#jame priest's bane

[critical-quoter]

August Books

Holy fuck knuckles. I am so far beyond my yearly goal so far. I feel like I did myself a disservice. At this point, my goal is to at least double my reading, and then next year, I'll kick even more ass.

Red My Lips - Lila Herron ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ King of Greed - Ana Huang ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Fierce Vow - Monica Kayne ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Savage Lover - Sophie Lark ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Make You Mine - Laura Pavlov ⭐️⭐️ Once You're Mine - Morgan Bridges (Audiobook) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Blue-Eyed Devil - Lisa Kleypas ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ All the Lies - Rina Kent ⭐️⭐️⭐️ All the Truths - Rina Kent ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Our Breakaway - S. C. Kate ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Bring Me Back - Kristen Granata ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Now You're Mine - Morgan Bridges (Audiobook) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Guard of Destiny - Tracie Delaney ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Priest - Sierra Simone ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Tainted Saints - Rosa Lee ⭐️ A Love for Always - Victoria Paige ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ From Lukov with Love - Mariana Zapata (Audiobook) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Mind Game - Christine Feehan ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Sincerely, Your Inconvenient Wife - Julia Wolf ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Structural Damage - Sloan Spencer ⭐️⭐️⭐️ The Score - Elle Kennedy ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Savior - Aquila Thorne ⭐️ How Not to Date a Demon - Lane Kole ⭐️⭐️ Damon - V. R. Tennent ⭐️ Haunting Adeline - H. D. Carlton (Audiobook) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ The Blood We Crave: Part 1 - Monty Jay ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ The Blood We Crave: Part 2 - Monty Jay ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Paradise - Judith McNaught ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Breakaway - Anastasia White ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Beach Read - Emily Henry ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Painted Scars - Neva Altaj ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ One Pucking Heart - Ellie Wade ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Bittersweet - Morgan Elizabeth ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Hunting Adeline - H. D. Carlton (Audiobook) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ The Chimera Bounty - Ember Holt ⭐️ Hate You Always - Jennifer Sucevic ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Corrupted Chaos - Shain Rose ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Heart of Desire - Liana Tiamzon ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Swift and Saddled - Lyla Sage ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ C*ck on the Block - Amy Award ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Broken Whispers - Neva Altaj ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Hidden Truths - Neva Altaj ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Archer's Voice - Mia Sheridan (Audiobook) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Bane - L. J. Shen ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Birthday Gift - Mary Waterford ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Forgotten Deal - Andrea Hagan ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Peter Pumpkined Out - Kacie West ⭐️ The True Love Experiment - Christina Lauren ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Lost Lilies - Ada Taylor ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Alive and Wells - Bailey Hannah ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ The Little Black Dress - Piper James ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Perfect - Judith McNaught ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Hans - S. J. Tilly ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Trapped with Mr. Walker - Elle Nicoll ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Prickly Romance - Nia Arthurs ⭐️⭐️⭐️ The Pucking Wrong Number - C. R. Jane (Audiobook) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Soul of a Witch - Harley Laroux ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ In the Likely Event - Rebecca Yarros ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

58 total books read for the month of August.

[zooterchet]

Carnage's Murder Rap Sheet

Anatole Marcinault: Snitch to Catholic monks; collusion with East Germany, the Berlin Wall.

Rory Ahlquist: The placement of a gemetria zero sequence, on crime of homosexuality in claim of priesthood, actually a Rabbi.

Marv Albert: The public Ted Kennedy joke as to the trade of cashiers as moneyed slaves, removed from ethic of logic; through Real Ghostbusters and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Joey Angiulo: Execution at hands of James "Whitey" Bulger, proven to be the service of father, Generro "Jerry" Angiulo, the Rabbinical vending trade.

Alice Charlebois: Found as a lesbian through the sales of chicken pot pie to the community, to mark as Tehran Shah

Mary Kay Bergman: The violation of Disney contract, having discovered that such a contract guarantees worker's wages at having no work; execution of self by handgun.

Carlin Sarkesian: The demanded fight with Iron Man, Matthew Lennox, and having met War Machine, David Charlebois; over the walk through Hopkinton Highschool, with a loaded Armalite, to avenge Jenna L. Williamson, for Matthew Lennox.

Ryan Gregson: Brain death, at having aligned with Mossad, out of German soccer and rugby clubs, to merge with varsity wrestling.

Nicholas Maynard: The placement in a fugue state, at having conducted External Security pimping to American servicemen, however being a woman herself.

Phil Enfield: Investigating sandwiches put in a dumpster by Bridgewater Security Services, the VFW; placed in jail, as "Master Herbert", screaming "Spider-Man is a pedophile"; beaten to death.

Andrew Donson: The psychic kin of Dr. Joshua Golden, having been found in prisoner's convenience to the hire of prostitutes and priests, of the Episcopalian orders, through flawed cashier's software and engineered slips, at gas stations.

James Holmes: Theft of Nolan Trilogy writing software, on behalf of Ellen Page; psychotic break of a grand mals epilepsy, at discovering writer's candidate was not Scarecrow, Joker, or Bane, and had in fact used laws and rules outside of Alabama literature society. Still incarcerated, to this day, having turned on fellow LARPers, at Aurora, Colorado.

