#cause most people aren't noble in that world

[thaliajoy-blog]

Sometimes you just gotta witness the wonder that are very loud Targaryen stans who think the smallfolk don't matter & are boring, and who on top of that are extremely mad about that same smallfolk not stanning X monarch they think they should (obsessed about fictional boring people lol).

Like do you actually read Dany's chapters or did you just pretend you do and instead of it you exclusively watched like, scenepacks of Show!Dany being badass and burning stuff or whatever. Dany likes the smallfolk. All the people who are closest to being worthy of ruling care about them and aren't offended when they show their own independant thoughts.

#valyrianscrolls #asoiaf art #daenerys targaryen #smallfolk #i garantee you it hasn't crossed their mind how many popular asoiaf characters are actually smallfolk #cause most people aren't noble in that world

[fuckyeahisawthat]

i rewatched Dune Part Two recently and one of the most striking shots for me was the one of the Fremen attacking the Sardaukar on wormback, while holding the Atreides flag.

Like, we just saw the Sardaukar forming up with their numerous flag bearers, even trying to maintain their flags raised after the nuclear detonation (in a shot that mirrored the famous "Raising the Flag in Iwo Jima" statue to me btw, nice nod to imperialism).

And then the Fremen arrive, but they're not bearing their colors, their flags, not fighting in their own names, instead it's the Atreides colors. The colors of their new, imperially appointed rulers. New pawns in the warfare between Great Houses, soldiers instead of freedom fighters. Urgh. Wish i could make gifsets.

Yeah yeah yeah it's horrifying!! You are watching a national liberation movement get successfully co-opted by a superpower and it's awful!

They did such a good job making it feel creepy and foreboding when the Atreides symbols and motifs start re-appearing in the last hour or so of the movie. The second Gurney shows up he immediately re-introduces the Atreides way of looking at the world, and it's disturbing how easily Paul falls back into thinking like that, seeing the planet and its people as tools to be used in an inter-imperial power play. (It's right after Gurney tells him about the family nukes that Paul has the signet ring out for the first time since the beginning of the second act and we're like OH NO.) This is before he drinks the Water of Life; he is already starting to think like a colonial duke again some time before he declares himself one.

After the opening montage where we see the piles of bodies being burnt, we don't see the stylized Atreides hawk symbol for most of the movie. The next time it appears is on a vault of nuclear weapons, which are never treated as anything but a curse. It's so important that Stilgar and Chani are with Paul and Gurney when they open the vault so we can see their horror at these weapons and the gleeful, casual way Gurney talks about them. Chani is also seeing an aspect of Paul that she hasn't really witnessed before--Paul, the Future of House Atreides--and she does not like it.

And then of course the whole ending battle is making the point over and over again with repeated imagery that Atreides and Harkonnens are exactly the fucking same. All the imagery from the initial Harkonnen attack on Arrakeen in Part One--which at least shows the Atreides as brave in the face of overwhelming odds--gets inverted into something that's supposed to make us shudder. That scene of Gurney hacking his way through the crowd of soldiers with someone carrying the Atreides flag behind him? Nightmarish.

All of this stuff is super important to what the movie is trying to say because it is very very easy for us to buy into the Atreides' propaganda about themselves being the good guys. If we're paying attention to what Chani tells us in the literal first 3 minutes of the first movie, we already know we should be viewing them with a bit of critical distance. And while I think there is plenty in the first movie to make us side-eye their noble image (Leto saying we will bring peace to Arrakis?? fucking yikes dude), it's easy to forget that because Leto generally seems like a good dude to the people close to him, and he dies tragically so we never get to see much of what kind of colonizer he would have become. And I think it's easy to start thinking well if only Leto the more reasonable parent had lived then things wouldn't have turned out this way.

But fucking desert power?? That was Leto's idea. This is Leto's dream being realized. The plan was always to use the Fremen as pawns in the power struggle between the Great Houses. Maybe not quite in the way that Paul does cause he definitely goes off with it, but the end result is just as much a product of Atreides imperialism as it is of Bene Gesserit religious colonialism. The Atreides aren't inherently any more noble or benevolent than the Harkonnens in their intentions, they just have better PR. But the end result is exactly the same: a pile of dead bodies being set on fire.

#dune #dune part two #paul atreides #house atreides #asks answered #thank you so much for this ask cause it gave me a chance to go OFF lol

[squish--squash]

The best Sherlock Holmes adaptation (that people hardly know)

The stories and adventures of Sherlock Holmes is probably one of the most well-known, most referenced, and most recognizable series out there, as well as one with an insane number of adaptations. Hell, Sherlock Holmes even holds the world record of being the literary character with the most screen adaptations.

This has led to many, many people making ranked lists of their favorite adaptations, and I've looked at a lot of them to see if my favorite one appears. It doesn't. Not here, here, here, here, here, here, or here.

On the Wikipedia page for Sherlock Holmes adaptations, it is listed...in the external links section, at the very bottom of the webpage; it's only visible by expanding the "screen adaptations of Sherlock Holmes" panel

On here, under the three names it's regularly tagged as, there are a collective 13.9k followers (the breakdown is 5.2-1.9-6.8). In comparison, the "bbc sherlock" tag has 47k followers, "sherlock" has 644k, and "john watson" has 13k followers. Pretty underrated, if you ask me.

And so, you're probably wondering what this adaptation is, and why I think it's the best. Wonder no further!

The best Sherlock Holmes adaptation (at least, to me) that is criminally underrated is called Yuukoku no Moriarty, or Moriarty the Patriot. (and before you ask, yes, it's a manga! with its own anime!)

Now, because this post is already long enough, and because there is going to be A LOT OF BIG SPOILER WARNINGS, I'll be defending my claim under the read-more. But with that out of the way, let me begin...

Reason #1: Wait, Moriarty??

Moriarty is well-known to be the arch nemesis of Sherlock Holmes. He's the big baddie of the original series. So why in the world is this adaptation named after the villain? Because the plot is focused around Moriarty. As far as I am aware, this could be the ONLY adaptation so far that has done this (please correct me if I'm wrong! I'd love to find more). Furthermore, the "James Moriarty" in question is actually three brothers: Albert, Louis, and William (the "main" Moriarty), and the overarching plot follows their schemes as "the Lord of Crime" to... change 19th century England for the better?

Reason #2: The Premise is INTERESTING as FUCK

Yeah, you heard me! The big baddie in this adaptation is trying to do what they deem as "good"! It's called Moriarty the Patriot because William, Louis, and Albert are trying to make England a better country in their own ways; they view the class system of 19th century England to be, quite frankly, shit, and want to lessen the abuse and dehumanization of the lower class caused by the nobles. And, well, they do this by killing corrupt nobles. Or, well, more accurately, they help people commit crimes to kill the nobles, and stage it to look like an accident or make it extremely difficult to solve. It's actually really fun and cathartic to watch imo, especially in the early episodes of the anime and the early chapters of the manga. I'll come back to the plot later, but for now, I think it's time to get back to the characters.

Reason #3: The Gang's all Here!

The three Jame Moriarty brothers aren't the only characters: you also have the baker street gang (Sherlock Holmes, John Watson, and Ms Hudson), the Baker Street Irregulars, Mycroft, Sebastian Moran from the original series, Lestrade, Irene Adler, Herder (another character from the original series), and interestingly enough, Billy the Kid (in the manga). And these characters aren't just one-dimensional name-drops, but characters with so much personality, backstory, and motives. Take, for example, Sebastian Moran: he's a sniper who works for the Lord of Crime, yeah, but it's because he has a long-earned loyalty to William; both of them have a keepsake from the other, and after William's supposed death during this adaptation's version of "The Final Problem", it's the keepsake he gave to William that saves him from a dark path (there's much more to this story in particular, but you'll have to find out more yourself if you're interested). Also, there's Moneypenny in the manga. But why the hell is she here?

Reason #4: His name is James. James Bond (and he's trans!)

NAME ONE OTHER FUCKING SHERLOCK HOLMES ADAPTATION THAT HAS JAMES BOND, I'LL WAIT. YOU CANNOT. But yes, James fucking Bond is in Moriarty the Patriot, and is one of the best characters for many reasons. One of them? We actually meet him as a woman. And who is that woman, you might ask?

Irene Adler.

(note: the version I read calls him James Bond, but from what I've heard, his name is actually spelled "James Bonde" to avoid copywrite issues. However, for this post, I'll use "Bond") It's...incredible. The entire arc introducing Irene Adler and her arc into becoming James Bond is one of my favorite arcs in Moriarty the Patriot. It takes the original "A Scandal in Bohemia" and sprints with it. Like, the entire Bohemian-king-wanting-that-photograph with Sherlock and Watson is just a ploy, so Irene can be under the protection of public-hero Sherlock by tricking him into thinking he blew up her house with his smoke-bomb trick. Because she stole ENGLISH GOVERNMENT DOCUMENTS SO CLASSIFIED, THE GOVERNMENT WANTS HER DEAD. It's just the way the series builds off the original works by Doyle in a way that not only stays true to the original, but is also its own thing. Because yeah, we don't see Irene Adler again after her "scandal" is solved; and that's because she fakes her death as Irene, and starts working under the Moriarty brothers as James Bond, now a man. Additionally, Moriarty the Patriot handles Bond being trans in an amazing way. Him being trans is no joke! The Moriarty group accept him as a man the moment he tells them (except for Sebastian Moran, who's confused about it at first before he warms up to it; in all actuality, it's his confusion and reluctance that's joked about, not Bond's manhood, which is a refreshing thing to see as a queer person myself). Even when reuniting with Sherlock, John Watson, and Ms Hudson, the three are respectful and understanding. Oh my god wait a minute I just realized I haven't even mentioned Sherlock yet-

Reason #5: Benedict Cumberbatch WHO

Sherlock Holmes in this adaptation is the best Sherlock, hands down. Why? Because he's fun, goddammit! So many Sherlock adaptations see the genius personality of Sherlock Holmes and see nothing else. They make him cold, uncaring, calculative. A lot of Sherlocks would shoot a man dead for a lead on a case. But not this Sherlock. Is this the face of a man who's cold and uncaring?

HELL FUCKING NO! And he's literally presented with the opportunity to shoot a man for a lead on a case, and he turns it down! Because he's good! Yeah, he's prideful. Yeah, he can be a prick. He treats Scotland Yard like a joke. But he's also silly. He's kind to the people he cares about. He wants to help people. He's hilarious with Ms Hudson and Mycroft, and his interactions with William Moriarty is one of the best things to read about in this adaptation, because their cat-and-mouse game matters so, so much in this story.

Reason #6: Cat and mouse; puppet and puppeteer; friend and...friend?

Sherlock has a very interesting role in Moriarty the Patriot as a whole. Sure, he's the detective. But he's so much more. When he's introduced (in episode 6 of the anime, mind you!) to the story, the overarching plan of William and his brothers shift to include him: William wants him to be the hero of the play they're setting for the country, because in the end, William plans to be defeated as a common enemy of the people. And so, the game begins. The Lord of Crime starts setting up crimes for Sherlock to solve, so he gains publicity. So he's recognized as the hero. He's the only man smart enough to solve the trail of breadcrumbs Moriarty leaves, after all. Sherlock starts as just a puppet in the plan of things. Led along on strings from crime-to-crime, slowly piecing things together. And Sherlock hates it. But...Sherlock and William meet outside of being a simple detective and criminal. They meet on a ship, and for the first time, William finds his mind not drafting up plans or thinking as the Lord of Crime the first time they speak to each other. And for the first time, Sherlock finds someone with a mind equal to his own. They meet again, on a train, and solve a murder together (one William was NOT behind). And behind this game of cat-and-mouse, behind the puppet and puppeteer, something blooms. When Sherlock learns that yes, the William James Moriarty he's grown to known is indeed the Lord of Crime, he's not mad. He's...glad.

(note: Sherlock calls William Moriarty "Liam", beginning with their meet on the train; he's the only character in the series who does this. Not even the other Moriarty brothers call their brother "Liam")

He's glad it was William; it couldn't have been anyone else, in his opinion. It wouldn't have been worth it otherwise. It all comes to head in this series' version of "The Final Problem", where Sherlock finally confronts Moriarty, once and for all. It's where William plans to be defeated by his nemesis, the hero. Because he's the self-proclaimed villain. "Catch me if you can, Mr Holmes", is what he challenged to Sherlock on the train, after he joked about William being the Lord of Crime. And Sherlock catches him, in the end. But not as a detective. He catches him, as a companion, after William jumps to his death into the river Thames to set his defeat to Sherlock in stone.

Reason #7: What Comes After

The anime ends after "The Final Problem", but the manga continues. And this is where I really, really think this adaptation shines its brightest, with the aftermath of everything the series has been building to. The main reason Moriarty chooses his death is because of the bad things he's done his entire life. He never enjoyed killing people, but felt he had to, and felt his death was the proper "punishment" for it. But through Sherlock, he finds that that isn't the answer. It's obvious that Sherlock would live through the fall into the Thames. But what about William? In most adaptations, he dies. In the original, he died. But in this? They both live. They both survive. Some big ideas floating around before "The Final Problem" involved revenge. An eye for an eye, if you will. Judgement, and delivering it. But afterwards? It's atonement. It's forgiveness, and the lack of it. It's growth, and redemption. They're saved and taken to America to recover and start new lives. William Moriarty finds ways to atone for his actions without choosing death. Sherlock does too, for his own crimes. They decide, together, to begin anew, find new purposes.

and it's beautiful. When they return to England, three years after their disappearances, their growth is obvious and amazing to see; the other members of the Moriarty gang have also chosen their own paths of redemption, and seeing it all come together is something I'll always enjoy rereading over and over. And the redemption and reunion with England is just the end of part 1 of the story. There's more to be made with this series.

Reason #8: Made With Love

It's so, so obvious that Moriarty the Patriot was made with love for the original series. The way details of the original stories are kept and built off of to work flawlessly as it's own story is something I will be continously impressed by. There was so much thought, heart, and soul put into this adaptation, and you can tell it by reading and watching it. There are so, so much more I could go into—like the music in the anime, deeper dives into the arcs of the main cast, how well the relationships between characters are formed and established—but I think it'd be better for you to just find out all of these things by yourself.

So please, if you've gotten this far, give Moriarty the Patriot a try. Let it prove to you how good it is. Let it show you that it really is the best Sherlock Holmes adaptation out there.

#moriarty the patriot #yuumori #yuukoku no moriarty #sherlock #sherlock holmes

[a-d-nox]

web of wyrd: the bottom-most number, your primary karmic lesson and the root chakra

the number we are focusing on today is based on the SUM OF YOUR PUBLIC ENERGY NUMBER, HIGHEST SELF NUMBER, AND YOUR DESTINY NUMBER - ex: as you see above, my number is 21 (9 + 10 + 2 -> 21). recall that numbers must be summed a second time if they total 23 (i.e. 2 + 3 -> 5) and above.

but what does this number mean?

this number represents our root chakra as well as our main karmic lesson. the root chakra is the first chakra we must unblock in order to work on the next chakra(s). when the root chakra is blocked people experience fear, anxiety, uncertainty, difficulty sleeping, constipation, fluctuations in weight, weakened immune system, fatigue, feeling unsafe in your environment, negativity, and/or doubt in your existence on earth. these are the first tasks you must face to move forward in this lifetime, thus they tend to be karmic issues leftover from past lives.

so let's talk about some examples:

8 - strength

rider-waite's strength card depicts a woman in white adorn in a flower belt and crown. she stares down at the noble lion while closing it's hungry mouth. the woman and her lion can be paralleled to the mythical characters persephone and cerberus. the card alludes to a perviously discussed card with flowers and an infinity symbol overhead - the magician. the two's reappearance illustrates worldly (the flowers) and spiritual (the infinite symbol over her head) abundance. she appreciates this abundance presently, as she does not face any given side of the card but rather faces the lion and corrects its gluttonous mouth. the lion appears ever happy to obey her maternal touch as it appears as docile as a domesticated animal - almost dog like. she models for the viewer that internal peace and self-confidence has the power to promote external peace in the world presently around her.

blocked 8s often have a lack of self confidence and may experience social anxiety. they may not trust themselves or their own body. oftentimes these people experience a moment in time where their body does not do what they wish it would. this can be something heredity, like a gene mutation that causes blood clotting or something along the lines of lupus - the point is that they tend to not trust their own bodies. they are thus less likely to trust themselves around others - fearing they might look weak and incapable. they often shut themselves in, embrace the feelings of being weak, and feel uncomfortable with being vulnerable around others.

enlightened 8s believe that they can be better and that they can overcome anything that keeps them down. they trust that they can handle anything that the world throws at them. they believe they can overcome any internal or external issues that arise - they face their fears without hiding from the speculation of others. they continue to proceed through each of life's various levels no matter how hard they may become. they aren't afraid to be vulnerable and seek help when needed.

the karmic lesson of 8s tends to originate in a lifetime in which they were overly prideful of their life. they may have been reckless and thought themselves invulnerable to the world around them. and more importantly, they could have thought they were invulnerable to the people around them - they could have been a cold individual who didn't mind hurting those who trusted them entirely and now they are set in this lifetime to be the person who must be vulnerable with others.

17 - the star

click here for the card description of the star found in a prior wyrd web post.

blocked 17s feel disconnected from the divine and often lack faith in the world around them. they suffer from a lack of hope which often causes them weakened immune systems or other health (mental or physical) issues. their mindset tends to control their life for the worst. they often don't trust others enough to be in their personal, intimate environment. they feel uncertain when creating because their inspiration tends to waver. it is their pessimism towards the world around them that keeps them down.

enlightened 17s, though they may feel like they do not belong, do have hope that they will find their people and they will persevere. they raise the spirits of those around them and inspire them with their confidence. they let creativity overtake them whenever it arises, not letting slumps bog them down or discourage them. they are often dealt a poor hand when it comes to health, but they don't let that stop them from believing they will get better

17s karmic lesson often comes from being someone in a pastlife who believed in nothing and trusted no one. they may have harmed others or discouraged them from believing in change and thus are "meant" to feel the pain they dealt others in this lifetime. they could have also (or alternatively) have been someone who was overly boastful about their talents and gifts and thus are meant to experience frequent blocks in this lifetime.

