#but it doesn’t hurt to have MORE drake decks 😅

[leafdrake-haven]

Ok so I’ve been low key trying to put together some sort of modern drake deck because I hate winning and I love pain (and drakes). Izzet makes the most sense but today I was playing with Jeskai. Which made me intrigued…. With making a drake typal deck for commander in Jeskai colors xD

Pros to making a Jeskai drake typal commander deck: Can have all the good Izzet drakes plus thunderclap wyvern plus white buff spells.

Cons to making a Jeskai drake typal commander deck: Not a great commander for it, when we INEVITABLY get a drake typal commander (or second one if you count Alandra) it will likely be mono blue or Izzet colors so I would probably have to take it apart for that.

Drakes are relatively cheap tho and I like them (duh) so I might do it ~anyway~

Right now my two top contenders for the deck leader are:

Now Akim. People who play with me are laughing that I’m choosing a commander that cares about and makes tokens xD I think this works really well with drake tokens tho since they’re fairly small, doublestrike is nice. Downside is really only Alandra and Talrand reliably make drake tokens. It’s commander so I could afford probably to add Drake Haven and Roost of Drakes but I don’t know how much discard/cycle and kicker I’d actually be doing. Also that’s still only 4/100 cards reliably or semi-reliably making drake tokens. I could, however, add a lot of creature copy spells in here and make copies of drake creatures and that might help cover for it. Plus many copies of thunderclap wyvern, tideskimmer, or storm skreelix could be very handy.

Dear Narset. I want her strictly for her first line of text and that’s it. Drakes with prowess. That’s the deck. Don’t get me wrong, her second ability would be helpful too but I feel like I’d rarely attack with her just so my drakes could always have prowess.

So yeah. These are my ideas so far. I’m sure there are other potential Jeskai commanders for drakes but in my brief perusal these seemed the best :3

Tagging local Jeskai deck aficionado @connoissuer-of-fine-vines

[21-wishes]

Finally getting closer to being up to date! 😍

Fucking Liam

I’m loving how it applies in more than one meaning 🤣🤣🤣

It wasn’t even jealousy. He just didn’t want to see her get hurt again.

This Maxwell doesn’t seem… naive, but his actions… like he loves in a way that’s, I want to say selfless but kinda harmful at the same time? Harmful for him emotionally. Because she’s with him one minute, dumps him for Liam, back with him during the tour and then back with Liam while having him there too.

Max looked up and down the hallway then pulled Liam into the room, shutting the door behind him. No one needed to see the king crying in the hallway.

Interesting, is it Max concerned for his friend? Or just the image of the King?

Obviously. He was right a lot, but no one ever listened to him regardless.

Poor dude, it’s the story of his life 🤣😂😅

Liam not involving himself in the Tariq mess is just poor judgement on his part. No one. Absolutely no one would’ve doubted or questioned his presence since his childhood best friend is involved. Was he that blinded and misguided by his fear and want to protect Riley?

The colonel looked at him in astonishment, “You let a woman deck you?”

YAAS BR RILEY! Kick his arrogant ass 🤣😂

A member of the aristocracy, a man from a good family.”

Fuck classism.

I cannot stress this enough, Colonel Blainsworth is a shit stain. The entire conversation he had with Riley… so fucking infuriating!!!

“Which means he also went into your private bed chamber that night. How many men, exactly, are comfortable entering your bedroom in the middle of the night, miss Brooks?”

I can hear him saying Miss Brooks with all the contempt and disrespect in the world.

Make Drake punch him please 🤣🤣🤣😂😂😂

“Don’t, you’ll only make it worse.” She whispered as she held her head up high and kept her eyes dry and focused straight ahead. They would not get the satisfaction of her tears.

Stop my heart is breaking for her 😭💔

“But she belongs with me, Max, don’t you see that? She’s mine!”

This possessiveness he has over her, while hot, is what’s getting him in trouble with her, because he’s trying to manipulate everything he can to ensure she stays with him. And we’ve seen so far where this led him. I just hope they’d be able to find a healthy way to talk things through 🥺

Lucky me, the next chapter is already out 👀

Bad Romance Chapter 19: The Girl is Mine

Series: Bad Romance

Fandom: The Royal Romance

Pairings for series: Multiple

Paring this chapter: No lemons in this chapter

Rating: R

Song Inspiration: The Girl is Mine by Michael Jackson and Paul McCartney

Word Count: 1,931

A/N: Another flashback chapter. This one was unplanned. My original idea was to move onto some Riley/Max flashbacks/chapters, but instead, my brain followed Liam down that hallway after he left Riley crying on the bathroom floor the night the engagement tour kicked off.

A/N2: Special thanks to @karahalloway for bouncing around ideas with me about Drake's suspension hearing and what that would look like, I've made some tweaks based on our conversation. Also, I blatantly, wholesale stole the following lines, she gets full credit:

“You let a woman deck you?”

