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garricks4thwingqueen · 4 months

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Rebellious Secrets

Request prompt:

Garrick and Reader are in a long-term relationship and have a fight about something and when she wants to reconcile, she overhears him say something that drives them further apart? Just some angsty, angsty stuff? I'll leave it up to you if it’s a happy end ;)

Synopsis: You are Xaden Riorson’s younger sister. You had survived your parents' rebellion with Xaden and Garrick and your cousin Bodhi by your side. With the years leading up after the rebellion and to when you’d each have to start at Basgiath War College. You and Garrick had become more than the close friends you were. You had been fostered away from your brother and Liam and in the same foster home as Garrick. You both were the only rebel child in the foster household you were put in. Garrick took it under his responsibility to care for you and protect you with being placed so far away from everyone else; you and Garrick had quickly fallen in love with each other. Foster siblings or not you two didn’t care as you had feelings for each other before these dreaded times. You and Garrick had cherished every moment together from when you were You and Garrick also had not cared that your foster parents kept reminding you that you were only 15 and Garrick was 17. You both spent every day basking in each other’s young love, finally out of the view of your older brother to do as you two had wished as soon as you were old enough to have an inappropriate thought about Garrick cloud your mind. You both had spent every waking moment and sleeping moment with each other after being placed in the foster home until the dreaded day had come for Garrick and Xaden to start at Basgiath.

Word Count: 6266. I got a little carried away here! But it is split into sections by a timeline frommate.

Trigger Warnings: suggestive NSFW but not full scenes, panic attacks, nightmares, distrust, tissues on standby, prolonged months of not talking to S.O, and family members. Mentions of death. I think that's it!

*July 2nd 627 A.U.*

Y /N POV

You stirred waking in your new bedroom in Lewellen. Yesterday was supposed to be your 15th birthday but instead it had turned into a living hell. You moved your arms to the other side of the bed where Garrick Tavis had fallen asleep holding you in his arms after the turmoil of events that occurred yesterday. You sighed at the coldness of the mattress that was left behind and you let the events of yesterday race in mind. You, your older brother Xaden, your cousin Bodhi Durran as well as Garrick and all the other children of the rebellion were forced to watch your parents be executed as their attempts at a rebellion that was led by your father failed. You had cried in Garrick’s arms as you watched your parents die. You had cried in his arms as your brother got whipped 107 times representing the children of the traitors of Navarre as a plea to save our lives. You were still crying when each one of you got separated into foster homes. Garrick and yourself were found to be in a foster home in Lewellen, which was far enough away from Trivanne which was far enough away from your brother and Liam to make visits almost nearly impossible. “Hey, you're awake.” Garrick had smiled softly as he came back with a tray and a few pastries. “How are you feeling, little one?” He asked softly to get back in bed with you as you laid his head on his shoulder. “Tired, upset, angry and maybe slightly confused.”

Garrick hummed at your reply “I get it. I feel the same. I’m sorry that was a pretty shitty birthday.” “One I’d rather forget. Do you know if we are near any of the others?” “I overheard our foster parents talking and I don’t think so, at least not many of the older ones of us, maybe some of the younger children.” You cupped his cheek softly; “At least we have each other, and we can finally explore this; even if you are now my foster brother.” Garrick took your small hand into his much larger one and chuckled softly at the mention of you two now being foster siblings; “How about we start by actually celebrating your 15th birthday. Maybe a walk to take in our new surroundings and then maybe find a nice private spot to call our own.” “Gare Bear, that sounds amazing.” You said softly and took a bite of the raspberry scone he had brought in. “I wonder what our foster parents are going to think of getting the only rebellion teens in a relationship.” You had smirked and ran your fingers through his hair fixing a few unruly curls. Garrick had chuckled again and placed a soft kiss on your forehead. “If they have a problem with it, I’ll do everything I need to in order to protect you Y/N.” Which you had already known he already felt an overdrive of urgency to do as you were Fen Riorson’s youngest, who was the leader of the Tyrrish rebellion.

*March 629 A.U.*

Y /N POV

You were finally able to see your brother for the first time after the apostasy.

“You ready little one?” Garrick had asked as you had finished getting dressed. “I should be the one asking you Gary.” You teased and ran your hands along his arms and earned a low groan from his mouth. “You know how I feel about that one nickname Y/N.” He smirked. “I know my lover, but you finally get to tell my brother about us and the fact we have been dating for 8 months.” You teased rubbing your nose together. Garrick had groaned as there was a soft knock at your door. “Come in.” You had softly expected your foster parents as your brother and Liam were meant to arrive until later. “Xad!” You exclaimed excitedly and jumped into his arms. Your brother chuckled softly; “I missed you too, Y/N. I assume Gare has been taking good care of you?” “More than you want to know.” You smirked as your brother put you down to hug his best friend as you hugged the oldest Mairi son. It had been too long since you and Garrick had seen any of the others. “Something you need to tell me, Garrick.” Your brother said mockingly. Garrick smirked, wrapping his arm around your waist. “Ok, that’s enough said already.” Xaden groaned and added; “So you two become foster siblings and decide to hook up?” Xaden smirked. “Oh we had feelings well before that.” You teased running your hands through your brother's hair. “I think we have an 18th birthday that has passed that we need to celebrate.” You had stated quickly changing the topic. And with that is what the four of you had down for the next few days. You each had spent the nights out under the stars when your brother and Liam were here and you were glad you did because little did you know that would be the last time you saw your brother until you were due to cross the parapet yourself in 633 Au.

*July 631 A.U.*

Y/N POV

“You can’t leave.” I mumbled through pursed lips into Garick’s chest. It had finally come to the time where Garrick and Xaden were the first of the rebellion children to enter the riders quadrant. That meant two years of being away from him completely. Two years of not knowing if he or your brother would be dead or alive when it came time for you and Liam to join the quadrant. Two years of you being alone in the bed that you had shared with a much larger male that engulfed your much larger smaller frame and kept you safe every night for the past four years.

You felt him place a soft kiss on your forehead. “They’ll go by faster than you think they will my little one.” He soothed as the tears finally streamed your face as you finally voiced your thoughts out loud. As you spoke your thoughts you felt his strong hand wipe your tears; “ Maybe for you but for me I have to worry about; two years of not knowing if you're alive or Xaden. Two years of not being able to fall asleep in your arms. Two years of-.” Garrick had cut you off “Hey ssssh. It’s going to be alright. I’m going to be worried about you two Y/N. In two years time you’ll be in my arms again and you’ll get to see Xaden, I promise.” He said softly as we heard aloud knock on the door, “Garrick! Time to leave!! It’s a four day trek!.” Your foster father had bellowed through the closed door. Tears still claiming your face you hung onto Garrick tighter. “Please don’t say the words.” You mumbled quietly; you had always hated goodbye; it was so permanent and everyone around you knew it. “It’s not goodbye, little one.” He said softly, squeezing you back just as tightly if not tighter.15 minutes had to have passed as Garrick had finished getting dressed and returned from the bathroom. “Everything is in your pack.” You had said softly reluctantly, handing it to him as you had sneaked a letter in there towards the bottom one for both him and Xaden. “Oh Y/N. Come here.” He said softly wrapping you in his arms as you wrapped your legs around his waist. “Tavis!” Your foster father now bellowed and knocked in the door. “Say goodbye to your foster sister and let's go, now!” Your foster parents had never approved of your and Garrick’s relationship, but that never stopped the both of you from falling madly in love with each other. Garrick rubbed soothing circles along your back, “Please don’t cry for me. If we can write, we will write as soon as possible, I promise. It’s not goodbye Y/N." "Garrick.! Let’s move it now. Being late to conscription day is not a good way to start your support for this country.” He bellowed full well knowing that was like a blow to the chest for both Garrick and I.

You softly traced his rebellion relic, your legs still wrapped around his waist. You felt Garrick start to move just as you were and he stopped as you had reached the porch and he sat you down on the chair outside; your foster father waiting by the carriage sternly. Garrick knelt down in front of you and intertwined your fingers and lifted them up and placed a soft kiss on your hands. Until next to my little one.” He said softly and pushed back a few of your stary bangs along your forehead. Somehow you managed to mumble out an “I love you. I love you both; both you and Xadn.” “I know he said softly; I’ll remind him and I love you Y/N, so much your my everything. Promise me that one day when we are able to, you'll accept my hand in marriage?” He asked softly, pulling a box from his pocket. “There’s nothing more that I would ever want in this world. Just promise me I’ll have your arms to jump into in two years.

Garrick smiled softly; that soft smile that you loved so much as he slipped the ring on your finger; “I promise. That is if our foster Father doesn’t kill me first.” You sighed’

“I love you. Always Gare.” He squeezed your hand one last time while standing up and placed a soft kiss on your forehead as you felt his warm hands leave your smaller ones. “Always my little one.” He whispered as you watched him turn and walk away from you.

* July 633 A.U.*

Y/N POV

You had woken up a few days prior before your start at Basgiath War College the same way Garrick had two years ago. “Y/N.” Your foster Father had knocked on your door loudly, “Time to leave now! Although I suppose you’ll move your ass faster than that boy did as you’ll get to see him if he's still alive.” You had groaned getting out of bed that morning. You thankfully had known that Garrick and Xaden were both still alive thanks to the letters they were finally able to send last year.

