#you could have been held down and forced to say the commands at knifepoint but you still said them <3< /div> Explore tagged Tumblr posts

[brutal-nemesis]

PLS give us the slave collar lore dump

Aight here we go boys

Slave collars were invented sometime in the early 700s (about 1200 years after the events of Erebus's story) and they're a metal ring around the neck with this design on the front:

Until they're put on someone, they just look like a small metal rune. The rune is pressed into the neck of the slave and it forms the ring, but those three prong things don't form until the slave recites their three commands. When they say the command, a prong grows and the spell forcing the slave to follow the command activates.

So a slave physically can't disobey their three commands, but any loopholes they can find are fair game, so you have to be careful when coming up with the commands. And you can't just slap one of these on someone while they're sleeping since they have to recite the rules themself or the collar won't work. Which means very fun and humiliating forcing them to say their commands as the collar is put on :)

[067supremacy]

Trigger warning: this entry features the reader being followed and grabbed at knifepoint. If this is something that will make you uncomfortable, then please don't read it!!!!

So, I wrote this about a month before Resident Evil Village came out. As you can probably tell as this includes ideas of my own; and missed out some obvious problems that now show after playing the game. It was fun to imagine what the character was like at the time, from what we had to go on! :’) (also, I originally wrote this for the blonde who was rumoured to be called Daniela, but Daniela doesn't get enough love!!)

Guardian-Angel

Living your life at night had become your new regular. Your girlfriend Daniela is unable to live her life during the day, and despite the hardships, it came with, you were more than happy to give up the daylight to be with the woman you love.

Living with a vampire had its ups and downs, but you wouldn't change her for a second. You had been something of a stabilizer for her. When you first met her, she was stuck in her crazy gothic look. She was deadly and bloodthirsty, but you had a way of calming her to a tranquil state. Daniela had two different looks that were determined by her mood. When Daniela was calm, she was a natural beauty. Her Red hair was long and healthy, she had clear skin, and her attitude was caring. But when she was upset, Daniela was utterly different. She was full of anger, covered in black from head to toe, the surrounding area of her mouth was covered in crimson red, her fangs would grow through frighteningly sharp, and wasps would manifest seemingly out of nowhere.

You knew the dangers of living with a vampire, but it didn't matter to you. You trusted Daniela with your life. The first time you slept in the same bed as her, you couldn't help but worry about the possibility of her biting you. Little did you know that she could sense your worry and had even decided to tease you about it by resting her face in the crook of your neck. Daniela was in love with you. And deep down, she feared that one day your time would come. After all, she would be here long after your demise. The conversation of turning you was something she had yet to do, but the thought was always there. She had come close plenty of times to ask you to be with her for life, but her idea of rejection led her to remain happy with what she had.

It had just gone 1 am when you left 7-Eleven in a hurry. The pitch-black sky was unnerving but relaxing at the same time. There was a lot to enjoy about the night-time. Like, how quiet the streets were, how empty the store was, and how the sleepy nightlife was stunning to look overhead. The stars lead you home as you silently walk by yourself, you curse at the fact you left your headphones at home, but at least you could enjoy the walk back.

The dim streetlights ahead offer little visibility, but they give you absolute comfort. You come to the end of the high street where fast-food restaurants end, and the streets get much darker. With no cars going by, it's hard to tell what's up ahead when you turn right into a second street in which should be a straight shot to your apartment. You notice a man traveling just a few steps behind you. You felt uneasy about it but pushed the thought to the back of your mind. You speed up slightly to put some distance between you. The way the world was nowadays, you couldn't trust this situation; it is sad but true.

You decide to do a full circle through an alleyway and back out to the street out of curiosity. Sure enough, the shadow figure follows your every move, and that's the last that you were going to play with this. You pull out your phone and call Daniela with shaky hands. The phone rings once, and the voice you love so much answers cheerfully, but you can't even remember what she said as you were blinded with panic.

"Dani, I think someone is following me," you say in a hushed tone as to not alert the shadow figure following you. Almost as quickly as you finished the sentence, you can hear the familiar sound of wasps manifesting in the background. There is no time to be wasted in Daniela's mind. You can already hear the change in her voice as she asks for your location.

It's like you can feel Daniela's heart aching at the thought of your discomfort, something inside you doesn't feel right when Daniela gets like this, and it's ultimately why she agreed to stay calm in all circumstances.

"Just keep walking home, baby. I'll come and meet you." Your vampire girlfriend replies as you hear the phone fall to the floor and the raging hive leaves the apartment. The sound goes quiet, and you're left with your thoughts, but not for long as the footsteps get closer and louder. You can feel the presence on your heels. Before you know it, a large hand had taken you by the arm and directed you into the closest alleyway.

You yelp at the tight grip on your arm, the groceries you had from shopping had been sent to the floor, but you clutched your purse for dear life. The shadow figure was around 5ft 10Inches tall. The person was stocky in build, rugged looking. They wore a black hoodie and a black balaclava. The only thing you could see was the person's eyes. They pierced through you, you couldn't tell if they held hostile intent or if they were just trying to scare you, but that didn't matter. The person pushes you to a corner and unsheathes a small blade.

