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thelov3lybookworm · 9 months

Note

Hi! Omg I loved reading your Rhys x reader secret pregnancy fic! May I please request a Lucien x reader where he’s been cursed to stay in the form of an actual fox and the then reader comes along to break his curse? Thank you!!

Cursed

Summary: The mother liked being cruel to Lucien. First she had him lose his eye, and now his body.

•○●⛦●○•

Tw: mention of being a child of forced intimate relation, other than that, I'm not sure there is more, so let me know if i need to add anything.

A/n: my love, my heart, my baby anon. come here so i can sing you to sleep and cuddle with you because holyyyy shit i love this idea aaaahhhhh. (i am ready to be your tumblr wifey)

also, the beginning is basically our Y/n trauma/info dumping

anyways, enjoy!

(I had fun talking to you about this @artists-ally)

•○🌑○•

A twig snapped behind Y/n, and she rolled her eyes in frustration.

After wondering for a moment if she should ignore the animal, she decided to turn to look.

There, next to a mighty tree, crouched the fox. Abnormally large, fluffier than a normal fox, it had been following Y/n around for the better part of the week.

The moment Y/n met the fox's mismatched eyes, it tensed, as if ready to bolt. But then, after a moment, it relaxed, again staring at Y/n curiously.

The problem wasn't the fact that it was a fox. No, there were plenty of foxes in the forest near Y/n's home. But those foxes didn't follow her around or sit outside her door at all hours.

This one did all of that.

She wouldn't have been much bothered if it had been a normal fox following her around. But this one had a weird aura about it, like it was not an ordinary fox.

The fox suddenly moved, slowly prowling towards Y/n. She watched it, its body moving and navigating through the roots and fallen branches graciously, as if it were an elegant lady in the royal court.

Y/n shook her head, turning away and continuing on her journey to the cluster of trees deep into the forest to collect some fruit for herself.

The fox fell in step beside her.

She did her best to ignore the animal, though its unnatural aura kept her glancing at it.

Unfortunately, it also had her distracted, and she almost didn't pull up the hood of her cloak when a mortal man walked into view, carrying a bunch of firewood on his back.

But thank the forgotten gods, the man was too busy grumbling to himself to notice the pointed tips of her ears before she covered them.

Being a half fae was hard when living among mortals.

She could get killed if anyone found out about her heritage, and that was the only real reason she had for living on the outskirts of the small town, right next to where the forest started and away from the mortals.

And honestly, she cursed whoever the bastard was that had raped her mother and sired her for the inconvenience.

But she couldn't go down that path of thought, because if she did, she would just end up on the same thought that had her staying up at night and bawling her eyes out.

She was lonely.

It had nothing to do with the solitude of her house. No. It was because she was a half fae, and while other girls her age would mingle with other young men or whoever caught their fancy, she could not do so for fear of being killed.

She also had no family, her mother having died when Y/n was still young. Y/n had no siblings or relatives who could have taken her in, and so, she had learned to take care of herself.

She had also early on learned that the world didn't take kindly to people that were even remotely different from their perception of normal.

Especially beings who had a reputation to torture innocent souls for fun.

Y/n could not blame mortals for hating fae, as she herself hated them, though for completely different reasons.

It was not the best experience when you were scorned by the people you were a part of.

Hated by mortals for being a product of human-fae union, and hated by fae for being a half breed.

She sighed, shooing those thoughts away as she reached the cluster of trees she had been on the journey to, and set down her basket for a moment, stretching.

The fox settled down under an apple tree, and simply stared at Y/n as she went about plucking different fruits and berries and piling them in her basket.

Once she was done, she turned to glance at the fox, who sat unnaturally still.

She thought for a moment, then picked out a juicy apple from her basket. "You want one?"

The fox kept staring at her, and Y/n felt silly for trying to communicate with a fox. She huffed, putting the apple back in her basket and beginning to make the journey back to her little cottage.

•○🌑○•

"Do you think it will storm?"

The fox cocked its head, staring up at the sky before making a small noise, which Y/n took as affirmation.

"I think so too."

While a month ago Y/n would have laughed at herself for talking to -trying to talk to- an animal, now it had become normal. The darn fox never left her side nowadays, and Y/n had grown fond of him, letting him into her house and keeping him fed and warm. She had even named him Rusty.

Rusty glanced at Y/n before it settled down, laying his head on her lap, snuggling into the soft and fluffy material of her thick leggings.

A small smile made its way onto Y/n's face, and her hand lifted of its own accord, burying itself into the fur on the top of his head.

Y/n still remembered how she had felt uncomfortable around the fox because of the unnatural aura it gave off, but she had gotten used to it. Now, it was a companion who Y/n simply adored.

A long moment passed, and Y/n was not entirely sure it wasn't hours, but the sky darkened just a fraction.

Y/n glanced up in confusion, because she was sure it had been brighter just a moment before. Suddenly, the warmth in her lap vanished, and Y/n's head snapped down, her brows furrowed.

Rusty was no longer next to Y/n. He was across the clearing, and Y/n could not fathom how he had crossed the vast area so quickly. Her suspicions about him grew, and she realized his body was beginning to shake.

Y/n quickly rolled to her feet, her eyes growing wide when he began spasming, a tortured whine escaping him. She could do nothing but stare as his paws dug into the soft ground, pain filled sounds continuing to rip from him.

The moment Y/n stepped forward, hoping to do something to help Rusty, his head snapped up, a low growl he emitted leaving her frozen in place. And his eyes...

They were glowing.

Unnatural, completely otherworldly brightness radiated from him, his aura becoming ten times different from what it had been.

Y/n watched, her blood chilling, as he continued to struggle until the smell of something burnt reach Y/n.

Everything stilled after that, and Rusty collapsed, breaths heaving out of him.

And, the place where his paws had been, was nothing but burnt remains of the leaves fallen from the trees

Y/n studied the fox until he had gained enough strength to stand again, and his eyes stared back at Y/n.

She swallowed as the fox prowled closer. "You are not a real fox, are you?"

Rusty swung his head from side to side, his eyes boring into Y/n.

She nodded, wondering why she was even surprised. "Are you fae?"

His head dipped.

Y/n dragged her palms down her face, trying not to lose her shit.

"Why are you here? What do you want from me?"

He cocked his head, as if questioning her how he was supposed to answer.

She released a frustrated breath, going through all the reasons why a shapeshifter would follow her around.

She could only find one reasonable reason.

"Have you... have you been cursed?"

The fox dipped his head slowly, and Y/n took a step back, horrified.

"And you are here because you... what? Want me to break you free?"

The fox whined, taking a step forward.

"No." She stepped back again, continuing until her back hit a tree. "Fuck. No. I will not be used and discarded by you too. I will not..."

The sadness in the fox's -Rusty's -eyes nearly brought Y/n to her knees, but the fox simply dipped its head again after a moment, turning and prowling away from the clearing and, in turn, Y/n.

She watched him go, his shoulders curved inwards, looking defeated.

And, despite her instincts telling her to go behind him, she turned away too, walking in the opposite direction, towards her small hut.

•○🌑○•

The windows shook, their sound a little too loud in the small home, and Y/n's fingers curled tighter on the book, the pages crinkling under her fingers.

Thunder cracked somewhere, and Y/n flinched, squeezing her eyes shut. With a sigh, she put her book away, tugging her blanket closer for warmth. She turned to look out the window, where it was completely dark, not one tree visible.

And, despite her attempts at trying to ignore her worries about Rusty, she could not help but wonder where he was.

Was he somewhere in the forest, getting soaked by the rain, shivering?

Was he wandering around hopelessly, hoping someone took pity on him?

Y/n shook her head, telling herself she did not care.

But of course, she did.

Since the moment she had turned away from his retreating form, she had not been able to think about anything but him.

Y/n had never had anyone that particularly cared about her, so having even a damned fox use her for his own gain cut something deep in her heart.

But then a thought occurred to her, and all her feelings of betrayal were forgotten.

What if it is a child?

Or what if it is just like me, never had anyone who cared?

What if he gets incinerated in the storm by lightning?

Oh fuck it.

The second to last thought was what snapped Y/n's restraint, and she grabbed her cloak, lit a lantern, and set off to find her Rusty.

•○🌑○•

The rain made it even harder to see in the night, but Y/n soldiered on, determined to rescue the damsel in distress. Though the damsel was a male and could probably not be in distress.

He could have found a cave to snooze in, and Y/n was setting herself up to be sick for nothing.

Her heart didn't seem to care for that judging by the way it was screeching in her ears.

A flash of light caught Y/n's eyes, and she stilled, lifting her lantern higher, hoping she had finally found the sneaky bastard.

It was just a piece of glass, and Y/n cursed whoever had thrown it here.

After a long time of searching, Y/n spied a gap in the trees, knowing it led to a small cliff. Her instincts told her to follow the trail, and she decided trusting her heart was the better option than trusting her brain.

She had decided to ignore her heart in that clearing, and now she was stuck in a storm.

Lightning brightened the world for a moment, and Y/n lifted her hand to shield herself as she reached the cliff.

Unfortunately, Rusty was not there as well.

Frustrated, Y/n sighed, turning away from the drop.

And then she paused, her eyes landing on a bush.

Under which lay Rusty, shivering and curled in on himself.

Guilt spread through Y/n, and she stepped closer with caution.

His eyes flew open, his teeth bared as he searched around for a predator.

His eyes widened when he realised it was Y/n who stood in front of him now, and he ducked his head, as if ashamed.

Y/n walked forward, and watched as his shoulders curved inwards, trying to make himself small.

She crouched, extending her hands towards him, and he stared at it for a moment, then at Y/n before taking a tentative step closer, gaining more confidence when her hand remained unwavering. He stopped a few with his face a few inches away from her hand, and she reached out to pet his nose.

"Come," she whispered, "let's go home."

He stared at her for a moment longer, and Y/n felt like there were tears in his eyes, but she couldn't be sure because it could very well be rain water.

Navigating the forest to return home was much easier and faster than it had been searching for Rusty, and Y/n was glad about that, as she could think of nothing but changing into warm clothes and getting warmed in front of her fireplace now that she had finally found Rusty. Also, she had to wash Rusty and feed him. It had been long since he had left and Y/n doubted that he had eaten anything.

As soon as Y/n stepped foot inside her home, she shucked off her cloak, setting down her lantern and turning to find that Rusty still hadn't crossed the threshold.

"Come on in, Rusty."

She beckoned to him, and he trotted in, shaking his head to get rid of the water.

"Let's get you into a warm bath first."

Y/n hurried into the bathing room and turned on the faucets, letting the tub fill with warm water. Feeling eyes on her, she glanced back to see Rusty sitting patiently by the door, like a gentleman. Y/n smiled.

"Get in." She told him when the water had filled to the point she knew he liked. "I will go and get changed, and you get yourself cleaned up until then. We can have food after."

At the last part, his head snapped up, his eyes wide. But then he jumped into the tub, and Y/n was left to wonder why he seemed so shocked.

•○🌑○•

Y/n wrapped the tiny towel around Rusty, giggling at how funny he looked before she placed the red coloured bowl in front of Rusty, his favourite.

She stared at him as he began eating, and stared, and stared.

The air changed the moment he took his first bite, growing thicker and heavier with every moment that passed.

Confused, Y/n glanced behind her, and when she turned back to rusty, she let out a small scream.

In the place that Rusty had been occupying, sat a man... naked.

Y/n had never climbed to her feet so quick in her whole life as she did then, covering her eyes. But then she peeked out from between her fingers, seeing him blushing furiously while trying to cover up his private parts with the tiny towel. It was barely enough to cover up his chest, so he had to hold it with both hands like a curtain in front of his hips.

"Who the hell are you?" Y/n screeched.

She noticed now that he had hair like liquid flame, his eyes were mismatched, and he was... fae.

Realisation washed through Y/n.

"You- You're Rusty."

He grimaced. "Yeah, though I am a little concerned with that name. Can we please not use that? Like, Rusty? Really?"

Y/n let her hands fall to her side, settling on her hips. "You bastard, you should be grateful I let you stay and gave you a name. Imagine how weird it would have been in if I called you fox."

"Yeah, I think that would have been better than Rusty."

Y/n scoffed. After a moment, she spoke again, struggling hard to keep her gaze on his. She deserved a fucking medal for it.

"So... what was your curse? And who had so much free time to put one on you?"

A hint of a smile appeared on his face. "Don't you think this is kind of inappropriate to talk about while I'm naked?"

Y/n rolled her eyes as she moved past him, walking into her bedroom. "You never had a problem before when you pranced about, wooing all the female foxes."

She was now sure he was grinning when he replied. "Yeah well, they didn't wear any clothes either. If you were to strip..."

Y/n whipped around from where she was rummaging in her closet for something to gape at him. He grinned, leaning against the doorframe, his hands folded against his chest.

That meant-

Y/n turned away from him just as fast as she had turned to him, and no matter how much she denied it, the image of him... it would be forever embedded in her mind.

"Asshole." She mumbled under her breath, her hand landing on a piece of clothing she was unfamiliar with.

It was a pant she had stolen years ago, and later realised it had been too big for her. It would have to do.

Without turning, Y/n threw the pants over her shoulder, and by the lack of sound, knew Rusty had caught it.

It was a few moment before he hummed, letting her know he was done, and Y/n turned, her mouth going dry at all the muscle displayed.

She hadn't had the time to appreciate what she saw before, as she was trying not to make a fool of herself by staring at his privates, but now that he was covered from the waist down, she could not help but stare at what she could see.

"Like what you see?"

Y/n's eyes flashed up, colour staining her cheeks as she huffed.

"Of course not. You are still Rusty for me, and I'd never think of someone called Rusty as anything I like."

He scoffed. "Please, my name is Lucien. I'd appreciate it if you stop referring to me as Rusty."

She lifted her chin defiantly. "No."

He sighed. "Very well, my lady. If that is what you wish for. After all, you broke my curse, I can't really order you around anymore."

"Yes, about that curse. Care to elaborate now that you are appropriate?"

He nodded, a seriousness coming over him. He followed her as she led him back out, settling down in front of the fireplace as she boiled some water for tea.

Once the tea was ready, Y/n passed one cup to Rusty- Lucien- and studied him, watching as he fumbled a little with the cup before he got a good grip on it.

"Let's start from the beginning." She nodded her head for him to continue. "Do you remember the most recent war that happened?"

She nodded. The destruction had been immense, according to what she had heard through rumours, but she lived far enough away from the wall that no harm reached her.

"There was a continent called Hybern. One of my closest friends was pretending to aid Hybern so he could gather intel about the kingdom's and the king's inner workings so he could help Prythian when the inevitable war came. Soldiers from Hybern had stolen the cauldron from its resting place in Prythian, and they knew that it could make anyone young and immortal."

"What is the cauldron?"

Lucien glanced at Y/n with raised brows, but explained to her what the cauldron was, who the mother was, and all the things that probably didn't matter to the story just because she didn't know about them.

A power like that? People would kill for it. Y/n thought.

"My friend's past lover, who had been mated to another high lord, arrived in Hybern, and realised her sisters had been kidnapped. The king ordered the sisters to be put into the cauldron. One of them turned out to be my... mate."

The jealousy that ripped through Y/n was unmatched from anything she had ever felt. And for what? The mention of someone she did not even know? Ridiculous.

"The older one, she apparently took something from the cauldron, in turn making the cauldron take away the youth from the human queen put in after her. The queen was furious, and she allied with a powerful death sorcerer."

"He found out about my... relationship with one of the sisters, and before we killed him, put a curse on me, because I was standing the closest to him. He turned me into a fox, and I could only be turned back if someone who loathed fae gave me shelter and food, even after knowing I was fae."

"Powerful death sorcerer, and all he could think of for his last breath was to turn you into a fox." Y/n muttered under her breath.

A breathy laugh escaped Lucien, which then full on turned into howls of laughter.

"So, what, your mate could not help?"

"She probably could have, given she couldn't bear being near me, but she wouldn't have. Me being a fox gave her freedom to pursue whomever she wished."

Y/n sighed. "Is everyone from the other side of the wall dumb?"

He shook his head, staring into the embers of the fire, though a smile remained on his mouth. Y/n glanced out the window, realising the sun was starting to rise.

"We should probably get some sleep."

Lucien followed her gaze to out the window, and he nodded.

"I will take the couch, you should sleep on your bed."

"Nonsense. You have been invading my space for the past month like your life depends on it. It won't be a big deal if you sleep next to me."

"Sleep next to you, not with you?"

"You know what? You can sleep on the porch."

He laughed, standing and pulling Y/n to her feet.

He leaned down, pressing his lips to her cheek.

"Thank you."

Y/n blushed, shaking her head.

"I will leave as soon as I can."

Hurt pierced Y/n's heart like a bolt from hell. "Why?"

His brows furrowed. "Why? I have taken enough advantage of you. I don't want to impose."

She shook her head again. "I like when you impose."

He smiled.

"If you say so."

•○🌑○•

General Taglist: @bubybubsters @eos-princess @nightless @harrystylesfan2686 @cassie6392

Lucien Taglist: @kennedy-brooke @hnyclover @minnieoo @mirandasidefics @sidrapotter @hnyclover

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drakaripykiros130ac · 3 months

Text

I just want to talk about Daemon’s first marriage for a moment.

I have seen people left and right shitting on him for how he treated “poor Rhea Royce”.

Let’s get something straight. There is no “poor Rhea Royce”. This woman was spiteful and cold. She wasn’t happy in this marriage, anymore than Daemon was, and yet she didn’t do anything about it. She just persisted in this false union, with no other objective than to torment Daemon. She could have demanded an annulment anytime during those years, and she had a good chance to actually get it.

Daemon had been asking Viserys for an annulment for years, for very good reasons: there were no children which resulted from this union and they didn’t even live together. Not to mention that Daemon never said his vows (Queen Alysanne did it for him). This marriage was basically on parchment. Nothing more. But because Viserys knew how Daemon was, he chose not to give him what he wanted. However, had it been Rhea herself who demanded an annulment, Viserys couldn’t have outright refused her.

There was no reason not to grant an annulment. The relations between the Crown and the Vale wouldn’t have been affected in any way, since Aemma Arryn was Queen.

Daemon’s marriage to Rhea Royce didn’t bring much to the table. He just got the short end of the stick because he was the youngest of Jaehaerys and Alysanne’s grandchildren and there weren’t many options for Valyrian spouses.

Viserys got Aemma (half Targaryen) and the Crown. Rhaenys got herself a love match with a powerful Valyrian lord (Corlys), and Daemon…well…

We all know how Daemon is. Upfront, rude etc. Yes, he lashed out and bashed Rhea Royce in public. It’s not nice, but you try being chained over ten years in marriage to a woman who’s your wife in nothing but name (and who refuses to let you go out of spite). Daemon was in his thirties and he had no children born to him. He wanted heirs of his own and both Rhea and Viserys were denying him that.

Daemon was a Targaryen Prince of many talents, who deserved a better wife from the start. Alysanne did him dirty.

#daemon targaryen #pro daemon targaryen #rhea royce #viserys i targaryen #aemma arryn #canon asoiaf #asoiaf meta #asoiaf #fire and blood #canon daemon targaryen #alysanne targaryen

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queers-gambit · 2 years

Text

It Feels Like (the Very) First Time

[ part two ]

[ series masterlist ]

prompt: your husband's nameday nears and you're determined to make him feel comfortable enough to show you all of him.

pairing: Aemond Targaryen x Velaryon!wife!reader

fandom: House of the Dragon

word count: 7.3k+

note: i don't know about y'all but i can fix him.

warnings: cursing, smut, 100% author's imagination and simple filler. got a bit tired of myself and only edited once - Father, forgive me.

You didn't broach the subject of Aemond's eyepatch again for several more months. Your curiosity ran deeper than that of Blackwater Bay, and though you'd caught glimpses during the early mornings when he rose before you, or late evenings when he settled beside you in the dark, you hadn't seen the injury in full.

In fact, you did your best to avoid getting any look at the injury you could since it made your husband vastly uncomfortable. It was a big step for you both to finally lay together after he was left shaken from his first (and only) sexual experience, so you didn't want to push him beyond what he allowed already. Plus, you wanted him to show you, to feel comfortable and confident enough to confide in you.

However, you nearly ran to him and ripped the bloody leather eyepatch off his face when you heard the first rumblings of court after your union. Given you were married now, it wasn't paramount that you attended these events, but as a member of the royal family, you were obligated to. Yet, Aemond was always stiff upon these events, and you often would wonder to fetch him a new drink - like a good wife.

It was where you heard the Ladies of the court snickering quietly with their backs turned to you - unaware that you lurked.

"And you saw them, didn't you?"

"Who?"

"The Prince and Princess, of course! Who else?"

"You'll have to be a bit more specific, Tabitha."

This Tabitha character sighed, "I was at Prince Aemond's wedding. She looked ready to cry and he looked like he was going to take his own dagger to his neck."

"Might be doin' the lass a favor," another woman sneered. "I feel bad for her, she has to see what's under that patch everyday. If he was half decent, he would keep it covered at all times."

"It's not all that bad," another woman defended lightly. "Once he started using that sapphire, it's actually kinda pretty."

"It's disturbing," Tabitha snapped. "Honestly, we're lucky he even wears that bloody gem and patch - nobody wants to see what's underneath. It's horrifying. It's disgusting, the wound."

"You've seen it?"

"Once," Tabitha nodded, "when he was young and the flesh only just healing. It's a real shame, you know? Prince Aemond would be terribly handsome if not for that nasty injury ruining his face. Though, I do agree with Mildrith, and feel bad that the Princess has to see it everyday. Could you imagine?"

You let the pitcher of wine you were holding to pour into Aemond's cup set with a distinct thump to the table, making the five or six gossiping women turn with gasps. "And what an honor it is, to be Prince Aemond's wife. Tread carefully, Ladies," you advised, "I don't take kindly towards insults against my husband."

