#combining two asks into one

[prince-liest]

Sorry, joining the trans!Vox feelings trenches. Because it's just been making me think about how Vox is almost performative even through his sincerity. It's the acting of genuine feelings, everything is bombast and larger than life with him. And that spirals into his gender. Because Vox is intensely masculine in a way that can almost be.... camp is the wrong word but there's an element of gender performance there. Like, the man wears pinstripe trousers even in a casual setting. It is an intensely upper-middle class masculinity and it's just really interesting in the context of Vox being trans because it feels so right for him but to an extent, it's something he had to develop for himself. I don't know, this isn't very coherent.

ok but the idea of vox just being extremely Performative Fifties about gender in life was exactly where my mind went when the mention first came up that he didn't realize he could Do That until he got to hell. Exceptionally Perky Republican Kitten Newscaster Vox. if you're going to do something you are going to do it well and also do it all the way and more than anyone else does. that is the vox motto. -🍓

Combined two asks into one, here, because: Yes!! This is exactly how I see it. Vox in life is the performative fifties feminine version of the current Vox we see in death, and there is a lot to be said for the way that both of those personas are a show he puts on. His public-facing persona is different from his managing-Valentino persona is different from his "Holy shit, the Hazbin Hotel is about to get wrecked!" feet-kicking excitement, and all three of those are him, but none of them except maybe the brakes-disabled excitement about Alastor getting his ass kicked involve him taking a break from masking. He's A Lot by default but he also is A Lot on purpose.

There are trans characters that I would write as trying their utmost to not pay attention to existing in their body pre-transition, and there are trans characters that I would write Performing The Assigned Gender like they're fucking gunning for an award, and Vox falls into the latter category. I don't think he was perfect at it - he's not perfect at being Vox the CEO, either - and I imagine that why he wasn't perfect at it niggled at him rather intensely in ways that probably bothered him way more than the moments such as when he drops the affable business partner persona to shake Val by the lapels... because it wasn't just him losing his temper or getting obsessive, it was him feeling fucking wrong in a way that made him sick, and not understanding why.

Which is to say, figuring out his transition shit after death absolutely made him like 5x more insufferable because that's about when he starting using the confident masking and meaning it. He went from "this is the person I'm supposed to want to be" to "this is the person I actually want to be (note: still an asshole)."

[tomahachi12]

[bad-traffic-smp-ideas]

Wildcard idea: nothing

Yes thats right, nothing.

Imagine how increasingly anxious all the players become when a card is rolled and its effects arent immedietly obvious. That anxiety turning into sheer terror as th3 session goes on and they still can't figure out what the card is. Not trusting any feature of the game as anything could be the thing to betray them.

Grian would be having the time of his life tho

Something something trafficblr is a hivemind...

[geniemillies]

hii im late again for artfight w @highlordofkrypton 😞 but i have finished... round 4: acotar x marvel rivals ‼

i doodle.. tamlin as hawkeye.. mathi showed him to me before i started playing and saw nothing but tamlin 😔 i ended up not changing colors.. he shall embrace the cosplay

tamlin... tamlin w a manbun.... 👉👈💥💥

AND mantis and tamlin interaction bc mathi has planted in my head that he would main her 😌😌 so now i dooble this

their anger is HEALTHY 😠🍃!!

[kenzan-brainrot-mp4]

Adding to the post credits scene a bit. The way Majima kept staring up at the hospital (presumably the floor Kiryu is on) made everything just that much more painful.

And I know this is a reach but I got serious flashbacks to Majima's one-sided attraction to Makoto. It happened again, he fell hard and I don't think he can let go this time. Can they please stop tearing into his feelings like that my god.

