#Exile Among the Ruins

[twstowo]

Oyo, um I read one of your fics and it was rlly good. I'm pretty sure it was one of the 'they end up another universe twst' fics. They're rlly juicy BTW

I was thinking like...what happened if otherverse bois met normalverse yuu and they actually start liking them? Sorta yandere-ish type stuff to the point where they don't wanna leave normalverse yuu? (Yes, I've been calling normal yuu 'normalverse' yuu bc it makes a bit of sense lmao)

Understandable if you're a bit uncomfy with this :)

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

♡︎This is quite an interesting idea! I had though about it once but since you asked now I'm really going to write it! Also I'm not the best with yandere themes so I hope this is good enough!

♡︎Includes: OB! Characters

♡︎Warning: Malleus's part made me kinda sad, IM SO SORRY MALLEUS LOVERS. Also all of them need therapy.

[AU Masterlist]

NV - Normalverse (Thank you for the idea Anon!)

First things first, in general, I believe that they would understand that you aren’t the same person from their Universe, however, this wouldn’t excuse the fact that every time they see your face they are thrown back to your relationship back in their world, which to say the least is not the best.

⋆⋅☆Riddle

There would be no doubt that he would dislike you intensely. Moreover, the fact that this Riddle would be even worse than the pre-overblot Riddle in the NV would put you in a difficult position.

The first time he spots you, he would be blinded by rage and probably try to behead you. Fortunately, Trey and Cater quickly save you, taking you as far away as possible from Tyrant Riddle.

He will do anything to find you, and he will have no tolerance for your actions. At the slightest inconvenience you cause, he will be right behind you, ready to tell you how much of an annoyance you are.

But you catch on to his game pretty quickly, so you counter him by being the very definition of perfection. You make sure not to break a single rule and set an example for everyone around you, and by the Sevens, that only makes him even angrier.

But is he really angry? He can’t deny that he feels slightly impressed. Among everyone else at this strange college, you are the only one who comes close to reaching the level of perfection he demands.

Slowly, he finds himself growing fonder of you. He starts thinking about bringing you back with him once he finds a way to return to his universe. You’d fit perfectly in the castle with him, and he’s certain his mother would have approved of you.

⋆⋅☆Leona

When it comes to Leona, he is more annoyed with the NV version of you than anything else. After all, you were always pestering him about being lazy and irresponsible. He had been plotting to have you exiled once he took the throne by killing his brother.

So, the first time he spots you, he's ready to turn around and leave, not wanting to hear your nagging. But that doesn’t happen. You speak to him as if he were a normal person, with no harsh words, and even smile at him when you finish talking.

Is he seeing things? Why are you so different in this universe? And why is he enjoying this new kind of attention so much?

Yet, he remains rude, constantly sending glares your way. He firmly believes you're trying to trick him into something malicious.

Still, you bring him lunch and talk about your day. You are strangely kind, something he never thought he would experience, especially from you. You are the first person ever to treat him like this.

Slowly, something starts to shift inside him. Your attention becomes something he craves, and he starts becoming obsessed, to the point where he checks if you give the same treatment to others.

And if you do, he makes sure they are out of the picture the next time you look for them. He will ensure that you have only him to turn to, to talk about your day, and to give your full attention.

⋆⋅☆Azul

OH NO! He’s had enough of your antics ruining his business! Azul puts up a sign with your face and a red cross over it in front of the Monster Lounge. YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED IN!

Floyd and Jade find this absolutely hilarious and watch as you stroll into the Monster Lounge without a care in the world. (You’re literally that meme: "This sign won’t stop me, because I can’t read.") They don’t even try to stop you, they’re far too entertained by the thought of seeing how this new Azul will react to the chaos.

Let’s just say that Azul quickly learns the hard way that you aren’t here to ruin his business. Instead, you seem determined to ruin his reputation by being overly affectionate and making him squirm with your sweet words in front of all his clients, no less.

He tries to distance himself, avoiding your gaze and setting boundaries, but you keep coming back. In that, you remind him of the version of you from his own universe.

And for some reason, he finds that persistence very attractive. He can’t deny that, before you decided to ruin his business, he used to have a slight crush on you back then.

But now, you aren’t trying to ruin his business. Quite the contrary, you’re a magnet for attention, constantly drawing more customers to the Mostro Lounge.

Slowly, Azul starts losing himself in this fantasy: you and him, together, expanding his business. But at a certain point, he realizes he’s thinking more about you than the money the two of you could make.

He becomes determined to keep you by his side, even if his business suffers because of it. If all it takes to have you is tarnishing a bit of his reputation, then he’s willing to do it.

⋆⋅☆Jamil

By the Seven, he was already annoyed that Kalim was here, but you too? This was about to be the worst day of his life, two incredibly annoying people threatening to ruin his plans.

He keeps his distance, but when you spot him, he’s about to tell you to go find someone else to bother. Then, you say something completely unexpected: you’re actually annoyed by Kalim’s antics.

You? Annoyed? At Kalim?

He’s taken aback. In his universe, you and Kalim were inseparable friends, always together. But the you from this place is actually bothered by him? He doesn’t even need to know why you’re annoyed. Just the fact that someone finally agrees with him about Kalim makes him incredibly happy.

He enjoys it when you come to him with your frustrations. Whether you’re irritated by Kalim’s constant gifts or his endless parties in your honor, because you feel overwhelmed, Jamil is always there to listen. He savors your complaints, and he’s quick to add his own criticisms about Kalim, which only deepens your dislike for him.

As time goes on, you start finding comfort in Jamil’s presence. His understanding and validation make him seem like a refuge from the chaos that Kalim brings. You begin to rely on him more, and Jamil can’t help but enjoy how your dislike for Kalim boosts his own ego.

Jamil starts subtly shaping your view of Kalim. By reinforcing your negative feelings and positioning himself as your only true ally, he ensures that you depend on him more. He carefully creates situations where he appears better compared to Kalim, making himself seem like the perfect match for you.

Jamil feeds off your growing dislike for Kalim. Your negative feelings towards Kalim seem to boost his ego, and he finds himself loving your voice even more.

You deserve someone who truly understands you, and Jamil believes he’s that person. He’s confident that he’d be the perfect match for you.

⋆⋅☆Vil

There you are, Neige’s number one fan. He doesn’t even look in your direction, you aren’t worth it. Shouldn’t you be with him, guarding him like the lapdog you are?

Vil has to admit that at least you seem more elegant here. You look more relaxed and gentle, but maybe you were always like that back then. Perhaps he was just too focused on Neige to notice you.

Or maybe this version of you from this universe is simply sweeter and kinder. Perhaps here, you don’t make Neige your whole identity and actually treat Vil like a person rather than just competition for Neige.

Vil is intrigued, he finds you interesting, even. There’s a charm to you that brings him comfort. When he learns that you’re not that close to Neige here, he finds himself feeling pleased. And when you tell him that you find him “oh so much more beautiful,” he realizes that you might not be so bad after all.

Then he becomes attentive to your habits, your likes and dislikes, he memorizes every time you express any small detail about yourself only to use these as a way to create more opportunities to be closer to you. He brings up things you’ve mentioned in passing, showing how attentive he is to your likes and dislikes. His compliments become more personal, always tied to something he knows you value.

He loves especially when you talk so sweetly about him, or when he overhears you telling others how beautiful you think he is.

So whenever you mention Neige in a good way he becomes jealous, you should be exclusively devoted to him, he should be the only thing that crosses your mind and he was to make sure you only see him as your number one option.

He’s determined to make you see him as your everything, and he’ll stop at nothing to ensure that you’re his, completely and utterly.

⋆⋅☆Idia

(In here both Idia and Ortho from the AU get sent to the NV.)

Ah yes, the ruiner of fun, you.

Back in his world, he used to send his followers to pester you, hoping you'd leave him alone. But no matter what, you always managed to bounce back and ruin his mischievous plans. What was with you, always messing with the fun? If a person or two died, who would even care?

But this version of you seems so much more into the chaos. He watches as you join in Ace's dumb ideas or get excited when Ortho prepares to blast off half the school.

You actually seem like someone who would join in his schemes now, and he'd love to have some help.

Howver the idea of you laughing, scheming, or enjoying yourself with anyone else starts to eat away at him. He starts sabotaging your interactions with others, asking for Ortho’s help to keep Ace busy with other things, making sure you spend more time with him.

He starts sending Ortho on missions to monitor your every move, always keeping tabs on who you’re with and what you’re doing. If anyone tries to get too close to you, they mysteriously vanish from the scene, often without you even noticing.

Everything feels so perfect when the two of you are together, you don’t need anyone else just like he doesn’t need anyone else.

⋆⋅☆Malleus

Poor Malleus had been treated badly by his crush back in his universe. You never answered the letters he sent, and he had heard that all the little trinkets and flowers were returned because you didn’t want any of them.

