#to save 2 people who have treated him so terribly

[praetorqueenreyna]

You're telling me that Tamlin showed up and saved Feyre's raggedy traitor ass completely unprompted midway through ACOWAR and ppl still have the NERVE to say he is irredeemable???

[charlotteking23]

The Lion's Lamb - Chapter 5 - MV1/33

Max Verstappen x reader

The Lion's Lamb Series: Aesthetics, Ch.1, Ch.2, Ch.3, Ch.4, Ch.6, Ch.7, Ch.8, Ch.9

You were not the one to complain.

You knew the life you lived was one many dreams of having. As an American, you grew up hearing stories about the American Dream, but your dreams lay elsewhere.

The United States had beautiful places, cities, and people, but you felt your inspiration was elsewhere. So you left.

Your family wasn't happy about your plan, but if leaving was what made you happy, who were they to stop you?

For a year, you traveled around Europe, taking in the art and culture at every stop. Once you saw Monaco for the first time, you knew it would become your new home.

Moving there would cost money, and it was not in the price range of a struggling, traveling artist.

You had saved up as much money as possible, yet you still couldn't afford to buy, let alone rent an apartment.

You stayed not far outside the city-state and would often travel into Monaco when your work required it.

In doing so, you meet your saving grace and your worst nightmare: Amelia.

Amelia is your roommate. You often like to believe she is the devil reincarnated, but never voice your opinion because of what the girl's father is doing for you.

Amelia came from a prominent British family and her father, Michael, was a financial genius, making her more than well-off in life.

But the girl herself knew nothing of hard work, having had everything handed to her on a silver platter.

This caused her to become poisoned to the core in your opinion. She was a gorgeous girl, but her personality was nothing but ugly.

Many ask the young American girl, Why? Why would you live with someone you thought was terrible?

Getting a decent price rental in Monaco isn't the easiest. Most places are not affordable for a person in your income bracket, and the apartment complexes you could afford were designated for Monegasque citizens only.

And you haven't yet met the requirements to become a citizen. The young American girl met Amelia at an art show where she was being featured in Monaco.

Well, you had initially met the British girl's father, Michael, when he bought one of her pieces being displayed that night.

The two had immediately hit it off and it wasn't long until he offered you a room in his flat in Monaco.

They had developed a relationship, but not one many would expect from an older man and a younger girl.

He had seen you as a daughter and had hoped that in offering you a place to stay, your hardworking and sweet nature would rub off on his daughter.

Once you had moved in, Amelia immediately started bullying and belittling you. You couldn't figure out why you were being treated this way, but the British girl held a slight jealousy towards the younger girl.

Her father gave you a lot of attention and she knew that he wished you were his daughter rather than her.

You put up with her terrible behavior because her father was doing you a favor out of the goodness of his heart.

You had tried to make herself feel better about being there for free and tried to reduce the British girl's attitude towards you by cooking and cleaning, but that made it seem like you were the older girl's maid, and so you were treated as such.

Max had arrived home in the early hours of Monday morning. Usually, he would have gone out and celebrated his win with his team, but not this time.

Getting back to you, which was stuck in his mind, has become the most important thing to him.

Those around him didn't think twice about Dutchman, not attending the after-party, knowing, that even though he won, he always thought he could do better. This is mainly just due to his father. 

Jos Verstappen wasn't a good man and everyone knew that. He was an even worse father.

At a young age, he had drilled the idea into his son's head that there would always be someone better. 

"You will never be good enough," were the words that echoed through Max's head. 

He'd never been praised by his father, even after he won his first world championship. There was never a good job out of his father's mouth.

Because of this, the young driver had pushed himself. Not take a break, rarely celebrated, and devoted all of his attention to racing. Until now at least. 

Christian Horner knew the Dutchman better than most. He knew Max's parents and knew that the lack of childhood the boy had, had affected him greatly.

Don't get it twisted, most F1 drivers never had a normal childhood like everyone else, but Max's was much more extreme.

While the younger driver's father was present in his life, he still lacked the paternal figure he needed, and Christian filled that void. 

While it wasn't obvious to anyone else, the Redbull principal knew there was a certain pep in the driver's step after the race.

Usually after a race, Max is often seen with his head, buried in screens, analyzing every turn, every overtake, just trying to see what he needed to do to improve.

This time, that wasn't the case. Instead of immediately analyzing his race, he instead called someone.

No one had ever been able to take the driver's attention away from his job.

This immediately caught the attention of the British man.

He had seen the slight smile and the way his eyes lit up when speaking on the phone from across the paddock. He figured this wasn't just anyone Max was talking to, he knew this person had to be special.

The team principal knew how much stress his driver had been under recently, so to see him smile, even just a small one, made him extremely happy.

With how quickly the driver took off after their meetings, Christian knew there was a special someone in the young man's life.

The only hope was that this unknown girl brought the Dutch driver, the happiness he truly deserved. 

Early Monday afternoon, you received a text from your blue-eyed man.

7 PM dinner. I'll pick you up.

The text itself was straightforward and assertive, causing you to bite your lip and nervousness and excitement.

You were happy, though that he was true to his word about seeing you again. You just didn't expect it to be the day he came back home from a work trip.

You quickly responded with your address. You weren't the type to send your address to someone you had just met, especially someone she didn't know well, but this was different. Max was different

6:45 PM, and the knockhead resonated throughout the large apartment.

You quickly raced over to the front door, not only to keep your roommate away from the man who had caused your heart to skip a beat but also because you had missed him and couldn't wait to see him.

It was a strange feeling for you to miss someone, you barely knew, but you couldn't help it.

You knew he had been waiting on the other side of the door and you needed a moment to completely gather yourself. Your heart was racing as you wiped your clammy palms on the side of your dress.

You threw open your front door without a second thought, afraid that if you stood there any longer without opening the door, he would leave.

There he stood, on the other side of the door the most beautiful man, in your opinion, you have ever seen. He was wearing a white button-up, a simple blue blazer, and black slacks.

He emanated old money, and it wasn't a bad look on him at all. In his hands though, was a bouquet for the beautiful pink tulips.

You couldn't believe this man wanted to go out on a date with you.

"Hi," Max breathed out, holding out the flowers towards the girl in front of him, "these are for you."

In the blink of an eye, you had thrown yourself into the Dutchman's arms. He was surprised at this but responded to the hug almost instantly. Burring his face in your neck, feeling like, for the first time, he had finally found a home in your arms.

"I've missed you," the muffled voice said as your face was still buried in the driver's chest.

Chuckling, he pulled away regretfully and grabbed your chin tilted up towards him, "I've missed you, too, a little lamb."

Grinning, you looked down at the flowers in Max's hand before taking them, "these are beautiful."

A smile was plastered on your face as you walked inside to put the flowers in the vase. Max, followed after you but continued to linger in the entranceway, not wanting to intrude.

He watched as you continued to rummage through every single cabinet, trying to find a vase, or anything similar, so you could display the beautiful flowers.

You had been through all the cabinets before you finally sighed, realizing you'd have to go ask Amelia where they were. 

"Sorry," You had told the man in your doorway with an apologetic smile, "I have to ask my roommate where we keep the vases". 

Max had smiled back at you, reassuringly, not minding all as you walked down the visible hall before turning to face a closed door. Curiosity filled the man's mind as he watched his little lamb's entire body change.

Your shoulders had dropped, your steps had slowed, and the excitement you had held in your body just moments ago had completely evaporated.

He had found the answers he needed when he had overheard the conversation between you and your roommate. 

"Amelia," You said softly while knocking on the older girl's door.

"What!" the older girl responded with such harshness, that you were questioning how badly you needed the vase. 

"Do you know where the vases are?"

"God," the girl said exasperated and her words dripping with disgust, "How a

re you so fucking stupid that you can't find a simple thing like a vase?!"

"Sorry," you said meekly and started to turn away before you heard a voice that stopped you. 

"They're on top shelf in the cabinet above the fridge," Amelia stated. 

With a quick thanks, you quickly walked back to the kitchen, found the vase, and displayed the flowers, before telling Max you were ready to go. They left quickly after that. 

The ride to their date location was quiet. Usually, there was never any awkward tension between the two, but now, the car was filled with it.

You couldn't stop your hands from fidgeting, especially after noticing Max's hands white-knuckling the steering wheel as he drove. 

"We don't have to go on this date if you don't want to," You had finally broken the silence, not being able to sit there anymore, "I'm sorry if I did something wrong. I understand if you don't want to be around me anymore, you can just drop me back off if you'd like."

Before you could get another word out, Max quickly pulled the car over to the side of the road.

You thought that he didn't want to see you anymore, and he had pulled the car over as an indication that you should get out. Your eyes had started to water and your heart started to break. 

The Dutchman's head had whipped around to look at you so quickly, you were surprised he didn't get whiplash, "What are you talking about? Why would I want to drop you back off?"

"Well," You had started to play with your hands again, " you seem mad at me for some reason."

"Why would I ever be mad at you?" Max questioned with a soft voice. 

"Because I made you wait while I found a vase."

"Little Lamb," he had taken your hand in his, causing you to look up at him with those gorgeous eyes he adored, "I could never be mad at you."

"You're not mad?" You asked.

"I am mad, but not at you. Your roommate. The way she spoke to you had pissed me off. You never should be spoken to that way, no matter what."

Max had reached his hand up to caress your cheek softly. He wanted to make sure you knew that his anger wasn't directed at you.