OUGH I DIDN'T EVEN THINK OF THAT Of course I guess we can't know for sure, but god. God, Imagine the possibility. *holds head in hands*

Also now that I think about it, you're right, when you put them side-by-side, the shots of Majima walking away from the camera in pirate yakuza is a bit reminiscent of the shot of him in yakuza 0.... Oughh imagine the parallels though, Majima walking away from the viewer and away from Makoto in yakuza 0 (and yk2) with the intent/hope that they never speak to each other or see each other again, vs Majima walking away from viewer but towards Kiryu (y8 gaiden) to spend whatever time he's able to afford left with him.

Obviously there's a lot of factors surrounding why Majima decided to keep Makoto specifically at a distance post-y0, but I think what's killing me with this parallel in particular is the idea that Majima, by the time we get to post-pirate yakuza, doesn't really have anywhere left to run/can't afford to walk away like that with Kiryu in this game.

Like, it's not like with Makoto where he can keep their relationship suspended indefinitely until they forget about each other (or rather Makoto forgets about Majima), it's not like yakuza like. Five-to-infinite wealth where Kiryu was keeping everyone at arm's length, which prevented Majima from really reaching him in general (Majima's own avoidance at being anything but roundabout with Kiryu aside), or all the previous games where Majima could just get away with not voicing his feelings towards Kiryu directly. They're on a very directly stated time limit now (in all fairness rgg has left a window of possibility of Kiryu surviving, but typically you'd probably assume the worst), and now they're in a situation where Kiryu can't push people out anymore, and Majima can't keep this distance going for much longer because he's already spent years and years dancing around this and now he's officially running out of time and he Knows it (basically there's no room left for the possibility of them reaching a point where they can just 'forget about each other and move on', that he was hoping to achieve with Makoto (not that he'd want that atp with Kiryu probably but you get what I mean)). There's nowhere for them to run anymore, so this time when Majima walks away from the viewer, he's actually going to fact the object of his interest, rather than run away from it.

[astranauticus]

lobotomy corporation has officially kicked my ass but damn its got some good creature designs in it

[spinsvi]

we've got like 3 films of bitzer getting mad at shaun and staying mad until shaun earns his forgiveness..... when is it bitzer's turn. shaun should give him a taste of his own medicine

obviously his anger is completely valid but WE GET ITTT shaun is a troublemaker who should know better blah blah blah. now can we get a film where they are nice to each other. The Flight Before Christmas is the only film where bitzer's anger isn't the main focus and even then shaun is getting the cold shoulder from HIS AUNT. give him a break he's trying his best

[markantonys]

While I still don't think the show has done enough to show why the world despises and fears male channelers (since it really should've been embedded into the world building, so far we only know that the Aes Sedai hate and fear them) and it does kinda lessen the impact of the narrative that none of the EF5 had at least an initial gut reaction to Rand being able to channel. I do wonder how they're gonna handle that topic moving forward, cause it kinda has to be addressed now that Rand is actively channeling. I could see it being expanded more deeply as Rand's madness progresses/tie it into his arc.

the show has made it ABUNDANTLY clear that Male Channelers Are Considered Bad News By All. it IS embedded into the worldbuilding. was the king saying that logain's gone mad and trying to kill him not enough for you? was the people of tar valon jeering and throwing fruit at him not enough for you? was rand and mat saying "hey if i'm a male channeler please kill me" not enough for you? was rand's terror the second he realized selene saw him channel not enough for you? was selene's act of how a normal person would react to finding out her boyfriend can channel not enough for you? was his heartbroken yet unsurprised reaction to her rejection not enough for you? was the whole backstory of a male channeler causing the apocalypse not enough for you? do you think that show-onlys are completely incapable of putting all these pieces together along with aes sedai treatment of male channelers and coming to the conclusion that male channelers are probably not very popular with most people and it's going to be very tough for rand that he is one?