So when this version of you from this strange new place treats him with such devotion, such kindness, and accepts his small gifts, even inviting him to spend time with you, he can hardly believe what’s happening.

This was essentially a dream come true for him. He wonders if it had been you he sent all those letters to, whether you would have written him back with the same excitement.

Why, then, hadn’t this lovely and perfect version of you been the one in his universe? Why was he the one left unloved in his world?

He wants to take you with him. Surely, you love him, you wouldn’t be angry if he took you back to his castle. The two of you could finally do all the things he had dreamed about while gazing lovingly at the flowers he once sent you.

After all, why else would you shower him with such kindness? Why else would you invite him to spend time with you? You must love him too.

[vaguely-concerned]

listen I don't even know what I'm talking about anymore but on this playthrough of DA2 I found myself once more entranced and heartbroken to see hawke reenact their relationship with their mother with the entire cursed city of kirkwall. you can never do enough for leandra, and you can never do enough for kirkwall. leandra is proud of you, and kirkwall uplifts its champion, but no matter how hard you try for them you can't fix everything there that's broken, no one could, and even the fact that anyone would feel the burning responsibility to take that task on is a huge warning sign on its own. leandra will easily allow you to sacrifice yourself on the altar of the family's continued well-being again and again, even when she'll beg you to spare the twins from the same thing. it's such a sad, painfully realistic thing because I truly don't think leandra meant to fuck up her kids, and yet she primed her oldest for an abusive toxic codependent relationship with an entire ongoing dumpster fire of a city state better than she ever could have if she had meant to.

I think what leandra actually, deep down wants from you is something you can never ever give her and that is cruel to ask of anyone, but especially your kid -- to bring her back to a time when she was happy. to reclaim when you were all happy, when nothing was broken that couldn't be fixed, before malcolm died, before you had to leave behind bethany or carver's broken body on the ground. to get her childhood back from where she left it and found it all gone and in ruins when she returned. 'this is all your fault'. this is the tragedy of parenthood sometimes I think, that capacity to define a life: she said that once, in a moment of profound pain, and she probably wouldn't have said it under other circumstances and she apologizes later, but now hawke has to live with that forever. leandra can't bear her own emotions without letting them spill over onto someone else so she won't have to hold the discomfort of them anymore, and hawke is left to shoulder that burden and responsibility again and again, handed the impossible task of making it all okay again, somehow -- of stopping anything bad from ever happening again in the Nr 1 Bad Things Constantly Happening capital of thedas.

and then at the same time there's the mirror of how varric's whole family wants orzammar back (and to him orzammar is just a ghost he's seen in their eyes -- there's something in his voice when he says 'That stupid plate was the whole city of Orzammar to him' that gets me every time, how much he understands that he doesn't understand and how lonely that makes him among them, and on top of it all he's frustrated and ashamed and sad that he just doesn't get it and can't meet them on it -- like it's a betrayal that he actually belongs up here, when varric wants so badly to be loyal), just as the hawkes want happiness back. (I don't think it's Lothering in itself that longing is for, it's for being together. Lothering was just the place they stayed the longest.) they're all in exile, even as they try to make a new home out of that exile.

(varric and hawke's real 🤝 quality across all personalities, affinities and choices is 'parentified child' lmao. so much of varric's character makes perfect sense once you know he grew up supporting a mother who was an emotionally volatile alcoholic, honestly. between varric, the hawkes, isabela, seb if you have him and merrill's whole Situation with marethari I feel like DA2 covertly is to mommy issues what ME2 is to daddy issues fjsdjfa)

basically I think I'm trying to pick apart exactly why the fact that leandra is clearly proud of hawke and tells them so several times doesn't feel like it helps at all, almost feels more like a cage even though it's clearly meant well? and what I'm getting is that it's because my sense of what hawke actually needs, in general but especially from a parent, isn't admiration or approval but to be loved and supported and understood. I don't believe leandra ever quite understands them, and it scares her because it makes her think she maybe never even understood malcolm. (that's the subtext of a lot of what leandra will say about him in legacy, at least. he's slipping away from her as the years pass after his death and she fears she never really had him in the first place, if he had secrets like these.) she consistently treats her oldest more like a partner or peer than as her child, which considering hawke is always described as being very similar to their father… I mean I totally see how that could be easy to slip into for her after he died especially, but it doesn't make it any less fucked up or unfair.

the real leandra in legacy is. she is SO absurdly self-centered, if you really pay attention. I don't want to keep dunking on her because I don't think she's like this on purpose, but it boggles my mind. if you do the quest in act 1 she gets so upset and overwhelmed that the kids just sort of sit there like :( at the end, which adds to the trend that through the game you constantly see hawke comforting leandra, and you pretty much never see leandra comforting hawke, beyond some light vaguely encouraging comments in passing. if you do legacy in act 2 while she's still alive hawke comes to her, tentatively asking if malcolm ever spoke to her about any of it -- clearly requesting some sort of emotional support or help to make sense of it. she then expresses her side of it, but never once does she say anything to the effect of 'hey that was a lot to go through, are you okay after all that?'.

instead she essentially hands them the responsibility of having a good life, to repay what malcolm did for all of them. and in theory that's not the worst takeaway I suppose, malcolm probably would want them all to be happy, but in the moment it only feels like more expectation heaped upon you somehow? especially since you don't really get to express anything about how it made you feel before she goes to the 'ah no use complaining' zone (after SHE got to express her grief at feeling like she's losing more and more of that old life, and hawke barely got to say anything fhsfalkjfs). in general she really doesn't do much like. parenting, does she haha. there is so much love there in that relationship, and yet so little comfort. Oh, those days. All of us, in that simple place. Well, that's neither here nor there, is it. This life, we have to make the best of it. And thanks to you, and him, I will. Oh well, mum, I'm uh. I'm glad you feel better after that, at least. Nice to be of service.

it's varric's ghost-leandra who actually acknowledges what a burden hawke has taken on, that shows an understanding of why they're doing it, acknowledges the loss they've been through and also reassures them in their sense of belonging that still can't be taken from them, despite it all -- The best of him is still with you. The best of all of us. It's what makes you try so hard. You'll always have that. We'll always be family. (you can't take 'loved' away, huh.) you get a bit more of a reconciliation/reconnection between hawke and their dad's memory by being reminded he got like this too, you know (implicitly you're not alone). varric through leandra is the one who tells them what they probably would have wanted and needed to hear from a parent right then -- It's going to be alright. that's what Hawke, The Champion means to everyone else, and for once they get to be the one to hear it. except only in a kind dream that never really happened. I. it. hmmmmmm. crushing. that is crushing. but also so incredibly tender from varric's side, and so moving to me that he's seen all this stuff and so desperately wants to give them that comfort. anyway DA2 is about love in some of the realest and thus messiest and most human ways I've ever seen and it makes my brain go wild it's my favorite game of all time goodnight

[vicciouxs]

DORIAN VASILE answering to @thebramblewood vampire calling 🦇

Mr. Vasile is undoubtedly the classic vampire stereotype, born as such, without having been transformed, so the purest blood runs in his veins. Many will think that he spends his eternity filled with luxuries, but the reality is that he lives removed from most of society, even his peers, and only goes out when his hunger is stronger than his resistance. He lives retired in a small house that anyone could mistake for a ruin, devoured by vegetation and covered with creaking wood. However, his exile, strange as it may seem, is voluntary. Before the tragedy he used to be an acclaimed figure among vampire society, he had large networks of contacts since his knowledge is immense, Dorian took advantage of his eternity to hone his skills in any field. But his big mistake was love. He fell in love with a human, a human who was scared of his true form and ran away without knowing that he would be caught by Dorian's enemies, jealous of his knowledge. At that moment Dorian lost his great and only love and, although he has more than enough power to regenerate himself, he keeps the scar on his face as a memory of that moment.

[witchlingcirce]

Interesting enough: anytime I’ve ever mentioned the circle the topic of how Maryse & Robert’s punishment for there crimes wasn’t a good punishment always comes up because I think it’s quite interesting.

Objectively: no it’s not a good punishment. You’re still giving these bad people, who have committed bad acts- a position of power within your council and within shadowhunters as well.

However I think if you think deeper about it (aka think to much about), there are aspects of it that actually make it seem less bad!

I think something people don’t point out a lot when talking about is that they were never allowed to return home, to Idris. Idk- if someone told me I was never allowed to return home I’d be having a mental breakdown. Idris had been both Maryse and Robert’s home, it had been where they where raising there baby (shout out Alec). To be exiled from your home is quite a big punishment in itself.

Now onto the punishment of them being heads on the institute. In truth, I wouldn’t say being given a position of power is really any sort of punishment- especially one as highly regarded as an institute. However I do think there’s some deeper levels to it: Maryse & Robert are both decently young when given this position- not uncommon among shadowhunters but it’s still enough to stress two 22 year olds out - not to mention they have a 1-2 year old son.

