#i was an oldest daughter i know misogyny

[jameshurleyhateblog]

A lot of folks love to use trans men as an outlet for their misogynistic impulses. You're pissed at us for being gender traitors, but at least it means you can fulfill all your blatant misogynistic desires with plausible deniability. "Nooo, it's not misogyny because they're not women! Nevermind that it functions almost identically to misogyny, they're not women so it doesn't count nyeh nyeh" shut up.

[lalunanymph]

caged little birdie (m) — naoya

being naoya's wife comes with a rigid set of rules you can never escape from: always three steps behind him, never look him in the eye when he's talking to you, and the worst one of all—your pleasure kept under his lock and key

warnings: DARK CONTENT, misogyny, chastity belt, forced chastity, naoya is a sexy walking red flag, tease and denial, dubcon, [o]rgasm control, 🐱 inspection, the zen'in's archaic marriage views, mentions of pregnancy, unprotected sex, ruined [o]rgasms, breeding, naoya deserves a punch tbh

"Is it too tight, wife?"

His odious voice purred in your ear, drawing shivers of distaste rippling down your spine.

Slim fingers tugged on the belt around your hips teasingly, driving the metal ridge to grind on your aching clit. A hitched exhale escaped past your clenched teeth, and behind you, his predatory grin grew wider.

"Or, shall I tighten it even more?"

You refused to answer him, keeping your eyes steadfastly hedged onto a spot beyond his shoulder.

"Wife?" Naoya taunted, his broad chest puffing with latent power and disapproval for your little protest. "I am speaking to you."

Your abject misfortune was to be blamed when your life was exchanged for your hand in marriage to Naoya Zen'in.

As one of the oldest clans in the jujutsu world, your family had grown power hungry; drunk on the idea of land, wealth and luck when they sold off their only daughter to Naobito's heir.

Those archaic bastards' code of conduct was simple: women were meant to be seen and not heard. Bred and not respected. Controlled and watched.

Your father had even suggested to blacken your teeth, but fortunately for you (the only sliver of fortune you could think about), the young master Zen'in was not a fan of such a dated practice.

Instead, his choice of control was far more insidious than your most perverted thoughts could conjure.

Jinichi's wife—Imora—was the first one who had introduced you to the thin, metallic belt every Zen'in men gave their wives.

She wore hers with pride and a tinge of red in the apples of her cheeks.

It helps keep me focus on master Jinichi, she mused, smoothing down her kimono skirt. Anything that keeps my thoughts from pleasing him is not something I would want to entertain.

Horror inscribed your features, but with your previous world gone up in flames, this was your reality now—there was nothing you could do to fight back against this unwilling chapter in your life.

This was the burden you had to carry to make sure your family name was well-preserved. Even at the expense of your dignity and sanity.

"Wife—"

Growing ill with his grating voice, you nodded. "It fits perfectly, husband."

The poisonous note in your voice didn't serve to dissuade him. In fact, it got him harder—looking for more ways to tease and rile you up.

"You know, my brother told me ever since he belted his wife, she's been all over him like a bitch in heat," he drawled, skittering his fingers over your bare waist. You flexed your fingers, fighting to keep them from closing into fists. Patiently waiting for this torture to be over.

The heat of his broad chest nearly turned you dizzy, the expanse of skin pressing to the softness of your own bare back. It was still early in the morning and Naoya had not yet changed into his standard dark blue kimono and white shirt—just in his hakama pants and arrogant disposition.

"I wonder," his lips were now at the juncture of your neck, puffs of hot breath drawing gooseflesh down your spine. "How this pretty little caged birdie will react if I did this?"

Before you could ask him what he was planning to do, you heard the belt unlock.

The coolness of the room air was second to your syrupy gasp—frightening you with how freeing and open you felt now that there wasn't a ridge of metal in between your legs.

Clanging to the floor, Naoya barely paid attention to the noise the chastity belt made—eager to part your folds and drink in the sight of your swollen clit.

"How long has it been, wife?"

The warm press of his palm cradled your womb. "Since you last came," he added, after sensing your stunned silence.

"Two weeks ago" you mumbled, hiding your face behind your hair. Doing everything you could to not be noticed by him. "Before we got married," you added as an afterthought.

"Hmm."

His chest vibrated with the force of his stuffy hum, and you flinched when he grazed two fingers across your mound.

Taking what was his without any regard for your comfort, Naoya spread your folds apart, using the tip of his ring finger to gently prod and tap on your clit.

The ache that simple touch set off in your body was unnerving—more so compared to the whimper you expelled when he started to circle and rub the swollen nub.

Pleasure, searing hot and bursting at the seams, exploded across your body like a lightning strike. Every inch of your skin felt like you were on fire; how sensitive and receptive you were to his touches nearly drove you to your knees to dissolve in reckless sobs.

You unwittingly clamped one hand around his wrist, not to push him away or encourage him, but to anchor around the dizzying curlicues he set off in your cotton-headed thoughts.

"Fuck," Naoya's curse brushed the hypersensitive skin of your shoulder with blatant arousal. "You're dripping for me."

Casting one look to in between your trembling thighs, you nearly cried out at the sight of your traitorous pussy leaving strings of slick and rings of cream around his long fingers.

Fuck, fuck. Cursing your body's blatant betrayal, you tried to gain control of the situation again, forcing your scattered thoughts to focus on loathing the man behind you.

But, it was all wasted effort.

One could never bite the hand that fed them, and you weren't able to hate Naoya, not when he was bringing you blistering pleasure just from his fingers alone.

Your saccharine cry of pleasure bounced across the room, no doubt filtering past the thin shoji doors where the poor servants could overhear.

Naoya was quick to clamp his free hand around your mouth; other hand busy taking his time to build up your climax with those infuriating digits.

He patted the thin hair coating your pubes, pulled your hood back lightly to tap tap tap his index on your engorged clit. All the while he sucked sloppy kisses on your neck, lost in the scent of vanilla drifting from your skin and hair.

Your eyes were rolling into the back of your skull, the whites glimmering in the weak morning rays. Naoya felt a bloom of heat crest past his masculine urge to decimate your self-control, fully rearing up to claim you.

But, he was pushing it too soon.

He had to make sure to be the one in control; the one steering this marriage.

With a heavy heart and even heavier balls, he popped his fingers out of your heat, wiping the slick off on your thigh.

You had slumped back against his chest, and a tiny spark of satisfaction ignited right in his core from your little lapse of stoicism. It seemed you needed him as much as he did, in this instance.

Through the fog of your mind, you felt the metal biting into your skin; heard the tiny click as Naoya locked you back again.

There was nothing that could prepare you for how much you ached after that; every part of you was throbbing—the spot in between your legs, your thrumming pulse. You were nothing more than sensation, wrecked apart by your husband's simple touch.

Devastated eyes charted the path of your chastity belt's key disappearing into his pocket, and Naoya grunted.

"I'll see you tomorrow at the same time for the same inspection, wife."

Your heart sank. How long could you take this torture?

Glancing down at the thin strip of metal allowing just the tip of your clit to peek through, you had to fight back a sob.

It seems like there was no answer to your startling predicament.

Naoya had not expected you to corner him right after dinner.

Your heated cheeks and twisting fingers spoke volumes of your anxiety, and he let you stew in those thoughts, completely charmed by how you were struggling to string together a coherent sentence.

"Imora..." you trailed off, unable to look him in the eye. "Imora-chan told me that she suspects she's pregnant. Master Jinichi—your brother—did the same thing y-you're doing. To me. And I... I want to be like her."

Naoya's heart twisted right in his chest. His disbelief was tamed down by a cruel sneer, attempting to free past his spiked excitement.

"I do not understand what you mean, wife."

The area you both were in was fairly filled with people, and he sensed every ear of the estate on his conversation with his lovely wife.

After all, the servants needed to report back to the clan elders on his progress in giving them an heir, and what better way to get the news than from the horse's mouth instead?

You casted a furtive glance around, and gestured for him to follow you.

Rule #1: Always stay three steps behind your husband.

You casually broke it in exchange for piquing his curiosity.

Naoya decided it was best to follow you, and trailed right behind, his sourness at being swept by no match for the smug excitement churning in his gut.

You led him straight to the sake cellars, right underneath the heart of the estate. The well-ventilated room was often checked by the maids, but now with a huge dinner winding down, the servants were all above ground pandering to his family's every need.

He was effectively alone right here with you.

In answer to his earlier inquiry, you stepped forward, undoing the loop of your obi. Naoya observed, expression barely rippling, when you disrobed right in front of him.

His eyes were immediately drawn to how swollen your clit looked trapped in between the metal teeth of the belt. It was accompanied by your pained expression, that one single longing look you shot him going straight to his cock.

"I want to..." you uttered in a hoarse voice, shame brimming in your lower lash line.

Naoya hated how much he enjoyed this—the blip of your demeanour as a cold, calculating Princess giving way to the whore right underneath.

Going exactly as the Zen'in rule had planned.

"Please take off this belt and... and fuck me until I'm pregnant, Naoya-sama."

In a flash, you were pressed right to the cold, brick wall. His jammed the key into the lock, twisting it, and the belt fell right onto the dusty ground, stirring up dust on both your getas.

Naoya's cock was a welcome respite in your neglected heat, your walls fitting around him like a glove; mushroom tip driving straight into your golden spot.

He fucked you like you were a cheap concubine and not his wife—snapping his hips up into your slick pussy with dense force; slipping a hand in between both your bodies to spank and rub your pussy.

The tightening in his abdomen was second to the clenching of your sweet cunt right on his cock; choking him out.

Naoya's lips crashed right onto yours, tongue pinning yours down. Swallowing up every sweet cry you were giving him and branding them with his own course moans of dizzying pleasure.

He didn't stop to check on you, white hot ribbons filling you up and spilling down onto the ground—some of it spattering onto your belt.

Your cry of dismay, of a disappointed Naoya-sama! melted into disbelief when he placed you back onto the ground.

Silly girl, he mused, a smile etched on his lips. He slipped the belt back on while you were recovering from the force of your ruined orgasm, large palm sweeping down your trembling belly and hips with more warmth than he wished to give you.

"Ssh," he consoled you, leaving small pecks on your thighs while he clicked the lock back in place, controlling your pleasure in his grasp once more.

Tears marred your cheeks, and you couldn't help a bitter, shuddering sob.

Naoya felt the slightest stirring of pity for you—his kisses soft yet unapologetic on the nape of your neck.

"You should've known." Was it you, or was his voice tainted with regret? "You should've known what my family does, sweetheart. Why we have so many heirs. It's part of your expectation to fulfil."

You surprised him by having enough of your wits to be able to ask a single question: "Does this mean I am to never experience pleasure from my own husband again?"

Naoya looked you up and down; taking in your flushed cheeks, tight nipples and twitching hips.

"Not exactly," he was honest with you for the first time in this marriage. "When you become pregnant with my child, then I will reward you. But, for now—"

He grabbed you by the waist, pulling you right into his arms to tilt your sweet and honest face up to meet his own cunning smirk.

"For now, you have no choice, darling."

punches him with my lips i hate this sexy misogynistic bastard

©️ all works belong to lalunanymph. do not copy, repost or claim as your own.

[fanttasttica]

Strawberry tarts

Rhysand x reader Living in the Autumn court isn't nice, especially if you are female. Arranged marriages are common, so it wasn't surprising it also happened to you. What of course caught you off guard is that your future husband is Rhysand, High lord of the Night court, who is probably the most dangerous man alive. You heard horror stories about him and his court, but are these stories true? Warnings: misogyny, arranged marriage Word count: 8690 (oops)

Being the daughter of a nobleman in Autumn court wasn't something you would wish for. Truth to be told, it is quite the opposite actually. It is a common knowledge that when a female is born in this court, her only purpose in life is to be wed, often at a very young age. She is raised to dance, sing, entertain and obey her husband. She should do anything he wants, be his perfect little wife and of course, birth as many children, preferably boys, as possible. This is how your mother was raised and therefore, how you were raised. Your parents didn't love each other, a very few people in Autumn court loved their partners. And you knew.. maybe one? Two? It is maybe not that surprising that you no longer believed in love. It was better not to. So you could prevent being disappointed. The only thing you were slightly hoping for is for your husband to be at least a little kind to you and leave no marks on your body, unlike Beron, your High lord, did on his wife.

The feeling of accomplishment couldn't possibly miss your mother. In the end, she was marrying you off to Rhysand, High lord of the Night court. You still weren't sure how that happened. Your father was Beron's close friend, a very important member of his court. From what you were told, you understood that the High lord of night wanted to secure a peace between courts. In the past one engagement already happened, but wasn't successfully sealed in marriage. You heard stories about Morrigan and Eris, Beron's oldest son, an heir. Their story happened many years before you were even born and there still was some tension. Not wanting to risk another female from the Night court to change her mind, they probably decided to try it the opposite way and provide a female from the Autumn court from a man from the Night. And that man happened to be the High lord himself. 

Your wedding gown was modest. A little bit wider skirt, plain without anything to make it more interesting. Neckline up to the neck. White, symbol of purity. This dress was making you anxious. They were suffocating you, or maybe was it the thing they represented? Marriage. Today, you are going to marry probably the most dangerous man in Prythian. You are going to be his wife. His property. You were terrified of the unknown. If you were to be wed to some lord from your court, you would at least know how cruel they were, but about him.. You knew nothing other than his title and name. And that many people feared him. But was he really that bad? Were they telling you these stories because they wanted to warn you or just scared you into submission? Maybe he was secretly kind? You didn't know the answers to your question and you certainly weren't going to get them before you two would be married.

As you stood before the doors that were going to open in a matter of minutes and lead you to the new chapter of your life, you put a mask on your face. You were determined to not let them see your fear. “Don't mess anything up.” Your father hissed into your ear, as he stood beside you, ready to walk you down the aisle. “I won't”, you replied, trying to convince him and also yourself. You didn't have the chance to say anything more, not that you actually had something to say to your father, before the doors finally opened.

There were many guests, who were trying to get a better look at you and, while they stood on both sides as you walked down the aisle. Your heart was pounding fast in your chest and your head was ringing, but you forced yourself to walk forward. You avoided looking at your future husband until the last second, however, when your father finally let go of you and placed your hand into the other, warm one, you looked up and then.. your heart practically stopped. He was gorgeous. His purple eyes, shining like stars in the sky, were looking at you with kindness, as if they were trying to convince you that everything will be better from now on. And you really really wanted to believe them. 

The rest of the ceremony went quiet quickly. You said your vows and exchanged a kiss, well only on a cheek, which was a little bit disappointing but at the same time, it was a relief, because at the end, you didn't want to have your first real kiss in front of this massive audience. Now it was time for a party and that was actually nice. The attention of the guests turned from you to drinks, food, music and dance. You could breathe calmly for the first time today, even when your new husband was sitting next to you. He was so close you could feel his warmth, his scent and power that was radiating from him. Surprisingly, it wasn't scaring you at all. You should be scared of it, of him, that is for sure, but still.. you weren't and ironically, that was something that was scaring you a little bit. “You should eat something”, a velvet voice came from your husband, as you turned to look at him. “Are you not hungry? It is.. a long time since breakfast and of course the ceremony.. Or if you don't like this, I Can arrange something else for you. Whatever you would like.” Looking down on your untouched plate, touched by his kind offer, you decided to speak to him, for the first time. Wel.. for the first time since the ceremony, during which you promised him our loyalty and obedience. “No, but thank you, this.. will do.” You smiled, feeling a little bit shy, as you took your first bite. Citrus roasted duck with crispy potatoes, it wasn't that bad and it was true you should eat, as Rhys said, but your appetite was greatly affected by your nerves. You ate about a third of your plate, before putting your fork and knife down again, still feeling his eyes on you. “That is all?” he sounded surprised, but you only shrugged in response. “I am not that hungry today”, meeting his eyes. There was a hint of understanding. “Perhaps tomorrow I can take you to some restaurant in Velaris. To.. try something new, eat properly. Don't worry, I know what is good” as he flashed his smile at you, you were a little bit confused. “Velaris? What is that?” You never heard of it. Was it some restaurant? He replied simply, “Your new home.”

After hearing those awful things about your husband, you never expected his home to be so.. beautiful. No, magical is actually a better word. You heard about some place called Hewn city. It was described like a dark unwelcoming place, but this was quite the opposite. This city, Velaris, seemed peaceful, full of the happiness of its citizens. After winnowing, Rhysand, as he insisted you to call him, instead of My lord, brought you to this room. Your new room in your new home. It was.. strange to not be in your family's house. Knowing that if you were to go down into the living room, they wouldn't be there. Instead, there would be a bunch of a little bit scary and tall,well.. except Amren, people you knew almost nothing about. As Rhysand told you, many of them were not actually living there, but sometimes it looked like they did and since you didn't know what to think about it, you decided simply not to. Instead, you took a bath, with bubbles in it. Know you smelled like lavenders, while you brushed your hair, looking in the mirror and waiting for Rhysand. As your mother told you the night before, he was supposed to come and make you a women, whatever that meant. Your lack of knowledge wasn't helping to calm down your nerves, as you waited for him. But he never came that night. When you woke up the next day, the sun was already in the sky and birds were singing outside your window. It seemed like a nice morning, calm, until you heard someone almost shouting down in the gardens. To cover yourself up, you took a prepared robe, lying on a chair next to your king sized bet. Maybe you should not have been so curious, but wanting to know what was happening, brought you to a smaller balcony, which was connected to your room. Leaning to a railing, so you could see what was going on, you saw two mens and one woman. Now, actually sawing them, you recognized them immediately. They were at the wedding yesterday, High lords closest friends, his Inner circle. “I am deeply sorry if they woke you up, I told them to wait repeatedly, but.. they are too stubborn.” That velvet voice once again, like music to your ears, brought your attention to the left, where you saw another small balcony. There was a table, two chairs, one currently occupied by the High lord himself. He was drinking coffee, looking at you with a little smile. “It is okay. It's time to wake up anyways.” You didn't mind. “Maybe, but I wanted you to sleep in a little bit. Yesterday was a big day. Only if someone would listen to me for once and not ignore everything I say in my own court.” He raised his words at the end of his sentence, clearly talking to the group below. “Oh common Rhysie, this isn't fair. We only wanted to finally meet your beautiful wife, since you decided yesterday to only keep her for yourself.” The general's voice was provocative, which was new for you. Beron wouldn't tolerate it, however innocently it sounded. “Yeah, that wasn't very nice, Rhys.” That female, Morrigan, said with a grin on her face. The third one, Azriel, turned his attention immediately towards you, ignoring how his friends were taunting your husband.. “It is a pleasure to meet you.” He said with a hint of encouraging smile in his eyes. “The pleasure is all mine. It is nice to meet you. All of you.” You smiled politely, looking from Azriel, to Morrigan and lastly Cassian.                   

After freshening your face and dressing up in a nice and elegant dress, you decided to be brave and go downstairs to eat breakfast. You were quite hungry, understandably, since you didn't eat that much yesterday. And you also wanted to get to know the others a little bit more. After your earlier encounter, it was more than clear that they weren't leaving, until they had the chance to speak to you first. 

Walking in the hall and to the dining room was easy, thanks to the cauldron and you also had time to look around a house a little bit more. It was elegant here, the furniture looked really expensive. There were some portraits hanging. On the first one you saw, there was a whole Inner circle, then Rhysand with a crown on his head, you suspected it was painted on the day or day after he became High lord, and next to you, there was a portrait of two women. One looked solder, barely off age and the other one was clearly her mother. Although you never met them and couldn't remember their names, you recognized some similarities in their faces and Rhysand's. “My mother and sister..” Rhysand appeared next to you in a second you were absently looking at the two womens. “It is a pity they aren't here to meet you. My sister always wanted another sister, so they could make fun of me together and I am sure my mother would love you as if you were her actual daughter.” A little bit surprised at his statement, you looked at his handsome face. “How can you know? We barely.. know each other and those are some strong words.” There was a hint of mistrust in your voice. “I just know..” 

