#from remembering Dain talking about exactly that

[twilightichor]

✧ @apocryphis asked: "I know you're exhausted and upset, and so am I. But there has to be some other explanation." (from capitano!)

Pain like none other he has felt subsides, screams only reverberating within the confines of his mind had quietened down after inmemorable months of suffering etched in his very soul. Even after the source has been alleviated, forsaken seraph can still feel a phantom pain combined with a crippling sensation hard to describe as anything different than the cries of the world and the incessant abyss gnawing at its roots. Not without reason: it was difficult enough to push through the pain in order to decipher that the origins stemmed from Irminsul itself, even harder it was to see that the precursor of this was none other than the late King Irmin.

Physical pain wasn't the only thing that deteriorated Dáinsleif's vitality, leading to the aftermath of what it was caused by. It's the disbelief in the face of betrayal that hit his chest at the sight of inaction from other individuals who carry the hopes and dreams of the kingdom's citizens, and the most painful of it all— his brother's. A betrayal he still has hope that it will die in the quiescence that followed thereafter, when it was obvious that he was the only one who stood up against the former king in his craze for the abyss and for engulfing the entire world in it. Hope that if things were to go to worse than they eventually were when Khaenri'ah was enveloped by a surge of calamity, they will wake up and stand for what they have been fighting for all these years.

This event should've sufficed for the citizens to know better. To make a turn in their belief that the abyss is some manner of savior to them, or an avenger in their stead of the gods above. But now, even after the rule of another regent, he's forced to witness this—

◜You don't understand.◞ An air of solemnity fills him as he watches blankly the coronation of the outlander that's been summoned and descended from the abyss. Indeed, he is too exhausted and now upset by this turn of events. Had none of them learn anything? He of Alberich descent, a clan dating all the way back since the Crimson Moon Dynasty... how does he dare to coronate her as the princess of Khaenri'ah when the royalty had fallen with King Irmin? ◜Buying that whom they believe to be the personification of the Abyss is hope is a mistake. That's false hope— despair.◞

There has to be some other explanation. Roseate lips press in a thin line, gaze shadowed by pale golden locks as his head lowers, hands beside him balling into tight fists at the reminiscence of his brother and the other four whom had his deep respect turning to the Abyss. ◜We of all people who have been coexisting with it should know.◞ Sicknesses, the lack of natural life through flora and fauna, people dying if touched by it flash in brief images before his eyes, causing him to narrow them. ◜Know that nothing justifies glorifying the abyss.◞ Dejected that Eldgrim would have a conciliatory-like stance in all of this despite his experience in battle and his preoccupation that his family is never tainted by the abyss in any shape or form, Dáinsleif turns on his heels and leaves.

He has a very bad feeling about all of this.

[callsign-rogueone]

study season

fourth wing characters (Aaric, Bodhi, Brennan, Dain, Garrick, Imogen, Liam, Mira, Rhiannon, Ridoc, Sawyer, Sloane, Violet, and Xaden) x reader the ways our faves help you study for exams. words: ~900 🏷: no book spoilers, no triggers. gender neutral. and I included the girls this time!! some of these can be read as platonic and others mention kisses / cuddles, implying you’re a couple. idk, I just work here. I’m really liking this format lately, and it’s (fairly) quick and easy so you can expect more of these in the future while I procrastinate all the girlfriendverse chapters and smut I have to write lol

First, the more studious of the bunch:

Brennan is all-in, no hesitation, pulling up a chair next to you and learning this with you for moral support, but also for fun (can you believe this guy?) though you suppose it’s easier to enjoy this if it doesn’t count for a grade. Either way, he’s a very nice study partner, and he encourages you to take breaks every hour / chapter / etc. Brings snacks, too.

Violet somehow already knows all of the material, and explains it better than the textbook or the professor. Walks things back if you don’t get it and gets into the why and how, which so many teachers skip over, even though it helps explain the what (pet peeve of mine showing here lol). 

Aaric’s study skills are unmatched -- years of the best private tutors money can buy really paid off. Teaches you new strategies that you’ve never heard of in your life, and when you ask, he admits a bit shyly that he came up with it himself, but it works, and you get it done in half the time you would have before. (work smarter, not harder, baby)

Rhiannon gives you the pep talk of your life (we all need a Rhiannon in our lives) and convinces you that you’ve got this. Packs you a little snack for the day of your exam with a little note reminding you that you know this, just breathe and think. 

Xaden sees you struggling and forces you to take a break. During said break, he’s reading the book himself and figuring out what exactly has you so stressed and exhausted. Breaks down the tasks into smaller, more manageable steps and guides you through it -- “find three reasons why XYZ happened.” done with that? “Now make them into paragraphs.” etc etc, and an hour later, you have a passable essay. 

Dain is taking this more seriously than you are, and his discipline is like no other; you’re not stopping until the work is done, or until midnight, whichever comes first (because sleep is important for the brain, or whatever. Definitely not just because he misses you and wants to cuddle). 

Garrick may have no idea what you’re talking about, but he suffers through it with you, offering to let you explain things to him, because teaching is a good way to test if you understand something. Though you get what you pay for -- he’s a total smartass about it, asking questions about the littlest details even if they’re common knowledge -- he’s gotta be thorough, right? 

Ridoc may be the class clown type, but he’s smarter than a lot of people think. He comes up with a bunch of jokes that actually help you remember things. Somehow manages to relate the most complex topic in your book to a sandwich, and it actually works. He’s incredibly smug about this for the rest of the week, especially when you get the highest score in the class (he’ll take payment in kisses, thank you.)

Bodhi makes flashcards with you, quizzing you and giving you a kiss if you get it right (this definitely is not a distraction, and things definitely don’t escalate from here, nope.) He’s also really good at proofreading essays, and gives excellent feedback regarding the structure and the order of the information.

Liam sits there with you all the while, completely silent, working on one of his wood carvings at the other end of the table, but you know he’s there and he’s watching -- and that provides a healthy amount of peer pressure and keeps you on task. He’s an incredibly observant person, and he can see the stress building; he knows when to intervene and suggest that you take a break.

Sloane is the best person to commiserate with. She doesn’t want to be doing this either, but she’s also incredibly stubborn, and she doesn’t give up; after a healthy amount of complaining, she’s forcing you both to keep trying until it works / until it’s done, and then you’re treating yourselves to something for getting it over with, because you deserve it.

Sawyer is gentle and supportive, having a heart-to-heart conversation with you and reminding you that yes, this is important, but the world will not stop turning if you fail one exam. He knows how it feels to be compared to his peers, especially in how long it takes you to accomplish something (poor bb) and doesn’t want you stressing yourself out about that, either. 

Imogen is the opposite, all tough love, giving you gentle but firm reminders: “you didn’t make it this far just to give up,”, “I know you can do this, so do it,” but she balances it out with tender affirmation when you’re done. She’ll even let you skip out on training for the day since you’ve been studying so hard (and she takes training seriously, so this is more of a reward than it seems). 

Mira’s default approach is similar to Imogen’s, but she can see that you’re reaching your limit and dials it back, being more gentle with you and doing whatever you need -- encouragement? someone to just sit there? help / explanation / etc? she’s got you covered. herds you into bed at a reasonable hour so you’ll be well rested for the classes and exams.

And all of them are incredibly proud of you for working so hard and getting good grades 🤍

[cryptidcat5105]

Sky wielders AU

Part 2 baby, let's go!

Check out part 1 for context and also here's some art if anyone is interested

Edit: part 3

Spoilers for the entire Empyrean series

I don't really have much post Threshing, Dain still kisses Violet and Xaden still thinks she looks like she kissed her cousin. The fact that Violet and Xaden are now bonded kinda concerns her since she doesn't want to get the sky wielders killed if they get caught but she figures that how would he even know what they've been doing even if he finds out about their midnight meetings? How would he even know that venin actually exist? Right?

The following day features the squad bonding over their dragons and the shift in the hierarchy. Imogen joins the squad's table (Quinn also joins them if I remember correctly) making it clear she's there for Xaden's benefit (she also sits on the opposite end to Violet while loudly declaring that no, I'm not afraid of her, sHUT UP!)

The first year sky wielders also gathered to a table, adjacent to the squad's, with some of the older wielders. Ari, one of the first years immediately hits it off with Ridoc, much to the upper years' desperation.

Class and challenges continue as normal, with added flight maneuvers which become awkward for every wing because of Tairn and the other battle dragons. Later that week Kate tells Violet that the dragons knew exactly what they were doing when bonding them since they could smell the magic on them and that her dragon, Speur, was a bit disappointed when Violet herself wasn't a sky wielder. Violet wanted to ask more but Tairn quick shoved his way to the forefront of her counciousness demanding that 'the old hag stays out of his riders business!'. And that's how Violet and Kate find out Speur is Sgaeyl's mother and by the human definition, Tairn's mother-in-law. Ah, the things veteran dragons come out of retirement for!

Fast forward a bit and it's assassination attempt night™. Things begin as normal, with Violet getting woken up by her dragons and thrown right into fighting. Violet nearly gets stabbed to death but Andarna's time stopping powers come in. They don't hold for as long as in canon though, so as soon as she's out her door the time starts flowing again. As soon as she starts running down the corridor the door to the room after her's swings open and a still shirtless sky wielder, if his eyes are any indication, spots her and hightails it after her, slitting the neck of the first unbonded out of her room. Violet dared a glance back and she saw the first year (Owen if she recalled correctly) wave a hand back as if throwing something. A considerable shift in the air had Violet stumbling and when she looked back the remaining unbonded were crashing into a transparent, shimmering wall.

Owen keept running and grabbed her arm, pulling her along, when the realisation hit her, she couldn't contain her grin and half shouted "ward wielder".

Owen: not really, but whatever keeps you alive, Sage!

Once they turned the corner they came face to face with Xaden who was pissed and Owen quickly got in front of Violet, ready to throw out another shield. Violet gently put a hand on his forearm and let xaden pass, Garrick following right after.

After all this they still go to talk to the dragons and find out that Andarna is a baby but both Xaden and Violet have an incredibly hard time convincing Owen that she'll be safe before heading out.

The next day, before formation, Violet and Rhiannon are both woken up by angry shouting from the hallway. It was Xaden and Owen arguing, the latter looking ready to go for the throat and a very uncomfortable looking blond was awkwardly trying to keep the two from starting a fight.

