#samiel tremark

[seihar]

Sketch compilation of Jay and Samiel from @ladyinbooks ‘s original book ‘Icarus, Burning’ that I absolutely adore and I recommend everyone to read! These two will always have a very special place in my heart  🥹 ❤️ ❤️ ❤️

[ladyinbooks]

The Lady is back in the house, baby! Let's party!

From time to time, I enjoyed reading about Samiel and Jay because they're such compelling characters!

With that said, can we please have some headcanons about them? Maybe about their domestic life? Is there anything new happening with them? Do they wanna have kids sometime in the future?

Yes, I'm lowkey obsessed with them kfnksdjfnds

Awwww, thank you! 🤗❤️🥳

I'm so glad you still enjoy reading about the disaster dynamic duo from time to time! (They still sit in my head pretty much constantly, so I'm glad someone else still enjoys them too! :D)

Headcanons, headcanons, hmm... let's see...

Samiel is the neighbourhood's resident babysitter. The kids love him and he's the cool next door neighbour. The parents love him too, because he's the only babysitter on Elysium who has a sword and will use it if anyone upsets the children.

From time to time (and for their own sanity) Jay and Samiel have to go and meddle in something. This is often framed as a favour for Hird, but really it's an excuse to get back out into the galaxy. They can't sit still forever. (And sometimes Samiel just goes off to find Hird, so the pair of them can get into some kind of mischief.)

Jay and Venndred are the scifi equivalent of pen pals. To the surprise of both of them, they actually enjoying discussing culture, politics and the state of the universe.

Freya (Venn's sort-of adopted daughter) has two uncles that dote on her. The last time an ex-boyfriend upset her, said ex-boyfriend discovered three days later that he'd mysteriously made it onto an intergalactic watchlist for no reason. He was also threatened by a very beautiful man, who held a sword to his throat and very calmly told him with utter sincerity that if he got within 100 light years of Freya again, he would be skinned slowly.

Daimion makes frequent visits to Elysium. He and Samiel rebuild their relationship over the years and now have a strong bond. (He also sometimes calls Jay up to vent and/or talk through political advice and planning.)

Samiel and Hird have been banned from seven colonies, two military bases, one planet and at least twelve bars.

As to whether they would have kids... I leave that up to the readers! I've always thought Samiel would want them and Jay might not, but I'll let you decide if they meet in the middle and do think about adoption (and if they adopt, I think they'd have one human and one Lenian child).

Thank you for letting me ramble about these two - I have missed them! ❤️

[etherealysis]

“Hello Ambassador,” Samiel says, as beautiful and sweet and deadly as Jay has ever heard him. “I believe you have something of mine. I've come to retrieve it.”

(Or: after decades of Fucking Around, Lault finally Finds Out)

@ladyinbooks

[ladyinbooks]

@matchoaa sent me this, and added:

Venndred wrote this

And yeah. I can see it. XD

[ladyinbooks]

HI!! I just started reading Icarus, Burning while on a hunt for original works on AO3 and I love it sooooo much already; I'll be reading your other works ASAP hehe! Anyway, I was wondering if you have any particular writing inspirations for Icarus, Burning? And, if it's okay to ask, do you have any tips for an aspiring writer who wants to post their original fic online (AO3 as well?) Thank you so much for your time and I hope you're having a good day!!

Hello lovely anon! Thank you so much for your message (and I'm so sorry for my slow response - life has been very busy).

I'm so pleased you are enjoying IB, and I hope you enjoy my other fics too! ❤️❤️

In terms of inspiration for writing IB, there were a couple of things. It originally spawned from me messing around with the idea of mythological sirens, and how I thought it'd be funny to make them an utterly repressed, politely murderous society (as opposed to their scantily-clad Greek mythological counterparts). Then I desperately wanted to put them into a scifi world and have them engage in cross-cultural politics with humans.

Over the course of a couple of years, the fic slowly evolved (with lots of mythology/Classical Greek inspirations along the way), but the truth of the matter is, that originally the whole of IB was actually meant to be about Hird and Venndred and it was a very different story. Samiel and Jason were side characters, and neither were meant to have a relationship with the other. (Jay was meant to be much more of a 'Lault' figure to start with.)

However.

As I was plotting out their backstories (because I love thinking about secondary characters), Samiel came wandering up to me and very politely made it known that actually, he was in love with this human diplomat. And oh, by the way, his backstory was far more significant than I'd originally thought.

And honestly? That was the moment I realised I had to write about the pair of them instead. I won't say Samiel sprang fully-formed in my head, but the more I thought about him, the more he had to say for himself, and I realised very quickly that if Samiel Tremark was in love with Jason Lane, then really that was the story that needed telling. And the more I thought about Samiel, the more I thought about Jay, and who he was - really was - and how actually, his story had to mirror Samiel's in a whole host of ways, and what that meant for his character, and the way he develops in IB.

