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inlocusmads · 10 months

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Partner (Disambiguation)

5 times Nora and Trystan fake a relationship and one time they didn't want to anymore.

(Or a 5+1 fic on what it means to be a "partner" to someone.)

Characters: Nora Rose, Trystan Thorne from Crimes of Passion, Book 1 and 2.

WC: 3.8k | Teen + for swearing (don't blame me, blame Nora (no, honestly, don't. She deserves to swear as much as she should.))

A/N: This is probably my first 5+1 fic ever, so I hope I did it right because it would be very bad if I got it wrong. It might be a bit long too, so I did a thing where I cut back on the descriptions and added in more dialogue because we are truly at the epitome of a writing style crisis here inside Mads' Universe of Horrors here.

Tagging @choicesbookclub

(Painting of Tristan and Iseult)

Of course, Nora would agree, it is the stupidest request in the whole wide world. Possibly ever in the universe, mostly because it really was an absurd enough request to propose to someone who had only known her for maybe two or three weeks. Nora would call it an act of boosting morale, something the private detective agency really did require, when really it was just a whole plot to get a discounted meal as a part of their Valentines In Late September program.

"Do you want to pretend to be my partner so we can go to an all-you-can-eat feast?"

"Really?" Trystan folded up the newspaper and stood up, like a car after a jumpstart. "Husband? Boyfriend? Partner? What would you like?"

"Okay, you are way too into this. I'm reconsidering it."

"No, no, it is a splendid idea because I have been very interested in immersing myself in the lesser known bits of American culture, especially the all-you-can-eat buffets at restaurants. Drakovia would have that, if we didn't have capital punishment after a massive court case between the government and a bunch of caterers. Business laws. Anyway, I would love to be your partner for the evening. Do we need to forge anything?"

"The fact that you asked is concerning but yes. It's half-off for couples, one breath away from marriage. We need proof, so they're looking for cohabitation stuff - joint bank accounts, maybe, receipts, anything to prove we are seeing each other and it is a real thing."

"I do know a very good forger here in New York."

"I know some too. Who have you been hanging out with?"

"Nobody. Who are you hanging out with?"

"All right. We'll figure that out on the way, now come on! Grab your coats, let's go! We're going to be late. Buffet starts at around seven. You know the rules. Grab and go. Stuff it into Tupperware if you can't finish it. Make sure to eat enough, sample a bit of everything including the special menu they have exclusively for lovey-dovey people with rings - oh crap, how good are you at arts and crafts, because we need a convincing looking paper ring -- maybe I can nick some washers--"

"I certainly didn't expect the fake marriage plot so early on in our partnership but I am intrigued. A little immorality and a lust against the law never hurt anyone." Trystan grinned from ear to ear.

***

There were certain things you didn't do, such as engage in debauchery, toss stones at people who've wronged you and threaten your finishing school conduct and theatrics teacher with nuclear warheads. Trystan had done all of it. He'd also supplied rather falsified opinions to the Press, which was wonderful but was caught by a very near and dear Olivia Nevrakis, which was not very good on his part and now, everyone was deeply convinced Nora was Trystan's fiancee, except she was Nora to New York and Duchess Ximena of Lythikos to the royal society.

So when Nora received a rather confusing email from a gossip magazine, something she never really does often because it is only ever rare underdogs like her ever get interviewed or even recognised by the press or even given a commendation for maybe, y'know, solving all of the NYPD's cases, she was rather positively baffled. Not because she'd expected the Duchess Ximena thing to still continue with its rather violent momentum, rather she certainly didn't expect to learn a whole new love story that she certainly had no part in orchestrating.

"Did you tell The Spotlight that you met me at a charity function, I was wearing a bright green dress with topaz gems and a tiara and you sweeped me off my feet -- what in the absolute fuck? And how did they get my email?"

"Might've given it to them--"

"What?"

"I said, I might've given it to them!"

"Seriously - I can't it with--!"

"Okay, you are mad."

"Yes, very much."

"I want to tell you that my intention is to never harm you, Detective. Ever. It is merely a massive distraction. I created the perfect love story enough for all of these gossip rags to bleed it dry and run it to its death and we wouldn't have to worry about it interfering with the case anymore. I did us all a nice favour."

"A favour? Feeding wrong information to the press - you could get sued!"

"I do have many close friends who can take care of that. Small-time thieves who can make things very difficult." Trystan smiled, smugly. "Anyway, it helps, doesn't it? The press will be so distracted and then they'll get bored and soon enough, they'll stop beating this dead horse. And we can focus on the investigation without the Press careening up to wherever we stop and demanding answers. The less scandalous, the more fluffier the better."

"So I have to play in, now?"

"Come on, a few words about my pleasant facial features won't hurt. Along with some of my best talents, including the theatre. I was in many productions of Shakespearean plays."

"You're literally the worst person ever." Nora declared.

"And yet, you still want me as your partner. This is a love story for the ages! Can we do a little enemies to lovers arc too? The mysterious Ximena held hatred in her heart at first. This elegant young man, Trystan Thorne couldn't believe it--"

"Goodbye."

"No, wait! I'm almost done! Come back! Argh, you are absolutely difficult to deal with, Detective! I hope you know I'm taking full credit for the whole story! If this ever becomes profitable -- annd she's gone."

