#god this was hard considering her look really IS distinctive

[buoyantsaturn]

read my friends' fics from 2024 or else

The Father Dilemma by ember @gatesofember from the wild west au series

A year after deciding to stay permanently, Nico di Angelo has long since settled into Ladon Creek. He has two bothersome but loyal housemates, a caring community of friends, and a loving partner. His days have never been so peaceful and he never thought he’d feel so happy. But his calm, blissful life is thrown into disarray when he learns some truly sinister news: Will’s father is coming to visit. [T, 6,841, 2/7]

FAR GALAXIES by rosy @rosyredlipstick

She didn’t answer. Instead, she pulled out her PADD from her coat, slow enough that Nico only slightly twitched. Jason’s transmission was loaded up on the screen—at the bottom, their signature tag was spelled out. “Guardians of the Galaxy. That supposed to be a joke?” “More like an aspiration,” Jason said. - Space, the final frontier. Or whatever. [E, 365,994, 14/14]

three-in-one soap by emi @thelordofshrimp

Austin glared at his sister. “Will can’t lie, genius. He says that since he became head counselor, any shower that lasts more than three minutes gets interrupted by someone needing his help.” “That’s… crazy.” Nico considered the number of showers he’d taken even in his short time at camp and imagined if even half of them had been interrupted. “It is,” Jerry agreed. “Not like there’s much we can do about it, though.” “You can always do something about it.” Nico sat up. “There has to be something.” “Not unless you can somehow keep the whole camp safe at once.” [G, 5,798, 4/4]

I wanna make you mine, but that's hard to say by ethan @ethannku

Rather than dignifying Will’s likely insult with a response, Nico took another deep inhale, then tipped his head back to blow the smoke straight up into the air. When he tipped his head to the side, he found that Will was still watching him, his eyes cast low, maybe to Nico’s shoulders or neck or mouth-- [T, 8,615]

kiss with a fist is better than none by lori @sunflowersandscreams

Well, if he wanted to play it like that, then Will would meet him halfway. “I meant it. What I said earlier. I would have liked to make peace so we can get over this whole… whatever, but you just had to be an asshole, so never mind, I guess.” Nico looked at him, bored, a distinct lack of an expression on his face. “You think I’d really believe that? That you’d be so courteous, so kind, as to- what, ‘use your hand as an olive branch’? I’m not naïve, Solace.” “I wasn’t saying that you- it’s not like-” Will bit his tongue. “You don’t wanna be nice to each other? Fine. I don’t care. It’s not like it would change much, or that we could change much, at this point.” “Your guilt tripping isn’t going to affect me.” Nico tilted his chin up, angry now. “Maybe I’m fine with being like this? Or maybe it just doesn’t matter as much as you seem to think it does.” ~ Nico and Will have been rivals slash sworn enemies since the beginning of high school, when they both joined the orchestra. Things change, for better or worse. [T, 62,457, 6/8]

Does This Still Count as Solangelo Week if It's July by alfie @lordstormageddidnt

Will likes cuddling with Nico in his sleep. Nico likes cuddling with Will. But Nico does not like waking up in a pool of sweat because his boyfriend is half-sun-god, half-space-heater. [G, 1,232]

never a clean break (no one here to save me) by katherine @yrbeecharmer from the exes au series

It’s been a year and a half since Aphrodite’s shitshow, since they finally processed the things they never had and agreed to move on, and how many times has Will made it clear they’re fine now? Not that they really talk about it in so many words anymore, but that’s because they shouldn’t have to. They’re friends. Not close ones, but friends. And Nico has a boyfriend. So why on earth is he calling Will, right now, to do this? [M, 12,444]

a sweet tooth for you series by becca @thebhorror

Nico works in a bakery and is determined to make Will fall in love with him his baked goods [G, 23,447]

& if you stay too long it will kill you marble @marbleheavy

As he looked up and stared at the sky, his thoughts seemed to fall through the grates of the fire escape. He could pretend that the flickering light from the planes passing by were stars if he didn’t think too much about it. As if the light pollution hadn’t swallowed the whole of his visible universe. He took a drag from the cigarette and sighed, dropping his gaze back ahead. [T, 1,232]

bulls and blood by allison @rainnows

Cowboys were not Nico’s type. At least, that’s what he’d been telling himself for the better part of two hours, propped up as he was against a fence bordering the arena, where he definitely wasn’t allowed to be, photographer’s pass around his neck or not. [T, 1,213]

[ty-bayonet-betteridge]

Phoenix/Miles 35

in reference to this. 35 - as a lie

Miles Edgeworth, hearing his office door swing open, moved quickly. It only took a moment to open his desk drawer and slip the letter he'd been writing inside. He closed the drawer again, feigning nonchalance as he glanced up at the man entering his office.

Of course it was him. Who else would it be?

"Wright," Edgeworth said. "What are you doing here at this ungodly hour?"

Phoenix smiled, shutting the door behind him. He was wearing his jacket, but removed it and folded it over his arm as he spoke. "I could ask the same thing of you, Edgeworth. Are you really working this late on a Friday night?"

"Unlike some people," he said, "I do not have the luxury of my own schedule. The Prosecutor's Office doesn't stop on my whims."

"What could they have you working so hard on right after we just wrapped up all that SL-9 business?"

"Oh, you mean the incident in which it came out that I'd achieved a conviction using fabricated evidence? The one where the Chief of Police was revealed as a murderer? The one where our Chief Prosecutor was incarcerated?" The very corner of his mouth tipped up in a slight, sarcastic smile. "You're quite right, Wright. I can't think of any fallout from that incident which might require further attention from the Prosecutor's Office."

Phoenix crossed the room easily - he always moved with such purpose - to stand on Edgeworth's side of the desk. He leaned easily against it, an intrusion Edgeworth catalogued and said nothing about.

"Even so, it's not fair for them to make you stay so late," he said.

"Hm. Still haven't lost your idealism, have you?"

"Maybe so," he said, "but if I haven't, I don't want to."

"Sometimes, Wright, I wish I could see the world the way you do."

"It's never too late to change your outlook, Miles."

"Hah." He shook his head. "So what brings you up here, in any case? Are you just visiting to needle me about my late hours?"

"Well, not entirely," Phoenix said. He fiddled with the folds of his jacket, still slung over his arm, before sitting it down on Edgeworth's desk and continuing. "Ema's just left for Europe."

"So I heard. To stay with one of Chief Prosecutor Skye's friends in Germany, if I recall correctly."

"You didn't come to the station to see her off."

Edgeworth turned his eyes away. "I... had the distinct feeling my presence would be somewhat less than appreciated."

"And there it is," Phoenix said. "I came here to see if you were still blaming yourself. Looks like I got my answer without needing to ask."

Edgeworth sighed. "Sometimes, Wright, you are entirely too perceptive. It has been a consistent thorn in my side since you made your way back into my life."

"You know you didn't do anything, right? You're completely innocent."

"I used forged evidence to achieve a guilty verdict. That is enough for me to consider myself beyond forgiveness."

"That's not your choice to make," Phoenix said. "I forgive you. Lana and Ema forgive you. There's nothing you can do about that."

"I appreciate the pep talk, Wright," he said, "but unless you have something of concrete value to say, I'd ask you to leave me to my work."

"I'm not leaving until you're done throwing your little pity party," Phoenix said. "Stop moping."

"I am not moping."

"You're definitely moping. Don't mope. It doesn't look good on you."

Edgeworth gave a long-suffering sigh. "The only evidence I have ever found for the existence of a God," he said, "is that without one, it is astronomically unlikely a man so perfectly tailored to disturb me and my peace would come to exist."

Phoenix laughed.

"It isn't a compliment, Wright," he snapped.

"No, but it's funny," he said. "Sometimes I feel just the same way as you. You're a real piece of work, Edgeworth."

"I have been... made aware."

Phoenix leaned forward, placing a hand on the side of Edgeworth's face. Edgeworth's first instinct was to jerk away, which he successfully resisted.

"Hey," Phoenix said. "You know I'm in love with you, right?"

"I'd realized," Edgeworth said. "And you know I can't return those feelings. Not yet."

"That's alright," Phoenix said. "You've had a lot going on these last fifteen years, Miles."

"Hah. I suppose one could say that."

"Just..." Phoenix paused. "Don't go anywhere. Take as long as you need, but stay right here. Promise me that."

The letter was burning a hole in Edgeworth's desk. "Of course, Phoenix," he said.

"I need you to promise, Miles," he said. Phoenix bit his lip and looked away. "I spent too long wondering what had happened to you. I can't do that again. I need you in my life, in whatever way you'll let me be."

Edgeworth wasn't usually one for impulsivity, but he'd been trying to take the odd lesson from his childhood friend, and that seemed to be a primary characteristic of the way he lived his life. So he did something impulsive. He placed his hand on the back of Phoenix's head, pulled him further down, and planted a kiss on Phoenix's cheek.

"I promise you, Wright," he said, "that I will remain in contact with you for as long as you would like me to."

Phoenix visibly relaxed. "Thank you, Miles."

"Of course."

[the-nosy-neighbor]

Pedrolino vs. Pierrot

Pedrolino vs. Pierrot (Part 2) 

Part 1 covered the history of this theatre genre, so head over there for background information.  

Now, why does Sally choose a Pedrolino costume of all the commedia costumes?  When I think of Sally, I think loud and brash and incredibly confident.  She is performing all the time and she thinks she is AMAZING at it.  Based on what we know, which character would we expect her to take?

She is vain enough to want to have the major role, so that could be one of The Lovers, but those characters have to be somewhat subdued and they don’t have a recognizable costume.  I would pick Il Capitano for her because of the boasting and love of attention.  All things considered, though, obviously she is going to pick Arlecchino (Harlequin).  This is the guy that has stuck with us through the centuries.  Pedrolino gets some play, especially in the move to Pierrot, but he becomes another thing entirely—the precursor of mime and clowning.  

Harlequin is everywhere. 

I grew up with mass produced art of Harlequin at the end of the hall in my childhood home.  Famous artists have painted him, hobby artists have painted him, he’s on the decks of playing cards as the joker, and then the most modern iteration of Harlequin is the Joker’s main squeeze, Harley Quinn.  And once you think about it, she is pretty spot on.  Harlequin is not afraid to beat someone with that stick he carries.  The Joker is also an avatar based on the tradition.   

We have pictures of Pedrolino/Pierrot as well, but it really isn’t as common to see him, or even Pierrot, that much.  Let's take a look at the differences between the two characters.   

I cannot see this without thinking of Groucho's line: "How do you sleep with such big buttons on your pajamas?"

There are sources that somewhat conflate some of the Zanni’s, particularly Arleccino and Pedrolino.  However, there are very distinct deliniations of the characters in a lot of examples, with Pedrolino and Arleccino presented as rivals for the love of Columbina.  Generally, Pedrolino would be the servant of one of the main characters, though usually Arleccino serves the lead. (Women have a long history of being either banished from the stage or suffering through flat dialogue and action.)  The Wikipedia article details Pedrolino as the first or primary Zanni, but from my readings, that distinction is less defined.  I find it really hard to believe that when faced with a character in bright patchwork who was quick and nimble and clever and acrobatic, that the crowd would be turning to the more serious guy dressed in white instead. 

Pedrolino, often the butt of Arlecchino’s jokes, or a participant in setting up others, was a more serious, intense kind of character.  This is something you see when Columbina comes in.  Arlecchino is bright and sassy and fun, but Pedrolino is completely taken with her and that love informs his entire life.  The words used to describe Pedrolino in this article are “a Janus-faced aspect.”

Janus is a Roman god, depicted with two faces.  He sees the past and the future and is present in moments of transition.  He is also associated with the moon, as it changes; it’s always in a state of transition.  These characters, Pedrolino in particular, is associated with the moon because of his moodiness and feelings of love.  Once he sees Columbina, he is smitten and is changed, his mind moved to wooing her.  Pedrolino is all romance as a counterpoint to Arlecchino’s fuck boy.   

This is something to be explored in a bit when Sally comes in. 

The costumes of Arleccino and Pedrolino are distinct from each other, but similar in theme; Arleccino is wearing a costume primarily make of patches (like that old joke of so many patches that no original material is left) and Pedrolino wears a costume that is far too big for him, most likely cast offs from his master.  Pedrolino typically did not wear a mask, but instead wore white makeup, called infarinato.  This lead to the creation of modern clown make up, which started as Pedrolino’s flour-like make-up.  As you can see above, there is still some tradition of Pedrolino wearing a mask, which as you can see, has exaggerated cheeks and raised eyebrows, which was meant to portray humor, openness, and innocence.  Arleccino’s mask (which was much more common) was meant to reference his quick wit and love of mischief, but also to give him a satyr-like aspect (spicy).   

I didn’t get into masks heavily in the prior piece, so just a bit here.  We discussed the characters and that they wore costumes related to their archetype.  For many (with the exception of The Lovers, Pedrolino, and sometimes Columbina), their masks were built to identify the characters, but also to present the personalities of the characters in a highly symbolized manner.  These masks are created in the Greek tradition, though the Greeks tended to focus on the emotion being portrayed, sometimes leading to actors changing masks as they move through the action (It’s all part of that Aristotelian catharsis, baby).  The masks in commedia could also reinforce racial and religious stereotypes existing in society, which I don’t really want to get into.  The point of that is that sometimes these masks had exaggerated features, which would be another source of info for the audience.  In addition to the masks, the characters would also highlight various appendages or areas of the body, for example, the lustful Pantalone was often portrayed with some kind of phallic costume piece to stress that he is lustful inappropriately (as the ingenue is far too young for him, etc.).  This is a somewhat regular feature of theatre throughout time, because everyone loves dick jokes.   

Pedrolino became a popular character, making the jump to French theatre, but they renamed him Pierrot, which is basically "little Peter" in French.  As Pierrot, the costume became more stylized, and the cone shaped hat and large buttons became staples.  A famous French actor portraying Pedrolino, Jean-Gaspard Deburau (1796-1846) played the character for 20 years, moving him into mime territory.  Yes, Pedrolino becomes the proto-mime (though I did see references to mimes existing before this, but it could be either AI or a very strange clown fandom.)   This character not only moved toward mime, but also modern clowning, with the makeup (as mentioned before) and a use of the same kind of bits.  Clowns often perform acrobatics, are the target of pranks, and use the slapstick clumsiness that was a staple of the character.   

Pierrot is often described as “moonstruck” which is a phrase that means affected by the moon, but generally is also a way of saying that someone is in love.  It refers to the changeable phases of the moon and a kind of out-of-this world focus.  Generally, mental illness is referenced, stemming from a belief that the phases of the moon could affect people’s moods, sanity, and behavior.   

Pierrot is often pictured with the moon: 

As you can see, these are from around the same time period, so we definitely have a shift in focus to Pedrolino as being very romantic. Not a Harlequin in sight.

These images are referring to his romantic nature and his tendency to court Columbina.  This is a waxing crescent moon, which is a symbol of blooming love or planting seeds leading to fruitfulness, so I’m guessing a less innocent kind of love than you get from The Lovers.  

