#lmao anyway enjoy... whatever this is

[mushroominaforest]

They dancing

[katabay]

PAGLUIB

way back in like. march?? I took a stab at writing some kind of kabitserye type of story but it was a mess: it kept veering off into murder mystery drama territory because I was reading a lot of murder mystery novels around then and it Wasn't Good because I hadn't tried writing mysteries, let alone murder mysteries, before lmao

I did write a handful of short mystery stories since then, so next year I might take a stab at this idea again now that I'm no longer jumping head first into a genre pool I don't know how to swim in :)

[cherrirui-official]

@ohposhers I blame you for this

J*hn D*ry do NOT interact 😤✋

[mellohimelody]

cpurpled

letters to kafka, salma deera // station eleven graphic novel (x), illustrated by Maria Nguyen // underbelly, nicole homer // the garden of good and evil, alfredo jaar // mrs. caliban, rachel ingalls // I HOPE YOU READ THIS, lev st. valentine // station eleven graphic novel, illustrated by Maria Nguyen // the last scene in the movie by eleanor hsieh (x) // the gods show up, michael kinnucan

[januaryrabbit]

Request: how svt would deal with their crush being in a relationship already (their crush is their bff)

hello! thank you for requesting, im sorry its so late!! :) this scenario is kinda angsty so i hope you dont mind!!

seventeen when their crush (who happens to be their best friend) is in a relationship!!!

pairing: svt x gn!reader

word count: 2.3k

warnings: angst, Simping, Yearning

other disclaimers/notes: lowercase intended; barely proofread because it's 4am!!!, i’ve been watching wayyyyy too many coming of age films lately lmao!!!

✩‧₊˚Cope (trying to be normal)

vernon: vernon rolls with the punches in most any circumstance, and this is no exception. like Yeah….this shit sucks….but you guys are best friends, so he has to deal with it. i don’t think this would affect him too much tbh,,,like i think the fact that he’s in love with you is something he rarely even admits to himself. i feel like he always has it in the back of his mind, but nothing more than that. i think he’d be able to ignore his feelings the most successfully out of all the members because vernon’s realistic with himself and he knows there’s no point in being hurt over something that’s out of his control. none of this stops him from loving you, but that’s something for him to know and you to never find out lol. seungkwan knows about vernon’s feelings btw. he (vernon) figures that if he had to tell anyone…it would be him, and for whatever reason, he felt compelled to tell at least one person about all of this. vernon doesn’t know why, but it feels better knowing that someone knows his true feelings, even if that someone isn’t, and probably can never be, you.

s.coups: you know that face he makes after the girl rejects him in mansae??? Yeah. Yeah that’s him at all times lmao. he cant say hes mad at anyone in this situation, except maybe the universe lmao. i think he just regards this whole situation has his life’s hugest bruh moment LOL. he’s gotten okay at pretending like everything’s fine when he’s around you, because in his mind, there’s nothing else he can do. there was no way he was going to end his friendship with you, but there was also no way he could confess his feelings to you. in private, he’s talked to some of the boys about it in private - mostly jeonghan and joshua, but sometimes when he’s feeling particularly frustrated with the situation, he goes to woozi, who is able to ground him every time he feels like he can’t take it anymore. seungcheol knows that to others, being friends with you while still being in love with you doesn’t make the slightest bit of sense; but if it meant you were still in his life to some capacity, that was all that mattered to him.

joshua: the definition of smiling thru the pain…like he’s literally katy perry They ask you how you sre and you just have to say that youre fine even though youre not fine like. i think more than anything, he’s not too torn up over this situation than he is irritated. the mention of your partner makes his eye twitch LMFAO. like when you come back from going on a trip with them, you start telling joshua about everything you did together and he’s like THAT’S SO COOL Y/N . I’M SO GLAD YOU GUYS HAD FUN. *eye twitch* LOL. tries his best not to go overboard with it or make it obvious that he’s being sarcastic - he’s aware enough to know that your happiness is important and that unless there’s a legit reason one day, he doesnt have any grounds for disliking your s/o too LOL. i think he’s probably overly cautious if you ever tell him that you and your s/o were having problems as well. like he would be try really hard to be neutral if you ever asked him for his opinion on a situation that happened between you and your partner. i think he would feel guilty about being your confidant while having these feelings for you,,as much as he wants to tell you to break up with them and be with him instead, he knows how terribly selfish of him it would be to put you in that situation. so, he endures it everyday.