21 - the world

the depiction of the world, in rider-waite smith's deck, depicts a nude woman floating in the heavens surrounded by a laurel wreath - a greek symbol of victory. many cards are alluded to in this single one. her legs are in the akimbo position of the hanged man - showing that at the end of a journey we are, yet again, found at a crossroads as to what comes next. in the corners are the icons of the fixed signs of astrology that can be found in the wheel of fortune card. and the double-ended candles of the magician - showing the gained spiritual wisdom she has accrued. she glances over her shoulder showing her acknowledgement of this pervious journey but her hips angle her body to carry her forward to the future.

blocked 21s fear the ending of things and the future - they often have control issues. they aren't often willing to accept that the ending has come and gone. they experience a great deal of negativity when they lack-closure in a situation or have delayed gratification. they are prone to slipping into depressive states as they are the least willing to let go of how things once were.

enlightened 21s affirm themselves and provide themselves with their own closure without fear of what could be or could have been. they are ready for adventure and eager to seek it out. they humbly accept the reward(s) their pervious experiences provided them with. they celebrate their own wins - validating their own experiences and existence without needing to receive such from others.

the karmic lesson of 21s tends to be from a pastlife in which they were miserly and got in their own way. they were obsessed with keeping what they had and being celebrated/praised by others. they are now forced in this lifetime to often succeed in one facet of life and get pushed into the next phase without assurance from the world around them. they have to award themselves. they have to justify what they are doing and provide closure solely to themselves without external validation from others.

that's all for today. the next number we will be looking at is number in the center of the matrix.

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© a-d-nox 2023 all rights reserved

#astrology #astro community #astro placements #astro chart #asteroid astrology #asteroid #greek mythology #astrology tumblr #tarot witch #tarotcommunity #tarotscope #tarotblr #tarot #tarot cards #tarot reading #tarot deck #rider waite tarot #rider waite smith #web of wyrd #wyrd web #matrix of destiny

[illegiblewords]

SOME ILLEGIBLE RAMBLES AND REFLECTIONS: MISSING WYLL

Jumping off my last analytical post for BG3, I actually do want to talk about Wyll a little. Wyll has been the companion I've had the trickiest time sorting thoughts out on. I do have thoughts on him, and frankly I want to invite people who are mainly Wyll fans to chime in if they have any observations that I might've missed! I don't know if this is the best way to explain it, but my perspective is if his story were a song I'd say he has the makings of a beautiful one--but there are notes missing. Notes that really, really should be there . I don't know why they aren't there, or if they've been hidden somewhere I haven't found yet.

As usual, longass discussion under the cut.

Here is my understanding of Wyll currently, without grabbing specific quotes.

Ulder Ravegard is his dad, who was a humble blacksmith who rose to nobility through some exceptional effort and personal achievement. Pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps sort of guy, takes pride in being compassionate and dealing with others in good faith. Raised Wyll not to consider himself better than anyone due to his status, but also seems to have imparted a lot of lawful good mentalities tbh. One thing that stood out a lot to me was a line Wyll said in Act III about how as a kid, he used to pretend to kill monsters in the park all the time. When he became an actual monster hunter as the Blade of Frontiers he had the disquieting realization that most monsters in reality are only people, just like him and his friends. This is interesting to me because it was NOT a lesson he got as a kid, and from how Ulder treats Wyll I don't think it's something Ulder is quite comfortable with himself. I'd go so far as to argue that, while Ulder's definition of 'good' is genuinely very good--it doesn't leave a lot of tolerance for anyone outside that. His compassion only goes so far and no farther. He's a little black-and-white in his thinking.

Side note: Wyll seems to treat being Blade of Frontiers like being a two-dimensional hero in a storybook at times. The Act III line where he admits it's all just messy people was so fucking interesting, and I wish there was more examination of the messy morality of trying to fight monsters or even understand what monsters are for him. Being good isn't easy or guaranteed and the most impressive title in the world doesn't prove you're actually a hero. Actions come before reputation.

Wyll was, according to the previous point, raised to be the embodiment of lawful good as Ulder saw it. Be selfless, don't indulge in finery or status, be noble, make sacrifices for the greater good. With that in-mind, I want to point out that for all Wyll doesn't like courtly life he loves to dance as something more aligned to that courtly lifestyle. It's one of the things he has left that continues to give him joy. It's an indulgence.

Wyll, as raised by Ulder, sacrifices his own well-being and future in his pact with Mizora to ensure no one else in Baldur's Gate came to harm. He was also bound in such a way that prevented him from explaining what happened or why. When Ulder saw his son return home with one eye, pacted to a devil, obviously in a lot of distress and struggling to explain something... Ulder's reaction wasn't to trust his son's morality or feel concern for him. Ulder decided to hurl out all history, all individual understanding of Wyll's character, and chuck Wyll out like he was a pure evil aligned monster and always had been. He just assumed Wyll was the embodiment of every selfish, depraved impulse he could imagine and a traitor to every cause he believed in. He also does not change his mind on this unless forcibly shown through the tadpole what actually transpired. He is not willing to listen or consider alternate perspectives, and I'd argue he loved his son as an abstract concept/extension of his own moral beliefs more than as his own person. (And as an aside: given how Ulder reacted to Wyll without even knowing his situation, do you think he would be ready to show compassion to someone like Astarion who has done horrific things to others under coercion?)

Note, Wyll never actually deals with previous point emotionally. He never allows himself to feel anger or grief over the way his own father treated him. He never lashes out at Ulder on his own behalf for not seeing him as a person, for not treating him as a person, for not loving him as a person or as his son. Ulder talks almost casually about having misjudged Wyll. 'Whoops my bad, I might be an asshole'. We're in a game where Astarion kills Cazador and just starts screaming and sobbing on his knees over everything that happened. Why isn't Wyll pissed off that everything he endured ALONE, the realization that his father never really saw or trusted him, was met with 'whoops'? Why isn't Ulder more horrified over what he did to Wyll? The fact that he isn't so much as in the same breath as other characters expressing anguish makes me think he still, STILL does not understand what he put Wyll through as his father. And Wyll having no reaction other than 'yay Dad likes me again :D' doesn't ring true imo. It's possible to love someone but be absolutely furious with or hurt by them. Mizora was not the only one who did Wyll dirty.

Wyll's pact with Mizora in the first place hinged on Wyll not trusting himself to keep Baldur's Gate safe from the cult of Tiamat AND Wyll not considering himself someone also worthy of protection too. Wyll is part of the tradition 'other people's suffering counts but not mine, I exist to be a shield for others'. I don't think Wyll has ever been taught he is also part of Baldur's Gate who should be kept safe. Self-sacrifice under those circumstances isn't an informed choice but like a self-destructive person offering their life up for cheap, when it isn't strictly necessary. First resort rather than last kinda deal.

Unless I've forgotten something, Wyll breaking his pact is framed not only by Mizora but the narrative as Wyll being selfish and deciding his father should die instead of keeping himself bound. The narrative itself doesn't really challenge this idea even if Wyll does successfully save Ulder unbound by his pact with Mizora. In my experience, out of all the cast members I think Wyll is the only one who is framed as possibly a worse person for opting out of the abusive relationship he's in. I really don't think he should be. Healthy selfishness (self-care, self-esteem) is not a bad thing. We have sayings about not setting ourselves on fire to keep others warm. I don't know why Wyll isn't given room to realize, discuss, and embrace this. In addition to everything else I've mentioned it kind of kills the shape of his character arc imo. Wyll starts off selfless to a fault. Having him remain selfless to a fault and continue making the same choices he did at the beginning sets him up for spiritual death as a character, which would make him staying pacted to Mizora fitting to articulate that concept in a way. He didn't 'sin' against or wrong other people to become a devil, but he absolutely 'sinned' against himself by allowing it to continue. It's total self-destruction and it's tragic. But when he breaks the cycle, in canon any degree of selfishness is still narratively condemned. He only gets "redeemed" if he saves Ulder, in the sense that he is still enforced as a selfless person/he is only so good as he is selfless. ADDITIONALLY! He's given a choice between protecting people as Archduke or protecting people as Blade of Avernus but there isn't actually a whole lot of discussion about Wyll's own happiness regardless of others. Wyll isn't given room to feel ugly emotions, anger on his own behalf, or basic self-preservation without the game itself side-eyeing him. Wyll should not have to be a "perfect" and selfless person to be a good and worthwhile person worth protecting.

Like... what bothers me, is that Wyll isn't given room to express or examine anything. He isn't allowed to feel conflicted or angry. He isn't allowed to want for himself. He isn't allowed to be furious with his father or to wonder if his anger at his father (who he still loves) fuels his desire to break his pact with Mizora or if it's just treating himself like he's worth something too. It kind of feels like the narrative itself is dehumanizing Wyll by denying him room to be selfish at all, even when he really needs to be. Even when it would give room for emotional and complex scenes that could resonate.

When I've thought about what kind of romantic partner would be most interesting for Wyll imo, what struck me was it should be someone who is selfish and actually encourages his selfishness a bit. Not in a corrupting way (even if he worries it might be at times) but someone who can encourage some balance in him and vice versa. I don't think Wyll works as a narrative tool to show how nice another character already is or be their trophy boyfriend. As a character, him being imperfect I think is intrinsically important to him feeling real. And guy really does deserve to feel real, you know?

It's been weird, since Wyll approaches some of my absolute favorite themes as a character for being a hero who needs to understand not being heroic all the time is okay/heroes need protecting too sometimes. But he doesn't really do anything with them currently as far as I'm aware. That's made it harder for me to engage with him. If his romance route touches on it more like then that's awesome. But I feel like if we could see full character arcs for other companions regardless of romance, it should be doable for Wyll too.

#final fantasy xiv screenshots #Wyll Ravengard #Blade of Frontiers #baldur's gate 3 #baldur's gate iii #bg3 #bgiii

[sleepless-crows]

the way greed is a big theme in the grisha trilogy. we even have the quote "what is infinite? the universe and the greed of men." and how with the crows, as much as we joke about them doing it for the money, they aren't greedy. kaz goes on the ice court heist to seek revenge. inej goes on it for her freedom and those of others. matthias and nina were bound by honor for the most part. jesper may have needed the money but he isn't greedy for it. and same goes with wylan. but we can see how much greed indirectly influenced them to be in those positions.

as much as inej said that greed was kaz's god. it really isn't. he works for justice, for revenge. against whom? pekka rollins. the one who shows greed more than kaz ever will. pekka duped two young boys and countless many others out of their money, and some out of their lives. he did all the dirty work for the money. and kaz dedicated his life to avenging jordie and later making sure people like pekka don't do it to anyone else. and he goes on the heist for the money, not because of his greed, but to seek vengeance for what greed has done to this world.

the villain in inej's story is tante heleen. through inej, we see how people like tante heleen care about money more than anything else. she makes sure the girls in the menagerie never earn out of their indentures. she physically abuses the girls and then tells them she has to take from the money that they earn whenever there's blood on their bedsheets. and the second that kaz bought out inej to work under per haskell, tante heleen didn't even care and let inej go because she was given a sum. and she even taunts inej that she'll have her back because she knows she can earn from her. she's incredibly vain and greedy and i'm glad inej stole her diamond necklace in the ice court.

jesper's encounter with greed is probably the most common in ketterdam. people in ketterdam feed off of greed and all the dirty desires of the people. jesper's fallen into a lot of debt because of the casinos scattered all throughout ketterdam. and gambling houses are such a dirty means of profit but that's what ketterdam thrives off.

wylan, on the other hand, was disowned by van eck because of his dyslexia, because van eck didn't believe that wylan could properly carry on his legacy if he couldn't read. van eck goes to such severe means to build his empire, to earn as much as he can, as it is the religion of ketterdam. van eck ordered two people to kill wylan and drive him out to keep his reputation clean because if the merchant council only knew his dishonest ways, he would be kicked out and lose everything. he manipulates kaz into thinking he wants to save the world when he would gladly bring it to chaos if it meant he would have the power and the control. and his greedy and selfish ways are how he falls. and wylan helps bring him down.

nina and matthias are the most noble of them all. they went on the heist for both their people to be saved from the dangers parem could cause. but we can trace their place in the crows back to when they met. he was a druskelle and she was a grisha. a generations long prejudice, a war they've always had to face, because of the incredibly warped mindset of the fjerdans. as matthias says, what must it feel like to worship djel, knowing that he gave gifts to another? grisha power could be djel's hand and maybe the otkazat'sya were jealous and couldn't wrap it around their heads. and so with that came greed for control, greed for their god's favor to the point that they've missed what djel truly stood for. trying to justify all inherently evil actions they had to take when it all stemmed from envy and greed.

the greed of men is infinite, ancient, and common. i just find it intriguing how the crows are always described as criminals who will do whatever it takes for the right price but they are the farthest from greedy. they were shaped by greed, not their greed, but the greed that inhabits this world. and throughout the duology, we see how they all work against it in the end.

#grishaverse #six of crows #soc #shadow and bone #crooked kingdom #kaz brekker #inej ghafa #jesper fahey #wylan van eck #nina zenik #matthias helvar #i dont even know if i understand myself i just had this random thought and i've been trying to write this for hours #well 🤷‍♀️ if it doesnt make sense it probably doesnt

[acti-veg]

You know. I often here about how "Indigenous people honor animals even when they kill them" and that... That doesn't really seem to be the experience I get when I join my community. Sure people do "care" for the animals that their survival depends but ultimately I feel like to take the life of a living being requires a level of objectification and detachment otherwise how can you do it without going literally crazy and tormented by guilt? While I don't like to judge my people whose sustenance comes from animal products I don't think I'd be able to raise an animal and then kill it. I have a cat pet and I can't imagine the though of any harm coming to them let alone to cause them harm. I keep thinking about how my grandma when she was little refused to eat the meat of a lamb she played with and got very attached to.

This is something that I've always found incredibly frustrating about online discourse on this topic. The idea that 'indigenous people' all think, or feel or behave a certain way as if they are some sort of homogenous group is absurd. Indigenous populations are as diverse a literally any other culture, two indigenous groups in two seperate continents may share very little, and two indigenous individuals even less.

Of course there is some level of shared identity between and within indigenous cultures and lots of common themes, animism and shamanism, a reverance for nature and a duty of care for it are common threads. But excluding animism, those are also common threads for all major world religions, perhaps not to the same extent, but that doesn't exactly guarantee good treatment for animals, and certainly not protection from exploitation or abuse.

This noble savage stereotype, while leftists may view it as a positive, is completely unhelpful and means we don't engage with the actual issues facing indigenous communities. Positive stereotypes obscure what the priorities and challenges of communities actually are, and just allows us to view people in overly simplistic terms for us in our media and our arguments.

Indigenous advocacy groups have been telling us about ranchers stealing their land, extorting, bullying and killing them for decades, much of which is to feed western demand, which is routinely ignored in discourse of this kind. Instead all they do is use indigenous people as pawns in their shitty anti-vegan arguments while not bothering to even learn anything about the cultures they're bringing up. Most of them got their ideas of what indigenous people are or aren't from clumsy stereotypes in film.

As with all groups they want to use in their arguments, they're not interesting in hearing about complex, multi-faceted stories or competing ideologies held within those groups. They just want a simple 'indigenous hunters honour the animal and use every part' so they can throw it at vegans while pretending we think that subsistence hunting communities are terrible people for killing animals. Unfortunately this isn't new, I've seen anti-vegans trot this one out with zero analysis or nuance for at least a decade.

#ask #indigenous issues #vegan

[minhosimthings]

Blue Days Yellow Nights

Synopsis: Y/N of the Black family of the wizarding world had finally gotten into Hogwarts, the magical school of witchcraft and wizardry, only to find out she had been sorted in a house which the entire world would not accept. And along the path, she meets a cute boy, with a secret behind his collar. And let's just say the secret can be kept, between two people.

Pairings: Hufflepuff!Jake × Ravenclaw!Fem!reader, includes rest of Enha, Wonyoung and Gaeul from Ive, Yunjin from Lessrafim, Sana from Twice, Joshua from Seventeen.

Warnings: Fluff, tiny bit of angst, descriptions of pain, mention of scars, mention of food and alcohol, they're idiots in love your honour, swearing

A/N: YAAS MY BABY IS FINALLY OUT OF THE OVEN LOOK AT HER. SHE'S SO AMAZING. real tho I worked hard on this shit cause it's been in my brain ever since I started writing on Tumblr. As an intense potterhead and engene, combining these two things was heaven to me. And yes all magical facts in this are fact checked by me through the Harry Potter Website. She's my favourite child. I don't care if she doesn't get notes she is MY FAVOURITE CHILD. As always feel free to give feedback!

Song rec!

"Gryffindor!" Oh great, you thought as Danielle, the friend you had made on the train ride to the magnificent castle of magic, ran over to the table of the brave, where the lion roared and the swords never rested. Of course, she had to be in Gryffindor. A house which your family had resented for centuries. The most noble house of Black, that was where you were from.

Your cousin Sirius waved to you from the Gryffindor table. 'Traitor' you thought as he applauded along with everyone else when Danielle sat down at the table. To be a member of the most noble house of Black was to be a member of the most prestigious house of Slytherin. Bellatrix, Narcissa, Andromeda, Regulus, they all waited at the Slytherin table, wearing robes of expensive green and drinking from golden goblets. Waiting for you. For you, the youngest member of The Blacks to get sorted. You crossed your fingers as yet another black haired boy got sorted into Ravenclaw. "Sim, Jake", Professor McGonagall called out. A fit young boy with messy dark brown hair, came out excitedly from the group of scared first years. He was so.... happy? His face was much more uplifting than those surrounding you. While all the other first years looked like they were about to pee their pants, the boy, Jake, looked so happy and excited, like a golden retriever. You resisted the urge to smile, when he jammed the Sorting Hat onto his head, and it slightly fell down, hiding his eyes. He broke you out of your slight hypnotic state of staring the all the people in the Slytherin table, trying to find out your cousins. "Hufflepuff!" The Sorting Hat shouted out, to which Jake slightly jumped up and ran over to the applauding Hufflepuff table, where he was met with smiles and handshakes and a greeting from the Fat Friar, the Hufflepuff ghost. You were so distracted by his happy eyes and his overall positive energy that- "Miss Black, would you consider stepping onto the platform please?" Minerva McGonagall's voice was stern. Oh damn. First moment of school and you already embarrassed yourself. Just like your mother said you would.

