#to the mysterious hag plan

[swordmaid]

my hag romance murder mystery au turning to magistrate astarion working with executor shri’iia we kind of like that development

[dice-n-antlers]

I- I just killed Auntie Ethel up in her house.

Zephyr and the crew rolled up and wrecked her shit before she even had a real turn. I didn’t even know that was possible? I didn’t give her a chance to offer a deal or anything…

I opened with a HEAVY sneak attack from Astarion. She immediately invis’d, but Zeph dropped a create water, which made her reappear. Astarion (thief build with extra bonus actions) bit her and hit her again. Shadowheart hit her with an inflict wounds and then Karlach wrapped things up neatly with a smite… and that was it.

Huh…

Is this what DMs feel like when their BBEGs go down in two rounds?

[luvsupa]

tags: neighbour!nanami x fem!reader, fluff-ish, crack, reader is in mid 20s and nanami is mid 30s, readers obsessed with nanami w.c: 800

you peek through the blinds in your living room, squinting for a better view of your neighbour. a frown crosses your face as you notice a gathering of children and mothers around his front door, which is beautifully decorated for halloween. you watch as the mothers twirl their hair and giggle in unison, but you still can’t see what your neighbour is wearing. you feel like a creep, lurking behind the blinds just to catch a glimpse of the new guy.

your heart races when you finally spot nanami. damn, he looks incredible in his costume—a vampire. you’ve heard whispers about the mysterious man who just moved in, and even the married women have been known to stand outside early in the morning just to greet him.

“do i seriously have to dress up?” you retreat from the window as you hear your nephew whine while entering the living room. you burst into laughter at the sight of him squeezing into the ghostbusters costume he wore a few years ago- the sleeves barely reach his wrists.

“well, yes!” you reply, snapping photos of him as he glares with frustration. in one picture, he slightly raises his middle finger, and you gasp, realizing he’s picking up on your habits. oops.

“i’m too old for trick ‘r treating! i don’t even wanna stay here,” he grumbles, his temper flaring as you giggle at the photos and send them to your sister, his mom, just as he threatens to rip off the costume.

“can you just behave? i’m trying to meet the love of my life,” you say, putting your phone away to prevent him from ruining your plans.

“he doesn’t even know you exist, dummy.” your jaw drops at his bluntness, and he starts pointing at you, laughing like a little brat.

“tch, you’re laughing a bit too much for someone who lost his girlfriend to a stuffed animal,” you retort, laughter spilling from your lips as he shoots you a ‘really’ look.

“at least i was in a relationship! dunno about you, hag,” he fires back, leaving you choking on a laugh. seriously, who’s teaching this kid all this at twelve years old?

you don’t say anything as you pull him toward the front door, making him put on his shoes and grab his trick or treat bag before stepping outside. your gaze is fixed on nanami’s house, now swarming with kids and mothers.

i know why you mothers are here…

“ow, let go!” your nephew winces, pushing your hand away from his shoulder as you realize you’ve been gripping him too tightly. you both end up in a long line in front of his house because these mothers won’t leave! impatience gnaws at you- you just want a chance to see him.

finally, you reach the front of the line, and you scold your nephew to behave before giving him a gentle push toward the door.

“trick or treat.” he says in an unenthusiastic tone, while you stand behind him, practically buzzing with excitement. nanami steps outside with a fresh batch of candy, smiling at your nephew’s costume. when his hazel eyes shift to yours, your breath hitches.

he definitely wants me.

“your son is so adorable,” he says.

what?

oh hell no.

“son? n-no, he’s my nephew! he was dying to come to your house,” you stammer, and he chuckles, revealing his fake fangs.

“what? you forced me—” your nephew starts, but you quickly cover his mouth to prevent him from ruining everything, sharing a warm chuckle with nanami as you stand awkwardly on his doorstep.

“d-do you have any kids?” you ask, hoping he says no. your heart would shatter if he did.

“ahh, no, i don’t—though i do wish to have a family of my own someday,” he admits, and you nod, intrigued by his almost wistful tone.

“yeaaa, i want a family with you—of my own too!” you blurt out, instantly regretting your words as his smirk widens, and your eyes practically sparkle with embarrassment.

“she stalks you everyday,” your annoying nephew pipes up, and you feel your face heat up as you wish you could disappear. nanami quirks his brows in surprise, bursting into laughter, while you stand frozen, your eyes twitching. seriously, someone needs to watch for this kid.

“heh, she’s not the only one,” he replies, and you swear you must be dreaming. nanami quickly grabs something from inside his house, scribbles on a notepad, and attaches it to your nephew’s bag of candy before handing the candy directly to you.

you’re so starstruck you can’t move as your nephew tugs on your arm, dragging you away while the interaction feels surreal. you walk past the mothers, who scoff at you, and hear him wish the two of you a happy halloween.

you glance down at the notepad he gave you:

I’ll be waiting for your call, stalker

nanami kento

you gasp, noticing his phone number written beneath it. you just bagged the hottest man alive and these mothers didn’t.

“you two are a buncha freaks,” your nephew comments as he pulls you back toward your house. honestly, you don’t care—you’re just so thrilled that you’re the one he chose.

[blarshwritezz]

Yandere Prince x Reader

this is gonna be fun

TW - general yandere behavior, abuse of power

Yan!Prince was a spoiled brat. As a child he threw massive tantrums and only one thing could calm him down. Fairy tales.

Yan!Prince especially loved reading the ones where the princesses would be saved by brave knights and live happily ever after.

Yan!Prince could never be a knight though. He was sheltered his whole life, and never saw any need to be strong when he had actual knights to be strong for him.

Yan!Prince initially didn't care at all when you were appointed as his personal knight. He's had a million of them, honorable men and women that just weren't interesting enough to stay.

Yan!Prince wasn't planning on you sticking around for long either. That was until you saved him. Sure he knew that he'd be in danger if some stupid enemy kingdom decided to attack, but he never expected it!

Yan!Prince was taken in the night by a spy and held hostage. All his training for what to do in this situation was gone.

Yan!Prince thought this was the end. For 5 hours days, perhaps even weeks he was trapped there! Held captive by these disgusting men. That was, until you came along.

Yan!Prince was in awe as you fought off the men single handedly. He didn't even mind the blood that splattered on his cheek. An intense blush spread across his face as you picked him up to carry him home.

Yan!Prince realized that it was you. You were his knight in shining armor. And he would have his happily ever after with you, no matter what it took.

Yan!Prince was incredibly clingy after that. He never ever let you leave his sight, not even for a second. You needed to go attend training? Well, he'd just have to join and watch you. You needed sleep? You'd have to join him in his bed. After all, you needed to protect him.

Yan!Prince didn't let any of the other knights near you. The man that pat your back after training? Fired. Or the woman who shared her water with you? Mysteriously disappeared.

Yan!Prince eventually made you move in with him, making you bring all your belongings to his room. He was even considerate enough to add new decor that would suit your tastes!

Yan!Prince was a parasite you couldn't get rid of. You just had to have your meals together, sleep together, and even shower together.

Yan!Prince never missed an opportunity to use his authority over you. You just had to bend over to pick up that item he dropped! Not because he wanted a view of your rear...

Yan!Prince finally gave you a day off...but only if you brought him with you. Seeing you in your civilian clothes made his heart beat so fast it could have escaped his chest.

Yan!Prince finally convinced his parents to approve a marriage between the two of you. Damn old hags we're getting in the way of his happily ever after...He just couldn't wait to surprise you with the news! He was sure you'd be just as thrilled!

Yan!Prince is elated if you comply! He couldn't wait to see how you'd look at the ceremony!

Yan!Prince if you protest, however, isn't nearly as pleased. He had other ways to make you marry him. You became a knight for the money, right? So you could pay for your parents to have a better life? You must care about them a great deal. Sure would be a shame if his future in laws were framed for some horrible crime and were executed...

Yan!Prince knows you'll be happy with him, whether you like or not. It's in the name, isn't it? You two will live happily ever after...

Hope ya'll enjoyed! Any interaction is always appreciated!

[titan-senpai]

What the hell?? Pt.3

A young lady who was a model lived on earth ended in a tragic way.. and ended up in hell somehow? While she cant hurt a fly.. Right?

Warning: Cursing,smoking.

pt [1] [2]

I don't know how long it's been since I ended up here.. I've joined the Vees as THE Model of hell and ended up as an overlord amongst them.

It's probably been a few years.. The Princess of Hell Charlie was 12 when I came here.. She's almost an adult. so i've been here for a while i guess, my death was a mystery but at the end they both joined me in hell and i made them suffer as an overlord.

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Heels clacking as me and Velvette walked to the elevator to the meeting being fashionably late. As the elevator closed I checked my phone looking at my upcoming shoots for this week. as Vel opened the door on the phone with Valentino as I took a seat and apologized for being late as Carmilla gave me a nod. " R you doubting me? Really me?!" She yelled at the phone " They're all a joke.. I know" She leaned on the chair next to me " thank you see ya soon, Kisses darling" She hung up taking a seat down.

" Nice of you to join us, Velvette... Will your colleagues be joining?" she asked, turning to look at us. Vel quickly smiled " No they have better shit to then listen to an old windbag, who thinks she's tough shit. We're here to represent." She put an arm over me.

'Charming.."She continued with the meeting. " As I was saying we need to discuss.." she pointed at the board behind her as Vel lifted her hand up "Yes?" Carmilla said.

" On the subject of Discussion." She smiled, pulling a dead exterminator's head, throwing it across the table for her, smiling with a grin as I took notes of the meeting... that was getting interrupted.

Everyone was shocked upon seeing the head on the desk. Carmilla looked with a serious look " Where did you get this.." i spoke up "we found it during extermination day." " If these things can be killed, it changes everything, we can take the fight to them" She stood on the desk, heels klanking. "My gang has come up with a full assault plan" she smiled looking at me as i stood up fixing my skirt walking to carmilla handing her the notes about the plan to assault them.

Loud sipping was heard from Zestial as everyone looked at him. "Is it true my colleagues want to start a war with such little proof." he put his hands together "Thou art far more foolish than i thought." My blood boiled "little proof? Its a dead fucking exorist!" she pointed at the head we brought. she crossed her arms as i sat back down in my seat " You going blind..Old man" she said smiling at him.

"We don't know how this perished..mayhaps was not by demons hands at all." he said holding his cup again " if we rush to war without knowing when they purge all of hell for a daring uprising." Hitting his fist on the table.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The meeting was over and me and Vel were headed back to headquarters to rest and I had to get ready for my photoshoot with Angel dust.

as we entered the building i took my heels off slipping on comfortable slippers "That old hag can go fuck herself" Velvette yelled storming inside as i let her cool down.

" How did it go?" Valentino asked me as he looked at his phone. " Nothing much the usual, where is Vox?" I sighed as I took a seat on the couch. " He's at Voxtech doing his daily routine" he inhaled smoke.

rubbing my temples " when will Angel get here.." i looked at the ceiling. as i felt smoke being exhaled " He is getting ready on location. so should you." he leaned closer to my face. " You're right, I'll see you later val. " I stood sending a text to Vel who was pissed in her room. putting on my heels back on and getting in my car.

Soon I arrived at the location of the shoot for a new lingerie set. parking my car reserved for the Vees. getting in the elevator to see Angel dust. "Hey y/n!" he said waving from his chair as they got the set ready. I can say I'm quite close with Angel since he became Valentinos slave. I've been helping him and fighting with Valentino for his sake.

" hey Angiee!" I smiled as I hugged him "Give me a minute, I need to get ready. '' I smiled as I walked to the changing room. making my own lingerie fitting me perfectly. looking in the mirror adjusting tiny details as a necklace, earrings and curling my hair the way I like.

I walked out of the changing room in seconds with floating makeup touching up my face. " Ready I smiled as I made them go away. "In position" the director yelled. " also you y/n!" He yelled angrily as I looked back to him with black eyes with red pupils the complete opposite of what they normally are...

Angelic..

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As we were in the middle of a shoot the door flung upon revealing the princess of hell. " Woah! this is where Angel does his work" She smiled looking around. " take 5" the director yelled "Charlie?! What are you doing here" Angel walked to her. as I put a robe around myself and grabbed one for angel. " You mean us?" she smiled revealing a familiar face.

" Husk?" I walked closer to them. "Whos asking ?" he yelled. I put the robe on angel and me and husk locked eyes. " Y/N'' he looked at me for quite some time. " It's been a while hasn't it?" I smiled, bending down to his height " yeah i haven't seen you since i left.." He smiled. I missed that smile..

That smile could make Hell feel like Heaven for a minute...

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[georgiapeach30513]

Lips Like Sugar

Summary:  Ari only had one choice, and you were made for him.  

Pairings:  Fae King!Ari Levinson X Fae!Reader

Rating:  explicit

Warnings:  explicit language, explicit sexual content, faerie curses, size kink, objectification, being held in captivity, unprotected sex, PIV sex, creampie, loss of virginity, 18+ ONLY

Word Count:  2.2K

Series Masterlist

*dividers created by @firefly-graphics​

Looking up at the moon, the old hag continues her journey through the dense forest.  Things were almost ripe.  They were finally aligning.  Her feet trudge through the damp fallen leaves, creating an eerie stomp and drag.  While everyone else was celebrating the Summer King’s birthday, she was completing her life’s work.  

No longer will she be overlooked as a crazy loon.  Her grandmother had set a beautiful plan into motion, and it was nearly complete.  This was the last blood moon before you were ready.  

Bending over the creek side, she drops a crystal into the dark water, before scooping up a bit of liquid, and begins her trek back to her cottage.  You would be ready, and you would be his undoing.  Perfectly formed and bred to be his greatest weakness.  Someone he couldn’t say no to.

Hearing the creek of the door, you scurry back in your cage.  Eyes shimmering as you look up at her, “You’re almost ready my sweet nymph.  Drink it.”

“No,” you whine, shaking your head.  “I don’t want to.  He’ll hurt me.”

“He won’t hurt you.  Sure he’s a king, and you are such a small little nymph, but this is what you were designed for.  Drink it.”

“I don’t want to,” you whisper, pulling your knees up to your chest.  “Don’t make me do this.”

