#she destroyed basically an entire kingdom in revenge

[chaotickasugaicrows]

Tied with the Kaigaku art on the recent poll was the Avatar AU. So here is some stuff on our Avatar the Last Airbender AU for Demon Slayer which we are calling Sticks and Stones.

Zenitsu is a blind orphan born in the Earth kingdom who unfortunately lives in Ba Sing Se. He’s also the Avatar. He spends a good amount of his childhood on the streets before the Earth Kingdom authorities finally get their directional geomancy to work and figure out who the Avatar is. Then he gets brought (cough kidnapped) to the Upper Ring and is protected (watched) by the Dai Li. The Dai Li impresses on him that it's essential he learns the elements in order according to the Avatar cycle so he learns Earth bending first. The Dai Li stall on getting him a proper Earth bending master never mind the rest of the elements. Once he does learn a bit of earth bending, he uses it alongside his enhanced hearing to navigate the world better. His animal companion is a badgermole by the name of Maru who he made friends with at age 10. Eventually Zenitsu realizes that something isn’t right with the Dai Li and escapes with the help of Genya who he sorta made friends with when he was on the streets. The two of them are framed for the death of the Earth King, making them fugitives.

Genya is a non bender that lives in the Earth Kingdom. His entire family, sans Sanemi, was killed by Fire Nation soldiers. Sanemi left him behind so he helps Zenitsu with the condition that they find his older brother on the way. Genya has some things to say and maybe some frustration to unload (a punch in the face). He starts out using a sword then switches to several long range weapons and finally settles on smithing his own gun. 

Sanemi is a non bender that eventually figures out he’s an air bender. He runs an illegal fringe resistance group focused on revenge against the fire nation. He’s a little too black and white and not the best about reducing collateral damage. He left Genya behind in the Earth Kingdom for safety reasons.

Inosuke is a water bender from the swamps so more like a vine bender. He likes covering himself in vines and making a swamp monster to destroy enemies. He has a catgator pet named Shine [she-neh] that he sometimes also covers in vines and rides into battle. His weapon of choice is a big club which he acquired from Giyuu (after much bugging). Makomo taught him how to wield it. He’s also covered in henna. He joins the Avatar’s little road trip on the way.

Aoi is a water bender from the Northern Water tribe and a healer who joins the Avatar’s group on their journey. Inosuke drives her insane because he didn’t know water could heal and is basically a self taught menace. She refuses to use water bending to attack but she does end up learning defensive moves in secret, affected by the rest of the group. Eventually she learns blood bending too. 

Giyuu, Sabito, Makomo, and Urokodaki are all from the Southern Water tribe. They are all water benders except Sabito. Urokodaki adopted the three of them after they lost their family to Fire Nation attacks. Giyuu uses a water tribe club, Makomo fights with an ice shiv that she creates with bending, and Sabito has a boomerang and a short sword. 

We have more but that will be for a future post. The state of the Fire nation and fire benders like Tanjirō and Nezuko requires quite a bit of explanation. 

[dazzasarchives]

Fantastic Four Volume 1 Issue 4.

So this issue features the return of a Marvel Golden Age character, that being Namor the Sub-Mariner. He's a mutant, a human, an Atlantean, and the first hero to ever fly. Though he starts off his Silver Age debut as a villain. I was always curious as to why Marvel chose to do this, especially because later on he does become a hero. Though recently he's more of a neutral type of character. I've also come to notice a lot of water based heroes to this route. Coincidence maybe? Anyway on to our thrilling tale, and the return of the Sub-Mariner.

Alright so this issue is pretty fun. It takes place right after the events of the last issue with Johnny Storm leaving the Fantastic Four. Though I don't like that they blame the Thing for it I believe both are at fault here. Anyway they decide to start searching the entire city for the Human Torch with the Fantasticar. Though all of them fail except the Thing who finds him in his garage.

Johnny ends up fleeing from the Thing, due to him turning back into Ben Grimm. Honestly I feel bad for the guy, this tends to happen often to him, even later having Mister Fantastic make serums to help him turn back. Only for it to last a few measly minutes.

Well Johnny ends up staying at a very run down Men's Hotel. Where he finds a comic from the 1940s, which features, you guessed it, the Sub-Mariner. Then by sheer dumb luck guess who Johnny ends up running into at this shabby run down hotel. That's right, the Sub-Mariner. Johnny uses his flaming fingers to give him a hair cut, removing his long hair and beard. Then boom, classic Golden Age Sub-Mariner.

Anyway our other three heroes continue the search for Johnny, while he basically slips past them, well he slips past his sister. Then he takes Namor, and drops him into the Ocean. Which gives Namor back his memories and he then remembers that he is Namor the Sub-Mariner the legendary prince of the sea.

Namor then swims to what was once his undersea kingdom. Only to find it destroyed by humans radioactive weapons. I wonder if Godzilla was close by. Namor then swears his revenge and vows to destroy the surface world. Just a recap real quick that means, The Mole Man and his underground group wishes to destroy the surface, the Skulls from Space wish to conquer the Earth, and Miracle Man just wanted to have us fear him. Now Sub-Mariner and any ocean buddies also want to destroy the surface world. 616 earth cannot catch a break.

Anyway the Fantastic Four catch up with Johnny, and he tells them what all has happened. Sub-Mariner then summons a massive sea creature from the Depths known as Giganto to attack the surface world. The Fantastic Four attack only to learn that nothing can harm it from the outside, but what about inside. That's when they send in my man the Thing. They strap a nuke to his back and have him walk into Gigantos stomach to plant it and blow him up. What a Chad. Thing also battles some monsters while in Gigantos stomach so again he is without a doubt the best member of the team.

Well after Giganto dies, Namor resurfaces with his horn to summon another terrible monster in which Sue steals it from him. Though he instantly catches her, and she turns visible and Namor falls in love with her, and then she also finds him very attractive like he asks her to marry him and she genuinely thinks it over, and they first met seconds ago. You guys thought Disney was bad with it's quick love stories.

Well Namor then tries to steal Sue away beneath the Ocean, and none of the Fantastic Four can think of how to prevent this. Until Johnny uses his flying speed to create a whirlwind and transport Namor back into the Ocean without his horn. Like the horn just gets lost in the depths, and Namor "loses". Though the Fantastic Four swear if he returns he will have them to deal with.

Alright so this comic is alright, I feel like I say that a lot. Namor is a really good addition to the Silver Age of comics. Just he's really depowered so that the Fantastic Four can win. Also I don't like the Sue, Namor, and Reed love triangle. It to me is probably the weaker love triangle within comics. Also this comic and the last one really make me not like Johnny Storm.

Anyway onto our character analysis for this comic.

Alright my views on Mister Fantastic stay the same from the last issue. Though I don't know how he wouldn't have found Johnny with his superior intellect, but I'm also glad he didn't. He also doesn't do a whole lot this issue, again I'm not upset with this, I'm glad some other characters got to make the power play in this issue. So Reed buddy keep doing you.

Sue, why, why are you like this? Like I don't dislike her, some of her scenes are funny, and would be something id definitely do if I had invisibility. Like she take a sip of a drink at a diner and everyone thinks the place is haunted these are the shenanigans I live for. Just why did you fall for Namor so quickly I don't understand.

Johnny, I'm still not a big fan of you buddy. You kind of caused the problem this issue and didn't really solve it, although you did. Just I know you'll get better but honestly my opinion of Johnny has stayed in the lower regions like in the last issue.

Thing, my man, the Goat. The more I get of you, the more you become my favorite member of this team. You strapped a Nuke to your back and walked into Gigantos belly. A true hero, and I'm sorry you keep changing from Ben to the Thing for basically a few seconds. I know your future is bright, keep being brilliant.

Namor the Sub-Mariner, I actually really like this character. I think his introduction is very forced, but hey it's comics. Also I just like the design, the swimming speedo, the wings on his ankles, the pointy ears. All very nice, I just don't see what Sue sees in him. Take out the love triangle and he's a really good antagonist. Also you where robbed of tpk, but hey that's comics for ya.

Alright so next issue we will be introduced to one of the Fantastic Fours most notorious villains, and possibly the most notorious in all of Marvel Comics. Until next time.

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[partytime33]

Me ranting about the Mario Movie

MAJOR SPOILERS!!!! I just finished watching the movie and I'm gonna go on a massive rant, how could this not have spoilers. Also, "minor" swearing and Bowuigi shipping.

Lets start with the characters shall we?

Okay, first off, Chris Pratt wasn't as bad as he could've been, so no complaints there.

Luigi, purest bean who ever lived, SO WHERE IS HIS PLOT RELEVANCE??!??!?!

Peach is such a BAD-ASS! YOU GO GIRL!! YOU AIN'T NO PRINCESS YOU'RE A MOTHERTRUCKING QUEEN.

Toad, Good, really enjoyed his parts.

Donkey Kong, Funny at points but overall is just annoying.

Cranky Kong, Good! Considering how bad his son was.

That leader Para-trooper with the blue shell armour, excellent. Will talk about him later.

Now, to get to the big one, everyone already knows that Jack Black was amazing in the trailer, and Jack Black is. The problem is Bowser's motives. SPOILERS STARTING PROPERLY NOW.

Bowser's lines have changed slightly in the trailer. The biggest dip is when he's questioning Luigi, who takes half the movie to get to his castle, and Bowser says;

"I'm not sure if you know who I am. But I'm about to marry a princess, and rule the world."

Then Luigi replies with his typical unenthusiastic "yay" (which if you ask me is so monotone because he's disappointed that this beast is taken) with the chin tilt we know and love.

Basically, Bowser's entire reason for ruling the world is because he loves Peach and stole the super star just to impress her enough to ask for her hand in marriage.

This is redeemed slightly, because he plans to just use the star and destroy the mushroom kingdom if she refuses his marriage proposal. But it cannot make up for the cringe-fest that is shown for a good portion of Bowser's scenes.

There was a clip of Bowser playing a piano, which, further confirmed the rumor that Bowser would have a song. This rumor turned out to be true, with the most awful song in recent movie years. (Lyrically wise, Jack Black fricking killed those notes)

The song is like; ooh Peach, you're so cool, come live with me and rule. Ya da ya da, heterosexual love interest which no one could care anyless about. Then Kamek comes in and tells him about Mario, to which Bowser responds with, "is the princess into him?" And if that isn't enough, the next scene Luigi is FINALLY IN BOWSERS CASTLE!!! AND GUESS WHAT?? GUESS F*CKING WHAT?

ITS THE ONLY BLOODY SCENE THE TWO OF THEM INTERACT. ITS JUST THE INTEROGGATION AND THAT'S IT!!!!

Nothing else whatsoever!! Bowuigi Fandom, I'm sorry for the disappointment, there is the full body spin and the mustache rip and the chin tilt and then Bowser shoves the precious bean to the floor! That's it!

And you wanna know what we get instead? KAMEK DRESSING UP AS PEACH FOR BOWSER TO PRACTISE PROPOSING. WHAT IS EVEN THE POINT OF LIVING???

(I'd like to add here that the blue Lumalee has more lines and makes all the penguins depressed and insane)

NINTENDO WHERE DID KAMEK COME FROM? IF YOU'RE GONNA BE GAY ABOUT STUFF BE GAY WITH THE ACTUAL STUFF WE CARE ABOUT F***!!

And then, Nintendo, you have the AUDACITY to shove Luigi to the side? His whole plot relevance is just to give Mario an excuse to go on the big adventure with Peach! Sure he has that redemption bit at the end because he was "too scared".

There are SO many cliches in this movie, like family doesn't believe in start up company, slow-mo scream (there were FOUR of those.) And they use the phrase "Mamma mia!" SO TERRIBLY!

What really sucks is that the world building and animation style is GORGEOUS! It looks so good and is ruined by it's basic plot and cliche characters.

The Mario family is introduced, which adds physically nothing to the plot or the other characters. Foreman Spike is also in this, but is not used correctly. What I think should have been done, is that Spike actually sent the brothers down to the mega-pipe place after they left his company for the plumbing job and was hoping to get revenge on them for doing so!

But no, he's just used to make the brother's doubt themselves, which you know, THEIR FAMILY DOES MINUTES LATER.