All of which is my very long-winded way of saying: Samiel Tremark bullied me as I was sitting thinking about him on a bus one day, and he and Jay haven't left me alone since. 🤣

I hope you are having a lovely day too, anon! ❤️❤️❤️

[ladyinbooks]

So, I am finally done with all the spin-offs and side stories and generally spread around facts XD

Now I am really interested in how Samiel transitioned from barely being able to call and think of Lord Athannus as Father, to "Papa"?

Also... they got married, he asked Jason to marry him... I wanna detailzzzzzz!

Hehe, yes there is quite a lot for Samiel and Jay. XD (To be fair, they lived in my head rent-free for about five years, and, uh, quite honestly they're still there and I haven't got the heart to evict them at this point!) Thank you for the lovely questions! You've given me a shameless excuse to ramble about them! ❤️❤️

Ohh gosh, one day I want to write a oneshot around this (probably from Daimion's point of view), about Samiel's slowly evolving relationship with his father. I think it's a long, long process, with healthy doses of resentment from Samiel (some of which are irrational, some of which not), and a lot of soft feels. I like to think they build their way towards a relationship as father and son in the in-betweens. Between missions. Between visits. In scraps and messages and letters along the way. I think sometimes Samiel visits Daimion with Jay, and sometimes he comes on his own, and both of them occasionally need a third party (*cough*Venn*cough*) to act as a balance.

And it takes time, it all takes time. Because Samiel hasn't had a parent, and Daimion has desperately tried to have a son in the only way he can: by never letting him know who they were to one another. And they struggle to let go of that together. But they keep trying, and slowly Samiel becomes more interested in what Daimion is attempting to do on Lenia, and Daimion is fascinated by every aspect of his son's new life on Elysium, until one day, one day -

On a perfectly normal visit to Elysium, on a perfectly ordinary morning, at a perfectly ordinary breakfast, Daimion hands a half-distracted Samiel a cup of his favourite tea, and Samiel says 'Thanks papa,' without even realising it.

And Daimion has to go and find a corner to have a quiet cry about it.

All of which is my long-winded way of saying: it gets better, and it blossoms, and it's slow and so very worth it.

I have so many feels about these two.

As for Samiel asking Jay if he will marry him? You *know* that it was meant to be a perfect moment; that Samiel had planned to the finest detail. And yet it all goes horribly wrong because Samiel can't shut up, and so rather than making a romantic speech, when the big moment comes he just blurts out 'Marry me!' and then spends the next thirty seconds panicking, because Jay hadn't been expecting this, and is still mentally trying to play catch-up.

(It's the longest thirty seconds of Samiel's life, and he spends it plotting all the ways he can burn down the universe if Jay says no.)

[ladyinbooks]

When Jay and Samiel argue/have fights, who wins most often?

Ooooh, this is a really good question! Thank you Anon!

I think the problem when those two fight is that Jay goes coldly logical, and Samiel goes passionately hot-tempered, and both of them wind the other one up further. Couple that with the bond (and the fact they're basically chucking emotion at one another) and I think if they argue - truly argue - it makes for an epic fight.

I almost want to say that actually, Samiel wins the most often in the 'little' fights (the petty squabbles about who last did the dishes), mostly because he's usually right. But Jay tends to win the bigger fights, thanks to his ability to pick apart problems (even if he has to switch sides to win the debate).

Overall, I think they're the kind of couple who go to bed angrily holding hands when they argue. 😂

[ladyinbooks]

"I think we'd have a sensible discussion," he says to Hird, tearing his gaze away. She sips her drink. "No you wouldn't. There'd be a lot of shouting and then he'd crawl after you and beg, until you gave in." Jay shoots her a look. "You think he tells me what to do? Blackmails me?" "Oh no." She pulls a face. "I think you tell him what to fucking do. I've watched that man. If you told him to fling himself out of the nearest airlock, he'd only pause to check which airlock you meant."

...oh Samiel 😂

And as always, we've got Hird stating facts.

I'm so happy you talk about this section, lovely anon, because it was one of my favourites to write. I like to think Jay is standing there going 'Yes, yes, I get your hyperbolic point'. Hird is just sipping her cocktail, a dead look in her eyes as she goes, 'There's no hyperbole here. Go find an airlock, and we'll prove my point...' 🤣

[ladyinbooks]

I highkey miss Hess and Daniel 😭 What are they up to right now? Just wondering if there are any new developments or stories about them?

