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smilesatdawnmain · 7 months ago

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Ultimate Au Guide (LMK)

All my Lego Monkey Kid Au’s in one big post. ( i don't wanna talk about how long this took me. don't ask me. I'll cry...)

Warning: this thing is huge

This consists of current Au’s, future Au’s, Au’s of Au’s, and anything in between!

Current Au’s;

Taken

Summary: Wukong and Macaque unknowingly have twins. Before they can realize this miracle, one (MK) is Taken away to the human realm by Nezha. All to prevent the Jade Emperor from killing this child and starting another war.

This story focuses on Qi Xiaotian, the Monkey Prince, and young “human” orphan MK as the two try to reunite while also avoiding every third party force trying to use the two for their own personal gain.

Fanfic: Yes here is the link

Ships:

Red x Xiaoxiao (Xiaotian the twin, not MK) but… you know, there might be some MKxRedSon. (It’ll be dramatic, trust me)

Shadowpeach

FreeNoodles (Tang X Pigsy)

AzureLion x Ao Lie

My art:

First (From old account. It's crazy how much of a change my art and character design has come from this first post)

Older designs I really did love Xiaoxiao's outfit here though. I should bring it back. Maybe as his "he's discovered himself" outfit XD

This should lead to all art

Fanart:

forever-in-dreamland

shiomik

pumpk1nappl3p1

litt1e-prince

litt1e-prince (Xiaoxiao's room!)

sketchskelonkey

cinnamelrollin

jeez-a

clementine-shine

Status: Incomplete

Angst Rating: (1 being not that bad and 10 being it intending to stab you in the heart and twist)

Angst Rating: 6 or 7 /10

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The Day the World Eclipsed

Summary: After losing his Mate and child 500 years ago, a miracle occurs when Sun Wukong is gifted with the return of his child, Qi Xiaotian. His little Star, his everything, Wukong dedicates himself to being a better Father and man. This is all tested when he is reunited with the reincarnations of his companions to the West and his long-lost Mate returned from the grave. Custody battles and shared parenting can be such a messy thing~

Fanfic: Yes, here is the Link

Ships:

-Shadow Peach (past mention, and then very slow burn forgiveness)

Spicy Noodles (possibly future, still under debate)

My Art:

First Piece (Still on my old account)

If I had to pick a cover for this au, it would be this (also on old account)

Older MK sneak peak

This will lead to all other art

Fan Art

lagt-duck

dumbbitch2-0

a-small-tired-lonely-potato

crypticpaw

litt1e-prince

Status: Incomplete

Angst Rating: (1 being not that bad and 10 being it intending to stab you in the heart and twist)

Angst Rating: 4 or 5 /10

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The First Gift

(One shot) (This does have a sequel underway)

Summary: A peek into Sun Wukong and Macaque's life before they join the Brotherhood to take down the Jade Emperor. Wukong's got a big plan under his sleeve, and Macaque has no idea. With the help of the Brotherhood, Wukong is positive his plan to ask Macaque to marry him will be flawless. (Spoiler; it isn't)

Fanfic: Yes, here it is!

Ships:

Shadowpeach

My Art: Amazingly I've never drawn anything for this one

Fan Art: None

Status: Completed

Angst Rating: (1 being not that bad and 10 being it intending to stab you in the heart and twist)

Angst Rating: 0/10 (it's super Fluff)

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Tragedy of Six

Summary: The world was never the same when The Lady Bone Demon attacked. By her hands, many were injured, and many more were killed. The Brotherhood could not escape this touch, losing their children to her conflict. Yet unknowingly, these same children survived. They are being raised by The Lotus Prince Nezha, who is being forced to train and prepare these children to be soldiers for the Lady Bone Demon. (And inspired Fic on both Taken and "Blood and Bones" by EmerialynCodeVenice)

Fanfic: Yes, here is the link

Ships:

Shadowpeaxh

Azure Lion X Ao Lie

Sandy X The Huntsman Spider

Any future ships with the 6 kids are up for debate and what the audience likes best

My Art:

Link This should lead to all art

Fan art:

violetjedisylveon

Status: Uncompleted

Angst Rating: (1 being not that bad and 10 being it intending to stab you in the heart and twist)

Angst Rating: 9/10

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Fix and Mend

Summary: Macaque is trying to find his way in the world and his current place in life. Getting himself a part-time job at Pigsy's Noodles he discovered two very interesting facts. 1, Wukong clearly has the hots for him, and 2, MK is secretly dating Red Son. Now he just needs to figure out what to do with these two tidbits.

Fanfic: Yes, here is the link~

Ships:

SpicyNoodles

ShadowPeach

My Art:

I amazingly only drew one thing for this one so far

Other Art:

Status: Incomplete

Angst Rating: (1 being not that bad and 10 being it intending to stab you in the heart and twist)

Angst Rating: 1/10

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Choose Your Own Adventure

Summary: This is a Tumblr-focused Choose Your Own Adventure. Completely decided by the votes of the audience. The first two are basically a test to see how well I can do something like this.

Fanfic: No, but it is here on Tumblr

-First Adventure (Completed)

Second Adventure (In Progress)

Angst Rating: (1 being not that bad and 10 being it intending to stab you in the heart and twist)

Angst Rating: 2/10

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Future Au’s:

Fading Moon

Summary: MK believes he is a normal human boy, with a normal human Dad, and normal not ancient Uncles. That is until he meets Red Son, the Demon Bull Prince, and the truth of his heritage starts to unfold. As well as discovering the unfortunate fate of his Baba, a person MK had never had the chance to meet until he was 19.

Fanfic: Not yet? A have a lot written for this though

Ships:

Traffic Light Trio~ (Red Son X Mei X MK)

Sandy X The Huntsman Spider

ShadowPeach (Past mention)

Macaque X Erlang (Not sure what this ship is called. Present mention.. and.. toxic version of it. This story is a whirlwind people)

Free Noodles~ (Slow burn~)

My Art:

I do have a master post just for this au since I plan it to be more tumblr focused for now Link

Fan Art: None currently

Status: Incomplete

Angst Rating: (1 being not that bad and 10 being it intending to stab you in the heart and twist)

Angst Rating: 6/10

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The Second Gift

(Squeal to The First Gift)

Summary: Being together with Wukong could bring Macaque no greater joy. No means or way could make his life better than where it was. After a strange occurrence with his magic, Macaque realizes happiness can always grow.

Fanfic: Not yet but it is slowly getting there~

Ships:

Shadow Peach

Gajasimha shipping (Azure X Yellow Tusk)

My Art: None yet

Fan Art: Nada~

Status: Still in progress

Angst Rating: (1 being not that bad and 10 being it intending to stab you in the heart and twist)

Angst Rating: 0/10 FLUFF BABY~

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Missing the Then and Now

Summary: Macaque wakes up with no memories of where he is, or WHO he is. The explanation for this is a large and very deep injury that wraps around his entire skull. Almost like something squeezed until he popped. Now, however, he finds himself on a ship with some Monkey Kid, his family and friends, and a sun-kissed Monkey King who won't stop looking at him. And what is worse, none of them want to explain how he got this way.

Fanfic: Nothing yet. But man the word doc is getting pretty hefty

Ships:

Shadow Peach (Past mention)

Shadow Peach (Slow burn/One-sided for a time?)

Macaque X The Mayor (past Mention) (this one is really wild guys.)

My Art: None so far

Fan Art: None so far

Status: It's on it's way

Angst Rating: (1 being not that bad and 10 being it intending to stab you in the heart and twist)

Angst Rating: 6/10

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Eternal

Summary: When Macaque was killed, he expected his soul to be taken to the Diyu. Instead, he finds himself stuck to Wukong- the very man who ended his life. When Soul collectors come to see what the hold up is, they inform him that as the two had been tethered in life, so too are they in death. Macaque will only ever be free when Wukong has found peace and moves on. This goes on for a long time, yet when Macaque feels the tether start to loosen, he panics and realizes- he doesn't want Wukong to let him go.

Fanfic: I have too many Word docs and this is one of them~

Ships: ShadowPeach

My Art: None yet

Fan Art: None Yet

Status: Stuck in the world doc abyss

Angst Rating: (1 being not that bad and 10 being it intending to stab you in the heart and twist)

Angst Rating: 7/10

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Torn Between A Star

(A sort of alternate direction for "The Day The World Eclipsed)

Summary: Macaque survives the fight against Wukong, forced to return home. Terribly weakened and knowing he could not defend the egg that housed Wukong and his child, he flees to his Sister- Princess Iron Fan. Together they live there until the child is born. 5 years later, Wukong's Journey To the West is done. Returning home to no mate or child, he is desperate to track them down and bring them home. A certain Bull King and Iron Fan stand in his way.

Fanfic: So... Word doc. Big one. Real sad.

Ships: Shadow Peach (Past mention and struggling with current romance)

My Art: There will be some

Fan Art: Maybe one day?

Status: THE DOC HAS IT IN IT'S CLUTCHES~

Angst Rating: (1 being not that bad and 10 being it intending to stab you in the heart and twist)

Angst Rating: 5/10

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When Lions and Dragons Meet

Summary: Taking place in the years of Wukong's Journey Westward, Wukong stumbles upon his Brothers. Wanting to settle things Wukong meets up with Azure Lion to find peace- and surprisingly finds it. For a second. That is until he finds out that Azure Lion has had... relations, with a certain Dragon that currently accompanies Wukong and the other Pilgrims in the form of a horse. And is not keen on letting Azure continue this courting.

Fanfic: I swear guys- I got- I got soo many words docs. There aint a fanfic but there will beeee one day.

Ships:

Azure Lion X Ao Lie

Shadow Peach (Kind of a mention?)

My Art You are getting some art. It's cute

Fan Art: ...I mean... if ya want to?

Angst Rating: (1 being not that bad and 10 being it intending to stab you in the heart and twist)

Angst Rating: 2/10

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Seen Through My Eyes

Summary: Wukong thought Macaque had abandoned him when he was trapped below the mountain. His Mate never visited, never once showed his face. Then, many years into his imprisonment, someone stumbles into his cave. They blindly feel around, unable to see anything in front of their face. To Wukongs shock, it's Macaque. His Mate's pure white fur is tainted black, his ears bigger than normal, and his eyes- his eyes are gone. He smiles, however, hearing Wukong's heart. "I finally found you".

Fanfic: None yet

Ships:

ShadowPeach

My Art: I personally drew some stuff but never posted it

Fan Art: I dare you all XD

Status: Sitting in a Google doc, festering away from the angst

Angst Rating: (1 being not that bad and 10 being it intending to stab you in the heart and twist)

Angst Rating: 8/10

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The choices we make, and the regrets we take with us

Summary: Lady Bone Demon had whispered a secret into MK's ear just seconds before Wukong arrived. Now safe from her clutches and seeking the Samadhi fire, surprisingly with Macaque helping them out, Wukong notices that MK can't stand to look at him. What had that Witch whispered to make MK's gaze so steely?

Fanfic: Nope~ Not yet~

Ships:

FreeNoodles

ShadowPeach (Past Mention)

My Art: yes!

Fan Art: None

Status: In my Google Docs and covered with sobbing emotions from the one person I let read it

Angst Rating: (1 being not that bad and 10 being it intending to stab you in the heart and twist)

Angst Rating: 9 or 10/10

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Au’s of Au’s:

I'll have you all know that ALL of these were given to me by YOU GUYS. You are to blame for putting these in my head! XD

UnTaken

Summary : A "What if" to my Taken Story. What if MK was never Taken and actually got a chance to grow up with Xiaoxiao and his parents? Xiaotian would probably be called Xiaohua in this one, and MK would go back to being Qi Xiaotian.

Fanfic: No, but it's on its way

Ships:

ShadowPeach

Azure Lion X Ao Lie

Red Son X MK? Maybe Red Son X Xiaohua? Maybe they both fight over him?? Maybe they share him?? I dunno yet.

Tang X Pigsy

My Art

This will lead to all art

Fan Art: Would be cute but none yet~

Status: Tumblr grown so far but I got a good amount of stuff written in a google doc

Angst Rating: (1 being not that bad and 10 being it intending to stab you in the heart and twist)

Angst Rating: 0 or 1 /10

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Taken Apprentice

Summary: Based on Taken once more, but with the twist that instead of taking MK to the human world, Nezha took MK with him to the celestial Realm. From there he raised MK himself as his apprentice. Hiding him with a glamor and instilling a misguided loyalty to the Jade Emperor. The Jade Emperor is insistent one of the twins must still die, but agrees to keep MK around, hoping to find a chance to kill the other twin instead and keep the loyal MK as his own bodyguard.

Fanfic: I... I don't think it'll be a fanfic. Like- Oh my gosh, so much writing. I wouldn't know how to stop.

Ships:

Shadowpeach, of course.

Probably Red Son X Xiaoxiao again

Some Azure Lion X Ao Lie

Uuuuuuuuu- other wise I dunno?

My Art

Only one thing so far

Fan Art: I would die if you did

Status: Tumblr based so far. I haven't written anything for this. I will only if begged and bribed.

Angst Rating: (1 being not that bad and 10 being it intending to stab you in the heart and twist)

Angst Rating: 4/10

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Taken Reverse/Swapped

Summary: Another Taken Au. XiaoXiao and MK are born, but instead of MK being taken Xiaoxiao is instead. He would be Xiaohua in this one. Xiaohua, who is abandoned at an orphanage, winds up being taken in by the Spider Queen when he shows promise as a thief. Xiaohua is iving the life of crime, while in return MK (Xiaotian) is being raised to follow in his Father's footsteps as a hero. The two eventually meet and clash.