Owen: THE ONLY PLACE I'LL MOVE TO IS MY GRAVE AFTER I DIE!

Xaden: Well that can be arranged, no problem!

Violet, addressing the blond: what are they fighting about?

Liam: Xaden wants me to be you shadow so he wants me to move next to you. I'm Liam by the way.

Violet: Huh! Well I'm not really in need of a bodyguard since I have that guy *points at Owen*, but if our oh so caring wingleader insists can't you two, I don't know, share?

And that's how Owen and Liam become roomies. More on that later :)

(Violet doesn't argue Liam being her shadow because she's already accustomed to the sky wielders following her whenever they can and making friends with her squad, so what's one more soul to have around)

Amber Mavis also gets roasted, literally, and when Dain tries to get the memory from Violet he gets pulled back by second year sky wielder. They wanted to tackle him but it would have been to much trouble.

Violet and Liam are on archive duty and she learns a lot of things about the marked ones and the Tyrrish rebellion. Liam makes a few subtle comments that might allude to the true reason the Tyrrish rebelled (which I'm not smart enough to write myself) after Violet notes that all the marked ones seam to avoid her like the plague. The Summerton letter also adds to the clues she keeps gathering.

(I haven't mentioned up until this point but Violet is confused as to why Navarre never mentioned that venin are real, no matter how ridiculous that sounds. So she started looking into it herself but the first years don't really know much besides the ranks, hence why they call her sage sometimes. The older ones do seem to know a bit more but are not very forth coming with information. They never outright lie to her about whatever she may ask, though. On the other hand, Andarna seems to want to tell Violet stuff but Tairn cuts her off most times saying "she needs to figure it out on her own". Violet knows that there are venin outside of Basgiath and that they're dangerous but she hasn't made the connection that they are the real enemy outside the wards)

The whole arguing in the gym happenes and Tairn and Andarna decided she's ready to channel so that night Violet wakes up all hot and bothered. She stumbles into Liam and Owen on her way out and Violet is worried since she is feeling exactly as the sky wielders described channeling from the earth (minus being horny) but Owen quickly pushes Liam back in their room with a waving motion to Violet as if to say not to worry.

Owen: C'mon blondie, let the girl do what the girl's gotta do. *Turns to Violet" Have fuuun... 🎶

Violet proceeds to find Xaden and do some good ol' smoochin' featuring newly manifested lightning signet.

While Violet doesn't realize she manifested her signet, some signs are still there. In canon they say it's power wieldering that manifested as lighting but I believe thinking about it as more than that could actually open some possibilities. In this AU Violet can actually sense the power around her now, the way each source is different and the way that magic flows is unique to every living being. She could recognize if someone is around and who they are just by their magic alone and I feel like all the sky wielders would feel very different to all the other riders. She asks them if sensing magic is normal to every rider but they explain that while sky wielders and venin can sense each other they can't feel the normal riders and the riders can't sense them in turn. The only exception being Violet, but they chalk it up to her spending too much time around them. They also say that she feels like one of them but not really, so they theorise that their magic is somehow clinging to her, like a scent or something (after they discover her signet it'll make much more sense for them but for now I want them to go nuts with theories)

Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3

[yestrday]

Thinking about Dain being a cousin of the twins, like, he comes to their home once in a blue moon, but when he is in town he will surely invite mc to a night out or for some hanging around; and mc may accept because he is a breath of fresh air, specially with the whole academy being after them.

Of course, Dain may or not harbor the same feelings as their peers, but they don’t need to know that just yet :)!

(I DONT REMEMBER IF DAIN HAD ALREADY APPEARED IN THE ACADEMY AU SO I CAME WITH THIS IDEA IM SO SORRY (＞人＜;))

dainsleif who was a graduate of your academy too, praised for intelligence and good looks. there's no doubt he's a cousin of the twins, with that same shimmery blonde hair and their knack for academics.

after graduating, he got into a university a city over, so he barely sees his cousins anymore. aether speaks fondly of him, talking about how cool and mysterious he is. ("he's so cool, [y. name], i swear! he's got this aura that just makes you... respect.") lumine thinks highly of him too, but she tends to nitpick his flaws more than aether does. ("oh please, he might look cool, but he can barely hold a conversation without making it awkward. he's not really all that.")

dainsleif who shows up at their house impromptu for a visit. you happen to be there too, and you stare wide-eyed at the man whose face you've only seen on picture frames. he stares back at you too, because he doesn't exactly know how to act in front of a stranger.

as he stays in the city, he sees how people of your academy tend to... gravitate towards you. like, literally. after accidentally bumping into you at the grocery, he can see at least five boys from your school lurking around the corners. from that day on, he's offered to escort you whenever you're running tasks outside.

he used to just spend breaks in his dorms, but he finds himself coming back to his hometown these days. his visits come and go, sometimes he'd show up at weekends, sometimes radio silence, but he delights at the opportunity that breaks provide him with. even at his uni, he's worried sick about that little harem of yours. with him by your side, he can at least protect you even outside your school grounds.

he listens to your worries, pushes the cart while you do your groceries, covers your head with an umbrella, keep you close when walking the streets at night... everything to let you know that you will always have him to rely on. not those pesky brats who're too unhinged and obsessed without any care for your feelings. not those brats who get to spend every day and every hour with you at school, who irritate him so much his head boils at the thought of this injustice.

"sometimes i wish i were more like you," you sigh to dainsleif one day. you see it catches dain off by surprise, his eyes wide but flattered at the confession, before they slant into saddened crescents. he turns away from you, facing the gray sky.

"believe me," dain mutters. "you wouldn't want that."

"humble as always. your abilities aren't something to brush off like that."

"... not like that." he looks conflicted as he watches you carefully. his clothes ruffle and fly in the wind, complementing the troubled look in his eye. "there are thoughts within me that... i cannot suppress. thoughts that scare me to even think about. things about myself that i never knew eventually coming to life. it's horrible."

"'cause you're guilty?"

a forlorn sigh. "... because i'm not the man i wish you'd have in the end."

[bitter-sweet-farmgirl]

Loyalty, Honor, A Willing Heart (Prt. 5)

Final wrap-up on my crazy Line of Durin monologue.

One of my favorite lines in The Hobbit is from Thorin's dialogue in Bag End.

"Loyalty, honor, a willing heart, I can ask no more than that."

Those are the qualities he desires in his quest mates. He doesn't need them to be renowned warriors or experts with a blade. All he needs is for them to be loyal to him, honorable, and be willing to following him through dragonfire.

Throughout the movie (more specifically in Battle of the Five Armies), we watch him "lose" each of those qualities that he talked about in the beginning. They all sort of tie into each other, but also have some unique points to them.

Loyalty

Thorin loses his loyalty when he refuses to go after Bilbo in Erebor once Smaug has awakened (See Part 4). All of a sudden it is one for all instead of all for one.

His loyalty is further lost the further into the dragon-sickness he descends. His kin is relegated to searching for the Arkenstone, and finally, when he refuses to leave Erebor to help Dain in battle.

The ironic part is what he is doing there is exactly what he accused Thranduil of.

Remember back in Mirkwood? Where Thorin talks about how Thranduil just stood there and watched as his people were slaughtered? How he nailed him with an insult?

"You, lack all honor!"

Thorin becomes the person he detested. He becomes the one standing on the sidelines, watching as dwarves fall and refusing to lend aid to them. He abandons them in battle and is loyal only to his greed.

Which....brings me to my next point.

2. Honor

Thorin's honor is lost when he can no longer be trusted. Essentially the moment the dragon-sickness takes hold, as he suddenly loses all regard for the needs of others. All he can think about is his gold and what he has to do to protect it.

He breaks his promise to the people of Laketown. Goes back on his word that he would give them aid.

Going back to that dialogue from Mirkwood again, it also ties into this segment (obviously).

Thranduil refused to give aid to the dwarves as Erebor was ransacked, and so too does Thorin to the people of Laketown.

In this situation, he is the one lacking in honor.

3. A Willing Heart

Finally, Thorin's willing heart is a mix of the prior two points. He loses his willing heart when he denies Bard and Laketown what he promised them from his halls.

Essentially, he no longer is willing to sacrifice himself or put his gold on the line in order to help others.

In the end, this is the part he is able to redeem himself on. He was willing to die for his people if that's what it would take to set them free.

And so he did.

[shipmistress9]

Nothing To Hide

Remember when I made this?

I always wanted to turn this into a fic, and now it happened. Thanks to the Riders Quadrant Discord' fic challenge today, I finally felt inspired to write again. 🥰

Rating: T

Pairing: Violiaden - Violet/Liam/Xaden

Summary: It's Liam’s birthday. And Violet and Xaden have their own idea of giving him a birthday gift. After all, they have nothing to hide.

(Read on AO3)

. o O o .

“Soooo,” Rhiannon drawls as we’re all gathered in the gym and wait for Dain. The mats around us are already full with all of Fourth Wing, and I try not to constantly let my eyes roam over to where Xaden spars with another third-year. “Some little bird told me that it’s someone’s birthday today.” She throws her arm around Liam’s shoulder and grins. 

Liam grown. “Traitor,” he mutters, giving me a look of utter betrayal. He can’t suppress a small smile though when Rhi pulls him into a hug. 

“Happy birthday!”

Grinning, I throw my hands up in mock defence. “Wasn’t me who told her.”

“No, it was me,” Imogen chimes in and hugs Liam once Rhiannon let go of him. “Life here in the quadrant is too unpredictable to ignore birthdays. So whether you want it or not, we’re going to celebrate tonight.”

Chuckling, Liam gives up, squeezing Imogen light. “Thanks.”

“Happy birthday, man,” Ridoc cajoles next, clapping Liam on the back. “If it’s of any comfort, nobody told me in advance, either. Means I don’t have a gift or surprise for you—”

“—which is exactly why we didn’t tell you,” Rhi mutters.

But Ridoc ignores her. “—unless you want a kiss?” He purses his lips, making loud kissing noises that draw half of the hall’s attention.

Laughing, Liam shoves him away. “Thanks, but I think I’ll pass.” However, for the fraction of a second, his eyes flicker to meet mine, longing and a shadow of insecurity simmering.

It is my turn to congratulate him next, meaning I only have a split second to think. This thing between Liam, Xaden, and me… it’s real. Over the past few weeks, it surpassed every expectations and hopes we had. I love Liam, I’m sure of that by now, and he and Xaden made their feeling clear anyway. 

