#adrik is angry as FUCK

[dcbnam-aep]

Grishaverse as things my friends have said

*loud crashes and bangs* that was nothing- Jesper

you like that smell? it’s called victory- Kaz

Amen more like ahhhh men and ahhhh women- Nina 

My family’s pretty sick but just like in the head- Darkling

I SHOULD’VE TRUSTED GOOGLE- Jesper

(offended) I know what kind of tree I am- Matthias

I wonder if my sneeze would be low pitched. Achooo- Wylan

Maybe you’re a hologram *Wacks Kaz* Nope you’re not a hologram- Jesper

*sad* You have another fluffy cow dealer?- Alina to Genya

It makes you a less organised sack of blood- Kaz (discussing ebola)

One of my sims has a crush on me and that would be cheating on my 2 wives, girlfriend and boyfriend- Nina

I can lose my innocence but I can not lose my virginity- Alina

I thought it was contemporary and then this bitch started talking about werewolves- Darkling

I’m too blind for murder wink- Kaz

Are you high on sleep deprivation?- Zoya (to Nikolai)

What are they talking about? Probably straight things- Nina & Jesper

Being competitive. AKA being a sore loser- Nikolai

I’m allowed to have a knife in my bag, I’m an art student - Wylan

I’m going to call it just a board instead of a whiteboard because we’re not racist here - Jesper

It doesn’t matter if I’m lesbian, I’m a catch - Genya

Gandalf, I am your father- Wylan

There’s always room in a lady’s stomach - Zoya

*talking about children* how do you contain your desire to just clock them (with actions) - Kaz

If I get shat on by a seagull I’m suing the city of Sydney - Nina

Friends?? Pfft no; more like free labour - Kaz

*whispers quietly* big words.... - Mal

I have the vocal range of a prawn - Zoya

Inej: Violence is never an answer

Kaz: Violence is always a considered answer but barely ever the chosen answer

happy valentines day you lonely lonely lonely single bastard- Zoya (to Nikolai)

Nina is too scared to watch horror movies but she is doing it for the gays - Inej

I’m not judgy, I’m just angry - Kaz

I just spent a long time projecting gay energy on purpose - Nina

You think I’m a murderer and cool; I love this game - Wylan

I have been stuck in this same kangaroo land for 15 years!!! - Jesper

*aggressively types* - Baghra

I’m getting blessed tonight, RIP that sinning ayyyyyyy - Nina

I walked into school and they told me i was moldy and am going to hell cause i am a ‘bad fruit of the spirit”... i was in year 1 - Nikolai

I don’t have enough hands to throw hands - Adrik

Bibbity bobbity bitch - Zoya

There was this guy who had a crocodile permit and he had a crocodile and then he got busted for drugs or something - Wylan

What’s sexy about writing, well Ernest Hemingway… - Mr Fahey

Nina: fuck Jesus

Matthias: no don’t fuck Jesus

Nina: ah yes fuck Mary 

Inej: no don’t fuck Mary that defeats the entire point of Christianity

Nina: fuck virginity

*quietly* who has a knife kink? (it’s Kaz, obviously)- Jesper

Find another rebound red head - Alina

Somehow I end up adopting all the isolated gays - Kaz

You’re pretty to look at but I don’t want your penis inside of me - Nina

There are always endless options… in this world… like- u could be a dinosaur if u wanted. just kidding I wish u could- Alina

18 is a great age to fuck some French men………or women - Nina

Not even Sesame Street level of literacy here - Wylan’s dad

I was going to assume thats just pirate-core - Nikolai

I would be concerned if a lesbian on birth control got pregnant - Genya

It’s a great day to like women - Nina

We have to keep the babies room temperature- Inej

Mal: I don’t take insults from a potatoe

Nikolai: You spelt potato wrong

You’re like a Kmart model but not top of the range- Zoya

Sorry mum, I am too punk rock to pick up the groceries- Wylan

You have 24 carrot gold leg hair- Zoya to Genya

Cannibalism? Only if it is kosher.- Nikolai

I have so much banana I’m gonna be high on potassium bitches- Jesper

Kaz, you sleep deprived bean, go and sleep- Inej

I would google it but it’ll probably just tell me I have arm pit cancer- Genya

I have a very important question… about mens nipples - Jesper

*reads out bit of really quite gay writing* aNyWaY FrIeNdShIp vIbEs - Nina

Can we not talk about Smurf reproduction please - Matthias 

She looks like she’s had a boob job. And trust me, I know, I like boobs- Nina

Jesper *yelling*: NINA SHES GOING ON A DATE

Inej: Jesper be quiet!!

Jesper *whisper shouting*: NiNa sHeS gOiNg On A dAtE

I need the warmth of your supple calf - Nina

Jesper: You know who’s hot… Scar from the lion king

Kaz: He’s a lion?!??

Wylan: A hOt lion.. 

*Alina stomping down the hall tired and lowkey grumpy, not wearing her glasses* Genya why do u look weird? Wait- glasses. *stomps back up hall*

Inej: Kaz r u taking Latin??

Jesper: I speak pig Latin 

If your fingers are feeling kinda slimy, just wash them……its just…… dissolving your fingers (calm as ever) - Wylan

I used to be a VIG. Do u know what that means? A Very Important Greek (Grisha).- Zoya

Im not a whore, im tastefully slutty - Genya

*spends 5 minutes fannina-ing over a guy named Herby*- Nina

Do you really want to be worth the most though? Cause if youre worthless they wont sell you- Kaz

#grishaverse #shadow and bone #six of crows #nina zenik #kaz brekker #inej ghafa #jesper fahey #wylan van eck #alina starvok #matthias helvar #genya safin #nikolai lantsov #zoya nazyalensky #incorrect quote #incorrect shadow and bone #incorrect six of crows

[oretsev]

hi helloo, i'd just written a novel in ur askbox about s&b and then tumblr crashed and it was all lost :') maybe for the better because it was a total mess of thoughts lmao so let me try to summarise my feelings a bit (im sorry this turned out REALLY long)

i HATE that they speedran s&s and r&r in the most bullshit way possible. the entire amplifier hunt was basically removed, at least journey-wise - they just. find the sea whip in that one cave and then they go to morozova's workshop and thats it?? wheres the shu han quest. where the fuck is the ACTUAL spinning wheel. and why is alina not hounding everyone to find the firebird??? she's supposed to be obsessively seeking it now, why does she barely seem to care? also where's the actual ending to siege and storm. WHERE is my darkling & alina fight. wheres her being saved by mal... where's her white hair !!!! idk that scene was my favourite and once i knew we were getting a tv show i really wanted to see this on screen :((

all the characters and relationships they cut... harshaw, misha, ONCAT, tamar&nadia (because lbr they basically weren't there), honestly i even missed sergei and stigg (who i'd barely even remembered before), nadia and adrik as siblings even. they just cut all these people and their journeys with alina for what, a fetch quest for a magic sword?

also, where's the apparat and the soldat sol? we hear people call alina 'sankta', sure, but the entire religious part of ruin and rising is just. completely sidelined. which is really weird because it's so important!! tolya and tamar's faith is basically nonexistent and i don't like it at all

the whole firebird reveal was soooo boring. like i'm sorry but that scene in the book? absolutely perfect. but in the show... it's just a story! baghra just tells mal and thats it! honestly this entire season was so much telling and not showing too, soooo much exposition and it just really didnt work

now then. ive put this off long enough but. the fucking ending. dude... i don't even know where to begin. how do you fuck up the rewrite of your book so badly that the entire moral of your book is just. completely lost?? literally the entire trilogy is built on the "what is infinite? the universe and the greed of men" quote. you CANNOT disregard that in this way. the point of the entire story is that alina's greed is punished! she loses her powers and she loses mal (sort of). the fold is destroyed by her power but not by her, because she never should have had that much power! now... she loses nothing. she has her power, she has three amplifiers, she brought mal back with merzost (which is still. insane to me like i legit laughed out loud when that happened) and now she's general of the second army and also soon probably queen of ravka??? she doesnt lose ANYTHING to her greed.

and with the ending too... where the hell are they going to take this next? because theyre sure as hell not following the kos duology storyline, what with alina now being nikolai's general instead of zoya (which im also. really pissed off about because zoya's story is SO important and theyve just. shoved her to the side)

i also have some thoughts about the crows and how theyve been handled of course i just don't feel as passionately about them (also because they shouldnt have been in this show in the first place but thats just my opinion <3) but i do wonder how theyre gonna start the soc spinoff when theyve basically done so much of the crooked kingdom plot already? and inej is literally already sailing and finding slavers like... i have no idea how theyre going to dothis spinoff and make everyone happy

very small last points but im so mad that they did the "an ordinary life full of ordinary things" line and then decided to. include nikolai? what the actual fuck? and then they didnt even GIVE malina their ordinary life... sorry im so so angry about this ending

i'm sure ive got more to say but this is already wayy too long and i don't wanna bother u anymore but ive just been mad for 3 days straight and really needed to get this off my chest <3 im really disappointed that theyve managed to screw up my favourite book series of all time so i'm just going to reread r&r and forget this season exists :D hope u have a nice day and thank u for reading this dump slfksdj

RIP but ty for venting!!! i totally get everything you’re saying. all of this comes down to the writers smashing basically all of the books into one season for NO reason. all of the things that make the trilogy & duology interesting & compelling & complex are gone bc there’s no time to show them. it’s constantly going GO GO GO with the plot, & for what?? nothing got added to these characters this season, i didn’t feel any impact during any of the big reveals, i didn’t get any emotional payoff from these characters’ journeys.