The few day's journey you had taken you and your foster Father to get to Basgiath was the longest few days of your life. You had signed in at the main gate and departed from your foster Father. Your main goal was one: to find Liam before you both had to cross a death bridge called the parapet and two: finally see Garrick, Xaden and Bodhi again. You hadn’t cared about the snide remarks you had gotten about your rebellion relic as you were focused on finding Liam. “Marked Bastard.” or “Traitor’s kid.” Were two of the most common remarks you heard. But as you spotted a blonde haired boy a few feet away with his rebellion relics down his arm none of that mattered anymore. You tapped his shoulder and both of you embraced each other in a hug before crossing the parapet.

Garrick’s POV

I looked down the list of names as each cadet that had crossed gave them to Xaden. One glance down to the see of potential cadets to see who was next in line made my heart stop. “Get ready for the next one, Riorson.” I said to Xaden a catch in my voice purely prominent. “Name.” Xaden had said to the cadet that stood before us even though we both knew it clearly. “Y/N Riorson.” she said calmly, to calm for someone that was about to cross this death trap but I knew she was trying to keep her composure and not show affection towards either of us right now. “Go ahead.” Xaden said coolly and nodded his head behind us. I couldn’t help but whisper “Small steps, It’s slick with the rain. I love you.” I said as quietly as possible as I felt her fingers brush mine lightly.

Y/N POV

You had already been reunited with your cousin and Imogen and with stood formation before you even had the chance to see Garrick or your brother. You were making your way to the dinning hall as you felt a tug on your arm pulling you around the corner, it took everything in you not to gasp at the contact as you knew who was grabbing you already and pulling you into their chest. “Gods I’ve missed you.” Garrick said softly, pulling you in tighly. “I missed you too, so much more than you could ever know.” “You're ok?” he asked with concern heavily in his voice as he stepped back to get a good luck at you and ran his hands up and down your arms. “I’m fine, Gare. Promise.” You said softly. “Gods I love you.” He said soothingly pulling you into one more tight against him one more time. “I love you too, Gare.” You had said soothingly as you held each other tightly. “Listen, love, I know it’s going to be hard but we can’t publicly display our affection towards each other. At least not until Threshing. It’s for your own safety, little one.” You nod into his chest not trusting your voice in the moment. “I don’t need other cadets, especially older cadets thinking you're trying to sleep your way to safety by dating a squad leader. You already have a target on your back for being a marked one and another for being Xaden’s younger sister.” “Will get through it Gare, I’m just glad to have you again baby.” You said softly into his chest.

* September 633 A.U.*

Y/N POV

One month until Threshing. “Anyone have any questions?” Xaden asked as you met up with the rest of the current rebels at Basgiath under a tree late at night. “Physics.” One girl had said quietly one you had never met personally until this year that had also started with you and Liam as you had sat on the ground sitting on Garrick’s lap. At least these meetings of your brother’s was one place you and Garrick could show affection towards each other. “Seriously, I feel you. I don’t even know what physics has to do with dragon riding anyways.” You said with a giggle as Garrick nibbled your ear “You doing fine with our study sessions little one.” “Legit study sessions?” Bodhi smirked. “Oh shut it Durran.” You had teased turning to look over Garrick’s shoulder. “Everything good Y/N?” He asked. You shook your head “Yeah, I just thought I had heard a noise is all.” “Physics is easy and the least of our problems. We can start having actual study sessions.” Your brother said glaring towards you and Garrick. “Anything else?” “Yeah Sorrengail.” Imogen sneered to your right. “I told you Cardulo she’s mine to handle.” “Imogen and I could do a better job, brother.” you smirked as Garrick chuckled. “Enough from all of you. She is mine to handle.” He said as you and Imogen both groaned. “If there’s nothing else suppressing tonight, I think that’s it.” Xaden said dismissing you all. As you stood you turned your head trying to take in all of your surroundings as most of the others had left you, Xad, Bodhi and Garrick. “Little one?” Garrick asked. “I just thought I saw movement on the branch, but it’s probably just an animal.” The boys nodded in agreement and Xaden had stated he wanted to walk back by himself and over time all of you had learned not to question your brother.

* November 633 A.U.*

Y/N POV

Threshing had come and gone and you were now bonded to a green daggertail named Carieann who happened to be of the sme line as Cruir who was bonded to your cousin Bodhi. You were getting used to having Carie in your mind almost 24/7. Now that you were bonded you had your own room like the other bonded first years but spent most nights in Garrick’s room still anyways. His bed was just bigger and comfier for the both of you. Your signet had also manifested and you were the first in your year to join Carr’s class. Air. Carieann had said to you when you first knocked everything off the desk in Garrick’s room without being near your desk during your morning sex one day. You can manipulate, good job little one. She said softly; which Carrieann you had found had a soft demeanor for a dragon.

You groaned when you felt a cold spot in your bed where Garrick should have been. You could faintly hear a soft argument coming through the walls to the room that was attached to Garrick’s, but you couldn’t make out anything the two males were saying. You grumbled pullin on your black robe as you walked across the hall and knocked on your brother’s door; you could hear the two males instantly shut up upon doing so. “Y/N, come in.” Xaden said as he opened the door. “And what were my brother and boyfriend arguing about, at this ungodly hour in the morning?” You mumbled through a yawn, wrapping yourself around Garrick’s waist from the side. “We weren’t arguing.” Xaded stated flatly. “I could clearly hear both of you across the hall. Also you’ve always been a terrible liar Xay.” “You caught us love, we were arguing.” Gare had said and placed a kiss on the top of your head; “I’m sorry we woke you up.” He said softly.

“What were you arguing about? It was about me wasn't it?” “Don’t be silly. It wasn’t about you. It was about mine and Sorrenail’s issue.” Xaden had said softly as Garrick scoffed. “Right, the Sorrengail issue. Something tells me that wasn’t it this time.” “It’s nothing for you to worry about. Just some third year stuff.” Garrick had scoffed again. “Alright fine, I’ll drop it. I get it.” You had groaned. “Come little one, let's get dressed for classes.” Garrick said and guided you out of your brother’s room; not without a snide glare back towards your brother. You could have sworn you felt your brother’s shadows brush your wrist softly as you and Garrick had left.

*Winter Solstice 633 A.U.*

Y/N POV

Winter Solstice used to be one of your favorite holidays. However that was until you had noticed your boyfriend and brother were absent from the activities.In fact you had noticed they were absent from everything all day now that you had thought about it. “Bodhi.” “Hmmm.” Your cousin hummed in reply, not looking up from the game of chess he was playing with Liam. “Where the hell are Xaden and Garrick?” “I’m not sure what you mean, Y/N.” You sighed heavily as you were sitting in a common room and enjoying the fire, or more like trying to. “You sure as hell do Durran and you know it. Why they hell have they been acting so weird lately?”

“No ones been acting weird lately.” Xaden said as he and Garrick sat on the couch next to you. Instead of cuddling into Garrick’s side like you had wanted to, you stood up. “Yes you have both of you have even Durran.” You said sternly pointing a finger at each of them as you directed your voice towards them. “Y/N, sweetheart calm down.” Garrick said softly standing up, but you pushed him back down. “No you don’t get to sweetheart me. Not right now.” “You’ve all been hiding something from me and I demand it right now.” At that you had gotten both boys to sighed heavily; you had even gotten a sigh out of Bodhi. “Where the hell were you two today?” Garrick sighed and glanced towards Xaden. “We were-” “No.” You're brother had cut him off with a sharp tone. “She'll when the time is right.” “I knew you had been hiding something. '' I said, voice sharp and fists clenched. Little one.” Garrick had said softly and pulled you into a calming embrace before your anxiety attack had a chance to spiral. “Breathe.” he said softly rubbing soft circles along your back.

Several months had passed and it was now mid February and it seemed like Garrick, Xaden and Bodhi were gone more frequently and you were about to reach your wits end with all of them. You sighed heavily sitting down to breakfast with Imogen and the others. “What's up your ass?” Imogen asked from across the table. “I just feel like the boys are hiding more than what they’re letting on about.” “Come on Y/N/N, Garrick’s your boyfriend, Xaden is your brother, and Bodhi is your cousin. Do you really think those three are hiding anything from you?” “Yeah Imogen I do. They’ve been coming back at all certain points when they do go wherever the hell they go. Hell sometimes Garrick isn’t even back in bed until the next morning, a few hours before we have to get up from classes.” “Relax, Riorson.” Liam said. “Relax?” I snapped. “I’m tired of hearing that word from anyone from Carrieann from Xaden from Garrick. Breathe, Liam did nothing he's just trying to understand. Carrieann chimed in your mind. You sighed. “I’m sorry, Li.” You had said softly. “It’s just each time I even ask about what's going on Garrick is all ready to tell me and Xaden just cuts me off and says when the time is right.” “I’ve tyred asking about them and I get the same response.” Violet said to you in an understanding. “I’m just going to get ready for class.” You said take your barely half eaten breakfast to the trash.

You had decided to take the long way back to the dorms when you paused and heard bickering male voices you knew all too well. You paused in your steps you could have sworn you heard your brother say Aretia and Rebellion. You stormed around the corner; “Good Morning boys. Nice of you to finally come back to the quadrant.” You snapped towards the three of them. “Sweetheart.” Garrick said softly. “No.” You had snapped; “I’m done. I’m done with these secrets. I demand to know what's going on.” “We’ve only kept this quiet to protect you and the others from back home.” Xaden started to say softly. “In our first year here we decided to help rebuild our home. We also decided to smuggle weapons out of Basgiath to help aid the gryphon fliers.” Garrick said, reaching for your wrist as you pulled away. “And you decided to keep that from each of us since you’ve started? That you’ve been going home and rebuilding our childhood home?” You stammered. “Y/N/N.” Xaden said softly. “I’m sorry.” Garrick said softly trying to reach for you again but at this point you had backed yourself away from them and backed closer into the opposite wall. “If you're sorry then let me help, let the others help.” Your brother gave you a solemn look that you knew all too well. “It’s too dangerous, Y/N/N. '' Xaden said. You shook your head and started to hold the tears that were brimming your eyes. “Little one.” Garrick said softly trying to stop closer to you. Your cousin is a silent specter in all of this. “I can’t do this anymore, not right now. I need a break from all of you.” “Y/N/N, please.” Garrick said softly hurt clearly on his face just as much as yours.