So… why not make it official?

“Are you sure about that?” I ask as I step in front of him, referring again to the offer of a kiss. Our eyes meet, and I try to convey my offer, the truth behind it. I love him and I’m not afraid to show it. 

Liam swallows, but the joy in his eye is all the confirmation I need. Stretching onto my toes, I wrap my arms around his neck and meet his lips with my own as he leans in. It is not a refined kiss, not sensual or heated. No, instead it is light and joyous but no less meaningful for it as he cups my face with his hand, the other landing on my waist to pull me closer. We’re both grinning as we part for a moment only to meet again for a deeper kiss, and I momentarily forget how crowded the gym is. What does it matter when I can feel Liam all but vibrating with joy and happiness, when my heart sings with his? 

“What the… Violet!?”

Oh, what impeccable timing…

I can’t help but grimace as I hear the voice. Slowly, reluctantly, we part, and I turn to meet the judgement of the boy who used to be my best friend. 

“Him?” Dain’s eyes are wide as they jump from me to Liam and back again. “You and… him?” He shakes his head, slowly, as if he wants to deny me my choice, and I grit my teeth at his entitlement. “People talk and I heard the rumours. But I thought—” 

He stiffens and his gaze darts to a point behind me, his face growing pale.

“You thought what, Aetos?” Xaden’s voice is cool and sharp, the Wingleader’s voice. He comes to a halt next to Liam and me, right in front of Dain, his hands loosely at his sides. 

I hear muttering and gasps from all around us—no wonder, Xaden and I haven’t been secretive about our relationship at all. To them, this must look like the beginning of someone making a scene. To me, though… A dark presence caresses against my mind, amusement flickering in it, and I fight to keep a straight face.

“W-wingleader Riorson,” Dain stammers. “No, I…” His eye nervously flicker in my direction. “I didn’t think anything.”

Xaden snorts. “That’s nothing new. But let me guess. You thought that Violet was with me instead, didn’t you?” He turns toward me and Liam, who still has his arm lightly wrapped around my waist. The muttering around us grows louder. “Well. You thought right.” 

Breaching the half step separating us, Xaden cups my head with his hands, then let’s them glide down around my neck and kisses me. And as always, I forget everything around me as soon as his lips are on mine. I don’t know whether there are any gasps of surprise or whether the gym fell entirely silent, don’t know how Rhiannon or the others react, what Dain does. All I know is the touch of Xaden’s hands and lips, his body against my front, the warmth of Liam’s still against my back. It’s all that matters. They are all that matters. 

When he pulls back, I try to follow, don’t want the kiss to end, and I hear Xaden chuckle in my head. 

So insatiable. But we should save that for tonight, we’re not done here.

Right… With everyone’s attention on us, we’re a gods dammed spectacle… And, indeed, Xaden isn’t done yet.

“Was that more like what you expected?” he asks over his shoulder in Dain’s direction.

Dain doesn’t answer, though, his eyes shift between the three of us now before they settle on me, a badly concealed expression of disgust and disappointment on his face.

Oh, fuck it!

I meant to keep things civil between us even though our old friendship is surely broken forever. But if he looks down at me for ‘sleeping around’ then he doesn’t deserve my caution. 

I don’t need to turn around and look as Xaden turns to Liam next. “And now… Happy birthday, handsome.” I can picture it all too well, how their hands settle on the other’s skin, how they tilt their heads for that perfect angle. How they smile at each other before their lips meet, how surprisingly gentle they often are with each other. I don’t need to look, have seen it countless times already, and will see it again when we celebrate tonight. 

Instead, I keep my eyes on Dain, a smug smirk tugging at my lips at his flabbergasted expression, and raise one finger at him. 

Then I turn back to my squad who all watched the scene with varying degrees of surprise but now start to cheer. 

“Damn,” Rhiannon shouts. “Just… damn!” She pulls me into a hug, a huge grin on her face. “I knew there was something going on, but… well, I didn’t see that coming. I’m so happy for you guys.”

I’ll see you later. Xaden squeezes my shoulder then returns to his own fighting mat again, and I step closer to Liam, close enough to feel the warmth radiating from him. It feels good to do so without worrying what anyone might think. 

“Well,” Ridoc starts, scratching his neck. “Guess I don’t need to feel too bad for having no gift for you, man. Seems like you already got one.”

Liam lightly wraps an arm around my waist, and I don’t need to look at him to see the huge grin on his face. “Wrong, Ridoc. I got two. “

. o O o .

AN: I wrote, edited, and uploaded this from my phone as I can't get out of bed at the moment (slipped disc, yay...) and I feel like my writing got pretty rusty.

But I hope you enjoyed this little bit of silliness nonetheless less. I certainly did. 🥰

[kyogre-blue]

Quick Genshin update:

The Operation Downpour event was absolutely shit. I really cannot overstate how bad it was. I had to look up a video on how to clear it because it was just so miserable trying to figure it out. AND it has co-op. Just awful. But it's done.

I actually have 4 pity on Chronicled, so I pushed my wish count up to 166, so I can get to an even 10 and do ten pulls from there. Itto is guaranteed, hehehe. Just a few more days.

I also started the Dain Chasm quest. I didn't go far, but some notes:

The quest starts with Traveler and Paimon talking to Katheryne. She mentions getting a fortune slip from a shrine maiden and jokes around a bit. Stuff like this really drives me up the wall because the next quest is going to be Sumeru, where Nahida doesn't think Katheryne has enough personhood to deserve not being possessed whenever. But of course we're supposed to believe Nahida totally values Scaramouche equally to a human. Of course, Nahida's respect for human autonomy doesn't exactly last long either... Genshin writing is so ass :')

You go into the Chasm really quickly. Just talk to a miner and down you go. The way they handle it now is that they just make a single waypoint available in the underground Chasm map, but there's a barrier around the area, so you can't cheat and go explore much of anything. You can still interact with things, but without the lumenstone, you can't do most mechanics.

tbh, I kind of had the impression that Dain goes directly from the previous quest to this one, but that's not the case. He mentions that he was chasing another Herald, not the one from Mondstadt, before getting tossed out in the Chasm.

The dialogue is actually not bad. It's pretty to the point and packs in a lot of detail to recap/remind you what happened the last time (since it had been a year in real life if you played the quests on release). They mention the Traveler's sibling, the Abyss Order, the inverted statue, the eye of the Field Tiller, the Loom of Fate, everything, and pretty smoothly. Unfortunately, I do have to detract points because... you have to remember, time in Teyvat is strongly suggested to pass at about the same rate as in real life. There really was a year between last time and this. And, yeah, the Traveler HERE jumps at the potential connection to the Abyss Order, but what the heck were they doing for the rest of the year?

Also, I don't understand why they connect the eye of the Field Tiller to the Loom of Fate. Wasn't the eye supposed to be used to create some weird half divine, half mechanical monster by combining the corrupted statue, Osial and something else? I don't see how this connects to the Loom of Fate?

Anyway, each subsection of the quest gives full encounter points, so I'm going to be farming it for a while for that.

[magratpudifoot]

Finished 2 November 2024:

The Two Noble Kinsman - William Shakespeare and John Fletcher

(The Valkitty was terribly helpful and spent most of the 3 or so hours I was reading this play and supplemental materials stomping all over the books, or me, or both.)

Every time I think I have come across the gayest Shakespeare play... This has got to be the gayest Shakespeare play, right? I don't remember Coriolanus having a monologue about two girls putting flowers between each other's boobs.

As much as I dislike the two gentlemen of Verona for doing basically exactly what the two noble kinsmen do, it feels *correct* here, because these all seem like people caught in a societal narrative, not people choosing to hurt one another. It's Lucy's paradoxically chaste "Why can't I just marry them all so I don't hurt anyone's feelings?" coming from multiple directions. It's comphet-made-me-"crush"-on-the-first-opposite-sex-person-I-saw-who-wouldn't-get-me-ridiculed. We get a sapphic aroace in 16-freaking-13 who is allowed the dignity of her orientation even as she is coerced into marrying a man. Chivalric ideals fucked over all these fools, and Shakespeare wants you to know he knows it.

Also, my GAWD, we got a female fool character!! All it took was HAVING SOMEONE ELSE WRITE HER!

And now, shameful admission time: I have barely read any Chaucer, so almost my entire frame of reference is Quinn Morgendorfer's "I *will* make a dain*ty* gar*land* for *my* head and sing," and Jeffy reading from "The Pardoner's Tale". I absolutely spent the whole play imagining Brittany as the jailer's daughter running around talking about "pal o'mine". (PS: Screw the doctor in this damn play, and everyone who allowed what happened to that poor girl who didn't even get a name.)

[thepiinkpages]

It's been 3 months since I've read a 5 star book and this book takes all the fucking cake. Fantastic, give me more. NOW.

RATING: 5 out of 5 stars

GENRE: Romantasy, Dragons, Magic, Fiction

This book is a once an a lifetime read I TELL YA. Its amazing. I was hitting the book, screaming at the book, crying on the side as I clutched the book. It left me gobsmacked and the ML, Xaden, has been put in my top book man list which is a tough list to get into.

This review will contain spoilers. BEWARE ye who enter here.

First of I want to say if I had a mother like Violet's, I would've taken my chances with the dragon and called it a day. Second of all, how can a man be so wrong but so right. That is the definition of Xaden Riorson. He's dangerous, secretive, protective...everything you would ever want in a man *insert sobbing face here* He just so hot it physically hurt me. Violet is such a lucky girl to have someone love her as much as Xaden does.

On that note. There is more than one character I would've thrown to the wolves (dragons) but the one I loathed the most was Dian. That fucker should've died instead of Liam. From the beginning, I hated him more than any character i've read about before. And Violet at the time was so stupid for believing him, it made me want to throw my book at the wall but I love my books too much so I didn't. He is the bain of my existence and if Dain has no more haters, just know I am dead. He's like Tamlin to me except I enjoyed Tamlin in the first book and I hated Dain since the moment he opened his stupid mouth. All of my negative highlights were just Dain talking. He needs to shut his mouth.