On the plus side, my final note and my favorite part of the movie. The blue para-koopa who's incharge of the Koopa army. When the gang's on the rainbow road the para goes after Mario himself and tries to kill him. However, instead Mario and DK destroy his kart, it goes up in flames and the two celebrate. But then, out of the fire, he walks forward, an inch from death and yells, "You can't escape meee!" And get this;

You know how he's the only Koopa (seemingly) with a blue shell instead of green or red?

And you know how in the trailers we see when the Koopa get stomped they turn into shells?

"You can't escape me"...

He turns into, a blue shell, flies high above Mario's head and smashes down onto his kart, pretty much taken straight out of Mario Kart, sure it's a seemingly obvious gimmick, but that's what made it so worth it.

Right, felt good to spend an hour ranting about a movie made for kids! Didn't know what I expected from the company that made The Grinch, but thank you, for humouring me with your time and attention.

[mysticstarlightduck]

Happy STS!

Has a piece of your own writing ever scared or unsettled you? If so, how?

~ @tabswrites

Happy Storyteller Saturday! Thanks for the Ask, @tabswrites!

Has a piece of your own writing ever scared or unsettled you? If so, how?

The answer to this is: Yes, there is a piece of my writing that scares/unsettles me. The new, updated version of Bryn's backstory to be exact. (I changed my mind when it comes to what exactly happened in his past, and so I updated his backstory to this new version).

As for how it disturbs me, it's because of the villain's cruelty on this scene, and the repercussions it had for the characters involved. It's just, I don't know, incredibly evil of the villain? Though it was necessary for the story (basically the whole reason for Bryn's revenge arc on the actual plot of The Last Wrath), it was one of the few scenes that truly impacted me, from my own writing.

SPOILER WARNING: (Because this bit has yet to be fully revealed in The Last Wrath, and general warning for douchebag villains)

When Bryn was young (around 10 years old), he was the son of a powerful general who led their realm's forces against the Imperial Kingdom of Davvenhelm... and lost. His father was executed. But that's not the part that is terrifying. Bryn and his older brother, Cirien (around 18- 19 years old), were captured by the army of High Lady Avaline, the ruler of Davvenhelm, and their kingdom refused to pay the ransom, abandoning them at the hands of their enemy. Avaline wanted to know a secret, about a hidden ritual that could give her the power she needed to achieve her goals, and that secret had been sealed away by the boys' mother, years ago, and only their House knew about it. When Cirien refuses to give in and tell her what she needs to know (I mean, who in their right mind would give a tyrant the key to have even more power? He was right not to tell her anything), she decides to try a different approach.

And this is where the backstory becomes terrifying.

In the continent of Agrannor, there is a magical/cursed flame known as the Dreadfire - in the times of the Ancient Wars, the Dreadfire was used to annihilate entire armies. It is said that it is a flame that causes unspeakable, excruciating pain, but does not leave one single mark/scar, nor physically wound the person (it just causes pain)... other than destroying the mind of those who touch it (basically, anyone who comes into contact with it for too long experiences such pain that their minds get trapped in an eternal magical trance, as their bodies can't handle the suffering caused by the Dreadfire). It was sealed away into a cursed chest, though it can be controlled by anyone who holds its key, and hidden from the world. Well, High Lady Avaline found it.

Basically, to get the information she needed, Avaline had Cirien burned by Dreadfire (this scene is not shown, only implied), and Bryn witnessed it. By the time the young man told her what she needed to know, it was too late. Cirien survived, and though without a single wound/scar, (as the Dreadfire doesn't leave a mark), his mind never recovered.

The boys were rescued by an Imperial soldier two days later, who was repulsed by the cruelty of her queen, and so they managed to escape to freedom, but Cirien was no longer himself. Bryn's motivation, at the start of his character arc, is to kill/get revenge on High Lady Avaline for what she did to his brother.

Bryn also developed an aversion/fear of any kind of fire from that day onwards, be it a candle or a fireplace.

So yeah, it was deeply scary to write about, but necessary to the development of the story and the characters involved.

[silkiemae]

Heir of Fire by Sarah J Maas

My Rating 3.5/5

It is safe to say that I find this series far more enjoyable than I ever found ACOTAR. While the first half of this book dragged a lot, I understand that it was because there was a lot of world-building and set-up for upcoming books to be done. There was a lot of information thrown at you, and it's clear that it will all become relevant later. This book was definitely planned out better than ACOTAR as well and more thoroughly built. While the book's first half was slow, the second half was much more exciting. During several scenes, I perked up because I was like, 'oh shiiit'.  --

So in Crown of Midnight, it's revealed that Celaena is actually part fae and has really been Aelin Galathynius this whole time, the lost queen of Terrasen. She's headed over to Wendlyn under the ruse of assassinating the rulers over yonder, but instead, she goes to Mistward, where all the other half-faeries live to learn how to use her magic and get answers about the Wyrdkeys. The whole book is about Celaena working towards learning this information, but it's also about her journey of recovery. I appreciate that so much time is spent on her PTSD because it's very realistic after what she's gone through, but at the same time, it felt like we kind of went backwards. 

After Nehemia’s death, she was basically catatonic until she guessed who killed her(literally she sat up and was like gasp! it's grave!) and went and got revenge. After that, I naively assumed she was going to be a more active participant in this story and actually start making plans to do what Nehemia wanted for her from the beginning. Like this girl really orchestrated her whole death just to get Celaena to get off her ass, which…I hate, so much. This is actually a recurring theme in her life. People have to either sacrifice themselves to protect her or they have to get murdered to incite her to do anything. I wish she would just DO something already. 

As I said in my last review, I really think Nehemia would have added far more to this story than Chaol. Celaena is mourning Nehemia like she lost a lover, not a girl she befriended a few months ago. Because when you think of it, that is the truth of the matter. Nehemia and Celaena were only friends for a few months, and she is acting like she lost her other half. Yes, I’m bummed Nehemia died, too, I think it was pointless and a waste of a character but she and Celaena were not really all that close. At least not as close as Celaena seems to think they were. Sure, they ate breakfast in bed, and they told each other some hard truths, but it was because Celaena didn’t have anyone else. She deluded herself into thinking she had comrades in Adarlan when really she was surrounded by enemies the whole time. Nehemia lies to her constantly, Chaol is loyal to the king despite the fact that he’s helping Aedion, and Dorian, despite his kind heart, is the son of the man who destroyed everything. She should have been wary of these people from the beginning. 

I don’t feel bad for Dorian, Celaena or Chaol when it comes to their failed relationship. They were all idiots for getting involved with each other in the first place. The second Celaena leaves, Dorian moves on to the next best thing. A healer who’s already been fawning over him for years. Personally, I found Sorcha’s character entirely ridiculous. She seems so pathetic as a person. Does she not realize she is nothing more than a rebound for Dorian because he couldn’t be with Celaena? It took Celaena leaving the kingdom for him to even notice her. She’d been taking care of his wounds for months, and he didn’t even notice her then. Then he kisses her once and suddenly she’s ready to throw it all away? Nah, could never be me. I also think her being a spy was a mixture of predictable and also silly. Like, I saw it coming because it made no logical sense for someone with her past to choose to work for the king but then again, she is literally so inconsequential to the story it felt like it was added solely to further Dorian's male pain. This story had very little romance, which I actually liked a lot. If Celaena and Rowan had immediately gotten together I would've been annoyed. She has no business being in a relationship right now after all her trauma(just like Nesta had no business getting involved with Cassian when she did). 

Meanwhile, Chaol is sneaking around with Aedion, and honestly, they should just kiss and get it over with. Again, Chaol is about as exciting as mayonnaise, and his chapters could’ve been better put in the trash and replaced with chapters of Nehemia being a badass rebel queen and doing some cool shit in Eyllwe or, better yet, tricking everyone in Adarlan. Imagine if it was her working alongside Aedion to bring Adarlan down. Would much rather have read that. Also, the end when he goes to pick up Fleetfoot...WHAT HAS THAT DOG BEEN DOING THIS WHOLE BOOK? WASN'T DORIAN SUPPOSED TO BE LOOKING AFTER HER? HE'S TOO BUSY WITH HIS NEW GIRLFRIEND? 

Manon is…fine, I guess. The majority of her arc is about her posturing around the other witches and forging a bond with her flower-loving wyvern, Abraxos. I tend to find characters like Manon ridiculous. I love the idea of a formidable woman that is feared by all. I am always down for magical action women, but characters like Manon, who are meant to be "evil" and remorseless, almost always seem entirely overdone to me. Like the author is trying way too hard to make her seem scary and intimidating that she instead becomes really laughable and almost someone to mock. In my opinion, less is always more when trying to come off as someone who should not be fucked with. I know that the witches are merciless and don’t care for anything, but I was still super bothered by how mean she was to Abraxos. Like, he literally saved your life from Titus, you ungrateful anus. The least you could do is show some kindness to him. But I understand that’s not in her nature. That doesn’t mean I have to like it, though. Just be nice to the beasties.

Having said that, I like the conflict you see her going through. I like that it's clear she does have some emotions and is starting to care for her wyvern as well as Petrah, even. I'm curious to see her grow more and hopefully join team good guys. 

Going back to Celaena. So, she’s trying to get to Doranelle so she can finally get answers from her Aunt Maeve to save her kingdom. Well, Maeve is kind of species-ist and won’t let half-fae into her kingdom unless they prove themselves and so Celaena has to be trained to use her power. Prince Rowan(Celaena’s very distant cousin?) is tasked with training her, and his training methods are basically those abusive military strategies of just screaming in your face to do something and calling you a worthless POS for not being able to do that thing. I really don’t see how it’s helpful at all when Celaena is repeatedly telling him that she has no idea how to use her power. He never verbally gives her any instructions that might walk her through the process. If it’s supposed to be second-hand nature to her, why doesn’t he ever say that? Why doesn’t he ever give her any sort of help other than SHIFT YOU WORTHLESS COWARD?! SJM has a habit of making her male fae love interests take their female love interests on torture hikes, and I want to know why. What does SJM have against hiking and running? Cassian did this to Nesta, and now Rowan does it to Celaena. 

Now, right off the bat, Rowan is horrible to Celaena, and you don’t find out why until the end of part one. So, he’s supposed to seem like this total POS, and then when his trauma is revealed I guess I was supposed to be like ooooh no poor Rowan, I understand now. But here’s the thing, I don’t. Celaena made an incredibly shitty comment to Rowan, basically saying that the faeries deserved to get wiped out and Rowan punched her for it. Do I think that punch was warranted? Yes. She totally deserved it. But here’s the thing, Celaena is in her human form and therefore has the strength of a human. Rowan, when he punched her, had to hold back so as not to shatter her jaw, which tells me that he did not need to hit her at all. He could have just as easily said something equally shitty, and then they could both be toxic assholes that way. But no, his form of toxicity is physical violence. This is explained away that faeries are more primal and aggressive than humans, and while that makes sense due to the fact that they can shapeshift into various animal forms…I don’t find it a good enough excuse to not be upset by the physical abuse that takes place. 

Celaena bad-talks her own aunt and Rowan pulls her tongue, slams her into a tree and bites her with his weird vampire fangs. Sure, this finally gets her to shift, but it was still an incredibly odd, uncomfortable scene. Through the rest of part one, they come to some sort of understanding that they both are in a dark place and have dealt with extreme loss. Celaena lost her friend, and Rowan lost his mate and his unborn child. While this is sad, and it sucks, it’s still not a good excuse for his behavior. The difference between Rowan and Celaena is when Rowan tells this sob story to Celaena, he never apologizes, just gives her excuses and says maybe we can work toward finding peace or whatever together. Celaena, on the other hand, gets on her knees and apologizes to Emrys for hurting his feelings. I thought this was a little bit ridiculous as well, but at least she apologized. This is the same problem I had with Rhysand in ACOTAR. Instead of giving Feyre a genuine apology for abusing her Under the Mountain, he gave some excuses, and we’re supposed to shift the blame off of him and feel sorry for him instead. Nah, I don’t play that. We apologize when we hurt people and don’t just blame it on our trauma. 

When Celaena finally gains control over her shifting ability due to Rowan putting her friend in danger and she finally kicks his ass, I was like totally fine with it. You know why? Because they were on equal footing. It’s not someone with god-like strength fighting a puny little human. It is two people who are equal in strength brawling it out, and that’s when it’s hot to me. It’s like that scene in Losers with Zoe Saldana and Jeffrey Dean Morgan sexy fighting. They’re both capable fighters, they both have chemistry, and it’s hot. Sure, they’re trying to kill each other but it’s different because they’re at the same level. Idk, maybe I just don’t like being scared of the person who I’m gonna bone. I don’t really think being afraid my partner is gonna pull my tongue out of my face for saying something he doesn’t like is sexy. Maybe that’s just me, though. 

