#i was talking about how the KING discussing POWER and the RIGHT TO RULE and the flaws of SYSTEMS. is interesting and what is the author try

[wonder-worker]

"[Elizabeth Woodville] was the only member of [Crown Prince Edward of Westminster's] original 1471 council not already on the king’s council and her name headed the list of those appointed as administrators in Wales during Edward’s minority. [She remained on the council after it was expanded in 1473 and granted additional governing and judicial powers]."

"In 1478 Prince Richard married the Mowbray heiress. Like his elder brother he had a chancellor, seal, household and council to manage his estates. His council, like that of Prince Edward, comprised the queen [Elizabeth Woodville] and a group of magnates and bishops, few of whom were Woodville supporters. [...] It was Elizabeth who mattered, for Richard resided with her and Rivers treated his affairs as their own."

— J.L. Laynesmith, The Last Medieval Queens: English Queenship 1445-1503 / Michael Hicks, Richard III and his Rivals: Magnates and their Motives in the Wars of the Roses

[pdanno]

i went to a book club and a man told me "i don't think its that deep" when i'm discussing the themes of the book. Die.

[bet-on-me-13]

The Ambassador

So! It was finally happening. After Years of Pleading with the Guardians and other Ruling Bodies of the Galactic Community, the Justice League had finally gotten then to agree to create an Alliance with Earth.

With an Alliance, Earth would gain the Protection of Multiple Empires and The Guardians, which would mean an end to the Constant Alien Invasions they faced. There was also the legal opening of Trade Routes between Planets to exchange Technology and Resources on the Galactic Scale.

Of course Earth would return the Favor, legally being able to defend it's Allies with its unusually large population if Superheroes and quickly advancing Tech, while also trading Tech and Resources between Planets.

Of course the battle was not entirely won yet.

They still needed to begin Negotiations to see if both sides would even agree to the Alliance in the First Place, as well as decide on the specifics of the Treaty. The United Nation's would decide on Ambassadors to represent the different countries, while the different Alien Governments would send an Ambassador Each.

When the Ambassadors arrived, they asked to be introduced to the Representatives of the Planet. Except, they claimed that there was a missing Member.

They claimed that there was one more Major Kingdom on the Planet, the most Powerful One, which they felt must be at the Negotiations.

When asked who this missing Ambassador was, they simply replied, "King Phantom of the Infinite Realms, he and a Shard of his Kingdom reside on this Planet, do they not?"

Now they are working around the clock to find this missing Kingdom, because the Alien Ambassadors refused to negotiate without the most powerful Kingdom at the Table, and they woud not wait forever.

Just who was this "King Phantom", and why had he not revealed himself yet?

...

Sam and Tucker sat on the Couch in their apartment, staring at the TV as the Chosen Representatives for America finished their Speech. Apparently the Peace Talks had been put on Hold for a few more days as they did some last minute preparations. Something about making their Guests more comfortable before they began discussing politics.

"Hey Danny, they're delaying the Negotiations for a few more days." Sam called over to the Kitchen.

"Aw, what?!" Shouted Danny from the Kitchen, sounding extremely disappointed, "I just finished making all the Popcorn!"

"I know Honey, its too bad." Tucker comforted his Partner, "Let's marathon Star Trek instead, how about that?"

Danny slumped out of kitchen and into the Couch between them, steaming bowl of Popcorn in his Lap, "I guess. We can make good use of all this popcorn at least."

Sam patted him on the arm, "Hey it's okay, the Talks will just take a few more days."

Danny shrugged, "Yeah, you're right. Man, what I wouldn't give to be in that Room."

[jazeswhbhaven]

The Most Profane & The Most Beautiful | Leviathan Torture Card | React | Spoilers

So, from my understanding the week of all Saints Day (after Halloween) the devils get weak and the angels are stronger (this lasts for seven days)

Prior to MC being summoned Levi was having hallucinations of his old peers that were with him in the Devil Camps in heaven

Levi's condition is getting worse, and the nobles talk about it. A funny thing is Glas assuming Foras tends to Levi's bed (meaning he's instigating that they bump uglies) and I was like….Glas pls. It's almost like you're jealous

So his final dream before his disappearance, is of Orias and the other devil children from the past during the fire at the camps, Orias doubting that Levi would save them and Levi is convinced he can

A note I wanted to add is maybe MC forgot or this story is different from the Bloodshed Card lore, because if ya'll remember Barbatos explained that each devil would hang themselves if something happened to Levi and I'm sure this is mentioned in other cards too (his Bath one iirc) but them being thrown off by Glas reminding them of that and why they can't reveal he's not in Hades atm had me shaking my head but yeah I guess the devs don't carry over certain details from the other cards for MC to remember and treats each card story as if MC is hearing it for the first time.

Us finding out Levi doesn't sleep well because he's too busy thinking about who MC is fucking is wild. Pls sleep Levi.

SO we get some Selaphiel content! He went after Orias to lure Levi to Heaven. Odd, since I figured Orias could handle a cherubim but I guess not.

Oh he's hot.  (sry, Levi)

So Selaphiel here is literally getting off on the thought of tormenting Levi. His strategy is to keep him there and eventually Hell will crumble due to his absence. Why? Because Levi is the most strict when it comes to the rules of Hell, without that structure everyone else is doomed. (Huh. Never thought of it that way but I guess Levi is in fact the glue that holds everyone together strategy wise. He did train Sitri after all)

Beleth calls Foras "Cotton Candy boy" btw and I think that's funny as hell

So we're in Niflheim meeting up with Beleth because MC and Foras need his help. They're discussing the details in Belphie's room is knocked the fuck out lmao. Ofc they are nervous that he'd overhear but yeah nah he out out. Ni ni.

Two things: Beleth likes snacks if you come to him with something to do, Second…apparently he claims Lucifer wouldn't of been able to help. Now that's interesting. The fact that Foras and MC didn't go to Lucifer either was probably for "avoiding the kings" reason. But this leans into my "Lucifer is an anti-hero" theory. Stayed in Hell because he didn't agree with his brother's methods, but doesn't go out of his way to mess up Heaven either. Some of us saw this in the preview for the new area of Dark Sanctuary where the Kings were explaining that Lucifer wouldn't show up to help them take care of the Seraphim.

Now with Beleth's help, MC can learn how to act like an angel and infiltrate Heaven to rescue Levi. He is unable to do it himself and any other devil for that matter because of their weakened powers. Apparently MC ain't getting' no sleep either.

Important thing to mentioned about what I said about certain lore carrying over. They did in fact mention Levi's bath story and that MC remembers that. I guess it slipped their mind about the other details. This leads me to believe that this Torture card happens right after his Bath Card > Bloodshed > Torture. I say Bloodshed because that event happens on Halloween.

????????!!!!!!??!?!??!!?!??!??!?!?!??!

I would so be down to swallow Foras cock and take backshots from Beleth a n y d a y (Foras ofc is very possessive he ain't sharing it seems. Not nicely anyway)

B e l e t h

*screams, throws something, punches the air* S TO PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP he call me sugar.

So sweet.

(that is a reference to a song…a song probably I only listen to in this fandom lmaoooo)

Something is purring, and it ain't Beleth.

So after some training, dang it MC you and your one track brain memorizing porn stars…(idk what that's for tbh but if Beleth said it's good enough it is) we meet one of the 72 which I can't wait to get a formal introduction to him. Zepar! He's going to turn MC into an angel as a disguise

Zepar has rules: Don't take off the talisman on his forehead. Don't ask questions about where he's from. Don't use the word master around him. Don't touch any joints on his body. He has more rules but it's too long to recite them lmaoooo I hope we get the full list later cause I wanna know the rules of interacting with him.

Funny thing again: Beleth cut open his skin to give angel's blood for the ritual needed for MC's disguise. Zepar said one drop was enough and Beleth is like "damn you should have said that" and then Foras does the same, knowing a drop is enough but he just wanted to one up Beleth. (he's been acting catty this entire time lmaooooo he really is such a diva when it comes to impressing MC)

It took goddamn 14 hours to complete the ritual with Zepar and he made Beleth and Foras stick around. Not because they were needed but because he didn't want to be alone. I would kick his ass lmaoooooo (Beleth was about to)

So they mentioned MC's skintone changing…..I don't like that LMAO ya'll ain't taking my melanin hell nah. It better stay there during the transformation.

Damn. Hold up let me slide in your DMs….

This angel's name is Jophiel. Due to the sprite placement next to Beleth it was assumed that he's either floating or flying but in the CG he looks shorter than Beleth so idk what his height is. I just know he's fine too like hey hey quick threesome before I go? Yeah? In the open is fineeeee

No threesome though. Apparently there's a thin barrier between Heaven and Hell where either can't cross. Sitri explained it to MC  once.

MC is rank 9, the lowest angel that no one remembers. I wonder if that means the little creature lookin' ones are part of that lowest rank or just familiars that help the humanoid angels

And Jophiel caught MC btw fucking up already. They walked instead of using their wings. Angels don't make a sound when they walk, ONLY using their wings. The fact that he let it slide and whispered this to MC means that he knows what's up and is doing Beleth a solid. It's intriguing how Heaven bends rules like that. This would be considered double-crossing. But I mean he came down to Hell to speak to Beleth anyway so….YOLO

MC manages to find Levi before the execution ceremony but seeing him in anguish and hung up by chains on display as he replayed his traumatic past in his head made them rage with jealousy. Their disguise drops, feathers and all. All Saint's Day is over…so devil powers are back in full throttle! But it's not enough….Michael shows up.

But it's Orias to the rescue! Yeah the path to Heaven for him wasn't easy but he got two angel souls out of it so let's go.

Orias attacking Michael wasn't enough though, it takes MC enticing Levi to snap him out of his state. Ya'll…this part was just me being like "Ah classic MC." Nothing too out of the ordinary just them being themselves as per usual.

So a personal thing for me is the transition from deep angst lore to horny. I was in the zone seeing action and thrill and then suddenly "Damn I'm getting wet from looking at that outfit Levi is in." Which…idk to me maybe that transition makes sense for MC but for me since I was in the moment I was like ?????? Why are we horny? Oh yeah this is a 18+ game okay ._. LOL

All this damn commotion and MC just lickin' and suckin' on Levi.  I'm not sure if I'm allowed to show his nips on here full monty but phew they were something else….it's because of the chain and nip rings not sure if that would trigger anything for the flagging bot.