Keith Velasquez: Found in treason of marijuana laws held in Masonic Lodge, at poisoning of marijuana and placing prostitutes under draft of complicit work per Russian Slavics out of secret courts through parents held in default union; female police officers. Executed in State Forest of Essex County, Massachusetts; found in possession of Oxycontin, blood test negative, however positive for Raid, and MI-6 papers; papers otherwise recovered, given to interpreter's forces, Boston Police Department, "arson and wards", Matthew Lennox, translation of papers as to the "High Times Magazine" poisoning of police officers and federal candidates, to sell straight jackets, a TJX limited investment out of Germany. For City Hall accountants, those economists serving as History Pre-Law.

Jovenel Moise: President of Haiti, having found African civil service workers as serial killers, if former police officer found in heritage, therefore demanded to work as police Catholic exorcists of poisons to avoid attorneys at law as having sought "reform"; liberalization of law, to suspects and patients and "pedophiles" (soldiers and spies and police). Murdered by soccer squad, for Michael Charlebois, his only act as a spy in his entire history, since the incident with the poison sumac. Michael Charlebois, now able to produce semen, and wife, Maureen Charlebois, has an orgasm, the same never produced for Alice. David, barely cares, Alice was a serial killer, "Reverse Edith".

[readnburied]

7 Hidden Gem Book Recommendations for You

We’re always looking for hidden gems. Books that do not make it to the mainstream media and therefore do not get the recognition they deserve. And if we do find a book that most people are not talking about, then we kind of feel it like an accomplishment, at least I feel like that. So here I have 7 books which I believe are hidden gems. They might not be, but since I’m always late to the party, I think they are hidden gems. I’ll stop rambling now, and give you guys my 7 picks for hidden gems. 

The Number of Love by Roseanna M. White

This is book 1 in The Codebreaker series and follows our two main characters Margot and Drake as they find themselves in the midst of the war between England and Germany. Though Margot is smart enough to break codes in order to save her country, she is forced to work with Drake in order to fight off a German enemy who is dead set on seeking revenge. 

The unique aspect of this book was how Margot thought in numbers. Numbers were her best friend and if she was unable to quantify or number a particular thing or situation, then that’s where lay her Kryptonite. I’ve never read about a character who thought like that and for someone for whom numbers are the bane of her existence aka me, I found it really interesting. 

Moreover, the plot and the writing style were perfect. The conflict was on point and I really enjoyed how Margot and the enemy played a game of Go and how he lured her through the game. It was action packed and downright thrilling. Do give this book a read if you want a unique perspective on this historical event.

Revolution Is Not a Dinner Party by Ying Chang Compestine

This is a fiction book about an event that’s not so fictitious which happened to be Maoism in China. The story is told from the perspective of Ling—a nine year old girl who endures the horrors of communism under General Mao. Her beautiful life turns upside down when her own family suffers under the tyrannical rule and she’s forced to watch. 

It hurt reading this story. The horrors inflicted upon the people who so much as dared to breathe without the permission of General Mao were downright painful. It’s not an easy read, however, it does give you insight about a culture other than your own and you get glimpse of just how different and difficult things can be in different parts of the world. I highly recommend you to read this book and know that injustice like this should never be encouraged. 

Scarlet by A. C. Gaughen

This is book 1 in the series by the same name and follows Scarlet with a band of thieves whose job is steal from the rich and give to the poor. But Scarlet is a woman of secrets and it’s due to these secrets that she’s forced to hide her identity. However, she can’t hide from her past when it’s constantly chasing her and when it finally catches up to Scarlet, she has to do everything she can to not only save herself but all those she loves as well. 

The Robin Hood narrative that takes place in this book was something I found very interesting. However, the thing that fascinated me the most was the unique color of Scarlet’s eyes. I wish I had that eye color but I do not, sadly. 

Moving on, the plot and the pacing really kept me flipping page after page and the climax really had my jaw dropping. I had to say I did not see that coming. If you want to read a book about hidden identities and secret relationships then do give this book a chance. 

The Blood Gospel by James Rollins

This is book 1 in The Order of the Sanguines series and follows an archaeologist, a forensic military officer and a priest, who is hiding his real identity, as they are forced to embark on a life altering quest where realities shift and thousand year old practices come into the forefront, threatening the lives of those in the present. 

I was blown away by this book. The way the author paints religion into this story was absolutely fantastic. I just… I don’t know, I don’t know how to praise this author; I just know that I need to learn how to write from this author. I wish I had half a brain James Rollins has so my stories can be half as good as his. 

You guys need to find out how amazing this book is. Nothing I say will ever do it justice, so pick up this book if you haven’t already because you’re going to regret not reading this book. And I will do myself a favor and read the next book in the series, as soon as possible.  

Rotherweird by Andrew Caldecott

This is book 1 in the series of the same name and follows twelve children who have been raised with considerable power in the town of Rotherweird. But no one expected the arrival of a rich man who has the wealth to buy the entire town but comes with secrets that could potentially threaten everything that town stands for. 

It took me a while to get into and understand this book. I don’t know if it was the writing style or I was just bored, but it took me some time to understand what was happening and who was who. However, towards the end I did understand what was going on in the story and I really enjoyed the ending. 

I haven’t seen or heard about this book, and I found it interesting enough to want to recommend it to others and that is why this book is on this list. 

