#i bet the emperor would have such complicated feelings

[knightcallie]

Baldur's Bounties: The Reveal

Thoughts about if the Emperor disguised himself as Weichei's childhood friend, his bestest friend, his first love, his husband instead of his older sister Vierna... And what happens when the charade ends

Gazing upon the dream visitor, there’s a mixture of emotions upon each one’s face. 

Lae’zel looked ready to cleave the mind flayer, grip concerningly tight around her blades. There’s a sense of betrayal against her kin, a sense of disgust for following a ghaik. 

There’s a cautious look from the others. 

Astarion perhaps was weighing the pros and cons of hearing the visitor out, the possible promise of power. 

Shadowheart still kept a hand on her morningstar, face pinching suspiciously. This was hiding in the astral prism?

Gale was eyeing them like trying to caution a bear, looking ready to bolt. 

Karlach was pulling a disgusted face, curling away from its presence. 

Wyll was placing himself in front of the last three, blade at the ready and magic collecting in his palm.

But Weichei, Weichei felt his heart tremble. Something was crawling up his throat, something hot boiling his veins. He’s quivering with too many emotions he couldn’t grapple, visibly shaking.

The adorned squid’s brows pinched together. “Don’t look at me like that.”

How could he not? How could he not? His eyes burned, hands clenched into fists.

Holding out a placating hand, they continued. “I am a mind flayer, yes. But without me, you would be a slave to the Absolute.”

Lae’zel opened her mouth to say something, perhaps to lay out some choice words about this. But nothing was said, for in a burst of sorrowed fury, Weichei lunged with a cry and psychic energy. The sound had everyone recoiling from the volume and energy, a burst of bright periwinkle blinding them.

Blinking away stars, the sight of the drow heaving breaths greeted them. His jaw was clenched tight, hot tears dripping from those expressive eyes. Pink pearls shone with its own fury, holding its cheek with a clawed hand.

“How dare you—”

With wide eyes, everyone watched the prism shake as “NIE!” boomed from Weichei’s lips. It’s raw, full of betrayal and grief. His chest burned hot, his freckles and eyes bright in anger. His words became sharp as the knives he carried, as poisonous as the running blood in his veins. Ruben elvish has never felt like a war cry, like a victim clawing for their last seconds to life.

Fear ran up the others’ spines, never had they wished to unsee such a sight quite like this one. The tadpoles wriggled as the tirade continued, flashes of an albino tiefling and the drow appearing in their minds. They were awfully close, so familiar with each other. Affection apparent, something ached within their chests. Anguish seared through them, and they wondered, if this was what it felt like to be loved so dearly.

The mind flayer was appalled with the display of pure unadulterated indignation, but strangely amazed as well. Never have they seen a mortal react so strongly, enough to threaten the structure of the prism. Thankfully, the drow seemed to have lost his steam pretty quickly.

He fell to his knees, no longer burning brightly. His alerted ears fell low, too low. His hands trembled, vision blurring with tears. He felt too hot, unable to think straight. With a croaking hiss and wobbly voice, he said, “How could you?” 

It felt like a cradling of a cold cheek, forehead pressed desperately against another’s. 

It felt like a choked plea that never came, a somber acceptance to pull away and move on.

Slowly, carefully, the squid floated to partial height, brow softened. Hands folding together, they replied softly, “It was necessary.” Oddly gentle as they kneeled in front of him. “Rare are those that would openly consider a partnership with a mind flayer.” There, a reach of a hand. But, realizing it was not right, it aborted the motion. “Even those who are on a path of becoming one.” A pause, considering. “It’s like I said before.” It stood to full height, raising its hand. “I’m just like you.” Glowing bright purple and with a twist of the wrist, memories were shared. A story told, explaining their piece of the puzzle. 

But, Weichei wasn’t listening, not really. He was still overheating. Cautiously, Wyll kneeled beside him, curling an arm under his. The face he was given made the warlock’s heart squeeze, so he returned it with a gentle look. With soft encouragement, they stood together, the drow stumbling a bit like a newborn lamb. Lae’zel took over being the voice of the group, allowing the poor artificer to grapple with everything. There’s so much to unpack and pack away, but right now, all he felt was how badly he needed to be away. 

He always struggled with what he felt, with the emotions lurking deep beneath the surface. They were deep in the dark, unnoticeable even to him. And when they decided to bubble up, it’s like a bulette chomping him up ravenously before realizing it was a disgusting elf. He’s left chewed up, unable to even understand what happened.

“What a grand display of manipulation!”  was what an old friend of his sisters would say. There would be pride there, impressed. There would be applause for how deep the Emperor cut through the famed T’puuli. But it was a line to be never crossed, if you didn’t want to be cruel. Everyone in the Hydra Trades knew that, but they weren’t in Fenim anymore.

