#so many possibilities for prince char
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Clint Barton Ella Enchanted AU. for no reason. I just love them both and wanna see him suffer from an obedience curse.
#so many possibilities for prince char#ironhawk#would work so well#so would#winterhawk#or#amerihawk#ella enchanted#hawkeye#clint barton#comic hawkeye#comic clint barton#hawkeye comics#marvel#marvel comics#fraction hawkeye#616 clint barton#616 clint#616 hawkeye
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Glass Princess snippet
(Hi guys :,) I’m finally posting some writing snippets again…this time from my big project!)
This is probably like somewhere in the middle after a pretty heavy event. But I just started working on the rough draft of this scene. So enjoy :)
The scent of smoke haunts our carriage, even all these miles down the road. Between the four of us no one says a word. Matching blank expressions on the two prince’s faces, as they just stare at their respective windows curtains drawn.
The Demon Queen wipes away tears as they clean her ash covered face. With her other hand she clutches her shoulder. Even though she’s wrapped herself in a black silk shroud I know her arm is heavily bandaged underneath.
Cadence’s once bright fire red hair has turned dark with ash. It’s much shorter now, and the ends of her hair are charred.
Would Tawny even care if he knew his own Queen was injured in their attack? Maybe the one that I thought I knew would have, but the real Tawny Smith most likely wouldn’t care at all. Apart from wishing she had died.
I turn my gaze away from Cadence beside me to Niko. He sits across the carriage from me. Slumped against the seat still staring at the curtain. His arms hang limply at his sides, each of his hands palm up on the bench. They’re still stained with his twin sister’s golden blood.
My own hands are covered in ash and several colors of blood. I had tried healing as many people as possible before the king’s guard loaded us up in the carriage. And yet there were still so many people left laying on the lawn of the castle.
Cadence inhales sharply as we go over a large bump. She grimaces and grits her teeth as the whole carriage shakes.
“Seriously Cade…you should let me heal you,” I hold out my hand just inches away from her injured arm.
She shakes her head. Steeling her gaze. “You are kindhearted Celeste. But is honor in underlands to be kissed by fire.”
Evan’s tail thumps against the side of the bench, and smacks his brother a couple times. Niko doesn’t even seem to notice
“An honor? Really?” Evan tilted his head his ears tilted forward suddenly taking great interest in the girl sitting in front of him.
Cadence nods “Yes, well. Many pits of Lava. Lava flow season has lots of fire. Is hard to control where lava goes. No?”
“Fascinating, you guys have your own seasons down there?” Evan leans forward clearly gripping onto every last heavily accented word from Cade’s mouth.
“Yes, there is no Sun to dictate our seasons of course,” She runs her free hand through her hair, stopping at the singed ends of it “we have lava flow season, the shining of the gemstones. Is favorite season, beautiful time.”
“This is after lava flow season?” Evan’s tail starts flicking back and forth faster. Whipping against his brother a few more times.
“Evan,” Nikolas’s tone is dark, almost angry “for the love of gods. Shut up.”
The feline prince glances sidelong at his older brother. Adjusting his position so his tail is on the other side.
“How do you expect us to sit in silence the entire way to the summer palace?” Evan says, though his voice is soft.
Niko doesn’t respond. He never looks away from the curtain covered window beside him.
#creative writing#writers on tumblr#writerscommunity#writing blog#writblr#writeblr#writing#aspiring writer#fantasy writing#writers life#female writers#fiction writing#novel writing#on writing#writers#writer#writer stuff#young writer#writers community#writerblr#writers of tumblr#writing community#writing motivation#story#story snippet
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what are songs that you associate with the characters/ what sings do you associate with each of the LI pairings (and maybe also other misc couples?) ps. so sorry if this has been asked before
SO MANY LSKDJFALSDKFA this is hard because i don't really think about songs like that, especially lyrics. like i don't really think about if a song fits a char i may just think the vibes feel like them unrelated to the words. and also my general music listening is very limited LOL but i can try...
for chars i would say basically any song off their playlists that i made, but in particular these:
Iggy: Why Worry (Set If Off)
Genzou: I'm a Man (Chicago)
Orlam: Big Town Banky Blaine's Rockabilly BBQ (Bear Ghost)
Gidget: Stuck (Stacie Orrico)
Bucks: Gone Fishing (Ghost and Pals)
for ships:
Genzy: Every song LDKJFALSKDF I kid but... lately Marry You (Bruno Mars) has been filling my head with them, but honestly I have a lot of songs that make me think of them, Telephone Line by ELO is another good one, Kiss from a Rose (Seal) makes me feel very soft about them, oh and I've been listening to Promentory (Trevor Jones) on repeat lately while redoing some of their scenes (this song originally inspired the cliff scene in Arc 2)
Orly: Hot Mess (Friday Pilots Club) will never not make me think about them, also recently the Sleeping Beauty Waltz
Gidgy: hmm this is hard i don't really have any off the top of my head... maybe Princess and Prince Charming (Sunny Hill) for something more intense about their history or Mamma Mia (ABBA) for something lighter lol
it was hard enough for me to come up with these i don't think i can possibly come up with any for any others 🤣
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book recommendations
my worstie @winesharksea tagged me teehee<3 idk who's been tagged in this already but psst @leondaltons @777greywolf and whoever wants to do this!!
the last book i read: ,,, thanks to zeph i have been reading and re reading and obsessing over all for the game. so yea. the sunshine court 😭
a book i recommend: i don't like recommending stuff in general because it depends on the person but i would say, howl's moving castle by diana wynne jones is fun!
a book that i couldn't put down: ditto on having a hard time putting down books, even when they're dreadful i usually wanna know how they end (cough cough sister, maiden, monster). that said,, gonna mention the heaven official's blessing series bc at that point i had not read anything in months and suddenly i was inhaling an 8-books series like it was nothing. a small miracle in the form of tragic lil gays, bless<3
a book i've read twice (or more): every book i have ever enjoyed has been read at least twice, they're not special JHJFFHSJKD i guess the record goes to room with a view because i was once on a family vacation for a month with only that and zoo station to read and after christiane f. i needed something happy... ty for your service, george emerson
a book on my TBR: god SO MANY i'm ashamed but it really is so easy to just re-read smth i know i like than venture into new books,,, but uhh i really wanna go through rf kuang's works! and give another try to gtn i guess
a book i've put down: i think the last one i gave up on was may the best man win by zr ellor? i was just having a horrible time with the main char's personality,, i've still read like half of it, i tried
a book on my wishlist: .......the sunshine court sequel JKDFJKFH jean moreau come back to me i will even cheer for france i swear--
a favourite book from my childhood: oh god,, chronicles of the emerged world. i read the trilogy in literally 24 hours when i was 11, i was Obsessed with it and anything by licia troisi tbh. i'm frankly scared to ever touch it again in case it doesn't hold up, i wanna keep the Memory fjklsfjkljsdflksf
a book you would give to a friend: i like when friends curse me so probably a really bad one
a book of poetry or lyrics you own: my 2 favs i own are probably a comprehensive collection of poems by eugenio montale and baudelaire's les fleurs du mal
a nonfiction book you own: i'll just go with the most recent buy which was i'm glad my mom died
what are you currently reading: reading off with their heads by zhm and possibly hatereading the cruel prince (not far enough to hate yet but i give it 2 chapters)
what are you planning on reading next: don't know if it'll be the next but ngl i really wanna try the raven cycle because i keep hearing it has similar vibes to aftg and i'm in the trenches lmao
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"Her Legacy"
27th June 2023.
The Prince of Wales was on the way home from Sheffield which was the sixth and last stop of his 'tour' dedicated to a new initiative "Homewards". He felt pride but some kind of anxiousness over what will become of this project throughout the next five years consumed his thoughts as well. Therefore, when he got informed by his official secretary that his car is getting closer to Adelaide cottage, relief was clearly visible on his face.
His wife had returned home an hour before from her engagement at "Hope Street" and was cooking one of his favourite dishes for lunch. Her children joined her in the kitchen and asked about their father. Catherine told them that he most likely was on the way home already.
A few minutes passed and there he was, at home hugging his children and petting their Cocker Spaniel Orla. He was avoiding Catherine's eyes for some reason and she began to feel rather worried.
/
"William, is everything alright? You haven't eaten a lot for lunch and you also seem to be rather disconnected.." she said with hesitation right after George and his siblings left for the garden to play there.
"What do you mean, Kate?" William looked at her and pretended to feel surprised.
"I simply notice that you are stressed. We're always talking about it, aren't we?" She smiled a little and sat on a chair next to him where Louis was sitting before "Just tell me what is bothering you" she said.
William sighed and at last his eyes met Catherine's as he spoke up "It feels heavy, carrying my mother's legacy like that with no certainty. Of course I know that she would've been proud of me and I absolutely want her to feel this way wherever she is but I wish she would be here with us, and guide me through the process of making 'Homewards' and support me with many other situations that have happened over the last 25 years, you know?" He smiled faintly and Catherine put a hand on his knee as she said quietly "I know. I know that you miss her and wish all the things you've just said but you must remember that she probably still see everything"
"Everything?" William replied his wife's words and took a deep breath "Even those bad situations between Harry and me? If so, then she must feel heartbroken to see it".
Catherine hid a sigh and then she simply hugged her husband. "It's not your fault that all of it happened, William" she said. "You've done everything you could to repair your relationship with him, to make him realise that what he does is wrong. He did not listen. That's all. You have nothing to regret. And I believe your mum would tell you the exact same thing if she were here with you now" she smiled and squeezed his hand as she added " 'Homewards' is not her legacy, it is completely your own thing. Work on homelessness is her legacy in a way but each time you do something in that field or the environment projects, you are making your own legacy. And trust me when I say that your mother is supportive and proud, wherever she is and that 'Homewards' will be successful".
Her husband nodded and without saying a word he inhaled Catherine's hair scent. She smiled and caressed his cheek when she noticed his teary eyes. She tried to wipe his tears but then he gently grabbed her hand.
"How is it possible that you are giving me support just by saying a few simple words?" He asked with a little smile on his face "One would think that it is not enough after so many years together and yet these few words you just said are everything I wanted to hear since I left my last engagement in Sheffield today?"
Catherine kissed both of his cheeks and giggled softly. She wanted to say that he didn't need to thank her but right at that moment he put his finger on her lips and whispered "My mother would have loved you as much as I do, Catherine. I've told you about it many times, I am aware but I mean it. I really do".
They stared into one another's eyes for a few seconds and were about to kiss when all of a sudden they heard Charlotte calling them to come into the garden too.
/
In the late evening, before going to the bedroom, William was standing next to his mother's portraits. George quietly approached him and asked "Are you thinking about granny Diana, papa? Do you feel sad?"
William smiled at his son and then at his mother's portrait as he replied "No, I feel happy, George. I feel happy because granny surely feels the same when watching you, your siblings, your intelligent mum and.. and me from the above" he said and wiped his tears and put hand on George's shoulder as they walked away from that portrait together.
_The End_
#royal fanfiction#2023#Her Legacy#stories#fanfictions#prince of wales#princess of wales#princess diana#prince george#william and catherine#kate x william#homewards#text post#tags
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Author & Timestamp: Tomas Weber for Scientific American March 19, 2024 (over a month old as of May 3, 2024)
Note: This article contains what I perceive to be dismissiveness of peoples' concerns about AI's impact on modern life. Perhaps I've misinterpreted that, but wanted to give a heads up for anyone reading the full text (17 min read).
Note: I did not include anything that ties to the 'inside story' or the specific scroll in question, I've simply pulled out useful background information elements.
Extract:
For four centuries monks and princes, papyrologists and archaeologists, classicists and computer scientists have struggled [...] to detect any letters or words inside the scrolls [...] without destroying them in the process. If we could read them, as classicists and papyrologists have long hoped to do, we might discover lost works of classical literature or philosophy or records of history and science. Perhaps [...] tragedies by Sophocles or Aeschylus or the lost writings of Livy. “The possibilities,” says David Blank, a professor of classics at the University of California, Los Angeles, “are enormous.”
Almost all classical literature has come down to us from medieval monks, choosy in what they resolved to copy. As a result, relatively little “original” writing from antiquity exists [...]. We have seven plays by Aeschylus, but we know the tragedian wrote at least 10 times more than that. The preserved papyri in Herculaneum are our best shot at rescuing lost works, and some classicists suspect that even more texts could remain in areas of the villa yet to be excavated.
[...] In addition to works by [...] the poets Virgil and Horace, there’s also [a chance] of finding writing from authors [not currently known to modern scholars].
[...]
[...] If the technological advances continue and [are used to read other] unopened scrolls, says Tobias Reinhardt, a classics scholar at the University of Oxford [...], “we could see a recovery of ancient texts at a volume not seen since the Renaissance.”
[...]
[This] technology [...] could be adapted for deciphering other lost texts [...] In 1993, 140 carbonized papyrus scrolls dating from the sixth century C.E. were discovered in a Byzantine church in Petra, Jordan. Blackened and fragile, they were considered unreadable. And tens of thousands of fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls have never been read because so many are stuck together.
[...]
Ancient Egyptian mummy masks were also made of papyrus, arranged in layers coated with plaster—a material called cartonnage, essentially a kind of papier-mâché. That papyrus often contained writing, which has been difficult to decipher without destroying the plaster.
[...]
In the fourth century B.C.E. Greek historian Xenophon noted on his return from Mesopotamia that there was a bustling trade in scrolls across the Black Sea. This means there are almost certainly sunken ships on the seafloor that contain boxes of papyrus rolls, according to Richard Janko, a classics professor and papyrologist at the University of Michigan. These scrolls are probably still preserved in this sea, which has exceptionally low oxygen and salinity for a marine environment.
[...]
Hundreds of papyrus scrolls in the ancient city of Herculaneum were preserved after the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. For thousands of years, no one could open them without doing irreparable damage.
Credit: Courtesy of EduceLab/University of Kentucky
High-energy scans allow scientists to virtually unwrap the scrolls into 3-D images, so that AI tools can be applied to look for invisible patterns in the ink.
Credit: Courtesy of EduceLab/University of Kentucky
Credit: Matthew Twombly; Christy Chapman/University of Kentucky and Stephen Parsons/Vesuvius Challenge (consultants); Amanda T. Hobbs (background research)
/end of extract
#extract of longer read#papyri#older news#scientific american#article#extract#archaeology#classical studies#history#ancient history#antiquity#ancient#archaeological discoveries#ai#artificial intelligence#classical antiquity#ai technology#scrolls#fragments#papyrus#papyrology#classical literature#preserved papyri#ancient greek#ancient greece#ancient rome#ancient egypt#carbonized papyrus#classics#practicing snipping out superfluous text
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"Sinful Desires" - Chapter 22
Aemond has no idea where he is.
Or how long it has been since he left Harrenhal and fled on Vhagar's back.
The lands closest to Harrentown had suffered his wrath, fields and houses burning with dragonfire, people fleeing their homes in terror, vast areas of forest completely destroyed under the relentless breath of his she-dragon.
But it changed nothing.