***

There were certain things you should probably avoid if you ever work at a hospital. If you ever happen to see a very frantic detective urging nurses and doctors if she could see her injured idiot of a partner, you probably should let her. First, it was because she was scarily covered in his blood. Second because she might just illegally control a forklift and push her way through the hospital doors, so if you do value peace and quiet in your local hospital, do let your detectives get their way.

"He's my partner, you absolute clowns!" Nora yelled after them as they carried a wounded Trystan on a stretcher. A nurse quickly came by to do damage control.

"I'm sorry, but it's for immediate family only."

"I'm a detective and he's my partner!"

"I understand -- detective but--"

"No, you don't get it! Seriously, God!"

"Partner as in, a partner in your case or --"

"Partners! P-A-R-T-N-E-R-S! Look, I don't want to shout at nurses. You're brilliant people and I just want to be there, okay?"

"I understand that, Miss-- but perhaps if you put down your name and the -- nature of your relationship with the patient whether it is a -- colleague, work thing or if you two are married, as in partners who are romantically involved -- I really ought to write this down! Miss! Detective! You can't go in there! Oh no -- oh dear, someone stop her, please! Who are you and what is your relationship with the patient? We need it for the records!"

"PARTNERS!" Nora shouted at the nurse and followed the doctors to the hospital room.

"A very helpful nurse - though somewhat terribly frightened - I don't know what happened to her, told me that Trystan and his partner were here, though she didn't specify the nature of the partnership so I must have to congratulate him either way; for scoring a job at a detective agency and a surprise engagement! Ha!" Mags smiled weakly, after the rollercoaster of events that went down the night before. It was clear ever since Nora had informed her of Trystan's stab wound, she didn't sleep at all.

"I'm sorry, the ambiguity in partners seemed unclear enough to throw them off for a while. Means a variety of things, doesn't it? Anyway, I had to -- erm, figure a way out because they wouldn't let me in here for the night."

"Oh no, I understand." Mags sat down next to her. "How is he doing?"

"Better. Or at least the guys who keep coming in here tell me so. He's still sedated. Knocked out like a tropical fish on crack. The doctors said the blade missed his vital organs, didn't penetrate too much. He should be fine in a couple of weeks. Four or five, maybe."

There was silence for a while before Nora announced-

"I'm sorry."

"No - seriously, don't be."

"No, we went in. We were utterly stupid. We had no back-ups. I'm so sorry, Marguerite. It just went down so poorly. Trystan deserves so much more than this funny business he'd unfortunately caught himself into and I'm clearly the one to blame, I just--"

Nora felt an arm on her shoulder. Mags gave her an assuring nod.

"No, Nora, you've done so much already. It's how Trystan does things. He charges into danger and gets hurt. I pick up the pieces. It is terrible but - we do the best we can. You've protected him from a great many things, but ultimately, if he took that stab wound, I don't think it is your fault. He took it because he had his reasons to. But that doesn't mean I can't complain."

"No, by all means, please do. I completely understand you and to shoulder that responsibility throughout childhood, you deserve to complain at least a little."

Mags threw her head back and laughed. "I guess we understand each other better now. So much for Trystan's guardian angels. He still ends up with a knife to his stomach with ten thousand reasons as to why he did so."

***

Nora wasn't a huge fan of literature, but she did read Anne Frank's Tales as part of an English course in high school and one of the quotes that really stuck with her went - "Dead people receive more flowers than the living ones because regret is stronger than gratitude". As she sat there in the hospital, with broken ribs and a phone with a dozen missed calls from a distant aunt who wouldn't call but only called after the Press had a nice field day over the burnt remains of the St. Claire Greenhouse and Nora's involvement ("Jimmy Rose's daughter" - they'd all said.) she couldn't help but think Aunt Lei was just feeling regretful that she wasn't in contact all these years.

With trembling hands, she picked up the call when her phone buzzed again, hoping that her relatives wouldn't abandon her again and use "distance" as a boring pathetic excuse.

"Auntie, it's been ten years!" Nora exclaimed in Chinese. "Where have you -- oh, I see -- erm - journalism, that's great. Oh you were in Indonesia all along, that's nice -- wouldn't have hurt to call -- no, Dad died years ago, yeah, yeah -- what's the call for, anyway?"

"I never knew you were married la, Yingxiu!"

"No, I'm not--"

"It was all over the news! Your name on the front page! It was all in English, I don't know how to read it, la. It was you in this nice dress with this other man! You never invited us, hai - this is what this American Life does to you. I told Jian Ying la- that Jimmy -- to take you home after Xiaoyun passed. You never learn the gratitude! No wedding, no party - I have to find out engagement from newspaper photograph!"

"I --" Nora coughed a lot, her tongue faintly tasting of smoke. "No, wait you've got the wrong--"

"Give me the phone to that man, la! Now! Need to talk to him and see if he is any good. He's in our family now, ai! Good lord, all those years and this Jimmy never taught you anything proper at all. No weddings, nothing!"

Trystan must've had some impeccable comedic timing engraved into his soul, because he'd just walked in with a pudding cup refill. Well, technically he did end up stealing the whole packet when the nurses weren't looking.

Nora gave him a look. Then she pressed the speaker phone.

"He's here." She spoke in Chinese. "Talk in English. You're on speaker phone."

"Oh I can talk in English! I know English very much!" said Aunt Lei, proving to her rebellious distant niece that she was capable of doing so.

Trystan gave her a look.

Nora responded with a different one. Play along.

"Erm, hello?"

"Ah, so you are the boy my niece married, ah?"