You quickly apologised to Professor McGonagall who curtly nodded, and stepped onto the platform, sitting on the stool and gently placing the Hat onto your head, strands of hair coming onto your face. "Oh you're a puzzle aren't you?" The Sorting Hat whispered into your ear. A voice only you could hear. How interesting. "You know deep down who you are don't you?" The Sorting Hat asked you. "Well yes. And no. I don't know Mr hat." You thought, hoping that the Sorting Hat would hear you. You heard a chuckling sound in your ears, a comforting sound, you thought. "I know who everyone really is my dear Black." And with that the Sorting Hat screamed out, "Ravenclaw!". Silence. Eerie silence was what filled the Great Hall. No one clapped like they had done for the other children. You sheepishly took off the Hat and placed it back on the stool, and took off to the Ravenclaw table, where curious eyes awaited you. Awkward, you thought. First day of school and I'm a disappointment. Different thoughts filled your head as you were on the way to the Ravenclaw table. All the thoughts, however broke, when you heard clapping coming from the Hufflepuff table. The Hufflepuffs? Clapping for you? The next child didn't get sorted yet. They were clapping for you. All headed by a fluffy brown haired boy, who was clapping the hardest. He gave you a wide smile as you glanced at him and sat down quickly next to the dark haired boy who had gotten sorted earlier. The clapping subsided after a while as the last two people got sorted into Slytherin and Gryffindor respectively.

"Well students old and new!" Professor Dumbledore, the Headmaster of the school had risen from his golden chair at the staff table. "Dig in!". All the students cheered loudly and clapped as food appeared out of thin air and settled comfortably on the golden plates. Oh god the food. It looked delicious. Only problem is that you weren't hungry. Your appetite escaped as soon as you heard the word 'Ravenclaw' coming out of the rip in the Sorting Hat. You stared endlessly at the roast chicken and bread, and instead sipped on your pumpkin juice.

"You gonna eat or not?" The dark haired boy next to you asked you. He had a sharp jaw line and cat like eyes, and a butterfly shaped birthmark on his neck. You were slightly startled by his voice, which snapped you out of your stupor. "Um no thank you I'm full." "Yeah? You're rumbling tummy says otherwise." And that seemed to be the perfect time for your tummy to let out a sound again. The boy chuckled softly and put roast chicken on your plate. You mumbled a thank you to him and started eating, regaining your appetite again, as you threw small glances now and then at the boy.

"Are you going to keep looking at me like that or are you going to introduce yourself?" The boy's husky voice rang in your ear like a sudden siren. "What?" You asked him, scolding yourself for being rude. You lifted your arm slightly to adjust your slipping robes, accidentally knocking over the boy's goblet of pumpkin juice "Oh I'm sorry! I didn't mean to. Let me clea-" The boy waved his hand at your rambling and put a finger to his lip to shush you, subtly pointing out how the people were staring at both of you. "It's alright. The juice didn't get on these robes so we're good." You smiled warmly at him. This was the first time you had had normal human interaction ever since the train ride, where every person would look at you, as if you were a snake, ready to pounce on them and inject your venom in them. Extending a hand forward to the boy, you introduced yourself. "I'm Y/N. Y/N Black." Firm grip, you thought, as the boy took your hand and shook it. "I'm Jay. Jay Park. It's very nice to mee you Y/N. Would you like to be friends as payment for knocking over my pumpkin juice?" You giggled slightly, amused at Jay's kind manners with you. It surprised you that someone would still want to be the friend of a person who came from one of the most notorious wizarding families of the world. "I would love to be your friend. I also noticed something-" you leaned a bit towards his ear. "Are we both the only Ravenclaw first years?" Jay chuckled a bit at your question and took a bite of his toffee pudding. "It seems so." He replied after a long while of chewing his bite of pudding. "It's weird but not impossible. My great uncle was the only Slytherin in his year too you know." Slytherin? "Wait wait are you the Jay Park of the most famous wizarding family in the world?" He looked at you with an amused expression and smiled. "Well aren't you a member of the famous Black family too? And yes I am." He sighed heavily before continuing. "I am a part of the family whose history is filled with bloodshed and Gryffindors." He glanced over at the Gryffindor table with distaste. "I wonder what my family will think when I tell them I'm a part of the smart house." "Same here. I'm pretty sure I'll be disowned." Both of you laughed at that as your heart lifted gently. Jay was nice to you. And he related to you a lot, what with both of you coming from families who deemed themselves 'pure'. "Should we make a pact? If both of us do get disowned?" You asked Jay, who turned to you with curious cat eyes. Then he picked up a spoon full of pudding and motioned for you to do the same thing, which you did. "Alright , if both of us do get disowned, we are going to steal some money from our home, run away and live somewhere in the countryside, where we'll have umm.... three cats! And a dog. And a dragon." Saying that, you ate your spoon full of pudding, Jay following suit. "Maybe not the dragon and the cat part. I'm allergic to cats."

"Oh are you the only two Ravenclaw first years who got sorted?". Jay and you had gone up to the Ravenclaw prefects when they had shouted out for first years to follow them. The rest of the students, majority of them I'm Gryffindor had already gone up to their towers, while you two were still stuck with the prefects, Sana and Joshua. They were sweet and kind and made you think of springtime for some reason. Jay and you shipped them whenever they turned away. "Alright come on you two." Joshua clapped his hands together. "Sana just went to inquire Professor Flitwick, our Head of House, and it seems, in this rare case, both of you are going to have to be roommates. Usually the girls and the boys are split up, but your dorm room is big enough for the both of you. Is that alright with you?" You both nodded at Joshua's words, which he spoke so gently, that it kind of surprised you. "Alright then follow me!"

Woah. That was both of your reactions when Joshua and Sana had led you up to the Ravenclaw Tower. It was so... ethereal. Gorgeous, stunning, eye catching, every synonym for the word 'beautiful' came to your mind when you saw the interior of the Ravenclaw Tower. It had large windows, perfect for your stargazing, you thought. The moon was out tonight, and through the slightly blue stained windows, it looked like Heaven's sleeping figure. The common room was decorated with stars that actually shone and a big bookshelf, full of volumes, that you would only dream of seeing. There was a door ajar to your left, which you assumed was a painting room, what with the smell of paint and the ruffling of paper coming in from the room. "Do you like it? It's going to be your home now." Sana asked you. "It's- it's gorgeous." You stuttered out to her. She was so pretty, like an incarnation of an angel, with wide eyes and the prettiest red hair you've ever seen. "Alright just going to set some ground rules. You guys can sit down first." Jay and you plopped onto two warm armchairs, made out of oak. They had the words 'Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure' carved all over them. Carved. Just like how your face will be on the Black tree. "Alright first of all-" Joshua started. "You guys already know most of the basic rules because I assume you were listening when Professor Dumbledore was speaking." You heard Sana mumble something along the lines of 'dude you weren't even paying attention'. "So you know how each dorm has passwords? Well to enter our dorm, we need to answer a riddle, which will be given by the eagle outside. You don't always have to necessarily give the right answer. You just need to use your wit. And if the Eagle thinks you are worthy, you're in!" Jay and you both looked at each other, comprehensive looks decorating your faces. A riddle? You were the worst at riddles. Oh well. Anything to have this beautiful dorm all to yourself. "Second of all-" Sana started "You can bring people from other houses in here. Only if they can answer an additional riddle at the door. Although I highly doubt you two are going to do anything like that, so ignore I even said that." Joshua laughed at that as you and Jay just stared, awkwardly. "Anyway." Joshua said, once he stopped laughing. "The last rule is that you must never abandon each other all right? You two are the only Ravenclaws in your year so you must stick to each other like glue. Yes you should make friends from other houses but you should always have each other's backs got it? Now off to bed chop chop!"

"Soo should we glue ourselves together now? I know a spell or two." Jay suggested as both of you plopped onto your respective beds in your dorm room. The room was just as pretty as the common room, with two oak beds, and a large window, looking out into the Giant Squid's home. You could slightly see the Squid now, tossing about in the water. You made a mental note to give it a piece of toast the next day. "Dude how are going to make friends from other houses? Just walk up to them and say hi and that we would like to be their friends?" You asked Jay, who was wiping his glasses. He shrugged his shoulders and put his glasses on the beside table, before pouring himself a glass of water from the silver goblet. "I guess" he finally responded after downing his water. "I mean let's just stay together until we get more comfortable here. And we can make friends with some of the older Ravenclaws too can't we?" You simply hummed in response to that question. You had seen some of the older Ravenclaws at the table tonight. Some of them stared at you and some of them simply ignored you.

‌"Jay can I tell you something?" Jay looked at you abruptly and nodded slowly. You let out a big sigh as you prepared to tell a boy you met today, your greatest secret. "Alright don't laugh and promise me you'll never tell anyone else." Jay held out his pinky to you and intertwined it with yours, making a pinky promise. "I am an unregistered Animagus." Blink blink. Jay's eyes blinked rapidly as he tried to register what you just said. "Y/N, please tell me you are not kidding right now." Wait what? Most people would usually laugh at you if you told them you could turn into an animal at will. But Jay's face was contorted with seriousness and a bit of excitement. "Y-yeah I'm not joking. I am an Animagus. I can turn into a lynx cat. Wanna see?" "Oh my god Y/N!" Jay jumped from his bed to yours, startling you. Why was he so excited? "Alright you're not gonna believe this. I thought I was the only one! Did your parents turn you into one when you were eight?" "Yeah they did. How in the hell do you know that?" As if to respond to your question, Jay stood up and shook his head. His hair faded and his nose slowly enlarged to form a beak. An eagle! He was an eagle! With mighty wings and the most sleek brown wings and strong, sharp talons. "Now your turn" Jay said, turning back into his normal form. Turning into an Animagus wasn't as painful as the rest of the wizarding community made it out to be. People always assumed that an animagus' skin would tear apart every time they would turn, but that wasn't true. It was more gentle, and calmer. "Woah Y/N. I've never seen a lynx cat before." You lay on the bed in your cat form in front of an amazed Jay who gently scratched your head, providing you with the ultimate pleasure. You were quick to turn back and explain your entire story to Jay, which was eerily similar to his. Both of you had been turned by your familes at the age of eight, against your will. Both of you hated your families so much, always so thirsty for blood purity, like vampires. "So secret kept?" You held out a pinky to him, which he intertwined with his. "Secret kept."

‌"Oh well night then Jay. See you tomorrow." "Night Y/N." As both of you drifted off to excited sleep, your heart lifted from where it had been earlier. Seeing all these people who were nice to you, like Jay, Joshua and Sana and that peculiar Hufflepuff boy, it made you think more about whether or not you were actually hated by the world. Maybe you were hated, by most of the world, but then again you've got to make up your own world now. And the first people in it was going to be all the friends you were determined to make tomorrow.

"Oh my god we have potions first!" You squealed in excitement at the breakfast table. Bacon, eggs and toast layed the Ravenclaw table and as you and Jay peacefully at your toast with jam, you looked over your timetable. "You that excited for potions? Best subject?" Jay asked you curious, with a mouth full of orange juice. You nodded fervently as you picked up some more scrambled eggs to lay on your plate. "My cousin Andromeda used to teach me when I was nine. And plus I like to believe I'm a natural chemist." You flopped your hair over your shoulder as Jay rolled his eyes. "Well I think we'll be doing the more easy ones first." Jay got out his potions book. "So I'm sorry your highness but you won't be able to use your amazing potion expertise." You slapped his arm playfully, before a bell rang and most of the older students started getting up. "Oh there you are you two." Sana called out to you and Jay. "You need to go to the dungeons alright? For Professor Snape's lesson. It's just round the corner. You want me to take you guys?" You felt a bit embarrassed, having to get lead by a prefect to your first class. So you politely declined Sana's offer, to which she smiled and gave you the directions instead.

"God this castle is so beautiful." You commented as Jay and you walked down to the dungeons. The brick walls, painted with red and paintings hanging everywhere on rusty nails. There was a painting of some shamans who screamed at you while a kind lady picking peaches asked you if you wanted some.

"You're late." Snape commented as you and Jay turned up at the doors of the dungeons. "We apologise sir. We lost our way in." You started, but Professor Snape simply waves his hand and directed both of you to come in and sit on the benches. Hufflepuff. You were having a class with Hufflepuff. And that boy was there. He was in his robes, with messier hair than it was the night of the Sorting. You tried not to catch his eyes but apparently the universe is always against you, and as you caught his eye and he gave you a smile, you felt your cheeks burn red. "Dude quit blushing so much." Jay scolded you as both of you got out your ingredients.

"A perfect potion? That's surprising." Snape complemented you as you and Jay gave him your completed potion tubes. "Well I wouldn't expect anything less from you, Miss Black. You are, after all the cousin of my most favourite student, Andromeda. Very well. Five points to Ravenclaw." You would have taken the points very well, if not for the fact that Snape had added in the point that you were a part of the Black family.

"Y/N you alright? You seem a bit peaky and pale and you haven't said a word for like five minutes." Jay slightly nudged your arm. "I'm fine Jay." "It's about your family isn't it?" How did Jay always read your mind so perfectly?

Before you could respond to Jay's question, you felt something hit yoir head sharply. You cried out and fell on your knees. Whatever hit you head was sharp and hard and it probably did more damage than you or the attacker anticipated. "Aww look at the little Black sheep. Get It? Black sheep!" You heard some girls and boys laughing behind you. They were of Gryffindor house and they were in your year. They were coming back- you assumed, from Herbology, as they were covered in dirt and they still had dragon hide gloves on. "Hey are you insane!" Jay shouted at them and helped you get up, your head still dizzy. "Oh what? Can't take a joke Park?" The tallest of the boys said. He was the one who threw something at you and he laughed the loudest. "Hey!" A voice shouted behind you. "Pick in someone your own size!" That boy. That Hufflepuff boy. He charged at the Gryffindor and pinned him against the wall, the latter's head banging against the fading cement. Your head was still spinning so much, and as you leaned against Jay's frame, you could hear the voice of someone older, possibly Joshua and someone else. "Jay- I don't really fee-" Black.

"Oh good you're awake." You were laying in a very big hall, laden with beds everywhere. A hospital wing, you assumed. You also made the assumption that you probably passed out. "Y/N are you alright?" Sana was pressing a cold compress to your head. "What happened Sana?" Sana gave you a pitiful smile, before giving you a glass of pumpkin juice and explaining. "You passed out Y/N. That gryffindor boy is in detention right now, don't worry. Turns out he hit you with a pot. Which is honestly mental. I would have bewitched him right then and there, but unfortunately I am a prefect-" she frowned a bit at that "But that boy got to him before Joshua could. That Hufflepuff boy." That Hufflepuff boy. You sat up so fast that Sana flinched. "The what? Is he here?" You whipped your head around the room, trying to spot a batch of messy brown hair. Sana put an arm around your shoulder and said "Babe, no he's not here. He also got detention unfortunately, even though he did the right thing. Listen hon, I gotta go. It's kind of late and it's a full moon night, Josh and I have our monthly date tonight And I don't wanna be late. Jay got some of your clothes for you." She motioned toward the bedside table where an extra pair of robes lay. "So you can change here and come down in the morning alright? Jay told me he'll bring your bag down to the Hall at breakfast tomorrow. So rest up well hm?" You thanked Sana for her help, and as she left the room and the school matron extinguished the candles in her office, leaving for bed, you couldn't help but not ignore the feeling in your stomach. Some feeling. Do eleven year olds usually feel this? Whatever this was? It wasn't nausea, no you didn't get nauseous that easily. Was it chickenpox? Nope definetly not that. Your period? Yeah no it had just ended. Was it the feeling of finally being defended by someone that you felt like falling in love with a person you don't even know just because you've known loneliness for so long that you pounce on the tiniest bit of attention?....... Yeah it was probably that.

The moon was full tonight. It looked like a cheese wheel, with a rabbit shape carved on it. Faint white light seeped in from the windows, illuminating the dark room, and allowing you to look at all the beds, empty and quiet. Of course. It was the first day of school. No one would get injured on the first day of school. Well, almost no one. "Hello?" You called out in the room, your voice echoing as the vibrations hit every magical brick which was used to build this magnificent chamber. Great. No one is there. Not even the matron. This was perfect, you thought as you slowly removed your sheets and got out of the bed barefoot, careful not to make a sound. This wasn't a crime was it? Only the moon was watching tonight, and you were sure that she wouldn't tattle on you. And I'm very sure she didn't, as she watched you hair start to smoothen and your skin turn blackish-grey, whiskers clinging to the sides of your nose. The Moon silently applauded as she watched you transform into a lynx cat, all smooth and gracious with your careful padded steps. You stretched your body out, groaning internally at how stiff it was, and turned your eyes towards the entrace to the hospital wing. The door was open. Oh could this night get any more luckier? It was dark, midnight, and a lynx cat would roam around this magical school, without the knowledge of anyone. Magical isn't it?

Strutting out the front door, you carefully checked your surroundings, making sure not even an ant was present. No one could ruin your plan of walking through the palace right now. You were amazed at the size of the castle. It was bigger than the universe, you thought as you climbed yet another moving staircase, easily jumping from one to the other with your cat skills. It was good that your animagus was a cat, you thought, as you jumped onto the seventh floor. You could climb into whatever you wanted and easily jump from one structure to the other, making it easy for you to move efficiently and fastly.

Awoo! Wait what was that? You turned your head so fast, that your whiskers made a whoosh sound. You heard something. You heard a howl. A Wolf's howl.

A Wolf's howl? Could it be another Animagus in school? Perhaps and older one? Or maybe it was? No it couldn't be. They would never allow a werewolf into this school. Shaking your head, you continued to walk along the stone path, and leapt onto a pillar, prepared to leap off to the sixth floor, when..... Awoo! The sudden sound made you lose your balance and as you made your way back to the rock hard tiles on the seventh floor, curiosity got the better of you. You made your way to the source of the sound, your excellent ears gently guiding you.

