#but i think that finale needed more development and refinement

[sapphosewrites]

Mmkay I liked part one of the LD finale much more than part two. Largely because I'm not into any narrative that comes down to "the status quo is always good and anyone who tries to disrupt hierarchical systems of power is bad" and "taking rogue action instead of following systems of authority is good when our protagonists do it and bad when the antagonists do it"

#why are you introducing moral complexity just to flatten it? #there is something to be said for disenfranchised white men who just want to replicate systems of power with themselves on top #but like if the story is about we believe in systems then the cerritos shouldn't be rewarded for going rogue #if the story is about sometimes you have to go rogue then we'd have more empathy for the mutineers #if the story is about not really knowing what they want to say then we'd get what we got #i'm intrigued by how everyone's character arcs are going #but i think that finale needed more development and refinement #i like ld because it's fun and light-hearted and really loves the source material while still poking warranted holes in it #and this was just a very sudden swerve from where they've been living up to this point which is that lower deckers do get a raw deal #and there are flaws in the system worth addressing #and was hinting at some nuance by referencing sito and the militarization #before promptly returning to shallower waters

[astronyu]

Sketches and commentary on the Folly ref sheet for RAT's newest plush! (info below the cut vvv)

(note: RAT commissioned me to make the character ref sheet, which is NOT the plushie schematic that Makeship actually uses as reference to produce the plushie)

This is the first sketch we sent to Makeship!

I'm starting to add details to push Folly's identity a bit more and differentiate her more from RM (Rat Maid), i.e. neckline, nose, gloves, blush. Lots of curves! (And I also added two rats instead of one <3O~ <3O~)

At one point we considered giving her the eye design shown on the right (red thread embroidered around her eye) as a reference to her MC skin's glowing eyes, but we decided eye shadow was a better look. also it looks like sans undertale

This is the back! The Folly skin has a long pretty bow, but it's scrapped by the end because A. her hair obscures everything on her back and B. as we went along we increasingly afraid of the sheer mass of fabric building on this plushie.

Most of her palette is colorpicked from the original minecraft skin by Arathain (who also made RM!) but iirc we made the ears pinker and lighter. You can see their OG tweet featuring the Folly skin here!

Onto the dress design!

RAT wanted the Folly plush to feel like more than just a recolor, so he had me redesign her dress. I started off with an inspo board focused on elements we wanted to keep-- Folly's lighter palette, the middle slit of her dress, the off-shoulder straps, and the overall maid theme.

You'll notice that Folly's expressions here are kind of all over the place (I don't think she's ever looked that sympathetic in her life). I think I made these sketches before I finalized her face, where RAT requested some mixture of murderous intent with mischief, but in a subtle way. Later down the line the specific smirk Folly has actually gave the physical plushie a lot of trouble (faces do not scale easily on cone shaped snouts).

The first alternate dress designs!

RED: RAT (paraphrased), PURPLE: me ofc More refined sketches! As you can see here RAT's working me to the bone with all of his requests. It's okay though, b/c after I sent him the completed ref sheet I got to watch him turn on Makeship. (KIDDING, KIDDING)

Overall, I was looking for a dress that felt regal, beautiful, and unconventional, while still feeling like a maid dress. Wow, after physically typing that out I feel like face palming. "I need a dress for a GODDESS also a uniform good for housekeeping please" (???)

After feedback, I focused more on variations of the 2nd option.

You'll see at the last Folly, I combined the 2nd variation with the tie ribbon, the layered dress design, and long puffy sleeves. I decided to bring over the long puffy sleeves specifically because I hoped that they would give Folly a more interesting silhouette that of course contrasts with RM.

(To be fair, this contrast isn't very visible on the plushie itself but it is fun to draw.)

And finally, the second and last ref we sent to Makeship!

imo Makeship did an INCREDIBLE job translating the design to plushie!! I'm sure there's plenty of challenges Makeship's plushie makers have to deal with that we don't see, so I always specify that I'm only responsible for the initial drawing when people ask me if I "made" the plush.

One really delightful surprise were the 3d rats; we didn't think they were possible but they were (ilu makeship)!! You'll probably also notice that Folly's eyes look pretty different--- they were changed slightly in each step and ultimately ended up softer, which is interesting because I feel that it kind of mirrored how RAT's approach to Folly as a character changed in the months of the plushie's development (and up to her release!).

And that's all I have for my part of the plushie! I always love working with RAT on projects and plushies are a highlight. They're especially surreal to think about when we all used to joke about them before RAT really blew up.

ofc, the shill if you want to get her: Makeship Folly plush and RM's ref sheet if you're curious: Rat Maid plushie ref

i think the campaign ends about October 7th, 2023, but you and i are very likely to be in different time zones so if you're interested doublecheck with the site. if the date has long past then ig this is just a fun little time capsule for you, which can also be pretty cool :)

#doctor4t #csmp folly #doctor4t folly #content smp #content smp folly #makeship #ratgang #myart #my art

[ohmeadows]

I'm absolutely hooked on 'The Dew Of Dying Stars.' I find myself drawn back to it again and again. If anyone gets interest in the ship, I always tell/suggest them your fic. I'm curious, what drew you to pair Jingliu and Ruan Mei together? Like what clicked to you? Also I hope you don't mind another question (sorry!) what's your take on Ruan Mei's character in canon? I'm still having a hard time understanding her still.

jingliu and ruan mei i think started when a friend dm'd me at the end of september going "have you considered: jingliu/ruan mei" and for the first few days it just kinda rotated in the back of my head. this was around the time we knew a bit more about ruan mei from in-game texts in simulated universe, and a few tiny leaks, but it kept growing as jingliu released. looking back i'm surprised how much of that early brainstorming survived all the way to the published fic, considering how much was guesswork at ruan mei as a character, but the edits were quite minimal in that regard.

overtime i started bringing it up in my discord server to chat about the potentials and that in turn helped me develop and refine the idea even more. it really was a group effort of people coming in to offer suggestions, ideas and visuals, and i can't thank the souls who chipped in enough.

for me, what attracted me was the potential to delve into a relationship where neither is looking for a conventional relationship, if that makes sense. jingliu after baiheng is in such a furious and spiraling mindstate, and ruan mei is cool and distant, collected and observing. the final true click came when ruan mei's story revealed she wants to become an aeon, considering jingliu's outspoken desire to put aeons in their graves. on top of that, jingliu is on the verge of death, barely alive, while ruan mei is all about life, bringing it forth in others, bringing others back from death. their underlying themes open up tons of potential, and it set me off on a writing frenzy.

ruan mei in canon... to understand her it's important to understand what she represents: in this game where aeons influence so much, she is the first person we meet who outright says she wants to become one. but there's a dehumanizing process we go through to achieve godhood, severing your bonds to the earthly realms, the things that make you mortal and human. i know a lot of people are very upset that she's a cold and distant creator, leaving her creations behind, but: is that how gods behave? is that not what gods do? she's standing on the precise intersection of human and god, and the question is if anything we do will sway her to remain human, or instead convince her to ascend. her coldness and distance protects her ambition. to me, she thinks ascension is the only thing that can truly fulfill her at this point, now that she has nurtured even a world into existence. but what if godhood is just as empty and hollow as before? who kills a god, who puts the god out of their misery, like how we had to witness the propagation being killed?

there's an interesting duality to her because while she keeps her heart cold and distant from other people, she very much indulges in finer things, filling her life with silk, embroidery, baking. not to get too deep about myself, but during times where i've been a hermit, that's how i managed to keep myself balanced. always working on creating.

and on a deeper level... there's some need for control in ruan mei. it's quieter, in a way, than for example cocolia or sunday, but it is there. she wants to be able to control how others bond to her, preferably not at all. she exerts a lot of control over simuni, being able to alter it, bless us, withhold information. extended - she thinks if she controls all the variables at play, she can control it all. don't be mistaken about it, her desire to be an aeon isn't to make things good or right, it's to be able to control the flow of life at her whim.

that's my reading anyway, i'm sure it will develop as we get more content with her! she's a really fascinating character, and i'm curious about where she will go, if she will be allowed to ascend or not.

#ask meadows anything #i brainrotted for a while sorry but it was a really interesting question i have a lot to say about apparently! #tysm anon!

[open-hearth-rpg]

Don't Roll: Great RPG Mechanics #RPGMechanics Week Ten (finale)

(author circa 1990 pictured with tie)

This is maybe more a technique than a mechanic, but it represented a significant change in approach and play for me over the years. This has two components– the first is “don’t roll if it isn’t important.” I know this sounds simple, but it wasn’t always the approach in systems and play. 

Like many others, I started with D&D, but very quickly I moved into other games. A large swath of games added on to D&D/AD&D’s approach by including skill systems. They usually had the same emphasis on combat, but included mechanics for handling other kinds of tasks with a discrete roll rather than a saving throw or attribute test. So we had the chain which came out of Traveller and Basic Roleplaying which spawned my early favs like Fringeworthy, Top Secret, Champions, Rolemaster, and GURPS. 

You needed a skill to try something, with the unskilled being given arbitrary big failures by the GM when they made their attempt. Players had invested in their skill choices, spending precious points and advances, so they needed to roll those checks regardless of circumstance. So you got rolls for the dumbest, small things– with the action grinding to a halt for plot crucial roles or moving to escalating violence for other things (like a failed social roll). 

Basically if there was a task and the game had a skill related to that task, you always rolled for it. Some games, like GURPS, recognized a sliding scale of circumstance with a host of modifier tables which could be applied to tests. Usually those got forgotten in play. While we had some handwaving, we rolled a lot of tests. I saw this in my local play groups and at gaming conventions large and small. 

I don’t know which game explicitly said don’t make a test unless it matters, but it shifted our play. It moved skill tests from being gotcha moments and “roll til you die” sequences. We were young and stupid– raised by a generation of punishing GMs who delighted in catching players out when they hadn’t selected the right skill during character creation. 

F*ck the good old days of roleplaying. I wouldn’t go back to the play culture of the 80s or 90s for anything. 

In any case, over time the game advice not to roll for every damn thing took hold. Low difficulty tasks could be assumed to have been handled successfully; more room emerged for play. Of course everyone still rolled perception checks, which remained the last refuge of gotcha gamemasters. 

Which brings us to a refinement: “don’t roll if failure isn’t interesting.” At first this sounds like pretty much the same thing, but there’s an important distinction. Instead of judging whether it affects the plot or moves the story, we’re looking more seriously at the context of the action. What does a failure here look like? What would make that moment have weight and stakes? We begin to consider what kinds of pressures can be there: use of resources, race against time, alerting the opposition, starting a countdown. 

So when a GM calls for a roll, they’re implicitly saying that failure will have some consequences– things will happen. It’s pushing them to make clear to the player that there’s a potential cost. Both the GM and the player have to think about the circumstances now. Which means generally that we’re more likely to cut to the action and have dice rolling moments outside of combat actually add to the game. 

It’s a short step from that concept to Fail Forward, to Success at a Cost, and to player-driven or collaborative choices for costs. It changes the nature of the game– and I think it changes the relationship between the GM and player. That relationship might still be adversarial, but the GM has to back that up by making gotcha moments worthwhile. 

I’m not sure when and how this new play praxis developed– it probably isn’t the result of a single game. I know over time I handwaved more and more– and eventually felt justified in that when I saw it explicitly mentioned in the game rules. There’s been an invisible evolution of play culture over the decades and that’s been generally for the greater good. 

Here’s the thing: I know how stupid this sounds. I know how obvious this appears these days. I thought back to consider if this was just something in my game group at the time. But it was across the dozen different groups I played with and there at every game con I went to (Gen Con, Origins, Michicon, Griffcon, etc.). I can recall sessions where the pressure of rolls added to the tension and drama, but I remember more sessions where the constant rolling wore things down. 

#ttrpg #rpg #rpg mechanics

[toulousewayne]

Casting Battinson’s Batfamily 🦇:

-

—

We know we’re getting the Batman Pt.2 and a lot of people,(myself included) want to see Robin. Specifically Dick Grayson’s Robin. We also are getting the Batfamily in James Gunn’s DC Universe. And I’ve made a cast for that.

This one I wanted to do characters I think we could see, and having watched the 2004 ‘The Batman’, show I think a younger Batman with sidekicks could be a fun and entertaining development for Battison’s character. So taking inspiration from that show I will cast Robin, Dick Grayson and Batgirl, Barbara Gordon.

Batgirl:

Barbara Gordon……Bailey Bass

-

Bailey Bass would kill it as Barbara in this universe,she could definitely bring a sassy and quick wit to Babs. Especially on the younger side depending on if she’s was Battinson’s first protege. I feel like in this world she would have her father not wanting her to join law enforcement especially since Gotham’s is so corrupted. I feel like Batman would not want to take her on as a partner and because of that she’s going to be Batgirl even more. Eventually he’ll come around and “let” her help and provide her with training and become a mentor for her especially with her father being busy helping to clean up Gotham, she’ll be working along side him without him aware of it.

And similar to the Batman 2004 series, introducing Batgirl first made Batman open up to the idea of working with some and we’ve seen this version of Batman doesn’t care about anything but the mission, until he learns just being vengeance isn’t enough. He needs to be something more.By having Batgirl first he’ll learn to not only let her help him, but he’s also establishing that foundation of training and mentoring that is important for Robin. Robin is a lot more closely tied to him because he’s his son, while Barbara isn’t his daughter he would be use to having a younger sidekick.

Robin:

Dick Grayson……..Noah Jupe

-

Having a younger Robin allows Batman to have time with him to grow, mature and eventually if you get to other characters we can see how by having Robin this bright young kid has allowed him to have that same hopeful and optimistic feeling he didn’t have before. Robin has been a vital part to Batman throughout history and I don’t see how this version is any different. Robin in this version could be very brash and angry at first just like a young orphaned Bruce felt. He can help Dick with these feelings, he can understand that Dick wants revenge and if it had been a few years prior he probably would have helped him do it. But at this point he isn’t as brutal, he knows he can’t ask the boy to just let it go, or let the police handle it. He knows that Dick will need a way to channel this frustration and he can help him by training him into a symbol, a beacon of hope that even Bruce needs sometimes too.

Dick is the first Robin and in the future will become this universes Nightwing. Seeing him grow up and eventually leave Bruce could help Bruce learn from his mistakes his own upbringing and not let them tank Dick’s upbringing.

Lucius Fox:

Lucius Fox……Courtney B. Vance

-

Lucius Fox could be very interesting in the Batman universe. While I think Batman can have more gadgets with better upgrades I don’t want them to be to techy. I think that my refining current gadgets Or evolving them like his wrist launching into a actual handheld grapple gun, or the bombs he used to bring down the skyline in the finale turned into gas bombs or flash bombs would be the best approach.

As how to bring him into the fold, you’d just continue from where the first film left off. Like Alfred said he needs to keep up appearances and his spending for his crusade will run out if he doesn’t pay attention. Bringing in Lucius could help him to manage his funds, as well as he’ll have be able to give Bruce insight about what is going on in the company when he’s away and give him some insight about what his father was really like and how much of a humanitarian he truly was.

Dr. Leslie Tompkins:

Dr. Tompkins……….Emma Thompson

-

I’ve always wanted to see Leslie Tompkins in Batman films, I think much like other comics and BTAS she gave give Bruce a maternal figure the same way Alfred was a paternal figure in his life. While both think him being Batman is not the way to deal with his trauma, they know deep down this is his mission.

I feel like not only can she become another character to see through the franchise, even Batman sidekicks and other characters can go to her not just for patch ups but she see Gotham for what it is. She worked closely with Bruce’s father, like Lucius she knows who he really was. Her clinic in Crime Alley is a important corner stone and helps lots of people who are able to go to the regular hospital or involve in crime fighting and can’t go. She can be an important support system to the Batfamily and Batman himself if she’s brought to life.

Kate Kane:

Kate Kane……..Evan Rachel Wood

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Kate Kane is Bruce’s cousin and I think by her being one of last ties to his family especially with the information Riddler leaked, who be interesting especially if because of be Batman he is estranged from his family. Kate returns to Gotham with her father who want to help clear up the Wayne name. Bruce at first isn’t receptive to his Uncle or his cousin’s help.