Liam did not deserve to die. It was such a hard death for me, I had to freeze as I listened to my audiobook while I cooked. It makes me so sad that someone of his potential had to die but he died doing what Xaden told him to do which was to protect Violet. I'm devastated, really. It's engraved in my head that he gave her a wood carving of Tarin. I will randomly think about it from time to time. He was an experience.

And let me just say this, Xaden was going crazy when she got hurt. Like he didn't eat or sleep, he just watched her breath to make sure she was still alive. MY HEART STRINGS ARE IN FACT TUGGED.

One thing that I found continually hilarious was her saying fuck that. It was like her catch phrase or something.

The ending though. It shook me to my fucking core. What do you mean Brennan is still alive and helping the rebellion? WHAT DO YOU MEAN KIND SIR. IM SHOOK.

This book as the perfect ratio of smut to plot. It reminds me of how A Court of Thorns and Roses was but less smut and more death. I thoroughly enjoyed it. You know a book is good when you remember all of the characters names without highlighting them or writing them down.

Here are some ravishing quotes:

"...I'm so wildly in love with you that I can't imagine what my life would even look like without you in it.."

"...Your all cowards..."

"...And how exactly would you be reviewing candidates? What will you be scoring?...You could just watch. Just be sure she's fully covered. You know so no one sticks it to her....I'm just saying that since you're protected at night now-..." I highlighted what parts are different characters in this quote

"...I've been yours for longer than you could ever imagine..."

This book changed my life. In a way it reminds me of Game of Thrones but I know it's just because of the huge dangerous human squashing dragons. It is appropriately hyped. READ THIS BOOK.

[luxmaeastra]

Orsus remembered the Vennin, locking them in that tiny windowless room with irons. The prisons had all blurred together over the centuries.

They stared at the windowsill, Ophiucae curling up their arm. Maybe Estrella was right family shouldn't be abandoned. They knew Xaden understood that it wasn't a personal conviction.

But Eldred, they'd all seen their magic unleashed in the corridors because of the Vennin. Xaden had said nothing would happen to them that he wouldn't let anything happen to them.

But he was one person, Estrella didn't understand. It wasn't about trust it was about freedom. It -

"Orsus?"

Orsus turned from the window, the line of gifts they'd been given over the years.

"Are they sending me to the front then?"

Xaden's jaw clenched and he stepped closer and grabbed their wrist.

"You're coming with us to the isles. Dain is staying back to talk to his father. We need to leave."

Orsus frowned and turned with Xaden.

"But I'm not needed. You didn't want the temptation with my magic right?"

They shook Xaden off and followed him to the flight field. Eldred glared at them, and then looked to the others.

"Are they really someone you need Sorrengail?"

Orsus looked to Violet tilting their head.

"Why did you request me? I don't like you."

Xaden quietly cursed. Eldred turned to them, ignoring the others.

"How did you do that? What exactly is your Signet?"

Orsus crossed their arms, Ophiucae curling around their neck. Eldred eyed her with irritation but waited.

"You have a file on me Eldred, go read it."

They deflated a little and looked to Violet and Xaden.

"I should be here. They need me -"

"I couldn't agree more. Orsus is an asset to our cause. We can't have them galavanting around with you all on this quest that may not work."

Orsus saw that hallway again, of the Vennin running toward the first year dorms. They'd fef from the wounded. They'd been the only one left in that hallway, the first years had taken to following them.

They hadn't really known why or how to discourage it. Ophiucae enjoyed the attention and had let a few shell shocked ones hold and let her.

They'd had no choice but the unleash their signet, supressing the others till the Vennin had reached for them and been overloaded.

They'd become piles of ash and Orsus had gone through the school looking for Xaden as the Vennin had swarmed.

By the time Eldred had found them, they'd killed dozens of them. It has seemed to confirm whether Lilith's file had said.

If Lilith was a true friend to their parents as she claimed that's all they'd said.

Her attention turned away from securing her own bags, turning as Eldred was making his fuss about Orsus leaving. They knew they had limited freedom to take who they needed, but did he really think he had any right saying no when it came to Orsus?

Xaden had warned her to stay quiet, that he was handling it. Yet she could feel her own sisters' annoyance down their bond, annoyance that they had to remain behind, but annoyance that someone was trying to control their family.

Estrella folded her arms as she considered to watch.

"We are all assets in our own ways, and Orsus would be a better asset with us." Xaden countered sharply, his own patience wearing thin. "And we are not galavanting, we are doing what we can to make things right. To save our homes."

"Xaden." Estrella spoke up, a hint of warning in her tone as she could pick up on him getting agitated.

[reginrokkr]

𝐗𝐋𝐈𝐈. Alright, so following this post of the few canon divergencies worth noting for my portrayal of Dain, I have to add a new one related to Sumeru (only related because it’s when this was explored in a considerably deeper level, as this affects the whole world) which is concerning the Aranara quest chain. About the Maranara specifically (what a good name they chose for this by the way, couldn’t hit the nail on the head any better), so for this I’ll break down quickly what exactly this is and why it’s become a gripe of mine to make me decide go divergent in this regard.

Until now, we’ve known of everything that the abyssal energy/chaos/corrosion / void is capable of doing in briefer instances. We know that: 

1) it can warp the perception of those affected by it (see Dvalin as an example).2) it can drive escapee gods from the rule of the Seven to madness in the Dark Sea. 3) it consumes everything that contains the seven elements (I’ll elaborate this a bit more later).4) it’s the potential reason of why some humans become Abyss Mages / Lectors / Heralds or Husks (mark this last one for later, it’ll be important).5) it makes people ill to the point of reaching death if left unchecked and in a similar vein to the escapee gods, it can drive them to madness. 6) it’s the source of energy that Khaenri’ah has been using to power the ruin machines up.

In Sumeru we’ve been introduced to Marana now, which is a Sanskrit noun that means death. And with it, we were also introduced to a few novelties alongside some confirmations of prospects that we met in the past:

- Marana urges everything towards death. The realization that all things meet their end makes the Marana fester further to the point that it becomes part of the memories. Said memories go as far as to engrave themselves in the Ley Lines, and into Irminsul by extension.

- The essence of memories is one of the things that can defeat Marana, but at the same time Marana not only can make others forget. It enters the consciousness and dreams too (familiar from a certain Archon, right?). Furthermore, this contributes to the Black Serpent Knights and Husks’ loss of intelligence and memories as an independent element to the curse.

- Ruin Machines are powered by Marana and it’s said that Abyss Wolves and Marana are one and the same. They are not natural. They do not belong to the cycle of heaven or earth.

So we have all these factors that define Marana, which seems to be the biggest issue the world of Teyvat is facing given that it kills everything. But even for such a critical matter like this, in my honest opinion we’re before this narrative gist typical of Genshin that makes us, as the Traveler have to deal with this despite the lack of strength and despite the fact that there are other capable characters that can do it. This case in particular I think that Dain would be one of the most suitable if we keep in mind his role as the Bough Keeper and his glaringly intimate connection he has with Irminsul. The Akasha is a legacy left by the Greater Lord Rhukkadevata for her people to garner knowledge from the tree, yes. There’s talk about a minority of people being able to attune to some extent with Irminsul, yes. But many more were driven to madness doing just that and as Haypasia said, there is no guarantee that in any of the attempts to attune with Irminsul one can be driven mad or have their consciousness be affected in some way.

In view of the importance of this matter and how tied it is to Irminsul, Dain will be the one who deals with the Varuna Contraption, helps the Aranara prepare the Festival Utsava (which isn’t just a festival, but acts more like some kind of preparatory rite) and fights alongside them against the Marana Avatar both during the Dark Cataclysm that Teyvat is suffering and in the present. Only a few Aranara will be able to remember him, mainly because those who fought the Marana Avatar at the time that still exist in the present have to give up all their memories as a source of power and because with time some passed away while other new ones were born that didn’t live the Cataclysm.

[gccdstories]

"A Valg will never understand the loyalty of an Ilken male."

Xaden had heard that refrain just about everywhere. He didn't particularly understand it. Nor he did really care about.

Then Violet has slammed into his life.

Their parents had known each other briefly, it seeme his parents knew all the major players - especially the ones who were "new money". He didn't know how they were able to predict which ones would have survived the "horrible" war they endured.

It wasn't like he wanted to remember what he saw as a child. Sometimes he wondered if they had nightmares like he did sometimes.

Dain was easy to read, he wanted her and was incensed he couldn't.

Jack though?

Jack was an entirely different story. All he got from Violet was that he came to all her parents big events. That their families were close but not as close as her mother and Mab were.

She spent her holidays in Spring, she rubbed shoulders with the elite as much as he did.

It was refreshing she wasn't like them.

------

Jack leaned against the wall, staring up at the night sky. His dark eyes met and held onto Xaden. The smile Xaden saw was unnerving, like he saw things he shouldn't.

What?

His sheilds were in place. Jack couldn't read his thoughts. He -

"Something wrong? You going to threaten me like Dain did?"

It was pathetic, two males who fought and sought to protect her.

Ilken Queens weren't protected, they lead.

He guessed her Ordeal would be the Gauntlet - a three day event to test recruits mental, physical and emotional tolerance.

"What is it exactly you want?"

Jack pushed off the wall, stilling as Xaden blocked his path. He tilted his head, the smile amused.

"Nothing. I want nothing from you."

"From her then? What is you want from her?"

He wanted a lot of things from Violet. To taste her again, to her gain the marks that Lilia couldn't. To lead them, to be marked as 1/3 of the Triad that they desperately needed again.

But most of those things were up to Fate.

Jack shrugged, disengaging from him, his focus wandering to the battlements.

"What is you want? Or do you not know yet?"

Xaden stiffened, he didn't need to read his mind. They could sheild their thoughts, very few could sheild their bodies. And bodies screamed what their thoughts were.

Jack went for the throat just like he'd been taught. He smiled wider, white teeth flashing in the moonlight.

"Oh? Do you not know what Catriona is to you yet? Well, that's unfortunate for you -"

"She's a dear friend. She -"

"That all she is Xaden?"

He stepped closer, his lips at his ear.

"I can smell her on your soul. I can see what you seen blind to."

He turned away going back inside.

The Valg and Daglan thought them crippled and weakned. That they were broken.

That it was a kindness to be allowed into their ranks, to fight for their benevolent powers.

He couldn't wait to tear it all down, to rip them from their seats of power. To finish what Theia had started - let their cities run red like theirs had.