I'm sorry ya'll but something throbbed.

Anyways.

A new monster Levi can summon btw. New to us but most likely not new to the powers he has. I hope we get more lore on this monster in the future.

Yay Levi is saved, takes MC home and fucks them for hours. Let me tell ya'll a little secret about my thing with Levi….

I like it when he gets mad and puts us through the mattress asking if we're going to do things with other men and being possessive during. Because antagonizing him makes him more rough and I personally call myself a theoretical brat. The way I'd tell him "Yeah I'm gonna shake my tits and ass for everyone even if you've fucked me to mush" and see what he does. That's when I don't mind that envious attitude of his.

BUT YEAH that's it ya'll. For the story. Those are the summarized parts without giving the entire thing away. These were the important points for me. Personally the story being 90% angst, training, and lore with a dab of sex at the end was really what I personally think is worth paying $60-$75 dollars for in terms of a exclusive card. Yes, it's the Kings…and it sucks that good stuff like this is paywalled…but at least they gave us something different other than 5% story and sex sex sex sex. I know ya'll were here for that but phew does it get tiring after it being so one dimensional, ya know what I mean?

MC does a thing for X King, they meet, they fuck, MC is either dominating or dominants at first then switches. Cum everywhere. End. I'm sorry LMAO that's how I've been seeing most of the sex with the L cards so far…like at least with this card I had plot with porn. Finally…

Story rating: 9.5/10!!!

I didn't give a full 10 because the abrupt transition to horny and the mention of MC's skintone changing to what I assume is a paler tone when there's literally Beleth and Jophiel that have at least some melanin to them.

 I'm now wanting Satan's Torture card story to see how they write that one. Which I am HOPING TO FUCKING ALL IS GOOD IN THE UNIVERSE that we get some more in depth Satan lore. Like please. 

Small tidbits from his chats and date story btw:

Levi kept the disguise outfit that MC wore to heaven, MC is only allowed to wear it for him, vise versa with his outfit he got from Heaven

Levi was upset that he was "lied to" because MC told him they'd sleep in the other kings beds and he's been waiting for them to do that (okay??? LMAO)

Foras reports everything to him.  E v e r y t h I n g. You can't even take a piss without Foras reporting it.

There's dildoes weren't originally called that in Hell/Heaven which is why no one knew what MC meant by the word dildo (HA I WAS RIGHT)

109+ is considered an adult in Hell and is a valid age restriction apparently for sex websites in hell….

I think Levi's threats are mostly empty based on how he speaks with everyone. Because if he truly wanted to kill anyone for sleeping with MC he would have done by now. Lol

He actually thanks MC and made them custom sex toys to remember the event by…we got a whole thank you from him. Praise be.

MC and Levi discuss jealousy, especially when they are particularly jealous of how whenever someone looks at them they see Solomon, their ancestral grandfather instead of them. They feel Levi is amongst the few who truly see them separate from that. Also, apparently MC can't even look at the ceiling without Levi accusing them of thinking about someone else. I find that hilarious.

And fin~

Now if Levi isn't your fave, I think Satan is next? So I'd stay tuned and expect the story format to be the same! I ofc didn't share the full story here as per PB's warning so there are things I intentionally didn't bring up that someone else may reveal or share. (shoutout to my mootie moot for sharing this story with me!!)

As always, thank you for reading, stay awesome and lovely. -your lovely adminnn ♡´･ᴗ･`♡

Oh to be taken to pound town by these two.

[bookishdaze]

Noa and Mae as Romeo and Juliet Theory

If Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is inspired by Hamlet, then to keep the story feeling like Shakespeare, the Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes sequels could take inspiration from Romeo and Juliet.

(NOTE: I already made a post about this theory right after the movie first came out, but after months of discussing this theory with others, I wanted to update it with some of my newer thoughts and ideas).

Remember, this is just a fun theory!

First I will explain how Dawn is similar to Hamlet, using other movies as examples and their sequels.

Then I will discuss character similarities, like Raka as Friar Lawrence.

I will then talk about how Romeo and Juliet works with the themes of Planet of the Apes.

And I will share an interview with Wes Ball where he talks about "Shakespearean stuff" in the sequels.

Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet in Planet of the Apes

In Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, The Lion King, and Black Panther, a rightful king or heir is killed by an evil uncle, cousin, or family member. This always results in them falling off a very high cliff for some reason.

Everyone thinks they're dead, the evil relative takes power, and everything kinda sucks. There is not enough food in the Pride Lands under Scar's rule. Killmonger burns the heart-shaped herbs. Koba leads the apes to war against the humans.

The rightful ruler spends time in exile, recovering from their wounds and trauma. They might even get a visit or have a recollection of their dead father.

Then the rightful ruler comes back from the dead, challenges the usurper, and takes his rightful place upon the throne. Now let's take a quick look at their sequels, hehe.

The Lion King 2 and Wakanda Forever are loosely based on Romeo and Juliet. Wakanda Forever is also based on Hades and Persephone by the way!

Like the Montagues and Capulets, we got two rival kingdoms. The Pridelanders and the Outsiders. Wakanda and Talokan.

The two heirs/rulers from both kingdoms meet, and they don't trust each other at first, but they start to have compassion for the other.

Kiara and Kovu fall in love. Namor and Shuri don't fall in love, but Shuri begins to show compassion after he shows her his kingdom.

(Side note: There is this interview with one of the movie editors about a romantic subplot between Shuri and Namor being removed, but it was later clarified the comments in the interview were taken out of context. But I digress!)

Namor and Shuri are also based on Persephone and Hades, who are a couple in Greek mythology. Hades kidnaps Persephone and brings her to the underworld. Namor kidnaps Shuri and takes her to his underwater kingdom.

So Romeo and Juliet, Hades and Persephone...they're based on romantic couples.

There are losses on both sides. Kovu's brother is killed going after Simba. One of Namor's people is killed. Shuri's mother, Queen Ramonda, is killed by Namor's attack on Wakanda.

This escalates the situation. Things get worse.

In the end, both pairs are able to bring the fighting between their people to a stop. The Outsiders are welcomed into Simba's pride, and the Wakandans and people of Talokan stop fighting after seeing their leaders return together.

Character Similarities

So Noa and Mae would be Romeo and Juliet for obvious reasons. Romeo and Juliet's deaths brought the feud between their families to an end. Noa and Mae could bridge the gap between apes and humans and help achieve coexistence.

But now I want to talk about Raka!

He's Friar Lawrence!

Friar Lawrence is wise, optimistic, and religious.

We see this with Raka already. He is religious and is a follower of the Order of Caesar. He's also a little too optimistic, believing apes and humans once lived side by side, but we know this isn't true.

Friar Lawrence believes Romeo and Juliet's marriage will unite their Houses in the eyes of God and end the feud between the two families.

Caesar is pretty much God for the apes. Raka says since humans were important to Caesar, he must show compassion and teach them.

Even his last words to Noa and Mae are "Together strong." NOT "Apes together strong," but "TOGETHER strong."

He believes humans and apes, or at least Noa and Mae, are stronger together. This stems from him being a member of the Order of Caesar and because he believes it's what Caesar would want.

Back to The Lion King 2. Rafiki would be the Friar as well. He gets a message from Mufasa (Caesar/God) about how Kiara and Kovu getting together would unite the two sides.

"Kovu...Kiara...together?"

"Together...strong."

I see Anaya being Mercutio.

Mercutio is Romeo's friend. He's very witty, making jokes all the time. (Seriously, read the play. He doesn't stop, lol). His death is what leads to Romeo killing Tybalt.

Anaya is definitely the jokester in his friend group. If Anaya is Mercutio though, poor guy. Hope he goes down swinging!

Romeo and Juliet Themes

Both sides realize they're the same and to not let hate cloud their judgement.

As Kiara says to her father Simba, "A wise king once told me we are one. Look at them. They are us. What differences do you see?"

This reminds me of when Caesar tells his son, "I always think ape better than human. I see now how much like them we are."

In Planet of the Apes, the apes are a mirror to humanity. We the audience see ourselves in them, and the characters must come to the realization that they're not opposites, but the same.

It's about love and compassion over hate and violence.

"But don't Romeo and Juliet die in the end?" They do, but just like how The Lion King 2 and Wakanda Forever had different endings, it doesn't mean Noa and Mae have to die. West Side Story, another Romeo and Juliet retelling, has Tony die, but not Maria.

Here's to hoping for a happier ending for Noa and Mae, though!

And to top it all off, here's a clip of an interview with Wes Ball where he talks about "Shakespearean stuff" for the sequel.

“The relationship that these two characters [Noa and Mae] have with each other is going to be crucial for what comes at them in the future. 

“Whatever exists between them, is that going to be enough to stop terrible things from happening? Or is it going to be the cause of terrible things to happen? I think there’s going to be a lot of great drama, you know, classic Shakespearean stuff.”

Shakespearean stuff, you say?

[spacequokka]

Love You First

Pairing: Crown Prince!Yugyeom x Reader Genre: Royalty AU, Fluff, Angst Rating: PG Summary: Who wants to marry a man they've never met? Yugyeom hopes to convince you he's worth it. Word Count: 1.6k Warnings: mentions of war

You were eager to get away from them all. Talking about war as if it were of no consequence to the people of the kingdom. If it weren’t a big deal then what use would an arranged marriage be? In truth, they simply enjoyed toying with people, drunk on the power they held over everyone around them. Including you. Their laughter made you shake and bite your lip to keep words you wouldn’t take back from hurting their feelings.

You glanced out the window again and a glint of the moonlight off something in the garden caught your attention. Yes, a walk to clear your head and calm down was in order. Who cared if you hadn’t properly met your intended yet? You slipped out the nearest door and navigated the hallways until the cool night air hit your face. The calming effect was instantaneous.

“Do the war discussions bother you, too?”

You whirled around and found a handsome young man approaching. “Oh! I—” His suit was snow white and decorated with all sorts of medals and pins depicting his service to his country. At the least, he was a noble. “Yes. It should bother everyone. Not be discussed with a band playing as you sip fancy wine. It’s ridiculous. People’s lives are at stake.” You huffed and continued forward into the hedge maze. Your companion fell into step beside you.