Fanfic: I haven't even finished Taken there is no way XD

Ships:

Hmmmmmm. Mabe MK X Red Son?

Maybe Enemy to lovers Xiaoxiao X Red Son? I dunno

ShadowPeach

Sandy X Huntsman Spider

My art

The start of the madness

Fan Art (looks into your very soul)

Status: It exists in tumblr and thats it right now

Angst Rating: (1 being not that bad and 10 being it intending to stab you in the heart and twist)

Angst Rating: 4/10

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Parent Trap

Summary: Based on Taken once more. Isn't quite like the normal LMK lore. When MK and his twin brother Xiaohua were babies, their parents separated, each taking one of the infants with them. MK went with Wukong, and Xiaohua with Macaque. When the two get older, they manage to miraculously meet at a Summer Camp and discover the truth. Now these two working on a plan to reunite their parents.

Fanfic .... T-There might be one in the future... maybe...

Ships:

ShadowPeach (Past Mention and reunion)

Ao Lie X Azure (Slow burn)

Macaque X Mayor (The kids are trying to end this one)

My art:

Only this so far

Fan art: None currently

Status: This one is in a word doc, okay?? There is writing on it!

Angst Rating: (1 being not that bad and 10 being it intending to stab you in the heart and twist)

Angst Rating: 2/10

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The cancelled Au’s??

Strange title I Know, but it’s the best way to describe this section

-The Day the World Eclipsed (the Original Plot)

-most may know this, but I changed the plot of the Story within the first few chapters. When Wukong left to head to the City, intent on finding a new home for his son… he was originally intended to go through with that.

I have Many MANY chapters of this unfolding- of Wukong actually going through with abandoning MK.

It was farrrr different than what the story has changed to now. And I love the direction the story is now going, but I had a lot of angst planned for the original :)

One day I might even post what originally was intended to happen.

Angst Rating: (1 being not that bad and 10 being it intending to stab you in the heart and twist)

Angst Rating: 10/10

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You did it! You are at the end! Feel free to either comment here or ask in my ask box about any of these~!

#lego monkie kid #lmk #lmk mk #taken au #lmk oc art #shadowpeach #lmk wukong #lmk macaque #lmk shadowpeach #red son #Xiaoxiao #LMK au #Master Post #Tragedy of Six #Fix and Mend #The Day the world eclipsed #Fading Moon #SO MANY

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mdzs-owns-my-ass-i-guess · 9 months ago

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Love and marriage

"I will never get married." Seven year old Lan Wangji proclaims to his uncle as he practices calligraphy under the senior's guidance one evening. It had been about six months after his mother's passing, and only two days ago that little Wangji waited dutifully in the harsh winter storm for the door to the gentian house to open.

It did not. It never will again. But Wangji's resolve seemed iron-clad, and he did not leave until curfew that day.

It had been a miracle how he did not become ill - or worse! - spending time outside in such conditions. But though his body seemed surprisingly unaffected, his mind had not, falling into a deep, pensive state, even more quiet than before.

It had been for this reason that Lan Qiren brought the boy in to spend time with him and observe him - all under the guise of teaching. Despite his young age, Wangji had already mastered calligraphy.

The boy's statement made his uncle's eyes lift from the book he had been reading, an eyebrow raised. Part of him wished to say "you better not!", as any other paternal figure would tell their child at this age. But Lan Qiren had a feeling there was more to those words than it appeared on the surface, so he asked:

"What brought this on?"

"I have been thinking." Little Wangji says, a long pause following as he places his brushes neatly to the side of his parchment paper. "It is because mother married father that she is...gone."

Lan Qiren stared, stunned, at the little boy before him. He seemed confident in his assessment, though nevertheless saddened about it, like a man that had found a treasure that brought him no joy.

"It is also because their marriage that you and your brother have been born." Lan Qiren countered, in a way that was almost gentle, if slightly chiding. "Life is not as simple as it appears to be. And not all marriages are the same."

Not all marriages are like your parents' - but Lan Qiren could not have said that without sounding bitter and resentful, which was unadvisable in dealing with a grieving child that was not an orphan only if by virtue of his father still being alive and nothing more.

"How do you know?" Wangji asked, earnest though disbelieving, "How can one be sure their marriage will not be... lonely?"

Lan Qiren stared at the boy again, seeing so much of his father in his honeyed eyes. How could he respond to that? Lan Qiren had never been particularly romantically inclined. If anything, he preferred the company of books and studies more than people, and he had never found himself yearning for even the concept of a romantic relationship. He had received numerous requests for courtship or marriage - some even for mere physical encounters - but he had never felt the need or the desire to pursue anything of that nature with anyone. What would he know about marriages, let alone happy ones?

"It is never guaranteed how such things may turn out." Lan Qiren replied, after a while.

Wangji did not seem to react to that answer. His uncle sighed quietly - what had he been doing, working himself up over the words of a seven year old? Kids his age are fickle, as it is expected. Why had he been treating the boy's words as final? For all he knew, Wangji may change his mind by supper or by next morning - after all, children his age do not have the conviction of adults, nor do they even remember their promises by the time they may have to make good on them.

"Regardless, if you do not wish to marry, then you may not if it is not necessary" Lan Qiren added, and little nodded slightly, satisfied with the answer. He picked his brush back up and continued to write.

After a while, he spoke: "I will neber keep anybody against their will."

Lan Wangji was 15 years old when he first met Wei Wuxian and it became apparent to all their peers and the rest of the Lan sect that they did not get along. With Wei Wuxian boisterous and relentless pursuit of friendship and Lan Wangji's ice-cold refusal of it, it appeared that whatever cordiality one might expect between young masters of their standing was lost forever.

However, Lan Qiren had raised the famed Second Jade of Lan and he could easily see it was not disgust or anger that he expressed over Yunmeng Jiang's head disciple, but rather an annoyed, relentless denial of his otherwise normal desire for human connection.

It did not bring Lan Qiren any ease though - Cangse Sanren's son was so visibly her own that the man sometimes felt like he interacted with her ghost - and he did not believe that to be a good thing for Lan Wangji. Despite his indifferent exterior, his heart was fragile, and Lan Qiren worried for him in the presence of Wei Wuxian.

It had been this very topic that had come up as Lan Qiren and Lan Xichen shared tea one day, enjoying the fresh magnolia blooms.

"It appears Wangji may not keep to his childhood promise." Xichen smiled, "I believe you have noticed it as well."

Lan Qiren sighed deeply as he took a sip of herbal tea. "You appear unnecessarily happy about this development."

Xichen smiled again, fox-like, and for a moment Lan Qiren saw his brother, young and mischevous, concocting plans over tea.

"Does he know?" Lan Qiren found himself asking.

"He seems to be struggling with it." Xichen replied, looking into the distance towards the training grounds, wherefrom a lot of otherwise unusual noise was echoing.

"As expected."

Silence befalls the two. Xichen smiles meaningfully into his tea.

"Would it be wrong of me to assume this is one of the reasons you have entrusted young master Wei's punishment to Wangji?"

Lan Qiren's eyes narrow, but he does not reply. Xichen's smile widens, but conversation lulls.

---

Lan Wangji had so desperately hoped Wei Wuxian would listen. He had hoped Wei Wuxian would be able to understand all the things Lan Wangji could not say, all his intentions, all his worries and all his feelings - and he would have listened, and agreed.

But he had not.

And for a moment, a traitorous few seconds, it had crossed Lan Wangji's mind. It had, despite how much he had tried to convince himself it never would, that such a thing would never even occur to him.

But it did.

He had thought of trying to do what his father had done in his pursuit of protecting his mother - he had thought of taking Wei Ying with him to the Cloud Recesses whether he opposed it or not, and keeping him there, safely, for the rest of forever.

He had refused even the thought of it, dismissing it as quickly as it had appeared, and it disgusted him to know his mind had been able to conjure it in the first place - the very thing he had sworn he would never wish for let alone ever do, had presented itself as an option in his mind.

And Lan Wangji hated it.

He had visited the gentian house that day, and stayed there until curfew.

"I wish to bring someone back to the Cloud Recesses... take him back and hide him away... but he is not willing."

---

For all the agony Lan Wangji suffered, he felt no remorse at all, as if he had fulfilled his fate in a way he had not even known had been intended for him. He had accepted his punishment with placid resignation, not even once declaring himself regretful of his actions. It was difficult for him to assess whether he had failed or not, but at least he had tried to protect the man he could have finally allpwed himself to accept he loved.

But, almost as though fate was keen on fulfilling the promise he made at seven years old, that very man had just been pronounced dead, the news delievered by celebratory letters and festivals that bore more evil than Wei Wuxian had ever done.

Lan Xichen carefully assisted the healers cleaning and bandaging Lan Wangji's wounds, a process he had grown to despise as much as he looked forward to it. It was only with this pretext that he could visit his little brother now, as he had been sent into seclusion, and it worried Xichen not to know how he was dealing not only with the new knowledge, but his own state as well.

As the healers left the room, Xichen stood by his brother's bed for a few minutes, in silence. He had hoped some words would be coming to him at some point, but he could not find anything appropriate to say at the moment, stroking Wangji's hair off his face instead.

"Were you there?" Wangji asked after a few moments, voice hoarse and empty, as if he had screamed it raw.

"I was not."

"Who was?"

"I do not know."

Lan Xichen had chosen to lie that day, and did not regret it. As much as he valied honesty, he knew it was not the truth Wangji needed then.

What was Xichen supposed to even say? That their uncle had watched the last few moments of Wei Wuxian's life alongside the other sect leaders? That the besiegers cheered on his death as his body disintegrated into nothingness under the force of the Burial Mounds?

That they slaughtered innocent people like cattle?

"Did they find him?"

"No."

That had not been a lie. Many had believed Wei Wuxian had not died, even if they saw him enveloped in resentful energy as he screamed in pain until all that was left was silence. They wanted proof of it, a body, a shred of anything - perhaps to only defile him more.

But they had not found anything.

Wangji sighed, the breath heavy from his lungs.

"I dreamt I married him."

Xichen's eyes turned soft, pitiful, "Perhaps in another life."

"Perhaps."

---

Thirteen years later, the Cloud Recesses murmur with excitement as groups of disciples move to and fro, carrying decorations and supplies like tireless ants of a busy hive.

The wedding is in a couple of weeks, but sect leader Lan as well as master Lan Qiren had ordered the preparations start early in order to ensure all is ready for the great celebration.

"For how much your uncle disapproves of me, he sure is invested in our wedding." Wei Wuxian laughs as he and his soon-to-be-official husband inspect the ancestral hall, the designated venue for the event.

"Uncle is very thorough." Lan Wangji replies, "And his distrust of you has lessened over the past years."

"I would hope so." A laugh, "Though he is probably more concerned in doing right by you."

"Nevertheless, I believe it is for both of us."

Wei Wuxian laughs again, squeezing his beloved's hand. "Say, I heard something from a very, very reliable source..."

"What did my brother tell you again?"

"I heard you said you'd never marry anyone when you were a kid. I bet seven year old Lan Zhan would be disappointed!" Wei Wuxian jokes, a teasing smile on his lips that Lan Wangji cannot be blamed for kissing right now.

"Seven year old me had not met you yet." He replied, softly, "He would've known better."

#mdzs #mo dao zu shi #wangxian #writing attempts

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lydiadeetzgf · 4 months ago

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The Great Chess Tournament pt. 1

Benjicot Blackwood x fem!oc

summary: The princess's adopted daughter has to choose a betrothed, and her best way of doing that is through a chess tournament.

word count: 1.05k

warning: none

Author’s note: please let me know what you think of this chapter in the comments! I’m always open to feedback!

The same year Prince Jacearys was born Princess Rheanrya adopted a daughter from an orphanage to show go will towards the common folk. They did not know anything about this girl, whether she was noble or not, what house she was from or what region. All they knew was that her name was Anastasia.

When Anastasia turned six and ten, the princess decided it was time for her to find a betrothal. Both her brothers were already set to be betrothed. The princess sent out ravens to all the houses that were willing to propose to an orphan. Not many were, but they wished to make alliances with the Princess.

Anastasia was summoned to her parent’s chambers in dragonstone to discussed what they had done. The guard outside the door opened it for her announcing her arrival.

"Anastasia." Rheanrya smiled at the girl gesturing her to come close to her and Daemon. The princess and her husband were sitting on chairs by the fireplace.

"You wished to see me?" Anastasia asked coming closer.

"We have some news." Rheanrya said. Anastasia looked at the pair confusedly, wondering what the news was.

"We have decided that is it time for you to be betrothed." daemon cut in.

"What? why?" Anastasia asked to upset by the news, she found it unfair that she had to married and she knew that no lord would want an orphan.

"It is only fair as your brothers both have betrothals." Rheanrya try to calm the girl.

"No lord is going to want to marry me." Anastasia frowned.

"And do you think that sweet girl?"

"Because I'm an orphan." Anastasia eyes started to tear up at the thought, "What lord would love an orphan?"

"Sweet girl, many lords have agreed to meet you."

"Really?" She looked surprised. "Well, if I am going to meet with these potential suitors, will it be my choice?"

"Yes, sweet girl. I wish to give you the same opportunity that my father, the King gave me." Rheanrya nodded.

