceremonial attire, a traditional grey suut and tye.

“Brother,” he calls out, a genderless term for a member of the Order, “it’s good to see a friendly face out here. Alas, it is just us for now. Come, we will pay our respects.”

He leads inside a dark building, unlike most in Lundin it’s been kept clear of rubble even as it has begun to collapse. These buildings, designed by the elders and built by metal giants, weren’t all designed to stand the test of millennia, but the temple of Stonks had been looked after by the Order and thus fared better than most. Candles light the glass vestibule at the entrance, a ceremonial cumputer and fone sat at either end. You’re led past it and into the main chamber of worship.

“Many sacrifices were made here, brother.” He says, looking up at the religious writings on the high walls. Numbers and symbols only recognised by the Order litter every square inch of them. The symbols are also scribbled into the sacred tablets, moniters, which stood on every surface next to key bords, devices which in their day had allowed the elders to converse with the gods using those ancient and archaic symbols. You pay particular attention to a moniter carving of a cat, an extinct holy animal. The poor soul who’d carved it had clearly been misinformed, as everyone knew they had 3 eyes, this one only carved with 2.

“In the dying days, the elders sacrificed everything. The animals, the forests, the farms, even the people...” You’d heard these stories before as a child and all through your theistic schooling, but it was always nice to hear them again. Especially as this brother seemed to enjoy telling them.

“In the end, nothing was left to give. All had been sacrificed, all consumed, even the air was soured. Just as the elders gave up all hope, just as the line dropped for the final time and became flat, as flat as it sits today, all was calm. This was the world it meant to create for us. It saw in its wisdom that the hubris of man would always see us consume and build beyond our means, taking us into the air and to far flung worlds where we didn’t belong. In this world we are safe, and this world is safe from us.”

“Amen, brother.” You say, holding aloft your sell in hopes of reaching signel from above.

“Amen.” He holds his aloft too, his carved from the finest plastek you’ve ever seen. “It is time.”

Another brother of the Order slinks in the shadows and climbs the ladder, a break in the roof allowing the sun to directly illuminate the wall at exactly noon on summer solstice, today. As the light drifts over the flat line towards its end, he places the upward arrow over the end of it to signal the symbolic return of the eekonomey.

You join your fellow brothers in hymn. He has chosen ‘Can’t tell me nothing’ from the book of King Kanye. A fine choice for such a holy occasion.

#dystopia

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egg-emperor · 2 years ago

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Alright you know what, I'm talking about the new addition to Eggman's Sonic fandom wiki page that's really been bothering me lol because the misinformation is killing me man it's paining me and I can't stfu

So recently someone asked Mike Pollock for Eggman's age on Twitter early October and this is all he said, clearly just for the sake of answering:

And for some reason, now the Sonic fandom wiki was actually updated to say "age: 40s" on Eggman's page with this as the source? What?

I don't think I should have to explain what's wrong with them updating the wiki because of this but I will.

First of all, this isn't the first time Mike has been asked and answered this, as I brought up in the past. But here, some screenshots this time:

But it's not confirmed or clear if that means they intend for it to be the actual character's age because that's not always how the casting specs work, as he followed it with back when he answered it that time with the above and below here:

So there's a big chance that even the actual people for English casting weren't stating the actual character's literal age. And I don't think it's even known if this was also ever something listed in the Japanese voice specs either and you know, Sega of Japan created him and are in charge of his character information of this kind.

And if it were only America casting that did this, then it would especially mean it's not actually what they actually envision for Eggman as character as they're not in charge of this stuff. And even if it was in Japanese too, there's still the possibility that they don't mean the actual character age.

But wait, there are more reasons why this as a wiki addition is bothering me and here they are:

The Sonic CD JAPANESE concept art implied that they considered putting Eggman in his 60s but they didn't update the fan wiki to say that, now did they?

And it makes sense because it clearly wasn't actually confirmed to be their final decision for his age in the end, as all his bios after have had his age down as "unknown".

Mike Pollock even randomly said Eggman was "supposed to be about 60" without elaboration in a tweet one time too and nobody updated the wiki saying that then either.

Also makes sense for them not to, because his age in all his officially published bios for the games is down as "unknown".

And then focusing more on Sega of Japan, the actual creators of the characters and the one that makes all the major defining character traits, ages, and other major details obviously, they have Eggman use the Japanese washi pronoun, refer to him as middle-aged and old, and have associated him with Respect for the Aged Day, a day to celebrate senior citizens in Japan.

