#lies and betrayal

[i-did-not-mean-to]

Pretty Lies

It's Gondolin OT3, so it's @jaz-the-bard :p

I am afraid that, by the nature of the prompt, this is not an entirely happy ficlet :s I hope you can forgive me <3

Characters: Idril x Tuor x Maeglin

Words: 1 840

Warnings: lies, well-meant and otherwise, mental pain, anguish, imminent doom

Idril knew that something was wrong.

She would never have told him as much, but Maeglin—Twilight son of her father’s sister—was much less mysterious than he might have thought.

Of course, he had not gotten to know his extended family, so he had no idea how much of his grandfather and his uncles were inscribed in his face, his gestures, and his movements.

She, on the other hand, remembered—she had been but a child, swaddled in her mother’s arms, but she recalled her father’s brothers perfectly—the heroic, often silly stories, the warmth of their love, and their roaring laughter—as well as she remembered Maeglin’s mother.

“Cousin,” she said now, trying hard to break through the armour of compounded grief and hardened resentment. “You know that you can talk to me, don’t you?”

A part of her wanted to reach out, yearning to cup that pallid cheek in a poor imitation of her mother’s grace and generosity. Still, she didn’t dare—too fierce was the fire burning in the other’s unfathomable eyes and the cruel twitch of his sensual lips he tried to dissimulate.

“I know,” he replied, but there was a hint of mockery—twisting like a knife in her heart—colouring his voice.

Idril flinched back as if feeling the sting of his rejection like a physical blow.

“There is nought that should preoccupy you, Princess.”

It took a moment until Idril could identify the sickly, sinking feeling in her chest—Maeglin was lying to her, and he was not even really trying to hide that fact. It seemed to her that a part of him wanted her to know.

Before her ire, tinged with an almost puerile feeling of betrayal, could overwhelm her and make her say things she would not be able to take back, she forced herself to remember that she was her father’s daughter and heir—she had to rise to the occasion with as much grace as she could muster even as her heart broke.

Breathing in and out slowly, she stared at the stranger who had his uncle’s smile and his grandfather’s frown, seeking a way to connect with him.

Had she suspected that he might react positively to such a confession, she would have offered him all her most precious memories as a token of goodwill and kinship—more yet, she would have laid that part of her heart that was duty and loyalty at his feet to soothe them, sore and weary as they were from running from she knew not what terrible threat.

“Please,” she breathed instead. “I see that you are suffering, share your burden with me,” she wanted to cry, but she was too afraid that her words would be met with scorn once more. “Something seems to be troubling you.”

“If you say so.” It was not a concession—it was a doleful accusation. She had heard these very words drip like poison and be flung like arrows from the lips of her ancestors, and she hated herself for finding echoes Finwë’s tired overindulgence, Fingolfin’s affectionate permissiveness, and her own father’s pained stoicism in her own demeanour.

As tears burned in her eyes, she reached deep into her soul to find her mother—warm and brave—but there were only the ashes of Turgon’s inconsolable silence where she sought to find Elenwë’s reassuring smile.

“Please, do not worry on my account,” Maeglin pleaded darkly.

“What are you not saying?” she thought, sadness overshadowing her dying wrath. His words tingled like a warning instead of settling like a blanket of comfort around her heaving shoulders.

“As you wish,” she said tonelessly, her voice cold, her face motionless. “Tuor is awaiting me—you know where to find us, should you change your mind.”

“Are you well, my love?” Tuor asked softly.

“Of course,” his love, his shining miracle, replied in a voice and inflexion that sounded so much like her father’s that he was dumbfounded for a moment—he had learned much about the enigmatic, enchanting creature he adored so deeply. Still, he was reminded every so often of how much his feeble, woefully mortal mind would never be able to grasp.

What secret grievances and momentous misgivings were pondered behind that smooth, fair brow even as she humoured him by making pleasant conversation about his diurnal duties and delights?

To this very day, she had refused to share many details about her time on the Ice and her mother’s death—she claimed that she wanted to protect him from the pervasive rot of grief that would gnaw on every happy moment they experienced—but Tuor was no longer sure that he fully believed that.

“How is Maeglin? Have you conversed with him?” he asked instead, probing at the open wound she probably thought he knew nought about.

Idril loved her cousin in ways Tuor could hardly even begin to grasp—all he knew was that the unfortunate orphan who had found refuge in Gondolin was of a rare and alluring beauty which complimented his beloved’s in the most maddening ways.

