#idk if she brought down the wrath of the gods or if she just cursed the pandiyan king that badly

[chai-en-kaadhale]

every time i hear the word kannagi in tbhk i just think of kannagi from silappathigaaram by proxy i think aoi should be allowed to use the sheer power of her anger to bring down the wrath of the gods on all who wronged her. as a treat.

[imagineyouandharry]

Gypsophila (H.S)

Summary: Prince Harry has been under great pressure to find a wife, and he finds his Queen in a way far more unconventional than he could’ve imagined. 

Words: 5,730

Warnings: It’s a bit strange I guess? Idk lol.

A/N: Someone requested a Prince!Harry au forever ago, and then I didn’t really have an opportunity to write for a while, and then this idea sprung up on me and I’ve been lost in this little au for the past few days. It’s like a little twisted fairytale, taking inspiration from Snow White and Sleeping Beauty mostly. Part two is already a work in progress. If people are interested I’ll even put out a little sort of world building lore post with a map of the kingdom etc (I’ve been in DEEP). This part is a bit choppy and barely edited because I was just so eager to write it and get something out, but I would really appreciate any constructive criticism and editing notes! TYSM!! Long story short, enjoy!!!

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Harry Edward Styles did not believe in true love, in fact, he thought it was the most ridiculous idea ever. Harry’s certain he’s laid eyes upon every eligible young lady, from his kingdom and the ones surrounding, and he hadn’t felt a single thing when looking at any of them. He prayed every night that he would find his love the next day, and finally be able to put his parents out of their misery and ascend to the throne. At the age of 27, Harry’s the oldest person in his family to not be married, no one every waited this long in the royal family. He would’ve had an arranged marriage at 21, though when his parents suggested that he ran away on a sailing ship for two months. One thing was clear to him: though he may not have experienced love yet, he wasn’t going to ruin his chances at true by being forced into a loveless marriage. It wasn’t only Harry’s parents, but the entire kingdom that woke each day hoping to hear that their Prince had found his Queen. They referred to Harry as the Good Prince, his subjects adored him, and lived for his acts of charity and selflessness, and they only hoped he would find a Queen that would treat them the same.

Harry’s outlook on love changed however, after his most recent hunting trip. Sundays are for family and hunting, that’s what Harry was always told. No day was for Harry, he’d come to learn that. Living under a microscope meant for very little alone time, and almost no guilt-free alone time. He and his hunting party rode across the fields and out to the dense forest surrounding the kingdom, and over the two hour journey Harry found himself agitated with the topics of conversation going on around him. He wanted a break, tired of everyone only ever speaking about royal duties or politics. Harry had discovered a fresh water lake if he went off the trail, and when he realised they were edging closer to his favourite place he decided to excuse himself with the excuse of needing to fill his canteen.

The natural spring was a hidden treasure indeed. Harry’s entire kingdom was cut off from the rest of the world due to the thick forestland surrounding it. There was only one trail in, and one trail out, and even then only experienced riders were able to make the journey. The end of the trail, in the deep of the forest, was also often lined with thieves and outcasts making it not the safest journey. This spring wasn’t necessarily hard to find, however thick trees that lined the main trail hid the spring, the gorgeous wild flowers, and clearing of soft grass either side. Harry tied his horse to his usual tree, softly parting the bushes careful to not cause any permanent damage, and stepped his way through. His kingdom was full of hidden treasures like this, tucked away in places only to be found by those adventurous enough.

The sound of the running water was most prominent, however the closer he walked to the spring, the more he could hear a faint, delicate singing voice. Harry couldn’t recognise the song, but it was one he’d never forget now. It felt as though his heart dropped in his stomach, and he had to lightly scratch his arm on a branch to double check he hasn’t died and was hearing an angel of heaven sing to him. He walked closer, with quiet footsteps so not to disturb the singing. He knelt down to the edge of the spring and began to fill his canteen, looking around his eyes eventually focused on the source of his siren, standing in the clearing over the other side of the spring as she picked a bouquet of dainty flowers. Lavender, daisies, bellflowers, poppies. Her body was dressed in sage green, the simple dress showed she definitely was not from a wealthy family, but it was simple and beautiful in its own way. Perhaps she sewed it herself, it did look as if it were made for her. He could see her hair shine from here, and the features of her side profile were striking him even from a distance. She didn’t look real. The strange girl across the spring looked ethereal, like her beauty was too surreal for this planet. Had he hit his head? Was he seeing a forest fairy? He hadn’t even realised the staggering increase in his heart rate as he watched the girl, and listened.

He lost track of how long he had been watching her for, snapped out of his daydream when he heard a “Your Royal Highness! We must be getting on!” Harry heard shouting at him from a distance, most likely back where he had tied his horse. The girl had heard the faint noise and her eyes shot in Harry’s direction. His cheeks flushed with heat as their eyes met only for a brief second, before she ran away. The eye contact brought a slight curve to his lips, although she was leaving, at least he got another good look at her.

“Wait!” He called as he stood up, his hand and canteen dripping wet. His eyes softened as she simply left, looking back briefly in her stride, but he’d blown it. “God fucking damn it.” He cursed under his breath as he began to trudge back to his horse, his feet weighing heavy on the ground.

That was the most he’d ever felt, looking at the stranger across the lake singing as if it were for him, and he couldn’t help but feel like he’d just lost his future Queen. Half of him wanted to wade through the water and run after her, but Harry wasn’t a often disobedient Prince, when one of his parents or advisors told him to jump, his usual response would be “how high?” It’s ironic how for someone who’s whole life depends on finding his future Queen is given so little time to actually explore a social life, or love life himself. He was always set up with suitors who his parents found best. In the rare times he’s able to sneak away he’d gotten around, and most definitely wasn’t a virgin, but he’d never found a girl who had made him feel the way he wanted to feel about his future queen. He only wanted to please his family, and his realm, but this was the one thing where he refused to compromise.

Y/N was as far away from a future queen as it could come, or at least that’s what her step-mother wanted everyone to think. The entire town hoped to marry their daughters off to the elusive Good Prince Harry, however her step-mother only wanted her biological daughters to have that chance. When Y/N’s father passed away her step-mother sent her out to live as a recluse in a tiny cottage in the woods, she had always feared that her beauty would distract future husbands away from her actual daughters, and didn’t want to ruin their chance of being married. Each Sunday she drops Y/N off the supplies she needs, but that was the only human contact she was given. It wasn’t too bad, she managed to keep herself busy with sewing, baking, or whatever other art or craft she could think of and had the materials for. It was lonely though, and she was ultimately alone.

Well, if you don’t count forest fairies. Y/N hated being outcast into the forest, and spent most of her early months in the cottage crying to whatever wild animal she could find that day that would stick around long enough. Eventually, these wild animals started bringing their fairy friends along with them. They would spend their days with Y/N tending to fruit and vegetable gardens, watering plants, having picnics, and making daisy chains. Her life was simple, and although not one she asked, it was one she was growing fond of. Male company was something she could only imagine and long for, or read about in story books. There were dozens of fairies living in the forest, but she’d become particularly close to a group of some of the female fairies.

