#i think it’s very obvious who she’s talking about but at the end of the day i’m technically speculating eye twitches

[abbyssgf]

𝐰𝐢𝐟𝐞!𝐬𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐤𝐚 𝐱 𝐟𝐞𝐦!𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫 | 𝐬𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠

• concept: spring was coming and with that spring cleaning, during cleaning the basement with sevika you pleased her to lift the boxes so you could glance at her muscular arms. when sevika noticed it the both of you ended up having a sex against the wall<3

• words: 2.0k

• warnings: trans!sevika, sevika has a dick, pet names; baby, babe, darling, etc, sex against the wall, dirty talk, cursing, yeah that's probably all

• author note: that's was so fucking good to write, omfg. I need to calm down after writing this anyway enjoy the fanfic! :P

Spring was coming so it was obvious that you and Sevika had to do the spring cleaning of your house, mostly you wanted to throw away things you no longer need 'cause you didn't want to have essential things in your home knowing you or your wife won't use it.

Right now both of you were packing things you didn't use from your basement, sitting on the floor in your basement. Sevika was wearing a black tank top which showed off her muscular arms and you couldn't just stop looking at her and her well toned body. She also wore short black baggy shorts that she had pulled down to her waist so her abs when she raised her arms were also very visible to your eyes.

Sevika didn't notice at first your glances towards her 'cause she was mostly focused on packing things she didn't need, she didn't want to distract herself 'cause you scolded her one time for being distracted and not doing her tasks but now you weren't even better. All of you could think about is Sevika and her well muscular body, how those arms feel around your body and how good those hands would feel on your hips while she would fuck you from the back-

Your cheeks flushed and you shake your head to calm yourself down. After all, from the both of you, you were the one who wanted to do the work as quickly as possible but now you weren't even able to focus because of your wife.

"babe" Sevika’s voice stopped your thoughts and your eyes met. "everything is okay?" she asked with a gentle voice, she noticed that you were a bit doze off and it concerned her, god, only is she knows why you were a little bit off.

"no, everything is okay, baby, you don't have to worry," you said to Sevika and smiled at her, trying to convince her that you were absolutely okay. more than okay. "Are you sure you're feeling okay?" she asked and you nodded "uh-huh"

Then an idea comes to your mind "I've packed the things, could you please lift it and… carry it to the living room?" you asked your wife and she agreed. "Of course, babe" sevika answered and picked her own box and then your, without knowing she flexed her muscles and she disappeared into the living room.

"fuck" you cursed under your breath not knowing why you couldn't focus on the tasks. You grab another box and start placing things into this. not longer than a minute, sevika showed up again in the basement and looked at you. She walked up to you and leaned to place a kiss on your head, you looked up at her and slightly frowned. "what?" you asked and she just smiled "nothing, I just wanted to kiss my beautiful wife" she responded and you playfully rolled your eyes.

"come back to work" you said to sevika and she sighed, pretending to be irritated. "what if I don't want to?" She asked with a sly smirk and you looked at her "sevika" you scolded her and she rolled her eyes playfully, she knew to better not to tease you when you started to call her her full name "alright, alright" she murmured and in a silence the both of you continued to packing the boxes.

In a few moments you and Sevika packed a few boxes and every single one you asked (politely and gently of course) your wife to lift them up for you 'cause as you said to her 'it was too heavy' and you couldn't do it.

When Sevika lifted up a really one light box she raised her brow and looked down at you "Sweetie" she started which made you look up to see her gray eyes "it's light, you can lift it up by yourself" she noticed and started to notice something about your behavior.

"oh" you murmured trying to play, shocked, you stood up and smiled shyly to her "well, I didn't notice it, vika" you answered to her and your gaze accidentally slipped down to her muscular arms and then to her eyes. She caught it. That was it. A sly smirk came on her lips and you knew that your little evil plan had been discovered.

"you just wanted me to lift those boxes up so you could look at my arms, baby?" Sevika asked you in a playful tone, teasing you knowing damn well that the answer was positive. She dropped the box carefully and took a step forward to you.

"…maybe" you answered as she walked to you with that stupid smirk on her lips. Sevika stood in front of you and wrapped her arms around your waist. "You could just ask me to flex my muscles in front of you, you know, I would gave you a private show" Sevika murmured as she started to place kisses on the side of your neck. You moved your neck to the left side to give sevika more space on your neck.

Sevika hummed oto your neck and she moved her lips from your neck to your jawline and then she stopped to look into your eyes. "you don't know what you do to me" she murmured and before you could answer her, she connected your lips in a passionate, warm, wet kiss, dominating your lips, sliding her tongue into your mouth sloppily while her hands moved down to grab your butt and squeezed them.

you whined in her mouth and placed your hands on the back of her muscular arms while you were making out. "sev" you moaned between your kisses and sevika squeezed again your butt with her hands "yeah?" she hummed into your lips, not wanting to stop kissing you.

"I want you" you said as you stopped the kisses for a moment to catch a breath and to say that to Sevika. "yeah, I guessed that" she answered with a smirk on her face, teasing you. You rolled your eyes at her words and groaned "vika, i'm fucking serious" you replied to her with a slight grimace on your lips and she kissed you on the corner of your mouth.

"i know, baby, relax" Sevika murmured and one of her hands slipped under your t-shirt. Her hand brushed your skin and a shiver ran down your spine. "I'll take care of you, yeah?" She murmured to your ear and she placed her hands on your pants. Then she picked you up, you immediately wrapped your legs around her waist to make sure you won't fall. Sevika placed her hands underneath your things and she pinned you against the nearest wall.

"Fuck, sev" You whined and you captured your lips into another sloppy, wet kiss while your hands started to touch sevika's body. You slipped your hand underneath her tank top, your hands started to move over her skin and toned abs and you could hear her soft whine from your touch.

Sevika could feel how her cock twitched at your movements and she knew she needed you now. In a second. at the moment. "baby, please" Sevika whined into your mouth and you moaned at her words. "You want me, sev?" you asked her as your hand slid down to her bulge in her shorts. "fuck, yeah" She murmured as a response to your words.

Sevika carefully let go of one of your legs, still holding you with hers, to take off her shorts. You helped her a little and you took off her black boxers. Excite rushed down to your core as your gaze stopped at her long, thick, hard cock, from whose head pre-ejaculate flowed.

Quickly, you slipped off your shorts and underwear along with them and sevika helped you take them off completely, throwing them on the floor next to you. Sevika's hand wandered to her dick and she wrapped her hand around him.

"c'mon, baby, I want to feel you inside me" You said to Sevika and she nodded, she needed that too and both of you knew it. Your breath stopped for a moment when Sevika directed her dick to your hole and after a while she slid inside you, the sound of your and Sevika's moans echoing throughout the basement.

"fuck…fuck, sev, mhm" You whined as you started to adjust to her length. Sevika's hand tightened underneath your thighs as she needed her whole strength to stop herself from pounding into you right there, right now but she knew that you needed a moment or two to adjust to her long, hard cock.

"that's it, baby" Sevika mumbled to you. Sevika groaned and leaned forward to you and placed a kiss on your neck "you're so fucking perfect" Sevika said to you and with that she started to move her hips. You moaned at the friendly feeling and your arms tightened on her muscular back.

The angle was perfect, you could feel all of her dick inside you. the sound of skin slapping against each other and the wet sound of your arousal echoed throughout the basement. It was almost embarrassing how pornographic the sounds were.

Every moan from Sevika's mouth, the movement causing her cock to hit your G-spot perfectly made you closer and closer to cumming here and now. "damn, vika" you whimpered and you leaned your head against the wall, moaning at the feeling.

"you're taking me…" Sevika groaned as she moved her hips back at forth, pounding into you "so fucking good" she ended her sentence and she started to move more quickly and that made you moan from pleasure.

"this clit is perfect for my cock, baby, god, i love you, i love your pussy" Sevika murmured as the pleasure and making you come on her cock was the only thing in her mind right now. "mhmp, vika, oh fuck" you moaned as you could feel your body was close to come on her cock.

Sevika could feel that you were close to coming, she felt how your pussy tightened around her cock and she groaned at the feeling. "cum on me, darling, cum on my dick" Sevika babbled while she was digging into you.