Now, towards the end of the book I did like their relationship a lot more. I like that they've come to some sort of understanding and they have a more solid friendship instead of this weird 'I'm your mentor who abuses you and you have to accept it' dynamic that they had. Again, I am so very glad that they didn't get together in this book. I'm glad that there was not a lot of romance in this book and it focused more on the magic and world-building. I think that Sorscha's plot could've been scrapped, and honestly Chaol's too. Dorian and Aedion's stories could have been combined and it would've come to the same conclusion in the end. 

BRING NEHEMIA BACK.

[orchestrahearts]

okay but act ii of into the woods is literally just the trolly problem…

aka i’mma rant about mel and morality under the cut!

Mel has a pretty unique perspective on the concept of morality. She was raised completely sheltered by an actual wicked witch. Aka, her mother was the kind of witch that placed curses and wrecked havoc on kingdoms for the fun of it. She didn’t much care for Mel either, which is why her curse on her was so severe when the beans got stolen.*

Mel, before leaving her home in young adulthood, also rarely interacted with people since she was kept behind her garden wall. As far as logic should be concerned, she should’ve thought that being evil was great and follow suit. Instead, she was actually a reasonably nice young woman. Not particularly polite, rather foul-mouthed at times, and lacking in tact, but not actively someone wanting to harm others either, which was different than previous generations in her family. She was more curious than anything else, having grown up in such a small space but well aware there was a wide world just outside her door that, until a certain age, she wasn’t being allowed to see.

As regularly mentioned on my blog though, she was not treated well out in the world. She lived through the most extensive and violent witch hunt in history, and didn’t come out the other side unscathed. The result was her much more jaded view of humanity, but morally, she wound up neutral. She didn’t care to bother with people if they left her alone, but if they harmed or disturbed her, she would inflict what she deemed an appropriate consequence. There were times that she interfered in the affairs of others, but usually it was because it an an effect on her as well. Placing spells on royalty, for example.

So now for act ii of Into the Woods, which I now realized was basically the trolly problem. The Giantess came to the kingdom from her beanstalk because she wanted revenge for Jack killing her husband and stealing from her. The other remaining villagers in the kingdom want to protect Jack because allowing him to die would be wrong to them. But Mel sees that if they refuse to hand him over, the Giantess will stomp her way through the entire kingdom, destroying it and killing many in the process. Her solution is simple: hand over Jack, and she’ll leave them alone. I’m sure that having lost everything in act i, her house included in act ii, the last thing she wanted to do was find somewhere else to live and start over. Sacrifice one to spare the rest. It’s a very pragmatic approach to the problem but not very sensitive, which is more or less how Mel operates in a nutshell.

*I can’t find my old headcanon post but essentially the curse of age and ugliness wasn’t just cosmetic, it was extremely painful as well. Arthritis, creaky joints, wounds that never healed no longer magically treated, the list goes on.

[that-flux]

Part 2 of "A Prologue for a Prologue" Now in the current iteration, this is where Monare's sister is introduced, as he flees across the central sea to a country called Gaftani. It's a place famous for its wealth and trade network, also has one of the nicer kings in Meravtha, as the king is guided by his heart to care for his people and keep them free. (So he's a popular guy, but stress does still get to him) Seca, Monare's sister, is the newlywed queen of Gaftani, as she basically gets her own story in Iteration 4 and forwards, that basically shows her starting from nothing and befriending the king. Which then leads to a romance. Anywho, Monare is able to convince the two to fund a way against Meval. Although, they do so indirectly as Monare ends up a privateer. The situation in Monare's homeland (the Kingdom of Mylira) has gotten worse as Meval's faction basically runs the country now. So Monare embarks on this war arc to take down Meval. There's now some funny naval warfare and Monare just being a privateer that's adapting what he learned as a knight to his current situation. This goes on and eventually it reaches a climax in the same underground ruins/temple where Monare slays Meval. This however is not where the story ends. As the third major arc begins. Monare becomes a drifter again, as Meval's remants (although in an internal power struggle) still control Mylira, thru its king. (although the king is really a puppet king at this point) This faction does some really messed up things, and super-depressed Monare ends up rescuing an orphan boy named Haesun. He takes in Haesun as his adoptive son/squire. Now Haesun is the child of Monare's closest friends in his grandfather's village. (That village being destroyed by Meval's faction by this point.) Monare raises Haesun, who shows to be more compatible with Brystworl/Meaphael. (as their minds are closer alike. Monare was primarily driven by hate and revenge, while Haesun is drive by care and empathy, which allows him to bring out more of Meaphael's power.) This plot follows most of the story beats of the first, however with the over-arching threat of Malicine's return. This leads the two to travel back to Gaftani where an ancient gate (this giant archway) is discovered. Malicine opens the gate, Monare vanishes, and Haesun is left to fight the dragonorl with Meaphael's help. Haesun succeeds and leaves to meet his aunt, Seca. Asking for her help, the queen aids him in freeing the people of Mylira. This begins the fourth major arc, Haesun's arc. Haesun begins another war and strikes down Meval's faction, inciting a revolution and frees the people. This moment nearly ends with Haesun slaying the puppet king, however he doesn't. The puppet king, throughout this whole time was using every resource he had to protect his people. Althought almost entirely powerless by this point, he bought his people a lot of time. Haesun learns this and spares the old king, which marks the end of his revolution and bascially an establishment of a new kingdom. (as the king lays down his crown and pleads for Haesun to take his place. Haesun begrudgingly does and keeps the old king as an advisor.)

That sort of puts a lid on Meravtha's story. However, Monare is not dead. Which is the cliffhanger, I'll leave for my next lore entry.  2/2

[mr-walkingrainbow]

Well technically, Uliana was right. A painful death would had been painful in the moment. But Bridget would have passed.

The traumatizing humiliation however stayed with her forever. It haunted her every moment and corrupted her soul. It literally broke her brain and fractured her psyche till her veiw on reality was completely skewed and broken like someone with a grand delusion or a horrible case of schizophrenia or some other mental illness that causes you to see and believe things that aren’t true.

This turned her into a twisted traumatized tyrant. This person this fell into charge of a whole ass kingdom. Ergo waging war on AURADON and corrupting all of wonderlands residents to the point they were walled off forever. Now she has a kid and she can’t sufficiently provide a healthy upbringing. And it’s sad cause the queen truly loves Red. She loves Red way more than Maleficent loves Mal. Maleficent literally shrank and showed how much love she had in her heart. Meanwhile, Bridget spent Reds entire upbringing desperately trying to raise Red the opposite she was raised, so in her mind whenever life would inevitably turn on Red like it did on her, Red would be prepared. Red wouldn’t be so cruelly destroyed like Bridget was. Red would still have her dignity and pride and respect of people. It’s also revealed behind the scenes that The Queen of Hearts literally carried a heart shaped locket around everywhere with her that had a photo of herself and red in it together. Like WHAT. That’s literally a sign of the smallest bit of old Bridget still being there. It shows the queen is truly doing this because she loves Red. She even says so. She’s doing everything she can so Red can avoid the fate she faced. She thinks it will help red in the end truly.

Malificent never gave a single shit about Mal. She certainly didn’t ever carry anything sentimental like that. Mal was truly just a tool to her.

(although I will say that despite Maleficent being a shitty mom; even SHE stuck around. I’m very anti adult hades. Like he’s shown to be a decent parent yet could have easily taken mal. Maleficent might have been shitty but she kept Mal. He didn’t)

Fuck where was I going with this?

OH YEAH! Basically, Uliana humiliating, traumatizing, and Breaking Bridget actually was the direct catalyst of the red queens cou and ended up with Bridget taking over Auradon, enslaving all the people. And the literal murder of Ella. So yeah! In this case, it was so much worse. Her revenge truly was perfect. It caused the most mass destruction of them all

i saw this one post that said that Uliana was the same one because all of her "friends" wanted to kill her like burn her to a crisp and stuff but she says NO yeah I get she says no but there's MORE sje days it should be ten times worse. P.S. how is public humiliation worse than painful death ngl ITS NOT

[softquietsteadylove]

hello! can you write a shy thena creeping into bed with gil at night, because she feels cold and is not able to sleep?

love your fics!

Gil shivered, waking up for not nearly the first time that night. They had just settled in the north, as was necessary, since the top half of the continent was terribly vast. But it was freezing cold, and winter hadn't even truly set in yet.

He had even fruitlessly suggested they stay on the Domo for this part of their journey, but knew their days of getting stay on their much more comfortable homeship were behind them. Human societies were too advanced to write off the ship as something of godly design.

But he was worried about Thena.

She got cold so easily, not that she would admit to it any faster than she would admit to getting hurt in battle or that she was cranky because she was tired, or hungry. But he could tell that she felt sluggish and drained from the chill in the air.

It didn't surprise him, given how light boned she was. Sersi was also struggling with the harsh winds and snow, but she basically spent all her time either in Ikaris' coat with him or transmuting all the snow around her into dandelion seeds.

Makkari was her own source of warmth, every cell in her body moving at such a speed that even when dormant she was like an engine left idle. Druig was taking full advantage, constantly draping over her.

Thena likewise had become much more cuddly in the cold, and Gil had no complaints about that. She was like a lizard, he theorized; the cold made her energy slow to move through her veins, so she had to preserve her strength.

Every time they were done with a battle she would drag herself inside heavily, shoulders sagging, eyes tired. And he would receive her, letting her collapse onto him however she liked. She would say that she was just tired, but he would feel her trembling as she attempted burrow into his arms.

No one gave her too much of a hard time about it. Maybe at first, but once discovering she didn't even have it in her to bark at them about it they left her alone, genuinely worried about her well being.

Gil blinked up at the ceiling of his room. The accommodations were nice, and the humans were clearly versed in how to weather the wind and the snow. But it was going to take more than a month to get used to it.

His door opened.

There were no steps to be heard, and he immediately knew it was Thena, even with his eyes closed. She was silent and deadly--the Warrior Eternal. But he did hear a slight clattering. He laid still, focusing on what it could be. It got closer.

Her teeth were chattering inside her mouth.

His poor Thena was freezing. Why was she so cold? She had a luxurious room, same as the rest of them. It should have had a fireplace and plenty of blankets and thick furs to keep her warm. What had dragged her out of bed?

Thena stopped a few paces away from him. Now that she was here, she was hesitating. She paced on the thick rug a few times. Her fur robe was the only sound besides his breathing, which he was trying to keep even.

Usually she would be able to tell he was awake already. She really wasn't herself in the cold.

Thena inched closer to his bed, still shaking in just the chill of the night air. It wasn't as if she could fall ill, but she just seemed incapable of attaining warmth, let alone keeping it. Or rather, her methods when left alone were...lacking.

Gil feigned stretching in his sleep, lifting up an arm out from under the blanket and above his head. He even turned his head away slightly, at the cost of peeking at Thena while trying to pretend he was still asleep. But he'd used this trick before.

As he'd suspected, the temptation was too much for her. Slowly and tentatively, he felt her get closer. She really gave off no warmth with her mere presence, like a ghost appearing at his bedside. But he felt the bed shift as she tried to climb in beside him. She shimmied the blankets, trying both not to wake him and not to let out too much heat in the process.

This was taking too long.

Gil stretched for real this time, shifting the other way and pulling her into the bed and under the covers with him. He moved one of his legs and tucked both of hers under it for good measure, fully enveloping her slight frame.

Thena didn't struggle, only resituating herself as much as needed. Once her head was on the pillow and under his chin enough, she sighed. "Gil?"

Caught--of course, he expected nothing less from his Warrior. "Sh, Gil's sleeping."

She let out a tiny breath of a laugh, the puff of air hitting the hollow of his throat. "I'm sorry I woke you."

He pulled her closer, settling his arms around her and holding her to his chest. He had more than enough warmth to go around (if it was for her). "Wake me sooner, next time."

She was rolling her eyes, he just knew it. "I was trying not to wake you at all."

He smiled in the dark, against her plume of hair. He could feel her warming up already, her hands pressing against his chest. "Always come to me if you're cold."