//for Xaden//

He feels the anger grow stronger, his eyes narrowing as he stalks closer to Jack. Fingers curl against his palms, fists tight. Shadows slither along the ground, whisper over his shoulders.

❝ What the fuck are you talking about? ❞ he hisses, not letting Jack just walk away. Hand reaches out, grabs the male and hurls his backwards. He doesn't care if Jack stumbles, falls. None of it.

In fact, it just might be better if he does get hurt.

Xaden wants to make the male bleed--

@siderealxmelody

[mcrcki]

gods, couldn't they just focus on the smallest pieces of good news right now, instead of all of the information that they both needed to process.. all the memories they both had gotten, and the ones that they were clearly missing. she'd need to talk to imogen, figure out how the fuck she reversed her signet, if her memories could be... unerased. considering she couldn't exactly go to dain to read her mind right now. but she couldn't deny the emotions that were fighting within her, focus solely on xaden's words as his voice returned to her mind. 'i would agree with you, but considering i don't fucking remember anything that happened before reading the fucking note, how should i know.' she wanted to have this conversation in person, even if they still spoke only mentally, she just wanted to see his face. to see for herself that he was cured.. or maybe he was just back to an initiate.. but anything was better than being as far gone as she feared he was. living in constant fear that he had allowed himself to fall so far down this path to become a sage already-- she needed to see him. 'i know. i'm not mad at her, but of all fucking people, you had to be fake engaged to sloane? you are so lucky we skipped right to marriage, i was not going to be your third fiancée.' honestly, he did not seem to have much luck with that title, she was more than happy to skip right to husband and wife.. even if she didn't remember it. her fingers played with the ring on her finger as he continued, staring at the stone reflecting the smallest bit of light from one of her roommate's phone they definitely shouldn't still be on. 'your eyes were back to normal. after everything, it took... that.. for you to seem like yourself. i wasn't prepared for it. i was more prepared to see full sage than that... is it really over?' though, the emotions that swirled from that small flicker of hope are put on hold as soon as xaden's voice returns, an audiable groan leaving her lips as she pressed her hands against her eyes. 'can we not talk about dain right now! we are definitely broken up now, thanks. but, no. when i stared crying at work of course it wasn't about fucking dain... what do you mean he fought you?'

he can feel her amusement at his panic through the bond, though really, he can't blame her for that one. he does, however, flinch slightly at the sharpness in her tone. he deserves that, but fuck, that doesn't mean it feels good. and everything else she says is just one punch after another. gods, he was technically engaged to sloane, what the hell had he been doing? that one wasn't entirely his fault, but still... absolutely horrific. and the comment about the note was... oh fuck, this was so much worse than he'd thought at first, he had left her with that note, hadn't he? 'in my defense, i was not exactly in a good place mentally when i wrote that note.' he should have still been in that place, he's not entirely sure he isn't, but he can't feel it anymore, doesn't have that pull anymore to take everything he can from whatever source he can get. 'i'll send her home, give me an hour, i can't just tell her to fuck off.' some random woman he'd been magically paired off with, sure, but not sloane. 'i'm not running, violence. i think i'm alright now. i know you've been looking for signs since i woke back up, that's why you freaked out that first day, right? because there was nothing?' he had to assume, because if she was genuinely that broken up over dain- wait. 'you definitely didn't break up with dain, did you? he was genuinely defending his girlfriend when he tried to fight me.'

[moni-harmonia]

Kaeya & Dain scene

I usually write a review-analysis of a new chapter in a single post. But I have so many things to talk about that I prefer doing a separate post for this one.

Spoilers below

The long wait is over. Finally we learn in the story that Kaeya is from Khaenri’ah and he meets Dainsleif too.

The reveal in typical Genshin fashion was a bit casual, it reminded me of Albedo’s important reveals from a little while ago.

(Traveler turns very serious when Kaeya tells them about his native land)

We learn a few things here, especially from Kaeya’s past. So he thinks that Khaenri’ah is near Sumeru, at least that’s what he read. Which I find very curious because if he has that knowledge from a book it means that he doesn’t actually remember where it is? A bit weird, but he confirms that he came to Mondstadt when he was little.

I like how Kaeya finally decided to open up a bit and tell us things about his past, his little adventure as a child was quite endearing. Poor Crepus though, what a troublemaker he adopted lol

At first, I was wondering why Kaeya decided to tell his secret. I mean he didn’t tell everything, but he does tell us he’s from Khaenri’ah like that’s a very normal thing. I guess he did that because this is the Traveler we’re talking about. Kaeya knows that the Traveler is an important individual and he must know or suspect that they are investigating stuff about Khaenri’ah and the Abyss Order. Aside from having trust with them, I suspect that maybe he brought it up in case the Traveler knew something that could help him.

After all, Kaeya’s still not sure why his birth father left him in Mondstadt. He says it himself how at first he thought he had a “duty” but now he thinks maybe he just wanted to give Kaeya a peaceful life, which is something that some people have speculated about.

(Very sneaky Dainsleif. Also, I find it very curious and funny that he orders specifically a Death After Noon)

Well, if his reason to tell us was to get new info, he certainly got it... from Dainsleif. This was a very anticipated and exciting meeting. And Dainsleif arrives as usual with a bomb lore: the founder of the Abyss Order was an Alberich.

I think the most fascinating thing is that Kaeya wasn’t aware of that. He certainly doesn’t know a lot about Khaenri’ah or his clan. But it seems that detail has given him some new ideas, although we still don’t know what exactly is he thinking about since he immediately leaves.

Also, funny that Kaeya recognized Dainsleif as a Khaenri’ahn because of his eyes, it’s the first time in the story someone mentions that detail.

(Who thought we’d see this so soon? I actually wasn’t expecting Kaeya to be involved until later, so this scene was quite a surprise)

It’s interesting because this new info about the Alberich Clan has created tension between Dain and Kaeya, something that I wasn’t expecting. But it makes total sense, Dain doesn’t trust people easily and he thinks a person can’t run away from his past. As much as Kaeya says he doesn’t care about that anymore, between Dain saying that, and Mona’s quote about him, it seems certain that someday Kaeya will have to confront this.

Which is pretty exciting. This may have been a short scene, but it’s a big set up for the future. Kaeya is now involved in the main story, and he has met Dainsleif in person, both of those facts are quite important. Since the Alberichs are connected to the Abyss Order, they will be relevant again. We still don’t know what they are currently doing and why Kaeya’s birth father left him in Mondstadt.

It’s a bit sad at the same time. Kaeya loves Mondstadt, it’s obvious. He calls himself a Mondstadt citizen. But until this situation with the Abyss Order is resolved, he’ll never be actually free to live as he wants and to ignore the past.

See ya Kaeya... I know it’s going to be a long time until we meet you again, at least in the main story, but I’m pretty excited for it!

(By the way you can still see Kaeya a final time just after the tavern scene. He’s at the market near a teleport and has an optional dialogue here. Not very important but it’s something most people will miss. Kaeya just mentions that he wants to continue talking with us, but as he sees we’re busy we’ll have to wait for another time and says that he’ll be in Angel’s Share as usual.)

[wanderingpages]

.・。.・゜Dark AU ゜・。.

V E R S I O N 2

“It’s you that I’ve been thinking about and I shouldn’t be. You’re cattle waiting for slaughter, baby.”

TFOTA // All Human // AU : Cardan tries not to lust after the girl he's supposed to kill.

Trigger Warnings: Crude language, Drugs, Sex, Murder/Talks of murder, Sexual/Physical Assault.

Cardan's POV

Madoc has been absolutely no help at all. “You sure?” He asks this two days after the party, when I called to confess about the shit I pulled with Locke.

“Yeah,” I deadpanned. “She hates Care Bears. Or maybe just the yellow one.”

“They do seem like annoying little things,” he mused.

“Madoc.” There’s no way this is a serious job, I had figured. This is punishment for blowing up Asha and Balekin. The only thing that had kept me from going absolutely insane was Elvira. Her head rubbed against mine as if to tell me to calm down and watch my blood pressure, because I’m way too young to be having it spike like this. “I saved her from Carrot -Top. Is that not enough for you? Can you give me something to shoot at now?”

“No,” he said, “To both. I need information from this girl, King, and you’re going to fucking get it for me. So she knows your name. Alright, go back and get to know her for real. No better way of getting information than to actually talk to her.” Except I have no idea how to organically slip into this girl’s life without revealing what a stalker I am.

So, I don’t, partly to stick it Madoc because I haven’t heard from him since that conversation ended, and partly because this is fucking tedious and kind of wrong even for my standards. It’s like I’d be grooming her for slaughter or something. “I should just kill her and get it over with, right?” I ask Elvira but she’s half asleep so I don’t really expect an answer. I run a knuckle over her ear and her nose twitches the way I remember Jude’s does.

I sigh, it’s been nearly a week now and trailing Jude is really not the highlight of my life. I’m running on coffee and blow. If I don’t get at least some semblance of peace, I might actually go into cardiac arrest. There’s only so much asinine things I can take for a whole week. I should probably be perched on a tree watching Jude sleep or paint her toenails or something but I need a fucking break. I check my phone to see a new message. I had requested a background check after Madoc’s joke of a phone call and it seems like there’s a dossier ready for me. I leave Elvira to sleep, shutting the door so no one gets the chance to bother her. It’s not exactly my place, but Dain’s instead. Technically, the late Mayor Eldred’s estate, so to speak, but he’s dead on paper, and most likely in some foreign country trying to find us a new step mom to corrupt, or trying to push Mab’s Specialty trans-continental.

It’s rare that I ever use this way to leave, usually it’s a flight of stairs at the back off the house that leads straight to the garage, so I feel a bit out of bounds as head towards the grand staircase. As it is, Dain is throwing one of his stupid little shitshow parties. It’s blacklight themed tonight, and when I enter the central landing, nothing but the white shirt I have on glows. There’s buckets of paint lining up the wall leading to the living room. Someone immediately greets me and offers to paint between the lines of the ink etched into my skin. “I think it’d look cool if we paint this one,” she winks, tapping a long and glowing nail to my neck. “I’ll take extra time to get the scales all right,” she promises, dragging the nail down my neck. I grab her wrist and pull it off me but I don’t let go.

“What if I want your lips on me instead?” I glance at her bright pink lips, then tap at my cheek and she giggles before reaching up and kissing me there, no doubt leaving a glowing mark on my skin.