A few of her movements were enough to make you come, your eyes rolled back into your head from the pleasure, your breathing was ragged and heavy and your whole body was filled with pleasure. Moments later after you Sevika came and her cum was inside you and a shiver of pleasure ran through you. Your and your wife's heavy breathing was the only sound between you for a moment.

"i love you, vika" you murmured to your wife in a weary, gently voice. Sevika smiled gently and leaned to place a soft kiss on your lips. She took this moment to pull her cock out of you and you both moaned into each other's lips. Your cum and her dripped between your thighs and you sighed.

"Let's go to the bathroom and clean you up, okay?" Sevika said to you and you nodded. "yeah, the boxes can wait one more moment longer," you said to Sevika and she smiled warmly at your words. "yeah, you're right," she said and scooped you into her arms. You giggled at it and wrapped your arms around her neck.

"I'm sure these boxes won't miss us" Sevika said in a playfully, joking tone and you snorted with laughter and kissed her on her check. "i'm sure that too, sev" You replied to her and in Sevika's arms she carried you to the bathroom and took care of you there.

taglist: @abbyslvrrr @noacinno @nytloq @l0vel3tterl0ver @pizzabbs @dvrkhcld @sannyangel89 @moondient @maat2hot

[utilitycaster]

to me i feel like the hells were meant for a campaign more like cr2, which i feel like that's been discussed before even on your blog? like idk orym and braius were the only characters who actually fit this campaign, maybe imogen for obvious reasons. but laudna, fearne, ashton, chetney all felt like they belonged in a lower stakes, more personal campaign

Yes, I have talked about this extensively: honestly, either a Campaign 1 or Campaign 2 structure would have served them better. For what it's worth I feel like everyone other than Laudna managed to make something of it - Fearne and Chetney frankly did a lot of work to explore their concepts, it was just never rewarded or frankly in many cases revisited in any way (again, consequences do not mean punishment; they quite literally just mean that one's actions lead to results that follow from said actions), and while I ended up not caring much for Ashton as a character, I actually think Taliesin played them with a strong logical throughline. But it is true that the plot really, in the end, served none of them, not even Orym or Imogen (Braius it kind of did, but he was developed so late in the game that he was designed around its flaws). There was just never space to really explore the dark fairytale Ashley talked about early on; Tuyen and that other toymaker back in Marquet were never revisited nor was Ruidus's impact on Chetney nor was there an appearance of Doreo, and even Drixlich and the offers to the pirates vanished (side note but Travis is perhaps actual play's best plot thread generator and I think it's telling that he kind of gave up on that eventually because it never fucking went anywhere, after two campaigns where it consistently did). When it comes to Imogen I am reminded of the possibly apocryphal theater review for King Lear that went "the lead actor played the king as though he momentarily expected someone to play the ace;" she was a great concept but at no point inhabited her decisions meaningfully on the rare occasions she made them. Orym was never really given the opportunities Caleb had to explore grief and while I personally am okay with his deal with Morri being canceled, it plus the whole Vax thing really feel like a thumbing of the nose at Liam's RP choices across the decade. Ashton's temporary growth and then regression honestly feel very real, just deeply unsympathetic, though the ending of the story where nothing about the All Minds Burn or his talk with Shady Sally or the titans or the Hishari came up and the genuinely great moment of sacrifice turned into another "and then Essek fixes it for you" was narratively empty. But the more I think about it, the more this was largely a failure of Matt to tell a different kind of story with any measure of success. I think this campaign in many ways played hard to Matt, Marisha, and Laura's weaknesses in particular (and a little bit of Liam's if I'm being honest in the end) whereas the others embraced their strengths, and this is what happened; the rest of the cast kind of made the most of it.

[chimuelo2005-blog]

More yapping about Jayce and his relationship with Viktor and Mel cause why not?

One of the most interesting things about Jayce’s character arc is how Mel and Viktor act as these two opposing forces in his life; both guiding him, both shaping him, but in very different ways. Mel represents power, ambition, legacy, the political weight of Hextech and everything it could be. Viktor represents innovation, raw intellect, and the heart of why Hextech even exists in the first place. Jayce is caught between them, constantly being pulled in two directions.

Mel teaches Jayce how to navigate Piltover, how to gain and control his power instead of letting it control him. She gives him the tools to actually use Hextech as more than just an invention— turn it into something that changes the world. Without her, he never would’ve made it onto the council, never would’ve learned how to play politics, never would’ve become the leader Piltover needed. But at the end of the day? Jayce was never truly Mel’s.

Because no matter how much Mel shapes him, no matter how much power she hands him, Jayce’s first and strongest connection is always Viktor. His first choice is always Viktor. Viktor is the reason Hextech exists. Viktor is the reason Jayce even believes in progress in the first place. And you see it in the way Jayce prioritizes him over and over again.

Mel offers Jayce power, and yeah, he takes it—but he hesitates. He falters. With Viktor? There’s no hesitation. Jayce is willing to risk everything for Viktor in a way he never does for Mel. Like, when Viktor starts slipping away, Jayce drops everything. He stops caring about politics, about his reputation, about the carefully constructed path Mel laid out for him. The second Viktor needs him, that’s it. He’s done playing the game. He’s ready to throw away everything if it means saving him. Mel is an influence in his life. Viktor is his foundation.

And what’s really sad about all of this is that Mel knows. She sees it. She knows that at the end of the day, she’s teaching Jayce how to be powerful, but Viktor is the one who actually owns his heart. She sees how quickly Jayce pulls away from her when Viktor starts getting worse, how his priorities shift without a second thought. She spent the entire second part of the show shaping Jayce into a leader, a politician, a visionary—but the second Viktor is in danger, Jayce doesn’t care about any of that. He only cares about him.

Mel may have given Jayce power, but Viktor is the only person he was ever willing to lose that power for. Mel was the one who taught Jayce how to build an empire. But Viktor? Viktor is the one thing that could make him burn it all down.

And that says everything about Jayce.

I've seen some people in the reblogs make good points I missed while making the post, so I'll add them here.

This post is about jayce's perception or what I think his perception is based on his actions. Once said that: No, Mel is not the black girlfriend, that's a huge disrespect of her character, she's a powerful, intelligent woman with complexities and flaws that go far beyond some guy.

I agree that Jayce loved Mel, to a certain point. His favoritism towards Viktor is not even conscious most of the time. He obviously loved and cared for her, if he didn't they wouldn't have been together. My point is that he loved her in a way that would never be matched to the way he loves Viktor, and that's ok. They are two separate people, it's obvious Jayce won't love them the same.

While writing the script, I believe the writers made their relationship to put Jayce between a rock and a hard place at times. Mel is progress, she's powerful, beautiful, kind, She symbolizes everything Jayce wants to achieve (talking about her symbolism in jayce's character, not her own character) . Viktor is his foundation, he's beginning, he's the constant in his life even before he knew it. That's what I mean by saying Jayce was never fully Mel's.

I agree that as a fandom we don't talk enough about characters individually, but I firmly believe that there are characters that you need to talk about while talking about others. You cannot really talk deeply about Mel without talking about her mom, her brother and so on.

I love my girl Mel and I will yap about her soon because she's just too pretty and interesting not to.

[borkthemork]

I know that the fandom jokes a lot about how much Togami and Kirigiri order Naegi around to explain the clues in the trials, but I absolutely love the way they utilized this during the 4th Trial.

Specifically, in how Kirigiri is able to pack so much humiliation towards Togami without even breaking a sweat.

Togami throughout the game, especially in the Fourth Chapter, has been continuously downplaying the capabilities, lives, and agency of his fellow classmates. He is elitist, he was born into a family where if you don't bite and claw to survive, then you won't win, and believes he got to where he is through sheer cunning, willpower, and cold rationality. The idea of cooperating with the other students was beneath him. The idea of seeing people such as Asahina and Naegi as equals disgusted him due to his perceived differences in their class, capabilities, status, and levels of intellect.

In Trial 2, specifically, we see him attempt to one-up the others regarding being able to showcase how powerful and assured he is as an influential player within the Killing Game. He even used Naegi as a pawn to get him on the trail of his fabricated crime scene, just to see how people respond and to make the game less "predictable" while keeping control on the situation. However...

