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arealphrooblem · 2 years ago

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Terms of Surrender Part 4

Synopsis: The queen of a doomed city makes the deal her husband refused to make with the conquering warlord outside her city's gates.

Part One

Part Three

Her days passed by in a comfortable blur. She ate well. Her clothes still hung in the wardrobes, but as she had no maid to help her dress in the elaborate silks, the Queen wore simpler fare: the soft linen gowns that tie wrapped around her, kept for the rare times she fell ill or had no visitors or meetings. Sometimes she didn’t even change out of her nightgown and robe.

She slept past the sunrise each morning, embroidered flowers and stars on her clothes the way she did as a young girl. She set up her hand carved chess set and played against herself. She had no responsibilities, no duties, no expectations.

What she did have, in spades, was the constant nagging of guilt. Even as a little girl she had never been so lazy. And while she passed each day in quiet contentment, what was happening outside with her people? She heard nothing the first week, not from guards who refused to tell her and not from the warlord who had not visited her.

He could have lied to her about everything, he could be setting fire to her people’s homes and executing them in the streets while she sat here none the wiser, waiting for her own brutal execution she didn’t know was coming. And she rolled over like a dog and let it happen.

That fear grew like a seed deep in her gut with each passing day until she woke up one morning from a nightmare, choking on it.

That very same morning, the secret door to her bedroom opened and the warlord appeared. Only years of etiquette and finishing lessons kept the scream in her throat and the covers yanked up to her chest.

“My lady,” he said, looking down at her in concern. “Are you ill? It’s almost noon and you’re still in bed.”

“I’m well. I - I have only just awoken,” she stammered.

His gaze roved over her again, picking out the mussed sleep braid, the flush on her cheeks that traveled down her neck, the death grip her fingers had on her bedclothes.

“I see. I apologize deeply for the intrusion.” He darted his gaze respectfully to the window. “Will you dress and meet me in your sitting room?”

“Of course,” she said, heart pounding.

He bowed and left through the proper door, leading out to the sitting room. The Queen sat up, heart thudding in her ears. Only her mother, her maids, and her husband ever saw her in this state of undress. Perhaps the warlord’s culture had different modesty rules. He didn’t seem to bat an eyelash at the intimacy of her bedroom, and only looked away when he noticed her embarrassment.

Not wanting him to investigate what was taking so long, the Queen hurried out of bed, brushed out her sleep braid and pulled it up into a bun, and dressed in one of her linen dresses. It still felt scandalously informal to meet him dressed thusly, but she had no other options at such short notice. Perhaps she could convince him to give her a maid after she had earned his trust.

The warlord sat at the table containing the chess set, eying each piece thoughtful.

“What a beautiful set of pieces,” he said as she walked in and sat down across from him. “And who, might I inquire, are you playing against?”

She flushed again. “Myself, only.”

“How terribly lonely you must be, to resort to such measures,” he said, gently mocking. “I admit, I wanted to check in on you earlier, but I have been busier than expected.”

“Busy. . .with what?” she dared to ask.

“I’m sure I won’t need to explain to you all the headaches that come with ruling. Establishing a new regime is even more grueling.” He gestured at the chessboard. “Would you like to play a round or two while I have the time?”

Establishing a new regime. . . And just what did that entail? The pit in her stomach grew. She should have known his kindness, his respect, his mercy, was too good to be true. Perhaps he thought it a sick joke to have her oblivious while he obliterated her people and replaced them with his own.

“My lady . . .are you alright?”

He pressed that searching gaze against her, eyes flicking over her face, and she felt like he could see into her mind. Her husband had been an oblivious buffoon — she couldn’t get used to the terrifying way the warlord could observe and analyze her.

“Yes,” she lied, swallowing hard to keep her expression neutral. “I’m afraid I’m just still disoriented from sleep. We can certainly play a game if you like.”

This did not appease him. He stepped closer to her and she held her ground, struggling to keep her neutral expression. Every instinct begged her to break eye contact, as if that would stop him from seeing.

“You have had no one to speak to but my guards,” he said.

Even though it wasn’t a question, she confirmed it for him anyway. “No, my lord.”

“And they have not given you any information about what is going on outside your rooms.”

“ . . .no, my lord.”

He tilted his head to the side. “I told you I would take care of you and your people. Do you not trust me to keep my word?”

He sounded more disappointed than angry, but still the question hovered over her like an executioner’s axe.

“I think . . .I am in prime position to be lied to,” she said after careful deliberation. “I have no way to confirm or deny what you tell me. If I hadn’t given you my city on a platter, you would have broken it to pieces to get inside.”

“I see.” His expression gave nothing away. “Come. Let me show you something.”

He walked over to the doors to the hallway and opened them. The guards who stood blocking the way stepped to the side in an instant. She stared at the open door, the glimpse of the hallway outside, feeling like she was about to step onto a bear trap.