NOT TO MENTION: having to run an institute means having to work with downworlders all the time. Which sure seems stupid because why are you putting these two downworlder haters in charge?? But the clave was definitely watching them to make sure they where on there best behaviour. I mean, Imogen was literally breathing down Maryse’s neck in city of ashes- I can imagine that happened a considerable amount of other times as well. Now they have to learn how to get along with these people who 100% hate them (rightfully so) and now they also need to learn how to actually work with them.

Now I think the punishment actually has one specific thing that makes it a “punishment” is what it did to Maryse and Robert’s relationship. This is a more indirect one, but the exile is literally what ruined there relationship. Robert blamed Maryse for everything that happened - they were both upset they weren’t able to return. There relationship before this was already rocky, and now they’ve also been separated from there friends and family.

So yeah, I agree with the overall sentiment: there should’ve been a harsher punishment taken. Idk maybe at least take some of the lightwoods family heirlooms- or repossess some of the family stuff (like they where lowkey doing to Benedict in clockwork princess).

I also think there punishment is meant to directly reflect how shadowhunter take very highly into familial status and how that also reflects in Hodges character but sigh that’s for another blog post.

[nrilliree]

1.Rhaenyra did not call Alicent a "whore". That scene was deleted and is not part of the show's canon, but if we are going to take deleted scenes as canon, then Alicent laughed when Criston called Rhaenyra a "cunt".

https://x.com/darksvster/status/1765074801050488991

2."Alicent tries for years to mend the relationship between them and foster a positive relationship between herself, Rhaenyra, and her children."

It was only two years that Alicent tried to mend her relationship with Rhaenyra. Rhaenyra has the right not to want to be her friend, with or without justification. People are not obligated to be friends with others if they don't want to. If Rhaenyra doesn't want to be her friend, she doesn't want to, period. Villainizing her for this is weird. Rhaenyra is not conspiring against Alicent or her children, she is not spreading rumors about her, she is not trying to ruin her marriage with Viserys, she just doesn't want to be her friend. God forgive her for that! Moreover, since she declared war on her, she has been antagonizing Rhaenyra and her children for over 15 years. Alicent has spent more time being her enemy and going against her than being her friend or trying to mend their relationship.

3. Alicent instead praises Rhaenyra and defends her to her own father, her husband and king, and the ladies at court." (...) She lies on her mother's grave to take advantage of Alicent's support for her and cover her own ass which results in Alicent being left all alone in the Red Keep (and after this conversation she goes back to acting like Alicent means nothing to her).

-Rhaenyra did not ask Alicent to defend her...

-Alicent hides her father's desires to push Aegon as heir. It doesn't matter that she doesn't agree if she is willing to stay silent about her father's objectives and machinations.

-Rhaenyra has the right to defend herself and look after her own safety. Alicent is the mother of the son who is a danger to her claim and is the daughter of the man who wants her disinherited. Moreover, she has already hidden information from Rhaenyra. She has no reason to fully trust Alicent.

"She convinces the king to let Rhaenyra embark on a kingdoms-wide tour to personally select her own match among hundreds of suitors, something literally no other noblewoman has ever had the opportunity to do before."

She didn't convince him of that... she convinced him to make Rhaenyra believe she had the power to choose. Giving her the opportunity to choose doesn't change the fact that she doesn't want to get married. God forgive her for fearing marriage after seeing what her mother went through!

"She insults everyone at Aegon's birthday party, yells at the king in front of the court about how she thinks she's above duty and tradition, and storms off into the woods overnight, only to return covered in blood giving Alicent and her toddler a death glare."

-Alicent's fans have an innate ability to exaggerate and distort things and over-victimize Alicent.

-God forgive Rhaenyra again for not coming back happy after having a traumatic experience when a boar attacked her. Lol.

5."makes fun of how romantic Alicent's situation is of being forced to be a broodmare locked away in a castle." (...)

-Rhaenyra was not talking or mocking of Alicent, she was talking about herself and her fears, and when she realized what she said, she apologized. I can't say the same for Alicent when she made the insensitive comment about how easy her childbirth was in front of Rhaenyra...

-After that conversation, Alicent declares war on her. Lol.

7. Alicent is evil because she spent over 15 years meddling and conspiring against Rhaenyra and her children and trying to have them exiled or, even worse, killed when Rhaenyra was not doing the same with her and her children. Alicent is evil for using a baby who had just come out of his mother's womb as a political pawn against Rhaenyra. Alicent is mean for insulting Rhaenyra's children, who are just kids who have done nothing to her. Alicent also asked for Rhaenyra's son to be physically harmed in Driftmark , but unlike Rhaenyra, who did nothing more when Viserys ignored her request, Alicent took a knife and went after a child. Add to this that by this time, Alicent had let Larys get away with Harwin's murder, who was someone important to Rhaenyra, and then had the audacity to try to give Rhaenyra a hypocritical speech.

8. Vaemond no tenía derecho a Driftmark . Corlys estaba vivo, y en el caso de que los hijos de Rhaenyra estuvieran fuera de la línea de sucesión, Baela y Rhaena estaban allí y tenían más derecho que Vaemond. Simplemente usó esto como una maquinación política nuevamente contra Rhaenyra cuando una vez más Rhaenyra no estaba haciendo nada contra Alicent y sus hijos. Alicent estaba jugando ping pong con el trono Driftmark como si fuera suyo. Se lo ofreció a Vaemond, luego a Rhaenys y nuevamente a Rhaenyra y Luke.

9. Rhaenyra was ruling Dragonstone as was her duty as Princess of Dragonstone.

10. "Alicent's son is a drunken rapist who assaulted an original character created by the writers to make him look worse than Rhaenyra... Gotcha."

That last part is very funny because everything she mentioned here to victimize Alicent's character regarding her relationship with Rhaenyra were things the writers made up to victimize her and show her as a martyr. So, the writers can victimize Alicent, they can change her age, make up the whole plot of her friendship with Rhaenyra, and change much of her story to victimize her, but Dyanna's thing is wrong? I mean, changes are only good if they benefit and victimize my favorites? Alicent's fans are really very hypocritical.😭

Even if Rhaenyra called her that, you have to take into account that she had just found out that her friend who had been listening to her worries about her father remarrying would be his new wife, because she had been seeing him secretly for several months. Without saying a word about it. Rhaenyra had every right to feel betrayed and deceived.

We don't see much of Alicent trying to rebuild her friendship. All we see is that she tried to be nice, and when that didn't work, she took advantage of her privileged position by reminding Rhaenyra that she was no longer her friend, but her queen. Rhaenyra had every right to no longer feel trust in the person who had lied to her and (according to what Rhaenyra knew) betrayed her in order to obtain benefits. Especially since Alicent was Aegon's mother and Otto's daughter, who was trying hard to deprive Rhaenyra of her position in his favor. Otto was sending spies after her, and Rhaenyra had no assurance that if she got close to Alicent, it wouldn't be used against her. Therefore, even if she didn't want to, she had to lie to Alicent for her own good when it came to her virginity.

Alicent didn't want Rhaenyra's best, she wanted Rhaenyra to believe that she was happy. These are two different things. It wasn't about giving Rhaenyra freedom, it was about giving her the false sense that she had it. If Rhaenyra had chosen the wrong candidate, it is highly doubtful that the wedding would have taken place. And yes, Rhaenyra was so horrible and spoiled that she didn't want to be the wife of someone like a Lannister, some 10-year-old, or some 80-year-old… What a spoiled brat she was.

And I will add that if it weren't for Alicent's father, Alicent wouldn't have to "defend" Rhaenyra from anything.

People need to understand that Otto wasn't fired because Rhaenyra lied to Alicent about her virginity, lol. Otto was fired through his own fault. He went against the king's will, trying to push Aegon to the throne when Viserys clearly said no, and went so far as to send spies against the heir to the throne. Despite the king. That's why he was fired. Even if Rhaenyra hadn't lied, it still would have happened.

Alicent decided to declare war on Rhaenyra. She insulted the royal guests of honor (Velaryons) at the royal wedding. She promoted the murderer of the future king's consort's guest of honor (whom the murderer punched in the face). She abused the heir to the throne, exposing her and her heirs to potential health complications, even though she knew about the fate of Rhaenyra's mother, both of her grandmothers, and her five siblings and her uncle. She clearly declared her actions against the crown, dressing the king's sons not in the colors of their family, but in the war colors of her own family. She spread lies (without evidence) about the birth of heirs to the throne, endangering their lives. She questioned the king's rights and authority. She was planning a coup d'état. She sought to usurp the throne. She attacked and injured the heiress to the throne.

