#he's such a good knight he cares about her so much I'm sobbing | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

jozor-johai · 7 months

Text

Dorne, Told not Shown: The Watcher Sees, while Doran Says

ASOIAF is all about the way that information—or misinformation—spreads and changes the course of action and history.

Perhaps this is true most of all in the Dornish arc, and especially with Doran Martell, which is entirely about the way that people are told something and not shown the truth of the matter. And, moreover, the way that can have such an impact.

This is all building up to a second post in the future about why I believe Darkstar is not only innocent, but a good person, and maybe even a true knight. First, though, we have to question Gerold Dayne's supposed guilt: did he actually cut Myrcella, like we are led to believe?

Our number one source for that information, strangely, is Doran Martell, who was nowhere near the Greenblood. Arianne was there, but she didn't see anything. Instead, she's told the whole situation by Doran... and Doran is a fucking liar.

In this essay, I'm going to point out the numerous reasons why we might doubt that Gerold cut Myrcella in the first place, with evidence from The Queenmaker and The Princess in the Tower, and then I'm going to jump ahead to The Watcher and point out how much this pattern of being "told, not shown" is a recurring theme in Dorne... and how often Doran himself is the culprit. At the end, I hope to convince you that Doran is almost never trustworthy... because in my next essay, I'm going to argue that Darkstar, contrary to his rogue reputation, is trustworthy... and maybe even worthy of Dawn.

I'm sure I'm not the first to suggest this, as it's been so many years since the release of Dance, but it's exciting to experience a moment of realization that makes me see the Martin's writing itself in a new light, so I wanted to share my thought process here.

It's a long essay, but tumblr can handle long essays. Putting it under the cut.

1.1 The Maiming of Myrcella:

Beginning with the incident in question, Darkstar's alleged crime, and his biggest on-page action... if he even did it.

This is the quote that really started me thinking about how much we are not shown what's really happening in Dorne—because it's made very clear to the reader that Arianne does not actually see what happened to Myrcella. Keeping with the strictly limited POV structure, Arianne is looking at Arys, and so we only see what's happening to Arys, even when Myrcella is shrieking:

A thrown spear took Ser Arys's mount in the flank, yet still the horse came on, staggering as he hit the gangplank. "No," some girl was shouting, some foolish little girl, "no, please, this was not supposed to happen." She could hear Myrcella shrieking too, her voice shrill with fear. Ser Arys's longsword slashed right and left, and two spearmen went down.

And again, in the immediate aftermath, it's really highlighted how much Arianne doesn't see what happened:

Arianne did not remember climbing from her horse. Perhaps she'd fallen. She did not remember that either. Yet she found herself on her hands and feet in the sand, shaking and sobbing and retching up her supper. No, was all that she could think, no, no one was to be hurt, it was all planned, I was so careful. She heard Areo Hotah roar, "After him. He must not escape. After him!" Myrcella was on the ground, wailing, shaking, her pale face in her hands, blood streaming through her fingers. Arianne did not understand. Men were scrambling onto horses whilst others swarmed over her and her companions, but none of it made sense.

She doesn't see, she doesn't remember, and here is Myrcella, already on the ground bleeding.

1.2 The official story

Despite this chaos, and despite the state she was in at the end of her previous chapter, Arianne begins her next chapter already absolutely certain that it was Gerold Dayne's doing:

"Areo," she had pleaded with her captor during the long dry ride from the Greenblood back to Sunspear, "I never wanted the girl to come to harm. You must believe me." Hotah made no reply, except to grunt. Arianne could feel his anger. Darkstar had escaped him, the most dangerous of all her little group of plotters. He had outraced all his pursuers and vanished into the deep desert, with blood upon his blade.

How does she know that? She didn't see that, so far as we can tell. She specifically didn't see any of that. This is a memory, and already Arianne is inserting her interpretations into it. So where does this idea come from? Doran's orders, we can assume, given that it's Doran's story when he finally goes to see her:

Arianne was almost afraid to ask. "Myrcella. Is she . . . ?" ". . . dead? No, though Darkstar did his best. All eyes were on your white knight so no one seems quite certain just what happened, but it would appear that her horse shied away from his at the last instant, else he would have taken off the top of the girl's skull."

Yet even in this dialogue, Doran reminds us that no one was watching. Arianne is being told, not shown, about Gerold Dayne, just as much as we, the readers are… and as we will see, we are given every reason to doubt what we are told.

1.3 How trustworthy is a friend?

Based on the word of Arianne's companions, we might share Arianne's suspicion that Gerold is "the worm in the apple," (as Arianne later imagines) because so many of her other confidants don't like him—and tell her so:

When he was gone, the others exchanged glances. "Forgive me, princess," said Garin softly, "but I do not like that man." "A pity," Drey said. "I believe he's half in love with you." "We need him," Arianne reminded them. "It may be that we will need his sword, and we will surely need his castle." "High Hermitage is not the only castle in Dorne," Spotted Sylva pointed out, "and you have other knights who love you well. Drey is a knight."

Later, though, we might second-guess their counsel.

After all, someone must have been the proverbial worm in the apple, because, as Hotah intones: "Someone told. Someone always tells." However, Arianne herself thinks, the idea that said informer was Gerold makes little to no sense:

Garin, Drey, and Spotted Sylva were friends of her girlhood, as dear to her as her cousin Tyene. She could not believe they would inform on her . . . but that left only Darkstar, and if he was the betrayer, why had he turned his sword on poor Myrcella? He wanted to kill her instead of crowning her, he said as much at Shandystone. He said that was how I'd get the war I wanted. But it made no sense for Dayne to be the traitor. If Ser Gerold had been the worm in the apple, why would he have turned his sword upon Myrcella?

Why indeed? We're told it was Darkstar's doing, but we're also reminded how that story fails a basic logic check. He cannot have been the informant and the attacker of Myrcella, those two roles seemingly have opposite goals.

Arianne discounts the rest of her co-conspirators as being the informant because of their long history; all the rest have been her friends since childhood... but that might count for less than she thinks.

It brings to mind this quote from ADWD Reek III, when Roose is talking about Ramsay. Considering Feast/Dance as one book thematically, as I like to, I believe these moments serve to inform one another.

"Breathe deep. I know what he said. You're to spy on me and keep his secrets." Bolton chuckled. "As if he had secrets. Sour Alyn, Luton, Skinner, and the rest, where does he think they came from? Can he truly believe they are his men?" "His men," Reek echoed. Some comment seemed to be expected of him, but he did not know what to say.

Where does Arianne think these friends came from in the first place? If they are her childhood friends, then they were placed alongside her in the water gardens by Doran decades ago. How can she be sure they are hers, and not his, any of them? Any of them, save the one that the Martells never trusted: Gerold Dayne.

In the unreleased TWOW chapter Arianne I, Daemon points out Oberyn's public disdain for the man (if you can call him that):

"Is that what Darkstar is? A man?" Ser Daemon grimaced. "A man would not have done what he did to Princess Myrcella. Ser Gerold is more a viper than your uncle ever was. Prince Oberyn could see that he was poison, he said so more than once. It's just a pity that he never got around to killing him."

Of course, for all we know, Oberyn might have tried. Gerold might hint at a past conflict between the two of them during one of his few scenes:

I was weaned on venom, Dalt. Any viper takes a bite of me will rue it." Ser Gerold vanished through a broken arch.

I think it's possible that Gerold is making a double entendre here, referring to the Viper here, and not just "any viper". If so, that would suggest that Oberyn had tried to eliminate him in the past, but failed to.

Even without that speculation about poison, it's clear that the Martells do not trust Gerold, and haven't for some time. So, all of Arianne's conspirators, like Daemon Sand, are simply echoing that one talking point, and never actually giving us information about Gerold. She's being told, not shown... and not even told much.

From the perspective of the readers, we have to understand that we're not being told that Gerold is trouble, we're being shown that Doran and any of his potential allies want Arianne to think he's trouble.

So we might next wonder: what else does Doran want Arianne—or us— to think? And what evidence do we have to believe anything he says... or better, what evidence do we have not to?

1.4 The Watcher

The more I've thought about it, the more important the title of Areo Hotah's second chapter is, and it exemplifies what's so valuable about Hotah himself as a POV for Doran. Almost nothing actually happens in The Watcher. The chapter has two acts, and both center more around talking than action; the first act focuses on the reveal of the alleged skull of Gregor Clegane, while the second act focuses on Doran revealing some of his plans to the Sand Snakes and enlisting their help in his plotting.

Hotah, "The Watcher", tacitly understands that the truth of the matter comes in seeing it, and this chapter is written with that perspective in mind. Hopefully, it cues the reader into a similar mindset. For the most part, Hotah keeps his thoughts suppressed (unlike Arianne's frantic internal narratives) so it's still up to the reader to put these things together—but, on the other hand, he offers a relatively unbiased view, so it should be possible to infer details as a reader that Hotah doesn't note himself.

1.5 Arianne joins Doran's growing lie

When it comes to Doran's story about Gerold being the culprit, what's even better about this is how this story grows recursively. In The Watcher, we see an updated version—one that we know has lies in it.

Last time, Arianne was told that Gerold cut down Myrcella, and accepted that as the truth... and here we see that this narrative was so effective that Arianne then turns around and doubles down on Doran's lie on his behalf, telling the Sand Snakes that Gerold not only cut Myrcella, but also killed Arys.

"...And when the girl tells him how your captain cut Arys Oakheart from neck to groin with that steel wife of his, well …" "No." Princess Arianne unfolded from the cushion where she sat and put a hand on Hotah's arm. "That wasn't how it happened, Cousin. Ser Arys was slain by Gerold Dayne." The Sand Snakes looked at one another. "Darkstar?"

This time, we the readers fully know this is a lie. Not only that, even Arianne fully knows it's a lie. And yet, despite knowing what she's lying about, Arianne still believes half of it: she thinks she's lying about Gerold killing Arys, but not Gerold cutting Myrcella. If Gerold is being falsely accused of harming Myrcella, this part almost becomes laugh out loud funny—how can Arianne be complicit in this lie, and yet never wonder if she herself is being lied to, too?

Doran, though, speaks both tales in the same breath, and claims them equally true:

"Darkstar did it," his little princess said. "He tried to kill Princess Myrcella too. As she will tell Ser Balon." Nym smiled. "That part at least is true." "It is all true," said the prince, with a wince of pain. Is it his gout that hurts him, or the lie? "And now Ser Gerold has fled back to High Hermitage, beyond our reach."

Is it the lie that pains him? Areo, the Watcher, wonders. That's all Hotah deigns to add, but we might note where that appears: it's after Doran says it's all true. If Doran can claim it's all true—and possibly wince with the falseness of that—we might wonder just how much of it is a lie, and to whom? Does the fact of the one lie spoil trust in the other? If Doran says they are both "equally true," and one is clearly a lie, then are they not, instead, both "equally false," put another way? While Arianne never considers this herself, I think that may be the case.

1.6 An uncertain skull

This network of telling, not showing, is a major theme in Hotah's Dance chapter, even when Doran is on the receiving end. This is what the Dorne story is about.

From Balon Swann's perspective, he's being told Myrcella is fine, but he's never shown her—nor is the reader. Balon will be told that Arys died protecting her from Gerold Dayne, but I suspect more of that might be a lie than Arianne knows.