Our Little Secret by Roz Nay

This is a stand alone psychological thriller and follows Angela and a crazy tale of love and revenge. Angela finds herself in the middle of a police interview being questioned about her ex’s missing wife. Though she recounts everything and knows that she’s innocent, a strange turn of loyalty and love leaves her in the middle of her own personal hell. 

I have no words for this book. Everything about this book, the plot, the characters, the pacing and the climax just messed with my mind in the worst way. So much so, that I literally ended up questioning everything and everyone I know. 

The antagonists were the worst and I really wanted to destroy them in the worst way possible. I wasn’t even the protagonist in the book and I felt betrayed by what they did to Angela. That’s how amazing and messed up this book is and it’s one you people need to read immediately. I highly recommend it. 

Prisoner of Night and Fog by Anne Blankman

This is book 1 in the series by the same name and follows Gretchen Müller who happens to be the niece of none other than Adolf Hitler. Her thoughts regarding Jews are pretty clear until she meets a handsome Jewish boy and starts to understand the monstrosities taking place against them and finally seeing the truth about her uncle. And knowing the truth just might endanger her and those she loves. 

Reading about Adolf Hitler and all that he’s known for has never been comfortable for me but I had a great time reading this book. This story had a strange thrill about it and all the events that take place and the perfect pacing made this book a definite page turner for me. I haven’t read the second book in this series yet but I plan on getting to it this year. Do give this book a chance if you want a perspective on someone who not only loved Adolf Hitler but had no choice but to be close to him and support him. 

So there you have it. Here are some books which I consider to be hidden gems and need to be read and discussed more often. Let me know if you’ve read any of these or if any of these piqued your interest. I’m telling you, you guys will not regret giving any of these books a chance. 

[words-writ-in-starlight]

Waking Up Not Knowing Where They Are + tori taking care of jame?

Aw, HELL yeah.  Once again, I’m sorry my readmores are borked.  For this H/C meme!

It was Marc who sent him the letter--Marc, by way of Rue’s stiff and uncertain script.  It was a short thing, barely the barest courtesies before Our lady has been poisoned, and we cannot wake her.  We have captured the culprit and taken her into custody, but she was only a tool.  If you have Kindrie Soulwalker with you, my lord, or know where he might be found, we need him here.

Because of course it had to be Kindrie, Torisen remembers thinking in a daze as he sent for Burr and told him that Torisen would be riding to Mount Alban.  Of course Jame would allow no other healer near her, even unconscious, even poisoned.  Torisen can’t imagine what might happen to a healer who attempted to force their way into Jame’s soul unwelcomed--it didn’t occur to him to wonder what might happen to Jame, except that she might feel sorry, later, for the healer’s fate.

Now he is at Tagmeth, and Kindrie is sitting at Jame’s head, his fingers light on her closed eyelids, and Torisen is trying not to look too closely at his lordan, his sister, his--

Whatever Jame is, these days.

She looks sick, in a way that Torisen has never seen her, not even after that terrible winter in the Women’s World, when she had been awake for weeks and outrunning the infection in her cheek.  Jame’s face is gaunt and grey-cast with the fever the poison stoked under her skin, her glossy black curls dull and tangled, and she’s shivering, off and on, these delicate tremors that bring attention to the way her wrist bones stand out through her skin.  She seems asleep, but restless, murmuring noises that never become words, tossing her head, trying to struggle out from under the blankets her Kendar have piled on her.  She moves like a swimmer trapped in mud, and the harder she struggles, the more distraught she seems, like a nightmare is rising around her and she can’t hope swim to the surface.

Kindrie makes a soothing noise in his throat, an idle hum, a snatch of music, when Jame gasps under his touch, and she settles, like she trusts that Kindrie is there to pull her out of the water, and Torisen is--

Torisen is something he cannot name, at the sight of it.  Something hot and bitter twists in his chest, and he tentatively names it anger.  He wants to snarl at Kindrie to fix this, wants to shake Jame for allowing it, wants to shout at her Kendar for not stopping it.  He wants to curl himself around Jame like they’re children again, waiting for the moon to rise again, and send everyone else away.  

He settles for standing against the doorframe, a passive block to keep the fretting figures outside from entering to disturb Kindrie’s work--no one has it in them to brush past the Highlord.  Burr had made a gesture as if to take Torisen’s place, but he’d swallowed the offer and gone to interrogate the culprit instead.  Torisen makes a mental note to thank him, and to be cooperative next time Burr forces him into his court clothes.

It takes an hour before Kindrie blinks pale eyes hazily and removes his hands from Jame’s skin.  He smiles hesitantly at Torisen.

“She should be fine,” he says.  “She won’t be able to enter dwar until the fever breaks, but the poison didn’t take hold the way it should have.  She’s...difficult to corner, for deep healing, but really it shouldn’t matter.  It might be a rough night, but she should be in dwar sleep by morning and up making a nuisance of herself by the next day.”

“Thank you,” Torisen says quietly, before anyone else can burst out in gratitude.  Kindrie’s smile firms up a bit, and he accepts Marc’s offer of a meal with transparent relief, and Rue comes in to rearrange the blankets, fussing over her lady’s pillow for a long few moments before turning to Torisen.

“We can find you quarters, my lord,” she says, direct and unwary and a little defensive.  “I don’t think m’lady ever really expected you to stay here, so nothing’s as well suited as you might be used to, but--”

“No, that’s all right,” Torisen says.  “I’ll keep watch.  Just put Kindrie up, if you have the space, and I’ll stay here.”  She looks faintly bothered by that, somewhere between Burr’s constitutional offense at Torisen’s determination to do menial tasks and outright protectiveness, but when Torisen sits down in Kindrie’s abandoned chair, she leaves without a word.