He had been so upset with the way your roommate spoke to you, that he chose to keep his anger to himself instead of lashing out at you and possibly scaring his little lamb. In doing so, he hadn't realized that his sweet girl thought he had been upset with you.  

"You're beautiful, my little lamb," Max says, "Both inside and out. Please don't ever doubt yourself or my feelings towards you. 

A blush had erupted across your face, along with a shy smile. His words were nothing but sincere and you knew that. He quickly pulled you closer and left a quick kiss on your forehead, before turning back to the front of the car and continuing on their way. 

Max made sure to hold your hand the rest of the way. 

Taglist: @shelbyteller, @smithieandy, @fangirlforever2000, @herexpertcollector, @vip-access, @genevieve-blr

[sunny374940]

May I have this dance?

So I'm finally done with the story about Rook and Emmrich attending a ball. Or not done, because it got way too long, but at least the first part is finished (the second part wil be them jumping each other's bones).

@profoundlyfaded, this is what you made me do (thank you, I'm having a great time).

Cw: sexual harrasment directed at Rook, because nobles are annoying, but nothing terribly graphic.

Part 2 here (smut)

Here on ao3

And here are my other stories.

“Presenting Rook, leader of The Veilguard, and his companion, Emmrich Volkarin of the Mourn Watch,” the master of ceremonies announced (and he was yelling too much, Rook thought).

The rest of their friends had all made their excuses to the Archon as to why they couldn't come (there were suddenly so many pressing matters everywhere, that Rook was surprised the world wasn't ending again), but not him, because the leader of the damn Veilguard had to attend a ball to celebrate the defeat of the Evanuris. It stood to reason, but that didn’t make it any better.

There were assorted claps and oohs and aahs from the starstruck crowd as they made their way down the stairway. Emmrich was holding onto Rook’s arm and he looked so beautiful, almost regal in his finery, clinking gently with his grave gold. One bright spot to this, at least. They finally descended onto the ballroom floor and Rook gently steered Emmrich away from the crowd. 

The ballroom of the Archon's summer “villa” (if the word could be used to describe a network of buildings several times the size of the Lighthouse) was a vast place. The ceiling was glittering with magelight and the stained glass windows were letting in the last of the sun's rays, creating a kaleidoscope of color on the walls. 

“Do we really have to be here?” he whispered through gritted teeth. He did come (almost) willingly, but the amount of people populating the ballroom and the attention they were paying to them were getting to him.

“Darling, the Archon of Tevinter himself is holding a celebration in our - and especially your - honor. So yes, we do have to be here,” Emmrich whispered back to him. He seemed to be enjoying himself, which was the only reason Rook wasn’t already begging him to leave. He knew how much Emmrich liked mingling at parties and there hadn’t been many of those while they were saving the world.

“Ugh.” Rook rolled his eyes. Emmrich had persuaded him to wear formal attire (“Darling, I must insist you wear shoes for once in your life!”) and he was very much not into it, but he would do it for him, if begrudgingly. But the damned shoes were pinching his feet and this was where he was drawing the line, regardless of the fact that it was the very love of his life who had made him wear them. 

“I'll be right back, love,” he said, kissing Emmrich on the cheek, and left under the pretense of going to eat some of the tiny cakes that were set out on the tables bordering the ballroom (though he did actually eat some, seeing as he was already there, and made a note to come back for more later). He toed off the blasted things and slid them under the table with his foot in the hope that the long tablecloth would hide them from sight.

He padded back to Emmrich, who was now engaged in conversation with Dorian and The Iron Bull, and slotted himself against his side.

“And how is being the Archon treating you, Dorian?” Emmrich said as he brought his arm up to sling it across Rook’s shoulders. He relaxed gratefully into the touch.

“Ah, yes, someone needs to lead the masses and all that,” Dorian waved his hand a touch dismissively. “Though I do hope to lead them into a better future.”

“A worthy endeavor, to be certain,” Emmrich nodded.

Dorian turned to Rook, taking in the way he was keeping his eyes down, trying to hide away from the nobles who seemed to be just itching to have a conversation with the leader of the Veilguard.

“I can see you’re suffering,” he said and Rook could only nod miserably.

“And I get him, kadan, I really do,” Bull said, flicking his eyes to Rook’s bare feet. He made no comment, but gave him a grin and a one-eyed blink (was he winking at him?).

“Yes, yes, the horrors of fine wine and noble company,” Dorian retorted with a wry chuckle.

“I could do with more wine and less company. I’ve got better ideas about spending the night than this,” Bull said and then he tilted Dorian's face up with a finger under his chin and kissed him gently, making Dorian’s cheeks turn red. 

“Bull, I am the Archon! I can’t be seen blushing like a- a maiden,” Dorian sputtered.

“You’re not the Archon of the bedroom, though,” Bull said with a waggle of his eyebrows.

“Bull!” Dorian smacked a hand against Bull’s arm and Rook was laughing, holding onto Emmrich, and finally the party was looking up.

“Darling!” Emmrich chided gently, but there was an amused quirk to his lips.

“Please excuse us, I have something to discuss with my husband.” Dorian bowed to them with an exaggerated flourish and then took hold of Bull’s arm, dragging him away. They heard a faint ‘finally’ from Bull as the pair made their way to the door.

“Hey, since they're leaving, can we-” But Rook wasn't allowed to finish the sentence, as a young nobleman took advantage of the opening.

“May I have a dance, ser?” he asked, voice syrupy sweet and Rook didn't want to dance with him at all.

“No, thanks, I don't dance” he said, hoping to get rid of him quickly.

“But I am sure that you would be very good at it, with a proper partner. One that could keep up with you,” he said with a sideways glance at Emmrich and touched Rook's chest in a gesture that he likely meant to be flirtatious, but it only made Rook's skin crawl. 

Rook took a breath in outrage. He might have been able to deal with him quietly, but after taking a jab at Emmrich? He would let the man know just how much he miscalculated. But as he opened his mouth to speak (and cause a scene), Emmrich placed a hand on the noble’s arm, looking the very picture of calmness.

“My dear ser, I believe you have just been told no,” he said levelly.

“I wasn't asking y-” 

There was the tiniest sound, almost lost in the noise of the ballroom, like a lightning spark earthing itself, and the noble snatched his hand back with a yelp and gave Emmrich a wide-eyed stare, before retreating without another word. Rook turned to Emmrich with a disbelieving grin.

“Emmrich?”

“Yes, darling?” Emmrich said, radiating innocence.

“Did you just zap the guy?”

“Oh, I would never! You wound me!” Emmrich put a hand to his chest in mock outrage, but then their eyes met and they burst out laughing, holding onto each other for support.  

“I believe we have earned a moment of respite, what do you think, Rook?”

“Finally,” he whispered to himself, but Emmrich’s barely audible answering snort (though he would never admit to doing something as unseemly as snorting) told him he’d been heard.

They left the ballroom hand in hand and crept along the silent corridors, giggling like schoolboys, stealing kisses in alcoves, until they found a door leading to the gardens. The moon was hanging high in the sky, casting the jasmine trees in a soft silver light. They stepped onto the grass and it was damp with evening dew, making Rook sigh in contentment at the refreshing feeling of it. He wiggled his toes, closing his eyes for a moment and Emmrich noticed his lack of footwear at last.

“Darling, where are your shoes?” Emmrich was raising an eyebrow and Rook found himself grinning sheepishly.

“They, uh, ran away? They didn't want to be here either, I guess.”

Emmrich sighed in fond exasperation and stroked his fingers against Rook's cheek. He leaned into the touch, enjoying the warmth of Emmrich's hand against his skin.

“Whatever shall I do with you?” Emmrich asked and the music from the ballroom was floating down to them from the open windows and Rook knew exactly what he wanted.

“Dance with me?” 

He held his hand out to Emmrich, who took it, but made no move to start dancing just yet.

“Weren't you saying you don't dance?” Emmrich teased. “I distinctly remember hearing it but a little while ago.”

“It's called lying, love,” Rook grinned. “But you should probably lead, I'm not very good at this,” he added bashfully.

“It would be my honor.” 

And they danced, in fits and starts at first, as Rook was figuring out where to put his feet without treading on Emmrich's, but they were growing more confident with each step. Emmrich was leading him with a sure hand at his waist and Rook surrendered to the motion, loving the way Emmrich's other hand was gently holding his, the way he was looking into his eyes with such soft adoration that it was making Rook's heart melt.

The violins swelled and Emmrich twirled him around and he laughed breathlessly, feeling like a hero of one of Lucanis’ romance novels. As the music was dying down, Emmrich dipped him, making him look up into his face and then he bent down to kiss him and there would have been fireworks if the novel he was in knew what it was doing. As it was, Rook felt his cheeks warm and returned the kiss with wild abandon and no fireworks could ever be as good as this.

“What would you like to do now, Rook?” Emmrich asked after he helped him stand up again.

Rook knew that if he asked to leave, Emmrich would oblige him, even if he would have preferred to stay himself. But he wasn't going to be that selfish, not when Emmrich was doing everything in his power to make him feel comfortable.

“I guess I could manage going back inside, if you'd like. I know you were enjoying yourself before.”

“You want an excuse to eat more dessert, don't you, darling?” Emmrich laughed softly. And it wasn't completely untrue, if Rook was being honest. 

“You know me so well. But seriously, I want you to have a good time tonight.”