Thena didn't say anything. But, eventually, he felt her shimmy closer to him, pressing her face into his shoulder. Her hand slowly dragged from resting over his heart to his back, clutching at his shirt. Whatever she was about to say she didn't want him to see her say it--she probably barely wanted him to hear it at all. "What if I'm not cold?"

He grinned, and she could probably feel it against the top of her head. She nuzzled in closer. Thena wasn't really one for shyness, but that didn't mean she didn't have her moments. And for all he was happy to offer her, it was always actually being the one to ask that made something bashful come over her. "Come to me anyway."

Thena was quiet for another few moments. "I just couldn't get warm in that bed. I even tried lying right next to the fire, but then my back was cold."

Of course she'd tried that. She'd probably gotten as close as she could without lying on top of the flames and cooking herself alive. He was always telling her not to get too close to dangerous things, like open flames, or snakes. Just because he could reach into flaming hot ovens didn't mean she could (no matter how competitive she felt about denying that).

Gil moved his face, nuzzling against her. Her nose was freezing cold too, because of course it was. He gave her a squeeze, "no need for that when you have me."

The hand that was still on his chest curled into a fist as well, bunching up his shirt and pulling it closer to her chin. She really was feeling shy about crawling into bed with him.

As much as he thought it was cute that she was feeling fidgety, he spared her the need to ask. "Just come to bed with me, next time, Then you won't waste time trying to get warm by yourself."

Thena pressed her forehead to to his collarbone. If only knew how warm he made her without even trying.

[foxx-queen]

flemeth in da4

so I've been replaying inquisition and reading a lot of theories about what might be up with flemeth / mythal in da4 - most people seem to agree that she's definitely not dead and that we'll see her again, whether as a piece of herself like in da2, or through whoever drank from the well of sorrows. I'm seeing a lot of flemeth / mythal is actually going to be the big bad of da4 , but I'm actually leaning the opposite way.

I think flemeth / mythal will end up being one of the good guys / helping the mc in da4. tldr at the end cause idk this is long 

one reason I'm hoping for this is like, bioware is leaning real hard into ‘the elven gods are all evil’, and honestly I think it would be nice for the dalish to have at least one god who wasn't like that, but bioware isn't exactly great when it comes to the dalish so. also yeah i’m biased because i love her as a character and think boiling her down to the ‘real bad guy’ doesn’t do her character justice. 

my thinking is basically this - solas wants to bring down the veil because he wants to restore elves to the way they were, and he has zero investment in the current world / thinks it's terrible, unless he's friends / romanced the inquisitor. flemeth / mythal however has been around for a long time, and we know her attitude on the elves / dalish is very different to solas'. whereas solas can't stand what the dalish have become and refers to them as not being his people, flemeth on multiple occasions speaks of dalish with pride. unlike solas, she's witnessed their fall and the way they've rebuilt themselves, and how they've created a culture they value and find strength in, and even though it's based on a history that isn't entirely 'correct', she admires them for it. we don't know the extent of her involvement with the dalish, but from the fact that they have a whole name for her and she's had dealings with them we can kind of assume she's spent time with them a fair bit. when she says 'you do the people proud, and have come far' that comes from a place of having seen what the elves where, what they went through, and what they are now, and understanding that it has value.

even aside from elves, flemeth has intervened many times in history, which yeah could mean that it's leading to her being the big bad, except that a lot of things she's done have resulted in the world being saved / something good happening. if all she wanted was the destruction of the veil, which would lead to the destruction of the world, I don't see why she would care if the darkspawn overwhelmed thedas. she's been an important part of stopping the blights, because shes invested in the world as it is now.

so heres what I think - flemeth wants to see the veil come down, without destroying the world. solas doesn't care about preserving the current world, but a lot of what flemeth seems to have done involves keeping some sort of balance. she wants to preserve the old magic , but she also understands and values change, which solas doesn't. flemeth talks about how 'she was betrayed, as I was betrayed, as the world was betrayed, and I will see her avenged' and while that could be about wanting revenge on the elven gods who killed her (which seems to be the main argument about her being the big bad), I think shes actually talking about the damage done to the world by the creation of the veil. we know that when solas created the veil it really fucked the world up - it destroyed the elven kingdom, and is probably the reason why the dwarves can’t perform magic / don’t dream. flemeth says that ‘things happened that were never meant to happen’ which again i think is talking about the veil, rather than the fact that mythal was murdered. its also like, if she did want to see the elven gods punished for murdering her... thats literally already happened. that’s what solas did when he created the veil, even though in the end the greatest damage was to the world itself. 

flemeth could also be talking about what happened to the dwarves. we know from codex entires / murals etc that mythal seems to have led a war on the titans in the early days of the ancient elves because the titans were creating the earthquakes, that she killed a few, and their bodies were mined for lyrium. she also later shut them away because she realised the power there was too dangerous, which lessened / destroyed the dwarves connection to the titans. it seems that at the time the ancient elves thought it was a mercy to the dwarves because they appeared to behave as if they had no free will (like the dwarves in the descent dlc living inside the titan), but that later mythal seemed to experience regret about this. its possible that she realised the dwarves lost something intrinsic to their very being when they lost their connection to the titans – we know that she later granted dwarves dreams that were said to fill some emptiness they felt. we know dwarves don’t dream now, which is presumably because a. mythal died and b. the veil was created, forever severing any last connection they had to the fade. this is possibly why we see statues / depictions of her in the deep roads / guarding that dwarven tomb that was created pre-blight. perhaps one of the reasons why she was murdered was because, along with speaking out about how power hungry the evanuris were becoming / being against slavery, she was in some small way trying to restore some of what the dwarves lost. 

again this comes back to like. her wanting to restore / fix what was without destroying what is. flemeth is by no means perfect or a ‘good’ person - she’s described as being ‘able to throw something away something as easily as she can take a life, or give it back’, and basically being the entire spectrum of grey between good and evil. its possible that she is using solas as a tool to bring down the veil, because without that theres no chance of restoring what was, but i think somehow she’ll end up doing something to create balance rather than simple destruction. that would also explain why she never stops solas / lets him kill her - without it being a whole oh she’s actually the Real Bad Guy. and yeah since the evanuris will have to be dealt with if bringing down the fade releases them , if they do have to die in order for the world to be fixed, i’m sure she won’t exactly mind. but when she talks about the ‘reckoning that will shake the very heavens’ i don’t think she’s talking about like. the literal end of the world. i think she’s talking about how the world will inevitably be changed and shaken up by what she’s planning, but it will still be there. 

tldr : flemeth / mythal isn’t the ‘bad guy’ of the series. she’s been working on her own agenda for years, which yes does involve allowing solas to tear down the veil, but in the end she values the world as it is now, and considering that her character is supposed to be basically the definition of a grey character, she’s exactly the kind of person who could find a balance between what was, and what is. also would be neat if she ends up creating this new ‘balanced’ world, ending the dragon age, because the whole series has been shaped by her, and she herself is a dragon. 

[luvreyn]

My Manhwa List (2021) Part 8

This is a long time comingg! Hoping everyone’s well <3 Also, if anyone’s interested here’s my anilist https://anilist.co/user/reyndealgerobelia/ still in progress tho <3

The Snake and the Flower

Source: https://www.webtoons.com/en/historical/the-snake-and-the-flower/list?title_no=2619

Summary:

Long ago, an emperor suddenly decided to execute the members of his court. Only after being offered a girl named Aehwa, did the emperor’s rampage stop. The emperor cherishes his “flower” dearly. When Aehwa expresses an interest in music, the Emperor makes Harang Kang her personal court musician. However, the emperor decreed that only he can lay eyes on Aehwa and has Harang’s eyes destroyed. After finding out the true cause of his father’s death, Harang swears revenge on both Aehwa and the Emperor. In this twisted realm of snakes and flowers, who will prevail?

THOUGHTS AND WHY READ THIS

- art = 4.5/5

- plot = 5/5 

- the intrigue! the mystery!!

- i am so ready for the revelations!!

- also this is the first time i’ve encountered a blind ml 

- palace politics!!

- i can’t find an HD cover >.>

- I LOVE THE FL YAS GO GURL!!

- verdict: highly recommended!!

The Villainess Flips the Script

Summary:

I woke up inside my favorite novel, not as the protagonist, Luca Winterwald, but as Judith, his abusive aunt and the first character to die—time for a rewrite! I’ll hand Luca off to his loving, long-lost uncle as scripted, and then live my own life far from danger. At least, that was the plan. When his uncle arrives, Luca suddenly calls out, “Don’t leave!” Now, I must protect Luca from impending family tragedy, raise him to become the hero, and turn this villainess’s ending upside down!

THOUGHTS AND WHY READ THIS

- art = 5/5

- plot = 4.5/5

- saw some spoilers and yas i love it!!

- LUCA IS SO CUTE!! 

- fam bonds!!

- funny 

- THE ML <3

- FL is so pretty!!

- verdict: one of my must reads!

Happily Ever Afterwards

Source: https://www.webtoons.com/en/fantasy/happily-ever-afterwards/list?title_no=2737

Summary:

What would you do if you were reborn as a character from your favorite romance novel? For Peony, an avid fan of “The Song of Askar,” the answer is simple: Marry her favorite character, of course! Reincarnated as the princess of the Kingdom of Garten, Peony is determined to marry Richt, the second male lead of “The Song of Askar” and former prince of the Fairspren Empire, who was banished to an inhospitable land after the novel’s happy ending (which didn’t end so well for him). Amidst trials and tribulations, can Peony and Richt make the most of their second chance at life and love?

THOUGHTS AND WHY READ THIS

- art = 4/5 is cute

- plot = 3.5/5 is cute 

- basically this is cute

- strawberries!!

- F U N N Y

- FL chasing the ML <3

- I CAN’T WAIT TIL HE DOES ALL THE BEGGING

- FL’s FAM IS SO SUPPORTIVE AND CUTE

- verdict, it’s just cute! 

Saving My Sweetheart

Source: https://tapas.io/episode/2210370

Summary:

Despite being the daughter of the Holy Empire’s most revered divine leader, Leticia is rumored to be a ruthless, bloodthirsty tyrant. The thing is… none of the rumors are true! After years of living as her vindictive mother’s scapegoat, Leticia is ultimately cursed to die if she doesn’t kill her beloved husband, King Ditrian, with her own two hands. But when the clock miraculously resets to mere days before their wedding, she gets a second chance to save not only Ditrian, but his entire kingdom. This time, will the world recognize the real Leticia before it’s too late, or is history doomed to repeat itself?

THOUGHTS AND WHY READ THIS

- art = 5/5

- plot = 5/5

- i cannot

- really the ML IS IN A LEAGUE OF HIS OWN

- HANDS DOWN 

- FL’s mom is hella abuse and should rot pls

- arrange marriage (a trope that never goes old)

- a new fav

- FL IS SO CUTE AND IT’S JUST SO TRAGIC MYGOODNESS

- VERDICT: A MUST READ!

A Beloved Existence

Summary:

Soyou, who received heart transplant surgery, discovered that the donated heart belongs to the father of a guy in her class! As they grow closer together, will they be able to help each other weather any storm?

THOUGHTS AND WHY READ THIS

- art = 4/5

- plot = 3/5 simple and cute

- MY CHILDREN

- ML IS PERFECT LIKE???

- H U M O R

- a new fav!!!!!

- so cute!!

- my babies deserves all the love in the world k

- ML’s side of the fam is trash!!! TRASH I TELL U WHY DID THEY EVEN EXIST (EXCEPT FOR HIS COUSIN)

- will warm your heart

- teary-eyed with a lot of scenes!!

- with life lessons!!

- P.S: YOU ARE A BELOVED EXISTENCE. YOU MATTER!!!

- Verdict: a must read!!

[maple-cloak]

So I was reading @chipper-smol shitlordAU and got inspired to make this Drabble

Basically it’s a 4K (wait Fuck that’s in no way right I thinks it’s more like 400 wtf was I thinking) word what-if where Ghost fights Radiance but she gets scared and runs away.

Also PK giving Ghost a hug.

Enjoy!

The Radiance was livid,

or rather, more livid then before.

First it was that Wyrm, who had created itself a new form and descended as a bug, a pale and pathetic bug. Stealing her followers away with his artificial light, Refracted light, a false light from a mere Wyrm who knew nothing of it.

