#for the sake of her brother who did murder her husband (this is canon and mxtx confirmed)

[bohemian-nights]

Fuck Rhaenyra, fuck the writers with this sapphic plotline they invented, it's simply pathetic, and fuck Emma D'Arcy who is the cause of that. Im sorry but why trans/LGBTQ agenda should be included, but then they don't care about racism? Cause Laena has bee treated awfully, next is Nettles, reduced to Daemon's new distraction/whim to cheat on Nyra and shows how bad husband he is, or even cut out to redeem him (?) This Show sucks. Fuck white privilegies. Fuck HBO and all the people who's supporting this trash. To all the people who kiss Emma D'Arcy's ugly ass, am i transphobic cause i hate what they did to Rhaenyra and to the story? Ok, and you're racist for using Laena as an excuse of made up ship (Laenyra) to shit on Daemon X Laena in order to praise your incest ship and for not wanting Nettles in the series cause could ruin it. Whatever happens it seems is always the black characters who gets sacrificed for the sake of white characters. I said what i said.

Um, this has the energy of this:

Oh God you really let it all out there. Minus calling Emma ugly(again guys can we please not call the actors/actresses ugly), I don’t think you are wrong and I get your frustrations.

It’s pretty clear this show has an agenda, is biased towards one character in particular at the expense of basically everyone else, and has a misogynoir problem.

Now to be clear, even though Emma is going along with what is being pushed, I think it’s inaccurate to blame any of the actors or actresses on this show for what is happening. Because at the end of the day it’s the show runners and the execs at HBO who are calling the shots. Emma is just a mascot for their agenda(take that as you will).

They more than likely purposely picked Emma because they wanted to make Rhaenyra into some feminist warrior queen who has a rainbow coalition of supporters against the conservative greens.

It’s corny, but with another character like say Rhaena the Black Bride(who’s already a lesbian) or even Visenya(who’s a warrior queen) it could work.

However the problem with choosing to make Rhaenyra into a revolutionary type figure/girl boss/feminist is that she’s the complete opposite of that.

Rhaenyra in canon is a racist to the point where she’s willing to use it to explain away murder, she mocks Laenor for being gay(says her half-brothers who are children are his type), looks down on and underestimates the small folk, and doesn’t even bother to help advance other women(Stokeworth and Rosby) in her class much less women like Nettles.

Her and Alicent have a completely different relationship dynamic in the books than in the show.

She’s selfish and self-focused. She’s malicious bordering on sadistic. She even puts her own children in danger for her own wants.

And before her followers go moaning she’s done too many things to claim that she’s been wrongly framed by the narrative. No sane person is chopping off heads and feeding it to dragons or trying to murder innocent women in their sleep. That’s not maester propaganda. She’s objectively awful.

She may be a woman, but she’s no better than her brother. Women can be just as awful as men(for Christ’s sakes look at real life not everyone is wrongly accused because of sexism). Rhaenyra shows that. Even at the last moments of her life she pretty much has zero remorse IMO.

For those reasons, I absolutely hate that the show is trying to redeem her. I hate how they cast Black actors to use them as human shields to make her look progressive, to lessen her atrocities, and even to make her something like her death look less atrocious.

Fans see Black people(the characters) supporting her vs. the mostly white greens they go that’s the progressive team(that ideology is so f*cked up). They even have Black fans supporting Rhaenyra because of all the Black secondary characters.

Never mind that these characters(who are race-bent) are being screwed over by the narrative, haven’t been presented in the best light, and have had their stories be rewritten to better serve Rhaenyra and make her look sympathetic/noble/just. The best who are treated way worse than their white book counterparts.

They added Ser Vaemond calling Rhaenyra a whore to justify Daemon killing him when in the books he rightfully calls her out and gets unjustly beheaded and feed to a dragon as a result on Rhaenyra’s orders. Then his sons and cousins get reprimanded by with some getting their tongues cut out, but that’s all been cut out.

Instead of showing that was loved or at least cared for by Daemon like in the books show Laena has been regulated to sorta second best(third best if you factor in the Viserys situation). She’s unloved and unwanted. Her suicide is made into a girlboss/empowering moment instead of being criticized for what it is away to make Rhaenyra’s death look better. Laena’s character is a walking stereotype(disposable Black girlfriend, look it up).

The audience eats it up of course and instead of calling out making her into a stereotype they are upset that the show did not make the non-canon throuple situation happen so they could get more brownie points for their I love Black people, I'm not a racist, I just don't want that Black person who isn't a plot device on the show act.

(I’m calling it non-canon cause you can’t only use the word fond to support a relationship, especially when you claim that word means nothing when it comes to Dettles which has more evidence than a single word).

Even Laenor has been made into a deadbeat dad. Corlys looks stupid. The girls have been given nothing to do. Addam’s whole purpose is to scarifice himself for Rhaenyra which is why they are highlighting him so much.

It’s absolutely disgusting.

I have no idea what they are going to do with Nettles, a character who doesn’t need to be race-bent cause she’s already Black, but based on their track record it could be terrible(I’m holding out hope though). She shouldn’t be treated like she’s just some whore or Daemon's mistress. She has her own plot, she’s loved by, and she’s one of the few survivors of the dance(and one of two dragonriders).

If the show was decent at all they’d do the right thing and show her as the multifaceted character she is and not regulate her into another stereotype(I guess they’d go the Jezebel route).

I totally get where you are coming from on the racism aspect. This is obviously lost by most though. Hell, most in the fandom are racist themselves, but skirt by because they like this show using the Black characters as human shields. It's a circus.

And no one is going to take this rant seriously since you went a little too far. All they are going to focus on is you calling Emma ugly, which again was uncalled for, but I get the essence of it.

#bnasks #bnask #anti hotd #venting dragon show addition

[tweedstoat]

What if Tywin died instead of Joanna?

Well several things change but firstly let's get this out of the way: I doubt someone who loved and was loved by Tywin and was taken into his confidences was a good person by any measure. I think Joanna could have certainly been better than Tywin but that's hardly a hard hurdle to clear.

I think it also depends when Tywin dies. Like before he has his kids? Before the whole rains of castamere situation?

Let's assume for the sake of the story that Tywin dies around where Joanna does in canon - right after the birth of Tyrion. Presumably the shock of having a son with dwarfism is so terrible to his ableist ass idk he falls down a flight of stairs.

- Jaime/Cersei have less of a chance to have a long relationship because Joanna is actively trying to keep them seperated. I think the twincest still happens but with far less frequency.

- Jaime ends up married to Elia which takes out basically the best marriage option for Rhaegar. Wether this would be a good thing for either party is debatable. I don't think Jaime would make anyone a very good husband and I doubt Elia is happy married to a kid who's like 8 years younger than she is. On the other hand she would wind up alive so success!

- Consequently it is possible Rhaegar ends up married to Cersei. Theres apparently no more girls left with a high enough status and (enough?) Targ blood because in canon we know Aerys considered Elia like a worst case scenario if Rhaegar didn't have a sister and if Steffons trip to Essos fell through. Maybe if Joanna uses Aerys weird fascination with her to push the marriage through?

- the debacle at Harrenhal still happens because i cant see Cersei having enough kids quickly enough to satisfy Rhaegar. Her children with Robert were fairly spaced out. I don't think Cersei would have been as miserable with Rhaegar as she was with Robert, because I don't think Rhaegar would physically abuse her but it wouldn't be the happy marriage she was envisioning. I also uh, don't see Cersei handling national humiliation with as much grace and equanimity as Elia did.

- now here would be the biggest divergence. Either Cersei fumes and shoves Lyanna down a well Melara Heatherspoon style or Joanna manages to control her daughter enough that this doesn't happen.

- If Lyanna manages to survive Cersei I think maybe it proceeds as canon did - so Lyanna dies in childbirth and Jon is passed off as Ned's son? Maybe since Ned's claiming of Jon seems to have fooled EVERYONE.

- Cersei obviously isn't brutally murdered by her own family for being Rhaegars widow but I could see her marrying Robert to legitimise Roberts reign. After that I think possibly the first daughter Cersei had with Rhaegar is married to her half brother (Cerseis child with Robert) to solidify Roberts line on the throne? Maybe if they can get away with the dyanstic incest? Idk how much people would be freaked out by a non targ engaging in incest.

- Cerseis other kids with Rhaegar are going to the faith sorry kids. I think the twincest still happens but I feel like Joanna would catch on after the first kid so it would be less Ned trying to crown Stannis and more Ned trying to crown a 5 yr old Baratheon!Tommen.

- I think Tyrion definitley doesn't wind up as abused as he was by Tywin (definitley no Tysha scenario here) but it's not a bed of roses. I think he would face quite serious emotional abuse by Joanna too. He probably also ends up in the faith with the whole "look after your half targ nephews/neices and don't shame us" thing.

Tl:dr Joanna has many of the same political aims as Tywin but executes them with more finesse because she isn't a sexual sadist

#idk what to tag this as #speculation? lannister au??? #i dont have a phd in Jaime like some of the other ppl i follow but in this au i could see him being pretty shitty to her for ages #and then he falls out with cersei as in canon and eventually ends up falling in love with Elia and by this time shes like???? #is it crack that you smoke i figured out you were fucking your sister like 3 weeks in and i dislike you!!!

[bookstantrash]

A/N: Huge shoutout to the lovely @perseusannabeth​ who obsess over Pride & Prejudice as much as me. After very politely threatening asking  me to write more of Nessian as P&P (I’m so glad Sarah made it canon that Nessian’s relationship is Darcy and Lizzie’s) she told me about THE lake scene in the BBC version. I watched all six episodes and fell in love, so I highly suggest you all watch it too.

Also, huge shoutout to @firebirdofscythia​ (I stole your Azriel line lmao) and the rest of the gc for being so supportive!! Enjoy

Pemberley’s Lake

Cassian was so tired it was a wonder he had not fallen from his horse, which made him realise that Azriel may have been partially right in telling him to take a break and go back to his state to rest.

Although he suspected that Azriel kicking him out of his office and practically throwing him in a carriage to Pemberley had more to do with the fact that Azriel had gotten sick of his mopey mood more than anything else.

“I shall never show my face in society again” Cassian had told a bored looking Azriel one afternoon, laying on his office’s floor as if it was the end of the world “I shall work until my eyes grow tired and my beard and hair are so long they reach the ground.”

“Stop with the theatrics brother. It is not becoming of you.” Azriel had answered as he shuffled a deck of cards.

“Theatrics!! Azriel for Cauldron’ sake I have no idea how I can keep on living after that refusal” he sighed from his place on the carpeted floor “There is not another woman alive who could hold my heart. It's lost forever. And now I shall live in regret and shame of not being enough for her.”

Azriel rolled his eyes so hard at his brother’s words it was a wonder they did not stay permanently like that.

“I shall grow old and drown my sorrows in the finest beers and wines, turning fat and bald. And after I have passed, my cursed ghost shall roam our country crying in despair over my terrible life”

That had been enough to make Azriel pack Cassian’s belongings and get his brother the fastest horse available.

“If it were not for the laws of this land” Azriel had mumbled after he had bid his brother farewell, wishing a good trip and forbidding him to appear in his office again until he had fixed that mood of his.

Breathing in the clear and fresh air of his home, Cassian was able to momentarily forget his troubled heart. But one look at the blue sky and he was reminded of the gray-blue eyes belonging to the lady who had made him, General Commander of the British Army, who had enough condecorations to fill his whole coat and who had made enemies tremble in fear when faced against him, wallow in self pity and misery.

Lady Nesta Archeron.

Her name alone was enough to make his chest tighten in longing.

Feyre’s oldest and most notorious sister, if not by her breathtaking beauty and intellect but by her ruthless and dismissive regard to the oposite sex. Whereas Feyre had surprised society by marrying before her older sisters  — and securing herself the best of matches of the season at that with his brother Rhysand, which was nothing but a Duke  — and Elain had enough suitors to fill a ballroom, the oldest Archeron did not seem inclined to marry at all. Oh she did catch the eyes of more than one gentleman  —  Cassian could vaguely reckon that she had had a long courting with Sir Thomas Mandray, although it had ended rather abruptly — but no one had been able to snare her heart.

That had been what had initially peaked his interest. He had briefly seen her at Rhysand’s wedding, attempting some small talk that was easily and diplomatically dismissed by her. He had then relentlessly engaged in conversation with her in any opportunity he could find, being it from the few occasions in which she frequented Feyre’ small reunions over tea or when he coincidentally met her during her daily walks around town to visit Lady Emerie, a modice whose popularity was raising tremendously after Feyre’s bridal trousseau and wedding dress were all designed by her.

It was not until Feyre’s first official gathering as Duchess that Cassian realised the depths of his feelings for the sharp eyed lady.

He had been watching the ballroom from the sidelines, trying to escape the mob of scary mamas who wanted to throw their daughters at him, a glass of champagne in his hand.

Rhysand and Feyre had already danced the opening song, so the floor was now free to hold more partners. Both Cassian and Azriel had danced once with Morrigan — Rhysand’s cousin and a dear friend of theirs — and Elain had enough names on her card that they’d have to wait a fortnight to dance with her. Nesta on the other hand…. she had refused all invitations, although one could not help but wonder why by the way she seemed to glow whenever a new song was played.

“Lady Archeron” Cassian had greeted, bowing deeply and throwing at her his best smile, one that usually had young ladies fainting and old ones blushing.

But not Nesta Archeron. No, she had only deigned to make a polite bow and look ahead.

“I could not help but take notice of how entranced by the music you appear to be, my Lady” he had offered her his hand “Would you do me the honour of allowing one dance?”

That had caught Nesta’s attention, and she turned towards him, her gray-blue eyes finally meeting his hazel ones.

“I do not think why I should. I am perfectly satisfied to watch from the sidelines” she raised a perfect manicured eyebrow, glancing in the corner where the mamas and their daughters were “I am sure many other young ladies would rather have my place”

Cassian knew she was lying. Knew she desperately wanted to dance, but something was holding her back.

“It is said that dancing is the best way to encourage affection. Even if one’s partner is barely tolerable” he had nonchalantly said

“I beg your pardon” Nesta had exclaimed

“The lady has nothing to fear. I will not let you suffer ridicule because of your poor dancing” he had said in a patronizing tone, if only to see that fire in her eyes ignite.

And to see her accepting his offer with a murderous intent.

They had moved to the center of the ballroom, shocked faces all around them, both from the fact that Nesta was joining the dance floor and her partner being him of all gentlemen.

Cassian had never been proved more wrong once the first string from the violin was drawn and Nesta moved. He had been sure she knew how to dance, had only said those words to get a rise from her. But to see Nesta Archeron actually dancing… it was something straight out of a dream.

Cassian knew the waltz. His mother had insisted that all three sons have the same education, even though only Rhysand was set to inherit the duchy.

However, when paired with Nesta Archeron one could not be called nothing but a simple object to display her talents. Even the most notorious dancer would pale in comparison to her.

And Cauldron, she knew that. Nesta knew she was Terpsikhore, greek Muse of music, song and dance.

What a fool he had been, what a complete and utter fool he had made of himself. His only consolation was that some good had come out of his childish behaviour.

Nesta Archeron was dancing, and when she danced she threatened to bring empires to their knees, for her beauty got inhumanly enhanced, her delighted smile sending an arrow straight to his chest.

Cassian realised he had fallen hopelessly in love with Nesta Archeron. If he was to be true with himself, he had been for quite some time, since their first exchange of words when she had all but dismissed him as a pesky bug.

And as the last note was drawn, as the whole ballroom breathlessly took in Nesta, in complete awe of her, Cassian decided he was going to marry her.

Was going to propose to Nesta Archeron right at that moment.

Using the excuse of getting some fresh air after the tiring dance, he walked them to Rhysand’s extensive and well lit garden, quiet enough that they would not be interrupted but not so isolated as to risk her reputation.

They had walked only a few minutes in the garden when Cassian declared his feelings. He all but tripped with his words, hoping Nesta could see past his fool’s act.

She had not.

She had refused his hand in the most brutal way, her words so articulately poisoned that Cassian felt himself a young boy again, desperately trying to achieve perfection so his father would dare to spare him more than a passing glance. Would not regret having adopted him into his household and given him a home.

He had uttered an apology, saying how sorry he was that his feelings had caused her such pain and disgust, reigning his temper enough to walk her back to the ballroom.

Cassian left town the same night, and had stayed in his office and headquarters training the new milicia since then, burying himself with work until Azriel grew tired of his awful mood.

Sighing, Cassian brushed his horse’s neck, eyeing the lake.

Maybe a dive in the cold waters of Pemperley would help clear his mind.

~•~

Pemberley was, in Nesta’s opinion, the most beautiful state she had ever seen. Even more than her newly married sister’s dukedom.

“However this house’s lady is, she sure is happy” Emerie commented as the head maid showed them to the music room.

“As if someone could be unhappy with this much money” Gwyn whispered back, eyeing the grand piano.

Nesta was inclined to agree, even more after having seen the library. She could not help but envy the lady. Her husband must be a very cultured gentleman.

“May I show you the external grounds? I am sure the gentleman will find it quite delightful” the head maid said, looking at Balthazar, the only men among their group of four.

“I am most grateful for your hospitality” he answered, and they promptly moved outdoors.

Their party of four had been travelling through the countryside for almost two weeks. It was as much as a vacation for Emerie and Balthazar — with Emerie’s shop the season’s current sensation and Balthazar being her current business partner  — as a time out from the ton, which Gwyn — the most required opera singer of the season — had announced to be in desperately need of a vacation from.

As for Nesta, she had always wanted to travel, but as a single woman of marriageable age without a male relative to escort her, it would have been a nearly impossible feat to accomplish.

When Balthazar had offered to escort both her and her friends Nesta had wanted to shout in delight.

Secretly, she also wished to avoid a certain gentleman, one whose heart she had mercilessly and regretfully broken.

Nesta shook her head as she walked through the garden, distancing herself from her party to think and remember.

Remember how she had enjoyed dancing with Lord Cassian.

How her body had sung and heated where his skin touched hers.

How she had found herself smiling and agreeing to take a stroll with him, using the excuse of feeling overwhelmed in the crowded ballroom.

How his smile had faded once she tore at him, throwing every hateful word his way to refuse his proposal.

Nesta had not seen Cassian since her sister’s ball, but she did not want to risk an encounter.

That trip could not have been more well timed.

She was so lost in her thoughts that she did not notice her hair getting caught in a low tree branch, ruining her intricate updo.

“No one is around” she muttered to herself as she took off the pins holding it in place “A few minutes with my hair down will not hurt”

So Nesta took each pin off, massaging her scalp as she walked in the direction of the state’s lake, the sun shining over its  clear waters.

And that is when she spotted him.

Cassian.

Cassian was at the lake.

Cassian was shirtless, dripping wet by the lake’ shore.

Nesta knew she should turn around and forget what she was currently seeing.

But she could not take her eyes off of him.

Seeing a shirtless man in person was indeed a far cry from what her imagination conjured when reading romance novels.

Especially the way the water was running down Cassian’s tanned and hard torso, all the way down his pecs and stomach — was that a six pack or were her eyes playing tricks on her? — until it collided with his pants, which were hanging so low on his hips that Nesta could not help but feel a weird sensation low in her stomach.

Her legs stopped obeying her, and she swore her knees got weak when Cassian noticed he had company.

“Lady Archeron?” he exclaimed, as if he could not believe his eyes.

“Sir!” was all she could say, feeling her cheeks warming.

Cauldron what was wrong with her? It was just a body. A very nice, very wet muscled body and—

“What may you be doing here?” Nesta quickly inquired, cutting her errand thoughts.

“I am the owner” he simply answered

“Of the lake?”

She wanted to smack herself. How could have she blurted such a stupid and rude question?

“Yes, of the lake. And of Pemberley” he answered, amusement lacing his words.

“I didn’t know. The head maid said all the family was not home— we should not have presumed—”

“I returned without prior notice”

“Excuse me, are you and your sisters in good health?” Cassian added, and Nesta dared to think that he sounded a bit nervous.

“Yes. Yes they are. Thank you, sir” she managed to answer, her eyes firmly placed upon his face and not anywhere else.

“I am glad to hear that” he licked his lips and Nesta could not help but wonder if they would be cold due to the lake’s water or if Cassian’s unbothered face meant he was not cold at all.

Was she really inquiring of how his lips would feel against hers? Against her skin? If kissing Cassian would feel as dreamily as her novel's kiss appeared to be?

Nesta hated him.

Did she not?

“I had never seen you with your hair down”

Cassian’s words took her out of her reverie, and Nesta suddenly felt self conscious.

“Do excuse me for showing myself in front of you with such an unsightly appearance” she felt mortified. To have Cassian of all people seeing her like that, hair in complete disarray….

Nesta quickly turned around, fumbling with the hair pins in a vain and desperately attempt of redoing her hair.

“It’s beautiful” she heard Cassian saying in a breathless voice, and thanked the Cauldron her back was turned so he would not see how her face warmed considerably, a small smile gracing her lips.

“Let me help you” he quietly added, and she gasped at the proximity of wet, shirtless Cassian, who touched her hair softly.

“How come a gentleman such as you knows how to hairstyle a lady’s hair?” Nesta asked, feeling his warmth on her back, a tingly sensation between her legs when his fingers brushed her neck.

“I frequently helped my younger sister, Georgiana, fix her own hair in the occasions she played a little too far from what would be deemed proper for a young lady” she felt his hot breath against her neck as Cassian laughed “She favours outdoors activities such as horseback riding, although she’s quite accomplished in arts and music.”

“Your sister sounds lovely” Nesta said, turning to face him once she felt he was done fixing her hair.

“She is my brothers’ and mine whole world. There’s nothing we would not do for Georgiana”

Nesta felt her heart warming at his words, at his devotion and love towards his family. She wondered if he would do the same with his wife.