“Thank you, I appreciate your thoughtfulness. And I must admit that I noticed a colleague earlier who I haven't seen in quite some time. She has made incredible advances in the preservation of the dead and I would love to discuss her findings with her.”

“Let's go then. But the shoes are staying off.”

“I wouldn't dare suggest otherwise, dearest. I have learned my lesson.”

Emmrich offered him an arm and they made their way back to the ballroom. They managed to get in through a side door, rather than the main entrance, and that thankfully meant much less attention this time. They took a moment to walk around, poking fun at the decor (“Hey, Emmrich, that candle holder looks like a pair of boobs.” “It most certainly does n- Oh.”) and then Emmrich spotted his colleague and went to greet her, but not before repeatedly assuring himself that Rook truly was okay with being left alone. And Rook really preferred not to join them, as there was only so much talk of embalming methods he could stomach before having to excuse himself.

Rook was leaning back against the dessert table, snacking on some kind of round, brightly colored pastry. It tasted faintly of almonds and he had no idea what it was, but it tasted really good, so he grabbed a few more for later. He saw that Emmrich was caught up in an animated discussion and was gesturing wildly with his hands, likely trying to get a point across and Rook smiled to himself, glad they came back in.

He was finishing his third colorful snack while watching couples twirl around on the dancefloor, lost in thought, when a large hand clapped him on the shoulder and stayed there, gripping him uncomfortably. And why the fuck did everyone think they were welcome to touch him today? Just what the fuck was wrong with them? Rook looked up, eyebrows drawn together in annoyance. A large man, a good head taller than Rook was standing next to him, giving him the worst excuse for a seductive smile he’d ever had the misfortune of seeing.

“So, you finally ditched that old windbag, eh? But a pretty little thing like you shouldn’t be left all alone-”

A thing. That was all he was to this kind of person and he definitely didn’t feel obligated to engage him more than necessary, or even let him finish speaking, so he went straight to the point.

“Fuck off,” he spat and tried to shrug off the offending hand, but the hold on him was strong and the man's other hand came to clutch at the front of Rook’s shirt, dragging him closer, until his face was inches from Rook's. 

“I could fuck the fight right out of you,” he whispered, and the smell of alcohol in his breath made Rook want to retch.

Rook glanced over to where he last spotted Emmrich and saw him still deep in conversation. Good. Emmrich would probably be a little mad at him if he knew what he was about to do, so he might as well do it while he wasn't looking. He leaned away as much as the hold on him allowed, then he brought his head forward full-force and struck his forehead against the man's nose with a resounding crack, hard enough to send him falling onto his ass.

“Ow.” 

Rook rubbed at his forehead. This would definitely bruise, but it was very much worth it. The man was holding onto his bleeding nose, trying to scramble back onto his feet and yelling at him.

“You filthy knife-ear, I’ll show you-”

He got no further than that, as he was suddenly being hoisted up by the scruff of his neck by The Iron Bull, who was grinning at Rook. He must have seen what happened and seemed to be enjoying himself immensely.

“Hey, kadan, we almost missed the fun!” he shouted over his shoulder.

“You shouldn't have taken so long, then.” Dorian was sauntering towards them, straightening the collar of his robes and Rook thought he could see a faint hickey on the side of his neck, before it was quickly concealed.

“I didn't hear you complaining when I was doing it.”

“Shut up, amatus,” Dorian hissed in Bull’s direction. Then he turned to the guards who were posted at the doors closest to them to order them to take the man away, but Rook wasn't paying attention anymore, because Emmrich arrived at his side. He was looking him over with a worried expression, and his eyes widened as he took in the bruise on Rook's forehead.

“Darling, are you alright? What happened?”

“I'm fine, just a headache,” Rook grinned. “He wanted to get a piece of me. So he got it.”

This vague description was met with a singular raised eyebrow. Fine, he would tell him if he wanted to know so badly.

“He wanted to fuck me and I disagreed, so he got mad, I guess.”

“He what?” Emmrich almost shouted, outraged. “I shall have some words with him.”

Rook suspected there would be less words and more violence, if the way Emmrich's hands were shaking with barely contained anger was anything to go by.

“No need, my dear professor,” Dorian interjected. “He will get what is coming to him soon enough.”

“Very well. I trust your judgment,” Emmrich said, a tad reluctantly, but didn't press the matter.

“And you lot can go back to whatever you were doing, nothing to see here,” Dorian added, shooing away the many guests who stopped close by to pretend they weren't staring. The musicians began a new piece, prompting Bull to offer his hand to Dorian with a bow and they left for the dancefloor. 

Rook hissed at a new pang of pain from his forehead. Did he manage to give himself a concussion? Emmrich turned back to him at the sound and the pain was gone in an instant with a quick healing spell.

“Thanks, love.”

“You are welcome, my dear. Do you need to leave?” 

“I'm good. I don't think that there's anyone around who wants to try getting close to me after this. But I wouldn't mind letting them know who I belong to anyway.”

And it was just like Emmrich to completely misunderstand, worried as he was about Rook's wellbeing right now.

“Rook, I would never presume to claim ownership of you. You are your own person first and foremost,” he said sincerely.

“I know, love,” Rook chuckled. “But I like being yours,” he purred into Emmrich's ear and heard a sharp intake of breath as realization dawned. 

“Is that so, dearest?”

Rook nodded, eyes glinting with mischief, and raised himself up on his toes to kiss Emmrich passionately, heedless of the whispers he caused among the nobles who still insisted on pretending they weren't watching them. They finally parted and Emmrich’s eyes were dark with desire, making Rook’s breath hitch. 

“May I have this dance?” Emmrich asked, taking hold of his hand and kissing his knuckles. 

Rook nodded eagerly and they joined the other couples on the dancefloor. Emmrich took the lead again and Rook noticed with some satisfaction that the hand on his waist was holding onto him tighter than before, and despite all of Emmrich's protests to the contrary, he had a feeling that he did actually like showing others that Rook was his. They were swaying together to the music and Rook was doing his best to stay as close to Emmrich as possible, their bodies touching, though he did enjoy the few times Emmrich made him twirl around just for the fun of it. The music then quieted down, but they stayed pressed together, breathing heavily, though not just with the exertion of dancing.

“Rook, you have no idea what you do to me,” Emmrich said, and there was a faint flush on his cheeks. Rook liked the sight a lot.

“Oh? Wanna show me?”

“Is that a challenge, my dear?”

“And what if it is?”

Emmrich drew closer, his breath warm against Rook's lips, but he didn't kiss him just yet.

“Then I will make you mine tonight,” Emmrich whispered and Rook took him by the hand and dragged him out of the ballroom.

[shikai-the-storyteller]

Realm SMP - The nitty gritty

I listened to Tubbo's rundown of Realm's features in the hour before the server opened, so here's some quotes + timestamps for folks who want to know the nitty gritty details about Realm's functions, tools, weapons, features, and more.

7m - Tubbo says he does have a team he assembled now, and it's costing him "Quite a bit of money."

Tubbo: To put all this together, to assemble the team – 'cuz I have assembled a team for this now – it's costing me a bit of money out the bank. [...] I'm going VERY out of pocket on this project."

10m - He reached out to a lot of his connections from working on Tubnet and got a custom rendered poster commissioned to announce Realm's first event.

Because of his show starting in December, Tubbo was worried he might not be able to give Realm SMP his full time, which is what prompted him to get a team.

13m 20s - The first event, Factions, is a long-form event, so even if a streamer isn't there on the event day (December 8) they can still play in the coming days. The factions won't be like more factions, MMO factions are different from Minecraft factions.

15m 30s - He has 3 events already planned - 2 for December, 1 in the new year

18m - Logs onto the Dev server

Tubbo: The Realm SMP is 100% vanilla, and while that is true in the sense that you can join the server using a vanilla client and it doesn't require any mods to play, there is some slight modifications within the vanilla game. Every single feature I've added to the server is to add to to vanilla features that already exist. It's not to take them away, it's not to make a different way of doing them, it's just to add more to the base game without destroying any already default Minecraft functionality.

20m - Shows off some weapons and tools

20m 50s - Tubbo says there's fancy leather which can be used to craft elytra.

Tubbo: Shoutout Philza! He's been on enough SMPs where he hasn't been able to get an elytra because the End is disabled. So there actually is a crafting recipe based on the elytra, but you have to unlock it based on skills.

21m 20s - Tool recap. Tool quality breakdown: terrible, shoddy, decent, good, great, flawless, masterful, fabled, and legendary. A terrible diamond sword would be worse than a masterful wooden sword.

23m - Skills recap. "Modifiers to my default player."

24m 30s - Skill point every time you level up a power level

32m - Going over custom things added to the server.

36m 30s - Mobs and hostile creatures will get stronger as players get stronger. Power scaling. Takes the highest level of the people in a group.

PVP and combat damage reduced to 10% when attacking with strong weapon.

38m 45s - No classes, wants everyone coming onto the server to be treated like an "average Joe" that can choose their own specifications.

Tubbo: I want them to kind of tailor their own custom class to themselves based on the types of specializations they pick in [different categories.

43m - Lives system clarification. Talks about death saving throws in DND. "If you die, it's equal to you failing a saving throw." If you lose all 3 lives, you'll be banned off the server for 24 hours, your stats are reset. "You are a new character, you are dead."

46m - Tubbo says he's cooking some lore for himself, but he's leaving thing open-ended so players on the server can tell the stories they want to make.