But the bugs of what is now Hallownest followed that false light in lieu of her own, and she soon found herself forgotten, her entire being was relegated to the sol object that spoke of her Light. A single withering statue atop the nearby mountain peak.

She had waited, dwelling in the faint dreams the statue held, waiting for what her traitorous creations called their Pale King to finish her off.

But he never came.

Instead she was left there, fuming in her own rage, when she heard someone approaching. She briefly though the wretched Wyrm had finally come to end her being entirely, but was instead found by some simple miners, who had decided to climb to the peak of the crystal filled mountain, their helmets bearing a simple crest.

The Wyrms crest for his new kingdom.

And she saw an chance for revenge.

The simple memorabilia was enough for her to infect their minds, and in turn infect others who came in contact; she commanded them through their dreams to talk and spread word about her statue. To get more to learn of her, to get more to talk, and wonder, and before that Wyrm could learn how, her rage spread forth. With enough bugs to remember she had enough power to spread through his kingdom, expanding her influence throughout the populace, causing the kingdoms sharp decline, and she reveled in the kings panic and desperation.

Eventually the king had the idea to contain her in a vessel, using the void below the kingdom to make a being with no mind to think and be influenced, no will for her to break, and no voice to cry her name in suffering.

But she knew that the king had failed.

While its thoughts were not as loud as the common bug, there were still there, almost silent, but she could still hear the mantra it repeated, still feel the slightest of wills, and she knew that it would not hold.

“Do not think”

But that is a though

“Do not feel”

But the pain so great

“Do not speak”

But you must scream

“Do not hope…”

There is no hope for Hallownest

Eventually the cracks started to form. And she began to seep her influence out through them.

It didn’t matter if the kingdom had already fallen.

It didn’t matter that the Wyrm is no longer here.

She would destroy all evidence of the kingdom, leaving nothing behind for the few survivors to call home, and once that was done she would infect one of the many travelers that came through, and become a god in a new land.

But then came a second vessel

A vessel that had manage to escape the void and her servants who impeded their escape out into the open world without her notice, and when it came back she felt a tinge of fear. It had left the kingdom, and without the influence of the Wyrm that gave those around him minds it would become truly empty. And if it were to attempt so she would be imprisoned with no chance of escape.

Fortunately, there had been multiple influences, not just from a single ignorant king failing to notice the mind it had given, but from a multitude of bugs, instilling their own ideas onto to the second vessel. Gifting it a mind and a will, and she saw it as no threat.

But then it encountered one of her formal followers -Considered a traitor even by the other moths of her tribe, and she gave the vessel the Dream Nail. The moment she saw this she began sealing the mind of her container, preventing the other vessel from attacking her directly with the weakened talisman. The “Seer” however instructed the vessel to restore the talisman, reinvigorating the nail with essence by the time she had taken back the life she gave, the Nail had fully awoken

To worsen matters, the vessel had gotten the former Wyrms charm, and used it to unite the void under its ever growing will. And when it arrived at the temple it unsealed The Radiance prepared to use its container, missing a limb and having a cracked mask from her efforts to hastily take control, to kill the smaller vessel, a ghost of the kings attempts to contain her, given form with the goal of ending her life like its parent so many years ago.

But as the Kings Ghost and the Broken Vessel fought, the Ghost hesitated. It had seen its siblings pain and saw as it injured itself in order to give it a better chance of victory, of finally ending her.

And it ran.

It couldn’t handle its siblings pain and The Radiance laughed as the Ghost ran away, allowing her to reign unopposed.

But the Ghost was tenacious, and found a way to her without injuring its sibling.

The Godseekers, they came in search of a new God after theirs abandoned them; a role she intend to fill. But the Ghost had used their mind to get to her, fighting their way through the ‘Gods’ of Hallownest, many of whom she had control over, and eventually, they arrived at the peak, at her peak.

She though she would win, in a realm where she was no longer held back by the myriad of infected bugs or the broken vessel, but that Ghost was tenacious. And each ensuing fight it grew closer to victory, closer to consuming her within the void.

And it did, it had given the void focus, and it had consuming her.

But despite this, despite struggling within its clutches, her light drowning within its dark abyss. She found herself back in Hallownest, the people still panicked over the ‘disease’ that spread, the king struggling with his ‘solution’.

She has gleefully taken the second chance at ruining his kingdom, being more thorough then before, but as she infected a chef in order to ruin the kings meals (rather petty, but the further unrest that it would give the king was absolutely delightful) she found it slain by the very Ghost that slew her. She almost didn’t recognize it since it had molted, but it’s movement made it undeniable.

It too had been sent back, and The Radiance was livid.

Or rather, more livid then before

But not only that, she found herself trembling, not just with rage, but with fear. The being no longer had the same control over the void, but it still had the same skill that enabled it to use it at her most vulnerable, it was still the same being that killed Absolute Radiance.

Despite seemingly despising the very same Wyrm, making their life all the more frustrating, it refused to let her have her revenge. And it sought to do what it did before again, this time before she could end the kingdom.

And she was scarred.

———————————————————

The Feral Vessel and the Pale King had gotten into an argument.

Now this wasn’t particularly surprising, the two had always butted heads, but this argument was very heated. The vessel, who seemed to named itself Ghost, had been getting on the Wyrm’s case about its treatment of the Pure Vessel, while the Wyrm got angry at Ghost for instilling ideas into it, and that it they shouldn’t interact it as they have been.

The Pale King now sat in his room, it had been almost a week since the feral vessel Ghost had walked off at the end of their argument, and they had yet to be seen since. He stared at his hand lost in though, staring at the cracked void that stained it, thinking over the argument and going over scenarios of what could’ve been.

He hated to admit it, but he cared for the little Ghost. While it had caused plenty of trouble and headaches, deep down he knew he deserved it. For all the hundreds of thousands of siblings down dead in the void below, he felt that Ghost was his punishment. Humiliating and insulting him for his transgressions, the Wyrm knew he deserved it all.

And behind the mask of child-like pranks and dislike for him, he and his Root had long since suspected that they somehow knew more then even his foresight could account for. The familiarity with the White Palace, despite never once being there. How they traveled accros Hallownest with ease, knowing where hidden charms lay and even pale ore across the kingdom. Even with the few fights they have had, he heard they even wield a nail with such familiarity and ease, even ending a bout with the Pale Vessel in a draw despite receiving no training unlike the latter.

And above all, how they still care for his Root, and how she cares for them. How she enjoys mentoring them (and occasionally aiding in embarrassing the Wyrm but it’s hard to be mad when your wife is practically telling them to do it). Then there’s the excitement they show when sharing the language of hands they created with their mother, a language without words but with expression and symbols. It was something he actually wanted to praise them for, and something he was exited to learn as well.

The Wyrm frowned as these thoughts passed, bringing him back to the argument. Ghost was always insistent on the fact that the Pure Vessel wasn’t… pure. Hollow. Empty…

Unable to properly contain the Radiance.

And the worst part was that he knew they were right. He didn’t want to admit it, but Ghost was always right, even before they interfered, the vessel was never pure. The King always claimed that he knew what to do, how to solve the problem and that the Pure Vessel - Hollow, Ghost had taken to calling it (no doubt because his young sister, Hornet, calling it that) was the only, and the right answer.

He had practically abandoned his foresight by now, the only path he could see since tossing all those eggs into the void was one were his beloved kingdom fell, his beloved subjects who he cared so much for dead at the hands of a spiteful light, their burning corpses wandering his kingdoms husk. All that he worked for, and all that he is, was doomed.

The Pale King was snapped away from with thoughts with a knock as his door, and he quickly regained composer, if anything he could give his subjects some hope for their future. Calmly (or at least appearing so) he walked to the door and opened it.

“What is it?” He asked the guard, they were panting, having run as quickly to fetch the King

“T-the… “ the guard cleared his through. “There’s a messenger here my lord, form the Archives, says it’s urgent”

The Wyrm steeled himself, news from the Archives ment news of the infection. He dismissed the guard and swiftly made his way to the entrance hall, greeting the messenger, whom he recognized to be Monomon’s assistant.

“What is it Quirrel? Has Monomon learned something?” He inquired, startling the bug as he shot up straight.

“Y-yes your majesty it’s about the infection…”

Quirrel paused briefly for a breathand the Pale King noticed the faintest to hope in his voice

“The infection, it’s… it’s regressed”

The news had startled him, regressed? The Ra- the Old Light was the cause of the infection, it’s no ordinary disease she invade their mind and takes over . For the infection to regress would mean…

“Prepare me a stag for the Queens Station.” He ordered a nearby servent, who had already been anticipating such a command and he made his way to the Archives in the Fog Canyon.

He made his way swiftly through the caves, Quirrel aiding in avoiding the various Ooma’s that lived there.

“Monomon what do you mean the Infection has regressed?” He asked, walking straight into the main office.

“Well you majesty it’s exactly that, previously infected bugs have either lessening symptoms, regaining control over themselves, or simply becoming uninfected entirely!” She responded, expecting the king not to barge in in such a manner.

“But that would mean…”

“…somethings happened to the Old Light”

They both paused, a silence filled the room as they wondered what could’ve happened. As the Wyrm ran a hand up its face a though crossed his mind. Ghost, they always knew more then they should, familiar with things they have had no way to experience before. Could they have…?

“Keep looking into it, I’ll see if I can figure anything else”

“Be careful my lord” Monomon responded as they left the archives.

A single thought ran through his head, ‘Where was that Feral Vessel? Where is Ghost?”. It had been a few days yes, but what if they were preparing for something, going from one corner of Hallownest to the next to get what they needed for… whatever it was. He made his way to the resting grounds, where Ghost would regularly search for… something, but he found no evidence of them being there. We’re else would the feral vessel have gone? He stood in a empty plot, a place where he planned to build a monument for the dreamers.

Deepnest? No, hornet would not have wondered where they went when she came to visit. The Queens Gardens? No, his dear Root would’ve found them easily in her domain. So where could they be? He though it over, could there be anyone who would know of their whereabouts?

He paused. Grimm. Ghost had shown an unusual affection for the Troupe Master, and… he froze in a panic. When Ghost had first met Grimm his foresight had shown him the infection being killed form the inside.

He immediately took off, flying over to where the Troupes tent resided. No! They couldn’t have? Panic filled the Pale King, how could he not realize? Ghost was going to enter Radience’s realm with Grimms aid! They were, no they ARE fighting the Radiance!!!

The Pale King stumbled as he landed in front of the tent running inside.

“Grimm! Grimm!” He barely hid his concern for his child skidding to a halt in the middle of the show ring.

“Grimm!” He called out once more as the Troupe Master appeared with his usual (but still well performed) burst of flame.

“With what do we-“

“Not now Grimm, where is my child!” He interrupted the Nightmare Vessel, earning a slight frown that quickly turned into a sly smile.

“Your child hmmm~ and here I though that particular vessel was an annoyance you would love to be rid of.” He sneered, while normally the King would retort to such a comment, he was too preoccupied with the well-being of his little Ghost.

“Grimm, please” he pleaded out of breath. “Is… are… are they alright?”

Grimm paused, staring blankly at the Pale Wyrm. “I’m afraid I can’t be certain of their fate.” He stated blankly.

“Did they…?”

“Yes” Grimm nodded, not even needing the hear the question proper.

“They entered the realm of dreams to fight The Radiance, a trip that’s - unfortunately, one-way.”

The Pale Wyrm fell to his knees, tears that were once held right below his eyes végane to flow. Grimm for one was somewhat uncomfortable, not so much for having someone break down in front of them, no it was who had fallen before them with tears flowing down their face. They had never imagined the Wyrm to do such a thing, they never seemed the type. The type to adamantly refusing to untill alone or with someone they are close to, and even then resisting the urge to cry.

“I did make sure they knew what they were getting into.” Grimm comforted attempting to lift his spirits. “They even insisted we dance to show they were able, and might I add, they put up quite the performance.”

“They we-are quite stubborn.” The Wyrm said, standing up and dusting himself off, hoping that at the very least, they are still alive.

“There you go! Much more fitting for a king eh?” Grimm encouraged as the King wiped his eyes and composed himself. “Yes, I apologies, that was rath-” he stopped mid-sentence in shock, and Grimm followed his eyes and saw why. There was the vessel, Ghost, coming from Grimm’s quarters, limping.