A man's voice, deep and resonant, shoots out from his mouth. "I'm gonna need that purse and whatever jewelry you have on you," He waves the blade before your eyes, almost teasing you that he had the upper hand.

Your fears boil over as the tears start to stream, and you feel powerless. You fold your arms over your purse in an act of defiance. The man in front of you seems to be getting impatient already, but you manage to bumble out a small plead, "Please, just let me go," The man chuckles at your plea.

"Just give me your shit, and then you can go. I won't even hurt you," the man jokes dryly. At this point in time, the tables had turned, "You can go now, and you won't get hurt," you confidently claim. Your confidence comes from the single wasp that crawls up the sleeve of the man's hoodie, but the single wasp was soon joined by another one, and then two more.

"I'm not fucking playing around now, give me your th- "he's cut off by the sting of a wasp on his neck. The few on his hoodie fly to the end of the alleyway. A woman's laugh surrounds the area, an angry hive of wasps come together and begin to form the silhouette of a tall woman. Your woman.

The man takes a step back in fear, which gives you the chance to storm toward the love of your life. You smoothly run straight past the form of Daniela, something that the man tries to replicate, but the swarm of wasps begins to surround him. They trap him within a tunnel. You knew what this was and where it was going. Daniela was manifesting into her proper, vampire form.

"the man screams and thrashes around, attempting to swat the wasps away from him, but his attempts were futile. The manifestation of her form becomes complete when she pushes him to the floor. Her movement is quirky but calculated. The wasps cocoon the two in a small dome. Keeping him grounded, Daniela laughs at the man's terrified figure. She taunts him with her newfound power.

"She gave you a chance, oh darling, you should have listened to her." Daniela spits her venomous, spiteful tone at the robber. The man attempts to slash at Daniela, and he catches her with the tip of the blade, but her form sheds more of the wasps surrounding the two instead of blood. She laughs demonically as she picks him up with effortless strength. She shoves him against the wall and prepares to end him.

From behind her, you force your way through the hive and touch her shoulder, which has a visible effect on her. She lets her grip on his shoulder loosen slightly. You assure her that you were unharmed, which seems to sway her, but you can still feel her rage within you. You use the power that you hold over Daniela by commanding that she let him go. She's come too far in her time with you to collapse into her bloodthirsty stage again.

And so, she lets the man run, he quickly flees the scene looking like he had just seen a vampire....... Daniela carefully watches the man disappear into the night. The second he is gone, her walls break down, and her softer side comes back out. The crazy gothic vampire look is gone without a trace. Daniela pulls you into her and crushes you into a tight hug. She couldn't lose you. The thought broke her every emotion as she held you. You could hear her breath hitch as she let it all out. Daniela was crying on your shoulder in a dark alleyway at 1:30 am.

"I love you, Y/N. I can't lose you; it would destroy me. I need you safe. I need you alive." She continues to unload every emotion. You reciprocate everything. The massive hug is filled with love and passion. Before you break the hug, you lean into her ear and whisper, "I love you too, Dani. I'm not going anywhere; nothing is going to happen to me. Not when I have my Guardian-Angel protecting me,"

A/N

I'm planning on doing part two, where Daniela has the talk with the reader about turning them into a Vampire. P.S I absolutely love the idea of her being like a normal looking girl when she's calm, but you piss her off........ Game over.

[willowbird]

For the ask game: 17 for au, 3 for trope and 19 for prompt? Have a great day!

Band au, meet cute, "suck on that"

Hope you guys are okay with another Andrew POV! I'm pretty sure this counts as a 'meet cute', as much as anything with these two meeting ever could lol

---

The sound guy had a very nice ass. Andrew wasn't sure what the rest of him looked like, but for the moment that didn't matter. For the moment, Andrew was satisfied with the pleasant view as the man straddled a ladder some fifteen feet up. He was poking around with one of the speakers, though Andrew neither knew nor cared why.

Again: nice ass, and that was enough.

At least, it was certainly better than paying attention to the building manager - who was being a condescending dickhead as he rambled on and on about the rules of the house.

Apparently, this was a "dignified establishment" and any "rowdiness" caused by the band's fans was going to result in them being permanently blacklisted. If Andrew gave an iota of a shit he might have told the man they had no intention of playing this venue ever again anyway, considering how ridiculous the fucker was making this process.

"Furthermore, if any-- oh, there he is! Good, I have far too many things to do to be stepping in as your manager as well." Andrew tore his gaze away from the sound guy's ass and fixed the asshole with an unamused stare. Erik, their band's manager, was currently wrangling the rest of the band through a photoshoot that Andrew had not been invited to.

("Not invited", meaning "expressly told not to come elsewise the contract would be shredded". Some people got so fucking uppity about being punched in the dick and held at knifepoint.)

Whatever. Anyway, because the rest of the band was off getting their pictures taken, Andrew had been volunteered (read: commanded) to head over to the venue early and oversee setup for their concert tonight. Hence why he was forced to put up with this dipfuck - who was now passing him off onto some underling.