48m 30s - He scrapped the revive system in favor of the 24 hour ban

49m 30s - He encourages streamers to use Aypierre's translation thing for their streams and he's going to see if he can make a custom cheap version of a translator, but it might be a bit shoddy. "Obviously I'll speak and ask Quackity about stuff 'cuz he's the goat when it comes to stuff like that."

50m 30s - Banned items: mending books and mending enchants because it makes all the qualities of the crafts obsolete

51m 20s - Mob farms and other methods of automatically farming combat EXP are massively nerfed and do not work. "You cannot farm XP with farms." Mob farms are allowed, but they won't help much.

52m 30s - Trial chambers are enabled.

52m 50s - AFK farming skill XP is banned – not able to AFK fish or mine cobble gens (?).

54m 20s - He hasn't decided about Totems of Undying yet, but they may be necessary for custom boss fights and events. Totems of Undying don't work like people expect.

55m 20s - He just told members of the server not to be dicks.

55m 45s - Tubbo reiterates that he'll keep working on Realms as long as people want to play on it.

56m 45s - They started development for this server literally 5 days ago, and Tubbo reiterates his appreciation for Tangofrags.

57m 30s - He wants Realms to have a vanilla feeling with a specialized twist.

58m - He wants to add more people in the future, and tells creators "If I didn't respond to your message it's because I forgot! Not because I hate you! Thank you!"

58m 30s - Tubbo says he's hoping to add more people during the second December event

59m 30s - Tubbo says they're a four man army, technically five counting the person who made the event poster.

[sweetmage]

#unfortunately all of that was tossed out in favor of a 'actually templars are oppressed too guys :(' plot in DAI so :/ <<< i hate this so much cause actually it could had been done well but its like. well who is oppressing the templars?? uhm?? who is making them take lyrium and teaching mage's babies to be templars since they are children? and everyone is like "hahah idk but we need to restore the chantry's power"

LITERALLY!!! You are so so correct!

I would not have minded (and actually would have enjoyed!) focusing on the plight of templars as well if a.) They didn't try to paint mages as being equally as bad in the process and b.) They did exactly what you said and tied it all back to the people up top who are responsible for many of the worst atrocities plaguing Thedas: The Chantry.

Unfortunately that remains one of my least favorite plot points in all of dragon age because of the complete 180 they did between 2 and Inquisition. This is not a "both sides" issue between the templars and the mages. Sure, one group is being kept controlled rationed drug addiction and brain washing since childhood (terrible!) but the other is literally being forcefully ripped from their parents and forced into a prison tower where they are constantly abused in every manner, made tranquil, have no privacy or free will, and can be completely eradicated at the whims of the Chantry. These are not at all the same.

PLUS They act like this is a Kirkwall specific issue. It's not! I've seen the Harrowing, I've seen the dungeons of Kinloch Hold, I've seen how willing they were to lock all the mages in with demons to save themselves, I've heard Anders talk about being locked in solitary confinement (which in our real world is considered a method of torture) and woken up by being beaten in the head, I've hears him say how mages would jump to their deaths to escape the tower. I've also seen the templars giddily hunt him (and break orders to do so) like he's an animal.

Do not send me back to Ferelden and try to pull this "actually the rebel mages that look suspiciously like Anders are bad and dangerous but the poor little templars :("

And don't even get me started on how the tranquil and their plight are relegated to like 2 conversations and not treated as much a big deal.

But yeah, we should build up this chantry organization regardless of race or whether or not you're a mage (and can I just say making you a noble mage who had a cushy time in the circle is bullshit? Lol).

Okay, sorry for going off but you're so correct and I have so many feelings about this topic asfjsdk

[seasirengirl]

EVERYTHING YOU SEE IS A PART OF YOUR IMAGINATION, EVERYTHING YOU SEE IS A LIE.

pairing: jason grace x f!neptune!reader

warning: jason is kinda a bop in this, reader is referred to as a blonde

a/n: wrote this at 4am so it’s probably really stupid, but i was thinking of writing hcs for a part 2? idk would y’all read that?

growing up at camp jupiter meant being a soldier, a warrior with no life outside of their duties, a disciplined demigod with no mistakes ever made. this mindset messed up a lot of the kids’ mind, awarding them with different mental illnesses that they wouldn’t be experiencing if their lives were just, normal.

normal could mean a lot of things, but jason grace lost the touch of it a long time ago.

what was normal? being a mortal in high school or spending his everyday life in camp jupiter?

none of these options were available to him, because in the middle of his quest to save the queen of the heavens, he felt more confused than ever, his memories slowly coming back, but in little snippets, unnecessary things were being brought back to him, such as a certain scent that reminded him of… he didn’t remember who. he was surely going crazy.

and the blurred face of a girl he saw every time he ever got the chance to fall into hypnos’ domain certainly did not help the situation. maybe he did something so terrible in the past that he didn’t even get the chance of sleeping undisturbed, but what did he do? he didn’t even remember.

the question that bore into the mind of a mere reader would’ve been, 'what did he even remember?’ an oblivion, absolute nothingness.

and his two apparent friends, leo and piper.

while piper seemed to not be much of a friend, she still kept her patience.

jason, being the selfless soul he was, always managed to put everyone else before himself, he was worried that he was breaking piper’s heart by his amnesia, which, by the way, was not his fault either, but who else was there to blame? truthfully, no one.

while the quest was ongoing, he managed to get used to being apart of the trio, managing to fall more and more in love with the mystery that was piper mclean, or so he thought.

piper was absolutely gorgeous, in her own unique way, she was something to be looked at, to be admired and treated with care and love, but the world that they got exposed into, certainly was not up to the standard jason wanted piper to be put at.

she was also a total knockout, pretty, smart and really unique, what more could a guy want?

right?

then why did the ocean breeze randomly flow through his nostrils when jason was not anywhere near an ocean? what about the blonde soft wavy hair he always saw in his dreams, or the laugh he heard during one of those dreams. something about the girl in his dreams made jason’s life way more complicated, he could not get her out of his head, but how could he? it’s like the gods above truly did not want anything to be remotely normal in his life.

was it all just a set-up, was he cursed? or was he simply going insane over a woman he had never met? it had to end.

apparently the blonde from his dreams did not even exist, he described her to a lot of people, but not one person in camp half-blood knew anything, so he gave up.

the argo II had to be built and they had to fight mother earth, gaea, along with quite a lot of giants, girl problems could wait.

while keeping himself busy, he found his sweet escape to be piper, maybe what was between them was real, it wasn’t just venus having “fun” for a bit and making him insane? he still got dreams from time to time, but they didn’t corrupt his whole time.

but a few months passed, his and piper’s relationship was going well, they were just days away from going to camp jupiter, while going there to find the rest of the eight demigods from the great prophecy was the goal, maybe he could find her there?

and just like that, thoughts and dreams about the mysterious ocean girl slowly came back.

until the day they finally landed in camp jupiter. pieces of jason’s memory came back to him, but not all of it, but everything seemed to click the second he got the chance to actually look around the (not-so) familiar territory.

his hand intertwined with piper’s, he entered camp jupiter, he noticed annabeth running off to a black haired boy, who he assumed to be percy jackson, since that was the guy everyone seemed to be looking for ever since his arrival.

but right next to percy, stood a girl, but not just any pretty girl, her.

the girl from his imagination.

she quickly noticed jason, running over to him and pulling him into a hug, he noticed slight tears in her eyes that weren’t willing to spill.

jason was stunned, his hand was still holding piper’s, until it wasn’t, he felt it let go.

but jason had your arms around him, which felt better than anyone elses.

“i missed you, jase.” you said quietly, in a tone barely above a whisper.

“i-i’m sorry, i don’t remember.”

“percy told me it was a possibility, i just never thought you’d forget me, after all that we’ve been through. he remembered things about annabeth, did you really forget all about me?” a single stray tear managed to escape your eyes, raised in camp jupiter, crying was not something you were used to, but given the circumstances, what else were you supposed to do? sit around and smile like nothing happened, like you didn’t just realise that the love of your life forgot about you? “no, i’m sorry, it’s not your fault, i can’t blame that on you.” you quickly added, noticing how much pressure you put on the boy you loved.

“jason, what’s going on?” that was the voice of the girl jason came back with, sweet as honey. did he find a replacement? have you commited a sin so unforgivable that the gods had to punish you this way? he held her hand, they came in happily, you weren’t needed.

“i don’t know, look, let’s just go and find annabeth, she’ll know what to do.” jason simply shrugged away from your uncounter, living the girl of his dreams in tears, standing there, empty.

and it certainly did not help that jason and his newfound girlfriend were on the ship too, so you couldn’t really be miserable all the time.

you had to put in the effort.

that same night, as you were about to go to bed in your cabin, percy came in to check on you and you suddenly got the urge to tell him about all of your emotions and thoughts, since he was a great listener and also probably the only person who could cheer you up.

so you told him, if you couldn’t trust your brother, who could you trust? you told him some details he didn’t already know about your and jason’s complicated relationship and about him and his new girlfriend.

jason’s cabin was the one opposing yours, so he got a bit confused and almost opened the door to your cabin, but he heard your voice, and his name a few times too, so he did something absolutely irresistible, eavesdropping.

“it was complicated for so many years, and when we finally confessed, 3 months later he just disappeared one morning, i count every minute he was a way, and he came back with a new girlfriend, what did i do to venus so horrible? she gave me a hair comb once after a quest, she doesn’t like hate me or something, right? or does that mean my hair is really messy?” you kept on rambling.

