#had to lock in for my queen

[tofusfortbhk]

The princess likes bugs 🐛

I’ve been wanting to make this manga panel of Aoi into a full piece of art for a while (pic below). That paired with the notion that she loves bugs and little garden critters is the kinda lovely juxtaposition that inspired me.

Side note, I know she deep down detested being chosen as the lead for their class play. She doesn’t like the attention! I wanted Akane to bust her out so bad but alas.

On her liking bugs, I always headcanoned her to be the kinda kid that loved getting dirty outside the few times she was allowed to be herself as a kid. Whereas Akane was an indoor kid. Despite this, he always dragged her outside anyway if only to tell Aoi’s parents they both came back covered in mud at his insistence. He’s her cover story and favorite person.

Oh Aoi, my favorite disillusioned people pleaser.

[not-the-coffee-machine4]

Me: *tries to see what the Queen fans on TikTok have to say*

*Jim hate*

*”facts” that may or not be actually true*

*”Freddie Mercury was bisexual-“*

*Using Barbara Valentin as evidence*

*thinking things that happened in the movie actually happened irl*

*general misinformation about everyone and everything*

Me: aaaaand back to Tumblr I go

(open tags at your own risk, there’s a whole essay in there)

[annalrk-art]

trolls has a grip on me currently. thinking about them trolls.

[lastflowerofyourhouse]

i think it's funny that tamsyn muir can concieve of and convincingly write so many different types of people. a downtrodden jock with self-esteem issues. a twitchy little nerd with layer upon layer of self-hatred and guilt. a slimy, power-hungry princess desperately trying to escape the shadow of her sister. a middle-aged biologist who accidentally became God. the soul of a murdered planet with amnesia. so many types of people, with so many neuroses and hangups and hopes and tragedies informing characterization so layered and complex it can take hours to unpick. to say nothing of the way she writes the relationships between those characters. and through all of that. through all of the flashbacks and hints and unreliable narrators and infinitely suggestive lines of dialogue. she has yet to create a single one of them who is not attracted to women.

think about it. some of them are bisexual. but that's as far as it goes in the other direction. some of them are unconfirmed. but there is not a single character whose sexuality or romantic history is explored in any detail, who is not attracted to women. i find that extremely funny.

[darlingod]

I can’t believe Taryn betrayed Jude even after the whole Undersea shit went down. Your sister was tortured everyday for a over month, you saw all of what it did to her, and you still decide to hurt her even further? As if she hasn’t already gone through enough??

And to do it only to potentially be the most favored by their father?

Taryn: When Jude goes low, I bring her lower

[courtillyy]

moodboard: caroline x tyler

[wonder-worker]

"In total, Leonor governed Navarre as lieutenant, with some minor hiatuses, from 1455 to 1479, making her the effective ruler of the realm for nearly twenty five years. Out of her female predecessors, only Juana I served a longer period; however, Juana I was detached from the governance of the realm and physically distant from Navarre. Leonor however, remained in the kingdom throughout her lieutenancy, making her the female sovereign with the highest record of residency in Navarre.

One of the enabling factors for Leonor’s constant presence in the realm was the “Divide and Conquer” power-sharing mechanism that she employed with her husband, Gaston of Foix. Blanca and Juan had a similar division of duties, but unlike her parents’ often contrary objectives, all of Leonor and Gaston’s actions can be seen to be working toward their joint goals of obtaining the Navarrese crown and politically dominating the Pyrenean region. In order to achieve their ambitions, the couple were adept at working as a team even when physically seperated or carrying out divergent duties.

Politically, it appears that they took on different areas of negotiatiion. Gaston was the designated emissary to the French court, which was entirely appropriate as one of the French king’s leading magnates. One important example of his involvement in negotiations of this type include Gaston’s visit to the French court in the winter of 1461–62 to negotiate the marriage between their heir and the French princess, Magdalena, which ensured Louis XI’s backing for Leonor’s promotion to primogenita. Gaston also conducted negotiations on behalf of his father-in-law, Juan of Aragon, with the King of France, with a successful outcome in the case of the Treaty of Olite in April 1462, which was intimately connected to the marriage that Gaston was orchestrating for his son and Magdalena of France.

Even though Gaston normally took on the role of intermediary with the French crown, there are two letters issued by Leonor during her marriage in December 1466 as lieutenant of Navarre that show her involvement in French affairs. These letters were written during a period of extreme crisis, when Juan II’s difficulties in Catalonia were matched with Leonor’s continuing struggle with the Peralta clan in Navarre. In these letters, Leonor was playing on her familial connection to Louis XI, in hopes of his aid and backing, asking him to “commend this poor kingdom and the said princess to him [Louis XI] as one who is of his house.” Moreover, these letters show Leonor’s independent interaction in crucial diplomatic negotiations with France, both in receiving embassies directly from Louis and in sending her own personal ambassador, Fernando de Baquedano, with detailed instructions on how to proceed.