On the other hand, Ser Balon is hardly innocent himself. He comes bearing a skull; the crown is telling Dorne that this skull once belonged to Ser Gregor Clegane... but there is no way to show anyone the truth of that, as Obara points out:

I'll take that." Obara Sand plucked the skull from him and held it at arm's length. "What did the Mountain look like? How do we know that this is him? They could have dipped the head in tar. Why strip it to the bone?" "Tar would have ruined the box," suggested Lady Nym, as Maester Caleotte scurried off. "No one saw the Mountain die, and no one saw his head removed. That troubles me, I confess, but what could the bitch queen hope to accomplish by deceiving us?"

…Even better, Lady Nym goes on to give an ominous warning about the cost of lies:

If Gregor Clegane is alive, soon or late the truth will out. The man was eight feet tall, there is not another like him in all of Westeros. If any such appears again, Cersei Lannister will be exposed as a liar before all the Seven Kingdoms. She would be an utter fool to risk that. What could she hope to gain?"

Of course, we know that Cersei is an utter fool, because this is Dance, and we've read all of Feast. Later, nearer the end of Dance, we also learn that another like him has appeared again—this so-called Robert Strong, newest member of the Kingsguard. And, we know that Lady Nym herself is headed to the Small Council, and will be right there to see this man, and therefore to bear witness as Cersei is exposed as a liar before all the Seven Kingdoms.

Of course, there are a myriad of theories about whether this is Gregor's skull or not, which tie themselves into knots trying to justify one answer or another, but I think the thematic importance here is that no one in Dorne knows. Tywin knew the importance of the certainty that Gregor was punished in ASOS Jaime IX:

"Undoubtedly. I swore as much in the letter I sent to Prince Doran with his brother's body. But it must be seen to be the sword of the King's Justice that slays him, not a poisoned spear. Heal him."

But here, now, the Dornish themselves are having their own treatment returned to them: they are being told one thing, and no evidence.

But perhaps Nym's warning has another meaning, with a more general application. If the truth comes out, then the teller risks all. Nym's warning is about Cersei, but it gains more broad thematic resonance if it's also true about Doran.

In fact, with this quote, Nym is providing the entire reasoning for the next step of Doran's plan: to "beard Darkstar in his den"—a mission that Doran believes is so vital that he is sending his personal security, Areo Hotah, to do the job. Areo Hotah is the perfect man for the mission—and the only man who could do it—because of his two most notable traits: he is lethal, and he knows all but says nothing.

As Lady Nym points out, If Doran were lying, then Gerold could not be suffered to be left alive, because if he were to be left alive, the "the truth will out" and the liar would be "exposed as a liar before all the Seven Kingdoms".

1.7 Doran supposedly "reveals" Balon's "secret mission"

Finally, Balon's final and worst offense, the one that finally collects all of the Sand Snakes to Doran's side and convinces them to join him.

Dorne still has friends at court. Friends who tell us things we were not meant to know. This invitation Cersei sent us is a ruse. Trystane is never meant to reach King's Landing. On the road back, somewhere in the kingswood, Ser Balon's party will be attacked by outlaws, and my son will die. I am asked to court only so that I may witness this attack with my own eyes and thereby absolve the queen of any blame. Oh, and these outlaws? They will be shouting, 'Halfman, Halfman,' as they attack. Ser Balon may even catch a quick glimpse of the Imp, though no one else will."

Balon tells Doran that a ship wouldn't be safe for a return trip, and that Myrcella and Trystane must needs return to King's Landing overland, but Doran informs the Sand Snakes of the reality of Balon’s plot to harm Trystane....

Or, is it that Doran only tells us that Balon plots this, even though we are never shown anything to back up this claim? Rather than taking Doran's word here, without any other information to back it up, what if we were to investigate whether or not any of this is the truth?

To start, I want to point out how Doran's so-called "friends at court" is a deliciously vague phrase. This phrase has sparked many a theory—who are these friends? Who at court is informing to Dorne? Taena? Varys? Moon Boy for all I know?

I wonder instead if these friends are even real. It's a vague enough phrase as to handwave any questions—Dorne has spies, sure. It's believable without needing any more evidence. But then notice what Doran says almost immediately afterward, in recruiting Lady Nym and Tyene to his cause:

That task will be yours, Nymeria. The Lannisters will not like it, no more than they liked it when I sent them Oberyn, but they dare not refuse. We need a voice in council, an ear at court. Be careful, though. King's Landing is a pit of snakes."

They need an ear at court? But I thought they had an ear at court, the one which revealed Cersei's top secret plans?

And on that subject—this isn't a rock solid argument alone, but it's worth saying—that these plans are pretty elaborate for something Cersei could come up with. Cersei is clever, sure, but her plans are rarely as well-developed and intricate as this one. Take her plan to kill Bronn, for example, from Cersei V:

"I . . . I would sleep more easily of a night if I were to hear that Ser Bronn had suffered a . . . a mishap . . . whilst hunting, perhaps."

This is not a plan with many moving parts, nor does it take much political intricacies into consideration: just take him hunting and make it look like an accident. Note that this was basically identical to her plan to kill Robert, too: take him hunting and make it look like an accident. It seems unlike Cersei to design this Trystane plan, much less to involve Tyrion's name—she seems too preoccupied with the possibility that Tyrion really is out there to use his reputation as a ploy, much less to take advantage of his former clansmen in the wood.

When I've brought this question up before, though, people are quick to jump to this line from Cersei in AFFC Cersei IV:

"His long wait is almost done. I am sending Balon Swann to Sunspear, to deliver him the head of Gregor Clegane." Ser Balon would have another task as well, but that part was best left unsaid.

Ser Balon would have another task, one better left unsaid. I recognize that this sounds suspicious... but I'll get back to this in a moment. I don't believe this other "task" is the plan Doran describes.

1.8 The truth of Trystane's trip to King's Landing

More importantly, it's much easier to see a different problem in Doran's story, one which our dutiful Watcher sees plainly: Balon never asked for Trystane. Doran offered Trystane—while claiming in the same breath that it was Cersei's idea all along. Hotah saw the truth of it earlier in the chapter.

Midnight was close at hand when Prince Doran turned to the white knight and said, "Ser Balon, I have read the letter that you brought me from our gracious queen. Might I assume that you are familiar with its contents, ser?" Hotah saw the knight tense. "I am, my lord. Her Grace informed me that I might be called upon to escort her daughter back to King's Landing. King Tommen has been pining for his sister and would like Princess Myrcella to return to court for a short visit."

Note that here, Balon apparently divulges the content of said letter: That he might escort Myrcella back to King's Landing. Balon himself says nothing about Trystane being mentioned by Cersei whatsoever.

Instead, it's Doran and Arianne that bring up Trystane:

Princess Arianne made a sad face. "Oh, but we have all grown so fond of Myrcella, ser. She and my brother Trystane have become inseparable." "Prince Trystane would be welcome in King's Landing as well," said Balon Swann. "King Tommen would wish to meet him, I am sure. His Grace has so few companions near his own age." "The bonds formed in boyhood can last a man for life," said Prince Doran. "When Trystane and Myrcella wed, he and Tommen will be as brothers. Queen Cersei has the right of it. The boys should meet, become friends. Dorne will miss him, to be sure, but it is past time Trystane saw something of the world beyond the walls of Sunspear." "I know King's Landing will welcome him most warmly."

Balon doesn't ask for Trystane, he says Trystane "would be welcome" if he came, once his attachment to Myrcella has been brought up. Then, it's Doran who says "the boys should meet," right after saying how "Queen Cersei has the right of it".

Queen Cersei only asked for Myrcella! Balon never suggests that Trystane is part of the crown's plan. Nevertheless, Doran is saying that she has the right of it, making it sound like he's only acquiescing to the Queen's plan. Since we're seeing through Hotah's eyes, though, the intricacy of that detail is included along all the rest.

And thus is my rebuttal of the idea that Cersei is thinking of this task back in the small council. Cersei thinks how Balon would have "another task"—we hear that other task, from Balon. His primary task, and his only task so far as the Small Council knew, was to deliver the skull. His second, secret task was to retrieve Myrcella—this is the task unsaid by Cersei but said by Balon. Cersei knew that was better left unsaid because it's a selfish and strategically poor decision—Myrcella was a sign of trust with Dorne that she's trying to undo. It's only Doran and Arianne that bring Trystane into it.

1.9 GRRM is such a good fucking writer

That lie about "Cersei's plan" is yet another appearance of the way that we need to be asking ourselves: are we, the readers, learning something for a certainty, or are we watching one character be told a story by another character?

It's also, more pressingly, another example of how much we should be looking closely at Doran's words and doubting the stories that he is telling intradiegetically. Because Doran is a talker, not a doer, and when he is talking, he is, above all, lying.

Finally, towards the end of the chapter, there is a very GRRM interaction, that leaves a clear final note on how much you just can never trust what Doran is saying:

"We leave for the Water Gardens at first light." We may depart by midday, then, Hotah thought.

It's a very little thing, but it's consistent, and a brilliant bit of character work. Obviously, there is the metaphor for Doran's late, late plans. As with the overripe oranges in Hotah's first chapter, Doran is surrounded by evidence that he waits too long without acting.

But there is another aspect: Hotah has known Doran long enough, and knows Doran well enough, to know that you cannot take Doran's word for it. Even with planning something as simple as a trip to the Water Gardens, Doran will say one thing and another will happen.

GRRM loves to have characters' aspects be represented wholly throughout their whole being. Think about the characters who smell foul to represent their foul nature (or characters, like Littlefinger, who chew mint leaves to cover his breath in a metaphor for his gilded persona covering his malicious personality).

Doran, wheelchair bound, cannot act, only talk... but words are wind, and his more than most. To understand just how much Doran is like this, he's shown through the POV of his perfect foil: Areo Hotah, who never talks, only watches, and acts... and Hotah understands the truth of the matter.

He won't tell, though, he just thinks it. He gets a single line of dialogue that chapter:

"That is not for me to say, my prince."

No wonder Doran likes him so much.

In the companion post to this one, I'll be returning to Gerold Dayne's scenes and attempt to look at them as though I were Areo Hotah, not Arianne. What is the truth of what we get to watch Gerold do? What kind of man is he, really? And might he be worthy of the title Sword of the Morning, after all?

#asoiaf meta #jozor thoughts #asoiaf analysis #Dorne Told not Shown #darkstar #doran martell #valyrianscrolls #Doran Martell and Gerold Dayne

30 notes · View notes

gabessquishytum · 9 months

Note

okay i am very much still thinking about queen calliope and her warprizes dream and hob. and especially like... dream Does Not take this whole thing well!! hob is honestly very happy with his new lot in life, he's very okay with being a pampered pet, he just wishes dream could be happy too.

dream could be happy, honestly, but he's far too proud to accept a place as calliope's prize, he won't stop acting out, and calliope realizes very quickly that punishing him only makes him worse. so she tries out a new tactic -- when dream misbehaves, she punishes hob.

it's not that she's cruel about it! hob still gets pampered, he still gets to sit at her feet and get his hair petted and be fed treats, he still gets to cuddle in bed, he still gets to serve his queen with his mouth. but he gets locked in a sturdy chastity belt, and calliope makes it very clear that every time dream acts out? she won't be punishing dream for it. she'll be adding days to hob's time in chastity.

hob is... kind of deeply embarrassed by how much the whole thing turns him on -- the denial itself, the objectification of being used against dream like this, the helplessness of it all. the belt leaves his ass free, and calliope has a strap that makes him come sooo quickly when it gets it in his pussy... but he can't come from anal alone, so it just leaves him more desperate than before. calliope even lets dream fuck him, which ends with hob's poor cunt so wet that he's leaking around the belt while hob cries and sobs and begs for dream to let him come.

thankfully, dream has a much easier time setting aside his own pride when it's for hob's sake. he's maybe never going to be as enthusiastic a pet as hob is, but he settles in quite happily. and as a reward, calliope even lets dream have the first go at hob once he's out of his belt! that time hob winds up sobbing because he's come too many times to count <3

-🐈‍⬛

I'm also thinking big thoughts about this one. And I absolutely love the idea of Hob being essentially used as a whipping boy and taking Dream’s punishments for him. Calliope knows that Hob is a good little subby slut who will enjoy everything that he's given, and also that Dream's big soft heart won't be able to stand the sight of Hob’s "suffering" for too long. Theyre a perfect pair, like two puzzle pieces. Calliope is going to take such good care of them both.

