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sweetbunpura · 2 months ago

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Upendi - The Fierce, Lioness Princess 3

WC: 1231

“There you are, I was beginning to think you got lost, Herbivore.” Leona was leaning against the side of his jeep with his arms crossed as Yuu and the girls approached him. “These them?”

“Yep. Ladies, go ahead and introduce yourselves.”

“Good evening, Prince Leona.” The hyena beastman bowed. “I’m Jacquiline, but please call me Jackie.”

The Serval beastwoman mimicked Jackie as best as she could as she supported the African Wild Dog. “I’m Dharia.”

The woman next to her wobbled slightly. “I’m Novanna. It’s nice to meet you.”

Leona nods. “It’s nice to meet you three.” He got off of the car and opened the door. “We’ll take you to the doctor once we get there as well as get anything from your homes that you need.”

“Thank you, my prince.” Jackie and Dharia helped Nova into the car as Leona opened the door for Yuu.

Once they were settled in, Leona started the drive back to the castle. Along the way, the sun had started to dip as it began to paint the sky a beautiful shade of various colors. People were on their way home while they passed through the city and entered the main grounds of the castle.

“I’ll have to tell the others that I won’t be returning tonight.” Yuu spoke as Leona helped her out of the car. “And I’ll show you guys where the infirmary is.”

“You don’t have to cater to us, Princes-” Jackie started only for Yuu to interrupt her.

“Call me Yuu, please.”

“...Yuu.” Jackie made a face as her ears fell. “It feels so odd to say.”

“Forgive Jackie, she’s been calling you princess ever since you and Leona got married.” Nova said as Leona helped her out of the car. “Thanks.”

The moment they ventured inside the building, someone was waiting for them in the main foyer.

“Uncle! Auntie!” Cheka came up to them, smiling bright as his hair and nearly reaching up to Leona’s chest in height.

The now thirteen year old was wearing a white and gray striped dashiki top and a pair black pants. His long fire colored hair was tied back in a loose ponytail as he rushed to hug his favorite people.

“Cheka! You’re back!” Yuu hugged him. “Welcome home, honey!”

“Thanks, Auntie!” He hugs Leona. “Uncle!”

“Hey Pipsqueak.” Leona ruffled his hair. “How was your ‘vacation’?”

Cheka made a face and moved back to cross his arms. “It was boring. I don’t know why I had to learn all that stuff in the first place. It was all tests and books, I’d rather learn in the field. Oh, and Nadra is-” His eyes shifted over to the woman behind them. “Oh! I’m sorry!” He bowed as an apology. “Please forgive me, I didn’t see you there.”

“You’re fine, little prince!” Nova waved him off. “And you’ve gotten so big!”

“Thank you.” He laughs before turning to Yuu. “Auntie, can I talk to you real fast?”

“Oh?” Yuu blinks. “Alright. Leona, could you show them to the infirmary and then their rooms, please?”

“Fine.” He bent down to her ear and lowered his voice low enough that it wouldn’t be picked up. “But you’ll tell me what he said, right?”

“Mm-hmm.” She waved them goodbye and turned to Cheka. “Well?”

He looked around. “Not here. How about the gardens? Where you and Uncle hide away in?”

“...You remember that?”

“I use it every so often to get away from Kifaji.”

“You shouldn’t be picking up our habits.” She flicked his forehead as the young teen laughed while they began to walk towards the garden.

Yuu pushed aside a few hedges and climbed behind them into the cool and shaded small garden. A brass table and three chairs sat in the center while various trees acted as a cover from outside prying eyes. Nearby, was a small stone fountain with fish inside. The aquatic animals poked their heads out of the water as Yuu threw some food to them before sitting down in the chair.

“Okay.” He pulls the hedges close and sits next to her. “You know the last council meeting I sat in on? The one where you proposed fixing the slums?”

“My daily and constant proposal? Yes, I do.”

“I asked Dad if you had given the papers to him yet and he said he never got them.”

“What? I put them on his clean desk, there was nothing around it.”

“When was this?”

“A month ago-” Yuu narrowed her eyes. “Just before Leona and I started handling Cloudcalling.”