dk: dude……HE IS ALSO SMILING THROUGH THE PAIN…..but like HES ALSO CRYING….SO BAD….like. he tries REALLY hard to keep everything lighthearted around you - any time the conversation gets even close to being serious, he always pivots to a different topic. some of the other boys can tell something’s the matter when he’s around you, but they can’t quite place what’s different about him. when he’s around you, he just seems ever-so-slightly…off. his smile is less bright, his jokes are a little less frequent, and he’s actually kind of quiet when people are around you two. it’s a weird sight to see, and dk knows this; he knows that others have noticed, but he’s trying as hard as he can to behave as naturally as he can around you. i think he’s one of the members that would be pretty broken up about the situation, similar to mingyu. i don;t see him being able to deal with something like this well. i think he definitely goes to the other boys for comfort about this, to the point where his feelings for you are kind of an open secret amongst them lmao. (except dino because seungkwan begged everyone not to tell him because he thinks dino would make it obvious that dk likes you so they leave him in the dark!!!) 

seungkwan: bruh seungkwan tries so hard to be normal around you but then he’ll text vernon “im third wheeling y/n again please kill me” in the same breath. sometimes when he’s falling asleep at night he’s just like god how did i end UP in this situation!!!!!  he’s more of the kind of person who’s pouty about it instead of sad about it. he just finds the situation annoying more than anything, and he wishes that you would just REALIZE HE’S IN LOVE WITH YOU ALREADY!! but he’s alright with waiting it out. i think he’s one of the members who would be not very fond of your partner LMAO. every time they greet seungkwan he’s just like “oh hey -___- how are you -___-” and your partner is like babe how do i get seungkwan to like me and you’re like HAHA he’s just like that, he needs to warm up to you!! (seungkwan knows this is not the case with this specific person.) but yeah, i think seungkwan also holds out hope that one day the two of you will end up together. i don’t think he would go as far as to ruin your relationship or influence you to break up with your partner, but i think he would definitely confess if you ever became single again LOL. i think it would be a teary confession too, because he’s been bottling up all these feelings for a while.

✩‧₊˚depression.

chan: oh my lee chan…i think he would fucking die in this situation!!! it would just, Destroy him. and you could tell there was something seriously wrong…he just wasn’t his usual excited self anymore, and he was suddenly beginning to avoid you out of nowhere. dino doesn’t want to do this; he doesn't want to be anywhere but by your side, but that place isn’t for him anymore and he knows that all too well. i think he would be one of the only people who would actually confess his feelings at some point, regardless if you were in a relationship or not. i think one day he would reach his breaking point and ust blurt it out because he just can’t take it anymore. i think part of him, although he feels guilty for it, knows that telling you about it is the first step he needs to take for him personally to move on. the only thing that hurts him more than not being able to be your person is keeping a secret this huge from you.

jun: dude this is the cat version of a kicked puppy. like. jun is NOT ok…..and he’s not very good at hiding it i think. i think you’d be able to tell that something was wrong, but jun is terrified about talking about this with you, so you never really find out what’s bothering him. i dont think he’s one who would ever end up telling you about his feelings. in fact, he might be one of the only ones who lets your friendship naturally drift apart because of his feelings for you. it’s not that he doesnt want to be in your life, but he also wants to get over you more than anything. but i think it would be incredibly difficult for him to see you as just a friend tbh, so for as long as you’re dating your partner, i think he’d keep his distance sadly.

hoshi: the light in this man’s eyes have unironically left. like. the thought of hoshi being sad over you……..I CAN’T BEAR IT!!! yeah i think he would take this all pretty hard. though unlike jun, i don;t think hoshi would be able to stay away from you and keep his distance. you’re too precious of a person in his life, and not to say that you aren’t in other scenarios with other members, but i just see hoshi being firm about still being in your life. in fact, he’s one of the few guys that i think is secretly hopeful that one day down the road you’ll end up together. he doesn’t ever voice these feelings to anyone; he knows it’s ridiculous to feel this way about someone who’s already taken, and he feels that if he voices it to someone that he’s going to get bad karma, LMAO. should you ever become single again though is a different story though….