literally what else should they have done that would make sense within the very small world and very early story of the first 2 seasons/3 books that they didn't already do? shown emond's fielders sitting around the dinner table talking about how much they hate and fear male channelers when none of them has ever met one and thus it's not relevant to their lives? wasted time doing a whole sidequest for rand in s2 where his abilities are discovered by some Average Citizens and they react badly? shit all over show!mat's characterization and given him a negative reaction to rand in s2 that would not make sense for his current show headspace, just for the sake of furthering rand's randpain? i'm sick of the rand stans who act like rand is the only character who matters and mat's characterization should be sacrificed just so we can go "oh poor rand uwu even his own best friend is mean to him". portraying mat in 2x06 as the sort of person who bullies and kicks his best friend while he's down would've been beneficial because......? what is so wrong with the show making the ef5 feel like mutually loyal friends instead of "rand is the best and most loyal friend in the world but the rest are little shits who abandon him as soon as the going gets tough"? seeing as in the books, mat continues to be an extremely loyal friend to rand throughout the series but most readers are too stupid to see through his unreliable narration and realize he doesn't mean it when he says that rand channeling is like him eating babies, i'm not surprised the show decided to simplify things in order to convey the true heart of mat's character (loyal and caring friend to rand) in a more obvious manner.

and i guarantee you that no show-only is going "oh, it's only aes sedai who have a problem with male channelers, everyone else thinks they're cool". that's not happening. show-onlys are not stupid, and they understand that male channelers are considered bad news by all; or maybe they haven't thought much yet about how male channelers are viewed by the average public, but in future seasons once we see rand getting shit from the average public, they are not going to be surprised or confused or go "but i thought it was only aes sedai who had a problem with them and everyone else thinks they're cool?", they're going to go "oh, well we've seen how much aes sedai hate them, so it makes sense that everyone else does too". stop. think for 2 seconds about "have i actually seen a large number* of show-onlys misunderstanding X and/or do i think it's plausible that a large number of show-onlys would be likely to misunderstand X, or do show-onlys have enough context clues to figure out X for themselves or to be unsurprised when X is expanded on and made more explicit in future seasons and i'm working myself up into a state over a non-issue?"

*there are always going to be a handful of people incapable of critical thinking who willfully misunderstand what the show is showing us, just like there are readers like that with the books, hence unless a LARGE number of general-population show-onlys are misunderstanding X, as opposed to just 20 idiots on twitter, i do not consider it a failure by the show in portraying X.

[flufflecat]

bill cipher deconstructed, a cosplay

[arminthada]

Just having you from now on, no matter what challenges we face, I won’t be afraid. As long as we hold hands and stay by each other’s side, that's enough. Whether it’s months or years, however long it takes. I promise to have you by my side always. Please believe me, I won’t disappoint you. No worry. Because since I met you, everything has changed. It’s not the same anymore. Because I like driving slowly, So I can have you sitting next to me for a long time. With us together along the way. Let's take it slow. No matter how far the road ahead may be. Because this is the destination—having you close by. Just having you here, I don’t need anything or anyone else. No need to rush, no need to hurry anywhere, Just talking, just chatting like this together.

KIN - อยากมีเธอใกล้ๆ Feat. TAD ATLAS

[jojo-schmo]

I literally could not rest until I made this

Good Omens Meta Knight and Dedede designs and concept by @miniiieevee

[silvery-bluish]

Tagged by @thenightdayblogger with the word GARDEN!

Rules: You get a word and share a sentence/excerpt from your wip(s) that starts with each letter of your word.

I'm going to tag uuuh @cigarettesandinevitablebetrayal and @euelios with CRIMES

i have so many wips going its perhaps unreasonable and i should finish something and some of these are more 'flip through and think about really hard' wips BUT.

G - Gail does not care about the casserole conversation. She spends most of the time wondering if any of her bulb-flowers survived. She has tulips, in pinks and yellows, and irises, mostly in purple and white. They might come back, if the bulbs hadn’t gotten cooked by the heat. (Original Fiction, currently placeholder titled 'you're gonna need a really big box')

A - "And you’re more efficient when you’re rested and fed real food instead of just downing another cup of coffee.” / “And a protein bar,” they clarify, instead of calling him the pot to their kettle. (FHR. Ars and Ric.)