Something could happen to his uncle and because of his involvement with crime Kate finds out and wants to know more about it. Bruce could want to keep her out of it but because of her father getting hurt, she could make it so not only does he have a stake in the corruption but now so does she. Allowing Bruce to have connections to his could be important to fixing the family image as well as provide support should he ever need it. Kate could be instrumental to helping Bruce navigate his mission in a way he couldn’t think about by expending and allowing her to help she can assist in reaching parts of Gotham Batman can’t be in all the time or get involved in more areas of the corruption he can’t get to or locate but Kate can.

#dc comics #dc universe #dc live action #batman #batfamily #batfam #dick grayson #barbara gordon #dcau #batgirl #batman and robin #robin #battinson #the batman #dcu #robert pattinson #the batman 2022 #batman hush #dc films #dc elseworlds #the batman movie #battinson movie #batgirl and robin #batverse #matt reeves #lucius fox #Dr Leslie Tompkins #gotham knights #kate kane #batwoman

[girlfriendsofthegalaxy]

tuesday again 1/16/2024

did not commit fratricide this week but it got a little close there

listening

spotify tried to rec me some electro remix of this Eartha Kitt song i did NOT care for but i did enjoy the original Mink Schmink (YouTube). very similar to last year’s favorite Peel Me A Grape by Anita O’Day. this is a particular kind of oldies #girlboss song that i am super weak to

i also have an entire album to rec! spotify recced me a movie soundtrack by this artist and i went to check out their latest work. a very pleasant outer space themed saxophone-forward experience to enjoy while trying out a very slow video game! the opening track Chaldene will let you know pretty fast if you’ll like the whole album. bouncy, in the ways that saxophones are. very cowboy bebop soundtrack adjacent? i have a data entry playlist with many instrumental albums of long pieces for when i need really consistent vibes or vibes that change very slowly and this is going to be such a good addition

reading

feeling a little bit grim about the state of the world and long-tail reporting/continuity of knowledge, partially bc some friends got fired from the games industry and are throwing in the towel (do not blame them at ALL, also now this means i don't know anyone in the industry with more than three years of experience under their belt) and partially feeling a little bit grim bc i read an article FOREVER ago from the old motherboard team at VICE about how locations were being harvested from various religious and health apps, and FINALLY that data broker is starting to see some real consequences. the ONLY reason this reporter is still following this story/is still a reporter is bc after VICE summarily fired like half the site last year, he went off and started his own site.

grim! grim article, grim context, grim all around.

watching

i would love for my best friend's son to become obsessed with a different movie than pixar's elemental. but if this is the price of having an only semi-interrupted conversation with his mom then so be it.

playing

“sail forth” by developer Quantum Astrophysicists Guild and published by Festive Vector (pair of really killer names there) is the free epic game this week. i spent a reasonably okay hour with it but do not plan to continue further. the opening area has some problems that do not interest me in whatever this game does in the next area. tldr: the actual sailing part is fun, which is good bc it's a sailing game, but there isn't enough to Do in this adventure/exploration game and it's all really far apart.

it has a particular sensibility married with its art style that makes me say “cozy game” (derogatory). your main character is named captain toot. everyone has funky sentence structure liberally sprinkled with nautical terms that come off vaguely nonsensical instead of piratical. there are a lot of almost-kennings like “deepblue” “moontiders” “fishfolk”. things of this nature. while i do love a kenning i don’t have a lot of patience for this. which is unfortunate bc this game tested my patience in several ways.

the actual Sailing part is the best part of the game. there's some very fun weather-- i have seen light and heavy fog, light and heavy rain, and a full on thunderstorm. the fact that sailing is the best part of the game would be good except everything is VERY far apart, and while the call of a blank horizon is super important in an oceangoing game (i think) when it becomes more fun to just fast travel everywhere instead of sailing the long way, i think that’s where you have to refine some things in your game. this is less of an open world and more little pockets of things in between a truly ridiculous amount of empty space. i cannot imagine this runs in an acceptable manner on switch.

the good parts of sailing are the thoughtful controls: the compass, the wind on the compass, and the little sail trim bar. you should also keep an eye on wave direction bc that will really impact your top speed. you CAN tack back and forth directly into the wind but this game will make you fucking work for it, which i do like. i also liked sailing with the camera zoomed all the way in, it felt very fast and dangerous on the very long wait to get to the next island. and then it was no longer fun on the very long sail to get to the next island. i am almost confident these islands are procgen, it’s possible i got a weirdly big seed but i don’t care enough to fire up a new save.

the general pace of the game/this first area feels a little underbaked or weirdly optimized. i got enough wood in the first hour to upgrade to the best available one-mast sloop, i fought a pirate which required a lot of precision seamanship with my one lonely bow gun, i did a race, i declined a target practice course, i poked my head into eight different map locations. despite this variety, it all felt very samey. generally the map locations have one or two things to do plus one resource (the precision seamanship required to collect resources is fun for the first two islands but then stops being interesting) or one collectible. no one island is particularly memorable. i really loved Sunless Sea, a game that also features a large map and very slow travel, but there’s a WAY more resource management and random events, and shit is simply closer together in that game.

if i was looking for a very slow podcast game and was 20% cutesier as a person this would be ideal, but for who i am right now? not for me.

making

my siblings visited! we did not kill each other, nobody had food poisoning, and nobody died! that's all i can really ask for. here's me and my sister looking at a big quilt at the 1940 Air Terminal Museum

phil went to the emergency vet sunday afternoon bc her spay site was looking Gnarly. she either has an infection or a reaction to her sutures but the treatment is the same either way. the emergency vet said we could probably skip our normal vet visit on friday but, given that we discover a new problem every time we go to the vet, we will be keeping that appointment. all recent pics of her are smushed up on my lap at a goofy angle. have a pic of mackaroni and beans

#tuesday again #tuesday again no problem #Spotify

[maxwell-grant]

Thoughts on Lupin: Part 3

Covered my thoughts on seasons 1 and 2 already and I just finished season 3 so I'm gonna write about it here. Bottom line: HahahahaHA this show rules so much man.

Everything that was strong about the prior seasons is still there if not better, and they patched up several things I otherwise disliked about it. Also god I missed the mark big time by watching the prior seasons with the English dub for some reason, no wonder I didn't like most of the characters when they all sounded like they were sleepwalking. Just, watch with the French audio, don't be an idiot like me.

I actually like Assane's family now? Maybe that's because of the dub thing letting me see the actual performances, but there seemed to be a lot more effort this season to make us care about Claire and Raoul's own struggles and the really bad things they have to deal with because of Assane and how they deal with them. There's an extent to which these characters exist because otherwise Assane would suffer no consequences and no caveats to just doing whatever he wants, a.k.a the cool Lupin stuff we signed up for but can't be too over-indulged in, and that made them feel more like roadblocks than people, but to me this time they actually feel more like people, and people who can have their own things going on or even get involved in the good stuff without compromising their importance, and those consequences thus actually matter more.

God I can't believe how great the disguises were this season and how many there were. Again, definitely feels like they had to refine the process in the first two seasons so we can have this one with Assane actually going the nine yards with multiple overlapping fake personas and disguises per episode. Omar is masterful in all of them and the show seems so confident that it even lets Ben, Guedira and Claire dip their toes in the action a bit. I was actually really impressed by Coach Alex, even though he does look a bit uncanny and a little A.I-ish. I could still buy that as a real person.

It's doing this thing I really like that The Shadow does, where the character has a lot of different methods by which he achieves his disguises ranging from high-tech/borderline fantasy to very simple DIY tools, but the process featured is obscured enough that you can never fully tell which is being used, and so the character can have this borderline superpower still grounded enough to not look like one.

I actually didn't mind the villain this time around. There's a nice progression of putting Assane against an invisible and seemingly invincible shadowy gang forcing him to do their bidding (which lets them do the heist-of-the-week format without compromising the larger plot), that turns out to be just one horrible man from his past armed with henchmen and a grudge, which means he gets to be developed and taken out within the season without much delay and without Assane having to make stupid out-of-character blunders to let him escape to menace another day (which was a problem I had with Pelligrini). I like that Keller gets to be legitimately scary as a threat to Assane's loved ones, but is also undone by being a stupid piece of shit who only knows how to abuse and manipulate children until they all turn on him, and once he and Assane are on even ground he goes out like a chump.

Putting Pellegrini completely out of sight and saving him for the final twist where he's been pulling a Kingpin in prison with god knows what consequences even warmed me up to him as a villain, if nothing else because, okay, a Lupin worth his name needs a Cagliostro menace, and the ending twist isn't even about him so much as it's about the betrayal of someone Assane confided in.

And unfortunately that ending twist is good enough that it would be awful if any of those three turned out to be the backstabbers and there's equal arguments for being any of them (I don't think it's going to be Pellegrini's daughter precisely because she's the most predictable, I don't think they'd do the Countess of Cagliostro that 1-to-1)

(Art is from the cover of Lupin: Échec à la reine, which is a prequel novel focused on Benjamin. I don't think it's been translated to English but it got published in Brazil.)

Look, it's good drama, yes, we need stakes to keep this going, yes, but BEN NOOOOO, GODDAMNIT ASSANE

Unfortunately I can't fault Assane that much despite the fact that he barely knew his mom. There was no good option there, Ben would have fumbled it if he was even a little on the plan, and I'm not sure if he later realized why Assane did it or if he didn't realize at all, I mean the ending twist sets him up as one of the potential backstabbers and it's gonna be really fucking heartbreaking if so, but...man, I don't fault the way everyone reacted to that episode, but I can't get that mad at Assane for what he did.

The heist he did with his mom at the prime minister's mansion complete with jetski escape added another 10 years to our lifespan. Utterly delightful. I love this show so much.

I was a bit iffy on how the prior seasons approached the existence of Arsene Lupin books in-text and I'm still a little mixed on it. However, the sheer reverence and omnipresent popularity of Arsene Lupin the character actually isn't even that unrealistic to the character's real life popularity in France or elsewhere, or how much the show has done to refuel said popularity. I mean, hell, I and others got to see it firsthand Lupin being the talk of the town non-stop. It still takes me a little out of the show, but it's far from a dealbreaker.

Major major leg that this thing has above so many other contemporary reboots/adaptations is that this is FUN, Lupin in general should always get to be fun and more than a little stupid sometimes, and this gets it. This thing delights in carrying us through every step of the process by which the main character does his impressive things, laying out all the components in plain sight and putting them together and even letting you feel smart for realizing how it's coming together and still being surprised when it does.

This is the show that Sherlock wishes it was, because of course Lupin can't make a comeback without putting one over his good old rival Sholmes.

The show was always strong, I think, but every season so far's just been refining things and making all of it's strengths better. It's so so good and I hope it keeps going, this thing does crazy numbers every season, I just never see it talked about much in English circles. I'm glad it's been going strong the way it has. Assane has become one of my favorite protagonists in anything and I might even watch the show again soon.

Still unbelievably good and has only gotten better from what was already a very strong start.

#lupin #lupin netflix #assane diop #benjamin farel #lupin part 3 #arsene lupin #pulp heroes #tv shows

[delightfully-deranged-dagur]

I redesigned my TD OCs. So I made a little evolution of all their designs. Part 1/2

Alex

The Attention Hog didn't have many changes. He stayed consistently orange but other things changed.

His beach-y look got more stylish and his hair got more swept back and changed in color.

He's still desperate for attention. That never changes.

Augustus

The Religious Do-Gooder didn't have many design changes but he certainly changed in concept.

Originally he was just a religious guy that went wild during the show. Feral!Auggie got dropped in favor of making his arc a bit more serious.

He's still a sheltered religious kid but his journey of learning about the real world will be taken a lot more serious instead of making him a joke.

Cherry

The Competitive Dancer barely changed. She only had one design before this and all that changed was making her a bit more modest. And adding some green.

Not much to say about her otherwise. Except some new additions to the cast will change her story arc a bit.

Darla

The Visionary had a big and very noticeable change in her 2nd design. The moon afro has become her signature look and the main reason I don't wanna draw her from the side.

Her outfit also got more darker in color. Which make the lighter part of her outfit stand out more.

Diego

The Zoologist is a design I haven't shown off before. Because originally he and his sister would be newcomers in a 2nd season.

Also not much to say about his redesign. Just cleaned up the original.

Personality wise he's a peacekeeper, he loves animals and is basically the team leader. He's also a bit of a neat freak but he tries not to be obnoxious about it. Tries.

Finn

The Workaholic got a lot less saturated as time went on. He's duller colors reflect how much passion he has for all his jobs. Not much.

His hair got cleaned up, the uniform less cluttered, a new shade of blue. And his stubble got more youthful. He's only 18. He doesn't need to look like he's in his 30s.

Flo

The Rebel Rocker based on Floyd Pepper from The Muppets!

Her outfit kept looking more pirate like so I just leaned into it. I made it her brand. Her hair also got longer with her bangs supposed to resemble Floyd's mustache.

Gabriel

The Pretentious Goth also has only 2 designs. And the redesign looks a lot cleaner then the original.

Darker colors, refined his outfit, a bigger hat and restyled hair makes a world of difference despite the similarities.

His opinion of you hasn't changed tho. He still thinks you're below him.

Isa

The Botanist is the 2nd half of the Globetrotting siblings. Unlike a certain other pair of siblings, Diego and Isa have a much healthier relationship. They're still competitive af tho.

Her design didn't change too much. Her colors did however. The dark orange looks better next to Diego's blue and makes her stand out more in the cast overall.

Now she may not look like it, but this gal is the Owen/Sugar/Ripper of the season. She's a total slob and it drives her brother insane. Not that she ever listens to his complaints. Or other people's complaints. She's a handful.

Janus

The Hippie bases on Janice from the Muppets!

Like his inspiration he had some prominent lips that got removed in the 2nd design. But were brought back in the new design. His pink also got softer.

His name however was the thing that changed the most throughout his development. Starting with Jason to Jonas to finally Janus. Which is pronounced basically the same as Janice.

I've been having a lot of fun redesigning them all. I hope you all like them as well.

The other 10 will be posted soon.

#my art #total drama #total drama island #total drama oc #oc art #oc alex #oc Augustus #oc cherry #oc darla #oc diego #oc finn #oc flo #oc gabriel #oc isa #oc janus

[noaltbruh]

So uhm- I accidentally pressed "post" when I was just starting to work on it :,)

Link to main event

But here we go ^^

🍨 Are they more chill about their relationship or a bit more possessive towards their S/O?

Fugo doesn't mean to be possessive, but he is. He will try his absolute best not to show it, but I do believe that he has quite some troubles trusting others, which leads to him wanting to keep you for himself as much as he can once he finally starts to rely on you.

He will never get in the way of you hanging out with someone else or such, but he has an hard time hiding his feelings and it'll result pretty clear that he's a bit worried about you spending so much time with someone else.

He will absolutely apologize if the subject were to come up and promise to try and not be overbearing, he knows that his personal problems are not an excuse for this behavior. Although that doesn't change the fact that he's also very protective of you and will try to keep you away from anyone that seems...Suspicious to him.

~~~~~~

Mista is the embodiment of chill, my friend. Honestly, he takes relationships as something simple, something that "just happen", you know? I'm not saying he doesn't care or value what the two of you have, he just doesn't feel the need to be your shadow and prefers to leave you some space.

I can actually see him also becoming friend with your own pals like it's no bit deal. He's a very likable person and really likes big hangouts with lots of people. On top of this, he'd never get jealous of you spending time with someone of the gang. They're his family, they wouldn't try anything funny with you.

Honestly, the only time I can imagine Mista getting a bit more possessive towards you, is if he's just come back from a long ass mission and has been missing you a lot. In that case, he will be a bit more clingy or needy than usual, but I think that's pretty normal.

~~~~~~

I think Giorno would be one of the most possessive characters of all and, kind of on a side note, almost to the point of turning yandere for you. His past, while he may not admit it, has scarred him a lot and led him to develop incredibly sever abandonment issues. He cannot afford to lose you.

He knows that being with him brings a lot of risks and dangers, which means that he will do anything it takes to shield you from anything or anyone that may remotely have ill intentions. He will make an attempt not to let his paranoia get in the way of any other relationships you may have, just remember to give him attention quite often too.

He's also rather quick to get jealous of other people, but being the refined and manipulative young boy he is, it will be hard to tell what he's feeling of thinking. You'll never be able to fully understand if he's being jealous of not.