"Then I wish to do it differently."

"How do you mean?" Daemon leaned forward in his seat, interested in what she had to say.

"I wish to challenge them in a chess game." The girl smirked. Her parents looked at each other confused by what she meant.

"Why so?" Daemon asked again.

"You can learn a lot about someone in chess." Anastasia explained, "And I am one of the best chess players in the realm Jace said."

A few days had passed, and the princess had called all the lords and their sons who had accepted to the marriage tour to come to Dragonstone to meet Anastasia. The morning of the arrival of the houses Anastasia was in the library with her brothers and sisters playing cards.

"So what are you going to make them do, sister?" Jace asked looking up from his hand at Anastasia.

"Well, mother and father are allowing me to do a chess tournament." Anastasia replied making Luce laugh.

"Really? Why would you do that?" Luke asked.

"I want to see if they can beat me."

"Like that can happen." Baela smirked. "That's nearly impossible."

"That's the idea."

The door to the library opened and the children turned when a guard told them the houses had arrive and they were needed in the great hall. A fest was begin held as it was the first day of the marriage tour, the family was seated at the end of the great hall and the noble and minor house were seated all the tables around the hall.

Jace, begin the kind but protective brother made in a point to tell Anastasia about who everyone was and if they would be good matches for her. “That’s Oscar Tully, heir to Riverrun.” Jace pointed at a young boy Anastasia’s age seated with his grandshire.

Luce decided to also give his two-sense into who would be suitable for his sister, “you would do well in the Riverlands, sister. The air is cooler, and the grass is greener. Which you like.”

“That is true.” Anastasia nodded in agreement. The truth is she hadn’t really thought much about where she would like to end up in the future as she didn’t think much about it. So she was willing to hear any advice that would be given.

“Speaking of the Riverlands. That’s Aeron Bracken.” Jace continued pointing at a boy in yellow on another table. “A knight, so he would be able to protect you.”

“Yes, but his he a good knight?” Anastasia questioned give her brother a look.

“That is the question.” Luce added.

“And over there we have the Lannisters.” Jace nodded to a sea of red and gold.

“I’d rather not.” Anastasia made a face.

“Good idea, Ana.” Luce sniggered sipping at his drink.

“What about him?” Ana asked nodding to a boy in black and red, who’s house was in the far corner of the hall.

“That’s Benjicot of House Blackwood. Heir of Raventree Hall.” Jace replied. Him and Luce looked at each other in worry, Ana gave the two a questioning look.

“Why are you looking at each other like that? What’s wrong with him?”

“They called him ‘Bloody Ben’ because of his ruthlessness on the battlefield.” Jace replied.

“I don’t think you’ll like him, Ana.” Luce continued, “we don’t want you with someone so violent. Trust us.”

Before Ana could ask more, the princess stood up next to her to make an announcement. “Thank you all for coming. As you know we are here for the marriage tour of my daughter, Lady Anastasia. However there will be a twisted.” This caused all the Houses to look around confused and mumble questions to one another. “Anastasia has requested that each of your sons are to join her in a chess match.”

The lords and their sons looked horrified at this statement. Why on earth would the Lady want to challenge them to a chess match? More importantly why is a woman playing chess?

Anastasia smiled at the idea of playing her favourite pastime. She looked around to see all the horrified face, however she notice that this Benjicot Blackwood did not look so horrified but intrigued by this.

“The chess matches shall start on the morrow.” Rheanyra announced.

Let the games begin…

#house of the dragon #benjicot blackwood imagine #benji blackwood #benjicot blackwood x oc #benjicot blackwood #ben blackwood #bloody ben imagine #hotd imagine #got imagine #bloody ben x oc #hotd x oc

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idyllic-affections · 1 year ago

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achilles heel ii.

summary. love is a sin. the regrator is a sinner.

trigger & content warnings. threats of physical violence, nightmares.

tropes, pairings, fic length, & other notes. found family (moreso than the first post), fluff, slight angst. pantalone & young teen!reader, slight arlecchino & young teen!reader. 2.6k words. they/them pronouns used for [name]. this fic is divided into six drabble-like sections. this fic is the second part of achilles heel; please read the first post before reading this one.

author's thoughts. teehee pantalone....... he is never dad-ified enough i swear. he has so much dad potential. look at him. silly rich guy (<- he is a criminal and is NOT silly).

i. a slip of the tongue ♡

Their enrollment into the House of Hearth came with two specific conditions:

One, Arlecchino would not have ultimate authority over them. They didn't disrespect her regardless, but Pantalone was insistent that her authority should not exceed his over them. He was their caretaker, after all. They were a special case in the Knave's orphanage—an orphan but not quite an orphan.

Two, that they returned to his residence on weekends, which wasn't something they or Arlecchino has any qualms with. She didn't exactly get along with the Ninth, but oddly, she didn't argue either of his conditions.

(They felt immeasurably guilty, however, that they had a home to return to. That was a privilege unique to them. The orphans of the House of Hearth did not have such a luxury; hell, those children could not even dream of a home outside of the orphanage.)

This was one such weekend. Upon returning home, they let themselves into Pantalone's office—of course, not before ensuring he was not occupied with another Harbinger or other business partners of his. Had he been, they would have only entered once he was done.

"I'm back, Father."

...

Immediate terror stuck their chest. Admittedly, their reaction once they processed what had just come out of their mouth was a bit dramatic, but still! Had Arlecchino's children somehow rubbed off on them? All of her children tended to call her 'Father', but they only ever called her by her name...

The Regrator paused what he was doing, wordlessly setting his pen down.

"...Sorry, dear, could you repeat that? I didn't quite hear you."

"Um. I said I'm back."

"After that."

"..."

"[Name]."

"I didn't say anything after, I swear." They were completely flustered now, hand shyly fidgeting with the strands of hair securely held back by what had once been Arlecchino's hair clip while their gaze settled anywhere that wasn't on the Harbinger. "I didn't..."

"You are a terrible liar."

"I'm— I'm not."

He smiled at that, gingerly shedding his gloves and rings.

He thought it was a bit cruel of him to create any kind of distance between himself and the little thief he brought into his home, especially in what was such an important and vulnerable moment.

It was then that he beckoned them closer. They obliged, albeit hesitantly. His hands gently smoothed down some wild strands of their hair—presumably caused by whatever the Knave had put them through that day. His tenderness seemed to calm them down a little bit.

"Do you see me as a father figure, [Name]?"

They pouted. "I don't know. Maybe. It just came out. I didn't think about it. Sorry."

If Pantalone was any more morally correct, he might worry about who they were looking up to, but...

Their immorality was inevitable, really, so he tried not to concern himself with it too much. It was the one consequence associated with taking them in. It was one that simply couldn't be avoided.

Pantalone had come to terms with that fact some time ago.

"Don't apologize. I don't mind if that is the case."

"...Okay."

He held himself together with skillful grace that was only to be expected of someone like him, but the second they left his office, he slammed his head on his desk, resisting the compelling urge to just sob.

(...He was probably the reason they had become a tad dramatic.)

Oh.

That day, the Ninth learned two things:

One, [Name] had adopted a more formal method of speech, which was good. It would be useful in the future. His lower priority business partners, the general nobility of Snezhnaya and other nations... those people would all expect his child to take on a more refined demeanor. It was good that they already were.

Two, which was objectively more important in his mind (because really, he did not care for the opinions of people who had never struggled a single day in their lives), he had unexpectedly become an actual father. Not just a caretaker, but a father.

Oh, fuck.

ii. third time's a charm ♡

"Can I keep him?"

"Absolutely not."

"Please? Come on. He won't cause any trouble!"

Pantalone pinched the bridge of his nose between his fingers, sighing deeply. How could he have possibly gotten himself into this situation a second time? Perhaps he really was spoiling them just a bit too much. "[Name]. You cannot continue bringing wild animals into our home."

They pouted, holding up the little feline in their arms. It may have been small and harmless at the moment, but a snow leopard such as the one they snatched up from the streets would surely grow impossibly bigger, provided enough time and proper nutrition. "Father..."

He shot them an annoyed look. They could only smile innocently.

"Don't 'Father' me, [Name]."

"I've taken good care of Winter thus far!" Said fox chirped upon hearing her name. "Look, see—she's perfectly healthy. I can handle another pet!"

"You named her Winter?"

They shrugged. "It's always winter in Snezhnaya, so..."

He couldn't help but chuckle fondly, teasing, "Clever."

"I doubt you would have came up with a better name, Father," they huffed playfully. "Anyways, come on! Look, how can you say no to a little face like this?"

Neither of the two said anything for a moment. [Name] held up the little squirming cat with one hand, supporting its hind legs with the other.

It was clear to Pantalone that they would not budge.

A deep sigh left his lips.

They knew they had won.

Once again, Pantalone welcomed another unexpected guest into his household.

He could unflinchingly deny Il Dottore further funding for his experiments. He could ruthlessly send out the agents employed under his command to collect the debts of those foolish enough to leave them unpaid without so much as a second thought.

Somehow, he could not deny his child another exotic animal.

Oh well. At least the feline would eventually grow into a suitable bodyguard for [Name], he supposed.

iii. ultimatum ♡

Whenever Pantalone had free time during the work week—which... wasn't very often—he had grown into a habit of visiting the House of Hearth.

His darling child was there. How could he be expected to stay away?

(The Knave grit her teeth, clenched her jaw, and ultimately bit her tongue when he kept showing his face in her territory again and again. As much as she didn't like the Ninth... she would have to tolerate it, she supposed. He was too preoccupied with [Name] to bother her the majority of the time, anyway.)

The children were all polite and respectful with him whenever he came around, often pointing him in the direction of their sibling-in-arms. They were typically lingering around the younger children, engaging with them and entertaining them in a way that a doting older sibling might, but for some reason...

They weren't there that day.

"One of the matrons wanted to talk to [Name], sir. I don't know why," one of the younger children his child typically surrounded themselves with had told him.

He was surprised to find that, rather than wanting to speak to [Name], one of Arlecchino's employees seemed to have forgotten just whose child it was she was speaking to.

"We are raising soldiers," a woman harshly spat, "not regular children. It would be in your best interests, Mx. [Name], to quit teaching them to be soft."

They blinked.

"...Um. They're five."

"Are you even listening?!"

"Listen," they began, shifting their weight from one foot to the other uncomfortably. "They're barely five, okay? They'll learn. They can't even wield a sword properly yet. Half of them can't read mid-level literature yet. For now, I think they deserve attention from someone they can trust who won't hurt them. I mean... if I were really doing something wrong, Arle surely would have told me—"

"You rich little brat."

That stung, admittedly. With nervous fingers, they plucked at the threads of their sleeve.

"By the Tsaritsa, if the Ninth himself weren't so enamored with you, I would have your head mounted on the wall for the disrespect you have shown not only us but our Lord."

She raised a hand, and they flinched back, and then—

Nothing came.

"Fa— Father... hi."

The Regrator's grip on her wrist was crushing, rage barely concealed behind a tight-lipped smile.

"Hello, dear." Pantalone's eyes were kind when they were on his child, but glazed over with an unsettling iciness upon facing the woman. He leaned down, head tilting slightly as he observed the tense matron who so boldly dared to raise a hand to his child. "Now, I'm certain this was a one-time incident, unless of course you would be interested in taking a... leave of absence to see the Doctor, hm?" His grip tightened slightly in a wordless threat, a promise of a fate more vile than death itself. "A permanent leave of absence, that is."

Tension weighed heavily in the air.

Of course, the matron relented. She would have been foolish to not when the fate promised to her would be undoubtedly worse than death.

"...No, of course not, sir. It won't happen again."

He released her trembling wrist, adjusting his rings nonchalantly.

"Good. Go on, then. Leave us."

"Yes, Lord Ninth."

She turned on her heel, bowing her head respectfully to both the Regrator and his child before rounding the corner of the hall. Just like that, she was gone.

Instantly, all his attention shifted to [Name].

"Are you alright?" he murmured softly, only for their ears to hear. He kneeled down to their level and gingerly tilted their chin upwards to check if Arlecchino's matron left any wounds behind.

"Yeah, I'm— I'm fine..."

He was quiet for a moment, thumb gently rubbing along their cheekbone and wiping away the beginnings of tears. The Knave would not like to see them in such a state. The Ninth didn't particularly care for her opinion, but he knew very well that his child did, to a certain degree.

"...Don't cry, dear. Do not allow yourself to be pushed around. You are worth infinitely more than any agent among our ranks. Do you understand?"

"Mm-hm. I'm just..." They gnawed on the corner of their lip. "I guess I'm used to it."

He was quiet for a moment.

"That will change," he concluded. "You will never be treated so poorly ever again."

iv. bonding ♡

"Were you never given the opportunity to bake?"

They hummed thoughtfully, lips pulled into a calm and content smile as they observed their father knead the bread dough they took part in making.

Indeed, a man as prestigious as him could just have one of his employees do this... but what kind of parent would he be if he refused to bond with his child alone? No genuine bonding would take place if he was not the one engaging with them.

...

Baking also happened to a special place in his heart as a child of poverty, so he didn't mind doing it.

"Not really. I couldn't afford to. It was too expensive," they mused, trailing off briefly. Pantalone was quiet—patient. He didn't interrupt them or urge them to speak. He simply waited for them to go on. "I didn't get paid well when I was taking thievery commissions. I was small and weak, so it was easy for those older people who commissioned my work to scam me out of what I was owed."