& why change the ending the way they do? eric’s already said that a season 3 would go back & touch on s&s things they didn’t address. so this ending is meant to draw out alina & mal’s stories, but why do it this way? why backtrack like that? you could certainly draw out the trilogy without speed-running the original ending like this, but that doesn’t fit whatever weird narrative he has for the crows ig.

#i’m tired!!!! let these characters breathe!! #he’s so determined to just tell his silly crows story that he flattened literally every character including them #answers #shadow and bone #genjasafin

[sharpestasp]

Shadow and Bone S2E3

Episode 3

Alina - Feeling cocky. Alina is not coping well with the air. And she's going to try to defeat the Fold. But she lost it, doubt placed in her, or just not strong enough? Alina, you are so naive. She's aware of her failure. Do What Is Right. GOOD ALINA!

Mal - Being protective. Trying to ground Alina enough for her to do it. Mal is great. A good general in the making? Maybe. If he can get the personal out of the way of using that fine brain. OH. Please, yes? ADVISE HER! GO MAL. YES! Also, threesome please.

Sturmhond - Nice airship. He's a very good inventor. Into the fold we go, so the ship cannot go above it. DAMN. Hard landing, but he asks if everyone is okay first? I am loving this white boy. SO thankful he reached a soldier loyal to him. And he is so SAVVY. I love this man, jumping straight to a wedding?

Tolya - Wants luxury. They are a damn fine battle pair, he and Tamar.

Tamar - Wants to hunt. And here comes the army; her face as Sturmhond is revealed.

Kaz - So Asshole Mode. More flashback, yay. Who is the girl? Him actually SEEING Inej's injuries gets the truth, and he comes to help. Oh this is going to be BEAUTIFUL against the Dregs. Come on, Kaz… Gorgeous. He just dusted Per so hard. Oh he knows about the son.

Inej - Inej… what are you doing? And she is back. With intel. And OH she is not happy with Kaz. But when she knows, she commits. She also pushes her luck, but Nina intruded. Oh. She's after Mogens on her own. I feel bad for her, knowing she has to kill him. OOH, Lost Boys moment. OH BABY. Praying over him.

Jesper - Calling out Kaz. He's very angry. He really is more than a pretty face, working out this part of it. OH. Him using his power. He is SO falling for Wylan as Wylan plays. So is Jesper, trying to get him to back out.

Wylan - Accidentally triggering Kaz with mention of the floated bodies. He really doesn't want to sneak in. And we get backstory snippets, again. Comes up with a cover story. And now the piano scene… nice. He is a Good Heart. Poor Wylan! He's trying to save the boy.

Nina - Nina is solid in her resolve. She is trying so hard to help, even though you know she JUST wants Matthias to be free. And she is going to have to see the fight. OH FUCK. Pekka has her. Okay, Nina, what do you do?

Matthias - He's mucking a cell. And finding out what fate awaits him. Oh, he sees the dogs! His reaction to them! And trying to be kind to them. OH NO. Do you have to take the blows to get to the right mindset/ability? Berserker? Is that what a Druskelle is? I think so. And he does not want anything to do with that man.

Genya - She's trying to protect David, and he protects her instead. Ready to act! OH FUCK! She is so scared. GODS that poor woman.

David - taken into Kirigan's need immediately, but I think he's working his own ideas too. Oh he is Genya's in his soul. He is so scared. RUN! GO DAVID! YOU ARE SO BRAVE.

Kirigan - Talking to mummy dearest. "Tidemaker" for the one that held Baghra. He's obsessed with Alina, I think. And he knows Alina is moving again. OH YOU FUCKING BASTARD. Such a bastard. And he lost it! If the bridge is tainting him, as David said… can Alina use that against him?

Baghra - Coming to see how she fucked up, being pointed in telling it. The Firebird is known to Baghra? Is she lying about not? I am curious about her story. Should I read that?

NADIA!!!! - Nice to see her. And she has a brother, Adrik.

ZOYA!!! - MY HEART. She told Alina to knock it off! I love her.

#shadow and bone (tv)

[eristic-kaleidoscope]

Way Too CondescENDing | E.N.D. | Trial 5-7 | RE: Kenshin, Akito, The Project (tm)

"God, you might really be bad at this.... How is it you've not been busted so far? Why does it matter if Calluna is fluent in Japanese or not, when the translation tech was told to us right away? You'd know about that in the first week, at the very least....."

END shakes her head, more bafffled than anything in the moment as she looks at Akito. As for the sisters refusing to give a clear cut answer about whether or not Erisu really is still dead even now....

"The point about the Erisu narrative falling apart if sh's not Azure-8, also.... Yeah, sure, but while we're pretty sure that's the case, we don't actually know that for one hundred percent. The reverse of that point is also true, y'know--if she isn't Azure-8, then it's just as likely that narrative is rock solid.

Anyway, yeah-- An, While I'm sure some people would rather talk to you in person..... Given the alarm that woke us all up this morning, I can't imagine you'd all be lax enough on security to just fuck off alone like that, y'know?"

She's then content to sit there and listen for a while, as Adrik makes their request--and it's a fair one, if one that she doesn't see them following through on. Then Kenshin starts speaking, and--oh.

As he continues along, she looks irritated, almost disappointed in part of his actions. Once the sisters say their piece--and man, isn't that claim about Akito something to consider? She speaks up.

"You need to take about ten steps back in how you're looking at this, homie. You can be angry as hell about all of this, you can talk about and acknowledge that this is all fucked and awful, but my guy--

Whether or not you call it insane, it's desperation. I know you know that. Me and Erik A even talked about it earlier, remember? It was do all this or die, for those two. They were made specifically for this project, to be grown in predestined lives, to have their minds scanned and put together, and be killed after the fact. The reports specifically reference the final brain scans for them being post-mortem, if the project had been allowed to continue normally.

Does that make them putting us through hell okay? No, of course not, it fucking sucks. But it doesn't mean you should be a smug ass and smirk and mock them about their misfortunes, either.

Like, let me put this down in front of you all, right??? Calluna said it herself, but if this doesn't work out for them? There's a pretty major chance they're going to die, because the people that made this project in the first place are still going to want results. If Akito is with the Board, they couldn't even keep one of their snitches safe, so d'you really think they'd be able to keep half a dozen siblings out of the foundation's grasp during an investigation?

Maybe the rest of you don't care if Calluna and An and the others die, or hell, maybe you think they'd deserve it, I dunno--but it's no different than someone else being executed for murdering through this experiment. It's all been desperation to survive, down to its roots.

Like I said, you don't have to forgive them, and you can be mad as hell, and I'm sure as hell not saying we have to let them get away with it--but don't mock someone for trying to fucking live, Kenshin. You're supposed to be better than that. Especially since they didn't have to let Kori survive, and as per the notes, she would've been Perfect for them to use for this. They put themselves at a disadvantage just so Kori could live, the least you could do is not mock them while you condemn them."

She rubs her hand across her face. This sucks. What can she even say, to address whether or not Akito's lying? Didn't Adrik's earlier statement line up with Akito's?

"I dunno what else to really talk about, unless Adrik and Erik A wanna privately whisper to a third party their understanding before this trial of what Akito was doing, so that we can see if they line up at all without any coordination happening.

I'll also say, on the note of An and Callie wanting to do everything they can to keep their family safe-- Even with them allegedly just giving us access to the red room, they still didn't risk Weiss' life, or the brains in the cells. I gave that glass wall as good of a kick as I could've done to try and let us get to the other side, and it only cracked the first layer. My legs have plowed straight through plenty of hard shit, like this podium, so they were wanting to make damn sure we couldn't pose a risk to either their sleeping sibling, nor what they needed for their plan."