Everyone here was so incredibly enthralling—hewn of living stone and adorned by animated gems—that he was perpetually surprised that Idril and Maeglin seemed to bring out one another’s best assets without ever overshadowing the other.

It was a testament to his innate weakness that he yearned to see them together so much; indeed, catching them during a private meeting or tense conversation made his heart race and mind swim, but he relished those few precious, erratic heartbeats of hopeful delirium that threatened to tear his chest apart.

“I have,” she admitted. “He was cagey.”

“Isn’t he ever so?” Tuor replied with easy charm and bent down to press a kiss onto her smooth, flawless cheek. Thus, he nearly missed the flash of anger and pain passing through the bright summer sky of her gaze like an ominous storm cloud. “You suspect that he hides something of importance?”

“No,” she rejoined a little too quickly and too vehemently. “No, never you mind.”

The smile she plastered onto her bewitchingly gorgeous face was too static, Tuor thought as his stomach lurched miserably. The one he had seen laugh, dance, and argue passionately now resembled a forgotten statue of a long-lost heroine, and he loathed the fact that she had ruthlessly and unconditionally shut him out.

He did not doubt that something was weighing on her—a bleeding ache that made carmine roses bloom under her otherwise unblemished skin—and yet he had to accept that she would not share her doubts and fears with him until she deemed it absolutely necessary.

Maybe, she was still shielding and sheltering him, he mused, and maybe, she had just grown incapable of speaking words of dread and imminent doom for fear that her very speech would ultimately conjure up and breathe life into her starkest nightmares.

“He is well, I take it?” Tuor tried one last time, flinging his heart and soul against the impervious walls of Idril’s unyielding secrecy.

“Yes,” she smiled. “Yes, we both are quite well.”

Maeglin stared at the peaceful horizon, unfurling like a golden tapestry beyond the confines of his sanctuary and prison.

Even though there was not a single sign of looming danger in the sweet air yet, the landscape was already ablaze to him, set alight by the voracious flames of his guilt and apprehension.

Idril knew—he was certain of it—although he could not fathom how she could have seen into his head and heart and deciphered the feelings and thoughts even he could not always make sense of.

He replayed his conversation with her over and over in his mind, analysing every word, every movement, every feigned smile, but he could not pinpoint the moment he had given himself away.

Oftentimes, his cousin’s effect on him positively bordered on terrifying—for some reason he could not identify or remedy, she seemed to know more about him than he ever divulged.

It was, of course, common knowledge that Idril was exceptionally gifted and versed in the art of mental communication, but Maeglin had to presume that there was another underlying truth—probably quite simple and therefore deeply perplexing—that entirely escaped him.

“Hello, are you all right?”

He whirled around when the kind, gentle voice of Tuor resounded behind him like a breath of warm air, chasing away the cloying fumes of asphyxiating mist.

“I cannot help but feel that my dearest love is worried about you. Did you fight?”

Maeglin smiled sadly at that; it was true that he and Idril oftentimes did not see eye to eye on matters of the realm, and they had been known to argue passionately about their discord—he almost wished that his crime against blood and soul only went as far as urban design.

“No,” he replied affably. “She has much on her mind these days—motherhood makes her suspect unspoken dangers looming behind every corner.”

The words tasted like ash and bile on his tongue. This was more than a despicable lie; it was a conscious effort to achieve the most reprehensible misdirection.

As Tuor’s smile softened to the point of looking positively boyish, Maeglin knew that he had succeeded in building a rapport based on gender and feigned privilege—within their hearts, they were both aware that Idril was more clear-headed and circumspect than any other person in the city, yet they let the gnawing curse of petty insecurity lead them astray.

As a matter of fact, it was easier to simply claim that Idril was chasing phantoms than to accept that she might see and know more than either one of them could even perceive, let alone understand.

“You’d come to us if you were in need of help, wouldn’t you?” Tuor grinned; his eyes were shining with faith and support, and his conspiratorial grin was unwavering.

Breathing out audibly to alleviate the torturous pressure weighing on his chest, Maeglin nodded gravely.

“Come to dinner soon,” the other pressed on. “I am sure it would reassure her so much; we love you well, you know that, right?”

Again, Maeglin moved his head—heavy with words unspoken and tears unshed—and fled the premises before the valiant Man could dig deeper into the distinctive mist of misery billowing around one he had accepted as a kinsman and friend.