The guy that joined them was conventionally attractive with a charming smile that Andrew didn't trust for a second. "You must be Andrew Minyard," he said as the building manager scurried off to sour the souls of small children. He put out his hand, then let it drop when he realized Andrew had no intention of shaking.

"My name is Jake." The smile never faltered and Andrew was very familiar with the way the man's eyes scanned the entirety of his body. It was hungry, predatory, and confident - and Andrew was having none of that shit today. There were two reactions that Andrew regularly got, being an out gay performer in an up-and-coming but still relatively small-time rock band: scorn and sex. Honestly, some weeks the sex was welcome but most of the time Andrew preferred the scorn, it was far less demanding.

Andrew sighed heavily. "I am not going to fuck you, so save yourself some embarrassment and do not even bother."

Jake recoiled instantly, his expression shifting rapidly from surprise to annoyance to anger back to a flawed mask of easy confidence. "Volunteering to bottom then? That's bold, but I like it." He stepped closer and though Andrew did not give ground he did narrow his eyes as he rested the fingertips of one hand at the edge of the opposite armband.

"Touch me and I'll stab you in the dick." Punches were just for warnings and this guy clearly didn't heed those.

"I don't got to touch you for you to suck my dick, though. Maybe if you--" Jake never got to finish his suggestion, because out of fucking nowhere he was nailed in the forehead by the handle of a screwdriver. He stumbled backward, eyes wide and a little bit dazed. "What..? Fuck." He pressed both hands to his forehead, which was already beginning to welt, crouching down with another ramble of curses. "What the fucking... fuck! Shit!"

What happened next was a fast, chaotic jumble that Andrew only later was able to piece together. Jake The Predatory Asshole stood up too quickly, still reeling from the hit, and stumbled into a nearby ladder. This ladder was there supporting the sound guy, who had continued to work on his task throughout this fun little encounter. The ladder, which hadn't been properly locked, snapped partially shut as it was pushed, causing it to overbalance. This, in turn, sent the sound guy crashing to the ground.

Well, not exactly to the ground.

That ass, which looked so round and plush from Andrew's vantage on the ground, was apparently made of solid muscle. One moment Andrew was watching Jake stumble, wondering if this meant he didn't get to stab him now, and the next he was flat on his back with a very compact, stunned sound guy sitting on his stomach.

Now, Andrew was all ready to get his stabbing on. He didn't give a shit if it wasn't this sound guy's fault that he fell from the ladder and Andrew just happened to be there to break his fall. Andrew just got clandestinely denied a chance to stab some overconfident bro that likely kept rufies in a pez dispenser in the pocket of his shitty designer sweatpants. He was primed and ready to stab, then some guy landed on him - that guy was about to be stabbed.

Except just as Andrew was pulling his knife the guy looked down at him and not only was his ass fucking impeccable, but he had the bluest goddamn eyes Andrew had ever seen, and that mouth. It was currently twisted up into amused sort of smirk that tugged up more on one side than the other. His hair was long and queued into a messy braid over one shoulder, a few wisps hanging around his face that with the backdrop of the houselights behind him made him look like a fucking mermaid or something. This fucker was almost offensively attractive.

Then, to make it all even worse, a spluttering sound came from beyond them to where Jake had landed. "What the fu--!"

Exceptionally Hot Sound Guy, materialized a screwdriver and heaved it with a suspicious amount of skill and form. It made contact, judging by the cut-off expletive and fleshy thunk. Also by the smug little smirk that folded itself across the sound guy's lips.

"Suck on that," he said. Then, with a pleased little 'hmph!', he got off of Andrew and held out a hand in offering.

Dazedly, Andrew accepted it. When he looked over at Jake, the fucker was out cold, spread-eagle in the middle of the stage.

"I can drop one of the lights on him," the sound guy offered casually. It should have been a joke; Andrew knew it wasn't.

"Who are you?" Andrew heard himself ask. It came out sharp and accusatory instead of fluttery and infatuated, thank fuck for small miracles.

The guy apparently had to think about that for a moment (which, really? what the fuck?) then he smiled, this one a softer, more personal smile that Andrew did not understand but needed to on a deep, inexplicable level. "Neil," he said. "My name is Neil."

Neil looked over at the downed creeper, then got a positively evil little look on his face that had Andrew's brain finally catching up to exactly how much trouble he was in. He watched as Neil jogged back into the wings and returned with a bottle of water. Bypassing Andrew completely, Neil crossed right to the fallen perv, crouched beside him, and poured the contents of the water bottle right on Jake's crotch.

That second screwdriver must have really hit home because the fucker didn't even stir.

Pleased with his work, Neil tossed the now-empty water bottle off stage right and returned to Andrew. "Good enough for now?" he asked.

Andrew stared at him for a long moment. When he opened his mouth to say something snarky and unbothered, what came out instead was, "I am buying you dinner."

Neil looked surprised, then the expression warmed to something else before he said, the edge of a smile teasing Andrew from the corner of his mouth, "Okay."