Each Sunday before her step mother visits, Y/N will pick her step mother a bouquet of flowers in attempt to win her over, in hopes maybe one day her sweetness will earn her way back into town. Y/N had total obliviousness towards her step mother’s plan, and towards what was going on in the city. This year, any woman over the age of 21 was to present herself to the Prince. Y/N’s 21st birthday fell on the day she was scheduled to be presented to the Prince. The letter had been delivered shortly before she was sent away to the forest, Y/N never laid her eyes upon it though. The letter outlined the royal guard would be coming to collect anyone who failed to present themselves on the day, and to Y/N’s step mother that meant the only option was to make it so Y/N never turned 21, or made it to her birthday for that matter.

Seeing the Prince most definitely did spook Y/N during that day in the field, if her step mother ever found out she’d had contact with a male there was no chance she’d ever be allowed to move back home. She did all she could think to do. She ran. She ran so fast that the petals of the flowers she had picked were ruined in her haste, quickly shutting herself inside the cottage to gather herself before her routine afternoon visit from her step mother. Sure she knew of men to be dangerous and terrible, but she feared her step-mother’s wrath more than anything any man could put her through.

Like any other Sunday, she scrubbed the house and dressed herself in whatever new garment she had stitched herself this week. The fairies had been busy this week and she’d had a great deal of time to herself, embroidering colourful flowers into the soft white linen of the new dress she had made. Her step-mother would bring her fabric and thread to sew dresses for her step sisters. It was something to be proud of, but most likely would be over looked. Little was said upon her step-mother’s arrival, but her character seemed off. Her step-mother’s eyes darted around, checking windows as she insisted on making the two of them tea. Y/N sat down at the small dining table, recounting tales of her week, ensuring to leave out anything about fairies or a boy. She watched a small bunny outside the window, forgetting to speak as awe overwhelmed her whilst she watched its tiny nose twitch. Her daydream came to an end when the sound of the ceramic mug hit the hard wood of the coffee table. “Drink while it’s warm, my love.” Her step-mother told her, sitting down in the seat at the head of the table beside Y/N. It wasn’t long after that that Y/N hit the floor, and her step-mother was shrouding herself in a hooded coat and sneaking out of the tiny cabin.

Elsie, a fairy most close to Y/N, who specialises in healing, came to the conclusion that she was only out for about six hours before the fairies found her. They did all they could over the following weeks to bring her back to life, trying as many possible rituals, potions, and spells to give life to her body once more. Nothing was of use though, and instead they decided to preserve her in a glass case in the clearing amongst the wildflowers. She had professed to them that the clearing by the spring had been her favourite place, so they saw this fit. Preserving her in the glass case was simply because the idea of her beauty decaying away made any of the fairies shriek. Fairies never communicated with humans, however Y/N was different. Elsie had always theorised that Y/N had magic in her blood. Amongst the many spells and rituals they tried to bring Y/N back, they threw in a spell that would hopefully bring her back with true love’s kiss. It was like a safety net, or a ‘what if?’ But they eventually tired and wore out, preserving her was well enough for now. They kept her dressed in the new dress she had crafted for herself, it was so beautiful after all. They had placed tiny baby’s breath flowers throughout her hair, and made sure everything was perfect. They even went as far to adorn her in delicate gold jewellery, with beautiful crystals of all colours. Her body rested upon a large rectangular slab of rose quartz.

****

Harry was dreading sitting in the throne room, while all the eligible females from the town were presented to him like livestock. It made him sick, and left a terrible taste in his mouth. All he could think of was the girl from the clearing. Is she a sign? Is he his ticket out of here? Was seeing her fate? Questions like that simmered over his mind and kept him awake at night, he had been sleeping little and finding it hard to focus on his duties. His best friend Niall was he closest confidant, the only one he had told about the beautiful girl in the clearing that day. Niall cared more for Harry than anyone, really. He didn’t just care about his fame or power or wealth, Harry was his best friend and he hated seeing his best mate so down about his love life and the pressure to marry a woman he doesn’t love. He made it his mission to find the woman, and his detective work lead him down a path he didn’t expect at all. First he went to the clearing where Harry filled his water in the spring, that was where he first noticed something over the other side of the spring that he couldn’t quite make out. He followed the spring and found an area narrow enough to cross, making his way to the structure he’d seen earlier. He didn’t know what to make of this discover, a dead girl in a glass coffin. ‘Forever at rest, only to be woken by true love’s kiss’ read an inscription on a gold plaque. He really didn’t know what to make of this. He didn’t know what to tell Harry.

Sweat lingered Niall’s brow as he made his way back to the castle to find Harry, to tell him of his discovery. “Look… I just need you to come with me and tell me what you think when we’re there.” Niall tells him, his voice somewhat breathless. Niall himself was still in disbelief, shock, his eyes wide as he shook his head. “I just- I don’t know what to tell you. You need to see it for yourself.” He adds.

Harry nods. “I’ll come immediately.” Harry tells him, his trust for Niall outweighing anything else going on in his head. Together they rode to the forest, crossed the narrow part of the spring, and towards where Niall had discovered Y/N.

“Is this the girl you were talking about?” Niall asks, however when he looks from the girl to Harry, he knows the answer. Harry couldn’t help but fall to his knees, pressing his palms against the glass as he looked inside. He noticed how long her eyelashes looked, and the freckles on her nose. His nose was almost touching the glass as he leant here on his knees at the side of her, taking her in up close.

“What happened to you?” He whispers, his eyebrows knitting together. Niall gives him a moment before he decides to mention the plaque at the foot of the structure.

“It uh, says something weird about being awoken by true love’s kiss. I don’t know if it’s true, and it’s revolting to think you would kiss a dead body for nothing, but someone has put her here. Someone made this. My grandmother in her old age would mutter stories about forest fairies and their magic… It just makes you wonder, you know?” He ponders, his eyes wandering away. It felt silly to bring up magic, it was something very commonly dismissed.

“Help me get this off.” Harry said as he brought himself from the ground, the soft grass had left green stains on his tan riding pants. He pushed the sleeves of his white linen button down up past his elbows, and the two men carefully lift the heavy glass case up off of the rose quartz Y/N had been resting on. It wasn’t easy, and the glass at the bottom dug into Harry’s fingers before they set the glass piece of the structure down on to the grass. “Alright. Here we go.” Harry said, in attempt to psych himself up for kissing a dead girl. She didn’t look dead though, just sleeping, you could only tell she was dead due to the missing rising and fall in her chest with her breath. “I might start walking back to the horses, give you some privacy.” Niall said, giving him a slight smile. He also didn’t really want to witness someone kiss a dead person, if she didn’t end up waking up.

“Good luck. Take your time.” He adds, part of him had no doubt it was going to work though. The stories his grandmother would tell him of the forest fairies were something he’d always held on to, those stories were amongst his most treasured memories. He’d always had some hope.

Harry waited until he could no longer hear Niall’s footsteps before he leant down close to Y/N, brushing a strand of hair back behind her ear. He took a moment, if this never worked it was going to be the last time he’d ever see her. He couldn’t fathom coming back to this spot if this didn’t work. His heart began to ache at the thought, it made his chest feel tight, and gave him the urge to rub at the spot.