If only they had invited him to their marital bed rather than their familial dinner table, if only they had laid their hands on him to arouse rather than gentle, if only they had spoken of loving passion rather than affectionate indulgence, he might not have quailed and capitulated before the terrible, relentless, corrupting presence of their common enemy.

The truth—bleak and burning—was writ plain across the darkening horizon, and—as so often in his life—Maeglin wished he had been given more time to tell the frightening, humiliating truth before he was forced to swallow the bitter drafts concocted from his craven lies and unspoken desires.

Thank you so much for reading <3

-> Masterlist for November (by @cilil)

[starry-bi-sky]

do yall ever think about bruce/batman!clone danny standing in front of his bathroom mirror after finding out he was a clone and silently tracing his face. The slope of his jaw and point of his chin. The high angle of his cheekbones and the shape of his eyes, the curve of his brow bones and the shape of his nose. The volume of his hair and the way it curls and gets fluffy when it gets too long.

His hair is black the same way a crow's wing is black. His dad's hair is black the same way a black bear's fur is black. His dad's eyes are blue like the ocean is blue. Danny's eyes are blue the same way a glacier is blue.

His dad has a square jaw and straight flat hair, and he tans and gets a face full of freckles when he's out in the sun for too long. Danny burns like a lobster and his face remains untouched. Danny has a sharp jaw and tall cheekbones, and Sam says when he's not smiling there's almost something regal about him. You would never call Jack Fenton "regal" when he's not smiling.

Sam says when he's not smiling he looks scary the same way a stone statue is. Jack Fenton when he's not smiling looks scary the same way that german shepherd staring at you across the street is.

Do you ever think he grew up wondering if he was adopted. Because of course, he has black hair and blue eyes like his dad. But having the same color doesn't make you someone's child.

Or, worse, things he's heard from the other kids and the other parents and even some of his teachers growing up; that he was the product of an affair. And that his dad was just too stupid to notice. And Danny would defend his parents until the day he died, because Jack Fenton wasn't an idiot and Maddie Fenton wasn't a cheater.

But doubt comes in with fickle tongue. his parents swear up and down that he is their child when he asks about either. That Danny just had his grandparents' features, but he was their son and they loved him.

But Danny doesn't look like either of his parents. His mom's eyes are blue like an aquamarine and Jazz's too. And they burn like lobsters in the sun too, but Jazz gets freckles on her face and so does Maddie. And as Danny grows up he doesn't bulk up or get stocky like his dad did, and when he hits puberty he doesn't shoot up like a tree like Jack Fenton did.

He stays small, and they say he's a late bloomer (and he is), or that he just has his mom's height. But he's fast and has good stamina, and some days it feels like he's built entirely different from his family. That the things they went through growing up just didn't apply to him. Jack and Maddie Fenton both had acne and breakouts when they hit puberty, and Jazz inherits it and he's seen the amount of skincare products she keeps on her side of the bathroom.

And then he hits puberty and breaks out maybe once or twice, but his skin stays clear for the most part and the problems and changes his dad went through just don't happen to him.

And the truth is worse than all of the lies.

How horrifying.

[sableeira]

sure ango may have betrayed every organization under the sun but tachihara put in the effort to build up the perfect stereotypical gangstersona and act his silly little heart out for the perfect plot twist so we all know who deserves the award for best port mafia betrayal

[boonie9]

Carlo never felt so insulted

It crossed my mind that Carlo probably wasn't very fond of puppets, they're weirdly too human, unsettling. It's more jealousy than anything tbh lol that's my hc for today thanks for coming to my ted talk

[liesandnights]

Worst part about finding out somebody lied to you is having to sit there and wonder what else they lied about.

[ragzonacamrencruise]

Betrayal (An ATLA analysis)

It's really important to me, how, in the Avatar universe, the person who's at the right side of the throne (essentially the right hand), always betrays the one sitting on the said throne.

Exhibit A:

Long Feng, kept the King oblivious to the Hundered Year War and handled all matters that are not partying or charity events, making him the de facto ruler of Ba Sing Se without even the King's knowledge, essentially paving a way for his betrayal.