“I agree. They should treat it seriously. Maybe they’re so carefree because they’ve solved the issue?”

You scoffed. “With the marriage? How foolish of them. Who’s to say it won’t end up making things worse? What if the bride simply…disappeared?”

He gasped softly and stopped in his tracks. “Where would you go? And what about your kingdom, your people?”

“How do you know I’m—” You looked at him and it dawned on you. The black hair, the green and gold sash draped over his chest. It seemed you weren’t the only one to detest wearing a crown. “Oh god. You’re the prince I’m to marry.”

He bowed. “I am Yugyeom, Crown Prince of the House of Kim. I apologize for my arriving late to our engagement announcement soirée.”

You turned on your heel and kept walking deeper into the maze. “It doesn’t matter, to them or to me, so save your apologies.”

“Oh.” He straightened up. “Well, wait! You didn’t answer my question.”

“Do you honestly care? If I were gone, you wouldn’t be forced to marry a stranger you’d be stuck with until one of you die.” You walked faster hoping he’d stop following. “As for my people, they’re at the mercy of those morons in there no matter what I do.”

“That’s not entirely true.” He spoke softly from your left. “Once we’re crowned, we’ll be able to make declarations and rule however we see fit. I know we’ve never met, but I’m familiar with your opinions and desires for the future.” He glanced at you and flushed when your eyes met. “I read the letters you wrote concerning the border issues and women’s rights. Your proposals were well-thought out and articulated, and I’m eager to implement them.”

“You’re just saying that. You don’t want me to run away.” You lifted your chin and narrowed your eyes. “You’ll take it all back once we say ‘I do’ then expect me to keep silent and push out babies.”

His chuckled but it held no mirth. “I have the notes and decree drafts to prove it. My dearest friend will vouch for me. I asked for his opinion on them.”

“A friend?” You turned to him and crossed your arms. “Your advisor, you mean?”

Yugyeom shook his head. “King Jungkook and I often consult each other on important matters concerning our respective kingdoms. I trust him with my life and those of my people.”

You mouth snapped shut. Everyone knew of the benevolent king. More importantly, you stayed up to date on his speeches as you admired the way he thought and ruled his kingdom. Sure, there’d been mentions of his friendships with neighboring countries but you never thought the specifics important. “Oh, well…”

He stepped closer. “With that said, I have no intention of locking you away once we marry. I fully intend for us to stand together. I can handle the foreign affairs while you focus on improving the lives of our people. I personally can’t wait to see their reaction to your plans for solving the poverty crisis.”

“I cannot believe you actually took the time to read anything I’ve written.” You covered your cheeks with your fingers. Shaking your head, you took off once again. “That’s much more than I expected of you.”

“Sounds like I’ve impressed you.” His voice took on a smug tone. “Does that mean I don’t need to list off your hobbies? Though, I admit I’d love to see you play the piano.” You nearly tripped. “If I’m to spend the rest of my life with you, I think it’s only right I learn everything I can.”

“This feels like some sort of weird dream.” You came to a stop when faced with the massive fountain that sat in the center of the maze. “You’re not supposed to be kind and caring. Where’s the chauvinistic, narcissistic spoiled man hoping to have a dozen women in his bed while his queen raises their five children on her own?” The smirk on his face only drove your irritation further. “I don’t want to be okay with marrying you!”

“And why is that?” He closed the distance between you. “Is it because they took away your choice in the matter?”

“Yes! I don’t want to be told what to do, not when it’s something this important. I want to be in love when I walk down the aisle. I want to look forward to consummating our union because I’m comfortable with you, not fear it.” You nearly pulled your hair which would’ve ruined a good hour of sitting until your legs went numb. “And here you are being all cute and supportive and sweet.” You huffed with disgust.

“…You think I’m cute?”

“Oh my god.” You covered your face. “Just leave me here to die.”

“Absolutely not.” He brushed your shoulder with his. When you didn’t move away, he took a chance and ran his fingertips down your arm. “For whatever it’s worth, I’ll admit I’ve had a tiny crush on you for quite some time now.” When you looked at him in question, he nodded. “I’ve always known I’d be set to marry. I was like you at first, against it and sure it’d be a miserable experience. So when they first started mentioning you during meetings…I asked for information. I needed to know what kind of person you were.”

“So when they told you I was a hot-headed, stubborn brat you didn’t go running for the hills?”

He laughed outright, fingers grazing yours. “Hah. No, I didn’t. The second I laid eyes on your portrait, I was a goner.” He looked into your eyes with a look that left your skin covered in goosebumps. “You’ll think I’m a liar, but it was love at first sight. You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen—and I’ve attended six balls where dozens of women were hoping to be chosen to marry.” He rolled his eyes. “Not one of them compare to the vision before me.”

“Yet you show up late to our engagement party?” You scoffed and brushed his hand away with a smirk. “Unbelievable.”

“I wanted to look my best!” He pointed to one of the medals on his sash. “It broke and I had it fixed. I didn’t realize doing so would put us behind schedule.” He took your hands in his and brushed a kiss across your knuckles. “If I’m ever given the chance to do it over, I’m tossing it out the nearest window. Not worth disappointing you, ever.”

“For the record, I was not disappointed. I was actually relieved. Thought you’d get cold feet and run away with one of your maids.”

“Never. You’ll always be my first and only choice. Headstrong, proactive, and musically inclined? Sign me up!” His smile melted the rest of the ice encasing your heart. He was a dork, but he’d be your dork. Ugh. He was already rubbing off on you. A giggle bubbled up and came out before you could pull yourself together. Your laughter proved to be contagious as Yugyeom joined you. By the time you stopped you both were wiping tears from your cheeks.

“I want to say I hate that I’m having more fun out here alone with you but I pride myself on being painfully honest.” You looked up at him and he gently took your hands. “I’ve changed my mind. I won’t run away…provided you stay true to all that you said before.”

“I’ll include it in my wedding vows.” His face was serious.

“You’re writing vows, too?!” You groaned. “That’s it. I’m dreaming. None of this is real. You’re too good to real. I’m gonna wake up at my desk with a book imprinted on my cheek.”

His fingertips delicately guided your attention back to him. “I thought the same of you at first.” He turned his hand so that his thumb caressed your cheek. “It seemed impossible such a woman could exist, much less be my intended. Yet here we are, living what’s been the best night of my life so far. I pray you’ll grace me with the honor of calling you my love. I look forward to getting to know you, to getting you to fall in love with me, and building a life together that our kingdom will celebrate.”

[kaeso4ka]

You've learned something about Cybertronian culture. You got to have a nasty conversation with Optimus

Pairing: yandere Optimus Prime x reader

The thought that kept you awake was, of course, the theme of freedom.

The theme of freedom permeated every inch of your life: your core, your essence, your mind. You were woven from the desire to be free. Just like any other person who has been held captive.

But thinking about it always led you to strange paradoxes. Unsolvable paradoxes. Like this one.

You sat on the platform, sawing the back of the working Optimus with your gaze, and couldn't decide where to begin your claim.

You had many complaints about Prime, but this one in particular...

You've never noticed Optimus Prime's arrogance. Quite frankly, you were the more arrogant of the two of you. By right of forced servitude, you tried to respond to Prime's superior strength with aggression.

And yet there was a much deeper issue. Unresolved, making her feel even more insecure.

“Optimus.”

“My Spark?”

“We need to have a serious talk,” it just so happened that you rarely spoke to Optimus. Usually he did the talking. Or you yelled at him. But this wasn't a conversation. It wasn't a discussion, and you knew - according to Megatron - that Optimus was hellbent on talking.

Prime didn't need to be told twice to have his full attention on you. Optimus lowered himself onto the platform next to you, his whole demeanor radiating a willingness to listen.

But instead of starting, you stared at Optimus for a few seconds. It was as if she were trying to find answers to her questions without voicing them.

“I'm not a slave,” the subject opened with a direct statement. You didn't like to voice the obvious, but you had to often, “do you agree?”

Optimus' optics flashed brighter. Prime was almost confused. Almost.

“Y/N...”

“Answer. Do you agree with those words?”

“Yes. You are not a slave,” Optimus accepted the rules of the conversation: he decided to wait for clarification.

“Good,” it became easier. At the very least, “indeed, I am not a slave. I am not a pet. Is that right or wrong?”

“Yes, my Spark. You are not a pet,” Optimus tried to find answers in your gaze, but you weren't looking at him. You weren't looking at anything.

“You're not above me...” you splayed your hands, ”physically, of course I am. But not socially. You're not my king, you're not my God. Your word is not more important than mine. I am your equal. Are you?”

Now Optimus was slow to answer.

“I don't want to lie to you, but let me ask you this: where are you going with this conversation?”

“Ratchet recently shared some articles with me... Cybertronian science articles. He told me to embrace my future culture. And I learned a lot: both that organics up until the war - and even now - were considered almost animal-like; and that Prime always towers over everyone... Even his own Bondmate,” you could barely contain your anger. The disgusting epithets bestowed upon billions of sentient metal fools in their pseudo-scientific articles were infuriating, “I understand my perspective perfectly well. I will be with you. You have and will continue to limit me. But I will not allow you to carry around in your CPU the idea that you are above, better, and more in charge than me. And it's not about the strength of your guns or the processing power of your CPU.”

The fact that Cybertron society has always been divided into stupid classes because of altmode didn't bother you... Until you admitted to yourself: one day you yourself will live in that society. You'll live, but you won't let anyone look down on you from the height of your own ignorance.

On Earth, that was easy. On Cybertron, hardly at all.

“I understand,” Prime's mechanisms sounded quieter, calmer. Even the tone of his voice became even more subdued, “I know how important this is to you. I have always treated you as an equal. Even if there were disagreements between us.”

“Disagreements.” You always had other terms for that, but there wasn't time for them now.

“That makes me happy,” you actually felt better. It would be doubly unpleasant if, somewhere inside, Optimus thought of you as nothing more than his toy. You longed for an equal confrontation, “I was relieved.”

The revelation burst out and hung in the air with a pleasant understanding silence. For the first time in forever.