“Let me know when you boys have rethought your decision.” You stammered out barely keeping your composure together. That night you had gone to your own room for the first time since it had been assigned to you as yours. You climbed into the cold bed and tried to get comfortable without Garrick by your side. Half of you, more than half of you was screaming to go up the stairs and climb into his bed and into his arms. You had spent basically every night in that man’s arms since you started dating besides the two years you were separated. I know this is hard but I’m proud of you for standing your ground; Y/N. Carrieann chimed in your head softly. Rest you will need it, I’ll keep you safe. So you can be sweet, Good night Carrieann. You teased back at your dragon down your bond.

*July 1st- July 8th 634 A.U.*

Y/N POV

It was now the month of July and being a cadet at Basgiath War College July meant several things. Reunification day which was today, war games and graduation. Graduation meant you and Garrick would be separated again, that is if you were ever talking again; as July also meant it had been almost four whole months since you have given the boys the ultimatum. The only one you had really talked to besides Liam and Imogen as Bodhi as you knew your cousin was mainly the innocent bystander in Garrick and Xaden’s schemes. July also meant that each squad would participate in war games before graduation.

The day was long and drawing out as you prepared for the evening. You were only going to the evenings events to support Liam who was crowned the body guard of Violet several months ago. When you reached the courtyard you stationed yourself on a bench as secluded as you could be. “I didn’t expect to see you here, Riorson.” Dain said softly sitting down next to you. You sniffled pushing back the tears that were threatening to escape at the thoughts in the back of your mind. “I’m just here so Liam isn’t alone.” “I see. So are you going to talk to your boyfriend and brother anytime soon again?” “I don’t know. They held some big lies that I’m still not completely over and they also haven’t accepted their ultimatum.” You sniffled. “Hey it’s ok.” Dain said softly placing a hand on the small of your back as the fireworks ended and symbolized the ending of the event.

“Can I walk you back to your room?” Dain asked genuinely to help you stand, you nod softly. “I’d like that, please.” “Of course. Long way or short?” He asked, wrapping his arm around the middle of your waist. “Long.” You had responded in hopes you wouldn’t pass that many other cadets as you weren’t in the mood for much conversaton. As you and Dain had passed around the corner to the first floor dorms you felt a hand softly grab your wrist and watched Garrick step out of the shadows. You watched as he took in the sight of Dain’s arm around your waist. “Can we talk?” Garrick asked, his voice weavering on the verge of confiedence. “That depends if you and Xaden are ready to let me help.” “Y/N/N.” Garrick said in a mild tone and that was all you needed to know for an answer; “Goodnight, Tavis.” You said flatly turning towards your room hiding the tears threatening your face; Dain’s hand still placed softly on your back as reassurance as you unlocked your door. “Are you settled for the night?” He asked as he gave you once over. You nodded; “Yeah, I’m just gonna grab my things and head to the shower rooms and freshen up before trying to sleep.” “I don’t know whatever it is that they are not letting you be a part of but if you ever need anyone.” He said in a less than confident voice, hand resting on the back of his neck. “Thanks, Dain. It’s definitely complicated. I’m sure they’ll come around. If they don’t-” I paused the tears threatening again at the complete chance of losing both your love of your life and your brother.” Dain nodded in a content agreement and gave you one more hug before you both had said goodnight.

You had felt a rushed knock at your door and groaned to Dain at the other end. “What's going on?” You mumbled sleepily. “War games. We need to meet in our squad and split into teams. Flight field on 15.” You grumbled gathering your bag and. Carrieann. You asked down your bond. I’m ready, so are the others. She said calmly, almost too calm for what was about to happen as you meet up with the rest of the squad; Xaden and Dain are already bickering about teams. “Hey Riorson.” Ridoc said happily, slapping an arm around your back, “You look like shit.” “Gee thanks Gamlyn.” “Anytime.” He smirked as you and Garrick locked eyes with each other. A hint of remorse could almost be seen from him. “Y/N.” He said walking over to you. “Now really isn’t the best time for us to have this conversation, Garrick.” “Marked ones with me and everyone else with Aetos.” as you were both cut off by your brother stepping into place as you heard Violet protesting to go with us. You stepped forward, “It’s fine Violet and I can switch that way Tairn and Sgaeyl can be together if something happens.” Garrick tried reaching for you as you went to switch out with Violet but you just shrugged him off. Dain handed you the flag he was holding as if it was a silent action to solidify your spot on this side of your team. However even though you weren’t going to admit you were a little pained that you weren’t going to face whatever was ahead with the rest of the marked ones; your forever family. “Alright everyone knows what to do.” Xaden said in his wingleader voice and through a soft gaze towards you as he said “Fly out.” You mounted Carrieann as the group mounted their dragons. I know this is tough I'm proud of you. She said to you softly.

*July 6th 634 A.U.*

Y/N POV

It had been almost three whole days since the other team should have been back. The other team consisted of your friends, your cousin, your brother, your boyfriend. You sighed, taking your seat between Rhiannon and Ridoc during battle brief that morning. “You ok Riorson.” Ridoc asked “They should be back. They were supposed to be back by now.” You had felt a pang of guilt with how things were between you, Xaden and Garrick when war games started. You were now certain it would only be days until you heard all their names on the morning death roll; knowing that you had been arguing for months before they left had taken a sudden toll in the past few days and your friends have noticed. “It’s all going to be ok.” Ridoc said softly and placed a reassuring hand on your knee. “Garrick and Xaden and I haven’t even been talking, Carrieann can’t reach any of their dragons and yet here we are continuing classes as if everything is supposed to be normal.” You stammered as your breathing was getting heavy as Professor Devera started the lesson as you bolted from your seat as you felt another panic attack starting to consume you. “Riorson; where are you going?” The professor directed towards me. “I can’t.” You had managed to stammer out as you could very faintly hear Dain apologizing for the both of you as he followed you out into the hall. “Breathe, It’s ok, just Breathe; Y/N/n.” He said soothingly, running his hands along your arms as he had down several times in the past days.

Carrieann would often alert Cath in the middle of the night if you had a panic attack or nightmare after the end of war games.”How is everything supposed to be normal when half of our squad is still missing. Half of our squad that is my family.” “I know, I know this is tough, but I promise you they are going to be ok.” He said softly as he had several other times this week. “How I’m I supposed to live with myself if this is how it ends?” “They both know you love them. You were standing up for yourself.” “I can’t go back to class.” “I know.” Dain soothed as your breathing started to come back to normal. “A walk in the courtyard for some fresh air?” You nodded as you knew he was the only one who could even feel close to how you were feeling because of Violet.

You sighed heavily in all defeat with none of the being back yet as you woke up on what was supposed to be Xaden and Garrick’s graduation day. Dain stirred beside you as he refused to leave after you had finally calmed down after your nightmare last night; which had been the worst one you had yet. “Are you ok if I go back upstairs and get dressed and ready for formation? You nod slightly; “Yeah I’ll be fine and hey Dain?” “Yeah?” He asked, tossing his black t-shirt back on. “Thank you again, especially for refusing to leave.” “Of course.” He said softly and placed a soft hand on your shoulder before he left.

*July 11th 634 A.U.*

Y/N

Guilt was riding all over you as you joined your squad sitting next to day during morning formation. You laid your head down on his shoulder keeping your tears at bay as you weren’t prepared for this morning's death roll. “Good morning cadets.” Captain Fitzgibbons said as he took his place on the dias. July 11th, 634 Au; Imogen Cardulo, and there it was you thought the first set of tears threatening to escape as the captain began reading your friends names; Bodhi Durran; your heart now sank as he said your cousins name; Liam Mairi, and there it was the first tear to fall from your face onto Dain’s shoulder as he placed a soft hand on your back followed by Sawyer following Dain’s movement; Violet Sorrengail, the captain continued to read; Garrick Tavis, and there it was one of the names that sent you spiraling into an ocean of tears; Xadan Riorson-. “Well this is rather awkward.” Your heart skipped a million voices. It had been almost two weeks. Was your mind playing tricks on you? You nervously lifted up your head from Dain’s shoulder; tears streaming down your face. But sure enough there stood your brother and Garrick and everyone else the one person missing was Liam. You had locked eyes with Garrick as you heard the captain say:

“I don’t understand,” Fitzgibbons says to the two scribes behind him, then addresses Panchek. “They aren’t dead. Why would they have been reported for the death roll?”

You steadily hold your gaze with Garrick tears still streaming down your face as he steadily holds his gaze with yours. There was nothing more that you wanted to break formation and jump into the arms of the man you loved. You needed to feel him to know he was really there to know that Liam was unfortunately the only one to really be gone. But you know you couldn't, you knew you had to wait until Violet and your brother were done pleading their story and waiting for the council's approval. If they didn’t approve,- well you didn’t even want to think of the possibilities or even actual death your friends would endure.