R - Rock falls, everybody dies. But it’s not an everybody. It’s what it is. So. Fucked up arm joint. Not dead. It’s never been quite sure if it has double elbows or double wrists, on that limb. Or if there’s any real point in differentiating. (FHR. Catastrofiend.)

D - “Don’t let me keep you awake,” they say, voice hushed, and there’s a pressure on the top of his head, just solid enough to shift his hair a little. “Need your beauty rest. The fish’ll keep me company.” (FHR. Ars and Daniel.)

E - Eyes blown wide, staring at him. "How long," they say, because they need information now. "How long have they been like this?"

"Since they…" made Arsinoe drink the Void's blood, and Ortega doesn't want to just out and say that, what with Anathema freaking out literally right there, so he just gestures vaguely at their mouth. Which maybe isn't great, either, because their hand comes up to their lips, bandages to their teeth like they can still feel the Void's blood there.

"Probably made it worse the second time, then," Arsinoe says, a burst of that blunt practicality, "I don't think she liked it when I bit her." (FHR. Arsinoe & Ortega & Themmy, post-Void)

N - Not that anything about this was comfortable. They grinned to themself in their cabinet-- it probably wouldn't have said the same thing if it'd realized where Rill was physically located. But then, building-minds aren't always great at meatspace. (Original Fiction, Shell)

[ethereance]

Au where Lance grew up in gravity Falls before voltron. Imagine Allura trying to figure out whether the weird thing Lance says and does is a weird human thing or weird Lance thing

Anon, anon, anon, I love where your brain is at right now.

Humans, to Allura and Coran at least, are weird in their own right. With how similar they look to alteans, they always get thrown by the occasional thing that to them, is just so alien (all those languages they apparently speak even through they’re from a secluded planet, the way cold food freezes their brains—though they enjoyed the food from the planet Icesocles saying it was similar to ‘ice cream’ and wished they could stay longer to build ‘snow men?’, their lack of strength, talk of rain that’s just… water with zero protective shields required to deal with except maybe ‘an umbrella’ which sounds incredibly low tech, and bizarrely only have one heart which is a terrible survival technique). But Lance has a particular brand of weird that just stands out and Allura quickly learns he cannot be used as a basis for understanding what all human first world problems are like.

Hunk tells Allura that it’s just where Lance grew up. Like his hometown, Lance is a bit of a weirdness magnet (which tracks. One minute he’s trying to sneak off and go partying, the next he’s in a cave with a rag tag team and the inscriptions are glowing). Lance has always had these strange stories to tell at the garrison, ones where he was just talking about his family, and the strangeness of his home town was not the focus, but very much prevalent in the story. Some people thought he was just trying to get attention, or seem interesting, but Hunk knew that didn’t seem right. And then Hunk got invited by Lance one year to Gravity Falls and realised that that town really is just like that ™ and you really couldn’t make this kind of stuff up. Turns out it’s not just to attract tourists???? Hunk wonders why more people aren’t freaking out about this (the answer is all proof is seen as fake).

-The Gravity Falls Lance is from is about 50-ish years ahead of the one we’re familiar with. But it’s largely the same. Gravity Falls will always be Gravity Falls.

-When Hunk visited, there was a sudden influx of gnomes in the area. They wanted to steal his all his baking, which Hunk was cool with (once he realised where it was going and not just. Vanishing into thin air), but they had to at least leave some for them. The gnomes miss his baking and really want to make Hunk their queen.

-In this au, Lance doesn’t initially see Pidge as insane for believing in aliens. He accidentally stumbled into the spaceship in the hill when he was a kid whilst trying to look for a missing cat. If he had a nickel for every time he stumbled onto a spaceship… Allura’s the first living alien he’s seen though! And a lot prettier than a pile of bones.