This blog points to performance of Pierrot in the 1900’s as being more spoken word over music, hence the instruments in those pictures.  They were super into orators in the 1900’s.  I’m glad we have TV.   

So, the major symbols and associations of Pierrot: 

Love/Romance 

Youth/Young adult 

Planting seeds/growth/Spring 

The moon/phases of the moon 

Music/Poetry 

Next, finally, Sally and why Pedrolino, but also, why Pedrolino who is actually Pierrot? 

Sorry about the length on this one, but there are a lot of pictures, so I hope that helps.

[scariusaquarius]

Machine is down at work so here is a leon kennedy blurb

Warning: vomit, pregnancy, afab! Reader

The last time you had ever felt this sick, you had been in Tall Oaks with Leon and Helena. Your stomach was twisting and pulling, grumbling with a distinct feeling of needing to expel all of its contents, and you had been put out of commission by Leon because you were just too sick to be able to help.

There hadn't been an explanation for your sickness, but it had passed relatively quickly. You hadn't had a flare up since then, but as you sat on the plane heading for China, you could feel the sickness creeping in again.

You were becoming pale, sweat clinging to your temples, and your hands were incredibly clammy. Helena hadn't noticed just yet, but Leon did. His blue eyes were staring at you, taking in your sick form, and when he went to open his mouth to ask if you were alright, you promptly stood and ran towards the bathroom.

Helena picked up her head, brown eyes wide.

"Is she alright?"

Leon hummed in throught, standing up from his seat and clutching the headrest when the plane caught turbulence.

"I don't know. I'm going to go check."

Quickly, Leon walked his way towards the bathroom where he could hear you gagging and heaving into the toilet. Carefully, Leon slipped in, holding back your hair and forcing you to jump in fright as you stayed hunched over the toilet.

"Are you alright? You don't look very well."

You whimpered, clutching your stomach as Leon knelt beside you, carefully brushing some hair back from your face.

"I don't know. My stomach just hurts so bad. It's been off and on for the last week. I don't know what's wrong with me, Leon."

Leon hummed, thinking hard. Off and on for the last week....last week.

"Wasn't your period supposed to start last week?"

You sniffled before freezing, eyes wide as you thought, and you groaned.

"Oh god, i really am gonna be sick."

You threw up again, and Leon couldn't help but to bite his lip, a strange giddy feeling filling him.

"Do you think that you're pregnant, maybe? I can ask Helena for some help?"

You shrugged before panting, and Leon kissed your temple sweetly.

"It'll be alright, sweetheart. You know I'm with you no matter what."

"I know. I love you. I'm just....this is unexpected."

Leon chuckled, saying gently.

"Most pregnancies are. Are you going to be okay to finish the mission? I think I would prefer you to sit out."

You gave Leon a look.

"I'm just pregnant, Leon. I can finish this mission, just let me-oh god, what is that smell-"

You gagged and puked hard, and Leon grimaced.

"Yeah, I think you're gonna have to get sidelined."

"Fuck you."

Leon chuckled.

"Well, considering the position you're in, I don't think that's really a good idea."

"Leon."

[alitgblog]

i forgot what volume we're on but THOUGHTS

first off what do you meeeaan we're getting the finale next week 😭

heart rate challenge is fun because of the costumes and dances and flirting in front of someone's partner you get to do, but god the results sucked. I don't care for the drama of Jin having the highest heart rate with Sienna and I don't care about Sienna rubbing it in MC's face. Can we move on???

Especially because literally on the other side of it, I just picked that MC would have her heart rate raised the most by Logan for fun, and that resulted in NOTHING. Maybe like one comment that flew under the radar during Logan's date, but nothing fun. I just had to hear about Sienna sticking her tongue in Jin's ear or whatever.

Speaking of Logan, he's just another victim of not enough screen time. Like Tyler, Hari, and Logan all seem great but you barely get any chance to talk to them outside of their intro episodes and then by then you're expected to have already made a decision on who to pick. At least Hari is around for a while, but I simply have not really talked to him since Casa aside from hearing how he's fumbling Hazel. And between Tyler and Logan, who in my mind are basically the same personality going only for MC, I kind of prefer Tyler because at this stage in the game, Logan needed to have put more pressure. Or have been an angel sent like Oliver idk he has some substance. Once again, just a waste of a good looking sprite.

I also miss LIs that had their own personalities. Like I think that's why the OG boys are fun at first: each of them being distinct enough but all having reasons to go for MC. But the bombshells this season all seem to kind of just be "yeah I like MC because she's confident and knows what she wants" and that's it. It feels gameplayer-y which is maybe why I'm less intrigued for their routes. Even small things like Lucas liking a girl that puts in effort vs Henrik liking a girl that tells it like it is, so then you kind of have to "compete" with the other characters even though it doesn't make a difference later on with who you pick feels like it gives the characters more dimension.

I also think this is why Bea and Claudia have such compelling routes this season compared to the male bombshells (and vs. some of the other wlw routes in other seasons). They have potential partners that could give them what they want, although we know ultimately probably not. Also why I think if Hari's storyline was more fleshed out and you got time with him, that when he comes back with Hazel, his story could be more interesting.

Also I liked Logan better with the hat on, he needed a different haircut lol.

Stop it please with the texts interrupting conversations there has GOT to be a better way

also fusebox trying to squeeze out as many gems as they can out of us with more of those "i heard gossip do you want to know?" choices 🙄

the pancake challenge is lame. it just made me miss s2 cake decorating challenge 😭

also at this stage in the game, i feel like we should've gotten Mr. and Mrs. (I can't remember if we already did that). But a fun food challenge is fine too, it's just that this one wasn't fun. Also the options all being either "do it correctly" or "fail on purpose?" was very lame and probably contributed to it being boring. Once again, make it more like the s2 cake decorating challenge or paint challenge in difficulty if you're gonna do this.

Also no one else flirting with MC at this point? the other LI's don't have a CHANCE. That's why it's called tempting fate, because it's all temptation and yet while they all claim to want MC, no one is really talking to her what a shame

How does Sienna have the energy to be this much of a hater?? I kinda wanted her to have a small redemption at the end of her time but we never got it. And plus with her being so mean, it's so hard to imagine that at one point she charmed Jin into even considering her, so I feel like for logic's sake, we should've seen some of what Jin saw in her.

And once again we fall into the same problem this season has had which is way too many things at once because what do you mean they had three SEPARATE firepit meetings to dump islanders?? Give them some room to breathe!!

But yeah for some reason a couple is getting dumped right before the recoupling. We say goodbye to my frenemy couple Emel and Oakley. I hated them at times, but I miss them so dearly. They do not deserve to leave. I think that should've gone to Sienna/Max or Liam/Bea. If anything, since it's a public vote they should've had those three couples be at the bottom and then everyone else vote on who they'd like to dump and then however the math works out it ends up being Emel/Oakley, just for realism if the game really wanted to dump them. I understand that it had to be them because there are LI's in every other couple, but that's why I think they shouldn't have this dumping here in the first place.

Then the final recoupling. I touched on this briefly already, but oh my god no one got a chance. This may be the first time since season 2 that I'm sticking with the original person I chose to couple up with the first time I played through (ok technically S5 I did end the game with Suresh but that season is special and in a bad way). And maybe it's just the way I've been playing, but it does seem like in the last few volumes, you really only get to talk to the OG boy you chose or the Casa boy you chose. But I haven't really talked to Claudia since Casa and I'm so sad about that. Haven't talked Max much either, so I thought maybe he was sticking with Sienna? Haven't talked to Hari. Haven't talked to Bea. For some reason before the final recoupling, MC had a chance to talk to THEO? I was under the impression that if you're on a Claudia route then you're not on a Theo route but I guess he was an option the whole time, which was becoming clear in the last few volumes, but I'm still in awe every time he shows up trying to talk to MC. (Side note: a well written Theo friends to lovers route is brewing in my head and I think it would've rivaled a Jake S1 route so that's a shame it doesn't play out that way). Logan also had that chance, but both of those were gem choices, so they don't count in my head.

So no Claudia and Bea? I literally wanted to scream when Claudia said she was choosing a boy 😭😭

Logan is with Bea just because she needs to escape Liam, so I understand why, but they just seem so odd to me. Especially when Oakley and Emel were right there! Should've let them stay, at least they pretend to like to each other!!

Oh but I will miss Liam actually. Unfortunately he has much more personality than Logan so that's a shame but unsurprising that the more boring person stays the longest in love island lol.

Shouldn't have to pay gems to get people to not watch Jin's girlfriend announcement

also fusebox you already got your dig at us for thinking it was gonna be a zodiac themed season, are you really doing this again?? 🤣🤣

And then Max and Sienna go home in ANOTHER dumping. I'm exhausted. They couldn't have written one more volume to spread these out?

yeah yeah and hideaway again

anyway to prevent this post from being too too long I'm going to make a second post (yet again) with my ideas for how to fix these episodes because I've been okay with most of the recent volumes but idk this one in particular, although having the same problems as before, annoyed more than the others lol

still one of the top seasons of the game imo and definitely an improvement from s7 which I still haven't finished

[sailtomarina]

Hate you

“That is not what Professor Vector meant, and you know it!” Hermione snarled, slamming her hands down on top of the desk so hard their ink bottles threatened to fall off.

It was with quick reflexes that Malfoy snatched them away from the edge and slid them back to safety. For what had to be the millionth time that term, Hermione hated herself for appreciating anything about the blonde git.

Why, oh, why, did he have to be her partner in Advanced Arithmancy?

She cursed her duties as Head Girl and the rest of their classmates for leaving the seat next to Malfoy open when she came waltzing into the room late. She had no choice but to sit next to him on that first day.

She couldn’t just say no when Professor Vector announced their seat mates would be their partners for the rest of the school term. Hermione had an example to set. She not only had to put forward the first foot towards inter-house unity, she also knew how important it was to show others that forgiveness was a living, breathing thing. 

She couldn’t just preach the gospel of healing post-war; she had to live it.

So, she accepted the assignment without complaint.

She’d nodded at the announcement as if it was only natural that she partner with the boy who’d bullied her since childhood, who’d taught her all about blood purity, who’d let murderers into their school, who’d seen her scream and bleed, and who had now returned along with scant few others to re-do their final year.

She hated him. She also pitied him. More importantly, she hated him.

Today, he’d had the nerve to try and correct her part of their current project.

He took a deep breath before replying. “You can’t just assume that Scranton’s Formula applies in this instance. There are additional variable to consider—”

“I am not assuming!” she protested. “Scranton fits too perfectly to not be correct and whatever ‘other variables’ might exist don’t matter when the answer is obvious.”

She knew she was right. She couldn’t not be right, particularly with Malfoy thinking otherwise.

“Does that mean you’re already aware of Livingston’s Theorem?”

Hermione sputtered at the term, “Of course I’m aware of it! Livingston is not applicable here, or anywhere, really—”

“Why not?” Malfoy sat down and she absolutely hated that he did. It was like he expected their argument to take a long time.

“Livingston was a quack! Anyone who takes Divination into account like he does obviously knows nothing worth my time.” She refused to sit. She was right and there was nothing else to discuss.

“You are aware Arithmancy and Divination are related fields, right?” he pressed.

“They were such that Arithmancy evolved to include actual facts and data, rendering Divination completely useless.” She’d concede at least that much.

The few students still remaining behind in the classroom looked warily over at them almost like they were worried the two would break into a fight. Hermione wanted to roll her eyes at their unnecessary concern. 

“Why don’t we both submit our findings and we’ll allow Vector to decide who’s correct?” Malfoy suggested.

“Professor Vector.”

He looked amused at her correction, and it was that smug twitch of his lips that sent Hermione over the edge.

“God, I hate you,” she muttered.

All traces of a smile faded from his face, replaced with a grimace that vanished nearly as quickly as it had appeared. Hermione had the distinct feeling she was looking at a mask that only pretended to be Draco Malfoy.

“You’re welcome to write whatever you want, Granger. I’ll still include my own research and we can make it clear that our opinions and findings differ. Professor Vector should appreciate the additional viewpoints even if I’m wrong,” he said stiffly.

Before Hermione could respond, he gathered his belongings and walked away.

Hermione didn’t think she owed him an apology for snapping at him as she had, but she did feel a little hollow at the way he’d just taken it. Their arguments always seemed to end that way—she’d inevitably get so wound up that she’d say something cutting, something true, and he’d just…accept.

She wanted to feel satisfaction at turning the tables on the git, but instead all she felt was a lingering sense of incompleteness. Did she want to keep punishing him? Did she resent his presence at Hogwarts? Did she regret testifying for him?

No. Her answer to all three was ‘no’.

So then why did she keep acting the way she did towards him?

“I hate him,” she repeated quietly.

As she walked towards the doorway, she paused by the bookshelf lining the wall. In a moss green cover, title glinting silver, was Walter Livingston’s Reinterpretations on Arithmancy. She stared at it, chewing her lip, mind rapidly rehashing the details of her research.

She sighed and slid the book into her bag.

WC 821

Twitter prompt from DramionePrompts

Cross posted on Tumblr and AO3

I've missed writing Dramione shorts! I've been so wrapped up in larger projects with the fests I've signed up on, that I've neglected keeping up with the snippets I like. This one doesn't have much romance, but there is a hint of something...more...if you squint hard enough :P maybe acceptance? maybe someday friendship?

[pyro-madder]

So for the ask game, what about Gehrman and Laurence? :D

*already frothing at the mouth* sure thing ! :) gonna try to group them both at once

favorite thing about them :

- G : probably his fight. It looks like a movie ! The beautiful scenery, the mentor and student clashing their weapons in the same fighting style, and of course the MUSIC ! (if i lack sleep and focus too much on the way the voices go down on "misereTE" i WILL cry)

- L : also his fight ! Despite the difficulty it's one of my favorites. Beautiful music as well. I also adore the calm of his english dub, it's one of the few I really prefer over the french one !

least favorite thing about them :

- G : how little we get to actually speak to him. I understand it's on purpose (we're just another hunter, why would he try to bond with us if it's gonna end the same as with the dozens that came before us ?) but it still frustrates me ! X)

- L : hard to say. sometimes i fear i don't see him as terrible as he may have been, but "may" is the key word here - he's nuanced, how much good and bad there was is up to each's interpretation and I consider this question to be canon-only

favorite line :

- G : "The night, and the dream, were long..."

- L : "EEEAAAAAARRRRRRGGHHH !!!" (+ "Fear the Old Blood" because his voice combined with Willem's sounds beautiful + "Indeed, Gehrman - it won't be long" because ouch.)

brOTP : I accidentally created a Gehrman/Damian friendship by upgrading the latter as school staff rather than senior student. Think about it : Byrgenwerth's groundskeeper and archivist, each finding themselves babysitting looking after their half of the squad (Laurence + Maria // Micolash + Rom, with Caryll somewhere in the middle), and then meeting again in the Dream ! (dissolving emoji) Gehrman parrying Damian's questions about the Doll ! (emoji dissolves harder) and now they're both sad old men who forgot each other yippie

There's also Oto whom Gehrman knew prior to the Workshop's creation and offered a position in ! And then Izzy :) your friendly neighbourhood craftsmen. And Ludwig probably !