A statue. There was a statue with the inscribed words Barnabas the Barmy. There wasn't a door or anything. But the sound was coming from here. You were certain of it. Your cat ears never failed you once and you trusted them enough to turn back into a human and press your ears to the wall, to make sure what you were hearing wasn't a dream. Nope wasn't a dream,you thought as you kept hearing the sound. You were about to go back to the hospital wing, creeped out the sound , when a sudden memory popped into your mind. The Statue of Barnabas the Barmy on the Seventh floor. Yes Narcissa told you about something on the seventh floor. What was it? You snapped your fingers a few times to try to jog your memory back to when you were ten. The room. The Room of Something.

You remembered what it did. It would only show itself to someone in times of great need. Narcissa had once opened it when she needed to hide from some Malfoy boy. You asked yourself again and again whether or not you should try opening it. What would you think? Would you be able to open it merely by thinking, 'Hey I need this place to open up because I need to know where the source of the sound is coming from'? That would work but it was a risk. What if there was some evil contained inside the room and opening it would make you Pandora from the myth of Pandora's box?

You turned back into a cat, ignoring your heart's protests of having an adventure and trying to open the the mysterious room. There was a werewolf or something there, but you weren't going to risk being stuck inside of a wall for all eternity. Maybe later, but not today, you thought as you strode back to the hospital wing, tail held high in the air and whiskers proudly displayed.

"You did WHAT?" Jay whisper-shouted to you the next day at breakfast. You had told him what you had done the night before, to which he almost spat out his pumpkin juice and out his hands on his hips, like a scolding mother. "Y/N. Please give me a warning before you tell me shit like that. Im gonna go into cardiac arrest if you do shit like that." "Oh please Jay stop being such a mom." You rolled your eyes at him and went on with eating your bacon and eggs, while Jay looked like he was going to explode at any moment. "Still-" he began, picking up his goblet once more. "You shouldn't do that. If you wanna do it, tell me, I'll accompany you alright?" You smiled at Jay's worried face and nodded, assuring him that you would always tell him.

"I wonder where that boy would be. You know the Hufflepuff one?" Both of you were walking to Charms class, after your lunch, and the topic of the Hufflepuff boy came up. Jay was fiddling with the straps of his bag, while you daintily strolled across the corridor, looking at the paintings. "I heard his name is Jake." Jay finally got the straps to be proper. "Sim Jake. Apparently he's already popular. The charms professor adores his quick answers in class. We'll see though. Today we're going to be doing the practical work." You hummed and nodded again, too distracted by a beautiful painting of a wolf and a woman hanging on the wall. The woman had the wolf in her lap, as she slowly stroked it, putting it to sleep. She smiled at you warmly, and you smiled back, admiring her stunning features.

"Im going to pair you all up together for this charm now." The tiny professor, Professor Flitwick, stood across a pile of books to make himself visible. He was apparently the Head of your House, as told to you by Jay. You immediately shifted towards Jay, in order to give Professor Flitwick the hint that you wanted to be paired up with your only friend. Professor Flitwick looked through his list of names, and began pairing people up together. You had a joint class with Gryffindor and Hufflepuff today, since you and Jay both were the only ones in Ravenclaw. Unfortunately he insisted on inter house pairing, so your hopes of getting paired up with Jay went down the drain.

"Miss Black?" He called your name. "Ahh one of my Ravenclaw students! Very well very well." He let iut a tiny cough. "Well I believe you can get paired up with Mr Sim over here! Get your wand and books now. Good girl." Mr what now? You looked over your shoulder to see that Hufflepuff boy, smiling at you and motioning to the empty seat beside him. Your heart internally did backflips and as you went over to his desk, fumbling with your wand, you couldn't help but notice how much this boy smiled. His perfect teeth, displayed in a wide smile with crinkly eyes were all so adorable, as if he was a puppy.

"Hi! Im Jake. Sim Jake." He greeted you excitedly, extending his hand forward. "I'm Y/N. Y/N Black." The grip of his hand was soft, gentle, as if he was gripping something made out of crystals. "Shall we get started then?" He asked you, eyes widened, smile still not leaving his face. You nodded at him, as he prepared his wand to carry out the spell of levitation. With a clear of his throat, he lifted his wand upto a level above his feather, and chanted, "Wingardium Leviosa!", combined with a swish and a flick of his wand. The feather lifted off of the table in an instant fluttering above your feather, as the students in class watched on, mesmerised. Professor Flitwick clapped his hands together excitedly and strode over to your desk. "Excellent Mr Sim. Excellent! Ten points to Hufflepuff!" He turned to you, by the time Jake got his feather down and with a tap on your desk, he said, "Well your turn now Miss Black. Don't you disappoint me!" You took a deep breath and a gulp. Charms were always your worst thing when you used your cousin Andromeda's wand. You glanced over at Jake, who was still looking at, along with all the other students in class. Jake's eyes have you an encouraging look, as if to say 'You can do it!'. You took another breath, raised you wand about the white swan feather, focused your entire existence on it and with a swish and a flick, you chanted the words in your mind. The feather slowly rose above the table, and made its way all around the classroom, eerily floating like a woman in white. Every pair of eyes in the class were on the feather, well almost every pair. Jake was still looking at you, mesmerised by the way you managed to make a silent spell.

"My my." Professor Flitwick said, eyes widened, glasses slipping off of his nose bridge. "You have managed to do a silent spell young lady. We don't teach these until Year Six! Well well, it's good that you are in my House. I simply must tell Minerva this. Yes I wil..." He kept mumbling to himself after class was dismissed and as you made your way out of class, Jay ran to you at full speed, his glasses foggy and his palms all sweaty. "I swear to God if you pull out one more magic trick, I will throw myself to the Giant Squid." "We're in a school for magic Jay." You shot at him. "And I seriously don't know how I did that!" "Some children are born with the ability to perform silent spells." A familiar voice rang behind you. Jake had followed you and Jay out of the classroom, clutching his bag tightly. "I beg your pardon?" Jay asked him, tone cold. "Oh I'm sorry I didn't mean to impude on your conversation. I just wanted to say that maybe Y/N could have been born with this ability to perform silent spells because my older sister also had this thing to perform spells without speaking." The way he talked was so pretty. His voice was melodic, like a Siren's and it enchanted you.

"Oh well maybe I am born with it then. Weird." You laughed it off with an awkward sentence, while Jay wanted to vomit right there and then. "Anyways-" Jake began again, scratching the back of his head. "Um I wanted to ask, if it's not too awkward, whether you'd like to hang out with me? Not in the creepy way! Just in like a platonic friend way." Oh god he was so adorable. You wanted to squish me and protect him from the entire world right there and then. And he wanted to be your friend? Lord, you wanted to ask the Heavens to kill you right there and then, because you were currently exploding out of happiness.

"Jay would you stop staring at Gaeul and move the fuck on with your essay on the stupid sleeping potion?" Jake, Jay, you and your Hufflepuff friends Sunoo, Yunjin and Wonyoung, were currently sitting out in the lawn and completing your homework. It was the Easter holidays and none of you had gone home, since you all were basically the 'We have horrible parents' group, barring Jake, Sunoo and Yunjin. But they still stayed because without both of them all of you would probably be dead in a ditch by now. Jay and you were trying to complete his potions work together, because teamwork makes the dreamwork, but for the past fifteen minutes, Jay had been doing nothing but stare at Gaeul from Gryffindor.

"Dude just ask her out for God's sake. She'll like you back." Jake optimistically said to Jay, who only slouched and deflated on the grass, throwing grass on Jake, which unfortunately landed on Wonyoung. "Jay I swear to God I'll kill you. You ruined my favourite jeans!" Wonyoung rubbed off the grass from her jeans. "And also Jake's right. You've basically been in love with her since first year when you got paired up with her for Charms. And for Pete's sake we're fifth years now! So be a man, get your ass up and ask her out on the next Hogsmeade trip. It does come on Valentine's day."

You were excited for the next Hogsmeade trip, since you heard that some large sugar quills were going to be on sale. You had planned to go with Jay, but looking at your friend look at a girl with the ultimate heart eyes, you decided to let him take his shot. "How do I ask her out though? Just say 'hey Gaeul I'm in love with you please marry me'?" Yunjin slapped Jay's head with her charms book and sighed, mumbling something along the lines of 'boys'.

"Dude just ask her if she would be interested in going with you to Hogsmeade and definetly leave out the marriage part." Sunoo said to the deflated boy on the grass. "You gonna ask Sunghoon out Won?" You asked Wonyoung, who smiled and nodded frantically. "I really do hope he says yes. I mean he's in Slytherin so I don't know how he'll react to a Hufflepuff girl asking him out." "Oh he likes you too." Sunoo, who was casually eating some pudding, said to Wonyoung, who looked like her entire life had made sense at this moment. "I still don't get how you got the title of this school's Gossip Queen. Like how did YOU get it?" Yunjin asked Sunoo, who went on with eating his pudding. He merelu shrugged his shoulders while you smiled, knowing how he charmed everyone to tell him shit. "Oh by the way Y/N-" Sunoo started. "we're doing werewolves in Care of Magical Creatures. Interested?"

Ever since you've told your only friends about that one night that you explored the entire school as a cat and heard a wolf howling, they're entire life had been dedicated to finding out what that noise was. You had told them all of them, barring Jake. You knew it wasn't good to hide something like this from him but you just didn't want to tell him because the voice in your head told you tlnot to. And you always listened to that voice. Your other friends had kept this secret for you, pretending that you had had an interest in werewolves since you were little. You and Jay trusted them enough to tell them who you actually were and they were understanding, especially Wonyoung, whose sister had been turned into an Animagus by force too. She had lived with Yunjin ever since her parents abandoned her for not being in Slytherin and you really wondered how such a sweet girl like her could have ever been born into such a family. Jay still lived with his own family, who surprisingly didn't disown him but they talked to him less and less now. You, on the other hand, were taken in by your maternal uncle and aunt, both of whom had been Gryffindors. They had protected you ever since you were eleven and you loved them more than your own parents.

"What were they teaching about werewolves Sun?" Sunoo gave you that fennec fox smile and crinkled his eyes. "Nothing much, just how to kill them, how to recognise them, what their characteristics are. Apparently you can kill them if you-" "May we change the topic please?" Jake's cold voice ran like ice through your veins. You knew werewolves were always a touchy subject for him. His uncle had been a werewolf, who had almost killed him when he was eight or so. Ever since you had told him about the werewolf incident, he had asked you whether you could not mention it again, the mere word 'werewolf' making his heart run faster. You obliged because you didn't want to make your best friend (read: crush) of five years uncomfortable.

"You know what?" Jay had gotten up from his sleeping position on the grass. "Im gonna ask Gaeul out right now!" "Oh for fucks sake finally." Yunjin sighed and lay her head on Sunoo's shoulder. School was good. School was better now that you had friends. But that thought of the werewolf still never left your mind, especially when you would sneak out every night as a cat, without Jay to look for the howls again. It was half moon night tonight, a point where a werewolf wouldn't be too strong neither too weak. Perfect time for a lynx cat to hunt wasn't it?

Midnight came earlier that night than anticipated and as you silently checked whether Jay's snores were real or not, you felt a bolt of electricity hit you. You were admittedly scared, since this night you were going to try something you had never done before. Being a child who could do silent spells, you were a favourite among most of the teachers who would do anything for you, which included providing you with information. Professor Flitwick had become a victim of your innocent eyes, when you asked him how to open The Room Of Requirement from where you had first heard the howls. After much trepidation, he had finally given you the answer and ever since that day you had been trying to figure out a wormhole to open the room while someone was already occupying it. And after months of your dying brain trying to stay alive, you finally found the loophole.

The walk to the room was eerie. You noticed every touch of wood on your paw and every time your whiskers moved due to the wind. You had never felt so much fear in your life before. What if you actually found the werewolf? What would you do? Just run and hope that the werewolf never finds you? Hope was all that was left in this mundane life, you thought. It was time to spice it up a bit.

You finally arrived in front of the statue of Barnabus the Barmy. You could hear the faint howls cut through the silence of the beautiful night. The wall ahead was plain, an ordinary wall which any person would just pass by not evening noticing how it helped to hold up the foundations of the castle. You prepared yourself and rid your mind of every other thought and focused on your command. Just a little bit more. Just a minute more. You didn't pay heed to the whistling of the wind telling you to not go in or the warning hooting of owls. All you needed now was to get inside that room, to solve a mystery you had been wanting to solve for five years.

Cracks slowly started to appear in the walls. The wall turned brown and a doorknob formed at its right side. It was a handsome door, dark brown and made of oak. You slowly opened your eyes, and your heart almost leapt out of your chest. The door had appeared. You had done it! You had achieved what wizards had tried to achieve for centuries. You had opened the Room of Requirement while someone was in there. The howls got closer and louder now. They sounded more like choked sobs rather than howls. They sounded like a human. Had the werewolf not turned yet? Had it reached that stage where it was half human- half wolf?

You nervously trodded inside the room, taking it it's dark interior, painted in blues and yellows, decorated with a painting of the solar system. It was so beautiful, yet so marred with the choked sobs coming from a corner. A boy? A fluffy brown haired boy sat in the corner, head in his knees, sobbing his eyes out. It was a pathetic sight, his clothes were torn and his hair all messed up. Without thinking, you walked up to him, still in your cat form, meowing and purring softly. You had found that your cat noises always calmed Yunjin and Sunoo down whenever they were about to have a panic attack, so you assumed it would do the same for this boy. The boy looked up to see who was meowing so loudly and your entire world froze.

Jake. It was Jake. Sitting in front you, red eyed, tear stained face, and lips slightly parted. His hair was messier than ever and his pale blue sweater was slipping off of his shoulder. He looked thinner that he did in the morning and his breathing was low. His skin was slightly covered with fur. He held out a shaky hand to you.

"Hey there-" he said in the weakest and softest voice ever. "How did you get in here?" He let out a chuckle as you hesitantly went up to his hand, licking it. You were right. His smile truly never left his face. "You must be one of those magical creatures they told me roam the school aren't you? Or are you just a cat? You're really pretty you know?" You meowed in response to him, slowly going up his lap and sitting there, tail moving around every now and then. You could feel Jake's breathing slow down a bit, and his body stopped shaking. He felt warm, like an autumn breeze whooshing away the fallen leaves. "Well I don't have anyone to talk to right now so I think I'll talk to you. Wanna be my friend? Im Jake. Im-Im a werewolf if you don't mind." How did he manage to stay so happy? Two seconds ago he was bawling his eyes out and shaking like crazy, but suddenly when you came up to him, his face became more illuminated than Apollo. You meowed again in response to him, being the only thing you could do. "Hmm what should I name you? Jay? Nah you don't look like a Jay. You're definetly a female. You know I have a dog named Layla. Maybe I should name you something like that. Should I name you Y/N? She's one of my closest friends and you weirdly look like her." You meowed a bit louder at this, slightly startled at the sound of your name leaving his lips. Did he perhaps know who you were? He couldn't have but suspicions could be true. "I don't think it'll be right to name you after anyone I know. I'll name you something else. Maybe it a trick of the light but you really do look like Y/N. How about.......... Blackberry? It's the colour of your skin and I really like blackberries." Blackberry. It was such an endearing name and unfortunately you were also allergic to blackberries. But you knew Jake loved them, courtesy to that one time Jay argued with him about what the best pie was. You snuggled onto his chest, allowing him to give you head scratches. His hands were so soft, so comforting and it reminded you of fourth year, when you were stressed out of your mind for your exams, and Jake calmed you down so easily. You had finished your History Of Magic exam, and upon finding out that you had written one tiny answer wrong, you ran off to your secret spot, the abode of The Grey Lady, the Ravenclaw Ghost, and cried your heart out. You didn't know how Jake found you so easily but he did and he held your hands and stroked your hair until you stopped crying. The Grey Lady had been watching from behind a pillar, smiling at how adorable both of you were. Now, as you sat on Jake's lap, you knew how he had found you. Werewolves had very strong senses of scent. They could memorise the scent of anyone who used to be with them all the time and they could find said person even if they were a thousand kilometres/miles away. He was also a Hufflepuff wasn't he? And Hufflepuffs were particularly good finders.

You felt Jake suddenly flinch and let out a cry. You leapt off of his lap and faced him, to see that he was shivering again. The fur on his arms was growing and his nose was turning black. You could hear his bones cracking inside of his body. You could feel his pain, as his face contorted to form a face of torture, pain and sadness. Tears were escaping his face fast as he continued to cry out of agony. He was transforming. According to the clock on the wall, it was two pm. In half moon nights, werewolves usually transformed after midnight. And unfortunately for Jake, he was transforming now.

"Go away BlackBerry! Run- ahh- away now! AHHH!" He let out a torturous scream and you bolted for the door, not looking back as you ran all the way, without stopping to the Ravenclaw dormitory, only pausing to take a breather at the Eagle doorknock. "What can be touched but not be seen?" The Eagle's deep voice commanded you to answer the riddle. You clutched onto your chest and knelt down, trying to breathe and get over the image of Jake transforming fully. "I-I don't know." You breathed out, your mind not working from the pace at which you ran across the entire castle. "A heart. The answer is a heart." You felt a chill go through your body, and as you turned back, to see where the voice came from, you understood why. A ghost was currently floating behind you. She was pretty, with long locks of straight black hair, flowy robes, a silver dagger at her hip, and her expression forlorn and longing. The Grey Lady, Ghost of Ravenclaw House. "Helena Ravenclaw?" You whispered to her. She smiled sadly at you, a beautiful smile, you thought. "So you know my name? Interesting creature you are. The answer is a heart by the way." She paused and smiled again, as you picked yourself off of the floor. "A heart can be touched by fear, sadness and love. And you've got to choose which one you let touch yours, little girl." Saying that, she vanished in thin air, leaving you all alone again, in the cold, dark silence, the only source of light being the half moon shining outside of the window.