"Yes, but Princess, be reasonable," Tabitha tried, nervously glancing at the others, "we were merely sharing our opinions on the Prince's state - "

"The Prince's state isn't of your concern nor is your opinion warranted," you snapped. "I'd mind my manners and hold my tongue if I was you, Lady Tabitha Tarly." She gulped when she realized you knew her name. "Don't let me overhear this kind of slanderous insult again. You thought my husband had a temper?" You smirked slightly, "You've seen nothing yet." But your smirked of amusement dropped, "Now, mind your tongues before I have them removed."

When you returned to the royal banquet table, where you and Aemond had sat the entirety of the night, he noticed your tense posture as you set his goblet to the table before him. His brow crinkled with worry and lifted a hand to your back, guiding you to your seat, "All right there, sweet girl?"

"Mhm," you hummed, sending one last glare to the women across the hall. "Just fine, love."

"What happened?" He asked, making you sigh and let him pull you into his side, his arm slithering around your waist. "C'mon, pretty girl, tell your husband what happened."

You frowned and spared a glance up the table as you organized your thoughts. Finding the table's occupants either out of their seats or distracted, you turned your head a bit and bowed to keep the words between you and your husband. "Why did you not tell me?"

"Tell you what, my sweet?" He took advantage of your position and proximity, letting his lips pucker to press into your neck slowly.

"What they have said to you? About you?" You worried, letting both hands clasp his one; feeling his mouth still. "You only told me the bare minimum, yet, just now, I overhear what I can only assume is a toned down version to what you've heard before. Women of the court sneering about your injury, your appearance. Why didn't you tell me?"

He sighed, nodding as he lifted his head before pecking your forehead, "Don't worry over that."

"I'm not worried over it, I'm terribly annoyed," you argued quietly, leaning back in your chair - but still snug under his arm. "Bordering on angry, actually."

"Do not waste energy and emotion on this, sweet girl, it's over, 's done," he assured, both surveying the courtroom together. Couples who judge others together, stay together. "Hear me? You and I don't have to worry about that shit anymore."

"Yet you still endure it without me," you sighed, "and they still feel the need to ridicule you for something far beyond your control."

"Sweetheart - "

"No," you huffed gently. "It's ridiculously unfair what you've endured and I'd like to take my irritation out on those women who mean you harm."

"Why do we care for the opinions of sheep?" He smirked gently. "We are dragons, my love, and we do not worry about the likes of them."

"No, but when it's forced in my ears..." You frowned, letting your forehead meet his temple as your one hand rose to his opposite cheek to pet it. "I am sorry for what you've had to go through, my love. Say the word and I'll feed them to Kasta."

Aemond chuckled dryly, "Not necessary, my love. Maybe now you can understand why I am not good at this," he chuckled a bit. "Never been a ladies man, myself."

You sighed, "I love you exactly the way you are, Aemond, and I like that you're relatively untainted by other women."

"Only relatively?"

"Hey, I'm not the one who fucked a whore," you teased, looking up at him as he chuckled.

"Fair point," he relented, nodding after.

"I've never been a wife," you reminded. "But we get to figure this out together, right?"

"Of course," he whispered, pecking your temple. "Do not listen to those women, pet, it's not worth our time."

Yet, those words lingered in your mind. You knew his injury was striking but you only ever saw it in full the night he sustained it; with a few, scattered, fleeting, half-lidded glimpses the past few months. You worried he was too far gone to trust you with the sight of him now, and knew it was up to you to reassure him enough to reveal himself to you.

So, after stuffing down the want to just tear his patch off and take him in front of the whole court, where you could scream and moan your admiration and praise for them all to hear, you planned.

And when his nameday drew closer, you let your mind wonder with slight mischief over ways to celebrate the occasion. No doubt, your husband wasn't anticipating anything, but you simply couldn't let that be. You visited his mother first, and the Queen Alicent assured you that she would book the private dining balcony for dinner that evening and she would get him a gift from both herself and the King, then you were off to Helaena.

The Princess was overly ecstatic by your idea and agreed to get Aemond something. She giggled that she'd also get something "from the Twins" to really up the ante and promised to see you at dinner. After visiting Otto with the same idea, he agreed easily, and then, you were off to Aegon's chambers.

And he was less than impressed by your idea. Finally, you huffed, "If I got something, would you please just sign your name on it?"

He considered the idea and nodded, "Fine."

"And you'll come to dinner tonight."

"All right, yes, fine, whatever - "

"And you'll behave," you glared with a pointed finger. "I won't let you upset him on his day, you hear me, Aegon? Clean up for this dinner, please, and just fucking behave yourself."

"You're not my mother, watch your tone."

"Stop acting like a child and perhaps you would not always be treated as one," you snapped, turning for his door and slamming it after your retreating form before he could even respond.

It was well known that you and Aegon did not get along, but mostly because you didn't put up with his bullshit - constantly calling him out on his worst behavior. However, you refused to let that get to you right now.

After stopping off at your rooms to drag a hooded cloak and your boots on, you met Amira at the front foyer with Ser Arryk set as your personal guard. He had an easy enough job following behind you two because you knew exactly where to go and what to get Aemond for his birthday, navigating the city swiftly; saving time on pandering and meandering.

Amira picked Aemond up a new hairbrush after noting his had seen better days. She was a big fan of personal pampering, so, she chose the most beautiful, intricately carved silver brush and you were happy to pay for it. Mira protested, but you promised her it was more affordable for you to pay then she - and she had to silently agree.

Then, you stopped at a book store to pluck an armful for selection. There was more you wanted to get him, but was forced to narrow it down after being reminded there was still two more stops and only one guard to help carry things. You settled and paid for only five.

Then, second to last, but definitely not least, you stopped at a well-kept building that housed one of the Royal Jewelers. Madam Parne was well known in the city after immigrating from Pentos with a rucksack brimming with exotic gems and metals. You never knew if they were stolen or not, but in this moment, you did not care. Madam Parne was expecting your visit and had cleared the shop out of any common customers.

You breathed a sigh of relief as the door was locked to prevent anyone from entering; books set down to a bench and Arryk watching the entire exchange with a hand on his sword's hilt.

Madam Parne was a pleasant enough woman who was happy to show you the ideas she had curated for the Prince's nameday present. You were particular in what you wanted, nixing and refusing several gifts before something golden caught your eye.

"And these?" You asked softly, pulling the velveteen case closer.

"They're pendents, Princess," Parne explained. "Each depict the Gods." She pointed to each necklace set on a gold chain, explaining, "The Father, who represents divine justice and judges the souls of the dead. The Mother, who represents mercy, peace, fertility, and childbirth. The Maiden shows us purity, innocence, love, and beauty. The Crone represents wisdom and foresight. The Warrior shows us our strength, and courage in both life and battle. The Smith, representing creation and craftsmanship. And then," her manicured finger pet over the pendent, "The Stranger, who represents death and the unknown... And of course, you see the Seven Point Star," she showed you the final necklace, "to represent all the Seven."

"Does the Prince even wear chains?" Amira wondered quietly from beside you, looking at the selection.

"He doesn't have one," you sighed, elbow to the showing table to keep your chin propped up. "What do you think?"

"I think he'd like anything you got him," Amira shrugged some, but her eyes cast over your shoulders. "Woah," she gasped lightly, perking up. You did the same and turned to view a glass case latched to the wall, showing off the perfectly rounded array of gems.

"Ah," Parne nodded, "the Precious Gems, good eye."

"They're cut interestingly," you noted.

"All rounded," she agreed with a knowing smirk.

"And large," you cocked your head slightly. "Mira, you would know better than I..."

Amira caught onto your words, lowering her tone to mutter, "He's a sapphire, Princess, but it's smaller... Bit dull and jagged from the years."

"Hmm," you considered, nodding. Then, to Parne, you asked, "Might I see the sapphire, please, Madam Parne?"

"Of course, Princess."

By the end of the long visit, you left with two carefully wrapped parcels. You let Ser Arryk carry the jeweler's packages for protection, leaving Amira and you to carry the weight of the books and silver hairbrush. However, you had one more stop.

The local livestock breeder smiled when he saw you three approach, and laughed happily when you knew immediately what horse you wanted. When you made your request, the breeder offered you a small look, "Are you sure, Princess? He's a bit wild, that one."

Your shoulders shrugged, "No worries. He's perfect for us."

"Very well," he agreed, "then, how's about only seven Gold Dragons?"

"What about the agreed-upon ten?"

"Thought I could convince yah to take a different stallion. Only seven 'cause that boy's out his Gods-given mind."

"He'll do fine," you assured. You paid the man, and gave the instruction, "Have him brought the the Royal Stables, please. Within the Keep." You signed the two parchments that showed ownership, leaving one with the man, "Use this if they do not let you pass."

You scribbled in the margin, 'For Prince Aemond's nameday!' and hoped it was enough for the guards.

"Thank you, Lady," the breeder thanked, bowing. "We'll move 'im tonight."

"Good, thank you," you smiled, nodding to the others, and finally left the inner city.

When you were back in the Keep, you had to sneak around the corners of the halls near your room; cautious to run into Aemond.

"Come on," you waved the two into your room after checking it was empty. Arryk and Mira both darted quickly into the room and deposited the presents on the bed to let you sort through before bidding you a good day.

You were left alone to hand-wrap the presents, barely finishing in time for the mechanics of the secret passage door in your room to whirl to life. You squeaked and turned, keeping the presents behind you, and smiling when your husband's head popped in.

"Anyone here?" He checked.

"Nope. Just us," you promised, watching him sigh in relief and step out from the secret passage. "What's wrong? Why're you creeping around?"

"Helaena and Mother want tea, or something," he sighed as the door shut. He eyed you for a moment. "And you, pet? What're you up to?"

"Nothing..."

"That's suspicious," he noted with a smirk, yanking his weapons belt free.

"None more than you sneaking back into our room," you pointed out, rocking on your toes to approach him with a dramatic pout. "Is spending time with your mother and sister all that bad? Truly?"

"Well, no," he sighed, letting you assist him in undressing for the day. You reached for his buckles.

"Then why avoid them?"

"Just tired, pet," he sighed, and dare you say it, sadly.

"Hmm," you considered, "that's all? Nothing to do with, oh, I don't know, tomorrow?"

He groaned lightly and pulled his arms from the leather jerkin. "Do not remind me, 's why they want tea."

"You know, some people might actually like spending time with their family for their nameday," you teased as he focused on pouring a goblet of wine. "What if I went with you?"

"Hmm?"

"To tea," you smiled softly.

"'S all right, pet," he nodded.

"Well... I might have a confession."

"Oh?"

You winced lightly, "We have dinner arrangements for tonight."

"For what?"

You smiled, "For you, love."

He sighed, "Sweetheart, it's nice to try, but it's not necessary."

"Well, I've already - "

"I don't celebrate my nameday, pet. Hence me taking the back passages to avoid everyone, hmm?"

"Well, yes, I noted that, but it's your first nameday as a married couple," you pouted up at him. "Please? I have a bunch of surprises I think you'll really like."

"Oh?"

You nodded with vigor, a grin creeping over your lips. "Tell you what, if it's really not something you like, we won't continue. But let me at least try, please."

Aemond sighed and let a hand raise to caress your cheek, "Why's this so important, sweet girl?"

"It's your nameday, so, you can't fight me when I spoil you. And you went all out for mine."

"Oh, I can't fight you, can I?" He smirked, making you go rigid.

"Don't. You. Dare," You warned, but it was too late. Aemond chuckled as he lunged, hands clamping tight over your ribs and wiggling to make you almost drop to the floor with shrill laughter. "AEMOND! OKAY! OKAY!" You begged. "TRUCE! TRUCE! PLEASE!"

He chuckled still but relented, making you stumble a bit into his chest from the aftershocks of being tickled. Your husband grinned and let his arms wrap around you tightly, sighing, "All right, pretty girl, I'll play along. What's going on tonight?"

"Dinner with your family," you nodded. "And tomorrow, it's just us."

"Yeah?" He smirked.

"Mhm, thought you'd like that," you teased gently.

"Sounds good by me, love," he nodded, pecking your forehead. But his eyes drifted towards the bed, "Is that what you were hiding?"

You shrugged a little, "Maybe... Now, change for dinner, please."

He glanced out the window to note the position of the sun, wondering, "Now?"

"Mhm," you smiled, part of another surprise. "C'mon."

Aemond was a good sport and let you leave his gifts on the table. They were all wrapped, so, you didn't worry about him finding out what they were, and picked up a few books to give to Aegon to give to Aemond. You were annoyed by his lack of want to celebrate his brother, but knew, not all siblings were as sweet or supportive or loving as your own.

When there was a knock at the door, you peaked out to spy Amira, who whispered, "It's all in place, Princess. King's on his way there now."

"Thank you," you winked, handing her the books through the door, and shutting it after.

"Who was that, love?" Aemond asked, tucking his tunic into his trousers before settling a new jerkin over it.

"Amira, she was just checking on us. I told her we were going to dinner," you smiled lightly, eyeing him up and down. "But now that I'm getting a full look, I don't know if we'll make it on time."

"Behave yourself," he teased lightly, chuckling after.

He smiled when your arms wrapped around his middle from behind. You pushed onto your toes to nuzzle at his neck, "You look very handsome."

"Thank you, sweet girl," he whispered, hand over your own on his chest.

"C'mon," you grinned, letting him go. "I have gifts for you but that's kinda between us... So, you'll get them later."

He chuckled, shaking his head, "You should not have bothered."

Your eyes rolled, "You spoil me often enough, you can let me return the favor. Please."

He nodded and let his arm come around your shoulders as you both finally stepped from your bedroom. "Doesn't mean I'm not gonna complain about it," he teased as your hand rose to hold onto the hand dangling off your shoulder. He eyed you with a smirk, "I tell you how beautiful you look tonight?"

"Only about every other minute when we were getting ready," you smirked up at him. "But thank you, sweetheart," your hand squeezed his, glancing at the black gown you wore.

Naturally, you matched Aemond in color scheme and dressed in something he had bought you weeks ago. You've yet to have a chance to wear it, so, tonight was perfect. When you lead Aemond to a private balcony, he offered a confused look.

"Trust me," you whispered, knocking gently and the next moment, the door was opening widely. "Oh, wow," you chuckled, leading Aemond in. "Oh, this looks great!"

"Gods," he whispered, looking around in shock. "You did this?"

"Well, technically your mother did," you chuckled, pausing to let him get a look at the balcony that was dripping in florals. "Like it?"

"'S beautiful, love," he smirked, "but why the flowers?"

You shrugged, "They're pretty and set a nice scene." A servant approached you, making you chirp, "Ah, thank you." They handed over a bouquet of flowers, a sample of what was decorating the balcony now. You turned to Aemond, "And I'm willing to bet nobody's ever given you flowers before."

"I give you flowers, pretty girl," he gently refused. "Keep 'em."

"You're telling me you don't like it when we've flowers in the room?" You asked quietly, aware of his family watching you linger in the double-doorway. "Why else get them so often 'for me'?"

He paused, and then rolled his eyes begrudgingly, "Perhaps I do."

"I knew it," you grinned, "but for the sake of your reputation, I'll hold onto these."

"Thank you," he chuckled, still glancing around and noting his family waiting on you two. "What's this?"

"I told you," you smiled softly at him, "family dinner."

He smiled softly before letting his usual mask of indifference take over. You chuckled and laced your hands together, leading him up the stone steps to the platform the table rested on.

You were greeted happily by his family, all of whom all but instantly wished Aemond a happy nameday. Judging by his reaction of silence and stony contemplation with only grateful nods of thanks, you figured it's been quite some time since anyone had even acknowledged his nameday. You had a word with the kitchen staff and organized the menu, and Aemond had to chuckle lightly when the main course was served.

"You did this, huh?" He smirked into the rim of his goblet of wine.

"Duh," you whispered with a wink. "You've no idea how fucking expensive this pork is."

"What makes it special?" He wondered.

"Oh, absolutely no idea, but apparently, it's really good," you smiled softly at him.

As dinner faded with laughter and easy-going conversation, everyone began presenting their gifts. Aemond cleared his throat and shifted with discomfort, not liking being the center of attention, and you made a mental note to not pursue a family dinner next year.

Viserys was first, presenting his son with a new blade. It wasn't Valyrian Steel, but it was still a handsome weapon, and your husband was shocked to receive such a gift. When his wide eyes turned to you, you whispered, "That was not my doing, love." When his brows slowly perked, you assured, "That was all your father."

You smiled softly as Alicent presented her son with an entire collection of Encyclopedias of the Known World. He blinked a few times before thanking her and you chuckled, waving a servant forward to take the ten, thick, heavy books with the freshly forged sword to your room.

You'd have to clear an entire shelf on the bookshelf from today alone.

Otto was next and smirked when he nudged a certificate closer. "What's this?" Aemond wondered, picking up the parchment to show you, too.

"I've already paid," Otto nodded, "all you need to do is show up and present that. Your Lady wife might've mentioned your need for new boots and tunics."

You shrugged when Aemond offered you a playfully reprimanding look. "Yours are falling apart," you mused into a sip of wine.

"They're fine," he chuckled, nodding at Otto. "Thank you, Grandfather."

"Of course," he smiled fully.

Aegon gave Aemond the books before slumping in his chair and pouring his (surprisingly) first goblet of wine. You didn't comment as Aemond seemed more pleasantly shocked than anything by the gift, and he chuckled lightly as he pet the spines of the books.

After handing them over to the servant, he leaned closer to mutter in your ear, "Now, I know that one was you, love."

"Shh," you hushed gently.

Before the night was over, the cooks brought out a cake you had spent the previous day (trying to) help bake. Aemond shook his head with a laugh when Alicent asked how the excursion went, and the chef even chuckled.

"It went fine," you assured, sending a pointed look to the kitchen staff. "I didn't burn anything down, now did I?"

"Not this time, Princess, though you did burn the first few attempts," Chef Uller teased lightly. "But it was an honor, you're welcome in the kitchens any time, Princess."

You smiled in thanks, leaving Helaena to present her own gift. She had caught wind of your plans and got him new dragon-hide gloves, knowing his own were wearing out terribly thin. Prince Aemond had a terrible habit of using things until falling part - and then still using them. Sometimes, he needed reminded to replace certain things.

From her children, the Twins, she let Prince Jaehaerys toddle closer with his gift clutched tightly. You cooed and both pushed your chairs back, letting the gurgling toddler waddle closer, all but falling into your arms when he reached you.

Aemond smiled softly as he watched you pull the child into your lap, easily cradling him. "What's that, love?" You cooed gently, tickling his sides - making him laugh shrilly. "Hey? Got something for your uncle, is it?"

The Prince was happy to wave the present in his hands, seemingly offering it to Aemond, and making your husband slowly reach for the gift. "Thank you, lad," he whispered when the kid let go, clapping happily and babbling to you as if in conversation.

"Oh, really? You picked it out?" You teased softly, the babe babbling again. "Oh, good choice, love, yes, yes," you approved with a nod, smirking at Aemond. "He says his sister approved."

"Oh, yeah?" Aemond chuckled, opening the small case. "Look at this, pretty girl," he smirked at you, showing the dragon broach with red ruby eyes.

"That's handsome," you smiled, gently leaning into his shoulder as you both looked at Prince Jaehaerys when he babbled again. "Hmm, yes, you're right," you nodded, "it would look really nice on a pale colored tunic. Maybe even white."

"I don't own any," Aemond chuckled.

"We'll fix that," you smirked with a quick wink, tapping the certificate Otto presented him - making him snicker quietly.

Unknown to you, Viserys, Alicent, and Otto all shared fond looks while watching you and your husband interact with the child on your lap. It was different, seeing Aemond so soft-spoken and at-ease; almost being a foreign sight that made most do a double take.

He was smiling - not smirking.

His eyes all but remained on you, softening his expression.

Aemond looked relaxed for the first time in years, and Alicent's heart burst in her chest when her eyes skated over you - who was leaning into Aemond's side with Jaehaerys sitting on your lap still, child's hands grabbing at your hair playfully. She never thought she'd see the day, but given both your hands were occupied by the wriggling, giggling child, Alicent was pleasantly surprised to watch Aemond fork a bit of cake into your mouth with a small chuckle.

She almost passed out and fell from her chair when she watched Aemond swiftly swoop in to kiss a bit of icing off your lip. Your grin was blinding, making your husband flush slightly from embarrassment. It was a nice breath of fresh air, to witness her son so happy and carefree - if only for a few, fleeting moments.

The dinner lasted only an hour later before Viserys was being escorted to bed - and Aegon wasted no time in surging from his seat to charge out of the dining quarters right after.

You sighed gently and finished off your wine, letting Alicent take her grandson from your lap as Helaena had hold of her daughter. The servants had brought all Aemond's new gifts to your room, leaving you to bid Otto a goodnight, lace hands, and move for your shared chamber.

Before you made it to the door, you ran into Amira, who cheered, "Lord! Lady!"

"Mira," you smiled at the cheerful older woman.

"Here," she presented a thin box to Aemond with excitement. "Your Lady wife helped me pick it out, but I know you needed this. I hope it's acceptable."

Aemond had to let go of any hold on you to accept the gift, looking almost nervous. But when he saw your encouraging smile, he lifted the lid and breathed in slight relief. "Wow, Amira," he complimented, fingering the brush delicately, "this is too much."

"No, nonsense," she assured, "you needed a new one and we were happy to help! Is it to your liking, my Prince?"

"Of course," he nodded. "Thank you," he smirked at her with a head nod. "This was very thoughtful."

"Oh, you're so welcome," she hummed, looking really pleased with herself. It made you smile fondly. "Thank you for keeping this one out of trouble," she teased, pointing at you; smile dropping.

