#wish & regent kids

[supersonic-pinwheels]

My almost all XXY, and yet disappointing from the pov of the project needs, nest from Regent and Wish today.

98192693 - Imperial female, XXY Shamrock/Shamrock/Sanddollar, Wasp/Butterfly/Glimmer, Uncommon Wind eyes

98192694 - Imperial male, XXY Shamrock/Shamrock/Sanddollar, Wasp/Butterfly/Glimmer, Common Wind eyes

98192695 - Imperial female, XXY Shamrock/Shamrock/Flaxen, Petals/Butterfly/Glimmer, Uncommon Wind eyes

98192696 - Imperial female, XYZ Shamrock/Emerald/Buttercup, Wasp/Butterfly/Glimmer, Common Wind eyes

[velieditss]

A life for a life

Pairing: Aemond Targaryen x Niece!reader

Cw: Explicit description of abuse (Not from Aemond to reader) grief, bad dreams of Lucerys death (I mean I cried at that kid like I had birthed him, raised him, and paid for all his bills)

Summary: Once, you were a betrothed, but now, you are a widow and a prisoner. Yet, it seems the regent prince has set his sights on you, a gaze that, in truth, was always there, watching you from the shadows. But only now, at this crossroads in your life, does he feel empowered to claim you as his own.

You were the only one who stayed behind when your family returned to Dragonstone. Your only desire was to keep Helaena company, the only one among the king and queen's children with whom you had formed a bond, a fragile thread of affection in a court where alliances were often brittle.

But you didn’t heed her warning—or perhaps you simply didn’t understand it.

“Leave, or he will claim you,” she had whispered, her voice trembling with an urgency that you failed to grasp.

You certainly didn’t understand.

That very night, your grandfather, the king, died.

You were asleep when it happened, blissfully unaware, only to awaken to a silence so profound it was deafening. No one came to inform you, and when you tried to leave your chambers, you found the doors barred, locking you inside.

It became clear that only one person had remembered your existence when food and water were delivered to you. Desperate for answers, you questioned the servant, only to learn that your grandfather had passed, Aegon had been crowned king in your mother’s stead, and your betrothed, Prince Lucerys, was dead. How, or why, no one would tell you.

Devastated, the full weight of your captivity settled upon you. You long to stop dreaming. You implore the gods that you could cease to dream. You are so exhausted; all you yearn for is sleep. You want to sleep all day, from dawn until twilight, which every evening arrives a little earlier and with a touch more gloom. During the day, all you do is think about sleeping, about him. But at night, all you do is try to stay awake.

All day you keep your face smiling like a mask, smiling, smiling, your teeth bared, your eyes bright, your skin like stretched parchment, paper-thin. You keep your voice clear and soft, you speak words without meaning, and sometimes, when necessary, you even sing. At night you fall into your bed as if you were plunging into deep waters, as if you were sinking into the depths, as if the water were possessing you, taking you like a mermaid, and for a moment you feel a deep relief, as if, submerged in water, your sorrow could drain away, as if it were the Gods eye river and the currents could bring forgetfulness and carry you into the cave of sleep; but then, the dreams come.

You don’t dream of his dead–it would be the worst of nightmares to see your brother bleeding to death, to see him with the pale face typical of a lifeless body and soulless eyes.

You don’t dream any of this, and you thank the Gods for that mercy at least.

But you understood, that if anything he would have wished, it was that you would not live with grief and regret.

You were born a princess and you are the heir to a long line of courageous women.

Even so, you wept until sleep claimed you, and the days began to blur together, each more colorless than the last. You lost the will to eat, to care, for it seemed that no one cared for you. Only a servant came each day to help you wash, but even she never spoke.

Thoughts of escape flitted through your mind—knocking out the servant, or even throwing yourself from the window, the height be damned. But everything changed one night when they dragged you from your bed, giving you no time to comprehend what was happening.

They hauled you through the corridors with such brutality that your arms bore the bruises of their grip.

“What is happening?” you demanded, your voice quivering with fear. “Where are you taking me?”

The soldiers’ hold tightened painfully, making you wince. “The king wishes to see you, so keep your mouth shut.”

As you were led closer to the chambers that had once belonged to your grandfather, you sensed something was horribly wrong. Soldiers were dragging servants away, forcing them toward what seemed to be the dungeons, while you were marched in the opposite direction.

“I’ve done nothing,” you murmured, dread curling in your stomach. “I am a princess; you have no right to treat me like this!”

But your protests fell on deaf ears.

When you reached the king’s door, a cacophony of crashes and furious shouts echoed from within, as though the very foundations of the room were being torn apart.

“I’ll kill them!” a voice roared. “I’ll kill them all! Traitors and villains! How dare they attack me!”

The doors were flung open, and you were shoved to the floor at the feet of a figure who loomed above you.

“Your Majesty…”

“I am the King!”

You raised your head slightly to see Aegon, wild-eyed, smashing something in his hands—a relic of ancient Valyria that had once belonged to Viserys.

“I am the King!” he repeated, and it took several men to calm him, though his rage only simmered as he turned his gaze upon you.

“We’ve brought the traitor, as you commanded.”

A chill swept through you as your eyes met Aegon’s. The fury and madness in his stare made him unrecognizable, a stranger where once there had been a boy you had known all your life.

He grabbed you by the shoulders and hauled you to your feet, his grip so tight it was as though he wanted to crush you with it. His eyes were wild, almost deranged.

“It was you, wasn’t it?” His voice was more of an accusation than a question.

You instinctively placed a hand on his chest as he backed you against the shattered remains of the sculpture he had destroyed.

“You sought revenge in the name of your bastard betrothed.”

You shook your head as his hand closed around your throat, squeezing until you could barely breathe.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” you choked out, struggling to draw air into your lungs.

"Aegon...!" you gasped, but he didn't release you. Your eyes locked with his, desperately trying to convey the truth. You had done nothing, you didn’t even know why he was blaming you. Of all people, he should know that you would be the last to harm them.

But his grip tightened, and as your vision began to blur, you started hitting his arm in a frantic attempt to break free.

With no one stepping in to stop him, you acted out of sheer instinct. You grabbed the nearest object and struck Aegon across the face with all the strength you could muster.

He released you immediately, and you collapsed to the floor, gasping for breath and clutching your chest. Only then did the others move, but not against Aegon—against you.

They seized you by the hair, dragging you to your feet, holding you so tightly that escape was impossible.

You were certain you would die there, but you resolved that you would not go down without a fight.

Aegon waved the others away, and without hesitation, he struck again. The blow was so fierce that it knocked the strength from your legs, leaving your ears ringing and your vision blurred. Warm blood trickled down your lips as you struggled to stay conscious.

Your eyes filled with tears, and you braced yourself for the next strike, but it never came.

Slowly, your hearing returned, and with it, your sight. You could make out distant voices—two at first, then more. You were dropped to the cold floor for a third time.

Raising your head, you saw a blurry figure holding Aegon by the throat. The darkness, combined with the dizziness in your head, made it difficult to identify who it was.

You wanted to take advantage of the distraction, to flee, but you had no idea where to go or what to do. You tried to stand, but the ringing in your head grew louder, preventing you from taking more than a single step.

“She is a traitor, and you dare defend her?” you heard Aegon’s voice, but you no longer cared.

You made a second attempt to stand, but this time you did not feel the ground beneath you. Instead, you felt arms encircling your waist with a surprising gentleness, a touch so unexpected that even he seemed taken aback.

When you looked up, you found yourself gazing into the face of the last person you ever expected.

“Aemond?” you asked, needing confirmation.

In the dim light of the night, through the haze of pain and exhaustion, you clung to the one solid thing you had found.

“Don’t try to move anymore,” he said softly, “you’ll only hurt yourself more.”

He guided your arms around his neck and, with no effort at all, lifted you into his arms. You might have resisted, demanded that he put you down, that you retain some shred of dignity after all you had endured, but you were utterly exhausted. Your head wouldn’t stop spinning, and your spirit was shattered. For now, Aemond seemed to be the only one who showed even a flicker of care for you.

••••

You were the only good thing he remembered from his childhood. The only thing that made him smile, the only thing that made him feel human.

Like him, your dragon egg never hatched, but unlike him, you didn’t mind. And it was this indifference that made him begin to notice you. He admired the kindness, fairness, and awareness you displayed effortlessly.

When Aegon mocked him, you defended him; when your brothers teased him, you scolded them. And when the incident at Driftmark occurred, although you weren’t present, you were the only one who wept upon seeing what had happened to him.

You were also the only one who went to see him afterward, when everyone else walked away without consequence. You gave him something no one else did: a hug.

“You’re still handsome,” you said, gently brushing the spot where the stitches had been.

He couldn’t help but blush at your words. Although he pretended not to care, that wound had affected him deeply, just as so many other things had during his childhood.

“It was a fair trade. I lost an eye, but I gained a dragon,” he repeated, echoing the same words he had said to his mother.

You looked at him with sadness because, even though you couldn’t fully understand what he felt, it seemed to you that he repeated those words to convince himself that he shouldn’t feel pity for what he had lost.

“You’re allowed to be sad, you know?” you said, taking his hand and offering a faint smile. “I don’t really know what happened down there, or why my brothers reacted the way they did, or what you did, but... it’s not as simple as you make it out to be, and that’s okay. You’re human, Aemond.”

He remained silent for a few moments, and for the first time, he thought that if he were to cry in that moment, he wouldn’t feel judged but rather comforted by the love and patience you had always shown him. But he didn’t. Despite the trust he had in you, he didn’t want to seem weak in your eyes.

That was the last time you saw him.

But it wasn’t the last time you had contact with him. You always wrote to him and to Helaena, telling them about your daily life, about what made you happy, like the birth of your younger brothers, Aegon and Viserys, and the joy you felt holding their tiny bodies.

For a while, everything was fine. However, little by little, your letters became less frequent until one day they stopped altogether, which made him nervous. It was a feeling he didn’t understand, and it worsened when he found out that you continued to write to Helaena but not to him.

His confusion turned into fury, especially when, at the beginning of your silence, he sent you letters—initially short, barely a paragraph. But when he received no reply, he started sending longer ones, telling you about his day, trying to regain the attention you had once given him without directly asking why you had gone silent. One letter, two, three… ten. But there was no response.

So he stopped trying.

Then, you returned to King’s Landing to defend your brother’s legitimacy after six long years.

You saw him training and noticed how much he had changed. You felt the fear the servants displayed when he was near, how hard and enigmatic he had become. The boy you knew had disappeared, transformed into a man you no longer recognized.

He caught your gaze from below, and for the first time in his life, you looked away. You had never done that before; you always greeted him with a tender smile and warm eyes.

“Why? Why? Why?” he wondered furiously in his mind, as if you could answer him from a distance.

You were walking towards the throne room to witness Vaemond Velaryon’s petition when someone intercepted you, grabbing your hand and making you turn with a gasp.

You parted your lips slightly upon meeting Aemond’s cold gaze. He was much taller than you now, his face had gained firmer features, and the strength he had acquired was evident, perhaps thanks to his training. Even his skin had taken on a more bronzed tone from all those days outdoors. The patch covering his missing eye made him look even more imposing.