mingyu: for some reason have this vibe that being in this situation would literally destroy him and eat him alive…i just feel like he’s someone who truly loves really, really hard, and adding in the fact that you’re his best friend magnifies the pain by hundreds. what do you fucking do when the person you love most in this world doesn’t return your feelings? he would be really torn up about this because on one hand, he’s never felt this way about someone before, and he wants nothing more than to be with you; but what he wants more than that is for you to be happy, and if that isn’t with him, he has to accept that. sadly, i feel like at some point this would be too much for him,,,like to the point where he keeps his distance from you a bit. he feels awful, but it’s just too hard for him to hear about you and your partner and act like nothing’s wrong when you’re around :(

✩‧₊˚avoidant

woozi: i feel like he might be a little hot and cold about it. he is Not happy in this situation, and it frustrates him that he cant really do anything about it except deal. he doesn't really like talking about your s/o and he tries his best to hide it, but you can kinda tell that there's something wrong. but when you ask him about it, he says he's totally fine! i don't think woozi would dare to ever let his feelings for you come to light, and as unhappy as it makes him to not be honest with you, he just doesn't feel comfortable with telling someone he has feelings for them when said person is in a relationship. as little of a fan he is of your s/o, woozi knows that if he was in their shoes, he wouldn't be happy if someone confessed to you while the two of you were dating. i think he would need some distance to get over you, and i think the only way that it would happen is by throwing himself into his work and begrudgingly spending a LOT of his time with hoshi LMAO!!

minghao: would distance himself by making a bunch of life changes to keep him busy so he can eventually get over you. minghao values you too much, so he figures the best solution is to take time to himself so he can get over you in a healthy way with space from you. he isn’t happy about seeing you less, but he knows that it’s what needs to be done in order for him to heal from this situation. would definitely have a vague excuse ready if you ever asked him why he was distant from you; i cannot see any universe where minghao would ever admit he used to have feelings for you, even if it had been years past. he’s keeping this one in the vault LMAO, not even jun knows!!

wonwoo: bruh…..he’s. he’s in pain. but he’s keeping it all inside. i think he’d feel really selfish for harboring these feelings toward you while you’re dating someone else. your partner was perfectly friendly to wonwoo,,,like it makes him feel WORSE that he’s in love with you. he tries to forget his feelings, even getting into relationships once in a while, but everything always comes back to you. i feel like this is a secret he’s told absolutely NO ONE at all because of how much it weighs on his heart. the only soul who does know to some extent is mingyu, because he caught wonwoo crying one day when he came home early from work. wonwoo didn’t really get into the details, but he did admit that it he had unrequited feelings for someone. mingyu didn’t pry, and he still never has. 

jeonghan: there is Pain behind his eyes lol but he is keeping this secret in the Vault fr. Maybe, M a y b e s.coups MIGHT know, but that’s about it. jeonghan is one of the only people i can imagine is completely normal around you and no one can tell that there’s anything wrong. the only reason that seungcheol knows anything is because he knows jeonghan the best, and he could tell by the way that he hung onto your every word that he had feelings for you. but yeah, i think jeonghan would have the easiest time living with this secret from you. sometimes he does feel a little guilty, and honestly sometimes he does flirt with you lightly, but nothing to arouse any serious suspicion. mostly he’ll just say he likes your outfit or something when you’re hanging out, which is harmless in his mind. it does bother him that the person he’s in love with is dating someone else, but i think jeonghan would just be like “what else can i do at this point??” and continue with his life. not much changes between the two of you, besides jeonghan being a little more quiet when the topic of your relationship or partner comes up, but it’s not something you notice anyway. and such is life, whether jeonghan is truly okay with it or not.