"Hey," you snipped, "he does no such thing."

Aemond chuckled, offering his hand to Mira. When hers laid in his, he pressed a gentle kiss to the back of her hand, thanking her again, but then apologizing as you two needed to take leave. She understood and after another wish for a happy nameday, hustled down the hall to continue her own chores as you and Aemond finally approached your room.

When you got in, you both breathed small sighs of relief.

"Well?" You asked gently, leaning on the wooden door as your eyes followed your husband. He first paused to deposit the new hairbrush on the table.

"Hmm?" Aemond then sat to the edge of the bed, leaning down to unlace his boots; sparing you a confused glance.

"How was tonight?"

He chuckled when you approached, swatting his hands away to pull the leather shoes from his feet. "Yeah, it was nice, pet..."

"Yeah?" You beamed.

"Yeah," he chuckled again. After depositing the boots to the side, Aemond reached for your hands so you stood between his opened legs with your fingers lacing together. "It was a nice change of pace... Though, I don't know if we should make it regular."

You hummed, "Fair point, I'll keep that in mind, love. Tomorrow will be better, I promise."

"You sound very confident in that," he teased.

"I am," you winked, leaning in to peck his lips. "I think you'll like what I have planned."

"I might," he nodded. "If it's with you, I think I'll enjoy myself."

"Good," you chirped. "Now, c'mon, I'm tired. Unlace me, please."

He nodded and let you turn in his arms to undo the back laces of your dress. Calloused fingertips occasionally drug over your skin, creating a legion of goose flesh. When done, he helped pull the laces free; making your arms press to your chest to keep the garment on your body. Your entire back was bare for him to stare at as you selected a short singlet for the night, dropping the material of your gown to shimmy into your silk slip.

When you turned, you weren't surprised to find your husband leaning back on a hand, watching you intently. His free hand rested almost completely over his crotch, just slightly to the side, and drawing your eyes exactly where he wanted.

"Aemond," you reprimanded softly.

"Carry on, love," he smirked, letting his free hand now fully palm himself. He gave a squeeze, making his voice deepen, "Let me watch you."

"Show's over, pretty boy," you laughed lightly, pulling your jewelry from your ears, neck, fingers, and wrists. "Are you going to get ready for bed?"

Yet, his smirk didn't falter and his hand gave another squeeze to his swelling cock hidden beneath the tight trousers he wore. "I'm enjoying my view," he teased, "and I thought I'd let my beautiful wife help me with that."

"With undressing?"

"You'd rather I ask someone else?"

Your mouth hung open as he snickered, "You're not funny!"

"Then why am I laughing, love?"

"Well, I am not," you let your back turn to him, feigning irritation as your own lips pulled in a smirk; forgetting about the mirror you faced, which gave view to your husband. Your fingers organized your gems in a soft velvet box on your vanity, preparing your nightly routine just as you felt arms slither around your waist - like you wanted.

"You think I do not notice you teasing me, my love?" He mused in your ear, tightening his arms as your own moved to lay over his.

"Perhaps," you smirked. "Are you going to be useful and help me fix my hair?"

"Are you going to do the same?"

"Of course," you chuckled, giving his arms a squeeze that he reciprocated instantly; crowding your hips into the edge of the vanity that made your throat constrict with a gulp.

"Then let me mess it up first," he whispered, and before you could respond, you were whining when his lips parted to let his teeth scrape over the meat of your neck.

He was instantly drawn to that sweetest spot on your neck, knees buckling gently to make the table wobble as one hand aided in keeping you upright and the other rose to hold the back of your husband's neck. He breathed heavily against you, sloppily kissing over flesh and taking your earlobe between his teeth; grinding his hips forward to press his defined cock into the swell of your arse.

You were trapped between him and the vanity, holding onto him as if it would give you strength. Aemond let his hands move from holding your hips in a bruising grip to then surge upward and grope both your breasts at the same time. Your eyes fluttered and lips parted in a strangled gasp at the sensation of his hands, lips, and hips working in tandem, the vanity gently rocking with your movements.

Though he wouldn't admit it out loud, your husband was a big fan of dry humping, and though you weren't sure about it before, you knew now that you'd never tire of the feeling.

You breathlessly cursed the Gods - it just all felt so good; so overwhelming; so overpowering. Your shrill tone even praised your husband's name like a prayer, making him rut into you faster, harder.

"C'mere," he growled, turning you to face him swiftly and reaching behind you to easily sweep his arm and clear the tabletop of your belongings.

"Aemond," you groaned, watching your items clatter to the floor and frowning at him with a small glare. A bottle of perfume might've even cracked but there was no time to check.

"I'll clean it up later," he assured, pressing his lips to yours for a breath-stealing, mind-numbing kiss. His hands held the center of your ribcage, thumbs rubbing into the meat of your breasts and making your breath stagger slightly; humming with pleasure. He pulled away only to lean in for your neck again, making your head tilt to the side as all argument died on your tongue. He relished in the sounds of your sharp intakes of breath. "Hold onto me," Aemond whispered, and the moment your hands seized his upper arms, he was gripping your hips and heaving you back onto the vanity's tabletop with a thigh between both of yours for extra support.

"Aemond - fuck," You moaned against his lips after guiding his face back to yours. Holding him against you with legs spread to accommodate his body, his hands traveled to your thighs to push your singlet up to settle around your hips. "You don't," you paused when his lips pushed back onto yours, moaning faintly before pulling back again, "you don't want to move for the bed, love?"

"Not yet," he purred with a smirk, easily slipping his fingers under the thin strap of your singlet to pull off your shoulder. "Love," he chuckled when your arms didn't move, preventing him from revealing your bare chest. You only cocked your head in challenge, and your husband was eager to meet it.

"Aemond!" You scolded with a gasp when he easily tore the strap off, doing the same to the other so the material was fully pooled around your waist and hips.

His eye rolled, leaning in to peck your lips, "I'll buy you five more, pet."

"That was expensive silk, imported from Braavos," you pouted lightly, hands held to the side of you to help keep balance as one of his hands rose to grab your tit once more; giving an appreciative squeeze to the supple flesh.

"Like I said," he nodded, letting his mouth descend onto yours while his fingers tweaked your nipple, only pulling back to whisper, "I'll buy you five new ones."

You hummed as his tongue swept into your mouth, reaching for his trousers and yanking them open. You felt his mouth pull from yours to kiss down your neck, sweep over your collarbones, lick across your chest, and then settle at your breast; tilting his body at an odd angle to take your nipple in his mouth and let you work at the same time.

However, when one of your hands rose to gently pet over the strap of his eyepatch, he tensed up and reared back slightly. "Not tonight," he whispered as he took hold of your hands but did not else move, making you nod in understanding.

It was a long shot, but you had to test the waters.

"Okay," you relented gently, slowly caressing his cheeks in surrender to guide him back to your lips. "I'm sorry," you whispered.

Eyepatch stays on during sex, noted.

"Don't apologize," he hummed, shaking his head as if to rid his thoughts. "Soon, pet," he promised, licking into your mouth as you both moaned. Your hands brought his back to your breasts, aiding them in squeezing and massaging; letting go with a gasp when he moved to tweak your nipples between thumb and pointer fingers.

Your moans encouraged him further, but the feeling of your groin moving against his spurred him onward. You had to pause your own ministrations when his hips started to move; pinning yourself to his mercy to let him thrust dryly into you, fingers still working, and tongue swirling around yours.

His rutting became frantic, tugging you to the edge of the vanity so he could grind into your bare, glistening cunt; eagerly pushing the material of his pants down so they rested around his thighs. Just enough to free his leaking cock and for you to take him in hand.

You both moaned at the feeling of him in your palm, his teeth clenching when your fingers wrapped in a secure grip. You gave a few tugs with a roll of your wrist, but Aemond's plea stopped you, "Don't tease me, pretty girl. C'mon."

"You don't want my mouth?"

He chuckled breathlessly and needed to hold the top of the mirror over you to keep his balance while you stroked him until the tip of his cock was a leaking, angry red. "Always want that, pet, but I need to be inside you - now."

Your one foot moved to the top of the table to hold your position, the other wrapping around Aemond's leg to encourage him forward. "Then don't waste any time, husband," you breathed in response, and in the next moment, Aemond surged forward with both lips and hips.

His mouth devoured your wanton moan when he took no time to line himself up and sheath himself fully in the sopping wetness of your cunt. His one hand held your hip and raised leg, alternating between squeezes and caresses; the other laying over yours, keeping his strength upright as his hips humped ferociously into you.

Your mouth could only form helpless moans as the folded position of your body made it feel as if Aemond was thrusting through you before he adjusted his tempo and let his hips push upwards. Your head fell back to the mirror of your vanity and the entire table rocked with Aemond's frantic motions, briefly worrying you'd break the furniture before your climax.

Yet, Aemond was wound tighter than you realized and his hand abandoned yours in favor of thumbing around your pearl.

With another whine, your eyes screwed shut as your husband took you as he saw fit; only a few strokes in before your tightening belt of pleasure released. Your own hips humped into Aemond's as you clung to him; both his arms around you as your mind focused only on prolonging your orgasm.

"Fuck, Princess, that's it, hold onto me, yeah, good girl," Aemond growled, holding your hips to his as your back was pushed to the table until you were hanging off - hanging on only by your legs wrapped around his hips. It was a terrible position for you, but your husband was focused on his orgasm; and the aftermath of your own made the pleasure prolong as your core flexed to keep your balance. "My good girl, fuck, that's it. Always willing to listen and do as she's told, mmh, makes this cunt so fuckin' tight, ah, fuck, fuck, fuck," Aemond hissed breathlessly, balls slapping to the wetness of your cunt as he finally met his end with a shout.

With one final thrust that sent the table back into the wall, one of your hands slapped backwards to hold the mirror from falling over you as the other clung to Aemond's shoulders. He panted into your neck as his balls contracted to empty his load, painting your insides sticky white while trying to catch his breath.

"Love," you warned, glancing up, "mirror's gonna fall. Help me, please."

"Shit," he looked up, quickly rightening his damp body to balance you with his softening cock still inside and reach for the mirror. "Let go, I got it, love, go ahead," He trusted you to not move as he readjusted the glass so it was no longer in jeopardy of falling. "You all right?" He checked, both hands moving back to the flesh of your waist as you both still caught your breath.

"Mhm," you panted, letting him help you back into a sitting position.

You breathed heavily as he slowly retracted his hips to free himself, pausing only to use his fingers and stuff any escaping cum back inside - your breathing staggering again. "Hold it there, pretty girl," he whispered with a taunting smirk. You sighed through the pleasure with fluttering lashes as he worked, feeling his fingertips stroking that spongey-good spot of your inner walls and only offered him a glare. "What?" He smirked, entire arm flexing to accommodate his ministrations. "Can't handle it?"

"You're playing a dangerous game, my Prince," you warned, knowing he was working you back up to a new height.

"Maybe it's my intention to fuck you all night," he teased, smirking at you as if he won.

"Maybe that was my plan for tomorrow."

"Why not both?" He perked a brow, yanking you to your wobbly feet to trap your lips back to his. His arms were used to support most of your weight, both hands gripping the meat of your arse; moving backwards towards the bed and leaving the scattered remains of your vanity behind.

[ part two ]

[ series masterlist ]

#aemond targaryen #prince aemond #aemond the kinslayer #aemond targaryen x reader #aemond targaryen x fem!reader #aemond one eye #aemond targaryen imagine #aemond targaryen angst #aemond targaryen fluff #aemond targaryen smut #house of the dragon #hotd #hotd imagine #hotd x reader #hotd smut

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292pantone · 2 years

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Okay! Time for some Glass Onion analysis bc I'm already obsessed with this movie.

GLASS ONION SPOILERS AHEAD READ AT YOUR OWN RISK

I've seen people saying that it was unnecessary for the movie Glass Onion to be set in May 2020 during the height of the pandemic, and that it took away from the movie, but I disagree. The specific setting is relevant because of all the movie's subtext about the Black Lives Matter movement and its resurgence in May 2020. Hear me out- there are several parallels between Andi's death/Helen's avenging her death by wrecking the mansion, and the riots in 2020 following the unjust deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and many others.

To begin with, there's the power dynamic between Andi and Miles. A mediocre, unexceptional white man stole the contributions of a brilliant black woman and got away with it because his influential friends closed ranks around him in a system designed to benefit him. He got the benefit of the doubt and weaponized the legal system to financially ruin her. Even though she was telling the truth, no one believed her, and Miles fully expected this pattern to continue once her sister Helen took up the cause.

Miles burns the incriminating evidence of his lies and flat-out tells Helen that no one will ever believe her with only circumstantial evidence. Even Benoit Blanc acknowledges that his skill as a detective can only go so far without the police and courts on his side.

In the case of police brutality, cops similarly weaponize the legal system and avoid accountability for their murders by closing ranks through police unions that invoke "qualified immunity" (aka shielding the cops from legal liability). The privilege of white men, compounded by their wealth and connections, makes it difficult for them to face actual consequences for the harm they do.

We see the concept of avoiding consequences again with Miles' crew of "disruptors", all of whom rely on his money to bail them out of trouble. Birdie was implied to have done blackface, made tone-deaf comments comparing herself to Harriet Tubman, completely ignored all COVID restrictions, and tweeted ethnic slurs to the point where her assistant had to take away her phone, but her line of loungewear still takes off thanks to Miles' financial backing. In response to the latest scandal, personal assistant Peg says "We will do what we always do! Deny, half-apologize, then go silent awhile." Despite her litany of offenses and half-assed attempts at accountability, no consequences stick to the privileged Birdie either.

However, Helen refuses to accept this unfair state of things. In a situation where she appears powerless, with her sister gone and the valuable napkin burned, Helen essentially goes "fuck that" and makes Miles pay for what he did anyway. If the law won't take her side, she has to take it into her own hands. This is where the parallels to the 2020 riots come in.

We see her smashing the symbols of Miles' wealth, starting with his glass sculptures, and at first the other characters don't mind. They cheer her on from the couches, even though they all just refused to testify for her in court. This parallels the performative activism seen in many celebrities, who would rather watch from the sidelines and say vaguely supportive things rather than do any meaningful action to change the system. The other guests are happy to break the glass sculptures alongside her, saying how cathartic it feels, but they get antsy when she moves on to breaking more valuable things instead of giving up after a short while like they did. The camera shots of Helen smashing things and lighting a fire linger uncomfortably long as it starts to sink in that this isn't just a momentary temper tantrum. The so-called "disruptors" wince and gasp and exclaim how a piano belonged to Liberace and so on, completely ignoring how THE DESTRUCTION IS THE POINT, because if Helen only broke safe, acceptable targets, then it wouldn't actually mean anything. Similarly, when people rioted in 2020, there was a huge amount of pearl-clutching by people saying rioting is going too far, and can't we all just be nonviolent and have unity and forgive each other? In both cases, there's a veneer of support from people who just want the victims of injustice to "get their anger out of their systems" and move on without any serious changes being made.

I find it very fitting that Helen burns the Mona Lisa with Miles' own unregulated hydrogen fuel cell, using the override switch that he carelessly installed. She exploits the natural consequences of his self-centeredness so they all catch up to him at once. In the end, Helen's acts of protest do disrupt things and lead to change, even as people tell her she is going too far. Once Helen does the actual work of tanking Miles' reputation for good, only then do the "disruptors" jump ship and promise to back her up in court. They're willing to take the side of justice only when things have shifted to the point where it's the better act of self-preservation. If there was any chance of still hanging onto Miles' golden titty and making his reputation their hill to die on, they would've done it.

Blanc, the protagonist of the movie, gives Helen tacit permission to burn everything down by handing her the chunk of hydrogen fuel. He stands by her the whole movie and takes her seriously, demonstrating a path to better (non-performative) allyship.

Glass Onion shows that lasting change has to be demanded, not wheedled, and that sometimes things have to reach an undeniable crisis point to do so. In other words: protest is necessary.

#discussion #glass onion #knives out #glass onion analysis #black lives matter #knives out analysis #benoit blanc #miles bron

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lovelykhaleesiii · 2 years

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Hey you, I enjoy you writing tremendously and I had an idea for Aemond x Reader where reader is from lets say the last great valyrian house next to Targaryens and Viserys wants to join houses. Reader meets Aemond and she is very witty, arrogant but also very kind and soft with Helena. I would love to see the reader correcting Aemonds valyrian and how he reacts to this (of course he has also growing feelings for her that he doesnt know how to show but he slowly opens up to her).

Hope I wasn't too all over the place and thank you a million times if you do this! Love u^^

thank you, I appreciate that! sorry it took me a while to get this done, I had my last week of work before my break <3 hope you like x

Always Meant to Be.

PAIRING: Aemond Targaryen x fem!Reader

WORDS: 1,716.

WARNINGS: fluff, soft!Aemond.

A/N - in this AU reader is Rhaenyra's and Laenor's biological daughter, Rhaenyra gave it another go to have a child with Laenor, and that's reader :) So she'd be the second eldest born.

Plans of your future, specifically of your betrothal, had begun cementing since you'd first bled. You were a young maiden now, and as much as your family loved you for your wit, humour and kindness, you were a pawn that could be used as an advantage for this greater game.

Your beloved mother, heir to the Iron Throne, Rhaenyra Targaryen, and your dearest Grandsire, the Sea Snake, Corlys Velaryon, had both methodically contrived the plan to wed you to one of your Uncles, a son of your Grandsire the King's from his second marriage to Alicent Hightower. Although, the princes and princess were in actuality your mother's half-siblings, being much closer in age, you'd developed closer bonds to them, having grown up alongside them. Although since your mother decided to take leave to Dragonstone, it had been a fair, few years since you'd last seen them, especially after Aemond's incident with your youngest brother, Lucerys.

Nonetheless, they'd proposed the idea to the King numerous times and Viserys was keen as ever to the betrothal.

"A great idea to solidify the union between the great houses of Old Valyria."

And so it was decreed that Aemond Targaryen was to be wed to Y/N of House Velaryon, on her 21st Name Day.

From the earliest, fond memories you had of your older Uncle, Aemond, this union was something that did not displease you in the slightest. Although having not heard of his reaction to the news, and considering that the last time you'd seen each other, the young prince was engulfed in rage towards your family, having lost his precious eye. Your intuition led you to believe he'd probably felt ambushed and disproved of the arrangement.

Although, many of your closest maids convinced you that often no reaction also meant something good.

"It means he does not disprove of the union, your Grace-" Your dearest maid, Penny exclaimed, as she amended the final touches of your evening gown.

You took a deep breath in, feeling slightly less anxious having shed a new perspective on the matter. You were not normally this anxious, nor would you rattle so easily. So why the sudden change?

You'd rationalised that perhaps the haste preparations being made for your arrival to King's Landing, as your 21st Name Day was only a few short months away, the reality was becoming palpable. Your family would attend with you on your travels, until the marriage was certified and only then would they leave you to settle into the domestic life.

Your mother and many septas had trained you for quite sometime, although, you'd paid no mind, remaining blissfully ignorant to your lessons, for a betrothal felt a lifetime away. Seeing everyone's eagerness, and the arrangements being made however, you'd begun to feel the pressure build.

****

"Ah! Our beautiful bride to be, look at how much you've grown my dearest granddaughter," Viserys cheerfully gleamed, embracing you in a long, yet weak hug.

Since the last time you'd seen your Grandsire, it seemed that time did not treat him so well, for his health had deteriorated greatly. Although here he stood, unphased by his condition, he was adamant on sealing the union.

"Thank you Grandfather, I have missed you."

As your mother and siblings continued on with the reunion, did you begin to scan the room for your husband to be, and yet he was no where to be seen.

In fact the only one present, excluding Viserys and Alicent, was Helaena, who seemed much more excited for you and Aemond than you had yourself.

"Oh, thank the Gods, that you are to marry Aemond. I always did see you more as a sister than as my niece!"

As she released you from her hug, she'd noticed your friendly smile fade, and did not waste a second to question.

"Well, since my arrival I have not yet seen Aemond, nor has he sought me out, and he is the one I am to marry. Is he not keen on the marriage?" You uttered, low enough for no one else to hear your yearning. You held Helaena's hands tightly in yours, unable to maintain eye contact, as you looked towards the floor and then back up at her.

A half-hearted smile appeared on her face, tilting her head slightly to the side, as though slightly amused.

"Come come now, I will take you to him."

****

The gust of the soft breeze, blew across your face and though your hair, as Helaena tugged your arm, guiding you down the stony steps into the muddy training yard. You hadn't a split second to take study the scene, until your eyes were met with Aemond's.

"Brother, dearest-" Helaena called out longingly, as she braced her younger sibling into a warm hug, before standing by his side, as she turned to face you. Those training with Aemond pause for a brief moment, to respectfully bow out of both your presence before resuming their practice.

"Your beloved wife to be has arrived. Had you gotten so nervous that you'd forgotten? You were oh so eagerly counting down the days!"

"Enough, Helaena." Aemond deeply exclaimed. His face remained stoic, as he slyly rolled his eyes to his sister's childish laughter. Her innocence hadn't changed, you'd noticed.

He returned his gaze onto you. The boy you'd once remembered, gone, as a taller, much more brooding and dignified man stood in his place. The bloodied eye that was slashed out, now a prominent scar remained in place, hidden beneath a black, leather patch. His hair, much more longer now, paid greater homage to the unearthly qualities that belonged solely to House Targaryen, similar to your mother's.

Out of not control, you could feel your cheeks reddened with blush, as Aemond's eye remained fixated on you. It was an unfamiliar feeling.

"You have grown, Y/N. Nykeā ābra sir." He uttered, his eye wandering over your body slowly, very attentive to your every detail.

