#need me a costis in my life

[soldier-poet-king]

Smthn else that's struck me on my more recent qt rereads (i.e. the last decade's worth, as an adult) which I don't think I fully grasped as a tween & teen, was the grace and /forgiveness/ at the heart of the series

Of course it's about love. Even idiot teen me could figure that much out. About love and its repercussions and salvific power and the ripples and waves it creates and Gen giving his heart on a toothpick to those around him. (And Rott recontextualizing this explicitly, as him being saved as well).

But I don't really think the forgiveness hit me before. I'm listening to koa at work rn, got to the scenes with Relius in the prison, and then in the infirmary. And it is then that it struck me. Eugenides forgives Relius, he pardons him, not because he wants to bribe him, or demands his service, but because Relius loves and serves Irene, and so does Gen, and so for the sake of his wife he forgives Relius, not so much for his inadvertent betrayal, but for Relius' interrogations when Gen lost his hand. (There is something to be said, too, of Gen, now in a position of power, understanding WHY Relius did what he did, it is distasteful, cruel even, but he did it to protect Attolia, just as Gen now does things he hates for her, and the country).

And it's not just Relius. Gen forgives Irene, we know this by the end of qoa, but also, he loves her, there's - as atypical and strange and their relationship may have started out - an expectation of forgiveness because it's within the bonds of love. There is no such expectation with Relius. And yet Gen forgives anyway. As he does with Dite, with Teleus, with Costis, with so so many throughout the books in various ways.

And it doesn't end with Gen! Gen's love and forgiveness of Irene is what allows Helen, and to a certain extent the MoW, to in their own time forgive Irene. It's what allows Irene to forgive herself, and in turn learn to forgive Relius and Teleus for their failures. Gen forgives Costis (albiet after baiting him, but he also forgives Costis accidentally spilling Gen's secrets to Baron Susa) and Costis in tat forgives Kamet's deception, as Kamet in turn forgives his. Gen forgives Pheris' accidental betrayal. Everyone forgives Gen his schemes and deceptions, too. And maybe Gen forgives himself for some of the things he's had to do as Attolis that he would otherwise not have wanted to do as Gen (acok is next, I'll need a relisten within this new thematic framework to decide. I think it's particularly important to his attitude toward Sophos there). Smthn smthn Gen also forgives the gods

Idk where I was going with this. Perhaps it's patently obvious to everyone Except Me because I'm An Idiot, but this is my what??? Dozenth reread? Probably more? And I'm still teasing out new threads. I probably will be for the rest of my life.

#queen's thief #idk if any of this makes sense #but my heart is about to explode

[bodyguardbracket]

List of contestants!

I've put together the list of our 64 bodyguards!!! The actual polls will start in a couple days as I still need to organize some stuff for them. That being said, if you have any good pictures of any of these guys (canon images only please!), feel free to send them my way in the meantime!!!

Also fyi that the rounds themselves will be a week long, just for my own sanity lol.

Here's the list in alphabetical order!!!

Adam Frankenstein (Bungo Stray Dogs: Stormbringer)

Agent Stone (Sonic the Hedgehog movies)

Aloysius Knight "The Black Knight" (Scarecrow by Matthew Reilly)

Arm (Kinnporsche: The Series)

Big (Kinnporsche: The Series)

Big Daddies (BioShock)

Brienne of Tarth (Game of Thrones)

Brock Samson (The Venture Bros)

Butler (Artemis Fowl)

C!Grian (Third Life SMP)

Camilla Hect (The Locked Tomb)

Corvo Attano (Dishonored)

Costis (The Queen’s Thief series)

Deathbringer (Wings of Fire)

Dehya (Genshin Impact)

Do Bongsoon (Strong Woman Bongsoon)

Eadaz uq-Nāra (The Roots of Chaos series)

Eliot Spencer (Leverage)

Fang Duobing (Mysterious Lotus Casebook)

Gareth (Galavant)

Gideon Nav (The Locked Tomb)

Gorilla (Miraculous Ladybug)

Goro Takemura (Cyberpunk 2077)

Guillermo de la Cruz (What We Do in the Shadows)

Guy (A3! Act! Addict! Actors!)

Horace Knightley (Ace Attorney Investigations 2)

Hubert Von Vestra (Fire Emblem Three Houses)

Indus Tarbella (Epithet Erased)

Joe (Princess Diaries)

Juliet Butler (Artemis Fowl)

Kaladin Stormblessed (Stormlight Archive)

Kiruko (Heavenly Delusion / Tengoku Daimakyou)

Kurapika (Hunter x Hunter)

Lan Fan (Fullmetal Alchemist)

Lan Mandragoran (The Wheel of Time)

Lexaeus/Aeleus (Kingdom Hearts)

Link (Legend of Zelda)

Maihar'du (Star Trek: Deep Space 9)

Mako (Legend of Korra)

Mifune (Soul Eater)

Mike Ehrmantraut (Breaking Bad)

Miyamoto Usagi (Usagi Yojimbo)

Murderbot (The Murderbot Diaries)

Nicholas D. Wolfwood (Trigun)

Palm (Never Let Me Go)

Peko Pekoyama (Danganronpa)

Peri Dubois (Entropic Float)

Porsche (Kinnporsche: The Series)

Riza Hawkeye (Fullmetal Alchemist)

Rory Williams (Doctor Who)

Samwise Gamgee (The Lord of the Rings)

Sandor (Keeper of the Lost Cities)

Sebastian Michales (Black Butler)

Sir Theobald Gumbar (Dimension 20: A Crown of Candy)

Son Hak (Akaksuki no Yona)

Soren (The Dragon Prince)

Suh Yoosun (Moonlight Garden)

Tatum Mendoza (Foreign Affairs)

Thancred Waters (Final Fantasy XIV)

Vortex (Helluva Boss)

Wen Ning (The Untamed)

Wen Zhuliu (The Untamed)

Yura Goro (Kamen Rider Ryuki)

Zhou Zishu (Word of Honor)

#bodyguard battle #sorry if your guy didn't make it i received a lot of submissions and only had 64 spots

[kareenvorbarra]

I said, “I fell in love with my master’s favorite dancing girl.” If he was willing to admit to an embarrassing indiscretion, I could do the same.

“Eh?” said the Attolian, as if he thought he’d misheard. I repeated myself. He said, “Surely that was—”

“—Spectacularly unwise,” I agreed.

I expected a laugh, but the Attolian asked very seriously, “Did she love you?”

I nodded. Marin had, I was sure of it. “She loved my master as well, though.” That was misleading. “She saw something to love in everyone. She was . . .” I really couldn’t explain. “She was beautiful in spirit, like Shesmegah. I wanted her to be happy. I wanted to give her the happiness she deserved, and I asked her to run away with me.”

i don’t think i’ll ever stop thinking about this scene? Kamet downplays practically every single feeling he’s ever had in his own narration, but the language he uses here is so straightforward! he just outright tells Costis, “i fell in love.” (though he does the minimizing thing IMMEDIATELY by calling it “an embarrassing indiscretion” in the narration! he almost DIED because of Marin and there’s not an ounce of resentment for her in this story!)

and then there’s the tension between “she loved my master as well, though...she saw something to love in everyone” and “i wanted her to be happy.” regardless of what her relationship with Nahuseresh was like and what kind of complicated feelings she may have had for him (and she must have had complicated feelings, because Kamet certainly does and he wasn’t having sex with Nahuseresh), Kamet knew she was unhappy. he tries to downplay how fucked-up the situation was to Costis and then undoes it two sentences later. 

and i’m never going to stop thinking about him saying that HE ASKED HER to run away. KAMET made a plan to run away with someone. it was HIS IDEA. at some point in his life he was the kind of person who would ask someone he loved to run away with him, and by “thick as thieves” it takes his best friend telling him that he needs to leave or he’ll be tortured and killed to get him to run. clearly this relationship and its aftermath had a profound effect on him, on his goals, on what he believed was possible.  