“It’s already done, my child.  By the time the sun comes up the king will be so drunk off summer wine, and human pussy he won’t even think straight.  All you need to do is be seen.  I assure you, Ari will take care of the rest.  He doesn’t have a choice.  He’ll know.  Drink.  It.”

“Please, don’t make me do this.”

“It’s already done,” she croaks out as her hand slips through your cage.  “Don’t you want to get out of here?  Live in the sun?  There are worse faerie kings that could be fucking you.”

“Ari,” a squeaky voice screams in his ear.  Ari’s naked body rolls over on the bed, groaning.  “Ari!  It’s the first day of summer!”

“I know.  I’m summer embodiment,” he pulls his covers up around his face as a few bodies clamor out of his bed.  “Nothing happened.”

“Nothing is going to happen.  They are human.  They can’t change anything.  Get out,” Ari smacks at the little sprite, but he still stands there.  “Ari, it is my duty to get the king out on the first day of summer.  It is your job to be seen, and this birthday is different.”

“Yes, a cruel and unusual curse,” Ari sits up in his bed, glaring at the sprite.  His little friend hands him a pair of pants to cover himself up, but Ari walks over to the window completely nude.  “I will die today if I don’t fuck the right faerie.  Sounds like a fair trade off.”

“Yes, and you’ve made sure to stick your cock in every living thing in the glade.”

“And still this mysterious curse looms over my head.  I am to believe that pussy will be my downfall.  I have literally fucked every fae in Collingswood, and still my sun mark hasn’t fully filled in.  The only fae I haven’t fucked is you, Pip.”

“Oh.  No.  No, I don’t think my ass is your ticket to fully becoming summer.  I think that you need to listen to the curse.  You are to go by the creek bed.  Let her come to you.  And then…”

“Make her come on me.  Over and over again.  Isn’t that what I do?  Stretch them out, ruin them for other cock, and selfishly send them back to the human realm always longing for the golden cock of summer?” Pip rolls his eyes, starting to walk out of Ari’s sleeping quarters.  Ari ever the arrogant asshole.

“You always were full of yourself.”

“Humans were always addicted to me.”

“Because they’re human.  You’re not special.  They can be addicted to anyone of us.  The one to save you is not a human.  That is something you know.  Fine, lay in here, and drown in your covers.  Die on your birthday while Fala takes charge of the glade.  It’s what I would do if I were a coward.  Imagine being scared to fuck someone,” Pip slams the door to Ari’s room, and the fae king looks at his discarded pants.

He wasn’t scared.  He was tired.  Who knew that sex for thousands of years could make one tired.  Grunting, he grabs up his bottoms, and walks out into the forest.  By the creek he would wait.

Ari tosses a rock into the creek before laying back down on the mossy ground.  This was boring.  This would be his deathbed.  Right by the water.  Everyone would know that he didn’t rise to his full capacity, and died because of some ridiculous curse.  A curse that didn’t even make sense.

A twinkle of a giggle has him jolting up quickly, and there you are, sitting on a rock, bathing in the creek.  Your laughter was like music, and your skin glimmered in the sunlight.  “I don’t believe I’ve ever seen you before,” he calls out to you.

Taking a deep gulp, you look back to the water, “You wouldn’t,” no one but Fala and her family had ever seen you.

Ari had never seen anyone more beautiful than you.  The embodiment of sexual desire.  Much smaller than his normal fae of choice.  The way he could have you twisted, and manipulated to suit his sexual needs has his head spinning.  And your wings were intact.  No fraying on the edges.  “You don’t travel much?”

“No,” even the simplest of words had your voice ringing in his ear like that most beautiful symphony, and he finds his body pulling him closer to you.  

“Where did you come from?”

“If I told you, you wouldn’t believe me,” he didn’t even care where you came from.  Every part of his body was begging to have you.  It needed you.  “Who are you?”

“The King of Summer,” you didn’t even seem impressed, and didn’t reach for his hand as he tries to pull you out of the water.  “I can command you to do anything.”

“I wish you wouldn’t,” you have never been given a choice of the matter.  Everything you did was because someone wanted you to.  He could command you by more than words.  Ari was gigantic.  Towering over you.  Thick cords of muscle over every inch of him.  You squeeze your thighs together, dreading the inevitable.  Your body ached, and craved him, and it was preparing itself to take his wide self.  

“What is your name?”

“You can call me, Nymph.”

“That is your title.  And you wear it well,” his eyes trace over every inch of your curves.  While he embodied summer, you were the epitome of sexual desire.  “What is your name?”

“I’m the only Nymph in the glade.  You can call me what my maker did.  Nymph,” Ari blows out a puff of air, and you whimper.  Having to look away from him quickly.  

“What’s wrong, Nymph?”

“It hurts,” you struggle to breathe as your arms wrap around your stomach.  “Please?” This isn’t at all what you thought it would feel like.  You had lived your whole life in a cage, knowing that you were created to be Ari’s cocksleeve.  What had once disgusted you, now was needing Ari.  Your body screams for his touch, but your brain doesn't want to ruin someone’s life.

“Please, my King,” Ari’s eyes roll in the back of his head at the sound of your pitiful voice.  He didn’t even know exactly what you were begging for.  Tiny little thing, shivering in the freezing creek, and needing her king.  “Ari, it hurts.”

“What hurts?” You point between your legs, and Ari’s mouth turns up in a crooked grin.  It was you.  The one that would allow him to fully be summer.  To hold the entire light of summer in his body.  “Oh, sweet Nymph, what would make you feel better?”

“I think…ow,” holding your stomach tighter, you have to look away from him.  There was only one thing that would take away this pain, and it was the one thing you swore you would never do.  “Ow…Ari!”

He didn’t even recognize that he had never even given you his name.  He was just as needy for you as you are for him.  Watching as your body starts grinding on the rock, trying to get a relief that will only come by his touch.  “Ari!”

“You have to tell me what you need,” he is mesmerized watching your desperate little body.  Trying to put into words what you are feeling.  Whether the pain was too much or you are too embarrassed he didn’t know.  You scream out his name again, spreading your legs apart, and it’s then he realizes that your hair was the only thing covering yourself from him.

He couldn’t think straight.  Didn’t realize that this was indeed a trap to lure him to you.  Couldn’t fathom how this seemed so perfectly placed.  But your tight little virgin cunt was trembling.  “Nymph?”

“I need you.  Need you to…don’t hurt me though.”

“What was that?  I think you forgot some words,” Ari is an experienced man, and judging by the giant bulge in his pants, he was going to destroy you.  “Nymph I need you to…”

“Fuck me!  Fuck away this pain!”

Pushing his pants down, his thick member springs to life.  Veiny and leaking precum, and you screech.  It was going to hurt.  His tremendous hands grab your legs and arms at the same time.  Keeping you unable to move or get away if you wanted to.  And you did not.  He stares at your weeping cunt, bringing you right up to his face as he watches your core throb and plead for relief.

“That is a tight little cunt.  Are you a virgin?” He asks, licking up your slit.  The sweetest dessert was right in between your thighs.

“Yes,” you whimper.  There was no way to get comfortable.  Ari was going to have you however he wanted.  He spits at your opening, bringing you down to his waist.  “It’s going to hurt.”

“Yes, my sweet, Nymph.  It’s going to hurt a great deal.  But don’t worry, I always make it fit.  But if the curse is correct, that tight little hole was made just for my enjoyment.  You’ll get used to it.”

“Get used to being used.”

“Exactly,” he moans, starting to press your channel over his tip.  “You’re mine.  Say it.  You’re mine.”

“I’m yours,” your voice shakes as he pushes through your entrance.  You hiss.  It hurt, but the relief was immediate.  Warmth moves through your body, as he lowers you over him.  Gaping your hole wide before your balls deep, and chirping at the sensation.  “Ahh!” A cry of pleasured pain echoes through the forest.  

Ari stares at where the two of you connect, grunting at just how good your tiny little self took him.  A tunneled bump on your stomach showing exactly where he was deeply rooted in you.  “Holy fuck,” he pants out.  Power fills him up as the comfort flows through your veins.

You stare at his chest as his sun mark starts to deepen.  “Fuck.  Me,” he had to finish it.  He couldn’t just stand there, holding you on his cock like you were some ornament for his dick.  

“Use.  Me,” he is frozen.  Allowing his body to be taken by summer, but also by you.  His pretty little nymph.  He wouldn’t be dying.  Not today.

“I’m.  Yours,” you mewl, and his eyes snap back into focus.  “Ari, I’m yours.”

He lifts your body off before slamming you over his cock.  Using you as a personal sex toy.  He could throw you, and lift you like you were the weight of a leaf.  Tiny in comparison to him.  His motions are hard and fast, and you have never felt more satisfied.  Your life’s work was complete as he makes you go dumb with pleasure.

“That’s right!  I’m the fucking king!  This is my pussy!  Mine!” He screams to whatever fae is around.  Everyone had seen him fucking before, but never you.  Never saw his body gulp the warmth of summer in its veins.  Had never witnessed a man become weak over a woman like this.  

“Mine!” He grunts out, eyes on yours.  “Mine!” He is possessive.  Letting the forest know you only belonged to him.  You are the reason that he was coming into power.  “Mine!”

He still wasn’t saying the words, and you fear you will be nothing more than wet skin for him.  “My Queen!” And there it was.

Fala’s haunting words whisper into your mind as euphoria overtakes your body, “It’s simple really.  I control you.  I am your maker.  Ari controls you, he is your king.  But…should you become Queen, he has a weakness.  I then control you both.  And I will get my revenge.”

“Ari!  Ari!” You scream into the woods as your eyes go blank.  Nothing had ever felt better.  Nothing will ever feel better.  You were his.  And he is yours.  Ari growls up to the canopy as he empties his load into your stretched hole.  His cream starts leaking down his thighs because your body just couldn’t handle anymore.  Just not now.  He still had some stretching to you.

“I control you both,” Fala whispers as she heads back to her cottage.  “I control them both.”

Next

Masterlist

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[one-idea]

Part 5 of ASL being raised by Shanks

First - Previous - Next

Shanks is moving as quickly as he can through the woods. He’s stumbling over roots in a way he wouldn’t normally. He’s in a panic. He needs to find Ace. The little boy’s haki signature is moving quickly away from the cliff he left Mihawk, Sabo, and Luffy at. Ace is a lot faster than he thought.

But he keeps moving. He has to catch up with the boy. And he does. Ace might be fast and know the terrain but he can’t hide his haki signature from Shanks. And Shanks is used to taking on men far faster and stronger than Ace

He catches up with the boy and wraps his arms around the boy holding him close.

“Let me go!” Ace is struggling against him for all he’s worth.

“Now hold on a second. I just want to talk to you.” Shanks tries to calm him. He just needs Ace to listen. He’s not planning on separating the brothers. In fact it’s the last thing he wants to do. Sabo’s words ring in his head and he knows he needs to be careful with his wording or else he’ll cause Ace to spiral.

“Let. Me. Go!” Ace screamed. And it hits Shanks like a canon. Conquers haki. It pushes down on Shanks relentlessly, and if he was any other man it would have brought him to his knees.

If this wasn’t Ace, wasn’t a child he had come to care for, who he was trying to build trust with, he would have released his own conquers haki. Crush the boys will under his own. But that’s counterproductive. Ace probably doesn’t even know what he’s doing right now. He was lashing out because he was scared and hurt. Shanks doesn’t want to hurt him more.

So he rides it out. Keeps his hold firm and grits his teeth against the pressure pushing him down. The kids going to be a menace once he’s trained. But eventually Ace tires out. He’s young and untrained, he can’t keep it up for long. It was barely 20 seconds but it felt far longer. Shanks is impressed by the boy.

But after the out burst Ace is exhausted. Shanks lets himself sit back and catch his breath as he pulls Ace closer. The boy’s exhausted. “Alright,” Shanks says as he shifts his hold to pick Ace up and carry him. “Alright let’s talk.” And then he realizes he doesn’t know what to say. How does he explain that he wants all three boys to come with him. That he’s known Sabo and Ace for a week and already can’t imagine life without them. Let alone Luffy, his little anchor.

Luffy, that’s where he’ll start. Shanks looks around and realizes they are close to Luffy’s old home. The small dilapidated shack, the place where Luffy lived alone for the past seven years, the place where Shanks had decided to adopt Luffy. Had Ace seen it before?

He scooped the boy up and started walking. “How long have you known Luffy?” It was an easy question. Something that was hopefully going to get them talking without putting either of them on the defense immediately.

There was a pause before Ace quietly responded, “Five months.” Shanks nodded. So the boys hadn’t met until after his last visit. That made sense. Luffy hadn’t mentioned the boys before.

“Did he ever show you his home?” Shanks asked as he saw the little shack coming into veiw.

“What are you talking about. He lives with me, Sabo, and the old hag up the mountain.” Came Ace’s disgruntled response. The old hag? Shanks will deal with this new mystery later. For now he needs to focus on the conversation at hand.

“Did you ever wonder where he lived before?” Shanks asks as he stops right outside the little shack. Ace turned his head to look at the building. It was small, old and falling apart.

“No.” Ace scrambled shoving himself out of Shanks’ arms and this time he let the boy go. Ace stumbled as he got his feet under him. “Gramps wouldn’t have left Luffy here.” Ace pushed the door open to see that the shack was basically empty. The place was practically falling apart. “Who was staying with him?” Grap would leave Luffy here alone.

“No one. He stayed with Makino occasionally but for the most part, he was here alone.” Shanks explained looking around the shack. The place still enraged him. How could Garp leave the kid here all alone? “I found out right before I left, it’s one of the reasons I decided to offer Luffy a place in my crew.”

“But things are different now!” Ace told him as the little boy spun around to face him. “He has me! And Sabo, and the old hag, and the bandits. He’s not alone anymore!” Ace would never let Luffy be alone again ‘being alone hurts more than being hurt’ his little brother would never be alone again.

Maybe he can convince Shanks that Luffy doesn’t need to leave with him anymore. Sabo won’t go if Ace and Luffy were staying. Right? (He knows deep down this is what’s best for them, but it hurts)

Shanks just smiles at the boy. “You’re right it is different now. Luffy has you and Sabo. He loves you a lot, you’re brothers after all.” He pauses for a second gathering his thoughts. “I don’t want to separate you.” He can see Ace perking up, “which is why I was going to offer to take both of you along.” He can see the shock and surprise on Ace’s face. “I’m sorry I didn’t make that clear when I offered to take Sabo. But I want all three of you to join us.”