Gaston appears to have been more engaged with marital negotiations for their numerous offspring than Leonor. However, this may be due to the fact that the couple overwhelmingly chose French marriages for their children. Only three of Leonor’s children did not contract a French betrothal: Pierre who became a cardinal, a daughter who died young, and Leonor’s youngest son, Jacques (or Jaime), who married into the Navarrese nobility. Given the fact that Gaston was more intimately connected to the French court and the nobility of the Midi, it seems reasonable that he would take on the role of chief negotiator for these matches. All of the marital arrangements for their children were made in order for Gaston and Leonor to achieve their joint goals, the acquisition of the throne of Navarre and the consolidation of their power and influence in the Pyrenean region.

Another area where Gaston necessarily played a more central role was militarily. Robin Harris acknowledges Gaston’s successful military career and notes that after his useful military service to the French crown, “the comte was permitted by the [French] king in the last years of his life to employ his military resources in order to further his family’s interests in Navarre.” Gaston also performed many military services for his father-in-law; the agreement of 1455 that promoted Leonor and Gaston to the successors of the realm required Gaston to go to Navarre on Juan’s behalf and retake those areas that had fallen to the rebels “for the honor of the King of Navarre as well as for his own interests and those of the princess his wife."

However, there is some evidence for Leonor’s involvement in one military foray. In the winter of 1471, Leonor took part in a daring attempt to seize the capital, Pamplona, from her opponents, the Beaumonts. Leonor participated in an attempt to storm one of the city gates with a group of armed supporters. Moret notes that “this surprise was reckless; for it exposed the person of the princess to obvious risk and was somewhat rash.” Moreover, the element of surprise was ruined by the cries of her supporters shouting “ Viva la Princesa !” which alerted the Beaumont troops to the threat, and Leonor and her supporters were swiftly ejected from the city.

Like her mother, the noted peacemaker, Leonor was also involved in moves to reduce the civil discord in the realm. Zurita credited Leonor with “making a great effort to resolve the differences of the parties and subdue the kingdom into union and calm.” Leonor represented her father in negotiations for a truce with the supporters of the Principe de Viana on March 27, 1458, at Sang ü esa. Zurita notes, “The princess Lady Leonor was there at that time in Sangüesa and signed the treaty with the power of the king her father.” Leonor was instrumental in the forging of another truce that was contracted in Sangüesa, in January 1473, and she was also present at a conference with her father and her half-brother Ferdinand in Vitoria in 1476 “accompanied by the nobility of Navarre to renew the treatties . . . and attempt to arrive at a stable peace.

Although both spouses were named to the lieutenancy of Navarre, the documentary evidence clearly demonstrates that Leonor appears to have taken on the bulk of the administration of the realm. This was entirely appropriate as it was Leonor, not Gaston, who had the hereditary right to the crown. Moreover, it was logical for Leonor to remain in Navarre so that her husband could look after his own patrimonial holdings and continue to serve as a military commander for the King of France.

Leonor was an active lieutenant but she struggled to implement her rule fully across the kingdom, as many areas were dominated by the Beaumont faction who were opposed to her and her father Juan of Aragon. This meant that at times, she had no control or access to certain key cities in the realm, including the capital, as mentioned previously. Her grandfather’s impressive seat at Olite was the center of her sister’s court, but Leonor eventually regained her hold on the castle and used it as one of her primary residences between 1467 and 1475. Sangüesa remained an important base for Leonor, and she was also associated with Tudela on the southern edge of the kingdom.

Leonor’s difficulty in implementing her rule across the whole of the kingdom is illustrated by a prolonged struggle between the lieutenant and the town of Tafalla, which consistently refused to send representatives when she called together meetings of the Cortes. Tafalla was a center of Beaumont strength, which had supported her brother Carlos in his struggle with Juan of Aragon and was thus bitterly opposed to her appointment to the lieutenancy. Between 1465 and 1475 there is a series of missives from Leonor both summoning representatives from the town and then expressing disappointment when they failed to arrive. During this period, Leonor appears to have called a meeting of the Cortes at least six times, but the town consistently refused to send envoys to the assembly. There is a sense of increasing exasperation and anger in these documents at the repeated failure to participate in these important events. At one point, in late 1471, Leonor personally came to the town to give advance notice of her intent to call another Cortes the following summer, perhaps to circumvent any excuse that the town did not have sufficient time to send representatives, but Tafalla still did not participate in the assembly.