“Do I look like a criminal to you, or why are you running from me?” he asked bluntly, without so much as a greeting or an apology for interrupting you and grabbing you.

“We’re going to be late,” was all you said, trying to free yourself from his grip.

However, he didn’t let go, as if his hand on your wrist was a chain binding you to him.

You looked at him again, silently pleading with him not to persist. He remained silent, watching you with a depth that, for the first time, you couldn’t interpret.

Then he let out a short laugh and released you, causing you to cover your wrist with your other hand.

Your heart ached because, although you had sworn to keep your distance from him, you knew you were being unfair.

You turned your back on him, ready to leave, but you bit your lower lip, feeling the truth gnawing at you inside.

“Did you do it?” you asked in a whisper, turning back to face him.

He looked at you, not understanding.

“Do what?” You nervously fidgeted with your hands, a gesture he hated. He could find satisfaction in everyone else’s fear of him, but in you, and only in you, he despised it.

“Did you try to kill them?” you finally asked. “Did you try to kill my brothers? Is that why Luke attacked you with a knife?”

He clenched his hands into fists, connecting the dots. Was that why you had stopped writing to him? Why you were ignoring him?

You couldn’t bear to see how his face filled with a rage you had never seen in him before, a rage that sent shivers down your spine. You lowered your gaze, waiting for an answer.

However, he grabbed your chin, forcing you to face him.

He expected this from everyone, but not from you.

The only woman he had placed on a pedestal, the only one who had taught him that love could be given willingly, not out of obligation.

“Is that what they told you?” he murmured, struggling with an internal conflict that seemed to hurt him, even make him feel betrayed. “And you believed them?”

You closed your eyes, and seeing him like this made you begin to doubt your convictions.

However, Jace, Luke, even Baela and Rhaena, had sworn it to you on their lives. You knew that, of all people, Jace and Luke would never lie to you. So yes, your judgment was clouded by the oaths of the people you loved most.

“Then tell me, tell me what happened that day, tell me you didn’t break Luke’s nose and try to hit Jace with a rock.”

Silence seemed to flood everything like an overwhelming tide.

“They attacked me,” he asserted in a solemn tone, one that left no room for doubt or questioning. “All four of them came to attack me.”

He didn’t deny it, and that was the first thing you noticed.

“And why? Why would four children come to attack you?” You didn’t accuse him of anything, you simply asked, though you already knew the answer; you wanted to hear it from his lips.

“That doesn’t justify what they did to me,” he said, with an expression that broke your heart. Though you already knew, you had hoped your brothers were mistaken.

“No, it doesn’t justify it,” you responded. “But neither does it justify what you said to them, nor how you insulted them, because the moment that word left your lips, you insulted me too. The moment you struck them, you struck me as well. And when they hurt you, they hurt me too.”

You had to swallow hard to keep your eyes from filling with tears.

“I will never forgive what they did to you, and my heart breaks to see that the boy I once loved… suffered and changed so much, to the point where I no longer recognize him.” Your voice trembled as his eyes pierced through you, reaching the deepest part of your soul. “But I can’t forgive you for what you did to them either.”

You sighed and took his hand.

“And they are my brothers… I had to choose.”

A tear slid down your cheek, one that carried so many emotions, so much meaning.

You let go of him, ready to leave him behind and head for your mother’s arms. You just wanted to reach her.

However, you felt a pull, gentler this time, less abrupt. One that forced you to face him again.

Then, something you thought impossible happened: in his eyes, you once again saw the boy you remembered, that boy with a sad but determined gaze, who tried to be strong, though he had a brave and simple heart. That boy who made your heart race, who made you want to see him day and night, the one who, despite the differences in your lives, always seemed to understand you.

And then, in an unexpected and overwhelming moment, his lips sought yours. There was no hesitation, no moment of doubt. It took you by surprise, but instead of pulling away, you found yourself responding with the same intensity. The air between you seemed to evaporate as the heat of his body enveloped yours.

His kiss was everything you had imagined and more, a blend of unleashed passion and tenderness you hadn’t anticipated. Your hands, which at first had frozen in the air, moved of their own accord—one tangled in his hair, the other gripped his back, feeling the taut

His kiss was everything you had imagined and more, a blend of overwhelming passion and an unexpected tenderness. Your hands, which had initially frozen in mid-air, moved of their own accord—one tangling in his hair, the other clutching at his back, feeling the taut muscles beneath the fabric of his clothing.

Aemond kissed you with a fervor you had never known, as if each kiss was a confession, a longing, a broken promise he tried to mend with every brush of his lips. The need that enveloped you was so overwhelming that you almost lost sense of everything except him. His lips were soft yet firm, his breath warm as it mingled with yours, evoking in you a visceral reaction you had never expected.

Your lips moved in sync with his, responding with a passion that surprised you, a passion that seemed to come from the deepest part of your being. It was a kiss that spoke not just of desire but of all the unexpressed emotions, all the words that had never been spoken.

Then, almost painfully, you became aware of where you were, of the danger of being discovered. With a tremendous effort, you gently pushed him away, breaking the kiss with a gasp, the echo of his touch still vibrating on your lips.

You brought your hand to your lips, still feeling the ghost of his touch, unable to believe what had just happened. He looked at you, breathing heavily, his eyes darkened by a mix of emotions that pierced through you like lightning. For a moment, your heart hesitated, tempted to fall once more into the abyss that had opened between you.

But then, you heard voices approaching, reminding you of where you were and the situation you were in. Aemond seemed to realize it too, and his gaze filled with a mix of frustration and something deeper that you didn’t dare to name. In that instant, he had the impulse to demand, to claim you.

Even so, you knew you had to pull away, that you couldn’t allow yourself to fall deeper into temptation.

Without a word, you turned your back on him, ready to leave, though the truth burned in your chest. You swore to yourself that you wouldn’t let this happen again, that you would turn your feelings for him into a cold, forgotten stone.

And it was all for one reason.

In the audience, when asked about the legitimacy of Princess Rhaenyra's children, King Viserys announced his consent for the marriage between Jacaerys Velaryon, Rhaenyra and Laenor’s eldest son, heir to the throne after his mother, and Baela Targaryen, Daemon and Laena’s eldest daughter. Likewise, following tradition, Lucerys Velaryon, the second son and Corlys’s heir, would marry you.

Aemond’s reaction was immediate and palpable; the fury burning in his eyes was visible in every fiber of his being. It was a fury born not just of frustration, but of disdain and the contempt he felt.

The sky darkened as if aware of the contempt, fury, and slight that the queen’s third son felt. A feeling that clouded his judgment the next day and led him to commit the gravest of sins, unleashing the consequences that would follow.

Masterlist

[ewingstan]

I certainly didn’t appreciate it on the first read-through, but one of the biggest background characterizations of Alec is among first things we learned about him: that he painted the Undersider’s symbols onto the doors of their hideout.

The loft reads as almost ridiculous when you first read about it. Whatever you’re expecting the hideout of a bunch of hardened criminals to look like, your not expecting “the rich kid’s house with all the best video games.” It almost took me out of it; it felt like such a teen wish fulfillment of a supervillain base that I thought Wildbow must be pretty young—and didn’t really take in what it was telling the reader about the Undersider’s mindset. Because it is a teen wish fulfillment, filtered through the practicality of what cost, secrecy, and Brian would allow for. Its the derelict old building you dare your friends to go into to find some rumored amazing or horrible secret—but this building does have a secret, and its a pizza party with a sweet flatscreen setup.

For the most part, it is an especially cool hangout spot that would appeal to your average teen—and not necessarily your average villain. Taylor gets told to use the other’s civilian names while hanging out here. They wear street clothes instead of their costumes. Its built to be appealing to the non-cape side of your life, a welcome reprieve from that world. For the Undersiders who don’t have much of a real life outside of capedom, its something like a place to play make-believe. That’s part of why its so effective as an initial pitch to Taylor when she’s looking for friends and doesn’t want to be a villain, why its important for ingratiating her to the rest of them and making her backstabbing plan that much harder to follow through on. Its part of why getting her own lair, built for the specifications of Skitter the Warlord instead of Taylor the kid, represents such a big change in how Taylor sees herself and her goals. Its why there’s presumably dozens of Undersider fics of them just casually hanging out in the loft, away from any major cape shenanigans. Its why Rachel's first full appearance is her coming up into the room and breaking the bubble—ruining Brian’s pitch of sweet teen digs by bringing the violence inherent to cape life into the supposedly separate space. Because the loft is supposed to be for the Undersiders to be themselves as civilians, instead of capes.

But at the same time, everyone’s personal room has their symbol painted on their door. And the first real thing we learn about Regent is that he’s the one who painted them.

Regent did not get to have a double life. His cape stuff and his family stuff were inherently intertwined, and it was all bad. He’s arguably the only undersider to have a secret identity in a traditional, important sense: not just “you have a civilian life, and everyone’s gonna respect that its separate and not go after anything related to it,” like @artbyblastweave​ outlined here, but “your specific other identity is important, in a sense outside of just being something to target” way. People finding out who Skitter is means they know there’s an identity there to exploit—her enemies can trace her to her school, she can’t continue to go back to her old house, etc. You’d be able to get the same advantage by finding out the civilian identity of pretty much any cape. But not with Alec. People finding out who Alec is means they go “oh fuck, its Heartbreaker’s kid—” the effect is much more like finding out Taylor is Skitter, rather than vice versa.

And that’s important, because the persona of Regent is, to a large extent, his chance to live out the life he wants. Brian and Lisa both have circumstances that don’t allow them a typical childhood, and so they construct spaces to go through the motions of one. To roughhouse and play video games with friends, to plan shopping trips and visits to Fugly Bobs. They’re looking for a respite from their normal state, and that respite to them looks like civilian life. Alec is looking for a respite from his awful childhood, and that respite has a lot of the same things, but it also has the symbols and aspects of his cape persona. He draws his crown on his door, he uses his powers casually on Brian—he’s using the space to let him be Regent, in the same way Brian is pitching it to Skitter as a place where she can just be Taylor, where Tattletale can just be Lisa. This is pretty huge for understanding Regent early-on: Taylor obviously has a pretty expansive double life, as does Brian, and Lisa clearly wants to get into some non-cape-related shenanigans. We’re introduced with a clear divide between cape and civilian identities being the norm. Rachel is presented as bucking a trend, her lack of second identity making her an outlier. But if you read into Regent’s decorating choices, you realize pretty early that you can’t separate his cape identity and his current civilian idenitiy, because their both effectively the same thing: a persona where he can be something other than a Vasil.