He looks over Ace but he can’t get a read on the boys emotions at all. Ace’s head had dropped down hiding his eyes behind his bangs. “It’s not safe here for the three of you.” Shanks tries appealing in a different way. He knows Ace is protective of his brothers. “Luffy’s basically my kid already. I was planning on adopting him once we set sail. I don’t have to adopt you or Sabo if you don’t want that, but I would love to have you.” He’s starting to spiral as he thinks of what to say to get Ace to agree. He’s not leaving this island without his boys, but he doesn’t want to drag them aboard kicking and screaming. Luffy and Sabo are already on board, as long as he can convince Ace.

But Ace remains silent.

What Shanks can’t hear is the hurricane of thoughts flying around Ace’s head. This is their chance to leave Dawn island. He could sail the seas with his brothers. Sure they had promised to go at 17 but this is better. To set sail on a real pirate ship. To learn under one of the best (according to Luffy, but Shanks WAS ‘friends’ with the worlds greatest swordsman so that has to count for something) it’s to good to be true.

Of course Shanks wants Luffy around, who wouldn’t?Ace knows he didn’t at first but now that he knows the kid he can’t imagine life without the ball of energy he calls his little brother.

And Sabo is a no brainer to. Sabo is smart, strong, and a fast learner. He would do well in a pirate crew. It’s no wonder that Shanks would want Sabo around.

But Ace?

Has anyone ever wanted Ace? Garp handed him over to Dadan as soon as possible. Dadan cared, he knows she does, but caring and wanting him around are two different things. The only people who have ever genuinely wanted him around were Sabo and Luffy. The only people who knew who he was and still wanted him.

Knew who he was….. well that’s one way to see if Shanks actually wanted to put up with him. It’s a stupid idea but Ace is full of those, Sabo’s the smart one.

So Ace squares his shoulders and raises his head to meet Shanks eyes. And he asks only one question. “What would you do if you found out Gol D. Roger’s had a son?”

[dungeon-meshi-tournament]

Of course asking people which monster they find more fuckable is a good way to get them to say funny things, so I got a lot of funny comments on the Most Fuckable Monster in the Dungeon Tournament. So as usual, I compiled a list of the ones I liked best, ordered by the poll they were commented on. Enjoy!

Barometz vs Dryad (round 1 part 1)

dryad boobs in my mouth please please please you're nothing

Man-eating plant vs Mandrake (round 1 part 1)

getting my dick digested by a pitcher plant

its what laios would have wanted

Skeleton vs Dullahan (round 1 part 1)

why is the armor sweeping?? how are ya'll planning to fuck the armor??? at least the skeleton you could like wedge a vibrator or fleshlight into the pelvis. I forgot this is the celibacy site and fucking is not a real physical thing on here

fools do not see the eroticisim of plate armor

Phoenix vs Harpy (round 1 part 2)

harpy has a tits out kinda look

Griffin vs Hippogriff (round 1 part 2)

Me at first: really? You’d fuck the horse? Me, remembering the barded penises of felines : no wait you’re right

White dragon vs Red dragon (round 1 part 3)

It's canon that white dragons fight furiously while red dragon is the equivalent of that blue hands dinosaur in Prehistoric Planet

white dragon is cuntier somehow

Treasure insects vs Succubus (round 1 part 3)

another tits out kinda look

normal poll matchup. normal poll. do people want to fuck a succubus or inch long insects. who will win

Huge scorpion vs Huge spider vs Mimic (round 1 part 3)

What you do to the mimic is hidden from the eyes of all

The mimics got that dog in it

dark souls mimic resemblances have me thinking unwise

something about the mysterious air around the mimic

Golem vs Ice golem (round 1 part 4)

Same deal but one freezes ur junk off I think the winner is clear

Gargoyle vs Hag (round 1 part 4)

..abusive mother kink????

Familiar vs Jack Frost (round 1 part 4)

familiar is customizable 👍

Doppelganger vs Demon (round 1 part 4)

That stupid sexy cat simply slays too much cunt

Hippogriff vs Fish-man (round 2 part 1)

no offense to my buddy fish-man but that hippogriff is too majestic

Living armour vs Undine (round 2 part 2)

One if the extras has a really perturving bit: Undines fed by consuming liquids with mana. Holm mentions regularly feeding it BODILY FLUIDS.

is wearing living armor anything

White dragon vs Green dragon (round 3)

she made that dragon sooooo cunty and for what

Cockatrice vs Demon (round 3)

you should've put the slutiest picture of the demon. to remind everyone that ryoko -sensei is down BAD

no one: ryoko kui: i am going to make a lion demon that is SOOOOOOO [redacted]

everybody vote for demon! a vote for demon is a love letter to Ryoko Kui

I do find it funny we're blowing the demon whore moments on like, the cockatrice matchup

This manga is so slutty and yet so tasteful in it that you can't really call it anything but great in every aspect of its eroticism

Mermaid vs Harpy (quarter finals)

i am so mad rn. a mermaid !? more fuckable than a harpy!? for shame tumblr for shame

White dragon vs Succubus (quarter finals)

Dragon fluffye!

Chimera vs Mermaid (semi-finals)

sorry mermaid. falin fucks supremely.

sorry falin. gotta stand up for my fellow merfolk here

a vote for chimera is a vote for lesbians

Succubus vs Demon (semi-finals)

Not even the sucubbi stands up to the limitless demon sexo

if you think about it. the succubus can turn into the demon's many forms

Chimera vs Demon (finale)

fags and dykes fighting to the death over this one

Listen man. Even if I'm gay I understand why Falin is winning but- Consider that the demon knows your exact wants and desires and could satisfy your sexual needs perfectly. Also when he's buff and humanoid near the end

either of them deserve to win but demon sweep because that fucker showed up in a dream to me once

teef!!!!

VOTE FOR DYKES. VOTE FOR SLEEPY GIRLS. VOTE FOR SHARP LITTLE TEETH

Mermaid vs Succubus (battle for the bronze)

mermaids can't lose to magical mosquito people PLEASE

[wolfiafuntime]

Who Fell First, Who Fell Harder? But Make It Yandere!

Wanted to do this with all of the Mondstadt & Liyue men, but I lost inspo immediately after writing Aether's part. Had to force Albedo's part out... Planning on making sequels with all the other boys in the future, but idk when.

Ft. Yandere! Aether, Albedo (separate) X Yandere! Gn! Reader

Tw: Soft yanderes

Published: October 12, 2023

Words: 657

Pages: 2

Aether: You fell first, he fell harder!

 You fell for him when he saved your life from an unexpected Lawachurl. How could you not? He looked so perfect, jumping in front of you and slashing at the monster with his sword. And the interaction that followed was equally as perfect, starting with him pulling you up from the ground with ease as a floating child asked if you were okay. He didn't talk much, the child- whom you soon learned was named Paimon- doing most of the talking, but his expressions said enough.

 You couldn't help but follow Aether around, and you learned how he was searching for his lost sister, but unfortunately had to spend most of his time helping others. The second-hand offense you had felt was so strong you vowed to personally handle every problem dumped on him. And upon being reminded that you couldn't fight, you changed that vow to 'personally handle every social problem'. You hated being away from him, but his grateful smiles and his occasional quiet 'thanks' were great motivators to keep your promise. And on the plus side, all of your hard work got you a good if not great reputation in every nation you guys visited. Which, in turn, allowed you to threaten greedy merchants, scummy villagers, and shady military personnel.

 He fell for you after you had taken a bullet from a Fatui Skirmisher from him. At first, he was irked as he took the formerly unnoticed Fatuu out; bitter that you had gotten hurt. Although the reason why was a mystery to him. He always knew this would happen! Why did he let you come? Why did you have to follow him around so much?? Why did that stupid skirmisher think he could get away with this?! It wasn't until he killed the Fatuu and returned to your slowly-dying side that he realized. Despite Paimon's cries, and the horrid smell of burnt flesh, you weren't worrying about yourself. You were worrying about him, even using your seeping strength to place your hand on his cheek.

 He could never explain the relief he felt when a doctor saved your life. He helped you through every step of the healing process, making sure to wrap every one of your bandages himself, gathering the best materials for the healthiest foods, and helping you re-learn how to walk. When you were finally healthy again, he made sure to never leave your side. He'd follow you around help you deliver letters, or settle arguments. And when he'd have to go on commissions, or deal with disgusting perverts and annoying hags, then he'd tuck you away into his Serenitea Pot for safekeeping.

Albedo: You fell first, you fell harder!

 You fell for him a few weeks after your first love broke your heart and ran off with a harlot. When he had comforted you with some magically healing words. After that, you started following him around as best you could. And unlike the concubus who had tricked you, Albedo actually cared about you! Like when you tried following him into Dragonspine, he recommended that you stop so you didn't get yourself hurt. And when he learned that your 'stalking' was interfering with your job, he recommended that you get a new one in the Knights of Favonius Investigation Company!

 You continued to fall for him as he personally taught you alchemy. And when he'd give you tips for surviving Dragonspine's harsh conditions. And as whenever he took the time to make you and occasionally Timeaus food while you were up there. Naturally, you did all you could to repay his acts of love. Such as getting him rare paints to use. Or handle his friends for him. And even use your newfound power as a Knight of Favonius to hurt every harlot stupid enough to think they deserve his love!

[thegamingcatmom]

Hi! :3

I come bringing question(s) mostly just one, I have recently started cooking something and I am debating wether I want Miri to be saved or not. Well "save her" i kind of think is a strong word bc she may be unhinged enough to have crossed the point of no return but who cares about that?

My question is, you think Miri is like evil for real? Or you think she has been manipulated by 'The Black God'? I have been reading some crazy theories and stuff so my mind is racing with million ideas mind you, kinda chaotic up there. Like she certainly is no saint, nobody in that forsaken village is but here we are, simping over all of da women, sins ain't stopping us from doing so XD

Their sins are the reason we simp for them. 😏❤️‍🔥

Right so, I know a lot of fics and theories portray Miranda as this divine being/demigod who was sent to bring Judgement or smt. For some, she is The Black God. However-

The Black God is actually the name Miranda herself chose for The Megamycete, also because it holds enough power that bringing back Eva seems entirely possible. As a result, she proclaimed herself a prophet of "The Black God" and started her cult. In other words: "Mother" Miranda was born.

So, what does that tell us?

That whole priestess persona is as much of a disguise as the Old Hag (which she uses to spy on the villagers). She has to keep her flock in check somehow, and what better way to do that than by parading as their sheperd? She´s basically a wolf in sheep´s clothing, snatching them up one by one (to experiment on them) without any of them noticing.

So, there´s no divinity involved here. Not really. Miranda draws all her power from the Megamycete aka The Fungus Root - an ancient entity that stores the genetics as well as the consciousness and memories of those it has come in contact with.

As for whether Miranda is actually evil? Hm...that depends on what you define as "evil". I like to think that there´s never just "good" or "evil". Life´s not that simple.

Like, let´s look at some of the facts here:

Miranda abducted Mia and experimented on her for (probs) multiple reasons. One of them being that she needed her DNA in order to take on her form and infiltrate the Winters household.

She played dead when Chris shot her because she knew it would be the easiest way to "rid" herself of her problems and escape with Rose into the night.

(She´s literally so cunning, I can��t-)

She unleashed the Lycans on the villagers because she had no further use for them.

But also to feed them to The Megamycete and thus, ensuring its power would be sufficient for the ceremony.

She checked the Village to make sure there weren´t any survivors left.

She killed the last one herself (Iulian).

Miranda divided Rose into several pieces. Not just to experiment with them, but also because it kept Ethan busy.

BUT HERE´S THE THING:

She gave each of the Lords one piece because she knew Ethan would kill in his quest to retrieve them.

Miranda basically used Ethan to rid herself of her "children".

She always planned on killing them.

She killed Ethan when he outlived his purpose, meaning she had no further use for him.

All of Shadows of Rose (haven´t played that one yet, but Ik Miranda is even more unhinged in this one)

Sooo, does that make her evil? Some would say yes, others would say she was driven by grief and sorrow over losing her only child. I say-

It´s complicated, lol.

No one is ever entirely "good" or "evil". It´s a mix of both and whether it leans more in either direction depends on your experiences and goals in life, as well as the minds you surround yourself with. And lots of other stuff that would take a lot more than one tumblr post to fully cover. The human psyche is a mystery, after all. 🧠🧐

I do believe no one is beyond redemption, though. Like I said, nobody is ever just evil, that´s a rather naive way to perceive the world, imo. While some certainly lean more in that direction than others, it´s not what makes them, yknow? Nobody is "born" evil, so we shouldn´t reduce them to their worst qualities. Instead, we should help them get better because that will ultimately lead to a better world. ✌️

.

.

.

Thanks a lot for your ask! 💋

[stormcloudrising]

The Secret Song of Florian and Jonquil Part 10: The Shrouded Lord and a Mermaid's UnKiss

December 24, 2023

Shrouded Lord_AI Generated Image by Nuevoimg_123rf

I ended last chapter with an excerpt from 1 Peter that referenced Christ as the Living Stone and proposed that George was using the legend of the Shrouded Lord in the book to mirror the biblical one. And as I discussed previously, the myth of the Shrouded Lord is in the story to inform upon Jon’s resurrection.  So, with that said, let’s jump right back in to talk about Jon Snow, the Living Stone and the kiss of life coming his way.

JON, THE SHROUDED LORD AKA, THE LIVING STONE

The sound of a kiss is not so loud as that of a cannon, but its echo lasts a great deal longer. —Oliver Wendell Holmes

We first hear mention of the Shrouded Lord in A Dance with Dragon where after the urging of Illyrio, Tyrion boards the Shy Maid to travel to Volantis with Griff and Faegon. While travelling on the Rhoyne, Haldon and Duck regal Yollo (Tyrion) with dark tales of the legendary pirates in the area.