“Is that the only place you wanted my lips?” she slides her hand from my hold then against my chest, slowly working down. I’d rather have them wrapped around my cock but I hold back, giving her a wink before the door opens and group of people walk in.

“Looks like you’ve got more customers to paint,” I tell her. She pouts but tends to them when I start to walk towards the living room, already disoriented with the décor. I’ve never been here when there wasn’t a party, and every single time, nothing has ever remained the same. To my surprise, I spot Locke nearly instantly. I scowl, thinking I should have gone back to the party that night and finished the job, because it annoys me immensely that that ginger slut is at this party, mouth breathing dust off of some girl’s tits. How’d he even get an invite? For as smart as Dain is, he’s also two parts dumb when it counts. No doubt he posted on his social media something along the lines of “party at mine, you know where it is.”

Tempted as I was to go back that night though, I had ended up watching Jude. She was smart enough to let me drop her off a few blocks away from her house, guess her braincells returned to tell her probably not to trust a strange man with a gun. I followed her on foot, watched her key in a code to a three story showpiece, then I actually did sit perched on a tree, like a fucking vampire.

Finding Locke seemed unnecessary when I suddenly got a show of her shimmying out of her second skin-like leggings then falling face first into her plush mattress, pert ass in the air, clad in something lace and not much else. Halfway through the night, my sweatshirt came off of her, and while that stayed on the bed next to her, the ripped shirt and then her bra had been tossed to the floor. I watched her grab hold of my sweater, pull it against her breasts and hike her leg up to further trap it against her body. My face feels warm, thinking about it and I try to ignore the semi in my pants.

I spot my brother, his nose is practically scraping the inside of his wrist, trying to get every last particle of coke possible until he can’t anymore, so he opts to lick the residue off. When he finds me, his eyes light up. “Grade A,” he tells me, like it’s his first time tonight. He tosses me the half full dime bag, but I figure I’m at my limit for the day, so I pocket it. I nod over to his wife, who’s beside him tonight. It’s unusual to see them together so I can’t help but watch when he reaches over her and pulls at the girl Locke was nosing. The Manic Panic blue in her hair glows bright, along with the pink and green swirls on her body that look smudged with hand prints. It takes me a moment to recognize her when our eyes meet. She had been one of the girls who had arrived to the party with Jude the other night. She doesn’t recognize me, or if she did, she’s too blissed out to even try to piece it together.

I frown at the way my heartbeat picks up, hoping that Jude hadn’t followed her here of all places. She’s not here though; I have to remind myself, I had left her fast asleep just a couple of hours ago. I wonder, if maybe it would be better if she was part of this crowd, though. That way I wouldn’t feel so guilty trailing an innocent girl, right?

Dain’s hands are tugging the straps of the blue-haired girl’s dress down, while his wife pulls her hair to the side, and sucks at her skin. they’re in plain sight, but so is everybody else. It’s nearly two I the morning, and the party, as per usual, is gradually turning into a drugged out orgy.

“You like watching?” I feel a tug at my arm before a girl plasters herself against me. Her hair glows like flames under the UV lights. Her hand runs down to my belt and she may want to fuck me, but it’s the baggy she’s after when she fumbles into a pocket.

“I want to watch you,” I play along, taking her arm. “On your knees,” I tell her and when she looks up at me, I see she’s even got colored contacts that match her hair. I nod towards the other side of the room. She grins, pulling my hand to follow her to the door there. The room should be a garage, but it’s been converted since Eldred’s “passing” and is now used by Dain to tattoo his clients. I reach for the lights, but there’s no need; I know this place inside and out, being that I’ve been Dain’s client more than a few times. If Dain ever needed a portfolio, he could easily use my body as a progress board. From sloppy doodles and harsh line work to seamless shading and gorgeous artwork; I didn’t care at first, I think I just wanted all those ugly marks covered. It wasn’t until a few years ago when I really requested meaningful shit from him.

I figure I have enough time to kill now, so I let my new flame lead me to a small stool, before she drops to her knees for me. The get up looks cheap in the florescent lights, but she’s still pretty and I don’t want her sucking me off any less. So, I sit down and lean back, spread my legs for her while she unbuckles my belt and goes for my zipper. I reach and pull her shirt down, pretty nipples greet me all taught and perky. Not real, but I like them anyways. I run my thumb over them as she pulls my length out, still partially hard from thoughts of Jude earlier. I groan and grab a fistful of her hair, guiding her head when she starts to tongue me.

My grip tightens when the door opens and I peek an eye open to see Ghost raise only one brow at me, the one I convinced him to let me pierce so many years ago. She starts to bob her head against me and I really wish he’d go away, but when he doesn’t, I let loose a sigh and ask, “What?”

He rolls his eyes, “If I wanted to watch, I’d have been quiet about coming in.”

“Yet here you are,” I eye him through lidded eyes, from the head and maybe from the come down. I know he’s being spiteful because that dossier can wait a few extra minutes and absolutely nothing will change between what I’m doing and how that involves Jude.

“Trust me,” he says, “I found something that’s going to rock your world harder than this broad ever could.”

“Hey,” I chastise, halfheartedly. Sometimes I wonder what era this guy thinks he’s from. Broad? “It better not be your dick again,” I say as an afterthought. “I will throat punch you.”

“What’s a few dick pics between bros?” he grins, “What does she want?”

“Coke,” I manage when she takes me deeper. It’s hard staying hard when he won’t stop watching. It’s not the first time he’s been around while I fucked somebody, but it sure is so goddamned bright this time and I’m a hell of a lot sober than usual. He walks towards the minifridge and grabs a silver can. Its diet Coke I realize when he tosses it to me. I catch it, and the jolt makes her gag. I grimace and tap her shoulder, guiding her off of me. “you’re a piece of shit,” I tell Ghost. I swipe at the side of her mouth, pressing my thumb to her lips. She sucks it, looking up at me with wide eyes. it makes me pause for a moment, because for a split second, those gross orange contacts look unnervingly light brown. That startles me more because usually in my daydreams, its green eyes looking up at me.

“Sorry,” I tell her, handing her over the can. “Maybe next time.”

She looks confused, grappling at the can. I fix her shirt for her helping her up. She’s perplexed and put out, but I don’t get time to say much else to her because Ghost takes her hand and guides her out, looking like a princely escort to a ball rather than what it really is. This time turning the lock when the door shuts. I run a hand through my hair unable to stay annoyed or in my head much longer because Ghost is walking towards the back of the room, to the other door that leads outside. I fix myself and follow him out to the lake. Its dark as hell looking on to the other side, but not enough to make me forget I had lived on that side. The shitty poverty stricken side where the drug use isn’t as glamorized as it is here, but just as profound. That’s the side Mab’s Specialty thrived on.

The Spanish moss rustles against the cypress tree at the center of the backyard. I look up to see Valerian sitting on a branch. He waves down at me, but his eyes are focused on the windows, or rather through them. He’s not much for parties, or crowds or any type of exposure to germs, but he’s always been a curious onlooker and that cypress tree is his favorite vantage point.

He jumps off, landing like he could have gone to the Olympics for it and takes a seat on a fallen log near a doused fire pit. Ghost sits beside him, a good distance away to appease him. He reaches into the inside of his jacket and hands me a rolled manila folder. I trade off with the bag of blow I don’t really want anymore. “I didn’t even have to suck your dick for it,” he grins.

“No,” Valerian muses, quietly, “but you did have to kiss his ass.”

“Whatever,” Ghost finds a rolled blunt in his pocket and hands it over to Valerian, “Didn’t forget you, baby, this is for you.” Valerian reaches for it, then the lighter I thought I lost a few days ago. I should have known Ghost pocketed it.

I straighten out the folder then open it, not surprised to see Jude’s government name at the top. Its surface level information, stuff that I could have gotten off the college board’s back log, but far more than anything Madoc had given me, that’s for sure. I look at Ghost, in time for him to wave his hand lazily, “Turn the page.”

I narrow my eyes, not liking how grim his attitude had gotten. My stomach is already sinking, but nothing could prepare me for what I see next. “But…how?”

My heart is so loud in my ears, I’m surprised I even hear when Ghost explains, “they weren’t in the same grade, but they spent a few summers together. Summer camp,” he explains.

“One hell of a coincidence,” I mutter, looking at the grainy cropped photo of two girls with their arms around each other, smiling at the camera. The girl on the left has bright eyes, freckles dot her face and I know it only ever heightened due to sun exposure. Her dark blonde hair is pulled high on her head and I try not to think about how short she had cut it after we met. Her face is much younger than the face I knew, but there’s no mistaking her. I feel sick and maybe a little guilty, unable to stop myself from remembering the last time I saw her. Unable to stop myself from remembering the last night I held her.

I trace the side of her face, my throat feeling constricted suddenly. “This is fucked, even for Madoc,” Ghost tells me, and he’s right. Madoc had been the one to find me that night, after all.

.

For once, I’m the one screening calls. I don’t answer when he tries to reach me, and it’s been at least once a day for the past few weeks.  I send him a quick text, probably to make sure he knows I'm still alive. I can’t talk to him yet. I don’t know what I’d say. It’s one hell of a punishment for starting a fire, that’s for fucking sure. He’ll be happy to know I’m still trailing Jude, though. If anything, the revelation of her knowing my dead girlfriend – dead fiancée – only intrigues me more.

I thought I had Jude’s schedule down pat, she hardly ever deviates from walking to school, going to the gym, meeting up with her friends and studying. But she’s been self isolating for the past few days. At first I thought it was a cold or something. Then she started shutting her blinds and I thought maybe I’ve been found. But even when she peeks through gauzy curtains, her eyes never quite find mine.

So now, I’m squatting in a car with Ghost who’s chugging coffee like his life depends on it. His free hand flies over the keyboard of his laptop, making stupid little clicking sounds. Still, I rather him than Valarian at the moment. I may trust Valarian with my life but I don’t quite trust him with other people’s lives and right now, I’m assuming Jude is still wanted alive and all that. Besides that, he’d probably bleach the hell out of my car and suffocate us with the smell. He’d nitpick everything then probably dissect the spider I'm pretty sure I saw scurry across the dash a few minutes ago.