Oh yeah, Andrew was so incredibly fucked.

fun little prompt game

[straysinfiltrator]

You KNOW that I'm thirsting for your Coldfire story, but I'm also eyeing Gascon and the Nilfgardian deserter. 😏 Ah, who am I kidding. It's like being at the dessert table and only having to pick one.

I'll message you about the Coldfire story, since you're probably my only Coldfire fan on tumblr :)

As for the other one, the context is that Meve spares that Nilfgaardian deserter who tries to flee by boat in the south of Angren (it's a short in-game dialog, if you recall) but she forces him to join as a camp laborer because she doesn't want him giving away their position if Nilfgaard troops find him. So the guy gets bullied a lot and one night Gascon saves him from a random Lyrian soldier and his underlings who cornered the Nilfgaardian a secluded corner of the camp and were about to cut off his balls or some such, and the following chat ensues (at knifepoint!) between Gascon and said soldier......

---

“Stop struggling, it’s so tiresome,” Gascon said in a bored voice. The soldier paid him no heed. “Do I really need to break your arm?” He pressed his foot down harder on the man’s wrist and his writhing finally ceased.

“They’ll come back with more. My men you left to run.”

“Oh will they? And have the whole company find out what they’ve been up to? You know, I don’t think they will.”

“So, what then? You gonna sit here all night? Tell the queen ‘bout this? Nilfgaard’s bitch, that’s what she’s, to take th’ side of a Blackclad deserter o’er her own…”

“I doubt th’ queen ‘erself needs t’be bothered for a little shit like you. You’re under the command of Captain Oisin, right?”

“An’ wha’ o’it?” There was a new wary note in the man’s voice.

Gascon drew in a hissing breath in mock concern. “Ahh, tough luck. Heard he had a man flogged th’ other week for dozing off during watch. Ten lashes just for that. How many d’you think you’ll get for tryin’ to cut up a fellow?”

“He wouldn't believe you even if ya told ‘im about it, like the dirty snitch you are!”

“Oh no, I’m not going to tell him!” Gascon said it with theatrical shock. “You are.”

The man paused, brows knotting as if trying to avoid some unknown trap. “Uhhh… An’ if I don’t?”

“Hah! Congratulations, you’re starting to catch on to how this works. Hmm… let me think. How about, a cut to the back of your ankle, let’s say? Hurts like hell, takes forever to heal too. And to be limping in this marsh…”

“You wouldn’t do that!” The man started struggling again for an instant, then thought better of it.

“Of course not; I’d ask a couple of my lads to do it. You’ll have to sleep sooner or later, no matter how hard you try otherwise, and they know how to move so you won’t hear ‘em coming. One to do it, one to cover your mouth so you can’t scream. Quick and painful it’ll be.”

Gascon went on in his sweetest voice. “Tell you what though, I can be generous. I’ll let you choose which of your legs they shorten. What shall I tell them, left or right, hmm?”

“You wouldn’t…”

“You keep saying that, now why would you think it? Which part about ‘bandits’ didn’t make it to your ears when we joined? I ‘ave killed for so, so much less…”

The man’s breathing was frantic now, his every muscle tense. He squeezed his eyes shut as if he thought he could wish himself away. Finally his body went slack in resignation. “Fine,” he said. “I’ll tell the captain. Just let me go.”

“You have until tomorrow at dusk.” Gascon moved his knife away and stepped back. The soldier rose with a grunt, shaking his wrist. He looked at Gascon once he was on his feet, as if judging the wisdom of another assault.

Gascon held on to the knife as he pulled the apple from his pocket with his left hand, wiped it on his sleeve, and bit into it with deliberate unconcern. Just try anything, if you have a death wish. The soldier must have come to the same conclusion, because he started backing off slowly, as if fleeing from a venomous predator.

“Oh, about that word you called th’ queen earlier?” Gascon called out after him casually, words muffled by chewing. “Make sure to also tell th’ captain you said that. I’ll check that you did.”

[quranreadalong]

ARMED CONFLICTS OF EARLY ISLAM PT 5

By the summer of 628 AD, Mohammed is out here feeling like Alexander the Great, sad that there are no more worlds to conquer. He’s dealt with pretty much all of his enemies, barring a few incidents of stamping out dissent. Around this time he is also finally let back into Mecca, courtesy of the treaty, to perform the pilgrimage. And then he looks north, south, and east, and remembers that there is, in fact, a big world out there, and he wants all of it!

This period (late 628-mid 632 AD) begins a dizzying series of raids and conquest expeditions--it’s not clear what the exact chronology here is, because so much happened in such a short span of time. Ibn Ishaq says there were 38 “expeditions” in total from 623 to 632, with most occurring in the second half of that time period; Mohammed personally fought in nine of them.

To avoid overwhelming ourselves here, let’s start with the usual crap: the attacks on various clans in the Hijaz and Najd. In the twenty months or so leading up to the conquest of Mecca, Mo sent some of his top fighters out with forces of a few dozen men each to “spread Islam” far and wide. Umar was sent to harass a Hawazin clan of Turbah (~100 miles east of Taif), who fled before he got to preach the good news to them. Abu Bakr was sent into Najd to deal with some people who persisted in their disbelief. A raid finally took down our spunky Banu Thalaba underdogs.