#END #chapter5 #trial5 #submission

[bestzhabinsibling]

none of y’all are invited to me and @leoni-hilli ‘s wedding except for

@nadia-kir-bataar

@ni-weh-sesh-kir-bataar (if you want to come)

@queenofthewaffles

and

@immilothegoat

and that is it.

#adrik is angry as FUCK #grishatube #crowtube

[arty-shadow-morningstar]

A Failed Betrothal (Part 3)

There were a lack of stuff to read so I posted this instead.

[Masterlist]

(Part 1)(Part 2)

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

PART 3

The next day was weird to say the least for everyone but for Marinette, it was another can of worms that she wished she didn’t open. For one thing, Chat Noir’s feelings obsession for Ladybug switched from one black-haired girl to another which unfortunately was Ladybug’s civilian form. Which meant Marinette had to deal with Adrien’s Chat-Noir-level flirting and bad pick-up lines.

Perfect, just perfect.

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

Everyone thought that a declaration speech of ‘being soulmates and the only one for him’ in front of the whole class from the ‘love of your life’ would warrant a ‘blushing to death and stammering’ or ‘outright fainting’. Not a facepalm, a groan, “Why me?” and a “I am sorry but NO. I don’t feel the same way about you”. Marinette vaguely wondered if there was some kind of rule for interesting events and confrontations to happen during lunch break while the class waits for Mme Bustier to start the lessons.

Marinette went to sit in her seat next to Chloe in the back row where she and her friends had been exiled to. The class was in stunned silence and questioning about whether or not they had fallen into an alternate universe or dreaming. Nathaniel and Alix tried to hide their snickers. Chloe just started outright laughing, turning very red in the face.

Marinette felt a nudge from Plagg in her bag. Looking down, she saw them holding up her phone to show Lila’s gaping face of horror with a wicked smug grin on their face. She looked through the photos to see everyone’s faces of confusion and shock at her rejection. Eyes wide and jaws dropped on the ground. Different shots of her classmates in the same state. She smirked and showed them to Chloe who calmed down enough, letting out the occasional giggles and took the phone with glee.

“Thank you, Plagg. Here you go.” she whispered, giving them a camembert macaron.(Tom had started experimenting with camembert in his recipes. Plagg is his first taste tester for all of them, making Tom one of Plagg’s favourite people.)

Adrien didn’t take the rejection very well.

“But we are meant to be. You are a designer and I am a model. Our partnership is the one to be envied by many for the ages.”

“And by that logic,” The designer turned to her main model for her MDC website, “Chloe, my love, will you be my one and only? For our love shines so bright ,paralleled only by a thousand suns.” Using the same voice Plagg does when they go on one of their love odes about camembert before losing her straight face and giggling.(Plagg doesn’t know whether to be offended or amused.)

Setting Chloe’s laughter off again. “Mariiiii,...stop….I can’t..*gasps*....I can’t…”

Nathaniel and Alix, finally lost control and joined Chloe in death by laughter. Adrien was flustered, turning red in the face either from anger, embarrassment or both.

“But Chloe isn’t a model.”

Marinette decided to put a stop to this, just on the off chance that Gabriel finally decides to akumatized his own son. She recomposed herself.

“She is the main model for my website and we have a partnership. You, however, work for your father. So does Miss Rossi. Does that sound like the partnership to be envied by many for the ages? Hmmm, Agreste? Anyways, like I said before, I have no interest in dating you.”

“Why not? We are friends and sometimes, friends like each other enough to date each other.” Adrien angrily asked.

“Because-”

“Because, Adrikins,” Chloe cuts in, “friends having to date because one of them is interested in something more makes no sense and is fucked-up. Marinette doesn’t owe you anything. Besides, she already has a long distance boyfriend who lives in America.”

“WHAT!?” Adrien shouted.

“What?!” The class had snapped out of their stupor. Since when had Marinette gotten over Adrien and had a boyfriend?

“What?” Marinette looked at Chloe with wide-eyes. Last she checked she was still single so what the hell was Chloe playing at. For Kwami’s sake, she hadn’t been on a date since the one with Luka which went awkwardly before they agreed that they think of each other as siblings and it will be best to stay that way.

Chloe gave her a look that said ‘I will explain later.’

“Oh yes, they met online a few months ago and now they are all lovey-dovey together. It’s just so ridiculous, so utterly ridiculous how disgustingly in love they are. They have video call dates at least once a week and somehow make it work despite the time differences. He once came all the way to Paris just to see her. He brought her some special flowers that apparently meant-”

Marinette slapped her hand over Chloe’s mouth. “Well, Chloe, Queenie, as much as I love you as my friend, you can stop gushing about my love life now. Because class is about to start.”

She said through gritted teeth as Mme Bustier finished taking her sweet time and walked in. Sadly, Alya wasn’t done with the conversation ,“Wait a minute, since when did Chloe and you become close enough that she is modeling for you? And a boyfriend? Why didn’t you tell me, Girl? I thought we were friends. What about Adrien, he just confessed to you and you had been crushing on him for so long” Many girls gasped, angry that Alya broke the unspoken girl code.

“You have a crush on me?” Adrien looked hopeful. Like a lost kitten that had been stuck in the rain, was let into someone’s home.

“I had a crush on you,” Marinette corrected him, emphasising on the past tense, “and Alya had no business of sharing that information to the entire world despite us not being friends anymore.” She glared at the journalist who at least looked ashamed.

“You wanted to date Kagami so I moved on.”

One of the reasons anyway. I found out that you were my partner who had no concept of boundaries. You are a coward who only wants to maintain the class peace at the price of my mental health, she thought.

“Instead of continuing to pursue you.” She hoped the ever dense and oblivious model would get the hint she gave him. Tikki ,just this once, Grant me that ladybug luck.

“And Mme Bustier, it is time to start the lessons, don’t you think? Instead of focusing on the class drama to gossip about later on.” Marinette glared at the teacher, reminding her to do her job.

“Oh. Right.” Mme Bustier tried to regain her ‘perfect teacher’ image after getting embarrassed at being caught, “Right. Class, turn to page-”

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

As soon as the bell rang for the end of school, Marinette dragged Chloe all the way to her room. Alix and Nathaniel followed them because as far as they know, Marinette had no boyfriends and they were as curious to find out what scheme Chloe had cooked up this time. They were as complicated and crazy as Ladybug’s. No offense, Marinette.

“Okay, Queenie, you have to explain why I now have a devoted American boyfriend who I am so in love with.” Marinette crossed her arms with a frown aimed at Chloe. The kwamis got out of their respective hiding places and went to the tray of food set out for them.

The trapdoor to her room opened, revealing the rest of their friend group before Chloe said anything.

“Did we miss anything?” Kagami asked as Longg and Sass joined the other kwamis.

“Juleka said something about an American boyfriend and how he sounds so romantic. Does that have to do anything with the text Alix sent us to come here?” Luka added.

“To recap, Adrien made a love confession to Marinette,” Alix started, biting into some of the delicious pastries the Dupain-Chengs gave them, ”in front of the entire class after an entire day of flirting and bad pick-up lines.”

“Wow, even after having his memories erased of being Chat Noir, he is still after Ladybug.” Luka chuckled, with the others joining in.

Marinette whined, “It was easier when he was Chat Noir. But now as Adrien Agreste, teen heartthrob, it is going to be much more difficult to get into his thick head that I don’t see him that way and it is going to get harder, now that Alya outed my old crush to him.”

“Oof. Sucks to be you.”

“So, our Mari-bug rejected him. He threw a tantrum and sulked, so like Chat Noir, how did we not notice?,” Alix continued, “After demanding reasons why they can’t date, Chloe gave Marinette an American boyfriend who she was in a long-distance relationship with. Speaking of, why did you do that?”

“I have known Adrik- Adrien since we were in diapers and I know how that mangy cat works. He grew up on Disney and had all those fairytales stuffed into his head. If you had told him that you were just not interested in dating at the moment, it won’t work because he will try his hardest to ‘woo’ you, because he still has a chance. He won’t push his luck as much if you were off the market.” Chloe explained.

“I am sure that, judging by the fact that Chat Noir still tries to date Ladybug despite her saying she is in love with someone, Adrien might try to get more proof of this boyfriend to make sure Marinette is just not pretending to have one.” Kagami pointed out.

“Ahh, but luckily I have a back-up plan. I have a friend, Tim Drake. We met at a few galas when we were younger and kept in touch. He also owes me a favor.”

“I hope this Tim Drake is cute.”