“I think whoever discarded the papers was banking on you being too distracted with the event to remember that you gave it to Dad in the first place. I would’ve reminded him, but I had that ‘vacation’ with Nadra all of a sudden.” Cheka’s ears fell as he looked at her. “What do we do? The next council meeting is tomorrow.”

“I’ll hand the papers to him personally.”

“Do you have them on you?”

Yuu sighed. “No, but I’ll give them to him in the morning.” She ran her fingers through her hair. “Someone Is undermining my actions.”

“I think so, but I don’t know who.” Cheka got up and offered his hand to her, which she took as he helped her up. “I wish I could tell you more.”

“You told me enough and I thank you for that.” She hugged him. “I already said it once, but welcome back.” She moved back. “And you need to tell me about Nadra.”

A blush appeared on Cheka’s face. “M-Maybe later!”

Yuu laughed as Cheka bolted away back into the castle while the sun dipped below the clouds. She made her way to her and Leona’s room, opening the door to see the beastman lounging on the bed with his shirt off and in a pair of sleep pants. A book was in his hands, which he closed once she entered the room.

“You’re still up?” She closed the door behind her and threw off her clothes, tossing them in the corner with Leona’s own.

“Yeah.” He sat up as she joined him. “What was it about?”

She proceeded to tell him as she undid her hair, watching as his eyes narrowed and he tossed the book away.

“The hell?”

“Yeah.”

A low growl came from Leona as his tail lashed. “Herbivore, this is more than just a refusal to listen. This is deliberate sabotage.”

“I know.” She laid down. “I’m not going to let it get to me. I need to remain focused, getting too angry won’t solve anything here.” Yuu patted his thigh. “So down boy.”

Leona pulled his wife into his lap. “You may not be getting angry, but I am.” He kissed her. “No one ignores my wife like this.”

Yuu felt her face heat up as he began to pepper her face with kisses before moving to her neck. Leona mouthed at her neck before sinking his teeth into it.

“Leona!”

“You can’t blame me, we’ve been busy all month.” He kissed the bit mark and pinned Yuu to the bed. “I missed you.”

She rolled her eyes. “I’ve been here the whole time.”

“You know what I mean.”

“Spoiled Lion.”

“Stubborn Herbivore.”

They’d focus on what they were going to do tomorrow at a later time. For now, the couple was content with being in each other's arms.

#twisted wonderland #twst fic #upendi #yuu homura #twst oc #leona kingscholar #cheka kingscholar

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raayllum · 4 months ago

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Anyway I did my 2nd watch of the season after sleeping / with the end in mind and it totally worked for me, especially with the understanding that there is 30% of the story left (and thereby Callum and Rayla's arcs aren't Over and room for more growth/plot had to be left open) and watching with the ending in mind.

I'm not upset that this is where Arc 2 ends, in some ways because it's sort of like season 2 of Avatar where Zuko doesn't join the Gaang in their 2nd arc (book two) because from a character basis he really wasn't Ready to do that / they had more story to tell, so I don't think with what they're doing it would've made sense to rush it in TDP. Nor do I think any of the previous set up for other outcomes (i.e. possession fight, salvation, etc) were wasted. Merely that TDP likes to do layer upon layer, and also have foreshadowing come back once (so you think you're safe) and then twice. I also don't think that Arc 2 resolved all the threads (i.e. Rayllum and greater good conflict / Aaravos & Callum) and ended them, and instead nudged them forwards in interesting ways for continued future exploration. I'll probably write more about the specifics later if this post doesn't get unwieldy or condensed with them for now.

In the meantime, these were things that I found really clicked for me on my 2nd watch through for S7 and with Arc 2 in general:

1) Arc 2's overarching focus on the Archdragons / the finale resolution with it.

We had a focus every season on at least one of the archdragons, with Zubeia (S4-S7), Luna Tenebris mentions (S4-S6), Rex Igenous (S4), Domina Profundis (S5), Sol Regem (S5-S6), and Avizandum mentions (S4-S5).