Finally after what seemed like hours, formation hand ended and their story was believed and riders were frantically making their own decisions about what they had just heard and what choice they wanted to make. You could care less about that as you and Garrick were each trying to move through the sea of cadets to get to each other; your brother and everyone else close behind him. “Little one, my little one.” Garrick said softly wrapping his arms around your waist both of you with tears falling down your face. “I’m so sorry.” You managed to mumbled into Garrick’s chest as you felt your brother place a reassuring hand on your back. “You don’t have to apologize. We are the ones that need to apologize. I should have let you help but you are my little sister and keeping you safe is my number priority.Your hands left Garrick’s back and found themselves on your brothers. “I almost lost you, I almost lost both of you.” You said quietly one arm reaching out for Garrick as well. “I love you both, I love you both so much. Just don’t be dicks and let me help next time.” This had earned a chuckle from both of the boys as Garrick pulled you away from your brother and fully back into his arms as you wrapped your legs around his waist.

“I shouldn’t be worried about Aetos should I?” He asked through a chuckle. You shook your head which was buried into the crock of his neck as you took in his familiar scent. I raised up your head to look at the love of your life and take in his hazel eyes and pushed a loose curl back into place.“I love you and only you. You're mine and I’m yours. Always and forever.” You said softly and rested your foreheads together as Garrick repeated “I love you and only you. You're mine and I’m yours. Always and forever.” “Oh please gag me.” Imogen chidded from behind both of you, which had earned a soft chuckle from everyone nearby.

A/N: This was my first request! I hope I did it justice and that you enjoyed it whoever the anon was! Thank you again for sending it to my inbox. I’m always taking requests!

#garrick tavis #xaden riorson #fourth wing #fourth wing fanfic

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imfromthemiddlekingdom · 1 year

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Felony saying that everyone in the universe can access the force if they tried hard enough makes me want to deck him in his fugly face

He’s ruining all established canon in real time. Speed running the absolute destruction of continuity of the SW universe and people are still rooting for him and his blorbo self inserts like there’s no tomorrow. Literally the whole reason I no longer engage in Ashoka content is because he massacred my girl and made her so one dimensional that my Mary Sue self insert fanfics OCs I wrote when I was 14 looks well developed compared to the absolute bland “girlboss kick ass take names” personality Ashoka has right now.

There were so many opportunities for him to explore the absolute potential of angst and conflict within Ashoka in this new series, to give her character a believable story of grief loss and growth yet he threw it all away because he wanted his OC to be the specialist girl that ever lived. This series could’ve been used to explore Ashokas conflicting feelings regarding the Anakin that taught her and was a mentor to her whilst trying to connect it to the monster that killed her family and hunted her culture into almost extinction and tried to kill her, a person he confessed to love as a sister, on Malachor. It could’ve been a good send off to a great character, to have her face that the Skyguy she put on a pedestal in her mind was in actuality the worst sort of scum and have her try to come to terms that just because she can forgive him for being the genocidal maniac he was and still hold love in her heart for who he used to be and also understand why the Jedi, her family, wasn’t the reason for their own downfall.

But alas. We got another series of “the Jedi caused their own downfall!!! Anakin did nothing wrong ever and him killing all my family and everyone I’ve ever known is so not his fault!!! It’s definitely the fault of the unbending stuck in the past council!!!”. Instead of a series that could’ve made Ashoka’s “departure” (literally never going to happen with felony at the helm, he’s going to find a way to make her immortal and then show up 200 years in the future to be the protagonist of another light v dark fight since she’s his special SI) from the series tie in nicely thematically and canonically with every other Star Wars media we have, he decided that the best way to have this series go down is 1) everyone is force sensitive if they tried hard enough ig and 2) the Jedi were bad!!! Their protocols don’t work! They were mean to my little meow meow Anakin Skywalker the greatest Jedi of all times™️ therefore he got to kill them all!!!!

Got a bit off topic but I’m still so mad that he had this chance to make Ashoka truly experience growth like the first 5 seasons of TCW yet he decided maintaining the badass rebel without a cause aesthetics for her was more important then good story telling.

Honestly though, my main problem with this series is that he decided that apparently everyone in the universe can be force sensitive if they “just tried hard enough”. Like your Midichlorian Count no longer matters since even if you were Force-Null you can still be special!!!!

This takes away any and all urgency in the Jedi Fallen Order games. It makes Cals journey absolutely redundant. It throws away all the tragedy contained in having inquisitors being force sensitive kids kidnapped from their parents and tortured till they give into the dark side. If all beings are able to use the force in his universe then there are no consequences to the inquisitors not finding the Holocron that holds the names to all force sensitive children in the universe. There would be no need to them to chase Cal and the Mantis Crew throughout the universe to obtain what they have. They could’ve just went down to any random level in Coruscant and take homeless Force-Null kids and train them.

Even better! It makes the entirety of the KOTOR games redundant!!!! Oh and I guess the hidden path is also redundant since everyone can be force sensitive and no one truly needs more saving from the empire over others :/ totally not like these kids that were saved by the path would’ve been taken and tortured into inquisitors, definitely not since EVERYONE is force sensitive nowadays or is it just the ones Ashoka trains herself because she’s the “living embodiment of the daughter uwu she’s so special and unique look how well she can train a non force sensitive to be force sensitive!!!”

Everyone in the Star Wars universe has Midichlorian’s in their blood. That is a fact. It is also an established fact that the amount each person has is different and is not determined nor dependent on lineage. Force-Nulls typically range in the 1000-3000 count and you need 7000 to be force sensitive and higher to be accepted into the order. (The order isn’t the end all be all of force cultures, Rouge One shows that Jedha’s force culture isn’t restricted to only force sensitives as the Guardian’s were never specified to be only a religious order of force sensitives. And high canon doesn’t depict many other force cultures but we know that there are many force cultures in the universe that co-exist with the Jedi with which the Jedi weren’t in opposition towards; literally not even the witches of Dathomir were oppositions anywhere outside of the battle fields.) You don’t need to be force sensitive to be part of a force culture (Jedha literally has pilgrims who come far and wide to make a pilgrimage to the holy site and not all of them were force sensitive), Sabine could’ve very easily been taught the tenets of the Jedi without retconning her to be force sensitive or making everyone in the universe force sensitive.

No where in either the EU or High Canon did anyone ever say that you have to be force sensitive to be a badass or to make a difference. Hera did not hold the title of the best pilot in the universe just for some rat of a man to come and say that Anakin was the best because *muh force sensitivity!!!!* Some of the most heroic and most influential (good or bad) people in the franchise are Force-Null! And that’s great! It means that the force doesn’t make anyone better than anyone else! It’s a quirk of the universe! To retcon that everyone can and is force sensitive if they tried hard enough is literally cheapening everything the franchise stands for. Andor did not literally give us an entire story about how Force-Nulls in the Galaxy makes just as much of a difference as force sensitives for felony to come out and say that “you know what??? Midichlorian’s are a scam! You get a force sensitivity! You get a force sensitivity! Everyone gets a force sensitivity!!!!”

Sabine was great as she was in rebels, why cheapen it with “oh she’s actually force sensitive all this time!!!” When we could’ve stuck with badass Force-Null Mandalorian can kick your ass five ways to Sunday with her paint bombs and blasters you force wielding asshole!!! Like why even do that felony. Do you want people to hate her??? Nvm ofc you do, you need Ashoka to be the best in every way possible even if it means ruining every other beloved character in this franchise👍

#Star Wars salt #star wars #ashoka series #Ashoka Tano critical #anti anakin skywalker #anti Dave Filoni #fuck you felony I want to punch you in your rat face #Ashoka series critical #the Midichlorian count should mean something felony!!!!!#why are you making Ashoka a Mary sue😭 literally give her a personality that isn’t kickass take names please I beg #sw salt #I hate it here #jedi positive

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retiredficwriter · 2 months

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me? being tagged by @jetsteelyourheart ?? what an honor!

just like the top 5 favorite characters: Make a poll with 5 of your favorite rarepairs/crackships. See which one is everyone's favorite!

i became too invested in this. some of these ships i haven't thought in years, so it was nice to relive the times i was obsessed with them. i narrowed it to one ship per media/fandom and just like my tag-buddy, I'll provide my questionable reasons/propaganda.

REASONS/PROPAGANDA

Sydney Sage/Trey Juarez:

so when i was first reading bloodlines, i read online that sydney gets a human boyfriend in book 2. i had heard about brayden but never in the context of HIM being the boyfriend, so i thought he was the random dude in book 1 (wasn't he, unironically, called hayden??) who asked sydney out. i was theorizing who that boyfriend would be until my brain went: "omg.... IS IT TREY??" and got soo hyped. i loved their interaction in book 1 and thought exploring them in a romantic setting would be so interesting, especially with the implication of trey having a major role. they are so similar (growing up in a cult, daddy issues, both being smart) and yet, trey has some adrian-like traits?? charming, popular in the dating pool, laidback... and it would create some tension between sydrian??? imagine adrian watching trey and sydney date and feeling discouraged because she found a human "version" of him?? and with trey being a warrior, he would try to get sydney to have the alchemist side with them and push the "moroi are evil" narrative, creating more doubts for sydney to rebel! BUT THEN SYDNEY HELPS TREY REBEL AGAINST THE WARRIORS!!

i love their friendship as is, and know for a fact they wouldn't last that long but man... i would have eat up their failed romance.