Rue closes the door behind her, and Torisen is alone in the quiet of his sister’s room as Jame begins to stir again.

Torisen doesn’t know how to do comfort anymore, if he ever did.  He doesn’t have Kindrie’s unconscious ease with it, doesn’t have Rue or Marc’s persistence of affection.  All he can do is brush an escaping curl out of Jame’s face and wonder if he should just--leave, before she can wake up and learn he’s been here.

“It’s all right,” he tries to say, but the words don’t even reach his mouth, strangle in his throat.  He feels like his voice is gone, like he’s the one with a fever again, something foreign growing in his lungs and silencing him.  He tries to call up one of the songs their mother used to sing, the old ballads that no one ever knows except, sometimes, scholars, but his throat is still and he can’t muster the energy to change it.

Torisen doesn’t know how long he’s been sitting there, smoothing his hand over Jame’s hair when she grows restless and trying to find his voice, when her eyes finally open.  It’s not dramatic, she just blinks open unfocused silver eyes and stares up at him with a kind of childlike confusion that makes his heart ache.

Her voice is a thread when she says, “Senethari?  Can I have some water?”

Who does she think he is?  Not Sheth, nor the man Bear that Torisen’s never met--she sounds too young, too trusting, asking for help so honestly.  Maybe--maybe the changer, the man she had called Senethari when he died on the Escarpment.

Torisen forcibly sets the question aside and silently stands to bring over the cup left on the table.  Jame’s eyes flutter closed again while he’s gone, and they open when he sits down and says, “Drink.”

She doesn’t take the cup, just narrows her eyes like she’s looking through heavy smoke and asks, “Tori?”

“Yes,” he says, and his voice gives up on him, doesn’t say thank God, I was so worried, everyone was so worried, you’ve been asleep for three days and I thought you were going to leave me die.  It’s for the best, probably--their fragile detente is always so precarious, and he’s sure that if he says something wrong, she’ll send him away.

“Why are you here?” Jame asks hazily, in that thin rasp of a voice.  “You should be at home.”  She stirs with more intent, pushing herself up on a shaking elbow.  “Father--did Father chase you out too?”

Her words are such a clean, brutal blow that she’s managed to swing a leg over the edge of the bed before he can bring himself to move.

“Don’t get up,” Torisen says, alarmed, and puts the cup down on the floor so that he can press her back down to the bed with both hands.  He can just picture her trying to stand and immediately falling down in a heap.  “It’s all right, I’m--I’m fine.  Lie down, Jame,” he says, and manages to force her down flat again.

“You shouldn’t be here,” Jame says, looking up at him and curling one hand into his sleeve.  He can feel her claws scratch against his skin where they’ve torn the fabric.  “It’s not--did Senethari let you in?  He shouldn’t have.  Father has to take you back.  Did he make you leave?”

This--please, God, Torisen isn’t strong enough to handle this.  Jame is supposed to be the sane one.  “It’s okay,” Torisen says, helpless, and sits down on the edge of the bed.  “It’s all right.”

Jame blinks, like she’s as confused by her questions as he is, but she doesn’t loosen her grip on him.  “Are we--where are we, Tori?  It’s so--why are you here?”

“We’re at the keep, at Tagmeth.  You called for me--or, your Kendar did.”

“At the keep?” Jame repeats.  She’s frowning, confused, and tugging lightly on his sleeve.  He grabs her hand and starts trying to unclench her fingers--he needs to get Kindrie, surely, to find out if this delirium is dangerous, but Jame’s grip is tenacious and she’s managed to put three clawed fingers clean through the cloth of his shirt, so that he doesn’t have a hope of getting her off unless he cuts the sleeve completely.

“Yes,” he says, and tries to make his voice as gentle as he can manage.  “At Tagmeth.  You were poisoned, do you remember?”

“Poison,” Jame murmurs.  She lets out a hoarse noise and says, “Unclean.”

“No,” Torisen says, and they’re both clearly taken aback by how loud his voice is.  Not his memory--Shanir, godspawn--but remembered with perfect clarity nonetheless.  “No,” he repeats, more moderately.  “You were given something.  You’re going to be all right.”

“Father will be angry when he finds us,” Jame mumbles.  She curls toward him, on her side, so that her fist is still clenched in his sleeve and her face is pressed into his leg.  “Don’t leave, okay?  I’ll tell him it was my fault.”

“I won’t leave,” Torisen says, the words hanging fragile in the air.  His hand is still resting on hers, fisted into his shirt, but he’s given up on prying her loose, just cupping the delicate bones of her hand in his palm.  Her skin is hot and dry, but a shiver runs down her spine and she curls tighter into him, even though he must feel cold to her.  “I brought you water,” he tells her quietly.  “You need to drink.”

She’s already asleep again.

[smallblueandloud]

“True, people often died around her, but she seldom killed them, even in a berserker rage. It was more as if she created a climate in which death was likely to occur.”

The Sea of Time, P. C. Hodgell

[incorrectkencyrath]

People say 'what you don’t know won’t hurt you' when in factuality I don’t know anything and am constantly being seriously injured and hurt.