With that in mind, while I'm sure Aaravos' intentions was for no one to know of his plans ahead of time (7x01)... his actions also led to Callum and co. making connections to all the other Archdragons that they could pull on to bring everyone back to Lux Aurea, and Aaravos could destroy them (with no real consequence to himself, as his spirit was now free and his body could reform), taking a massive swing at the Cosmic Council's grand order that'd been enforced by the archdragons. He said the elves and dragons would fall hard... and now the dragons have, with the Cosmic Council being next (and thinking that the real focus on the Cosmic Council would be predominantly in arc 3 was, I believe, the general fandom consensus anyway).

AARAVOS: Now this is familiar, isn't it? Hasn't this all happened before? Arrogant fools. Again and again you make the same mistakes. (7x09)

Suitably, though, the Archdragons sacrifice themselves to protect all of Xadia, making amends for past / previous actions in their own way (narratively). They upheld the Cosmic Order, and then chose to break it.

Now, Aaravos will be returning to a world where there are no archdragons, and the only thing that can destroy his mortal form again would be the Nova Blade or some dark magic spell to take his spirit (but more on that later).

This also caps off S7 being about the destruction caused by one Archdragon (Sol Regem) and then the salvation through sacrifice from the other four as the finale. It comes full circle, but without repeating the cycle.

It also seems like the Nova Blade hasn't actually ever been used, as Aaravos states in 7x07:

She could have used the blade to destroy me, but chose instead to help imprison me. To spare me.

Or if it has, it still has a massive consequence that Zubeia is familiar with (the wielderdies if it's used to kill someone?), given that she is worried when Zym (and Ez wielding the sword) appears, intending to use it:

I'll also talk a bit more about why I think Aaravos designed 7x09 to be a win-win scenario for him no matter what when I get to Callum's section, but in the meantime...

2) Rayla's arc

Listen, y'all know I wanted Rayla to save Callum, like a lot, and thought there was a good chance she would if he was possessed again. However, neither of those things happened (also circumstances were crazy) and it was built up throughout the seasons, as well as in S7:

RAYLA: We can't save everyone, Soren. There's too much at stake. (4x05) RAYLA: But I can't help you yet... because right now, the world needs me. Callum and Ezran need me. There's a great evil returning to Xadia and we have to stop it, at any cost. (5x01) RAYLA: It hurts me to know they're trapped like this. It's agonizing. But our mission comes first. The world is in danger, and you can trust me to stay focused. (5x04) RAYLA: No, Callum. I want to help my parents, but I won't let it bias me. (6x01)

The season 7 setup is most prominently seen in S7 during Rayla's trial, in which she emphasizes that the assassins' deaths were not in vain due to the subsequent impact on the world as a whole, and in how their assassin pledges were upheld in their own way:

Life is precious. life is valuable. We take it, but we do not take it lightly. All of your lives were taken. But your sacrifices, they weren't for nothing. Callisto, you pledged your breath for freedom and we freed ourselves from an awful, pointless war. Andromeda, you pledged your eyes for truth. And we found the truth, a truth that changed the world. Skor, you pledged your strength for honour, and now humans and elves have finally begun to treat each other with honour again. And... Ram. You pledged your blood for justice. But what is justice? The king died that night. A life for a life. Is that justice? How much suffering is enough to paid for the mistakes we've made? I don't have the answers. But I'll carry you with me, all of you, forever.

So it made sense for her assassin oath to come back in some manner ("My heart for Xadia"). She had to honour her team's sacrifices by being willing to make her own (killing Callum and herself by symbolic extension), partially because her and Callum's "ride or die" dynamic had become a "ride and die" dynamic": this was his plan and his choice, and the alternative was to let him succumb to a fate worse than death AND to let Aaravos destroy the world through his hands.

And I get why this feels kind of backwards, because on the one hand, it seems like Rayla made a lot of progress, even questioning the validity of her own suffering for mistakes she / choices others have made, which is Huge!

And yet she's willing to suffer, and sacrifice Callum. The paying the price motif is even brought back in Aaravos' dialogue with the archdragons ("And what will your sacrifices buy?"). So what gives?