Now for the insane question:

What happens if you throw Hess and Samiel into a locked room? 👀

Lovely Anon, I miss them too! ❤️ (And I really need to finish up the half-written AU sequel and the mini P2P sequel, both of which have been sitting on my hard drive for, ahem, two years.)

As for what they're up to right now...

I think Hess is currently decorating the Christmas tree (and enjoying himself thoroughly), while Dan is utterly appalled that the literal Antichrist thinks Christmas is a wonderful time of year. They are also squabbling over the last mince pie, and Angus the puppy is trying to eat wrapping paper (and being firmly stopped).

In the background, Abi has been delegated to In Charge Until the New Year, and Hess has threatened to string up anyone who disturbs him by their entrails (everyone believes him; they all saw what happened last Christmas when Beelzebub accidentally broke one of Hess's sets of tree lights). Hess has also made it widely known that if any heavenly forces attempt anything at all, there will be a literal angel corpse at the top of the Christmas tree. (Dan knows none of this. Yet.)

What happens if you throw Hess and Samiel into a locked room? 👀

Hehe, I love this question! I think Hess would probably develop some kind of immediate crush (if only of the 'OMG I desperately want to recruit this dangerously competent man to my cause' variety). Samiel would be... grudgingly impressed, I think, at the lengths Hess would go to for Dan. I actually weirdly think they might come out of it as friends, albeit both of them think the other is just very slightly too odd. 🤣

Or would they kiss? 🤔

[ladyinbooks]

i really want to know what was going on through samiel's head when he was thinking of taking on lysander/hiraeth with his fucking salzon like i love you samiel but what do you think that toothpick (affectionate) is going to do against a goddamn dragon? is this just a case of samiel being samiel or does he actually stand a chance?

Anon. Lovely Anon. You have no idea how hard I cackled when I read this ask, and in particular the sentence is this just a case of samiel being samiel, because you have absolutely nailed it. This is Samiel being Samiel. He wants to see if he can fight a goddamn dragon because, well, why not? He's confident. If he can stab Lysander/Hiraeth quick enough, that will solve the issue, right?

(I think this is why I sometimes say Hird and Samiel are more similar than they'd like to admit - they both want a challenge, and sometimes that challenge is finding the biggest thing on a planet, and seeing if they can fistfight it.)

As to whether he might actually stand a chance... I'm honestly torn. I sort of want to say 'Of course he could! He can do anything!' (because I am biased). However, Lysander is a dragon. One that breathes fire. I am also pretty sure that if he was having a bad enough day, it might be a very one-sided kind of fight, and Samiel would not win...

[ladyinbooks]

Hey, will we ever get a crossover of Rarely Pure and IB? How will the four of them interact with each other?

I really enjoy seeing Hird's conversations with both Hiraeth and Damas and I have a feeling Jason and Damas will either get along like a house on fire or completely hate each other 😂

Hello lovely Anon! This is a great question, and now I have a lot of thoughts on these four interacting! (But first: a moment of thought for Hird, for having to deal with all four of them. I'm so sorry Hird. You deserve a holiday.)

We have seen them interact a little in Rarely Pure (Samiel and Jay have crept in undercover, and mostly Samiel is Not Impressed with either poor Hiraeth or Damas). That said, I would love to see them interact with one another with Hiraeth and Damas actually knowing who Samiel 'n Jay really are. I think it could change the dynamic quite a lot.

I think Samiel probably wouldn't initially have much time for Hiraeth/Lysander, mostly because Samiel doesn't actually have much time for anyone who isn't Jay, Hird, Venn or Daimion. I do, however, think he would have an uncomfortable moment of recognition - there are some things he would absolutely empathise with when it comes to Lysander and his 'treasure' obsession, after all. That might be a springboard for more common ground. I could maybe see them eventually coming to some sort of grudging quasi-friendship (mostly because Samiel - although he would never admit it - would be desperately interested in What Dragons Can Do, and I think he'd want to prod Lysander for all kinds of tactics and dragon secrets).

Jay and Aubrey would be the kind of frosty frenemies who sit cordially, have tea and hurl polite, vicious, veiled insults at one another. I think they'd probably claim they don't really like one another, but both of them thoroughly look forward to sharpening their claws on one another at least once a month. 🤣

[ladyinbooks]

Aaaahhhhh you’re back!!!! I first read Icarus,burning years ago and quickly became obsessed with it, it was time for my yearly re read and thought to check your tumblr and I saw you’re updating Rarely Pure again. Thank you for your brilliant writing I can’t describe it any other way than just hitting the spot ya know? Anyway I have literally recommended IB to every single one of my friends, it’s acc soooooooo perfect I love it so much. THANK YOU FOR BEING SO TALENTED!!!!

Ps, could we possibly see more of Samiel and Jason in the future?

(And maybe some Samiel/Jason/Pallas??)