——————————————————————

“Your certain of this?” Grimm inquired for like, the 15th time. Ghost was getting rather annoyed at the question and all it’s variants

‘Yes, I know what I’m doing.’ They signed again. They had already gotten all the charms and weapons they needed. A Mothwing Cloak which they manage to fuse with some of their void, (very painful process and it wasn’t nearly as effective as it would be if they had access to the pit below the palace.) some Monarch Wings they stole found (thankfully the Kingsmold were too preoccupied with Mawlek to notice) and a variety of spells from various Snail Shaman throughout Hallownest, (none of which were killed and/or dead, which is always good) and of course their Pure Root Nail (though they would’ve gladly stolen one from Sly if they needed one)

With those and the charms they took collected between getting everything else, they were more then ready. Grimm let out a sigh, “Very well then, do give us a superb performance hmm?” He said as he raised a hand, shooting out a light from his palm similar to the one of the Dream Nail Ghost was familiar with, only Grimms was a crimson red instead of a bright white.

As Grimm swung his hand down is a (stylish) arc, Ghost found himself engulfed in a red light, fading to a more familiar white before fading away entirely. Ghost looked around a platform similar in size in shape to the one in the Pantheon, though the material and style was different, a grey that wasn’t dark, but not light either, but the area surrounding it was, a endless sea of golden clouds.

Ghost didn’t dwell on these thoughts as they climbed up the few floating platforms, and faced the sun that bathed the picturesque scenery, knowing full well that this was no place of beauty

Ghost drew their Pure Root, their desire to protect Hallownest - and more specifically, their sibling Hollow - giving the Root its form as a blade, as sharp as a Pure Nail and just as deadly - and they faced the sun as she, The Radiance responded to their challenge with her anger.

The small platforms Ghost was standing on vanished, he fell a short ways to the larger platform he ‘awoke’ on, and didn’t hesitate to start attacking the spiteful god. Starting off with what could be mistaken for a shout, a scream towards the sky as their soul and void manifested as an upward outburst of screaming heads, The Radiance cried with rage

Blades flow form the sides, which ghost easily dashed between, not wanting to use their Shade Cloaks invulnerability too soon, as they slashed upwards towards the giant moth. They had both fought before, and Ghost had long since memorized how to evade each attack. Radiance shot out circles of swords, but Ghost backed off and jumped. aligning themself properly they shot out a spell they didn’t have when they fought before, a stream of bright daggers shot out from their hand, only a few hitting their mark before The Radiance teleported away.

As Ghost landed they quickly dashed to the side and blades shot out form the ground, covering over a third of the platform, and a beam of light from above threatened them. Using their Shade Cloak they easily fazed through the beam, and slashed at the sun-moth with a nail art before a soul-charged stomp on the ground, void and soul rising around Ghost protectively while striking at the gif above.

The fight had continued for a long time, Ghost evading or countering all of Radiance’s attacks, while the god itself became more and more desperate, as fewer and fewer attacks hit (not that many hit to begin with) as Ghost got into their rhythm. Before long, it took off higher and Ghost pursued, dodging incoming searing rays of light. But before Ghost could do more damage to end the fearful god something they never expected happened.

They woke up, in Grimm’s room, in the Troupes tent. They looked around, did they do it? They dropped off the ledge they were on and winced, almost crumpled from the pain. Did the Radiance hit them with one last-ditch blast? They slowly lowered themselves to the floor and looked down the hall down the hall to the main performance area of the tent. We’re they still in the dream realm? No, they would’ve seen the Nightmare Hearts leathery viens in the hall, and there’s no Nightmare essence floating around. So that means the Radiance has ejected them from the dream.

The Radiance fled, huh. Ghost had never considered it but they suppose it does make sense, without the dream nail they couldn’t return and hunt it down, and they had no void to restrain it. Ghost found that annoying, all that effort of collect charms and spells and other useful items and the stupid thing leaves. Coward.

With a huff the Vessel stands up, might as well let Grimm know their okay at least, and make there way down the vein-less hall. They tried to heal their injuries with Soul but found they had none, used at every opportunity during the fight with the flying puff-ball.

As they made their way down the hall they heard two voices talking, one was clearly Grimm but they found trouble identifying the other. The voice was male and they seemed distraught, but Ghost couldn’t pin a name, who did they no would be upset? Form what they could tell Grimm told them about what they did, but they didn’t know anyone who would be this upset about it.

But they didn’t have to imagine who when they saw who it was.

And they never would’ve imagined it was their father, the Pale King, who ran up and hugged them the moment he saw them.

And they never expect him to be crying.

The Pale King pulled away enough to get a proper look at the vessel, fresh tears streaming down his face and he held one hand against Ghost’s cheek, not only in shock, but in relief.

“How” he asked, barely a whisper. Ghost wasn’t sure how to respond, and was at a lost for signs at their fathers reaction

Thankfully Grimm was still Grimm and they knew Grimm

“Bra-vo darling!” He exclaimed clapping, “I have to say I did not expect this! How did you escape?”

This was enough to snap ghost back to his surroundings and found a pretty simple way to explain it.

‘Butt head ran away’ they signed

‘Don’t know worse insults’

“She… ran?”

Ghost paused for a moment, staring at their father, then made a gesture like they were throwing something to the side,

‘Ejected me’

As Ghost completed the motion they stumbled to the side, almost falling over until the Pale King caught them

Grimm, for his part, picked a terrible time to laugh openly, much to Ghosts irritation, thinking it was at them.

“Your telling me, your got the Radiance who has been terrorizing this kingdom for years to run in fear” Grim said continuing to laugh, “my goodness you are full of surprises!”

The Pale King could only stare in shock, she had been repelled? Not dead, but still, he didn’t have to consult his foresight to tell that his child he held up had bought him years maybe even a century. For them to have chased off radiance, the skill and strength they must posses…

‘Should be dead’ They signed grumpily, clearly upset at themselves but their father was having none of it

“Don’t understate your accomplishments! For you to have fought Radiance, to have beaten her to the point where she runs away? Maybe she isn’t gone for good but she will not be coming back for decades at the least! You… you’re…” he stammered, pulling the void-born child in for another hug “I… I’m sorry, for the… the atrocity la I’ve done, for my treatment of you, for… for my treatment of your… your sibling.” The Wyrm pulled away looking Ghost directly in their eyes “I was wrong, I’m sorry”

Ghost could only stand shocked at their fathers beaming praise, for their quirky frankly, unnatural behavior… and that last thing, their sibling. There was so much to be done, but things seemed so much… brighter, so much better. Hollow could finally be themself be happy. Ghost was at a lost for words.

‘We… talk later?’ They offered both too overwhelmed and Ghost, too tired, to make proper plans.

“I- yes, yes of course, of course” the father readjusted themself and his son to more effectively carry.

As they made they way out the King paused “Ah! And Grimm” he turned, facing the Troupe Master. “Thank you. From the bottom of my heart.”

Grimm, who had fallen to the background to allow the two some space perked up and gave an elegant bow to the Pale being.

“Think nothing of it. I had simply set the stage and you two, had been excellent performers!”

The Wyrm nodded his head, while Ghost used its free arm to wave, and the two made their way back home.

[bestworstcase]

Your opinion on diadem au zhan tiri ?

😭 my beloved

oh boy

further thoughts under the cut because i have some highly controversial™️ things to say

& to be clear. yes i read the entire fic.

so. the premise here is there are “mythics,” a group encompassing both magical creatures and human mages, and at some point an indeterminate amount of time prior to the beginning of the story, the kingdom of corona drove its mythics out and pressured five of the other seven kingdoms into signing the “mythic accords,” which made it illegal for mythics to exist in these countries. diadem—the dark kingdom analogue, this is a dark prince cassandra AU—was the only country to abstain.

zhan tiri’s family (henceforth zitifam) were among the coronan mages forced out of their homes. they, and six kingdoms worth of other refugees, sought asylum in diadem. the zitifam pledged fealty to the crown of diadem and ultimately became established as a family of court mages and advisors. further notes:

1 - a fan wrote an epistolary fanfic of the fic that is an account of a group of child refugees coming from corona to diadem, which reveals in the end that these children are the orphaned offspring of mythics whom corona disappeared when they resisted the forced exile. this is directly referenced as an in-universe text in the final chapter of diadem proper, so it can be considered as ‘canon’ within the universe of the au.

2 - while it’s unclear precisely when all of this happened, it began a long time ago; in chapter 18, zhan tiri describes her family’s desire for vengeance as “centuries-old.”

3 - diadem’s streets are evidently “overflowing with mythic refugees with nowhere else to go.”

4 - 18 years ago, there was a “peaceful advocate group” of mythics known as the nightingales. their approach to reversing the mythic accords involved “lend[ing] their magic to anyone who needed help,” with the intention of “showing the people that magic is nothing to be afraid of and encouraging them to open their minds.”

king frederic turned to them for help when arianna fell ill whilst pregnant with rapunzel. their leader, an unnamed sorceress, agreed to help in exchange for the lifting of the accords in corona. it’s a little unclear precisely what happened, but the story as recounted by rapunzel (who learns of this via a vision) seems to imply that frederic intended to execute this woman after arianna was saved, and she chose to kill herself first and, in the process and unbeknownst to frederic, bequeath her magic to rapunzel.

after the apparent murder of their leader, the nightingales planned an uprising—but rapunzel was kidnapped before they could enact this plan, and frederic assumed they were to blame and raided their homes, arresting and imprisoning or exiling every mythic the guards could catch. lady caine was among the children orphaned by these raids; her father fled to diadem without her, settled down and got married, went eighteen years without trying to contact her, and kept on with the “peaceful advocacy” thing because he is a useless bootlicking centrist.

anyways,

5 - the pertinent part of #3 and #4 is that the situation in corona is ongoing. the original purges and creation of the accords happened centuries ago, enforcement appears to have lapsed for a while, and under frederic’s reign corona’s persecution of mythics ramped up again, resulting in a second purge around eighteen years ago and subsequent decades of extreme hostility. when rapunzel is outed as a mage, frederic sets the royal guard on her, that’s how bad it is. even the literal princess of corona is not safe.

6 - further, in chapter 8, it is implied that the mythic accords may have required that participating nations intercept mythics fleeing through their borders (to what end is unclear; imprisonment or execution seems likely, but we learn this by way of arianna noting that antipe chose *not* to intervene when mythic refugees passed through en route to diadem, in defiance of the accords). antipean scholars recorded the stories of these refugees and collected artifacts and enchanted heirlooms from them which are now housed in the spire. it is worth noting that when the accords are repealed in the final chapter, these items are not returned to their rightful owners.