"Y/N I swear to God one of these days you're going to stab me in the heart." Jay dramatically said as both of you sat near the lake, throwing bread every now and then to the Giant Squid, who accepted it gratefully. It was chilly today, and as Easter holidays finally ended, all of you got busy again. You two were hanging out alone today, courtesy to your Hufflepuff friends having classes at the moment. Jay had finally gotten the courage to ask Gaeul out and she magically said yes. Jay had been celebrating this 'Glorious moment' (his words not mine) when you thought it would be the perfect time to tell him that you had sneaked out last night. You left the part out about Jake being a werewolf, about him being the creature you had been searching for for five years of your life. You didn't want Jay to freak out and go into a state of anxiety where he did nothing but stare forward so you left it out.

"It's not that big of a deal. Plus I didn't even get to open that stupid door anyways." You lied to Jay, who was laying on the grass, with his eyes shut, courtesy to the sunlight shining on his face. "Do we have any joint periods with the Gryffindors today?" Jay asked you, as you checked your timetable. "No we don't Jay." You responded, with a fake stern tone. "If you wanna talk to Gaeul again, just write her a fucking letter or man up and sneak inside her dorm." Jay looked scandalised at your words and was about to fire back, when- "Hey guys." A honey voice rang behind you. It was Jake, Sunoo and Yunjin, accompanied by your Slytherin friend Riki who was a year younger than you guys, but he was cute enough that he hung out with you. He was also an honorary member of the 'We have horrible parents' club. "How's your auntie Riki?" You asked as you ruffled Riki's blonde hair, to which he slapped your hands away and put his head on your shoulder. "Why don't you ask how I am instead? I am dying right now because of all the Transfiguration homework I've just been given. " He grumbled as Sunoo rolled his eyes, muttering something about 'getting into fifth year first'. "Wonyoung asked Sunghoon out by the way." Riki informed you guys, to which you and Sunoo gasped. "What did he say?" Sunoo asked, excitedly, bouncing up and down. "Steal some food from the kitchens with me first and maybe then I'll tell you." Riki shot a mischievous grin at Sunoo, who pulled out his wand, threatening to hex Riki. You, Jay and Yunjin laughed out loud seeing Sunoo chase Riki around the grass, wand in hand, hex ready.

You glanced at Jake, who was silently sitting in the corner, by the tree staring straight at the lake, face emotionless. He had dark circles under his eyes and his body looked frail, just like how it looked the night before. His eyes were closing every few seconds, but snapping open again, as if he was forcing himself to stay awake. Poor thing, you thought. He went through so much last night and he didn't even get to sleep much. You felt terrible even though you had done nothing. You felt hatred towards the entire world, towards the Heavens, for dimming such a sunshine like him, in the worst way possible. It broke you, when you thought about how many days he must have endured all of this alone, still managing to put on a smile at the end of the day.

"Hey Jake?" You gently asked him, scooting towards him and putting your hand on his arm. He flinched slightly at the sudden touch, but he relaxed once more as he put on that smile again. Now that you saw it, the smile was so heartbreaking. It hid his pain, as if his mind and heart were telling him 'don't show your tears!'. His eyes were so pretty, you thought, so brown like chocolate pudding. "What's up Y/Nnie?" He asked you, tone cheerful and laced with sweet honey. "oh nothing." You shook your head. "Just wanted to see if you're alright. How was your Herbology class?" Jake sighed and ran his fingers through his fluffy hair. He looked out at the lake once more, where the Giant Squid was sleeping peacefully. "I don't know why I keep failing at the subject. I lost two points for Hufflepuff because I put the wrong thing in the wrong pod. How am I supposed to know how much fertilizer a plant who bites off your arm requires? Maybe the fertilizer is Jay's simping for Gaeul for all I know." You burst out laughing at his statement, as he chuckled softly. Both of you were terrible at Herbology, which was weird since everyone in your friend group were basically masters at digging soil and taking out antidotes from certain plants. But hey atleast both of you were top of the class in Charms.

That night, you decided to go out once more. Jay said he would stay up all night to watch you, but you knew his ass would fall dead asleep the moment his neck hit the pillow. And you were right, as you crept out of your bed, in your cat form, Jay was snoring loudly, in the most coffin like sleeping position ever.

You once again strolled across to the Room of Requirement, thinking the same thing that you had thought yesterday. You didn't hear the sobs coming today. The room was the same, decorated with the solar system but weirdly enough there was a tiny cat bed and cat toys sitting next to a brown haired boy, who was sitting against the wall on the floor. "Hey there blackberry." Jake spoke softly to you, once again holding out his hand. "I-I thought you'd like this." He motioned towards the cat bed and the toys. They were purple in colour, your favourite shade, of plums. You jumped onto the cat bed and snuggled against the soft fabric, all whilst keeping your eyes fixed on Jake. He looked so fragile, like freshly shaped coloured glass. "Why do you keep looking at me blackberry?" He asked you, smiling at your wide eyes. Idiot, you thought to yourself. How could you be such an idiot? You had to behave like a cat, not a human. You meowed gently at him, as he stroked your fur, with a soft hand.

"You know we should get to know each other." Jake chuckled. "I mean you can't talk, so is it alright if I talk to you? Maybe tell you about me a little? And you can talk too if you want! How's that sound?" You meowed loudly at him, and swished your tail around. God he was so adorable. You had reached a bit early today, so he wasn't anywhere close to turning.

"My name's Jake. Well Sim Jake to be exact. What's yours? Hmm?" He held out an ear to you, pretending to be listening as if you were human. You let out another loud meow. "Blackberry is it? Well what a fine name! Pleasure to meet you." He shook your paw, playfully as you played along. "Well I guess I should tell you why I'm here and why I'm like this." He motioned to his arm, which was slightly beginning to fur up. "Well when I was eight, I got bit by my Uncle Rudy, who's also a werewolf. It was an accident but-" he sighed heavily, as you stared at the tears welling up in his eyes. "My momma died trying to protect me from he. He died two days later when my brother killed him. But I wasn't so lucky. So I ended up transforming into a monster every night the moon is in the sky." Hearing Jake call himself a monster broke your heart so much. Eight years was too young a child to have that horrible of a fate.

"Anyways-" Jake continued, trying to keep his tone calm. "Professor Dumbledore allowed me to attend Hogwarts because apparently there's another werewolf here too. An older one." You smiled to yourself at that. Remus Lupin, your cousin Sirius' best friend. "I still haven't met the other wolf though. I-I come here every moon filled night to transform. It's called The Room Of Requirement. Rumor has it that Helga Hufflepuff herself built this room. And it only opens in times of need. So today I asked the room for this bed and the toys-" he extended a hand towards you, stroking you. "So that you could be comfortable just incase you came I didn't expect you to come again though." The way he talked to you, the way he smiled at you, the way he treated an animal who he met just last night, it was so innocent. You felt that thing in your stomach again, that hatred, that burning feeling for the world. How dare they tell you that a person like Jake be a monster? How dare they tell you that werewolves were even monsters?

"Well enough about me-" Jake scratched your head again. "Tell me about you? What's your favourite colour?" You purred lowly at him, snuggling tighter against the bed. "Oh it's plum? What an interesting choice! Mine's blue. It's the colour of Y/N's house." The colour of Y/N's house? If he knew that the cat whose head he was currently scratching was Y/N herself, he would probably never talk to you again. "Y/N's such a nice girl you know?" He began, leaning back further against the wall. "She's one of my best friends. She's in Ravenclaw and she's really good at charms, just like me. You know she can do silent spells! She's so pretty too. If I had the courage to ask her I would- AHH.

Jake suddenly clutched onto his chest, and let out a painful cry, as black fur began rapidly enveloping his arms. He let go of his chest after a few minutes of what you felt like was pure agony. His face contorted into a grotesque one, eyes crinkled, but not like the way it did when he smiled at you and mouth stuck in the same open position.

"Im sorry Blackberry." He said, once he let go of his chest and began panting after some time. "I-Im not turning yet am I?" You were so bewildered at him. How could he be smiling at you after all of that? After all that agony, how could the smile still not leave his face?

"I was rambling about Y/N wasn't I?" He chuckled slightly. "Do cats also fall in love blackberry?" He asked you, to which you remained silent, choosing to stare ahead at him. "I mean do you ever see another cat and be like 'oh I love that cat'? Does that ever happen? Well it happens to humans, and it happens a lot. I really like Y/N, not just as a friend. Like I want to be with her like Jay wants to be with Gaeul. She's so beautiful inside and out and sometimes she doesn't realise that. I really do want to be with her blackberry, but I don't know how."

That night when you ran back to your dorm, you were distracted. Distracted by the words you had heard come out of Jake's mouth. 'I really like Y/N, not just as friends'. Did he really just confess to a cat about you? Did he really just confess to you about you? It was a weird thing, love. We all know it happens and yet we are so afraid to go after it. Where had God gone wrong with humans, that they would have to reject an essential part of life? An essential thing which our souls needed so desperately? Why were we so quick to turn it away?

You didn't even notice where you were going until you looked up and realised that you had reached the dorm already. Transforming back into your human self, you can in front of the Eagle doorknock, waiting for him to give you your riddle, to get in and wrap yourself in your comfy blankets.

"You're a peculiar child you are." You felt a shiver down your spine as the atmosphere turned cold again. You turned around to see her again. Helena Ravenclaw sitting on the floor. More like floating on the floor, with her ghostly gown spread out evenly. The dark stain on her stomach seemed to shine in the moonlight coming through the windows. "Miss Ravenclaw, what are you doing here so late?" You asked her, trying to ignore the pace of your heart. She merely smiled at you and looked out the window. "The ghosts in Hogwarts can travel anywhere, little girl. I was merely bored so I came to see if you were here again." She paused. "You're an Animagus aren't you? A cat, I presume?" The question as to how on earth she knew that was ignored by your mind. You were currently sinking into her beautiful voice. It was so intoxicating, so beautiful. You could see the melodies of her voice bounce around you.

"You get easily distracted. Did you know that?" She spoke again, breaking you out of your hypnosis. "Oh I-I'm sory Miss Ravenclaw. I didn't mean to-" "Call me Helena. I despise my last name." She responded to your stuttering apologies. "You go to visit that boy don't you? The Hufflepuff werewolf?" She asked you once more, curiously spreading over her face. "Y-yes I do." You answered, sitting down on the floor next to her. It was probably two am in the morning by now, but all that mattered was your conversation with her right now. "You must be wondering-" she cut in. "How I, the ghost of Ravenclaw House can know about a Hufflepuff boy?" She smiled again, and adjusted her skirt, slowly rising from the floor. "Well mysteries should always remain mysteries shouldn't they? I'll leave that up to you to figure out." With that she sped across the corridor and disappeared, once more leaving you cold and dark.

The next few days went in a blur. It was the same routine at night. Turn into a cat at night, open the Room Of Requirement, snuggle into the cat bed as Jake talked to you, and talk to the Grey Lady further into the night. You would think your sleep schedule was fucked up by now, but you were an insomniac from the beginning of time so it alright.

One thing that had changed was that now, you didn't run away when Jake started to turn. You stayed with him, hiding in the corners when he was turning, and once he turned into his wolf form, with black fur and yellow eyes, you would go up to him and pure softly to which he would respond by touching noses with you. He talked about a lot of things to you, his blackberry. He talked about the solar system, and how, one day he would like to invent something that would help him reach Saturn. 'To get a pretty ring for Y/N because she deserves the universe', he would explain, making your heart flutter and burst into a million pieces. He talked about badgers, lions, eagles and snakes and how he thought the Sorting System was a cruel way of separating mere children. He talked about the pretty autumn wind, the crowd which would nest outside his bedroom window, how his brother once turned him into an actual puppy. But most of all, he would talk about you. It melted your heart so much hearing, 'Y/N's favourite pie is pecan' and 'Y/N doesn't like when her bread is not toasted and she hates too much sugar in cakes but she adores those tiny flowers that they make with icing.'

The fact that he actually remembered all that shit about you, all of those things that you brought up which were highly insignificant, it was wonderful. And the Grey Lady noticed. She noticed how you eventually became more talkative. How you would talk to her about riddles and how the houses were misunderstood and how werewolves were such innocent creatures. You rambled to her most about Jake. About how he liked blackberries so much, about how he loved knitting yarn and how he would knit a sweater for his dog Layla every Christmas he was away from her. The Grey Lady laughed internally, at how stupid the youth was. To not realise that love was around the corner.

"I am actually dying right now Y/N I beg you kill me." Jay flopped down on the grass again as all of you sat down for your weekly shit talk session. Moon nights were over now, and you were a bit saddened, that you couldn't spend more time with Jake, although you mentally scolded yourself afterwards, for not realising that now, Jake would finally be out of his pain. You still talked to the Grey Lady, who came to the Eagle doorknock everyday and sat down, each time bringing you a new story of what she did along with Peeves the Poltergeist. She seemed happier now too for some reason unknown.

"Jay it was one date. It's fine. Gaeul still likes you." Wonyoung insisted bracingly to Jay, who was near the verge of tears. "Jay man it's fin-" "NO ITS NOT!" Jay loudly interrupted Jake, who jumped back a bit. "I spilt my butterbeer on her." Jay wept. "What kind of an idiot does that? I'm hopeless." You fought back the urge to laugh as you patted Jay's arm.

"Oh my god stop being so dramatic." Sunoo sighed, as he braided Wonyoung's hair. "She's planning to ask you out again, you idiot." Jay sat up straight at this, whipping his head to Sunoo so fast, you were surprised he didn't get whiplash.

Jake and you chuckled slightly as Jay rounded on Sunoo, interrogating him. "Did you sleep well last night Jake? The dark circles are gone." Yunjin asked Jake, who nodded fervently, setting his Herbology book down. "I think the herbal tea Y/N gave me last week is really helping." He explained, running his hands through his hair, as he usually did. "Thanks for that by the way Y/N. How did you know I've been wanting it for a long time?" Truth be told, he had told you, or technically blackberry about the tea leaves which he had been wanting to buy for a long time. You remembered that your aunt used to grow those leaves, so the next day you immediately wrote to her asking her for some tea bags, saying that it was for a friend.

"A magician never reveals her secret." You jived, making Jake and Yunjin laugh while Wonyoung and Sunoo rolled their eyes (Jay's still crying let him be in his delusions he's Ken). "What about you?" Jake quizzed you. "You've been sleeping well too? Even your dark circles are gone." The bags under your eyes had indeed disappeared after you stopped your daily cat nights. "Yeah. The moon's gone away so I guess I don't need to-" you stopped mid sentence, realising that your dumb brain was just about to give away your secret to the person you secretly visited every night. "You don't need to what?" Wonyoung asked, raising her left brow slightly, as all the attention shifted to you. "Oh um" you stuttered, before spotting someone who could take away the attention from you. "Jay, look! Gaeul's coming this way." You pointed her out to Jay, who immediately began to fix his hair and wipe away the tears on his face. All the attention successfully turned to Jay, who was approached by Gaeul, who asked him for another date on the next Hogsmeade trip. After she left, leaving Jay to be a squashed tomato laying on the grass, everyone took turns to tease him about it. All except for Jake, who you did not even notice was staring at you, not only with bewilderment but also with adored eyes

"Y/N can I talk to you later?" Jake had stopped you in the corridor, while you were walking back from Quidditch practice with Jay. You were a chaser on the team, and Jay usually came with you as moral support even though today he just came for Gaeul. "Yeah sure Jake. When is later specifically?" You joked, to which Jake responded with his signature smile. "Maybe after you change into your something more clean?" He pointed out your mud covered Quidditch robes. "I'll wait for you outside the dorm don't worry."

On the way to your dorm, Jay hadn't stopped giggling like an idiot over your interaction with Jake. He kept making our theories as to why he wanted to talk to you, like a fourteen year old girl which made you laugh a little, seeing your usually serious friend jest around.

"No don't wear that old piece of shit! You wanna look like a sad pathetic octopus who no one would want to date?" Jay was currently raiding your clothes, looking for something which gives, in his words, 'casual date aesthetic'. "I love octopuses for your information." You grumbled. "How much longer Jay?" Jay clicked his tongue like a mom, and pulled out a blue and yellow sweater. The one which Jake had knitted you for Christmas in your third year. It was a special sweater and you often wore it, courtesy to the yarn being cosy and warm.

Fifteen minutes later after you wore the sweater and the trousers which Jay had carefully picked out for you, you went out the common room's door, carrying the good luck given to you by Jay, Joshua and Sana. Jake, as he promised was standing there, hair cleaner than usual and in a dark blue sweater. "Where are we going Jake?" You inquired, curious about why he suddenly asked you. "You'll see." he said with a smirk on his face. You quietly tiptoed and climbed upto the fifth floor. A familiar route to you. It was close to the one you always took to reach him on his moon drunk nights. Actually, it was the exact one you took to reach him. Why was he taking you to The Room Of Requirement? Did he perhaps find out who his beloved blackberry actually was?

"Alright now." Jake stopped in front of the wall, where you knew was the magical room. It was probably nine thirty by now, and all the students would be in bed. "I need you to do something Y/N. Just shut off your brain and don't think if anything. Can you do that for me?" You nodded to his gentle question. You knew what he was doing. Whenever there are two people who required the Room of Requirement, only one of them would be able to open it by thinking about what they needed. You thus obliged to his request and shut your mind off, bringing yourself to think of a white screen with nothing on it.

The wall suddenly contorted to form the same door that it usually formed. The same oak doors, with carvings on them. Jake opened the door without saying a word to you. Your brain was getting fuzzy now. Did he actually find out? And if he did, would he still be your friend? A part of your soul? Your Aman Cara?