“He is and he’s older than you by two years and,” Chloe typed something on her phone, “A fellow caffeine addict so you can bond over that. Here’s a picture of him and his brother.”

On her phone were two extremely attractive and fit young men dressed in expensive suits at what looked like a gala, the older one had a charming polite smile with bright blue eyes, looking somewhat interested at what someone off-screen was saying despite looking like he will fall over any moment. His brother, however, looked like he would rather be anywhere but where he was. He was tanned and had green eyes that promised murder for daring to even breathe in his direction. Marinette noticed that he looked a little familiar but she can’t place why.

“Tim is the one that looks like he hasn’t slept in days and that’s his brother Damian next to him.”

“Wait a minute. That’s Tim Drake and Damian Wayne. The sons of Bruce Wayne, the billionaire co-CEO of Wayne Industries, which Tim Drake is also co-CEO of.” Nathaniel said with wide eyes and looked at Chloe, “You are using your favor to give our Mari here a fake boyfriend.”

“Of course, only the best for our Mari-bug.”

“Chloe, no, he is probably busy as he is with running the company. No need to get him involved in petty teenage drama.” No matter how much she doesn’t want to date Adrien, bothering a busy guy to be her fake boyfriend is not worth it in Marinette’s opinion. Which, of course, gets overruled by the overprotectiveness of her friends.

“I, for one, think this is one of Chloe’s better plans.” Kagami commented, the others agreeing with her. Traitors.

“Hey!” Chloe exclaimed, an offended look on her face, “Anyways, I will call him later.”

“Children, you better go home now before your parents worry.” Sabine’s voice came from below, “Remember we are also going through some drills tonight so try not to be late.” Having a former assassin for a mother is handy when you want to train a team of teenage superheroes.

“Bye, guys. See you later.”

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

“Just because you have been trained since birth does not excuse you from the drills. You also need to get used to the black cat.” Lady Mǔ lǎohǔ reprimanded her with her arms crossed. When Ladybug started her new team, she was the first permanent member but as the team got bigger, she stepped back to be back-up and mentor for the team.

“Yes, Maman, I know but I am nearly finished with this commission. I will catch up with you later. Promise.” Marinette stretched, looking up from her latest project. Plagg was napping in the little basket she had made for all the kwamis to sleep in which fit all of them and had some extra space for Nooroo and Dusuu after they had been retrieved.

The reason she had Plagg instead of Tikki who was with Alix was because of the new tactic the Miraculous Team came up with. To keep the balance the Ladybug and Black Cat must be active at the same time but with Adrien gone, someone must wield the ring until a new permanent holder is found and it was not a good idea for both of them to be on the same person at the same time. The team decided to rotate using the earrings and ring between them with Marinette using other miraculouses when the others have them. It also had the added bonus of making it harder for Hawkmoth to find out who has them at any given time.

“See you later, 灵儿 (líng er, means intelligence). I will give you 15 minutes but that’s it. Don’t be late.” Sabine sighed and got out the skylight and went towards the safehouse where the Miraculous team met to get training. (It is one of Sabine’s emergency safehouse to use in times of emergency and it had the required space to train 6 teenagers. Chat Noir never came to training, lazy cat.)

Marinette never made it to the warehouse.

Because a few minutes after her mother left, the skylight opened to let in five figures dressed in dark colours to easily blend into the shadows like they were trained to be. Too bad they weren’t as quiet. Marinette immediately summoned a bo-staff to defend herself.

One of them lunged at her and she retaliated by hitting the end of her staff to their middle, coupled with a couple more blows and landed one that knocked them out. The others threw throwing stars which she dodged by jumping back. Which landed her to be trapped by the two assassins, whom she didn’t notice, had moved. She cursed in every language she knew as she struggled against them. It led to no avail as she was badly out-numbered. There was a prick on her head and her world went black.

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

Plagg awoke to a loud commotion. Irritated, they poked their head out to see their new temporary kit knocked out, tied up and hauled away. Recognizing the kidnappers as assassins of the League of Shadows, they scowled. Ra’s Al Ghul was going to pay.

Plagg may not act like it much but the black kwami was patient and smart. Smart enough to leave a note with an explanation somewhere visible with the messy aftermath of a fight before trailing the assassins. Oh, Roarr’s tiger was going to be pissed once she found out what happened. Wherever they were taking Marinette, it would be best to have a kwami of destruction to help her escape. The night made Plagg almost invisible and allowed to move unseen. They caught up easily and hid in their holder’s midnight hair. Now, their patience came into play. It was a matter of waiting for the right moment to pounce.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------Tag list: @alysrose-starchild, @buginetye, @lookatthestars1, @blackroserelina, @macncheesemonster, @mochinek0, @myazael, @tonicxworld, @thewitchwhowaited, @t1dwarrior-of-earth, @kissa-chan, @iwantasecretidentity, @theymakeupfairies, @user00000003, @woe-is-me0, @kashlyn, @mochegato,@moonlightstar64 , @greatcatblaze, @moongoddesskiana, @tazanna-blythe. @tonicxworld, @toodaloo-kangaroo, @frieddonutsweets, @local-witch-of-mn, @lady-bee-fechin, @iglowinggemma28, @indecisive-mess-named-me, @k-tea-and-coffee, @jayjayspixiepop

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(Part 4)

#damian x marinette #ml x dc #maribat #marinette x damian #daminette #betrothal au: take 2 #A failed betrothal #Adrien salt #some Alya salt #yes. i put fake dating in betrothal au #plagg is protective of his kittens #kidnapping

[sitaarein]

None Stand Equal In This Dark World

A/N: Officially my largest ever fic so please. Just read it and be nice sob because I’m kinda proud of some of it

Written for @grishaversebigbang 2021!!!

Corporalki: @homicide-depot​

Materialki: @generalnabri (x), @kolarpem (x), @aivicart (x), @maximumbluebirdpatrol , @niadrawing (x)

 (Summary: A murder mystery AU featuring Zoyalai, twists and turns, moral dilemma, and then some more

Read on AO3

Chapter One

The apartment door was wide open.

 In retrospect, that alone should have set off the alarm bells in Zoya’s head. No one left the door to their place wide open. She can’t imagine why she simply dismissed it. 

 Scratch that, she knew why. She’d been tracking this idiotic Grisha for a month now. She was tired and desperate. 

 But it appeared that- who would’ve thought- not being at the top of your game has consequences. 

 Consequences like staring down a man who’s been tied to a chair and gagged in the middle of, what Zoya guesses is, the lounge, eyes wide with terror.

 Zoya is mad at herself for not managing to guess it was a red herring- the damn door - and very, very mad at the Grisha who has, once again, slipped right through her hands. 

 She nods to one of her men, and he immediately drops to the man’s level to untie and presumably interrogate him. Zoya doesn’t stick around for the details- she trusts her people to give her good reports. Instead, after a cursory look around, she tips her head back to face the ceiling, taking in a deep breath, and leaves the apartment. 

 The weather outside took a dramatic turn in the fifteen minutes she was inside- it had been sunny before, or at least as sunny as Ravka ever could get. But now, the sun has all but ceased to exist, and the bitter cold is back once more. 

 Zoya prefers the cold. 

 (She doesn’t, not really, but no one needed to know that.)

 Zoya starts walking, pulling her coat tighter around herself. Her mind races, trying to connect all the dots, trying to figure out where her investigation had gone wrong. Start from the beginning. Don’t miss anything. The most minor of details are the most important.

  The beginning. A woman showed up to their headquarters about her missing family. Those cases were usually dismissed completely, handed over to the police forces- Zoya’s force was Grisha-centric, other cases, no matter how large or important they were, did not concern them. But this case was different.

 The woman was Grisha. 

 Her family weren’t, evidently- and neither did they know that she was. They’d been missing for six weeks, and the odds were pretty heavily stacked against them still being alive. The woman was detained (she was Grisha, this was Zoya’s job ) and a group of officers were dispatched for a search and rescue.

 The officers never returned.

 Alarm bells were now ringing, and the General assigned Zoya to the case. In the time since she officially took over, twenty more disappearances were documented, and all of them in Os Kerva alone. Saints knew what was happening in the rest of the country.

 But Zoya had never believed in Saints, so she found out what was happening in the rest of the country.

 The total number of disappearances in all of Ravka that had this case’s signature mark- an eclipsed sun left wherever the victims were seen last- was an estimated three thousand . Zoya couldn’t believe no one had connected the dots before her. Then again, the entire of the force were filled with incompetent idiots, so maybe it shouldn’t have surprised her. 