7 - arianna, who is antipean, privately thinks the accords are bad and expresses that she has “no personal grief” with mythics and “looks back with fondness” on mythic friends she met as a young woman, but she has done nothing about this because “that matters little when you are the queen of Corona.” her hands are tied—until frederic chases rapunzel out of corona, at which point she finds the wherewithal and public support to stage a coup against her husband within a matter of days. rapunzel is a mythic and likewise just kind of sits on her ass doing nothing except pining for cass and occasionally angsting about how her father hates mythics, until the point where she’s driven out of her home, at which time her first priority is reconciling with cass and her second priority is making sure corona doesn’t face any consequences. she can understand genocide but she draws the line at going to war to stop genocide. and prince cass i’m pretty sure isn’t even aware that there’s a refugee crisis happening in her own kingdom because she is an ignoramus. our heroes, ladies and gentlefolk.

hokay. i’m pretty sure that covers everything.

it is never referred to as such in the text of the story itself, but… calling it what it is, the premise of the diadem au is that corona instigated a centuries-long genocide of mythics, resulting in a massive refugee crisis in the one kingdom that refused to participate. the zitifam escaped this genocide, eventually secured a high station in the country that offered them asylum, and now seek to use their influence to persuade diadem’s queen edith declare war against corona and end things once and for all. this is framed, in the story, as a cruel and selfish desire for revenge, but like.

um.

corona is actively doing genocide? hello??

anyway, diadem zhan tiri.

she gets her first POV section in chapter 10, which establishes her basic goals (inciting war against corona to avenge the lives destroyed by corona’s genocide and put an end to it) and also establishes that she is viscerally terrified of her own family because she will be “disowned or worse” if she fails to accomplish this. (she is also baffled to discover that prince cass actually cares about someone, which is funny because she’s completely right, considering how utterly miserable, paranoid, and unpleasant cass is in this au)

she discovers at this point that cass’s mysterious “friend” is the princess of corona and that they’re meeting up every couple weeks to fuck in the woods. she is, understandably, alarmed by this, and takes immediate and drastic steps to interfere with their relationship before cass can do something crazy like pursue a closer alliance with corona, the kingdom that is engaged in genocide against zhan tiri’s people,

which is to say, zhan tiri makes a pact with demons to grant herself enough power to singlehandedly incite a war, in exchange for her own life. it is…pretty clear that she considers this to be a desperate last resort, and she psyches herself up for it by thinking about the anguish of her family and the plight of all the impoverished refugees living in diadem. i. i’m not even exaggerating here:

Zahn Tiri closes her eyes, breathing deeply as she disrobes. Her heart pounds in her chest, as though begging her to reconsider this desecration, but she tightens her grip on the blade’s hilt and banishes her doubts. She thinks of the sorrow in her elders’ faces when they speak of their regrets that they will likely not live to see their homeland again. She thinks of Diadem’s streets, overflowing with mythic refugees with nowhere else to go. She thinks of the stubborn queen, of how she only needs one good reason to send her warriors marching on Corona. She thinks of the day that King Frederic falls on a Diadem blade, repaying the debt of blood that he owes.

in chapter 13, we learn a bit more about what exactly zhan tiri does to herself:

This ritual is irreversible, and corrupts the magic and the very life-force of the caster forever. Such practices are incredibly dangerous, and have historically been attempted only by the very desperate. In addition to risking their own lives, mythic clans and societies do not hesitate to banish practitioners of dark magic.

and she uses this power to - rapid fire plot summary:

1 - cast a decay spell on cassandra’s hand a la RATGT in such a way that it appears to be a failed assassination attempt by rapunzel

2 - persuades queen edith to declare war against corona

3 - does her damnedest to manipulate cass into going along with this

4 - when she’s caught, flees and transforms into a massive monster a la Plus Est to attack corona by herself

which. like. good for her? good for her.

she’s canon cass with a heroic motive. she’s canon cass if the reason cass took the moonstone was to literally stop a genocide. i… i don’t know how else to say it SKDJFKSKS

1 - self-sacrificing to the point of self-destruction

2 - burning up with rage over the real injustices done to her (& her people)

3 - only “friend” is a prince(ss) with no empathy who never listens to a word she says and doesn’t give a damn about her problems

4 - out of sheer desperation turns to a dangerous and destructive source of power in order to achieve her goals

and the key difference between them is that when canon cass loses her shit it’s because she’s trying frantically to prove that she matters and when diadem zhan tiri loses her shit it’s because she is TRYING. TO. STOP. A. GENOCIDE.

meanwhile the “heroic” characters suggest that hating corona is just as bigoted and wrong as corona’s genocidal hatred of mythics, that going to war is wrong because it would be “catastrophic” and “people are going to die,” and that the right way to end literal centuries of genocide is to politely ask the people in charge to please stop because anger is bad and violent resistance is never okay.

and then like after she turns into a monster and attacks the coronan palace, cass and rapunzel kill her and everything is okay because arianna staged a coup and they can just repeal the mythic accords! and at the end when rapunzel feels vaguely uncomfortable with the fact that they killed zhan tiri, cass is like don’t be! she was awful and deserved to die! and it makes me want to yeet myself into the stratosphere.

i just 😭😭 diadem zhan tiri

she deserved so much better my heart aches

[alesreadings]

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo.

5 stars.

“No mourners. No funerals. Among them, it passed for 'good luck.” If we added as soundtrack Gimme Gimme by ABBA to this book, it would fit. Can y'all imagine Inej, Jesper and Wylan stealing the tank and running away with that song on the background? Masterpiece. *chef kiss* Six of Crows is by far one of my favorite books. I read it two years ago, after the Grisha trilogy and I have to admit that Leigh Bardugo has improved tremendously as a writer. I consider this a much better story than her main trilogy. The plot, the characters, the writing, the pacing, the descriptions, the worldbuilding and the breadth she has given it is perfection. I'll go in order to describe how much I loved this book. In Six of Crows, we follow six misfits who have a common goal: thirty million kruge. They have to go to the Ice Court in Fjerda, the "safest" prison in the world and rescue, or kidnap, Bo Yul-Bayur, a Grisha who accidentally created a drug called jurda parem, which sharpens and increases the Grisha's powers, taking them to high and unknown levels. We have a sharpshooter who can't stay away from a good bet. A wayward son who was kicked out of his father's house and is underestimated, but is very smart. An ex-convict accused slaver, the world's most handsome, lovable, and idiotic fjerdan brute, out for revenge. A lost Grisha who makes a living healing people and trying to get the fjerdan out of the jail he put him in. A suli girl who is basically a ghost, the Wrath, a spy who defies the laws of gravity and is a sweetheart of a person. And finally, our favorite swindler: the Bastard of the Barrel, someone whom legends have turned him into a monster, someone without scruples, without morals or conscience. Will they be able to unite to achieve their goal and come out alive? Or will they end up killing each other before they reach Fjerda? Plot. As I said, compared to the Grisha trilogy, Six of Crows is perfection at its finest. It's not the first heist book (I've only read this one, sorry), but it grabs you from the first moment. I love that Leigh has taken up the Grisha again - I must confess that I love the Grisha order and how she has placed them - and that in this book she continues to include them as a fundamental part of the plot. Just like the first time, Six of Crows grabbed me, although I never understood why Joost and his chapter, I did feel bad that he was all dead. Each chapter had me hooked and begging for more. Even the very end left me screaming and crying like crazy. I have to repeat it: Miss Bardugo, this is a masterpiece, an exquisite and divine piece. Every plot twist had me in suspense or saying "I need more". It's a more radical departure from what we were given in the Grisha trilogy. They steal, explote things, destroy places and make great entrances, lol

Characters. Kaz "killer cane" Brekker. I want to protect him, and at the same time beat him with his cane. His story is touching at a certain point and makes you understand how or why Kaz became who he is now, why he is such a bastard, arrogant and fearless at the same time. There is never a challenge hard enough for him as he dares to prove otherwise. He shows us that he is one step ahead of the rest, and if he runs out of tricks, our demjin manages and invents more. Dirty Hands is a magician, a monster thirsty for revenge for the death of his brother, Jordie, thanks to a scam Pekka Rollins pulled on them when they were just kids. Kaz is full of secrets, tricks, schemes and more that it's scary to know what he's thinking. He's a bastard forged in the very cauldrons of hell, a seventeen-year-old kid who worked his way up through tooth and nail, using his brother's corpse to swim and get to where he is. Inej "The Wrath" Ghafa. Inej was captured and sold as a slave to the cursed Tante Heleen, who owns a brothel. Inej has the ability to go unnoticed, so much so that Kaz Brekker did not feel her approaching him. In any case, Kaz pays Inej's contract with Heleen and joins the Undesirables, becomes Kaz's right-hand man and his spy, or spider. Kaz and Inej are obviously in love, but they don't confess it to each other because it's complicated, and I don't know if I want to yell at them to kiss, or punch them to make them realize it. Inej deserves the whole world. She can stab me and I would appreciate it. Nina "my queen" Zenik. Nina had joined the Ravkan Second Army and was captured before the civil war in Ravka, she was imprisoned by the drüskelle to be taken to Fjerda to be tried for her crimes, which are basically: having powers. She is a heartrender, order of the Corporalki. She met my other goddess Zoya Nazyalenski. Well, anyway, Matthias was one of the drüskelle who imprisoned her and when their ship sinks, she saves him. Nina and Matthias wander around in each other's company and in the end, she brands him a slaver and Matthias ends up imprisoned in Kerch. One can feel the tension between them: enemies to lovers vibes, yup, I live for that. In the end, to save them all, Nina decides to consume jurda parem and knows that she will experience drastic changes in terms of her power and herself. Matthias "the tulip" Helvar. He is my beautiful baby, the most adorable bear and the cutest brute of all. You don't know how much I have laughed for him, he is so innocent in many things that I want to protect him from everything and everyone. Yes, I have a thing for blond brutes (Nikolai Lantsov, I'm talking to you too). From the first time I read Six of Crows, I instantly fell in love with Matthias and will be in love with him until I die. Amen. I already know what happens to him in Crooked Kingdom and I don't want it to come to that. Seriously he deserves all the love in the world, and even though I wanted to punch him many times, I also wanted to hug him and tell him that everything is going to be okay. In the end, Matthias renounces the beliefs that were instilled in him, accepts reality and becomes a Dreg, fighting against his own people. Jesper "crazy hands" Fahey. Jes is a Zemeni boy who came to Kerch to study at the university, but by chance, he ends up becoming a gambler. Jesper is a Grisha, a Materialki, and only Kaz and Inej know his secret. He is a fairly agile sharpshooter and a gambler who can't resist a good game without knowing he will lose. In a slip of the tongue, Jesper confesses what they are about to do and as they are about to leave Ketterdam, they are attacked. Jesper is a baby and I must protect him from all evil and danger. Plus, I really ship him with Wylan. Wylan "little merc" Van Eck. Another baby. I want to protect him from everything and everyone, especially his bastard of a father. Ugh, I hate him. When Jan Van Eck proves to be the jerk he is in front of his son, I wanted to cry with rage because my little baby boy doesn't deserve any of that. Wylan is smarter than others give him credit for, and

even Kaz thinks that just because he can't read doesn't stop him from doing amazing things; he doesn't put it that way, but I do. Worldbuilding. We find ourselves in a totally different country from Ravka. In the Grisha trilogy, we focused more on a description of Ravka, but now, we have two different places: Kerch and Fjerda. Although Shu Han, Novyi Zem, and Ravka are mentioned again, Ketterdam is a fairly fixed point. The description of the places is incredible: you seriously imagine it as a Dutch city in the Victorian era. Tell me I wasn't the only one. I don't know what else can I say about these assholes that I haven't already said. They're so chaotic, funny and you attach to them really quick, even if you want to kick them. I can't really believe they're 16-17-18 years old: they feel really older and "mature", but once you know them, you realize they're a bunch of kids trying to make a heist. Anyways, I loved Six of Crows with my entire life. I'm a sucker for this masterpiece and I'm really looking forward Crooked Kingdom, but knowing what happens to my tullip makes me wanna cry, scream and destroy the world. We stan Kanej, Helnik and Wesper, bitches. I love my Dregs. :')

[lcits]

My Castle in the Sky AUs/Fanfic Ideas

Time Warp/Modern AU- Sheeta almost dies and is sent 150 years into the future for her safety, only to find out Muska’s been put in what is essentially a divine time-out for almost causing the last vestige of the Laputian empire to be destroyed. Their Laputian blood makes this possible, but not without a toll. Sheeta finds that she’s aged six years in a manner of minutes, while her enemy has lost the same amount, making him younger. The modern world is basically speculative history, but with a Ghibli twist.

King of Dusk AU- Muska successfully takes over Laputa, and begins his campaign to grow the empire again. He installs himself as the descendant of an ancient Laputian god, and Sheeta as his celestial counterpart against her will. Despite wiping out an entire army, he retains a new one, provided by another kingdom. While Sheeta plays captive empress, Pazu rises to king of the pirates in his numerous attempts to rescue her. Additionally, the crystal links Muska and Sheeta’s minds, so neither of them can get the best of each other. Basically politics, religion, war, friendship, and a slow burn enemies to lovers.

The Third Heir- While destroying Goliath, a massive ship appears out of the clouds, surprising everyone. A new army storms Laputa, led by a man named Argonus, who claims to also be of royal descent and Muska’s long-lost cousin. He imprisons Muska and Sheeta, but Pazu manages to escape, rising in the pirate’s ranks. This new enemy only keeps them for their knowledge of spells and the city, keeping them in a secure set of rooms. At one point, Argonus blinds Muska, as he’s a huge threat to the security of his reign. The castle becomes a barbarous place, full of savage guards and an even worse king. Luckily, Sheeta is protected from any harm by Argonus, as she is the symbol of purity and light for the kingdom, and must remain untouched. They develop a mental link that allows them to talk, share imagery, and share emotion, all within their headspace. They have to work together to defeat the usurper and get revenge, all the while discovering Laputa’s secrets.