Haldon gave him a thin smile. "If we should encounter the Lady Korra on Hag's Teeth, you may soon be lacking other parts as well. Korra the Cruel, they call her. Her ship is crewed by beautiful young maids who geld every male they capture." This time Duck laughed, and Haldon said, "What a droll little fellow you are, Yollo. They say that the Shrouded Lord will grant a boon to any man who can make him laugh. Perhaps His Grey Grace will choose you to ornament his stony court." Duck glanced at his companion uneasily. "It's not good to jape of that one, not when we're so near the Rhoyne. He hears." "Wisdom from a duck," said Haldon. "I beg your pardon, Yollo. You need not look so pale, I was only playing with you. The Prince of Sorrows does not bestow his grey kiss lightly." His grey kiss. The thought made his flesh crawl. Death had lost its terror for Tyrion Lannister, but greyscale was another matter. The Shrouded Lord is just a legend, he told himself, no more real than the ghost of Lann the Clever that some claim haunts Casterly Rock. Even so, he held his tongue. — A Dance with Dragons - Tyrion III

Four important things are revealed to us with the first mention of this mysterious figure. First, we find out that The Shrouded Lord is a Stone Man who lives in the Sorrows. Stone men are of course those in the last stages of greyscale who live in area of the Rhoyne where a thousand years previously, Garin is said to have called down the curse on the dragon lords of old.

Secondly, Tyrion associates him with Lann the Clever, the ancient ancestor of the Lannisters from the Age of Heroes who was said to have winkle Casterly Rock from the Casterlys with only his wits. Martin is usually implying something when he mentions these ancient figures in the text, and I have a couple of ideas why he had Tyrion think of Lann at this moment. One, I will write an essay on at another time, but the second reason is because I think his plan was to have Tyrion meet The Shrouded Lord, and it would have been Gerion, his missing uncle who disappeared when he went looking for the lost Lannister Valyrian sword, Brightroar.

George did write a chapter where Tyrion met The Shrouded Lord but decided not to include it in the books. Here is what he said about the discarded chapter.

“It’s a swell, spook, evocative chapter, but you won’t read it in Dance. It took me down a road I decided I did not want to travel, so I went back and ripped it out. So, unless I change my mind again, it’s going the way of the draft of Lord of the Rings where Tolkien has Frodo, Sam Merry and Pippin reach the Prancing Pony and meet a weatherbeaten old hobbit ranger named “Trotter.” —George R R Martin

The popular fandom reason for the deletion of the chapter is that there was too much magic in the scene. I think that this is a good take and quite possibly part of the reason for the deletion. George’s writing is centered on the character and the magic is secondary. There will be a big input of magic in the story, but that will be towards the end, and so the chapter with The Shrouded Lord might have been a bit too early.

All of this makes sense but only up to a point because there have been heavily magical scenes in the story already such as the birthing of Dany’s dragons, and her visit to the HOTU. Also, in ADWD, George gave us three magical scenes…Varamyr's attempt to body jump Thistle; Arya’s introduction to the magical faces of the Faceless Men; and Bran’s first visit inside the weirwood net.

That’s a lot of magical scenes in one book and so maybe George thought that Tyrion’s encounter with The Shrouded Lord was one too many. I tend to think that the true reason the chapter was pulled is because George felt it revealed too much about Jon’s resurrection, and he wasn’t ready to show his hand yet. There is also the fact that if Tyrion did meet The Shrouded Lord, Martin would have had to give him greyscale. This is something he may have been planning to do but decided against and chose to give it to Jon Con instead.

The third interesting thing we find out is that The Shrouded Lord will grant a boon to all who will make him laugh. This is important symbolism as it has to do with why there are as many fools appearing throughout the books as they are whor*s. I’m not going to go into the explanation about fools here as this chapter is already extremely long. However, I will again direct you to Crowfood’s Daughter excellent video essay on the subject.

Finally, we find out that the mysterious figure of the Sorrows is known by three names. In addition to The Shrouded Lord, he is also called His Grey Grace and The Prince of Sorrows. It just so happens that I can show you how all these names apply to Jon. His Grey Grace is obvious as he quite likely will be considered a king…at least for a while. I’ve also showed you last chapter why Jon's symbolic color is grey; and if he does get greyscale like I’ve proposed, part of him will have the grey scaly stone like scars of the disease.

So, what about the other two names. Well let’s start first with The Shrouded Lord.

Generally, when I see a representation of The Shrouded Lord in a video or featured in an essay, it’s of the standard fantasy image of a man in shadow wearing a grey cowl like those worn by monks…similar to the one I used for the header image of this essay. But here’s the thing. Yes, a cowl can be loosely considered a shroud but it would be at the bottom of the list of synonyms.

A shroud is more properly defined as, “a length of cloth or enveloping garment in which a dead person is wrapped for burial.” And the most famous one in all history is the Shroud of Turin, purportedly, the burial cloth of Jesus that is said to have his face imprinted or ingrained in it.

Shroud of Turin, Public Domain

Understanding this meaning of shroud as a burial cloth, one can immediately see that the Shrouded Lord is quite possibly dead. Of course, as there is no cure for greyscale once it has reached the point that you are considered a stone man, it may just be symbolism. Also, as he is given the title Lord, one can also extrapolated and say that he is considered the ruler of the dead…a kind of Hades like figure. Or maybe even, regarding the story…a Night’s King like personage.

As he’s using the word shroud, that’s so closely identified with Jesus, one can also assume that George might want the reader to associate this mysterious figure from the Sorrows with his own created Christ like figure…one Jon Snow.

You’re probably saying, interesting analogy, but it doesn’t mean that The Shrouded Lord is meant to tell us about Jon’s resurrection or even has anything to do with him. And to that I say, it gets better. I missed it the first time I read the book but when I re-read A Dance with Dragons several years ago, something hit me when I reached the chapters where The Shrouded Lord is mentioned. In making the association with the Shroud of Turin, my mind immediately wondered whether George was symbolically associating The Shrouded Lord with Christ.

Having already recognized that he had set Jon up as the Christ like figure in the books who would be resurrected, I then considered the strong possibility that he was trying to tell us something about Jon’s resurrection, but I wasn’t immediately sure what the connection could be. The fact that the Shrouded Lord was a stone man and thus had greyscale; and Shireen who for some inexplicable reason, Martin also gave greyscale and then place at the Wall where she was in contact with Jon, told me that I was on to something, but again, what did it mean? And then the memories of my years of Sunday school and sitting in too many Episcopalian church services to remember kicked in and I knew the answer. I remembered.

Christ, the Living Stone!

Jesus was prophesized to be the Living Stone. Here we get the first reference in Isaiah 28:16

16 So this is what the Sovereign Lord says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone,     a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation; the one who relies on it     will never be stricken with panic.

And then again in the Psalms 118:22.

The stone the builders rejected     has become the cornerstone; 23 the Lord has done this,     and it is marvelous in our eyes.

And here in 1 Peter, we get the full prophecy.

4 As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him— 5 you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 For in Scripture it says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion,     a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him     will never be put to shame.” 7 Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe, “The stone the builders rejected     has become the cornerstone,” 8 and, “A stone that causes people to stumble     and a rock that makes them fall.” They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for. 9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.  10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. —1 Peter 2:4-10 NIV

This is the answer to the question that many in the fandom have pondered. Why did George make greyscale a part of the story? A plague is understandable. After all, his story takes place in a Middle Ages type setting when plagues were prevalent, but why one that turned its victims into living stones.

Now we know! Jesus was the Living Stone who died and was resurrected to save man. In ASOIAF, Jon is the Christ like figure who will die and be resurrected to be the savior of man. And thus, he needed to have living stone symbolism. He needed to be a living Stone and thus, George needed a way to turn him into a stone man.

In the bible, Jesus as the Living Stone is symbolic, but George made it literal for his story. This is why he invented greyscale; gave it to Shireen; and placed her at the Wall.

We now see how two of the three monikers assigned to the mysterious figure known as The Shrouded Lord can be directly connected to Jon Snow, our in-world risen Christ. He is His Grey Grace, and he is The Shrouded Lord. What about the third…the Prince of Sorrows? As George is also using it as a sobriquet for his in-world figure, it must also be connected to Jesus. Let’s look again at the Book of Isaiah for the answer.

2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. 3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. —Isaiah 53:2-6 KJV

This passage reminds me a bit of the tale Old Nan told Bran about the Night's King and how all records of him were destroyed and his very name forbidden; and later how Ygritte told Jon that Snow was an evil name. I would say the two are related.

Isaiah saying that Christ was not comely in our eyes also reminds me of Sansa saying that Florian was homely. The bible verse also shows us that Christ was known as a man of sorrows. Not quite the same wording as Prince of Sorrows, but then again, Jesus is also called Prince several times in other books of the bible, and Jon is quite possibly a prince in the books.

13 The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his Son Jesus; whom ye delivered up, and denied him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let him go. 14 But ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you; 15 And killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses. —ACTS 3 13-15

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5 And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood. —REVELATIONS 1:5

And of course, he is known as the Prince of Peace. Now that we see how the three monikers connect to both Jesus and Jon, what about Jon’s resurrection? Might the myth of The Shrouded Lord give us some idea about his resurrection? Yes. Yes, it does, because there just so happens to be a resurrection portion of the myth that symbolically plays out with Tyrion, Sansa’s motley attire husband.

The legend of The Shrouded Lord first appears in A Dance with Dragon, the same book where Jon is killed. We first read about Garin and the curse he called down on the dragon lords of old and how the ruins of Chroyane turned into the Sorrows in TWOIAF, which was published two years after ADWD.

Lomas Longstrider wrote of the drowned ruins of Chroyane, its foul fogs and waters, and the fact that wayward travelers infected with greyscale now haunt the ruins—a hazard for those who travel the river beneath the broken span of the Bridge of Dream.

However, that was not the first time the name Garin appeared in the text. It first appeared in A Feast for Crows and is the name of one of Arianne’s childhood friends who participated in her attempt to crown Myrcella queen. After their plot is rooted out by Doran, Garin is initially sent to Ghaston Grey.

During her next bath, she spoke of her imprisoned friends, especially Garin. "He's the one I fear for most," she confided to the serving girl. "The orphans are free spirits, they live to wander. Garin needs sunshine and fresh air. If they lock him away in some dank stone cell, how will he survive? He will not last a year at Ghaston Grey." —A Feast for Crows, Princess in the Tower

According to Arianne, “Ghaston Grey was a crumbling old castle perched on a rock in the Sea of Dorne, a drear and dreadful prison where the vilest of criminals were sent to rot and die.” Sea of Dorne is filled with so much symbolic implications with the potential use of two homonyms on George’s part, Sea of Dawn or even See of Dawn, but that’s a discussion for another day. The name is also likely another homage on George’s part to his favorite fairy tale, Beauty and the Beast, as Gaston, Belle’s proverbial suitor falls to his death in the sea below during his fight with the Beast.

Ghaston Grey does sounds like the perfect symbolic prison to send a prisoner named after the ancient Rhoynar prince who called down the greyscale plague upon the dragon lords. Garin is an Orphan of the Greenblood, the descendants of Nymeria and the Rhoynar who decided to remain on the rivers and not settle on Dornish land. And so, it makes symbolic sense that he was imprisoned in the “sea.” I mentioned Garin because originally, A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons was one gigantic book before it was split into two by the publisher. And so, events in the two books are basically taking place around the same time. This shows that when George introduced the myth of The Shrouded Lord in the book where Jon dies, he was already thinking of Garin and the Rhoynar.

My regular readers probably think it’s boring the number of times I repeat in my essays that George is always consistent in his use of symbolism. I repeat it often because with the depth of symbolism built into the story, it’s amazing that he never drops the ball. And because I felt strongly that Florian and Jonquil were the ancient Night’s King and Corpse Queen, and Jon and Sansa their modern-day counterpart, when I figured how The Shrouded Lord connected to Jon and his resurrection, I was stumped by Florian’s motley armor.

I knew it had to be important because when the Tyrion drowning scene played out in the Sorrows, where he played the role of the Jon/Shrouded Lord character, he was wearing motley clothing. But I was stumped at what Motley might have to do with the Shrouded Lord and stone. That is, until I recently watched one of Crowfood’s Daughter ironborn videos and discovered that she had figured out the answer. Motley represented stone.

You can watch the video, Bless Him with Stone here, but what Amanda figured out is how motley is connected to stone. Motley as we are shown in the text is how the costumes of fools are described, and by connecting this to the real-world Harlequin fool from medieval history, Amanda hit on something interesting.

She discovered that there is a real-world disease called, Harlequin Ichthyosis, that’s very like greyscale. Also called fish scale disease, it got its name from the Greek word, ichthys, which translate as fish.

Harlequin Ichthyosis

With this discovery and the connection to motley and fools in mind, Amanda soon discovered in the text that George compares the scars from Shireen’s greyscale to Patchface’s motley costume.

Grand Maester Pycelle gaped at him, aghast. "Surely you do not mean to suggest that Lady Selyse would bring a fool into her bed?" "You'd have to be a fool to want to bed Selyse Florent," said Littlefinger. "Doubtless Patchface reminded her of Stannis. And the best lies contain within them nuggets of truth, enough to give a listener pause. As it happens, this fool is utterly devoted to the girl and follows her everywhere. They even look somewhat alike. Shireen has a mottled, half-frozen face as well." Pycelle was lost. "But that is from the greyscale that near killed her as a babe, poor thing." — A Clash of Kings - Tyrion III

Mottle as Amanda’s research also showed is from the 17th century and is a back formation of motley. From there, it was then easy for her to make the connection to Florian the Fool.

This morning the puppeteers were doing the tale of Florian and Jonquil. The fat Dornishwoman was working Florian in his armor made of motley, while the tall girl held Jonquil's strings. "You are no knight," she was saying as the puppet's mouth moved up and down. "I know you. You are Florian the Fool." "I am, my lady," the other puppet answered, kneeling. "As great a fool as ever lived, and as great a knight as well." —The Hedge Knight

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"You hope to buy your way back into her favor by presenting her with me. An ill-considered scheme, I'd say. One might even say an act of drunken desperation. Perhaps if I were Jaime … but Jaime killed her father, I only killed my own. You think Daenerys will execute me and pardon you, but the reverse is just as likely. Maybe you should hop up on that pig, Ser Jorah. Put on a suit of iron motley, like Florian the—" —A Dance with Dragons, Tyrion IX

If George wants us to consider greyscale and motley in the same terms, then does that mean that Sansa’s favorite knight did not wear a motley suit of armor, but rather had greyscale. As soon as I got to this point in Amanda’s video, I knew that I had my answer about how stone connected to Florian, because it had to be if Jon, the modern-day Florian was The Shrouded Lord of the story. Eureka!