[opiopal]

yall hear me out..

Diavolo with an Angel Mc,

A!Mc was a third angel apart of the program, they meet for the first time through said program, and they are just besties right off the bat.

which eventually leads to Diavolo, the future demon king of hell, falling in love with an angel so deeply that he wants them to marry him and have them be the second ruler of hell.

IMAGINE HOW CRAZY IT WOULD GET

so many strings would have to be pulled because everyone can see how love sick they are for each other, the way Mc flusters every single time Dia kisses the back of their hand despite the fact that he's done it millions of times, the way they hold each other, the way they talk so sweetly to each other no matter what they're discussing, they're just so sickeningly sweet!!! what monster would separate the two?? so eventually they're able to marry and suddenly an angel is helping to rule hell, like how insane would that be???

and I can imagine A!Mc still lives with the brothers during the program, if i remember correctly mc lived with the brothers bc of the lack of room in purgatory hall? so thats probably still the case, but once Dia and A!Mc are dating A!Mc is hardly home anyways and is always at the castle lol.

also, an alternate thing I thought of was like, an angel Mc who does NOT act like an angel at all. cause think about it:

Diavolo, someone who should have been born an angel, A!Mc, who should have been born a demon,

Dia is just so sweet, why would he have feelings for such a rude angel? but he does! they would be an even crazier power couple, literally they'd be "he asked for no pickles."

and I dont mean angel mc is just straight up mean... but def has a sick sense of humor if you know what I mean. like having the guts to cuss at lucifer or be rude right back to any demon whatsoever. they are NOT all peace and love at ALL. they WANT to get into fights and come out ontop. but ofc then theres Dia, and over time A!Mc calms down and is like "woah maybe peace isnt so bad..." after being shown so much kindness by a creature they thought weren' capable of such a thing. but ofc is still pretty nasty sometimes lol.

[azula-hates-men]

Benign Colonialism in the ATLA Comics

In this post, I will discuss how the ATLA comics, the Promise comics specifically, fail to tackle settler colonialism.

Before I begin my analysis of the Promise, I need to define a few terms:

benign colonialism: the belief that indigenous people gain more advantages than disadvantages from colonialism

indigenous people: inhabitants who lived in an area prior to it being colonized

settler colonialism: a system of power that perpetuates the genocide and repression of indigenous people

terra nullius: a Latin expression meaning "nobody's land"

The comics starts with a recap of how the 100-year ended and the Gaang meeting with the Earth King to discuss getting rid of the FN colonies in the Earth Kingdom. The Gaang decides to create a movement called the Harmony Restoration Movement, with one of its aim being to have every FN settler return to the Fire Nation. Zuko is initially on board with the idea, but he later withdraws his support after he faces an assassination attempt by the daughter of the Yu Dao (one of the FN colonies) mayor, Kori.

Zuko's meeting with the Yu Dao mayor is where I stumble upon my first problem with the comics. Mayor Morishita says that Zuko has an obligation to protect FN settlers because they were loyal to his family for generations, but he doesn't interrogate how his family were able to settle in the Earth Kingdom with the support from the Fire Nation and what that meant for the indigenous EK citizens that were living there. What also frustrates me is that he acts as if Ozai didn't want burn the entire EK to the ground a year ago. My problems with Morishita also extend to Kori as well because even though she's half-EK and an Earthbender, she is also unable to interrogate how the colony she lives in was able to created. Like father, like daughter I guess.

And it get worse from here. Zuko's explanation of the history of Yu Dao is an example of terra nullius. Throughout history, the phrase has been used to justify the dispossession of Indigenous people because they were considered "too primitive" by colonists to be rightful owners of the land. While Zuko doesn't explicitly say that EK citizens are primitive, the way he talks about Yu Dao makes it seem like before the FN settlers came, the EK citizens weren't using the land properly.

Zuko's argument is a textbook example of benign colonialism. He claims that the indigenous population has gained more advantages from colonized since Yu Dao is now one of the richest cities of the world and any disadvantages they received from FN rule can be addressed later. Arguments like these aren't new. When France colonized Senegal, where my mom is from, a major goal was mission civilisatrice (civilizing mission). The French believed that non-Europeans were uncivilized and were in desperate need of European re-education. What's the most disappointing about Zuko's argument is that he experiences character regression. He already rejected the concept of civilizing mission back in the TV show, so it makes no sense that he would espouse those ideas after his redemption.

Having the FN and EK essentially share the colonies is not a good solution because it treats the indigenous people's and settlers' claim to the land as equally legitimate when the FN settlers' claim is based on the fact that their country colonized the territories and displaced the indigenous people who were living there. In real-life, settlers and indigenous people sharing the land has always led to more problems.

A good example of settlers and indigenous people sharing the land leading to more problems:

One major problem I have with the comics is that there is a heavy implication that interracial relationships solve everything wrong with settler colonialism. While it is true that in many settler colonies (e.g. United States, Canada, Israel), interracial marriage was/is illegal, in many others, interracial marriage was tolerated but that didn't stop the oppression of indigenous people in the slightest and miscegenation was even used as a tool to further genocide the indigenous people.

An example of miscegenation being used as a tool for genocide is the Stolen Generations and wider genocide of Aboriginal Australians. One of the main perpetrator of the genocide of Aboriginal Australians, A.O. Neville, believed that through mixed marriages, the characteristics of Aboriginals would be "bred out". Even in settler colonies where miscegenation wasn't a tool of genocide, indigenous people still faced discrimination. In New Zealand, marriages between the Maori and English settlers were very common and accepted, but Maori people still ended up being victims of forced assimilation in the late 19th century - mid 20th century.

How would I fix the Promise? I would first establish what the average lives of FN settlers, mixed FN-EK citizens, and indigenous EK citizens are like. During the 100 years of the existence of the FN colonies, are racial hierarchy was established: FN settlers at the top, mixed FN-EK citizens in the middle, and indigenous EK citizens at the bottom. The indigenous EK citizens didn't just passively accept their subjugation and resisted FN rule in various ways, both non-violently and violently. After the end of the 100-year war and the creation of the Harmony Restoration movement, there is an organization in the FN colonies by indigenous EK citizens to reunite with the Earth Kingdom. Besides reuniting with the the Earth Kingdom, indigenous EK citizens also want the removal of all FN settlers from the Earth Kingdom. This gets a lot of pushback from mixed FN-EK citizens because they have FN family members and they don't want to be separated from them. Eventually, the indigenous EK citizens realize that removing every FN settler is unrealistic and instead suggest that after reuniting with the Earth Kingdom, they abolish the racial hierarchy and give everyone who lived in the colonies equal rights and representation; FN settlers are given the choice to stay and earn Earth Kingdom citizenship, but if they refuse, they can just return to the Fire Nation.

To summarize, The Promise fails at tackling settler colonialism because it legitimizes common pro-colonialism arguments and is more focused on accommodating settlers than asking how the oppression of indigenous people can be solved realistically. Reading the comics, I am reminded that Bryke are white men with a neoliberal worldview who probably can't reckon with the fact that they live in a settler colony that continues to oppress indigenous people, hence the portrayal of settler colonialism in The Promise. The comics could've been a good analysis of how decolonization could happen in a settler colony but it's clear that Bryke doesn't have a good enough understanding of settler colonialism and why it's bad.

[tagamantra]

Tactical Combat, Violence Dice and Missing Your Attacks in Gubat Banwa

In this post I talk about game feel and decision points when it comes to the "To-Hit Roll" and the "Damage Roll" in relation to Gubat Banwa's design, the Violence Die.

Let's lay down some groundwork: this post assumes that the reader is familiar and has played with the D&D style of wargame combat common nowadays in TTRPGs, brought about no doubt by the market dominance of a game like D&D. It situates its arguments within that context, because much of new-school design makes these things mostly non-problems. (See: the paradigmatic shift required to play a Powered by the Apocalypse game, that completely changes how combat mechanics are interpreted).

With that done, let's specify even more: D&D 5e and 4e are the forerunners of this kind of game--the tactical grid game that prefers a battlemat. 5e's absolute dominance means that there's a 90% chance that you have played the kind of combat I'll be referring to in this post. The one where you roll a d20, add the relevant modifiers, and try to roll equal to or higher than a Target Number to actually hit. Then when you do hit, you roll dice to deal damage. This has been the way of things since OD&D, and has been a staple of many TTRPG combat systems. It's easy to grasp, and has behemoth cultural momentum. Each 1 on a d20 is a 5% chance, so you can essentially do a d100 with smaller increments and thus easier math (smaller numbers are easier to math than larger numbers, generally).

This is how LANCER works, this is how ICON works, this is how SHADOW OF THE DEMON LORD works, this is how TRESPASSER works, this is how WYRDWOOD WAND works, this is how VALIANT QUEST works, etc. etc. It's a tried and true formula, every D&D player has a d20, it's emblematic of the hobby.

There's been a lot more critical discussion lately on D&D's conventions, especially due to the OGL. Many past D&D only people are branching out of the bubble and into the rest of the TTRPG hobby. It's not a new phenomenon--it's happened before. Back in the 2010s, when Apocalypse World came out while D&D was in its 4th Edition, grappling with Pathfinder. Grappling with its stringent GSL License (funny how circular this all is).

Anyway, all of that is just to put in the groundwork. My problem with D&D Violence (particularly, of the 3e, 4e, and 5e version) is that it's a violence that arises from "default fantasy". Default Fantasy is what comes to mind when you say fantasy: dragons, kings, medieval castles, knights, goblins, trolls. It's that fantasy cultivated by people who's played D&D and thus informs D&D. There is much to be said about the majority of this being an American Samsaric Cycle, and it being tied to the greater commodification agenda of Capitalism, but we won't go into that right now. Anyway, D&D Violence is boring. It thinks of fights in HITS and MISSES and DAMAGE PER SECOND.

A Difference Of Paradigm and Philosophies

I believe this is because it stems from D&D still having one foot in the "grungy dungeon crawler" genre it wants to be and the "combat encounter balance MMO" it also wants to be. What ends up happening is that players play it like an immersive sim, finding ways to "cheese" encounters with spells, instead of interacting with the game as the fiction intended. This is exemplified in something like Baldur's Gate 3 for example: a lot of the strats that people love about it includes cheesing, shooting things before they have the chance to react, instead of doing an in-fiction brawl or fight to the death. It's a pragmatist way of approaching the game, and the mechanics of the game kind of reinforce it. People enjoy that approach, so that's good. I don't. Wuxia and Asian Martial Dramas aren't like that, for the most part.