Sheesh, now that I’m thinking about it there’s a lot to be drawn from each of the undersider’s lairs. I already talked a bit about how Skitter having her new base be a proper “villain lair” instead of “hang spot” represented a shift in perspective, and how Rachel being unable to behave the way your “supposed” to in the loft shows that she both can’t live a double life and has no interest in doing so (unlike Alec, who is very clearly interested in making a “new” life for himself with the Undersiders as Regent). But how about how Brian won’t take a room in the loft and insists on sleeping in a separate apartment he’s planning on shairing with Aisha? He obviously wants to be able to draw an especially clear line between his cape and civilian life, and doesn’t want Aisha to get involved at all. How about how Lisa’s eventual separate Coil-provided villain lair is a disguised community center she was pretending to work in, showing both that she has some interest in a life outside of capedom and that she’s inherently drawn to working with/having control over civilian culture? She doesn’t just want to hold territory, she wants to be an institution—not just someone the other capes have to play ball with, but who the mayor and civilian agencies have to go through. She separates capedom and civilianhood to an extent, but not to the same extent as Brian, and her goals are much more “civilian-oriented” than most.

I forget the specifics of Alec’s eventual Coil-base, but I know that it was a group of buildings (a campus, maybe?) with few people in the surrounding area outside of puppets—presumably not so different from the compound he grew up. But I do remember that one of the last times we see it is near when Taylor says something about his connection to Heartbreaker, and him getting upset by it. I wonder if it changes in the intervening two years, especially with Imp’s influence. I’m kinda sad we never get a chance to see it.

[alishaaxo]

List of All Elia Martell-centric fics I enjoy:

Elia Martell And The Crown She Didn’t Want: AU where she marries Baelor Hightower yet Rhaegar is longing for her, which is unreciprocated.

Two Father’s, One Son: Everyone Lives AU where Jon Snow dies unexpectedly and Elia comes back to KL, married to Baelor Hightower.

The Isle Of Faces Does Not Welcome: Elia and Rhaegar have a third child, and Elia confronts Lyanna. No bashing of her, from Lyanna’s POV.

Clean AU: Elia and children are missing, assumed dead for 15 years, until a mystery knight returns to KL, claiming the blue roses his mother deserves.

The Queen And Her Bastard: Everyone Lives AU. Legitimised bastard Jon with sympathetic Lyanna slowly turned more cunning against Elia. Jon-Aegon have positive relationship, in spite of their mother’s ambitions.

The Brightest Sun: Elia and kids transported to Harry Potter Epilogue era. Train and arrive to Westeros during GOT. 200K words.

Poetry is what he thought, but did not say: Erik Kilmonger as Rhaegar. Ruthless Elia with ruthless Rhaegar who has a controversial temperament and bad reputation. Interesting dynamic with Barristan, Arthur and Aerys.

Dragons spin and spin: Spiders weave and weave: Mainly Elia Martell AU oneshot collection, with other characters included.

A tigress, not a woman: Elia Martell scorned by Rhaegar, wants for a annulment. Elia beloved by the Smallfolk.

Poison is a Woman’s Weapon: Queen Regent Elia watches on as Aegon gets crowned, reminiscing on the past.

An unexpected news item: Elia Martell gets shocking news. Very exaggerated bashing of Lyanna.

With Careful Hands and A Strong Chin: Doran died as a babe, Elia is the heir to Dorne. Arthur-Elia.

With Duty In Mind: Elia and Rhaella clean up Rhaegar’s messes.

Gone Girl: Elia dies only to wake up before her wedding. She runs away, with Rhaegar following suit in her trail in regret.

In The Chaos Of A World: Rhaegar dies while Lyanna and Elia live to see Robert ascend. Robert-Elia not in a romantic light, but political.

Caged Beasts And Cloudy Skies: Braime-centric, yet Elia-focused as they wish to crown her after the scorn from R+L, and bring her to rest at her homeland.

Lex Talionis: SIOC of Elia, takes the war into her own hands. Jaime-Elia centric.

Lady of Stormsend: Annulled Elia-Rhaegar, yet Elia married Robert and jealousy and resentment arises.

From Where Blessings Flow: Robert and Elia marry, yet the Realm is not settled as Aegon and Rhaenys grow. With Rhaenys-Viserys.

Living With Regret Of The Chance Not Taken: Rhaegar and Lyanna are married, while Elia, Aegon and Rhaenys are missing… until they are not. And life turns on it’s head. No bashing, just critical of R+L.

Planetos React: Modern AU react to historical figures Elia, Aegon, Rhaenys and Jaime found within tombs, and go wild on tumblr.

But A Woman Is A Changling (always shifting shape: My fic!! Selfless promo! Elia has a green-dress moment ala Alicent where she shows pride in her heritage and snarks towards Rhaegar and Lyanna.

This is all the Elia-centric fics I know of and enjoy! If you have any, please comment them and I’ll add them to this masterlist!!

[huiyi07]

No, cause if you think about it, Kaeya never appears without purpose and intent. You might be like “duh that’s what every character is” but think about Childe, or Jean, Barbara, collei, the list goes on. They always appear with fun, happy reasons behind it, but not Kaeya.

He’s not the only character- Albedo shares this as well with how he mostly only appears to drop some lore bombs about khaenriah and gold and then disappears for another year, but it’s still different for Kaeya. He appears during events not only to give us lore, but always, without fail, to reveal something about himself.

Proof? Okay, the 1.4 windblume festival. Kaeya does a silly little poem class with Venti- surprise, he’s threatening him with a Khaenri’ahn message that says “I will triumph over you” and even when you debunk that, you can still see how Barbatos treats him as his own despite whatever stipulations about his heritage there are. 1.6 midsummer islands- Kaeya and diluc both reminisce their childhood, and it’s the first reveal that shows us just how close they really were. After that, he disappears for while, until boom- hidden strife in 2.8, where we find out the real details of his fight with diluc and how they grew apart- but it’s hinted they still care for each other. It also tells us a little about Kaeya’s lore and family, how they took over as regents, which adds to the real gravity of their fight- telling us he’s not just a poor kid from khaenriah, he’s the last real heir to the throne. After that, winelesefest, where it shows us how Kaeya and Diluc are right now, how theyre obviously missing each other and it’s very obvious that they care for each other deeply. That kinda ties up the whole ragbros story for now, and after that it becomes serious.

He appears again in the Caribert quest for us to find out he’s the heir of the organization of vengeful Khaenri’ahns turned monsters who want to take down the gods. He claims to not be affiliated with them in any way- but it leaves the question in everyone’s minds, “what else is he hiding from us?”

Now, he’s recently appeared once again for the 3.8 summer festival, and it looks really innocent and fun and just another way of showing us how kind he really is, until you realize that Kaeya’s outfit from this version describes how much he really hates the burden on his shoulders and how he wishes he was never forced to be an agent of khaenriah.

If you ask me, we’re past the point of just getting to know Kaeya and who he is on a personality basis, and are now getting into the real gravity of his identity as the last hope of the Khaenri’ahn kingdom. It’s really building up how important he’s going to be to the endgame of the whole archon quest storyline and how much of a key role he will actually play. Man I’m so hyped!!

[atopvisenyashill]

that bit about joffrey is FASCINATING have you ever written about this in depth? I've always loved his character but I would never be able to like. Describe why exactly he is the way he is so I really appreciate your analysis of him loving BOTH parents and incorporating only their flaws - I always just assumed that he hates his dad and is annoyed by cersei (still loves her) but then the way we sexually humiliates and abuses sansa etc is so robert-coded like of course he emulates the bevavior of his father.

Also slightly off topic but i always forget that Joffrey is like canonically so good at all the proper princely things (thinking of that scene at Sansa and Tyrion's wedding when she's so upset that a monster like Joff could be so good at dancing) and - not to go on about GOT again - but I wish we had actually gotten to see that and him being charming etc. Huge props to the show for giving Joff the perfect wardrobe (the only thing they did right) but also f them for waiting all that potential

yes, they really said joff gets to have all the swag and then the moment he died they put cersei in that fuck ass bob and no one in the lannisters was allowed to serve again smh. and thank youuu i actually had to stop myself from rambling over him before haha, but i'll go into more detail here! so this was the comment from the other post-

joffrey is a kid just ruled by his first, most base instinct. his instincts, his core emotions, tell him to love and trust both robert and cersei, and imo he twists himself into a MONSTER to try to appeal to both of them. no one else matters - not his siblings, not his uncle, not his grandfather, not the realm. he needs to be the sort of vicious person they could both be proud of, he needs to be better than them both at violence, so he absorbs all of their faults and none of their virtues.

i definitely do see very often that people feel he only loves one or the other parent and while I do understand that reading, I don't think it's quite how Joffrey operates. I think he does love them both, and holds them both in high esteem. I do agree that he's annoyed by Cersei but that doesn't mean he doesn't value her opinion (as much as Joffrey puts value on anyone else's opinion, I mean).

Joffrey and Cersei

Joffrey relies on his mother more than almost any other male character we see in the series. We see him call for Cersei basically every time he's hurt, in trouble, or wanting to whine about something. Not only that, but you have everyone from Robert to Renly to Tywin himself saying that Joffrey is doted upon and inseparable from his mother. A few choice quotes:

"Fear is better than love, Mother says." Joffrey pointed at Sansa. "She fears me."

He takes Cersei's lessons to heart, however flawed they are. Her opinion matters to him, he wants her to see him as strong.

Nine cases out of ten seemed to bore him; those he allowed his council to handle, squirming restlessly while Lord Baelish, Grand Maester Pycelle, or Queen Cersei resolved the matter. When he did choose to make a ruling, though, not even his queen mother could sway him.

It's Cersei he listens to the most. We know that if a little King, even with his mother as Regent, doesn't want to deal with her, he can simply ignore her - that's what Jaehaerys does with Alyssa, after all. But Joffrey doesn't do this; he'll fight with her, he'll insult her, and he's not shy about doing it in public but he never disregards her out of hand.

Joffrey lurched to his feet. "I'm king! Kill him! Kill him now! I command it." He chopped down with his hand, a furious, angry gesture . . . and screeched in pain when his arm brushed against one of the sharp metal fangs that surrounded him. The bright crimson samite of his sleeve turned a darker shade of red as his blood soaked through it. "Mother!" he wailed.

His instinct, every time, is to turn to her for help. He loves her. He adores her. She's the only person around who tells him he's strong and smart and will be a good king. He leans on her for guidance, for comfort, he talks to her about fucking whores. He shares everything with her because he doesn't have a single friend. She models anger and violence for him constantly, she excuses his disturbing proclivities, so he molds himself to be the person she wants him to be, the king she wants him to be. People - including Tyrion and Tywin! - are always wondering why Cersei is blind to his cruelty, but the reality is she knew he was cruel and loved him for it.

Tommen did as he was bid. His meekness troubled her. A king had to be strong. Joffrey would have argued. He was never easy to cow.

For Cersei, cruelty is strength and in her eyes, Joffrey is as strong as they come. This isn't by accident; just like his constant cries for her are reinforced by her rushing to coddle him, his cruelty is reinforced by a mother who sees it as strength. It's almost like what Coldhands says to Bran - Joffrey is a monster, yes, but in Cersei's eyes, Joffrey is her monster.

Joffrey and Robert

Joffrey had never had a close friend of his own age, that she recalled. The poor boy was always alone. I had Jaime when I was a child . . . and Melara, until she fell into the well. Joff had been fond of the Hound, to be sure, but that was not friendship. He was looking for the father he never found in Robert.