“I really hope you’re who I think you are.” He whispers as he looks down at her. “This might seem like absolute madness. I don’t even know your name, but if you wake up for me, I swear to you I will be yours forever.” He began, to Harry this almost did feel like a ritual, it felt special, and the words he was speaking were amongst the most genuine he’d ever given life to. “I promise, I will protect you. I will provide for you. I will love you. I will never, ever harm you. I will love you until my very last breath, I just need you to do this one thing for me.” His voice was barely a whisper now, and breaking as hot tears welled in his eyes. He very carefully leant down, pressing his warm, puffy lips against her cold, smooth ones. He didn’t know how long to wait, but it didn’t feel wrong. It was a sweet, tender kiss. His eyes closed, and he felt at peace. It felt more than at peace. The long grass, wildflowers, and tree branches that surrounded them began to stir with wind, petals floating up into the gusts that took them. This girl had a tendency to make him feel like he’s dead and in heaven. Her lips slowly began to warm, and skin began to glow with heat. It felt like they were floating, as if the universe was made up of just the two of them. The flowers beneath him began to grow taller and more dense, and it began to feel like his heart was pulling towards hers. It felt like a tether had been formed, connecting their energy, he could feel as her heart began to pump blood again, and her energy radiate from her skin. It felt too surreal.

Slowly, Harry removed his lips to allow Y/N to breathe. He let a hand lay gently resting on her cheek as he watched her gasp for her first new breath, eyes shooting open as she looked up at him. It wasn’t shock she was met with when her eyes met Harry’s, but peace. The luminous green eyes that were gazing down upon her were like lighthouses, guiding her towards safety. So many questions began to race her mind as she came to reality, unable to decide which one to ask first. As if based on intuition, Harry decided to speak. “I uh- I’m not too sure what happened to you but my friend found you here today and brought me to you. I believe I saw you a few weeks ago, in the same spot. I’m not sure how long you’ve been out here, but there was this little plaque at the end of this thing here, that said something about a kiss to wake you up… I’m sorry for kissing you without your consent, but I couldn’t risk not taking this chance.” He didn’t mean to ramble or to overwhelm her with his spiel, but he was overwhelmed himself with everything that had just gone on. True love’s kiss. His queen. His true love. The other half of his soul, in human form. Y/N’s lips parted as if to speak, but nothing came out. She closed them once more as she sat up and looked around, swinging her legs off the side of the marble before looking back up to Harry. Her movement had disconnected his hand from her face, and they both longed for each other’s touch once more already. Her eyes began to well with tears as she began to think about how she got here, her last memories.

“I can only assume how overwhelming this must all be for you… We can stay here as long as you need, it’s just us. When you feel ready for it, I can take you back to my home and we can get you showered and fed. I don’t mean you any harm.” Harry doesn’t even need to add that last sentence though, because she can feel it. She can feel his love for her, she could almost hear it if she listened closely enough, as if his heart was now beating a song for her.

Harry stood back, as if to give the doe eyed girl some space. She looked at him as if he was the most precious treasure on Earth, he’d never felt so overwhelmed with love. This was followed by her delicate hands reaching out, taking ahold of his as she brought herself to stand in front of him. “Is it alright if you hold me for a second?” She asked softly, needing time to process things.

It had been so long since she had been touched affectionately, she couldn’t really remember it. Her father was never affectionate, nor her step mother or step sisters or anyone else she’d met. She felt comfortable with the stranger in front of her though, and didn’t have the energy to resist the magnet like force pulling her towards him.

“Of course.” He responds, his voice soft as he wraps his arms gently around her frame, pulling her into his warm figure. Harry was like the perfect, giant teddy bear… but he wasn’t really that soft. Pressed against him she could feel how chiseled his features are. Her arms wrapped around his waist as she relaxed into him, cheek against the skin of his chest kindly revealed by the first few buttons of his shirt being undone. “What’s your name?” He asks, tangling his fingers in her hair to lightly rub his fingertips against the tender skin at the back of her neck.

“Y/N Y/L/N. Yours?” She asks, looking up to the tall, broad man.

“Harry.” He decides on leaving out his royal title or last name.

“Just Harry?” She asks, her eyebrows raising.

“For now. We have plenty of time to talk about me later.” He notes, removing the same rogue strand of hair as before from her cheek, tucking it behind her ear. It was almost as if her hair had a life of its own, breathing, like the other flora growing in the forest. He had noticed the baby’s breath in her hair, though her hair moved, they remained in the same places, as if growing out of their place on the strand of hair. “What do you last remember?” He asks, needing to know if whatever put her in eternal sleep had been by accident, or as an act of malice. She looks back away from his face, resting her cheek once more against his chest.

“My step-mother, Styephania came over, she made me tea. That’s all I can really remember.” She said, unable to stop the disappointed sigh from escaping her lips. Maybe she’d had a freak health accident, like a stroke. Just because she’d been mistreated by her step mother her whole life, didn’t mean she was capable of murder. She knew her step mother didn’t put her out here though, this was the work of fairies. They were looking on, hiding in the bushes as they stood witness to young love blossom in front of them, not wanting to disturb the two of them. “I look crazy, and it sounds crazier saying this, but I’m certain the forest fairies are responsible for looking after me and putting me here. The day she came over was the day I think you saw me here, and I’m not sure how I’m meant to feel but I don’t feel like I’ve been a dead body since then. I feel like no time has passed at all.” Harry avidly listened to her speak, her voice like caramel, seeping in his ears and warming his whole body. Harry wasn’t phased by her mentioning fairies, Niall had suspecting this being their work earlier. It was the only explanation Harry could think of. He couldn’t understand why her step mother would leave her here, why she wouldn’t find her help.

He didn’t want to worry his sweet girl now, he wanted to make sure she felt alright, safe, and cared for. His grip on her wasn’t too tight, but firm in a comforting way. “The plaque… It mentioned how you’d only be woken by true love’s kiss.” He figured the longer he waited to tell her the stranger it would be. His cheeks were red, as if embarrassed or ashamed to tell her about the plaque, how strange it all was. Her eyes met his, and the connection gave him whiplash. He couldn’t peel his eyes away, getting lost in the little pools. He wanted to know everything about her, what she liked, disliked, what she ate for breakfast, her favourite songs, flowers, secrets. Everything.

“I don’t know if I know what love feels like. The only men I’ve spoken to are all twice my age. I wasn’t really allowed to see boys. You’re definitely much, much more beautiful than I would’ve imagined a man to be, and I’m certain that my heart is literally beating for you now, since you woke me.” She tells him, the descriptions of heroes in stories she would read, or how she would imagine the older men to look when they were younger, were incomparable to Harry. The compliment made his cheeks flush. With each beat of her heart, it was as if it was pulling her closer to Harry, calling out for him, begging for him to love on her and soothe the ache in her chest.

“How has God made something so sweet?” He mumbles, he hadn’t even realised he’d said it out loud at first. “You’re breath taking. The most beautiful woman I’ve ever laid my eyes upon, and trust me when I say I’ve seen a lot of them. Even from far away, the first time I saw you… You make me nervous. You make my heart race, and my palms sweat, and I get butterflies in my stomach and nervous when I think about saying the wrong thing or not having you like me. It’s as if you’ve been carved by God himself, like he was showing off when he made you so beautiful. I wish I’d met you sooner.” Those last words burn his throat, how easier the last few years would have been if he had just been able to find her sooner.

