#the apartment above me is renovating and for the whole day ive heard nothing but this incessant fucking drilling

[nextstopparis]

Hello again, funky little raccoon! I just have a quick question, do you think Arthur is more bad or good? (I know that’s probably a tough question because everyone has bad and good parts in them and it might be difficult to say which is bigger, sorry!) I know he’s done some things that he probably shouldn’t have, but then he also does some other things that are good and I don’t know??

Cause I’m having another little bout of love for him but then I’m like “ahh he’s not that good though! But maybe he can’t help it and it’s Uther’s bad parenting?” But I feel like although some of it was Uther’s bad parenting, he could’ve still changed?? And so now I’m really conflicted.

jsndksn omg hello!!!!

you're right lol this is a really hard question, but only because i could technically write you like. a 7 page essay on my opinion. now, i HATE to sound like one of Those people that try to turn things that really arent philosophical discussions into philosophical discussions but. i really think this heavily depends on what you personally define as a "good" person vs. a "bad" person. regarding arthur specifically, it also very extremely depends on your own interpretation of his character.

like. is someone good solely because of their actions to you, or does intent matter as well? which one is more important? what about if they repent for evil deeds theyve done? what if they want to but aren't given the chance? does that make them good or bad? does that even matter? all those fun questions.

ive personally always loved arthur because i believe he's fundamentally good. this is for a bunch of reasons (im not gonna go through them all) but one of them is because.... i think its obvious that..... whether properly executed or not.... the concept behind arthurs character was obviously a good person...? at least, to me it feels like thats what the writers were going for? someone with many flaws that is fundamentally good, just needs to be pushed to actually achieve his full potential of goodness? like going by the way they talk about him.... it just felt obvious that THATS what they were going for......

now, a lot of people have a problem with arthur because...as we all agree, i think.... they really did his character dirty for the sake of? comedy, prolonging the story, needless shock/tragedy, whatever. take your pick, lmfao. the way they portrayed arthur's fundamental goodness/difference to his father was through a mostly "tell" medium, rather than a "show" one, which rubs people the wrong way. i mean, you have all these people saying he's a great king, that camelots better now that hes king, etc etc, and yet time and again we see him regress his forward thinking every two episodes. we see him make promises that never turn into anything. whatever. and i get it. obviously that sits wrong with people. it sits wrong with ME. but that makes me hate the writing, not the character, because i personally see it as a fault with the writing. its not the characters fault the writers didnt take the "show dont tell" advice. there were a lot of storylines the writers just abandoned, it didn't seem out of the ordinary that arthurs promise to the druids would be yet another one, to me. they also completely abandoned the small detail that he was born of magic?? but also, you know. i understand that some people hate the character for it, and who am i to say anything about that.

so regarding your dilemma on like. how he's done pretty shit things. yeah, i totally get it. and unless he'd actually done something to repent for them, they shouldnt be ignored. but we're talking about a tv show that didnt really seem all that concerned about proper character development/actual redemption/whatever so. unfortunately, we didnt get that. what we did get, however, was arthur being willing to listen to criticism against him. we got arthur surrounding himself by very good people, who loved him and called him out. we got arthur wanting the best for his people. we got arthur ready to risk his life on every occasion just to save even one other person. we saw arthur explicitly express he wanted to bring peace. that he just wanted his people to have peace. we saw arthur want to repent. we saw arthur promise to keep his mind open about magic. we saw arthur be very concerned about justice, and not blindly convicting someone. we saw arthur want to be better.

again, its a lot of the "tell"ing thing and not much of the "show"ing thing, but... again... to me thats just the writing's fault. he sounded genuine, and im biased so i believe that the intent behind all the above was good/genuine. this makes him a good person, to me, with a lot of unresolved ..... er? everything?

i dont know if this answered your question at all, but i can only hope at this point jdnsjkncsk. at the end of the day, he's a fictional character, and its completely valid to just hate him sometimes and love him other times for literally any reason at all:) or you know. hate him all the time or love him all the time.

[evangelineartemiasamos]

Red Queen Fan Fiction Black Storm XIX

as I’ve mentioned in this post, this is the continuation of The Fitter.

Find this on wattpad

info dump on original characters

part I

part II

part III

part IV

part V

part VI

part VII

part VIII

part IX

part X

part XI

part XII

part XIII

part XIV

part XV

part XVI

part XVII

part XVIII

part XX

Extra I

Brand new material! I've done it, I've inserted content from the King's Cage excerpt even though it doesn't add up with my plot in general ;-)

The Moon part II

The Reaper

"What a gift she's made to you," Cassandra marveled at his prowess.

Sorata nodded gravely, yet he couldn't help it, he started to smirk when he saw her raising her hand to her chest in a dramatic gesture. She wore the ring he'd given to her.

The only jewellery she never takes off.

"We'll put your ability to good use, Sorata Ives," she announced, then grinned. "Thief."

The time for hesitation was over.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mare POV

I'd said the words Maven had wanted to hear from me. Words that were supposed to set up a ruse, to catch any Newbloods still in the shadows, powerful swords without one to wield them, as Maven had phrased it. Before they pledged their allegiance to the Scarlet Guard, the king had made a public offer to take them in, like a shepherd calling to his flock of sheeps.

Only that Maven was a wolf in disguise.

I had to lie about everything that had happened in the fall, when both the king and I had been searching and recruiting the Newbloods of Norta. I'd wanted to hide and train them in safety, while Maven had them killed or imprisoned. But that was not what I'd told the people of Norta.

While I, together with Shade, Cal, Farley and Kilorn, had indeed acted in defiance of the Guard, everything else had been lies, a story fabricated for Maven's puposes.