-Lance’s family’s habit of adopting stray cats extends to the bizarre animals of the town too. Lance couldn’t even tell you what species his first pet was. But they definitely are not a cat. He still loves his not-cat Ninja, though <3

-He’s super friendly with a lot of the supernatural. A shame it’s not all super friendly back.

-Lance’s fear of the castle ship being haunted is very legitimate and reasonable. Ghosts are very real!!! (And… maybe there are ghosts here. Not just Alfor’s ‘ghost.’)

-Lance first crush was on a mermaid. Well. Siren.

-“Holy crow! You have mermaids in space too!”

-He’s honestly surprised at how humanoid many of these aliens are. He’s seen stranger.

-Seen many a headcanon about Keith getting caught up in the search for Mothman whilst looking for Shiro (spiralling into the world of conspiracy). Lance will neither confirm nor deny seeing Mothman. Keith just wants an answer :((

-Lance grew up watching bootleg shows on Gravity Falls TV. His references are incredibly niche.

-When Shiro temporarily dies, he has an encounter with the axolotl.

-Haggar/Honerva keeps all those spare Shiros because she, too, is working on making her very own space boy band. As a side gig. Project Kuron takes priority though.

-The longer Pidge spends around Lance, more more interested she gets in hearing about Gravity Falls (she’d heard rumours, sure, but hearing first hand accounts from a local. It has her attention immediately). Pidge just wants to understand the hows and whys and all the science, it drives her nuts, and Lance is just happy to talk about home :)

-Just when Lance thinks he’s free of zombies, now they have space zombies Zarkon and Honerva to deal with.

-Time travel technology is thankfully developed long after people like Haggar and Zarkon are gone. Otherwise… yikes.

-But perhaps the team do end up on a journey to the past and meet the paladins of old??? (Time travel existing is too good to pass up). But trying to change the past leads to time police showing up. What happens to Altea is a canon event :((

-In reference to this comic (that I’m for some reason now thinking about) Lance can now show the alteans the dinosaurs when they come visit Earth.

-Lance finally understands what those soothsquito bites that said ‘Leware Botor’ were all about. A little too late though.

-Sendak doesn’t even know what to think when he tries to invade Gravity Falls. Everywhere else but the garrison was easy. And then there’s this place. What do you mean they have a gnome Voltron?? Your average galra will try and stay clear. It’s lawless, eerie. Troops go missing here. Sendak has had enough of it.

[fedoraspooky]

Probably a silly question, but what are your feelings on people who take inspiration from your stories/characters?

If someone feels inspired by something I made and wants to make something completely new because of it, that's cool. I mean, that's just kind of how oc creation works, isn't it? All of my characters are built out of various stuff I like and/or life experiences and whatnot all mashed together to make a new thing. I'm fine with inspiration, it's a normal part of creativity- Just don't be like that one guy back on deviantart who had a full gallery of uncredited traced drawings of my ocs with different colors and names plastered on 'em, that kinda sucked to deal with. Inspo's one thing, theft's another.

As for making AUs of my characters, I kinda see it the same as I do fanart of 'em- if it's for personal fun and not for profit of any kind I'm fine with it, all I ask is that I'm credited for the characters.

[dutchs-paisley-vest]

What do you like about Micah? I like him too and wanted to know your thoughts on him. I don't see too many people who also like his character.

Hi Anon!! I think Micah is so interesting for a lot of reasons. Ultimately, I like the role he plays in the larger narrative and the small details we get throughout the game that allude to a character with more depth that we don't necessarily get to see through the eyes of Arthur. 

Do I think Micah is a good person? No, I do not. Frankly, some of the characters that I find most compelling in this series (and in general) are those I simultaneously view as incredibly reprehensible. I think a lot of my draw to the Red Dead series is because of the unreliable narration from John and Arthur, combined with the phenomenal outpouring of love that these characters have received from the teams that made them come to life. 