Ghost is also good with computers. He’s been sitting with me, going through Jude’s security feed for the last few hours. It’s what’s getting me on edge now, if I’m honest. He pauses to open the lid of his cup and pour in some white powder. He places the laptop on the console between us and scrubs through about a week’s worth of the Jude Show. It makes me uncomfortable how easily he had gotten through the system.

She seems like a normal person going through the motions of her day. Ghost occasionally stops the speed for some kind of dramatic effect, “I’m humanizing her,” he tells me when I give him a look. “She’s still a person, you know.”

“What’s the saying? Dead girl walking?”

She eats, he scrubs through, she changes clothes, he scrubs through, she studies from three different books, he scrubs through, answers a phone call, laughs, hangs up, he scrubs through, eats, showers, yoga, looks at her home décor like she’s never seen it before, picks up a vase, puts it down, tilts her head at a wall, scrunches her nose when she looks at photos, leaves to check the mail, tosses the stack on a table, answers a call, scrub, scrub, scrub – and I’m losing my absolute mind.

“This is weird,” I tell him. Had we even gotten through a single day? 

“Really weird,” Ghost admits, “watch,” he tells me, and I don’t understand what he wants me to see by showing me the same day over again. Until I realize it’s not the same day when I recognize she’s got on a completely new set of clothes. This time, when she takes a phone call, her face isn’t pleasant. She hangs up angrily and I blink, startled when she throws the cell against the wall. She seems to let out a scream before dropping to the floor and burying her face into her knees. If she had been this dramatic while I was on her tree, I might have been less bored.

“Call logs?” I ask. He minimizes the window and shows me a pdf file of her cellphone statements before clicking off and going back to the feed. “Why does she keep looking at the wall?” my brows furrow when it seems like a new day has started and Jude is standing in front of a wall with her hands on her hips. Her phone must be dead or broken because I still make out the device right where it fell. “Why is she so heavily surveillanced?” it’s a belated question because maybe I hadn’t really been focusing before, but it is a little daunting to see all the separate feeds in what’s supposed to be someone’s home. Surrounding the property is understandable, but inside? Even Dain’s estate – the Mayor’s House – isn’t as watched as this.

Scrub, scrub, scrub, Jude is sitting cross legged in her living room floor, a laptop open in front of her. She skims over something before quickly shutting the laptop. I can’t make out her face, her back is to the camera, but she looks tense. I think Ghost has paused the video for a moment, but then she reaches for the laptop again. She clicks around, a lot, more and more frantic every time she hits the keypad. She shuts the laptop again and leaves the room, coming back with a sledge hammer.

“Jesus,” Ghost mutters watching her repeatedly bash her laptop to pieces. Its starts to look mechanical after a moment, then she drops the hammer to the ground and wipes at her forehead. She leaves and comes back moments later, this time with a change of clothes – a sweatshirt I didn’t think I’d see again – and a set of blankets. She grabs the sledge hammer and holds it to her chest after taking a seat on the floor. I'm sure there’s still laptop guts all over the floor, but she seems unfazed, wrapping the blanket around her. She’s a completely different person from the girl I had been following around for a month.

Idly, I wonder if she’s parent trapped me at some point. Ghost scrubs again but something off camera catches my eyes. By no means are we on an empty road, but there’s not a lot of traffic either. It’s not hard to notice when the same car drives by multiple times. I narrow my eyes before I turn back to the screen. Jude is looking at that wall again. Suddenly she reaches and half her body is obscured until she returns, this time with a crossbow I can only imagine had been mounted to the wall.

“Beginning to think miss girly pop is a danger to herself, at this point,” Ghost mutters, throwing back the rest of his coffee. I won’t pretend to know the ins and outs of a bow, so I'm not even sure she knows what she’s doing when she raises it close to her face, squinting into what looks like a telescope. The handle resembles that of a gun, so I can make out when she plays with the trigger. “Think they taught this in summer camp?” only vaguely do I remember Sophie saying something about knowing to aim a bow, but I think I always assumed it was a manual one. I’m not sure of the relevance just yet, but I stopped believing coincidences quite some time ago.

The car passes by once more and Jude manages to find arrows the next time I see her. “What the fuck kind of trojan was in her laptop?” Ghost muses. “Oh shit,” he sits up a little straighter, and my eyes go wide. I know its prerecorded, but it still feels like her eyes have pierced through my soul when she looks directly into the camera. She raises the bow, aims, then shoots. The screen goes black. Ghost is fast in finding another camera, but the closest one only shows the hallway leading to the living room. I can make out the blankets on the floor and pieces of hardware, but no Jude.

“What’s the timestamp on that?”

“Eight hours ago.” He scrubs ahead, but I already see the car drive by yet again. I find my gun and check the clip. “Fuck,” Ghost mumbles, closing his laptop and finding his own arsenal is secured. “What the fuck did Madoc get you into?”

The next time he calls, I’m going to beat his ass.

“Knew I should have stayed home today,” he whines like I’m Miss Frizzle, but it’s in jest because he looks too excited to really be complaining. I check my watch, thinking we’ve given them enough time to throw the alarm and break the door handle. We walk through the front door because I was right about the timing. I check my watch again, assuming we’ve got only a handful of minutes before the landline rings, and if that’s not answered, cops will be dispatched within minutes. I love a good countdown moment.

We stand on either side of the doorway leading into the living room. It’s a standoff, and I’d laugh at the scene if this was any other occasion; two men pointing their guns at a girl in her pajamas while she, in turn, holds a crossbow. Physics hadn’t been my favorite subject, but I’m well aware a bullet is faster than an arrow, so it’s not looking too swell for Katniss over there.

Ghost and I are directly behind the men, but if Jude notices, she doesn’t acknowledge. She’s got a tight set to her lips, and I frown when I glimpse her eyes. “Come on little lady,” the slimmer of the men says with humor. He’s got a slight German accent. “Put the toy down, we don’t have time to sit and play.” The other man chuckles. I don’t think Ren and Stimpy quite know what they’re dealing with. In retrospect, I don’t think I know either.

“You should leave,” Jude says, and it makes the hair at the nape of my neck stand on end. I glance to Ghost, wondering if he’s caught the monotony. He puts a hand to his chest, lets out a quiet “Sheesh,” and mouths, “Be still, my beating heart.” I frown at him.

“You just give us what we want and no one has to get hurt,” Stimpy says.

“What… you want…?” Jude’s brows furrow. “No,” she tells them. The phone rings.

“Answer it,” Stimpy tells her.

“No,” she says again. Her head tilts when she finally looks beyond them, to Ghost and I. Rather, just me.

She yelps when Ren shoots her arm. She pulls the trigger on instinct, the bow pierces into Stimpy’s throat. Ghost fires three rounds before Ren can react. The crossbow drops from Jude’s hand and she holds her arm. Blood flows over her fingers, and she gasps, looking up to Ghost, panic in her eyes when he walks closer. “You shot me?”

He doesn’t correct her, just bends to pick her discarded weapon. “Don’t scream,” he tells her sternly. Her mouth clamps shut. Her eyes start to water. I step over scraps on the floor and grab the landline that still rings.  She sucks in a breath when her eyes meet mine again. It’s almost as if she had forgotten I was there.

“Sorry,” I tell her, “Nothing personal.” Except, maybe it is. I walk behind her, hold the phone to her ear, my gun to her temple. “Answer.”

She squeezes her arm tighter, but says, “Hello?” Ghost kneels beside Ren, lifting his wrist to pocket his watch and double check his pulse. “No,” Jude says, voice going steady. She stands still, and her blood starts to spill on to the floor. “No, everything is fine,” she tells them. She answers their questions stoically, then says goodbye. I hang up and toss it to the blanket pile on the floor. Not a moment later, Jude’s knees give out and I catch her before she can hit the ground. Ghost glances at us, before flicking the jutting end of the arrow. Stimpy is still alive, but not enough to pull info from.

Ghost checks his wallet and I shoot him to stop that gurgling noise he’s making. It stops, so I tuck my gun to the waistband of my jeans before hoisting Jude up, not unlike the night we met, except this time, she’s out cold.

A while later, I’m sitting in Dain’s tattoo garage, on the stool set in front of the tattoo chair Jude is currently seated on, still unconscious. Ghost had stayed back for damage control and Valerian is currently dabbing Jude’s face with a wet rag having already tended to her flesh wound earlier.

“She’s pretty,” he says. I scowl when he leans in and pecks her lips. “I hope her body stays intact when you kill her,” he continues his creepy perusal, running the rag along her cheekbone. He takes a step back, “We just have to wait until she’s up, now.”

“Fuck that,” I get up, annoyed with Valerian, annoyed with Madoc, annoyed with Jude, and Locke and Ren and Stimpy, and my patience has worn thin. I tap her cheek, softly then a little harder. Admittedly, she looks much better when the color blooms in her pale cheeks. I go to try a harder tap, but her hands reach up and clasp my wrists just as her eyes flash open.

My lips twitch. “Morning, Jude,” I tell her.

She blinks, her hold on me loosening, brows furrowing, “Cardan…?”

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Masterlist

[pretentiousscribe]

This right here!

I love the series, and the lore - and while I do like the expansion of the world (mostly because I'm a sucker for religion, and learning how different people interpret it). The third book started off... Flat, and slow - I remember zoning out while reading through the first 100 pages. The descriptions felt lackluster, and therefore made some of the very well written characters feel flat.

It feels like the third book was adapted to make the Booktok influencers happy, because a lot of them just talk about the sex, and how much dain sucks.

As a writer- for the love of all the is holy... STOP CHANGING THE STORY BECAUSE OF PEOPLE WHO DONT READ BETWEEN THE LINES.

It does a massive disservice to those who take the time to study your work, pick it apart, and understand the deeper meanings.

(Those of you who haven't finished Onyx Storm, be warned of spoilers up ahead)

So much more could have been explored within the islands, especially since I've seen some people housing the theory that Irids live within the water - and with the Heodetist fearing the water, Violet and the others could have tried to dig deeper - figure out why they were being so irrational about water.

Or maybe, there could have been more journals and documentation hidden in the archives, stuff on Irids that haven't been translated, or more hidden secrets that could paint General Aetos as a proper antagonist - and not a Scooby Doo villain.

What about the lures? Why did we forget about those? Why didn't anyone think to study the lures Jack placed in order to see what it was that drew in venin? Because it clearly isn't just magic - otherwise the Venin would have been more drawn to Samara, but they skipped over it to get to Basgiath. Not to mention, if it were magic - Garrick's dragon wouldn't be the only one sensitive to it, especially if it was so concentrated that it drew Venin in from miles away.