From Cersei's point of view, I think she knows very well that Joffrey is searching for love, acceptance, and himself in Robert. She doesn't like it, but she seems to accept that it's natural for Joffrey to search for some sort of father figure, and doesn't seem to begrudge him that - imo, I think because she knows Robert is always going to reject Joffrey for his cruelty.

“Why would he [care]? Robert ignored him. He would have beat him if I’d allowed it. That brute you made me marry once hit the boy so hard he knocked out two of his baby teeth, over some mischief with a cat. I told him I’d kill him in his sleep if he ever did it again, and he never did, but sometimes he would say things…”

Whenever they interact, the few times they do, there's violence. People always take this as Cersei not allowing Robert to "teach" or "properly discipline" Joffrey but, well...does the above seem like helpful discipline? Knocking out your child because he freaked you out? Punishing extreme violence with more extreme violence? And it's not just Cersei that this moment sticks with, because Stannis brings it up as well-

"Joffrey . . . I remember once, this kitchen cat . . . the cooks were wont to feed her scraps and fish heads. One told the boy that she had kittens in her belly, thinking he might want one. Joffrey opened up the poor thing with a dagger to see if it were true. When he found the kittens, he brought them to show to his father. Robert hit the boy so hard I thought he'd killed him."

Since Cersei says Robert would "say things" and we see him threatening Cersei (the "or I'll honor you again" line), I don't think it's a stretch to say that Robert threatened to beat Joffrey nearly to death several times over.

And yet...Joffrey compliments his father, especially in comparison to his other relatives.

He wrenched free of her. "Why should I? Everyone knows it's true. My father won all the battles. He killed Prince Rhaegar and took the crown, while your father was hiding under Casterly Rock." The boy gave his grandfather a defiant look. "A strong king acts boldly, he doesn't just talk."

And Cersei believes this came from Robert-

"Father, I am sorry," Cersei said, when the door was shut. "Joff has always been willful, I did warn you . . ." "There is a long league's worth of difference between willful and stupid. 'A strong king acts boldly?' Who told him that?" "Not me, I promise you," said Cersei. "Most like it was something he heard Robert say . . ."

And of course, Jaime is the one who pieces together why Joffrey sent the catspaw-

“Yes, I hoped the boy would die. So did you. Even Robert thought that would have been for the best. ‘We kill our horses when they break a leg, and our dogs when they go blind, but we are too weak to give the same mercy to crippled children’ he told me. He was blind himself at the time, from drink.” Robert? Jaime had guarded the king long enough to know that Robert Baratheon said things in his cups that he would have denied angrily the next day. “Were you alone when Robert said this?” “You don’t think he said it to Ned Stark, I hope? Of course we were alone. Us and the children.” Cersei removed her hairnet and draped it over a bedpost, then shook out her golden curls. “Perhaps Myrcella sent this man with the dagger, do you think so?” It was meant as mockery, but she’d cut right to the heart of it, Jaime saw at once. “Not Myrcella. Joffrey.” Cersei frowned. “Joffrey had no love for Robb Stark, but the younger boy was nothing to him. He was only a child himself .” “A child hungry for a pat on the head from that sot you let him believe was his father.”

When you put it all together, you have a child who is ignored by his father unless he's being threatened with a beating, who is constantly calling him a monster, who watches his father harm and humiliate his mother day in and day out, who has no other paternal figure around but this violent, angry man who he is supposed to model himself off of, and a mother who encourages his cruelty because she believes it's the only way to protect herself, to protect her son. He's not just emulating his mother's cruelty, he's emulating Robert's violence specifically when he humilates Sansa at court, when he openly talks shit about Cersei - it's what he's seen modeled for him as kingly behavior!

The Abuse And Jaime Of It All

King Joffrey's face hardened. "My mother tells me that it isn't fitting that a king should strike his wife. Ser Meryn."

He knows Robert is abusing Cersei and he takes her dislike of it seriously even as he doesn't make the connection that she means he shouldn't be striking his wife period. Whether it's because Cersei directly told him (which could make sense; she's purposefully hiding it from Jaime but perhaps she confided in Joffrey) or because he witnessed it himself, he's aware of the abuse enough that he takes his mother's comments about not personally striking Sansa to heart.

"No," [Robert] thundered in a voice that drowned out all other speech. Sansa was shocked to see the king on his feet, red of face, reeling. He had a goblet of wine in one hand, and he was drunk as a man could be. "You do not tell me what to do, woman," he screamed at Queen Cersei. "I am king here, do you understand? I rule here, and if I say that I will fight tomorrow, I will fight!" Everyone was staring. Sansa saw Ser Barristan, and the king's brother Renly, and the short man who had talked to her so oddly and touched her hair, but no one made a move to interfere. The queen's face was a mask, so bloodless that it might have been sculpted from snow. She rose from the table, gathered her skirts around her, and stormed off in silence, servants trailing behind. Jaime Lannister put a hand on the king's shoulder, but the king shoved him away hard. Lannister stumbled and fell. The king guffawed. "The great knight. I can still knock you in the dirt. Remember that, Kingslayer." He slapped his chest with the jeweled goblet, splashing wine all over his satin tunic. "Give me my hammer and not a man in the realm can stand before me!" Jaime Lannister rose and brushed himself off. "As you say, Your Grace." His voice was stiff. Lord Renly came forward, smiling. "You've spilled your wine, Robert. Let me bring you a fresh goblet." Sansa started as Joffrey laid his hand on her arm. "It grows late," the prince said. He had a queer look on his face, as if he were not seeing her at all. "Do you need an escort back to the castle?"

I think it's pretty clear that Joffrey is dissociating here which also explains his very detached way of looking at Robert's abuse of Cersei. It freaks him out enough that he uses Sansa as an excuse to leave (giving her the Hound, then running off himself) but he doesn't show it. He's not even particularly upset during this scene, not throwing a tantrum or making whiny remarks like he does when he's usually upset. He only has a "queer look" - the stress of trying to reconcile his adoration of Robert and his love of Cersei just makes him fully shut down instead of confronting it.

Joffrey gave a petulant shrug. "Your brother defeated my uncle Jaime. My mother says it was treachery and deceit. She wept when she heard. Women are all weak, even her, though she pretends she isn't. She says we need to stay in King's Landing in case my other uncles attack, but I don't care. After my name day feast, I'm going to raise a host and kill your brother myself. That's what I'll give you, Lady Sansa. Your brother's head."

I think people often take his comments about how women are weak to mean he doesn't view his mother as a competent advisor. But you notice a pattern here - he gets shitty with her when it's about Jaime specifically.

"A great many people are sorry for that," Tyrion replied, "and before I am done, some may be a deal sorrier . . . yet I thank you for the sentiment. Joffrey, where might I find your mother?" "She's with my council," the king answered. "Your brother Jaime keeps losing battles."

"She's with my council" he says, because he sees no reason to not let Cersei run things without him, something Robert never lets her do. But "your brother Jaime" not "my uncle Jaime" which is a shift because he doesn't stop calling Renly or Stannis his uncles even after they rebel. He knows, he suspects, and what he resents is not Cersei fucking Jaime but Jaime fucking Cersei.

My read on this is that Joffrey sees his mother as weak for allowing herself to be seduced by Jaime, and sees Jaime as a lecherous seducer who is the cause of all his problems. If only Jaime hadn't seduced his mother, maybe his parents wouldn't hate each other. His claim wouldn't be under question. His mother should have just taken the abuse and bided her time instead of putting herself in danger and having bastards.

He loves his mother. He loves his father. And that's the human heart in conflict with itself that resides in Joffrey. Does he honor his mother, the only parent he has, or does he honor Robert, the patriarch he is supposed to emulate? If he has no other example of what strength looks like, is he even capable of figuring out a different path for himself?

[strong-with-the-sarcasm]

Part 22: the future is a foreign land

“With these words at hand, the future is a foreign land.” -The Future Is A Foreign Land by Ghost

Regent Masterlist Part 21 AO3 Mundane Macabre (main)

After a hiccuping half-assed explanation for her tears, despite both women trying to tell her that she didn’t need to give one, Jazz locked herself in her bedroom. Both women had tried for the past hour to talk to her with no success, Jazz ignored them in favor of sobbing into her pillow and wishing her soulmate was there to hold her. 

She got her wish sometime later when the bed dipped behind her, Jason’s solid arms embracing her tightly, his large frame curled protectively around her smaller one. 

“I’m here.” He murmured into her hair. The faint projection worry-sadness-anger lingered in the air, Jason’s proto-core searching for the warmth of hers. 

Ancients, Jazz loved him. 

All the more tragic that she couldn’t give him a child of their shared blood, a legacy of all they are. Sure, it was likely that they would still adopt in the future, but it wasn’t the same. 

They laid there for what felt like hours, Jason’s body armor digging into her back despite how uncomfortable it probably was for him- he refused to untangle himself until she was ready. 

The words came jumbling out, voice broken with the aftermath of sobbing into her pillow, “Steph asked if I’m pregnant.” 

Jason tensed, she felt every muscle in his body do so, even through the armor. 

He knew Jazz couldn’t have kids thanks to her ecto-contamination. Her liminality. She had laid it all out for him before they had any kind of sex, wanting nothing between them. 

Sure, he was upset. Mostly for his darling, but a large part of him wanted a baby. Not just any baby, but one with Jazz. 

Even so, he wouldn’t let such a thing get between them. 

Jazz was his ride or die, his future wife, his soulmate. 

They had a whole life ahead of them. If that included kids, great. If not, that’s good too. 

Jazz was worth everything he could give. 

So they talked about adoption. 

It wasn’t anything concrete, not in any current timeframe, but it was definitely in the cards for them at some point. 

(Jason was one-hundred percent certain that Jazz would be a fantastic mother.)

Still, his surrogate sister had unwittingly dredged up a trauma for Jazz, asking if she was pregnant, resulting in his darling sobbing as if her heart was fit to break. 

(It probably was.) 

He could do nothing but hold her close.  

(There was some itch in his grey matter.) 

(Trying to tell him something about all this.) 

(But for the life of him, Jason could not figure out what.) 

Eventually, Jazz seemed to drift off into a fitful sleep. Occasionally squirming in his arms like she was red out desperately, but whined when he did move away. For a few minutes Jason was able to peel himself away to strip out of his body armor and stash his gear away before he could try to sleep himself. 

Although he tried, lying on his back with Jazz’s head on his chest, the once-revenant could not find any rest. 

Perhaps it was the thoughts, no, the daydreams of a pregnant Jazz swimming in his mind’s eye. Or maybe it was the nagging itch in his skull about the whole situation. 

Here’s the thing: Jason trusted his sisters far more than he trusted his brothers. 

Cass was obvious in her intentions, her honesty was a blinding thing at first, but once you got to know her? She was amazing. 

Stephanie was a Narrows girl through and through. The cousin of Crime Alley like the Ridge was its addict sibling, survival wasn’t a right so much as it was a privilege. A privilege so few got to experience. There was a good heart under all that purple Kevlar and good humor , one that understood the struggles of Gotham’s forgotten ones. He’d witnessed her resolve, her sheer grit, in the face of overwhelming odds against her and come out with bloody knuckles and a crooked grin. 