No, it was fair game in Faerûn.

~~~

They refused to evolve, refused to be a step closer to becoming illithid. But, the Emperor gently does probe Weichei’s mind, if only to ask, “Please, do consider my gift.”

All Weichei wanted to do was to cocoon, hibernate. His head was still swimming as they passed through the portal, body trudging back to his bedroll. It’s a shame he didn’t have a large blanket to wrap himself in, so he did the next best thing and zipped up the bedroll close. Curling his body to become as small as possible, there’s a wish to be back home, begging to be back in the arms of his husband. At least it would be warm there as Beau stroked his hair, cradling him softly from this nightmare.

[starberry-cupcake]

UPDATING AGAIN!!! I probably won't be able to read in the next 2 days, so I wanted to do some catching up before that. Life, etc.

previously in harrowcita del 9:

this happened

CHAPTER 37

there's a training montage before the Beast arrives

the narrator (still undetermined, I'm starting to wonder if it's harrow but a harrow with all her memories or something, I don't know yet) says what we've been thinking the whole time

"the lyctors also did what they perhaps should have from the very start, and organized loosely planned, often contradictory sessions of instruction for Ianthe—and for you"

abysmal organizational skills, these people

harrow is wondering who of all her companions will betray the emperor

I think it's you, harrow, but I'm not certain yet

harrow is also wondering if she'll live or not, everyone's betting against her but I'm still holding my faith for the little feral kitten

doctor reverend emperor john tells harrow again that if she wants to be locked in with him in coward corner, she can do that

the emperor's hideout:

I suggest you do that, harrow, and while you're in there, you kill him

harrow lives, the emperor dies, we all win

harrow asks doctor reverend emperor john why he's such a coward

not with those words, exactly

I mean, I'm not saying he's a coward because he hides, he's a coward because he hides while his lyctors die for him

the emperor gives one of his Speeches about how when he resurrected nine planets, he became God and without him, the Houses die with him, because the star of their system would fail and become a black hole

I think it's a risk we'd all have to take if it kills him tbh, bring in the black hole

"so many people hate us" YOU DON'T SAY

harrow asks dr reverend emperor john who AL is

the emperor proceeds to change subject by asking harrow if her and yandere twin are practicing safe sex

to which harrow responds with "we don't even like each other"

and he's like "sorry, sorry, my bad"

BACK TO A.L. WHICH IS THE SUBJECT I'M INTERESTED IN

AL is indeed Annabel Lee though her real name is undisclosed

she was the emperor's bodyguard and the first resurrected and maybe the blueprint of the resurrection thing itself and also kind of everyone's sort of mother??? it's complicated

the First House apparently went out via rising sea levels and nuclear fission

as one does, if you didn't pay attention to captain planet

emperor clown says that she wasn't a human being and she struggled to pretend that she was

as if you guys behaved as human beings, but ok

and that she died after the first time they did the killing that brought them into this situation in the first place

we've heard a bit of this with teacher, in the gideon-less au

but she didn't die, according to him, the lyctors asked the emperor to kill her and he imprisoned her in the locked tomb

so the emperor here is maybe not telling the whole truth

which, again, confuses me, because how can exposition be real in an au that is not, unless there's something real in it in some way

there is new information in the gideon-less au that is relevant and also accurate to our present situation, even if the au isn't what actually happened

and it feels like a hotel california because the people who are alive in there, as time passes by, are the ones that died here

like, if you think about it, those that remain alive there are all the ones that died (the fifth, the kids, martita, real!dulcinea, protozoa, ortus)

the ones who are dying there are still alive here (camilla, palmolive, regina george twin, judith) except for duracell bunny nephew (because his soul is sailing the high seas), and mayonnaise uncle, who is my one outlier that ruins my theory

BUT HE SAID BTW that ominous thing to regina george twin, before pushing her off, about her sister being "out there"

also, palmolive said "kill us twice, shame on god" or something along those lines???

SO WHAT KIND OF PURGATORY STUFF ARE WE CAUGHT IN HERE??? IDK

ANYWAY, BACK TO THE CHAPTER

everything crashes because dr reverend emperor john tells harrow that AL would have liked her and that he would have liked to be her father

harrow proceeds to have a meltdown about that

which, fair, if this guy told me that, I'd also be devastated

NOW here's where I started wondering if harrow is the narrator

like there's two harrows or something

because the narrator says "you bereft idiot" and I think harrow's the only one who would dunk on harrow like that

I don't know, I'm probably not making any sense, but what if????

the emperor admits to being a fool which, fair

and harrow admits to having looked into the tomb

and the emperor says it's impossible that she bypassed the wards because he didn't include a way in and made a ward that wouldn't answer to anyone

he thinks whatever harrow thinks she saw wasn't what is there and that her parents died for nothing

harrow doesn't trust her mind one bit, so she questions what she really saw

and the emperor asks her who tampered with her temporal lobe

which accounts for the bleeding when she tries to remember, I think

I also think that she did it herself, maybe? or at least with her consent, but she doesn't remember

I think there's a plan here

in any case, harrow doesn't describe ice cube barbie to the emperor

she just runs away with more questions than answers, as usual

CHAPTER 38

if you thought harrow's mental turmoil would be taking a break, think again

this book really exhausts one emotionally huh

harrow is questioning all of the things she thinks she knows and can see with her own two eyes after the emperor told her she didn't really see the tomb or ice cube barbie

which is great, because now she sees not!dulcinea under her bed

she goes to fetch yandere twin and she sees nothing

I legit thought she was gaslighting harrowcita tbh

but then harrow doesn't see her anymore

I don't know, man, I don't trust anyone in this place

also, alleged gideon aka ortus tries to kill harrow one last time, for the road

he doesn't kill her, but tells her not to go into the river and to end herself without suffering because he failed her by not killing her

and he also says "this wasn't my idea"

harrow (and anyone reading) wants to know whose idea it was, but telling us would be just too straightforward for lyctors who do everything dramatically backwards

narrator says "you were always such a little bitch when you were angry"

IS THIS HARROW? IS IT? don't tell me

CHAPTER 39

the Beast is approaching and we have a terrible plan, so it's time to start it

harrow makes a comment about her sword and how "your dead self told you to carry" it

♥ we love the sword because we love gideon ♥

the Herald starts approaching and there's a very unpleasant energetic situation going on with its arrival

harrowcita does some meditation that sounds actually very cool

"You made yourself one inhalation and exhalation—reduced yourself to one sensation, following it from down at the toes up all the lines of your body to the crown of your head"

this situation of pain and suffering is gonna go on for over an hour, according to mercygirl

I mean, nobody told you to kill planets so, that's what you get

the chapter ends with a 10 minute mark until breach and with harrow walking to her death

but next freakin chapter starts with "nine months and 29 days before the emperor's murder" SO I GUESS WE WON'T KNOW WHAT HAPPENS IMMEDIATELY AFTER

and this is where I have to stop, so until next time, I really won't know what happens and I'll have time to marinate all those wacky theories I just threw

[marvelousmagicalaura]

The Lord Ruler's portrayal worries me. I hope The Stormlight Archive doesn't do this. 

I'll preface this post by saying this is not out of dislike for the Mistborn trilogy. I'm not trying to impose my moral viewpoints onto fellow cosmerenauts. And it's not meant to dismiss that fantasy characters can have their own unique beliefs. This is simply a rant on a topic that's bugged me ever since finishing The Hero of Ages. It came back as I was contemplating Era 2's nuanced portrayal of Elendel’s problems, Harmony's plans, and Autonomy's mindset. And since I'm reading The Stormlight Archive after Warbreaker, this involves a hope of mine.

My journey throughout Scadrial created an increasing sense of concern and worry over the Lord Ruler's portrayal. In my eyes, book 3 fell into the trap of characters defending the Lord Ruler's actions. Simply because they were for the goal of preserving the world. To be clear, I understand what Sanderson was trying to do. He wanted to make a world where most characters, even when destroying the evil empire, ultimately wanted a stable world. And for that, I understand why Vin or Sazed would call Rashek a "good man with honorable intentions."

Vin always wanted a stable life. And when she thanked the Lord Ruler as Preservation, I bet her opinions of TLR were being slightly filtered by Preservation's Intent. Sazed Ascended with full access to how Ruin and Preservation connected back to Rashek. He knew Rashek in ways no one could imagine.

So while their claims were understandable, it felt extremely gross. My first issue is that I lack the same knowledge of Rashek as Vin or Sazed. I only know Rashek as a bitter, violent glory hound Terrisman who maybe had slivers of understandable motives before Ascending. Then I only know him as an evil emperor going insane for 1000 years. I don't know the "good man" Rashek. I know the asshole who did 5% good things and 95% ends justify the means.

My second issue is that the "suffered under Ruin's hand" removed accountability. Rashek didn't NEED to make slaves out of most remaining humans, turn his people into jellyfish, restrict Allomancy to the ruling class, sacrifice humans for koloss armies, or wipe out all religions and cultures. But that line pinned it on Ruin's influence, even though Rashek did horrible things and made horrible plans during the Ascension. Instead of holding Rashek himself accountable for his own actions.

And on that note, fuck Rashek for even mentioning Ruin's whispers in the Fadrex city plate. Yeah sure, centuries of Ruin's influence pushed him to make the Terris breeding program. But those reprehensible actions above were all Rashek's fault when he was a new conqueror.

My third issue is the erasure of potential depth behind Ruin and Preservation's conflict. It doesn't give Preservation something 100% despicable to actively do. It ignores the fact Ruin doesn't insert new personalities, but rather influences what is already there. Ruin was the method through which Rashek did things, but Preservation is the reason and goal. Rashek ruined to preserve.

Brandon should’ve settled for Sazed acknowledging the tragedy and genius behind Rashek’s efforts, while acknowledging they were reprehensible and weren’t solely orchestrated by Ruin. I don't know what The Stormlight Archive will hold. But if there are any characters who go "ends justify the means" or "it's not my fault it's the god," I sincerely hope Brandon calls out their rusting nonsense with a hammer. He did it with Kelsier (complicated feelings about that), he did not do it with Rashek. I hope he does it in Stormlight.

[bosskie]

The Inspiration vs the Creations

For some time, I have been thinking about drawing Molluck, Sekto, and the Emperor (from Baldur's Gate 3) because they all could belong to the same phylogeny because they look similar. Mind flayers are born from a parasite which causes the host turn into a mind flayer and they need to eat brains to survive. It just sounds something fitting when thinking about Oktigis. But mind flayers have also psionic powers and great mental abilities, which also makes me wonder what like those 'actual higher species' of Oddworld are, also knowing that Gluks used to practice black magic... I bet that Molluck does have a good reason to be afraid of his investors... I have also thought that if a mind flayer wore a suit, it would look more like an Oddworld character but I did let the Emperor have his armor, even it's quite detailed.

But yeah, I wasn't sure if I wanna draw this idea or not but then it just came to my mind to think about how those octopuses are such intelligent, curious, playful, and endearing creatures but they are often pictured as monsters, aliens and such in fiction, as something evil... I only found this side of them because of Molluck; he made me into them. They are my favourite creatures on our planet now! I just also love to watch those lil fellas doing their stuff. So yeah, I made the octopus doing an usual 'octopus thing': He is observing the trio via imitating their shapes. It's just something they tend to do when they encounter something new.

I'm not sure about Sekto's height but I know that both Molluck and the Emperor are 7 ft tall but Stranger is 9 ft tall and Sekto's host is a Steef, so... The concept art also shows that Oktigis are bigger than Gluks, so I guess that it's close to correct. Man, I feel like Molluck feels himself 'handless' around them, but also small... He kinda just ended up looking tired here... He looks like he need a hug, and a cigar! The drawing is actually kinda small which made this harder to draw (that's kinda the reason why Molluck's expression ended up being like that too) but I guess that they look alright.

But yeah, I also feel like adding that it actually makes me anxious to think about what Molluck might experience next, if he faces his investors... The scene Lorne once described makes me just feel Molluck's fear like it was mine... Also, man, why are so many Oddworld dudes so tall... Well, it's kinda complicated to say if Molluck is tall or not since he uses his hands to walk... His torso has the same length as mine but he has significantly smaller legs. (Yes, I have measured how big he is compared to me precisely.) I personally find it endearing, just how he is big and small at the same time! So, I wish that Molluck didn't feel bad about his body; I wish to give it love and care. And if the next chapter of Molluck's story is gonna be a bad ending for him (being the true ending), I'll give him a good ending. It's just that I love this Gluk so much and love ain't about deserving...

Man, I also would like to add that when I look at my drawings, I see a child... I mean, like a child had drawn them. I'm not even sure if this is a positive feeling or not but I just feel like this when I look at my stuff right now... It makes me feel embarrassed to post this but I still do it... Maybe I feel like I'm stuck, still like I was as a child, spending the most of my time with fictional characters, drawing them, thinking about them... A doctor could tell me that yes, I'm right, but does it really matter. It doesn't really harm anyone that my heart chose Molluck; it just makes me spend a lot time and energy on him and it only makes me feel good. I just don't even really understand relationships well, especially romantic ones... I only noticed Molluck's appearance after seeing myself in him, and it feels like the more I love him, the better he also looks... This is complex stuff.

[wangsejabin]

Chapter 112

These words instantly made Pan'er wake up with a jolt.

   What, is he planning to appoint a crown prince?

   When the emperor ascends to the throne, apart from sealing the palace, one of the most important things he should consider is the creation of a crown prince.

   After all, the crown prince is the foundation of the state, and most people who become emperor are not young, and most of them have already had sons, and more than one. It is a common belief that many sons are a blessing, but if you look at the royal family, you can see that sometimes this is not always true.

   As the sons grow older, they are surrounded by more and more subordinates, tangible and intangible, subconscious and subconscious, and everyone is betting on them. Can the family prosper for another hundred years? Who doesn't want to last forever?

   In her previous life, at first she never dared to think that Zong Yue could sit in the emperor's seat, after all, the crown prince's position was as secure as a mountain. It was only later, when there was a hint of it, and she found out that Zong Yue also had that kind of mind, that she gradually moved her mind.

But before that, that is, before Zong Cong mentioned it, she had not thought about it at all, and probably subconsciously felt that many things had changed in this life, so she did not think about it. She thought that Zong Yue was still young and did not need to think about this for the time being, but at this moment, Zong Cong's words made her wake up at once.

   How to answer?

   Although she and he were now getting to know each other better, and there was a little bit of heart-to-heart between them, and he was willing to talk to her about things that bothered her, these trivial matters were not the same as setting up a crown prince.

   The crown prince was too sensitive, especially as she had given birth to the second son, Zong Yue.

So she turned over in his arms and said, "Your Majesty, that's a strange question to ask, I've never been a crown prince, how do I know whether it's good or bad to be one? This should be asked of Your Majesty, weren't you the Crown Prince before?"

   "I used to be the crown prince, but a long time ago, I actually didn't want to be the crown prince."

Pan'er fell silent, and Zong Cong did not speak either, falling into memory.

