arrowdeft

[arrowdeft]

NO MORE MASTERS

Akali - by kirin - dash only - low activity

[arrowdeft]

𝑺𝑬𝑵𝑻𝑬𝑵𝑪𝑬  𝑷𝑹𝑶𝑴𝑷𝑻𝑺.

↬   THE  LANGUAGE  OF  THORNS,  midnight  tales  and  dangerous  magic.   (  2017  )  by  leigh  bardugo.

sentences  taken  from  or  inspired  by  the  collection’s  dialogue  &  narration.

+   feel  free  to  change  pronouns  !

i.    AYAMA  AND  THE  THORN  WOOD.

‘  love  speaks  in  flowers.  truth  requires  thorns.  ’

‘  we  all  know  the  story  of  how  the  queen  becomes  a  queen.  ’

‘  we  should  leave  this  place.  ’

‘  no  doubt  it  will  come  and  devour  us  all.  ’

‘  the  beast  will  laugh  you  right  out  of  the  wild  lands.  ’

‘  you  know  how  the  stories  go.  interesting  things  happen  only  to  pretty  girls.  ’

‘  is  the  wood  much  worse  than  a  garden  overgrown  with  pricklers  ?  ’

‘  stupid  girl  !  do  you  wish  to  become  a  monster  ?  ’

‘  strike  me.  cleave  me  in  two.  ’

‘  you’re  as  thorny  as  the  wood.  ’  

‘  there  is  but  one  rule  in  my  wood.  speak  truth.  ’

‘  perhaps  you  might  show  mercy  freely.  ’

‘  just  eat  a  bit  of  the  sun  to  fill  the  sky,  and  you  will  feel  empty  no  longer.  ’

‘  what  nonsense  !  of  course  that’s  not  how  the  story  ends.  ’

‘  some  people  are  born  with  a  piece  of  night  inside,  and  that  hollow  place  can  never  be  filled.  ’

‘  what  do  i  care  for  winter  ?  no  season  touches  this  wood.  ’

‘  you  know  the  only  bargain  i  will  make.  ’

‘  sometimes  the  unseen  is  not  to  be  feared  and  those  that  are  meant  to  love  us  most  are  not  always  the  ones  that  do.  ’

‘  bad  fates  do  not  always  follow  those  that  deserve  them.  ’

‘  no  prince  is  worth  your  life.  ’

‘  are  you  so  eager  to  be  eaten  ?  ’

‘  they  have  told  me  to  return  with  your  heart.  ’

‘  you  think  to  love  a  monster  ?  ’

‘  a  man  like  you  is  owed  no  words.  ’

ii.    THE  TOO  CLEVER  FOX.

‘  you  are  doomed  to  a  miserable  life.  ’

‘  better  to  be  hungry  now  than  to  be  sorry  later.  ’

‘  what  will  everyone  say  when  they  see  such  a  face  ?  ’

‘  we  have  not  gone  so  soft  as  that.  ’

‘  you  think  that  we  will  let  you  live  on  foolish  promises  ?  ’

‘  you  have  bested  me.  that  much  is  clear.  ’

‘  will  you  not  free  me  ?  ’

‘  you  will  have  a  fine  time  of  it,  i  can  tell  you.  ’

‘  i  can  bear  ugliness.  i  find  the  one  thing  i  cannot  live  with  is  death.  ’

‘  if  you  will  only  cease  your  talking,  i  will  gladly  go.  ’

‘  where  he  went,  he  bled  the  woods  dry.  ’

‘  what’s  a  bit  more  blood  ?  ’

‘  you  should  leave  this  place.  you  are  not  safe  here.  ’

‘  with  such  big  eyes,  i  think  you  see  too  much.  ’

‘  will  you  not  tell  me  what  troubles  you  ?  ’

‘  why  do  you  stay  with  him  ?  you’re  pretty  enough  to  catch  a  husband.  ’

‘  just  because  you  escape  one  trap,  doesn’t  mean  you  will  escape  the  next.  ’

‘  first  i  must  find  my  courage.  ’

‘  few  can  resist  the  sight  of  a  pretty  girl  crying.  ’

‘  the  trap  is  loneliness,  and  no  one  escapes  it.  not  even  me.  ’

‘  in  the  wood,  even  songbirds  must  be  survivors.  ’

iii.    THE  WITCH  OF  DUVA.