It must be said that this is my paradigm: that the rules and mechanics of the game is what makes the fiction (that shared collective imagination that binds us, penetrates us) arise. A fiction that arises from a set of mechanics is dependent on those mechanics. There is no fiction that arises independently. This is why I commonly say that the mechanics are the narrative. Even if you try to play a game that completely ignores the rules--as is the case in many OSR games where rules elide--your fiction is still arising from shared cultural tropes, shared ideas, shared interests and consumed media.

So for Gubat Banwa, the philosophy was this: when you spend a resource, something happens. This changes the entire battle state--thus changing the mechanics, thus changing the fiction. In a tactical game, very often, the mechanics are the fiction, barring the moments that you or your Umalagad (or both of you!) have honed creativity enough to take advantage of the fiction without mechanical crutches (ie., trying to justify that cold soup on the table can douse the flames on your Kadungganan if he runs across the table).

The other philosophy was this: we're designing fights that feel like kinetic high flying exchanges between fabled heroes and dirty fighters. In these genres, in these fictions, there was no "he attacked thrice, and one of these attacks missed". Every attack was a move forward.

So Gubat Banwa removed itself from the To-Hit/Damage roll dichotomy. It sought to put itself outside of that paradigm, use game conventions and cultural rituals that exist outside of the current West-dominated space. For combat, I looked to Japanese RPGs for mechanical inspiration: in FINAL FANTASY TACTICS and TACTICS OGRE, missing was rare, and when you did miss it was because you didn't take advantage of your battlefield positioning or was using a kind of weapon that didn't work well against the target's armor. It existed as a fail state to encourage positioning and movement. In wuxia and silat films, fighters are constantly running across the environment and battlefield, trying to find good positioning so that they're not overwhelmed or so that they could have a hand up against the target.

The Violence Die: the Visceral Attacking Roll

Gubat Banwa has THE VIOLENCE DIE: this is the initial die or dice that you roll as part of a specific offensive technique.

In the above example, the Inflict Violence that belongs to the HEAVENSPEAR Discipline, the d8 is the Violence Die. When you roll this die, it can be modified by effects that affect the Violence Die specifically. This becomes an accuracy effect: the more accurate your attack, the more damage you deal against your target's Posture. Mas asintado, mas mapinsala.

You compare your Violence Die roll to your target's EVADE [EVD]. If you rolled equal to or lower than the target's EVD, they avoid that attack completely. There: we keep the tacticality of having to make sure your attack doesn't miss, but also EVD values are very low: often they're just 1, or 2. 4 is very often the highest it can go, and that's with significant investment.

If you rolled higher than that? Then you ignore EVD completely. If you rolled a 3 and the target's EVD was 2, then you deal 3 DMG + relevant modifiers to the DMG. When I wrote this, I had no conception of "removing the To-Hit Roll" or "Just rolling Damage Dice". To me this was the ATTACK, and all attacks wore down your target's capacity to defend themselves until they're completely open to a significant wound. In most fights, a single wound is more than enough to spell certain doom and put you out of the fight, which is the most important distinction here.

In the Thundering Spear example, that targets PARRY [PAR], representing it being blocked by physical means of acuity and quickness. Any damage brought about by the attack is directly reduced by the target's PAR. A means for the target to stay in the fight, actively defending.

But if the attack isn't outright EVADED, then they still suffer its effects. So the target of a Thundering Spear might have reduced the damage of an attack to just 1 (1 is minimum damage), they would still be thrown up to 3 tiles away. It matches that sort of, anime combat thing: they strike Goku, but Goku is still flung back. The game keeps going, the fight keeps going.

On Mechanical Weight

When you miss, the mechanical complexity immediately stops--if you miss, you don't do anything else. Move on. To the next Beat, the next Riff, the next Resound, think about where you could go to better your chances next time.

Otherwise, the attack's other parts are a lot more mechanically involved. If you don't miss: roll add your Attacking Prowess, add extra dice from buffs, roll an extra amount of dice representing battlefield positioning or perhaps other attacks you make, apply the effects of your attack, the statuses connected to your attack. It keeps going, and missing is rare, especially once you've learned the systematic intricacies of Gubat Banwa's THUNDERING TACTICS BATTLE SYSTEM.

So there was a lot of setup in the beginning of this post just to sort of contextualize what I was trying to say here. Gubat Banwa inherently arises from those traditions--as a 4e fan, I would be remiss to ignore that. However, the conclusion I wanted to come up to here is the fact that Gubat Banwa tries to step outside of the many conventions of that design due to that design inherently servicing the deliverance of a specific kind of combat fiction, one that isn't 100% conducive to the constantly exchanging attacks that Gubat Banwa tries to make arise in the imagination.

[thedovesaredying]

Flames of Green | CoD x GoT/HotD | Simon "Ghost" Riley x F!Reader x John "Soap" MacTavish | Part 1.

Artwork by Elizabeth

You're the heir to the Iron Throne, the eldest child of the current king with the blood of the Targaryens flowing through your veins. Unfortunately, you're due to be married off to a mysterious Northern lord by the name of John MacTavish. At least your closest friend and member of your guard, Simon Riley, will be by your side throughout it all.

A/N: I'm back in my House of the Dragon era, so I'm mixing hyperfixations. The Cannibal doesn't get enough love, he's a nasty bastard and he deserves to cause some chaos. It will eventually be a Ghost x Reader x Soap relationship and likely a bit of a slowburn. Literally just for my own entertainment, but I hope y'all enjoy.

Warnings: None

Masterlist: CoD Masterlist

Next

It’s times like this that you mourn the loss of your youth. Forced to sit in silence while discussions are held by old men around a table, weighing up the advantages and disadvantages of your future marriage to every potential high lord in Westeros. Your opinion is never considered, let alone asked for by any of your father’s advisors, your compliance expected regardless.  

If you had been born a man you could have your pick of any woman in the kingdom to take as a wife, but instead, you’re forced to simply accept whatever man is placed in front of you. Such is the burden of being the princess and heir to House Targaryen. You will be made to give up the right to rule the kingdom to the high lord assigned to you, never to touch the ever-elusive Iron Throne that should have been yours by right.  

You had never really taken the prospect of marriage too seriously in your youth, always considering it a problem for the you of the future to deal with. You didn’t care to forge lasting alliances with other ladies and lords, too busy dragging your poor best friend, Simon, through the gardens and dirtying your extravagant dresses. 

But those days were over. 

Talk of wedding a powerful lord and bringing forth the next line of Targaryen children is all that fills your ears now. You’re forced to entertain every man, young and old, that wishes to gain your favour with a polite smile and feigned interest. You don’t even have your dear Simon to offer you his companionship and a break from the cruel realities of the world. No doubt he would have entertained you with his dry remarks about each man set before you.  

It has been years since you last saw Simon. He was taken from the Red Keep by his father and sent to squire for another lord in the hopes of teaching him the art of warfare. Lord Riley was a foul man, constantly berating his son for spending his time with the Princess rather than roughhousing with his fellow boys. He considered the boy too soft and squeamish at the sight of blood to make a good future lord of their keep.  

You disagreed, of course, Simon was perfect just the way he was; gentle and kind to all those around him. Your friend couldn’t hurt a fly, but he was still one of the bravest people you knew.  

You dread to think just how much he would have hated being drawn into battles, forced to kill other men with his own hands. The letters he occasionally wrote to you always steered clear of depicting the violence you were certain he must have been subjected to, but you’re far from naive enough to hope he has yet to participate in any bloodshed. As the years dragged on, word from him has grown scarce, however, to the point where you can hardly remember when you heard from him last.  

What you do know, is that he had been sent to offer assistance in maintaining peace throughout the Stepstones, killing raiders and pirates that would endanger trade routes to King’s Landing.  

But that was almost six months ago, and there has been little else to soothe your vexed nerves over his safety. He had made a promise to you the day he left, that once his training was done he would return to your side, this time as a knight who would offer himself to your Queen’s Guard once the time was right. Never again would he leave you, more than happy to forfeit the ruling of his own homeland if it meant he could keep you safe.  

You had clung to that promise every day for years after his departure, but with each passing moment it become harder to hold out hope of seeing him again. After all, what is one promise between children in the grand scheme of things?  

It’s a blessing when you’re finally relieved from the meeting, escaping from the suffocating air within the council chambers and fleeing to the safety of your room. You don’t even pause to ensure one of your guards is following you, getting straight to stripping from your dress and replacing it with your riding gear.  

As the carriage carries you away from the city and toward the Dragon Pit your nerves begin to settle. The constant odour of sweat and excrement quickly gives way to fresh air the further away you get. It’s a beautiful day, with hardly a cloud in the sky and wildflowers blooming all along the road. It’s a genuine shame that your day has started so poorly, otherwise you’d have loved to wander the palace gardens and enjoy the midday sun.  

The ground is rocky outside of the dragon pit, and you’re jostled around a bit until the carriage comes to a stop. Although this is your destination, the dragon you seek is not here. Your dragon is far too large to be housed within the Pit.  

Unlike your younger sister, you were not blessed by the Gods to have your dragon egg hatch while you were in the cradle. All throughout your childhood you sat next to it and prayed for the hatchling to come forth, promising you would care for the creature and love it more than anything. But the baby dragon never arrived.  

Many said that it was a sign from the Gods, that you were unfit to be the heir if even your own dragon refused to hatch for you. It was a heavy sentence hanging around your neck, weighing you down and making you feel as though you are worthless, despite the fact you have more power than most of the people laughing at your situation.  

None of them are laughing now.  

You see your dragon stretched out atop one of the nearby ridges. He’s so large that his wings and tail drape over the edge of the rocks, entirely unconcerned by the humans fearfully gathered beneath him as he snoozes away in the warmth of the sun. His scales are like coal, absorbing every ray of sunshine that he can.  