🤰How would they react to finding out their S/O is pregnant?

Time to go buy the milk again

No but seriously, it'll take him a moment before what you just said actually hits his brain and he's able to process it. He will look quite...Er, panicked at first, asking you multiple times if it's certain that you are or not. It may lead you to believe that he's not exactly happy about this news, but trust me, he is. He's just...Worried.

When he notices your disappointment over his reaction, he will immediately stop with all the questions and will just...Hold you close to him, perhaps even crying a little. He's incredibly happy to be able to become a father, but he's unsure if he's going to be a good one or not.

Either way, he tries his hardest not to let his agitation bring you down and will take care of you and your baby the best he can during your entire pregnancy. He basically won't let you move and will take care of all the housework. When I say all, I mean it. He knows that carrying a living being in your body must be hard and wants to help you in any way possible.

Please reassure him from time to time that he doesn't need to stress himself out so much, or he may eventually explode.

~~~~~

Mista will try to play it cool, obviously telling you how happy he is about it, but he doesn't like to be too sentimental or cry. With that being said, he will hug you so so tightly, with the biggest grin on his face, that you may have to tell him to let loose a little or the baby might get hurt.

He will 100% lean down on the level of your stomach and start telling lame dad jokes to the baby, knowing that they can't laugh but still hoping for them to. And, despite the fact that he's trying to hold back the tears, you might notice his eyes getting a little wet. Of course, if you try to say anything about it, he'll deny it all.

I have a feeling that Mista is actually pretty good at cooking but is too lazy to put actual effort in a meal most of the time. However, during your pregnancy, he'll put sloth aside and satisfy any weird desire you may have. You want roast chicken with tomato salad at 3 am.? Dude's gonna walk up to the kitchen and immediately get to work, no messing around.

~~~~~~~

While Giorno always had a strong desire to protect children and young people, I can't help but think that the perspective of having his own kid would not exactly...Hype him up at first. He doesn't have many good "family experience" and thinks that he would inevitably put his baby in danger just for being his ffather

But once he meets and falls in love with you, the perspective of creating a family, with all the uncertainties and fears that come with it, doesn't...Sound so bad anymore. And he gets the proof of it when, for one of the very few times in his life, he feels warm tears running on his cheeks as soon as he hears your announcement.

He can't stop smiling, he can't stop kissing you, he can't stop caressing your lower tummy watching over it with loved-filled eyes. Bringing a new life to existence together...Already sounds so beautiful to him.

Giorno will not let a single thing go wrong during your pregnancy. He wants you to be as comfortable as humanly possible, he will personally make sure only the best doctors visit you during your quarantine, and he will spoil you and your future child more than you could ever imagine. He'll cherish them forever.

#jojo's bizarre adventure #vento aureo #jjba golden wind #jojo vento aureo #jjba part 5 #jojo's bizzare adventure vento aureo #buccigang #jojo golden wind #giornogiovanna #giorno x y/n #giorno x reader #giorno giovanna x reader #bucci gang x reader #bucci gang headcanons #bucci gang #guido mista x reader #mista x reader #mista guido #fugo x reader #pannacotta fugo x reader #fugo pannacotta x reader #jjba fugo #jjba x y/n #jjba x you #jojo x y/n #jojo x you #jojo x reader #jojo #jojo's bizzare adventure x reader #jjba x reader

[carolmunson]

starting from zero, got nothing to lose (eddie munson x ofc)

part I Eddie Munson makes it out of the Upside Down, and a year and some change later makes it out of Hawkins. Knee deep in the '89 NYC metal scene and working at a boxing gym in Brooklyn, Eddie wonders if he'll ever find his footing running from Hawkins. With only some phones calls to sustain his friendships back home, will he be able to let go for the long haul? Or will his past in Hawkins eventually catch up with him? AN: Back in June I started writing vignettes of this story as it came to me and am still developing it. I have plot ideas that need refining, but like, at least 20 pages of content for this story already. I've had to do a lot of research to make it as time period accurate as possible. I've lived in NYC for 12 years but wasn't alive in the 80s so I'm doing my best.

This first chapter is mostly exposition and background but our guy is a lil' sassy towards the end. The OFC does have descriptors, but whatever imagine her however you'd like.

I think the only TW is drug use and drug mention in this chapter but I'll be vigilant for any more. Lastly, if you're under 18, please don't read this shit.

New York City December 29th, 1989

It was a cold night. The subways were empty with holiday shopping finally over and the short lull between Christmas and New Years tourists had arrived. Eddie sat with his legs spread out wide on the bench of the train. One hand drummed out the beat of Dr. Feelgood on his knee, the other on the switchblade in his vest pocket. He only had to use it once since he came to the city, but it never hurt to have it ready to go. 

He didn’t like the subway. Not because of the graffiti, that was metal. Not because of the homeless sleeping on the train cars or asking him for money. Not because he already had a beat up truck he could drive instead. It was because when it was late at night, and it was just him, the little flicker of the overhead lights made him nervous. Like once they shut off, they’d shut off forever and he’d wake up still stuck in the…

“Hey man, you got a dollar?” a raspy voice asked, holding a hand out. Eddie looked up and gave the guy a quick once over. He looked rough – hunched over and dried out. The dirt caked in his nails looked like it had been there for years. 

“Sure man, yeah,” he fumbled a bit for his wallet, pulling at the chain on his pants. He slipped out a couple bills and handed them over, “Be safe tonight, okay?” 

“God Bless,” the man murmured while shuffling away, “Happy New Year.” 

Eddie looked out the window of the car, they still hadn’t pulled out of York Street. The trip from Gleason’s to Delancey was only a stop across the boroughs, but it sometimes felt like hours to make it into the city from Brooklyn. He caught his reflection in the window, still him – but a couple years weathered. The shine had dulled out of his eyes, only lighting up when the phone in his apartment rang because he knew it would be Dustin and the gang. His hair was the same curly, wavy, frizzy mess it always was. Calluses and scabs on his knuckles contrasted against his gun metal rings. 

After leaving Hawkins in the Fall of ‘87, he spent a lot of time sleeping in his Uncle Wayne’s truck while working odd jobs in different Ohio and Pennsylvania towns so he could make enough money to head out to New York. He wanted to go to all the places he read about in Metallix, Rock Scene, and Punk Magazine. Maybe he’d meet the Ramones or something, or THE fucking Ozzy after a show. He wanted to get out of all the small towns so at least he could be a freak in a big city full of other freaks. But if you wanted to be a freak in Ohio and Pennsylvania, you needed to know how to fight.

It took him some time to recover after getting out of the Upside Down, he spent over a year in Hopper’s cabin in a makeshift hospital bed. The only good side about the end of the world in Hawkins is that everyone thought he was dead; so they weren’t looking for a satanic killer on the loose anymore. The downside was trying to figure out where they were going to find him a blood supply. It worked out but just barely. Then there was the whole, learning to be a person again. When he started getting stronger, he told Hopper his plan to leave, and Hopper taught him the basics. Jab, cross, hook, uppercut. His stance, how to move, how to breathe, how to block. He was kicking himself for not learning sooner. 

The kids were able to snag his school records, Wayne brought all of his cassettes, documents, and his guitar Lucy who survived the trip from another dimension. His uncle gave him $400 dollars, Wayne’s entire savings, and his beat up truck. 

“Call when you can,” he said in a firm hug before Eddie left – but Wayne passed away a few months later from a heart attack. It killed him not to go to the funeral. 

He ended up in the city around the same time last year, came across Gleason’s Gym during a fight and asked for a job as a janitor the same night. Something about watching boxing matches gave him the same excitement he got whenever he heard a solid guitar solo. He didn’t want to get in the ring or spar or anything, he just wanted to be around some of that chaos…and the girls helped, too. Girls always helped. Bruce, the owner, said he’d only let the manager give him a raise if he got his GED – and so maybe ‘86 wasn’t his year, but ‘88 had shaped up to be.  

The pay wasn’t amazing, but he wasn’t sleeping in his car long. Eddie was good at a lot of things, cleaning up blood and spit, fixing cars, he could play guitar, and most importantly, he was really, really good at selling cocaine. He was quick to be picked up for selling, his look helped, but he made sure to find a supplier with quality. It wasn’t Hawkins, so there weren’t many positives in selling shitty drugs in NYC — just a lot of split lips and black eyes. He did his best in metal bars, music venues, and out of Gleason’s. A lot of the guys used it to stay lean and keep their weight class. This came in handy any time he heard a complaint in the men’s locker room. That’s where Tony came in the picture. 

The train screeched into Delancey and Essex and he swung himself on the pole off the train, a patched up leather satchel slamming up against his hip as he did. The sound of pills shaking in the bag distracted a few passers by but he shook off the stares, it was nothing at this point. Eddie got out of the subway into the chilled December night, lit a cigarette, and made his way to his next job. 

Tony Cardalino, or more affectionately known as Tone, came to Gleason’s a few months ago to train. Tone was like him: shaggy brown hair, bandana in his back pocket, battle jacket – the works. He was about five inches taller than him, built like a tank, a good fighter, and overall a lot more intimidating than Eddie ever was. Chrissy’s ‘ You’re not what I thought you’d be ,’ rang through his head the first time he had a conversation with him. 

“Aw nice pin, dude,” Tony said one night in the locker room while Eddie took off his coverall at the end of his shift, “I feel like the new kids don’t give WASP their respect.” 

That night they went through a pack of Marlboros together outside, talking about bands and Eddie still finding his footing in the city. He told him about the first time he went to CBGB and L’Amour, Tony told him all the good places to have sex with chicks there. He took the biggest interest in Eddie’s dealing. Tone’s second cousin was connected to the mob, a solid hit man, until he was the hit – so his bar ‘Skid’ on Avenue B needed a new supplier. Eddie wasn’t about to pass up another opportunity to make money, so he took him up on the offer. He’d go to Skid after Gleason’s and bring his inventory with him. 

“Just don’t let Ron catch ya,” he confessed, “You’d think those bartenders and bitches are too busy, but they see everything .”

“Is Ron a pig, or a narc or something?” Eddie asked, a little flash of fear striking through his chest. 

Tony laughed, “Nah, Ronnie’s just off that shit. Not really into the whole drug thing anymore and when Paulie got put in the river it shook everybody up. But Ron’ll deck ya if you get caught and it's a hell of an uppercut.” 

Now, Eddie had heard of Skid, but it had been rumored among some metal heads that it was more of a hard rock bar than a metal bar so he hadn’t visited. There were places closer to his apartment he’d been hanging out at anyway. But ever since Tony’s uncle overdosed and it was left to Tony to run, things had taken a more metal turn… supposedly . 

He pulled open the door, covered in stickers aside from the little opening for the ‘Come in! We’re open!’ sign. His hopes dashed a little as Led Zeppelin's ‘Black Dog’ blared through the speakers. In the ‘Is Led a metal band?’ debate, Eddie was staunchly against the idea – but all around Skid seemed like one of the places to be, even if it was a little quiet for a Friday. He guessed people were out of town or maybe still spending time with their families – whatever that means. He scoped the place out and saw Tony’s described ‘bitches’ manning the bar much to his relief. After finding a dark corner to settle in, he took a seat, keeping his bag open discreetly next to him.

All the booths, tables, and the bartop were dark cherry wood that looked black in the low lighting save for a little platform stage in the back, littered with amps and a drum set. Red leather upholstery looked worn and weathered from years of bar fights and the weight girls sitting on laps. Beer stains and cigarette burns. There were signed posters and photos all over the walls, two autographed Gibson’s hung over the bar with fishing wire. Ripped stickers and dollar bills with lipstick marks stuck to the back splash, lacy bras hung from the ceiling over the stage. It felt like a warm hug, he felt more at home than he had in months.

“Okay, well now that that shit’s over we’re gonna play Angel of Death by Suh-layerrrr,” a patron said lazily over the mic on the platform while his band set up. The crowd in the bar rowdily cheered. He had a beautiful Fender, Eddie almost purred in his throat when it glinted in the hazy red stage lights. He couldn’t pay attention long though, because with the band as a distraction, his customers slid by him one right after the other. The swap of baggies and bills felt like a waltz to him now he was so used to it, tucking the money into his sleeve and dropping it in the open satchel. He knew Tony had let word spread on who to look out for, but he wasn’t expecting this much in sales in one night. 

To not bring too much attention to himself, he closed his bag up after a few songs from the band and maneuvered over to an empty stool at the end of the bar. He slung the bag on one of the purse hooks under the bar’s lip (which he was surprised they had installed) and turned his attention back towards the stage. Nodding his head in time with the beat, crossing his arms across his chest – he tried to catch a glimpse of Tony just about anywhere, but he hadn’t seen him since he arrived.

“You gonna order something handsome, or do ya just like the view?” he heard a woman’s voice ask over his shoulder. He turned on the stool, face to face with a barmaid who was leaning in close to hear his answer. He looked up at her, taking in her details. Little leather bustier, big denim vest riddled with patches and pins, jeans that were just tight enough. The standard type at bars like this, tits out and everything. She had brown eyes with too much mascara lashes and big brown Farah Fawcett hair. He could smell her cherry flavored Lip Smackers from the stool. Checked all the boxes, down to the Debbie Harry smoky eye. 

“Oh,” he started, flashing her a smile and resting his chin on his hand, “Definitely the view.” Eddie had flirted his way into plenty of free shots with girls like her before, it was his favorite sport. She let a little puff of air out of her nose and leaned down onto her forearms. 

“What can I get you?” she asked, matching his posture. 

“I don’t know, what do you like?” he asked back, making a little show of slipping his eyes to her cleavage and then back up at her. She caught his stare and gave him a wink before slamming two tumblers down in front of them. I’m sure you do that to all the guys, he thought to himself. She poured two generous shots of Jack Daniels, picking up her glass and waiting for him to pick up his. 

“I always like to toast before I do a shot with a stranger,” she flirted, “Especially ones like you.” He was so easily intoxicated by women these days and this was no exception, his mouth ran dry at her attention. 

“What are we toasting to?” he asked in a low voice one hand on his drink and dropping the other down on the bar. With her free hand she reached slowly toward him, delicately placing his chin in her hand. He could feel the tips of her almond acrylics graze his skin.

She got nose to nose with him, Eddie could smell her perfume mixed with sweat and cigarette smoke. Her lips parted, hovering over his – his heart was thumping in his ears so hard it was drowning out the drums. 

“To me never catching you slinging that shit in my bar again. I don’t know who the fuck you think you are, but you need to get the fuck out of here,” she hissed through gritted teeth. He blanched and sputtered. Was this a set up? Was he not at the right bar? Her nails dug into his chin as she threatened him, “Cause if not, I’ll call the fuckin’ owner out here and he knows the fuckin’ mob. Better yet, I’ll kick your fuckin’ ass myself.” 

Eddie panicked, dropping the shot on the bar with a clink! Fuck, shit, shit, shit – 

Oh. 

Oh!

The ‘fucking owner’ that kne the mob was Tony. Eddie let out a snicker of relief, but it came out snarky. He took her wrist and pulled his face out of her nails, feeling the indents on his skin as he ran his other hand over his chin.  He leaned onto his knuckles over the bar, looking down to face her directly,

“You must be Ron.” 

#eddie munson #eddie munson au #eddie munson nyc au #eddie munson lives #eddie munson fix it fic #eddie munson x ofc #eddie munson fluff #eddie munson smut #eventually #eventual smut #eddie munson fan fiction #eddie munson x you #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson fanfic #stranger things au #stranger things fanfiction

[sydsrichie]

'til queendom come, ch. 4

[masterlist] [Ao3] [playlist]

aemond targaryen x targaryen oc

wordcount: 12,063

summary: the prince and the lady had loved each other since childhood, and it was plain for all to see. But what had drawn them to each other in the first place - their valour and virtue - threatened to tear them apart as they found themselves on opposing sides of a cruel war.

warnings: canon-typical violence, canon-typical incest, abusive parent/child relationship, nsfw/18+ in later chapters

a/n: all likes, reblogs, replies, tags, asks are massively appreciated and fuel me to keep writing <3

It had been years since Laena Velaryon was laid to rest. 

Prince Daemon had hastily remarried Princess Rhaenyra after the sudden death of her first husband. Sena tried not to think about that too often, for the same reason that she tried not to think about her mother’s own untimely death. It raised too many questions she did not wish to find answers to. 