The breakfast was delicious and others seemed really nice and friendly, which caught you off guard once again. Cassian, however scary he could appear, was one of the funniest people in the world, telling jokes and stories about everyone in the room and what they experienced together in all those centuries. Morrigan was the person who matched his personality perfectly. Although you didn't expect them to be like this, you were actually having a nice time. It was so different from the breakfast you usually had at home. Azriel along with Amren were a little bit quieter, but still friendly towards you and they tried to make you feel welcome. And Rhysand.. Actually you weren't sure what to think of him. After your little chat in the hall, you came to breakfast together and he helped you sit by pushing your chair. He was behaving like a true gentleman, completely opposite to what they told you in Autumn court. You were pulled to reality from thinking by Morrigan. “Y/N you simply must come with me today. I plan to go shopping. I need some new dress and you definitely too, because females just can not have enough dresses. And after that we can maybe go to this little bakery, they have the best sweets.” She was trying to persuade you to accompany her. You smiled at her, touched that she wanted to spend more time with you. Maybe she was going to be your first friend here? Well officially. Unofficially you started liking them all. “Well, I would like to join you,” you said truthfully, “If it's okay, of course?” You added as you looked over your husband, whose purple eyes were watching you. “Of course it is okay. You are free to do whatever your heart decides. Buy everything you need or simply want.” He smiled at you, looking over at Morrigan. “I am sure my cousin will more than happily be at your assistance,  especially, I will be paying.”

“Morrigan, I just do not need so many things. This is getting really absurd.” You said after trying on maybe ten dresses. And many skirts and pants before. Yes, you could wear pants here. Another shock for you, since this was unacceptable in your home court. “Oh my dear friend, we barely started. I know you have many dresses from Autumn court, but now you are in the Night court. You need to look like it and more importantly, you need to feel comfortable. So now hush and tell me the truth. Do you really like to wear something like this? Or you simply were taught you have to wear clothes like this, although you do not like how it looks or how comfortable it is?” You knew from her face that lying wasn't the opportunity, so you sighed. “It.. doesn't really feel like me and.. it is not comfortable that much.” However simple it sounded, this was a big step for you, since you were always taught to not complain about anything, not having your own opinion. And something in Morrigan's face told you, she was having the same thoughts as you. 

Leaving with three bags in each hand, you finally left the store. The amount of money you left there was enormous, but Morrigan was assuring you, Rhysnad wouldn't mind, so you decided to believe her and relax a little bit. Well, you surely made the owner happy and your closet fuller. You went to the bakery and bought a delicious strawberry tart, your favorite treat, and now you were just walking around the city, enjoying the sunny day and your new blossoming friendship. “It was an amazing day Morrigan, I am very thankful for you. It means a lot that you are so .. friendly to me.” You said a little bit shyly. “Oh Y/N.. It's been my pleasure. You are Rhysand's wife, one of us. My new friend. But don't you dare to think this day is over, we have one more shop we need to visit.” Her eyes sparkled in mischief. Only if you knew what was coming.

“Oh you can not mean this seriously!” You gasped, horrified, while looking at the next shop your friend picked. It was highly inappropriate for you to visit a place like this. “Oh, but I mean. Don't worry, you will be thanking me one day.” 

Your day with Morrigan was fun, but the next day, you wanted nothing more than to stay in bed. Your feets were hurting, your head was hurting. You felt like she talked the hole in it. But inside you knew, you would be very happy if she would take you out soon again. And you also knew that if you really were to stay in your bed all day, you would be bored out of your mind after an hour. You need something to focus on, something to do. And then you remembered the strawberry tarts you had yesterday. Not wanting to go to the city, you decided to bake them on your own today. Fortunately, you knew the receipt already by your heart and in the kitchen was everything you needed. Nuala and Cerridwen, twins you met for the first time today, offered to bake that treat for you, but after some persuading, they agreed to only help you a little bit and let you roam in the kitchen mostly as you pleased. 

The two females, who were accompanying you, were quiet and shy, choosing their words wisely. THe time you spent with them was like a silent dance, but not uncomfortable. It was rather peaceful and warm, almost like in home you never had but dreamed about having, when you were little. You were actually finishing the last one, when you heard a loud and funny voice that belonged to no one else than Cassian. “You are a lucky one Rhys. What would I do to have a beautiful wife like you, who also cooks, so the whole house smells nicely.” You blushed at his comment, not meeting any of their eyes. “For that complement, I think you deserve to have the first one to try it.” You said, taking the plate and placing the tart on it, along with a small spoon and handing it to him. You made enough tarts for all of them, wanting to only kill the time, but also make something nice, since they welcomed you with open arms. While Rhys said nothing, he was smiling at you, eyes shining adoringly, which caused you to blushed even more than before. “It is delicious, can I have one or two more?” Too busy looking at your husband, you didn't even notice that Cassian already managed to eat his first portion.

Instead of one or two more strawberry tarts, Cassian ate five in a few minutes. Looking at him surprised with Rhysand standing next to you, almost brushing his arm on you, he said “Cassian has a great appetite. I believe he would eat everything you made today, if he was allowed”, sounding amused. You giggled at this comment, meeting his gaze. “Are you speaking from personal experience?” He chuckled “I already spent many centuries with him.. Believe me when I say that feeding Cassian is pricey.” Cassian, not able to speak while having mouth full, gave his friend a middle finger. During your conversation with Rhysand, you took another plate and placed another tart there, offering it to Rhysand. “If that is the case, I think you should try it before Cassian eats it.” You saw the hesitation in his eyes, that went from your face to the plate and back. You chuckled a little bit nervously and your smile fell instantly, when he shook his head. “No, thank you. I.. don't have time. Perhaps some other day. I have to go now.” And with that, he simply vanished into the darkness. 

Rhysand's sudden departure left you hurt and sad. Was something you said wrong? Was he not a fan of sweets? Was he allergic and you offended him because you didn't know? You blinked once, twice, before putting the plate on the kitchen counter. “That was.. weird.” Cassian spoke suddenly. You did not reply to him, thinking only about your conversation with Rhysand and blaming yourself for doing something wrong, although you didn't know what. But you were sure that your mother would be disappointed by this. You could almost hear her voice. “ Y/N?” You turned to Cassian. “You did nothing wrong, trust me. I don't really know what happened, but I promise you, he will come to his senses and apologize. Hopefully really soon.” You still weren't so sure about that and your mood wasn't so much better, but you offered him a smile, thankful for his kind words. “Here, take this plate too..”

You spent the previous day in the kitchen, cleaning, although Nuala and Cerridwenn insisted they would do it by themselves, you wanted to help. Cassian kept you company for the rest of the day, taking you to the gardens, telling you more stories about everyone in the inner circle, before taking you to your bedroom. He did manage to lighten your mood a little bit, so when you went to bed, no sad thoughts about Rhysand came, only sweet dreams.

The second time in a row, there was a present on your bedside table, when you woke up. Yesterday, you thought that Morrigan left there for you a beautiful necklace with a moonstone in it, you saw through the glass in one jewelry store which you based on on your walk. Morrigan was trying to persuade you to buy it, but it seemed so pricey that you decided not to. You already spent so much of Rhysands money.. But now you suspected that perhaps you were wrong by guessing it was her, who bought it. No, you knew you were wrong, since today you found a plate with different delicious looking sweets on your table, alongside with a note. 

“I know this apology isn't enough and that you also deserve an explanation, why did I leave yesterday so suddenly, but I can not give you that yet. I hope you understand and I promise you.. You did nothing wrong. - yours Rhys ” 

After reading that note from Rhysand and eating what he sent you, you felt a little bit better. You were not angry at him, rather at yourself, still not knowing what you did was frustrating. Nuala and Cerridwen were busy and since you couldn't find anyone else, you just wandered around a house, trying to find something to do. You were not in the mood to bake like yesterday, you did not have any work you could do. There was only you and your thoughts. About how your life changed, surprisingly to the better, about your new friends.. about Rhysand. You were thinking especially about him and your friends, Cassian and Morrigan. Did they report your conversation to him? After reading that note for the second time, you saw a similar formulation of words like Cassian used the previous day. It was weird. You were dying to know what that meant, but you were too shy and embarrassed to ask anyone. Another reason why you needed to find something to do. Otherwise, you would probably go crazy because of these thoughts that plague your mind. 

After another few minutes, you found a small library. At first, you hesitated a little bit, but since the doors were unlocked, you went inside. There were mainly books about the history of Prythian, courts, High lords of current and past time, books on wars and tactics, but in the small corner, you found a small shelf with maybe ten or twenty romance books. Your mother did not allow you to read them. The only ones you were allowed to read were about good behavior, what it takes to be a good wife and similar topics and after some time, when you slowly began realizing that true love will probably never be something you are going to have, you stopped begging her to let you read at least one of them, so you could see how it looks between man and women who love each other truly. But now, with your new freedom and with a new glimmer of hope inside your chest, you picked the first one, sat in the chair that was standing next to a window and began to read.

The time was passing rather quickly. You were almost in the middle of the story and not paying attention to your surroundings, when you heard someone unintentionally hitting the table and then cursing slightly. You turned quickly, shocked by this interruption, to find Azriel. “Are you okay?” You asked worriedly, as he turned his attention to you. “Yeah, ehm.. Don't worry. I am fine.” You raised your eyebrow, not quite believing him, since he was Spymaster, known for being stealthy and composed.. Nothing like now.  That is when you realize he is holding something in his hands. Book. He sees where your eyes are and smiles slightly. “I guess there is no hiding anymore. I am.. returning this.” He says, coming to the shelf where you took the book and placing it on its right place. You giggle a little. “If it helps you to feel better, you are the last one I would suspect of reading romantic books. I guess you should never really judge the book by its cover.” He nods, sitting on the next free chair in front of you. “I think very few people would dare to even think that I like reading these. But sometimes..” He fell silent and you smiled knowingly. “It is nice to read about true love and dream that maybe someday it will also come to you.” 

It did not surprise you, when the next day when you woke up, you found a brand new book on your bedside table, alongside with a note. 

“I hope you will like this one, although I am not an expert in this field, it's apparently very popular. I would also like to take you to dinner tonight, of course only if you want to and will not be in too much exciting part of your book. - yours Rhys”

Of course you did say yes to his invitation. It would be rude if not and also against everything your mother taught you. And what is more important, you wanted to go. After all, he was your husband, you wanted to get to know him better. What did you even know about him? That he was Hugh lord, lived in Velaris, he loves his friends and is kind. And maybe does not like strawberry tarts, but that is everything You wanted to know more. What he liked, what he did not like, his hobbies.. Everything. Anything. Anything he was willing to share with you. 

Your mind was once again full of him. Not being able to concentrate and not sure what to even wear, you were more than happy to meet Morrigan at the breakfast. It was only the two of you, a perfect opportunity to ask her to help you prepare for tonight. She agreed, happy, that you asked her and was currently styling your hair. “Don't you think it is too much?” You asked hesitantly. She made you wear a purple dress, a color that matched your husband's eyes perfectly. And it also went really well with that necklace he gave you a couple of days ago. “Not at all, I think you look perfect. Rhys will not be able to take his eyes off you.” There was a slight hint of provocation in her voice, which made your cheeks turn bright red. “Anddd, I am done. You look stunning Y/N!” As you looked in the mirror, you started to believe her.

You were waiting in your room, talking with Morrigan, when you heard a knock on your door. Not wasting any time, you went to open them to relieve Rhys standing here, dressed in a suit that matched your dress and with a bouquet of colorful flowers in his hands.”Hello, Y/N darling.” There was a smirk on his face, so significant for him. “Hello.” You answered, looking down at the flowers he handed to you. “For you. Their beauty is nothing compared to yours, but I still hope you will find them at least a little beautiful.” You blushed at his comment, starting to hate how easily he can affect you. “Thank you, they are really beautiful. Perfect.” You took them, smelling their sweet scent, before Morrian came closer and offered to put them in a vase, before turning to face Rhys with a grin on her face. “Make sure she is home before midnight.”

Still chuckling a little bit at Morrigan's last comment, you took Rhysand's hand he offered you and stepped outside your beautiful home into the night. It was perfect. The weather was amazing and the streets you walked through smelled of lemon, sea and mystery. “After everything you have done for me, especially for those gifts.. I think that I should be the one inviting you tonight.” You said, starting a quick conversation before you would get too nervous or better say aroused due to how close he was. You could feel his warmth and smell his undoubtedly expensive cologne. He chuckled slightly, “Oh my darling, don't you ever think about that. You deserve those things. You deserve everything you could possibly want and I will spend my life ensuring that, as I promised you at our wedding.” He reminded you and you shook your head, not understanding, how could anyone think of him as a cruel person. “You.. exaggerate. Not wanting to give up so easily, you decided to speak. “I will be honest.. Before we got married, I was worried. However, after you took me here and I had a chance to get to know you better and of course, your friends too.. I think.. I think I really like it here. You made me feel welcome and happy more than I was ever before in my life.” You said, looking at the ground. Maybe a little bit ashamed. After all, your mother said that no perfect woman would ever complain and although you didn't directly, you indicated it quite clearly. “So, what I wanted to tell you is that I am really grateful. For your gifts, for.. everything” You looked him in the eyes, smiling slightly. At first, he didn't say anything, there was a pity in his eyes and what you didn't see was that inside he was fuming and wanted to punish everyone in the Autumn court. But not to scare you, he simply took your hand and kissed it gently. “You are welcome, my darling.”

When you came to the restaurant, after a short walk through the city, which you enjoyed, you found the place completely empty, well except for people who worked here, of course. Giving Rhysand a questioning look, he answered immediately “I wanted us to have privacy.” He shrugged, as if it was nothing and you blinked at him. “Try to tell me ever again, that you do not exaggerate.” You mumbled to yourself quietly. 

You were full. After the appetizer, soup and main course, you felt like moving wasn't an option for you anymore. When the waiter asked, if you wanted a dessert, you looked over at Rhys. In your eyes, there was an obvious answer to this question - no. But he chuckled. “Yes please, bring us two pieces of your lemon and lavender cake.” Taking a sip of your wine, you sighed. “A new information for me.. You don't understand signals very well.” He simply leaned back on a chair with a smirk on his handsome face. “Oh, but I do. What I however can not do is leave this restaurant without you trying their best dessert. Everyone loves it.” You raised your eyebrow. “You do too?” He nodded, now leaning a little bit closer to you. “About that day when I.. left so suddenly.” He paused, unsure what to say, but you didn't pressure and gave him time. “It is okay, if you don't want to share it with me. I understand.” There was a hesitant smile on your face and in your mind, you were screaming the opposite words that left your mouth. He shook his head. “I do. I want to share it with you, but.. I think that for a while it is better not to. You are still new here and are only settling in your new home. I don't want to overwhelm you.” You nodded, trying to be as understanding as possible, before the waiter came and handed you your piece of cake.

“Are you full?” Rhys asked for about a second time since you left the restaurant and you just laughed. “Yes, I am full, don't worry.“ You assured him, squeezing his hand a little bit. You had a great time with him and it was sad that your night was coming to an end. During this time, you also became more relaxed around him. Someone who wouldn't know you and saw you walking with him in the streets right now, wouldn't probably guess the situation you were in. It seemed real. This.. something, what became growing between you. “I'm just making sure.” He shrugged, at the same time as you thought something about mother hen. “Do you want to go flying?” He asked suddenly, catching you off guard. “Flying?” You asked. He smiled and within seconds, large wings appeared on his back. You gasped in astonishment. “They are beautiful..” Your voice was low. Wanting to feel them underneath your fingers, you reached out to them, but he stopped you. Gently taking your hand in his bigger one. “Ehm.. They are quite sensitive.” He tried to explain. “Oh, I am sorry, I didn't want to hurt you!” Your eyes widened, apologizing. “No, you wouldn't hurt me. It is only when something touches Illyrian wings.. That person can become aroused.” At this moment, you wanted to sink into the ground more than ever before. 

Although you were embarrassed, you still agreed to fly, wanting to see the city from above. As your husband took you in his arms, your heart started beating faster than usual.  You wanted to sink into his touch. Smell his perfume, do something you never did before. You weren't sure what it was. This feeling was new for you. But you were enjoying it. “Hold on tight.” Rhys said, moments before he finally took you in the sky. His sudden movement makes you close your eyes, but his movement becomes steady, you open them, taking in the beauty of the city below. It was perfect. This night, Rhysand. Everything. This night was everything. 

You spent the next few days with your husband. From that night he took you to dinner, you found yourself yearning for his company. At first, you were a little hesitant, not wanting to disturb him with your presence. After all, he was High lord with responsibilities. But he seemed to enjoy your company as much as you did his, so when he one day took you to his office, there was a new set of comfortable sofa and armchair, next to a window. Perfect place for reading you began to enjoy. From that day, you went to his after breakfast regularly. Sometimes you two were talking, other days on the other hand, you spent this time in a comfortable silence. Eating lunch together also became some sort of habit of yours. Slightly different were evenings. You once again went shopping with Morrigan, who was very curious about your relationship with her cousin. Sometimes you spend your evenings with Cassian or the whole Inner circle, sitting, talking and drinking Rhysands expensive old wine, while sitting close to him. This was also your plan for this evening, until Morrigan decided that it is time for you to visit Rita's. 

Since Morrigan did a really good job by picking your dress for your dinner date with Rhys, you decided to trust her also this time, but seeing what she prepared for you to wear, you began asking her sanity. This dress were.. interesting. They were black and like the night sky they sparkled. As if there were tiny little stars. And they also were very short, which was new for you. Although you did started dressing differently than in the Autumn court, you even tried pants and really liked them, but.. The only thing that was calming you down was that she was wearing a dress of similar length, only in red and with a deeper neckline. “If you were not Rhys's wife, I can guarantee you Y/N, that I would do anything to take you home with me tonight.” You blushed and laughed and the same time. “I mean it, you look sexy! Where were you hiding that ass, girl?” You shook your head. “Morrigan, tell me the truth. Are you drunk already?” You raised your eyebrow at her and she grinned in response. “Me? Drunk? Always.”

The plan was to get ready with Morr and meet guys and Amren at Rita's. You were shocked that Amren even agreed on going. Although you were in Velaris a couple of weeks already, you barely spoke to her. But Morrigan assured you, that is how Amren simply is and so you never questioned it again. When you arrived, the place was full. There was a body on body, people were dancing, drinking and singing, alongside with a singer on a little stage. If you were not holding Morrigan's hand for your dear life, you would probably get lost and never be found again. Luckily, you managed to find the others rather quickly. They were sitting at the table in the corner, not so far away from the dance floor, already with some drinks. “Look who finally decided to show up.” Cassian greeted you with a sneering remark on which Morrigan replied by giving him a middle finger, which was normal for them, as you found out some time ago. “Oh shut up, Cass. Maybe you should sometimes be late and at least try to take care of your appearance.” You began ignoring these two, since their bickering would probably last all night. You rather said hello to the other three people who were sitting here, Amren, Azriel and lastly Rhysand. You felt his eyes on you from the second you showed up here and you knew that you would be staring at him all night probably too. He was wearing black. The buttons of his shirt were open, so you could see part of his muscular chest. “Hello darling, you look ravishing.” He smirked at you hungrily.

You were having your third drink. Normally you would take one, beautiful you were to survive this night, you needed more. It was just too much. People were almost having sex right on the floor, music was so sensual and Rhys.. His normal gentleman's behavior probably stayed at home today. His large warm hand was on your exposed thigh, striking it gently, each time going a little bit more up. As the time passed by, Morrigan went dancing with some girl she met at the bar, when she was going for her second glass of wine. Cassian disappeared to the dance floor and Amren was having a conversation with Azriel. That left you and Rhysand practically alone, not that you were complaining. You were only still rather shy for this. The band started playing some slow music, giving the dancers an opportunity to slow down their rhythm and enjoy each other's touches more intensely. That is when Rhysand leaned closer to you, whispering in your ear. “Would you like to dance?” The way his breath brushed lightly against your neck gave you goosebumps, but you still nodded slowly.

When you took Rhysand's hand, he led you on a dance floor. Some people around you probably recognized him, since they tried to give you more space, but there still were many people around you, not that you were paying them any attention. No. You had eyes for only one person and that person was your husband, who was holding you close. His arms were around your waist as you moved slowly on the floor, grinding at each other like fools. If you would look back on your table, you would be able to see that both Cassian and Morrigan returned and all of your new friends were currently toasting, pleased with how things had turned out between the two of you, perhaps thanks to their efforts. 

Not being able to hold back anymore, you looked from Rhysand's eyes on his lips, biting yours. It was a simple invitation for him. The one he gladly accepted, as he firstly gently stroked your lip with his thumb, before slowly leaning to you, giving you time to change your mind, before he finally brought your lips together in a slow, long wanted kiss. It lasted maybe a couple of seconds, but it was enough for the mating bond to snap for you. Like a golden thread it led straight to Rhysand and when you looked him surprised in the eyes, you knew, you felt, that this wasn't something new for him. 