Poor Hob truly can't remember the last time he was deprived of sex or something to fill him. Every night for the last however many years he's had Dream’s cock inside him, or at the very least a toy, and sometimes even one of the other knights if Dream was too busy. Now he's empty and no matter how much he begs, Calliope will only pat his head and tell him run off and be a good boy. And if he tries to so much as wiggle his finger beneath the harsh metal chastity belt, he knows that he'll spend the rest of the day with his hands bound behind his back.

Dream is in turmoil because a) Hob is suffering from lack of orgasms and b) Dream is also suffering because he can't fuck Hob’s pussy when it's locked up. It's the first time he's actually felt any insensitive to behave well, and Calliope is so pleased to notice the improvement in Dream’s behaviour. He'll always be a subborn brat but it's gratifying to see him submit, relax... and even take her strap like a good boy.

Hob is overjoyed when the chastity belt comes off, although he sort of misses it after a while... Dream knows that he'll always have a pass to misbehave every once in a while because Hob occasionally gets a craving for a punishment. The arrangement works very well - Hob gets to enjoy a spanking, and Dream gets a reminder to keep his pride in check.

But most of all Calliope just really wants to make her prizes happy. And make them cum a lot. Even Dream will gladly agree that she's very good at both of those things (Hob would also agree, but he's too busy being a good pet and licking up the mess he made earlier <3)

#🐈‍⬛ anon #the sandman #dream x hob x calliope #immortal throuple #nsft #trans hob

36 notes · View notes

mermaidsirennikita · 2 months

Note

could you recommend some old fashioned historical romance books like bodice ripper vibes?

For sure!

I would definitely recommend trying the four J's, of course.

Johanna Lindsey—admittedly the one I'm least acquainted with even though she GOT ME INTO THIS SHIT and I own five billion of her books in paperback (and one in hardback) but she was hugely influential for a reason, so...

My favorite of the ones I read is Fires of Winter, but I admit that is extremely noncon for the first half or so. Maybe what you're looking for, then? It's a viking book in which the heroine is a Celtic woman kidnapped and enslaved in the beginning. The hero is a viking warrior/noble who does assault her, but then they fall in love. She's super defiant. There's a lot of fucking crazy shit that happens (someone might fight a bear)? Hidden pregnancy, her hating his ass until she doesn't, enemies to lovers to the maaax whole nine yards.

A softer Lindsey would be the western Angel, which is about a heroine who accidentally starts a war between feuding families and then has to have a hired gun as her bodyguard. She shoots his hat off when they first meet and owns a panther. He's all "grr I've killed five billion people" but is actually a massive softie. You could technically call their first time dubcon (it's a marriage of convenience that's supposed to be temporary but he gets horny, basically) but she's very into it.

Judith McNaught--A CLASSIQUE. Whitney, My Love is probably most iconic for being a bodice ripper, but it's VERY intense and has a true alpha alpha alpha ASSHOLE hero who horsewhips the heroine at one point and rapes her at another. There is an edited edition out there without this. WML is very influential, but it's not an easy read.

A softer one would ironically be the medieval A Kingdom of Dreams, in which the heroine is a nightmare Scottish woman kidnapped by the English hedro, who quickly realizes that she's A Lot. Forced marriage, bickering galore, it's honestly very funny and has a FABULOUS ending. Tons of chemistry.

Julie Garwood--The Bride, obviously! Scottish border marriage, the hero is an iconically hot yet somewhat socially awkward laird who takes the English heroine to his home in an arranged situation, and she's very HARUMPH about it until she adapts and exhibits her healer talents, thus winning everyone over. Also, he won't bed her until she wears his plaid!!! Has one of the greatest MINE moments every committed to text. "What do we call her?" "You call her MINE"

Jude Deveraux--This one is a time travel book, but it still counts because of how much time is spent in the medieval era, imo. A Knight in Shining Armor. The heroine is a woman in the 80s whose fiance abandons her on vacation (lol) and she sobs in a church, which brings a knight in shining armor to her rescue. Except he's kind of a ridiculous loser? She ends up back in his time due to Twists.

I would also recommend Anne Stuart books like To Love a Dark Lord, Shadowdance, and A Rose at Midnight are great, though they are pretty dark... So be careful, proceed with caution. But so good!

Laura Kinsale is great! She's a beautiful writer, and she'll give you the ASSHOLE heroes. But an incredible story, too. Try Flowers from the Storm and For My Lady's Heart, then Shadowheart.

Elizabeth Lowell's medieval trilogy is fabulous and gives full bodice ripper vibes.

#romance novel blogging #romance novels #book recs

10 notes · View notes

spaceless-vacuum · 1 year

Note

I saw your yandere Link x Zelda x royal reader and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it.

I read this somewhere so be aware that this idea isn't mine, but basically it said that the first course of action with a royal!reader would be to try an arrange a marriage between reader and Zelda and I agree with that 100%, it's the safest option and the path with the least resistance in getting reader to love them. Reader can't fight back because their entire family and kingdom would be in agreement that Zelda is their betrothed (if anyone disagrees, the marriage would happen reguardless. If push comes to shove though, Hylia's champion would gladly take them aside to 'have a couple of words').

I also think this is really cool because politics <3, and that there could actually be an obstacle for Link and Zelda.

Betrothal (I was going to do multiple obstacles but I very clearly had a favorite and I'm too tired to continue)

My personal favorite: a fiance(e)! Imagine Link and Zelda being memorized by this royal from a distant kingdom, and throwing everything they have to try and woo you, only to get their hearts crushed when you reveal that you're arranged to marry another.

This can go many ways depending on how you feel.

Maybe you bond with Link and Zelda, scheduling regular visits to Hyrule in order to 'promote/strengthen healthy ties' (in actually the three of you chat all throughout the night: you explaining stories about your own kingdom, link recalling tales of various monsters he's defeated, and Zelda info dumping about various discoveries or castle affairs (she thinks her stories aren't as interesting, but you reassure her that they are, and can maybe he important for ruling in your own kingdom, much to her delight (not that you would ever get to rule your own kingdom, not if they could help it)). The three of you also explore the castle and it's various secrets and rooms, or rather, it's you exploring and them either following closely behind or even leading you there themself (though it's definitely Zelda leading, as link is still very much an active knight that needs to be behind you two at all times). Maybe they were just getting the paperwork done to finally officially start the courting of you three two, when they receive a tearful letter from you, explaining that you are to be wed to a royal/nobleperson against your wishes, and how you wanted nothing more than freedom ironic considering who you were writing to. Maybe you don't even write, maybe you just sneak off into the nearest carriage heading for Hyrule. Poor Link and Zelda get almost no warning when they are called into the throne room, only to see that it's you and boy do you not look good. They barely get out of the throne room before you all but sob their arms (once again, probably Zelda's considering she's the closest, but link is very quick on joining you two), crying about how you were forced into an arrangement where you're set to marry another. Link and Zelda can only make eye contact with each other before trying to calm you down enough so that you stop crying, because the sight of your tears breaks their hearts, as well as brings forth a rage and consuming desire to personally take down both of those dreaded kingdoms that decided to try and take you away from them.

(To make it even worse, I imagine that in this case, reader might actually have wanted to marry them as well. Those two are probably the only people to treat them as a person and not a royal figure, and you can't tell me that the topic of marriage just never came up whenever reader visited the castle, and they can be very persuasive when they want to be. I just imagine reader trying to apologize to them through tears, because they feel like the arranged marriage was their fault. Link and Zelda are quick to reassure reader that no, it was not their fault, but this entire ordeal only cements the fact, in their mind, reader cannot take care of themself, so they will do it for them.)

By the time you finally calm down enough to go to sleep, Zelda and Link (who probably isn't much help politically, but he wanted to try his best anyways (push comes to shove, he can find out where your betrothed lives and plan an 'accident')) are working overtime to try and find a way to get you out of the arrangement. Whatever the other is offering, they'll double, trying to poison the other party's reputation so that unification is ill-advised, even pushing forward that initial offer for Zelda to marry them. Don't get them wrong, if push comes to shove they'll just take you. You're already here, and knowing what awaits you back home, you aren't too inclined to leave.

If you do like you're betrothed, it gets a bit more difficult for them, however their actions relatively stay the same.

Maybe they're still drafting the letter asking for your hand in marriage; they know that you aren't too keen on the idea, but they're positive that they can eventually get through to you, especially if your family approves. Their plans and hearts are crushed however, when you come prancing into whatever room they were in, declaring that you are a taken royal! You happily ramble on about it, it's to some random person you had mentioned offhandedly before, someone they barely knew and wish they could crush. They could only listen to you halfheartedly, Zelda being polite and pretending to be happy alongside you and Link having to resort to the straight-faced mask of knighthood, knowing that his true face underneath was anything but supportive. Both of them only really cared for the important details: name, family, and date set.

They try to sprinkle seeds of doubt in your mind: apparently they treated the last partner they were set to marry so badly that they broke off the engagement for good, their entire kingdom is on the verge of collapse and that taking it on via marriage would doom yours aswell, they even tried to bring up assassination attempts supposedly increasing around that area.

They never did it in a way that made it seem like their idea, rather the occasional comment that would resonate with you with the hopes that you would think it's your idea and break it off cleanly, allowing them to slither their way into your heart. Anything that openly stuck with you, maybe a thoughtful hum in regards to their comments or a 'I didn't know that' would cause them to focus on that aspect and drive it in deeper. They still draft the letters like in the previous paragraph, but this time they're done without your knowledge, and you're still going to stay if all else fails, but it's in a much more typical yandere style.

(I find the idea that the two find out about reader's marriage just via wedding invite incredibly funny. The two just run around like headless chickens, trying to find a solution while being desperately low on time. I know that their solution is probably to just kidnap reader, but the idea of them completely showing up, seeing you in your wedding outfit, only to burst out of their seat during the time for objection with a 5 page document of the other spouses dirty laundry or, Hylia forbid, infidelity much more entertaining).

Off topic ramble that doesn't fit in to my idea but I wanted to share anyway.

This makes me wonder though, if reader was AFAB would King Rhoam even set it up/support, reader's parents, the rest of Hyrule's citizens? If push comes to shove regarding an heir, those three can pick up a random orphan like 'guess what :D', that or link can just become a king consort (or reader being a royal consort, depending on Link and Zelda's relationship status). Also a line of thought, is polyamory/polygamy a thing in royal families? It was more heard of for kings to have multiple consorts than queens, so would that still apply? Would Hyrule be a patriarchy or a matriarchy? I'm assuming it's still patriarchal because of the kings, but Zelda has always been important throughout history. Also, it's Zelda, not just any queen, alongside the hero of Hyrule, so would that change anything? I didn't really mean anything by this so these are quite literally just rambles I wanted to share.

