generalstarkov

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“Alina wondered what flower Zoya would choose for her”

Sankta Zoya, Patron Saint of Retribution, Protector of The Voiceless

Brought to you by @wafflesandkruge, me and our clown to clown communication 

“- hey did you ever posted this?

- hey so remember how you were supposed to write part 2 of this?

- oh” 

So this has been buried in my drafts for 2 years and it was originally part of the grishaverse mini bang but now it’s finally yours

Read what Tiff wrote for my edit here

I will be dissecting all the details I included in Zoya's saint portrait under the cut

Composition

For the composition i drew inspiration from the Holy Trinity portrait on the right. For the coloring/texture I tried to immitate the one on the left. Halos are not as common is orthodox saints as they are in catholic saints, but I thought it looked nice so I added it anyways.

Patronage

“Who would speak for Lilyana, for Genya and Alina and Baghra if she did not? Who will speak for me?”

Tiff and I agreed that Zoya’s patronage had to come out from this passage from KoS, but it was her who chose it because she’s sm better with words than me :^)

The flowers Ever since I had the idea of making a saint portrait for Zoya, I knew I wanted to include elements from her garden. In Rule of Wolves there’s a passage that mentions specific flowers for certain people, but I took the liberty of adding other flowers. For this, I used differente sources but mainly the victorian language of flowers. Some of them are directly associated with death and mourning, some of them are for people Zoya’s lost and some other for those who are still around but that she still grieves over. There are over 200 layers of just flowers in this portrait, just so you know how long this took. Regarding the distribution of the flowers, I tried to place the ones associated to those she loved the most closer to the frame, closer to her. as mentioned in Rule of Wolves Yew for Sergei Hearleaf for Marie Red Sentinel for Fedyor Dahlias for Nina (meaning: eternal love, commitment) My addition Marigold for Harshaw (meaning: sorrow) Penciled Geranium for David (Tiff’s choice, as mentioned in her fic) Buttercup for Alina (meaning: radiant with charm) Orchids for Genya (meaning: elegance, beauty) Aster and Baby’s breath for Lada (meaning: daintiness and innocence) Myrtle for Lilyanna (meaning:love) Black Iris for Baghra (meaning: wisdom, mystery, and rebellion) Forget me not + Gladiolus (meaning: mourning, funeral, you pierce my heart) Chrysanthemum + Pansies (meaning: condolences for someone going through hard times) Hemlock + Nettle (meaning: death, a loved one that is taken too soon) Snow Drop (meaning: consolation, hope) Carnation (meaning: heartache) Camellia (meaning: longing for you) Hyacinth (meaning: please forgive me) Hawthorne (meaning: hope) Orange Blossom (maning: eternal love) Petunia (meaning:anger, resentment) Poppy (meaning: eternal sleep) Rue (meeaning: regret) Asphodel (meaning: my regrets follow you to the grave) Zinnia (meaning: everlasting friendship)

The dragon dress This is self explanatory. I am just gonna say there are lizards and other reptiles involved in this and that it was Tiff’s idea to give her a dress with scales, so thank you Tiff.

The stars

“Few people noticed the little boat that had been painted into one of the six corners, or the flag it flew with two tiny stars. And no one who did would have known what it meant”

King of Scars

The mural It is canon that Alina painted this, so her signature is hidden somewhere in there. I tried to play with filters and textures to make it look as much as an actual mural as possibe.

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... there she was, as powerful in her way as Lord Asriel was in his. Your parents, both strong in this world, both ambitious...

Northern Lights, Philip Pullman

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It’s a Knife When

Kafka, Letters to Milena // Killing Eve, S1E5 // Phoebe Bridgers, Killer // Agatha All Along, S1E1 // Florence and the Machine, Mermaids // House of the Dragon, S1E7 // Taylor Swift, My Tears Ricochet // Hozier, Who We Are // Florence and The Machine, A Kiss With A Fist // Ethel Cain, Crush // Hozier, Cherry Wine // Daughter, Landfill // Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet // Sheridan Le Fanu, Carmilla // Killing Eve, S4E8 // Unloved, I’ve been thinking about her

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"She who, without asking, understood it all and still came to her fate."