In that same trial, we see that the moment Naegi was able to uncover something Togami himself couldn't catch, his resolve wavers. He is humiliated, angry at the idea of some commoner, who couldn't even read 11037 as an upside down 'LEON' at the first trial, was able to outsmart him and put them on a new, unexpected path of inquiry all together. We can see that this gets to him after the trial is complete, showcasing how even if externally he looks calm and assured, being put off guard cuts him deep within his pride.

Being outsmarted, taken by surprise, or not given power over a situation frustrates him, and the seeds of that get planted during Chapter Four through multiple characters such as Kirigiri, Asahina, and Naegi.

Keep in mind that during this chapter a few key points happen that set the stage for what's to come. I am talking about Kirigiri's critical comments towards him before the Class Trial, and that Asahina was able to slap and threaten him.

These series of events do four things:

One, Asahina's actions hardened his viewpoint on Asahina as emotionally reckless and stupid, someone who he will underestimate in the later parts of the chapter.

Two, this outburst makes him double down on the idea of emotion as inferior and childish.

Three, Kirigiri's warnings make him believe he can elude betrayal, that he only has to worry about the ones who are already suspicious to him.

Four, due to being humiliated still by Asahina's surprise slap on him, he wants to regain his composure and status again amidst the cast as someone unflappable.

To me, the last point is why Togami himself went to great lengths of drinking most of the poison bottle in front of everyone. It's a way to show how untouchable and smart he is as a player, that he can surprise the others once more and remain unscathed at the very end from thinking many steps ahead of them.

However, this is where Kirigiri's words and actions click into place with humiliating the crap out of him.

When Asahina is interrogated to be lying, Togami starts to lose his resolve. He fell for Asahina's downplaying of her own intelligence and how she made obvious tracks because he believed she didn't have the capabilities to make a cleaner crime scene, and never thought deeply on why personally she would commit murder on her best friend.

He has honed in so much on the idea of killed or be killed, that the obvious contradictions went right under his nose. It didn't help that Naegi had to point this out to him afterwards.

Enter Kirigiri.

Now that Togami has lost his footing with Asahina's reveal, she then tells him that there is new evidence, surprising him once again by adding another unpredictable factor to the trial.

Stacking on to that, she rubs in that he was the one who gave it to her, and that he was too busy acting like a smartass with the bottle that he didn't inspect the evidence closer in the first place.

Since Togami does have some respect for Kirigiri in being capable of deduction and yet sees himself still as one of the best within the group, Kirigiri hones in on this. She adds how she's "amazed" that someone like him would overlook this, adding in a feeling of his intellect and capabilities being looked down upon in disappointment by a semi-peer.

Togami notes this indirectly in his dialogue, but during this scene, Kirigiri is intentionally omitting the answer to the clue also.

Compared to how she omits info from Naegi in past trials due to wanting to observe his capabilities, Kirigiri wants Togami to get desperate in this moment. He is already feeling out of the loop with multiple factors outside of his control, and not being able to think of a proper conclusion on his own due to being put off guard.

Contrasted with his past lectures—about how you can't trust people, and that you have to do things on your own—she now has Togami begging other people for an answer on the situation. To the point where his anger and frustration makes his requests sound childish, as if he's the impatient one compared to everyone else in the room.

To add even more insult to injury, Kirigiri then diverts the answer to Naegi. The person who Togami has mocked multiple times for being a commoner, someone who will never be equal to him, and who he sees as dense as a rock despite acknowledging his past deduction skills.

By doing this Kirigiri puts Togami into a corner where if he truly wants the answer to his question then he has to beg someone who is the complete opposite of everything he defines as a successful person, and you can see Togami processing this for a few seconds before relenting angrily.

In previous sessions, Togami was able to have a say in the trials and even be a massive influence in how the line of inquiries followed through; the moment Kirigiri put Naegi on the spot and gave him the reins, the tide has changed and is now in their hands.

Trial 4 has Naegi and Kirigiri carrying the deduction phase in solving Asahina's betrayal and Oogami's suicide, and doing an amazing job tying up a lot of loose ends in rapid succession much to Togami's bewilderment.

He is completely falling behind, and this makes him even more humiliated and angry as he loses his cool during the second half of the trial.

He yells about Kirigiri giving him loaded questions, about how unfair it is that she knows more than him, basically watching this man go into a tantrum right in front of everyone he's previously mocked for being emotional. It is just an avalanche of continuous pathos triggering the same humiliated feelings with each second he reacts to them.

He has to listen in shock as Asahina is found out to have been the one who betrayed them, and that suicide was the only viable way for the crime scene to occur. Asahina and Oogami took him by surprise, and if it weren't for Naegi and Kirigiri to disprove the former's claims, they all would've been executed. Togami fell for all of it, and gets hit once more with the feeling of being wrong, of losing to people he never expected to best him while Kirigiri continues to refute him without hesitation.

He's then placed in a position where Kirigiri and Naegi have beaten down his arguments well enough for him to dejectedly apologize after yelling, which is huge for someone like him.

The best part about this is that the moment he does this, Togami takes a full backseat to the entire debate as Naegi and Kirigiri interrogate Asahina and reveal the truth over Sakura's death.

He interjects a few times, and he only jumps back into the conversation completely at the finale—all to ask Makoto how he was able to beat him.

And in the end, Kirigiri responds (in frustration, which is hilarious) by telling him the exact reasons why he never was able to solve this case. She didn't even have to go on a huge tangent, all she needed to do is hit him right where it hurts: his pride, his black and white viewpoints, his inability to win, and that he is just as vulnerable and volatile as the rest of the people he looks down upon

These lines themselves wouldn't have gotten to him before. We have seen how resistant Togami was when the group tried to argue with him over his behaviors, but now, each sentence hits him like a stack of bricks due to being dragged through the mud multiple times all to prove Kirigiri's point that she was right, and that he was wrong.

There is so much humiliation just packed into every single back-and-forth of the trial, you can't help but wince (and cheer) at how effective it was in getting Togami to back down completely.

[until-the-house-shakes]

Adoption Fight

Wolfstar raising Regulus / Werewolf! Regulus

-

Remus should have known this was going to happen. It’s only been a few months of him and Sirius taking care of Regulus, and each day ended in some terrible blow out- the brothers screaming at each other, doors slamming, and hatred easily being thrown about.

Why did he think this topic would be easy sailing?

For some brilliant reason, Sirius decided to legally get Regulus’ last name changed to mirror their own and get the adoption process started as well. The name changing process was easy enough seeing as Regulus’ parents legally gave up all parental rights of the werewolf, but they still needed a few signatures from the kid himself.

Getting his signature and trying to even discuss adoption was not going as easy as they hoped.

It started off as an easy conversation, asking if Regulus enjoyed living with them, and if he wanted to make his stay more permanent.

“Won’t maman have an issue with me staying here permanently? I thought this was just for the summer?” Regulus asked, looking through the papers his brother handed him. It looked innocent enough, but he wasn’t stupid. He read the words ‘adoption’ and ‘legal guardianship’. He knew what these two men are planning.

“We already talked to her. She thinks this is a better place for you to live.” Sirius lied. Regulus knew he was lying. He was awful at it.

“You’re lying. This isn’t what she wants. She’ll get mad and punish me! You know that.” The young werewolf was now on his feet, getting louder with each passing second.

One issue the married couple have yet to get a grasp on was the younger’s temper. He easily went from the sweetest kid anyone has met to meaner than both his parents combined. Remus should have known this would happen, as it was a very common symptom many werewolves dealt with, but adding in the ‘Black Madness’? He felt woefully unprepared.

“She won’t punish you, Regulus.” Sirius started, getting closer to his brother.

“How do you know? You know nothing! You haven’t been home in ye-“

“Because she fucking abandoned you! You left you! She made me and Remus take care of you because she couldn’t be bothered. She fucking hates you, told me herself.”

The world seemed to freeze once that comment left Sirius’ mouth. It was obvious to even an outside eye that the youngest Black was no longer ‘mama’s precious boy’ but to say she hated him? That she abandoned him and gave parental rights to his brother of all people?

And for what reason?

Because he was turned? Because one of their shitty friends made him a monster? That wasn’t even his fault, so why is he getting abandoned for it!