If he would have acted the same way towards her had she accepted his proposal.

Unbeknown to her, Cassian was imagining the same thing.

He was picturing how he could have helped her every morning with her hair if she had agreed to marry him. Instead, he would have to live with this one memory forever.

He was lost in her eyes, their bodies so close they were sharing breaths and Cassian was holding back by a sliver thread of self control to not hold her against him.

If it were not for the appearance of three people — Cassian supposed them to be Nesta’s companions — he very well could have done that.

“Excuse me” Cassian abruptly said, bowing deeply and leaving Nesta alone.

Although soon her friends joined her, Gywn and Emerie bombarding her with questions seeing her ruffled state.

Their party was getting ready to depart when Cassian appeared again, having ran inside to get changed and appropriate.

“Lady Nesta!” he called before she could get inside the carriage “Please allow me to apologise for not receiving you properly just now. You are not leaving?”

“We were, sir. We have already imposed too much” she said, spine straight and looking every bit the regal queen she was.

What he did not know was that was her way of maintaining a cool exterior and not blush remembering his naked figure.

“You are not displeased with Pemberley, are you?” Cassian asked, anxiously brushing his hair back.

“No. Not at all”

“And you approve of it?”

“Very much” Nesta said softly, a dreamy smile on her face as she remembered the library “A few would not approve”

“But your good opinion is rarely bestowed and therefore more worth earning” he said, and his smile was enough to make Nesta’s heart skip a beat.

Why was she feeling in such a way, she wondered. Why did her body feel hot and strange all over whenever Cassian was involved?

“Thank you. That is very kind of you”

“I shall not hold you back any longer” he said, helping her in the carriage, his calloused hand a stark contrast against her soft one “I will call on you and I hope you can introduce me to your companions. Perhaps we may go fishing tomorrow? My property is blessed with an abundance of them”

“We would be delighted to. Thank you, sir’

After the farewells were bid and Nesta’s carriage was only a distant dot in the horizon, Cassian got inside, smiling broadly at his head maid and butler.

“You are very chipper, sir'' the old woman said with a knowing smile, the butler agreeing with her. Their lord had been mopey for quite some time now, so it brought joy to their hearts to see his mood so high.

“I had a very good evening Mrs.Pots” he declared, thinking about how he should swim more frequently in the lake.

A few miles from Pemberley, Nesta stared at the scenery lost in thought, Cassian’s touch lingering in her hand all the way back to the inn.

•

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#nessian #cassian x nesta #nesta archeron #cassian #pride and prejudice AU #BBC version lake scene #sarah j maas #sjmaas #sjm books #sjm fanfic

[blitheringmcgonagall]

My Gallant Lad - Part IV

So I got a wonderful anon telling me that this is their favourite Lily Rescues James fic, it’s part of my finished canon marauders fic We Can Be Heroes. But, because it works as a stand alone story, I posted it here in four parts. I hope you enjoy it! Set during the first wizarding war, Lily is very BAMF (but tbh so is James)

TW: angsty and violence

Part I here: After their worst row ever, Lily and James get captured by Voldemort...

Part II here: James tries to save Lily

Part III here: Lily tries to save James

PART IV

(PS this is not pro- Snape at all, quite the opposite, for this to make sense you’ll have to read the other parts, lol!)

Mulciber swallowed.

“Now help me lift Potter, and for fuck’s sake be careful, he’s perilously close to death as it is!” Snape said.

He was so angry his body was shaking in agitation.

Mulciber lifted James’ body as though it were made of glass.

                                       ***

“I’ll take it from here,” Snape ordered.

They were standing underneath the main door of the castle, which led into the courtyard.

“I thought we were bringing Potter and his vile mudblood to the Dark Lord?” Mulciber said, frowning suspiciously.

“Change of plan, Mulciber,” Snape said matter-of-factly. “I want to try and get Evans to talk, that way if Potter snuffs it, we won’t risk being beheaded by him.”

“What do you mean?” Mulciber looked at him in bewilderment. “If you attack Evans and manage to injure her also, we’re doubly fucked!”

“I won’t fuck it up, unlike you dithering idiots I actually know what I’m doing!” Snape says angrily.

Mulciber stared hard at him.

“Are you sure you’re Snape?” he said, narrowing his eyes and reaching for his wand. “You’re acting strangely and I-“

“He’s Snape all right, but under the Imperius Curse,” Lily interjected. “Expelliarmus!”

Mulciber’s wand flew into Lily’s outstretched hand.

“You?” Mulciber seethed. “How in Morgana’s hell did you manage to Imperio him? Last I heard you were wailing painfully awful songs from your cell, giving us all a headache! I thought you’d given up!”

“The great Gaels of Ireland are the men that God made mad, for all their wars are merry, and all their songs are sad,” Lily shrugged. “You just hadn’t experienced the merry part yet!”

“You’re not a man,” Mulciber sneered.

“Ha!” Lily’s face broke into a harsh smile. “What Chesterton didn’t say about Irish women is that when they’re angry, all their wars are won!”

Mulciber stared at her sullenly.

“Not my fault that you consistently underestimate me, Mulciber!” Lily shot back. “You think you’d have learnt by now!”

Mulciber’s face looked like curdled milk.

“Too late,” Lily said. “Obliviate!”

Mulciber’s expression changed slowly to one of utter confusion as he looked between Lily, James and Snape. He hadn’t even seen the spell hit him.

“What happened to him?” he said, scratching behind his ear and staring at James’ body. “Where’s your Head Girl badge? Your uniform?”

“Quidditch injury,” Lily said flatly. “Vicious Slytherin tactics. One hundred points from your House, now back to your common room before I have you expelled!”

“Whaat?” Mulciber said, looking utterly bewildered.

“I’m counting till ten. Ten… nine… eight…” Lily said.

Mulciber stumbled and turned immediately, muttering incoherent protests.

“Not bad, Lily Evans,” Snape whispered with a vicious grin. “Not bad at all.”

                                                  ***

“Outside! Now!” Snape ordered.

Lily Evans remained silent as she walked outside at a steady pace, Snape following her and dragging James Potter’s body along the ancient flagstones.

“Now, it seems that nothing will persuade Dumbledore’s man to reveal what has happened to the Dark Lord’s precious treasure, a book Dumbledore’s men stole! Potter nearly died refusing to tell us. I’m ordering you to tell me, or I’ll make you kill your own husband!” he called out.

“No, I won’t tell you anything,” Lily said with effort.

“Wow! That’s dope!” Villiers whispered loudly to Wilkes.

The two men were sitting on the battlements having a smoke and peering down with interest at the scene unfolding below them.

“Look what Snape is up to! I never thought he was into that shit!” Wilkes replied. “He usually lets us handle that kind of stuff, says it’s boring!”

They looked at each other and grinned.

“Massive!” Villiers giggled, bumping fists with Wilkes.

Snape picked up his wand.

“Last chance, Miss. Evans,” he said, dragging James closer to the middle of the courtyard.

He was holding two other wands in his hand.

“What is going on here?”

Snape whirled around.

Voldemort was standing at the castle gate, and with him Evan Rosier. Voldemort’s wand was pointed at him.

“I am quite simply trying to establish the whereabouts of your missing book, my Lord,” Snape said. “I thought this might work.”

“Rosier here tells me you have been acting exceedingly strange,” Voldemort’s voice was icy. “He thinks you may be under the Imperius Curse.”

“Rosier is neither observant nor intelligent, my Lord,” Snape said stiffly.

“Be that as it may, Severus, you are not yourself, you would not usually dare speak to me with this much courage,” Voldemort replied, stepping forwards.

“My Lord?” Severus replied.

“Let us see what happens, shall we?” Voldemort said, whirling around at the last minute and pointing his wand at Lily.

“Stupefy!” Voldemort said with a lazy swish of his wand.

Lily Evans crumpled to the ground. Snape stood motionless, as though unsure what to do.

“Ah, the spell fades, I see. I had hoped you would not be so easily overcome by it. You disappoint me, Severus, I thought you were stronger than that. I thought you knew the mudblood well enough to watch out for any tricks she might play? Or were you too enticed by her beauty to focus on doing your job properly?” Voldemort spat out. “You shall pay for this mistake! And the object of your affections will most definitely pay.”

“I’m afraid I underestimated the mudblood,” Snape said, with a condescending smirk at the Dark Lord. “I don’t know her as well as I thought I did. She should perhaps have been sorted into Slytherin. It appears that Lily Evans is a devious little bitch!”

Startling emerald eyes glared at Voldemort from Snape’s face. As the wheels in Voldemort’s mind whirled, Snape removed a leather bracelet from his wrist and tapped it, revealing a large glittering brass key.

“Póg mo thóin, Riddle!” he said, flicking the V at Voldemort (who looked momentarily stunned) as he grabbed hold of James’ arm and apparated into thin air.

“I don’t get it,” Rosier said, looking at Voldemort and rubbing his forehead as though in pain. “Was that Snape? No, hang on.. what was..?”

“Fuck, fuck, fuck!” roared Voldemort, raising his head as his blood-curdling screams carried over the courtyard and into the surrounding forest.

He kicked out viciously at Rosier’s leg sending him hopping around in circles howling with pain. A family of carrion crows, disturbed by the commotion, flapped and squawked upwards from the turrets and battlements.

“Which one of you is the imbecile who allowed Lily Evans to escape?” he screamed at Rosier. “Why did none of you stop her?”

Villiers and Wilkes ducked down behind the walls of the battlements, grimacing.

A splash of white bird dropping landed on Voldemort’s nose. Rosier stared at him.

“You have some…” he said, pointing to Voldemort’s face. “Just there?”

Voldemort looked ready to kill him.

“If you don’t permanently dispose of this group of crows by Salazar’s soul, I will feed you to them myself!” he shouted wildly, waving his wand at Rosier, and rubbing his face furiously with the back of his sleeve.

“A murder of crows, not a group, but whatever,” Rosier muttered to himself, looking peeved, as he aimed Avada Kedavras at the screeching birds.

Voldemort walked over to the body of Lily Evans and stared at the darkening hair and sallower skin, Snape’s eyes looking up at him.

“Legilimens!” he intoned.

The memory was tampered with, powerfully, so that he was unable to see some of the earlier incidents, but he could see the conversation between “Snape” and Avery, Fuck Voldemort, I hate that bastard! Avery running off to hide from him. Seething with rage, he grabbed Rosier’s arm and touched his dark mark.

He watched as all his followers apparated around him, all except Snape who lay half-stunned on the ground, and Hugo Avery.

“Find Avery, bring him to me, now, or you all die!” he hissed, the red veins in his sclera protruding menacingly. “Nooooowwwww!!!!”

                                                  ***

 “I don’t know what happened,” Frank said, his croaky voice difficult to understand in between coughing fits.

“He needs to come with me to the Infirmatory,” Poppy interrupted, looking at Dumbledore and pointing towards the door.

Frank continued coughing and shook his head forcefully.

“We were ambushed… they were waiting for us… they wanted to get Black and Lupin,” he wheezed. “They got Lily and James… I wanted to create a diversion but before I could move, one of them released noxious fumes, no doubt to catch any other Order members, I was knocked out cold… I fell backwards and the thicket hid me from sight… woke up freezing cold a short while ago… I couldn’t find any trace of them whatsoever. I only got back just as Lily apparated here with James, he looks bad.”

The ancient double door burst open as he spoke, and Sirius Black stormed inside, his black jeans soaking wet, his leather jacket still in his hands, closely followed by a haggard-looking Remus Lupin.

“We came as soon as we got your owl. Where are they?” he roared, going straight up to Frank and grabbing hold of his collar urgently. “Where the fuck are they? Tell me!”

Remus found himself unable to utter a single word.

                                                     ***

The door of the Infirmary flew open, Sirius breathless as though he had just sprinted up five flights of stairs (which he had). He looked at Lily and seeing the pain and fear in her eyes, he forced himself to look at James lying unconscious in the bed behind her - it didn’t look like his brother, the bruised and battered body covered in what he immediately recognised as myriad curses, his usually tanned skin a deathly pale colour. He looked already dead. He looked back at Lily, the darkness under her eyes, her quivering lips.

“Lily,” he tried to say her name but no words came out, caught in his throat.

“I know, sweetie,” Lily’s voice a hoarse whisper.

Then they flung their arms around each other, gripping on for dear life. Sirius felt her chest heave and held her even closer as her quiet sobs filled the silent room, shattering his heart.

“I’m so sorry,” he whispered back, his breath still caught inside his chest, trapped.

What could he say, hearing her heartbroken sounds?

“We won’t... we shan’t let him die,” he managed to say eventually, shutting his eyes tightly to stop himself breaking down. He moved to take both her hands in his own, looking down at her with tears in his eyes.

He didn’t even know was he trying to comfort her or was he trying to comfort himself.

“I… I used an Unforgivable, Sirius,” Lily said eventually, keeping her head down.

“I would have sprained my wrist throwing Unforgivables at the bastards!” Sirius said. “I wish I could have done it for you.”

He had badness in him already, let him hold it for all of them.

It should have been him. He should have been there instead of James, instead of Lily.

“I’m glad you didn’t,” Lily’s voice shook. “I did it to save James… it felt wrong, Sirius, it is wrong and disgusting, but I know I’d do it again to save him. Am I a bad person, Sirius? I.. I saw what they did to him, I wanted them all dead… I thought about it... I wanted to. I don’t want to become like them, Sirius, but I wanted to kill them, so badly!”

“Lily, you didn’t kill them. You could have tried to, but you didn’t. You saved James. Merlin, you saved my brother, the only brother I have left, I can never thank you enough,” Sirius’ voice broke.

He wondered what he would have done in her place.

“It was Snape, he wanted to save me, but I had to find James, I couldn’t… he hurt James, I hate him for it,” Lily said desperately, squeezing Sirius’ arms.

“Fuck that creepy bastard!” Sirius said.

“What if Voldemort kills him? What if he dies? It will be my fault!” Lily whispered. “I hate him so much, but I don’t want to get him killed. I wouldn’t care if he died in battle, not now, not after everything he’s done to James! But being tortured and killed for trying to save me? I don’t want that, am I mad?”

“You had to,“ Sirius said, gripping her tightly. “You had to try to save James. You couldn’t leave with Snape, you know that would have been wrong! You are not to blame for anything Voldemort does!”

“I need James too, Sirius, he doesn’t see that, he thought I could manage without him, he’s so stupid, such a stupid, darling, beautiful man,” Lily stopped, her hand over her mouth.

“He can’t die, Poppy won’t let him die,” Sirius whispered back.

Lily nodded, still crying. He saw her sway and grabbed hold of her shoulders.

“Merlin Lily,” he said anxiously. “Sit down immediately! Are you alright? Are you hurt? Do you need Poppy? Will I get-“

“ No, please, Sirius, I didn’t get hurt, James-“ she stopped, unable to continue, and bringing her hand up to her mouth again.

He didn’t think he could handle hearing what had happened.

“Hush, Lily, you’re both safe now,” he heard himself say.

“He... I couldn’t... I tried...” she said. She closed her eyes and swayed again, sitting down suddenly and placing her head between her knees.

“I need some water, and something to eat,” she said, sounding suddenly anxious as her almond shaped clear eyes searched Sirius’ for reassurance.

“I... Merlin, yes of course, Darling, let me get that for you!” Sirius said, relief blossoming at some small task he could do to help. “Do you want a firewhisky instead?”

“No! I can’t drink now I’m ... I’m a bit dehydrated Sirius, I better stick to the water,” Lily said, placing her hand over her lower abdomen in a protective gesture.

“Yes of course,” Sirius said feverishly, throwing his leather jacket on.

“I’ll get it,” Dearborn was standing in the doorway looking at Lily uncomfortably.

“Lily, I know you already had a debriefing with Professor Dumbledore, but he was wondering if you wouldn’t mind answering a few more-“ he continued.

“No!”

Both Lily and Sirius spoke at once.

“Not now, my husband needs me here, Dumbledore can wait,” Lily said, staring at Dearborn with a hostile expression as she swiped at her red eyes furiously.

“Tell him to go fuck himself,” Sirius growled.

Dearborn nodded, recognising defeat.

“You get some food and water for Lily, Caradoc, I’ll tell Dumbledore,” Remus said. Remus stood quietly behind Dearborn, a grim look, no obvious emotions displayed on his tired face.

“Righto,” Dearborn nodded reluctantly.

“Hurry up,” Remus ordered. “We don’t want Poppy to end up with another patient.”

“Righto,” Dearborn said, looking relieved to have an excuse to leave.

                                                      *** “You wanted to speak with me, Mr. Lupin?” Dumbledore said, gesturing vaguely towards the chair in front of him.

Remus sat down. The silence made him nervous.

“You feel guilty for swapping your week on call with the Potters. You want to make sure that your friends are protected from danger as much as possible from now on?”

Remus felt his cheeks flush. He nodded, feeling even worse.

“Good,” Dumbledore said. “I can see why you’d think that way.”

Remus swallowed. Dumbledore blamed him too? He wanted to crawl under the floorboards never to re-emerge.

“I’m sorry,” he said quietly, looking down, unable to meet the Professor’s gaze. “I should have stayed…”

“That’s quite alright, Remus, these things happen, and we have to learn from them,” Dumbledore said.

Remus felt himself slide further down the chair. He wanted to cry. It reminded him of The Prank at the end of Fifth Year. It should have been him. He should have insisted Sirius go with someone else. He felt personally responsible for what had happened, and if James died because of him… if James died…

“What can I do, Sir?” Remus whispered hoarsely. “Tell me there is something I can do to help!”

He looked up and caught Dumbledore looking at him keenly, with an astute gaze.

“Of course there is something you can do to help, Remus,” Dumbledore said, steepling his hands together. “It will be dangerous though, the most dangerous mission I have ever given any member of the Order.”

Remus nodded dumbly.

“It is also top secret. You must not discuss this information with a single soul,” Dumbledore said, his blue eyes assessing Remus coolly. “Not the Marauders, not Lily Potter, especially not Sirius Black. Understood?”

“Yes, Sir,” Remus said, sitting up straighter. “You can trust me.”

“I hope so, Remus,” Dumbledore said. “Most people wouldn’t.”

Remus froze, taken aback.

“I…” he stuttered.

“Luckily for you, I am not most people, Mr. Lupin,” Dumbledore smiled pleasantly. “Lemon sherbet?”

Somewhere in the back of Remus’ mind the words you bastard and what the fuck presented themselves as appropriate responses.

He declined politely.

“I have a singularly important and quite unusual mission, and it seems to me that you are the perfect candidate to volunteer for it,” Dumbledore said, sucking loudly on the muggle sweet and leaning back into his chair.

Somehow the wizard’s eyes seemed beadier in this light. Remus waited.

“I will of course understand if you turn down this opportunity, Remus, that you may be too frightened to go,” Dumbledore said. “Other Order members may be more-“

Remus’ jaw tightened. The words you bastard and what the fuck once more presented themselves as appropriate responses.

“Other Order members have no idea how little I fear most things,” Remus said, his eyes narrowing.

“Yes, of course, Remus, I am well aware that compared to most-“ Dumbledore said, with a placating raise of his palms.

“What mission?” Remus asked.

“A mission to infiltrate Fenrir Greyback’s werewolf pack. I am aware you have already made his acquaintance,” Dumbledore said. “To see if they can be persuaded to abandon their leader and join our side in the war. And to spy on them, at any rate.”

Remus felt a cold shiver of dread run down his spine. His old Headmaster couldn’t be serious, surely. That was a hopeless mission, a pointless waste of life, a …

Greyback…

An ear-splitting scream of terror, his own. Rabid eyes. Massive yellow canines lunging towards him, saliva dripping off them. Laughter and howling.

“Tell your Daddy I said hello!”

A tearing sensation as huge teeth sank into his hip. Another ear-splitting scream, this time of pain…

He felt his hands tremble and gripped the edges of the armchair in agitation.

“If you’d rather not, I am sure I can persuade another member of the Order to pretend to be a werewolf. With some clever Transfiguration spells, which many of our members are particularly gifted at, especially your own friends-“ Dumbledore said.

“No!” Remus said, standing up suddenly and staring hard at the other man, his breathing erratic. “Merlin no! You have no idea…”

His voice trailed off again, his heart hammering wildly against his ribcage.

“So, Mr. Lupin, you don’t feel you can bring yourself to-“ Dumbledore said.

“No!” Remus practically shouted. “I’ll do it! Don’t even think about asking anyone else… I’ll do it, alright?”

“I see,” Dumbledore smiled kindly again. “My deepest apologies Remus, how very brave of you. I should never have doubted you.”

Remus bit the side of his lip. This was akin to agreeing to a suicide mission. Any sane individual would have refused to accept the offer. But surely Dumbledore had guessed he would never allow any of his friends or colleagues to go instead of him, to risk being turned? The bastard must have known all along. Yet he owed so much to this old man, this powerful wizard, the one they were all relying on to beat Voldemort and to win this war. The one who had given him a chance. Who had risked his reputation by allowing him into Hogwarts. Who had not expelled him after the disastrous Prank in Fifth Year. Maybe he was being unkind and unfair to the man. Perhaps this mission was genuinely important?

“No need to apologise, Sir,” Remus said with a small smile, extending his hand out.

“Thank you, Remus,” Dumbledore said, shaking his hand warmly. “I do appreciate your help in this war. I shall contact you shortly with more information about this entire affair. Please remember to keep this top secret.”

“Yes, Sir,” said Remus.

                                           ***

He opened the door quietly. The room was dimly lit by the fire and the large candles on either side of the infirmary bed. James looked the same, somewhere between life and death. Lily was sitting on a chair, her head lying on the bed beside him, still fully clothed, the dark shadows under her eyes more pronounced in this light. She was holding James’ hand. Sirius was nowhere to be seen, but at the foot of the bed, on top of the carefully folded blankets lay Padfoot. He was whimpering in his sleep. The shaggy dog opened his eyes briefly, fixing Remus with his mournful grey eyes.