“shh, i don’t know about jason, but if he’s willing to break your heart like that, i’m not gonna be okay with it, goodnight, y/n.” percy kissed your forehead.

“night, perce.”

just as percy walked out of the cabin, he saw jason standing by the door.

“hope you heard all that, buddy.” he mumbled.

if jason thought he was going insane months ago, he for sure knows he’s insane by now.

around a week has passed since that night, jason admired you from far away, getting reminded of why he fell in love with you all those years ago.

it was a quiet evening, some calm and peace, the typical calm before the storm vibes were around.

and it sure ended up being a storm that night for jason grace. he had been thinking about ending things with piper, since remembering things were making him all confused, all of the fake memories were faded too, so their relationship was hanging by a thread, which piper tore that night.

“we need to talk.” piper exclaimed, her tone sounded serious, not the usual cheery and soft.

“is everything okay?” jason asked, knowing that in fact nothing was okay, but he could only use a filler sentence, he didn’t have much of a heart to say anything else.

“what’s going on with you and y/n? i know you two dated, but i see the way you act around each other, you’re not over it, neither of you, and whatever this is going on with us is simply not satisfying neither me or you, so, are you cool with staying friends?” piper stated casually, without much worry on her face.

“i’m sorry pipes, it wasn’t fair to you.” jason tried apologising, but got interrupted.

“it’s fine, but she loves you, i can tell, go talk to her before it’s too late.” that was it, the awakening point, jason immediately stormed into her cabin.

“i fucked up, i’m really in love with you.” he exclaimed, and boy, did that sentence change everything.

it did.

[nasgard]

I wouldn't have minded Viren's death the way it happened if it had occurred later. Maybe in the final season, but here it unfortunately left me feeling betrayed and disappointed.

I know the intention was to show that he was finally being completely selfless and humble, sacrificing his own life to save the people of the kingdom. But the way it happened, the journey leading up to his death, just seemed cruel and unfair to me. Especially when I think about everything that happened in his life.

First, we know that his journey to darkness began precisely because he used dark magic to save his son's life. He used dark magic to save others and to serve the king. In other words, he spent his entire life destroying his own body and soul to save other people's lives, to feed the people of two entire kingdoms because somehow their rulers were incompetent to do so in the first place. So, once again, he destroys his body and soul and ends his life to save people who are okay with dark magic being useful to them once again but still continue to hate whoever uses it.

Moreover, he is forced into this when he said he wouldn't do it anymore, when he finally felt free from it. And he dies repeating that he is a servant. Again, I understand the intention of showing that he is no longer selfish and power-hungry, but when I remember that his hunger for power came from the insecurity of being someone without importance and value, seeing him die saying that was very sad. As if he, a servant, could never be anything else.

So, no, I didn't like Viren's ending as it was done.

Honestly, I find myself wishing he had died at the end of Season 3 because it feels like all his development in the last two seasons was thrown away and served no purpose. Because if Viren remained dead and Claudia still chose to follow Aaravos, Soren doesn't discover the truth, then what was the point of bringing Viren back to life? What was the point of him being, as far as we know, the only person ever resurrected? What was the point of him being able to see a vision of himself from the future and the past? Why did he have visions of Aaravos' mirror? And his constant visions with Claudia? That obvious connection to the Star Arcanum served no purpose?

Besides, knowing the true reason for Aaravos' revenge plans simply makes the way he dealt with Viren, Claudia, and Sir Sparklepuff in the last three seasons very, very strange. And here, I'm not judging the character but the writers who crafted this confusing plot. Because noticing the similarities between Viren's and Aaravos' stories, I don't see why Aaravos didn't reveal that to Viren. I know that if he had treated Viren as he did in Seasons 2 and 3, he would have convinced Viren to stay on his side. But instead, Aaravos pushed Viren to a complete breakdown, to the point of wanting to give up dark magic.

And what was that about Lissa not wanting to shed a single damn tear to save her own son? Honestly, the revelation that Viren had to pull her hair to get the tear to save THEIR SON, when Viren had already made the greater sacrifice with his own body and soul, didn't make me mad at Viren, it made me mad at her. She even abandoned the kids afterward, and Viren is the only terrible parent here?

All that being said, Viren was my favorite character because he was the most complex, the most real, and the best written. With him dead, I've lost interest in continuing to watch the show, which is really a shame.

[snowblack-charcoalwhite]

I think the best indicator of "love" is screen time and development the characters are getting. Aemond is definitely not loved, perhaps not even liked by this team. He was sidelined in s1 after Driftmark as well, the show never explored the aftermath for him, ignored his trauma, barely showed relationship with his mother etc. But in s1 Aemond was still a compelling character who stood on his own, now in s2 they write him like an afterthought, it feels like they would have left him off screen if he wasn't needed for the plot, they don't develop him, but the audience sees him occasionally so people remember he exists. His sole reason to exist is to be a worse version of Daemon who gets the same character traits except for Daemon's depth and interactions.

It really sucks and imo it also hurts Ewan as an actor, because after all the hype and PR he got, people had their expectations only to see that he was heavily sidelined for... literally everyone else. And now people are criticising Ewan's acting, but what is he supposed to do when his appearances are so short and he isn't given any meaty scenes? Like you can't seriously compare Tom and Ewan's material yet people do this and say Ewan is a bad actor. Olivia's sad eyes are constantly on screen, it's getting tiresome and repetitive, but hey, they need her to have a chance at Emmys. Same with Emma and Matt, they'd rather show Daemon walking around for 10 minutes then give Ewan an extra second. The battle of Rooks rest could have been his moment, but no, it's Fabien who gets the spotlight out of the Greens. Anime villains can't show any emotions apparently! Aemond can only appear on screen for 2 minutes per episode max. This is downright disrespectful, HBO used Aemond and Ewan for promo, tricked fans into thinking Aemond will have a prominent role, but the show treats Aemond and Ewan terribly. People on social media say they want to watch HOTD just for Aemond because he looks cool and I almost want to say it's not worth it because he is barely on screen lmao. And the writing is awful. The showrunners and HBO had an iconic character in the making but they're boring morons.

Hello!

I have to agree on the point about the complete and utter disrespect with which HBO and the writers have dealt with Aemond and Ewan this season. Actually, basically all of the characters have been subjected to the exploitative treatment and used to either push the show's agenda in a very crude, dumbed down form or to straight out bait the audience to gain more views. Olivia plays a double part of "a terrible mother"/"a victim of patriarchy" (to make Rhaenyra look better/to hammer home the "women good men bad" point) with a default "I'm about to cry" face (she even kind of joked about it herself during one of the promo interviews). Emma so far has been playing another crying/disrespected/constantly in need of saving or standing up for victim of patriarchy. Matt this season gives a master class in playing the walking collection of psychological issues (and not in a good way) - but he at least has something to actually act out. The latter also goes for Tom though Aegon has been really dumbed down - plus sometimes it feels like his main purpose in the show is to evoke pity in viewers. Phia has been amazing with what she was given but overall storywise Helaena doesn't fare that much better than last season - she is still barely a character. Fabien has been talking a lot about Criston's loyalty to Alicent (and this loyalty was shown to us in season 1) but we have yet to see the actual proof of this loyalty in season 2.

But Aemond IMO takes the cake as far as the disrespect towards the character and the actor is concerned. It really feels like HBO after introducing this character with so much potential for development (and the coolest design to boot) played by a very talented actor with a really powerful screen presence just used Aemond for increasing the show's popularity and selling merch - and after that used Ewan during the promo campaign knowing full well that a lot of people have been intrigued by him and interested in learning more about him. Is it possible that no one at HBO had been aware about the way Condal&Co treated Aemond's storyline and how heavily he was sidelined before the season was released? I don't think so.

Anyway, even if HotD has robbed Ewan of an actual opportunity to fully show his acting abilities, at least it has brought him a certain amount of fame and popularity (including interest in his previous projects). People (directors and studio execs among them) now know who he is and what kind of range he has (based off the way he has been playing Aemond and the way he played his other characters). So, after all, some good has come of it.

[aryas-faces]

Westeros, as grrm said, is an absolute monarchy and the definition of it is =a form of monarchy in which the sovereign is the sole source of political power, unconstrained by constitutions, legislatures or other checks on their authority. Not to mention that viserys in the book made a decree where he said that rhaenyra was his heir, so it's litterally write into the law that she is the rightful heir to the throne. if aegon was the rightful ruler, i assure you that grrm "my books are full of characters that made bad things and get repaid with the saim coin like jaime loosing the hand he used to push bran or tywin being killed by the child he neglected and abused" wouldn't kill the greens entirely bloodline (on the throne). aegon himself said in the screen you posted the throne was Rhaenyra's birthright so what's the point of deny it?

and the part where alicent say she fears for the life of her children is the funniest 😂

i fear for my children so let's torment the king's heir, and put the crown on my son (that DID NOT want it) and consequently start a war where i send my teenager children to fight (daeron was litterally 13 and aegon 19) on dragonback!!! everything will go ok, cause rhaenys the conqueror wasn't killed by an arrow even tho she had a big dragon in the conquest of dorne and jaehaerys' oldest son wasn't subject to same fate! what can possible go wrong??