Some more Ghatafan clans were raided; as per usual, the evildoers fled and the Muslim army grabbed their shit. An attempt to convert the Banu Sulaym with 50 fighters went slightly awry when the clan showered the armed missionaries with arrows. An attempt to convert the Banu Murrah clan near Fadak went similarly awry, resulting in another force coming back later to slaughter everyone they could get their hands on and steal everything they could find. One guy tried to save himself by converting under knifepoint, but was killed anyway, which displeased Mohammed. Some poor Hijazi clan called the Banu al-Mulawwih got murdered to shit for no stated reason. Al-Tabari:

After they had milked the camels, set them to rest by the watering trough, and had stopped moving around, after the first part of the night had passed, we launched the raid on them. We killed some of them, drove away the camels, and set out to return. ... The battle cry of the companions of the Messenger of God that night was "Kill! Kill!"

Al-Tabari’s volume on this time period is called the “Victory of Islam”, and that is really what it is. This whole section is really the beginning of solid Islamic control of Arabia. A few more raids similar to the ones above followed throughout 628 and 629, and during this time period you also begin to see the first clans outside Mohammed’s immediate vicinity start to convert to Islam and ally themselves with Mohammed. The Muslims are seen as the top dogs now, and people think it might be a good idea to join them to avoid the whole Kill! Kill!ing thing.

By the second half of 629, Mohammed’s men had established a pretty firm grip on the entire Hijaz and Najd. It was time for the Muslims to expand their vision. Mohammed began sending letters to various leaders, both Arab and non-Arab, and sent his men to deliver them. Some went to the Gulf coast in eastern Arabia; some went north to the Byzantines and Sassanids; some went across the sea to East Africa. Unfortunately, we do not know what the letters said, as all alleged copies of them have been found to be inauthentic, and the traditions around them are pretty obviously legendary. But the letters themselves evidently were sent.

According to the colorful al-Waqidi, one such letter was given to the leaders of the Ghassanids, who were the northern Arab allies of the Byzantine Empire. They were unenthused by its contents and chopped the head off the individual who gave the letter to them. Ibn Ishaq does not mention this event, but he does mention what happened next: the Muslims tried to attack the Ghassanids and it was a miserable failure. Mohammed’s ex-adopted son (...long story, we’ll see him later in the Quran) Zayd and his cousin Jafar both died in the battle. That was called the Battle of Mutah, which is comically exaggerated (100,000+ people! Including the emperor of Byzantium!) in Islamic sources. More on that later in the surah.

The northern Arab cities, allied with the Ghassanids but living outside their protection, would soon pay for this. Mohammed sent some troops to attack an ally of the Ghassanids, the Banu Quda, who lived north of Wadi al-Qura. Most fled, the others died. Ibn Ishaq also records Mohammed sending a force to attack the northern city of Dumat al-Jandal, instructing his men to “fight everyone in the way of God and kill those who disbelieve in God”, excluding children. Amr ibn al-As, one of the late-arrival opportunists, led an attack on a place ten days north of Medina called Dhat al-Silasil in order to “convoke the Arabs to war on Syria”. (Tabouk, the large conquest expedition, was the following year.)

Other attacks in late 629 involved a comical chase of a coastal Bedouin tribe, wherein the Muslim army lost sight of the fleeing enemy and ended up almost starving to death, only surviving by eating a beached whale; the assassination of a random clan leader accused yet again of “planning to attack Medina” (truly remarkable how many people plotted to attack the city yet none ever did beyond one nigh-bloodless siege); and yet more attacks on Ghatafan clans, convincing many of them to “embrace Islam”.

One event in this era was far more important than anything else. Having firmly established Muslim supremacy in the entire area, Mohammed turned his thoughts to Mecca. Things were fairly peaceful at the moment and the Quraysh were clearly the submissive partner in the relationship, but the issue was that Mohammed was not in charge of Mecca, and this was a problem. He began amassing forces to take the city as quietly as he could, diverting the attention of spies by having his men attack random other targets.

In late 629, the attacks between the Khuzaa and Bakr clans that we talked about in #59 were used as a pretext by Mohammed to accuse the Meccans of breaking the Treaty of Hudaibiyya. Mohammed himself had already broken the treaty several times, of course, and the Quraysh went to Medina to try to settle the matter peacefully, but it was too late. Mohammed wasn’t interested in maintaining the treaty, and he finally had his excuse to get rid of it. He assembled a massive army, said in Muslim sources to be 10,000 armed men strong, and marched on Mecca in four columns, one through each of Mecca’s points of entry.

Abu Sufyan, the Meccan military commander, tried in vain to convince Mohammed not to take the city, knowing that a military confrontation would be unwise. The largest force the Quraysh had ever assembled was smaller than Mohammed’s army, and that included their now-vanquished Jewish allies as well as now-defeated Ghatafan clans. The Quraysh do not seem to have had a standing army of even a third of their enemy’s numbers. The situation was hopeless and the Meccans knew it. They had held out as long as possible, but this was the end of the line.