Everyone thought that the crown prince was above all others, the future Emperor, and that he must have been a great success and highly valued. But they did not know that all this was a shackle, an existence that made them walk on thin ice.

The memories of the past, which Zong Cong never wanted to recall, were the days when he carried his mother and himself on his back, the days when he studied hard behind the scenes but pretended to be light-hearted on the surface, the days when he pretended to be generous even when he was angry, the days when he laughed in the face even when he knew that he was up to no good, the days when he had to tense his nerves every day, the days when he forced himself to be thorough and never missed a beat, and the days when he was not able to be a good friend. ......

Therefore, when he saw that Zong Duo seemed to be following his old path, Zong Cong's feelings were very complicated.

   If he was in good health, he might have been relieved in his complexity, but he was not in good health and had to compete with Zong Yue.

   But he could not blame the child, accuse him of not working too hard, and as for Zong Yue, he was even more innocent, was it a fault that he was smart and good at reading and had a competitive spirit?

Zong Cong could foresee that when the dust had settled, the court would definitely start a heated debate on the crown prince.

   What should we do when the time comes?

"Brother Cong you'd better not think too much about it, after all those things have passed, you're now the emperor, I remember you told me before that you had a lot of things to do? You still have so many important big things to do, so why do you need to think about these small things."

   Yes, he still had a lot of big things to do.

It must be said that Pan'er was still quite good at comforting, no, diverting, and Zong Cong's attention was soon diverted to his government affairs.

   He was lost in thought, his hand stroking her back with one hand, while Pan'er breathed a soft sigh of relief.

   --

   It was clearly a cold day, but Empress Chen was very active, asking daily about the progress of the Ning Shou Palace's repairs.

   It was the first year of the new emperor's ascension to the throne, so it was particularly significant that the Ning Shou Palace had not been repaired, and Empress Fu could not move out of the Kun Ning Palace.

   Two snowstorms in a row meant that repairs had to be suspended.

   Empress Chen was anxious but could not say anything on the surface. At the same time, Zong Duo fell ill again and although he was only coughing, he was still not well for half a month, which added fuel to the fire.

This was to be followed by the ceremony of the enthronement of the Empress and the investiture of all the concubines in the Eastern Palace.

After this, they have all become official and rightful ladies, although not yet moved to the palace, but several lower ranking concubines would not be able to be the master of a palace and instead would live under the supervision of a more senior concubine.

Kunning Palace and Jingren Palace is naturally out of the question, one is the empress residence, one is Su Guifei's residence. Su Guifei has always been solitary, and no one was allowed close, she's just favoured like that, it is not possible to get a person to their own palace to share favor. The only thing that remains is the palace of Consort Hu Shufei Zhou Xianfei and others.

At first, when Hu Shufei saw the frequent visits of Qian Guiren and others, she was a little surprised at what they were doing there. But she was always a meat and potatoes kind of person, and she was also a big fan of watching the fun, so she met them.

   The two of them were sent away in a rare outburst of anger.

   Qian Qiao and the two of them were still a bit aggrieved, so if they didn't want to, why did they have to get so angry? When the concubine Li found out about this, she even went to laugh at them.

   "If you don't go to Concubine Su's place and run to Concubine Hu's, you're clearly saying that she's not in favour and needs your help?"

Qian Qiao and the two of them realized that they still had no choice but to go there, otherwise each of the six eastern palaces would be dominated, what if none of them wanted them or if they were given to concubine Li by the Empress?

   They went back to Consort Xu, who was very decisive and refused on the grounds that the Fifth Prince had recently been unwell and it was inappropriate for someone to visit him.

After these two incidents, Consort De was not stupid either, so the Sixth County Princess were also a little uncomfortable.

   So there were only two concubines left, Li and Zhao.

   At this point, concubine Li was so pleased with herself that you didn't want to live in my palace because you didn't like me, so what are you doing here? The door was closed, and the concubine Zhao's place had been very busy lately.

These are all things that Pan'er heard from the people below her, just like listening to a book, and after listening to it,

After hearing this she poured cold water on the situation: "Even the Empress has not moved her palace, where else would the others want to move?

In fact, Pan'er's words proved true, and it was only a few days before the New Year's Eve that Empress Chen finally realised in despair that she would not be able to move this year and would have to stay in the Eastern Palace.

   There was no need to think about the congratulations of the first wife, or about being worshipped on the phoenix throne.

On New Year's Eve, Zong Cong hosted a family banquet at Qianqing Palace. There were many people there, including princes and their families, some close relatives, the Grand Empress Dowager, the Empress Dowager, several imperial concubines and the ladies of the Eastern Palace.

   The atmosphere was very cordial and, although it may have been somewhat of an illusion, at least it proved that the majority of the people had come to terms with the reality of the new emperor's accession to the throne.

After the family feast, Zong Cong led the crowd to the Hall of the Nurtured Heart to visit the emperor.

This New Year's Eve, the Hall of the Nurtured Heart is probably the only place in the entire Forbidden City where there is no festive atmosphere, as the emperor has to recuperate from his illness and naturally needs quiet, especially since the emperor has been ill and cannot speak, his temper is getting worse every day, and the servants are all cautious and downcast as they wait on the sidelines.

   The crowd of people dressed in auspicious clothes visiting the Emperor looked particularly sarcastic.

   After all, it was not easy for the new emperor to think of the emperor at this point in his life, and even if he did, he was still being filial.

It was the emperor who seemed unusually unsettled, his mouth ahhhhh and not knowing what he was saying, but no one paid any attention to this.

The only one who took advantage of the Emperor's performance was the Prince of Qi, who made a fuss, reprimanding his lackeys for not serving him well, and saying that Zong Cong was treating the Emperor with apparent filial piety, but in fact he was secretly having people sparring with him, otherwise the Emperor would have behaved like this?

   But no one believed him, not to mention the fact that so many imperial concubines were present and had to queue up every day to attend to their illnesses. It was Pan'er's idea for Zong Cong to attend to his illness, but it was a lie to avoid suspicion. The Prince of Qi is being unreasonable, and at the same time, he is at the end of his rope.

After all, if he really had a solution for Zong Cong, why would he make a fuss over such a trivial matter? There were many clansmen present, and they all had their own opinions.

On the first day of the first month, the new emperor paid homage to his ancestors at the Imperial Temple, and announced the change of the reign name to Jianying.

   At the same time, the Kunning Palace was also bustling with activity.

   The Empress Dowager Fu was in the centre, Empress Chen was on the lower left, and the concubines of the new emperor, including Pan'er, were standing on either side.

   They were all dressed in gorgeous gowns, and it was difficult for the Home Office to rush so many gowns, but the momentum was really something like a new year.

But it's not a new year, since the fifth day of the first month, Zong Cong opened the seal, Zong Cong was all kinds of big action.

The first thing he did was to tell Empress Chen that her father had been made a marquis.

   This is a distinction that only imperial relatives can have, and it is usually added to the shade of the mother's family when the empress is crowned, but it is a lower rank than in the previous life, when it was a dukedom.

   Empress Chen was so happy and pleased that when Pan'er went to pay her respects, she could see the joy on her face.

   But as a result, Empress Chen was even more anxious to move the palace, and after the first month was over, she was concerned about the repair of the Ning Shou Palace.

   In the meantime, the six eastern palaces were also undergoing simple renovations, the only major one being the Jingren Palace, the residence of the princesses and the three southern houses where the imperial sons lived.

   In time for March, Zong Duo and Zong Yue moved to the South Third House, and Pan'er made several trips there to see the new paint, new doors and windows, new furniture and furnishings, and she also opened a special storehouse and added a lot of furnishings and other things for Zong Yue.

   In April, the Ning Shou Palace was finally repaired.

   Empress Chen personally supervised the decoration and furnishings inside, and waited for half a month after everything was finished before carefully mentioning that the Ning Shou Palace had been repaired when she went to the Kun Ning Palace to pay her respects.

Pan'er was present at the time, and now that she is a consort of the new emperor, she naturally cannot be as lazy as before.

The Empress Court was not the only one, but there was still the Empress Dowager and the Empress Dowager, so she could not wait around for the concubines to come to pay their respects, so she gathered at Kunning Palace and paid her respects to Empress Dowager Fu, and then went to Cining Palace to pay her respects to the Grand Empress Dowager at her discretion.

It is not that Empress Dowager Fu is not willing to go, but the Empress Dowager also knows that she is old, every day tossing and turning disgusting, a month only on the first fifteen to come to ask for peace she will not say anything, other times to come to her are too noisy, and over time to go gradually less and less.

   Although Empress Chen had already been very particular about the way she spoke, and did not open the door to the princesses, but made a reference to the courtyard where they lived, Pan'er still saw Empress Fu and Nianqiu beside her glance at each other.

   The gesture was a little more meaningful.

   So the Empress was no ordinary person, Pan'er sighed once more.

   It wasn't that Empress Dowager Fu had tasted the hardships of being an empress before, and now she had to pick on Empress Chen. You think that the palace is so big, some of Empress Chen's actions will not fall on deaf ears, watching the repair process of Ning Shou Palace, at best filial obedience, at worst is eager to let Empress Fu move out of Kun Ning Palace.

But it's also true that she, the empress, wants to move into the Kunning Palace in a hurry.

   So the hearts of the people are like this, no one is wrong, but it is inadvertently in everyday life that countless conflicts are gathered.

   Fortunately, this had nothing to do with her, and Pan'er was sincerely grateful.

   Empress Fu didn't delay much and ordered her minions to pack up the next day. She had been Empress for many years and had lived in Kunning Palace for decades, so there was as much stuff as one could imagine.

When Zong Cong heard about this, he even made a special trip, saying that the Ning Shou Palace had just been repaired and that it would be better to wait for the paint inside to dissipate for a while before moving it, as there was no rush anyway.

   The Empress Dowager didn't say anything, she just said to move the things over slowly first.

When Zong Cong came out, Nianci told him what had happened yesterday.

He asked Pan'er why she knew.

It was because it happened that she had been recruited to go to Qianqing Palace that day, and Zong Cong had a rare moment of anger in front of her, demonstrating his displeasure with Empress Chen.

   He was becoming less and less shy of Pan'er, but Pan'er was anxious. You say he said something bad about the Empress in front of her, should she, as a favoured concubine, to advise, or not advise?

[tiny-breadcrumbs]

Mulberry Song, A Short Story With Many Feelings

Reading Mulberry Song is like sitting in a car with no seatbelt on when the driver pull a sudden brake. Like yeahhh An Zi Wu is a piece of garbage for using her like that! Booo why don't you die in the war?! Then bam...the feeling got complicated and you cry when he actually die. Whatever shit happening between these two, it is so bittersweet and drenched in guilt.

In this life, Sang Ge being able to gain this moment of hesitation from An Zi Wu in exchange... Is enough.

You see, painful. Just painful. I think she love him. Maybe not a fully full blown passion, but something gentler, she is proud of him and there is fondness in there. Pity, he realize his own too late.

I saw some review here and there that say Sang Ge should hate this husband of her. That the story glorifies a woman's sacrifice and loyalty towards a man who did her dirty. In my point of view, this is just a story about war, sacrifice and guilt. It is very humane in some way. Human heart never works in a black or white, it has more shade than just that. To said it glorify would belittle the sacrifice she makes based on her choice, even as a character.

For all the trainwreck that happened, An Zi Wu can be seen as a righterous man. The rebellion he raised was against a tyranical reign, and for the people he fight, not for his own shady ambition. The scene at the top of the fortress is the final nail in the coffin. You can see she is not that bitter, she understand what the cost of that war, she understand perfectly her life is the last thing that stood in his way. Sang Ge at most is quite detached, but her act of sacrifice, I don't think she have resentment in her heart. And the marquis, he may plan the act long ago, but perhaps it never occur to him that he will grow fond of this wife he set up as a sacrificial lamb. It is truly too late to show his fear for her at that fortress. The classic of you never know what you have until it's gone.

From then on, we watch him drowning in guilt. Maybe he saw her eyes at that time, maybe he saw the smile and the way she always willing to die for him to help him achieve his dream. This new emperor naming his reigning era in the combination of his tittle and her name. Give her a lavish burial excedeed one for an empress. Never take another wife nor concubine. He chase her shadow everywhere because it is too late when the last time he chase her as a person. What a foolish man.

"Sang Ge being your wife in this lifetime, towards me, be it real affection, be it insincere feelings, I am still your wife. Should there be a day, you leave. I will definitely wait for you."

His eyelids hangs low, sinking into silence for a long time. "Wait for me then"

Bet he didn't know this simple promise last longer than just one war. Last longer than just one life.

Serve him right actually. An Zi Wu should learn his lesson about cherishing someone at your side before they gone in the hardest way possible. Must be painful. Quite poetic when she is the one who promised to stay at his side even in death, in the end, he is also the one who can't let her go. She is the only person he want at his side. They both have sad fate. Both deserve a meme of life is suck.

"But where is the path to retreat? The war already started, striving forth, still contains a glimmer of hope, and should I give up, not even a glimmer of hope will be left." His voice if very tightly stretched, carrying hoarseness like sorrow, like pain. "Sang Ge, yet you were too stubborn to even give me the chance to save you."

Perhaps it was for a better that Sang Ge lingering around, following him everywhere, and witnessing his misery. To see what he actually think of her and how her death bring him so much guilt it consume him thoroughly. She finally can see how he murmurs her name in his sickbed. How he begged her to take him away.

When he realise she always waiting, all that left only for him to return to her. And precisely that he will gladly do. I believe he end his life that night.

Finally returning to her side.

[valandhirwriter]

For the character tag game: Emhyr, Eskel and Vesemir please 😁

Thanks for the tag @regis-favorite-raven

Emhyr

How I feel about this character: That is a complicated one. When I began reading the books I felt that for a man antagonist, he wasn't developed enough, his motivations remained unclear, and I always felt like the author was torn between writing him as a dangerous Roman Emperor, or the parody of an incompetent 18th century ruler. it alternated. The "reveal" at the end of Lady of the Lake... felt cheap to me. It was something I wish the author had built up to better - allowing the reader to know things Geralt doesn't.

I must also say that during reading I quickly came to dislike the northern patriotism and how the author made the North the good guys fighting for their freedom, while they were just a mess all the time. It made me interessted in Nilfgaard, because they were definitely the more civilised side of things.

Then the games came, and what can I say? Charles Dance! That voice! There were also aspects of Emhyr's arc in TW3 that I found fascinating, which led me to re-read a lot of his material in the books, and notice the gaps.

What was done to him during the Uprising?

How did he survive all those years (and nope, I do not believe in 15 years in a cave, or more!)?