Peter Blomquist did such a great job with his acting as Micah that I genuinely experience physical reactions to the emotions his character makes me feel. He and Ben as Dutch? Sickening duo. I absolutely love it. Most of the satisfaction I get as a fan of these games is through the combined canon and fan-based exploration of the more gruelling and upsetting themes that live at their core. It's the futility and hopelessness, the desperation that almost all of these characters experience at one point or another throughout these games, and the human-shaped horrors that exist all around us. That is what compels me. 

I think Micah is a fantastic example of this. I interpret his actions as being driven by anxiety and fear above all else. Micah is afraid and looks out for his skin before anyone else's. It is a means of survival. He is intelligent, quick, and knows what he wants, but the same desperation that led to Dutch's downfall also seals Micah's fate in the end. None of these characters can outrun what is coming for them, no matter how hard they dig their heels in; it's only a matter of how and when. 

As a writer, my favourite things to explore are the consequences of a character's actions on themselves and others, especially the (usually long-term) emotional fallout. While I don't have any WIPs with Micah (yet...), I certainly have a few with Dutch for the same reason, one more lighthearted than the other. I think it's only a matter of time before I write about Micah (probably from Arthur's or perhaps Dutch's point of view) because I love dissecting characters like them from an outsider's perspective, typically a character that knows them like the back of their hand. That character may be a victim of their actions or someone who is an accomplice to them; however, both serve different narrative purposes and can be equally as interesting to write. 

Overall, I am trying to say that I like Micah because he serves as a fun little vessel for the themes and character dynamics I enjoy rotating in my mind. He makes me irrationally angry; he and Dutch occupy the same space in my mind, living in the room where I keep characters that are both my favourites and also the ones I feel the most hatred and vitriol toward. I like understanding justifications for why they do things and the incongruence between their reality and their understanding of reality. No one ever thinks of themselves as the bad guy. And a well-written villain makes me want to know what makes them think they are the hero in their own story, so I think it's only natural for me to want to study him like a bug under a magnifying glass on a hot summer's day. 

[greenleaf4stuff]

Thank you for tagging me in this post here, @thephoenixandthecrocodile and also Thank you for tagging me in this post here, @illegalcerebral! Sorry it took me so very long to get to this post and answer it!

Tagging @plotdesigner @themalhambird @gauntletgirlie @wowstrawberrycow and whoever else wants to play! <3

Search your current wips for the following words: breath, fear, blue, warmth

The words I was assigned are: ridiculous, silver, chance, grace (via @thephoenixandthecrocodile) and hope, ache, blood and forever (via @illegalcerebral)

Results below the cut to protect ppl's dashboards:

Ridiculous

(from "In Convenience, Snippet 2.2)

"No-no, no, not at all-" This was ridiculous. He wasn’t some youth, besotted with his first love, anymore. Even if he sometimes felt that way as he was looking at Adar.

He bit his lip, groaned, closed his eyes as he shook his head, and pinched his brow as he gave a little laugh, before he focused on the uruk again. His expression now certainly conveyed his sheepishness.

"It just occured to me that you are, in fact, wearing my clothes. And- um," Why should he lie, even if his thoughts were perhaps juvenile. "I am realizing I quite like it. Both the thought and- and seeing you like this."

Silver

(from "Of Convenience", Chapter 5)

There was the sound of a sucked-in breath on the other side of the table, and Celebrimbor went very, very still.

With an almost pleading, incredulous expression, he let his gaze drift over towards Elrond. Not just hoping, but praying to the Valar that he'd taken the wrong clue from the other elf's noise.

Elrond outwardly appeared unmoved, but Celebrimbor knew his friend well. Judging by the way he had tensed up, the slightly widened eyes, Celebrimbor suddenly knew his fears had not been unfounded – he could see the faint glimmer of a fine, silver chain around Elrond's neck, almost imperceptible against the herald's collar, and the smith's heart sank and dropped into his stomach.