“Come, my lady. It’s alright.”

He held out his arm and though she wanted nothing more than to run to her bedchamber and lock herself in, the Queen stepped forward and took it. The warlord led her out into the hallway and towards the stairs. Her gaze darted around her home, looking for signs of his impunity, of death. The only differences he had made so far were to hang the flag of his country over hers and replace a few of the tapestries with the geometric patterns of his culture.

They climbed stairs until they made it to the rooftop terrace, a private garden her great grandmother had commissioned for herself a hundred years ago. None of the plants seemed to have suffered under their new care.

The warlord led her to the edge of the terrace, where the wall grazed against her chest, and gestured to the city below.

“Have a look for yourself, my lady.”

And look she did. The city sprawled beneath her, bustling as it always had. The tents of the marketplace fluttered in the wind, joined by the brightly colored tents of the warlord’s people. Soldiers in his deep red and purple uniforms dotted the walls, where they repaired the damage they made with their cannons. Ships dotted the river outside the harbor and she merchant flags and fisherman flags among the war ships.

What she didn’t see was death. No gallows in the square, no bodies hanging over the walls, no violence in the streets. The city was loud in the way cities were supposed to be loud — not with screaming but with life.

It had been but a week and there was still time for the warlord to betray her but this sight alone eased the knot in her stomach. It brought tears of relief to her eyes and she let them fall, tired of hiding.

“I keep my promises, my lady,” he murmured. “What reason have I given you to doubt me?”

“I know your reputation,” she said, keeping her eyes trained on her city. “On the battlefield you are tenacious, bloodthirsty, and ruthless. Yet I have only seen your kindness, patience, and mercy. It seems too good to be real.”

He turned her gently around to face him.“What I give you is basic respect and dignity. I do not know what indignity your husband inflicted on you for you to consider these things a luxury, but it will not happen again.”

And there it was: the crux of her disbelief.

“How are you the same man who haunts the nightmares of my soldiers, whose appearance outside my walls drove my husband to prefer suicide than facing you?” she demanded. “How is this version of you just as real as that one? How do they coexist in the same body?”

His gloved hand wiped away the wet residue of her tears. “I am a cruel man on the battlefield, but we are not on the battlefield,” he said slowly. “I am a nightmare in war but we are not at war any longer. I have no purpose for that side of me when I am not with my enemy and I do not consider you my enemy.”

Her eyebrows raised. “Do you lock away all your allies?”

He chuckled, almost bashfully. “No. You are my prisoner because it is prudent and logical to be so while I establish myself with the power that was formally yours. As your captor I have a duty of care and you will receive the best care I can give you. You saved your people by choosing peaceful surrender — I will not have you punished for it.”

“How noble,” she said. “And you wonder why I find you hard to believe.”

He gave her a crooked smile. “I have all the time in the world to persuade you otherwise. Now — shall we have that chess match?”

After that day, he made sure to take her to the terrace as often as he could.

Part 5 Here

Taglist: @cesspitoflove @aprilraine @talesofurbania1 @sarcasticlittlebook

#hero x villain #heroine x villain #historical setting #my writing #writeblr #fantasci tumblr #not sure if its quite “fantasy” but it's also not real history #terms of surrender #enemies to lovers

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fantasci-side-blog · 2 years ago

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Alrighty, my pretties!

So, let's get #fantasci tumblr going!

First things first.

"Learn by example" & "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery"

I'm a #heroes and villains gal, and I love the community that exists around that tag. So let's try to encompass that!

All of the below goes for all types of creators: writers, artists, meme creators -- I just can't ctrl+h on Tumblr.

My experience with #heroes and villains has taught me that:

A - Ships

People love ships! #hero x villain is more popular than #heroes and villains, so make sure to tag your ships!

Your ship doesn't need to be romantic, I tag platonic, found family and friendship snippets and prompts as #hero x villain too!

It may get annoying for readers who don't want romance to see their favorite tag bombarded with romance. #hero x villain doesn't have a solution to that, except the occasional #enemies to lovers tag which makes the genre clear.

In our new community, make your content reader-friendly by tagging your post as romantic or otherwise, or mentioning it in the A/N at the top, or adding a genre disclaimer. Put a readmore so that users can scroll past if they don't have the right settings enabled.

No, don't have a blandly tagged post just to fish in defenceless readers! That's unethical! And your readers will be annoyed and may even block you (I know I've blocked users who won't add the right trigger warnings, make me uncomfortable).

B - Names!

Snippets and prompts without names receive more traction than ones with them in the #hero x villain and #heroes and villains "fandoms".

Idk, guess it's easier to get into the story, at least for me.

Of course, you can't have just Hero and Villain. What if they're both heroes? What if you have more than 2 characters?