Around her, her new step-brothers and half-sisters blossomed into fine young men and women and her father was finally blessed with a son. The day Aegon was born, Sena thought she saw Daemon smile. Not a smirk but a genuine smile.

It had also been years since she had seen King’s Landing. She had begged to return to her old life after the funeral on Driftmark, but her father had forbade it. It’s about time we acted like a proper family, he had said, but Sena was no longer so foolish as to believe he genuinely wanted to enjoy her company.

It had been years since she had looked upon Helaena’s smile, heard her laughter. Years since they’d confided in each other about their dreams, Helaena’s puzzling ones full of flame and trickery and Sena’s troubled ones. Her mother, covered in blood, then Aemond, one eye closed.

It had been years since she had seen Aemond’s face, held his hand.

But Dragonstone had not been a poor way to close out her childhood. She had been surrounded by children; happy, cheerful children who were not without their difficulties but, for the most part, were loved and loving. And when the growth and troubles of her adolescence meant she craved more mature company than bickering youngsters, she had the Princess Rhaenyra to talk to and laugh with. Despite her strained relationship with her father, Sena was glad to have Rhaenyra for a mother of sorts now. Glad to have someone to talk to about the way the world and their domain was changing, but also the changes happening in her body and mind. And the bleeding - the advice about how to cope with her monthly bleeding had been invaluable.

“You know your father is considering his options for a marriage for you,” Rhaenyra had warned her not long after she had flowered.

Sena had been kicking off her muddy riding boots at the time. She unbuckled her sword belt and rested the blade across her shoulders, giving her step-mother a meaningful look. “Then wish my father and my suitors luck, Princess. They shall need it.”

Rhaenyra smiled her wry smile and poured tea for the both of them. “That’s what I told him.”

Regular letters still arrived from Helaena and Aemond. Helaena’s were short and simple, accompanied with drawings of new creatures she had found in dusty tomes or on outings to the Kingswood. There were sometimes phrases like the ones the Princess compulsively muttered written in the margins. Sena did her best to work out a meaning behind them in her replies.

Aemond’s letters were longer, spoke of anything and everything, and Sena hung on every word, often shutting herself away for hours when a letter from the Prince arrived so she might savour them and craft her answer.

She found herself noticing the development of his prose, the refinement of his hand. He spoke of matters of state, and happenings across the sea in Essos, as well as his current studies in history, science and art. He was growing into the sharply intelligent young man she always knew he would become.

Sometimes, she caught herself wondering how handsome he was now. She would have asked him for a portrait if she thought he would sit for one. She wondered about his hair, and if it was long or short. He had always had beautiful features, but now he would have lost the childish roundness of his cheeks, like she had. His nose and jaw would be strong, his shoulders broad, his arms corded with muscle hard won on the training yard. It made something burn in a deep place inside of her. Could he best Ser Criston Cole at swordplay now? Could he still best her? One day, she would find out, and she would savour the way their bodies danced together and apart. She would let him put his dagger to her neck if it only meant he’d draw her close.

For now, though, she was stuck training with her father, which was a less exciting prospect. He might have been one of the finest swordsmen in the known world, but he had no patience for teaching and would only spare her a rare afternoon. When she inevitably disappointed him, her every mistake was answered with unflinching punishment. She had long ago learned to wear chainmail to deflect the worst of his blows, and even then she would peel her clothes from her aching body at sundown and stagger into baths of medicinal poultices made by Maester Gerardys to soothe her aches.

She never complained, though. At least not out loud. Daemon had made her twice the swordswoman she had been before she returned to Dragonstone. She had learned so much more than she ever would have from watching the Kingsguard train from across the yard, and if she had to nurse cuts and bruises and sprains to do it, that would be her lot. Trouble was coming, she was more certain of it than ever. She saw it in the disgust on her father’s face when Maester Gerardys handed her letters from her cousins in King’s Landing. Sena was determined to be ready when it arrived on these shores, whoever she ended up having to wield her sword against.

It was late afternoon one day when her father parried her strike with the flat of his blade and kicked her legs out from under her. She landed with an ungraceful thump on her tailbone and let out a cry of pain. She could hear Jace and Luke holding back their snickers behind her.

“Darling Sena,” Prince Daemon said in an exasperated tone, “you know I never once complained when you picked up a wooden sword as soon as you could toddle? Lesser lords would have sneered at their daughters wishing to be swordsmen, but I never did. I only had one condition, one stipulation for you. What was it?” He was circling her with a petulant look on his face.

Sena glared at him from her seat in the dirt. “If I wanted to bear your name and swing a sword, I better be fucking good at it,” she repeated for what must have been the hundredth time.

“Exactly,” he said with a smirk. “Now get up, let’s go again.” He looked up from her and caught the eye of his step-sons, who should truly have been doing their own drills across the yard. “You two! I’d make shorter work of you put together than I would her, so I suggest you start practicing.”

It was about as close to praise as she ever got from him.

“How do you remember it all, in the heat of battle?” She asked as she pushed herself to her feet with a whimper. “There’s so much to think about. Positioning, centre of weight, stance, reach. Deflect or dodge or parry. How do you decide it all in a split second when your life is on the line?”

He gave her a considering look. “You decide it all in a split second because your life is on the line, daughter,” he said simply. “You’re forgetting everything I’ve ever taught you right now because you know I will not hurt you, not truly. I don’t fancy myself a kinslayer and even if I did, you’d be fairly low on my list of those I’d start with.” She couldn’t quite tell if that was a compliment or an insult - coming from her father, it could be either. “But when the man standing opposite you truly wants you dead… you will make those decisions and remember your lessons. Or die. Whichever takes your fancy.”

He raised his blade once more, and she readied herself again.

She had lost four out of four bouts by the time Maester Gerardys interrupted them, but she had gotten pretty close on the last one and she would bet her supper that Prince Daemon was almost pleased with her. The maester held a letter out to her, granting her reprieve for now. “What is it?” Daemon asked.

“For the Lady Visenya, my Prince,” he said as she took the letter from him, examining the broken seal.

“Will there ever come a day when I read them first?” She said with a scowl.

Prince Daemon snorted. “No. He still reads mine. Even the dirty ones the Princess sends me when she’s off on royal business.” Sena shuddered and Maester Gerardys looked askance. “You enjoy those ones, don’t you, Maester?”

“Father.”

“Whilst you both live in the Princess’s household, you are subject to how that household is run,” Gerardys said, though it did nothing to hide the shade of red he had turned.

“Strange that it is I, the husband who lives in my wife’s household, Maester,” Daemon continued to argue as Sena unrolled the parchment.

My darling Sena, it began, in Helaena’s unmistakable curling and unsteady script. She zipped through the contents with haste. “The wedding,” she said, above the bickering of two of the Princess’s most senior advisors. “Aegon and Helaena are to wed within the month.”

Prince Daemon looked as though there was little else in the Seven Kingdoms that he could care less about, but that did not surprise her. “Congratulations to my niece and nephew. What do you have to do with it?” He asked, narrowing his eyes at the letter in her hands.

Sena knew better by now than to be surprised by her father’s wilful ignorance. “I am quite close to your niece, father, surely that can’t have totally escaped your attention?”

His jaw tightened, and Maester Gerardys was beginning to look increasingly awkward caught between the two of them. “No, daughter, it has not,” Daemon said, “try as I might to forget your unfortunate taste in friends.”

If it had been left up to you, I would have none, she longed to say, but she also sensed this was a subject on which she might want to pick her battles carefully. “Princess Helaena has invited me to attend.”

Daemon let out a cold laugh. “That is truly kind of her, Sena. Be sure you send her a nice set of silverware as a wedding gift from us when you politely decline,” he said, turning on the heel of his boot and stalking off across the yard.

“What?” Sena asked sharply. She sheathed her sword and hurried after him, leaving the Maester standing in the yard. “Father, I am going. You can’t chain me up in this wretched place forever.”

“Wretched? Is that how you view our family’s ancestral home?” He said as he forced in the door to the east wing of the keep.

Sena scowled, struggling to keep up with his long strides. “Wretched because you are here and Helaena is not,” she said, and Daemon barked a laugh. “I will attend, Father. I am a dragonrider - you cannot stop me.”

“Your inflated idea of your own self importance makes my head ache, Sena. You are not attending because I said you are not and you are my daughter.”

“Why?” 

“Why what? Why are you my daughter? Gods, please tell me someone has explained that to you by now-“

“Why can’t I attend?” She corrected with a scowl.

“Because those children are poison, Sena. And if a day comes when their whore mother challenges our throne, I won’t have them pulling your strings.”

“No, of course not. That’s your job, isn’t it?”

“What are you two arguing about today?” Rhaenyra said with a grimace as father and daughter burst into her apartments. “The wet-nurse has only just gotten Aegon down to sleep and the letters from the Small Council are stacking up, I’ve had a long day-“

“Your husband isn’t giving me leave to witness my cousin and best friend get married,” Sena snapped, glaring at her father as he threw himself down in a chair.

“My daughter is being a wilful shrew, what else?” Daemon said, kicking his dirty boots up on the arm of the chair and picking up some letter from the King from the top of his wife’s pile. Sena wrinkled her nose at him. “A date has been set for your brother and sister to wed, Princess.” He turned on Sena. “Speaking of marriage, when are you going to do your duty and bring forth more dragonriders, daughter? You have been flowered a couple of years now, after all. You might want to be quick about it before the Lords of the Realm start to wonder if there’s something wrong with you.”

Rhaenyra shot her husband a glare and Sena felt her blood boil. The list he had given her had been nothing short of insulting. Lesser lords, second sons of minor houses, even a second cousin who was now in line to inherit Runestone. As if she would ever lower herself to being Lady of Runestone by marriage instead of in her own right, as she ought to be. “You know perfectly well what I think of the names you put before me, father. I am a Targaryen and my husband will be worthy of wedding a Targaryen. You taught me the value of our name and our blood. I am only putting your lessons into practice.”

“There’s a first time for everything, isn’t there?”

“Quiet. The both of you. Your Princess demands it,” Rhaenyra snapped, and they both finally held their tongues. “What I managed to piece together from your incessant bickering was that Sena wishes to go see Aegon and Helaena marry, but you are opposing her for some reason?”

“Oh silly me, why in the seven hells wouldn’t I want to pack my eldest child off to that lion’s den?” Daemon sneered. “Why don’t I just put a pretty bow on her head so she looks nice and presentable for the Queen to swallow her whole?”

“They are her friends, dearest. And her cousins besides. What harm would befall her? Queen Alicent has great fondness for her, you know that,” Rhaenyra said.

“Which is precisely why I don’t want her to go. The poison they’ll pour in her ear-“

“I’m still in the room and still capable of thinking for myself,” Sena folded her arms over her chest, quickly reaching the end of her patience. “You’ve actually given me very little reason to be loyal to you over the years, father, but yet here I am when I could have ran away countless times in the last few years. Do you know who was actually there for me, all those years when you were in Pentos ignoring my very existence? It was Helaena. Helaena is the only one who has always been there for me and I intend to be there when she needs me on her wedding day. Now, can you give me that much respect and trust, or will I have to sneak off this damned rock in a fishing boat?”

Prince Daemon surveyed her with his enigmatic violet eyes. He did not blink or look away or betray any of what he was feeling.

“Helaena is her Viserys, Daemon,” Rhaenyra said. “Would you have missed my father marrying my mother for anything in the world when you were her age?”

Something in Daemon relented at long last. “Fine,” he hissed, and Sena could barely repress a squeal of delight. “You will attend this abominable ceremony representing the Princess of Dragonstone and the Heir to the Iron Throne, then you will return to Dragonstone in no more than a sennight. If you fail to do so, I shall fly to King’s Landing and drag you back myself, Visenya. That should be sufficiently humiliating for you in front of your friends,” he sneered.

Sena was too jubilant to care, though, and threw her arms around her father’s neck, plastering a wet kiss to his cheek. Daemon wrinkled his nose in disgust but did not push her off and Rhaenyra was smiling broadly, almost a little wistfully.

As the wedding drew closer, Sena started packing what she could into her saddle bags. Limited by what Grey Ghost would let her put on his back, it was a harder task than one might think, but she was too excited at the idea of seeing Helaena again that she couldn’t even bring herself to care about the limited wardrobe she’d be taking with her.

And Aemond. Oh, Aemond. There was a letter on her writing desk that had been unfolded and refolded so many times that the parchment was beginning to thin, but she could not stop herself from reading his words over and over again. 

Dearest Sena,

My sister has just informed me that you will be traveling to the capital to bear witness to her marriage. To say I was pleased to hear it would be an understatement. The anticipation of seeing you again after all this time cannot be put into adequate words. I only hope I am met with a woman as kind and good as the young girl I remember, and that you find that I too have lived up to your expectations. You always did think me a better man than I ever felt myself to be. I fear my face shall never be fair to look upon again, but I hope my heart and mind can make up for some small part of that in your eyes.

Time until the hour of our reuniting cannot pass quickly enough.

Yours,

Aemond

She had clutched the letter to her chest, tried to imagine a world where Aemond would be anything other than fair to look upon and could not do it. And on the day of her intended departure, her father found her reading and re-reading Aemond’s meticulous handwriting with a soft smile on her lips.

“I am many things, my girl, but foolish is not one of them,” her father said, startling her from her reverie.

“Father?” She asked, trying to hide away the letter as covertly as she could.

“You don’t spurn my list of suitors because you think them beneath you. You are proud enough to do that, I do not doubt it, but it is not the true reason you won’t marry.”

Her gut clenched. The letter felt hot under her fingertips. “What are you trying to say?”

He gave her a considering look. “That it would be… unwise of you to think that being my daughter will buy you any mercy from me if you choose wrongly. At any point.”

“Father-“

“Send my nephew my best wishes.” He turned on his heel and left.

Her father’s parting words followed her as she left her rooms later in the morning and met Grey Ghost in the Dragonmont. He grumbled in a good natured fashion, low in his throat, as she buckled on her saddle and bags. She was not nervous as she led him to the mouth of the smoking cavern, out onto the hillside. They hadn’t had this long a flight in many moons, but she felt they were ready.

On the hillside, however, she was greeted by the sight of the eldest four of her siblings assembled. Taking in the look of surprise on Sena’s face, Rhaena stepped forward, her hands clasped before her. “We came to see you off, sister,” she said. “To wish you well on your journey and… let you know we will anxiously await your return.”

Sena dropped Grey Ghost’s bridle and stepped away from her dragon. She gave the young ones a curious look. Baela had her arms crossed over her chest, with her signature expression of trying not to care on her face, Jacaerys’ brows were furrowed, and Lucerys was shuffling his feet in the dirt, avoiding her gaze. “You don’t think I’m coming back, do you?”

Jace grimaced. “We haven’t given you much reason to,” he said with a small frown. “After all that has happened.”

Sena shook her head in disbelief, and came forward to pull her stepbrother into her arms. She had to stand on her toes now to put her chin over his shoulder. “You idiots,” she sighed, and ruffled his dark hair as she pulled back. The Velaryon boys’ hair was not unlike her own, so it made her prickle to hear it used as an indicator of their legitimacy. “You think I’m distant because I do not love you? If that is how I have come across… I am so sorry.”

Luke finally looked up and met her gaze. “I took out Prince Aemond’s eye, Sena.”

“We did,” Baela corrected sharply. “All of us share the responsibility for what happened, Luke. Aemond shares in it too.”

Sena sighed. “Luke, I no more blame you for what happened than I blame the Prince. You were a little boy, protecting your brother. It was a childish fight gone too far, and our whole lives we have been put in untenable positions by our guardians, by those who should be protecting us. I love you. I love you all, my little brothers and sisters. And I am so sorry if I ever gave you cause to doubt it.”

Rhaena sniffed, looking up at Sena with glassy violet eyes so like her own. “You never did,” she said, “we just doubted whether we deserved it.”

Sena reached out and brushed a lock of hair from her forehead. “Rhaena, you are deserving of my love just by your mere existence. You will never have to earn it. You are my family. Every time you laugh at my awful embroidery,” Rhaena gave her a watery smile and she turned to Jace and Luke, “or laugh at me when father knocks me on my arse in the training yard, I am reminded of how lucky I am to have you. How lucky I am to not be alone in this world anymore.”