The Cannibal may not be as large as Vhagar, but he’s far older and, as many would argue, far meaner than the old girl. Where most dragons have vibrant, golden eyes, you’re greeted by a pair of sinister green the moment you draw near. His go-to reaction to most things is aggression, and you’ve seen many people meet their end in a blast of emerald flame for merely disturbing him.  

It’s for that precise reason you’re stunned to see someone standing beside the grumpy old beast. There’s only one person other than yourself who could get anywhere near the Cannibal without immediately being swallowed whole. The man pauses his rubbing of your dragon’s scales the moment he sees you, only to earn a displeased whack from the Cannibal’s snout. You bite your lip to force down the grin that’s threatening to spread across your face when the man drops down to one knee, his head bowed respectfully.  

“Lord Riley,” you nod, “I do believe that’s my dragon you’re touching.” That earns a groan from the Cannibal, his massive head twisting away from you both, as though already bored of the conversation.  

“A thousand apologies, princess,” Simon grins, his eyes sparkling with mirth, “your dragon was growing impatient.” The dragon in question huffs, his tail twitching like an agitated cat.  

Simon looks so different from the last time you saw him. He’s both taller and broader, completely filled out with muscles. When he stands again, you’re face to face with the rather intimidating bone mask adorning his face. You’re not certain if it’s real bone, but at that moment you could have cared less, throwing yourself at the large man.  

He catches you easily, holding you tightly against his larger body. It’s entirely improper and if anyone other than your guards witnessed such an interaction there would no doubt be whispers abound. Perhaps it’s a good thing Simon decided to meet you somewhere so private.  

“When did you get back?” you ask, leaning back just long enough to look him in the eye.  

“We docked late last night,” he answers, and you can feel the way his chest rumbles with each word. His deep voice soothes something within you, your stress dissipating like mist at dawn. “We received word that the King’s Guard now has an open position,” he continues, and then much to your shock adds, “I’m here to fill that position.”  

You pull away from him almost completely, only your hands still gently curled around his gauntlets, “but I heard that your father was recently taken ill, don’t you need to return home?”  

While the mask hides the majority of Simon’s face, you can still see the way the skin around his eyes crinkles slightly, “I made a promise to serve my future Queen,” he takes your hand from his arm and presses the back of your palm to where his lips are beneath his mask, “if you’ll have me, princess.”  

You can feel your face burning with the intensity with which Simon stares at you. “I’m certain my father will be delighted to have such a well-regarded warrior in his service,” you smile, gently pulling your hands away from the knight, despite the urge to keep holding onto him.  

Before you can continue the conversation, the Cannibal turns his head back to your again, nudging at you with an irritated huff. His breath is scalding against your skin, yet it doesn’t burn you, thankfully. You place your hand against the beast’s snout, feeling the thick scales shift under your leather gloves. “Gīda,” you coo to the dragon, waiting until he lowers his wing to the floor to provide you with a way to climb onto his back. He’s far too large for you to mount the same way you would a younger dragon.  

Once settling into the Cannibal’s saddle, you grin down at your friend, “I look forward to seeing you in the keep, my lord.” You only have the time to see Simon’s quick nod, before your dragon is leaping from the edge of the ridge, forcing an end to your conversation. You can feel his clear exasperation through your bond and ensure to give the old dragon a scratch to the neck.  

[thesummerestsolstice]

Headcanon Crafts for Everyone I Missed Last Time:

Idril: a sculptor. She worked with every kind of stone imaginable, and often went looking for new material in Gondolin’s mines with Maeglin. (Look my Maeglin head canons are complicated but they should get to be friends the narrative has hurt them too much already) She actually preferred not to make elvish figures, instead focusing on strangely beautiful stone landscapes and various animal-like figures. She was actually responsible for Middle-Earth’s version of the gargoyle, having carved several to stand guard over Gondolin. Several elves swore that the statues moved, but she never addressed those rumors. She also liked to paint her work with bright colors, which would’ve been seen as odd back in Valinor, but fit right in in First Age Middle-Earth.

Maeglin: a smith, but his craft was more in-line with Avarin practice than Noldor practice; with much less focus on the idea of making gems and heavier focus on understanding natural geology and the properties of various gems and metals. He knew the mines of Gondolin better than anyone, and wrote plenty about the the earth under the earth. His work also had fairly significant Dwarfish influences. He liked to make mechanically complex pieces, with moving parts or even some internal gear work.

Finduilas: a hunter. Her and her father were both nature people, just in very different ways. She was silent, with all the grace of a dancer, and quick enough to outrun most of what she hunted. She preferred to go after more aggressive animals– wild boar, wolves, bears, even wargs– and leave the deer and rabbits be. She was born in Beleriand, and had never met the Valar, but sometimes, privately, offered up prayers to Orome. She liked to imagine she could’ve been in his hunt, if things had turned out a bit differently.

Celebrimbor: a smith, in the very traditional Noldor sense. Gemworker, specialized in jewelry, made various famously beautiful pieces, etc. Was never quite happy sticking to hairpins and necklaces. Longed to try his hand at imbuing his work with real power, but always talked himself out of it. A whole binder of concepts for works of power sat locked away in a chest in his workshop for centuries. He never talked to anyone about it. He was as ashamed of his feelings for his craft as he was of his feelings for his family. By the end of his life, he’d made peace with only one of those things.

Earendil: a mariner? Alright, he was definitely a mariner, and he loved the ship life– he even built a few boats of his own, in a similar fantastic style to Turgon’s architecture– but he also had a longstanding fascination with the natural world, and filled volumes and volumes of journals with information on various plants, animals, and minerals. But natural lore isn’t a recognized Noldor craft, since it involves learning but doesn’t really produce tangible results. Still, it was a passion he got from afternoons spent learning about geology with “Uncle Mole,” and one he shared with Elrond. Researching the beauty and wonder of nature gave Earendil something to do with his immortal life, and was a big part of the reason Elrond chose to be immortal at all.

Gil-Galad: a king. No, really, he’d been the high-king of the Noldor since he was a child, and hadn’t really had time for trivialities like “finding a life purpose” or “having fun.” He was too busy learning how to stay alive in late stage Beleriand (read: hell) and learning to rule the least cooperative group of elves imaginable. He wanted to be a painter, and while he found enough practice time to get good at his chosen craft; because of how long detailed paintings can take, he almost never had time to actually make anything. He tried not to let it bother him too much. He didn’t always succeed at that.

Elrond: in a bit of a weird spot. Elrond is most associated with lore and healing; but, as discussed, “lore” isn’t considered a craft. And, well. Healing had to be Elrond’s craft, right? He’d been doing it since he was seven, and just about the only person in Amon Ereb who could still use healing powers. And it was good work, and it was rewarding, even if it often left him feeling so burned out and worried that he forgot to eat or sleep. It took him a long time to admit to himself that healing for him was what fighting was to many other elves: a necessity. Truth be told, he’d rather be gardener, working with the earth to create a place of peace and beauty. Also, Elrond is basically a nature spirit. So. It was something he began to explore in the peace of the early Second Age. He found that his Ainuric powers had all sorts of interesting effects on plant life. He also learned how to breed new varieties of fruits, vegetables, and flowers. Still, he never really considered that it could be a proper craft for him. At least, not until he first saw the valley that would one day become Rivendell.

Headcanon Crafts for Finwe and his Children, the House of Feanor, the House of Fingolfin, and the House of Finarfin.

[itsclydebitches]

There's something I find pretty messed up about Little's part of the story. Penny is dead. The story puts focus on this and how it's effecting Ruby and is why Little's death is what breaks Ruby. The volume ends though with Little coming back so it's a happy end, right? Except Penny is still dead and never coming back. And they are going back to a world where people die when they are killed. It's like "Forget about your dead friend cause we got one where your actions don't have consequences."

Yeah, that's an issue with the Ascension arc as a whole. As discussed previously, we're already starting from a place of confusing messages because the world can't decide what Ascension exactly is. Some beings lose all their memories and (arguably as a result) their sense of self. Some just seem to get cool upgrades. Some change in such monumental ways they probably can't go back to their old life even if they wanted to (can Somewhat ever live with the other mice again now that they're like fifty times their size?). And some, Like Ruby, undergo no changes at all except a convenient and ambiguous ~emotional clarity~

So Ascension is a catch-all "Anything could happen" situation where all options, no matter how shady they appear to the audience, are eventually presented as #good by the show... except I'm 100% sure they only come across that way BECAUSE they happen to side characters we're not invested in/are leaving behind. Would people honestly have been happy if Ruby:

Completely forgot who she was (King)

Got some crazy physical upgrade that would fundamentally change the power dynamics of the show/other her in Remnant/imply that she's a faunus to strangers if she got some animal trait (the Caterpillar/Somewhat)

Came away with a new "purpose" and decided she didn't want to be a Huntress anymore (the Paper Pleasers)

There's a reason Ruby did not change except to inexplicably regain her confidence because the show and on some level recognizes that these options are indeed an awful kind of "death," something that would be bad to do to your main character (baring a monumental shift in the show). When we talk about the importance of growth (in real life and in fiction) we're referencing a context in which a person changes slowly over time, adapting to each change in a natural way, all of it a combination of environmental factors and personal agency. To just have some magical tree instantly change you without consent, making you "better" by its own, undefined parameters... that's not wonderful, that's horrifying! But as you say, even if we overlook all that and come at Ascension from a direction the story wants, accepting and praising such an aspect of this world... Team RWBY doesn't live in that world. What did they learn from this then? Yay for people who live in alternate realities because they get to become "better" rather than dying? Good for them, but our friends are still dead and our lives are still on the line.

If RWBY wanted this arc they not only needed to reeeeeally clean up what Ascension is/how it works, but decide on the message they're trying to impart. Because what we got, on a literal level, is Ruby being depressed enough to choose ending (that version of) her life, instead being rewarded for that choice by a pantheon she's kinda fighting against (in a way that both skips her development and ignores every other implied rule of Ascension), and is returning to a world where none of this matters because death is a Permanent Thing That She's Going to Be Seeing a Whole Lot More of Soon.