For Laurence, it's Micolash. Two sides of a coin through and through ! Whether they're working together, making out or strangling each other, there's no filter between them, from their meeting to their separation. World's worst dormmates ! <3

OTP : eachother + Maria for Gehrman and Ludwig for Laurence.

gehrence + ludrence* are a hard tie, following a similar dynamic due to the common denominator, but with their distinct flavor since they happen at two distinct points of the timeline. gehrmaria's a bit behind for now but as I've said earlier I'm hoping to bring it to the same level 😁 They're all so beautifully tragic, with a lot of tenderness but also a streak of unhealthy dependance, doomed through and through. basically i wasn't kidding when calling them the World's Worst Polycule(tm)

*i know the fandom has other shipnames but i don't want to use them for several petty reasons, sorry if anyone out there needs to add my names to their blacklist.

nOTP : for both, none that I know of.

random headcanon : let's talk families ! Wolves have been hunted to extinction in Yharnam's region by the time the story begins in Byrgenwerth, and the person who shot the last one is a relative of Gehrman (his dad probably). On Laurence's side, only his mother is "known" (air quotes because he's extremely discreet about her, like everything in his past). Even in their homeland, she stood out, nicknamed La zorra/The vixen, and that reputation extended to Laurence who looks a lot like her. Her death (unsure circumstances yet) was the final thing that drove him to leave his homeland after getting his licence.

unpopular opinion : for Gehrman it's obvious, for Laurence i have no idea. X) i'm a hermit so if discourse doesn't appear directly on my dash i'll have no clue about how is it over there...

song i associate with them :

Gehrman : Old and Wise by Alan Parsons' Project

Laurence : Found God in a Tomato by Psychedelic Prn Crumpets

favorite picture of them : too much choice ! their boss cutscene, lots of beautiful fanart (@/redzombie's portrait of laurence, @/pupspuppet's gehrmans, @/subzeroparade's gehrences, Raquel Cornejo's illustrated lore...) i'm also fond of the pattern in my own art where laurence does his thing and gehrman looks either confused or tired sdfghjklm

[themattress]

If you want yet another example of why I fucking hate the Pokeani fandom and the two series they hold up as sacred cows (DP and XY), just take a look at the crap that's up on TV Tropes:

Wow. Notice how literally nothing else about the shows in question (one of which ran for four years and the other for three, meaning there was a lot of content in them) is mentioned at all. Only Ash, and only how skilled/competent/successful as a trainer he is. This single factor dominates the general opinion discourse of the shows in the Pokeani fandom and is what justifies them being named "the best", while other shows like BW and SM (the ones that follow such "tough acts") get constantly put down by comparison. How well Ash works as a self-insert power fantasy is literally all that matters to these clowns. It's so embarrassing.

Oh, sure - SM fans are the myopic ones! And let's check these "flaws" that those fans are "ignorant" about. "Animation and art style being wasted on comedic expressions instead of battles", "shying away from battling in general" and "many questionable writing decisions in important episodes especially the Alola League", which translates to nitpicks about decisions pertaining to - you guessed it - battles. Those aren't flaws. As a wise girl stated yesterday:

Of course SM isn't perfect, no series is....but it is absolute lightyears ahead of XY, period.

More battle stupidity. God, the hard-on these manchildren have for legalized cock-fighting is ridiculous. Fucking Nemona, a battle maniac, is somehow more mature about it than them!

So Dawn is considered better than May simply for struggling and losing more (the exact same kind of thing they scream bloody murder if it happens to Ash) and not getting wins they'd deem "undeserved", in addition to hogging the spotlight at every opportunity even when it isn't called for - usually for fanservice reasons. Her personality is likable and distinct, though; I'll give her that. While Serena is considered better than Iris (who has no elaboration given as to why she's "one of the least popular female companions" as if the reason doesn't make the fans look good, funny that) because............um, she's more feminine, is in love with Ash, and is given the kind of "arc of Character Development" these fans deem acceptable for a female character (read: a copy of Dawn's). Also, she's not dark-skinned.

The only objectively true statement in this entire blurb is the Mega Evolution specials being different and enticing. Otherwise: "improved writing" (read: back to DP style formula and safeness and fan pandering rather than really trying to be its own thing that's comfortable in its own skin), "action and battle animation" (read: fan obsession with battling above all else being satisfied), "a much more competent take on Ash" (read: a boring, out-of-character, Mary Sue self-interest power fantasy extraordinaire), "a better balance on having Team Rocket threatening at times while keeping their comedic traits" (read: Team Rocket just behaving downright psychotic), "a likable group of companions and supporting characters" (read: characters who are deemed uniquely "likable" solely for how they prop up Ash), and "a good pacing that averted Arc Fatigue" (this one's half-right, the pacing was largely solid...but averting Arc Fatigue was kind of difficult when for the longest time barely anything substantial was happening in the arc outside of the routine Gym Quest. Ash had no real rivals, Serena took a year to find a goal to pursue, Clemont and Bonnie didn't start getting significant focus or development until the second year, Team Rocket had nothing going on, and plot points that might have been interesting long-running threads like the Evil Malamar went nowhere. How is that an improvement over BW, which objectively had more going on in its first two years?)

Finally, this one piece of honesty:

Again, I say: I am so fucking glad that Ash has been retired. I get holding an attachment to a character you've known since childhood, but when it gets to this level of toxic where nothing less than that character being worshipped in-universe will suffice, it's time for them to go.

[nowoyas]

Koi no Yokan 22: come together (nishinoya yuu/reader)

First - Prev - Next - M.list - Ao3

A/N: take two on the right blog this time lmao. next update may be delayed, but I'll keep y'all updated. between new health issues and world events writing is really difficult for me right now. thanks for understanding <3

Summary: As the training camp nears its end, your boys continue to work hard and pull it all together.

Warnings and Tags: blanket series warnings

Words: ~3200

The next day is the first that you manage to make it to lunch without cringing, and the first where you get to be in the gym all day. You push your luck as you always do, spend the night up until dinner helping Noya with his jump set—still not quite there yet—and, after dinner, shoot a text to Noya asking if he'd like to walk around the school with you, since you're supposed to be going on walks and stuff and don't feel like going it alone. Naturally, he'd been so down for it that you'd been able to watch him basically leap out of his chair from across the cafeteria once he read the text.

You kinda missed having time alone with him. You haven't really had much of any since the training camp started, and you realize with a pang that the reduced frequency is an indicator that things are back to normal—no more sleeping in his arms, no more everyone in the house you're in home before dark, no more I'm home! and casual welcome back. No I'm heading out, no see you later. No one to eat dinner with.

A finger pokes your cheek. "You're getting stuck in your head. What's up?"

Right. This is stupid. You're being stupid. "It's nothing."

An unimpressed look. "Sure it is."

You sigh. "Just thinking about what I'm gonna have to put up with when we get back."

"Your dad?"

A nod.

"That's a problem for future [name]-san, isn't it?" He tilts his head. "You're not there and it's not your problem."

"But…"

"But I know that girl. She hates it when you take work from her. If she knew you were trying to take the worry about this from her, she'd be pissed."

You pause. Laugh. "Right. You're right."

You walk a little longer with him. It's nighttime, but it's still hot. The darkness isn't doing anything to cool anything off, but you happen to like it. It feels nice. Comfortable, even though you're stuck to long pants while doing manager stuff. Maybe a bit sticky, but it's not like you're doing any running. (Maybe it feels better because you know you aren't the one stuck exercising in this heat.)

"Thanks for walking with me. I know you've probably had enough exercise this week to last you the year."

"Are you kidding? I can keep going."

You roll your eyes. "Probably shouldn't, though. Something something, rest and recovery, something, take care of your body. I think I've basically gotten my fill, anyway, so we can head back."

"I mean," he hums, "if you took better care of yourself, I might consider taking better care of myself…"

You roll your eyes. "Like you'd do anything to hurt your performance at volleyball. You'll take care of yourself."

The pair of you wander past one of the gyms, and you pause at the distinct sound of volleyball taking place. Check the time on your phone. Noya isn't far behind you when you poke your head in to look—Hinata and Tsukishima, of all people, are mid three-on-three with some guys from other schools. They're locked in, which is sort of cool to watch, but…

You wait for the ball to fall, and then you cross your arms. "Hey, you guys ate, right?"

They freeze, turn to you in comical sync.

Oh god. They haven't eaten. "The cafeteria is getting locked in three minutes. Tell me you guys ate."

Hinata shakes his head gravely. You sigh. If you remember correctly… "Alright. Hold on. You guys clean up."

You've been excluded from the rotation on account of the concussion, but the other managers have a rotating schedule on which two girls clean and lock up the cafeteria at night. Tonight's Shirofuku and Suzumeda, if you recall, the latter of which does not pick up the phone. You get Shirofuku when you try her, though.

"What's up?" she answers.

"Shirofuku-san, hi! How much do you love me?"

There's a pause before she responds. "…why?"

You take on your sweetest affect, smiling even though she can't see you. "Could you maybe hold on locking up the cafeteria for me?"

She sighs. "What did you do?"

"I didn't do anything! But we've got a couple stragglers who got too focused on individual practice and haven't eaten yet. You wouldn't want anyone to fall out tomorrow because they didn't eat properly, would you? Not you, Shirofuku-san. You'd never."

There's a hesitation. You hear her cover the speaker, probably to talk to Suzumeda. You pounce.

"I'll handle locking up afterwards and cleaning properly, so you guys can go ahead to bed and not miss anything."

"How about you make them handle it, Little Miss Concussion?"

You pout. "It won't be that much. You guys were basically already done, right? And it's not like it's a problem if I miss any sleep, I mean, I've got doctor's orders to take naps as needed, anyway, so if I miss out on sleep—"

"Don't you dare—" Noya interrupts beside you. You lean over, slap a hand over his mouth, and keep talking.

"I've got this. Come on, please?"

"Fine. We'll wait. But you are going to take it easy, you hear? if you don't come upstairs in time we're physically carrying you up the stairs and forcing you to sleep."

"Great!" you chirp. "Thanks so much! I've got them cleaning up, so I'll meet you and get everything ready. You're the best!"

Just as you hang up, something warm and wet lathes over your palm. You squeal, jerking away from Noya. "Did you just lick me!?"

"Sorry," Noya says with a shit-eating grin. "There was this hand over my mouth, see—"

"I'm going to have Nee-san dye that little bleached strip pink next time you bother her for a refresh," you threaten.

He laughs. "I think I could rock it."

...infuriatingly, he totally could. You turn to the six stragglers, face flaming with embarrassment. "Anyway! I got clearance to keep the cafeteria open a little longer for you guys, but obviously it'll create problems if you stay too late and we make it to curfew without being done, so I gotta ask that you guys clean up and eat quick so I can clean up in time, okay?"

You receive six synchronous bows, six shouted thanks. Pride surges in you when the volume doesn't bring about any twinges of pain.

"You're so kind to us!" a voice booms.

Your gravity lurches out of wack—at first, you think that'd be because of Fukurodani's ace (Bokuto, maybe?) rushing towards you, but then a familiar arm settles over you and you realize that Noya has pulled you squarely out of his reach. He steadies you, chin resting on your shoulder to glare at him.

Bokuto stops and pouts, arms crossed. "I just wanted to thank her for making sure we can eat tonight. Is that not okay?"

"Bokuto-san, maybe don't randomly hug someone else's girlfriend," Fukurodani's setter says.

You freeze. "Hold up. Girlfriend?"

"Are you two not dating?" Nekoma's captain asks.

Noya's arm over your shoulder tightens protectively. "Not yet, but she's still off-limits."

"Excuse me, yet?" You turn to glare at him. He raises an eyebrow back.

"Yet."

You snort, roll your eyes. "Right. Okay. Anyways, we all need to hurry, so..." You wriggle out of his hold.

He's so convinced you'll fall in love with him. Like it's that easy. Stupid.

So you meet up with Shirofuku and Suzumeda. The guys trail not far behind—they get leftovers, and they're cold, but it's dinner and they're grateful to you. They go out of their way to avoid making a mess, and Noya lingers by to help you finish cleaning and lock up even though you repeatedly tell him he doesn't have to. He's so pushy. What pisses you off the most is the fact that you can't even be honestly annoyed with it. You lock up, you get to sleep on time, all six of the Stragglers Squad thanks you with their lives, and the next morning—last day of the camp—you settle in for morning practice like always.

When Hinata pulls off some new move—a wipe, Shimizu calls it—Yachi smiles at you and says, "I hope that new quick comes together soon, too."

"Same," you reply back.

~

Her wishes do not go unanswered. The final set of the training camp—imbued with energy from the promise of impending grilled meat and emboldened by Yachi's gentle mention to Hinata that she'd like to see that new quick they're working on—sees the first truly satisfying spike you've seen from Hinata in a while, your head notwithstanding. It takes you too long to recognize that they'd done it, that that was the new quick. It doesn't look much different to you, or to Takeda, apparently, but it's all about options, apparently, and now Hinata has those.

As Yachi cheers beside you, and the guys yell, you can't help but feel a little proud that they managed to make it work. You kinda wanna tell Kageyama I told you so, but you'll let them have this. The set moves on—a successful synchronized attack, a time out, water bottles and towels and excitement and Noya taking a moment to flash that wide grin at you.

"Wait, [name]-san," he says before you can walk away to set down the water bottle caddy, "for good luck—marry me?"

You roll your eyes, turn to pat his shoulder. "I don't think you really need the luck, but why don't you get that set to come together and ask another eight hundred and eighty-six times or so and I'll think about it in the meantime?"

His face lights up as always, and you watch him practically bounce back into position on the court.

It takes two points for the opportunity to come—a receive by Kageyama, and then Noya flowing easily into the set, which Azumane spikes and just barely manages to get in. But he gets it in.

It comes together.

Holy shit, it came together.

You grab at Yachi's arm in your excitement as she cheers—nice kill!—and try to contain yourself. Your first thought had been to cheer with her, but the second thought was swift and much louder—he'll never let you live it down if you do.

He catches your eye as you try to tamp down the smile. Gestures wildly. You roll your eyes in reply. You're sure later you'll receive a tackle for it, but you can try to avoid it, at least.

~

Fukurodani takes the last set with a truly impressive spike from Bokuto. You can't even really be mad that the gambit to crush him didn't really pull through, least of all when Noya sweeps you off your feet in celebration of his first successful in-game jump set.

"So, since I got it to come together—"

"Eight hundred and eighty-five or no deal," you interrupt, voice a little strained from the ongoing bear hug.

That earned you another nine proposals, rapid-fire, like you weren't in the middle of the gym and wriggling to get free, but it's fine, you guess. More important than proposals 106 through 115 is the barbecue, which you manage to escape for in hopes of helping out with.

And everyone is happy with the barbecue. When it kicks off, you find a corner to linger in with Tsukishima. The amount of people is just a bit... overwhelming, that's all. Tsukishima's corner is quiet. It's a good pick.

You can't help but needle him, though. You can only take so much quiet, only so much room to think. "I think that those moments today where things started working are why everyone else works so hard. That's where their passion is coming from."

He sighs. "I gathered. I don't get it, but I think I at least see it. It still feels stupid to just chase a high like that, but..."