How was he that smart, highly educated person, if his formal education had been cut short at 13?

How had those traumata affected him?

I had a few fragments about it in my head, before that one scene jumped into my mind: Duny meeting Eskel in the werewolf forest, and the story grew from there.

So now I can say: I like Emhyr. I like his prickly character, I like him being ruthless at times, I like him being the smartest person in the room and being a total ass about it. I see him as a man with flaws, strengths and a wounded heart, which he hides well.

All the people I ship romantically with this character: Eskel, potentially Vesemir or Erland, several OCs (Lux,) potentially other Witchers.

Eskel/Emhyr - that was a pairing that wandered in my head, and I love it. Emhyr, smart, political savvy, somewhat ruthless, and Eskel, steadfast, goodnatured Eskel, it was either a catastrophe or the romance of their lives. I chose the latter.

Emhyr/Duny and one from the older Witcher generation: my guilty pleasure that I still want to write full-length

Emhyr/Duny and other Witchers: I see so many potential pairings and stories there. Be it Duny/Letho, or Duny/Aiden - the Prince and the Assassin, I wouldn't bet on the life of the Usurper.

Emhyr/Impera - those who know me, know I wrote several pieces about Emhyr's (non] romance with the captain of his personal guard. I still have fun with that pairing, and will potentially write more of it. I like the contrast in character, the power imbalance, and Emhyr's secret weakness for affection.

My non-romantic OTP for this character:

Again i have to slip one of my OC's in: Aeron. Aeron's arc with Emhyr is complicated, from the young soldier who saved the Crown Prince's life, when the Prince was 9, and got assigned to the Prince's personal guard, over Aeron trying to save Emhyr in the night of the Revolution and ultimately failing. Over Emhyr encountering Aryn 25 years later, a leader among the rebellion against the Usurper of whom no one knows any more that he once was Impera. To General Aeron who rebuilt Impera for Emhyr. The fun thing is: if anyone told them they were friends, they'd both deny it. There is no friendship between an Emperor and his officers - but when it comes down it, it is exactly that.

My unpopular opinion about this character: He's the most interessting character in the story, much more interessting than the "main" characters.

Ah yes, and I cheered for in-game Emhyr conquering the North.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon.

I wish that his motivations had been built up better, and not like the weird stuff we got in Stygga. Nothing in the prophecy fits with what Emhyr claims it does, nothing there makes sense at all. I wish either the author would have given us the logical progression of Emhyr's quest, with insights into the prophecies and how Emhyr reads them, or the author would simply have stopped the cheap: everyone wants to fuck Ciri trope.

The other thing I wish that the author had taken the time in Stygga to explore Emhyr's change of heart. I still think that either Emhyr came within milimeters of reaching his goal, and had to realise that there are things even he can't do, or that someone confronted him about it, and made him see the monstrosity of his plan. Both would work. Instead we get the next half-baked cop-out. I do understand why the authors of TW3 simply retconned that part. (I sometimes consider the story of Stygga simply as northern propaganda)

Eskel

How I feel about this character: I love him. Eskel was the Witcher that stood out to me from the moment Geralt&Ciri arrived in Kaer Morhen, and Ciri got frightened because of the scar on Eskel's face. I wanted to know more about Eskel, who he was, what his adventures had been, his own story.

Over the years I developed a lot of headcanon for Eskel, incorporating parts from books and games, and adding my own interpretations. And the games adding lil'Bleater... was just owwww.

All the people I ship romantically with this character, Emhyr, Geralt, potentially Erland or Coen, Vesemir (one-sided, non-requieted)

Emhyr: I know most people ship Emralt, which I do like to read, but Eskel and Emhyr have a totally different dynamic. I can see several stories for them, one I am still writing, others that only live in my head.

Geralt: I see Geralt as Eskel's first great romantic love and his first great romantic disappointment. Geralt's many affairs do not go well, with Eskel who is a faithful person, and I usually write them as a pairing that did not last. The first romantic love that normally should not last and did not last for them.

Erland or Coen: Eskel and Griffin Witcher - of course! I can see it with both, but am honestly more partial to the old Griffin and Eskel, which would be quite the sweet romance.

Vesemir: that's a one sided one in some of my stories, with Eskel having feelings for Vesemir, that go unrequited. He loved the old wolf, either Eskel never spoke up, but more like the old Wolf held no such feelings for him.

My non-romantic OTP for this character Vesemir, Lambert

Vesemir: Eskel and Vesemir have this mentor-student dynamic, and Eskel was Vesemir's choice as a successor in leading the wolves. As such they shared a lot of confidences and trust, and Eskel was closer to Vesemir than he was to his brothers.

Lambert: I summed up their dynamic in one of my WIPs and I'll give you the direct quote:

The old adage said, that Witcher friendships either involved two men very similar, or two utterly dissimilar, held true here. Eskel was huge, tall, and for a Witcher fairly slow, Lambert was thin, almost wiry and faster than a viper. Eskel was kind and good-natured, while Lambert was a fundamental ass. Eskel loved magic, while Lambert loved alchemy and bombs, though both loved books. Eskel had taken to Witcher training, loved Kaer Morhen, and been a model apprentice, Lambert hated Kaer Morhen, despised the trainers and been the apprentice from hell no one wanted. And yet they were close friends. Lambert would be cranky and spiteful, each year, until they spotted Eskel’s campfire at the base of the killer. Eskel would go back out there, if he returned and Lambert had failed to come back by that time. Eskel would bring back any piece of alchemy equipment or writings he came across, and Lambert did the same with arcane writings for Eskel. Eskel would always have empathy for Lambert’s anger and in turn Lambert would curb his venom and behave, when Eskel was about. Lambert detested being a Witcher, but because Eskel was proud of the same, he reeled it in. Lambert had made the solution they had used to heal Eskel’s facial wounds, and sat with him those agonizing nights, as the wounds slowly healed. 

My unpopular opinion about this character: Eskel is the only one of the wolves who sticks to their task and their code in the end, when his brothers chose different paths, or become vinters in Toussaint. Eskel remains true to what he is: a Witcher, and to the legacy that comes with it. I think he might not approve of Geralt settling down and becoming a country squire.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon.

I wish they had given a decent story for the scars, the Deidre arc in the DLC was sloppy writing at best, set up to make Eskel small to give Geralt something to do.

I really wish they would have taken the time to write a really good story about the scars on Eskel's face, the fight he got them in, and what happened there

Vesemir

How I feel about this character: He was the second Kaer Morhen Witcher who fascinated me, and of whom I wanted to know more. His age is a riddle in the books (If you take that he saw Kaer Morhen built, and all the clues about Kaer Morhen, he is somehwere between 200 and 900 years old, nice!)

I love the old mentor who kept going, when the school was destroyed, and who is still that mentor/leader to the other Witchers. I think he has a lot of fascinating history that could be told.

I also know Vesemir was a stern mentor, a harsh mentor often, and I think Vesemir preferred his trainees hating him, over trainees who died because they did not learn.

All the people I ship romantically with this character Lambert, Aiden, Garanwyn (OC)

Lambert: I already wrote one story for that and would love to write more about them. Seeing Lambert grow beyond his childhood grudges is fascinating, Lambert and Vesemir have a totally changed dynamic when they interact as equals.

Aiden: That's a more lighthearted one I have in mind. A story where Lambert brings his best friend Aiden to Kaer Morhen, talking Vesemir into allowing a cat into the castle. And Aiden going all out on ensnaring the old wolf, while Lambert isn't sure whether to rage or to blush.

Garanwyn: Garanwyn is my OC from Son of the Dragon. He and Vesemir had this strong vibe almost from the start, and what began as a friendship/family story with Vesemir learning how an old friend of his had died during the Uprising, and Garanwyn being out to avenge Scolian, developed into a friendship that held deeper undertones.

I can easily see Vesemir stories with Duny/Emhyr as well.

My non-romantic OTP for this character: Guxard, Rennes, Eskel

Guxard: the old cat leader and old friend and enemy of Vesemir. They were friends, they were enemies, they were betrayed, they hated each other, they liked to hate each other, and they would still go out of their way to help one another.

Rennes: Old friend of Vesemir, his grandmaster, his comrade, and someone he knew since they were very young. There is a lot of story there, and a lot of sadness.

Eskel: Eskel is not Vesemir's favorite student, but the student he relied on the most. I see Eskel as Vesemir's right hand, the one Vesemir would turn to, when it came to school politics, to keeping Kaer Morhen standing and other decisions. Vesemir silently expected Eskel to carry on, after Vesemir fell, and Eskel did not disappoint him.

My unpopular opinion about this character: He was the best mentor Kaer Morhen ever had, even as his methods were harsh. He approached each student individually. He used Lambert's anger and abrasiveness, Eskel's need to conform, and Geralt's constant wish to be the best, to push them all as far they could go, and then some. He was smart about understanding his students, and using their own character flaws to train them, to get them to become the best Witchers they could be. Very few of his former students ever realised that, many just kept the picture they had of him during training into their adult years. Vesemir is not a father-figure. He is a trainer, it is not his job to love his students, or to hate his students, or to coddle his students. It is his task to train them, to make them fit for a world that is out to kill them, and that he did perfectly. He is a trainer not a papa-bear.

Second unpopular opinion: he shouldn't have sacrificed himself for Ciri, she wasn't worth it.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon.

A better ending. Honestly - the whole thing in TW3 was lazy writing. Again. Either give him an epic fight to the death, and let the Wild Hunt rue the day they went toe to toe with the old wolf, or let him survive the whole thing. His death was used as an emotional impact, but the impact would have been that harder, if he had really dished out damage, if we had rooted, believed he could make it, only then to lose him. Give the old wolf the dignity of a warrior's death, at least.

Game-wise I wish they had given us a Mass-Effect like choice: rescue Vesemir or rescue Ciri, with the other character being sure to die. (Like Kaidan and Ash in ME 1) I would have so love having the choice there. I'd have rescued the old wolf, every time.

[enkisstories]

Enric: "I take it you expect me to teach you a new force technique now for the service you rendered, my apprentice..."

Connor: "Generous as that would be, master, I'd rather use this opportunity to ask about something."

Enric: Ah, dodged the bullet. The naive youth makes this easy.

Enric: "Shoot!"

Connor: "When I saw you in action just now, I couldn't help but think about the emperor. What secret powers he could teach us, if we served him as faithfully as you did. Well, and every boon granted to you, I'd profit from, too."

Enric: "Of course, of course. So what is your question?"

Connor: "The rumours about Palpatine's return... is there something to them? Could we maybe bring him back... somehow?"

Enric: "You are not the first one to ask yourself this, Connor. It has been tried."

Connor: *rapt attention*

Enric: "The empire had a secret program that's purpose was exactly that. It started as a basic cloning project, but with the added complication of having to transfer force sensitivity from the original to the new host. A very high power level, no less. Well, and that wasn't as easy as injecting midichlorian-rich blood for a temporary boost."

Connor: "I imagine."

Enric: "Your father was involved, although given his young age back then he cannot have been more than an office boy."

Connor: I see. So that's what dad meant about the scars. I bet he wasn't a project member, but a test subject.

Enric: "When we revived the program, your father refused to participate. The best he could offer us was his silence about everything. Hank is stubborn, there was no chance to change his mind, so Hux took over the project."

Connor: "He'd been a kid by then, though?"

Enric: "No, not Hux jnr.! The real... I mean the older... Damn. Now I feel old."

Connor: “And did Hux snr. figure out the riddle?”

Enric: “Yes and no. We solved the force sensitivity problem, but then the perfect body that was prepared... just didn’t get inhabited. It was as if the Emperor’s spirit had already went elsewhere.”

We saw him manifest in the Moonwood, but basically Palpatine follows the dyad around to eventually take their bodies over - the heroes already concluded as much. I hadn’t planned that when I played the castaway challenge, back then I just found it funny to call the grim reaper in his robe “Palpatine”.

[tweetsongs]

once again i am asking people to read jwqs

i bet you thought you saw the last of me, motherfuckers *maniacal laughter increases*. that’s right, today in ‘rain’s unhinged webnovel recommendations,’ i’m here to tell you why you, yes YOU, should read jwqs.

what is jwqs?

jwqs, translated as clear and muddy loss of love, is a novel by the author Please Don’t Laugh/PDL, an author known for writing wlw webnovels such as female emperor and the eldest princess. jwqs is another one of her baihe, or wlw, novels, and is complete at 303 chapters and change in extras.

what is jwqs about?

qiyan agula, the prince of the grass plains, is the eldest daughter of the chief of a tribe living across the river from a rival kingdom. she has been raised as a boy from birth because ~politics~. when the rival kingdom massacres her people, she decides to take revenge by integrating herself as a male scholar in their country and working her way up the political ladder until she is in a position to burn it all to the ground. unfortunately for her, she does a little TOO well and is in the perfect position as an imperial scholar to be betrothed to the emperor’s favorite daughter, the youngest princess nangong jingnu.

the novel spans their decades-long relationship, including both their growing feelings towards each other, the political machinations of the court, civil instability within and around the kingdom, as well as qiyan’s road towards vengeance.

so this is a standard enemies to lovers arranged marriage story, so what?

oh my dear sweet summer child. you darling little fool lost to the winds of cliche storylines. this is no mere collection of hot tropes, this is a turducken of dramedy that will rip your still-beating heart out of your chest and cackle as it burns it in front of you. this webnovel will bury itself in your synapses until you sit up in bed at 4am Thinking about cycles of violence and the inevitable degradation of memory. while it IS a romance, it is also a dizzying political drama with a deft touch for platonic and familial relationships the likes of which i’ve rarely found in other texts.

Not only that, but to characterize jwqs as enemies to lovers is to simplify their relationship to an insulting degree- these two useless sapphics go through basically every relationship dynamic possible at some point, and most of the time at least one of them doesn’t hate the other! Their relationship is maybe best summarized by this twitter post, which makes me cackle every time.

so it’s more plot-focused than relationship-focused?

while jwqs IS largely concerned with broader issues within the kingdom and the opposing wei and grass plain factions, it would be remiss of me to say that it isn’t as concerned with its main relationship! the political drama of this novel is reflected through the evolving relationship between qiyan and jingnu, and their positions being what they are, their personal decisions and shifts in power dynamic ripple out to have significant consequences in the broader setting.

Additionally, beyond the main couple, evolving relationships and what people can come to mean to one another forms the backbone of jwqs’ themes, and each character has a complicated web of dynamics that refract into the sociopolitical situation. Rather than saying it’s more relationship or plot-focused, it’s more accurate to say that the plot and relationships of jwqs are inextricably entwined.

short answer: kind of!

okay this sounds like a bonafide tragedy, will the ending destroy my soul?

skip this one if you don’t even want a whiff of spoilers, but for those who are worried- jwqs does technically have a happy ending! it says so right in the summary!

now, to get to the more complicated answer - it depends on your tragedy threshold. this novel will spend three hundred chapters making you think ‘oh this CANNOT end well,’ and then sprinkle in moments of such sweetness that you’re forced to consider ‘but wouldn’t it be wonderful if it did?’ i truly spent the novel expecting a purely tragic ending, but instead got....kind of a bittersweet one! if you want the true happy ending you HAVE to read to the epilogue, the ending proper will only flash a few knives between its fingers before flinging them directly at your bared throat.