"That is the natural course of life, I'm afraid Uncle. Although, nyke umbagon nykeā riñnykeā nykeēdrosa, bona iksos lo ao issi nēdenka enough naejot complete se gaomon. [I remain a maiden still, that is if you are bold enough to complete the deed.]"

"Hmm-" Was all he managed to sound, a half-hearted smile gleaming on his face, as he took slow strides towards you, only inches apart, although his figure towering your own. Though, you remained silent and unphased.

"Gaomagon daor fret, byka mēre. Hae nykeā dutiful valzȳrys, nyke intend naejot satisfy se jorrāelagon hen issa ābrazȳrys... Thoroughly.[Do not fret, little one. As a dutiful husband, I intend to satisfy the needs of my wife…Thoroughly]"

Instinctively, you let out a giggle not in reaction to his response although much towards his pronunciation, his Westerosi accent was thick. The maesters in Dragonstone were not as foreign to the proper Valyrian vocabulary, alongside your mother's help, you excelled in the language.

"It seems I already have a task at hand as your wife. To teach my poor husband the proper pronunciation of our Mother Tongue. The maesters from Old Town have failed you, it seems-" Your hand modestly covering your mouth as you chuckle.

Vexed as he rolled his eye, his smug smile disappearing, as he heard his older sister rejoice in laughter with you. His head snapped towards her direction, causing her to freeze, before he stormed off into some passageway, leading to the castle.

Oh, I hope he knows I did not mean to anatagonise him. I just couldn't help myself!" You reasoned with Helaena, who reassured you that Aemond was a perfectionist, and had thought (up until now) that he peaked in the language.

"He is a man grown, Y/N, he will be fine."

****

Nonetheless, your guilt got the best of you. After giving yourself time to settle, and time for Aemond to cool off, you sought your betrothed out. Much to your relief, he was not difficult to find, your intuition had told you to search in the library, where you would find him from time to time as children, his nose buried in some book.

"A-Aemond, dearest-" The tenderness of your voice alerted him, as his gaze swiftly turned towards your direction. He did not seem displeased to see you, although nor did he seem jovial.

"Have you come to humour yourself more with my Valyrian? Probe for some more criticism before making judgement of your husband?" He spat, before returning his attention back on the pages laid before his lap.

"No, I-I do want to apologise about before. I truly, did not mean to vex you. Forgive me, it has been a while since I've heard such accents, I am only used to my family's."

A defeated sigh escaped his lips, before his focus softened on you. He shut the book closed, before resting it down on the wooden table beside his seat, as he stood himself up.

He walked towards you, both his hands gripping your sides. He's pressure was tight although not in a hurtful sense, although it felt more reassuring.

"It is alright, you should forgive me, Y/N. It has been so long since I had been exposed to your wit. It seems there is a lot we both need to catch up on."

One hand released its hold on you, reaching up to your soft cheek, as his thumb grazed over your skin, right down over your lips.

"Perhaps you'll still be interested in correcting my Valyrian, private lessons of course," He uttered, noticing his lips licking before emphasising on the 'private'.

He was focused on you, although his eyes festering over your moist lips.

Again, through no control of your own, you felt a gentle smile beaming across your face, feeling no shame this time.

"Surely we do not have to wait for marriage to kiss."

Your unfiltered response ignited a deep chuckle from Aemond, its sound warming your heart.

"Of course not, gevie [beautiful]. We were always meant to be."

Where his thumb grazed over your lips, his own crashed down against yours, as you shared a passionate moment. All the worries that had previously troubled your mind, of Aemond's feelings towards the betrothal, vanquished.

He was to be your dutiful husband, as you were to be his loyal wife.

#aemond targaryen #ewan mitchell #aemond targaryen imagine #aemond targaryen imagines #aemond targaryen fanfiction #aemond targaryen angst #aemond targaryen fluff #aemond x fem!reader #aemond x reader #hotd #house of the dragon #hotd fanfic #hotd imagines #rhaenyra targaryen #alicent hightower #lucerys velaryon

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white-wolf-buckaroo · 8 months

Text

Chapter 1: Percy becomes supreme lord of the Bathroom

First official chapter for 'In his own twisted way', my daughter of ares fic! <3

Word count: 8800 ish words

Warnings: none I can think of (english is not my first language, though, don't kill me if there are any mistakes please)

Updates will be tuesdays! <3

Fic masterlist here!

Olympians. The Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Greece, powerful, strong, eternal, immortals, seen as myths and stories told throughout the centuries. However, they are no myths, but real, and they still exist to the date. Omnipotent. Immortal. Unreachable.

Or, maybe not so out of reach: they’ve watched generations of mortals roaming the earth, and they often walk among them, disguised as one of them. But still, gods and goddesses, strong and powerful, and a different race from the common humans. They have lived thousands of lives, interfering at will in mortal affairs, seeing the world as their battlefield, and the people living there as their pawns. Because the gods can’t break the holy rules, but mortals… that’s a loophole many, if not all of the gods and goddesses have used in their favour throughout history. And because they needed powerful weapons as their pawns to execute their demands, they created half-bloods. Demigods. Mortal descendants born out of their union with a mortal companion, capable of fighting in the divine realm of existence, while living in the mortal world.

And so, over the years, decades, and centuries, demigods were born into the mortal world, some even reaching Olympus, the glory, kleos, and becoming part of the mystery that surrounds the story of the gods.

Myths aside, half-bloods still exist. Half mortal, half god, all real. And even if it sounds like a privilege to be a part of the gods bloodline… well, not many demigods will agree with that. Not only because they are in constant danger, it’s scary, and most of the times it only got them killed in very nasty ways, but also because they didn’t really fit into the human world, and they had to live up to their parents expectations, all the time. To make them proud, to honour them, and to show off their power.

And all of that is pretty difficult to do when the gods turn out to be shitty parents who don’t really deserve all that self-sacrifice.

Emily wasn’t indifferent to all of that.

As one of camps’ longest all year-rounders, she was well versed in the art of being the child of an absent godly parent. She trained, she learned, and she fought for glory, yes, but most importantly, to be worthy of her father’s attention and love. At twelve years old, she was one of the best fighters of her cabin: the children of Ares. Only her older sister, Clarisse, reached her level of skill; they fought on many occasions, both in the arena and outside of it, always to prove that they were better than the other one.

But Emily didn’t really care about being better than Clarisse, not really. She only trained, and fought and worked so hard to be the top warrior of her cabin, if not camp, to make her father proud. And she hoped that, if she would actually make him proud, she would finally see him again.

Not that she hadn’t seen him since he had left her at camp half-blood, no. Every winter, during the winter solstice ceremony, she encountered him. But he kept to himself, every single time for the last years. He didn’t acknowledge her or any of her siblings, and when the presentations were over, he always ran out of the room before she or her brothers or sisters could try to talk to him.

That’s why she had hope that if she stood out, maybe he would love her again like he did in the past.

“Are you listening to me, or are you daydreaming again?”

Emily turned her gaze to her left, where Annabeth was looking over at her questioningly. They were laying on the grass in a clearing of the forest, the afternoon light giving a golden glow to the top of the trees surrounding them. They were done with training for that day, having had a friendly competition about who of them both would hit more bullseyes at archery practice; Emily won, like she usually did, although Annabeth was also very skilled – Ares’ kids usually had a better aim for throwing weapons, or something like that. It’s what Annabeth always said when Emily ended up with a higher score than her.

“I am listening to you” Emily shifted her gaze back up to the sky, watching a round and fluffy cloud fly by “But I was also thinking about dinner. I can do both”

“Sure. So what was I talking about?”

“Something boring about an architect you read a book about”

“That was five minutes ago!” Annabeth laughed, shaking her head “And it’s not boring”

“Why do you think I started daydreaming? To not fall asleep!”

“You’re incorrigible” she huffed, although she was also smiling slightly.

“But I’m still your best friend, so I must be doing something right”

“I guess” Annabeth shrugged, sticking her tongue out to Emily. They both giggled “I was talking about capture the flag”

“Don’t tell me you’re nervous” Emily scoffed, looking at her “You’ve won three times in a row. You’ll manage a fourth”

“No one has won four consecutive rounds in a very long time. Everyone is waiting to watch me fail”

“That’s not true. I want to see you succeed”

“Shouldn’t you be on your teams side?” she raised one of her eyebrows, sarcastically. Annabeth fought with the rest of the Athena cabin, and Emily with the Ares cabin. The other cabins allied to one or another of them, but the main rivals in battle where always Ares and Athena – seemed logic, considering they were both deities of war “Don’t tell me you’ll just give me your flag. I don’t want an easy win”

“Of course I won’t do that. I will fight, tooth and claw, to get my victory. But that doesn’t mean that I won’t be happy if you win. You deserve it”

“Thanks, Emi”

“You welcome, Annie”

“Now… as I was saying a few minutes ago-“ she started talking about the architect again, and Emily groaned, sitting up “Hey, I’m trying to educate you. Better listen”

She wasn’t going to do that, not today. Fortunately, she found her escape: Luke was approaching the clearing where they lay, and he waved at her when he spotted Emily watching him.

He had arrived at camp with Annabeth five years ago, when Emily was seven. He was older than the girls, and he was like an older brother for the both of them; sure, they had their respective siblings at each of their cabins (Ares’, Athena’s and Hermes’), but the bond these three shared was genuine, and went beyond their heritage.

“It’s almost time for dinner!” he called out, a few steps away “Come on!”

They rose up, and met Luke halfway there. All three of them wore camps’ official orange t-shirt, like everyone else, and their summer camp necklace’s rested above the fabric, with the beads they earned at the end of each summer adding various pops of colour. However, they didn’t have identical pendants: Luke had five beads, like Annabeth, but she also had added her father’s college ring to the necklace after he sent it to her. Emily’s had not five, but six beads, and also a silver ring.

Ares had given it to her… a long time ago. When things had still been better between them.

“How’s my favourite duo doing?” although the three of them usually hang out together, there was always a duo in a trio “Heard you had fun at archery”

“I did. Annabeth not so much” Emily grinned at her friend, who rolled her eyes “Hey, let me have my win. If I competed against anyone from cabin seven I wouldn’t stand a chance”

They greeted some satyrs on their way to the dining area, and then separated to their respective tables: there were strict rules against sitting at another god’s table, so they were forced to eat with their siblings. Emily had a good relationship with most of her brothers and sisters, at least a cordial one; none of them were as close to her as Annabeth or Luke were, but they got along nicely. Then there were others, those of her siblings who stood more to Clarisse, her rival, who weren’t as nice to Emily. She wasn’t naturally prone to being mean to anyone, even if they weren’t friendly towards her, but after years of constant disrespect, Emily had had enough, and they knew that she could set her foot down if they caused her too much trouble.

Dinner went as usual, with camp being full of demigods, so the pavilion was bustling with voices and conversations, even if there were tables unoccupied, like the one’s for the children of the big three (who weren’t allowed to have children anymore, as they were too powerful), or the one dedicated to Artemis (which was only used by the goddess’ hunters if they ever visited camp… which usually never happened).

Chiron was also back at camp after being absent for some weeks at the end of the school year; Annabeth and Emily had been theorizing about the reasons for his departure, as he had never left camp for so long in the years they had been there.

“Do you think some demigod got into trouble on a quest and he has went out to help?”

“Well, maybe… but it has to be something important if Chiron himself had to go. He never leaves camp; he’s almost like… part of the décor or something”

“What if he left because… the quest he’s promising me is arriving?”

“You mean the one he’s been promising you for years? The one fated to a new demigod we haven’t even met yet?” Emily knew of her best friend’s aspirations, of her dreams. Annabeth was one of the strongest warriors at camp half-blood, head counselor at her cabin, and one of the smartest persons she knew. The only way left to prove herself, was to go on a quest, but Chiron had never allowed her to. She would only be able to when, according to the centaur, a demigod arrived who was fated to go on a quest not even Chiron could prevent – Annabeth had received that information under strict confidentiality, so of course only she and her best friends knew of it.

“Well, it could be. It’s been five years. How much longer can it take?”

“Keep studying the newbies, then. Maybe one of them will be the one”

But none of the new half-bloods at camp that summer seemed to be… something special – not that being literally children of Greek gods didn’t make them special. They just weren’t what Annabeth was waiting for.

That is, until one day, or specifically, one night, a new demigod made it to Long Island.

When Emily went to bed that evening, she didn’t expect to be woken up by a commotion before sunrise; it had been raining during the night, although it didn’t rain directly at camp because of the special weather conditions they had there, with the faint sound of water droplets echoed inside the cabins, almost soothing, until another sound joined its melody: frantic screaming, that came from someone running down the hill that led to Thalia’s tree.

Emily and her siblings made their way out of their cabin, like everyone else did, curious to know what had happened, and they saw Grover, dressed in a human attire, completely drenched from head to hooves. He ran to the big house, screaming and limping a bit, and soon after he got there, he walked out alongside Chiron, who dismissed everyone back to their beds, except the head counselors from each cabin.

At the Ares cabin, Clarisse was the head counselor. It wasn’t a title Emily really craved, but the power it held gave her sister some advantages, like right at that moment, being able to go alongside Chiron up the hill to see what had happened, while Emily had to stay behind. Annabeth was head counselor of her cabin, just as Luke was of his, so they both left as well, leaving her alone with a pout.

When Annabeth came back, though, she went straight to Emily, who was already waiting for her sitting in front of Athena’s cabin; there was no way in hell she would ask Clarisse about what had happened if she could just ask her best friend.

“He’s the one. He has to be”

Apparently, they had found an unconscious boy who looked around their age up at the hill. According to Grover, they were trying to make it to camp, when the Minotaur showed up, and attacked them; the boy, whose name was Percy, fought the monster, and he won.

Emily couldn’t deny that that was impressive. She had never fought monsters besides the ones she found at camp’s forests’ or the ones they sometimes brought in for training, but she knew it wasn’t an easy task, let alone if you didn’t have any experience.

“Grover said Percy’s mom was also with them” Annabeth grimaced “Grover believes that… the Minotaur killed her”

“Oh” Emily had lost her own mother when she was little, and she still remembered the pain of losing her and not having her there; she still felt it from time to time. Her thoughts went to Percy, as she knew it would be hard for him “Wait… he only believes the monster killed her? What do you mean?”

“They searched for her, but they didn’t find anything anywhere down the hill. Grover said that… he saw her vanish, like the monsters do when you kill them, just as when the Minotaur was trying to squish her”

“That’s not how humans die”

“I know” Annabeth bit her lip, deep in thought “So many questions and so little answers… But I have a strong feeling about this, Emi. He could be the demigod I was waiting for”

Said demigod spent the rest of the day, and the following night, sleeping in the infirmary. Annabeth, embracing her rebellious side, wanted to go see him herself that evening, and Emily tagged along, full of curiosity for the new boy.

“That’s him?”

“Is there anyone else unconscious here that I’m not seeing?” it was thundering above camp, the sounds of the storm muffling their voices.

“Hush, you” Emily frowned, watching the boy “Is he…?”

“Yeah, he’s drooling” Percy kind of blinked his eyes open then, catching a glimpse of Annabeth standing at his bedside; he asked her where he was, and the only thing she came up with saying was ‘you drool when you sleep’. He looked baffled at her, mumbling a ‘huh?’, and then he fell back into dreamland.

“That was a perfect meet cute moment you two had there, Annie”

“Now you, hush”

The next morning, after breakfast, Luke took both Annabeth and Emily to the side, and told them that he had met Percy.

“He’s staying with us until he gets claimed” that was standard protocol for newcomers who didn’t know who their godly parents were, as Hermes was, amongst other things, the god of travellers “He seemed… pretty rough. No one can blame him though; fighting the minotaur, losing his mom, and what he thought was his life… all of that in one night. It is tough, but so seems he”

“Did he really have the minotaur’s horn? I heard Chris talking about it” Luke answered yes to Emily’s question, and she whistled “Not bad for an untrained demigod”

They didn’t see Percy for the rest of the day, though, not even during the meals; he ate at his cabin after Luke went back after lunch or dinner with something for him. Apparently not even Grover could get him to talk much.

Emily imagined that if she had arrived at camp under the same circumstances as him, she probably wouldn’t act all that different; her case was also one of the rarest ones of them all, as not many of the demigods had been personally escorted by their godly parent to camp. She felt empathy for Percy, wishing he would settle in quickly.

“I’ll talk to him tomorrow” she told Annabeth, before they went to bed “You should come too. Get to know him if you think he’s the one”

“I’ll stick to my observations for now. You can debrief me later about what you think of him after you guys talk”

“Sure thing, ma’am, yes, ma’am”

Percy walked out of the Hermes cabin alongside Luke, Chris Rodriguez and other Hermes’ children the next morning, wearing his orange camp half-blood shirt and his (for now) bare necklace. Emily watched him from the entrance to the Ares cabin, and she made her way towards them when she spotted Clarisse walking in the same direction; she was accompanied by her most loyal supporters, which were some of hers and Emily’s siblings, and she had that smile on her face that Emily knew all too well. She was about to do something bad.

Clarisse bumped her shoulder against Percy’s on purpose, and when he exclaimed ‘hey!’, she shoved him on the chest, and he ended up on the ground. Emily reached them when Chris helped Percy up, while Clarisse was asking her audience if that was really the kid who had killed the minotaur.

“Look, you want attention around here, dummy? You better be ready for it when it comes” she pretended to shove Percy again, and he jumped back, defensive. Clarisse only laughed, until she saw Emily appearing behind the rookie.

“Back off, Clarisse”

“Or what? Are you gonna call daddy to lecture me?” she mocked her, laughing again, accompanied by their siblings’ mocking snickers.

“I’ll just win again next time we fight at the arena” this time it was Emily smiling victoriously “And I’ll ask Luke to join me. It’ll be fun, don’t you think?”

Clarisse only huffed, and she walked away followed by her congregation. Luke high-fived Emily, while the rest of the Hermes’ kids dispersed as well.

“Well she seems nice” said Percy sarcastically pointing at Clarisse’s back.

“Ares kids” Luke rested his hands on his hips, also looking back at the girl who had just left “They come by it, honestly. Except Emily, of course… unless you steal her dessert” he smiled at his friend, and she took that as the clue to introduce herself.

“I’m Emily, by the way” she waved at Percy, now feeling slightly awkward “As Luke said, I’m in cabin five. Ares”

“So that girl is your sister?”

“Technically half-sister, but yeah. She can be… a bit difficult if she wants to. Sorry for that”

“That’s a way of putting it nicely” Percy had met many, many bullies in the last few years; he had been at plenty of schools, and some of them he couldn’t even really recall, but he remembered every single bully “Why doesn’t she mess with you two?”

“She knows better”

“Luke’s the strongest swordsman at camp” explained Chris, who had sticked around “And Emily has been her rival since the know each other. Always competing to be the best of their cabin, at everything”

“So… you mean that they leave you alone because of glory?” Luke had been explaining the concept of what glory (or kleos, in Greek), meant to the heroes, that is, the demigods; if you had kleos, you had fame, and the people knew that you had done something to be respected “So if I get glory, Clarisse wouldn’t mess with me either?” Luke said ‘exactly’, although Emily knew better than that; she knew her sister better than Luke did: Clarisse would still mess with Percy even if he gained kleos, but maybe she just wouldn’t do it everywhere, at any hour, and all alone against him “And my dad’s got no choice but to claim me!”

“That’s something you can’t control” Emily looked Percy in the eyes, shaking her head “You can’t just… force the gods to do anything. Trust me. It doesn’t work like that”

“Well, yeah, but… it would make it harder for him to pretend I don’t exist and not claim me, right?”

He seemed to have a point.

As Percy’s current cabin counselor, Luke took it upon himself to introduce the new boy to all the activities at camp half-blood – this is, with Emily’s help, of course.

“A good source of glory are feats of skill. We just got to find out what you’re good at”

They took Percy to archery practice, where Apollo’s children excelled. When he ended up shooting his arrow at the opposite side where he had to, almost hitting a bunch of demigods standing there (now, laying on the ground to avoid the flying arrow), they figured he didn’t belong in cabin seven.

“Skill comes natural, yes, but training is also important” Emily showed Percy how to properly use the bow (especially to know how to not accidentally almost kill everyone around him), hitting almost perfectly the bullseye “Even if you’re not initially good at something, if you work on it, you’ll improve”

“How long have you been training?” Percy thought she looked his age, maybe a bit younger, but she couldn’t be older than twelve.

“Since I was six. That’s when I first got to camp, and I always stay for the full term, so I’ve gotten many more practice hours than the average summer campers”

“You’ve been living here since you were six?” he couldn’t believe it “For real?”

“I don’t have anywhere else to go, and there are monsters outside of camp, so I need the training”

“So you’ve never been outside of here in like… five years?”

“Six years, and no. Chiron sometimes takes us out on… field trips, I guess. And then there’s the winter solstice ceremony, and other gatherings half-bloods can attend”

They went to the strawberry fields, but Percy’s gardening didn’t improve the growth of plants in any special way, so he definitely wasn’t a Dionysus kid (for which Percy seemed very relieved about).

“So… Percy?”

“Yeah?”

“No, I mean, your name” Emily talked to him while they walked back to the more secluded part of the camp, on their way to the forges, where Hephaestus kids worked “I’ve never met a Percy. I remember that… when I was really little, at my mom’s, she would show me these movies and… I think there was one where there was a dog named Percy”

“I… uh…cool. But my mom told me that she named me after Perseus. You know, the hero who killed Medusa. There is a statue of him in the Met museum”

“I know who he is, don’t worry. He’s technically my uncle. Well, mine, and from most people here. Maybe yours too!”

“It still feels kinda weird to me, all of this” he lowered his voice as they kept talking, seriousness invading his expression “I’ve only ever had my mom. Where was my dad when we needed him? The rest of the gods? All you people?”