Penny is dead. Many other allies are dead. Weiss' Kingdom is gone. Salem is set to exterminate the rest of Remnant, and instead of dealing with any of that Volume 9 gave Team RWBY a (literal) fantasy world where everything is just fine, actually. Wouldn't it be cool if no one actually died and whenever it seems like they did they'd just come back as an upgraded version of themselves? Yeah! Too bad that's not the reality they're heading back to.

Honestly, the way to clean up all of Volume 9 for me is to slap a "It was just a dream" disclaimer on it. Volume 10 we learn that Ruby had a crazy, contradictory fever dream post-battle in which the biggest trauma she's ever faced is magically fixed by her subconscious? Yeah, that tracks. More than taking Volume 9 at face value.

[mmogurl]

So, last night I finally got through Daemon's arc in Fire and Blood.. There are going to be major spoilers in this post, so only click -keep reading- if you have read it already.. or don't care if I spoil it by talking frankly about its contents! I will be discussing Rhaenyra as well as Aemond. **SPOILERS!! IF YOU KEEP READING! YOU'VE BEEN WARNED.

So, I am just completely wrecked by his ending and how Rhaenyra basically pushes him to it with her psychotic, stupid ways. I mean.. I strongly disliked Rhaenyra after the show, before even reading the book (especially after that fight where she says she can't trust him which is not in the book). But now after reading it, I utterly despise her! She's awful! Horrible.. and the worst kind of stupid! It's like, she just goes kind of nuts, but nobody notices that she has. But it's so obvious that she is not thinking clearly, that or she truly doesn't care about anyone or anything.. Like they are all just pawns to her, dogs to use. But then she doesn't even know how to move them properly on the board - hence my calling her stupid.. I feel like her response of ordering Nettles death was the last nail in the coffin for Daemon, and he was just like.. Fuck this shit.. I mean she literally says, she doesn't care if the lord there takes her head in her sleep.. and she slept with Daemon! Can you imagine that shit?? And this is after she said it's perfectly ok for him to sleep around with Mysaria while Rhaenyra is seemingly uninterested in him, so it's not like she was jealous. But, it seemed like he might have actually cared for Nettles and so he sends her away to save her from all the fucking madness surrounding Rhaenyra and by proxy himself... The line where he and Aemond are talking and the young prince says he's lived long enough.. where Daemon simply replies.. "On that much we can agree," is just so telling.

Imagine having been instrumental in putting Rhaenyra on the throne only to have it become so fucked in the end. And ultimately, I don't think he has the heart to do what he SHOULD do.. which is kill her.. he just decides to go off and die an honorable death in battle like a fucking Viking warrior going off to Valhalla.. But it's so bittersweet.. I hated it.. hated how it all felt like it was for nothing.. because Rhaenyra's a fucking idiot who can't listen to a god damned bit of advice from her much more experienced husband! Like, he suggests TWICE in the book to give Ulf and Hugh something to keep them happy and twice she refuses! So how does it come as a surprise when they turncoat?? But let's be realistic.. the whole Red Sowing was fucking foolhardy to begin with! Tell me, does it make sense to give the power of a god to bastards with no allegiance!? And then to not even buy their allegiance!? It's. just. stupid. Stupid stupid stupid. I'm going to be writing my fic with even more fervor now, because honestly, the entire war in the book.. What happens to Maelor, what happens at Tumbleton!? It's all a nightmare and should be avoided.. A terrible, terrible wrong that must be made right! Ugh! Rhaenyra was already an opponent in my fic - In the Shadow of Dragons. Without spoiling the story, I already have it out for her, but now it's on like fucking Donkey Kong, bitch! Ugh, and to lose Daemon and Aemond at the same time!?! X_X!!! It was at least an awesome battle and the art in the book was epic level, but they are both my favorites and now they are both dead. Now all that is left is to read about how cake eating, psycho Rhaenyra gets overthrown. I am currently at the part where King's Landing has gone into revolt.. and I'm thinking it won't be pretty for her when it happens. And there's another thought.. when you see everything awful that happens under Rhaenyra's rule, one cannot help but consider.. That even Aegon might have done a better job!

/End Rant

[getvalentined]

@sephirthoughts: my tumblr app isn’t showing your ask box for some reason so i’m asking here 😂 8, 12, 35, 47 for vincent please? 🖤🖤🖤🖤

(I turned it off and back on again so let me know if you see it now! I just turned it back on today after having it off for a couple weeks, so I'm not shocked it's a bit buggy.)

[For the Random Character Asks game.]

8. Unpopular opinion about them?

I mean my most unpopular opinion about Vincent is definitely that he's the single most compelling character in the entirety of Final Fantasy VII, but with regard to like...headcanons and character interpretations, it's probably that I don't think most of his monsters are actually entirely separate entities with their own unique personalities—I don't even interpret Chaos as sapient the majority of the time.

Aside from Hellmasker, who I've discussed before, any personality seen in Vincent's monsters is literally just a facet of Vincent's own with various traits and aspects stripped away based on the trauma through which they manifested. Galian and Gigas are more like partially-dissociated identities, not complete entities unto themselves, while Chaos has the capacity for periodic sapience only after decades of filtering itself through Vincent's consciousness via the protomateria. At its core Chaos is really just an animal, meaning any personality it might seem to express is the result of it mimicking Vincent over time, which is why it's just vicious and out of control when it manifests in Dirge without the protomateria. (I think my take on the protomateria is probably also wildly unpopular, but I actually can't remember seeing anyone else ever talking about how they believe it functions, so I'm not sure you can call something "unpopular" when there is no "popular" option.)

Fandom really likes portraying all of them as completely separate fully-fledged characters, and it's easier for my Vincent to refer to them similarly in most contexts, but he knows that's not really how it works—he just chooses not to explain it.

12. Crack headcanon?

Vincent is the king of Junon. No, I'm not kidding, this is consistent in basically all my renditions of Vincent. Even if it doesn't come up, if I'm portraying Vincent in basically any version of the canon universe wherein the Wutai War took place, Vincent is the king of Junon.

My version of Valentine family is founding nobility in Junon, which is a crowned republic, with the royal family basically operating as a ceremonial figurehead. The royal family has no actual ruling power at this point, but people like having them around—particularly the other noble families, who use their existence as a way of maintaining the right to a share of taxes and the like—and between the war with Shinra and everything else, nothing has ever really been done to change that.

I was going to try to explain the genealogy behind this, and then I remembered that I have a chart—and I'm gonna put it and the rest of this post under a cut, because this is stupidly long at this point and I'm two questions deep.

Vincent's extended family tree:

Okay so, Vincent's second cousin was Queen Adelaide, who took the throne fairly young due to her mother passing away; the one who "married in" doesn't keep rulership after the death of their spouse except in cases where their heir is still a minor, and then rulership passes to the heir upon adulthood. If there is no heir, the title gets kicked to the next royal-by-blood on the line. Adelaide died in the late '90s, unmarried and without an heir—but there were no other royals left. She was an only child, and all the others were dead.

...Well, probably. See, Vincent had been listed as missing in action since 1978. Because of the clandestine nature of the department, Turks that disappear aren't listed as dead until there's either a body recovered, or they've been missing for 50 years, whichever comes first. Legally, Vincent was still alive, and the Junon Society of Royals (aka the JSR, the group responsible for keeping Junonese nobility in their wealth) grabbed onto that to perform what's called a "paperwork ascension." These used to be pretty common back when heirs would get sent away to war or for school or whatever, gone for years at a time whether their ruling parent died or not.

The plan was for the JSR to plug Vincent in temporarily and proceed to dig back through the entire genealogical record to try to find some distant heir who was actually present and definitely alive to put on the throne instead (there is also a mechanism for this in Junonese tradition) but there was the whole war with Wutai, and then a bunch of terrorist nonsense happened, then everything went sideways with Meteor, then Geostigma, then Omega—and then King Vincent Vickalor Valentine VII, a man who should have been about 60 years old and whom everyone assumed was actually dead as hell everywhere except on paper, reappeared working with the WRO in 2010.

Vincent had absolutely no idea any of this had happened. He had no fucking clue that he'd legally been king of Junon for over a decade. Upon finding out via a very angry letter from the JSR asking him to pass the crown to another noble family and please do not come be King Cryptid the public cannot take it, he instead routed as much of the royal family's share of taxes as he was legally allowed to the WRO as a recurring charitable donation, including that same percentage from the escrow account into which that share had been fed since Queen Adelaide's death, and divvied up as much of the rest as was permissible to various other charitable causes. A good chunk of it is stuck just sitting there, which is annoying because he doesn't want it, but if he dissolves the monarchy then the WRO stops getting that funding so he can't do that just yet. He will eventually, since he can't die and thus the JSR screwed themselves over by putting him "in charge," but it will be a while before he does it.

This means that the king of Junon owns three pairs of pants, lives in an apartment that contains only a mattress and a radio, and hasn't gotten his hair cut in over 30 years. The JSR do not broadcast his existence and he doesn't meddle too much with their bougie nonsense, so it's not general public knowledge.

Reeve knew the entire time and just never said anything.

35. Their idea of a perfect day?

This one is actually really hard, because my Vincent doesn't really...think that way? He doesn't really make his own plans or have his own aspirations, because if he thinks about his future he won't stop and that's pretty crippling for him what with the immortality, so the idea of a perfect day hasn't crossed his mind since he was sent to Nibelheim.

If we're going outside his thoughts on the concept and into what would be a perfect day for him within the feasible bounds of his general existence immediately postcanon, it would vary depending on which headcanon universe I'm working with. Going with the one I've been playing in the most recently, it would start with cloudy weather in Junon and a short workday at WRO HQ—busy enough to keep occupied but slow enough that he can afford to head out early—followed by his mostly-monthly visit to Edge to help Tifa deep clean the bar and kitchen at Seventh Heaven. After that, he and Tifa and Cloud (and Barret, who is stated to live in Edge as well post-AC) would hang out in the closed bar and catch up, maybe have a few drinks; once it's dark enough, Vincent and Cloud would split off, finding somewhere quiet and secluded to recover from all that peopling. Maybe up on the roof, maybe a little ways out of town, and they'd stay out there until Cloud got sleepy, at which point Vincent would get him home. Maybe Vincent would stay the night, but realistically it'd only ever be to sleep. Someday maybe it would be more than that, but Vincent does his best not to think about the future.