"It is so nice to meet you, Mrs--"

Lei. Nora mouthed.

"Lee--" Trystan mispronounced. "I am just so elated to meet another member of Nora's family."

"Why didn't she invite anyone to the wedding? I had to find it through newspaper!"

"It was a very short wedding, unfortunately, I really do apologise, Mrs Lee. However I love your niece so very much. It was this heat of the moment thing. We decided we just simply had to get married and we did."

"This young love never goes anywhere -- no tradition, no principles -- but you take care of her, la? This one, this Ying Xiu, she doesn't do anything at all. Good for nothing! Didn't even tell her family she's married! What is your name?"

"Tr--" he began and immediately swallowed it after Nora gestured at him against doing it. "James. James Smith."

"James Smith -- okay. I will inform others and come back. You better pick the phone up next time, na, Ying Xiu -- otherwise I will--"

Nora promptly ended the call and the two heaved a collective sigh of relief.

"This fake marriage thing has gone for far too long." Trystan said, peeling open the pudding cup for her. "At this point, it would be the least surprising thing if we did actually fill up the papers and get married in a courthouse ceremony."

"I feel like Ruby and Luke would place bets about this. I don't want either of them to win." Nora smiled devilishly, as she devoured her pudding by stabbing it with a fork. "Major props to you, of course. You're the best fake partner I've ever had, I might actually cry happy tears--"

"Now, now, we'll save that for the wedding, yeah?"

"-- and punch five people."

"Also for the wedding, yes. I have a list."

***

"So what is our cover, Detective? Ooh, are we playing Good Cop, Bad Cop again? Please tell me we are doing that. I've been watching violent American movies and I do think I have a strong grasp of a "Bad Cop" character. Does Die Hard count as one?" Trystan asked, literally dancing around on the pavement at the prospect of going to interrogate a fence manning a stolen jewel storage facility.

"I think we're going to have to play the fake engagement card again." Nora sighed. "Please don't let me do this. I will probably get very violent-"

"- at the prospect of not marrying me?" Trystan smirked.

"No, at the prospect of doing this over and over again as our only veto power move. There has to be something better and I can't think of any, so shall we, Mr Rose-Thorne?" Nora held her hand out.

Trystan took it, but did not respond in kind. "We need to decide on the names. Thorne-Rose, please. It's so much more lyrical and--"

Their earpieces buzzed to life and without warning, Luke's voice shuttled through into their ear canals. "I hate to interrupt your marital bickering, but you've got to make it look convincing. Lay the love on thick. Be sappy, be --"

"Stupidly in love, yep. Yep. Got it. Let's go."

Now Nora did get better at confrontations as a whole. She realised that the use of force and her rather "try me, bitch" personality wouldn't gel in with stolen goods transporters like this one with the beard, after her run-ins with another bearded person who turned out to be a vindictive serial killer being manipulated by a wise old, yet somehow equally vindictive grandmother. Armed with this information, Trystan was interested to see how this would play out.

"Can I help you?"

To Trystan's absolute horror, Nora put on possibly the most high-pitched accent ever that would've gotten her cast in a campy teen movie as the overly giggly best friend archetype. She clutched onto Trystan's arm like she was about to judo-flip him, crossing the treacherous boundaries between a tender arm holding and full-blown martial arts mania. Nora at one point, even forgot how she should've held a lover's hand, so much that she genuinely looked like she was in so much pain from just the arm holding.

"Hi! Hi! Hi!" she said, "We heard from my absolute best friend Cadence that y'all sell like jewellery and shit and my partner and I here will totally buy one for like a million amounts of money!"

"The higher the quality of the jewel, the better."

"And like my partner here is super good with them, he's in the diamond business and everything! And I just never really knew so much, except they are so sparkly! I just want a nice little one, but not too small as to like, invalidate our amazing true love! It has to be big, but also like, small because Cadence is a total bitch and she'll like, totally spread all those lies about me in our neighbourhood!"

"An engagement ring, eh?" The salesman was mildly mortified by Nora's personality but he didn't question it, of course. Customers like her went by everyday and paid him well. "Gotta ask, who proposed?"

"I did, of course!" Nora piped up. "I mean, I literally snuck the little ring into his champagne and he choked on it and I almost thought he was going to die!"

It was then Trystan realised his detective wasn't doing this for the sole purpose to not blow their covers off. She was having fun. He gave her a gentle nudge with his elbow.

"Yes -- it was a very kind gesture, of course--" Trystan smiled, but winced in pain at the Lovecraftian horror before him. It was like watching a documentary on how sausages were made.

"Honestly if we totally had the time, I would've driven us up to the courthouse -- hahahaha! It's funny, right? So funny! But we do want a proper ring, a nice white wedding, a house with a picket fence and -- so many kids! So many!" Nora swallowed hard. "Anyway, we can't do any of that without my mother of course. Ugh, hate that woman. She doesn't want us eloping. She hates everyone except my little darling little partner -- dude here and -- erm -- the only way we can make her happy is the biggest, fanciest ring ever!"

"Of course. You know what they say about mother-in-laws--" the salesman shot Trystan a look, who responded in kind with a similar look. "Give me a moment, I'll have to get the rings from the shelf."

"I hate it here." Nora punctuated every word; returning back to her deep, baritone voice. "Kill me."

"You started it." Trystan whispered back. "I'm just enjoying the show. For a second I thought you were pulling my leg with the ring in the champagne thing."