any caveats or trigger warnings?

yes, definitely! once again, i’m a fan of people going into a book eyes open, so here’s a list of things in the book that may turn some people off!

the book starts with a genocide, and spends much of the novel dealing with the horrific aftermath that the survivors deal with

it’s generally a pretty heavy book that doesn’t shy away from gore

there are depictions of sexual assault (not among the main characters), though the translation does warn for it!

there’s a relationship between an older and younger woman where the younger woman is in a state of dissociative mental trauma, and it is unclear whether or not she is capable of giving informed consent. this relationship is depicted as positive and grows into a consenting healthy relationship between two adults, but the beginning can be...pretty rough, since the book itself doesn’t seem to view this as a significant power imbalance/possible assault

there is an age gap between the main characters, and one of them is thirteen when they marry for political purposes. nothing happens between them until they’re in their twenties, but this premise might not be for some!

the first chapter of the translations has a more holistic list of trigger warnings, so i’d recommend reading through that first if you have any fears! this is just what stood out to me personally

anything else to sweeten the pot?

if you’re still not convinced, please have this miscellaneous list of reasons i love jwqs:

while the main characters have a tempestuous relationship, their dynamic stays incredibly sweet and loving throughout the novel. they are SO cute and kind to each other it makes me froth at the mouth

it has some of the most nuanced and subtle character writing i’ve ever seen, and depicts every character with a deftness that would’ve come out as overwrought in most other texts

the main character is a GREMLIN and EVIL, i’ve seen all you ‘where’s my evil girl mc’s’ on tumblr...this is your time

the mc is a compulsive liar to everyone including herself (hm that sounds familiar) and that makes the book incredibly funny to read when you read between the lines

the author’s notes are.....so good. this lady just loves ladies so much y’all

SO many supportive himbos

the main character can speak to horses. no there’s no magic in this world. no this isn’t a plot point. no there’s no explanation

just....watch this:

anyways please read this stupid little book about lesbians i can’t stop thinking about them and it’s ruining my life. i need someone to holler with and force me to finish this author’s other books. you can find the translated chapters here.

[beldaroot]

before reading chihayafuru chapter 246 i was definitely a “‘se’ will be the winning card” truther lol. but during my reread of the final arc, i noticed that shinobu has a very distinct relationship with the ‘se’ card that may have foreshadowed that ‘se’ would not be read at the end and therefore, shinobu was destined to not win. 

in the first queen’s match, the ‘se’ card is the winning card. shinobu gets 'se’ though the referee had to call it her take since chihaya got the card at the same time. / chapter 219

immediately after her first win, shinobu encounters emperor sutoku-in, the author of the ‘se’ poem, as a foreboding presence behind her reciting the first verses of the poem. / chapter 220

for the second match, shinobu yet again takes the ‘se’ card. this time indicating that she is the one who knows the gods best while chihaya is being “mean” for placing the cards of the three vengeful spirits of japan, which sutoku-in is a part of, together. / chapter 223

for the third match, shinobu has the ‘se’ card on her side but it is never read and she questions whether sutoku-in will call out to her. / chapter 229 

after this match, watarai-san has a conversation with imada-san explaining how shinobu doesn’t appear to “really pay attention to [the ‘se’ card]” but “lost focus” towards the end, which appears to be the opposite of how chihaya looks at the ‘se’ card. / chapter 230

for the fourth match, shinobu again gets the ‘se’ card after chihaya tries to use it as an “uki-fuda.” however, this chapter shows that shinobu has “never understood” or actually heard sutoku-in’s voice through the ‘se’ card. regardless, she is still able to take the card even without sutoku-in calling out for her. / chapter 234

finally, for the fifth match, chihaya sends ‘se’ over to shinobu for the luck of the draw. given her past experience with the ‘se’ card, shinobu is betting yet again on ‘se’ and is now confident that she will win. even though in the last match it was discovered that sutoku-in has never called out to her, she believes that he is “choosing” her now because they both have felt isolated. shinobu thinks that by taking ‘se’ and winning, she might still be alone at the mountain top but she will at least have sutoku-in by her side in that loneliness. however, in the end, ‘se’ is not called and shinobu does lose her queen title, but she is able to reach the mountain top hand-in-hand with chihaya. / chapter 246

i think i was so focused on chihaya’s (and arata’s) relationship with the ‘se’ card and that i didn’t realize that shinobu also had a complicated relationship with the card via sutoku-in. 

i also find it extremely fascinating that the two matches where the ‘se’ card is not read, the winning card ends up being a taichi associated card: ‘tare’ for the third match and ‘tachi’ for the final match. this makes me feel like suetsugu has been purposefully showing shinobu’s lonely motif through the ‘se’ card. it might be a card about “meeting again” but it seems like for shinobu, it was always meant to emphasize her division from others. so, it’s almost reassuring that the ‘se’ card wasn’t read. it is the one card she never heard a voice for and drove her to further loneliness. it remains the 100th poem of the final match, alone on the playing field, which is the opposite of what shinobu herself is at the end of the match :’)

[demonslayedher]

do you still take asks? if so, could you explain tanjirou's hanafuda earings? i've seen some people online (like insta and other such places) claim that the design is one of a flower, but i always thought it was of a sun since it was supposed to be like a token for the sun god or something (disregarding possible [and hopefully unintentional] symbolisms coming from ww2)

whenever these people say these, they go back on to the earings being called hanafuda cards, and that hana means flower. i'm not that smart when it comes to japanese things or hanafuda cards specifically, so if you could, can you explain the hanafuda cards and the design on tanjirou's earings?

thank you and i hope you're having a lovely day (love your blog, btw, esp the art and japanese trivia posts)

Hahaha.... my attempted answer to this met so many technical difficulties, this is my third version, I think, hahahaaaaaa. TwT We shall indeed endeavor to keep this related to the original Sengoku period design of the earrings and their relation to Hanafuda cards, though indeed this is a Heisei/Reiwa period production and it's unavoidable that the similarity would be read in a post-WW2 context. It's not that I don't have things I could say on that, but I prefer not to go in that direction either (and people who choose to use the alternate design have my support). Short answer, though: nope, not a flower design!

The sun symbolism and its representation of Japan supersedes Muzan’s birth by at least a few centuries, and in its earliest uses with a simple circle to represent it, it wasn’t even always defined by the color red. The bright color red has been, however, long since symbolic of the sun, so it’s unsurprising that at some point the two symbols came together. No one knows who to credit for its design as a symbol to represent the emperor, but it seems this started in the Sengoku period, same time Yoriichi and his mother Akeno were around in the 15th, 16th centuries or so (but hard to say). The imperial use is due to the Shinto mythology that the emperor is descended from the sun goddess, Amaterasu. (I’ve have heard some KnY theorists posit that certain characters represent different gods in the Shinto pantheon and that Yoriichi represents Amaterasu (who indeed has historical male representations), but I don’t buy into those theories.)

While’s it’s not to say Amaterasu couldn’t be beseeched for healing a deaf child, she doesn’t strike me as the first goddess you’d go to for help with that, so I had originally suspected Akeno might have been more of a practicing Buddhist seeking the help of Dainichi-nyorai (the Buddha that represents the sun, if we put it very simply), or that she might had been a follower of the Nichiren sect, which embraced syncretism with Shintoism and used the “Nichi” (sun) symbolism pretty heavy-handedly (that sect tended to encourage a devout following of women, too). That’s as far as I find relevant to read into this side of things, though, for a look at Akeno’s altar shows us a round mirror often used in Shinto worship (some scholars suspect the round shape represents the sun, too, but it’s not at all limited to being a sacred item to represent sun-related deities). However, religion is and always has been complicated, and Akeno may have been a follower of any pure or blended strain of Shintoism and/or Buddhism.

Tl;dr: Akeno has a profound faith in some kind of sun deity.

After all, Yoriichi says this very plainly on this page in Chapter 186, “My mother was a person of very deep faith.” In addition to her daily prayers for peace, she made the earrings for Yoriichi praying that the “god of sunlight” may shine on and warm his unhearing ears. We have no further definition of this “god of sunlight,” so it could be Amaterasu, Dainichi-nyorai, any possible unnamed sunlight god she might have had faith in (Gotouge tends to borrow heavily from a lot of different religious traditions without narrowing them too far into any particular sect or strain). We may not be meant to read this in such detailed historical context as Amaterasu because it is left so ambiguous, but the art representing the sun is pretty ubiquitous throughout Japanese culture by that period.

And would you look at that, little Michikatsu and Yoriichi were playing a card game! Hmm, I wonder what? While I cannot claim anything one way or another about how Gotouge and her editors saw it or what they may think of it being seen that way abroad, the rays inevitably make it seem similar to the 16-ray naval flag, and the earlier color illustrations did have red lines. However, at some point the design settled into using 11 thin black lines only, with an emphasis in Gotouge’s character design notes (from the first fanbook) on the pooling thickness at the ends of the lines. This feels to me a bit like inky brushstrokes, and there is also design emphasis on the thick lines at the tops and bottoms of the earrings. These details, as well as the notes (cropped out of the image below) about the movement and weight of the earrings around Tanjiro’s face make them seem to have the thickness of light cardboard, which altogether makes them very similar to Hanafuda cards. Most specifically, doesn’t it look like this card featuring pampas grass and the moon?

While Hanafuda does literally mean “flower cards” and there are designs grouped around certain themes (even if the theme itself isn’t a flower, the design will typically incorporate a plant), I feel fairly confident saying the design of Yoriichi’s earrings is not a flower, and indeed the sun.

Primarily because these earrings aren’t Hanafuda cards! Hanafuda technically didn’t exist until after Yoriichi’s time, and was adapted from a Portuguese card game. Said game was initially illegalized at the same time Christianity was illegalized, but the Edo public loved their card games, and reinvented it every time some previous version was outlawed for its use in gambling. Even today, there are many, many different versions or reiterations of Hanafuda under the same or different names. I have never played though, and will not attempt to explain it. ^0^;; (I have cousins who grew up playing the Hawaiian version, though.) It was finally legalized in the Meiji period, and the first fanbook even lists this as one of Zenitsu’s favorite games.

By the Taisho period anyone would had been familiar with it, leading Muzan to describe Tanjiro to Yahaba and Susamaru as “the demon hunter who wears earrings that look like Hanafuda cards.”

While my research didn’t take me this far, I’m willing to bet card games with similar illustrations existed far prior to Hanafuda, and whether or not Akeno would had been influenced by them is anyone’s guess. But as she made them as religious items, that still makes them not game cards. I do assume she used high quality washi paper though, the finest she could afford as the wife of a high-ranking samurai. Good washi is strong enough to last for centuries, and even used to be used for making clothing because it’s so durable. But it’s also lightweight, she wouldn’t want to weigh Yoriichi’s little ears with precious metals or anything like that, I believe!

This all being said, I have most certainly noticed a trend of actual Hanafuda cards being used in accessories, everything from earrings to necklaces to charms to hang on facemasks to manicures. The only time I’ve seen this sun design has been in clear reference to Kimetsu no Yaiba, though!

This went in a lot of different directions, Anon, but I hope that clears things up about the sun and Hanafuda connections more than it clouds everything in unnecessary details. XD

[sonoftatooine]

Whumptober 2021

DAY 1: ‘ALL TRUSSED UP AND NOWHERE TO GO’ - BOUND

Characters: Anakin Skywalker, Jabba the Hutt, Grand Inquisitor

Warnings: Slavery, implied assault, attempted mind reading (?)

Summary: AU - The Clone Wars started early, and Anakin was never found by the Jedi on Tatooine. Instead, he was sold to Jabba the Hutt after his success in the Boonta Eve Classic. Years later, the Empire has formed, and its Emperor has set his sights on Tatooine and the Force sensitive slave that has been discovered there.

***

"The mighty Jabba bids you welcome, Grand Inquisitor."

The voice of TC-70, translator droid to Jabba Desilijic Tiure, kadijic lord of Tatooine, sounded clear through the halls of the Hutt's palace amid the echoes of his master's booming chuckle as the pale, yellow-eyed alien that had introduced himself as the Grand Inquisitor, Master of the Inquisitorius of the Galactic Empire bowed his head before the slug's raised dais in a show of respect as false and as manufactured as Jabba's show of welcome. Animosity was thick in the air, so tangible that each and every one of Jabba's slaves could sense it like the crack of a whip across their backs. This too was known to Anakin Skywalker, in the way that things had always been known to him—inexplicably, instinctively, no matter how much another being may try to hide the truth of their feelings—as he knelt on the hard stone at the tip of his master's tail, held down by by the rough grip of two Gamorean guards on his shoulders. He paid it little mind—he doubted he could make the slug any angrier with him, and soon, his opinion would no longer matter. Instead, he tried to focus purely on sensation. Of the pain in his head from the blow he had been struck when he'd tried to run the night before. The taste of the dry, dusty cloth that had been forced into his mouth, and the burn of the rough robes that had been twined tight around his wrists, rubbed raw and bleeding from attempts to escape. Anything not to have to think about the Inquisitor. About why the Inquisitor was here. About what was going to happen next.

"The great Jabba wishes to ask how you found your journey from the Core," TC-70 said courteously. "He expresses concern over whether you faced any complications on your way here."

That, Anakin thought, a little woozily as the wound on his temple throbbed painfully, was a pretty way of translating Jabba's words, which were something closer towards "this Imperial scum had better have a good reason for making me wait" than any true concern towards his guest. But this was a man that, for once, Jabba could neither afford to deride nor intimidate. The Empire's power was reaching ever further into the Outer Rim—ever since it had risen from the ashes of the Republic several years ago, when Anakin was fourteen. Now it had turned its attention to Tatooine, and the continued non-interference with Hutt rule on the planet had a price.

That price, it seemed, was Anakin.

"No complications, Lord Jabba," the Inquisitor replied with a sharp smile, a glint in his eye that said he knew that the Hutt's word had been nowhere near as polite as the droid had made them appear. "But the work of the Empire rests for no one. I am not hear to exchange pleasantries. Shall we get down to business?"

Anakin felt the slug's anger in the back of his mind, but it didn't show on his face. Instead, he let out one of his rumbling, full-bodied laughs, and waved a small, stubby arm towards the place where Anakin was held restrained in a gesture that was almost a shrug.

"If you think I have any intention of allowing you to overstay your welcome, you are a fool as all Outlanders are," he sneered. "Take the little shag and get off my planet."

"Glorious Jabba," TC-70 translated, ever obsequious, "invites you to inspect your purchase."

The Inquisitor's yellow eyes turned slowly towards Anakin, like an anooba that had caught the scent of blood in the air. An overpowering sense of wrongness, of danger shot through him, worse than any he had ever felt before, and he reeled back, tugging against the grip of the two Gamorean guards that held him in place. Two pairs of hands clamped down on him with bruising force, and he was hauled roughly to his feet. The cry of protest that escaped his lips was muffled by the gag, and his bound hands flew up to his chest, desperately trying to shield himself as he was dragged in front of the Inquisitor and held there in an unrelenting grasp. He never stopped struggling—anything to get out of the reach of this man that felt dark and dangerous and whose strange eyes were fixed on him with an unwavering intensity that he could neither understand nor explain—but after the beating he had received last night, and the meal he had been denied that morning, he felt as weak as a newly hatched bonegnawer chick. Small and helpless, fallen from the nest. No one to protect him from the cruel mercies of the desert. Defeated, he slumped in the guards' grip, head lolling down to the floor.