“Sleep, Padfoot,” Remus said quietly. “I’ll stay up. I’ll call Poppy if there’s any change. There’s nothing more we can do.”

Padfoot yelped quietly, turning to look at Lily and James and then looked back at Remus and whined. He was looking at Remus accusingly. Where had he disappeared off to, why hadn’t he comforted Lily? Did he not care?

“I’m sorry,” Remus said.

It sounded curt. Inadequate.

What more could he say?

Padfoot whined once again, dropping his head into his paws, looking dejected. Remus sat on the ground, his head in his hands. He could go over, talk to Sirius, but his boyfriend always knew if he was hiding anything from him, and he was too tired to make up an excuse for what had just happened. Too tired, too traumatised, too selfish…

He stayed where he was.

Padfoot slept fitfully, beset by nightmares. Remus did not sleep a wink. He did not allow himself to sleep. The fear of nightmares kept him awake, as though he were four years old again. Besides, he did not deserve to sleep.

                                          ***

PS Póg mo thóin - kiss my ass in Irish

PS To find out if James is okay, and if Lily is in fact pregnant and if yes, what happens next etc, I’m afraid you’ll have to keep reading  We Can Be Heroes. If you just want to read on, it’s from Chapter 45.

 If you want, I can post more stand alones (Harry’s birth? the Jily engagement? Jily Wedding? Wolfstar first kiss etc??or the next part but it just leads into more stuff!)

#WCBH one shots #BAMF Lily #BAMF James #first wizarding war #defying voldemort #canon jily #canon marauders #angsty #I love Lily Evans #jily #wolfstar #poor darlings #it’s all a bit Angsty

[aegonbeingfakeisracist]

Hi, so I just found your Tumblr and I’m curious because it’s the first time I hear that considering Aegon as fake is racist. I tried to find in your tags an explanation but I havent found one yet. Do you mind explaining why it’s racist ? Thank you

I have a whole lecture series for this. 😂

The second ever post I made on this blog - if Aegon is in fact an imposter, it would be baiting the audience by presenting a cool story about a biracial character living when everyone thought he was dead and returning to get justice for his murdered other and sister, only for it to turn out that he’s just some white guy unintentionally masquerading as a murdered brown boy. The story of a rightful king is one that we see very often in fantasy. I certainly understand the desire to examine and deconstruct it. But it’s a gross choice to do that with characters of colour, who are rarely the subject of such stories. It probably would have been okay even despite that fact, had it not been for the following point.

Aegon does not exist in a vacuum. There is a clear pattern of poor treatment of characters of colour. Both the Martells - Arianne is introduced breasts first with much less focus on her very real skills; Martin uses Quentyn to make an example of a character of colour that fails when everyone that ultimately succeeds will be white for the sake of regaining the stakes of the story; Rhaenys Targaryen was brutally murdered as a toddler - and the characters in Essos. The Dothraki are not given distinctive personality traits; Irri and Jhiqui might as well be the same person for all that it matters and are treated as silly little girls even though they went through literally the exact same things that Dany did; Myriah Martell was met with suspicion and hostility when she married into the Targaryens, with complaints about how Daeron listened to the whispers of women persisting to the canon era, while her Targaryen goodsister is spoken of fondly and respectfully by canon era Martells on top of having enjoyed immense influence over her husband’s homeland, as evidenced by the fact she was the one that began the tradition of the Water Gardens being a place for everyone. Which brings us to Aegon, the biracial son of a brutalized woman of colour and the brother of a violently murdered toddler. There are white characters that were presumed dead that turned out to be alive. There were baby swaps with white characters. There are white characters that pretended to be other people. So why is it Aegon, the sole character of colour that is involved with any of these conspiracies and swaps, the one that has to be false? JonCon can turn out to be alive, Mance and Gilly’s sons can be swapped, Sansa can pretend to be Alayne, Ned can protect Jon by raising him as his own son, but god forbid Aegon is exactly who he says and believes himself to be. Too improbable!

On top of this, these characters of colour are specifically harmed for the sake of white characters’ stories. Jon Snow as a character makes no sense without murdered Rhaenys. It does not make sense for him to grow up as Ned Stark’s bastard to protect him from Ned Stark’s best friend unless the aforementioned best friend has already condoned the murders of children. Baelor Breakspear, who explicitly took after his mother, had to die so his white passing brother and nephew could take the throne. His other brothers may have looked like him, but either way, there’s no evidence and the throne still passed to Maekar, who explicitly had the expected Targaryen look. These issues would be fine on their own! I’d probably still grumble about murdered three year old Rhaenys, but not about Baelor! It would have been a completely valid - and beautiful - writing choice for his death to mark the beginning of the end of the Targaryen dynasty with Baelor, the hope of Westeros, cut down by his own brother, perpetuating the same old cycle of family fighting family. The problem is all these issues put together.

These are all in-text issues, but fandom worsens them. While in canon, Arianne is extremely smart with sympathetic motives, impressive skills, and a great deal of compassion for other people, fandom would often have us believe that she’s just a stupid, smug, and scheming snake that only cares about her ambition and would immediately throw in with Aegon not because she believes he’s really her cousin or that it’s the right thing to do, but because she wants a crown. While in canon, Oberyn spent the last fifteen years of his life in a committed relationship with Ellaria, fandom would have us believe that it’s just a casual fling and they’re both always sleeping with other people. People are so determined to justify Rhaegar’s actions and absolve him of any responsibility, they’ll come up with elaborate theories as to how Elia was having an affair and Rhaenys wasn’t Rhaegar’s daughter. The second anyone criticizes even the structure of Dany’s story, built as it is around racist writing choices, much less any of her in-universe decisions, people make up strawmen arguments about how anyone making the mildest criticism is defending slavery. This context matters immensely for understanding precisely why people react to Aegon the way they do. 

When arguing that Aegon must be a female line Blackfyre descendant, one point that always comes up is that it’s “too late in the story” for him to be the real Aegon. Setting aside the bizarre logic behind that idea - it’s too late for Aegon to be Aegon, but it’s not too late to bring up this ludicrously complicated idea of him being Illyrio’s son by a woman that happened to be a Blackfyre descendant, that just so happened to be the same age as Rhaegar and Elia’s son and grew up to look just like Rhaegar? Is this another thing having to do with the obsession with main houses with people thinking that any Targaryen has to be in it from the beginning, but not so a random person? - this is more about not wanting Aegon to be Aegon than the theory actually making sense. It’s about the fear that him existing somehow takes away from Jon or Dany. You’ll note that these theories are never about a real thematic purpose or how finding out he’s not who he’s been raised to believe he is will impact him. They’re entirely about getting him out of the way, so that this ~special Targaryen status~ is preserved as being only for Jon and Dany. Half Dornish Aegon, with the best claim of any Targaryen, whose story arc involves appealing to his maternal family, can’t be alive!It’s the same reason that people ignore his good traits - his sense of humour, his intelligence, his wise perspective on the Kingsguard, his refusal to let Yandry throw Tyrion overboard, his ability to persuade others to see his perspective - for the sake of treating him like an incompetent monster for...getting mad at Tyrion for lying to and taunting him and freezing up at the sight of the stone men. That’s absurd. It’s both of these things that help clarify the thought process behind the theory.

If Aegon is an imposter, it is using a story point that would be perfectly innocuous with white characters in a way that’s gross and racist with a character of colour in a story that treats characters of colour poorly. If he were not the only nonwhite claimant to the throne, it would be fine. If visibly brown Baelor Breakspear had ascended to the throne, it would have been fine. If the “he’s fake” theory was not always paired with “and Arianne will die for throwing in with him”, it would be fine. As it is, though? Not fine.

#jonsnowisthesexiestbastard #replies

[fadedseas]

what died didn’t stay dead: part II

Miguel Galindo x fem!reader

Part 2 of __: take me back to the night we met

Tags: Soulmate AU, Legal Drama, Canon Divergence, this part will be very Miguel-centric with heavy mentions of Emily

Summary: You walk into the courtroom, expecting to arraign Emily Galindo for the murder of a county clerk. You don’t expect to meet your soulmate in that courtroom. The husband of the woman you’re trying to indict. Miguel Galindo. 

Chapter Summary: Miguel gazed at the photo of the woman who would be prosecuting his wife, and considered the moments that led to this point. There was something about you...something in your expression, the determined straightness of your shoulders, and the ferocity that emanated from your image was almost...beautiful. 

TW: cursing

Word Count: 2115 

(not my gif but conveys the vibe of the chapter well)

Miguel Galindo did not believe in soulmates.

Not only did he not believe in them. He hated the very thought of them. There was no future for himself other than the one that he dictated. He was a Galindo for god sake. He would not be moved by frivolous sentiment or such a fickle thing as “fate” or “soulmates”. No. He understood what his name meant. His father had made sure of that. 

“A man is nothing without his dignity Miguel. Especially not a Galindo. Es el orgullo de los hombres. Without your word, you’re nothing.” Miguel felt his father’s hand on his shoulder, the weight of it suffocating him for a moment as he sat across from his father in his office, a place that had, at some point, been previously off-limits to him. Apparently, his father had finally considered him ready. 

“What I’ve built Miguel...some day you’ll take it over. The way your brother was supposed to. But remember, mi hijo, you can’t live in the shadows forever. Nothing can.”

But his father was dead. Miguel wasn’t sure if it was fate, karma or the CIA that put him in his early grave. But whatever it was, soulmates wouldn’t bring him back. Soulmates wouldn’t expand the Galindo empire, or secure his legacy. 

Besides, Miguel was sure he knew what love was. What it meant. He had met Emily in college, had almost looked past her at the social event he was attending. She just blended into the rest of the gringitas at first. He was at a frat party well after midnight when the air reeked of stale beer and privilege. To be frank, he wasn’t one to get sloppily drunk and vomit on himself or go home with a random college girl. 

While he did enjoy the occasional one night stand, Miguel prided himself in maintaining some sort of standards for taking a woman out. There would be dinner and good wine at the very least. But there was something to be said about making connections here that would probably serve him well down the road. After all, that was the real value of college: networking. 

Miguel still grimaced internally as the soles of his shoes peeled themselves from the floor that seemed perpetually tacky from decades of spilled alcohol. He was sitting with a classmate from his economics class as he babbled incessantly about some inane topic. Miguel’s fingers curled around a red solo cup and a part of him wanted to chuckle at cliche, a Latino Bluto.

Miguel watched, almost smirking as the other students nervously hovered around him, trying to catch his eye and avoid it at the same time. He had to admit, a part of him felt like an exhibit on display. The exotic son of a drug lord. It was presumably intoxicating to a Jessica from Connecticut whose coke probably came from Brad around the corner. 

He was bored. And he already had enough of this. Miguel was about to stand and make some half-assed excuse to leave when he saw her. Whereas everyone in the room had, at some point, drifted over to where he had been sitting, she hadn’t come close. Hadn’t tried to casually walk into his line of sight. Hadn’t raised her voice so he could hear any grating giggles. No. She was just standing there, with a matching red solo cup, sipping it slowly and glancing around the party, almost awkwardly. 

Before he knew what he was doing, he had left his companion mid-sentence and walked over to her. Her hair and skin seemed even paler in the moonlight. The chatter in the room quieted.  

“I’m Miguel,” he held out his hand. 

She looked up at him and he could read the shock in her eyes. There was a pause before she took his hand. It was small. Delicate. “Emily,” she responded.

For their first date, Miguel had taken her to a small Italian restaurant in the outskirts of Ithaca. He didn’t know much about her at that point. Other than the fact that her full name was Emily Thomas. She was an economics major, and she was from a small town in Southern California.   

“It’s a tiny shithole.” Emily chuckled, her shoulders jerked a bit as if the force of the curse word erupting from her mouth surprised even herself.

Miguel raised an eyebrow, “it can’t be too bad, can it? It produced you after all.” 

Emily’s pale skin flushed pink. Miguel was charmed. He liked that. The paleness of her skin and hair. The slenderness of her hands. She was like one of his mother’s porcelain dolls. And there was something else. Something stirring in the undercurrent of her voice as she described her hometown. A restlessness that manifested itself in the anxious rubbing of her palms against her jeans and a reluctance to meet his eyes that betrayed a feeling he knew well from accompanying his father to his “business meetings”. Emily Thomas had memories that she would rather forget. At least they had that in common.

Miguel had never been in love with another person until this point. He knew that they weren’t soulmates. But what did that matter? He liked Emily. He enjoyed the way she pursed her lips when he would tease her. Her ability to calculate sums quickly in her head. The way her stiffness and propriety exposed her fragility, as if a sharp word or a judgmental glance from a classmate would shatter her. Most of all, he liked her yearning for something more than what she had come from. 

When he discussed his father or the family business and his plans for the future, his determination to secure his family’s legacy, he could see the fear in her eyes that was belied with hate for what he and his father would have to do, and hunger for what the business could bring for her.  

Perhaps that was how they had fallen together. They were just so enamored with each other’s desperation that they called it love. 

But right now, all Miguel could feel was rage.

His hands played with the wires on his shades to hide his trembling anger. His wife had lied to him. She was contacting that f**king Reyes boy. He had known something was wrong, long before those detectives had knocked on his door. Emily was distant. Distracted. Perhaps some part of him should’ve been disturbed by how easily the lies rolled off her honeyed tongue if he hadn’t been lying to her as well. 

Honesty buys honesty. Miguel wanted to scoff at Nestor’s words now. Too little, too late now. Honesty wouldn’t help him as his wife sat, stiff and quiet with their defense attorney in a courtroom. Honesty wouldn’t help their already tattered public image or relieve the pressure from the DEA that would only worsen from this entire debacle.    

He hated being here. Miguel shifted, his back already aching from the hard wooden bench, as he watched lawyers in suits rush in and out of the room. God, he despised prosecutors. Hypocritical f**ks. They walk around with that holier-than-thou attitude, so confident in their exacting of justice while a significant portion of them were on his payroll. Their egos made Miguel’s head hurt. 

But this time, his wife’s trial...he hadn’t heard of the judge. He wasn’t on the Galindo payroll. Nor were you. He had looked you up obviously, and read through your file the previous night. You were impressive. Scholarship to Berkley. Graduated Magna Cum Laude. Received your J.D. from USC. Clerked for a judge in the Ninth Circuit. 

He set his glass of liquor down on his table, picking up a polaroid of you. You were walking down the steps of the courthouse, one hand brushing your hair away from your face. Miguel examined the seriousness in your eyes, and your set jaw. Your small frame made you seem almost innocuous. Almost. 

“What’s her conviction rate?” 

“High,” Nestor responded, shifting in his chair. 

Miguel sighed, leaning back in his chair, “I thought we were going to get Simmons on this case.” F**k who the judge was. The best thing that could happen was getting a prosecutor that wouldn’t file charges in the first place.

Nestor nodded, “we were. But she got assigned to it. Lead detective requested her specifically.” 

Miguel remembered him. Lawrence Kohler. He was a large man, worn clothes, entered Miguel’s house with an air of disdain. Also not on the Galindo payroll. Damn. 

“What else do we know about her?”

“She moved here two years out of law school. Mother died in a car accident. Father died three months later. No other family. They were soulmates.”

Miguel furrowed his brow, picking through the pages of the report. Soulmates. He hadn’t heard that term in a while, not that he was in a business where it appeared often. He wanted to snort at the absurdity of that. His parents weren’t soulmates. But their marriage was strong, built day by day - not in the passing fancy of a first glance and a name on their arms. But that left an idea. 

“Does she have a soulmate?”

“No. I don’t think so.”

F**k. You didn’t seem like someone who could be plied with money. There went that leverage.  

Miguel leaned his head back in his seat, “we have Beckett on retainer right?”

“Yes. He’s coming tomorrow to begin prepping her defense,” Nestor responded, referring to the lawyer that Miguel had relied upon in the past to help him out of any sticky legal situations. 

Miguel nodded, “Ok. Keep looking into her Nestor. There’s something that we can use.”

Nestor stood, “It’ll be ok Mikey. We’re going to get Emily out of this.”

Miguel closed his eyes for a moment, “whatever this is. I’m still not sure yet.” 

Nestor did not have a response to that. Instead, he quietly left the room, closing the door behind him. Miguel rubbed his temples, feeling a headache coming on. What the f**k was going on with his wife? The woman who never wanted contact with the other world was now involved in a murder investigation. And he still had the entire mess with Potter gunning to take him down. 

Miguel stretched, trying to relieve the tension in his shoulders. And now you have entered the picture. He picked up your photo from his desk, his thumbs pressing at the corners. There was something about you that he had to admit was somewhat magnetic. Something in your expression, the determined straightness of your shoulders, and the ferocity that emanated from your image was almost...beautiful. 

Miguel rubbed his hand over his eyes. F**k. He was just tired. He needed some sleep. Tomorrow would bring a long day of legal strategy and disclosures that he would likely not be ready for. Miguel stood from his seat, slipping your photo back into your file on his desk, and readying himself for bed with his wife. Never had his bedroom felt so sterile or empty. 

Miguel folded himself next to Emily, trying fervently to ignore the growing distance and the stony silence between them. 

The door to the courtroom opened once again, and there you were. Miguel recognized you immediately from his reconnaissance. He had found himself looking over your file over and over within the past few days, so much so that your image had inadvertently seared itself into his memory. 

He watched your feet, encased in sensible heels, advance in steady strides as you entered. You wore a plain black skirt and white blouse with that same tension in your shoulders and your expression set with resolve as you glanced at Emily and Beckett. 

You were ready with the energy to take on the world like a force of nature. And when someone was coming up against the Galindo Empire, they would need every bit of energy and determination they would have. Miguel was almost impressed with your boldness. Almost. 

But then you turned, your eyes meeting his. 

It took all of the control he had developed in his years of running the business to stop himself from exhibiting any emotion as he felt the sudden burn in his forearm. Miguel didn’t even have to look. He didn’t believe in soulmates, but he knew what this meant. 

Emily chose that second to turn around, catching his eye and nodding at him. Miguel wrested his sense back from the shock that had paralyzed him for a moment to nod back. 

Well. It seems that he had found the leverage he was looking for. Against you or himself, Miguel wasn’t sure. F**k.

part I

part III

A/N: I swear these turn out to be more character studies than I ever plan for them to be. But we finally have a look at Miguel’s side of the encounter! 

A few notes that I wanted to impart: 

There is going to be major canon divergence so events that happened on the show are going to be reformed/omitted/changed in chronology or events and maybe merged depending on how well they fit into the story

I’ll be updating the links to previous chapters and to my masterlist so check that out for other stories that I’m writing

Updates will be somewhat sporadic based on how much time I’ll have outside of work - but I’ll try for weekly at least

I’m going to start tagging parts as #wddsd so it’s easier to find on my page

If you want to be added to the taglist for future chapters - please send me a message or comment to let me know!

Please R&R as always! Very much appreciate it!

Lastly, I honestly miss writing fanfic and will probably also be writing more one-shot pieces about Miguel and Nick - just for the smuttiness/fluff in different AUs (let me know if you have any requests - I’m open to fulfilling those! Send me a message!)

I also just wanted to flesh out the beginning of his relationship with Emily because I feel like that’s not touch on in the show. (Also I’m still unsure of how I feel about Emily at this point because she’s both a victim and a perpetrator in all of this mess? But leaning on her being somewhat hypocritical about not wanting to be involved in the cartel life while it funds her entire lifestyle). 

Links

masterlist

ao3

Taglist:

@amorestevens​

#mayans mc #miguel galindo #soulmate au #miguel galindo x reader #danny pino #miguel galindo fanfic #wddst #unfinished

[magioftheseas]

Rose Stem Asphyxiation

Summary: In one life, Hilise and Gabrielle try to be sisters.

Rating: T+

Warnings: References to violence, murder mostly fraticide, suicide, child abuse... Canon-typical stuff, tbh, even if this is canon divergence.

Notes: I just don’t get enough opportunities to write fucked up sisterly relationships and if Untouchable Lady is going to give me a dynamic that I think has potential, then I’m gonna go for it. Sorry that there’s no Axion. There’s no male characters at all beyond a couple of cursory mentions. Sorry~

***Alternate Ao3 Link***

Commission? Donate?

“Hiliseeee!”

Gabrielle tackles her arm with innocent glee, but there’s a maid nearby who flinches. Unperturbed, Gabrielle beams up at her. The perfect image of the adorable little sister.

It should be satisfying if not endearing. No matter what Hilise does, it’ll always be Gabrielle who is the darling of the Inoaden household.

And yet, Hilise remembers the first time she saw Gabrielle embrace their father.

The way Gabrielle embraces her right now.

And the bitter resentment that stains her soul burns like a fresh wound.

“Are you going out, sis?” Gabrielle asks, and her bright inquiry snaps her from her dark mood. “I can come, right?”

No, it’s different.

The way Gabrielle squeezes her arm is with a hint of desperation. Unease. Gabrielle’s usually effortless smile twitches at its edges.

“Of course you can come,” Hilise says, watching Gabrielle relax.

Gabrielle who nuzzles against her, giggling all the while.

Gabrielle who has never had to fear their father, but her fear here is quite justified.

Hilise could kill her, after all. Has killed her before, in fact, albeit in a past life.

And she could never quite forget that look of sheer terror.

How Gabrielle cowered, scrambling back pathetically and looking up with those usually bright eyes torn up with hideous tears.

Hilise had let her scream her throat out raw. Begging for someone—anyone—

That...had perhaps been too cruel of her.

Next time, she’ll just snap Gabrielle’s neck first. What good came from saving her for last? If it was meant to be mercy, it was a poor execution.

The two sisters go shopping and it’s overall an uneventful trip.