*****

Harry sent Niall back to the castle first, having him instruct everyone to clear out the path that the Prince and his soon to be queen would take to his suite, he didn’t want to spook her with people around. The guards had to stay though, non-negotiable. He also had Niall ensure the doctor was on standby, just to check on Y/N and stay in the castle over the upcoming weeks in case anything else happened. Security was going to be increased, and tightened, and a warrant put out for her step mother.

The two hour horseback ride to the castle would give them well enough time to get to know each other, Harry and Niall had also switched horses, Niall’s being the slower of the two. “I don’t want to startle you when we get there. I also don’t know how to really tell you this. I’m in the royal family, so the guards and whatnot are something to just be ignored. They’re for your protection. I don’t know if you heard much of what I was telling Niall earlier, but you’re going to be very safe here, and we’ll find out what happened. I’ll look after you, I promise.” His eyes are ahead as he speaks, looking over the vast green fields ahead of them once they eventually emerged from the forest.

“Still just Harry, to me.” She reassured, sensing his nerves about revealing this information to her. His shoulders relaxed at her reaction, and a smile formed on his lips when his mind began to wander into what their future may be like. His queen.

“Hey, one day that’ll be King Harry to you.” He joked, thankful that it was received with a laugh. Her laughter was almost as sweet as her songs, and for the rest of the journey he made it his mission to mine as many possible laughs out of her as he could, like little nuggets of treasure. After making their way through the fields that lined the forest, they went down a long road that served as a divide between two of the castle’s towns, and at the end of that road just past a small valley of mountains was a sight far more glorious than Y/N had imagined. Her village was a small village that contained mostly candlemakers and dressmakers, and it sat further to the east, people only ever going out there to purchase fine candles and clothing. It was niche though, and not many could afford the fineries the master crafters in her village would create. Y/N hadn’t even really seen a home larger than a cottage, Harry’s castle looked large enough as if it could contain its own little world, a complete wilderness of towers surrounded by fine gardens, protected by a large moat with a standalone drawbridge. Harry didn’t even need to announce himself, the drawbridge was already in the process of being lowered for him.

“I had Niall clear our path, I don’t want to overwhelm you. I’ll introduce you to everyone when you’re ready.” Harry reassures her, she hadn’t even thought of anyone else though, too in awe of the sights around her. Flowers she’d never seen before laced these gardens, with fine marble sculptures and fountains protruding from them.

“I can’t believe this is your home.” Y/N whispers, unable to think of anything else to say.

“Your home too, if you’d like.” Harry replies, though his words immediately shrouded him with nerves about rushing Y/N into anything. It was stupid, they were each other’s true love’s, but it felt wrong being strangers, so Harry tried his best to conceal things. He’d never been in a conventional relationship before, never mind whatever this arrangement is or was going to be. He just knew he wasn’t meant to rush things, so he tried to refrain from expressing his feelings as best as he could. Her arms around his waist tightened, Y/N needing to feel as close to Harry as possible. He held the reins in one hand, the other arm resting over hers around his stomach, holding on to her arm to make sure she couldn’t let go.

“I’d like that.” Y/N reassures, gently rubbing his side to soothe him. Harry was too caught up in his own feelings to pay attention to how calm Y/N was. She could feel his anxiety though, and continued to try to soothe him as best she could. Y/N knew very little about Harry so far, but what she did know was that he was kind, caring, and had a lot of worries. She’d never been a worrisome person, and if anything would even refer to herself as naive, it was something she’d always been almost ashamed of but in this moment felt like maybe she’d been made to be by Harry’s side. Y/N liked the idea of spending her days being Harry’s rock, a voice of reason. She’d rather a man like this than one who had no emotions, that was for sure. It could’ve been whatever was now eternally bonding them, but she swears she was feeling his emotions, able to see his aura if she really studied hard enough. She sunk into him some more, her arms around his waist, cheek resting against his back. Harry made sure to take it extra slow, giving his love enough time to appreciate the flowers. She seemed to like flowers, and his mother took pride in this being the most beautiful garden amongst all of the kingdoms. He couldn’t wait to show her all the fineries that came with his life.

[ginazmemeoir]

May I request a story with my boi Krishna pleeeaaase?

this is about my boi Krishna, who is actually a socialist and vehemently hates capitalism. yes it involves bloodshed.

Yes, this is about the mythical Syamantak Mani.

The story starts with the wealthiest merchant in Dwarka, Satrajit. Imagine Jeff Bezos, but not as politically powerful or cruel. This dude was an ardent devotee of Lord Surya, the Sun God. One day, while he was walking along the beach, Surya decided to spook him for fun by appearing before him spontaneously in a flash, to which Satrajit responded by lying down before him. Since this was an awkward situation (imagine Jeff Bezos bowing to the Human Torch in the middle of a beach on a Sunday morning), Surya offered him a boon, and Satrajit, our greedy clever little merchant, asked for Surya's necklace - the Syamantak Mani.

Now this was a 170 pound solid gold necklace, embedded within which was the mani (gem)(legend says that the Koh-i-Noor diamond is a fragment of that mani, but instead cursed following Gandhari's wrath). Whoever possessed the necklace, woke up to a shower of gold coins each day. The land where this person would live would become the richest, most prosperous and happy land anywhere, and the person themselves would become the richest human ever.

Rumours reached Krishna's ears about Satrajit's legendary wealth, and he himself inspected the situation. Since Krishna was a good person and did not believe in the concentration of power* or money in the hands of an individual, he demanded that Satrajit give up the Syamantaka Mani to the Yadava council treasury, so that it could be used for the common good. We all know where this leads too. The necklace was given to Satrajit's brother Prasena promptly for safekeeping. Proof that shitty audaciously rich bussinessfolk have endured since ere.

Prasena had a stone for a brain, for he wore that necklace while hunting in the forest (yes. he wore a 170 pound gold necklace which grants eternal fortune. while hunting). Sadly, he was eaten by a lion which ran away with the necklace. The lion in turn was killed by Jambavanta, the immortal Emperor of Bears, who took the necklace for himself.

Meanwhile, there was uproar in Dwarka when people got to know of Prasena's death. Satrajit immediately accused Krishna of his brother's "murder" (bitch that's what you get for giving your necklace to a knucklehead), and Krishna was produced before the Yadava Council. Krishna, flipping everyone off, said "You dumb cucks. Imma show you who did it. Heck imma even bring the cursed necklace back. So long bitches." and then set off on an epic quest to find the necklace. All this time, he was being stalked by Satrajit's daughter Satyabhama, who was heels over heads in love with him.

Krishna followed Prasena's trail, then the lion's trail, and then talked to some monkeys who told him that they saw a cave glowing. Krishna, approached said cave, where he saw Jambavanta's young cub chewing on the necklace. (why. was that kid dumb enough to not know it was not chocolate?) Anyway Krishna was sneaking away with the necklace when Jambavanta "caught" him. They fought for a month (idk how) over the gem, when finally the tired Jambavanta accepted his defeat and gave over the necklace. Krishna was also married on the spot to Jambavanta's daughter Jambavanti, to cement an alliance between Dwaraka and the bear kingdom.

Krishna returned back after a month, victorious, and all charges against him were dropped. Satrajit was remorseful when he heard what actually happened with his brother, and apologized to Krishna, allowing him to keep the necklace and even married him to his daughter (yes the one who had stalked him in Dwaraka), Satyabhama.