Well, I think in a lot of ways Arc 2 was Rayla learning to accept and ask for help (S5-S6), that she wasn't alone (S4, S7), and working to come back every time she leaves (S4) but... still being prepared to leave:

and still with sharing or acknowledging her own burdens not being her instinct.

There's a reason we all went "Rayla refusing to sacrifice Callum would be Character Development" after all. I also think it's quasi-similar to Rayla leaving after S3. She had a lot of opportunities to learn that she didn't have to do everything alone in arc 1, but those lessons didn't stick; in a similar fashion, Rayla had opportunities throughout arc 2 to learn that she doesn't always have to sacrifice something, but with Callum being increasingly sacrificial... Those lessons were there, but didn't stick. The other side of her sacrifice arc is not resolved.

With that in mind, I wanna talk about our favourite dorky mage, and then maybe arc 3.

3) Aaravos' Grand Plan & Callum's Corruption

This is a little hard to parse out just because we don't know what Aaravos' next step / goal was in bringing about Eternal Night (presumably to get the attention of the Cosmic Council, but who knows). That said, a few things I'm chewing on:

Aaravos, as previously discussed, found the most effective way to rid the world of (presumably) every Archdragon other than Zym

Aaravos, for whatever reason, wanted Ezran to have the Nova Blade, which Aanya even sets up for us in 7x09

Aaravos knew all along that Callum would turn to dark magic to take him down.

AARAVOS: Very soon, your brother will embrace dark magic to save those he loves. EZRAN: I suppose you've seen that written in the stars? AARAVOS: I have seen it written in his eyes. (7x07)

Furthermore, he wanted to have Callum be corrupted again, gave him the apple in 7x01 as the first attempt. The apple corruption was lampshaded with "Is there anything I can do to help?" + identity/name motif. Aaravos was actively goading him into dark magic in 7x09, even when he knew there was an assassin ready to kill Callum (Runaan), and smiling even when Callum began the spell (once Rayla had stepped in).

As of S7, Callum has been called (and not disputed being at least partially) a dark mage, used Viren's staff and now has it in his possession (and we still don't know why it was never supposed to be used again), and has a white streak. The willingness to go that far "has always been a part of" him and is now permanently reflected in his character design.

Secondly, we know that Aaravos' game with his pawns is not over, due to the secrets of the cube being ongoing (but confirmation in 7x09 that it indeed points towards Elarion) and due to framing with Claudia.

While I did consider that maybe Callum's pawn intro imagery had come back around in the conversation in 7x06 featuring the cube so heavily (!!) and then Callum choosing to do dark magic to stop Aaravos and save everyone as his destiny ("The one I write myself")... He's still corrupted, Aaravos is still going to come back in 7 years with Callum as a vessel, and the Key to the Book (metaphorically to literally the Book of Destiny) is still unresolved.

TLDR; think about how much it'd Hurt in a Good Way for Callum and Rayla to both know she would've sacrificed him for the greater good (fulfilling her end of foreshadowing from 6x03) only to be smacked in the face that Callum refuses to sacrifice her in Arc 3 with the other side of his ("if you ever have to choose between me and the greater good...").

The fact that the Cube canonically points towards Elarion, which feature stories about "a fair exchange of beloved for beloved" after a season in which Aaravos mandates "Your beloved is an assassin who cannot kill" is just the cherry on top. It also means that both Callum and Rayla have accordingly hit the 50-75% wavelength of their arc(s), with us now having a definitive basis for her being willing to that sets up more clearly her being not willing to in the future, the circumstances we'd need for a possession fight re-established, and the cube beat still on the table because the cube itself is still waiting to be plot relevant.

Rayla always follows Callum's lead ("Say the word and I'll go back into that tower with you") and reflects him ("Who told you that?" "You did") and the lessons he teaches her about love. He'll pave the way, and she'll follow, and then their arcs will come to a close.

We just had to get here first.

Conclusion??

Anyway I hope you enjoyed, I want to do a bigger Arc 3 predictions post (the ruby project, Evrkynd, Claudia, Harrow, etc.) sometime soon, but I hope in the meantime this brought some potentially needed assurance, excitement, or another perspective to consider.