By the time Aemond becomes aware of his surroundings again, Vhagar is eating some kind of animal that she has just charred with her breath. The sunlight hurts his eye, and the prince has to make an effort to keep it open, as he tries to sit up without losing his balance.
He has a vague recollection of giving up control to his dragon. He had felt the rage they both shared, Vhagar's impatience, the desire for revenge that had consumed him before... fortunately -or perhaps not- he let her take the reins of the flight and after that he doesn't remember much. He does not recognize where he is, though it is clear that he is still somewhere in the riverlands.
His stomach growls as he takes a few steps toward Vhagar, though the thought of eating seems ridiculous to him. He doesn't even remember the last time he fed. What is the point anyway? Aemond never considered himself a person prone to self-destruction, until he felt the true pain of his losses.
But he still has many vendettas to collect.
Helaena.
Daeron.
Jaehaerys
Maelor.
Alyssa.
A part of him, the one he usually goes by, the instinct and the drive and the need to spring into action, wants him to get back on Vhagar and go straight to Dragonstone or King's Landing or wherever he can find his half-sister or his uncle.
The other part, one that sounds too much like Alyssa's voice, reminds him that there is still something for him to consider. Rather, someone. His niece Jaehaera. His little girl is the only thing that has prevented him from carrying out his craziest plans. The idea of leaving her alone at the mercy of such a cruel world is inconceivable. Jaehaera is the only reason for him to push the pain aside, so he can get rid of the people who see her as a threat.
The sound of some branches breaking puts him on alert. Aemond turns quickly and scans the forest, trying to figure out where the noise is coming from. Or if he had perhaps imagined that something was breaking.
"Could be scouts," he thinks as he reaches for the dagger he always carries on his belt, "Or it could be..."
"It's just me, my prince"
Alys Rivers emerges from the forest and walks directly towards Aemond, although she keeps a safe distance, as if she fears that at some point he will throw the dagger at her. Her eyes as black as two coals, however, seem to scan his face before smiling mysteriously.
"What the hell are you doing here?" he asks, confused, though what he really wants to know is how she found him.
“The fire always tells me what I want to know,” she replies in that infuriating tone of hers. Aemond begins to lose patience. He doesn't want that woman near him, he doesn't feel like putting up with riddles or insinuations, she seems to sense it because she says, "I have an important message for you."
"Words of my uncle?" asks as he watches as she takes out a small piece of paper from her skirt pocket.
She hands him the message without replying. Aemond snorts before taking it, unfolding it and reading its contents.
A lump form in his throat as he recognizes the letter. And then rage flows through him, and in two strides he reaches the woman and carelessly grabs her arm, “Witch, where did you get this? What kind of game are you playing?”
"No game," she replies calmly, "I'm just a messenger."
“Don't lie to me, Alys Rivers,” he hisses, “Who gave you this letter?”
“The same person who wrote it, your princess”
"She's… that's not possible," he replies, clutching the dagger.
"Is it?" she asks in a teasing voice, “Your princess arrived in Harrenhal a couple of days ago. And now she enjoys the hospitality of Lady Sabitha Frey, who is already planning what she will do with your Alyssa and with the silver-haired little boy who traveled with her."
Alyssa. His heart skips a beat. She couldn't be alive, could she? And who was that little boy with silver hair? Could it be…?
"She died in the riots at King's Landing"
Alys shrugs, “See for yourself. Fly to Harrenhal and find out, if you don't believe me."
"Is this a trap?" The woman may well be in cahoots with his uncle Daemon.
“Would that stop you for wanting to make sure? Do you have something to lose?”
No. Not really. And maybe this is the moment he gets revenge.
"If you are lying to me, I will return to feed you to my dragon"
She just smiles mysteriously and slips out of his grasp because he's already moving towards Vhagar, who seems to understand that the situation is urgent, because she pushes her food aside and takes off as soon as Aemond sits on her back.
“To Harrenhal,” Aemond orders.
***
Lady Sabitha is inspecting her guard's training in one of the courtyards. Alyssa sighs as she listens to the woman make a disparaging comment to one of her soldiers. Aegon, who is playing with a rocking horse and imagining it to be a dragon, clings to her hand as the horses begin to neigh, the dogs bark desperately in the kennels, and screams come from outside the castle.
"What in the seven hells is going on?" Demands to know Lady Sabitha
"Dragon!" Aegon exclaims delightedly in his squeaky little voice.
"Yes, sweetheart, I know you're playing the…"
Alyssa stops talking as the silhouette of a dragon casts her huge shadow across the courtyard. Her heart is pounding and her eyes quickly scan the sky, observing the majestic creature that flies over the castle.
"I don't know that dragon," Aegon says, calling for her attention.
“It's Vhagar,” Alyssa replies with a huge smile on her lips and relief filling her chest.
"It cannot be"
Lady Sabitha looks desperate, terror on her face as her men flee, leaving her unprotected, "Bloody cowards!" she yells, though no one seems to pay any attention to her and only a couple of loyal ladies remain by her side. The woman turns to Alyssa, “You! You have something to do with this…”
“I advise you to choose your next words carefully, Lady Sabitha,” the princess cut her off, “Prince Aemond is quite protective of me and can't always control his temper. If you promise to cooperate with our cause, I can sweeten the way you have treated me these past few days."
“Never, girl, I'm not an oath breaker,” she assures before turning her back on Alyssa, and running into the castle.
Alyssa doesn't even bother to follow her. Her eyes are on the dragon that has now perched on one of the castle battlements. The princess tries to step back so she can make out the figure of Aemond descending from the saddle, but she can't. Still, she knows he's here, that she'll see him in just a few moments. She wants to run to meet him, she wants to meet him halfway, but little Aegon still holding her hand won't stop whispering, his eyes on Vhagar, his laughter flowing as he listens to the dragon roar.
"Alyssa"
Someone calls her name. He calls her name. Her heart stops momentarily when she turns and she sees him, standing under one of the huge arches that mark the entrance to a castle hall. Her smile widens and a heavy weight seems to leave her body as he takes a few steps toward her, the dim winter sunlight illuminating his figure.
She can't hold back anymore and runs towards him, nearly making him lose his balance and fall as she hugs to his chest, happy tears streaming down her face. He seems almost as desperate as she is, holding her close to his body, as she feels his hands bury in her curls and his nose draw in her scent.
"Is it really you?" he says she almost in a whisper
Alyssa wants to laugh, but she stops herself and lifts her face to his scowling, “What kind of question is that? Of course, it's me! I'm here with you,” she takes his hand and places it on her chest.
He sighs when he feels her heart pound under his hand. “I thought you had…,” he shakes his head, “I only heard that your mother managed to flee the city, they didn't say anything about you”
“Yeah, well, that was…”
"Is this my new uncle?"
Alyssa is startled and pulls away from Aemond to turn to her little brother, who is watching the tall figure of the prince with open curiosity.
“Yes, sweetheart, I'm sorry, this is your uncle Aemond,” she says after clearing her throat and wiping away her tears, “Aemond, this is my little brother Aegon.”
So this was the boy Alys had mentioned. For a moment, a brief moment, Aemond had thought that perhaps the news about Maelor had also been a lie and that Alyssa had managed to escape with his baby nephew. A foolish idea, now that he thinks about it.
“We are actually cousins,” he points out as he observes the familiar features of the little boy.
"Why do you wear that?" He asks, pointing to the leather eyepatch.
Alyssa tenses and looks between the two of them, not quite sure what to say. There are a few moments of silence, until suddenly Aemond speaks.
“Because I lost an eye,” he says simply, his good eye staring at the boy, who seems to be struggling to understand what he's been told, so his next question doesn't surprise him.
"How?"
"In a fight"
“Mother says I shouldn't fight, she says it when I fight with my little brother,” he comments wrinkling his nose.
Aemond doesn't know what to say to that. Alyssa pales and her eyes darken.
"Can I see your eye?" the boy follows, oblivious to his sister's discomfort or how uptight his cousin seems
“Aegon, no, sweetheart, you shouldn't ask that kind of things,” Alyssa chides.
Vhagar roars then, perhaps sensing her rider's discomfort.
"Is that your dragon?" wants to know Aegon
"She is my dragon, yes, her name is Vhagar"
"Wow," Aegon smiles and looks up at the ancient beast, "She is big, so, so big!"
“She is the largest dragon in the world”
Alyssa stops herself from rolling her eyes as she takes in Aemond's satisfied expression. Aegon keeps asking questions and Aemond doesn't seem to know which one to answer first.
“Calm down, Aegon,” Alyssa lowers to her brother's level, “Aemond is going to tell you everything you want to know, but now…”
"I want to fly on the dragon!" demands the boy
“Not now,” his sister replies.
"Alyssa, please, I want to fly!"
"Aegon, I said no."
"But..." the little boy starts to pout.
“I'll let you take a ride with me if you help me clear this castle of the scum first,” Aemond interjects, “It's a job for a knight, are you up to the task?”
Aegon's face lights up and he walks directly towards Aemond, coming up to his side and extending his little hand towards him. The prince seems to hesitate for a few seconds, but in the end, he takes his hand.
“I think you two will meet little resistance on your adventure,” Alyssa comments, “Lady Sabitha and her cronies fled as soon as Vhagar appeared in the sky.”
"I know, I was tempted to order her to burned them all"
Alyssa gives him a hard look and follows them into the castle, "Just for the record, my little brother isn't going to ride your dragon until he's at least three times the size he is right now."
Aemond chuckles and they inspect the castle, though only a few servants remain within the halls. In the end, they discover that Lady Sabitha has fled through the latrines. The ridiculous idea sparks satisfaction in Alyssa.
"Will it be wise to stay here?" she asks once they settle into one the sitting rooms, “It is very likely that Lady Sabitha wrote to Daemon to let him know that I am here. And that I have Aegon"
She looks at her brother, who is playing next to the maid who has been taking care of him for the last few days.
"Let him come then," he replies, "We're going to have to face each other at some point."
"But it doesn't have to be now, it can't be now," she looks at him anxiously and takes his hand, "We've only just met again."
“I know,” he caresses her cheek gently, “I feel like I just got you back.”
His comment reminds Alyssa of what he had said before her brother interrupted them. He had believed that she had not survived the riots in the capital, he thought she was dead, another victim of the war… like Helaena and Maelor.
"What is it?" he asks when he notices the change in her expression, the sadness reflected in her green eyes and the fear that she is clearly experiencing.
She hesitates. Where to start? She supposes that the most important thing will be to apologize for failing him, "I am so sorry, Aemond, so sorry."
"Why do you apologize for?" he questions, confusion in his eye
"Because I assured you that Helaena would be protected if she stayed with me in the castle and… I couldn't do my part, I let her…" She shakes her head, the pain preventing her from continuing as she remembers Helaena's screams.
Aemond seems to notice her distress, but he couldn't move to comfort her. At the mention of his sister, his body freezes. The memories and the pain that he has tried to suppress these days reach his body like waves of torture.
"What exactly happened?" get to ask at the end
Alyssa starts talking and doesn't hide anything from him. She fills in the details of her mother's arrival in Kings Landing, her futile attempts to convince Rhaenyra that the war must end, she tells him of her mother's fury after the dragon riders’ betrayal. And she tells him about Mysaria and her poisonous comments that ended in Helaena's death.
“Then she herself… it was she who decided to leave,” Aemond comments at the end.
"I shouldn't have abandoned her, I should have stayed with her, never let her out of my sight and…"
“Don't blame yourself, it wouldn't have helped,” he replies, squeezing her hand, “Helaena…look what her guilt did to her. Her pain consumed her, I don't want that to happen to you too”
"But…"
He shakes his head, “It is not your fault, Alyssa. I think it would have ended up happening anyway. Those children were everything to my sister,” his voice cracks at the end, his mind adding the infamous White Worm to his list of revenge.
Alyssa sighs, “Your mother is fine. At least she was until I had to leave the city”
“I know,” Aemond nods, “How did you get out? Why didn't you let me know you were coming?"
"Everything happened very fast. Suddenly the people were enraged and threatened to enter the Fortress. It was almost a miracle that Aegon and I managed to get out, although it was Talya who helped us, she led us through unknown passages of the castle and told me to look for you. I had no way of communicating with you."
"It was foolish to venture alone on the Kingsroad" he frowns.
“I didn't have too many options,” she responds, exasperated, “I imagine that Alys Rivers gave you my letter”
“I still don't know how she found me,” Aemond admits, “Vhagar often seeks hidden places to rest.”
“I think she may be a witch,” Alyssa smiles, “At least that's what people around here say.”
“Yeah, I heard the same thing. It doesn't matter, she has proven to be useful and has been loyal until now."
"Why did you leave Harrenhal?"
Aemond offers her a sad smile, “There was no point in continuing in this place. After receiving the news about Helaena and about your supposed death, the grief and anger were too great. I let myself be blinded by my temperament and I could only think about making someone, anyone pay for the pain I was experiencing."
Alyssa sighs and massages her temple with her fingers, "I heard you've been burning towns and farmlands."
“I admit I overstepped,” he replies after a pause.
“Those people are part of your kingdom, Aemond,” the princess closes her eyes for a few seconds and then faces him, “This family has a responsibility and a duty to these lands, and we have failed them. What happened in King's Landing…”
“Barbaric,” he hisses angrily, “Your mother should have ridden her dragon and stopped that carnage. Sometimes the only alternative is to give them fire and blood."
She shakes her head and fights with herself not to raise her voice too high, “My brother Joffrey died trying to do just that. Syrax ejected him from its back and he died from the fall. Violence cannot be the only way to rule. There was peace in these lands before this absurd war started, we must return to it."
"You defend the people who cruelly killed our dragons, creature bonded to our history, our family"
“I defend the people who were dying of hunger, of cold, who felt abandoned by their leaders. My mother didn't help them, you burn their food and livelihood…we have to be smarter and learn from what happened. Right now, those people possess control over Kings Landing.”
"Taking the city back from them won't be hard"
“Keep them subjugated might be,” Alyssa looks at him defiantly, “All these losses can't be in vain. I know you're upset right now, but I also know you're a man of duty. And that duty extends to being a good ruler for the common people.”
Aemond seems to want to reply and continue the discussion, but his features suddenly soften and he just nods, too tired and not in the mood for a fight. Alyssa pulls her chair closer to him and takes his face in her hands, joining their lips in a short kiss.
"I'm sorry about Daeron," she says, still against his lips, "I know he was a good brother to you."
The prince fights the lump in his throat before replying, “He was a fine boy. I am sorry I didn't get to see him one last time."
Alyssa hugs him and he hides his face in the space between her neck and her shoulders, comforted by the smell of her jasmine scent. They hold on for a few minutes, both thinking about their losses, about everything they've experienced. In all that is yet to come.
“What happened to the army that came here with you?”
“Ser Criston led them to the Reach. The plan was to join Daeron and then march on the capital."
"I assume it didn't work"
"Cole is dead," he says ruefully, the scowl coming back to his forehead, "and the men probably scattered across the realm, if they're not dead as well"
Alyssa never gave the knight much thought, though not that she particularly liked him, considering he was a faithful servant of Alicent's. Aemond, however, seems to sense his absence.