Grey Ghost gave a whicker behind her and she reached out and ruffled Luke’s hair so that he would give her a smile. Rhaena was still teary and Baela was restless, a little uncomfortable at such open affection. Jace, the good, kind boy that he was, put an arm around his little brother’s shoulders. “I have to go,” Sena said, “but I will be back. Partly because Princess Rhaenyra is the one true future Queen of the Seven Kingdoms. Partly because my father has promised he will drag me back to Dragonstone kicking and screaming if he must. But mostly, because you, sweet children, are my family, and as your big sister, my last duty in this world will be to protect you.”

Rhaena flung her arms around Sena and hauled her in close by the neck. Jace wrapped his spare arm around the two and pulled Luke into the fold, and even Baela gave up on her adolescent standoffishness and joined the group huddle. “Team Dragonstone,” the elder twin mumbled with something verging on affection.

Rhaena laughed wetly. “Team Dragonstone,” she seconded.

Sena eventually had to pull away so she did not lose more light, but as she climbed into the sky on dragonback, she watched the shrinking figures of her siblings waving up at her and made herself a promise. Those children would not know the fear and loneliness she had known all those years ago, stumbling around Dragonstone in search of a sea cave. So long as she lived, she would make sure of it.

She had carefully studied her map and compass before leaving and memorised the landmarks she was looking for as Grey Ghost charted a south-westerly course. The open ocean rolled out around her on all sides, and she was truly without another person for the first time in a very long time. She was comforted to find it did not make her feel as forlorn as it used to. She was no longer the scared little girl, looking for something steady to cling to. She was a dragonrider, an able swordswoman, and she was on no side but her own. Choosing to strike out on her own and forge her own path felt a lot less lonely than being left behind by everyone else.

It was afternoon by the time King’s Landing loomed into sight at the mouth of the Blackwater Rush. The capital was a vast stretch of tiled roofs, ramshackle huts, and guard towers springing up from the city walls. The Dragonpit and Maegor’s Holdfast loomed over the rest of the city, and it was over the Red Keep that Grey Ghost made his descent. “Paez, paktot,” she guided him. Slow, right. Unless he lived to be two hundred years old, Grey Ghost would never be a large dragon, Sena had long accepted, so he was able to touch down in a central courtyard of the keep, much to the discomfort of some nearby guards.

“Kirimvose,” she murmured in thanks to Grey Ghost as she untethered herself and dismounted, bringing a gentle hand to his neck to soothe him. A young page fearfully scuttled up to her, eyeing the grey dragon warily. “Could you inform the King and Queen that their niece, Visenya has arrived, please?” She asked, “I’ll need my saddle bags taken to my rooms, also. Oh, and please warn the servants not to come near him. He has no love for strangers. I’ll take him to the Dragonpit myself once I have greeted my family.”

“The King is receiving wedding guests in the throne room all day today, my lady,” the little boy said in a squeaky voice, never breaking eye contact with Grey Ghost.

Sena raised an eyebrow as she unbuckled her bags from her dragon’s saddle and heaved them off of him. “Well, in that case, just see to it that my dragon is unbothered and my bags are taken to my room. I’ll announce myself,” she said with a grin. The boy nodded and hurried off to round up a maidservant or two. Sena dumped her things at a far enough distance from her dragon that they would be able to collect them without being turned to charcoal. “Gīda, Grey Ghost. Kesan sagon arlī aderī,” she called. Calm, Grey Ghost. I will be back soon.

With that, she set off down the familiar hallways of the Red Keep. Still clothed in her riding leathers and her hair likely a wild tangle, she really ought to go and ready herself in her rooms first, but she could not resist the urge to make an entrance when no one knew she had arrived and see the looks of surprise on their faces. The keep was the hive of activity that it always was when big occasions came around and courtiers flocked from each corner of the realm. It was officially only the wedding of the King’s second and third children, who were being steadily knocked further down the line of succession with each child that Princess Rhaenyra bore, but Sena had no doubt that the Queen would be making this a ceremony fit for a future king. The ambitions of House Hightower demanded it. 

She was unsurprised to see a small flock of Lords and Ladies waiting outside the doors to the Throne Room, awaiting their chance to present themselves to their King in a cloud of flowery perfume and equally flowery words. When Ser Harrold Westerling, Lord Commander of the Kingsguard caught sight of Sena, however, he bowed at his waist and waved her ahead. The gathered lords and knights looked aghast at her jumping the queue, but she did not mind. She was used to people not recognising her - besides her step brothers, she was one of the only members of the family without their customary silver hair, and it did not help that her father had sequestered her from court for half her lifetime. “My lady,” Ser Harrold said, “it is fine to see you return to the King’s halls.” He gestured over a page, “tell the herald the Lady Visenya has arrived,” and the young boy ducked into the throne room to relay the news.

“Thank you, Ser. I have certainly missed it,” Sena said with a wide smile, smoothing down her riding clothes and her hair. She then leaned in. “Tell me, is my uncle even awake at the moment? He always did find these things such a bore.”

Ser Harrold gave her a knowing look. “If the King himself is not asleep by now, the Royal Behind certainly must be.”

Sena smirked. “In that case, Ser, I shall do my best to rouse him.”

The doors swung inwards before her. Sena braced herself with a breath and began the long walk up the length of the throne room. The herald’s voice boomed across the hall, “Lady Visenya of House Targaryen, daughter of Prince Daemon and Lady Rhea Royce!” 

The King started at that and raised his gaze to meet hers from where he was slightly slumped in his seat. By the gods did he look tired - not sleepy but tired. His eyes however filled with warmth when he saw who it was that was stalking up the hall to meet him.

She could hear the whispers of the courtiers around her, “-sent that girl?” No doubt they were discussing what an insult it was for the Princess of Dragonstone to send the least relevant of her husband’s daughters as representative to her brother and sister’s wedding. But Sena had not come for any of them. She had come for the King, and for the blonde-haired girl sat to his right, so she could not say she truly cared what they whispered.

Before the Iron Throne, she fell to one knee and bowed her head. “Your Grace,” she said, projecting her voice as loud as she could, “Uncle. I have flown to King’s Landing as representative to the Princess of Dragonstone and the Heir to the Iron Throne, so that we might witness the wedding of Prince Aegon and Princess Helaena. Princess Rhaenyra and Prince Daemon send their warmest congratulations on this happiest of days for our noble house.”

“Rise, my lady,” the King croaked. She got to her feet, and watched as the King shakily pushed himself up from the twisted mass of blades that served as his throne. It was with a faint pang of shock that she realised his entire left hand was replaced with a golden cast and his right eye was horrifically bloodshot, the socket weeping angrily at the corner. But he was still her uncle, still the kind man who had shown her nothing but love. He went to shuffle unsteadily down the steps before him to meet his niece, but in the spur of the moment, Sena decided to spare him the effort and instead mounted the steps to the throne instead. She regretted it as soon as she’d done it, as it was a move that had the attendant Kingsguard reaching for their swords, but the King waved them off with a croaky laugh. Sena carefully remained a step below him, pulling him into a hug before the eyes of the entire throne room.

“Uncle,” she said. She ignored the musty, sour scent about him that penetrated even his perfumed clothes and instead burrowed into his warmth.

He clapped her back with his false hand, bringing his right arm tightly around her shoulders. “Sena,” he said. “It’s so good to see you, my girl, all grown up. How have you been?”

“Good, my King. Glad to be back,” she said with a smile as she pulled back, keeping her arms around him to steady him. “And how are you?

“Well…” the King said, and gestured as if to say look at me, but he smiled his kindly smile regardless. “We can talk of that later. You are invited to join myself, the Queen and your cousins at supper tonight, if it pleases you?”

Sena smiled from ear to ear. “I can think of nothing that would please me more,” she said.

He nodded. “Go,” he said, patting her on the back and whispering lowly, “the sooner you leave me to get this over and done with, the sooner we can catch up over Arbor red and venison.”

Sena grinned and helped her Uncle back to his throne, then gave him a short bow and descended the steps of the Iron Throne. She side-stepped out of the way of the next courtier and to her amusement she noticed the Kingsguard looking more relaxed with every step she took away from the frail King. At the foot of the throne, she turned to the two blonde-haired figures sat to the side in padded, ornamental chairs and glowing finery. 

It seemed she had managed to pique even Aegon’s interest, which might be the single greatest achievement of her life, but it was more Helaena’s reaction she was interested in.

No sooner was she out of the way for the next Lord in line to be presented to the King than did the Princess fly at her. Helaena clashed into her, forcing an oof from Sena’s chest, and her wiry arms wrapped around Sena’s neck like a vice. “Is this a hug?” Sena croaked, sending an imploring look at Aegon who only smirked at her, not moving a muscle to help.

“Dearest cousin,” Helaena mumbled into her neck, still making it very difficult for her to breathe, and Sena relented, wrapping her arms around her best friend’s chest and taking in the soft scent of her hair.

“Helaena.”

The older girl suddenly pulled back, breaking their embrace, and gave her a thump on the arm. It wouldn’t have hurt - Helaena wasn’t exactly strong - but for the bruise that Prince Daemon had left on her upper arm at training, and Sena winced. “Ouch!” 

“That’s for abandoning me for years and never coming to visit,” she said with a scowl, apparently unbothered that half of the court was watching them. 

“If the choice had been mine, I never would have left, Princess,” Sena said, gathering one of Helaena’s hands in hers, “you must know this.”

Helaena frowned and conceded the point. “I know,” she said, “mother and Aemond told me so. I just… wanted to be angry at someone.”

“And landing a blow on your father would cause more trouble,” Aegon said with a grin as he lazily pushed himself up and pulled Sena into his arms. The scent of ale seemed to seep from his pores. “Hello, cousin. My, how you’ve grown.” He squeezed her in an overfamiliar way and Sena tried hard to keep the disgust from her features. She took a clear step back from him once she’d been freed.

“My prince and princess,” she said, gesturing a little awkwardly with her arms, “about to be husband and wife! What a day!”

“A joyous day indeed,” Helaena said, trying her best to look pleased, whereas Aegon just seemed bored with the whole affair. Whatever. As long as he was not cruel to her and left her alone beyond the duties that were expected of them, Sena hoped Helaena could find some semblance of peace, happiness and security with him.

“You could have done worse, Princess,” Sena said under her breath with a wry smile. “I know he’s… Aegon, but he is a prince and… a jolly one at that. You have much in common!” Their parents, sure, but what else? Sena was at the limit of her ability to complement Aegon, and he was only scowling at her for her efforts.

“And when will you be married, sweet cousin?” He said, delighting in the way it made her squirm. “Surely my uncle must be looking to barter you for some land or title by now?”

She tamped down on the bubbling anger inside her. “Alas, that was the worse fate I was referring to! My perpetual spinsterhood. It seems the mere daughter of a prince is not as desirable as your intended, cousin.”

He gave her a full body appraisal that made her skin crawl. “Not so sure about that.”

She was thankfully saved by Queen Alicent, looking regal in emerald green, with her rich brown hair pinned under an ornate hairnet. “Lady Visenya,” she said, her eyes soft and kind, “it has been too long.”

“My Queen,” Sena dipped into a curtsey, then righted herself and went into the Queen’s open arms for a hug. Queen Alicent’s hugs felt like what she imagined her mother’s would have. Warm and safe and gentle. They pulled back. “I’m so sorry. Not a day has gone by where I haven’t missed you all.”

Alicent smoothed her hair down with bejewelled fingers. “It is alright, sweet girl. We know you would have come if you were able to. Will you please come to supper tonight? I wish to hear all about how you have been and what adventures you have had.”

Sena smiled. “I would love to, my Queen. And I can’t wait to hear how you all have been!” She said, trailing off a little as she looked around, searching for the final face to complete the little circle. Daeron was currently being fostered in Oldtown, which only left-

“Aemond is seeing to Vhagar in the Dragonpit,” the Queen said, following her gaze.

“I didn’t-“

“Where I would be too if father had not demanded my presence,” Aegon interrupted with an eye roll, settling himself back into his seat and looking down the growing line of people waiting to greet the bride- and groom-to-be.

Helaena shrugged, ignoring her brother. “You know Aemond, this isn’t really his idea of fun,” she said, then leaned in. “He doesn’t like the staring.”

A look of sadness passed over the Queen’s face and Sena’s heart lurched. She cast a look back over her shoulder, at the increasingly restless lords and ladies accumulating behind her. “In truth, it’s not mine either. These people have no love for me and mine. I will meet you for supper later in the King’s apartments?”

Helaena nodded eagerly. The Queen smiled, “until then, my lady,” she said.

-----

Grey Ghost seemed to recognise his surroundings as he lowered himself and his rider into the Dragonpit. The dragonkeepers eyed Grey Ghost warily, making their presence known to him by thudding their feet and staffs into the dirt as they came forward to meet him. Sena could not help but grin - even after all these years, her companion held his reputation for being a solitary and grumpy beast. She lowered herself down from her saddle and patted Grey Ghost’s maw soothingly. “Where would I find Vhagar?” She asked the approaching men.

They looked at each other, and the taller spoke. “Through the passage to the cliffs, my lady.”

“Hmm,” Sena intoned. A secret passage below the Dragonpit to the cliffs overlooking Blackwater Bay? How very Aemond. “Where can I find this passage?”

The two men exchanged another look and eyed her warily. “Is the Prince expecting you, my lady?” The designated speaker asked.

“No. But I mean him no harm, I only wish to greet him after years apart,” she said, and narrowed her eyes at the men.

“The Prince will not wish to be interrupted by unexpected visitors-“

“That will not extend to me,” she snapped, finally grasping what this was about. Her colour. “By now, I am used to my own blood questioning my motives based on something as trivial as the man who sired me, but it is new coming from our dragonkeepers. Do not forget yourselves, sirs.”

The shorter one looked a little horrified, and beckoned her to follow after him. “Of course, my lady. Apologies, my lady.” He led her down into the belly of the Pit, and pointed her down a long, sloping passageway. 

“Thank you,” she said with a nod, and heaved a heavy iron torch from its setting on the wall.

Working her way down into the bowels of King’s Landing with nought but a smoky torch in a slippery passageway, Sena steadied herself against the wall and squinted into the gloom. The passage could not have been more than seven feet tall by three feet wide, the floor rough and uneven. Had Aemond commissioned it himself, she wondered? Or maybe it had always been here. The air became cool and damp as she descended, but the haze eventually began to lift and light seemed to penetrate the end of the tunnel. She could taste the sea on her lips and she hurried her steps, a small smile already gracing her features.

The passage opened out onto a large cave, high in the cliffs facing onto the bay. The afternoon light cast the rock and trickling streams in a warm glow. Stalagmites and stalactites reached for each other from ceiling to floor. 

Vhagar was unmissable, coiled in on herself and sleeping peacefully in the golden hour sun. She was a beautiful sight to behold up close. Her scales were a deep, shifting green-brown, the colour of serpentinite that was mined on Dragonstone. She lazily flickered one amber eye open, and Sena’s breath caught in her chest, for a moment struck with the cold realisation that she was only about as large as one of the dragon’s teeth. But she supposed Vhagar knew a Targaryen when she saw one at this point in her long life, and decided Sena was not worth the effort of rousing herself from her slumber. Sena left the old dragon to rest, and carried on to the mouth of the cave.

For a moment, she thought herself alone in the cave with Vhagar, the Prince nowhere to be seen, but then she caught sight of a man laid out at the mouth of the cave, basking in the afternoon sun. From the side of his face that Sena could see, his eye was shut, and gorgeous silver-blonde hair spilled like a waterfall onto the rock he laid on. His sword belt was discarded beside him and his chest rose and fell evenly.

Sena grinned and quietly snuck forward. Let her show the Prince how foolish it was to let his guard down as such. She tiptoed further and reached her hands out, ready to catch the Prince unawares.

As she drew closer to his prone figure, however, her foot knocked the tiniest pebble, and a lavender eye flickered open. The Prince smirked, taking in her outstretched arms and look of panic on her face, and flung himself up from his sunspot, tackling her to the ground in a fit of laughter.

Sena cackled happily even as Aemond unsheathed his dagger and pointed it to her throat. “Dead,” he said, “I could hear your footfall a mile off. You’ll never make an assassin, sweet cousin.”