--

She already knows there’s no usurping Gabrielle’s status as a darling, but at the very least, she can play the role of a loved older sister. Rather, she can pretend.

Unlike her father and her brother who will never truly love her—will never even pretend to love her, Gabrielle is different.

Gabrielle will give her easy smiles and shower her with easy affection. Gabrielle will offer her jewelry and adornment and this time, it wouldn’t be a mere childish prank. Even now, Gabrielle enjoys treats with her, humming with pleasure.

Hilise smiles at her mildly, but it feels miserable. Doesn’t fit quite right on her face, either. Well. It’s not too bad. Better than her disastrous relationship with Christian. At least Gabrielle lacks the depth to hate this arrangement.

Gabrielle is happy as long as she is doted on and spoiled.

It’s as enviable as it is contemptible.

“So, for the next ball,” Gabrielle is saying. “There’s this dress I really want to wear. You should see it! It’s going to be the start of a new fashion trend!”

She is well aware.

“I’m sure,” she replies simply, meaning it. “However, you are looking to impress Christian Parvenon as well, right?”

“Do you think he’ll like it?” Gabrielle asks, eyes alit with anticipation. She’s so radiant it makes her stupid. “I don’t want him able to keep his eyes away! Oh, but, you should get dressed up too all nice and pretty too, sis.” A touch of discomfort at Gabrielle’s smile. “As long as you don’t distract Christian, then it’s fine...”

Even now, Gabrielle can’t help but be a little entitled. It’s fine. Hilise doesn’t have any interest in him.

“I...” She doesn’t... “I don’t really care about getting a husband.”

“You don’t?!” Gabrielle gasps, aghast at the idea. She’s just too naïve to not be sincerely surprised. “Do you not like anyone?!”

“No.” There is no use in hesitating or drawing it out. “I’m not.”

“You should let me introduce you,” her sister says, already excited. “There are plenty of handsome bachelors from good families! I hear aaaaaaall about them!” She brags, proud of the social life she has that Hilise was never allowed. “I know all the gossip, too! I’ll make sure not a single scandalous guy enters the equation! You can count on me, dear sister!”

...the thing is that Hilise doesn’t doubt it.

That’s the thing, isn’t it, that Hilise never doubts a word Gabrielle says.

Gabrielle can play pranks, but like this, Gabrielle would never lie. In fact, she offers up answers without even needing to be prodded. Hilise nearly needs to sip her tea like so, and Gabrielle is already chatting up a storm about the aforementioned gossip. Quite spiritedly, at that.

She’s so eager.

So desperate.

As if this is life or death, when it’s just another vapid method of filling space and passing time. Something to do as Hilise waits for the end of this loop.

How shall I attempt dying this time?

She considers, for a second, pushing Gabrielle into it. But with how Gabrielle is still yapping away, Hilise thinks it would be too tedious an avenue to pursue.

It’d be a change of pace, but she’s not like my father nor my brother. She doesn’t have the bloodlust nor the blood running through her veins.

(Or so she thought.)

“Sis!” Gabrielle exclaims, realizing that she is not being listened to. The indignance has her cheeks puffing out. “Are you paying any attention?!”

“I am,” Hilise says simply, thinking of puncturing those perfectly round cheeks with thorns. “It’s just—that I’m not interested. Sorry.”

“Why not?!” Gabrielle demands, more out of confusion than frustration. “Don’t you want to...?”

“No.” Hilise doesn’t care to hear the rest. “I don’t want to court, much less marry.”

There’s no point. I won’t be loved either way.

“Y-You can’t just stay alone forever,” Gabrielle points out shakily. “I mean, that’s just...that’s really... Hilise...”

Oh?

Is that pity?

Is that sympathy?

Is Gabrielle sad for her?

Hilise straightens up. She sets down her cup. She folds her hands into her lap. She stares, bores holes into Gabrielle’s twisted-up face from her trembling downturned lips to her downcast eyes.

Gabrielle is at a loss for words for once.

It’s quite the sight.

“Gabrielle.”

Gabrielle perks up immediately. Attentive. Outwardly anxious. Adorable. Precious.

“If I have you,” Hilise says smiling. “I won’t ever be alone, right?”

Gabrielle doesn’t smile back.

Not at first.

When she does, it’s clear she has to make an effort.

“O... Of course...!” She trips over her words. “You’ll always have me...!”

I think...

“I’m glad,” Hilise replies, still smiling. “Thank you.”

“You don’t have to thank me,” Gabrielle insists. “We’re sisters, aren’t we? Obviously, I’ll always...”

When I get bored of this...

“...be with you...”

I’m going to throw myself off the roof without a bed of roses to embrace my fall.

--

She had dreamed of having a normal family once, but it was always a distant, childish dream. Even when given other chances, she had known on some level that it was impossible for her. That she wasn’t meant to be loved by her father and brother—it just couldn’t be helped.

As for Gabrielle, well—Gabrielle filled the void of beloved little sister and daughter. Even if it wasn’t Gabrielle’s fault, that was the simple fact of the matter. At least she was still innocent, Hilise thought.

And  Gabrielle could be swayed and won over with such ease. What was the harm, then, in indulging a little? What was wrong with wanting some familial love? Even if it was shallow, it was Gabrielle.

Gabrielle was innocent and lovely, right? Everyone loved her for a reason. Even if Hilise couldn’t be her, she could be with her and pretend, if only for a moment, that Gabrielle loved her.

Gabrielle was bright. Gabrielle was lovely. Gabrielle—was never going to understand.

“You’ll die for Gabrielle’s sake, won’t you?”

Whatever sisterhood she may have wanted, had wanted dearly at that, was just another pipe dream.

There wasn’t much point in wanting it. Not when she was never going to get it no matter what she did. Illusions were always meant to fade and the loop was always going to restart.

“It’s fine, you can come back, so it’s fine. Just bear with dying one more time.”

Her father was always going to hate her. Ricardo was never going to love her. And Gabrielle, well—she was too innocent of the world. Even when she snapped, she was going to be sheltered and protected. Gabrielle could be persuaded to love her, but they weren’t ever going to inhabit the same world. Not when one of them only knew love and the other...knew nothing of the sort, even as she longed so much for it.

Whatever.

Just.

Whatever.

I think I’m done with everything, with both love and family, Hilise thought tiredly. I don’t even care anymore.

--

The truth is that I could have been fine never being loved. I just wanted someone to worry about me. Did I ever have that, even for a moment? Or was that just a delusion?

It didn’t matter anymore.

It didn’t.

She couldn’t do this anymore. Because regardless of the end, they’re never going to care about her.

Trash till the end, Hilise thought, exhausted. Still...do you want to know something? It wasn’t too bad to pretend for a bit. Thanks for that, Gabrielle.

But I’m still going to throw you away with everything else.

#Untouchable Lady #mahwa #Hilise Inoaden #Gabrielle Inoaden #Magi fics #Idk what to tag this

[ladycatofwinterfell]

I interpreted that Catelyn scene as if Jon didn't exist, her family would not have faced tragedy. Yes, she was blaming herself for not loving Jon but she was also indirectly blaming Jon for even existing. I also hated the part where she said her love with Ned was better than a passionate love affair in the words. As if being married off with a bridal price, passed from father to husband like an object is better than genuinely falling in love. I never liked Catelyn and it's not because she has strong opinions or because she started the war or whatever bs people hate her for I just think she's kinda...in her own head?? She lacks perspective tbh like she can't put herself in other people's shoes. Like when she tells Renly and Stannis: just get over it your brothers, I cringed because they obviously do not care about their relationship and only care about being king. They were raised differently than you Cat! I get that she's a victim of the patriarchy and she is coping so I really try to give her the benefit of the doubt but idk maybe I'm not mature enough for that. When characters like Brienne and Sansa exist, it makes Catelyn look bad (that scene in the books when Cat asks Edmure why are all the peasants here is yikes!). That being said, the fact that she has flaws makes her compelling. Also don't get me wrong, I do not think she is an awful person and I DO NOT blame her for ignoring Jon, that's all on Ned. Sometimes I think I dislike her because I kinda see myself in her. I have tried so hard to like her because her haters suck but I just can't.

It’s completely fine, anon, you don’t have to like Cat. As long as you don’t act like an ass about it you can dislike any character you want, I don’t judge you. Sometimes one simply doesn’t vibe with certain characters for different reasons. I don’t necessarily agree with you but I like that you explain your reasons instead of just going “catelyn sucks because she’s mean” as I have seen a lot people do. Also, I genuinely really like this ask as it made me think a lot, so thank you, anon.

The rest will be under the cut because I got carried away with my answer and it got a lot longer than I had initially planned

And now, before I start explaining my view on this, I want to say that I’m no expert at analyzing media or anything else. I’m a fan of the asoiaf books, and I have watched got, that’s it. These are just my views on Cat and the parts that were mentioned in this ask. If anyone disagrees or would like to come with a different perspective, feel free to do so, seeing different views on a topic is good for everyone.

I’m going to assume you mean the motherless child scene, and from that I didn’t get the feeling that she blamed Jon as she not once mentioned him negatively in that scene. He was just a poor innocent child. She repeatedly said that she herself was a terrible person though, which conveys the message that she blamed no one but herself for how the situation turned out and found herself responsible for it. In other scenes we see her acting cold towards Jon, but in this particular scene she doesn’t seem to be angry at him at all, she’s only angry with herself. This in turn makes it seem like she actually is to blame and that she should have loved him, which is wrong. She had no responsibility to take care of her husband’s illegitimate love child. Though in show canon I thought of it as her trying to find a reason for why everything that did happen happened, because she had a hard time making sense of it. She looked back at things she had done that could have been considered wrongdoings and wondered if maybe she could have prevented the deaths of her husband and (as far as she knew) children.

You also mentioned the stone by stone scene. I rewatched it now, and I can sort of see what you mean as she can be interpreted as a bit judgmental in that scene. However, her intention wasn’t to tell Robb about how her love was a supreme love, it was to try to get him to understand that an arranged marriage could turn out good. He had to marry a Frey because that was arranged for him and bad things could happen to him and his cause if he didn’t, so she tried to make him believe in that a marriage to a Frey girl he didn’t know could be a good marriage. This by explaining that her arranged marriage was good. Fine, she didn’t immediately fall in love with her husband, but she slowly came to love him over the years and that could be the cause in Robb’s marriage as well.

What we also need to remember in regards to that scene is that that’s the way marriage works in Westeros. If you’re highborn you don’t marry for love, you have a marriage arranged for you for the sake of forming an alliance between two families. That’s not better than genuinely falling in love, but that’s the way it works. In this case it’s even more important since Frey is so prickly and might pull the rug from under Robb’s feet if he feels insulted. And Cat wants her son to see that, wants him to understand that it is dangerous to break a that important alliance. She tries to get him on a safer path than the one he’s going down. But she also wants him to know that he can be happy in an arranged marriage. She tells him about her and Ned to explain that it is possible for him to learn to love his bride, so that he might reconsider his choice.

Now to a quick one. I agree, Cat didn’t start the war. She took Tyrion hostage because based on the info she had he had tried to murder her son. Tywin “war criminal” Lannister started the war by sending men to pillage and destroy the Riverlands

On the next one I’m actually inclined to agree. Catelyn is a bit in her own head. On top of that she’s very stubborn, which makes it more apparent. She tends not to see things from other perspectives than her own, that is definitely one of her flaws. It doesn’t make her a bad person, but it is a flaw, and I can see why some people would have a hard time with that particular flaw. Though she’s not always in her own head, several times we are shown that she has a nose for politics and is actually quite good at understanding other people and their wants. She has perspective on several situations, and can change her mind if things changes or doesn’t turn out as planned.

When it comes to the conflict between Renly and Stannis I really get her frustration. Yes, she had trouble understanding their conflict and found it ridiculous as she was raised and lived by the words “Family, Duty, Honor” and the mindset that family always comes first no matter what. But at that point I think most people would share her thoughts, as she was in a situation where she had started to become desperate. She wanted them to stop fighting each other and understand that they needed to fight together against the Lannisters, who were everyone’s common enemy. This with good reason, they killed her husband and as far as she knew still had both her daughters. Of course she wanted them to stop their feud and unite for the cause of defeating the Lannisters.

I’m going to agree on the next one as well. Cat lives in a patriarchal, classist society and buys into that because that’s all she knows, no one can deny that she has a classist and patriarchal mindset. That’s what she was raised by, that was what she was taught. Cat is in many senses the perfect lady by Westerosi standards. But despite believing in the patriarchal society she’s also at times thoroughly frustrated by it, as we see when she starts losing her influence as an advisor after Ned dies. It’s an interesting internal conflict, and as you said, she’s coping. You mentioned Brienne and Sansa as examples of characters that make Cat look bad in this sense. I don’t agree with that, I think these three characters cope with the patriarchal society in different ways although Brienne has a much more sympathetic way to do so in the eyes of modern readers. Cat definitely isn’t innocent of having spread those views, as she tries to make sure her children live by them, but she’s also not the devil here.

But yes, although she doesn’t call them peasants, that scene doesn’t look great. I won’t deny that either, because it’s true. All the highborn characters, yes even your fave no matter who that is, are classist. And that’s not me trying to defend Cat, that’s just the truth.

As for your ending, yes, her flaws makes her a very compelling character. It’s what makes her interesting, perfect characters are painstakingly boring. She’s not an awful person, and she’s not to blame for the situation with Jon. That one’s definitely on Ned.

You’re also right in that her haters very often suck.

Thanks for your ask, this was very interesting and I hope to see you in my inbox again in the future!

#catelyn stark #catelyn tully #this makes me really curious about if you follow me despite that my blog is 95% cat or if you don’t follow me #and just wanted to pop in to send me this #either way id like to thank you for not being rude to me for our differences as I have noticed rudeness is common in this fandom #and for that I got to have very interesting conversations with several of my mutuals about this #I also love the ‘her haters suck’ #not even people who dislike cat likes her antis

[demonofpuns]

Some thoughts and ideas on the portrayal of Greek Mythology in Blood of Zeus

So, that show happened. The only good thing I have to say about it is that it’s visually appealing and they’ve cast Claudia Christian. The only reason my sis and I kept watching is because the evil lady was hot and sis wanted to peg Himbo Apollo. (Who, despite his amazing lack of personality, was the only character to remain halfway consistent in it. Also he’s explicitly shown to be bi so he gets bonus points.)

BUT LIKE. WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK. Putting this under a cut cause spoilers and shit. 

I do want to talk about the gods and their mythology. Like... first of all, Hera was the bad guy. HERA. TO A POINT WHERE SHE AWOKE THE GIANTS TO KILL ZEUS.

Not to mention that the very concept of evil Hera isn’t one that’s just... too cliche. I mean, Zeus cheats on her and fucking rapes most of the women he wants just because he can with his powers (which was canon even in the show), yet she’s the one who’s bad? HE’S A RAPIST. WHY THE FUCK IS HE EVEN THE GOOD GUY.

She wanted to kill the bastard and his mom and hated all of the kids who were not her own. Sure. I do say she is canon like that in Greek Mythology to a point, but seriously? If you already interpret mythology new to the extent this series did, why not make her a fucking better, three-dimensional character instead of... whatever this show did. (She does get bonus points for hot evil lady, but that isn’t enough to weaken my hatred for what this show did.) She’s the goddess of family, for fuck’s sake. What she did? Nope. A modern interpretation of Hera should not be the one punishing women and children for the wrongdoings of her husband.

Here’s a few ideas that would make her character likeable and put emphasis on her family while still being able to be angry at Zeus:

She being the one to legitimize Zeus’ bastards as gods, to show him that she knew what he’d done.

Her sending peacocks (because her animal birds are peacocks, not FUCKING RAVENS) to the women Zeus planned to rape, to watch his every step. If he went for anything even remotely sexual, he’d get attacked. I imagine it’s not nice to get a beaked cock. (Pun intended.)

Asking Zeus how the mothers of his bastards are regularly. 

Taking care of her family, even those who are not her own children. Her protecting Heron, Electra and Seraphim instead of Zeus. 

Her being allowed to be hurt and mad at Zeus without becoming a murdering crazy woman. (Fucking sexist tropes.)  She can still be a little wary around the new sidestep and the new bastard and annoyed at times, but after so long, she should’ve realized that it’s not their fault her husband is like that.

Just as an idea. Next one up: ARES.

He didn’t have much of a personality in the show except that he liked fighting to some point. That being said, he’s also evil. Somehow. Like. I get Ares was unpopular and dangerous, being he was the god of the bad side of war. But please... more dimensions than one to his character, please. He’s together with Aphrodite, for fuck’s sake. She has to see something in him. Here are some ideas:

Ares protecting his brothers in a fight and telling them to run while he took care of the enemy.

Threatening anyone who wants to get at a family member: “You want to get to them? You gotta get through me first.”

Giving the obviously weaker opponent in a fight strength and speed so it would be more fair. 

Teaching people to use their anger in a fight well. 

Not as much as Hera, but then, he was unimportant in this series. (As much as the other gods, which mostly you even had to guess the names of. The only one I’m sure about is Artemis, because she had a bow, was dressed in silver, and stood next to Apollo.) Next one here: HADES.

So, Hades had 30 seconds of screen time at the end. The big reveal: HE WASN’T NEUTRAL, NOOO, HE WAS EVIL. CAN WE GET. ONE. FUCKING. THING. WHERE. HE. ISN’T. I get him being resentful towards the other gods and Zeus especially because he isn’t wanted on Olympus and has to stick to the underworld and care for the dead. Fine. I get it. But can we get like... him being an okay person?

Allowing a girl to see her killed cat’s soul for one last time to say goodbye.

Playing with Cerberus. In general, Cerberus being a good boy and not a beast that flips when you provoke it.

Loving his wife. There are several stories claiming Persephone went willingly (that being said, those are dubious at best, and if you’re gonna reinterpret mythology, please, please make it less about abduction and rape) - and also, in general. PERSEPHONE. GIVE US MORE OF HER BECAUSE SHE WAS ONE OF THE MOST FEARED AND YET LOVED GODDESSES. THE POTENTIAL.

Him getting regular visits by other gods so he won’t feel abandoned.

Can’t say too much about other gods cause they were non-existent apart from being there and being judgy. The three I did talk about were mostly because I’m fucking sick of always seeing them portrayed as the bad guys. Especially Hera. Some may ask now, if these characters are how I described them, how does the conflict come up? 

Hmmm. Okay. Valid question. (I’ll stick this to the relevant plot points that would have to shift, that I do remember. Not all of the story has to be changed that much.)  Let’s start with Hera being the one to protect Heron and Electra from Zeus instead of the other way around. She found out he was cheating and she was the one to save and hide them. She gives the advice. She tells him who she is, who he is, and why she did what she did. Heron, confused, leaves. Alexia arc can stay the same, mostly. 

Zeus finds Heron. He’s mad at Hera. He gives him the sword (in disguise) so he can fight, still, because he’s his son and destined for something. (Zeus, while he will eventually be bad, is not a one-dimensional evil rapist). Heron finds out who he is. Heron rejects the sword. Fight in the village can stay. Seraphim kills his mom still because Zeus was the one to give out her location because he’s still an asshole and mad at Hera. 

Hera tells Seraphim his story and how she protected him. He’s still mad at her for leaving him in the castle. She thinks he can be saved, and tells him about the sword so he can make his revenge easier, to get that part done, so he might be more open to a family then. Seraphim finds out what Zeus did to his mom and him and his hatred shifts. He finds out about the urn of Giants or whatever. Hera tries to stop him, but she can’t. 

Hera, Apollo, Hermes and Ares train Heron. Zeus tries to make contact but gets a NOPE. Zeus is a spiteful bitch and wants another woman. Cue the beaked cock. The titans rise. Epic battle. Yada Yada. Zeus dies and it feels good. Hera is an epic queen of the gods, but she’s also sad because she still loved her husband.

HADES IS NOT A BAD GUY. 

I know this isn’t perfect or complete, but ffs, I needed to get this said.  Most of this has been prompted in a talk with my best friend @kyliafanfiction​ (thank you for giving me the inspiration to write this out). 

/rant

#blood of zeus #greek mythology #greek myth retellings #netflix #blood of zeus hera #tw: rape

[ad1thi]

au masterlist

okay ive been meaning to do this for a while, and ive finally got the time to do it so here’s a list of all of my aus!! this is divided by ship for ease, and i do have a lot of pieces that don’t fit into any specific au - so this post is specifically for aus (this is a rly long post so im hiding it under a read more) (also please nobody comment on how similar the summaries are ive never had to think of how im summarising these aus before this post)

all my writing on tumblr // all my writing on ao3

buckytony

1. your pain (is my burden to bear) AU 

Summary: soulmate AU where you can feel your soulmate’s pain, and marks that originate from your soulmate’s injuries can be found on your body

2. target and assassin AU

Summary: The Asset has been tasked with the mission of killing Antonia Stark. Falling in love with her along the way was never part of the plan.

3. park bench AU

Summary: they’re both running from their past. in New York, they find each other.

4. taste of your lips AU

Summary: TVD au. Bucky wasn’t planning to stick around in New York, just drop in long enough to fix whatever his brother had fucked up and then leave. But then he meets Toni Stark, and against all odds - he finds himself staying in the one city he’d sworn never to step foot in for all of his immortal life. 

5. the second (love of his life) AU

Summary: greek gods AU, Aphrodite!Bucky x Hephaestus!Bucky . Bucky has spent over a thousand years resenting his marriage to Tony, content to ignore his husband in favour of his lover, Steve. but when he’s captured by Joann Schmidt and its Tony, not Steve who comes to his rescue - Bucky finds himself falling for the husband he spent so many years ignoring. Is it too late, or can he fix a marriage that was doomed from the start?