A perfect day is being useful, getting to pretend he's still a normal person, and spending time with the people who won't call him out on the lie.

47. Their dream job?

Vincent's dream job is being a Turk. Period. It doesn't matter what point in time we're talking about, that's the answer.

Postcanon, this isn't because he wants anything to do with Shinra (the Turks don't actually work with Shinra anymore by then in my headcanon, the department was absorbed into the WRO just after AC), but because it was the only thing Vincent ever really wanted to do before. He and Tseng would butt heads too much for him to rejoin the department, but that doesn't even matter—Vincent is extremely mako-enhanced, among other things, and Turks aren't allowed to have any biological augmentations. His abilities may have been forced on him, but they're still very much enhancements, so Vincent's physiology bars him from the only job he ever wanted.

Vincent is no longer a Turk, and never will be again—no matter how much he might dream about it.

[countrymusiclover]

33 - Dragon vs Dragon

Part 34

The Lion Knight and Dragon Princess

Tags- just send an ask to be added @cdragons @kmc1989 @starkleila @noirrose21-blog @lover-of-books-and-tea

The first time I saw snow I was the right age of fourteen years old.  

Dismounting my horse the wind was catching my hair that matched the color of my hair.  My brother had made the journey with me and Ser Barriston.  “I’m proud of myself that I came prepared for these chilly winds and snow.” I smiled wearing a white fur cloak over an all black outfit. 

“It is a pleasure to have you visit the wall my ancestors created.” Lifting my head upward I saw a northern man with gray eyes and dark brown hair.  The figure made his way down the snowy steps bowing to my brother. “My prince.” 

Rhaegar smiled dressed in all black clothing making his hair the only white thing aside from the snow. “Thank you for your time, Lord Stark.” 

“My princess.” Brandon Stark brought my gloved hand up to his lips kissing it before he gestured to the wooden elevator pulling structure. “Would you both care to see the wall?” 

“Very much, Lord Brandon.” Sending him a kind smile following him onto the elevator.  Scanning my eyes out the gap of the elevator holes seeing the winter landscape was far as the eye could see.  “Have you ever traveled South,  Lord Brandon?” 

“No I haven’t , my princess.  My place is in the North after all Winter is Coming.” 

My brother raised a brow, chuckling lightly. “Coming you say.  What is this then that falls from the sky and is shivering my bones?” 

“This is only a light summer snow, my prince.  In winter it will cover all you see.” 

Brandon lifted the sliding door up allowing us to step out the leg first.  My boots crunched against the packed down snow until I stopped walking standing on the edge of the ice wall.  “This is truly incredible, Brandon.” 

“My ancestors brought King Jaehaerys and Queen Alysanne to see the Wall.  His grace stood at this very outlook and watched as their dragons,  the greatest power in the world,  refused to cross it.”  

Rhaegar glanced at the North lord believing in most things that couldn’t be seen. “Do you think the stories they say are true about wildlings and White Walkers?” 

“Do you think my ancestors built a 700 foot wall of ice to keep out snow and savages?” The eldest Stark son asked him a question back. 

Rhaegar raised a brow. “What does it keep out?” 

“White Walkers.” I replied to his question with a childish smirk on my lips. 

Brandon nodded in agreement with my answer. “The army of the Dead.” 

“Do you one day think we will have to face the creatures beyond the Wall?” I asked him feeling soft droplets of snow falling down onto my hair with a small crown formed with my hair.  The North was a foreign land to me yet in a way I didn’t shy away from the challenges it may throw at me. 

Brandon turned his body to face me. “Tis hard to know what we will face in the coming years, princess.  Northerners only know two things: to fight hard and be loyal to their own.” 

“I’ll keep that in mind, my lord.  Especially if I ever am given the chance to become Queen.” I smile fondly at the North lord.  Unknown to me that was the day my brother knew I might make a good ruling queen, learning how the other side of the world works. 

Traping through the dark hallways of the dragon castle I halted in my steps outside my sister's chamber door.  Knocking on her door I held the dagger loosely in my left hand behind my back.  The big door creaked opened revealing my sister's face in the light of the burning torches in the darkness.  “Sister, what are you doing here so late in the night?” 

“We need to talk through some things.  May I come in?” I questioned her doing my best to show no emotion when I spoke to her.  I wanted to but was unsure of the direction she truly wished to take us in at the moment. 

She stepped aside allowing me in before closing the door once I was inside her chambers. “What do we need to discuss this late of an hour?”

“What exactly is your plan?  Are we going to help Jon Snow or ride South and attempt to dethrone Cersei Lannister?” 

She knits her brows at me. “The Iron Throne is my destiny.  Although I suppose I should say it’s our destiny now that I know you’re alive and well.” 

“I don’t want it though.” 

She questioned me. “Why not?” 

“I don’t have to tell you anything until you answer my question.  Especially considering the Lannister fleet, the old Valyria houses and a whole army of dragons are under my command not yours.” 

My sister glared at me. “How dare you speak to me that way.” 

“A dragon vs a dragon.  You’ve faced someone who’s your equal.  That’s why you refuse to answer my previous questions.” I challenge her with a teasing look. 

Daenerys crossed her arms over her chest. “I will send my army and fly with my dragons to Kings Landing and remove Cersei Lannister from my throne.  Once she is gone the wheel will be broken once and for all.” 

“Until the day comes and the people start to see you as they saw our father.  A queen mad with power and three deadly dragons ready to burn the city to the ground.” 

She brought a hand up to her forehead. “You clearly don’t know me at all.” 

“You don’t know me,  sister.   You don’t know the smallfolk like I do.  You don’t know the Northerners like me.  It appears you don’t know a great many things I’m afraid to say.” 

My little sister spun on her heels heading towards the door about to throw it open and push me out. “I think it's time you leave my chambers, sister.” 

“Oh I’m not going anywhere until you tell me your course of action.” Leaning my back against her small table set up in the corner.  Wrapping my fingers tightly around the dagger handle for strength.  

Daenerys whipped her head around. “I already told you my course of action.  The Iron Throne is mine and I will take it.  With fire and blood I will take it!” 

“Then you’ll shortly lose it to someone else who seeks to take it from you.” 

She dropped her hands to her sides, still confused at what I was telling her. “What in the seven hells are you trying to tell me, Vaella!” 

“There’s a prophecy you weren’t taught.  A prophecy that only the Targaryen heirs were told.  If you wish to be the ruler to the Iron Throne then you must understand it.”  Striding across the room meeting her in the middle I drew the blade out from behind my back and in her line of sight. “The Song of Ice and Fire Aegon the Conqueror called it.  A great winter that hurts everyone including our enemies.  I believe he was talking about the Night King and his army.” 

Dany rolled her eyes. “The current enemy is Cersei Lannister who has declared war, not some myths of walking dead men.  What are we going to do about her?” 

“If you could take the throne without bloodshed would you-“ 

“Are you not angry that she sits on our throne?  That she’s taken our destiny from us.” She cut me off sharply. 

Scoffing at her I could feel a fire burning deep down inside of me. “We should declare war against her because we’re angry.” 

“No.  But we can’t do nothing when she has stolen our throne.” 

Pushing myself past her I almost got by until I saw her wrap her hand around my wrist spinning me around to face her. “Dany, let me go.” 

“Why do you wish to support Jon Snow so badly?” 

Meeting her purple gaze I sucked in a breath. “If we don’t have the support of all the houses then what’s the point in trying.  It’s just a throne of swords and a fancy title.  Whoever sits the throne should have earned the name and not simply been born with the popular family name.” 

“You know I can’t ever tell whose side you're truly on mine or someone else’s and it ends this instant!” She bared her teeth managing to snatch the dagger from my hand pointing it directly at my right eye. 

I grunted holding her wrist that held the dagger back just enough where she didn’t stab me through it.  “I’m not on any side.  I’m concerned for the entire realm.  We have to come together to fight the Night King.” My other hand was pushed against her chest with her freehand gripping onto the fabric of my cloak holding me close to her body. 

“I've only ever had faith in myself not anyone else and certainly not some bastard from the North.  That will never change except for my faith in you!” She bared her teeth at me without dropping the blade. 

Glaring at my little sister with no fear I spat in her face. “I'm right here, sister.  I gave you your name, alas it doesn't matter anymore if you wish to kill me.  So go on, do it.  Kill me!” 

“I've sent traitors away for less.” She muttered back to me. 

Raising my chin I kept waiting for her to stab me in the gut or something along those lines. “You can't do it can you.  You've only ever had someone else or your dragons kill someone.  Now that you have the chance you can't strike me because I'm your sister.” 

“You've told me I've done things wrong.  What would you suggest I do with a seemingly traitorous woman like you?” 

Growling in her face the fact that she held a blade near my eye was forgotten. “I'm your older sister for one.  So you should show me some respect and realize I know more than you do about the people of Westeros.  I know how they think because I've lived as a smallfolk, I've spoken with northern lords at the Wall, I've seen what Wildfire or dragons can do to a person, I've been raised as a princess and know the political side too.  My point is that you need me.” 

“What would you me do if I don't wish to kill you but greatly seem to need your help?” Dany asked me, lowering her hand holding the knife and stepping away from me. 

Holding out an open hand to her I declared in Velaryon. “Ivestragī īlva letagon īlva ānogar. Daor rȳ dīnilūks yn rȳ nykeā vow īlon mazverdagon naejot jemēla se se gods. ( Let us bind our blood. Not through marriage but through a vow we make to ourselves and the gods.” 

“Ao se nyke issi vēttan hen perzys. Syt bona mērī īlon shall udrāzma hēnkirī. ( You and I are made of fire.  For that alone we shall rule together.” My little sister placed Aegon the Conquerors dagger back into my hand,  dragging it across her palm with blood dripping onto the floor. 

Sliding the blade across my palm I met her gaze, holding my bleeding hand up to her. Aegon's dagger being held tightly in my other hand. “īlon letagon jemēla rȳ ānogar. ( We bind ourselves through blood.” 

“īlon letagon jemēla rȳ ānogar. ( We bind ourselves through blood.” She clasped her bleeding hand with my own, instantly staring into my purple eyes that matched hers. 

Cersei wouldn't have one dragon to face, now she must face two.