OH MY GOSH LOVELY ANON! 🤗❤️❤️❤️

I'm so pleased you've stuck with me after all this time (and through the painfully slow RP updates)! Thank you! I'm also very, very happy you enjoy my writing - you've made my day! (And OMG you rec IB? Ahhh! You're amazing! Thank you!)

Yes, I think we will be seeing more of Samiel and Jason in the future. They have crept in under the radar (a bit? I mean, Samiel is hopelessly dramatic) in RP, but I have missed writing their particular brand of shenanigans. Maybe Tales of the Interior Circle needs another chapter... 🤔

(Ooh, Samiel/Jason/Pallas - yes, I still owe quite a few of you that ficlet! Poor, poor Pallas. Having to wrangle those two...)

[ladyinbooks]

hiii, i've recently gotten into IB and i absolutely binged my way through the story and like any and all tumblr posts of it ans i simply cannot get enough.

so i've been toying with the idea of making a jay/samiel playlist and i wanted to ask if there were any songs or artists or anything of the sort that you link to them <3

Oh my gosh thank you! I'm so pleased you enjoyed IB (and went through tumblr for my IB ramblings as well!). ❤️

A Jay/Samiel playlist sounds amazing - please do feel free to link it, if you would like to! (I always adore song recs, as other absolutely lovely readers will confirm!)

Personally, a couple of songs I always link in my head with Samiel 'n Jay are:

Human (Rag 'n Bone Man) - this is very much my Jay song Skin (Rag 'n Bone Man) - this is very much my Samiel song Candlelight (Jack Savoretti) - the overall feel of not wanting to hide/hide from your lover

[ladyinbooks]

What does "Arikta vashti" mean? On another note, I've been re-reading Tales of the Interior Circle and first chapter made me think, what was going on in Samiel's head when he understood Jason didn't know about killing orders and did not betray him? We only get a glimpse in IB but there was surely a storm going on inside him...

Ooh, I think that's the part where Samiel's shouting in court, is that right? If I remember correctly I had a sort of rough translation of 'spineless bastard' in my head. It's... definitely not a compliment coming from Samiel. XD

Ohh my gosh. Poor Samiel was a wreck. I think on the one hand he was absolutely elated - vindication! His master didn't betray him and it's one less obstacle towards Samiel's goal of marrying that man so hard he never, ever, ever leaves him! And on the other hand - horror. Like, he's dedicated his rage and vengeance and sickening, reluctant obsession to Jason all this time, and now - now it's not even true. Samiel was obsessed with Jay in spite of himself, and now there's a part of him that doesn't know what to do with that anger. It hasn't gone away like it should, and if he can't direct it at Jay then, well, where does it go?

(I have so many thoughts on poor Samiel at this point, the biggest of which is he is A Mess.)

[ladyinbooks]

Hi, I adore your works, the way you use pet names and endearments just makes me all fuzzy and tingly (and often horny lol). And your take on love is much more realistic for me than any romantic rainbows and unicorns. My question is: is there translation for Siren language used in IB? Every time Samiel speaks I go searching for translation notes but never get one, it bugs the living hell out of me... XS

Aww, thank you! <33333 I'm so pleased you enjoy my works! I think it's true I'm fairly predictable when it comes to having pet names (and enemies to lovers) in my fics, so I'm very happy indeed that someone else likes them too! :D (And I'm definitely guilty of the less rainbows and unicorns side of love stories - it's great fun to write dangerous men doing dangerous/terrible things in the name of love, so I'm very happy you enjoy my writing!)

Ooh this is a great question! There's no direction translation of Lenian, mostly because I basically invented it, cobbling together bits of ancient Greek and Latin-sounding words. There are a few exceptions (I think someone explains to Jay what mio ades means, and some of the names/titles are definitely Greek mythology based (and in some cases there's a pun going on there too XD). However, I'm curious if any phrases in particular caught your eye, because I can definitely tell you what Samiel was shouting in my head at any given point, if you would like!

[ladyinbooks]

I was rereading Icarus, Burning and I'm reminded how I love the characters as well as the world building! Can't believe we get to read stuff like this for free! Thank you once again. Also, I can't wait to read Rarely Pure now that it's getting updates! ❤️

Hopefully you'll have a fantastic day/night.

Ahh lovely anon, thank you! 🤗 I'm so glad you love the characters and the world building (and you have no idea how happy it makes me to see you're rereading - the fact that it's something you came back to because you enjoyed it the first time means the world to me).

Yes, Rarely Pure is finally getting updates (she says, having not updated in a month 😅). However, there's a new chapter later today (I'm just doing final tweaks) and we're back on track for hopefully every two weeks again. Whew!

Have a fantastic day/night too! 💖