[saphushia]

|| part 1 || part 2 || part 3 || part 4 coming soon... ||

the update!! is finally!! done!!! holy shit i'm so glad i can finally post this aubdskjg. it was so fun seeing everyone guess what ace was gonna do after the last part! turns out, he can be silly AND pissed! who knew he was so multitalented~ i do wonder though- with the abilities they had when they were 17, who would win in a fight... >:3c

if you're wondering why this update took so much longer to come out than the last one, well... i got halfway through making it and then scrapped everything and started over completely... ah eto... bleh >v<

if you're curious what the initial version looked like, or want to see the pages without speech bubbles, they're both below the cut ^-^

so! first off! the scrapped pages:

the reason that i scrapped it is because... well. it doesn't flow well at all. i tried too hard to cram it to 4 pages which resulted in both the layout and the story flow feeling cramped. for the most part both versions cover the exact same beats but with the dialogue and timing/spacing tweaked. compare page 1 here to the first 2 pages in the final- it's the same exact scene but the final has way more impact because the larger panels give a 'pause' at emotional beats (such as ace's realization) that lets them sink in

my only regret is that i had to scrap sabo's expression in the first panel of page 2 aubsdkjfgb.

here's all the pages textless now ^-^

[volvolts]

You're not quite sure that you've gotten yourself into...but that still wouldn't justify getting in this amount of trouble with another Warlord But like hell you're going to give Doflamingo the satisfaction

a snippet i wanted to draw from Habenera by Nana on ao3

talking about it under read more

so habanera is the second part of a multipart series between crocodile and mihawk called L'amour est un oiseau rebelle. its in mihawk's perspective and written in 2nd person perspective. also mind the ratings

its really good and i highly recommended if you haven't already! it's also fairly short reads, between 1500 to 3500 words depending on the story.

[temporary-tats]

A soft-bees ko-fi roulette request for @notoftheskaal! Happy (belated) birthday my friend! Thank you very much for the support <3

(My links and my ko-fi, should you wish!)

[storfulsten]

hhhm

[thotinos]

Captain Price in the CoD MW III Trailer

[cementcornfield]

You should post your thoughts on Ja’Marr and Kyle!! I’m so interested in their dynamic if that makes sense 😅

lmao anon i love you thank you because i was literally just typing a post up by itself. but now i get the benefit of looking like i'm not the ONLY person to care about this. (there's at least two of us!!)

ok so! too much rambling about things that i could no way actually know anything about irl BUT 

kyle and ja’marr being together in paris is VERY interesting to me. their whole relationship is really because like. okay. i have joked that kyle and ja’marr are there to pick out joe’s wardrobe for next year together lmao but like!!! the clothes saga is SUCH a thing with ja’marr. the man has a Complex about joe and fashion and his part in it. we know this. i hardly need to go over the clothes saga with y’all again. but i will because it’s fun for me. ja’marr claims in GQ that he buys clothes for joe all the time and drops them off at 'the house’ for him. which is insane enough if that’s true. then a few days after that article drops (and also joe’s appendix explodes) he says nah never mind i was lying! (“kinda”). and that’s insane too. but whatever, we let it go, there’s football to play. then that offseason tee decides to cause some chaos i guess and confirms that actually ja’marr HAS bought joe clothes ‘multiple times’ so that’s. something!!! (along with TB in that one pivot podcast with all three of them teasing ja’marr about it!!) and then SOMEHOW none of this gets brought up again until a few months ago when ja’marr is just like “yeah actually i’ve been buying him clothes since last year” which is still a year later than he first said he bought him clothes 🤔

ALL OF WHICH TO SAY that ja’marr is fucking weird about this. he may or may not buy joe clothes (i’m still leaning yes on this), and he may or may not want people to know about it. i think he realizes just how intimate of a thing that is, to repeatedly buy someone you care about clothes that you think he would like, that you’d like to see him in. and i think if we go back to my Vision of insecure at times ja’marr, it’s one way to explain his back and forth on this.

but then!! insert kyle, who i believe only became joe’s stylist within the last year. before that i don’t think joe ever really had anyone Official to help him out with specific outfits/styles/branding etc (i’m sure the joe girlies will correct me if i'm wrong on this). and now i can only imagine that ja’marr might be feeling a little…possessive of joe here (what else is new lol ‘that’s my qb not their qb’ type shit). like if we believe he’s been buying him clothes since at least 2021, that’s like…that’s ja’marr’s Thing at this point?? even if it only started happening in 2023, that’s still a long time of "oh hey i saw this and thought of you and will you wear it and when you wear it will i feel a little thrill knowing that you took my advice knowing that you value my opinion knowing that the clothes touching your skin are only doing so because i bought them for you in the first place etc etc." and now here’s joe paying someone else to do it?? and who the fuck is kyle why him why does HE get to do it he didn’t even win a national championship with him in college???? (ja’marr obviously would be more rational than that. of course joe should pay someone to help him out with style as he does events and builds his brand more. but as a fellow Emotional Person myself, the rational response is never the first or strongest one.) 