As the first hint of hurt and sadness appeared in your eyes, the sudden wave of darkness surrounded you and carried the two of you home. The first thing you did was to take a step back, trying to get away from him. “Why? Why didn't you tell me this before?” He sighed, looking down at the floor. “I didn't want to overwhelm you or scare you. I thought it was better to not tell you anything for some time. “ He started, not so good. “How long did you know?” You asked quietly, wanting to know something more before deciding what to say to him. “A little bit more than. Almost two years.” You gasped. Hurt by him sat on the chair, refusing to look at him. “All my life, someone.. Someone else always decided what was good for me. What I should know, what not. When we were getting married, I thought that.. It will be the same with you, but during these last weeks you were.. So kind to me that I really started believing I can trust you, but now? I.. I don't know. You knew you were my mate for so long and you did not tell me? Why? What did I do to offend you so much? Am I not good enough?” He began shaking his head rapidly, kneeling before you and taking your hands in his. “No, no that's not it. You are perfect, believe me. You are everything I ever wanted, what I dreamed of.” Releasing breath, with teary eyes, you looked at him. “Then tell me.. How exactly did you find out, so you decided it was better for me to not know?” 

The room was silenced, as Rhys poured himself a drink. He offered you one, but you refused it. You already had enough today and you wanted to concentrate on what is he saying.  He took a deep breath before beginning. “I was in the Autumn court, trying to sort out some problems Beron had at that time. He held a ball, where I was invited, maybe you remember it.” You nodded, only for confirmation that you did. “The ball was just beginning, when I saw you enter with your parents by your side. I remember our eyes met, only for a brief moment, but in that moment, the bond snapped for me, but clearly not for you.. That same night I began to plan. I asked Azriel if he could find out as many information about you and your family as he could and in the morning, he already handed me a whole file about you. I learned your name and about your situation. Considering how many people in Autumn court behave, for me it was not surprising that your parents were not so.. good people. You were so young, you are still young and your father was already trying to find a partner for you, so he could marry you off for his gain. I knew that I could not let that happen. Not only because of my personal interest, but because most males in Autumn court abuse their partners and see their wifes only as breeding mare.” There was a disgust in his voice. “So I immediately came to Beron and proposed the idea of marriage between our two courts. Trying to win him on my side, I said I wanted to fix how last time something like this was about to happen but it did not, affected relationship between our courts. I told him he could even pick a list of some suitable girls, hoping you would be there, since Beron was close to your father. Well he agreed and also luckily for me, included you on that list. I tried to not be too eager to marry you, because I did not want to cause any suspicion. So I waited a few weeks before choosing. Then some paper work was needed and it took time before the wedding planning could finally began. I wanted nothing more than to go to your house and just took you with me to get you out of that place, but I was worried that I would put you in danger. Beron is awful, I believe I don't have to explain it to you.That is also why I didn't tell you before. Why didn't I engage in anything.” You nodded, understanding what he did and you were thankful to him, but it still hurt a little. “But why didn't you tell me anything after I came here?” You dared to ask. He swallowed nervously. “You were so young and you were already going through a lot. I knew you were probably scared of me, scared of this place at first. Maybe my decision wasn't so right as I thought it was, but please believe me that I did it with only the best intentions.” 

You knew Rhysand probably really didn't mean to do anything bad by his decisions, but you still had a right to be hurt and disappointed. It's been two days since the revelation and you spent them in your room. Nuala and Cerridwen brought you each food. Morrigan, Cassian and Azriel also visited you, telling you that they understand why you are angry with Rhysand. You also found out that although you thought otherwise, they didn't know about the bond. They suspected it, yes, but he didn't tell them anything. They found out after you didn't show up at breakfast the day after you went together to Rita's. They of course saw you disappear with Rhys, but thought it was for other purposes. You thanked them for their words of support and their visits and also begged them not to tell Rhysand anything, which they promised. You deep inside knew that you would forgive him and move on. He was not only your mate, but also your husband. Husband you began to love, which you realized after your argument. 

Your love for him is also one of the factors that drove you mad. You stopped believing that love existed. You felt like a fool that you, after everything that you have been taught, after what you saw, after everything you have been through.. You did in fact fell in love. You were so confused, about your feelings, what you thought you should feel, what happened.. That you welcomed knocking on your door gratefully. 

You would never suspect that behind the door, there would be Amren standing, asking if she could come inside to talk to you. You of course led her, closing the door behind her, gesturing on chairs where she can sit, while you returned to your soft bed. “Girl, I am probably not the person to tell you this, but I think you need to pull yourself together.” You would lie if you would say that her words did not shock you a little bit. She wasn't even trying to chat a little before dropping this on you. “I know and understand that you are hurt by what Rhys did, he is an idiot sometimes, but be honest with yourself. By this, you are only punishing both of you and why?” She shook her head. “I have been alive for.. a couple of thousands years. I saw many people get together and then break up. But I do not think this is what either of you want, am I right?” You sighed and nodded. You will not leave Rhysand because of this. You knew that, however you weren't sure what she was trying to tell you by this. “So.. If that is not the case, why are you doing this? Why waste time by being angry at each other.I think you both went through a lot to be this stupid.” And in that moment, you understood. 

Not wasting any time, you quickly hugged Amren and before she could even react, you started running to the kitchen. She was right after all. Your life wasn't easy, so why are you making yourself miserable even more? Rhys made a mistake, but that happens. But what you realized is that you love him enough to forgive him. You loved him. That warm feeling spreads throughout your whole body. And thanks to that, it all seemed so simple. 

At first, you simply wanted to grab something quick and go straight to Rhysand's office, but when you saw strawberries lying on the kitchen counter, you couldn't help yourself. Knowing the receipt by your heart paid off, when you were finishing the first strawberry tart, placing it on the plate and storming out of the kitchen with it, completely ignoring unfinished ones. You were sure Cassian would gladly eat them even now. You rushed to your room, to freshen up yourself and to change, before, with a plate in your hand, finally knock on your husband's office. “Come in.” 

Before you opened the massive doors, you took a deep breath. Although you were absolutely sure about this, like anything before in your life, you were also still nervous. When you came in, you saw Rhys sitting behind the table, which was full of papers. To be honest, he looked like he didn't get too much sleep and that made your heart hurt. He looked up, meeting your eyes. His face lit up a little bit, in a small hope, when he saw what you were carrying in your hands. He watched your steps, before you were finally standing right in front of him, placing the plate on his table. “I made this, just for you.” You announced, biting your lip. “Are you.. sure?” His voice was hesitant. It was clear he wanted nothing more than to devour that tart and then you, but even now he was giving you a chance to change your mind. You walked around the table, he turned himself in his chair to face you, which you took as an opportunity to sit on his lap. His hand instinctively found your hip, holding you close so you wouldn't fall down, as you took the spoon, scooped up a little part of that tart and brought it to his lips. After he looked into your eyes once again, he ate the food you offered him, groaning at its taste. That sound was so beautiful, so sinful.. It made you thank Morrigan that on your first shopping spree together, she took you in that one certain shop, where you bought matching sexy underwear you were currently hiding under your dress.

[javierpena-inatacvest]

Growing

Summary: After a concerning phone call from his daughter's Principal, Javi goes to find out the true reason why she's really there in the first place.

Word Count: 4.1K

Pairing: Dad!Javi x Wife!reader (No use of y/n)

Warnings: Honestly this is all fluff 😭 Misogyny, dress codes being the dumbest thing in the world, Javi going full dad mode ™️, Javi being the best girl dad, Sappy Dad Javi loving his daughters so much

A/N: This story is inspired by this ask and what started as a short little snippet ended up being 4k long 🥴 I've written so much for Javi being a dad to his younger daughters, but I will fight anyone who says he isn't the best girl dad at every phase of life his daughters are in 🥺 Javi loves all his daughters equally, but I just know he and Lucy have such a special bond and it makes me wanna cry and scream all at once. I ain't gonna lie, ya girl shed a few tears with this one 🥲 oldest daughters with emotionally unavailable fathers gang rise

Series Masterlist Never Too Late Masterlist

“It should be fucking illegal to work when it’s this hot.” 

“How long have you lived in Texas for, you fucking moron? Of course it’s hot. It’s Texas. Stop bitching, you baby.” 

“Oh shut up. You’re telling me you're comfortable right now?” 

“No, you idiot. It’s hot as Satan’s asshole in here. Of course I’m not. But whining isn’t gonna make it not hot.” 

“I know it’s not. Just let me complain, okay? Fuck, I honestly may take Satan’s asshole over this…” 

While no one at the Laredo Sheriff’s department was a stranger to the sweltering Texas heat, even Javi couldn’t argue with his fellow co-workers that for a morning in late May, there was no denying it was already miserably hot outside. 

He had just finished getting an earful about the topic from his daughters this morning during school drop-off, complaining that they may actually die of heat stroke before the day is done, and that his youngest, Harper, may die from “smelly boy sweat”, since no boy in the 7th grade was wearing enough deodorant as they should be (and that, he couldn’t argue). 

“Cater’s right, Miller. Complaining isn’t helping you get all your shit done, and I need that file by the end of the day.” Javi grumbled, surprising Agent Carter and Miller as he passed their desks on the way to his office, making the pair raise their hands in defense in justification of their weather woes. 

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, don’t worry, it’ll be done before the end of the day. If I don’t melt into a puddle first…” Agent Miller grumbled, sticking his face back into the piles of papers scattered across his desk. 

While he would never give his co-workers the satisfaction of knowing he was just as irritated by the early onset heatwave as they were, Javi’s suit jacket was already shed and sleeves were rolled up past his elbows before he had barely made it through his office door. 

As he took a seat at his desk, looking over his list of to-do’s for today, he was taken aback to hear the aggressive ringing of his phone this early, wondering what could have already gone so wrong that someone already needed to get a hold of him.   

Ring, ring, ringggggg. Ring, ring, ringggg-

“Laredo Sheriff’s Department, this is Peña.” 

“Hi Mr. Peña. This is Mr. Wilson, Assistant Principal over at United High School.” 

Javi sat up just a little straighter in his desk chair, running his hand over the back of his neck, a jolt of nerves hitting his stomach like he was the one being called down to the principal’s office. 

Javi had gotten plenty of phone calls from his daughter’s school throughout the years. Calls to pick one of them up and take them home because they were sick, forgotten lunchboxes and school projects, one justified elementary school fist fight- Javi had pretty much heard it all. 

Now that your daughters had reached middle school and high school, the calls home now came few and far between, and most of the time, came from the girls themselves on their own phones, more often than not, in the form of your middle daughter, Elliot, asking if he would come pick her up because school was “the most boring place on earth”. 

He took a moment to try and compose himself, knowing that if one of the girls was sick, they would have texted him, or would have gotten a call from an office secretary, and last time he checked, Assistant Principals weren’t calling parents in the middle of a work day just to sprinkle in some good news. 

So what in the hell was he calling for? 

“Uh, H-hi, Mr. Wilson. Can I ask, um, what uh- what’s the reason for the phone call? Is everything okay?” 

“Well Mr. Peña, I’m calling because I’m here with your daughter. Unfortunately, she’s here after a teacher referral for disrespectful and defiant behavior.” 

Javi could feel his brow furrow and face scrunch in genuine confusion, practically left speechless by Mr. Wilson’s statement. Sure, his daughter Elliot was going through a little bit of a “phase” right now, but even though she had come out of the womb with an iron will power and enough sass to fuel a small country, she knew better than to talk back to adults, especially her teachers. 

“Are- Are you serious? I’m really sorry, Mr. Wilson. Could you um- What did Elliot do?” 

“Oh, I’m sorry, I should have clarified. While I have had the… pleasure…. of meeting your daughter, Elliot, she’s not the one I’m calling about. Mr. Peña, I’m calling about your daughter, Lucy.” 

If the phone call itself wasn’t already enough to knock Javi on his ass, that statement sure as hell was. 

“Lucy? There’s no fucking way.” He thought to himself. 

In all 12 years Lucy had been in school, the worst thing any teacher had ever had to say about your oldest daughter was that she was an overachiever. Lucy was your classic, type-A oldest daughter- She was a straight A student, captain of her soccer team, a member of every club under the sun, and most importantly, was the kindest kid a parent could ask for. Lucy lived by the rules, so the fact that she went out of her way to break one, let alone be disrespectful about it? Something wasn’t adding up. 

“I… Mr. Wilson, I’m sorry, I don’t wanna be rude, but- are you sure you’ve got the right kid?” Javi stammered, still in shock from what he had just heard, wondering when someone was going to walk in and tell him this was some sort of weird prank. 

“Oh yes, I’m sure. Mr. Peña, I think it may be best if you and your wife just come down to the school to talk about this.” 

“Um, my- my wife is out of town helping her dad out after surgery but uh- yeah, I’ll um, I’ll be there in the next uh- shit…” He muttered, looking down at his watch, quickly calculating in his brain, “the next 30 minutes?” 

“Great. We’ll see you then, Mr. Peña. Goodbye.” 

“B-bye.” 

Javi sat there for a moment, phone still held to his ear as the dial tone rang, shooting in one ear and out the other as he tried to process what had just happened. He shook his head, trying to snap himself out of his confusion enough to let his nerves take over, frantically scrambling to grab his things before storming out of the office even faster than he had entered a few moments ago. 

As soon as he was in the car, Javi was frantically dialing your number, backing out of his parking spot and pulling out onto the road like he was being called for some sort of life threatening emergency. 

“C’mon, pick up, pick up, pick up…” Javi huffed, anxiously tapping his fingers against his steering wheel, waiting for you to answer.

“Hey, honey! What’s up? Hold on- yes, it’s Javi. Okay. I- yes, I will. All my family says hi and that we miss you! What’s going on?” You answered, an unsuspecting cheer in your tone, just happy to hear his voice. 

“Uh- yeah, tell them, I- yeah, I say hi, too.” Javi responded, clearly frazzled and distracted as he sped down the road, wishing he would have taken a police squad car instead of his truck to get to Lucy’s school sooner. 

“Javi, what’s going on? Are you okay?”  You asked, clearly sensing the concern in his voice. 

“I just got a call from the Assistant Principal that Lucy is down in the office because she got a referral for being defiant and disrespectful.” 

“Wait, you mean Elliot?” 

“No. Lucy.” 

“Oh shit.” 

“That’s what I thought, too.” 

“Did they tell you why? Or what happened? That doesn’t seem like her at all. She- she knows better than that? And how much trouble she’d be in?” 

“No, I’m going down to the school right now. If I wasn’t already sweating bad enough because it’s hot as fuck here today, I sure fucking am now.” Javi grumbled, pushing up his sleeves further before wiping the sweat accumulating on his forehead, sticking his dark curls to his skin. 

“Hey, hey, Jav. I’m sure it will be okay. I’m sure there’s gotta be a reason. Take a few deep breaths, okay? Please just keep me posted.” 

“Okay. I-I will.” 

“It’ll be okay, Papa Bear. I love you.” 

“Love you too.” 

With a quick beep on the other end of the phone, Javi set down his phone in his lap, wrapping his fingers around the wheel with an iron grip and clenching his jaw until it hurt, turning on the radio as loud as it could go to drown out the “what-if’s” dancing around his mind in what was going to be the world’s longest 10 minute drive to United High School. 

Javi had found himself in plenty of stressful situations throughout his life. Hell, stress was a given working as a DEA agent in Colombia trying to take down the biggest drug lords of the 20th century. Yet somehow, Javi found himself just as nervous, if not more, as he walked into the main office of Lucy’s high school, trying to figure out what she had done that was worthy of a trip to the Assistant Principal. 

After some directions from one of the secretaries, Javi found Mr. Wilson’s office door, giving it a few raps before it was answered by a short and stout older man, his poorly balding head adorned with a limited amount of scraggly gray hairs and face painted with an unamused half-smile. 

“Mr. Peña? Please, come in and take a seat.” Mr. Wilson sighed, gesturing to an open chair next to his daughter, sitting with her arms crossed over her chest and eyes peeled to the floor, seemingly trying to shrink herself as small as possible into her chair. 

Before Javi could even ask Lucy what was going on or if she was okay, Mr. Wilson had already begun on his rant, promptly taking a seat behind his desk with a deep sigh, forcing the attention onto him. 

“Well Mr. Peña, I’m sorry to have to call you in from your job, but I felt that this was something that more than warranted a parental visit. As if it wasn’t bad enough she is already deliberately breaking our school’s dress code, Lucy's already been one of several students down here today who have had the audacity to argue with both teachers and myself about the issue.” 

Just as Javi was about to speak, he stopped himself in disbelief, trying to process what he had just heard, looking over at Lucy, trying to hold back her tears before turning back to Mr. Wilson. 

“I’m- I’m sorry, I think I must be missing something. This is about what Lucy’s wearing?” Javi asked, scratching the back of his head in confusion. 

“Yes.” Mr. Wilson replied, almost annoyed that Javi’s immediate response was shock, rather than anger. “Our dress code clearly states that girls may not wear shorts below fingertip length or tank tops that are less than 3 fingers thick across the strap. It’s a distraction for both male staff and students. As your daughter is a Junior, this rule should come as no surprise to her. On top of this, she and a few other girls in the hallway this morning were written up for resisting coming to the office after teachers on dress code duty had written them up.” 

Javi had to visibly shake his head, trying to make sure he had really understood what he had just heard as his jaw hung open in disbelief. He took a deep breath, trying not to laugh to himself out of shock and building anger, asking one more time to make sure he truly comprehended this was the reason for the phone call this morning. 

“I’m sorry, I really think I must not be understanding this.” 

“That’s not what happened…” Lucy quietly piped in, eyes still glued to the floor. 

“Please, Ms. Peña, why don’t you enlighten us, then?” Mr. Wilson replied, a sarcastic delight in his tone. 

“I was on my way to second period when I got stopped by one of the teachers in the hallway. She told me that she needed to measure my tank top and shorts to make sure they were up to dress code. I knew they were kinda short but it’s like, a million degrees outside today and everyone is miserable because the air conditioning doesn’t work in half the rooms on the second floor.” Lucy paused, sitting up a little taller in her chair, looking over at her dad, her face filled riddled with guilt. Javi looked back at her, quietly nodding in reassurance for her to keep going. 

“But um, the teacher said that my shorts were too short, and that I needed to go to the office so they could write me a dress code referral. But I had a huge presentation that I’ve been working on that I was supposed to give today for my second period science class, and Ms. Feltmate told us that if we miss the presentation portion of our project, we get an automatic 20% reduction in our grade. I’ve worked so hard on that project, and I told the teacher in the hallway I couldn’t go because I’d miss my presentation. She told me she didn’t care, and that I should have known better, and then I told her it wasn’t fair that she’s going to ruin my grade on this project because of my shorts when literally everyone in the school is breaking dress code today because it’s so hot out. I tried to tell her I’d even go before 3rd period so I didn’t have to miss my presentation but she told me she didn’t believe me and that she was going to write me up. So, I’ve been down here until you came. I’m- I’m sorry, Dad.” 

At this point, tears were welling in Lucy’s eyes, her voice quivering and bottom lip trembling, trying to keep from completely sobbing in front of her Dad and Assistant Principal, looking up at Javi with regret and shame for what she’d done. 

If Javi wasn’t upset before his daughter’s testimony, now, he was absolutely fuming. Javi was using every ounce of composure he had left to keep from completely exploding as he readjusted himself in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest as he locked eyes with Mr. Wilson. 

“Mr. Wilson, what period should Lucy be in right now?” Javi asked, trying to keep as calm as possible while he waited for Mr. Wilson’s surprised response. 

“Uh- I believe 4th period just started? Why?” 

“So you mean to tell me, Mr. Wilson, that not only has my daughter missed out on a huge presentation that she has spent countless hours working on, she’s also missed out on two other classes because you think that keeping her here in your office because of her shorts is more important than her learning?” 

Mr. Wilson stared back at Javi in a silent shock, taken aback that he was in fact, not on his side at all, and was seconds away from absolutely ripping him a new one for what he had done to his daughter. 

“Well, y-yes, but-” Mr. Wilson stammered, trying to rebuttal. 

“You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me. I’m sorry, Mr. Wilson, but this is the goddamn stupidest thing I’ve ever heard. Lucy is a straight A student. She cares more about school than any kid I’ve ever met. She is smart, and hard working, and the fact that you wanna actively punish her for that just because she’s wearing shorts when it’s the hottest damn day of the year is absolutely fucking ridiculous. Second of all, if playing dress code police is more important to you than girls going to class because some teenage creeps, better yet, staff members can’t keep it in their pants, you’ve got a way bigger issue on your hands than what my daughter chooses to wear to school.”  

A stark silence hung in the air for a moment filled with mixture of Javi’s fumes, Lucy’s shock and surprise, and Mr. Wilson’s overwhelming embarrassment at the situation he had brought upon himself. Before Mr. Wilson could even try to muster out some sort of defense, Javi was already standing up out of his chair, nudging Lucy to do the same. 