  The series of events . Zoya travelled up and down the country with the best of her underlings, talking to anyone who knew the victims, searching their last known places with tooth combs, building up working hypotheses, using all the resources they had available. Zoya was not an idiot. She knew exactly how capable she was. 

 And she also knew when she was fighting a losing battle.

 And so, when she got a call from one of her top detectives about a confirmed Grisha she’d been trailing for some time now who’d begun suspicious activity, she was clutching at straws and willing to take anything that came her way. She met up with her agent, and a few days later, they got the address of the apartment she was currently pacing in front of.

  The present . This part could be summed up fairly quickly. Zoya is, once again, at a fucking dead end . 

 Before she can kick something (or someone) out of frustration, A faint ringing reaches her ears, and frowning, Zoya stops in her tracks. Her phone is never not on silent. Calling Zoya Nazyalensky for anything was utterly pointless- she never picked up. 

  But the GIA has ways of getting into contact with its members regardless.

 Muttering a curse, Zoya digs around her pockets, looking for the infernal device with its grating, high-toned ringing. Finally locating her phone, she jabs the answer button without looking at the caller ID.

 “Yes?” she asks bluntly. 

 “Zoya,” Alina’s voice greets her.  

 Zoya immediately forgets everything that had been on her mind. When Alina calls, it’s rarely for a friendly chat. 

 “What’s wrong?”

“You need to get back here. As soon as possible.”

 “Understood. I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”

 Alina hangs up immediately, and Zoya pockets her phone, mind racing.

 She orders one of her lackeys to send her a report when they're done, grabs the keys for the van they’d used to get to the apartment from a rather distracted officer, taking off.

 Zoya reaches the Grisha Investigation Authorities in approximately half the time she’d given to Alina, and she may or may not have disobeyed quite a few traffic laws to get to her destination as quickly as she did, but that was frankly unimportant. 

 She strides through the doors, not bothering to acknowledge the many who’ve halted their paths to nod to her or, in the case of a few particularly stupid (or courageous, however you wanted to see it) people, attempt to strike up a conversation with her. She didn’t break her pace even once, until she’d reached the door to the meeting room they usually used to meet up for serious issues. After taking a moment to compose herself, Zoya pushes the door open.

 Inside, she finds all of her fellow Commanding Officers assembled- Adrik, Leoni, Alina, and Genya. Frowning, Zoya scans their faces, and mentally shifts whatever’s happening even higher on her scale of terrible shit to take care of immediately.

 Because not even Leoni, who can find positivity at a funeral, is smiling right now. There’s barely a hint of her optimistic and eternally cheerful personality in her countenance. 

 Zoya carefully takes the seat left for her around the circular table. Her gaze flits from one worried face to another, and she decides to be direct.

 “How bad is it?”

 The question seems to jolt Alina out of her reverie. She looks up, and Zoya feels her breath catch, because she looks so… helpless. Terrified.

 Genya takes it upon herself to answer Zoya’s question with another question, her mouth set in a grim line. “How’s your investigation going?”

 “We lost the suspect,” Zoya admits, her earlier frustration returning with the reminder of the infernal case. “We’re right back to where we started- but without the hope and the general idea of where to start.”

 “I’m not surprised,” Adrik mutters. “Considering who your delightful suspect is…”

 Zoya furrows her brow, and glances back at Genya. “Explain.”

 Genya looks as if she would rather do anything else, but after coming to the realisation that no one else is about to, she sighs and does so.

 “I’m presuming you remember Alina’s case that went cold about two years back?”

  A little too well. Even years later, that case haunts her- the truly horrific killings, from corpses with their body parts stuffed down their throats, to children who had clearly been still alive when burnt, the utter dead ends, Alina’s far too close brush with death, and… the person behind it all.

 “You don’t think it’s the same person??” Zoya demands, horror spreading through her veins.  She can not handle another Kirigan. 

 In lieu of replying, Genya nods to Leoni, who pushes forward a large envelope. Dread pooling in her gut, Zoya opens the package to find pictures from Alina’s investigation.

 “We revisited these when your disappearances started,” Genya says. “And… found more similarities than we’re frankly comfortable with.” 

 Zoya shifts the photos around, and then freezes at one, having caught sight of a mostly blurry but still distinctive calling card. “That’s…”

 “The eclipsed sun,” Adrik provides grimly. “You’re screwed.”

 “Hey, now,” Leoni protests. “We don’t know that.”

 Adrik snorts. “Don’t we? Need I remind you of the damage this person wrecked to the GIA and our country?”

 “How do we know this isn’t just a copycat?” Zoya breaks in. “None of the bodies of the victims this time around have been discovered,”

 “Copy cats still tend to have their own twists on kills, a signature, a mark that’s theirs. While none of the killings for either case have many similarities, they also don’t vary in terms of said signature.” Genya says.

 “Killers are proud creatures,” Adrik inputs.

 “And this one’s no exception,” Leoni says, eyes grim. 

 Zoya looks up. “What do you know?”

 Leoni hesitates, but then gives in. “We got a note this morning. A photocopy should be in the envelope too.”

 Zoya overturns the envelope, and sure enough, a piece of paper falls out. She picks it up, reads it, and crumples it up. 

 “You’re sure this isn’t a stupid joke?”

 “It was in the Director’s office.” Leoni says. 

  Shit.  Zoya glances back down at the crumpled mass she’s still clutching. You will burn on your mistakes. What mistakes? 

 She ignores the faint voice in the back of her head. You know what mistakes.

 Zoya takes a deep breath, focuses her thoughts, and then exhales. “How’s the Director doing?”

“He’s terrified.” All of the COs seemed to be equally startled to see Alina was the one to speak. Her mouth is set in an angry line, and Zoya can guess the track of her thoughts, because they were the same ones that had crossed her mind upon hearing the words- who is he to be terrified? What right did the Director even have to feel scared, when he himself never so much as interacted with the cases???

 Adrik sighs, leaning back in his seat. “Which is what has led us to our current predicament.”

 “And what do you mean by that?” 

 Genya exhales in a huff. “He wants the Mentals on this case along with all of us.”

 “He what.” 

 Alina, lips twisted in a sardonic smile, gestures to nothing in particular. “You heard correctly.”

 “Why ??? This is my case, and I will handle it.”

 “He doesn’t want a repeat of the bad press that came with my failing last time, I’m guessing.”

 “Bad press,” Zoya spits out. “I wonder how much bad press he’ll get when I-”

 “Do not,” Genya warns. “This could be helpful to us.”

  But also a personal disgrace , Zoya finishes the sentence in her head. The Mentals were practically a legend of the GIA- they were special, elite investigators, a whole mix of people ranging from scientists to- if the rumors were correct- ex-spies, who ended up with the cases no one else in the force could solve, and somehow, without fail, solved each of them within a week at the least. 

 It was irritating as hell.

 And having them assigned on your case meant that the Director did not trust you to be successful on your own. 

 Absolutely wonderful.

 “So when are these... spectacular detectives arriving?” Zoya asks. 

 Genya opens her mouth, and then closes it, before starting, “Well-”

 “I hope I’m not too late to this marvelous party?”

 Zoya swivels to see who this truly abnormally cheerful person is, and then blinks. She turns back to face the others once more- Adrik still looks glum, Leoni is smiling her most polite smile, Alina seems to have perked up and Genya is genuinely smiling. They all look… unsurprised.

 Of course they were hiding more secrets up their sleeves.

 “ What,” Zoya finally breaks and asks. “Is the damned PR guy doing here?”

 The aforementioned PR guy pouts. “Is that really what I’m known for around here? My PR duties? That’s quite depressing. Why would you focus on that when you could talk about my stunning good looks, or my undeniable charm, or even my ability to-”

 “Nikolai,” Alina interrupts. “Shut up.” she looks at Zoya, a hint of dry amusement in her eyes. 

 “Zoya, this is Nikolai Lantsov, and he is indeed our PR guy, but he’s also… head of the Mentals.”

 Zoya blinks. He’s what??? And then, wait… they knew who the special investigators were? How long have they known? Why was I not informed?

 She doesn’t voice any of her thoughts, choosing instead to stare, unimpressed, at the blond, who grins at her in response. 

 “If I had known you possessed such astounding grace and beauty, Miss Nazyalensky, I would have made your acquaintance sooner! I’m sure these upcoming days will prove to be an absolute pleasure, provided I get to spend them in your delightful company.”

 “Saints save me,” Zoya utters faintly. “The Director assigned an idiot to my case.”

 “Hey, now!” Nikolai protests. “You haven’t even met the rest of my team yet!”

 “An idiot who talks too much,” she deplores. 

 Genya and Alina both snort at that. In fact, all of her fellow COs seemed to be taking far too much pleasure in this situation. Zoya hates all of them. 

