#(although perhaps one per house?)

[dunmeshistash]

Ryoko Kui Q&A (part of the Autograph event in Shanghai, China)

Here's the full Q&A copied from the post by Minute_Profession_34 on reddit

Original on weibo

About Ryoko Kui

Q: You have created a lot of interesting short manga in the past, do you have any favorite short manga by other artists?

A: A classic choice though, I think it's the collection of short stories by Fujiko F. Fujio. Other impressive works include "Hanshin: Half-God" by Moto Hagio, "Hanashippanashi " by Daisuke Igarashi, "茄子" by 黑田硫黄, "Skygrazer" by Ishiguro Masakazu, and "Tabi (The Journey of Life)" by Irie Aki. However, I haven't really read many short manga compilations.

Q: Do you prefer to create short manga or longer ones?

A: Long manga.

Q: Do you have a game that you highly recommend to fans?

A: Although not a game title, Steam Deck is the best thing I have bought in the last few years.

Q: What kind of music genre do you like?

A: I'm really not a music person and don't listen to music at all. Sometimes I listen to something like Tropical House.

About the creation & worldview of Dungeon Meshi

Q: Is the main storyline of the comics conceived at the beginning? Is the final ending adjusted during the serialization process?

A: I decided everything from the beginning. It may sound overly pretentious to say that, but I am the type of person who cannot move forward with each and every story unless I have decided on the main flow of the story. Of course, there are parts that I changed during the process because I thought, "I was going to do it this way, but it might not be natural," and there are parts that didn't work out the way I wanted them to. However, I think the story turned out to be roughly what I had in mind at the beginning.

Q: Will people outside of the dungeon incorporate the use of magic into their daily lives?

A: It would depend on the region. There are many sorcerers in elven and gnome cultures, but I don't think you will find many in dwarf and most short-lived cultures.

Q: What secrets of ancient magic are the elves hiding? Why would one be punished for doing anything related to ancient magic?

A: It is about the existence of Demon. They restricted that information because they didn't know what effect it would have on the world if the existence of Ddemon became known.

Q: How do adventurers know the time? Is there any dungeon having a different time flow from the normal world?

A: Some people bring things like clocks, but most only use their biological clock. There are also Dungeons where the flow of time is different from that on the ground.

Q: In the world of Dungeon Meshi, how do you deal with natural disasters, what would Laios or Marcille or Canaries do when there's a drought or a storm?

A: I don’t think it is so different from us.

About characters in Dungeon Meshi

Q: It’s about to give the new puppy a name again. Can Laos still beat Falin?

A: 7 out of 10, Laios will win. Or it may be decided by rock-paper-scissors or a raffle.

Q: Who will inherit the Golden Land after the passaway of Laios? The children and grandchildren of Yaad? Or the descendants of Laios? Or will there be a new Devourer?

A: Maybe the descendants of the Laios will inherit it, or maybe it will be passed on to someone with no blood ties at all. Or perhaps the monarchy will be abolished.

Q: Will Laios continue to eat monsters in the castle? And who will cook, maybe someone better than Senshi?

A: Many people in Merini are good cooks, but Senshi's cooking must be special to Laios. He may invite Senshi to cook from time to time.

Q: Where will Falin prefer to travel to?

A: She may prefer places where she can see landscapes and cultures she has never seen before.

Q: Would Marcille befriend a half-elf, such as Fionil? Since half-elves shouldn't think too much about longevity amongst themselves. Or would they not consider race as a factor to make friends but by fate?

A: Because mixed species in this world grow at very different rates and have very different abilities from person to person, there is often not much of a sense of sameness when you first meet them. They may or may not become friends as a result of interacting with each other as we would with any other human being.

Q: Is there any special meaning of Marcille and her mother's ribbons on the neck? And what about Cithis’s ribbon?

A: In elven culture, people with magic tattoos on their necks sometimes wear decorations covering their necks to hide the tattoos (mainly military personnel) This has spread to the general population, and many people wear decorations on their necks even if they do not have neck tattoos. Marcille and her mother's ribbons are just for fashion. While Cithis may have something special.

Q: Why wouldn’t Cithis wear a gorget? Or she’s not afraid of Dungeon Rabbits?

A: Maybe it’s suffocating or simply not liking it? The head-cutting Dungeon Rabbit is a fearsome monster, but it is not the first thing for the rear guard to be on the lookout for.

Q: How will Izutsumi and Falin get along with each other?

A: They may work together if necessary, but I doubt that Izutsumi will actively show interest in Falin (as she does with everyone).

Q: Itsuzumi has a beast soul mixed with a small amount of human soul, and does she shapeshift between a beast-man and a beast form like Lycion?

A: It can be done, but once transformed, she may no longer want to return to her human form.

*This Q&A seems to be strange

Q: What would Thistle do if he attended the former dungeon masters meetings?

A: Perhaps he would feel angry at the incompetence of other masters (their dependence on the devil).

Q: How did Milsiril accept Helki to stay by her side? After all, she hated elves and was bullied by her Canary teammates.

A: In the past, Helki was abandoned by his comrades for various reasons, and she could not leave him alone.

Q: Has Kabru ever had a real relationship with a girl? If so, what race or personality type of the girl was she?

A: I don’t think he cares about race, etc...

Q: What kind of soba will Mithrun make?

A: I hope he can make delicious soba.

Q: I would like to know the name of Mithrun’s brother or his brother’s crush!

A: His brother's name is Obrin (オブリン). I haven't thought of a particular name for his brother’s crush, so I'll name her appropriately now. Hmmm. Sultha (スルスハ).

Q: Since Mithrun used to assist Canary from behind, I wonder what kind of weapons he was good at using? Or was he good at using no weapons? (this is new info from the Korean Q&A)

A: He used a magic staff similar to that used by Pattadol. He was issued with the same one by the team. However, he no longer carried it because he lost it easily.

[thesirenisles]

Mercury’s Prophets⚕️🪽

gemini & virgo

love, mythology, astrology observations✨

🌬️Mercury in the 1st house, 3rd house, 6th house,

🌬️Gemini Sun, Ascendant, Rising, Venus, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, Gemini Stellium

🌬️Virgo Sun, Ascendant, Venus, Mercury, Mars, Jupier, Stellium

🌬️Jupiter in the 3rd house, Jupiter in Gemini, 6th house

🌬️Mercury Dominant, 3rd House Stellium, 6th House Stellium

🌬️Sun-Mercury Aspects, Jupiter-Mercury aspects

“She leapt from the Earth. The free winds of the skies coursed beneath her golden wings as she raced for the clouds… the burden of her omniscience left behind. Nothing but silence above the heavens.”

Fascinating mythological history below! Do not steal any of my original writing. All rights reserved. © 2024 The Siren Isles Support

Voice of the Gods,

Soaring high above, with Godly knowledge ever-expanding… you are a magnificent being, Mercurian.

Gifted with wings to be free of the Earth 🌍 , one might confuse you for an angel.

However, Mercury blesses you with these wings to be a divine messenger, a literal VOICE of the Gods. ✨.

A prophet of sorts if you will. 💁🏾‍♀️

This energy makes you quite attractive, blessing you with divine looks and energy that is welcomed in any room.

When you speak, everyone listens. (Esp. 3rd house). This is a gift and a curse, of course, but it is still very powerful.

People can spot a Mercurian a mile away with your extensive knowledge and mellifluous way of speaking. You have a silver tongue. You could sell water to a fish in the middle of the ocean. (Pisces, I'm talking about you lol. Stop being gullible!).

The words you say leave a lasting impression and can cut someone deep to their core negatively, while also you could bless them greatly with your insightful knowledge and advice! (Because duh, Duality.💁🏾‍♀️)

You are always balancing two halves of yourself. Gemini of Air and Virgo of the Earth.

At your core, you’re both here to make connections and say what needs to be said!

With your planetary ruler being the fastest orbiting planet in our galaxy, you are always in constant, fast motion.

Ideas.. thoughts.. feelings… are always racing through the mind of a Mercurial being. Most are gifted with a natural claircognizance “clear knowing”, which can look different depending on the placement.

Why is this?

Mercury (Hermes to the Greeks, Thoth or Djehuty to the Ancient Egyptians) rules over commerce, communication, short travels, boundaries, intelligence, trickery, and thievery! 👀 LOL

GEMINI or the 3rd house apply these gifts in their natural settings: to the mind, communication, social activity, siblings (twins).

VIRGO or the 6th house on the other hand apply these gifts to their everyday routines and relationships. Less talking and more analysis & servitude. (The maiden).

The Duality of Mercury ⚕️

Virgo vs. Gemini

Mercury was the messenger of the Gods. He was essential to the communication and diplomacy between the realms. Each one trusted him. So, of course he knew them all well... and their dirty laundry.

🐍 Is it no wonder why they seem to know just about everybody and everybody’s business? Do not deny it, Virgo. LOL👀

Although they held more power individually, Mercury held the power of being their collective voice! (Also rules oration) They entrusted him with how and what was said on their behalf… often being a literal translator. (Powerful!)

This is similar to situations many Geminis and Virgos find themselves in. Many will come to you for advice and insert you into their dealings.👀 (As the middleman.)

Geminis on a social level and Virgos often within the family and relationships.

The Gods' divine trust came with plenty of gifts, which you’ll also find true of lovers in this lifetime. People value you and your gifts, which gives you purpose. (A virgo's dream.)

The most significant gift given to Mercury, was perhaps his trademark wand or staff... known as

"The Caduceus"

Per the Greco-Roman mythology, the caduceus was gifted to him by the Sun God, Apollo. A magical olive branch staff with two serpents intertwining around its base.

They say if it touched the dying, it blessed them with a gentle death. However, when applied to the deceased… they would literally return to life. (DUALITY!)

You’ve probably noticed this symbol at our hospitals, on our ambulances, etc.

I like to believe these two snakes themselves are yet another symbol of Mercury’s duality.

One is good and the other bad. One yin. Other yang. One Virgo and One Gemini👀

🐍Mercury was also known as the trickster God or God of thievery!

This is essential to note because I have a theory (possibly far-fetched, but makes so much sense) that this may have a connection to a certain Garden of Eden… where a certain serpent spoke to a certain woman and convinced her to eat the fruit of …. KNOWLEDGE. 🤯

They say that before the caduceus had it's powers, it was just a branch. Mercury was stuck in servitude to the God's.

But…what if… Mercury being the trickster God convinced the maiden (virgo) to bite of the the fruit of knowledge in the forbidden garden and gained a portion of the powers of Mercury that he did not want.

If Virgo took on the need to serve, then Mercury would be free to frolick the realms with his tricks and thievery. He was also remarked as a habitual line-stepper, or boundary-crosser. (This is unevolved Gemini energy all the way)

This really gets deep when you realize that Virgo's sister sign Pisces (whom in my Neptune post, I compared to Persephone) bit of the fruit of Hades in the same curious fashion and was in more or less words cursed!

This does not mean that being of service is a curse in any way, but honestly, the mythology behind this dual planet is fascinating.

I think Virgo actually bossed her side of the energy up to the max. She is the earthy incarnation of her own genius, often never showing just how intelligent she really is... so as not to reveal her cards.

Virgo can bring her wildest ideas to fruition within the Earthy realm! (After it's perfected to her liking of course.) A gift!

However, Virgo can also have some trickery within her nature… often appearing or putting on a more innocent act than she really is.

But, with Mercurian energy there is always the possibility for their beautiful thoughts to come out a bit... wrong.

This brings me to a very important note.

🐍Please beware of false gossip.

It’s inevitable honestly, as people can’t help but give knowledge to a heavenly messenger.

However, with the optional tongue of a serpent… be mindful of the power you possess Mercurians! (Think: Parsel-tongue in Harry Potter Universe.) It’s nothing to play with because here in this Earthly realm, Saturn is dominant and it is the ruler of Karma.

You are a divine PROPHET (or Prophetess). Please handle your energy as such. 🫶🏾

Mercurial Love Bites🐍✨

In love, they’ll have many admirers in several dimensions.