Sonic Channel using Eggman in the art for celebration for Respect for the Aged Day:

Them doing the same again the next year:

This made me curious about what age you have to be to be considered a senior citizen in Japan and apparently it's 60+. So wouldn't associating a dude any younger than at least 50s with that day be waaay too young? I'd fucking say so lmfao! They could've associated any of their gray haired old guy Sonic characters with the day but they specifically went with Eggman more than once and that's saying something.

And with all this aside whatever your take on it may be, it doesn't change the fact that the age for him in official bios by Sega of Japan has always been "UNKNOWN", so that's obviously the official published canon truth. Plus didn't they literally just remove all the ages from Sonic Channel anyway? So there's a chance they'll either change some things or keep them all unknown.

Having his age down as 40s on the wiki makes no sense. The only time it's said something like that in something official and actually published and finalized at all was Archie, which isn't canon to the games and wasn't connected to Sega of Japan at all, so it has no indication towards the real canon intended age by them and no power in making that decision for them. Neither do any American English specs in casting that might not have even intended it for the actual age of the character anyway.

With all the hints and signs implied by Sega of Japan themselves, it seems way more likely that Eggman would be in his 50s-60s. But even that still shouldn't be in the wiki page either, you know why? Because all his actual finalized and officially published bios have had his age as "UNKNOWN!!!" We aren't supposed to know his exact age and they aren't telling us officially and until they genuinely confirm his age in some kind of bio like that, no other guess or word from anyone else is 100% canon confirmed fact.

So that's why they shouldn't state that he's in his 40s on the wiki like it's a canon, confirmed, finalized, officially published fact by Sega of Japan because it isn't and it's not connected to them in this particular case. It's no more final published canon than actual SoJ considering to put him at 60+ in CD, especially not when it isn't even them. Why does it feel like suddenly nobody seem to care about what the actual official finalized canon media from Sega of Japan says and take literally anything else but the original source as immediate fact instead? Come on

Eggman's age is unknown and the only other thing that's canon besides that that's blatant, and not just a hint like the other stuff, is how he's also referred to as old and middle-aged. Unless that changes with a new bio or description somewhere approved and published as official and final by Sega of Japan, that's how it will stay no matter what anyone else says, whether they're involved officially or not. If the Sonic fandom wiki really cares about the published facts, it shouldn't say anything more than "unknown" with possibly a "(middle-aged)" next to it as an extra and that's it.

#you know how passionate I am about this #no way I was gonna keep quiet lol #dr eggman #eggman #dr robotnik #dr. eggman #age #my post

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rageprufrock · 2 years ago

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I tried to go to sleep but I can't this whole thing is incredible.

As a person in corporate communications who has served time in the dungeons of rep risk and been tossed asunder the shores of crisis management, I know from shitshows.

I am, full Hideo Kojima stylez, BEWITCHED by the choices that Be On Cloud is making, and I could argue that there's a fascinating case study to be made by someone studying PR and crisis management, but not me, because I already escaped the halls of j-school and you can never make me go back.

I'd heard distantly that BOC had pissed a lot of people off by mismanaging some of their talent and fan engagement, which isn't difficult to imagine because marketing--which is basically lead/sales generation--is one of the hardest needles to thread for any organization. Also so many fandoms are absolutely batshit insane so like who the fuck knows what misalignment of the house of Jupiter had pissed everybody off. Don't @ me you know it's true.

But the first time I was like, "Oh BOC needs to hire an agency," was when the first round of controversy arose re: Build and some of his old tweets and comments that lead to his (first) hiatus.

The first rule of crisis comms is to shut the fuck up.

I would say almost 99% of effective communications is knowing when not to say anything at all. The human instinct is to explain, to argue, to justify; we hate being misunderstood, and it's amplified by about 6 million when you have an echo chamber of people talking about you and getting it--in ways big or small or debatable--wrong on some level. But truly, and I know there are a lot of you who are in this business with me who are nodding along, the number one most important thing I do in my job is preventing people from talking.

Despite your desire to be understood, you will not be understood. Firstly: you are not good at communicating; if you were, I would not have a job and there would not be a vast, multi-billion dollar industry built up around employing people like me. Secondly: your silence is powerful. It's your opportunity to recognize and benefit from the second rule of crisis comms:

Which is understanding that feelings are your enemy.