And people in this situation are surprised that Rhaenyra was afraid for her life and the life of her family? It was Rhaenyra who had real and real reasons to be afraid, because Alicent, with the help of Larys, was ready to murder the King's Hand and his heir so that her own father would get his job back. It was Alicent who attacked her and physically injured her against the king's orders. The worst thing Rhaenyra did was demand to hear Aemond. And it's more than obvious that she did it to put pressure on Alicent. Viserys wouldn't send anyone to torture because it's Viserys. But Alicent, even when faced with the idea that her son might be tortured, did not admit to her own crimes. To me this is clear evidence that Alicent put greed and power ahead of the safety of her children. Otherwise she would say that she was the one spreading the rumors so her son didn't have to be questioned. But she didn't.

[searchingforserendipity25]

i will lead not my people into ruin assured, arafinwë spat.

his brothers's eyes were on him, united as never they had been before; but well he could see how thin the thread was that bound them. betrayal námo had prophetized, and grief unbearable, certain diminishment.

you mean truly the turn the hands of your vassals into dishonour greater than the one we have cast upon ourselves already? shame be upon the ill-use of bonds, and oaths, and love! if any among you were worthy of being called princes among our people, you would go no further.

his children went regardless. it was a sorry thing, to know he had sired and taught no true princes after all. some among their followers had wished to go regardless - but there was no need that they should have such a plenty of lords to do it for!

the ones who remained clung to arafinwë, well after his ascension. valar-named, he was king assuredly, a bitter office and unwished for; but his people clung to him. he could not release them from their own deeds, not the duty they bore to the teleri - but he could sit with them in sharing fashion, and be as guilty and angry and mournful as they were.

finwë would not have ruled so, but finwë was dead. fëanáro most assuredly would not have sat himself kneeling on the floor in humility before his wife, or accepted insults in his court's throne chambers - but fëanáro was ash bourne away in a foreign wind, and it was arafinwë among his kin who knew how to do patient work, hard work.

nolofinwë ought to have inherited these tasks. but in the end he loved his pride and his courage and his wrath the better than his city. in a small and rueful way, arafinwë was glad; his brother had given too much of himself to it already, as a prince dutiful and resented. it would have spent him of his powers to do it crowned.

arafinwë did it himself. through the darkening, when he made certain none starved more than others, and all those failing in body and spirit were attended; and the long ages under the moon and sun afterwards.

first of all the returned exiles was his own firstborn son, half-penitent and largely altered, in love with the land across the sea. as far as due payments were, it was less than the valar might have given.

the sloughing cold of araman bit his throat. arafinwë sat beside finrod, and embraced him, and raised him up; he heard the rushing of the waves, uinen's wrath, and the dead dark greater than the darkness where námo's words rang still.

where the fairness, where the mercy? he did not rail his wrath that one son was too little, and did not weep for all the childless parents that dwell in fair tirion - but they were his people, and he felt their grief as his own. he had held all their hands, he knew the names of all those who had abandoned their land in his brothers's trains.

he embraced his son, stroked his tresses, let himself be a bulwark against his tears. a king he was, the best among his people. to him it was to make fairness, if it was hard to find. hard work, patient work. it never did grow lighter.

[outofangband]

two posts about Himring related folklore for @nelyoslegalteam

I’m making a post about folklore in Angband soon too!

my tag for posts related to the position of ex thralls in Beleriand is 'but ever the noldor feared' and post angband! there are more related posts there!

The folklore of Himring is complex and the line between rumor, truth, and campfire tale is blurred.

The people of Himring are a diverse population, mostly Noldor of Fëanor’s host but some of Nolofinwë’s too, who wanted to be closer to the front lines or who were actually stationed there, a small population of Northern Sindar, and of course a small population of Angband survivors making up mostly Sindar and Avarin elves who were captured before the Noldor returned to Beleriand (I’ve talked about this on many posts but I’m always glad to say more! It’s one of my favorite subjects!)

The stories come from within the March and throughout the rest of Beleriand.

Tales of the desolate landscape itself were sparse before Maedhros built his fortress though people had been known to disappear around those hill near the river wells but whether they were taken by the cold or elements or the enemy was unknown.

The residents of Himring have a wealth of stories.

There are those that are woven simply for amusement, or to pass the time or sharpen the mind on long nights of watch where all you see is an endless expanse of winter. It’s easy to become confused then.

They tell of strange lights in the snow, of fires that appear to burn through the storms but vanish when travelers veer too close, of monstrous shadows that only their frightened horses can see.

There are the inevitable tales and rumors of Angband and those who have seen it. Some are shared among survivors, to comfort, confirm and console. Stories and tales from the fortress inevitably make their way into communities with any survivors, then spread by those on the outside.

Some fall into the timeless game of comparing wounds, out of anger or a bitter sport. The nastier tales that win these little games sometimes leave their private circles.

Many are spread by others with varying intentions. Of course there is simple curiosity and misinformation but there are those who repeat the vicious accusations often leveled at escaped thralls and often, towards Maedhros himself. I went into that in the last ask you sent I think.

And then of course there is Tol Himling, the remnants of the fortress of Himring on a tiny island. Few visit it unless by great need in stormy seas. It does not appear on all maps of the ocean. It is said to be haunted for those who seek shelter in its ruins rarely find peace. They dream of a hell of iron far below the waves and of blinding lights and stark cliffs they have never seen.

Second, an idea I've mentioned here but have wanted to make a longer post about it too

Inspired by @welcomingdisaster ‘s fantastic world building prompt list here! Prompt: native bird

One of my favorite topics to write about is the societal place of ex thralls in Beleriand and the culture of belief around Angband.

Among some in Beleriand and later, throughout Middle Earth, barn owls are believed to be the spirits of other predatory animals. This is because they are pale, fallow colors and because, unlike other owls, they do not hoot. The sound of the barn owl is a breathy shrieking sound that has often been described as something unearthly. The most common name for barn owl in Sindarin roughly translates to ghost hunter. 

Although these birds are not believed to be ill omens nor pose any danger to elvenkind by most, they have developed an association with other beings who exist in the margins between life and death, who flee or were driven from their homes, and who have returned to a state of hunter or hunted. In First Age Beleriand, they were sometimes associated with former thralls of Angband, usually those nameless ones who never came home or who were exiled by their own kin and who survive as wild beasts. 

These elves, though not all believed them to be such anymore, existed somewhere between reality and legend in Beleriand and beyond. 

Nonetheless, stories of pale wraith like figures who stole from, attacked or even ate their own kind, who moved with an uncanny silence even beyond the ability of the Eldar…these stories melded perfectly with the vision of barn owls and their eerie calls.

These perhaps later morphed with the stories told by the men who followed Morgoth about the Eldar as a whole. (Obligatory Morwen mention here too).

In the frozen abodes of Himring, watchers on the ramparts pause as the shadow of a ghost hunter passes silently by the winter moon. Some turn away or mutter a prayer. Some watch still closer.

[aylen-san]

Maglor and Finarfin in Valinor, Fourth Age

They sat on the coastal rocks of Valinor’s bay, listening to the quiet waves wash over the shore. The setting sun painted the sky and sea in golden hues when Finarfin, gazing thoughtfully into the distance, began to speak.

Finarfin: How do you think things would have turned out, Maglor, if everything had gone differently? If your brothers hadn’t sworn the Oath?

Maglor: (laughs bitterly) “If only.” I’ve often asked myself that, especially on those lonely nights when I remained on the distant lands, far from everyone. If they hadn’t sworn, there would have been no slaughter, no deaths. Perhaps our homes would not have been so ruined. But… every choice has its consequences. And if we hadn’t taken the Oath, things might have been even worse.

Finarfin: Do you really think so? I saw how the Oath weighed on you all, how it destroyed you from within. If your father had found another path… Perhaps Morgoth would never have found support among our brothers?

Maglor: (shrugs) Perhaps. But you know how our father was. He would not have backed down, even if it meant the doom of us all. We were blind in our pride, and I don’t think Fëanor could have seen any other way. Everything was sealed the moment he left Tirion. But speaking of ‘what ifs’… What do you think, if you had come with us?

Finarfin: (smiles with a touch of bitterness) I’ve asked myself that question many times. But I stayed. Perhaps it was the wise choice, or perhaps just cowardice. But I couldn’t follow Nolofinwë into exile and darkness. My heart was too tied to Aman. His gaze drifts toward the horizon of the sea. And what if you had returned?

Maglor: Returned? And for what? Returned with a stain that nothing can wash away? And where would I return to? The home we destroyed no longer waits for us. I am just one of many who lost everything and was left only with memories and songs.

Finarfin: And yet you did return to Aman. Valinor has accepted you, as it did me. We are both still alive, despite all our mistakes. I often think: what if… we can start anew? Bring light, not darkness?

Maglor: (a sad smile) I always sang of hope, but I could hardly see it for myself. And you, Finarfin? Do you see the light among what remains of our past days?

Finarfin: I have always believed the light within us never truly fades. It dims, yes, but it doesn’t vanish. Perhaps we should try again. Perhaps not all is lost.