🐍I imagine a Gemini Mercurian as a sapiosexual, playboy of sorts. You’ll have your choosing of many lovers and will probably choose none… in search of new lands and ideas to learn and add to your beautiful collection.

You'll have an array of different tastes (in the bedroom as well) and will share passion with many, as you are a master of tricks.

🐍 It’s hard to lockdown a Godly intelligent being with the ability to fly away at a moments notice.

Many an earthly sign lover and watery soul will long for you and you will spin whimsical circles around them with ease, for you are too quick to catch.

Nothing too heavy or emotional, you must keep it light for this winged beauty or she’ll float away…

But, I do have to ask…my beautiful Geminis, 3rd housers if it ever gets tiresome to always be on the go?

Connecting too much to your air and neglecting your earthly connections through Mercury could leave you afloat for all eternity… alone. (This can of course be counter-acted with other placements in the natal chart.)

🐍Virgo Mercurians on the other hand are much more Earthy with their approach to love. This is the person who has thought very intricately about what the lover of their life will look like, smell like, and even their speech cadence. She eagerly awaits to be a perfect wife, organizing the home, teaching the children, etc.

Many will try to win her, as her innocent.. maiden-like energy is very attractive. While she may appear innocent, she is not naive!

All of her daily beauty routines, outfit curations, and perfected speech will not be wasted on just any man.

The Virgo's analytical eyes has surveyed many a suitor who tried to win her heart. She is looking for the perfect man. The one whom she can serve and assist while being provided for in return.

Better believe, if she chose you.. you have checked all of her boxes. For, she wants an Earthly promise...(AKA, Where's the money? If you ask me, the perfect suitor is perhaps a Capricorn or Taurus dominant. ) But, my Virgo queens... do not neglect your airy influences of Mercury as well. Life can be more rewarding than the material world.

This was a bit longer than i intended! But, I have never seen an in depth explanation of these dual energies of Mercury!

Thank you for reading! Wishing you blessings! 🪽✨

Neptune Observation♓️✨ Pluto Observation ♏️✨ Mars Observation

@thesirenisles | masterlist | Enjoyed? support🧜🏾‍♀️

[easy-there-leftovers]

I See You, Darling (2)

[Astarion x reader] Due to surprisingly overwhelming demand, the previous fic, along with this one and many more to follow, will now be part of a series!! It was honestly very difficult trying to come up with what happens next, but here we are. The idea came to me during a fever!! |Word count: 2.5k.| Based off of this post I made.

Part 1 here!!

Next part here!!

The reader believes they are in a dream. It wouldn’t be the first time their fantasies conjured up such an obscure, yet somehow realistic scene. And so they’ve elected to treat the experience with as much realism as one would observe in a dream; little to none.

Alternatively;An ex-art-student-now-traveler accustoms themselves to the party.

————━─━────༺༻────━─━————

“Shadowheart. Shadow…heart. Hm.” His gaze bounced between you and her. 

“I’m sure her parents meant well, but the name is rather ominous, isn’t it?” He leaned over to your side, not bothering to hide his blatant distrust. Lowering his voice dramatically, if anything.

“Unless she chose it herself. Which is even more worrying, honestly.” He chuckled out.

It had been no more than two bells after mornbright when you met Astarion. Since then, you’ve come to realize how…different your presence has changed the course of the story. Though more subtle than you expected.

It would seem as if you had met the elven vampire before the party was formed, which was strange as your last save point was far later than that and the forest had been quite a long way from the beach.

When you finally stumbled upon Shadowheart, he was quick to share his inner thoughts that you haven’t heard from the game before. 

As they continued with their quest to find a cure for the Illithid problem, expanding their party as they did so, you had tried to make yourself useful by doing the dirty work for them. Looting and opening crates filled with camp supplies, armor, and potentially useful weapons and artifacts could always come in handy for trade or for “artifact consumption,” as per Gale’s need. Sorting them for your group’s convenience.

And while you did not have more direct and immediate practical use for your course of study in the modern world, the research you’ve created and reviewed for character creation and world building was doing wonders for your survival.

Or as much as it can for a magicless, not so athletic human. 

The “runes” of the medieval ages that have been carved into stone, along with the basic history and background of the common races and deities of the fantastical world that tabletop RPG has offered puts you at quite an advantage.

Not to mention your experience with the areas of the game giving you the same effect.

But this library of information had also aroused something akin to suspicion and concern. It would be understandable if you were a simple traveler just like them, or perhaps even an artisan from the guild, but you were not as astute as either background.

So how could you have access to this much knowledge yet be unaware of more practical matters? It’s as if you had simply read about it from somewhere. 

Astarion had been quick to give an explanation before you could form one of your own that could poorly convince your companions. Although, perhaps his suggestion was more outlandish than anything you could have come up with.

“They came with me. Property and all the formality that comes with it. A family pet, if you will.” A perfect excuse to justify your constant proximity to him, and a likely explanation to being well read, but not well experienced.

You thought nothing of the title, your apathy to the non-hazardous labels of this world apparent.

The same couldn’t have been said about your associates who had a few comments about this disclosure.

“I am unfamiliar with the–well, I shall not say ‘culture.’ ‘Customs’, perhaps. I did not think your kind to house such breed of cattle. Perhaps they could be useful.” Was Lae’zel’s. 

“I assure you, they typically don’t. Humans aren’t naturally subservient to Elves, at least in this manner. This setup sounds more akin to slavery. Blink twice if you need help.” Was Gale’s response. 

“It seems like Astarion's from the upper city, given the embroidery on his armor. I wouldn’t put it past them to have servants that follow them around.” Shadowheart’s nose crinkled at the thought. 

The party already had such an interesting rapport. Not entirely comfortable with one another to divulge everything, but loose enough to have semi-pleasant conversation with.

You thought this as you sorted out the fruits of your collective labor into neat pouches and bags, keeping items similar to one another factioned into their respective holding space. The chest being closer to Withers more than you’d like, but it was nice to hear the ramblings of an…undead person? Hearing someone continuously talking allows you to be more productive.

You’ll admit, handling enchanted armor and crystals does make you a tad nervous but you’re comforted by the thought that it will not be you who wields it in battle.

Out of the corner of your eye, you see Gale approaching your direction. Possibly to ask for his share of the camp supplies just a little earlier to sate himself as you had an abundance of it for now. You regard him with your back turned and he stops for a bit.

“I will say that I don’t have the lightest of feet, but I figured myself better at sneaking around.” It’s not his fault that he got caught, but the bright purple robe and the smell of the oils you’ve been crafting for them are particularly noticeable.

“You are, but I’ll assume you're not exactly in the best shape after dealing with a few goblins.” You hold up a bottle of a healing potion, swinging it a bit with your fingers to indicate that the smell had warned you of his arrival.

“You’ve got a keen nose on you. Must be from all of Astarion’s training but, speaking of which,” He nears himself to your crouched form, going in to lean against a very old and empty crate.

“Gale, wait–” Right as your warning leaves you, they seem to evade him as falls right through the wood. A comical layer of dust and lichen pluming out from the force. He tries to quickly recover from both the physical and emotional damage as he brushes himself off to make himself presentable once more. 

“Ahem, as I was saying,” He again makes his way over to you, settling for just standing close as his attempts to look unbothered temporarily cost him his ego.

“I was serious about what I said before. While I don’t know what to make of our pallid friend just yet, as enigmatic as he is, what he said before is quite confusing. Best make haste away from here if you want your freedom while we’re distracted with this worm problem.” His tone suggests a genuine concern which confuses you.

You’d be lying to yourself if the label of the set up didn’t sound odd, but you’ve never expressed discomfort as there was nothing all too worrying about it on your end. It was mostly for show, and you had as much independence as Tav would have in your game.

You endeavor to quickly dispel his worries.

“You don’t have to worry, I’m very satisfied with my servitude under Astarion. He’s very lenient and reliable, and I’m better off with him than on my own." You return to your task of sifting through your materials but pause and look back up at him to continue.

"I do thank you for turning my way though. Your concern is much appreciated but unnecessary.” You lowered your head a bit to show your thanks.

“Well if someone as generous as yourself says to trust you on this, then I have no choice but to concede! I’ll keep a watchful eye and offer guidance, should you need it. Also, do we happen to have something for—” As he asks you for some sort of salve, just a few ways off, your eccentric “handler,” of sorts, watches the two of you interact.

Don’t get him wrong, such matters don’t really catch his attention, but being an elf does curse him with the ability to have extensive hearing. Something that he thinks Gale knew, and something you forgot. That would explain the lack of distance between you two.

He thinks it’s amusing how the wizard is trying to make conversation with you as if you were some foreign creature. His usual eloquence nowhere to be seen, and you seemed as unbothered as ever. Like how he usually saw you when you conversed with someone through a crystal.

It was a phone, not that he knew that though.

“They’re a real nice one, aren’t they?” Karlach says from her side of the camp which was nearer towards his tent and yours.

“Hm, yes. While that may be an admirable trait, it’s hardly going to get them anywhere if they keep this up.” Astarion huffed out, not very keen on your altruistic playstyle so far.

He doesn’t know much about what you do and don’t know, all he knows is that you do know of the events to unfold and could be the key to defeating his master.

 All he needs is to keep you at his side. So he’ll allow you this much freedom.

“Oh come on, you. You can’t seriously think that after everything. Our camp’s pretty well maintained because of ‘em, not to mention the connections we’ve been able to get!” She fortifies her statement by knocking on her chest, the engine humming within feels lighter and newer since you’ve informed her of the tiefling blacksmith at the grove. 

He hums in response, returning to reading his book as he thinks about his growing hunger. He’ll have to hunt soon enough. While your positive reputation occasionally reflects on him by proxy, it can also reflect negatively due to the alleged nature of your relationship. If he wants the journey to a way of understanding the tadpoles to be a more comfortable one, he has to at least prevent their trust in him from diminishing.

~

Night falls later than he’d have liked, having waited for everyone to be asleep so that he may prowl the forest for sustenance.

The rest were sound asleep in their bedroll as the skirmish from earlier on in the day had proven to be sufficiently tiring. The crackling fire surely brings a lulling warmth that he supposes he’ll have to miss out on for a while.

As he begins to slink off into the darkness, he looks back to gauge his surroundings and catches your form from across the settlement. It seems you were tallying away the items in the shared chest and double-checking to see that everything is checked and balanced with your records. 

Your shoulders jump at his suddenly standing form, but try to understand his intentions. You mouth, “where?” with a very confused face, to which he responds with a simple shushing motion and waits for your acknowledgement.

You nod slowly, and he holds your gaze before sneaking off once again.

‘He’s coming back, right?’ You wondered. The progression of your experience now in comparison to the game was vastly different, and you didn’t know if all scenes, or only some, would present themselves in this world. You assume he planned to hunt, and while you trust his abilities, you want to make sure he’s attended to properly should he be harmed in any way.

So after retrieving a few potions, a journal, and a pencil, you stashed them in a satchel and positioned yourself at the base of the tree in the direction he left in. You weren’t particularly sleepy tonight, and planned to pass the time in wait of your companion. 

There wasn’t much to do in this century to keep yourself entertained. The only things you’ve found so far were a few instruments and all manners of journals and inks.

The inkpot that you picked up appeared to be red this time. The game of, “which ink dye will I get this time?” will have to be the most of your entertainment for now. Not all too different from home, you suppose. And while writing keeps your mind at bay, illustrating all manners of wildlife have proven to be quite the fun exercise. 

You’ve made a few notes on creatures that you and your company have encountered. The visual elements of a drawing allowed you and the others to keep track of materials that could be salvaged from them, and their resistances to certain attacks. 

Though as much as you liked depicting such lifeforms in paper, you’ve come to be very interested in portraying your vampire friend.

Evidence of your interest present in the pages filled with his likeness as you search for an unmarked page. You’ve made a few of the others, yes, but anyone who would gain access to your journal would surely see which member of the group you favor more.