“Those are the questions most demigods ask themselves once they get here” Luke piped up from a few feet away, looking sadly at him “Why didn’t they tell me sooner? Why wasn’t my dad with us? Why does it have to be me?” his words resonated with Percy’s feelings deeply “But now you’re not by yourself anymore. You have us. And who cares where our parents may be, as long as we have each other”

“Thanks… I guess”

They didn’t have much success at the forges. Percy started out well… until he accidentally threw a burning piece of metal over to a pile of fabric, that burst into flames. Luke sneakily got the three of them out of there before it got worse, and before anyone could notice they were gone, pretending that they didn’t have anything to do with that.

“So… not Hephaestus, apparently” Percy made a face, defeated. They were at the dining hall again, eating at their respective tables, so Emily was now at the Ares table, and him, Luke and Chris at Hermes’ “Is there a Greek god of disappointment? Maybe someone should ask him if he’s missing a kid”

“We’re gonna find the thing that you’re good at. I know it”

Percy heard some invisible bells chiming, and suddenly everyone from the Hermes tables was standing up, grabbing their plates.

“It’s our turn” said Luke “Burnt offerings. The gods like the smell, so it gets their attention before you say a prayer”

“They like the smell of burnt Mac and Cheese?”

“They like the smell of begging”

Luke explained to Percy that in order to get the deities’ attention, he had to burn what he would miss the most, because that way they would know that he meant what he was about to say, and they would listen.

Emily was still watching them from her own table, when she felt a light tap on her shoulder.

“Don’t turn around” a voice whispered. It was Annabeth. She was invisible using the magical Yankees hat her mother, Athena, had gifted her “What do you think of him?”

That’s how things were between Emily and Annabeth: together they shared brains and strength, and they relied on each other for everything. In cases like this, particularly, Annabeth studied from afar, contemplating the facts, while Emily ‘got her hands dirty’, studying up close.

“He isn’t sure where he fits into all of this” Emily mumbled, pretending she chewed on some bread. She wasn’t in the mood for someone questioning her for talking alone out loud “He doesn’t know if this is really his place”

“It is. He wouldn’t have been able to cross the barrier if it wasn’t”

“That’s not what I mean. He’s… insecure. And angry. At his dad, and everyone who never told him about any of this. And he’s also grieving his mom, which doesn’t make the rest any easier”

“I’ll keep an eye on him”

Emily had practice for capture the flag in the afternoon, so she didn’t see Percy anymore until dinner, where he didn’t look any better than during lunch. He disappeared early after the offerings, and she shared a look with Luke when he caught her watching their table.

The Ares cabin had two tables at the dining hall, and Emily never sat with Clarisse; they were like two different teams under the same roof. When they weren’t fighting, both sisters ignored each other, but that doesn’t mean that Emily wasn’t alert for any suspicious moves on her part, like that evening, when Clarisse and two of their siblings were also watching Percy with too much interest.

She knew that Annabeth was also keeping an eye on the boy, so she hoped that if Clarisse was pretending to do what she liked to call her “initiation ceremony” to Percy, Annabeth would be able to prevent her sister from dunking Percy’s head in a toilet before it was too late.

Emily would also try to avoid that, of course. She snuck out of her cabin, like she had done hundreds, if not thousands of times before, and she searched for Clarisse and her minions, who hadn’t even returned to their cabin after dinner even though it was pitch black outside. Percy was also nowhere in sight, and she started to become worried, making her way to the bathhouse, when a loud noise coming from said place alerted her senses.

Hiding behind a nearby tree, accompanied by the owls’ hooting and the faint sound of crickets chirping, Emily saw how her sister and two more of Ares’ children ran back outside, completely drenched in water, anger written all over their face. When they were far enough, Annabeth removed her baseball cap, standing outside of the bathhouse, and she looked around until she spotted Emily.

“How did you know I was here?” she asked her friend, making her way over to join her.

“You’re my best friend. I just did” that was fair enough.

They entered together the bathhouse, where the floor was now flooded, and some faucets were spilling even more water non-stop. A door to one of the toilets’ was completely destroyed, and the wood that was once said door floated now around in the water, in dozens of pieces. Percy stood in the middle of it all, not a single drop of water on him, looking completely clueless. He spotted the two girls at the door when he turned around, both with their arms crossed, mirroring each other perfectly.

“I can explain” he said, warily. Although, he really couldn’t.

“No you can’t”

“…okay. I can’t” he looked at Emily, who he knew, of course, and then at Annabeth. She looked familiar “Wait. I know you”

“No, you don’t”

“Yeah, I do. You were there… that night in the infirmary” Emily hid her smile, remembering how those two had had their meet cute moment “Weren’t you?”

“Yes” this time, she went with the truth “I’m Annabeth”

“Are you stalking me, Annabeth?”

“Yes”

“Okay… Wait, Emily, were you stalking me too?”

“Yes” she shrugged, smiling slightly. She had done it for Annabeth, though, and at that precise moment, because she knew her sister had been up to something, but she didn’t owe him any explanation.

“Why?”

“We were waiting to see if something like this would happen” Emily pointed at the chaos that was now the bathhouse, reassembling a pond.

“So I’d know if you could help me” followed Annabeth.

“With what?” Percy wasn’t understanding much.

“Win capture the flag”

The three of them made their way back to the cabins after that brief conversation, without giving Percy any more explanations, so that they wouldn’t get caught in the flooded bathroom and be blamed for it. Annabeth entered her cabin the first, at the side of the Goddesses cabins, while Percy and Emily made their way to the opposite array of buildings, of the male Gods.

“What did Annabeth mean with ‘Capture the flag’?”

“It’s a game. Ask Luke, he’ll explain everything” Emily only smiled at him, thinking his confused frown looked funny.

“Oh… okay” he remained silent for a few seconds “Look… I didn’t mean to attack your siblings. I’m sorry for that” Percy whispered his apology to her, so to not be heard by anyone; it was past curfew so they shouldn’t be roaming the woods at that hour “Although I’m not really sure I was the one who… actually did that. The water just… disappeared inside the pipeline, and then it shot back up hitting Clarisse and the others”

“The water protected you from them” she bit her lip, thoughtful “I’m sorry that they ambushed you”

“It’s okay… It seems like bullies tend to like me. I’m used to it”

“Well, I’m glad that this time they got what they deserved. I don’t like meanies either” she smiled at Percy, now standing in front of the entrance to her cabin “Goodnight, supreme lord of the bathroom”

Emily took a long time to get asleep that night, analysing what she had witnessed; Percy didn’t seem to fit any particular trait of any of the gods, he wasn’t skilled in any specific task, and he wasn’t as mischievous as most Hermes’ children were.

There was a possibility she didn’t dare to think of: the big three. It couldn’t even be possible… right? They had made a pact to not have any more children after the incident (which was, the second world war), because they were too powerful; that kind of demigods couldn’t be controlled. And there were many other gods, minor ones, who could have fathered Percy.

It was the facts though, like all the fuss they had made about Percy getting to camp, the trouble Grover and him had faced, his victory against the minotaur, and that strange yet very revealing experience in the bathhouse, that made Emily doubt if he could be a forbidden child.

Feeling tense and uneasy, she finally fell asleep, off to dreamland: she was laying under the stars on the grass, watching the archer, the ursa major, and other constellations she knew by heart. She wasn’t alone, though. She didn’t need to look to know who it was: his hand, big and calloused, was pointing up to the sky above them, and although he was explaining something to her, she was more concentrated in the movement of his hand and the flex of his fingers. On one of said fingers was the same ring she carried on her necklace, glistening under the moonlight.

She felt safe in that dream, and a warmth washing over her, soothing her like a balm. She wasn’t really understanding anything he was telling her, his voice muffled as if they were far away from one another, although she could feel him right by her side. Her uneasiness slightly vanished, even if it was just for a few seconds, and she felt reassured by him. When she turned to look at his face, the warmth disappeared, and she woke up.

Emily fought to not open her eyes, clinging to the dream; it was a memory of what seemed another lifetime she deeply missed. She didn’t have time to mourn the past, though: today was the day of capture the flag.

Joining her siblings for one last morning practice, Emily temporarily forgot about her doubts concerning Percy, and focused on training: the Ares cabin had teamed up with Demeter, Aphrodite, Hephaestus and Dionysus for this game, while Athena, Apollo and Hermes formed the other team. Although Emily’s team had more cabins, the two bigger cabins were the seventh (this is, Apollo), and the eleventh (Luke’s cabin, Hermes).

There were only two children of Mr. D, and Demeter’s offsprings weren’t very into combat, although they liked to fight the Apollo children for using arrows, which were made out of wood (which came from trees, and they refused to participate in any activity that encouraged the senseless slaughter of their arboreal friends!).

Aphrodite’s children weren’t bad at fighting if they wanted to, but they lacked of… the bloodlust Ares’ children had. Emily was friends with their head counselor, Silena Beauregard, as they had spent much time together at the Pegasi stables, of which Silena was in charge of. The Hephaestus demigods were built big and strong, so they were useful for combat, but their best virtue was the weapons they crafted and provided for the game.

One of their strongest weapons wasn’t made by them, though: Clarisse, leader of their team, owned an electric spear, gifted to her by Ares himself. It was her most prized possession, and she liked to show if off every chance she got, using it with her characteristic brute force.

Emily had her own weapon gifted to her by their father, an enchanted throwing knife which disguised as a bracelet, but it wasn’t as flashy or grandiose as Clarisse’s spear. She hated that spear.

Capture the flag would begin after lunch, so after grabbing a quick bite, and burning some of the food, Emily still had some little time to spare. She looked for Grover, and found him in the forest near the lake.

“I need to talk to you”

“Oh, sure, hi” he looked around them, seeming nervous. Although Emily wasn’t as aggressive as most of her siblings, she could be intense, and rather direct. She had often given Grover many jump scares “What’s up?”

“It’s about Percy” his face went serious “Annabeth and I… we are suspecting something. About his parentage”

“I don’t think I can help you with that” he said, shaking his head fast “No, I don’t…”

“You’re also suspecting something, aren’t you?” Grover’s face turned red; she had caught him. Emily smiled, walking closer to him, while Grover walked backwards, distancing himself slowly “I’m not saying you know anything, but… you know him better than we do. You guys were best friends at his school, right? Did anything happen there? Something… suspicious, that could make you think of a specific god?”

“I really can’t talk to you about this” he thought that Emily had been influenced too much by Annabeth, as she had her same ways of relentlessly asking questions, which combined with her resilience, made her implacable. And he would get in trouble if he said anything. Fortunately, the sound of a conch shell in the distance saved him “Oh, look, the game is starting. I would have loved to keep talking to you, but I really need to go now”

“You’re not even competing” she frowned.

“Yeah, sure, but this place is about to become a warzone, and no satyr wants to be around when that happens”

Fair enough, she let him go; she couldn’t be late anyways, so she ran back to her cabin, and quickly put on her armour, before going to the weaponry to grab everything she needed. Her preferred weapons were her throwing knife and a dagger she had had since she was six, which she always carried with her. For capture the flag she stuck to the standard sword and shield, although she was always tempted by the spears. She liked them, it was part of the typical Greek arsenal for battle… but the spears were also Clarisse’s thing, and she didn’t want to be compared to her sister.

Chiron had started to gather both teams at a cliff where the river split the forest in two sides, and fell down the mountain in a waterfall. Most of Emily’s team members were already there, wearing red striped armours like hers, and at the other side of the river, she saw Luke standing alongside the rest of his siblings and teammates, and also Percy; the blue eyed boy wore a blue striped armour over his orange shirt, with a blue crested helmet on his head. His weapons were a shield, and something small he was holding in his hand Emily couldn’t really make out from that far away. On Emily’s side was the red flag they had to defend, and on Percy’s and Luke’s side, the blue flag her team had to snatch to win.

The captains arrived, Clarisse and Annabeth on their respective sides, and Chiron, wearing his favourite tweed jacket and a cream coloured cape over it, greeted everyone cheerfully.

“Welcome, demigods!” he seemed delighted, and he sounded excited “A new game of capture the flag is ahead! As always, the rules are simple: the first team to retrieve the opposing flag and return it across the river shall be the victor. As always, there will be no maiming and no killing. I trust these rules will be respected” those rules had to be installed after some unfortunate events Emily had been glad to not have experienced “Any magical items you may possess, are permitted as well. Every camper who is not injured has to play. Prisoners may be disarmed, but may not be bound or gagged” those had also been things Emily was glad she hadn’t experienced “Let the games begin!”

After the conch shell blew again, the red team erupted in angry battle cries, banging their shields and various weapons in chaotic rhythms. The blue team let out a collective shout, hitting their shield in unison. Both teams had twenty minutes before the conch sounded a final time, and then it would be game on.

Emily winked at Annabeth, who winked back at her playfully before completely assuming her role as captain once more. Let the best one win.

Clarisse designated different troops for the game, and sent them scattered throughout the forest to attack the blue team and defend their flag. Emily was running off with her squadron, when she caught out of the corner of her eye how Clarisse and two of their siblings separated from their group, heading to a completely different direction.

“Emily, c’mon!”

Sighing, she followed her troop, hoping for the best.

She had her hands full soon anyways. Clarisse didn’t want Emily protecting the teams flag because of her friendship with Annabeth, so she was assigned to holding back the opposite team so that they wouldn’t actually get to the flag; Clarisse wasn’t Emily’s greatest fan, but she knew to not underestimate her. So she was quickly busy fighting Annabeth’s teammates: Emily wasn’t alone of course, as she had four of her siblings and four other demigods to help out. They won the first round, but the next battalion was commanded by Luke himself, and that would be tougher. Much more.

Luke went straight to her; he knew she would be the most difficult one to disarm, so he took it upon himself to fight her. He circled Emily, sword raised defensively, and she mirrored his movements. Luke’s first strike was easy to stop, and with practiced skill she raised her own sword, metal clashing against metal. As Luke pressed forward, Emily countered swift strikes of her own, until one of Luke’s brothers, Chris, joined him and attacked Emily from the other side. She raised her shield defensively, and Luke took his chance to hit her sword again, this time making her lose her grip.

Emily shoved Chris with force, using her shield to add strength to the hit, and when he tripped, she disarmed him as well. Luke attacked again, but Emily jumped to the side in time to avoid the hit of his sword; her own sword was laying on the ground, and she quickly retrieved it using her shield once again to block Luke’s strikes.

“Do you give up?”

“Never”

The two clashed relentlessly, swords meeting in a flurry of strikes and parries. Emily’s determination fueled her every move, strong and skilled, but Luke knew her weak spots like no one else, and so he used them against her. He sent Emily’s sword back clattering to the ground hitting her on the arm, and he dodged her dagger when she threw it at him furiously.

“You Ares kids have a temper!”

“Don’t provoke it then!”

Cornered against a tree, Emily charged against him, letting out an angry scream. Luke managed to get out of the way before she hit him, causing her to stumble forward. She recovered fast, doing a somersault, but when she faced Luke again, he had his sword raised just below her chin – He had the upper hand now.

“Are we done now?”

“Nuhuh, but I don’t want to embarrass you in front of your friends. I know you need the validation” she let go of her shield, signalling her surrender. She would never admit a defeat out loud, though. Her genes, Ares’ genes, wouldn’t let her.

Luke helped her up, while the rest of her team also recovered. Chris told Luke something about having to move quickly to get the flag before Clarisse showed up, but Luke seemed chill about it.

“Are you so self-confident that you think she won’t manage to kick your ass if she gets her hands on you?” Emily raised her eyebrows at her friend, surprised. Luke only smirked, shaking his head no.

“I’m not that crazy, no. But we suspect that she’s got her own quest going on beside capturing the flag. I’ve spotted her going up the hill in the opposite direction around fifteen minutes ago”

“What quest are you talking about?” she didn’t need to think much to guess it herself “She’s going after Percy?”

“Annabeth’s got a plan, don’t worry. He’ll be fine”

“I hope you’re right”

When Luke and his troop left to go find the red flag, Emily decided she would also leave; they had already been defeated anyways, so she couldn’t prevent Luke from getting her team’s flag, and so she went after Clarisse. The bad feeling she’d had at the beginning of the game seemed to have been right.

Emily ran through the forest, up the hill like Luke had told her, and after some time moving in the opposite direction of where most of the action was happening, she began to hear faint sounds of metal clashing against metal, and the familiar sizzle sound of an electric spear she knew all too well.

To some extent, Emily could understand Clarisse, which was probably one of the main reasons they didn’t get along well. Both of them had been ignored by their father for years now, and not a single thing they did to make him proud seemed to catch his eye. Not a single one. They both lived at camp the whole year, and they trained nearly every single say, trying to always become stronger, faster, and greater. Their mutual competition also helped, she had to admit – they always pushed each other, and it improved their skills. They were their best opponent.

That’s why, when a twelve year old with absolute no preparation got to camp, defeating the Minotaur all by himself, Emily had also had her suspicions. He couldn’t have done it alone, right? Turns out he could, and he did. And instead of being impressed by him and wanting to get to know him more to discover the reason for his spectacular victory, like Emily did, Clarisse could only focus on the fact that some little dumb twelve year old, untrained and unclaimed, had raised more attention to himself in a few days, than she had managed to get in years of being at camp pushing herself to extreme limits to excel.

And it killed Clarisse. She fought so hard to get scraps of her father’s attention, and he never showed her any kind of affection. In her mind, she thought that it was her fault, though, and that if she worked harder for him, he would love her – Emily felt the same way; that’s what she understood so well about her sister. Clarisse’s hard work had barely granted her anything since getting to camp, and Percy was receiving all the glory she deserved and dreamed of, and that he didn’t even seem to want. It wasn’t fair.

That’s why she embraced her darker side, and sought the next best thing after glory: revenge.

Emily got to the top of the hill in time to see Percy running away from her sister and two of her siblings, who went right after him. They would corner Percy from different sides, like hunters with their prey.

She couldn’t just shout out for Percy, as it would reveal her position to her siblings, so Emily ran behind them (lamenting the fact that she had just made it up the hill, and that she now had to run all the way back down with sore legs), trying to figure out their moves: Clarisse was running down in a straight line, not really following Percy, but getting ahead of him, probably to corral him further down the mountain. Her siblings were the ones directly on his toes, and while one of them followed his same footsteps, the other calculated where he would end up passing through, and threw himself at him, sending the boy to the ground.

Percy rolled down to the shore line between bushes and trees, landing on the hard and sharp soil gravel by the lake. Emily’s siblings caught up to him, and Percy stood up quickly, almost tripping while walking backwards to put a distance between him and them, with his sword up; he didn’t go far, though, as Clarisse was waiting for him with her spear pointing at him, ready to fight.

Emily was about to intervene, when a hand on her shoulder stopped her – an invisible hand.

“Annabeth, we have to help him” Emily protested, watching Clarisse laugh at Percy before launching herself at him, almost impaling him like a human kebab “He’s got no chance against them”

“He defeated the minotaur, right?” Annabeth was still invisible, but she could feel, and hear her right beside her. She probably had been watching Percy this whole time, waiting for a fight like this to happen “And he did that thing in the bathhouse. Just… wait and see how it goes”

“Are you sure?”

“Crystal. Trust me on this”

I was hard to look at, though. Emily’s siblings wouldn’t give Percy any respite, however, he managed to grab the electric spear at one point, both him and Clarisse grabbing it now from opposite sites, and he used it to temporarily block her. He landed some good hits on the other two Ares’ demigods, but then Clarisse got Percy to let go of her weapon. Percy rolled on the ground and got his shield back, and after a few seconds where his three rivals reconsidered their options, they attacked him again.

Percy wasn’t trained, but he had a natural talent and he defended himself good, to the point where he blocked Clarisse’s strike, managing to grab the end of her spear again, this time with the same arm he held the shield. After hits, grunts and metal clashes, Percy took the others down, and with both of her siblings on the ground, Clarisse desperately tried to free her weapon from Percy’s grip rolling on the soil, making him trip and fall a few feet away. Alongside the sound of his fall, pants and groans, there was the sound of something hard and metallic breaking apart and a large amount of energy being released all at once

Emily held her breath, just as Annabeth. Percy was alright, and so was Clarisse, but her spear… the electric spear her father had gifted her, which was the only thing she had ever received from him, was now split in two, broken. Both girls held their breath while watching Clarisse assess the damage, seeing the lower half of her favourite weapon in her hands, severed from the half in Percy’s hands.

Clarisse's scream tore through the air like a raw, primal cry of anguish and fury. It echoed off the trees, resonating with the intensity of her emotions as she beheld the shattered remnants of her beloved weapon, devastation on her face.

She charged against Percy, seeing completely red, and Emily couldn’t take it anymore. She jumped forward, just in time to stop Clarisse from grabbing Percy by the straps of his breastplate, who stepped back in terror.

Before Clarisse could lunge at her sister for getting in her way, the conch shell blew, and a second after, Luke and his soldiers ran to the shore holding victoriously the red team’s flag. Annabeth had won.

“The game is over, Clarisse” Emily looked at her sister warily. She was unpredictable when she got angry and hurt, which Emily knew “Leave him”

The older girl only huffed, and walked away with her two companions, holding the remnants of her spear in both hands.

Percy fell to the ground on his knees, panting heavily. The rush of adrenaline was wearing off, and his emotions started rise up him as he caught up with what had just happened – amongst other things, he had nearly died.

“Not bad, hero”

He turned to his right, where there was… nothing. At least, until Annabeth took her Yankees cap off; she walked over to him, and he looked baffled at her.

“Were you here the whole time?” she confirmed it “You were here the whole time and you didn’t help me?” he got the same answer “Why?”

Annabeth rolled her eyes, and extended her hand out for him to grab. She helped him up, and only then did he look at Emily.