"Of course I was. Then I'll choke everyone to death for making me do this over and over again."

"Choking. Someone's a little -- bold." he shot her a knowing smile.

"I cannot believe you right now." Nora shook her head, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"Neither can I, but you know what they say about marriages. You discover something new about your little darling little partner dude everyday." Trystan chuckled.

***

+1:

It was a nice weekend at the Ginovesi Agency which was a bit of a misnomer because it was never really just a nice weekend. Luke had some trouble he had to sort out. Ruby was knee deep in an autopsy report about this man who took five stab wounds but died from poison instead, which was absolutely marvellous and of course, as a chemistry geek she simply had to eat up all the information about poisons possible. Trystan was not, unfortunately, looking up nukes on eBay and was instead putting some thought into the next phase in their case, while he bored Nora with a story about Kaspar and how he, alongside being a jewel thief, also loved to steal paintings.

Nora was at her desk; all suited up for an important occasion - Filing Day, when everything took a pause because she had to sort a portion of her pie chart time for meaningless, pointless report work. Mafalda was adamant against her adherence to a format. After many successive attempts, she'd managed to produce one good decent write-up without snarky side comments about the frivolous nature of the report, several more petty jibes and changing the font to Comic Sans for the fun of it.

"I'm done. Fuck yes!" Nora declared, giving everyone a high-five. "Okay, coffee and everything else on me. I apologise for the excessive swearing, not! I am done with this fucking thing! Ha-HA! Seriously, this has school written all over it and I absolutely hated school - no dark sarcasm in the classroom, teachers leave them kids alone, all right anyway, what would you like Luke? Ruby? It's on me. Free food! Bagels?"

Nobody answered back. Luke was enamoured by the computer screen and Ruby was now grinning at the autopsy study, much to Nora's concern.

Trystan stood up and approached her. "I would absolutely love a caramel latte and a croissant from this place." - he reached into his pocket and grabbed a business card from a local café. "It is a very small shop; between a public library and a bus stop, so I do think you'd require the address for it. Small shops have the best food. They also have belladi."

"Thanks for being the only one acknowledging!" Nora shouted, with a bit of obnoxiousness just so Ruby and Luke could hear. "Seriously, what are these guys on and where can I get some of it?"

"I don't know, but I do think this will make you feel somewhat closer to that euphoric feeling." Trystan smiled. He leaned a little, taking in Nora's scent of peppermints and pressed a ravenous kiss to her lips. Nora smiled into it, allowing herself to pull him closer by the lapels of his blazer; sinking into this feeling - this wonderful, marvellous feeling of Nora who had just stopped giving three Hoover damns about the situation, not long before--

"HOLY SHIT!" Luke yelped.

"What-- OH MY GOD!" Ruby cried.

"Luke, isn't it a little rude to interrupt us when we were clearly in the middle of saying goodbye?" Trystan said, his head sinking into Nora's shoulder almost without any hesitation at all. "You too, Ruby."

Nora folded her arms, quite proud of herself. "Now can I get your coffee orders, yeah?"

"B-black two sugars--" Luke swallowed, with great difficulty; almost as if he'd seen a Cyclops barge into the wall, shrieking like crazy.

"None for me. I think I might just need a cold compress -- or something - Jesus Christ Nora!" Ruby exclaimed. "So like, are you two a thing? When did this happen? Are you now dating? Do you guys have a plan? Are you partners? Boyfriends and girlfriends? Have you defined the relationship--"

"Well, Detective? Do you want to be?" Trystan asked, his voice almost nauseatingly sweet.

"I don't know. Maybe we should do another round of all of this fake, phoney engagement, partnership business. What do you say? It'll be troublesome, of course. Big trouble."

"You know me, I love trouble so much."

***

A/N:

Boy that was long, wasn't it? I'd think this is one of my longest fics ever. It is against the vast majority of Tumblr readers, I'd think because a few weeks ago, I put out a poll about the ideal chapter length readers would enjoy and this just became a whole thing. I don't know. I guess I have just been a bit worried about this whole threshold that sometimes I feel like I'm not enjoying the writing bit and focusing on cutting it down - damn this is a whole therapy session.

Thank you so much for reading! I appreciate it a lot! This was just silly but I just wanted to put this out there, into the void lmfao. I did not edit this so if there are some grammar errors - uh.. we'll just pretend they don't exist. Originally I wanted to write actual Chinese in place of the conversation in English Nora has with her distant Aunt, but I never seem to find a proper translating app because Google Translate, DeepL they all do this thing where they make the language so formal. Plus I have no idea if it is phonetically, grammatically true or not.

Guess I'll just learn Chinese next time - ugh the sheer lengths I must go for these two idiots -

And also I would totally appreciate a Drakovian dictionary. Or maybe I can make up my own Drakovian since it is clearly a language that must have originated from Eastern European, Slavic languages. PB make Trystan speak Drakovian challenge. Seriously make it happen. This is definitely not a threat.

Tagging:

Perma: @quixoticdreamer16 @tessa-liam

Crimes: @cassie-thorne @peonierose @ao719 @trappedinfanfiction @jerzwriter @fuckitweball0000

#nora x trystan #w:inlocusmads #crimes of passion choices fics #crimes of passion

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aadmelioraa · 1 year

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It's almost 2023, so I figured I'd share my updated The Last Kingdom fic recs since I have been meaning to do that all year. Below the cut you will find some shippy stuff, some introspective pieces, and a variety of characters featured (several of whom rarely get fanfic). I hope if this post crosses your path you may find a new favorite! I did limit my selection to complete fics, but you can find more recommendations, both works in progress and complete, under my ao3 tlk bookmarks. Happy New Year, and happy reading!

the leap by @irisdouglasiana

Season 5 cottagecore nuns fixit for Aalys and Aelflaed. Fixit fics are not usually my vibe tbh but this one is perfectly complex and bittersweet.