so like! there’s that. that alone could make ja’marr not inclined to LOVE Kyle, ya know? and then if we want to get really Deep and dive into internalized homophobia of Male Athlete Culture. of my version (MY VERSION JUST MY VERSION THIS IS NOT ME SAYING ANYTHING IRL ABOUT HIM) of ja’marr and how he might cope with feelings and attractions that do not neatly fall in line with what is Expected of him and Has Been Expected of him since he was a kid. like fuck. do we remember how his dad said ja’marr used to like to read with his cousins (who were girls) but then his male friends came around and made fun of him for it, so he stopped reading altogether as a child?? thinking about that still makes my heart hurt! aughhh Gender!! and then even a few weeks ago on stream when ja’marr accidentally said that kyrie was sexy and IMMEDIATELY the chat and his friends jumped on him for it!! like yeah it was all lighthearted and all that but he got all embarrassed and even fucking apologized??? just the immediate policing of language/behavior followed by the immediate apology and moving on to no longer watching kyrie clips lol. crazy!!! Male Athlete Culture is SUCH a trip!! 

and kyle is gay! very much out and proud and not hiding or ashamed of any of it (fucking good for him tbh. i know he’s not Loved in this fandom but like that does genuinely take guts to be yourself like that in a culture like this. and make a career out of it! and he seems to be thriving!) and i just have to wonder like, how many queer people ja’marr really knows well?? the nfl has their corporate pride month bullshit where they celebrate the like 1 out gay assisant coach? 1 out gay FORMER player? if there are more queer people in the nfl, they are not very public about it. so again, how much daily interaction does a typical football player like ja’marr get with queer people?? i do imagine all the connections that are growing with the fashion world help of course! like kyle! who it’s clear he’s at least friendly with, if not the best of friends. and so like, i wonder about how that could stir complicated emotions in ja’marr if we go with my (AGAIN JUST MINE I’M NOT ACTUALLY SAYING ANYTHING IRL) version of him as a guy who has Feelings about male teammates sometimes and struggles with Dealing With That. 

and throw in the fact that ja’marr primarily knows him as this guy who’s always hanging around joe lol. taking over his role as joe’s personal stylist?? being free and open and ALLOWED to be attracted to all these guys, to joe himself!! (and if he thinks too hard about that he REALLY gets in his feelings). and it’s not jealousy really because he knows how important he himself is in joe’s life. kyle’s not replacing their history, he’s certainly not replacing his value to joe on the field, their close friendship, etc. but! he occupies a space in joe’s life that ja’marr can’t touch. he can publicly and proudly buy joe clothes. something that ja’marr WANTS but keeps shying away from. he can feel any feelings and any attraction he happens to have, he’s not hiding any part of who he is. if he thinks joe’s hot, if he thinks joe looks particularly attractive in an outfit he chose for him, he can! he will! he does! and i think that that just HAS to drive ja’marr a little fucking crazy.

so yeah. he likes the guy. they’re friendly. he’ll do a goofy lil dance when prompted by him for social media. but it’s Complicated. it’s Very Complicated. (to me.) 

[ladytauria]

Jaykon who meet each other as Tim's exes and hate each other (but like in a super chemistry sparks flying way) and end up hooking up somehow and idk Jason's just easier for Kon to start to get along with when a cock in his cunt mellows him out 😌

And ALSO maybe it's fun and games when Jason's all bark and no bite when it comes to flirting but Kon is all bite no bark so it escalates quickly and maybe afterwards when Jason's curled into Kon's side and kon's running his fingers through his curls they find out they have more in common than they thought and actually Kon's into the bravado now that he's had a taste Don't mind me just dumping thoughts 🤪💖 I always love what you think about them

been thinking about this SO MUCH since you sent it; apologies that it's taken so long!!