  “Well, now that we’ve gotten the pleasantries out of the way,” Nikolai says, to which Zoya distinctly hears Adrik mutter “pleasantries?” under his breath, “I think now would be a wonderful time for me to introduce you to my brilliant team,”

  Genya sits up immediately, looking eager. Zoya wonders what that’s about. 

 She finds out fairly quickly.

 Nikolai ushers in a group of people, and she recognises one in particular, one who she has, in fact, known since her college years -

 David. Genya’s husband, David Kostyk, is a part of the Mentals. Harmless old David. Zoya can’t believe her eyes. 

 She scans the rest of the group, but the others barely seem familiar. The two Shu right in front of David look similar enough to be twins, apart from the height difference. Right next to David is a woman that, with a jolt, Zoya recognises as Adrik’s sister from what she’s heard and seen of her. Bringing up the rear is a man who vaguely resemblesNikolai himself, ducking his head shyly as he enters the room. 

 “Now that your merry party is all assembled,” Adrik says glumly. “Any ideas where to start?”

 “Shouldn’t we at least get to know each other first?” Adrik’s sister asks.

 Adrik stares at her. “I’ve known you since I was born.”

 “We’re not the only ones in the room, Adrik.”

 “Oh, aren’t we ? I can’t say I noticed.”

 Nikolai interrupts their glaring match to finally provide Zoya with names to all the unfamiliar faces. 

 “Tamar, Tolya, Nadia, and Isaak, meet the officers we’ll be working with for the next few weeks or longer- Alina, Genya, Zoya, Leoni, and Adrik,” he gestures towards each person in turn. Zoya briefly wonders how he already knows their names, before realising that just because the GIA didn’t know who the special investigators were didn’t exactly mean they didn’t know the GIA either. 

 “And now,” Nikolai beams. “Let’s get comfortable. It’s time to discuss our present conundrum!”

#gvbb21 #the grishaverse #the grisha trilogy #the grisha series #the grisha triumvirate #king of scars #grishaverse fanfiction #zoya nazyalensky #zoya nabri #nikolai lantsov #alina starkov #genya safin #david kostyk #tamar kir bataar #tolya yul bataar #tolya and tamar #adrik zhabin #leoni hilli #gvbbfic21 #None Stand Equal In This Dark World

[malulls]

The Darkest Part of the Sea- Chapter 4

Manorian Pirate fanfic

Manon had been sleeping for hours. Which was understandable considering the amount of blood she had lost. Ress was still trying to get the red marks off the office floor, but it looked like some of them would still be there.

Dorian's brain almost burned trying to figure out what the fuck was going on after Nesryn Faliq simply knocked Manon Blackbeak down, untied him and told him to go after her. Things only got more confusing when the two of them passed all the Ironteeth who had invaded the ship with Manon, the Thirteen, he supposed, passed out on deck.

Now they were all in the cellar, occupying the ten cells that were there.

Manon was in a cell far away from the others. First, because it was a little larger and she needed that space because of her injuries. Second, because it was the only one with chains. And Dorian couldn't sleep if she was in anything less secure than that.

He and Ruby spent a long time trying to get the arrows out and make the cuts stop bleeding. The prince didn't think they would be able to. But the white, almost clean strips that wrapped the wounds and the witch's steady breathing ensured otherwise.

- So she is alive and has stopped bleeding. Very well. Now Nesryn, by the gods, can you explain what the hell just happened?- Chaol asked without taking his eyes off Manon, as if he was expecting her to jump up and break the bars with her hands at any moment.

Nesryn Faliq, also known as Adarlan's best archer, was one of Dorian's best friends and had been ill for over a week after being stabbed by a poison-covered sword in a Valg pirate attack.

Everyone on the ship had some basic knowledge of how to treat injuries, but on more serious occasions they needed healers. Those traveling with them were all dead. Nesryn spent days shifting between unconsciousness and a few minutes awake. Dorian almost surrendered to the despair of thinking his friend would die when she spent two straight days blacked out.

- I woke up with Adrik screaming- She finally turned her brown eyes away from watching Manon and stared at them both- When I opened the door I saw a red-haired woman dragging him into the cellar, which obviously meant that you guys had done something fucked up and things had gone wrong. So I took the poppy explosives we bought in Eyllwe - yes, Dorian, I assaulted the weapons room and hid two of them in my bag, I even do that often, now stop interrupting me if you want to hear the damn story - and went up on deck with a crossbow since I didn't have time to prepare the bow. I didn't expect to stumble upon ten angry women, so I exploded one of the bombs without a second thought. Two of them were going up and ended up inhaling the poppy opium and went out as well. The other explosive I threw into the basement where the last two were. Most of the crew was smart enough to try to cover their faces. And those who couldn't, well, they are sleeping now. That was it.

That was it. As if taking down bloodthirsty pirates was as easy as buying a gooseberry pie. Chaol shook his head.

- So you just took down a bunch of scary women?

- Yeah, kind of. I think poppy explosives are the only explanation because it was almost... Easy? Honestly, what the fuck.

- Of course, those bombs cost half the gold we took to the harbor.

Dorian thought that all that gold had been thrown away, as the bombs were absolutely useless in the Narrow Sea, as the opium spread quickly in the mist.

- If you weren't my friend I would ask you to marry me right now.

She grimaced at Dorian and then pulled him and Chaol into an embrace. This surprised them both, it wasn't something she did very often.

- I'm glad you idiots aren't dead.

- We're glad you're not dead. You stayed in bed for a whole week. More than that. Are you sure you're all right?

The archer pushed them both away.

- Okay, enough hugging. Yes, I'm better, but I don't think I should be on my feet for too long for the next few days. And shall we go somewhere else, please? I don't want to be half a meter away from that woman when she wakes up.

-

Manon opened her eyelids and regretted it at the same moment. The shimmering golden light of a lantern made her eyes hurt. The witch blinked a few times before she got used to it and could see. The gentle rocking of the waves signaled that she was still on a ship.

She was in some kind of room-no, not a room-a cell if the bars were any indication. The places where she had been hit by the arrows were bandaged, but something was disturbing her. She tried to sit up, and froze in mid-motion.

Chains. There were chains on her wrists.

- Hello, witchling.

Manon sat up slowly. The prince was sitting in a small chair in front of the iron bars that locked her in.

- How long have I been sleeping?

- Three days.

- Where are we?

- Is this an interrogation?

She leaned against the wooden wall and lifted her chained arms.

- There is nothing I can do with this information.

- Then you don't need it.

Calm down. She needed to stay calm and keep the anger from consuming her. Then something hit her mind like a stone.

- My Thirteen. What have you done with them?

- They are locked up. And they don't stop asking about you, no matter how much I tell them you're fine. Maybe they'll be calmer now that you're awake.

- You mean they are all right?

- Of course.

She could have simply collapsed with relief, but she wouldn't dare show how much she really cared about them.

- Pirates don't leave their prisoners undamaged.

- I am not a pirate. And I have no reason to hurt any of them.

Good. They were intact. But they were still stuck.

- And what do you intend to do with me?

He shrugged and rose from his chair, taking a few steps into their tiny space.

- Your head is worth a few million. You have made an exorbitant number of people very angry.

- So you are going to kill me and sell me as a prize?

- No. But I might take you to Adarlan. You are the granddaughter of the high-queen of the deserts. What would she give to get her heiress back?

Panic was something Manon rarely felt. But the mere thought of what her grandmother would do to her if she knew she had been captured, what she would do to her Thirteen...

- The only thing you would manage with that is a war for imprisoning and kidnapping an heir.

- I didn't kidnap you. You gave me the right to arrest you and your crew the moment you attacked us. We are within the law.

She forced herself to stand. If she stood for another second she would become dizzy.

- What do you want?

- What ?

- What do you want me to do or give you to get me out of here?

- There's nothing I want.

- Everybody wants something.

- It's not something you can give me.

She stepped closer to the bars, as close as the chains would allow.

- What reason do you have to take us to Adarlan?

He moved until his face was right in front of her.

- So I should just let you go after you tried to rob me and threatened to kill my friends- Friends. He was a prince and called his subordinates friends- Should I let you go knowing that's exactly the first thing you will do once you're free?

Manon smiled at him, momentarily forgetting her panic and letting cruelty consume her face.

- I would have killed every single one. One. Of them. In front of you. Slowly. And I would enjoy myself immensely doing it. And after I got the ring, princeling, I would make you suffer until you were begging for death.

The two were so close that their breaths were mingling, the tension between the prince's and the witch's hateful glances could be cut with a knife.