“Thanks for… saving me” he panted, still breathing heavily. His heart was beating a hundred miles per hour, and his blood rang inside his ears “She was going to kill me”

“Listen, Percy…” Annabeth got him to look at her again. She looked him in the eyes, intense gaze studying his blue iris’s, which looked back at her holding onto every word she said “I’m sorry”

Annabeth shoved him in the chest, causing him to stumble and to fall into the lake.

“Annabeth!” Emily looked at her friend in alarm, completely taken aback for what she had just done.

“What is wrong with you?!” shouted Percy, now completely soaked. His cries and Emily’s got everyone’s attention, and the celebration of the blue team’s victory was cut short when every soldier turned to them, watching what was happening.

Percy stood up inside the water, but Annabeth didn’t answer him nor Emily. She only watched him, first with interest, and then with amazement. Emily followed her gaze, and she understood what she was looking at: Percy’s injuries, cuts and blood… were disappearing. He felt how his skin healed, and he watched every scrape vanish before his eyes.

What was happening? How was he healing?

“I don’t understand” he muttered.

The answer came in the shape of a trident.

“Your dad’s calling”

A blue trident floating over Percy’s head. He had been claimed.

Emily, Annabeth, Luke and every single other living being who was there looked at the boy in wonder, in utter silence, the greatness of this once in a lifetime moment embarking their souls. They couldn’t believe what they were seeing: a son of the big three. A forbidden child of the sea god. A demigod singular amongst heroes.

“Percy Jackson” Chiron’s voice resonated through the forest, carrying an intensity that was only possessed by those who had lived thousands of years “You have been claimed by Poseidon. Earthshaker. Stormbringer. Percy Jackson… Son of the Sea God”

---

Taglist of the fic: @strawberryys-stuff @ladysybilchronicles @kyuupidwrites @nhloversblog @beansficreblogs @priyajoyy @zeeader @lightsgore

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archangeldyke-all · 9 months

Note

Heya! It’s 👽 again, so basically Nicole from class of 09 is really sarcastic and doesn’t seem to care much for how others feel, just saying whatever tf she wants 💀 I could give a few quotes from the game since there isn’t really much written on her personality 😭

“Why would I flirt with a guy to get a free hit of Dust-Off? You can get the whole thing at a store for, like, three dollars.”

“Sorry if I don’t want my legacy to be freaks jacking off to pictures of me.”

“How does a guy who sounds like a cartoon character also have a sex addiction problem?”

Meanwhile she says all this shit with a straight face 😭

Hopefully this makes sense! Anyway, hope you have a good day/afternoon/night!

-👽

wait now i feel like i should check out of class of '09 because some of these lines i think i've actually said that last quote verbatim to my friends hahaha

men and minors dni

sevika would think you're the funniest person she's ever met.

you're just constantly saying exactly what she's thinking out loud. and you say it all with a straight face.

you used to get into a lot of shit with your words, but with sevika by your side, giggling and egging you on, nobody bothers fucking with you anymore.

she first starts crushing on you when she overhears you shit talking a stranger. she'd never even met the guy before, but the way you were roasting him had her biting her lip to keep from laughing. she swore if she ever met the fucker she'd give him a piece of her mind. or... your mind.

when she asks you out, it goes something like this.

"so, i was wondering maybe you'd wanna get drinks some time?"

"like a date?"

"yeah like a date."

"oh. thank fuck. i've been wanting to climb you like a fuckin' tree since i first met you, sev." you say with a straight face. sevika doubles over in laughter.

sevika's not anxious, but she's not the type to cause a problem if she doesn't think she needs to. so when you're out in public, and she gets something on her food or order wrong, she always just bites her tongue and rolls her eyes.

she doesn't have to with you around, though.

"she wanted a chocolate shake." you call, knocking on the window of the drive through. "hello?! she wanted chocolate!" you say to the teenager through the glass. sevika's laughing in the passenger's seat the whole time.

silco is terrified of you. when he works sevika too hard, or keeps her from you for two many hours, he's guaranteed to find you standing in his office with a scowl on your face.

"where is she?" you ask. silco freezes in his office chair, cringing at the sound of your voice. "silco, i know your skinny ass can hear me, where's my girlfriend?" you ask. he slowly turns in his chair.

"it's good to see you, dea--"

"fuck off. y'know i could get your whole crew to unionize in two days time, where's sevika?" you ask again. silco groans.

"i need her tonight!" he complains.

"well, how do you think i feel? i can't sleep until i get all my orgasms in, and she's been too tired for sex all week!" you say. silco chokes on his tongue, then gives up his fight.

"she's downstairs!" he says, his voice an octave higher than usual. "please have her back by monday!" he calls after you as you run out of his office.

"yeah, right!" you call back.

silco just laughs.

taglist!

@lesbeaniegreenie @fyeahnix @sapphicsgirl @half-of-a-gay @ellabslut @thesevi0lentdelights @sexysapphicshopowner @shimtarofstupidity @love-sugarr @chuucanchuucan @222danielaa @badbye666 @femme-historian @lia-winther

#sevika #sevika imagine #sevika arcane #sevika x reader #sevika x you #soft sevika #sevika smut #i hope this captured the out of pocket vibe enough haha i hope u like it alien anon!!

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mybiasisexo · 1 month

Note

can i request 27 & 53 for the drabble withhhhh baekhyun? idk if i’m able to ask if it can lean towards an enemy/frenemies to lovers type trope but if not, it’s alright it’s up to your creativity and writing! i’m grateful for you and this writing, hope everything goes well for you, and thank you so much!

Effort 🤛

Genre: angst | arranged marriage!au | ceo!bbh | nonidol!au Pairing: Baekhyun x f.Reader Length: 1.4k Warnings: language

a/n: bro.... im only like half way done with these drabbles yall 😭. a lot of them are written its just getting them out now so yay for that! this is why i dont do these things. next time i know forsure to only accept like 10. thank you for the request! Sorry for taking so long 😭 but by this point yall should know the drill lmfaoooo 💖

DRABBLE GAME | MASTERLIST

You march into your condo in search for the other person that lives there.

You find him in the kitchen, sitting at the massive island, cradling a glass of whiskey.

On a mission, you make your way over to him and slam your hand on the marble top, demanding his attention.

Baekhyun jumps at the sound, turning to you with blurry eyes.

“Did you get into a fight?” You ask in annoyance.

Rolling his eyes, he huffs a laugh before taking a sip of his hard drink. “Hello to you too, Wife.”

Narrowing your eyes, you fight the warmth in your chest at the title. Wife. It’s been almost a year and you still haven’t fully come to terms with your newfound role.

“I heard what happened,” you inform him. You catch the stiffening of his shoulders and him muttering something about word traveling fast.

“If you already heard, why're you asking?”

“Because I need you to confirm it, and I need to know why.”

Baekhyun gulps, staring blankly ahead. “Mr. Lee. He was saying some very disgusting and vulgar things about you.”

That isn’t shocking. You are an heiress who spent majority of your youth causing chaos for your family. You were a wild child, spending most of your time partying for the tabloids to see. You had known the life you were going to be subjected to, so decided to live freely while you still could. Unfortunately, it earned you the reputation of being a drunk slut that followed you throughout the years. Despite getting your shit together, taking over your family business, and pushing it to bigger levels. Despite going as far as getting married, people still saw you as that reckless little girl. Many people within your company undermined your authority because of that, but it never swayed you. If anything, it only encouraged you more. You loved proving people wrong. Hearing someone as creepy as Mr. Lee was making lewd comments about you was unfortunately unsurprising.

What is surprising is your husband’s reaction.

In any other setting, a husband defending his wife’s honor is a normal act of love. That’s what they do, support and defend their spouse. But your marriage is a tad different due to the fact Baekhyun didn’t marry you out of love.

Actually, neither one of you had any say in this little arrangement. This union was only possible from the agreement of your parents.

You aren’t exactly happy about the situation, but you understand your position. That’s why you accepted the proposal without complaint. Baekhyun, on the other hand, was severely against the marriage and threatened everyone involved. Allegedly, he already had someone that he cherished around that time. You even had the pleasure of meeting her—at your own wedding, no less—and she was amazing. You totally understood why Baekhyun was angry. Still, he followed through with the arrangement, and here you are now, arguing in your shared apartment.

It isn’t the first time, nor the last you’re sure. You want to at least try to make this relationship work, but Baekhyun makes it impossible. He takes all his frustrations of your predicament out on you with cruel words and cold shoulders. He’s constantly reminding you how much he loathes you, like it was your idea to get married. As hard as you try to brush it off, it hurts. You were forced into this marriage too! You wanted the fairytale ending just as badly as everyone else in the world, but that simply wasn’t your reality. So, you make the best out of a shitty situation. Still, it feels extremely unfair for him to treat you like desperate trash just because he can’t outwardly express his pain and fury to his parents.

“And?” You reply. “Wouldn’t be the first time? They said he got a black eye and a bloody nose. He’s threatening to press charges. The board is contemplating your suspension.”

His jaw clenches, but he doesn’t answer. Only takes another swig of his liquor.

“Baekhyun.” You pinch the bridge of your nose. “It’s unlike you to react like this. I’m sorry that being tied to me is tarnishing your reputation. I know my parents promised that it wouldn’t, but it appears it is.”

“I don’t give a fuck about that,” he seethes. “It had nothing to do with me and everything to do with the fact he was disrespecting my wife!”

He finally turns and gives you his attention. The fury he still feels over the situation radiates off of him in a heat so hot you’re surprised his clothes haven’t lit on fire. Your first instinct is to step away, not wanting to be his next victim. But, you stand firm, feigning courage.

“And I’d do it again,” he admits. “I’ll beat up anyone that talks about you like you’re some kind of whore they can pass around.”

“Why?” You ask in a whisper. “You hate me.”

He sighs. “I don’t hate you. I never have. I hate the situation we’re in. I hate that we didn’t mean it when we said ‘I do’.”

He lets go of his glass to take your hands in his. “But I don’t hate you. And I don’t blame you. I know I’ve been the worst husband ever, but these past few months I….”

He nibbles on his bottom lip and you blink back tears. “I’ve also said some hurtful things, and to your face. I’ll spend the rest of my life making up for that. You’ve been trying, and it’s been working. I’ve realized now how much of an idiot I’ve been. We can make an opportunity out of this. We’re married now, and it’s time that I started acting like it.”

You give him a smile full of relief. “What’s changed?”

“It’s been little things, but the biggest change was at the merger last month.”

Oh. You didn’t think he remembered.

It was your first real public appearance together, so you had to chum it up for the cameras. You were the new It Couple, both the children of two of the most successful businesses in the country. You were tech royalty, and the merging of your families was like two warring nations signing a peace treaty. That night showed you a tender side of Baekhyun you’d never been exposed to, and you couldn’t help but to fall for this person. You knew that none of it was real, but he was just so kind and flirty and when he kissed you it sparked something from deep within. Baekhyun must had felt it as well, because the moment you were back home, you were all over each other. The both of you had been drinking, so that may have played a role on your eagerness. You convinced yourself you weren’t that drunk, and that he was your husband. This was what married couples did. When you were in the bed, Baekhyun pulled away for just a couple seconds to grab a condom and came back to you passed out. It was a reality check for him, and he panicked as the realization of what you were about to do dawned on him. Once the panic dimmed, he was relieved, knowing that your dynamic was already messed up as it was, sex would just make things worse. You woke up the next morning in an empty bed, fully clothed, and Baekhyun never brought it up.

Now that you think of it, Baekhyun has changed since. He has been a lot less hostile, and has been coming come early enough to share dinner with you. During your meals, he made a point to have conversation with you, and you’ve felt like there has been progress between you.

“Truth is,” he says quietly. “Ever since that night, I haven’t been able to get you out of my head. I don’t deserve you, but I want you anyway.”

“You want me?” You ask.

“I do,” he admits. He pulls you closer to stand between his legs and lets go of your hands to hold you by your hips. “I want to make us work. I want to know everything about you. What makes you laugh, what makes you happy, what your favorite food is, what turns you on.” He smiles suggestively and you shove his shoulder playfully. “I want to know you. I want to protect you. I want to be your husband.”

You blink back the flood of tears that blur your vision so that you can see him. “I want that too, Baekhyun. I want us to try.”

He kisses the corner of your mouth before daring a kiss to your lips, which you reciprocate. When you pull away, he rests his forehead against yours.

“Then let’s try.”

#baekhyun #baekhyun scenario #baekhyun scenarios #exo scenarios #exo scenario #baekyhun drabble #baekhyun drabbles #exo drabble #exo drabbles #baekhyun oneshot #baekhyun oneshots #exo oneshot #exo oneshots #baekhyunxreader #baekhyun x reader #exo x reader #exoxreader #my writing

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euovennia · 2 years

Text

widow CH. III

pairing: soap x fem!reader

a/n: full disclosure: this chapter may feel a bit half baked in comparison to the others (in my mind at least) but rest assured, the next one will be more mission based and i've already got a ton of ideas bouncing around for that so stay tuned!! (also thank you so much for 550+ followers, you guys are spoiling me i swear)

friendly reminder that this work is written with a fem!reader in mind, but with no specified features

PROLOGUE, CH. I, CH.II, CH. IV

The lights of the conference room are turned off and the blinds shut as Laswell flicks the projector on. The group is silent as they come face to face with the image of a man appearing to be somewhere in his early fifties holding a phone up to his ear as he gets into a black car. His lips are turned downward in a frown and despite the graininess of the image, it's clear that his eyes are filled with something eerie. Something sinister.

“This is Ivan Volkov. He’s been a person of interest for the CIA for over fifteen years.”

The man with the mohawk speaks, “Why’s that?”

“Volkov has been suspected of various crimes over the years, but the most prevalent among them all is his…creativity when it comes to human trafficking.”

Laswell switches the slide from the picture of Volkov to one that showcases the infamous hourglass symbol accompanied by various faces of little girls surrounding it.

“The main reason the CIA has had their eye on Volkov for so long is because of his practice of taking young girls, often through force, and putting them through rigorous training program so they can join his own personal team of workers, namely assassins. He calls it the Red Room.”

Union Jack cap cuts in, “And why hasn't he been taken in already?”

Laswell sighs, “Because no one could prove that he was actually doing such things so we just had to sit by and do nothing except wait for him to slip up. Unfortunately that never happened, at least not directly.”

Laswell nods her head in the direction of Shadow.

“Four years ago, Shadow was able to confirm the existence of the Red Room. Since then, she's been gathering intel on Volkov in order to pinpoint the exact location of the Red Room as well as mass pick up points for the girls he keeps hidden away until he can put them into the Red Room.”

Mohawk decides to speak up once more, “If Volkov’s gone and kidnapped them, why are they so keen on working for the lad?”

“We can't say for sure, but I think it's safe to assume the reason these girls are taken so young is because their brains are still developing. At that stage, it’d be rather easy for him to get in and manipulate them into doing his dirty work for him.”

Not wanting to stay on the topic of what Volkov did to these girls, what he did to her, Shadow decides to interject.

“So what’s your plan to catch him? I’m assuming that’s why you’ve rounded us all up here.”

As soon as the words leave her mouth, everyone in the room turns their attention to her. The three unfamiliar men each showcasing varying degrees of surprise while Price and Laswell both seem to be caught off guard by the woman’s voice unexpectedly cutting through the conversation. Deciding not to vocalize the collective wave of shock rolling through the small room, Laswell simply nods.

“Yes, you’d be correct.”

Wanting to redirect the boys’ attention off Shadow, he speaks up.

“What’ve you got for us then?”

“You’ll first be flown into the heart of Moscow and dropped off at a base there before meeting up with a few contacts of mine based in Russia. They’ll drop you off ten klicks north of a village by the name of Samat where a close contact of Volkov’s resides; Sergei Magerovski. He, unfortunately, won’t be there the night you arrive so you’ll have to stay in a safe house just outside of the village. Once he arrives however, your job will be to apprehend him and get him to reveal the location of the Red Room. From there, Shadow will get in contact with me and we’ll plan accordingly.”

Price sighs as he gives Laswell a skeptical look, “That’s the plan? Seems half baked to me.”

Laswell shrugs as she leans back in her chair, “Out of all the enemies we’ve faced, Volkov is by the far the most elusive and secretive. It took hours just to find anything about Magerovski’s existence. Call him what you want, but he’s a smart man. He knows how to hide.”

Price spares a glance over to Shadow who gives him a near hesitant nod of her head before turning back to Laswell.

“Alright then. When do we leave?”

Laswell smiles, “Tonight.”

After the rather short meeting with Laswell had ended, Shadow was the first one out the door. While it wasn’t her intention to come off as rude to the rest of the team, she knew that’s what it probably looked like. So much for being a team player.

Even so, she refused to dwell on the small interaction and instead decided to start getting her gear together for the upcoming mission thinking it would take a while. Unfortunately she managed to gather everything she needed rather quickly, even with all of the extra bulk she’d be carrying around. While she greatly preferred to keep the amount of gear she took with her on missions minimal, she knew she’d need to carry a bit more than what she was used to. Not only to keep up with what was sure to be a hellish force of Volkov’s army of assassins, but also her new teammates for the time being.

What a strange word, she thought, teammates.

She continued to mull over the single word throughout the rest of her day. Even now as she sat in the back of the plane in one of the seats lined against the walls, bag neatly tucked under her seat as her fingers tap against her thigh in time with the piano notes of Beethoven’s ‘Moonlight Sonata’.

Upon hearing footsteps approach her, she switches her music player off and rips out her earbud before turning her attention to the origin of the noise where she's pleasantly surprised to see Price approaching her with two cups of pudding in his hands. She wraps her headphone cable around the music player as she speaks.

“Why do you have pudding?”

Price sits beside her and holds one out to her before replying, “It’s Friday.”

The woman catches in quickly as she takes the cup of pudding from his outstretched hand.

“Our dessert day.”

Price gives her a nod of confirmation before pulling out two spoons from his pocket and sticking one in her cup. She mumbles out a small ‘thank you’ before they begin eating.

Surprisingly, Shadow is the first to speak.

“How do you feel about the mission?”

Price gulps down his spoonful of vanilla pudding before responding.

“Wish it was a bit more well laid out, but what can you do? The bloke is a dodgy little twit. What about you?”

The woman plops her spoon in the remaining bit of her strawberry pudding as she takes a few moments to think. On one hand she was more than happy to be going after Volkov, but on the other hand, she couldn't help but feel like something awful was going to happen.

“I’m not sure. I suppose I’m feeling a mix of things.”

“Understandable, but you've gotta feel the least bit proud of yourself, no? You've been tracking this arsehole for the better part of four years now. Must be nice to have the go head to finally get after him.”

She sighs, “It is, but I have a bad feeling. Something doesn't feel right.”

Price gulps down the last bite of his pudding, “You sure that feeling doesn't have anything to do with the fact you’re working with a team for once?”

She takes in another gulp of her pudding, “Pretty sure. It feels different.”

Price bites down on his lip before turning to her and resting a reassuring hand on her shoulder, a small wave of pride flooding his chest when he notices she doesn't flinch at his touch like she used to.

“You know well enough by now to know I can't tell you everything’s gonna go right, kid.”

Her lips purse in thought.

“But,” He gently turns her head to face him, “I can promise you that my men and I will be there with you every step of the way. You’re part of the team now, even if it is just for this mission.”

He pulls his hands away from her and leans back against the seat before she decides to speak.

“Thank you, Price…I appreciate that.”

He waves her off.

“No need for all that. Just do me a favor and start calling me Captain Price. At least when we're around the others. Higher rank and all that.”

She’s quiet for a few moments.

“Technically I don't have a rank.”

Price jokingly rolls his eyes at her comment.

“Fuckin’ mercies,” He mutters.

“Mercies?”

“Mercenaries. That's what my old Captain used to call ‘em. Suppose I took after him.”

She nods as she finishes off the last of her pudding.

“You've still gotta refer to me as Captain Price, or even just Captain.”

This time she’s the one to roll her eyes as she crosses her arms with a small smile.

“Yeah, fine. I’ll entertain it.”

“I’m being serious, kid.”

“Mhm. Yeah, whatever you say Captain Price,” she replies in a mocking tone.

He shakes his head in mild disapproval. As much as he wants to scold her for not taking him as seriously as he’d like, he couldn't bring himself to do so. It was a rare sight to see her initiating conversation, much less take part of his playful teasing. He didn't have the heart to ruin it.

Just as she opened her mouth to say something, the sound of multiple pairs of boots padding across the metal flooring of the plane made its way to her ears. Both she and Price looked up to see the Soap, Gaz, and the tall man whose name she hadn't quite learned yet step onto the plane and set their bags of gear down under the seats they decided to occupy. She couldn't help but notice it was on the other end of where she’d settled down. Not that she minded, she didn’t want to talk to them before it was necessary.

Price looks down at his watch.

“Looks like we’ll be taking off in just a few minutes. You want to come sit with the guys over there? I’ve gotta make sure they don't start taking the piss.”

She stares at them for a few moments before eventually shaking her head.

“No, I think I’ll try to get some sleep.”

Price narrows his eyes in suspicion at her answer, but decides not to push it any farther as he gets up.

“I’ll let you play the lone wolf for just a bit longer, but no more after this. You’ve got to start talking to them, build a rapport. They're not bad once you get to know them.”

She looks them over once more before turning her attention back to Price.

“The safe house. I’ll start there, I promise”

He points a finger her way with a stern expression, “‘M gonna hold ya to that.”

She gives him a small nod before he gives her a small pat on the shoulder and walks off to sit with the group of men. She watches them for a few moments longer before leaning her head back against the stiff seat and closing her eyes, willing the plane to take off sooner than later.