A Hard Story to Know by @wildwren

Post Season 5 fic. Aelfwynn processes her grief at the loss of her mother with the help of Aldhelm and Eadith. This fic broke my heart and mended it several times over.

no escape by @volvaaslaug

Wonderful Eadith character study and I adore the prose style as well.

come go with me by @wendy-daahling

Aethelflaed x Aldhelm political marriage (for MERCIA of course), slow burn with lots of delicious pining.

the drowned and the damned by @irisdouglasiana

Canon divergent AU centered around Osbert, Uhtred's youngest son. Addresses family trauma, cycles of violence, and legacy within the world of the show and does it in such a thought provoking way.

and, lord, she found me just in time by @jeynepoole

Hild x Iseult hurt/comfort bathing fic...so tender and so lovely.

a rope in hand for your other man by @jeynepoole

This fic is definitely for a niche audience, but if the idea of an Aethelflaed/Aldhelm/Aethelred threesome intrigues you, check it out...and there's more where that came from.

Meanwhile in Mercia by @skatingthinandice

This series is an absolute staple of Aethelflaed x Aldhelm fanfic and I am very grateful for it. Essential reading!

Daughter of Darkness by @ulfrsmal

Gen fic focused around Brida and Thyra's relationship and trauma that I, for one, desperately needed. *this fic is locked, you will need to be logged into your ao3 account to access...I still have a few invitations to send, if you need one feel free to DM me!

I go you go, my dear by alittlebitalexis

Two Osferth x Eadith fics for the Eadsferth truthers among us (no for real they were cute). Fluff and smut.

When the Party's Over by @wildwren

Aethelflaed x Erik College AU. Part of a series, read Part 1 first, I am just particularly attached to this part for...reasons.

The Maiden by @wildwren

Pirate/Witch AU for Aethelflaed x Skade. This fic is HOT and creative and HOT and gorgeously written and HOT.

To Curse a King by @pokeasleepingsmaug

Skade x Sihtric smut fic featuring magic and knife play. Very fun and sexy.

Saint of Shitty Reasons by @volvaaslaug

Edward Modern AU character study that hits 95% of my kinks.

Most CURSED among God's kin are aethelings by @wildwren

Aethelwold character study. A masterpiece though and through.

Lay Down Your Arms by @skatingthinandice

Aethelflaed x Aldhelm post Tettenhall smut, and a most worthy entry for the #GET IT AETHELFLAED tag.

clever-tongued by @tsukkinami

Aethelflaed x Aldhelm smut with wonderful tension and intimacy, it's just top tier! A classic.

in my dreams we survived by @irisdouglasiana

Hild character study, really lovely angst that makes me tear up every time.

poison by @irisdouglasiana

Brida x Skade enemies to lovers...need I say more?

fortune cookie by @jeynepoole

Competent stepdad Aldhelm, Modern AU Aldhelm & Aelfwynn bonding. A warm blanket of a fic.

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sxfik · 1 year

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Omg dud you finally get around to reading witchshadow?? What are your all over thoughts??

omg hello!! and yes i did! i actually ended up rereading the whole series because it's been literally seven years (saying that outloud makes it so much more real wtf). it took me a while bc my god are those books a l o t to get through for me now.

i mean idk if i need to preface this since you were literally there but like... i was one of like the 10 people that was active about this series on here when it started back in the 2016-2017 era. like i love this series, and to this day i've kept the username and all the stuff i wrote for it, so just like idk a disclaimer: im not here to hate or anything, just truly mourning something i really loved.

overall thoughts: witchshadow was so disappointing. like resoundingly disappointing. there was so many things i had issues with, and idk if i even have enough time and words to describe it. i feel like this whole series suffered from having too many complex plot points and too many characters introduced five books into a six book series. not to mention the amount of lore and words that is dropped into the books with little to no explanation of what they mean and what they indicated in this world? like how is it book five and i still don't understand what a domna truly is?

i feel like the complexity balance was really held well up until witchshadow, when it literally just got so confusing that none of the characters felt like themselves? also the weird timeline for this book did not help. like jesus christ this book is complex as it is, how are you making it harder for us??

like a) iseult. i felt like she was overshadowed in her own book, i wanted to know about her nomatsi heritage and literally so much about her like the other books did for the main characters, but this felt so disappointing. where was all the worldbuilding you set up for this moment? why did esme just get downgraded all of a sudden? and also just... she doesn't feel like she made any character improvement/her arc went backwards?

b) safi was just? stupid in this book? how did she have a negative character arc. like i know she's supposed to be reckless and making impulse and stupid plans, but her character felt reduced to just that. like first and second book safi: i knew why she was making these decisions, even if they backfired, but this just feels like a mockery of her character. and i love safi, and i wish she had a way better arc than she did, and got treated with the same book time as isuelt and aeduan.