The Regrator made a mental note to investigate those people further.

For now, though, his focus was on them.

"I understand," he reassured. "Baking is indeed an expensive hobby. There was a time where even I could not afford it."

"I really wouldn't have believed you if you hadn't told me," they said, stealing and snacking on some of the fruits spread across the counter. The Harbinger chuckled fondly, pinching their cheek.

"Stop that. If you keep that up, we won't have anything to put in the bread. Now, for the next step..."

v. nightmare ♡

It was the middle of the night when they jolted awake, skin dampened with a cold sweat and fingers relentlessly shaking.

The House of Hearth's hardwood floor was cold against their bare feet, but it really didn't bother them. It wasn't anything they weren't used to, anything` they hadn't experienced in their past. It was with quiet and purposeful steps that they snuck out of the room they shared with a handful of the younger kids that bonded closely with them.

Their years of thievery still benefitted them, it seemed, as they effortlessly snuck out without awakening anyone else.

"What are you doing up at such an awful hour?"

They practically leapt out of their skin, heart hammering in their chest at Arlecchino's sudden appearance.

"I, uh—" they began, taking deep breaths in the hopes of calming themselves down. "Um, sorry. You frightened me."

"Oh? My apologies, then, [Name]."

Whether or not her apology was sincere was debatable. She seemed to derive very slight amusement from their fright, but gave them a firm pat on the head. It was comforting in its own way.

"...I had a nightmare," they reluctantly admitted, "so I can't really sleep. Sorry."

"It isn't uncommon for these things to happen," she replied. "Your apology is unwarranted. You aren't the first and I doubt you will be the last to be unable to sleep."

"Arle, um... I know I'm not supposed to leave again until tomorrow, but..."

Arlecchino's eyes were trained precisely on them, and perhaps she might have looked irritated, but in reality, she could not find it within her to be frustrated. They were strong and smart and excelled in the things that they needed to excel in. There was no reason for her to be frustrated with them for something so simple. It was normal for children to seek out their parent following a distressing experience.

"I will take you back to the Regrator's residence, then. Consider it a reward for your high performance this week."

"Ah, really? Thank you, Arle."

"Go get your things. Meet me outside."

vi. found family ♡

"You're home early, [Name]."

When they entered Pantalone's office (he lamented the fact that he was still working at such a late hour, but such was unfortunately his obligation as a Harbinger), he was pleasantly surprised, quietly setting down his pen and offering them his full attention.

"I know." They nodded. "Arle said I performed well this week, so she brought me home a day early. I guess she probably had something to do elsewhere anyway, since she offered."

"I see."

A silence settled for a moment.

The Ninth instantly knew something was wrong when their fingers reached up to their sleeve, absently picking and pulling at the threads. He'd noticed that habit of theirs back when he first put them in the public eye.

"If there is something troubling you, dear, you are more than welcome to tell me."

"It's stupid," they murmured, suddenly feeling very self-conscious. Maybe they should have just stayed back at the House of Hearth.

"If it's bothering you, it is most definitely not."

"I had a nightmare."

"Ah, I see. Is that why you've come home so late?"

"...Yes."

"Do you want to stay with me for the time being, then?" When they nodded, he smiled kindly, opening one arm for them so that the other could be free to finish what remained of his paperwork.

They were secured in his arms the second he made his wordless offer.

His fingers tenderly carded through their hair, mindful to avoid his rings catching uncomfortably on their locks.

Love is a sin.

In Snezhnaya, love is a sin.

For his child, Pantalone was a sinner.

please consider reblogging, it helps me out quite a lot!

#aphelion writes 🌸#favoniuslibrary #astronetwrk #genshin platonic #platonic genshin #platonic genshin impact #platonic genshin impact x reader #platonic genshin x reader #fatui harbingers x reader #pantalone x reader #arlecchino x reader #fatui x reader #genshin x reader #genshin impact x reader

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sixosix · 7 months ago

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that one anon ask got me on the grind

(im actually supposed to be doing something else rn(my plates💀💀💀) but im just so giddy rn) i was gonna make it so that thawed!mc gets up and leaves before lyney's arm could even make contact with the back of the couch😭 but i feel like he's been taking L's after L's lately so I'll let him have this (for now)

i hc thawed!mc to be kind of a nerd,,,LMAOOOOO i can just imagine her interupting a random orphan and be like; "uhm akshually ☝️🤓" and just set everything on fire.

like, shes not even book smart. she just knows random ass shit from the weird books she gets her hands on😭😭😭

thawed!mc: "did u know, a folklore in inazuma says that their sea ganodermas are transformed souls of children who died young. As a form of punishment, they must spend endless years absorbing the elements within the sand and sea using their fragile bodies, pilling them up, and forming a 'sea ganoderma'."

lyney, not listening AT ALL: "really??? omg tell me more..(heart eyes)"

sighhh coping rn w their childhood relationship before u serve us w angst and successfully rip me open and pick every bone in my body /lovingly

have a nice day six!!!! im so happy i came across your blog all those months ago<333

OH MY HGOF THEYRE SO CUTE 😭😭😭😭😭😭 THEM IN THEIR OUTFITS THEYRE SO PRECIOUS IM DROWNING FRON MY TEARS 😭😭😭😭🌊🌊 you really pitied lyney and decided to give him this victory BQHAHAHA THIS IS SO ADORABLE ❤️❤️❤️

the mission success made me laugh so hard like i heard the trumpets . AND UR HC IS SO CUTE AND SO REALLL it rlly makes sense as a child growing up in The House 😢😢😢she picks up a book when shes on break and not allowed to overexert herself and it ends up being something completely random. UGH my baby. our child 😭😭😭😭

ALSO WOW THAT FACT WAS ACTUALLY SO INTERESTING WHAHAHA though i doubt lyney even understood a single thing hes probably just screaming in his head

#I STILL REMEMBER THE DAY U SENT UR FIRST ASK #it was so crazy i instantly went to my friends like GUYYYS????? IM FREKAING OUT LOOK AT THIS ART #606: THAWED #606: akagi0021 #thawed fanart <3

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nervermim · 10 days ago

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Okay but thinking about a yandere king that is obsessed with you, his personal knight

Male reader, cheating (the king is married but it's in love with you), yandere behavior and bad English stuff

Okay but can you blame the king? You are the men that the whole kingdom admire, you make girls faint and men become frustrated with a mixture of envy and admiration.

You are loved by children, fathers want their sons to be like you and mothers want their daughter to marry a man good as you. You are the hero of this country and you deservers that.

You started so young in the military, being an orphan you put all your focus on becoming a royal knights, even if you were poor and alone you never gave up.

And you showed the fruits of your labor by fighting in the war and saving the king from a direct attack. And the old man as a reward gave you the highest position anyone could ask for, the personal knight of first son the heir to the throne.

And you still by the side of the prince after this whole time, you were by side when his father died, when he ascended the throne as the new king, when he went to war, when he came back to get married. Every single moment you were by his side as his most loyal servant.

But it went unnoticed by you that the king saw you as much more than a mere servant, a mere knight, or even a childhood friend. You were more. So much more.

You were his everything. All the king could think about was you. The kingdom? His wife? The duty to have an heir? Your people? Nothing of that really matter, if you still by his side he would have all he wanted.

Being a good king was just a part of keeping you by his side, he always knew how much you respect his father for being a good king, so he would become a even greater one, so you like him more than anything else. If he was someone you admire, then you would stay by side forever without him having to do nothing.

And life like that was perfect. Even if he nobles still questioning him why he and the queen still haven't any heir, even if he knows he could never be as your side as your lover, if he just... Just could look at you everyday, at your smile, then nothing else it's important, nothing else is more important than you.

Then you died.

In case your are actually killed. It should be a easy mission, a saint was visiting the kingdom, when was time to her to leave, you should escort her to the next kingdom and get back. You were strong enough to surppas any problem, then what happened?

Why he is receiving an official message saying that in order to protect the saint you ended up being killed? Why? Why you risk your life of some pathetic saint?

You should came back to him. You should continue alive. Alive and by his side. You couldn't die. No. It couldn't be possible. You aren't supposed to die... No... That's...

Nobody has news from the king after that. The queen tried to enter his quarters, she was attacked by the king, screaming and throwing anything he could to her, screaming to her to leave.

He refused to eat. He refused to sleep. To talk. To live.

How can he live without you? How he is even supposed to live knowing he can't even see your face again?!

He is not even capable to go to your funeral, no, you can't be dead, if he never see your body then you never died, right? You can't be really dead... You are going to be back to him... As your always do.

But you don't. Days. Weeks. Months. You are dead. Completely dead and buried six foot under ground.

People cry in the streets with with the mourning of your dead. Soldiers and knights making promises of honoring your legacy, nobles and common people praying to god to your soul have peace, all the country thankful for the hero that save them multiple times and died as a hero.

Why they are accepting your death? They shouldn't accept. They can't just move on. They can't just accept you are not coming back.

Because he is not.

No, he refuse. He start a new mission, bring you back.

All you hear is the fire, you smell the burned ground, the smoke, you open your eyes and the sky is dark, it's raining, almost like the sky is crying for you.

You... You remember being attacked, remember trying to protect the saint and then four assassin's attacked you. Even for a warrior like you their attacks were strong. You remember your mind getting dark, eyes blurry... You remember dying.

Then how you are here?

Your hands look normal, your body look normal, they were able to save you? But there's no medicine that could save you, you are almost ripped in half.

Then you see. It's him. The king and men you swore loyalty. The men you lived by side for so many years that you can't even remember how were living without him.

And he is looking at you. Soaked in blood. And he doesn't look nothing like the king you once smile at.

He looks like a monster.

Because he became one. For you. He sacrificed his whole kingdom, the whole country, just to pay the price for bringing you back. The life's of those people are nothing compared to the opportunity of bringing you back.

And now you are here again. Alive.

And he will make sure you will never leave his side again.

#yandere #male x reader #male x male #male x male reader #oc yandere #x male reader #male reader

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tragedy-peanut-gallery · 6 months ago

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Idk I’m just spinning Daenaera in my head and she’s kinda becoming a tragic figure in my mind. Like, imagine being born directly before a massive civil war that tears the whole kingdom apart, there’s violence happening directly outside the walls of your own home but you don’t know what’s happening because you’re just a toddler when unknown people come in and burn down two villages on your island. But it’s okay because you don’t know any better, you have two parents who love you! Only, your mother dies early in your life, so young you can’t even remember her face.

The war is supposedly over when you’re around five or six, but that doesn’t save your father, who goes out to sea and never returns. They say you’re an orphan now but you’re too young to understand what that means, you’re put in the custody of your two older cousins. They’re nice girls, you really like them and you trust them, so when they dress you up and bring you to a fancy ball where there’s so many other people, you get excited. Only you probably don’t get to talk to anyone, not even the girls your own age, as you’re brought up to this boy sitting on a massive chair of swords. He’s nice to you, and you can’t help but feel happy when they say you’re to be a queen.

You’re still six years old, and now you’re a wife. They married you off to this boy because they say he’s broken, and he needs someone happy who can “fix” him. Do you even feel the weight of the pressure being put on your small shoulders? You’re just a child, doing child things and that seems to make him smile? Are you even able to process that he’s your husband? You’re both children still, and yet your childhood was taken away before you can even realize it. But you make him smile sometimes, that’s all that matters…. Until one day, your older cousins return with another boy, one who looks so much like your husband friend, and he smiles so big in a way that you’ve never seen before. It’s his brother, who everyone thought died, and before you know it you’re tossed to the side.

You’re maybe seven or eight now, and you don’t know the changes going on in your kingdom. Your brother in law is young too, but he has a wife much older than him, and her family is doing some strange things in the city. Your husband (are you old enough to process that now?) fights with his brother a lot, and whenever he does he finally comes back around to you and his friend both. You’re happy because he’s paying attention to you, and people are happy because they keep saying how pretty and sweet and kind you are. They love you… But not everyone. You’re just a child, but one night during dinner you get horrifically sick. Someone poisoned you. You’re rushed to a maester who does everything he can to save your life, to the detriment of your husband’s friend, who’s dead. Do you realize that you could’ve been in his place?

You recover, but now all of a sudden there isn’t any food left, not that you feel as if you could trust eating for a bit. But still, you’re so hungry you cry yourself to sleep, you don’t know what’s happening, only that your husband and his brother kept the castle gates shut, all in order to protect this older woman who you don’t really know. There’s a trial that you don’t go to, but you learn of the aftermath. You learn that not everyone here loves you, and you don’t quite know why.

You’re between the ages of eight to eleven when your nephews and niece are born. Your brother in law is a father of three at age sixteen, and his wife leaves him. You notice how that changes him, but there’s nothing you can do to make him smile.

You first start bleeding you’re maybe twelve or thirteen, and the people who claim to love you so dearly now want your husband to sleep with you immediately. What is it you feel at this situation? Are you afraid?? The older you get, the less it seems you can make him smile, he shies away from even touching you, and the pressure placed on your shoulders starts to feel heavier. How long can you keep smiling? You’re still a child, but now they say you’re a woman grown- is this when you realize how long your childhood was stolen from you?

Your husband doesn’t consumate your marriage until years after you first started bleeding. You have your first child at sixteen, with no parental figure there to comfort you. You have another pregnancy almost every year and it’s terrifying- are you afraid of dying again? Will there be someone there to save you if something goes wrong??