#kamet #marin #thick as thieves #queen's thief #it's my birthday i'll post about girls who don't appear in the book if i want to

[tarantasina]

Leedie life update: I'm thinking about doing something to get Air (I don't open windows almost at all and the construction on this building implies you either have do that or you should have old wood windows with fractures in the wood that let the Air in. In the last ~25 years everyone upgraded to Windows That Keep You Warm/Without Holes In Them, and now stuck with the need to open them 1 time a day at minimum (documentation says ideal would be once every 3 hours for 15 minutes, but no one has time for that)

So I've been looking into options! First glance told me that it's:

1) (relatively) Cheap option - you make a hole in your room, put a Small Box that has fan+heater+filters on it and call it a day

Good: very clean Air in, no need to touch windows

Bad: even the quietest models go wrroom wrroom, so if you have trouble sleeping (like me), sucks to be you

2) Man Oh Man You Are Made Of Money option - put a Big Box in another room that has one of the walls looking at the street (usually balcony), put a bunch of ventilation shafts from it to adjascent rooms you need air in, get electric cables to feed the Big Box - boom! Many airs, quiet, no need to do anything! Maybe change filters once in 6-12 months

Good: VERY many good Airs, very quiet

Bad: PRICE IS BIG OW. Requiers a little renovation to put holes and shafts (hehe) where they need to be and to put energy lines down to feed the hungry box. Also if the rooms you need air in are not adjascent to the Big Box room, it becomes 10x harder to do it properly

3) Did You Inherit The Emerald Mine Or Something option - go all in. Big box go in one room, shafts to getting the air in and then getting it out. Electricity costs to feed Big Box go way down, requires Big Renovation of the entire flat, absolute air control, can put Big Box anywhere since you are making all these shafts anyway

Good: Many Airs. All the Airs. Control over all the Airs. Price to feed Big Box goes way down

Bad: YOU CAN BUY NEW (small) HOME FOR THIS PRICE

I very much wanted option 1 to work, but looking at how I disable all the quiet devices every night I realized it was a path to sadness and plugging an extra hole later (not even in a sexy way)

So! Option 2. There's several models of the Big Boxes and I did not want to spend Many Moneys on something bad so I went into a rabbit hole of research crying over the fact that you can't trust reviews on product pages AND normal people dont buy Costy Big Boxes much, so there was little to no reviews anyway

AND THEN. SALVATION.

Apparently there's a forum of Geeky Manly Mans who discuss technology. And in there there's a section for discussing household appliances

7 ENOURMOUS THREADS FULL OF WAYS TO GET MANY AIRS TO YOUR HOME. 7 (SEVEN)!!! Because they talked so much previous 6 threads ran into post limits

I did not go through them all (the old ones are like 10 years old and so may be out of date), but I've read every message written in the last year and searched for the models. Learned a lot about different Small Boxes! Actually found out option 2 in here, because apparently "I don't want to use Small Box for Any Reason and Biggest Box costs more than I ever held or would have in my life" is a popular problem, and this forum is inhabited by industry professionals or experienced hands-on enthusiasts who dispense free advice , and it is acceptable and encouraged to ask for help

So I looked through a couple (a lot) of "need advice" posts, saw what information the Knowledge People ask for and put down HUGE post with all the information, my flat plan, what Small Boxes I looked into and why they are not for me and what Big Boxes I looked into and what questions/concerns I have on that, and the amount of moneys I am ready to spend on this

Look at the plan btw I had to spend like half an hour to google what the flats in my type of apartment building look like (I could spend 4$ to get High Quality Plans of my actual flat but who has this kind of money in this economy)

SO, I POSTED MY QUESTION YESTERDAY AND GOT 2 VERY IN-DEPTH ANSWERS ALREADY!!1!

First one listed a couple of options on how to get Airs:

1) Very cheap - dont buy the complete Big Box, get the fan, heater, filters I fancy and all the nitty bits on my own and then put the stuff together. He put it all in listed order with links and approximate prices, I was very impressed

Good: Cheapest option. As many Airs as a proper Big Box can give

Bad: Need to find someone who can put all this stuff together - and boy did he link details that needed some work, because the separate parts were not designed to fit together. I know that would be hard because a couple of companies, when I was searching for cheaper Big Boxes, flat-out told me they only work with stuff you buy from them (even if you got the same model, they wont touch it). Also, as with regular Big Box, this set-up needs you to put cables down to feed it. Also no remote control - you need to go there push buttons with your own hands like in Ye Olde Times if you need to change speed/heat

2) Costier but doable, basically: "Hey the room you want to put it in has old leaky wood windows, right? Change them to good windows so that the air wouldn't leak, put holes to your bedroom and the other room you go to, and put a Small Box there. Small Box will get Airs into that room and then through the holes to the places you actually need, no ventilation shafts required. Since Small Box will be considerable distance away and through the wall the noise shouldn't be an issue"

Option 1 is interesting if I ever do some renovation (I would be able to get cables there to feed the handmade Big Box Ensemble), but Option 2 is doable right now!! Small Box can just be fee through a regular socket!

Second answer tweaked the handmade ensemble a little and answered lots of other questions I had, and gave advice on Small Boxes

I probably won't be doing it for a while (I need my room without holes for the next 4-5 months), but I just wanted to share the story of how I went to Scary Forum With Many Dudes and got Good Advice

#personal #I usually post personal updates on the bird site but as you can see this story is CHONKY so I remembered that I do actually post personal s #it's just super rare

[ice-connoisseur]

Yuletide 2022 letter

Dear writer,

Firstly thank you so much for taking the time to write me a gift! I think I covered the essentials in the sign-up, but to reiterate I’m very happy for any combination of the listed characters in all of the fandoms, and for others not listed to appear.

All three fandoms are close to my heart. Sally Lockhart was my first great fictional love, from a time before I even knew what fic or fandom was, and one I have returned to again and again in the fifteen-plus years since, and the lack of fic about her is a constant sadness. Queen’s Thief is the new kid on the block, for which I wholly blame my Tumblr dash and also Kamet e dai Annux, with his dry, long-suffering patience and the way he manages to be both the smartest and stupidest person in the room at any given moment. I have put a Queen’s Thief specific point below a cut at the bottom as it regards Moira’s Pen spoilers - if you’ve not read Moira’s Pen then you can safely ignore the cut as it contains nothing that would alter pre-MP canon or preferences! Persuasion has been, appropriately, a slow-burner, overshadowed for years by Pride and Prejudice’s flashier style (and Jennifer Ehle); it would be correct to say I have aged into it, and I’d love to see more fic for it (especially - and it feels a bit sacrilegious to be writing it - modern AUs...)

I love tropes, I love found families, I love getting-together, established-relationship, and lovers-meeting-again-after-years-apart. Hurtcomfort is my jam. I LOVE AUs; full alternate universes, everybodylives!, modern, canon, whatifs, whatever. Slice of lifes. Outsider POVs of a relationship, be that platonic or romantic. My AO3 bookmarks are probably a good indicator of my likes and loves, if only for how broad they are.

My squicks are relatively benign. I rarely enjoy A/B/O or dom/sub unless it’s done very well. I’m British, so blatant Americanisms in a Britain-set-fic (fall and sidewalks are the two I am particularly petty about) do bug me. Angst with no happy ending is not something I need right now. I’m rarely a fan of space/sci-fi AUs. And I think that’s about it.

Thank you so much for writing for me, I’m looking forward to reading whatever it is :D

Behind the cut is a hint of a Moira’s Pen spoiler for Queen’s Thief...

Personally my favourite QT pairing is Costis/Kamet, and I’m also a big fan of the spyfam-in-the-palace headcanon post RotT, ala ama’s Spies and Soldiers series, so my preference would be to veer away from the new information in Moira’s Pen.

[terapsina]

No problem @isagrimorie​, though I can probably do better in the fic recs department for those authors just to get you started.

FROM @coalitiongirl​ MY FAVE SWAN QUEEN FICS:

Emma Enchanted - exactly what you think, an Ella Enchanted AU fic where Emma gets cursed with obedience.

Emma Swan– orphan, vagrant, and possible secret princess– has been gifted with obedience. She has no choice but to follow any orders given to her, which is complicated enough before life throws in her long-lost parents, a power-hungry witch, and the evil queen she just happens to be in love with.

every winter fades away (into the spring) - this one is great just because there’s nothing more hilarious than Emma being an absolutely oblivious fool. It’s amazing.

Emma reaches for Regina’s hand again, but Regina’s moved her ice cream to it instead. “Though, I mean, if I were into women, your mom would definitely be first on my list,” Emma tells Henry.

“I’m flattered,” Regina says dryly.

Her voice sounds a little strained, and Emma tries to lighten the tone. She hadn’t thought Regina would be uncomfortable with the idea of…well, Henry has two mommies, but the Enchanted Forest had seemed a little regressive. “What? Are you saying I’m not on your list?”

“Yes, Emma,” Regina says, and she barks out a choked laugh of her own. “If I were into women, you would definitely be on my list.”

[A year in the lives of Emma and Regina, falling in love all the way through and doing every bit of it backwards.]

like falling in love with a landslide  - you might be especially interested in this one, it’s a Queen’s Thief fusion with Henry in the role of Costis.

Henry is nineteen, a guard in Queen Regina's castle, and in deep trouble after a hostile encounter with the queen's reviled new wife. But instead of executing him, Queen Emma takes him on as a personal guard, and Henry soon discovers more about his past, family, and his two queens than he'd have ever imagined. 

post tenebras lux - this is a good one, basically after picking up the dagger Dark One!Emma gets really REALLY focused on Regina’s happy ending. And poor, unfortunate Robin gets caught in the crossfire of an Emma that isn’t happy with his performance (here there be a very violent version of the matchmaking trope).