Yay happy ending. No you dumb bitch we haven't reached the bloodshed part.

Krishna though didn't keep the necklace. He gave it back to Satrajit since it was his "divine property" and just instead increased his taxes by like 1000%. Now, at the same time, the Pandavas had escaped from Varnavata, where they were almost burnt alive in their newly constructed summer palace (made of wax. Madame Tussaud's somewhere turning in her grave). Krishna went to meet the Pandavas, and immediately Satrajit's enemies took use of this opportunity. They murdered Satrajit in his sleep, robbed his house and the Syamantak Mani. The main culprits were Satadhanwa and Akrura. Satyabhama immediately rushed to Hastinapur where she approached Krishna for vengeance. Krishna pursued Satadhanwa, and then killed him near Mithila. Only, he didn't posses the gem. Akrura had stolen the gem for himself and fled to Kashi. Akrura was brought back to Dwaraka in chains and apprehended, where he plead guilty. He was made a political prisoner for life, and the necklace was returned to the Yadava treasury.

PHEW THIS WAS LONG

*The Yadavas were a democratic community with no single king, and instead a committee and council of different factions, clans and people of all backgrounds.

[toomuchtimenerd]

Review for ‘A Curse So Dark and Lonely’ by Brigid Kemmerer

Aaaand here’s yet another popular retelling of ‘Beauty and the Beast’. So something to know about me - I LOVE fairy tale retellings. I grew up on a lot of fairy tales, lots of Disney princess movies (most of which are based off fairy tales or in the case of Mulan, a ballad/folk legend). I’m pretty sure growing up I had this giant anthology of a bunch of old European fairy tales that had been adapted for children’s reading. I’m pretty sure my love for magic, fantasy, and all kinds of other-worldly things stems from how much I read and re-read everything in that kid’s anthology as an eight year old or something. Nowadays, I am on the lookout for anthologies with adaptations of folk lore from other cultures. Hopefully I will soon find some that seem promising.

So A Curse So Dark and Lonely is, interestingly, not a stand-alone and its sequel came out earlier this month. I opted to stop after the first book and not pick up the sequel, for reasons that I will divulge in later. A Curse, like The Cruel Prince, has incredibly favorable reviews on Goodreads, and for good reason really. It’s just unfortunate that neither of these two books quite hit the spot for me. Perhaps in the future I will pick up the sequel for A Curse, but with the third book planned for a late 2021 release I probably will not be reading A Curse So Fierce and Broken anytime soon. Something already tells me that I may have to put recreational reading on the back burner for an extended period of time once again when I go back to school. Sadface

A Curse So Dark and Lonely loosely follows the widely known story line for ‘Beauty and the Beast’, with notable changes in that the main character (Harper) has cerebral palsy and is transported from our non-magical contemporary world to the magical kingdom of Emberfall. Our Prince Rhen does not adopt the appearance of a beast 24/7, but rather transforms into one at the end of the repeating autumn season. In his transformed state, he has a penchant for violence and generally does not retain any sense of mind or humanity. When he yet again fails to win a woman’s love, the season will restart to the day of his 18th birthday and he will have to try again with a new woman. Rhen is accompanied only by the sole survivor of his first transformation, a royal guard named Grey. Grey was given the power to go to Harper’s world and take a woman to bring back to Emberfall for Rhen to court. This entire curse was brought down by an enchantress named Lilith, who apparently exists only to torture everyone’s existence. Harper wasn’t originally chosen by Grey, but Harper witnessed Grey “abducting” an unconscious woman and chose to interfere, which leads to her transportation into Emberfall. 

So let’s talk about the obvious; the representation of disabled peoples in this book via our protagonist Harper. She has cerebral palsy, and this is made very clear within the first chapter of the book. Props to the author for not OVER-emphasizing Harper’s disability, though. I love representation, and I believe in the power of representation, but I’m not a fan of when representation goes too far and it becomes the sole definition of a character’s existence. It comes off as lazy writing when a character brings no substance or value aside from the fact that they represent some kind of minority group. However, this isn’t the case here and I think Kemmerer did a wonderful job of blending Harper’s cerebral palsy into the background, yet not enough for the reader to completely forget that she is living with a disability. There are times when Harper is in a lot of pain and isn’t able to do certain things as easily as other people can, but her perseverance/grit/determination shows us that she is still just like any other human being trying to get by. She doesn’t view herself as a victim of her disability either, it’s just something she was born with and has learned to live with. It is a part of her, and even if she doesn’t like it she has learned to accept it as a part of her. I think Kemmerer sends a beautiful message in portraying Harper’s attitude with her cerebral palsy: there is no need to feel victimized by one’s disability, and there is no need to hate oneself for it either.

Outside of Harper’s disability, she is a very standard YA fantasy heroine - hardworking, passionate, cautious, determined, guarded. Is it bad that I’m getting a little bit tired of this character trope? I kind of want to see a heroine who isn’t so perfect, and I kind of want to see someone who is a little whiny or bratty at first but then grows from their hardships and experiences. Harper, like many YA fantasy heroines, just seems to start out incredibly likable (or maybe too likable) with the perfect package of personality traits. Now I’m not necessarily complaining about this, but I definitely would’ve liked to see a little more substance from Harper outside of just “I need to find a way to get home and I’m going to keep rebelling until I do”. Obviously this wasn’t her as a character the ENTIRE book, but it definitely was more or less the only thing passing through her mind for maybe the first 40% of the book. Another issue I took with her (or maybe not even her as a character, maybe it’s an issue I have with the book itself) is her wishywashy-ness in regards to her feelings. For pretty much the entire book up until Grey takes her home, Harper at best only deeply cares about and respects Rhen. But in the last 20% of the book when Grey takes her back to Emberfall to face the transformed Rhen, Harper suddenly proclaims her love for him and is willing to pretty much give herself up to Lilith to spare Rhen and Grey. That’s a huge change in emotions, and according to the book timeline this change of feelings happens over the course of like... 36 hours or something. And then the book ends on a MASSIVE ambiguity over whether the curse was broken because Harper truly loved Rhen, or if it was because Grey had succeeded in killing Lilith. So, we went from “I deeply care for you and I find comfort in your company” to “I would DIE for you�� to “did the curse break because I love you? Idk” over the course of like... 3-4 chapters? Uhhhhh. Yeah I’ve got questions.

Now I know this review is coming off as pretty negative, and not gonna lie I don’t think I was a big fan of this retelling but I certainly don’t think it was bad either. Rhen’s character development was so captivating and surprising because most YA authors generally don’t pay much attention into developing the male lead as much as the heroine. In all honesty, Harper began pretty perfect with very little room for growth so she her character progression just seemed to stagnate to me. But Rhen starts off as a meh character who didn’t seem to learn all that much from his countless failures of wooing women during his cursed time and progresses into a very selfless leader (re: true KING). He goes from isolating himself in his castle while trying to break the curse to nearly ignoring the curse so he could focus on protecting and caring for his people. I guess it’s pretty obvious that I really liked Rhen as a character, and I personally think he deserves a lot better than that ending we got. It wasn’t a bad ending, and I think Kemmerer wanted to be original in creating a somewhat ambiguous ending. But as a hardcore romance junkie I think I may have a narrow scope of what my heart can tolerate for any retelling of ‘Beauty and the Beast’. 