After your fifth and final child, the history books pause their writing of you, but still the story goes on. In many people’s eyes, you failed your purpose. You were meant to fix your husband, to save this broken king from himself at the cost of your own childhood. It’s not his fault, maybe you know that- but don’t you feel a bit resentful still? You were just being yourself, and instead of helping everyone in your life put all the pressure on you. You smiled and laughed, you were kind even when you wanted to be angry or upset, you gave him so many children. It isn’t either of your fault- he was traumatized, and you were just a child, but does that break your heart any less?

You see your niece, married off at just sixteen. They say she’s a woman grown now, and she’s strong enough to not cry at the altar- but for a brief moment you see yourself reflected in her eyes, a small and terrified child. You can hold her, tell her that everything will be okay, but can you bring yourself to lie to her like that?

Any knowledge of your existence vanishes when your oldest son, eighteen but still a boy, dies in a land far away, fighting some pointless war he had no business waging. Are you still alive to grieve, to rage at his foolishness and weep for boy he had been? Are you still alive, when your younger son, sweet but unfit for that cursed throne, locks his sisters away and walks out into the desert alone?

Does anyone know what happened to Daenaera Velaryon, once she was no longer the queen?

Do you?

#putting this under a cut because this is a RAMBLE #I spent a whole hour typing this out and now I’m braindead. enjoy #asoiaf #daenaera velaryon

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riding-with-the-wild-hunt · 4 months ago

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vetted fundraisers from today. please continue to support campaigns like these in whatever ways you're able. even if it doesn't seem like much to you, your contribution is helping to save someone's life

july 17th:

Safaa Al Khatib, her husband Muhammad Al-Thalateeni (photojournalist, suffered a severe head injury while working), and their two little daughters (€21,571/€35,000) - @safaakhatib, @safaakhateeb, @mohammed-123, verified by @/nabulsi

Mohammed Iwais and his nine brothers, all of whom have families of their own (kr20,260 SEK/kr500,000 SEK) - @mohdiwais, verified by @/90-ghost

Orphaned twins Kareem and Carmen, their grandparents, and their two aunts ($7,817/$50,000) - @adham-89, verified by @/90-ghost

The Ayyad family of eight, four of whom are children ($25,399/$35,000) - @aymanayyad82, @mayadayyad81, @aymanayyad81, verified by @/nabulsi

Muhammad Al-Habil, his wife, their three young children, and Muhammad's chronically ill parents (€11,599/€50,000) - @alhabil, @mohammedfamily11, @aya2mohammed, verified by @/el-shab-hussein

Reuniting four stranded children, one of whom needs urgent treatment for diabetes, with their parents ($7,092 CAD/$50,000 CAD) - @burningnightgiver, verified by @/90-ghost

The Shehab family of eight, including five children and their grandmother (€23,460/€50,000) - @malakshehab, @danashehab, verified by @/el-shab-hussein

Eman and her family of six ($379 CAD/$70,000 CAD) - @emhema1, verified by @/90-ghost

Helping Doaa Jad Al-Haq provide for her autistic son and evacuate the rest of their family, including a member who is paralyzed and needs urgent medical care (kr23,315 SEK/kr200,000 SEK) - @omarasaadb, verified by @/90-ghost

Hanaa Al-Lulu and her family (€2,823/€40,000) - @enghanalulu, verified by @/90-ghost

The six Maliha siblings (one with chronic respiratory illness) and their mother (they were separated from their father and don't know where he is) (€35,445/€50,000) - @dinamaliha, #160 on @/el-shab-hussein and @/nabulsi's spreadsheet

Mohammed Haboub and his family of three (kr20,412 SEK/kr300,000 SEK) - @mohammedhaboubsblog, verified by @/90-ghost

Reham Hassouna, her husband Mohammed, and their three little daughters (all suffering from acute dehydration and malnutrition) (£110/£35,000) - @rehamoworld, verified by @/90-ghost

Helping Mahmoud Abu Hamam rebuild his family's destroyed home ($1,510/$25,000) - @ma7moudgaza2, #149 on @/nabulsi and @/el-shab-hussein's spreadsheet

Evacuating Firas Muhaisen's family of six (including three children) and continuing he and his sister's medical education (very time sensitive, short-term goal of $6,000 CAD needed by August 1st) ($3,165 CAD/$82,000 CAD) - @firasmuhaisenn, @hashem-fromgaza, @nisreenameen, verified by @/90-ghost

not yet vetted:

Salem Alanqar, his wife Hadeel, their two little children, Salem's chronically ill parents, and his five siblings, three of whom are under 18 (kr675 SEK/kr990,000 SEK) - @salemanqar

Mahmood, his wife Nedaa, and their two children, Shahd and Alaa (€30/€30,000) - @linasafadi

Hoda and her 4-year-old daughter Rita (unknown amount) - @retahuda

Safaa, her husband, their baby Amir, and Safaa's mother, who needs treatment for diabetes ($1,036/$75,000) - @safaaasad1998

Mohammed and his five young children (€25/€15,000) - @mhammed

Nabil Zaqout, his wife, and their three little children (€195/€60,000) - @nabilzaq23

Rozan and her family of six (€0/€40,000) - @rozanallidawi

i know clicking through links can seem like a drag, but i beg you to push through it for the sake of these families. they need our help and support more than ever

#palestine #gaza #boosting #donations

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bitethedevil · 4 months ago

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Living with The Devil You Know (Raphael x Tav): Chapter 15

Chapter: one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen

Read this fic on AO3 (Link)

Fic Summary: Tav broke their agreement by handing the Crown of Karsus to Mystra instead of Raphael. Not only that, but she also robbed his house and killed his incubus. Raphael is patient and he is determined to get his revenge.

…Tav isn't too bothered. She will figure something out eventually. Until then she just has to find a way to live peacefully with a devil.

Chapter Summary: Raphael continues showing Tav his true colors. The 24 hours are coming to an end and Tav must soon make a hard decision, that only seems to grow more and more difficult, the more she learns.

(AN: You are in for a ride, my dudes. Also, I think we have two chapters left until this whole thing is wrapped up. Read the full notes on AO3 for more info)

WARNINGS: Gore, Blood, Abusive Behaviour, Mention of Death, Mention of Child Abuse, Mention of Child Death, Mention of Domestic Abuse, Torture

Raphael woke her up way too early for her liking. He let her eat breakfast before they went anywhere. She was quiet while she ate, trying to wake up and keep her eyes open, much to Raphael’s amusement. He had the servants bring her a strong cup of tea, which did help a little.

“Can you reveal what we are doing today?” she asked and sipped the tea. “Or is it going to be some kind of horrible surprise?”

“I can reveal what we are doing in a moment,” he said. “Though I will ask you to remember our agreement when I tell you. If you interfere, you will be sent back to Baldur’s Gate.”

She looked at him over the cup with tired eyes.

“Not sure I like the sound of that,” she sighed. “But fine…”

“We will meet a potential client of mine. Unlike the woman you met yesterday, this man is a noble, though he is just as desperate for my help.”

The mention of the woman they met the day before made her stomach churn. She would most likely already be dead. Her children would soon find her lifeless body in her bed and their lives would change forever. Tav had to push the thought aside. Though she was an adult when it happened, she clearly remembered the day that she became an orphan herself. It hurt too much to think about.

Raphael continued explaining.

“He is a lord who has lost his wife and his only heir. The other noble houses of Athkatla refuse to marry any of their daughters to him. Without a new wife and an heir, his house will perish.”

Tav nodded.

“There is some awful detail that I’m missing, I’m sure of it,” Tav said and narrowed her eyes at him.

“It is said that Lord Ophal beat his former young wife to death in a fit of rage,” Raphael explained with a smirk. “The same fate befell his son shortly after, who was only ten years old at the time. It is said the child cried after the death of its mother, as children do. Lord Ophal beat him regularly and had healers on hand for that reason, but it seems that he went one step too far due to his irritation at the child’s crying. Or so the rumors say.”

Tav’s jaw fell, and it felt as if she had been stabbed in the heart.

“And what will your role in all of this be?” she asked quietly, though she had already guessed the answer.

“To procure him a new wife, of course,” he answered casually. “I happen to know a few of the noble families in Athkatla, and if he does sign, I will pull a few strings to ensure that one of those families will happily hand over their young daughter to him.”

Tav was staring at the table in front of her with an empty stare.

“This is too personal to be a coincidence, Raphael,” she muttered. “Are you really so eager to get rid of me that you will make me watch as you help a bastard that is just like my father? He won’t stop. He’ll do the same to his new wife and children.”

“Indeed, he will,” he answered with a chuckle at her naïve statement. “But he won’t do so before he has handed me his soul, which is all that matters, really. I am not eager to get rid of you, I am simply showing you the reality of what I do and who I am.”

Tav went quiet again. She shook her head and breathed deeply.

“Will he suffer?” she asked. “When he dies, I mean.”

“Of course.”

She nodded. In a way it did not matter. This would have happened even if she was not there. It did not make it easier in any way and a part of her did hate Raphael for it in that moment. On the other hand, by Raphael doing this, the man would face certain suffering in his afterlife. A fate that might not be ensured if he did not sign the deal. Men like him deserved to suffer.

“Shall we go?” he asked and held out a hand to her.

She reluctantly took it.

They appeared in a large ornate room with a big table in the middle. At the end of it sat a heavyset man with a red face, stuffing his face with food the way that only people who have never lacked it do. He stopped chewing only for a moment to look up at Raphael and her. His eyes lingered at her.

“Lord Ophal,” Raphael greeted with a charming smile. “This is a business associate of mine. Please do not mind her.”

“Raphael,” the man greeted back. “Business associate, eh?”

The man licked his greasy lips as he looked her up and down. Raphael’s grip tightened around her waist.

“Good for you, devil,” Lord Ophal said with a laugh. “She is rather pretty, I suppose. Except for those scars on her face. Play a little rough with her, eh? I don’t blame you. The pretty ones are always the mouthiest.”

Tav took the deepest breath of her life to not throw a fireball at his face. She also knew that despite Raphael’s outward appearance of calm, he did not take kindly to the comment. She could feel it in the way his breathing changed and the way his grip tightened even more around her.

“I would advise you to remember who you are speaking to,” Raphael said with eerie calmness. “Let us focus on business.”

“Apologies Saer,” the man grunted and continued stuffing his face. “Did you find me a new wife?”

“There are a few potential candidates, to go through,” Raphael answered and sat down beside him.

The two men talked for a while. Her dislike for Lord Ophal only grew with the way he was talking about those young women as if they were objects for his amusement. It took everything for her to bite her tongue, and especially at the hungry looks the lord looked at her with every now and again.

In the end, the lord decided to sign the deal. Raphael was smiling like the cat that got the cream as he did.

“And from the moment that you are a married man, our deal is in effect,” Raphael explained.

“You are invited to the ceremony if you have the time, Saer,” Lord Ophal said with a bright smile. “You can bring your little woman there too, if you please.”

“I wouldn’t miss it for the world, my lord Saer,” Raphael said and smiled widely.

Lord Ophal might not have detected the hint of a threat in his voice, but Tav did.

He snapped and they were back at the House of Hope.

“My apologies,” Raphael said, he was still calm but there were anger and disgust hiding just beneath the surface. “Had I known that the imbecile would disrespect you and I in such a manner, I would not have brought you. I will remember this little show of disrespect once I get my hands on his soul.”

Tav knew better than to speak to him when he was in a mood like that. The line was drawn at personal insults…not child murder, or wife killing, apparently. She sat down as she waited for the storm to pass. She thought as she watched him.

Raphael was enabling murderers and abusers, and that was still difficult to feel at peace with. On the other hand, they would also one day get what was coming to them, delivered to them in tenfold. The problem was that such was also the fate of desperate innocents, such as the mother she had met the day before.

There was a part of her that had a difficult time blaming Raphael alone though. These people had all made a choice. A horrible and unfair choice, but a choice regardless. Raphael had never forced anyone, and as he had said the day before: if he did not help them, then who would? Tav was not sure what to think.

Raphael eventually calmed down, though she could still feel that he was irritated. He took her hand to lead her somewhere. When she realized that he was leading her to the hatch that led down into Hope’s old cell, her blood ran cold. They were going to visit Cassius...

The room was dark and damp. She could only see the faint outline of something hanging in the middle of the room. Raphael led her by the hand to a chair. He sat down first and wrapped his arm around her waist to pull her to his lap. He ran his hand up and down her side in a comforting manner, though nothing about it was comforting. She felt like a lamb being calmed before slaughter.

When he lit up the room with a snap, the hand held her in a grip so that she could not run. She did feel like running when she saw him. Cassius was suspended in air by his Infernal chains. In contrary to when they saved Hope, the injuries that he had inflicted on Cassius were very apparent.

The chains had ripped up his arms, as it looked like he had been struggling to get free. There were wounds underneath the chains that flies buzzed around, eating at the dark rotten-looking flesh. He stared emptily at nothing in particular with his wide eyes. His mouth was open, but no screams came out, just wheezing. Blood was dripping in a steady stream from his mouth.

It was a horrifying sight. She instinctively looked away.

“You see, right here,” Raphael said calmly and put his free hand on her throat to feel for where her vocal cords would be. “When you speak, your vocal cords constrict to form sounds. Cassius’s are currently pried open by a very small and very sharp device. He is also experiencing his worst nightmares over and over again in his mind, more vividly than ever, while he cannot scream without injuring himself.”