#the dragon prince #tdp #rayllum #tdp rayla #tdp callum #tdp spoilers #tdp meta #s7 spoilers #s7 #arc 2 #post season seven #tdp theory #analysis series #analysis #cube hostage exchange theory #predictions

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the-nova-council · 8 months ago

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✨ Updates Related To This Blog ✨

Don't worry we're not dipping or anything, we just had a meeting today and decided on some ground rules for ourselves as well as new organizational stuffs.

First: We're starting a queue and filling it with stuff from our drafts so that way when the hosts review the posts together to make sure nothing too oversharing is said (a new rule we implemented like yesterday because Artemis decided Apollo was oversharing and he had previously had sole discretion over what was considered inappropriate), which can only happen once a week or so due to us not being able to control who is in the front room very easily so we kinda have to wait for the Core Four to just happen to all be co-con at once, a whole bunch of stuff isn't just posted all at once. Our chosen tag is #thankqueue.

Next: More specific tagging will be done for organizational purposes, as well as more specific trigger tags. Organizational tags include: #ramble #life update #job related #sys gossip #headmate intro #medical related #mental health related #med related #not-system-related #source [name] #special interest [name] #rebagel #photo post #council speaks #system mapping #our art #faceclaim . Trigger tags will include: #food #food mention #nsft #body pic #body discussion #medicine #tw pills #sh mention #depression #tw depression #anxiety #medical anxiety #tw anxiety #tw paranoia #tw medical #tw hospital #tw psych hospital #tw scars #tw doubt #tw fakeclaiming . If you would like any additional tags to be added for your filtering use, please let us know! We will be keeping anonymous asks open.

And finally: With our new rules set, many overly cautious restrictions are being lifted on what is allowed to be said and posted here. Now that we will have specific trigger tags, Elas, Felix, and Wildfire will be allowed to post more of their personal things with the appropriate tags, as well as others. Expect more posts in general and please don't feel bad about filtering tags or requesting others to assist in your filtering!

We also wanted to say, we invite anyone to send asks to the system in general or to specific ones of us! If it's to someone specific we will wait until they are front or co-con to be able to answer. Anon asks welcome, all asks welcome! Also, feel free to DM us if you want to make friends!

Anyway, we love y'all, thank you and goodnight!

-The Council

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teojira · 10 months ago

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Hi! Do you think you could write some head cannons for Pota Maurice, like reader trying to befriend him and wanting to be around him a lot (platonically)

have a nice day :)

[Maurice and reader friendship headcanons!]

Summary: Maurice comes to accept you as a loving companion despite his previous doubts.

Warnings: None! Platonic friendship with Maurice!

A/N: I was so excited to see this request that I immediately did it. Whoops. I hope this is good!! I love Maurice so bad, I see him as a friend that kinda takes on the role of dad.

Maurice out of the entire ape council is the best suited to become friends with.

He has his fair bit of trauma related to humans and at first, he is hesitant to let you near him, he respects Caesar undoubtedly, but the deep rooted fear still exists within him, the abuse and punishments still fresh in memory.

But the orangutan has a good sense of character, so when you're taken in by the colony per Caesar's allowance, it's only natural that he places you with the calmest of the apes.

The way to win Maurice's favor is easy, treat him with respect and treat the small apes he teaches with respect. That's really all he asks.

Don't touch him without permission, and don't try and be forceful. He'll come to you when he's ready. He knows you have good intentions!

You can not buy his friendship, but finding him berries and herbs that he can eat will soften him to you and eventually boom, you're one of Maurice's friends now.

He doesn't care for meat like the others, so the fact that you've gone out of your way to help him find stuff to his taste makes him warm up to you all the more.

He doesn't mind that you tend to cling to him. Honestly, he's gonna see you as a kid. He can't help it. You're new to the colony, no friends or family, so he decides he'll be the one to be your family.

He'll drag you along to classes he teaches, asking for your help. You, of course, know a lot more human words than he does, and with your help, teaching goes a lot more efficiently, more apes learn the better.