One thing I discovered in my research, which Amanda didn’t mention and so I’m not sure if she is aware is that there is a condition very similar to Ichthyosis called Livedo reticularis but more commonly known as mottled skin. It’s not as deadly or life threatening as Ichthyosis, but it does look somewhat similar.

Mottled Skin

Mottled skin causes a bluish-red, lace-like patter under the skin. Also known as Livedo reticularis, this condition happens when deoxygenated blood pools beneath the skin’s surface. This condition has many causes, including cold exposure and chronic medical conditions. —Cleveland Clinic

You can see from the picture below how similar it is to Ichthyosis. You know who else I wondered about when I read this description for mottled skin, Cold Hands. I wonder what his face and the rest of his skin looks like under his hood and cloak. But that’s a theory for another day.

One other thing Amanda’s video showed is that when you pull up mermaids on the wiki, you get a “see also” reference to Ichthyosis. It is called the fish scale disease and so that makes sense, but consistent symbolism people. Symbolism.

A MERMAID'S UNKISS

Now that we’ve discussed The Shrouded Lord, and how his myth is in the story to tell us about Jon’s resurrection as the symbolic risen Christ, let’s finally get to that resurrection and how Sansa will be smacked dab in the middle of it, something I’ve proposed for years.

Melisandre is what I like to call a shiny apple. George’s way of hiding the truth in plain sight. Because Thoros, another Red Priest brought Beric back, the fandom assumes Mel will do the same for Jon…especially as they went that route in the show.

Don’t get me wrong, she’s at the Wall because she has a role to play but it won’t consciously or unconsciously be about bringing Jon back. Although when it happens, other characters will think it was her, and she’ll likely take the credit, but it won’t be her. Mel is at the Wall to burn Shireen which will in some magical way, result in Jon getting greyscale.

I have a broad idea of how it will play out, which I will get into at the end. Mel won’t bring Jon back because what the tale of The Shrouded Lord tells us is that the return of the fiery dragon lord will be a cold one.

I have been saying for years that Jon and Sansa are the modern Florian and Jonquil and that George is telling their story through their interactions with other characters who act as stand-ins for each. In the case of Jon, Ygritte, the lover of songs, and Val, the non-maiden who Jon rejects when she looks like an icy, white hair ice queen, but thinks is loveliest thing he’s seen in a long while when she comes out of the trees of the haunted forest with her hair looking like dark honey and Ghost at her side.

As I pointed out in The Evolution of Val an essay I wrote several years ago, dark honey is dark brown in color with red highlights. A color very similar to the chestnut Sansa has been dying her hair as she hides out in the Vale. But she’s running out of dye and her red hair is symbolically beginning to peek out.

In Sansa’s arc, the role of Jon is being played by the Sandor Cleghane, the Hound. This is the angry Jon that will return with his wolf Ghost now literally a part of him. Jon will be savage like the Hound. This is why Sandor is given the Hound moniker. It’s to suggest a wolf hound…aka Jon.

Sandor’s burnt face also is there to foreshadow Jon’s face being burnt and likely where the greyscale will enter his dead body as I speculated above. This will likely happen in his funeral pyre. In Deep Geek has a great video about something like this happening. You can watch it here. Jon’s face being burnt at some point was also foreshadowed during his first meeting with Ygritte in the chapter that mirrors Sansa and Sandor on top of the Red Keep during the fiery battle of the Blackwater.

It all seemed to happen in a heartbeat. Afterward Jon could admire the courage of the wildling who reached first for his horn instead of his blade. He got it to his lips, but before he could sound it Stonesnake knocked the horn aside with a swipe of his shortsword. Jon's man leapt to his feet, thrusting at his face with a burning brand. He could feel the heat of the flames as he flinched back. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the sleeper stirring, and knew he must finish his man quick. When the brand swung again, he bulled into it, swinging the bastard sword with both hands. —A Clash of Kings, Jon VI

Sansa calmed the Hounds spirit when she sang him The Mother’s Hymn. And just as she tempered the Hound, she will do the same for beastly Jon, like Belle did to the Beast in George’s favorite fairy tale.

In, Do Direwolves dream of the Weirwood Net, I discussed and showed the textural evidence that suggests the bond mates of House Stark can access the weirwood net. This is important because I believe that when Jon called out to Ghost upon his death, their spirits merged, and Ghost took them into the weirwoods, and it is here that he will encounter Sansa and she will give him the kiss of life. There is a magical component that of course has yet to be revealed by the author, but textural clues suggests that this is what will happen. So, let’s now discussed those clues.

Sansa, like many other characters is an unreliable narrator. One of the biggest pieces of evidence to support this is the infamous UnKiss, as the fandom calls the kiss, she remembers sharing with the Hound.

Alla had a lovely voice, and when coaxed would play the woodharp and sing songs of chivalry and lost loves. Megga couldn't sing, but she was mad to be kissed. She and Alla played a kissing game sometimes, she confessed, but it wasn't the same as kissing a man, much less a king. Sansa wondered what Megga would think about kissing the Hound, as she had. He'd come to her the night of the battle stinking of wine and blood. He kissed me and threatened to kill me, and made me sing him a song. —A Storm of Swords, Sansa II

The kiss Sansa remembers, never happened. We the reader watch the scene play out on the page and we know there was no kiss between her and the Hound. She thinks of the kiss that never happened for a second time later in the book when having a conversation with Myranda.

She thought of Tyrion, and of the Hound and how he'd kissed her, and gave a nod. "That must have been dreadful, my lady. Him dying. There, I mean, whilst . . . whilst he was . . ." — A Feast for Crows - Alayne II

Why is Sansa remembering a kiss that never happened? A fan asked GRRM via email back in 2002, and this was his response.

“Well, not every inconsistency is a mistake, actually. Some are quite intentional. File this one under “unreliable narrator” and feel free to ponder its meaning.” —So Spake Martin

Some in the fandom has taken Sansa’s memory of the kiss that never happened as Sansa having romantic feelings for the Hound. However, I don't think that's it. Yes, Martin, has admitted that he has played with this aspect, but I feel confident it’s not because he intended any romance between the two.

Why do I say that Martin is not going to write Sansa having romantic feelings for the Hound? Because one of the core themes of the story is the evil practice of marrying girls before they are even of age to men old enough to be their fathers and often their grandfathers. Sandor Cleghane is old enough to be Sansa’s father being just a few years younger than Ned. Plus, Sandor assaulted and terrorized Sansa. George is not going to turn around now at the end of the story and create a romance between a child and a grown man who terrorized her.

Also, and this is important, we are shown on the page and told in the text that Sansa prefers boys her age. There is Joffrey before he showed himself to be a monster; Loras, the fake Rhaegar stand-in; and Waymar Royce, the Jon stand-in. And if that is not sufficient evidence, Sansa in her own words tells us that she prefers men close to her age.

"I suppose," Sansa said doubtfully. Beric Dondarrion was handsome enough, but he was awfully old, almost twenty-two; the Knight of Flowers would have been much better. Of course, Jeyne had been in love with Lord Beric ever since she had first glimpsed him in the lists. Sansa thought she was being silly; Jeyne was only a steward's daughter, after all, and no matter how much she mooned after him, Lord Beric would never look at someone so far beneath him, even if she hadn't been half his age. —A Game of Thrones, Sansa III

Jeyne has a crush on Beric, who is almost 22. Sansa who is 12 at the time, the same age she is when the UnKiss with the Hound supposedly took place, thinks Beric is too old, and that Loras, the Knight of Flowers who is 16 and just 4 years older than her would be much better. At the start of the story, Sandor Cleghane is 28. Why would Sansa have romantic feelings for him when she thought that Beric who is 6 years younger than the Hound was too old. Makes no sense. George is showing us that Sansa’s interest lies in boys her age.

However, GRRM has admitted that he’s been playing with the idea of something romantic between Sansa and Sandor, and so one must ask why? I think the answer is because Sandor is a stand-in for Jon, and what Sansa is remembering is not a kiss between her and Sandor but rather one between her and Jon.

In the chapter 8, I discussed why mermaids and dragonflies are symbolic sea dragons and how George has positioned Sansa as representing both. I also covered why Nagga, the sea dragon the Grey King slew was his mermaid wife and how that meant that Elenei, the mermaid wife of Durran Godsgrief should also be considered a sea dragon. However in the Durran/Elenei legend, the mermaid wife likely save her mate from drowning by giving him the kiss of life.

Then I discussed why sea dragons and mermaids represent the missing female greenseers of the story and why Nissa Nissa/Corpse Queen/Grey King’s mermaid wife was the first sea dragon and the first greenseer who was female. All of this led me to revisiting the textural clues that point to Sansa being the mermaid/sea dragon of the story and the missing female greenseer.

Legends say that mermaids or sirens as they are sometimes called often lure sailors to their death via drowning.

"A touch of fear will not be out of place, Alayne. You've seen a fearful thing. Nestor will be moved." Petyr studied her eyes, as if seeing them for the first time. "You have your mother's eyes. Honest eyes, and innocent. Blue as a sunlit sea. When you are a little older, many a man will drown in those eyes." Sansa did not know what to say to that. —A Feast for Crows, Sansa I

However, sometimes they will be a savior as in the case of the Little Mermaid, and Elenei saving Durran.

And now let’s look at what Sansa being a greenseer and the UnKiss might have to do with the resurrection of Jon Snow, the Shrouded Lord of Living Stone.

“We are made of blood and bone, in the image of the Father and the Mother,” said Septa Lemore. “Make no vainglorious boasts, I beg you. Pride is a grievous sin. The stone men were proud as well, and the Shrouded Lord was proudest of them all.” The heat from the glowing coals brought a flush to Tyrion’s face. “Is there a Shrouded Lord? Or is he just some tale?” “The Shrouded Lord has ruled these mists since Garin’s day,” said Yandry. “Some say that he himself is Garin, risen from his watery grave.” “The dead do not rise,” insisted Haldon Halfmaester, “and no man lives a thousand years. Yes, there is a Shrouded Lord. There have been a score of them. When one dies another takes his place. This one is a corsair from the Basilisk Islands who believed the Rhoyne would offer richer pickings than the Summer Sea.” “Aye, I’ve heard that too,” said Duck, “but there’s another tale I like better. The one that says he’s not like t’other stone men, that he started as a statue till a grey woman came out of the fog and kissed him with lips as cold as ice.” A Dance with Dragons, Tyrion V

In one of the myths told to Tyrion about The Shrouded Lord, he is said to have started as a stone statue until a cold kiss from a grey woman awakened or one might say, resurrected him. And as I’ve shown, the legend of the Shrouded Lord in only in the story to tell us about Jon’s resurrection. Thus, Jon’s resurrection should also involve a cold kiss from a woman in grey.

As we see from Melisandre’s vision, there is a mysterious girl in grey destined to connect with Jon. Sansa is this girl in grey. George has also inexplicably written a mysterious kiss into Sansa’s arc that supposedly never took place. I proposed that this kiss, or UnKiss as the fandom likes to call it is the one that will be tied to Jon’s resurrection, and it takes place in the weirwood net where Sansa will temper the savaged Jon and like Elenei did with Durran, save him from drowning in the green sea.

As we’re dealing with the weirwoods where time is circular, the kiss may have already happened, or Sansa could be seeing a future event. Nonetheless, the fact that she has memory of it is another clue that she is a greenseer. However, because she’s traumatized and the kiss is between her and her “brother” whose face is likely burnt, making him look more like the Hound, she has confused his identity in her mind.

I said above that George loves religious myths, but do you want to know what else he loves…fairy tales. And there are abundant references to such tales throughout the text.

Many essays have been written by others in the fandom about this topic, but the two I want to talk about here are Beauty and the Beast, and The Little Mermaid because those two are heavily prevalent in Sansa’s arc and in the resurrection of The Shrouded Lord…especially the mermaid linkage.

The original Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Andersen’s is very different from the Disney version so beloved by children, and George has merged the two in his version of the story. In Andersen’s version, mermaids live for hundreds of years and if the Little Mermaid (in the story, she is not given a name) is able to gain the love of the human prince, she will be fated to live out her days as a human. She will have a shorter life span but will gain a human soul. In ASOIAF, George gives us this tale of the fair Elenei.

The songs said that Storm's End had been raised in ancient days by Durran, the first Storm King, who had won the love of the fair Elenei, daughter of the sea god and the goddess of the wind. On the night of their wedding, Elenei had yielded her maidenhood to a mortal's love and thus doomed herself to a mortal's death, and her grieving parents had unleashed their wrath and sent the winds and waters to batter down Durran's hold. His friends and brothers and wedding guests were crushed beneath collapsing walls or blown out to sea, but Elenei sheltered Durran within her arms so he took no harm, and when the dawn came at last he declared war upon the gods and vowed to rebuild. —A Clash of Kings, Catelyn III

By the way, as I discussed in my Of Sansa Stark and Alayne Stone series, Elenei is a variant of Alayne, the name Sansa is hiding out under in the Vale as the daughter of the Merlin(g) King.

In both Andersen’s and George’s version of the tale, the mermaid saves the man from drowning. The mermaid also saves a man from drowning in the Disney version, but there is also the added detail of a kiss. While the sea witch, named Ursula in the Disney version mandates that the little mermaid must gain the prince’s love in the Andersen tale, the cartoon changes it to a kiss.

Martin has woven a life-giving kiss into his story as well with the tale of Elenei, the ironborn’s kiss of life, and even that of the R’hllorist cult with Thoros life giving the kiss to Beric and him in turn passing it on to Cat. And as we see, George has also woven it into the legend of The Shrouded Lord.