bonus point for an adrian/sydney/trey polycule

Rachel Berry/Sam Evans:

ah yes. my first ever rarepair. since that one episode in season 2 where she and finn helped sam with his young siblings, i fell in love with them. if you were in the glee fandom, you know every single couple was problematic one way or the other (this is the writers' fault). yet somehow, every relationship sam was in, it was the healthiest the woman he was with ever had. and i wanted that for rachel! i ate all the crumbs this show gave me, which were... almost nonexistent. the big difference between this rarepair and the others on this poll is that, in the show's final season, THEY BECAME CANON. I WAS SO HAPPY. they were very unpopular because it came out of nowhere and the writers only put them together to give rachel a love interest for the final season (and give the storyline they planned for finn to someone else), which... fair. but he was so caring, encouraging her to follow her dreams and telling her the tough truth about things she didn't want to hear. it was so good to see rachel heal from finn and her failed broadway dreams while with sam. (also she was less insufferable with him).

but then, ha... they broke up on the third to last episode of the series. so she could be with jesse who showed up out of nowhere on that same episode, after he "left" 4-3 seasons ago. don't get me wrong - i love st. berry! jonathan groff and lea michelle have chemistry! love ambitious broadway wannabes being a power couple! but why not, i don't know, put the storyline she had with sam with jesse instead so it could be more organic and avoid crushing my dreams???

i'm fine. not bitter at all. I'M FINE. I'M F-

Clarisse La Rue/Silena Beauregard (PJO):

this isn't a rarepair compared to the previous two, but within the pjo fandom, it isn't as popular (surprisingly?? at least in ao3. i'm so out of the loop). first time reading pjo, little old only thought of clarisse and silena as best friends. but as i got older and read more fan analysis of the series, i realized the tragedy of these two. either 1) clarisse had an unrequited crush 2) they dated and didn't work out 3) it was a failed situationship. the daughter of ares, the girl people in camp-half blood are so scared of because she is mean to everyone and can (and will) beat the shit out of them, had a wholesome friendship with the daughter of aphrodite, and one of the nicest people in the camp?? and this friendship appeared because silena helped clarisse with her "boy problems"??? and then clarisse basically protected and comforted silena after what happened with charlie?? no spoilers for those who haven't read the books, but they parallel a famous greek mythology couple and their ending hurts. still love silena/charlie, but god... poor clarisse...

can't wait to keep rereading the books and suffer once i get to their part!

Gary "Eggsy" Unwin/Roxy Morton (Kingsman)

everyone prefers hartwin and merlin/eggsy, but i can't help but love mortwin. i watched the first movie and loved their small moments. loved how they bonded over being the underdogs in the competition and, instead of becoming sworn enemies, they recognized each other as worthy opponents. their small fun, friendly-rivarly banter was cute. part of me was relieved they stayed as friends in the end... but i couldn't help but be soo disappointed. the chemistry? it was there!! even taron egerton said there was potential to explore a romance if given the chance! plus, i'm a sucker for well-developed friends-to-lovers.

never watched the sequel but after reading what the writers did to roxy, i'm glad i didn't and never will. i can now create my own sequel in my head and read fanfics of the story they deserve 😌

Bella Swan/Leah Clearwater (Twilight):

i want to thank this one brazilian fanfic i found years ago (and never wrote down the name and lost it 😔) for presenting me with this ship. everyone talks about bella/alice, bella/rosalie, bella/carlisle... but what about bella/leah??? think new moon, when bella has just been abandoned by edward, meeting the werewolves through jacob and therefore leah, who is still dealing with the whole paul/emily thing. they can still start out with leah hating bella but they can bond over being abandoned by their boyfriends and heal from it, and in the end realize they don't need them anymore - they can have each other!

i also love if edward still comes back and bella is conflicted, and it's a edward/bella/leah love triangle (apparently people ship edward/leah and how i never heard of it?! imagine the drama!!) i will take anything where jacob isn't involved

tagging @morocorra @forcebookish @artianaiolanthe @sydneysageivashkov + anyone who wants to do this!

#bloodlines #sydney sage #trey juarez #treydney #glee #samchel #pjo #ruegard #kingsman #mortwin #twilight #swanwater #is this their ship name?? idk let's go with it!#i didn't mean to write a dissertation 🫣#my rambles

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sentofight · 3 months

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ooc. something to note about the way k.ula speaks. it is just my own thing, no need to 'accept it.'

It is noticeable that k.ula uses her name instead of pronoun (I) but when she talks about other people she uses pronouns normally. e.g. "Kula wants to eat." "Diana says we need to win! She said it is important!" or even she mimics others to tease them e.g. "Look at me. I'm stoic K'!"

This is called "Illeism". It is defined as ["from Latin ille: “he; that man”) is the act of referring to oneself in the third person instead of first person. It is sometimes used in literature as a stylistic device. In real-life usage, illeism can reflect a number of different stylistic intentions or involuntary circumstances.]

For K.ula, it is more psychological, than a fun way of speaking. In some sites and articles they state that people usually use this for these reasons:

Formality

Authority

Third-person perspective

Self-soothing

Psychological reasons

Habit or personal preference

of course, there are other reasons but to keep things condensed and straight to the point, we will look at these. So, one and two are off the table since we are talking about k.ula.

Before I talk about the reasons, I should note ku.la's condition and her environment. to make things short k.ula was kidnapped when she was a child by NESTs, got experimented on, and due to that the side effect of her gaining her cryokinesis powers was her mental state which made her remain in a child like state. So, as you can surmise you will expect childlike behavior from her even if she grows older. body wise. To add, she was brainwashed to be a killer. AND her first ever friend, Candy died. She lost Candy who taught her about friendship and emotions which were are locked inside of her due to the experiments. Factor all that when she finally regained some semblance of control over her emotions when she left NESTS. Now, let's look at the reasons.

Third-person perspective: it can help the speaker to be detached from what they are saying. This can be a reason why K.ula uses her name when she talks. She had spent years not part of the real world. She was unaware of it until she regained her conscious and now she is obligated to learn manners and such. So, it is sort of rebel against the world that she is finding annoying to learn its rules at this age. It is a way to separate herself emotionally from what she says because let's face it, more mental shocks like candy's loss can send her into a shock for sure.

self-soothing: basically to sooth herself and self support herself. Waking up to know she was just an experiment and her goal was to kill k and with that goal gone, is she needed? that probably something remains in the back of her mind--probably she is clueless to it but it will bubble up to the surface whenever k` is in danger. if she can't kill him nor protect him, what is her worth? she is made to do something and she failed to do it. living a normal life is not that easy either. so whenever she uses her name it is like almost affirming that this is her--her identity. Her name is Kula. Yes, Kula. Just Kula.

Psychological reasons: for me, self-soothing is part of this since this reason deals with how one will use illeism to gain attention, validation, or cope with low self esteem or identity issues which i mentioned above. as said before, her mental health is a rock bottom with the amount of experiments done on her and to gain 'freedom of thoughts' is a scary thing. To suddenly be thrust in this world with ZERO, like really ZERO life experience because everything was wiped clean from her mind. in her eyes, everything is new and worth exploring. some mundane things for people will be the most confusing and perplexing for her. Kula has a childlike personality thus it would make sense if she wants people's attention when she speaks. Give her attention, give her time, hence, gaining new experiences she can learn from. Thus, why she too asks a lot of questions like a child would do.

Habit or personal preference: someone's habit, no real reason. This one I don't personally see because all k.ula's speech pattern and actions stem from the big issue which is her mental state--of being a child in a body that passed that mentality, and a world that moved on without her.

Now that is explained, I will say that this is but a condition. Until K.ula feels safe in the world, learns (or relearns) what she missed, feels attached to the world around here and the people, she will eventually stops using illeism and starts using normal speech.

For example, in early encounters of k.ula she will heavily use illeism. She relies on it in her communication--kind of a way to tell you, the receiver that when it comes to conversation she is amateur so you don't expect a lot out of her.

As she gets comfortable, she will try to switch between her name and pronoun I. Surely, Diane, Foxy, Whip (Seirah) and with Maxima's help trying to remind K.ula of using the proper pronoun. Eventually, she will cut back on using illeism and assert herself more with proper language and grammar. Just hang in there! Let her learn and explore and be comfortable to get out of the safe zone that is 'being a child' to evolve into a proper person! that's pretty much what I wanted to say because I think i need to address it before someone thinks i'm doing what i want--SIKE I AM DOING WHAT I WANT AAHAHAHAHAH.

#ooc.| faty speaks #building up.| kula #[had this thought for a while and it was awakened when i wrote that k line and brain was braining

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taruchinator · 9 months

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🌸 Teen Audiences

🌸 1k Words

🌸 For the @noragamizines!

It was almost eerie how beautiful the sight that greeted him was.

Serene and secluded mountain terrains that were undoubtedly explored by many others before him, yet none would've imagined that they were strolling right past a corpse. A twisted joke was displayed in front of the blond with the appearance of tranquil flora, which surrounded something that didn't quite belong.

A broken refrigerator— Haruki's gravesite.

Hello everyone! Alice here! ^^

Another project I was helping cook up this year was the Noragami Finale Zine! I was assigned to write a story for the Ooharai Arc (aka where my boy Yukine just goes back to his rebel roots), and I'm honestly quite happy with how it turned out~

Noragami was the first series that truly got me into anime, and that's why it will always hold a special place in my heart!

“I believe our mother was intercepting the letters, and maybe even sending them back, too…” Yuka spoke barely above a whisper, her eyes never leaving the crinkly old envelopes that lay in the box in front of her.

Haruki could only stare in disbelief at the words that left his sister's mouth. Their mother couldn't have possibly done that, could she? During his entire childhood, the woman had been nothing but kind and supportive to them both, her only flaw ever being how forgiving she was of their father's actions. Yet the blond couldn't bring himself to blame her for leaving him with that monster, even if he wanted to.

But if what Yuka said was true, he didn't know what to feel anymore.