Tav’s breathing had gotten faster, and she looked at Raphael’s face.

“I don’t want to see this,” she said quietly.

“But you will,” he answered with a smile. “We had a deal, did we not? Do you feel sorry for him? The man that almost got your friends and you killed.”

Tav didn’t answer. She could still hear Cassius’s wheezing breaths and she did not dare to look at his dead and empty stare again.

“I suppose feeling some sympathy is only natural,” Raphael mused. “You and him do have one thing in common, after all…”

Raphael put a hand behind her head and turned it to look at Cassius. She tried to turn away, but his grip did not allow it.

“Stop…please,” she pleaded.

Something was going on in Cassius’s mind that made him squirm in his chains. She saw him trying to pull his arms to himself and escape. She saw the flesh of his right arm rip as he pulled, and the bone was exposed underneath. His eyes were panicked, and the blood flowed faster from his mouth as he tried to scream. She closed her eyes.

“Open your eyes, or I will send you back,” Raphael said and placed his chin on her shoulder as he kept her close to him in his grip.

She had started to tear up, but she did as she was told.

“Good girl,” Raphael said. “As I said, the two of you have one thing in common. Cassius loved me too, the naïve boy. Were it not for his jealousy, none of us would be here at this moment.”

She could not tear her eyes from the way his arms were tearing at the chains. She could not imagine the level of fear one would have to experience to do so much damage to one’s own body just to escape.

“I humored him of course. He was a decent replacement for Haarlep for a while and I found his puppylike infatuation with me somewhat endearing. His main mistake was not getting out of the way once my interest in him faltered.”

Tav yelped as Cassius pulled one of his arms free. His hand fell to the floor, mostly degloved and only a stump of bone was left where his hand had been. He was choking on his own blood as he tried to scream, with the same empty panicked look in his eyes.

“He was stubborn, naïve, and so certain that if he only tried hard enough, he could make me love him back. A foolish endeavor, really.”

There was a flash of magic, and Cassius was back in his chains, healed and put together just enough that he would not die. Tav looked on in horror.

“Please stop—"

“Though you know all about foolish endeavors, don’t you, my sweet?” Raphael continued, ignoring her pleas. “The two of you are the same. The only difference is that I do love you, in my way, and I never cared much for poor Cassius. However, who can say for how long? My interests are ever fleeting and even when I might change my mind someday, you will still be mine.”

Tav began struggling against Raphael’s grip and there was no doubt that he could feel it. Instead of letting her go he simply tightened his grip and kissed her neck and shoulders lazily.

“You can ask Cassius how much loving me is truly worth then,” he whispered cruelly in her ear.

“Please…let this be over.”

Tav had seen many horrible things throughout her adventure, but never so up close and never had she been so unable to do anything about it. It was also different because it was someone, she knew who was getting tortured. She didn’t like Cassius, but he never deserved this. No one did.

“It will be over soon,” he said and rubbed the part of her neck that he was holding in a soothing motion. “Though I think it would only be fair that Cassius greets his guest himself.”

Raphael snapped and Cassius seemed to leave the trance he was in. His body went slack in relief. His head fell and his chin rested on his chest. He finally closed his eyes for a moment. He was breathing more normally now, and a whine left his lips, so Tav gathered that the device between his vocal cords had been removed.

“Look who came to see you,” Raphael called out to him. “A familiar face that isn’t mine for once.”

He flinched at Raphael’s voice. He slowly looked up. His expression reminded her of a scared animal that is expecting to get a beating. When his yellow eyes finally locked unto hers, they turned from fear to pure unadulterated hatred.

“You,” he said in a barely audible hoarse voice. “Of course it’s fucking you.”

Tav hesitantly opened her mouth to say something, but he cut her off.

“This is your fault…” he said with anger, his hoarse voice cracking. “You ruined my life…”

He was not wrong, though Tav had no other choice when it happened. She had handed the blame to him when Raphael had come home and confronted her and her friends. Cassius was to blame, but if she had known this would happen to him, she might have…

She wouldn’t have. She knew that was the truth. Had it happened now she would have done the same thing, though she loathed to admit it. She still felt pity and guilt when she looked at him.

He was just a young man, perhaps a few years younger than herself. The fool had had been in love with his patron, and he had done stupid things because of it. If that wasn’t something she could sympathize with, then what was?

“I’m…” Tav began. She knew there was no way any words could make up for it. “I’m so sorry.”

Cassius narrowed his tearful eyes at her in disgust. Raphael chuckled behind her.

“Are you now?” Raphael said. “Are you truly sorry that you saved your friends? Would you rather that it be you in his place?”

“I’m sorry about what you have done to him. I didn’t want this,” she said quietly. “You would not have treated me this way. Don’t act like you would.”

“No? Perhaps not,” Raphael purred in her ear. “Though I think you would be surprised the lengths I would go to when someone hurts my feelings. Did you think that it did not anger me that you wanted to leave? After everything I did for you. I was furious. I burned down half of the house in rage after you left.”

Tav had heard that from Korrilla too.

“I took out my frustrations on poor Cassius after. What he had done was no doubt stupid, but had the circumstances been different, I would not have punished him as severely as I have. Mistakes happen. The poor boy only tried to help, after all…I think I must have brought him back from the brink of death and healed him over a hundred times that night you left…”

Cassius was listening to what he was saying too. He was thrashing against his chains while he looked at Tav like a man with murder on his mind. There was nothing but hatred in his eyes.

“I’ll kill you if I ever get the chance,” Cassius said with gritted teeth. “I’LL KILL YOU LIKE I SHOULD HAVE DONE THE FIRST TIME YOU—”

Raphael snapped his fingers and Cassius went quiet and limp against his chains. Raphael finally let go of his grip around the back of her neck. She looked away immediately. She was shaking in his arms. When she looked up at him, she could see that he was enjoying the whole situation.

She was quiet. She had nothing to say to him. The whole room had turned quiet after he had put Cassius to sleep. She felt an emptiness in her chest. She felt sadness and anger at how everything had turned out. Most of all she felt exhausted, emotionally and physically after what she had just experienced.

“So,” Raphael said through the sudden quietness that had fallen upon the dungeon and brushed away a strand of her hair. “Will you want to scurry back to Baldur’s Gate immediately, or will you want to use the last couple of hours to consider your decision before you do? I suspect that this day has at the very least made you hesitate with your firm decision of staying. Am I wrong?”

Tav felt that familiar hatred of him boiling up inside herself again. Obviously for what he did, but also for how he was acting about this whole thing. How aloof he was. How little he seemed to care about everything, when she had seen with her own two eyes that he was capable of caring. She hated how that part of him was always hidden behind all his pride, his games, his bullshit…

That hatred made her see clearly for a moment. She had a realization. That was it. She knew exactly how Raphael worked: he played games. She was going to use her hatred for all it was worth.

“No,” she said coldly and wiped her tears. She could see something in his eyes change, just as she expected. “No, you might be right. I was too naïve to see it…You are an awful person. A monster who is incapable of love…And perhaps also undeserving of it.”

He was holding his perfect façade of calmness, but she could see the slight panic in his eyes. She was going off-script.

“Perhaps it was not only me who was in the right place before I took the stupid decision to come here,” she said with a bitter laugh. “Perhaps you were as well. Rotting in the Hells, alone, as you always have been, with your only company being the shadows that you look for over your shoulder…forever waiting for the next one of your kin to try to kill you, while you grasp for some semblance of control by playing with the lives of people like Cassius and I.”

His eyes narrowed at her when she got up from his lap to walk away.

“Even if I might not be able to love you, I always will pity you, Raphael,” she said quietly. “Now, I think I’d like some privacy to think before I make my decision.”

“As you wish,” he said curtly.

His short response surprised her. She had at least expected a clever retort. She threw him one last glance before making her way out of the dungeon. She caught him swallowing hard and averting his gaze to the floor when she looked at him. She knew that her words had an effect on him, though he did everything to hide it from her. She left him there and went upstairs.

He had detected no lies in what she was saying, because all of it was truth. Perhaps it was only convenient truths, in the same way that he himself liked to deceive people, but still truths. Although all of what she had said did not necessarily mean that she did not still love him.

Her realization had been correct, and she had just proven it: he was bluffing. He did not want her to leave, but he was trying to use her stubbornness against her. He had once done the same when he tried to convince her that it would be the end of the world as we knew it, if a certain orthon escaped the temple of Shar. She fell for it back then, but she would not fall for it now.

Raphael was not a stupid man by any means, but he was awfully predictable once someone had learned all his tricks. He wanted to show her the worst version of himself and then have the cruel victory of her still choosing him despite of it.

She truly was not sure what to do after everything she had seen, but she would be damned if her decision was going to be dependent on what he wanted her to do.

It would be her choice in the end, no matter what.

#raphael bg3 #raphael the cambion #bg3 raphael #raphael x tav #baldur's gate 3 #bg3 #bg3 fanfiction

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anotheroceanid · 7 months ago

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You can't tell me that the big six don't turn into kids at least once a month and just watch Jason and Percy's home comfort.

Hestia, Demeter, and Hera turn into teenagers, Hades, Poseidon and Zeus - in young children.[This is the only time Zeus has ever admitted in any way that he is the youngest].

And they're just watching Jason and Percy lead their little lives.

Percy cooks in the kitchen, his dainty fingers gently mixing the ingredients to make an apple pie for dinner, while Jason gently flirts with him, trying to steal sliced apples.

It looks so gentle and homely-Jason's hands on Percy's waist, Percy's light playful laugh, Jason's nose in Percy's hair, Jason's kisses on Percy's bare shoulders and the trusting pressing of Percy's crown to Jason's neck.

And the older Olympians imagine themselves as children watching the PDA of their parents.

they even have a one-sided dialogue - Hestia advises "mom" to add a little cinnamon to honey so that it is both spicy and sweet, Hera asks "dad" if he will come to her performance in the school choir, Hades blushes and asks "parents" to be more modest, Zeus irritably asks if dinner will be ready soon...

Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, Poseidon and Zeus deep down, are still children who yearn to have parents.

This is so saaaaad 😭😭😭 let me make it sadder 😈

Jercy doesn't even know the gods are there. The big six are just invisibly hanging around the house, pretending they live there with their parents and they're just ordinary mortal/legacy kids.

But now for the humour…

I mean, after some time Percy starts to notice things out of place, their food disappearing overnight. He goes after Nico and (heh) Uncle Hades to question if his apartment is haunted. Hades accidentally goes “No, mom.” Silence. Very awkward. Percy doesn’t understand what's going on, but Demeter is there and she starts screaming at Hades and calls him stupid.

Points if Hades offers Percy and Jason pomegranate juice and this turns into an actual topic in the Olympian Council. Zeus accuses Hades of trying to gatekeep their parents, and the other Olympians are just sitting there watching the Big Six throw words at each other faces without a single idea about what that is about.

Things would possibly get even more confusing when Hades says: at least MY son isn't a grandmother’s beater *looking straight at Ares*

Eventually, Percy and Jason would notice what's going on, I guess. Maybe the Big Six would approach them pretending to be orphans or unclaimed demigods in need of a family, but it would explode in their faces because Percy would SEETHE that the gods were seemingly ignoring their kids again.

He would break into Olympus to complain and… ouch, that conversation will need a therapist to go on…

At some point Zeus would go all “Littlest Sibling Mode” and just point at one of his brothers and say “It was HIS idea, mom! He forced me to do it 😔”

Do you think the Big Three would cry if Jason ever complimented them as “these are my boys”? Because I do.

#jercy #percy jackson #jason grace #zeus #hades #poseidon #hera #demeter #hestia #kronos #rhea #percy is rhea’s lookalike #jason is kronos’ lookalike

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severus-snaps · 5 months ago

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so I’ve been rereading the books to get the tiny snippets of Snape that don't often get brought up

but so far I’ve only read up to Harry meeting Ron on the Hogwarts Express. Although Snape has yet to be introduced I keep thinking about how similar Snape and Harry were in a lot of ways - and how different - even at the early stages.

so this is a mostly snape-centric ramble about Harry and Sev's similarities and differences, and what they might have meant for a young Sev during his time as a child, his family, his trip to Diagon Alley, his scene on the Hogwarts Express, and what all of that might mean for his experience of being in Slytherin in his early years

Pre Hogwarts

This started as a ramble, but I’ve decided to organise it slightly - this is difficult as Harry and Snape have slightly different circumstances that are similar in some ways but different in others, so I’ve just gone back to basics for each section here

Similarities

Both are young wizards about to go to Hogwarts

Both come from unhappy homes

Both cannot wait to go to Hogwarts/escape their ‘family home’

Both have displayed unintentional magic as children

Both as children are in ill-fitting clothes, have poor haircuts (even if Harry's grows back; Sev’s apparently does not), and are scrawny and/or small. Sev is described as looking at odds with James ("conspicuously lacked" looking well-cared-for and adored, which I suspect would also apply to Harry, if the series wasn't half in Harry's POV).