“Grab your stuff, Lu, we’re going.” 

“Mr. Peña, let me assure you that-” 

“Mr. Wilson, the only thing you need to assure me is that you’re going to explain to her teacher where Lucy was wasting her time this morning so she can give her presentation for full credit, and that I’m not gonna hear from you again in regards to what my kid wears to school when it’s 105 degrees outside. Have a nice day.” 

Without another word, Javi was already halfway out the door, Lucy quickly following behind him as he signed her out for the rest of the day before silently storming out to his truck slamming the door behind him as Lucy sheepishly crawled into the passenger side, setting her backpack between her feet. 

“Dad, I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean to-” 

“Lu, I’m not mad at you. You have nothing to apologize for. You think I’d be upset with you because of that?” 

“Well, I don’t know, I mean, I did technically break the rules, and you had to leave work to come here, and-” 

“Hey.” Javi paused, putting a hand on Lucy’s shoulder, getting her to take her eyes out of her lap and look at him, “Lucy, I’m proud of you. You stood up for yourself for something that was clearly important to you when you knew what other people were doing wasn’t right. I could never be mad at you for that.” 

Finally, a small smile pursed the edges of Lucy’s lips, shrugging her shoulders to try and play off her dad’s compliment, even though they both knew Javi was more than right to be proud of what his daughter had done. 

“Thanks, Dad.” 

“Of course, Lu. I’m being serious though, what you did takes a lotta balls. You should be proud of yourself.” Javi smiled, giving Lucy a little nudge with the hand still placed on her shoulder. 

“Ew, Dad, gross.” Lucy sighed, rolling her eyes as she playfully shoved her Dad’s arm off her, the pair quietly laughing to themselves. 

“You promise I’m not in trouble?” Lucy asked again, raising an eyebrow at her dad. 

“The only punishment I’m making you endure is forcing you to spend some time with your old man for the rest of the day.” Javi smirked, fastening his seatbelt before looking over his shoulder to back out of his haphazard park job. 

“Could be worse.” Lucy teased, giving her Dad a little shrug, secretly excited that not only had her Dad stood up for her without a second thought, but was letting her ditch school to spend time together. While at the ripe age of 17, she wouldn’t admit it out loud, Lucy knew how lucky she was to have a dad like hers. “Do we have to listen to your old man music while we drive, or is that also part of the punishment?” 

“Yup. No Jonas Brothers for this drive, Lucy Lu.” 

“Dad, I haven’t listened to the Jonas Brothers in years. I don’t even like them anymore.” Lucy laughed, cringing at Javi’s presumed music interests for her. “That’s okay, I don’t mind your old man music. You’re better than Mom. She’s been on a huge ABBA kick every time we drive to soccer practice, and if I hear “Gimmie, Gimmie, Gimmie” one more time, my ears may bleed.” 

Reaching over the center console Lucy grabbed the aux cord, plugging in her phone, scrunching her face in concentration as she scrolled through a few different playlists until landing on something that seemed to fit the bill, setting her phone in her lap while turning up the volume. 

Dun. 

Dunnnadnun. 

Dunanun.  

Javi couldn’t help but smile at Lucy’s pick of “Back in Black” by AC/DC, one of Lucy’s favorite songs her and Javi would listen to on her drives hockey practices and games when she was little, claiming the song gave her special powers to “kick boys butts” when she played. 

“Damn, you must really want me to kick your ass in putt putt, huh?” Javi teased, hinting at his makeshift plans for the rest of the afternoon. 

“Really? That's what we're doing? Dad, no offense, but you suck at putt putt. Are you trying to make this easy for me? Because if that’s the case, then I’ll start planning my flavor choice for my extra scoop of winner’s ice cream now.” 

“Whatever you say, smartass.” 

After 18 holes of mini-golf, Javi couldn’t even pretend that he put up a fight against Lucy, admitting in defeat that he didn’t even stand a chance against her, not even foregoing bribery to get her to throw away his embarrassingly high score card as proof of his loss. 

Per tradition in the Peña household, Lucy rightfully earned her extra scoop of ice cream at Eva’s Dairy Barn for her impressive putt putt victory, her and Javi settling in on their favorite bench by the little stream that ran behind the ice cream shop, where their family had spend more than their fair share of time enjoying their favorite treats while stomping and splashing in the creek. 

“Victory sure does taste sweet.” Lucy joked, sticking her tongue out at Javi as she bit into her ice cream, Javi rolling his eyes at her even though she had every right to give him shit after his terrible performance. 

“Well if you can find a college with a putt putt scholarship, that’s the place to go.” Javi smiled before the pair went quiet, the reality of knowing Lucy would be seriously starting to look at colleges soon weighing heavy in his throat and deep in his chest. “Have you uh, thought anymore about schools you like?” He asked, trying his best to sound nonchalant, rather than the complete and utter terror he really felt. 

“I don’t know… a lot of people from school are talking about going to Texas Tech or Texas A&M… I think I like Texas A&M but, I don’t know, it’s just….” Lucy paused, taking a deep breath, anxiously twiddling with her fingers. 

“Just what, Lu?” 

“It’s almost 6 hours away. I know it’s not really that far but, I don’t know… I’m just really worried that I’ll miss you guys. Don’t tell Elliot and Harper I said that.” 

It took everything in Javi not to melt into a weepy, sobbing mess right then and there on that bench, wondering how yesterday, he was bringing Lucy home from the hospital, scared shitless on how in the world he was going to be a father, let alone a half decent one, and now, here Lucy was, nearly an adult who had blossomed into the most wonderful daughter he could have asked for, and was getting ready to leave for college. 

Wrapping his arm over Lucy’s shoulder, she let her head fall next to his, sitting for a moment in a thoughtful silence before Javi spoke. 

“No matter where you go or what you do, you know that we’ll always be there for you, right? Even when you’re sick of us. You’re an amazing kid, Lu. We’re all so proud of you. I’m so proud of you. We’ll be there for you even if you’re on the other end of the earth if that’s where you wanna go. I love you, kiddo.” 

“Love you too, Dad.” 

Javi couldn’t help but reach up to wipe the tears welling in his eyes with the back of his hand after a quick kiss on Lucy's forehead, making Lucy laugh as she tried to hide the tears of her own. 

“Dad, are you crying?” 

“No… A little… I’m just really pissed you beat me at mini golf, okay?” Javi joked, trying to use a little humor before he became a total sap. “Alright, we should probably head home before Elliot and Harper get too suspicious.” 

“Not looking forward to the 10 pounds of shit they’re gonna give me when I found out I got called down to the principal's office.” 

“Don’t worry, I’m sure Elliot will happily triple your visits by the time she’s your age. As for Harper, God, I honestly worry she’s gonna be calling the principal down to see her.” 

“Is this your subtle way of telling me I’m your favorite child?” 

“No, this is my subtle way of thanking you that despite your run in with the pants police today, you’re the one I’m least worried about having to bail out of jail one day. Don’t tell them I said that.” 

“Your secret’s safe with me, Dad.”  

Taglist:

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@purpleprincess75

[wunderlass]

Went to a place called Mother Shipton's cave this weekend, a place that:

a) claims to be the oldest tourist attraction in England and

b) I last visited as a 6 year old and it's haunted my nightmares since then.

The gist is that in the 15th century, a 15 year old girl gave birth to a baby in a cave during a storm, and that baby grew up to be known as a woman called Mother Shipton. She predicted the future and was supposedly a witch.

Her mother refused to name the baby's father, so she was banished from the town and gave birth alone. They lived in the cave until the little girl was two, when the mother went to a nunnery and the girl was fostered out. She was 'hideously deformed' (hunchback, walked with a cane, crooked nose) but learnt how to heal using plants from the local woodland. She married a local man at age 21 and he died two years later, and both events were claimed to be as a result of her witchcraft. She lived a long life for the time, eventually dying at age 73.

Now, bear in mind, there is no real evidence she actually existed. She never wrote her own prophecies down. But the tourist attraction sprang up not long after her death, and consists of the cave she was supposedly born in, down by the banks of the river. It's still in a stretch of woodland and is next to a petrifying well - water runs down over the rockface and has such a high mineral content in it that anything in its path gets coated and eventually turns to 'stone'.

It's both a beautiful, peaceful place, and very eerie. You can understand how people would have attributed the petrification process to witchcraft or sorcery.

Anyway, it got me thinking about the story of this woman, which has survived for over 500 years. From what we know:

A 15 year old girl was forced to give birth alone in a cave

Her daughter was disabled, and it's not unreasonable to assume that this second point might have been the result of the first thing

There was probably a reason the father went unnamed, and it's highly unlikely to have been a good reason

A man married her, despite her disability, and the local people do not seem to have considered that it might have been out of love.

When she died, it's said that friends buried her, because she was refused a place in the churchyard. Which means she was liked and respected enough to, y'know, have friends.

So what we have here is a woman cast in what we now consider as the archetype of a witch, who may have just been a disabled woman who never did any harm to anybody? Who may have actually helped people?

Not sure what my point is here. Something about the intersection of ableism and misogyny, I guess. At least the people who run the visitor attraction do seem to treat her memory with a certain amount of respect.

[obsolescent]

I personally see Leon having a son and a daughter. We all know he’s wrapped around his daughter’s fingers. So I won’t go into detail with her.

But I see Leon being unintentionally very hard on his son.

Leon knows how fucked the world is. He knows just how dangerous everything is, and while he wants to protect his daughter from it, he wants to prepare his son to handle it.

Leon’s a protector. A warrior. And he wants to instill that same ethic into his son.

He doesn’t do it out of misogyny. Not at all. He knows if she wanted to, his daughter could take on the world. But there’s just something different about his daughter facing such danger vs his son.

If his son is the oldest sibling, it’s even worse. Leon unintentionally goes damn near military on him. Leon sees it as making sure he’s disciplined, hardworking, and a good man. But at the cost of Leon’s son feeling like he’ll never be good enough in the eyes of his father.

Until it all explodes. Maybe it’s when his son is a teenager. His boy breaks down finally and Leon sees the worst thing he ever could. Leon sees himself in his son. The exhaustion. The depression. And Leon *hates* himself for what he did to his boy.

Even taking the steps to undo what’s been done, with therapy and time, Leon despises himself for what he did. He cries one night after his son had a full on panic attack over a C on an exam.

Yea, his son has become hardworking, driven, intelligent…but his son also became anxious, depressed and exhausted.

But Leon loves his kids. He loves his family with every fiber and cell in his body. So he puts in the work to change. He apologizes properly. Hugs his darling little boy and doesn’t let go. He changed his habits. His thought process. He does everything to help break his son out of his unintentional conditioning. It takes time, Leon isn’t perfect. But damnit, he tries his best.

It takes time, but Leon and his son repair the damage and become extremely close. Like, never could be closer type of close. when Leon’s a grandpa, his son is gonna hand him his own grandkid with the middle name ‘Leon’ type of close.

You sent this in a bit ago but I’ve been sitting with it, my apologies. I’ve been trying to see it from your perspective and I’ll have to say, this is one headcanon we don’t share.

But I did agree with the part that Leon knows the world is fucked, how dangerous it is, and with what he went through? The training he had to endure, what the government did to him. I feel like in turn, he would be soft to his children, and would do so regardless of gender.

Though, I do see this through the lenses of being trans, and I feel like if Leon did have a partner like someone like myself, he wouldn’t push those gender stereotypes onto his kids.

Leon’s been through so many things, I think he would have a lot of anxiety about how he’s treating them. Like you said, he knows he isn’t perfect, so he would wonder if he’s doing a good job, raising them well and making sure they’re protected, but can keep themselves safe, too. He would lay awake many nights picking apart his interactions with them.

He would absolutely train any of them to defend themselves, using different types of methods and weapons. He wouldn’t go into detail with them about his job for the obvious reasons, so they would probably be like ??? At his defensiveness, lol.

He would write it off as being prepared for any and all things, no matter what. He may mention some things he saw on the news for his actions, saying “Look, kids. I just want you to be ready for anything, you never know.”

He would be so close to his children. After being away on missions, he would spend every waking moment of his time with his family. Outings and vacations, doing whatever they want; as long as he gets to create memories with them, ones he wasn’t able to have with his own parents.

Though I do see his kids helping him grow regardless, making him more optimistic about the future, about life. I also agree with the part where you said Leon loves his family with every fiber of his being. You and your children would be the ones that keep him going, head held high and fighting like hell to get back to ya’ll.

I know this probably wasn’t what you were expecting from me, sorry if this is a bit disappointing, but this is my take on it! Once again, sorry about the delay in this (and the other anons, I’m still trying to get back into the swing of things).

[punkeropercyjackson]

hey ok so feel free to ignore this if u dont know the answer but i recently got virias account recommended to me and i feel like i VAGUELY heard something about them being weird/creepy and wondered if there was any water to that rumour, and ur like my only pjo moot so i feel like might know abt it?

im only really asking to be informed since i already blocked them (i was scrolling through their pjo tag to see if i could find anything and they tagged like vague pieces with 'percico' which i did not like in the slightest)

Okay so like.In the og Pjo days,Viria was like THE pjo fanartist but this was a reflection of the deeply steped in racism,misogyny,queerphobia and pr*shipping nature of the fandom at the time than anything to due with quality of her work.It wasn't THAT bad for the time but the thing is she's yet to change her tune and she's 30 and was an adult when her Pjo artisry started(at 19 or so).She'd drawn multiple nsfw/suggestive pieces of the at time 16 year old Hoo mcs and even 14 year old Nico and 13 year old Hazel and she still rides for Percico to this day even though Percy is an adult for 4 irl years now and Nico is 15 at the oldest

There's also the fact her racist Pjo official arts go beyond book accuracy-Sadie is light-featured,not white passing.Leah's Annabeth is not blonde or gray-eyed.Frank is fat,not pure muscle and he's given yellow undertones by her.And the kicker is she even draws Annabeth and Apollo as darker than canon poc while hcing them as white(no seriously,google her Percabeth fanarts and i even saw her claim she likes the contrast in their skin tones as self-defense)

^In reponse to poc Pjo fans critizing her.I can definitely find more tweets like this if anybody wants since there were tons,it was a whole breakdown with her.Important note is she also continues to draw for HP so maybe she's Jkr's long lost daughter or sumn

[fishhawish]

hellooo good day to you ! :D

i've read your cheater Diluc x vindictive Reader but i was hoping you could do this but this time with ayato cheating on reader with chiori. i want reader realising he is cheating from her oldest child.

you can ignore this if you're not ok with it !! stay safe~

(ps. if you have anon emojis, may i be 🌸 anon?)

Awe thank you<3 ofc 🌸 Anon! I don't have them but You can be my first. Also sorry for long response, stay safe as well!

I'm currently still also mad at chiori because I didn't get her sword on weapon banner and I wanted it for albedo so perfect lol.

And sorry it's short I have no motivation rn.

♪

Perfidiousness • Ayato x Reader

Angst with some comfort

Tw: cheating, manipulation, toxic relationship, slight misogyny, divorced parents (lmk if I missed anything)

At night winters in Inazuma can get quite chilly. And even chillier in your marriage with Kamisato Ayato. Despite being next to him at night, the bed still felt cold unlike how it used to be. The once attentive and doting man began to neglect your relationship. The beautiful Chiori designed sleep wear being the only thing to warm you. The beautiful pattern in the colors that you loved detailed the high quality fabric elegantly.

Sooner than later, even those luxurious items of clothing couldn't keep you warm when you saw your eldest daughter coming back with a sickened expression, but refusal to answer. "Sweetie what's wrong?" Your voice gently calls out to her as she whips around and shakes her head frantically. "Are you feeling unwell?" Worry in your tone. "Please do not worry, I just happened to see a dead cat when I went for a stroll" she responds trying to hide the panic.

You could see through the lies of hers. "Oh my, I'll send Thoma to give it a proper burial. Is that okay dear?" You said as you put your hand on her shoulder to comfort her. "Yes, that will be appreciated." Your daughter said walking off. After she left You peer though the open crack on the door to see Ayato assisting and giving chiori his goodbyes before she left for the night. He paid her to make you a custom garment for your anniversary.

Something look quite off about the two giving each other their goodbyes. It seemed.. unprofessional. Perhaps more, close? You decided to ignore it. Your daughter looked at you from the corner of the hallway hoping you noticed her father's affair with the fashion designer. She looked guilty, looking down at the ground. Contemplating wether she should tell you about his affair or not. 'Maybe You already knew and is ignoring it?" She thought.

The next morning she called out to you. Her voice ringing in your ears as you turn your attention to her. "Yes dear?" You said, voice bearly above a whisper as you smile at her sweetly. "There's something you should know.. Have You seen Father and Miss Chiori recently?" She looked worried. You nodded in response. "Do you know what's going on between them?" She asked nervously watching you shake your head 'no'.

She looked even more nervous. "I believe Father is having an affair with Miss Chiori.." she watched your expressions, which although looked sad it didn't change too much. "That's okay, she can't replace me." You tell her, a surprised expression evidence on her facial features. "You're not going to leave Father?" she said. "It'll take me a lot more than just an affair to leave him, after all I won't give up being his wife. He can have his affair all he wants, but I won't divorce him." You looked confidently at her.

"But why?" She said distressed. "I have my reasons" You replied softly while hugging her. She was about to cry. She didn't understand the reasoning for which why you would ever stay with Ayato if he's cheating. "If I divorce him, It'll ruin your little sibling's family lives, and it'll take away my power in Inazuma." You look away from her smiling softly before releasing her from the hug.

She looked up at you, slightly hurt but understanding. "Are you sure?" She whispered as you nodded. "I'm positive" You said nonchalantly. "Thank You, I will be returning to my corridor. I love you." She looked at the ground sounding defeated. "I love you too sweetie" you said before returning to your current task. The day goes by and ends quickly.

Day by day, you see Chiori with your husband. Her giving you backhanded compliments, at some point your daughter even almost snapped at her and started yelling at her. Your Husband constantly getting onto your daughter for her behaviors. At some point you'll have to stop him from getting angry and yelling. And yet you watch Him cheat on You with Chiori every day. And she's blissfully unaware.

[atopvisenyashill]

Because I like giving Jaehaerys a headache: Baelon goes to avenge his brother Aemon against the Myrish pirates. He ends up dying as well. Who is now heir?

Well in canon, Baelon runs off to kill the pirates, then comes back and is suddenly named heir. So if he runs off, and just doesn't come back, that puts Jaehaerys is a trickier position because he had never actually named Baelon as heir, plus Viserys isn't yet married while Rhaenys is married with a powerful husband and a dragon (I don't think Viserys nor Daemon had even claimed their dragons just yet).

So...I do think he'd use this opportunity to say "well I have two grandchildren who could be my heirs and given the rapid deaths of both their parents, I think the lords should help me decide between them" as a way of sort of kicking away any responsibility for the aftermath. However...so fucking tricky. Viserys hasn't already become entrenched as heir yet which is a lot of why he has so many votes in the GC 101. He also doesn't have his Targaryen bride yet nor even a lone daughter to point to - his heir would still be Daemon and Daemon isn't all that old yet. Now, Rhaenys doesn't have a son either but she's at least had a single child, is married, and again, has a dragon.

I think he'd go for a GC earlier because just straight up bypassing Rhaenys for Viserys is very weird in this situation; you can almost see the sense in passing up a granddaughter for another son because Jaehaerys is still alive (ie it's not inherently in his eyes, a daughter before an uncle thing - he's just passing up one son for the other). But this is just very clearly passing up Aemon's line for Baelon's and I do think there'd be some pushback here. And I also think he'd have to play politic a lot more here as well - yeah, he can definitely still rely on misogyny (that's what the greens did after all lmao) to back his claim up, but without having named Baelon as heir, he looks like a little bit of an asshole here. And unfortunately for him, while he's politcking, Alysanne is not only politicking to get Rhaenys the throne, she's also probably really fucking pissed off that he's doing this after their two oldest sons have just died. This is absolutely going to be a crazy Second Quarrel where the King and Queen are a) not living together b) on completely opposite sides and c) getting ready to duke it out via their Rhaenys/Viserys proxies. So for sure, Jaehaerys is having Viserys claim and probably Daemon claim a dragon immediately, marrying Viserys to Aemma immediately, and um. Probably things go badly for poor Aemma here.