You shrug. "Better than walking aimlessly, I guess."

He nods. "Right."

You sigh. The smell of meat is getting to you. "I'll leave you to your skulking," you say. "I'm gonna see if these guys will let me get close to any of the grills."

He nods you away, and you make it all of four steps before you spot a disaster-in-progress in the form of a trembling Yachi, surrounded by basically the four beefiest dudes at the entire camp, including Azumane.

You swoop in quick, gesture to them to step back. "Woah, hey. You're looking a little overwhelmed, Yachi-san. Do you wanna go sit?"

She nods weakly, face deathly pale. You shoot an apologetic look to the guys. "Sorry. I think the crowd's overwhelming her. C'mon, let's go sit with the girls and I'll get your food for you. How's that sound?"

"O-okay..."

"Can I touch you?"

Another weak nod. You place a hand on her shoulder, steer her over towards the other managers at a careful pace. Your firm "excuse me!"s cut through the guys well enough. You suppose there's an advantage to basically everyone knowing you have a concussion. When she's sat down, you kneel in front of her with a look of concern. "Are you gonna be okay?"

She nods. "Y-yeah. Sorry, I just... they're all so big and scary and... I-I know we've been around them all week, and even Azumane-san was there, b-but..."

"It's okay. Seriously. You're allowed to have anxiety, no matter what anyone says. Do you still want to eat?"

"Y-yeah. Maybe. I don't know."

"I'll get a plate with enough for both of us, then, and bring it back."

"Y-you don't have to—" she starts to protest, but you raise a hand to silence her.

"I'm choosing to. You're not making me do anything. It takes no extra effort to just take a little bit extra of what I get while I'm already getting it."

"B-but your head..."

"Will be fine. I'm supposed to be gently pushing myself, right? This is a good gentle push. If it gets too hard, we can send someone else. Alright?"

"Okay..."

You nod to Suzumeda and Shirofuku. "Can you two keep an eye on her and talk to her? Just a distraction to help her calm down. When I'm back, I can walk her through calming down the rest of the way if she needs it."

They nod, and you disappear into the crowd—get a small pile of meat for you and one for Yachi, pile up some vegetables on top to balance it. You're not all that hungry, but you suppose after nearly passing out like that, she probably isn't, either.

For good measure, one rice ball for each of you makes its way onto the pile as you wind your way back, and then you slump into the chair beside her and offer her food. You pick at your own, focus more on letting her get her fill than eating, yourself. The meat smells delicious, but...

You can't shake it. Can't shake the loom and gloom, the knowledge that, after this, you're going home. To your house. To your house.

Your eyes drift to watching everyone mingle as Yachi goes from shaking to calm, from having to be fed to being able to eat on her own.

You promised your dad you'd come home and talk then. You don't know what he could possibly say to you, if anything could make his absence better. You probably deserved it, anyway. You should be the one apologizing. It's not like he killed your mom. His wife. The woman he loved more than anything.

Your eyes trace Shimizu, sauntering obliviously through the crowd of guys to get her food. Maybe you should just find Noya and hang out with him. He's good at distracting you. You're sure he'd be thrilled to be hanging out with a girl at one of these, anyhow. He's just so easy to be around.

But right now, he's not far behind Shimizu, flanked by Tanaka and Mohawk guy. Glaring, probably audibly growling. Letting some guys from Fukurodani know, in no uncertain terms, to lay off.

A hand tugs you out of your thoughts, forces you to turn to the other girls.

Suzumeda leans in, devilish grin on her lips. At some point, Miyanoshita and Otaki also joined you, so, save for Shimizu, all the managers are present. "So, [name]-chan."

"Yeah?"

"We've been good. We've been patient. But you're about to go home—" Gee, thanks for the reminder. "—and we can't let you leave without answers."

Ugh. This is about Noya, isn't it? You suppress the urge to roll your eyes.

"What is the deal with him?" Otaki asks. "I mean, you guys are really obviously super close. Like, really obviously. And you know, we're nosy... why aren't you dating him?"

"Him?" You snort.

"Yeah! He clearly likes you, you like to act tough but I'm pretty sure you like him, I mean... why not?"

You jerk your chin towards where he's patrolling around Shimizu, chewing your lip hard enough to punish. "Does it look like he likes me, or does it look like he likes girls and I just happen to be one who pays attention to him?"

"[name]-chan…"

They have more to say in response, but you refuse to entertain it. Instead, you zone out Shimizu-ways, watch her remain blissfully unapproached as the trio does their sworn duty. Noya does his job well.

"Yachi-san," you interrupt suddenly.

She jolts. "What's up?"

"Can I borrow your bus pillow when we leave today? My head's kinda starting to hurt but I can't sleep on the bus without resting my head on the window. You can probably imagine how much that will not help me at all."

"Oh, uh, sure! I don't mind! Do you want me to go ask Sensei about your painkillers?"

You shake your head. "I should be fine. It's not that bad, I just need to sleep it off."

Doubtful that you actually sleep.

~

On the bus a short hour or so later, clad in your bus hoodie—well-worn, faded, and cozy without making you overheat—you rest your head on the borrowed pillow and try to keep your eyes closed. You don't want to see the look on Noya's face when he realizes you've taken a seat on the side of the bus with single-seat rows.

You hear it, though. Footsteps stuttering to a stop, then Yachi's voice.

"Oh, she said her head was bothering her, so she was just going to nap."

You can actually hear the pout in his voice. "Am I not a good enough pillow…?"

"Oi, Nishinoya. Keep moving," Ennoshita says. "We all have to get on the bus, you know."

"Right. Yeah, sorry. Ryuu! I'm coming to sit with you!"

The footsteps continue. You pull your hood over your head and try to shove down the guilt. When your phone buzzes, you flinch.

Noya to [name] at 14:13

Noya: [image attached. Image description: Soba with her mouth open and both front paws in the air, batting at something out of focus in the foreground.]

Noya: Soba fighting off your headache. get some good rest for me, ok?

Somehow, this doesn't help your guilt. It doesn't help it one bit.

Tags: @deeplightgarden @idonthaveanameideayet @dusstory @kazunish

[lightningfilledsaber]

i have a quastion. what is dungeon meshi like i’ve considered watching the anime since it looks amusing…. i trust you as an authority on this hence why i’m in your asks :3c

Dungeon Meshi is so good!!!

So Ryoko Kui (the author of the manga) is a super super great artist and writer in general, and her knowledge of intimate and expansive worldbuilding, including the cultures of different fantasy races is VERY apparent in dunmesh without being super in your face. It strikes a perfect balance between showing and implying and telling; giving you information when you need it but not holding your hand throughout the process. Ecology and biology of creatures and the places (mostly dungeons but yk) is SUPER important and expanded upon in the story. It scratches my Creature autism SOOO well. And all of the characters are VERY distinct and fun AND THE DESIGNS FUCK SOOO HARD. Dungeon Meshi has become one of my favorite series of all time, because it's so. so fucking profound. There are a LOT of funny moments and gags but there's an equal amount of genuinely serious and emotional moments. The character dynamics. GOD. Cannot recommend it enough.

Also. Dungeon Meshi is super fucking horny. LMAO. Not in a "fanservice-y" way (in fact, there is only ONE character that ever gets upskirt/panty shots and it is Senshi, the bearded dwarf man. He's my fave btw <3). But dunmeshi uses consumption (and to a lesser/technical extent cannibalism as well) as a... metaphor for love and obsession, and frequently eroticizes it. I hesitate to say metaphor because it's honestly VERY obvious lmao. Especially with how genuinely autistic Laios is about monsters and eating them. Then there's also transformation and change that's also VERY eroticized. A lot of the focus of Dungeon Meshi is desire. How people experience it, and just how far people will go for it. Which, again, is super eroticized a LOT. All done in a tasteful(? not sure if this is the right word but yk) way and not in a surface level "LOOK, SEX!!!!!!!!!" way. Not that there's anything inherently WRONG with being horny and not being like profound about it but I'm just trying to make a point lol

Now to specifically talk about the anime since that's what you mentioned wanting to watch (though I REALLY reccommend the manga, it is fucking GORGEOUS and there are so many hilarious panels that haven't been brought over to the anime, despite how well it's been doing with that so far. It just happens with turning a manga into an anime yk?)! It's doing a really good job so far!! The only issues I have are relatively nitpicky (I've gone into detail abt it if you wanna see here) and more of an issue with modern anime overall so! They're doing a really great job of translating over from the page to the screen and the voice acting work (both the original japanese and english dub) is really fucking good. And I don't typically like modern english dubs. The layout of the episodes is really nice so far too, centering around the "dish/es of the day" without feeling too constrictively like your typical "monster of the week" type episodes. It helps that Dungeon Meshi as a media itself strikes a really good balance between that and its storytelling. Though again. Laios is genuinely SO fucking autistic about monsters and eating them lmao and the series focuses on him/his party so! There's so much good in depth discussion about monsters, both their biology (especially in relation to their taste hehe) as well as their natures, and ecology!

I'm also really a fan of netflix releasing the episodes weekly instead of dropping them all at once. It's refreshing coming from netflix specifically considering their... track record.

But anyway yeah! TYSM Marty for coming to me about this and letting me go on an autistic talk about it!! I only apologize for not being more specific, but a lot of my dunmesh posting (reblogs anyway since I'm pretty sure the posts I've MADE about it have been relatively vague??) is already pretty spoilery and I'm a firm believer in a first watch/read being as spoiler free as possible!! It makes subsequent rewatches/rereads all the more fun to me personally <3 Though that's obviously up to you lol

[secretceremonials]

I'm completely fascinated by Cassandra's character. But I noticed that here on Tumblr some people romanticize her relationship with Agamemnon and I was very surprised, as I always thought it was obvious that it was a toxic relationship. You seem to understand more about this subject than I do, but did Cassandra have any affection for Agamemnon? Or even Agamemnon for her?

Hi anon! And thank you for the question, I had a lot of fun writing this.

That's a very complicated question, but I'll be my best (disclaimer that I'm not an expert, but I do read a lot).

We do have to take the relationship in its cultural context a little bit. A lot of people do seem to make Agamemnon a lot worse than he is in the texts. The fact that he took a concubine after a war would have been completely acceptable behaviour (Achilles does it, and we mostly forgive him), and doesn't really prove that he must have been violent to her or anything like that. I'm not saying that these attitudes are, or were ever, okay, but the fact that he is coming from a society in which slavery was fine means we can't just assume he is a monster on the basis of him having a slave. But I think that considering this context can also only take us so far. I find it difficult to believe that victims were less troubled by these occurrences, just because they were an accepted part of their society.

In terms of how Agamemnon views Cassandra, I do think there is something resembling affection. In Aeschylus's Agamemnon, he asks Clytemnestra to be kind to her, and in Euripides's Hecabe, Hecabe appeals to Agamemnon almost as her son-in-law, asking for his help, considering the "warm embraces" he enjoys with Cassandra. In Euripides's Trojan Women, Agamemnon takes her as his "bride", and Talthybius remarks that "Love for the god-inspired girl pierced Agamemnon's heart" (James Morwood translation), again suggesting affection, not just lust for her. But, then again, as he cannot possibly have known Cassandra for long enough to base this love on anything except her looks, can we really say it's any different (there is also the view that Apollo orchestrated the pairing, more on that later)? Ultimately, he still feels entitled to marry (have sex with) this pretty girl, by virtue of him being the general of the army that destroyed her home (cultural context is important, but its still hard to see past some things). Still, I do think that this shows that the popular interpretation of Agamemnon as a cruel old man is inaccurate. He definitely cares about Cassandra, and really only feels entitled to her in a completely socially acceptable way.

How Cassandra views Agamemnon is a bit trickier I think. In Euripides’s Trojan Women, I struggle to read anything other than her hating him. She admittedly does express a desire to marry him, but this is because she views it as a way to ensure his death (even if it comes alongside hers). So, she is motivated entirely by a desire for revenge, firmly believing that the match was orchestrated by Apollo, meaning that any acceptance she shows isn’t really any sign of love, just submitting to her fate with the knowledge that she is sealing his. In Aeschylus’s Agamemnon, I think there is a bit more apparent affection. She obviously hates Clytemnestra, and speaks badly of her murder of Agamemnon, which she callas an “accused deed” (Henry Howard translation), so this dislike doesn’t just seem to be of the woman who will kill her, but mourning for Agamemnon as well. 

I think it’s worth noting as well that these characters are really more archetypes that can fulfil a different role in whatever story they are involved in, than any concrete characters with distinct personalities. So even amongst ancient sources, opinions vary depending on what the writer intended to use them to show. For example, Aeschylus's Agamemnon is a pretty standard tragic hero plot. Here it makes sense to portray the relationship positively, to highlight Agamemnon as a hero and Clytemnestra as a villain (in very simple terms, since I’d need a whole essay to get into it fully). On the other hand, In the Trojan Women, Euripides was trying to commentate on the horror and futility of war, particularly for the women of the losing side, so it makes much more sense for Cassandra to hate her new master and be vengeful towards him. I would say that even the modern retellings can be valid as well, they are just taking these archetypes, and applying them to their own narrative (it’s just that the extent from which they have derived from the myth varies considerably).

Basically, how I view them depends almost entirely on what version I am reading. When I make my own interpretation, I would say that I don't romanticise them, and that I generally view Agamemnon as somewhat loving Cassandra, but Cassandra despising him, although he treats he fairly well. At the end of the day, he is the general behind the army that ruined her life. I do also sometimes like portrayals where they have a better relationship, but this is more because I love Cassandra and want to see her be happy than anything else.

So overall, it's not very clear cut, and a lot of Agamemnon hate is a bit unjustified (he acts like a petulant child sometimes, but honestly every hero does). While I don't think it is possible to ignore the fact that Cassandra has no agency in the relationship, it may be worthy of note that even in modern law, she could still be capable of consenting (evidential presumptions would fall onto the defence to prove the presence of consent under s75 of the Sexual offences act 2003, so consent would actually still be hypothetically possible, just harder to prove in current English law, obviously not super relevant here, but I do think it is interesting that this isn't automatically legally rape- I am stretching the statute a bit here to say that Cassandra's slavery is akin to unlawful detention, which isn't strictly true, but since slavery is illegal in any case it's the closest comparison I could think of).

Their relationship is inherently unequal, and impossible to form a conclusive judgement on, but I don't think either extreme view is particularly helpful for analysis (although completely fine for making your own interpretations).

[carewyncromwell]

"I don't know if there's a reason Why some are blessed, some not -- Why the few you seem to favor... They fear them -- flee them -- try not to see them...!"

~"God Help the Outcasts (cover)" by Peter Hollens

x~x~x~x

The British Ministry of Magic was in a lot of flux politically in the 1990's. This was most obvious after the Ministry's elected leadership was overthrown by a Death Eater insurgency in the summer of 1997, but even prior to the Second Wizarding War, the pendulum was definitely in motion. It was a time that magical historians would claim required strong leadership, so as to fight the normalization of certain aspects of the blood supremacist ideology. Sadly, all the British Ministry of Magic had in regard to leadership was Cornelius Fudge. And Cornelius Fudge was far too conservative, people-pleasing, pacifistic, and power-hungry to truly see just how dangerous the people he'd surrounded himself with were -- the most dangerous of which being future Hogwarts High Inquisitor and Head of the Muggle-Born Registration Commission, Dolores Jane Umbridge.