Link would so gladly play wingman to Zelda if she asked for your hand are you kidding! I can see him unaware that he is also so sickly in love with you and just comforting you over the arranged marriage. Even if his words aren't as comforting because they're just the same nonsense the nobles and your parents have been spreading, he's still there to provide comfort and he likes to take you on walks. Showing you his favourite pathway through the woods so the two of you can get some fresh air and so you can clear your mind. You feel like you're going insane; everyone is pushing you to this and it all seems too sweet. Like a pie made with too much sugar it's all too much. Everything lines up too well and it is wrapped up in such a neat tight bow- you are restricted to a golden cage, and it's still a cage!

Yet it's a cage that will allow your kingdom to prosper. You wanted to marry out of love and not necessity. Zelda is all too polite or cordial for it to seem like it's just an obligation. On the surface she seems too calm and collected. There's no slip in the mask. You can tell by the look in her eyes the way the mask seems to drop as she calculates a response that will further push you into a corner. You can tell that not all is as it seems- she's just so distant. The time she spends with you seems so much like she's trying to hide what she's truly feeling and as more time in this country passes you're wondering what it is you're missing.

The most genuine moment you've spent with her was when the two of you passed each other in the hall and she was caught off guard. She didn't expect to see you today and you could tell she was surprised. Not preparing what to say or do she just stood there as you smiled and made polite conversation. She seemed taken back and blushed, laughing even as she tilted her head and examined you. Watching the way your mouth curled up in a smile and the way you held your hands as if each movement you made had to be watched carefully and categorised for later examination; it made you feel more like an expensive doll than a person. She walked by you as the conversation continued and her eyes never left your body. Looking you up and down and laughing as you blushed at such a frankly sudden gesture of interest.

You knew she wanted you but for what? That was what bothered you. She gained little politically from this and all the answers she threw out at meetings seemed to only work to get you closer to the heart of the kingdom. She said she wanted to genuinely get to know you but spent little time having heart to hearts. Behind closed doors she was just as calculating as ever but more touchy. She was testing the waters, testing you to see where your guard dropped and what buttons she could push. She claimed she wanted to drop all manners of civility so the two of you could really get to know each other but she never dropped the second mask she was wearing. What was it covering up?

Link was there to help and you knew this as he took you out often for walks but it was so hard to try and broach the subject of “this woman terrifies me.” and “she's still your friend isn't she?”. You kept a polite distance from him and mostly stared at nature as you walked. Maybe it was in the way you were so casual. Not making note of your nobility and acting like you were just another one of the people here earned his respect. You would do well in Hyrule and away from all of those nobles that only wanted to use you and his people for their own gain. This place was so much nicer for you and you wouldn't even have to worry about what was coming next. He would help you come to terms with your marriage and be here to comfort you; he knew what Zelda wanted and found it cute to watch her gush about you when the two of them talked in private. She was right, you were just so tempting it was impossible not to want to take a bite out of you.

. . .

You're not Hylian. You're not from Hyrule. Yet you wouldn't be able to tell this form the way you acted. You had no problem adhering to and respecting their customs and even seemed to enjoy them. Happily you shared your own countries' rules while not forcing anyone to adhere to them during the duration of your stay, rather bringing it up was a form of genuine pride in being able to share with them what they had shared with you. Allowing yourself to relax and drop the layers of what royal dignitaries required the other two followed suit. They were much more interested in the way you acted and talked; everything about you was just so hypnotising. Hyrule has its fair share of troubles when it comes to diplomas. Every time Ganon reincarnates he has the chance to wage war on Hyrule or fall to the triforce of power again and it's always a bit of a hassle explaining why stopping him is so important every time it comes up because he's only after Hyrule after all, so why should anyone else care?

They don't have to worry about that with you. You seem so genuine in wanting to help but as they spend more time with you it seems that your expressions of joy come from another place; you love being in Hyrule and truly want to learn more about them and its history. Why do they reincarnate turns into you slowly explaining you know how draining it must be but that it must be something they're more than happy to do because why else would they keep coming back? It just clicks with them, that sudden understanding that you get it. You understand that there's a burden they so gladly carry and you just want to know more about it and them, and by goodness are they happy to talk.

The meetings you three host slowly turn into hangouts that are spent just talking. Explaining Zelda as a concept and then how the hero continues into Link and then getting to know these two personally is certainly a way to promote healthy ties however it's mostly just an excuse to chat and hang out and everyone around the castle all agree it's so cute to see how close the three of you are. When you have to leave there's a lot of hugging and goodbyes and they promise to visit at some point and you swear you'll write and keep in close contact. Yet that isn't enough, they've had a taste and they won't let you leave. They know that you'll never get to rule your own kingdom and you'll probably just be wed off to some noble brat and the idea of it makes their blood curl.

No one else is allowed to lay their hands on you; but how do they get you to stay?

The idea was brought up by Link, he didn't even know it was a good plan until Zelda picked it up and workshopped it. You're bound to be set to marry a noble and if they ask for your hand first then your kingdom will only mark the price up higher. Anyone who doesnt play the game of politics by gaining more than what they gave is a fool after all. So Link says why don't they undercut a deal; then they don't have to give all that much if the person who was offering the price before was so much worse. Have someone come in and set the bar so low so the two can swoop in. That no matter what Zelda offers it so far exceeds them so what else could your kingdom ask for? They were already getting a better deal.

Zelda adored this idea and worked out a plan. There's more nobles to greet and talk to now that you're gone; and the timing of one unruly noble who was obviously no better than a rat seemed the perfect candidate. All she had to do was drop your name a few times, cementing you as a proper deal while not talking you up too much to make you seem too good of a prize. She would never allow him to keep you but Link was right. This way they could have you running into their arms instead and that would be so much sweeter than trapping you outright. You can't run away from them this way, and the game seemed fun.

The plan was simple and went smoothly. The letter you wrote to them bemoaning your fate after hearing the news- asking for advice on how to escape this was music to the Princesses ears. Her and Link invited you over to Hyrule and said if nothing else you could always run away, not that they want to worry you but darling have you not heard the rumours about that man! In truth he's nothing more than a royal brat but you don't need to know that and with how little interest you are showing him it's only a matter of time before you run into their arms to get away from him. When you show up in the castle they quickly wrap you up in their arms and swear to you that you will never have to leave again. Why would you need to after all?

Why return to those kingdoms that have only betrayed you when you can stay here? It suits you so much better. Just never leave and don't break the rules they set and you'll be alright darling.

The letter asking for your hand in marriage is only sent after you're already in Hyrule. It adds more pressure because they aren't keeping you by force so there's hardly any steady ground for your kingdom to complain, and the other prince can't say or do anything as he wasn't a suitable marriage candidate against Zelda by any means. Link is not much help as the negotiations and price for your hand is discussed but he is there to comfort you and asks if anyone needs to be taken care of. He'll happily plan for accidents to happen if need be! Until then he's running around with you, chasing bugs and picking up flowers to show to you. He's trying so hard to calm you down and make you feel at home. It's so sweet and you really do feel better surrounded by people trying so hard to make you a part of their lives.

How could you ever leave with a reception like that? You would have married them before if asked but this is the nail in the coffin. You can't go back and you wouldn't have wanted to so it all works out well. Even if a little startled you'll soon settle into a routine and bit by bit the worry fades and your new role starts to enter into view. Zelda slowly cements herself into your life and more than that she slowly makes sure you can't leave her through political means, and physical. Let's be real, kidnapping a princess and putting her in a tower away from the world may sound harsh but she's had her fair share with villains doing it to her so she knows a thing or two. With Link here you're not only royally (hah!) screwed, you're also dealing with someone who thinks it's so funny and hilarious that you think you could even attempt to get away from him.

. . .

If you're leaving and just suddenly drop the fact that you're already being handed off, oh boy!

Oh lord, the rush of the two to try and find something- anything to make you leave your spouse is only countered by the first thought on their minds being to plant evidence. Any marriage can be ended by the right glove being placed on the right nightstand. Leaving small pieces of evidence around where not you, but other nobles will find it, your mother or father overhearing rumours that don't make sense but it's hard to trace or find out where they came from. One lady of the court claims she caught the trace of perfume on your spouse's neck and she knows it wasn't yours. Another says she heard or saw something and none of these rumours can be traced back to any one person but everyone claims they've heard or saw something.

The entire time you're stuck in this negative feedback loop. If you go through with the marriage you may be able to overcome this rough patch but what if it's true? What if what everyones saying is true and you're only just now learning about it? Your significant other was able to hide their infidelity when no one was looking but now that there's more trained eyes around they can no longer hide their tendencies. I mean this is a royal wedding after all- and arranged or not the way the call falls is that you don't know too much about the other person until the marriage is planned and the date set. The stress of the planted evidence gets to you most of all and of course just on time your friends arrive to assure you that everything will be ok.

They don't drop the fact that they know at all when they first arrive. This is especially hard for Link because he just wants to be able to yell at the top of his lungs at what a wretch you're marrying and take you away but these situations need a delicate hand and a trained mind from a different source, and Zelda is practically holding Link back the entire time. Hand on his sword arm to stop him from challenging your soon to be lover to a duel. Truly, if he made the mistake of just running him through with his sword the consequences could be dealt with after.

I mean how hard is it to hide a body? That gutless worm could never be a good match for you and his foul mood is easy to tell by the cold uncaring look in his eye that only seems to soften when you walk into the room. He would do anything to stop this wedding and is ready to carry out even the most callus orders the moment Zelda relaxes her grip.

For her part the only thing stopping Zelda from using a more heavy hand is… nothing. She has already set aside a room and a kidnapping date, the time you're leaving and the location your honeymoon will take place has already been found out and you're not leaving without a tail who's prepared to do whatever is necessary. Making it obvious is unnecessary. She's planting seeds of infidelity, Link is helping her with the kidnapping and carrying you back to Hyrule, and by the end of it this will all seem like one huge tragedy that all started once you sent the invite to them.

Inviting your best friends to the wedding, showing them your gown and god all they can think about is how good it would look on the floor of Hyrule castle and the beauty of you in all of your glory is fading because it's not for them! You're marrying some brat who's never going to see the light of day ever again because they made the idiodic choice of having you, they could have chosen anyone else and been safe but they were stupid enough to try and take what already belonged to them. You get to keep the dress but it's stained with a bit of blood by the time you reach Hyrule. The image of you smiling at them as you walk down the aisle is so bittersweet.

The only reason Zelda doesn't throw a fit right there is in no way because she needs to protect her image, damn that no one here has any say in what she says or does, but it's only because she's calm as she sits next to Link watching you pass them as you walk to some insufferable noble brat. It is ONLY because she knows more than everyone here that you two are destined to fail. Your spouse will be dead and the tears that fall down her cheeks are from anger and denial as you walk away from her. She should have kept you at the castle before you ever had the chance to leave but that's ok. You're never going to leave ever again. She knows you'll whine and cry as you are carried off and is so excited about what you'll say. Will you beg for that traitor's life? Swearing allegiance to her just to save his life would be so bittersweet but she can't wait to see the look on your face as you thrash and try to get away as she steals you away. She smiles as she looks at you and fantasises about being there to not only take the life you were promised away but to comfort you with a new one. One much safer and better she will assure you. She'll be the one to hold you from now on.