“She’s stronger than she looks, sir…”

“I’m surrounded by incompetents….”

Warnings for this chapter: mentions sexual assault, violence, death

General blanket warning for series: Smutty, Lemony, Awful, Toxic Relationships with lots of cheating. This is a hot mess express; no one is happy, everyone is in love with the wrong person, every relationship depicted herein is generally and massively fucked up. You’ve been warned.

My other stuff: Master List.

Two months earlier….

Max lay on his back, staring up at the ceiling. He checked his cell phone again. Still no text from Riley. He sighed as he contemplated just getting ready for bed. It was becoming less and less likely that she was going to text. Liam was probably still there. Fucking Liam. Max shook his head. Liam had hurt her, destroyed her and yet there he was, acting like he had some kind of a claim on her.

It wasn’t even jealousy. He just didn’t want to see her get hurt again. And Liam would hurt her again. How could he not? He was engaged to Madeleine, he had betrayed and abandoned Riley days after the most horrific experience of her life. He’d been there for her; Drake had been there for her. Liam had not.

There was a knock on the door. Max glanced at the time, it was late, no way it was Bertrand at the door and Riley wouldn’t come to his room, she would have just text him if she wanted him. He pulled himself off the bed and opened the door, curious about who the hell was knocking so late. It was the last person he had expected to see.

Liam was standing outside his door, eyes red rimmed, cheeks wet. Max’s eyes widened in surprise, “Liam! What the hell? What’s wrong?”

“I…I messed everything up, Max.”

Max looked up and down the hallway then pulled Liam into the room, shutting the door behind him. No one needed to see the king crying in the hallway. What the fuck? Max hadn’t seen Liam cry since his mother died when he was eight years old. “Liam, what’s wrong? Is Riley ok?”

Liam shook his head, “No. I made her cry, and she won’t talk to me, and I don’t know what to do.”

Max’s heartrate slowed down considerably once he realized nothing tragic had happened. But he’d been right about Liam hurting her again. Obviously. He was right a lot, but no one ever listened to him regardless. “And you came to me, why? If you expect me to take your side and say something to make you feel better, I’m not and I won’t. You hurt her, Liam, you fucking broke her!”

“That’s not why I’m here.” Liam shook his head as he wiped his face across a sleeve, sniffling.

“Ok….”

“She needs you, Max. I don’t know what to do, I thought maybe you could calm her down. I didn’t know what else to do, who else to turn to.”

“Yeah, sure. I’ll go because she needs me, not because you asked me too. This isn’t the first time I’ve had to clean up your mess, Liam.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, who the fuck do you think put her back together after Tariq assaulted her, she literally watched Drake beat him to death, you broke her heart and that fucking colonel at Drake’s suspension hearing destroyed her all over again?”

“Drake’s hearing?” His brows drew together in confusion, “What’s Riley got to do with that?”

Max’s mouth fell open as he looked at him, “What’s that got to-? You know she had to give a statement, right? You know she had to be questioned?”

“Oh, ah, I guess that makes sense.”

“Then she forced her way into the suspension hearing to try and defend Drake.”

He smiled a little, “That sounds like her.”

Max shook his head, “Are you really that fucking clueless? You really have no idea how that went down?”

“How?”

“He didn’t listen to anything she said, Liam. You know if you had been with her, he would have listened. If she had been the queen in waiting then, it would have made all the difference in the world. Your absence made it look like you agreed with the colonel. Like you believed his version of events. You know that, right?”

“That wasn’t my intention.” Liam said brokenly.

“And not just her. Drake, your best friend.”

Liam’s head snapped up, “What do you mean?”

“What do you mean, what do I mean? Do you even know what happened in that hearing?”

Liam shook his head.

Max stared at him in astonishment, “You didn’t ask either of them? Read the transcripts? Find out in a security briefing? Nothing?”

“I mean, the briefing just said Drake had been suspended pending an investigation. I was trying to keep my distance from the whole situation to further the illusion that I was keeping my distance from her!”

“Oh, my fucking God Liam! First of all, it wasn’t an illusion, she hasn’t seen or heard from you since the coronation and second of all…shit, I mean just…fuck!”

“What, Max? What happened at the hearing? Tell me, I want to know.” He pleaded.

Two days after the coronation:

Drake sat slumped in his chair, facing down the wrath of his commanding officer. He looked up in surprise as the door opened and Riley burst into the room.

“I’m so sorry, sir!” The young corporal who’d been in charge of the door was right behind her, sheepishly rubbing his jaw.

The colonel looked at him in astonishment, “You let a woman deck you?”

“She’s stronger than she looks, sir…”

“I’m surrounded by incompetents….” The colonel muttered under his breath, then to the corporal, “Go on, get out of here, you’re useless anyway!”

Drake sat up straight, “Riley, what are you doing? You shouldn’t be here.”

“I have to tell the colonel what happened!” Whirling to face Colonel Blainsworth, she blurted, “You can’t punish Drake, it wasn’t his fault!”