"Please tell me you didn't," the smith couldn't help but ask – one last, foolish attempt to be proven wrong. He didn't care that Adar could hear. He couldn't believe that two of his friends, whom he had considered among the wisest and most noble of his kind, had inadvertently managed to turn such promising negotations so volatile. And that they had heaped even more worries onto Celebrimbor's shoulders in the process.

"Of course not," Elrond replied as he tried to hold Celebrimbor's gaze. But his words convinced absolutely no one.

Chance

(from "Of Convenience", Chapter 1)

Was this the one who had – somehow – erupted the Orodruin and created a land clouded in ashes and darkness, a place for the orcs to live in? It would stand to reason that it was; the huge army, the war machinery...this leader seemed to hold incredible power and had somehow unified the orcs under his banner.

Perhaps this should have terrified Celebrimbor, but he could only think about how this meant that maybe, just maybe, this mysterious 'Adar' might have a chance to resist and fight against the enemy that now resided in Eregion.

And another thing he found strangely comforting was the behaviour of the orcs – they had reacted in fear to the fallen maia’s name, not joy or even intrigue. Just as the rumors said, they were not slaves of Morgoth anymore.

Were, in fact, afraid of his most loyal servant – even reviled him, judging by their sneers and curses.

That, too, was promising. It was a faint glimmer of hope only, but a glimmer nonetheless. More than Celebrimbor would have found in Eregion at least.

Grace

(from "Of Convenience", Chapter 1)

He looked nothing like Celebrimbor had expected.

The supposed moriondo held himself with a confidence, nay, a grace that spoke of his elven heritage, even before Celebrimbor could see his pointed ears or his face. He was positioned with his back to the small troop as it was approaching him, now at a much slower pace.

They weren’t cautious, but it was clear they were in the presence of a higher authority and behaving in a way that befitted his station.

The elf could see long, black, slightly tangled hair that fell in uneven waves down the orc leader’s back. He wore full armor, in all black safe for a few spots of rust; from the dark, mud-covered boots to his breeches, up to the cuirass, the chainmail and the tunic he wore underneath. Many parts of his armor looked to be damaged from past battles, with holes and scratches littering every surface the smith could see.

Hope

(from "Of Convenience", Chapter 1)

Perhaps, this too should have frightened the smith. Had it not been Sauron himself, who had also tried to have Celebrimbor escorted somewhere he did not wish to go?

And yet, in his gut, the elf still held onto the strange hope that was beginning to take root there. Even if Adar had just threatened his city and Celebrimbor himself, he had at least hinted at the possibility of sparing Eregion.

Whether a tactic to keep Celebrimbor talking, or a genuine gesture of mercy, it was more than Annatar had been willing to extend to him. And what other choice did he have? At least the orc – or whatever he called himself – could not twist and bend Celebrimbor’s mind itself against the elf. And there were no other elves in this camp to be used against him, either.

Until Eregion was under proper attack, his people would be safe from one threat at least. And any moment he had Adar’s attention meant it would remain that way. He simply had to hold onto that thought, and hope that the other had retained enough of his elvish nature to be reasoned with.

Ache

/

Blood

(from "Of Convenience", Chapter 1)

"I propose a marriage – purely political, of course," the uruk explained, and began to round Celebrimbor, like a hunter circling its prey. "It’s an unconventional but sound solution – it would guarantee both our safety, and that of our people. A foundation for a peace, if we are lucky enough."

Celebrimbor felt blood rush in his ears and he desperately wanted to grab something to steady himself. His day had gotten progressively more strange and distressing, and the marriage proposal he’d just heard was just the cherry on top of everything; of having discovered the enemy he’d invited into his own city, fleeing it, and then landing himself in the midst of an approaching army that was set on a path of destruction.

Destruction of a mutual enemy, but at the expense of all that Celebrimbor had ever built and worked towards.

"You cannot be serious," Celebrimbor tried to declare. To his own ears, it came out as a question instead.

Forever

/