If you are having an emotional reaction to something--which we all do! we are human!--it is impossible to take an objective stance and see the full scope, potential ramifications, or identify the oftentimes painful next steps that need to be taken. I know this feels over the top, that if--for example--there is a natural disaster it should feel easy to lean into your empathy and kindness and say "oh let's support a bunch of charities." But that same impulse is going to lead you to realizing later that you gave $20K to a religious group that throws LGBTQ+ youth out onto the streets as part of your spray and pray approach to wildfire support, and then you've gotta call someone like me again, which nobody wants. This is the same position a lot of HR practitioners are in, but whereas they have the impossible job of firing people or navigating their compliant departure, comms has the job of sometimes having to do a live, public amputation of something or someone you care about to save the larger organism.

There are nicer and meaner ways to do this, and the tone of your reaction is just as important as what you react with, as is understanding as a risk management function the consequences of your silence, of any delay, of potentially moving on misinformation or incomplete data, and having a ruthlessly clear vision of the actual goal.

That's always the first conversation I have with someone on what is frequently one of the worst days of their professional career: what's the objective here? There's an ideal outcome, an idealized outcome, and what the actual imperative objective for the organization is. That objective is not always pretty, it often feels bad--but it's a controlled descent rather than a catastrophic disintegration.

Which is why if you are an organization where optics are important, it is critical to have the cold dead heart of someone in the communications discipline at your operating committee table. So while you are like, "Oh but Danny has worked here for 35 years and has a three-legged dog and he didn't mean to say that," someone like me can make all sort of sympathetic noises and then provide you the professionalized air cover to say, "That's nice, but also fuck Danny and fuck his three-legged dog. Cut him."

Like, if we engage in this exercise with BOC--what is their objective? What's the imperative at the end of this clusterfuck? In theory, for them still to be a successful production company, for their other remaining and newly incoming artists to have fruitful careers, for their future projects to be well-received, and for them to continue to cultivate lucrative sponsor relationships leveraging the rising fame and popularity of their stable of talent--right?

If that's the case, then the math on the current set of circumstances is painfully easy: regardless of how this ultimately lands, this is a person who has now twice exposed BOC to massive reputational risk. And because there are actually multiple people involved, distance yourself from all these other parties, too, in a clear, comprehensive way before it starts fucking your books.

And that's not an abstract thing, there are likely numbers behind this kind of thing. If you're a brand thinking about collabing with BOC's artists, even if they're not Build, do you want to be associated with a production house that continues to hang onto him? Or let's say he leaves but it takes ages and there was a whole circus before it happened, as a brand you have to think twice about your association with BOC. That's not just feelings--that's money, that's an existential concern for your organization.

And I'm aware that it's not great that none of this actually takes into account the so-called truth of what's happened. That's not really something that should or can be effectively litigated in the court of public opinion. Will you get shit if you cancel someone and it turns out they were innocent? Probably. But it's going to be a lot less shit than you'll catch if they aren't. It's all about risk management.

And then there's BOC.

The fact that they are holding a live presser has me in transports. The fact that the accused and the accuser are both going to be present made me lightheaded. The fact that like half of BOC's people are in fucking Japan doing something and that the whole thing broke when the CEO was following Mile around Paris full Kris Jenner style has me in its unshakeable thrall. The fact that execs at BOC are engaged in active dialog with fans (!!!!!!) over social media (!!!!!!!!!) about this pending shitshow is UNFATHOMABLE to me. I would simply tackle phones out of peoples' hands! I would throw them into a river! EVEN BIRDIE FROM FUCKING GLASS ONION KNEW SHE WASN'T ALLOWED ON SOCIAL MEDIA GET OFF INSTAGRAM OH MY GOD. Even recognizing that there are profoundly different social and media expectations for Asian fandoms--live press events in response to significant events negative and positive are much more common in East Asia, I understand--this is such an absolutely unhinged deployment of what is a scenario where there are potentially real legal stakes involved. Truly I feel hashtag blessed to be witnessing the professional equivalent of a white guy in an infomercial at 3 a.m. failing to carry two plates at the same time.

I don't know anything about the Thai legal system, and I don't know any real detail about the substance of the very serious allegations that BOC and its artists and management are currently wrangling with, but I know this: they should shut the fuck up, and they should not let anybody who has a single emotional attachment to any of this make any of the decisions.

Also: they need to hire a crisis comms agency.

Genuinely the urge to go make a LinkedIn post about this in some professional group of PR people just to watch everybody start frothing is so intense but then I would fully experience that Lenny from the Simpson's situation of asking them all not to tell anybody how I live.