He could do better. He could be better. He could be the perfect son his maman was raising him to be, even with his stupid furry little problem.

“She doesn’t hate me.” Regulus mumbled, running straight to the kitchen. Looking for something to destroy. Something to get his anger out.

Glass plates.

Perfect.

“Hey, Reg. Let’s not do anything cr-“ Remus tried to calm the boy down, but to no avail. Before he could finish his statement, one of their wedding plates was thrown at the wall- effectively shattering it.

“I’m not fucking crazy!” Regulus screamed, throwing yet another plate. This time aiming for his lying brother.

“Regulus please stop! Being a Lupin isn’t a bad thing! I think it’s much better than being a Black.” Sirius flinched from his spot, much too scared to get closer to his brother- not wanting to make the situation any worse.

“I’m a Black. Not a fucking Lupin.” Regulus growled, throwing yet another plate at his brother, watching as it shattered.

Hearing and seeing all the tiny pieces of glass hit the floor, was the only comfort Regulus got during this conversation.

The only peace.

His mother hated him. His dad saw him as a monster. He was stuck with his brother who left when he was four, and another monster.

Regulus didn’t know what peace was. Until he saw the plate shatter against the wall.

-

The tantrum only lasted another two minutes until Remus was able to get his wand and move the plates far away from the angry ten year old.

“Alright, I think that’s enough. Go to your room, and calm down. Once you’re willing to talk calmly to us, we can resume this conversation.” Remus pointed at Regulus’ room, up the stairs. This was not the first time he had to intervene in an argument between the two brothers, and he was starting to get very sick of it.

He loved having Regulus live with them, but after watching this shit show and having his wedding plates- which were a family heirloom from his late ma- shattered all over his living room floor, Remus wasn’t too sure where he stood on the ‘adopting regulus’ matter.

“I fucking hate it here.” Regulus grumbled, stomping his way up the stairs and slamming his door shut.

The two men spared each other a fleeting look before starting to pick up the mess left by the youngest member of the house.

Sirius opened his mouth to say something, likely a pitiful excuse on why he lost his temper, but Remus was quick to raise his hand and shake his head, “not right now. I want to hear nothing from you.” It was clear the brunette was close to tears, and it broke Sirius’ heart.

Remus always had to deal with the brother’s bullshit, and now he was the only one negatively affected by one of their regular blowouts. Sirius looked at the pile of glass that surrounded their feet, and felt even worse once he realized that no amount of magic could fix the million pieces of glass. Nothing he did could bring the plates back to how they used to be.

Nothing could make Remus not mad at him.

-

Two hours later, Sirius was hunched over a pile of glass in his office. He tried every single spell he knew and nothing brought the plates back to their former glory. In a moment of weakness, Sirius thought about apperating to Wales to buy a set identical to the broken plates, but then remembered that it was a ‘one-of-a-kind’ set that Hope had received from her mother, who received it from her mother, who received it from her mother.. and that pattern seemed to never stop. Needless to say, the plates were irreplaceable and the last thing Remus received from his mother before she passed.

And now a majority of them were broken in a pile in front of Sirius.

What was he going to do?

Sirius’ self wallowing was cut short by a soft knock at the door.

“Come in.” He answered, hoping to see Remus walk in, but was instead greeted by a much smaller werewolf.

“Hey Reg, feeling any better?” Sirius asked, opening his arms for his little brother to take comfort. Yes, he was still very upset with the younger boy for reacting how he did, but he would never take away any comfort Regulus might seek out. He was not his parents, and would never act like them. No matter how mad he was. He was going to drill it in Regulus’ mind, that he was always safe and welcome in his arms.

“I’m sorry.” Regulus whispered, shoving his face in his older brother’s chest. Trying to hide from his mistakes.

“Do you really hate it here?” Sirius asked, petting the short black curls.

“I don’t. I promise. I… I was so upset. I was hurt that mom didn’t want me anymore and… it stung when you said she hated me. So I freaked out. I wanted to hurt you too. I’m sorry.”

Sirius sighed. Of course this traumatized kid was hurt and wanted to even the playing field out. It made sense. That’s exactly what Sirius used to do until he spent a few years with a mind healer and in a healthy relationship. When he was hurt he wanted others to hurt just like him or worse. Being hurt meant he was vulnerable, so if he made others vulnerable, he had nothing to worry about. It sucked that his poor baby brother had the same idea.

“I’m sorry too. I lost my temper and said things I should not have said. If it makes you feel any better, mother hates me too and disowned me long before she did you.” Sirius laughed, hoping it would make Regulus laugh as well.

It did not.

“I don’t hate you though. Neither does Remus. We love having you here, which is why we want to adopt you. We want you to legally be our kid, our family. That’s why we want you to share our last name. To really seal the deal.”

Regulus looked at his older brother with wide eyes. Was he being honest? Did he really want Regulus to be a part of his family? For the last two months, all Regulus did was cause fights, scream at Sirius, insult Remus, and make everyone’s life difficult. His own birth parents didn’t want him. So why did his brother want him?

What was so special about him?

“You promise you actually want me?” Regulus whispered. Too scared to speak any louder. Too scared to burst this bubble of safety his brother carefully created.

“I pinky promise Mon Ètoile. I want you here more than anything.”

The small promise filled Regulus with such a warm feeling. Much warmer than any feelings his maman could make him feel. It was almost too much.

Actually. It was too much.

Far too much emotion.

Like he couldn’t control it at all. He couldn’t hold it in. All his emotions had to escape. It had to leave his heart and mind and become physical.

It was terrifying, and hurt just a little bit.

But then in a flash. It was over. His emotions felt normal yet again.

Odd.

“What just happened?” Regulus asked, looking around the room as if one of the inanimate objects would answer him.

“I think you had some accidental magic happen, Reg. Nothing to worry about! You were feeling some big emotions and they had to come out. No big… no fucking way.” Sirius cut himself off, looking at some plates on the desk next to him.

Wait. Those were the plates Regulus broke. Or at least, he thought he broke them.

“Did I just fix the plates?” Regulus asked, awestruck at what he just did.

“I think you did mon ètoile. Why don’t you go grab Remus and bring him here so he can see? I’m sure he’ll be very happy.” Sirius smiled, ushering his brother out of the room to grab his other guardian.

In the few minutes he had by himself, Sirius tried to wrap his head around what just happened. He spent two hours trying to fix these plates and had no luck, but his brother managed to fix them with a rush of accidental magic?

It made no sense.

Oh well. It didn’t really matter as long as they stayed fixed.

-

Later that night, the three boys were all cuddled together on the couch, watching a muggle movie on a ‘telly’ as Remus called it. Regulus really liked all the muggle inventions Remus showed him. They were always so interesting!

“… Can I still change my name?” Regulus asked once there was a pause in the movie. The two adults haven’t said anything else about the adoption or his last name changing since he apologized for his outburst, and he was worried that they were going to take back their offer.

He didn’t want them to take away their offer. He wanted to be a Lupin. He wanted to be wanted by someone.

“Of course you can, cub. We can continue the process tomorrow, but I can’t promise it will happen anytime soon. Stuff like this tends to take a while.” Remus answered, bringing Regulus closer to his side. It warmed the older werewolf’s heart to know the kid genuinely wanted to be a part of their family, even if they fought.

“I would love nothing more than to share my last name with you again, mon ètoile.” Sirius ruffled his brother's hair, laughing as the younger complained about it.

Sirius looked over at his husband cuddling with his brother, and felt his heart swell. Sure, these past two months haven’t been an easy adjustment with Regulus living with them, but they’re making it work, and soon they’ll legally be a family of their own.

A happy little family

Hopefully.

[moaninmoonen]

As the self proclaimed #1 fan of the Warriors and a previous administrator on the wikia fan page (before I essentially stopped being active there), I love this post and thought it would be fun to go over @nexkoyotl points here by fact checking based on my own knowledge and experience as a fellow lover of all things Warriors...