"There must be some way to gather the army once again"
“Maybe,” he seems to be lost in his thoughts for a few seconds, “Everything is uncertain right now. I don't even know if Aegon is alive, most likely not," he sighs, "The important thing now is to kill Daemon."
“The important thing now,” Alyssa refutes, “is that we are together.”
"Together," he nods.
For now, they both think without saying it, At least for now.
***
Hours later, as night falls, Alyssa lies naked next to Aemond, hugging his chest and feeling content for the first time in months.
They have gotten their moment of privacy thanks to Alys Rivers, who had arrived at the castle during the afternoon, ready to return to the land that had been her home all her life. The woman, who Alyssa now knows also used to work as a wet nurse, promises to take good care of Aegon.
“Only a fool with a death wish would do this child any harm,” she comments.
The princess agrees with her. Aegon is under Aemond's protection and, being Daemon's son, all Black ally would protect him. So, albeit with some reluctance, she allows Alys to watch her little brother’s sleep. And the most selfish part of her is delighted with the arrangement, especially when Aemond can't stop kissing and touching her, their bodies coming together in a wild and desperate sway.
"Was I too hard on you?" he asks when she moves and a wince appears on her face
“No, no, not at all,” she assures him, “I'm just still sore from riding for so many days, I guess. Also, my head hurts a bit."
Aemond turns to his side and examines her face. Alyssa looks pale, her green eyes show deep circles, and her body is thinner than before. His hands caress her thighs gently and she smiles, though it doesn't reassure him.
"Your headaches are quite frequent these days, don’t you think?" he asks, remembering that she also complained about them when they were still together in the Red Keep.
“It's probably just stress,” she shrugs, “Don't worry about me, I'm fine,” Alyssa kisses him briefly and strokes her fingers over his scar, her light touch tickling him.
“Did Lady Sabitha harm you while you were held hostage?”
“She wasn't nice, but she didn't torture me either, if that's what you are asking,” she clarifies.
“I will settle accounts with her after I take care of my uncle,” he assures
Alyssa shudders. Aemond smiles at her, but without much conviction and caresses her face, "Sleep, my love, you need to rest."
She knows that he is only distracting her, but she is carried away by his soft words, by the warmth of his body, by his hands that possessively draw her towards him and, above all, by the feeling of security that she has when she is next to Aemond.
***
“You will hear from Prince Daemon very soon,” Alys assures the next morning.
“Did you see that in your fires?” wants to know Alyssa
The woman nods and then looks at the princess, a curious expression appearing on her face, but Alyssa doesn't understand it.
"Do the flames tell you the future?"
"Sometimes"
She wants to ask about her and Aemond's future, but her question is interrupted when the latter enters with a letter in hand.
“Our uncle sent me a challenge,” he smirks, “We'll met again in thirteen days.”
Thirteen days. Thirteen days that may well be the last with Aemond. Alyssa swallows and doesn't know what to say, so she stays quiet. The prince does not need her pessimism, it is better to keep her fears to herself.
"Where?" ask finally
"Right here"
Her heart is pounding as she nods, "I guess there's nothing I can say or do to make you give up this idea."
"Nothing," he replies, "You know very well that I have to do it"
"And you want to do it"
Aemond stares at her and takes a few steps to face her, taking her hands and bringing them to his lips, “I trust Vhagar. And you should trust me. Do not be afraid, my love."
“Just remember that I refuse to live in a world where we are not together,” she tells him, “Keep that in mind when you're up there.”
After that, few moments are spent together during the day. Aemond devotes himself to training and flying with Vhagar. Alyssa does her best to keep busy, distracting her little brother from his idea of flying, and helping Alys in her duties as a healer.
At night, on the other hand, they kill their nostalgia and desire by making love. Sometimes they talk for hours. Sometimes they just stay silent, feeling the weight of the countdown.
And though Alyssa would do anything for the deadline to never come, at the end of the thirteenth day the shadow of Caraxes appears before Harrenhal.
“I trust you, Alys,” she tells the woman as she places a sleeping Aegon on the bed. The sun is just about to set on the horizon, but the woman mixed some herbs to make sure the little one slept for a long time. Alyssa wasn't going to expose her brother to see his infamous father, “Take good care of him. I'll look for you in a while"
“Of course, princess,” she replies as she stokes the fire in the fireplace.
Alyssa kisses her little brother and leaves Alys's cabin to join Aemond, who is waiting for her outside.
"Ready?"
She nods and he takes her hand, guiding her to the monstrous figure of Vhagar. Alyssa can't help but flinch as she walks up to the dragon. Many years ago, she abandoned her idea of being a dragon rider and although she knows that it is in her nature to feel an affinity for these creatures, she only feels great fear and respect when she finally gets close to the ropes that allow her to climb onto the saddle.
“She won't hurt you,” Aemond assures, stroking her hand comfortingly, then placing it against Vhagar's scales.
Alyssa feels the heat coming from her body, she feels the fire under her skin and the dragon's heavy breathing. She is a very old beast, full of scars that are easy to appreciate when she is so close. It is imposing. She can't help but wonder how Aemond, when he was so small, could have claimed her as his own.
"Come on, I'll help you," says the prince.
It's a bit of a struggle, but she manages to climb up and position herself as best she can in the saddle. Aemond deftly climbs up behind her and protectively places a hand around her waist, taking the reins with his other free hand before commanding in High Valyrian.
When Vhagar flies, Alyssa can only think about how simple everything looks from below. Although it's not her first time flying, she can't compare this experience to the times Rhaenyra carried her on Syrax's back. Vhagar flies violently, like a force of nature taking her breath away as she ascends, forcing her to close her eyes, too frightened. Aemond seems to notice her discomfort because her hand traces circles on her belly, trying to calm her down.
Fortunately, the flight isn't long, considering they only climbed to the highest battlements of Harrenhal, but Alyssa had wanted to fly alongside Aemond. They had talked about it so many times as children that she had to fulfill that innocent fantasy. Besides, she well knew that it might be the only time she got the chance to do it.
"I'll be back to you, I promise," he says looking at her very seriously after helping her down from the saddle.
She stares back at him fiercely, though she doesn't respond and just nods. She kisses him. One last kiss, a touch more than anything, a subtle caress that is not enough, but that is the only thing they can share at this moment.
A farewell, she notices her as she struggles not to hold on to his hand, and lets him go back to his dragon.
The princess clings to the stone walls and follows Aemond's path in the sky, Vhagar's figure growing smaller and smaller as she flies toward the vast lake that glows orange-red against the twilight, its calm waters oblivious to the fight that will surely soon begin.
For some reason, Alyssa thinks about the gods. Her mind flies to those moments in the sept at Alicent's behest, to the queen’s continuous prayers, to her devotion. Not that it would have done her much good considering half of her children and grandchildren were dead.
Even so…
Even so, the idea of placing her faith in the hands of others, of pleading for mercy and protection for her prince is stronger. Maybe it's simply the need to seek comfort from some higher power, but Alyssa closes her eyes and whispers desperate pleas.
Part of her knows they won't be heard. The gods did not protect her siblings, the gods have no reason to fulfill the requests of a selfish princess who had betrayed her family. Perhaps, as her mind has been telling her for months now, this was always going to be the result. The punishment for her sins.
Alyssa opens her eyes as a roar cuts through the stillness of the air. The two dragons are now in full flight, so high in the sky that they are barely two specks in the distance, though the flames they hurl blaze against the firmament with violence.
She can't stand the roars. The seconds and minutes drag on, her palms smeared with blood as her fingernails dig mercilessly into them, too focused on trying to understand what's going on in the Gods Eye to care about the pangs of pain.
But it's useless. There's nothing to see. Nothing she can do.
A violent dizziness makes her stumble. Alyssa clings to the stone wall and decides to go down and look for her brother, although thinking about it is easier than doing, because with how dizzy she still feels, each flight of stairs is a challenge. Still, she makes it to the yard and practically runs to the cabin.
Alys is still sitting against the flames, watching and concentrating on them, not even flinching when the princess enters. Aegon is still lusciously asleep, clinging to the rocking horse.
The roars are heard as clearly here as they are at the top of the castle and, even with company, the sense of anguish and tragedy does not leave her chest.
"Did I send him to his death?" she finally asks after long minutes
Alys turns to look at her, but her expression is unreadable. Alyssa sheds a tear and her body tenses as a roar of pain fills the air.
"Vhagar" she whispers desperately, recognizing the sound produced by the she-dragon.
She acts on the spur of the moment and storms out of the cabin, running back into the castle in the direction of the stables. A little boy is tending to the horses, but he knows who Alyssa is, so he doesn't object or raise the alarm when the princess takes the reins of a still saddled caramel-colored mare.
She wastes no time and rides in Aemond's direction, urging the poor animal on when she watches the gigantic figure she recognizes as Vhagar plummet towards the lake.
#prince aemond#aemond targaryen#aemond one eye#aemond targaryen fanfic#aemond x oc#house of the dragon#ao3fic
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Ooh, would you mind sharing something about the sorcerer of Amon Ereb?
Hi @lesbianhaleth! I would love to, thanks!
The Sorcerer is a bit experimental- very much a WIP for sure, and also trying to do something about magical systems as a metaphor for formal systems of authority and Song as both the evading and enforcing of narrative (personal) (immense predestined possibility).
Right now, tho? It's mostly vague thoughts on Elros & Maedhros debating whether turning a hostage situation into an internship opportunity counts as a cultural crime, judicial obligation for education, a cunning hustle or just a dickishly unfilial move, while Maglor and Elrond put ethics aside to do fell, unorthodox and rather ilegal rehab to the monsters in the basement. I've also talked a bit about the process here for @thalion71.
Here's a snippet:
Elros, in particular, had enjoyed it ruthlessly; once, he had almost convinced Maedhros he had found his calling in becoming a swine herder, to watch the prince of Tirion make conversation on how his most gifted student was off to root for mushrooms and make acorn-bread once the snowstorms lifted.
I wonder how many pigs the slaughter of Sirion can be accounted for, Elros had mused in their mind; Elrond would have kicked him under the table, if Maedhros had not narrowed his eyes at him and started bargaining right then and there
That always ended the ruse thoroughly; Elros, at heart, was too much a magistrate to pretend otherwise, and once they started at it no term was left unstudied, no clause unmauled, no degree of ruling or logistics or conquest without consideration.
When they did so, Elrond would end up sharing glances with Maglor, in suffering and laughter - Lordlings! Brothers! What are we to do with them? It was very easy to forget Maglor had been a great lord of a great domain in his own right, before the dragonfire had left him landless and half-blind and charred and altogether mad. He was, or had made himself to be well suited to the business of being seneschal and general and clerk to Maedhros the Marred, prince of Himring and master-of-horses. The sorcerer of Amon Ereb - he had taken very few students in those days, but Elrond had been among them, and his brother as well. Had he chosen it in earnest, none of Elros’s herd would have perished for cold or sickness or wolfbites.
(But it had been Elrond who, from a young age, had stayed closer to Maglor’s tutelage; in Singing, and in Listening as well.)
#ask memes#wip game#thank you!!! love your blog btw haha#maglor#elrond#elros#maedhros#at this point you know what? i'm counting this as mart of m&m week
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[ royal v. ] The stories of the current Emperor of the Stzailum Empire were abundant, each more terrible than the previous. Usually, that would make any diplomat afraid, second-guessing themselves, wondering if negotiations with the seafront kingdom were really worth it. But Patroclus, Prince heir of Opus, was confident in his skills and determined to reach a mutually beneficial agreement. The scent of blood remained strong as he walked the hallways, a smell he was more used to on the battlefield than in castles. Finally, the doors opened and...
“I greet the Sun of the Empire.”
His expression remained calm, a polite smile decorated his features, but it was quite surprising to meet Dzondria in the flesh. After all, the man looked much younger than he had guessed, a beauty that sailors would confuse with ship-sinking mermaids if it wasn't for the sharpness and deathliness in the emperor's gaze. "I'm aware that the suddenness of my letter must've clashed with your schedule so I'm thankful for allowing an audience despite the short notice." He didn't say anything about the inconveniencies he faced since he set foot in the kingdom. At least two murder attempts and dealing with bandits weren't a good first impression but Patroclus wasn't here to complain or show any weakness.
Never without bloodshed, violent, betrayal and warfare - this Kingdom was a riot without need of a cause. Brutality was as common as the cold. To come here was a foolish idea for those of war-torn results, to weaker land-walkers and not at all ready for the sea fare of pillage and murder… So, to even just step upon these lands was enough for some respects to be laid. Dzondria already knew of their arrival, one of his many eyes in the rafters, in the watch towers and beyond were in his ear. Though they were easily dismissed without care, he stared upon his Kingdom with a scrunch of his features. A hiss from between sharpened teeth and thoughts of possibly taking everything this messenger had with them. . .
So, he sent a few welcome gifts.
Though, upon the lack of reports back to his throne room, he felt a lick of interest burn from within. A need to witness the tactics used, but when they came through the doors of his room. The Emperor eased his cheek upon his knuckles, adjusting little of his position upon the Throne. Where blood stained its very steel. Blades scattered - shattered and bent from their formed moulds. Stones with cracks, the floor a mess of impaled holes and clear signs of explosives used.
Though this room was one of the rarely decorated - it held no gold. No jewel nor silks nor fabrics - but the history of warfare all the same. The latest addition, the most recent in fresh bloodshed, was the clear signs of impaled bodies on the wall to the Emperor's left. His Father, Mother, Siblings - in a row, bloody outlines of their once smeared prisoners. The old cape on the floor that was once upon his Father's shoulders. His mother's shawl, torn and burned. His siblings' weaponry - broken, impaled in wall, stone or simply broken like the many others in the room.
Dzondria, didn't bat an eye at the marks, his stomach was well-fed with their remains. He devoured each one of them as if the tradition of their people. Consuming the weaker makes you stronger. Fuels your devotion to Stzailum, brings the bloodlust of the demons under their feet in battle with the cries of those within one's guts. A simple lore. A terrifying story for children across the seas.
Still, this one - walked with ease. Prince of Opus. His head was high, his respect was clear - a being of exotic tastes. Though not uncommon tones in his lands, it wasn't so even. A lot of his folks were scarred, burned, charred and covered in soot. Beings that were unable to clearly state where they were from, often orphans of forced pregnancies, or tossed aside in brothel mishaps. This one though looked like he came from a strong lineage, a good one - though Dzondria couldn't help but snort at the mere idea of them being great for sacrificing their son here… of all places. This was not the Hades Kingdom, Dzondria was close to them, but they had more respectable approaches to things compared to this place.
"You've travelled far for a shitty deal, Prince of Opus." He stares for a while longer, his gaze haunting - a glow of interest that bought a forming puddle of saliva in his maw. He had to lick it aside, to swallow and clear his airway before speaking on. "Your letter states something interesting however - I was about to burn it and your ships on my coast until I saw that little gem. Do tell, Prince of Opus… What is it you could provide this wasteland that isn't just another war to sink our teeth into? As you may have noticed, we're running low on our meat markets. A small dry spell."