Whatever way it goes, I think it's a really close vote. These men are not just going to vote in a woman without a lot of promises made to them. The main people Corlys and Rhaenys need to win over are the Lannisters, Tyrells, and Tullys. We don't know how the Tyrells voted but we do know the Tyrells and Hightowers clash a bit so it's possible they can sway their votes. I think Grover Tully is a nonstarter but Elmo might be able to sway some votes, along with the Blackwoods who are already voting for them. Who knows what's happening with the Lannisters - they side with Viserys, then the Greens, but that doesn't mean Tymond can't be swayed. Plus, with Alysanne actively campaigning for Rhaenys (she had died before the GC 101 remember), that might sway things in their favor.

It's really tricky to say! I think what way it goes just kinda depends on your read of the characters and Westeros as a whole - I think canon shows us that they'd still rather a man above all else in several instances, especially when the person sitting on that seat would prefer a man. Jeyne, for example, had the backing of the Royces against her male cousins. And Rhaenys has to wait until 94 AC for Laenor, but Aemon/Baelon die in 92, so the GC is probably held in 93 while she's pregnant again, so she's arguing on behalf of a theoretical child, while Viserys and Daemon are here and alive, and a living breathing man is always worth more than a girl's theoretical baby (regardless of whether Viserys has his own heir or not smFh). On the other hand, god wouldn't it just be fun if Jaehaerys' plans were all completely ruined because Baelon runs off and gets himself and maybe Vhagar killed as well because he's upset and Alysanne manages to out politic him and get Rhaenys crowned while she hasn't even had a son yet? That's my dream, their marriage would be completely FINISHED but it would be so fucking funny.

[peachymilkandcream]

Evelyn x Movie! William Afton Smutshot

(A/N: This has been hiding in my brain ever since I saw the movie, and I wasn't going to write this but one I get it out I figured the space this man is renting in my head will be vacant. He is such dilf energy and gives me Break Me Slowly Levi vibes. Obviously, this is totally not canon in any way shape or form, Evelyn is just my go to OC and persona so I just decided to use her. I just had to give into my demons. To repent for my sins of this I'll try and get a Break Me Slowly chapter up today. [Also I'm not totally fluent on all the lore so bear with me])

WARNINGS: noncon, dubcon, manipulation, domestic abuse, yandere themes, forced marriage, forced pregnancy, stockholm syndrome, violence, mind breaking, misogyny, etc.

==============================================

The restaurant was failing, the rumours surrounding those missing children had damaged his business almost beyond repair. While it was his own fault, William was too proud to admit it. Nothing was ever because of him, he was only responsible for the good that happened in the lives of him and his children.

His anger and frustration needed to be taken out on someone, and while he wanted it to be on Henry or another unsuspecting child, he needed to pace himself. If he did too much and got too greedy all that would get him is a prison stay and he'd never see his wife or kids again. After all the work he did to have all those things, he wasn't about to lose it.

William marched into the house, happy to see his wife Evelyn with their daughter Elizabeth on her hip. Four kids hadn't changed her body, and unlike him grey hadn't threatened to streak her hair. She looked just as beautiful as the day he married her, all those years ago when he had convinced her to marry him since he had gotten her pregnant.

Her whole life had become nothing but living under his thumb as a dutiful wife who lived to take care of the children he gave her and all of his needs. Slowly, he approached her, wrapping his arms around her waist. Without an ounce of emotion or barely and reaction she continues making whatever she was doing for dinner.

"Hello William."

"Evelyn." His hands snake up to her chest, squeezing slightly. When she brushes his hands away he just returns to grip them harder. "Don't you try it."

"William the children are here..."

"And they can see a loving married couple. I don't see a problem here. Think of it as a teachable moment."

"Please William, stop-"

He does, for a moment, taken aback by her sudden distaste to him. It wasn't something he was used to, and didn't like in the slightest. He straightens himself out and stares her down.

"Kids go to your room." His voice is stern and full of authority.

The two children quickly leave their seat and hurry to their room, the oldest, Micheal staying for a moment to collect Elizabeth from his mother. With them out of the way William turns back to Evelyn who stands there shaking with fear.

He does nothing for a few moments before his hand flies out and connects with her cheek, sending her reeling and holding the red spot starting to show. Before she can recover he grabs her roughly by the shoulders and pushes her over the counter, standing in between her legs.

"You think you have a right to just, order me around? I don't know where this sudden display of an attitude has come from but I can tell you I won't have it in my house!" He lifts the skirt of her dress up and over her hips, exposing her to him.

Evelyn sobs and holds onto the counter, begging him to stop because he's scaring her, as if pitiful pleas had ever stopped him from getting his way. Without a second thought he pushed all the way in her, causing her to moan in between a sob, her knuckles turning white as she gripped the counter to get away from him.

He held her firmly in place before moving inside her, knowing full well that there would be bruises on her hips for the next little while from the force he was exerting. It was her own damn fault though, if she quit fighting him all the time and remained his naive and pliable wife she wouldn't have this problem. He was only a little controlling, making her parrot whatever he tells her and making sure she believes his every word without question, that shouldn't be too much to ask.

"You brought this on yourself, you created this mess and now you have to deal with it. So stop that crying before I give you something to really cry about."

She bites her lip so hard it bleeds to keep the sobs at bay, while tears still poured down her cheeks at least now she was quiet. He could focus on the pleasure without her whining distracting him. Part of him wanted to give her another child to take care of so she could be even more tied down to him. However he knew that was foolish considering his current financial state, he wasn't too driven to do something stupid. For now that idea would have to wait.

Even with this in mind, he still pushed all the way in and came inside her. Once couldn't hurt, and her walking around full of him was enough to throw caution to the wind. If something happened they would make do and deal with it, plus the look on her face when she felt the hot liquid inside her made it all worth it.

He pulls out with a soft sigh, zipping up his pants. "Don't just stand there, go clean yourself up. I'll be in the basement."

William leaves her there shaking and processing what had just happened while he retreats to the basement to find a new way to save his business and reputation. Even if it means cutting a few people down along the way.

[mothergold]

I think everyone should hear a little about Dottore fantasy au ;3

wip ask game

okay so i have absolutely nothing written for it but i still really hope i can write it.

it’s basically a fic with a lot of themes i want to play around with and kind of feel expand on my experience with womanhood? especially as someone who no longer identifies as such. i know that probably sounds weird but just hear me out.

Warnings: Misogny, Traditional Gender Roles, Talk of Womanhood, Arranged marriage.

So, for this wip reader is oldest daughter to a fairly large poor family. She feels like the odd one out in the crowd even among other women, and while she knows her family expects marriage and children from her, that’s never been something she’s wanted. Reader is and has always been interested in magic even tho in this au it’s seen as reserved for men who are well off. A good portion of this fic plays into her wanting to learn magic and abandon her responsibilities.

At one point she is arranged for marriage and of course she doesn’t want that. So, she kind leaves the house in a fit of anger and that’s where she runs into Dottore who knows a lot about magic, especially the darker kind. It eventually leads into reader being offered a new life, being his apprentice, and at first she refuses because she feels its the right thing to do, but eventually it leads back to her seeking him out and running away to work beside him. And it’s dottore so of course shit happens, but i basically want to write a fic that deals with growing up afab, misogyny, traditional gender roles, being trans, and dismantling a lot of those traditional roles that afab people have thrust upon them but in a very queer way. Anyway yeah i hope this doesn’t sound insane lmao

[une-sanz-pluis]

Do you know that Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York's wife Isabella is likely to have an affair with a man from the Howard family and gave birth to the Earl of Cambridge, Richard? Isabella's will was made with Edmund's consent, which may indicate that although Edmund did not want his property to go to Richard, he did not hate their mother and son. Perhaps they were just colleagues who had to have children together

I'm not quite sure I'm following your ask. I think you're asking about Isabel (or Isabella) of Castile, Duchess of York and the assertion that Richard, Earl of Cambridge was a son born from her adulterous liaison? However, the man she was accused of having an affair with was not a member of the Howard family but John Holland (or Holand), Earl of Huntington. Huntington was the son of Joan of Kent and Thomas Holland and thus half-brother to Richard II. Huntington was married to Elizabeth of Lancaster who was the sister of Henry IV, which would have been made things awkward (to say the least) when Richard II was deposed. Huntington was killed during the Epiphany Rising which aimed to restore Richard to the throne. .

Jenny Stratford recently published work arguing that the affair did not take place and that Cambridge was legitimate, as far as we can tell. I'll talk you through the evidence and her arguments against it below the cut.

Thomas Walsingham's commentary on Isabel

Thomas Walsingham wrote that Isabel was:

A lady of sensual and self-indulgent disposition, she had been worldly and lustful; yet in the end by the grace of Christ, she repented and was converted. By the command of the king she was buried at his manor of Langley with the friars, where, so it is said, the bodies of many traitors had been placed together.

Stratford points out that Walsingham got the date of her death wrong, placing it two years after her death occurred, which suggests he was probably not well-informed about his life. She suggests that the image of emerges from Isabel's will contrasts sharply against the image Walsingham provides:

The duchess herself emerges in a favourable light. In face of her husband’s debts, the arrangement to provide an income for the seven-year-old Richard by transferring to Richard II most of her jewels and plate, her personal chattels, was eminently practical. It limited the possibility of claims by the duke’s creditors, while grants previously made to Isabel were subsequently reassigned to fund the annuity. These provisions seem very unlikely to indicate that young Richard was illegitimate, any more than a gap of twelve years between the age of the oldest and youngest of the duchess’s three living children was necessarily significant. The duke’s will drawn up a decade after Isabel’s death speaks of his devotion to her.

It's also worth noting that Walsingham has something of a reputation for misogyny and for being unreliable - we now know that some of his assertions about Alice Perrers's background are groundless and serve to make her appear worse than she was, while Anna Duch argued that he effectively erased Anne of Bohemia from his account of Richard II's reign. He is also full of vitriol for Agnes Launcekrona and Katherine Swynford so it seems to me that we should treat his claims on women with great scepticism.

John Shirley's comments on Chaucer's Complaint of Mars

Forty years after Isabel's death, a scribe named John Shirley wrote an afterword on Geoffrey Chaucer's Complaint of Mars that linked it to a scandal involving "the lady of York" and John Holland. Connected with Walsingham's commentary, it's generally been taken as evidence that they had an affair.

Stratford argues that the Shirley's commentary is likely a garbled reference to the affair between Constance of York (Isabel's daughter) and Edmund Holland, Earl of Kent (John Holland's nephew) which the resulted in the birth of an illegitimate daughter, Eleanor. Following Kent's death, Eleanor claimed claimed her parents had married clandestinely before Kent married Lucia Visconti and that she was his rightful heir but her claims were rejected. Historians have suggested that Kent might have considering marrying Constance before the revelation that she had been involved in a plot against Henry IV meant he distanced himself from her.

Additionally, J. D. North argued that the astronomical framework contained within Complaint of Mars could have only applied to the year 1385 and aligns it with the beginning of the affair between Elizabeth of Lancaster and Huntington. Elizabeth had been married to John Hastings, heir to the earldom of Pembroke, in 1380 when she was 16 and Hastings was 8. However, the marriage was annulled in 1386 and Elizabeth soon after married Huntington on 24 June 1386. It is frequently asserted that Huntington and Elizabeth had embarked on an affair that resulted in a pregnancy, leading to the hasty annulment of Elizabeth's first marriage and her second marriage to Huntington though it isn't clear when their first child was born, though it was in 1386 or 1387. It may be that John Shirley's reference to the affair between "the lady of York" and Huntington may actually be referring to Huntington's affair with Elizabeth of Lancaster.

It may even be that the reference represents a garbled combination of the two affairs - Constance of York and Edmund Holland, Elizabeth of Lancaster and John Holland - recorded decades later. It might be noteworthy in this regard that Elizabeth and Huntington's first child was also named Constance (both Constances were named after Isabel's sister, Constanza or Constance of Castile), which would add to the confusion).

The wills of Cambridge's father and older brother.

The argument that Richard, Earl of Cambridge was illegitimate is based around the lack of reference to Cambridge in the wills of his father and older brother, where it is assumed that this represents that Cambridge was effectively, though not legally, disowned.

His brother, Edward 2nd Duke of York's will was written after Cambridge had been executed as a traitor for his role in the Southampton Plot. His lack of reference to Cambridge may simply be because Cambridge was dead and could not be a beneficiary. There may have also been concern that any reference to Cambridge, such a request for prayers for his brother's soul, could result in suspicion of Edward's own loyalties. From the surviving evidence, Edward also seems to have had a close relationship with Henry V so Cambridge's treason may well have driven a wedge between the brothers. In short: there are a lot of reasons why Edward might have avoided referencing Cambridge explicitly that were far more relevant to the circumstances his will was written in.

Stratford notes that "a testator may not include all his bequests in his will", which would apply to both Dukes of York. Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York left "nothing in the will to any of his three children" (my emphasis). He did, however, ask to be buried "near his beloved Isabel, formerly his companion". In short, there is no reason to presume Cambridge's exclusion was due to his being informally disowned by his father due to the adultery of his mother. York's will provides no support to the idea that he had a fraught relationship with Isabel, either.

Isabel's will makes special provision for Richard, Earl of Cambridge.

Isabel's will asked Richard II for provide an annuity of 500 marks for Cambridge against the surrender of her jewels and plate until appropriate lands could be found to furnish him with an income. This has led to the belief that Cambridge would not be supported by his father and brother and, in combination with the above, that this was because he was illegitimate.

Most of this is based on the transcript of her will published in Testamenta vetusta, which is a shortened extract of the full document which didn't include Isabel's many bequests to her husband (if you read something that claims Isabel left York nothing, the author is working from the abridged will, not the full text). Stratford's study is on the original will in its full form. As noted in your ask, Isabel required and received the permission of her husband to make this will. Stratford also notes that some of those mentioned in the will are Edmund, Duke of York's officers who also appear in his will, "strongly suggesting that the duke and the leading members of his familia were in full agreement with its provisions". In short, the idea that York was refusing to acknowledge or provide for Cambridge seems somewhat illogical given his involvement and the involvement of his officers in Isabel's will which was primarily concerned with providing for Cambridge.

Stratford argues that what the will represents is an effort by Isabel and York to provide for Cambridge "while protecting as far as possible the incomes of her husband and his heir."

The principal purpose of Isabel’s will was to provide for their youngest child, Richard, then aged seven. Edmund gave his wife full powers to dispose of her horses, jewels, robes, the furnishings of her chamber, and her other chattels. She made a number of bequests, notably including books, but offered the majority of her valuables to Richard II if he would agree to provide her younger son, his godson (filiol), with an income of 500 marks per year for life. If the king did not so wish, Isabel’s oldest son, then earl of Rutland, was invited to do so on the same terms.

At the time Isabel was drawing up her will, York was heavily in debt following his Portuguese expedition, had difficulty obtaining money due to him from the Crown, and didn't have lands commensurate with his status. York's executors were still struggling to pay his debts eight years after his death and when his eldest son died in 1415, the duchy of York remained bankrupt for twenty years. Stratford notes that the money raised by Isabel's jewels and plate would "circumvent claims on the duke by his creditors".

John Holland gave Isabel a gift.

Isabel's will mentions a "sapphire and diamond brooch" given to her by John Holland, Earl of Huntington which has been taken as evidence of their affair. Sometimes she is also said to have been given a gold cup and a chaplet of white flowers by Huntington, though Stratford points out the brooch is the only item actually said to have been given to her by Huntington and is one of three gifts from named donors (the others was a "little" gold tablet given to her by John of Gaunt and a gaming board of jasper from Leo of Armenia).

Firstly, while gifts of jewels to us seem to be strictly or largely romantic gestures, this very much wasn't the case within the Middle Ages, where the exchange of jewels was a normal part of aristocratic life, albeit serving an important function. We know that medieval nobles frequently exchanged gifts, including items they had been given by others, and it is a pure speculation to assume that Isabel "treasured" the brooch or even that she kept it because it was Huntington who had given to her. Furthermore, it is entirely possible that it was identified through the designation as a gift given to her by Huntington.

Secondly, if this is evidence of their affair which produced Cambridge, it's very odd that she didn't leave Huntington's gift to Cambridge but to her eldest son, Edward, who was York's acknowledged son and heir whose legitimacy has never been doubted.

Isabel left bequests to Holland.

Isabel left her Bibles and "the best fillet I have" to John Holland. Some have argued that this is unusual enough because Holland was the only person she gave gifts to who wasn't a "close member" of her family.

Outside of her husband and three children, Isabel also left bequests to Richard II, Anne of Bohemia, John of Gaunt and Eleanor de Bohun, Duchess of Gloucester, and Stratford groups with Eleanor as a member of Isabel's "wider family" and says it is credible they were friends, not lovers. The extent that Holland isn't a "close" member of her family can be debated: he was married to her niece (Elizabeth of Lancaster) and the half-brother of her nephew (Richard II).

Stratford says that Isabel may have made the bequest to Huntington in hope that that he would influence Richard II and John of Gaunt (who was Huntington's father-in-law and and close ally in the 1380s and named as an executor in Isabel's will) to ensure that the annuity she sought for Cambridge would become a reality.

Furthermore, Stratford suggests that the "best fillet" (which was probably a collar) may have been intended for Elizabeth of Lancaster, Huntington's wife. If so, this would rather point away from it being a memento from their affair.

There were a ten-year gap between Cambridge and his siblings.

The other main piece of evidence put forward is the large gap between Constance of York (b. c. 1375) and Cambridge (b. c. 1385). The supposition usually goes that having had two children (Edward, 2nd Duke of York was born c. 1373), Isabel and York had grown tired of each other's company and didn't have sex again, Isabel then embarked on an affair with Huntington that, some ten years after Constance's birth, left her pregnant and York allowed the child to be brought up as his son but refused to provide for him.

The problem with this scenario is that it is effectively a complete invention. The idea that York and Isabel were at odds is based around the idea of the affair and the speculation Cambridge was illegitimate. York never repudiated Isabel nor officially disowned Cambridge as a bastard. There are many possible reasons why there was such a large gap - fertility issues, miscarriages, bad luck, personal decisions, religious reasons (i.e. choosing to adopt a chaste marriage). Constance's birth may have been particularly difficult and York and Isabel decided not to chance sexual intercourse or to use the contraceptive methods available to them only to slip up. It's also possible that they may had other children who died too young to leave evidence behind and that the large gap between children wasn't that large in reality. After all, it seems we know very little about the births of their children, even the years are uncertain.

I know this is all speculative but so is the argument that they fell out. The point is that we don't have evidence to explain why beyond speculation.

Conclusion

A lot of the arguments for the affair based on tenuous links and are often based on the assumption that the affair was a historical fact and that Walsingham's comments on Isabel are an objective and reasonable account of her character. So the evidence that shows us a connection between Isabel and Huntington is often assumed to be evidence of a sexual relationship.

Take the brooch. It seems to be read as the equivalent of a man buying his lover an emerald necklace or diamond earrings. Except we know that the exchange of valuable jewels as gifts was a common aspect of medieval noble life that performed a vital function that very frequently had nothing to do with romantic or sexual feelings. We know, for example, that Henry VI gave Eleanor Cobham a brooch - it does not follow that they were therefore having an affair or that Henry harboured romantic feelings for his aunt.

That the brooch was mentioned in Isabel's will also tells us nothing. We don't know how she felt about it, only that she singled it out to be passed onto her eldest son (not Cambridge). It may be that she wanted him to have it because of he had admired it and, if it was a feminine piece, may have intended to give it onto his wife when he married. It's quite unremarkable that a medieval individual would identify a piece through noting who had given it to them and is not proof of romantic attachment. Isabel also mentioned gifts given to her by John of Gaunt and Leo of Armenia - should we assume she had affairs with them too?

On a similar note: that Isabel left items to Huntington is taken as proof of their romantic liaison. The bequest? Her best fillet (probably a collar, according to Stratford), which may well have been intended for Elizabeth of Lancaster, and her Bibles. They were likely valuable items but hardly proof of romantic involvement - such bequests were very common and would be utterly remarkable without the context of Shirley's commentary on their relationship.

It seems to me that there is good good reason to believe that John Shirley's commentary on Complaint of Mars, written decades after Isabel's death, may not have been about Isabel at all. She isn't named in the commentary and we have no clear, explicit evidence of this affair outside of the commentary itself. I think it was a garbled recollection of either Isabel's daughter, Constance of York's affair with Edmund Holland, Earl of Kent or of John Holland's affair with Elizabeth of Lancaster. We have clear, contemporary evidence of both these affairs - the existence of Constance's and Kent's daughter and this daughter's attempt to inherit Kent's estates, the annulment of Elizabeth's marriage to Hastings and her marriage to Huntington.