Jame

[aeylis]

Starting work on a painting of Jame from the Kencyrath series :)

[thepodcastboundinpaleleather]

A Rage of Rathorns!

A new episode of the Podcast Bound in Pale Leather has just dropped! 

Kathrin and Gabe get very excited as Jame, Jorin, and Marc explore more of the Anarchies than they bargained for, solve an old mystery, make an unusual friend, and get up-close & personal with MC Escher.

 And, good news! PBiPL has expanded to the following platforms:

Google Podcasts, iTunes , Podcast Republic, Spotify, Castbox, and Stitcher

We’re pretty excited to share all good things Kencyr, Rathillien, and Hodgell! 

[ayasuzuhiro]

“Where there is a window, there is a way.”

-Jamethiel Priest’s-Bane, contemplating how to escape a room

[lyreofsheliak]

Kencyrath, paths not taken

Fandom: Chronicles of the Kencyrath

Characters: Jame of Knorth

Also on: Dreamwidth. 

Written for the prompt “making a different choice”. 

Gerridon is dead. Jame went to him, and as much as she wanted what he offered her, as weak as she had been, at the last moment she had defied him. A futile protest, he had thought. (She had almost agreed. But they had both been wrong.) She only scratched him (this time), but he is dead. The knife—the Ivory Knife—is cold in her hand, cold as ice, cold as death. She can hardly feel that hand; her knuckles are white around the hilt. Destruction. Regonereth. (Had she even meant—) When the apparition heals her, the blade clatters to the floor. Her mind is clear. She has been lucky; the shifters haven't found her. She wonders how many of them are even here. Keral is probably still lying with his golden-eyed shadows. Tirandys is— Tirandys has gone to kill Tori. Gerridon is dead, and either Tori will follow him or Tirandys will, unless she can find them first. Jame picks up her knife, clutches her cloak around her, and runs.

[morven]

"I've got to stop falling from great heights. It's unhealthy."

—Jame

[justawanderingbabbit]

@xcziel tagged me for the 10 characters, 10 fandoms, 10 tags post a bit back and I'm finally getting to it after a long weekend at DCI. Go Phantom Raiders! WOOOT!

Putting my tags up front because I had to put a cut in: @clockworkspider, @ohyka, @nightxshade, @hamliet, @toastinette, @mercyandmagic, @r95irth, @foxofninetales, @hawberries, @foxghost

*ahem* Anyway.... (This gets long because I ramble)

The Rover, Duel of the Iron Fist, played by David Chiang: This was the character and actor who dragged me into martial arts movie fandom. Seriously old school for you young whippersnappers but dang he proved I have a type.

Jareth, Labyrinth, played by David Bowie: I was a fan of Bowie's from the first moment I saw him in "Man who Fell to Earth". Yet again, my type.

Zorro, Mark of Zorro, played by Frank Langella: The made-for-TV movie had its flaws but Frank Langella played one of my favorite character types (crouching moron, hidden badass) beautifully. One of the few left-handed Zorros out there, btw.

Vampire Hunter D, eponymous title, voiced by Kaneto Shiozawa: The art for the original movie is dated but the voice acting was gorgeous. Kaneto Shiozawa (RIP) was one of my absolute favorite voice actors.

Homunculus, Shadow of Destiny, voiced by Charles Martinet: The genie, demon, Gods know what, manipulator behind the scenes of the game. The story never did have a satisfactory ending for me, mostly because this character's entire existence was intended to 'fix' what went wrong in a family's timeline, with little consideration for what his existence meant. Oh, and btw, his voice actor was Mario's voice actor, which just proves the man has range and talent.

Janus, Chrono Trigger (maybe Cross as well, sort of?), no voice actor that I know of: The sorcerer who helps the yokai types invade Chrono's homeland. He has reasons, though, and you can get him on your team later on. Tall, skinny, has albinism(?) and might just be the son of Lavos. Should have shown up officially in Chrono Cross or been given a role in the never produced Chrono Break.

Janus Cascade, Wild Arms 3, no voice actor in the English language version: The primary enemy of the first arc of the game, he mostly is in it to stay alive despite his bosses' worst efforts. He shows signs of liking Virginia, though that never went anywhere, drat it.

Yu Hua, Mr. Melancholy Wants to Live a Peaceful Life, novel: One of the main characters in the story, he's a former transmigrator who'd 'won' the game and taken being able to live happily and comfortably on a world where there aren't supposed to be other transmigrators. Except, of course, things start going wrong when his old 'employer' (enslaver?) starts sending more transmigrators to his world to cause trouble.

Xue Xian, Copper Coins, novel: A dragon crippled by an attack by some strange force, Xue Xian makes contact with a monk called Xuan Min and becomes embroiled in case after case of misused and abused power, all of which leads up to revealing their connection and the secret behind Xue Xian's crippling.

Jame Priest's Bane of the Knorth, Kencyrath series, novels: A member of a race called the Kencyr, Jame starts off as a lost wanderer who falls into trouble (often literally) everywhere she goes. As the series progresses we learn she's the twin sister of her people's High Lord, the daughter of a traitor who reaped souls and lost her own, and possibly one of the three aspects of her peoples' tri-part God. (Destruction, naturally) While she wants to do right and less harm, her nature means that those who act for the sake of their own wealth and power often fall into disaster in their attempt to block her.