Immortals- After the fall of Laputa, Sheeta resumes her life with Pazu, assuming Muska perished along with the castle. He appears ten years later, having not aged a day since the fall. He reveals that they are, in fact, immortal, because of their Laputian blood. Sheeta only believes him when he appears again, and when Pazu dies from old age in her arms.

[akatsuki-shin]

Review: 天官赐福 Tiān Guān Cì Fú (Heaven Official's Blessing)

Notes:

(Very) long post ahead

Contains spoiler

This is my personal review and does not represent the entire audience, you are free to agree or not agree with what I’ve written here

Feel free to reply/send me a message if there are things you want to discuss

Summary:

The most beloved Crown Prince, pride of the Kingdom of Xianle with abundance of talents and achievements, Xie Lian, ascended to Heaven and became a martial god at the young age of 17 on the path to fulfill his dream "to save the common people".

Three years after his ascension, he saw his kingdom beginning to decline and in order to save his beloved country, Xie Lian defied the rules of Heaven and descended back to the mortal realm. Nevertheless, instead of saving them, his interference ended up accelerating the fall of Xianle, annihilating the once prosperous nation under the war of rebellion and a mysterious, horrifying plague.

The people who once praised and worshipped him day and night now condemned him, his devotees left him, they burnt his temples and divine statues, and Xie Lian himself was ultimately banished from the Heaven.

He ascended for the second time a short while later, but was banished once more very soon after. Since then, he lived among the mortals - surviving by collecting junks as he was now branded as the "God of Misfortune", the "Scrap Collecting Immortal".

800 years later, Xie Lian ascended again for the third time. Though having neither temples nor devotees, he accepted his responsibility as a martial god and carried on with his duties until one day, there came a certain, incidental encounter with a mysterious youth clad in red.

STORY: 7/10

TGCF overall is an (almost) complete, satisfying read with well-written twists and development.

Unlike the two previous MXTX's novels, the main pairing here (HuaLian) did not have to go through complicated misunderstandings and is a beautiful representation of love and devotion. Of course, this means there is a lack of conflict between them, but considering all the trials and tribulations the characters have gone through, this lack of conflict feels like a relieving fresh spring amidst the painful and exhausting journey throughout the entire five books.

The best and my most favorite plot twist is the Earth Master Ming Yi having been dead for a while, and the "Ming Yi" we know turns out to be the Black Water Submerging Boats, He Xuan. I'm the kind of person who always suspects characters, but even my furthest suspicion was "only" him being the Reverend of Empty Words, not He Xuan.

Truthfully, prior to reading this novel, I've seen Shi Qingxuan's "MING-XIONG, I'M SORRY x9999" post before without context, and I thought Ming Yi was going to die a tragic death because of Shi Qingxuan. Turns out it's kind of the opposite, huh? Nice one, really.

I also like how each character's "end" feels satisfying. Especially for the villains, they didn't necessarily have to die some tragic, vengeful death, but was provided with an ending that perfectly fits their background story and deeds. For example, in most stories, a character like Xuan Ji would be most likely be given some well-deserved punishment as her death, given everything she's done. But no, in the end she was given a reality check and was finally able to let go of her hundreds of years grudge. And then Qi Rong - I will talk more about him later on in the "Character" section.

One part I really love is the Extra Chapter about the Cave of Ten Thousand Gods. The chapter itself overall is mostly nonsensical and chaotic, but it was just so touching when HuaLian created a "Little Hua Cheng" statue to accompany Xie Lian's "Crown Prince who Pleased the Gods" statue, especially when this Little Hua Cheng statue gave Crown Prince Xie Lian statue a flower, and then Crown Prince Xie Lian received it, lifted him up and carried him in his arms. This one was maybe a bit biased because as much as I love the current HuaLian, I have a special soft spot for the young Xie Lian carrying, cradling the little Hua Cheng back then in the past. ;v;

Though, with all due respect, I must say that TGCF is actually below my expectation.

The biggest issue I have with TGCF is... What is Xie Lian's motivation? What drives him to move forward in the story? What is even the whole story's purpose?

I'm not quite sure how to word this properly, but let me give some examples.

When you read Harry Potter, you know immediately that Voldemort is the bad guy and he must be defeated.

When you read the Lord of the Rings, you know immediately that the One Ring must be destroyed to prevent Sauron from regaining his power.

Or, in MXTX previous works...

In SVSSS, it was clear since the beginning that Shen Yuan's mission is to fix the "Proud Immortal Demon Way" if he wants to survive.

In MDZS, it was clear that Wei Wuxian, together with Lan Wangji's, needs to unravel the mystery behind that fierce left arm. All of their past stories and WangXian getting together in the end are just something they discovered along the way, not the initial "motivation" that drives the character to move forward.

What about TGCF? The Xie Lian who ascended for the third time actually looks like he just wants to go along with the flow, carrying out his duties day by day with responsibility. When Bai Wuxiang later, later, later on appeared to haunt him again, it didn't seem like Xie Lian has any ambition to hunt him down or exact a revenge, just that he wanted to forget about Bai Wuxiang and never recall anything about him ever again. The main character looks like he's not being driven by anything, just...carrying on where the plot takes him? It's just missions after missions and whatever huge things happening in between is just something they accidentally passed by along the way.

At this point, the only purpose of the story I can think of is bringing Hua Cheng and Xie Lian together. The romance is great, I have no complain. But if it's just that, no need to jammed-pack 250+ chapters just to make two people getting together?

Speaking of which, I also think that the way new characters keep being introduced all the way to almost the final showdown of the story feels info dump-ish, because the background story needs to be dropped there along with the characters, but then most of these characters fade away immediately after.

For example, the previous Civil God before Ling Wen, who looks like he’s going to pose some real trouble, but then was easily defeated and was never mentioned again afterwards. And this is especially true for He Xuan; after such a huge arc where he committed such extreme things, after that he was barely mentioned again, even having his “strong impression” leveled down by the joke about him being the poorest Calamity and owing lots of debts to Hua Cheng.

Basically what makes TGCF a long story is because there are too many stories about the side characters in addition to the main characters that are dumped out of the blue instead of slowly being revealed along the way.

Though, I love how the story gradually unravels the "Four Famous Tales" because initially, I thought it wasn't something crucial, and I wished they could've done this for other characters, too.

There is a little bit of plot holes here and there, as in who actually cut open Jian Lan/Lan Chang's baby and made it a ghost, and for what? Even if it turned out that she just met a bad guy or nobody important, at least provide an explanation in one paragraph? Especially because important side characters like Feng Xin and Mu Qing are involved here, so I'm pretty sure us readers need some explanation.

And more importantly, how can Jun Wu become the Emperor martial god? There's no mention about him ascending, only that he annihilated a dynasty of gods before sitting on the throne of the Great Martial Hall. But how can he, like, emitted god-like aura and not some evil aura? Is it because he used to be a god? But he's a ghost? Explanation where???

The gags and comedies are pretty fun, but honestly, the more I read, the more they ruin the atmosphere and suspense, added with the uncalled PDA between Hua Cheng and Xie Lian even during the most important moments. Honestly, I was bored the fuck out of my life from the moment they start fighting Jun Wu with those divine gundams, and only start gaining interest again much later on when Hua Cheng dissipated into butterflies.

Not saying the story's bad. Just... It's not up to my expectation... Characters being inserted here and there with a bunch of background story, gags and a show of PDA being flaunted during crucial moments. And when Mei Nianqing started telling the truth about the Kingdom of Wuyong, that's just plain info dump right there, seriously...

CHARACTERS: 7/10

Interesting characters, but only a few bore a lasting impression on me. Other than the main characters, which are Xie Lian and Hua Cheng, the only side characters (minus Bai Wuxiang as the main villain) who left quite some impression on me were probably just Feng Xin and Mu Qing.

Pei Ming is okay, at least he is still memorable until the end, and his character improved, too.

He Xuan, after having been introduced with such extreme, after his arc is over, was easily forgotten just like that.

Mei Nianqing, is borderline Deus Ex-Machina with a huge chunk of info dump that could solve everything, then he stopped being useful for the rest of the story.

Shi Qingxuan... Honestly, he's almost annoying, too noisy. I don’t hate him (and I kind of like him initially), but the way his character was being handled and presented post-Black Water arc feels disappointingly lazy and he was just there to make the party more merry.

Xie Lian himself, as the protagonist, how do I say this... This is maybe due to the translator's writing style (not MXTX’s fault), but whenever he screams in all capslock, it feels too extreme and borderline OOC? Of course, the original novel written in hanzi couldn't have included capslock.

What's great about him, though, is that despite all he'd gone through, he can still retain a pure heart and could not be swayed to be evil, just as he himself said "Body in the abyss, heart in paradise".

Now Hua Cheng, he is overall a super interesting character and I personally love this type of male characters. But he seriously is way too OP, almost like the original Luo Binghe (Bing-ge) a.k.a. too ideal, too perfect, no flaws, always capable of easily finding a way out in every single peril. I only forgive him for being like this because he dissipated into butterflies at the end of the battle with Jun Wu, making me think "oh, finally he's actually not invincible".

Still, his devotion to Xie Lian is very well written, very well presented, and his "I am forever your most devoted believer" is just downright the most powerful line in the whole story.

Now I promised to talk about Qi Rong, yeah? I haven't the slightest idea why it is even necessary to have Qi Rong as the Night-touring Green Lantern. I mean, yes he is there to make up the number of the Four Great Calamities, but that was for the characters who live in that world. As the novel's reader, I don't see any particularly important roles there for Qi Rong other than being an annoying meme fodder despite his actually pretty-cool first foreshadowing and appearance? Even his issue with Lang Qianqiu does not seem to give that much impact on the overall story, it could've just passed simply being explained in several pages.

Though I'd say he's got the best character development compared to others. Instead of dying as some hateful villain, the way he ended up deciding to protect Guzi at the cost of his own life can already be expected from miles away, but still bittersweet and touching nonetheless - how this crazed, mental person could still love when being presented with such pure, innocent feelings to the point that he acknowledged Guzi as a his own son.

By the way, E Ming and Ruoye are cute, I take no criticism.

TECHNICAL ASPECTS: 8/10

I can't really describe this with words, but MXTX's overall writing technique has greatly improved since MDZS.

It feels more "solid" to read instead of scattered here and there.

The info distribution has improved (fewer info dump compared to before), the story's no longer switching between past and present all of a sudden.

Description of characters and environment are sufficient, the plot is progressing steadily.

Several issues I have with this aspect though, the Prologue being ten pages is just way too long, I don't think I need that much information being stuffed right to my face right from the beginning.

There are excessive use of "Turns out..." every single time an explanation is going to come.

"Xie Lian didn't know whether he should cry or laugh" is honestly has been used probably more than 50 times just in the last two books. Although I'm reading a translation, I'm pretty sure the original Chinese version is being repetitive with this phrase, as well, because the translators couldn't just whip up any other phrase from thin air and put it in someone else's novel.

Almost half of scene transition is always caused by some sudden, external disturbance like "All of a sudden they heard someone's coming", "All of a sudden X visits their room", etc.

OVERALL SCORE: 7.3/10

Worth to read, satisfying overall. The main pairing's love story is just so well written and sweet. As long as you can withstand the violence and gore, though. 😂

TGCF highlights perhaps one of the ugliest natures of mankind: Being nice to someone as long as they're beneficial, and immediately throwing them away once the benefit was no more.

Once that person does not seem to be beneficial anymore, everyone would leave them instantly, even turning on them and start spitting on them without even trying to understand the reason why said person "stopped being beneficial".

Both as a Crown Prince and a martial god, Xie Lian and the Crown Prince of Wuyong were praised, revered, worshipped by the citizens of Xianle and Wuyong respectively. Because they were always helping, always fulfilling the people's wishes. But how easily it was for those very same people to turn on Xie Lian and the Crown Prince of Wuyong when they encountered misfortunes, completely turning a blind eye to the laborious effort both characters have been putting to save them from annihilation, even if it was visible in broad daylight.

It is also worth to note another trait of mankind that this story underlines: To always find a scapegoat or blame others for one's own misfortune and failure - be it another human being, another group of people, the government, even the gods - after having taking their generosity for granted.

Which is why I think the true villain of the story is not Bai Wuxiang, but those citizens of the ancient Wuyong who were now nothing more than resentful spirits eternally burning within the lava of Tonglu Mountain - a well deserved punishment after what they did to their Crown Prince.