“Wasn’t his fault? A man is dead miss Brooks. A member of the aristocracy, a man from a good family.”

“He was defending me! If you’d just let me tell you what happened-“

“I can’t imagine what you think you have to add to this meeting.” He said with a raised eyebrow.

“I can tell you what happened that night-“

“And why would I believe anything you have to say?”

“Because it’s the truth?”

“The truth? Yes, tell me the truth, please. Starting with the pictures that were published in the Cordonian Star, those were of you and Maxell Beaumont?”

“Yes, but-“

“And Duke Lambros was in your private bed chamber that night?”

“Yes but-“

“And Captain Walker? You claim that he interrupted this alleged assault?”

“He did-“

“Which means he also went into your private bed chamber that night. How many men, exactly, are comfortable entering your bedroom in the middle of the night, miss Brooks?”

“No, we weren’t, he wasn’t, he heard me scre-“

“Is it true that you had an intimate relationship with the king during the social season?”

“Yes, I don’t see-“

“Perhaps you were worried the king would find out about you and Lord Lambros.”

“No, Liam and I were in love, we-“

“Clearly not. Where is he now?”

“I-“

“Engaged, and not to you. He’s not here because he knows you’re a liar. I don’t know how things are done in America, but you can’t just go accusing a man of sexual assault because another one of your lovers caught you in the act!”

“That’s not what happened!”

Drake had been getting more and more agitated as the questioning went on and that had been the last straw. He leapt to his feet, roaring in rage, and pounding his fist on the desk, “Leave her alone! Don’t fucking talk to her like that!”

“Captain Walker, you are out of line!”

At the sound of the raised voices, the door opened again, he was pulled back by two guardsmen and forced back into his seat.

Colonel Blainsworth sat back with a smug smile, “Obviously you can’t control your temper when it comes this woman, Captain. I think it’s clear what happened that night, but a full investigation will be conducted. In the meanwhile, you’re suspended from duty as you’re clearly unfit. Your judgement has obviously been impaired, you just raised your voice to me. Disrespecting a superior officer will be added to the list of charges against you. Now get out of my sight, both of you.”

“But-“ Riley’s head pivoted between Drake and the colonel.

“No, buts. Let’s go.” Drake took her arm and pulled her from the room.

“Shit, I made it worse, didn’t I? I’m so sorry, Drake, I just wanted to help…”

“It’s ok, it’s not your fault.”

The hall was full of people, those that had legitimate business in that hallway and those that were just curiosity seekers, hanging out hoping to overhear some gossip. They could hear the snickers and the whispers as they walked through the crowd.

“Whore.”

“Common American trash.”

“Got what she deserved if you ask me.”

Drake stiffened but Riley dug her nails into his arms and pulled him forward. “Don’t, you’ll only make it worse.” She whispered as she held her head up high and kept her eyes dry and focused straight ahead. They would not get the satisfaction of her tears.

His jaw set and his lips pressed into a tight line, but he made it out of the hallway without another outburst.

Liam blinked, “I….I had no idea….”

“You just left her alone to deal with all of it Liam, Drake too.”

“That wasn’t my intention…” He repeated dully. No wonder she hates me, he thought.

“You know she blames herself for his suspension? She blames herself for all of it.”

“None of it was her fault….”

“I know that and you know that. Too bad Riley doesn’t believe it.”

“I wasn’t there for her, I get that. So, you used that to swoop back in-“

“I didn’t swoop Liam, and I didn’t use anything….she needed a friend!”

“That was more than friendship I saw out there!” Liam’s voice rose as he got agitated again.

Max shrugged, “What do you want me to say? I love the girl. I’m going to be there for her, in whatever way she needs me to be or wants me to be. If she needs a friend, I’m gonna be her friend. If she wants the D, I’m gonna give it to her, sorry, not sorry bro.”

“But she belongs with me, Max, don’t you see that? She’s mine!”

“You know what? She was mine before she was yours and when she wanted to end things with me to be with you, do you know what I did?”

“What?”

“Nothing! I told her I loved her and wanted her to be happy and if you made her happy, then she should be with you. Because I don’t own her, Li. And neither do you. You need to back off.”

He shook his head, “I can’t. I love her and she loves me, we belong together, Max, you may not see it, but it’s true!”

“Then give her time to-“

“Time to forget me? You’d like that, wouldn’t you? No. There has to be a way, and I’ll find it.”

Max sighed in frustration, and threw his hands up in the air, “Ok, man. I tried. Dig your own grave.”

“You don’t understand her the way I do, Max.”

“Sure. That’s why you showed up at my door asking me to go fix the mess you made with her…. again.”

“She’s mad at me right now, but once she calms down-“

“Ok, keep telling yourself that. I’m going to go check on her now. You can let yourself out.”

Max stepped into the hallway, shaking his head as he pulled the door shut behind and him and hurried down the hall to her room.