Helaena Targaryen trapped in prophecy

Updated and fixed version on Insta

Also posted on Twitter/X

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HOUSE OF THE DRAGON 1x02 | 2x03

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SANDRA BULLOCK as SALLY OWENS in practical magic (1998)

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dogs

one for sorrow, two for joni jones, the japanese house // clifford // marley and me: life and love with the world’s worst dog, john grogan // boy's life, robert r. mccammon / snoopy's reunion // a big little life: a memoir of a joyful dog, dean koontz // jim butcher // les aventures de tintin et milou, hergé // dog songs: poems, mary oliver // jess c. scott // frankenweenie // this is the story of a happy marriage, ann patchett // dogs never lie about love: reflections on the emotional world of dogs, jeffrey moussaieff masson // the wonderful world of mickey mouse // me and my dog, boygenius // dorys day // isle of dogs.

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haunting the narrative

can't catch me now, olivia rodrigo / silver springs, fleetwood mac / no time to die / wuthering heights, emily bronte / closer than sisters, penny dreadful / i bet you think about me, taylor swift / la la land / the night we met, lord huron / victory and death, swtcw / lust, caution / king of scars, leigh bardugo .

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in honor of taylor adding “the smallest man who ever lived” to the eras tour set list (the bridge) and of america’s most important holiday (tiff’s birthday) i present, yet another, like real people do edit.

in case you haven’t heard like real people do is the best zoyalai fic written to date and you should check it out for your healthy dose of cold war/spies au 🙂‍↕️

happy birthday beloved, @wafflesandkruge ! 💕

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Past Lives (Celine Song, 2023)

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Zoya Pop Star Au (5/?)

Welcome to part five! In which everyone had the opportunity to do the funniest thing ever and they went for it, escándalo.

Part 1, 2, 3, 4

Edits by me and texts by @wafflesandkruge and her amazing mind 🥰

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Zoya Pop Star AU (4/?)

in which zoya isn't present, but her ex(es) are.

Pt. 1, 2, 3

this was originally part of a much longer chapter but it had to be split into two chaps for length 🥰 expect another chapter of zoya and co being messy soon. as always, thank you to @generalstarkov for the lovely edits and ideas hehe

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nothing will ever amaze me the way fanfiction authors do. like, you wrote silly little stories about my favorite little guys? and i can read them?? for free??? that’s fucking wild.

you poured your heart and soul and very being into your writing and then put it out there for anyone to read? insane.

you spend a truly incredible amount of time writing novel-length, high quality stories, again, FOR FREE, that anyone can read, again, FOR FREE??

shoutout to every single fic author in existence, you guys are fucking incredible and i love all of you so much

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Zoya Pop Star Au (3/?)

part 1, 2

Welcome to part 3 of our scheduled brain rot content! In which we learn what really happened between Alina and Zoya, and guess what, it is devastating, heartbreaking, gut wrenching, etc etc. Texts by the wonderful @wafflesandkruge and jounal entries by me 😌 brain rot was strong enough to get me to write something a n d post it here.

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Zoya Pop Star AU (2/?)

In which a tour is announced...who will show up at the last show? 👀

p. 1

welcome back to the silly little collab i have with @generalstarkov! next time, we'll get some insight into what exactly happened with zoyalina hehe

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Zoya Pop Star Au (1/?)

Welcome to the first part of our most recent brain rot! As Tiff said, you have not been subjected to it for a while and it wouldn’t be fair to gatekeep this 😌

The idea and the texts behind all this belong to @wafflesandkruge , I just happily edit whatever content she feeds me with, specially if it is zoyalina 💕

Enjoy!