[eretzyisrael]

Who are the Mizrahim? History 101

Where do Jews come from and what is the difference between Sephardim and Mizrahim? Loolwa Khazzoom gives this succint explanation for the Jewish Virtual Library:

A Baghdadi Jewish family

Regardless of where Jews lived most recently, therefore, all Jews have roots in the Middle East and North Africa. Some communities, of course, have more recent ties to this region: Mizrahim and Sephardim, two distinct communities that are often confused with one another.

Mizrahim are Jews who never left the Middle East and North Africa since the beginnings of the Jewish people 4,000 years ago. In 586 B.C.E., the Babylonian Empire (ancient Iraq) conquered Yehudah (Judah), the southern region of ancient Israel.

Babylonians occupied the Land of Israel and exiled the Yehudim (Judeans, or Jews), as captives into Babylon. Some 50 years later, the Persian Empire (ancient Iran) conquered the Babylonian Empire and allowed the Jews to return home to the land of Israel. But, offered freedom under Persian rule and daunted by the task of rebuilding a society that lay in ruins, most Jews remained in Babylon. Over the next millennia, some Jews remained in today’s Iraq and Iran, and some migrated to neighboring lands in the region (including today’s Syria, Yemen, and Egypt), or emigrated to lands in Central and East Asia (including India, China, and Afghanistan).

Sephardim are among the descendants of the line of Jews who chose to return and rebuild Israel after the Persian Empire conquered the Babylonian Empire. About half a millennium later, the Roman Empireconquered ancient Israel for the second time, massacring most of the nation and taking the bulk of the remainder as slaves to Rome. Once the Roman Empire crumbled, descendants of these captives migrated throughout the European continent. Many settled in Spain (Sepharad) and Portugal, where they thrived until the Spanish Inquisition and Expulsion of 1492 and the Portuguese Inquisition and Expulsion shortly thereafter.

During these periods, Jews living in Christian countries faced discrimination and hardship. Some Jews who fled persecution in Europe settled throughout the Mediterranean regions of the Ottoman (Turkish) Empire, as well as Central and South America. Sephardim who fled to Ottoman-ruled Middle Eastern and North African countries merged with the Mizrahim, whose families had been living in the region for thousands of years.

In the early 20th century, severe violence against Jews forced communities throughout the Middle Eastern region to flee once again, arriving as refugees predominantly in Israel, France, the United Kingdom, and the Americas. In Israel, Middle Eastern and North African Jews were the majority of the Jewish population for decades, with numbers as high as 70 percent of the Jewish population, until the mass Russian immigration of the 1990s. Mizrahi Jews are now half of the Jewish population in Israel.

Throughout the rest of the world, Mizrahi Jews have a strong presence in metropolitan areas — Paris, London, Montreal, Los Angeles, Brooklyn, and Mexico City. Mizrahim and Sephardim share more than common history from the past five centuries. Mizrahi and Sephardic religious leaders traditionally have stressed hesed (compassion) over humra (severity, or strictness), following a more lenient interpretation of Jewish law.

Despite such baseline commonalities, Middle Eastern and North African Mizrahim and Sephardim do retain distinct cultural traditions. Though Mizrahi and Sephardic prayer books are close in form and content, for example, they are not identical. Mizrahi prayers are usually sung in quarter tones, whereas Sephardic prayers have more of a Southern European feel. Traditionally, moreover, Sephardic prayers are often accompanied by a Western-style choir in the synagogue.

Mizrahim traditionally spoke Judeo-Arabic — a language blending Hebrew and a local Arabic dialect. While a number of Sephardim in the Middle East and North Africa learned and spoke this language, they also spoke Ladino–a blend of Hebrew and Spanish. Having had no history in Spain or Portugal, Mizrahim generally did not speak Ladino.

In certain areas, where the Sephardic immigration was weak, Sephardim assimilated into the predominantly Mizrahi communities, taking on all Mizrahi traditions and retaining just a hint of Sephardic heritage — such as Spanish-sounding names. In countries such as Morocco, however, Spanish and Portuguese Jews came in droves, and the Sephardic community set up its own synagogues and schools, remaining separate from the Mizrahi community.

Even within the Mizrahi and Sephardi communities, there were cultural differences from country to country. On Purim, Iraqi Jews had strolling musicians going from house to house and entertaining families (comparable to Christmas caroling), whereas Egyptian Jews closed off the Jewish quarter for a full-day festival (comparable to Mardi Gras). On Shabbat, Moroccan Jews prepared hamin (spicy meat stew), whereas Yemenite Jews prepared showeah (spicy roasted meat), among other foods.

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[goodqueenaly]

since you clearly know your history, do you think aegon iv's situation with his mistresses while he was king was handled realistically? weren't official king's mistresses married off before taking on their positions because any bastard children sired needed a legal father? falena was married off but there's no mention of barba, melissa, or the other women after aegon iv ascended having husbands. i mean, obviously barba needed to be unwed so she could have a chance of becoming queen but if melissa wanted to establish herself as a non-grasping replacement, shouldn't she go get a husband so naerys, aemon, and daeron couldn't feel threatened? and even if melissa was a super nice person, how she could she remain "well-loved" at court while publicly having bastards and one of them is an albino? wouldn't her reputation be ruined if aegon iv dropped her and she remained unmarried after that?

I think the historical record is somewhat mixed on that point. Think of, for example, GRRM’s, ugh, favorite point of reference for Aegon IV, Henry VIII (yeah, I know): Bessie Blount was not married at the time she was in a relationship with the king (and conceived Henry Fitzroy with him), though she did marry after her son’s birth, while it’s entirely unclear when Mary Boleyn married relative to when she and Henry VIII had their relationship (and, of course, Henry offered to make Anne Boleyn his mistress while she was unmarried). Likewise, if we look to Charles II - another inspiration, I think, for Aegon IV, no less so because I tend to think he named Barba Bracken after Charles’ long-term mistress Barbara Villiers, Duchess of Cleveland - the record is far from one-sided: Barbara herself, for example, was married during their relationship of course, but the king’s two primary mistresses at the end of his life, Louise de Kerouaille and Nell Gwynn, were both unmarried for the whole of their lives (and as much as James Scott, Duke of Monmouth, Charles’ eldest extramarital son, might have claimed that Charles had married his mother, Lucy Walter, when the two were exiles in the Netherlands, Charles himself vehemently denied the supposed marriage, which had no evidence of its existence otherwise). Too, Louis XIV - not perhaps explicitly cited by GRRM as an inspiration for Aegon the Unworthy, but certainly a king famous for his love affairs - had both married and unmarried mistresses: while Louise de La Vallière was unmarried (and later ended her life as a repentant nun), the Marquise de Montespan did have a husband (who notoriously held a “funeral” for his wife after she became the king’s mistress); the widower King Louis did, almost certainly, end up marrying his last mistress, the similarly widowed Marquise de Maintenon. (There is also the story that when one of Louis’ early loves, Marie de Mancini, married her eventual husband, Prince Colonna, the prince was surprised to discover that his wife was a virgin, as he said he had not expected to find “innocence among the loves of kings”.) Again, these are only a very few, very limited examples, but I think it’s fair enough to say that GRRM could have felt, let’s say somewhat historically comforted by having Aegon IV’s mistresses be (mostly) unmarried women. 

In any event, I don’t think it was a necessity that Melissa Blackwood be married in order for her to be seen as unthreatening to the queen. While the details of Melissa’s life, especially her time as Aegon’s mistress, are frustratingly thin and vague based on our current knowledge, it does seem that Melissa went out of her way to curry favor with Queen Naerys, Prince Daeron, and Prince Aemon - a step that Barba Bracken almost certainly never took, if she was looking to replace Naerys as queen (and perhaps have her son Aegor replace Daeron as heir). It is also worth pointing out, of course, that in the aftermath of Barba’s, and probably more generally Lord Bracken’s and his faction’s, failed attempt to have Barba marry the king, Melissa and whatever faction was supporting her may have emphasized that Melissa had no such ambitions in order to distinguish her from the disgraced former mistress. Additionally, the fact that Melissa did not have a son with the king until a few years after their relationship began may have also served as some reassurance to the queen, Prince Daeron, and Prince Aemon: not only, perhaps, did Melissa appear not to want to replace the queen, but she had no ready would-be heir, as Barba had had, to promote in place of Daeron and strengthen her ambition to create a new royal family. 

Naturally, because we know nothing about why Melissa was sent away from court, or what happened to her after, we have no idea how her brief years as the king’s chief mistress affected her life or her socio-political prospects thereafter. I do tend to think that Melissa didn’t live a long life after leaving court, though when and how she might have died is obviously completely unclear. In any event, though, I could see where Melissa’s positive reputation, especially if she died relatively young, might have been preserved at court: the kind-hearted, widely beloved young woman, perhaps driven from the court by those no-good-very-bad Brackens who had then replaced her with a “faithless” mistress. Once King Daeron II came to the throne himself, the new king may have been even more inclined to think fondly of the woman who had treated himself and his late mother and uncle with respect and deference, where few if any other of his father’s mistresses had - “better this mistress than any other”, perhaps, to paraphrase the Queen of France on the subject of her husband’s beloved mistress, Madame de Pompadour. (Naturally as well, once Bloodraven came into power and influence, especially after the First Blackfyre Rebellion, he would likely have done much to promote the positive legend of his mother, especially in contrast to the surviving reputation of Barba Bracken - a legacy that I think will be central to the conflict of “The Village Hero”). 