"I thought you'd like it." You stepped inside of the room, to find a it roofless, revealing all the pretty stars that shined for love and for rejoicement. The room was no longer blue and yellow like it usually was. It was purple now, and there were pillows everyway, along with some roses, arranged all pretty in a bouquet. "D-do you like it? I know it's weird to ask you out like this in such a creepy way but I can't do it in any other way." Jake nervously said, not noticing your awe struck eyes as you gazed at the stars above. "It-its beautiful." You breathed out, causing Jake to sigh with relief. "Y/N-" he suddenly called out to you. "I-Ive been wanting to tell you for a long time. But I really like you and I want to be more than friends with you. And I understand if you don't feel the same way but I reall-"

The rest of his words got drowned out by you pouncing on him and connecting your lips to his. His lips tasted sweet and smooth, like the leftover cake batter which you would lick and like an old book which you would get out of a bookstore after searching for it for a long time. The kiss tasted like cotton candy, melting in your mouth as soon as it touched your tongue. The dance that your lips performed against each other was amazing, like a female ballerina trusting her male partner to lift her up In the air to create a music drunk dance, which would enchant the audience.

Jake pulled away from the kiss first, a dopey smile on his face, his eyes not leaving yours. "I've been wanting to do that for some time." He finally said, after a few minutes of just smiling at you. "Me too." You confessed, hugging his closer and caressing his hair. "So what do we do now blackberry?"

Your world suddenly stopped hearing the last word coming out of his mouth. He knew? How do he know? "Did the cat really look that much like me?" Jake smiled again and kissed your forehead gently. "I've always told everyone that I never liked tea." He chuckled softly. "So if you really were my friend you'd remember that won't you? But if you were a certain cat, you would know my favourite tea leaves." You mentally slapped yourself for being so stupid and giving away your secret so easily. "Also the Grey Lady told me." "Sim Jake I will hex you, you asshole!" He chuckled slightly as you quizzed him about how he knew the Grey Lady. "She used to talk to me when I used to be alone. Apparently ghosts can enter this amazing room and she would often talk to me about her life. But when she saw a cute little cat coming here every night, she figured out who you were. And let's just say ghosts aren't really good at keeping secrets." Both of you giggled as you stood in the room, gently swaying and holding each other, never to let go ever again. No matter how sad the days would be, how blue they would be, you knew that from now on, your nights would be filled with bright yellow sunshine, and perhaps a bit of moonlight too.

Epilouge

"FINALLY THEY'VE GOTTEN TOGETHER IM DYING HAPPY NOW." Jay screamed at the top of his lungs, as Gaeul sat beside him, covering her ears. There you were again, sitting in your normal place near the lake, feeding the Giant Squid, when you thought this would be the perfect time to tell your friends that Jake was now your boyfriend. Their response was good, well maybe barring Jay crying his eyes out and hugging you, telling you that he was proud, while you looked at Gaeul, wondering how she ever managed to put up with him. You did tell them that Jake was a werewolf, to which they responded quite well, saying that they simply did not care. (Jake shed some tears at that)

Jake and you cherished the moonlit nights now that Jake didn't have to spend them alone. It was peculiar to the beings within the magical paintings in the castle, as to how two creatures, so different in their worlds could ever kiss under the moonlight every day and drink the stars up, intoxicating themselves on each other.

And the Grey Lady smiled again knowing that she had a story to tell every child who would stay up late at the Ravenclaw dorm, lost in their thoughts. The story of the cat and the werewolf, who fell in love, under a drunken moon.

#Jake #Enhypen jake #enha jake #sim jake #jake sim #sim jayeun #enhypen jaeyun #jake fic #enhypen jake fic #enha jake fic #sim jaeyun fic #jake sim fic #enha hogwarts au #hogwarts jake #jake fluff #sim jake fluff #enhypen jake fluff #jake hogwarts au #hogwarts×enhypen #hogwarts × kpop #hogwarts au #wizard jake #wizard Enhypen #jake #Enhypen #Enhypen fluff #Enhypen fic #thank you for reading #bye bye now #Spotify

[ystrike1]

Captain! Where is the Battlefield? - By Limyo (7.5/10)

This time our young duchess is secretly an experienced military commander. She captures a capable and crazy man with her tactical skill. She's inexperienced at love though, so she doesn't notice his madness or the envy around her until it explodes.

Lee Yoon-ah doesn't care about love. She's a scarred, decorated soldier in her thirties. She dies on a mission, because the most skilled general in the world can't punch a bomb away.

She wakes up in a romantic novel that her writer friend never finished. She is the most pathetic Duchess, Rosalie. Rosalie had no spine, and she was too dumb to run her territory. Bella, the previous Duchess, got greedy because of her weakness. Bella bled the Duchy dry, until it had to be saved by Crown Prince Devi...and his love interest Lady Sonia.

Lee Yoon-ah immediately gets to work. She puts on her sigil ring and she starts to train her knight squad. She's weaker, sure, but she's still skilled with a bow. She is a worthy fighter and a scary Duchess. Bella doesn't stand a chance. Bella embarrasses herself like ten times.

She's clearly not the main villain.

Then we meet Sonia, and her Prince Devi. Sonia was kind enough to befriend Rosalie, even though she was an incompetent Duchess. New Rosalie decides to be her friend too. There's no shame in helping those in need, and Sonia technically helped keep the Duchy afloat with her friendship. Rosalie was too nervous, skittish, and depressed to do much...but having Sonia around was always soothing for the poor girl.

Things...fizzle quite quickly. Sonia the heroine is nice, but that's all. New Rosalie has nothing in common with her. Their relationship turns into acquaintances instead of friends in a blink.

She shares many hobbies with the Prince though. Rosalie is confused, but Devi quickly becomes her friend. She gets closer to him instead of Sonia. All Sonia cares about is tea and dresses, but Rosalie wants to learn to ride. Devi happens to be an experienced rider and fighter. Her training moves along faster thanks to his encouragement.

They're a good pair.

Sonia the heroine becomes a third wheel.

Sonia and Devi are not dating by this point. Rosalie is not a ditzy man thief. She puts all of her effort into the Duchy and her soldiers, because it's what she's good at. Devi genuinely admires her, and he starts to see her as a lofty(?) woman that shouldn't be inconvenienced by others. He's always been crazy, and Rosalie isn't the boring worm she used to be.

She deserves everything.

The romance is tainted by war. Cute heronies aren't necessary if there's a more competant option. Rosalie is also prettier. Devi falls deeply in love before he can stop himself, and the plot changes.

Devi and Rosalie do a massacre together, which is cool.

Rosalie gets kidnapped at the grand ball, instead of Sonia. Everyone knows who the prince likes now, including the lowest assassins. We also get a hint. Devi was going to marry Sonia, because she's a good friend. That's all she is. She's the convenient choice for marriage.

He never loved her.

How do we know?

Well, in the original book Devi sent his assassin Nathan to save Sonia.

He didn’t tell Nathan to kill the kidnapper, because it's a noble woman, and her death would cause trouble.

When Rosalie is kidnapped he orders that inconvenient death without hesitation.

Rosalie has to stop him, because killing the highborn kidnapper would indeed cause political chaos.

Devi tells Nathan to guard her permanently too. Sonia is revealed to be the true villain. A woman who pretended to befriend the incompetent Duchess, all in order to look like the best bride for the prince.

Sadly, this one does seem to be getting more boring. More cliche, but the protagonist does actually stab people so that's great. Devi is steadily becoming more maniacal as well.

#yandere #male yandere #yandere male #yandere boy #recommendations #recs #rec #recommended #webtoon #otome isekai #Captain! Where is the Battlefield?

[randomnameless]

Something pretty interesting I missed in my earlier Supreme Bullshit reading.

When Supreme Leader is upset at Lonato, she wonders if going to help him would be feasible, which leads to this convo with Hubert :

You want to save the man, Your Majesty? If I may, we would march all that way for...what, exactly?

Hubert, imo, thinks Lonato as basically already done and dead, Supreme Leader earlier was pissed at Lonato not following their plans, he acted on personal enemity and will most likely have to fight both the KoS and the Kingdom so...

Imagine the consequences of leaving him to die.

Here we have an example of the Supreme Leader who made this route, so interesting : it's not Hubert who has all the dastardry in their duo, Supreme Leader too, participates.

When KT forgets that they gave her a sailor fuku to be "more free", they write her to be in a similar vein as the other red Emperors like Arvis, or, Gustadolph from TS.

It's not "we must save him" or "we can't let him die", but Supreme Leader directly evacuates all that pathos, and thinks, rationally, about the consequences of leaving Lonato reap what he sowed.

We need our vassals to believe the Empire will always come to their aid. Always.

It's PR!

Going to save Lonato is not about Lonato himself, she can't give a fig about the dude, but it's all about public relationships and keeping a façade for her war of conquest : her vassals need to believe the Empire will always come to their aid.

Whether they actually do, or not, is irrelevant - they need to believe Adrestia is "trustworthy enough" to come to their help when called.

And the sheer "we need them to believe" coming from Supreme Leader herself? It's really neat, she's lying/manipulating the events to build a perfect image for her vassals, or the ones who will become her vassals (by choice).

Compare this to the Kingdom/Church "we need to help the ones who need help!" and here, instead, we have "we need to make people believe we're going to help them".

Lonato doesn't act following the plan ? It doesn't matter, Supreme Leader will seize this new opportunity to advance her own goals : aka, making people believe the Empire is "trustworthy" and "reliable".

Good. Now make our plans known to the others. I'm counting on you, Hubert.

What plans? The "we must rescue Lonato because he is our ally" or the true "we must pretend to rescue Lonato to make other nobles join our cause and believe in us"?

And what is intereting is how this exchange, of course, only happens when she is alone with Hubert.

In the following event, where Barney is here and they talk about their powers :

Ah, you should see the look on your face! Did Hubert threaten you? Don't let it get to you. Yes, he's quite good at that kind of thing, but it comes from a place of caution.

Hm... Sure. It's Hubert's way of caring I guess.

But then comes the manifesto :

I want to transform the world into a place where no one has to feel trapped by where they came from.

What's that about the place they come from? Aren't we later in this route trashtalking Annette and the Kingdom peeps because they believe in outdated values like chivalry and sacrifices to protect their loved ones?

When I am done, it won't matter where you are born, whose blood you have, or what powers course through you—everyone will be treated as equals.

When she means equals, she means people will "believe" everyone will be treated as equals, just like Lonato was supposed to "believe" Adrestia was coming to back him up and not just, play minimal part to guarantee their PR but not much more?

That's what we're fighting for, and that is what this war is going to achieve.

But Hubert said this war is a war of conquest ?

So believe me when I say this—I don't care who you are.

And yet Barney is still a nobody commoner, even if pal with the Emperor, when Linhardt is a general?

I only care about what you have done and what you have yet to do.

And what Barney can do with that power you said you don't give a crap about right? But what if Barney's abilities are basically the result of their weird powers, can we still say their power/abilities are irrelevant ?

And, hm, maybe someone can translate this for me ?

人の力に拠る未来を創るため、 すべての犠牲を私は負って立つ！

She says this when she defeats 1k peons, and Googl'd it gives... "To create a future based on the power of people, I will bear all the sacrifices!" - so what this line about not giving figs about "what powers course through you everyone will be treated as an equal"? Could Amelie the lady from Mittelfrank who couldn't end up as a diva be treated like Leopold, or what?

--

Supreme Leader's words being treated as gospel is always imo hilarious, because Supreme Leader has some instances where, when KT's not busy dressing her up with some "Scarlet Blaze Power! Make Up!", she plays the role Arvis already played before her, the dastardly red emperor who manipulates and seizes every opportunity to reach her goals.

In Tru Piss we got the Javelins - but in Nopes? We get those "heart to heart" moments with Hubert that lampshade even more how much of an unreliable narrator Supreme Leader is - she still maintains care to have a level of PR and only confides to trusted people (yay Hubert!) or, in FE16, when, curiously, she has her mask on (Flamey doesn't need PR).

That's why we still have so many pretzels over Rhea's fate in Tru Piss, yes, Supreme Leader claims she wants to spare her when she adresses her in Firdhiad, in front of her allies and the people she has to lie to about her War.

But when she was with Billy? Nah, she can safely tell them that path lead to the death of Rhea and her people, something she rejoices about in their S support.

Too bad Nopes doubled down on "Sailor Adrestia" instead of giving us more of that "Arvis with a skirt" they teased us with (seriously that power move of betraying Rhea in the third chapter was just, that awesome from her part).

#3 nopes #it's upsetting because Fodlan is a treasure trove of missed opportunities #Supreme Leader is one of them #just imagine a game where the world isn't full of pretzels or doesn't end after a S convo if a FB #and Supreme Leader has to use her skills to deceive and manipulate people #instead of them being gullible idiot who suddenly develop amnesia about Flamey in FE16 #or are drunk on 'imperialism yay' kool aid #wait wait wait #I had the wildest AU nonsensical shit right now about Sailor Adrestia #dimitri being Sailor Faerghus #and Lorenz is Sailor Leicester #and twist! the real moon people are lizards and agarthans #some humans inherited their powers through nefarious means #or less than nefarious ones #and rhea was the original sailor adrestia #fuck i'm doomed

[docholligay]

Holligay Tries Things That Aren't Running: Kettlebell AMPD

The answer is a very obvious, 'Because people like it that way' but I swear to god, working out in groups is just choreography, and, why?

I walk into Kettlebell AMPD after a full week of doing strength classes, and I'm not too proud to tell you: I am beat to shit. I literally put dinner on the table and ran out in my Extremely Noble Quest to win an overpriced and unnecessary kitchen item, after having ran in the morning, and the idea of lifting a weight is not thrilling to me.

But, the only way to get a sticker is to do this class, and I've picked it specifically because it's only 45 minutes, and not an hour, and I am lazy.

The teacher's name is Lacy*. I am worried that she will think I'm a lazy shit, because I have every intention of picking up a 10 pound kettlebell and being a lazy shit. Echoes of Boot Camp haunt my mind. She'll see me for sure.

Then she struggles to tell the teenage boys playing hoops that open gym is over, and I offer to do it.

I grab my ten pound kettlebell. She ain't saying shit.

A kettlebell is essentially a flat-bottomed bowling ball with a handle. I've been in enough classes involving weight to have a rough idea of what is going to go on here, but what I could not have imagined is that the squats and bicup curls and whatnot would be set to the beats of That's What I Call Music: Doc is in and around High School.

I want you to imagine trying to get a serious workout in while you're listening to Fall Out Boy and The All American Rejects. You're doing squats in time the Good Charlotte. Am I the dad rock?? I ask myself. I never listened to this stuff really, but there is nothing like the popular music of your generation being used to inspire a bunch of greying women in t-shirts to make you realize that the greying woman is you, DocDoc.

All of which would have been fine until some other unspeakable mid00s hit came on, and she displayed a motion of making a wide swing with the kettlebell, trading it over at the top of her head, squatting down and passing it to the other hand, again, through her legs.

Like most people just this side of 40, I have a handful of infirmities, my only saving grace being that they were caused by something other than being old: Being an idiot.

When I was about 19, I fell through the floor of an abandoned farmhouse, from the second floor to the first, and have a handful of issues to show for it. A few light scars that most people never notice unless I point them out, a knee that gives me trouble occasionally, an elbow with a weak ligament that gets overtaxed easily, but most interestingly, a hand that drops something if I grip it wrong.

I assume this is some kind of nerve injury, as it's the same hand that loses feeling in two of the fingertips if it gets cold, but I don't know as I've never had the money and inclination to chase down an injury for which the diagnosis will be: Hell of a thing! But what it means is I often have to be thoughtful about the way I lift something with that hand, especially something heavy. I have done it so long that people never notice I do it, and honestly it's generally easy to avoid.

Swinging a kettlebell around my legs and through the air to the beat is PRIME TIME for me to be grabbing something incorrectly and sailing it off into Kelsey's head. I stand there for a moment like an idiot, unsure of what to do. Then i just go grab a 5 pound kettlebell and .5% ass it.

I would say I got nothing out of the class, but in fairness I didn't really give it anything to reinvest, it's not like I was actually trying. I don't think I would do it again though, it was weightlifting without any actual oomph. I would go to that class every week and never get any stronger.

We finished with a stretching session to Jimmy Eat World's song about a dead person.

*Or, as with these (reviews? Thoughts? Pointless asides?) a close enough approximation of her name.

#things that aren't running #I did this like a week and a half ago and forgot to post it

[raaorqtpbpdy]

The Undead Adventurer (2)

When an interrupted resurrection spell leaved Danny halfway between life and death, his adventuring career should have been over. But Danny Fenton won't let something as minor as being regularly mistaken for a member of a zombie horde, or kidnapped by an unknowable monster of death stop him from becoming the strongest adventurer in the world with his best friends by his side.

For the following prompts:

His head spun. He couldn’t see past the light above him. What was it? [from @q-gorgeous]

Fantasy/rpg setting. Danny died, but the resurrection spell went wrong, and now he’s trapped as something not quite dead but not fully alive either. Not that he’d ever let that stop him from becoming an adventurer, even if he does get mistaken as a resident dungeon monster by other adventuring parties every now and then… [from @lexiepiper]

Danny catches the eye of something he shouldn't. (Eldritch affection or soft horror encouraged) [from Ventisette Stars]

Read also on AO3

Chapter 2: Coastal Combat (first chapter | next)

[Warnings for violence, some explicit language, and themes of death]

After some needling, Danny did agree to take some downtime days to rest, and prepare for their next adventure. They checked into an inn for a few nights, performed maintenance on their gear, and planned where they would go next.

"It's not a dungeon, but I heard Elmerton is having some bandit problems," Sam said.

"Bandits? Really?"

"It's a noble quest," Tucker argued.

"It's an easy quest," Danny argued. "I agreed to take quests at our level, not ten levels below it. Any bandits attacking Elmerton of all places will be desperate, inexperienced, and poorly equipped. The greenest adventurers in the country could take care of it. Let's leave some quests for the newbies, don't you think?"

Sam and Tucker looked at each other like they'd just been caught with their hands in the cookie jar. Did they really think he was dumb enough to go for something like that. More and more people were trying their hands at adventuring every day, three experienced adventurers like themselves didn't need to be taking entry-level quests away from actual entry-level adventurers.

"Alright, well... there's a noble looking to hire body-guards," Sam proposed. "He suspects a rival family is planning to have him assassinated."