‘  there  was  a  time  when  the  wood  ate  girls.  ’

‘  be  back  before  dark.  the  trees  are  hungry  tonight.  ’

‘  who  can  say  what  shapes  an  appetite  ?  ’

‘  this  is  my  home,  you  can’t  just  send  me  away.  ’ 

‘  don’t  be  foolish.  there’s  plenty  of  light.  ’

‘  well  then,  come  help  me  stir  the  pot.  ’

‘  i  will  warn  you  just  this  once.  go.  ’ 

‘  you  cannot  come  and  go  from  this  place  like  you’re  fetching  water  from  a  well.  ’  

‘  hope  made  me  stubborn.  ’

‘  stay  there  and  keep  quiet.  i  don’t  need  rumors  that  i’ve  been  taking  girls.  ’

‘  i  will  not  have  you  bring  a  monster  to  my  door.  ’

‘  you  know  that  you  are  welcome  to  remain  here  with  me.  ’

‘  i  will  follow  her.  i  will  peck  out  her  eyes.  ’

‘  believe  me.  say  you  believe  me.  ’

‘  dark  things  have  a  way  of  slipping  through  narrow  spaces.  ’

iv.    LITTLE  KNIFE.

‘  it  is  dangerous  to  travel  the  northern  road  with  a  troubled  heart.  ’

‘  if  you  are  lost  in  your  own  thoughts,  you  may  find  yourself  stepping  off  the  path  and  into  the  dark  woods.  ’

‘  she  was  beautiful  from  the  moment  of  her  birth.  ’

‘  why  must  i  be  the  one  to  hide  ?  ’

‘  do  you  think  i  am  so  foolish  or  so  cruel  ?  ’

‘  water  only  wants  direction.  it  wants  to  be  told  what  to  do.  ’

‘  always  you  have  done  my  bidding,  but  what  good  are  you  to  me  now  ?  ’

‘  soon  i  will  be  very  rich,  but  will  i  have  a  good  man  ?  ’

‘  that  is  a  question  for  the  river.  ’

‘  your  tongue  is  not  fit  for  my  true  name.  ’

‘  will  you  come  with  me,  and  be  bride  to  nothing  but  the  shore  ?  ’

‘  she  was  terrifying  in  her  beauty,  bright  like  a  devouring  star.  ’

‘  remember  that  to  use  a  thing  is  not  to  own  it.  ’

‘  should  you  ever  take  a  bride,  listen  closely  to  her  questions.  ’

v.    THE  SOLDIER  PRINCE.

‘  this  is  the  problem  with  even  lesser  demons.  they  come  to  your  door  in  velvet  coats  and  polished  shoes.  ’

‘  you  will  find  great  love  and  more  gold  than  you  could  wish  for.  ’

‘  he’s  a  charming  fellow,  but  most  unusual,  and  peculiarities  seem  to  follow  him.  ’  

’  it  seemed  harmless  at  the  time.  ’

‘  he  needed  a  girl,  still  malleable,  one  that  he  could  make  admire  him.  ’

‘  this  is  pleasant.  this  is  enough.  ’

‘  are  you  my  soldier  ?  are  you  my  prince  ?  ’

‘  i  have  not  come  to  fight,  only  to  talk.  ’

‘  wanting  is  why  people  get  up  in  the  morning.  it  gives  them  something  to  dream  of  at  night.  ’

‘  i  am  perfectly  real.  ’

‘  she  loves  you,  though,  and  that  will  make  it  harder.  ’