The conquest of Mecca was fairly anticlimactic for this reason. Minor skirmishes did occur, but by and large the Muslim army simply marched their way to control of the city. When confronted with this inevitability, Abu Sufyan surrendered and “embraced Islam”. Mohammed’s first enemy had been brought low. Mohammed’s home city was now in his hands.

The first thing that Mohammed did after taking Mecca was to purge the Kaaba of all signs of polytheism, destroying its idols. Temples devoted to polytheistic gods were shut down and destroyed. He then executed those few brave, dumb old enemies of his who did not throw themselves at his feet and convert to Islam on the spot, including a slave girl who mocked Islam in songs and an apostate named Abdullah ibn Khatal, who was found clinging to the Kaaba. Ibn Ishaq:

He [Abdullah] had two singing-girls Fartana and her friend who used to sing satirical songs about the apostle, so he ordered that they should be killed with him.

(The other one begged for her life and converted.)

The conquest of Mecca was a big deal. It wasn’t just that Mohammed’s last real enemies were now completely defeated, it was that he won. The Quraysh had always been Enemy #1, even when Mohammed turned his attention elsewhere, and now they were at his feet. That was it--there was no other force in the region able to stand against Mohammed’s men, and everyone knew it. Conversions skyrocketed thereafter.

And the 'Arabs (other than Quraish) delayed their conversion to Islam till the Conquest (of Mecca). They used to say "Leave him (i.e. Muhammad) and his people Quraish: if he overpowers them then he is a true Prophet. So, when Mecca was conquered, then every tribe rushed to embrace Islam

By the time Mohammed marched his men into the downtrodden, half-starved, and frankly pitiful city of Mecca, his ranks were already pretty swollen from the converted and/or conquered tribes. He gained a couple thousand new soldiers from the newly-converted Quraysh and their allies, and various delegations soon came to pledge their loyalty to the Hijaz’s new top warlord. Others resisted, but it was futile. They were beaten down without a second thought until everyone got in line. Dilly-dallying was no longer acceptable; it was the Islam Train or the Death Train for Arab polytheists.

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: 'I have been commanded to fight the people until they testify to La ilaha ill-allah (none has the right to be worshipped but Allah) and that I am the Messenger of Allah, and establish regular prayers and pay Zakat.'

And that is the very unhappy ending to our tale and the end of the beginning of the Islamic conquests. Hunayn was shortly after Mecca’s conquest, then more raids and sieges (including the siege of Taif) in an attempt to cleanse Arabia of polytheists, going all the way into Yemen and into northern Arabia. Tabouk was after that. By this point, so many people had been made to “embrace Islam” that a significant portion of Mohammed’s troops genuinely didn’t give a shit about the religion and were just going along with this because the alternative was being conquered by him, and these are some of the people he whines about when he talks about the fighters who didn’t go with him to Tabouk. This whining makes up the remainder of surah 9.

After Mecca was taken, Mohammed sent his men out to neighboring areas to destroy polytheistic temples and encourage people to “embrace Islam”, with the first temple to be destroyed being the temple to the goddess Uzza in between Mecca and Taif. Temples and shrines to various other gods, including Suwa and Manat, were destroyed in short order. Mohammed would send his merry men to destroy temples straight through until the end of his life, with the large Dhul Khalasa temple  (halfway between Mecca and Sanaa in Yemen) being one of the last. He sent 150 men to take down the temple and kill anyone they found inside of it. The surrounding tribes tried to defend it, but were defeated. A poetess of the crushed people memorialized the incident in a depressing poem, according to Ibn Ishaq:

They came to defend their shrine, only to find Lions with brandished swords clamoring for blood. The women of the Khath'am [local tribe] were, then, humiliated By the men of the Abmas [a Muslim clan], and abased.

Al-Tabari offers a typical account of how the remaining holdouts were brought into the loving embrace of Islam:

The Messenger of God sent Khalid b. al-Walid in the month of Rabi' II, or Jumada I, in the year 10/631 to Banu al Harith b. Kab in Najran and ordered to invite them to Islam for three days before he fought them. If they should respond to him [with the acceptance of Islam], then he was to accept it from them, and to stay with them and teach them the Book of God, the sunnah of His prophet, and the requirements of Islam, if they should decline then he was to fight them.

Khalid departed and came to them, sending out riders in every direction inviting them to Islam and saying, "O people, accept Islam, and you will be safe." So they embraced Islam and responded to his call.

The demolitions of polytheistic places of worship are summarized in depressingly straightforward sentences in works like the Book of Idols, written around 800 AD:

The Quraysh as well as the rest of the Arabs continued to venerate Manah until the Apostle of God … he dispatched ‘Ali to destroy her (idol). ‘Ali demolished her, took away all her [treasures], and carried them back to the Prophet.