I just want y’all to know this whole BOC situation is my Super Bowl.

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aggressive-positivity-network · 3 years ago

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i love your debate style so much cause people will say the dumbest shit and complete misrepresent trans rights and you'll just be like "oh of course not! here's a well reasoned counter :) also would you like to hear about this lighthearted but irrelevant thing" your url is completely correct and you are braver than any cop

And it works!

That’s the great thing about it!

If you treat every argument like a formal debate, TERFs shrink from it like a vampire from the sun. They aren’t used to people being so willing to calmly write a rebuttal and treat them like you’re both in a real debate. Without emotion and insults, whatever argument they are using falls apart - and the more detail you make them go into, the more they squirm.

Ask for sources. Ask for articles. Ask for clarification.

Take everything literally.

Show them that you aren’t angry, because why would you be? This is just a friendly debate, right? We’re just doing this over the benefit of knowledge.

I’ve gotten asks and comments that people either don’t respond to when I give them this treatment, or they get mad and block me, telling me that I’m too stupid to have this argument anyway. Okay! Take something from the prize box on your way out!

It’s been two days and I’m already scraping the bottom of the barrel of hate anons. No new ones are coming up, and if they do, it’s what usually amounts to a pitiful mew for attention. I’m imagining a toddler stomping their feet and whining, on the verge of throwing a fit.

“Why aren’t you maaaaaad? Pay attention to meeeeee! Why aren’t you doing anythiiiiiiiiiing? WAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”

I think I’m really taking a chunk out of them, and I couldn’t be happier. If you want, try using the same tactics! Here’s the steps, just in case you want to practice before you have your own tantruming child in your inbox:

How To Tick Off A TERF

1. Get the ask! Or the comment, post, or reblog. Take a good, hard look at it. Make sure you understand everything that the TERF is trying to say. This also keeps you from going in guns blazing when there’s really no need to respond at all. I’ve lost plenty of debates because I didn’t read everything clearly.

2. Take a deep breath. Maybe more than one, if you need. The best way to tick a TERF off is to not be pissed yourself. No matter how stupid they are being, remember that this is like a school debate, and they’ve pitted you against what amounts to a twelve year old child. Take a walk. Think about your response while making lunch. Sleep on it. Let your brain marinate in it. Don’t answer until you are completely calm. Remember not to take this personally, even if you know someone who is trans or you are trans. Anger is not how you win this battle, I promise.

3. Kill with kindness. When you start writing your response, put yourself in the mindset of a kind, child-like entity that’s just excited about learning together with someone. It sounds super weird, but that’s how I do it. Pretend that the argument you received has merit and weight, but don’t trick yourself into thinking that it has any bearing on anything. Don’t use insulting or emotional language. It may feel good to let off steam, but it doesn’t prove your point in the long run.

4. State your case. Write your rebuttal in a clear, well-worded way. Stay away from long metaphors or examples - they’ll just get more confused and angry. If you can, include articles, statistics, and sources for all your information, if you can find them. Keep going back to the TERFs argument to make sure you don’t miss anything. Try to predict any obvious arguments they may make and prepare for them. Read it once more before sending.

5. Let you phone boil. What I mean by this is to leave your phone somewhere for a while while your post/message circulates. This not only rests your brain, but it keeps you from anxiously waiting for the TERF to respond. Turn your notifications off. Relax. You did good.

6. Repeat. This person may send you several messages, and may reblog several times. Make sure to follow the steps each time you make your next rebuttal.

7. Use positive language and reinforcement. Like I said, the best way deescalate is to be as formal, put-together, and kind as possible. Treat them like a very misguided child - because that’s truly what they are sometimes. And this also brings up the possibility to younger TERF members that maybe the trans community isn’t so bad (like they had been taught to believe), and that maybe they shouldn’t be afraid of us. We aren’t dangerous. We just want to support the people who don’t get a whole lot of support. Bring up a happy memory. Include a picture of something cute. Make a cute little scenario (my favorite is the prize box). This will either lower their anger or heighten it to a rage, where their true intentions come to light and they lose the debate.

8. Have fun! Really, have fun. Misinformation is bad, but you can’t convince someone who won’t listen. Just treat it as a game, because that’s all it is to you. Unlike the TERF community, you have better things to do than argue with people on the internet. Put your own spins on it! Support people who choose to change! Ignore people who don’t! In other words, take the piss out of people who are full of it.

I hope this helps, my friend! This will probably get a lot more hate anons, so feel free to stick around for the show.