‘  best  not  to  ask.  i  think  the  answer  would  please  no  one.  ’

‘  we  can  stay  forever  in  the  land  of  dreams.  ’

‘  kiss  me.  take  me  from  this  place.  ’

‘  i  sent  you  to  die  a  hundred  times.  ’

‘  i  eat  the  wonder  in  their  eyes.  ’

‘  you  were  an  idea  in  my  head.  you  were  nothing,  and  to  nothing  you  will  return  when  i  think  of  you  no  more.  ’

‘  you  wanted  only  that  i  might  live.  you  would  sacrifice  your  own  life  to  make  it  so.  ’

‘  are  you  my  darling  ?  are  you  mine  ?  ’

vi.    WHEN  WATER  SANG  FIRE.

‘  you  wish  to  strike  a  bargain.  ’

‘  make  me  someone  new.  ’

‘  this  is  the  problem  with  making  a  thing  forbidden.  it  does  nothing  but  build  an  ache  in  the  heart.  ’

‘  easy  magic  is  pretty.  great  magic  requires  that  you  trouble  the  waters.  ’

‘  no  one  expects  me  to  accomplish  anything.  ’

‘  i  can  smell  your  ambition  like  blood  in  the  water.’  

‘  i  know  that  you  should  keep  it  like  a  secret,  not  shout  it  like  a  curse.  ’

‘  yes.  i  can  imagine  it  all.  ’

‘  you  are  worth  more  than  that.  you  should  not  have  to  earn  him.  ’

‘  hope  rises  like  water  trapped  beneath  a  dam,  higher  and  higher,  in  increments  that  mean  nothing  until  you  face  the  flood.  ’

‘  there  is  no  pain  like  the  pain  of  transformation.  ’

‘  take  your  pleasures  as  you  will.  ’

‘  come,  and  i’ll  tell  you  all  you  wish  to  know.  ’

‘  he  made  me  dream  of  things  i  cannot  have.  ’

‘  i  do  not  care  for  dancing.  ’

‘  look  into  the  mirror,  and  try  to  deny  it.  ’

‘  you  have  never  been  like  the  others,  and  you  never  will  be.  ’

‘  we  were  not  made  to  please  princes.  ’

‘  i  am  not  quite  mortal  either,  and  i  have  many  lives  to  live.  ’

‘  i  wouldn’t  care  if  you  were  part  human  or  part  frog.  ’

‘  my  voice  is  not  enough.  ’

‘  you  know  i  was  never  strong.  ’

[arrowdeft]

On Violence and Ideals

I don’t really agree with how I often see Ashe represented in the community. I’m not a fan of how she tends to be almost pacified in her role as the protagonist, a bit too much of a violence averse goodie-two-shoes. Ashe is an idealist, and she has lofty goals for the betterment of the Freljord, but she is far from a pacifist and her sense of morality is far more in line with the warlike culture she was raised in, I see her as far more similar to Sejuani than is typically portrayed. Ashe was raised by warriors to become a warrior herself, fighting and violence are second nature to her.

In The Harder Path, we see Ashe presented with the leader of an enemy tribe, Hildur, one who was guilty of the slaughter of another tribe under Avarosan banner. She had surrendered to Ashe, bargaining her own penance for the sake of her tribe, and Ashe’s first instinct is to behead her with Hildur’s own axe. A swift and brutal act of vengeance, an eye for an eye, but she doesn’t, and in sparing Hildur she’s fighting with herself. Battling to prove that this practically cultural cycle of Freljordians killing each other is not the answer, but that’s not easy, on another day in a fouler mood she could have easily taken Hildur’s head as a warning to those who cross her. Although, her ideals of peace do not align with her absolute hatred for Draklorn and Frost Priests, she still holds a grudge over Maalcrom’s betrayal, and none of them will get any mercy from her.  