For Steph to question if Jazz was pregnant was far outta left field. Had Jazz shown symptoms of an illness that could be mistaken as early pregnancy signs? 

Jason’s mind came to a screeching halt when he recalled Jazz’s recent vertigo issues. 

Recent issues. 

It couldn’t be morning sickness. It happened at night, not in the morning. He would’ve heard Jazz puking if it did happen past dawn. 

(He tried to push away the little observations he’d picked up on.) 

(The nagging doubt.) 

(He needed to talk to Jazz.) 

(But it could wait till later.) 

They hadn’t used protection. 

Of course they wouldn’t, why would they?

 Jason was immune to diseases and infections thanks to his Lazurus spa day. Jazz had her infertility confirmed by an OBG/YN before they had met, ecto-contamination wrecking havoc on her very DNA, not to mention her reproductive organs. 

They always came together after their respective patrols, the rush of relief to have each within arms reach enough to have them in bed. 

Idiots, both of them. 

Jazz slept fitfully, bad dreams chasing away any peace she could find unconsciously. Jason clearly hadn’t fared any better, if his tired eyes and paler complexion were any hint.

Sure, this problem could be cleared up easily- one pregnancy test from the convenience store and they could both know the truth. But that would make it real, wouldn’t it? 

(It was real.) 

Stephanie had graciously agreed to buy a pregnancy test for Jazz, though it was obvious to anyone who knew the blonde that she fully believed she was right. 

Three minutes of hell. 

(Jazz hated the color of her bathroom walls, the yellow stained white making her want to puke.) 

(Jason’s hand holding hers as they waited together.) 

She couldn’t help but wonder. Would a child between them be able to live? Would their health be affected by their combined liminality? Would the Crown reject the fetus? Would Jazz be a good mother?

(Her own had never raised her.) 

Would Jazz be damming her child? 

The thoughts came unraveled with the shrill alarm that signified the wait time was over. 

“Did you want me to look?” Jason asked, voice low and calm, even though Jazz could feel his mild shaking. Her poor love was nervous, afraid yet wanted to comfort her as best he could. 

But Jazz had to do this herself. 

She crawled over to the bathtub, from where she’d been sitting with her back against the door and carefully picked up one of the three tests.

Positive. 

Positive. 

Positive. 

(Oh shit.)

Was Jason upset? 

Not really. 

Oh sure, he was concerned about Jazz and wanted nothing more than to kill what made her so sad, but he knew she wasn’t to blame for their current situation. 

(A baby.) 

(His baby.) 

(Their baby.) 

He’d seen the OBGYN records, Jazz had made it very clear that she had gone through the tests to determine her fertility long before they’d met. It had been a secret dream for his girl to have a family one day and she’d been devastated when she recounted the results. 

Her womb was unable to hold a pregnancy. Sick, the doctor had put it simply when referring to her eggs. 

(The liminality wrecked havoc on a growing girl.) 

(Consequences of her own conception.) 

To be able to conceive was a miracle.

Was Jason upset? 

No. 

In fact, he was excited. Him, the Red Hood, the Dead Robin, the Once-Revenant, was gonna be a dad. He was gonna have a child, a perfect mix of Jason and Jazz- the soulmates bound together forever in Liminality. 

Whatever happened, Jason would love his kid. 

(He would never treat them like Willis did.)��

(Would never let them believe they’re not loved.) 

His family would be thrilled. The first grandchild of Bruce Wayne. The first niece or nephew. The first child of Jason Todd-Wayne. 

It was selfish, perhaps, to want to keep this blessing between the two of them for a little longer. The worry threatened to override his excitement, but Jason stubbornly refused to let it do so. This was something good from the universe and he was going to fight for it. 

That’s all he could do anyways. 

[gilbirda]

New idea for Jazz x Jason, with historical soulmates, reincarnation, some magic lore around the world and full of romance. Don't know if I'm going to write it. This is long so, be patient.

Meet You In Our Next Live AU

(got inspired by the title and summary of a webtoon, but didn't read it)

So, Jason and Jazz are soulmates that have been reincarnating around the history for centuries. The first time they met they fell in love, performed a soul binding promise of marriage and every time one die they won't reincarnate til the other dies and they reincarnate together (same year or next year). But doesn't always happen on the same place, and they won't remember each other until they have 21 yo, because they performed the marriage at that age.

So over the history they have been reincarnating with different names and gender and they always remember their past lives at 21 and find each other because their souls are connected. The problem is, they don't always end together, because external circunstances, a few times because sadly one died before the other, and had to live without the other (and because what's true romantic love without some angst?). But most of the time they end up together because Love Wins! They just connect and complement each other.

A little big fact: their souls always reincarnate in places over the ley lines, which are full of soul energy, called by moder para-scientis as "ectoplasm". This is important.

And we are in the 21st century, where Jason Todd was born in the grim and over a ley line city of Gotham and Jazz Fenton was born in the not yet most haunted but over a ley line town of Amity Park.

Both grew up with their not common lives: Jason a street kid adopted by billonaire and crime fighter Bruce Wayne and Jazz with the mad scientists Dr Fenton and Dr Fenton. Both of them ignore they are soulmates.

And then Jason dies.

Now, as I explained, if one dies the other will eventually learn about their death and go on until they next life. But the thing is, when Jason is brought to Gotham, the soul energy/ectoplasm of the city attach on his body, returning him to life and forcefully putting his binded soul back. Which good. But wrong.

Because this anomaly, making Jason a death-touched man, violenty killed when he was a kid, full of angry against the world and mad because he can't understand what is wrong with his body and life (add the League of Assassins messing up his life) he feels wrong and has this attacks of rage. When he died, he remembered, and when he was reanimated, the soulbinding magic was hurt.

And so, when he's 21, he doesn't remember.

Meanwhile, Jazz is the sister of the young Ghost King. They have a fallout with their parents, so after she ended her regency over her brother's rule (because I'm a simp of Queen Regent Jazz) she went to study to a college very away from Illinois (not Gotham) and when she's 21 she remembers.

And oh, Ancients. The soulbinding is not a mental GPS but a sort of a compass. And she knows where she has to go.

Ofc, she first talks with her brother why she suddenly wants to take a sabbatical year in the middle of her studies when she was his regent in the first place was that "school is important and I don't care if you have an infinity ghostly realm, you will finish high school or so help me..." so she informs what's going on.

Danny is sceptical but he may be the Ghost King but as her little brother he can't do anything but give a mean shovel talk to her intended.

CW (who follows Jazz x Jason story like the most longest romantic telenovela ever, popcorn included) stays silent about the matter and just wish her luck. Jazz is Suspicious but doesn't say anything, and goes back to the Living World to search for her soulmate, wherever her soulbinding-gut sends her.

And that's how Jazz ends in Gotham.

Sorry for hogging this ask!

I'm setting this idea free for the taking ❤✨

[allwormdiet]

Extermination 8.1

Jesus Christ. Okay. Let's get this going.

Y'know, I wonder if Taylor might be cynical about human nature or something, weird

Hey Dragon, very cool to meet you in the chrome.

Aww, she's starstruck

Hey Weld, cool to meet you, wish it was under less dire circumstances

See, the nice thing about the Empire showing up to an Endbringer fight is that the Endbringer can then massacre a bunch of fucking Nazis. Totally victimless deaths, and no hand-wringing about whether it's right or wrong to take them down.

If I was giving performance notes to Leviathan for this showing I would have to criticize that he didn't kill more of them, frankly

Hey kids, sorry some of you are about to get slaughtered in a fight you're way underqualified for

Hey Panacea, I'll see you later when you decide to exacerbate Skitter's paranoia in revenge for the bank job and make this arc go from bad to worse for her

So I know Legend is publicly gay from fandom osmosis, but what I don't know in this moment is whether Wildbow had decided on that beforehand and Taylor is currently ogling a gay dude, or if he decided on it after writing this. I guess it doesn't strictly matter, but it leaves me curious how much of this was laid out in advance, especially with some other writing decisions that are gonna come up this arc

So Myrddin straight up has a wizard gimmick and that's kind of wild, but not nearly as wild as the fact that a Protectorate cape apparently flew off the handle sufficiently far enough to yell a racial slur multiple times in public. Like holy shit that is some radioactive PR.

Also, while you do not in fact have to hand it to the Empire Eighty-Eight, it is very funny of Kaiser to taunt Bastion like this

So that's the Triumvirate rounded out, and... how to put this. There's something that's almost sweet about Taylor's thoughts diverting to think about the "who would win" discussions about heroes. Like, I dunno, it's a cute insight into the world. Maybe she used to have those conversations with Emma back when they were younger.

Y'know, I'm constantly wary of government-employed superheroes as a concept, but frankly i think a corporate superhero team is even more hair-raising. The Christian superheroes could break in either direction, either they're genuinely good people who take their faith seriously or they're just self-righteous pukes. Knowing the general tone of this story, I'd be surprised if it was the first one.

Hey Parian, hey Flechette, looking forward to your later contributions

What the hell is Bambina's deal, even. Does she have some kinda thing going on like Babydoll from BTAS, or what. I don't know if I've heard the name come up before.

Grue, Regent, c'mon now

Also yeah Taylor, I think you sufficiently scared the absolute bejeezus out of Sundancer when you made this story really earn a content warning for eye horror.

Okay so I did not realize that Narwhal was gonna have a goddamn exhibitionist thing going on here, what the hell. Can you just get away with whatever as long as you're not showing your nipples or genitals? Did it truly never come up that she could maybe wear pants to cover up a little bit?

So I knew previously that Legend is a notoriously poor public speaker, but the fact that he just straight up says "best case scenario twenty-five percent of you are dead before sunset" is ridiculous. Kristen Applebees could give a more inspiring speech than this.

Everyone in that room must be questioning their life choices tbh

Current Thoughts

I know they all volunteered, and I know that there's a protectiveness that comes with fighting for your hometown, but Jesus Christ there should be an age limit for fighting Endbringers. Signing up the teenagers to fight Nazis is already a bit rough, but the kaiju who is going to kill a bunch of them feels like someone should have pulled them back. It might technically have been the wrong decision given how critical kids like Flechette and Skitter end up being, but at least then I'd feel less judgmental of the people running this show.

Anyhow. God Taylor just keeps ending up being lonely, huh? Can't escape it, poor girl.

[ghanjrho]

A:TLA; how it should have ended.

Recently, I've been on a deep dive into the A:tLA fandom, specifically the Zutara sphere. And that means I've found a lot of long-form meta on the show, it's ending, LoK, script final drafts, you name it. That's all gone in the brain blender, and here's what came out the other side.

Sozin's Comet honestly doesn't change that much; only two real differences.

The magic rock is gone. Instead, we get a flashback to Guru Pathik, and Aang realizes that he has to let go of his attachment to Katara.

The Maiko/Kataang victory laps in the last 5 minutes are gone. Mai and Zuko get a scene where they wish each other well, but acknowledge that they're over. Katara and Aang have a nice moment where they choose friendship. There's love there, but it's Philia, not Eros.