Allat continued to be venerated until the Thaqif embraced Islam, when the Apostle of God dispatched al-Mughirah ibn Shu'bab, who destroyed her and burnt her [temple] to the ground.

Ruda was a temple which belonged to the Banu Rabi'ah … It was destroyed by al-Mustawghir.

When the Apostle of God captured Mecca and the Arabs embraced Islam, among the delegates who came to pay their homage was Jarir ibn ‘Abdullah. He came to the Apostle and embraced Islam before him. Thereupon the Apostle addressed him saying, “O Jarir! Wilt thou not rid me of Dhu al-Khalasah?” Jarir replied, “Yea.” So the Apostle dispatched him to destroy it … he was met by the Khath'am and the Bahilah, who resisted him and attempted to defend Dhu al-Khalasah. He, therefore, fought them and killed a hundred men of the Bahilah, its custodians, and many of the Khath'am; while of the Banu Qubafah ibn ‘Amir ibn Khath'am he killed two hundred. having defeated them and forced them into flight, he demolished the building which stood over Dhu al-Khalasah and set it on fire.  

The Apostle of God had, after the battle of Tabuk, sent Khalid ibn al-Walid to destroy [the shrine of Wadd]. But the Banu ‘Abd-Wadd and the Banu ‘Amir al-Ajdar resisted Khalid and attempted to defend the idol. Khalid, therefore, fought and defeated them, and then destroyed [the shrine] and demolished the idol.

Al-Fals continued to be worshipped until the advent of the Prophet, at which time 'Ali ibn abi Talib was dispatched to destroy [the shrine].

There are no records indicating that Arab polytheism survived the seventh century. It was entirely destroyed by Islam, and those who resisted its destruction were killed.

During Mohammed’s lifetime, the conquests reached all the way east, into the Gulf island of Bahrain; to the south, into Yemen; and to the north, right against the border between Arab territory and the Byzantine Empire’s lands and vassal states. With the majority of Arabia in the grip of Islam when Mohammed died of illness in 632 AD, the rest of the Divine Mission was left to his successors. Abu Bakr came first, and half of his brief tenure involved beating down various other self-proclaimed prophets and getting breakaway apostasized tribes back in line. When Umar took over two years later, the Islamic armies were able to fully dedicate themselves to the Out Of Arabia conquests, and.... well, you know the rest.

So, that’s it for our depressing history lesson. I hope you’ve enjoyed it. I sure haven’t...  ☹

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[mairiangel]

Of Evading and Locating

Summary: Finding and especially looking out for the princess, he thought, is comparable to being held at knifepoint and is forced to choose whether to be chased or pecked by the cucoos, it was just plain impossible.

Relationship: Link & Zelda (BOTW)

FFNET: x

Notes: Here is another one, have some link pov to brighten up your day, or something.

He had honestly saw it coming, it wasn’t as if she had even tried to make an effort to hide the contempt she had for him—if the way she had addressed him during his knighting ceremony wasn’t a strong indication then he doesn’t know what is. Just the thought of that is enough to make him release a sigh, his gaze flitting towards the hyrule fields with only him as company because she had once again evaded and avoided him like the plague.

 Biting the inner side of his cheek, he clucked his tongue and straightened up. Link should had known better than to let her out of his sight. With that in mind, his gaze shifted towards the vast expanse of grass surrounding him though he paid it no mind, his focus was solely on the back of the princess who was atleast a good ten steps away from him now.

 He squinted his eyes at that, a look of determination flashing through his face. The king had entrusted her to him and he would do his best to not disappoint his majesty because anything otherwise is not a choice, it wasn’t even like he had anything to look back on. And this is the only purpose and job he has, he wouldn’t let anyone down.

 With a sprint, he managed to easily catch up to fall back behind the princess as she gave him a side glance before wrinkling her nose and continued to walk ahead of him, her sheikah slate was gripped rather tightly with her hands. She didn’t attempt to say anything to him which greatly relieved him because that would mean less people to disappoint to if he managed to say something wrong that betrayed their expectations.

 It has been a week since he started following the princess like what he assumed, a dutiful knight would though she still pretended that he doesn’t exist, often trying as best as she can to lose him within a crowd—thinking of that, it made him think that being in the hyrule field made his job easier because they were usually the only people trekking around these parts.

 “Are you always this quiet?” He was startled by the sudden voice, his eyes immediately sought the back of her head. She wasn’t turning her head and Link isn’t sure whether she was actually asking him a question or possibly mocking him, either way, he doesn’t quite know how to respond to her words, so he stayed silent.

 The princess suddenly halt on her steps before she turned around and faced him, her stare penetrating him with those eyes of hers that always demanded answers for something she doesn’t quite understand. Some wisps of her blonde locks flowed behind her as she continued to regard him, scrutinizing him with her looks.

 Suddenly as if by command, he stiffened and stood straight. It was one of those looks—the ones where he desperately wanted people to just keep it within them, those judging stares that wanted to probe on his mind and dissect them one by one. Link fought hard the instinct to shift on his feet, he always received those whenever he had done something worthy of note back then when he was a mere recruit.