Leadership is easily challenged in the Freljord, anyone self assured enough can claim the current leader to be weak or unfit and demand ritual combat for sovereignty. Ashe is no stranger to this, having seen her aunt Helnr challenge Grena, and been herself forced to grant a warrior’s death to members of her own tribe over their squables, a loathsome tradition but one she saw as necessary. The strong govern the Freljordian tribes, and Ashe does not always appear to be so, being both young and small, the tall tales of her being Avarosa reincarnated are not enough for some, so a display in battle is sometimes the ony way to prove her strength, as regrettable as it may be.

[arrowdeft]

I need your teeth in me, slow and vicious, to tell me my armor is just skin, bones, only bones.

Jamaal May, from “The Whetting of Teeth,” The Big Book of Exit Strategies (via arrowdeft-a)

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She was worn, and weary, far more than what was necessary to bear their aggreived reunion, a foul curse slipped under her breath, quiet enough that only the gods might hear. Old nerves took hold of her as she pulled her hood forward, desperate to be unseen. Already she was counting the paces between them, fearful of the worst, she reached for her bow, a white knuckled grip letting the bitter chill flow through her form, hoping that might steady her.

Still a fire began to rise in her chest, stoked by the words she wished to shout back in angered reply; about how that helmet didn't suit her, that she should have left it in the ground, and how she should turn back if she had half as much sense as a wildclaw, or how she should take her herself. Nothing she could think to say would do any good.

❝ Sejuani— You are wiser than this. —I want no part of this, do not make me. ❞  Often when she spoke, she channeled the voice of her mother, bellowing and boisterous, the voice of a Warmother, but not this time, it was her own voice, the voice of Ashe, soft and still, equal parts plea and warning.

@arrowdeft.

the feeling of seasons " changing " hardly goes noticed anymore, yet the persistence of cold, sharp and staggering within her lungs makes her pause for moment. yet that rage harbored within her more than fuels the warmother in her trek. the outline of slightly warmer breaths the only thing apparent from sejuani as she regards the other.

feelings mix, tumultuous with violence, the thought of nothing more than issuing challenge a conflict within her mind. reflexively tightening muscles. she wants nothing more, than to purge that ache of distant memory of greeting, tucking longer strands behind the hood she sports. to find new scars upon skin. but betrayal surges like an ugly beast, betrayal of all that sejuani knows. cruelty. jaw clenches to swallow, skin between eyes and brow wrinkled as she regards ashe. the name itself seeps beneath armor. ❝  you seem worn out. mind that the wildclaws not take you before i do.  ❞ 

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friendly reminder that i literally, actually cannot die, and id love to see any of you fuckers try to take me down

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i just think that unhinged female characters with a little blood on their face and wrath in their eyes is pretty neat, that’s all

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ashe vc: if you’re taller than me, you should be kneeling

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Joan of Arc

[arrowdeft]

On Violence and Ideals

I don’t really agree with how I often see Ashe represented in the community. I’m not a fan of how she tends to be almost pacified in her role as the protagonist, a bit too much of a violence averse goodie-two-shoes. Ashe is an idealist, and she has lofty goals for the betterment of the Freljord, but she is far from a pacifist and her sense of morality is far more in line with the warlike culture she was raised in, I see her as far more similar to Sejuani than is typically portrayed. Ashe was raised by warriors to become a warrior herself, fighting and violence are second nature to her.

In The Harder Path, we see Ashe presented with the leader of an enemy tribe, Hildur, one who was guilty of the slaughter of another tribe under Avarosan banner. She had surrendered to Ashe, bargaining her own penance for the sake of her tribe, and Ashe's first instinct is to behead her with Hildur's own axe. A swift and brutal act of vengeance, an eye for an eye, but she doesn't, and in sparing Hildur she's fighting with herself. Battling to prove that this practically cultural cycle of Freljordians killing each other is not the answer, but that's not easy, on another day in a fouler mood she could have easily taken Hildur's head as a warning to those who cross her. Although, her ideals of peace do not align with her absolute hatred for Draklorn and Frost Priests, she still holds a grudge over Maalcrom’s betrayal, and none of them will get any mercy from her.  