Robin's hurled across the room in the next moment, Emma dark-eyed and furious as gold energy ripples across her skin. “Let me tell you something about me,” she hisses, and her hand is trembling at his throat now as though it’s an effort not to strangle him on the spot. “I always, always know when people are lying to me. Now, why the fuck aren’t you making Regina happy?”

FROM @mygalfriday​ MY FAVE RIVER/DOCTOR FICS:

a photograph you carry like a future in your back pocket - you remember how when Eleven first regenerated into Twelve, Twelve had those memory problems? Well here’s the angsty look on what if River had come across Twelve while Clara was still his companion and had no idea who River was.

She always wondered what this day would be like when it came – had always imagined it would feel a bit like being punched very hard in the stomach. She was right.

come whatever, i'll be yours all along - literally all you probably need to know here is in the summary.

“Have we met before? Well, no matter – that makes things easier. Or perhaps not depending on our last encounter.” Without waiting for a reply, River reaches for the gun strapped to her thigh and levels it right in his face, smiling serenely. “Don’t make any sudden moves, Scottish Eyebrows. I’m going to need you to marry me.”

she was trying to show me how a life can move from the darkness  - and here’s one where Missy’s a good friend. Still completely Missy though, in all her semi-diabolical glory.

Studying him appraisingly for a moment, she takes in the relaxed set of his shoulders and the softness around his eyes that definitely hadn’t been there the first time she encountered this regeneration of his. Finally, she murmurs, “Learned a few tricks on Darillium, did you?”

The Doctor looks away and the light in his eyes dims just a bit.

Or: five times Missy asks about River Song and one time she doesn’t have to.

AND THEN THERE’S CHASH ( @ponyregrets​ ) AND MY FAVORITE OF HER 494 BELLARKE FICS (it’s actually more, she keeps her lots of the one-shots in a bunch of single updating stories):

Worth the Trouble and Worth the Pain - A royalty!Clarke AU that’s absolutely nuts in the best ways. First one shot is from Bellamy’s POV but there’s a link to Clarke’s POV at the end of the fic.

Princess Clarke has one year to get married. Her personal guardsman is not pleased about the situation, but there's not a lot he can do.

I Know That Fortune Is Waiting to Be Kind - another royalty AU, but this one they’re both royalty. Oh and I seriously cant describe it better that the author does herself.

When Bellamy is eleven, his mother dies, and he finds out his father was a prince, which makes him a prince too, albeit a bastard prince. And when he's twelve, his family decides he would be a good candidate for marriage to Princess Clarke of Arcadia. Princess Clarke thinks so too, but only because he agrees to come back in ten years and help her make sure the wedding never takes place.

It seems like a really good deal, when he's twelve.

The Good Old Days Were Mostly Bad - this one takes place in the canon universe, and is actually part 2 in the series (though first story is actually an extremely cool Monty/Nate fic). It’s a different reunion post their six year long separation.

Dreams are worse than nightmares for Bellamy, on the Ark. And after six years, even being awake is pretty bad.

But they're going home.

Just As You Are - first in a series, Modern AU with a Pride and Prejudice twist (this one’s Clarke’s POV but Bellamy’s POV one contains one of the most hilarious moments (of Abby briefly in the role of Lady Catherine).

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single Clarke Griffin in need of a Latin tutorial partner will always end up paired with Bellamy Blake.

#fic rec #fic recs #swan queen #bellarke #river x doctor #river x twelve #mygalfriday #chash #coalitiongirl #isagrimorie #otp: the only magic strong enough #otp: hello sweetie #otp: the head and the heart #ouat #the 100 #doctor who

[aethersea]

How do you think an Untamed Queen's Thief AU would turn out? Like, from a conceptual standpoint how would that play out?

Anon, this ask has haunted and tormented me lo, these many ages. Again and again I have returned to it, picking and pulling at the question, and it never comes out clean. I assume this ask was prompted by my tags on a long-ago post, where I noted that both protagonists are prone to whining loudly about minor things to distract from their actual deep-seated anxieties and/or stab wounds, and both are prone to seeing themselves as only really valuable to their loved ones as particularly clever tools. And it’s true, Gen and Wei Wuxian are just awfully similar in that respect, but nothing else fits.

Because look, here is my fundamental dilemma: Wei Wuxian loses everyone he loves, one by one, to war and political dissolution and betrayals both real and perceived, until at last he dies alone, unable to protect or even avenge anyone at all. And then he comes back to life for a romcom murder mystery. Eugenides scoops up a bunch of politically useful people from all backgrounds, bends their loyalty to his aims, and gives them the space and safety they need to heal from their varied traumas and become a strange sort of family. (Costis didn’t really have traumas before meeting Gen, but other than that the point stands.)

One is a story about failure, loss, and grief. One is a story about hope, triumph, and healing.

Plus, one features the dissolution of a previously stable political system into a tense, unsteady truce; the other is about uniting a tense, unsteady truce into a stable political alliance. Thematically and worldbuilding-wise, these stories are following basically opposite arcs.

I have ranted about this in the shower many, many times now.

So, now that I’ve presented my excuses, here’s what I’ve got! I can’t put together a cohesive au that holds water, but please enjoy these Vibes.

————

“If I could just…talk to her.”

It was a stupid thing to say and Wei Wuxian knew it. He winced as the words left his lips, but Jiang Yanli was kind enough to stay silent. He was sprawled out on his back beside her lotus throne, one knee bent, one arm flung over his eyes so he wouldn’t have to see the mingled pity and horror on her face. He would never have dared, while Madam Yu was still alive – he’d barely had the courage to sit in the throne room, even when it was expected of him, much less lie down. But it had been eight bloody, exhausting months since she and the sect leader were killed, and Wei Wuxian had finally seen enough battle that Madam Yu’s phantom disapproval was no more than a prickling discomfort. He ignored it, as he ignored so many other pains, to lie at his sister’s feet.

“She’s not a monster,” Wei Wuxian said. His voice was somewhere between pleading and surrender. “You remember, shijie, how she took us in? She could have turned us over to her uncle – she had a duty to. And she risked her brother’s life, keeping us secret.”

“Her own life, too,” Jiang Yanli added. There was no inflection in her voice.

“She cares a lot less about that.” Wei Wuxian knew this, implacably; it was why he and Wen Qing had understood each other so well. They both had siblings to protect.

Jiang Yanli hummed noncommittally. It did not occur to Wei Wuxian that she, too, was a sister with siblings to protect.

“She’s not a monster,” Wei Wuxian repeated. “It was her family who threw her into the Burial Mounds, it wasn’t her choice. She’s not surrounding herself with ghosts and fierce corpses for fun. If we stopped attacking her, if we sent someone in to negotiate, I bet she’d even help us defeat Wen Ruohan.”

“She could help us anyway, if she chose to.” Jiang Yanli was trying to sound impartial, but it wasn’t working. She knew where this conversation was going, and it was all she could do not to grab Wei Wuxian by the collar and scream in his face that he must never leave Lotus Pier, never leave Jiang Cheng, never leave her. That he’d sworn an oath, that he had a duty. That if he was so eager to die, she could save him the effort and drown him in the lake herself. That she loved him.

She might have let herself do it, if she’d thought for a moment it would work. Instead she clasped her hands in her lap, loosely, and watched them tremble. It was not a weakness she normally allowed herself, but she was alone now. Even Wei Wuxian wasn’t looking at her.

“We killed her brother,” Wei Wuxian said. His voice was hollow. “Well, the Jin did, but they’re still our allies. And we’ve done nothing since then but attack her. She’s not going to trust us unless we give her a reason to.”

“So you want me to send you.” Wei Wuxian didn’t answer, but she knew the tenor of his silences by now. Her own voice was smooth, smooth as the lakes of Yunmeng on a summer day, with just as many choking weeds beneath the surface to drown her. Her hands shook and shook. “You want me to send you, and when your corpse leads the next raiding party from the Burial Mounds, you want me to send Jiang Cheng to cut your rotted head from your shoulders.”

Wei Wuxian twisted around to look at her, and the look on his face broke her heart. “She won’t kill me,” he said softly. “I promise. She’s not a monster.”

#finx writes #finx has friends on the internet #queen's thief #the untamed #idk if you're even still around anon – I'm pretty sure it's been over a year since you sent this in #sorry about that #I wish I could say this is the start of a burst of ask-answering that I'll be doing in the next few days #but I know myself too well to commit to something like that #I just found this in my drafts and realized it's actually ready to be posted as it is #sorry @ everyone who's sent in an ask that remains unanswered #I will do my best to get to them all eventually I just......have no energy #no social energy mostly #what little I have I am trying to spend on Hanging Out With Friends #mostly on skype but once or twice even in person #but please know I always enjoy getting asks #even though I'm so terrible at answering #oh also! I haven't read the last queen's thief book yet #pls be nice about spoilers <3

[whocalledhimannux]

the King of Attolia trailer has always stumped me but I'm giving it a go. and coming in under the wire for QT Appreciation Week day 3, heyo!