1) The point of the Dance is that they both have a claim. Neither can be considered the Sole heir because Viserys named Rhaenyra heir, but by every law Aegon is heir. That’s one of the reasons the Dance happens. I’m not denying Rhaenyra is Heir, I’m saying Aegon is also Heir and that’s how we got in this mess

2) The Greens are not the villains. Both sides have good and bad people on it. George said he likes that people argue and debate who are the heroes and who are the villains when it comes to the Dance because neither side is totally in the right and neither side is totally in the wrong

3) If Rhaenyra wasn’t meant to be looked at as villainous, George wouldn’t write that Aegon’s victory is bittersweet in the Princess and the Queen

This is not the writing of someone who is a villain. What happens to Aegon is a tragedy, George treats it and writes it as such. And “narrative punishment” doesn’t really work here because Aegon was doomed from the start and like I said, he is written as a walking tragedy. If you want to talk about “narrative punishment” talk about Rhaenyra getting eaten by Sunfyre and how what comes next for House Targaryen through her bloodline is near total extinction

4) Ah yes. Fearing for your family’s life is SO funny! Also, she didn’t torment Rhaenyra. The book says there was tension between them, not that Alicent was terrible to her. And no, calling bastards bastards isn’t torment. Alicent is no saint, but she was never evil like you all make her out to be. She put the crown on Aegon’s head because she thought that would save from him from Rhaenyra and Daemon’s wrath if they were to be crowned, as she says, and than is one of the people who helps write peace terms. We, as the audience, know how misguided this is, but Alicent thought she protecting her children

[obsessionrepression]

I’ve always thought Uther was an interesting character. It would be so easy to write him as just the super evil guy who kills magic users for fun, but he’s more complex than that. I think they did him dirty in the episode where he came back as a ghost, because that was almost a blind evil rampage. I would think excusing that in-canon would maybe be saying that it was because he was a spirit, and so all his worst traits were exaggerated. However, in his life, he really did care about Morgana and Arthur. Did he treat them terribly? Sure. Was he a terrible person? Obviously. But he was still human, he wasn’t all terrible. There are some scenes where he’ll risk his life for Arthur or just show some of his humanity. His relationship with his wife is a bit confusing, because on one hand, he cheated on her. However, he also went a little insane when she died and definitely lost most of his morality after that.

Morgana and Merlin both exhibit traits of Uther, depending on what you believe his relationship with Ygraine was. Morgana is blinded by her hatred and she kills innocent people in her twisted conception of revenge. However, Merlin also loses a lot of his morality and humanity at the thought of the one he loved (Arthur) dying. He killed many of his own kind to ensure his safety, even going so far as to advocate for the continued ban against magic despite knowing of its potential for good. Even Uther could have claimed ignorance to this point. It’s not super clear, but it seems that magical communities were always more secretive, even before the Purge. Gaius had magic, but wasn’t extremely skilled. It’s possible that after Ygraine died, Uther’s grieving, no longer fully sane mind reasoned that magic truly was evil. His logical reconciliation with people like Gaius was that maybe magic just corrupted over time. However, we still see Uther turning to magic when things get very desperate. This could be because (1) he just got very desperate and was willing to do whatever it took to keep his family alive, (2) his opinion on magic got less radicalized with time, or (3) he never believed in the first place. I’m leaning toward option 1, just because we also see him risking his own life at times to save his family. Again, Uther is NOT a good person, but he does seem to love Arthur and Morgana.

Merlin didn’t have this ignorance of magic, and was fully knowledgeable of what he was doing when he told Arthur that there could be no place for magic in Camelot. Like Uther, his loved one dying caused him to lose his humanity. Not to the full extent of Uther, but it was there. The difference between Uther and Merlin was that Uther reacted after Ygraine died, and Merlin was trying to prevent Arthur’s death. I could see the potential of a much darker Merlin once Arthur died.

Or, y’know, Uther could have just been a “bad guy ™️” who hated everyone. But even though I hate him, I do like to think of him as a more complex character. I’d like to think that in a really weird, twisted way, he did actually love Arthur and Morgana, and maybe Ygraine??? (but that was complicated). He was evil, but I would love to have seen more of his backstory.

[cherryheairt]

Hidden Truths was so good!!!

I literally imagined an entire story for what could possibly happen after part 2.

Imagine an ending in which Aelys leaves him because at the end Cregan chose Sara and his nephew over her and their marriage once again but, eventually somehow the truth about Sara’s son is unconvered and the entire realm learns the truth about the parentage of the child (maybe a servant heard Cregan and Sara speaking and spread the rumor or maybe a secret letter from Sara or Cregan is intercepted) and then the entire North and Cregan’s council refuse to have a bastard who is not even their Lord’s child as their future lord and Warden of the North.

Then Cregan will realize too late that destroying his marriage and losing his loyal and dutiful wife just to help his selfish sister hide from the responsibility and consequences of her own actions, was not worthy because in the end the truth will always come to light. So he will live in regret for the rest of his life because he so easily sacrificed his marriage and future of his house as well as the reputation of his kindhearted wife to save the reputation of someone with no honor who doesn’t care about destroying other people’s relationships and happiness just to save herself the trouble of solving her own problems.

I can also imagine the council forcing Cregan to remarry with the purpose of having a legitimate heir for house Stark and even though his first intention was to remarry Aelys, she was already happily married and with a child or two. So Cregan is forced to marry someone he doesn’t even like out of duty and turns out that his new wife is actually barren or even better, he is the one who can’t have children, so it doesn’t matter how many times the council forces him to annul a marriage and remarry again, blaming the wife for not giving him children, the real problem is him, meaning that he stays childless and unable to produce an heir for house Stark, and because in those times men were never blamed for the inability to have children, him and the north will see the lack of an heir as a punishment from the gods against house Stark for his dishonorable actions against his first wife (this will probably happen after forcing him to annul the marriage and marry again just to have the same results.) And seeing Aelys giving so many children to her new husband, the people will realize that the problem was never her and they’ll certainly believe the gods are punishing Cregan with barren wives after discarding a perfectly fertile wife who could have given him many legitimate children.

And Sara would be shamed and hated amongst the entire north for bringing the destruction of house Stark because of her sinful actions. The north will definitely see that two Starks lost their honorable reputation because of the same bastard (Rickon for fathering said bastard and Cregan for wanting to pass said bastard’s bastard as his legitimized heir). What a terrible blow for house Stark. Sara will definitely be treated like trash after this. If she was complaining about how she was treated before for being a bastard, she would yearn for those days when people start treating her worse than she could ever imagine for not staying in her place and trying to stain the legacy of house Stark with her blood. The realm will not see a mother trying to protect her child from rumors, they will not even see a selfish coward who was afraid of taking responsibility for her actions, the realm will see a cunning, selfish and entitled bastard trying to elevate her blood by making her bastard son the future lord of Winterfell at the cost of the honorable Stark line, by taking advantage of her poor brother’s oath and sense of responsibility for his bastard sister.

Meanwhile, Aelys gives many legitimate children to her new husband and maybe one of her daughters can become the future wife of King Aegon’s son and heir, making Aelys the mother of the future Queen. There’s no better revenge than one you don’t seek and falls upon the people who hurt you because of their own actions while you just dedicated yourself to be happy and live your life as far away from them as possible.

Sorry for the long comment but this story has my head spinning and I can’t help but think of so many possibilities. Of course none of them end with Aelys forgiving Cregan. There’s no space in my mind to think of a possible ending in which she forgives him and goes back to him after the great humiliation he made her go through.

Thats so good and messyy 🤭🤭 All the lies and effort would be all for what? Just for him and Sara to be exposed and pretty much discredited until he has an official heir. His bannermen and Maester would keep a close eye on him and the new wife, ENSURING it is their trueborn kid.

the bastard's bastard im dead 😭

QUEEN MOTHER AELYS 🤭(not the official title for queen consort moms but who cares, still would be the King's MIL)

Love this, I love being petty and spiteful, no peace for liars and cowards

[another-goblin]

I like the metaphor of Dr. Ratio being a doctor who tries to cure the disease called 'foolishness'. It helps understand the character better.

First, let's not forget that he's actually a medical doctor:

But he sees himself as more than that (and Screwllum agrees):

That alone can say a lot about him, and that's why I don't agree with some of the ways some people interpret him.

Would a doctor get angry at somebody for being too ill? (they probably would for not using the medicine the doctor prescribed, or not taking their condition seriously.) Would a doctor be disgusted and abandon somebody for being too ill? Would a doctor take pride in being healthier than their patient?

......

But is this metaphor warranted? Doctors save and improve lives; what does education do?

We know how dangerous ignorance can be. Our real world gives us a lot of examples of that.

Besides, Ratio himself found a cure for some terrible disease threatening humanity and resolved "the energy crisis of the century."

So I'd say that education can save and improve a lot of lives too.

......

What exactly does he 'cure'? The words he uses, like 'foolishness', sound very vague. But if we interpret it as ignorance, then his work as a teacher makes sense. He also gives lectures seemingly outside his curriculum (remember that series of faux movie posters where he looks super excited to give a lecture about astronomy), organizes conferences (his voiceline about the Express's archives), and urges us to go to university and join some debate event. That's a lot, but these are some conventional things you'd expect from an educator.

On the other hand, this looks more like life coaching or counseling:

 It's basically the idea that humanity should start thinking by themselves and not rely on geniuses who don't care about them (btw he holds a similar position about the Aeons; people shouldn't rely on them too).

This is very different from these things I listed above.

So he sort of does both, I guess?…

......

Another thing is, there is a big difference between a physician treating an individual patient, and a researcher curing a whole disease (the way Ratio himself eliminated that actual disease). And again, he seems to do both, with both his conventional educational activity and, well, 'life coaching'.