“Not even she wanted you. Nobody wanted you.” The voice in his head whispered those ugly words as it'd been doing so recently, but Haruki did his best to ignore them. They weren't true after all, since he knew for a fact that his sister loved him. Even if no one else did.

“I knew what he was doing to Haruki, yet I never mustered the courage to actually go see him.” His sister's voice wavered as silent tears began rolling down her cheeks. “I was worried he would hate me for abandoning him, so I never stopped apologizing in my letters, hoping that one day he'd come see me so we could work things out…”

“I did come!” The blond couldn't bear hearing her say these things. Lies that she fabricated in her mind out of guilt. “I could never hate you! I'm right here, Yuka!”

In that instant however, reality came crashing down on him when the young girl from his memories turned into an older woman, features still the same, but laced with the inevitable grip of mortality. Wrinkles appeared on her forehead as she forced a smile. “But he never did. That means Haruki's dead, isn't he?”

“You worthless brat… wanting to leave me too, huh? After all I've done for you!”

Hiyori placed a hand on top of Yuka's in a matter of reassurance, but at this point everything they were saying was white noise to Haruki's ears. His breathing became raggedy and agitated, despite the fact that his lungs didn't require any air. Not anymore.

“That bitch don't care about you! Nobody does! Why you think she took your sister instead o' you?!”

Images of his father began seeping into his mind uninvited, and it all immediately prompted him to leave the house and travel to another location that at some point his mind had started to forget. He didn't want to believe it—he really didn't—so he had to see it for himself. He wouldn't believe it otherwise.

It was almost eerie how beautiful the sight that greeted him was. Serene and secluded mountain terrains that were undoubtedly explored by many others before him, yet none would've imagined that they were strolling right past a corpse. A twisted joke was displayed in front of the blond with the appearance of tranquil flora, which surrounded something that didn't quite belong: A broken refrigerator.

Haruki's gravesite.

“You dying ain't my fault. It's divine punishment…”

Shivers ran up his spine as his knees gave up on him, causing him to collapse as he stared at the open makeshift casket. The place he took his final breath as he kept begging for an explanation, for mercy, for anything. But the eyes that looked down on him held nothing but pure unadulterated hatred.

“See ya, Haruki.”

“I'm dead…” Haruki's voice quivered with silent tears staining his clothes. Memories flooded back in a rush, and it was all too overwhelming as he gripped at the grass below his feet. “I-I'm actually dead. I don't belong anywhere—”

Suddenly something bumped against his palm from the inside of his pocket, slightly bringing him out of his dismay. After searching into his coat, the blond was surprised by what he'd discovered, eyeing it with curiosity. The wooden omamori was rough against his fingers since it was most definitely carved by hand, and the discarded yet familiar name written on it brought a warmth to his nonexistent beating heart.

Haruki had received it from Yato a long time ago—a memory from a life that didn't seem his own despite having become a Blessed Vessel in order to protect it. The feelings of jealousy and rage that consumed him back then seemed inconsequential now, while holding a physical reminder of the people he'd left behind in search of his truth.

Haruki had simply thrown them all away.

“How will they ever forgive me?” The reality of the situation was beginning to dawn on him as if he didn't have enough to deal with already. His betrayal, joining forces with Father, fighting those he swore he'd protect with everything he had. “Dad was right… nobody could ever love someone like me…”

“Yukine!”

The voice calling out eventually reached him, making Haruki realize that at some point his physical form left the battlefield to come to this place. Tentative steps could be heard rustling the grass, but the blond didn't have to look up to know who it was.

“Yukine… Are you okay?” It was a silly question, but laced with so much worry that Haruki couldn't help but lift his gaze to look into those familiar blue orbs. They held nothing but concern, which was the straw that broke the camel's back.

Yukine launched himself into the man's arms, sobbing and burying his nose into the scent of sweat that he missed so much. His entire body was shaking. “I-I'm sorry… I'm so sorry!”

Yato held him close with tears of his own flowing onto the blond's cheek. “It's okay Yukine… It's all going to be okay.”

Yukine didn't know what the future held. Fate was messy, convoluted and not always fair. But there was one thing he knew for certain—he'd never have to go at it alone.

Never again.

✦ 𝐂𝐡𝐞𝐜𝐤 𝐌𝐲 𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐝 𝐓𝐨 𝐅𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐌𝐲 𝐒𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥𝐬! ✦

#my stories #zine entry #noragami #noragami yukine #yukine #noragami fanfic

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birlwrites · 1 year

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What are your thought(s) on the idea that Barty is a sort of antithesis of Sirius. In how he is a opposite to him. Looking at them their differences are almost opposites of each other, Sirius rebelled against a dark family and went to to light one, with Barty he went against his father (a strong preacher of the light) and while didn't get "adopted" he began to uphold the typical ideals of the dark. They were both imprisoned in Azkaban, but while Barty was there for something he did and got a trial, Sirius was innocent yet was imprisoned without a trial. For both of them they eventually escaped and once escaped they had to hide out at the place they grew up and (most likely) despised.

Then there is their relationship with Regulus (which for Barty is based entirely on fanon but what else can you do) for due to a sorting into a house seen as unbefitting of their families, managed to be the reason that for Barty he met Regulus and became close with him and for Sirius he grew apart from each other until eventually being on opposite sides.

There are so many other parallels with other characters (there's even a small one I can make with Regulus and Peter) I could talk about but I am trying to avoid a massive word dump in your inbox and the lack of foundation for characters such as well everyone and not much consistency or development in development that leaves the issue of finding a base difficult in for most reasons (yours and one other are my basic foundation for Barty outside of the crumbs of canon).

yep! barty and sirius as foils are a big part of how i think about both of them - they essentially switch places, and they've both had periods in their lives when they would be DEEPLY offended by someone saying as much

i will add: i like to heighten the 'devotion' aspect of both of their characters - barty is obviously a fanatical supporter of voldemort in canon, and sirius's animagus form is Literally a dog, and i think that's very interesting to explore. also, to build up the parallels, it's regulus for barty instead of voldemort, and james takes on that role for sirius instead of remus (neither of which are UNcommon takes, but in wolfstar fics especially i will see, at the very least, james and remus being on the same level for sirius. which is totally reasonable, just not what i'm interested in because i'm more interested in the dynamic between james and sirius)

they are also both tools for their parents' agendas - crouch sr sending barty to azkaban, and walburga/orion (presumably) restoring sirius to house black so that SOMEONE will inherit

and i also think it's interesting to conceive of voldemort and dumbledore as a) replacement Adults™ for the parents who failed them, and b) as sources of a purpose in life. sirius has the potters (and even mcgonagall), so dumbledore can't get as powerful of a grip on him as voldemort can on barty, but i think both sirius and barty push down this very potent desire for Approval From Authority Figures that can absolutely be manipulated if said Authority Figure is observant and machiavellian enough. and one of the reasons they CAN be manipulated through that is because they both tell themselves they don't need it and they're Rebels - they're not equipped to notice that manipulation for what it is and pull back from it

#should i make an inbox tag #barty and sirius parallels

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autolenaphilia · 1 year

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System Shock

The original System Shock, developed by Looking Glass Studios and released in 1994 is a classic game. It’s a hard to categorize game, especially at the time. At its core it’s a first-person-shooter, but it got elements of a puzzle-adventure game with an emphasis on exploration that reminds me of the metroidvania genre. It just recently in 2023 it got a full-fledged remake from the studio Nightdive, but let’s talk about the original DOS version.

And I did play the original DOS version. Nightdive released an “Enhanced Edition” that runs in modern Windows with improvements such as mouselook, but I had difficulties getting that game’s MIDI music to run on my Linux box. So I got the DOS “classic edition” from GOG and ran it in dosbox, complete with the original control scheme.

The game had an unusual elaborate plot for an action game at the time. It’s a proper cyberpunk-sci-fi story, set in the year 2072. The premise is explained in the intro cutscene. The player character is a computer hacker, who tries to hack into the systems of the Trioptimum megacorp, but gets caught within minutes. A corporate executive named Edward Diego does however offer the hacker a way out and gives him a job offer. The corporation owns a space station in a orbit around Saturn, named Citadel Station, controlled by the AI Shodan. If the hacker goes to Citadel, and hacks into Shodan and removes her ethical constraints, his charges will be dropped and he will be repayed with a “military-grade” neural implant. The hacker accepts and does the job for Diego.

The hacker gets put into a medical coma on Citadel to recover from the neural implant surgery. And when he wakes up six months later, you take control and begin the game. It’s here where System Shock reveals itself to be quite innovative in game storytelling. The intro, death and ending cutscenes are the only traditional cutscenes you get in this game. Instead this game’s story is told through exploration from an unbroken first-person perspective, four years before Half-Life.

There aren’t even the dialogue trees you had in rpgs and adventure games of the time. And that’s because once you wake up on Citadel Station, you’ll quickly find that pretty much everyone is dead, or will be when by the time you get to them. And the whole game takes place on Citadel Station. There is a lot of gore in this game, as you find dismembered bodies everywhere. Your character slept through a disaster.

Shodan has of course rebelled against humanity, and is turning Citadel’s research technology against her creators. She has aspirations to godhood, and wants to remake life to her own liking. Shodan has therefore turned humans into mindless mutants with bioweapons, or converted them into her cyborg slaves, or created pure metal robots. And she is aiming the station’s mining laser against earth cities and unleashing her bioweapons upon what’s left after that. To be fair to Shodan and her hubris, being able to design and create life and rain death from the heavens is pretty god-like. You of course has to stop her and save humanity.