• Correct

• Correct. However they make most of their money through extortion

• Correct

• Somewhat correct. Sullys "girlfriend" is a questionable statement. The Warriors were looking for him to shut him up because he had been talking shit about the Warriors. Mercy told the Warriors where to find him (always working on his car) because she was bitter he never gave her attention

• Essentially Correct however I do not like the jailbreak comics and actually rewrote them myself because I think the comic was a poor representation of the characters and was unrealistic. The riffs suckered Swan into doing it himself so the riffs didn't really do much except distract some of the guards

• Correct. The Warriors doubted and clowned Cochise at first during his initiation because he lived with his mom. He ended up becoming one of the most valued, loyal, and badass Warriors

• Interesting take. Never thought about it but I don't hate it. It was never made obvious and does seem hard to rationalize due to the era and how normal it was to shame people back then for being quote "faggots." He was one of the younger, weaker Warriors who was protected by the other Warriors. He was loved for his artistic ability which allowed the Warriors to spread their name across the city and was the only one who wasn't a mischief. I'll roll with it

• They all have a few "girlfriends."

• Correct. Cleon was the Destroyers leaders right hand man before being betrayed and acused of being unloyal to the clique. Vermin followed Cleon and Cleon became the better gang leader

• Correct (kind of). The script was written so that Mercy and Fox would get together but in real life the two did not have chemistry. The actors who played Swan and Mercy had much better chemistry so Walter Hill rewrote the script

• Correct. Extortion. Except more than $25 although exact amount is not clear. If a business didn't pay on time, they would lose the Warriors' protection and often be shut down by the Warriors themselves

• Correct

• Correct

• Correct. The Warriors, much like other gangs, had many members. Often exceeding 100 but only the main 9 were focused on. Cyrus only allowed 9 members from each gang to show up to his conclave. The focal point of the story

• In the jailbreak comics, yes

• Funny one. Correct

• Never made obvious but that's a sick take. He was a very talented artist hence his nickname Rembrandt

• Correct. Hence his nickname Cowboy

• Rembrandt attended an art class until he joined the Warriors

• Never made obvious but strongly suggested

• Correct. Cleon did not hesitate Swans offer. He needed all the muscle he could get

• Correct. Of the main 9 anyway. The others' back stories were never explored

• Incorrect. Mercy was attracted to the danger. That's why she ended up following the Warriors to begin with. Swan was the one who wasn't sure about the life anymore. Any contradiction in jailbreak is largely why I'm not a fan of the comics

• Incorrect. Swan wasn't sure about Mercy at first but she wanted him. Swan was done with everything and wanted to disappear. Again not consistent with jailbreak comics

• Again, in the comics

• Correct. One of the most iconic scenes in the movie and character moves in the game. His paint was his only real strength

• Correct

• Correct

• Correct

• Strongly implied

• In jailbreak

• Correct. Except most gangs collectively thought the Warriors were responsible and competed to be the ones who got to kill them

• Finally, correct. The actual gang was none other than the real "Hells Angels."

Again, sick post @nexkoyotl. Hope anyone found this as fun as I did. Get me started on the Warriors and I don't stop. I love that more and more people are talking about the Warriors. Become a mutual and Subscribe to my youtube for more Warriors stuff as I'm working on a full Warriors fan project. Cheers and until the next list!!!

Warrior dump facts.

As a teenager, The Warriors was my special interests and I LOVE the movie and I used to play the Rockstar game when i was younger and now I LOVE the Lin & Eisa album so, here are some facts from the movie (+the comics) and game (Not canon to each other) to give you guys ideas for fanfics, fanarts, etc.

I'll refer to them as their masculine counterpart since I'm talking about the movie/comic/game, where all (except Mercy) are men.

Warrior facts.

The most known fact, 2 warriors weren't included in the album, Vermin and Snow

The Warriors get their money by mugging, and selling Stereos they steal from cars

Cleon has a Girlfriend named Lincoln, she was supposed to appear at the start of the movie but they deleted the scene

Mercy hated that his then boyfriend Sully (Yes, the guy from the Orphans) care more for his car

The warriors and the riffs brake Ajax out of prison

Cochise lived in Harlem until he and his mother moved to Brooklyn

Rembrandt is gay

Ajax has like a few girlfriends

The warriors started as part of another gang "The Destroyers" they had problems with the leader so Cleon and Vermin left and formed the Warriors

(Not sure if this is true) Fox was supposed to be Mercy's love interest at first

The warriors make some Coney businesses pay them for protection, 25$ weekly I think

Their hangout is an old abandoned building that, to me, looked like a storage for the amusement park

Cochise lived in Harlem, yes but didn't join the boppers 'cuse he thought they weren't tough and he didn't like their colors.

In a deleted scene, Cleon said there's like 120 warrior members

Mercy dated a rich guy. He gets her an apartment and other stuff. This, of course, causes trouble between her and Swan

Ajax sucks at pinball

Rembrandt can use both hands, he's ambidextrous (dunno if I wrote it right)

Cowboy is really protective of his hat, and calls it buddy

Rembrandt also goes to an art class

Swan was a destroyer too, but him and Cowboy left the gang before Cleon created the warriors

Then Cleon ask Swan to join the warriors, and he accepts only under the condition of them accepting cowboy too

Only Cleon, Vermin, Swan, and Cowboy were Destroyers first. The rest arrived directly to the Warriors

Mercy dated the rich guy to get her apartment because she thought the Warriors life was no way to live

Technically, Mercy and Swan are not really together, tho Swan insist for her to go back to Coney with him

They (Mercy and Swan) end up reconciliating, and she goes back to living with him in Coney

Rembrandt sprays paint on his enemies faces as a fighting attack

Before Fox, they also lost a member named Ash, the leader of the Destroyers killed him

He (Ash) was also really close to Vermin, and his death affects him pretty deeply

Rembrandt's art teacher tries to convince him that the gang is only using him and to leave it so he drops his class

Mercy was not only Sully's girlfriend but also the Orphans' prostitute

Rembrandt gives Swan a drawing of Mercy that he made for him

After Cyrus' death, everything went back to the "normal". The truce was off, and the gangs went against each other again

This is not an IN movie/game fact, just a movie/game fact, but still interesting

You may know the movie symbol, a skull with feathers. Well, this symbol looked too similar to an actual gang that sued them, so it changed to a snake in flames

These are some of it, if I remember more, I'll do another list, but I think this are the most important. Do with this information as you guys pleased.

[twojamie-o-clock]

(this is going off of the s6b route in my head that goes from “save yourself” to “world game” (which I think is a pretty common path) but!!)

Do you ever think about how the first s6b companion DIES & how that sets the tone for the whole ‘season’……..like how Jamie is chosen maybe practically because he is allegedly “good at handling the rough stuff” or also somewhat selfishly because the Doctor knows it’s going to be so much more dangerous now……

and how that would explain why Zoe never crops up in s6b eu much until bigfinish steps in??? Like not just that she is so much safer than Jamie atp (on the wheel vs you know. a plantation or other consequences) but also bc s6b will lead to so much more danger and the Doctor knows this.

They actively know what they are roping Jamie into, and how that could go to show this sort of. “I love you enough to be WILLING to put you in danger” and this insane trust between them & the guilt the Doctor probably feels over all of it - but also the way they’re literally saving each other? Because Jamie was going to be unsafe either way, and in this the Doctor can, you know, be with him while experiencing different dangers. Working for the Time Lords of course won’t just be the odd visit here or there to save a planet but truly disgusting work that they care enough about to interfere with but are just ashamed enough to use the Doctor for it.

And all of this strikes you in the face and leaves you stinging because Serena died. Just like the Daleks’ Master Plan - which, like, outside of the show of course was the chaos of Doctor Who itself changing - starts off a very dark streak of companion deaths and chilling narratives through eu & tv canon until Steven’s eventual departure.

I wasn’t awfully attached to Serena, but it really shows Two how far the Time Lords will go & how little they care. The mysterious Players are never expanded upon but they don’t really need to be. This is a mission - approached as the Doctor’s first, I’m assuming was Terrance Dicks’ intention - where the Doctor’s assigned companion is another Time Lord. And yet she dies.