6. waste my time AU

Summary: Tony doesn’t do boyfriends. Tony has a boyfriend - Tiberius, or he will anyway once he convinces Ty that breaking up with him was a horrible idea. But then he meets James Barnes at a bar, and suddenly things don’t seem so black and white anymore

7. elite AU

Summary: a/b/o dynamics. Bucky isn’t planning on starting anything up in his new school, and would’ve been completely content to keep his head down until he graduates. But after a chance kiss with a bambi-eyed omega at a party in the beginning of the school year, things weren’t looking so simple anymore

8. 1000 lives (for you) AU

Summary: James hasn’t been subjected to the Chair in close to 3 years. After all, why would HYDRA use the Chair to control him when they’ve got his soulmate instead?

9. Secret Love Song AU

Summary: Marrying Steve wasn’t what Toni had in mind when she pictured the rest of her life, but it wasn’t any hardship. Of course, that was before James came into her life. (this au has been race and gender bent since the original post)

10. Dilwale AU

Summary: mafia au. Tony and Bucky used to be in love. Now they’ve sworn never to see each other again. ‘Course, MJ and Peter falling for each other puts a kink in those plans. 

11. K3G AU

Summary: desi au. As a member of the illustrious Barnes dynasty, Bucky is expected to undertake certain responsibilities; chief of which is marrying someone from a respectable family. Tony Stark from Chandi Chowk might just put a wrench in those plans.

12. buckytony teen wolf AU

Summary: when Tony and Rhodey went searching for a dead body in the woods, a rogue Alpha werewolf was not what they were expecting to find. Overnight, their entire lives change

13. undercover cop AU

Summary: After the events of Afghanistan, Tony can’t bear to work at Stark Industries anymore. Handing over the reins of the company to Pepper, he quits and starts working at Midtown High. but the US government isn’t about to let one of the country’s biggest assets work at a public highschool without even the smallest bit of protection. Enter Agent Barnes, or as Tony knows him - Midtown High’s new gym teacher

14. the K2 AU

Summary: Bucky just wanted to live his life without the Army ever finding him again. Saving Tony Carbonell at a metro station and getting sucked into the intricate life of the italian mafia was never on the agenda. 

15. Mara Dyer AU

Summary: fem! Bucky. Bucky was an extremely normal 16 year old girl - if you discounted the fact that her bestfriend and boyfriend died after an abandoned building collapsed on them; and that she was the only person to survive. Then bodies started dropping around her, people that she imagined dying who died in the exact grotesque way she pictured is. and suddenly, there’s nothing really normal about her at all.

16. ACOMAF AU

Summary: fem! Bucky. Bucky kills a wolf. Except its not a wolf, its a Faerie and the High Lord of the Spring Court comes collecting his pound of flesh. 

17. centre of his universe AU

Summary: The Asset is fascinated by the Stark Heir. 

18. one shot AU

Summary: highschool AU. nerd! tony x punk!bucky. Bucky has has a crush on Tony Stark for his entire highschool career, but he’s never thought he had a shot - choosing instead to pine uselessly while Tony dates what feels like the entire highschool body. Bucky’s resigned himself to the belief that Tony will never be his, until Tony breaks up with longtime girlfriend Rumiko Fujikawa, and suddenly - Bucky has one shot. 

19. 1000 lives (for you) AU

Summary: James Buchanan Barnes and Anthony Edward Stark are impossible soulmates - separated by time, distance and space but brought together by horrible pain and suffering. This is their story. Starts from TWS, and is largely canon compliant.

stevetony

1. student of the year AU

Summary: Steve was supposed to keep his head down, get good grades and get a scholarship to a university far enough away that he wasn’t even breathing the same air as his family. But then he becomes bestfriends with Bucky, falls in love with Bucky’s boyfriend Tony - and things get a bit more complicated along the way

2. just friends(?) AU

Summary: Tony did this, thing where he fell in love with his friends. All of his friends, except maybe Steve. (too bad nobody told Steve)

3. captain americana and the heartbreak prince AU

Summary: Steve Rogers has known Tony Stark for 10 years, 4 months and 11 days. He’s been in love with him for the exact same time. 

4. om shanti om AU

Summary: It should be noted, for the sake of posterity - that Steve usually wasn’t one to buy into the craze that surrounded celebrities. At the end of the day, they were still people. Tony Stark though, that was his exception.

5. stevetony lawyer AU

Summary: raising a 14 year old boy while juggling a demanding job at the DA’s office wasn’t easy, but Steve made it work. It wasn’t an easy life, but it was a good life. They were happy - and then Peter gets charged with the murder of his classmate Wade Wilson and everything falls apart. With his son facing life in prison, Steve does the only thing he can and calls the best defence lawyer he knows - his almost fiance Tony Stark.

6. schitt’s creek AU

Summary: David! Tony x Patrick! Steve

7. kidnapped! tony stark AU

Summary: Tony gets kidnapped and Steve loses his mind.

8. zindagi na milengi dobara AU

Summary: desi AU. in college, Steve, Sam and Bucky made a promise. 3 weeks, 3 activities, 3 boys and the country of Spain. 15 years later, Sam is getting married and its time for them to make good on that promise, to give him the send-off of the century. But between Sam’s conflicted feelings over his engagement, unresolved tension that threatens to break up the trio; Bucky’s secret agenda and Steve’s workaholic tendencies - it definitely promises to be a trip they’ll never forget

9. arranged marriage AU

Summary: desi AU. Steve has been in love with Tony for years. So when his mother asks him to settle down, he impulsively sends a rishta to the Stark residence; and thinks nothing of it. And then - they reply.

10. betrothed AU

Summary: Tony and Steve are princes of neighbouring kingdoms, promised to each other at birth. But the life of a royal is not as smooth as it seems.

11.  the salacious bisexual life of tony stark AU

Summary: As a journalist, Steve Rogers is expected to write articles on a great many number of things. He didn’t realise that could include his ex boyfriend.

12. Civil War AU

Summary: everything’s the same except: (1) Steve and Tony are dating, (2) Steve doesn’t know Tony is Iron Man

13. stevetony lucifer AU

Summary: Tony is tired of being the Devil, tired of following Howard’s order, tired of all the bullshit that comes with divinity. Malibu isn’t great but its a refreshing change of pace, a nice break from the screaming and the pain. And then he meets Detective Steve Rogers and Malibu suddenly has a lot more to offer.

Note: this AU was started by @imposter-human and all credits for it rightfully go to her. i just piggybacked onto it and added a couple of my own thoughts, but this AU is hers. 

rhodeytony

1. Dostana AU

Summary: Rhodey and Tony desperately need a new apartment, and there’s a brilliant one that’s close to where they both work. There’s only catch though, the landlord, Pepper (who is stunning) only accepts applications from couples. After a night drowning their sorrows in the local bar, they come up with the brilliant idea to pose as a gay couple for the apartment. They move in, and come up with increasingly stupid ways to impress their new landlord without exposing that their marriage is a shamNeither bestfriend likes to lose, and both of them have their eyes set on one person: Pepper (or do they?)

2. rajput tony stark AU

Summary: desi AU. Toni Stark comes from a long line of rajput royalty. (this au has been genderbent since the original post)

3. civil war rhodeytony AU

Summary: civil war scenes re-imagined with an established rhodeytony and a past stevetonyrhodey otv.

4. me and my bestfriend but make it rhodeytony

Summary: memories of me and LRP but re-imagined as Tony and Rhodey

5. meri pyaari bindu AU

Summary: To the rest of the world, he’s always be a Mr someone - but to Rhodey, he has and forever will be, his very first love, Tony.

6. doctor who AU

Summary: Doctor! Tony Stark x River Song! fem James Rhodes

7. female tony AU

Summary: Tony doesn’t like Rhodey’s new girlfriend. (he’s still trying to figure out why)

stevebuckytony

1. stephanie rogers AU

Summary: Steph Rogers was never supposed to find herself on the frontlines of World War 2. Then again, she wasn’t supposed to do a lot of things. - the mcu re-imagined with genderbent Steve. eventual stevetonybucky otv

2. on your knees AU

Summary: dom/sub AU. Tony is relearning what it means to be alive in a world where he’s not in the clutches of HYDRA, and misinterprets a scene between dom! Steve and sub! Bucky

samtonybucky

1. president tony stark AU

Summary: Tony Stark is sworn in at the 46th President of the United States. Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes are assigned to his detail.

buckytonynat

1. the Carbonell Family AU

Summary: Anthony Carbonell is the patriarch of the Italian Mafia, Natasha and James are his bodyguards (and lovers). Steve Rogers is the FBI agent who’s vowed to bring him down.

clarktony (superiron)

1. bound by blood AU

Summary: when Clark’s parents die, Howard Stark takes him in. Desperate to recreate the serum by any means necessary he starts experimenting on both his new foster child, and his own flesh and blood son in an attempt to create the next supersoldier. Years later, Clark has broken free of Howard and is now Superman; but he and Tony are connected in ways he couldn’t even begin to understand

gen

1. morgan stark’s villain origin story AU

Summary: Morgan Stark isn’t a normal girl. It might have something to do with the death of her father.

2. blind tony stark AU

Summary: Tony loses his sight when he’s 15 after a kidnapping gone wrong.

3. desi! tony stark AU

Summary: just a link to all pieces that have desi! tony stark in them.

4. slytherin! tony stark AU

Summary: just a link to all pieces that have slytherin! tony stark in them.

5. AU-gust 2020

Summary: a masterlist to all the AUs i did for AU-gust, spanning various ships and fandoms

6. sins of the father AU

Summary: Harley has always known who his birth father is. It just never occurred to him, that his birth father might not know who his son is. im3 compliant. slightly aged up harley keener (he’s in highschool not middle school)

#my writing #au masterlist #this genuinely took ages to compile so please appreciate this #and give my aus some love #making this made me realise how many AUs that i have to update or extrapolate #some of these AUs will probably never be revisited #but who knows maybe if someone shows interest in a dead AU #i might find inspiration to add to it

[vampiresuns]

Anatole’s Family Tree

this is Anatole’s family tree down to it’s basics, and you can have some info about everyone under the cut. I apologise for the intersecting lines, but family colours will help distinguish Florentino and Matilda from the Radošević they married.

hexagon is for he/him, circle for she/her, rounded edges for they/them

Vitale Cassano

Aquarius sun, Scorpio moon, Capricorn rising, Leo Mercury, Scorpio Mars, do NOT fuck with this man.

Former Consul of Vesuvia, responsible for the biggest (to date) expansions in the Vesuvian public space, the reason why Vesuvia was an attractive, rich location with solid public funding which ended up going to hell with Lucio’s administration, but that’s another story.

If he knew that his hard work would go to hell like it did, he would’ve made a coup to change the course of history.

Fuck around and find out in human form. His entire energy is condensed in this post. 

Had the art of delivering insults diplomatically down to an art, however. “You’re tacky and I hate you” would destroy a diplomatic relation; “I believe a less heterodox decision which might hold the weight of this agreement with less attached risk” doesn’t.

Friends with Dragoslav Radošević parents, as in those friends you call uncle when they’re not really related to you, but kind of are by default of closeness anyway. Befriended him because he was the most eccentric person in the room and he was bored.

Amparo Mediavilla

Is that even her actual family name? Who the hell are the Mediavilla? Where does her money come from? She says she’s from Karnassos but literally no one knows (she does, she just won’t tell). Has a brother named Seraphim Mediavilla, and that’s all you need to know.

Vitale was well aware she was probably a smuggler, but he likes her surprisingly present honour code anyway. Plus, she was fun, she was different, she was efficient. We stan.

She’s half the reason why the Cassano’s library in the Vesuvian Palazzo they inhabit in the Heart District is basically an open research centre for all of those travellers who seek knowledge. The Cassano have almost always have an open doors policy — the Consul acts in behalf of the people, and the people are allowed to go to the Consul. Amparo expanded and bettered that system, to the point it acted as Vesuvia’s public library and the biggest reason why the Palace didn’t quite have one — it was an understanding that it wasn’t needed. The only time the Consul’s Palazzo has been closed to the people of Vesuvia is during the plague. 

Longest lashes ever seen in a person.

Somehow already knew the Radošević, they liked her honest opinions and her distaste for explaining herself.

Luciano “Lucenzo” Cassano

Vitale’s baby brother, they had a significant age difference.

Known later as ‘Great Uncle Lucenzo’, literally no one called him Luciano but Vitale when he wanted him to stop doing something stupid. Not that Lucenzo thought his ideas were stupid, after all, this man was an architect and patron of the arts, and Goldgrave’s favourite loose canon ball.

He was not allowed to set a foot in Firent. When you asked him why, he kept changing the story.

Met his wife at an orgy. Yes, you read that right.

Octavia Cassano

Sweet lady, do no harm, take no shit, appreciates a good laugh in life.

Met Lucenzo at an orgy. She made a joke, and the person she was focusing on didn’t find it funny, but Lucenzo did.

Came from another prominent Vesuvian family. Worked with her BIL, Vitale, in developing social policy plans and judicial reforms in Veusuvia. Which also went to hell. If she was alive today, Portia would be her favourite and would literally fight to have her work with her.

Greenest eyes this side of the straight of seals.

Agrippina & Iovanus Cassano

Amparo’s and Vitale’s children, Agrippina is two years older than Iovanus.

Agrippina stepped down from becoming the Consul out of personal preference. They were a scholar and proficient historian, very talented in the art of mixing a good drink as well. Closest to the Prakran intellectual circles and is one of the notable alumni of the Prakran University. One of her later acquaintances, Rosario Aster, would eventually become Anatole’s tutor in History and Politics before he went to university himself.

Agrippina partly worked as a diplomat attaché, wasn’t a full on freedom fighter simply because there wasn’t an uprising to be one in. If Vitale is the MO of the Cassano, Lucenzo their spark, and Amparo their zest, Agrippina is, surprisingly, their political compass. Agrippina and Lucio weren’t on the best terms, they were in awful terms actually. The Cassano and him are simply like oil and water, it just doesn’t mix.

Iovanus took after Vitale and became the Consul. He was less of a surprise stew than the father, though, and inevitably, his best focus became damage control.

His entire vibe is moomin going on a murderous rage and then holding back. He’s folding the knife. For now. Iovanus was a pain in the ass to have as a predecessor in the position of Consul because this man constantly had his patience tested and his city funds used in things he didn’t want to do. Responsible, along with Agrippina, with the current functioning of the Council of Vesuvia and it’s final opening before Anatole’s times. What that composition and functioning is, is something I might, one day, decide to write down, but not today for the sake of staying on topic.

They’re the closest thing to the “spirit” of a tribune of the plebs I can think of, without like, either of them ending up dead like the Gracci brothers.

Cassandra Cassano

Finally some fucking scientist/mathematician. Mathematician wife of Agrippina. Did some political economy, but that hadn’t been invented yet, mostly liked numbers for the sake of numbers and finding out what she could do with them.

Having in mind that when I say ‘Vesuvian’ I mean solely location and original seat, not ethnicity, comes from a Vesuvian Family which settled in Venterre. Studied in Zadith and Prakra, but met Agrippina during some diplomatic function.

She was someone else’s date, and Agrippina was working with Iovanus is some diplomatic relations, and Agrippina literally said they were happy and willing to stay to seal the negotiations if Cassandra would go out with them. Cassandra was bored off her skin, and said yes.

They married by the end of the year.

Valerian Cassano

Iovanus’ husband. Renaissance man in the humanities department, very savant, a virtuoso, but his true passion was the performing arts. Darling of Vesuvian opera and theatre.

Met Iovanus through Lucenzo (patron of the arts, remember?). Iovanus went to every single of his plays for a year, made some very light advances as a “fan”, until Valerian asked him what his deal was. Iovanus was disarmed by gorgeous light amber eyes and witty snark, having no option but to admit his feelings.

Cemented the Cassano-Radošević relationship with Goldgrave. Most of the family thought it healthy for a dose of ‘get of your high-horse’ check.

Hated the Colosseum with a black tar vitriol.

He was Elysian Radošević’s (Anatole’s great grandmother on the Radošević side) best friend.

Matilda Cassano & Krešmir Radošević

Here’s where the story gets a bit sad. Inherited all of the snark of Valerian, but wanted nothing to do with her family’s ventures.

They just didn’t click. She always thought her fathers were very dedicated men, but needed to let loose a little. She was here for a fun time, not a long time. Which was sadly, literal.

For the longest time, it was an understanding that her cousin Cassiopeia would inherit the consulship from Iovanus, which Matilda didn’t love. She didn’t want the Consulship, but thought she was entitled to it. She could be the Consul and Cassiopeia do the job.

Cassiopeia did not like the idea, specially because within the Cassano it’s an open rule that the title falls on whomever willingly wants to take the mantel, number one. Number two, it came with an awareness of your social position and what good you could do with it, having in mind you weren’t really necessary for society. Someone else could be the Consul, the people, if given a chance, would govern themselves. It’s part of the Cassano mythos that surrounds them that they’re a protective line between misused political power and the people of Vesuvia. So, no, Matilda shouldn’t be the Consul.

Honestly, did Iovanus and Valerian spoil her too much? They have no clue. They just think she might be wired that way, because she always disliked it.

She married the fourth of the equivalent generation of the Radošević siblings, Krešmir Radošević.

Krešmir was a bit of a loose shot, doing “useful” things because he had to, not because he wanted to, so they took to each other like fish to water. They both wanted to have fun, the problem was they wanted to have fun with no respect of the world around them. Krešmir had middle child syndrome, which became worse after his youngest sibling, Ilnya, died at 27.

They had two children: Vladislav Radošević and Valeriy “Valerius” Radoševic.

Sadly, they passed away when Vlad was 14 and Val 4. They went on a holiday, leaving the kids with Mircea Radošević (Krešmir older brother) and Florentino Cassano (Matilda’s cousin and Mircea’s husband), as Iovanus and Valerian were in no place (out of grief) to take care of the children, and Mircea and Florentino were their de facto care takers already.

Now, onto the Radošević, so mind you, we’re going back a couple of generations.

Dragoslav Radošević

PRIME recipient of the Radošević tradition of breeding polymaths/”renaissance people”. This man spoke 6 languages, knew astronomy, economy, mathematics, accountancy, a bit of law and a whole lot of history. Excellent chess player.

No one’s exactly sure what the hell he did, he did too many things. Some sort of diplomacy was clearly his most usual job. Big friends with Agrippina, Cassandra and Iovanus. Everyone thought he’d marry Agrippina but both of them dry heaved at the possibility.

He was a bit of a character though. Very conspicuous man with particular rituals. Taciturn man, too, but overall amicable.

Had a very long, stable marriage with Elysian, his wife. Survived the death of two of their children. The death of Ilnya hit Dragoslav more than anyone would expect, but he had a very “let me grief in private” stance. The key to understand a Radošević is that their mentality is “whatever happens to you, whatever life throws at you, you find a way to survive it.”

His is a family of eccentrics, inventors, patron of the arts, humanists and scientists; when he says his family, he means the Cassano too.

No rumour ever mattered to any of them, and Dragoslav & Elysian were a prime example of it. Theirs is a family of academics full of anxieties about the world surrounding them, whose sorrows were scars they rarely showed. Private yet with an extensive, and international, circle of acquaintances who deemed them all charmingly strange on their best days; prideful, analytic, often with a drink in hand. 

Had a sister who had three partners, all of them women, too.

Elysian Radošević, nee Juriša

Wallachian by birth, first person in her family (aside from one aunt the Juriša did NOT speak about) to marry someone who wasn’t a Wallachian in a couple of generations. Not that she minded, everything I said about Drago, applies to Elysian.

She was a child of high society, bonded with Valerian, her best friend, out of their love for Operettas, though while Valerian went pro, she was an amateur — still, very good at it.

Excellent piano player, loved a well crafted, ingenious garden.

Beacon of the Radošević righteous rage. The Radošević are meant to be from a place called Balkovia, which is modelled after Yugoslavia, with many of the “bumps” in actual history colliding (A/N: Anatole is a latine-slav like me, for a reason). Elysian was the friend of artists and partisans, and had absolutely zero respect for certain kinds of leeches in political power. Zero national pride in this one, but at least, she came from a place were partisans stood (or used to) stand up to injustice.

In her dignified clothes with her amiable smile, she will bite ankles. Try her, you just try Elysian Radošević and she’ll remind you of all those people who ever said: They shall not pass.

Ambrozije Radošević

Diplomat, politician, eldest of Dragos and Ely’s children.

Inherited his father’s temperance but also had Elysian’s "Excuse Me, What The Fuck Is This Shit” attitude. Still, many times when he talked about his job, he had to stop his mother to go out and bite ankles.

Was the Radošević rage an answer against the grief of living and growing, against the cycle of dying and rebirth, and a cry of this is not enough, what I get is not enough? Maybe. Ambrozije liked to theorise about it.

Married Eloise Isaković and had two children: Kuzma and Lucija.

Best fencer of his generation.

Eloise Isaković

Didn’t take the Radošević surname solely to spite her family. She was disinherited for wanting to marry a Radošević. Her father said “if you want to marry then be a housewife for those freaks and I’ll take you out of University.”

The Radošević were like not in my fucking watch.

You bet Elysian and Dragoslav had words about that.

Percy Shelley, if Percy had been a woman, and also an anthropologist.

Will make femur jokes.

Kuzma & Lucija Radošević

Less in the centre of things than the rest of the family, out of virtue of “dear God, I get they’re my family but these people are fucking weird.”

The Addams energy was too much for them.

Kuzma is an alchemist and an inventor, moved to Zadith to study, never came back. He has two daughters and a wife, though.

Lucija became a diplomat for Balkovia, has a seat beyond the straight of seals. More traditional for diplomacy than Ambrozije by all means.

Very Dad please not now, but she does love the old man.

Married, never had children.

Neuma Radošević

Painter, a gay who can do maths, so that’ll have you knowing she’s stronger than you already. Perspective does not scare her.