#caemthe#« ( Dzondria ) » Answers.#» | × | Dzondria&Patroclus || To Make Out With You Or Eat You ||#« ( Royal AU - Sea Devil Empire ) »
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Legend of the Waterlily Fairy
Artist: @/HNisBack
A/N: It's that time of year for the second time. Happy anniversary, Prosciutto ❤️🔥 This fic is very near and dear to my heart. As it's for an AU that's been in development for as long as I've self-shipped with Prosciutto. While it's undergone countless developments, this is the version I'm most happy with. Last year I'd made a post how I'd ended up shipping with him. And I'm so happy my love for him has only grown so I could write something like this and get such a wonderfully commissioned artwork that I'd dreamed of getting. He is so precious to me...more than I could put into mere words or thought. Context for this AU is that the settings (Arun/Soleil and Luna) are based on mughal South Asia and medieval Italy. The countries were once at war with each other but are in the process of negotiating a union born of the marriage between their respective princess and prince. The legend mentioned in the story is based on Bangla folklore. For the sake of recognition, Pros and Foca’s name are kept intact. But they are originally princess Sidra and prince Gaetano. Ria is my cousin’s OC and a big part of the AU overall.
Pairing: Prosciutto x Focaccia Warnings: penetrative sex, cunnilingus, descriptive vanilla smut Genre: Royal AU, fluff, smut Summary: The Lunar prince visits Soleil to negotiate more marriage terms but is met with a reluctant yet interesting Solar princess.
Translations: (thank you to @/theschneckenhouse for the Latin translations!) Rajkumari: princess Projapoti: butterfly Shapla: water lily Phool: flower Pori: fairy Lal: red Shada: white Lehenga: traditional south asian dress Orna: the “shawl wrap” that comes with lehenga Chai: Tea (but you knew that) Forma tu: beautiful Amore motus: done out of love Ego amo te: I love you Mae Puella: my lover (female) Principessa: princess Buona notte: goodnight
Monsoon is near. The heat of the Aruni sun makes the smell of thunderstorms cling to the air. Despite the famed heat, Arun is not known for dry lands or droughts. Rajkumari Focaccia’s personal garden alone attests to the lush flora. And that is not even counting the royal gardens of the palace that hold every possible breed of flower that fertile Aruni soil can sustain. As she watches over the palace gardens from the west end corridor, Focaccia wonders how something to beautiful about her country could bring about such destruction.
Rich with resources and lush with greenery, her country has been the interest of many a foreign ruler for quite some time. But none of them were so bold as the Lunars who decided to invade her land directly. Leaving the motherland’s beauty in charred ruins and ashes in their wake. Perhaps, she thinks, this is her calling. After all, she has been raised to be married for political gain and the Lunars posed a prime opportunity. Their militia, one of the most renowned… and feared. With their union, perhaps Arun will receive the protection it deserves.
Rajkumari Focaccia catches a stray petal in the air. From a rose knocked too hard by the cunning wind. The same way her soldiers had fallen to the mercy of Luna.
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“He’s visiting today,” the Queen informs her.
“I know.” Rajkumari Focaccia does not so much as look up from her book as she lays on the lounge chair. Her simple lehenga leaves her midriff exposed, the lazy positioning of her body stretching the two piece fabric in different directions.
“Will you try to at least look more happy about it?” Her mother demands. Reputation and dignity are everything in the Aruni court.
Focaccia pauses, forcing a smile and retrieving her orna from the side of the chaise lounge. “Yes, mother.”
The Queen offers no reaction, her mind already working to further the day’s agenda. “Go get dressed before he arrives for chai.” Her daughter nods in response and she leaves the bedroom.
Focaccia heaves a sigh, not knowing she was holding a rather long breath.
They’ve met before. A few times, and she has not been appreciative of his company. But the meetings are important to proceed with the marriage and the eventual wedding ceremony. Ruling together by his side as the queen of Luna… the thought makes her squeamish. She closes the chapter of the book, a favorite collection of fairy tales, and leaves to call for the lady’s maids.
She walks into the dressing area only to see a familiar face.
“Mina…”
“Rajkumari,” Mina bows politely. “Which one will it be today? I hear the Lunars are fond of blue, perhaps you would like to woo the prince with your styling choices?”
Focaccia giggles. Mina has been her friend as a lady’s maid since she was young. Growing up, though improper, she had a disposition spending time with the help. Asking them questions, wanting to help with the cooking. But the queen saw it as unfit for an heir and quickly influenced her out of the practice.
Focaccia scoffs fondly at the maid’s words.
“If the Lunars prefer blue then get me the pink one. I’ve no desire to cater to that man.”
Mina proceeds to carefully unearth a set of clothing from deep within the closet but still humors the thought.
“Why, if I had a prince like that I would only seek to please him myself,” she says dreamily.
“If I could, I’d ask you to marry that shrewd man instead of me. He may have the looks but life with him looks nothing short of hell. If you remember, he didn’t even greet me at my own débutante. Had the nerve to be there just to talk to the guests. I knew then he had no interest in marrying me and I still believe it to be true. If Arun didn’t have its resources… well whatever.”
Clearly, she has a lot on her mind and Mina, kind as she is, always listens to her words no matter what.
Focaccia slips one hand into the pink sequined top and then another before it’s tied tightly on her back. Despite the modest sleeves, the top of the lehenga has quite a low neckline to show off her cleavage though it was not her intention to dress so promiscuous.
Mina holds up the long pink skirts with hand embroidered flowers as Focaccia steps into them a bit clumsily. But her dressing isn’t complete until Mina ties her orna to the side.
“Thank you, Mina,” Focaccia says, looking into the mirror as her lady’s maid brushes her hair that falls limply to the back. “I think I’d like to keep it loose for today.”
“As you wish, your highness,” Mina replies, moving to get the lip taint and jewelry.
Silently, Focaccia adorns a gold nose ring tied to her heavy head piece. The queen’s crown is yet to be passed down to her but she feels it looming above her every second.
Mina applies a red tint to her lips.
“Shall I call for chai, your highness?”
“Yes, please.”
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As the ships dock to Arun’s harbor, Prosciutto sets foot on the warm land with a heated gaze that rivals the sun’s. A predator looking at its prey with grave interest. His commanding strait onto harbor beside his guard, Pesci, has the citizens staring at them with interest, making way for the foreign, feared prince.
Risotto falls into step right behind his prince, in perfect earshot.
“I will be taking an audience with the queen first things first,” is all he says for the taller man to understand and walk ahead. And Prosciutto imagines the preparation they must be making for his entrance into the palace.
“You’re not excited to see the princess?” Pesci chimes in, whispering to his best friend. From the last visit, he had taken quite a liking to the woman, and being as imaginative as he is, could already see her ruling Luna to greatness. But he would never admit that to the likes of the prince.
He scoffs. “Whatever for?”
“Well… she’s nice.”
Prosciutto sighs. “Have your wits about you Pesci.”
His wait by the gates is minimal as he hears the announcer call out his name for him to enter. And as proud Lunars do, he gives a low bow making his deep blue cape dip to the floor.
“Your majesty.”
Queen Parvati gives a nod in acknowledgment.
“Come, prince Prosciutto. Chai has been served and the king will be joining us shortly.”
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“Where are you going?” Ria whispers to her sister.
“The royal gardens,” Focaccia says, simply.
“But the prince is here to see you.”
“He’s here to see the queen and king. My say in this is as important as a passing projapoti’s.”
“Don’t be ridiculous, If he doesn’t agree to marry you we-“
“He will. Because Luna needs it. He’d be disadvantaged without what we have to offer. Marriage or no.”
Focaccia walks briskly out of the large arched doorways. Perhaps it is avoidance on her part but she can’t bring herself to care. The thought of having to converse with the arrogant man makes her blood boil so she only thinks to be in the place where she’s calmest. Watching the shapla phool bloom on the points by the garden’s bridge.
Recalling her last conversation with Ria, she feels somewhat guilty for treating her so coldly. Her peripheral vision catches the reddest rose in a nearby bush that suddenly catches her interest. The same petals that she caught that morning.
“Your highness.” The deep, smooth voice almost makes the princess jump. A familiar, disliked sound.
She turns to see prince Prosciutto, clad in his formal garb with his hands wrapped behind his back. A deceptive smile plastered on his face.
Timidly, she greets him.
“Your highness,” bowing as she says so. Unknown to the woman, Prosciutto notices her neckline dip farther at her motion and smirks to himself.
“Good afternoon,”
“To you as well.” Focaccia keeps her answers short, turning towards the flower with deep, feigned interest.
For a moment, they plunge into a silence, both light and filled with tension, as the breeze from the south seas mingle about, making Focaccia’s skirt sway to the same rhythm of Prosciutto’s cape.
Focaccia, in a way she hopes is subtle, steals glances at the fair haired prince out of her peripheral, finding a certain fascination with the way he regards the pond. Suddenly, she notices him pick up a rock from the edge only to skip it over the shallow pond in one throw. Impressed, she stares without saying a word.
“What brought you to the garden, princess? We were expecting you at tea.” He inquires, looking towards her to give a smirk before his brows dip into his well known scowl once more.
Suddenly having lost her words, Focaccia tries to regain her composure.
“I… didn’t want to waste a good day inside. Besides, the heart of the matter is only to be discussed between your highness and my predecessors.”
“You don’t think I would have liked to ask you something?”
She’s stunned into silence and his question and fidgets with her fingers.
“What is it, exactly, that you would have liked to ask?”
At her response, the prince loses his rocks to stand next to her. It is then that his height truly becomes noticeable, as this proximity isn’t something she’s used to.
“I’ve heard of the work you’ve done for Arun’s international policies. For starters, I would have liked you to explain if the same would be applied to Luna should we rule together in the future.”
“You are implying that we would rule Luna on equal grounds.” She gives him a skeptical look before going back to her flowers.
“Why, of course we would. Is there something that gave you the impression we would not?”
A heavy silence follows while Focaccia thinks. Yes, she wants to say, I do not trust you to give me any freedom of choice.
“Maybe you are right, I should have been there at tea time as I would have liked to ask you a few things myself.”
Despite her dodging the question, Prosciutto stands by politely, his interest piqued. He remembers the princess being a fledgling, almost useless looking thing at her débutante. Knowing the Aruni royalty, he was sure she would be married off to some second rate and continue to live some life of luxury and leisure. And for one of the few times, he finds himself to be wrong.
“What exactly do you think of your subjects, your highness?”
“They are…” Prosciutto holds back, unwilling to give a straightforward answer.
“Royalty are nothing without their people. Without their support, you and I… we become unsustainable. And we must sustain them in return.”
“Is that why you attempted to invade us? So that we, my family, become unsustainable?”
“You are mistaken,” his tone suddenly changes into something harsher, and more familiar than the feign air of alliance he put on. “Your subjects are not the same as mine to me.”
“They must be. Should I remind our countries to form a union? But it has come to light you can never view Arunis the same way you view Lunarians.”
Prosciutto holds her stare, not denying any of her words.
“Your highness,” she says suddenly. “Are you familiar with fairy tales?”
The sudden mention of supposed children’s stories confuses Prosciutto. He scoffs humorlessly.
“The ones I read as a child, yes. The Lunar palace library has quite the collection.”
“Then I’m sure you are unfamiliar with the tale of the shapla pori.”
“I’m sorry?”
“The story of the water lily fairy and her adventure.” Focaccia stares at the white water lilies floating about in the pond and catching the sunlight in the process. “There are shada shapla, white waterlilies and lal shapla, red waterlilies. And legend has a story to explain their existences.
“The original water lily has always been white. And there was one such waterlily fairy that lived within a white waterlily. She was born there and never ventured out. Until, her floating lily home passed under the bridge of a troll. The old, bearded troll was one of the first the fairy had met. And he told her about the famed red waterlily. Much cozier and bigger than the white ones. And for the first time, the fairy found a purpose to adventure outside. To find herself a better home. As she flew around the pond, learning to fly and use her wings, she came across some beings of interest. Namely a bee, who told her to fly to the edge of the world where there resided a magical lily that would turn red if the fairy wished it to be. Believing its words, she flew for days, months maybe. And finally, she reached the lily of legend. An entity guarded the lily with its life and asked her one question. ‘What will you sacrifice to make this lily your home?’ not thinking, she said she will sacrifice the flowers, the pond where her home floated, the troll, and the bee. Willing to let the rest of those who assisted her along the way die for her safety. Do you know what happened, your highness?”
At this point, Prosciutto is engrossed enough in her tale, and the movement of her lips, that he almost has to shake himself out of his reverie.
“Her sacrifices die to give her the new home?”
“No. She is slaughtered. Her blood is what makes the lily red, giving birth to red lilies.”
Focaccia plucks the delicate rose she’d been eying since she came to the gardens, wary of its thorns.
Prosciutto chuckles, and the sound catches her off guard. When she looks towards his face, she’s surprised that he's gotten closer.
“You imply that Luna is the water lily fair? And what is so wrong of her to look for a new home?”
“It is wrong of her to sacrifice others for her gain. As you tried to do my people.”
Not willing to back down, she looks straight into his eyes even if she has to crane her neck somewhat.
But his sudden movement is more unpredictable than she could have expected him to be. He takes her chin by the hand, smiling at her face.
“My dear Focaccia, it seems you pose to be more interesting with every visit… truly, you’ve proven to be more beautiful than any flower that adorns this garden.”
She stiffens at his use of her name, blushing from not being used to hearing it out of his mouth and his sweet words. Should she believe him or not? The rajkumari stares at him in silence and in surprise. Prosciutto must’ve only used to make her lose her composure and she simply refuses to bend to his whims.
“I must go, it’s almost time for dinner,” she says, gently moving out of his grasp yet not forgetting the feeling of his calloused fingers on her face. She quietly wonders if the texture was born from his practice with his sword.
Prosciutto watches her walk back to the castle, her skirts making her look like a stray petal in the wind.
One year later...
Heavy is the heart that harbors affection for its enemy. And no one’s step is heavier than Focaccia’s as she walks in her nightgown through the dark, dimly lit, and unfamiliar halls after catching some fresh air outside. She’s met with deep browns and blues where there’s expensive wood and wallpapers, making her stare in awe at the large paintings of the preceding royal Lunar bloodline. Each and every one of them carry a resemblance to Prosciutto which makes her remember him affectionately, somewhat guiltily. For he was once the commander that waged war on Arun.
Luna’s cold, dry night air slips in through a window, making the curtains fly and Focaccia thinks she can hear the stray howl of a wolf. Hurrying, she finally reaches her chambers. Perhaps venturing in just her flimsy nightgown was not a good idea given the country’s climate. She shivers reaching for her door handle when a figure comes out of the shadows.
“Your highness!” She squeaks. Looking around, alarmed, she hopes she didn’t wake up the rest of the castle.
“Princess,” he purrs, a mischievous smile plastered across his face. He walks slowly, carefully, as a lion would get close to its prey. Appropriately, he lost his usual wear and is clad in his nightshirt, Focaccia notices.
“What are you doing here?” She asks, nervously taking steps back near her bedroom door.
“I wanted to see you.”