It’s also worth pointing out that while King Aegon’s identified chief mistresses after his ascension seem to have been unmarried young women, this is not to say that the king probably limited his sexual liaisons during his reign only to these individuals. After all, Yandel notes in his overview of Daeron II’s reign that during Aegon IV’s rule, the men of the City Watch of King’s Landing whom the king promoted “made sure that the brothels—and even the decent women of the city—were available for Aegon’s lusts”; I think it’s probably fair to say Yandel likely included “married” in his definition of “decent”. Moreover, while Yandel identified Jeyne Lothston as Aegon IV’s chief mistress after the downfall of Bethany Bracken, the maester-author also suggested that the king “enjoyed mother and daughter together in the same bed”, after Falena Lothston (nee Stokeworth) brought young Jeyne to court (a disturbing rumor, of course, when paired with the additional suggestion by Yandel that Jeyne had been fathered by the king, not Lord Lucas). I fully expect that when we learn more about Aegon IV’s reign (especially given the, ugh, high likelihood of even more unnecessary sexual exploits to be highlighted in Fire and Blood Volume 2), Aegon’s omnivorous sexual desire, including for married women, will be underlined. 

[fintan-pyren]

She whipped through more darkness and fell into the streets of a ruined city. The clouded and cracked crystal buildings were a hodgepodge of structures Sophie had seen throughout the Lost Cities: the swirling castles from Eternalia sandwiched among the silver-tipped spires from Atlantis mixed with gleaming mansions that wrapped around the pyramid of Foxfire. There was a fountain in the center of it all, two golden figures standing in a round pool, holding hands as colored streams of water showered them from every direction. A shadow of a girl appeared between them and took off through the buildings, shattering everything she touched before she dove into a sea of shards.

hold on, can we talk about this scene from Prentice's mind for a moment? The girl is almost certainly Sophie (I mean, she's emerging from between the elf and the human on the Unity Fountain), but she's destroying the buildings?

(also, I miss the Keeper-Exile-Everblaze era)

[hugemilkshake]

can I request a affogato x assistant reader one-shot? (I'm sorry you just love him sm lol-)

Enjoy the milkshake! Affogato is one of my favorites AND among some my strongest cookies, my most powerful is sorbet shark- don’t question why

Need assistance?

-platonic and slightly angsty??-

The blizzard raged on with out a care for any cookies caught up in it. Poor Affogato Cookie.

Affogato fell to the ground as the cold winter breeze hit him hard. Why did those cookies come to ruin his plans? Where was his assistant when he needed them? Why did this happen? Affogato cursed his wretched assistant.

The memory of them talking about this very thing came flooding back to him. It hit as hard as the frost was, but the blizzard one frost could not compare to the cold he felt in his heart.

——————

Deep within the castle walls two cookies were snickering, gossiping and eating all the jellies they want. Affogato Cookie and his assistant, Y/N Cookie.

It was light hearted chatter, making fun of the king being so old school, any drama amongst the commoners, how Caramel Arrow is a little too prvalged, Crunchy Chip and his Cream Wolves, and not to forget the exiled prince!

But that was stopped when Affogato asked an out of pocket question.

“Y/N Cookie. I have a question.” “Yes? What is it?” “Will you be by my side when I take the throne?” “Of course I will! What kind of question is that?” “Well, on the off chance things go south… I want to know if you will help me if I get exiled.” “Listen, you don’t need to worry your pretty little head! I’ll be right by your side!”

——————

“…Lair…”

You watched him get exiled. You didn’t even look the slightest bit sad. You betrayed his trust!

The crunching of someone walking up behind him distracted him for a moments notice, Affogato had the slightest bit of hope it was you. But… no… it wasn’t…

“Need assistance?” The red robed priestess asked.

[bigtreefest]

Chapter 2: Traitor Jim

From: The Banes of the Ball Series

Pairing: Jimmy Dobyne x Heiress! Reader

Summary: Jimmy’s good at keeping his own secrets, but can he keep yours?

Word count: 2,513

Content/warnings: institutional misogyny, 1920s debutante ball themes, southern speakeasy themes, alcohol consumption, mean!Jimmy (more like defensive, but still), secretive reader, allusions to a a want to disrupt the social structure, cross-dressing?

Author’s Note: So in my research, I found out that this movie universe occurs during the prohibition, so even when they drank in the movie, it was illegal. Therefore, I guess I made an illegal bar scene? Idk, I guess that there were gin distributors in Memphis during this time, so we’re gonna roll with that.

I’d love to hear you’d feedback in all forms! Comments, reblogs, and asks are so appreciated.

Dividers by

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Your invitation to Fisher had brought her back into the social circles, earning a few more opportunities for run-ins through the end of the debutante season. As you opened your ears and walked through the venues, you could tell not many wanted to entertain the young, socially exiled heiress, but from the apparent liking you took to her, they felt her inclusion was an obligation.

Outside of this environment, you were nowhere to be seen by the young men and women of town. That was by design, but for now, you walked through the ball, seeking your next hiding place. For this one, there was an upper level balcony pseudo cut off from the mingling areas by an appetizer table. It had already been picked through after you had made your first set of appearance rounds, making it perfectly unpopulated. You looked down upon the dance floor, counting the minutes, and the songs that would need to pass before you could acceptably leave, off to your more desired….obligations.

In your shroud of curtains and tiered food displays, your eyes wandered over the crowd below. New loves were being formed as men asked for a dance, secrets and gossip shared between spinsters-in-training along the sides, and jokes or plans to obtain the next jar of moonshine whispered amongst the men. Absolute fools. Everyone thought they were so sly, but you read their lips and body language easier than a book. It was almost as if they wanted their plans known, or better yet, spoiled. It wasn’t going to happen at your hand though. You didn’t have need for that right now, but should you, it would be easy to ruin any soul in this dated, yet fancy ballroom.

You turned around to find the punch bowl on the upstairs table. Perhaps if you were lucky, the boys had already spiked it and you wouldn’t have to pull from your own reserve tucked under your dress.

You knew they had gotten to it by taking a single step forward, the smell easily reaching your nose and burning the sensitive hairs. Perfect. You quickly made a cup before heading back to your balcony and looking down among the crowd. Hopefully it was good quality alcohol in the bowl and didn’t make you go blind. How ever could you properly interact in society then? Tragic.

As you sipped, you looked down at the crowd again, seeing the tops of heads flow and weave between each other. No one ever looked up; it was human nature. If you could find an exit route now, it would be your great escape.

As you moved to set down your cup, though, you saw something in the corner of your eye that didn’t fit the patterns and waves formed by the other party-goers. It was a man, stopped in the middle of the dance floor. His bright blue eyes looked up at you, piercing through the foliage and decor that often left you covered. He must have been searching specifically for you.

After your previous conversation with Jimmy Dobyne, you didn’t feel as though there was much to say. Based of the fact that he was looking to catch your gaze, you had figured that he was looking for a read on whether or not you had shared his secret. Evidently, you had not. You were never a fan of loose lips.

You lifted your skirt and ran down the back staircase to the rear door of the mansion. You had planned to leave through there and walk around the front of the house to your car as to not have to encounter anyone else, especially that certain farm boy.

Before you could reach the bottom of the steps, though, you were stopped in your tracks.

“Wonderful to see you this evening, miss.” The blue eyes had come to cut you off and pierce more harshly than before. His entire demeanor was in juxtaposition to his kind words, jaw clenched, gaze hard and unyielding with an unspoken demand. You maintained your formality, though, praying it would serve you well on your way.

“Good evening, James. I apologize, you have just caught me on my way out.” You hurriedly ducked past his shoulder just to be followed through the nearly hidden French doors at the rear of the house. Jimmy followed you out and down the stone steps and into the garden.

“That’s no problem, I was going to ask Fisher to leave soon, as well. I actually wanted to speak to you.”

You walked as fast as you could without reaching a run, getting into the front seat of your car and starting it. Luckily, your chauffeur had taken your bribe to leave you the vehicle, like most other nights, unbeknownst to your family.

“Perhaps another time, James. I really must be going.”

You could see the way his shoulders tensed forward in anger at your deflection of his statements and attempts to ignore. He began to run alongside the car as you weaved around the others in the driveway of the house.

“No. I demand that you stop and speak to me. I want you to never bring up what happened again. It was all fine. Fisher got her earrings back.”

Not from his command, but more due to shock, you slammed on the breaks of the car, causing you to lurch forward and Jimmy to skid to a stop in the gravel. He caught his footing quickly, though, taking the opportunity to open your car door and get in.