@burst-of-iridescent has a delightful essay series on Zutara, and the part that sticks in my head is that in the run-up to the finale, Aang and Katara are at their least unified. To wit:

In "The Southern Raiders" Aang is preachy, condescending, and more than a little hypocritical about Katara's plan to take vengeance for her mother. The episode ends with Katara explicitly rejecting Aang's belief that Yon Rha was forgiven.

In "The Ember Island Players" Aang is distraught at the idea that EIP!Katara's statements, namely that Aang is like her brother and she's attracted to Zuko, are true. When he questions Real!Katara about this, he responds to her statement that she's confused about her feelings by kissing her. The kiss is not returned. Again, no resolution is had.

Finally, in "Sozin's Comet Part 1" Katara is part of the chorus condemning Aang for refusing to even consider killing Ozai, no matter how many people are at stake. He runs off from the group, and from there disappears into the Spirit World to get Lion-Turtled. Yet again, no resolution, and the two don't reunite until the tea shop.

Now speaking of the Lion Turtles, I'm actually not opposed to them. Yes, they come out of nowhere to deliver an 11th Hour Superpower that handily spares Aang from having to actually make a choice he disagrees with, but at the end of the day it is a kid's show. Nickelodeon was never going to approve a script where Aang killed Ozai. Throw in a little bit of foreshadowing, and I'm good. It's worth noting here that the story of Avatar Wan was supposed to be covered in A:tLA, which would handily cover that requirement.

Now, for the post-canon. We'll start with Fire.

Zuko is NOT left alone in the Fire Nation. Similarly, Iroh does NOT fuck off back to Ba Sing Se.

Toph and Suki stick around. Suki in her canon role as commander of Zuko's Kyoshi Warrior bodyguard, while Toph and Mai use Toph's lie-detection and Mai's insider knowledge to purge threats to the new peace.

Toph eventually goes back to the Earth Kingdom to start a metalbending academy, but first she needs to make sure that her Sparky lives to be the grumpy old man he was born to be.

While Iroh is correct that for political and diplomatic reasons Zuko needs to be Fire Lord, he also bows to the reality that Zuko is plain and simply not ready to be the Fire Lord.

Zuko went from 4th in line to 1st in line basically overnight, and the 5-ish years he spent as Crown Prince were clearly not spent preparing him to succeed Ozai.

So a teenager with a fairly surface-level understanding of "how to monarch" has to self-Reconstruction the Fire Nation, while paying reparations, without having been militarily conquered.

This is how idealists get assassinated. New Plan!

Zuko is crowned Fire Lord. Iroh is his Prince Regent. It's very clear to all involved that Zuko is the one charting the course forward for the Fire Nation, while Iroh is there to convert intent to action, while teaching Zuko how it's done.

It doesn't hurt that Iroh is one of the Fire Nation's most successful military commanders, so the civil war route is a lot riskier for anyone to attempt.

Next, Sokka

Sokka honestly has a pretty good arc in the post-canon. Nothing I really feel the need to correct.

Eventually, Suki is able to hand off her duties in the Fire Nation to someone else and goes home to Kyoshi Island

It’s still home, but it isn’t the same. Or rather, she isn’t the same.

She never leaves the island behind, but it’s usually a stop on the journey from Wolf Cove to Republic City.

Then, Aang

Aang divides his time between Avatar duties and Last Airbender duties.

Avatar duties involve a lot of sitting in on meetings and reminding people that the ultimate goal is peace.

Last Airbender duties involve a lot of teaching Air Acolytes everything he remembers from his childhood. He gets lucky here, though.

The Airbender Genocide wasn't complete. More than a few Air Nomads escaped the Genocide, and hid themselves away. Some in small villages built in remote mountain valleys, others blended into Earth Kingdom settlements.

Plenty of quarter- or eighth-Air Nomad kids running around with airbending potential they never had the knowledge to develop. Think very early Book 1 Katara here.

The result is that a resurgent Air Nation is being formed, with a culture woven from the threads that survived through relics, the refugees, and Aang himself.

Airbenders are still rare, and it's over a decade before another airbender earns their mastery, but it's not his son and his grandkids when Korra comes around.

Finally, Katara

Katara spends a lot of time traveling. She spends time in the South Pole, helping to rebuild and learning Southern Style Waterbending from the released waterbenders. She also travels the Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom, doing what she can to solve problems.

There are a lot of problems to solve.

Her travels in the Fire Nation are particularly fruitful; word of the Last Agni Kai has spread, so she is known to be the one that the Fire Lord sacrificed himself for, and who healed his wound.

She and Zuko stay in contact, allowing themselves to have a slow-burn courtship.

After a couple of years she moves to Caldera City and starts getting down to seriously courting Zuko, preparing herself for Fire Ladydom.

The year before Iroh is set to retire as Regent, she and Zuko start thinking about the wedding.

There are a lot of potential traditions to uphold, even just between the Southern Water Tribe and the Fire Nation

This goes double for the daughter of the head chieftain of the Southern Water Tribe, and the Fire Lord himself.

They decide to have fun with it and do everything.

Aang presides over a private ceremony, family/close friends only, that is really just a mutual declaration of love and friendship.

Then come the Southern Water traditions. It's the full gamut, with ice-dodging, sacred hunts and more. In the end, Zuko is an honorary member of the Southern Water Tribe, and he and Katara are wed (again).

There's a diplomatic tour through the Earth Kingdom, stopping at Kyoshi, Gaoling, Omashu, Ba Sing Se, the Foggy Swamp the former Fire Colonies, and ending at the Northern Water Tribe. The language used artfully slides over whether the couple is newly married or about to be married, but overall it works well for the Fire Nation's reputation abroad.

The final act is in the Fire Nation. A full Royal Wedding, a grand affair of state, held at high noon on the day of the summer solstice. When all is said and done, Zuko and Katara now rule alone as Fire Lord and Fire Lady.

Alright, I have more, but I'm tired. Tune in next time for the Fire Nation (extended) Royal Family! featuring Steambabies (Found here)

[gold-rhine]

For the ask game :tell me why you love nuevi or kaeya! Feel free to talk A Lot I like your long posts

i also love reading my long posts, i wish i wrote them more asdfghjk its hard for me to just talk unspecifically about character without like pointed theme bc to me it feels like everything is obvious and everyone understands same things, why am i spelling it out.

anyway, KAEYA. my prettiest cursed princess. noble daughter of the fallen aristocratic family with generational curse coded. jon snow AND daenerys targaryen vibes at the same time. why noble daughter? bc instead of how heirs of nobles are kept close and taught to rule, his family treats him like pawn, like currency, his fate determined at his birth with no agency, sent away to another family he has to fit in. he's not a bastard, but he is half blood, and he cannot return. he's brother to diluc, but not equal, no matter how much they get along, like jon to robb stark. dawn winery is not his home, he's only welcomed conditionally, when diluc allows it. told to be "last hope", but what he's last hope of is a rotting cursed shambles of hubris. but even with how badly he was treated, he's still torn with loyalty to them, with duty, he still tried to ran away to khaenriah as a kid, just like dany wants to go to westeros. terrible prophecy hangs over him and he knows it. we don't even know if alberichs were really regents or if clothar is just delusional and sees himself forming abyss order as "regency"! he wants to walk off the stage, but he can't. and even if he could, he won't, not in the end, because against his will he still cares about people left on that stage who do not know what they are in

and he's coping with all of that by not letting people close even though he's lonely bc that curse and prophecies hang over him, bc he learnt from diluc he will not be accepted unconditionally no matter how loyal he is, no matter how good of a friend and brother he is, no matter how much punishments he takes for diluc and how he follows him like a shadow. he tried so hard to be a perfect child in dawn winery, polite and sweet and it didn't matter in the end. and now he's hating himself for secrecy and underhanded ways he was forced into as a child and deeming himself bad, finding ways to blame himself even for doing good deeds bc he's such a manipulator, treating relationships as transactions of favors to keep score, to keep in control.

mask worn for long, it grew into him and is impossible to take off now. "and they say my charm is fake" he IS naturally charming, he just had to learn to use it as a weapon. he IS sweet and interested in people, he just had to learn to get profit out of it. the worst thing he could be is himself. sad adult with a fake smile. and at the same time he's proud, he's talented, he's funny and sarcastic, he likes goofy jokes and slipping clever metaphors into silly stories, he likes writing books for people he cares about with advises on how to solve problems and deal with people, and also likes telling stories and can improvise a monologue on a stage. he should have been an actor and a writer, but duty to one father threw him into mond and duty to the other locked him into knights, so now he's just miserable, he's a hedonist, a cynic, he can't have real connections, so he will take pleasure and attention and use it for his greater means, he's coping with substance abuse, but he is so paranoid he will not be caught actually drunk bc that's weakness. he wants to belong so much, but think he's not allowed to. traveler finding him in the shadows after he tries to leave community event HE organized and dragging his reluctant ass by hand is THE theme for them tbh.

[supersonic-pinwheels]

Last post for now thankfully

Also will only be for sale for a short time after I name them as I will probably try to level them and exalt them next week sometime.

96312608 - Imperial male, XXY Shamrock/Shamrock/Sanddollar, Petals/Butterfly/Glimmer, Uncommon Wind eyes

96312609 - Imperial female, XYZ Jungle/Emerald/Flaxen, Wasp/Butterfly/Glimmer, Common Wind eyes

96312610 - Imperial male, XYZ Jungle/Shamrock/Grapefruit, Wasp/Butterfly/Glimmer, Uncommon Wind eyes

[realcatalina]

Tudor Week 2024:Day 3

Best Tudor What If? Here are some of my favourite What If scenarios:

-What if Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon had a son, who lived to adulthood.

Very likely despite the marriage crisis of the mid-1510s, the couple would find a way back together and there would be no reason to seek an annulment. No split from the catholic church, nor dissolving the monasteries. Princess Mary would likely end up marrying some prince or King and would have a much happier childhood.

-What if one of Henry VIII's brothers lived?

-If Arthur lived, he obviously would one day become king, with Catherine by his side. They would have several more years to have kids(I am working with perimenopause theory for Catherine and her mum's lack of pregnancies after age 33/4). Catherine would not suffer through her dowager years, however, her dowry not being paid in full would likely still occur, because drought and other circumstances put financial strain on her parents' coffers.

Prince Henry would most likely not pursue priesthood, but would instead live as duke and brother to the King. It would be possible he would be sent to rule over Ireland, away from the English court.

-If Prince Edmund lived?

The prince would be originally in the shadow of his older brother the heir(later his king). But eventually, as there would be no male heir from the royal couple, Prince Edmund's importance would arise tenfold.

But the question is, how would having a living brother affect Henry's mentality? Would it make him feel more secure, and would they get along and he would simply consider him heir? Or would he see him as a threat and still cling to the hope of having his own children(Great Matter scenario).

Aside from the civil war(Matilda vs Stephen), the royals could also try to solve the succession crisis through marriage.

And that might be gross. Because potentially Mary could wed Edmund. Yes, it is incest(uncle and niece). However, in 1496 King Ferdinand II of Naples married his aunt Joanna. (He was the son of her half-brother.) With full approval of the church. He died about a month later, so no kids there.