Link is only kept calm having been assured of the plan and because he knows he's going to be the one to carry it out. His sword has been switched out for several hidden daggers and his fingers twitch every few seconds as he counts the exits and the number of guards. Keeping himself busy by refusing to listen until it's your turn to speak. He can't help it, your voice is so lovely even if the words shouldn't be said to that brat. He curses himself for not acting sooner and wonders why he didn't place the blade in the spouses throat while he was getting ready. The plan to ambush your carriage is already in motion and he can't wait to see the look on that thieves face as the princess carries you off and he leaves to take care of the trash that soiled your good name by tying you to him. Vemrins need to be exterminated.

. . .

I like those rambles and I have to admit I think Rhoam would have plenty of things to say but not anything about you being AFAB mostly just about you and the marriage in general. He doesn’t mind you as a person if he's being honest but he would be worried about how this whole marriage thing would take Zelda away from her work or what you could do to help her with unlocking her powers but it really depends.

I loved the last part to this, just the idea of Link and Zelda with deranged looks on their face carrying you away from the scene of the crime. Good luck getting away from them!

#eye write #yandere link x reader #Yandere zelda x reader #legend of zelda #yandere legend of zelda #link x reader #zelda x reader #royal reader #kidnapping #arranged marriage #tw #cw #request

90 notes · View notes

zai-doodles · 4 months

Note

What are your ship hcs for fairytail

Or more specifically I guess what canon/implied relationships would you keep/get rid of and what relationships would you add

This is another long one omg I'm lving my best life rn

Ok for those who care, I separate my rewrite/ rewritten version of the characters from canon, so unless I specifically say like "I hate the canon version of this ship" calm down its not that deep

My canon adjacent ships that I like (meaning its the canon version of the characters) are:

Nalu, gajevy, erzajane, freed/laxus (idk is it fraxus??) And that's kinda it

ONTO MY REWRITE

Ok ok so obviously I've been very vocal about acearo natsu so he's vibing with all his friends he's living his best life.

Erzajane is still here being the best bc I live for the like, knight/demon dynamic of early them and then the slow healing and just jsnfnsknd

And of course we have lucy/lisanna/juvia, the must self indulgent nonsense ever let's go

Cana has kissed like everyone in her age range at least once and had a one night stand with most of them (her and loke had a strong situationship going on before lucy showed up)

Speaking of loke, he still has a crush on lucy but it's much more like, lowkey and doesn't really go anywhere other than maybe an awkward date where they agree to stay friends

Loke and gray r very much fwb idc don't look at me

Elfman and evergreen are my token straights but it's ok bc they r t4t

Lucy is so bisexual and has had a crush on so many of the ft members, specifically mira and erza like if they ever asked her out she would be on the floor sobbing but it's a v puppy love crush so it doesn't go anywhere it's just cute

High key everyone is in love with erza and mira at least a little bit, like if u like women u have a crush on at least one of them fr

This also leads to levy who def had a small thing with cana but I feel like she realized that romance is a big part of relationships for her so it didn't last long

Freed is still very in love with laxus at first but after the battle of fairy tail he learns to let go and move on as a person and THATS who laxus falls for and idk if I'd make them canon bc I kinda like that growth for freed but also I love gay ppl so idk im cooking

As u can see I'm a huge multi shipper and kinda just go off vibes so if u have questions about specific ships and my thoughts yall can always ask as long as we r respectful and remember this is all in good fun and no one is a above Crack ships leave me be❤️

#fairy tail #zai talks

12 notes · View notes

lailosh · 8 months

Note

HOLIWISSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!

Hope ur taking care and life's isnt to heavy on ya

So i was wondering...........u like....if u don't sharing with us

Bit of oc lore👀?

Specialy that story of urs where the gal gets reicarnated and falls in love with the prince, not sure if it has a title yet skksksk

Wanna learn more about it <3333

Hope u have a good one 💕

You want to know about... my oc lore? Oh boy, never had anyone ask about them before ngl I'm a little nervous now (also, I'm doing great thanks for asking 💕)

Okay, alright! Let's start with some little facts about the two main characters shall we?

Iola (it's an "i" btw), our beautiful female lead, was once your average 19 yo girl who worked at a small bakery on the outskirts of the city to support herself back when she was still on earth. She was an orphan, had a few good friends, and absolutely loved reading romance in her free time!

One of her favorite romance novels/ webcomic actually was one about a poor noble lady who her mother insisted that she goes to the royal hall to have some fun since she never went before and and also because it was the crown prince's birthday! a big event really. And after the prince saw her at the ball, he fell in love with her and now is doing everything to be with her. A cliche story I know but Iola kept reading it because, well, the art style nice! and um... She may or may not had little crush on one of the supporting characters (that would be our guy Leonhard!).

She's not sure how it started... I mean he was handsome yes, but so was everybody else really. He also didn't have that big of a role in the story aside from protection the young lady like he prince has ordered him, but she thought it was cute how attentive and caring he was when taking care of her.

Fast-forward after a few more chapters, Iola was devastated to find out that her favorite character got killed trying protect the prince and his soon-to-be bride. So much so that she didn't notice when she accidentally turned on the kitchen stove which led to her dying in her sleep due the the leaking gas.

... Or did she? Because next thing she knows she's waking up in a completely different place surrounded by all these strange people who were sobbing and cheering about how happy they were to have her back after she's been in a coma so long.

Confused (rightfully so), she tries to ask them who are they and what's going on. But her current body is so week that she can't move a muscle or speak. Fortunately, and after some time, she slowly regained her health as well the memories of the body that she now possess.

At first, she didn't realize that she got transferred into the novel that she was reading. So she spent most of her time trying to get used her new home and the fact that she has someone to call family now (it felt so weird to her to call a strange man 'father' the first couple of times, but she got used to it... eventually).

She actually realized she was inside the novel after her father introduced her to the captain of the royal knights one day when they went out to see the horses (apparently, and her new dad was a very important nobleman who owns most of the animal farms and stables in the country).

After realizing that, she made it her main mission to get closer to him but to also try and prevent him from dying like he did in the original novel.

Now for Leonhard! As I previously mentioned he is the captain of the royal knights, he's 23 years old, and even though he's a person of a higher rank, most people avoid interacting with him because they find him to be intimidating and scary looking because of his scars. That's why he doesn't have any real friends or any other kind of relationship with anyone (aside from the queen and the crown prince)

He used to have a family before, but his poor mother died of the plague when he was little and his father sold him to a slave master for like 3 silver coins because he didn't want to take care of him anymore.

After that Leonhard was forced to become an underground ring fighter at a very young age to survive, that went on for almost 7 years until the queen and her knights came to arrest the slave master and everyone that was involved in that incident. Recognizing his strength (and feeling sorry for the pitiful boy), the queen took him in under her care and encouraged him to become a knight to work for her.

Feeling forever in debit for the queen, he accepted her offer and did just that. training day after day none stop until he became an official knight at 15, as well as the youngest royal captain the country has ever seen at 18, and also receiving the title of fearless hero at 22 after winning a war in only 3 years.

So you could imagine his surprise and confusion when the famous ill daughter of a well known noble man suddenly appears in his life demanding to be his friend, because why would she want that? He can't understand her reasoning at all. Not to mention all the bizarre things that she does and say all the time, and yet... He can't help but feel drawn to everything about her...

Hcjskxjslkk okay I should stop now or else I'll never shut up about them hehe

But yeah! This is roughly the lore of these two! I hope that it was a little interesting and that I didn't bore you too much talking about them XD oh also! The original title for my story was going to be "let me love him!" But idk I might change it later on.

@miraclecherryblossomsblog

#hehe this was so fun!#i love talking about my babies 💕#I should show more love to the other characters tho bc I barely draw or talk about them 💀#anyway!#if you have any more questions about them I'll be more then happy to tell you more!#lailosh #my post #oc lore #my oc stuff #my ocs

8 notes · View notes

ghost-in-the-hall · 1 year

Text

Band of Sisters, Band of Thieves (Medieval! Powerwolf x Fem! Princess! Reader) - Part V

WARNINGS: Brief mentions of stab wounds, injury, blood, mostly fluff

(A/N: AHHH ALL THE INTRODUCTION CHAPTERS ARE DONE!! Thank you so much for being here and reading my silly little story about my silly little knights, I have a lot of fun things planned for this story, thank you for reading!)

*Eendje - Duckling

Part IV - Part VI

My Masterlist! ~ AO3 Link

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Your sister makes a startled sound when you all but crash into her as you round a corner in the neverending maze of hallways. The front of your skirt balled up in your hands as you continued jogging through the castle. "Ducky, where in God's name are you going in such a rush?"

"Sir Roel is supposed to return this morning!" You call over your shoulder through labored breaths. "He said he would bring me something home!" You continue excitedly before continuing to hurry down to the main gate. You sat on one of the stone benches just inside of the entryway, fanning yourself to try and stay cool in the rapidly increasing morning heat. Before you knew it the sun was high in the sky. "That's odd, Roel always returns before noon." You state out loud to yourself. You stood, smoothing your dress before calmly walking inside. You couldn't lie, the fact he had yet to return to the castle made you a bit anxious. Roel was nothing if not punctual.

"Princess, good afternoon." Matthew greets you with a nod.

"Matthew, was Roel's return delayed?" He pauses, giving you a confused look.

"No, we figured he was with you. Has he not come back yet?" You shook your head. Matthew sighs, pondering over what to do for a moment. He offers you a reassuring smile in an attempt to quell your anxieties. "I'm going to go get Falk and Charles, we'll ride out and look for him. I'm sure he just had to take a small detour." You nod, informing him to let you know immediately once they return. You spent your day wandering aimlessly around the castle, trying to find anything at all to help calm your mind. You found yourself wandering down to the garden, singing a Dutch nursery rhyme Roel had taught you as you carefully braided some flowers together to make a headpiece. You perked up slightly, the sound of armor clanking suddenly became noticeable. Your eyes darted in its direction only to see Roel barely able to stand as he limped his way into the garden.

His eyes landed on you, a weak smile finding its way to his lips. "Princess." His voice came out weak and raspy. He collapsed to his knees, the rest of his body crumpling to the ground immediately after.

"Roel!" You cry out, rushing to his side. You carefully move his head to your lap, his forehead drenched in sweat. You didn't have the faintest idea what to do, your main focus on trying not to panic. You sighed, setting a hand on his chest, your eyes widening slightly at the warm wetness that immediately spread over your palm. You raised your hand, deep crimson blood now coating your skin. He had been stabbed in the chest.

"Ducky!" Your eyes flash back to see your sisters rushing to your side.

"Help me get his armor off, we need to get him to the infirmary, he's hurt." Your voice cracked as you spoke, sobs threatening to tear free from your throat at any moment. You tugged at the straps of his leather chest plate, your sisters assisting you in removing whatever weight you could before one of them helped you hoist him up over your shoulders. The two of you struggled to lug him inside, somehow managing to get down to where your sister's physician resided within the castle. You kicked open the door causing the poor man to jump. "Mr. Hunt, please, it's Roel." Between the fact you were so out of breath and that you were still trying to hold your composure you had trouble getting your words out. He cleared off his desk, papers and trinkets alike scattering across the floor as you laid Roel down as gently as possible.

"I'll take good care of him, Your Highness, you have my word." Your sister took your hand, trying to guide you from the room, but you stood firm.

"I can't leave him." You could only muster a whisper. Mr. Hunt sighs, offering you a patient smile. He nods to the door, a signal you understood. He needed to work, you would only serve as a distraction. "Please… don't let my friend die." With one more tug from your sister you reluctantly exited the room. "You two go ahead, I'm going to wait."