Open on cards "From the people who brought you The Thief..." / "and Queen of Attolia..." with voiceover "You did swear, less than two months ago, to defend my self and my throne with your life, didn't you?" "Yes, Your Majesty." "And instead, you..."

cut to THE PUNCH. then Costis, wincing. "Hit you, Your Majesty." We see Eugenides trolling "awkward" reaction, and one final title card, KING OF ATTOLIA.

Then open on Costis, kneeling. "Your Majesty, please, it was stupidity, not treason. Let me prove it, if I can." / Attolia asking "Do you know what you offer?" and then we start with some scenes of Costis dashing through the baths, wandering lost through the palace, awkwardly inching into place in the audience room, as he says in voiceover "No, Your Majesty, but I will do anything" and Eugenides explains the lieutenant-at-large thing. end on one of his Extremely Cutting takedowns of Costis and Sejanus et al looking snarky and unhelpful.

cut to Costis slumping against a wall or falling on his bed with a Very Heavy Sigh, and then things slow down a bit, and we have some shots of Intrigue. courtiers whispering (taken from the scene when one of Dite's friends asks about Eugenides's cousins), Relius leaning across the desk and telling Teleus that Eugenides will move against them, Baron Erondites sounding VERY menacing, telling Sejanus that he is the only attendant who remains so that they can control the king. the camera cuts away early to Eugenides, pretending to be asleep in court, and then close up on one eye opening--haha, maybe he is the sneaky Eugenides we know and love. the music is ominous, and then it shifts into something sadder and we see Eugenides sitting in front of the window, crying. reaction shot of Costis, feeling sorry for him. little snippet of the "if he choked on a bone and died, I wouldn't care. But I can't stand by and watch people get murdered, Aris. I never meant to have anything to do with people like this. I wanted to be a soldier." and Aris's sympathetic face.

cut to a shot of Attolia standing by the infirmary room window, looking out. then we get a bunch of assorted worldbuilding scenes that need no context--Eugenides looking upset, and annoyed, being bullied by his attendants, cartwheeling on the crenellations, he and Costis sharing a laugh in the Pilades lecture, dancing with Heiro, sparring with Costis, the priestess emerging from the temple, one of the guards passing out during Teleus's punishment, Dite dropping to his knees, etc--with audio of Attolia saying "He loves me, and I reward his love by forcing on him something he hates. He moves always toward the empty spot and the court moves always after him. He hates being king."

and we get a slow crescendo of the music as Relius says "The Thieves of Eddis have always been set apart, Your Majesty. But there are other words for privacy and independence. They are isolation and loneliness. Drive him out. The world needs to see what a king he is."

linger on a shot of Eugenides, looking up at camera--the "god revealed" moment from the fall of the House of Erondites scene. the previous music has crescendoed--again, the end of the trailer features the thin, ominous, "do not offend the gods" motif. fade to black. the air date appears, then fades. we hear Costis's frantic breathing, footsteps, and then abruptly the video comes back and we see him running across the gardens with his sword, shouting "Attolia! Attolia!"

the last shot of the trailer is an assassin lunging at Eugenides, blade drawn.

#king of attolia #thief trailers #ngl it still feels a little scattered #koa just has SO many characters and SO many interwoven plots

[tanoraqui]

Hi! I see you posting all this stuff about the Queen's Thief series and it really looks like my type of literature, but I can't keep up with all the names and locations. Would it be okay to ask for a non-spoilery rundown of who, what, and where?

Hell yeah [at a delay]. So, most of the series takes place on the Attolian Peninsula, which comprises of 3 countries: Sounis, Eddis, and Attolia. There are also a scattering of small islands generally associated with the peninsula. Eddis is a narrow country in the mountains between Sounis and Attolia and only has, like, 1 small port; Sounis and Attolia both have substantial coastlines. All are monarchies. The basic geopolitical plot of the books is these three countries making peace with one another so that together they can hold off hte encroaching Mede Empire. 

It’s very low fantasy. Rifles and cannons exist, but they’re not that good yet; complex clockwork exists; steam engines do not. The Attolian Peninsua are heavily Ancient Greece-inspired, and the Mede are Persian-ish. Most importantly, there’s an entire made-up Greek-flavored mythology, as well as a Gilgamesh remix, stories of which are scattered through the books. Not only is this very neat, but the mythological figures often mirror the characters and are often vital to the plot. In fact, one of my favorite things about the series is how the whole thing feels very much like a myth in its own right, which some modern-day-in-that-world author has delved into and expanded on with fleshed-out characters and complex politics.

But you wanted a cast list. Most significant characters, in (probably) order of introduction, spoiler-free:

Eugenides, aka Gen, the central character of the series - though only the protagonist for the first couple books. Book and a half, really (the second is shared). Gen is a young progessional thief who is very good at calculating and carrying out complex and implausibly possible plans, and not always good at considering in advance consequences like “I will spend 6 months in jail” “I will have to move countries and take up a job I will hate”, “people might unironically admire and respect me, even though I don’t think I deserve it.” A wildly endearing manipulative asshole. Iconic quote: “I CAN DO ANYTHING I WANT!”

the Magus (never named), a chief advisor to the King of Sounis. Canny old soldier-turned-scholar/politician who is the first person to hold a braincell re: “we need to unite or die.” Iconic quote: “I meant convince your queen to sue for peace, not burn our navy in its own harbor!”

Sophos, later Sounis*, the Nicest Young Man to ever be a Nice Young Man. Sweet muffin. Canonical bunny. Also canonical mankiller. Iconic line: “Not on the first vote.”

Attolia* Irene, Queen of Attolia. Her people love her and fear her; her barons, for the most part, just fear her; she kicks and screams (non-literally) and throws inkpots (literally), but she does relearn how to both be loved and give love in return.  Iconic line [narration]: And she believed him.

Eddis* Helen, Queen of Eddis. There’s a mild running joke over the course of the series of mentioning that there’s nothing to do during Eddisian winters but [X], the 3 things mentioned are weapons training, threadcraft, and seducing one another’s spouses. The only one Eddis is suggested to be good at is weapons, but she’s the beloved and (almost entirely) undisputed queen of her country anyway. Iconic quote: “War, then.”

Nahuseresh, Medean ambassador, a mansplainer but competent as sneakily taking over someone else’s country while pretending to help them. More or less. Does not get an iconic line bc fuck him.

Kamet, later called Kamet Kingnamer, Nahuseresh’s slave and personal secretary. Nearsighted, translates poetry for fun, does NOT want to go on a multi-month (b)romance-building roadtrip. Does not have much choice in the matter, because he wants to be free and, more importantly, to survive. Iconic line [narration]: I noticed that a man on the dock with a duffel on one shoulder was very like Costis in poise and gait. The man turned onto the gangplank to board the ship, and my heart lifted, though I tried to squash what I thought was a ridiculous hope.**

 Costis Ormentides, a lieutenant in the Attolian palace guard. Not remotely prepared for the political snakepit he’s thrown into through very little fault of his own, oh god this poor man, he just wants to serve his queen and have a little spare money to go out for wine with friends. Why are people trying to kill him. Why is he third wheeling his monarchs making out in the courtyard. Why is he being passive-aggressively forced to learn a foreign language.  Iconic line action: *punches the king in the face*

Pheris Mostrus Erondites, second grandson of Baron Erondites of Attolia; historian and narrator of the last book in the series. Severely physically disabled, purposefully overlooked for all his life until particularly bitchy politics had him sent to the Attolian royal court (purposely on his part and on everyone else’s), very observant and twice as clever. Writes humanity beautifully. Iconic line [narration]: If I cannot record exactly what words were spoken at every moment, I can say with confidence what those words might have been, and in some cases what they must as been, as I saw what resulted from them being spoken, and can we not derive the words when we know the consequences of their utterance? *proceeds to write a historical account/novel more full of small moments of personhood and love both dramatic and casual than almost the rest of the series combined*

Relius, Attolian Master of the Archives (spymaster), trusted first within reason and then beyond it. Has many, many lovers.***

Teleus, Attolian Captain of the Palace Guard, A bit staid, but loyal, reliable, and entirely excellent at his job. Has only one lover.***

the Eddisian Minister of War, unnamed until the very end, fights with his youngest son a great deal in multiple senses of the word. 

* It’s possible that some of your confusion may stem from people taking the names of their countries as titles upon ascending to the thrones. ** Yes I chose this quote bc it’s sweet but also bc it’s SUCH a nearsighted mood. *** Direct quotes from the character list at the end of the last book.

#queen's thief #random anon asks #queen's thief series #Anonymous

[throwaninkpot]

Notes from the Return of the Thief launch party Q&A with MWT!

• (I meant to keep a Not Telling tally but I got distracted by all the good words Megan put together.)

EDIT: A VOD of the stream has been posted here!