Little does.

(Moths do, for some reason).

Claimed to have zero magical ability, but it was heavily disputed because how the hell did she paint like that.

Travelled a lot with her bohemian artist found family.

Never married.

Anatole loved watching her paint as a kid, she taught Valeriy to paint and about art as well. Big difference was Valeriy had a better hand for it than Anatole did, who literally can’t draw to save his skin.

Mircea’s favourite.

Mircea Radošević

Distinguished man, owns my heart.

“That was nOT POLITE”

Pretty level headed, has a big heart and a lot of will to help people. Just don’t be impolite, or he won’t like you.

Yes, he’s a libra.

An Architect, got to meet the other Architect in the family Lucenzo Cassano. That’s, in fact, how he met Florentino. Of course Lucenzo had an apprenticeship for Dragoslav son, but of course. The rest is history. Longest lasting marriage in both the Cassano and the Radošević tree by virtue of them gaving gotten together fairly young, and in the furture dying of a very, very old age.

He enjoyed travelling and the finer, beautiful things in life. If you want to equate his views to anyone in the real world, think about William Morris saying “I do not want art for a few; any more than education for a few; or freedom for a few.”

Aristically, somewhere between Gaudi and Morris.

Worked in several restoration projects both in Balkovia and Vesuvia.

Lived in Vesuvia on and off with Florentino and the children, which meant Vlad and Val were raised right between the vortex of everything that is the Cassano and the Radošević.

As polite and diplomatic that he is, he isn’t really a doormat, and if there’s anyone he would throw hands for it’s for his children (yes, he sees them as his children), and Anatole. Disrispect tha boy in front of him and he will throtle you and say you did it to yourself.

Florentino Cassano

Nicknamed Floren, Florence, Florens, Flolo, Tino, Tinino, Antonino.

Very responsible, big sense of family. Closest in personality to Vitale Cassano, his grandather.

Son of Agrippina and Cassandra, took after Cassandra’s love for numbers, but mixed it with Agrippina’s eye for politics and his Aunt Octavia’s knack for political economy (even if it had’t been invented yet).

 Financier and investor worked in the public sector, ran the coffer of the Council of Vesuvia for a while, but quitted out of management differences with certain people in Court and up. Still very willing to help people of all backgrounds manage their assets though.

A bit of a hardass, when Matilda and Krešmir died he said of course they would, as it was very in the likes of them to get so lost in the moment and their ideal world where they had no earhtly responsibilities to forget they had two young sons.

Still, when Vlad and Val first called him “Dad” or “Father”, respectively, he kinda cried big tears. Freaked Vlad out because he thought he had done something wrong. Florentino was quick to tell him he hadn’t.

Ilnya Radošević & Blasio Abadzić

Ilnya was another one of those Radošević that you weren’t exactly sure what the hell was it that they did, because they seemed to have a lot of eggs in different baskets. Was an astronomer, though.

Strongest intuition/six senth in the Radošević. Another of those cases where it was definitely magic (Ilnya was clairvoyant) but they all passed it off as having another explanation.

Was the most joyful, had the most contagious laughter and the quickest, most wicked sense of humour.

I’m not entire sure how Blasio and them met, they haven’t told me yet, but it was one of those meetings which changes your life forever.

Blasio is equally irreverent, if not more. This one post of a man playing the guitar and an old man dancing to it is the exact vibe Blasio had (he’s the old man dancing, the man playing the guitar would be his grandson Milenko — who’s Anatole’s cousin however many times removed).

They lived in Vesuvia. Ilnya was a court scientist. The Cassano library has a try globe map that was their work with a court cartographer. It has a map of the region, of the world, and of the stars for navigation purposes.

Ilnya died of sepsis at the age of 27, going on 28. To this day, no one knows exactly what took them out.

After Ilnya died, the Cassano offered to take Blasio and their twins Atanasie (pronounced Ah-ta-na-SY) and Violeta in with them to ease of the expences of raising two kids as a single father. He accepted.

Blasio was a composer and dramaturg. He took it as a personal goal not to let the joy escape from his life after becoming a widower. Said carrying on with joy and irreverence was his job, as if to preserve his spouse’s legacy.

Vladislav Radošević

Whatever name theme you sense with him and his wife, don’t @ me about it!!! I remade this entire family on a whim, I will take my headcanons about other things and build from them.

Eldest of the V² brothers, if people had soulmate marks, his soulmate would be his brother. Vlad has always felt responsible for him and, unlike him, remembers much of how they parents actually were or how carelessly negligent they could be. His defence against grief was becoming taciturn and “distancing” himself from things. It didn’t always really work for him, but he sure did try.

Grew up with the mistaken feeling that the rest of their families were taking care of him and his brother as a favour. He eventually wrapped his head around the idea that it wasn’t a favour.

Called Mircea and Florentino “Father”/”Dad” for the first time when he was 16, never went back. It wasn’t like he didn’t spent a lot of time being brought up by them due to his own parents absences.

Taciturn, remarkably inventive and intelligent, has a bit of trouble coming out of his shell. Prefers to observe, then pounce. Other than this, his main personality trait is “I love my wife, I love my son.”

An alchemist, works in what would be closest to biochemical engineering.

Mircea and Florens discovered he would be very suited for that field because when he was a kid he kept designing buildings to show Mircea. They clearly showed he had not a predisposition to become an architect, but whatever weird, inexplicable mazes he created always came with solutions attached and clever mechanisms.

He’s a problem solver, he’s just shaking years of bad mental health habits of his shoulders.

A scorpio and a cat person. Has two cats with Louisa, Kiki and Keke (their actual names are Cyrila and Cecilia).

Yes, his brother is also a scorpio, yes his son is also a scorpio. They get along, however.

Met Louisa in some sort of medical-alchemy conference/symposium (whatever that would be aplicable to the time, what matters to me is that you get the idea). Louisa didn’t like his attitude, called him out, and Vlad simply blinked, apologised, and did better.

A second apology and further conversations ended up with them falling in love.

If Vlad knows what allowing himself to love and live feels like, it is because of Louisa and Anatole.

He gets pegged.

Speaks five languages and won a regional fencing championship when he was in his early 20s. Still thinks his brother is better at fencing than he is.

Louisa De Silva

Latin American, eldest of three sisters (Paris and Alma being the other two De Silva sisters). She emmigrated from her native country to a. study medicine b. because there was a Dictatorship at the time, and her parents suspected Louisa would not keep quiet enough to guarantee her safety.

She personally swore never to go back until there were no active traces of said dictatorship left in her country. Nothing, not even the war that eventually rose up in Balkovia has made her change her mind, and probably nothing will. Once she is set on what is right, she is set.

Met Vlad as mentioned above. She didn’t appreciate his initial “careful” cynicism, but also didn’t believe he was as insufferable as most people thought he was. Someone with attention to detail, determination and who prefers to stand back from social situations, who hasn’t actually done anything nefarious, offensive or in bad taste isn’t a bad person.

Once she paid him a visit and he opened the door shirtless because he thought it was his brother, and Louisa almost wheezed in front of him.

“I’m going to sleep with Radošević” “But you don’t have to?” “No, no, I’m gonna.”

Speaks five languages.

Speaking of the war I mentioned: there was a war in Balkovia which began little before Anatole was born, and therefore around 29 years before the events of the game. At the time, Vlad and Louisa were already together, and planning to move to Vesuvia. However, the war began, Vlad felt torn about leaving and not helping, not that he wanted to admit it, and Louisa said “well, I did not leave a country ridden with injustice to passively see war crimes being committed.” As soon as she could after Anatole was born she volunteered as a field doctor.

And she is good. “Louisa De Silva” would absolutely resonate in Nazali’s or Julian’s fellow doctor knowledge level of notoriously good.

Aquarius sun, Saggitarius moon, she’s active, independent, unconventional, friendly, very understanding and highly humanitarian. Louisa loves people and cannot stand injustice. Loves and craves learning and is very sincere. She can be a bit impulsive, but she’s good at coming back from it.

Much of Anatole’s sense of social duty and sometimes even social fight is due to Louisa.

Vlad and Val call her Lulu. Anatole always calls her Mamá. Always. It doesn’t matter what language he’s speaking, she is his Mamá.

Louisa De Silva, santa patrona del pueblo que lucha.

Often dragged Vlad and Val into some of her schemes. Val loves to complain about it, but he actually adores his SIL.

Valeriy “Valerius” Radošević of the Cassano of Vesuvia, former Consul of Vesuvia and Court Advisor.

Here is where I would like to clarify and remind the (very patient) reader that this is my own interpretation of Canon, and I’ve triedto build with it from what little we were told of this specific character, Vesuvian lore, and the story I wanted to tell. I tried to do my best with the interpretation of the character, but know you’re in no obligation to adhere to my ideas.

Some people can call him Val, namely, his parents, his nephew, his SIL and his brother. Literally anyone else he will bite your head.

Inherited his mother’s and his namesakes witty snark, even if it’s not always witty.

I have the personal hc that Lucio cannot, for the life of him, pronounce slavic names, so Valeriy became Valerius, though his family already called him Valerius because it was the one nickname he accepted.

However, for the most part, his family calls him Valeriy, in contrast to Vesuvian citizens, who call him Valerius.

Doesn’t remeber his parents, and doesn’t like to think about them. It is very tragic that they died, but they left him, and he has no time for people like that. His brother, however, had always been there. So have been Mircea and Florentino.

I’ve always hc he had one big love in his youth, but couldn’t actually stand the idea of an empty marriage based on status and decided to never marry.

Wasn’t always this high and mighty. He has always been a complicated man, with complicated tastes and even a snob, but he was raised in two multicultural families, based in two multicultural cities. What I personally hc happening here is that he truly hates his job. He does like the sense of status and the power that comes with it, but the responsibility? The state of things when he took over from Iovanus? The paperwork? The staleness of it all? And to do it for a city that ate itself up?

He would’ve given his cousin Cassiopeia his left arm to take the position for him, but in the end, he was subject of what he thought everyone expectations were. He feared more not being enough in the eyes of his grandfather, who did not want to repeat the same mistakes he did with Matilda, than saying “Nono Iovanus I actually hate this job with all my soul.”

But then again, the power attached to it.

I fully believe that if you had given Valerius a position that was, say, a cultural authority of sorts? Where he could focus on the arts, theatre, food and those sort of things? He would’ve thrived. The city would’ve been leagues away from where it was if he would’ve been allowed to solely focus on art.

Instead, he has to fix people’s problems, and he doesn’t want to. It isn’t that he doesn’t care in the slightest — he does, in the distant sense of people should not be dying left and right, and cities should be ran by competent Statespeople. Of course he believes that! He’s a Radošević and a Cassano of Vesuvia, who do you take him for. It was his family that 500 years ago stepped up into the position due to their sheer excellence, of course he believes that.

Just for the love of everything you deem holy, do not fucking leave that fixing to him. He’s begging you, and he doesn’t actually beg

(At least that’s what he says in public)

 While he doesn’t quite like magic, or rather, doesn’t quite understand it and takes a lot of self proclaimed magicians as frauds (and an insult to good peope’s intelligence), he’s never had a judgamanetal attitude towards Anatole’s magical sensitivies. Most of what he sees about it is his inordinate aptitude for languages. He tends to take it as his nephew being simply Better, because if this man is something, that thing is proud.

He eases off after the events of the game where he can simply be a court advisor and give himself a chance. Not that it excuses or ammends any mistake that he committed, but it’s a place to start. He can do that, he thinks.

His was the decision to close during the Plague, and for the first time, the Palazzo the Cassano inhabit in the Heart District to the City.

His grandafther Valerian was (is) still alive while he’s the Consul, and tried to reach out to help him when he began to do deals with the Devil many times, but Valerius sucks at letting people help him. Officially worse than his brother at it.

He is, however, the best fencer in the family, and he is one of the best singers, he just doesn’t do any of both much in front of people. What he does when he’s at home is none of your business.

While I could feel pages of headcanons about this man, but I will try to stay on topic, and mostly address my previous post about the subject of Valerius’ and Anatole’s relationship, which, now that I’ve reworked the families into a story I do feel excited to tell most of it no longer applies.

The timeline is p much the same, both with Valerius, and with Anatole travelling with tutors to study and visiting whenever he could.

His feelings when Anatole dies stay the same. The difference is Anatole's family does know he dies when he stands as the Apprentice (normally, he doesn’t, he just stands as an Arcana OC). During the time of the plague, Vlad and Louisa travelled to Vesuvia to help, so they do know their son died.

What ends up breaking Val is not only losing his nephew (and again for what) but also seeing his brother and his SIL completely break. It was his job to protect him, and he didn't do it. He wasn’t enough.

I headcanon that when Anatole doesn’t die, one of his deals with the Devil is that no harm comes (from the Court) to Anatole. I also hc that for someone who has such pride in his intellect (which is there, he is pretty smart) he did rather unsuitable dealings with the Devil, by which I mean he dealt in really awful terms that he, himself, would’ve berated anyone else to have done out of their sheer idiocy of not fully using their leverage.

The main difference with the post is that Anatole and Valerius do not suffer their family anymore. The Radošević and the Cassano are opinionated and very "If something happens to one of us, it happens to all of us" but they're good, eccentric, people-leaning people, albeit wealthy. Hence, why I personally hc that what happens here is that he hates the job but loves the status, but the status carries the responsibility of people asking him for things, and he doesn’t want to be asked for things. He will be in his room if you need him, and please do not need him.

(In Anatole’s case, it's finding his place in the world. It’s a journey of diaspora and of becoming. To win, you must first know yourself)

Vlad and Louisa adore him to bits still, complicated as he is.

Anatole and Valerius do fight in some of the LI routes and during those three years before the game begins.

Everything else stands.

Atanasie and Violeta Radošević, and Aurora Radošević

Thank you with bearing with me so far, I love you.

Atanasie and Violeta are twins, cousins of Vlad and Valeriy, children of Ilnya and Blasio, the happy eccentric duo.

Grew up right amid the Radošević and the Cassano, and it really goddamn shows. They’re en aunt and uncle/counsins saying criptic things with a drink in hand, and you’re not entirely sure if they’re portetns of doom or not, but good for them!

Best violinists in the family though. Play the most instruments as well, as Blasio was a composer and multi-instrumentalist. Neither of them are professional musicians though.

Atanasie is a traveller and explorer, think of the eccentric explorer archetype without the Colonialism nor the grave robbing. Would, objectively, get along the best with Julian. He’s another of those people who knows a lot of things about different topics, but now like cursed/forbidden/borderline illegal things.

If Amparo Mediavilla had been alive to know him, she would’ve been really proud.

Violeta is a botanist and garden designer. The palace did ask her to work with them, but she went No ❤️. She, however, is responsible for the current design of the Palazzo’s winter garden, which in her biased yet correct opinion is the best room in it.

High femme eccentric queen, married Aurora who used to travel around with Atanasie. She’s an archeologist.

They have one son, Milenko, who is... an entire party.

Aelius Anatole Radoševic De Silva, of the Cassano of Vesuvia, former secretary of the Council of Vesuvia, and Consul of Vesuvia

Good ol’ Nana

Technically, that would be his entire ass title (which he correctly insists it’s a public office, not a nobiliary title, because a Consul is a public servant, and people just got mad with power for to long)

He hates it.

Please just call him Anatole, or Aelius if you’re not that daring.

I’m going to use this to talk a bit about Consul Anatole: along with Nadia, he introduced a series of social reforms, solidified them, and changed a lot of aspects of the way in which the City was run, in order to make corruption harder (Nana’s pride and joy are his Anti-Corruption directives) and to protect the reform on themsleves.

Adamantly against having a statue of him. Which was respected while he was alive, but a couple of generations down, they eventually built one, near the main square.

It points east, which is where the sun rises. It’s a metaphor for hope, and for Vesuvia to have the resilence to await for the dawn.

Milenko Radošević

His vibe is this picture of Javier Botet, meeting this meme, and the video of the old man and the younger man playing guitar, where he would be playing guitar. Oh, also, this picture of a guy floating in the Zadar floods of 2017, from this post. If this was a modern AU rest assured that WOULD be Milenko, and he doesn’t even live in Zadar.

When you see internet memes about how Slavs/people from the Adriatic are kind of weird, I want you to think of Milenko.

So yes, you would see him on a floatie down the canals of Vesuvia.

He’s a journalist and a writer, which has nothing to do with him being a character.

Tried to summon the Devil to show the Devil isn’t real. After the events of the game, if Anatole is involved in defeating the devil, he’s always offended he didn’t bring him along, he had points to prove.

Plays the guitar and the double bass.

Looks like an 80s goth, and we will not question how that’s mildly anachronistic. His favourite band would be The Cure. Also would have a soft spot for The Cranberries which he definitely took from Anatole.

When Belle and Sebastian wrote “colour my life with the chaos of trouble” in the Boy With The Arab Strap they were talking specifically about Milenko.

Chugs respect women juice harder than most people. If he chokes on it, then that’s how he dies.

Not allowed in several bars, has at least one sworn enemy in the Vesuvian nobility.

Him, Amparo Cassano (she’s down below) and Anatole are all in the same age range, and they’re a force to be reckon with.

Thank you for staying with me up to this point! We’re about to make another jump back. We’re following Lucenzo Cassano’s line now.

Atilia Cassano & Anzano Ventura

Atilia is the child of Lucenzo and Octavia. Closest thing to a community organiser. Need someone to organise a party? Atilia. A meeting? Atilia. To allocate human resources to enact some policy? Atilia.

Anzano is the son of two High Priests in Vesuvia from one of the temples in the Temple District, which is how they met Atilia.

Anzano doesn’t have a fixed profession, and takes things up according to their interests. Which are varied.

Cares more about their cat than they do about some people, both of them. Neither of them are the kind to wish ill on other people, but if ill falls on you as consequences of your actions, then that’s on you buddy.

Some of the things Anzano Ventura has said, without context: “My heart is green with hope.”

“Figure out what fortune has to hand you and spit twice in the face of the Gods.” It’s a saying from where they’re originally from. They’ve never properly explained what it means.

“These are not gentle waters we are sailing.” There is context for this one. They said this when the Plague began to surface in Vesuvia.

Atilia died a couple years before Anzano, who died of Plague.

This is how Anzano would’ve looked like in his early twenties.

Cassiopeia Cassano & Iris Ravella

If Valerius had not become the Consul, it would’ve fell on Cassiopeia. She was a Vesuvian diplomat and politician, member of the Council. Would’ve become the Consul anyway, but, respecting Iovanus’ wishes and trusting (correctly or not, it’s up to you) Valeriy’s potential, stepped aside.

Truly did not resent Matilda for harbouring peculiar feelings against her because Iovanus didn’t want to let her have the Consulship. Nor she did on Valeriy for his mistakes.

Iris comes from another prominent Vesuvian family. Theirs is a family of merchants, based in Centre City, who weren’t particularly thrilled about Iris marrying a Cassano.

Iris cared very little. They did it anyway.

Amparo Cassano

Last but not ever least.

Ballet dancer, fencer, deeply invested in politics. Amparo takes after the OG Amparo, her great aunt Amparo Mediavilla, in her daring, often without explanation ways, as she does in her honour code.

Sarcastic wit, a little bit petty. Would be one of those people who go “I licked it, so it’s mine.”

Takes up an interest in languages, as well as runes and tarot, though she’s not as good with languages as Anatole is. She says life gave him a magical advantage or otherwise she would’ve bested him. Anatole doesn’t doubt it.

Would climb to your window to impress you, with a sword to her hip. She’s that kind of bi.

Would definitely dance to Caramelldansen, and so would Milenko. Anatole would Not, but would look at Amparo dead in the eye and dance it when they’re alone, because he knows no one will believe her.

She calls him a ‘motherfucker’, to which he replies: “Do I LOOK like Oedipus to you.”

Loud mouthed, but with a good heart.

While her an Milenko are, technically, not actually related, they act like they are. They don’t care that’s not how it works.

Comrade Cassano? Comrade Cassano.

The world is her oyster and she’s about to slurp it.

Thank you so much for sticking with me to the end of this list. Means the world to me, as I’m happy to share the Radošević-Cassano with anyone who is willing to listen.

#aelius anatole #the radosevic-cassano #this? this is Deep Lore #i'm finally done holy shit

[luckyjak]

Why I Don’t Ship Widojest: A Master Post

An anon sent me an ask about this topic, and I debated for quite a bit about how to answer it. Then I decided the best way was to do a long post like this. I put a lot of thought into why I don’t like it, and I thought to share it.

A few things: 1) I am not telling you not to ship it. The goal of this is not to say “Don’t ship Widojest! It is a bad ship and you are a bad person for shipping it!” That is not my goal, okay? The internet and fandom in particular is meant for fun, and if you enjoy Widojest then more power to you! Don’t let me or anyone else stop your fun! Lord knows I have shipped significantly more problematic things. All I ask is that you tag shit more but that’s beside the point.

2) I am not particularly interested in argument. You are not likely to change my mind. I am not trying to be hostile, but if you know reading this is going to piss you off, then don’t read it. A question was asked of me, and so I thought to share my opinion. Unfortunately for everyone involved I am a high school English teacher, and so I cannot think about anything without completely overthinking it.

About my shipping preferences: generally, I like all the ships! I was particularly fond of Widomauk before Molly died, and I now I really enjoy Shadowgast, but I also like Fjorclay, Fjester, Beaujester, Beauyasha, Widofjord, Clayleb, Lavorclay, and, as the only person on earth, Yasha/Caleb. Hell, if Astrid gets a good redemption arc? Caleb/Astrid or even Caleb/Astrid/Edowulf. Any of those ships could become canon and I’d be tickled pink! You can even throw Nott into the mix, even though I mostly ship her with her husband. Nott/Fjord? Delightful. Nott/Caleb? Weird flex but why not? Nott/Jester? Absolutely! They are the best detectives!