But it’s not just kicking off this era with a death that hits, it’s everything she represented - the narrow minded typical Time Lord who meets the Doctor & is so changed and enchanted by them that they begin to understand and unlearn their own programming. The hope that the Doctor might feel when they begin working for Gallifrey - maybe it will be alright after all, maybe they can make a difference, maybe being home doesn’t have to be so different from, say, their past family of Jamie & Zoe, because they too unlearned their own programming by traveling in the TARDIS. And then Serena dies. And while it isn’t entirely gloomy or haunting -

The way this ends is so….of course it’s intended to lead into the Two Doctors but it really says something to draw a reference to the dead companion who represented so much of the shape of s6b right next to Jamie….not to mention how quickly the Doctor uses her death to bargain for Jamie….god I really can’t say anything coherent about this. I just think Serena should get more of a highlight not just as a Time Lord “swayed” by the Doctor’s,,,eccentricities but as someone who affected them so much and their ensuing, new-ish relationship with Jamie. Again I think this can also sort of explain the general lack of Zoe in s6b even though it feels like wasted potential (I’m working on a Zoe s6b fic and,,it’s rough. I love her post-TWG eu so it’s a Time…) - not just because the Doctor is only allowed one companion, but because of this darker tone, for the plot and season as a whole as well as the Doctor and the foundations their reunion with Jamie is built on.

I’m not saying this is like my main headcanon for s6b of course, but it’s an interesting thing to entertain imo

[moeblob]

Deacon loves two things: Ymber and digging himself a grave.

Fulj hates one thing: Deacon.

[anghraine]

I honestly feel a lot better about having posted anything at AO3, even things I won't finish, and there's something that warms my heart about posting fic for The Borgias in 2024.

I was actually deciding between two different WIPs to represent that "phase" between my undergrad years and grad school. The other one was the prologue to a Legend of Korra/Star Wars fusion in which Noatak/Amon is Korra's father and this is revealed in S1 (I think it was going to be Tarrlok who figures it out first, lol) and it actually affects the plot and it isn't just the LOK canon plot with minor adjustments—the fusion with SW was meant to be more than vague I-am-your-father inspiration. In any case, I only ever wrote the prologue about the Noatak/Senna quasi-romance that led to Korra's existence and never even got to the sheer comedy of Korra as Tarrlok's niece :(

But the Juan and Lucrezia as dysfunctional twins one-shot is closer to being a whole fic (in a side-story way) and I did like being able to add one more to my Borgias oeuvre—and getting at least some part of that AU on AO3 after all the time I spent on it!

[skyfallscotland]

This was a stellar analysis and if everyone who is NOT Helena could just ignore this reply that would be amazing. (Not really, you don’t have to, but like if you think I’m dumb just whisper it quietly to yourself and if you can’t handle dissection of the text or SOMETIMES dissatisfied opinions, then also turn away this is not for you, I don’t want more anxiety it was just too long for the comment reply box).

I laughed out loud at “modern au” 😭😂 she just wanted to get in on that, she saw us writing relatively happy Xaden and went you know what, that seems like fun

I just think the new “brother” being Bodhi is so trite and heavy handed 😩

I actually just assumed this was a six month period like the last two books so Aaric’s signet could have manifested a month in LMAO damn it. PLUS, before Rebecca said that, it did line up for him having manifested during the battle of Basgiath. His whole speech to Vi about having to choose between Lilith and her seemed a bit too on the nose to me.

If it IS Bodhi for the reasons RY implies and Xaden’s like wow he’s the last person I’d expect…it really isn’t a good look for Xade in my opinion 😭

What is a random vindictive gene if not a birth defect? Though I think maybe it could have been better demonstrated by Violet having had the fever and never recovered herself (a la POTS/CFS) if she wasn’t going to actually do something with it, but then I also think making the illness the result of her being “the bad guy” could also give neggy connotations? Idk it really depends if she plans on expounding on veninism—I know we’ve talked about this before.

But also on this—was Vi just a preemie baby? Was she just small? Because (afaik) a hEDS presentation probably wouldn’t be immediately obvious until she’s four? Five? Which is def old enough to remember going with daddy to a temple if it was a big deal/memorable event. Like how old was she before this was an idea in Asher’s mind? Or are we just assuming it’s to do with her illness and it’s not. It’s never overtly said.

I also think, on the venin, that perhaps in her original idea, they Were supposed to be a very one-dimensional villain, but then we got to writing book two and they made it a five book series and all of a sudden she felt like she had to flesh a lot of things out? And that maybe that is where things became unstuck and not greatly paced in regards to them as a concept?

“She is warmth and light and air and love” CRYING

Also, out of order with my other thoughts but I didn’t really get the ice analogy (when reading it in the book), I’m sorry, I’m dumb but it feels clunky.

SGAEYL IS HIS MOTHER

I don’t know who that person on the isle even was and his real mother should have roasted her for her offences.

Jack kinda implies that it goes initiate then straight to asim, no? Like there’s no in between?

The intentionally misleading writing For Me doesn’t hit. I really feel like she does this continually and I just think it shows poor narrative skill and/or poor choice of POV/tense overall if that’s how you want to do it. At the end of the day, readers aren’t supposed to come away from your book confused. Curious and wondering, yes, but confused, no. I would die if this many people were walking away from my writing going “what the fuck was happening, I almost DNF’d because I didn’t understand a thing” but that’s just me.

I think also, the lack of resolution for anything also ties into this. You have to give your readers some payoff and it can’t just be in the form of fan service. Every book needs to have some subplots that are wrapped up, all good series’ have some subplots wrapped up in each book—you get new questions, sure, but you have some answered too. Onyx Storm just didn’t do that.

Also, I think the Isle of Dunne is a red herring, I think he’s taking the eggs to the irids. They’re the ONLY ones who right now, as far as he knows, conceivably have the power to change the tide of this war, they just refuse to help because they left an irid there once and the dragons perverted her morality? I don’t have a fleshed out theory, but I think they’re the only ones it makes sense for Xaden to try and elicit a deal out of right now and I think he somehow plans on using the cultural exchange student hatchlings to do it 🤪🖤

Question: are the irids technically dragons at all? As we know them?

Were the dragons irids who lost some of their power by drawing from the ground or refusing to worship their gods? Is this devolution at work? I have….questions.

I’m very aware I need to do a re read to clear some things up for myself but I’m just not…wanting to yet ha. It’s also 1am so I’m probably making ZERO sense, I can barely keep my eyes open sorryyyy xx

I’d love to hear your thoughts on the ending!!

I'm soooo sorry nonny. This took 5ever. For some reason, I mentally decided that the completion of this ask would be the end of my Onyx Storm era, and then I didn't want to go near it because I didn't want the book to be done :(. However, I was brave, and I did it. This got insanely obscenely long, so you're getting Xaden's chapter 65 now, and then I'll reblog with Vi's LAST chapter some other time.

Chapter 65: Xaden

Veninism: I think the first thing that comes up in this chapter is the insight into the venin mindset. Xaden's significantly more intense (both than earlier in the book, and in his previous POV chapters). At first, I wasn't a huge fan of the "ice" thing, because I missed the part where he explains it (perks of reading till 5 in the morning) and I thought it was some anachronistic hockey reference. (Fun fact: I wrote this out before Rebecca gave that interview revealing that, yes, it WAS an anachronistic hockey reference. I know that lady WELL.) HOWEVER! The way it's explained here, (essay below the cut)

"Wrath courses like a current under the ice I willingly skate onto, cutting my emotions like the burdens they are so I can be the weapon she needs." (Yarros, 520)

reminds me a lot of a PTSD flashback/trauma event. Not only does this make significantly more sense with the metaphor at hand, but it makes a lot more sense with Rebecca's body of work. I know she's made addiction comparisons, and I can see some lines, but, frankly, I think it's a much more intricate web than a 1-1 metaphor. Especially with the use of the word "triggered" to describe what happens to him when he is "on the ice" as it were, I think (if anything) it's about using an addiction to cope with PTSD-type trauma.

Bond Fuckery: After revealing that Xaden cannot kill the sage himself, he goes on to say,

"I could no more raise a blade to his throat than I could Violet. The bond between Violence and me is the kind of magic that has no explanation." (Yarros, 521)

Which....is weird! Given that we have a precise explanation for said bond in Fourth Wing, maybe something else is going on? #the power of love?? I'm not trying to say they're soul mates in any real tangible way because this is not that kind of story, but I do think it means something. I just don't know what yet.