"Look at me, boy," the Inquisitor hissed.

No. Anakin felt the command reverberate in his head, but he refused to obey it. He screwed his eyes shut and held himself stock still, head bowed.

"I said look at me."

The only warning he had was a sense of a strange malevolence filling the air before his head was caught in an intangible yet vice-like grip, like an invisible hand wrenching his chin up to stare into the man's face. Startled and alarmed, his eyes shot open wide, crying out beneath the gag. What—? What was—?

He froze, suddenly choking on a terror so absolute that it stole what little of his voice the cloth forced into his mouth had left him as the malevolence he had sensed surged to supercritical. It whirled around him, stinging raw at the edges of his mind like grit against exposed skin in a sandstorm. Then, it was pushing against his barriers, pushing deep into his head. Even further, into the depths of his heart, where his most precious secrets were kept, scrutinising relentlessly until the hall of the Hutt's palace seemed to melt away in shadows. He had to get away, had to get this man away from him, but he didn't know— He didn't know how—

Consumed by panic, he felt something in him push back. Push and push and push, burning out the darkness like the blazing heat of Tatooine's binary suns. Faintly, like a distant echo across the horizon of the Dune Sea, he heard a shocked yell and an angry roar. The darkness retreated, and he was dragged back into reality by the remorseless tug of a Gamorean fist in his hair. Another fist, he saw as his vision cleared, was poised to strike a blow across his face, but it was held back by the same invisible grip Anakin had been caught in not moments before.

"No." The Grand Inquisitor's voice cut through the tension in the air like a vibroblade. A gesture of one long-fingered hand, and the guard's arm dropped sharply to his side. "No, this is fascinating. Fascinating. Yes, he shall do very nicely indeed."

Even confused and disorientated as he was, not sure what had just been done to him, nor what he had done in turn, it did nothing to stop the wave of horrified nausea that threatened to overcome him at those words. The fear that had been festering in him ever since he had been hauled before Jabba's throne and informed that he had been sold to the karking Emperor of the Galaxy in exchange for the Hutt's undisturbed sovereignty on Tatooine had reached a fever pitch that was on the verge of burning him from the inside out—and anyone else who happened to be in range along with him. He had spent all his life being passed from master to master—from Gardulla, who had seen no use for him except as winnings to throw into a betting pool, to Watto, who had valued his talents but hadn't had the strength to keep him, and finally to Jabba, the champion podracer who had defeated Sebulba another addition to his collection of costly slaves that he surrounded himself with in lieu of rich jewels and lavish furnishings. But this master, this master who wanted him for reasons that were a mystery to him—reasons that he wasn't sure he would have understood even if he were told, who wanted him so much that he was prepared to part with a considerable sum of money and potential territory, however insignificant, on the Outer Rim in order to acquire him... At least he had known why Jabba had torn him away from his mother after he'd won the Boonta Eve Classic. This master, poised to tear him from his homeworld, was an unknown, and one that terrified him beyond anyone or anything he had ever encountered on Tatooine.

"What happened here?" Anakin flinched as he felt the fingertips of the Inquisitor's black-gloved hand brush lightly across his injured temple. He didn't want the man touching him. He didn't want him touching him. But the guard still held him by the hair and he couldn't—

"The boy is defiant," came Jabba's voice from behind him. Ha, defiant. The slug had always called him defiant. Maybe defiant enough that the Emperor wouldn't even want him and—"He tried to run. My guards were forced to subdue him."

The sound of TC-70 dutifully repeating the slug's words in that officious tone of his lit a spark in Anakin's chest that turned his fear into a blazing inferno. Rage and terror, remembered from the previous night, from his flight across the desert under a binary sunset, guided by the whispers on the wind that had led him through the worst of Tatooine's dangers ever since he was a child. Those whispers had been so insistent that he must not under any circumstances fall into his new master's hands that in his desperation to get away, he hadn't even cared that his transmitter chip was still in. He had known, instinctively, that Jabba wouldn't detonate it—not when he still needed him alive. But those whispers had failed him. The guards had caught up to him, knocked him unconscious when he'd tried to fight back, and dragged him, bound, back to the Hutt's palace to be thrown into a cell to await the arrival of the Emperor's representative the next day. The whispers hadn't saved him, just as they had never freed him from a single one of his masters. They had left him to his fate, and he could see no way out of it.

"Is that so?"

The Inquisitor's finger trailed down from his temple to his cheek. Again, Anakin tried—futilely—to jerk away. He would have bared his teeth if he could, but instead he made do with a hot glare and a faint growl behind the gag. Anger wasn't safe for a slave, but he doubted he would ever be safe again now, and anger made him feel far less small than fear.

"Such fury...," the Inquisitor murmured, with a soft chuckle that set Anakin's teeth on edge. He made no move to withdraw his hand from his cheek. "The Emperor will be most pleased."

Your Emperor can choke, Anakin snarled in his head, but he could fast feel himself spiralling back into terror. The Emperor, who had sent this man to fetch him, who would surely rule over his slaves as ruthlessly he ruled over the Galaxy. He wouldn't let him take him. He couldn't— But he was bound, injured, helpless, and the Inquisitor had already proven that he didn't need to lay a finger on him to restrain him.

There was nothing he could do.

"I wonder," Jabba scoffed derisively; though Anakin couldn't see his face, he could easily picture the expression that was on it - bulbous eyes narrowed to slits, "how your Emperor keeps control of the Galaxy if he finds disobedience so appealing in a slave."

Once again, TC-70's translation rang throughout the room. The Inquisitor smiled, sharp and cruel.

"Not disobedience, Lord Jabba."

His smile widened and his eyes, fixed on Anakin, glinted with a promise that chilled him to his core.

"Besides, disobedience can be curbed. Some traits, however... They are more valuable than you could possibly imagine, and I'm afraid those cannot be taught."

[athys-obelia]

hey hey hey.

so like i had a thought?

au where felix notices how down diana is about her pregnancy and approaches her. she confides in him - she's afraid for her child, any complications with their health, their future, everything. the chance she is betting on is a good life for her child with their father, but...she cannot foresee the future, after all. diana has worries as any new mother would.

(under cut for length)

and after pondering on it, felix proposes an idea: what if he could garuntee this child's safety? diana had already expressed her will to make him their godfather, shouldn't he rise to the occasion? you should run away, he tells her, and spend the rest of your pregnancy at one of my father's estates.

she agrees, albeit hesitantly. he's been distancing himself from her - claude - ever since the pregnancy, but she visits him on her last night at the palace. it is a horrible night - all goodbyes are - and claude seems to sense something. he asks of her to spend the night, and diana can't find it within herself to reject the request. she'll just have to slip during at night, she thinks.

she spends her final trimester on robane lands, under the care and knowledge of felix's father as the knight spearheads the quiet search for the emperor's favorite concubine. she feels strangely at peace.

the search intensifies as her due date nears, and the week of athanasia's birth, everything...stops. duke robane explains the emperor cannot make the loss of an heir public knowledge, and has ordered the destruction of ruby palace. the concubines have been dismissed.

diana receives a special visit a few hours before going into labour - before her is a beautiful brunette with determined eyes. diana's body grows weaker by the day, she has been bedridden for the past few days, but she feels content. her child will be fine. so will her lover. claude may think her selfish after this, though she supposes if it can garuntee her baby's smile, she will accept it. she can be selfish if needed.

the obelian skies mirror the chaotic silence within the imperial palace. the young emperor has not made an appearance in the audience hall for days. his tailor has not received any orders for the usual military attire lately - rather, the instructions detail a simplistic, pure white fabric, as if...almost as if he were in mourning. the eerie calm seems to foreshow a storm.

and amidst the rain and thunder roaring across the empire, under the gaze of an ever loyal knight and a young lady, a princess is born quiet. her declining breaths reflect her mother's. "she has your eyes, my lady," says lilian york, "her father's beautiful colouring, but the strength is from you. the strength you have given her. she will live with power."

"and love?" the new mother asks weakly.

"lots," the knight swears. "a child borne of love deserves nothing less."

she is safe, my daughter - my daughter is...

Xx

by the end of the week, the imperial directory is edited at the command of his majesty, the emperor. a new name is added.

athanasia de alger obelia.

lilian york sighs at the babe in her arms. "the undying...what a cruel joke. his majesty can't possibly know whether lady diana or the little princess are still alive."

"no - it is the name lady diana expressed her partiality for," felix says with a slight smile, "it is a dare."

little athanasia groans.

Xx

athanasia de alger obelia - or, more commonly, athanasia robane - has seen many families. lilian does not what to say when the princess wonders why she cannot call her 'mother'. why she cannot address the men she believes to be her father and grandfather as such, why her grandfather refers to her as 'my lady'.

at the age of four, athanasia has stopped asking such questions. lilian cannot help but marvel at the way she avoids the topic with an intelligence that should realistically be far beyond her years.

athanasia's grandfather has made habit of asking her the same question as he tucks her in every night. "are you happy, my lady?"

she nods every time - it is such an obvious answer, after all. "athy is so happy, grandpapa! thiiiiis much!! why do you always ask that?"

her grandfather smiles. athy loves that her grandfather smiles so much. "i come from a family of knights, my lady. we are taught to honour our promises first and foremost."

"did you promise someone you would keep me happy, grandpapa?"

duke robane raises an amused eyebrow. "aren't you chatty today? get some sleep, sweet one. i will be here in the morning."

he always is.

xx

duke robane tends to frequent the palace often. today, however, is a special day.

"were you on your way to the hall?" the emperor inquires, running into the red haired noble on his walk.

he bows in greeting. "i was not. i did not wish to bother you today, your majesty. i know you do not like to be disturbed during this time of year."

claude rather likes duke robane. he is relatively tolerable, like an older, wiser version of felix. "then what are doing outside the palace?"

"i was on my way to town, your majesty, with a... family member. her birthday is arriving soon, you see, but she was quite taken with your beautiful gardens, so i let her wander outside - i wouldn't dare allow her inside without your majesty's approval, of course."

claude raises an eyebrow. "a family member?"

"my granddaughter, sire."

claude glances at felix curiously. "i was not aware of this... development. how many children are you fathering when you're not bothering me?"

felix snorts.

"er...a foster granddaughter, your majesty."

"i do not see her here. i assume she is felix's current heir, is she not? i should be offended you have not introduced us."

"she is playing a game, sire," duke robane explains, "she has gone to hide and i am to find her. it is called hide and seek, as i am told."

he winces at the familiar voice calling out, "grandpapa!! look at this shiny flowe-"

little athanasia's face pales.

"my lady, meet his majesty, the emperor of the Obelian empire."

the blonde princess clutches her grandfather's sleeve. "from... from athy's books?"

felix cannot tear his gaze away from the emperor's face - or rather, the jewelled eyes that stare at his goddaughter.

claude could laugh. that face, even with her eyes matching the prominent robane silvery eyes...felix must really take him for an idiot, he thinks. really, he should be offended. he remembers putting felix in charge of the search years ago... lying to the emperor? disguising a member of the imperial family to pass off as their own? in what land would this not be a crime?

still, this...this 'athy' looks happy. or looked happy, before she saw him. only a fool would grow to be jovial in the palace, so claude wonders whether thank you may be in order for keeping his child so cheery.

then again, this said under the assumption that he would've kept the child alive in the first place.

claude glances at duke robane - the man is usually so poised, he thinks he'll have some fun while this little charade is up.

"what is your name?" he asks blankly.

the duke interjects, "we call her athy, sire. the name athena truly fits her - she is a very bright child."

ah, interesting...felix's father seems to both be smarter and care for the girl more than claude initially credited him.

"hide and seek," claude muses, barely making an effort to hide his smirk, "so, you've finally decided to come out of hiding."

Xx

"i was on my way to the lake. get ready to join me."

duke robane glances at five year old athanasia - she had been called to the palace for tea with the emperor once, after which their little tea parties became something of a common occurrence. he had faced hell and beyond trying to keep it under wraps - at least felix's position as the emperor's guard was a comfort.

"your majesty, forgive me, but the lady hasn't learnt to swim. i fear it may be dangerous."

athanasia shoots him a look - don't argue with the emperor, grandpapa!

"what's there to worry about when she's with me?" claude asks, eyebrow quirked, "besides. the three of you should be quite used to playing dangerous games by now."

felix sputters. "your, your majesty?"

yes, dealing with house robane is much more entertaining than roger alpheus could hope to be...

"what was it? hide and seek. your daughter could get lost, isn't that sort of thing very dangerous?"

athanasia raises an eyebrow at him, unimpressed, as felix flushes red. claude finds himself wondering - not for the first time - what goes inside her head? it's not uncommon for this child of five to react with the maturity of an adult, intriguingly.

"lets go, uncle!" she exclaims, offering him her hand as he's seen the duke and felix hold it often. she interwined her fingers with his once he accepts her hand. so small, it is. small and soft, as if he could crush her with the littlest force.

claude stares at her platinum blonde hair, a hint of a smile playing on his features. "robane has gotten quite daring lately. of course, a bold house will raise a bold child."

Xx

"grandpapa?"

duke robane glances at the blonde in his doorway - how out of place her bright hair had once looked, bouncing around in contrast to the rich, deep browns and reds of the robane mansion. the estate seems to lose life whenever his foster granddaughter visits the palace, now. as per their little custom, she visits him in his study at her return. "my lady. come."

"i have to greet lily soon or she'll get mad. she hates when i meet you without being dressed for it. but i really wanted to see grandpapa." she grins brightly, and he thinks her smile is the gods compensating for the moon's quiet glow. the princess takes her place on his lap. "what are you doing, grandpapa?"

"there's some trouble at the border. i'm only looking over our damages, i'll be done soon."

athanasia's grandpapa has never once dismissed her questions claiming she's too young. he's never withheld knowledge she's asked for. sure, he makes it so the terms are easier for her to understand, but she's never been out of the loop. "how has the emperor been to you, sweet one?"

"i almost called him daddy today," she admits, feeling her grandfather's hand on her shoulder tighten.

"oh?"

athanasia chuckles. "well, that's a lie. i did call him that. but...he seemed okay with it."

"truly?"

"yeah! he's so odd. he even told me i should stop wearing so much red and black."

"what did you say to that?" the duke asks.

"i told him they were my house colours, obviously. i can't just stop wearing my house colours! he said purple suits me better. i mean, if i was his daughter or something i could wear a lot of purple. it's the imperial family's colour, isn't it?"

he clears his throat. "...you were at the palace for the entire day, my dear, weren't you bored?"

"not really. oh! i met a magician today too."

"a magician?"