"Ducky, you can't-"

"I'm not leaving him." You cut her off, your voice firm and unwavering. She pulls you into a tight hug.

"He's in very capable hands with Mr. Hunt, try not to worry too much." You waited for them to turn the corner before you let the first tears fall from your eyes. You leaned against the wall, feverishly wiping your tears away with the heels of your hands. You sat yourself on the floor outside of Mr. Hunt's office, refusing to leave until you knew he was going to be okay at the very least. You didn't know how many hours had passed, it felt like you were waiting for years when Mr. Hunt finally emerged from the room. You scrambled to your feet.

"How is he? Is he alright?" He nods.

"He's just fine, Your Highness, not to worry. At the moment he's more tired and sore than anything else." He reassures you, all the tension you were holding in your shoulders finally relaxing.

"Can I see him?" He nodded, moving aside so you could enter his room. Mr. Hunt shut the door behind you to give the both of you some privacy. The second your eyes landed on him you felt like you were going to start crying all over again. Despite the bandages that wrapped around his chest, by some miracle he appeared to be completely fine.

"Eendje*." His voice hoarse as he greets you, holding out his hand to signal it was okay for you to come closer. You had to fight the urge to throw yourself into his arms, not wanting to risk hurting him.

"Where have you been?" You whisper through gritted teeth as you try to hold back tears. "I had to wait forever for you to come." You sit down on the edge of his bed.

He chuckles, patting the top of your head. "That's what she said." He mumbles. Your laughter quickly turns into crying, relieved that he was still alive. "I'm sorry I worried you." His arm slides around your small, shaking form, pulling you to him. You bury your face against his shoulder, allowing you to shield yourself as you finally release all of the worry you had been holding onto. Roel quietly hushed you, crushing you in his embrace until you finally relaxed. You pulled back from him, wiping away your remaining tears.

"Roel Van Helden, so help me, if you ever scare me like that again I will personally kick your ass." He laughs at your serious tone.

"Would a gift make up for it?" He asks with a toothy grin.

"You actually brought me something?" You were honestly kind of shocked. He always jokes about bringing you home a present from one of his expeditions, but up until now he had never followed through. He nods to the table at his side, a small leather pouch catching your attention. You reach for it, giving him a perplexed smile. You carefully undid the cord that held it shut, dumping the contents into your palm. A thin gold chair with a tiny carved pendant. You couldn't suppress a giggle as you held it up in front of you. "It's a little duck!" You exclaim excitedly.

"A duck for my duckling, seems fitting." Both of your attention was drawn to the door as Roel's fellow mercenaries burst into the room.

"Look at what you did, you made the poor girl cry!" Charles barks at him.

"Do you have any idea how worried we were?" Falk pushes past Charles to get his turn yelling at Roel.

He chuckled, groaning slightly as he adjusted his sitting position. "To be fair, I didn't have much of a choice. Those assholes made me miss the Princess's Dutch lesson." He glances over at you, giving you a sly smile. Falk sighs, pushing his fingers through his hair.

"Well… rest up for now. We can get into the details of what happened later. Your Highness, if you'll excuse me." He dismisses himself with a bow, followed immediately after by the other two.

"Roel, would you be able to help me put this on?" You ask with a coy smile, holding up the necklace he had given you.

"Of course." You turn, trying your best to suppress the shiver that ran down your spine as you felt his fingers ghost over the nape of your neck. Your fingers flew up to the unfamiliar weight as it fell against your chest. Roel fumbled with the clasp for a moment, "there, that should do it." You turned to face him.

"What do you think?" You ask with a small smile.

"Beautiful, as always." You couldn't help but blush at his response. "(Y/N)?"

"Yeah?"

"Thank you for waiting for me."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tag List!: @ramblingoak @kissingghouls @mustluvecho @the-hole-in-terzos-shoe @rabidghoul @canarycolemine @belnovacaine @iamsarahsaysso @angellayercake @moss-the-moth @herripinkle

18 notes · View notes

carrie-tate · 2 years

Text

It's already a tradition, when I'm too fond of some fandom, I create a new character xD

Wakfu is no exception

Meet Karin! Nothing more than a minor character for the plot of the animated series, but she has a story! (more about her + a couple of sketches under "keep reading")

Our "Yugo and friends" group is walking (this filler-style plot of the original would have happened somewhere in the first season before meeting Adamai) through some nameless village. The streets are busy, everyone is doing something (perhaps due to some important event in the style of the harvest season and now EVERYONE is busy)

And then through the noise of the crowd comes barely audible sobs

It's clear that the two most heroic bros, Dally and Yugo, will run to the rescue, because… This is exactly what heroes do xD The rest follow them without much enthusiasm.

And there they find Karin, a little child sitting on a shabby stool, sitting and crying.

And since, due to her young age and in general, due to the fact that our company is clearly not very good at calming children (I clearly see how Dally just at some point says something in the style of "If someone offends you, just tell me, I'll show them!" and waves Rubilax in all directions, which only scares the child (and for which he receives a flick from Evangeline))

As a result, in order to understand whose child it is and who to lead it and what to do with it, they are more likely to turn to someone with a question (Why not, the village is small, everyone knows each other) whose it is

and I also clearly see a picture of how Ruel seems to be trying to calm the child (well, let's be honest that his heart is not so stone as to calmly watch a small child crying who did not annoy him with anything) he just sits next to him in the style of "well, well, that's it okay, don't cry please" and in the end Karin will cry already in his coat x'> and grab it with a stranglehold. I think she will end up falling asleep while Yugo and the others ask around who she is. So sorry, Ruel, but you will either have to wake up the child (which kind-hearted ladies in the person of Amalia and Eva will not allow you, because "the baby has already suffered so much!"), Or take her in your arms, and given that she is not baby, that's a bit heavy xd

It turns out that recently (the fire that destroyed the house along with her parents) Karin is an orphan, and there is no one to take care of the girl, and she has been crying for the last three days (well, I think for obvious reasons)

And that the child seems to have some distant uncles-aunts, but they live too far away, and there is no one to take her there

and here Yugo turns on the "help all the unfortunate" mode, and he will be able to convince the others to help the girl solely because they are on their way to that distant village

(and I'm sure Ruel with his enutrof habits will also be able to arrange for them to get some sort of supply cart for them to take care of the kid)

in short, with a higher probability, nothing so directly interesting would have happened on their way from point a to point b

except perhaps the experience of our company to look after a child and, in general, to feel the power of responsibility for someone's life x'>

I'm sure she'll love Az

she will try to squeeze him because "BIRDEY!"

he will obviously not be happy but Yugo is like "please, she just calmed down-"

Amalia plays princesses with her, or rather tries to dress up like a princess or do something noble but it even seems to me that an attempt to play a knight with a rubilax (from which Dally will be a little shocked because how this child stole his sword so easily xD) will be more interested in her

By the way…

in the end (well, let's say the path will take two days from point a to point b)

Early morning, everyone is sleeping, and Karin is like "I woke up" then

WOW BUTTERFLY

although in the eyes of the child she immediately turned into a terrible dragon, which she, as a "knight", needs to defeat

And she grabs Rubilax like that and climbs out of the cart into the forest for a butterfly

Then Dally notices her, who will notice this only when the girl hides in the thicket of the forest. there is a moment in the style of a smooth awareness of what happened

like "what is this..? ah, it's Karin running into the woods… then ok… stop. KARIN RUNNING INTO THE WOODS!"

Meanwhile, a dialogue takes place between Rubilax and Karin, where Shushu, without much problem, talks to the child to release him. (something like: "Do you want to become a real knight, huh?")

How the battle ends up:

It seems that everyone is already in a fight, while trying not to harm, because, she is a child, Rubilax realizes that Karin does not listen to him at all (because manipulating a child is a bad thing)

and most of her punches are in the style of "Turn around while her tail BAM and Dally flies into a tree"

then it still flies into her in a serious way, she gets scared and in general looks … well, scared

and in the end everything is decided by conversations like "Everything will be fine, just let us get this muck out of your head"

(in the background, rubilax swears because he is unlucky with all these possessions x'>

+ some sketches

#art #oc #wakfu oc #wakfu

53 notes · View notes

atlasscrumpit · 2 years

Note

HEY HI I LOVE YOUR YANDERE MOON KNIGHT!! could i request one where the reader is like harrows baby sister but hated him but also hates the mk boys? kinda hard to read hang on- okay so reader didn’t like harrow for his beliefs but hates mk because jake killed her brother and kidnapped her

Stay

All that could be heard throughout Steven's apartment was your loud cries.

"Maybe this wasn't a good idea, Jake." Steven whispered as he played with his hands nervously.

"I'll handle this." Jake said before taking over and going to the room they had locked you inside.

Jake knocked lightly before opening the door.

He saw you sobbing your eyes out with your knees hugged to your chest.

You looked up and quickly got up and ran at Jake before he grabbed you and secured your arms behind your back.

"Stop!" Jake shouted as you cried out and struggled.

"Let me go!" You screamed as he gripped you tighter.

He threw you to the floor as you cried even more and stayed down.

"Your brother was an awful man, why are you grieving?" Jake growled as you looked up at him.

"My brother was an awful man, but he found me and got me off the streets. He gave me a bed to sleep in and food. I don't...I don't know what will happen without him." You whispered as Jake looked down at you, his face softening.

He was starting to understand you more, you weren't missing Arthur, you were missing safety and security.

"Well, you don't need to live on the streets again. You won't be leaving here, we'll take care of you." He said as you looked up at him in shock.

"You expect me to stay here with the man who murdered my brother?" You growled as he knelt down and tilted his head to look at you.

"Did I say you had a choice, mi amor?" He said in a soft voice as you wiped away your tears.

"I don't get it, why would you want me here?" You muttered as he smiled.

"Why wouldn't I, angel? Precious girl like you, must be nice to have around." Jake said as you slowly backed away from him.

Suddenly he groaned and threw his head back, you'd seen it happen before when they'd switch.

He looked back at you as you looked at him in fear.

"It's okay, I'm sorry about him." A British voice said as you stayed frozen.

"Let me go." You whispered as Steven looked at you sadly.

"And let you go back to living on the streets? Wouldn't you rather stay here? Have your own bed, food and anything else you need." Steven said as you looked away from him in thought.

"What do I have to do in return?" You whispered as Steven sat on the floor and looked at you.

"Well, maybe just help clean up around here a bit. Otherwise not much else." He said before you looked back at him.

"No sex?" You whispered as he looked at you in shock.

"No! No not at all!" He said as you nodded.

"Okay, I'll stay." You whispered making Steven smile.

"Welcome home, love."