Leadership is easily challenged in the Freljord, anyone self assured enough can claim the current leader to be weak or unfit and demand ritual combat for sovereignty. Ashe is no stranger to this, having seen her aunt Helnr challenge Grena, and been herself forced to grant a warrior’s death to members of her own tribe over their squables, a loathsome tradition but one she saw as necessary. The strong govern the Freljordian tribes, and Ashe does not always appear to be so, being both young and small, the tall tales of her being Avarosa reincarnated are not enough for some, so a display in battle is sometimes the ony way to prove her strength, as regrettable as it may be.

[arrowdeft]

[arrowdeft]

HOW DO YOU NEED TO BE LOVED?

like the snow melts you need to be loved patiently. you need to feel the love slowly creeping in, a warning, a way to back away if you’re too scared. you need to be loved cautiously, as if you’re fragile. you need to be loved gently, because love is messy and muddy and makes your socks wet and hurts if the sun gets too close. but you need to let yourself be loved, because when you do, it’ll feel like spring.

[arrowdeft]

Every goddess carries a monster between her bones and iron in her heart.

thoughts #40 | r.m (via rmeisel)

[arrowdeft]

[arrowdeft]

“elusive in the valley, like birdsong above the trees, a weightless and painful feeling carries you through the branches and through the leaves. the land in all its ancience breathes: a sinking from deep within the earth enfolding you towards the tomb of a world foregone, but not yet forgotten. pray to the gods of yore, sing the song of steel and of sword, the time-honoured dead, and join the humming pain of the olde world, with all of its beauty and all of its grief.”

— Annika Rempel, off to the forest in search of the long dead king

[arrowdeft]

WHAT TAROT CARD ARE YOU?

THE MOON

You avoid corners and doorways - do you know why? Have you looked inwards recently? Do you understand what is happening there? Your mind is muddled and dusty, a mirror you haven’t been able to clean properly. Smudging the nervousness just leaves streaks on the glass, which makes your face harder to see, which makes you nervous. What are you nervous of, darling? What keeps you up at night? Why haven’t you confronted it? Do you know what it is? Can you answer my questions? Are they making you nervous? Am I frightening you?

UPRIGHT: DECEPTION, DIFFICULT PERIOD, FEAR, HIDDEN THINGS. REVERSED:  MYSTERIES UNVIELED, RELEASE OF FEAR, UNUSUAL DREAMS.

[arrowdeft]

@draklorn​ said: "Will you loose an arrow at me?" Their tone betrays an almost softness beneath that harsh helm. "Does your goal of peace in our home not include the Frostguard?"

     The  arrow  fired  without  hesitation,  whistling  through  the  air between  them  before landing  in  the  snow  with  a  muffled  thud,  a  hair's  breadth  from  striking  the  frostguard. With  that  she  had  given  her  answer,  a  threat,  she  did  not  miss.  She  bore  a  hatred  for the  mere  sight  of  that  grim  helm,  it  brought  rise  to  a  fire  in  her  heart  and  a  fury  in  her blood,  resurfacing  memories  she  wished  would  drown.  It  was  too  familiar  a  reminder  of her  friend,  her  betrayer.  Even  under  such  intense  emotion, she  would  not  become  a   killer,  not  again, at  least  not  unprovoked.

     ❝ Do  not  speak  to  me  of  peace,  Draklorn.  I  know  your  kind  too  well.  I  know  how your  Mistress  wishes  me  dead,  I  still  bear  the  scars. ❞   As  she  spoke,  another arrow  was pulled  from  her  quiver,  this  one  holding  far  more  vicious  intent,  if  it  was  to  be  fired  at all.  Her  voice  did  little  to  hide  her  feelings , there was a sharpness,  a  violence  present  in her  words.  ❝ Her  and  her  kind  are  not  welcome  in  My  Freljord. ❞