Another possible scenario is that they would try to Mary to marry Edmund's son(like Claude and Francis). Since Edmund would be 17 years older than Mary, he could be married and have a child of similar age to her. If it was son, the crisis would be over and Mary would get to be Queen Consort. Of course, Catherine of Aragon would not like it. But English would certainly prefer it over a woman on the throne.

-What if the sisters of Henry VIII chose duty?

Mary and Margaret both made stupid decisions regarding their second marriages. Which in the end cost their family and England.

Margaret's decision to remarry to Douglas was a disaster.

She lost custody of her sons and right to be regent due to this. She had to flee country, one of her sons died while she was away, she had to leave her daughter behind to return to Scotland. And her son never seem to truly forgave her(for leaving him) and she failed in making Scotland and England into allies or at least countries living peacefully next to each other.

Had she not remarried, her position as regent would be unshakable. She lost so much, because of stupidly falling for Douglas.

You might have more sympathy for Mary after being married to the old French king, to wish to have a younger husband instead.

-But had she returned as an unwed widow to England, she would very likely have a young husband too. Very likely Catherine of Aragon would be lobbying for her to wed Charles V after all, and it wouldn't be so bad for Mary. Charles though not looker was a good husband. Although a bit too much into his step-grandmother in real life, if he and Mary would get married before he left for Spain, young beautiful Mary would certainly be all he would have eyes for.

The scenario was greatly disappointing for all fans of Isabella and Charles- however beneficial for England, and disadvantageous for France. Would be interesting to see what side would Charles take during great matter if his wife was Henry's sister.

-If Mary Rose was wed to Charles without ever being sent to France, it would be an even better scenario, although she would not have jointure nor some jewels she acquired there.

But she would have a chance to meet Margaret of Austria in the Netherlands.

-What if Catherine of Aragon's ladies called for midwives?

Atypical labor pains resulted in a dead child in 1511 and shock caused ladies to not call upon midwives and hush it up instead. Catherine's stomach then grew, possibly with a huge infection-real cause of the reproduction issues later on.

However, had experienced midwives been called upon Catherine's child might have been revived, or at least she would have received better medical care. Thus potentially she wouldn't later have lost her babies and at least some of them would live.

-What if Mary I's pregnancy was real? And child lived.

Boy or girl, if they lived they would be heir to England. But should Mary indeed die just a few years later, the question is who would be regent and raise the child?

Would it be shipped off abroad for its safety, only for others to put Elizabeth on the throne? And then that child would try to reclaim the throne later?

Or would Elizabeth be imprisoned or even killed by regent, to keep the infant safe?

Or would Elizabeth get to power, but her heart would waver and she would rather raise the child as her own? (Either as its regent or as its Queen). Or would she imprison it simply, and the child would spend decades in the Tower or some other residence, locked away.

-What if Elizabeth of York and/or her daughters lived?

Well, I hope she would talk some sense to her second son, and her daughters too. Her other daughter surviving would affect dynastic relationships in Europe, with far-reaching consequences. Although I am not sure who they would end up marrying, since they would be likely good-looking, they would certainly be highly desirable brides.

[horizon-verizon]

The way TG want to pretend Book Alicent isn’t an evil and repugnant hag is going to drive me INSANE.

In Fire & Blood, when Alicent marries Viserys, Alicent is 18 and Rhaenyra is 9.

By the time Rhaenyra is 13 and Alicent has birthed two sons, Alicent is already spreading harmful and disgusting rumors about Rhaenyra’s “promiscuity”. This is a woman in her mid-20s maligning, slut shaming and sexualizing an orphan girl who’s still in middle school, all to advance her incompetent sons in the line of succession. Criston Cole is 15 years older than Rhaenyra, he became her sworn protector when she was 7 and accompanied her ever since, Alicent is literally mocking and blaming a victim of sexual grooming.

The same Alicent who laughed when she heard about the sack of Tumbleton where little girls and women were raped hundreds times and septas were chased naked through the streets and gang raped by a hundred men.

Just as Aegon II was starting to think about folding it, in the face of oncoming and angry Rhaenyra loyalists, on the recommendation that Prince Aegon would likely just send him to The Wall, it’s Alicent who pipes up with her suggestion that he instead start slicing his 10 years-old nephew to pieces as a warning.

After Aegon III becomes king, Alicent snatches a dagger from a guardsman in an attempt to murder him.

Her urging her granddaughter Jaehaera to slit her husband and cousin, Aegon III’s throat in his sleep traumatized the girl so badly that Aegon’s regents forbade Alicent from ever interacting with Jaehaera again.

It’s clear that Alicent stans can’t separate the character from the actress who plays her. Before HOTD aired, absolutely no one thought Alicent was anything but an awful and abusive stepmother. The parasocial relationship with Olivia is so creepy and disturbing.

Giving Alicent the benefit of the doubt, it's possible that she at least showed much more restraint and never said what it told to be her laughing at the Tumbleton thing, or whatever she said twisted to make her seem worse. I do believe that she said Rhaenyra should have died in childbirth. Why this and not the other? Because wants her side to look as good as possible, and laughing at a MASS terror event is simply not equal to wishing death on a singular enemy. Plus, as a woman, blatant desires or approval for violence in war doesn't go down as well as a woman hating another women for men, even though the latter troubles them if they are directly witnessing that.

But who knows, she may have developed some feelings of regret ever since Lucerys' death and how it went down--bc it's kinslaying and she's ult religious, doesn't want her kids committing blatant sins esp when they are trying to make them all look better than Rhaenyra.

As for Alicent urging and Aegon "folding":

Yes he considered folding, but logically Alicent was in the right to point out that he'd never be truly safe under Aegon III after killing Rhaenyra the way he did and in front of the traumatized boy...whether Alicent is evil or not, this is out of her control and she decided to suggest what she thought would preserve her son's life in perpetuity. Again, I am not saying she is being morally correct or that none of this wasn't partly her fault in the first place or that we shouldn't criticize her greed. I am saying that before we chalk up her suggestions as just malicious or flattingly evil here (before we get to Jaehaera), there is this particular element of her seeing the blatant flaw in Aegon's hope and trying to preemptively preserve his life in lieu of all her children else has died and gone...nothing like show!Alicent. Aegon was stupid-desperate and she always wanted and acted to preserve his life and get him the throne based on her perception of his right to it.

The rest of what you say, yeah, evil, no two tones about it. I want to add, though, that this feels like a deliberate progression into her doing as she does post-Dance against Aegon III; before Rhaenyra's death, she was relatively restrained and deliberate in her actions and even took care to protect the city from the blacks by ways that if there hadn't been dragons she had a chance of succeeding. However, you can see a difference b/t her at the council & when Rhaenyra touches down at the Castle vs her really dumb "bastard blood shed at war" attempt at negotiation vs Aegons return vs her reaction to Helaena's death vs her post-Dance actions. Pattern here is she gets progressively more ruthless or at least takes less pains to disguise it or beat around the bush and it's bc she feels herself slowly losing her kids and reacts by becoming even more determined to secure the throne for Aegon, bc then he'd/she'd have the highest authority and be less vulnerable. Kinda the only way through is up sorta thing and it resembles a sunk-cost fallacy except no bc she'd be right that they need to win in order to finally be "safe".

Again, I don't like her and I don't feel bad for her, but she's not out here just trying to destroy Rhaenyra for the fun of it--though I am sure this fuels and inspires much of her actions in lieu of her offense at her not reaping the "promised" benefits of birthing a prince/another woman having what she'd have. She is going by her twisted values and eventually wants to also protect her kids and the "ratio" of that at any given time is pretty negligible in the very beginning, as we don't really know, too, how much she truly believes Daemon would murder her kids--either covertly or overtly.

Finally, when all her kids are gone, she's willing to potentially sacrifice her granddaughter to destroy the "carrier" of how those kids died in the war's duration, projecting her regrets and making it everyone else's problem--her final "unraveling". For her, she's willing to do this to her granddaughter even though she loved her kids simply bc she couldn't live with her own regrets. And girls are more disposable in the value system most of them had, esp with Jaehaera having disabilities--perhaps a "she's going to suffer anyway", and she rationalized that Jaehaera would be always spared from certain death for Aegon's murder bc she is so feeble and a child.

So there's an interesting progression here in Alicent's psyche that belies the thought of her having simple malice against the blacks.

[asherbakugou]

Valyrian Demigods of Westeros - Son of Vhagar

Prince Daemon held Dark Sisters hilt tightly as he listened to his niece's screams on the other side of the door. His wife, Lady Laena, and his goodbrother, Ser Laenor, were within comforting the princess as she birrhed her fourth child. It did not matter to him that she had had three successful births as his own mother had had two successful births before his late brother Aegon, he still worried for her safety.

It was not until he heard the desperate and fearful scream of Laena, yelling for him, that he moved. In one blow he knocked the door open, running into the birthing chamber.

Ser Laenor was fighting against a maester with a blade in hand as Rhaenyra screamed. Laena stood at her side, looking fully ready to lunge at the man if he nor Laenor could get him out. A midwife kneeled between Rhaenyra's legs, coaching and encouraging her even with the tremble of fear in her voice. His observation took less than two seconds before he was unsheathing Dark Sister, blade singing as it was pulled from the sheath.

The Maester looked to him in fear as Laenor shouted, "He attempted to murder Rhaenyra!"

That was all it took for Daemon to swing his blade with precision, completely severing the mans head. Blood sprayed into the air like a geyser, spraying over Laenor, Daemon, the midwife, and the newly born babe.

Wailing, the babe was quickly passed up to Rhaenyra who sobbed in relief, thanking Daemon as she cradled the babe close, whispering into blood and fluid soaked hair.

It took well over an hour for Rhaenyra to calm enough for them to wash the babe and for her and Laenor to give him a name. As they waited guards were admitted to drag away the body and feed it to Syrax, and the news was taken to the King.

"So? What name shall you give to my newest nephew?" Daemon asked, sprawled in a chair as Laena and Laenor sat beside Rhaenyra.

"Before we tell you we have a proposition for the two of you," Laenor stated, staring Daemon down with surprising confidence.

"A proposition? Do tell."

"The Stepstones," Rhaenyra began, tearing her gaze away from her babe. "Will be officially taken under the crown within the next month. A keep, garrison, and port is already being built on the main island and shall be given to my son when he is of age in 10-and-6 years. But until then it must be watched over by a regent, and I was hoping to name you, Uncle, or you, Laena, as his regents. You would be welcome there even after he took control and I would off her his hand in marriage to Baela, Rhaena, or any future daughters you have if it would please you "

Daemon and Laena stared at her before Laena asked, "Why? You could hire a castellan if you so wished. Why give us this responsibility?"

"Because you deserve it. You have supported us, even from afar. Your loyalty means everything to us," Laenor admitted, smiling awkwardly. "And the kids adore you. They would be highly distraught if you returned to Essos."

Laena laughed, sharing a look with Daemon. A silent conversation passed between the two before they turned their attention back to the two.

"If we take it, I wish to be given control of its garrison even after your, still unnamed, son takes it back."

"Done."