Still I had no idea what Maven wanted to do with the Newbloods. His other Merandus relatives, apart from his mother, were hardly able to be the puppeteers of a whole company of Newbloods, not with their minds alone. Did he really expect to win over the Newbloods by claiming the Scarlet Guard was out to hunt them?

I doubted those Newbloods were in for any warmer hospitality than myself, even when I had been claiming to be Mareena Titanos. I wondered what Griffey told the Guard about this manoeuvre, or about me. What information did she receive in return? She didn't tell me anything, not after she had given me that one letter.

Love was like eating shards and waiting for the amount of blood you'd retch. And so was hope. That was the only thing she'd said to me. And it was accurate. More than a month had passed since the revelation about her cooperation with the Guard, and I had to endure this while completely ignorant of Cal's schemes to help me. Sometimes, I was too afraid for him to wish for rescue, not alone and on his own devices.

But I couldn't help it. My captivity was gnawing at me, as I was aware of Maven's atrocities, committed while I had to be his prize. With each passing day, I wondered more if the Scarlet Guard really thought it worthwhile to liberate me - me who had brought herself into this mess. Maybe what Griffey relayed to them made the Guard think I was doing well enough.

One vengeful part of me was glad to play a part in Maven's newest game. This move had to force their hands. The Scarlet Guard, the Newbloods, the other nations, most of all Monfort - what would they do about the official revelation of the existence of Newbloods? I had tried to shout out to the Red servants, telling them about the trap and the lies, without great expectations. Yet for the first time in almost two months, I trembled with excitement. They had to do something now. But I didn't dare to hope this would include me.

We were no longer in Archeon. The thaw came at the beginning of February, and Maven had his court travel his lands, to show me off, like Lady Haven had predicted. But it wasn't just me. He had another Newblood to present, a middle-aged man who had registered himself as a Newblood on his own volition, or so it was claimed. I wondered if he was actually a prisoner dragged out of his cell, to play a role for Maven, just like me. The gratitude he put on was too much to bear for me, yet he did his best to cement the image of the formidable boy king that Maven honed so much.

I wanted to retch in those moments, when I stood next to them, dressed-up like Evangeline while she had still been at court. Her progresses at the choke had become an official part of the royal broadcasts, to make the Nortan people proud of their warrior queen. Probably everyone was happier that way, apart from me. Instead of Evangeline, I had to accompany Maven as his Newblood ally, flanked by Ptolemus as the stand-in for his sister. I had lost count of the times I'd spat at him. But I still did, unbothered of the exchange of snickers between Ptolemus and Maven that followed everytime. I didn't care.

They deserve so much worse.

The room I spent the night in was more like a literal prison. The sounder device ticked relentlessly as two Arvens and the two other sentinels, strongarm Sallos and the Samos magnetron, held watch beyond the prison bars. I was in a  dilapidated side building that was a little off from the renovated main mansion that Maven lodged in, I had gathered that much, as well as that we were currently in the seat of the governor of the Aderonack region.

The king and his court had a party going on, after making another broadcast with me. Afterwards, I had been brought back into the dirty ashes, the gown stripped off me as soon as the broadcast was over, and put into rags again. At least that was more honest. I imagined the haughty nobilty grinning at each other now, aware of the ruse they were part in, laughing at the gullible Reds. I didn't know how much backlash the Scarlet Guard had received during the last days, but judging from the smug faces of the courtiers, a lot of Reds had to be cutting their support, perhaps selling out known rebels, though it was doubtful that it did them any good with the vengeful Silvers.

I wish the Scarlet Guard would drop bombs on them, just as relentlessly as in the propaganda.

I stayed awake until late, as usual, to shun the dreamgazer as much as possible. Though I was not even aware if he was taking part in the progress, or how close he had to be to invade my dreams. Without a glass wall between us, I was able to listen to my gaolers, to hear them talking about their boredom, frustration and gossip. It was strange to notice how little they cared about my presence, realizing I was just a job for them. They didn't fear me and so, they didn't look at me prying open the links of the chains shackling me. A useless try, to be honest, but better than doing nothing.

I startled in my tracks when I heard gasps coming from outside my cell. They were followed by the muffled sounds of my gaolers slammed against the metal bars. Silver blood trickled into my cage, reflective in the pale moonlight gleaming in from the small window above me. Heels clacked on the stone floor of the corridor and the cell doors opened creaking. I turned around, but all I saw were shadows, and Silvers slumped down in death. I couldn't grasp what had happened, or who was responsible.

Not until the sound of steps stopped as if someone stood in the middle of my cell. The moonlight intensified to an unnatural level as if all clouds in the sky had vanished. The light gathered on a figure like the limelight upon an actor on a stage.

Cassandra Griffey appeared in front me like a vision of doom, styled like a SIlver lady, in a black dress made of starlight and with a wreath of raven feathers on her brow. She looked like a harbinger of war, dressed in Silver blood and drowned in moonlight, too bright to be real.

"Strike midnight, and the party is over, Cinderella, " she said, smirking and tilting her head. "It's time to go home."

Commentary:

It's time to rush things, because King's Cage is coming! A short chapter, and thus with a cliffhanger.

The seat of the Aderonack governor is Coriane's and Julian's old home, I thought this is a nice idea, to have ... this ...  happening there.

I baulked at writing the little summary of Glass Sword, even though there are only like three sentences, Argh. I just don't like to put summaries into the text.

But I like the fairy tale references.

@maudthebookeater @queenmareena @the-little-lightning-queen @evangeliensamos @dewydrael @lilyharvord @redqueenfandom @marabarrow