Depending on whether you take the mistreatment and neglect literally from PS or in a more Roald Dahl-eque way in which I suspect it was initially written, Harry did not have a happy home life until this point, and neither did Snape (a witch ‘cowering’ from a Muggle and Sev’s jacket despite the heat and the Pottermore article suggest and/or state physical abuse in addition to neglect)

As far as we’re aware, Snape is not used as a servant/slave within his own home

Differences

One of the main ways Harry and Sev differ would obviously be magical knowledge; Sev knows he is a wizard, knows a lot about the wizarding world - but Harry does not

Snape is not orphaned; he has both parents (for better or for worse), where Harry has none, unless you count the Dursleys

Both Harry and Sev are obviously neglected, but Harry is neglected intentionally

Harry is intentionally excluded, neglected and ignored - but Sev’s neglect seems less intentional and more… ‘the way of things’

Sev's family are so poor and/or neglectful that Sev doesn't have his own clothes (context clues like living in a dilapidated, small house in an old industrial area suggest they just don't have the option)

Sev’s family either has no inclination or ability to amend Tobias' clothes instead of Eileen's, and/or don’t have any family friends to borrow/take hand-me-down clothes from; they are his parents’ clothes. Harry is ‘fortunate’ in that he has Dudley to take clothes from. The obvious outcome being here that otherwise he’d be wearing Vernon’s old coat and Petunia’s blouse)

Harry is raised in a middle-class home with a reasonable enough income. He gets pocket money (probably paltry and inconsistent: “The Dursleys haven’t given me pocket money for about six years”, CoS) can sneak out and eat at night, get cake (however gross) from his neighbour as she tells him about her cats. He eats with the Dursleys, plays with Dudley's toys if he's left alone, and gets gifts (even if they are pathetic). Harry’s neglect is wilful - and malicious

I get the idea that the Snape family are so poor and so unhappy that their neglect isn't even intentional, it's just how their lives are. they're steeped in it, living in a dilapidated area, poor, in an unhappy and volatile marriage

Sev is described, even as an adult, as being skinny - so maybe that's just how he's wired - but maybe (almost certainly given the other context clues and the era) he's also underfed as a kid

If we reach into parallels with the other 'abandoned boy' (voldemort), sev's mum was possibly similar to merope gaunt - unhappy, and either unwilling or unable to use magic to defend herself or sev against tobias (this conjecture is all from hazy memory; obviously i haven't read that far yet).

Overall ideas:

Neither Sev nor Harry have warm family figures. Far from Molly's checking that her gaggle are in order on platform 9 3/4 the Dursleys leave Harry there alone - and Eileen doesn't seem that bothered when Sev is about to leave (nor does he seem that bothered that he's about to leave her - he's more interested in Lily). But Snape’s lack of familial closeness seems a consequence of their situation, rather than an intentional choice, as it was with the Dursleys and Harry.

Sev (unlike Harry) doesn't really know 'how the other half live' - as far as we can tell, he has no access to the average family dynamic of the Dursleys (and they do seem happy with one another, they love Dudley, and would be living their 'ordinary' dream life if Harry wasn't there to complicate it). To add to that, I get the idea that Sev genuinely doesn't really understand why Lily likes (or loves) Petunia; he has no concept of why a family member’s opinion might count. There's not much love to lose in his family, and like Harry, he can’t wait to leave - there’s nothing holding him back.

Unlike Harry who doesn’t know anything yet, Snape knows he's a wizard and has known all his life. He knows a lot about the wizarding world, either from his mother or her books; he tells Lily about it. Sev loves (as Harry comes to love) magic, and what it represents: escape, freedom, control over his life - and a certain amount of positive attention and interest from Lily which he is so clearly lacking elsewhere.

But (sort of like Harry), his house at Spinner's End doesn't seem like the sort of place where magic was used like The Burrow, for example, or Malfoy Manor where Draco already flies ("doesn't your dad like magic?"; he’s alone in his room shooting down flies). It’s also not apparently used for defence/retaliation by his mother, if the shouting scene with Sev's father is any indication.

But (un)intentionally, depending on how you interpret Sev's actions with Petunia and the branch, Sev has displayed magic when he was angry or afraid, much like most magical children - and much like Harry.

Harry's examples are ‘sweeter’ at that age, on the whole: he shrinks an ugly jumper, grows his hair back, and jumps/flies on a roof, and removes glass from a snake enclosure in a comical scene. Sev drops a branch on someone, and they are genuinely upset and leave. (Some of this might be to do with the lighter tone of the earlier books as well).

Seeing as Petunia was fine enough to run away after the event and Lily stays friends with him, it can't have been an enormous branch. Sev seems guilty, so I'm certain that whilst he did want to retaliate (and for something to happen to Petunia), I'm not certain that he actually intended it to (or perhaps he did; I wouldn't blame him. I also really enjoy the idea that he's in control of his magic enough to cause it on purpose; I get the idea he's quite powerful, because of his learning to fly unsupported later in his life, which is no mean feat by this universe's rules, and his skills in wandless magic like Legi/Occlumency, spell creation, etc). [side note: that then opens up a can of worms for me bc how powerful is Lily if she can float/fly at nine, Harry can either Apparate or float/fly in primary school, at presumably a similar age - but those were accidental, brief 'flights' I suppose compared to Voldemort and Snape showing sustained flight during the battle of seven potters and jumping out of a Hogwarts window and flying away - but i digress).

So, while Harry’s no doormat, Severus is possibly more spiteful and reactive at that age; he's defiant when he drops a branch on Petunia, he's shooting down flies when he gets his wand, he's making disparaging noises to James, he's accusing Petunia of spying, and all of the other things people say to suggest he's always been a terrible person. I think, given the glimpses into a stressful, poverty-stricken and loveless home, possibly also abusive, that's essentially all he knows when threatened. Harry seems overwhelmingly polite to Hagrid in early PS - but then Hagrid has always been kind and almost reverential, which in turn would affect how a person responds. We mainly see Sev respond to Petunia in a similar context, and he’s nice enough to Lily, if a bit awkward and lacking in Harry’s politeness.

I can see Sev, with his more ‘prickly’ upbringing, being more like Tom here in the same situation of not knowing he was a wizard - and acting more like ‘I knew I was special’ than ‘no, sorry, you’ve got the wrong guy’. But again, that might be because of the intersection of his personality and his upbringing - Harry, too, was defiant and neglected, though I get the feeling Sev’s general situation was more violent somehow, so it could’ve gone either way.

Diagon Alley

The next place where Harry and Sev's differences would be readily apparent would be in Diagon Alley. This is less about their similarities vs differences and more of a series of general rambles and speculation.

Would Snape have even gone to Diagon? By which I mean, would he wear his mother's old robes to school, or get new ones? Did he have her old books? Would she have saved them for 11+ years? (books, maybe; robes, possibly not).

Assuming Sev went to Diagon, as all/most young Wizards do, I imagine that despite Sev knowing about magical culture he's rarely actually seen it in action because of my point above about his father not liking magic/anything much and his mother not using magic to defend herself - so he’s definitely not seen it on that scale. He'd be every bit as blown away as Harry was by the wonders of Diagon Alley, the shops, the brooms, the pets, the books - because his dream is finally coming true! He's on his way to Hogwarts!

…Until it came to the buying. Young Sev has no vault overflowing with gold. He has no option to realistically contemplate buying a solid gold cauldron like Harry does, even if he might like to. He probably doesn't get a pet as a lovely going away (or in Harry's case, birthday) gift from a parental figure, and there’s no mention of a pet when Sev’s on Platform 9 ¾. Eileen would have had to save, or keep some money back/hidden, for all of that, given the state of his home and Muggle clothes.

tangent: by the time they reach the train, and even in diagon itself, sev is more of a ron than a harry. but how poor is the weasley family really if they always get plenty to eat and a lovely large home and all of their school supplies and brooms at home for so many kids on a single income, even if most stuff is secondhand? maybe i'm just biased bc I grew up poor and it was just me and mum and stuff Just Was secondhand, it's not the end of the world even if ron's embarrassed by it.

it's suggested in later books that ron's never (or rarely) owned a galleon. seven galleons then (assuming the prices are similar in sev's generation) seems a lot then for a wand; 9 galleons for a new book (advanced potion making apparently cost that, HBP); possibly it was eileen's own old book, and I know the curriculum doesn't change much if harry's still using it and the book was printed in the 50s, but in CoS, with lockhart's book(s), and the weasleys talking, suggest they'd have to have bought at least a few new books each year, so we can assume sev would need to do the same and otherwise he’d be borrowing old books. not to mention the potions ingredients, the robes, etc. I assume Sev got his own wand but what if he used his mother's old one (especially if she didn’t use it much - which would be nice/interesting, as another parallel where he takes predominantly after/aligns more strongly with his mother/female figures which was discussed in several other metas).

The other thing that struck me was that Harry wanted to buy a book of curses and jinxes (Curses and Counter-Curses: Bewitch your friends and befuddle your enemies!) for use on Dudley, but Hagrid dissuaded him - much like how Sev was described as knowing "more curses when he arrived at school than half the kids in seventh year" and maybe might want to curse his father and/or Petunia, but certainly learnt to curse the Marauders at a later stage.

The scene with Draco and Harry at Madam Malkin’s was also interesting to me when drawing conclusions for Sev. When comparing Harry’s experience on the Hogwarts Express to the robe shop, I’m curious how it would’ve differed or been the same.

At Madam Malkin’s, Draco sees what he would’ve seen in Sev: a boy, small for his age, in hand-me-downs, with possibly weird hair - and Draco attempts to chat with him.

Draco here, to an extent, represents any Malfoy (as we know, Lucius befriended Sev), and indeed any Pureblood, in the same situation - a boy raised in a wealthy magical family, with all of the experience of magic and privilege that comes with it. He wants a racing broom, he’s practically bored of magic, none of this is special. But it is special to Harry, and it’s special to Sev; it’s their lifeline and their escape. I’m not sure how much Sev would’ve appreciated or wanted to emulate that bored, over it attitude; on the one hand ‘no foolish wand-waving’ indicates that to an extent he’s not impressed with showy magic for the sake of it, on the other, he’s the Half Blood Prince. He’s done plenty of foolish wand-waving in his time, and finds it fascinating.

Back to the conversation with Draco. Like Harry, Sev would not have played Quidditch (he can’t fly intuitively in the brief memory we see, being more akin to someone like Hermione or Neville in that regard); he would likely not have a broom already. He’s critical of ‘big Quidditch heroes’ - or is he jealous? He certainly enjoys Quidditch enough to have a rivalry with McGonagall, and that might be another part to why he ended up disliking James - maybe he really was jealous of James’ skill on the Quidditch pitch.

Then, Draco discusses houses. Here there’d be a slight difference between Sev and Harry - Harry has no idea, really, what house he’d be in - he doesn’t even know what the houses are. But Sev wants to be a Slytherin, he knows that already. Possibly because his mother was, furthering their similarities/alignment? It does seem to generally run in families, what with James “Gryffindor like my dad” Potter, Sirius “my whole family have been in Slytherin but maybe I’ll break the tradition” Black, and Draco “I know I’ll be in Slytherin because all of my family have been” Malfoy and, of course, the whole host of Weasleys).

So, wanting to be in Slytherin would be a point in Sev’s favour, as far as the Malfoys were concerned, and wanting it (and possibly having a family member already in Slytherin) would be useful in that context, too, obviously.

But how would Sev react at this point to Draco’s personality? Harry is reminded of Dudley, and I’m not sure we have enough evidence to say whether Sev had someone similar in his life who bullied him (what his father did I would argue went far beyond bullying, and would be a much different dynamic). But Petunia would possibly have acted as a stand-in here, either as herself, or as a representation of the other Muggles in the area who knew ‘that Snape’ family from the poor address, for the reason of why Sev was otherwise friendless. I don’t think it’s a leap to imagine that Sev was unpopular with the other local kids.

Draco goes on to ask Harry whether his parents were “our kind” - to which Sev has a more ‘undesirable’ answer than Harry, because one of his parents was a Muggle. Draco talks of servants, and Sev probably wouldn’t have the same irritable reaction to that, as we don’t see any implication that he was treated in that way by his parents, unlike Harry. But also unlike Harry, Snape would be there with his witch mother (and not a “savage”), and knew about Hogwarts already. Unlike Harry, Snape might have been considered by Draco/the Malfoys/Purebloods as “the other sort” - the child of non-magical people. Draco asks for Harry’s surname, presumably to check whether he was of suitable stock (which Snape, with a Muggle surname, wouldn’t be).

Perhaps Sev would’ve similarly hated the snotty, biased, spoilt brat attitude.

Or perhaps, in this situation, he’d aspire to be like the Malfoys - to become the snotty, spoilt type. To be the bully, instead of the victim. Sev did eventually befriend the Malfoys, after all - but how much of that was an immediate friendship (unlikely, at that point, as Malfoy was older and what ~16yo wants to regularly hang out with an 11yo). We see that he’s possibly headed that way by 5th/6th year by aligning with Mulciber and Avery, but that was a new enough development that Lily commented on it at that point - but at this early stage, it’s made clear that Sev is ‘the victim’ of the bully, or the underdog, like Harry - and someone like Draco probably wouldn’t have thought much of him. (James and Sirius certainly didn’t, though not for these same exact reasons).

The Hogwarts Express

And finally, on the train. Harry has experienced celebrity in glimpses by now, at the Leaky Cauldron and at Ollivander’s - but it’s on the train and the platform where everyone from the Weasleys to Draco wants to gawk and/or befriend him.