You continued to draw, and occasionally write, on the parchment as you waited for Astarion to come back. All sense of time evading you as you focus on the task at hand.

A perfect opportunity for a tired rogue to surprise an unsuspecting human.

“And what are you still doing up, little one?” He appears from behind the very tree you rested against, causing you to spill a bit of ink on your thumb.

You clicked your tongue, not at all annoyed by the character but by your absentmindedness and now stained appendage.

“Sorry, I was just waiting for you.” You sealed the inkpot, and gathered your materials. Effectively, but unknowingly, hiding your work from peering eyes that were the same deep red as your finger.

“I’m very flattered, darling. But couldn’t you wait until morning? I'm sure this couldn’t have been all too important, yes?” He gestures to your satchel, referring to your journal, but you misinterpreted it as him asking for your medical supplies.

“Oh, that depends. Are you hurt, by any chance? I stayed awake in case you might've needed help tending to yourself.” You opened the pouch to reveal its contents to him, your stained thumb in full view.

The sight makes him sigh out, but is thankful for your offered service.

“I’m alright, nothing of interest happened while I was away.” He considers telling you about the nature of his little…'escapade.' He's unaware if you are of his condition, and he doesn’t wish to out himself if not necessary to avoid possible conflict. So he settles for advising you to rest.

“We need you well rested, my dear. You sleep. I’ll keep watch.” The dialogue is familiar, and you can’t stop yourself from letting a small laugh out as you responded with an equally familiar line

“Thank you. I’ll sleep better for that.” You lower your head as you usually do in gratitude.

“The pleasure is all mine.” He mirrors your gesture, albeit in a way that is most appropriate for someone of his character. “Sweet dreams.”

You walked back to the chest. Returning the potions and ink you’ve plucked from the supply, but keeping the rest of the pouch’s materials with you as you turn in for the night. Awaiting the promise of further study that a new day typically makes.

As Astarion is left with his own thoughts, a sour taste still in his mouth from his earlier meal, he thinks about the man in the journal you kept. He did not see much, only a vague outline of the figure. He thinks about who, or what, it could have been but dismisses the thought rather quickly.

He has no time for a mysterious person with hair less perfect than his own, touching his untainted locks as he does.

————━─━────༺༻────━─━————

Thank you everyone for your interest in the series!! As per the request of some, I'll now be adding a taglist!

Thank you to @rey26, @shyminnie07, @lynnloveshobi, @iggee-rose, @automnepoet, and @tiannamortis for asking to be tagged!!

[theastrical]

Well hello there, one of my favorite writers. (Ssh don't tell anyone 🙃)

Diluc Kaveh Kaeya Zhongli + An s/o (i prefer fem! reader) who can sing oh so beautifully. More specifically, hum. The way they hum is like no other at all, it's a sad slow and melancholic tune. Like a fallen angel's melody echoing through the human soul.

So they've been distracted doing something else and the men catches them. But their lovely s/o is the shyest sweetheart out there so they just watch quietly in silence. A warmth filling their hearts, despite the coldness of the tune.

I guess you can say I've been caught a few times singing in a uhh depressive way lmao :') sorry this rq is lonngg. Take your own time to write!

melodies and genshin men!

genshin men reaction to their s/o’s lovely melodic humming.

diluc, kaveh, kaeya, zhongli x fem!reader

hurt comfort, fluff

notes: take care of urself and have a time for yourself hihic you deserve it~ <3

diluc’s way of showcasing his endearment:

He caught you off guard when you were planting your favorite flowers at the garden of his house. You loved taking care of the nature that’s for sure, and it seems nature loves you the same, even the birds start to chirp and the flower blooms magnificently with the existence of you in diluc’s eyes.

You were singing a lullaby, a children lullaby. a lullaby that can make you sleep just by hearing it. Diluc thought it was such an opportunity to seek the real you, the you that humms such a melodic tune without caring a single vision scheming into it; surprising you with an embarrassment at this case. Your voice are melancholic, it reminds him of the good old days, making him fell harder, even when some maids gossip around you…telling that your singing voice isn’t exactly like your voice…all shy with a very melancholic sad tune inside the chords of your voice.

So he secretly listens..before holding your shoulder…and hug you behind your waist. “i wonder…what makes my lady so beautiful today..? Her humming or her presence?”. Your blush is obvious and that satisfies diluc who ended up just kissing your cheeks out of adoration. The idea of you being all shy around him makes diluc want to kiss you even further…oh well, maybe soon?

“if you hum that lovely darling…how about you become the bird that wakes me up every morning..?”

kaveh’s way of understanding you:

it was a rough day, perhaps you were just trying way too much to have such an expectancy. The day ended up with failure and loneliness…kaveh isn’t home, he’s still proposing his architecture project to the academia. so you ended up writing down your feelings in your diary while you humm such a tune to closed off those feelings. You were too in depth with the tune and ended up not realising that he had knock on your door…

He had prepared a beautiful bouquet…and after hearing your pleasantly…sad tune, he hides and listen to your tune quietly. Not wanting to be caught; he takes off his shoes and everything just for you not to realise his existence.

Until—he hugged you from the back and it made your whole body tensed up. He whispers near your ear, his chin on your shoulder. “Why the sad tune..? It’s not like your diary is the only one you can make tales to…i’m here waiting for you to talk…”, per-usual, due to how shocked and shy you are from being caught…that one tear fell from your eyes. A giggle escape, although your cheeks are red and your eyes are watery. Yet he even continue to hum alongside you…no need for words, you guys are already in the zone.

Kaeya’s winter season:

You were crocheting kaeya’s pair of socks and his soon-to-be-beanie. He requested it long ago, maybe around 6 weeks before autumn ends, kaeya is a secret fan of your crochets…he loves handcrafts and he adores every creation you make with his whole heart. Today is almost winter, you know that he had ripped off his socks and his beanie was accidentally burn my klee…hence you’re out on your desk for around 9 hours now, just crocheting-crocheting-crocheting.

Out of listening to the music on your earphone, you start to humm a beautiful musical performance, the tune itself is creepy enough as it is, and your voice? It’s exactly like one might call a fallen angel voice. You continued to crochet like you don’t care about anything in this world. Unlike you, getting stuck in your own world is not kaeya’s thing, so he sneak up beside you, sitting down on the bed, while tilting his head, waiting for you to turn your head to him. He giggles. How cute is my little lady..she must be so focused, she forgot her husband has come home…he thought.

Suddenly an ad popped out and you were stressed! Your focus? All gone! Then when you look beside you…”hi” he smiles, like a crazy bastard. You almost scream from the surprise he planned. He helps you stand again even when your face are already so red…you hide your face whilst kaeya giggle, kissing your hand. “weird…everything about you make me all warm and fuzzy…even your lovely little humming are also sweet..”, he kisses your cheeks. “Why hiding it? I thought you wanted me to be happy?”…”then sing further, it’ll made me happier if you do.” He pats your fuming self as He takes your finished crochet.

Zhongli’s favorite orchestra:

zhongli secretly knows that you’ve been humming when he’s “asleep”. Yes, he’s not asleep. And yes he would only expose that he isn’t asleep when he wants to, cause this man doesn’t want you to know that he listens to your humming as if it’s a lullaby that drive him into dream land…it would make you all red and shy for WEEKS, so he refuse to expose it.

You didn’t know about his lies, you didn’t know that he has been pretending for months now. So you kept on humming…while cleaning the box where your used-to-be violin is at. You tried to prepare it all up, you tried to play it away from the bedroom as you hum, not wanting to wake zhongli up. Zhongli tries his best to sleep without your lullaby now…he needs to try it, but it ended up with failure. So when you came back from playing the violin…he was already wide awake, sitting.

you were so embarrassed, has he been hearing you singing and playing..? You never even sing or play your violin in front of your parents so…zhongli seeing it is already a big red “oh no” in her face. Now she’s all shy. Zhongli sighed for a moment before he gently pull you to bed…”sweetheart, sing for me..it’s not like you will die when i hear you…i can’t never let your beautiful “voice all ran out just like that…”, he cups your cheeks. “make me a lullaby that can make me fall harder…also sleep more peacefully my sweet little orchestra.”, he bops your red nose before kissing it sweetly.

Taglist: @esthelily @indarius @n0tamused @sangoqueenkoko @voidlesslove @lyralibra @eroxotckv @rikasurl @dailypenpen @daydreaming-paradies

[saturnsbabyboii]

𐐪𐑂Astro Observations𐐪𐑂

｡⋆｡˚ ʚïɞ ˚｡⋆｡｡⋆｡˚ ʚïɞ ˚｡⋆｡｡⋆｡˚ ʚïɞ ˚｡⋆｡｡⋆｡˚ ʚïɞ ˚｡⋆｡｡⋆｡˚ ʚïɞ ˚｡⋆｡｡⋆｡˚ ʚïɞ ˚｡⋆｡

(Life is like a butterfly...You go through changes before you become something beautiful)

｡⋆｡˚ ʚïɞ ˚｡⋆｡｡⋆｡˚ ʚïɞ ˚｡⋆｡｡⋆｡˚ ʚïɞ ˚｡⋆｡｡⋆｡˚ ʚïɞ ˚｡⋆｡｡⋆｡˚ ʚïɞ ˚｡⋆｡｡⋆｡˚ ʚïɞ ˚｡⋆｡

𐐪𐑂 Despite people talking negatively about Pluto and Saturn, I find them to be the most important and beautiful planets. If you have ever felt hopeless or stuck, look into the position of these two in your chart. All of us struggle regardless, however, Saturn and Pluto bestow us with insight, lessons and knowledge we gain through that struggle and as a result we get to move on further into our journey.

𐐪𐑂 I have found people with earlier degrees on their ascendent tend to have larger frames while those later tend to have smaller ones. I am not talking specifically about weight and measurements per se but rather the general form.

𐐪𐑂 Although aspects act the same in general, it is very interesting when you look into the signs, elements and modalities involved. For example, Trine tends to bring abundance when in Water and in between inner planet but is an indication of overindulgence when it occurs from an inner planet to an outer one.

𐐪𐑂 Mercury opposite Mars "I am not angry! That is just my tone." Be mindful of how you sound and how you deliver your message. It is important to be honest, but it is also important to have tact.

𐐪𐑂 Even though people still dispute which placements determine our leaning towards extroversion and introversion, I have found that the houses and the planets falling in them suggest what are we more introverted about and what are we more extroverted in. Having multiple planets in a house could indicate a higher leaning to extroversion as the sense to express is very strong and immediate, as opposed to an empty house, one might be less inclined to share. The houses that contain only one planet tend to fall under the general energy of said planet and sign ruling over the house, indicating a higher sense of introversion as the person may desire to reflect on the themes of the house or would rather to practice them alone than with others.

𐐪𐑂 However, in case of overall introversion and extroversion, having more planets in Air houses (3rd, 7th, 11th) indicate high extroversion while in Fire houses (1st, 5th, 9th) indicate higher introversion. This may sound off as Fire signs are given the reputation of boldness, however, as the opposite of Air, Fire tend to itself. Introversion isn't anxiety and awkwardness (although it might include them), but rather it describes a person that isn't reliant on social communication, has a low need for others, desires independence, and excels on their own. Another thing, the themes of the 1st, 5th and 9th, relate to freedom, personal journey, creativity, ideologies, beliefs and the self. Meanwhile, the 3rd, 7th, and the 11th relate to unity, communication, the collective, collaboration, harmony and the "us".

𐐪𐑂 Cancer Risings give off favorite child vibes. Having Leo in the 2nd and Libra in the 4th house defiantly makes for the "golden child" trope.

𐐪𐑂 I believe that the degree of a planet has bigger affect on its core desire while the sign affects the manner that the planet translates or comes across. For example, Aries Mercury is usually is thought of as brash and abrasive or interested in things that have themes of violence and sex. However, when in an air degree this person can be much more interested in matters of communication, science, education and holds social rapport at a higher regard. The difference being that the Aries Mercury with the air degree might come across very detailed and articulate, perhaps even to the point of pretentiousness. Yet in matters of thinking they're much more thought out, factual and meticulous than the general Aries Mercury description.