“Aye, I’ve heard that too,” said Duck, “but there’s another tale I like better. The one that says he’s not like t’other stone men, that he started as a statue till a grey woman came out of the fog and kissed him with lips as cold as ice.”

Did you notice Martin’s play on words there? The Shrouded Lord is not like the “Other” stone men.

Unsurprisingly, a stone statue is also a key element in both the Andersen original, and the Disney version of The Little Mermaid. In the original, the little mermaid finds the statue before she rescues the prince from drowning. It’s her first experience with anything from the human world and so, the statue becomes a prize possession. When she later rescues the prince, she realizes that he looks just like her statue, and this is part of what precipitates her falling for him.

On the other hand, in the Disney version, she finds the statue after she rescues the prince and it becomes a sign for her that she should follow him to the human world and this precipitates her visit to Ursula the sea witch.

We see that George has heavily built the tale of the Little Mermaid into his sea dragon and Shrouded Lord myths. So, what does all of this have to do with Jon’s resurrection, Sansa, and The Shrouded Lord?

Funnily enough, the very next Tyrion chapter after we first hear about The Shrouded Lord, the Shy Maid finally makes it to the Sorrows and is attacked by the Stone Men, leading to the near-death drowning experience of Sansa’s motley dressed husband and the answer to the question is provided. Let’s look at this chapter.

Chroyane_by Philip Straub_The World of Ice and Fire

“The Shy Maid moved through the fog like a blind man groping his way down an unfamiliar hall. Septa Lemore was praying. The mists muffled the sound of her voice, making it seem small and hushed. Griff paced the deck, mail clinking softly beneath his wolfskin cloak.” —A Dance with Dragon, Tyrion V

Make note that Griff , *Jon* Connington is wearing a wolfskin cloak, marking him as a symbolic wolf in the scene. This next excerpt is pretty long, but it is needed so that one can see all the symbolism and order of events playing out.

“Just saying a thing does not make it true. Who better to raise Prince Rhaegar’s infant son than Prince Rhaegar’s dear friend Jon Connington, once Lord of Griffin’s Roost and Hand of the King?” “Be quiet.” Griff’s voice was uneasy. On the larboard side of the boat, a huge stone hand was visible just below the water. Two fingers broke the surface. How many of those are there? Tyrion wondered. A trickle of moisture ran down his spine and made him shudder. The Sorrows drifted by them. Peering through the mists, he glimpsed a broken spire, a headless hero, an ancient tree torn from the ground and upended, its huge roots twisting through the roof and windows of a broken dome. Why does all of this seem so familiar?” “Straight on, a tilted stairway of pale marble rose up out of the dark water in a graceful spiral, ending abruptly ten feet above their heads. No, thought Tyrion, that is not possible. “Ahead.” Lemore’s voice was shivery. “A light.” All of them looked. All of them saw it. “Kingfisher,” said Griff. “Her, or some other like her.” But he drew his sword again. No one said a word. The Shy Maid moved with the current. Her sail had not been raised since she first entered the Sorrows. She had no way to move but with the river. Duck stood squinting, clutching his pole with both hands. After a time even Yandry stopped pushing. Every eye was on the distant light. As they grew closer, it turned into two lights. Then three. “The Bridge of Dream,” said Tyrion. “Inconceivable,” said Haldon Halfmaester. “We’ve left the bridge behind. Rivers only run one way.” “Mother Rhoyne runs how she will,” murmured Yandry. “Seven save us,” said Lemore. Up ahead, the stone men on the span began to wail. A few were pointing down at them. “Haldon, get the prince below,” commanded Griff.”

The large stone hand is like the symbolic hand of God hearing Tyrion’s words and passing judgment because just as they pass it, things get a bit crazy as some type of magic kicks in. Rivers only run one way except for in ASOIAF. Even their dialogue as they pass the bridge again is the same, but with differences.

The leap had shattered one of his legs, and a jagged piece of pale bone jutted out through the rotted cloth of his breeches and the grey meat beneath. The broken bone was speckled with brown blood, but still he lurched forward, reaching for Young Griff. His hand was grey and stiff, but blood oozed between his knuckles as he tried to close his fingers to grasp. The boy stood staring, as still as if he too were made of stone. His hand was on his sword hilt, but he seemed to have forgotten why. Tyrion kicked the lad’s leg out from under him and leapt over him when he fell, thrusting his torch into the stone man’s face to send him stumbling backwards on his shattered leg, flailing at the flames with stiff grey hands. —A Dance with Dragons, Tyrion V

Again, the hint of a man getting his face burnt. Tyrion knocked Young Griff down to protect him, but the stone man gets away and goes for the boy again.

“Stand aside!” someone shouted, far away, and another voice said, “The prince! Protect the boy!” The stone man staggered forward, his hands outstretched and grasping. Tyrion drove a shoulder into him. It felt like slamming into a castle wall, but this castle stood upon a shattered leg. The stone man went over backwards, grabbing hold of Tyrion as he fell. They hit the river with a towering splash, and Mother Rhoyne swallowed up the two of them. As he’s dragged to the bottom of the river by the stone man, Tyrion thinks, “there are worse ways to die than drowning.” And then we get this ending passage. I’ll haunt the Seven Kingdoms, he thought, sinking deeper. They would not love me living, so let them dread me dead. When he opened his mouth to curse them all, black water filled his lungs, and the dark closed in around him.

Tyrion, Sansa's motley wearing husband almost drowns in the green sea, and as it happens, he thinks of haunting the Seven Kingdoms as a dead man. I wonder what or better yet, who that might be foreshadowing?

When next we see Tyrion, he’s waking up and remembers dreaming of getting a grey kiss from the Shrouded Lord.

“He dreamt of his lord father and the Shrouded Lord. He dreamt that they were one and the same, and when his father wrapped stone arms around him and bent to give him his grey kiss, he woke with his mouth dry and rusty with the taste of blood and his heart hammering in his chest. “Our dead dwarf has returned to us,” Haldon said. “Tyrion shook his head to clear away the webs of dream. The Sorrows. I was lost in the Sorrows. “I am not dead.” —A Dance with Dragons, Tyrion VI

He then comments on his surroundings and we get this passage.

He was on the Shy Maid, Tyrion saw, under a scratchy blanket that smelled of vinegar. The Sorrows are behind us. It was just a dream I dreamed as I was drowning. “Why do I stink of vinegar?”

Why does he smell of vinegar? This bit is extremely important, and I will tell you why shortly. It’s George and his bloody consistent symbolism and another clue that he’s playing with the idea of Jon as Christ, the Living Stone.

Tyrion discovers that he was pulled from the river by Jon Con, and Septa Lemore then saved him. It was likely her kiss of mouth-to-mouth resuscitation that he mixed up with one from the Shrouded Lord in his dream.

“Lemore has been washing you with it. Some say it helps prevent the greyscale. I am inclined to doubt that, but there was no harm in trying. It was Lemore who forced the water from your lungs after Griff had pulled you up. You were as cold as ice, and your lips were blue. Yandry said we ought to throw you back, but the lad forbade it.” —A Dance with Dragon, Tyrion VI

As Crowfood’s Daughter stated in her video, Septa Lemore is a bit of an exhibitionist who likes to bathe naked in the river in sight of all…kind of like a mermaid; and Jonquil and her sisters when Florian viewed them in the Maiden Pool. Tyrion enjoyed watching Septa Lemore a few times. Thus, she is the symbolic mermaid stand-in for Sansa who gives Tyrion, the stand-in for the Shrouded Lord/Jon the icy kiss to bring him back to life. The fact that Tyrion is Sansa’s husband just completes the symbolism.

Tyrion and Griff are both stand-ins for Jon in the Sorrows scene. We've talked about Tyrion, but let's also look at what happens to Jon Con after he goes into the sorrows to rescue the little Lannister?

The symbolic wolf in the scene who just happens to have the same name as Jon Snow, is the one to get greyscale, the disease which turns one into a stone man.

If my theory that The Shrouded Lord’s purpose in the story is to tell us about Jon’s resurrection, then Jon Con is not just a symbolic wolf in the scene, but also a symbolic dragon. He was also closest to Jon's father Rhaegar as Tyrion mentions. So, it makes perfect sense that he’s the one to get greyscale in the waters where Garin called down a curse on the dragon lords of old.

As we are talking about Garin’s curse, Tyrion’s fall into the Sorrows may have proven that he’s not a Targaryen, because if he was, I think that he would have gotten greyscale. There is something magical about the Sorrows. The stone men ignored the Shy Maid as it travel through the Sorrows, and the pole boat had almost made it out the foggy landscape when Tyrion started talking about knowing that Young Griff was Rhaegar’s son, and the next thing you know, boat seem to be back where it started and they were again passing The Bridge of Dreams and this time, they were attacked by the stone men.

This plays into my theory that the story is about circular time and events are repeating but with differences…almost like different timelines. However, what I want to point out here is that on their second trip through the Sorrows when the stone men attacked, if you read the passage, they went right for Young Griff. It’s almost as if something heard Tyrion’s story and realized that there was someone with dragon blood on the boat.

So, about that vinegar. After all the evidence that shows how the description of the Shrouded Lord echoes that of the risen Christ, would you still be surprised if I tell you that vinegar also plays a part in Christ’s crucifixion?

In each of the 4 Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, it is stated that the soldiers at the crucifixion offered Jesus sour wine when he said he was thirsty. Sour wine is vinegar. In fact, in one of the gospels, it is said that Jesus is given sour wine to drink while the others refer to it as vinegar because that is basically what sour wine is…vinegar.

they gave Him sour wine mingled with gall to drink. But when He had tasted it, He would not drink. —Matthew 27:34 KJV

36 “And one ran and filled a spunge full of vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink, saying, Let alone; let us see whether Elias will come to take him down.” 37 With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last. —Mark 15:36-37 KJV

36 The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar 37 and said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.”— Luke 23:36

28 Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” 29 A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips. 30 When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. — John 19:28

Sour wine was the only type of wine that soldiers would have had available to them. For this reason, some biblical scholars have argued that as it was the only thing they had to give, it was meant as a succor and not an insult. Others have argued the opposite. The reference to vinegar is not only in the 4 gospels. It is also referenced in Psalms 69.

The Psalms are part of the Old Testament and were written by King David. However, modern biblical scholars have argued that there were other writers of these group of songs. Psalms 69 is a lament, and as it is part of the Old Testament while the Gospels and the life of Christ are distilled in the New Testament, it is also seen as a prophecy of the suffering of Christ, and this is why it is associated with his crucifixion. In the Episcopalian Church, it is recited during Good Friday services, the day of Christ’s crucifixion.

It is too long for me to include, but I do want to post a few lines. You can read the full Psalms here.

1 Save me, O God; for the waters are come in unto my soul.

 2 I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing: I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me.

14 Deliver me out of the mire, and let me not sink: let me be delivered from them that hate me, and out of the deep waters.

15 Let not the waterflood overflow me, neither let the deep swallow me up, and let not the pit shut her mouth upon me.

21 They gave me also gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.

As you can see, in the Psalm that is believed to prophesize the coming of Jesus to save us from our sins, water is used to foreshadow drowning. Although in the Psalms, the drowning is more spiritual in nature. On the other hand, in George’s tale, water is used to symbolize drowning in the green sea/weirwood net, which is what will be happening to Jon as his spirit resides in Ghost and he’s taken into the weirwood net.

It's Sansa, whose symbolic color like Jon, is grey because she is a daughter of House Stark; and thus, is wearing that color in Melisandre’s vision; and who happens to have red Night’s Queen hair, who will save Jon from drowning.

In part 3 of this series, I discussed the textural evidence that suggests the corpse queen was a redhead. However, a non-textural but still important clue to back up this idea is that in western art, mermaids are traditionally featured as redheads. There is no reference to hair color in the Andersen tale, but Disney’s famous Ariel is a redhead.

A Mermaid by John William Waterhouse

Let’s now recap the Tyrion chapters set in and around the Sorrows that occur in ADWD, the book where Jon Snow is killed and his spirit merges with his wolf and goes into the weirwood net as foreshadowed in the Varamyr prologue. We get several chapters that both foreshadows Jon’s resurrection and that he will get greyscale that turns one into a stone like figure.

First, we get the story of the leader of the stone men, The Shrouded Lord that echoes that of the real world risen Christ who was called the Living Stone.  Jon Snow is symbolically set up as the Christ like figure in ASOIAF.

There is also Jon Con, who just happens to have the same name as Jon Snow; and who just happens to be wearing a wolfskin cloak before he goes into the Sorrows; being the one to get greyscale…a disease that turns one into a stone man.

And we have Sansa, who George has strongly set up as a symbolic mermaid/sea dragon and who I argue is the missing female greenseer in the story associated with a mysterious kiss that has already happened; or possibly is still to occur. A kiss that she remembers happening with the Hound, but all evidence points to there not being anything of a romantic nature between them. There is also the fact that Sandor’s story mirrors Jon and he’s set up as the Jon stand-in in Sansa’s arc.

We have the tale of the Shrouded Lord starting out as a stone statue and being given life by the kiss from a grey woman who had lips as cold as ice. This woman’s cold lips and her grey color can’t help but make one think of the corpse/night’s queen. And further to the grey woman who kisses the Shrouded Lord, in the same book, we hear of Melisandre’s vision of a mysterious girl wearing Stark colors and coming to Jon at the Wall.

There is also all the mermaid symbolism in the text of them rescuing a drowning male, and how this symbolically plays out with Septa Lemore saving Tyrion in the scene where he acts as the stand-in for the Shrouded Lord. A scene that also echoes that of Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection with the use of vinegar.

I could go into detail of how Sansa’s interaction with Dontos, the stand-in for Florian in her arc also symbolically mirrors that of a mermaid saving a man from drowning, but this chapter is already overlong. As a result, I will again suggest that you watch Crowfood’s Daughter video, The Grey King’s Mermaid Wife for more details.

Now that I’ve discussed all the clues that suggest Sansa will have a role to play in Jon’s resurrection as well as why the Shrouded Lord is a stand-in for Jon, you might wonder how I think his return will play out.

Well, I think that Melisandre will have a role to play in the events, but she won’t be fully responsible for his return. With her, it will be more of an accident. I think that the kiss between Sansa and Jon will take place out of time in the weirwood net, and it will in some way, magically push Jon back into his body, but he will bring some of Ghost’s savage nature with him.