Sena laughed, then locked her leg round the back of Aemond’s, leveraging his own weight to flip their bodies over. Her hand flew out to grab the hilt of his forgotten sword, pulling it from its scabbard. She came up to her knees and laid it against his chest. “And what sort of warrior leaves his guard down as such, my Prince?”

He smirked up at her, his remaining eye blown wide, and let his dagger fall in a show of surrender. His long hair was splayed on the ground like sunbeams around his head, and he was lean and wiry under her. She fell back on her haunches and laid his sword to the side. 

“How have you been, Sena?” He shifted up to a seated position, then got to his feet, offering her a gloved hand up. 

She gave his hand a squeeze before she let him go. “As well as could be expected,” she sighed. “There hasn’t been a day gone by where I haven’t missed Helaena, your mother and father, you… but my brothers and sisters have helped ease the pain, and Princess Rhaenyra remains a good friend and guide.” He was studying her with an intent gaze, cataloguing every change like she was. “What about you?”

He sighed. “Much the same as you. Helaena and I have missed you deeply, and with you gone we feel Daeron’s absence even stronger. Too much light and warmth leeched from this damnable city. But we have taken care of each other. Now I’m hoping for a niece or nephew to dote on soon enough,” he said with a put-on smile.

She returned the smile sadly and looked to the ground. “Aemond,” she sighed, “I’m so sorry…”

He raised an eyebrow. “Whatever for?”

“For not being there. When you needed me.”

“Don’t,” he said with a short shake of his head. His movements were sharper, more controlled than he used to be, his body fluid in movement but completely still at rest. Ser Criston had taught him well. “You were there when I needed you. I remember you holding me, sitting by me while the maesters sewed me up.”

“But after-“

“After your father demanded you to his side? Come now, Sena. You were a child, and he is a brute. Don’t apologise for things you have no control over.”

She sighed and nodded. Her gaze found its way to the scar that extended below the patch that covered the socket where his left eye had been, her mind wandering to Helaena’s words, and the look on the face of the Queen. “Why are you down here hiding yourself away from court, Aemond?”

He looked away, giving a wry smile. “So I do not scare the ladies. The staring is dreadful.”

Her heart gave a pang. “Foolish ladies,” she murmured, drinking in each feature of his matured face like she had come to an oasis within a desert. Arrow-straight nose, bow-shaped lips, fine blonde lashes, high cheekbones, strong jaw. He was everything she had wished for and more. His scar and patch added a ruggedness to his looks that she could not deny liking. He was so handsome he set her cheeks aflame.

“Not all the ladies are foolish,” he said with a smirk, “would you like to meet the one I lost an eye for?” Sena cast her gaze back over her shoulder, at the slumbering giant, as Aemond approached his mount. “Gaomagon daor ēdrugon, ñuha riña. Emi iā raqiros,” his voice was a low rasp as he spoke the language of their ancestors, and it made something jolt in Sena. Wake up, my lady. We have a guest. The great beast grumbled in protest, but opened a pair of eyes the size of beacons, stretching her long, weathered neck. Aemond turned back and bid Sena closer to the largest living dragon in the world with an outstretched hand. “You are named for her first rider… and you are dear to me. She will not hurt you,” he said. 

Sena placed her hand in Aemond’s and she felt his warmth as he drew her closer, pressing her hand in his grasp to Vhagar’s vast maw. Heat as old as Valyria roiled beneath the scales and Sena recalled enough of Aemond’s favourite books to know that Vhagar’s flames would be hot enough to melt stone. The Prince backed away and merely watched. The dragon followed Sena with vast amber eyes, large enough to guide ships in a storm, and grumbled low in her throat. 

“Iksan daor aōha Visenya… yn nyke jaelagon mēre tubis naejot sagon hae zirȳla.” I am not your Visenya… but I wish one day to be like her, she murmured to the great beast, and Vhagar rumbled in her chest.

Sena looked over her shoulder at Aemond, who was watching her pet and speak to his dragon  with something wistful in his eye. He turned away from her and went to lean against the front leg of his magnificent beast, then appraised her from afar. It was no different to what Aegon had done in the throne room, but the heat it sent skittering through her was of a different world entirely. This man who could duel her, argue with her, hold her hand and be the only man in the world she could truly trust with her life. When she felt his eye rake over her, it brought the inferno in her veins to life. “You have become so lovely, Sena,” he murmured, holding her gaze resolutely. “In truth, I always thought you lovely. But to see you as a woman grown…”

She blushed and averted her eyes. 

“Do I scare you?” He asked. She looked up with a confused expression. “You cannot seem to hold my gaze when I tell you how you steal my breath away. I know it would be foolish to ever think my appearance could make you feel the same way, but I had hoped if you did not desire me, you might at least accept me…” he trailed off, and grazed a long, bony finger over the lower edge of the eyepatch that covered his left eye from cheekbone to brow. “Do I scare you, Sena?”

“No,” she answered sharply, taking a step closer, stopping just short of touching him. “No. How could you think that? You make me burn, Aemond. I look away because I-“ her heart flipped, “-don’t make me say it.”

He guided her gaze back to his with a finger under her chin. “You may have to, love, so I know what you speak of.”

“Aemond,” she murmured, the air thick between them as she laid a hand on his chest. He covered hers with his own, the rough callouses of their sword hands one and the same.

“Sena,” his lips formed her name reverently.

“You must know, Aemond. How I feel about you.” Years of letters, enough parchment to fell a forest. Spurned betrothals. A bond that had been formed many years ago, right in these caverns.

“I know what I wish to be true, Sena,” he grazed her cheek with his fingertips. “If I am wrong, show some mercy and put a lovesick fool out of his misery.”

Sena reached up, her fingers trembling, and sought his permission. He blinked, drew a steadying breath, and nodded his assent. She slid the leather eyepatch up and off. 

The stitches had not been perfect that night, done in such a hurry to stop the bleeding and calm the belligerent Queen. It had left the skin puckered and jagged, and in place of his eye was a shimmering sapphire. “I see you, Aemond,” she said softly, pressing her lips softly to the bottom of his scar, then the top, then the damaged eyelid. “I… I think I might love you.”

Aemond let out a shaky, disbelieving laugh. “Fool.” 

They were hovering so close to each other, breathing as one, and when she kissed him, he let out a breathy sigh and pulled her into his embrace. His eye patch dropped to the ground, forgotten, and she was enveloped in the scent of leather and brimstone - the scent of a dragonrider. He licked softly at her bottom lip and twined a hand into her dark curls. “Sena,” came a whisper against her mouth as she twisted her fingers into his leathers and reeled herself in.

They were chest to chest, tangled up in each other in an inextricable mess, his scent running rampant over her senses and through her mind. Sweat and leather and fire and rosemary, his hair smelled of rosemary. He dragged in a breath like a drowning man, knotting his hands into her hair, and he was trying in vain to hold himself still but he was trembling against her, head to foot.

“Prince Aemond!”

As fast as they had began, they broke apart. Aemond bowed his head and reached for his eyepatch. The rush of blood was near enough to topple Sena, as she righted their appearances with hurried hands. Aemond’s hands grasped protectively at her elbows, keeping her near, as he looked up to the newcomer at the mouth of the passage. Somewhere overhead, Vhagar gave a whicker. 

“What?” Aemond snapped, and Sena knew her face must be bright red.

At the entrance to the cave, Ser Criston Cole faltered, taking in the Prince and the Lady’s proximity, their flustered appearances. “I- I apologise,” he stammered. “I merely- the Queen wished me to let you know that- well, that the Lady Visenya had arrived… and that dinner will be served within the hour.”

“I didn’t know you were my mother’s pageboy as well as her sworn shield,” Aemond said, disgruntled. “My lady,” he said, turning his lavender eye on Sena. “It seems you are here in the city, did you know that?”

Ser Criston did not have a reply to that, likely something to do with the violent flush in his cheeks that mirrored Sena’s own. “Lady Visenya,” he merely said instead and bowed.

Sena grimaced and nodded. “Ser Criston, it’s good to see you again,” she said, trying to smile even as her jaw attempted to crush her own teeth out of embarrassment.

“At least someone’s glad to see him,” Aemond muttered under his breath as he righted his tunic. The loss of his touch was like water on coals. He raised her hand to his lips and kissed her. “My lady. I’ll see you at supper?”

“My prince,” she curtseyed and watched as he gathered his sword from the ground and stalked off, pushing past Ser Criston. She squeezed her eyes shut, only finally prying one open to see if Ser Criston was still standing there, or if the ground had taken mercy on her and swallowed her up. “I- please don’t tell my father.” Gods, Sena? Really?

Ser Criston cleared his throat, holding his hands behind his back. “I saw nothing, my lady. Only two childhood friends… tussling. Yes,” he nodded, satisfied with himself. “Though, one might consider keeping tussling to private rooms.”

She nodded stiffly, refusing to accept the reality that she was getting a lesson on propriety and morality from a knight of the Kingsguard. She turned on her heel and marched from the cave before she burst into flames. Vhagar’s parting rumble sounded like a cruel laugh.

The humiliation was still subsiding as she readied herself for supper. One of Helaena’s handmaidens had been spared to help her tame her hair after the ride - and the kiss - and the girl secured the half-knot at the back of Sena’s head with a clasp she had brought in the shape of a dragon’s claw. Sena was then laced into a black gown with bell sleeves and red trim, the only gown she had been able to take. She surveyed herself in the looking glass. Daemon’s pointed nose and violet eyes stared back at her, framed by her mother’s near-black curls and straight brows. Far from a mythic beauty, she feared, but she looked strong in the black, like a woman grown. “Good enough?” She asked the handmaiden.

“Beautiful, princess,” the young girl said.

Sena smiled kindly. “I’m just a Lady,” she said, and the girl covered her mouth as she realised the mistake, “it’s kind of you to think me graceful enough to be a princess, though.”

“So sorry, my lady-“

Sena placed a soothing hand on her upper arm and squeezed. “Don’t apologise,” she said. “Show me to supper?”

The handmaiden showed her to the King’s private dining room, where she had taken many meals before with various members of her family. She was the last to arrive, she noticed with a blush. Aemond could and would take the blame for that. The King did not seem to notice or care, though, as he beckoned her to his side and poured a hearty glass of wine for her. “My dear niece!” He said, “returned to us at last. Tell me everything of your exploits, Sena. I want to hear how you have driven my brother to madness these past few years.”

Sena laughed joyously as the Queen and her three elder children took their seats. The Queen regarded her warmly and Helaena was resplendent in a cloth-of-gold gown on the eve of her wedding. Aemond looked as impassable as his elder brother, but he took the seat opposite her, and their legs knocked together under the table.

It was a beautiful night, filled with warmth and laughter, recounting tales of the King’s grandsons to him, to his delight, and sharing her own progress on the training yard and in the schoolroom. “My father is a fantastic teacher, but he does not pull his strikes. I’m often limping to supper,” she said with a grimace, and Aegon laughed darkly.

“That’s nothing. Ser Criston once didn’t pull his mace fast enough and caught me in the balls. Could barely walk for a week.”

“At least you’re used to that kind of punishment, right, brother?” Aemond said wryly. The King and Sena burst out laughing at that, and Aegon scowled. The Queen wrinkled her nose in distaste and Helaena did not seem to understand but smiled anyway.

It was so good to see them all again. The Queen was watching Sena and Helaena with a soft and doting expression, as they laughed and shared their stories from the past few years. Aegon pushed his food around his plate and got steadily drunker, curiously nervous for his upcoming nuptials. Prince Aemond was quiet, but he never took his eyes off of Sena, not for a moment. Sena found herself glancing at the Queen, wondering if she already knew, or if Ser Criston had some small measure of discretion in him.

After the dinner plates had been cleared, Sena stood and raised her glass. “To Aegon and Helaena,” she said. “May the gods bless the union of my sweet Helaena and her dear brother. And may our noble house’s dominion over this land remain strong, peaceful and prosperous, as it has under good King Viserys and will continue to be under our future queen.”

King Viserys heartily raised his glass, “Hear hear!” Helaena followed suit.

The Queen and her elder sons exchanged pointed looks but followed after the King.

Aemond was last to raise his glass, and the smirk he gave Sena when he joined her toast was enough to make her blood run fiery hot and ice cold.

“You look beautiful in the colours of your house, my lady,” the Queen noted her black dress with a smile that looked a little tight. She was of course clothed in her signature deep green. “It’s always a joy to me to see young ladies coming into their own taste, trying new fashions. I trust you have a similarly breathtaking gown for the wedding?”

It was a probing question, that much was clear, and Sena winced. “Actually, Grey Ghost is still reticent to wear much more than a draught horse’s saddle, and I do not like to push him. He was so used to being his own master all his life, after all. So I was rather limited in what I could take. What you see is unfortunately the limit of my wardrobe. But I shall do my hair different on the morrow and it will be like a new gown-“

“Nonsense,” Aemond said, breaking his silence. He looked to his mother and sister. “Mother and Helaena must have a thousand dresses between them, you shall have your pick.”

The Queen smiled indulgently at her son and Helaena nodded eagerly. “Yes, Sena,” she insisted, reaching over the table to take her hand, “maybe start with Mother’s, you have a similar figure, but we shall have a seamstress on hand to make last-minute adjustments as well!”

Colour flooded Sena’s cheeks - to be given free rein of the Queen’s wardrobe was quite something. Her dresses would be worth their weight in gold. Sena looked to her aunt and uncle for reassurance, and the Queen nodded. “I have no objections. There is nothing I could refuse you, my girl.”

The next morning, Sena was awoken early by the scurrying of servants outside her door. It was to be an early start for all, it seemed. She rose from bed and tamed her hair, washing her face in the basin of fresh water and then pulling on last night’s dress over her undergarments. She would find a dress, ready herself, then go to Helaena’s chambers so she might assist the bride in getting ready.

The route from her room to the Queen’s chambers was one she had walked every morning for years, on her way to lessons in the solar or to be scolded for some misbehaviour she had concocted with the Prince or Princess. With her new stature as a grown woman, the halls seemed smaller than they had back then and her purpose was strange and new. She bypassed the solar, and knocked on the door of the Queen’s own bedchamber.

A maidservant opened to her and announced her arrival to the Queen. “Let her in,” Alicent instructed.

Queen Alicent and her ladies were adding the finishing touches to her appearance at her dressing table. She was clothed in a deep green gown with lacework stitched up to her throat. Her hair twisted in and out of her golden tiara like climbing ivy, and her cheeks and lips were painted with a delicate peach rouge. “My Queen,” Sena curtseyed, “you look beautiful.” 

Alicent smiled and rose from her seat, pressing a soft palm to her niece’s cheek. “Thank you, sweet girl. I’m sorry I cannot stay and help you dress, but my ladies and I are to go to Helaena’s chambers and help her ready herself for the sept,” she said. 

Sena nodded graciously. “It’s okay, my Queen. Helaena has already spared me a handmaiden for the duration of my visit, I will summon her-“

“No need,” a man’s voice said from the doorway, and Sena spun around to see Aemond, all in black. Her heart quickened. “I have never laced a bodice before, but it cannot be so hard.”

Sena bit her lip to keep her smile at bay but the Queen looked less convinced, glancing around at her ladies-in-waiting. “I- I’m not sure that is at all proper, Aemond,” she said, reaching for her pendant of the seven-pointed star.

Aemond narrowed his eye. “It’s just a gown, mother. Lady Visenya is already wearing her corset and petticoats. I merely wish to lend a hand on a busy day where the ladies have much more to do to ready themselves than the men.”

“Right,” Alicent said, clearing her throat awkwardly, and Sena’s cheeks burned. “Well-“

“My sister is waiting for you, mother,” Aemond prompted gently.

That seemed to make up the Queen’s mind, and she swept from the room in a flurry of skirts, her ladies following behind her with a glance at Sena and the Prince.

Aemond turned back to Sena, looking regal in his wedding finery. He wore a black velvet doublet that accentuated his narrow waist and broad shoulders, tailored breeches and polished leather boots. Sena pressed her hands to her cheeks to tame the flush. “Honestly, Aemond, you don’t half know how to cause a scene in front of your mother’s ladies-“

He drew closer to her and brushed her curls from her shoulder, bearing her neck. The graze of his fingers on her skin raised gooseflesh. “I’d feed them all to my dragon if it meant I could watch you take off your dress,” he said with a smirk.