"Then we agree. We will care for our nephews castle and he will marry one of our daughters. Eventually, of course. Now, tell us his name," Laena commanded, holding her head up haughtily to make them laugh.

"We have chosen to name him Maegor ll Velaryon, to remind ourselves not to make the mistakes Aegon the Conquerer made," Laenor announced, smirking at the surprised looks on their faces.

"A powerful name," Daemon commented, grinning sharply. "One that will make the Highcunts shiver in remembrance. I applaud your choice niece, goodbrother."

"We're so happy to have your approval, Uncle," Rhaenyra deadpanned, making Laena snort loudly before to cover it up as Laenor began laughing at his sister.

Maegor was given back to his mother by an awed midwife, who spoke quietly to Rhaenyra as Laenor continued to poke fun at his sister.

"Is something the matter?" Daemon asked as the midwives filed from the room, leaving the four alone.

"She was informing me of the peculiar birth mark upon his left arm," Rhaenyra stated, gently unwrapping Maegor so she could them all the arm. Upon his chubby forearm was the sigil of Vhagar, something Laena and Daemon realized near simeoultaneously.

It was a long angular shield with a spear shape through one side and a sword theough the other. There were other details but they were hidden by the fact that it was underdeveloped.

"Rhaenyra, Laenor," Laena whispered, gently running her fingers over the markings. Both knew that they had recognized the mark, but seemed unaffected.

"You keep my secrets, I keep yours," Laenor murmured, dark eyes sharp. It did not matter that this was his goodbrother, a man that had seen war and held a valyrian blade. If Daemon threatened his wife or children, he would retaliate.

"I keep your secrets," Daemon agreed, understanding. "Now, when shall I have the pleasure of seeing Otto's face when he hears the name of the babe. And of course, the pleasure of seeing the Highcunt Queen throw a fit, how could I forget."

They chuckled, easing the atmosphere.

"In three days, Uncle. Be patient."

He scoffed, earning looks of genuine amusement between the three.

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

Queen Alicent perfectly arranged her children at her side, with Prince Aegon in the lead and Prince Daeron standing at the end. Her father, Ser Otto, stood beside Prince Daeron, pin of the Hand of the King shining brightly.

She glared at Princess Rhaenyra as she swept inside with her sword-swallowing husband, and heathen children following close behind. Held within her arms was the newest Prince of the Realm, whose name would be revealed to the court soon, while Ser Laenor held his heir, Prince Lucerys, in his arms. Prince Jacaerys and Princess Alyssa walked between their parents dressed in fine clothes.

"Princess Rhaenyra, my dearest daughter. Ser Laenor, my goodson. Prince Jacaerys, Princess Alyssa, Prince Lucerys, my grandchildren. I am glad you are all alright. Prince Daemon I thank you for your timely intervention. It saved my daughters life. It saved the Crown Princess's life," King Viserys stated, allowing silence to fall. "Lords and Ladies of the Realm, today my daughter stands here to introduce the newest Prince of the Realm, futhering her line of succession."

Viserys nodded to his daughter, sitting back dowm heavily. He ignored the look he recieved from his brother, Daemon, worried and surprised in equal measures.

"Lords and Ladies, I introduce to you Prince Maegor ll Velaryon, Heir to the Stepstones, chosen to remind us of the mistakes of Aegon the Conquerer. Until his 10-and-6 Nameday, his keep upon the islands shall be watched over by his chosen regents, Prince Daemon, and his lady wife, Lady Laena."

The news had everyone in a titter, surprised that the King had allowed a Keep to be built uppn the Stepstones at all but the man was deep to his eldest daughter and had caves after much insistance.

Ser Otto and Queen Alicent were angry and shocked respectively. None of her sons had been given Keeps, while all four of her children had inheritances to recieve.

The scales only tipped further in the Blacks favor.

Prince Maegor Velaryon, Second of His Name, Heir to the Stepstones, Born in Blood, the Warrior, the Fierce, the Wild, the Warhammer had been born.

[medusapelagia]

Seeds of Dreams, Seeds of Truth 2\11

Rating: Mature Relationship: Steve Harrington/Eddie Munson Tags: Alternate Universe - Medieval, Alternate Universe - Magic, Regent Prince/King Steve Harrington, Knight Eddie Munson, Prison, Sick Steve Harrington, Vomiting, Attempted Murder, Poisoning, Double povs, Panic Attacks, Magic,

Read it here or on AO3

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11)

WC: 1616

Since Steve became Regent Prince, three years ago, no one has inhabited the royal dungeons and that was a source of pride for Steve, who was the youngest ruler that the kingdom has ever had. Not once, in those years, something happened that he wasn’t able to deal with.

Thieves were caught stealing, but if they stole because they were hungry the Regent Prince found them a decent job with a salary that let them feed their families and repay the offended party. Every dispute was fixed peacefully. If a boy had too much energy, he was sent to the royal guard to learn how dangerous weapons can be and how important it is to use them only when words are not enough.

Steve knows that some of his subjects thought that he was too tolerant, but during his reign taxes were paid, people were happy and the kingdom prosperous, and not once in his life Steve has thought that the first person to inhabit the dungeons after years would have been him.

His father's guards escort him there, strip him of his royal regalia and dress him just with a jute sack, leaving him with nothing else but a moldy and dirty blanket to shield himself from the cold. The air is damp and freezing and Steve’s right arm is chained to the wall like he was the most dangerous criminal in the kingdom.

He hasn’t seen his father since the moment he called him the usurper; all he knows is that his personal guard, Eddie, had stepped in front of him, his hand on his sword, ready to fight for him, but Steve had stopped him.

“Not in the Sacred House.” And not anywhere else, if Steve could prevent it, and Eddie had glared at him, his eyes full of silent fury, ready to burn the entire world if Steve asked for it.

But Steve did not.

The heir to the throne knew too well how quickly things could turn south. He had trained with the Royal Guard as well as a kid, and the most important lesson he learned was that it doesn’t matter how good with your sword you think you are, if your enemy injures you, you could die, and if there is something Steve is sure about it is that he doesn’t want Eddie’s blood on his hands.

That’s why he let his father’s guard grab him and drag him away.

The last thing he saw was Eddie, his jaw clenched and his eyes wide with worry, staring at him.

Steve had tried to reassure him, smiling back at him, but one of his father’s guards had covered his face with a bag, and when someone finally took it away he was alone in the prison cell, shivering from the cold.

The loud clang of a metal sword warns him that his prison guard is coming to give him his food ratio, if he could call the piece of hard bread and some muddy water they give him such a thing.

“My father?” Steve dares to ask, sure that if he will get the chance to speak with him everything will be alright, but the guard doesn’t reply, he just leaves the bowl of water and takes with him the torch, taking away even the minimal warmth and comfort of the light.

There is a little window in his cell, up on the wall, so small that Steve can’t even imagine using it to escape even if he wasn’t handcuffed at the wall, but at least he can see a little square of the sky.

In the darkness of the night there is a little star that shines right in the middle of his personal piece of sky, and somewhere inside his heart, Steve dares to think that is Eddie, checking on him.

What really worries the Regent Prince is that he doesn’t know what happened to his guards. He dares to wish that they managed to escape somehow or knelt to the rightful king. The Prince wonders if there was turmoil in the streets when their people saw him taken away, like a criminal, after all the years he served the kingdom, but he hopes not. He has worked hard during the last three years to keep everyone safe and sound, the last thing he wishes is to be held responsible for someone’s death.

Steve sigh, Eddie was always a hothead and he knows it first hand since they trained together since they were kids. They fought hard, always eager to get into a fight, and when they finally understood that they were more similar than they dared to imagine they became friends. And then they became lovers.

“I’m fine, Ed.” The Prince whispers to the night, before lying on the cold floor, trying to get some rest.

***

When the sky turns a soft lilac, Steve is still awake, shaking under the moldy blanket and wondering why his father is not giving him an audience: if only the King would let Steve talk to him he could explain everything. He has no desire to be King, he did what he had to do to assure the kingdom’s prosperity, but he is more than ready to give back the crown, the sword, whatever he wants. If his father is really so angry because he organized a funeral for him, he will go into exile of his own volition and he will never come back to the kingdom. He has no claims or requests, all he wants is to make sure that his people are well fed and the kingdom prosperous and he knows that his presence is not necessary: the kingdom has been the richest one in centuries, he just did his best to keep it that way.

Soft steps on the stairs draw his attention: not a guard. Steve tries to stand up as much as he can with his wrist still chained to the wall, and when the door squeaks open a very familiar woman appears on the steps.

“Joyce…” Steve murmurs, trying to get closer to the door and yanking the chain. “Joyce, what are you doing here? Are you ok? Why are you here? Did my father put you in jail too? And Will? Where is Will?!” Steve asks, remembering in that moment that the kid was at his side when his father interrupted the ceremony. The woman gently puts a finger on her lips, gesturing him to stay quiet, but Steve keeps bouncing on his feet, yanking the metal cuff that ties him to the wall.

The woman leaves another wooden cup with some water and another piece of stale bread.

“I’m fine and so is my kid,” she reassures him, “but something is wrong. The man that’s sitting on the throne is not the King I knew. He was a stern man but fair, this one is a monster that put his only son in jail!” she declares, holding Steve’s hand. “And there is more. Every night someone disappears from the castle. I prohibited Will from leaving the room we share, but you know he always had a deep connection with the spiritual world and now he senses that something is hovering over the castle. A malevolent presence, he calls it, something that he can’t really point out.” The woman whispers and Steve lifts his eyes, worried.

Steve nods, Will is a sensible boy, touched by the old gods as the people used to say. Joyce has always been fiercely protective of him, assuring everyone that he’s just an intelligent and gifted kid, but now she is shivering.

“You are our King, Steve,” she murmurs, “you have to help us! Don’t surrender. Do it for us. We need you. Your father…” She bites her lips, like she was avoiding saying something “We need you.” She insists, then she takes the old empty cup and climbs the stairs, turning one last time before disappearing from the view.

Steve grabs the cell’s bars so tight that his knuckles whiten. He is trapped in that stupid cell and knows nothing of what happened outside. The thought that someone might be hurt because of him is devastating, and he punches the prison’s bars with a frustrated groan that makes the metal tremble. If there is a price to pay, Steve will gladly pay it, but he needs to know that the people he cares about are safe. And what does it mean that people are disappearing?

And Eddie? Where is he? Is he safe or is he one of the missing people Joyce was talking about? God, he really hopes that he is safe and hasn’t done something stupid.

The bread is not inviting, but it’s the only thing that he can eat and even if he doesn’t know what will happen the only thing he is sure about is that he will need his strength. He forces himself to eat the bread, dipping it in the water to soften it a bit before biting into it like an animal.

Steve wrinkles his nose in disgust: the food is terrible, he is dirty and cold, and he is starting to smell bad, but there is nothing he can do apart from curl up against the wall and try to fight the drafts as much as he can.

He misses his comfy bed and the person that used to warm his sheets every night, but there is no point in complaining, so he tries to keep his mind clear, ready to beg his father for his guards’ lives. But the time passes and not once does his father come to visit him or drag him to the audience hall.