Solution:

Villain names: Villain, Other Villain, Supervillain, Sidekick, Villain Sidekick, Henchman, Thief, Vigilante(?)

Civilian names: Civilian, Reporter, Mayor, Kid, Child, Teen, Parent

Now, what if your characters aren't easily definable? That's fine too! Some heroes are evil, some villains are good. But they still take their Hero/Villain name in the story BUT it's made clear who's the good guy

1) through their actions or

2) the tags like #good villain #bad hero #evil hero. These tags also make it easier for users to navigate their niche.

For example:

Maybe I want to read about sweet villains?

Then I'll look at the tags #good villain #kind villain #soft villain

What if I don't want to read about abusive characters?

I'll filter out the tags #abusive hero, #abusive villain, #cruel hero, #cruel villain and so on

It makes my navigation simpler, and if a writer prefers to write about cruel heroes, I can just filter them out without outright blocking them, keeping the door open for me to read their other works which may contain the tropes I do like which won't show up if I've blocked them.

It may feel weird, especially after you've chosen the perfect names, but I sincerely think the lack of names makes it easier for readers to get into the story.

If you still want names, you can always create a character list separately, or add in the names at the end or in a later part of the series (series of snippets! Not talking about your novel series here!)

Examples of #fantasci "names" off the top of my head:

Pirate, Queen, Thief, Mermaid, Prince, Knight, Robot, Alien, Human, Fairy, Warrior, General, Leader, Monster, Dryad, Dragon

If they're famous myth or fairytale figures, then feel free to use Cinderella, Medusa, Athena, Ares etc.

Disclaimer: I don't know if this might not be as big of an issue in #fantasci. Because while I have seen nameless fics get more traction on #heroes and villains, and I prefer those too, because I like just running head on into the story, who's to say #fantasci tumblr will be the same?

C - Organize!

<> Use the tags like above, it's still a new community so tags will grow and decline organically, I hope. But that's the tagging system I'll be using on my blog and for my works.

<> Have a masterlist on your blog, categorized however feels right for you.

<> Write what genre your work is, in the tags or A/N. Fluff, angst, flangst, whump, hurt no comfort, hurt/comfort etc.

<> Differentiate between mediums!

If it's a snippet, prompt, or if you're promoting your OCs or published works.

This community started because of the information overload on #creative writing #fantasy etc, such that people weren't getting readers, and the #hero x villain writers who were getting readers, weren't getting readers if they went outside that genre.

So, tag it as #fantasci snippet/s, #fantasci prompt/s, I guess

If you're promoting your book, maybe tag it as #fantasci book?

I can guess how good it feels to complete a book and you want everyone to buy it and read it, and it may seem like you should promote it everywhere to everyone...

But think about it from the reader's perspective.

Maybe they can't afford to buy books at the time, but they would be the absolute best supporter of your snippets because they love cyberpunk found family which is the specialty of the snippets you post for writing practice on Tumblr.

And maybe they'll be so in love with you as a person for making their days better with your snippets, that they buy your book the first chance they get when they have cash to spare.

Don't scare them off by filling the tag with books that you have to buy before you read them. Yes, even if you're indie authors. We already have #fantasy #indie author etc (and I think they suffer from a highly skewed writer: reader ratio too).

This community is for people who want to check out the fantasci genre, want to fill prompts, want to read short snippets that explore one trope or one cliche they like.

It's perfectly okay to be excited for your book. But think of the community.

If you really want readers, do it organically through what's essentially content marketing. Write prompts, snippets, prompt fills. This will get you followers and traction. THEN promote your book on your own blog. The people who like your snippets will like your published work you put more effort on lol.

<> Put trigger warnings! Tag it if it's not sfw! If it has those themes or even allusions to them! It is NOT fun to be reader and suddenly come across something that makes you uncomfortable. Happens enough times and you're blocked.

D - Interact!

Here's a handy list for interacting with creators.

I once wrote a long and heartfelt email to an indie game company. They responded with a generic corporate thank you and a "look out for our next game."

That sucked.

Made me feel bad, actually. I would've preferred no reply at all because then I could assume it got lost, or I could've forgotten.

But they replied and didn't make it seem they valued my appreciation... that company has a bad impression in my brain now, and if I do play their games, I just don't want to interact with them anymore.

More Tumblr specific is when I interact with a blogger's work and write such a long heartfelt reply and they don't reply at all. Still better than a corporate reply, but happens enough and it makes me feel bad and I regret spending time writing that stupid email.

If I write a paragraph-long appreciation letter for 2 people, and one person replies back and interacts, while the other doesn't do anything, who do you think I'm gonna write more paragraphs of appreciation for?

Why am I saying this? Don't I think you already know, most of you being creators and all?

The success of #hero x villain lies in its community. Of course, there are more lurkers and likers instead of rebloggers and commenters.