 When he didn’t respond, she narrowed her eyes at him before he saw the way she pursed her lips and harrumphed in irritation and then she turned back around and started walking again. ‘One more person disappointed’, his mind reminded him. It wasn’t even like he expected her to start a conversation, still, as far as he was concerned, it wasn’t exactly great to make the princess mad.

 Or curious, she was definitely going to be curious. And that usually translated to her going out of her way to find and pry onto something that should be left alone. He doesn’t know whether to finally respond or not, deciding that it would be best to atleast give her some minimum answers, and with that decision, Link opened his mouth to respond when she suddenly stopped walking once more just beside a rock that could be considered half their size.

 She craned her neck to look back at him before gesturing towards the rock. “Stay here, I’m going to look for some flowers that could prove useful.” He saw right through her ploy and immediately shook his head and told her in low barely used voice. “The king trust me to not let you out of sight.” His words were enough for him to felt her irritation spiked up and carried over her own tone, brows furrowing in frustration.

 “Fine,” She said and then proceed to sit on the ground just beside the rock, her eyes had shifted towards the sheikah slate. While he stood there, in front of her, confused though he doesn’t let it show and doesn’t know whether she had just given up or she is merely planning something.

 The princess looked up at him, meeting his stare head on. She had that kind of expression that told him he was the last thing she even wanted to see let alone be accompanied with, “If I can’t go by myself then it would be better that you find some flowers.”

 Link blinked at this and he can the see the triumph look reflected on her eyes, she wasn’t always good at masking her emotions and it showed on her eyes most often than not. He wondered for a second why she would look like she won before he repeated those words on her mind.

 And then realization dawned onto him, she would run away the moment he turned around and pick out some flowers for her. At least that is what he assumed and it could be nothing else other than that. Link was on the verge of protesting when he paused and kept his mouth tightly closed.

 ‘She could have this’, he thought carelessly. ‘I would give her a ten-minute head start and then I’ll track her down.’ He could always just file this kind of hide and seek as training for locating her if something bad had gone down and then his thoughts scurried and suddenly, he wondered if this is the day where she could be in danger.

 He pursed his lips in thought and almost let out a sigh, he’ll take this chance and gave her a five-minute head start and then she wouldn’t be able to shake him off for the rest of the day because he would not let himself be tricked by her plans to escape him.

 With those made up, he straightened his back and gave her a short stiff nod. “Of course, your highness.” He then turned around and started walking a few steps away, his gaze sweeping towards the patch of grasses surrounding him though his focus was solely on the faint sound of scraping boots and then it was gone.

 When he gave the rock a glance, she was gone.

 And now, he is alone.

 The king would surely be disappointed at this kind of behavior from him thought strangely enough, he doesn’t mind it the least bit.

  He should have seen it coming, it was not that he had given her a five-minute head start that made it harder to locate her but because she doesn’t leave any track to find her. It was honestly kind of stupid of him to agree to her ploy, he can’t just wait until he was given a reprimand for losing the princess.

 This was the first time that he had no idea where she could be, his gaze flitted towards every single thing and can’t seem to find her in the vast expanse of the hyrule field. Maybe it would had been better if they were in the village atleast she would not find it within her to leave him alone there.

 But in out of the wilderness, she hadn’t thought twice to leave him alone.

 He sighed and trudged towards some random path, his eyes kept gazing at the fields, hoping by some miracle that she materialized out of nowhere and told him that it was just a joke and she wouldn’t leave his sight ever again. Yeah, right, as if something like that would happen, in his dreams, perhaps.

 He batted those thoughts away and focused on the reality, she couldn’t had gone that far, he knew that despite not wanting him guarding her, she usually left some faint trail however she hadn’t done that right now. He wondered if she was fed up with him. With a glance towards the blinding sun, it was better if he started finding her now before night would fall.

  It was nearing dusk and he was this close to panicking as he returned back to the rock he had lost her and there he saw, sitting beside it with her gaze focused on him and her eyes was obviously still plastered with that triumphant look, she was leaning back against the rock, clothes slightly rumpled but she didn’t seem to notice as she was focused on him.

 And he knew right away that he was played, as she stood up and put a hand on her hip, her other hand is clutching the sheikah slate. The princess let a small smile grazed through her lips as she silently regarded his face that obviously reflected a tired man though she didn’t comment on it instead she gestured towards the direction of the castle.

 “Let’s go back, I had already gathered the data that I needed.” She turned around from him and started walking towards the castle as he sighed and followed behind her, he can’t believe that she had used his five-minute head start against him and not leaving some form of trail.

 Still, he decided as they continued to walk. She smiled, a rarity around the castle grounds and more so when in his company. If the thought of being alone for hours is enough to make that look graced her face, he doesn’t think he would mind, after all, he can tell that she was being suffocated amongst anything that reminded her of the duties she had.

 Next time, he’ll just give her a three-minute head start.

Notes:  Do you guys have any suggestion you wanted me to write a pre-calamity ganon zelink oneshot about? It could be silly, it could be fluffy or it could even be angsty. Writer’s block is every writer’s bane of existence.