[otrtbs]

hello! hows it going? <3

is something like this cropping up in Mon Dieu? bc if it is… i’d love it but i think i might cry :(

like, on a surface level, this fic concept is goofy and fun, but the angst potential for this has me in such a chokehold. i’m obsessed im sorry akshsg but it’d be a wonderful unexpectedly emotional work if you follow the fleabag vibe

(im sorry for the constant badgering over a fic that doesn’t really exist yet lmao but i just really love this idea and i hope you don’t mind me popping in here like this. hope you’re well lovely! 💛)

HELLO!! I AM WELL!! <33

so it wasn’t going too but now I’m thinking!!! bc how close do I wanna follow fleabag yk?? BUT

YEAH I COULD DO IT BUT IT WOULDNT BE AS SAD

and regulus would not listen, I hate to say it “bane of James’ existence and object of all his desires” to quote bridgerton at you hahaha

but there will definitely be fleabag-esque angst!!

Also I don’t mind you popping in at all !!! esp to talk abt priest!James and/or fleabag :))))) I hope you’re well too 🥰🥰🥰

[tanoraqui]

Chapters: 2/? Fandom: Chronicles of the Kencyrath - P. C. Hodgell Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Jamethiel "Jame" Priest's-bane/Torisen Black Lord Characters: Kirien of Jaran, Rawneth of Randir, Jamethiel "Jame" Priest's-bane, Torisen Black Lord Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Ficlet Collection, out of chronological order, Erratic Provision of Context, Posting as I write, Tags Added As I Go, Canon-Typical Incest is Fine Especially for Knorths

Summary: River City: a metropolis about the size and socioeconomic/cultural importance of San Francisco, home to a wide range of daring, dauntless superheroes…and dire, dangerous supervillains. About 40 miles off the coast lies the island micronation of Gothregor, last remnant of the long-since-dissolved Knorth Empire. No one has heard anything from them since the last known living Knorth scion left River City in a blaze of disgrace over 30 years ago…

Me, create an elaborate superhero au of a niche fantasy series and start posting ficlets from it with no coherent plot nor timeline? Yeah. Check out this spreadsheet of characters if you want, with a second tab for a most pre-”canon” timeline - or just discover it all as I publish!

[words-writ-in-starlight]

ohh, angst asks! Gotta Stay Quiet To Avoid Discovery for songxiao and/or Desperate Hand-Holding for jame/tori. (also 98% of those prompts have happened onscreen or been heavily implied to have happened in the kencyrath and i've gotta say... it good, it very good) (but kindrie is not given enough emotional support in response for him having to deal with it)

THIS IS SO UNFAIR HOW CAN YOU MAKE ME CHOOSE BETWEEN THESE actually never mind I fixed it, I wrote both, the other one will go into the queue.  Have a much-compressed AU where Jame gets to be the rescued party for a change.  For this ask meme!

Jame doesn’t let her fingers shake as she braids bells into her horse’s mane.  She rides with the Hunt every year, and every year she hates it, hates the rising blood-song of the magic, hates the horses, hates the moment where she becomes the crest of the wave and brings the Master’s strength crashing down on anyone in their path, but that is what the Mortal Knight is for.  A focus.  A spearpoint.  Her mother was the Mortal Knight before her, until the power was too much and sent Jamethiel shattering, and now--

Now Jame is not letting her fingers shake, and it’s not out of dread.  Jame doesn’t believe in dread.  She hasn’t in a long time, not since she ran from her father’s hall straight into the arms of the Hunt as a child.  Dread is only a way to prolong the suffering of a bad moment, so Jame deals with bad moments as they come and tries to ride them out as best she can, and this Hunt will be another in a series, but there’s no point dreading it.

Jame is good at not feeling dread.  But hope--that’s another thing entirely.

“Still scared of horses, little dreamer?” Keral croons, and she snarls at him.  He reaches out to brush his fingers through her hair, where it’s loose around her masked face, tiny plaits woven with ribbons of silver and scarlet hidden in the curls.

“I’ll break your hand,” Jame says.  She could, too.  The Hunt is rising, the magic is boiling up, and she is the focus, the harbinger, and tonight she could break Keral’s laughing smile into pieces and scatter them at her feet.

“Keral,” Tyrandis interrupts, melting out of the shadows.  He’s like that.  “Go and prepare.”

Keral tugs on one of Jame’s plaits and smirks at his half-brother, but he goes.  Tyrandis watches him go, and then turns back to Jame, where she’s checking her saddle.  She hesitates over the buckles.  She could loosen them, just one notch, or try to hide some damage to the straps--but no.  They might come loose at the wrong moment, and her horse be traded out.

And she told Tori that she would be on the only white horse, is the thing.  She’s not allowing herself to count on him.  She won’t.  But by God, she’s going to start and end this Hunt on a white horse, one way or another.

“Jamie,” Tyrandis says.  She snaps around to look at him, and manages a small smile.  He knows how she feels about the Hunt, but he’s smiling back at her, although his eyes are sad and his fingers linger on her cheek when he brushes her hair out of her eyes.  “I’m proud of you, Jamie.  Keep it in mind, hm?”

Jame trusts Tyrandis implicitly.  She trusts that he loves her.  She trusts that he will always do his duty to his Master.  She trusts that he is smart enough to know something is amiss, and she trusts that he knows that asking any questions would force him to betray her.

“I will, Senethari.”

“Good.  Mount up, we’re riding out.”