It had been a little under fifteen minutes after Price had decided to go over and sit with the boys, and the plane was now soaring through the air as a calm and quiet chatter filled the atmosphere around the small group. The moment could almost be seen as relaxing if you chose to ignore the reason why they were even on the plane in the first place, but of course, Soap decided to open his mouth.

“Hey Cap, I’ve got a question for ya.”

Price knew deep down he probably wouldn’t care for whatever inquiry Soap was prepared to spill from his mouth, but he allowed it anyway.

“What is it?”

Soap pointed a finger over where Shadow was sitting with her eyes closed and head leaned back.

“You know ‘er?”

Price couldn’t even bring himself to act surprised. He’d been expecting this question, but even so, it was Soap asking so he couldn’t help but delay his response just a tad.

“What makes you say that?”

Soap shrugs as he leans back in his seat and crosses his ankles over one another, “You two were eating pudding together before you ran off over here when we showed up. Just thought you might have history.”

Price doesn’t respond, causing Gaz to speak up.

“She your girlfriend, Captain?”

The boys watch Price’s face begins to grow considerably pale at the question as he seems to stumble over his words for a moment as he tries to respond.

“What? No, I–”

He lets out a deep sigh as he tries to compose himself.

“–No, She is not my girlfriend and nor will she ever.”

A beat of silence passes over the group of four before Soap speaks, a smug smile stretched on his face as he nudges Gaz with his shoulder.

“Bit defensive there, eh?”

Gaz and Soap attempt to stifle their laughter as Price seems to grow increasingly more flustered at their insinuations. While finding the teasing of the younger members mildly amusing, Ghost decides to take this moment to ask a question of his own.

“Well then what do you know about her?”

Gaz and Soap quiet down as the stern voice of their shared lieutenant cuts through the air. They both turn their attention back to Price who seems to be equal parts thankful and exasperated by Ghost’s question. He clears his throat before leaning back in his seat, one hand clasped tightly around the spare pen he grabbed from one of the pockets sewn onto his tactical vest.

“What’s got you lot so curious?”

“Never received a file on her, as good as a stranger,” Ghost replies as he crosses his arms over his broad chest.

Price spares a glance toward the topic of discussion out of the corner of his eye before settling it back on his team.

“She’s experienced and capable. Not to mention the most knowledgeable about Volkov out of any of us. She’ll be an asset to this team,” He says simply.

Ghost narrows his eyes, “You’re not telling us everything, are you?”

Price shrugs, “I’m tellin’ you the things that matter. You wanna learn more about her?” He points in her direction, “Then you can ask her yourself,” He finishes with a tone of finality, effectively ending the discussion.

Gaz and Soap hang their heads low in slight disappointment at Price’s answer before quickly moving onto another topic of discussion while Ghost keeps his eyes locked on the woman. It’s only after he receives a small kick from Price that he tears his gaze away from her. He always did have a staring problem.

“Yer aff yer heid.”

“English, MacTavish.”

“Use your fuckin’ context clues, L.T.”

“You little shite-” Price stops in his tracks and turns his body around to face the two men with a glare.

“I’m gonna give you two a proper beating if you don’t shut up.”

Soap’s eyes widen as he jerks a finger toward Ghost, “He started it!” “I don’t care who started it. My only concern is finding this safe house and getting you lot out of my hair for a moment,” He practically seethes, his patience for the two bickering men having diminished long ago. He opens his mouth to continue his rant, but is stopped by three gentle taps on his shoulder. He whips his head toward the origin of the touch to reveal Gaz pointing toward Shadow who was currently staring at the group from the porch of what seemed to be a cabin off in the distance.

“I found the safe house,” Soap states.

Price spares him another glance as he narrows his eyes, “You’re on thin ice, Sergeant.”

Not wanting to spend another moment outside, he stalks off in the direction of Shadow with Gaz quietly trailing by his side. As the silhouette of his captain and other sergeant grow smaller with the distance, Ghost nudges Soap.

“Come on then.”

Not wanting to open up another pointless argument, Soap decides to quietly follow after Ghost. As they approach the safe house, they’re able to take in the overall structure of the building. It was a quaint little cabin, almost homely if it weren’t for the overgrown weeds and boarded up windows. After shutting the door shut behind them, they found it was pretty much what they’d expected. Various pieces of furniture scattered across the scraped hardwood floors as well as small bits of peeling paint falling from the walls. Even so, it still wasn’t quite as bad as other safe houses they’d been in. At least this one felt somewhat like a home still.

After the group did a quick sweep through of the house, Price immediately retired himself to the one bedroom that was present in the house, stating he needed time away from the group. Not bothering to wait for a proper response, he walked away with his arrival to the bedroom only being marked by the sound of the door closing shut.

Deciding that she didn’t want to spend any more time standing around, Shadow walked over to a corner of the living room that seemed cleanest and plopped her bag down on the floor before taking a seat next to it. She stretched her legs out in front of her before leaning her upper body against the wall. She blissfully blocked out the sounds of her teammates shuffling around the room as she pulled her bag onto her lap and unzipped the side compartment. She rummaged through the small pocket in hopes of finding the small packet of plain crackers she’d stashed away on base. After more than a few moments of fruitless rummaging, she let out a small sigh. Wanting to give herself one last chance, she reached in the deep crevices of the compartment and ran her fingertips along the edges of it, her hand coming to a stop upon the unfamiliar feeling of a glossy paper like object. Curiously, she grabs onto it with her thumb and forefinger before pulling it out and resting it in the palm of her hand. As she looks down at her hand, her eyes come into contact with a small wallet sized photograph of a younger version of herself, a wide smile stretched onto her face and a Santa hat messily placed onto her head as her arm is thrown over the shoulder of a familiar face; Karina.

Two young girls wait patiently as they watch multiple women clad in plain clothing put the finishing touches on the set that lies before them. The taller of the two young girls is given a small nudge on the shoulder by the girl beside her. She ignores the gesture in order to prevent drawing any unnecessary attention to the pair, but eventually gives into the urge to speak as the nudges of the smaller girls grow stronger causing her to stumble ever so slightly.

“Stop it, Karina,” She hisses out quietly.

She can see the corner of her friend’s lips turn upward in a small smirk.

“I’m bored.”

“No one here cares if you’re bored.”

She gets another nudge in return, although this one is more gentle.

“You do.”

The older of the two has to stop the sigh that threatens to spill from her lips. It was true after all, she did care.

“What do you want me to do about it? Not like there’s any games around.”

Karina points a small finger in the direction of the board games lining a nearby bookshelf as she whispers excitedly, “Those are games!”

“Those are empty and you know that. It’s just for show.”

“But what if they’re not? Have you ever held one of them?”

The older girl goes silent at the question. She never had the opportunity.

“See! There could be games in there,” Karina states, a smug lilt to her voice that didn’t please the older girl one bit.

“Even then, we’ll never get the chance to see. Not with them around,” She says as she gives a subtle nod over to the various workers walking around the place.

Karina sighs, “I guess that’s true…What do you think it’s like? Playing a game?”

“I don’t know. It could be fun.”

“I wish we could have fun.”

The older of the two goes to speak but promptly closes her mouth as the pair is approached by one of the women who speaks to them in fluent Russian paired with a near impeccable accent.

“We are ready for you. Come.”

The two girls spare each other a glance before trailing after the woman, eventually coming to a stop in front of a neatly decorated Christmas tree that was situated just a few feet from a red brick fireplace adorned with a festive garland and plain red stockings.

Just as they had each taken in the colorful decorations, the woman they had come to know as Madame Sotskova began spilling firm instructions to the girls who immediately obeyed without question.

Soon enough, the two girls were sat on the carpeted floor with wide smiles as they tore the wrapping paper off the various presents that were stacked around them. It was an exhilarating feeling for each of them being able to open the presents and get a glimpse of the toys they uncovered, even being able to grab and hold onto them. It could’ve even been considered fun if it weren’t for the bright flash that nearly blinded them every so often, a flash that reminded them both the nature of what was really happening.

After sitting and unwrapping the various presents for over twenty minutes, the gifts were promptly taken away to be rewrapped as Madame Sotskova walked over and began spewing out different instructions just as she had before. This time, the two girls were pressed up against each other with the older of the two now wearing a Santa hat that Karina had haphazardly situated on her head. The older girl had since thrown an arm around Karina’s shoulder, effectively pulling her closer to her side at the firm direction of Madame Sotskova. Wide smiles stretched onto their faces as the bright flash of the camera began lighting up the room. They remained in that position for a few minutes before they were pulled apart by two other workers they didn’t recognize. They watched with bated breath as Madame Sotskova inspected the photos that had come from the polaroid. After giving a small nod of approval, the two girls were roughly pulled up onto their feet with the Santa hat being ripped off the older girl's head. They spared each other a small glance out the corner of their eyes before taking in a deep breath and moving their gaze to stare directly in front of them. They each resisted the urge to reach out and grab onto the other's hand as they felt a small prick on the side of their neck.

It was a scary feeling to have such an intense wave of tiredness and nausea flood your body at such a fast speed, but they remained expressionless. Even as the taunting voice of Madame Sotskova rang through their ears as their vision became a hazy mess of different lights and colors.

“Sweet dreams.”

Taking in one final breath, they both fell back into the arms of the workers as they silently prayed it would all go away when they woke up. A bad dream. But like many times before, their hopes of waking up to a better life were ripped away as they opened their eyes and their gaze flickered over to their dominant hand being cuffed to the metal frame of their assigned bed.

This was reality.

Upon hearing the sound of footsteps quietly stalking toward her, Shadow tucked the photo back into the unzipped pocket and looked up to see the masked man stop a few feet away from her before settling down onto the floor. Her eyes roamed over the man’s frame before eventually settling on his eyes. He promptly returned her stare for a few moments before giving her a small nod of his head and looking away. Satisfied that the man wasn’t one to talk, she took her gaze off him and zipped up the open pocket in her bag before pushing it off her completely. She wasn’t really in the mood for crackers anymore.

The two of them sat in silence for a good while before it was eventually broken by the sound of the man rustling through his back. She looked back over to him to see him pulling out a set of black knives. She watched as he retrieved a small microfiber cloth from his pocket before dragging it over the body of the knife. In all honesty the knives already looked clean, near impeccable even, but when you’re cooped up in a room with virtually nothing to do, she supposed giving your knives a quick wipe down wasn’t the worst thing in the world.

They remained in the same position, the masked man cleaning his knives and her simply watching. It had gone from an eerie, almost uncomfortable quiet to one that was tolerable.

Jesus, she thought, I really hate working with teams.

Just as she began debating whether or not she should just walk out of the cabin, a Scottish accent rang out through the room.

“Hey, you two gonna come over or what?”

Shadow sucked in a sharp breath before looking up to see the man across from her already staring at her. He was the first to break eye contact as he packed his knives away and stood up. He walked a few steps over to the two men who were waiting patiently before coming to a sudden stop. He spared a glance over his shoulder back toward Shadow. Her eyes flickered from the man over to the two men who were still talking before her gaze eventually settled on the empty space they made. It was enough for two people. Holding in a small sigh, she pushed herself up from the floor and began walking behind skull face.

“Yer talking oot yer arse.”

“I’m serious!” “Give it up, mate.”

At the disbelieving words of Ghost and Soap, Gaz turned to Shadow in what seemed to be a moment of desperation.

“Come on, what about you? You’ve gotta believe me.”

It was the first time any of them had thought to include her in their ongoing conversation and she couldn’t help but feel almost relieved. She’s not much for talking sure, but any type of conversation beats the mindless game of acting like you’re interested. Besides, she did make that promise to Price. She lets out a quiet sigh.

“Bit far-fetched, but I can see it happening.”

The desperate plea etched onto his face morphs into one of glee as a smile spreads onto his face.

“See, I told you!”

Soap rolls his eyes, “You outdrinking someone like Price? Impossible.”

Gaz speaks in a tone of pure exasperation, “He’s not a heavy drinker, I told you that already!”

“And we’re just supposed to take yer word for it?”

Gaz goes to respond, but is cut off by Shadow.

“He likes being aware of his surroundings. Drinking takes that away, so he doesn’t do it often. Simple as that.” She half expected the three men to stare at her shock for her sudden desire to speak much like they had during the conference with Laswell, but they didn’t, much to her surprise. Instead, she was met with the narrowed gaze of the one they called Soap.

“How d’ya know that?”

She shrugs, “We’ve known each other a while.”

Gaz is next to speak, “How long’s a while?”

She really needs to learn how to shut her mouth.

“Long enough.”

“How ‘bout a time frame? Couple months, couple years?”

“Whichever one you think.”

Soap rolls his eyes, “Yer not gonna tell us anything then, eh?”

“No.”

“Why not?” Gaz all but whines.

“It’s irrelevant.”

Ghost’s gruff voice cuts through the air, “You expect us to trust someone we know nothing about?”

She turns her attention to him, “I don’t know anything about any of you either. The only reason I know your names is because I heard it in passing.”

Gaz takes his Union Jack cap off before speaking, “Then how about your job? It’s obvious you’re not a soldier,” He motions to her bodysuit, “So what are you? Is it some special unit?”

She shakes her head no.

“I’m whatever Laswell needs me to be.”

“So…What? You’ve got some type of specialized training for that?”

She looks at Soap, “You could say that.” Gaz sighs, “We’re not getting anything out of you, are we?”

“Nothing that’s not essential to the mission.”

“You’ve gotta give us something, woman. How about your name?”

She turns her focus back to Soap, “Shadow.”

He rolls his eyes, “I mean yer real name. You do have one of those, right?”

“I do, but it’s not essential to the mission and therefore you don’t need to know.”

Ghost narrows his eyes, “You C.I.A.?”

She huffs out a breath of air, “Not a chance.”

The three men surrounding her all spare each other a glance before turning their gaze back onto the woman before them. A few moments of silence pass over them before Soap speaks.

“You know, you’re like a mini ghost.” He ignored the blank stare his Lieutenant gave him before continuing with a smile.

“I think I’m gonna like havin’ ya around.”

TAGLIST: @deadpoolsluvrr @simonsbluee @niawritesbs @ethanhawkelovers-blog @watermaylon-writes @ravenhood2792 @shoxji @griimreaperr @galacticstxrdust @cptmaverick-marvel @comedinewithmeyeh @fluffysteampunkd @callmenoiselul @isissakibbs-blog @urfavsunkissedleo @decaffeinatedmom01 @23victoria @silveroak-art @untoldshortsofthefandoms @deadbranch @ella-error505 @queen-of--roses @emrzennn @nat-the-gemini @shuttlelauncher81 @delightfully-dumbass @coolmaybelateruniverse @lilpothoscuttings @dakotali @chloepluto1306 @scaredknight @swissy23 @desxr-fx @water-hemlock18 @abbiesxox @kiriki45 @saeyaaa

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doctorcanon · 9 months

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I cant sleep so modern!linked universe hc time.

- Rusl buys Twilight a dna/ancestry thing for his 20th birthday.

- having been adopted into the Ordon family since the age of 15, the gift doesn't go over well at first.

-However after some deep conversations, Rusl explains that he promised Twilight birth parents that he'd do this if anything happened to them.

- Still Twilight procrastinates and after some cajoling from midna, finally does it a year later for his 21st birthday.

- at his party, a small family dinner at the Ordon home with Zelda, Illia and Midna in attendance, he lays the envelope on the table and says "before I open this, I want you all to know that what ever I find in here that you are all my family and I love you all."

- the first thing in the envelope is his genetic information, some basic stuff he already knows, some stuff he doesn't and somethings Zelda remarks he should see a doctor about. Apparently he's actually 65% Karariko as Renado predicted.

- the second thing is copies of his mother and father's Service Papers. Both served in the military; one as a murse and other as an officer. Both died of burns and smoke inhalation after rescuing several of their fellow tenants when the apartment above theirs caught fire.

- the third thing is a list of public records. His father was originally from Hateno and an only child save for a half brother who died a few years later. His mother, from kakariko, had two much younger siblings. Sheik and Link.

- while there are some records of a custody battle Shiek and Link were separated in the system after the death of their mother. There is an obituary written by Twilights mother with a picture of her and her three children. There's no further information about Link or Sheik.

- Until one last little page slips out, A wedding announcement from 10 years ago. Announcing the joyful union of Malon Lon and Link Kokiri. He's seen this before.

- in fact, Twilight sees this exact newspaper clipping framed in his old boss's office. He visits at least twice a month. He even jokes with him the it was the only proof the guy could actually smile.

- The Lon Lon Family owns their aptly named Lon Lon ranch but he reports to Malon's husband directly when it came to the horses. Especially Epona. He just saw the man last week, for crying out loud!

- He has an uncle. And he's already known the man for 5 years now. They thought it was just a funny coincidence that they had the same name.

- Illia says its fate. Zelda assures him that this can't be an accident. Midna presses his cell phone into his hands. Rusl tells him that its his decision and that they'll respect whatever that may be.

- He calls first, of course. He only works at the ranch on weekends these days anyway. It would be weird to just show up to his shift and just go "hey, do you know im your nephew?"

- he asks if Mr Kokiri would like to talk some time under the guise of needing some advice. Under all the grump and sarcasm, Kokiri really is a saint and easily says yes, asking if Twilight is okay since he sounds stressed.

- the next day, Twilight stumbles into his boss's office with all the papers in his hands.

- "if you need advice about school, you've come to the wrong place, kid."

"No...uh sir this ain't about school. Yet. But uh...do you recognize this picture?"

- he sets down the obituary with its photo of his mother, grandmother, Sheik and Link somewhere in Karariko. Kokiri studies it but otherwise seems clueless. "No, sorry, I dont."

- "Well according to these papers," Twilight sets them on the desk and spreads them out so he can see. "This is my mom. And this is you. Her brother. I think...I think you're my uncle."

#i dont have time to write this idea.#but its cute.#wild would be twilight's half cousin #Wind's grandmother would be Wild's great aunt making Wind their cousin too.#Wind's grandma would have two estranged nephews Legend's Uncle and Elzo.#idk how Sky and zhyrule would fit intl this but theyll be there too.#linked universe #lu time #time lu #twilight lu #lu twilight #links meet au

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moonshine999 · 10 months

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Spill your post trailer Helaegon ideas with us please😩

hellooo, I will try my utmost best to articulate them.. sensibly

as the teaser stands, the performances by Tom and Phia genuinely look phenomenal. It seems stealing the spotlight worthy, especially Phia. Since this is the first season we get to explore her character and also her last season because damn you writers, it looks like she’s really giving it her all and I’m genuinely so excited to see that. details? Love that they grew Aegon’s hair out, the Helaena shot of her looking up might be one most ethereal shots I’ve witnessed, the aegon strut was legit everything. things I am not much a fan of though is the costuming (for them, more so Aegon because we haven’t seen any Helaena dresses in full, at least officially). Because though I love the sunfyre embroidery on his outfit now, it literally looks no different from the coronation costume at first glance. Sure it is dark green instead of black but like cmon. Give aegon pretty costumes 😌. Also sad we didn’t see Sunfyre, Dreamfyre is understandable but come on, we see Syrax and not the most beautiful dragon in the world? Not the dragon who had the strongest dragon-rider bond in history with Aegon? Not the dragon who ends up killing Rhaenyra?? THE FUCK.

but I’ll stop complaining because the teaser is nice and these are just nitpicks about the definite bias. .

. Okay the next things I’m gonna cover are more so ideas for scenes rather than a breakdown or analysis cuz we literally got 2 shots of each of them 🥲

🕯️Helaena’s visions

I did see quite a few posts saying/implying that we will dive more into Helaena’s visions this season. So I do think it would be interesting to understand that dynamic with her and Aegon when she has them. Like has he matured enough to understand that even though he can’t comprehend his wife, she needs his help OR he still thinks that she is acting idiotic as he did in s1. The leak that said something along the lines that Aegon will first be seen at the council, bored but then is called to attend to his queen could also tie into this. Maybe Helaena isn’t crouching over due to pain of pregnancy ,as some have speculated , but due to the suddenness or pain of one of her visions.

(also I have put a one shot surrounding this in the W.I.P folder along with the thousand others lying there so expect it in about 80 years ��)

🕯️just them handling being king and queen

this is a pretty vague thing but literally just show them. Just show them getting along, sitting at councils, dragon riding, sleeping in the same room, all before b&c rips everything down. Even one scene of them together handling this can work, in fact just one scene of them being soft with each other would just go to show what it was like and what it could have been like had the war not happened. Just adding more tragedy to their story.

🕯️flashbacks

another pretty vague one. But as I said in this post , I really do think we should have seen them as kids, how they get along and especially their wedding. They could perhaps fit it in, in the episode of the funeral. Aegon or Hela looking back on that day, when things were arguably simpler and their only concerns were stopping Aegon from crying during sex. (IM SORRY, WE ALL KNOW IT HAPPENED)

okay more seriously though, them reminiscing on the past i.e. the day their union was first formed on the day it all broke apart. They as parents should be allowed to feel that grief, with each other and I genuinely hope we don’t get robbed of that. speaking of them as parents though…

🕯️the kids

it is actually so unsettling that half the fans didn’t even realise that they have kids until b&c started being talked about.

Again I beg, SHOW THEM. show them talking to Jaehaerys about becoming heir, how Aegon would go back to his memory of his mother doing the same to him (could also come under flashbacks). Show them trying to stop Maelor to stop crying, show them sitting with their kids at the feast, show them trying to manage their duties as well as their kids.

but alas it’s just speculation, half of them just wishes. Let’s hope we get some glimpse of their dynamic is season 2 because my god helaegon nation is starving.