The way you piece together this is by exploring and finding audio logs left behind by humans and even Shodan, scattered across the station. You also get voiced e-mails from people monitoring the situation back on Earth, and Shodan sends some threatening ones herself. This is a system of storytelling that is almost cliché nowadays but which System Shock pioneered back in 1994. And it’s very well implemented here. It’s a way of storytelling that is built around exploration, you find the story by exploring and you can keep exploring while you listen to the audio.

System Shock is usually seen as the progenitor of the genre of “immersive sim” and immersive it is.

The feeling of exploring the aftermath of a disaster, putting together what happened and how to fix it piece by piece is very compelling. It helps that you don’t have traditional objective system telling you what to do, instead you have to figure it out by listening carefully to all these audio logs.

The story isn’t original or that complex. But the way it’s told makes it actually engaging, because you have to piece it together yourself. And Shodan is such a great villain. Her writing and the voice acting of Terri Brosius, distorted through clever sound editing, is excellent and rightfully iconic and influential. Glados in the Portal gamestakes a lot from Shodan.

The level design is also built around exploration.. There are multiple levels of Citadel Station, and there is progression from one level to the next, but you can return to previous levels, and in fact the game requires you to backtrack at certain points. The levels are built so you can explore somewhat non-linearly. The game is in many ways a first-person metroidvania, where you explore a large interconnected map, filling in your own automap, finding tools and abilities as you go along, enabling you to explore further by accessing areas you couldn’t before.

Thanks to the neuroimplant, the hacker has access to various cybernetic hardware that give him superhuman abilities. So you can get a lantern installed to navigate dark areas, an envirosuit to resist bio contamination and radiation, a booster to run faster, and most importantly to access new areas, jetboots to float and fly. Your abilities drain electricity, which is their main limitation. You have to literally recharge your batteries to keep on using them, from Citadel’s power stations or portable batteries you can find. It’s a neat gameplay feature that give some power fantasy kicks without feeling too overpowered.

The immersion is helped by how the level design aspires to far greater realism than was common in non-adventure games at the time. Most game levels were pretty abstract and served often no purpose but to challenge the player. The mazes with monsters of Doom is a good example. Now the levels of System Shock are probably too maze-like for complete realism, but there is a clear sense that the game environments serve a in-universe purpose. Each level of Citadel station had a purpose for the people who once used it, there is a medical floor, a research floor, a maintenance floor, to name only the first three. And every texture in the game has a name that will appear if you click on it, which often explains its purpose.

And part of why Shodan is such a great villain is that she is literally integrated into the levels. Citadel Station is her body, she is the mind of the station, and you feel that she is omnipresent throughout the game. And she has turned it against you and has in fact already killed all the other humans within. She is watching you from her security cameras, and knows what you are doing. Shodan sometimes sends messages directly to you, mocking and threatening you. But she is still a presence even when she isn’t as direct. All the enemies and obstacles you face is her doing. Her image sometimes appears on computer screens randomly, probably just to freak you out.

And beyond sending enemies at you and setting traps, Shodan directly locks doors that prevent your progress. A major gameplay element is lowering Shodan’s control over each level, so that she can no longer block those doors. And you do that by smashing the security cameras and blowing up Shodan’s computer nodes, lowering the level’s “security level.” And once it’s gone or low enough, doors Shodan once locked can be opened.

It’s a major part of progressing through the game. Shodan calls the player character an insect, and playing the game you do feel like a computer bug she has, small and insignificant but messing up her plans and functioning. You are like the literal bug found in Harvard Mark II that may have caused the term computer bug to be coined. Or like a rat chewing at Shodan’s wires.

Now this immersive storytelling is partially possible because System Shock was such a technologically innovative game.

System Shock’s engine was a technical marvel at the time, because it was an engine for a first-person shooter with full-fledged, actual 3D. The back cover calls it “the gaming world's first true 3-D simulation.” Doom had come out the year before, but it was a kind of fake 3D, where “room over room” multi-level structures are not possible. System Shock’s producer Warren Spector actually coined the term “2.5D” in a contemporary interview to describe his games competitors like Doom.

And Spector was right to brag a bit, System Shock engine seems ahead of its time. We take it for granted today that if for example you have a bridge in a 3D game you can both walk on it and under it, but being able to do so in System Shock was impressive in 1994. The only thing not fully 3D is that enemies and objects are 2D sprites but it’s well-implemented.

The full 3D engine allows for a pretty much unprecedented freedom of movement compared to games at the time. You can look up and down, you can lean and look around corners, you can crouch and go prone to get into tight spaces. Nowadays this is standard, but in 1994 revolutionary. Being able to go vent-crawling or taking shots from cover by leaning around a corner was really new. Gordon Freeman learned to vent-crawl from the System Shock hacker.

The control system does shows its age though. There is no mouselook. Instead you control the camera entirely with the keyboard, you press R to look up, F to center your view, and V to look down. You can’t rebind the keys in the original DOS version, which also means you are stuck with ASDX for movement (A=forward, A and D= turn left and right, X= backward, and Z and C to strafe left and right). This game came before WASD became the standard, although interestingly it uses Q and E for the lean function, leaving W as the only letter key in that part of the keyboard without a movement binding.

The game also came with one of the largest and most elaborate HUDs to ever grace a first-person-shooter. Instead of mouselook, you can move the cursor into the HUD to operate it. The HUD is actually quite useful once you understand how it works, it’s how you use your cybernetic abilities, but getting that understanding is the difficulty

The movement system is definitely useable, but it’s awkward. The controls and HUD have been compared to playing an operating system. There have been a lot of fanmade ports like System Shock Portable and Shockolate, the official Enhanced Edition and the recent remake, all to fix the original game’s control scheme by adding mouselook and WASD controls.

Still, you can become accustomed to and proficient at the original control scheme if you put the effort in, I did. It is in fact like learning a new OS, but that’s doable.

And even if you don’t become proficient, you can adjust the difficulty. And System Shock’s difficulty settings are unique. You can adjust the difficulty on different game elements, combat, puzzles, plot and cyberspace, independently of each other. You can make this into essentially a point-and-click adventure game by turning puzzles difficulty up and combat difficulty all the way down. Or a pure run-and-gun shooter by turning up combat and removing plot and puzzle difficulty. It’s such a flexible system that you can turnSystem Shockinto a clone of Beneath a Steel Sky or Doom depending on your tastes.It’s a great difficulty system where each player can create a game challenge suited to their tastes.

Even the combat has an interesting and forgiving mechanism: the restoration bays. They are medical machines, one per every level of the station, that can revive people from near-death. Shodan however has converted them into machines that turn people into her cyborg slaves. But thanks to the work of another resistance member, you can flip a switch on each level to turn the machines back into revival machines. When you die on a level where you flipped the switch on the machine, Shodan’s robots will drag you to the machine to turn you into a cyborg, but the machine revives you instead. So you can die on that level without any serious penalty once that switch is flipped. If you die before that switch is flipped, you get a game-over cutscene of being turned into a cyborg. You have to find the machine and its switch on each level before you are safe.

I played it as an adventure game, where the only dangers were environmental hazards. But I could tell that the gunplay in this game is satisfying if you play it as a shooter, despite the awkward controls. The lean system allows you to take cover, and there is a rich variety of guns with satisfying animations and noises, and the death animations of the enemies are also enjoyable.

I do recommend turning the cyberspace difficulty all the way down. It’s probably the most splashy, but also the most awkward to actually play gameplay element of System Shock. It’s essentially a minigame where you use your neural implant to hack computer systems. And the way the game portrays this is you flying around a flashing wireframe environment running into floating blocks and shooting things at enemies. You have full free 3d movement, like the Descent series.It looks cool, but the controls are awkward and floaty. And it’s a pain to navigate the wireframes. And the developers clearly knew that, since they put gigantic arrows pointing you in the right direction. I have no regrets about making enemies non-aggressive and having a generous timelimit to it.

The fact that the final boss battle against Shodan takes place in cyberspace is part of why it disappoints. Going into cyberspace to navigate an annoying wireframe maze to find Shodan’s cyberspace avatar and shoot at it until it dies is such a disappointing ending. After a whole game where the player has been fighting Shodan in more indirect and more interesting ways, just shooting at her cone form until she dies is not that engaging. The ending cutscene essentially is just a joke too.

Still, if the ending is disappointing, it’s because it’s very hard to end such a great game satisfactory. This is a hard game to describe, because the gameplay and storytelling mechanics are so complex and varied, which is why this review is a bit rambling. There is so much to talk about, and it’s all interconnected. It’s a game that allows for such freedom in how it is played that the player is given the tools to make their own game, make their own way through Citadel station. It’s such an intelligently designed immersive experience that is remarkably advanced for 1994. And it has one of the greatest villains in all of video games. Hail SHODAN.

#my writings #system shock #game review

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raviosprovidence · 2 years

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Ocean Game: Plot and More.

So something I noticed in sky is that other than wandering around and getting wax, there's no real incentive for you to explore the world. And in an MMO-like game where combat is non existent, you really do need something else to keep the player entertained, because cosmetics and collecting them is all fun, but for a lot of players, it gets old fast, they drop out, and there goes your revenue.

The solution to this is easy: Lore. And since there's gonna be some dark lore, this game's going to deal with stuff heavier than sky

With Current, I want to make the player feel excited about the world. They should want to discover what happened to it and why it is the way it is. Upgrades will mean more chances to study the lore and how characters interact. So there's gonna be a lot of information in this one.

Let's start with the overall lore. Huge shoutout to @hallofharmony for talking this out with me and heavily influencing where the lore goes.