On the Melisandre angle, I think that she will burn Jon. She keeps asking R’hllor to show her Stannis but all she sees is Snow. She’s seeing Jon both literally and symbolically. Her vision includes a lot of snow which has begun to fall, but as we know, and saw in the TV show, ashes can also look like snow, and that’s what Mels is seeing around Jon.

Stannis tells Justin Massey that rumor may reach them that he is dead. Will that be true or not is not the subject for now, but I think that it’s possible that Melisandre may entertain this idea when she continues to be unable to see him in the fire, and even with his death, she continues to see Jon Snow in the flames.

Maybe this will lead her to recognizes that snow can sometimes look like ashes and then she comes to the realization that she should burn Jon. The Nights Watch and Wildings who will join to dispatch those who kill Jon would want to burn his body in either case to prevent it turning into a wight.

And this is where the prophecy of waking dragons from stones will come in. As far as Melisandre is concern, that hasn’t yet happened, and so in her quest to help the missing Stannis, she may see the burning of Jon as the way to make it so. She asks for Azor Ahai, but the flames keep showing her Jon Snow. Yes, Jon is dead, but maybe she thinks the R’hllor is telling her that the burning of his body will still lead to Azor Ahai, who she believes is Stannis.

Also, while she doesn’t know about Jon’s connection to Rhaegar and that he also has Targaryen blood, the Starks come from a long line of ancient kings and his brother was recently crowned king. Thus, to her, Jon also has king’s blood. But she needs two kings to wake the dragon, and that’s where Shireen comes in.

Shireen is not a king, but she is Stannis heir and has king’s blood. And so, Melisandre has her two kings to wake a dragon. Jon Snow and Shireen. It won’t be very difficult for Mels to convince Selyse to burn her daughter to the cause…especially if it will help Stannis. The queen is a devout fanatic. Does Melisandre think she will be waking a real dragon from stone? Possibly, but who knows. The point is that she’s doing it because she thinks it will help Stannis.

The interesting thing is that the Wildings and the remaining Nights Watch brothers won’t do anything to stop it. The Wildings will be the ones primarily in charge, and as we see from Val, they already think that Shireen should not be alive because of her greyscale. So, they won’t stop Melisandre from burning her.

Where will all of this take place? Radio Westeros has a great theory that Jon’s pyre will be in the weirwood grove of nine where he and Sam said their vows. It’s a great theory and makes a lot of sense, and so, I wouldn’t rule it out. However, I also wouldn’t rule out Jon’s pyre being at the Nightfort.

As I’ve said throughout this series, Jon and Sansa will be this timeline’s version of the Night’s King and corpse queen. As these two ancient figures are so associated with the Nightfort, it seems like Jon’s resurrection should take place there, but I don’t know what reason Melisandre would have to take the body there to burn…unless Castle Black is destroyed.

Shireen and Jon will burn in the same pyre or ones next to each other and while Jon’s body will be frozen initially, the heat will melt it and open the wounds given to him by his murder. And the greyscale ashes from Shireen will enter the wounds, giving him greyscale just as he’s being pushed back into his body and awakens. And, we have the dragon waking from stone.

While the details maybe different, I think that the ideas behind what some will call a hairbrained theory is sound when you consider that Jon must get greyscale if he is to become the Shrouded Lord and personify the Living Stone that was Jesus. The wine at the Wall is even called sour and so I would not be surprised to see that playing a part in his resurrection as well. Maybe Jon’s brothers will have a toast to him and throw some sour wine on his pyre.

The other boys gathered round the eight who had been named, laughing and cursing and offering congratulations. Halder smacked Toad on the butt with the flat of his sword and shouted, "Toad, of the Night's Watch!" Yelling that a black brother needed a horse, Pyp leapt onto Grenn's shoulders, and they tumbled to the ground, rolling and punching and hooting. Dareon dashed inside the armory and returned with a skin of sour red. As they passed the wine from hand to hand, grinning like fools, Jon noticed Samwell Tarly standing by himself beneath a bare dead tree in the corner of the yard. Jon offered him the skin. "A swallow of wine?" Sam shook his head. "No thank you, Jon." —A Game of Thrones, Jon V

Note how Sam who is no longer at the wall and wasn’t there for the mutiny and so won’t be there for Jon’s resurrection is written as separate from Jon and the other boys in the scene. Martin and his consistency.

So to recap, in the same book that Jon Snow, the Christ like figure of the story is murdered, and path to resurrection foreshadowed in the Varamyr prologue, George also gives us the myth of The Shrouded Lord, a stone statues that is brought to life by the cold kiss of a grey woman... a legend which mirrors the resurrection of real world Jesus.

George also places Shireen, the child who carries the greyscale disease that causes men to turn to stone at the Wall next to dragon blooded Jon. ln in the same book, Melisandre also get's a vision of a mysterious girl in grey traveling through the snow to Jon...a girl that strong clues suggests is Sansa. All of these elements that mirror the Shrouded Lord legend coalescing around Jon Snow. Happenstance? I say no.

As we wind things down, let’s revisit the question of why George wrote greyscale into his story? Well, as I’ve just shown, he did it so that Jon, the Jesus like figure in the story can mirror the real world risen Christ as the Living Stone. However, on a deeper philosophical level, I think that he wrote greyscale into his tale to show that organize religion…especially one with a deify figure at the head can be a plague upon the people.

George questions things…especially dogma, knowing that there are often no answers to the universal questions we all ask. While he may no longer believes the religious teachings he was taught in his youth, they have had a major influence on him and his writings. He loves the lore of the Christian faith and various world religions, and that’s why his stories are filled with so much mythology.

Nonetheless, he also recognizes that much evil has been done in the name of religion since the first such organization showed its face upon the world thousands of years ago. It doesn’t matter what the religion has been. Evil has been done in its name. This is because organize religion otherizes people. It creates an us versus them dichotomy.  And if you are not part of the us, then you must be “other,” with all that it implies.

You don’t belong. Your beliefs are wrong. You’re a sinner…etc. This theme about the evilness at the heart of organize religion and the deification of individuals is at the core of ASOIAF. I think it’s what D&D attempted to capture in their ham-fisted way on the show with Dany. Worshiping glorified God-like figures is never a good thing.

However, as I’ve stated, there is a dichotomy to the idea because to be human is to be part of a group…to be part of a community where we recognize each other’s wants and need; where we protect and provide for each other. But to paraphrase Hamlet, here’s the rub, because being part of a group always without fail leads to some form of organize religion. And so, what do you do!

Well, we’ve come to the end of this chapter, and we’re getting closer to the end of the series…probably only another couple of chapters. Next time, we are going to go to some dark places as I show you why what happened to Sansa on the show is not out of the realms of possibility in the books. Not with Ramsay of course; and it may not be physical in nature, but more mental…like what Varamyr attempted with Thistle. However, I do think that dark days are ahead for Sansa before she sees the dawn. I can’t tell you when the next chapter will be here because I must psych myself up to go to that dark place and write it. I also have a lot upcoming in the New Year, and so it might not be for several months, but it will be come.

So what does everyone think of the theory that Jon is the Shrouded; Sansa the girl in grey; and the Unkiss tied to Jon's resurrectin.

All comments welcome. Until next time.

ETA on 12/26 to fix a few typos and grammatical errors and also to add the two recap paragraphs.

ETA 9/6/24 to fix a couple of additional typos and add a couple of highlight to passages.

[thearcanecat]

Cinderella’s Castle one-shot props! I had a lot less time to put this together, but it was based on Snow White so I got an apple, a bodice with lace, and a comb. They also fought a dragon, because dragons are cool. The magic mirror was also there. The maps are based on the layout of the Hurstmonceux Castle.

Players:

Ella: Divine Soul Sorcerer Human

Tadius: Eloquence Bard Human

Lord Hop-A-Lot Oath of Ancients Paladin 4/Battle Master Fighter 12 Custom Lineage

Briar Grizzwald: Glomstalker Ranger Half Wood Elf

Crumb couldn’t make it unfortunately. :(

New rule: Every players has 1 Ragweed Token that can be used to change one dice roll. Players need to tap the wood block to activate it.

Everyone did closet cosplays! Ella had a green skirt and general fantasy look. Briar had a dagger. Hop-A-Lot had a green shirt with a chest plate and cape. Tadius had a black shirt and some red fabric over his arm. I wore part of my Narrator cosplay. It’s not finished yet I’ll post photos when it is.

Ella and Tadius are out ruling the castle. Lord Hop-A-Lot was in the Swamp waiting for his mansion to be built. The bastard brother has heard news of his sisters’ deaths and was traveling to learn more. On his way, he found the apple that the Prince had thrown, which had made it all the way to the Swamp. It was poisoned. At the castle, there was a mysterious reflection in the floor which told them about the Castle That Was which was being attacked by a dragon. Ella had a mirror and used it to speak with the reflection easier. It’s name was Amir the Mirror and it was cursed to rhyme which it really hated. Crumb stayed behind the keep everything in order (and because the dragon terrified him). To get to the Castle, first they needed to cross the Unreachable Peaks, for which they needed the help of the Six Dwarves. (Their father had mysteriously vanished many years ago) Tadius was able to convince the dwarves to help them and get better at communication. The Dwarves helped the party through the mountains and led them to the castle, which was under siege. The castle belonged to the Goblin Queen, who had failed to gather enough forces to help her. The goblins were losing badly. Tadius cast message to speak to the dragon whose name was Ebony Wood. She had been cursed by an old hag by three magic items and was turned into a dragon. Sir Hop-A-Lot was still very bloodthirsty and wanted to kill a dragon. The party tracked the castle searching for the Goblin Queen. There found her bedroom, which had a map of the Lands That Are and a list of the fiercest people in all the realm. Many of these people had been visited by an old hag who cursed them and took their power. The party found the Queen in a room, planning strategies against the dragon. As soon as she was identified, Tadius cast guiding bolt. Sir Hop-A-Lot initially failed to restrain the Queen, but used a Ragweed token to change that and captured here with the Fairy Queen’s arms. With her on the ground, the battle was easy. As they all stomped her to death, it was decided that Ella, who has glass leg prosthetics, no longer had toes. It’s just the glass slippers, nothing else. With the Queen defeated, their attention turned to the dragon. The creature had an object stuck in its throat, a comb stabbed in its head, and rope tied around its chest. Tadius 8th level dispelled magic on the rope, Ella took out the throat with scorching ray, freeing an apple. Tadius used It’s fire breathe did a lot of damage. Sir Hop-A-Lot jumped and then misty stepped to get onto the back of the dragon. Tadius dimensioned doored himself and Ella to the dragon as well. Tadius tried to remove the comb and used a Ragweed token to succeed. With all the items removed, the dragon turned back into Ebony and everyone fell to the ground. After healing everyone up, Ebony introduced herself. She was a Dragonborn with scales as black as ebony wood, eyes as red as blood and teeth as white as snow. She had been adopted by the dwarves when she was young. Without a Queen, the goblins had no where to go. Hop-A-Lot offered them to come and work for the crown. They unionized and taught him what that meant. The party brought Ebony back home, took gold and treasure to the castle, and all the workers learned about unions. Now with confidence, the masons told Sir Hop-A-Lot that building a house in the middle of a swamp does not work. So now he had a goal to create a floating mansion.

Overall I had fun! I had a day and half to write this one shot and then GMes it while jet lagged, so it was a little rough around the edges, but everything went well!

[fjordfocused]

thinking about one of my favorite NPCs from a previous campaign.

a succubus summoned just for her shapechanging abilities in order to frame a man for the (very) public assassination of a guild leader, she was only supposed to be around for, like, a session. she managed to escape her battle encounter, though, so, hey, thought she could be a reoccurring threat for the protagonists during this arc.

anyway then my players rolled an Insight high enough that i told them she hated being part of an assassination plot because it was boring and cringe. soooo they decided to make a devil deal with her to give her something more interesting to do.

well shit. now she's important and needs a name. now there's Fenral the Succubus.

Fenral became a reoccurring NPC, showing up mostly to cause trouble. there was a scene where she got mangled by a hag on the ethereal plane and the protagonists had to convince a paladin to smuggle her to safety, which was a whole thing. all the while, Fenral was chief cunty, delightfully uninterested in doing good, and spoke with a horrible SoCal accent that I unfortunately dedicated myself to.

she was supposed to be a reoccurring nuisance and comedy relief. until, thanks to a synergy of plot and coincidence, she tricked a PC into giving her a piece of an archfey's heart. this archfey's heart was originally intended to corrupt a PC, who was being targeted by this archfey due to Backstory Reasons.

so. instead of the PC having this corrupting heart, the succubus absorbed it and fucked off for a while from the plot.

fast-forward to the Feywild Arc. time to confront that Big Bad Archfey. the problem for the PCs is that they cannot charge the Big Bad's lair without an army, and they can only get this army by convincing three other archfey to help them. there's a few people they can go to, including somebody called The Foreign Magus, an archfey from faraway lands who seems completely immune to Big Bad's powers. the players venture into a burning Feywild to find this mysterious figure and implore them for help.

guess who they find.

"oh my goooooods hiiiii you guysssss~"

Fenral had used the archfey heart to lie her way into archfey powers. After all, by fey logic, if she's called an archfey, then isn't she an archfey? she avoided corruption on account that her soul had already been flash fried by the Hells so there was nothing to corrupt. with the players now in on her deception, she became a part of the Triskelion Pact, a homebrewed weapon representing the alliance of the three archfey, and eventually overtook the territory of the Big Bad Archfey.

territory that eventually became the only safe place to rest and recover in the later, final arc of the campaign when time stopped on the Material Plane.

Fenral was never planned. She was supposed to be a one-shot villain. But she yes-and'd her way into being a vital NPC. I miss her; I hope she's doing well. the little succubus who could make things worse.

Her positively ancient heroforge for reference:

[not-a-bitey-wolf]

Double Date - Ollie's B-Day Celebration

Stiles looked dubiously at Scott who held a bouquet of colorful happy birthday balloons, wore a Birthday Squad t-shirt, a party hat on his head, and a noise maker between his teeth. "Dude..."