“You have no jurisdiction to demand anything of me, Mr. Dobyne. And you well know this is not about the earrings. Now I have somewhere to be, so either you go back to your fiancé, or you deal with me dropping you off in the middle of nowhere. What’ll it be?”

Jimmy closed the door to your car and settled into the passenger seat, looking straight forward. “Drive, go on.”

You rolled your eyes and huffed, continuing down the long road of the manor. You looked briefly over at him before you spoke up.

“I have no interest in becoming your next sexual encounter if that’s why you insist on being here. I’d never do that to Fisher and I most definitely have no desire to be the next Vinnie, who, speaking of which, just sent out invitations for an engagement party. Did you receive one?”

Jimmy’s jaw clenched again as he turned to face you in his seat. “Stop doing that!”

You feigned confusion. Men always believed you never quite understood what they were talking about, anyway. “Doing what?”

“Changing the subject and trying to make me feel bad.”

You simply shrugged, continuing to stare ahead. “I have no desire to make you feel bad. If that’s the way you feel, then I assure you it’s all self-inflicted. So tell me, James. Do you yourself feel bad for your actions? Maybe you ought to repent, or at least tell someone of your dirty little secret. I find it quite distasteful to take a woman’s hand and to not be honest with her. To keep things from her.”

Jimmy scoffed and rolled his eyes as he crossed his arms. “You have no place to speak about keeping secrets. I see the way you leave half of these events early. Never sticking around and never to be seen by anyone around town. I’m sure that’s a secret worse than my own.”

Your nostrils flared and your lips tightened. Sure, you taunted him on his private matters, but yours were to remain untouched. He didn’t know what was going on, or technically even if something was going on at all. “Careful where you step, James. I do not have another to care for. And what I do with my free time does not concern you, so I suggest you rethink your attempts at refutal when it comes to me.”

He huffed as you pulled to the side of the road to let him out. You were at the edge of town. Walking or finding a ride to wherever he needed to go shouldn’t be too difficult from here.

“We shouldn’t be too far that you can’t walk back to dear Fishy. Give her my best and do not come looking for trouble again. I am more than happy to greet you politely at gatherings, but your accusations leave a sour taste in my mouth. Good evening, James.”

You drove off and left Jimmy in a cloud of dust before heading to the other side of town. Right about now, the restaurants would be closing, making room for the nightly patrons and gangsters to move through. It was no place for a lady to remain after dark, but to them, you were no lady.

You pulled off near a corn field on the side of a rarely traversed road and opened the trunk of the car. Under a panel, you found your bag and pulled it out, grabbing the trousers and button-down shirt and laying them out over the door. You worked quickly to shuck off your dress before carefully folding it and placing it in the trunk, over the panel. You slipped into the trousers, followed by the leather boots. After shrugging on the shirt, you dug into the pants pocket to pull out a ribbon and pins. You pulled your hair up tightly and tucked it under a cap. Others would have a fit they they saw a woman in this wear, especially you. You were meant to be at a ball, sitting like an ornament of your father’s legacy, not in the slums of the city.

Now, although your family would have called it the slums, it was far from it. It was where the workers hung out. It was where savvy businessmen were making the most of the country’s prohibitory situation. It’s where you were learning everything it might take for your future plans to come to fruition.

You walked up the creaky wooden porch, your head on a swivel as you entered a pawn shop. At least, that’s what it was during the day. You made your way through the shelves and display cases to the curtain in the back, opening it to a bustling bar full of men both young and old.

With your makeup removed and a few light smudges of dirt here and there, your look matched theirs quite well. That was another benefit of staying out of the private eye as much as possible: none of them saw you enough to be able to identify you in this state. You just seemed like another farm worker.

You took your usual seat at the end of the bar, ducking your head to put your focus on the conversations going on around you. This environment gave you a completely different level of information than what your house maids would give you.

Usually, from here, you could catch anything from farmhands, to gin runners, to business men discussing what was going on. The true way the town was running. And that’s exactly what you wanted: an understanding of who was in control of business proceedings.

From your calm demeanor and regular appearance in this environment, you were known, but not much past a pseudonym you had fed them and the fact that you did odd jobs on your family’s estate. That was enough, though. Enough for you to seem unassuming and trust-worthy. Enough for their lips and morals to be loose around you. Enough for you to use very soon for your plans.

Men were stupid and again, you were in awe of it. None of them could recognize you. And for the ones that could? Well, they were already drunk off their asses. Problem solved. That’s how you were able to preserve your pub-dwelling Saturday nights for the foreseeable future.

As your drink was served, you felt a presence come up and sit in the stool next to you. You were used to that, men did anything to strike up a conversation and save themselves from the monotony of their lives. If only they knew how truly monotonous a life was when you weren’t allowed to perform half the duties that they’d spit upon when given the chance. They had so many options, but your empathy is what they wanted, not proof of their lack of hardships. Not yet, at least.

You put all those thoughts aside, though, taking a swallow of your drink before putting on your best smirk to strike up conversation. It was time to get to work.

Except when you turned your head to your left, you weren’t facing any old nobody. Well, to these guys, he would’ve been, but to you, it was someone starting to get on your nerves for invasion of privacy, someone with tumultuous, pained currents, not unlike the rivers run, for eyes: Jimmy Dobyne.

He opened his mouth to speak, but not before you slammed your hand over it while giving him a warning glare. “Careful with your mouth James. I know I wasn’t exceptionally stealthy tonight, but I thought you’d be smart enough to avoid a place like this.”

The bartender came over and you ordered a drink for Jimmy so he’d leave you alone to speak in privacy. “Now think before you speak. You’ve invaded my personal space and business already.”

Jimmy leaned in, speaking to you with anger that you knew came from your constant reminders of his wrongdoings. “You need to stop it with that and just tell me exactly what you know.”

You looked at him, keeping your face even bedsides the slight disbelief in his audacity. “I hold a keen eye, James. Keep your voice down and do be careful of who sees you and to whom you lend your trust.”

You turned back to the bartender to thank him for dropping off Jimmy’s drink.

His fists unclenched just for enough time for him to grab the glass and shove it away from himself.

“I ought to tell your father his daughter is out here disobeying him. A woman like you should not be in a place like this. Drinking much less!” The lowered volume didn’t make his voice any less cutting. You wouldn’t stand for that. You were trying to be nice. It seemed like neither your kind words, nor stern requests seemed to work on him. Perhaps threats were better.

“I ought to tell everyone you’re poor and loose with your belt buckle! But I won’t. Now accept a drink on my tab and sit to casually speak with me before you cause a scene. My my, James. One skill you do not have is subtlety.”

He scoffed before grabbing the glass and drinking it all down in one go, calling the bartender over for another.

“Good. Now listen closely because I’m not speaking above a whisper and you’ll only hear this once. I’ll let you in on some things, and by chance you could even help me, but first, you have to tell Fisher the truth.”

Next >

Bonus A/N: So sugars and carbohydrates are what yeast ferments to create alcohol. The alcohol we consume is ethanol (aka EtOH aka Ethyl Alcohol). Sometimes, though, when done improperly, a byproduct is methanol (aka methyl alcohol, which means it has one less carbon and four less hydrogen atoms, making a smaller and totally different molecule functionally). Methanol has actually been found to make you go permanently blind! That’s why it can be so risky to drink home-brewed alcohols and moonshines. I assume this risk was even higher back in the early 1920s when a lot was bootlegged and they didn’t have many ways to test for the methanol. And therefore, I assume they knew sometimes alcohol made you go blind, but not quite how, which is why I added it here.

Taglist: @hawkeyes-queen @ronearoundblindly

[lsleofthelost]

in continuation of this post, here's a more detailed look at Maleficent's castle, including the commentary from the Descendants production designer, Mark Hofeling, and also my own thoughts and obsesrvations.

"We imagined the once-mighty Maleficent humiliated and furious in defeat. Even in her fallen state, she would still require the most befitting accommodation on the Isle of the Lost. The "Bargain Castle", while hokey and ramshackle, most resembles her former keep in the Forbidden Mountains. And its balcony gives her an unobstructed view across the bay to the hated Auradon. This is the exterior of the second floor, interior set. This was digitally added to a practical ground floor at the end of the main street of the Isle of the Lost. "

"A broad view of Maleficent's cavernous, leaky, drafty cold-water walk-up in the Bargain Castle on the Isle of the Lost."

i love the peeling paint on the walls, the mismatched furniture and lamps, how weathered and aged everything is. and how this is the height of luxury for the Isle.

"Maleficent's sunken living room with her unreliable Predicta TV. It is her only link to the outside world."

the Predicta TV is from the late 50s, the screen is tiny, and, according to the commentary, the connection is unreliable. but still, in Maleficent's home, it has a special niche, and a stand, it's treated as an indulgence. there's also a vinyl player, and some records, but most of them are without sleeves, so i imagine they're scratched and skip sometimes, but Maleficent still likes them. there's a newspaper, probably a few days old, but a way to keep up with the outside world when the TV is broken.