and also god, the weird emperor/safi bs was so unbareable. she's literally like 18 in this book (i actually thought she was closer to 19/20 but whatever i guess she's 18 here). every scene with them was so werid and uncomfortable. (especially that weird one where she walks in while he has sex what the fuck was going on there) why was she desperate to have sex with what i assume to be like a 60 year old??? i had to force myself to read through these parts and not skip them

and god the hellbards. i loved them at first but im getting sick of them taking over the story. why are they so important that they essentially replace both merik and practically the whole main cast of characters. why are they mentioned at every turn? if they were this important, why didnt you introduce them sooner?

c) why does safi and iseult just not have any interaction. its literally been five books bro the seperation arc is enough (and yes i fully consider them separated) !! why have they had 0 character development together?? they're arguably the center of this series, and what started this whole chase, and yet we've gotten maybe one book and a half of them actually growing together. how is this gonna turn out for the final book when you have maybe 600 pages and 6 characters to get through?

d) where the fuck was merik. hes literally a main character how did he disappear??

e) the whole vivia/stix to vivia/vaness makes me. upset. i dont understand the decision to make them threadsisters when they were vivia was gay panicking about her 24/7 in windwitch. literally 0 buildup for something that feels like it came out of nowhere. why are they like siblings now, it feels so so so weird. i honestly have so much more to say about this and yet im still upset

now this might seem like such a hateful rant, and i promise it's not hate, it's just frustration at what seemed like such an excellent book series. and honestly, up until bloodwitch i was doing fine and then this book was just... so different to the rest of the series. i know susan was forced to combine the books into one, and so maybe that's why, but idk man, this felt so disappointing.

i love foreshadowing and worldbuilding when it's done right, and i think it was doing great until this book. a lot of stuff felt like plot twists out of nowhere, with no rhyme or reasoning to it. it just didn't feel like a witchlands book if you get what i feel. honestly, out of love and time for this series, i think i'll be reading the final book as well in the series, hoping things get fixed and we get to see characters that were beloved back again.

(p.s. how are you? its been so long!!)

#user: sxfik #mine #the witchlands #witchshadow #witchshadow review #susan dennard

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queenlucythevaliant · 1 year

Audio

For @iseult-blanchemains’s Thursday Poetry Recitation! “The Cremation of Sam McGee” was the first poem of any real length that I ever memorized and still one of my favorites to recite. My mom was exposed to it through a college TA and I basically grew up on this poem.

(Shameless plug: this poem also served as inspiration for my Inklings Challenge story this year, which you can read here!)

#am i going to keep plugging my inklings challenge story into November? yes absolutely #proudest i've been of anything i've written in a while and i want people to read it #but that said #i would have picked this poem even if I hadn't written a story based on it #it just has such a wonderful rhythm that sits so beautifully in your mouth #and so many great creepy lines that you can deliver with such drama #the wind sound effects are pure self-indulgence #THURSDAY POEM READING #knitting circle #inklings challenge 2k22

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valkyrie-of-the-rising-sun · 1 year

Text

Timeline of the Chroniclerverse

Approx. 10,000 years before Rejuv: - War of the Eden; - Earliest records of the Anima's existence are penned; - Vitus seemingly disappears from the world, followed shortly by Nymiera; - The surviving Anima establish the clans to assist in the war restoration efforts;

Approx. 9,500 years before Rejuv: - Founding of the Anima's Reborn Sect by a "Saint of Arceus", presumably Nymiera disguised as a travelling mortal;

Approx. 4,000 years before Rejuv: - The Seven Kingdoms are established with the guidance and aid of the clans; - The clans of the Reborn Sect established contact with their Aevian counterparts, forming a firm alliance between them;

Approx. 3,000 years before Rejuv: - The Garufans arrives at Aevium as refugees from a distant land; - Griselda launches a genocidal campaign against the Garufans out of paranoia, sparking a conflict between the Seven Kingdoms; - Spacea and Tiempa assassinate Griselda, inadvertently turning the latter into a Giratina. She was defeated and sealed away with the ruins of her fallen kingdom by Altair, then-leader of the Viotto Clan; - Disturbed by the campaign, the Garufans incited the Great War in retaliation; - The Anima population declined, due to lowered birth rates and increased mortality rates as a result of Degeneration; - The Archetype and Paradigm Crest are lost to the Garufans. Both were eventually recovered, but at a steep cost. The former was handed off to the House of Cyrela for safekeeping; - The Viotto Clan enacted a mass exodus into the "real world" as a last-ditch attempt to keep the Paradigm Crest safe. Phantasmal Arboret - a dream realm created by Vega - was made for this purpose. The few who chose to remain willingly transformed into Pokemon so that they could continue to protect Aevium; - The Ultimate Weapon was fired, bringing an end to the Great War;

Approximately 3,000 ~ 60 years before Rejuv: - Due to the usage of the Ultimate Weapon, the world became incompatible with the Anima, causing them to suffer a decline they could not recover from. To combat this, they resorted to forming Pacts with their partner Pokemon to preserve what remained of their powers and culture; - Anima survivors and their descendants began to isolate themselves from humans, disillusioned by the war, forming hidden settlements and communities all across the world. Those who disagreed with the statute of secrecy were banished in disgrace, forced to wander the land for the rest of their lives;

Approximately 60 years before Rejuv: - The Miera Disaster, causing the survivors to evacuate in droves and rebuilding their lives in the now uninhabited Aevium region; - Artemis (aka Hauyne) fell to Aevium from a space-time rift. She becomes a ward of Phoenix Academy; - Nymiera meets Artemis in a fateful encounter, and takes the child under her wing as her student; - The Protectors of Aevium are formed;