𐐪𐑂 People with Chiron in the 9th house may need to leave their home country or cut off their family to begin healing.

𐐪𐑂 Every sign deep down is similar to their opposite. Aquarius desires to standout while Leo seeks to fit in and belong, Taurus enjoys today in fear of tomorrow while Scorpio wishes for a better tomorrow so they can finally enjoy their day, Capricorn works hard in hopes of creating a better home while Cancer works hard to ensure the comfort of their home, Aries seeks companionship through conflict while Libra seeks individuality through process of elimination, Virgo does practical things out of superstitious believes while Pisces engages in escapist and spiritual practices to better understand realistic demands, Gemini learns to mentor while Sagittarius mentors to learn. Granted, this is an overly simplistic form of explaining it but I hope it was able to better explain.

𐐪𐑂 Venus Aquarius not only desires but actually thrives off of creating bonds online.

𐐪𐑂 People with Jupiter in the 12th would take very long to learn life lessons. This is partly due to having to under go many cycles of self undoing and changes to finally get the lesson.

𐐪𐑂 People with Saturn in 3rd/9th may be untraditional students or enter university late or take time to graduate.

｡⋆｡˚ ʚïɞ ˚｡⋆｡｡⋆｡˚ ʚïɞ ˚｡⋆｡｡⋆｡˚ ʚïɞ ˚｡⋆｡｡⋆｡˚ ʚïɞ ˚｡⋆｡｡⋆｡˚ ʚïɞ ˚｡⋆｡｡⋆｡˚ ʚïɞ ˚｡⋆｡

[quikhs]

Synopsis : Lately, Shoyo had been onto something and that makes you worried since he's been escaping from your guys 'rules' in the household. And that's lead to confronting him about it.

-> timeskip!shoyo is being slick (but not rlly) so you had to catch him and shred him to pieces/jk. Establish relationship. In general, fluff bc shoyo in angst? *Heart shattered.*

wc : 670 (drabbles)

A/N : theme makes me want to scream, legit had to search for a divider for a few mins and ended up using the ones in my gallery :')

Goodbye and welcome kisses are a must.

Either when it's Shoyo or you going out, which meant leaving one or the other. Showing love through small pecks, intertwining your pinky with his became somewhat of a routine as a greeting and goodbye. Even when in such a rush, this tradition has no exceptions, as it's a must.

...

So when Shoyo just disappears, leaving no trace behind except for a 'I'm going!' and the sound of the door shutting, perhaps he's too late for training? Or he had forgotten about—there's absolutely no way,not a bit would he forget the kisses you always share.

Or has his brain got a memory loss? The thought lingered in your mind as you kept on with your daily tasks before taking your leave as well. It happened tomorrow once again, then the next day.

Now, that's suspicious, Shoyo.

But before you can catch on, he always leaves earlier than he normally would. In addition, it makes things worse because that's even more suspicious.

Yet, you wouldn't put an accusation against Shoyo; he's a sweetheart. There's no way he would do something behind your back, maybe.

And that's how you are waiting near the door, awaiting his figure to leave the house with a goodbye kiss because, you’re sure, if this keeps continuing, then you'll be crazy by the end of the week. For your sanity, you have to put an end to this.

...

In simple terms, you wouldn't let it slide today.

And when Shoyo finally rushes to the door, just to be greeted by someone with a big, wide frown like a pouting child that made him chuckle. Although he tried to refrain from it because that means you're upset. As he picked up his sports shoes, sliding them on easily without any disturbance—only your frown.

Just as Shoyo is about to open the doorknob, holding onto it, you say, "My kiss?" The sharpness in your voice, the glare that could just pierce his back, he swore it was (very) scary for someone who's lovely. Shoyo's head slowly turned to face you with a sheepish smile as he pulled his hand from the knob.

Of course, you noticed.

And how doomed Shoyo is now.

"Aw, miss me that much?" he teases while taking you in his arms, wrapping you close to him before pecking your lips as per usual.

"Well, a certain someone may have forgotten the rules here," you retorted, still keeping the slight resentment in your tone. As a result, Shoyo cackles.

Okay, he's been caught.

"Oh, I definitely owe Atsumu a drink after this," he muses while keeping his arms under yours. Alright, that got your attention fully.

Atsumu? Drink? What is he on to? Shoyo only cackles more when he sees the confusion written on your face.

It turns out Atsumu had made a bet with Shoyo. That if he managed to go without a goodbye and a welcome kiss for about a week, he'd buy Shoyo a drink. Now, everything clicked together like a complete puzzle. Although your nose scrunched at his words before he brushed his against yours playfully.

Maybe that's why he's been running away...

and Shoyo earned a gentle slap on the shoulder from you. "You—fine, no more goodbye kisses then!" you said, trying to escape from his grasp, still upset by how he just acted so casually. "No, wait! I love your kisses!" Jokingly, Shoyo tightened his grip and hoped to never let go.

Well, not now at least.

Perhaps he should do this again; your reaction was absolutely hilarious (and sweet), although he'll keep that to himself since telling you that, would just earn another slap from you.

And how Atsumu was grateful for you because the drink was definitely a blessing. After that, Shoyo noted to not put anything involving love and affection between you two, since in the end, he'll lose anyway.

But did he regret it? Nope, witnessing your reactions towards his (feigning) dismissal of your shared intimacy is the best.

[aelenavelaryon]

JACAERYS VELARYON X REINA TARGARYEN

REINA TARGARYEN

The war had been waged, everyone had picked a side, and others had yet to decide who truly was worthy of the throne. In the time of war, alliances were necessary. A means to an end. Every soldier counted. They were needed. War was no easy task nor lightly taken. They knew only one of the king's children could come out on top and in order for the peace to remain, one would have to be put to the sword.

Rhaenyra's first course of action was peace. Despite what many believed she loved her brothers and sweet sister Helaena. She wanted nothing more than to be united as a family once more, or rather once and for all. Yet alas, nothing truly goes according to plan. It all started with two deaths. The death of Rhaenyra's second son, the Prince Lucerys Velaryon and the death of Aegon's firstborn son, Jaehaerys Targaryen. 

Once the two boys were murdered by their kin, war became an inevitable consequence of the actions of Aemond Targaryen and Daemon Targaryen. After the deaths of the two Targaryen children what came afterward was pure chaos, death, and destruction. Not only for the lords and ladies, or the common folk but for the Targaryen's as well. 

Rhaenyra knew every sword counted and she needed all the ones she could have. Her son, the Prince Jacaerys had proven himself worthy of being the next king, gathering allies and armies for his mother. From the Vale, the Frey's and the Stark's. Daemon was gathering armies from Harrenhal as well. And, they also had Dragonseeds. Targaryen bastards who claimed two dragons. Silverwing and Vermithor.

During a council meeting, a guard rushed into the room, everyone stood, thinking perhaps Aegon and his brother had come to burn down Dragonstone. Yet, they were told something else. "Ships, my queen. Hundreds of them it seems and three dragons" Rhaenyra and her council made their way to see if what the man had said was true. And as he told it, it was true. The ships held the Targaryen sigil and the dragons, they could swear they were the size of Vhagar. 

Rhaenyra awaited to see. Who was this person leading this army? The dragons land and some guards escort whoever it might be that has arrived. When they finally reach Rhaenyra, a woman walks from behind them. She was a Targaryen or at least a descendant of Valyria. She was wearing Targaryen Armor. A few scars were noticeable but she was a warrior, that much they could see. "My queen" she begins. "Who are you?" Rhaenyra asks. "I'm Reina Targaryen" the people stand in shock. A Targaryen. "My mother is Saera Targaryen and my father is Vaelor Targaryen, grandson of Maegor and Rhaena Targaryen" a shocking turn of events, that's what it was at that moment.

Rhaenyra was shocked, she knew Saera had children of her own, a family of her own. Sons. Hugh Hammer was one of them. Hugh didn't know he had a sister. "Had you stayed with your family you would've known mother married. But alas, you were always ashamed of our mother. Were you not?" she asked her brother without looking at him. "I have come here to help you win the war. Per my mother's request," she told Rhaenyra. "Why did she want to help me" Reina pulled out two letters. "This one is for you" she tells Rhaenyra as she hands her the letter before turning to Rhaenys. "And this for you" Rhaenys took the letter. 

Both women read the letters. Saera loved her brothers despite everything. She loved her niece and nephews. She had watched them grow up for a while before leaving. "Although my mother rarely got involved in the matter of the crown while she was still in King's Landing, she knew one day, a time like this would come. She hopes that House Targaryen will be much better under the watchful eye of a queen. Men have always been too closed minded" she said as she looked around the men. "In those boats are thousands of men, the Unsullied and the Dothraki" they had heard the tales of the Dothraki, skilled and precise, the Unsullied too, strong men. 

"I am the queen of the Free Cities, I have taken over, made sure there is peace. I know for a fact a Lannister has made allies with the triarchy, they do not like me. I am sure they offered them gold to take what is mine after they win, or the war they believe they will win" she smiled. "Change is good and I hope your people can see that. If they do not, well, I can assure you, they will not live to see another day, my queen" she said with a smile. For once, Rhaenyra felt like there was someone who understood her. Someone like her but much stronger. She would see Reina's strength and bravery. She saw Visenya born again, and she could not help to truly see it knowing that she was a close descendant of her. 

Rhaenyra welcomed Reina into her arms. She would never admit it out loud but she felt safe in her arms. Reina was as stated before strong and brave, but she was also kind and good. Hugh saw that she was nothing like her mother although he was ashamed to admit that he thought she might be like her. She was given a room, near Rhaenyra's and Jacaerys' room. During her time there, she noticed that Jace and Baela were closed. She knew about her family, she knew she was Daemon's daughter with Laena, Rhaenys's daughter. She knew they were to marry, to strengthen the bond between the Targaryens and Velaryons. She thought they were good together. Baela seemed brave and straight-headed. 

Rhaenyra had taken a liking to her, she was like the daughter she never had. The two would break their fast together and speak of the war and the many ways it could be avoided but deep down, Reina and Rhaenyra knew it could not be avoided no matter how hard they tried. "My mother misses King's Landing at times. Or rather her family more than the place. Her brothers. Aemon and Baelon. Her mother, the good queen" she smiled sadly. "Sometimes she reminisces of a time when House Targaryen was strong and united. When her brothers were alive when her sisters were alive. Even her parents, and despite her complex relationship with her father she loved and he loved her in his own twisted way" Rhaenyra nodded. "She said he wrote to her many times before he passed. Her mother did as well, but she was too proud, even now she still is" both women laughed. 

Reina looked at Rhaenyra. "When we win this war, I need to ask something of you. You may not like it but it needs to be done" Rhaenyra listened to her words. "The faith is more involved in the royal family and all more than you think. My mother believes that the Targaryen women fail to give birth because of it. Because they want to make sure we do not have children. They do not like what we represent and stand for" she nodded. She felt it too, she gave birth to her children without the Maesters from the Citadel. She had her own trusted ones. "House Hightower must end with them. Not all, as some stay follow the Faith of the Seven but they cannot hold the power they hold now. It must be reduced" Rhaenyra nodded. 

At that moment, Rhaenyra knew she needed someone like Reina in King's Landing. Someone who could rule with Jacaerys by his side. Baela was a good match for her son, but Reina was a far better one. Three dragons, gold, an army, and ships, matching House Velaryon. Perhaps a marriage alliance was much needed. And with Reina by her side, nothing would dare to come her way. Not even the Dragonseeds.

[rileyslibrary]

lazy day with simon got me giggling and kicking my feet in the air. it was mentioned that simon felt insignificant after leaving the army and i was wondering if you could do a little imagine on how he slowly overcomes this or how reader helps him whenever he feels this way thank you, absolutely in love w ur blog!