The evidence cited as "proof" of their affair is really nothing of the sort. Isabel's will attempted to provide for Cambridge in the face of York's (comparatively) small income and large debts. Huntington was a beneficiary but hardly the only one and not a particularly unusual choice. He gave Isabel a gift that was in keeping with the social custom of their class and time. York's will mentioned none of his children and he did not officially disown Cambridge. The lack of reference to Cambridge in his brother's will is easy to understand given it was written after Cambridge had been executed for treason. We have no real evidence of discontent between Isabel and York - he was obviously involved in the writing of her will and he requested burial with her in his own. Nor is there any account that records discord between them or separation, like we do for John of Gaunt and Constanza of Castile. York was buried with Isabel, as he had requested, and on their joint tomb-monument are Huntington's coat of arms (amongst many others). It seems very strange to me that York was so utterly furious about Isabel's adultery that he refused to provide for Cambridge, forcing Isabel to beg the king to provide for him, yet he chose to be buried with her, he chose as his second bride Huntington's niece, Joan Holland, and he chose to add the coat-of-arms with the man she had betrayed him with on their tomb monument (which was probably constructed sometime between 1393 and 1399). I don't think this picture holds up.

Walsingham did criticise Isabel for being "worldly and lustful" but Walsingham calling a woman a slut is pretty par for the course for him and he got facts of her life wrong. Nor does he report anything she actually did to deserve such a reputation. In others: scepticism is clearly needed. None of this adds up to very much. It isn't until Shirley wrote his commentary, decades later, that we find any reference to their affair. The rest are things that would be entirely unremarkable without Shirley's commentary directing us to see it as a romantic gesture.

Of course, the fact is that we can't prove she didn't have an affair and that Shirley was really referring to a more evidenced scandal. Proving a negative is hard. Even if we located, exhumed and DNA-tested the bodies of Cambridge, York and Huntington, we might confirm that Cambridge was really York's son (or Huntington's or the son of an unknown man) but we wouldn't be able to prove that Isabel didn't have sex with Huntington at some point in her life. We don't have evidence for every single time a medieval individual had sex and so we can't definitively rule out the possibility that an affair did occur. All we can say is the actual surviving evidence doesn't support the narrative that Isabel had an affair.

It's probably worth noting that Kathryn Warner also read Isabel's full will and still accepts the narrative of Isabel's infidelity, though she argues Cambridge should be given the benefit of the doubt where his illegitimacy is concerned. Personally, I find Stratford's reading of the will more credible than Warner's. I don't think the evidence cited as proof of Shirley's claim is actually evidence of an affair but the existence of a typical relationship between medieval nobles working as normal. Warner seems to contradict herself at times* and she doesn't seem to have been interested in questioning whether Isabel did or did not have an affair. I also think Stratford's extensive work on medieval manuscripts and the inventories of John, Duke of Bedford and Richard II lends credence to her claims.

Works Referenced

Jenny Stratford, "The Bequests of Isabel of Castile, 1st Duchess of York, and Chaucer’s ‘Complaint of Mars’", Creativity, Contradictions and Commemoration in the Reign of Richard II: Essays in Honour of Nigel Saul, eds. Jessica A. Lutkin and J. S. Hamilton (The Boydell Press 2022)

Jenny Stratford, "Isabel [Isabella] of Castile, duchess of Yorkunlocked (1355–1392)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (published 2022, updated 2023)

J. D. North, Chaucer's Universe (Oxford University Press 1988)

James P. Toomey (ed.), "A Household Account of Edward, Duke of York at Hanley Castle, 1409-10", Noble Household Management and Spiritual Discipline in Fifteenth-Century Worcestershire (Worcestershire Historical Society 2013).

John Evans, "XIV. Edmund of Langley and his Tomb", Archaeologia, vol. 46, no. 2, 1881

Kathryn Warner, John of Gaunt: Son of One King, Father of Another (Amberley 2022)

(also looked at the ODNB entries for York, Cambridge, Huntington and Elizabeth of Lancaster).

* After mentioning the brooch given to Isabel by Huntington, Warner states: "Isabel did not not mention other gifts she had received from anyone else". In an earlier chapter, Warner says "The 1392 will of Isabel of Castile, duchess of York and countess of Cambridge, reveals that Levon [Leo of Armenia] gave her a ‘tablet of jasper’ during this visit, which she bequeathed to John of Gaunt". Warner also repeats this within the chapter dealing with Isabel's will: "and ‘a tablet of jasper which the king of Armonie [King Levon of Armenia] gave me’ to John of Gaunt". How can Huntington's brooch be the only gift from anyone mentioned in her will when we've been told (twice) that Isabel's will includes a reference to a tablet of jasper gifted to her by Leo of Armenia? Additionally, Warner's arguments seems to be drawn from the preconceived notion that Isabel did have an affair so any evidence connecting her to Huntington must be evidence of the affair, regardless of how limited the evidence is - this is quite surprising, since it goes against one of her arguments against reading Isabella of France and Roger Mortimer's relationship as a love affair.

[jamesirius]

“How can you tell?” “You grow up in a Weasley house, you learn quickly to tell the difference between happy shouts, angry shouts, and ‘Fred and George, get down from there this instant’ shouts.” Harry looked at her curiously. “Isn’t that angry shouts?” “No.”

Ginny is not totally looking forward to a Christmas spent at home with all her relatives asking her why she's the only unmarried Weasley child. Ron suggests she bring Harry as her fake boyfriend. There are a million ways this could go wrong. Featuring happily married Ron and Hermione, lots of Weasley babies, the family curse to only have boys, Cedrella Black meddling in her granddaughter's love life, and endless amounts of sugar, mistletoe, and other Christmas shenanigans.

Finally I get to write one of my favorite minor characters ever -- the BFT-exclusive Cedrella Weasley. I'm a huge fan of a) Black sisters and b) rich pureblood girls who give up everything they know for love, and also of making up my own nonsensical lore about the Grindelwald War to replace whatever nonsensical lore exists in the Fantastic Beasts movies.

One thing I always love writing is nuanced, complicated relationships between women of all kinds - particularly mothers and daughters, grandmothers and granddaughters, and sisters. I know the original series leaves a lot to be desired with female relationships, and I think taking the bones of those relationships and expanding upon them in fic is the best way to sort through the misogyny of the books.

Personally, I find complex relationships like Ginny and Fleur more interesting than straightforward friendships just on the basis of being women, and I hope to give the women of the series some grace in being allowed to butt heads and dislike each other, and still be sympathetic to the readers. It's okay for women to not get along and to find each other annoying!

I hope Cedrella, and all the other women in the fic, read as interesting and nuanced - I wanted Cedrella to be a little bit of the stereotype of meddling and intimidating grandmother, but also someone with her own history, who fought a war, betrayed her family, and fell in love when she was much younger than Ginny is now (I put her birthyear in 1917, so she was 21 when she was recruited by Grindelwald). The main characters in this AU have lived a much more sheltered life than they did in canon, so perhaps they can't fully appreciate everything Cedrella went through - but hopefully the readers can.

As a sidenote, Cedrella's backstory came out of my years-long musings on the Black Family Tree, and specifically how ridiculous so much of it is, even aside from the 13yo fathers. There was really no reason for Cedrella to get blasted off for marrying a Weasley, not when her sister married a Longbottom and her cousin married a Potter - so, I thought, there must be some other, deeper reason she got disowned. Like turning her back on Grindelwald because she fell in love with the Order of the Phoenix soldier she was meant to be spying on.

I also had a lot of fun inventing a wild new extended Weasley family tree for this AU - you can find a visual version of what Ginny described here. As Ginny states, the generations are up and down (there's a ten year age gap between Arthur and his oldest brother, just as there's an eleven year age gap between Bill and Ginny; lots of Weasleys and so little time!) but hopefully it helps to keep it together in your minds this way. And don't worry, the Weasleys are not the only family tree I built for the purposes of this fic.

[aka-lambda]

I have this first design of one of the antagonists of my jjk oc lore.

This design is the first of four designs. This one represents her in the flashback arc about Toji's past.

MENTION OF SOME DARK THEMES: please consider that this OC is a villain and the creator doesen't necessarily agree with her actions.

Biographical informations

Name: Junko Zen'in

From Japanese 順 (jun) meaning "obedience" or 純 (jun) meaning "pure" combined with 子 (ko) meaning "child". Other combinations of kanji characters are also possible.

Personal description

Species: Human

Birthday: 21 March

Age: 67(2018)

Gender: Female

Height: 168 cm

Weight:???

Hair color: black

Eye color: hazel

Professional status

Status: deceased

Relatives: unknown mother

                  Unknown father

                  Naobito Zen'in (husband)

                  Unnamed sons

                   Naoki Zen'in (son)

                   Naoya Zen'in (youngest son)

Occupation: wife of the head of Zen'in clan

 

Affiliations: Zen'in clan

Cursed technique: drain

Hobby: smoking the kiseru

Favorite food: shio Ramen (it is the oldest variation of Ramen with a lot of salt  with chicken, vegetables,  fish or marine seaweed)

Least favorite food: none

Stress source: Toji Fushiguro

Life is a gift for us but the worst of the condemn for others, too bad you were just unlucky,  but you must admit that you have lost .

-Junko to Ogi Zen'in

Personality:

Junko appears incredibly calm and composed in her manners, she barely does hand gestures while speaking often maintaining a soft smile and a soft voice.

Even if someone could have the impression of her flirting with them Junko can stay distant and strict even with her soft facial expressions and relaxing tone of voice.

Especially when she was younger she knew to be a beautiful woman and wanted to express it always caring about her physical appearance given also from the fact that she was raised in a noble family.

She is so good at looking self confident, Junko looks incredibly secure of her ideas and thoughts considering also  her social status and the fact that she was the wife of the head of the clan. She seems to be caring but actually she shows no empathy for the other clan members, especially Ogi Zen'in and Toji Fushiguro while she acted as an highly manipulative woman towards Jin'ichi Zen'in and her own sons not seeing them actually as humans but only caring about their own strength, techniques and purposes.

Naoya was her favorite among her sons and she made him to believe that he could do everything he wanted in his life, even justifying his orribile behaviors, she wanted him to become the head of the clan and felt betrayed when Naobito gave to Megumi the title. But despite her condescending manners towards Naoya and the other sons she barely showed genuine affection to them having to raise them all almost the same time.

Junko has strong and controversial ideas thinking about the supremacy of cursed techniques and the desire to arrive to stronger techniques. That's why she brutally gaslight Ogi and his wife for having daughters "not strong enough". She is completely obsessed by strength given by the cursed energy and she is scared by everything that goes in a different way like the people affected by the heavenly restriction: she is horrified by Toji because, for her, he is the "black sheep" and the "different one" and even if she looks so self confident she is highly insecure and scared from what she doesen't know and tries to find a scapegoat like Toji or Maki.

Being a  woman doesen't mean not being misogynistic: Junko shows a lot of interiorized misogyny especially towards Hanako,  she always tells her to shut up in presence of the other family members especially if men and to have a better language in front of them, trying to teach her how a woman should  behave. She has similar behavior to Mariko and Mai.

Rarely Junko has a physically violent side that tries to hide but it was showed with the death of Naoya: Junko brutally kicked the corpse of Maki's mother after discovering that she killed her son, revealing her unhinged disorder hidden too much.

Role in the story

Probably born in a side family or a distant relative of the Zen'in family (they can pratice inbreeding sadly) Junko knew from the start that she would have been the wife of an important member of the Zen'in clan. Even  with her destiny already decided by others she managed to find the advantages of marrying Naobito: he would guarantee a life in luxury and she didn't mind giving him some sons and daughters.

After not much time from the marriage Junko had the first sons, Yutaka was the can leader and she was scared that he could pass the title to Ogi and not her husband.

Fortunately for her the first son and daughter of Ogi born dead while the sons of Junko had a good health even if for now none of them inherited the projection sorcery.

Junko considered poisoning Ogi as an option but he was weaker than Naobito that maybe would have become the head of the clan, instead of that she started to poison Yutaka slowly killing him that was obliged early to give to Naobito the title since his sons Toji and Jin'ichi weren't enough to become leaders. Junko discovered that also Ogi poisoned Yutaka at the same time contributing to kill him and trying to do the same with Naobito but being discovered by her.

The final victory was hers and when Maki and Mai were born she found another reason to bother Ogi and his wife.

Before that when she was pregnant of her latest sons she got close to Jin'ichi taking advantage to the absence of Yutaka as a father, making him to see her as a mother and slowly manipulating him with the purpose of putting him against Toji, she was horrified by Toji and wanted to throw him out of the family. Jin'ichi became incredibly envious of his younger brother even despising him for not having a technique.

That time young Jin'ichi had a future wife: Mariko, Junko convinced him that she was cheating on him with a member of the clan Kamo and pushed him to kill Mariko and to give all the fault to Toji, she also managed to provide to false proofs for it.

In 2007-08 Junko was one of the first Zen'in clan members that wanted Hanako to marry her last son Naoya. Even with this she was cruel with her also imposing her "feminine" clothes and manners. She was killed by Hanako's fans  ten years later after trying to escape with Naoki and brutally kicking the corpse of Maki's mother after she discovered that she killed her favorite son(she came to visit the rest of clan discovering that they were all killed). She didn't oppose any resistance to Hanako.

Cursed technique

Drain: Junko's cursed technique allows her to suck up the cursed energy and vital strength from the opponent but only if they are wounded. After that she is obliged to pass the cursed energy and vital strength stolen to another person touching them. If she doesen't pass the cursed energy to others there will be bad consequences for her body. She can suck up the vital strength even from injured animals and the cursed energy from injured curses, she can also take the cursed energy present in an area.

[lostaroace]

Lion and Fire | Fili x Original Character

My Fanfic Masterlist | Multifandom

Fandom: The Hobbit

Pairing: Fili x OC | Background Thorin x Bilbo

Rating: Mature (just in case).

Content Warnings: canon divergence, everybody lives/nobody dies, the Durins are bad at romance, fighting tournament, misogyny (we’ll fight against it).

Summary: When Thorin tells Fili that Dáin has offered to introduce him to his goddaughter Maen and that expects them to get on good terms and, maybe, end up married, Fili decides that he’s going to hate her. Little does he knows that she’s not only beautiful, but she’s also smart and strong. He expected to be the one with an opinion on the matter, yet she confessing that she won’t marry him hurt his pride deeply. 

Word Count: 8012

Also available on AO3

This work was created to be part of the Deanobingo2023 event by @deanobingo​ It fills the Character Card with Fili and the General Prompt Card with Hurt/Comfort.

Lion and Fire | Oneshot

It's common knowledge among dwarfs that less than a third of their population are females and that pregnancies and deliveries are highly complicated and dangerous, therefore their children and dwarf ladies are cherished and cared for. However, a young dwarf lady in the Iron Hills turned the tables by giving birth eleven times, always quickly and powerfully. Among those eleven babies, seven of them were females. Those rarities gave the family high recognition among the population of the Iron Hills up to the point in which king Dáin pleaded for the couple to be the godfather of their youngest.

Their fame allowed them to marry their first daughter to a well-off smith. They loved each other, of course, but if the daughter hadn't been the first of eleven children the possibilities of marrying someone with a better position and income than them would've been remote at best. She gave the smith five children, four of them females, and two of them in one go. There was no such word in khuzdul for siblings that shared the womb although, in the common tongue, it was 'twins', apparently.

The success of that union helped the second daughter marry the son of the head of the guards. That was an impressive jump. Four wonderful daughters followed their marriage and the rumor of the magic of those dwarven ladies spread.

As the siblings of the youngster kept growing and marrying, she rolled her eyes with disgust and complained when her family insisted that because of the gift they obviously had she was meant to be kept indoors learning how to knit, sew, cook, and work in other small works like woodwork for tools or toys, and metalwork for jewels.

"Maen!" she heard her name being called and stopped in her tracks. Comically slowly, she turned her body to face the voice. King Dáin was looking at her with an arched brow. "What are you doing in the armory? Again."

"I rather not answer that, sire."

Shit. She shouldn't have said that because then the piercing look of Dáin noticed the axes she had tucked in a blanket. He sighed and approached the twenty-seven-year-old, "We've talked about this, Maen. You are a lady and–"

"I can fight as well as any other dwarf!"

"That's not the point. The point is that female dwarves are so scarce that the danger of the battle would reduce their number and it may cause our extinction."

Her frown and the fire in her eyes made Dáin smile. That young dwarf was like a daughter to him and he couldn't resist the pride swelling in his chest due to her determination.

"Very well. You'll be trained," her eyes lit up. "But do not expect any help just because you're the goddaughter of the king. You'll face the training like the others and if you fail you'll retreat."

"I won't fail!"

And she didn't. In fact, Maen became the best warrior of her generation. She was fast and strong with great coordination; her oldest brother-in-law forged her axes, sword, and knife with extra care. Maen's family had not taken greatly Dáin's decision to allow her to learn how to fight and smith among other things, but her bright smiles and good mood pushed them to accept it and help her the best they could.

Nevertheless, she grew up and the perspective of her marriage was smothering. Being the last of the sisters in line for marriage awakened a dark monster among the Iron Hills' population as every single male dwarf, despite their age, sent their intentions of courting the young dwarf once she was of age. Dáin cut that nonsense when the harassment became increasingly dangerous and he stated that whoever put his hands on his goddaughter without her proper consent would face a death sentence.

Kind of luckily for Maen, the year she became legally suitable for marriage was when the company of Thorin Oakenshield reclaimed Erebor successfully with the help of Dáin's army in their last moments. Not many people knew that Maen had an influence on Dáin's political decisions, but she did. When Thorin's letter begging for help arrived, she started thinking about the war machines they could carry to the Lonely Mountain to face the dragon, yet Dáin refused and put his foot down in that decision. She didn't let the topic drop, though, and thanks to her the Iron Hills' army was ready to part when Thorin's cry for help arrived. She had overpowered Dáin's stubbornness with her own.

The battle of the five armies was bloodshed. She fought back to back with Dáin and his second in command. Maen killed with both hands, not stopping until all their enemies were down, even if her arms were hurting badly or if her armor was soaked in blood. Once the battle had been won, Dáin looked at her across the battlefield and nodded highly pleased with her performance. Maen was a warrior and that day she proved to her fellow dwarfs that if they wanted to court her, they had a long battle ahead.

Prince Thorin and his nephews had been badly injured, but not deadly, which was great news for them. Winter was upon them and they had a decision to make: either they went back to the Iron Hills leaving the Oakenshield Company and the men of Laketown to their own volition, or they stayed trying to help and tending their own injured warriors.

Maen accompanied Dáin to the meeting with the elven king, Bard of Laketown, the wizard, Thorin, and a hobbit. While Dáin took a seat, she stood behind him with a hand carefully placed in the grip of her sword. She listened quietly while the discussions developed. The elven king was being a royal ass, Bard was a great leader, while Thorin and Dáin were being stubborn dwarves unable to see the privilege of a short alliance with the elves as they were able to provide them with food for the worst of the winter; no more than three months.

She cleared her throat when everything was starting to get ridiculous and Dáin closed his mouth immediately. Maen felt Thorin's eyes on her, but she didn't say anything, she didn't even move. Dáin sighed leaning back in his chair.

"Fine. Fine, you're right. Before the roads become intransitive, I'll send the healthiest injured dwarves back to the Iron Hills with word of sending back some of our resources for the winter. In doing that, we'll reduce the number of people in need in Erebor," Dáin conceded to everyone's surprise.

Gandalf studied Maen as if he was able to see through her soul.

"We need a place to stay as the dragon burned Laketown and Dale is inhabitable just yet. However, we understand that our number, although reduced after both the dragon attack and the battle, is still an inconvenience for Erebor and Mirkwood. I propose to divide our number and if you have room for us, king Thranduil, some of us would go with you, and the others would stay in Erebor, if possible." Bard was diplomatic and careful with his wording, but he wasn't giving any alternative. His people needed help and he was going to get it, he was willing to bend but not to break.

Maen fought her need to smile, but Dáin could sense her good mood and nodded to the man.

"Cousin, what are your thoughts? I haven't seen the mountain yet."

"I– I have not explored it in its whole. I do not know the extension of the dragon's damage," Thorin explained.

Bilbo, the hobbit, twisted his nose, looked around the table, and pressed his lips together before finally deciding to speak. "Um… I did. I came and went. Not much, really. I didn't want to get lost. The mountain is huge," that seemed to please Thorin. "There are a few large rooms whose structure is sturdy and it could keep all of us safe and such. Um… It might be like camping, but inside the mountain, though. We might need to build some tents inside to isolate and keep the warmth close to us because those rooms have very high ceilings."