Dolores Umbridge held the role of Senior Undersecretary to the Minister, when Carewyn Cromwell first started working at the Department of Magical Law Enforcement as a lawyer in the summer of 1991. They actually met in Carewyn's first week on the job, when Fudge approached her in the hall on his way back to his office. Carewyn was a bit surprised by how cordial Fudge was to her, but apparently her part in R's defeat and apprehension had left the Minister with a rather favorable opinion of her.

"After all you did for the Aurors, and for Hogwarts itself -- why, it's a pleasure, to have you on-board, Carewyn, my dear," Fudge said warmly. "Should you ever need anything, anything at all, you just let me know. After all -- " he waggled his eyebrows, " -- technically, we...are family by marriage. My niece having married your uncle, you know..."

The thought of Blaise Cromwell made Carewyn just barely fight back a cringe.

"...Really," she said with a pained smile. "I was unaware..."

"Yes," said Fudge with a sigh. "It is sad that you never got to meet her...even her poor son really would've never met her, he was but a babe when she died..."

He smiled a bit more fully. "But no matter! No sense lamenting the past, when the future lies before us!"

"Very true, Minister," said the pink-dressed woman at his side in an oddly girlish, simpering tone of voice. "We must indeed look toward the future. There is much that we must do, to improve our world -- protect past precedent and reinforce those things people seek to revoke...wouldn't you say so, Miss Cromwell?"

She peered at Carewyn through her heavy, pouched eyes, clearly studying her intently. Carewyn got the distinct impression she was looking for a very specific answer, but even just wading through Umbridge's emotions -- sensing her gross condescension and nasty intent -- made the young lawyer feel as dirty and slimy as she was walking barefoot through a swamp.

"Reinforce those things people seek to revoke" -- why was it that Carewyn saw illustrations of werewolves reflected in Umbridge's eyes, as she said this...?

Carewyn pursed her red lips slightly, breaking eye contact with Umbridge as quickly as she could and trying hard not to shudder outwardly.

"...I would say that past precedent must be considered in all legal cases," she said diplomatically, "but the intent of the original author, and the morality and validity of that intent, can be just as important. After all, wizarding society has never been static -- it's a living, growing thing...and when certain laws are no longer applicable or are in otherwise need of revision...sometimes they must be reexamined through a modern lens. Just as new laws also deserve some scrutiny. I'd hazard to say that's the role of the Wizengamot overall."

Umbridge frowned deeply, clearly displeased. Fudge, however, responded quite favorably.

"Well said!" he said with a clap of his hands. "Just what I've always said -- a balance of the old and new, that's always what's best -- "

Umbridge's eyes narrowed ever-so-slightly as she smiled.

"...It seems you have a ready wit, Miss Cromwell. You truly do take after Charles...oh! When it comes to making a legal argument, naturally," she added, with an insincere little laugh.

Fudge, on the other hand, cleared his throat very loudly, looking incredibly uncomfortable. "Yes, yes, of course, you -- you couldn't be further from that -- that criminal, when it comes to your moral convictions, Carewyn, my dear..."

He turned on his heel, still smiling weakly over his shoulder at Carewyn.

"Well, now, we'd really best be off, Dolores. Lovely to see you, Carewyn! Do send a note by my office anytime, should you need anything!"

"Thank you, sir," Carewyn said politely.

She shot a very furtive look toward Umbridge, who forced a rather sickeningly sweet smile.

"Good day, Miss Cromwell," she said in that unpleasantly simpering voice. "The Minister and I look very forward to seeing how your career progresses."

Carewyn doubted Umbridge had ever lied more through her teeth in her life. Quite honestly, though, all Carewyn really cared about was that the older woman was finally out of range of her potentially sensing her emotions.

Emotions -- yeah, right, Carewyn couldn't help but rant internally as she quickly turned and strode off back toward her office. More like her bog of ego, pretension, condescension, and flat-out spite. The way she thought about werewolves, when she mentioned reinforcing old precedent...only someone who wants werewolves subjugated would want them treated as badly as they've always been...and that hatred, in her -- it was like mud, being splashed all over me -- like when Jacob and I had to talk to Lucius Malfoy at that Slug Club party...

Whoever the hell this Dolores Umbridge was, Carewyn quickly decided she wanted nothing to do with her. They had only just met, but Carewyn already knew it, in the pit of her stomach -- she hated that woman.

x~x~x~x

For the next two and a half years, Carewyn successfully kept her distance from the likes of Dolores Jane Umbridge. Then, most unfortunately, in the spring of 1994, Umbridge wrote a draft of a new bill for Fudge, proposing the curtailing of the kinds of employment that known werewolves were allowed to pursue -- preventing them from working in any position that would put them in contact with animals, children, or even other people.

Carewyn was absolutely horrified by the contents of this bill. She was very well aware, through her friendships with Chiara Lobosca and Remus Lupin, how very difficult it was for werewolves to find and keep a job. With this new law in effect, there would be almost no position that either of them could remain in, if they were open with their condition. Chiara had some friends in St. Mungo's who might be able to find a work-around so as to keep her as a resource, but poor Lupin -- who had always struggled to find work in the educational field -- would likely be left out to dry.

Fortunately there were other witches and wizards on the court, such as Amelia Bones, who harbored similar concerns, and soon a motion had been filed to bring the bill before the Wizengamot, to discuss its possible violation of the Wizard's Code of Civil Rights. Carewyn immediately volunteered to serve as prosecutor for the case.

When she arrived in court that day, she was dressed to the nines in mint green and white, her red lips sternly pursed as she laid out her case.

"Members of the Wizengamot -- I know that we all come from a variety of backgrounds. Some of us were raised with magic -- some not. Some of us have struggled to reach our current position -- others have not. Most of us attended Hogwarts school, but some of us received our magical education elsewhere. But one thing I am quite sure all of us were always well-assured of is that we would never have to worry about there being no place for us. That after all of our study, work, and occasionally even sacrifice, our World would turn its back on us, denying us any chance at financial livelihood and building a future for ourselves and our families. "...What would you do, I wonder, if that happened to you? Would you find employment in the Muggle World? With what qualifications? With what degree? I assure you, not even the most basic customer service job in the Muggle World will have any interest in your awards for Potioneering. "The Wizard's Code of Civil Rights makes the assertion that all magic users shall be entitled to the protection of our Ministry of Magic and the safety to pursue a life of our choosing within the magical World that Ministry has sworn to oversee and regulate. In more recent years, we even expanded those protections to partially cover non-magic users with a blood connection to our Wizarding World, such as Squibs and the Muggle spouses of witches and wizards who've given birth to a magical child. We have already decided that those people who belong to our World, whether due to magical talent or familial ties, deserve to be able to make a living in that World. And yet now, this bill seeks to curtail the Civil Rights of some of our own citizens to find stable employment in the field of their choice. "These citizens...suffer from lycanthropy. As all of you should know, this results in them transforming into a werewolf during full moons -- a form that can be controlled, while the person takes the Wolfsbane Potion, as well as safely restrained, if the person can't get access to it. There have been only two known werewolf attacks in the last ten years, even while it's estimated that there are at least 200 werewolves living and working quietly in our society. 200 werewolves who -- over the span of the last 120 months -- have been nothing but productive members of society -- normal human magic users just like you, who deserve no hatred or fear for a condition they didn't choose to have. For that's what they are -- witches and wizards, just like you! Only a tiny, tiny fraction of werewolves today are Muggles -- a mere 1.5%, of all reported cases, due to the well-documented mortality rate among Muggles bitten in werewolf attacks, compared to wizards. Just as I am still a human witch, even when I transform into my Animagus form, so too are these werewolves still people, even while transformed. And in these cases where they're not transformed, and therefore no threat to anyone, there is even less of an argument to be made for why they should be denied of their basic human rights. "Thank you."

Alas, the defense counteracted all of Carewyn's reason and pleas for compassion and decency with one vile, simplistic argument.

"The prosecution innocently accuses this bill of violating the Wizard's Code of Civil Rights, by denying witches and wizards their proper rights, as humans. But, members of the Wizengamot, werewolves are not human. Even when they look human, they're not. If they truly were just 'normal human beings like the rest of us,' then why don't we determine their fate, when they commit wrongs against the Wizarding World? Why don't the Aurors deal with them, rather than the Werewolf Capture Unit? We have better things to do than deal with the likes of Fenrir Greyback -- he belonged at the mercy of the Werewolf Capture Unit, and the Beast division by extension. Because that's what they are -- beasts. They don't need lawyers, or trials, or even legal defense -- they're creatures we have to regulate. Like dragons or winged horses. And if they have the ability to blend in among us as they have, then the very least we can do is ensure the safety of our children."

The defense's counterargument lasted only half the time that Carewyn's original statement had...and it took only half that time for the Wizengamot to ultimately side with the defense case and let the bill drafted by Dolores Umbridge stand. Carewyn was unable to face anyone in the courtroom as she shakily sat back down at the prosecution bench, holding the edge of the railing.

The defense case was flat-out prejudice: blatant, underhanded fearmongering, and little else. Of course werewolves' affairs were dealt with by the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, but that wasn't an argument in favor of their disenfranchisement, it only highlighted all the more how much the Wizarding World already treated them unfairly! It only spotlighted how much the Ministry of Magic already treated werewolves as second-class citizens, and how much better it should be, in how it tries to "protect" its people, werewolves included!

And yet, even with that...the Wizengamot had chosen it. No matter how much Carewyn had urged them to look past the fear tactics and see reason -- to feel some compassion for the werewolves' untenable position...they'd ultimately sided with their own prejudices and fears.

She'd failed.

The faces of Chiara and Lupin ran over Carewyn's mind, and she was forced to close her eyes and bow her head, trying to obscure the pain in her expression.

It's my fault, Lupin -- Chiara, she thought. I wasn't good enough. ...I'm so sorry...

"Good day, Miss Cromwell," said a sickeningly sweet voice.

Carewyn had felt miserable enough as it was -- but looking up and suddenly feeling like she was knee-deep in a bog of pretension and spite did not help matters.

Her blue eyes narrowed coldly. "...Madam Umbridge."

Dolores Umbridge was smiling from ear to ear as she regarded Carewyn. She seemed to take some vindictive glee at the younger woman's unhappiness -- Carewyn could sense a noxious kind of sadistic pleasure pooling off of her.

"There, there," Umbridge said in a very unconvincing voice, as she gave a pretentious little pat to Carewyn's hand, "we can't win 'em all, can we?"

Carewyn whipped her hand right out of Umbridge's reach, her blue eyes boring into her coldly. Umbridge's smile only seemed to grow.

"Forgive me, dear, but you just made a weaker case," she said lightly. "Standing by the weak may seem like a very noble endeavor, at first glance...but you know, sometimes all those weak things do is bring you down, rather than build you up."

Her pouchy, toad-like eyes narrowed that bit more as her smile widened.

"Perhaps next time you'll find a case where you can champion the winning side."

Carewyn was very happy when Umbridge turned and strode off -- just wallowing in her sickening, unpleasant thoughts had made her too nauseous to respond.

x~x~x~x

As fate would have it, after the Second Wizarding War came to a close, Umbridge and Carewyn met in another courtroom overseen by the Wizengamot just after New Years, 1999. This time, however, Umbridge was in the defendant's chair...and Carewyn was Lead Prosecutor.

“And so…esteemed members of the Wizengamot…based on the overwhelming evidence – the factually bankrupt, inflammatory anti-Muggle and Muggle-born leaflets sent out by the defendant’s Commission and promoted by the defendant herself; the transcripts of trials overseen by the defendant that spell out blatant corruption and unsanctioned cross-examination techniques, including having Dementors present during all trials and actively refusing to give any defendant proper legal representation; the testimony of over fifty Ministry employees, speaking to the defendant’s close working relationships with known Death Eaters and to her own willingness to overlook Wizarding Law to advance herself and her Commission’s political aims; the countless memos written in the defendant’s own hand condemning nearly a thousand people, including over a hundred children, to unjust captivity; and the defendant’s well-known reputation among her ex-students, her coworkers, and even her own family for enjoying the suffering of others and persecuting fellow wizards and witches not just for their blood, but also for suffering from medical conditions like lycanthropy and blood maledictions – all of which the defense has offered no suitable defense for, aside from incorrectly asserting that the defendant was ‘simply following orders’ from her superiors…I think there is no question as to her guilt, or to what justice would be appropriate. Although I – as a private citizen of the Wizarding World – agree with Minister Shacklebolt’s measure to remove the Dementors from Azkaban prison…I must acknowledge that if there were ever a case for a criminal from our world deserving the Dementor’s Kiss…it would be Dolores Jane Umbridge. But because we – unlike the defendant – have a code of honor before us that we will not break just to achieve a political objective…I believe it’s our solemn duty to ensure this basilisk in human skin never walks free again.”

As Umbridge was sentenced to life in Azkaban, Carewyn took the opportunity to speak to her as her Auror friend Talbott Winger conjured thick chains around her wrists, feet, and neck. The sadistic witch nicknamed "Dementor Dolores" by the Daily Prophet had no color in her paunchy, toad-like face and looked torn between mad outrage and absolute terror. Those two emotions only flared up all the more when Carewyn approached her.

"You -- you wretched little -- !"

Talbott gave a pointed tug with his wand, sharply tightening the chain around her neck the way someone might yank on their dog's lead to tell them to stop barking -- Umbridge gave a strangled yelp of pain.

"I seem to recall you once suggested I fight for the 'winning side,' Dolores," Carewyn said lowly.

The Ministry's new Chief Prosecutor regarded Umbridge with a look better suited to a cockroach before turning her back on her.

"Unbeknownst to you...I always was."

Umbridge's mouth fell open in a mixture of disbelief, terror, and anger as Talbott handed her off to two other Aurors, who proceeded to drag her from the room.

"You -- you can't do this to me!" Umbridge shrieked. "You can't do this! Unhand me, this instant! Let go of me! Let me GO!"

Talbott came up to stand on Carewyn's other side, watching Umbridge get dragged away, his reddish eyes flaring with contempt.

"Charming woman," he said with biting sarcasm.

"More or less charming than a snake pit?" Carewyn asked dryly.

"I'd kiss that entire pit full of snakes on the mouth before being in the same room as her a second time," said Talbott.

Carewyn bit her lip to hold in a soft giggle. Talbott smirked broadly.

"Still...at least justice can finally now be served," Carewyn said with a soft sigh. "This won't undo all the harm she's caused...but at least she can't hurt anyone else again. And that, in itself, guarantees that she'll be miserable for the rest of her worthless life."

Talbott nodded solemnly. "That has to be a small comfort, to those she's hurt."

He brought a hand down on Carewyn's shoulder and gave it a squeeze. Carewyn smiled at her old friend, and the two walked out of the courtroom side by side.

"Are you up for a celebratory drink? I owe you and Ben, for volunteering to serve as security during my trials..."