Further bond fuckery themes are found earlier in the book. There's the entire situation with Andarna leaving, in which Leothan says,

"Bonds are merely magical ties. You are irid. You are magic. Bend it, shape it, break it as you see fit." (Yarros, 443)

I've definitely seem some people floating the idea that perhaps Andarna broke Tairn and Sgaeyl's mating bond, re: Tairn's suspicious period of rest on page 526, (I personally thought he was tired from killing some dragons!) and I definitely think that's a possibility. However, I think it's really interesting that, specifically, Leothan also says bend it and shape it. I know we're supposed to finish the book thinking that Andarna/Leothan severed Violet's bond with Andarna, and then re-forged said bond mid-battle. To me...that doesn't really make sense? There was no real moment where you can say, okay, bond re-forged. It just kind of happens? Which I suppose is also how it happens at threshing, so maybe I'm the problem. Still, I think the idea that perhaps Andarna (or another irid??? given her 1 week of training???) bent or reshaped Tairn and Sgaeyl's mating bond (in order to protect Xaden/Xaden's mission/Violet from the consequences of Xaden's mission) is worth considering.

There's also the entire element of modern AU no magic isles. I know a lot of people thought that entire quest section of the book was filler, but I disagree. I definitely think that insertion was meant to demonstrate that the bonds are not as infallible as we've been led to believe, to show their importance to Xaden and Violet, and to further show just how much Andarna is not like other dragons, and therefore able to do shit with the bond.

Xaden's new brother! Xaden starts off describing the new venin by saying,

"and now that my sage has a new sibling he can use against me...I'm screwed." (Yarros, 521)

Then, he goes on to add:

"...my new brother and the unconscious dragon lying in the valley...how could he do this? Choose this after watching me stumble and fall over the last five months. How could he willingly walk the path I've fought like hell to leave? He's the last person I ever would have expected to turn, and yet here we are." (Yarros, 521)

My money's on Bodhi! There's a lot of "brother" mentions surrounding Bodhi, given the repeated descriptions of how similar he and Xaden look. He's "the closest thing (Xaden) has to a brother since Liam." Garrick even thought Theophanie called Bodhi his brother beforehand! It's Bodhi. Further nuance to Bodhi turning is found, in my opinion, in his frustration with Xaden's over-protection at the end of Onyx Storm. This feeling of impotence combined with something potentially happening to Cuir (re: unconcious dragon lying in the valley/Bodhi puking his guts up wherever that quote is) gives him a reason to turn.

I know @skyfallscotland thinks Xaden's new brother is actually Aaric, which is also super intriguing. Specifically, Amy suggested a scenario where Aaric knows he needs to be venin in order to win the war, and is willing to do whatever it takes to get to the future he sees. I do lean more towards Bodhi than Aaric, if only because of the element of knowing for 5 months (which Aaric does not--even if he finds out about Xaden's veninism from his signet, RY has confirmed Aaric didn't manifest in IF, and therefore it cannot have been five months prior to Battle of Draithus), Xaden really seems to care about this new brother. I know he says he has a "complicated sort of loyalty" to Aaric, but I don't think he and Aaric at the friendship level where Aaric can be used against him in the same way Bodhi can. There's also the whole having to give Vi Tyrrendor ordeal. I know some people think Xaden may have had a change of heart and decided to listen to Bodhi in regards to not forcing him to lead Tyrrendor in his stead, and/or Xaden just felt giving Vi the province directly (what a wedding gift!) was the best possible way to protect her. Who knows, not me. I think of Xaden as someone not particularly inclined to listening to people when he doesn't feel like it, but I also know he'll prioritize Vi regardless, so it could go either way.

Slayer! This is just for the one line mention of Berwyn killing the dragons with the alloy dagger. For one thing, I think this draws parallels between the venin and the dragons (which have been a theme the entire series). For another, I think this is how Xaden, Vi, and co. go about killing the dragons and elders in order to get to the eggs. Seems a lot less messy!

Everything, Everywhere, All At Once: Throughout the text, there's a couple mentions of individuals inability to be everywhere all at once. Theophanie, in chapter 60, for example: (from my Kindle copy, so no page numbers, sorryyyy)

"You're just another lightning wielder, mortally incapable of being everywhere at once."

Or, the slightly different take from Mira in Chapter 23:

"Even if he did, we can't be in two places at once."

I have no idea why this got me so bad, but every time I read it, my spidey-senses tingled. I really feel like it means something. Xaden then wraps things up with saying he IS everywhere at once, on page 522 in regards to the veninism amplifying his shadow powers.

Do I know what this means? No! Of course not! At first, I thought it was a papa sorrengail is venin hint, but I don't actually believe in that. I have been holding out hope that perhaps Vi is somehow venin from Lilith (this is why I think papa sorrengail had her dedicated. it doesn't really make sense to me for Rebecca to write her with a real disability, and then have that real disability be a birth defect when it isn't one in real life. that just seems odd?) and I think this COULD be a hint there. Although, as always, who knows.

What is a soul if not love? Some of you may know, I've been getting a wee bit heated about the implications of the corporeal soul. I get a bit gagged by this because it makes no sense. I ask @maethologies probably once a day, what IS a soul? And to that question, I raise you this: what is a soul if not love?

page 523 has this:

""I love you.' Violet's voice cracks the cold, and a silken thread of warmth wedges itself in the opening before it seals shut, locking it in place. No. Wait. I grab for that thread with desperate hands, clawing to keep her as more of my pieces are blown away, lost to the void. She is warmth and light and air and love."

For starters, I think "she is warmth and light and air and love" is my favorite quote from the entire series. It makes me want to cry!!! There's definitely something to the fact that being venin makes Xaden colder, and Violet only seems to get warmer in this book (her lightning being hot enough to blister, for example). But really, my focus here is that he's so aggressively in love with her. I genuinely do not know how people read this line, or the rest of the novel, and somehow thought Xaden was just going to go join up with the venin. Genuinely! I am REALLY not trying to be mean, it just makes no sense to me.

I'm going to go a bit out of order here to further contextualize, but other Xaden Riorson bangers include:

"What even am I? Hers." (Yarros, 524)

And, far earlier in the text, when Courtlyn asks to whom Xaden swears his fealty:

"Violet. (...) My loyalty is to Violet first above everything, everyone else." (this is a Kindle page number because I don't want to find it in my book, LMAO, but it's 326 in that format!)

Again, he's constantly making it as clear as humanly possible that SHE comes first for him. He is not going to spontaneously gain venin loyalty. Whatever soul-fuckery is going on here, it doesn't make him incapable of love. If anything, the presence of love is what is going to continue to save him. In the chapter 48 epigraph, in which a scenario is described wherein a venin returns to their village, desiccating an entire village except for her husband and two children. Clearly, the theme here is that the feeling of love helps venin gain control of themselves when lost to the thrall of power, if you will.

Frankly, there's a LOT of issues with venin as a concept and how willing the fan base is to accept the characterization of the entire "enemy" as evil, soulless, and incapable of feeling and love. Just on the most basic level, think about the real world implications of that ideology for about ten seconds. If you can't do that, think about it in-universe. The entire point of books one and two were that Navarre's government perpetuated a narrative of dehumanization in regards to the Poromish people so that Navarrians could see them as the enemy. This tactic of dehumanization is then DIRECTLY applied to the venin. The narrative on the surface-level is: These people ARE human, but these other guys are the REAL monsters. Please kill THEM instead. I cannot tell you how many times I've seen people say "Violet's never killed anyone in the series, she only kills venin!" The very fact of saying these people aren't human; therefore they can die...do you see what I see? I know I'm a bit more thematically minded than the average romantasy reader, but it's really VERY in your face here.

The most obvious narrative purpose for Xaden choosing to turn is that it gives Violet and the reader a way to humanize the venin, just like working with the gryphon fliers in part two allowed us all to humanize them. After I finished IF, there was not a doubt in my mind that this was where Rebecca was going.

And she went there...a little bit? She's about halfway there, I'd say. Violet has started to internally reconcile with the fact that Xaden being a venin makes it impossible for her to generalize venin any further, but there's definitely still an undercurrent of "he's not like other venin!!" I think this COULD be a logical progression of the story, and, partially, I think it makes sense for it to take a minute for her thought processes to shift. However, I think it needs to be better layered? And I think that when you have a book like this one with such a low barrier to entry, you need to do a bit more thematic hand-holding if you want people to really get things.