And finally, let’s talk about Grey. He’s not a POV character in this first book, but he’s in almost every single chapter and he plays a pretty big role. At the beginning I thought I was going to get a load of a love triangle, but thank GOD that wasn’t the case. I’m all for originality, but my mind will never be okay with a love triangle in ‘Beauty and the Beast’. It’s beauty and the fucking beast!! Not beauty and the beast featuring Ludacris!! Is it obvious that I don’t like love triangles to begin with? Yeah. Anyway, Grey is an interesting character. I kind of saw the epilogue coming, because for a side character Grey was too fleshed out and well developed (considering side characters rarely are, except for my one true love Despina from Wrath and the Dawn). But nevertheless, I quite enjoyed Grey! In the beginning of the story I felt like he served almost as a foil to Rhen. They were quite the opposites in terms of personality, but they ultimately are working towards the same goal. Watching Grey’s relationship with Harper unfold on paper was also quite nice. Unlike Rhen, Grey starts off kinda antagonizing Harper (with good reason, considering their first encounter consisted of her attacking him). Rhen is kind and very elaborate in his words and manners with Harper, but Grey very much the opposite. He speaks simply, he’s a man of actions, and is mostly very detached from his emotions. I actually felt his character complimented Harper’s character quite well (considering her own emotional detachment), and I think this is what Kemmerer was going for anyway since Harper does actually warm up to Grey much quicker than she warms up to Rhen. 

Some last thoughts to wrap it up - while I understand that Kemmerer wanted to bridge the gap between this book and its sequel, I felt that she pulled WAY too much of the spotlight from Rhen/Harper and onto Grey. The ending between Rhen/Harper felt incredibly rushed, and again I just don’t think I like the ambiguity over what actually broke the curse. I was thinking about giving A Curse So Dark and Lonely a 4-star rating for most of the book up until the end, and now I’m thinking it’s more like a 3.5 star from me. The last couple of chapters were heavily action-packed, and Kemmerer’s way of tying up the lose strings (pushing the foreign army out of Emberfall) was very creative. But the ending following all of that action was just so... bland and unexciting. It was like dumping a large tub of water on a small campfire that was just starting to grow warm. I like Grey as character, but not enough to want to read the sequel where he stars as a POV just yet. 

[solaetis-moved-blog]

TITLE: Nihilism WORD COUNT: 2,444 CHARACTERS: Caster (Medea) / Rider (Jason) SUMMARY: Medea's searching for Gawain, who had been missing for days, and encounters Jason in Chaldea. NOTES: Content warning for Sexism, slut-shaming, domestic violence, murder and idk it's just full of fucked up things. Sheep and I discussed about what would happen if Jason had been summoned in Chaldea when Medea is already in love with Gawain. Some Euripides’ Medea references and some other modernized Greek works cause I’m a nerd.

Of all people she could have encountered in the empty halls of Chaldea, it just had to be him. His face is familiar. She would know it in life, she would know it in death. The renowned Captain of the Argo, the eloquent leader of men. Most would argue about his disposition, claim him useless in the field and can contribute nothing when war ensues. Medea personally knows that this is untrue.

She had seen first hand just how Jason, son of Aeson, led a fleet of men with his words.

He was arrogant and self-indulgent, but which man was not? In the wooden grounds of the ship deck, he would glance at his men with an expression most calm and calculating. In his silence, his mind could procure several options which promised unrivaled victory. In impossible situations, he had saved the lives of most just by commanding. Ten men alone led by him could defeat thousands, but only if he was the mind behind their every action. She could see why a man like Jason was needed to preserve the future of humanity. If she had to admit a painful truth, it would be that between the both of them, he is less likely to put a taint in their pact with the provisional Master and put to waste the significant progress they have made by now.

So when she met his eyes, his eyes that seemed to bore into her person just as fiercely, she could not help but feel as if she was being choked. From here, she would deny his hold upon her neck, though from ill fate of the world, it is undoubtedly permanent at this point.

"What a sore mistake. In this realm where heroes are called forth, you know as well as I do you are the least suitable to be here," he spoke to her, breaking the long and winding silence between them in sheer seconds. Like before, he spoke to her menacingly, as if disgusted by not just her existence, but the fact that she has the mighty gall to breathe in his presence. "Medea."

Broadened eyes were hidden under her hood. He had claimed exactly the truth which began to penetrate her mind.

"You are not so heroic yourself," she barked back, instilling confidence in every word she had uttered as to announce that he did not terrify her, nor will she ever come to do such a thing. She was in her search for a certain man, and that man happened to not be Jason. No, that man will never be him again. For her hatred towards her former husband is incurable. Her endless love before had been unfortunately replaced with unending ferocity and excessive wrath.

She would say more, but Jason's demeanor petrified her from doing so. A damning slavery it must be to be silenced in this manner, thoughts imprisoned and unable to be shared.

"Compared to you?" he raised his brows and huffed with the same haughtiness he used to have. "I must be. You will make even demons themselves appear divine in the eyes of Gods."

Her gloved fists tightened behind her back. She must not show it. He must not bear audience once again to her vexing state, for he will not let her live it down if he were to find out that even now his words hold weight.

"What are you, if not a vile woman? In your loathing, you will burn everything and slaughter even your own children."

Upon hearing this, Medea refused to be silenced further.

'I did not kill them,” she begged herself to scream in retaliation for this disrespect, but even she, herself, is not sure if it would be true. She recalled the lack of warmth in the body of their children as she found them lifeless in the soils of Corinth. What occurred before it? Her life had been a blur in that moment. Every men and women she had killed were clear in her mind, but this. She does not remember. She cannot plead herself to even out of desperation.

Why would she? It was not what happened. Medea did not kill her children. She was the first to find their corpses, yes, but the bastardization of her tale had installed upon her Spirit Origin to claim responsibility for an act she did not commit. It was the Corinthians who feared her and her actions. Jason will not believe her even if she is aware of this, so her lack of knowledge in this lie does not and will not change anything.

"Who are you to speak this way to me? I became this way because I had loved you with all of my soul! You had taken me away from my home and only it was I who suffered the consequences of worshiping your name! You claim that the Goddess Aphrodite had installed upon me this foolishness, driven me to this state. You are wrong! Aphrodite could not be any more mistaken! I had loved you for I had seen you as a man greater than your accomplishments and ambitions! T'was why I had been so willing to be of use to you! Yet you discarded me like a harlot you were already done pleasuring yourself with! There is no justice to speak here, Jason. You are but a naive soul in the throes of love!"

The tone of her voice kept on rising. Each remark from Jason a cruel punishment. He felt the same. Medea had never failed in leaving his heart most scorched. Like mad mutts they exchanged demeaning sentences.

"What do you know about love, Medea? WHAT DO YOU KNOW? You would kill a man in his sleep if he had done so much as to unknowingly peeve you. The fair Aphrodite might have cursed you to be enamored by me, but she had not cursed you to become a slaughterer! Each action done by you is a result of your pampered lineage! Do not speak to me about love. You are a woman who had cut your kin to pieces and dress up such a vile act as assistance. I had brought you in Helias, guaranteed your fame in the same way I had earned mine. You think the world would know of your name had you not met me? You will not be even a dent in history otherwise, and how did you repay me? By trampling over the meaning of our quest! It is by you that we had obtained the Golden Fleece, but it is also by you that I had been unable to claim the throne that quest was devoted for!"