but godddd i love this so much

jason flirting with kon because it's one of his favorite ways to throw people off or distract them when they actually flirt back. except kon responds and he's *serious* about it, and jason can't back down *now*

and it escalates until kon has jason pinned underneath him; TTK holding him in place. and jason---at least in my headcanon xD---is SO into it; he loves being manhandled. and it's rough and messy and they're both still snarking at each other until they just CAN'T anymore. (and kon covers jason in marks and jason can't return the favor but he *tries* all the same xD)

and then neither of them feels like going anywhere so they end up curled together like you said; touches turned gentle, because as much as jason aggravates kon, kon doesn't really want to *hurt* him, and then they start actually *talking* and they find the other isn't so bad, really. again like u said xD

and so they keep seeing each other maybe <3 and i think it would be really fun if they like. start dating without noticing 😂

anywayyy i didn't have much to add, it's a fantastic concept!!

[redacted-thething]

did u know. that you can easily find the motivation to make funny casualty as text posts. simply by procrastinating on finishing the casualty fic u are trying to write? come back tomorrow for more fun facts wirh toby.

[1] [2] [3] [4] [5]

[rafyki]

I really can't understand why, but there's so much useless discourse in the pjo fandom - about ships, about interpretation of characters, about headcanons, and all stuff like that. Like, are most people in this fandom unable to have fun?

I mean, I've been in the fandom for ten years now, and (maybe it was bc back in the day I was in the Italian fandom) but back then there wasn't this much discourse???

Please, just learn to have fun, that's literally what fandoms are made for

[lullaebies]

Hey! I just love that green kids filled and I was wondering if you are willing to do another one (no pressure). Maybe one where they visit Oldtown to see Daeron before the Dance. Bonus if they get Alicent on a dragon🤭.

Daeron runs down spiralling staircases when he is told of his family’s arrival.

“You’ll break your legs before you’ll get to see them, you dimwit!” Lyonel chases him down with more cautionary steps. Ormund’s eldest has a critical tone that only has the audacity to bring forth to a prince, but Daeron is used to his friend and cousin. He trusts him more than that, he knows; when Lyonel wants to steal another bottle of wine from the kitchens, he’ll ask Daeron to be his partner-in-crime again. 

“A good luck’s wish, breaking a leg, is it not?” He yells back, jumping over several stairs in excitement. 

“No! Your brothers would have to carry you up to your rooms!” Lyonel retorts, scurrying to catch up with him. They reach the entrance hall in a few long strides, and Daeron looks back at the panting heir of the Hightower.

“They wouldn’t have to do a thing. You, however…” he trails off with a smirk. Lyonel does not seem amused, catching up with his breath. 

“You lay in your own bed. Break your skull during this visit, I’m not carrying you up the stairs.” 

“Clearly,” Bethany, Lyonel’s sister, chimes in, looking at her brother’s gasping form. The skirts of her teal dress twirled by Daeron’s feet as she came to stand by them. “Worry not. I would.”

Daeron laughs. “Why thank you, Bethany,” he says softly, as the doors to the Hightower open. Lord Ormund enters in with the royal entourage that Daeron had waited on for weeks. His eyes brighten as he sees his mother auburn curls, accompanied by the flock of silver-haired kin. The first barrage of hugs is of little ones; Aegon and Helaena’s twins spring forward hand in hand, jumping hard on the marble of Hightower’s hall.

“Jaehaerys, Jaehaera!” Alicent and Helaena exclaim at the same time as the twins' heads bump against his knees. Positively charmed, Daeron takes them both in his arms, glad to see their big eyes twinkling the same as his. 

“Long time no see, dear nephew and niece,” Daeron had come for Maelor’s birth feast, but he hasn’t seen either of them since; he gives them both kisses on the crown of their head. They are like little worms in his arms, but none would expect Helaena’s babes to be any different, and their sweet excitement is all the more endearing. 

“I want to see Tessie,” Jaehaerys demands almost immediately, grabbing his face. He and Jaehaera very much liked Tessarion upon first seeing her. He’s not surprised.

“Tessa,” Jaehaera corrects. The twins never reached an agreement on what’s the proper nickname for his dragon. Still, he brightens at their excitement. He has no doubt Lord Ormund is chuckling about him there, with Alicent and Aemond, and Helaena smiles his way while she speaks with maids about sleepy Maelor, who had been dozing against her chest.