“Well… you’ve seen me now so.. You can go back.” Her fidgeting fingers make an appearance.
When suddenly, her back is pinned to the wall with one of Prosciutto’s arms caging her within and his chest pressing to hers.
“I said I wanted to see you.” His breath is a gentle caress on her lips and it makes her shudder, his words conjuring a deep plush on her brown skin.
“You…you must get back to your chambers! It’s inappropriate to be seen like this when we are meant to sleep in separate rooms.” But her words are already falling on deaf ears when Prosciutto lifts one of her legs to wrap around his thigh.
“Oh princess, but this is hardly the first time we’ve done this.”
“Yes but…” she moans when his lips find the pulse point in her neck, gentle suckles and licks accompanying lavish kisses. As if by practiced ease, her hands reach out to tangle in his wild flowing hair. Clearly, he’d been preparing for this moment.
“I remember this gown,” he kisses down to the flesh of her breast protruding from the neckline.
“One year ago, do you remember?” The blues of his eyes shine from the moonlight when he meets her gaze. “I caught you running about in the Aruni palace, in this thing like the little minx you are. Couldn’t stop thinking about it for weeks.”
The nickname makes her look away. “I remember…”
“Now will you let me in?” He asks, caressing her thigh under the see through gown.
She says nothing for a moment, playing with the drawstrings of his shirt only to roll her eyes at his smirk.
“Just be quick and quiet about it.”
Yet he is none of those when he lifts her up in a princess carry to take her through the threshold of her room. Focaccia has to keep herself from squealing in surprise, being scared of heights as she is. Yet she feels safer in his arms than she would around a thousand guard fleet. Prosciutto presents her with a deep kiss to distract his poor princess from her misery. A gentle nibble to her lower lip makes her squirm in his arms.
“Settle down, little one…” He murmurs with a fond smile. Focaccia’s breathing quickens as he puts her down onto the large twin bed, the four poster canopy and curtain concealing them perfectly inside. However, onlookers would be able to see them through the fabrics as the moon passes through the window and bathes the lovers in holy light.
Prosciutto finds himself between her spread legs as Focaccia relaxes in her bed, stretching like a sleepy kitten, preparing itself to be abducted. His lazy hand caresses her side affectionately, sending more shivers through her veins. Kissing up her abdomen, he finally reaches her lips once more for an earth shattering kiss.
“Are you sleepy, my love?”
She only nods in response but wraps her arms around his neck to secure him in place, allowing their bodies to touch closer. “But you still want this…” She nods more vigorously, giving him a charming little smile.
Prosciutto peppers some kisses to her face, smiling at her enthusiasm.
“You don’t have to do a thing… Let me take care of you, princess.”
She giggles at his words but they turn into breathy moans when he reaches low with his kisses once more. The large, slender left hand of the prince makes sensual little shapes on her breast through the clothing and he remembers how much he’d want to touch her the night of their meeting. As her nipple hardens into a little cherry, he pulls down the fabric to allow her breasts to spill out.
“Forma tu…”
Focaccia whimpers at his praise, trying to hide her reddened face behind a hand. Unphased by her shyness, he continues to pepper kisses to the plump flesh, taking his sweet time to reach the peaks. He feels every movement of her body, every careless buck of her hips to meet his own when he presses a gentle suck to her dusky nipple. Prosciutto’s clever tongue swirls before letting go with a sensuous pop of his mouth.
“Now are you ready for me down there?” He asks more to himself than to her, kissing down her bellow and giving it a gentle squeeze on his way.
“Open wider, principessa,” he commands in whispers for her to split her legs farther, exposing her unclothed sex to him as he hikes up the fabric of her nightgown.
Thick curls adorn her entrance, covered in her arousal, making him smirk to himself before applying a gentle pressure. Prosciutto kisses over her plush thighs, appreciating the softness, listening for her particularly loud whines when he purposefully misses her favorite spot. And he remembers the reason why he made sure to station her in a room with thicker walls than others.
“Please…” Focaccia moans, subconsciously bucking into his fingers. He knows what she wants, but only really intends to give it to her when she begs.
“Please what, my love?” He asks cunningly and chuckles when she whines into her hands.
But she doesn’t intend to give him what he wants as he thought. Taking him by surprise, she grabs his head to press his face between legs and wrap her thighs around them, something she’d never done before. Her fingers grip tights to his hair, as if reigning her horse for a sprint.
“Do it.” Her voice takes an uncharacteristic commanding tone. It makes him moan into her sex, starting to lick almost immediately as his the appendage between his legs throb painfully between himself and the sheets. He ought to have taken off his pants before making love to her, he muses.
Forcefully, she grinds on his face, openly moaning for his name as his tongue reaches particularly deep inside. Prosciutto moves almost exclusively on autopilot as he grinds himself into the covers and feels his clothing get wet, trying to hold back from releasing before he’s inside her. She sets the rhythm for herself that the prince matches perfectly, squeezing at her thighs desperately for leverage and grounding.
Finally, she spends herself over his face with a helplessly loud moan and her legs easy away, allowing him to come up for breath, and she realizes how carelessly he would allow himself to go without breath for her sake. But her mind is too fuzzy for any words and her panting mouth can hardly move.
In her reverie, she doesn’t notice Prosciutto removing his clothing completely before hovering over her body with renewed vigor. The blues of his eyes carry an indistinguishable fire as he kisses her with the some mouth he ate her with, making her moan into his kiss, wet with saliva, and her fluids.
Focaccia feels his hard sex tapping against her thigh and bites her lip in anticipation when he pulls back, bringing their foreheads together.
“Are you sure about this?” He whispers.
“… Why must you ask me this every time, right after seducing me into a compromising position no less.”
He chuckles at her reply, giving a gentle kiss to her forehead. “I know it’s painful, I don’t want you to hurt if you can help it.”
“I cannot think of the hurt in the middle of this madness.”
Prosciutto intrudes her once more with a finger and she whimpers again.
“It’s not enough, your highness, please.”
At her words, the prince finally aligns himself to her with a hand but not before stroking his flesh to coat himself in fluids. All the while his lover can only squirm to gain some fiction and contact. Focaccia’s moans all but stop at his invasion of her body, with small thrusts, he fits himself inside, snug and warm, whispering “amore motus,” into her ear.
Once she adjusts, and pleads for him to move, Prosciutto selfishly sets a rhythm to his liking while the princess can only cling to his body for dear life. Her eyes squeeze together as each thrust brings forth a moan louder than the previous. His grunts sound harmoniously with hers, as sweat pools on his brow and his breath hitches when her legs wrap around his waist.
“Your highness… Please, more!”
Prosciutto gets impossibly faster at her request, delighting in the way her nails dig deeper into his back. The searing pain only adds to his chase to finish. It feels as though she gets tighter around him with every movement of his hip. And when she squeals into his neck, releasing herself over his shaft, he no longer holds back, giving himself to her entirely.
“Ego amo te,” he declares.
Panting, they hold themselves together, welded together by their mutual spending. He places a few kisses between her breasts before feeling his energy pick up. “Mae puella,” he whispers into her skin.
Prosciutto eases her legs, letting himself free of her grasp. He checks between to see himself pulling out, gently, watching his seed spill freely. Focaccia can hardly notice when he’s slipped from the bed to retrieve a washcloth and her bowl of water from the antechamber. Only when the cold, wet fabric makes contact with her blazing flesh does she open her eyes to meet his gaze.
“Rest easy,” he murmurs. After a thorough wash of her body and his own, he quickly discards the cloth for the maids to find later.
“Stay,” she whispers. And for a moment, he considers. Her pleading, doe eyes convince him to bundle up beneath her covers and mold himself to her back. But once her eyes shut and her breathing eavens, he places one last kiss to her lips while she sleeps.
“Buona notte,” he whispers before slipping out of her chambers.
Focaccia is understandably disappointed when she finds herself alone. She cannot wait for the days when she will wake up with her prince by her side. And she will get to wake him up with sleepy kisses and nuzzles.
But for now, she allows the maids to dress her, change her bedsheets, and clean the discarded washcloth.
“Paola, please make sure to prepare a cup of the herbal tea for me.”
The two maids exchange looks behind the princess who busies herself in brushing her hair. “Yes, your highness.”
Prosciutto comes down for breakfast in the nick of time.
“Your highness is looking rather rejuvenated today,” his manservant comments.
“Yes well… I had a good night’s rest.”
#prosid#prosciutto x focaccia#prosciutto#fics#n sfw#fluff#sid writes#honey bunny#selfship au#selfship stuff#focaccia#focaccia stuff
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Hello! It's nice to see a new genshin impact writer! I saw requests are open, and there's two I have in mind (if it's ok with you): One is for Razor, Albedo, Xiao, and ganyu (possibly Aether if you can) wherein Reader is scared of love. Like, they're scared of opening up and love someone in fear of rejection or being tossed away. But yet they still daydream having someone who'd love them making it more obvious how much they want to love despite their fears anyway--
With this information, how will they confess to Reader about their feelings? Or comfort/console them?
𝐅𝐄𝐀𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆: albedo, xiao, ganyu, (separate) x gn!reader
𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒: reader has a pyro vision, albedo and xiao story spoilers in their parts
𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐄𝐒: srry for cutting some characters off!! the character limit is 3! (but personally i would write for aether hehe hes so cute i love him)
you just so happened to have a quest in dragonspine
you did not expect to see fatui—especially not fight them
and... you did not expect to get ganged up on! what is this? a bully session? what the heck?
Among the brawn and burly figures of the Fatui members, you didn’t fail to notice a streak of blonde and dazzling blue from a distance—your eyes widening as you prayed to whatever archon would dare to listen...
Please, please don’t be another stupid enemy. You thought with a grimace, your heart pounding in your chest as you could hear a voice—it was calm yet strong, like a endless waterfall or a river creek.
“Burst forth!”
In a matter of seconds, a geo flower emerged from the earth, your form being lifted up on the tiny platform as shards of crystallized rock formed under you, nearly stabbing you in the gut.
Who? What? How? Who was this stranger? This vision-wielder?
Wasting no time, you plummeted down on a nearby Fatui—deeming this geo-user as ‘safe’, you summoned your own flames, charring the crystal snow black as you wrapped your arm around the blonde, barely taking any time to observe his features.
from then on, you never expected to grow close to this mystery man
turns out he was the chief alchemist of the knights! you weren’t personally associated with the knights... but being chief alchemist certainly was a grand title, right?
with the use of your pyro vision, you helped accompany—albedo—you learned his name was
at first, the two of you were just exploration buddies. but as time went on, butterflies began to form in your stomach, nervousness seemed to peak when he was around
love was like a poison—you knew it’d hurt, you knew it’d kill you to have a drop—
but you wanted it. you wanted love, you wanted to be held by albedo and to twirl his silky hair around your fingers...
but—would he want you?
You wanted to love Albedo so badly.
Yet you knew, you couldn’t. The alchemist just wasn’t the type for love, he was not the type to give kisses or reassurances, nor was he the type to confess with a rose in his hands.
It wouldn’t hurt to dream, though.
The thoughts you had before you slept were of him, of how pretty his eyes were—you couldn’t even pinpoint a color for it. Sometimes, they were blue, sometimes, they were teal.
With every shooting star that’d zip past the sky, every eyelash that’d fall and every fire that’d be lit with the palm of your hands... you hoped for a love. A love so grand it’d outshine the sun, a love so grand it could make you forget the past and undo the pain of before.
But, in the depths of your mind, in the wings of the butterflies that’d flutter in your stomach... you knew—
Albedo did not love you.
albedo initially thought of you as a torch lighter.
LOOK, HE IS A LOGICAL AND RESOURCEFUL MAN. he does not see the world with a rosie-colored-lens like how many others do—he sees it as the facts
and with your pyro vision? combined with dragonspine, ooh, please... ain’t that a match lighter?
but as time went on, he started to see you in a new light
you were knowledgeable, you respected his views and even contributed sometimes! you were no prodigy of alchemy, of course, but you were well-versed in combat and oftentimes knew how to navigate dragonspine
(he asked you how you knew dragonspine so well. all you told him was “Pain”)
but... albedo is observant. he’s definitely aware of your feelings and nervousness, how you get overly sweaty near him and fumble on your words
it’s then he realizes—he likes you too
love is a foreign concept to him, uncharted territory and an unexplored region. of course, as an alchemist, it is up to him to discover the unknown
and love—love is unknown
how could one possibly dedicate their entire life to another? albedo always questioned this notion, for humans were free beings that wanted nothing more than to break free of their shackles
and yet—the moment the alchemist met you? all of those questions flew out of the window
he wished... he wished to love you. but to him, it looks as if you do not want to love him
It’s frustrating, really.
How Albedo would brush over your hand mindlessly, how he’d hand you an object and let your fingertips meet for two seconds too many, how his cold yet soft lips would curve into a smile upon seeing you return from your endeavors.
Why? Why? Why? Why did he do this? Was he aware of the way he made you go crazy?
You wanted to love him, so so bad—but—
“[Y/N],” Albedo’s voice seemed to pierce through your thoughts as if he had heard them.
“Y-Yes?” You turned immediately, the rush of your heart not calming a bit, the nervousness of your leg that bounced up and down as a remedy that you wish didn’t have to be so obvious.
Averting his eyes from yours, you missed the pixie blush that dusted the tip of his ears. He was not aware of your insecurities—but he was aware of one thing.
That—that he liked you... a lot, in fact.
“Recently...” Albedo started, clearing his throat anxiously before continuing, “I have started to develop some... feelings, for you. It is okay if you do not reciprocate, but it feels wrong to think about you in such a light when you are not awa—“
“Yes!”
You winced.
And then, everything seemed to crumble. Was he talking about someone else? Was there someone behind you? Was this a mindless prank? As it had been all those years ag—
A hand rested on your cheek, bringing you back to reality with the mere touch of his fingers.
albedo... in all of his intelligent prowess... was not expecting for you to say yes
in the public, he is a genius— a prince, a prodigy, even. but to him, he is but a failed student who is trying his best in completing his master’s final orders:
find the meaning of life
what is life? life is broad, life is different, life is... well, life.
at first, albedo had assumed that his master was talking about living life, as in plants or animals.
but now—with you, with klee, with mondstadt, with everyone.
the chief alchemist seemed to realize:
life, life was in you.
life brought joy, laughter, pain, excitement, happiness—
and sometimes, even love
“But Albedo I—“
“It’s okay, [Y/N]. Though I am not personally aware of what seems to be troubling you, I will do everything in my power to assure that you feel comfortable with me.”
Life was short, Albedo noted.
So—he wants to enjoy it.