#house of the dragon #helaena targaryen #aegon ii targaryen #team green #helaegon #helaena x aegon ii #asks #anon #pro team green #hotd speculation #analysis #???#helaegon hcs #incoherent thoughts ??#Idek #rambles #thank you for the lovely ask tho

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evebestthinker · 1 month

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I find it hard to see Corlys and Rhaenys as a powerful couple of equals in the show. I always laugh when the actors talk about their deep love and partnership. What I actually see is Corlys repeatedly dismissing Rhaenys's counsel and opinions. The only time Rhaenys seems to wield any real influence is when Corlys is absent. It’s strange how the fandom tries to sell this "great love" by saying things like, "Yes, he's flawed and made mistakes, but he feels ashamed. Look at his puppy eyes when he sees his wife's pain." Meanwhile, it's as if they forget that Rhaenys is in pure agony because of him—he's the root of almost all her suffering, aside from the council’s decision.

I've often criticized how these characters were adapted for the screen, both as individuals and as a couple. In my view, the portrayal of Corlys and Rhaenys up to the middle of the first season is the closest to their book counterparts. It hints at the united and powerful couple they should have been, though even then, it's far from a perfect adaptation, with many changes I don't like.

In the series, I've always seen them as two strong people individually. Their impact comes from their own charisma, their union doesn't add power beyond what they already have on their own.

For instance, when Eve and Steve said that Corlys and Rhaenys had been each other's rock throughout the last season, I couldn’t help but roll my eyes. From episode 8 onwards (and for the six years prior, off-screen), Rhaenys is clearly on her own. She even says, "I must stand alone," because that's exactly what she's been doing the whole time. The idea of them being each other's rock fell apart long before season two, but like many other things, it's just been ignored. I honestly thought this season would revisit that dynamic and explore it further, but instead, it’s just another piece of drama they introduced and then dropped.

So I agree with you, the idea of partnership that Steve and Eve talk about never really comes through for me, especially from the second half of the first season onward, up until Rhaenys's death. When every major decision or crisis shows them in disagreement and growing apart—literally—how am I supposed to believe in their partnership? Just because Corlys comes back humbled? Are we supposed to believe that's enough to show he views Rhaenys as his equal? He continuously makes decisions, knowing the risks and the pain they'll cause her and his children, and when the consequences catch up, he feels embarrassed and so what?

This dynamic could have worked once, but it's basically how their marriage is in the show, he's such a disappointment and failure as husband, he has nothing of the real Sea Snake who always puts family first, in the show Corlys only pririotizes his needs. And at the same time Rhaenys toils in the service of Corlys, accepting situations she doesn't like only because in this fucking show women are portrayed as submissive to their husbands and incapable of holding a grudge for more than two seconds: they always have to accept the way things are for a greater scope.

I'm honest I didn't expect this from them, it does not reflect what we see in the books and it's a pity because Steve and Eve would have done very well with their on paper characters, but this is what we've been given.

I personally ship only their book versions and use the show's scenes purely for aesthetics, like making videos or gifs, but I think that people must be free to like or dislike things related to a tv show , to have their own opinions on topics of the show and to be free to ship whoever they like for all the reasons they want

#anti rhaenys targaryen #anti corlys velaryon

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cartoonbabbles · 1 year

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Some Breakdown x Bumblebee headcanons since I’m watching Comodin Cam’s G1 marathon video and I’m seeing snippets of G1 breakdown

- I’m headcanoning BD and BB as both young adult (ish)? Like. Transformers maturity wise. Mid 20s is my guess, older than during the height of the war, still plenty of fight in them but they’ve lived enough to have a kind of routine between the two of them.

- BD puts on a cool and confident face for Bee’s sake. If he showed how scared he actually felt, Bee would have forced him to quit the race, and they’d both have gone into hiding. But he knows that both he and Bee like the thrill. It’s their thing

- Bee is slightly younger, BD is going through a crisis. (I mean why wouldn’t he be, he’s a fugitive and a war criminal, but no less than any of the other cybertronians, yet he’s somehow gotten the short end of the stick and doesn’t want to stay to find out what prison is like)

- Bee is super reassuring of how much he cares. Which is tough given how they ended up on opposite sides of the war.

- Bee can technically become a combiner limb. Does this make any sense? No. Fuck you, I want funny combiner shennanigans. Also Knockout can too (yes I’m throwing him in here). The poor other limb (likely Arcee) has to listen to her younger brother girlfail his way through coordinating movements while she’s the one doing the punching)

- Breakdown flusters easily, but likes to flirt and be seen as suave and as hot stuff. He’s a glass cannon and can dish it but can’t take a compliment without popping back into his alt-mode for a breather

- Bee (if they’re alone alone 100% for sure zero agents tailing them) is relentless in his flirting.

- Breakdown doesn’t actually have a driver’s seat. It’s all a hologram. He had a bad experience with a human who tried to drive him recklessly (scratched his new stripes too) so he figured out how to transform and not have any passenger seats on his own. It was painful, and Bee found him two days after a race he was scheduled to be at sulking in a cave, half transformed.

- this is more of a realization but I think the reason Bee started winning races was to take attention away from Breakdown. Notice how Schloeder never realized the same fucking muscle car barely tailing his black and yellow striped quarry

- I saw this funny post about spider man a few months back about how everyone knows who Spidey is or has some personal story with him, and rumors fly but you’ll never get anything if you pry. Same with Bee and Breakdown. Whispers of that time two drivers in sports cars flung their vehicles into a burning building and came out with seven people unharmed. A story about how a giant robot saved a kid from a rabid animal. Maybe a couple of voices deep in the woods comforting a crying teenager, telling them not to give up on asking the person they like out. Schloeder knows those stories are out there and it drives him nuts he can never get any first hand accounts

- Bee and Breakdown shared a garage in the Phillipines post war.

- Breakdown was sympathetic to the original Decepticon cause. He got involved more because the entertainment union took up arms with the original cries for revolution (he’s a Stunticon, and lord knows the Functionist senate didn’t give a damn about who got injured during a show)

- Breakdown painted the stripe himself. He wouldn’t stop bragging about it to Knockout and Bee. This lasted for a month. Knockout and Bee decided to get stripes to match (this is why Bee has stripes on his sports car mode)

- Bee has a human “sister” named Charlie in California he met during the war. She wasn’t a soldier or anything, they just hung out and vented to each other sometimes. One day, after Bee went into hiding, she was feeling bummed out and her car starts talking “yeah I miss him too.” The car was Breakdown. She gives him “the sibling talk” and is all like “if you dare hurt him or break his heart I swear-“ and all that and he’s genuinely scared of her bc he’s seen her disassemble and reassemble cars in her sleep (she did it to Knockout once on accident)

- Bee and BD have never kissed (AND THEY NEVER WILL UNLESS HES ALIVE HASBRO IM BEGGING YOU) but if they were to kiss it would have to rival Alex and Dot’s kiss to the mid season finale with that explosion of Purple Hearts behind them like. GIVE ME GAY MEN I DONT SEE ANY OF THEM BEING MAIN CHARACTERS IN CARTOONS ENOUGH.

- “Hi I’m Bumblebee and this is my boyfriend Breakdown and our husband Knockout and his boyfriend Starscream and his fiancé Soundwave and Soundwave’s friend with benefits who’s ace but still likes to get funky Shockwave and Shockwave’s ex Megatron who’s currently dating Elita and OP who are both married”

- Mo and Twitch ship Bee and Breakdown, though you never find out how they found out (it was Nightshade)

- Breakdown supports trans rights.

- most of the transformers do

- tangent but I feel it would be fucking hilarious if Shockwave were a queer ally but still fucking refuses to address the Terrans

- Breakdown once almost killed the governor of Florida (this one’s for me okay I need my catharsis)

- DW he didn’t but the dude resigned almost immediately after and kept seeing a muscle car coated in pride flag stickers at every stop sign for a month (Breakdown was bored)

- I’ll throw Tarn in here. Tarn has a good ass singing voice. That’s for funsies. Nobody invites him to karaoke though because people will literally do anything he says once he starts singing and that’s how Bee ended up with a tattoo on his (mic gets violently pulled away from me)

#breakbee #tfe spoilers #earthspark #transformers earthspark #tfe #transformers #tf earthspark #earthspark spoilers #maccadam #tfe breakdown #tfe bumblebee #tfe tarn #tfe knockout #tfe Megatron #tfe starscream #tfe Soundwave #Mo Malto

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canonicallysoulmates · 1 year

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J2 Main Panel Charlotte 2023

I put this psa in the post for the Gold panel but I know some see one post and not the other so before we get into this panel quick psa that this con took place while the actor's union, SAG-AFTRA, is on strike. This means the boys cannot directly name any past, present, or future projects. For the sake of clarity I will be mentioning projects the boys are referring to by name but please be aware that the boys themselves did not do that they complied with strike regulations.

They had date nights! Jared said that they got to walk around a little bit on this day, as well as on Saturday and Friday they got some dinner ❤️

Jensen says he has some stories to share, and before the questions start he tells one of them; a few months ago D went to a charity auction thing in Austin, and she bid on a race car experience at the Circuit of the Americas track where he would get to ride shotgun in an actual racecar and get driven around the track a couple of times. As well as get to drive an exotic car himself around the track. She gave this to him as a gift, and at first he thought it sounded fun except when he asked her when it was she told him it was at 7am on a Saturday so he was not happy. He asked her if they (she and the kids) were gonna go and watch him and she replied no they were gonna sleep so he was like whatever, he got up super early, went to the track and he's looking around and the people at the track go over everything, they tell him to go downstairs to see who his driver will be and then he can meet them out on the track. He goes and looks at the chart and at first he thinks what he's reading is a joke but it wasn't his car was pink with a rainbow unicorn on the hood, and they name their cars, his was called sparkles glitter hooves which it had written on the side.

So he meets the nice lady who's gonna be driving him and he could tell she didn't want to be there that early either but she runs him through the whole thing, he gets in the car it was a big race car a McLaren, and they get to the track and take off do a few turns and they're not going that fast but he thinks maybe she's just warming up. They get to a section of track that's a straightway, it's over a mile long he thinks this is when she's gonna pick up speed, and she tried but the car was not accelerating like it's supposed to they got to about 50 mph and she tells him that something's wrong with the car and he's like "you think?" by that point they were already pretty far into the track so they have to limp back cause there's like engine failure. They roll in and she does offer to find him another driver but he says not to worry about it that it's okay thanks, gets in his car and goes home. Like an hour and a half later he gets a text saying his car was ready to get driven around and he deleted it, it was not a grand experience and he wishes he had just stayed in bed. Poor Jensen 🏎️

I do find it cute, however, that Jared says that if someone knows somebody who can take Jensen around the Charlotte motor speedway to leave them a card and show him some speed.

Question time!

Do they have a story about an embarrassing or ridiculous injury?

Jared says all of his injuries are ridiculous and embarrassing. For example he ripped his pants on camera for all to see once; also he pulls his back a lot and not doing really cool things like deadlifts or saving his children from a bus but by bending over and picking up a pair of socks in the morning. It literally happened one time when filming SPN (he says when working together on something in Canada) he got to work and said he pulled his back out that morning and Jensen asked him if it was from working out too early. And he told him no, that it was from grabbing some socks from his suitcase. And Jensen was like "grabbing some sock? were they lead socks?" and Jared replied like "no, they were regular socks they had some holes so they were lighter than usual." 😂 That and also tweaking his neck when drying his hair when it was luscious.

Jensen says he hurt his hand the other day while he was putting some stuff away in a hall closet. It's one of those closets that has double doors but the hinges are really tight so you have to shut them both together otherwise it won't close and as he was doing so he pushed on the seem and it pinched his palm and it was so hard that he yanked out his hand and left part of his palm in the door. And you can still see where his palm got pinched.

Related to that a few days ago he walked into his daughter's room and she heard him coming and was running away from the door but slipped and fell and when he opened the door she was on the ground and he asked her if she had fallen but she was like no but it was obvious that she had cause she was rubbing her elbow and her hip so he told her he thought she did and asked if she wanted him to hold her so he gave her a hug, flashforward to when this happened to his palm and he hears behind him "do you want me to hold you?"

He told her no and that he needed for her to go to mommy for some gauze and tape but they didn't have any then he remembered that when he had been going through a box of stuff he had seen a post-production s8 gift from Phil Sgriccia who would send them funny gifts and it was a little survival kit pouch so he figured it would have some bandages he could use till he could go to the store but it was salt, matches and a little thing of Holy Water.

Jared makes a dad joke about how this is why he leaves his doors slightly open so it's not longer a door it's a jar. That's actually pretty clever, that got a chuckle out of me. x

Keegan is there and Jensen asks him if he puts up with those jokes, he replies yes but that they're great....and that Jared's also his boss and he's the most amazing guy ever 😂

Keegan, asks a question, in the last year what have they done in their life that made it 10% better?

Jensen answers make the bed first thing in the morning. He didn't use to do that, he would maybe get around to it, sometimes he wouldn't go back to the bedroom until the afternoon and see it still unmade so now he gets up and makes the bed. Then I guess he remembers he's supposed to be married and he adds he has to kick his wife out of the bed first and then make the bed.

Jared quips that he's tried to get rid of some of his perfectionist inclines so one of the things he likes to do is not worry about whether or not his bed is made but seriously, he will not get on his phone when he's on his bed even if he wants to return a text message he won't do it on the bed, he will force himself to get out of it, and then reply. Jensen demonstrates what this would look like 😆

Jared says that truth be told he had the problem of if it was the middle of the night and he woke up and looked at his phone to check the time he would basically end up mindless scrolling, he would check the news, he would check ESPN, he would be more awake so he would go to youtube and then an hour would pass so if it's not important enough for him to leave the bed to do it then he just leaves his phone on the nightstand. x

If they were forced would they rather have the other's face for a butt or their butt for a face?

Jared saysJensen's butt grows better facial hair than his face and Jensen asks him how he would know that and Jared freezes and literally goes "do I answer that?" No need to Jared, we know 😏

So he goes for Jensen's butt for a face and says he could shave something to make it funny or like a heart. A heart, Jared? You want to have Jensen's ass as your face and shave a little heart on it?

Jensen answers Jared's face for a butt cause he could cover it up with a pair fo pants and Jared says they better be see-through pants otherwise he'd be wasting a damn fine ass. Without missing a beat, Jensen goes "Jared, I don't know if you know this I already have a damn fine ass." Jensen we have established Jared knows a lot about your damn fine ass. 😉

Next question is mostly for Jared but Jensen can feel free to answer: when picking a spatula what is his preference wood, metal, plastic or rubber, and why?

He says you gotta go wood because you can control the whip a little better. That when you're making an omelette sometimes it gets a little aggressive and flings a bit too much- at this point Jensen cuts in and asks him when he's ever made an omelette and Jared jokingly says on an online game from his phone.

Anywyas, Jensen says you don't do wood because you have to hand wash it, and you don't go metal either cause that'll scratch up your pan, you want a hard plastic they're dishwasher safe and not mess up your pan. x

What's their favorite inexpensive brand for whiskey or bourbon?

Jensen says Four Roses makes a pretty good inexpensive whiskey. Jared agrees and also mentions what I think is Diageo - I listened to the clip a bunch of times but it's difficult for me to understand what he says - which is actually a company that owns a large amount of the brands. Jared also says he used to prefer scotch to bourbon but now he prefers bourbon to scotch he thinks he likes a little bit of that sweetness these days.

Jared asks the fan which they like and the fan answers Jack Daniels. Jensen mentions that Jack Daniels is the only brand Robert Singer drinks. x

Any advice for senior year and life in general?

Jensen says he'll give senior year advice and Jared will give the life advice. Senior year advice do as much as you can, sign up for a different club, go play a different sport, try a different instrument whatever it is you're into do as much of it as possible because this is it. You're not gonna have High School again, part of the reason he's on that stage today is because he did just that, in his senior year he was playing baseball but he left the team early to do a play. If he had just stuck with what he had been doing the past couple of years he probably wouldn't have gotten on a stage and been "discovered" so try to do as much as you can and try to get as much as you can out of the year, you'll most likely be glad that you did.

Jared's life advice is similar, he says kinda do what Jensen said for the rest of your life. He remembers when he was a senior something was so scary about it because it was the finale of him knowing what to do with his life but the day after you graduate you wake up and you'll still be you and see there's something else for you to do so don't get overwhelmed by the seeming closure and finale of it just remember this is just a year in your life and if you're as fortunate as they were able to be where High School was four years of their 40-something year lives, you have your next 4 year growth cycle, your next 2 year growth cycle so this is just part of your life. Your life is not about to end it's about to begin. There's something strange and really scary but it should be scary if you feel some fear or trepidation about school being over that's okay but a year from now you're going to be in your next phase of your life. Somethings might look different especially if you follow as Jensen says and keep expanding your horizons, a lot of things will look the same but you'll still be you so keep your eyes on the future. x

If they were Earth embassadors to aliens what would they tell them, and what would they show them?

After joking around about face/butt, Jared says he thinks he would have more questions to ask than answers to give. He would probably try and communicate they mean them no harm, and he thinks he would show them a young child, be like we mean you no harm, and look how cool life can be- Jensen says here take this one, it's okay I got two more, and Jared says I have three that you can have 🤣

But no, he thinks becoming a parent is such a cool promise like seeing a baby or seeing a young child and thinking they have their whole life in front of them, they're gonna be going to their senior year, they're gonna fall in love, maybe they'll have kids of their own it's how wonderful life can be down here so please don't destroy us.

Jensen concurs that showing them the best part of humanity probably the smart way of doing things. x

If they could choose anywhere to live other than where they grew up, or where they live now where would it be?

Jared replies he has a soft spot for Italy. He loves Italy so if he were to choose somewhere international it would be there, if he was gonna choose somewhere in the states he really likes the mountains a lot. Someone in the crowd shouts Virginia and he says Virginia is awesome. Jensen asks if just mountains, and Jared replies yeah, and then gives as an example Sun Valley in Idaho where he got married, says G's family still lives there and they go visit. He says the older he becomes the less he can deal with the 100 degree hot weather in the city so somewhere cooler. He likes North Carolina too, they have a friend who lives in town and he has a place about 20 mins away from where the con is taking place and it's great no bugs, no sweat, beautiful. The crowd is shocked by the no bugs comment, and Jared says he didn't have any bugs do they have bugs and the crowd collectively says yes so he says he doesn't like Nort Carolina that much, he likes it less now 😂

Jensen doesn't know, he says he thinks he's pretty happy where he is.

Interesting answer coming from you at this period if time sir, where exactly is it that you're happy cause door was wide open to mention Connecticut and yet.....x

The next fan is from London and y'all know Jared had to do some accents, I laughed so hard with "Wales" accent 🤣🐳

Is there a book that they have recently re-read, or a book that they have connected to so much that they would want to re-read it?

Jared says his oldest son is entering the 6th grade so he is reading some more advanced books that Jared too would enjoy compared to the stuff from kindergarden or 1st grade. For example he just read Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief and this year in his curriculum is The Outsiders which Jared hasn't read since before getting to know and become friends with S. E. Hinton, and he actually reached out to her to say hey and told her his kid would be reading the Outsiders for school and she replied to let him know the school and she'd send over a signed copy. So he's excited to re-read that its been a while, he did not read Percy Jackson with his kid but he would discuss the book with him. And that's part of his summer homework to read the book and be able to tell not just what happens in the story but also what it parallels to and themes it explores, but he's really exited to read the Outsiders again.

Jensen says he's not much of a reader but D is an avid reader and a book he sees her pick up again and again is A Confederacy of Dunces. x

When will fans get to meet the two luckiest women in the world, their wives? 🙄

Jensen says the wives might disagree with the fan calling them the luckiest women. He says he thinks they would do a con but that he thinks they find it kind of like it's the boys thing and they don't want to encroach. Jared adds that furthermore and he's pretty sure Jensen feels the same, and he says it sometimes kind of like a joke but he also means it who's gonna watch the kids? That he and G do trips just themselves but they'll try as best as they can to have one of the parents around just be a tether for the kids as best they can. That it's just hard to know that far in advance for them to plan. Doing cons is something he and Jensen love doing and the wives can hold down the fort. x

I am more than happy about the wives not doing CE cons but these are such obvious lies. Both D and G have done cons with the boys before so they clearly don't think of doing cons as the boys thing, G was even a last minute guest at JIB. The whole "who's gonna watch the kids thing?" for starters sir we all know you got nannies and even if you didn't you can afford one but more than that that question and the whole wanting one parent to be around thing has not been an impediment in G attending non-CE cons with him. Including in Europe. But really the most hilarious part is Jared saying that it's hard for the wives to know that far in advance for them to plan when, two recent examples, FanX isn't till September yet G had already signed up for it in July and if you're thinking that's just two months in advance Infinity con in Germany is in May 2024 and she was announced as a guest earlier this month.

Instead of lying and coming up with cheap excuses these men need to grow a pair and admit they don't actually want the wives at CE cons.

Last question, what was their favorite video game growing up?

Jared says if the aliens came to Earth and said they were gonna mess humanity up unless one of the Earthlings can beat them in a video game he would be like okay and say Smash Brothers for Nintendo '64. Jensen says Golden Eye. Jensen also brings up the theory that Mario's cathphrase "It's me, Mario" is actually him saying itsumi in Japanese which means super so what he's saying is super Mario, and he does say he doesn't know if that's true or not it's something he saw online. It's not! It was something that made the rounds on tiktok but it's not legit, it's actually a form of a dad joke. Itsumi is not even a word in Japanese it's a surname.

What Jared says about Mario being named after Nintendo's landlord is partially true, they didn't do it because he let them live somewhere for free, they did it because the employees at the warehouse which is what he was renting to the company thought he resembled Mario so they nicknamed the character Mario and then the creator Miyamoto found out about it and he liked it so he decided to make it the official name. Real Mario's name was Mario Segale.

J2 Main Panel Charlotte

#j2 tinhat #anti genevieve #anti danneel #anti jarevieve #anti jared x genevieve #anti jenneel #mine #non iwtv

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