"mhm! everyone at the palace is so weird, honestly. apparently he's been sleeping there ever since emperor aeternitas? i don't know, he was really strange."

"emperor aeternitas? from nearly two hundred years ago? what else do you remember about this mage, my lady?"

she presses her finger to her chin. "to tell you the truth, grandpapa, he was very pretty. like...really pretty."

athanasia's grandfather gives her a smile she has learnt to be vary of. "are you interested in this magician, my child? i don't mind extending an invitation for the pair of you to become better acquainted."

"grandpapa! when will you stop trying to become a matchmaker?"

duke robane sighs playfully. "i'm only thinking of your future, my lady. your debutante is not too far - you will need an escort to dance the night away with."

she pouts. "i can dance with you, grandpapa."

he chuckles, and the silence stretches until athanasia breaks it once more, murmuring a soft, "no."

"no?" her grandfather echoes, confused.

"that's a 7," she says, pointing towards the document he's been working on. "not 3, that was last time. grandpapa told me the border towns have a larger population now, so that needs to be factored in, doesn't it?"

duke robane studies the calculation, the surprise evident in his sharp features. "hm?...you're right, thank you."

she grins. "i've been working on my sums lately! aren't you proud of me, grandpapa?"

"always, sweet one. you're very smart to be at this level so young."

athanasia beams. "i mean, you taught me everything so it's almost like you're praising yourself, you know?" her grandfather laughs at that, the sound deep and familiar. "anyway, are these real gold? they're very pretty." she gestures towards a box of earrings resting on her grandfather's desk.

"they were your mother's," the duke tells her, feeling the girl stiffen. "i planned to give them to you at your return."

"they're very...siodonnan," she remarks almost awkwardly. "very pretty."

"she wanted you to have them. apparently they were a gift."

"oh."

he confirms with a slight chuckle, "they are gold, authentic. that fascinates you, doesn't it? you've always been quite taken with shiny things, ever since you were a child. your grandfather was like that too, athanasia."

"you're like that?"

the duke of house robane blinks in surprise once. then twice.

Xx

felix stares at the eleven year old in the emperor's bed. blonde hair spilled all over the pillows, her frail body hidden under the covers. how...?

he hadn't registered the passage of time at all. the emperor's index and middle fingers rest on athanasia's forehead, his own creased in concentration and annoyance. felix can't even help the fury building within himself.

"your majesty," he begins cautiously - claude has been a wild card ever since watching his daughter cough up blood at the breakfast table. the massacre everyone was on edge about eleven years ago at ruby palace would've been inevitable yesterday had athanasia's childhood friend - the mage - not arrived as early as he had. "you should rest."

claude's gaze turns to him dangerously. "do not tell me to rest when-"

the girl stirs uncomfortably, her eyes opening. she glances at felix before tugging on her father's sleeve weakly. "papa...?" tears prick at the corner of the young princess's eyes.

oh, that's right - felix remembers his father having the talk with the princess a few months ago. she had accepted the new information quietly, and rather quickly, to the both robane mens' surprise. the princess had started bringing her father flowers on her visits from then, and as if in return, claude had an entire garden in built where ruby palace would've been.

the emperor's hand returns to his daughter's forehead and she blinks sleepily a few times before drifting right back to sleep. the magic has long worn off - neither father nor daughter had flinched at the sight of her shimmering blue eyes. if anything, felix had seen claude's shoulders relax.

the emperor lets out a small sigh. "i will not be here when she wakes." he traces the soft collar of her purple nightgown. "and should she consent, see to it that athanasia moves into emerald palace by the end of the month. she has been fostered long enough."

oh, his father would definitely not like that.

Xx

"are you mad, papa?" athanasia asks, the sequins of her debutante dress glittering bright u der the lights of the hall..

"why would i be? did someone dare say something to y-"

she latches onto his arm before her father has a chance to finish. "no! nobody could dare offend me on my debut. especially when i have you by my side."

"then you do you ask?"

she plays with the intricate patterns on the arm of his outfit. "because i refused to move in with you? trust me, papa, i didn't mean to hurt you at all...i was only..." scared. it was at the debutante, wasn't it? when you chose jennette over the real athy.

"it was simply your choice," the emperor tells her flatly. "and i seem to recall you delaying it. not refusing."

athanasia laughs sheepishly. "that's right. i don't want to force myself into your life. i really love our time together though, papa."

her breath hitches as claude halts in his step. his hand raises to her jawline, thumb brushing against against her earrings. "where...? where did you..."

"papa? do you need to sit down?"

it does the trick, snapping her father out of whatever trance he had been under.

"won't you dance again? i'll be here," he encourages, and athanasia nods. she's shared one with her godfather, one with ezekiel alpheus...

"what are you doing here, your highness?" duke robane inquires, separating himself from his conversation partners.

"won't you dance with me, grandpapa?"

the duke can't help but smile at the way she addresses him. "you were escorted by his majesty, sweet one. why do you wish to spend your precious time with this lowly servant?"

"grandpapa!"

he sighs with a fond smile. "alright, alright. but even dancing with fathers is out of fashion nowadays, princess. and you're here, asking me?"

she frowns, unimpressed. "i think you don't want to dance because you're so tall. are you calling me unskilled?"

he gives her a charming smile. "how could i dare?"

"don't you remember, grandpapa? in your study?" she extends her hand with a familiar smirk, "i come from a family of knights, my lord. we are taught to honour our promises first and foremost."

and really, when has duke robane ever been able to refuse his granddaughter?

a/n: literally what is this. why is this. when i say i only meant to write a drabble-

but!! duke robane never hesitates in standing up for his granddaughter, even against the emperor! athy and found family!! honestly i love the dukes' conflict here - alpheus with jennette and robane with athy :)

claude and his subtle shade 🙃

lily and the robanes honoring their promise to diana and teaching athy both love and strength <3

the magic explosion thing happened much later, and with slightly different claude/athy dynamics - he certainly can't take her presence for granted, she doesn't doesn't even live with him yet (she wants to!! the insecurities around jennette are just acting up rn)

athy will have support during amnesia arc + ana's antics!!!

[sergeantsporks]

Nowhere Else to Go

Rating: Teen, Gen

Graphic depictions of violence, Major character death.

TW: Self-harm, mentioned child abuse, emotional manipulation

Chapter 1/4: Houseguest

The titan's plan wasn't some glorious purpose. Hunter found that out the hard way. And now there's not many places he can turn to.

Ao3

“I’m going to get more elixir.”

“Thank you, Mother.”

“I will be gone for a few hours.”

“Right.”

“You’ll be okay alone for a few hours?”

 Lilith looked up from where she was poring over a few of the ancient scrolls her mother had picked up trying to heal Eda—even if they were mostly hoaxes, there was likely a grain of truth in them. “Yes, Mom. I’m sure I can handle a few hours on my own.” Probably better than I do when you’re hovering over my shoulder.

Her mother paused at the door. “Love you, sweet flea.”

“Love you too, mom.”

And then she was gone. It was an… odd sensation, having her mother so worried about her. Caring so much. Lilith could almost understand why Eda had felt so smothered.

That didn’t mean it was a necessarily bad feeling. Just… different.

Lilith stretched and yawned, rubbing her eyes. Alright. Time to stop staring at bogus documents before she started needing to wear glasses all of the time again.

A knock at the door echoed through the silent house, and she frowned. No way that her mother was back yet. Lilith scribbled a few glyphs down  on scraps of paper and approached the door slowly, opening it with a jerk. The world tilted and dropped away beneath her.

Belos was at the door.

He’d come to finish her off—

What if her mother came home?!

“Lilith—” Belos started.

Lilith didn’t give him the chance to get any further. She slapped one of her light glyphs, squeezing her eyes shut as the flash went off, then went on the offensive, kicking Belos in the chest.

“I might not be the witch I used to be, but I am not powerless,” she hissed, sweeping his legs out from underneath him and tracing a quick ice glyph in the dirt to make shackles of ice that locked him in place.

“Wait!” Belos yelped, “It’s not—I’m not—Lilith, I’m not the emperor!”

“That is just about the worst ploy I’ve ever heard. Any last words before I rid the Boiling Isles of your rot?”

“You were the one who burned a shelf of library books because you were using wild magic!” he yelped in a very un-Belos-like voice.

It was an incredibly random detail to bring up, and filled her with a really ridiculous amount of annoyance given the situation she was in. “That brat! He promised he wouldn’t tell you!”

“I didn’t!” Belos protested, then after a second, “Hey, brat?! Really?!”

Waitasecond. Lilith squinted at him. “…Golden Guard?”

“Not anymore,” Belos replied sullenly.

Right. There was probably a reasonable explanation for this. “You… hit a growth spurt? And changed the outfit?”

He didn’t reply. Lilith heard something that sounded suspiciously like a sniff. “Are you… okay?” she ventured.

“NO, I’m NOT!” he burst, “Uncle Belos, he did—I don’t know, something, and now I’m stuck in his rotting body, and I… I don’t understand!”

A single tear rolled out from under Belos’ mask, and Lilith ripped the thing off.

Oh.

Oh, that was gross. Lilith stumbled back with a yelp. “What is that?!”

“Oh, what, like you turning into a great big owl monster is any better?” he retorted.

“Yes! Yes it is!” Lilith melted the ice shackles, squinting at him. “What… what happened?!”

“I don’t know,” he repeated, sitting up, “It’s a curse of some kind, but he never told me anything about it, I just…”

“No, wait, better question. Why did you come here?! We’ve never gotten along—what are you playing?”

He looked away, his hands balling Belos’ robes up into fists. “I… didn’t know where else to go.”

“My sister would have been a better bet,” Lilith said flatly, “She seems to be making a habit of collecting strays recently. Let’s see, misplaced demon king, human, bird worm—yes, I do believe a kid trapped in the body of her worst enemy would fit right in.”

“You think I didn’t consider that first? But I’m willing to bet that’s exactly where Belos will be going. If he plays the runaway card, your sister will be putty in his—or my, technically—hands. And I don't think they'd listen to me while I look like this.”

The momentary flare of hurt that Eda was, once again, the first choice, was almost immediately overturned with the thought of Belos sneaking into the owl house. Lilith ran for her mother’s crystal ball. “I’ve got to warn her!”

The golden guard hesitated in the doorway, watching her as she opened and slammed shut cabinets. She glanced at him. “What?!”

“Can I—you never answered—”

“What? Yes. Fine. Come in. Try not to get that weird face slime on the floor, my mother will freak.” Lilith tore through the cabinets. “Oh, come on! I know she has one! Hey, guard boy, help me look.”

“Don’t call me that.”

Lilith rolled her eyes, performing a smarmy little bow as she opened another drawer. “Oh, do lower thineself to help such a peasant as I, Golden Guard, sir.”

He scooted a little further into the house, checking under the couch. “Just Hunter. Please.”

Lilith paused, mid-slamming of a cabinet door. “That’s your name?”

“Of course it is!”

Of cOuRsE iT iS. Lilith finished slamming the cabinet shut. “Pardon me, but you never deigned to tell me! Or Kikimora!”

“The human never told you, though?”

“The hu—Luz? Oh, of course you told her. Sure. Why not? I suppose I’m always the last to know.” Lilith opened one last cabinet. “Oh, finally!” she pulled out the crystal ball. “Owl House. Edalyn Clawthorne.”

The ball went hazy, then re-asserted itself to a lovely view of Hooty’s face. “LULU!!!!!”

Despite the severity of the situation, despite the fact that Hunter-in-the-body-of-Belos was standing right there—hiding behind the couch, actually what was he doing there?—Lilith felt a smile creep over her face. “Hootcifer! Hey, the Golden Guard hasn’t shown his face around there, has he?”

“Bad but sad? Noooooope!”

“I resent that nickname,” Hunter muttered from his hiding spot.

“Okay. Good. I need you to make sure he doesn’t come in, and if Edalyn tries to bring him in… let him know exactly why it was so hard for me to capture my sister.”

“Okay! Any reason why?”

“Belos is up to something. I can’t tell you much over the crystal ball, I don’t know who’s watching. But the Golden Guard is part of it, and you can’t trust him. Don’t let him in, no matter what sob story he sells.”

“Got it, Lulu!”

The crystal ball faded to its usual blue color, and Lilith knelt on the couch, peering over the back at Hunter. “…What are you doing?”

“I’d think it was pretty obvious.”

Lilith thought she just might strangle this kid before the day was out. “Okay, fine. Why are you hiding behind the couch?”

“Because I look like Belos, and if they saw me here, they’d probably come swooping to your rescue.”

Lilith crossed her arms. “Maybe I’ll let them. So what if Belos was using you? He used all of us, you’re not special. At least I was trying to help my sister and fix the mistake I made. What’s your excuse?”

“I… don’t have one.”

“Wonderful.” Lilith grabbed the back of his robes, yanking him up to his feet. “Out. If Belos comes looking for you—”

Hunter grabbed her wrist, panicked. “Please don’t kick me out! I don’t…”

“Have anywhere else to go, I know.” Lilith twisted her arm out of his grasp. “Fine. Fine. Luckily for you, I’m trying to be a… better person.”

Hunter snorted.

“Do you want to stay here or not, brat?”

“Don’t call me that.”

“Then stop acting like one! Belos told you that you were special, and you believed him. This body swap thing? That’s why you were special, okay, it wasn’t because you had some great purpose, you weren’t meant to save anyone, or make the world a better place or any of that, you were just the perfect vessel for him to stick his slimy soul in, so don’t act like you’re better than me, because you’re not.”

Hunter jerked back, his lip quivering. Lilith took in a deep breath. Okay. Maybe that had been a bit too far—she had to remind herself that this kid was Luz’s age, just about, and he hadn’t really had anyone but Belos. “Belos was… good at making people do what he wanted. He uses people and then throws them away. I know. I get it. I’ve been there. You don’t even realize what he’s doing until he’s already cast you aside. But you’re here now—you know what he’s like, you know what he does. Welcome to Belos’ garbage can, Hunter. You better get used to it here, because Belos isn’t taking you back.”

The door burst open. “Lilith, who are yelling a—”

Lilith whirled around to see her mother standing in the door. She dropped the sack she was carrying and summoned her staff. “YOU!”

“Mother, wait—”

Too late. Her mother practically flew across the room, delivering a flawless blow to Hunter’s gut. He stumbled back, tripping over Belos’ robes and landing on the floor. Lilith’s mother raised the staff again, bringing it down on his head.

“YOU! YOU HURT MY DAUGHTERS!” whack. “YOU HUNT THEM LIKE ANIMALS!” whack. “AND NOW YOU’RE BACK?!” wham. “YOU’RE NOT TAKING MY DAUGHTER AWAY AGAIN, YOU MONSTER!”

Lilith grabbed her mother’s staff before she could hit Hunter again. “Wait, Mother, it’s not what you think! It’s not Belos—it’s the Golden Guard!”

“Please stop hitting me!” Hunter yelped, his arm up to shield himself from any more blows.

“The… Sweet Flea, I’m not sure that’s any better.”

Lilith gently pried her mother’s fingers from her staff. “It’s… complicated, but he’s not working for Belos anymore. Long story short, he needs a place to stay for a bit, and… if it’s okay with you—”

“If it’s okay with you, Lilith, it’s okay with me. If you’re sure he’s not up to anything.”

Hunter’s hands twisting Belos’ robes as he told her he didn’t have anywhere else flashed through her mind, and she nodded. “I’m sure. He’s… just a kid. An annoying one, yes, but.”

“A kid,” her mother sighed, “When I find the real Belos…”

“I’m sure it’ll hurt,” Hunter squeaked from the floor.

“I do apologize for that.”

Lilith hauled Hunter back to his feet. “Alright, alright, let’s find somewhere for you to take a nap, you look awful.”

“I… don’t think a nap is going to fix this.”

Lilith’s mother sloshed a bottle of elixir in one hand. “No, but I know what might help!”

“I… I don’t know. If fixing this curse was that easy, I think Belos would have—”

Mrs. Clawthorn uncorked the bottle and shoved in his mouth while he was talking. “Who said anything about fixing it? Make it manageable, perhaps, if what Edalyn and Lilith have told me is true. Drink your potion and take a nap.”

“It can’t hurt,” Lilith said quietly, “I think.”

Hunter did drink the elixir, then spit the bottle out with a grimace. “Okay, that’s horrible.”

Lilith pulled him upstairs to… Eda’s old room. “Don’t touch her stuff,” she warned, “I’m going to see about getting you something else to wear, you keep tripping on those robes. You should fit into some of my dad’s clothes.”

“Okay. Uh… I… appreciate it, Lilith.”