Hi, anon! I received your request before my vacation and promised myself I wouldn’t write anything while here. Well, I lied. Excuse my poor grammar; I wrote this on my smartphone, and proofreading is challenging. (FYI, this is the story anon is talking about)

———————————————————————

“If you throw a frog in a pot of boiling water, it will hop right out. But if you put that frog in a pot of tepid water and slowly warm it, the frog doesn’t figure out what’s going on until it’s too late.”

That’s Simon.

I believe that the veterans’ support group would be pretty beneficial in boosting his morale. After all, the reader can’t do much to help him overcome his issues other than support him, especially if they come from a different background and cannot relate to his experiences.

Loving him is crucial, but you’ll need a lot of empathy and patience to help him overcome his challenges.

I imagine him being sceptical at first, putting off his investigation of the group. Asking him whether or not he has taken any action would put him on the defensive, which would backfire.

However, if you passively encourage and indirectly let him realise the value of a community, he will be more intrigued by the idea. Sort of like planting a seed in his head.

So here’s how I see it playing out:

You’d begin by sharing your personal experiences. Say, for example, that one day you excitedly announce to him that you’re gathering with your classmates at your local hobby club to start a new project together. Or, perhaps, you’d invite them to your house for dinner and discuss whatever you do there. He’d be watching you all from a distance, feeling both intrigued by your relationship with them and excluded for not having that kind of connection with other people who have the same interests or share similar experiences with him.

And that’s how he’d start looking into the support group. In secret, of course; he wouldn’t want to make a big deal out of it and certainly doesn’t want you to do that either.

He’d casually drop the topic one day while the two of you took a walk in the park. You’d act cool about it, but your entire existence would be dancing on the inside. From then on, he’d gradually open up more, and you’d secretly root for him, pushing him behind the scenes and subtly facilitating his progress.

Up to the point where, one day, he’d come to the living room while you were watching TV, holding two identical black shirts, asking you which one he should wear for his first day of meeting with the group. Your opinion matters to him, and you can tell he’s nervous, just like a teenager attending his first party. You’d advise that he wear the one on the left—although you see no difference in them—and he’d agree, saying it was his first choice.

After the first meeting, he wouldn’t shut up about the group. He’d talk nonstop about someone called Andrew or Jack, and when you asked who these people were, he’d act offended and start giving you more information on them, like you were supposed to know them too.

“I told you about Andrew, the one who’s about to get married.”

“Jack, you don’t remember Jack? The one with the receding hairline who’s had enough and shaved his head off!”

Ultimately, he’d be the one organising dinner parties at your house with his new friends and their partners. And this would go on and on, and he’d be so happy for his new friends and start opening up more, not only to them but to you as well. He won’t overcome his issues per se, but he’ll begin understanding them by seeing them through other people’s eyes—people who feel the same pain as him.

And as for you? You’d be peeking through the curtain at the man he’s becoming, slowly, steadily, and under your discreet influence and subtle direction.

———————————————————————

Bonus drabble I was thinking quite a lot about but couldn’t embed it in the story above:

You come home from the supermarket and enter the kitchen. Simon stands there with an apron, reading from a recipe book and nodding. You call his name, but he doesn’t hear you over the sound of the blender mixing, so you pat his back. You startle him, but he smiles.

You point at the book and ask him what he’s doing.

He lifts his arms and looks at himself. He’s a mess. Everything around him is a mess.

“Baking?” He says in the form of a question as if he doesn’t even believe it himself.

You put the groceries on the kitchen table and survey the warzone. “What exactly are you baking?” You shout.

“Cake!” He yells back enthusiastically and points at his concoction in the blender, “for the group!”

———————————————————————

[eclectic-sassycoweyes]

Seven Sentence Sunday

Tysm for the tags @nancys-braids @emsprovisions @carlos-in-glasses @lemonlyman-dotcom @captain-gillian @nisbanisba !

This a very rough draft and, perhaps for that reason, way way way over 7 sentences hehe

From what is so far, unofficially, called Shaving Fic:

TK moans in a way that Carlos can’t tell whether is more debauched or accusatory. “I’m literally in love with your c*ck.”

Heat travels uninhibited up his body at the sentiment, allowed momentarily by the unexpectedness of the words. But the vulnerable position he’s in and the surprising effect it’s having on his body is still leaving him reeling a bit.

“And here I thought it was me you were in love with?” He’s going for lighthearted and teasing but doesn’t think he manages to completely devoid his tone of the lingering tension he feels.

TK answers in a weirdly low voice and a badly put-upon southern accent, “You think a man can love two women at once? I mean, be in love?”

Carlos doesn’t have to fight an instinct to roll his eyes. In the beginning, before he and TK became official, he knew this about TK: that he was an incredibly competent firefighter; that he had a relationship with his dad (who was also his captain) that Carlos often regretted not having with his own; that he could be quick-tempered and sometimes impulsive, and that he was both extremely caring and extremely sexy.

Since then, Carlos has gotten to learn more about TK; That his quick-temperedness is more a symptom of the fact that TK’s emotions manifest physically in his body the second the feels them like he isn’t trying to, or simply can’t hold them back. He’ll often get teary when they watch TV on the couch, including during commercials. When he’s happy, his nose scrunches and his eyes crinkle and his tongue sticks out adorably between his teeth, and he tends to actually bounce when he’s excited; He’s learned that even though he feels his emotions strongly, he also has an impressive ability to put them into words that Carlos wishes he shared - sometimes it seems like TK is better at putting Carlos’ own emotions into words than Carlos is.

He’s learned that TK’s love for animals extends to the ones that most people don’t find to be exactly cute per say, such as insects and reptiles and that he will bring them inside the house from Carlos’ backyard and feed them sugared water if he thinks they look ‘tired’; and he’s learned that TK loves to do impressions of his favorite actors and movie characters - Carlos has already laid ears to more Brad Pitt impressions than he ever imagined he would.

Carlos thinks this particular one is from a show with Matthew McConaughey that they’ve been watching recently, recommended by Owen, although he can’t be sure because additionally to his love for doing impressions, TK is also very bad at them.

Having his partner perform a bad Woody Harrelson between his legs isn’t exactly Carlos’ preferred form of dirty talk. But the thing is, Carlos is - at the moment quite literally - head over heels in love with this man. So instead of having to fight an instinct to roll his eyes, Carlos feels his heart burst with a fondness that flows over into an equally unsexy snort, the last bit of tension leaving his body with it.

This in turn makes TK’s eyes light up and paints his face with a proud smirk where it’s settled between Carlos’ thighs, like Carlos just confirmed that his impressions are in fact great and that he is in fact the funniest man on earth.

Carlos thinks that he will never stop laughing at TK’s bad jokes if it means putting that look on his face.

Tagging: @corsage @tailoredshirt @ironheartwriter @nisbanisba @thoughtsickles

@emsprovisions @nancys-braids @rmd-writes

@captain-gillian @ladytessa74 @alrightbuckaroo @strandnreyes

@carlos-tk @carlos-in-glasses @herefortarlos @heartstringsduet

@whatsintheboxmh @paperstorm @cold-blooded-jelly-doughnut @never-blooms

@thisbuildinghasfeelings @lightningboltreader @lemonlyman-dotcom @welcometololaland

Lmk if you want to be added to or removed from the list

[mybeautifuldelirium]

Hi there ♥️ could U do a aemond x dothraki slave fanfic in where she works as a Maiden and aemond Takes and Interest in her because He has never Seen a dothraki before💕 thankyou love

The Wildflower From The East || Aemond Targaryen x Dothraki!reader part 1

A/N this is my first Aemond fanfic so please go easy on me lol

but I hope you like it. It turned out longer than I had expected, but I really wanted to include some backstory and character build up, so lmk if you’d like a Part 2 xx

Summary: Aemond is so captivated by his sister’s new maid that he makes her help him bathe, just so he can hear the fascinating tales from her foreign lands, will he be able to take her out of his mind?

Part 1/?

Warnings: none

Y/N couldn’t remember how long it had been since she last saw her homelands of the Dothraki sea, oh how she missed riding through the mazes of tall thick grass while having the burning Essosi sun gently glaze her skin, she even missed all those ruthless conditions that no lady from the west would ever imagine surviving.

Alas here she was, miles away across the narrow sea in a foreign land. What a cruel fate she had, being sold by her own kin to the slavers of Yunkai only to be brought to King’s Landing as an exotic gift for the Targaryen princess Helaena.

Queen Alicent wasn’t keen on the newly arrived maiden, a filthy savage, she thought of her, unfit to serve her royal daughter. However much to her disapproval, the princess quickly grew close to her new companion indulging in her stories from the foreign lands.

The sun had just risen moments ago and the refreshing scent of the morning dew still lingering in the air. It was hauntingly quiet during this time of day, the only noticeable sound coming from the clashing swords in the courtyard, per usual the Targaryen princes were training with ser Criston. That was when Aemond first saw the foreign maiden.

Y/N was following closely behind his dear sister, who perhaps was once again looking for one of her dreadful creatures in the courtyard. Unlike his brother, the one eyed prince, never paid attention to the maids, however he couldn’t take his eyes off Y/N, she looked nothing like any Westerosi maiden he had seen, there was something striking about her, something so intriguing.

“Ahh the savage girl, a pretty thing she is” smirked Aegon making him turn with a puzzled look.

“Haven’t you heard? They say she’s a Dothraki, sold as a slave at that. Can’t imagine how mother allowed her to serve our beloved sister” he laughed.

‘A Dothraki?’ Aemond thought to himself, he had only heard vague stories about them, from the old septas, but she looked nothing like the images of the ruthless barbarians that these stories had portrayed.

Over the following days the younger prince would secretly throw glances at her every chance he got and although he wouldn’t admit it to himself he just couldn’t take her out of his mind.

The sun was beginning to set, painting the sky with bright colors. Y/N was wandering through the long corridors as princess Helaena had granted her the permission to go bathe herself. Y/N however had decided to use some of the time to explore the castle, indulging in the silence. She has never liked the feeling of being constrained by walls, even the lavish house of her master in Yunkai repulsed her, oh how she missed roaming free on the back of her horse. Consumed by memories of the past, she bumped into something, or rather someone.

As she slowly lifted her head, her eyes were met with a glistening violet gaze that was piercing right through her. The man had long flowing silver hair much like the one of her princess, he had a patch covering one of his eyes but it was unable to overshadow his handsome face .

“Ah so you are the Dothraki maiden” a cunning smirk was lingering on his lips. “Do you speak the common tongue?”

“Yes” she confidently replied, trying not to stare.

“Yes, your grace” he corrected her with a stern expression. “Well then, you are a maid, aren’t you? Go, draw me a bath” he pointed to his chambers with his smirk reappearing.

“I can’t do that, your grace” she answered, mocking his use of the title.

“You do realize, you’re speaking to the prince, how dare you disobey me” he said, now annoyed, but his smirk still apparent.

This nevertheless did not intimidate Y/N “I only serve the princess Helaena my prince”

This response however, only further angered Aemond, he grabbed her by the arm, now his eye staring directly into hers “You’ve heard of dragons, I suppose” he slyly grinned “I happen to be the rider of the largest one there is, all it takes is one of my commands” he twirled a lock of her hair without looking away from her eyes.

Y/N sighed, slowly entering his chambers, as she heard the heavy wooden doors closing behind them.

Quickly she went to fill in the tub, feeling the prince’s gaze never leaving her. Once the tub was filled with warm water and the alluring aroma from the herbs she had placed filled the room, Y/N finally stood up and faced the prince, no longer trying to hide the irritation in her voice.

“May I go now, your grace?”

Aemond locked eye with her, devilish grin playing on his lips “do you expect me to tend to this myself?” He motioned to his attire, covered with filth and dirt, or was it blood.

This time Y/N didn’t even try to object, she knew there was no point in doing so. She mumbled something In Dothraki to herself and cautiously began helping him rid himself of the dirty clothes. Despite her pride and stubbornness Y/N couldn’t deny the otherworldly beauty of the Targaryen prince. He resembled no other man she had ever seen, be it in Yunkai or in the Dothraki hordes. Targaryens were closer to gods than to men, she had heard.