As her authority was contested, Leonor was keen to stress her agency and her position in the documents that she issued. However, at times she even struggled with the chancery; between 1472–73, Juan de Beaumont retained the seals of the kingdom and refused to let Leonor have access to them. In 1475, she granted a reduction in taxes to the important city of Estella acknowledging the reduced capacity of the city to pay after the population had shrunk from the effects of war and flooding. In this document she stressed her efforts to assist all of the urban centers of the realm, to help them recover from the years of civil conflict and devastation, “the other good towns of the said realm have been refurbished by our certain knowledge, special grace, our own change and royal authority.

Leonor’s address clause drew on all of her family and marital ties as a means of establishing her authority:

 “Lady Leonor, by the grace of God princess primogenita , heiress of Navarre, princess of Aragon and Sicily, Countess of Foix and Bigorre, Lady of Bearn, Lieutenant general for the most serene king, my most redoubtable lord and father in this his kingdom of Navarre.”

The signet that Leonor used for the majority of her lieutenancy as well as her sello secreto had heraldic devises that mirror her address clause, bearing the arms Navarre, her family dynasty of Evreux, her husband’s counties of Foix, Béarn, and Bigorre, and finally the Trast á mara connections to Aragon, Castile, and Léon.

To sum up, Gaston and Leonor’s ability to divide up roles and responsibilities demonstrates the couple’s effective partnership, using each partner in the most appropriate arena. Moreover, this division was entirely necessary as the couple’s widespread territorial holdings and the demands of balancing the complicated and difficult political situation both within Navarre and the Midi and between France, Castile, and Aragon meant that both partners needed to be fully engaged and active in order to achieve their mutual goals and further their dynastic interests.

Even though Leonor and Gaston generally employed this mode of “Divide and Conquer” that left Leonor primarily responsible for the administration of Navarre while Gaston oversaw his own sizable patrimony, the couple did work together as a unit whenever possible. Documentary evidence shows that Gaston came to stay with Leonor in Navarre for short periods, particularly during the autumn of 1469 and 1470. There is also some additional evidence to indicate an earlier reunion in 1464, which appears to indicate a desire on the part of the couple to be together. Gaston and his party were stuck in the mountain passes between Foix and Navarre on his way to visit Leonor. The princess issued a series of orders to dispatch men and pay for additional recruits and mules in the mountains in order to clear the passes and roads for Gaston, including one order for 300 men to be sent to help. Gaston’s death in 1472 took place on another journey to see his wife in Navarre; he died en route of natural causes in the Pyrenean town of Roncesvalles.

 Overall, Gaston and Leonor worked together with the mutual goal of obtaining the crown of Navarre, throwing the weight of Gaston’s power, wealth, connection, and military forces behind Leonor’s hereditary rights and were willing to fight off opposition from their own family in order to succeed. They worked in partnership, with each partner taking on the most appropriate role; Leonor was responsible for the governance of Navarre, and Gaston supported her militarily and financially. They both worked on diplomatic efforts to achieve their ambitions; Gaston used his position as a powerful French vassal and general to gain support while Leonor negotiated with her Iberian relatives to maintain their rights.

[...] Tragically perhaps, Leonor hardly had a chance to enjoy the position of queen regnant when it finally came her way. Leonor’s death, only a few weeks after her father’s in February 1479, meant that her rule as queen lasted less than a month. Leonor changed her address clause to reflect her altered position as “Queen of Navarre, Princess of Aragon and Sicily, Duchess of Nemours, of Gandia, of Montblanc and Peñafiel, Countess of Bigorre and Ribagorza and Lady of Balaguer.” Ram í rez Vaquero points out that most of these titles were disputed; several were titles that should have come to her as part of her paternal inheritance from her father but in reality would have gone to her half-brother Ferdinand de Aragon. In addition, the French titles that Leonor had held as Gaston’s wife had already been passed to her grandson. It appears that Leonor had enough time to mount a formal coronation, on January 28, 1479, at Tudela, firmly establishing herself as Queen of Navarre, even if only for a brief moment. Moret remarked that “out of all the kings and queens of Navarre she was the one who reigned the shortest, although she may have been the one who desired [the crown] most.”

-Elena Woodacre, "Leonor: Civil War and Sibling Strife", The Queens Regnant of Navarre: Succession, Politics and Partnership, 1274-1512 (Queenship and Power)

[chilly-weirdo-in-a-tomb]

Alecto Prediction #5

A solid chunk if not all of Alecto will be written in an Early Modern style. This chunk will include Gideon and Harrow ACTUALLY TALKING *tm*. Their dialogue will form a sonnet a la R&J’s pilgrim dialogue.