"Huh… It can be done," said an old dwarf with red clothing and a white beard. Balin, if Maen remembered correctly, had been standing between Thorin and Bilbo's chairs, listening and not really talking, until now. "The forges were almost destroyed when we fought with the dragon inside, but the fire is still working and I'm thinking we might be able to use the old calefaction system. We can also get some fires in those rooms. And if some of the Iron Hills' dwarves are staying, they can guard the delicate parts of the mountain."

"My people would be under your orders, cousin, don't fret. I could go back if you don't need me here."

"We have a solution there. That's interesting," Gandalf noted with a controlled tone. "However, there's also the need for food. Even if Dáin gladly sends something from the Iron Hills, it wouldn't be sufficient."

"The lake is not incredibly far, but fishing can be dangerous depending on the weather," Bard explained.

"And Mirkwood is still dangerous to go hunting there. Plus, is farther than the lake," Bilbo pointed out.

"I guess there's no other option but to help you. However, if you expect this help to be–"

"It must be free or it wouldn't be 'help'," Bilbo spat with cold politeness.

Maen smiled then before biting her bottom lip. Thorin had seen her reaction and he looked at his cousin searching for answers as she had not been introduced at the beginning of the meeting.

"It's not like we can starve, and–"

"Then you must keep all the men in your realm," Maen cut him piercing his iced eyes with her own brown ones.

Dáin smiled smugly. "She's right, elven king. If you won't help the men that stay in Erebor, then you must take care of more of them. I'm sure I could take all my healthy dwarves and only leave here the badly injured ones, plus the company. It would be much easier for the Iron Hills to aid less than thirty people than three-hundred."

Thranduil was about to make a smart remark, but Gandalf's soft chuckle made him keep his mouth shut. His son, prince Legolas, accepted the previous conditions in his name. He was about to leave for the north, but he had stayed by Gandalf's plead to help with the negotiations.

"Beorn had offered to provide Erebor with flour and honey before the paths got cut due to the weather. If your majesty needs some aid with those ingredients, I'm sure he'll–" Gandalf was cut sharply by Thranduil dismissing the offering.

"We'll be ready to settle in half of the men. I'm sure some scouts would be able to hunt for the ones remaining in Erebor to survive the winter."

"Thank you, king Thranduil," Bard nodded to him.

With everything solved for the moment, the dwarves exited the tent with the hobbit. Bilbo seemed to have taken great interest in Maen, as he was glancing at her but trying to be subtle about it.

"May I help you, Master Hobbit?" She inquired with a playful smile.

"Oh! I'm… Uh… It's just, I…"

"The little guy must be intrigued about what's a dwarven lady doing here, are you not Mister Bilbo?"

"Sorry."

"Don't apologize. Most females don't do war, as it's supposed to be extremely dangerous."

Thorin arched an eyebrow at her, "It is extremely dangerous."

"Funnier than knitting."

"This is my goddaughter, Lady Maen, the Fire of the Iron Hills. I did not have time to introduce her before, cousin. She's responsible for our quick answer."

Confused, Thorin looked at her. "I kept pushing Dáin to come to Erebor and help you with the dragon. We were about to go out of the Iron Hills when the news arrived."

"She's a handful, cousin, a handful. Although, I have a proposal to make you," his tone and the fact that he was wrapping an arm around Thorin's shoulders made him tense.

"What proposal?"

"Are you interested in an alliance between Erebor and the Iron Hills? Stronger than the one we already have, of course."

"I won't be marrying her."

"Mahal, no! You're ancient for her!"

Bilbo snorted at that. Thorin shot him a look.

"Your nephews, on the other hand… Fili's the heir, is he not? Maen is Kili's age, so it wouldn't be such a difference between her and Fili. What do you think?"

"I won't impose a marriage upon my family."

Dáin laughed in good spirits, "If you believe I can make Maen do anything she's not comfortable with, you're highly mistaken. All I'm asking is if you think they could meet, and see what happens."

"Couldn't you have talked to me about it before?" Maen sighed.

"Now, where would the fun be in that?"

Things got settled then without any promises or concessions. Maen assisted Bilbo in tending the survivors and arranging the mountain for the winter. She wasn't as close-minded or prone to prejudice as her fellow dwarves, therefore she immediately took a liking to the hobbit which made Bilbo feel at ease in her presence. Before the worst of the winter fell upon them, and once the Iron Hills' supplies were well stoked in Erebor, Maen left with Dáin.

Five years later, Thorin reached out to Dáin accepting the proposition of having Maen and Fili meet, but he was clear enough that Fili had the final decision, not him.

That's how five years after the battle of the five armies, a caravan of dwarves from the Iron Hills closed the distance with Erebor once again. Rumors about Maen had been spread among the Ereborians; they knew about the good luck of the females in her family and that she was Dáin's goddaughter, yet even if they believed that they couldn't comprehend that she being a warrior was just as true as the other things. When she showed up in the throne room with a gorgeous magenta velvet dress with golden embroidery, intricate braids in her hairstyle, and beautiful jewelry designed for a princess more than for the youngest child of a poor family, the rumor spread that she was well educated, feminine, and, in no way, a warrior.

The throne room was occupied by king Thorin, his consort Bilbo, and his advisor Balin. Dáin stomped happily forgetting all about protocol much to Thorin's amusement.

"Cousin!! It's good to see you where you belong. Up and healthy, no less. Good. Good," he nodded vehemently.

"I hope the journey had not been too difficult for you, Dáin."

"Nothing can break us, Thorin. Ah! You better remember Lady Maen," with a gesture of his hand, she made a small bow.

"Impossible to forget. Welcome, Lady Maen. I hope your stay in Erebor would be pleasurable."

"If I may, sire, allow me to compliment the state of the mountain. In only five years, it has changed too much I can barely remember where all the debris was."

"Indeed. Time flies and we've been using it wisely. My consort has taken special care in the election of your rooms, and I've been warned that you would need free access to our library if you are to be happy under our roof," Thorin stated with a mischievous glint in his eyes that contrasted with the deepness of his voice.

Maen blushed violently as Dáin laughed, "There are two places that cannot be kept away from Maen, cousin, one of them is the library and the other is the arena. Don't let her fool you, she's as much of a handful as your nephews when she's determined. Not as mischievous, perhaps."

"I'm standing right here," she deadpanned.

She had been thinking about this meeting since Thorin's letter arrived at the Iron Hills, yet she never, in her wildest dreams, imagined Thorin Oakenshiel burst into laughter at something she'd said. Maen stopped breathing due to the surprise, and when she locked eyes with Bilbo, she relaxed as the consort had a familiar welcoming and caring air surrounding him.

"Well… Where's the lad?" Dáin asked then.

Thorin seemed nervous then, glancing at his consort. "We might have misplaced him," Bilbo pointed out.

"But don't fret, Dáin, Dwalin, and Dís are looking for him at this very moment," Balin added.

"He knew I was coming, didn't he?" She asked Bilbo directly.

The hobbit cleared his throat changing his weight anxiously. "Of course! We– Um… We told him this morning."

"This morning."

"Then we could prevent him from going out of the mountain," Thorin explained.

Before she could say anything else, the door burst open with amazing strength. A dwarf lady wearing a rich Durin's blue dress and an impressive braided upsweep, with mithril beads on her beard, appeared stomping in furiously; on one hand, she was carrying a heavy hammer while the other had a firm grip on the back of the clothes worn by a blond dwarf being dragged by her. A few steps behind them, a huge bald dwarf full of ink had another dwarf on his shoulders carrying it like a sack of coal. The dwarf lady didn't seem put off by the presence of the Iron Hills dwarves, it mostly fueled her anger if Maen had to go by the way her frown deepened.

She dropped the blond dwarf to the floor, right at Thorin's feet. The bald dwarf hadn't dropped the other dwarf that was fighting with all he had kicking and punching him without result. Thorin closed his eyes a moment before grunting an 'Up' full of ire.

The blond dwarf stumbled to get to his feet, when his blue eyes found his new audience, he ran a hand through his messy mane and stood excessively self-satisfied. Maen arched an eyebrow utterly unimpressed.

"Lady Maen, allow me to introduce you to my sister, Lady Dís. This is her son, and Crown Prince of Erebor, Fili," when Thorin noticed Maen's eyes glancing at the other two still struggling, he sighed. "And that's the chief of the guard, Dwalin, and Fili's brother, Kili."

"We do apologize for this terrible first encounter," Dís rapidly assured.

"Please, do not worry. I had been warned that he had been misplaced."

Fili rolled his eyes and Maen fought her urge to just push him. She had made a long journey to come and meet him!! The least he could do was behave like a proper dwarf.

"I was also told that I share a birth year with Kili," she looked pointedly at the dwarf on Dwalin's shoulder. The young dwarf stopped fighting to get free. "I must say I beg to differ."

Thorin snorted, "You and I, both."

"Why don't we show our guests their rooms?" Bilbo asked looking at Balin.

"Great idea! I'm sure you must want to rest before supper is ready," the advisor smiled at them.

"That'll be great, Master Balin," before following him and the others, Maen took Fili's look on with an enigmatic smile. The prince twitched under her scrutiny. "It would be impossible for us to get to know each other if you keep running away, prince Fili; and here I thought you were called Lion for a reason…"

As she left she could hear Dís loud laugh and a pleased, "I like her already!"

The quarters Maen was placed in were beautiful and cozy, they had a clear hobbit influence and she loved it. Bilbo had left a small stock of books in her room with a nice note. She felt moved by Bilbo's easy way of making people around him feel taken care of one way or another. Thorin's good humor was a total surprise, yet incredibly welcome. The brothers' stunt had hurt her, however. She couldn't understand how someone could just be so disrespectful to someone they didn't know. Maen understood that maybe Fili had already someone he wanted to court and he hadn't talked to his uncle about it, but they could've talked about it at least. There was no need to run away and reject her like that. Perhaps Fili had heard about her humble birth and that was a dealbreaker for him even though it didn't seem to be the case with Thorin or Dís.

As she considered the possibilities of the prince's behavior her mood soured. Something heavy sunk into her stomach.

When supper was ready, she walked to the dining room next to Dáin. Thorin's company was there, as they were now noblemen. Fili and Kili kept mostly for themselves although their mother confronted them with harsh whispers every now and then. Maen took this opportunity to get to know the others and she found herself charmed by Ori's shyness as he explained how he was now the head of the library and he'd been taking extra care of the books with Bilbo. Maen shared her love for books and complained about how scarce her library in the Iron Hills was compared to what she'd heard of the one in Erebor.

Ori's older brother, Dori, complimented her on her dress and she immediately explained that the intricate work had been made by one of her sisters.

"I'm not as good with fabrics and threats as I am with the sword, I'm afraid."

"The rumors are true, then?" Nori asked with a glint in his eyes. As far as she had been able to perceive, Nori loved all kinds of digressions of the norms. That included the fact that Maen was a warrior.

"Without having listened to the rumors myself I'm not able to confirm nor deny them, Master Nori. However, I am in fact a warrior. I came here five years ago a helped in the battle."

A snort made her turn her head sharply. Kili, bright red, was choking on his food.

"Seriously?" Bilbo muttered tiredly as he approached the young prince to clasp him in the back, "This is a divine punishment for trying to make fun of her. Just so you know," the hobbit whispered to him; it was so loud, however, that the whole room heard it.

Maen approached Dwalin after dessert had been eaten, and she started a conversation about axes and their different forms. It immediately engaged the warrior in an enjoyable chat about the advantages and disadvantages of long axes, short axes, extra curly axes, and so on. When Maen told him that his brother-in-law was the smith that made her weapons, Dwalin immediately showed interest in giving them a few blows and he even invited her to the arena.

Before the night was called off, she approached the princes. Without the ceremony and respect that she should show them due to their rank, she sat in front of them with an eyebrow arched and her arms crossed on her chest.

"Well? Anything you want to say to my face or you two rather whisper each other's ears off like a couple of grannies?"

"What are you doing here, exactly?" Kili wondered with a frown.

"I've been asked to come and meet with you guys. Dáin's idea is that, if Fili and I like each other we could get married."

"And if I don't want to marry you?" Fili spat straightening his back.

Maen snorted rolling her eyes, "Sweetheart, right now I'm the one who won't marry you. You haven't even been nice enough for me to be able to consider you a friend in the future. I'm going to stay here as long as Dáin wants, so you better grow up and face the fact that I'm not going anywhere anytime soon."

"What if we make you leave?" Kili whispered in a poor try at being menacing.

She giggled. "Ow, you're cute. I won't leave. It's refreshing being somewhere where I don't have to be looking over my shoulder for someone to shove courting gifts in my face."

"Are you that popular in the Iron Hills?" Fili seemed skeptical and Kili was blushing so hard that his brain was going to melt.

"Dáin had to make a decree for them to leave me alone. It worked… for the most part."

*

Two weeks after that terrible first day, the princes seemed less ridiculous around her, which was great, but they still treated her like a pest. When Dís or Thorin agreed that Fili would accompany Maen to the market, he made her wait for at least an hour before showing up sweaty and dirty from fighting in the arena, Kili close behind him; as might be expected, the fact that the brothers were together implied that they lead her to the market and then ignore her in favor to talk to each other, the shop owners, or cute lady dwarves that walked through the market.

Maen kept feeling unwanted, disrespected, and hurt. The murmurs around Erebor saying that there was no way she was a warrior because she was too delicate, too soft, too nice, too girly… didn't help to improve her mood at all.

On the second day of the third week, she was invited to witness the tournament between warriors from the Iron Hills and from Erebor in the arena. Apparently, Thorin and Dáin had decided to rescue that form of healthy entertainment in order to cheer her up. She, boldly, asked Thorin if Fili was going to participate, to which he assured her that he would.

The day of the tournament rolled by and Maen was nowhere to be found. The rules were simple: no biting, no hurting in extra sensitive areas, and no killing; the local fighters would walk to the center of the arena and a visitor fighter would decide to duel him. Usually, the best warrior or, in this case, the prince, was the last one in moving to the center of the arena as it was the big show to close the tournament. As the time to start came close and all the visitor fighters were in their place, Fili approached his uncle with a concerned frown.

"Where is she?"

"Clearly not here."

"Uncle, we're doing all of this for her entertainment," he complained.

"No. We're doing this because you begged for a chance to make it right with her."

"While showing off, of course," Bilbo chimed in.

"That too. However, we cannot force her to come and see you fight after how badly you've treated her."

"This is not fair!"

"Shut your mouth and go to your place. I didn't raise you to whine like this, Fili," Dís snarled.

Dáin had listened to the exchange with a pleased and smug smile on his face.

The tournament started strongly. Dwalin was one of the first participants and he demolished the Iron Hills' fighter in less than ten minutes without breaking a sweat. Fili paid half attention to the arena as his eyes kept searching in the audience for someone familiar hoping that Maen's curiosity pushed her to go down there even if it was camouflaging herself to blend with the Ereborians. Kili, who wasn't a participant in the tournament, approached his brother from behind the fighters' bench.

"Nervous? You're next."

"No. I don't care. She's not even here."

"Does that mean that you're going to perform badly because your girlfriend is not here to see you win? Pathetic."

"Oi! She's not my girlfriend."

"Of course not," he scoffed. "Maen said clearly that she wouldn't marry you if you keep being an ass, and you've been even worse than an ass. Now you like her, though, and you cannot stand the idea of her marrying one of his many, many, many, many–"

"Shut your mouth."

"–many, many, many suitors in the Iron Hills. Who knows? Maybe Dáin offers her to marry his son."

A spike of jealousy bloomed in Fili's eyes and Kili smirked.

"If you perform greatly I'm sure Ori would talk to her about it."

Kili was a mastermind… on occasion. He knew that Fili had grown wary of the little librarian due to the amount of time he spent with Maen talking about books, and it was the right amount of fuel needed for his brother to stomp to the middle of the arena when his turn came.

The visitor fighters looked directly at one of them, one who had stayed in full armor –helmet included– since the beginning; it seemed as if they knew that fighter wanted to destroy the heir of Erebor. What if he was one of Maen's suitors? Fili was screwed. Kili gave his brother a thumbs-up and ran to his mother.

"Fili's going to die."

"Perhaps," she smiled.

The fighter faced Fili with a long sword in hand, and a couple of axes stored on his back. He bowed to the prince as requited and then waited for the signal to begin.

Fili took the initiative of the first blow. They shared some tentative blows, not really revealing their strength, and suddenly Fili used all this strength on one blow that the fighter wisely dodged, he punched the prince in the face with the hand holding his sword and Fili stumbled to the side. Fili's helmet allowed me to see his face and hair, but the fighter's blow hurt nonetheless. Grunting, Fili charged against him and, this time, the fighter responded with similar strength pushing his body against Fili's not allowing him to take any advantaged position. When Fili punched the fighter in the guts he didn't emit a sound, the dwarf was tougher than expected.

The fighter gained an area against Fili. As their swords were pushing against each other, none of them ready to yield, the fighter crushed Fili's foot making him lose some strength in his attack which gave the fighter room to disarm him, go around him, and kick his back throwing the prince to the floor.

Instead of taking that point of advantage and winning the battle, the fighter receded, threw his sword to a corner of the arena far away from him, and pulled his axes from the back. He gave them a colorful twist in his hands before turning to the prince. Fili had taken off his helmet with fury, his hair was a mess, and his eyes were lit with determination and ferocity. He couldn't see the features of the fighter, but the small bow was mockingly enough to fuel the prince's anger.

Fili took his throwing knives from their hiding place and threw them in quick succession; the fighter hit every one of them with precise movements of his axe while approaching the prince. Without anything else to throw, Fili launched himself to the floor made a turn, and grabbed his sword just in time to block one of the axes. He rejected the attack and ran to where his discarded shield was; how had he been so cocky as to believe he wouldn't need it, he didn't know.

The audience held their breath, the arena was in complete silence apart from the fighters' weapons crashing. One of the axes got blocked by the sword for the seventh time, but this time the position prevented Fili from pushing it back; the other ax hit his shield repeatedly, over and over and over and over. The hits were fast and strong, never hesitating nor showing tiredness. Fili's shield arm felt every hit like a jolt until a particularly hard hit shocked him from the wrist to the shoulder provoking a spasm that made him drop the shield with a painful moan. The fighter then kneed him in the uncovered side throwing him onto the floor once again.

As the prince fought to stand up, the fighter kicked him again before throwing his sword far away from his reach. The fighter stood proudly next to the whining prince and slid his ax under the blond's chin waiting for him to admit his surrender.

"I yield. I yield!!"

Fili's words made the arena break to sound again. The fighter retreated his weapon, yet he didn't move and Fili was too tired to try to get up.

"That's my girl!!" Dáin's yell overpowered the other voices.

The fighter tilted his head to one side, still facing Fili. He put his axes on his back again before pulling the helmet off. Maen's face appeared then and Fili was unable to produce a word.

"Fili, the Lion of Erebor, had been defeated by Maen, the Fire of the Iron Hills. This tournament has been–" Thorin kept with his speech but Fili couldn't make sense of his words.

Maen nodded at him and turned leaving him on the floor of the arena.

*

Fili sat heavily in a chair by the fire. His body ached horribly after the fight, bruises had been blooming on his torso, and his shield arm was stiff. Kili handed him a mug of warm ale with a cheeky grin.

"She kicked your arse."

"Of course she did," Thorin claimed. "Lady Maen is one of the best warriors of the Iron Hills."

"But she's a lady!!" Fili complained.

"Excuse me?" Dís looked pointedly at her son, who immediately cowered in his chair.

"What I don't understand is why you don't just ask her to spend some time together. You clearly like her," Kili pressed.

"Durin's are bad at romance, lad," Dwalin laughed.

"What do you mean?" Kili was suddenly interested while Fili just sipped his cup.

"Do you remember how Thorin treated Bilbo during our journey?" Balin asked in his calmer voice. "He was insufferable just because he thought the hobbit was cute."

"I did not!"

Dwalin snorted at Thorin's outrage.

"It was sad to see."

"It happened the same with Dís. She made your poor father bleed and cry before accepting his proposal," Balin added.

"Why did you shove me into this mess?" She complained and punched her brother's arm when he laughed.

"I didn't treat Tauriel badly when I met her," Kili thought out loud.

"That's because you're more like your father," Balin explained, not allowing the others to jump at the mention of the elf.

"Well, what am I supposed to do now?" Fili claimed the attention was on him again.

"Stop being an ass to her would be a good start. Although if you really do not like her that much I could always ask her out–"

"Kili don't mess with your brother when he's clearly suffering."

"Yes, mother."

"I have to say you're quite lucky, lad. Maen's not like any other lass; not even like any other dwarf. She wouldn't hold a grudge for long. It's up to you."

Dwalin's words echoed in Fili's mind as his eyes looked over the flames.