55 years before Rejuv: - Artemis meets Eriena in Kugearen Library, becoming fast friends. Their friendship, unfortunately, didn't last and were separated due to the latter's imprisonment; - Artemis cuts ties with the Protectors of Aevium, deciding to embark on her own path so not to interfere with the events;

50 years before Rejuv: - Artemis frees Vega from her prison in Phantasmal Arboret, giving her the blessing to go wherever she wishes; - Storm-9. Artemis met her end in a valiant last stand, for the sake of buying Kali, Alain and Crescent time to escape to safety; - Alain and Crescent were recruited into the Stormchasers. Kali goes into the ownership of Alain as per her late trainer's request;

29 years before Rejuv: - Iseult is born; - Vega makes her first contact with Iseult, forming a Bond with the infant with no one being the wiser;

13 years before Rejuv: - Iseult leaves her settlement for good and becomes a wandering trainer;

10 years before Rejuv: - Orion descends onto the Chroniclerverse from the real world; - Events of Reborn;

8 years before Rejuv: - Orion defeats and captures Meteor Arceus, putting an end to the Anomalies plaguing the region; - Events of Desolation;

#chroniclerverse

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renardsnoir · 2 years

Note

🤐 - What’s one thing you don’t ever want to discuss? ( For both Max & Iseult )

Maxwell almost never discusses the death of his wife and children. He will bypass the subject or simply leave, if he does not get angry. It's been several years, but it's still a very sensitive subject for him.

-----------------------

The true origins of her mother, Iseult remains very secretive about this subject. She always has a fear that someone will find out and when she talks about it, it's because she has real trust in the person.

@chothulu

#maxwell #Iseult #ask #chothulu #ty!

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gilded-moon · 2 years

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The witchlands ships and who they could not fool in a fake dating au/who would be like oh fucking finally

Safik: They can’t fool Iseult because she can literally see the pining and it drives her nuts. Kullen calls bs too because he knows Merik too well. They can get around everyone else.

Baesult: Everyone is firmly in the oh fucking finally camp. The pining is obvious and Safi is very happy she won the bet.

Vix: Fucking finally. I refuse to believe that no one knows how Vivia feels about Stix. The palace staff were very excited to see their princess finally have her woman.

Rylen: Merik refuses to believe Kullen actually pulled it together to ask Ryber out. He is happy to be proven wrong when Kullen confesses for real.

V^2: They’re too awkward to make anyone think they worked it out on their own. No one is fooled.

Laden: Fucking finally. Lev and Zander throw a party in celebration.

I think that’s all of the ships. Let me know if I forgot any!

#the witchlands #moon answers #I am wondering where my fake dating aus are at #I say as I ignore all of my wips

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helenaheissner · 4 months

Text

A Dream of Summer Rain (Chapter 11: No One Ever Had Much Nice to Say)

It was her.

How could it be her?

It wasn’t possible- she was dead. Elaine died. Gwen had seen the body.

Did I? She thought. She’d seen an arm, a leg, a lock of hair. She hadn’t seen a whole body- she’d taken her father at his word-

Well there’s the problem right there.

The night spread around her in a thick, cloying mass. Rain fell in a brutal rhythm, pouring back out the drain pipes and sewer grates and forming puddles in the muddy grass. A commercial area of Grand Rapids spread out underneath a dark canopy of spring rain. Buildings of brick and stone were washed clean by rain and dried by harsh artificial lights. Inside her, another light burned brightly. She wanted to drown it out with the rest. She drove by a liquor store and tried not to think about it.

A red light appeared before her, forcing her to stop, forcing her to halt. She clenched her jaw to the point of soreness. She stared directly ahead, listening to the rain and trying to shut out the urge inside her.

Green light.

Foot moved from brake to gas.

Forward.

She could breathe again.

She passed another liquor store. Then a bar. Then another bar. Then another liquor store. Then another- God, this city is depressing. Her hands shook, and blissful, treacherous memories of drowning flooded through her. She sat at another red light, at a four-way intersection that gave no indication that turning right on red was not an option. She did so, and drove down into a residential neighborhood. She pulled over and parked the first chance she got, and she propped herself against the window and shook.

Five years, she reminded herself, clutching rings around her neck.

She retrieved her cell phone from her purse and called Quentin. Her heart stopped between rings.

“Gwen?” came the voice from the other end.

She breathed a quiet sigh of relief. “Hey.”

“What’s going on?”

“Trying to fight off the temptation. How about you?”

“... I’m fine. Where are you right now?”

“Parked in a residential neighborhood in Grand Rapids.”

“You’ve been there over a month now- you’re sure you’ve found him?”

“Her, actually. Isabella was right about that part.”

“I’m sure she’ll be happy to hear that- she loves being told she’s right.”

Gwen chuckled. “Yeah, she does. That’s not all, though.”

“What happened?”

She told him, and when she finished, she said, “It was Elaine. I’m sure of it.”

“How’s that possible?”

“I don’t know,” Gwen said between choking tears. “I don’t know how it could be her but her face and her voice and her eyes- it was her. God, it was my baby sister.”

“Did she recognize you?” Quentin asked.

“She said my name. She tried to kill me,” Gwen said.

“She must have been working for your father.”

“That's the only explanation. It’s just… That opens up more questions,” Gwen said, clutching the necklace ever tighter.