I’ve said already that by the time they reach the train, and even in Diagon itself, Sev is more of a Ron than a Harry. Harry knows what it is to have hand-me-downs and not be able to afford anything, but that’s Sev’s continued existence unless his family suddenly won the lottery. And whilst Harry bought a heap of sweets and got a delightful new friend in Ron, Sev and Lily were (as discussed above) compelled to leave his cabin because of James and Sirius… just as Harry was interrupted by Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle. But it’s James who overhears Sev and interrupts and then says, practically word-for-word, what Draco does in Madam Malkins’ (James’ “Who wants to be in Slytherin? I think I’d leave, wouldn’t you?” vs Draco’s “Imagine being in Hufflepuff, I think I’d leave, wouldn’t you?”). Now, Sev does this too, to an extent, making a small disparaging noise at James too for wanting to be in Gryffindor like his dad (to me, another hint that Sev wants to be in Slytherin because of his mum). But that was after James had already interrupted Sev’s conversation with Lily; otherwise, Sev was content to keep to himself.

And Draco is hounding Harry for opposite reasons. Draco is attempting to ‘befriend’ Harry. Harry is a ‘desirable’ connection - he’s rich, famous, of a good wizarding name, and if adult Snape’s speech to Bellatrix is any indication, possibly considered a ‘powerful dark wizard’ around which Voldemort’s followers could rally. He’s ‘got it all’. By comparison, Snape is undesirable - he has all of Harry’s social setbacks - he looks poor, he is poor, he’s raised by Muggles and has immediate Muggle heritage, he probably wasn’t raised with extensive/overly frequent magic use, and is a bit weird looking in general - and he has none of Harry’s desirable traits like a good name, reputation, money, family, or connections. “Prince” is not a famous name by the time Harry is in school, and given wizard lifespans, they probably weren’t a big name a generation ago, either. All Sev has is knowledge of the wizarding world, which might fool or impress someone like Draco for a bit. But it’s implied that Draco believes there’s a fundamental difference in how Muggleborns/those with Muggle families are raised compared to ‘true’ wizarding families (and there really is). But Sev was raised in a Muggle area, likely not using magic or being an active part of the culture since he’s so starved for someone magical to talk to - and he’s shortly going to be in a wizarding school, where Sev’s second hand knowledge (from his mother) essentially becomes inconsequential anyway.

All in all, Draco simply wouldn’t bother, if this were a different universe. And Lucius (and others in Slytherin) probably asked all of the necessary vetting questions that Malfoy did over the course of the time in the robe shop and on the train, and reached the same conclusion: Snape wasn’t worth their time. That is, until he proved himself an adept wizard, some time later in school. (To be clear if I haven’t already: Draco is just a stand-in in this ramble for general Pureblood/Slytherin beliefs, asking the sorts of questions and acting in ways that reflect those values).

What that all means is that Snape continued to face the everyday challenges that were essentially eliminated from Harry’s life once he reached Hogwarts; challenges which would’ve had greater impact in a house like Slytherin which has a reputation for blood purity and wizarding supremacy, and many people in it who hail from rich, well-connected Pureblood families who probably are all, one way or another, related by blood or marriage anyway. Lucius was a Prefect by the time Sev got to Hogwarts, and I think Draco became one, and those sorts of attitudes were shared by Draco’s Slytherin peers and not outliers.

Some more conjecture now: I think it’s safe to say that instead of the jocular vibe of the Gryffindor common room, an unofficial but unquestioned hierarchy would inevitably develop in Slytherin and its members would be expected to fall in line. Much like how Crabbe and Goyle followed Draco, and Pansy and Blaise etc followed Draco’s lead, I expect most of Sev’s peers would be expected to fall in line under Lucius and later authority figures as well - to keep the peace in their fancy aristocratic families, to keep the peace in their dorms, and in the real world, with a war going on and Voldemort practically recruiting from the Slytherin common room. It would’ve benefitted Sev to keep his head down in these conditions, to join in, to butter up - because unlike Harry, Sev would’ve had to work hard to make friends (being generally awkward and ‘undesirable’ as a friend by Draco/Slytherin standards). Nobody from Slytherin came to his aid in SWM, possibly because of those reasons and/or because he’d spent years being openly friends with Lily who was a Gryffindor and a Muggleborn (and thus also undesirable).

Anyway none of this is news and I have no conclusion, I just had thoughts

#snape meta #nominally #it's just a ramble #snape #pro severus snape #pro snape #severus snape #snape fandom #professor snape #young snape #long post

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frankingsteinery · 9 months ago

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for my 100th post (!) i thought i would, at long last, make a catch-all analysis on victor and elizabeth’s relationship, their marriage, and why specifically it was incestuous. throughout i may mention my interpretations of caroline’s past and her pseudo-incestuous relationship with alphonse, which you can read here. it’s not necessary to understand this post, but you’ll miss some of the nuance of the relationships between the frankensteins without it

in the 1818 version of the novel, elizabeth is the paternal first cousin of victor. she is, like caroline, similarly upper-class but falls into misfortune when her mother dies and she is left under the care of her father. these parallels become important later. after elizabeth’s mother dies, her father writes to alphonse “….requesting [Alphonse] to take charge of the infant Elizabeth” and that it was his wish “…that [Alphonse] should consider her as [his] own daughter, and educate her thus” (1818). that is, it was explicitly intended for elizabeth to be reared as a daughter to the frankensteins (and thus victor’s sister).

in the 1831 edition, caroline specifically has an interest in elizabeth because she sees herself and her own situation in her, a background that mirrors her own. i’ll directly quote a post of mine instead of reiterating the same point. essentially: from the beginning caroline deliberately sets up parallels between herself and elizabeth. she wants a daughter, and adopts elizabeth specifically because elizabeth reminds her of herself, but grander: like she was, elizabeth is also a beggar and an orphan and homeless, but her story is more tragic, she is more beautiful, her debt to her caretakers more extreme, and her romantic relationship will go on to be more explicitly incestuous. through elizabeth and victor, caroline will perpetuate her own abuse. the difference is, unlike her own, this is a situation caroline can control.

from the beginning, at six years old, victor and elizabeth are raised with the expectation that they are going to be wed when they are older. as an adult, elizabeth reflects “that our union had been the favourite plan of [their] parents ever since our infancy” and that “we were told this when young, and taught to look forward to it as an event that would certainly take place” (1831). this is because of caroline’s “desire to bind as closely as possible the ties of domestic love” (1818), and so she is raised as victor’s “more than sister” (1831). they are encouraged to play at the role of mother and father/husband and wife together via raising and educating their younger siblings, particularly ernest. ernest is described as being victor’s “principal pupil” and, during his illness in infancy, elizabeth and victor were “his constant nurses” despite caroline, alphonse and maids/servants/caretakers being available

simultaneously, caroline grooms elizabeth into being a mini-me, calling her her “favorite” and encouraging her to embody the same values as her. caroline does all she can to have elizabeth be what is, essentially, a second version of her, while all the while dictating a marriage to her son

this becomes even more significant, when, on her deathbed, caroline reinforces her wish for victor and elizabeth to marry: “My children... my firmest hopes of future happiness were placed on the prospect of your union. This expectation will now be the consolation of your father. Elizabeth, my love you must supply my place” (1831). by attempting to replace herself with elizabeth via telling her to “supply her place” (of mother/wife) to the rest of the family, caroline is not only dictating a marriage between brother and sister but now mother and son, as elizabeth shifts from a sister-figure to victor into a maternal substitute, and simultaneously is his bride-to-be. as a result the roles of mother, sister and wife become conflated in victor’s mind—to some degree, there is no one without the other.

there’s deeper things at play here too, namely that it creates victor’s later emotional obligation in honoring his mother’s dying wish to go through with the marriage (furthered because it is the “consolation” of his father… alphonse also says something to this effect after victor gets out of prison), but i have enough to say on how victor is relied on as a pillar of emotional support by all of his family that it warrants its own post

this subconscious shift between the role of sister figure to mother figure is further emphasized when, during his dream at ingolstadt after the creation of the creature, elizabeth morphs into caroline in victors arms: “I slept, indeed, but I was disturbed by the wildest dreams. I thought I saw Elizabeth…Delighted and surprised, I embraced her; but as I imprinted the first kiss on her lips, they became livid with the hue of death; her features appeared to change, and I thought that I held the corpse of my dead mother in my arms” (1831). that is, she literally changes from sister into mother. this is also the only kiss in the entire book, and the only instance victor and elizabeth display any affection for each other that is explicitly non-platonic (and elizabeth’s affections towards victor generally feel more motherly then amorous, particularly in contrast to the romance of felix and safie), and during it, she turns into victor’s mother and decays in his arms.

but why make the creature in the first place? well, as the common misconception goes, it wasn’t about reanimation (which was only mentioned once in a throwaway line) it was about creating new life. what victor wound up doing what was not reversing death, but what was, essentially, an alternate method of childbirth. this is a significant detail when considered in the context of victor and elizabeth’s relationship: victor’s goal was to create life, and he, at great lengths, intentionally circumvented women (elizabeth) in this process. why? so that he could dodge an act of incest—marrying elizabeth and providing the frankenstein heirs and carrying on the family legacy, which is what his family expected him to do.

there’s evidence to suggest elizabeth views victor as a brother. elizabeth indirectly acknowledges this relationship during justine’s trial, when she stands up for her defense: "I am," said she, "the cousin of the unhappy child who was murdered, or rather his sister, for I was educated by, and have lived with his parents ever since and even long before, his birth…” (1831). here, elizabeth calls herself the cousin of william (which is notably what she refers to victor as, both when they are literally cousins and when they have no blood relation—either way, a familial term) and then corrects herself, that she is actually william’s sister. her reasoning for this? she was raised and educated by the frankensteins alongside him ever since she was young. if you follow this logic, by extension she also considers herself ernest’s—and more relevantly—victor’s sister.

there is an egregious amount of subtext that suggests victor also views elizabeth as a sibling as well. before victor leaves for his vacation with henry, alphonse tells him that he has “always looked forward to [victor’s] marriage with [his] cousin as the tie of our domestic comfort” because they were “attached to each other from earliest infancy” and “entirely suited to one another in dispositions and tastes.” however, he acknowledges that because of this, victor may, perhaps, “regard [elizabeth] as his sister, without any wish that she might become your wife. Nay, you may have met with another whom you may love; and, considering yourself bound in honour to your cousin, this struggle may occasion the poignant misery which you appear to feel” to which victor replies: “My dear father, re-assure yourself. I love my cousin tenderly and sincerely. I never saw any woman who excited, as Elizabeth does, my warmest admiration and affection. My future hopes and prospects are entirely bound up in the expectation of our union” (1831). that is, he answers, no, he has not met any other woman he would rather marry, yet skirts around the former half of alphonse’s question and doesn’t acknowledge whether or not he views her as a sister or not.

this occurs again after victor is released from prison in ireland when, elizabeth, in a letter, does eventually ask him if he wants to back down from the marriage (this same letter features elizabeth literally hitting the nail on the head when asking if victor was going through with the marriage because he felt honor-bound to their parents). however, she poses this by asking: “But as brother and sister often entertain a lively affection towards each other, without desiring a more intimate union, may not such also be our case?...Do you not love another?” to which victor honestly answers no, he has not met any other woman. however, it’s not addressed whether he’s in love with elizabeth herself, nor does he address whether or not their affection towards each other is akin to that of siblings–again he entirely ignores it.

when victor and alphonse return to geneva after his release from prison, alphonse proposes victor’s immediate marriage to elizabeth, to which victor remains silent. alphonse then confronts victor once more: “Have you, then, some other attachment?” victor responds: “None on earth. I love Elizabeth, and look forward to our union with delight. Let the day therefore be fixed; and on it I will consecrate myself, in life or death, to the happiness of my cousin" (1831). yet the “hopes and prospects” that victor saw bound in their marriage earlier was, in fact, his own death–which was “no evil to [him]...and I therefore, with a contented and even cheerful countenance, agreed with my father, that if my cousin would consent, the ceremony should take place in ten days, and thus put, as I imagined, the seal to my fate” (1831). victor sees going through with a marriage to elizabeth as suicide, and embraces this.

they are both mutually hesitant and describe feelings of dread and melancholy on their wedding day itself. at the very least this indicates a lack of romantic interest in each other. after the ceremony, when they row out on the boat together, victor has a thought that is perhaps the most blatant example of his romantic disinterest in elizabeth: “Then gazing on the beloved face of Elizabeth, on her graceful form and languid eyes, instead of feeling the exultation of a—lover—a husband—a sudden gush of tears blinded my sight, & as I turned away to hide the involuntary emotion fast drops fell in the wave below. Reason again awoke, and shaking off all unmanly—or more properly all natural thoughts of mischance, I smiled” (Frankenstein 1823). victor also makes it clear to the narrator (walton) that they did not consummate their marriage before elizabeth’s death, which suggests there was hesitance or disgust around the concept.

this is a neat little aside and more circumstantial evidence then anything else, but it is pretty well known that mary shelley's works tend to be somewhat autobiographical, and that her characters are influenced by people in her own life. this is most obvious in the last man, but its also present to a lesser extent in frankenstein, wherein victor's character is inspired by (among others) percy shelley. percy wrote under the pseudonym victor, which is believed to be where victor's name may have come from—and elizabeth was the name of percy shelley's sister.

#rob.txt #frankenstein #frankenstein the modern prometheus #victor frankenstein #elizabeth lavenza #gothic lit #this gets clunky and less fluid towards the end #one day ill go back and revise it #but i dont have the brain capacity #analysis

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