"Quit saying you owe us for that -- you know we're doing it because we want to. ...Heh...but sure, why not? Reckon we deserve something other than coffee, after all the late nights we've been working..."

[karimwillia]

Part 14

Warnings: Plot

Disclaimer: I needed to add some life and background to Shuri. She is not just an athlete she is a brilliant artist who lost some of her spark. Her meeting Riri who has a passion for tech and helping people. Mix them together we see the Power Couple.

The next morning the smell of bacon fills the air waking Shuri just enough to hear Sha in the kitchen making breakfast. “Wake up you two!” Sharon softly shouts. “You all stayed up too late. Let’s go, we have to start prep for later. So dinner can be on time.” The girls untangle themselves from holding each other groaning. “Ugh do we have too?” Protesting they slowly get up. “Yes you do. It’s not my fault you all were up doing god knows what.” The memories of last night cause them to smile shyly at each other before they go about getting ready for the day.

Shuri purchased them a set of matching hoodies today, it’s just the perfect level corny that is cute. “You two are so adorable, young love.” Sharon serves out breakfast and explains the tasks they each have to get done. “Dove is like Mami. She likes a good matching outfit for pictures.” Sha looks up at Ri. “Oh no! She’s going to torture your future kids I see. It’s ok they can come to Auntie's house.” Shuri is a little offended. “It’s not that bad. They are Champion.” Riri pecks Shuri’s lips as she laughs. “It’s not but it is corny.”

Breakfast ends and the house is all a buzz with the tasks for tonight’s special event being done. There is Christmas music blasting as they sing and dance all about. Shuri and Ri both take any chance they get to hug or touch while they get everything situated in the house. This is Shuri’s first Christmas in Chicago even though she’s lived here all her life. Her family normally travels during the holidays to some island or back home in Congo. She can recall asking to have a normal Christmas all the time as a child. Just like this one but her family was huge on their traditions.

The distinct sound of the front door breaks everyone’s concentration. “Hey can I have a little help?” Ronnie chirps out entering the house with her hands full. Shuri runs to grab the grocery bags. “Morning Ma, how was your shift?” “It was hectic but I made it. Small sacrifice for 3 days off in a row. I see you girls working hard. What is done on the list so far.”

“That is so worth it. So far I have been cleaning all morning but I think I got everything straightened up nicely. Sha is in the kitchen and Ri well she got the decorations put up in no time.”

Walking into the house it really felt like a winter wonderland. The tree is covered in mostly red and gold ornaments mixed with the hand made ones Sharon and Riri have made over the years. The mantle above the fireplace is decorated with garland and lights and there is an extra S stocking this year hanging up. Small gift boxes are starting to appear under the tree. The smell from the kitchen is sweet as Sharon is baking the pies, cakes and cookies. Shuri was in awe of the magical feeling. Considering this is her first time she stepped back to realize her surroundings. She never wants to let this feeling go. Ronnie notices and places a warm hand on Shuri’s back.

This was all part of a huge plan hatched by Ronnie and Romanda. Tonight Shuri doesn’t even know that her own Mother and Big Brother will be here tonight for this dinner. While on the trip Romanda could tell that Shuri was struggling with missing her Father even though she kept the emotion silent. No matter what Romanda knows her child so she called Ronnie to gain some perspective.

Today is her Father’s Birthday and he always traveled to celebrate it. Romanda kept that alive after his death just to give them some normalcy even though it was just a sad reminder. This year it was not possible to go anywhere because Shuri wanted to be at home for Riri. Ronnie suggested that maybe Shuri needed to do something new to keep her mind off of things. So they allowed the girls to have this time together to give Shuri her first Christmas at home. It seems to be working. Her mood is much lighter.

Riri comes up behind Shuri hugging her and greets her Mom. “Hi Mami! How is my tree?” Beaming a look at the girls Ronnie is grateful. “It is a beautiful tree Baby. But I like how Shuri is getting my hug. Panther, are you trying to take my Baby?” With a face Riri lets go and hugs her Mom. “Sorry Mami, I couldn't help it.” Shuri chimes in. “Ma I just need you to know I never would do that. I am willing to share her.” Ronnie lightly hits Shuri walking out of the room. “Good answer. Because once she’s yours completely, no take backs.”

“I promise she’ll be mine forever.” The grin on Shuri’s face is so bright. Did she just say forever? Riri looks at her when she turns around and smirks. “You better mean that.” “I do. Here I’ll even promise you right now.” Shuri holds the gaze as she sticks out her pinky to Ri. Hooking their pinkies. “I Shuri Udaku promise Rihanna Williams you will be mine for the rest of my life and yours.” She then kisses her thumb. “You are so corny Dove.” Ri played it off but that was so sweet. They get up laughing and finish up everything for the night.

Dinner time was approaching fast meaning last touches to the table where set. Then everyone had to freshen up according to Mrs Williams dress code for the night. Cream, Black and Gold is the required color scheme for the evening. The smell of soul food and baked goods in the air makes everyone hungry. The doorbell rings as everyone’s expected guests are starting to arrive. M’Baku, Aneka and Ayo, MJ, Sharon’s “best friend” Quinten, and Allison arrive right in time to mingle. As they mingle the final plate is set to the table signally the start to dinner. “Alright everyone, let's choose our seats.” Ronnie announces and the group files into the dinning room. “Mrs Williams, this food is ig worthy.” MJ says, snapping pictures of the beautifully appetizing dishes.

“Thank you M just a little something I threw together. Please bow your heads for grace.” Ronnie starts “Heavenly Father we come to you in thanks. For the food, friends and family surrounding us.” With the distraction, Romanda, and Okoye join the table. Okoye’s voice was smooth and warm as she continued the prayer. “Also for allowing us to be able to give and have love in this season. Amen.”

Shuri’s head shoots up; she can’t believe it; she tears up running to hug her cousin. Riri is surprised, also walking to hug Shuri’s Mother. “Ma how did you?” Romanda embraces Riri warmly, smiling. “Us Mothers can never reveal our tricks.” Okoye rubs Shuri’s back and wipes her tears. “Hey there Little Panther.” “Cousin, how did you get time off?” “Mère pulled some strings so I could be here with you.” Okoye is the only person that after Baba passed who didn’t baby her. She pushed Shuri to keep going and make Baba proud. Then she became Shuri’s first Basketball and Track coach. Okoye was holding onto Shuri. “Hey Oko I love you if you smell this food. We need to catch up later.” They make it back to their seats and enjoy the holiday meal as loved ones.

@somethingcleaverandwhitty @mal-urameshi @shuriris-stuff @dominiquesheart @neptoons1998

[horizon-verizon]

Thank you for recommending more amazing blogs!

I'll be sure to check them out!

and oh my god I know right the costumes?

and listen,okay,they aren't even a little accurate for any kind of time period they are supposedly represting but on top of all that they are also so boring and bland?

Like okay for peasants sure,they have better things to do that worry about fashion but this is royalty come on!

Especially if it is supposed to be a statement!

Don't get me started on wigs,the one that offends the most other than the entire Velarayion family is Daemon's!

Like look what they did to my boy?

Matt Smith is a very attractive man with very unique features and from what I saw short hair suits him best.

And yeah I know he has long hair in the books but if you can some many liberties with everything else surely it wouldn't bee asking too much right?

I think I love him when returns from the stepstones the best other than the ugly ass crown.

that hairstyle suits him.keep that.

Aemond's actor has a face that is suited for the long wig keep that

Heleana is actually invisible most of the time so I don't mind the wig

I guess we can forgive the Aegon one too,looks a little too fake sometimes tho,the man is pretty so he looks good anyway I guess

while on subject of hair and wigs, Rhaenyra's when I read the book I kinda imagined Lucretia from the Borgias or something?The elaborate hairstyles and all?

Meanwhile what is up with Rhaenys,didn't she have darker hair in the books?

I swear to God these writers put everyone in the wig and made absolutely everyone not distinctive so that whole Rhaenyra has bastards more obvious.

Kinda reminds me of that whole Cersei and her kids debacle when hair was used as distinctive trait because apparently all of Robert's bastards had dark hair and that therefore mean she is cheating and like?

Ok I know she is but that is most flimsy excuse for some cucking someone ever?

Like did Robert have a Lannister bastard somewhere?How do you know that Lannister genes just aren't stronger huh?

But yeah feudal society and all that jazz.

But seriously when I saw that they cast mostly black actors as Velarayion's I was kinda confused?

I don't particularly care either way but like they weren't in the books were they?

Kinda felt to me like they were leaning really hard into that Rhaenyra's kids are bastards obviously because look they are all white as hell or something?

Like I hope it's not something like that but that casting makes no sense and of course everyone was amazing in the miniscule roles they had but if this is supposed to be some sort of representation for anyone,they really dropped the ball?

They seemed to be kinda portray as greedy and bitter or just not important at all?

Rhaenys is old and bitter and overall a moron in Aegon's coronation scene, doesn't seem to have any connection to any of her family despite growing up with them?

Corlys just seems to be there to be disseagred by Viserys and Otto both for being too greedy.

Laenor is just a witless gay love interest.

Laena is crazy and delusional and completely unimportant and apparently content being Daemon's doormat despite having the biggest fuck off dragon there?

I saw people saying her death was epic?it was stupid,what it was,was stupid.

Traumatic for her kids and Daemon, horrifying for herself and it manages to make everyone in that keep look like an absolute moron how exactly did that heavily pregnant woman manage to escape all of you?

Like it comes off as surface level cool her and Rhaenys both but then you consider it and it's actually a dumb,like remember the time Daenerys burned all the food vagons or whatever in season 6/7?

This is worse.

And that's this whole family,Baela and Rhaena don't even have a character other than to show that Daemon sucks as a dad despite the fact Laena would have kicked his ass for it and aslo why would he a terrible father?I don't understand this take?

And of course the one scene that involves the Velarayion's is when Daemon the crazy white guy inbred supremacist went and killed the innocent completely in the right random brother of Corlys that spoke the truth about Rhaenyra and her kids despite the fact that every normal ruler would have them killed too,all so the mainstream audience can yell afoul about racism and white privilege and crazy Targaryens and Daemon the psycho?They literally recreated Ned's execution here but with racial implication,with Daemon being Joffrey and the executioner here and this is somehow respectful and we'll handled to anyone?

Not saying that black actors can't be villians or be killed by white villians but I am just saying that an obvious social justice racial implication was tried here.

Everyone here comes across as one dimensional and bland expect Daemon and they keep giving the Greens more and more poor baby traits but it clashes so badly with their established characters that it gives a whiplash?

Like I am not sure if I should be concerned or not,I go to ao3 and Aemond is one of the most popular characters,tho this is usually common when a character is unbelievably bland,blank and boring and a conventionaly attractive actor plays them,so what does that say about this character?

People rewrite him to suit their needs I guess.

No but seriously,they gave the Green characters sad backstories but no character to speak off and agency,not to mention on top of all that because they changed so much characters come across as idiots.

Especially with all this fantasy bullshit too.

Heleana sees the future, doesn't do shit with it other exposition because they established it so poorly that they need to remind you somehow that this story ended in a bloody dynastic dispute.

Because really what does Rhaenyra and Aegon have with each other?They haven't spoken to each other once!

Why is Aegon convinced that Rhaenyra is good for the throne when he's been raised by anti black team and doesn't know her personally?

Why doesn't she want the throne is he that aware and concerned about his short comings and yet he doesn't absolutely anything to change it and the people in the Green team just apparently love miserable people who apparently the entire world is against that refuse to shit for themselves and expect pity from you?

Seriously the coronation is a out to happen and this guy is in a brothel?Okay that should tell us he doesn't respect the position,terrible spoiled,privileged etc but no apparently that was him trying to not get crowned or something?

Seriously the plot is trying really hard to make you sympathize with him but like okay of he was supposed the spoiled privileged son of the king and he doesn't want the throne and yet he is still here enjoying privileges?Is he insane or an idiot?is everyone here just insane?

Mf ffss you have a whole ass dragon you could have been in Naath by now!

Done,no conflict, expect maybe if they put Aemond or something but neither he or Aegon are the rightful rulers here.

I wouldn't trust this guy with a bowl of cereal much less the kingdom?

This is supposed be the guy that dismissed Otto and put Aemond the psycho as his hand?

But this again has been put here so the green team could look innocent in comparison because look Aegon didn't want the throne and mean Rhaenyra started all this

Listen being complacent and not doing anything is just as bad as doing something.

There was plenty of time for this guy to dip but no because the actual character isn't like this.

Aemond is a straight up psycho.They legit gave him psycho killer he was bullied as a kid backstory.And that apparently justified everything else.The fuck?

This idiot that openly talks about treason on someone's funeral and openly admits that he would steals his brother's wife and that he deserves the crown because he is obviously so much better than his weak incompetent brother?like anyone who likes this character,I am not judging I am just saying you made a bold choice.he comes across as a parody of what the writers think they wrote Daemon as and Daemon is still better because grrm didn't give Aemond depth at all and you can just see who's the better writer

And then this fucker is arguing about rights and the rightful heir and calling people whores and bastards, don't these people realize how insane they come off across?you are defending this maniac killing someone who in his standards is collateral damage because he has better blood or because your mother and father are actually married?insanity.try and justify this to anyone who isn't a crazy blood supremacist

Like the show itself stated that Rhaenyra tried and failed which means uncomfortable lay back and think of England already with a gay person but wouldn't that also means that Leanor is probably just infertile considering bit obviously isn't Rhaenyra

But obviously Rhaenyra is at fault for everything and Daemon too probably

Not to mention Aemond and his siblings are all half breeds too so even by his own crazy blood supremacy logic this doesn't work but he is a man so of course he is better and they call him a feminist

Man was blind and deluded when he had both eyes now he's just insane too girl bye

Honestly for heaven's sake if this was a murder mystery Aemond is that one idiot who bragged about how much he hates the victim and that he learned this really cool slashing trick with his new cool sword.idiot.

Why isn't Aegon afraid of him or something?He bullied him with the others too or does Aemond just see people who aren't family as okay to belittle and trample? Isn't this something they usually accuse of Daemon too?Also Alicent is shown being okay with this too.You may cuff him about at home as much as you want but outside we are united.Or something.

Also not a fan of this whole dragons don't listen to their riders thing either,like bye.Iy just so happens that the one time the dragon goes crazy is the one horrible act that Aemond pulled on his own volition?

I can't even blame the dragon here,you chased the child with it what was Vhagar supposed to do here?

Alicent is a straight up delusional doormat too.Under the impression that if she married Rhaenyra's father they could still somehow be friends,wanting Rhaenyra to respect the rules and be as miserable as she is because she lacks a spine and the show wants me to believe that they are still somehow friends?

And the show frames Alicent as helping her and being sad as if she is in the right here too!!

At least Aegon and Alicent both parallel the absolute lack of spine here that's something. Ah but Otto forced them both and yet they accepted.

And the show tells me Otto is a good father and wants the best for the kingdom or something and Daemon is insane ahah sure Jan.

Alicent know what the fuck she was doing what exactly prevented her from asking Viserys how Rhaenyra is on their nightly talks?She could have went to Rhaenyra too!