Only when Aemond was left in his breeches did Y/N finally revert her eyes, waiting until she heard the splash from the water. She then kneeled by the tub and started scrubbing his pale skin, desperately trying to escape his gaze. Aemond however kept his eye on her, closely examining her features. Something about this Dothraki girl was drawing him in, he wondered what her story was, how did a savage girl find herself all the way across the narrow sea as a maid to the princess. Aemond could tell she had been taught basic manners and some etiquette along with the common tongue, but even those could not fully conceal her wild upbringing. Her untamed hair was cascading like a waterfall down her back, with several complex braids on top of her head as per Dothraki traditions. She looked rather uncomfortable in her dainty silk gown, he wondered what she was used to wearing.

“What happened to your eye?” Y/N suddenly broke the silence, now examining the leather patch that covered his eye. For a moment, the bluntness of her question caught the prince off guard.

“Curious, are we?” His smirk once again reappeared. “One day I might tell you, but first you owe me a story Wildflower”

“A story?”

“You think I’m unaware of the captivating tales you’ve seemed to tell my beloved sister?” “Don’t you think me worthy of hearing them as well” he gave her a challenging look, their faces now only inches apart.

“Ok then, my prince, as you wish” it was now Y/N’s turn to smirk. She loved telling stories of her lands, they made her feel close to her home, evoking memories of the time when she was free.

Aemond became so enamored with the way the young maiden was narrating her stories, he didn’t notice the water getting cold.

Suddenly Y/N dropped the rag and got up “I must go! The princess!” She rushed to the wooden doors, all manners long forgotten. The prince wanted to stop her, but his pride didn’t let him.

About to get out of the tub, he then saw something glistening under the murky water, it was a gold pendant shaped like a delicate flower, a simple, yet striking piece of jewelry. ‘She must have dropped it’ he thought.

That night Aemond couldn’t get her image out of his head, why was he - a dragon prince so preoccupied with the thoughts of a simple maid from the far eastern lands, he couldn’t explain it to himself, but even if he wouldn’t admit it, he knew that he had to see her again.

[wheelsgoroundincircles]

The First Motorhome!

Remember when things were so much simpler?  The Ford House-Car Q-dog

This is one of only six Ford House-cars said to have been made per year in the mid-30's at the Ford plant in St. Paul, Minnesota, according to an article in a 1993 "Old Car​s​" magazine.

Very few others - perhaps none - remain on the road and certainly not in such amazing original condition!

When discovered in a garage under a heavy cover in northern Minnesota in August of 2001, it had only 19,000 miles on the odometer and the owner's manual was still in the glove box in like-new condition! 

The RV had always been garaged and treated with much 'TLC' as a collector vehicle. 

The all wood lined interior was still the way it appeared in the '30's complete with framed photos of the original owner on his travels, mainly to Florida, and his cabin in the North Woods. It also had other memorabilia from that era.

The Ford House-car was built on a '37 Ford Pickup frame and cowling and was powered by a 60 horse power, flathead V-8 with aluminum heads. The rear framing is all wood, with the metal skin wrapped around it. The roof structure is all wood over which the heavy, waterproofed canvas top is still very securely fitted. The structure of the body is solid, appearing to be all oak hardwood and it's still in a remarkably unaltered, undamaged condition! The door frames are thick, solid oak as are the window frames although those have been painted over. 

This House-car was a big hit at this campground once we got that great old 'flattie' V-8 hummin'! Note the expanding roof (it's that 'extra' roof piece barely visible in the picture) and the original dark green color, which has been repainted. All four side windows open while the back one tilts out in three positions. The windshield also tilts open at the bottom for 'natural' AC while driving. Here are a few shots of the Ford House-car on the road...

Here's a look at the interior.

It's a slice right out of 1930's just as the original owner had it. All the windows have curtains for privacy and there are pull-down shades on the back window, as well as on the driver's and passenger door windows. Note the wide storage cabinet under the bed.

The wood headliner gives the 'cabin' a warm and inviting rustic feel. You can also see it has a ceiling vent and the canvas expanding roof portion visible in this picture. Four wood pieces securely support the expansion when it's in the 'up' position, while clamps secure it when it's down while traveling.

Note the cedar branches hanging in the corners to give the cabin a natural, north woods aroma. Cabinets and the aluminum sink, that includes a wooden cover insert, are visible on the left. All the antiques inside, as well as on the walls, came along for the ride. Also note the collapsible table behind the driver's seat. 

It's amazing how simple vehicles were back then! No computerization to be concerned about!

[gwenllian-in-the-abbey]

Is there anything good (positive achievement) about the Valyrian/ghiscarian empires? I feel GRRM didn't bother giving them nuanced and interesting history beside mass slavery, rape and genocide, esp the ghiscarians they are mash up of the all the racist oriental tropes you can think of

Hi anon, this is a really good question. I think you can look at it two ways.

On the one hand, if we're analyzing the books from a literary perspective, GRRM's portrayal of the entire continent of Essos is pretty Orientalist and doesn't hold up that well. And we can blame this to some extent on GRRM being a white boomer who clearly did not think all that deeply about the stereotypes he was playing into when he created his "exotic" eastern continent. 90s fantasy was rife with this stuff (even my beloved Robin Hobb is not completely immune-- I'm looking at you, Chalcedeans), and at the time Orientalism was, much like critical race theory or decolonization, a grad school level concept, unless you ran in activist circles. You didn't have Tumblr and Twitter and TikTok and Youtube generating Discourse, you had to actively seek out different perspectives. And ex-hippie liberal white boomers often assumed that they already had the right perspectives, that they knew what traps to avoid, and so you'd get 90s SFF authors thinking they were very cleverly subverting these tropes by going, "I know, I'll have an intensely misogynistic culture of desert dwelling nomads who have harems and slaves but I'll make them white." It was pretty bleak. Luckily for all of us, fantasy has come a long way since then.

And yeah, once you see the Orientalism in ASOIAF, you can't unsee it. Lys is basically the fantasy version of the "pleasure planet" trope, the Dothraki are a stereotype of the Mongol armies without any of the many positive contributions the Molgols made, Qarth is like the Coleridge poem come to life with people riding camels with jeweled saddles and wearing tiger skins, with its women baring one breast and it's sophisticated assassin's guild, and Mereen has its pyramids. The entire continent is brimming with spices and jewels and pleasure houses and people saying "Your Magnificence." It is also a place of blood magic and dragons and Red Gods and shadowlands. It is everything exciting and "exotic," juxtaposed against what appears to most readers to be very mundane--septas and pseudocatholicism and maesters in the citadel. So yeah, it's an Orientalist's fantasy world, and the point of all this is not necessarily to cast it as evil per se, but to cast it as "Other" (and to be clear, Orientalism is harmful and GRRM deserves the criticism he gets for leaning into stereotypes). Valyria and the Valyrians are certainly included in that-- they are explicitly Other as foreign born ruling family in Westeros, and they are treated that way both in-world and by the narrative.

The question then becomes, although GRRM's depictions of Essos lean heavily and inelegantly into Orientalist tropes, why did he create these worlds the way he did? Why is Valyria an "Other" and what significance does it have to the story? And I think that some of this is GRRM's shorthand for something magical that is lost and forgotten and fading away, just like Valyria itself is in the memories of the Targaryen family. It is the Xanadu of Coleridge's Kubla Khan, not just the East viewed from the West, but the past viewed from the present, a nostalgic yearning for a place that only ever existed in the imagination. When the narrative does visit these places in person, rather than telling us about them secondhand, they become ugly and brutal, the jeweled facade hiding a rot underneath. In ASOIAF we have Dany ripping that facade off of Meereen and Yunkai, but she idealizes her own Targaryen heritage, and that is not insignificant, and as readers, we are invited to idealize it right along with her, in spite of plenty of hints that perhaps we should not (like the aforementioned slavery). We even hear Astapori and Yunkish slavers speaking to Dany echo sentiments about the even older Ghiscari empire, also lost, "Ours is the blood of ancient Ghis, whose empire was old when Valyria was yet a squalling child." Old Ghis and the Valyrians who conquered them are both long gone at this point, and yet their descendants are clinging to the legacies of cultures that would be wholly foreign to both of them. Because if Valyria is Xanadu, the Old Valyrians and Old Ghiscari are also Ozymandias, the mighty who have fallen, their once grand civilizations nothing but forgotten ruins. The Targaryens don't yet realize that they are that "half-sunk shattered visage," that they are yearning for something that is gone and never returning, something they never really knew in the first place.

Westeros is not immune to this either. I think it's a consistent theme that GRRM plays with is the ways which the past is glorified and distorted and romanticized. Even in a meta-sense, his entire medieval world is, in many ways, a half-remembered medieval fantasy, the medieval world as imagined by people who read Ivanhoe, rather than a medieval world as actually was. And GRRM simultaneously presents this romanticized world alongside the brutality of the past (and to drive that point home, George's medieval world is much more brutal than the real medieval world was), and so he asks us, just like Dany must ask herself at some point, is the past really all that romantic? Or are we simply yearning for something unnamable and Other? And if we yearn for that, why?

On the other hand, from an in-world perspective, if you are Westerosi, are there any redeeming qualities to Valyrian culture? And I think we can answer that question by asking ourselves, is there anything salvageable from the past, even if the past was terrible? Even if what we perceive of Old Valyria wavers between a horrific empire based on conquest and slavery, and an idealized homeland full of magical dragonriders, depending on who is doing the telling, if we accept it as a fully fleshed out world, then I think we can remember no cultures are monoliths. Old Valyria had art, architecture, fashion, music, literature, and I like to imagine that there were good freeholders, perhaps even Valyrian versions of the Roman Stoics and the Cynics, who raised moral objections to slavery. Certainly the Valyrian "freeholder" government itself, a kind of proto-democracy, similar to that of Athens, was innovative for its particular time and place, even if it was not as democratic as our modern democracies are, and that model of government is replicated throughout Essos, where strict hereditary monarchy seems to be relatively uncommon. Valyria also had a great deal of religious freedom, which persists throughout Essos as well. And as with any empire, it's important to keep in mind that the ruling class made up only a small percentage of actual Valyria, and we know there were Valyrians who were not dragonlords but just normal people, going about their lives who had nothing to do with the atrocities committed, and those people were telling stories, creating art, writing songs, and producing culture too. So I think, tying back into how GRRM uses Valyria and Essos in his narrative, we do not have to discard the past entirely, nor do in-world Targaryens, but it's the romanticization that's the problem, and I think that's something that both in-world characters and readers are cautioned against.

[ameliawarnerr]

POV: MC is drunk at Aurora and she texts Jake.

Part - 2

Find part 1 here!

—MC—

I tip-toe down the stairs, my hand grazing the wall as I silently pray not to wake anybody. And by anybody, I mean, Lilly Donfort, Hannah Donfort and Jake Donfort. I am the only one who isn't Donfort so I figured I should get the hell out of here before any of them wakes up. Explaining my presence here is not going to be easy.

I'm clearly in the clothes I wore last night– all wrinkled and shrunken. I have no idea where my phone, my shoes or oh wait I don't know where my entire logic has vanished.

If I ran into someone, I truly hope it to be Lilly. And she could even tell me why I am at her place. Perhaps she found me and then rescued me here. Obviously, it cannot be Hannah. She doesn't even come out of the house that often. If I am unfortunate enough to run into her this morning, I have no clue what I am supposed to say. What if she thinks I slept with her half brother?!

Did I?

However, if I'm as ill-fated as Shakespeare’s tragic characters, I’d definitely come across Jake.

Although it cannot be Jake who got me here. He never goes to Aurora and if Phil was to call anyone to help me, the list would start with Jessy and end with Thomas. Jake wouldn't make it to that list for obvious reasons.