• It took 20 minutes into the event to get the first Not Telling, and everyone was astonished it wasn't sooner.

• She referenced the Not Telling shirt made for her by @queensandkingsofattolia ! She wasn't wearing it, but she did have her Not Telling socks, which she would put on her hands and hold up to the camera.

• She talked about how she doesn't like suspense as a reader. She always wants the stories to get to the point instead of dragging on, so in writing, she puts light scenes in to break up the suspense. She doesn't always know what those scenes will be, she just has a feel for what's needed there. One example is when Sophos and the magus are traveling to Attolia in aCoK, when they eat the chicken. "We eat the chicken now!" was a scene that made her happy while she wrote it.

• She was asked to explain the gods and how the different pantheons work with each other, and said she never wants to explain the gods. She doesn't want them to be cut-and-dry or understandable.

• Asked about writing such complex, ruthless characters and making them likeable.

Alex (mod): Do you think [the POV characters] good? Megan: *silently presents Not Telling socks*

• Said that if you're going to spend so much time in a characters head, there has to be some part of them that you and the readers will like. And there are some people whose heads she didn't want to be in. Even the ruthless ones making terrible decisions, she does like. "Nahuseresh? Not so much."

Alex: *says something about how they've never encountered books with more poker face than QT* Megan: *big ol' grin*

• Talking about how these books have so many layers and so much suspense, Megan said a lot of that is owing to the fact it's a series and she needed to be consistent, she couldn't switch the style of it or tone halfway through. When she writes the next thing, it might be a whole different kind of book. She'll have to see whether that was just sonething distinctive to QT, or that's what she naturally gravitates towards writing.

• She mentioned that she isn't fond of 1st person narrative, and the chat collective raised a single eyebrows at the irony.

• In fact, TaT was written in 3rd person at first. But she realized that wasn't working so she scrapped that and rewrote the whole thing, bc it needed to be Kamet who was telling us the story.

• She pronounced Kamet as "Kam-et".

• When talking about the details in her books and how they go into logistics, she brought a book onto camera called Alexander the Great and the Logistics of the Macedonian Army by Donald W. Engles. It heavily influenced the way she wrote about war and the politics thereof in QT.

• The Thief was partly inspire by a conversation she had with a young relative back during the Bush administration when Kuwait was invaded. The young relative didn't understand what the U.S. was doing in the middle east when we had so many problems to focus in our own country, and Megan explained that we weren't involved in that conflict out of the goodness of our hearts, but bc they had resources we wanted. (The way she phrased it, you could hear the magus talking to the boys in The Thief, and it gave me shivers.) And she realized, kids don't see that side of war in stories. Armies are always fighting Sauron and the forces of evil, and acting out if their own self-interests against people who might not be all bad.

• And thus, The Queen's Thief spiraled jnto existence.

• Why does she choose to write about disability and illness the way she does? Rosemary Sutcliff. Sutcliff was disabled for most of her life, and this reflected in the stories she told. Megan recalls Warrior Scarlet as the first book that challenged her as a kid to think about disability and illness as a natural part of life, and to question who gets to be at the center of the story. Who gets to be the hero? Who gets to be the hero of an adventure story? Why shouldn't characters dealing with illness or disability be those heros?

• TaT was a direct response to Sutcliff's novel Eagle of the Ninth, where an earnest young Roman soldier has these great plans for his life that get toppled when he is injured in his first battle and can no longer serve.

Megan: Costis checks every box for earnest young guy!

• In Eagle, there is a slave who travels with the protagonist and is freed by him at the end as part of the protagonist's journey. It was important to tell TaT from Kamet's point of view so that it was about him. "He is never an object of a quest, always a person."

• Megan has never read The Aeneid.

• She recommends Lavinia by Ursula K. Le Guin, which tells The Aeneid from a different POV.

• On writing process: She doesn't outline. When she has a book idea, she first tells it as a story by cornering her husband and telling him the whole thing with plenty of hand gestures. After that, she does a "sketch". She writes down the shape of the story, plotlines and characters, which is usually half the length of the finished book. Then she fleshes it out, and cuts and adds and cuts snd adds until she has pretty much a whole book, and then she edits again to cut everything that doesn't absolutely need to be there.

• She says it's important to remember you can't fix everything in one draft. You just need to focus on 20 or so things at a time, and then on the next pass you can focus on 20 other things.

• On keeping characters straight: "It's very crowded in my head." She doesn't focus so much on remembering exactly what she has written about a character before, but knowing who the character is so that she knows how they would react in whatever new situation she is writing them in.

Megan: Okay, Costis. I know this guy, I know what he's going to do. He's going to punch that guy in the face and it will be very embarrassing.

• A lot of people asked about the vampires referenced in The Thief and if they were real. She's not telling.

• Someone *cough*me*cough* Asked if she was planning a spin-off series about Eddisian vampires falling in love. "Never say never, but it's probably unlikely."

Alex: What happened to Ornon's sheep? Megan: Guys....guys......I have to put on another sock, come on, guys! *digs for her Not Telling socks and holds them up*

• On worldbuilding: You have to break with reality. It's great to research the process of how to retin pans! Adding details like that can enrich your story, but you can also add things that wouldn't have been possible in the real world. Like, pocket watches and window glass and printing presses all at the same time. The made up details also make your story richer.

Megan: Cut the research and tell a good story!

• On myths: She never writes the myths first. When she was writing The Thief, she would make a new line and type "[Myth Here]" and then go on with the rest of the story and cone back to that later.

• She recommends Ancient Near East Texts by James B. Pritchard for some good myths!

• What she likes best about DWJ: The Audacity(tm). DWJ would write about the most bizarre things very casually.

Megan: Her stories had a "hold my beer" quality.

• She told the story about hiw DWJ got her published (Alex: "She had good taste") and trying to send DWJ the advanced copy of aCoK before she died, but those stories have been retold elsewhere before so I won't bother with them now.

• Megan wore lovely, lovely earrings! And at the beseechment of the chat, she showed them to the camera and told us they were made by @freenarnian

• Finally, the winner of the trivia party was granted the honor of asking a question on camera, and Megan benevolently said she would not cry Not Telling on whatever was asked.

• Margaux, the winner, asked what the age difference was between Dite and Irene, and if they had grown up together.

• After a REAL long pause, Megan said that she didn't think they had grown up together. Irene is younger than Dite, and she was too busy, and I quote, "killing people." Her childhood ended early and she didn't have time to be a kid. Besides that, they wouldn't have been allowed to hang out in Attolian society, bc she was a girl and he was a boy. They were probably introduced to each other atvevents, but that was it.

• Also: Dite is pronounced "Die-tee".

• She has more events like this planned in the future!!!!! Keep an eye on her tumblr!!!!!

• EDIT: @whataliethatwas made a transcript of the event!

#megan whalen turner #queens thief #the queen's thief #queen's thief #mwt #rott #return of the thief #this has been a post

[asmywhimseytakesme]

As promised, here is a list of my favorite tropes in fiction. I may continue to refine this over time.

Note, I am not pulling these from a website, I’m writing these up myself. There may be a page on tv tropes for all or most of these, but I’m trying to articulate to myself what I like and why I like it, so I’m naming my own tropes and writing descriptions that are specific to my own taste. I’m also including a short list of examples for each.

Needless to say, if you know of a book or show that includes some of these tropes (the more the better) and it isn’t mentioned here—PLEASE TELL ME. And of course, these are just my preferences and opinions—if you disagree, that’s fine, we just don’t like the same things 😁

These are organized loosely by category—character tropes, relationship tropes, and plot tropes.

Under a cut so people who aren’t that interested in my specific tastes don’t have to scroll forever.

Character Tropes

Mastermind—

An extremely clever and competent character who reads people, pulls strings, and often has a grand scheme the other characters are unaware of. Usually a good guy (at least my favorites tend to be), but doesn’t have to be.

Eugenides (Queens Thief), Miles Vorkosigan (Vorkosigan Saga), Peaceable Sherwood (the Sherwood Ring), Lord Peter Wimsey (the Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries) Sir Percy Blakeney (the Scarlet Pimpernel), Sherlock Holmes

Note: all the above examples are male characters, but I don’t consider this a gender specific trope. I would love recommendations of female characters who fit this trope.

Not Just A Soldier / Not Just A Mom

I originally had these listed as two tropes, and then realized that they were just inverses of each other. They each have to do with fulfilling gender stereotypes in some ways, while subverting or transcending them in others.

For a male character in the genres I read, Not Just A Soldier is typically a fighter of some kind, and really good at it. Basically, on the surface he appears to be a very Masculine Male Manly Man. But! It turns out he is also just a really nice guy. And not only that—he’s smart, and he’s good with kids!

On the flip side, Not Just a Mom seems at first glance to be your typical motherly feminine character. But! That isn’t her entire personality! She also has a (not particularly feminine) career and hobbies outside of parenting, and she is confident and competent doing those things—AND (this is important) those non-mothering things she is good at are essential to the plot. (This tends to be less of an issue that needs to be specified with male characters, grumblegrumble.)