Not far away from the royal quarters where they were having their little chat, were Maen's. She had taken a very long bath, and dried carefully her bushy mane of dark brown hair before tying it in a careful braid whose sole objective was to avoid it tangling in her sleep. She sat next to her own fire with a romance book in her hands. Her focus wasn't the best at that moment, hence her relieved sigh when her torture was cut short by a knock on her door.

Bilbo Baggings was on the other side of the door with understanding showering his features. Maen invited him to enter the living area, pleased by the tray with backed goods and tea that Bilbo placed carefully on a small table.

"I hope you like scones, Lady Maen."

"I cannot say I've had them before, Mister Bilbo, but please, call me Maen."

"Bilbo for me then." After taking a few bites with a meaningless conversation, Bilbo twisted his nose, cleared his throat, and brushed the crumbs away from his fingers. "I wanted to apologize."

Maen blinked in confusion, "Please no, do not do such a thing. You've been nothing but nice to me, Bilbo. There's nothing you should apologize about."

"I beg to differ. I– I presumed that because you're a dwarf you'll have it easier here, that you'll click with Fili faster than– Well… I'm a hobbit, not a dwarf, and you know how reserved dwarves could be; I had it hard with the company for a big part of our journey, and when Thorin confessed his feelings I could only think about the council opposing and the Ereborians just hating me.

"I'm not entirely sure how I managed to have the position that I have now, but I'm certain that I own the company a big deal of it. Especially to Thorin.

"I shouldn't have presumed that you wouldn't feel left out or unwanted by your fellow dwarves. I guess you and I are alike on that front as I had been pinned down as an oddity by my fellow hobbits back in The Shire. I didn't quite fit there."

"Female dwarves aren't meant to be warriors, there's too little of us and pregnancy is a deadly risk on its own. The armory called for me daily, nonetheless, and Dáin was kind enough to consent to my training instead of pushing me to the knitting room. Even if that can be seen as an oddity in the Iron Hills, my family is well-known there, and I received offerings for courting way before I was of age. It wasn't ideal, of course, but being here makes me miss it. At least there I'm not underestimated."

"Fili likes you. He really does, Maen. He's just as stubborn as his uncle when it comes to facing his feelings. Did I tell you that the first time Thorin saw me, after arriving late I may add, he looked at me, head to toe, and said 'so, this is the hobbit' as if making fun of me? The audacity!"

"I expect you've made him resent that, Bilbo."

"Why, of course!! Soft, he said. Me! Ha! You've been way too nice to Fili, never losing your temper or chewing his head off. It's time for you to put your foot down, and let me tell you that your performance today was spotless. Everyone in the mountain is talking about it. There are rumors about 'the Lion and the Fire of Erebor'."

Maen laughed anxiously, her face warm with blush.

*

Three days after the tournament Fili offered Maen to spend a morning in Dale as she hadn't seen it since the battle and their market was interesting. That led to her waiting at the front doors, as usual, two days later, although this time she had taken the precaution of inviting Ori with her. Nori was obviously close, but he appeared to be ignoring them.

Ori was explaining with great enthusiasm the rich quality of Dale's paper and ink when Fili approached them. Maen glanced at him with an arched brow.

"Are we in a rush?" She questioned in lieu of a greeting.

Fili hesitated in his septs frowning, "Not that I'm aware of. Why?"

"You're on time."

"Yes."

"You're never on time. Usually, I would have to wait for at least an hour for you to be here."

Fili cleared his throat lowing his face with shame, "Yeah. I apologize for that. Um… Shall we go now?"

"Aren't we waiting for Kili?" She looked around in confusion.

"He's not coming."

Maen stared at Fili as if he had just shaved his beard. "On time and without Kili. I'm afraid to ask if Lady Dís had some sort of conversation with you."

"She did not."

"Huh… Well, I appreciate the changes, of course, yet I had already taken the precaution of getting my own companion as I was expecting you and your brother to be busy with each other. Ori here is going with us."

"I'm sorry Fili, I would leave you two alone, but Dori has given me a list of things to purchase in Dale. And you know how Dori can be if he doesn't get what he wants."

"No. It's– It's fine, Ori. The more the merrier. Shall we go then?"

Maen shared a conspicuous look with Ori before following Fili and some guards toward the ponies. Ori had been her ally in the mountain as well as Bilbo, and when she voiced her worries about the journey to Dale becoming just another day of being mistreated, Bilbo had suggested bringing Ori with her and the little scribble had beamed with the prospect of visiting Dale's market again.

Tables had turned and Fili wasn't happy about it.

Dale was impressive and richly decorated, their buildings were colorful and stunning; some of them had kept most of their past structure and there were marks of orc weapons on some walls. Ori explained to an astonished Maen, that Bard had rebuilt the city wanting to keep the memory of past times; like a homage. She understood the sentiment, there were claw marks in Erebor still and she already assumed it was a reminder of what could happen if they weren't careful with their greed.

The market was crowded, full of men, but also a good amount of dwarves and elves. Maen was bouncing on her feet excited to see, touch, and buy whatever came across her. She did not ignore Fili on purpose, although she must admit that having been used to being ignored by him she stopped thinking about reaching for him long ago, therefore her mindset was sure that he was just ignoring her as usual. Ori and Maen enjoyed every second in the market, they bought some books, paper, ink, quills, fabric, yarn… It was ridiculous.

After long hours waiting in the market, the dwarves started to feel hungry and then Maen turned to look for Fili and found him frowning, his mouth pressed in a sad thing line.

"Should we come back to the mountain to eat, or should we find a tavern here?" She asked him.

Fili scowled. "Let's go back."

Ori gave Maen a guilty look.

It wasn't until they were back in Erebor that Maen approached Fili, she crossed his path impeding him to run to his quarters. She waited until he gathered the patience and courage needed to look her in the eyes.

"How does it feel?" To her question, Fili frowned deeper in confusion. "Did you enjoy being ignored? Did you feel unwanted? Disrespected? Hurt?" Fili's expression opened up with a glint of awareness in his blue eyes. "Yeah. Is not very nice, is it? I did not intend to ignore you today, yet I expect that with you discovering how that behavior of yours hurt me, you'd be more careful in the future."

Not waiting for an answer, Maen nodded to the prince and left.

He didn't ignore her again.

*

Fili was running but he was not advancing and right before his eyes, Azog stood fighting against Maen. The frustration built up inside of Fili, he needed to reach her before the pale orc hurt her, he had to– he had– he–

"NOOOOOOOOOOOO" he screamed as Azog skewered his spear across Maen's torso.

He woke up with a jolt of pain in his own wound. A sheet of cold sweat covered his skin. He traced the long scar from his chest to his belly with his fingers still in a daze when a hard knock on his quarters' door awakened him completely. It was the middle of the night, there probably were five hours before dawn. Fili put on a gown and padded towards the door, opening it with caution. A young guard stood there uncomfortable.

"Sire, my apologies for the disturbance."

"What's wrong?"

"It's Lady Maen, sire, she's in the arena and we don't know how to proceed. Master Nori order me to ask you."

The prince frowned registering the information, "Leave her alone. I'll– I'd be on my way. Do not disturb her."

"Aye, sire."

Fili got dressed faster than ever, he grabbed his sword and headed to the arena. He nodded to the guards and to Nori, but they didn't share a word. There, in the arena, was Maen training with her axes, only a couple of torches illuminating the room. Fili recognized the tension in her shoulders and the determination in her frown, she'd had a nightmare.

He approached her with determination. Maen glanced at him and stopped her movements, but she didn't say anything, nor did he. With a nod of acknowledgment, Fili and Maen started sparing although not as violently as in the tournament as neither of them was wearing armor.

Tired to the bone due to the exercise, Fili got himself stuck in the same position that pushed his defeat in the tournament. Instead of kneeing him in the side as she did that time, Maen swapped her foot under his forcing him to lose his balance and fall to the floor on his back. She smiled at him, openly and sincerely. Fili laughed, offering his hand for her to take expecting her to help him get up. Maen threw her axes to the side and grabbed his arm, yet before she could pull him, the prince pulled first, making her fall against his chest.

Maen let out a surprised gasp before laughing at the childish move. Fili pushed his luck just a little farther, turning them in the arena until she was under him. She stopped laughing and arched an eyebrow at him, challenging his next move. Fili blushed violently; his eyes darted from her eyes to her lips. Sighing, the prince rolled to his side until he was on his back looking at the ceiling next to Maen, who was now looking at him. Fili noticed the movement in the shadows in the corner of his eye and he was sure that Nori was ready to intervene if he had done what he really wanted to do.

Instead of that, Fili pulled out a richly decorated mithril bead and handed it to Maen.

"I, Fili son of Dís, Crown Prince of Erebor, solicit permission to court you, Maen, goddaughter of Dáin Ironfoot, with this courting bead I had made myself."

Maen burst into a childish laugh, "Only you could ask with such a posh manner while both of us are sweaty and tired from a spar session in the middle of the night."

"That's not an answer," Fili singsonged twisting the bead in his fingers.

"Yes, you idiot! But beware, if you behave like an arse again I can call it off anytime."

"I won't."

Their laughs echoed in the arena ignoring that they had Nori win a huge amount of money.

It wasn't until that night, at supper, when with all the company and their families reunited around the table, Fili approached Maen with a wooden box.

"This is the first courting gift of many. Although I'm aware of what tradition requires for me to give you, I expect to know you better than to gift you some expensive fabric for embroidery."

Maen pressed her lips to avoid smiling too soon and she opened the box. The typical courting gifts a dwarf lass received were focused on her alleged skills in textile matters, some woodwork, maybe jewels… Fili had gifted her a dagger whose grip and sheath were engraved with loving care and decorated with precious gems.

"Fili made it himself. All of it," Kili explained filling in the silence. "He had been a pain in the ass for the last three weeks because–"

Dís hit her son in the ribs to keep him quiet.

Maen looked at Fili, his smirk had become a shy little smile and his eyes were bright with nerves and hopes. A small movement of his brows made her understand that she hadn't accepted the gift properly yet.

"I accept the gift. It's perfect, Fili. Thank you."

The tension abandoned Fili's body to the point of him needing a chair before fainting.

At one point, in the future, people would remember Fili and Maen not as the King and Queen Under the Mountain, but as the Lion and the Fire of Erebor.

The End

[neuroprincess]

Lady's Lover: The Origin of the Dimitrescu Sisters - Alcina Dimitrescu/OC (reader)

Prologue

Alcina Dimitrescu/Original Character (reader)

Fanfic Chapter List

Summary: Melina Mayer has always lived within the confines of the farm and her family, unaware of the atrocities of the village until she reaches age 22, when, by a stroke of luck, is sold to the Dimitrescu family. The girl immediately wins over the Lady, but discovers the dark side of life, her past, carnal pleasures and all that this can provide.

Warnings: OC (original character), swearing, period misogyny, implied human trafficking, medium violence

Word count: +2200

Unrevised

December, 1972  

Melina sighs and rubs the cloth hard against the wooden floor, diluting the dirt from the shoes of the other residents in house. The boot prints have slowly disappeared as the cloth becomes increasingly muddy and sticky, the girl sighs again, because this was one of the last cleaning cloths cleaned and there is still much to be done. Her mother, a stubby lady with red hair and a serious expression, runs back and forth in the kitchen, alternating between preparing lunch and supervising her youngest daughter's chores. She gives an approving look when seeing the impeccably clean surface, the girl gives the work as finished and stands up, feeling her legs tingling from being in the same position for so long, and gathers the bucket of water to throw it away.  

"Should I tidy the rooms or clean the stable?" asks Melina after getting rid of the dirty water.  

"The stable first, feed the horse. Then tidy the rooms, Mihai and Lucian's rooms too, they are coming back from the village."  

"But so early? They usually spend at least a week there." she thinks too loudly, finding strange that their trip was so quick, their return so sudden "Could they have done something?"  

"Get back to work and stop questioning things that don't involve you." replies Tatiana snidely, showing irritation and discomfort with the situation, wanting to avoid the conversation that was coming "And don't forget to prepare Nadja's dress."  

"Yes, Mother." murmurs Melina, a little resentful that she is being excluded from family matters again.  

But she soon forgets that feeling and euphoria takes over, curious to know what her twin sister, non-identical and a few minutes older, would do, living completely isolated from the village and being a travelers' inn on a rough stretch they don't have many special events or visitors. So new or festive clothes are rarely used, just when something important happens. Like the marriage of the oldest brother, firstborn George II, with one of the village girls. A union that is a constant object of reproach for Constantin, the second son of the family, who swears to everyone that he saw her in some brothel years before. After them, there are Mihai and Lucian, two strong and flirtatious men, born only 11 months apart, that have become very close and are each other's best friends. Then Nicolae, considered the cultured brother, who prefers books and studies to the manual work on the farm. And one year after him came the twins Nadja and Melina, the first girls in six generations of Mayer's family. The patriarch was very proud and in love with his little daughters until the day he died. 

"Watch where you're going, slut!" shouts one of the travelers at her, while accidentally bumping into each other on the way to the stable, the girl too distracted by her own thoughts and trying not to freeze in the snow.  

"Sorry." she simply replies, ignoring the insults, used to this kind of behavior.  

The man continues to curse, but Melina is too excited to give a care about him, besides, there are more important things than a man with bruised ego. She enters the stable, relieved that it has been barely used in the last few days, the blizzard seems to have scared off any fool who would have thought of venturing into the mountains. The idea of finishing the most difficult task of the day quickly cheers her up even more, so that there is time to talk to sister and gather information from brothers. Even though she has lived in the region since birth, the girl has never been allowed out of house, except for the trips to the neighboring farm with her father as she did in childhood, her life has been limited to the inn where she was born and the siblings and travelers, who have filled her with ideas about the world beyond the fences and the forest. She wants to experience everything about what she has heard, go to a ball, visit the fair, have a best friend, fall in love, kiss someone, make babies (as one traveler's wife shyly named sex for her) and, not the least, have a place where she feels at home. Of course the girl loves her family, all the siblings and mother, but since the sudden death of her father nothing has been the same. The house has become lifeless, Tatiana never again gave a smile that reached her eyes, George had to mature early to help his family, the other children resented fate, Melina barely remembers the happy and prosperous times.  

"How are you today, my sweet Thunder?" she hums to their pet horse, a five-year-old dark brown chestnut. The animal howls in return, excited at smelling food coming from the girl's bag "You are such a gluttonous boy." she wastes no time in taking the corn and carrots, leftover crops from last season, and giving them to Thunder "Winter is almost over, soon you will be able to run around the meadows again. Maybe Consty will let me ride you this year and we can go to the waterfalls together to cool off. Just you and me." 

Melina's favorite season is spring, when it isn't too hot and she isn't punished by the intense cold, daily chores become easier, illnesses strike less often and there is that pleasant feeling of the sun beating against her pale face, even the farm animals seem happier with the mild weather. During winter and autumn the farm suffers losses with the thick snow obstructing movement, nothing survives on the ground and the foxes wander silently behind the smaller animals, so the extra rooms in the family house are rented out to passing travelers, the farm being well on the way to the village, so they make a subsistence living in the cold season. Summer and spring are dedicated to cultivating and harvesting the large crops that the fertile land provides with the summer rains, so part of the food is carefully stored, the other part sold to the villagers and the duke. The money is not much, but enough to maintain the place and feed them for the next few months. The girl would be lying if she said she enjoys working in the fields, luckily Tatiana leaves her with all the housework and once the family is out the doors she sneaks out into the expanse of the farmland, climbing trees, running after the animals, napping on the grass and swimming in the pond. These are her moments of peace, the soft memories that she recalls every night to help her sleep during the cold. And also to distract herself during the work, in half an hour she finishes cleaning the place, a little disheartened by the fact that soon her brothers will be back with their own horses dirty with mud and pebbles in their hooves, making everything dirty again. She is putting the rake away when hears screams and a stirring movement coming from the main house, Melina immediately puts the chore aside, running towards the noise. She imagines the worst, like that brute who attacked her touching her mother or Nadja, drunken George making a jealous scene again, she even imagined Nadja getting naughty with one of the travelers and the more conservative brother teaching her some lesson. She knows how he can be, has experienced it in the skin in a literal way and there is a scar on her shoulder to prove it, the narrow mark of the whip etched into the fragile skin. Constantin can become violent. But nothing prepared her for finding a half-naked young woman running toward her, the two of them meeting in a crash that knocks both down in the fluffy snow. Behind them, Tatiana is red in an angry expression, George and Ingrid, his wife, struggle to control the woman as she tries to walk up to the girl with the intention of assaulting her. Nicolae, who is also half-naked, watches the whole scene unfold with a look of guilt and concern. The brute laughs and walks towards them, lifting the other girl in the air, only to throw her in front of the Mayer matriarch, Melina stares at him, trying to guess his next move. He doesn't look very smart, but he's not dumb, she would say, just not one of the best outlaws.  

 "Mrs. Mayer, your son just ruined my merchandise, we have to do something about it."

The woman tenses and pulls herself together, her son and daughter-in-law finally letting her go, knowing that she would do nothing against that traveler. He, known only as Thobias, uses the inns at least six times a year and usually brings with him about ten youths, in the hot weather even more, always more women than men. Of course they, except the girl, know the fate of those poor frightened creatures and shudder to think what is waiting for them when reaching the village.  

"She doesn't have a mark on the skin or a strand of hair out of place, she's in perfect condition," Tatiana replies, trying to negotiate.  

"This woman is no longer a virgin, making her useless in the eyes of the buyer, she is no longer pure since she has been contaminated by your wild offspring. No wonder you have so many children."  

"Maria is not an object for you to talk about her like that!" Nicolae speaks for the first time in the confusion, actually yells at the man at the top of his lungs, defending the slave girl.  

"Control your boy if you don't want one of my men to break his leg, Mrs. Mayer!" he warns, using a low and creepy tone.  

Melina gets up from the ground, wiping the snow off her knees, and stands behind the man's back, not having the courage to follow, afraid to pass him after ignoring him in the stable and her brother acting like this. She takes two steps back, trying to get as far away from the scene as possible and be swept out of Thobias' field of vision. But the movement drags the dress against some branches, catching his attention, the girl feels a shiver as their eyes meet and he smiles. 

"You know, she was one of the only untouched women in the batch, the purest, irreplaceable... except for another pure woman. I'm sure your youngest will do very well as a merchandise exchange. How old is she, 18?"  

"She turned 22 last spring."  

"She'll be 23 soon, a little older than expected, but I can't waste a natural and pristine beauty when I see one." he walks towards Melina and pulls her by the arm to reunite with Nicolae's mistress "I have an offer you can't refuse. One girl for another."  

"And why on earth do you think we would accept such barbarity?" it is George's turn to intervene, overcome with indignation, disgust in his voice.  

"It's that or I'm going to burn this whole farm to the ground with you locked in the stable, with Mother Miranda's permission." the young Mayer is confused and looks at her family, all startled at the mention of the woman "What's it going to be?" the matriarch swallows the lump in her throat and nods, turning her face away to avoid facing the daughter "Good! And I imagine young Nico will turn the whore into a Mayer, everybody wins, from what I've seen you may have grandchildren running around soon." he laughs dryly and grabs Melina by the wrist, she soon realizes what is happening and tries to kick him desperately, only to be slapped in the face, knocking her unconscious.  

The back and forth motion makes the girl nauseous, maybe it's the hit to the head, or the throbbing pain on the left side of her face, but she knows she'll throw up soon. Melina wakes up slowly, feeling pain and fear, the transport runs over a rock and she falls off balance as everything shakes. The brute just laughs and writes something in his notebook. She watches where they are, realizing to be inside one of the carriages, just the two in this and the rest of the youths probably piled in the other carriage following them.  

"Melina Celeste Mayer, 22 years old, 5'1 height? I'm guessing. You were born in March, right?"  

"Why do you want to know?" she mutters, starting to get annoyed, he just writes something ignoring her "I didn't know men like you can write."  

"And the bumpkin shows her claws. I'm more educated than you, slut!" he retorts and puts the notebook aside, analyzing her thoroughly, head to toe "If you talk to your Lady like that, I guarantee your head will be ripped off this beautiful body in seconds. Believe me, I have seen it happen... a lot. Would be a shame such a waste so soon, it's more fun when they endure."  

"You are...you are taking me to die?"  

"Accept that will be your fate, I've never seen anyone spend more than six months in that place. But it's no big deal, we're all going to die one day, you're going to die too young and I'm going to die fucking rich."  

"And where are you taking me?" Melina questions, with explicit fear in her voice and body.  

"Dimitrescu Castle." 

Join my taglist here ^^ now there is addition of Alcina Dimitrescu