—With you.
xiao does not fear rejection, but he does fear love
how pitiful... for a guardian yaksha such as him to fear such a trivial matter
love—love was scary. love could take control of him like how he was manipulated in the archon war, love could tug his arms and move him around like a puppet
he, adeptus xiao, did not want to love
but then, you came in. and it frustrated him tremendously. you were but a mere mortal, a fleeting life that came into his eternal one. you were someone who he did not deserve
and yet, he loved you
so much, so so so much, he can’t bear it. he can take on all those karmic binds, all those whispers and hatred—yet he cannot bear the love he feels for you. he cannot bear the way his heart races or leaps whenever he sees you, he cannot bear you
but—his heart does not like the fact that you feel the same
you had told him before, one night, a few months ago... you told him how you were afraid of love
you were afraid of getting tossed away, of being forgotten like the fallen archons in war, like a side character in a play of fontaine
and all xiao could do was scoff. whoever dared to throw you away would meet his spear, his rage. he could not fathom a world where you were hated, where anyone would dare to reject you—because, because—
you were his world, regrettably
Pacing up the stairs of Wangshu Inn, you ignored the gross feeling of your clothes sticking to your skin.
“[Y/N].”
Jolting up, your eyes met with that of the Guardian Yaksha—his piercing gaze and unwavering strength eyeing you down as if you were a pest.
“You’re going to get sick. Your mortal body cannot withstand such weather,” Xiao scolded, and on cue, a flash of light zipped through the air, the deep rumble of thunder following soon after.
Observing the way you flinched at the noise, Xiao merely wrapped an arm around your waist, teleporting you to the top of the inn and into your room.
“Dry up. I will return with soup,” The adeptus waved off your nervous gaze. He was not stupid, he has seen mortals succumb to sickness, and he hopes that you will not be one of them.
but as he heads to the kitchen, he cannot help but notice—notice the fact that you seemed to be... uneasy around him
was it something he said? was he perhaps too harsh with you? you of all people should know his words mean well, though...
and ugh, here it is again. the feeling of love that made even him overthink the smallest of things
yet after he brought you some soup and got you into bed, the question still ran around his mind like a halo. did you hate him? was this sickness bringing out your true thoughts?
well, yes and no
“Xiao...” You quietly murmured, wincing as the winds picked up inside your room, materializing a certain Yaksha out of thin air.
“What?”
“I’m sorry...”
“...?”
Rushing up to you, Xiao immediately placed a hand on your forehead, worried that you were on the brink of death.
“I’m sorry for liking you.”
“... What?” His eyes widened in disbelief, in shock. Sorry? Why were you sorry? Did you regret liking him? Was that why—
“I know...” You trailed off, in a drunken state of sickness, “That you don’t love me. But that’s okay. I just... wanted to let you know... because I’m afraid you’ll say no... but if you say no, I can at least move on...”
Staring at you fiercely, his breath hitched in his throat. No? No? He would never say no to you, ever, ever.
“Don’t move on,” Was all he could muster.
Don’t. He wasn’t ready for love, no, he never was—but—
He did not want you to leave.
This action of sickness was finally a catalyst, a catalyst for Xiao to confess to you properly when you were in the right state of mind.
And hopefully—when he does, you will say yes.
xiao only confesses because he does not want to lose you
his karmic binds, the whispers, the screams. he does not want you to get tainted by them—so he is selfish, he is selfish for loving you and confessing to you... but he, he cannot bear to see you go
a double-edged sword, love is. it stabs his heart, skewering it as if it were nothing. it plunges his mind, clouding his thoughts as they fill with you and only you
can’t he just indulge in this fluffy feeling, once?
no—he doesn’t deserve it, he doesn’t deserve you.
Under the rising stars and floating lanterns, the two of you sit. It is an unspoken love, you both share, it is an unwritten rule that paints the back of your minds like a canvas of colors.
But love—is love. Love is the rainbow that forms in the sky when the rain is over, love is the sun that shines, washing away all of the coldness of the world.
Love is you.
ganyu feels... alone
so when you come into her life like a prospering glaze lily, she wants nothing more than to love you!
but you, confuse her. she is 100% sure you return her feelings, so why do you not seem to be... excited, about it?
To an immortal like Ganyu—love changes. At first, love was for the world, but then it shifted for mankind, and then it moved to... you.
She was no strange to love, in fact, she welcomed it! Ganyu wants to feel as mortal as possible, so when you stumble in and make her fumble for words—she knows she has fallen.
Like a meteor or a person—she falls for you. Everything reminds her of you, every flower and every bird makes her want to talk to you and spend her time with you.
But lately—you have been quite... reserved.
at first, ganyu thinks she is the problem. that she has done something wrong and she is a terrible crush
but then, she hears rumors. rumors about your past loves and how they rejected you mercilessly, how they played you like a marinette doll and caused you pain
to ganyu—that is the lowest any mortal could ever go. but for now, that is not her problem. she wants to help you, to make you realize that you are deserving of love and that you—you make her feel love
she—of course, does not confront you about this directly. ganyu is far too experienced to bring up past conflicts
but, she will subtly make you realize her feelings. with morning and night walks around liyue harbor, with hangouts and ‘dates’ at liuli pavilion...
love... it’s quite beautiful, isn’t it?
“Ah, the food here is certainly marvelous,” Ganyu gushed, enjoying a nice plate of jade parcels as you spared a smile.
“Yes, thank you for this, Ganyu. I know you work a lot and—“
“Of course, [Y/N]. Everyone needs breaks,” The woman returned your kind gesture, eyes crinkling in amusement as your heart pounded so loudly in your chest.
“In all honesty, [Y/N]. I feel quite a connection to you, and though I am aware you are hesitant— I just wanted to let you know that you are loved... by many people, not only me,” Ganyu rested her chopsticks down, making complete eye contact with you as her blue hair framed her face. The black and red horns that adorned her head glimmered—the kindness and delicate features of her nose and lips, her eyes and smile—
Your breath hitched.
ganyu—of course— does not expect an answer right away!
in fact, she thinks it’s quite unorthodox to confess to someone who is afraid of love—but her instincts told her it was right
it was abrupt, she knows. you don’t have to say yes, she knows.
but still, love was a game of chance—just as gambling, betting, anything. love was a game for two
so she took it. she took the chance, hoping that maybe you, you’d say yes.
“I...” You trailed off. You didn’t know Ganyu returned your feelings, neither did you ever imagine she could... Ganyu was half-adeptus, a caliber above you and your mortal-ness! Why would she ever think of you as anything more tha—
“Do not be afraid, [Y/N],” Ganyu’s voice was gentle as she soothed you. She had been here before, she had seen you cry out of a yearning for something you couldn’t have, she had seen your heart shatter and your mindset retract.
“I... like you too,” You responded, you felt light-headed, like you were soaring in the clouds that not even Celestia could bring you down.
Love, love was a gamble. And sometimes, you’d get your heart broken, your soul broken...
But love—it wasn’t so bad after all.
― constellations!
#genshin x reader#genshin impact x reader#genshin headcanons#xiao x reader#albedo x reader#ganyu x reader#genshin imagines#genshin scenarios#genshin impact headcanons#genshin impact scenarios#genshin impact imagines#genshin xiao#genshin albedo#genshin ganyu#genshin#genshin impact#constellarations
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fic writer interview!
i saw @prince-liest do this and thus i will take ur 'tagging anyone who wants to do this' seriously lmaoooo (also hi btw hope ur well!!! 💜💜)
How many works do you have on AO3?
ahaha,,,,,159 lmao
What's your total AO3 word count?
fdsjkkjlsfdklj as of today, 2,089,769
How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?
only three fsdjkldslfkj the phandom (dan&phil), bnha, and genshin!
What are your top 5 fics by kudos?
chosen (x) - zhongchi (genshin)
to love (and be loved in return) (x) - kaeluc (genshin)
little bird (x) - dabihawks (bnha)
feet don't touch the ground (x) - xiaoven (genshin)
i knew you were fire (x) - dabihawks (bnha)
honestly none of that surprises me except that little bird is still up there, although i think i owe that to sif (@the-final-sif) for sharing it around the time it got posted since it was partly inspired by her raptor stress grip post!!
the rest are all chaptered fics, which is mostly what i expected to be in the top 5 lmao
Do you respond to comments, why or why not?
yes!!! always!!!! no matter what u comment, i will respond!!! and if i don't, it's probably cause ao3 didn't notify me properly or i didn't see it in my inbox or something
as for why, it's mostly to do with like...i know how hard it can be for some people to comment, even just a bunch of heart emojis or a 'i loved this!' or something short and simple? and it means a lot to me that ppl are going out of their way to say something nice, no matter how small, and it's really really important to me to acknowledge that
What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?
hmm,,,,,this is a hard one, cause for a very long time, my policy was that my fic would always have a happy ending? and for a long time, that was true!! but the dabihawks interaction (during the raid) broke me, and from an emotional standpoint, i think freeing icarus (x) is probably the one that has the angstiest ending of the two or so that i wrote in that time?
Do you write crossovers? If so what is the craziest one you’ve written?
u know i really haven't written any crossovers? it's normally not my thing cause my brain typically focuses on a single thing and doesn't really have the capacity to think about more than that, so i end up writing just au-style or fusion-style (shoutout to that one bnha but it was scooby doo fic i wrote - x)
i don't think i'd be opposed to writing a crossover but i'd have to be SUPER inspired by the idea and both fandoms lmao
Have you ever received hate on a fic?
aha yes, i have. the only straight up hate i've received was on a kaeluc fic (surprisingly not because it was kaeluc, but bc i was 'mistreating' kaeya in the fic) - to be entirely fair, the commenter pointed out something that i hadn't realized myself, and it led to a second piece of the story that helped me tie up some loose ends, but...let's just say they weren't very kind about their feelings lmao
other than that, i had someone very upset because i didn't tag which character was bottoming in a fic (valid if that bugs u!) and they read through most of it before getting to the smut (and said that they enjoyed everything up to that point) then said they were 'disgusted' by it. i have opinions on that and a few other comments they made, but i will keep them to myself lmao
and beyond that, just a few ppl on my xiaoven fic saying that they were unhappy about the background kaeluc (which is tagged lmao) - really no hate whatsoever til genshin, honestly, which is...very hmmmm :) lmao
Do you write smut? If so what kind?
yep!!! mostly vanilla or vanilla-adjacent lmao i'm not super into heavy kink, although i know if epi reads this she's gonna call me out for being a monsterfucker bc of my dragon!zhongli smut :) lmaoooo but really i tend to write pretty vanilla smut! i also prefer to avoid any noncon/dubcon or hate sex or anything particularly angsty, just not my jam to write!
Have you ever had a fic stolen?
hmm i don't think so? although i don't heavily monitor ao3 (or wattpad/ffn), so i can't really say that for sure lmao
Have you ever had a fic translated?
yes!!! i've had a few fics translated to russian (little bird is one of them!) which is very sweet and i hope that anyone who prefers to read in russian has been enjoying those fics!!
Have you ever co-written a fic before?
alksdfjklsdf only once, and it's deadass how me and rose got together. we decided to co-write a podcast au fic for the phandom (x) and ended up flirting via google docs asldkfjkldsfj
What’s your all time favourite ship?
what a horrible question, making me choose between my children like this!!!! sdlfkjdskf tbh i'm not sure i have a real answer bc it changes as i go? and 'favorite' is so vague,,,,,favorite to read? to write about? to think about? asdklfjkjsdfk i really don't know if i have an answer, but i'll maybe say kaeluc for now lmao
What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?
well first and foremost, with only 2 exceptions, i never post a fic unless it's done. i tend to follow wherever my passion leads my brain, so i'm notorious for jumping around between stories and taking breaks from long fic and returning later on to finish them, and i know that i would not do well under the pressure of posting something unfinished and trying to finish it in a timely manner
that said, many wips sit in my google doc folder, but one is Well Known as the one that has followed me through both the phandom and bnha (rose keeps asking who i'm gonna switch the chars to in genshin, but i think it suits bakudeku too well to do that) - only the lonely survive. it sits at like 36k in my wip folder, and i adore the story dearly and i want very much to finish it, but it never makes it quite to the forefront of my motivation, and so it rarely if ever gets worked on...i hate the idea of 'never' finishing it, but it's unfortunately quite likely that i won't 😭😭😭
What are your writing strengths?
emotion!!! and immersion!!! it's my goal in a fic to make it as immersive as possible and saturated with emotion to help convey that feeling of being in the place of the pov character, and i think i do it pretty well. also just bc i feel a little obligated to say it - another strength is actually sitting down and putting words down. i know that's a struggle for a lot of writers and i often get,,,,lovingly bullied? i guess? lmao for being able to bash out a few k in a day most days
What are your writing weaknesses?
this isn't so much a weakness i guess but i am basically incapable of treating crack fic as crack. if i have a cracky idea, it will, without a doubt, end up turning into a Perfectly Serious fic somehow (notable 'crack treated so seriously that it's no longer crack' fics include: todoroki doing the freeze-the-ocean thing from frozen 2, 'shmigaraki', todo and denki get together bc of vine references, the league sells feet pics, shiggy and natsu own a nightclub/bakery, scooby doo but make it bnha, and dabi getting his ears pierced at claire's)
but in all seriousness, i think my main weakness is that i often get comfortable? and i'm not one to typically push myself forcefully out of my comfort zone when it comes to stories that i come up with on my own, which often means that ideas inspired by discussions with others are what prompt me to branch out and try new things?
What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?
i think, like anything, it has its place? there are certainly stories where it makes sense to do that and even adds depth to a story, although i personally am not exceptionally comfortable enough with other languages (except maybe asl) to do that in fic myself without the assistance of someone very comfortable with that language lmao
What was the first fandom you wrote for?
the phandom! not really my jam to write rpf anymore but it definitely got me started and i'm really grateful for my time writing there, as everyone was super supportive and kind, and it was really a perfect place for a beginner to get comfortable and practice
What’s your favourite fic you’ve written?
again, forcing me to choose between my children...i really don't know that i can pick one fic bc they all exist in such wildly different spaces? i poured my worldbuilding soul into the king of disaster series (mainly dabihawks - x), exile (dan and phil - x) was my first massively long fic, our hearts are heavy burdens we shouldn't have to bear alone (chayea - x) is probably my favorite character/character dynamic study, i'm exceptionally proud of the smut in chosen (zhongchi - x), the list goes on and on and on lmao like. i could probably list half my fics as favorites in some regard dsflkjdfsjkl
anyway, tyty bellamy for putting this on my dash so i could do it as well!!
tagging: literally anyone who wants to do this, i have so many writer friends slkdjfjklsdf but please please tag me if u do it so i can read urs!!! 💜💜💜
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CYOA - Twisted Wonderland
aaand here it is, finally! Chapter one of my choose your own adventure fic for twst! This is the very first chapter; it’s a bit of a slow start, establishing the plot and all, you know? As was decided by the poll, the reader is in Diasomnia (however, I’m sure y’all can probably figure out a way to worm out of the dorm quickly and meet more characters). Anyways, without further ado, here’s the fic!
You sometimes wished that your dorm wasn’t so… Gloomy. Sure, Diasomnia had some cool things; the whole “Valley of Thorns Castle” aesthetic was cool, and the fact the hallways were lit with green torches always looked cool at night, not to mention the TVs and games in the common room, but… As you tried to study for the upcoming quiz, you quietly cursed the controlled climate. Yes, you knew that rain and storms were natural in the area; but didn’t the school control the dorm’s climate with fae magic?! It was way too difficult to concentrate on your potions notes when the rain outside felt like it was lulling you to sleep as it fell against your windows.