I just don’t like Widojest and I don’t want it to be canon, and here’s why:

Doyalist Reasons First:

1) Laura and Liam played twins for years, still act like siblings even though they aren’t related by blood, and it squicks me to think of them together romantically.

Laura and Liam are fantastic actors. If they were hired to play a romantic couple, I have no doubt in my mind they could knock it out of the park.

But why on earth would they want to pretend to be a romantic couple, in a game they both play for fun? 

It would be weird. I play D&D with several guys I consider my brothers, and I can’t imagine pretending to romance either of them in d&d for that same reason. It would be weird. 

Maybe it wouldn’t be weird for Liam and Laura. Maybe they are more dedicated to their RP, and they’d be able to push that aside for the sake of fictional romance. But for me, that would be the last thing I’d want to play, and I suppose I project that onto Laura/Liam.

2) A lot of “evidence” for the ship is the way Liam looks at Laura.

To which I say...did you watch Vox Machina?

That’s how Liam looks at Laura all the time. He’s the president of her fanclub. He’s her twinsie. He always looks at her with hearteyes. I have a hard time seeing that as “evidence” for him having feelings for her when...that’s just what his face looks like.

Now, for Watsion reasons:

3) It has all the benefits for Caleb, and none for Jester

Seriously. What does Jester get out of a relationship with Caleb?

Don’t say someone who understands her, because Caleb certainly doesn’t. In fact, the only person who routinely “gets” Jester is Beau. (see: their conversation on the ship.)

Lots of people accuse Widojest as being a Manic Pixie Dream Girl ship because...let’s be realistic, it has all the makings of one. Tortured, broody man meets young, innocent girl who teaches him to enjoy life once again? Wikipedia’s definition is “[girl with] eccentric personality quirks and are unabashedly girlish. They invariably serve as the romantic interest for a (most often brooding or depressed) male protagonist.” Guys, that is textbook Manic Pixie Dream Girl! It gets even worse because Jester’s character is a healer! You want her to heal him? That is squicky!

And yeah, I trust Liam and Laura to be more nuanced than that, but do you know who I absolutely do not trust to be more nuanced?

The fandom. The fandom that is already producing mass amounts of Manic Pixie Dream Girl fanfic. And as that’s where I spend a lot of my free time...egads. I do not want that.

The few Widojest fics I have read (which, admittedly, are not a lot, because again, I don’t like the ship. The few I have read have been tagged as gen and then come to find out, weren’t.) have the distinct problem of woobie-fying Caleb so that Jester can take care of him, and gosh, I do not want that to become a trend. 

4) Age Gap

Yes, thirteen years is not that major of an age gap. Yes, Fjord/Jester also have a large age gap.

However, there is a world of difference between “20 year old girl displays romantic interest in a 30 year old man, who decides he likes her back after getting to know her for months” vs “33 year old man decides to pursue a 20 year old woman after they danced one time when he was drunk and held hands and she showed general concern for his well-being.” One is decidedly more creepy.

(And would Jester be the one to pursue a relationship with Caleb? I almost think she’d have to, but again, why would Jester ever pursue Caleb when Fjord/Beau are right there.)

(Also, side note that I thought about making it’s own point but then decided it was petty: if Jester’s type is Fjord--tall, broad-shouldered, dark haired, muscled, then Caleb--skinny, red-head, shorter than Fjord--decidedly isn’t her type.

You know who is tall, dark, and handsome though? Beau.) 

And do not say Jester is mature for her age, because she absolutely isn’t! In fact, the whole point of her character is that she’s not mature, she’s very immature and childish on account of her being locked away and being incredibly sheltered most of her life! 

Also not a good excuse: Caleb spent 11 years in the asylum and therefore he’s only mentally in his 20s. Uh, no he’s not. He was in an asylum: he was not brain dead. He lived those years. He might’ve been crazy, but he was alive then. Nothing Liam’s done suggests that Caleb is mentally in his 20′s.

5) What would they even talk about?

This is probably actually the one that bothers me the most out of all these reasons, but uh....what would Caleb and Jester talk about, if they were in a relationship together?

Seriously.

They could talk about books? But Jester only ever reads terrible romance and smut. We saw when she tried to pay attention to the dunamancy lessons that she struggles to be interested in that academic stuff that is Caleb’s bread and butter. They could talk about their childhoods? That will go over well. Jester was locked away from society and Caleb straight up murdered his beloved parents. If they manage to avoid that, I’m sure they could fight again over income, what with Jester being a rich kid and Caleb being a poor farm boy. Pranking? Caleb enjoys a good prank now and again, but I can only imagine he’d tolerate getting banned from so many libraries.

They are a cat and a dog, literally. Caleb is an introvert and his idea of a good time is a quiet night at home with a good book. Jester’s idea of a good time is a party with lots of people! Yet I’m supposed to believe they’d have a happy and fulfilling relationship? Don’t get me wrong, many introverts and extroverts do get married in real life, but like...I have a hard time seeing this one working out. How many dicks do you think Jester draws in his spellbooks--which are expensive and time-consuming and require precise work--before that becomes a point of contention? 

6) He doesn’t trust her enough to tell her his secrets

Hey quick poll! Who in the Mighty Nein doesn’t know that Caleb murdered his parents?

Fjord. Caduceus. And look, Jester.

I have a hard time buying that he sees her romantically when he can’t even tell her one of the biggest things about him. And he’s known her for months at this point.

If I liked a guy, and I found out he had this big secret, and he had told Beau but not me this secret? I would think he didn’t trust me.

I suppose you could argue that he’s trying to protect her. But then that just goes back into the whole “he doesn’t trust her” argument. He even had the opportunity to and he didn’t during their whole hand-holding thing a few episodes ago!

7) What does their ending look like? 

Listen, my ideal ending for Caleb at the moment is “maybe after ten years of friendship he lets Essek tenderly hold his hand for just a moment but no longer” but that’s just me. I see a lot of people who seem to think Caleb’s going to settle down and marry Jester and they are going to have kids, and I just--

Caleb? Having children? Caleb, who murdered his parents and has severe PTSD surrounding that? Caleb, who was abused by his mentor daily for many years? You want to give that Caleb children??? Children who he would constantly worry may grow up to kill him, like he did his own parents, or worse, that he’d do something to accidentally hurt them in a fit of madness?

I could see Caleb maybe adopting a kid if one was forced onto him, but I cannot see him going “ah yes we should procreate!” 

Jester, meanwhile, needs like approximately fifteen kids ten years from now, I think. She’d love them. She’d just adopt an orphanage and let the kids run wild and be the best at playing games with them.

Also, character arcs are important. Because Caleb’s ideal ending is stability and Jester’s is exploration.

Caleb, traumatized child soldier who has spent the past 15 years in an asylum and also fighting for his life, and before that spent time traveling between the Zemni Fields, Ikithon’s home in the country, and the Empire’s Capitol, who then escaped the asylum and spent all of his time running, trying to avoid being caught by Ikithon. The best ending for Caleb is to find peace; peace that involves not having to move around anymore, and having a home again, something he hasn’t had in almost twenty years. Maybe that home is a tower in Nicodranas. Maybe it’s a house in Xhoras with six other people. Maybe it’s a quiet bookstore in Zadash, or a little cabin in the Zemni Fields. A garden/graveyard in the woods. Either way, it doesn’t involve a lot of travel from place to place.

Meanwhile, Jester, who was trapped in exactly one place for her entire life, deserves a chance to explore the world. Even when the Mighty Nein disband, I can’t see Jester being happy to just go back to Nicodranas and stay there for the rest of her life. She may settle down eventually, but uhhh, not for several decades, I don’t think. Part of why my two big ships for her are Fjord and Beau: Fjord wants to be a sailor again, I think, which involves travelling the world, so I could see Jester going out with him. Beau, likewise, is an Expositor whose job is to seek out corruption, which again, means travelling, which Jester would be happy to do with her. Hell, the three of them could go together, sailing and punching evil for all of time! It would be great!

(Also: her god is called the TRAVELER why would you want her to settle down and be a mom??? What part of her story makes you think she needs to stay in one place?)

Lastly

I apologize if this post offends anyone. I’ve just been thinking about it for a while, and while Widojest as a ship has surged in popularity, I suppose I wanted to make a counterpoint about my feelings towards the ship. This isn’t meant as an attack on anyone, again, and please, if you like the ship then don’t look at this as a reason to stop liking it! Fandom is for fun! Keep liking what you like!

And I can’t promise I’m always going to feel this way about the ship--hell, the VOD of Thursday’s episode may come out on Monday, and I may watch it and be converted myself. Who knows! I didn’t like Vax/Keyleth at first either, but it grew on me and now it’s one of my favorites from Vox Machina.

(ALTHOUGH Mr. O’brien I swear to God if you romance Jester while flirting with Essek in a direct parallel to Keyleth/Vax/Gilmore I’m going to fly to LA just to punch you.)

Part of me wonders too if it just comes down to character interpretation, if there is something about their characters that is clicking for some people but isn’t for me. Admittedly, I love Caleb and Jester’s friendship, and I see them more as growing like siblings that romantically, but I’ve been wrong before and who knows, I may be wrong again. But if it is a character interpretation, I just wonder what they are seeing about the characters that squicks me but appeals to them.

#critical role #cr discourse #anti-ship #anti-w*dojest

[piduai]

sansa and dany are two sides of the same coin, or rather, are cut from the same cloth - as not to imply that they are drastically different in a sense in which they complete each other, more like they’re each other’s foil in a much more subtler way than arya and sansa are.

they are both pre-teens that are introduced in the game as pawns who gradually gained knowledge and agency just enough to make them players. daenerys was a pawn to a whole bunch of people - to varys and illyrio for the biggest part as they both seem to harbor plans for her that i would not be surprised to learn are different at their core, and to doran martell. these three are high-ranking players, and dany was a tool for them. to viserys in a lesser extent, since he thought he was a player but has been a pawn all along, and died for it.

sansa initially wasn’t part of the game. ned going to the capital and joining the game automatically included her though, and again, unlike arya, who escaped and still managed to stay an ambivalent bystander, sansa had to partake in it. she was childish and she was naive and she immediately made herself one of cersei’s pawns, and with it subscribed to littlefinger’s agenda, who is a much bigger fish in the game than cersei herself. i wager that using sansa has been on littlefinger’s mind since day one, and seeing that he smashed the tyrell engagement plan and most probably was the one to plant the idea of marrying sansa off to tyrion in tywin’s head is foreshadowing to when he formally introduces sansa to the game and tries to feed her the illusion that, by including her, he decided to make her a player - which she doesn’t buy, but becomes one nevertheless.

anyway they both start off as clueless children, sansa aged 11 and dany aged 13. they were both born in nobility, though have drastically different fates; sansa has been pampered her entire life, living in comfort and love and safety, while daenerys spent all her life on the go. from her own words, she knew what it was like to be homeless, cold and hungry. however, they’re both idealists, but while for sansa this is a result of her soft and pandering childhood, for daenerys it’s an innate trait. they were both fed tales of high valor and lies. 

viserys would tell daenerys exaggerated tales about the nobility of their deranged house, while sansa would read stories about knights and ladies. bottom point is that they both, being children, are introduced having inflicted ideals from the outside world, because they didn’t have the means to gain their own themselves (daenerys living in exile with only a delusional brother to teach her about the world, and sansa being highly sheltered). with time and with trauma sansa’s idealism weakens and she becomes more pragmatic, while dany’s idealism becomes stronger. this is where their paths, as children, divide. they mature in opposite ways, seeing that dany grows gaining her own agency and power and security, while sansa lives in perpetual abuse while being a hostage.

fast-forward to when they witness their first murder. daenerys, a child bride, sees a man being murdered at her wedding, and is genuinely horrified. sansa sees a man die during a tourney and thinks to herself how weird it is that she doesn’t care about his death at all. later on they’re both called soft, but they maintain the same attitude towards murder. none of them condone it, and neither of them are inherently cruel, and while they both pray for the death of their enemies, they’re accepting actual deaths differently. 

while marching on meeren, dany sees a trail of corpses of child slaves, and upon establishing her rule, she avenges them - which we see she feels faulty about it; even if in her case murders were justified, she is still guilt-driven. sansa is devastated at ned’s death because it took her completely unawares, but for the rest she doesn’t care - joffrey, ser dontos, lysa tully, robert arryn (implied), as long as they’re murdered for her own sake and safety, she doesn’t feel guilt or grief over them.

she’s still not cruel, though. during the battle of the blackwater we have perhaps some of the most introspective sansa povs. “do you want to be loved, sansa?”, “everyone wants to be loved”.

then sansa gets forcibly married at age 12, a year younger than dany. unlike daenerys, who learnt to cope and developed stockholm syndrome towards her husband, she was utterly miserable in her marriage. eventually she fled, never thinking about her husband again, while daenerys thinks about drogo up to her last pov. however considering littlefinger’s plans for marrying sansa to harry, that would land them both with two political marriages neither of them wanted. “who would dare to love a dragon?”, dany wonders. “nobody will marry me for love”, sansa broods. they both share a fear of not being loved.

and they both want to give that love back. “if i’m ever queen, i’ll make them love me”, thinks sansa during the battle outside her walls, a girl who has NOT grown with the idea that one day she will be a queen (unlike cersei, for example), while in one of her povs daenerys thinks, “ i want to make my kingdom beautiful, to fill it with fat men and pretty maids and laughing children. I want my people to smile when they see me ride by, the way viserys said they smiled for my father”. they both want to live in peace and prosperity, and this is where their idealistic sides show.

they both are also nothing short of dutiful. they yearn for home. “i don’t want to marry him, i want to go home”, daenerys tells her brother in her first pov. she is consumed with dreams about her house with the red door and the lemon tree under her window constantly. at the end of the day, she just wants to go somewhere where she knows she’s safe - a sentiment that sansa shares. at first she was thrilled to leave winterfell, but after everything she’s been through, she realizes that she’s the strongest within the walls of winterfell. home gives her solace, it gives her courage and a sense of safety. but alas, home is not a destiny for either of them. dany is loyal to her queenship, and always puts the needs of her people over her own desires: “it’s time to don my floppy ears”. sansa also has more tully in her than her looks alone, as she does everything required of her despite her personal wishes. they value their sense of duty over their sense of self.

they are both highly adaptable. dany had to quickly adapt to the rough dothraki lifestyle if she ever wanted to be accepted, and sansa had to adapt to the court rules of lies and conspiracies if she wanted to stay alive. they’re both quick learners who can use their head regarding their own survival. “i know that she’s strong. how not? dothraki despise weakness”, tyrion reflects about daenerys in one of his povs. but from their ability to adapt grows the sense of not belonging. daenerys never belonged anywhere she went; firstly within dothraki, then in quarth, then in meeren - she was always considered an outsider, and the house with the red door, she didn’t belong even there. sansa also doesn’t belong where she is. her position in king’s landing is forced, she thinks to herself “they made me a lannister” after being wed to tyrion, but she still didn’t belong there. and later, when she was at the eyerie, it’s brought up in the narrative: “ White towers and white snow and white statues, black shadows and black trees, the dark grey sky above. A pure world, Sansa thought. I do not belong here. Yet she stepped out all the same”.

they also both lost everyone they loved, at some point. “ If Lady was here, I would not be afraid. Lady was dead, though; Robb, Bran, Rickon, Arya, her father, her mother, even Septa Mordane. All of them are dead but me. She was alone in the world now” sansa thinks wistfully. “He’s gone, then. My father and my mother, my brothers, Ser Willem Darry, Drogo who was my sun-and-stars, his son who died inside me, and now Ser Jorah”, dany thinks upon jorah’s banishment. they are both alone in the world. the only difference is that sansa had lost lady forever - and considering that it is implied that the direwolves are literally part of the stark children, bound to them by fate - a piece of her soul with her. dany still has drogon by the end of book 5. otherwise they’re both surrendered by enemies.

i don’t watch the show and don’t care what they did to their characters in there. i’m sure they threw in more parallels and such but i don’t care about those. the only thing i’ve picked up is that they are at odds with each other, and this is what leaves me utterly baffled. they would work together fantastically, and would grow fond of each other, because they have more things in common than it should be allowed for two characters who live on opposite sides of the world.

i really wish they met in canon. i wonder how their relationship would be handled by their actual creator.

#sansa stark #daenerys targaryen #a song of ice and fire #daensa #asoiaf

[margridarnauds]

🍓 tell me about Berenice!

YES real problematic fave hours! [warning for references to alcohol, child death]

Like a ton of my other OCs, she’s immortal. (NOT invulnerable.) As such, she’s been around for...over 2000 years. (Also why the timeline might seem strange because “....Cleopatra....Brennus...English invading....WHAT?”)

Was VERY free-spirited as a young child, her favorite place growing up was the Lighthouse of Alexandria, where she used to watch the ships coming in with Marcus (a ward of her father’s that they found on the streets of Rome after he saved Berenice’s life when they were children), Atria (her future royal physician, Marcus’ sister), and Khensa (her future spymistress), all of them trying to guess where they came from, Berenice usually carting at least one or two books up in order to read in peace.

This stopped when her father disciplined Atria once for something that she did. She swore afterwards that she would never endanger her friends for the sake of her own fun, and she tries to hold religiously to that. It might be her one scruple left, actually. 

Met Cleopatra Philopater once as a small child and it made such an impact that she took quite a bit of inspiration from her, including learning Egyptian. 

Knows at least ten languages, though not all of them to a strong degree of fluency. (She knows at least Latin, Greek, Egyptian, Aramaic, English, a little bit of Irish [though she has issues with it] and Gaulish.) 

Is actually a quarter Persian, on her mother’s side, the rest of her being thoroughly Macedonian. Her grandmother married one of Alexander the Great’s officials, producing Berenice’s mother. 

When her father was murdered by a former suitor of hers, her brothers were also killed, leaving her with no support, as well as the full knowledge that her half-siblings wouldn’t hesitate to kill her if they had a chance. She hid her father’s body for well over a week while waiting for her uncle to arrive.

She was the one to kill said former suitor herself, when Marcus held back, unable, despite his various wrongs, to be the one to plunge the sword in. (Though he was already incapacitated - When he tried to aim for Atria, who was next on his list of “People Berenice Loves” list, she stabbed him in the leg. Part of why Marcus and Berenice never let the full details of what happened that night slip is because of their fear of what would happen if the truth was revealed. It was easier for Marcus, as a lower class man and a former ward of the family, to take responsibility and accept exile instead of execution. Berenice begged for him to be allowed to stay, saying that, if he left, her conscience would leave with him, but no luck. And she was true to her word.) 

Totally commissioned a “Justice for Clytemnestra” book after re-assuming power after the death of her second husband.

She used to be friends with her greatest rival, Elektra, when they were children, the two noble girls viewed as natural companions for each other. But, when Berenice befriended Marcus and Atria, the other girl looked down her nose on them, refusing to play with street rats, and Berenice told her that, if that was the case, she wasn’t going to play with her either. Elektra never forgave the insult, and, while a ton of things happened in the meanwhile to make them reach a point of no return, the first pebble in the avalanche fell there. 

Lives up to the stereotype of Ancient Macedonians and alcohol - She can outdrink even mythical figures RENOWNED for their ability to hold their liquor, and one of the first canonical words out of her mouth is “I was told there would be free wine.” While she was hardly sheltered from it as a child, her usage did intensify in the wake of her father’s + brothers’ deaths, as well as Marcus’ subsequent exile and her second, disastrous marriage. Brennus’ presence, ironically given he’s never been one to hold back from the alcohol, tends to temper her usage.

Whenever Atria publishes a new book on medicine, Berenice always has multiple copies of it made. Part of it is her flexing as Atria’s patron, part of it is that she’s genuinely proud of her friend’s accomplishments and wants the whole world to know that Atria Did A Thing. 

 Married twice, both of them arranged, and twice widowed. Though she loves Brennus dearly, she has massive reservations around actually marrying him, because of what it would mean for her independence.

When her second husband died, she worked quickly to get rid of all his other consorts and children, in a purge that many shuddered to think about decades down the line. 

No cold tolerance - When she had to move from Alexandria to a much colder climate, someplace akin to Alaska in climate, she very nearly died, since her body wasn’t used to the extreme change of temperature. While she’s doing much better these days, she still gets sick quite easily in the winter and needs multiple fur covers on her bed. Brennus, hardened northerner that he is, mocks her RELENTLESSLY for it. 

There are a TON of rumors swirling around her, both among her own people and the New Anglians. At this point, she takes a certain tongue in cheek mentality to it. (”Ah, yes, you see, I was just climbing out of my daily bath of virgin’s blood when the courier came to me and said-”) 

Somewhat ironically, despite her reputation for ruthlessness, she is one of the most aggressive pursuers of murderers, particularly the ones that we would call “serial killers”. All these years, and she’s never forgotten her father’s death, and how easily it could have been avoided if they’d just gotten rid of that man when he’d been killing people on the street. The technology isn’t there to make her as effective as she’d like, but she tries. She doesn’t care if the victim was a fruit seller or one of her court officials: If you kill someone under her watch, you’re going to die a horrible death. 

Keeps a MASSIVE wardrobe of jewelry and clothes. Many of which the New Anglians took when they invaded, but some of which she retains. When she had more personal possessions, she used to hand out her hand-me-downs to Atria and Khensa, so the three of them often look like they have a very similar style. (Atria literally can’t be bothered to go shopping most of the time, spending most of her money on specimens for her medical research/natural philosophy, and Khensa’s work as spymistress tends to mean that her funds are constantly running low.) 

 Is either the single most beautiful or the second most beautiful person in the entire continuity (depending on whether or not you hold that Bres is prettier.) It’s caused her her share of problems, as a woman in the time she’s living in. 