Lilith froze halfway through the doorway. “Sure,” she managed, “Just… don’t sell me out to Belos.” She quickly shut the door. Her mother was waiting down the hallway.

“What is the story, Lilith?”

Lilith shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other. “Hunter… he’s been in the Emperor’s Coven since he was a kid. No magic to speak of, but he could do impressive things with a staff. We… never really got along, that’s just the way it was there. We were always competing for Belos’ favor, at each other’s throats to stay on top. Belos… always said that Hunter was special, and that the titan had plans for him. Turns out… that plan was… to steal his body. It was never the Titan’s plan, it was always Belos, planning to get out of his own cursed body.”

“Is there a way to reverse it? To switch them back?”

“I don’t know. Hunter doesn’t seem to remember what happened—it might just be shock, though. Maybe he’ll remember more about what Belos did, and we can reverse this—but we’d probably need his body back, and I’m not sure we’ll be able to find Belos.”

“One problem at a time, Sweet Flea. Let’s focus on getting him settled in, first. How long do you think he’ll need to stay?”

Lilith crossed her arms. “Long enough for me to explain the situation to Edalyn, at least, at which point he’s probably going to ditch us for her.”

“Oh, Lilith. Don’t think like that.”

Lilith glanced back at Eda’s room, making sure the door was still closed. “Actually… I… I don’t think he has that much time left,” she said in a low voice, “Maybe Emperor Belos just was inconvenienced by the curse enough that he decided to make the switch. But… I’m thinking taking over Hunter’s body was an escape plan. For when he got close to… you know.”

Her mother gasped. “You think…”

Lilith folded her arms, hugging herself. “The elixir might hold it off. Give him more time. But… probably not enough time for us to reverse this.”

“We… we can’t just give up, can we?”

“I’m not going to give up,” Lilith promised, “I’ll keep looking. But… I’m just saying that it might be all we can do to make him comfortable before… before the curse finishes what it started and… Hunter dies.”

Ch 2

[histoireettralala]

The Reichsdeputationshauptschluss.

The tacit recognition by Prussia, Austria, and Russia, of the French consolidation in Switzerland and northern Italy was a consequence of the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss, or Imperial Recess, which was made necessary by French territorial expansion during the late 1790s. The Revolutionary Wars had fractured the power of the Holy Roman Empire, which had shaped German history for the better part of eight hundred years. In 1795 the treaty of Basle, by which Prussia recognised French control of the left bank of the Rhine while France returned all of the lands east of the Rhine captured during the war, marked a crucial moment in German history. It consolidated French control of the Rhineland and divided Germany into spheres of influence, with the northern one, dominated by Prussia, effectively deserting the imperial cause. Despite his pledges to defend southern German polities, including dozens of imperial counts and knights, Emperor Francis II was unable to stem the tide of French aggression, and this effectively undermined his leadership among the German states. More important, French expansion into the Rhineland resulted in the dispossession of the many German secular and ecclesiastical princes, and, according to Article VII of the Treaty of Lunéville, German princes who had incuredd losses during the coalition wars, had to be compensated. In practice this meant mediatization and secularization, with fhe former signifying "the subjugation of lesser territorial units to stronger states, while the latter meant the annexation of ecclesiastical principalities by larger secular states."

In October 1801 the Diet of the Holy Roman Empire had formed a committee to discuss plans for such reorganization. Composed of representatives of Mainz, Bohemia, Brandenburg, Saxony, Bavaria, Württemberg, Hesse-Cassel and the Hoch-und Deutschmeister (grand master of the Teutonic Order), this deputation largely accepted decisions already made in a series of bilateral agreements between France, Austria, Prussia, Russia and the German states. In a revival of the traditional French policy of Austrian containment, Bonaparte sought to weaken the Habsburgs both territorially and politically in Germany, where he wanted to create a group of middle-sized German states (dependent on France) as a counterweight to Austria. He conveyed the central tenets of his Germany policy in a letter to Foreign Minister Talleyrand. Bonaparte's intention was "not to compromise in any way France's position in German affairs" but also "not to take even the hundredth of a chance that could break the peace." Above all, the future of German rearrangement depended on ensuring that "more than ever a disunion exists between Berlin and Vienna."

France's aims echoed in Russia, which had secured the right to intervene in German affairs with the treaty of Teschen, which ended the War of the Bavarian Succession in 1779. Russian Emperor Alexander I was keenly interested in strengthening the German states of Württemberg, Baden, and Hesse-Darmstadt, all of which were dynastically linked to the House of Romanov. Bonaparte understood this, writing to his brother that " it [would be] difficult to negotiate respecting Germany without cooperation of [Russia]." Consequently, in June 1802, Russia and France had reached an agreement outlining key elements of the indemnification on the right bank of the Rhine and paving the way for the transformation of German states.

Austrian efforts to counter French (and Russian) designs by seeking closer relations with France or developping an alliance with Prussia and Bavaria and offering the latter some territorial compensations proved to be in vain. Upon learning of Austrian advances toward Bavaria, Bonaparte wrote directly to Maximilian Joseph, Elector of Bavaria, assuring him that "the proposition made to Your Highness by the House of Austria conforms so perfectly to the constant aims of that august House that it appears to me to be contrary to the interest of your own." More important, France successfully divided the German states and secured Bavarian and Prussian support by offering them far more generous compensations than Austria was willing to consider; once it became known that Russia would join France in a common mediation, many secondary German states scrambled to seek the favor of the French government, thereby further weakening Austria's position.

The Imperial Recess represented one of the most extensive redistributions of property in European history. This process directly affected the smaller states of the imperial knights and ecclesiastic princes, whose territories were designated for absorption by larger states. The Imperial Recess eliminated 112 sovereign estates, including 66 ecclesiastical principalities and dozens of estates belonging to imperial knights; of the ten electoral states that existed in 1792, four now became part of France. Some three million German subjects had to change their allegiance [...]

Together with the further reorganization of Germany into the Confederation of the Rhine in 1806, the Imperial Recess determined the geopolitical structure of Germany for much of the nineteenth century. It greatly simplified the political map of Germany and turned the Holy Roman Empire into an obsolescent entity whose dissolution was all but inevitable, as the leading German states were keen to profit from its growing weakness. The Reichsdeputationshauptschluss was perhaps beneficial for Germany in the long term, but in the short term it effectively undermined the existing international order in Europe. While an indirect threat to Britain, French intervention in Germany was a direct challenge to Austrian and Russian interests in the region. That France could bring about a revolution so effortlessly (at least it seemed so to many contemporaries) can be explained by several factors. The great-powers rivalries abetted the French. Britain could do little to stop these processes, while Russia participated in them and accepted faits accomplis. Prussia also collaborated with the French, as it sought to ensure peace in Europe through a triple alliance of Russia, France and Prussia that would have partitioned Europe into spheres of influence and guaranteed the neutrality of the states within each sphere. Prussia, naturally, expected to reserve for itself the hegemony of northern Germany and was willing to overlook French trangressions in Italy and southern Germany in exchange for rich bounty elsewhere. Prussia's gain, however, would have been Austria's loss. Vienna had vested interests in Germany and should have resisted more forcefully, but it did not; its armies were defeated, its allies indifferent, its revenues declining, and its state debt growing. From an Austrian point of view, Prussia could not be trusted because of existing enmity, while Russia's support inevitably would have resulted in the sacrifice of some Austrian interests and strengthening of the Russian position in the region, and because of the close relations between Russia and Prussia, that would have meant gains for Prussia as well.

The establishment of French hegemony over the southern German states was the result of both military and diplomatic victories. Throughout 1801 and 1802 Bonaparte outmaneuvered his rivals by exploiting existing squabbles among the Germanic states and the great powers; when Austria tried to use force to discourage territorial changes in Germany, Bonaparte quickly sided with Prussia and Bavaria, offering them generous compensation. The Franco-Russian accords of 1801 further strengthened France's hand in southern Germany. Bonaparte did not ignore Russian interests but rather sought common cause with them. If there was one thing France, Russia and Prussia agreed on, it was the desirability of seeing Austrian power reduced in central Europe. Without any allies, Austria had no choice but to back down. Bonaparte's diplomacy, centered on gaining the cooperation of Prussia and Russia and decreasing Austrian influence by attracting to France's orbit a group of middle-sized German states, thus proved to be decisive in determining the fate of Germany. As radical as the change may seem, there was considerable support for secularization and reorganization within the Holy Roman Empire, as many of those middle states were keenly interested in profiting from it. The French claim that German states would be better protected in this new arrangement was widely accepted, and states like Bavaria, Baden, and Württemberg were delighted to see their territories enlarged. Britain was not.

Alexander Mikaberidze- The Napoleonic Wars, A Global History.

Random notes:

- Ugh, Britain, nobody asked you.

- It's really the end of the Europe of Westphalia, isn't it ? Now I feel somewhat nostalgic :)

- @josefavomjaaga, would you say the Imperial Recess was more complicated to implement than the Peace of Augsburg ? From what I read about the Thirty Years War, I wouldn't bet on it. Yet the dispossession and compensation of so many people had to be a major headache. I'd like to hear more about it, if you are willing.

- Goodbye, Holy Roman Empire.

[sweet-evie]

The Emperor's Wish: My Personal Favorite [Fanfic Commentary #10]

Fanfic AO3

His final judgment is at hand. The price is set and the plan is in motion. But Emperor Lelouch uncovers his lover's secret, and it will haunt him beyond his own death.

[FANFIC COMMENTARY]

Legit, I’m proud of this one. I don’t know why… Probably not the best either. But this was incredibly self-indulgent, and hey, it turned out so well. Would you find it funny if I told you that this fic premise was in my head ever since I wanted to write for CLuCLu? Like, after watching the movie, I was always imagining how it would pan out so differently if Lelouch had a child, and C.C. is left to care for her lover and her son. 

This is my baby and my pride and joy. My only one probably 😅 There are lots of made-up quotes in that fic that I’m really (and I mean, really proud of, and I don’t say that often because my writing is ~Hit or miss~ )

Unlike One Day at a Time, this one took a genuine effort to understand characters and how they would react in this what-if situation I created in my fucked up head. 🤣😂

It was written during the thick of quarantine and lockdown last year (April 2020), and I guess that helped fuel my timeliness and speedy updates. Because I was writing fanfic for the majority of the day, with minimal breaks in-between. Some of the reviewers on FFN can attest to the daily updates I had for The Emperor’s Wish.

It started as a one-shot with the Prologue, as my way of testing the waters. When I felt secure and sure that I could finish it, I went headfirst, never looked back, and came out of the other side, proud of myself for not abandoning a WIP 😅. But that was also because I had so much fun with it. It was nice to imagine a world where Lelouch had proper closure with his friends and family.

My favorite moment from The Emperor’s Wish (aside from the blatant CLuCLu romance) is Lelouch and Suzaku’s relationship. I love how I wrote them there. I love their bromance, as well as the subtle Ned Stark & Robert Baratheon allusion towards Chapter 11: Rewriting the Stars.

Suzaku never had a brother. And Lelouch never truly liked any of his… But even if they weren't bound by blood, theirs was a bond built on so much more.

For you are the brother I chose…

Perchance if some reader is as obsessed and familiar with George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire as me, then I bet they would have caught that… Or not. And it was simply self-satisfaction for the writer. Either way, I. Don’t. Regret. It.

And of course, I loved writing it mostly because of the star of that fanfic: Alexander Lamperouge himself. 🤩

He’s now in my Sims 4 universe, as a spellcaster. 😂

My Loves and Regrets

I LOVE how I wrote Nunnally here, honestly. She’s not a character I’d imagine that I could ever pull off flawlessly, and while I don’t think I accomplished the ‘flawless’ part, I think I did a decent job fleshing out her reaction and what a decent conversation with her older brother and C.C. could have gone like, also her reaction to finding out she had a nephew.

I REGRET that I didn’t get to write a lot about Lelouch’s other friends -- Shirley, Milly, & Rivalz, to be honest. It just felt so out of left field for me to force their story somewhere in the fanfic retelling considering the entire story did revolve around the CLuCLu family. In my own way, I tried writing more for the three of them separately, but that didn’t push through, because for some reason my brain doesn’t work. The only one I made a decent attempt at is Shirley, but I didn’t publish the fic either. It was about her meeting with Lelouch again after a year or two. It was set somewhere in Dubai. She was supposed to meet his son, and see C.C. again, and the ending was supposed to have C.C. and Shirley hugging and Shirley tells C.C. to take care of Lelouch. It was a very bittersweet one-shot/drabble/plot idea that was never publicized.

I LOVE my shoddy attempt at drawing parallels between certain scenes in The Emperor’s Wish. One of the readers, Kurosawa Ayumi, actually caught it and mentioned it in a review. It was the scene where Alexander was playing with his Knightmare toys (Lancelot & Gawain), and how Lancelot was cleaved in half from being accidentally thrown or dropped, and then how Jeremiah put him back together again. And then I transitioned to the annals of the prison in Grahlbad where Lelouch and Suzaku were about to confront each other after two years of not speaking and assuming one was dead.

I REGRET that The Emperor’s Wish isn’t longer. Like, I wish I took the plunge to create complicated twists, but it just… didn’t feel right at that time, you know? 😅🤔 Considering how I framed the fanfic as a retelling and reimagination of Re;surrection’s plot from the start, I feel like it would be too far-out to suddenly make things overly complicated than they already are. Also, there literally wasn’t much information available about Shamna, Shalio, and the rest at the time.

I LOVE the scenes I added in the fic, and the ones I put my own fanfic twist on. Re;surrection was a movie, so for obvious reasons, there’s time constraints and not as much time to flesh out characters like in a series. I tried doing that in my own way in this fic, and whether I succeeded at adding believable details to their interactions or not, it’s up to the reader. I’m just relieved that I actually managed to pull it off, given how sucky I am lately.

The Epilogue

The epilogue for The Emperor’s Wish went through a lot of rewrites.

At one point, it was supposed to overtly show the CLuCLu family traveling through Georgia, Lebanon, etc., and about how exhausting and challenging it was to hunt Geass fragments, gather intel, and take care of a baby at the same time. But I scratched it in favor of the first scene in the epilogue that we have now -- which is Suzaku and Nunnally discussing the latest Black Knight report, and the convenience of the entire operation because L.L. and C.C. were involved in some ways.

Hence the lines:

"They were responsible for stopping that criminal, weren't they?" She asked even when she already knew the answer.

"Highly likely. Probably stripped him of his powers before they abandoned him to be caught by the Black Knights."

And then I decided to take the steamy-but-not-really route for the final scene. The vague lovey-dovey between Lelouch and C.C. There was also a slightly vague allusion to them getting married underneath a poplar tree.

Plus, the last line was the cherry on top of my favorite fic so far:

— professing over and over again how fortunate and how blessed he was to have and to hold her for better or for worse…

And not even Death was powerful enough to tear them apart.

And on that note,

It wasn’t the longest fic I would ever write, nor is it the best, but it’s definitely one of my favorites. 😊😍🥰 And I loved every second of writing it. 🥳