Hence, it is Aegon who comes forward to him first. “Don’t let it get to your head, they say the same for Sunfyre nearly every day.” 

“For Sunfyre or Tessarion, I wouldn’t say it is unwarranted,” Daeron answers. Aegon cracks a smile, the cynical mask breaking off. “Am I right?”

“It would be a miracle to catch you in a mistake, brat.”

Daeron is very thankful to Bethany, who opens her arms to take the twins as if on cue. Daeron puts Jaehaera in her hold, and gives Jaehaerys to a surprised Lyonel. He’ll manage. He goes to hug his brother. By the time he lets go, the rest of his family surrounds them both. 

Alicent, Aemond, and Helaena and even who he now recognizes to be Ser Criston stand around him. Lord Ormund presents him with prideful eyes. “Your boy has turned into a fine man, Your Grace.”

“My Daeron,” Alicent says, and comes forward. There is the attempt to reach his forehead, but on her tiptoes she only reaches his cheek with her kiss. “It is so good to be home. I had known you’ll thrive here, with such fine company,” she tells him, looking at Lyonel and Bethany. “Should I relieve you of the children, dear cousins?”

Lyonel, who had his jade amulet nearly ripped from his neck by Jaehaerys, looks at her as if he'd seen salvation itself. Bethany, on the other hand, let Jaehaera hide between her auburn locks happily. “I could hardly let go. Daeron has always maintained that Princess Helaena is a good mother, but it is very easy to see with this sweet princess in my arms.”

“You’re too kind,” Helaena tells her, patting Maelor’s head. She glances at Daeron with twinkling eyes. “But I think you have your own talent in it, Lady Bethany.” 

Aegon wrestles with his son to come back into his hands after some pointed looks from both Alicent and Aemond. Jaehaerys latches onto his father’s chains instead, pulling. “I wanna see Tessie!” 

“Ouch!” Aegon exclaims. “Twerp, relax!”

Aemond snorts under his breath at the scene, and comes forward to give him half a hug. He had been looking him up and down for a while. “We should listen to our nephew. I haven’t seen you fly for long, little brother. Surely you’ve only improved?”

“We’ve only just arrived to set out again, Aemond,” Alicent interjects.“It must be another carriage ride away to Daeron’s dragon, is it not?” She asks Lord Ormund, perhaps hoping he’d be as enthusiastic about it as her. His mother is rather anxious around dragons, preferring to be a far away spectator rather than come up close as it is. But if she thought she’ll find comfort in Lord Ormund’s answer, she is sorely mistaken.

“Quite the opposite, your Grace. The cobalt beast made its nest on the top of the Hightower,” Lord Ormund says. “We suspect she likes the beacon’s fire.” “Tessie!” Jaehaerys grabs onto Aegon’s hair, standing excitedly on his hands. Aegon yelps, and Helaena laughs some; all while Jaehaera stares at him. She is curled up against Bethany, but her big violet eyes are locked on him. 

“To Tessa!.” She demands, and he as well as all around them realize there is little choice. Daeron grins.

Little choice, but a fortunate pick of it, if you ask him.

“My nephew and niece’s requests come first,” Daeron says. “We should show you the beauty of the city from above.”

—

Tessarion is sleeping on the top of the shelter of the beacon. It is like a strange oven she curls against, while her very own blue flames warm the surface she lays on from below. The sky dragon den that is the top of the Hightower has become a personal spot for him. Not many people are brave enough to come to it. Daeron had long had to take over lighting the beacon, but Lord Ormund had told him that it’s fine. 

“It is an exchange, as far as I’m concerned. Take this on as your duty, and do not neglect it. Light this city brightly with dragonfire. In return, you could earn yourself more than just discipline and humility; but also the love and pride of all that watch you come back, day after day.”

“I don’t think we should interrupt Tessarion, Daeron,” mother says as she comes out to what feels like the top of the world. Bethany and Lyonel went with their father to their duties, and now he and his family are all alone to explore. Alicent’s hands had been taken by the twins, who had done nothing less than drag her with them. Both of the children squeal when they hear Tessarion snore, little smoke coming from her snout as she does. Alicent pales further. “Be quiet, sweeties, we must mind… those who are asleep.”