#moon knight #steven grant #marc spector #jake lockley #marvel #mcu #Yandere #Request

38 notes · View notes

hopelessromanticfantasies · 1 year

Text

"Your highnesses, the raid is over." My knight wasn't with them. "But please stay with me and the rest of the guards. It's for your own safe-" I barged past the head knight. I had to find him. "Wait, your highness!" "Son!" My mother called from behind me, but how could I care when my knight was out there. Something bad had happened to him and I knew it. I looked through corridors and bedrooms, bodies of our people and the enemies laid strewn across the floor. All of them dead. Blood drenched the carpet, turning it brown. I ended at the ball room, where I had been taken away from my knight to the safety bunker. That's where I found him lying on his back... a sword punctured through his gut. I ran to him, kneeling beside him. His eyes were still open, blinking, and he was struggling to breathe. "My darling. Oh my..." I rested his head on my lap. He had other stab wounds, cuts and bruises all over him. "Hey princey." He said, grinning up at me. "No don't talk, save your strength." "I was saving my strength so I could talk to you, so really you should not interrupt." He replied, still smiling. "But-" "What did I say about interrupting, princey." I shut my mouth. "Thank you. Now where I should I start? Right. Princey, I'm dying." "No! You-" He gave me another gently annoyed look. I shut up allowing him to continue what he was saying. "I'm not going to make it through this, which means I'm going to break my promise of being your knight until you die. I'm sorry about that." He coughed, a thin trail of blood leaving his mouth. Tears pricked at my eyes. "I hope I'll always be your favourite knight." "Always." I smiled down at him. He smiled back this time. "Good. There's one thing I have to say before," He coughs again, harder this time. "before I go." His breathing slows and his eyes are half lidded, struggling to blink. "I... I love you princey. I wanted to... marry you one day." My tears started slipping down my cheeks. "But I'm afraid that's not going to happen now. Just be the... good king I've always known you... would be. And don't forget... you promised... I would always be your favourite knight. I... I love you." His eyes shut. "Knight?" He wasn't moving. He wasn't breathing. "Knight! Oh god no! Knight! Please wake up!" Sobs made it hard to speak. "Come back! You didn't let me say it! You didn't let me say it!" "Son! Stop that!" My mother called as she ran over to me. "Stop holding that dead body! You're getting blood all over your nice suit." I held his cheek to my chest and screamed. "Why didn't you let me say it!" "Stop it! Let's go. Leave the boy." She began pulling on me, trying to remove me from him, my knight. "I love you. I love you. I love you so much." I whispered in his ear, although his body would not hear me I begged his soul would. "I'll never not love you." My mother finally wrenched me away from him, but I continued to fight against her, trying to return to my darling's side. His head hit the ground and I sobbed as two other guards moved his arms over his chest. The position of death. He was dead. I screamed again. I would never stop screaming for my darling. My knight. The one I loved.

#prince x knight #achilean #heart ache #mlm #romance #original writing #heart break #major death #angst

10 notes · View notes

dragonslaved · 1 year

Text

Hello All, Space here to tell you why YOU !! Should read classic manga Magic Knight Rayearth.

“What’s that?” you ask? You’ve never heard of Magic Knight Rayearth? Well, I am here to tell you ALL about it.

WHAT IS MAGIC KNIGHT RAYEARTH?

Magic Knight Rayearth is a 6 volume manga about magical girls, giant robots, and isekai. Yes, you read that right. All three amazingly loved tropes together and it’s done seamlessly and beautifully. You’ll laugh, you’ll say ‘wtf’, you’ll sob big Ghibli tears.

Also like. If you have any intention to actually read this manga after this post, don’t google anything? Seriously don’t. It’s only 6 volumes but googling will spoil literally every twist and turn this series has and BOY DOES IT HAVE SOME. I’m not gonna spoil you for them. Don’t spoil yourself.

To put into perspective how much I love this series and how badly I've wanted people to read it for years: I was pinching pennies for p much my entire life until very recently. I read this series when I was 14 (~20+ years ago oh god) and fast forward to today I'm still a penny pincher but I went out of my way to collect 5 different full copies of this series in various printings and languages because I just. I gotta. I love it. I have a copy that is a dedicated loner copy so I always have one ready for someone to borrow and read. PLEASE understand how much I love this series and go along with me here.

All right, so the story goes like this: three middle school girls on a field trip to Tokyo Tower get summoned to an alternate world called Cephiro. Oh by the way, they go to different schools. Also they’ve never met before.

You’ve got rich, beautiful hothead, Umi Ryuzaki. Her magic element is water, fierce and unforgiving. Her two loving parents are still in their honeymoon phase 14 years later. They’re rich, she loves food, she is kinda selfish, but has such a great character arc because of it. She’s amazing and I would die for her.

After her, you’ve got polite but very very shrewd and thoughtful, Fuu Houoji. Her element is wind, kind, occasionally harsh, and healing. Fuu is the one with plans, who is very sweet and formal but also very conniving if you aren’t paying close attention. She cares deeply about those around her while also being realistic. Sometimes she can be a little aloof, but it’s ok she’s cute.

And finally last girl, BEST GIRL, Hikaru Shidou. Energetic, sympathetic, understanding, and eternally the best. Her element is fire, she IS the magic knight of Rayearth, the titular character, the beautiful perfect darling angel who has never done anything wrong in her life. She goes to an all girls’ school. She has three older brothers. Almost every girl in her school has a crush on her. She is oblivious as fuck. She grew up in a kendo dojo and beat her father in a match when she was in kindergarten and that’s why he’s not around. She has the biggest heart in the universe. I love her. I would beat gen urobuchi in a denny’s parking lot at 3am for her honor.

These three girls meet a magician, Guru Clef. This lil dude.

The rare “small boy who is actually a bajillion years old” trope before it was such an annoying trope to use on women characters, but he’s 700+ years old and the most powerful sorcerer in Cephiro. He gives the girls magic and armor, and tells them they were summoned by Princess Emeraude to save Cephiro.

How do they do that?

By talking to the chief Pharle (artisan, blacksmith, etc) of Cephiro named Presea to make them weapons. And oh yeah they have to use those weapons to revive the rune gods.

Y’know.

Big Giant Mechs.

Waking these bad boys up takes a lot for the girls and it’s really really good seeing how they go about it and what they're willing to do to accomplish it.

I’m not gonna spoil the story for you but I WILL go through some of the other characters.

You’ve got:

Princess Emeraude. The Pillar of Cephiro, imprisoned and kept from praying for Cephiro’s well being. She’s sweet, she’s heartbroken, she wants her world to be safe again.

Next to her you have the High Priest Zagato, her second, the antagonist who got the ball rolling on this whole thing. He’s gloomy, he’s serious, he’s methodical and looming.

I mentioned Presea, did I mention her already? She’s great. She’s feisty and loud and would be THE most amazing dom queen if she could ever find a sub willing to tolerate her.

She makes the weapons for the girls and also gives them a guide to find the rune gods.

Oh yeah their guide.

So like. Probably obvious by now but in case it’s not, this is an early 1990s CLAMP series. You know CLAMP. They did xxxholic and Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles and Card Captor Sakura. Yeah, this series came before ALLLLLL of those.

You know that lil fuckin rabbit mascot they have?

That’s Mokona. He’s their guide. This is the series he originated from.

Mokona is an adorable caring little shit who knows exactly what he’s doing at all times. He helps them out but my god. The way he makes their blood pressure skyrocket on the journey there.

Then we’ve got Ferio. A traveling swordsman who enters tournaments. Unfortunately Fuu’s straight alignment. But he’s fine, he’s cute. He’s got like… a whole Thing about him that I won’t explain but know that he’s okay. He’s all right.

The latter three volumes expands their allies to some other people that I cannot spoil but please know: they’re gay. They are all gay. There’s no heterosexual explanation for any of them. You think "oh that's a straight couple". Wrong. They're all gay, even if they're straight. One of them is like. Holy shit I cannot express how obviously gay they are. This isn’t like. “Oh you’re reading too into it with your fandom eyes”, I mean this is like. Wow. You two had the worst ghosting breakup and should get back together because it was over something stupid.

There are a fair number of villains and only one of them is like. Pure Actual Evil and I won’t tell you which one it is but the rest are all VERY satisfying in their character stories and arcs and I love them all dearly. Got some hot magic ladies, got some nervous quiet men, and some awkward cute boys. The whole variety is there!

Aside from the great characters, the artwork is GORGEOUS.

I know in this day and age of 2023 digital art and speedy turnarounds of weekly manga releases, all the art is crisp and kinda minimal except for big scenes, and people like that.

But also consider: gorgeous detailed intricate illustrations.

And I still won’t spoil you for the story, but it will still surprise you I swear to you.

“Okay but isn’t there an anime? Can I just watch that instead?” Look at me. I am holding your hands gently, and I am looking you in the eye as I pull you close and tell you: no.

You notice all the artwork I've shared is specifically manga art. The anime is. ……………………………………………… not great. It has its pros like padding out filler episodes so they can flesh out the girls’ friendship and some of the side characters. But in having to pad out a 6 volume manga to two 26 episode seasons, some Decisions Were Made that were not in the best interest of the series or its themes. And when I say that, I do mean the very core of some of who these characters are. Motivations and internal goals changed for no reason, added characters for padded run time, an entire character killed for no reason only for their (anime only) twin to dress up and pretend to be that character because the directors realized “oh shit that character is in the second half uhhhhh quick”. It’s not great and it’s just not a lot of fun.

All I’m saying is please please give this manga a read. It’s very quick, you can finish it in like. 3 days tops. It’s beautiful, it’s heartbreaking, it’s tragic and hopeful.

I’m gonna leave this with a link to read it online and some other characters I didn’t mention because I just think they’re neat.

#read this manga please I am begging you #it is my favorite manga of all time and I need more people to know about it #I've suffered so many other fluff cotton candy magical girl series being popular just please read this beautiful tragedy #y'all thought I was insane about other series boy you have no idea how insane I am about mkr #I will gladly answer any other questions about it that don't spoil the plot #because like I NEEEEEEED YOU TO UNDERSTAND #so many series took cues from this #ESPECIALLY PMMM LIKE TO THE POINT I AM UNFORGIVING ABOUT PMMM yes I am annoying about it #anyway I'm not tagging this with the series because there are some anime only truthers and they're wrong #the anime destroyed hikaru's entire character for the sake of [redacted]#this has been sitting in my drafts bc I apparently wrote it when I was delirious with a 100F fever last month #and you know what I stand by every single word of it

17 notes · View notes

exoticalmonde · 11 months

Text

Arknights Chapter XI - Return To Mist

So... Chapter Eleven is at its end and because I am desperate to have enough Originium I need to go through as many chapters in Adverse level as I can so this terrible Clown Fiesta of a skinset coming out tomorrow would be mine.

And conveniently enough, Dr. Kryo is here to help me out.

SPOILERS OF THE STORY AHEAD

youtube

Mandatory Opening video because it's too good to skip. I love re-watching these after I'm done with a chapter.

Me, frantically: "Kryo, Gummy is gonna be eaten." Kryo: "AH- UH- STALL WITH GRAVEL." Me: Stalls Gravel: *Gets devoured* Pinkie, returning out of nowhere: "I see Gravel has been used. They really took 'Eat dirt' to a next level."

---

I have had this woman ever since I started playing, and I have spent all this time almost not reading anything about her. My lass was in Kazimierz, she's here in Victoria with us now, she's a follower of the wendigo, a witch... and I still gape at the mention of her actual relations and experience.

She's a necromancer and a Sarkaz with the funkiest horns ever and just refuses to elaborate, uses her dark arts to heal as a mock of redemption... or something.

---

Me: "IS THAT--" Pinkie, amused, sarcastic, smug: "Yeah?" Me: "Now I don't care who it is."

---

HOLY HECK IT'S THE --- GOOD GOD OH MY GOODNESS AAAAaa--

Kal'tsit lore, Kal'tsit jumping in front of us to save me, to save Amiya little baby saw so much and she's sobbing limp in my arms after the wall crumbled underneath her tiny little bunny feet!!!

I am so sad oh my golly Mrs. Cat lady you are in the middle of all the drama, you are THE historical event you horrendeous fossil you, all the horrible things that happened happened because of you and now everybody is mad; what does your brain see that we do not, what sort of demons haunt you, whose voice do you hear that guides you, I need to know. ---

...