"Okay, first of all, body-guarding jobs are boring, they aren't real adventures or even real quests, and I don't know why people keep asking for adventurers to do things like that when they should be hiring mercenaries—or better yet, and here's a wild idea, actual bodyguards. Second of all, do you really want me taking on a job where there will likely be an assassin involved? And third of all, did you just ask around every tavern in Casper for the easiest, most boring adventurer gigs around? 'Cause it seems like that's what you did."

"Yeah, that's what we did," Tucker confirmed, then yelped in alarm as Sam dug her elbow into his side.

"Come on, you don't have to baby me!" Danny complained. "I've gone on plenty of adventures without dying before, you don't have to pick ones a literal child could do."

"Well, how about the dungeon outside of Amity Park?" Tucker suggested.

"You want us to go home?" Danny asked, grimacing.

The idea didn't sit right with him. He had left Amity Park for a very good reason, and Tucker had followed. And when they left, Danny fully planned on never going back. Tucker had traveled back alone a few times, to visit his family, but Danny never had and never would, if he had any say in it.

"No, not all the way home, just to the dungeon a few miles away," Tucker assured. "It's crawling with monsters, and they say there's a demon in the deepest recesses of the dungeon."

"That seems too dangerous," Sam argued.

"It's been evaluated as medium difficulty," Tucker insisted. "Which is actually slightly lower than we're qualified to take on. The monsters in it aren't actually that strong, there's just a lot of them."

"A hundred weak monsters can be way more dangerous than one powerful one," she insisted. "We should find something else."

"I actually agree with Sam," Danny said. "I don't think it would be too dangerous, but it's too close to home. If something happens and we have to teleport out fast for healing or something, I don't want to have to go to Amity Park for it."

Tucker huffed, but reluctantly gave in.

"One of these days, you two are gonna have to tell me what the deal is with your home town," Sam said.

She had joined their party a couple months after they left, and a few towns away, when they were looking for a magic-user to round out their team, and she was looking to escape her stuffy noble family's manor. As such, there were parts of their personal history she didn't know, and they hadn't been willing to talk about.

"It doesn't matter anymore," Danny replied, waving her off. "As long as we don't go back there, it doesn't matter. And I'm never going back there."

In all their years adventuring together, the only times Danny had ever sounded that solemn was when he talked about his home, or when one of them had died.

"Anyway, I'm sure you guys can guess that I want another shot at the lich who killed me, but I bet I know how you feel about that," Danny said.

"Yeah, not gonna happen," Tucker told him.

At the same time, Sam said, "No way. Absolutely not."

"Yeah, that's what I thought."

Eventually, the three of them settled on a quest a few towns away, near Eerie Coast. Some sea monsters were coming a little too far inland for anyone's tastes, and even climbing onto fishing boats. The current theory was that overpopulation of their usual habitat was driving them to invade elsewhere. It made sense. A few years before, hunting sea monsters was all the rage, but it had fallen out of vogue a little while ago, and Eerie Coast didn't have nearly as many adventurers managing its monster population nowadays as it once had.

Danny tried to argue that they specialized in fighting the undead and should find a quest more related to their field, but they had done a couple of sea monster quests back when they were popular, before the group decided to specialize, so it wasn't like they wouldn't know what they were doing. Although to be honest, it hadn't been so much a decision to specialize as it was that undead creatures just seemed to find them, no matter where they went.

Sam had been forced to learn purification magic and rapid decay spells out of necessity, and Tucker had had no choice but to study up on the weak points of all undead creatures so he would know where to aim with his bow. Danny, luckily, knew quite a bit about undead monsters already, including why their party seemed to attract them so disproportionately, but he was less than forthcoming with that information.

Nevertheless, they headed to Eerie Coast to take on the droves of water based monsters that were completely tanking the fishing economy there.

There, as with everywhere, they ended up fighting undead whether they wanted to or not. They'd never seen ghost octopi, swarms of fish skeletons, or zombie sea serpents before, though. This didn't seem like a simple overpopulation issue after all.

Luckily, the three of them were uniquely suited for this quest. Danny's sword was enchanted to be far more effective against undead, to the point where he could take down most minor undead with only one well-placed blow. For the huge sea monster before them, it took a few strikes, but Danny was quick, sprightly, and he could fly now, and he knew exactly where to land those strikes to take down the zombified beast as quickly as possible.

Taking quests above their skill level had been dangerous and on many occasions deadly, but it forced them to learn fast, and be quicker and more precise in their attacks. Sam took down a whole school of fish skeletons with a single, well-aimed purify undead spell, and Tucker took the time to dip his arrowheads in ectoplasm before picking off the ghostly creatures one by one and waiting for his arrows to float back to him on the current so he could do it all over again.

Hordes of sea creatures coming back from the dead wasn't the kind of thing that just happened naturally though, which mean if they didn't find the root cause, getting rid of the monsters would only be short-term solution. Once they'd earned themselves a reprieve by destroying all the immediate threats, Tucker went to collect any miscellaneous arrows that hadn't been damaged beyond usability in the fray, and Sam started to cast a search spell to trace the magic that had brought all these creatures back as undead.

Once she was done, the boys followed her into town, down a winding path, until they saw a cloaked figure run when it caught sight of them, and they gave chase.

It wasn't long before the man figure inadvertently cornered themself on a dead-end street. They stuck their arms out of their black cloak as if to cast a spell, but Tucker was faster, and shot a pair of arrows that pinned the figure's sleeves to the wall behind them. A few more arrows ensured that they were secured enough that they couldn't run anymore.

"Who are you, and why were you running?" Danny demanded, the tip of his sword trained at the man's neck.

"And what..." the man asked, "are you? You magnificent monster...."

A shiver ran down Danny's spine. He did not like the way this guy was sizing him up. The look in his eyes was predatory, despite him being the one cornered and trapped with a sword at his throat.

"You're not in a position to be asking questions," Danny said harshly. "Now tell me, who are you, and what is your business?"

The man didn't stop giving Danny that covetous look, but he did explain himself.

The man in the cloak, as it turned out, was an aspiring necromancer that had moved into town and was using the local sea life—both magical and benign—to practice his trade, while he hid from the locals and let them think it was natural overpopulation.

Sam was openly sickened by the man, lecturing him about the all the moral and ethical problems with necromancy while the man was pinned to a wall with several arrows, unable to escape her tirade.

To be honest, Danny had never really had a problem with necromancy, beyond the fact that it was a little annoying. Maybe he was just desensitized, but he didn't really see how bringing people and animals back as undead monsters was morally wrong. They were dead. No one was gonna perform true resurrection on that sea serpent so what did it care if it's body was used to serve a necromancer?

Plus, Danny didn't really think it was fair that true resurrection was totally find, but all other forms of necromancy were considered evil and taboo. It was all necromancy in the end. But Ancients forbid you even call a resurrectionist a necromancer because if you're gonna compare them to those horrible evil mages, then maybe they'll just let your friend stay dead.

As if them bringing people back to life for money was so much more noble than creating zombies to accrue power.

Anyway, Danny's opinions didn't matter much. Except for true resurrection spells, all necromancy was illegal, so the three of them escorted the necromancer to the town guard and let them deal with him.

"Can we please do a proper dungeon crawl next?" Danny requested as they cleared out the rest of the undead in the nearby seas, mostly small creatures that they'd missed in their initial culling. "Ever since that lich my eyes do not like bright lights anymore, and the sun is blinding. I would much prefer to be underground."

"Yeah, I'm actually with you this time," Sam agreed as she unwrapped a clump of seaweed from he staff with a look of disgust on her face. "Eugh... gross."

"I don't know, this isn't so bad," Tucker said. "I kinda missed coastal adventures like this."

Danny scoffed. "Says the guy firing arrows from the beach. I'm soaked. I'm gonna have to polish the crap out of my armor to keep it from getting rusted to hell and back from the salt water after this."

He slashed what he was pretty sure was the last zombie eel. Without a leader, zombies attacked indiscriminately and never retreated, so the fact that he didn't see any more of them attacking was a pretty good sign.

"Fine," the archer finally agreed. "I'm gonna need to stock up on arrows before we go, though. I only have four left that are still usable, and I can't find the supplies I need to make more myself in a dungeon like I could in a forest or something."

"Yeah, we'll need to stock up my store-room spell for a dungeon crawl too," Sam agreed. "We're not quite low yet, but there isn't nearly enough food and water for a dungeon. Guess it's time for a shopping trip. Are we done here?"

"Yeah, I think so," Danny confirmed. "I think I'll sit out the shopping trip, though. You'll probably get better service and better prices if I'm not there disturbing all the other customers."

Sam and Tucker both looked like they wanted to argue, but they also both had eyes. They could see how all the civilians in town reacted to him. His appearance was simply to abnormal for them not to be concerned, and it was a reasonable fear. If he had actually been a Zombie General, they would be in serious danger. That didn't stop their looks of fear and disgust from stinging a bit, though.

"Could you pick me up some steel polish while you're out though?" he asked. "I have a feeling I'm gonna use the last of it after today's fight."

"Yeah, sure thing," Sam told him.

He spent the rest of the evening, as he'd expected to, in their room at the inn, polishing his armor and weapons. Alone.

#danny phantom #dp #danny fenton #sam manson #tucker foley #fic #things i wrote #fantasy au #dp au #phic phight 24 #phic phight #the undead adventurer

[atopvisenyashill]

since falling into my hotd brainrot ive been reminded of one of my gripes which is this misunderstanding that daenerys lived in "abject poverty" (to use the language from an ask you got not that long ago) before her introduction and this is just... not true?

That was when they lived in Braavos, in the big house with the red door. Dany had her own room there, with a lemon tree outside her window. After Ser Willem had died, the servants had stolen what little money they had left, and soon after they had been put out of the big house. Dany had cried when the red door closed behind them forever."

people living in abject poverty don't have access to servants or their own rooms. does this mean their time here would equal the upbringing viserys and daenerys would have had in the red keep? absolutely not. for one thing, daenerys wasn't tutored by a maester or septa which is pretty standard for most noble children of a similar standing, let alone a princess.

They had wandered since then, from Braavos to Myr, from Myr to Tyrosh, and on to Qohor and Volantis and Lys, never staying long in any one place. Her brother would not allow it. The Usurper's hired knives were close behind them, he insisted, though Dany had never seen one.

they would have needed coin for those ships.

At first the magisters and archons and merchant princes were pleased to welcome the last Targaryens to their homes and tables, but as the years passed and the Usurper continued to sit upon the Iron Throne, doors closed and their lives grew meaner. Years past they had been forced to sell their last few treasures, and now even the coin they had gotten from Mother's crown had gone. 

what happened with ser willem was absolutely terrible but this idea that daenerys and viserys were living on the streets is inaccurate when their targaryen name is what allowed them to live with the likes of magisters and merchant princes. nor was this something that happened overnight, as indicated by the "years past". they also had "treasures" (meaning jewels) which again no person living in abject poverty would have. those treasures were a lifeline for them but it was a lifeline that a character like nettles never has.

Her brother Viserys had once feasted the captains of the Golden Company, in hopes they might take up his cause. They ate his food and heard his pleas and laughed at him. Dany had only been a little girl, but she remembered. "I have sellswords too."

people living in abject poverty don't feast captains.

it just irks me because when you compare it to the details of nettles' life, it feels wrong to me to believe that both these girls lived in abject poverty. that was nettles. that being said though, that doesn't mean daenerys had an easy time living in exile with viserys. he was a monster to her and she deserves sympathy for that. but while daenerys and nettles' upbringings were similarly tragic (orphaned etc), they were still worlds apart in their differing levels of privilege. it also irks me when they try to use this to compare daenerys to sansa (funny how its often just sansa and not the other starks)

yeah those are all definitely good points. as you say, I don't want to discount that Daenerys had an incredibly stressful childhood (to say the least), much more stressful than The Average Noble by far because she and viserys were actively thinking about and worrying over where their next meal will come from, how to keep a roof over their heads, and they aren't learning jack shit because they don't have a maester, a guardian, a parent, or a single person in all of Essos looking out for them. but it's also like. first of all, we have two canon characters that actually do experience real poverty, the first being davos though he doesn't experience it on page and the second being arya - she's actively avoiding capitalizing on the stark name so she's actually living the life someone who is born poor would live.

and one thing about dany's life - which i've touched on before re: noble girls getting sold in marriages in what a previous anon referred to as slavery - but her last name and the class she was born into if not the class she lived in cannot be disentangled from the life she lived. i pointed it out there that for example, if poor jeyne poole found some dragon eggs in the crypts, used ramsay's dead body to hatch them, and started burning shit down, she's just not amassing the sort of following dany would because she doesn't have the name. and you can see that directly with Nettles, as you point out - despite everyone seeing clearly that Nettles manages to claim Sheepstealer, has a strong bond with her dragon, because she's lowborn and Not White (and not even an acceptable Not White, like dornish, but some ~random brown girl~ from nowhere with no claim to any specific heritage in canon) she's still seen as a temptress, a whore, a witch, all because she claimed a dragon and had some old married dude following her around. dany and viserys regularly trade away their jewels, hype up their titles and heritage, in an attempt to gain basic necessities and this is certainly a marked difference from the way other nobles have lived and important but arya, gendry, hot pie, lommy - they don't get that. lommy just gets killed. and he's not even running his mouth the way viserys is in vaes dothrak. he's just a dumb kid whose leg is broken and asks to be carried and he's murdered for it. hot pie is a normal ass kid who has to learn how to defend himself because it's literally life or death while dany regularly has some sort of guard protecting her.

and again - it's not to say dany doesn't experience a lot of trauma and instability that other nobles will never face that gives her an understanding of violence and war that others don't have. but just like you can't say she was truly "sold" as a slave to drogo because her class is tied to the concept of these nobly born child brides, it's not exactly true that she lives in abject poverty either. it's something a lot more complex than that.

#i'm sorry to start dany discoursing again i'm clearing out my asks #anti daenerys targaryen #i was gonna link to that child bride post but i'm lazy. if u kno u kno alsdkjf #asks #anons

[horizon-verizon]

While B&C is objectively horrifying, I’ve honestly never once felt any emotion when reading it… but Aerea’s death, oh my god, I was completely engrossed and taken back by the hideous, stomach-turning and repugnant description of her death.

👀

Aerea had to have had those fireworms crawl through her still-living body for days. Aerea's death was much more detailed, a lot more gory, and connects to one overarching and critical element, or "layer", of the ASoIaF series: the Targs' legacy with their dragons and the effect of the Valyrian's imperialism over Essos. Aerea's death brought a sense of doom because it alerted us and Jaehaerys of the Targs' vulnerability to forces that their own ancestors probably caused. And the account is very reliable, more so than most F&B accounts and certainly so for the Dance portion of the book. Its relater, Septon Barth, he's the one who tried to treat Aerea. And of all the "Faith-aligned professionals" we ever encountered in this world, he was the most dedicated to impartial study of the people and things around him. (Sincere about it, too, even though he does also factor in a few societal lens...because he still lives in Westeros and is still a septon.) So you know he was writing what he saw impartially.

Why do the Targs' relationship with their dragons & past AND their dragons' future matter? We (should) know and have read ASoIaF and read about Daenerys, how she becomes the Queen that she is meant to be to save the world. We have learned that something can hurt a dragon. We need dragons//fire for the Long Night & protect humanity. The Targs' assimilation into the Andal-FM pre-Conquest culture and subsequent refusal to better & truly incorporate their women into their politics--or just think outside of their own immediate needs for power, even with some being genuinely better people and leaders--have lead up to their own loss of said dragons, then their usurpation. It's a lead up to Daenerys in-world and re-contextualizes her role for the Long Night to come.

*However, reminder, yes the Targs' Conquest and reign still greatly reduced the thousands of years of constant warfare b/t the non Valyrian Westerosi former kingdoms. Two things, true at once.*

Whereas with Jaehaerys, the death served this one story to illustrate how far a specific group of people will go to destroy the other or get the other back for perceived/real wrongs done. Jaehaerys became a victim of a blood feud & another motive to keep that particular blood feud going. It's not even the first death, but a response to another's death done by the greens (Aemond), who decided to usurp the king-chosen heir, a woman, for their own ambitions. He is part of a succession of a drama. And while his 6 fingers generate some curiosity and inquiry as to what effects the magical connection to dragons have on disabilities/congenital conditions being more reduced--which Idk about, since the Westerosi have been marrying their cousins for centuries and most of the nobles we see aren't fugly nor have many congenital conditions to rival the Hapsburgs--this doesn't serve or inform us on the bigger story. Sad and tragic, but in terms of the scales of consequences, it had a simpler effect.

Ironically, he has less narrative importance than Nettles or Mysaria, whom some Rhaenyra & black stans try to argue was "just a plot device" 🙄 to use against Rhaenyra. Both within and out of Fire & Blood. Then there's the business of green stans being so overwrought & talkative over his death than the:

sack of Bitterbridge & rapes/murders (of refugees, of children, septas, old people, etc.)

sack of of Tumbleton & rapes/murders

Dalton Greyjoy's raping women and killing innocent peasants,

etc.

It is perhaps all of these that make Aerea's death seem both more harrowing and "important" than Jaehaerys'. Aerea's death is more shrouded in mystery, Jaehaerys' is not. Her death has a larger narrative purpose compared to his.

#asoiaf asks to me #blood and cheese #aerea's death #jaehaerys' death #character comparison #aerea targaryen #jaehaerys targaryen #prince jaehaerys #fire and blood characters #fire and blood #asoiaf dragons #the valyrians #the targaryens

[alj4890]

Can't Take My Eyes Off of You

(Maxwell Beaumont x Olivia Nevrakis) in a Choices The Royal Romance Crackship AU

Masterlist

A/N I know it's been a while, but I think I can say I'm back 🤞Covid and flu went through my whole family these last couple of weeks and I'm behind on everything, including having fun on Tumblr. I'm starting to catch up on writing, reading, and answering asks. For the time being though, here's something I'd finished right before all the sickness struck. I was finally able to edit it this morning, so here we go with some more angsty romance with Max and Liv.

Chapter 4

Cordonia's Royal Port...

Olivia was seething.

There were a great many things in this world that could make her angry. One that was high on her list was what she deemed: traitor. It just so happened that she was debating on whether or not to assign that particular moniker to one of the men she'd known for most of her life.