I’m anxiously waiting for the first KYS. Feel free to place bets on when that’s going to happen. I’m saying before the next ten asks. Any takers?

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darkdeadlylove · 2 years ago

Text

The Rogue Prince Chapter 1

AO3 Link//Masterlist Daemon Targaryen x OC (Ellaria Ambrose)

Summary: I was meant to marry the king and become the next queen. That’s what I was meant to be doing here. Become queen and bear more heirs, that was it. My whole life planned out by my father wanting to be a united front with the Targaryen’s. What no one planned for was Daemon. It is hard to plan for chaos. It’s even harder to plan who you fall in love with? Daemon has a bad reputation. One he has earned and is proud of. That should be enough to make me stay far away from him and in the safety of who I supposed to be wed to. Too bad, I couldn’t help myself.

Series Trigger Warnings: Age gap, violence, arranged marriages, cheating, love triangles, lose of virginity, cnc, just all around bad ideas.

Chapter Triggers: N/A

Ellaria

“Ellie?” My older brother, Jace, called, pulling me from my thoughts. I was sitting next to the tree in the courtyard, playing with my necklace. I was playing with my necklace thinking just starring out in space. I couldn’t believe the news my father had just given me. I was to be married to the King of The Seven Kingdoms. I could feel tears brew the brim of my eyes as I looked off. Maybe I was stupid enough to think I could ever marry for love. I was a lady after all. Maybe I thought I had some more time. It had just been my eighteenth name day after all. Maybe I thought being the youngest, I could get away from all my duties and be able to marry for love. Foolish, I know. To even dream of a day when that could happen. I was such a foolish girl. My mother had made it very clear to me before I had run off.

“Ellie?” My brother said again. “Ellaria, father is trying to reach you. You must pack. He wants us to leave for King’s Landing at once.”

I shook my head, unable to look at him. “I am not going. He can’t expect me to be okay with this. He just told me today and he already wants me gone.” She shook her head.

“You knew this was coming, Ellie, you knew you would be married one day. Why are you acting like this is such a surprise?”

“It was just my name day. I am barely eighteen. I didn’t expect it so soon. I thought I would have more time, brother. Maybe not years, but at least some time,” I sighed defeated as I leaned against the tree. “When does he want us to leave?”

“Before nightfall tomorrow,” he said as he looked down at his boots. “Ellie, I know you don’t like this, but.”

I stopped him before he could keep going. “But what? What exactly could you say to make this better? I don’t want to marry someone I don’t know. I know nothing about this man. We barely ever been to Kings landing and now he expects me to marry him. I thought I would at least get to meet the man before he was made my husband.”

My brother shook his head at me, “You live in a fantasy world, dear sister.” He reached out and touched my cheek cupping it softly. I moved away from him fast. “You should have known this is how it would be. Father wants our house to move up in the ranks. That’s all he cares about. Not his daughter’s silly fantasies.”

I sighed as I turned around from him, crossing my arms. “It isn’t a fantasy. It is general courtesy. I think letting me meet him before I go to marry would have at least been good. I know I don’t have a choice in liking him or not.”

“It might have been, but that’s not what father wants. The sooner you two are married, the sooner you can start making heirs for him.”

I looked at my brother confused. “He has an heir. He named Rhaenrya the heir not too long ago. Why would I have to give him anymore?”

“She is a girl. One day, the kingdom will want a man to take her place. Besides, something could happen to her. It’s always good to have back up heirs,” he chuckled at his own joke. I didn’t laugh though. I didn’t like what he was saying Rhaenyra could rule, regardless of what was between her legs. I wish others would see it. I couldn’t help, but wonder what would happen if I only gave the king girls too. I wondered about childbirth too, but I quickly veered off that topic. I know how his last wife died and I didn’t want to think of that for myself.

“Ellie, come on, pack your things. We need to go. Baelor and Eleana will be occupying us on our journey. It won’t just be us. Father figured you would want your best friend there.” I nodded, still not saying another word. What other choice did I have? Apparently none. Everything was already decided without my say. I got up from where I was sitting and left to go get ready.

❤️~❤️~❤️

The ride to the King’s landing was a bumpy one. I didn’t think it was going to ever end. I had brought a book for most of the ride, but it was always too dark to read or way too bumpy. I know I shouldn’t complain when I am sitting in a carriage. Some had to walk and even my brother’s had to run horse back. I shouldn’t but I was going to. I didn’t want to be here anyway, so I was going to complain about how bumpy the ride was.