Bonus prediction: Paul recites the Queen Mab speech

[kikuism]

need more pathetic cringefail emo girls and kuudere girls in my media if im being so honest

[luxrayz64]

i cannot begin to imagine how absolutely fucking infuriating these sidequests would've been without the shortcut pipe room. genuinely what were the devs thinking. they wanted you to go from rogueport through the sewers to twilight town, then even further through the sewers to get to the boggly woods, and travel from there to the boggly tree? and then back through the woods. back through the sewers. trek to petalburg. back to the sewers. to twilight town again. this must be some kind of sick joke.

[chappellrroan]

this house is so fun when it's just us kids and no parents

[earl-grey-love]

I remember playing the sims on the ps2 when I was like 5-6 years old and every single day when I got home from school, I'd go upstairs, turn on my chunky tv and sit on the floor so I could play the game.

I played it exactly the same way every time. It would be a fresh new game because I didn't have a memory card so I could never save, so I'd make my dream adult self(tm), move into the same house, and WAIT for Bella to show up to greet her new neighbour with her husband.

And then she would never leave because I would speedrun her being MY WIFE instead and I'd just build us the perfect home and kiss her 50000 times until my mum or my brother kicked me off the console. Then the next day I would repeat this process all over again like it was a full time job.

[poorlittlevampire]

lindsay mendez lost… kill me

[queen-scribbles]

Tagged by @rannadylin no-pressure tagging @greyias @eluvisen @haledamage @captainderyn

So, wanted to get some hiatus rec lists going and encourage some self promo in my friends so how about sharing your top fics no matter how big or small - give us the links to your wonderful words with the Most hits/Most kudos/Most comments/Most bookmarks/Most words/Least words.

I have so much to play with, just on AO3 I’m up to 984k words wtf.

Most hits:  Of Wardens and Pariahs, the joint AU fic for my Trinne Amell and errantgoat‘s Harvey Cousland running DA:O. It is... 46 chapters long so far(done Circle Tower and Redcliffe round 1, so... about halfway? phew) I’ve been working on this sucker for a long time. Twelve years, I think? Maybe thirteen? Between it taking a couple weeks to write/edit each chapter and doing other writing in between it’s slow going. But I still love it and our kids and there’s some stuff upcoming I am so looking forward to writing and inflicting on sharing with people >;3  

Most kudos: Unspoken (Endrali/Arcann, SWtOR) is the champ that finally unseated Third Time’s the Charm(Tavi/Aloth, Pillars of Eternity) by two whole kudos, assuming they cleared out all the bot kudos from when that was a problem, bc my Ardrali fics got hit hard by that one. (seems to match with the typical hits/kudos ratio tho) 

Most comment threads: Technically Of Wardens and Pariahs again, but second place is Moorings Lost & Found(Emiri & Aloth & Edér), my Pillars of Eternity minibang fic and that one’s near and dear to my heart like you wouldn’t believe, so we’re gonna give it some love, too. (Emiri and Aloth’s friendship means so much to me, y’all.) Tl;dr-- 9 chapters of Aloth and Edér rescuing Emiri after the slavers she’d escaped recaptured her.  Well, they threatened to kill Aloth to get her to surrender to them. And then stabbed him anyway. She might spend 3/4 of the fic thinking he’s probably dead. I got to really explore Emiri’s character and her friendship with Aloth especially but also Edér in this, and I got to write Aloth being a badass and give a platonic slant to a lot of usually-romantic tropes, so it was great fun. (My beloved Aloth icon comes from a goofy bonus comic my artist partner made. Part of why I can’t let it go. Good memories <3 Also skeptical Aloth is great) 

Most bookmarks: Eventually(Keme/Jorgan, SWtOR) Reunion fic for my Cathar babe and her husband, set mid- and post- KotFE ch 11. People have fabulous taste; I am very proud of and attached to this one. Partially bc I wrote it immediately after writing 6k of Jorgan denying processing her “death” while she was in carbonite, so it was basically the happy ending that wasn’t included in Never Give Up. But there’s established relationship fluff. And banter. And I just plain ol’ love Aric Jorgan, so all my stuff for him and Keme is a piece I love for one reason or another xD him

Most words: Of Wardens and Pariah(213,183 so far) Shocker(/sarc), with how long running it is and how much I’m trying to cover with it. XD

Fewest words: A Good Story(422) Varric musing about his own words biting him in the ass (”It’s not a good story unless the hero dies” :)))) ) as he gets ready to write Sebastian and tell him about Astrid (Hawke) staying to fight the Nightmare in HLtA bc I’m a terrible person. (tho that new Mallory & Mason thing I wrote is 360, I just haven’t posted it over on AO3 yet)

[fortjester]

does anybody wanna talk abt how seven seas of rhye by queen is a tower prince ianthe theme

[perenlop]

 really gotta get around to drawing widow some more bc im getting ideas for her (sad)