So on both sides, we have a character who is fulfilling gender stereotypes on one hand, but subverting them on the other.

Not Just A Soldier examples: Costis (Queen's Thief), Din Djarin (the Mandalorian), Cazaril (the Curse of Chalion), Uncle Iroh (ATLA)

Not Just A Mom examples: Hera Syndulla (Star Wars Rebels), Cordelia Naismith Vorkosigan and Ekaterin Vorsoisson Vorkosigan (Vorkosigan Saga), Katara (ATLA)

Adventurous Parent

A parent who continues to be cool and have adventures and stay involved in the plot even after becoming a parent (a GOOD parent, of course).

Din Djarin (The Mandalorian), Dr Mensah (Murderbot Diaries), Hera Syndulla (Star Wars Rebels—-we’ll see if this holds true now that she actually has her own biological child?? Assuming she’ll show up in future Star Wars projects—I’m hoping to see her in the Ahsoka series🤞)

Reluctant Ruler

It seems like many bad guys would kill to be king—and many good guys would really, REALLY rather not be in charge, thanks. But when a good guy is forced by circumstances beyond their control into becoming a ruler, and they decide that they might as well try to do a good job at it, and then THEY ACTUALLY DO—this trip has my whole heart.

Maia Drazar (The Goblin Emperor—this book is basically the perfect example of this trope and I love it SO MUCH), Eugenides (Queen’s Thief), Sophos (Queens Thief), Aral Vorkosigan (Vorkosigan Saga), And hopefully Din Djarin in Mandalorian season 3? OH PLEASE YES I NEED THIS.

Broken, but loved

The name basically says it—these are characters who believed themselves broken, heartless, and unlovable, but others chose to love them anyway. It’s important to note that they are NOT “saved by love”, but they do CHOOSE to try and be better because of love.

This trope just GETS ME EVERY TIME GUYS. It makes my heart hurt in the most joyful way.

Murderbot (Murderbot Diaries), Attolia (Queens Thief), Zuko (ATLA), Medraut (the Winter Prince)

Friend Indeed

This is a simple one—a character who befriends someone who is in the middle of a difficult situation, when it would be much easier to just keep their distance.

Ratthi (Murderbot Diaries), Csevet (The Goblin Emperor), Kuill (the Mandalorian)

Magic Schmagic

The character in a fantastical story who can’t do magic, doesn’t know about magic, and doesn’t WANT to. They just wanna carry on being their own non magical, mundane selves and we love them for it.

Sokka (ATLA), Din Djarin (the Mandalorian), Digger (Digger), Gideon (Gideon the Ninth)

Relationship tropes:

Found Family

Ok, this is a popular one so don’t think I need to explain it. Since these often involve large groups of characters, I’m just going to list a few of my favorite pieces of media where this trope features prominently.

Star Wars Rebels, the Mandalorian, Digger, Murderbot Diaries

Reluctant Friendship

Where two characters are thrown together and one or both doesn’t particularly want to be friends with the other, but as they move through the adventure together they gradually come to like each other and form a friendship.

I also love the romance side of this trope but I’m just as happy to read about a platonic relationship.

Ben and Nathaniel (This Was Our Pact), Kaidu and Rat (The Nameless City), Kamet and Costis (Queen’s Thief), Digger and Shadowchild (Digger),

Magical Animal Sidekick

A character who forms a deep personal bond with a magical creature. It doesn’t have to be an actual creature—in a sci-fi setting this could also be a sentient robot or ship.

Temeraire and Laurence (His Majesty’s Dragon), Ani and Falada (Goose Girl), Murderbot and Art (Murderbot Diaries), Ezra and the Loth Wolves (Star Wars Rebels)

Prose/plot tropes:

It’s Complicated

Related to the Mastermind character trope, the distinction here is that this is a plot that wasn’t manipulated by a single character intentionally, rather it’s a complex series of interactions and misunderstandings that are all revealed to be interconnected in the end.

The Court Jester, Howl’s Moving Castle, To Say Nothing of the Dog, Digger

Sarcastic, Witty, and/or Colloquial narration

The name says it all. I usually prefer this in 1st person, but it can be fun in 3rd person too. In 3rd person it might be the narrator who is witty, or it might just be the main character's thoughts that are witty as related by the narrator.

1st person— The Thief, Murderbot, Digger, Dragonhaven

3rd person—Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, Gideon the Ninth

Written For You

First person narratives are interesting and tricky because there is the question of WHY narrator is telling the story, and who they intend it for. I love first person stories where the narrative is specifically addressed to a person or group, which adds a level of meaning to the story. This isn’t the same as a story told in diaries or letters (though that can be fun too).

The Thief and A Conspiracy of Kings, the Winter Prince, All Systems Red, Dragonhaven

The juxtaposition of Magic and Mundane

I deeply love stories that mix magical things with mundane details of life in a deliberate way. I feel this makes real life feel a bit more magical, and helps magic feel a bit more real. This juxtaposition can be a central idea of the plot, or might simply be present in the way a narrator describes things.

This may be my favorite trope of all, come to think of it (though there are a lot of great ones listed above, so maybe I shouldn’t start naming favorites…) most of my own story ideas center on this idea to one degree or another.

Totoro, Kiki’s Delivery Service, Howl’s Moving Castle, His Majesty’s Dragon, Digger, Hilda, Queens Thief, Dragonhaven

Tropes I would like to see less of: prophecies, hereditary magic, a Chosen One, Soul Mates, fate/destiny. Yes, many of the stories I love involve these tropes, they’re hard to get away from in the genres I prefer to read. These tropes are Iess exciting to me first off because they’re done so often, but there’s a bigger reason I’d like to see less of them, which has to do with characters agency. I’m much more interested in a story that is about a character who CHOOSES to do the right thing, not because they were Chosen, but because they CHOOSE themselves to do the right thing. In the same vein, characters who CHOOSE to build and maintain a relationship are so much more interesting and, frankly, romantic to me than people who are just meant for each other BECAUSE FATE OK. Just.... no. People making tough choices because it’s the right thing to do makes for a much better story (aim my opinion) than people who do the right thing because DESTINY. So the overall theme here is, more character agency! (And as I said above—if you disagree, that’s fine! This is just me listing my preferences and opinions.)

If you read all that—wow! To all those who made it this far, thanks, and if you have any book/show recommendations that involve these tropes, please tell me about them!!

#tropes i like #personal #on writing #on reading #book recommendations #queens thief #the mandalorian #star wars #murderbot diaries #digger comic #studio ghibli #hmc #atla #howls moving castle #vorkosigan saga #and uuiuuh a bunch more but those are the main ones

[huilian]

Once they had taken Kamet away--after that declaration from the king that showed even Costis had no idea of the scope of Eugenides’s planning and interventions--they showed Costis to a room in the palace. It was a nice room. Nicer than the ones he had in the barracks, and far, far, nicer than the dungeons.

He would have traded the room for that well in Zaboar if it meant seeing Kamet again.

He was technically no longer under arrest. He could leave if he chose; there were no guards outside his door, and the attendants who had shown him this room hadn’t said anything. There was nothing stopping him from leaving, except for the unshakable certainty that Eugenides will come to find him.

He could still leave, if he wanted to. There was no place in the palace of Attolia that Attolis could not get to. But the feeling that was growing in his chest, a combination of disbelief and incredulity and fury and grief and bitterness and even, shockingly, a sense of betrayal, stopped him from stepping a foot outside the door.

His patience was rewarded, hours later, with the sound of a door opening. It was a reward, because Eugenides is more than capable of opening the door without a sound.

Costis knew that much.

"Your Majesty," he said deliberately.

Eugenides stood in the doorway, with an expression that was as blank and cold as the mountains of Eddis. It was a far cry from the kind smile he had given Kamet earlier, or even the tired expression that he had had when he entered the courtroom. Costis has never seen him look like this before--he has seen the king deliberately made a fool of himself, he has seen the king so furious he turned green, he has seen the king look like a god reincarnated to walk in this earth, but he has never seen him look like this before, utterly blank and devoid of any emotion.

Right now, with all of his own emotions rumbling inside his chest, Costis couldn't bring himself to care.

"I would have done it again," Eugenides said evenly, meeting Costis’s eyes. It was like he knew exactly what to say and how to say it to infuriate Costis even further, and said it for just that purpose.

Costis didn’t trust himself to not punch the king in the face again if he allowed himself to react, so he simply stared back at him. Even his eyes, the ones that were normally always glinting with mischief, were flat and dead.

They stayed in that silent staring until eventually, still with the same even tone and blank expression, the king said again, "You may hate me, if you wish."

Costis thought about everything the king had done, and about everything the king had inadvertently caused Costis to do. He thought of his journey through what felt like the entirety of the Mede Empire, and of everything he now knew Kamet felt every second of that journey. He thought about every single lie the king had told him, and about every single time he infuriated Costis.