You are a Nymph, a fresh adult emerging from the underground caves where you've been all your life and are starting their own journey to help restore Neptune. Because what was once multiple little cities of vibrant culture and commerce are now gray, barren wastes filled with ruins and maybe a few fish and crabs. But as you explore, you see a weirdly shaped stone with light emitting from the cracks. You go over, and Boom! It's a siren, or a fully adult Nymph. It is unknown how long they've been stuck like that, but they explain that there are others like them, trapped and waiting to be freed. The sirens will be like the spirits, where you can go to them and get cosmetics, but more importantly, bits about their lore/relationships with other sirens.

So, what did happen all those years ago?

There was a powerful magic siren who's name i'll get to later. If anyone has ideas for placeholder names i'd love to hear them, but they found the realms of Neptune...divided. No one really interacted with each other other then some trading or traveling. One day, there were attacks from outside sirens that devastated all the realms, but many still survived. This angered the Siren. How could his people not see the obvious? So, he and a small group of his followers set out to unite the realms, either by force or by choice. And in his mind, if all the realms were to be united, they needed to look, act, and be alike. He and his crew set out to the realms taking down anyone that got in their way. They captured larger fish to use for mounts and other purposes and over hunted the natural fish populations. Corals reefs were destroyed to make room for more buildings to house weapons and more prisoners than needed. After years of this, and rebel forces getting almost nowhere, people cried out to the conclave of gods: giant beasts that were treated as myths, but many knew they existed.

The conclave heard the people's cries, and answered. Being giant beasts, they destroyed everything and everyone in their path. Not even the magic siren could stand against them as life was wiped out. Many innocent sirens perished, though some were turned to stone by one of the one of the conclave gods as an act of mercy. Some sirens fled to other realms, but many who rescued the eggs, hid in underground caves to raise the new generation (aka: the players)

I can write more about characters you'll find throughout the realms and the types of realms there'll be. I was actually thinking instead of more seasons, it's gonna be split. During one "era", there will be a rotation of traveling sirens that come to visit, and you can find them in different areas, befriend them, and get cosmetics/lore from them. Once they leave, there will be an era where a whole new realm is introduced with permanent spirits, new areas to discover, and lore.

I think next post im gonna go into more the currency and how that is gonna work, as well as other items you'll use to purchase stuff. If anyone has any suggestions/comments please leave them down below.

#oceangame #indie game concept #sky cotl ramble #skyblr #abzu #sky cotl #thatskygame

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gcldforged · 9 months

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( alperen duymaz , 33 , he/him , cis man , merian 2 ) - have you seen timur merian ? we’ve heard through the grapevine that they’re intrepid but also vengeful. when you think of them , you think of the sound of combat echoing through the halls like ghosts , ice filling veins , heavy is the head that wears the crown.

tw: mentions of war , violence , death , & ptsd.

basic information.

full name: timur merian. name meaning: iron. age: thirty-three. date of birth: november 1st. astrological sign: scorpio. gender & pronouns: cis man , he / him. orientation: heteroromantic , heterosexual. spoken languages: english , german , french. title: king of switzerland. martial status: betrothed to malai wagner , formerly betrothed to lara von bern ( deceased ).

personality.

positive: intrepid , forthright , protective , determined , confident. negative: vengeful , abrasive , guarded , mistrustful , short-tempered. temperament: choleric. mbti: entj - the commander.

history.

a child as wild as the swiss wilderness that stretched from the woods to the alpine mountains, timur initially struggled with his role as crown prince. he didn't want to sit through countless, boring lessons. so he rebelled whenever possible. rather than attend lessons, he'd hide away either in the palace or in the surrounding woods after sneaking out. the only lessons he did enjoy were his sword fighting ones. the master at arms called him a prodigy with a sword, strong but agile, fierce but honorable. he often wished he could live his life as a soldier rather than a future king.

the older he got, the worse his rebellion grew; as a teenager, sometimes he wouldn't be home for a few days, out exploring or hunting instead. his father's disappointment awaited him each time he did come back. the strain between the king and the crown prince was evident. loud arguments were common, each time ending with timur storming off and returning to the wilderness.

and then the king fell ill. the physician reassured the family that it wasn't fatal but seeing his father bedridden and at risk of dying was a shock for timur, who'd viewed his father as pillar of strength. yet even he was at risk of passing without warning. timur realized how unprepared he was to be king due to his choices. almost overnight he stopped fighting against his role in the world, instead dedicating himself fully to learning how to rule and be a good king. he shadowed his father constantly, sitting in on all meetings, at first only observing but eventually voicing his own opinions. he quickly proved himself capable, a worthy heir of not only the swiss crown but also his father's pride.

timur was eventually betrothed to a swiss noble lady, lara von bern. it was a small surprise, some thinking and others hoping that the merians would seek out a union with another nation, but the choice allowed the family to remain separate from the conflicts affecting other countries. the relationship was awkward at first but the pair grew closer with time, eventually falling deeply in love. and then france attacked.

war was brutal, a shock to the prince who'd known only peace. equally shocking was the failure of any country save sweden to come to their aid. timur watched as friends were killed, witnessed the struggles of the citizens, and took lives himself. he remained on the frontlines during the entire war, fighting alongside his father and his people. returning home, even to rest, wasn't ever an option in his eyes. the war therefore ate away at him constantly - even his fighting style changed, becoming far more brutal, honor was secondary when survival was at stake.

he also lost. lara had always been a warrior in her own right, and the couple proved a deadly duo on the battlefield that inspired. then lara was killed, and all timur could do was watch. the coldness that took over the prince was instantly noticeably as was him becoming more reckless and violent when fighting. it only worsened when his father was killed not long after lara's death. the fact that victory was in sight when his father died only made the loss worse.

the crown was placed on his head while there was still enemy blood on his face. the coronation didn't occur until after the war, a somber affair, no one in the mood for any celebration after all they'd lost. timur drowned himself in his kingly duties. he dedicated his first post-war acts as king to strengthening switzerland's defenses and directing funds toward recovery. it was initially a slow process but then the country entered a period of restoration that, under timur's watchful eye, resulted in booms in the economy.

timur had no interest in traveling to france. time hadn't dulled his hatred for the bourbons or made him desire any sort of peace with them. switzerland had believed there'd been peace before; the french had betrayed that. however after hearing how the situation continued worsening, timur saw the opportunity to find likeminded allies in addition to ensuring his family's and peoples' safety. timur didn't trust that, if backed further into a corner, the french won't lash out so best to keep an eye on them. plus he wouldn't object to having a front row seat to more failures and a possible bourbon downfall.

headcanons.

timur has very severe ptsd from the war. he is constantly on guard and crowded spaces put him even more on edge. his sleep is also impacted; nightmares are extremely frequent as are nights where he can't ( or doesn't want to ) sleep. on those days it isn't uncommon for him to then fall asleep in a chair or at his desk during the afternoon., which causes to nights of insomnia in hopes of avoiding them. he does hide his ptsd very well. the last thing he wants is for other nations to know and take advantage of it.

he's a man of few words due to being so guarded, and when he does speak, he is very blunt. he isn't one to lie or pretend around people, not even for the sake of politics. knowing that other people do only gives him more reason to mistrust strangers.

there was a time when timur was softer, more similar to a gentle snowfall than the biting blizzard he is today. the war with france destroyed that part of him. small traces of it do still exist, but it's buried deep.

he swore off love after losing lara. if he had the choice, he wouldn't marry at all but knows it's his duty.

his family is extremely important to him. there's nothing he wouldn't do to ensure their safety, even at the cost of his own. they are also the only people who see glimpses of the old, warmer timur. very much has an atlas complex. he believes he should shoulder any and all burdens himself so his siblings can have a better chance at peace.

has owned a dog since he was young. his father gave him his first dog in hopes that raising it would make him more responsible. his current dog, bear, is rarely not at his side. timur claims it's because she's a guard dog, and she is, but she also works as a therapy dog, able to sense when his ptsd is acting up and respond accordingly.

timur's reputation during the war was a brutal one. he became infamous for cutting down a handful of notable french commanders and whispers of his aggression and ruthlessness, particularly after lara's death, spread fast. it led to some, particularly outside of switzerland, calling him timur the brutal or timur the bloody. since the war the monikers have been used far less.

he once shared his father's preference for a neutral switzerland but all neutrality got them was an invasion, a war, and death. their lack of alliances surely a reason only one nation answered their call for aid. the time for neutrality, therefore, is over.

is actively looking for allies, particularly those who are also against the bourbons but is also looking to establish ties with more neutral nations.

wanted connections.

childhood friends ›› he's really grumpy but once someone gets to know him, he is capable of opening up.

new friends ›› he's really grumpy but once someone gets to know him, he is capable of opening up.

spies ›› timur quietly established his own network of spies after becoming king. they all report back directly to him. where they're located varies but i imagine one would stay in france as timur wants to keep an eye on the bourbons, not trusting that they won't attack switzerland again.

enemies from the war ›› the french and their allies. if french or knew someone who fought for the french in the war, it could be that timur was responsible for the death of someone they knew.

former friends ›› timur cut off anyone who supported the french no matter their previous relationship. he also shut himself off a lot after the war, leading to losing touch with many people. i also would love if he was once friends with a french noble or even a bourbon, could've been genuine on their end or not, but now only views them as an enemy for the angst.

new allies ›› anti french friends! or anyone neutral looking to ally with switzerland. despite his gruff exterior, timur genuinely desires to make alliances with other royals so switzerland has people they can rely on and possibly plot with against the french.

#francehq.intro #i. timur merian ›› intro.

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