- Then know that I don't feel a shadow of remorse for placing those chains around your wrists.

That was the last thing he said before turning his back and leaving. As the prince left, fear returned to her mind. She needed to think of something. Quickly.

The surge of strength that hatred had released in her vanished like smoke in the silence that enveloped her, and was replaced by a sudden exhaustion. The iron that covered the witch's wrists became unbearable.

Manon sat down again on the linen-wrapped seat that covered the wooden bank of the cell, trying to keep the desperation away.

-

Dorian felt as if he was breathing for the first time since Manon woke up. From where he stood on the ship's railing, the sea looked like a dark blue cloth swaying in the wind. The warm summer breeze was shaking the prince's hair and the white sails on the mast, moving the ship closer and closer to the Gulf of Oro.

He was trying to get the witch's words out of his head.

I would have killed every single one. One. Of them. In front of you.

The sunlight didn't keep the chills off his body. Even trapped, she could be terrifying.

- Is she awake?

Ruby joined him, leaning against the railing of the ship.

- Yes, she's probably planning our deaths right now.

- Oh, don't say that. I'm not sure if I'll be able to sleep at night.

Her gaze was distant, lost on the horizon as if she was waiting for someone.

- What's wrong?

- Nothing. I'm just anxious to get off this boat as fast as possible.

No doubt the entire crew shared this thought.

- We won't see each other for a few months after arriving in Adarlan.

- Are you going to Wendlyn?

- Yes, I need a break after that. I am going to see my sisters. And my mother wants to make sure that I'm still alive.

Ruby never talked about her father. Sometimes Dorian wondered if she even knew him.

- I'm surprised that you are anxious to get back. You hate the court.

- Do you understand the level of my despair? I can't look at your ugly faces anymore.

She kicked him in the shin.

- You've been hitting me a lot recently, you know. Ress is going to be jealous.

- Ress- She said, her voice full of mockery- Is too busy flirting with the red-haired witch to be jealous of anyone.

- She is pretty. - They all were. None were as beautiful as Manon, but still.

- Why is Ress flirting with her?

- She is the one who is flirting with him. Or anyone who is on guard. All the day long. She is as terrible as you are.

- Is she? I'll make a visit to see who flirts the longest.

- By all that is holy, no. You two are forbidden to stay more than thirty seconds in the same room. You would never leave.

- I am your captain, you can't forbid me anything.

- You only remember that you're in charge here when it's convenient, don't you?

- Who are we speaking badly of?

Ress leaned against the mast near the two of them, spinning a dagger between her fingers.

- You and your new girlfriend.

- Oh, I suspect she's cheating on me. Yesterday she was flirting with Chaol. He was horrified.

- What are you talking about me?

The prince's first mate came up on deck with Nesryn by his side. She had her bow and quiver on her back as usual, her brown eyes always watchful, always watching, like two eagles' eyes.

- Shouldn't you not be on your feet?

- I'm not an invalid.

- You didn't answer, what were you talking about me?

- About you? Nothing. Actually, we're complaining about the insufferable flirt Dorian is.

The prince rolled his eyes.

- Get over it.

- The fact that we spent an entire afternoon trapped in a tavern because you wouldn't stop flirting with the barmaid? And that when we finally managed to get you out, we were lucky enough to get out just as a circus was passing by and we were run over?

Dorian couldn't take it. He started to laugh. None of the four could keep their serious expressions any longer, and soon they joined the prince, laughing and reminiscing about stories and cursing each other until the sun disappeared and the sky turned cobalt blue, Manon's dark threats and the image of their friends' ripped bodies were finally far away from Dorian's mind.

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

I should've posted this last week but I was traveling and I couldn't translate, so as always, I'm sorry it took that long

And I didn't like this chapter so I'm sorry if is too bad

@positivewitch @awesomelena555 @darklingswhxore @hellasblessed @wandererbyheart @notyournymphetish @acourtofsjmtrash

#dorian havilliard #manon blackbeak #manorian #throne of glass #sarah j maas #dorian x manon #fanfic #pirates #chaol westfall #nesryn faliq #manon x dorian

[ariesmode]

as requested by @kestrel-of-herran ❤️

nikolai, the triumvirate, the twins and also nadia (henceforth known as the palace squad) are all twenty-somethings having the worst (best) time of their lives rebuilding something that was on its way to become a failed state, which is pretty scary, so their meetings are never 100% serious. some headcanons on what probably went down: 

nikolai’s first meeting with zoya, genya and david was basically everyone acting like they knew exactly what should be done (rebuild the second army!!), but they really had no fucking idea how to go about doing things and were like “let’s just make shit up as we go along for now, I guess”

ofc nikolai had a vague idea/plan, and zoya was probably up with some suggestions on matters like how to deal with the people who defected from the crown etc but they just had the realization that this was going to be really, really hard

obviously zoya was the one who suggested that they use the darkling’s war room for their secret meeting because she’s that petty (“that sounds like a wonderful idea” – nikolai, equally petty)

zoya, genya and david like these meetings so much more than the ones at the grand palace because they get to be candid and not deal with cabinet ministers who are only condescending to them because they’re grisha and “too young” to actually know anything. they can hold against snide comments well enough on their own, but it is pretty annoying to listen to an old hag talk about how he has more experience than them every single time

(zoya calmly reminded him that his experience has only been sitting in war rooms in a seat that was granted to him only by his privilege as nobility and not merit while she has personally been on the battlefield, thank you very much. genya cackled so much when the meeting was over) 

nikolai also likes these better because there aren’t any mind games. they all know exactly what they want and aren’t afraid of challenging him, especially commander nazyalensky 

it’s also never been really specified in the books, but i like to think that: david obviously specializes in military engineering, while genya organizes state events (nikolai was very impressed with how she handled his coronation) and oversees training in the little palace along with zoya, who also took on handling grisha matters abroad that are of interest to the state (imo it’s also pretty obvious that she’s the de facto leader of the triumvirate and it’s just not my bias talking) 

the meetings sometimes stretch for hours on end – especially in the beginning when they had so much work to do – and it really is exhausting so at some point they start getting distracted and talking/doing some ridiculous stuff

david hardly pays attention half the time (his mind starts wandering when they’re talking about something that isn’t science or grisha-related) though sometimes he’ll just randomly give his opinion about something he doesn’t even know about and it actually makes sense 

they’ve all definitely dozed off at some point, except for tamar and zoya. nobody knows how they do it 

before the poetry ban tolya could be persuaded to recite epic poems for a long time (“we have WORK to do” “we could do more of that later but that last verse was intriguing tolya please do go on”)

and then they’d end up having a literary analysis discussion that tolya is all too happy to lead, which zoya pretends she can’t be bothered to participate in and they think david isn’t paying attention but then he’ll end up giving his own take and everyone’s like, well that was a good point, how did we miss that?

there was a chess tournament once. everyone immediately agreed that it should never happen again 

david, nikolai and nadia, as the respective science nerds™ get really excited explaining new inventions. occasionally they’ll even come up with a brand new design on the spot, which would be pretty impressive if they hadn’t gotten completely sidetracked

nikolai once accidentally doodled on a Very Important document and they’ve never let him forget it 

tread carefully when zoya and/or genya are hungover the morning after they’ve had a drinking session or there will be consequences. nikolai learned the hard way 

tamar flexing that she and nadia are the first to get married because why not (they have definitely been told to get a room at least once because they’re so disgustingly cute)

genya planned the wedding, of course. they + adrik were the only ones present but that doesn’t matter, it’s still a wedding so it counts as something to be planned. yes, tolya cried 

speaking of: adrik definitely tried to eavesdrop on their meetings at some point. we all know that didn’t end well for him 

everyone has since learned that it’s not recommended to question genya when it comes to her plans for events. except when it comes seating arrangements, and even then you’d be on thin ice (this is especially so when it came to her wedding ceremony)

one word: hangman (plus crossword puzzles from the ravkan daily)

nikolai called zoya by her last name for the first time during a very long meeting about funding for grisha things while everyone else was half-asleep/already snoozing. needless to say that jolted everyone awake and raised eyebrows

genya whispering to tamar like did i hear that right. are my ears deceiving me and tamar is like no he actually did that and zoya didn’t even care (while they continued to argue) 

the banter (flirting) was funny at first but now the ust has become absolutely unbearable and they’re all just suffering. nadia hates them both so much. tolya reminds her that she’s not even present for all of their meetings and “imagine having to witness all of THAT [angry hand gesture] every day when you’re by the king’s side!” + nobody is profiting from genya’s betting pool which makes it worse

the silence™ when nikolai casually told zoya that he wanted her to be the one to lock him up every night when he started escaping from the palace as night mode nikolai would be remembered for years to come

when zoya had to go off to recruit more grisha overseas the rest of the group took turns to read her missives out loud in their best zoya impersonation. they all unanimously agreed that genya and (shockingly) tolya could not be surpassed. they just missed her a lot!