Sena turned a deeper shade of red and smacked him on the chest. “Aemond!” She scolded, and stepped away from him to retreat to the Queen’s wardrobes and regain her composure, willing the thrum of her heart to slow. She drew the wardrobes open one by one and in the looking glass on the dressing table, she could see Aemond leaning against the wall and tracking her every movement.

There was a lot of green, Sena thought mournfully. It simply would not do. She gave it all a wide berth, and steered clear of the black too, even though it was the colour of her house. She did not wish to send any sort of message. Today was about Helaena… and Aegon too, she supposed.

“What colour, do you think?” She asked Aemond, sending him a coy look.

“I suppose if you must cover up your beauty with clothing,” he said, pushing off of the wall and sauntering over, “and I have correctly guessed you won’t wear my half-sister’s colour or my mother’s… maybe you should match your eyes, sweet.”

Sena dragged her fingers over a rich, purple gown, embellished with shards of quartz. It would certainly look striking against her complexion and hair. But then… her hand fell on the next gown, and her mind was made up.

“Or maybe I should match yours?”

The gown she pulled was deep blue with a plunging neckline and sleeves that seemed to float on the air. Aemond caught her gaze. A blue dress, hardly the colour of his Valyrian eye, but… the colour of sapphires. He swallowed. “You like sapphires?”

“Truthfully, I never thought much of gems until recently. But I have discovered a love for sapphires, yes,” she said.

“Put it on.” It was more a demand than a request.

“Turn away,” she shot back.

He glared at her, and ground his teeth, but turned to face the wall, his shoulders hilariously bunched up and one hand gripped in the other behind his back. She quickly shirked off her dress, left standing in her undergarments. Her shift would need to go and she would need to unlace the top eyelets of her corset, so as not to ruin the neckline of the dress. Gods, how did their pious, demure queen wear this plunging gown? Maybe with a high-necked chemise? Well, Sena was the blood of the dragon, so she’d have to be more daring than that.

“The amount of fabric hitting the ground right now is… tempting, Sena,” the Prince grumbled with his back to her.

“Don’t,” she scolded, even as heat lanced through her belly. “We have some semblance of dignity and honour to maintain, fool.”

He groaned but did not disagree with her.

“Okay,” she said, once she was into the dress, “come lace me up.”

Aemond turned back to her with haste, then seemed to stick in place. “How am I supposed to keep my hands off of you all day if you wear that?” He said.

She gave a self-satisfied nod, and eyed herself in the looking glass with a surge of pride. Long hours on the training yard had given her a more muscled, masculine figure than the ladies at court favoured, but if Aemond did not seem to mind, why should she? “You shall just have to control yourself, my prince.”

He scowled and stepped up behind her, brushing her curls back from her shoulders and laying a kiss on her bare skin. “Just be glad I’m letting you leave this room with your honour, my lady,” he said, and Sena shivered. His hands came up to the small of her back, and he wrapped the laces around his fingers.

“You’re supposed to be lacing it up, fool,” she hissed, as he used the purchase to pull her body backwards, into his. She gasped as she felt the jut of his hipbones against her arse. “Aemond.”

“Keep saying my name like that and we’re not going anywhere,” he breathed, framing her waist with his large hands. Sena felt a growing heat low in her belly and lower, down there. The sort of feelings she normally kept contained to the small hours of the night, thinking of a silver-haired prince. “Gods,” Aemond cursed in her ear, pressing another fevered kiss to her neck, “we truly have to go, don’t we?”

Sena frowned, reaching back to brush his hair behind his ear, right below where he secured his eyepatch. “I think Helaena would hunt us down with Dreamfyre if we missed her wedding.”

Aemond sighed and stepped back from her, adjusting the front of his breeches to alleviate some of the pressure on his… manhood and attempting to comport himself. She took a steadying breath, using the backs of her hands to try to rid some of the flush from her cheeks again.

His hands found her laces again, but this time he did begin to work his way upwards, pulling them tight and securing the dress around Sena’s frame. He finished and laid his hands on her waist once more, now snatched tight by the dress, and he laid his chin on her shoulder, admiring them together in the looking glass.

That was how Helaena found them, with Aemond’s hands on Sena’s waist.

There was a small squeak, and the two lovers sprang apart. Their hands flew separately to the hilts of their swords only to find their sword belts missing on this day of ceremony. But thankfully it was only Helaena, a little pink in the cheeks. Not the best person to find them, but there wasn’t likely to be a duel at least.

“Sister,“ Aemond raised a hand like he was calming a spooked horse.

“Shouldn’t you be getting ready, Helaena?” Sena asked, sounding a little more defensive than she meant to.

“I wanted to come find you,” the Princess said, red in the face. Gods, Sena was about to take Ser Criston up on his advice of not letting Aemond lay a hand on her unless they were behind a locked door. “Mother has brought all her ladies but… I wanted you to help me get ready, Sena.”

Sena felt shame wash over her for snapping at Helaena like so. She willed herself to calm down and stepped forward to take her by the hand, squeezing gently. Her best friend, her first friend, today a bride. “I would love to, Helaena,” Sena said, tucking a long, silver tress behind her hear. “I can braid your hair?”

Helaena seemed not to have heard her, though, as she was still looking between her brother and her best friend. “How long?” She asked simply. She sounded crestfallen.

Sena frowned, “How long…”

Helaena looked up to the high ceiling. “How long have you- have you both felt…” 

Sena’s voice caught in her throat. 

Aemond answered for them both. “A long time.”

Helaena nodded, trying to take the information in. “And you have been… hiding from me?”

“No,” Aemond breathed.

“No, Helaena,” Sena said with an ache in her chest, taking both Helaena’s hands in her own. “We never knew… how the other felt, until yesterday. We have been hiding even from ourselves. I- we just couldn’t keep to ourselves any longer after being apart for so long. I’m so sorry. It didn’t seem right to confide in Aemond’s sister, over letter as well, but I should have. I see that now.”

Helaena gave a nod, looking slightly appeased at the apology. “It’s alright. I think I understand,” she said to them both, “I suppose I am interrupting, then.” Sena gave a relieved laugh and Aemond pressed his lips together like he was holding back a smirk. Helaena looked at them, then she suddenly grew distant. “Green and black together make dark shades, envy and grief…” she blinked, and Sena went deadly still. Aemond stiffened.

Helaena shook her head free of the thought and tried to plaster on a smile. “I shall meet you back in my rooms when you are ready, Sena,” she said, and the moment passed. “You look beautiful, by the way.” She gave Sena’s hands a squeeze, then turned and left the lovers alone once more.

Sena let out a shaky breath. She turned back to Aemond. His eye, the colour of daybreak, searched her face. She was unsure how to proceed, unsure what of that exchange would or should be addressed. She sighed. This damned family. “Save me a dance?”

A familiar lilting smirk valiantly returned to Aemond’s features, and he lifted her hand to his lips. “Save me all of your dances, Lady Visenya.”

She did.

They danced long into the night.

#aemond targaryen x oc #aemond targaryen x reader #aemond targaryen #aemond one eye #hotd #tqc #sorry for slow upload uni has been kicking my ass this week :')

[animehouse-moe]

Manabu Otsuka, Mappa, and Jujutsu Kaisen & Yuri On Ice!!

Today (or well, yesterday in Japan), an interview went live with Manabu Otsuka (who is the CEO of MAPPA), which is equal parts disheartening and disappointing, making it an important read for any anime fan out there, and I'll explain why here.

The single largest red flag here is this paragraph. They want to reach the heights of Kyoto Animation and Ufotable, but in a fraction of the time. This entire concept is a fallacy and just ridiculous in nature.

Why? Well, because Ufotable became a studio in the year 2000. They are just past 20 years of business. Kyoto Animation? That ones a little more valid since it was 1985, so I'll just provide an example to the former.

Ufotable, as a studio gained massive critical acclaim and success with Kara No Kyoukai / The Garden of Sinners, thrusting the studio into the limelight. The year that movie was released? 2007.

Only seven years after the official formation of the studio, they put out an insane success as a studio. Of course, that wasn't entirely consistent, but when you speak to the critical acclaim and refinement of a studio such as Ufotable, Kara No Kyoukai is by no means off of the table. Though, it's not like Fate/Zero was much further behind in 2011.

These dates will remain important later, but I just want to address the final part while I'm here.

Otsuka's solution to "catching" these studios that have a decade or more experience over Mappa? Brute force. Need experience to get better? Well, we're just cram in as much as we can to improve. Oh, but you're worried about quality? Don't worry, we'll make sure to maintain high quality.

Forget what's going on with Jujutsu Kaisen, forget even the issues with Hells Paradise. Series that they 100% funded struggled with production, outsourcing an incredible amount of frames to Chinese studios, even the original season of JJK and its movie struggled with production timelines while delivering.

The sheer hubris of Otsuka as a producer and the CEO of the company is impossible to grasp. During a season where staff members have been crumbling on social media, getting upset over complaints and words from fans, struggling to do good work, Otsuka believes it a good time to provide an interview about front-loading on productions to increase the rate of growth with the studio.

Incredibly frustrating to read, I can't imagine how the actual staff from Mappa feel about the direction they're being dragged in.

But that's only one of two parts to this interview that are just beyond repair.

Otsuka directly credits Yuri On Ice!! and In This Corner of The World for the success and modern image of Mappa. But wait, isn't there supposed to be a Yuri on Ice movie happening at some point? Oh yeahhhhh, it's in production hell and Mappa won't say a word about any actual developments.

I think the only good thing to arise from this paragraph is the fact that they give credit to In This Corner of The World and have recently released Alice and Therese's Illusion Factory. It's the first movie they've release since 2016 that is not a complement to an existing anime IP.

Still, incredibly disheartening to see them credit such foundational series and yet stray so far from them. But hey, they're adapting battle action shonen #3451 so it's all okay.

Anyways, the numbers I mentioned earlier. It took Ufotable 7 years, or even 11 if you want to focus on TV anime only, to find massive success as a studio.

Mappa? They did it in 6 years with Yuri on Ice. Yuri on Ice!! quite literally built Mappa into the studio it is today. Otsuka admits that as fact. But still, Yuri On Ice!! remains by the wayside as a priority for the studio that owes it its standing in the anime industry.

I know that a lot of high level staff with various studios are very much out of touch with the industry as they focus on tradition and the more enigmatic (to Western populations) Japanese business practices, but this exists on an entirely separate level.

Which is incredibly disappointing because there's good conversation from Otsuka about independently produces anime and the monetary challenges that face a studio. But it's hard to feel sympathetic and agree with them when they handle so many other aspects so poorly.

So yeah, I'm not really sure I have some grand reason for why people should read it, but I think it's important in pulling back the curtain on the industry and your favorite studios to realize that these are all corporations trying to make money before they do anime.

#mappa #manabu otsuka #studio mappa #mappa studio #jujutsu kaisen shibuya arc #jujutsu kaisen #jujutsu kaisen season 2 #jjk #jjk season 2 #jjk shibuya arc #yuri on ice #yuri on ice!!! #ユーリ!!! on ice #yuri on ice movie #anime and manga #anime

[milliesmusings314]

Headcanons on Gold and Red Rings, Chaos Emeralds, and Sonic's Iconic Forms

I've been wondering for a while about how the rings and Chaos Energy in the world of Sonic the Hedgehog might work, and I've come up with a few ideas that I'd love to explore.

Of course, my musings don't take into account all of the established canon, as some elements have been changed or discarded over the years, and said musings started before the two latest games in the franchise. But this is mostly just self-indulgent creativity anyways, isn't it? No need to think too hard about the absolutely pin-prick fine details of a franchise that's been ongoing for 31 years and counting, I'd be giving myself a massive headache if I tried.

So, without further ado, let me share how I like to imagine the way that rings and Chaos Energy work in the Sonic universe.

I like to imagine that the golden rings found throughout the zones are a physical manifestation of positive energy. Depending on the amount of positive energy present in a location, the rings can range from being abundant to scarce. For example, when nature is being oppressed and drained of life by the mad doctor Eggman's machines, the rings can become increasingly difficult to come by, as he saps the resources from the land and tramples on its life. In contrast, the buildup of negative energy in an area could lead to the manifestation of red rings, similar to those found in Sonic.EXE fan creations, especially their portrayal in "An Ordinary Sonic ROM Hack", but, y’know... without the crappypasta entity really being at all involved. These rings have the power to cancel out the collected golden rings, thereby weakening the player who is not protected by positive rings.

It would honestly be pretty cool to see SEGA add something akin to this, and develop this whole concept of positive and negative energies further, after involving positive and negative energy in the plot of Sonic Adventure 1 and not touching it again past that.

The Chaos Emeralds, on the other hand, possess limitless energy, but said energy is inherently chaotic and discordant. The Master Emerald, capable of unifying the chaotic energy, serves as a controller, enabling its user to create or destroy. If one uses the energy from the Chaos Emeralds without unification, the result is purely chaos and discordance, a mishmash of positive or negative energy.

Super Sonic is a result of harmonizing the energies of the Chaos Emeralds towards the positive end. You know the deal with that - fifty rings, seven emeralds, and you're golden. Literally.

Hyper Sonic involves harmonizing the energy through the Master Emerald instead, before this energy somehow being purified and refined by the user. Hence the white quills that flash the colors of each of the emeralds - purity of energy combined with a resemblance to the energy’s source. This is the part I've thought the least about, but I still feel like this makes some amount of sense, or at least I hope it will.

Fleetway's version of Super Sonic, meanwhile, came about from the raw unharmonized combination of positive and negative energy within the Emeralds, resulting in disharmony, dissonance, discord… chaos, aptly enough, which is exactly what the transformation resulted in.

Drawing from the negative energies, finally, results in Dark Super Sonic. When Dark Sonic appeared, the only real source of negative energy anywhere near Sonic were the fake Chaos Emeralds. Sonic had previously been able to utilize Chaos Energy by using a fake Emerald that was created by Tails in Sonic Adventure 2, which allowed him to Chaos Control himself back onto the Space Colony ARK, but I personally doubt that Sonic would be able to sustain a real Super transformation with fake Emeralds, even if he had as many as he would normally need, especially since there were very obviously more than seven fake Emeralds visible during the scene in which Dark Super Sonic made its singular appearance. I’d probably say that Sonic has some innate positive energy enabled him, one, to utilize the fake Emerald to perform Chaos Control, and two, probably just to be as powerful (and don’t forget fast!) as he is by default.

This explains Sonic's ability to effortlessly use the Chaos Emeralds. With others, it appears to require either extensive training, such as with Tails in Sonic 3 & Knuckles, who was only able to transform once the energies were already harmonized through the Master Emerald, but became able to use only the Chaos Emeralds alone to transform once Mania came around, suggesting Tails’ adventures in the interim allowed him to somehow gradually unlock the understanding of how to harmonize the energy of these gems, or a deep knowledge and understanding of these gems, such as Knuckles after serving as the guardian of the Master Emerald for fifteen years by the time Sonic and his friends arrive.

Not only that, but it also explains positive energy of Sonic explains why the Dark transformation was easy to undo with just some words from Eggman. Unlike the Super transformation, which adds positive energy on top of positive, Sonic's innate positive energy actually hinders his Dark transformation. This is because his positive energy cancels out some of the negative energy, and since, once again, the supply of negative energy from the fake Emeralds is limited, the transformation wasn’t going to last very long if it were left to continue anyways, with how much of it Sonic was using up at once.

TL;DR: Gold rings represent positive energy, red rings represent negative energy, Chaos Emeralds contain chaotic energy that needs harmonization, Super Sonic is a positive harmony transformation, Fleetway's Super Sonic is unharmonized chaos, and Dark Sonic is a negative harmony transformation, hindered by Sonic's innate positive energy when the negative energy is limited.

#headcanons #sonic headcanons #worldbuilding headcanons #worldbuilding #sonic worldbuilding #sonic the hedgehog #sonic #sth #sega #sonic x #super sonic #hyper sonic #dark sonic #dark super sonic #fleetway #fleetway sonic #fleetway super sonic #chaos emeralds #super emeralds #sonic 3 & knuckles #prower power sonic hour #sonic physics (real) #sonic energy economy #sonic speculation crash course #hedgecanons

[theredofoctober]

Hello!