It would have been so easy to hate him, if only it wasn't so hard.

Costis allowed himself a small sigh. He plucked the ring from his ear, the one that Eugenides himself had given him, and walked across the small length of the room, stopping right in front of the king. Eugenides still wore his blank expression, but this time, Costis remembered how easily the king had been able to hide everything about himself, so much so that only when he was half-asleep and delirious with a nightmare did he sound like an Eddisian.

The king was able to weave his emotions into a cover so well no one even tried to look beyond, and so what did it mean, that the only cover left in the king’s face was a blank expression?

Costis dropped to his knees in front of his king, placed the seal ring back into Eugenides's finger, and pressed his lips to the ring. Then, he pressed Eugenides’s hand onto his eyes, and said, "I do not wish to hate you, My King."

He stayed there, until Eugenides said, “Oh, get up, Costis.”

The king’s voice didn’t change, but when Costis stood up, he could see the life coming back to the king’s eyes. Here was his king, and if he had lied and deceived and schemed his way around Costis’s life, well, Costis knew that when he had sworn to follow him and his god.

Eugenides sat down on one of the chairs in the room, and gestured at Costis to do the same. The closest one to where Eugenides was seated was the bed, so Costis shrugged and sat down on it. It reminded him of a day months and months ago, the day that had changed his life forever.

Unlike that day though, this time he didn’t need unwatered wine to loosen his tongue. “It wasn’t just spite, was it, Your Majesty?”

Eugenides sighed and placed his head on his hand, which was in turn placed on his knee. He looked, once again, like a printer’s apprentice, and Costis had never been so glad to see him look like one.

“To everyone else, I would have said yes. But no, Costis, it wasn’t just spite. Though I’m sure you know that spite played a part in it.”

“Are you going to tell me what it is?”

“No,” Eugenides said. Costis fought a sigh of disappointment at that word, but before he could do anything more than that, Eugenides continued. “At least, not now. I won’t even know whether or not he has it until later tonight.”

“Are you going to see him?”

“Yes,” the king said. “Actually,” he stood up from his chair and brushed out his clothes, “I should get going now. We’ll talk more later. I do want to know everything about your adventure. But unfortunately, I have an appointment with the kitchens.”

The stories that Kamet had told him about the sandal polisher he had met during his stay in Attolia, and the revelation that that boy was the king in front of him chose that moment to come together in Costis’s mind, and, before he could think better of it, he said, “Did you truly bite Onarkus?”

The king turned around in astonishment. “Did he tell you about that?”

“He told me you bit him. Twice,” Costis said, still having trouble imagining Attolis biting the head cook.

Eugenides let out a soft laugh. “Don’t tell me you wouldn’t have done it too, given the chance.”

“I told him that you liked the gardens,” Costis hammered on. “And he told me that that kitchen boy had also liked the gardens.”

The king’s eyes turned distant. “Yes,” he said, before the mask snaps back into place. “And now I must face Brinna,” he continued with a cheer that Costis now knew to be false. “Let us hope she doesn’t follow your example, Costis, and punch me in the face.”

Eugenides turned around again, but before he could leave, Costis remembered something he should have said earlier. In the midst of all his anger and bitterness, he forgot. He shouldn’t have.

“My King,” he called out.

“Hmm?”

“I’m sorry,” he said. He didn’t say that he had promised ten gold cups for his king’s safety, and he would have promised ten, twenty, one hundred golden cups if it meant that the child that Attolia had been carrying would have been safe. Would have promised one hundred more if it meant that Attolia herself was safe and healthy.

After a small silence, Eugenides said, “Thank you, Costis,” and Costis knew that it was for more than the condolence. “Get some rest. I have more planned for you, if you would still accept orders from me.”

“Always, My King,” he replied. Then, the king exited the room, without a sound this time, and Costis was left, once again, alone, wondering about how Kamet was.

#queen's thief #costis ormentiedes #eugenides #lian writes #i was beset by this scene and HAD to write it

[loquaciousquark]

QT reread continues

Intro, TT, and QoA thoughts here and here.

King of Attolia is still probably my favorite book in the five published, though QoA & TaT are close close seconds. There’s so much going on in the background, so much going on in the foreground, and even knowing somehow Gen has all of this in his capable hand/s doesn’t keep us from some incredibly tense moments throughout the novel.

The first time I started KoA, I really, really missed the Gen from Thief. There’s a distance through Costis’s eyes even greater than the sudden 3rd person of QoA; not only because he is an unknown guardsman who’s only known Gen for a few months, but because he hates him. They all do! It’s so hard on the first read because we the readers know how good a person Gen is, how he truly wants the best for the queen and her country (not particularly because he loves her country but because she does, and he loves her), and it hurts to see someone we love bullied, isolated, mocked, and despised for no reason. (The irony of that given the beginning of Gen’s & Irene’s relationship is not lost on me.)

It’s emphasized in every interaction. Not just by the disgust dripping off every one of Costis’s words, internal and external, but even in the narrative. For 99% of the novel, Gen is “the king” to Costis. The king sighed. The king lowered his sword and was standing still, looking exasperated. The king turned his face away. It makes it all the more jarring when we see a section from Ornon’s perspective in the first third of the novel where he is only called Eugenides, not “the king.” It makes it even more poignant and painful and perfect when, at the very end of the novel, Costis watches the sparring bouts and thinks of him as Eugenides as often as he does the king, and even once at the very end, just slipped in as if no one might notice, Gen.

It’s not even entirely Costis’s fault, either! He makes an observation at one point that in the king’s eyes there were things hidden that he chose not to reveal. This is as much Gen’s doing as it is Costis’s; for most of the book he chooses to be king without being king, and so to reveal his capability (with the sword, with his cleverness, with the wielding of power) is to--in his mind--usurp power from Attolia and undermine her authority. Only Relius understands that it can only make her stronger, and even that understanding comes only after he is tortured for betraying Attolia. “Betraying,” perhaps.

(And on that note, I could spend another thousand words on Relius and Teleus and their relationship to Attolia alone, but again, this is getting longer than I want it to. Suffice it to say that these are some beautifully complicated relationships in a book already brimming over with them, and I love how painfully different each one of them is and how similar they are to Gen--all of them at the root bound by their love for the queen.)

I did wonder for the first time on this reread if Gen could have prevented the torture of Relius and chose not to, rather than intervening as soon as he felt he could to rescue him. Perhaps because he knew that Relius would not have believed Gen could still love Irene after the loss of his hand until he himself still loved Irene after his own failure and betrayal; that Gen knew Irene still needed Relius for the security of her throne and for her own humanity, and the only way to gain Relius’s trust would be to show him by example that even in the most abject, broken moments of their lives they would both remain devoted to her service. (Those nighttime meetings with Relius are so precious to me as a reader. They are so small and so perfect.)

And before I leave Gen’s relationships in this book altogether, I want to talk for just a second about how important it is that he and Attolia fight. They get angry at each other a lot in this book, especially Attolia. And it’s all justified! She’s angry when he is publicly humiliated by his attendants & the court--not because he is being humiliated but because he is choosing to allow it, and she knows he could be so much more than he is--and when he places himself in harm’s way, either out of deliberate design (Costis) or rare carelessness (Sejanus). She is toweringly enraged when he denies her the justice she believes is needed after the assassination attempt (”you prefer his mercy to my justice?”), not because she wants to kill Teleus, but because she has held her throne by doing the ruthless things necessary to keep it, and when Gen denies the authority of the kingship it undermines her power, forcing her to become almost more ruthless in her rule to compensate. Better no king than a weak one, as Ornon says, and until Gen publicly shows himself willing to do what is necessary to keep his power, Irene is forced to continue being the exceedingly effective scythe she has been most of her adult life. We know Gen hates and fears the public eye, that he is most effective in the shadows; and yet he married a queen, and there is no choice left that won’t offend the gods but becoming king in the process. And yet, at the same time, we are given the small moments of peace (the gift of stillness, the reveal of the passage between rooms, the conversation in Attolia’s rooms) that remind us at the heart of it they’re just two babes in love, which is why we’re all here to begin with.

(Last thought before I wrap up: I continue to adore the portrayal of the gods in these books. I love that they are manifestly real and manifestly limited in their power, that Gen is allowed a direct and tangible connection with his god, that Costis is allowed that glimpse in turn, and that of all mortals Gen is saved from falling by his god of thieves and told directly, “Go to bed.”)

Okay! You know who we’ve been missing? Sophos. Let’s go read about Sophos for a bit!

#queen's thief #qt reread #long post for ts #king of attolia #eugenides #attolia #qt spoilers #major ones

[knife-dad]

list 3-5 snippets of literature/media that live in your head rent free to the point where you have them memorized. write them down from memory! (try not to cheat!)