Exhibit B:

Zuko, said it himself, that he was literally at his father's right hand. Even Azula got only the second best seat. And the next thing Zuko does? He betrays his father. I know what you're all thinking. But didn't Zuko already betray him before? Well, he did when he released Aang from Zhao as the Blue Spirit. But, the important point is, his explicit orders were to capture the Avatar to restore his honour. It didn't matter which methods he used to do it. He only ever openly betrayed his father during the eclipse and that was after he was placed at the right hand in the war meeting.

Exhibit C:

Mai, a betrayal that was a turning point in Azula's declining mental health. But hey, Ty Lee betrayed Azula too, right? Yes. But that doesn't change the fact that Mai did it first and she was sat at Azula's right hand. Mai never really feared Azula. She only followed her around out of her own will. Ty Lee on the other hand, when Azula recruits her at the circus, is found showing fear. She only had the guts to betray Azula after Mai did.

It really puts into perspective how Ty Lee couldn't betray Azula until provoked because she feared her, and Mai betrayed Azula because she didn't fear her enough. It further solidifies Azula's stellar line, "You should've feared me more!", insisting that if Mai had feared her more, she wouldn't have betrayed her. This especially holds true because it's later explained by Azula herself that, "Fear is the only reliable way." Fear kept Ty Lee in line but liberalised Mai cuz she didn't fear Azula more.

But all that goes out the window because Ty Lee betrayed Azula too. This is also one of the main reasons why Azula banishes most of the people around her. Because, "None of them can be trusted", and she trusted Mai as she knew Mai never feared her. It hurts her deeper because she trusted Mai and let her mantra of "Fear is the only reliable way" go, and guess what happens? She betrays her.

This solidifies three things in her brain: 1. Trust doesn't work, and, 2. Fear doesn't work either. 3. Nothing works, really.

Therefore, her action of banishing everybody with, "Sooner or later they all would've betrayed me."

This works for Exhibits A and B too. Long Feng never feared King Kuei and King Kuei completely trusted him until he learned of his betrayal. Trust didn't work, and fear didn't work either.

Zuko had never trusted his father. He only feared him. He has a physical scar on his body to prove it. But once that fear starts to deteriorate, he openly confronts his father and betrays him, letting go of his fear with, "It was cruel, and it was wrong!". Trust didn't work, and fear didn't work either.

So, what does work?

Well, the answer is pretty simple.

Love.

Love works. Any number and different kinds of love, be it platonic, or sibling, or romantic, it doesn't matter. It is foolproof!

Genuine care and affection for a person, doesn't let you betray them that easily. It's what made Sokka decide they should help Aang in Book 1. It's what made Yue turn into the moon. It's what made Toph come back to the Gaang again after she stormed off in Book 2. It's what made Aang come back for Bumi in Omashu in Book 2. It's what made Zuko find his path to Iroh again in Book 3.

The lack of love (from her own parents) is what made Azula's mental health deteriorate, as she thought nothing worked; it's depressing because she doesn't know that love actually works, cuz she's never known or experienced love her entire life, so she doesn't even consider it as an option.

The lack of love is what made the Dai Li betray Long Feng. The lack of it drove Zuko's betrayal to Ozai, Mai and Ty Lee's betrayal to Azula and even Jet's betrayal to Katara.

This could go on and on, but the end point here is that Azula's words on betrayal are true, but only when love is taken out of the equation. Love is the 'X' factor. Without it, there really is no equation, as all leads to zero.

[a-flickering-soul]

the single hand at the back of her head. how this frame is indistinguishable from a kiss. im inconsolable.

[casualavocados]

I'll let you go after I'm through. Don't go too far. …Why did you do it? I don't know what you're talking about.

KISEKI: DEAR TO ME Ep. 9

[mhaynoot]

unironically i think one of my fav joongdok moments is yjh bleeding and dying as he's carried on anna croft's back and telling her he has no intentions of dying and regressing. its an incredibly doomed situation, he literally wrecked his whole body to kill indra. to the point where if anna croft hadn't rescued him, they both know he would have been dead already.

the woman, the prohpet, who betrayed him in the last round had now just rescued him from certain death but now they're both on the precipice of dying again as they get chased by the rest of the countless stars.

she says, "looks like we'll have to live together in the 4th turn."

but yjh does not prepare to die.