First of all, I'd really like to thank you for creating all this stuff and sharing it with us. I stumbled upon your fic Wonderland on ao3 many months ago, and it was such an experience. I couldn't get my eyes off my screen. Then I accidentally found you here on Tumblr, and I'm so glad. Your blog is such a delight as I've discovered Tanith Lee and finally started to watch Hannibal (I initially read a few chapters of Manna and realized how much I needed to watch the og source)

Regarding Manna, I really want to express all that I admire about this piece, but I'm not that good with words. Suffice to say, It's sensational how you manage to capture the atmosphere and characters with your writing flow.

If you don't mind, can I ask a little unrelated to the plot question? I know, it was mentioned in passing that Little One wears something that accentuate her body, but did you have in mind some specific dresses or garments that she would have to wear? If not, maybe the colours, materials, length etc?

Thank you once again. I'm very excited about what you have in store for next instalments.

Hi there!

Thank you for your lovely comments about Wonderland! It's been incredible connecting with so many readers, particularly developing a sequel that while released now the fandom is quieting down still reached a lot of people. I may still return to it with one shots as people enjoyed the series so much!

And I'm so excited you discovered Tanith Lee and Hannibal through my blog ❤️ I'm always pleased to share my favourites!

As for Manna, I'm delighted by the response and people getting so immersed into the story! I may make a separate Pinterest board for Little One/Reader so people have better visuals (more for outfits than appearance, as obviously she looks like the reader, or who they prefer to imagine if they don't see themselves in her.)

I do have a personal image of her in my mind though, as I always face cast Reader inserts so I can look at the scenes in my head with actors in them.

Sorry, I digress haha. Before entering the house she had a goth aesthetic— sweaters, baggy jeans, layered fabrics. In the house I'm imagining muted dark pastels inspired by couture— Hannibal doesn't take her style away from her as much as refine it, which occasionally results in him choosing cuts and fits she feels exposed in.

This includes longer and shorter styles, taffetas, velvets, lace, ribbons, silks— I've attached some ideas here to see, and to inspire myself going forward!

As they grow closer their wardrobe ideas will meet more in the middle. We're thinking Betsey Johnson, if that's any help. Ultimately Hannibal’s 'design' for Little One is to help her uncover herself and the complexities that are herself.

Once I've fleshed out the Pinterest board I'll share it, but these are some concepts for now ❤️

#ask thenightsibling #ask theredofoctober

[maxwell-grant]

pizza tower is out! have you played it already ? if so, thoughts?

OF COURSE and, man it feels weird that the game is finally out officially. The demos for it have been probably my most played “game” over the past years, and I’ve played all of the demos available to Patreon backers plus some of the old public ones. I've been following for a long time through countless refinements and changes and do-overs and now it’s finally out, for good. I donated to this some years ago and now my name is in the credits of this thing! Feels pretty great!

I'm as biased as it gets in regards to it. It plays marvelously, it has one of the most fun characters to control ever made, endlessly replayable on the basis of that alone. The soundtrack is self-evidently kickass and has always been one of the biggest draws this game’s had to pull people in, the artstyle and animation being the other massive draw. Most of the big virtues of Pizza Tower are very self-evident, so instead I wanna talk a little on it's story and characters, because now that the game is out, it finally has a proper "canon' of sorts, in the sense that a lot of this stuff is no longer going to be rewritten or changed based on demos. Now Pizza Tower’s finally set-in-stone, of sorts, and that end result is what I wanna talk about:

I think Pizza Tower kind of had an uphill battle at first making sure it had an audience besides people who just showed up for the Wario Land-fix. Initially, that was the promise, it was designed to give people that fix that they weren’t gonna get from Nintendo themselves, and the game’s initial success in it’s demos kicked off that rise in what people now call Wario-likes, some of which are more blatant about it. The game initially played pretty much exactly as you’d expect a Wario Land fangame to be like and was set apart mainly by it’s distinct animation and catchy music, and maybe that could have been enough, but it evidently wasn’t, given how many undercooked demos it took for it to reach it’s current distinctive gameplay and appeal.

Of course, the Wario Land vibe may still be a big part of what people talk about in regards to Pizza Tower, but there was a very substantial shift over the years that I saw in real time, as the conversation around it shifted from “If you like Wario Land you should look into this new Pizza Tower thing, it seems like basically that with the serial numbers filed off”, to “Hey Pizza Tower rules, the music is kickass and the protagonist is very fast and the animation is super funny, you should play these demos, also it’s inspired by Wario games if you’re into those”. I actually didn’t even see Wario Land get brought up much at all in the last days since it’s launch, partially because Wario’s had his own comeback since 2018 (although just for the Ware games) but mainly because Pizza Tower succeeded in setting itself apart from it’s inspiration. It got people wanting the Pizza Tower-fix, and not just the bootleg-Wario-fix, if that makes sense.

And of course part of that comes from how Pizza Tower didn’t stick to just Wario games, but gradually took bits and pieces from stuff like Sonic, Earthworm Jim, Looney Tunes and Tiny Toons, some otherobscure defunct games that got brought up on occasion and etc, and then just kept throwing these gimmicks at a wall of beta testers and Patreon backers it accumulated to see what stuck and what didn’t. The game had a very small development team, and gradually acquired more and more of a following, and it made the most out of both.

I think a rather underrated aspect of the game is how Pizza Tower works at squeezing blood from stone in regards to it’s narrative and characters. The game follows in that platforming tradition of stock excuse plots that are as least obtrusive to the gameplay as they can possibly be, and for the longest time the demos and game didn’t even have one of those because no reason was settled (or needed) on why Peppino had to trek through these blasted towers fighting monsters while scared shitless the whole time, and a couple of different lore motivations were tried out over the years to explain some aspects (if anyone reading this is also in the PT Discord, you guys remember when Noise was some kind of weird shadow mirror self of Peppino? That was a thing for a bit, glad it got canned early). I want to emphasize how the trial and error approach of the development applied to Peppino’s character and the game’s story because I’m very much of a fan of what the game finally settled on: Peppino fighting to save his business from being destroyed.

Peppino is a miserable man who owns a failing pizza business and is struggling to make ends meet, who one day gets cornered by a giant pizza monster who lives on the tower across his shop, who tells him that he’s going to blow up and destroy his pizzeria, and so Peppino has no choice but to race against the clock to stop this from happening. Prior motivations tried out concepts like he destroyed “evil towers” as a job or was looking for secret ingredients to bake better pizzas, but the finished game cuts the filler and instead puts a giant bomb hanging over everything Peppino has, which is a shitty pizzeria, and sets him on collision course to cathartically smash the bomb.

The game chooses to emphasize Peppino’s poverty and struggles followed by blistering rage at the injustice he’s being inflicted with, and this is something that works better even just reflecting his basic design: though he is a chef, though he may put up ads of himself as a jolly cartoon, he cannot act like one to save his life, and if you look closer he’s actually just wearing a sleeveless shirt over black clothing: he can’t even afford an actual apron. He’s a failure who has very little to call his own, and he’s about to lose even that because some assface sitting high and mighty deemed it so: he’s a walking embodiment of an incredibly relatable frustration, and he’s going to smash the source of that frustration right in the fucking face.

You get this entire deal in the frames of animation Peppino goes through just before he faces down the final boss: he spots his place in the distance and looks dejectedly at it, gets scared when the boss looms down before him, and that fear gives way to shrieking rage as he prepares to throw down not just to save his business but as payback for all the shit he’s put up with the whole game, and MAN does the final fight make it all worth it

Because the game has basically no dialogue outside of in-game hints and flavor text, it has to put a lot of effort in making it’s cast shine non-verbally. Right from the start it was pitched as having a strong Earthworm Jim and Courage the Cowardly Dog influence, it was always playing around with as many cartoon tropes and gags as it could, and the end result in-game is that Pizza Tower does succeed big time in feeling like a cartoon show that could have been.

All of it’s levels are accompanied by title cards that present said stages as “episodes”, and all of them have built-in gimmicks with implied narratives like picking fights with pirates, taking a trip to space and back, going to jail and needing your friend to bail you out, getting stalked and hunted by monstrous animatronics until you get a shotgun that lets you hunt them back, and etc. There’s a level where you can surf through graveyards on the back of a corpse while looking scared shitless, and the Achievements later reveal Peppino used to know the dead guy when he was still alive, and so on. The core story is just there enough to make the final fight feel narratively satisfying, and along the way you get all these little bits and pieces that make this world richer and it’s characters more lively, enough that we can fill in the blanks and see how they would fit if they were part of a long-running franchise or some kind of wacko world with off-screen adventures before or after the game.

Gustavo wound up being one of the more pleasant surprises in the game. And not just gameplay-wise, since I honestly found playing Gustavo in the demos a chore but they buffed his moveset a lot in the game proper and made him a lot more fun to mess around with, but even character-wise. Ever since his planned spin-off didn’t take off Gustavo was kind of a throwaway character for the longest time without much of anything going on for him, with his in-game role as someone you'd deliver pizzas for and would beat you up if you failed (and was apparently your boss).

In-game, Gustavo is no longer your boss, in fact apparently he no longer knew Peppino before the game, he's just a guy who is going into the tower at the same time as you (and clearly more prepared since he’s got a map), tangled up in his own side-adventures taming and befriending a giant rat, who’s taking the time to help you out anyway. In-game he’s this nice, friendly character who is straightforward in a way Peppino can't be, he's got a kind of beady-eyed cuteness to him that Mario used to have in the old 2D titles (and a super deep smoker voice for contrast), and he winds up becoming your Luigi (...or maybe it’s the other way around and you’re his Luigi) in the sense that he complements and contrasts you as the secondary lead (and you sorta do Bro Attacks together at the end).

The game gets a lot of mileage out of the Gustavo and Brick dynamic as is in a way that makes it so Gustavo on his own doesn’t have to be as extravagant as Peppino or Noise, but still be funny and endearing enough as a protagonist that we can put Peppino aside to enjoy him just as much, maybe even more so depending on your preference. Gustavo is obviously very silly but silly in a lot of ways that Peppino can’t be, and I think the way the game treats him goes a long way towards lending Pizza Tower some more versatility in terms of humor and characterization. 

I'm glad Mr Stick didn't wind up as a boss as planned. He's not terribly interesting or funny enough to be one, he isn't really anyone's favorite and I think McPig got more mileage out of him as an ally to you, and considering Peppino is inspired by Courage the Cowardly Dog, I think having a Eustace type character among your allies works pretty allright. He's not a character you would really see in a Wario game, Wario would never put up with being bossed around or scammed by some greedy jackass (that's his job), but Peppino is not Wario, he's got bills to pay and bigger issues to work through via violence and he can't really pick or choose his allies so, he's stuck with Mr Stick, the piece of shit landlord who rips you off constantly and you have no choice but to pay him, but who does help you progress at least so, eh.

(Art by @ketrindarkdragon​​)

I frankly loved Pepperman as is back when he was just the default boss / a stage hazard purely on the basis of his design and attack animation and of course his kickass theme, but his reinvention into a pretentious artist who sounds like Comic Book Guy was a pretty wonderful way to make a character out of him, not exactly what you’d expect out of the game’s Musclebound Bully boss character. He’s got that Squidward gag where he’s actually remarkably skilled at several different kinds of art, and going by the credits he’s apparently well-off for it, but he’s a self-obsessed prick who only makes self-portraits, and nobody in the cast thinks much of him as is (if you beat him without taking damage, you get an achievement called “The Critic”). He’s probably the character I would most enjoy playing as even though those plans were scrapped for good reason.

I’m glad that The Noise got a somewhat reduced role in-game as just a boss fight, I think this was the smart choice. For the longest time, Noise was the only other character in the game besides Peppino and he’s always been fairly popular, and he’s going to be made playable since he’s got most of his animations finished as is, so I think downplaying The Noise was a good call to make all the other elements stand out more. I’m not super into how his boss fight ends (I do like Noisette quite a bit actually, I just don’t think that bit was particularly funny) but I otherwise really like it, the fucker keeps opening himself up for beatings because he cannot stop literally giving you the middle finger, I like how well his fight emphasizes just how much Peppino and Noise hate each other, and I can’t wait to see what else is he gonna bring once made playable.

I’ll miss playable Vigilante, it was for the better yes but I’ll miss it. Still, he does make a better Boss, and obviously since his role is to be the Meta Knight of the game he does have to be the Cool Boss Who Hands You a Weapon. I’m glad that the game plays him straightforward, I’ve always loved the contrast of our Actual Cowboy Badass character being essentially a Goomba, a sentient pile of cheese with a cowboy hat and spurs (in concept there’s also a bit of Bandana Dee in him). He’s just gross and uncool enough on the basic concept that he can get away with being the coolest character in a way nobody else can be and in some ways only makes him more of a genuine badass, after you’ve steamrolled and gotten used to the game’s Goombas and then one of them fights back big time. I love the bit of him staring into the broken John at the final floor and quietly having a moment of concern he’s not allowing you to notice, I love him teaching the Toppins to shoot in the credits in preparation for the main villain’s next move, I really love this guy.

I fucking KNEW IT that Pizza Boy was gonna turn out to be a secret villain at some point, I fucking called it, as soon as they gave him a theme park in a now scrapped version of Pig City I knew that he was gonna be more than just a running gag. I actually didn’t expect Pizzaface to be fake, but I knew Pizza Boy was gonna show his true colors at some point. I however certainly did not expect for him to be basically Ronald McDonald, which is a choice that makes the most sense for the food mascot-themed villain who’s gonna boss around all the others and be the Punchable Face of Evil for a struggling chef and business owner to be set against.

Of course the real Pizza Boy is a scuzzy freak who’s nothing like the mascot he plasters around, that’s pretty much a running theme in the game at this point. He has perfectly deranged music completely unlike anything else in the game’s soundtrack, his boss section is wonderfully obnoxious, he’s a great final twist villain to have at a point in the game where you absolutely need the most punchable character of all time to take out Peppino’s frustrations in.

I didn’t expect the Pillar Johns to wind up having a mini-story in their own right depending on how you complete the game, where it does the Wario thing where the amount of treasures and loot you collect determines the ending. Except here instead of loot, collecting all the secret treasures determines whether or not John the pillar monster comes back to life after being broken and beaten into countless pieces and having his consciousness scattered into a hivemind across the entire tower, to the point where you are basically doing him a favor by smashing him at the end of every level. I didn’t expect the game to bother explaining why Gerome the janitor is following or helping you, let alone for the explanation to be so goddamn dark.

(You guys remember way waaay back in the earliest demos when John used to be this invincible thing you fed Toppins to so it would grant you passage? That was overhauled completely but turns out in the end, you still need to feed Pillar John to finish the game)

I find it funny how Peppino winds up incidentally rescuing the Tower from the Pizza, and that’s not even a funny overstatement, the game’s progression really does show how the Pizza was the bad guy in this scenario and the Tower was just corrupted along the way. It’s Pizza Tower, a game that has pizzas and towers, and you play as a pizza chef who’s threatened by a giant pizza (hiding another pizza) atop a giant tower, and so you smash the giant pizza and escape the tower and wind up saving the tower from the pizza while trying to save the pizza from the tower.

...I killed Snotty, I’m sorry you guys, I’ll do better next time.

Did I tell you guys about the soundtrack already? Because good God it has never stopped getting better and better, it alone is worth the price you pay for the game, and there’s a LOT of music in this thing even without counting the tracks that didn’t make it into release.

I think it's great that the game assembled it's core cast piecemeal over  the development cycle from all these unlikely places over the years, it’s come such a long way from the days when it was just Peppino and Noise. I adored how the game’s ending and subsequent promos show how the Bosses stick around as cast members and showing snapshots of further adventures and mishaps for them. They all come back for the finale so Peppino can reach his breaking point, and they all escape together, and they all settle a truce over free pizza at Peppino’s place, still not much but still intact, still in one piece, after everything Peppino put up with to save it.

None of these characters belong together but they clearly don't belong anywhere else either, they're all a part of the "Receding Hairline Celebration Party" as the credits theme puts it, all these weird greasy knock-offs stuck together in the dumps, getting into trouble and duking it out, and playing cards together after it all quiets down and there’s some time to breathe, or dance.

....

Five years, man, that celebration party is definitely well deserved.

#replies tag #pizza tower #videogames #peppino #peppino spaghetti #the noise #vigilante #pepperman #gustavo and brick