And what about the wards? The runes that protect Navarre, that Violet risked destroying without knowing exactly what they protect against. Why not dig deeper into the runes? Try to figure out what they meant? It isn't like Violet to throw all caution to the wind. She takes risks, yes. And while that was a risk - it was an out of character risk. And even if she didn't realize at first what kind of risk it was - why not spend some time trying to figure out what protection you just ripped away from the wards?

There were so many routes that could have been taken, so much unanswered when it comes to Violet's decisions - all in the name of "saving Xaden".

Okay but I really want to see your review of Onyx Storm though because I can’t help but feel like this one was a lot safer in terms it’s themes regarding misinformation and propaganda than the last two books. Idk how to explain it properly. It just feels hollow

I don’t blame you for thinking the book is shallow and builds nothing on the series’s supposed themes of propaganda and misinformation-- Onyx Storm says nothing about it. Both Fourth Wing and Iron Flame had major plot points centered around uncovering some truth that had been obscured by the government. At best, Onyx Storm has a plotline about Violet’s dad being cryptic as hell. It’s a stretch to call it propaganda or whatever. 

We’ve already exhausted the existing misinformation plot line in Navarre. Yarros has to take it a step further. The natural progression from “there’s a secret war beyond our borders” is “the dehumanized enemy beyond our borders is human and possibly morally correct.” After we went out of our way to meet Theophanie, I was certain this was where we were going to go. Hell, Xaden was slowly turning into one! What an easy albeit cliche way to complicate the war.

 But, no. The story refuses to evolve. The venin are still horrific freaks of nature, and it is still right and just to kill them. They’re evil, and we’re good. I won’t put it past Yarros to wait until the last minute to pull this move, but I also wouldn’t be surprised if she never does it at all. 

Onyx Storm’s biggest problem is that it spends the bulk of its time on world building that ultimately does not matter. We spend hundreds of pages going to islands that’s not even on the inside cover's map, learning about their cultures, and getting nothing of value from it. The world building is shallow, painting their cultures in cartoonishly broad strokes. Here’s the warrior nation, here’s the smart people, here’s the partygoers-- these are really basic ideas! Where’s the substance?

The most valuable world building we get is more on how the gods work in this world, but it never quite feels like it’s important. Yes, one of the big plot points at the end of the book involves one of the gods. But until now, when has religion mattered to any of the main characters? There’s a scene where our main cast sits in a tavern (drinking lavender lemonade, of all things) and compares the religious differences between Navarre and Poromiel. Why am I learning about this through a table discussion? This could have been developed organically through the characters’ behaviors. But it’s not because, despite what a hearty lemonade-fueled debate would imply, none of them have been any shade of religious up until this moment. 

I harp on the religion point a lot because it’s the most thorough world building Yarros has to offer. When it comes to the cross-isle adventure, it’s the point she falls back onto again and again. Here’s a new country, here is the god they worship, and here is how that religion colors our entire cultural understanding of these people. None are more egregious than the last nation we make contact with. They worship some luck god, and our entire experience with them is more or less just a gameshow performance for a crowd. This is the only nation we make a meaningful political alliance with. That their soldiers are present in the final battle is vital. We only know these people through a weird lottery game. That’s it. 

There are smaller world building points she throws in as well, but none have as much thought dedicated to them as the religion. For example, it seems like all of these isles have a native language with some important people knowing the common tongue. Great. So... what is the common tongue? Navarre doesn’t seem to have a native language, so is their language the common tongue? If so, why? They’ve been isolationists for hundreds of years. Why would anyone need to know their language? If they have their own language, then why does Violet and all of her friends know the common tongue when, again, they’re from an isolationist nation? 

Why is there a common language? When it appears in fantasy works, it’s less because the author appreciates pidgin languages and the worldbuilding they require, and more because they do not want to deal with the logistics of characters of multiple cultural backgrounds being unable to understand each other. That’s fine. I am more than happy to accept a common tongue the same way I accept potatoes in a European-based fantasy.  

But Yarros clearly establishes Dain as the group translator. His entire purpose in our little quest squad is to translate.You have a translator. You don’t need a common tongue. But you do, so all of the effort you went through to build Dain up as a polyglot is wasted. He never gets to do any translational work. Why are you offering two solutions to the same problem? You did twice the work for no reason. 

(Put a pin in Dain-- I will have more to say about him later.)

What stings the most is that we know that all of this effort is for nothing. None of these extra island nations matter. We will never go to them again, and what importance they have will never justify the number of pages dedicated to them. This is a waste of time. 

Why are we spending so much time world building these nations when we still have very little idea about Navarre and Poromiel? Does anyone actually know what life is like for the average citizen of either country? How do they dress? What jobs are available to them? What do they do for fun? I barely have a grasp of the level of technology in this world. In fact, I keep forgetting that this is in a fantasy world and not some urban fantasy story.

Yarros’s characters don’t really mesh with the setting either. From the very first novel, the main cast has been a little too-aware that they are characters in a book-- they know they are in a fantasy story, and they think this is all very, very cool. 

Any suggestion of a situation being dangerous is undercut by a character’s sense that this is really cool or, conversely, really annoying. Unlike the earlier books, everyone in Onyx Storm quips like they’re in a Marvel movie. Every conversation is bloated by a barrage of  jokes. No one takes the setting seriously, which means that I don’t quite believe in the world we’re in. 

Moreso, some of Violet’s narration is... you know what? Just look at this:

Xaden’s hand tightens around mine, and he leans down to brush his lips against my ear. “The shadows here are not mine. I know your skill with a dagger. I’m not discounting your ability to protect yourself, but for the good of my sanity while I try to get Halden out of whatever mess he’s created, will you please stay by my side?” I nod. How can I not? He’s not asking me to hide behind him, nor did he leave me with Tairn to keep me safe. He’s just asking me to stay close. (226)

Are you serious? Why would you say this unless you know you’re in a romantasy novel written and published for BookTok? Why would a character reassure herself that she is still a strong independent female protagonist? Why is the fourth wall paper thin? 

Here’s another example:

“Nope.” I brush a kiss across his lips, knowing I wont need to use the weapons. “It wouldn’t be the first time I raised a blade to you.” He stares, utterly bewildered, then flashes a grin. “I’m not sure what that says about us.” Is it toxic? Maybe. Is it us? Absolutely. (408)

This one manages to replicate the feeling of spotting a SEO valuable word, but in print. Yarros, you’re just lying to the audience now. We all know Violet and Xaden aren’t toxic because every time something outside the bounds of the modern Hays Code happens, you pad it with reassurances to the reader that, truly, this is a very healthy relationship. 

I’m putting “toxic relationship” on a shelf, and I’m not giving it back until people absolve characters of the responsibility of being role models and they get to be the fucked up little freaks I crave. 

Beyond annoying quips and self-aware narration, a lot of plot armor is endowed onto the main cast by virtue of them being the main cast. On three different occasions, Violet and company disobey military orders and risk being court-martial. Every time, they avoid suffering the consequences of their actions. Why? Because Violet is too important to arrest (she’s not), or she uses a clever loophole to absolve herself of blame (the law does not work like that). 

It’s staggering how much the main cast breaks military law, and how little they suffer for it. General Aetos is supposed to be a villain, but honestly, I’m on his side; I too would be pissed if these bozos kept on endangering themselves and their comrades out of some stupid belief that they are more important than everyone else. 

This is such a weird trend when the previous books were really clear about the stakes of insubordination and the consequences of rebellion. Violet was tortured in Iron Flame. Where did that energy go? If Yarros let Violet suffer the consequences of her actions, she could have had something to pad out the plot between the end of the island quest and the beginning of the final act. As is, there’s a hundred-plus page slump where nothing of importance really happens. 

But Violet and company are the heroes, so the narrative will bend over backwards and comply with irrational logic to allow them to continue to do cool heroic things like breaking the rules and stuff. 

The strangest instance of the book’s self awareness is how the narrative treats Dain. 

As previously established, I think Dain is the most reasonable character in the series. Did he mess up in the first book? Sure, but given what he knew, it was the correct decision. He has continued to be a bastion of sanity since. And, because everyone kinda hates him, I’ve made it my mission to go up to bat for him. 

Dain is never out of character. He’s still the reasonable one. But god, the narrative sure likes to make him look like a loser. His contributions to the quest are negated both by the common tongue and by another character, Aaric, being a better polyglot than him. In a ritualistic fight, he’s the first person to be knocked out; and I assume the post-fight scene features him prone on the ground and bleeding out because he’s not mentioned past it. During the gameshow scene, he’s bitchslapped-- a “gift” far more humiliating than what everyone else receives. 

At one point, the cast cracked jokes about Dain being no help and his presence ultimately being pointless. Yeah, Dain doesn’t have to be here. He serves so little purpose that he can be written out of the storyline. But he’s here to be mocked because Yarros knows the reader wants to see the loser second male lead humiliated. 

I’m not even offended as much as baffled by it. I don’t think Yarros hates Dain. If she did, his treatment would be far more egregious. Instead, every joke made at his expense feels like a wink at the audience, like we’re collectively making fun of our ex-boyfriend. The narrative has to commit to Dain being the reasonable one, but it still wants to play into a fandom joke. 

Stop winking! The fourth wall should not be this transparent. Respect your narrative, your world building, and your characters! I begging you, on my knees, to be sincere for more than two seconds. If the book can’t ascribe to its own premise, how can I suspend my disbelief?

I don’t think this is so much of a symptom of Yarros not giving a shit or being a bad writer. I think Yarros can write, and I think she cares about composing a good story. I also think she is influenced by the goals of her publishing house, Red Tower Books. While every publishing house is ultimately a capitalist cog, Red Tower Books was engineered to prioritized marketing above all else. The New Yorker’s profile on the Tracy Wolf plagiarism case provides some context as to how Red Tower Books operates. (Site note: what gives software engineers the audacity to think they can “revolutionize” everything but software engineering?)

 All Yarros wants is to sell you a good time. That means not complicating your premise with sticky moral quandaries. It means abstaining from rigorous, thoughtful world building. And it means prioritizing a figment of fun over plot coherence. She never tries to sell us anything else. We should stop asking for more.