"because..."

in this round, there is a fake prophet, who had lied to yjh over and over again, who had betrayed him by almost abandoning their worldline for another, who had used his tragedy and story to fuel his own. when you only look at it like this, what made him so different to anna croft? from the constellations yjh hates?

this is the man yjh had almost gotten the traitor story for in an ironic twist on what happened between him and anna croft. yjh does not want kdj to die. kdj is the same with him.

and almost like a miracle,

– Yoo Joonghyuk, you stupid bastard!!

Yoo Joonghyuk heard the loud yelling from the one standing at the forefront of that army and spoke up. "… Because I have allies in this turn who won't betray me."

[raincitygirl76]

Omar Rudberg is a very attractive young man. So I find it hilarious (though somewhat sobering) that nobody at Hillerska seems to notice Simon is gorgeous. All because he’s a lowly non-resident (and a socialist to boot, who refuses to act grateful to be allowed around his social betters), they pretend Simon’s looks are nothing out of the common way. It shows the pressure of class solidarity.

Makes me wonder, though, how many Hillerska boarders secretly have crushes on Simon. Because, you know, they have eyes, even if they don’t dare admit it to their friends because it would be social suicide. Are there girls in Simon’s classes who wistfully sigh over how aesthetically appealing he is? Or fellow choristers who covertly watch him sing when they’re supposed to be watching the music teacher and/or reading their scores?

I wonder how many girls quietly cried themselves to sleep right after the video came out. And told their curious roommates they were crying because apparently the Crown Prince is unattainable. But really they were crying because apparently Simon Eriksson is gay. And therefore definitely off the market, if those girls ever got up the guts to cross class lines and acknowledge how crush worthy he is.

P.S.

Incidentally, I don’t think Simon intentionally went back in the closet when he moved to Hillerska. It’s just we know from 1.01 that hardly anyone has spoken to him since the start of the school year. It’s kind of tough to come out to people who are pretending you don’t exist and won’t talk to you.

And then Wilhelm arrived, and was obviously interested but extremely closeted himself. So Simon had a large incentive not to arouse the suspicions of their Hillerska school mates by coming out himself. I don’t think Simon was hiding in S1 so much as just not choosing to actively bring it up. I’m pretty damn sure if someone had asked him flat out, he would’ve said he’s gay. But nobody did ask, so he and Wilhelm could continue to fly under the radar as close platonic friends.

We can also infer from Saran’s comment in 1.03 “Why are you sneaking around?” That at Marieberg, Simon was out and proud. But he wasn’t a pariah at Marieberg. People actually talked to him there. And he wasn’t deeply in love with a closeted guy at Marieberg.

It could also be another reason (as if Simon needed another) that Simon feels so betrayed by Wilhelm denying the video in 1.06. Simon has already compromised his principles for Wilhelm even before the video, by making allowances for Wilhelm’s closeted status and sneaking around secretively. And Wilhelm repaid Simon having previously compromised his principles by abandoning him altogether.

It’s one thing to let people assume you’re platonic friends and not actively correct them. It’s a whole other ballgame for Wilhelm to actively lie to the press and the entire world. Assertively affirming his (nonexistent) heterosexuality and his single status.

[kaeyachi]

One of the probable reasons as to why Kaeya didn't arrive on time for Crepus and Diluc when they were attacked was because he, and the knights with him, had no vision, and thus, cannot use a teleport waypoint.

Him receiving his cryo vision when he was supposed to get scorched by Diluc was genuinely the biggest slap to the face given to him by Celestia. It arrived just in time to save HIM.

Even now, the vision only heals and shields him alone as a manifestation of his desire to keep living from that fight... but he can't use it to help others.

[queenerdloser]

i just finished dark heir

[isalabells]

"When [Aleida] opens the door [to Margo's office after the JSC bombing], I think the immediate fear is, "Margo died, and I never got to tell her that I love her." There's shock there, so she isn't thinking straight, but I think that's what it is — that she's been arguing and fighting with this person, and at the end of the day, she just wants to tell her that she loves her."

[trash-begging]

If I have to read someone calling solas the god of lies one more time I’m going to fling myself into the sun!

[bitstitchbitch]

I desperately hope that the renegades are absolutely abolished in the spin off series. I need Nova to realize that, while the anarchists were worse, the renegades aren’t great either and her switching sides so fully and suddenly was just a knee-jerk reaction to leaving the anarchists and her and Adrian and the others rebel again at the council and put a real democracy with true equality in place. i also want nova pov again, but i know the chances of that are very low since i think we can assume it will be Evie x Max