It is a miracle that no one saw any of it and ruined someone's reputation and made a scandal.

Viserys annoys so much too.How does someone compare your brother,your heir,to like the worst person in your whole family tree and you just go yeah but he's still my blood so I am stuck with him.

Imagine your siblings being compared to like Ted Bundy or Jeffrey Dahmer and you not decking whoever just told you that shit right there.Especially as the king.

Meanwhile the one time Corlys says anything even slightly iffy about Viserys,Daemon immediately cuts that out.

Like seriously Viserys how does Otto know this much about your daughter and brother,he is spying this is a red flag what normal monarch just waves this off?

Sword prophecy is stupid too.

And Daemon murdering his wife just didn't happen full stop,there is a difference between adapting and cheery picking to suit your biased needs.

Tldr;the show is wildly inconsistent,thank God for the cast and the brand because otherwise?doom.

@shokos-lazy-life

Damn, this was much.

I like Matt Smith in every wig except for the ones starting from episode 8. the short one was my favorite, with the episode 3 one my second favorite.

Childhood Helaena's wig w/o braids was atrocious.

"while on subject of hair and wigs, Rhaenyra's when I read the book I kinda imagined Lucretia from the Borgias or something?The elaborate hairstyles and all?"

I imagined Rhaenyra's hair to mostly be loose before marriage and both loose, up, and in updos after marriage. Lucrezia from the Borgias is a great reference, loved her hairstyles. Her style in general, female aristocratic Italian Renaissance style in general really. Yes, Rhaenyra would be decked out like her.

"Meanwhile what is up with Rhaenys,didn't she have darker hair in the books?"

Yes, she inherited black/dark brown hair from her Baratheon mother, Jocelyn. The daughter of Alyssa Velaryon (Jaehaerys I's mother) and Rogar Baratheon. As she gets older, Rhaenys gets white strips in her dark hair.

"Kinda reminds me of that whole Cersei and her kids debacle when hair was used as distinctive trait because apparently all of Robert's bastards had dark hair and that therefore mean she is cheating and like?"

This is in canon as well, that all of Cersei's kids are blond, which later inspires Ned to look through the Baratheon family notes. He finds out that Baratheons, even when having bastards with Lannisters, have dark-haired scions. So in the case of the Baratheons, the probability that the kid of a Baratheon and any other house will turn out to have dark hair is very high. High enough that it's justifiably expected.

"But seriously when I saw that they cast mostly black actors as Velarayion's I was kinda confused? I don't particularly care either way but like they weren't in the books were they? Kinda felt to me like they were leaning really hard into that Rhaenyra's kids are bastards obviously because look they are all white as hell or something? Like I hope it's not something like that but that casting makes no sense and of course everyone was amazing in the miniscule roles they had but if this is supposed to be some sort of representation for anyone,they really dropped the ball?"

In the original lore, no the Velaryons had pale skin. I conclude so because Westerosi makes it a point to note that the person they are looking at is dark-skinned (Daella's, Saera, and Cersei's reactions to Summer Islanders), and all the descriptions we have of Corlys, any Velaryon, and Laena and Laenor never describe skin color. Europeans and white people and their fictional analouges tend to not mention skin color in anything written about people when their skin is as pale as theirs.

A problem with making it a point of "making it obvious that they are bastards" through skin color and race is that in the original lore, the boys' dark hair could have been argued in-world as coming from Laenor through Rhaenys and that Baratheon dark-hair gene. (I don't believe these boys came from Laenor because that guy was very unwilling to have sex with a woman and barely spent time with Rhaenyra before their sons were threatened).

There was some sort of tension with how one can detect adultery, adultery, and parentage in the character's environment. Once you realized this one element of the hair is enough to throw these blood purist aristocrats who wish to usurp Rhaenyra to take advantage of her socially-demonized sexual activities for their own political goals. Once again, they had no way of telling the parentage, and to bring up that the boys might have inherited Rhaenys' hair would throw off doubters not for "truth's" sake (at least about parentage), but to protect those boys and Rhaenyra from ridiculous blood purism, misogyny, and greed. It's meant to signal to the audience this game of thrones/royals, that such things as what parentage and fidelity mean is really just too slippery and unreal themselves, subject to human will and cleverness.

However, the show making the Velaryons black primarily bc the writers and producers saw these actors as useful to just show how those boys are bastards reinforces the blood purity. We're just superficially using race and colorism to reinforce how Rhaenyra slept with someone outside of marriage and that's all, folks. She's more open to condemnation instead of us looking critically at the game being played. Why is it so important to make it "obvious", what point are the writer and producers making here? Why should we care that it's "obvious"? If you read the original lore well and consider who these people are, if you have even basic critical thinking skills, it's clear that these aren't Laenor's kids.

That was never the issue. The issue was that Rhaenyra's castigated and humiliated for finding sexual autonomy, safety, and intimacy when she was forced to marry a gay man for her father and Corlys' political goals and had to have kids or risk losing her position as heir and future Queen--since no one wants either a barren woman nor a ruler who can't produce heirs.

This story is about how a woman was destroyed, not how she was worth destroying!

The other thing is that it is disparaging to the black actors and Velaryons. The actors are basically used primarily as tools to criticize and demean one white women's adultery. It doesn't take their acting chops into consideration, and their race, rather than being about representation in fantasy media, is the primary casting requirement simply to again highlight other white actors and their character's conflicts.

Again, this is if that was the producer's primary reason for casting black people to play just the Velaryons. But there is heavy misogynoir, espe with Laena Velaryon dying a gruesome death that realistically no one would want or seek unless they were severely mentally unstable. And yes, in canon, she dies surrounded by family, including Rhaenyra. She tried to go to Vhagar, but to fly one last time with her, not to get flamed out of existence. Laena's death was unnecessarily more brutal than it was. There is also a known link to the practice of self-immolation being gendered, as some cultures have widows burn themselves after their husbands die, which implies that she has no purpose without him alive.

Also, it's not fair we didn't get to see her claim/ride Vhagar independently and thus be a dragonrider apart from any shared scene with Daemon. finally, we don't see how she processed being arranged to marry what looked like a 50-yr old man at 12.

"They [the Velaryons] seemed to be kinda portray as greedy and bitter or just not important at all? Rhaenys is old and bitter and overall a moron in Aegon's coronation scene, doesn't seem to have any connection to any of her family despite growing up with them?Corlys just seems to be there to be disseagred by Viserys and Otto both for being too greedy. Laenor is just a witless gay love interest. Laena is crazy and delusional and completely unimportant and apparently content being Daemon's doormat despite having the biggest fuck off dragon there?"

Corlys in the book was very eager to have a Velaryon marry into the Targ house to have grandkids/great-grandkids who are Velaryon for the prestige and influence. That was just accurate. As for Otto and Viserys's reactions to Corlys, I saw those scenes of them dismissing Corlys as negative on their part, not Corlys. I was on Corlys' side. continuously pushing him off regarding other stuff, like the St But they could have shown the Velaryons in their environment, amongst themselves, and how they interact, their dynamic as a family apart from the Targs. Corlys didn't need to be this simple guy that maester's notes couldn't expound on due to time difference and distance. Also, lack of care or imagination on the part of the writers.

Laenor was never a love interest precisely because he was gay. And he already had a lover in Joffrey. He filled a role that both acknowledged in their agreement, and for his show! witlessness, yes it's annoying considering that in the canon he stayed with her more often once their son Luke and the tensions got higher b/t Alicent and Rhaenyra:

I already talked about Laena.

"Like the show itself stated that Rhaenyra tried and failed which means uncomfortable lay back and think of England already with a gay person but wouldn't that also means that Leanor is probably just infertile considering bit obviously isn't Rhaenyra"

I don't think Laenor was infertile so much as he really couldn't bring himself to stay and commit to the sex repeatedly to inseminate Rhaenyra. I imagine they tried twice or three times and that's all Laenor could handle. And it's actually not a predictable or controlled thing, insemination. Sometimes it takes 5 tries for conception, sometimes once.

"And of course the one scene that involves the Velarayion's is when Daemon the crazy white guy inbred supremacist went and killed the innocent completely in the right random brother of Corlys that spoke the truth about Rhaenyra and her kids despite the fact that every normal ruler would have them killed too,all so the mainstream audience can yell afoul about racism and white privilege and crazy Targaryens and Daemon the psycho? They literally recreated Ned's execution here but with racial implication,with Daemon being Joffrey and the executioner here and this is somehow respectful and we'll handled to anyone?"

Never heard of this thought. I think the audience is just upset that a black man got got by a white man, but considering how the Velaryons are not black in canon and this is about a class dispute rather than a racial one, I think people should throw this idea out. Daemon kills Vaemond in the book, and by Rhaenyra's express order, too. It wasn't a race thing.

"This idiot [Aemond] that openly talks about treason on someone's funeral and openly admits that he would steals his brother's wife and that he deserves the crown because he is obviously so much better than his weak incompetent brother?like anyone who likes this character,I am not judging I am just saying you made a bold choice.he comes across as a parody of what the writers think they wrote Daemon as and Daemon is still better because grrm didn't give Aemond depth at all and you can just see who's the better writer"

Aemond wasn't saying he would "steal" Aegon's soon-to-be sister-wife, quite the opposite. He meant that if Alicent allowed it and if it was useful for their Ussurp-Rhaenyra cause (doing his "duty"), then he's gladly legally married Helaena. To castigate Aegon for not being willing. Aemond is very unserious, though, for putting it out there that he'd love to be the king over Aegon and not keeping that shit to himself, both in book or show.

"Also not a fan of this whole dragons don't listen to their riders thing either,like bye.Iy just so happens that the one time the dragon goes crazy is the one horrible act that Aemond pulled on his own volition? I can't even blame the dragon here,you chased the child with it what was Vhagar supposed to do here?"

Yep.

"Viserys annoys so much too. How does someone compare your brother,your heir,to like the worst person in your whole family tree and you just go yeah but he's still my blood so I am stuck with him. Imagine your siblings being compared to like Ted Bundy or Jeffrey Dahmer and you not decking whoever just told you that shit right there. Especially as the king. Meanwhile the one time Corlys says anything even slightly iffy about Viserys,Daemon immediately cuts that out. Like seriously Viserys how does Otto know this much about your daughter and brother, he is spying this is a red flag what normal monarch just waves this off?"

This made me laugh. Yes, there is a discrepancy, huh, bt how Viserys regards his brother and vice versa?

Viserys seems to want to over-placate and make the more powerful/least under his control (or so he thinks) person be willing to do his bidding after the example of the conciliatory Jaehaerys I. Problem is that Viserys' position and circumstances are different enough from Jaehaerys' that he needed to apply his might more.

[heatwayve]

NAOMI & JOSH & ANGEL — DAY FORTY.

location : daybeds.

time : day 40, morning

summary : naomi completes her challenge by getting angel to spoon her and josh hates it

featuring :  angel / @dobits + josh / @graftisms

naomi: on the surface it seems like a simple enough task, but it's not like you go up to some guy who's not your boyfriend like, 'oh my god, please, spoon me, i'm desperate.' it's actually so silly, and naomi feels like she's got her work cut out for her even when she talks to callie about it – obviously giving her a heads up. she takes the opportunity when angel's alone on the daybeds, curling up close next to him. "hey," she greets, voice and demeanor all soft, though kind of a hard sell to seem like a girl in need of some comfort after the night she had. "i'm sick of this, both of us being, like, wifed up and busy. you gotta make more time for me," she says.

angel: “sup, babes,” angel says. then, tongue firmly in his cheek, “i mean, mrs. josh.” mostly ‘cause he has no idea what the dude’s last name is. in any case, he reaches over to teasingly pinch her cheek. at least she can admit to being wifey, angel smiles at their paralleled domestication. “i’m a househusband, actually. different vibe.” he’d been stretched out on his back, arm tucked back behind his head, but rolls to his side to give naomi his full humored attention. “m’kay, gimme the gossip then. what’s been goin’ on with you?”

naomi: "yeah, yeah," she rolls her eyes, a smile playing at her lips, "whatever, mr. callie." maybe they're not as official in nomenclature but they may as well be, really, and she'd fight him on that. teeth snap at angel's fingertips as he reaches over to pinch her, trying to bite back. "yeah, what's the distinction then?" she asks him, moving in close so their bodies are touching, her head resting in the crook of his arm. "please, everybody in the villa knows what's up with me. though, wait, actually -" god, she actually has such a story to tell him about a missing vibrator, but it's so not a spooning vibe. she needs to temper the mood down or she's gonna have him giggling instead, calling callie back over to conspire or something. she takes a breath, "if i ask you something, you'll give it to me straight?"

angel: “the distinction is that i’m a big, manly husband, obviously,” he says like duh. like it wasn’t just yesterday he was proclaiming himself jude’s wifey. well, naomi’s right about that, it’s hard to miss updates about her when josh is literally shouting them from the rooftop. he interjects playfully in her pause, “what? is it true you were dressed up in a canadian flag when you asked him to be your boyfriend?” words travel in the villa, for sure, but not before getting goofily jumbled. plus, angel just likes to tease her. he turns more serious at her question though, brows popping up on his forehead as he nods earnestly. “yeah, of course. what’s up?”

naomi: "right, so that means you . . . mow the lawn, love to grill, listen to weezer?" she asks, nose crinkling. the suggestion that she'd be dressed up in the canadian flag to dtr sounds like something out of jay and silent bob go canadian, eh? (real film) so she's got to roll her eyes, but truthfully, angel's not even that far off. but all the cringe was kind of worth it for the look on josh's face. "mmh, yeah," she nods, playful smirk tugging at her lips, "and i was covered in maple syrup, too." endeared by the earnest shift in angel's demeanor, she smiles slightly. her comfort around him isn't a charade, though she's subtle about the way she turns her weight, glancing over her shoulder at him. at what point does it start to count as a full spoon? "do i look a total fucking mess right now? rate these eyebags."

angel: “mhm, m— weezer?” nose scrunches in a mimic of her’s. “iron maiden, baby. does your old man listen to weezer?” that would be hilarious, especially considering who her dad is (whose identity he’s learned since casa). there’s a distinct sweetness to her smile, probably not even related to the supposed syrup. he’s surprised she doesn’t argue that he was the one to ask her to be official, obviously. something cute about that, too. “awww,” angel squeezes her upper arm, shaking her a bit, before he lets it lay awkwardly between their bodies. he snorts some at her question, his arm still a barrier between them as he tries to lean over her shoulder to be able to get a look. “naomi — jesus, i can barely even see you.” it’s not as if they both aren’t touchy feely people, he’s not really thinking twice about it except that maybe she is trying to hide something with her back to him. he’s chuckling patiently. “the hell are you doing? swear, i’m getting flash backs to when we shared a bed.” with her pointing the opposite way and angel probably taking up too much room, except now there’s proximity. “of course you don’t have eyebags.”