Your roommate was snoozing in his bed- either he’d already studied, or he’d given up on the quiz. Either way, you couldn’t deny that it was alluring to just forget the damn thing and go to bed. It wasn’t that late, but you’d been going to sleep at awful hours lately, and your body sorely demanded you get some sleep. And yet, glancing down at the recipe for the minor memory erasing draught you’d have to concoct tomorrow, you knew that if you went to sleep now, you’d be dealing with Crewel’s biting critique and a terrible grade tomorrow.
A snore from your roommate broke your concentration, and you glared at the sleeping boy. Usually you and him got along just fine, but in this moment, it felt like he was testing you, as he slept sweetly and your sleep deprived self stressed over a notebook. Hearing another snore, you decided to move to the common room- maybe there you’d concentrate a bit better, and also not be tempted by the siren’s call of your bed. Picking up your phone and your notebook, you left the room, closing the door softly so as to not disturb your roommate, and made your way down the eerie halls of the dorm.
“Vice dorm leader…?” immediately, you noticed that Lilia was in the common room. After that your nose registered a smell so odd it almost made you turn around and leave. It wasn’t a bad smell, just… Incredibly odd and off putting: and you quickly pinpointed the source of it to be some charred, blackened and bizarre dish that your vice dorm leader was holding.
“Oh? Hello there.” he said with a chuckle. You wouldn’t call Lilia a close friend by any means, but you did know him well. As a vice dorm leader, he did his best to help out the Diasomnia students, and he was also fond of pulling small pranks here and there; you’d been a victim of his tricks and also gone to him for help a couple times in your two years of being at NRC. “It’s an odd hour to be hanging out… Or could it be the smell of my cooking that brought you here?”
“Your… cooking?” so that charred thing he was holding was… food? You’d been warned- mostly by your fellow second year Silver- that Lilia was not a good cook (in fact, Silver had made it seem like his food was somehow a health hazard), but you’d imagined the usual cooking oopsies. Too much salt, not enough seasoning, maybe burning some of the food; the usual mistakes people made when cooking. However, looking at the blackened and mysterious substance in the plate he held… You wondered if perhaps Silver had been right in making Lilia’s cooking sound like some sort of biohazard.
“Indeed, I’ve been cooking some cookies. I wanted to cheer Silver, since he’s been studying hard for a quiz. And there’s nothing quite like some cookies to snack on while studying, right?” said Lilia. Cookies…? You walked closer and squinted at the plate; so those were Lilia’s cookies…? You were pretty sure you could see eggshell shards on the otherwise charcoal black pieces of what you hoped was dough. Did he… Did he not see the problem with them?
“Oh, the potions quiz for tomorrow? Yeah, I’m sure he’s been studying… I doubt Crewel is going to go easy on us.” You said with a nervous laughter, trying to divert the topic from the so-called cookies. The last thing you wanted was for him to ask you to taste test or something. A bite of those cookies would probably take you out of commission for a good week or two, and while being sick to miss class tomorrow and avoid the quiz was tempting, you really weren’t sure if it was worth it to risk some crazy horrible food poisoning for that.
“Fufu, you’re also working quite hard, I gather? Did you come to study here?” asked Lilia, pointing to your notebook. You nodded.
“Mhm, my roommate was being a bit loud, so…” you shrugged with a smile. You weren’t gonna throw your roommate under the bus and tell Lilia he was snoring like a train and that drove you out of the room, you were at least kind enough to omit that particular piece of info. “Well, I’m probably just going to look over the notes a bit and then go to sleep. I can only study so much to make a potion without actually being at the lab, after all.”
“Ah, Silver did mention that Crewel was making you all make a draught from memory.” Lilia hummed. “Are you having trouble with this? I can always try to help, after delivering these delicious cookies to Silver.”
“Oh, I couldn’t possibly bother you with this, it’s ok, vice dorm leader!” you said, quickly shaking your head. You didn’t want to waste Lilia’s time; he was a third year, after all… If your work was hard as a second year, he was probably drowning in schoolwork and studying, right? Not to mention you kind of felt like you should show more respect to him: he was an ancient fae and you were pretty sure he was a war veteran despite being in high school.
“Oh, please call me Lilia. We’ve known each other for too long for you to be using titles, (name). I still remember the day the magic mirror sorted you into Diasomnia, right after my dear Silver was sorted.” he said with a smile, his pointy fangs catching your eye. “You’re close friends with Silver, aren’t you? I’m quite grateful you spend time with him, he’s a good boy.”
“Oh, um, well… Then I’ll call you Lilia, if that’s really ok…” you said, a bit bashful. You didn’t miss how he talked about Silver; you knew that the 2nd year did constantly refer to Lilia as ‘old man’, but you’d brushed it off to perhaps him being close enough to Lilia to use that as a nickname, but… The way Lilia spoke, it almost sounded like a father being happy his son had found a friend. “Yes, me and Silver are close. We’re in the same class, I usually give him my notes when he falls asleep in the middle of lectures. He also helps me study, sometimes.”
“Oh, you do? I must thank you, then. It’s quite kind of you.” Lilia said with a smile. “Oh! How rude of me, I haven’t offered you a cookie, have I? They’re freshly baked, you should try them. It’s the same recipe I made for Silver when he was younger.”
“Er-!” you paled. Crap, this was what you’d been fearing. The stress of the request made you not even stop to think about the odd wording of ‘making cookies for Silver ever since he was younger’ or the implication Lilia had somehow raised Silver; your brain was blaring alarms telling you to NOT put those… Things anywhere close to your face. But at the same time, Lilia was smiling so happily as he picked one of the charred objects and stuck it out in your direction.
“Lilia. You shouldn’t be giving that to humans.” a deep voice made you freeze before you accepted the cookie with a reluctant hand. You quickly turned around to spot the dorm leader entering the common room, arms crossed as he stared at Lilia. “You’re going to kill them if you make them eat that.”
“Oh, come on Malleus, don’t say that! My cookies are delicious.” Lilia sighed, taking back his baked treat and taking a bite for himself. You internally cringed at the noise of what you now absolutely knew to be chunks of eggshell and god knows what else in the object. “Don’t you see you’ll give (name) a bad impression of my cooking if you say that?”
“... It’s my duty to protect my dorm members.” said Malleus, walking closer to you and warily eyeing Lilia’s cooking. You held back a sigh of relief- yup, he’d definitely saved you. If even Malleus Draconia was scared of Lilia’s hellish cookies, you probably would have keeled over and died if you’d put that in your mouth. “Besides, it’s late. Why were you baking?”
“I was making a treat for Silver, since he was studying. This little one just happened to walk in when the cookies were ready- they’re studying for the same quiz Silver is cramming for.” said Lilia, gesturing to you. “It seems Crewel is having his fun in stressing out the first years, fufu. What potion is he making you all make?”
“Oh, um, it’s… A minor memory loss draught. It’s got a lot of steps and ingredients, and it’s way too easy to mess up, so…” you said, a bit nervous. You felt… A little bit silly now, for stressing so much over it. Right now, you were surrounded by one of the strongest mages in the world- who was also the prince of the dark fae- and an ancient and wise fae who had probably fought in great wars and aided the Valley of Thorns royalty. To them, making a weak potion was probably as easy as blinking.
“A memory loss draught… That does indeed have many steps to its preparation, if I’m not remembering wrong.” said Malleus. His words made you relax a little- you’d half been expecting some comment like a minor memory loss draught? That’s child’s play, why are you stressing out? or something. Your dorm leader was known to be a bit haughty at times. “You look exhausted. I assume you’ve been studying a lot?”
“Wait, I look tired…? Crap, is it showing in my face?” you said, cursing internally. You had a few friends in Pomefiore and you just knew they’d be fretting over you if your eyebags and exhaustion were so evident your dorm leader, who was not too good at picking up clues, could notice.
“I’m afraid so, my dear. You look like you’re ready to drop any second now- I know you’ve got a lot of work, but perhaps you’re pushing yourself too hard.” said Lilia. You grimaced; great, now you’d somehow managed to worry the two of them. It felt… Wrong to have two powerful and important beings even express concern over your wellbeing: you were just… Some puny human who got sorted into Diasomnia, you weren’t even particularly close to either of them. Hell, you’d only spoken to Malleus a couple of times before, for fuck’s sake.
“Hmm, Malleus, could it be that you still remember how to make that potion?” said Lilia, tilting his head. The taller fae nodded, making Lilia hum in understanding. “I see, I see. Well, (name), I’m sure you’d get an amazing grade if you were to study with Malleus. He’s quite good in potionmaking when he concentrates, I promise you. Besides, it wouldn’t hurt at all for him to get closer to his own dorm members now, would it?”
“That’s-!” you visibly stiffened, looking at Malleus. Sure, you weren’t as scared of him as some of the other students were, but…! You still couldn’t just treat him all willy-nilly like some random kid; he was one of the most powerful mages in the world and crown prince from the Valley of Thorns. The mere idea of dragging him off for a study session that benefitted only you made your gut twist. Although the idea was anxiety inducing, you couldn’t help but notice a spark of… Curiosity? In Malleus’ eyes, almost as if he was entertained by the idea of it all; still, you couldn’t just accept something like that. “I couldn’t possibly-!”
“... or you could go study with Silver. I was going to go check up on him, so you could come with me.” said Lilia, perhaps sensing your panic.
--- time to make a choice! vote in the poll linked below to choose how to advance in the story!
poll: https://www.strawpoll.me/20971117
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Souly Damned Saturdays!~
🌼 It’s Saturday just let me live in my little denial world. Anywhoo. I am really excited about this one! When I started working on SD more and more I realized that I wanted to come up with something more unique and personal. So let’s get started! If you would like to know more about Souly Damned, its world, it’s stories, and its characters drop me an ask! You can also click that link at the end of this that says PREV. This will take you to the past posts!
The Soul:
Mortal souls are especially important to the world of Souly Damned. All souls are unique on their own and I am sure you are wondering... Kit...being in the UT community you are not using hearts or traits are you? The answer is no. If you notice in some of my fics you have already seen what the SD souls are. They are floral based and unlike UT the colors do not have a significance. It is the symbolism and physical traits of our little flower souls that makes it important. I will note that if the mortals soul is let’s say a blue then their eyes will reflect this (eyes are the windows into the soul).
The soul is tied strongly to the physical body branching off into roots that resemble that of a circulatory system. If the soul has magic within it they are more vibrant in color. When it comes to physical appearance this is entirely dependent on the person themselves. Generally the flower type is based on symbolism or personal traits. If someone is an introvert for example then the bud of the flower may not be fully in bloom. What is cool about this concept is that the possibilities are endless.
Life’s hardships and joys also reflect on the soul. The soul flower can be damaged in various ways such as torn, wilted, decay as some examples. I should also mention that this is just scratching the surface of this. If you have specific questions about how to translate a character’s soul just ask.
Every single soul works this way on a basic level but there are differences between the types of souls.
Infernal Beasts: They do not have souls at all which is why they were locked away.
The Fallens: This specific soul type is reserved for Fallen Celestials aka the Princes. Due to their fall the edges of the petals of their soul flower is burnt and smoldering. As with Celestial souls they are encased in crystal which presumably amplifies or hides the power it contains.
Changelings: Since Changelings used to be mortal souls tormented and twisted by their time in the Infernal Realm their souls appear like burnt remains with a faint hint of color on the outside edge. All the roots connected to the flower are also burnt, possibly twisted. This particular type is why Changelings have a ravenous hunger to consume souls as theirs are barely existent. They almost have this primal drive to fill the holes where there souls once resided.
Imps: Imps are the denizens of the Infernal Realm created by the beasts. There are many different types but unlike their origin they do in fact have souls or what resembles them. Very similar to The Fallens but opposite. The flowers are mostly charred with hints of color within because they are creatures that hail from the Infernal Realm they are magically touched and therefore the internal portion will glow through the burnt sections. This color will expand to a degree if more power, aka souls, are obtained by the imp in question.
Celestial: Celestial souls are within a flower shape but they are completely white and encased in a mineral housing. Depending upon the rank of the Celestial some of this could be gemstones, crystal, or the petals are dipped in precious metals. Their souls look like they are blazing in vibrant fire (color is based on the individual). The flowers may burn but they are never charred or burnt.
Contracted Souls: Contracts vary depending on the power that a mortal is connected to.
Fallen: Each Prince has a specific contract symbol on their physical form. This symbol appears on the mortal soul flowers petals, branded with that mark. High Infernal: This is reserved for dukes and others in the Infernal hierarchy. The interior of the soul flower will have an inked symbol of their kingdom and the flower itself will burn with the same colored flame as the duke/higher in question. Regular: Souls that are contracted legally have a singular symbol as lower level demons are not permitted to claim certain souls for themselves. It looks like the flowers drip with molten wax in a red color. Upon close inspection in the middle of the bloom will be the standard contract symbol, impressed in the wax. Illegal: Very much like a regular contract, illegal contracts look far more smothered as the demon possess and takes over a soul completely. As the mortal soul is smothered a black waxy like sludge covers the entire flower. If it is fully consumed then what remains will be the soul of the Imp instead after being burned into nothing.
How to Break or Nullify a Contract:
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Each contract formed is by a person to person basis but there are some things that can break or nullify the contract.
The demon no longer desires the soul- Rare but possible. If the demon contracted no longer wants the soul they can break the contract if they so wish but that means that the humans magic will still be maintained and able to be passed to their children.
The human is killed before the stipulations of the contract are fulfilled.
The demon violates the contract set forth.
The human soul is no longer classified as human.
*note a Prince’s power is so extensive that a vessel is crafted in order to hold this power and so that it’s easily accessible for the contractee. These vessels can range from jewelry to physical marks. Each one is unique to both the Prince in question and the contractee.*
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So I was sitting, trying to work on a bit of art, when my mind took a left turn and was like "How would you turn Katara evil?". So over the course of three hours I wrote this. It's intended to set the ground work for what the rest of the story would be should I decide to continue it. Any future chapters would be much more detailed as that's where the bulk of the story truly begins. TWs: Graphic Depictions of Violence, Execution Style Murder, References to Early Childhood Trauma. I think that's all of them.
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Blood's Calling
Absolute Power Corupts Absolutely. It was a foolish thought which had once caused Katara to swear never to bloodbend again. It was a memory she could recalled clearly, as if she was reliving the moment. She remembered sensing Hama's veins and arteries, flowing like rivers throughout her body. She remembers desperately grasping those rivers, ripping the will of thier controller away. Forcing the old master to submit to her. It was her first taste of power. True power.
She was no longer the weak child who watched as her mother resigned herself to death. She was no longer the young teen who froze in shock as a Fire Navy vessel slammed through her villages wall. She could use this. She could prevent other young children from being orphaned. She could...
That night the thought stopped there. It wasn't the power that scared her. No aspect of waterbending has ever scared her. What terrified Katara, was that she enjoyed it. She enjoyed forcing Hama to release her friends, saving thier lives. She loved the control, knowing she would never be helpless again. It felt wrong at the time, relishing in such a thing. Subjugation was what the Fire Nation was fighting for. So she swore never to use it again.