She found herself trembling. Quite perturbed. Not frightened, but vulnerable. As if each venom in Jason's tongue threatened to dismantle the woman within her all over again.

"I had loved you, truthfully."

Liar. Nothing but falseness in his words. Because he lied so often that he is no longer a man to be trusted even in his genuine honesty.

"And I needed not a Goddess' curse to prove that. In your slaying of Pelias, I had lost all right to reclaim the Iolcus throne, and had earned the ire and disrespect of the Argonauts. You never heard a word from me in spite of it all! I ran away with you, loved you still as I had vowed, treated like a foreigner in my own homeland with no home to call mine. Marrying another woman is so small of a betrayal compared to what you had taken from me!"

Her mind should not stop to reminisce how he placed his lips against hers on the ship's deck. How he had lain with her most nights with anxiousness shored away from his face, eyes gleaming with nothing but fervent love. The vows he announced to the Gods, how proud and victorious he looked when he loudly named her his wife. She must not remember this. She must not even look at it. She cannot take it.

"...the oaths you swore..."

With labored breathing, it was all Medea could reply.

"My oaths?" Jason scoffed, disgusted upon hearing this. "Yes, I had sworn to love you until we are of old age. But see, Medea, it was my mouth that swore, not my soul."

No. She will not hear more of this. No more. Her mind will break again.

Upon meeting Sir Gawain, she had promised herself she will not return to her menacing ways. She will bid goodbye to the woman she became and died as. Jason... Jason will never take this away from her.

So she turned her back with unwavering pride, no longer bothered by the words of an old ghost. She understood that he did not desire to be with her until the end. Why, he was an aging man, with beard and hair as thick as the wall he had placed between them. It was no longer suitable to remain married to a woman who was beginning to appear in the eyes of the mass as more so his child than his beloved wife in comparison.

She must let go. She must not let the past define her present. She must only be happy now, with someone else's devotion towards her. She must only think of the people who love and adore her.

She cannot help it. Her wrathful self will not allow her to leave his sight without a venom matching his own. So with her remained uninhibited, once again, she bit agonizingly into his heart.

"Go home to your wife and bury her."

Then, what occurred from here should have been expected, and yet she found herself utterly at lost for words and reaction to give. She held her swelling cheek and felt the harshness of Jason's touch. 

He had slapped her. 

He had lain his hand upon her again and without holding his strength back. She turned, idly, to feel delighted in the face he was making. Jason's anger is the only fuel she needed to resume her wickedness. Medea unequipped her robe, the expression upon her face clearing away what remained of her composed self. This mere satisfaction from earning his ire had driven her quite insane.

And his most loathed witch took quick steps to spit more painful words at his face, "HOW DOES IT FEEL?" she questioned him as she glared at him with pleased and insane passion. "TO HAVE MY TEETH IN YOUR HEART?"

And another slap came to greet her skin, this time accompanied with his violent fingers now wrapped around her throat. She once admired how beautiful his hands were. So easy to hold onto things it valued and just as easy to let go of things that were no longer convenient. It coiled so harshly upon her and her back almost shattered the wall she was pinned into. Raised up in the air, her feet could do nothing but feel the strangeness of being afloat without her consent. He had broken the bones of her spine with his spiteful push, but nothing is more painful than watching him laugh at her, so this is the far better outcome.

"YOU WILL NEVER EVER SPEAK OF GLAUCE AGAIN," he warned her, his teeth visibly grating, shockingly audible even. "Like I do not know the telltale from here. My goody two shoes wife had gotten unbearably familiar with another man. So whoring yourself to the King of Athens was not enough for you? If you hadn't been cursed by Aphrodite to become in love with me, for certain you would spread your legs to every man of the Argo just as much."

Right when she had been forgiven by the Gods she disappointed*, once again Medea would fall victim to wrath. She closed her eyes, sorrow leaving her body, only replaced with wrath, and wrath, and wrath all over again.

Thanatos, Hades, Persephone, Nyx and Circe... If you hear me, I know greatly of the evil deed I am about to commit. You shall bear witness to the burning skies ahead. How I shall feed these flames with unparalleled scorn.

In the name of Hecate who had seen in me great possibilities, And remains sheltered within me. I must once again upset you all, for Zeus had granted men knowledge to determine fake gold from true, but never brand a man to warn women that he must be avoided. By Lady Hecate--

No man will cast upon me tremendous pain and live long enough to rejoice about it.

A dagger materialized upon her hand, Rule Breaker, all prepared to bring divine judgement upon the world's most traitorous man. What will she do, a soul bitten into with wrong? She will storm the Gods and shake the universe.

And she would have done so if not for his words which followed.

"Even if you are to kill me in this life, I shall come back and meet your new man. Does he know the immoralities which surrounds you? The amount of dead body upon your hands? How you do not blink and how you sleep so peacefully after a murder? Remember this well whenever you ponder about harming me or touching me with your filthy hands. I will always come back. I will come back and remind you again of what you are, and in this life, Medea, I promise you--

That you will never know happiness once again. I will ruin everything you hold dear, as you had proudly done upon me."

Jason, without care for her well-being, released her and in his frustration kicked her by the waist, nothing but a slump of meat in his eyes. She is the reason for his greatest sorrows, and in turn he is behind her every pain. As Medea crumbled upon the ground, holding herself firmly, she began to soundlessly weep-- pain born from his physical assault and mental torment, though the latter was what she continued to lament. Her past mishaps, the cruelty she had acted upon are things she had prepared herself to tell Sir Gawain personally in the days that she had come to appreciate him. If Jason were to take that right from her, she would demand Zeus to strike her once again for dying would be better than this.

From hereon, she must begin to forget him and his warmth. He cannot know such crimes from someone else's mouth but hers. She will not be able to survive it. His eyes which only looked at her with admiration and appreciation-- If abhorrence were to replace it...

She would... She would...

Once again, she had become Jason's slave.

CONTEXT

*: My Medea interacted to a wide number of Greek God roleplayers in the time I have written her on Twitter and they all seem to have forgiven her for her past crimes and thought her deserving of a place in Elysium.

[calliecat93]

ST: TNG Watchthrough Episodes 21-25. Final episodes of Season One.

Symbiosis: Remember kids, drugs are bad! Okay tbf this WAS back in the 80’s where crack and stuff were a growing issue and drug addiction episodes were not at all uncommon. Heaven knows that I saw PLENTY in cartoons from the time, such as Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue or a VERY infamous episode of Captain Planet that I’m shocked got by the censors. As with many of those cartoons though, this episode is... well, pretty preachy. Not as badly, they save it for just one scene for the most part, but still. I don’t think that tackling addiction in ST is a bad idea, but... well, 80’s. I guess if it educated people then that’s good. Frankly I was on Crusher’s side that they should do something, but they stick with the Prime Directive which I guess they’ve gotten a LOT stricter about since the TOS days. The ending is pretty depressing with the addiction continuing, the assholes continuing to sell it, and our heroes can only allow it to happen aside from depriving them of ships to stop shipments, leaving them to figure it out themselves. Hopefully one day things can get better for them. Otherwise, it was just okay. Not the worst drug PSA I’ve ever seen by a long-shot. Oh and apparently there was a Reading Rainbow episode where Levar showed the making of this episode, so if you can find it you should check it out~! 3/5.