“Like what does your father want?”

“Like who else is alive,” Gwen whispered.

“I thought you saw all the others-”

“No. I saw Arthur die, I saw Iseult die, I made Morganna and Tristan die. And now I’ve seen Elaine die. I didn’t see Percival die, and I never saw my mother die either.”

“...”

Lightning flashed overhead, a golden bolt stark against the black sky. The thunderclap came nearly a minute later. “Please say something,” Gwen said.

“I’m not entirely sure what to say, I must confess.”

“Fffff… Yeah, fair enough. I’m not either,” Gwen said, rolling down a window, retrieving a cigarette and lighting it. “I, uh, I think you guys are gonna meet Lacy soon.”

“That’s the girl’s name?”

“Yeah. She’s a real sweet kid. I think maybe in a few weeks, a month at the outside, we’re all gonna need to meet and start making some long-term plans about what we’re gonna do.”

“I agree. There’s… An incentive on our end as well, it seems.”

Gwen gulped, winced, said, “Oh God.”

“Gosh.”

“Fff. Just tell me what happened, please?”

“Are you sure? You seem stressed as it is, my love,” Quentin said.

Gwen took a long deep drag on her cigarette, feeling the hot smoke drift down her throat and into her lungs. “It’s gonna stress me out a lot more if you leave me hanging on vital intel.”

“... There was an attack tonight in Duluth. Ten ghouls, out in the streets. We were stealthy and took out most of them, but a few wound up being taken by the police. One of them is in custody now. And I believe the Federal Bureau of Investigation is getting involved.”

“Fuck!” Gwen said, punching the roof of her car.

Silence.

“Sorry,” Gwen said. “I owe you a quarter. Anyway, how bad are we talking here?”

“Bad,” Quentin said. “The Guild is using its contacts inside the Bureau to attempt damage control, but I don’t know how much they’ll be able to do. Civilians saw the ghouls. Children were there.”

Gwen took another long drag. “How many casualties?”

“None so far. But I feel something is on the rise, Gwen.”

“Yeah. So do I. I think… I think the Sovereignty is making a power play.”

“On what scale?”

“The biggest one possible.”

Silence. Rainfall. Thunder. A single flickering streetlight illuminated the windows, casting a dull golden glow that refracted off the water streaming down the glass. The odd car drove past her, trying to get out of the rain. Get home. Get safe.

“And the ghouls?” Quentin asked.

“I think they have a new king.”

“I see,” Quentin said. “How are you feeling?”

“I feel… Better? I think. I feel less on edge now that I know what’s going on.”

“And the urge?”

“Still there. Gonna need to buy a few more packs of cigarettes, I think.”

“Just so long as that’s all it is,” Quentin said.

“Do you… Do you trust me not to relapse?” Gwen asked, hands clenched.

“I trust you with my life, with my heart, and with my soul.”

Tears welled up in Gwen’s eye. “Thank you. I… I love you.”

“I love you too, my dear. We’ll talk again tomorrow?”

“Yes, definitely. Now get some rest.”

“You too.”

She hung up, and she smiled through the tears as she watched the lightning flash through the sky. She turned her car back on, and drove through the rain-soaked streets back into the commercial district. She passed a fish market, bought a half-pound of freshwater bass, and stood in line next to a shelf of hard liquor. Sweat pooled on her brow and soaked her hair, and her hands shook as she handed the sales clerk the necessary cash. “And a few packs of brown Nats,” she said to the clerk, who obliged.

She made it out of the store, and back to her car, and back to her cabin, without relapsing. She felt as if the water was pooling around her ankles, clinging to her with each step, rising up and trying to consume her like an amoeba. Only by propelling herself forward could she stymy the growth, keep herself from drowning in the devil’s water. When she set foot inside her rented home, she began to breathe more normally again. She cooked the bass in her skillet with ginger and soy sauce and onions. She leaned back in her wooden chair at the kitchen table and stared at the ceiling and contemplated her life, her family, Quentin, Lacy, Joshua, Isabella…

Elaine.

Percival.

She tapped her chest, and the white Star emerged and danced across the ceiling. She stared at it, reached for it, let it touch her fingertips and let the firestorm of magic surge through her. Everything came more alive, every sensation in her body and thought in her head amplified to the highest possible intensity. A white pyre that would consume her if she was not careful.

The dual-pronged Prophecy of the Witch From the Far North echoed in her mind: You will mentor the Dark Lord, and with their help you will usher in a new age.

Like every instance erstwhile, the odious words were broken glass in her throat.

Gwen reached for the Star and stored it back inside her heart. She fell asleep on the floor of the cabin, and when she woke up, the rain still fell, but there was a new intensity to it.

One of her windows exploded inwards, and Gwen leapt out the way of the shrapnel.

She summoned her Star as ghouls burst through into her cabin. They charged her, and she reached for a massive pulse of Starlight. It burned through her as she cried, “TOTER ENGEL!”

The death angel spread its wings over the entire cabin. When it was gone, seven ghouls laid dead at Gwen’s feet. She fell to her knees, gasping for breath, desperately clinging to consciousness.

She wanted a drink. She wanted to rest. She wanted this all to be over, because it had been going on so terribly long. The devil’s water gathered again around her ankles, and she wanted to let it rise, envelope her, force its way down her throat.

Instead, she rose to her feet and ran to her car and floored it in the direction of Lacy’s house.

Buy the official ebook here!

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