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That promise was not long lived. Storming the Southern Raider vessel was an opportunity she never believed could be a possibility. How could she possibly turn away the opportunity to bring her mother justice. To stop whatever future, monsterous actions these beasts were sure to commit.
Under the light of the full moon, her blue eyes, darker than the ocean's deepest abyss, bore into the ship as she flew closer. Calling out with her bending, nearly the entire crew was swept out to sea. Boarding the vessel, she made quick work of the few men left on the deck before storming inside, water trailing behind her. Katara had almost forgotten the former Fire Prince was with her until he stopped a solder attempting to enter through a door they were passing.
As the captains door was blasted open, she gave him no time to retaliate. His blood called to Katara, and she answered. The fire in his hands flickered out immediately as she turned his body against him. Images of her mother's body, charred unrecognizable. A smell of burnt flesh seared into her mind. As the memories assaulted her, Katara was left feeling one desire permeating her being. She would make him suffer.
She cramped his hand immediately before dragging him around, slamming the appendage into the floor. Katara smiled slightly, savoring in the power she now held over her mother's killer. She forced the captains arms behind his back, contorting the joints to near dislocation. His blood was singing to her, and unlike the first time, she was not afraid to grasp it.
Zuko's questioning of the man broke through her rage. Lifting him to look her in the eye, she knew within a moment that it wasn't him. As if being snapped from a trance, she realized what she had done, nearly torturing an man who'd never wronged her. Quickly releasing him, Katara heard the identity of her target as she walked away.
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She believed that was the last time she'd ever bloodbend. She was wrong. Since that day, the urge to bloodbend was stronger than before. Every full moon, she could sense the steady pulses of her sleeping friends, like faint whispers begging her take control. She chose not to of course. Katara couldn't imagine subjecting them to such a power again.
Time passed, the war finally ended, Zuko ascended to the throne. On the surface, the world was at peace, or so it seemed. Her epiphany came a few months after the wars end. It was a couple hours past sundown on the night of a full moon. Once again the desire to bloodbend filled her senses, withholding sleep from her grasp. Katara's recent appointment as ambassador to the Southern Watertribe brought her to Caldera, assisting in negotiating a trade agreement between thier Nations.
With sleep alluding her, she decided to walk through the the main city, hoping the cool night air would help clear her mind. Passing an alley, she heard an odd noise. Stepping into the darkness and turning a corner around the building revealed a sight that made Katara's blood boil. Backed into a corner by a man wielding a knife was a young woman, a small child was hugging the back of her pant leg, large innocent eyes reflecting fear. Looking at the child, her mind flashed to another little girl, standing in an igloo, not knowing that was the last time she'd hear her mother's voice.
Katara wouldn't let that happen again. Grasping the man's blood, she lifted him into the air, sending him crashing against the wall.
"Take the girl and go." Katara's voice lacked the passion that it typically carried. Instead, a cold voice, sharper than any blade of ice came from her.
She didn't give the man a chance to rise as she seized him again. Katara brought him to his knees, arms bent behind his back, forcing him to look up at her. Drawing water from her pouch with her off hand, a large icicle hovered in the air.
"Please..." His voice quivered with fear. The same fear that was in the child's eyes mere moments ago. She directed a dark glare at the man.
"How many have begged you the same way your begging me..." It was a whisper, however the words cut through the air like a knife. She didn't give the creature a chance to respond. With a swift motion, the icicle flew threw the air. A sickening thunk echoed in the alley, as the ice slammed into the monster's heart.
A crack of thunder preceded a downpour during her walk back to the palace. A sense of detatchment settled over Katara. Of course she considered it to be more of an awakening. Despite thier efforts, ending the war, negotiating treaties, writing laws, people were still suffering at the hands of monsters impersonating people. The legal system is slow and flawed. It let's too many slip through, allowing them to continue thier torment.
'I will never, EVER, turn my back on people who need me!'
The memory echoed through her being. An oath she swore, resonating from the core of her being. The legal system failed repeatedly but she would not. Katara had power. The idea of what true power was is something Katara never understood until now. The ability to take dreams, desires, and force them into reality. She could change things. Bring justice to people who've suffered and protect children from the horrors that still plagued the world.
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A year passed and one thing became evident. Katara needed to get stronger. She'd made strides in eliminating the beasts that stalked and preyed upon the innocent. But it wasn't enough. There were too many for her to only take action once a month. Traditional waterbending was too loud to use against them. If she was caught, her friends wouldn't understand. She needed to do this, to protect the people. She needed bloodbending.
The training started much how Hama had described inventing the bending form. She started with small animals, which she mastered rather quickly unsurprisingly. The larger ones, like the tiger seals, proved to be a much bigger challenge, one she eventually completed. The lack of the moon's light was a difficult obstacle to overcome Yet as she stood before the kneeling moose lion, whining in pain as it failed to break from her will, she knew she was ready.
The next year was far more successful. With the growing population in her own tribe, Katara had to make sure the vermin were weeded out as soon as possible. Patrolling every night she was home allowed her to remove sixteen threats to her people. She found another twelve during her trip to the Northern Tribe, where she helped negotiate an alliance with them. The corruption there ran deep. Extra effort would be made during her next trip.
The Earth Kingdom is by far where Katara made the greatest impact. Twenty three criminals were slew in Omashu, another thirty one during her month long stay in Ba Sing Se and fifteen bandits who tried to ambush her during her travel between the major cities. It was an interesting observation, how quickly the eyes on these creatures shifted from arrogance to fear once they no longer held the power. Not unlike the one in the alley that first night. So many of those beasts have been removed by her, and she knows she protected countless people in the process. Katara knew she was doing the right thing, hearing children playing outside only reaffirmed her resolve.
Katara had only been back home for a few days when Aang landed at her village center. Running out of her igloo to greet him, she hesitated at his serious expression.
"Aang, it's good to see you."
"You too, Katara. I wish it was under better circumstances though." Katara tensed at his words as Sokka exited thier igloo behind her.
"Hey Aang. What's up?"
"Zuko needs our help. There's a group of rebels in the Fire Nation. According to his letter, they call themselves the New Ozai Society. They want to dethrone him and restart the war." Aang said. Katara didn't give any outward reaction to his statement. She hadn't been to the Fire Nation since that first night in the alley.
"We'll help. Come on Sokka." Katara immediately cut in as he finished speaking. Turning, she headed back inside the igloo, lost in thought as she began packing. Her neglect of the Nation was clear. How could she allow those scum to coalesce into such a threat. She would make up for it during this trip. She needed a way to learn who all was involved and where they met. Someone who could get inside thier ranks. Who wouldn't report her own involvement to Zuko or her friends. Her thoughts led her to one person who would be accepted by them with no problem. She wasn't happy about it, but it couldn't be helped. At the very least the visit would be interesting. After all, with all of Katara's travels, she had yet to see the inside of an asylum.
"Appa, Yip, Yip!" Aang called, begining thier journey across the sea.
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So, as you can see, the route I would take to make Katara a bad guy would be to take a core aspect of her character (in this case "I will never, EVER, turn my back in people who need me." Still one of my fav moments for her character btw.) And twist it into something dark. I took the helplessness surrounding her mother's death to foster a craving for control within her which connected to bloodbending. I tried to depict a steady dehumanization of criminals in her eyes through the time skips. I felt really awkward writing dialogue but hopefully you all enjoyed my take on a Darker Katara :)
#dark katara#katara#princess azula#bloodbending#death tw#murder tw#atla fanfic#avatar au#avatar fanfiction
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Amazing how you can erase and twist everything someone says and not even bother to check things before launching in your 1000 words answer where you repeat the same things over and over again. When I say “Theon’s story is about destroying death”, I AM talking about his trauma and abuse. I’m not saying that Theon is a superhero, I’m saying that Theon’s story is literally about surviving and saying no to the dying of light, he’s always been trapped between life and death. How is that less meaningful than Jon being AA just because he’s special. Jon is stereotypical, not matter how much you deny it. He is the bastard son of the “good” Ned Stark that everyone seems to venerate, he becomes important, he’s actually a prince, and heir to the kingdom, he’s going to come back from the dead and apparently it’s not enough because he’s also AA. Also “I search for AA and see only Snow”, how is that not a red flag? Didn’t you think that it could be about Ramsay hiding Theon? I didn’t say that everything is about mythology and ancient literature, I said Theon has a lot of connections to it, connections that are hard not to notice, that actually make sense and are not taken out of nowhere like everyone in this fandom does. Theon’s story is about himself, not about Bran or any Stark, you’re just obsessed with throbb. Theon is connected to magic and to the gods, Theon is the rightful king of the Iron Islands, so why it’s so amusing to people when someone suggests that Theon has something to do. I’m not saying that Theon has to be important for his story to count, but why it’s so amusing to people the idea that Theon is an abuse and rape victim and at the same time he has something to do. When it comes to female victims, they want them to do great things, when it comes to Theon they constantly reduce him to poor say boy, but Theon is not like that, Theon is in pain and he wants everything to end, but he’s also angry and he wants to be free. I didn’t say that he has to explore the sea because he’s an Ironborn, you said that, not me. I think that that’s something Book!Theon would want to do if he survives everything. Because he would be free and he would go into the unknown. That’s not true Theon has no connection to the sea, the Drowned God himself wants him as king and he likes ships, there’s also the fact that he never learned how to use a ship because he was kidnapped at 10. Also what’s so wrong about him connecting with his culture? He could change things, he wouldn’t be a viking, he would be an explorer. The way you talk about it, it’s like dealing with trauma means closing himself in an house. And about the prophecy, what’s so amusing about saying that Theon has a lot that fits? I know that the prophecy is vague, but Davos and Stannis don’t come close to it as Theon does. Theon died in almost every possible way and managed to come back on his own. He keeps saying that he died in Winterfell. Read the last chapters in ACOK, it’s all there and it all happens at the same time, and still there’s so much more, so many things. And it’s like this HAS to be true, but you say no to everything, you don’t even think that he has something to do with the Iron Islands, you just think he has to ��atone” to Bran, so how are you different from D&D? Theon doesn’t have to atone to Bran, Robb or anyone else called Stark, his story is about identity. And Bran is talking to Theon and yes, Theon took Winterfell, but it’s not the only reason their stories are connected, Theon taking Winterfell from Bran was a foreshadowing to them interacting in the future for different more important reasons, that was always clear to me
... anon never mind that I hadn't talked about this in ages so like you came into my inbox with some 500 words of replying at 8 am on a sunday morning and idk how *I* am supposedly twisting things when
you brought this out of nowhere
I hadn't talked about the AA thing nor anything wrt theon's ending in like... a year
you are basically making up half of what I said or didn't because like 'oh I didn't say he had a tying to the sea because he's an ironborn' but two lines later you say 'what's the issue if he reconnects with his ancestry' which.... means that he'd have a tie to the sea because he's an ironborn so what's the truth here
'you're obsessed with throbb' I didn't mention robb once in my entire answer nor throbb nor I have written throbb meta recently like... I ship throbb but I don't see how that has any relevance to an answer where I literally didn't mention it and I said theon's sl can't be just about the starks
idk why you seem to think I have great stakes re jon snow and 'he's stereotypical no matter how much you say he's not', I'm saying that for a chosen one archetype he's a deconstruction so he's not stereotypical in the way h*rry p*tter is or aragorn is or whatever and it's like objective text and honestly I have fic to write and stuff to do and I could have like completely ignored your ask and said 'I think you're wrong' instead yesterday I spent half an hour answering you like... you don't need to sound that aggressive or come at me with this entire block of text when I wasn't even the one starting this conversation
what’s so amusing about saying that Theon has a lot that fits?
anon I explained in those 1k reply or whatever all the reasons why everything theon has that fits is something every single other character has at that point dany has the exact same reasons for fitting it and I told you all the reasons why jon has extra things that fit that no one else has, like.... it's my opinion, I haven't changed my mind since 2012 on it, you aren't going to change it and no one is until grrm writes different, you don't need to convince me or look for me to validate your reading because you can have whichever reading you want and no one stops you, I just don't think it's correct, the end
The way you talk about it, it’s like dealing with trauma means closing himself in an house.
anon you keep on saying I say that but you are aware that if I say I want char X to get their little house in the village/woods/city of their choice and grow strawberries with their loved ones and be happy I'm not saying what you said and I'm talking abt endgame? jaime and brienne both also deal with trauma and when I say that I hope they get married on tarth have fifteen kids and never set foot in a court again I'm not saying having children is the only way to deal with trauma like.... one thing is the endgame one thing is how you get there, where did I say theon is gonna lock himself in a cottage in wow and stay there until ados? nowhere, like.... please a bit of chill here? you read a thing and arbitrarily decided it meant stuff it doesn't mean but I am the one twisting and erasing? like sorry but it sounds like you want a fight about it or smth and believe me fighting about who is AA is not on my list of to-do things for today, also 'I died in winterfell' is like... yeah, theon greyjoy died in wf then he became reek then he became theon again, it's metaphorical, jon literally died, also like if AA wasn't a main fiver then it'd probably be someone completely out of left field that no one gaf about and for that matter there's a character who has been dying and coming back to life who has a flaming sword since like acok, but do I see you telling me it's textual proof beric is AA? no, but that would make more textual sense than theon imvho so *shrug*
in short: anon sorry but it sounds like being that theon is your fave - which... I mean he's in my top three so I agree that he's a great fave choice - you want him desperately to have the main role in the main storyline which is imvho not the case and again... even if jon was stereotypical (which we can argue on but like... from your wording I think you hate jon ngl which fair enough everyone has their dislikes) it wouldn't make the textual evidence less evidence and like... idk how to say it nicely but not liking the protagonist is more common than not and if you don't whatever but that doesn't mean he's not and that the textual stuff indicating he has the mystical hero storyline doesn't exist, I'd suggest you make peace with that concept and with the concept that your fave doesn't need to have any specialness in their sl to be a legitimate fave, also like... in asoiaf everyone who is special™ has a shit life and when grrm says he wants a bittersweet ending like in lotr, do I have to remind anyone what was lotr's ending? samwise gamgee goes back to his little house and children and wife in the shire and says he's home and we're all happy that the dude who deserved it most got it great, if that's what he's aiming for I really don't think presuming everyone gets the magical great™ storyline is in the cards X°D but most of all: again, everyone who's had a sl being full of magic prophecies and shit in these books has had a crap life and hated every second of it that was related to those prophecies and I want theon to be happy at the end so in lack of any imvho text proof that says it's anyone but jon I'll stick with that because it means none of my faves is in line to hate their life, which is exactly what happens to jon if he's AA and exactly what I think is gonna happen and I don't particularly like that for him either bc I do want jon to have nice things but idt he'll get them, doesn't mean I'm trying to find any textual reason to decide on my own that AA is dany (a char I care a lot less about) so that she gets the brunt of it because that's now how it works, I made peace with it too X°D
#1#2#34#5#6#anonymous#ask post#ch: theon greyjoy#ch: jon snow#honestly anon i'd ask myself why you're so invested in this you're looking for a fight#bc that's how you sound like#*shrug*#peace
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