naomi: "well, no. but he doesn't mow the lawn or like to grill either," she adds. she's basing this off daytime comedies. "he likes italian operas. you can have that one for free, in case they have another islander trivia night," she adds with a wry smile, the first indication that she might be slightly bitter about the last one. "shut the fuck up," naomi says, though he's barely said anything, his perception of her and the possibly adorable nature of her current relationship status makes her blush. "nuh-uh, if you were getting flashbacks, you'd be starfishing right now," king of taking up space. "i'm just actually so exhausted, i feel like it shows," she sighs, shifting her weight back against him, hoping she sounds pathetic enough to be taken seriously for the allotted time before she can pop up with a surprising amount of energy. "can you just hold me for a sec?"

angel: “oh, right, yeah. who doesn’t get down with an italian opera?” chock full of sarcasm. “man, really hoping we don’t. think we all know each other a little too well now.” at least they can rest easy knowing there won’t be another movie night, though, with that consideration, angel’s a little wary what people might do with that knowledge. “hey, i gave you plenty of room. you only take up, like, this much space anyway,” he argues, fingers pinching a teeny bit of air. it’s a far cry from sleeping with callie, both of them tangled up in each other. angel frowns a bit, is about to offer to give her space to sleep when she poses her question. “oh —,” he naturally gives pause to the newness of this kinda favor coming from naomi. but far be it from angel not to cuddle. “yeah,” he says softer, vaguely confused, like when he’s trying to figure out what one of his little cousins are wanting from him. in any case, he throws an arm over naomi and scoops her into his chest, his head still inclined up a bit so he can see just the edge of her profile. “everything’s good, right?”

naomi: "i only took up that much space because you were taking up the rest," she retorts, flicking at his pinched fingers. honestly, it's a funny comparison that in casa, naomi flirted with angel on the first day and callie compared angel to her brother. now, angel feels like family to naomi and callie's railing him in the hideaway. his reaction to her request is so endearing, unexpected, especially because she would've never asked something like this of him – to be held – without prompting from producers. she feels so when he wraps his arms around her without question, almost feeling guilty that she'd pictured it like a challenge. "yeah," she nods, "everything's good, i swear." she makes eye contact with adela as she walks by and flashes her a grin and a tiny thumbs-up close to her chest, like, victory, bitch. "you can go now, if you want, i'm like, two seconds from crashing."

josh: he's walking by, minding his own business, used to the tangle of limbs that usually decorate the daybeds. but it's the sight of naomi's face that makes him do a double take, pressed against—fuck, what's that guy's name again? jenny's back-up guard dog, if last night was any indication of it. he doesn't mean to interrupt them, but by the time he recognizes what's going on he's stopped in front of the bed, eyes narrowed despite trying to not completely lose his cool. is this what having a girlfriend means, that she can press her ass against any other guy and it be okay? it doesn't help that he catches the tail end of the grin meant for adela, assuming it's because of angel. "what's so funny?" he asks, with only a little snark. he's trying to check himself, fully aware of how much of a mug he looks like right now, towering over them. "oh sorry, am i interrupting something? i can go." doesn't this guy have a girlfriend? ffs.

angel: it seems like naomi’s halfway to lullaby lane by the way she keeps her back to him, so he’s keen to give her the space she asks for. naturally, it’s then that josh throws a snarky (but only a little) shadow over them. angel’s aware of how it might look, he’s also aware that josh might still be bent out of shape by the presumably un-fun night he promoted for himself, so angel’s willing not to make matters worse. “no, no,” he tells josh as he carefully snakes his arm out from under naomi’s head before leaning over to smack a kiss against her cheek. “don’t throw me in a locker, i’m goin’, swear,” angel tries to show him a smile to imply his joke as he lifts himself off the daybed, then amiably taps josh’s arm. “she was just saying she was, like, mad tired. you two kids feel better, ‘kay?”

naomi: she has to fight the urge to literally facepalm when she hears josh's voice. she thought she'd been more tactical – trying to be quick about this while josh was inside somewhere so she could just regale him with the funny story about it later. maybe on the dance floor at tonight's party. "seriously, don't go," naomi's lips turn downward into a pout as she sits up a little on the daybed, positioning her arms so they push her chest up – like maybe he'll forget to be pissed (or at least he might forget to bother with angel) if she uses the right distraction. she reaches her hand out, beckoning him closer, "c'mere."

josh: "who, me?" a hand reaches out like he's gonna grab her, until it dramatically splays across his chest instead. his head makes a show of moving around, watching angel walk away (completely ignoring him as he got up) and looking around to see if there's anyone else nearby. "i thought you wanted him not to leave," he nods in angel's direction, voice a little too breezy. "it's okay, i can get someone else for you. dylan's gotta be around here somewhere."

naomi: jaw drops comically when he fakes her out, a scoff of disbelief on her lips as she tries to keep from grinning at him. naomi can't help but be amused by the dramatics, because from her vantage point, it's all so silly.  "oh my god, i literally just told him to go," she says, getting up on her knees so that she has the vantage point to try and reach for his hand again, to try and reel him back toward her. "don't be a prick," she's choosing not to play into the low blow any further than that considering the circumstances, "you might as well stick around because i'm not gonna let you go anywhere." she ducks her head slightly to hold his gaze, wishing there was a chill way to tell him to just trust her. "please," is her best attempt, a word she doesn't use too often. "stay."

josh: damnit, why is she smiling? now he wants to smile, momentarily forgetting the whole point of being mad at her for being pressed against some other dude, especially when she's looking up at him like that. stifling an exasperated groan in the back of his throat, he comes a little closer until his knees are nearly against the daybed, reaching down to hook two fingers to the bottom of her chin, drawing her a little closer. when she's looking at him like this, on her knees, it does help his mood. "you're not gonna let me go anywhere?" he scoffs, not sure if he should be entertained or annoyed. he's mostly the latter, but her shamelessness in this moment makes him feel like he's missing something. "you gonna tell me what the hell that was about?" his voice drops a little, not trying to make a scene of the scene he already caused.

naomi: "nope, no bailing now," she says this matter-of-factly, arms snaking around his waist as she rests her chin on his chest. there's still that smile tugging at the corners of her lips, especially as she watches him fight to keep his annoyed resolve. her gaze darkens a little as she looks up at him through her lashes, honestly a bit turned on that he's gotten all bothered about this – she wouldn't like the alternative. "josh," his name comes out like a sigh, though it's a little bit of a placeholder to give her an extra second to gather her words. "we were just laying out and talking, and i started falling asleep. like, it was a late night. i barely realized," she explains, as if she didn't specifically ask angel to hold her. but hey, she's already lying, so might as well. as hot as the edge to his voice is, she doesn't want him pissy at her all day over a stupid challenge. "i'm sorry, i totally wasn't thinking."

josh: josh sees through the puppy dog eyes, he really does. he can only assume that she's laying her charm on thick because she knows he's in the right and doesn't want to admit it. he just wishes that her look wasn't so effective on him, having to glance away to keep any semblance of cool, even if his hand reaches down to run his fingers through her hair—not particularly lightly. jaw tightens slightly at her comment, because it's not like he enjoys hearing that she was sleeping with some other dude, even if it was platonically (or he can only hope it was).  "he was putting you to sleep, then?" josh snorts (derogatory), finally looking back down at her. his hands move to grip the side of her face, two fingers pinching her cheek. "i'm also tired, you know," he says, voice low, "because someone kept me up all night. maybe i should go nap... you think adela's available for a spoon?"

naomi: a low, frustrated moan builds from the back of her throat as he tugs at her hair, surprising even herself with the sound – she didn't expect him to be so rough with her. maybe that's why she expected him to say something more possessive, rather than bringing up another girl. there's hurt that briefly flashes through her eyes before they fill with fire, aware that dare or not, she wouldn't have intended to hurt him. "angel and i are friends. he's just someone i'm comfortable around – it's platonic," she clarifies, because she hadn't really thought that she needed to until now. she doesn't make jokes about fucking him. "is that really what you want to do? you wanna go?" she hopes to call his bluff, her hand reaching up toward her face to touch his. "because i can find someone else to put their hands on me, but if you just don't want anyone else to touch, then say that," her voice is low, more honeyed than it is aggressive though it's not without a certain edge. naomi's gaze meets his as she guides his hand lower so that he can feel her pulse, the rise and fall of her chest – and then she reels back slowly, falling back onto the mattress so she's just propped up by her elbows, looking up at him with dark eyes. "so, which is it?"

josh: "adela and i are friends, too," he counters, "platonic." does platonic count if you wanted to fuck them at one point? it doesn't really matter, because josh thinks he can tell from the look in naomi's eyes that he had made his point. or maybe it's just because he doesn't actually want to go right now, the air between them crackling with intensity—the sexy kind. josh's eyes darken as he looks down at her, holding himself back from touching her exactly how he wants to right now, because of the vague recollection that they're in public. but it's hard for him not to want to react physically when she talks about other people touching her, even if josh knows she doesn't actually mean it. he can feel the rise and fall of her chest beneath the palm of his hand, his own breathing beginning to match hers, even their heartbeats feeling in sync. sometimes it feels like they know each other so well, josh can anticipate her moves; so when she abruptly pulls away to make her point, it doesn't even surprise him. her elbows have only touched the mattress for a beat before he's grabbing her by the ankle and pulling her towards the edge of the bed he's still standing in front of, so when he finally kneels onto it her body's pinned between him, and he's towering over her. "i wasn't aware i needed to clarify that, as your boyfriend." the word feels pointed, but it's only because josh is still trying it on for size. it fits like a new sweater, needing a few more cycles in the wash before it fits snug. "but fine," hands find hers to pin them against the mattress, fingers interlocking with her own, "i don't want anyone else to put their hands on you. least of all some fucking guy." sorry to angel, but he's just some dude. the bottom half of him leans down so their hips are pressed together, and josh gives her a serious look. "okay?"

naomi: god, she's going to owe angel such a massive apology later. if he'll even hear her out, that is, considering he's just been upgraded (or downgraded?) from mere challenge target to foreplay. she's got twice as much to talk to him about now. still, it's hard not to feel like she's won when josh's eyes go dark and he doesn't pull his hand away from her. naomi's usually turned on when josh is pissed, but usually she's pissed too and trying to hold back. this is kind of fun, feels like a new range of territory for them, and her eyes are charting out all of his mannerisms in a new light, the way his jaw tightens, raising the vein in his neck. there's a gasp from her lips that dissolves into surprised laughter as josh tugs her across the mattress, and she's equal parts turned on and amused by josh's macho display of bravado an utter seriousness over the whole situation – one that she has the perspective of knowing that there's absolutely nothing for him to worry about. she's so aware that he's absolutely going to kick himself over this later. naomi's quiet again as he leans closer, gaze flickering between his eyes and his mouth, not sure where to look as he pins her hands above her head. naomi's tongue swipes across her lips to wet them as she nods, wishing that she could lean up to kiss him in this moment, but she doesn't have the range of motion while she's pinned underneath him. her only weapon is her ability to carve her hips into his, which she does, slow and teasing. "okay, baby," her tone is placating, but a little breathless, "you're the only one." she has no idea if the rest of the villa can see them, but she does have the teeniest bit of self-awareness, and interest in more privacy. "now," her tone is measured, wrists tugging lightly to test his grip, "will you take me inside and prove it?"

josh: they go inside and bang.

[dcwnthercbbithcle]

10 facts about the Mountaineer?

YES YES, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE ASK! I can go off for hours about my gal!

10 Facts About My Characters || ALWAYS ACCEPTING

Fíadh started as merely an Inscryption OC to fill in a niche the gameplay lacked! It's not; she's not a fix-it character, at least not in essence. I adore Leshy's part of Inscryption beyond words, but playing through, the hooved beast cards were always so LACKING.

Not terrible, but primarily chump blockers, nothing to call home about and which stood out in its own right. Likewise, Leshy's section, though excellent with eternal replayability, just didn't want to take advantage of the mountains or highlands that were RIGHT THERE and seemed like the perfect place to hide a monstrous maid and some more powerful hooved creatures and encounters.

Thus, Fíadh was born, to tie these concepts into a package that could be implemented into my own writing and to flesh out the world a touch more. But then, me being me, I gave her a life beyond this; I used her to flesh out Leshy as a character, to explain how he had grown from the first time we had seen him in Sacrifices Must Be Made and the P03 divorce arc. Then, I wanted to do the same with the other followers of Leshy's, because they have FOREVER been a massive bunch of favs for me.

Then, I gave her a story and goals of her own outside of them, I gave her full gameplay dynamics and whatnot and wrote up a campaign of her own. Then just built on her more and more; until now, she is really a fully-fledged character of her own, born from the simple desire to build on something I love and now she has a wholeass life!

Fíadh has SO MANY VERSES, not only in Inscryption, but primarily outside of them: she has the classic fandomless horror and human verse, and she has a DBD verse which I've put a ton more emphasis into due to my hyperfixation with it returning (Herman may return? Possibly), a couple of verses that plays into the fact that she is considered a Goddess of the Hunt, namely an American Gods and GOW/GOWR verses!

When I say Fíadh has the lower body and especially legs of a mountain goat, and many, many other beastly traits along those lines, such as a tail. I do not mean it in an appealing way exclusively.

No, there is beauty to it, but she is not a woman with nothing more than permanent furry leggings and hooves.

Her ENTIRE skeletal system has been altered, made from plantigrade bipedal human design, into an unguligrade sort of bipedalism. Her legs are angled and beyond muscular to accommodate her ability to climb and the weight distribution more evenly, and to give her the strength to jump and climb up seemingly unclimbable surfaces. Her pelvic bones are wider to accommodate this, as well as to make her center of gravity far wider, as is her spine.

And that's not even BEGINNING to touch on the shit going on with her upper body, shoulders, and arms built to aid in climbing her legs can't achieve. She has the same vibe and function as Mr. 'Big meaty claws' Leshy!

She is BUFFER THAN SHE HAS ANY RIGHT TO BE, built like a beast wearing her pretty green dress and I just adore it for her, my body horror queen!

On the topic, her facial features, holy fuck, she's the epitome of 'I like that, wait no, go back, stop doing that,' in that, she looks perfectly human and not just that but stunning in one or two positions, but other than that? Wrong in ever-intensifying shades of horrifying.

Fíadh has no whites in her eyes; they are solid gold with those distinctive oblong goat irises, which she cannot. move. No joke, it's cute at first to see the way she'll pivot her head around when speaking, but it is a necessity, not simply a quirk, and it's hard to unsee it.

Fíadh has veins that are particularly visible about her temples, near her ears and on her cheeks, almost camouflaged by the long, thick wool-like hair atop her head and the pre-existing freckles of her body, which would be expected in any normal person, but hers, they are BLACK, pitch black and stagnant.

Her mouth, god, her mouth. Have you ever seen those pictures of horses photoshopped to have the mouths of dogs? SHE IS JUST LIKE THAT. Usually, her mouth doesn't look amiss, a cute little cupid's bow that draws into a slight smile or a pout; it's sweet. But then she turns to grin, and the skin retracts and retracts, drawing back to reveal more and more sharp canine teeth and a large sharp tongue just behind them.

And when she has not fed for a time, tiny slivers of the true nature of being slip beneath the surface and the decay begins to take hold visibly. Her eyes will seem to sink in, the sockets ever darkening, her lips will seem to curl back, her colour worsening from a grey to a bruise purple, and then the skin begins to slough away, and the decay/starvation state takes hold. Not fun!