What he did on Herta station is a good example. For the researchers on the station, he showed that despite the presence of 2 (or 3) geniuses on board the station, only our TB could help them; that they could have discovered the truth by themselves if they weren't so dependent on the geniuses.

And at the same time, it was a lesson for the TB about how if we really try, if we don't rely on people just telling us what's happening and what to do, we can make sense of a complicated situation by ourselves.

......

BTW he reminds me of Dr. House (from the show 'House, M.D.' Do people remember that show? From 20 years ago? oh god…)

I don't think they have a lot in common if you dig deeper, but there are some similarities on the surface, that can help you understand Ratio a bit better.

They don't mince their words and don't care what other people think about them.

House is dismissive of people who bother him with trivial problems. (reminds me of Ratio's "Don't ask a question if there's already an answer" and "If you have a problem, are you sure you can't solve it yourself?")

House is the most rude to other doctors for not doing enough (the same way Ratio is extremely critical of other scholars - people who are priveleged to have access to knowledge but don't do anything worthwhile with it. And, in a smaller degree, to his students - people who already have access to higher education but don't take it seriously enough, in his opinion.)

But he will cure those who really need his help, whether they want it or not.

[shadowqueenjude]

“Bitch” wow! I don’t see the reason for getting so heated over these characters. They don’t actually exist you know? You’re not defending anyone’s honour or being some saint here. I didn’t mean anything in a bad way, I was trying to have a rational conversation because I’ve never come across an IC hater and wanted to know why you didn’t like them. But obviously having a rational conversation is out of your zone of abilities since it didn’t take a lot for you to get down to name calling. My only suggestion to you because I truly wish the best for you is control that anger and learn to listen to other people before someone shows you your place. It won’t be nice. Good luck bbg 💜💜

You're the one coming in anon and shitting on characters that I like. What did you expect??? I'm going to defend my characters, obviously. You want my dissertation on why I hate each member of the Inner Circle? Let's start with captain asshole Rhysand: Rhysand: Sexually assaulted Feyre, did not apologize, licked Amarantha's boots for fifty years to "protect" no one since he only rules 1/3 of his court. He claims to be uber powerful yet he can't control misogyny within 2/3 of his court. But it's totally fine to go into Tarquin's house, steal an important possession, then act superior later when his wife's antics in Spring caused Summer to be invaded. Pretends to give his wife a "choice" while not giving her crucial information, i.e. that he wouldn't be helping her out with the Weaver at all. Locked Lucien in a house, made rape jokes about his mother, altogether treated him like shit for no reason. Then the Inner Circle acts all shocked and furious that their "masks" as "bad guys" fooled everyone and act violent towards literally everyone not Inner Circle there. Rhysand forcibly shut Tamlin's mouth, Feyre burned Lucien and Eris's innocent mother, Azriel nearly choked Eris to death. Ironically, Cassian acted the most sane here. After Tamlin saved Feyre and Rhysand's lives multiple times, Rhysand has the gall to tell Tamlin to kill himself despite knowing they'll need him as an ally, which is a terrible thing to do and also made Lucien's life harder. ACOSF he locks Nesta in a house and hides the malignant nature of his wife's pregnancy from her. That's just the gist of it. Cassian: Rhysand's dog. He need to grow a fucking spine. He never defends Nesta in front of Rhysand, and constantly abuses her physically and mentally. Won't let her eat sugar, forces her to train, tells her everyone hates her, makes her hike a fucking mountain for having the nerve to disobey rhysand and tell feyre the truth she deserved to hear. Then again in HOFAS not defending Nesta in front of Rhysand when he was screaming at her for giving away the trove and telling her she should've killed Bryce instead. THAT. IS. YOUR. MATE. He treats all the women in his life better than her, like mor and feyre. Azriel: A fucking weirdo violent creep. He needs to man tf up and admit Lucien is the superior man. His creeping on Mor for 500 years when she's clearly not interested is not cute. Nor is choking Eris to death in an important political meeting. Nor is treating Elain like a helpless object and masturbating to a gag gift he gave her. I'lL dEfEaT hIm WiTh LiTtLe EfFoRt boi stfu no you can't and Lucien has done NOTHING to you. I have absolutely ZERO respect for a character who treats the nicest guy in the series like that. Elain is not a child to be fought over. He's so pathetically jealous that Lucien is a good dude and has a mate and is better than him at everything. He needs to admit his homoerotic desire for Lucien and get it over with. Or let Eris humble him. Either way. Mor: the biggest hypocrite of all time. I aM a DrEaMeR aNd I gOt OuT so did it ever occur to you that maybe you're not the only dreamer? You're not even going to try to save good people stuck under the Court of Nightmares or ask your High Lord to? You just write them off because you're the only good one? And you want to throw Nesta into the court of nightmares? You don't do shit when Cassian is harassing Nesta? You're a bitch and not a girl's girl at all. If there's ANYTHING women should be united on, it's creepy dudes. ESPECIALLY if one of them is your best friend. Amren: this bitch should've stayed dead after ACOWAR. How dare she talk to Nesta the way she did in ACOSF? She KNEW how much Nesta was hurting and she did it anyway. She's over 15 thousand years old. What a bitch. They're all part of an elitist establishment and the epitome of modern politics that needs to be destroyed. Oh, I'm sorry? Should I apologize for saying "bitch" when you're the one coming in hot on my anons? How about you get a life besides harassing people who disagree with you first?

[goodolddumbbanana]

This episode made me realise how jerk Old Moon was and reminded me how I didn't like Old Moon. Sure this Alternative Old Moon says 'love you' with Sun, but it didn't ignore the fact that he is still killing people (in jail) and Sun can't do anything to stop him.

Sun has said with Puppet that things were good between them when nothing happened, and I bet that is how nothing happened. This Old Moon still has higher power on Sun, (when Old Moon made Sun stop by telling Him about the deal, I bet that deal is, either Old Moon kill innocent people or lash out on Sun, or kill sinners), still think Sun lower than him (instead of thinking Sun a coward and a idiot, he just thinks Sun is a coward, guess that what Moon learns after 2 years.).

I also see that Old Moon has a lot of characteristics of Creator. Want to observe instead of interact, cold and still have the biggest centric egoism. And something about the obsession. With old moon, was his self hated. He hated that he left a piece of KC inside Sun, and blamed victim Sun because of that. With New moon, it is saving and protecting the family. With the alternative Old Moon, it is the portal. It was his fault there was a lot of drama crap coming out of the ball pit, and he decided it was his fault and his obsession.

And I really hated how Sun was getting treated. It was terrible, both this Sun and alternative Sun (wtf you should be happier and don't give up on saving new moon???) (and everyone keeps saying This Alternative versions say love to each other, but please don't forget the old moon just the same. It never stops him from hurting Sun more.)

Side notes, seems like, Suns have portals are the common knowledge on some Moons. We know from Puppet that Sun and Moon have a tendency to kill each other. And Moon didn't surprise one bit when Sun said He killed Moon, so I guess Cain instinct happened in various Universe and There are a lot of evil Suns who just eat his Moon and live a luxurious life in private.

So because of Sun personality, wanting to stay alone and wanting nothing more than peace, we don't see much of Evil Suns across the universes. (And I bet that after they kill moons, their mental health downgrades pretty quickly after that. Who knows if they kill themselves faster or just live until the day they get scrapped faster?)

[im-goofball]

rubs hands together. do the gorosei have families in your lore? if so I'd like to see their parents [or hear about them], what did they look like in their youth? Do they have devil fruits or are they yokai? PLEASE 🙏

OMG IT'S CHRISTMAS!!

The Gorosei during the Void century, art by my co-lore creator @genri-o

Warcury-Born in the Year of Sun 595 AF

(48 y.o. in 643 AF when it all begun)

-Born as a middle-class noble, but family died in a tragic shipwreck when he was just a baby

-Was took into the Saint Vlad's Orphanage when he was just one year old by an unknown person

-After leaving the Orphanage at 16, he started studying law in the prestige Royal Law Academy that he has been saving for his whole life

-At twenty he graduated with honours and became a judge, aspiring himself to climb the hierarchy to get the highest position in Slaviugia Kingdom

-He became the Supreme Judge of Slaviugia at 35, recorded in the Year of Sun 630 AF, the second youngest person to get this job in history

-Was elected as the Chief of Royal Court in the Year of Sun 633 AF and became one of Tsar's advisor's year after

Ethan-Born in the Year of Sun 596 AF

(47 y.o. in 643 AF when it all begun)

-Born as an orphan in the land of Wano

-At 5, he was found starving in the streets by shogun Kozuki Saisho and his men, who then took him in as his son.

-For the next twelve years he was trained by the greatest blade master in that time, Lunarian named Andaiell Daerlion, with his younger brother Sutara (who he greatly envied due to the fact that he was Saisho's biological son, and therefore was shown more love then Ethan recieved)

-At age 18, he became one of the Moon Guards, elite group of twenty samurai directly operating under Shogun and protecting his and his family's life.