I successfully lay my feet on the ground floor. It's five in the morning. No one would be awake. I sprint straight to the door, paying little attention to my surroundings. I'd have my phone collected later. I'm currently in the red zone of potential awkward situations, followed by guilt and longing. All things I hate.

My hand wraps around the cold knob of the door. I turn it around but it's locked. “Son of a…”

“Where do you think you are leaving?” A distant voice makes a trail of obscene words escape my mouth. Whoever is writing my story is clearly inspired by Shakespeare.

I clear my throat, removing my hand from the knob. I don't turn away as I say, “I don't know how I got here but I need to be back at home. I have an important thing to do.”

“Make a mindmap of all the things that happened last night? I can help.” His voice is a little distracted, taunting and infuriating.

I scoff, turning away to look at him. He’s behind the kitchen island which I had conveniently ignored on the little run from the stairs to the door. He's cooking something. If he really wants to play the indirect, between the lines tormenting game, I think he doesn't know my argumentative and bitch side because I had a soft spot for him as soon as I knew him.

“If you are really feeling helpful, Donfort, then, why don't you tell me what I am doing here?” I fold my hands on my chest. Addressing the opponent with the last name is sort of a declaration.

He doesn't look at me as he sprinkles salt and black pepper onto whatever he's cooking in that pan. My eyes descend to his hands as he works before I jerk them away. “Oh, I stalked you and then I found out that you were drunk and vulnerable so I kidnapped you.” He deadpans.

I scoff again. Jake doesn't beat around the bush. If he's doing this, he wants to make a point.

“I can't imagine why you'd do that.” I crease my brows, pretending to be genuinely confused. I walk towards him. As I lay my palms on the island, I see the slight shake of his hand and his posture becoming rigid. I don't know if it's my closeness or that I indirectly pointed at our history because as much as we both try to ignore it, one of us would mention it. And I can't be the one being caught off-guard.

“Kidnappers often have motivations and planning for months but sometimes, they are driven by reasons that might be beyond the victim’s understanding.” He states, his hands moving swiftly again as he lowers the flame of the stove. There's a mug filled with coffee. I eye it.

Jake looks up then follows my gaze as I look away. He grabs the mug and offers it to me. I take it without saying thank you.

“What’s your point?” I cut to the chase. I'm used to him being percipient and having thoughts a normal human being can't fathom, but I could understand his points. I can, still. But it's five in the morning.

“My point, Stephens, is that the motivation for abduction doesn't matter if you are the victim.” He uses my last name.

“It mattered when Hannah was kidnapped.” I rebuke.

He sighs, putting the stove off and really looking at me for the first time. I might be tackling the guilt of shutting him out internally but the longing is coming out on the surface. “Again, it mattered to us. Not to Hannah. All she could have thought about was finding a way out or regretting being careless in the first place.”

I know what this is about now. No matter the status of our relationship, I don't think he can ever hold back from lecturing me about my own safety. I shove down the softness that his care brings in me and think about how much I hate being called weak. “So this is about my getting drunk in a bar owned by a friend.”

He gives me a look.

“What? It's not like I was totally alone. Phil was there and he's a friend. I'm allowed to get wasted in the company of a friend. And he owns the bar. There's no way he'd let anyone hurt me on his property.”

If I hate being called weak– directly or indirectly– he hates when I trust Phil.

“The same Phil Hawkins who got arrested and had to plead for help to a stranger towns away? The same guy whose bar Cleo and Thomas broke into and he couldn't do anything about that, save for sulking to his sister? That guy?” There's a challenge in his voice.

I slid down to the stool. I can't defend Phil against the truth so I drink my coffee silently after saying, “Yep. Him.”

Jake shakes his head. “All I am asking you is to be a little careful. I know you are smart and can get out of situations perhaps even I wouldn't be able to.” My shoulders rise. His words can make me feel absolutely weak and then inevitable all of a sudden. “But that doesn't mean you can be careless.”

I don't look at him as I drink my coffee, staring at the wall. “I think you shouldn't care.”

He nods. “And I think it's cruel of you,” our eyes meet, “To pretend not to know why I care.”

I tear my gaze off him. “I’ve moved on. I need to pretend that you have too.”

I can feel his gaze on me, pleading silently for me to look at him. I cannot. “You haven't moved on. You're trying to move on and evidently, you are doing an awful job.” He says, his patience little by little vanishing.

I look at him, then. “What do you mean, evidently?” I query, ignoring everything else he said. He turns away and reaches out for something from the opposite kitchen counter. Turning back, he hands me my phone.

The screen shows our chat. Two recent messages marked read. Two recent messages that I sent while I was drunk and it's clear that I was drunk. God, so many spelling errors on top of no punctuation. And I thought solving a case through texts would make me a pro at texting. I threatened him to sleep with any guy? What is wrong with me?

I shrug. “I don't talk like this. This must have been–”

He cuts me off. “Phil? Save it. The drunk you have already tried it. Not to mention, she was more like you than you are now. Honest and bold. She wasn't the one who'd not have enough courage to look someone in the eye.” His voice lowers with every word.

Mortification riles me up from the chair. “Alright. Thanks for the coffee and the lecture I didn't pay for. I’ll be leaving now.” I lay the cup on the island and turn away.

“You talk a lot when you're drunk.” He says, making me halt midway. All the stupid things I could have said wander around my head. The reason I got drunk in the first place is the most plausible one. Shit shit shit—

As I slowly turn sound, I find that Jake has left the kitchen and is now heading towards the stairs, unaffected by my declaration that I'm leaving. Motherfucker knows I'd follow him.

I rush towards him as he climbs the first step. “What did I say?” I ask, firmly.

“Weren’t you leaving?” He banters while continuing to climb the stairs. I do the same, only a step behind him.

“Jake, come on, we are not five years old. Tell me what I said.” I bark.

He barely acts threatened by my acidified voice. “What part? When you were babbling not knowing I was standing two steps away or the long one in the car? To me, they were both equally enjoyable.”

oh my god. I can't trust the drunk me talking to him directly, what shit would I have spitted when I didn't know he was around?

I glance up and he's already five steps away. I rush to his side, placing a hand on his shoulder to steady him. “Jake, I swear to god, tell me right now—”

He whirls around and I'm taken by surprise– ending with one foot on the same step as his and the other one step down. My hand on his shoulder slides down to his chest. “Or else? What will you do?” He challenges, his coffee-like eyes dart from one eye to the other in a mischievous manner. He knows if he presents anything like a challenge, I'd take it.

My back is against the wall and if he takes half a step, I'd pressed between them. “Or, or,” the closeness makes me stutter. Or maybe it's the fact that he's not nervous at all. Or he's just hiding it well. I can't lose to him because of closeness. That's some excuse Thomas would pull.

“I’m listening.”

I gain my posture back, straight my spine but still need to look up to meet his eyes. “Or I’ll go to your room, sleep in that bed and come out when Lilly’s awake and before I’d even begin to explain, she’d go around telling everyone that we slept together.”

Jake has such an infuriating gaze then I can neither look at him nor look away. “Is that supposed to be a threat?”

I really need to keep my fantasies away from my threats. “No. I guess I'm still a little drunk. So please, tell me what I said?” I try softening my voice, looking at him rather than glaring.

He blinks and looks away. “I think you know what you said. That's why you are so desperate to confirm it, that you are standing on my foot.”

I peek down. I am actually standing on his foot. I pull my feet back but end up losing my balance. The hand on Jake’s chest fists his black t-shirt. His hand wraps around my waist holding me in place. I gain my balance back and my face ends up too close to his.

His body is pressed against mine though there's still some sane distance between our heads. I gulp down the urges surfacing all of a sudden. The ones I locked away for weeks. The air is thick with ache and yearning. Our collective wants.

He glances at my lips then back at my eyes. “You said that I forced you to drink because I didn't try to contact you after you rejected me. You said you can't stop thinking about me. And when I was getting you out of the car, you said you wanted to kiss me.”

“Did I?” I foolishly ask, looking at his lips.

“Yes.” He breathes out, nearing me. His grip on my waist tightens.

“And did you do it?” I ask, already knowing the answer.

“Of course, not.” He answers in a beat.

“Because I was drunk.” I say the reason out loud, leaning in.

He inhales and agrees. “Because you were drunk.”

“Which I am not anymore.” I lean in, merely an inch away from his lips. I don't think either of us is looking anywhere but each other's lips. I don't know if it's yearning for each other or the fact that we have spent almost a month thinking about us, that we no longer waste any time thinking. All thoughts weigh no importance anymore. It's clear what we want.

“Say it.” He whispers, his lips grazing against mine.

I don't. I let the weeks of frustration, guilt, longing release out as our lips touch. There's no point being gentle and slow. I know he knows it and he's acting upon it. I'm pressed against the wall, as his other hand caresses the side of my neck. I fist his t-shirt in my hand again, as the other hand wanders in his hair.

His tongue skims over my lower lip as he arches my neck up. I open my mouth, letting him enjoy my submissive side for a moment. Then, I bit his lip, smiling between the kisses. I can feel his smirk. The hand on my waist slides under my top and pinches my side. I wriggle in his hold.

I pull his hair harder but that only encourages him to kiss me faster. He grabs my hand on his chest and pins it against the wall, slowly sliding it above my head.

We break through only when we hear a door opening. We are both out of breath as we stare at each other, knowing the only wall between us: my decision to move on, has been burned down.

“Get drunk more often. It's always fun listening to you complain about me.” He smiles.

I bite back a smile but I think I'm terribly failing.. “Didn’t I need to be more careful?”

“When I’m around, you can put your guard down.” He affirms.

“That’s sweet but I really need to leave now.” I partly turn and take a step down only for him to wrap his hands around my waist to stop me.

“Yeah, that's not happening.” He says, leading me up the stairs again.

Yeah, that's not happening any time soon.

—The End—

[anneangel]

Timeline of the relationship between Sherlock Holmes and John H. Watson!

*I had already posted this, but I deleted. I found new information as flipped through my books. So, sorry who had rebloged the previous post that I deleted, but I prefer to delete and rewrite CORRECTLY, ok?

1881 - Sherlock and Watson meet each other, through for Stamford. As per A Study in Scarlet.

1881 to 1886 - Both continue to live together in Baker Street.

1887- Watson tells us that will marry a woman, whose name he never tells us. As per, The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor

1887- Watson is married to a, no name, woman. Although his friendship with Sherlock remains and Watson even stays at Baker's when his wife is out of town. As per The Five Orange Pips.

March, 1888 - Watson remains married to an unnamed wife, according to A Scandal in Bohemia.

September, 1888 - Watson meets Mary Morstan, falls in love with and becomes engaged to her, as read in The Sign of the Four. There is no mention of what happened to the previous wife, apparently he didn't have any children either with her (I think it unlikely that she died, after all Watson never mourns her, and is soon engaged again without bereavement). It's almost as if this previous girl did NEVER exist.

1888 or 1889 or 1890??? - Watson married Mary, as read in The Adventure of the Stockbroker's Clerk. Watson says his marriage took him away from Holmes. But curiously there are some cases after his marriage where Watson is with Holmes and makes no mention of his wife (strange, isn't it?)

*that's confused me in the post I deleted, regarding the date of Watson's marriage to Mary.

Watson mentions one of his weddings being in the summer/spring and another in the fall/winter. But he does not deign to say in which he married Mary. Having met Mary in September, if he married her in the same year then it was autumn, but if he married her in summer then it is 1889.

Still, Watson says that his marriage and return to the medical profession took him away from the Holmes cases, however there are some cases where he seems to live on Baker Street in 1888 and 1889!! And this confused me earlier, whereupon I said that perhaps he was married in 1890, for how can he be married in 1888 or 1889 and also live with Holmes? Lmao.

Yes! It could just be Watson/Doyle being an unreliable narrator. But do you agree that it leaves room for doubts and assumptions/subtext?? correct?