"The mismatched sofa in Maleficent's sunken living room."

since the barges only bring in trash, we can assume that no big objects, like a sofa arive in one piece. there is also a bowl of (probably stale) froot loops (?) on the table which i think is hilarious and sad.

"A view of Maleficent's dressing area and her elevated throne. Domesticity is not among her considerable powers."

it's actually such a tiny space... like her vanity is made out of an old trunk, the lamp on it is covered with fabric, most likely because the proper lampshade is ruined. this also implies that there is not enough space for it in her bedroom... there is a tiny furnace with wood, which is used both to warm the place and to dry the clothes. the drapes are thin and totally let the light in but i think it's not such a problem on the Isle, since it's permamently overcast.

"We wanted to give Maleficent one artifact from her former, magnificent life. The director suggested maybe her throne. Unfortunately, the throne from the original animation was a 12 foot wide, 6 ton stone bat. Not a practical thing to carry into exile. So I tried to evoke the idea of that throne with a ridiculous green and purple wingback chair she might have confiscated from the Isle's Bazaar."

first off, i love that he says that it's confiscated. Maleficent doesn't buy things, but she doesn't steal them either, she just takes them because she has the power to do so. other thing i love is that as far as i understand, this is the most elevated point in the house, so she can sit on her “throne” and feel powerful.

we also see a similar rug in front of her sofa, so i assume it was probably one rug that was cut up in pieces.

the fact that there's a telephone implies that they have some kind of internal landline system on the isle, my head canon is that one of the more engineering inclined minion/scientist/wtv hooked it up. there's just a few telephones between the houses of the most powerful. the dirty, stained windows supported by old newspapers and duct tape just show how weathered everything is.

"The job of the production designer is to conceive and execute the broad look of a show. But the big picture is built out of thousands of details. I spent my weekends in Vancouver having a ball cooking up little details like Maleficent's childlike "REVENGE", "FOOLS!", and spinning wheel magnets, and her shopping and to-do lists, all stuck to her "WICKEDAIRE" refrigerator."

the real-life equivalent is a Frigidaire refrigerator from the late fifties. which, from what i've seen, seems like most of the tech on the Isle is from that time period, despite the fact that Auradon living in seemingly contemporary times, with modern technology and all that. i think they purposely don't send modern tech there, only old, barely working things there, because they know that technology could, theoretically, break the barrier (which is what Carlos does in the first book). also, i like that he calls Maleficent child-like, because i think she's definitely become that way there, bored out of her mind, every avenue for revenge lost, nothing to really keep sharp. also, if we ignore the things on her to-do list that are cartoonishly evil, the rest of the list is kind of mundane and a little pathetic... like there's something wrong with the rain gutters, she needs to call Jafar over to fix her TV antenna, since it's her only connection to the outside world... she used to be the Mistress of all Evil.

"A detail of Maleficent's poorly tuned piano."

again, the paint is peeling on the walls and on the furniture, there is no front on the piano, there is no one to even tune it. i think she still likes the music... we see what are probably magic book strewn around, potions (and probably some alcohol) on the side table.

"A detail of one of Maleficent's many broken, drafty windows."

i can't quite figure out where it's supposed to be but still, the way some windows are painted, some covered by newspaper (help together by duct tape) makes me thing that either 1. Maleficent wanted to emulate the look of stained glass from her former glory days; 2. Mal did it to make the place look better (actually, she probably did a lot of work to make the house look better?); 3. they don't want outsiders looking in, while still letting light in. i doubt that the trash telescope works, but if it does, it's probably used to spy on people, though i think it's just a vanity item.

"Maleficent's scratchy Victrola. Notice the double helix of the custom wallpaper. It evokes both Maleficent's classic thorn vine's from Sleeping Beauty and the idea of the DNA of evil. Does it pass from one generation to the next, or can one change their destiny?"

again, more books and another record player. i think Maleficent tries to dissociate from the situation, get lost in music, re-listening to the same scratchy records, re-reading the same books, re-trying the same ineffective spells.

i didn't even notice the double helix wallpaper before!! i always thought it was just a thorn pattern, referencing her story. this is such an amazing representation of how evil is embedded in the kids blood, and how despite it all they choose change.

through what we've seen, i think there's probably just a few more rooms in the castle: Maleficent bedroom, Mal's bedroom, and their bathrooms, maaaybe a smal storage room. they call it a castle but really it's just a rickety, crooked, decaying apartment on top of some shop. and this is how the most powerful person on the Isle of the Lost lives.

[juniorfor2]

It would be very disappointing, after all the time the writers have taken to change/develop Daemon’s character, if they were to go back on the funniest bit of his characterization: Daemon=cat

It’s basically the only change I fully like about him now, but it is hilarious. Cause Daemon isn’t just the kind of cat that believes he’s a god and everyone else is simply there to serve him. Among family, he’s more specifically the kind of cat that, when told no, throws a large temper tantrum and starts yelling (meowing) for forever to try to ruin everyone’s day. Until, of course, someone makes him feel happy and good, in which case he will happily run back and pretend that nothing went wrong in the first place.

(besides his revenge shove of a ‘glass’ onto the floor that he KNOWS he shouldn’t do but just can’t help himself which starts the whole cycle over again)

Behold: Daemon right before he gets exiled and right after he’s forgiven (specifically by Rhaenyra)

(Would 100% be the type to ‘purr’ if Rhaenyra ever stroked his hair)

[searchingforserendipity25]

For @feanorianweek, Maglor at a turning point of his exile, which might be the turning point for the history of Middle Earth, depending on how keen you believe his fishing skills to be.

-

There was a lot to be said about the quiet of solitude. Maglor said all of it, at length, in a variation of arguments.

"O, I do not know who I intend to convince," he sighed, half-way through the Third-Age's last waning years. "This grows very tiresome, and I do not see that it does any good, either."

Perhaps it did; likely it did. Certainly he could not imagine his return would be a cause of comfort to any, and like as not disturb what peace they may have found.

Nonetheless, he had half a mind to make his way to Lindon, and see what manner of trial Círdan might contrive.

All the business of endless sand in his boots, and pockets, and hair had grown irritating long, long ago; and the Noldolantë was not improving. At this time, he was fairly certain it could not be improved upon. He had invented it many times already, in arranged melodies and plain recitation, also atonal arrangements.

The facts remained the same, and still he did not know the name of many of those he had slain, which ruined the general balance of the meter. He had not the right to want to know them, decently speaking; but he would have liked to feel something about the lament, at least, was whole and complete, though it be terrible.

Nonetheless, he could not quite contrive of how to breach his exile. It was not as if he could easily return among Elvenkind. Not he, marred as Morgoth had been, and responsible, on the whole, for causing grief direct or indirect to all of Elvenkind, thereabouts, not including the terms of blame carried for his dead kin, his followers.

His chance for judgement as one of their own had been set aside, erased fully when he followed Maedhros out into the wild each with a jewel-casket in hand, Eönwë's too many eyes set on them with terrible knowing.

The burns on his hands seared with the same sharpness as they had, then. It did not ease, or alter. Nor did Maglor wonder at it. He had reflected long on his deeds, and sought in the echoes of the Music upon the wave-song a measure of wisdom and clarity; but he had not set out to heal himself.

It was not a thing that was in his means to do.

But then, neither could he ask, or expect, or suppose it could be possible. Even had all he had slain had in pleasant harmony found it in their hearts to forgive him, that changed not what he was, nor Varda's verdict on the matter.

"No," the old man agreed. She goes not change her mind, on the whole. Still more evil it would be to attempt it not, when an attempt might be had. And it generally is, if one take a - broad-minded approach. Would you not like to try it?"

He, at least, bore only the one pair on deep-set eyes under fierce brows; but what eyes they were! Too clear, and cutting, and clean. Maglor felt keenly all the sand on himself, the stiff salt in his braids, the weak crusts on his burns seeping through the bandages.

That was not very pleasant, either; but he could not deny it was a novelty.

It had been a long time since Maglor had been regarded as a useful thing, the sea having no interest in him even to drown, and most birds of rapine clever enough to sense the dead flesh he carried was not to be stripped from his fingers lightly.

"Tell me more of this creature," Maglor said, and passed him the pipe once more, with one last drawn breath of rich smoke to fill his lungs. "Gollum, if that be his name. You say he is a sorry thing, fled from the forest and crossing the mountains to hide in damp and dark caves - why, then ought I hunt down a wretch such as he?"

"I believe it should be a thing by none accomplished, but one such as you," said Mithrandir, mouth pursed slyly - flashing glance too-bright by far, and not wholly unkind. "Indulge another old wanderer, if you would. Think of it like so: would you not like a just excuse to leave the shores of the sea, for a little time only?"