Anyway, this was all to say: Xaden loves her, and so, his soul is fine. HE's fine. He's not evil, he didn't marry her just to leave, he's not "team venin". Etc! I could go on about this further, and I think before book 4 I'll be pushed over the edge and do so. But, for now, I do think the direction Rebecca is pushing for is the "cure" being the power of love et. al.

Mommy Issues: We come back to Sgaeyl! I know some people think Sgaeyl breaks the bond with Xaden as part of his 12 hour plan, and again, I ask: literally how.

Basically, unlike his mother, Sgaeyl isn't leaving Xaden. When he breaks through the pulling from the earth haze, he asks Sgaeyl if she forsakes him, and she says:

"'What is there left of you to forsake?' Sgaeyl lowers her head and steam gusts down the canyon, reminding me of the moment she found me in the forest at threshing. (Yarros, 523)

My direct annotation here is : threshing! Threshing = choice. And I'm right! Threshing does equal choice. She has the option to forsake him, and she doesn't! Case closed. I will say, just as a side note, the idea that she'd leave him for being extra venin is wack as hell when he became extra venin for her. I don't think she was that heated about him being venin in the first place: the focus of her ire at the end of IF was that he "picked" Violet. "You cannot! I chose you!/ But Violet chose me too." She's just a pick me dragon at heart.

Quest Squad (Xaden's Version) I touched on this in response to my other ask about the ending, but now we're gonna go beat by beat.

Xaden starts what I call the quest intro by responding to Sgaeyl's threshing part 2 with:

"'You tell me.' I lower the ice and let her in."

Clearly, this is Xaden showing Sgaeyl whatever plan he's been concocting in his head.

Sgaeyl's response:

"Her next breath is laced with sulfur, and her eyes widen. 'You cannot mean to--'"

Now, this is just needlessly vague to make sure we buy the next book. Like we weren't going to anyway. Thank you for extorting me, Red Tower. However, at the very least, it reveals that his plan is, shall we say, problematic? Controversial? Illegal?

Then, we have (from Xaden)

"'You saw what happened. It is the only way.' She glances over her shoulder. 'And you think she'll help?' 'She loves me.' 'Tairn does not, and you haven't looked in a mirror yet. The red veins branching from your eyes look like her lightning.' 'She'll help.' It comes out with a hell of a lot more certainty than I feel. 'She promised.'"

Line by line time!

"it is the only way" is mad interesting from Xaden "the right way isn't the only way" Riorson. It could just be the influence of being venin on his psyche---everything feels more serious now, and he himself is more intense. But it's such an interesting switch, especially since Violet's assumed his way of thinking from FW.

At first I thought the pronoun fuckery in SHE'll help/SHE loves me was meant to indicate that the she in question was not actually Violet, but I don't think so anymore. I do think it's intentionally misleading! Again, for the money. But, more than that, I think Sgaeyl is glancing over her shoulder AT Violet and Tairn to indicate who they're yapping about.

Now, how will she help? I think this is a separate quandary than the marriage (hence where I broke up the text). Personally, I think this is him saying Vi goes with him to get the eggs/kill the dragons/etc.

The veins branching from his eyes are intriguing. I know he says he's no longer an initiate on this page, but I don't think he's an Asim either? According to Mr. Drake Cordella's venin compendium, Asim's veins distend only when riled, but Sage's veins are perpetually distended. (Iron Flame chapter 47 epigraph). I guess we'll see? I don't know, it would make sense to me if he was a sage, but who knows.

And, finally, what the hell did she promise?

WAY earlier on in the book, Xaden says:

"Swear you'll sound the alarm if I go too far, that you'll keep it safe, even if it's from me." (Yarros, 58)

This is what I think he's referring to! I know @hockeyspiral23 thinks the 'it' in question is actually the sword of Tyrrendor (correct me if I'm wrong!!) and not Tyrrendor itself. I definitely think there's something to that theory.

A few pages later, Xaden says:

"I'll use Tyrrendor to protect you, not you to protect Tyrrendor." (Yarros, 102)

Not to be a broken record, but again: Intentionally! Misleading! Content! I think you're SUPPOSED to interpret the promise as Violet saying she'll protect Tyrrendor from Xaden, and Xaden saying he's "gone too far". But when you actually look at the text, there's no way that's what he's saying. First of all, why would Sgaeyl think THAT plan wouldn't work with Tairn? Tairn does NOT fuck with Xaden right now. And then, why would Xaden Riorson, president and CEO of the Violet Sorrengail fan club, prioritize Tyrrendor over Violet? He cares about Tyrrendor, sure, but in the face of VIOLET? It doesn't compare. It just doesn't! ("I love you more than this city. Do not die defending it.") He's not winning any king of the year awards with those priorities, but that doesn't make it any less true. I basically already have a post ranting about this, (here! If you're curious) so I'm going to cut myself off here. Basically, we have to remember who Xaden actually is when we try to contextualize this vague ass chapter.

And then, wedding bells!

"'Even if she agrees, no one will--'

'Someone owes me a favor.'" (Yarros, 524)

This is the part of the quest that I think is more directly the marriage issue. This has already been covered elsewhere, but the Priestess from Dunne's temple says she owes Xaden a favor earlier on. She goes on to officiate their marriage. I just think the wording makes it clear that this is a multi-step plan. (How can Violet "help" with her own marriage?)

I already quoted the absolute banger "What even am I? Hers." But I'm going to bring it up again! His loyalty, primarily, is to Violet. Whatever quest he's going on, it's FOR HER. He steals the eggs FOR HER. He''s taking them somewhere FOR HER. I don't know how to make that any clearer, but if I keep seeing people misinterpret it, I'll probably try again.

Agency!

The final bit I'm going to pull is Sgaeyl saying:

"And her decision will determine our fate." (Yarros, 524).

I think this just really succinctly makes clear my 573938503 argument above. Violet gets final say on Quest Squad (Xaden's Version) but whatever he does do, he's doing it with Sgaeyl. I know there's some good bits Rebecca's said throughout the tour that support this interpretation, but I don't think I need them quite yet. Maybe next time!

For now, that's all. I'll see y'all back here with Violet's chapter in a bit!

[opens-up-4-nobody]

God. One of my little sisters is such a bitch. She's done me some genuine damage in exacerbating my already social bad anxiety. But when I have dreams where she's been hurt or killed, it's so horrible bc she's still my lil sister :-(

[eclarinet]

same soup... different day

[ratatatastic]

you ever think about forsy being faced with an always have a small rock in your shoe or always have wet socks would you rather question and going "its not a fun situation... i would say yeah wet socks probably" like what possessed him to choose wet socks

[dflogerzi]

I am here on Tumblr only because I found out about it through Yankee Wally who was talking about Skippy in her videos at that time. I found Wally because right in the middle of Meghan's first "pregnancy" I knew it was a total grift. It was obvious to me having carried a child myself that she was not pregnant. And the so called ending of the birth giving story did absolutely nothing to change my mind. All of it was sketchy, and the only reason I will go with 'there may be a child' is if there was a surrogate. The whole Lili thing is even more sketchy, and I have a very difficult time believing she exists as a child from Meghan either.

I actually do not care what anyone else thinks. I have no need to convince others at all. And in fact, I came here firstly out of strong indignation, but as the years have progressed I care almost not at all. The royal family has chosen to not deal, so they get to eventually get whatever may be coming or not from it.

I appreciate this community so much, and the time it gave me to vent and reach the place I am now at. It took me years. This world is changing fast right now, and there are more important matters to wring one's hands over. Harry and Meghan are on their last legs on the world scene. And truths will come out. The children are becoming school aged, and people will open up.

The BRF will have to face things. My guess is Charles keeps kicking his cans down the road. William will by now have a plan in place. I am going to hang about just to be here when it all comes to light. And I also have a few friends that I care about to stay for.

Still team 'she never gave birth'. A maybe on surrogacy, and a shrug on the future for her or her traitor husband who sold out his own family for millions, and took US taxpayers money offered by other traitors in our government. Shame on them all.

End of vent.

I wonder if she is aware if the rumours. Why not address them head on?

[jamesheathridge]

i love my grandmother but whenever i talk to her i get insanely sad

[disorderly]

Everything is triggering again