The crossroads is glowing with moonlight when the Hunt sweeps down on it, and Jame’s heart would be in her mouth if not for the fact that all she can hear is hunting horns, all she can taste is foreign blood, thick and iron-bright.  Her hands are tangled in her horse’s mane, without reins, and she is at the head of the Hunt, a creature made for killing, glittering in silver and scarlet and black, and everything is wonderful.  This, this is how she should always be, magic flowing through her like blood, and she does not remember why she hated this, when it is so clearly all that she was born for.

They slow at the crossroads, the Hunt piling up behind Jame like a wave, calling out to each other like a pack of hounds belling in the dark, and she tips her head back to the moon and tries to remember why she has stopped.

The moonlight falls on her like wine and honey, sinking into her skin, and Jame opens her mouth, takes a breath to say onward, and--

The figure in black is slight-boned and as quick as a whip, and his hands are like iron when they close into her hunting coat and wrench her to the ground.

Jame hits the packed dirt hard, and the magic of the Hunt cracks like glass with the impact, leaving her shaking and weak and gasping.  The man--Tori, it’s Tori, he came for her, after all this fucking time he actually came for her--is above her, pinning her down, and he’s haloed in moonlight that glows on his silver-shot hair when he says, “Jame?”

“Yes,” Jame wheezes, breathless.  “Hold--hold me tight, brother.”

“I have you,” Tori says.  She thinks he says it, anyway.  She hopes so.  She told him not to be afraid, among the roses.

She hears the Master’s voice, distant and terrible, speak a word from amidst the Hunt.

The magic crashes back down onto her, the sky falling in shards and ripping into her fragile mortal skin, and she’s screaming, trying to fight her way out of her bones, out of Tori’s arms.  She claws at his hands, snaps at him with a wolf’s teeth, and he doesn’t let go.  Tori buries his face in her thick-furred ruff, where she can’t get purchase on him, and clings to her until Jame is panting and still underneath him, and then--

The magic surges, and another scream fights its way out of her throat, a hunting cat’s screech, and she twists like water until she can sink a paw full of lethal claws into Tori’s shoulder, through his coat and shirt and skin and muscle until she scrapes bone.  He doesn’t let go.  He fists his hands in her sleek short fur and presses himself close without regard for his blood coursing over her paw, and then--

A third rush of power and pain, and armor is growing from Jame’s skin, ivory-white and stronger than steel, barbed at her joints so that it tears into Tori’s coat as she fights to her feet, a half-grown rathorn colt screaming in the bone-shaking register of her kind.  Tori tightens both hands in her mane and twists, and brings her down.  She bites him--she can taste blood on her fangs, his blood, real and rich--and he doesn’t let go.  He doesn’t let go.  He doesn’t let go.

The magic falls away like bursting out of ice-cold water, and Jame is left shivering on the ground, her brother’s blood and the dirt of the road on her skin, and Tori’s face is still pressed into her shoulder, his arms tight around her ribs and his chest pressed to hers.  

“Were you afraid?” Jame rasps, hugging him close and meeting Tyrandis’ eyes over his shoulder.  Tyrandis nods to her.

“Yes,” Tori says, raising his head to look at her.  He’s bruised, but his silver eyes are fierce, and when he unwinds his arms, he doesn’t pull away.  Instead, he pulls his torn coat off and drapes it over Jame’s naked shoulders, and puts his hand into hers, and doesn’t let go.  He pulls her to her feet without regard for the wound in his shoulder, the blood on his arm, and says, “Let’s go home.”

[smallblueandloud]

kendar gorgeous

the original concept of this is from @words-writ-in-starlight, the bastion of kencyrath-related content on the internet. everyone say “thank you, star!”

-

Tori: I was like 12 years old and my dad walked up to me and he said, “Hello… [chuckles] Hello, I’m Ganth Gray Lord. I’m your father.” And then he said the following, “You know, Tyrandis… was one of the great Knorth and masters of the Senethar, but sometimes he would be Shanir. And according to a song I heard once, when he was holding back the Shanir part, he did some of his best work.

Now we don’t have time to unpack all of that. And I don’t know if he was discouraging me from being Shanir or encouraging me to betray my people because of rigid concepts of honor, y'know, the way he did. But that is how he thought to phrase it to a 12-year-old boy. How would that ever work? Like years later, I’d be the Highlord about to follow my sister, the nemesis, into battle and I’d be like, “Wait a second… What would Tyrandis do?” Which of course would be to follow Jame into battle. I never talked to my dad about that after this, but I figured I would tell all of you.

-

Tori: I never went to Tentir. I got all of my training from this randir, his name was Harn Grip-Hard. Go ahead and laugh. His name is ridiculous. That was his name. It was Harn Grip-Hard. He was from Tentir. He was a beserker. [audience is silent] Oh, gee, very sorry everyone, did that make you uncomfortable? Well guess what! You're all randir and he's not even HERE! So imagine being TWENTY THREE YEARS OLD, fresh out of the Haunted Lands, COMPLETELY untrained and you're sitting in a small enclosed space with him. He's still got blood on his ears. And he's looking you in the eye to tell you for the first time in your VERY young life that SOME people REALLY HATE YOUR HOUSE. And they may just have to kill you over it!