Is he betraying me by being all buddy/buddy with Riley? He's pushing so hard for her to win Liam's attention. Shouldn't he be rooting instead for me, his so-called friend?

Her narrowed eyes were riveted upon the joyful trio. It was ridiculous how happy Drake, Riley, and Maxwell were for having won the annual regatta. Olivia felt her temper spike to see her competition engulfing both men in tight hugs before jumping down to the dock to greet Liam and Constantine.

The fact that the three most incompetent people she'd ever known had beaten her soon to be fired crew was absolutely insane.

"Your grace?" One of her crewmen cleared his throat. "Please accept our apologies for--"

"Get everything ready for the party." She snapped. "Guests will be arriving soon. I expect no further failures."

"Yes m'lady." He bowed then scurried away.

Olivia refocused on the various nobles coming towards her yacht. There was only one person she wanted to see from her peer group. She wasn't certain why she wanted to see Maxwell as badly as she did. She chalked it up to her need to set him straight on a number of matters.

Then again, curiosity over their kiss could be another big reason.

She greeted her guests on her way down to the dock, making certain on timing it to where she could run into Maxwell without it appearing planned.

Luckily, he wasn't looking where he was going. His attention was directed upon his phone while a slight frown formed on lips she knew a little too well.

Maxwell bumped into her, nearly sending them both into the water.

"Whoa!" He grasped her waist to help keep her upright. "Sorry."

Olivia's frown deepened over the flush creeping up her neck from their bodies being pressed up against one another for such a brief moment.

Stepping back, she straightened her sweater and waited on him to say something more.

His eyes lingered upon her cold, dispassionate face. Maxwell felt his heart sink at not seeing anything like he'd hoped to after sharing a kiss that had been beyond anything his imagination could conjure.

"Excuse me." He mumbled, stepping around her.

Olivia blinked at that being all he was going to say to her. After that kiss from a few nights earlier, she expected him to say something about why he'd done it.

"Where are you going?" She snapped.

Her waspish tone caused him to freeze.

"Bertrand needs to talk to me." He told her.

"Now?" She asked.

"Yeah." Maxwell sighed. "His, um, his patience is really wearing thin."

He glanced towards her yacht and the nobles already mingling on it. Of all the times his brother demanded his presence for another lecture, it had to be when the woman he was head over heels for threw a party.

Not that she would want me there.

"Aren't you coming to my little get together?" She asked.

His eyes searched hers. Hope flared within him.

Maybe I didn't screw up my chances with her, he thought. If she wants me at her party then my kiss didn't completely gross her out.

"I wish I could." Maxwell ran a hand down his face. "Bertrand is demanding I come find him."

"Are you going to the beach later?" Olivia wanted to slap herself for sounding like she couldn't wait to see him again.

"Yeah," Maxwell replied, "I think so."

His phone buzzed with another irritated text from his brother.

"I'll see you later." He mumbled.

"Hey." Riley greeted, stopping beside Olivia. "Liam said you're hosting the Ladies of the Court."

Olivia watched him walk away. Her brow furrowed in thought over his behavior and her own holding back in telling him off. She wasn't quite certain what game Maxwell was playing with her, but she knew she needed to stop it before it went any further.

Is it a game he's playing with me? Is that why he kissed me? Or am I giving Maxwell too much credit?

"I am." Olivia turned back towards the gangplank, motioning for Riley to follow. "Welcome aboard."

"Thanks." Riley relaxed some once she saw Olivia wasn't her usual temperamental self.

"Of course." Olivia's overly bright smile made Riley pause. "Please, make yourself at home and do not hesitate to ask for whatever you need."

Riley's eyes widened when Olivia called out for a servant to bring her a bright orange life jacket.

"Here." Olivia's smug smile formed. "We can't take a chance on possibly losing you during our excursion."

"Is everyone getting one?" Riley asked.

"No. They aren't as fragile as our newest member of the Court." Olivia replied.

Riley's own smile held a hint of evil. She took the life jacket in her hands and managed to sound like she was overcome with emotion.

Olivia struggled in her embrace.

"Olivia! Aren't you the most precious person to be so concerned about me?" Riley pulled her into a tight hug. "It is so sweet how much you want to keep me around."

Her delighted out urst drew the nobles' attention. Many were chuckling and whispering while watching the two ladies before turning back to the brunch that was being set out.

"There's no need for this." Riley whispered. "This competition doesn't mean we have to keep being mean to each other."

Olivia pushed out of her arms. "You're a bigger fool than I thought. This is a competition. None of us can be anything other than opponents as we fight to win Liam."

"There is no fight." Riley tossed the life preserver into a nearby lounge chair. "Liam is a man who will choose the woman he wants to ultimately spend the rest of his life with. I don't care what Madeleine says about it being to find the perfect queen. In the end, he has to live with whomever he picks."

She gestured around at the crowd. "Those of us who aren't picked will need to continue on in life. Wouldn't it be better to do so as friends?"

Olivia scoffed at that notion.

Riley really is naive.

"Believe that if you want," Olivia muttered, "but in the end, you'll hate the one Liam picks over you."

"Why?" Riley folded her arms. "If I truly care about Liam, then shouldn't I want to see him get the person he wants most?"

Olivia hesitated. Of course, she knew that's how one should feel. Yet, could she take Liam picking one of the other ladies over herself?

"Anyway," Riley continued, "I think we'll all end up with the person we're meant for."

Olivia rolled her eyes. "That sounds stupidly optimistic."

Riley shrugged. "I'm a hopeless romantic. It's why I agreed to Maxwell's invitation to be House Beaumont's suitor."

She then nudged Olivia.

"You know, there are a lot of handsome guys here."

"Excuse me?" Olivia sputtered.

"I'm just saying, the ladies Liam doesn't pick have a pretty decent selection to nurse their broken hearts." Riley smiled at her. "I bet there's at least one who's not the prince who has caught your eye."

Olivia paled at the thought of Maxwell telling Riley about the kiss.

"He has not caught my eye." Olivia hissed.

"Who?" Riley asked.

"I don't care what he said to you!" Olivia whispered harshly. "Nothing will ever come from that kiss!"

"Who?!" Riley's eyes widened. "Who did you kiss?"

Olivia realized she'd made a huge mistake. The longer she studied Riley's curious face the more she knew Maxwell hadn't told her about what happened that last night in Lythikos.

Furious over her own stupidity, Olivia spun on her heel and left Riley gaping in confusion.

****************

The private beach...

Maxwell did his best not to look around and see where Olivia was. He'd already caught her staring at him twice. He knew he should probably talk about the kiss with her.

But...

He didn't want to hear her say that she felt nothing for him.

He softly groaned as he collapsed back on the towel he was sitting on. Once he saw Liam sneak off with Riley, he knew he could finally relax somewhat. He wished he could get out of his clothes and go swimming with his friends. He knew Bertrand would have a stroke if he found out that he did so and that the entire court saw his tattoo.

Still...it was tempting to rip his black shirt off. Hearing the gasps and whispers over the baby hippo residing upon his chest would bring a smile to his face. It would also temporarily take his mind off one particular subject.

He'd give anything to escape his thoughts. Between the heat of the afternoon sun and the inner heat from the memories of how Olivia's lips felt on his, he needed a cool dip in the ocean.

"We need to talk."

His eyes shot open to see the very person he could not stop thinking about standing over him.

Olivia glanced around. Everyone was preoccupied with either swimming or mingling. No one was paying any attention to them. It was the perfect moment to finally get some answers.

"What, um, what do you want to talk about?" Maxwell asked a touch hesitantly.

"You know what I want to discuss." She hissed. "Now get up and follow me."

He scrambled after her when she darted towards a shaded area filled with palm trees and thick brush.

Once she knew they were well out of earshot of everyone, she rounded on him.

"I know what you're doing." Her tone sent a chill down his spine.

"You do?" Maxwell thought he'd been so careful.

"I'd almost be impressed if you were normally this manipulative." Olivia swallowed, fighting against the frustrated tears that she felt. "But coming from someone like you, all I see is how cruel you really are."

She refused to cry in front of people. It was a form of weakness that a Nevrakis could never show to anyone. The last person she'd ever thought would make her feel this close to tears was Maxwell Beaumont.

Heat rose up her body as she blinked back the telltale signs that he'd upset her to this point.

"Cruel?" His eyes narrowed in concern as he stepped closer to her. "What are you talking about?"

"Your kiss!" She snapped. "You used it to distract me from pursuing Liam all so you're precious Riley could steal him away!"

Maxwell's jaw dropped. He couldn't believe she'd jumped to that conclusion. Didn't she know he was hopelessly in love with her, that he'd never use that as a weapon against her? How much more obvious could he be in showing Olivia how badly he wanted to be with her?

"Listen closely." She poked his chest with each word. "I will win Liam. You and I will never, ever speak of that kiss again after today. I know your tricks now and will never falter again."

"Tricks?!" He finally found his voice. "Liv, it wasn't a trick! I didn't do anything to make sure Riley wins Liam's attention."

"Bullshit!" Olivia hissed. "You knew what you were doing when you came to my room that night! I let my sentimentality over our childhood friendship keep me from seeing just how far you'll go to make Riley be Liam's choice."

"I swear I had no plans to do anything that night!" He cried out. "I honestly wanted to check on you! Don't you know..."

He trailed off, lowering his eyes. He knew deep, deep down he had kissed her in the hopes she would be distracted from pursuing Liam. It just had nothing at all to do with Riley or winning this asinine competition.

He only wanted Olivia to fall in love with him.

Swallowing, he reached for her hand.

For some reason Olivia allowed him to do so.

His thumb brushed over her skin setting off tingles for them both.

"Don't I know what?" She bit out, refusing to relax her fingers.

He lifted his eyes to hers. Olivia took a step back from the undeniable emotion swimming in those ocean blue depths of his.

Maxwell wanted to tell her everything that was in his heart. He knew he couldn't and even if he did give in to his weakness for her, she'd never believe him now. He could only hint at what he felt for her.

"Don't you know me well enough to see that I would never do something like that to anyone, especially to you? "

His voice cracked towards the end of his question. He didn't bother to try and hide how hurt he was. What was the point?

Olivia felt her suspicion begin to dwindle the more she studied Maxwell. He'd always been nice, especially to her. Could he truly have kissed her without any ulterior motive?

She knew he'd had a crush on her since forever. Did he actually kiss her because he wanted to? Or was it to help her know if Liam was what she wanted?

"All I want," he squeezed her hand before letting go, "all I ever wanted was to see my friends happy."

He stepped away from her.

"And since you've always been important to me, that's all I want for you. Whether it is with Liam or..." he grimaced, "or some other lucky guy, I want you to be with someone who appreciates the kind of woman you are."

Olivia folded her arms.

"That's all you want?" She snorted. "Nothing for yourself?"

"I didn't say that." He snapped.

Maxwell could feel the irritation well within him that she was completely blind when it concerned him.

"I want something that I know is becoming more and more impossible with each day this damn competition continues." He explained in a bitter tone. "And I hate that since it is the only thing I've ever wanted that I'm stuck watching from the sidelines as all my hopes get destroyed one by one."

Olivia's lips parted. She had a feeling she knew exactly what he wanted. If he truly wasn't trying to distract her, knowing she was one of the top picks for Liam, then it really could only be one thing.

He wants me.

Maxwell waited a couple of heartbeats for her response.

When she parted her lips, he'd hoped she would say something. Though he wanted it to be what his desperate heart needed, he almost wished she'd tell him to give up. This torturous longing for her was getting worse now that he knew how her lips felt pressed against his. The way her body fitted his like a puzzle piece and the taste of her skin had kept him awake the last few nights. He didn't know if he could continue to be a passive observer for the rest of the season now knowing that what he'd once imagined paled in comparison to the real thing.

Her hesitation in responding caused him to stumble back.

"I need to go." He mumbled, averting his gaze from hers once more. "I'll see you around."

Olivia let him go without a word. She watched him scoop up the beach towel he'd been sitting on and leave the area without saying goodbye to anyone. The lack of both his warm smile and the typical spring in his step let her know that their conversation had hurt him.

Her eyes narrowed once more. She could see that she was nowhere near getting Maxwell Beaumont off of her mind. If anything, this conversation alone would have kept him there. Add the kiss and the unusual feelings that were creeping up each time they touched, and she knew that it was only getting worse.

She returned to her lounge chair to think on what to do about this unexpected complication in her life.

As the sun set, a gasp slipped past her lips. Her fists clinched as a more pointed realization struck. It was unbelievable what she'd done.

She'd spent the entire day thinking of and interacting with only one man.

And it wasn't Liam.

#choices the royal romance #maxwell beaumont x olivia Nevrakis #choices trr #maxwell x olivia #can't take my eyes off you #choices fic writers creations #choices crackship #crackship au

[wickedsrest-rp]

Name: Otis Querta Species: Bugbear Occupation: Podcast Host / Firefighter Age: 29 Years Old Played By: Lou Face Claim: Kiowa Gordon

"Remember dear listeners, the only difference between you and the monsters is motive."

Tummy troubles aren't just a human thing. Picky kids come in all shapes and sizes, even bear shaped. Though, in Otis’s case, it wasn't so much about what he ate but rather how he ate it. Other Bugbears reveled in the act of causing fear and consuming it. Even from a young age, most were gifted pranksters and powerful mischief makers. But not Otis. 

Brenda and Patti found the bundle of fuzz and genuinely thought he was a weird little dog right up until he turned into a human baby. The two women felt a little out of their depths, but they loved their strange son. Because that’s what he was from the moment they found him on the ranch. The two of them did research, not finding much but finding enough to know what a bugbear was. It was odd. But so were they, Brenda was a horror writer, and Patti sold curios online. He fit right in.

Otis didn’t talk much throughout his adolescence. Finding his words only ever expressed on the page, or in a script. Loving the literary world his mothers had opened up to him. The podcast started as a way to fill his stomach. Human food worked well enough, but fear was the only thing that kept him sated. Kept the bear in line. Otis wanted to be a good kid, a good son. His mothers loved him no matter what. Even if it was difficult at times to figure out what he needed. 

The good news was, the podcast did a wonderful job keeping him fed. 

Tales from Beyond was a near instant success. At first just in small circles, then spread out far and wide. It was years before Otis ran into any issues, nearly a (or two depending on age) decade. The anthology series was set in a fake town with a seedy underbelly of supernatural crime. It covered the stories of all who lived there, all who suffered under the strange and horrific nightmares that plagued everyone within its hallowed borders. No one outside of Otis’s adoptive moms knew who the author was, which created a mystery and fear all its own. ARG style. Otis loved it. 

Until writers block hit. 

First thought was to get out of the house. Find inspiration with a bit of distance. Much to his moms’ chagrin, Otis set out to find a place of his own. Across the map, to a place that had originally inspired the strange town of his podcast. Only, instead of a vast city called Beyond, it was a sleepy New England town called ‘Wicked’s Rest’. Whisperings of this place had hit Reddit years ago, stories about how no one could quite remember what they experienced inside. But the horrors were beyond comprehension, the monsters unreal. Otis figured it would be perfect even if the stories were exaggerated but when he found them to be quite true? Well, that was even better. 

Strangely, writer's block persisted. Even immersed in such an unnatural place. Otis couldn’t figure it out. His stash of money was running low, and getting sponsors on the show meant giving up his anonymity. So, he figured, why not get a job? There wasn’t much that he was really qualified for. Didn’t have much experience in anything but writing, and a very niche style at that. One thing he did have going for him was a near lack of fear. Something that would serve him well in the job he did find. 

Firefighter. 

Noble, exciting, would put him right in the heart of big emotional tales. Perfect, right? Even had a schedule that afforded him lots of time to write and lots of time to sleep. Except… shit, he still couldn’t bring himself to put words on the page. Half the things he wrote he hated, the other half was derivative and boring. He couldn’t stand to read them in his head, let alone to record and publish them. With the podcast still on hiatus, Otis was in dire need of a miracle. They could subside on the little bits of fear people gave off while being rescued but it still turned his stomach like sour milk. Fires were the best, as the helmet put at least some distance between the bear and the fear. But– But it wasn’t enough, and it wasn’t good. 

The answer was born of a very, very, very dumb idea.

A little research into one of the stores downtown said they had something called a gossip stone. It had stories. He needed stories. Otis had grown desperate, and while the price tag was too much to pay, it was too perfect to not take. He wasn’t a thief. Not really. Had a penchant for sleight of hand magic cause of a childhood hobby, but this was different. It was necessary. Or at least that’s what he convinced himself. The store owner had a clear “NO HAGGLING” sign so it didn’t seem like a discount could possibly be ordained. So he stole it. Otis used the stories, just changed the names and locations a bit. No one would notice, how could they? It wasn’t like the podcast police were eyeing every strange stone found in a curiosities store. And it wasn’t like the stories could possibly be real. But it came with a price, as most things did.

The stone craved sentimentality. 

At first Otis didn’t have a clue where to find it. But the stone had answers, because of course it did. Trinkets, little items, kitsch. Things people loved but wouldn’t necessarily notice if they were gone. The idea was planted, and Wicked’s Rest got its newest and probably strangest cat burglar, or, bear burglar as it were. Pockets went a little lighter, houses that left any doors or windows open found knickknack shaped holes in the dust on their shelves. 

Otis wasn’t very good at it at first, but it had to be done, right? A bear’s gotta eat… 

Character Facts:

Personality: Empathetic, gentle, patient, sweet, absentminded, shortsighted, possessive, timid, escapist, ritualistic

Has always gotten sick eating fear in person, doesn’t know why.

Was briefly in the running for Fat Bear Week a few years back.

Terrible at making illusions, but really good with words!! Unless it's in person…

Bear form is a Kodiak Bear, very huggable.

The only nice room in his apartment is the recording room. Everything else is barebones. 

Is VERY particular about his routines, especially tea routines and pre-recording things.

Otis stole a strange artifact (that he calls a ‘Gossip Stone’) that gives stories in exchange for sentimental objects.

#bio #taken #taken bugbear #bugbear #shifter #taken shifter #kiowa gordon