But rebloggers and commenters exist! People even send asks! They especially send anon asks, with requests for prompts or snippet continuations

How it works is that:

A reader will enter the tag first as a lurker. They might not even heart your posts.

They see a few posts, see what they like and don't like

They check out an author's masterlist for other works

They follow if they like your work enough

They might let you know what they like as an anon, might even become a regular anon

They might send anon ask requests which you are free to accept or reject. Do not feel pressured. You are allowed to say no.

Best case scenario is they comment their appreciation, and reblog for their other followers to see.

I see that, despite this blog (@fantasci-side-blog) getting followers thanks to the pinned post, there's isn't much interaction.

I'm sure you know that hurts. Doesn't hurt me much right now because I'm not actually posting my own works, just reblogging stuff I like. Sometimes I'm adding little comments.

It does make me anxious over the lack of community though. But I'm going to chalk it up to it having only been a few days since I created the hashtag.

The fact that you're not interacting could have multiple reasons:

<> You don't like the content I'm reblogging.

Valid. But seriously, nothing? Wow, my interests are niche online too. You want to follow blogs you want on your dash, right? Why are you following my blog if you don't like the stuff I'm posting?

<> You don't want to reblog on your main blog and are thinking of creating a separate blog just for reblogging.

Hmm, that could work but only if you have a good enough following, or expect a following on that blog. Otherwise, you're just talking to an empty void and defeating the purpose of reblogs.

<> Posts aren't showing up on your dash.

Valid. Time differences, or your dash has too much already, or Tumblr glitches.

<> No time.

Valid. I hope you find the time to relax. Please prioritize your health (mental and physical, idk if there are any other) over social media.

<> You liked it but have nothing to say.

Valid. But an empty reblog might help the creator. Not all creators appreciate empty reblogs, but if that empty reblog leads one of your followers seeing it who does interact with it, well, that's the dream.

<> You hearted it, isn't that enough?

Unfortunately, not always. Some creators like likes, for sure. But all creators prefer some form of interaction.

<> "I queued it."

Hi-5! I do this too! Read the next point.

<> "I'll tag and queue later."

I do this too! Valid imo. But I try to make it a point to prioritize posts with low notes or low interaction or new writers over popular Tumblr blogs with hundreds of notes a piece. I hope you can see my logic. Sometime posts that didn't get interaction when they were first posted get a lot when they're reblogged at a different time of the day or year.

<> No one interacts with my work! Why should I for anyone else?

Community, darling. Read below.

You can't just keep posting your work and expect engagement but then not respond to said engagement.

As a reader, it's like talking to a void. I will stop engaging and feel sad. I am giving my time, energy, feelings. But I feel embarrassed about writing so much for nothing.

The writer doesn't owe me engagement, of course not.

But why should I, a reader, interact if I'm not receiving anything in return?

What if there's another user who's not as a good of a creator but is actually friendlier?

I'll go there. I'll interact more over there.

It's not that the writer already invested time and energy into making their work that they shouldn't have to put more time and energy into a back and forth.

It's that the reader is also putting in time and energy to

1) actually go through your work

2) think about what to write

3) writing it

4) reblogging or comment or sending an ask for others to see.

It's a symbiotic relationship.

It's community.

Most of my friends are users turned mutuals whose posts I interacted with. We don't need to reblog all of our friend's works, but I have friends I can talk to, help out, get help from, tag on posts I think they'd like, share posts with which they then do reblog.

It's just a wholesome relationship.

Sometimes an author won't reply to my reblog publicly, but will take the effort to message me privately. This may also soon take the form of them becoming my actual friendo! 🤩🥰

A social media consultant I worked with once (she was really nice and intelligent, don't be mean) said that if someone is taking the effort to engage with you, you should put double the effort to engage back.

I agree. For the above reasons.

E - next steps

This is just me trying stuff out! This is NOT the #heroes and villains community so some things might work, some things may not. We're here to try everything including new ideas and see what to stick with!

Next steps for me and you

Create a masterpost/ masterlist of previous works

Create an intro post (optional)

Mention if you prefer asks or anon asks (optional)

Mention if you take requests (optional)

Interact with blogs and stories you like

Use #fantasci tumblr on your old posts, they'll show up in the tag dw

Don't tag me for every single one of your posts, because this is my side blog, not a community wide blog. I have my own preferences and time limitations and I won't read stuff that doesn't interest me. And I'll only reblog stuff that does interest me or stuff I like. I would appreciate being tagged in stuff you think I'm interested in though! Just not everything you ever post lol

PUT TRIGGER WARNINGS. Tag your stuff! Or risk getting blocked!

My birthday's coming up soon so prepare presents. I do accept early and late presents so you can give them to me any time of the year. I take cash, credit, gold, magical amulets, books, writing advice, and more! :) (highly recommended)

#writeblr #artblr #tumblr #intro post #Fantasci Tumblr history

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