Aegon snorts, while Aemond watches the dancing blue fire with some interest. Helaena had been introducing wide-eyed Maelor to the sea, minding Tessarion as much as she’d mind a spider. There’s a pretty sea to Oldtown, but there is so much else he wanted them to see.

“She won’t be roused unless you give her reason to, mother,” Daeron says, and comes to rest against the stone safety rails. “Come over here. You can see the Starry Sept from here,” he points out the dome-shaped building. Alicent steps forward beside him, squinting at the black marble building, as well as the seven-pointed star carved into it.  

“It’s quite far away, but the view of the Honeywine running by it is lovely,” Alicent says, trying to calm by him. He appreciates her attempt.

“It is,” he agrees. Aemond and Aegon help lift the twins so they could see themselves. “And there’s the Citadel,” he then continues to point at a giant building in the heart of the city. He looks at the twins. “Those statues there are of sphinxes. Riddling monsters, with faces of men and bodies of beasts.”

The twins balk at that, big gasps coming from little mouths.

“You are trying to scare them, Daeron?” Aegon asks, readjusting his hold on Jaehaera.

“The opposite! Those who learn at the Citadel seek to beat any riddle, and defeat any sphinx like that,” Daeron explains, cheeks reddening. He refuses to add that he goes there a few times a week; now that the explanation left his mouth, he feels rather embarrassed. “I wanted them to know they’re always safe here…”

“They know it,” Helaena says softly, and looks down at baby Maelor. “Right?”

The boy babbles some in response. Both twins offer interpretations, but the rest of them can only laugh.”

“You have a dragon about you,” Aemond says, his gloved hand brushing through Jaehaerys’s locks. “No need for anything else for protection.”

Daeron brings a hand to the back of his neck, trying to ignore his  embarrassment. “I would like to have some wit about me, still,” he says.

“We didn’t hear about your crashing onto farmlands with Tessarion since, so I say you are gaining your brain,” Aegon answers. Daeron flushes fully red.

“It was one time!” 

A crackle from Tessarion comes, and they all look back. She woke up, shaking her head as she did. The twins exclaim at her moving. Alicent keeps herself behind Daeron, a hand on his shoulder as the dragon hops down to their platform.

“She grew quite a bit,” Aemond notes as Tessarion approaches. “Flights would have to be easier now.”

“You should show yourself better than before, Daeron,” Helaena says. Her voice is absent minded, but entirely purposeful. “Mother couldn’t see the Sept properly. Perhaps you should take her closer?”

“Helaena,” Alicent exclaims. “I am not—”

“No, she’s right,” Aegon eggs her own. “You should go see the sept, Mother.”

Alicent looks at Aemond, who likewise seems to have no mercy. “We’ve come by carriage for you, Mother.”

It feels like old dinners, where they all banded together to annoy mother again. Ormund’s family had become a second family to him, but this nostalgic feeling takes over, and he feels just as right here; something he had been worrying the distance between them all would’ve taken away from him.

Tessarion comes by their side, sniffing the lot of them. Daeron thinks she knows just as well that these are all kin, when the little twins reach out to her scales and his siblings surround her. Daeron holds out a hand to his anxious mother, offering. Alicent used to hold his hand everyday, and he missed the security of her warm palm taking him to see the world. Whenever he had been scared, she made sure to hold him until it went away.

He has grown and changed, and has the mind to know he should return the favor. Filial piety is a grace described in every book, but he would like to repay his debt to his mother specifically. I’d like to offer you the same thing.

“Mother, have faith in me?” he asks.

Alicent looks between his siblings, nephews and niece, and the dragon, before her brown eyes land back on him. 

“I have too much of it,” she answers, and takes his hand. “The Seven help me.”

Oldtown shines brightly, from above the skies. Perhaps the people below could hear the Queen yell at the initial take-off, and certainly someone heard the laughter that followed from the princes and princesses on the top of the tower, but as the sun shone down on them all there had been a sense of pride, love, and home.

[miraclesprinkle]

No memories remain of anything before

Yes, I'm with you in a garden of carnage

In a mayhem of trickster and tricked!