1890 to 1891- The point is that Watson married Mary, because in The Red-Headed League, which takes place in 1890, he is married! Well, as he mentions his marriage in The Final Problem, allegedly stating that his marriage alienated him from Holmes, a case that takes place in 1891, where Holmes supposedly dies.

1894- Holmes resurfaces, and we are briefly informed that Watson's wife has died, apparently he had no children with Mary. So he returns to live with Holmes in Baker Street. As per The Adventure of the Empty House.

1895 - They aren't on Baker Street, aren' t in London, Watson refuses to say why. They weren't out on a case! (Coincidence or not, this was the year of Oscar Wilde's trial who, although married and with children, was condemned for his relationship with men). They are back in end of April and July in the The Adventure of the Solitary Cyclist case and The Adventure of Black Peter case. But travel to norway after that. Return to Baker in September, as seen in the case of the Bruce-Padington plans case.

1894 to 1901 - Time they lived together in Baker Street again. In that time, Watson stops practicing his profession and sells his medical clinic (at Holmes' request), Watson does nothing more than follow Holmes on cases and write them down, curiously Holmes keeps Watson's checkbooks with him (not there is no explanation why, although assumptions are made that Watson had problems with overspending or bet) and Watson helps Holmes get off drugs too! As per The Return of Sherlock Holmes book.

*p.s: in the year 1896 there are cases where Watson says he does not live in Baker Street, as for example in The Adventure of the Veiled Lodger. However, these cases ALWAYS have narrative inconsistencies. And to other cases in 1897 where he LIVES with Holmes, as per The Adventure of the Abbey Grange.

Yes, Watson/Doyle is a miserable and unreliable narrator because many cases have DATES or DATA and inconsistent FACTS that don't fit, so that it's impossible to organize the 60 cases in chronological order, there comes a point where we get out of accuracy and we have to start to ASSUME/suppose/imagine where some several cases take place. As someone who has tried to organize, believe me, it's a never-ending headache, which is why there are different lists of Timelines. So I'm ignoring Watson's inconsistencies as a narrator in order to claim that he lived with Holmes from 1894 to 1901, okay? I'm just putting here the dates given by Watson that don't have apparent contradictions.

1902 - Watson left Baker Street, for reasons he does not tell us. Claims to live on Queen Anne Street. Although he still takes part in Cases and Turkish Baths with Holmes, as per The Adventure of the Illustrious Client.

1903 - Last cases. Sherlock regrets that Watson has left him to marry a woman (another nameless wife of Watson), so the detective is left alone to investigate the cases. As per The Adventure of the Blanched Soldier. And Watson returns to practicing medicine with a good clientele as per The Adventure of the Creeping Man.

1907 - Holmes is retired. He lives with his bees and a housekeeper he doesn't talk to much. He gets along well with the director and teachers of a school close to his house, to the point of visits, walks and swimming on the beach. Sherlock says he sees Watson on weekends. As per The Adventure of the Lion's Mane.

1908 to 1913 - Watson claims he rarely sees Sherlock, because Holmes prefers to send short telegrams rather than letters. Watson continues to write old Holmes cases whenever Holmes lets him. As per The Adventure of the Devil's Foot (which takes place in 1897, but Watson does just tell us until after Holmes is retired).

1914 -The last appearance of both at Canon. Date of the First World War. Watson had not seen Holmes for about 2 or 3 years, he thought that Holmes had become a hermit with his bees. But Holmes was actually undercover as a spy for 2 years on matters involving the war. As per His Last Bow case.

P.s: In the post I deleted mentioned that Watson got married 3 times and claims to have experience with women on 3 different continents. While Sherlock says he has never loved, has no interest in women and has his body as an appendage and is against emotions that undermine his reason. What they both think in terms of homoaffective relationships cannot be exposed since it was a crime at the time. Watson explicitly exposes to the public a fact that he is Heterosexual while Holmes seems to fit in Asexuality. However, narrative inconsistencies, narrative omissions and errors leave gaps for subtexts. Watson also admits to omitting data and facts that could expose clients or Sherlock and himself. So this also adds assumptions for subtexts.

[scotianostra]

Ooh, what’s Edinburgh like? Moving there next year hopefully, from Africa, and after a few quick trips I can’t say I’ve gotten too much of a sense of the city :(

I'm kinda biased, but it's a good place, quite small and easy to get around, the main bus serice is Lothian Buses, for a flat fare of £2 you can get from ato b on one bus, for £5 cash you can hop on and off, the best value is paying by debit card , what they call TapTapCap from as little as £4.80 per day and £22 per week, so if you are one 3 or more buses in one day it caps at £4.80, and £22 is the most you will pay fr a week. The bus service is very good and I use their bustracker, find it on Google Play "My Bus Edinburgh" The vast majority of Museums and Art Galleries are free, only charges tend to be if there are special exhibitions, like The National Museum of Scotland had a Doctor Who exhibition last year. There are two main train stations, Waverley and Haymarket, and several small ones and stops.

Most people don't realise that Edinburgh and the surrounding areas have some great beaches, Portobello is the best in the city, ad has plenty of places to eat and drink at there. Cramond Beachis a mecca for dog walkers, there is a Causeway there where you can explore Cramond Island, just watch the tide times. There are plenty of parks and green spaces, the city is officially the greenest city in the UK, with almost half the city (49.2%) being classed as 'green space'.

If you are relatively fit there are plenty hills to climb to get great views, some are very easy, Calton Hill, Corstorphine to name but two. Arthur's Seat offers different routes to the summit of varying difficulty, but you can actually drive so far up and just make the easy climb to the top, there are three man made "Lochs" around Arthur's Seat, if you're lucky you will see Otters at Dunsapie, Duddingston and St Margarets have plenty swas and ducks. For more serious walkers the Pentland Hills are a great place to explore, there is even a herd of oor Highland "Hairy Coos" up there. If you can ski, there is a dryslope on The Pentlands, the longest in the UK.

Pubs and clubs are a plenty, I have no idea of your age as you have decided to remain anon, but many places cater for students, prices vary, I pay between £2 and £4 for my drinks, although the touristy places will charge you up to twice this amount, over £6 for a drink is not unusual.

Of course we have the Festival, well there are several throughout the year, Edinburgh gets the tag of Festival City at times. The main one is in August and the population of Edinburgh is said to double in the time, licensed premises are automatically given an extension to their opening hours, some open to 5 in the morning.

It's a safe city  with a low crime rate, but as with other places you have to be aware of your own safety. If you plan on taking in the paid attractions The Castle wil set you back about £20, as will The Palace of Holyrood House. Opposite the Palace is The Scottish Parliament, you can visit thisfor free and sit in while it is in session. If you are planning on venturing around Scotland and like your history I recommend a membership of Historic Scotland, again I don't know your age, but prices start at under £3 a month and are less than a fiver for adults over 24. National Trust of Scotland also offer meberships from £3.35 to £5.80.

Can't really think of much more to put for now, perhaps my followers can make suggestions, or ask questions?

Oh and pack your umbrella get a waterproof jacket, even in summer we can get some heavy showers, naturally you will be aware it can get cold as well, invest in a decent winter jacket and layers to keep warm.

I hope this has been helpful.

[wordbunch]

countertop confessions (Isildur x reader)

a/n: i noticed a lack of TROP Isildur fics, so I took it upon myself to fix it! fluffy fluff, as per usual! 💞 hope you enjoy my little self indulgent piece, let me know and please be so kind to reblog 😘 it's a little warm up piece after my vacation!!

"You ruined the prospects of your own future employment, and now you are here to ruin mine as well?" you teased upon noticing your favorite long-haired Númenórean at the door of your downstairs kitchen - he had an uncharacteristic pout on his lips.

Before he managed to ask you how you already knew he got thrown out of the sea guard training, you quickly continued: "News travel fast around here. Especially in my house, you know how everyone likes to stop by for a treat and share the latest gossip," you smiled, giving him an explanation. The dough you had been kneading for a new batch of buns was now set aside as you pulled up a chair for you and Isildur, who seemed not to be in the highest of spirits.

"It was the one thing I had really wanted to do," he began, "and to be successful in." He plopped down onto a wooden chair next to yours, his shoulders bent.

"Cheer up," you tapped him on the cheek with a hand white from flour, leaving a trace, "I am certain you could find an apprenticeship elsewhere, even one troublemaker as you." Isildur was fighting a smile as he wiped off the flour from his cheek.

"So, what you are saying is," he began, the mischievous glint returning to his warm eyes, "that you will employ me in your bakery, and then I can bother you every day of the week, and get to eat the best pastries in all of Númenor?"

"Who said I wanted you?" you laughed, making him roll his eyes and playfully give you a gentle shove. "I would never get anything completed were you constantly keeping me company, and getting up to no good."

"I can be good," he pouted, leaning his face closer to yours, "while you are a very evil person. So, the least you can do is feed me right now."

You gave a joyous laugh while Isildur continued looking at you with his best pouty face. "You have only come here to use my kindness in exchange for food, because you know you are my favorite person and that I will most likely fall for it." Although a small smile appeared on his face, it fell just as quickly, but you had gotten up to rummage through the drawers, so you didn't notice. Honestly, you were a little concerned - usually when Isildur paid you a visit, he would talk your ears off, make you laugh, start a food fight or attempt to steal the freshly baked goods, but there was none of that now.

"Are you certain you are bothered only by what happened today, or is there something else?" you inquired, finally managing to find one of his favorite pastries and handing it to Isildur, who muttered a small thanks in return. "Usually you would already be searching for another option, or trying to get accepted back into the sea guard..."

He breathed in deeply, and then slowly exhaled, poking around the pastry in his hand before setting it back on the table. "Yes," he began, not looking you in the eyes, "but we hold the sailors in such a high regard, and they get rewarded handsomely for what they do. And perhaps I just wanted to not live off of my father as much, and finally start to afford us a life that we both deserve. That you deserve," he coughed meekly, giving himself a few more moments to think over his words. You stood leaning back on the counter across him, mouth agape, but evident happiness in your eyes - you had kind of had a hunch that he'd been harboring feelings for you for some time, and you most certainly returned them; you just didn't think you two would be conversing about that with you half-covered in flour, in a messy kitchen decorated by rays of late afternoon sun.

But then again, for the two of you... it was kind of perfect.

"I wanted to build us a house with the best and biggest kitchen where you could make anything you wanted, and everyone would like it, and everyone would like you," he gulped, looking down at his hands and too busy to notice how happily you looked at him, "but I'd be the one who gets to love you."

"What did you say?" you mused with a little chuckle, a tiny bit shocked, but mostly elated. Isildur looked up at you for a split second, looking almost offended, since he didn't think you were taking him seriously. However, your expression quickly dissuaded his doubtful mind.

"I said that I love you," he repeated, with more confidence this time, and it certainly helped that he got up, his full height now towering over you. You really hoped you weren't blushing profusely as you looked up at him with doe eyes. "You heard me."

"I just wanted to make sure," you replied with an apologetic, yet teasing, smile, hands subconsciously traveling over his torso up to his shoulders as you inched closer and closer, "you know I can never tell with you," you joked, and he finally cracked a smile. He found himself wrapping his arms around your waist as if it was second nature; sure, you did hug before, on occasion, but this time it was so much more electric.

"And what a lucky coincidence," you muttered, eyes shifting between his lips and his eyes and then back to his lips again, and you knew he caught on what you wanted, "because I love you too, Isil."

You had barely managed to finish the sentence when his lips met yours with the fervor you expected from someone as energetic and passionate as him, but still it was better than you imagined it would be. He got carried away fast, so that he just had to pick you up by the waist and put you on the counter, never once breaking the kiss. Showoff, you thought to yourself.

To Isildur's great disappointment, eventually you had to pull away for air, but you kept one hand on his chest and one in his unruly hair. He wore the brightest of grins on his face when he finally spoke up again.

"Even without a real job, without our giant family house?" he teased, nudging his nose against yours.

"With or without anything at all," you whispered before pulling him into another long-awaited kiss, but you remembered something very soon-

"Are you going to eat that or can I?"

-

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