talking shit about some of the old hags that they have to deal with and gossiping about palace drama because tamar’s spies always end up learning... interesting stuff 

also talking shit about the lantsovs because wow a) worst rulers in the history of ever b) all that inbreeding LMFAOOOO c) some rooms in the grand palace were really badly decorated. and have you seen some of the heirlooms?! so ugly! 

squaller² bringing up stories from their training days: nadia talks about them having a rivalry and zoya is like pfft, i never even considered you as one 

tolya and tamar sharing embarrassing childhood anecdotes when they’re getting annoyed with each other 

LOOK, I REFUSE TO BELIEVE TOLYA DOESN’T HAVE HIS OWN FANCLUB IN BOTH THE LITTLE AND GRAND PALACE. POSSIBLY EVEN IN OS ALTA. he is a tall, Strong and Silent™ man who is loyal to the king and really likes poetry!! he definitely makes people swoon!! nikolai, genya and tamar love teasing him about this especially. it embarrasses him

on a more serious note, nikolai, genya and david are always the more optimistic when it comes to dealing with politics. tamar and zoya are the more pragmatic ones, and tolya and nadia are somewhere in between 

the ravkan economy is in a very sorry state and it’s absolutely depressing so the least they can do is make jokes about how everyone’s too broke to do anything ever 

“Your Majesty, how’s the budget?” – nadia  “HA, what budget?” – zoya 

a few years down the road they’ll start wondering when, exactly, did they start looking forward to these meetings because state affairs were something of an escape from the very exhausting job of parenting

#kos #zoyalai #this is not so serious im sorry jdoisjf #and got too long #and isn't exactly about what goes on in them #anyway can you believe they're running a country #and not just any country! FANTASY RUSSIA #please help them #i'm including nadia here bc i love her and bc i can #i just really like their dynamics a lot where is the workplace comedy au #(also slowly going through my drafts atm)

[itsjesperfahey]

i finished ruin and rising yesterday

I’ll keep this brief since I’m on mobile and can’t put a Keep Reading, but boy do i have some things to say:

HELLA SPOILERS FOR TGT/RUIN AND RISING BELOW

fuck sergei

I’m so happy the darkling died i hope he burns in the darkest crevices of hell

harshaw )))):

adrik’s arm went YEET but I’m glad him and misha are okay

zoya, genya and david being made into the leaders of their Orders makes me heart SO full i love each of them SO MUCH

nikolai. my poor sweet nikolai. when he got turned, i literally almost started crying. when he put the ring on alina while he was a monster i almost cried AGAIN. thank god he turned back to normal but now i can’t wait for his duology to see how he handles his uh,,, illness. either way my favorite character in the series, i love him SO much oh my gOOOOD like my heart got full every time he appeared. I LOVE NIKOAI (and alina should’ve too) LIKE THE METEOR SHOWER SCENE????? GOD THAT WAS SO SWEET IM IN LOVE WITH HIM

mal. where do i begin with this. okay again i will say i don’t hate mal, and i don’t think he’s abusive (that’s SUCH a stretch considering the darkling is like RIGHT THERE), but he wasn’t my favorite. he was funny sometimes and cute sometimes but otherwise he was just there. he wasn’t useful besides his tracking and then we find out why he’s good at tracking and then it gets taken from him so he’s even MORE useless LMAOO. but, honestly, in my opinion, mal should’ve stayed dead. it would’ve been a more impactful and meaningful ending. not even because i hate malina (i don’t but,,,, nikolina like CMON SHE SHOULDVE GONE WITH HIM) but just like,,, would’ve made me sense to me idk.

the darkling shouldn’t have been buried with ‘alina’ and I’m really angry that that happened like he’s a MONSTER i feel absolutely NO sympathy for him whatsoever and he should’ve been treated properly as a homocidal abusive lunatic. alina get a fucking grip man he was awful and the fact that she tried to force the people of ravka to feel bad for him or humanize didn’t sit right with me. if you don’t get what I’m saying I’m saying it right now i HATE THE DARKLING AND DO NOT SHIP HIM WITH ALINA that’s SO AWFUL

i still love alina tho

but she should’ve gone with the rich hot as fuck KING

i would’ve

overall the series was very enjoyable, i liked it a lot. it got kinda repetitive or generic at some parts but like i still really liked it. I give it 8.5/10

#ali reads tgt #tgt #r&r #mine.txt

[eristic-kaleidoscope]

At the Edge || Kenshin || 4.5 || RE: Erisu, Jae-min, Adrik

Now down to Kenshin and Kokone, it was clear that Kenshin was stressed. Dead quiet, eyes quietly flickering from one person to another, before staring at the floor. It was the final showdown, wasn’t it? Either they get this right, or they get this wrong, and between the two of them remaining, he was starting to get fearful. They had to get this right, they had to.

After a few moments, Kenshin sighs, adjusting his glasses as his gaze is pulled from the floor.

“....I can defend myself. I can stand up for myself right now. Alright, I agree. My alibi is flimsy. Considering that I was sleeping that whole time, it makes sense that people wouldn’t believe me. I can certainly see that.”

“As for the motive period, I will also agree that I had intensified emotions from it. Because of something that happened in my past, specifically with my family, forgetting all the context of it made me more on edge. I was worried about the people I loved even more than usual. As such, with Kokone’s identity, I was willing to drop everything to help her. This includes defending her, and when people casually talked about something this crucial to her, I got angry.”

However, at Adrik’s comment, Kenshin’s face warps into a small smile, waving his hand around. “Hey, I get it’s not personal. It’s life or death, I don’t blame you for coming up with an idea like that. However-”

Breathe in.

Breathe out.

…sorry about all this.

Kenshin stood up straight, straightening his tie slightly, before quickly slamming his hand against his podium. His brows furrowed, glaring into the group as he looked around. Despite the pure rage emanating from his body, he managed to keep his cool.

END had wished she had seen him gone wild.

Well, now’s your chance.

Everything will be SHARDS.

“Erisu, I should correct you first and foremost about my own alibi. You see, I was the one who ran into Kokone, she did not run into me. Plus, implying that she would use me to give herself an alibi is fucking insane. I wanted to talk to her because I was worried about her, especially from the day before, so I wanted to seek her out.”

“Secondly, if I did something like this, I wouldn’t have looped in Kokone. Hell, I wouldn’t have looped in anyone. If I hurt someone like this, then it would have been my own burden to bear and fix. If I killed someone, I wouldn’t have used anybody as an accomplice or anything, I would have done this by myself. Don’t fucking imply that I would use Eiri to help me get away, I would have protected her instead.”

There, his eyes flicker back to Jae-min. “I just want to keep Kokone safe, stop addressing her by that name. Not to mention, don’t fucking call her evil, you asshole. Secretly evil? Fuck RIGHT off. Want to keep pissing me off? I’m here to debate and make sure she is unharmed, so I’m not going to stand here and listen to you accuse Kokone of being just like Erika Chen. I can take all the punches thrown at me, don’t you fucking say that shit about her.”

Though, at Jae-min’s comment, Kenshin snarls slightly, his hand clenching into a fist. He has to get her out of here, he has to get her out of here.

“Just, fucking stop.”

“I own an apartment. And to answer what you’re implying, that’s my fucking key.” Pause, as his gaze continues to burn holes in him. “That’s a key to my apartment, and don’t jump to the conclusion that it’s Kokone’s instead of mine, as she has decorations with hers. When investigating, I got fucking anxious seeing it, let alone that you all were taking a key to my fucking place and walking around with it.” Considering a certain history, having access to his place out and about like that wasn’t EXACTLY preferred.

There, he takes another deep breath, before dropping his hand from his podium.

“...If I could get the key back, that would be greatly appreciated.”

Now cooling down slightly, the tension remaining throughout his system, his eyes quietly flicker over to Byrne. There’s a slight look in his eyes, before he looks away. Muttering something under his breath, he glances away.

How the guilt lingers, how it continues to build. He felt horrible for having a few of these people experience this. How he hated acting this way.

It was all shards, and shards, and SHARDS, AND SHARDS-

“.....please. Please don’t drag him into this. My arguments are flimsy, and it’s fine if there are no counterarguments for me.”

There, he quietly looks at Kokone, faintly smiling.

#chapter4 #trial4 #submission #Kenshin