Maurice expects you to eat with him at dinner, waving you over with his hand when he sees you awkwardly stand around. You have him. You're fine.

It's usually Maurice and Caesar who dine together and they can smell the anxiety radiating off of you, so they try and make conversation for your sake, their hands sign slow for you to read with ease.

'Take more berries.'

"I'm fine! This is plenty, than-"

Cue Maurice giving you a look that is pretty much saying it's not up for debate. Take the damn berries. You're not gonna go hungry.

Fast forwarding to War, everyone knows you as Maurice's companion, and it's due to you that Nova is able to travel with you all.

Maurice can't help but see parts of you in her, small and alone, just like all those years ago.

You, Malcolm, and his family have proven that the cruel and sadistic humans that he once dealt with were a minority.

So he gives Nova a chance and is happy when you accept her without thought, immediately forming a friendship with the young girl.

It makes him ever wonder why he disliked humans before then, the circus and the army soldiers being long forgotten due to you.

#MAURICE I LOVE YOU #all my best friends know of maurice if they know nothing else about pota #teddy asks ♧#teddy loves apes ☆#planet of the apes x reader #planet of the apes #pota #pota maurice #Maurice #maurice x reader #pota x reader #platonic

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hiveswap · 2 months ago

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INSANE day we're having. I got accepted to a homestuck webring, i submitted that student council application form, i could pay attention in organic chemistry, I'm headed to an event in the evening, AND I just found out Nova is getting a comic. what the fuck. I'm so happy rn gonna crash sooo hard so soon it's gonna be bad

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kalinara · 3 months ago

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I think my biggest problem with Xavier's vision of Krakoa (Watsonian critique, not Doylistic), is that he seems to think that just because permanent death isn't a thing anymore, then everything's safe and fine.

I'm not saying Xavier shouldn't have invited ex-villains onto the island, but it's obvious very quickly that there are no safeguards or protections for any of these villains' former victims. Or any future victims.

So we get some awful scenes like Jamie Braddock taunting Meggan or Mr. Sinister telling Scott that he's prettier when he smiles (that one in the middle of the fucking COUNCIL meeting) and there's apparently nothing that can be done about that?

The Shadow King gets to hang around children, leading to the death of Gabby Kinney (and in her case there was some question about whether or not they'd resurrect her because she was a clone.) Sinister, we're told in Hellions, still has an ORPHANAGE. There weren't kids there, at least, but still. The fuck?

And then there's Madelyne Pryor. And yes, I agree that, back in the 80s, she was screwed by the narrative. But she's done a lot of things since then. Maybe. I admit, I can't really keep track of whether or not the one who tortured Scott and company in the 00s was actually THIS Madelyne or another dimension's. But THIS version is introduced torturing people.

Alex pushes for her resurrection. And any counter argument is immediately neutralized by pointing out that Sinister is on the Council. And...well, yeah. But it's POSSIBLE that some of Madelyne's victims might not have been on board with her running free, but that's not a thing we get to hear. (We are told that Jean supported her resurrection much later. Which I do believe, but I also think the narrative doesn't really allow any other possibility.)

Xavier's very self-congratulatory about the no prisons on Krakoa thing. Of course, there's the Pit. You go in there if you're recalcitrant and break the rules. Even if you're a child. And then you get tortured by Sabretooth because no one bothers to check in on the prisoners, apparently.

To break immersion, in a Doylistic sense, I really enjoy that Krakoa has its darker sides. This isn't a paradise for every character, and it's no surprise, when you think about it that the Summer House is on the Moon instead of Krakoa proper.

But in a Watsonian sense... Any fan of the Wolverines can verify that you don't need permanent physical harm to have a massive amount of trauma and pain.

It makes sense. Charles has that King Arthur fantasy, and part of that involves seating some of his strongest enemies at the Round Table. And it makes sense that the man whose first X-Man was an abused child that he rescued and made into his field commander doesn't necessarily have an awareness or appreciation of long term trauma.

But somehow Cassandra Nova gets to be resurrected in a safely isolated place, away from any and all possible victims. Funny how that wasn't an option for anyone else.

#xavier's a jerk

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