Scott spit out the noisemaker into his free hand and exclaimed, "It's Ollie's birthday today! You totally have to."

"I totally have to do nothing." Stiles announced with a nod. "I don't even know the guy. Plus! I'm not even pack. So therefore I am not obligated to do packey things like celebrate birthdays. Plus! I kind of already have plans today. So..."

"Stiles!" Scott whined. "You can meet him now. You are honorary pack, Adam even said so. And Tae can come with us!" He argued, bouncing past Stiles into his friend's apartment he shared with his father. Not bothering to wait for him to actually invite him in. It was just understood anyway.

Stiles sputtered indignantly as he padded after Scott. "Hey!" He flailed. "I do other things besides hang out with Tae you know! I could be like you know....doing important things. Like I could be helping a mysterious hag find her lost hellhound or something!"

Busying himself with unloading his bookbag, Scott rolled his eyes. "Dude...that quest ended like three weeks ago. And you found it. It was wreaking havoc in a pen of pigeons." Then he stopped, frowning. Turning back towards Stiles he raised an expectant brow. "Who even keeps a pen full of pigeons, Stiles?"

He opened his mouth to speak only it just hung open in astonishment for a moment. Though Scott couldn't be sure what it was that actually astonished his best friend. The question or maybe the fact that Scott had actually been following his ramblings about the stupid side quest in the first place. Finally, he closed his mouth. Then straightened up. "A scraggly old wizard, Scott." He said in an exasperated tone. "How else do they send messages to each other? Carrier pigeons."

Scott brandished a Birthday Squad t-shirt for Stiles as well, and presented it to him. "There's one for Tae too." He told him gleefully.

"He's not coming!" Stiles exploded, flailing about like a crazy person. "He has an actual job, Scott. A job. You know? Where he fights demons and other creepy crawly things. Walking the streets in his leather pants and vest and ugh...you know what?" He was pink in the face before he could even finish that line of thought. "It doesn't matter what he's doing because the point is, he's not coming! Why would he come hang with a bunch of teenagers?"

Scott could only grin at his friend. Because Stiles had it so bad for Tae. And Scott loved that for his friend. He'd been with him through the whole Derek situation. Tae seemed cool, chill, indulgent on Stiles quirky traits. The ones that Derek would try to force down and out of sight. It was nice. And while Scott hadn't officially met Tae yet, he liked him. Because Stiles liked him. Stiles didn't tend to like people as easily as he did. So that said something.

"What are you smiling about?" Stiles demanded, narrowing his eyes at him.

Scott tossed the shirt at him. "Because....Tae will come because you ask him to. Has he ever told you no about anything? Besides, he could probably use an evening of teenage fun anyway. And...you like him. You are practically dating even though I don't know why you are fighting it so hard. The two of you like each other. That's okay, Stiles. It's all okay. Here...Chicago...the pack....Tae....its all okay. We aren't running from anything anymore."

There was a stunned silence for a moment. Because, Stiles tended to forget how reasonable Scott could be about things. His things specifically. He swiped the shirt out of his hands and stalked to the bathroom to get changed.

Scott grinned after him. "Don't forget to text Tae!" He hollered after him. Pulling out his own phone to text Ollie. To ask him to meet them at Lincoln Park.

*-*

Stiles had brightened up considerably by the time they'd gotten to the park. Had even let Scott put him in a party hat. Scott guessed it was because Tae had agreed to join them, but he wasn't for sure. And Stiles wasn't telling him apparently.

Scott felt high on life. He usually did when he got to do something special for someone. Ollie in particular deserved to have something special done for him, for sure. Plus, he really wanted Ollie and Stiles to meet. Because they were both important to him. And then Tae was important to Stiles. So. It all made perfect sense to him.

@skittish-fox-ollie

@game-boi-bookworm

[gold-rhine]

Event where diluc wear a silk red dress

So the red silk dress is technically much more thematically appropriate for diluc than manga fontaine skin for ayaka, in this essay i will explain.

ok so. Diluc learns of the secret fatui hideout and they are having some nefarious plans, and specifically there's like some ancient fatui witch who will pass some incredibly important secrets, but only to the "Heir of the Crimson Witch". and Diluc's butler is like i'm sorry Master, my sources say it's supposed to be a redhaired witch in a bright scarlet dress, so i don't how we can POSSIBLY inflitrate...

diluc tells traveler to go to the secret club and wait for him anyway. it's underground, it's sleazy and mysterious and full of smoke and flickering lights. traveler and paimon are being interrogated at the entrance, fumbling and trying to get in, when the tango Roxane starts and Diluc shows up. He has his hair up in an elaborate hairdo with like a braid and a twist and he's wearing a slinky red silk dress. it goes to the floor, has an open back and a slit from the thigh down, showing that leather garter he wears in all of his outfits. it looks bomb. he has some pssword for the entrance, but they let him in before he can even s it

when they get to the ancient witch and she immediately calls Diluc's bluff. She says she knows he's not fatui, and he prepares for a fight, but she just laughs. She says she never said she wanted to give secret to fatui, she wanted Heir for Signora and for that, Diluc fits perfectly. He says she's insane, but she laughs again. Wasn't he, like Signora, betrayed and abandoned in an hour of losing a loved one by the Mond's authorities, wasn't he disappointed in them so much that he decided to take matters into his own hands, didn't he swear to find power to make things right no matter the cost? He is her rightful heir, and so he deserves to learn the secret of her power

Diluc angrily says that he gave up on the false promises of fatui's delusions, but the old hag tsks, the magic of the Crimson Witch is no delusion, you young fool. Signora only used cryo delusion and it was to HIDE her true power. This magic will turn you into a self-immolating, unceasing flame, the ever-burning phoenix you were always meant to be. Diluc hesitates for a second, then meets traveler's concerned eyes, shakes his head and refuses, but the witch laughs again as they leave. this power is already yours, was yours before you came here, and one day you will stop pretending that it's not.

i think it'd be really cool to explore parallels between signora and diluc's storylines, and diluc's theme of heir - "spiritual heir" to the crimson witch who turned into a living flame to purge the evil, and heir to his father - both as a scion of ragnivdyr clan AND as a bearer of his father's delusion, and explore diluc navigating this conflict between identitis and conflict between his desire for justice and power to bring said justice, and the dangerous walk over the edge of the falling to the dark side that he's walking

[mermaid--bride]

Fairytale event

Story chosen: Snow White and the seven dwarfs

The sound of her high heels echoed through the dark halls as she marched towards the lab. Her black dress waving around her curves. Her lilac hair flowing behind her back. The red in her lips sparkled to the grim light of the candles as her determined eyes stared ahead, focused on her destination.

She was not happy.

–KARLHEINZ!! -She yelled as she bursted through the door in anger.

The king, however, remained unfazed. He calmly continued his annotations as his deep voice responded to her.

–Good evening, Cordelia. What brings you here now of all times?

The woman stomped his way in an attempt to bring his attention to her.

–You… You have been looking for another woman, have you not!?

–I beg you pardon. What made you come to such conclusion?

–Do not pretend like you’re unaware!! -She once again yells, throwing his papers to the floor. -I can see it in your actions. You are following the exact same pattern from when you chose those other two when you already had me!!

Karlheinz watched his papers fly from his desk and a sigh left his lips. He looked up at the woman before him with a soft smile, which contrasted with the coldness in his eyes.

–My dear… How many times must I tell you having multiple partners does not stop me from cherishing you?

–If that is so, why do you not come to me? Why do you always avoid our meetings!?

–I am a king, Cordelia. I have important matters to attend to and I cannot control when I might be needed somewhere else.

She frowned at his response. The anger in her chest refusing to subside. Slowly, however, a seductive look formed in her features as she let herself slide down onto his lap.

–Please… tell me who she is… -She requested calmly, taking him in her arms as her hands touched his skin.

–Why does that matter to you? -He asked, wrapping his arms around her.

–I simply wish to know… who is this woman who has caught your attention.

His eyes stared at her for a moment before mysterious words left his mouth.

–Her hair is half blue, like the waters washing over the dirt. Eyes dark as the deepest woods. Cheeks blushing as a blooming rose.

                                                        ~*~

Maria walked among the flowers, admiring the beauty of the royal garden as she moved in slow steps. She had no hurry. The castle behind her keeping the source of her fears hidden behind the sturdy walls. Her mind was lost in a multitude of questions as she tried to understand what she was brought here for. What terrors could be awaiting for her? Why did the most powerful of demons decide to bring her to his domain?

Those thoughts kept harassing her as she walked, unaware of the eyes which watched her from afar.

–Haah, why are we doing this again? -Kou asked his older brother, who stood next to him.

–The queen was clear with her orders. We must kill the woman and her heart as proof to our obedience. -Ruki responds coldly as he stared at their target.

–And since when do we follow orders from that old hag? -Yuma spit out, not caring for any sort of respect towards the woman above them.

–She is the wife of that man and therefore we must respect her… as unpleasant as that may be.

–I do not… want to kill… Maria… -Azusa complained quietly.

–Yeah, I don’t see why we have to do this! Wasn’t it that man who brought her here in the first place? -Kou agreed.

–This is a waste of time. -Kazemi said unamused.

–You have agreed to join us. You are here on your own accord. -Ruki says to the woman.

–Yes, but this is not part of our job. I say her let her go.

–You know it will be troublesome if we happen to displease that woman.

–I don’t care.

With those words, Kazemi made her way to the young lady, despite the Mukami’s protests, and smiled at her and told her about the queen’s plans for her. Seeing the fear grow in Maria’s eyes, she showed her a path through the woods she could use to disappear. Once she was gone, Kazemi hunted down an animal in the woods and collected it’s heart to show Cordelia instead of Maria’s.

The queen was pleased at first and showed her beloved king the trophy she had acquired. Karlheinz, however, chuckled at the sight, amused as he observed red blood in the box. His response infuriated Cordelia, who soon learned the heart’s source and the girl’s blood to be of a rare purple coloration.

In the meantime, walking deeper into the woods, Maria had started to feel hungry and tired. She did not stop to rest as fear held her hostage. She knew she could get lost in those woods, if she wasn’t already. The howls of wolves echoing between the trees did not help ease her mind.

It was then she sighted a crow up on a tree branch. Something about it caught her attention. It felt unnatural. Almost as if it knew who she was and what she needed. In fact it started moving as it looked back, as if wanting her to follow.

The mysterious bird led her to a strange house in the middle of the woods before flying away. Maria could only hope for this to be a good idea as she approached the house and knocked on the door. Who answered was a tall young looking man wearing glasses and an arrogant expression.

–And who might you be? -The man asked with an unamused tone.

The woman almost flinched at the coldness in his tone.

–My name is Maria… There’s someone trying to kill me. Is it ok if I hide here?

–Why would I allow a pathetic human such as yourself to hide in our house?

–Now now, Reiji, you shouldn’t be so mean to such a poor terrified woman. -A third voice said chantingly before Maria felt a cold hand holding her shoulder as a man in a fedora hat appeared behind her. -She smells so good… I’m sure we can make this situation beneficial for all of us, don’t you agree~?

The house turned out to be home for six vampire brothers and a recently turned woman. At first it seemed like everything would take a turn to the worst, but luckily they agreed on letting her stay as long as they could have her blood, although most of them ended up not taking advantage of the deal after noticing it’s exotic color and flavor.

The location of the woman soon became known to the jealous queen, who immediately sent the Mukami to investigate the place and kill her. The first to try was Kou. He showed her samples of a supposedly makeup line and purposefully held the powder against her face. However one of the Sakamaki soon showed up and chased him away before she could suffocate.

The second attempt was made by Yuuma, disguised as a wandering traitor. He offered her some of his vegetables, including an apple he made sure to poison beforehand. When she refused to have it, he tried forcing the apple into her mouth, but once again a Sakamaki showed up and chased him off.

The final attempt was made by Azusa. He stalked Maria for a while, waiting for the right opportunity to act. While she was by herself eating some cashews, he scared her with a loud noise, making her choke on the nut. She fell to the ground squirming, but this time no one came to her rescue as the young vampire left the scene.

The Sakamaki soon found the woman unconscious. Unable to find the source of the problem, they were ready to carry her inside when the king of founders showed up and demanded to know what they were doing to her.

–That is none of your business! -Yelled Ayato with an insult.

–The woman is in great danger. If you do not act fast, she will certainly die. Hand her over and I shall ensure she survives.

–My, how kind of you. And what makes you believe we would willingly trust our prey into your hands? -Reiji asked.

–That is your choice. However I assure you she will not survive otherwise.

Reluctant, the vampire brothers agreed to Carla’s terms. The founder soon managed to expel the cashew from Maria’s throat, allowing the air to flow once again, waking her up. The whole group celebrated and the queen never tried to kill her again, since the king had made sure to punish her for her attempts against the human’s life.

                                                       ~*~

–And that’s the end! -Maria said in a happy tone.

–How mediocre of you to give this a happy ending. -Reiji commented with a sigh.

–Eh?

–Teddy did not like the story… Why did you mention Laito and not us…? -Kanato complained.

–Because I’m her boyfriend, of course~! -The vampire in a fedora beamed, placing his arm over the woman’s shoulders.

–Well I thought it was a fun story… -Yui said quietly.

–Who asked for your opinion!? It would have been a much better story if Ore-sama had a bigger participation in it! -Ayato said.

–I would like to understand why you decided to include that founder at the end. His participation seemed quite out of place for the story. -Ruki pointed out.

Everyone kept commenting about the story in a big mess as Maria simply watched and listened. She sighed as a soft smile formed in her lips. She knew the story wasn’t great, but seeing how enthusiastic everyone was about it was enough to warm up her heart.

–Slut-chan~. -Laito whispered in her ear.

–Hm?

–You know, I only have one complaint about your little story…

–What is it?

–The kiss… Snow White was supposed to awaken from a true love’s kiss, was she not~?

–Not in the original story…

–Is that so? But isn’t that version much better~? How about next time we make this into a play? I will be the prince who will awaken you with a kiss~.

– … That actually sounds fun… -She replied with hesitation.

–Doesn’t it? Shall we start practicing~? -He chuckled as he slowly leaned closer to her. -Now, Snow White… close your eyes for me~.