Skin of Evil: So... I already knew going into the show that Yar died and Worf would take her place as Security Chief. It’s a shame tbh cause while underdeveloped, I really liked Yar and had she held out, she could have gotten some REALLY good development. But I understand why the actress was unsatisfied with being on the show and left, and I read that she does get to come back for an episode later on so that’s nice. I’ll go into how her death was handled in a bit. As far as the episode itself goes, we have a VERY creepy black liquid monster holding Troi hostage in a crashed shuttle and considering it just managed to kill a person, the danger is VERY real. And it did it essentially because it wanted to cause suffering which Troi senses, which makes it all the more horrifying. The tension and fear is very strong and them themes of a being that serves evil just because... yeah that was something. Picard causing it to break down was freakin’ awesome, Kirk would be proud! Now Yar’s death. The reactions of everyone were appropriate and the event was properly shocking. I went wide-eyed when it happened since I did NOT expect it to happen that fast in that kind of manner. The funeral was also properly sad and showed that Yar was a valued member of the crew and very much respected by her crewmen, and that she respected them in turn. The final scene where Data is confused if he missed the point by feeling lost and Picard telling him that he got it exactly right? That was a perfect note to end on, and by God is that the truth regarding grief/loss. That being said... while I understand why it was done as it was and can’t complain about the execution and tone, the abrupt end just feels unsatisfying. I hate character deaths like this because it makes the character feel wasted and robs them of a proper sendoff, even with Yar’s message. They just feel like fodder. So while it had the proper weight, I’m still unhappy with how it’s done and I hope that Yar’s later reappearance will allow more closure or her. Because even if underutilized, she deserved a better ending. Still, even taking that into account, the episode is dark, tense, and Yar’s death does leave a shocking impact that TOS never quite gave me (Spock got brought back so that doesn’t count, plus he got a proper sendoff that would have been satisfactory fi he hadn’t come back). 4.5/5.

We’ll Always Have Paris: So after major character death and evil tar monsters, we get an episode on Picard’s love life! I guess a pre-requisite for being a Starfleet Captain is to have a crappy one of those. Then again maybe Sisko will break the curse when I get to DS9, we’ll see. Anyways! As the title hints, this is essentially the ST version of Casablanca. Picard has an old flame who left him, got married, and now the couple are in need of help while that old flame between Picard and the woman Jenice (is Janice and variaiton fo Janice just... a REALLY common name in the future? There was Janice Rand, Kirk’s ex in Turnabout Intruder was named Janice, now in TNG we have Jenice, how is this a pattern?!). Isn’t love fun folks?! So the episode was... okay. The time distortion or whatever broke my brain so that didn’t help. Picard and Jenice... didn’t work for me? Like... I felt no chemistry. It felt like two people in denial about a flame that fizzled out ages ago than one that burned for many years but was lost. IDK fit hat’s on the actors, the script, and/or the directing but I felt nothing, plus Jenice flirting wih Picard while her husband was in sickbay possibly dying... felt pretty shitty. Oh and the Picard/Crusher ship tease also made me feel nothing. I like Picard. I LOVE Crusher. I don’t have any feelings for them as a pair especially considering that Crusher’s husband was friends with Picard and died on duty with him... which just makes it feel WRONG to me. And poor Troi has to deal with everyone being emotionally repressed idiots, the poor woman deserves a niiiice Shore Leave. So it was average, but the lack of romantic chemistry and me just being confued by the time distortions cause... time distortions just left me confused and uninvested. So yeah... that’s all I can say. 2/5.

Conspiracy: Well a title like that can only mean good things, right? RIGHT?! So... remember the brain slugs from The Wrath of Khan? Well they decided to bring that concept back! They’ve taken over the admirals of Starfleet and are taking over with our heroes having to try and figure out what’s happening and stop it. It’s an interesting one for sure. We have Picard on Earth with the admirals while Quinn from a previous episode is on the Enterprise and causing chaos on there. It’s pretty scary to think about, the higher ups being brainwashed and could have easily destroyed the Federation from the inside out if Picard hadn’t been warned ahead of time. When Picard is utterly surrounded and they were eating the worm things... God it was scary. Although Riker really DID fool me into thinking he was possessed, so I outright cheered when he pulled out his phaser. Badass! Oh and Crusher blasting Quinn until he was down was also badass. It was also shockingly graphic with the bugs and the one guy’s body that hosted the alien... how THAT got by the censors I will never, EVER know. In the end, we never find out about who unleashed the parasites (apparently it was going to be The Borg but it didn’t work out) or what they wanted, but it certainly left an impact. Plus I think the ambiguity makes it all the more horrifying. Someone or something almost took over... and they’ll never know who or what. Overall, really good episode. 4/5.

The Neutral Zone: Well they’ve mentioned then and hinted at it a few times, but at last in the season final, the Romulans have made their return. IDT thy’ve been major villains since The Enterprise Incident back in TOS S3. Speaking of TOS... I thought we were done reusing plots, but this is more or less Space Seed except the frozen people aren’t evil, bio enhanced lunatics. So not a direct reuse but it’s pretty hard to ignore the major similarity. Anyways, we have a bit of an interesting premise with people from the 20th Century being thawed into the 24th Century and letting them interact. There would be major culture shock and values dissonance because even compared to the 80’s and the 2020’s so many values and views have changed. So imagine how much changed in between four centuries with concepts like phones and banks no longer a thing. It was... eh? I like the idea but I just didn’t care for these people much? Well the one guy who is a walking Southern redneck stereotype didn’t especially when he... was alone with Crusher. I HATED that guy, and I’ve seen rednecks my entire life! The other two I at least felt some sympathy for especially the one woman, but not enough to get me invested in this particular plot. Though I WAS amused by some things like TV not surviving past 2040... yeah THAT I find difficult to believe. Ah, the irony of making TV shows set int he future when you have no way of predicting what will and won’t happen. But yeah I get the parallel they were going for by the end with the civilians and Romulans being out of touch with the Federation, but I just didn’t care enough. The Romulan half of the plot? The build-up to it was good with everyone on edge since this will be the first time dealing with them in over 50 years and who knows what they’re like now compared to the TOS era. And when we finally see them? Well they’re very much still intimidating and a sense of danger is very much still existent, though they do agree to share information on this one issue so they aren’t foolish. It very much brought back whatever investment I had in them back in TOS, Went hey said that they’re back, that was a promise and I am all for it~! As far as being a season finale goes... well TOS weren’t exactly great in that area so it being just fine is par for the course, but it is just fine. Really the Romulan bit was what helped this episode, otherwise it’s just okay, but at least the ending scene promises more to come. Not a bad note to end on. 3/5.

Well it took much longer than I had hoped, but we have finished TNG Season One! It was... rough, but I knew going it that it would be. There were some bright spots and it did well enough to get renewed, but clearly a lot was going to need to be done to fine tune the show and let it reach it’s full potential. Will Season 2 be an improvement? What changes will they make? Will they be good or bad for the show? Will Riker ever get his glorious beard anytime soon? We’ll find out in due time. So tomorrow I’ll do the Top 5 Best/Worst list for S1, then by Friday I hope to get S2 underway. For now one season down, six to go. The adventure continues.