-Ethan had medicore education, despite being adopted into the royal family he never recieved any royal title nor any proper education as he should have (Wano still had strict rules when it came in their 4 Classes: 1. Royal family, 2. The Church of Moon, 3. Nobles, 4. Commoners) and so he is terrible at math and had to hone his reading skills by reading many books and poems. He was naturaly skilled in caligraphy though

-He adopted the name Ethanbaron after the creation of the WG, and he still mostly responds if people call him Nusjuro since he lived with that name most of his life

Saturn-Born in the Year of Sun 598 AF

(45 y.o. in 643 AF when it all begun)

-Born as the only child of royal Jay Garcia bloodline, son of king Methone and queen Anthea of the Greecion Kingdom

-Lost his mother at the early age of four as she died of miscarriage and then his father at the age of twelve after he died of an unknown illness

-Became the king month after, recorded in the Royal Cronicles: Year of Sun 610 AF

-He was spoiled a lot when he was a child, especially by his father who taught him a lot about politics. Most nobles and members of Grecion Royal Court tried to manipulate him and treated him like a snobby child, which of course he was, but he was much more dangerous and smarter then they thought and quickly got rid of oposition whilst he grew in power

-When he grew older, the passion he and his mother had for science grew larger and at the age of fourteen he atended the Academy of Sciences and graduated at the age of seventeen with honourifics

-In the Year of Sun 620 he was wedded to princess Tethys Saerlios, who was still eighteen at the time

-He was opposed to this at first, he had never met her after all, and had no idea what she was like

-The first time they met was in a lab Saturn thought belonged to one of the Royal physicians, but was surprised to find a young woman fixing a star-ship's motor. Not realizing it was Tethys , since she was dressed in an engineer's clothes stained with oil and lab glasses he came closer

-The first thing Tethys said to him and she was still with her back turned to him was: "Could you hand me that screwdriver over there?"

-Saturn was dead set on marrying that woman

-At the dinner table Saturn realized that the princess he was supposed to marry and that messy engineer from the lab before were the same person

-They married after a year, recorded in tue Royal Cronicles: Year of Sun 621 AF

-After 6 years, they had their first child and heir to the Greecion Kingdom, Jay Garcia Dione and 3 years later they had daughter, princess Jay Garcia Rhea

-Saturn and Tethys became one of the most influencial people of their time with their inventionsa and scientifical/engineering knowledge aslo the fourth wealthiest in the All Blue

Mars-Born in the Year of Sun 589

(54 y.o. in 643 AF when it all begun)

-Born as the third son of the royal Mars bloodline of Aurelion Kingdom, son of King Deimos III. and queen Aurelia

-His older brothers, Feobos and Sandos died in hunting "accident" in 598 AF and his mother, Aurelia commited suicide three months after

-Mars became king at the age of eighteen after his father, who grew mad with grief died in Trail of Sun by Mars' hand as he was unfit to rule and almost brough Aurelion to ruin, recorded in Sun's Cronicles of Aurelion; the Year of Sun 607 AF

-At the age of 35 he went to war with the ruler of Themisto Isles, the King of Storms, Shepherd Ju Krono, after the man invaded one of Mars' allied kingdoms for the goal of conquest

-The war was known as The Falcon War and took three years till Mars defeated Krono on battlefield, killing him with his own sword the Stormfeather. The end of the war was recorded to be established in 627 AF

-Since Krono died, Mars was debating on the peace treaty with Krono's only son and the Crown Prince, Shepherd Ju Peter who became the new king of Themisto islands at the young age of 13

-He took the boy as his son two years after, since it was discovered Mars was unable to have children so his bloodline would die there. (And he seemed rather fond of the sassy child)

Peter-Born on the Year of Sun 614 AF

(29 y.o. in 643 AF when it all begun)

-Born as a child out of wedlock of king Shepherd Ju Krono and unknown woman, theorised to have been a commoner

-Since Krono had no other child and never married due to his how shall I say... flirty personality, he had no other choice but to legitimize Peter and name him his heir and Crown Prince

-Whilst growing up, Peter was mostly looked down upon due to his "stained blood-status" and never had any great relationship with his father, but he still loved him nonetheless

-He became king after his father Krono died at the age of 47 by the hand of an enemy, king Marcus Mars

-He became fondof the man after meeting him, as he was the only person who took him seriously despite his young age an little of experience as a ruler

-They became rather close for the next two years and Peter was not really surprised when Mars offered an allience and then proposed the Rite of Two (a ritual with sake cups, bur much mire complicated then the one origanting from Wano)

-Despite The Falcon War and the tragic death of his biological father, Peter never felt any hate or negative emotion towards Mars, as he understood that it was Krono who was the agressor

-Peter even offered to adopt Mars' name, but the king refused.

They are not eaxctly devil fruit users, because they never eaten the fruits containing their yokai powers, rather they were given to it by Mu (details for later asks).

I will show you Jay Garcia family, also @genri-o 's artworks, later on in the ask (if you ask for them of course)

[devilheartsblog]

Here’s my very delayed World of Winx Season 2 review

Ok so it’s been like a few weeks since I watched it so I won’t have too many complaints, I’ll just list the major ones I have.

Firstly the episodes were super boring and felt dragged out. In season 1 the side plot of finding the talents was entertaining and honestly I miss the WoW show as it was fun and Ace despite being a dick, was neat. Now there’s this Neverland bullshit which makes even less sense with Captain Hook’s mega forehead and Peter Pan actually growing up, or implied to. And the Evil Queen being Tinkerbelle feels wrong especially with the romance with Matt (Peter Pan’s son)

Now, the Nemesis. Most of them were disappointing and the worst offender was Bloom’s. I didn’t vibe with the clown aesthetic. Despite being the worst one at least her creation made sense, with the shadows stealing part of her magic to corrupt. The other Nemesis just…spawn. Otherwise Virus and Banshee were my favorites and Eclipsa was alright. I liked Stella’s backstory but it contradicts things like them being on Earth for a few months. Sinka also felt she should have come before Matt’s character growth. Speaking of Matt…

I was expecting to absolutely hate him but no Sky is still the worst by a long shot. Matt is very annoying with his “I’m know more than you” attitude when he a LOSER, but at least everyone hates him for it until he gets turned to stone. Other than that I enjoyed his character and how he’s incorporated into the Winx group like when they disguise as art enthusiasts. He’s also one of the only non-villain dudes in the series to use magic, yay! However, the fact he suddenly gets better at sword fighting by acquiring a fairy blade despite pro warrior Tiger Lily saying he sucks ass at it is just plot convenient, I instead prefer his deception and acting skills which do come back when he deceives the mermaids. Another is I wish Matt got involved in Hook’s defeat, like some on. He made a great point about trusting Hook and Hook’s the one who sent Smee to kidnap him.

The Winx are alright eh, I mean, I wasn’t invested in any of them and they don’t have any story going on, they just stole Anabelle’s dream of being performers and this hot lady named Venomya hates them, and omg just bring Ace back please. The WoW show was fun as Bloom had arguments with Ace but now she and the others have near nothing as Venomya isn’t important until the very end. Onyrix isn’t really better than Dreamix, I can’t decide which one’s worse, but yeah they get it out of nowhere, at least let the Forest Spirit gift it to them it have them earn Onyrix after defeating their Nemesis smh. I’m also not sure what Onyrix does like…what’s the point?

Anyway let’s get to the villains now, starting with Jim and Smee. He’s on the Winx’s side but for the majority of the plot he’s not involved in anything, just tells Smee to kidnap Matt twice and that’s about it. He could have done like Valtor where he directly involves himself but nooooo, forget the Switzerland stuff, he’ll not do anything until the end. Smee is also a terrible comedic relief. However, I love Smee. The fact he was painted as the villain by Hook despite following his orders and was ultimately the one to take Jim down and save Neverland, MUAH, perfect. Onto not perfect, Tinkerbelle. So her whole motive was Peter Pan liked Wendy instead of her and now she mad I guess, then she falls in love with Matt and suddenly she’s…good..now? I mean, yeah that’s, Winx should just stick to one-dimensional villains. Not to mention her youtuber ass “I have made a severe and continuous lapse in judgement” ass apology, like I like that she acknowledges she treated the Neverland people horribly but don’t add “please forgive me” at the end it really shows her priorities. Another villain I like is Shaman. He’s the Shaman! He sounds like if Jack Black stuffed himself with brownies and got sleepy! Him being by Tinkerbelle’s side after she got weakened and even trying to save her and talking some sense in Tiger Lily made me wish he ended with Tinkerbelle instead of Matt.

And yeah the fact Tinkerbelle ends up with Matt, aka Peter Pan’s son, when her whole motive for being evil is Peter Pan didn’t love her………need I saw more? It’s just wrong. She should make out with the Shaman.

Anyway onto some other characters. I loved the zombie pirates in their spotlight episode but they went back to being evil kinda and don’t correct their mistake like Tiger Lily, so rip I enjoyed them a lot, and I miss the wizards. The sirens were annoying as FUCK. I only like their human designs augh. Alligator man was eh alright? He looks more like a crocodile and Crocodile man looks like an alligator. I wish they’d talk even if it was a Knut impression, it’d make their significance more meaningful.

And lastly, the plot twist in the final episode where Venomya’s a witch, Baba Yaga and got an old ashy granny design. God, the whiplash I got, I was so upset because the best part, aka her design, was not just an illusion Mrs Baba Yaga used. Bruuuh 😭. The idea of Witches being rivals with fairies is interesting but eh I don’t think we’re getting a season 3 anytime soon so yeah. Maybe they’d have introduced the Trix so maybe that was a bullet we dodged? The Trix are so overused. Anyways the ending was alright but that cliffhanger and Venomya being a granny ruined it.

That’s all I have to say. I’m getting a wicked headache and I’ll see you guys on the flipside.