Eleana, my best friend, did her best to try and make me feel better. She really was trying, but it was hard when my whole life had just taken a turn like this. I was happy she tried and I was more happy that my father and her father had let her go with me. We had been through most things together growing up so close. She wasn’t a lady like me, but she was still part of the richer families so she was close. That’s why she was able to grow up close to me. We were the same age too which helped. We were able to do most of our lessons together. She was someone I shared secrets with. Someone I could tell anything to. Right now, she was exactly who I needed to hold my hand through all of this.

“Everything is going to be fine, Ellaria.” She said as she reached out my hand. She gave it a light squeeze. “You need to stop being so nervous”

I sighed looking at her. “Leana, I really hope you are right. We are going to meet the king of the seven kingdoms for one and for another I am supposed to marry him. Those are two very big things. I am barely 18. How am I going to run the kingdoms? How am I going to rule?”

She rubbed the pad of her thumb against my hand. “You will figure it out in time my lady,” she said. I gave her a look when she used my title. She knew how I felt about using titles. They meant nothing to me. They were just words. I wish I wasn’t a lady. I wish I was born a peasant so I could be sold for a goat instead of a chance to be a ruler. My fate had something else in store for me.

The carriage began to slow as we got closer to the kingdom. I could feel my heart starting to pound in my chest as we drew closer. There was still a chance he could turn me away. I don’t know why I was scared at that thought. I should be thrilled that there was still a chance for me to get out of this. The disappointment it would bring to my house though. The fact that everyone would know I wasn’t good enough. I would probably never have a chance at getting married again. Believe it or not, a part of me did want to get married just much later on in life.

I took a deep breath as I heard my brothers outside our carriage. I wanted to look out the window, but that might seem wrong. I had to make this perfect. Nerves got to me. Everything depended on this one moment. I had to make it right.

When the door finally opened, I took one last deep breath as I headed out. Who took my hand surprised me. It was a man with silver hair and piercing lavender eyes. It wasn’t the king though. No it couldn’t be. This man had something to him. Something more rouged. Some edge to him that in all the stories I had heard about the king wouldn’t make sense. I couldn’t place my finger on it, mostly because I couldn’t think straight when our eyes met. My heart stopping in my chest. I thanked him silently as I pulled the skirts of my red dress stepping out.

“Daemon,” another voice came behind us. This one had to belong to the king. He even wore a crown on his head. He smiled at me as he walked down to see us. “What are you doing here?” He asked in hushed voice though I was sure he knew I could still hear him.

“I am aiding the lady and her friend out of the carriage. Her brothers had some issues and I said I would help. I wanted to meet who was going to be the next queen anyway.” His eyes fell back on me as he looked me up and down. “My, what a beautiful girl we have here. You certainly got the prize.” I did my best to not show my discomfort. There was something about the tone in his voice that was making me uneasy. I did my best to not think much of it. It could mean nothing. He might have really just wanted to see me.

King Viserys smiled at me as I walked towards him and passed Daemon. “It is nice to finally get to meet you, my lady. And who is this lovely lady with you?” he asked, pointing to Eleana as she walked out of the carriage behind me. Daemon gave her a hand as she got out of the carriage. She smiled as she bowed at him. I realized I had not done the same. I couldn’t do it now though. Or could I? Would it look weird? I fidgeted with my fingers. “This is Eleana, sir. She is a friend of mine. My father said she could accompany me and help me with the wedding.”

Viserys nodded as he looked between us. “That was very nice of him. I am sure you will need some help. Now come, I want to walk with you in the gardens before I show you to your room. You can then get dressed for dinner where you will meet my daughter and the rest of the people at the palace.”

I nodded. I was nervous to walk with him. “Daemon,” he said looking back at the other man there. “Will you please show Eleana to her room?”

Daemon’s eyes narrowed as he looked at Viserys. He didn’t say anything though. He just nodded. “I am sure you have loads to talk about.” He said before looking at me. He gently hit me. I stumbled a bit. “My apologies, miss,” he said, but I could tell he didn’t really mean it. He looked at Eleana and held out his arm. Eleana looked at me, but I just nodded as I let her go.

I turned to Viserys who reached out his arm as we walked together. I couldn’t help, but look back towards where Daemon and Eleana had gone. Something was very off with how he was acting.

#daemon targaryen #daemon targaryen smut #daemon targaryen x oc #daemon targaryen fanfic #house of the dragon #house of the dragon fanfic #house of the dragon x oc #viserys #fanfiction

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