---

Pinkie: "Oh hey Kal'tsit, what are you doing there?" Me, who already knows: "I don't want to." Kryo: "Are you ready to hear the team comp? Oh, it's pre-set. Tell me when you're ready." Me: "... Let me go through the story first. I feel like I need to learn the context before I witness it." Pinkie: "Yes please." Me and Pinkie: *Reading* Kryo: *Falls asleep* Me: "Alright, we're done now. I'm ready for guidance." Kryo: "..." Me: "Kryo?" Kryo: "..." Pinkie: "Is he gone? I have time. Let's do it." Me: "... Alright." ---

Me: "I want to save her." Pinkie: "You can't stop a canon event." Me: "I don't want it to be a canon event."

Pinkie: "O, he's coming." Me: *Sad whimpering*

Pinkie: "Oh, here it comes." Kal'tsit: *Dies* Pinkie: "Now he's gonna leave. So long, losers. Refuses to elaborate."

---

Me: *Pogging* "It's the sword!" Pinkie: "Wow, now we have TWO swords that only work if the one destined and chosen by the sword is wielding it."

---

Man... My life in Operation 11-18, am I right?

---

Kryo: "Why is he panting in my ear? Dog, chill!" Me: "Thank you for your services... Both Hung's VA and Hung himself."

---

Me: "I don't know which one is worse, a level where the enemies are only three 'No Data' boxes, or the levels where there are three rows of them." Pinkie: "Hey, but you get to find out for yourself, right? It's the fun part of it. Trial and error." Me: "I don't want trial and error..." ---

Me: "What was the Steam Knight music called again?" Pinkie: "You don't need to know." Kryo: "Sexy Vampire music." Pinkie: "Damn it... It's Vampire Sex Music." Me: "Reverse-psychologises you into telling us the name because you think we got it wrong and you always need to be right." Pinkie: "... How dare you."

youtube

---

Me: "So, the Vampire Sex Music." Pinkie: "Yeah." Me: "..." Steam Knight:

---

Pinkie: "I wish he was someone we could get as a character one day. Imagine being able to deploy the Steam Knight." Me: "He's gorgeous. Look at that."

---

Me: *Squealing* "Look at her! Baba! Look at her tiny ears. Oh my god her teeny tail. I love her." Pinkie: "I remember when people were super surprised to just... see baby Siege out of nowhere."

---

Lord, this scene...

Absolutely insane.

---

First try, here we go-

OH NO

EBENHOLZ

...

Pinkie: "I think you need a better Hoshiguma." Me: "..." Kryo: "My Hoshiguma was lvl40 E2, I think hers (lvl25 E2) would be fine." Pinkie: "I struggled and mine was lvl60." Me: "Maybe because you didn't have Ebenholz E2 level 90." Pinkie: "WELL! You're right. You'd think that I'm missing the boss-killer on the Boss stage and would do something about him sooner, but I just haven't been able to around all the other things I need to do for this game." ---

Me and Kryo: *Finish the stage on the second try* Us: *Celebrating* Me: "It was so much easier than I expected. I've seen so many elaborate videos that are... Really nothing in comparison." Pinkie: "It seems I am the problem. Skill issue."

6 notes · View notes

byliever · 2 years

Note

So you agree that it looks like they’re setting mikeven up for endgame most likely 😓

Oh, God no. Mileven is dead and is practically already buried at this point.

Have you noticed the recent uptick in people who have begun to realize how toxic the relationship is? As much as I might have disliked Season 4, I do think it was effective at showing the general audience that Mileven has never really been in love. Both Mike and Eleven have never really loved each other. They like the ideas they have of each other. Mike is in love with the superhero who landed on his front lawn (his own fucking words, which is the really sad thing) and El has been in love with the knight in shining armor who protected her and kept her safe from the Bad Men. They have idealized pictures of each other, and being confronted with the reality of who they both were means the relationship was effectively dead on arrival.

Mileven was NEVER going to work. I don't think the show would ever end with them being together/endgame. It would be a little too...well, weird. Problematic.

Let me clarify my response to the last ask you sent.

I never said Byler wasn't going to be endgame. Even a casual perusal of all the subtext shows that they appear to be moving in that direction.

Here's the thing.

I don't trust the writers to do what's good for the show. I don't trust the writers to do what the subtext says.

Season 4 (Volume 2 in particular) was an absolute clusterfuck. We thought Byler was going to get decent content. Instead, what we got was Will Byers playing cheerleader to prop up Mileven while he clearly was dealing with the fact that he had a crush on the boy who was dating his sister.

We got a Mike Wheeler who has become so apathetic to anything besides Eleven that he doesn't notice the fact that his supposed best friend is sobbing when he's sitting like...three feet away. Doesn't question the fact that he's crying while he's explaining the painting to him. Look, I get that it's sort of popular to say that Mike is some oblivious, stupid guy who doesn't know anything about what's going on around him, but he's NOT this dumb ffs. Season 1 and 2 Mike was smart. The sock puppet he's been reduced to in Season 3 and 4 has made his character unrecognizable.

What I'm trying to say here is: fuck canon. I honestly don't care anymore. I still ship Byler. I always will. I love the characters of Mike and Will (they're real characters, not...whatever the fuck Season 3 and 4 had going on).

So...is Byler endgame? Maybe. Hopefully.

Is Mileven? Hopefully not.

Who knows?

#stranger things #byler #personal asks

29 notes · View notes

icharchivist · 1 year

Note

Imagine being King Carl who overall is a decent and reasonable leader (at least I can't think of anything pointing to the contrary off the top of my head rn) and getting attacked by the King of Wales because he was driven insane by literal hell demons while grieving his mom but then he just magically got better and now everyone wants to hop on his dick because he's a gacha game bishounen

(i'm assuming both asks are related)

I mean King Carl enhabled Isabela so much so it poisoned his whole country while also focusing his knight forces on hunting Siegfried and protecting Sylph rather than protecting the people. I get what you're getting at, but him being a bad King at the start of the story is the reason we're here to start with :sob:

LIKE Aglovale did commit crimes, he committed treason, infiltrated an enemy country to make it implode from the inside, and his only motivation for that was indeed "demons driven insanity bc he wanted to see his mom again :(", i'm not defending Aglovale here, his crimes were Really Bad.

If anything Aglovale's "redeeming quality" is that his whole villain arc only lasted a few months, since The Union of the Countries (Savior of Dalmore) happened a bit after the One Year Anniversary of his reign and others timelines hints we have here and there establish that.

I'm not intending to dunk on King Carl (i didn't intend to turn the previous jokey post into a meta lmao esp since the point of the plot was superficial beauty), he's currently doing his best to be a better King and rights his wrongs.

But the Feendrache storyline starts out with the notion that Carl was a bad king due to how he basically enabled Isabela and defended her and turned a blind eyes to her acts. The Plot also condemns him for not taking enough precautions to make sure no one would try to take down the country after Isabela was first taken down.

It's the whole crux of the conflict of Lancelot's base 5*, when we learn that the people of Feendrache don't trust the King anymore because it has been the neglect of the King that had led to poisoning the land and countless of attacks on the land without properly offering protection to the people, and that it really brings conflict for Lancelot because he is torn between his blind duty to the kingdom (a coping mechanism he developed to "not be like Siegfried" at a time he felt betrayed by him), and the fact he cannot actually defend the King while the people are right to be upset at the King.

Which is why the resolution of this FE, set right after 4KoaFK, is that Lancelot takes in Percival's advice that it's not blind devotion to his country, but to the values of his country, that he should stand for, and if the King isn't going to follow those values, then Lancelot has to argue with it. And the resolution comes from Carl coming to Lancelot and telling him he totally agrees he has been a terrible king and he had driven Lancelot in a corner where Lancelot couldn't even advise him and as a result, he left himself and the Kingdom vulnerable.

whenever *you* agree about Carl's responsability in all of that or not is one thing, but the story is pretty much blaming Carl for most of what went wrong, he is NOT framed as a good king in the first few events, it's only in BFAF that he starts to take initiative that makes him respectable by his knights and such work as a contrast to Aglovale who is losing his sanity at this point.

Because we spend most of the story with the knights it's easier to see what was the direct harm caused by the actions, and as such we see Aglovale and Isabela as the ones who hurt us because of Aglovale's and Isabela's actual harmful actions and the vague consequences of "war" in general. But there's an aspect of long lasting consequences that ends up being different especially on a politic level.

Aglovale still took good care of Wales during the war, it shocked Percival at the time. Aglovale always had the opinions of the people by his side, and since him hurting the others countries was temporary despite the conniving approach to it all, Aglovale remained to the eyes of his people, a good King. Carl did NOT take a good care of his people during the calm time of his reign while he was being manipulated by Isabela, and it's something that is put in focus a lot.

And I think it's worth discussing because the Dragon Knights storyline is, to me, the pinnacle of "paying the price for the sins of the past", the storyline. And it goes for all of them, Aglovale is also paying the price directly of what his father had started with the whole Otherworld dealing for example.

Feendrache meanwhile is set up to constantly having to pay the price of how Isabela manipulated the Kings at the time.

Whatever is going to happen with the Merlin storyline, we know for a fact the starting incident is that King Josef apparently promised to help his kingdom, and then he left them to be destroyed. The possibility that it's Josef taking that decision by himself sure is there, but it's also extremely likely Isabela was involved. It doesn't change the fact that if Isabela manipulated the King, the King enabled a situation that led to a mass genocide.

as long as King Josef and King Carl have done Isabela's bidding, they endangered countless of people on a more political scale than personal scale.

And once again i don't mean to be defending Aglovale, because he still did fucked up shits, but framing Carl as someone who is mostly a chill king and stuff is, imo, going past the actual consequences of how him "being chill" for a long time meant "neglecting his people who were being slowly poisoned because he turned a blind eye to his advisor's behavior".

Especially considering how much the Dragon Knights storyarc is building more and more toward having to actually face how much the sovereignty in place has blood on its hands that they will have to answer for. (which is also the conflict of Grandcelot's FE, with the fairies specifically asking Lancelot if he's going to be able to keep defending his country when realizing the basis itself is unforgiveable and built on blood.)

I really like this saga a lot especially for the way those themes are unwinding so i can't just let say "Carl is mostly good we only like Aglovale because he's pretty" yaknow.

Also i concur on the idea that Aglovale is "the most reasonable king", he's really Up There nowadays, he's a very good king to his people, but during Savior of Dalmore he was constantly picking fights up with Dalmore for how Dalmore abandonned them midwar, which was so funny considering Dalmore were on their side because Wales drove a war against them to start with lmao. Savior of Dalmore literally conclude with Aglovale having to apologize for his defensiveness toward Dalmore, and for his crimes toward both countries. Carl is actually the one who's the most reasonable in this event.

Anyway, nuance and all.

But once again the previous post was literally just about who was the prettiest in the room, didn't expect that "prettiest" could be interpreted as "therefore the most right and forgiveable of the people in that room" yaknow.

#ichareply #ichafantalks gbf #ichablogging 4kishi #anonymous #also remember how Feendrache didn't allow low born people to join its military #Lancelot and Vane were legit exceptions until Lancelot reformed everything #Percival himself gets super upset at that because Feendrache basically used to disregard its people a lot #it's not really clear where Wales stand on that #but considering how offended Percival is well.#still. Feendrache being badly administrated is the core of all the issues now #as they're NOW working on adminsitrating it better #ya feel me

3 notes · View notes