So Harn came every night with a program to teach me about the violent world waiting for me outside my bunk in the Southern Wastes, and that program was called Street Smarts! “Time for Street Smarts with Harn Grip-Hard. Shut up! You’re gonna die. Street Smarts!” That was the general tone. He would give me tips to deal with infighting between the houses.

I will share some of the tips with you this evening. “Okay, tip number one. Street Smarts! Let’s say a Randir pulls a knife on you to try and get the Highlord's seat.” You remember the scourge of muggings when you were in the Southern Host. You know how a Kendar thinks. “Man, I want to be Highlord, the traditionally Knorth seat. Hey, maybe that random Ardeth bastard with the extreme PSTD, y'know, shivering like a wet Chihuawawa will be able to help.” "Let’s say a Randir Kendar pulls a knife on you to steal the Highlord's seat. What do you do? You go fumbling for your father's ring. And you go fumbling for your father's ring. Well, in that split-second, that’s when he’s going to stab you. So here’s what you do. You kid get yourself an Ardeth crest on your jacket. Okay, you can get these at any haberdashery. You put a bright silver Ardeth crest and then when a guy flashes a blade, you point and go, ‘I think I saw a Knorth go that way!’ Then you run the other direction.”

“Tip number two. Street Smarts! Let’s say a kidnapper throws you in their base on a volcano…” This was at nine in the evening. [audience laughing] “Let’s say a Karnid throws you in their base. Don’t panic. [chuckles] Once you get your bearings… find the fabric that contains reality, get some slack in your chains, make a fist, punch through the fabric, thus creating a hole in reality leading to our ancestral enemy Perimial Darkling, then stick your little hand out and wave to your darkling sister training in the eaves of the Master's house to let her know that something HINKY is going on.” Can you imagine seeing that? [imitating the Senetha, pauses] “I think Tori's telling me I'm supposed to be on Water Blowing by now!” [audience laughing]

“Tip number three. Street Smarts! You Knorth have no upper body strength.” And we were like, “We know but, hey.” “If some guy tries to grab you, you can’t fight him with fists. So here’s what you do. You kids run into the nearest building, then go all the way up the stairs and jump down at him from the upper-level window. That’ll throw him off his rhythm.” That was a big thing with Harn, throwing potential assassins off their rhythm. “He’s not gonna know how to fight back with a feral creature of legend coming down at him.” [audience laughing] “If the Knorth women had an accessible flight of stairs and a fascination with the clouds, they’d still be alive today. Street Smarts!”

-

Tori: Harn told me things that haunt me to this day. He came one night for training. He goes, “Okay, when you get kidnapped…” Not if, when. [audience laughing] "Okay, so when you get kidnapped, the place where the guy grabs ya, in the biz we call that the primary location. Okay. Your odds of coming back alive from the primary location, about 60%. But if you are taken to a secondary location, your odds of coming back alive are slim to none.”

I am 35 years old and I am still terrified of secondary locations. If I’m at a place, I never want to go to another place. I’ll be at a council at Gogrethor and someone’ll be like, “Hey, Highlord, you coming to the barracks? We’re all gonna get drinks and keep the party going with the Kendar!” I’m like, “Nah, sister. You’re not getting me to no secondary location. You want it? Look at my Ardeth crest!” Street Smarts! Stay alert out there.

Between Harn and my father’s warnings about the Shanir, I thought I was going to be murdered my entire childhood and young adulthood. As Highlord people are like, “What are your top three plans for the Kencyrath?” I'm like, “Top three plans? I thought I would be dead in a Karnid base or murdered by my darkling sister by now!”

-

Tori: I restored Gogrethor. The whole thing! Holy shit, right? I just got a letter from the Women's World, which was fun ’cause mail, you know? So I open up the letter and they said, “Hey, Torisen, it’s the Matriarchs. You remember?” I say, “Yes, of course.” And they said… How did they phrase it? They said, “Give us a child!”

-

Jame: I found out recently that jokes don’t do well in court. So, some friends of mine were sued back in Tai-Tastigon for property damage. And they were guilty. And the lawsuit dragged on for years and years and eventually I got a letter when I was lordan of the Knorth. It was my friend from Tai-Tastigon, Darinby. He said, “Hey, that lawsuit with my neighbor is still dragging on and my neighbor just subpoenaed all my letters that mention him or the lawsuit.” And I said, “That’s crazy. But why are you calling me?” And he said, “Because you should be concerned.”

"He said, “I have an letter here from when we were apprentices where I wrote, ‘Hey, guys, I’m going to miss drinks at the Moon tonight because I have to meet with my neighbor about that lawsuit thing.’ And you replied, ‘Hey, do you want me to kill that guy for you? Because it sounds like he sucks and I will totally kill that guy for you. Okay. See you at the temple of the Three-Faced God.'”

[audience laughing]

Of all the things I did in Tai-Tastigon I would be ashamed to have mentioned out loud in a court of law, I think the top one is “See you at the temple of the Three-Faced God.” I'm goddamn religious and everything, but that rat bastard doesn't need to be reminded that people worship him.

-

Tori: Jame would go like this. [glares intensely] And Caldane would just do whatever she said! Now that’s not nice, right? The way I was raised, you’re supposed to say, “May I please have some respect, please?” And then maybe you will get some. And I bet all of you were taught to say please and thank you. But if all of us could go "Boo!" and Caldane would float up to the ceiling, we’d do it all day long. Even if you're not even mad at Caldane, you’d just do it so you could get some shade in the afternoons.