1. I will not say "do not cry," for not all tears are an evil. - Gandalf, Return of the King by J. R. R. Tolkien (idk why this stayed with me, maybe its just the comfort of knowing that sadness can have it's place in life) (or maybe it's just that I cry a lot)

2. He smiled then, realizing what had so frightened the miller. "Woo-ooo," he said, waving his hands in the air. - Costis in Thick as Thieves by Megan Whalen Turner (I swear I think about this at least once a day. One of these days I'm going to memorize the whole passage)

3. Sunny with a high of 75 since you took my heavy heart and made it light/and it's funny how you find you enjoy your life when you're happy to be alive -Sunny with a High of 75 by Relient K (this has been in my head since middle school lol)

... I think that's about all I can do. Seems like the things I love leave my head completely right when I need them lol x)

@agardenandlibrary thanks for tagging me!

Tagging: @hobbitsetal @whataliethatwas @thylovelylionheart @jupiterlandings

#tag meme

[eponymiad]

Queen’s Thief Appreciation Day Four: A short story (aimed for something a little fun and weird today since I’m writing every day!) 

Gen trains Costis to be a thief (but make it a video game).

If you can handle auditory input, I listened to this on a loop while writing and it makes it a much more fun read. 

*

Level One: Accept Your God, Accept Your Quest

The king summons Costis to his rooms a week after their morning show in the training yard. He tells him, finally, what he has planned for him.

Costis is going to steal Nahusaresh’s slave.

From Ianna-Ir.

Costis wills his heart to stop racing. He trusts his king. After the night on the top of the tower, he trusts his god, too.

He’s just not sure he trusts himself.

However, Eugenides says Costis will have to train first.

The king swings an arm over Costis’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, Costis. This will be fun.”

Costis notices the king fails to specify which of them would be having fun.

*

The training is not so much worse than when he first enlisted, he thinks. The king teaches him how to walk across the ceiling rafters, how to open a lock with a pocket of tools, and how to slip a knife from a man’s pocket without him noticing. He practices negotiating in Medean, reading maps, and even how to stay silent through pain. Costis could have done without the king thwacking him between the legs with the hilt of his training sword, but, well. There wasn’t much he could do about it.

Overall, it’s not that bad.

That’s when the tasks start.

Quest One: The Boots

Costis has been given unsavory tasks since he began training with the king. Baaing like a sheep at the Eddisian ambassador to Attolia from a secret stairwell had been a rather stressful one — Costis was sure Ornon could skewer him with his sword like a pig on a spit if he wanted to.

But tonight’s mission is the worst yet.

He’s fairly certain the king is just doing this for his own amusement. There’s no other reason for Costis to be sneaking through the palace in the middle of the day in order to steal Teleus’s boots.

Teleus is with the queen. There’s no risk of being caught. He just has to slip into Teleus’s room, grab them, and take them to the king. Simple.

Costis thinks he might be sick.

He uses his new tools to open the lock on Teleus’s door, trembling hands slowing him down, sweat dripping in his eyes.

The ceremonial boots are against the wall, just where the king said they would be. He’s in and out in seconds. It feels like a lifetime.

*

The next time the king and queen hold court, Costis recognizes the comically-large boots on the king’s feet. The pulsing vein in Teleus’s forehead gives him away.

Costis may have to start sleeping with one eye open.

Quest Two: The Brooch

It appears that stealing the captain of the guard’s boots was the least of his worries.

“Costis,” Eugenides says, sitting sideways in his chair, legs draped over the ornate arm. “I want you to steal the queen’s brooch.”

“Excuse me, your majesty?”

“My wife’s brooch. The one inlaid with emeralds. Looks like a honeycomb? I want you to steal it. And I want you to do it while she’s in her rooms.”  

“I—“

“None of that, Costis. If you can’t steal from someone you like, you certainly won’t be able to steal from someone you fear.”

Sometimes, Costis thinks wistfully of his time as a squad leader. Maybe he should have accepted the king’s offer of land in the countryside instead.

*

In the end, it’s almost easier than the boots. After hours spent idly waiting in the queen’s room while the king recovered from the attempted assassination, he knew the precise location of every object in all the queen’s quarters. It’s easy enough, then, to slip into her wardrobe unnoticed while Iolanthe is plaiting the queen’s hair, and Eugenides is lounging on the bed, and the rest of the attendants are running in and out with breakfast. It’s her largest piece. It’s at the forefront of her jewelry chest, like it was waiting for him. Maybe it was.

The brooch burning a hole in his pocket, and heart threatening to beat out of his chest, he looks at the king across the room; Eugenides winks.

Quest Three: The Road Trip

Costis waits until all that is left of his guide is the cloud of dust kicked up by his retreat on horseback before he opens the letter marked with the king’s seal.

Costis —

If your guide followed my instructions, you now find yourself at the border between Eddis and Sounis. I apologize for the lack of fanfare. I did once consider making my own skeleton a road marker. I imagine at the moment, you’d have preferred that path for me.

In the bag I gave you, you’ll find some food, a cloak, your spare boots, and a limited amount of gold. You must make it back to the palace without being detected.

I hope you memorized that map I leant you.

— Attolis

Costis lowers himself gingerly onto a nearby boulder. He gave himself five minutes to orient himself and make a plan.

When time is up, he stands, rolls his shoulders a few times, and begins his climb up the slope.

*

He makes it back, barely. If he never has to catch and eat another rodent as long as he lives, it will be too soon.

Quest Four: The Wine Shop

Sneaking out of the palace unrecognized is the easiest task yet. Suspiciously easy, if Costis is honest.

Which is why he shouldn’t be surprised when he sees that the guard on duty at the outer gates is—

“Aris,” he mumbles to himself. He slips behind a wall to compose himself. He’s good at this. He can dupe his best friend.

Dressed as a foreign dignitary in evening robes, he pulls the hood of his cloak a little tighter over his forehead and strolls toward the gate with his best imitation of a haughty walk.

“Costis?”

Gods damn it.

“Aris.” He lowers his hood.

“What…what are you doing out?” Aris looks at the other soldier on guard. Costis doesn’t recognize him. The man, who Aris must outrank, has the good sense to pretend not to be listening. “It’s nearly the dog’s watch of the night!”

Costis debates telling him he’s on official business for the king. “I’m — ah — meeting someone .” He hopes his friend takes the bait.

Aris waggles his eyebrows conspiratorially. “Good for you, Costis.”

Costis rolls his eyes for good measure. “Good night, Aris!” he says, and walks through the gates.

“Try to get some sleep, Costis!” he calls back, and Costis waves him off with a hand above his head, never looking back. Aris’s booming laughter fades as he walks further from the palace.

*

He makes it to the wine shop without further interruption. Eugenides is waiting for him inside.

“And?” he says.

Costis shakes his head ruefully. “Aris recognized me. I’m sorry.”

“And what did you tell Aris?”

Costis looks up at the king. “Uh—that I was meeting someone.”

“Someone?”

“Yes. He assumed it was a late night tryst.”

“Ah.” Gen smiles, and slides a cup over to Costis. “Then you have done well.”

“My king?”

“Sometimes,” he says, as he pours wine into Costis’s glass. “The most important skill is lying to those you trust.”

He tips his cup at Costis and drinks.

*

Quest Five: Palace Haunts

The palace guards have strict orders: if they see Costis, they’re to take him to the king immediately. Life was easier before the guard took the king seriously; Costis is beginning to regret forcing the king’s hand in the training yard.

Costis spends the entire day evading capture — with stealth, with disguises, and a lot of time crouching and waiting.

*

When the king returns to his bedchamber for the evening, Costis is already sitting in an armchair waiting for him.

Eugenides smiles. “Very good, Costis. I’m impressed.”

Level Six: The Journey

All the while, Costis and Eugenides plan. Costis practices his Medean, he studies maps, he reads notes and scrolls about the Mede palace. And he waits. And waits. And waits.

Until one night, he wakes before the sun rises to find the king sitting on his bed.

“A ship is leaving for Zabrisa in an hour. I need you on it. Ornon’s message arrived yesterday — he is settled in Ianna-Ir, and is prepared to help you. Are you ready to leave?”

Costis nods. “I will not fail you or our god.”  

“So, so, so,” Eugenides says with a nod of his head, eyes distant as he picks at the fraying edge of Costis’s blanket.

He stands and walks toward the door, but stops a step from the doorway. He turns.

“Costis?”

“Yes, my king?”

He smiles gently at Costis. “Be blessed in your endeavors.”

Costis returns the smile. “It’s an honor, my king.”

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Level Two: Nahusaresh's Right Hand Man

Find it on AO3 here!

*

Thanks again to @ iridescentfeline for the huge help and amazing suggestions!! (also check out her art and fic this week!!)   

#this is weird and silly and I made my own night writing it even if I've written better and tighter #qtappreciationweek #queen's thief #queen’s thief #poor costis who never did anything to deserve this #no one deserves this