Her family have always felt like they were personally descended from Poseidon, which means that she tends to draw on that a lot for her propaganda, though she herself feels a stronger pull to Aphrodite.

She sometimes doubts her own personality, given how often she finds herself playing a role. She definitely feels like she’s become a monster and, to a certain extent, embraces it as something that was necessary under the circumstances. When Eleanor is a young queen, forced to choose between raising her tyrant brother’s daughter or taking the power for herself, Berenice strongly advised for taking the power, which Eleanor ended up roundly rejecting. 

Her personal color scheme is Tyrian purple and gold, though rose gold also pops up a lot when I’m doing aesthetic stuff for her. Common motifs for her tend to be peacocks (as a nod to Hera and, subsequently, Berenice’s persecution of her husband’s children by other consorts) and beetles. In a Daemon AU, I’ve always thought her Daemon would be a golden snake. 

#oc shenanigans #berenice #long post #madtumbleson

[elesianne]

A Silmarillion fanfic, chapter three

Story summary: Through all the struggles and triumphs of the Noldor, Angrod and Edhellos hold on to their love and their faith in each other.

Despite the title, there is more than romance in this fic.

Chapter length: ~1,900 words; Rating: Teenage audiences

Some keywords for the whole fic: romance, family, some fluff and angst, mild sexual content, the Noldor and their fall and their triumphs, canon compliant

AO3 link (first chapter here)

*

Chapter III //  The fire of their hearts

[---]their valour and endurance grew with hardship; for they were a mighty people, the elder children undying of Eru Ilúvatar, but new-come from the Blessed Realm, and not yet weary with the weariness of Earth. The fire of their hearts was young, and led by Fingolfin and his sons, and by Finrod and Galadriel, they dared to pass into the bitterest North; and finding no other way they endured at last the terror of the Helcaraxë and the cruel hills of ice. – The Silmarillion: Of the Flight of the Noldor

In the light of the torches that tinge their world with red after the Trees are dead, Angaráto's warm golden hair is fiery and so is his face. His beloved features are distorted by grief and rage.

Eldalótë thinks she must look as devastated, though she tries to keep herself together for Artaresto's sake. Her son is not yet grown to adulthood, and resembles his gentle-hearted grandfather Arafinwë more than his father. Artaresto's spirit must feel as strangled as by the loss and the Darkness as her own.

They stay together during those dark days, Arafinwë and all his children. Eärwen is in Alqualondë with Anairë. The sisters-in-law had skipped the harvest festival this year. Eldalótë wishes they were here to offer more level-headed views to balance Nolofinwë's heated words.

They send word to them, of course, and Eärwen and Anairë come as soon as they can. But they prove no help but to further the breaking apart of the house of Finwë when the time comes to make decisions.

Eldalótë's own parents decide to leave Aman. Eldalótë is relieved, though not surprised. They have been followers of Nolofinwë for a while now, ever since it became impossible not to take sides. They ride alongside her and Angaráto and his brothers as they leave Tirion, among the last of the departing Noldor.

Eldalótë's parents do not look back as they pass through the great gates and down the stairs and away from the fair city on its green hill. Eldalótë, though, finds herself turning to look as long as the high light of the lamp at the top of Mindon Eldaliéva, Ingwë's tower when he was king in Tirion, can be seen.

After that there is only the red torchlight until the lamps of Alqualondë.

*

Angaráto curses himself, and his father and older brother, for arriving at the quays too late to do anything but hurriedly try to help the wounded before fell Fëanáro and his fierce sons tell them to keep moving.

They do, and the injured Falmari don't appear to consider it a loss. There was hate more than gratefulness for Arafinwë and his house in their eyes. Though the children of Arafinwë are half Falmari, and Arafinwë himself has spent half his life with them, they could see nothing but the Noldor in them in that moment.

'I could not blame them', Angaráto confesses to Eldalótë when they journey north. 'I hated even Findekáno in that moment when I realised he had spilled my kinsmen's blood.'

Yet he has already forgiven Findekáno, Eldalótë knows; Fëanáro he will not forgive soon, and neither will she who also had a second home in the palace above the white quays of Alqualondë. Seeing those familiar places, where many times they had sailed out or greeted others coming back to shore, covered in blood and worse broke some new part of her heart.

She thinks that it should feel impossible for her husband to carry on after that, following his father who follows his brother who follows Fëanáro. She doesn't know how she herself does it, or any of them. What keeps alive the fire in their hearts, here in the darkness and the memory of blood?

Yet there it is, even in hers. She rides beside Angaráto, Artaresto either between them or by Findaráto's side.

She wonders about it more after the dark figure on the high rock speaks the grim prophecy that reaches the words of even those at the very back of the marching Noldor like herself.

Those words sound so terrible as to surely be impossible. Yet the sight of that figure up on high and its tone chill her like nothing before, freezing her in place, forcing her to listen though she can barely take it all in.

*

'Will you continue on with me?'

Eldalótë looks at Angaráto for a long time: at his familiar beloved face, and his broad, armoured shoulders. All around them the same discussion is being had, spouses with spouses, and parents with children, and sibling with siblings, friends with friends all asking the same question.

Artaresto is with Artanis while Eldalótë and Angaráto talk. Artanis already knows what she will do, and everyone else knows her decision too.

Eldalótë says slowly to her husband, 'My judgement tells me to turn back with your father, and to take Artaresto with me if you let me.' Angaráto's face twists to ugliness from pain.

'My heart', she tells him, 'has been yours since we were children, and I have not the courage to take it in my hands and break it to pieces. I will come with you, my beloved, and so will Artaresto for it is better for him to be with his parents, damned fools though time may tell them to be. I will see this journey to its end, whether it be a new home in a beautiful new realm like you have dreamed, or the grief and torment and death of that prophecy.'

She finds out soon after deciding that her own parents are returning to Valinor with her father-in-law. It turns out that she must break her own heart after all, being unable to both return and go forth.

*

The betrayal of Fëanáro and the fate of the ships for which many of Angaráto's kin were murdered kindles a new, bitter fire in the hearts of everyone who is of the house of Arafinwë. Eldalótë cries with rage.

'All that bloodshed of our own kin, and the theft of our mother's people's greatest works, only for it to end like this', says Aikanáro, his face pale under the tall mess of his hair.

Angaráto has his hand on the pommel of his sheathed sword though the one he wants to raise it against is a sea away. Eldalótë knows that if Fëanáro were here, the sword would not be in its sheath.

They keep on marching north, further into the cold and the mist that is worse than mere darkness, impenetrable by lamps and torches and even beloved starlight, and ever threatening to creep into their hearts.

Eldalótë keeps her blades handy for there are more dangers than betrayal here in the cold, unexplored land. She is no warrior, nor explorer either like her Angaráto, but she marches on with the boldest of her people.

Where the solid land wholly ends, Eldalótë looks at the immense, jagged, frigid, lethal expanse of ice, and regrets not asking Angaráto to turn back with his father. There is little chance that he would have, with his heart burning as it does, but she should have begged. She would have followed him anyway if he refused her request; but, she thinks wryly to herself, surprised at finding any humour at a moment like this, she would perhaps have had the pleasure of hindsight at least.

Days, weeks, months, years later, as their people suffer and freeze and die of exposure, starvation and falling into the devouring ice, she thinks with bitterness that she didn't even regret enough.

*

On the Grinding Ice, love is Angaráto putting his tireless arms around her and Artaresto when they stumble.

It is him, and sometimes also her and Artaresto by turns, carrying other people's small children when their parents' strength fails after bearing them over many dangerous places.

It is the whole family, the children of Arafinwë and Eldalótë and Artaresto, squeezed tight into one tent to keep warm at night.

Love is her family-in-law, all of them, inspiring enough strength in her that that she never cries anymore, not from rage or from missing her own family. Tears freeze on cheeks here on the Ice, even in eyelashes, and it hurts more than it hurts not to cry. She does her best to make sure that no one else ever cries either.

'I thought that you would have stayed, or turned back', Artanis says to her one night when they are trying to build a safe fire together. 'So many did. My mother, and your parents.'

'I suppose I should be insulted by that.' Eldalótë huddles in tighter within her furs in the vain hope that it will help her hands shake less. 'I shall choose not to be. We all need to be of one mind to survive this.'

Artanis nods. 'True words.' She pauses. 'Rarely is it a joy to find out that one was wrong about people. You hold more steel in your silences than I thought.'

She gives Eldalótë her gloves, warmer than Eldalótë's own. After some moments of not-uncomfortable silence, the fire catches.

Eldalótë breathes in the warmer air, enjoying the feeling of her lungs not hurting for a moment.

*

Artaresto grows to adulthood on the Ice, and on his begetting day Eldalótë hates Fëanáro with a new burning passion that chokes her worse than the cold air.

All of Fëanáro's sons had coming-of-age days that were celebrated at Finwë's palace with all the pomp and circumstance and genuine gladness that there was for the king's grandsons, with a great number of guests enjoying the musical performances and the finest food and plentiful drink.

Artaresto gets embraces from his family and a new pair of sealskin gloves but very little besides. He doesn't complain.

That night when they are alone for a rare moment, Eldalótë says to Angaráto, 'I could not forgive Fëanáro for the dark road he led us onto even if he came to me on his knees and begged.'

'This from a woman who has from time to time reminded me that all this darkness began with Morgoth's deeds, not Fëanáro's', Angaráto says with a crooked not-smile.

'I am tired of forgiving', Eldalótë replies. 'This cold has burned it all out of me.'

The next day Elenwë, her friend, is lost in the frigid water amid a creaking of ice that rings in Eldalótë's ears for a long time after.

*

As they march into Beleriand, finally on safe ground, a new light rises on the sky and fills the new land before Eldalótë's eyes with silver light and blue shadows. The host of Nolofinwë blow their trumpets, welcoming the light and the continent.

And then they march on to a new land of mist, a cool land but fair. The mist here is less dangerous and choking than that on the Ice, and easily penetrated by the rays of the new Sun that rises as they arrive to what will be Nolofinwë's kingdom. The host of the Noldor blow their horns again at the new light, and unfurl their banners. Angaráto carried his father's personal standard when they left Tirion and carries it still for those of his house that kept on the march. Its colours reflect those on the sky as it flares proudly in the wind, blue and yellow, and pure deep gold rays tipped with fire-red.

Aikanáro and Eldalótë and many others raise their voices in song with the trumpets, greeting the light and the flowers that spring into bloom at their feet as they march. It is a sweet moment of victory: not a victory over the enemy, not yet, but a victory over the Grinding Ice and the death and despair that loomed there but did not bow their spirits.

The world is filled with light again, and the Noldor march on.

*

A/N: Finarfin's device by Tolkien and a clearer version by Aglargon on DeviantArt.

#some of this chapter is some of my favourite writing #and I really enjoyed exploring these events from eldalótë's view #also. I listened to taylor swift's 'miss americana and the heartbreak prince' on repeat while writing this #it FITS. strangely but it does fit a lot #tolkien fanfiction #silmarillion fanfiction #angrod #edhellos #eldalótë #eldalotë #eldalote #my fics #everbeloved #elesianne's fics

[kurainburdened]

I’m realizing a lot of people followed me without playing AA, something I hadn’t considered when I first started this blog so heres some info for those who want to read up on Maya Fey.

But I also compiled ALOT of my HCs so if you haven’t been following me for a year  there’s a lot about how I characterize Maya. 

But if you have been following me for like a year or even 6 months I can’t imagine there’s a lot of new info here lol

Note: Im really ADHD and organizing my thoughts in a cohesive way is really hard for me so IDK if this is at all comprehensible. I did my best

Recap

[ important info for those who have not played AA ]

Information about her Family, Village and Traditions

The fey family has been blessed with the power to channel spirits. A power said to have been given to them due to how their ancestors were servants to the gods. The Main Families oldest daughter is the one that will head the family as the Kurain Master and lead their village. The younger siblings will become subservient to the Kurain master, a position that causes a lot of resentment. This means assassinations and uprisings aren’t entirely unheard of in their family.

In fact, most of the village is shown to be pretty uncaring towards Maya. When shes being dragged away for murder, they either watch on in disinterest or gossip among themselves. No one seems to be even a little bit upset or worried.

The only one who seems to show any kind of concern or faith in Mayas innocence is her Aunt Morgan, who raised her like a mother. This is ironic because Morgan is the one who set her up for murder. Something both Maya and Mia take as something very shocking

The Kurain Master holds quite a bit of political power as politicians all wish to have favor with her in order to gain access to her powers. In fact, even when in hiding, the previous Kurain master, Mayas mother, was kept under heavy surveillance, and files were kept on where she was and what she was doing.

The kurain village is a matriarchy, one where men are not allowed to live. Even in mariage, husbands must live separate from their wives. Because of this its stated in canon that this leads to many unhappy marriage that all end in divorce. Also, because of this rule, the men who visit for business purposes are given quite a mixed treatment. Because of the lack of men in their village, some see it as one of their few opportunities to make an impression and finally get married. Others see men and immediately assume them to be scum.

Traditionally the Kurain Master is never allowed to leave the mountain, and many of the women in the village are very sheltered. Pearly, Mayas younger cousin was raised to believe that there wasn’t even a world outside their village, and that the forest bordering it stretched on forever. Maya had to be told by her older sister about the ocean. Throughout the games there are proven to be extremely unknowledgable about very basic things. Pearly doesn’t know what a watch is. In the games Maya has no idea how to turn on a computer and in the anime she doesn’t know what the internet is.

Family History and Meeting Phoenix

Mayas mother, Misty, was tasked by the police in channeling a victim of a high profile case. In the end, the channeled victim gave the police a false lead to protect someone, which caused Misty to be branded a fake. This information was leaked to the public and soon Mayas family became a laughing stock.

Her Aunt Morgan raised Maya after her Mom disappeared and Mia left. Though this was with the ultimate goal of one day killing Maya, in order to make her own daughter the next Master.

Mia, Mayas older sister became obsessed with finding out who leaked this info and passed down the burden of Kurain Master to Maya. Years later Mia is a successful lawyer and even had an apprentice named Phoenix Wright. Then, on the day Maya and Phoenix were supposed to meet up with Mia, Mia was murdered. Maya arrived first on the scene followed by Phoenix. She was promptly accused of her murder which Phoenix got her acquitted for.

Other cases about Maya Fey

Maya is also kidnapped by an assassin in order to prompt Phoenix to defend a a killer. During this time she is starved over a period of three days to prompt Phoenix to close the case as fast as possible

When her mom finally reappears its because she has found out that there is a murder plot created by Mayas Aunt, and handed down to one of her cousins. Wanting to have the chance to save her daughter but not wanting to reveal her identity, she appears before Maya as a popular childrens author instead. In the end her mother is stabbed right before Mayas eyes, after which Maya had to hide from her killers on an isolated part of a snowy mountain.

Important Info

[ information important to how I characterize Maya ]

Her sister and how she affected her

During her sisters time in LA, due to her quick rise as a prominent lawyer, her ability to think outside of the box and her likable personality, Mia became a well known name between lawyers and police alike . Even among the police who are known to be hate defense attorneys, she was beloved.

Once she passed away, Phoenix mostly keeps Maya around due to her ability to bring back her sister.

Maya hears time and time again from those around her just how amazing her sister was. Because of this Maya feels a lot of pressure to replace her sister, feeling guilt that she could’ve easily been the one killed that day, leaving her sister to live in her place. She works tirelessly to be useful to the ones Mia left behind, most specifically Phoenix who’s debut case was defending Maya in court. She views him as a little brother who she needs to take care of.

During the final case of the first game, Maya has spent a lot of time with Phoenix and hasn’t been meditating enough. Because of this her powers start to leave her.This comes as a big hit to her. Maya has felt that she, herself, is useless and that her only real use is the fact that she can channel her sister. She goes to many lengths to try and be useful to Phoenix. At one point when Phoenix lets slip to a murderer that he has incriminating evidence, the murderer attempts to taser Phoenix, at which point Maya leaps in front of him and takes the hit. In the end Phoenix still gets tasered anyway. When she wakes up she begins to cry, stating how shes useless for being unable to protect him and even saying she wishes she never woke up. Maya has a lot of self hatred for being unable to reach the standards she feels her sister set.

Maya takes very active roles in getting Phoenix cases, to the point that there is not a single case in the trilogy that has not been sought out by Maya (not including the ones that Phoenix had a personal stake in and even some of those maya forced him into)

Morgan and how she affected her

I portray Morgan as someone who was kind of strict but someone very important to Maya. Morgan is someone who was the eldest sister but due to Misty’s, (her younger sister and Mayas mother)  abundance of power, the title of Master went to her instead. This caused a lot of anger and resentment towards Misty and by extension Maya. But as she raised Maya, it wasn’t all bad. There were softer moments. Small shows of kindness that Maya latched onto as proof that her Aunt loved her. I also hc that some of the most intimate moments Maya had with her Aunt is when Morgan was teaching Maya about their history and what it meant to be Master. Maya felt bad for her Aunt because she could see how passionate Morgan was about being Master, and this got passed down to Maya. Even after her Aunt tries to get her killed, that passion still remains all the way to when she’s an adult. In fact, she still loves her Aunt desperately and tries to make excuses for her and her actions.

Also because Morgan had no plans to allow Maya to live very long she did not properly educate or prepare her for being Kurain Master. Because of this I hc that after the trilogy Maya makes a point to get an education in order to properly lead her village and also make changes to the traditions in place that have bred so much hatred and murderous intent.

I think something that people really miss about Maya is that she is actually VERY serious about her position as Kurain Master and is very much willing to concentrate and put in hard work when necessary. For goodness sake the girl spends how many hours meditating. In fact she excitedly signs up to sit on a block of ice to meditate.

I also hc that Maya was supposed to learn how to use the sword because one of the family heirlooms passed down was a sword and a statue of her ancestor is also seen with a sword. So I like to think she tries to pick this up later.

De Killer and what this case says about her

When Maya is kidnapped by the assassin Maya is able to create a way to communicate with Phoenix and give him information that allows him to find her. When the assassin moves her, she figures out a way to leave behind evidence in a way that her kidnapper wouldn’t notice but she knows her friends will. She also leaves behind a letter, comforting Phoenix and her younger cousin, and even actively encouraging him to throw his case. Ensuring him that this is what she wants and that ‘she wouldn’t forgive him’ if he saved her because she knows Phoenix wouldn’t be able to live with himself if he went against his morals as a lawyer.

This speaks heights to how self sacrificing Maya is. She is an eighteen year old girl, slowly being starved to death by an assassin and yet her first thoughts are to comfort the adult trying to save her. Yet she isn’t trying to be a martyr either. She actively tries to get herself saved too if she can. But she lets Phoenix know that if he has to choose, choose his client. Because she knows how it would effect him. In spite of everything that happens she’s still trying to take care of Phoenix. 

Trust and Loyalty

During the last case of the third game, there’s a character called Godot who was in a relationship with her sister Mia. He was in a coma for several years and when he awakes he finds out Mia was killed. He blames himself for not being there to save her, so when he finds out about a murder plot against Maya he takes this as an opportunity for redemption.  In the end Mayas mother is possessed by a spirit that wants to kill Maya and Godot is forced to kill Mayas mother right in front of her. Godot admits to Maya later that he honestly didn’t care much about protecting her and was acting only out of selfish need for a feeling of redemption. That if he truly wanted to protect her he would’ve just told her from the start that someone wanted to kill her instead of creating an equally secret plot to protect her. To which Maya vehemently protests against. Sayig she believed in Godot and that he is a good person who wanted to save her too. That he should give himself more credit. This is just a long set up to explain that once Maya trusts someone she is EXTREMELY loyal to them. Maya even lies in court to protect Godot.

Which goes into another point which is that, Maya is ABSOLUTELY willing to break rules, the law and lie in court. She is only a certain amount of law abiding because the two closest people to her are lawyers.

(i felt like this was a lot of explaining so you can read the explanation below or skip it and watch this video of the cut scene im describing and then get to my thoughts )

PL vs AA is a game in which, during trials, the defendants are in an iron maiden suspended several feet in the air above a pit of fire. If found guilty there are sentenced to death and are immediately plunged into it. 

One of her friends, Espella, is about to be subject to a guilty sentence, and after declaring “this just isnt right” she makes a leap onto the iron maiden, gets it open and orders her to jump onto a nearby chandelier. Meanwhile guards are desperately trying to come in and recapture espella. During this confusion Maya is accidentally caught and shoved into the iron maiden and plunged into the fire. 

Phoenix believes Maya has been killed for a good part of the game and Maya wakes up in a strange land unaware of how to find Phoenix again 

I talk about this scene a lot but I feel like it really highlights just how brave Maya is. Because for a lot of the game you see Maya pushing Phoenix into the line of fire. If there’s a show of danger, for example when El Tigre seems like he’s about to go on a violent rampage Maya hides behind Nick. 

But when it really counts Maya is more than willing to put her life on the line to save other people. Not even for just her friends, but if it just means saving the life of someone innocent. 

Vulnerability in front of others

During PL vs AA, there is of course, a reunited scene between Maya and Phoenix later in the game that many fans found lackluster. Once they see each other, Maya belts out a YOOOOOOO NIIIICK before carrying on as usual. Ive seen countless people redo the scene as something more emotional- more crying more hugging. But honestly I think this was just more in character for Maya.

Maya’s always been the type to put up a strong front if she can. And later on you do get a brief scene of Maya tearing up and saying “I thought I’d never see you again” before she quickly moves on. She’s just not the type to run crying into phoenixes arms and try to bottle up those ‘sappy’ emotions unless she cant do it anymore. She’ll laugh off serious moments if physically possible. 

In other scenes you can see her being very sensitive with other people and their feelings, such as when adrien andrews begins hyperventilating and shes the first one at her side telling ‘take a deep breath and just breath. it’s going to be ok’ 

#HEADCANON「 waxing philisophical power hour 」